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teshadraws · 5 months ago

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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 58]

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Nia, Tobias, and Junie talk with Will, and run into someone unexpected.

Nia wakes up all on her own for once. She’s cozy and warm, and it takes a few minutes to realize where she is, tucked away into one of the alcoves of the inn they’d stayed at the night before.

She relishes the chance to move at her own pace, and stretches as she slips down to the stone ground. The torracat innkeeper, Clara, is nowhere to be seen, and bright sunlight and distant conversation stream in through the open windows.

Nia yawns as she walks outside, leaning against the warm stone wall enclosing the city so she can get a good look at the settlement in daylight.

The buildings stretching on either side of her are a blend of tan and brown, made of stones and clay. Little pops of color come from billowing curtains and a mural painted onto the side of one of the buildings.

Nia leans to see it better, heart aching as she recognizes humans and animals painted with painstaking detail, too unique to be anything but real, remembered loved ones. They’re relaxing in front of a house, a forest behind them and a city visible in the distance. It’s one of the most human sights Nia has seen since coming to this world.

It’s beautiful.

Nia tears her eyes away, leaning back to look instead at the top of the cliffs above them. The solidity of the mesa is a comforting strength, anchoring the buildings carved from its face.

At Nia’s back, over the stone wall, the sky is a bright blue above a canyon of rocky brown terrain and scraggly green trees. A cool breeze slips by, balancing well with the warm sunshine, and Nia closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath.

Pokemon—humans—pass by her, chatting and laughing amicably. Nia opens her eyes to watch them go about their business.

They look just like regular Pokemon, aside from the clothing and accessories clearly worn for comfort rather than necessity. But somehow, Nia thinks she can tell they’re human in other ways, too, just in how they move, how they walk and talk and act.

A delicate cat Pokemon with purple tufts of fur sits back on her hind legs to gesture with her forepaws as she talks, rather than with her tail or ears. A boulder Pokemon with a lizard-like face keeps overbalancing as he walks, and has to stutter-step on his short legs to regain his equilibrium before he tips over. A round little dragon Pokemon, blue with a shark-like fin and a red underbelly, grins wide as she spots a friend, her fangs on full display in a way that would feel distinctly threatening to Nia coming from a natural-born Pokemon.

They’re human, just like her. They don’t fit into this world quite right. It’s comforting, somehow, knowing that they’re all in the same boat Nia is. Knowing that no one here is going to get upset about her wanting to go home because that’s what they want, too.

On some level, Nia wishes she could stay here with them. She wishes she could forget that she has obligations to this world, to Giratina and Tobias and her guild. Some part of her just wants to…relax. No more scary fights with criminals. No more heartbreak from helping injured ��mon after a natural disaster or mystery dungeon. No more pressure to save the entire world. To save multiple worlds.

…Would Nia leave Tobias and Maggie and everyone at the guild behind, for that kind of security? That kind of peace?

Her heart stabs with grief, and then with shame. No, she…she doesn’t think she could.

Even if she kind of wishes she could.

“Finally awake?”

Nia jumps, straightening up at Tobias’ voice. Her partner walks up to her, holding something in his hand. When he reaches her, he plops it on the rock wall. Something small, wrapped in cloth?

A delicious scent reaches Nia’s nose, making her stomach rumble. She unwraps the little package and perks up when she realizes it’s some kind of…burrito? She wastes no time stuffing it into her mouth, moaning at the taste. It has gooey cheese, vegetables that taste similar to potatoes and peppers, and…eggs? How does that work here?

Nia chooses not to question it.

“Thank you!” Nia says between bites.

Tobias leans away from her, torn between amusement and disgust. “Figured you’d be hungry, but you don’t have to go feral on me. They have more.”

He juts a thumb back the way he came. Must be the cafeteria. Or maybe a restaurant or something.

Nia just hums a happy sound, continuing to stuff her face. The ingredients have a distinctly non-human taste to them, the spicy red bits just a step to the left of a human world pepper, but it’s still undeniably human-inspired.

She’s just finishing her last bite when she hears “Nia!” from somewhere up above.

Nia looks up, hand over her eyes. Junie peels away from a small flock of flying types, diving down and flapping to a stop just before she would‘ve crashed into the top of the stone wall.

“I wish you’d stop doing that,” Nia whines, hand on her chest.

“It’s fun!” Junie chirps. Her eyes are bright. “You ready to try out the baths? I’ve been waiting for like an hour! Firebutt said I shouldn’t wake you.”

Tobias casually shoves Junie off the rock wall. She disappears over the edge with a squawk, then flutters back up with a glare.

Oh, the baths! She’d forgotten. “I’d love to try them, but don’t we need to talk to Will?”

“He can’t meet with us until later,” Tobias grumbles. “Fidel said he’d come find us when he’s ready.”

“Which means we can try their fancy baths!” Junie presses.

Nia smiles, then falters when she looks at Tobias. “You could come with us and see if they have, uh…anything for fire types?”

Tobias waves her off. “Go splash around in your fancy water. I’m not done looking around anyways.”

Nia watches him a moment longer, uncertain. He’d been in a bad mood last night, and they hadn’t had a chance to talk about it. Before she can push, though, Junie is flapping madly at her back, nudging her forward by her shoulders.

“C’mon! C’mon!”

Nia laughs, letting the rookidee guide her towards whichever building the baths are housed in. “I’m going, I’m going! We’ll come find you when we’re done, Tobias!”

Nia hears Tobias grunt in agreement before she’s pulled away entirely.

————————————————————————————————

The bathhouse is impressive, a larger building with a few deep, bathtub-like basins cut out of the stone floor. Tiny lidded pots circle the edge of each one, and there’s a makeshift drain cut into the bottom of each basin.

Late morning seems to be an unpopular bath time for the settlement. There’s a large white-and-black sheep Pokemon taking up almost the entirety of one basin, dozing peacefully in milky water. Nia can’t imagine cleaning up the wet fluff he’ll leave behind will be fun.

The only other Pokemon inside are a grumpy-looking anteater with fiery colors and pipe-like ridges on his body, and a large blue toad Pokémon with bubble-like lumps on his arms and head. The two of them are standing at a counter and the toad greets Nia and Junie with casual hospitality, so they probably run the place.

After confirming that they’re here for a bath, the anteater ambles over to a wooden ladder that leads up through a gap in the ceiling. He climbs it and disappears onto the second floor.

The toad leads them to one of the smaller bath basins, placing a cover over the drain and warning them to stay back. Then, a wooden gutter is lowered from the ceiling at an angle, tipped right over the bath. A few moments later, steaming hot water gushes down the gutter and begins to fill the basin.

“Whoa,” Junie murmurs.

Nia watches, fascinated, and looks up to find more gutters inlaid into the ceiling, each positioned above a different basin. It’s a really cool system. How long would it take to make something like this?

The toad gathers a few of the clay pots filled with soaps, offering them for a sniff so Nia and Junie can pick a scent they agree on before pouring it into the bath. Once they do, the water quickly froths with bubbles and the soft, soothing scent of lavender wafts throughout the room.

Junie hops onto Nia’s shoulder, watching the toad Pokemon work. Then she whispers, “D’you think he makes the water himself?”

Nia twists up her mouth. “What? No!”

“He might,” Junie says, playfully serious. “He looks like a water type, and we don’t know where that water comes from.”

“So you think he just spits it out himself?!”

“I’d bet ten breakfast burritos that that fire type went upstairs to heat up the water. Why else would they need a water type here too?”

Nia looks again at the toad, pasting on a smile when he glances their way. “Wouldn’t that be…unhygienic? It would come from his mouth!”

“I’m just saying! It’s gotta be hard to get fresh water up here. A water type would be super handy for that.”

Nia hates that she has a point.

When the basin is mostly full, the toad croaks a signal of some kind, and the water trickles to a stop. The ropes holding the gutter in place reel up, lifting it to lock back into the ceiling.

The toad wishes them a relaxing bath and says to let him know if they need anything. He lays a couple of cloth towels on the edge of the bath before ambling away.

Junie wastes no time fluttering into the bath. She stays near the edge where it’s shallower, fluffing her feathers and splashing about like a bird in a fountain before settling into a relaxed puddle.

“Ohhh my God. Nia, get in here, this is awesome.”

Nia hesitates.

“C’mon! You’ve bathed in rivers, right? Water type spit can’t be any more nasty than that!”

“It’s a lot more nasty!” Nia protests, but finally dips a foot in. It’s hot, almost too much so, but it feels wonderful. Slowly, Nia wades in deeper, then sinks down to sit until the water comes up to her chin.

Okay, mouthwater or not, this is so nice. The water feels clean, at least, frothy with bubbles and scented with relaxing lavender. Nia melts into it, slumping against the curve of the rough stone basin and letting her limbs float.

They both relax for a while, soaking in the quiet and warmth, until Junie speaks up.

“So since we’re having girl time—painting our nails, fluffing our hair…”

Nia opens an eye, giving Junie an amused look.

“How’s the whole thing with you and Toby going?”

Nia opens both eyes now, giving her a confused look. “What do you mean?”

Junie, floating on the surface of the water like a rubber duck, squints at Nia. “…Huh. So you really are just oblivious. Wonder if Toby is too.”

Nia sits up. “Oblivious? About what?”

Junie waves her off with a wing, sending water droplets scattering. “Nothing. I’ll tell you if it gets annoying.” Then she tilts her head. “Wonder if I could get a betting pool going with your friends at the guild. Oh, Bo would definitely be in.”

“A bet about what?!”

“You’ll figure it out eventually,” Junie dismisses. “Hey, did I ever tell you about the time me and my cousin dumped a bunch of bubble bath into my neighbor’s pool?”

Nia frowns. She’s not happy that Junie is hiding something from her that’s apparently about her, but she knows better than to push when Junie has already made up her mind.

Instead, Nia scrubs at her fur as she listens to Junie’s story, relishing this rare opportunity to take an actual bath for once. She even dunks underneath the water, coming up soaking wet. She shakes out her fur to splash Junie, and the rookidee shrieks and splashes Nia in return.

Eventually the bath starts to cool. Junie hops out first, ruffling her feathers, and Nia uses one of the towels to cover the little bird and rub her dry. Then, when Junie is a puffball, Nia does the same for herself, combing her short claws through her fur to smooth it.

They thank the two Pokemon running the bath, then head outside. Nia takes a deep breath and stretches, enjoying the way the cool breeze slips through her nearly-dry fur.

“What now?” Junie says, looking up at Nia. “Find Toby?”

“Probably. We’ll need to meet with Will soon, and I want to make sure Tobias is doing all right. He seemed a bit upset last night.”

“Don’t know how you can tell that apart from his usual grouchiness,” Junie jokes. She flaps into the air. “I’ll look for him!”

Nia watches as Junie swoops over the rock wall and to the left, flying high above the canyon below. She really has made a lot of progress since they last saw her. Nia needs to thank Bo for looking out for her friend and teaching her so much in such a short amount of time.

Nia shakes her head and goes right, looking around for her partner’s distinctive orange scales. People wave and nod to her as she passes, and she stops once or twice to exchange quick pleasantries with ‘mon they met at the convention.

Nia smiles as she walks by a hopscotch court drawn onto the stone walkway. Pokemon—probably on the younger side from how they screech and chase each other, stumbling over too-large paws and feet—play on it, hopping across and jeering at one another. A Pokemon that looks like a cross between a honeycomb and a bee floats effortlessly over the hopscotch squares, and two other kids (notably on two legs) yell that that’s cheating.

It’s just past the kids that Nia spots Tobias, leaning against the rock wall and watching the children play with a distant expression. He looks up when he notices her.

“Hey. Get your fill of fancy water?”

“I did, thank you very much.” Nia reaches his side and bumps his shoulder, then holds up her arm. “Feel my fur.“

“Why?”

“It’s soft! Seriously, feel it!”

Tobias rolls his eyes, but pets the fur on her arm. Then he stops, looking surprised, and does it again, as if entranced.

Nia laughs, and Tobias yanks his hand away.

He looks away, flushing. “It’s…fine.”

“Smell me too! I smell like a candle!”

She leans closer to him, and Tobias shoves her back, cheeks burning darker. “I’m not smelling you, you weirdo!”

Nia laughs again, burying her nose into her own neck fluff to take a deep whiff. Oh, she is going to miss these fancy baths. Her fur is silky smooth, finally free of dirt and sweat. She needs to talk to Maggie about getting something like this at the guild. She bets she could get a petition going.

Junie finds them shortly after, alighting on the rock wall and smirking at Tobias, who is still cherry-red. It’s pretty adorable.

“What’d you do?”

“Made him pet my arm.”

“Ooh. That’s evil.“

“I just wanted him to feel how soft my fur is!”

“Exactly.”

Before Nia can decode what Junie is talking about, someone clears their throat behind her. She turns, surprised, and looks up to see a brown deer Pokemon with yellow, eye-like antlers smiling down at the three of them.

“Hello. I hope you all slept well.” He takes a sniff of the air. “I see you found the baths!”

Normally Nia isn’t one to turn down a friendly conversation, even with a stranger, but the casual greeting makes even her pause. Then, her eyes widen as she recognizes the voice. “Oh! Fidel?”

“At your service.” Fidel bows his head, then transforms with a flash of purple light back into his zoroark form from the night before.

“Why do you morph so much?” Junie asks with a tilt of her head. “If you aren’t gonna prank people like Asher, then it seems like a lot of effort.”

Fidel laughs. “Not at all! That’s like asking why a water type swims if he doesn’t have anywhere to be. It’s instinctive. Like…stretching a muscle. Keeps us sharp, too, for situations where we do need to transform.”

“Such as?” Tobias asks, crossing his arms.

“Well…” Fidel thinks for a moment. “It’s important to be able to disguise in more populated areas. Especially if we need information but want to stay discreet. If we blend in, no one questions us.”

“‘Us?’”

“Asher and I.”

“You bring your son along on missions?”

Nia elbows Tobias, giving him a look. She knows he’s suspicious of Will and Fidel and everyone else here. He doesn’t need to be rude about it!

“I like to have him close by,” is all Fidel says, though his smile is tight. He flicks an ear, then turns. “Come along. We can talk as we walk. Will is available if you’re ready to meet with him.”

“Sure!” Nia trots after the zoroark, and Junie lands on her shoulder a moment later. She can hear Tobias follow after them.

As Fidel asks how they liked breakfast, he leads them to a building nestled right in the middle of the settlement. It doesn’t look any different from the others, medium-sized with slices cut from the clay and stone to act as windows. The zoroark opens the front door, leading them in.

The area inside is relatively small. It’s a sitting area of sorts, with cushions around a small fire pit, and a table with chairs nearby. A wooden ladder against the wall leads up through a gap to the second floor.

“This is more of a casual meeting area,” Fidel explains. He leads them to a door at the back wall without breaking stride. “But considering the sensitive nature of the conversation we have in mind, we’ll meet with Will in the back.”

“‘The back?’” Junie whispers. “Okay, that does sound sketchy.”

“Not you too!” Nia mutters. “Come on, he just wants some privacy. We are talking about the end of the world here!”

Nia follows Fidel through the door. Considering it’s set against the back wall, where the building meets flush against the cliffside, she expects to enter a small room. A bedroom, maybe.

Instead, Nia stops in surprise as a cool draft slips past her.

Junie, on her shoulder, murmurs, “Whoa.”

Ahead of them, Fidel moves without hesitation into a…tunnel. It must cut straight into the cliffside, and it goes deeper than Nia can immediately see the end of. It isn’t dark, though, instead lit by lanterns lining the walls.

“Wait,” Nia steps closer to get a better look at the lights. “Are these using—“

“Electricity?!” Junie shouts, making Nia wince.

“Hm?” Fidel pauses, looking back from his place farther ahead. “Oh! Yes, aren’t those incredible? Ash is pretty taken with them. You humans have come up with some amazing technology.”

“How’re they…holding the electricity?” Tobias asks, clearly curious but not wanting to make it obvious. He looks at Nia and Junie, the two humans in the tunnel.

Junie holds up her wings. “Don’t look at me!”

Nia’s brow furrows as she tries to remember elementary school lessons from over a decade ago. “W-Well. In the human world I think electricity runs through a…wire? And it heats up until it’s so hot that it glows. I think that’s how it worked with old bulbs, at least.”

“But where does the electricity come from?” Junie asks. “They don’t have outlets and wires and stuff here.”

“Our electric type residents give us the energy we need,” Fidel answers, waiting patiently farther down the hall. “Will has been trying to set up electric lighting in all the buildings, but it’s difficult with only a few electric types living here and such a big area to cover. He also has the tendency to get distracted by other projects, so for now this one is on hold.”

“I get that. I’m easily distracted too,” Junie says, tracking a dust mote as it floats by.

“Speaking of…” Fidel says. His voice is light, but he tilts his head in a clear bid for them to keep moving.

“Oh! Right!” Nia hurries to catch up to Fidel.

The tunnel goes a bit farther into the mountainside before opening up to a large room, also dimly lit by electric lanterns. There are three more tunnels leading out of the room, and Nia wonders for a moment what kind of rooms they lead to and how deep they go.

A table sits in the middle of this room, with round cuts of stone positioned around it to act as stools. There’s also a large bookshelf full of tomes against the far wall, and a desk covered with papers at its side.

Hovering at the desk is Will. The yamask is crowded close to someone Nia thinks, for a moment, is a decoration rather than a Pokemon. They almost look like a mix between a totem pole—all colorful geometric patterns and black accents—and a…bird? They have thin, angular wings, and bring to mind art that Nia had seen somewhere in the human world. Maybe Native American or South American pieces? They have no hands, so they’re holding onto a few of the papers with psychic energy. The two of them are murmuring to each other, deep in discussion.

Fidel clears his throat.

Will’s thoughtful frown vanishes as he looks up. “Ah, come in, come in! It’s good to see you three again.”

Will hands his own papers over to the totem-bird, then leaves their side to greet the newcomers. He shakes Nia’s hand, skin cold in the brief moment of contact, and nods with a warm smile at Tobias and Junie.

“Good to see you too!” Junie chirps. “Nice digs you’ve got here.”

Will chuckles. “Thank you. It’s not much, but it works well enough. We wanted to build a safe inner space in case the outer homes became uninhabitable in poor weather, but it doubles as a great area for our research. And for discussing more, ah, sensitive topics.”

The totem-bird tilts their way at that, looking at them with a single cyan eye. Then they wordlessly take the papers they’d been reading and hover down one of the tunnels until they’re out of sight.

Will gestures to the table. “Would you like to sit? I hear you all had a long journey yesterday.”

“We did!” Junie says. She sits first on one of the stools, and then—when that’s too short for her to see over—opts instead to perch on the edge of the table itself. “I thought my feet were gonna fall off.”

“We carried you half the way!” Tobias protests, taking a seat for himself.

“Nia did.”

“You don’t weigh a lot,” Nia says, taking a seat too. “But we were definitely happy to see this place. Thank you for letting us stay for a few days.”

“Of course,” Will says. “Any human—or friend of humans—is a friend of ours. Our little settlement has grown a lot in the past few months, but we’re always happy to see new faces.”

“And yet somehow everything here is free,” Tobias says, almost casual if not for the accusatory stare he’s sending Will’s way.

Will sits down across from Nia, placing his golden mask face-up on the table. Unsettling human eyes stare blankly at the rock ceiling. “We have quite a few of our people acting as gatherers, and we’re working on building an agricultural system for this climate as well. So we don’t need to buy much to survive.”

“But you buy some of it.”

Nia kicks Tobias lightly under the table, fighting to keep a pleasant expression on her face. He stubbornly refuses to look her way.

“We do,” Will agrees. “We sell some of the goods the artisans make here, like our soaps, tools, and clothes, and that gives us a decent fund for necessities.”

“Human-made goods are considered luxury items,” Fidel adds, taking a spot at Will’s left shoulder, like a second-in-command at a guild. Even from his place on the floor, he’s taller than everyone sitting on the stools. “Humans craft differently than Pokemon do.”

“They really bring in that much coin?” Tobias asks, clearly doubtful.

“Dude,” Junie says, looking both amused and exasperated.

Will laughs. “Tobias, if I’ve done something to earn such distrust, you’re more than welcome to ask me about it directly. Or in private, if you prefer.”

Tobias’ face flushes, embarrassed to be called out. But he just huffs and crosses his arms, leaning back as far as he can on the stool without falling off.

“Look, you haven’t done anything…wrong, really. You just make a lot of promises that I’m not convinced you can keep, and you’re so vague about everything. Plus, you’re, y’know.”

Tobias gestures vaguely at Will.

Will just seems amused by this conversation. He raises his brows. “I’m..?”

“That!” Tobias says, pointing with a scowl. “You have all the reason in the world to get mad about me being so suspicious of you, but you aren’t.”

Nia peeks at Will, embarrassed and guilty and yet somehow a little relieved that Tobias is just putting everything out there.

Will hums, leaning forward to rest his chin on interlaced hands. “Well, I’m certainly not going to get angry with you for being cautious. I actually think a bit of suspicion is healthy when dealing with those you don’t know well.”

Nia blinks at Will, surprised. He’s always seemed so welcoming, so Nia had assumed he was more like her and just put his trust into people.

Tobias makes a low sound, unconvinced.

“As for being vague and making promises?” Will’s smile turns a little sad, a little self-deprecating. “I suppose in a way, you’re correct about that.”

Tobias doesn’t reply, waiting for Will to elaborate.

“While we are looking into all the leads we can, we don’t have as many answers as I would like to have by this point.”

“But you said you could get us home,” Nia says, voice small.

Will locks eyes with her. “And I promise you I will. That’s why I’m all right with making such promises despite not knowing exactly how I will achieve them. This is all I care about in this world. In a way, it is my life’s work. And I’m determined to accomplish it and return us home, no matter what.”

Nia nods, trying to swallow the uncertainty in her chest. There’s so much conviction in Will’s voice, a fire in his eyes, that she can’t help but believe him.

Tobias, on the other hand, still seems unsatisfied.

“And the funds to build this place?” Tobias asks. “You didn’t have any artisan ‘mon or goods to sell until after it was made, right?”

“Correct. I saved up for years to get the money, doing odd jobs and the like,” Will answers. “And I made quite a few friends over that time who were willing to help me get it started.“

“Like myself,” Fidel confirms, smiling. “Will and I were friends before we started working towards the same goal. He’s the one who told me all about the human world.”

“And that’s why you want to go to the human world with Asher?” Junie asks. “Because Will is?”

Fidel’s happy expression fades. “I decided long ago to follow Will, but like most of the other natural-born Pokemon who want to cross over, this world’s deterioration is definitely a factor. I…worry. About Asher growing up here. Perhaps the human world will be kinder.”

“I don’t know if the human world would be kinder, really. I like this place better, personally.” Junie glances at Nia. “But to each their own, I guess.”

“The human world can be plenty nice,” Nia protests.

“Even if they don’t turn into humans when they cross over?” Tobias asks.

Nia opens her mouth, then closes it, looking away. Which she knows is an answer in itself.

Fidel doesn’t seem surprised. “Even if we don’t turn into humans ourselves, we always have our illusions to rely on. They’ve gotten us this far.”

“I’m sure we can get you set up just fine,” Will says, all confidence. “I’ve learned a few things about making a new life in a new world since coming here, and I was doing just fine in the human world before.”

Nia perks up at that. “Oh! Right! You probably remember your human life since you’re a yamask, right?”

“What did you do before becoming a Pokemon?” Junie asks curiously. “Were you like a motivational speaker or something?”

“I was an accountant,” Will laughs. “Incredibly boring work, I’m afraid. I’m more interested in knowing about you all! Nia, you said in your letter that you remembered a bit about your human life after falling ill, correct?”

“Yes!” Nia leans over the table in her excitement. She’s shared a few of her memories with Tobias, and he sort of gets it since he lost his own family, but not completely. He wasn’t human, after all. “I don’t remember everything, but I remember some things about my family! I have a mom and a brother, Clay. And my best friend Toni is basically my sister.”

“That’s wonderful,” Will says, smiling warmly. “I can tell you’re close by how you talk about them. I’m sure they miss you terribly.”

Nia feels a stab of grief in her chest, so abrupt that it steals her breath away. She doesn’t like thinking about that, about her family wondering where she is and when she’s coming back and if she’s okay. “Y-Yeah. I really miss them, too.”

She misses joking around with Clay and Toni. Misses talking about school and everyday nonsense with her mom. Misses their house and their old swingset and the comforting routine of her human life.

Slowly, Nia sits back on her stool again.

“It’ll be all right,” Will says, reaching across the table to pat Nia’s hand. Despite the cold, it’s comforting. Almost parental. “We’ll get you back home to your family. I promise you that.”

Nia gives him a watery smile in response.

“Have you recovered any memories?” Will asks, looking at Junie next.

Junie cringes. “Uh. Yeah, some. I don’t, um. Really wanna go back, though.”

“Is that so?” Will asks, visibly surprised.

Junie opens her mouth, probably to deflect. Then her eyes flick to Nia, and she sighs. “…Look, I don’t have a lot I want to go back to, okay? I’m still too young to live on my own and I don’t have the best relationship with my parents. They don’t really…like me. They think I’m too annoying.”

Nia hears Fidel suck in a breath. Will frowns. Even Tobias seems offended on Junie’s behalf. Nia tries to parse the words she just heard.

Too annoying? Sure, kids can be a bit much, but what kind of parent doesn’t like their own child? And openly enough for their child to state it as surely as the sky is blue or the grass is green? Like it’s fact?

“But they love you, right?” Nia asks, quiet.

Junie scoffs. “Sure. Maybe. Doesn’t matter if I can’t tell, though.”

There are a few moments of heavy silence.

Nia suddenly understands Junie’s adoration of Bolat. The skarmory is clearly as fond of her as she is of him, which must’ve been…new, for her.

Nia’s heart aches.

Fidel speaks up first, expression pained. “I’m sorry to hear that, Junie. No child should ever feel unloved by their parents.”

“Guess my parents didn’t get the memo,” Junie mumbles. “Probably happy to be rid of me, honestly.”

“Then that is their loss,” Will says, sharper than Nia expects.

Another moment of uncomfortable silence. Even Junie and Tobias look surprised by Will’s anger, sudden and biting. Nia would’ve expected Fidel to be angry, being a parent himself, but…

Will takes a deep breath, then lets it out, smoothing one hand across the tabletop. The other latches onto his golden mask. “…Apologies. I’m afraid that’s a bit of a sore spot for me. Well, for the both of us, I suppose.”

“Did…” Nia hesitates. She doesn’t want to be nosy, but… “Do you have kids? In the human world?”

Will smiles. “I do. Well, I expect I do by now.”

“You expect you do?” Tobias asks.

“When I first came to this world, my wife was pregnant. If time passes at the same rate in both worlds, then our daughter was born years ago.”

“I’m so sorry,” Nia murmurs.

“Thank you.” Will’s voice is rough, so he clears his throat before speaking again. “You can imagine why I’m so set on finding a way home.”

The yamask’s gaze shifts down. He strokes wispy black fingers down his mask, tracing the lifeless eyes etched there.

“I did not have the greatest parents myself, Junie,” Will continues. “But I was…so excited to be a father. I just can’t understand parents like yours. I’m sorry that you had to deal with that.”

Junie shifts on her feet, clearly uncomfortable. “Oh. Um…thanks? I’m not too broken up about it anymore. I think I like this place better anyways.”

Will looks up at that. “…I suppose that’s good. Just remember that there’s more than your parents’ disapproval waiting for you in the human world. They matter much less when you’re an adult, and I wouldn’t want you to avoid returning to the human world for something so temporary. You still have a whole life ahead of you.”

Junie looks like she wants this conversation to be over, so she just nods. “I guess I can understand why you want to go back so badly, if you have a wife and kid you actually like.”

“I just want to know they’re all right,” Will says. He gives Nia a sad smile. “I expect you want the same, with your own family. To see them again. Laugh with them and hold them. Grow old with them.”

“More than anything,” Nia says, throat tight.

It’s one thing to have someone be sympathetic to her situation, but it’s different knowing they actually understand where you’re coming from. That they’re feeling the exact same pain you are. Even Hazel, sweet as she is, has already established a life here in the Pokemon world. She has a husband and kids and grandkids. A business and a life. She’s lived here for decades. It’s just not the same.

But Will gets it. He gets it.

“Now,” Will says. He straightens, face falling back into a more neutral expression. “Much as I’d love to sit and reminisce, I believe you came here for a reason, yes? You mentioned to Fidel that you have important information regarding the natural disasters.”

Nia has to take a moment to collect herself, so Tobias starts. “Yeah. Recently, we learned the cause for…well, everything that’s happening in our world, basically. Not just the natural disasters. Nia thought you might be able to help us with a solution.”

Will exchanges a serious look with Fidel. “That’s…certainly more than we were expecting. Please, tell us what you know.”

Tobias glances at Nia. She gives him a weak smile and a thumbs-up, so he gestures with his chin for her to start. They’re getting good at summarizing everything they’ve learned so far, after retelling the sequence of events to Maggie, August, and Junie.

“You know the letter I sent a while ago?” Nia asks. “About Giratina trying to pull me into the stream?”

Will’s expression darkens. Fidel, behind him, frowns but doesn’t look surprised. Will must keep him in the loop.

“Yes?”

“I did some research,” Tobias says. “And realized there was someone who could give us some answers about Giratina. A shedinja to the south, named Edme.”

Will’s face twitches, brow furrowing before smoothing out again.

“We got sidetracked on a different mission first, though,” Nia says. “And long story short, Giratina sort of…helped us out?”

With how Will had insisted humans avoid Giratina at all costs, Nia expects the yamask to look surprised.

Fidel does.

Will simply narrows his eyes, calm and collected. “You’re certain about that? That he was trying to help you?”

Nia exchanges a look with Tobias.

“Preeetty sure,” Tobias drawls. “We probably would’ve died on that mission without him.”

Fidel’s ears pin back, alarm passing over his face. He looks at the three of them in turn, as if to make sure they’re all right.

Will simply hums. “Interesting.”

That’s…it?

“That’s it?” Tobias asks, echoing Nia’s thoughts. His tone is more caustic than the voice in her head, though. “You were so against anyone even talking to Giratina in Ghatha, but you believe that he was helping us? Just like that?”

“Oh, I don’t believe that he helped you out of the goodness of his heart,” Will says, waving the idea away. “I can believe that he helped you, as long as there’s another motive behind his actions.”

“You’re…not wrong,” Nia admits. “I, uh. Actually talked to him, in Shivergleam.”

Will frowns. “You talked to Giratina?”

“Through a reflection?” Fidel asks.

Tobias snorts. “Nope. Edme tricked us and Giratina pulled Nia into his dimension for a little chat.”

“What?” Will floats off his seat. “You were pulled into the Distortion World?”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Fidel asks.

“What did he say to you?” Will cuts in.

“W-Well…” Nia leans back from the intense expression on Will’s face. “He told me his side of the story, I guess? Everyone thinks he was banished to the Distortion World because he attacked another legendary, but Giratina and Edme said that wasn’t true.”

“Likely story,” Will murmurs. He shakes his head. “Continue, please.”

“Um. He said that the fight between him and Cresselia started because Arceus went dormant, and the other legendaries panicked. Since more and more of them were falling asleep and they didn’t know why, tensions were, uh. High. He told the other legendaries off for abandoning the mortal realm and Cresselia attacked him. He was just defending himself.”

Will makes a doubtful sound in his throat, clearly not buying it. Fidel seems more open to the idea, frowning but listening intently.

“The Lake Trio banished him to the Distortion World in all the chaos,” Tobias picks up. “And now Giratina can’t do anything, since he’s stuck there. But he thinks he knows why everything is falling apart—why the legendaries are going dormant, why the mystery dungeons are forming, why the natural disasters are increasing, even why humans are showing up.”

That makes Will straighten, eyes flashing. “They’re all connected? Surely us humans don’t have anything to do with it. That’s just fear-mongering.”

“We aren’t causing the disasters,” Nia agrees. “We’re just…another symptom of the root problem, like everything else.”

“And that problem is?”

Nia tries to remember how Giratina had described it. “Giratina said that his world, the Distortion World, is kind of like a…shell. It’s wrapped around the Pokemon world, which would be the fruit. It encases it. Protects it.”

Will nods.

“And it has…borders, somehow. The…outer skin of that shell, I guess. Giratina said that everything that’s happening is from that border weakening.”

“Weakening?” Fidel asks. “Like it’s…wearing thin?”

Tobias shakes his head. “The border is going to break. Something is going to rip right through it and crack the shell wide open.”

“Going to?” Will echoes.

Nia nods. “He said it hasn’t actually happened yet, because time doesn’t work normally there. But the closer we get to that point in time here, the more severe everything gets.”

“And when we reach that point in time…” Will murmurs.

“He pretty much implied the world would end. That it would be a thousand times worse than what we’re currently seeing.”

Fidel’s red mane bristles, like a cat. He looks horrified.

Will, on the other hand, just seems deep in thought. He has one hand at his chin and the other on his mask.

“What could cause something like that?” He murmurs.

“Giratina said it’d probably have to be a legendary,” Nia says. “Since it’d have to be something super powerful, and most Pokemon don’t even have the ability to affect the border. It’s more like…a sheet of life energy or aura, rather than a tangible, touchable thing.”

“But aren’t most legends already dormant?” Fidel asks.

“They are,” Tobias says, dragging a heavy hand over his face to pinch at his eyes. “So we don’t know how it’s going to happen.”

“Is it predetermined?” Will asks. “Inevitable?”

Nia nods. “I suggested trying to stop it before it happened—whatever it is��but Giratina seemed pretty positive that it was set in stone.”

Everyone falls silent as they digest that. Nia can hear the quiet hum of the electric lanterns on the walls. Will is absentmindedly tracing the lines of his mask, brow furrowed. Fidel is glancing anxiously at the tunnel they arrived through, as if itching to go find Asher. Tobias is staring at the lanterns, tapping his claws against the tabletop. Junie, probably wanting a bit of comfort, hops off the table and into Nia’s lap. Nia makes room for her and cards her fingers through the bird’s soft feathers.

“Giratina said that all of this is connected to humans showing up in this world, correct?” Will finally asks.

Nia nods. “Giratina said that the human world—well, a few different worlds, actually—are right next to this one. Like…fruits on a vine. And since the border is weakening, human souls are starting to…slip through, somehow?“

“Mew’s the one who transforms humans into Pokemon and suppresses their memories so they can acclimate better,” Tobias adds. “They were working together, according to Giratina.”

“That would explain how it was done,” Will murmurs. “Considering she is supposedly the progenitor of all Pokemon.”

“Giratina said Mew transformed every lost human she could find,” Nia says. “Any that she missed, turned into, uh…yamask.”

She feels a bit awkward explaining that. Giratina’s words linger in her skull, that yamask have a harder time acclimating to the Pokemon world. That they’re not…built for it, really. Not fully accepted.

Will barks a bitter laugh. “Well, that explains a few things. So if human souls are slipping through without intent, then we are here entirely by accident?”

“Seems like it,” Tobias snorts. “Yet Giratina still decided it’s apparently Nia’s job to fix this mess.”

“And how does he propose you do that?” Fidel asks, wary.

“Well…since the border is made of life energy, and we’re pretty sure it’s going to break no matter what…”

“Our only idea is to fix it immediately after it breaks, before the damage is fully done,” Tobias finishes. “Most legendaries are already dormant, but there are two that were asleep naturally before Arceus fell.”

Fidel’s eyes widen with understanding. “Yveltal and Xerneas?”

“The gods of…destruction and new life, correct?” Will asks.

Nia nods. “Giratina is hoping that since the two of them were already in a 1,000-year sleep cycle, that we can wake them early somehow.“

“Wake Xerneas early,” Tobias corrects. “Yveltal would probably just make everything worse.”

“Hm.” Will tilts his head. “I suppose he would.”

“So that’s our plan.” Nia says, the words feeling anticlimactic. “Right now we’re just trying to find Xerneas.”

“Which I assume is no small feat, if no one has stumbled across her yet,” Will says.

“That’s what we were hoping to get your help with,” Nia admits. “We have no idea where to start. Giratina only said that she should be here somewhere, in the Pokemon world.”

“August, our guild leader, is looking into it with the archivists, but Nia thought you might have different sources of information than they do.”

Will doesn’t answer right away, looking back down at the golden mask on the table. His hands are steepled in front of his mouth. “Nia, did you ask Giratina about returning to the human world while you were in his dimension?“

Nia blinks, caught off-guard by the sudden change in topic. “U-Um. Yeah, I did. He said that attempting anything like that while the border is unstable would basically be suicide.”

“Odd,” Will murmurs. “I would think it would be easier to travel between worlds while the border is weakened.“

Nia had thought the same thing. The border weakening is how they got here in the first place, after all. But either Giratina is wrong about his own domain, or…

Nia frowns, a prick of unease making her shift in her seat. “Do you think he was lying?”

“Perhaps. If Giratina is truly so desperate for your help, Nia, then he wouldn’t want to risk you leaving before the border is fixed. Making you too afraid to even try hopping back to the human world is certainly one way to accomplish that.”

“But why would he need to lie at all?” Junie asks. “This is Nia we’re talking about here. There’s no way she would just leave everyone behind while this world is falling apart. She’d obviously help fix the border before going back to the human world.”

“Either Giratina doesn’t know Nia’s character very well,” Will says, looking up to meet Nia’s eyes. His expression is grave. “Or…”

Nia’s ears pin back under the weight of Will’s gaze. “O-Or what..?”

Will is silent for a long, long moment. “…Or he’s worried that despite your character, you won’t fix the border if you know the consequences of that decision.”

The…consequences?

“Think about it. Fixing the border means sealing the only known entry point between the human world and this one. Which is also our only known exit point.”

It takes a moment for the implications to sink in.

Nia stares at Will, stricken. “If we fix the border…we’ll be stuck in this world forever?”

“It’s a possibility.”

Nia shakes her head. No. No, there has to be a way. Some way to fix this world without cutting off their only route home.

“Breathe, Nia,” Fidel says, quiet.

Nia had almost forgotten the zoroark was here. She looks at him, uncomprehending. He takes an exaggerated breath, waiting for her to match him before releasing it. Once, twice, three times. Slowly, her rising emotions plateau into something manageable.

“S-So then what do we do?” Nia whispers. “I-I can’t—there has to be some way to do both. Some way to fix this world and still get us home.”

“We don’t know that fixing the border will cut off your only way back to the human world,” Tobias points out.

“True,” Will says. He is clearly deep in thought, but he doesn’t seem panicked by this realization. His serene expression calms something in Nia, too. “I had already been looking into methods for traveling between worlds without Giratina’s help anyways, so this is simply another factor to take into consideration.”

“B-But if Giratina thinks it’s impossible—”

“The gods can be wrong just as often as mortals can,” Will says, voice hard.

Nia doesn’t know what to say to that. But strangely, it gives her some hope.

“So…does this mean you’ll help us look for Xerneas?” Tobias asks, eyes narrowed.

“Yes,” Will says, “Whether Giratina is lying or not, the fact of the matter is that we can’t find a way home if we all die from this calamity first. So finding Xerneas to stabilize the border takes priority.”

“How noble of you,” Tobias says, sarcastic.

“It’s basic logic,” Will says with a smile and a shrug. “Of course I want to go home to my world as soon as possible. But first we must survive this world. With any luck, perhaps the answer to one problem will lead us to the answer for the other.”

Will’s confidence that they can still do both—that they can fix this world and find a way back home—feels like a soothing balm over Nia’s frayed nerves. She definitely doesn’t want to abandon this world and everyone in it to a terrible fate, but she doesn’t want to seal away their one chance at returning home to the human world, either.

There has to be a way for everything to work out.

“Thank you,” Nia breathes. She realizes she’s holding Junie a bit too tightly, and relaxes her grip.

“So we’re officially switching focus?” Fidel asks, looking at Will.

The yamask nods. “Yes. Number one priority is to track down Xerneas or Yveltal.”

There’s a beat of quiet.

“Isn’t that the, uh, destruction guy?” Junie asks. “Didn’t we say we don’t want to wake him up?”

“Correct,” Will says. “But if we can find one legendary, their counterpart will likely be nearby, yes?”

They all look to Tobias and Fidel, the two natural-born Pokemon in the room.

Tobias’ face twists in thought. “That…sounds right, but I haven’t heard any stories about Xerneas or Yveltal in forever.”

“I believe legend states that they do sleep near one another,” Fidel confirms.

Will claps, straightening up with a smile. “Excellent. So we have our next step, yes? We locate Xerneas, wake her, and enlist her aid in fixing the border once the break occurs. Do we have a guesstimate for when that will happen?”

“W-Well, Giratina said it would definitely happen within the year. But I don’t think he was sure other than that? It could be sooner.”

Will nods. “Then we shouldn’t delay.”

“Would you like me to notify the research team?” Fidel asks.

“Please do.”

Fidel rises to his paws, shoots Nia, Tobias, and Junie a quick smile, then lopes down the tunnel the totem-bird had disappeared into earlier.

“Thank you so much for helping us with this,” Nia sighs, turning back to Will. “You don’t know how much of a relief it is having your support.”

“Of course,” Will says with a comforting smile. “Thank you for coming to me.“

Will grabs his mask and moves off his stool. Nia and Tobias follow his lead, getting to their feet. Junie hops onto Nia’s shoulder to hitch a ride.

“So what now?” Tobias asks, glancing down the tunnel Fidel and the totem-bird researcher had vanished into. “We go back to the guild and you let us know if you find anything?”

“You’re welcome to stay here at the settlement for a bit,” Will says. “While I doubt we’ll be able to locate either legendary immediately, it should only take a few days for us to give you a better idea of where to search.”

“That soon?” Nia asks.

Will floats a bit higher, looking proud. “My research team has access to a wide array of resources. Give us a couple of days and we can give you at least a vague idea of where to start looking.”

Nia smiles. “That sounds great. Thank you, Will.”

“Of course,” Will gestures towards the tunnel they entered from, as if to guide them back outside. “We’ll be sure to keep you updated, but let Fidel or I know if you need anything in the meantime.“

“Why the rush, Will?”

Nia nearly trips over her own paws, not expecting the distinctly feminine voice from the mouth of one of the inner tunnels. It sounds strangely familiar too, light and teasing with a sharp undertone, but surely it can’t be—

“Rosalind?” Tobias hisses under his breath.

Sure enough, there’s a hatterene leaning casually against the opening of one of the tunnels, her pink and blue colors bright against the natural tones of the cave. She has that same sly smile curling at her lips, dark eyes glittering beneath the hat-like piece on her head.

Will squeezes his eyes shut, looking distinctly irritated for a moment before pasting on a smile and turning to meet Rosalind’s eyes. “Rosalind. Finished with your tea?”

Rosalind laughs, dainty and light, then shuffles forward to meet them. “I was wondering who you had to meet with so urgently. You know I like to stay in the loop on these things, Will.”

“That I do,” Will sighs. After a moment of hesitation, he turns to present Rosalind to them. “Nia, Tobias, Junie, this is—"

“We’ve met,” Tobias says, tense.

Will falters, frowning as he looks between the three of them and Rosalind. “…Is that so?”

“It is! These three are some of my cutest little workers.”

“How…nice,” Will says, stilted.

Nia understands the awkward tension in the air. She feels unsure about this whole situation, too. Rosalind isn’t exactly shy about being a shady underworld informant, so why is she here with Will?

For a moment, Nia considers Tobias’ ever-present suspicion of the yamask. Glancing at her partner, who has yet to look away from Rosalind, it’s clear that any rapport Will had built during their previous conversation has been wiped away. And for once, she can’t really blame him. What would Will need Rosalind around for?

…Then again, they needed Rosalind’s help to find the outlaw trio that Tobias is after. Who’s to say Will doesn’t have a similar arrangement?

Nia takes a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. They all have their reasons.

Rosalind’s dark eyes focus on Nia, and her smile grows. Right. Empath. “Good to see you again, Team Scarlet.”

“Wish I could say the same,” Tobias grumbles. He glares openly between Rosalind and Will. “Why are you here? How do you two know each other?”

“How forward of you!” Rosalind mock gasps, putting the hand of her hair-tentacle-arm thing over her mouth. “Don’t you know a lady’s affairs are private?”

Will sighs again. “Rosalind and I are…acquaintances.”

“Is that all we are? Come now, Will, we’ve known each other for years.”

“Rosalind.”

Rosalind smiles sweetly, clearly enjoying herself.

Nia isn’t sure how to feel about…any of this, really.

“Fine, fine.” Rosalind looks back to them. “Consider us…business partners, of a sort. You know that I like to stay informed about all the goings-on in the world. I can’t let an entire group of humans go off on their own without knowing what they’re up to, can I? I’m not very fond of surprises, after all.”

Nia…supposes that makes sense. Still, she exchanges a guarded, doubtful look with Tobias.

“So you get information. What does Will get out of your…partnership?” Tobias asks.

“He already told you some of his assets came from old friends, correct?” Rosalind says.

“You were listening to our conversation?” Junie blurts.

“Yes. A bit rude, perhaps, but it’s also rude to leave a guest waiting.”

“What do you want, Rosalind?” Will asks, sounding very tired.

“So impatient,” Rosalind tsks. Then she smiles at Tobias. “Since fate decided we should cross paths, I just wanted to offer a little tidbit of information that Team Scarlet might be interested in.”

Tobias straightens, eyes flashing. “Is this about..?”

“It is. Are you interested?“

Tobias glances at Will. “Not here. But yeah.”

Rosalind hums. “Fair. Will, darling, would you mind giving us a moment?”

Will does in fact look like he minds, but after a few seconds he relents with a stiff smile. “Of course.” He turns back to the three of them. “I’m going to confer with the research team. I’ll speak with you all later.”

Nia nods with a shaky smile. “Sounds good. Thanks again, Will.”

“Thank you as well,” Will says. Then he turns and heads down the tunnel Fidel had disappeared through, sparing Rosalind one last glance before vanishing.

Rosalind looks back to them. “Now, where were we?”

“First,” Tobias says, arms crossing. “What’s the price?”

Rosalind laughs, louder than earlier . More genuine. “You catch on quickly, don’t you? Good.“

Nia exchanges a worried look with Junie. Rosalind makes her nervous in the best of circumstances, but especially when they’re “negotiating.”

“My price is low this time around. I won’t even draw up a contract, seeing as this meetup was unexpected.” Rosalind leans over them, closer to their faces. Nia leans back, gulping.

“Personal space?” Junie mumbles.

“All I want,” Rosalind whispers, and the quiet tone puts Nia even more on edge. “Is for you to inform me immediately if our dearest Will makes a move to go to the human world.”

Nia blinks. “…W-What? But we aren’t—we’re only trying to find Xerneas right now. He can’t make the jump until we fix—“

“Can’t he?” Rosalind asks, smile dropping. She tilts her head, locking eyes with Nia.

Nia feels her stomach drop.

What exactly is Rosalind implying? That Will isn’t going to do what he says he is? That he’s going to try to go to the human world without fixing the Pokemon world first? He wouldn’t do that, not when it would mean disaster for everyone.

He…wouldn’t, right?

“What do you know?” Tobias asks.

“Mm. Nothing substantial.” Rosalind straightens up with a pleasant smile. “Just a hunch. I’ve known Will for years. He’s more desperate than he appears.”

“E-Even then, he wouldn’t do that,“ Nia protests. “It’s not safe to try until the border is fixed! For either world.”

“I wonder. Grief has it’s own kind of logic, to those desperate enough.”

Nia falls silent, wishing Junie was in her arms to hug instead of perched on her shoulder.

“Anything that sets off alarm bells, you tell me about immediately,” Rosalind reiterates. “Deal?”

“W-Why?” Nia can’t help asking. “Why do you want to know?”

Rosalind tilts her head. “Because that idiot is either going to make a horrible mistake with repercussions that I do not want to deal with, or he is going to be my ticket to safety when this world falls apart. Either way, he cannot be trusted to act in my best interests.”

Nia falls silent. She desperately wants to defend Will, but she also feels like arguing with Rosalind is liable to get her mysteriously injured. Or worse.

“Deal,” Tobias says. “If we notice anything, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.”

Rosalind smiles. “Good. In that case, here’s your payment. Are you familiar with Kaleido Bay?”

That does sound familiar. Nia looks to Tobias.

“The city to the south, right?” He asks, frowning. “Where the road meets the sea?”

“That’s it,” Rosalind says, turning to stroll along the wall of the room. “It’s had trouble with damages recently due to natural disasters, but it’s a lovely little city. Lots of shops.”

“Okay?” Tobias says with a scowl. “What about it?”

“It won’t be to your liking, Charmander,” Rosalind says, reaching out to tap at one of the lantern lights. “Half the city is floating above the waves and other half lies beneath them. However, it does hold something of interest, other than shops.”

Nia glances at Tobias. He’s tracking Rosalind closely, fists balled.

“Kaleido Bay, funny enough, holds a prison under its waves, reserved for particularly dangerous criminals."

Oh. Oh no. Nia’s stomach sinks.

“They caught them?” Tobias rasps, taking a step forward.

“They caught one of them,” Rosalind says, turning back to them. “The pangoro, Dismas. He’s under tight security, but if you’d like to talk to him I can arrange a conversation.”

“Yes.” Tobias doesn’t even hesitate, taking another step towards the hatterene. “Please.”

“Tobias,” Nia murmurs, laying a gentle hand on his arm.

He jolts, as if he forgot she was even there.

“Are you sure you’ll be…okay? Seeing him?” Nia whispers.

She can’t help thinking about Tobias at that crobat’s home in the desert. Overwhelmed by grief and destroying the gifts left on the outlaw’s grave. She’d never seen him so…lost in himself before. It was scary.

Tobias swallows. He looks away. “I have so many questions. I have to talk to him, Nia.”

Nia squeezes his arm once before letting go. “…Okay.”

Junie snuggles closer to Nia’s neck. Nia appreciates the warm point of contact and leans her head into the touch.

Rosalind smiles. “Excellent. In that case, go to the prison in Kaleido and ask to speak to Jude, on behalf of Rosie.”

“Rosie?” Junie mumbles, just loud enough for Nia to hear.

“When Jude arrives, tell him you need to speak with prisoner D22. And no, he does not get a choice. He either lets you in, or I tell his superiors about Sahara City.”

Nia doesn’t want to know what this Jude did in Sahara City or just how much trouble he’ll be in if Rosalind rats him out. Even the vague threat directed at someone else sends goosebumps down Nia’s arms.

Rosalind is terrifying.

Nia can tell Tobias is unnerved too, his shoulders tense, but he simply nods. “Got it. Anything else?“

“No, that should be it.” Rosalind smiles at them. “You’re free to leave. Good luck.”

Without looking away from the hatterene, Tobias herds Nia and Junie towards the tunnel they’d initially entered through.

“Actually, there is one more thing,” Rosalind calls, stopping them in their tracks.

Nia peeks over her shoulder, past Tobias. Rosalind has moved over to the desk with papers scattered atop it, looking idly through them.

“Remember that I do know you’re human now, Riolu. Rookidee.” Rosalind’s voice is calm, but Nia’s breath catches all the same. “And rumors can be a nasty, nasty thing to deal with nowadays. So step carefully.”

“Hey!” Tobias barks. In the low light of the cave, Nia can see embers glowing through the thin skin of his jaw. “I said we’d keep up our end of the deal.”

Rosalind smiles sweetly, looking up at them from across the room. “Then we shouldn’t have any issues, should we?”

Tobias growls under his breath and nudges Nia down the tunnel. Nia does actually stumble over her own paws this time, in her haste to leave.

They’re all silent as they exit the tunnel into the outer building, then even farther outside into early afternoon air. It feels…wrong, for the day to be bright and sunny, all blue sky and cool, fresh air, after such heavy discussions.

Nia takes a deep breath, leaning against the warm stone wall of the village. Tobias follows. The Pokemon—humans—of the village pass around them, still as carefree as ever. Nia can hear the children they’d passed by earlier shouting and laughing in the distance.

“Anyone else kind of hate Rosalind?” Junie asks.

Nia gives a nervous laughs. “I could do without her jump-scaring us, that’s for sure.”

They both look at Tobias, expecting him to respond as well. Instead, he’s looking out over the trees of the mesa, brow furrowed. Looking south, towards Kaleido Bay.

“…Tobias? You all right?”

Tobias takes a breath, shaking his head. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Thinking about Kaleido Bay?”

Tobias nods.

“I thought so,” Nia says, quiet. “When are we leaving?”

Tobias looks up at her, surprised.

Nia lifts her brows in return. Does he really think she’s going to let him go on his own? He should know better by now.

Tobias laughs a quiet, humorless laugh. “You know you don’t have to come.“

“You know I am,” Nia murmurs in return, reaching out to take his hand.

Tobias’ mouth twitches with a smile before falling again. “Kaleido should only be a day’s walk south. We could be back in a couple days and see if Will’s found anything by then.”

Nia nods. “So what time?”

“We could leave early tomorrow morning and get there by late afternoon.”

“Okay,” Nia says, closing her eyes as she leans back against the stone wall. Tobias joins her, hand still clasped in her own. Junie is unmoving on Nia’s shoulder.

Quiet falls over them again. Nia imagines they’re both thinking about the same things she is. Finding Xerneas and saving the world from destruction. Will’s promises and Rosalind’s suspicion. Tobias and the outlaw he’s going to talk to all too soon.

Nia wants to believe that everything will turn out okay, but there’s a pit in her stomach all the same.

#pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #zoroark #zorua #yamask #pmd seekers of soul #tesha draws #tesha writes #teshamerkel

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gingernut1314 · 8 months ago

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Just For One Dance

Sanji x GN!Reader

Summary: You didn't smile. Didn't laugh. Didn't dance. But when you do, you become Sanji's whole world.

Warnings: Fluffff, some angst, Spoilers for the anime (Alabasta Arc)

Word Count: 1.1K

Song:

September - Instrumental

A/N: I've had this little idea for a whileeee now, and I've been itching to write it, so I hope you all enjoy!!! 🩷🩷🩷

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It was as if the moon had carved itself onto your lips. So bright and shining with a celestial glow that was otherworldly.

You were smiling.

You were smiling and it was making it hard for Sanji to breathe.

The cigarette he had lit seconds ago fell from his lips as he watched you tilt your head up to the sky, arms spread so you could feel every last droplet of rain upon your skin. Tears rolled over the flushed rounds of your cheeks, a laugh bordering on a sob falling from those grinning lips of yours.

Your laugh--your laugh.

It was a sound sweeter than honey--richer than the smoothest chocolate. It was a sound that was engraving itself into Sanji’s very mind. One he would not easily forget.

Sanji had known you for a short while now. Had known you ever since the protection of Vivi had been passed from the recently deceased Igaram onto you.

He knew you were a serious, honor and duty-driven warrior. Knew you didn’t seek any of life's pleasures out for yourself, putting your duties and princess above all else.

He knew that included any of the special treats or drinks he made for you and the ladies of his crew. Included the simple act of partaking in conversion outside of snapping words at his crew whenever they grew too careless around your princess. Words Sanji himself had been bitten by more times than he could count on both hands for even trying to make a conversion with you.

Sanji knew you didn’t laugh. Didn’t joke. Didn’t cry or get upset for yourself. Didn’t smile.

He had wanted to change that ever since he had first laid eyes on you at Little Garden after you had someone managed to track your princess down.

He had wanted to bring you joy. Had wanted to try and ease that pain and strife waging a war in your eyes.

He had learned from Vivi what had happened to your family. Your mother and baby sister had been killed during a rather horrid sandstorm. Your father, after joining the royal guard, had been killed in battle. Your brother, very shortly after joining the rebel forces currently opposing Vivi and her father, had been killed during a raid.

Yet you stayed steady in your loyalty to Vivi, who had become your friend and given you sanctuary as her handmaiden as well as the opportunity to train with Igaram. Yet you sought nothing out for yourself, always giving and protecting.

So Sanji did what he could to make you feel appreciated. He made sure your meals were prepared with the utmost care and packed with all the protein and nutrients you needed. Made sure to bring you water after hours of sitting in the sun and training. Sanji even tried his hand at downplaying his flirting. At just sitting with you in your silence and even throwing you the occasional joke just so he could see you crack the smallest of smiles.

It never worked of course. You were a steadfast warrior, one whose serious nature rivaled that of the Straw Hats’ own warrior.

But here you were, smiling as the rain-soaked you to the bone. Smiling and laughing and crying for your country which had faced so much hardship.

And when you turned that smile onto Sanji, his heart stopped. His brain stopped. The soft hush of the rainfall around them and the voices of his crew fell away until all he could hear was you.

He watched you approach him with a carefulness he wanted to tell you wasn’t needed, but his throat had run dry--words catching and faltering under your stunning beauty.

A calloused strong yet gentle hand smoothed over his, slowly interlocking fingers in a soft hold. Some semblance of sense came back to Sanji then, his fingers tightening their hold around your hand and feet moving him closer into your joy-filled presence.

“Dance with me?” You asked, eyes turning away from his in yet another emotion you had yet to gift him. Shyness.

“I thought you didn’t dance?” Sanji teased, leaning ever closer.

He wanted to be near you--needed to be near you. It was a feeling so strong it had a hold on his physical body.

You rolled your eyes at his tease, but that smile never once drooped.

“I told you I wouldn’t dance with you until the rains fell for my home again.” You said, voice cracking in your over-flowing happiness. Your light-filled eyes glanced upward once more, your smile only growing. “I could be mistaken, but I believe it’s raining now.” Sanji’s own laugh flew from his chest, gaining those watery, joy-filled eyes once more.

“I believe it is.” He pulled you carefully against his body, his own hand guiding yours to lay on his shoulder.

“I must warn you though. I am a horrid dancer.” You laughed in that silvery way of yours, pulling your body flush against Sanji’s. “I am but a lowly soldier.”

“And I am but a lowly pirate. What brilliant dance partners will we make for each other.” You watched Sanji was a long moment. Watched him as your eyes softened and your smile grew warm. A softness and warmth meant only for him. Warmth that wormed its way into Sanji’s heart and would stay there until death was kissing his brow.

Just as Sanji’s hand found purchase on the small of your back, the voice of your princess came floating closer. A voice that had your smile faltering and that seriousness filling your eyes. You were going to leave him just as he had been gifted your smile and laughter and joyous brightness.

Sanji held you closer against his body--leaned in closer so that his nose was just a breath away from kissing your own. Your eyes widened and that shyness Sanji had instantly loved upon its first arrival bloomed over your face.

“Let's be selfish. Just for one dance.” You blinked at him. And blinked and Sanji was sure you would pull away from him.

“Just for one dance.” You agreed, your smile growing once more and setting Sanji’s heart ablaze.

The rain was your music and the beat of your heart against his guide.

You may have been true to your word about your dancing abilities, but it hardly mattered to Sanji. Not when you hooked your arms around his neck, resting your forehead against his. Not when your smell, like the very rains falling around you, filled his nose and sent his head spinning. Not when after moments of lovely quiet in each other's arms, you showed him one last gift.

You gifted him a kiss. A smiling kiss he was more than eager to gift right back.

Tags: @fanaticsnail , @lostfirefly

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hotvintagepoll · 8 months ago

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Propaganda

Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter)—She had the most soulful eyes! Like an anime character, it's insane. And she was fantastic in Brief Encounter. I also like that she's relatively ordinary looking, compared to some of the really glamorous Hollywood celebrities? She had an understated beauty, you know? And she's British so horray for national pride, lol.

Hedy Lamarr (Samson and Delilah, Ziegfeld Girl)—Look. I'm sure someone has already submitted Hedy Lamarr because she was spectacularly beautiful, and a very strong lady too: she fled both an abusive marriage AND nazi persecution at a very young age and rebuilt a life for herself pursuing her love for acting all on her own!! Her career as an actress was stellar; while she began acting outside of Hollywood (her very first movie, Ecstasy, won a prize at the Venice Film Festival), she conquered American hearts very quickly with her first movie in the US, Algiers, and then just kept getting better and better. If all this isn't enough, she was also an inventor: her invention of the frequency-hopping spread spectrum radio transmission technique forms the base of bluetooth and has a lot of applications in all kinds of communication technologies. I think that deserves a prize, don't you?

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Celia Johnson:

An argument actually broke out in a film course I was taking, mostly filled with pensioners, because someone called Celia Johnson "not that beautiful" while we were talking about Brief Encounter. I don't understand how anyone can watch that movie and say that, she's got such magnetism and I think she's so gorgeous!!!

This woman set the bar for romantic doomed love and NO ONE has ever bettered it.

Hedy Lamarr:

The only person you can find both on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in the Inventor's Hall of Fame--her radio-frequency-hopping technology forms the basis for cordless phones, wi-fi, and a dozen other aspects of modern life. She was also passionate in her efforts to aid the Allies in WWII (unsurprising for a Jewish-Austrian Emigree to America), and her name served as the backbone for one of the best running jokes in what is possibly Mel Brooks' best movie. Look, Louis B. Mayer apparently believed he could plausibly promote her as "The world's most beautiful woman". Is an entire website full of people going to be less audacious than one Louis B. Mayer? I didn't think so!

Described as "Hedy has the most incredible personal sophistication. She knows the peculiarly European art of being womanly; she knows what men want in a beautiful woman, what attracts them, and she forces herself to be these things. She has magnetism with warmth, something that neither Dietrich nor Garbo has managed to achieve" by Howard Sharpe, she managed to escape her controlling husband (and Nazi Germany) by a) Disguising as her maid and fleeing to Paris or b) Convincing the husband to let her wear all of her jewelry to a dinner, only to disappear afterwards. Also she was particularly clever and helped develop Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum (I can't really explain it but anyway...)

One of the most beautiful women ever in film, spoken by many critics and fans. Beautiful shapely figure, deeper seductive voice, and often played femme fatale roles. She was also brilliant and an inventor. Mainly self-taught, she invested her spare time, including on set between takes, in designing and drafting inventions, which included an improved traffic stoplight and a tablet that would dissolve in water to create a flavored carbonated drink, and much more.

Her depiction of Delilah and Samson and Delilah just lives rent free in my head. The woman was gorgeous.

Gorgeous and brilliant pioneer of modern technology and the middle part.

#hedy lamarr #celia johnson #hotvintagepoll #fuck that old woman #ladies 2

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animestsstuff2 · 7 months ago

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A dragons beauty

Barbarian Katsuki X Reader

Content warning:age gap, forced marriage, bullying (typical Katsuki), dysfunctional family, nudity, teasing.

Part 4

Masterlist

This is kind of long, sorry about that! Anyways I am open to requests to feel free to request any. I do write for other animes than just my hero. Im just a major bakugou fangirl! . I also have an idea for a dabi x water quirk/healing quirk reader if thats interesting to anyone. :)

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You groaned, turning over as you reached for your teddy and pulled it into your chest..your hard, warm skin-like teddy. You opened your eyes, rubbing the crusts formed on the corners as you realised it was in fact Bakugous hand that was currently on your chest, hand flat and squeezing your boob slightly. You squealed and jumped up, backing yourself against the wall behind the bed as Bakugou alerted jumped out of the bed and whipped himself round, looking for what made you scream.

He turned back seeing nothing as he found you with the pelt around you pressed against the wall. Your face extremely red as you glanced at him, more so at what hung between his legs and squealed again pulling the pelt over your face.

Bakugou whipped his head around once more wondering what has you acting this way before grumbling, assuming it was just things women from your part did when they woke up. He got back into the bed with you, grabbing the pelt from your hands and snatching it over him. Your face still bright red as you stared wide eyed into his tired ones.

"Y-Your naked!" You stuttered out at him, his brow rose quizzically at your words, trying to remember what they meant. You caught on that he didn't understand and you pointed to your clothed chest and then to his bare one. His brows furrowed further before realising what you meant.

He only rolled his eyes at you, what a prude, was all he could think. You stayed pressed against the wall, face slightly less red. He just scoffed at you and turned over, closing his eyes when his tarp door was pulled open and his friend Kirishima walked in with a toothy grin on display.

"Bakugou! its time to get up. Your father asked that we show your mate around the grounds!" He informed rather chipper, too chipper for Bakugou who only barked something back at the man. You only glanced between them, wishing your father wasn't so piggish and allowed you and Fuyumi to join in your brothers language tutoring.

Bakugou only grumbled under his breath as he whipped the pelt off him and stood up. Your face immediately becoming red again as you caught sight of it between his legs. Kirishima eyes widened as he looked at the both of you, sure you were still dressed but maybe that's what your people slept in and plus your hair was all ruffled. Your eyes widened watching Kirishima wiggle his brows at Bakugou and you quickly waved your hands about, pointing between yourself and Bakugou and shaking your head.

"No! nothing happened" You told him, face red and voice slightly high. Kirishima just tilted his head at your language. He knew even less than Bakugou but understood the word No. He chuckled at your embarrassed expression and looked back at Bakugou who was now changed. Bakugou turned to you, eyes narrowed as he pointed to your trunk on the ground.

"Change and come" he stated sternly and you just nodded. You pulled your trunk up onto the bed, struggling slightly at the weight. You opened it up and thrifted through your belongings, grabbing out a sage green dress with a pleated skirt, folding it onto the bed as you pulled your underwear. You looked over at the two men who stood staring at you and narrowed your eyes which slightly shocked Kirishima, you were so small yet those eyes held much fierceness.

"I can't change with you both in here" You told them and Kirishima almost like a dog tilted his head again at your foreign words. You sighed and pointed at the door making them both turn their head.

"Go out" you told them making a shooing motion with your hands. Kirishima nodded, realising what you meant and quickly excused himself. Bakugou however showed no sign of leaving. You repeated your actions at him but he only crossed his arms and shook his head. He is the chiefs son and this is his home not yours. "I have to get changed, i cant with you here” You told him once more. He only glared at you daring you to tell him what he can and cant do again.

“At least turn around please? Its not proper for a woman to change in front of a man” you asked him softly, sighing at his stubbornness. You realised he wasn’t going to do as you asked and you felt tears prick your eyes great another boarish man to control my life. You reached behind and pulled at the tied ribbon, undoing it as you glanced every so often at him. He only stared at you his gaze never wavering.

This was humiliating and demeaning. You pulled the dress down off you leaving you in your cotton bra and underwear. You looked back up at him, a tear running down your cheek and he rolled his eyes finally turning around. You felt the weight on your chest lift as you quickly wriggled your underwear off and pulled the clean pair on along with the new green dress. It fell just to mid-calf, slipping your short heeled boots on and grabbed your tan cloak, doing the clasp on your collar bone joining it together to wrap around your shoulders.

“Y-You can turn around now” you told him. He turned back around seeing you fully dressed. Your clothing was so different compared to his tribes, moderate and conservative. He turned making a motion with his hand for you to follow as you both exited his home. You met the red head waiting outside and you figured you could at least learn his name.

“Hi, I’m Kya” you told him, he didn’t understand his brows furrowing slightly as he repeated the words, not very well.

“Kya” you pointed to yourself as you repeated your name and then pointed to bakugou.

“Katsuki” you stated and then pointed to him hoping he’d understand which he did. His eyes lit up and he smiled at you.

“Ejiro Kirishima!” You gave him a small smile back and repeated his name slowly hoping to get the pronunciation right, which you think you did since he nodded excitedly.

Bakugou just scoffed at the both of you and barked something at kirishima who began to follow. You quickly stumbled to catch up, looking around at your new..home. The feeling of where you were now settled once more and you felt yourself grow sad over the fact you weren’t at home with Fuyumi watching your brothers play in the courtyard.

This place was so different compared to your castle and village. It was quite big and from what you could see as you walked further from Bakugous tent that he was quite isolated. The further you got the more tents popped up. They were all almost uniformly built in circles of three with a small campfire and boxes in the centre of each of them, the sizes of the tents varied in their circles.

“Where are we going?” You asked, glancing at them both. Kirishima didn’t answer not understanding what you said.

“Out, show you” was all Bakugou said and you nodded. It was good he understood some of your words and could speak your tongue.

You continued walking, in loops and down gravel paths past other tribe members. There was surprisingly a lot to see. They had a very large campfire in the center of this tribe. There was also a market like area at the edge close to the gates. It had a fee stands where you seen cloth being woven, metal welded into armour and swords and some butchery too. The people here bowed as Bakugou walked by before resuming their tasks.

He led you around some more the only conversing was done between him and Kirishima. You distracted by thoughts of missing home gasped as you bumped into his back, stumbling back slightly you opened your mouth to quickly apologise but the hot-headed blonde was already shouting at you in his language. The words along with his accent and the fact he was shouting made you jump and tears prick your eyes as you were reminded of your father. You couldn’t help the facial flinch as your eyes squinted and you turned your head ever so.

“Bakugou! Stop youre scaring her!” Kirishima scolded his friend. Bakugou stopped his shouting acknowledging your form, you looked like you were trying to hide. He rolled his eyes and put his hand out. You flinched slightly before widening your eyes and seeing he wanted you to take it.

You grabbed it and he squeezed yours tightly making your cheeks warm as he stared down at you. His eyes seemingly always narrowed.

“M’sorry” was all he muttered before pulling you inside a large tent. You seen inside it was similar to Bakugous. His mother and father stood in front of you and you watched as Kirishima knelt on one leg bowing, bakugou however made no move to follow. You looked between his parents and upon seeing his mothers red eyes you quickly bowed yourself.

“Son! Did you show Kya around like we asked?” His mother spoke and again you wish you understood them because they were clearly talking about you when she mentioned your name.

“Kya, how has your morning been?” Bakugous father asked and you looked over to him smiling.

“G-Good! Thank you for asking sir” you told him. He gave you a soft smile.

“I have asked our academic Izuku to tutor you in our language and our clans ways. He will collect you tomorrow morning” he informed you and you just nodded, still accepting that this is where you are now.

“I have also organised for some of our females to spend some time with you tomorrow after your time with Izuku. They will get you fitted with our tribal clothes. . .” he continued and you tuned him out as he kept speaking, you finally thought youd come to terms with this but hearing all these things made your stomach queasy and your head sore. You subconsciously squeezing Bakugous hand which made the blonde turn to you cutting his attention from his talking mother.

He stared at you, seeing your eyes were ever so slightly still watery and your chest moving quicker in shorter breaths. You were overwhelmed by his fathers rambling and he snapped at his father to be quiet. His mother only roared at her son for back talking but he ignored them both, taking you and leaving their place. He dragged you along down and out of their walls, pulling you down onto a path through the forest. You suddenly snapped back when your foot caught under a tree root and you tripped into him.

Yous both stumbled, him alerted and half way turning to try and catch you but you were already falling and now so was he. He groaned as the dirt and stones dug into his back harder than usual due to your now added weight on top. You groaned quietly as you rubbed your head and sat up, looking around for the blonde only to hear his voice snap at you from below. Your head snapped down and you blinked dumbly as your brain processed the position you two were in.

You quickly scrambled up and onto your feet, cheeks flushed once again. Bakugou picked himself up and put his hand out once more which you hesitantly took, embarrassed that you were sitting on him!. You both continued the path becoming slightly narrower through the thicket. Your dress kept catching on the brambles and thorns that jutted out. Bakugou growing annoyed at having to keep stopping grabbed a small blade he had holstered in his waistband. Your eyes widened and you shook your head, mind going to the worst thought. This is it. Im dead. Hes going to kill me.

You squeezed your eyes shut only to hear the tearing if fabric which made you reopen them to see he was slicing your dress.

“Hey! This is one of my favourite dresses! Youre ruining it” you swatted his head as you yelled at him, how dare he do this. He snatched the limp fabric, the dress now ending just above mid thigh. Your eyes widened at the amount of skin you were showing, your father would murder you right now! Hell so would your brothers. You glared up at him but he just turned back around and kept walking.

You both eventually reached a clearing and you gasped at the view. A medium lake glistened from the high sun. The water was quiet and still. A large bright green willow tree hung over it and you stepped forward further into the clearing. The mountains had been lacking in anything like this from what you had seen, one side was rocky cliffs and staggering ledges and the other a dense forest which you thought no one could get through but he brought you here.

He watched you as you stepped over to the pond. The green grass soft on your knees as you knelt down and dipped your hands into the water. You looked happy, tranquil even. The blondes face for once sporting the smallest of smiles as he watched you spot the fish giggle at them swishing around. He came to sit beside you, pulling his boots off and slipping his feet into the cold water. A sigh leaving his lips as he leaned back on his hands.

You watched, staring at him longer than you should. He was attractive and you couldn’t deny that, at least your father picked you a handsome husband. His blonde hair messily ruffled on top of his head as your eyes trailed down, to his closed eyes and relaxed face further you went. His chest was broad with lean muscle the whole way down. A large scar stretched from just over his left shoulder down to his chest. You glanced back up at him and seen he was staring at you and your cheeks flushed, embarrassed you were caught ogling him.

“Kya” he started and you turned your head back to him catching his gaze once more. The sun hit your face and highlighted the pale freckles on your skin. Your white hair reflecting the suns rays in a almost halo hue that even Bakugou thought was ethereal.

“What age you?” He asked, his deep voice was soft and raspy. It was different compared to his shouting and roughness. He still wasn’t fluent in your tongue, maybe you could teach him and he could teach you.

“Are. What age are you” you told him and his brow raised slightly before catching on that you were trying to tutor him. He nodded, signalling he understood.

“I am eighteen” you answered. He nodded, turning to face the bond as the water shifted slightly. The fish disturbing the stillness.

“What age are you?” You asked in return. The sun was warm even with the slight breeze and it made you excited for the summer to come.

“Twenty-three soon” he told you and your eyes widened slightly. He was the same age as your brother Shoto and quite older than you. Why isnt he married already? Even your brother is engaged.

The two of you stayed there in the comforting noises of leaves rustling and birds singing. The breeze picking up ever so slightly making you shiver which Bakugou picked up on. He shifted over and put his arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his chest and under his cape. Your face warmed as you sat rigid beside him, never been this close to another man except for family.

He noticed your tenseness and felt himself grow angry. What was it that you didn’t like about him? He brought you somewhere nice, asked you about yourself and didn’t snap when you corrected him. He pulled away slightly to look down at you, seeing your face slightly red.

“Why not like me?” He asked, brows furrowed as his red eyes were narrowed in on your grey ones. Your brows raised at his question, it wasn’t that you didn’t like him; you barely knew him.

“I-I do like you! We just aren’t well acquainted” you told him moving to sit up slightly from his chest. Your thighs still stuck together.

“Why not kiss me?” He retorted and your eyes widened further. He was still mad you didn’t kiss him. You felt yourself grow embarrassed not wanting to reveal the answer.

“I-, I have never kissed anyone before” you whispered, looking away as your fingers plucked at a blade of grass. Bakugou stared at you translating your words before understanding and laughed at you.

His loud laugh made you snap your eyes back up at him. It was your turn to be angry as you shoved him and got up. He sat up still chuckling as he watched you stomp towards the forests edge. He rolled his eyes at your pettiness and pulled his boots on and got up. He followed you seeing you struggling to find the path yous took down.

He grabbed your arm and you yelped, flailing it as you tried to snatch it from him but he only turned you and pressed you against the oak behind you. Your chest heaved, frustrated with the man before you for laughing at you. He held your hands tightly with his own at your side. His face lit with amusement at your scorned one. Your wispy bangs falling over your face. He leaned in closer bringing his head low as your noses just about touched. The idea of you having never kissed anyone had been mulled upon in his brain and awoke something in him. He should have realised youd never been touched before. Your eyes widened as you felt his nose graze yours ever so slightly.

Your lips parted as your tongue darted out to wet them. His eyes flicking down catching the movement before moving back up to meet yours. Your wide innocent doe eyes lit something in his chest as he let go of your wrists, hands falling limply at your side as short shallow breaths left you. His large hand gripped your waist firmly whilst the other tucked your fallen hair behind your ear. The delicate movement making your stomach swirl. His eyes were dark, tempting and almost scary, hooded slightly as he leaned closer. Your breaths mingling as you felt your eyes flutter shut, something in your stomach growing that made your brain want this.

He moved forward slowly. His lips about to touch yours when a twig snapped and a voice shouted from the forest. You jumped startled and he cursed at the recognisable sound of his friends voice. He rested his forehead against yours eyes closed for a moment before he pulled away. He turned to face his friend. His hand moving so you stood behind him, shielding you from prying eyes.

“Baku! What you doing here? We are all up feasting” his blonde friend grinned, lazily making his way over. You stepped out from behind Bakugou and his friends grin dropped as his eyes met yours. You instinctively grabbed Bakugous arm, wrapping your arm in his at the strangers presence.

“This your mate? Shes tiny” he laughed slightly as he looked at you together. Bakugou was a lot larger than you. He stood at around six foot, large shoulders and chest that narrowed into a lean abdomen. His biceps and arms big as well from the hard labour and training hes been through as chiefs son.

“Quiet! Stop looking at her and go back. We will come now Kaminari” he snapped at kaminari who only rolled his eyes at the blonde. Kaminari winked at you before turning and heading back. Bakugou looked down at you seeing your cheeks still dusted with pink.

He thought against trying to kiss you again. The moment was ruined and even so did you even want to kiss him? It didn’t really matter, you were his wife. You would be consummating soon anyways after your initiation into his tribe to make you one of them. He pulled you along as yous headed back to find everyone at the large campfire, logs, tables and wooden benches all pulled around to allow people to sit. Bakugous parents sat at a bench and table together two spaces free beside them.

Bakugou brought you over as yous both sat and began eating, though it wasn’t food you recognised and struggled to eat without cutlery trying not to make a mess as the sun began to descend and the fire flickered into the night. . .

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#bakugou katsuki #my hero academia #bakugou x reader #kirishima eijirou #mha #barbarian bakugou #barbarian au #tribe #dragon blood #dabi #denki kaminari #mina ashido #mitsuki

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brainddeadd · 22 days ago

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Morning Glow

this was originally for jack so if you see jack's name, no you didnt

The night had been filled with laughter, late-night snacks, and a few rounds of Mario Kart. The two of you had been enjoying a weekend getaway with friends, but when everyone else had decided to crash on the couch, you and Trevor were left to share the only spare bed in the cozy cabin.

Trevor had thought it would be an easy situation—just two friends sleeping in the same bed. But as he lay there, staring up at the ceiling, he couldn’t help but feel the warmth of your presence beside him. The mattress creaked softly every time you shifted, the blankets rustling as you got comfortable.

At some point during the night, sleep took him, pulling him into a world where nothing mattered but the deep, peaceful slumber that enveloped him. It was in this dreamland that Trevor found himself unwittingly inching closer to you, until your faces were merely inches apart.

When he finally woke up, sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating your features and making them glow. You lay there, completely peaceful, your hair spilling over the pillow like a waterfall of soft curls. Trevor couldn’t comprehend how someone could look so beautiful while sleeping. His heart raced at the thought; it felt like an incredible privilege to see you like this.

Trevor's breath hitched as he studied your face, memorizing every detail—the way your lashes rested against your cheeks, the gentle rise and fall of your chest, and the hint of a smile playing on your lips as if you were dreaming of something sweet.

But then, just as he leaned in a little closer, the world came crashing back when you stirred, blinking awake and catching him in the act.

“Trev?” you murmured, voice still thick with sleep.

His eyes widened in shock, a jolt of panic surging through him as he scrambled to sit up, heart pounding in his chest. “I—uh, I wasn’t staring! I mean, not in a creepy way!”

You couldn’t help but giggle at his flustered expression, the way his cheeks turned a shade of red that was almost comical. “What were you doing then?” you teased, trying to mask the sleepiness in your voice with playful curiosity.

“Just… admiring the view?” Trevor stammered, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. His eyes darted away, refusing to meet yours as embarrassment flooded his system. “Uh, you look really pretty when you sleep, you know? I didn’t mean to stare.”

You raised an eyebrow, a smile creeping onto your lips as you rolled onto your side to face him. “You think I’m pretty?”

“Of course!” he blurted, suddenly more animated, his hands flying up in defense as if trying to protect himself from your gaze. “I mean, look at you! You could—uh, you could probably model or something!”

Your laughter filled the room, brightening the atmosphere as Trevor finally met your eyes, the initial shock fading. The air felt charged with an undeniable energy, and the morning light seemed to capture this fleeting moment perfectly.

“Thanks, Trev,” you said softly, your smile genuine. “I think you’re pretty handsome yourself.”

Trevor felt his heart race again, and this time it wasn’t just embarrassment. The two of you lingered in that moment, smiles shared and hearts racing, as the reality of your closeness settled in.

Maybe sharing a bed wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Trevor could hardly believe you just called him handsome. The flattery swirled around in his mind like confetti, brightening his mood. But as he watched you smile, something else flickered within him—a mix of warmth and something deeper, an undeniable connection that made his heart pound harder.

“Do you, uh, want breakfast?” he offered, suddenly anxious to break the tension. “I mean, I can make pancakes or something. They’re not as good as what my mom makes, but they’re edible.”

You laughed again, a sound that sent butterflies flitting around in his stomach. “Pancakes sound great. I’ll even help,” you replied, sitting up fully now, the sheets slipping down your shoulders. Trevor's gaze momentarily lingered before he forced himself to look away.

“Okay, cool!” he said, a little too enthusiastically, scrambling out of bed. He quickly headed toward the kitchen, desperate to put some space between you and him to regain his composure. As he walked, he tried to shake off the butterflies and the lingering warmth of your presence.

In the kitchen, he rummaged through cabinets, gathering ingredients as the morning sunlight danced through the windows. He could hear you moving around behind him, and his heart raced as he felt your presence—your laughter, the light footsteps that followed him.

“You really didn’t have to get up so fast,” you teased, stepping into the kitchen. “I wasn’t going to bite you or anything.”

“Yeah, but you caught me staring like a total creep,” he admitted, grinning sheepishly as he mixed the batter. “I panicked!”

“Panicked? That’s cute,” you said, leaning against the counter. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you panic before.”

Trevor shot you a playful glare, stirring the batter with more force than necessary. “You know, I’m usually pretty composed.”

“Right, right. Mr. Composure, the hockey star who can handle anything on the ice,” you said, rolling your eyes dramatically. “But when it comes to a pretty girl, you’re a total mess.”

His cheeks flushed, and he glanced at you, momentarily meeting your gaze. “Okay, maybe you’ve got a point there,” he conceded, a smile creeping onto his face. “But can you blame me? You woke up and caught me in a moment of weakness!”

You chuckled, and Trevor felt a surge of confidence. “Let’s see how good your pancake-making skills are, Mr. Composure,” you challenged, stepping closer to him. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

The two of you worked side by side, chatting and joking as Trevor flipped pancakes, trying not to let his nerves get the best of him. You reached over to steal a piece of batter off the edge of the bowl, and he swatted your hand playfully.

“Hey! No cheating!” he said, laughter lacing his voice.

“Come on, it’s a taste test!” you insisted, sticking out your bottom lip in a mock pout.

Trevor couldn’t resist. He leaned closer, wiping a smear of batter off your cheek with his thumb. “Just a little bit messy, aren’t you?” he teased, his voice softer now, the air around you thickening with unspoken words. Bringing his thumb up to his lips, he licked the batter away.

You blinked at him, your breath hitching at the sudden intimacy. The moment hung between you, charged and electric, but just as quickly as it came, it slipped away as the pancakes began to sizzle in the pan.

“Right, the pancakes,” Trevor said, breaking the tension and turning back to the stove, his heart racing.

You watched him for a moment, a warm smile on your lips, and then moved to set the table. The easy banter continued, but beneath the surface, something was shifting.

After breakfast, the two of you lounged on the couch, full and content, the morning sun bathing the room in a golden glow. Trevor felt a sense of peace settle in as he leaned back, stealing glances at you as you scrolled through your phone, occasionally giggling at something you saw.

“Want to play a game?” you suggested, looking over at him, eyes sparkling.

“Sure, but I’ll warn you, I’m pretty competitive,” he said, leaning in closer, a teasing grin on his face.

“Bring it on, Zegras,” you challenged, determination gleaming in your eyes.

As you began to play, laughter filled the room, but every time your shoulders brushed or your eyes met, it felt like there was a shared secret lingering just beneath the surface. The more you played, the more you both realized that the connection was growing deeper, not just between friends, but potentially something more.

Hours passed, and the sun began to dip lower in the sky, casting long shadows across the cabin. Trevor felt the moment shifting, the playful energy evolving into something rich and uncharted.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” he said suddenly, his tone shifting.

“Of course,” you replied, your expression turning serious.

Trevor hesitated, biting his lip as he searched for the right words. “Do you think…do you think this weekend is just a fun getaway, or do you see it as something more?”

Your eyes widened slightly, and the air became thick with anticipation. “I’ve been thinking about that too,” you admitted softly, looking down at your hands. “I mean, I really enjoy being with you, Trev. It’s easy and fun, but…”

“But?” he pressed gently.

“But I don’t want to ruin our friendship if it doesn’t work out,” you admitted, meeting his gaze again, vulnerability dancing in your eyes.

Trevor's heart raced. “I get it. But I can’t help feeling there’s something special between us. Something worth exploring,” he said, taking a breath to steady himself. “We could take things slow. See where it goes?”

You smiled, relief washing over you. “I’d like that.”

With that unspoken agreement hanging in the air, the tension shifted once more, transforming into something full of hope and possibility.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky with hues of orange and pink, Trevor leaned back, feeling a mix of excitement and contentment. No matter what happened next, he knew he wanted to be by your side.

#trevor zegras x reader #trevor zegras fanfic #trevor zegras imagines #° braindead writes

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thatsexcpisces · 9 months ago

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Random things I associate with each rising sign 💌

Aries rising:

Confidence, sharp eyebrows, being outspoken, lots of tattoos, prominent forehead, going to the gym, frat parties, short temper, courage, impulsive decisions, taking control of a room, finishing in first place, blasting loud music, trusting yourself, traveling

Taurus rising:

Sophisticated taste in restaurants, natural beauty, good food lovers, jewelry, small but full lips, taking good care of plants, healthy hair, clear skin, comfy blankets, offering things to others, bakeries, peace, round faces, soft voices, singing, sleeping in all day

Gemini risings:

Working on a podcast, expressive eyes, funny facial expressions, talking a-mile-a-minute, being the most charming person in the room, thin yet long eyebrows, glasses, being able to talk to anyone, finding the positives in a negative situation, youthful appearance, gossip, Saturday brunch, fairies, pats on the back

Cancer risings:

Pastel-colored clothing, being the support system of the family, gentle hugs, sensitivity, big round faces, glossy eyes, calm voices, hot cocoa, bringing sweet energy to every gathering, empathy, loving animals, silver jewelry, mothers, bright smiles, spring, nice boobs, being kind to outcasts, the ocean, comfort

Leo risings

Self-love, theatre & acting, creativity, baby lions, siren eyes, good taste in fashion, vibrant personalities, gorgeous hair, taking you out for drinks, open to being with anyone, orange & white, cherry-flavored drinks, the beach, karaoke, fancy mirrors, feathered boas, sharp nails that are always done

Virgo risings:

Routines, to-do lists, cleaning the house every Sunday, massages, spa days, ‘clean’ makeup look, soft eyes, face masks, stomach problems, good cooking skills, maturity, color-coded clothes, sunset shades of orange, plants, lavender smells, fresh laundry, delicate jewelry, animal lovers, smooth hair

Libra risings:

Solving conflicts, flirting with everyone, the color pink, smelling good, tulips, easygoing characters, cinnamon rolls, flashy clothes, designer bags, hidden anger issues, carrying snacks everywhere, luscious hair, Regina George, chic flicks, angelic eyes, pearls, long legs, white cats

Scorpio risings:

Living a secret double life, intense stares, red-bottom heels, black eyeliner, purple flowers, heightened intuition, seeing messages in dreams, cigarettes after sex, long hugs, watching movies before going to sleep, headphones on all day, strong perfumes, powerful voices, Halloween, quick comebacks, dirty minded jokes, lace clothes

Sagittarius risings:

Being the funniest person in the room, bright smiles, loud laughs, liked by everyone, elephants, pop-out colors, wisdom, studying at night, traveling the world, defined teeth, strong bodies, dark sense of humor, stylish accessories, not caring what others think, bold lipstick, skiing, reading books to children

Capricorn risings:

Classy & elegant style, hardworking, black sweaters, the newest computer, coffee, nice teeth, tied hair, gold rings, playing golf, money in an envelope, marble tables, hard life, strict parents, gardening, setting rules in every environment, writing down goals, post-it notes, the color green and brown, beautiful houses, poodles

Aquarius risings:

Technology, good social skills, Star Wars, electric blue, individuality, protesting all day, new gadgets, defined jaws, being bored of everyone, writing a blog, music festivals, holographic-themed outfits, reading books, ranting about your favorite show, know-it-alls, hiding how you really feel, Twitter, healthy diets, car dates

Pisces risings:

Painting, sad yet sweet eyes, rewatching the same movie over and over again, sleeping for a long time, reading minds, trauma, taking a walk in the woods, doodling in your notebook, taboo topics, picnics, astral projection, baking on a rainy day, kissing your loved ones, skirts, pretty hair clips, piled up journals, wind, comfy living rooms

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d3adlyromb3ar · 6 months ago

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✰ sinking lily pads

— synopsis. he thrived in the sorcerer world, she was forced into it. how could two people that strayed so differently from each other become so close?

— pairing. gojo x oc!fem!reader (main), toji fushiguro x oc!fem!reader

— word count. 3.3k

— contents. heavy child abuse, torture, neglect, abandonment, angsty asf, injuries, blood/gore, depressing thoughts, suicidal ideation, dissociation, ptsd, mentions of death, jjk violence/fighting

— notes. ohhhhh goodness, the toji angst is heavy in this one. i will be a toji defender forever, poor baby didn’t deserve all that happened to him 😭

series masterlist | previous chapter

✰ chapter four. lost fragments

July 9th, 1999

The warm summer air was thick— humid and sticky as she stayed hidden under a bench outside. The same bench that she always went to.

Although over time, the bench had become abandoned. The vines from the wall behind stretching onto the stone, the gray concrete becoming covered with green. It was beautiful in a way, but sad to see such a relaxing spot become forgotten.

This spot was becoming too small for her form to fit, the space tight and suffocating. Although she didn’t seem to mind as the outside felt just as suffocating. At least in here, she could hide away for a little while.

She heard a pair of footsteps nearby, causing her to hold her breath as she attempted to stay as quiet and still as possible. Her body was tense, her arms squeezing her knees to her chest violently tight. The marks on her back screamed in protest, the pain shooting up and down her back as her skin was covered in goosebumps.

The footsteps got louder and louder until they stopped just in front of the bench. Her eyes darted down to investigate, only to relax when she saw familiar black shoes. She knew immediately who it was, the random shoe lace on the left foot, giving it away.

The figure kneeled down, tilting his head to peek under the bench.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Toji warned.

Moon shook her head, burying her face into her knees— hoping that by some miracle she could disappear from this place.

She missed the look the dark haired boy was giving her, his expression filled with empathy. He sat up straighter to glance around, noting how the environment was clear— for now.

“Come on out, it’s just me.” He said in a softer voice, almost acting as if he was speaking to a frightened animal.

She dared to look up from her knees, meeting his eyes as he stared at her from his position. His eyes were gentle and inviting— causing her to move finally. Toji released a breath he didn’t know he was holding, holding out his hand for her to take. She didn’t need help crawling out from her spot— but he offered her his hand anyway. She took it, slowly resting her palm in his— noticing quickly how his hands over time would become rougher to the touch.

He guided her out from her hiding spot, not missing the winces she’d give every so often. Her eyes danced around the space as she was finally free of the underside of the bench's confinement. The space was clear— Toji hadn’t lied.

“It’s okay, nobody is around.” He reassured her, noticing her look of paranoia, “I promise.”

Her eyes darted back to his, relaxing from his gentle stare. She’d always feel comforted by him— especially because he was the only one in this place that hadn’t hurt her. He was her only light in this hell, therefore she clung to it desperately— to him.

He guided her towards the bottom of a tree, his hand tugging her behind him. He sat her down, making sure every movement was slow— as to not spook her.

“What happened?” He broke the silence, studying her face.

She shook her head, staring down at the grass— desperately thinking of a place better than this one.

He frowned at her silence, the pure fear she showed of speaking. It made him angry— angry at the ones who did this to her.

“They hurt you again?”

Her eyes darted up to his as he guessed it. Her eyes round and full of fear. He could only stare into her eyes, his own dimming from the look she gave.

“I thought they weren’t going to stop.” She whispered to him, just barely loud enough for him to hear.

“Let me see.” He asked suddenly.

She didn’t answer at first, showing no indication that she wanted him to see— but it also wasn’t the first time he’d asked to see her injuries. Although, it was the first time he’d be seeing an injury so nasty, so severe. She knew he’d never hurt her, but she couldn’t help hesitating.

“Moon, let me see.” He asked again, his voice stronger but still gentle. “Please.”

She took a deep breath before nodding, shuffling in her spot as she turned away from him. She stared into the distance, focusing on the leaves in the trees in front of her blow in the wind, anything to help relax her as she felt Toji lift the bottom of her shirt. She sucked in a breath as he lifted the material completely, bunching it up by her shoulders. It was then he could let his eyes scan over the many marks. His chest tightened at the sight, the red and angry slashes fresh, some still dripping blood. He hoped that the sight of none of the slashes being infected would calm him— but it didn’t. He was seething with rage inside, seeing red for the ones who did this to you.

She felt the breeze brush her back, the exposed skin cooling from the air. It wasn’t unpleasant, but the fact that her back was very much exposed, caused her to breathe heavier.

“None are infected.” He told her, bringing her shirt back down.

She let out a breath she had been holding, her heart slowing finally. She turned back to face him, her gaze shining one of appreciation.

“Thank you.” She whispered.

“Don’t.” He muttered, shuffling to lean back against the base of the tree.

She smiled weakly at his response. Having heard it before, and the rants he’d go on in the past.

You don’t need to thank me, seriously. I’m doing this because I want to.

His words from the past echoed throughout her mind. He was a sweet boy, but it wasn’t often he’d express that. She was just glad she knew what he meant in these moments where he spoke very few words. She knew deep down it meant more.

“You’re stronger than they are, you just don’t know it yet.” He spoke out to the distance, knowing she was listening intently beside him.

She furrowed her brows, watching his side profile as she was lost in thought.

“I don’t feel strong.” She admitted.

“You are.” He assured her. “You have cursed energy.”

She leaned her own head back against the tree, staring out with Toji— the trees swaying in the wind almost hypnotizing.

“Then why do they hurt me?”

Toji thought for a moment, turning his head towards you. Waiting until you locked eyes with his before he spoke.

“They’re afraid of you, of what you’ll become.”

Moon gazed into his eyes, the next words coming out with a struggle as she felt her chest tighten along with her throat.

“Are you afraid of me too?”

“No.” He answered quickly, no doubts laced in his response.

His answer relaxed her, a weak smile appearing on her face again.

“Toji…” Her voice was soft, “Why do you stay?”

His brows furrowed, his gaze dropping to her intertwined hands resting on her knees.

“I don’t think they’d let me leave.” He answered truthfully. “Plus, I’d have no where to go.”

His voice was quiet and solemn. His eyes staying focused on her hands, he couldn’t let her read his emotions.

“If we ran away…”

“We can’t do that! They won’t let us even try!” He whispered out harshly, looking around to make sure of no eavesdropping ears.

“But we could… together.”

Her words were so tempting. Toji had of course thought many of times of escaping— running off somewhere far from this place. But also knew that they’d find them if they were to escape. If the clan was anything— they were consistent. They’d hunt them down.

“You think I haven’t thought about it?” He admitted. “There’s no use in trying. They’d find us eventually.”

“You don’t know that, we could hide somewhere.”

“I don’t wanna spend the rest of my life hiding.”

“But it’s better than living it here!” She raised her voice, upset that he wasn’t even giving it a chance. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take Toji!”

He shook his head, keeping his gaze lowered as he felt ashamed of himself for being so scared. The truth was, he was extremely afraid.

“I don’t wanna be here just as much as you Moon, but we can’t, okay?” He spoke softly to her, trying to calm her down. “I’m sorry.”

He finally raised his eyes back up to here, surprised when he didn’t find her features angry with him. Her eyes were gentle and compassionate— understanding. He didn’t deserve it, but he selfishly welcomed it.

“Maybe one day.” Was all she whispered in response.

Her hope was pointless, but appreciated as Toji enjoyed having even a sliver of positivity. He could only offer a weak smile in return.

“Yeah, one day.”

Moon tried to smile back, but found herself frowning when her eyes locked on a cut on the corner of his mouth. She kept her reaction minimal, only raising her hand— letting her thumb brush around the outside of the mark.

Toji couldn’t stop the small flinch when she brought her hand to his face, but didn’t shy away after reminding himself— it was only Moon.

Toji wasn’t one to be affectionate. The years of violent touches had tainted the want for physical needs. But as he met Moon and time went on, he found himself growing used to her touch. It was always so light, so warm. It had taken time and much of it, but he didn’t mind now in the moment— when her fingers brushed around his wound.

He almost wanted to smile at how delicate she was being, treating him almost as if he were a flower— a withering one at that. It was endearing.

“Does it hurt?” She whispered to him, her voice genuinely concerned.

“Not anymore.” He lied.

She sighed, noticing how deep the cut seemed to be. She frowned deeper when she wondered if it would scar. She hoped it wouldn’t, knowing that one day when he was finally free of this place— that the scar would remind him of all the horrid memories.

“What happened?”

Toji breathed for a moment, debating whether to tell her or not. Although, she’d be exposed to it eventually.

“I got put in this… pit.” He recalled the nightmare, holding her gaze. “These cursed spirits… they were everywhere.”

She sucked in a breath, the story haunting as he basically retold a near death experience.

“I thought I was gonna die.” He told her, his voice shaking.

Moon let her hand drop, grabbing his own palm beside him. She squeezed his comfortingly— assuring him that he was okay. Doing the same as he would for her.

“But you didn’t die, and you’re here now.” She told him, still wondering how he survived.

“Yeah, guess I’m stronger than I thought too.” He whispered, squeezing her hand back.

The two didn’t say anything more, letting the ambience of the wind running through the trees relax them. Moon scooted closer, leaning her head rest on his shoulder. Toji usually would shake her off, this level of affection still unfamiliar, but he couldn’t bring himself to move away. Instead he leaned his head on hers, letting himself appreciate her warmth.

He couldn’t stop the tears from falling as he let his walls down. It was easy to do it around her. He’d rather go back to the pit, than to cry— but he was tired. He also didn’t know when he’d have a moment like this with her again.

Moon felt his body shake, as well as she could hear the occasional sniffle. She didn’t turn to face him though, keeping her head wedged between his cheek and shoulder. She knew he hated to be seen like this. If he needed more from her, he’d let her know. She knew that. Instead she kept to his side, holding his hand still.

If only every moment could be like this, she thought solemnly.

Everything felt manageable when he was around.

(Present…)

The huge wave of relief could not be ignored as she gazed at her exposed back in the mirror. Her lips turned up slightly into one of a weak smile, of the sight of her skin untouched.

Guess there was a positive to losing one of her 9 lives. She thought.

She found joy in discovering that all her wounds, pains and scars, would vanish from her body once a life was lost. To some, the scars would most definitely be more welcoming than the weight of death. But to her, she would do it all over again. Anything to erase the reminders of her past. It was a foolish way to think, but she leaned towards that mindset anyway.

She knew the real scars were the ones she could never heal— the ones that littered her mind. The ones that had permanently poisoned the chemicals within her brain.

Never mind that, don’t think that way. She scolded herself.

Moon would take this small victory, using it to her advantage to push her forward. It had been a long time since she’d woken up and genuinely felt refreshed. Although, she still couldn’t comprehend whether that was caused from the fresh skin of her back in the reflection— or the talk her and Gojo had the night before.

It didn’t matter ultimately, she felt good. She would cling to that.

She got dressed quickly, fixing her hair into a single, long braid. Her hair was nearly reaching her rear, she knew she’d have to cut it soon.

In no time at all, she was meeting with the others on the steps of the school. She gave a couple pasta brushes on her uniform, smoothing down the material before she was spotted trotting down the stairs.

“Morning Moo Moo.” Shoko had greeted from her sitting position.

Moon couldn’t help but smile at the nickname, realizing it had been quite some time since she’d been called that.

“Moo Moo?” Moon asked, her tone playful.

Shoko took a drag of her cigarette before letting it rest between her fingers.

“Yeah I know, been awhile since you’ve heard that huh?” She joked, “You don’t mind it, right?”

Moon couldn’t help the guilt she felt for making her friends feel like they had to tip toe around her. It was her fault for causing the rift between them, and she’d promise herself to quit punishing them.

“Not at all.” She reassured her brunette haired friend.

Shoko smiled and took another hit, another voice joining in on the conversation.

“Ah good, I’ve missed calling you my little Moo Moo.” Gojo practically sung, making his way over to Moon.

“You've never called me that.” She pointed out.

“Well, I just did. And I’ll keep doing it.”

Moon rolled her eyes, but kept a neutral smile on her lips.

“Miss Dair,” A assertive voice called out from behind the group. “A word before you leave.”

Yaga stood at the top of the stairs, arms crossed as he waited for Moon to approach.

She walked her way up the stairs, her smile diminishing with every step she took. She didn’t need to be lectured today.

“Yes, sir?”

“I’m allowing you to go on this mission because I’m trusting you that you’ll be safe.” Yaga stated.

“Allowing me?” Moon whispered, more so to herself but of course Yaga heard.

“I could easily ground you for your recent reckless behavior. But, I know that this mission needs you.”

Moon nodded, deciding to stay silent as he spoke.

“I don’t want to be the person who holds you back from doing what you love the most— saving people.” He told her.

Moon swallowed nervously. Despite her urge to run away from this life at times— it was true that she craved to help and save people. She couldn’t change the way her heart was— even though she wished she could sometimes.

“Just please do me a favor and be careful. This doesn’t need to be the last time I speak with you, understood?” Yaga finished, her voice softer than when he started.

Moon nodded, her own features softening at his gentle words. She didn’t deserve Yaga to care so much about her, but she selfishly appreciated it in the moment.

“Understood. I’ll see you soon sir.” She told him, causing his lips to turn up slightly.

He nodded in agreement and turned away from her, making his way back into the school. Leaving her alone at the top of the stairs.

Before she could allow herself to get lost in her thoughts, she heard footsteps approaching her up the stairs.

“Everything okay Nines?”

She huffed and turned to face the white haired sorcerer.

“Really wish you’d stop calling me that.” She mumbled.

“Everything okay?” He asked again, considerately leaving her nickname out this time.

She gazed up at him, disappointed when she couldn’t see his blue eyes— his glasses covering them completely.

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure?” He asked, his tone indicating that he didn’t believe her for a second.

She thought for a moment.

“Yaga is just pissed at me because of what happened last time I was on a mission,” She told him, her voice low. “Just told me to be careful and whatnot.”

Gojo nodded his head, a spark of appreciation blooming in his chest at her honesty. He was completely expecting her to lie again, dismissing the topic altogether. So he was pleased.

“You know he just cares about you.”

Moon’s face scrunched up for a second, those words triggering her. That tiny part of her brain still and forever would refuse to believe that people could care about her. She also refused to let it control her, so even through the difficulties— she’d try her best to truly understand and accept that fact.

People did care for her.

“I don’t know why, I’m such a pain in the ass.” She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Moon.” He warned.

“I know, I know… It’s gonna take me awhile until I can fully accept that, y’know?” She explained.

Gojo’s eyes softened behind his glasses, her trusting him enough to voice her vulnerabilities. He didn’t know what to say, and nodded to her instead.

“Like I said… deep down I know but…” She trailed off, “There’s a part of my brain that’s always gonna convince me otherwise. It’s fucking annoying.”

Her grumble made Gojo smirk despite the serious moment. He couldn’t help but find her adorable when she cursed— because it wasn’t often.

“I’m sure it’s irritating, but with time you’ll convince that part of your brain to think differently.”

Moon shrugged, not sure if that was possible— but hoping that it was.

“I hope so.”

“I know so.” He corrected her.

She shook her head, a smirk on her own lips.

“How can you be so sure of basically anything? It’s kinda creepy.” She wondered, her tone playful.

“Why do you sound so surprised? I am thee Satoru Gojo after all.”

“How could I forget with you reminding me every second of the day.” She pointed out.

“Uhh… I wouldn’t say every second. Maybe once a day, sure.” He corrected, making her giggle from his goofiness.

The sound had Gojo’s heart beating a little faster, the soft melody echoing in his ears. The way he wanted to be able to hear that noise all the time, every second of he could. It was beautiful— yet so rarely heard. It killed him inside.

“You two gonna flirt all day? We kinda have a mission to complete?!” Geto shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

Moon immediately rolled her eyes, but she found it hard to be annoyed from the comment. She felt good today, and nothing could ruin that for her.

Meanwhile, Gojo found the comment a little too personal. He had to turn away from Moon, his cheeks feeling hot— he didn’t doubt that they were a little flushed as well.

The two made their way down the stairs, joining with the rest. Shoko said her goodbyes, as she wasn’t needed for this particular mission. From there, the trio began their mission.

Protect the Star Plasma Vessel: a girl named Riko Amanai.

— ending notes. this is more of a shorter chapter, but i promise things will start picking up and they will get longer 🤍 thanks for reading!

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everythingblreview · 1 month ago

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Gakuen Heaven Review

Gakuen Heaven is a very iconic BL game from the early 2000s, it received a Fandisk, an anime and a second game with a new MC and new love interest after 10 years of the main game’s release. This time I played the game together with my friends and we decided to play the PSP version with an emulator, because the PC version is not voiced. The PSP version has no H-scenes (they are just hinting at it) but I was willing to scarify that for the voice acting, it made a big difference so no regrets there. (Only the quality was a bit 360p in the PSP version lol)

Spoiler for the whole game below

Description

Ito Keita, an average high school boy, is surprised to receive an acceptance letter from the renowned Bell Liberty Academy, BL school for short (yes this is what they call the school lmoa, the joke never get old). After being involved in an accident, on the day of his transfer, Keita finds himself among a variety of unique people... but what is Keita's "special ability"? Will he truly be accepted into this school full of elite students?

Story

If you have watched the anime, you pretty much know what happens in this game. Keita gets accepted to BL school after the school year has already started. He arrives after his bus flies off the bridge, completely unharmed because if there is one thing Keita is good at, it’s being lucky. There he meets the king (the student council president) and the queen (the head of the school accounting department and a beauty) and after it all the other characters, his classmate Kazuki (who is overly too friendly with him), Nakajima the (vice president of student council and basically the king’s mother/wife), Omi (also working for the accounting department and the childhood friend of the queen), Shinomiya (a pro at Kyudo), Shunsuke (a boy from Osaka who is good at riding his bike and loves food), Iwai (a depressed artist), Naruse (the school’s playboy and an amazing tennis player) and Umino-sensei (who teaches biology and looks illegally young). Yes, this game has 10 love interest. In the following weeks Keita gets to hang out and to know all of these people. And that’s basically the common route of the game, it may sound boring, but the characters interactions are really fun and entertaining. Everyone has a distinct personally (even if some of the have very stereotypical one). The games plot mostly revolves around the characters and MC, so if you expect some kind of exiting adventure, you’re at the wrong place. The characters route begin around the 3rd week, when Keita gets suddenly called by the vice director and is told he has to leave school, because his admission to BL school was a mistake, so the board of directors decided to kick him out since he no special talent and therefore doesn’t belong in the school. Keita is of course very sad about it since he started to like the school and its students. So, he seeks for advice from the other character, who tell him to go directly to the director of the school. Keita tries that but the director of the school is a mystery; no one know how he looks like or where you can find him (dude is never in his office). Frustrated Keita speaks with Kazuki who tells him that he could just write a mail to the director, which he does. In the mail he states that he wants to stay at the school and ask if the director could help him with his situation. Well, as it seems the director listened to him, because the next day all students get called for a gathering, where a stuff bear (yes you read that right) who is a substitute for the mysterious director, announces a MVP battle where all students can participate in and the winner will have a wish granted by the director. The battle has 3 rounds, and you have to play in pairs. If you watched the anime, I can already tell you the battles are a bit different in the game. In the first round you have to catch in a mini game hamster (yeah idk). You can either do it by yourself, let your partner do it or do it together (and my god some of these guys suck ass at this game). In the second route you have to do a quiz on the subjects of your choice (usually the one related to your LI) and let me tell you these quizzes are hard af. First of all, they are all in Japanese and second, if you think these are some simple questions like ‘what is 2+2’ you’re greatly mistaken. They ask you really hard question about Japanese history and literature and biology and what not. Once again you can let your partner answer but some if these dudes are idiots and can answer wrong. But if you survive this round, the last round is super easy, since it’s all about Keita’s strongest subject: luck. You just have to choose between two cards, and no matter which you choose you won’t lose. During the MVP battle you basically play your partners (the LI of your choice) route. The content of them all depends on the LI you choose.

I also need to mention that if you watched the anime, the part where the school nurse goes crazy and kidnaps Keita is completely made up by the anime, while the part with his friend being in coma is true, the other part after it was created for drama purposes, I guess? But he did tell Keita about his friend and Keita tried to help him together with Kazuki, so yeah there is that.

Characters

Naruse Yukihiko

Naruse is the first character who’s route we accidently ended up on (wasn’t our first choice but we didn’t want to redo it). Like said Naruse is the playboy of the school, he is also called a “playboy” by the other characters. Beside that he is also an excellent tennis player and the captain of the tennis club. He falls in love with Keita on first sight and kisses him on the first day lmao (or not if you make the right choices). Keita is, of course shocked why another guy just kissed him, and this starts the never-ending circle of “but we are both men”. You see, Keita has a terrible case of internal homophobia (or he just never heard of being gay). Naruse, with his extreme bisexual energy, has no problem and doesn’t care if anyone knows he like Keita (pretty sure the whole school knew after 2 days). He always tells Keita that he loves him and calls him “honey” as a nickname, with Keita always countering it with “but we’re both men” … Naruse tries pretty hard to convey his love, he makes bento for Keita, kisses him constantly (Keita was even into it at some point) always tells him he likes him and also explains why he like Keita. He also mentions that he doesn’t care that Keita is a guy and he takes him on dates to romantic place and yet KEITA ALWAYS ANSWERS WITH “BUT WE’RE BOTH MEN” AAAAHHH- *smashes head against wall* Despite my dislike toward the playboy type I can say Naruse was really nice and voiced by Miki Shinichiro of course, cough sexy voice cough I am biased cough and trying so, so hard and yet Keita never took his love seriously, it’s not like he had to like Naruse back but Keita just never took Naruse seriously. Naruse was a really good boy though, he never went against Keita’s wishes, never took advantage of him and always told Keita he would never touch Keita (in the indecent way) if Keita didn’t want it himself. Man is the biggest green flag, seriously. The route was basically just Naruse trying to woo Keita and Keita rejecting him with “gay is not real”, only in the fucking end Keita realised that Naruse maybe really was serious……. *smashes head against the wall again* and also realises that he is in love with Naruse too so he run to Naruse’s training and screams that he loves Naruse too with the whole club listening (and I’m sure no one gives a shit at a school called “BL school”) . Naruse is overjoyed and picks Keita up and carried him to him room for some sexy times (not shown in the PSP version but me and my friend peaked into the PC game and they only showed the foreplay and skipped the actual sex lol) I’m honestly glad we played Naruse first because his route is my (and all of my friends who joined for his route) personal frustration with Keita as a character. I really love Keita but damn his internal homophobia was so bad in this route that we all we’re just screaming at the screen at some point. Naruse himself was really nice, still not my type but I understand his charm (And I wish they would stop giving Miki Shinichirou the playboy role because his voice is hot, but I just don’t like this stupid character trope). Also, I feel like compared to the anime he was less annoying and just overall better, and I feel like if Keita wasn’t so anti-gay, Naruse would have been even more enjoyable.

Umino Satoshi

Although Umino is 24 years old, he looks like is 12. Even Keita mistook him for an elementary student (Can’t blame him). He also has a really fat cat called Tonosama who always looks like high af. Umino sensei is not only a biology teacher, who is quite popular with the students, but also works as a researcher for the Suzubishi group, that this school belongs to, and that’s what most of his route is about. Keita gets interested into Umino’s research and ask to help him, even if he doesn’t understand what Umino is talking about. Honest his route was boring since it mostly consists of research talk (not a very good topic for a bl game in my opinion) and I found myself zooming out for most of the time. (Nothing against biology but after a hard day of work I imagine something more fun than watching 2D characters talk about cells) The real “fun” of this route is when one day Umino’s research data get stolen. Keita is shocked but Umino tells him that it always happens and that he doesn’t care because he isn’t looking for fame and just want to be helpful. And this is the part that really pissed me off in this route, Keita was really pissed at his attitude, but for this route good end you needed to make choices that immediately throws Keita’s anger out of the window. Once this topic comes up again, Keita gets mad, then you have to make a choice and suddenly Keita is all chill again and always answers with “That’s so you, Umino sensei” Like what???” The “climax” of the route is when Keita walks into the room of Umino after one of the MVP battles and sees that another teacher hat tied him down. He was the one who stole the research data and is now trying to get the password out of him. Keita tries his best to convince Umino not to tell the guy, but he ends up doing it anyway after being beaten (and I think even raped in the PC version). So, the dude escapes and you know what Keita and Umino do? N O T H I N G absolutely NOTHING. Not tell the police or the director or anything at all, like wtf??? After removing Keita’s anger, we also removed all his common sense or what? This made me so pissed because Keita normally doesn’t take anyone’s shit but here he doesn’t even try and say “that’s so you Umino sensei” What was the writer ever thinking? Anyway the route ends with the dude never actually getting the data because he understand the password wrong and Keita being so happy over it that he kisses Umino, who is also like “Oh yeah I totally like you, too”. Strange is that they don’t even mention anything about the student-teacher relationship at all, like it’s totally normal. Can’t even decide who needs to be jailed here, Umino for dating a student or Keita for dating someone who looks like 12. Oh and Keita also tops (didn’t mention yet but Keita can be top/bottom depending on his partner) and they constantly fuck in the biology room…..Umino-sensei himself was annoying, I don’t like the “hehe I’m so cute and clumsy”- type, they make me mad for some reason, and him being weak and just getting stepped on didn’t help either.

Nakajima Hideaki

Nakajima is the classic Megane, and not only that he is a Spray Megane (Spray are the one who made Kichiku Megane who I was totally fan of not). He is always mothering the king who is busy being lazy. Outside his route, his interactions are really fun because he is not taking anyone’s shit (especially the king’s). He is very smart, responsible and mostly how you imagine a Megane to be (except that he doesn’t speak polite). Nakajima’s route start with classic sexual harassment, which Keita really doesn’t take well and gets so upset about, that he doesn’t want to see Nakajima for a while (understandable, poor baby) but you have to interact with him, the game forces you to do it. Keita then starts spending time with Nakajima and is actually surprised to learn that Nakajima is actually a pretty nice guy, who even takes Keita out on dates (to an BDMS show lmao, sadly not show in neither version of the game, but Keita seemed to have liked it in some way). He also willing to help Keita with the MVP battle. During it another sexual harassment scene happened, which again upsets Keita. After the MVP battle, Keita is called by 3 guys who are mad at him because he stopped their confrontation with Nakajima, and he gets beaten up by them. Then Nakajima arrives kicks their asses and save Keita. After it is the whole confession scene, with Nakajima telling Keita that he does like him and viva versa.

And now let’s get to my commentary of this route. First, I like to say that I HATE the writer for this route (so does my friend who played with me) and not for the reason you think. I hate the writer because Nakajima’s route was actually good, but they had to ruin it through unnecessary sexual harassment, which ended up feeling completely ooc in the end. Yes, Nakajima is clearly a sadist and loves to tease Keita, but he was genius nice and helpful to Keita 95% of the route, only these random ass scenes mad the route really bitter. The worst part is that Nakajima explained in the end that he first sexual harassed Keita because he wanted Keita to be interested in him (worst excuse ever writer-san) since it turns out the director actually asked him to be basically Keita’s bodyguard. Man is out there working his ass off protecting Keita and writer though “hmm needs more sexual abuse” AJDAKKAJD I’m seriously so mad. “How to mess up a good route 101”. Keita and Nakajima had more than enough time to develop a good relationship and they did. But noooo need more sexual harassment *spits on writer*. The second scenes felt even more ooc because this was already far into the route where Keita already start liking Nakajima and was thanking him for helping him with the MVP battle and out of nowhere Nakajima pushed him in a closet and told him, how Keita seriously thinks he doesn’t need to repay the favour for helping him with the MVP battle and sexually harasses him right there.(Not shown in the PSP version but I saw what you did with the pencil Nakajima) It was just so stupid and out of nowhere. Later he tells Keita that he pushed him into the closet because the three guys, who later beat him up were looking for him and, okay that’s a decent reason, BUT NOT A VALID REASON FOR SEXUAL HARRASEMNT, WRITER *spits on them again*. Worst part is that Keita noticed his love for Nakajima not by getting reminded of all the good times they spent together, nooo he needed to think back to the sexual harassment. Ugh, I know I shouldn’t get mad over a 2002 game but this a serious problem that still happens in modern game, where the writers think forcing random sex/sexual assault is a good idea, which just ends up ruining the character and the route. And I don’t care, twitter kiddies can cry, scream and call my all names in the universe, but I’ll still say it again: Forced sexual scenes only ruin the character and story and I want them gone from BL games.

Despite my deeply rooted anger, if I close my eyes and pretend those scenes never happened, I can say that I enjoyed the route and Nakajima more than I thought even if he was sadist he was really kind to Keita and their relationship development felt more or less natural. I just go and continue to curse the writer.

Kazuki Endo

If you have watched the anime, you know pretty much all of Kazuki’s route because his route was the one that was animated. His route is or can be considered the “true route”, but personally I don’t consider it to be. Kazuki is the first-person Keita makes friends with since they are classmates. Kazuki is a rather friendly person who sticks a little too close to Keita and always follows him everywhere, which I thought was annoying. Personally, I’m not a fan of Kazuki, he is just not my type of character, and I thought the romance development wasn’t done that well in his route (you can guess why). You have to play Kazuki’s route two times; the first time you’ll only get the normal end and the second time you get the happy end. Most of his normal route consisted of Kazuki hanging around with Keita, him fighting with Naruse over Keita (with Naruse beating his ass with sass) and going on a date with Keita (they had no chemistry at all, and I felt like they were talking past each other). Only in the end we (or rather Keita) learn Kazuki’s true intentions after he kisses Keita on the cheek. Keita is so shocked to learn that Kazuki was actually trying to woo Keita all this time, just like Naruse (Keita actually thought about the possibility before when Kazuki and Naruse had their sass fight but had thrown the idea to the side after his internal homophobia striking again). And this is basically where the route ends. The second time you play the route there will be more scenes with them together as well as Keita starting to have some déjà vu’s and dreams of his past. Well, turns out Kazuki is the classic childhood friend character (*sarcastic* wuhu) and that Keita used to play with Kazuki when he was a small child, but later Kazuki had to move away, which saddened Keita so Kazuki promising that they would go to school together one day. Keita suspects that Kazuki is the oniichan he used to play with but isn’t fully sure. After MVP battel, Keita is invites to the director’s office to make his wish, Kazuki is nowhere to be found so Keita goes alone. Well, turns out Kazuki has been the fucking director all along lmaooo and he invited Keita to the school so he could fulfil his promise to go to the same school together and to live his gay dream (even Keita thinks that this is a bit ridiculous). Keita is so shocked that the poor guy can’t even get a full sentence out. Because not only has Kazuki has told him that he is the director but also his oniichan from the past. Also, btw Kazuki is actually older (even if we have never found his age and he was just pretending to be a student.) Anyway, after a bit of talk, Kazuki confesses and Keita decides he is gay as hell suddenly and they confess to each other like 7 times (seriously the confession took way too long), before finally kissing and fuck right there in the director’s office in the PC version and that’s basically the whole route. The romance was rather meh, since there wasn’t a moment Keita actually realised his feeling himself which he did in most of the route. Also, I have question why Kazuki has the hots for Keita, who he only met when Keita was like 5 years old or something. But despites few complains the route was enjoyable to play, it had many funny scenes and Keita’s reaction to director Kazuki was hilarious. I have to say that despite me not being into Kazuki I though he was a great director, really cared about the students and let them have their own freedom. Also, Idk how this man can be a student + director + the research lab chef AND still have time to be a part in the handicraft club (granny hobby) while stalking Keita. Does he even sleep? We will never know. Compared to the anime the games doesn’t tell you that Kazuki is the director until he reveals it himself or until you recognise his voice in another route lol, it’s sad that they revealed it so fast in the anime since its just a big secret in the game.

Iwai Takuto

Iwai’s route had the most induvial plot of the game. The route starts with Keita seeing him burn his painting after meeting Iwai at the artist club. And the next day he walks in on Iwai trying to kill himself by cutting his wrist (like wtf). Luckily the cut is small and no danger to his life. Shinomiya who is friends with Iwai takes care of him while he heals (Keita is also there to help) and there we find out from Shinomiya that this wasn’t the first time Iwai did this (jesus) and then he starts to victim blame Iwai (I will come back to this bitch Shinomiya later). So, Keita being the good boy he is decided to help Iwai and find out why he is so depressed (enough to try to kill himself several times??). Well, turns out it has to do with Iwai’s family, who is just garbage. Iwai’s mother is the mistress of some famous artist who taught Iwai how to paint, but Iwai got really good at oil painting, so his trash father just took credit for Iwai paintings himself and got a bunch of praise and prices for it. But not only that it gets worse, his mother is a total hoe who forces Iwai to make more paintings because if not Iwai’s father will leave her and go back to his other family. This whole situation really sits on Iwai because he doesn’t want to create more oil painting for his shitty father, but he genuinely loves to paint. He was even once rejected from a competition for “copying” the art of his garbage dad. Also, the reason he burned the paintings in the beginning was because his mother was visiting him, and he didn’t want to hand her anymore of his. Keita as a character shines the strongest in the route because he isn’t having any of this shit and tries his best for Iwai to confront his family, even if Iwai is always trying to give up. Luckily an art gallery guy noticed that Iwai’s father paintings are actually Iwai’s and ask him for cooperation to reveal the whole thing to the public, Iwai first rejects it but with Keita’s positive influence he finally accepts it. The development of their relationship was also good, though it mostly consisted of Keita (friendly) kicking Iwai’s ass to stop being a puppet for his shitty family (we love that). Also, Iwai made a painting of Keita, which he later used as the main theme for his exhibition, after the whole situation was revealed and he finally got the praise he deserved.

He also confessed first to Keita by kissing him, but good thing is that the gay in Keita has already started to bloom, so he doesn’t think much about the fact that they are both men and happily gets laid. Generally speaking, Iwai had the best route story-wise, and Keita showed the strongest part of his characters here, despites that I can say Iwai is just not my type, I can appreciate the route by I don’t really have any interest in Iwai or the pairing.

Shinomiya Kouji

Shinomiya’s route was the second one we played, and after no homo Naruse’s air it felt like a breath of fresh air. Because this time Keita is the one who is falling first for the LI. His route is a bit different from others in that way that he agrees to be Keita’s MVP battle partner only for to fulfil his own dream. Which is to save his little brother, who has heart problems and can’t get a heart transplant immediately because in Japan you need to be older to get one. And since Suzubishi also has a medical research department he knows they can help him. Keita agrees to help him even if it means that he won’t be able to stay at the school. Along the way Keita falls for Shinomiya and can’t hide his feeling anymore, so he confesses to Shinomiya and Shinomiya is like “souka” (“I see”) like bitch what kind of answer is that???? The scene just ends without him actually saying anything back lmaooo. Later Keita confesses again and to get his feelings across he kisses Shinomiya (hell yeah Keita lets go full gay, Naruse probably crying in the background, wishing he had gotten this treatment.) and Shinomiya kisses him back, so they are happy clappy gay together now. Which also starts a long back and forth between “I want you to stay at the school so we can be together” and “I want to save your little brother” but at some point, they agree that saving Shinomiya’s brother is more important than dick battles. So after Keita wins the MVP battle they go to the director office, where they of course don’t meet the director because Kazuki is hiding but they can talk to him through speakers (I seriously want to know how Keita doesn’t recognize Kazuki’s voice) but they tell him that their wish is for Shinomiya’s brother to get the medical treatment he needs and director Kazuki tells them that he will make their wish come true, but also because Kazuki’s gay ass he let Keita stay in school. So, they get both the things they wanted, happy end~ And now let’s get to the part where I drag Shinomiya through dirt because he is a victim shaming asshole. I have to say he is already flat, but the fact that he wants to be a doctor is even funnier because I hate the doctor characters who have like no other personality than being a doctor (I talked about this in another review before) Anyway the part where he shames Iwai for trying to commit fucking suicide made me really dislike him. If there is one thing that gets my blood really boiling, its people who blame victims for their situation instead of helping them doesn’t that remind you of another doctor character who victim blamed the MC for his situation? Yeah, congrats Shinomiya now get your ugly ass out of my face.

Continued in Part 2

#bl game #boys love game #bl game review #blvn #boys love #gakuen heaven #next review will be omega vampire

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cowboyfromh3ll · 1 year ago

Note

Something with Javier, my beloved singer, I love him.

Like: He and the reader (could it be a guy) are in a healthy relationship. But Javier doesn't like much when his boyfriend goes on jobs w/without the gang (little protective). that could follow to reader strangely goes missing for some hours after the job and Javier (as the worried boyfriend he is) goes searching for him.

(This could be a body horror kinda one, like, attacked by an animal or another gang like Skinners or Murfrees maybe. Also, reader being in a life or death situation?)

Deathwish

(Javier Escuela x Male!Reader)

I love writing gore tysm for this request. Also sorry if it gets a little gross. Not very fluffy.

Warnings: Gore, violence

You supposed you had gone down an unfamiliar path. You supposed you should’ve come better equipped with more rounds or better guns. You supposed you shouldn’t have branched off from the rest of the group after a job in pursuit of a group of O’Driscolls; only to quickly realize that even through your adrenaline, you were outnumbered.

Killing you would’ve been a mercy compared to the torture they put you through. It wasn’t until you were on the ground, clouds of dirt flying up around you, did you realize just how screwed over you were. The air was swiftly knocked out of your lungs as you fell on your back, and you weren’t allowed an opportunity to suck another breath in before the sharp kicks to your ribs began.

“Fuck! Stop!” You grunted, thrashing wildly with each kick. Their derisive laughter above you was nearly drowned out by your grunts and cries for help. Your body moved in a disoriented way as you tried to evade and crawl away from their assault all while wrapping your arms around your head and sides protectively. Your arms moved frantically around your body trying to protect different areas of yourself; protecting one spot would be at the expense of exposing another and quickly being striked there.

“I’ll fucking kill you!” You managed out, looking up at your attackers. All their faces blurred into one, smearing into an amalgamation of malevolent expressions turned indistinguishable by their rapid movements and the dust flying up around you. It was too hard to focus on individual features at such a time anyways.

“Not before we kill you first. You should’ve known better than to come after the O’Driscolls.”

“Isn’t this one of Dutch’s boys?”

You only just managed to retrieve your gun from your holster, waving it wildly into the air and firing a shot blindly. Everything thereafter happened in quick succession; you just barely managed to hear the thud of a body as the group of men scrambled, yelling threats and curses at you. By some act of mercy, they hadn’t been equipped with guns; which explained why they decided to jump you instead of just finishing you off with a quick bullet. Though your luck was short-lived, and it wasn’t a situation you would’ve been able to foresee. As you stood, soreness settled into your body, throbbing pains making themselves home in your bones, the general tenderness that came after such obliteration.

You stood up shakily, your core trying its best to not give out and hold you up. You held your stomach as you rose, the walk to a nearby tree to support yourself upwards as you collected yourself became arduous.

“Shit…” You whimpered, your voice quivering like a vibrating glass. The normally beautiful lavender of the night sky turned ominous with the realization that you had no idea where you had gone down. You looked around you trying to identify something that indicated you were close to camp but nothing. Not even the rising smoke of a fire to signify someone was camping nearby; not a single beacon of hope. You stared into the dark woods with bleary eyes, biting your bottom lip as if it were the only thing that could contain your fear. You didn’t even want to entertain the idea of more possible threats: wolves, Murphree Brood, more O’Driscolls…

You sucked in a deep breath before limping in towards the woods. Your guard wasn’t completely down, but when an O’Driscoll came out from their hiding spot behind a nearby tree trunk as you walked past, you were taken aback. He hurried on top of you as he knocked you over, having the upperhand over you because of your already weakened state.

“Now I’ve got you!” He said triumphantly, unsheathing his knife and slashing you across your abdomen. You weren’t sure how many times he repeated this motion, the sensation feeling completely foreign and almost numb from all the adrenaline your body was pumping. You didn’t even cry out in pain, instead letting out a series of grunts and cries as you wrestled the knife out of his grasp. Your vision blurred from tears you didn’t even realize you were crying, simply blinded by rage as you forced the knife out of his grasp and shoved him off from on top of you.

A truly primal part of you opted you to toss the knife into the woods, egged on by pure animosity and testosterone as you grasped the collar of your assailant and slammed him into the hard dirt floor of the woods. You couldn’t make out what words or sentences you were yelling at the man as you slammed your fists into his face again and again, his features quickly swelling in tender red mounds of sensitive flesh. Your knuckles became bloodied; a combination of his blood and your own knuckles splitting open from the sheer force you were brandishing. You didn’t care for their nails clawing away at your jacket, the material too thick for you to even feel his feeble fingers.

You didn’t know how long it had been since you began beating this man, his face nearly unrecognizable, but beating simply wasn’t enough. You retrieved your gun from its holster again and jabbed it under his chin, the force of the metal causing a jolt of pain to shoot through his lower jaw as it slammed into the bone of his mandible. A plea escaped his swollen, bloody lips, but without hesitation, you pulled the trigger. The top of his once intact head erupted in a smattering of blood and brains and bone fragments, spilling all over the floor and your face like someone knocked over a can of red paint with tomatoes three weeks old resting inside it. You found solace in looking at the gelatinous remnants of his head splattered all over the ground, all done by you. A chunk of brain fragment had landed on your upper lip, and you licked it away without thinking.

The searing pain of your slashes began to settle in, the chemicals pumping through your body and keeping you stable steadily wearing off as you began to violently shake.

“Ah, fuck!” You cursed, finally looking down at your torso and seeing how much you had bled through your clothes. You clenched your firsts and unclenched them as you tried to will yourself to undo your shirt to look at the wounds better. You screwed your eyes shut and whispered a silent prayer whilst looking up at the sky, undoing the buttons of your shirt with shaky hands. You struggled to unloop your buttons, having to resist losing your composure and ripping them off. Your leather jacket fell first without having to push it off, and then your button up fell open down the midd;e. You cursed to yourself silently before looking down at the wounds; three thin red streaks you could look into like open blinds, revealing lipless crimson chasms, hot geysers of blood had gushed out at an alarming rate. Already, the wounds seemed to be trying their best to clot, and any brash movements would disrupt the mending work.

The woods spun around you as you worked on peeling off your shirt, tying it around your waist at a shoddy attempt at bandaging it. Throughout the whole conundrum you thought of your lover who was probably worried sick, waiting for you back at camp. Was he even searching for you right now? You knew he was protective over you, so he had definitely noticed your absence. But was he close? Did he even have any clues as to where you were? Would he even find you? You barely managed to tie a knot with the sleeves of your shirt before collapsing to your knees, face planting onto the floor next to the body. Your eyes would not open again for another few hours.

You drifted in and out of consciousness, your body chilled and sweaty at the same time. One minute it felt like you were resting on a bed of cotton, the next you were jostling on horseback as you lay against someone’s back. You mumbled unintelligible sentences, clearly a good sign, because whoever you were laying on encouraged you to speak more. Your throat felt painfully dry, having a raging thirst that followed such a violent night. You smacked your tongue, furrowing your eyebrows at the familiar metallic taste. It was a sharp cut into your hazy consciousness, and then came the throbbing pain of your abdomen. The pain of your aching body paled in comparison to the blinding hot pain of your knife wounds. Your head fell supine on your sternum as your torso tipped back, but you somehow kept your balance on the horse.

“You’re going to be okay, (Name).” A voice reassured in front of you as they looked back at you briefly. You found comfort in the brief statement. You were conscious enough to realize the gravity of the situation at hand, and knew that whether it be being stitched up and bandaged and left to rest, or the velvety release of death you’d be okay. No matter the outcome, you’d be okay.

Your body tipped back onto who you identified to be your lover’s back, slumping into Javier’s form as an overwhelming sense of comfort came over you, seemingly absolving you of all your pain. A second set of thunderous hooves followed behind you two, though you had no idea who it could’ve been accompanying Javier.

The night had been a cruel one, and all you could think about was how badly you wanted a drink with Javier.

Deathwish - Christian Death

#red dead fandom #red dead redemption 2 #red dead redemption 2 x reader #red dead redemption community #writing #van der linde gang x reader #red dead fanfiction #javier escuella #javier escuella rdr2 #javier escuella x reader

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xmorguekittyx · 1 year ago

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Ever Unlocked

Part 8: Birthdays Are Suppose to Be Fun, Right?

Part 7: Birthdays and… Balloons?

pairings: Officer!Leon Kennedy x Coroner’s Assistant!Reader

warnings: small acts of violence, talks of children, Leon just grabbing Reader uncomfortably, we’re getting closer to more sprouting from Leon and Reader but we’re still in that slow burn stage i swear i have this planned out and the smut and crime are coming! 🫶🏻

Maybe, it just wasn't for her, the screaming, the crying. She could barely hear herself think over the sound of the many children who ran around the beautiful back yard, one nearly slipping on the wet pavement and falling into the pool. "Be careful there.", Leon lifted the boy's hand, keeping him steady. His eyes soft as he looked down at the young boy, maybe four or five years of age. The boy looked up at Leon, honey brown eyes shining in the sun as he smiled, freckles scrunching from the smile on his lips. "Yes, sir!", his smaller, more innocent and sweet voice called up to the older man. A chuckle met her ears as she turned to get a better look at Leon, who was watching the boy run off with his friends, she could feel his arm tight around her waist. He was side hugging her close to him, keeping a soft grip on her black sundress. She had balloons tied to the small gift bag that lay in her palm.

"You were the one who said kids liked balloons.", Leon's finger pointed towards her, his lips pressed together with a soft head shake. Her eyes shot up to him, her lips curling down as they stood in the third store, searching desperately for someone who would blow up balloons for them. "I didn't realize how many people quit filling up balloons.", the words had an air of annoyance.

"Aren't they just so cute at that age?", she didn't miss the awe in his voice, the softness he used towards the child. She gave a hum of acknowledgment, nodding as her eyes followed the children that squealed once more. Her eyes narrowed in a wince as she heard another scream in excitement; if she was honest, no, she didn't find them cute, at any age. Children just weren't her thing, she wanted to keep her avoidance of children well hidden. She was at a birthday party for a child after all, her and Leon had stopped and gotten little Amya a gift, some candy and a necklace, followed by some stuffed animal that Marvin said she had been eyeing since last week.

She hummed once more, eyes glowing slightly in the golden sun, her lips pulled back in a forced smile. "Y-yeah, so cute.", she spoke softly, despite the otherwise awkward look laced between the false agreement. Rays of sunlight bounced from the water, the pool filled with adults and children alike. The weather had kept Raccoon City in its good graces, even after the onslaught of perpetual rain that has barely soaked into the soil. Meteorologists called for slight showers today, she hoped the rain would stay at bay. Giving the town at least one day to settle before the next round of storms blew in over the horizon.

"Leon, glad you could make it man!", Marvin's voice broke her sight from the fellow partiers. "Hey! Of course, i wouldn't have missed it.", Leon's demeanor never changed from that soft act. The one he put on to fit in, watching kids playing with their respective parents. Dads with kids hanging off their arms as they talk to their wives, others holding their kids on their shoulders in the pool. There was about 15 officers, then their families. She hadn't figured there would be so many people, her hand curling slightly more into Leon's than it had been the few minutes they'd been here. "Amya and Dina are excited to meet you.", Marvin's eyes landed on her, causing her to shift closer to Leon.

She was shy, the reason Leon was holding her hand so closely. He didn't want her to feel singled out, she wasn't the wife of an officer nor was she an officer herself. She felt like she stuck out and, now, she slightly regretted the decision to join him. Her toe digging into the ground as she met Marvin's chocolate eyes. "I'm excited to meet them.", she pushed an eager look to the surface, burying down any uncomfortable or awkward behavior. She needed to calm down, a few hours and her and Leon would be back at her place scarfing down pizza and washing down the grease with cheap beer.

Leon's opposite hand came up to reach for the gift. "We snagged Amya a little thing or two on the way over. Someone-", he looked down at her, baby blues crinkled in pleasure to try and build up the girl, "was adamant that we stop for balloons, did you know that that gas station by Theo's blows up balloons?", he looked between her and Marvin. "Actually... no. That would've been nice to know before i bought a helium tank.", Marvin's hands swiped down at his jeans in annoyance. "Sixty dollars for something i won't use for another year.", he shook his head. "Well, it beats having to wait in lines and it seems you blew up a lot of balloons for this party.", Leon chucked, seeing the balloons that were tied up, tied around trees and on the porch, then some that were just thrown around on the ground.

"A pain in my ass, i'll tell you that.", Marvin sighed, a smile embedded on his lips. "But I'd do anything for my little girl.", he looked to where Leon was watching, seeing the kids still running, their joy was too much for Leon to look away from. He felt a heaviness in his chest. He wanted this, this life. A white picket fence, a doting wife and sweet, hyper children running around the yard, probably with a dog or two chasing them. "She's adorable.", he mused, his smile widening. Yeah, he'd like this life, one of peace and something that he didn't have growing up. He wondered if she wanted that life too, if she would want that white fence and modern home, those children and dogs he longed for.

He couldn't help it, but imagine her, belly swole with his child, how that pregnancy glow would affect her. He wondered if she'd bare a daughter or son? If they'd have a pink nursery or would she like neutral toned? Marvin clapped down onto Leon's shoulder, breaking his thoughts, shattering the bubble of the life he had dreamt of. "You guys settle in, have some fun and grab a plate.", he smiled back at the assistant, bidding her a nod and turning away from the two. Leon watched him leave before turning down to her. "You ever think about it?", he asked, tentatively, he didn't want to scare her off so early on. After a raised brow was quirked his way, he cleared his throat, hand coming to cover his lips. "Kids, that is.", the hope that gripped at his chest nearly made his breath become baited. "Well...", her lips curled lopsidedly, as if she were trying to pick her words carefully.

"I think kids are nice, but I don't see myself having them. They're a lot to handle and i don't think I'd be a good mother, Leon.", her voice held admittance and truth, but also shame and a slight hint of bitterness. "My family was not kind, I don't think they're in the cards for me.", she nearly whispered. Leon felt like he'd been kicked in the chest, his breath a wheeze as he looked down at her, lips parted and brows furrowed. "You don't want children?", he sounded upset, like he didn't understand how she couldn't want to become a mother. "I think you'd be a wonderful mother.", he tried to reason, holding her hand tighter. "Don't wish away kids forever just because of your past.", he was nearly begging, slightly annoyed at how easily she just brushed something he wanted off, pulling her hand so that she stepped closer to him. He had to tilt his head down a bit to catch her eyes, the ones that fled from his whenever they would catch each others. "Look at how beautiful these families loo, do you really want to push away that chance for yourself?", for us, he wanted to add those words so badly but he knew better. He may have had impulsive tendencies but he knew better than to trip up in front of so many people.

"i just don't see it for me, Leon.", she really didn't, her life was hard and her career was demanding. "Plus, i don't have anyone to have kids with, so it's not a priority and my job is demanding, Leon.", she didn't understand why he was pushing it so hard. It wasn't like they were married and needed to decide. His job was demanding too, did he not realize that? "That's talk for the future, anyway.", she brushed him off, she felt bad, pulling her hand from his but she felt like he was rushing her. They hadn't even gone on a "date" yet, considering tonight was their official start at maybe something more. That was the thing, she liked Leon, yes; she liked him. He was kind and soft and sweet but something really struck her in the moment he became a bit more pushy or his mood flipped at the drop of a hat. His hand caught hers at the last minute, bending her fingers slightly back. "Fine.", Leon let go of her hand, letting it drop to her side. "Let's just enjoy the party.", his eyes were set, his lips sucked to his teeth She held her hand, he probably didn't realize what he did, right? This was the sort of Leon that made her want to say fuck it all and just leave, but he brought her here and there wasn't anyway to get to her home unless she wanted to walk the entire way. She knew she had angered him, but it was her decision and why the hell did he want her to choose right now?

She gave him a side eye before looking for the table for the gift that laid in his opposite hand. She reached for the gift, eyes set on the table that had been decorated with the balloons and pink and purple streamers. "I'll put this up.", she whispered, not wanting to somehow anger the man more. She wondered if maybe there was more than the always clean and cut rookie, if there was something that caused the switches to flip at moments. She knew Leon had a hard past, Rebecca's ever present blabber mouth keeping her up to date with any gossip that spread like fire in a drought. Leon's hand shot out to hers, "i'll take it, just have some fun. You look like you'd rather be anywhere else.", his grip was tighter than she was comfortable with. "Hey-", she hissed, her hand trying to break from his hold. "Be quiet and sit down.", he spoke, his tone harsher than ever before as he pushed her arm towards a chair. She had never felt his touch be so rough with her as she flopped back into lawn chair a few feet from them. She watched Leon walk over to the colorful table, tossing the present alongside others. He rolled his shoulders as he walked back to her, sitting down in the chair next to hers. "I'm sorry.", he knew he had to show her he hadn't meant to hurt her, despite the fact that he had known what he was doing. He wanted her to feel bad for her decision. He wanted her to want to have children. He was going to marry her after all, if he couldn't have children with her then that just ruined every bit of his dream future. He'd have to convince her, but after the way he grabbed her he knew she wouldn't listen to him now.

Upon hearing nothing but silence on her end, Leon leaned up in the chair, head turning to face her. "Hey, i said i'm sorry, bunny.", he reached out for her wrist, his much larger fingers nearly brushing her delicate skin before she snatched it away from him. "Come on, Bunny.", he was aggravated, now she was just trying to piss him off. "I said i was sorry. I didn't mean to grab you that way, i forget my own strength. I'm not around pretty women like you that are smaller than me.", he knew making her feel bad for him would soften her up. "Honest, Bunny...", he cooed to her, his hand reaching across the gap between their chairs once more. "Come on, don't shut me out. Birthdays are suppose to be fun, right? Let's have fun, my sweet, sweet Bunny girl.", he gave her his best puppy eyes, his fingers wrapping around her wrist before she lulled her head towards him. Part of her wanted to tell him off and say that his mood swings were pissing her off, then she remembered that family may be a sore spot for him, since the murder of his own family. Sometimes those prattles that Rebecca went on were helpful, useful information instead of just who slept with who.

"Leon, you can't grab me like that.", she kept her voice down, as to not cause anymore scene than they already may have. "You hurt me.", her voice quivered slightly, her wrist being taken in his hand as she relinquished her defiance into his wants. "It scared me.", she whispered, her eyes searching his as he brushed his thumb over the thin skin of her wrist. "I know.", he meant to, "i didn't mean it. I just-", he sighed, his head hanging a bit more. "Family is a hard thing for me to talk about. I should've controlled myself, i shouldn't have brought it up because i knew it could lose my composure. I really, really am sorry.", he sounded desperate to her and it melted her heart. Seeing him so worked up over what he had done, once again that nickname rang true. A little bunny who was so easily manipulated by a few sob stories and apologies.

"Tonight, i'll tell you why it's a soft spot if you want me to.", he sighed, still brushing his thumb pad over her veins. "I want this to work out with us, this- dating- thing. I want to be with you, Bunny. Ever since i saw you on my first day, I was too shy to say anything but you were just so pretty.", he felt his cheeks light up. "Your skirts you always wear, those little kitten heels that click when you step.", her own cheeks reddened at his words. Some soft words to add to breaking her down into something he could call his. He'd work on getting her use to the idea of children in time. He knew he'd have to mold her into his perfect wife. He didn't want anyone else, he wanted her and he'd have her. He'd have that perfect life, no matter that it took on his end.

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