#they’d have his whole part taken out of siren while he was in the group and just leave it like that???

[pink-lemonadefairy]

siren without seunghan SM eat shit you fucking suck i hate you

[shade-romeo]

Part 2/2! I'm feeling very motivated and I wanna write this before that goes away.

@potereregina part 2! :D!!

The sun was almost set as the three arrived at the clearing. Roman had dressed up a bit, having put on a button up shirt paired with some nice pants. He had complained about not having anything nicer, but that was short lived once they got going.

Logan had also put on something nice, though it was more casual then normal. He had put on a long sleeved shirt, paired with a thin jacket, and jeans.

Despite the two of them having two vastly different outfits, Virgil thought they both looked wonderful. And they had both assured him, more than once, that his black sweatshirt and ripped jeans looked great. He didn't exactly believe them, but he didn't really have anything else to wear.

But yes.. It was true, that Virgil had grown.. attached to his roommates as of late, but there was no way he would ever say so. They were already dating! Telling someone who's already in a relationship that you like them is basically asking for rejection.

Anyway, yeah. That was his situation, and he was fine with pining for the rest of his existence. He was fine.

Once they stepped through the thick tree branch archway, Virgil gasped. "Oh my god.."

The clearing was huge, half of it being taken up by a lake, though there was still definitely enough room on land for a huge amount of people. And the whole thing was lit up by a ton of fairies, all flying around and chattering in their little bell-like voices. And there were so many creatures! Werewolves and Vampires hanging out and chatting, Mermaids swimming in the lake with Sirens, Nagas and Avians walking around with a smile. It was..

"Awesome.." Virgil spoke breathlessly.

Roman snickered, "Now, now, don't go all starstruck on us cryptid hunter." He teased with a nudge.

Virgil shook himself out of his amazement and looked over at Roman, "Sorry, I just.. I've never seen this many creatures all at once before, or.. at all.."

Logan smiled, "Well, we should bring you here more often then. The clearing is almost always this bustling, especially at night though."

Roman nodded, "Mhm! Except on the full moon or things like that, this place is pretty sacred so, in the werewolves case at least, they stay away when the full moon comes near."

Virgil rose an eyebrow, "How do you know that?"

Roman was about to answer, when a really tall werewolf bounded over with a huge smile.

"Logan! Roman! Human I don't know! Hi! It's awesome to see you!!" They picked Roman up easily, squeezing him tight enough for him to groan.

"Pat.. I need to breathe." He mumbled.

"Right! Sorry!" Pat (?) quickly sat Roman back down, and went over to Logan, picking him up off the ground as well, though not as high as Roman, considering Logan was much taller than the familiar.

Once they were done hugging Logan they ran towards Virgil, who panicked and put out his arms, "No! Uh- sorry- just.. could I get your name first..?"

Pat blinked, "Oh! I'm sorry! My name is Patton, He/Him Pronouns. I'm a werewolf, obviously. What's your name?"

"Virgil, he/him too. Uh.. I'm human, though you noticed that earlier.. nice to meet you." He held out a hand, silently saying 'Look, you seem nice but please don't hug me..'

Patton seemed to understand, as he grabbed Virgil's hand and shook it enthusiastically. "It's nice to meet you too! Oh! Roman, Remus is over by the lake, he said to send you over if I saw you come in."

Roman nodded and bid his goodbyes to Logan and Virgil, Patton doing the same before they were heading over to the lake.

Virgil turned to Logan to find him smiling at him, and maybe that made him flush a bit.

"So, I'll show you around, and introduce you to some people." Logan smiled, holding out his hand.

Virgil flushed even worse and nodded with a nervous smile, taking his hand and letting him lead him further into the clearing.

The rest of the night went amazingly. Logan did indead show him around the entire clearing, and introduced him to a few creatures he was close with. A vampire named Remy, an avian named Emile, a merman named Thomas, and a siren called Nico. They also passed Roman and Remus, who were hanging out with a shape-shifter named Janus. And Logan did indeed clarify that Janus was the one who helped with his potion.

They were all incredibly nice, aside from Remy, but Logan informed him that was just the way they were.

Virgil sat on the ground next to the lake, Emile sitting next to him as Thomas waded in the water, the three of them having a pleasant conversation with Logan standing behind Virgil, watching fondly. Then suddenly, a witch was calling out to everyone from the edge of the clearing.

"Okay everyone! It's officially midnight! You all know what that means!" Virgil couldn't help but feel a pang of fear, despite himself, "Dancing time!!" Virgil immediately felt a bit silly for being frightened, especially as many of the creatures rushed to the "dance floor" as a large group of fairies flew over said dance floor, and started playing music. Pop music actually. How they did that Virgil had no idea, but he didn't really care much either.

Logan sighed with a smile, and held up three fingers, Emile snickered as Thomas shook his head with a smile.

Virgil rose an eyebrow at them as Logan counted down silently. Once he got to one, Roman was right at Logan's side, grabbing his arm and shaking him, practically begging him to come dance with him.

Oh.. wow they know each other really well.. his heart hurt a bit at that realization, but he ignored it as Logan turned to him once again.

"Will you be okay here by yourself?" He asked.

"He won't be by himself!" Thomas interjected, "Emile and I are right here."

"I appreciate your correct grammar Thomas." Logan smiled.

Roman groaned, pulling on Logan. "Come ooooon!! Virgil's fine with Emile and Thomas! Right?"

Virgil nodded.

"Yeah! So come on!! Just one dance pleeeeeaaaaaassssseeee!!" And then Roman was using his pleading eyes, and even though they were directed at Logan, Virgil couldn't help the way his heart melted.

Logan finally gave in, going over to the dance floor with Roman after a quick goodbye.

Emile and Thomas continued talking, but Virgil didn't, he was preoccupied with something else.

He stared intently as Logan and Roman made it to the dance floor, immediately latching onto each other and dancing to the beat, never separating for very long. It was.. mesmerizing, to say the least. He didn't look away, he couldn't, they were.. they were too stunning to not look at. And then he suddenly realized just how much he cared for both of them, no.. he realized just how much he loved them. Oh god.. he's in love with two people who are already in a relationship.. he's so fucked.

He was so absorbed in his own thoughts, that he didn't realize Thomas was trying to get his attention, at least not until there was water being flicked into his face.

He flinched and turned to the other two, seeing them both with sympathetic faces.

"So.. you've got it bad then?" Emile asked, and Virgil hesitated, glancing back over to the couple before looking down, nodding solemnly.

"I get that. Not to the extent you're feeling right now, but I get the pining." Thomas offered, "I'm in pretty deep for someone in particular as well."

Virgil nodded, "It sucks.. especially when you know you can't have them.." he wasn't sure why he was opening up like this, maybe it was because of how open these two seemed? How sympathetic they were? He doesn't know.. but it doesn't matter much anyway.

Thomas nodded, sighing a bit. "Yeah.." he glanced over to the other side of the lake, directly at Nico, Virgil noted, before back to Virgil and Emile.

Emile hummed, "You should tell them. You too Thomas, but we'll talk about that in a minute."

Virgil blinked, "Are you serious? I can't tell them! They're dating! They'd hate me!"

"They won't hate you. They care for you a lot, I can tell. If anything they're going to let you down gently." Emile spoke softly, placing a hand on Virgil's knee. "Don't you want to get it off your chest, put it out in the open and.. take a chance?"

Virgil was silent for a while, contemplating Emile's words. Apparently he took too long, because before he could respond he was being tugged at by an excited Roman, and he realized the song was now over.

"Hi. Come on Vi! Your turn!" He grinned, as Logan sat down on the grass next to Emile.

Virgil flushed and sputtered for a moment as he stood up, stumbling a bit as Roman continued to pull.

"Wh.. Me?!"

"Yes!! You!! Now come oooonnn!!" He whined and pulled.

But.. but Logan and Roman had been dancing so intimately during the last song! W..would Roman want to dance with him the same way?! No, no way, he probably just didn't wanna be alone up there.. yeah..

And after convincing himself of that, he agreed, letting Roman drag him off.

They made it to the dance floor, which wasn't actually as crowded as it looked. But before he could take in his surroundings, Roman was grabbing both his hands and putting them on his waist, wrapping his own around Virgil's shoulders.

Virgil was surely bright red, and if his eyesight was to be believed, so was Roman. The familiar grinned and started leading the dance, Virgil following along like a lost and incredibly flustered puppy. Though eventually, he got into the flow of things, moving in sync with Roman, comepletely engulfed in the song and dance, so muxh so that he didn't bat an eye when Roman seemed to push himself closer.

Once the song was over though, he realized that was.. really fucking intimate, and Oh God. Roman though, was giggling and bouncing in place, gushing about how much fun that was and how good of a dancet Virgil was. And wow he's so far gone for this cutie.

A few minutes later, Logan finds them, a soft smile on his face.

"You two had fun?"

Roman grinned, "Of course! That was great!"

Virgil couldn't help but smile giddily as well, "I.. yeah. That was.. great."

Logan nodded, "Good to hear, we should probably head home now though."

Roman pouted but nodded, taking Logan's hand, and squeezing Virgil's, before walking with Logan out of the clearing.

As they walked through the forest, Virgil spoke up, shaky and vulnerable.

"What.. was that? I mean, why did you dance with me like that? I mean.. I.. I liked it, it was uhm.. fun, but.. I just.. uh.."

Roman pursed his lips, "Well.. okay. I know we had a rocky start." Understatement of the century, "But.. I've grown to like you. A lot."

..wait.

"As have I. Even while our relationship wasn't strained before, I have taken a certain.. liking to you." Logan spoke, as Virgil noticed both of their faces flushing under the moonlight.

..what.

The two of them shared a look, before Logan nodded and Roman turned back to Virgil. "So, we've been talking.. and.. we wanted to ask you to join our relationship? Like, a polyamorous relationship, where all three of us are dating each other."

..oh my god.

Logan nodded, "Yes, we didn't know the right time to ask you, so we.. haven't, and Roman suggested that he could dance with you tonight and explain while you were on the dance floor."

..no fucking way.

"I chickened out though.. so I'm glad you asked about it." Roman smiled sheepishly, before taking in Virgil's blank expression.

"..Virgil? Are you okay?"

Virgil seemed to let out a large breath, a small smile forming on his face. "You couldn't have picked a better night to ask me this."

Both of them were confused, and so Virgil started explaining, his brain not comepletely catching up with everything he was saying.

"I've been in love with you guys for.. a while now, I just never realized what it was until I saw the two of you dancing before, and I was just.. mesmerized, because you two are stunning separately, but together you're so, so perfect, and I couldn't look away until I was forced to and-" he stopped, his brain finally catching up, "And uh.. I'd love to date you guys, is what I'm saying."

And then Roman was beaming, immediately hugging Virgil tight and celebrating as he did so. And Logan.. Logan was looking at him, with that soft fond look he always gave to Roman, and.. and he couldn't ask for anything more.

(Reblogs > Likes)

[salstray]

MerMay - Siren Songs

Me? Posting Mermay on the last possible day at 10:37 pm?

Yes. Yes I am.

This is my first for real, self written story I’m posting here and I want you to know that I finished this a few days ago at 1 am and skim edited it. Its a little under 7,000 words. 

But I hope you enjoy anyway! Feed back is deeply appreciated. 

       "Hannah!"

       I sighed.

       Here I'd been, sitting on a lovely rock near the reef, warming myself in the sun. My deep blue tail had been resting in the shallows, every now and then flicking cool drops of water up over my stomach and arms.

       And of course, it had to be ruined by someone. The same someone that always ruined it!

       "What do you want, Alli?" I asked, propping myself up on my elbows. I reached up with one hand, pushing my dry, loose hair out of my face as I stared the younger Mer down.

       She sank lower into the water, her inky black hair pooling around her pale face.

       "Reus told me to come get you. The Siren's are coming up from the depths today and Maru doesn't want anyone in the shallows when they go hunting."

       I perked up at that.

       The Sirens!

       Deep sea Mers that spent most of their time in the total darkness of the ocean floor. They only came up during the busy fishing season of summer to hunt. Once a year! And this year, I'd finally get to see them!

       I'd always been to young to be allowed out when they'd come by in the past. But now, I was finally of age to be let loose whenever I chose to be. Maru could keep my reined in, but she couldn't keep me out of the fun this year!

       "Why didn't you say so sooner! When are they coming?" I asked, rolling myself off the rock and into the water. She swam back as I twisted towards her and we ducked our head's below the surface as she began to lead me back towards the drop off, where our Pod made our home.

       "Reus said it should be in about an hour... do you think they'll be close to the reef?" I could hear the fear in her voice. She was still young. Young enough that she'd be taken inside when they did finally appear from the big blue expanse of the sea. And she'd always been taught to fear the Sirens.

       Of course, so were all other Mer children, but it didn't stick for all of us like it did for Alli.

       "I don't know. This'll be the first year I get to watch! Next year, you can swim with me! If I manage to make a friend, I'll be sure to introduce you when you're old enough."

       I had to hold back laughter at the sight of her stricken expression.

       We swam farther into the water, following the slope of the reef as it angled down into the water. Fish joined us for a while before moving on to the corals and sand. We passed a reef shark on our way, which Alli gave a gentle pat as we passed.

       When we reached the drop off, Reus was waiting for us.

       Where Alli and I were simple Mers, with colored tails and rounded fins, Reus was a scout.

       His tail fins were sharp and he had more then just that. Along his spine was a spiked fin and down his forearms he had two more, which were flatted against his skin as he floated motionless in wait for us.

       My tail was bright blue and sparkled in the sunlight. Alli's was a silvery green that matched her eyes. Reus was all grey. From his fins to his skin, he was a single color, save for his eyes, which were completely black.

       "That was quick," he stated, circling us as we dove down to the rocky shelves and caves that our pod had made a home out of.

       "I'm eager! I can't be shoved into the darkness this year! I finally get to see them, Reus!"

       "I just want to get inside," Alli muttered.

       Reus narrowed his eyes at me as Alli swam into the arms of her mother.

       "You shouldn't be so excited, Hannah. The Sirens rarely speak to us."

       "I don't care if they speak to me, Reus. I'm sure they'd be just as riveting conversationalists as you," He frowned at me. "I just want to see them. I want to see how their different from us."

       "That's also not something to be excited for. They look like us, but with sharper teeth and darker colors."

       I rolled my eyes at him, using my tail to propel myself down into the thin fray of Mers my age that were excited to see the Sirens.

       Reus took to paroling along the edge of the reef as I vanished into the group. Most of the others were full of fear as much as they were full of excitement. Some of them, the young scouts and males of our pod, wanted to use it as a show of dominance. How they'd do so, I'd have to wait and see, but I swam as close to the deep water, down where the bravest or stupidest of us were.

       Which of those I was depended on who you decided to ask.

       "Hannah."

       I winced at the tone of the voice, as it was one I knew well. The three other Mers that floated down here with me shared a look, then glanced over my shoulder with bright, innocent eyes.

       I turned, turning to look at Maru with a sheepish grin.

       "Hi Maru. Come to look for the Sirens?"

       She narrowed her sharp, orange eyes at me, a frown just barely tugging at her lips. Her maroon tail flicked below her, a sign that she was irritated. Probably by me. It was usually by me.

       To my surprise, however, she closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. For the first time in my life, I watched her body relax.

       "Yes. I have. I've also come to make sure none of you get to close. They may be cousins of our kind, but they are still dangerous. They come up to hunt. Some of them will be ravenous, so none of you get to close," At that, she gave the boys behind me the same stern look she'd just given me and I heard a few mumbled words of acceptance as she looked back to me. "And its easier to listen for them. They sing as they approach."

       My eyes widened as she smirked and swam up towards the main bulk of the group, herding a few bold Mers back towards the sheer cliff that we lived against.

       Sure enough, I could hear them before I could see them.        It was a beautiful, haunting melody, that was mixed with countless other voices from across the sea.        The bulk of it was female, but I could hear the deep tones of the males at the same time, giving strength to the rising chorus.        The first one I saw was a woman.        Her hair was dark as the night sky and flowed down towards the bottom of her tail. Her skin was pale as the moon and her eyes were completely clouded over from the time she'd spent down in the deep. Her tail was long and thin, the tails at the end jagged and sharp. Her scales were the same black as her hair, but shone as though stars were piercing through them. She was quite clearly the leader of this pod.     ��  Her lips were just barely parted, leading the Sirens Song with her deep, mournful voice. She rose past us, appearing from the darkness and tilting to swim off into the empty blue waters of the open ocean. She ignored us completely.        Below her, more of them appeared.        All of them were the color of night. All of them with black scaled tails with flecks of color or light. Some of them had smooth scalps, some of them had hair like their leader. Others had rough cuts that had been removed out of necessity. Some of them had scales that traveled up their entire bodies. One passed us with nothing but the eyes exposed. I could not tell if they had been male or female. Others had finned ears or none at all. There were so many of them. More then I'd ever expected to see in my entire life.        Every single one of them were singing.        Most of them kept clear of the reef, heading out towards open waters in the wake of their leading lady. Some floated around us, seeming just as curious of us as we were of them. None of them got to close, however, as our scouts were keeping a clear line between us that they were not meant to cross.        It took nearly half an hour for the full pod to swim past us.        And from the whole pod, there was one near the very end that caught my eye.        He was smaller then some of the Sirens I'd seen. His skin was the same pale color as the leader's was. His hair was lighter then some of the others and it streamed behind his face as he swam, landing just at his shoulders. His tail was thin and black, more matte then some that I'd seen. It seemed to absorb light where most of the Siren's reflected it. His eyes weren't completely black marbles. They'd been a deep, dark blue with hints of mossy green reflecting from them.        I'd only noticed this Siren because as he'd swam past, he'd spotted me.        And he hadn't looked away.        I'd watched them all coming from the waters with the eyes of my fellow Mers. My gaze had been stuck to a woman with a long black braid of hair and a thin, wiggling tail like an eel, when I'd glanced down to find something else interesting and I'd looked right into his eyes.        It had scared me a little at first, to suddenly be looking into the eyes of a Siren with no warning. I felt like he was looking through me, into my very soul. And whatever it is he'd seen had made him smile at me through his song.        I felt like all the air had been taken from my body as he rose up, swimming steadily past me, his eyes still locked with mine.        Then he'd twisted, angling away from me and breaking the contact he'd made. The voices were suddenly quiet and I watched as he and all the others disappeared into the ocean, leaving us in a heavy silence.        None of us moved or spoke.        Then Maru's voice cut through it like a dagger.        "Alright, you've seen the show! Back to your lives now, go on!"        She swam through the crowd, whacking people with the tip of her fins as calling names of those that seemed locked in the trance of the Sirens song. Eventually, she came down to me, as I was the only one left near the bottom of the pack. The others had swam up to the surface to talk about what had happened and what they'd seen. I was still floating still in the water, staring off at where I'd last seen the Siren.        "Hannah?"        I turned, trying not to flinch at the sound of her voice.        "Yes, Maru?" I asked, my own voice quiet.        "What did you think of them?" She asked, swimming past me to gaze off into the blue.        "I... they were beautiful... terrifying... strange... and beautiful." She looked back at me, her brow furrowed and her lips pulled down into a frown. "Their song was like nothing I've ever heard. Our songs aren't like that."        "Aye... because their song is magical. It doesn't work on us as it works on humans, but it can still have an effect... how did it make you feel?"        "Um... amazed? That a song could sound like that."        "Seems like you're less easily taken by their magic. That's good. It will keep you safe when they return after their hunt."        "When will they be back?" I tried to keep the urgency out of my voice, but I desperately wanted to see that Siren again. Talk to him, if I could.        "A few months time. When it gets to cold for the fishermen to be out so often." She turned away from me, looking back out into the water. I could just barely see the side of her face from here. I could see her brows move together and I saw her chew on her bottom lip. Something she did when she was worried. When she turned back to me, however, she held the same stoic mask as always. "Well, the rest of the day is yours. I hope you make the most of it."        After that, she propelled herself up through the water, pausing to talk with one of the scouts that was still patrolling the side of the reef.        I stayed there for a while longer before turning away and heading back up towards the reef.        Hopefully my rock was still unoccupied.

       It had been nearly a week since the Sirens had passed our pod and still that one boy was on my mind.

       His eyes had been so deep. So amazingly beautiful. I felt like I could get lost in them if I looked long enough. And I wasn't sure if I'd ever want to come back out.

       Maybe I wasn't as safe against their magic as Maru had thought.

       Had he cast some sort of spell on me? Keeping him in my thoughts at all hours? Or was I truly just that enamored with some strange Siren that had simply made prolonged eye contact with me? Sure, I wasn't considered the pick of the pod among our generation. I'd yet to experience any kind of romance from any of the other Mers in our troupe, but did I really want something so bad that I'd be interested in a Siren?

       He had been amazingly beautiful... like a shadow in the water. His voice had echoed through my mind during the night, lulling me to sleep with the very memory of it. I wondered if he was that enchanting when he simply spoke...

       I shook myself, turning to look up at the sky as I floated over the reef.

       I needed to get him out of my head somehow.

       But how?

       A month had passed.

       I was swimming along the reef slowly, letting myself lazily twist between the coral and the rocks. Fish fluttered around my tail, nipping off what little morsels they could find among my scales. I was humming softly to myself. It was the Sirens song, what little of it I could remember.

       I had yet to get that boy out of my head.

       Maru had seemed to notice, as I'd been singing this song to myself whenever I thought no one was listening. She'd pulled me aside earlier today, asking me if I was still focusing on the Sirens visit. I'd lied to her, told her that I hadn't even realized that I was singing it and that it must just be a side effect of their spell. I wasn't sure if she'd believed it or not, but she'd left me alone afterward.

       I sighed to myself as I finished the final note.

       What would he be doing right now?

       Maybe swimming under the belly of a ship. Tugging at the nets that carried in fish. Maybe he had a sailor in his claws and was dragging him down into the water to feast. I'd tried to put horrible images of him tearing a human apart in my head, but every time my thoughts were overpowered by those eyes and I'd lost track of whatever I was doing. The blood vanished into the water and I'd just be staring into those endless pools of blueish green, completely at their mercy.

       Would he have mercy on me? I'd heard a few tails of starving Sirens ripping into Mers that strayed to far from their reefs and their pods, but that had been when I was a child. To keep me from trying to escape to see them earlier in my life, as I'd done many times. Were they real? If I was weaker to his song, would he lure me out into the blue and devour me?

       Would I even bother to try and stop him?

       I sighed again, pushing my way through a school of fish and tilting down as I reached the drop off. In the distance, I saw Reus, swimming slowly back and forth near the surface of the water, the fin on his spine leaving ripples against the waves.

       Alli gave me a wave as I passed her family's cave and I returned it halfheartedly, propelling myself down to the shelf I'd claimed in my adulthood. Mine was lower down the cliff then most others, as I liked my solitude. It was probably one of the reasons most of the other Mers didn't try to befriend me.

       I looked up into the waves, seeing the glowing face of the full moon streaming light down from the sky. Then, I let myself rest upon the rock and I curled into myself, crossing my arms under my chin and closing my eyes.

       Gently, I hummed the song again to myself, steadily drifting off to sleep.

       I jerked awake, nearly falling off my shelf as I did.

       The water around me was dark. The moon had fallen to low in the sky to cast light down towards the bottom of the cliff.

       Silence seemed to suffocate me, pressing in on all sides as I slowly slipped off my shelf and looked up towards the rest of my pod. Nothing moved in the darkness. Not a single other Mer was awake.

       Then why was I?

       I moved a few feet out into the water, stretching my arms above my head and shaking my hair away from my face. I looked out into the vast darkness of the ocean and breathed out heavily, making a plan to go back to my shelf and let sleep take me once again. With a nod to myself, I turned back to my little hole, heading back over to it.

       Something suddenly stopped me.

       It was a voice.

       Not Maru. Not Reus or Alli.

       It was a song.

       A Siren's Song.

       I spun around, my eyes wide as I looked back into the darkness.

       It was a single voice. Distant and smooth. And there, in the shadows, I could see something moving. Something swimming towards me.

       My tail twitched and I looked up towards the top of the cliff, to the reef. I didn't see a scout or anything. Nothing was moving up there. Maybe it would be safe... I'd never know if I didn't take the chance.

       I looked back into the darkness, to the sleek, pail figure that was slowly shifting closer and I swam forward.

       I could already see from here that it was him. He was slowing down as he got closer, either not expecting me, or not wanting to get any closer to the pod then he had to. I didn't slow down, so I was right in front of him after just a few seconds. Up close, I could see that he was only slightly smaller then I was.

       The song he was humming fell silent as we just looked at each other.

       I kept my head down and held my hands up at my chest, trying to keep them from shaking. I didn't know why I was so nervous. Maybe I was afraid of him...?

       He smiled at me and I felt my heart start to race.

       "I was hoping my song would reach you," He said softly, turning to float on his back. He started to swim a lazy circle around me and I followed him with my eyes, not wanting to loose sight of him in case this was just a dream. It certainly felt like it was to good to be true.

       I opened my mouth, trying to think of something to say, but as he came around my side again, I lost my courage.

       His eyes met mine once again and his smile widened when I looked away, trying to hide my very obvious blush.

       He suddenly slid close to me, raising a hand to touch my face. He was nearly an inch from my cheek when I noticed that he had claws. They were black and curled sharply at the end. Probably good for hooking into skin and dragging someone out of a boat...

       I flinched when he touched me, but I still couldn't tell if it was fear or not. His hand gently cupped my cheek, his claws ever so slightly running against my skin. I felt my face get warmer as I dared to look up into his eyes again. His smile once again widened, which I would have thought impossible if he hadn't been a Siren. This time, though, his lips parted and I could see two rows of impossibly sharp teeth shinning at me. My eyes widened and this time I knew it was fear that sparked in my veins.

       What was I doing?!

       I was out in the open water with a Siren! His claws on my face, his teeth closer then they ever should be! I wanted to pull away. To turn and swim for safety.

       But I didn't.

       I had no idea why I didn't.

       "What's your name?" He asked softly, running his thumb across my jaw as he pulled his hand away from my face.

       "Hannah," I whispered, pushing down the strange emotions I felt when he'd stopped touching me. "What is yours?"

       "Fotios," He replied, swimming a few feet away from me. It didn't seem like he was trying to lure me out farther from the pod, but I did have a strong urge to move with him, farther out into the water.

       I managed to fight it, however, and kept myself where I was, letting my eyes follow him.

       "That's a strange name," I said softly, finally finding my voice.

       "Maybe to a Mer. For a Siren, its rather common." He did a flip in the water, tilting backwards before propelling himself forward, back to where he'd been in the beginning of our meeting. "I'm truly surprised you came out here. Most of your kind wouldn't dare trust a Siren. Certainly not one singing to you in the dead of night."

       "What makes you think I trust you?" I asked, a playful tone in my voice.

       His eyes widened a bit, both of his brows raising as he leaned back in surprise. Then he leaned forward, closer then he'd been before. I had to fight the urge to lean either away or even closer.

       "Then why are you here, little morsel?" His voice had become a low whisper. The rumble of his voice washed over me in the darkness and I suddenly felt very cold at the nickname he'd given me. "Why answer my song with your presence? Why not stop me from touching you? I'm sure you know very well that my kind will eat yours if given the opportunity, so why haven't you run back to your reef?" He tilted his head at me, his smile suddenly vanishing. "Why aren't you afraid?"

       That... was a very good question...

       Why wasn't I afraid?

       I'd honestly just assumed that he'd put me under a spell or something. But if he wanted to know, then that probably wasn't the case.

       "I don't know," I said softly.

       He leaned away from me again, his head tilting to the other side as he did so. His eyes flickered across my face, then suddenly over my shoulder. His eyes widened and he suddenly grabbed both sides of my face with his hands, his claws just barely digging into my cheeks.

       Before I could do anything to try and pull away or stop him, he pulled me forward and pressed his lips to mine.

       It only lasted a few seconds before he pulled away and moved to my ear, where he whispered, "I'll come back for you," then pushed me back as he turned and vanished into the wall of shadow that the sea was at night.

       Moments later, a strong hand wrapped around my arm and I was pulled back as I turned to spot Reus, a coral dagger in his hand and murder in his eyes. I'd never seen him look so angry in my life.

       Of course, once half the pod was woken by him angrily yelling at me, Maru pulled us up by the reef for an explanation. Reus gave her one. I stared down at the sand, more shocked then ashamed, as I probably should have been.

       Maru had looked at me with wide, fearful eyes when he'd told her what I'd been doing. That I'd been in open water, alone, with a Siren.

       Thankfully, Reus hadn't seen that he'd kissed me. He just said that he saw Fotios pull me forward, then push me away. After that, Maru gave me a lecture that lasted until the sun rose. Then she sent me back to my shelf, telling Reus to stay beside me until the Sirens went back down to the deep sea.

       "Apparently, she can't be trusted to be smart," had been her exact words.

       Two more months passed with Reus acting as my chaperone.

       The fishing season was starting to end. The water at the surface was very slowly getting colder. People were whispering that the Sirens would be back any day now, and of course everyone knew of my midnight rendezvous with one. There wasn't a single thing that stayed secret in this pod.

       It was noon when a scout returned.

       He'd heard them coming.

       Everyone was called back from the water and told to stay at the drop off. The same group of young Mer gathered from before. I was instructed to stay on my home shelf, in the back, away from the Sirens. Reus was beside me, his gaze piercing the big blue as the song began to echo around us.

       I raised my head as they approached.  Since my shelf was so low, I still had a good view of them.

       It started the same as it had before. The voices slipped through the water, encasing the drop off in a strange, haunting melody. The woman in the lead swam towards us, noticeably curvier then she had been before. Her voice led the chorus and she tilted forward when she got close, swimming straight down into the darkness below us. A few moments later, a cloud of Sirens joined her, all of them fuller and fatter then they had been before.

       If I hadn't been so preoccupied looking for a very specific Siren, I'd probably have felt bad about what that meant for the people on land.

       As before, he was near the back of the pack.

       Every shape and size of Siren passed us by without a care in the world. Then he came near the end, once again locking my gaze with his as soon as he spotted me. At first, he was smiling.

       Then he seemed to notice my body guard and his grin faltered.

       He slowed his swimming at first, his eyes rolling over the many scouts that our pod had. It almost seemed like he was sizing them up. Then he sighed and continued on with his brothers and sisters, dipping down into the water to head down to the depths.

       My heart ached at the sight and I had to press my mouth and nose against my arms to keep my lips from quivering. I wanted so badly to cry, but I couldn't do it here, while everyone was watching. Reus gazed at me from the corner of his eye. I noticed him frowning, but I didn't make eye contact. It would just be good to be left alone once this was over.

       And very soon, it was. They vanished back into the shadows and their song faded from my ears and all at once, they were gone.

       Fotios was gone.

       Not to be back until the next year. The next summer.

       By then, I'd be lucky to have forgotten about him and for him to forget about me. I'm sure that this would happen again when they came back. Maru would put Reus at my side and tell him to stay and I'd have no freedom once again.

       Speaking of...

       Maru came through the group again, as she'd done the last time, telling them the spectacle was over and that it was time to return to their lives. She came down in front of me, nodding for Reus to leave, which he did.

       "It was for your own good, Hannah. He wouldn't have done anything for you but hurt you."

       Instead of responding, I pushed myself out of my shelf and swam along it, away from the pod, slowly angling myself up so I could go to the reef.

       She didn't follow me.

       It had been nearly two weeks since the Sirens left. I'd returned to my daily activities of swimming over the reef by myself and ignoring the rest of the pod. My romp with the Siren fell out of people's minds as they found new gossip to focus on. This time it was the question of who the father to Gilly's new baby was. Varus was claiming it, but she was betrothed to Yorrin.

       I didn't care.

       The first few days after Fotios had gone back to the ocean floor had been the worst of them. I didn't know why I'd gotten so attached over a single kiss and a hollow promise, but I had and I spent the days crying to myself, either dramatically draped across my rock, or silently to myself as I tried to sleep.

       Once I'd ran out of tears, I made a show of ignoring Maru and Reus, which I was still doing. That was simply pay back for stripping me of my freedom for so long. Something they deserved, in my mind.

       They had just been trying to protect me, sure. But I didn't care about that either.

       Was it childish? Yes. Was it petty? Yes. Was that going to make me stop? No.

       For the last few days, I considered simply leaving.

       It wasn't like that was against the rules. Mers came and went all the time. It was entirely common to find a single stray along the reef or the drop off. Sometimes they even came out of the open waters. And perhaps, if I left, Maru would reconsider doing it in the future, to some other young Mer that was unfortunate enough to become attached to something like a Siren.

       Although the idea was tempting, I'd never left my pod before. I'd been born and raised in these caves.. My mother had died in those open waters. My father vanished at the edge of this very drop off.

       If I left it? Where would I go? What would I do? Would I even survive?

       Those questions where what kept me awake in the night.

       I was laying on my shelf, staring up at the rocky ceiling, considering the options and preparing to make my choice... When I realized that I could once again hear a single voice singing to me through the water.

       A single, smooth, distance voice, calling to me from the water below me.

       I rolled onto my stomach, leaning over my ledge to stare with wide, hopeful eyes down into the darkness. The singing wasn't getting louder and I couldn't see him, but I knew that it was him. I knew that it was Fotios. He was singing to me.

       Calling to me.

       Beckoning me.

       Was it a spell? Maybe. A trick to kill and eat me? Perhaps.

       But I didn't care.

       I didn't even bother to check for the night patrol.

       I pushed myself off the shelf and propelled myself down into the water, straight down into the deep, looking for Fotios.

       The singing got louder the deeper I got. His voice got closer. I felt the water pressing into me. I noticed the light leaving the water around me. It was cold down here. But I didn't stop. I was blind down here in the water. When I turned and looked up, I saw nothing. Yet, I kept going. His song was so loud now. I knew he was close. That I was close!

       When it stopped, I did to.

       I heard something else in the water. The sound of someone swimming.

       "Fotios?" I called quietly. It felt wrong to talk here. It was so silent without his song. I hadn't realized just how much sound the waves made when you were near the surface.

       "Told you I'd come back for you, little morsel." His voice made me jerk in surprise. He sounded much closer then I'd expected him to be.

       I jumped again with surprise when his hand grabbed my wrist.

       "Calm down, I'm just letting you know where I am."

       "I can't see anything."

       "That's cause you aren't built for the darkness down here. And this isn't even that deep. Its much darker down on the floor." Before I could ask how it could possibly get darker, he let go of my wrist and something suddenly lit up behind me.

       I turned, my eyes wide as they rested upon Fotios.

       He was glowing!

       The scales along his tale lit up down the side of it, glowing a soft blue. It wrapped up along his sides as well, before trailing up his spine and up the sides of his neck, ending along his eyes, which were like two bright circles of blue, looking at me through the darkness. He had a dusting of smaller specks of light along his shoulders and chest.

       My eyes followed the light along his body and I was nearly hypnotized by the beauty of it.

       "Come on now, morsel, don't get all dreamy-eyed on me now."

       I laughed at that, which made him raise his brows at me.

       "How could I not? Look at you! You're... you..."

       "Glow. I know. All Sirens do, we just don't need to so close to the surface, so not many people know about it. Certainly not many Mers."

       I couldn't stop myself from reaching forward. He didn't stop me, but his eyes were watching my hand as I reached for him. I touched his shoulder, running my fingers very lightly across the parts of him that lit up. It felt no different then the rest of his skin. I followed the trail with my fingers, softly tracing it up his neck.

       His body shuttered suddenly and he reached up, pulling my hand away from his skin with a cocky smile.

       "Easy there, little morsel."

       "Sorry, I just... Its so... beautiful."

       He raised a single brow at me as he softened his grip on my hand.

       "What do you know about Sirens?" He asked suddenly.

       I took a moment to think about it.

       "Not much, honestly. I know that you all live in the deepest waters you can. Your like Mers, but with muted colors and more interesting details. You can only eat meat and... usually you choose to eat humans, but can eat anything if you're hungry enough. You only come up from the deep once a year, during the summer, when the fishermen are most active... I just learned that you all apparently glow. I... don't really know anything else."

       "Do you know how we're made?"

       "I... figured the same way as Mers..."

       He smiled at me again, this time showing his teeth.

       "Not exactly, little morsel." He let go of my hand and swam forward a bit, taking his light with him. I could still see him as clear as the moon, but it was slightly scary, having him farther from me. "I want you to look at me. Tell me what's different them someone like you, besides the glowing." He straightened his tail as he spoke and held out his arms, slowly twisting himself in a circle with his tail fins..

       "Well... your tail is black. I've never seen a Mer with a tail darker then grey or brown. Your tail fins are sharper then most, but still within the realm of possibility for Mers... You have claws. Your teeth are sharp." I looked him over, seeing if I could notice anything else amiss. "That seems to be it... besides that, you could be just a normal Mer."

       He smirked at me and swam closer once again. He took my hand in his and raised it to his hair.

       "What about up close? What do you notice?"

       "Uh... w-well... you're eyes aren't black or white. Most of the other Sirens had totally black or totally white eyes. Yours are blue... a deep, greenish blue. And...," I wrapped some of his hair around my finger and noticed that, while the roots and locks were nearly black, the tips were a very faded orange.

       "Do you want to know how Sirens are made?"

       I looked at him, confused, and nodded.

       "Pure Sirens can have children, the way the Mers do. But the average Siren cant. Because they aren't usually pure. Most Sirens that you saw in our pod were once Mers, like I used to be."

       My eyes widened at that.

       "You... used to be... a Mer?!"

       "Mhm. Sirens are made through magic. If you swim down into the darkness, as far as you can possibly go, you'll eventually run into a Siren. Usually an old one, one that doesn't leave the depths anymore. They can't handle the light from the sun. And they'll offer to make you into one of them. That's what happened to me."

       "How... how do they do it?"

       "Its a song. All Siren magic is channeled through song. They sing to you and from their mouths, with the music, comes light." He took my hand and placed it against his face, letting my fingers play along the light against his temple. "It comes from them and wraps around your body. The light is the first thing you get that marks you as a Siren. From there, you are usually led to a pod, where they teach you how to sing. You'll stay down there for the first few years, until your scales turn black and you won't get mistaken for a Mer anymore. Then they bring you up to teach you how to hunt. The transformation goes differently for everyone. We all look different in the end, as you saw. Mine isn't over yet. I'm sill young."

       "Anyone can become a Siren?" I asked softly.

       He smiled at me again, softer then he had in the past. He nodded.

       "Why doesn't anyone know that?"

       "You're elders do. They keep it from you so that you young, wayward Mers think that the only option you have is to stay with the pod and churn out more children for the next generation."

       I pulled my hand away from his hand and clasped them both against my chest as I thought this through.

       I could become a Siren.

       I could leave the pod and find a new life. In the deep water. With magic and music and... with Fotios.

       Would he even want that?

       "Why... are you telling me this?"

       "Isn't it obvious, little morsel? I want to take you home with me."

       I couldn't help but giggle at that.

       "Well? What do you think? Want to run away with a deep sea monster?" He asked, once again swimming away from me, just far enough that I wanted to follow to keep the light close.

       My smile faltered.

       "There's no going back if I do, is there?"

       "Afraid not."

       I glanced up. I couldn't see the reef or the drop off, but I knew it was there.

       Was I really ready to just... leave it all behind?

       My family? My friends?

       I looked down into the water, to where the Sirens made their home.

       I looked back to Fotios a moment later, who was watching me with an expression I couldn't read.

       "How far down is it?" I asked, smiling at him.  He smiled back at me, one that split his face from ear to ear.  He swam over to me and took both of my hands in his, leaning his face close to mine. His eyes were nearly blinding this close up.

       "They're going to love you... and so am I."  With that, he flipped backwards, taking me with him as he dove down into the depths. I kept pace with him, a smile spreading across my face as I did.

       Fotios suddenly started to sing.

       It wasn't the mournful melody that I'd heard from him before. This was a full, proud song. One that made me shiver with its power and its emotion.

       My smile widened and I let out a laugh, excited for what the future would bring.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

MerMay Day Thirty Confrontation

The night passed quietly for everyone. When the sun was halfway across the sky, all five of them met in the seagrass meadows. After a brief reunion with Jameson (during which Jackie tackle-hugged him, Chase kept yelling excitedly, and Schneep checked him over for injuries), Marvin reminded everyone how they’d forgotten about the whole electric part of fighting an electric eel. (“We’re dumbasses!” Jackie shouted). They debated for a few moments, but ultimately agreed to proceed anyway. Chase and Jameson proceeded to lead the way, and the group headed down into the ocean depths.

Soon the dark hole in the ocean floor came into view. Marvin, holding a glowing power stone in his hand, shone its light down. “Wow...that’s, uh...that’s pretty deep,” he said.

“Yeah…” Jackie agreed. “Alright, we can take it from here.”

“You sure about this, Jackie?” Chase asked.

“Yeah of course I’m sure,” Jackie replied, giving him a reassuring smile. “It’s not like we’re on the surface. It would be a lot harder there. Besides, it doesn’t have to last that long.”

Chase hesitated, then nodded. “Okay. You guys, go!” The other three scattered to hide, Marvin putting out his light so they couldn’t be seen. Chase took a deep breath of water, and poked his head inside the entrance of the tunnel going downward. “Hello?” he called. He grabbed a rock and dropped it down, listening to it thud against the sides. “Hello?! I know you’re down there, you slimy bastard!” He paused. “I-I did what you asked!”

After a few moments, a pair of green lights appeared in the darkness. “Really?” the accompanying voice hissed.

Chase nodded. He hoped that any visible nerves on his face could be explained by the tense situation, and not seen as a giveaway of their plan. “Y-yeah...I did.”

Anti didn’t move to leave the cave. “I asked for proof.”

This was the tricky part. Chase leaned over and looked at Jackie, who nodded in turn and closed his eyes. He went very still, doing his best to not move. Chase grabbed Jackie’s arm and pulled him over. “Here.”

“Oh, you brought the whole thing.” The green eyes grew closer, and suddenly Anti stuck his head out of the cave. Chase shrieked and backed up. Jackie, luckily, didn’t flinch. Anti looked over both of them. “I don’t see a lot of damage,” he sneered.

“W-well, I’m not going to risk, um, taking a shark in a fight,” Chase said defensively. “I-I mean look at me! I’m tiny compared to him. No, I…” He hesitated. “I used sailor’s bane.”

Anti grinned. “Well, alright, you do what you need to.” He chuckled. “Well, a deal’s a deal, isn’t it? Come on.” He turned and disappeared back down the tunnel. After a while, the tunnel was lit up by a pattern of green light, and Chase looked in to see that Anti had picked up the siren stone, which was now giving off the light. Chase took a deep breath, and grabbed Jackie by the hand, swimming down into the tunnel.

He followed the distant light of the siren stone, keeping his eye on it. Anti kept looking back to see if he was following, seeming surprised each time he saw him still there. After a while, the tunnel opened up into a large underground pocket, full of dark water. Anti turned back to look at Chase. “You can just dump it here and wait.”

“Wh-what are you going to do with him—it?” Chase asked, squeezing Jackie’s arm and resisting the urge to cling to him for reassurance.

“I don’t know, I wasn’t expecting the whole thing. I thought you’d rip the dorsal off or something. Why’d you take the whole thing?” Anti rolled his eyes. “Well, whatever, I’ll figure something out. Now do you want your elvers or not?”

Chase felt his heart stutter. “Are they alright? What have you done to them?!”

Anti laughed. “They’re fine, clown. A bit...shocked, but fine. Now stay here.” He swam over to the nearest rock wall, and proceeded to follow it past a few tunnel entrances to one in particular, disappearing inside and taking the light with him, leaving Chase and Jackie in the darkness.

It was only a few minutes before the other three appeared, bringing light with them, but it felt like forever before Chase saw the glint in the other tunnel. “Oh thank gods,” he whispered to himself.

Marvin appeared first, still holding the power stone. He whistled. “So this place does get bigger eventually. With a muttered incantation, a wave of seafoam green light spread out from the power stone in all directions, lighting up the underwater cave and showing it was indeed a lot larger than it first might’ve been. Tunnels of various sizes all attached to this one.

“Put it out, Marvin,” Schneep hissed, coming in behind him. He clutched his human-made bag to his chest. “He could see!”

“He’s not here,” Jackie whispered, trying to stay very still.

“Yeah, he went down there,” Chase pointed to one of the tunnel entrances.

Jameson swam over to the entrance in question. He was holding a power stone as well, though the light that this one gave out was a cool baby blue instead of green. Then he’ll come out here, he signed. We should wait here, mostly out of sight.

“Good idea,” Schneep said, digging around in his bag. “But first.” He pulled out a knife, made of sharp sea glass, and handed it to Chase. “Here. Just in case.” After Chase took it, he reached inside again and pulled out a few plugs made of seaweed, passing them out to the group. “And these are for the song.” Everyone squeezed the plugs into their ears except for Chase.

“Oh. Thanks.” Chase stared at the knife for a moment, unsure what to do with it. He didn’t want Anti to see it. After a moment, he pulled off his old cap and put the knife inside before putting it back on. It was awkward, but it hid it. “Now go!”

The three of them went to hover around the tunnel entrance, and Marvin and Jameson put out their lights. Just in time, too, for in the distance of the tunnel there was a green light and the sound of people talking. Chase braced himself.

Two small heads peered out from inside the tunnel. “Dad!”

Suddenly Chase was pushed through the water as two forms tackled him one after another. He couldn’t help but smile. “Hey buds. Are you alright? Both of you? You’re not hurt?”

“We’re fine, Dad,” Muirin said.

“Well, we are now,” Sereia added.

Anti appeared behind them, glaring at the happy family reunion. He shook his head. Yet, despite the glare, he didn’t look too unhappy. More...confused. He covered that up by growling, and pointing at the tunnel entrance they’d come in from. “You can find the way out, I’m sure. Now go. Out of my sight.”

Chase backed up, holding onto a kid’s hand with each of his. “Alright...we’re leaving.” He looked at the kids. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“We’re not hurt, Dad,” Sereia assured him. “I mean, there were a few times when—but nevermind! It was only like, twice, and it was just a bit disorienting.”

Muirin looked a bit more serious than his sister. “Dad...he said that to get us back, you...you had to kill someone you knew. Is...that’s not true, is it?”

“It’s...complicated,” Chase said slowly, still backing up. They were almost to the tunnel entrance.

Anti laughed, turning over the siren stone in his hands. The light shifted from green to red. “There’s nothing complicated about it! Don’t you know how to do math? One person means less than two of your family.” He swam over to Jackie, floating in the water. “Besides, as you can see—”

Jackie suddenly lunged forward, grabbing at the siren stone. Anti yelled, surprised, and tried to back away. “Let go!”

“What’s that?! Sorry, can’t hear you!” Jackie shouted, yanking harder on the siren stone. But Anti’s grip was firm. He scowled, and reached forward, grabbing Jackie’s wrist with one hand while wrapping the other arm around the stone. Electricity darted around his tail and over his back, trailing down his arms. Jackie’s eyes widened, but he didn’t move in time to stop himself from being suddenly flung backwards.

Anti scowled, and his eyes landed on the family of three. “You little—come back here!”

“Go!” Chase pushed Sereia and Muirin up the tunnel as the two of them hesitated, listening to the voice. “Hurry!”

Anti darted forward, reaching for Chase. But light suddenly flared. He gasped, faltering as the cave was suddenly brightly lit. Then a beam of seafoam green light hit him from the side, sending him flying. Marvin rushed forward while Schneep hurried to check on Jackie, who appeared dazed but unharmed. Jameson hovered in the back, maintaining the spell that was lighting up the cave. He looked over at Chase, making eye contact. Go! he signed.

Chase nodded, and continued pushing the kids away. Getting them to safety was first priority. He’d come back to check on the others once he was sure they were out of the cave and far enough away to be safe. All three of them soon disappeared into the tunnel.

“All of you, stop it!” The light from the siren stone grew brighter, patterns of colors weaving in and out, dancing on the rock walls. Marvin didn’t hear Anti’s shout, but his eyes were drawn to the stone and the colors it was making. The soft light from his own power stone died down. Anti grinned, and swam forward, reaching for the angelfish. Electricity crackled over his arms.

“Marvin! No!” Schneep glanced over to see Anti approaching Marvin. He rushed forward and smacked Anti in the face with his bag. The blow was enough to break Anti’s concentration, the light from the siren stone fading to a normal level. The electricity dissipated through the water, leaving a residual shock but not strong enough to knock someone back.

Marvin gasped, drawing backwards. He shook his head. The power stone once again flared with light, and as Marvin glared at Anti, so did his eyes. A current started to pick up around him. Strands of green light slowly lit up the water.

Anti backed away, looking nervous for the first time. He quickly covered it up with a snarl. Spinning around, he lunged at Schneep, who was still nearby, and managed to connect. Schneep gasped. Taken by surprise, he didn’t react in time to pull away when more electricity snapped through the water. He cried out.

“Hey!” Jackie darted forward, smacking Anti in the head with his tail. Luckily the electricity had faded away. Anti growled at him, but refused to let go of Schneep, instead wrapping his tail around Schneep’s tentacles. Jackie hovered back, unsure. He wasn’t supposed to touch Anti because of the electricity, but if he didn’t do something Anti was going to—

A dart of blue light hit Anti in the side, knocking him away and sending him spiralling. Back over by the wall, Jameson grinned, blue light fading from his eyes.

Anti hissed, pressing a hand to his side where the light had hit it. Well, it wasn’t actually light, but it was a blast of water, heated up and pressurized. It had certainly left a mark. Anti turned his attention to Jameson, rushing at him.

“I don’t think so.” Marvin had been charging up his spell for a while, and it was time to unleash it. The water around him flared with green light. Strands of light darted forward, weaving through the water and wrapping around Anti. He didn’t seem to mind that much at first, until the water around the light suddenly froze, solidifying into ice. Then Anti’s eyes widened, and he cried out. Lightning zapped through the water, strong enough to partially melt the ice strands, but more kept coming, freezing the water. Anti let out another surge of energy, but it was much weaker than before.

Jackie darted forward while this was happening. Anti was distracted enough by Marvin’s magic that he didn’t notice when Jackie grabbed the siren stone and wrenched it out of his grip. After it left Anti’s hands, the stone immediately dulled, losing its light. Jackie swam back, out of electricity range. He grinned triumphantly. “Oh, look what I got!”

Marvin’s eyes lost their glow. “Oh fuck yeah!” he shouted, moving his power stone to the crook of his elbow so he could clap his hands.

Jameson gave a thumbs-up and a grin, then swam over to Schneep, who was still a little out of it from the last electricity blast but recovering. Schneep waved his concern away. “I am fine, but thank you, Jamie,” he said. “So...we got it?”

“Hell yeah we got it!” Jackie said, holding up the siren stone.

The moment Anti noticed he wasn’t holding the stone anymore, he immediately started to panic, tail thrashing as best it could while his arms were still pinned to his sides by Marvin’s ice. A few more pulses crackled down his tail, but they grew increasingly weak, barely doing anything to the ice. He looked...tired. And as he looked around at the other four, now celebrating his defeat, he looked...scared.

“So...it’s not lighting up. Does that mean I can’t use it?” Jackie asked, turning the stone over in his hands. 

I would assume so, Jameson signed, taking the stone from him. It remained unlit, so he passed it over to Schneep. Yet the stone still didn’t light up. I suppose none of us have siren blood, then.

Schneep nodded, and turned to look at Anti, who shrank back. “How do we use this?” he asked.

Anti hesitated. “I...I don’t know, you just...you just...it just works.”

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to hear. “Well, then, how do we wake Jack up?” Schneep demanded. “You put him to sleep, you must know how! How do we do it?”

“I-I don’t! I don’t know! I—he’s still alive? I never wanted him to wake—I just didn’t—didn’t want any of you to—” Anti’s eyes darted between the four of them. “May...maybe I can figure out a way to undo it if you give it back to me? I-I mean, even if he’s asleep and can’t h-hear or see anything—but it’s magic, maybe it doesn’t matter! If you just let me, I-I can help! I can...can…” Anti’s shoulders hunched as he drew into himself. “...don’t kill me,” he whispered.

Jackie looked at the other three. Everyone, it seemed, was at a loss for words. “We’re not going to kill you,” Jackie said to Anti. “But we’re not going to give this back to you either.”

Schneep looked unsure of that last part. “But...what if it is the only way to—”

“We can figure something else out,” Jackie said firmly.

“Well, what are we going to do with him, then?” Marvin asked, swimming closer. Anti glanced at him, then deliberately looked away.

“I know a place,” Jackie said. He swam close as well, grabbing one of the icy bonds. “We better hurry, though, before these melt. Gods, this is cold. There wasn’t another spell you could’ve used, Marv?”

“Not that I know of. At least, not one with a small, easy-to-carry stone.”

Speaking of stones, I’m not sure how much energy this one has left stored, Jameson said, pointing at his own stone. If you don’t want the light to suddenly go out, I suggest we move along.

Back outside the cave, Chase was just reapproaching the entrance when he peered inside and saw the lights approaching. He backed up as the entire group came out. “How’d it go?” Chase asked. Then his eyes landed on Anti. “Oh. Good, I guess?”

“It went pretty well, yes,” Schneep said. “Where are the hatchlings?”

“Over there.” Chase pointed. “I found another cave—a lot smaller—and asked them to wait.”

“You guys go meet up with them,” Jackie said to the others. “I’m taking this bastard back to the cells.”

“Good luck with that,” Chase said, waving as Jackie swam off, dragging Anti behind him.

Chase easily guided the others to the spot where he’d left the kids. Luckily, they were still there, hiding in a small alcove beneath an overhanging rock. Though Sereia did rush out to tackle Chase the moment she saw him. “You’re back!” she shouted. “Did you do it? Did you win?”

“Yeah, we won,” Chase laughed. “He’s not gonna bother us again.”

“Yes! Oh I bet you had a whole cool action fight, right? Like, he was like zap! And you all were like, nyah-nyah, gnashing teeth! And then there was a boom! With magic!”

“I don’t think that’s how action works in real life, Ser,” Muirin said.

“I mean, there was magic,” Marvin said proudly. “But it didn’t go boom.”

Sereia pointed at him. “You’re gonna teach me magic one day so I’ll learn how to do the cool stuff!!”

“Wait until I’m done with teaching him, first,” Marvin said, gesturing to Jameson. Jameson smiled, and nudged Marvin. “Alright, let’s go home. I want to get out of the deep down dark deep down.”

They headed upwards, towards the surface and the light. Together.

[raidbossmadi]

People Like Us Chapter 2

2. Arrival

Previous Chapter: Here 

Eden-4 was a pretty self sustaining planet, it wasn’t home to a huge weapons manufacturer like Eden-6, nor was it a metropolitan super city like Promethea, and at the very least it wasn’t a barren desert hellscape like Pandora. It was just a nice forest planet, with a healthy farming community and one very enthusiastic group of people who took a siren being around weird , a nice planet to live a calm and casual life . However, being a relatively secluded planet meant that off planet visitors weren’t a common occurrence and it meant that the sound of a large space faring vessel entering Eden-4’s atmosphere was enough to startle Sloane awake instantly.

“What the fuck?” She thought,falling out of her bed. “Oh right the Calypso twins.” She picked herself off the ground and untangled herself from her blankets tossing them back on the bed. She decided she would show up at the arrival and see what all the fuss was about, normally she wouldn’t get dressed out of her pyjamas until after lunch but this was a special occasion after all.

She left her house and headed to the city center, as the tree tunnel that hid her house opened up to the sky, she saw a large transport class ship hovering in the upper atmosphere above the city. On its bow even from the height the word ‘Centurion’ was clearly visible in white lettering. It was an impressive ship though she supposed she should expect no less from the leaders of the Children of the Vault.

Sloane had decided she didn’t want to get too close to this arrival, if the Twins we’re here for the vault she would be a prime target. However, she couldn’t miss an event like visitors coming to Eden-4 so instead she came as close to the spaceport as she felt comfortable, seeing the crowd amassing and she slipped over to a tree having it scoop her up in its branches and carry her aloft to a nice vantage point.

She watched as a smaller drop ship landed at the spaceport, within minutes the doors to the ship opened and out stepped two figures, the girl was short yet stocky, she wore the same jacket cloak and high collared shirt she had in the videos. This was obviously Tyreen. Following behind her was a man, tall and lanky, he had the same sharp features as she did though his hair was black in contrast with Tyreens white. The most noticeable feature about him though was his large mechanical right arm that appeared to be made from scrap metal and barely cobbled together, both of the twins were far more intimidating in person than they were on film.

“Helloooo Eden-4! The twin gods have arrived!” Tyreen exclaimed in the same boisterous voice Sloane had heard in the videos. There was something almost predatory in the way the twins looked at the crowd of people before flicking to the horizon and though she knew there was no way that she could be seen from here she found herself ducking into the leaves of the branch and ultimately climbing out of the tree all together.

Perhaps they were after vault after all and that would put her on their radar sooner or later. She would prefer to be ready when it did.

                                                             ***

“Quite the crowd we pulled in, eh Sis?” Troy remarked as he set his luggage down on the hotel bed.

“We always do, don't we?.” Tyreen was sat on her bed across the room looking down at her echophone scrolling through the files on the Siren that inhabited this planet and the history of the vault.

“I can’t believe the historical society just handed over those files like it was nothing. Like I know we’re a big deal and all but you’d think they’d have a little more loyalty to one of their own.” She mused as she noted just how much information was on the file; a comprehensive history of the girl's life. Not that she had done anything of note as far as Tyreen could see, just an artist who happened to be a Siren, her abilities seemed to be plant based and Tyreen was sure it would be easy enough to convince her to do what they wanted. While the Siren was the first one to be born on this planet the vault of course had been here much longer but as it stood now, the only way to get to the vault was through the Siren as they had been smart enough not to include the location of the vault key, only that she knew where it was.

“Think she’ll be trouble?” Troy asked as he took a seat next to her. “Kinda surprised it has taken this long to run into another siren.”

“I’m not, there’s only six of us Troy and we’ve been purposely avoiding falling under the Firehawks attention on Pandora so you know it’s not like we’re begging for another Siren to notice us.” Tyreen yawned seemingly less concerned with matter than her brother was.

“Uh yeah I know, I’m just saying. Think you’re gonna have to like I dunno fight her?”

Tyreen finally put down her phone looking at her twin with an annoyed stare. “I will if she gets in my way, otherwise I really don’t see the point.”

Troy nodded and opted to stop pestering his sister for the moment, she was obviously tired and it was best to leave her alone. Besides in the morning they had a siren to hunt.

***

It was easy to fall back into the rhythm of tending to the things around her little spot of woods like the Calypso Twins had never even set foot on the planet. Sloane was sure that they couldn’t be looking for her and that surely no one would tell them that she was the only one who knew where the vault key was would they?

She was out on the backside of her house hanging her laundry out to dry when she heard the sound of someone approaching the house from the front.

“That’s strange.” She thought. She wasn’t expecting guests as she walked back into the house. Warily she opened the front door to find herself face to face with Tyreen Calypso. Her first thought being “Wow she’s shorter than she looks on camera.” Luckily she had the sense not to blurt that out. Especially once she noted that the look in the other sirens eyes seemed particularly malicious.

“Uh hi, Can I help you with something?” Sloane asked cautiously and stepped back from the door. She felt intimidated even though the other woman had done nothing as of yet, but in reaction to the rush of fear she felt her siren marks began to glow a faint blue.

“Ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,doll. You should just relax.” Troy’s smooth voice rang out from behind her and she quickly felt the cold metal of his cybernetic hand close around her wrist. Of course, she had forgotten to lock the back door after she’d come in to investigate the knocking. “We’d hate for anyone to get hurt.”

Sloane squirmed in his grasp, though it was a futile effort, there was no way she could safely get out of this.

“You can let her go Troy, I think she understands it’s easier to comply.” Tyreen said. Sloane felt her wrists sting as the metallic hand released its hold on her.

She straightened up and felt like a deer cornered by wolves as she looked between the Calypso Twins. She hated that they had managed to muscle into her own home and make it seem like they owned the place. This realization gave her a streak of boldness that she opted to run with.

“You two can stop with the theatrics, I don’t see a camera anywhere so I assume you’re not filming this; if I’m wrong about it and you are with how the both of you are acting I’ll assume it’s not live and you’re planning to edit out whatever you don’t like.” She said as her eyes scanned the room one more time not seeing anything out of the ordinary “So why don’t you tell me why you two are in my house? Otherwise I’ll politely ask you to leave.”

“Oh this one is sassy, Ty.” Troy remarked though Tyreen shrugged it off.

“We got intel that says you know where the vault key is and given that you know that I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you know where the vault itself is. Now I’m sure you’re already aware that the vaults are very important to my brother and I. So why don’t you make this easy on all of us and tell us where they are?” Tyreen demanded. Though the other woman was about the same height as Sloane was her mannerisms and speech made her seem all the more imposing.

“And if I don’t?” Sloane shuddered as the metallic hand caressed her cheek and caught her under the chin tilting her head to look back at Troy and she caught a glimpse of a large sword that sat sheathed on his back.

“Be a shame to add a face as pretty as yours to the trophy gallery, but heretics don’t get mercy you know.” Troy smirked and his metal fangs glinted in the light and Sloane all the more felt like she was helpless in this situation, the Calypsos had her exactly where they wanted her.

“You two can stop with the threats really, and I mean why assume I’m a heretic when all I’m doing is asking questions? I’m more than willing to help you, this whole guarding the vault key from outsiders responsibility has never really been my thing. Plus it’s like c’mon how am I supposed to judge who's ‘worthy’ to open the vault I’m just one woman but to be fair the two of you seem like the most prepared and knowledgeable people I’ve come across asking about it so might as well hand it over right? You are the Children of the Vault after all, I can’t think of anyone more suited for the job.” Sloane was stress rambling a little bit even though the rational part of herself told her that she was of more use to the twins alive despite the obvious posturing they were doing.

The twins looked at each other, clearly not expecting her to so easily give them what they wanted. Tyreen shrugged and smirked as she looked back at the other siren.

“Yeah? Well go one then. I’m sure you’ve got terms before you take us to the vault, we can make this a business deal. I’m feeling nice today.” Tyreen crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, everyone had a price and seeing as the other siren hadn’t seemed to be a threat she was willing to pay that price, within reason of course. Besides she hadn’t decided if she was going to kill the other woman yet.

Sloane blinked a few times; she hadn’t been expecting Tyreen to offer her anything other than not killing her as payment for what the twins wanted. She thought for a long moment before meeting Tyreen’s gaze again.

“I want to get off this planet, half of the people here treat me like I’m something to be worshiped and treated with reverence but I’m just a person. I’m not like the two of you, I have no plans to build a following or be a god and when the Vault is opened well I don’t need to be here to protect it now do I? I won’t be a bother, I’ll even be your new ship janitor if that’s what you want. I just want to get away from here, I’m tired of being stuck on this stupid planet.” Sloane ran a hand through her hair nervously, she hoped she wasn’t asking for too much.

Tyreen looked to Troy and raised a brow, the twins seemed to have a silent conversation in the moments that passed before they both looked back to Sloane.

“That’s all you want?” Tyreen asked, resting a hand on her hip. “You want a way off this planet. So much so you’re willing to serve us.” She seemed puzzled by the fact that Sloane seemed so easy to win over yet the desire to leave the confines of one’s planet was one Tyreen could sympathize with.

“Uh yeah?” Sloane was puzzled. Was it really that hard to believe? Had they really been expecting her to make some kind of extravagant request of them.

“Well it’s not the strangest request we’ve ever gotten. We’ll give you time to pack your things then come back for the Vault key, how does two days sound?” Tyreen nodded toward the door and Troy finally stepped around to join his sister, the taller of the twins looked Sloane up and down before flashing a smirk again.

“We’ll be in touch, don’t go get cold feet and run off either. Tyreen’s not a big fan of the chase.” He said as Tyreen gave a snort and nudged him with her shoulder, then as quickly as they had come in they were gone leaving Sloane still a bit stunned as she processed all that had happened. She checked her phone, the entire exchange had only taken about twenty minutes though it had felt like the three of them had been locked in the tense negotiations for hours.

So this was really happening. She was really about to leave the forest that had been her home for twenty-three years. It had protected her just as much as she protected it, though in recent years it had felt more like the forest was keeping her from truly enjoying her life. The canopy that blotted out the stars feeling more like a cage than protective barrier to keep the outside world away from her.

She slid down onto her couch, Persphone crawling out from the bedroom where she had hid while the twins had been present and climbing onto Sloane’s lap. Her fingers ran through the lizard fox’s fur as she processed what she would have to prepare for.

[luninosity]

feettootie said: WHIP IT OUT WHIP IT OUT WHIP IT OUT                            

...you want me to what, now.... :D

Also, did I say 6k of Demon bonus story? I meant like 12k now.

#

The aging bones of the balcony gave way. The theater broke. Supports cascaded, imploded, burst.

 Bodies fell. People. Screaming.

 Justin ran another step forward and flung out both hands.

 Six or seven people—Kris couldn’t think fast enough to count—winked into demon teleportation magic and back out: safely on the ground, at a good distance from the shrieks of the crumpling building. Brimstone briefly scented the air.

 “Justin—”

 “I need to focus—” Justin caught a few more. Yanked them out of disaster and over to solid landings. “Ow—oh, damn—I’m going to have the world’s worst headache—”

 “How can I help?” Hand on Justin’s arm. Security’d run out from the wings. Trying to get the band, the stars of the show, to safety.

 The collapse hadn’t hit the stage. Only that side balcony. And Justin wasn’t going anywhere, which meant Kris wasn’t either—

 Justin saved people. Justin was beautiful, a demon with crackling power at fingertips and incandescent eyes and streaming hair. Kris spared a single second to be entranced by him. Shouts of alarm rose up around them; sound equipment and speakers clattered; bodies in the pit and at the floor level swelled with apprehension, forming mobs, trying to exit or find companions or give assistance.

 Hadn’t any building inspections happened? Any precautions? How’d a whole theater come apart so instantly? Needing one demon to catch so many people, dozens of people—it’d been an intimate venue, so not hundreds, but Justin had once needed a snack after rescuing a girl’s lost chubby cat—Justin was pretty damn far from inexhaustible—

 He tightened his grip on Justin’s shoulder, on stage. They stood out in front as another section of balcony, pulled by its neighbor, groaned and wrenched itself downward. “Tell me what to do!”

 “I’ve got most of them—” Strain laced Justin’s voice, eyes, pale face. Crimson and ochre rippled through his hair, his gaze; his teeth and horns and cheekbones sharpened. Less human, more demon, more himself: semblances peeled away by power and stress. “I can do more—just keep everyone calm—”

 The first sweep of people groaned, sat up, checked themselves over: intact and awed. Justin’s summoning gifts whipped falling debris away, flung theater fragments into thin air and subsequent reappearance safely on the ground, and reached out to cradle trapped concert-goers and pull them out of crushing spaces.

 Kris stretched out empathy. Fought to broadcast calm, reassurance, a lack of panic. Projection hummed at his fingertips, at the core of his existence, in familiar woven strands of green and brown and melody and London and New York and guitar-strings and fire like shooting stars. He’d always been good at throwing his passions out into the universe; right now the universe—and his demon—needed him to believe that everything would be okay.

 So he did. He believed it hard. And he let the soothing fall like a weighted blanket over distressed shouting crowds.

 Sirens sounded. Emergency relief. Assistance. Kris, holding the fear of thousands of shaken fans in one empathic hand, turned to his husband.

 Who breathed, “This is the last—there’s no one else trapped—” as two more bodies materialized away from the rubble. “They can check to be sure but—I think—that’s it—it won’t collapse any more, I moved everything that felt dangerous—”

 “You’re incredible,” Kris told him, stepping closer, reaching a hand out to touch him. A few people, grouped in a knot of rescue at the base of the stage, began applauding. They’d all seen what Justin had done. “You’re brilliant, love—I thought you had limits, I didn’t know you could do that much—”

 “Yes…well…” Justin’s face was white, Kris realized abruptly. Fire-hair had grown duller. Eyes more brown than glittery cinnamon. “I can’t, actually…”

 “You what?”

 “I do have limits,” Justin admitted, a ghost of usual teasing; and then put a hand up to touch his face, and looked surprised, swaying.

 Red, Kris thought, though the thought did not take shape for a horrified blank second; but the red was blood and not fire, because Justin’s nose was bleeding, and Justin’s eyes were closing, and Justin’s whole body gave way all at once, collapsing into Kris’s arms—

 No. No. Kris felt the scream like a whip-crack across the night, searing its way out of his soul.

 He heard gasps, and a few cries and moans; he grabbed the empathic projection and held on tightly, metaphorical magical hands shaking. Justin would tell him to get it under control; Justin saved people; Justin wouldn’t want anyone else hurt…

 Justin was hurt. Limp and white and unresponsive in Kris’s arms. Justin’s head fell against Kris’s shoulder; his eyes did not open. One hand dropped to the stage, and lay there.

 The stage where he’d just been standing—alive and upright, on both feet—in that rock-band t-shirt and skinny black jeans, the same ones he still had on, laughing and waiting for Kris to pull him into an encore, a song, full of anticipation—

 Dark ruby stained the pale blue of that shirt. Justin’s hair and cheekbones and even fingertips were simply human: magic emptied out, leaving ordinary nails without lightly pointed claws, and the regular ginger sort of human hair, pale red and wavy and lifeless. He’d dyed it all sorts of colors, once, when not letting the fire peek out; Kris had loved the discovery, when they’d first tumbled naked into bed, that Justin was in fact more or less a redhead.

 Right now Justin was more human than Kris had ever seen him: burned out, drained, younger and fragile. He lay in Kris’s arms without moving or opening his eyes; he was breathing, chest going up and down, but he did not react when Kris clung to him, pleaded with him, called his name.

 A burst of materialization and brimstone scorched the air. Three slim pillars of flame crackled into existence and resolved themselves into three of Justin’s aunts, all sparks and teeth and claws and hissing. A paramedic who’d started toward the stage froze in place; the rest of the band had been hustled away by security, leaving instruments, being taken care of.

 Kris and Justin, in a tangle of stunned limbs and bodies, had landed on the stage; Kris cradled Justin, shook him, tripped over love and anguish and words. “Justin—Justin, love, wake up—open your eyes, love, please—please, stay with me, look at me, Justin, please—”

 All three demons threw themselves down beside their nephew on the scuffed stage; Aunt Raissa’s glamorous blue evening gown tore in a rip of silk. Aunt Mara, who tended to be the spokesperson, commanded, “We’ll handle this—” and spun to face Kris. On both knees, in jeans and a sparkly green shirt, wearing fire in eyes and voice and claws, she grabbed Justin’s unmoving hand and defied the apocalypse with pint-sized familial ferocity. “What happened?”

 “He—”

 “He saved them,” Mara said over him, “didn’t he? Oh, stupid, stupid ridiculous human heart—oh, Justin. Come on, come on, pet, wake up. Wake up for us.”

 “We felt it,” said the third of Justin’s favorite aunts—he had around fifty, though only three or four had taken an active interest in raising the half-human child of the sister who’d died in the human world—and looked up, uncertain. Kris had only met Ylse perhaps three times; he knew she liked human soap operas and romance novels and lacy sundresses. Right now her eyes were bright and scared. “We felt him, clearer than ever, like he’d reached over and touched our world, like a portal—and then we couldn’t feel him—Mara, he won’t wake up and I think he’s feeling worse…”

 “He saved everyone.” Kris could barely talk. Clutching Justin. While demons knelt and touched bare colorless skin and made little fire-flares crackle in the air. “He…I know he’s…he’s only half…not as strong…”

 Justin had saved people before. That cat. A baby. Five residents of a burning apartment building, once. He’d admitted to Kris that that’d been hard; he didn’t have boundless resources, he was part human, and his human body wasn’t built to channel that much otherworldly power. He’d fainted in an alleyway, he’d admitted, after rescuing the people; he’d awakened with a splitting headache.

 But Justin wasn’t human, and could—

 “He can heal.” Kris looked from aunt to aunt, demon to demon: all of them clustered over Justin, here in a dust-filled theater full of despair and voices and aftermath. “Can’t he?”

 They exchanged glances.

 “What?”

 “He might be able to,” Mara said slowly, “but I think Ylse’s right and it’s hurting him…using any of it, right now…”

 “What does that mean?”

 “It means,” said Justin very weakly, “that everything hurts. Oh, gods…oh, Kris…” His eyes opened, beautiful as ever, but his voice trembled; Kris held onto him, held him, wanted to weep with relief and terror, and couldn’t. Justin had already started to cry, not from fear but as if hurting too badly to hold it all in; that realization spun Kris’s emotions into dazed white-hot blankness.

 He got out, “You’re alive, love, you’re alive and I’m here, you’ll be all right, I swear, I’m here and I’ll take care of you, I love you,” and stroked a wisp of hair—light red, tired, whisper-soft—out of Justin’s face, and tried to demand answers from some demons with his expression.

 “Justin?” Mara, sitting beside Kris, touched her nephew’s wrist. “Come on, pet, look at me. I know it’s hurting, I know, just look up for a second…” Her voice murmured like velvet, like roses, like coaxing: worried and soothing with the edge of centuries-long practice at temptation and seduction.

 Justin caught breath, shivered, held on to Kris, but looked at his aunt. They gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment: more human than usual, meeting the more otherworldly.

 And then Justin flinched, and tucked his face into Kris’s shirt. Kris pressed a kiss to the top of his head, held him more proprietarily, and demanded, “What was that?”

 “Not good,” Mara said.

 “I’m all right,” Justin said into Kris’s collarbone, shaky.

 “Love,” Kris said, “you’re not. Don’t worry about reassuring us or what the fuck ever, don’t worry about anyone else, understand? Just take care of you.”

 “That’s part of the problem.” Justin swallowed, struggled more upright, took a breath. He remained terrifyingly weak, weight wholly resting against Kris’s bulwark; he hadn’t tried to sit up on his own. Drying blood streaked his face and the world with awful hues. “I can’t heal. I can’t even shift aspects…if I try, everything hurts so much…I did try, just now, and it was…I couldn’t…” He shivered more. Shook his head, silenced by pain; he leaned against Kris more after, exhausted.

 “So you’re not all right.” Kris tried to keep his voice even. He was dying, screaming, falling apart—but he couldn’t, he couldn’t, because Justin was leaning on him and he needed to stay strong and even-keeled and secure, a rock-solid old empath who couldn’t even protect the man he loved…

 “I’m…” Justin paused to breathe some more. “I’m not getting worse. I think. I’m still here. But I feel…everything burns…it’s like fire, inside, and even more if I even think about…” When he held up a wobbly hand, he looked at it as if expecting burn-marks, trails of scorched black, seared lines along veins and bones. “It’s too much…”

 The aunts shared a moment, then looked at Justin. Aunt Raissa said, with the presence of mind of someone in a long-term relationship with a United States Senator and consequent awareness of the media, “We should get you out of here before anyone tries to study you and the effects.”

 “I can’t teleport,” Justin said. “I can’t…”

 “Not you, pet.” Mara patted his shoulder. “You can’t do anything right now. None of your human doctors can. No offense, Kris.”

 “If you can help,” Kris said, and stopped, as tears skewered his throat.

 “We’ll take you home,” Mara said. “Both of you—” And as she said so the world blurred, became watercolor and fire, a swirling pool of cinnamon and garnet and primrose streaks.

 The streaks eddied, ebbed, stabilized. Magic jerked at Kris’s body, at Justin in his arms.

 They landed in his and Justin’s penthouse apartment: in the living room, in fact, right next to the sofa, with an unnerving degree of precision. Aunt Raissa, sitting on a couch-arm, said, “Oh, Mara—poor pet, look—”

 Justin had gone quiet again, lax in Kris’s arms; Kris, released from demon-magic, moved to set him on the sofa, saw Justin’s shut eyes and the loll of that head—

 “No. No, Justin, come on—please, love, I love you—”

 “Still here,” Justin breathed, without opening his eyes. “That hurt…even feeling it hurts…scratching…so sharp…”

 “I’m sorry, pet.” Mara perched on their coffee-table, scrutinizing her nephew’s face. “I thought you’d rather get home as fast as possible. Away from any human poking and prying. Did it hurt too badly?”

 “No…it’s just everything…” Justin’s expression crumpled into pain. “I’m so tired.”

 “You can rest now.” She touched his cheek; her expression held another emotion for a moment. Kris, watching, remembered that Justin’s aunts had lost a sister as well, when Justin’s mother had died. “Rest. That’ll help most.”

 Justin nodded a fraction, lying prone on the sofa, head eased into Kris’s lap; Kris loved him and wanted to make this never have happened and wanted to tear the world apart if it’d ease one second of Justin’s pain.

 He stroked Justin’s hair some more. He made his own breathing steady. No pressure. No pushing against raw sensations. Only projecting good emotions: comfort, warmth, affirmation. Tenderness. Love.

 Aunt Ylse handed him a blanket. It was the one from their bed, a colorful knitted enormity that Justin’s middle siblings had made during the year they’d decided to learn to knit. Kris did not bother to ask how she’d pulled it out of sheer nothing in their living room; full-blooded demons did not have many limits.

 Justin had limits. And was lying very still, head pillowed on Kris’s thigh, breathing ragged but evening out somewhat. He might’ve been sleeping, though he wasn’t, quite; Kris knew how Justin felt when cuddling sleepily in the mornings. This was more frightening.

 He didn’t have his mobile phone. It’d been in the dressing room backstage. Justin’s, in a pocket of those skinny jeans, kept making buzzing sounds. Kris tugged it out, tossed it at the table, knew the news stories that’d be erupting, and ignored them.

 Too big to think about. Too enormous.

 Justin hadn’t moved, maybe soothed into some form of drowsing by Kris’s petting and wholehearted love. Kris could rub his temples forever. Anything. Everything. If it’d make even the smallest difference.

 He said, keeping his voice low, “Is there anything I can do? Anything you can do?”

 “Us? I don’t know.” Mara ran a hand through her hair, rumpling fire; Kris hadn’t seen her look so weary ever before. “It’s essentially a form of magical burnout. You know how that works, yes?”

 He did. Even human magicians got that: too much power, overuse, brilliance poured into channels unready to contain it…sometimes the backlash took the form of a simple headache, but it could also mean permanent damage, a burning-out of those channels, ongoing agony or even insanity or death…

 She must have seen his face. “It’s not that bad. Or I don’t think so. But what he did…he shouldn’t’ve been able to do that.”

 “He can do more than—”

 “You don’t understand. He’s half human. He shouldn’t have been able to do that. To catch that many people, to keep pieces from crushing them…everything we know about the children says he shouldn’t be that strong.”

 Kris, who’d seen Justin conjure up pizza and carry an inhuman amount of books with one hand, did not have an answer. He did not know enough about demon physiology; no one did. Especially not rare, once-in-a-century hybrid types. Like Justin.

 Mara drew a breath, let it out. “He can’t heal magically because everything hurts. Overloaded. Especially our sort of magic.”

 “Demon power,” Ylse said. “And it’s dreadful, because…”

 “…because we could heal him,” Raissa finished. She’d kicked off her high heels, and swung a leg; she looked anxious too, barefoot and tense under blue evening wear. “We could do all sorts of things…feed him power, if it was just straightforward energy depletion, or bring him properly home…”

 That meant the otherworld, the demon planes, out of the human realm; Kris couldn’t even argue about their taking Justin someplace his human lungs couldn’t follow. “Would that help?”

 “I’d say yes—he’d be less human, less vulnerable, more himself—but not with this.” Mara frowned. “Everything in there feels too torn up…too broken…completely surrounding him with our power might hurt worse…”

 “Then no.” Kris left a hand resting in Justin’s hair, and let the world shake at the edge of an empath’s anger. “Not unless you’re sure it’ll do something.”

 “I think it won’t. Not yet. He needs to heal enough that those channels can hold at least a little power, again. I think right now he’d start screaming in pain if we tried.” She bit a lip; her teeth were more pointed than Justin’s, though they did not draw blood. “He’s not going to die. He will recover, I think…this doesn’t feel permanent to me…but it won’t be instant.” Her eyes, older for a moment, rested on Kris, who loved her only nephew. “He’ll be human for some time. I don’t know how long. He’ll be in pain for…some time, too.”

 The universe cracked and quivered. Their sofa and coffee-table and rug yearned closer in anguish. Kris’s heart clenched around itself—around an absence of Justin—unhappily.

 “Keep him warm,” Ylse said softly, and rested a hand on Justin’s ankle, over blanket-folds. “Keep him quiet, and calm, and protected.”

 “I can do that,” Kris vowed. “I can do that.”

[gastricpierrot]

Title: Heartbeat 

Series: Promare

Pairing: GaloLio

Rating: T

Summary: 

Lio turns himself in after the final battle, the start of a new life he must get used to.

This is a story of how Lio Fotia navigates through the days that follow, learns that support comes in more forms than he's ever familiar with, and deals with his alarmingly developing feelings for Galo Thymos.

Warning: slow burn so slow the promare would’ve had to personally leave the earth

Also on AO3

[Prologue]

The first thing that sets in is the silence.

The voices that’s been chattering in his head since as far back as he could remember, the voices that screamed, demanded to burn burn burn—are gone. The sun is rising. Lio’s ears are still ringing from the explosions of the battle. He still hasn’t registered the foreignness of the feeling of cool breeze against his bare skin.

It's... quiet.

“Lio.”

He turns, meeting eyes with the man whom he’d just saved and set the world on fire with. Bruised and battered but still standing tall and proud, though a little mellowed out at the moment. Lio figures even Galo would be drained after that intense ordeal of piloting giant robots, screaming, and punching two-faced hero figures.

“Yeah?”

“What do you plan to do after this?” Galo’s voice lacks the needless energy and passion it always seemed to carry. It's instead level, laced with genuine concern. Lio averts his gaze towards the yellow-tinted sky, hugging his elbows as the cold begins to sink in.

“What about you, Galo Thymos?”

He breathes, basking in this short moment of peace for just a while longer. The ringing in his ears gradually subside; he can hear sirens in the distance, the buzz of aircrafts racing towards their location. His heart, once on the verge of stopping completely, beats in a steady rhythm.

“What I’ve been doing all along,” Galo answers, “rescuing people in need.”

Part of Lio can’t help envying his simplistic viewpoint. Part of him envies that Galo still has something so normal to return to, a world that doesn’t have to change as drastically as his own. Lio honestly doesn’t want to think about what future awaits him, but he knows he must. For the sake of all the Burnish he’d tried and failed to save from Kray Foresight’s grasp.

“You haven’t answered my question,” Galo prompts, and Lio feels himself smiling without mirth at the realization that dawns him.

He's afraid. He's so afraid, for once, of what could, and what’s going to happen from now on.

“I—” Even admitting it brings a tremor to his hands, and he digs his fingertips into the flesh of his arms. “I don’t know.”

He forces his mind to work through his exhaustion. The sirens sound much closer. Lio has to make a choice, has to weigh his options. His people still need him.

“Well for starters, why don’t we help get the Burnish out of the rubble while backup’s on the way?” Galo pats his back in assurance, albeit with enough force to make him stumble a step forward. He’s quick to offer apologies, but Lio doesn’t really mind. He appreciates the effort Galo seems to be making to put him at ease.

It’s truly comforting to be reminded that he’s still got someone to rely on, despite everything.

Lio scarcely flinches when multiple spotlights are trained on him, his hair whipping all over his face from the gale produced by aircraft rotor blades. Galo immediately moves to place himself between Lio and the forces arriving to arrest him, probably all set to argue in Lio’s defense. Lio tugs him aside by his wrist, having come to a decision.

“I’ll leave my brothers and sisters to you,” he says, only able to hope that his voice isn’t lost to the wind. He catches one last glimpse of Galo, wide-eyed and confused, before he turns himself in.

Lio Fotia, despite having been part of the pair that had saved Earth from imploding, surrenders himself without fuss. It is his way of taking responsibility for the destruction he’d caused during—and even before—his rampage through Promepolis. It is also so that the rest of the Burnish, now people just like everyone else with their flames lost, would not be punished for crimes they did not commit. Lio had been the one to give orders, the one who had led all those acts of arson in the city. Those who weren’t part of Mad Burnish had only been trying to live peacefully without being captured. Those who had been part of Mad Burnish had merely been following him out of blind obligation.

Lio is eventually trialed at court, under a law he still despises but have no choice to abide to. He’s prepared for a heavy punishment—lifelong confinement or even death, perhaps—so he’s genuinely surprised when he’s instead sentenced to several years of community service while kept under strict surveillance. He hears later that it’s because the members of Burning Rescue had appealed on his behalf, insisting that without him, the Promare would’ve gone haywire during Kray Foresight’s insane operation and destroyed the entire planet. They’d argued that the atrocities carried out by the Foresight Foundation far outweighs Lio’s actions in scale and consequence, and that Mad Burnish had mainly been only retaliating against what the government started. Facts provided by scientists and researchers who’d worked with the Foundation had added weight to their claims, and the decision is finalized after weeks of deliberation.

Lio Fotia is charged with arson and mass destruction of public property, but not for killing people.

True to Galo’s word, the former Burnish were rescued from the rubble of the Parnassus engine as soon as reinforcements arrived at the scene. Lio’s informed that most of them only carried light injuries; it’s likely that the final blaze by the Promare had healed most physical damages caused by the generators. Even so, there were still quite a number of them who had had limbs, even organs burnt away that couldn’t be recovered. Some hadn’t been able to survive. Those who were still hanging on has been sent to receive immediate medical attention, though at present it is uncertain if they could be treated with existing means.

Everyone else, on the other hand, has been brought to shelters to settle down while society and the government worked to right themselves after all that’s happened.

Lio is made to stay in a detention facility after his sentence, a tracker surgically implanted into his ankle to monitor his movements at all times. He isn’t allowed to meet the former Burnish, much less check on how they are faring. The first day of his new life begins with him waking at the crack of dawn, heading down hallways while fighting the urge to brawl with inmates who can’t keep their excessive obscene comments and gestures to themselves, and almost freezing to death when he takes his first shower in what feels like forever.

He's then clad in a jumpsuit that’s just a bit too loose over his frame, and given a serving of dry sandwiches and milk as breakfast. He’s later escorted into a vehicle where he joins a group of other inmates who barely make any eye contact (already miles more civilized than those who’d greeted him in the hallway, he thinks), and they’re taken to a site that seems to be just recently cleared of the remnants of destruction. Their community service turns out to involve helping rebuild and reconstruct places that have been wrecked during the latest battle.

Lio gets to work with a blank mind, at this point too tired to listen to his own thoughts and the occasional backhanded comments about him and the Burnish uttered by people around him who seem to have too much energy to spare. The intense labor keeps him occupied enough for the hours to pass at a decent speed, and by the time he realizes it, his whole body is aching, the sun is setting, and he’s ordered to stop and return to the detention center.

Lio spots the flashy blue hair first from the corner of his eye as he makes his way back to the van waiting for them. He turns, and, in another moment of unexpected synchronicity, their gazes meet.

And the first day of Lio’s new life ends with a wave and a bright smile from Galo Thymos.

[inkribbon796]

Leap of Faith Ch 3

Summary: The group finally reach their destination, and it is as cult-filled as the brochure said it would be.

A/N: all titles for the story come from JT Music’s “Take a Leap of Faith”.

<= PREVIOUS

Chapter 3: I’m a National Treasure

If Marvin didn’t hate Illinois before, he did now. Both of them were with Magnum and Roman in the same cage. Magnum in particular was half rolled into a ball to fit in with them. Eric had been separated from them in the chaos. 

Sailing had been easy enough but the instant they started moving towards the temple they were immediately ambushed and captured by the cult they were looking for. It had been a temple carved into a cave. They had been able to track them because of Marvin’s innate magical ability. Roman had almost gotten his nose crushed up into his skull for trying to be a bit too eager to take on ten people at once.

“This is your fault,” Marvin glared at Illinois.

“My fault?” Illinois huffed. “What about this is my fault?”

“How about the part where you were laughing about the fact that we were in a book and your maniac brother was controlling us. Maybe you should have taken the whole thing seriously.”

Illinois used what tiny space he had to try and kick the door at the top of the cage off. But he lacked the room and the leverage to put any kind of power into it. “Kay, Maury, just because you’re the main character here doesn’t mean you can act like a know-it-all. If you really knew Artie, you’d understand.”

The adventurer punched the cage wall, looking around in random directions as if he was trying to find something. “I’m not going to die here, Artie! Go jump off a bridge, you asshat!”

“We are right next to you, why the hell are you shouting!?” Roman shouted back.

“Because my asshole brother is trying to kill me, but I’m not going to let him,” Illinois argued. “The Old Man is going to kill you, you jealous douchebag!”

The adventurer began frantically looking at the top of the cage.

“Maybe Eric’s looking for the keys?” Roman tried to be helpful, trying to summon anything but there was something wrong with the cage they were in because he couldn’t use his imagination powers. In fact he was getting a little lightheaded.

Illinois scoffed. “Yeah right. We’ve got to save ourselves. If he didn’t run for the hills, he’s hunkered down in some corner.”

“Hey, asshole,” Roman snapped back, bracing himself against the bars of the cage. “He would never abandon us.”

“Trust me,” Illinois laughed dryly. “I’ve had all kinds of travel partners. The cowardly lions I’ve worked with always get themselves killed.”

Any other insults Illinois was about to say were swallowed up by a series of loud explosions and then Eric came running out of the tunnel, looking panicked and worried. “Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!”

He slammed into the side of the cage door and began climbing up as Illinois watched him.

“Holy shit,” Illinois commented. “You came back.”

There was a look of realization crossed his face, “Wow, guess you guys were right we aren’t in a book.”

“Now you believe us?” Marvin demanded in exasperation.

“Artie’s real big on playing with tropes, but he never breaks ‘em.” As Illinois spoke, he scaled the cage wall so he could get closer to Eric. “Alright kid what do you see?”

Eric was pulling at a latch, “I-It won’t budge.”

“That’s okay, what type of latch is it?” Illinois said. He couldn’t see the lock from this angle.

“It’s made of . . . uh, um, rock with some weird writing,” Eric answered.

“Let me up,” Marvin ordered.

“I c-an do this,” Eric promised and began shaking out his hands before placing them directly on the latch and the whole thing rippled out into an explosion. Eric screamed, jolted with electricity.

With Eric off the door, Illinois swung his legs up and kicked the door open, jumping on top of the cage. Immediately he was helping the others up. But he did look back at Eric and smiled warmly. “Pretty brave thing you did back there, kid. You okay?”

“Ye-Yeah,” Eric was beaming as he readjusted his glasses. “Re-ally?”

“Yeah,” Illinois smiled. “I thought you’d leave us high and dry to huddle in a corner. I’m glad you proved me wrong. You’re a real hero, you know that?”

“Y-ou really th-ink so?” Eric was tripping over his words a bit more than usual.

“Oh I know so,” Illinois jumped off the cage to let Magnum have the room he needed to climb out. “Now let’s get outta this place and find the treasure we really want.”

“Yarr,” Magnum agreed, the earth shaking a bit as he jumped down. There was a sound of someone walking down the tunnel. Everyone ducked around the corner and when the guy appeared in the entranceway, Magnum hit him in the face, knocking him out.

Illinois directed Magnum to toss him into the cage.

“Okay, five bucks says he’s not alone,” Illinois said. “Kid, how many did you kill when you ran in?”

“I-I-I didn’t,” Eric looked on the verge of the breakdown.

“Did you knock them out?” Illinois went for a softer tone, holding up his hands placatingly.

Eric looked away, “I-I didn’t . . . try to hurt them. Couldn’t . . . touch them.”

“Okay, we can work with that,” Illinois told him and then looked around the room. “Bunch of commandos, and no guns. Great.”

“Ye gonna shoot ‘em?” Marvin asked.

“If it’s me or them, I’d rather get out of this in one peace, if it pleases the court,” Illinois defended.

“Self-defense,” Marvin agreed, giving Roman a hard look who seemed uncomfortable but threw his arms up in surrender.

“Magnum,” Illinois asked. “Plan B.”

“Gotcha,” Magnum smiled and pulled out several sticks of wood, and a string.

“Thank you,” Illinois told him and began assembling a crossbow.”

“How long have you had that?” Roman asked.

“Didn’t want to pull one of these out for just anything, I’ve got one shot, and I think I saw some pretty weak supports in the main room.

“Are yah mad?” Marvin growled.

“Oh, definitely,” Illinois smiled back. “But it’s our best shot out. I can make the shot, I know I can.”

“I don’t want to be trapped in a cave for the rest of my life,” Roman reminded.

“We won’t,” Illinois winked, “I’ve got us. I just need to make sure that they’re all to one side. You got a spell to help with that Maury?”

“That’s basic ventriloquism,” Marvin reminded, rolling his eyes. “Course I can throw sound over a room.”

“Awesome,” Illinois grinned.

Slowly the two began making their way out of the cave.

“Kay,” Marvin whispered. “How are you actually doing this?”

“I have the ability to affect probability, but I can horde it for a specific moment,” Illinois explained. “So I’ve got one shot cause the bow and I can’t give you my luck to do it for us.”

“Don’t miss,” Marvin told him.

“I can’t,” Illinois boasted and the two got close to the main room where five more guys were standing around looking agitated. Marvin heard that odd humming that he’d caught when the four of them had been dragged in. It was almost like a siren’s call.

While Marvin had been distracted between the ventriloquist spell he was doing and his thoughts, Illinois took his shot. The adventurer was aiming for one of the degraded supports of the temple that was helping to support the roof of the cave.

He looked down the sights and took a deep breath. On Illinois’s next exhale, his finger moved and the arrow flew. All it did was embed itself into a wood panel but it set off a chain reaction in exactly the right spot to make the pre-existing wood rot cracking the wood. The rock above started to groan under the weight.

“You guys okay?” Eric asked as he walked in.

“Get down!” Illinois jumped onto Eric, knocking him to the ground and shielding him with his own body.

The sound of falling tunnel was louder than Eric’s screams,which Eric and Marvin’s ears didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. It seemed to take ages for the collapse to stop and dust covered all of them.

Eric was whimpering in terror, curled into Illinois until the rumbling and crashing sounds of rocks finally stopped.

“A-Am I de-ad?” Eric coughed up dust.

Illinois picked his head up and saw that the tunnel collapses had luckily stopped inches from their hallways, sparking all of them and mere hairs away from Illinois’s foot.

“Not yet,” Illinois grinned as he looked at the edge of the new tunnel.

“They de-ad?” Eric gulped.

“Well fookin’ forgive me if I don’ grieve fer a bunch ‘a human sacrificin’ cultists,” Marvin started picking himself up slowly.

“You two okay?” Roman was running over, the room they’d been caged in was unscathed. Magnum was trying to squeeze himself through the much smaller tunnels.

“That was amazing,” Eric praised Illinois. The adventurer held out a hand to help Eric to his feet.

Illinois seemed to puff out his chest a bit at that. “Yeah? Glad you think so.”

“Where’d yeh learn ta shoot like that?” Marvin asked.

“Practice,” Illinois boasted. “Crossbow’s a bit different of a beast than a gun or a bow and arrow.”

“I guess, never fired out anythin’ more than magic,” Marvin agreed.

“Let’s get what we want, an’ get out of here before the cult of silly hats frees ‘emselves,” Magnum reminded.

“Right,” Illinois agreed.

The group began heading towards the entrance when Marvin stopped. “Hey, there was this weird room down the other hall, I wanna check it before we go.”

“You crazy?” Illinois reminded. “We should cut our losses. There’s other temples and weird places around the area we could look for.”

Then Marvin heard the low hum again, almost beckoning him down the other way.

“We came here to look fer somethin’ an’ I’m not leavin’ without it.” Marvin was starting down the tunnel, it was a wide entrance. Not quite big enough for a car, but certainly big enough to fit two average-sized wheel barrows through side-by-side.

“We just,” Illinois was stalking after him, clearly trying to stop him and pull Marvin back. But Marvin had stepped around the corner to see a large room. Immediately when Marvin saw it he knew some awful things had happened in this room, a dark energy was permeating the entire place. Murder, kidnappings, blood sacrifices.

Illinois stopped too, looking into the room. “You feel that too.”

Marvin nodded, looking around as he drew a couple protective symbols on the floor. “We found it.”

There was something like an altar set up to view a full mural. Drawing that looked like some type of ritualistic sacrifice in front of a dark mass that didn’t look human.

“Think this is it?” Roman asked, taking out his camera.

“Better be,” Marvin answered, he glanced over at Illinois who was staring up at it with awe and shock in his eyes, his mouth slightly a gap open. “Or we just trekked through mosquito-infested jungle and got captured for nothing.”

“This,” Illinois gasped, Eric hiding behind him, “this is incredible! The board’s never going to believe it.”

“Can ye read this?” Marvin asked.

“Some,” Illinois admitted, not looking back at Marvin for longer than a second, as if transfixed by the mural, which should have probably alarmed Marvin more than it did. “Well, I can read the Cariban. But it’s old, real old, I’d need a couple days, and books back home, to decipher all of this stuff out. It’s intermixed with a language I’ve never seen before. Doesn’t look like any of the other Marajoara or Mesoamerican languages I’ve seen, but I doubt I’ve seen all of them.”

“So you could read some of it?” Marvin quizzed. “You could figure out some of it.”

“I could decode all of it,” Illinois promised. “It’s obvious that multiple cultures lived here, I get one of them, I could find more.”

“Really?” Marvin eyed him up and down.

“Yeah,” Illinois smiled. “We could learn more about pre-colonial American traditions and religion with this thing. Think of the possibilities! Wish I’d picked this for my thesis instead, but that doesn’t mean I can’t publish the shit outta this thing.”

The adventurer walked closer to the mural. Roman accidentally snapping a picture of him in frame as well before moving out of the way to get his shot back again so he could get all the writing he needed. He ran his hands over the dark mass, marveling over it. “You came here for these? You boys planning on summoning an eldritch demon or something.”

“Nah,” Marvin answered. “We’re hoping to contain them.”

Illinois just stared at him, his expression in between cautious, and concerned. “Well good luck. You’re going up against Dark right? There’s not a soul in Egoton that hasn’t heard of him.”

“Wasn’t our original idea, but if we can get ‘im too, we will,” Marvin promised.

Illinois actually chuckled at that. “Yeah, maybe if you got the drop on him and know what you were doing. Good luck with that.”

“So what’d you catch on that,” Roman asked, still taking pictures of the mural.

“It’s detailing some type of process of communication, what I don’t know yet, but the pictures don’t look like they’re talking about anything like that so I don’t know yet.”

“We’ve got a guy who’s savvy with old languages, but if ye find anythin’ make sure ye let us know, always good ta have a second opinion,” Marvin told him.

“If you can get me copies I can absolutely do that,” Illinois agreed before looking around. “Hey, where’s Mag go?”

“Look at what I found!” Magnum called out from a neighboring room that was connected to the room they were in. The heroes and Illinois rushed into the other room to see the room had ceiling to floor boxes full of things. Some of the boxes were  filled with food, others of them had jewelry and money. A bunch of it had sparkles of blood on them.

“Well this must be how some of the commandos have been shipping stuff out of the city,” Illinois walked over, pulling a box out of the stack to rifle through it. “Make sense, there’s been lots of missing people through the years.”

“Is there any way to return it?” Eric asked.

Illinois just smiled up at him. “Brave and kind to a fault aren’t you?” Then he looked down. “I’m not seeing any names or return addresses and there’s lots of people who would lie to pocket some of this stuff. Looks expressive too.”

Eric frowned, but Illinois slowly and carefully pulled out a necklace from the pile, muttering to himself as he worked to untangle it from some of the others. It had a small jade rabbit on it.

“Here,” Illinois held it up once he’d freed it from the other necklaces, “Since there’s no way to return it, you should have this one.”

Eric looked back at Marvin and Roman. “Is this a good idea?”

Marvin sighed. “It’s like twenty bucks in the middle of a busy street,” the magician agreed. “Sides, the Captain’s gonna take it when we’re not looking.”

“Yard, ye know me so well,” Magnum smiled.

“Probably cause yer a pirate, it’s kinda yer job,” Marvin agreed. “Most ‘a this should go ta the local population, help out the local economy.”

“I think I can arrange that,” Illinois promised, but held up the necklace. “But this should be yours, Eric.”

“Really?” Eric blushed.

“Yeah,” Illinois smiled slyly. “You deserve to walk away with something for your hard work.”

Illinois carefully clasped the necklace around Eric’s neck. In the end, everyone but Marvin walked away with something. The magician was hesitant to touch anything that could possibly be cursed. Eric got his necklace. Illinois pocketed something Roman didn’t get to fully get a good look at what it was. Roman got a dagger with a jaguar carved into the hilt. Magnum and his crew made off with a lot of treasure, the rest would stay in Illinois’s Jeep with the adventurer. The crew used Illinois’s Jeep to get back to the ship in one trip.

While they were on the ship riding back to the Manaus port they’d pushed off from, Marvin took Roman’s phone to start taking notes of the inscriptions. Looking at the mural depictions of the black mass itself unsettled something in Marvin’s stomach but he kept everything for King to translate in case the inscription was another part of the language itself.

They made it to the port in good time, Magnum and his crew immediately restocking for the trip home. During the exchanges, Eric watched Illinois step off the gangplank and onto the dock.

“You leaving?” Eric asked, a bit hurt.

“Well yeah, I’ve still got research to collect,” Illinois told him. “Term papers don’t write themselves.”

“You sure?” Roman asked. “It’s no problem to drop you off.”

“I’ll be fine, get out of here before you worry Artie,” Illinois groaned.

“If we say yes, will you drop it,” Marvin answered, smiling.

“Absolutely not,” Illinois jogged back up to the ship, holding out his hand. “Here, Eric I can give you a call when I get back to town. We can go to this really nice fair that’s going to pull up to town when I get back.”

Eric blushed, pulling out his phone, “Sounds like fun.”

The adventurer winked, clicking his tongue and began inputting his number. “Wait a couple hours before calling, my phone’s dead.”

“Right,” Eric held the phone close to him.

Illinois finally got back onto the dock and watched as Magnum directed the ship to pull away. Eric leaning over the railing and waving at Illinois until he was too far away to see clearly.

Once the adventurer was a speck on the horizon, Roman leaned over. “Spill,” Roman begged. “I live for romance, it’s literally in my name.”

“Could ye two hens keep yer lovebird crooning down?” Marvin shouted. “I’m trying to figure out how ta kill demons.”

“Love can vanquish evil,” Roman proclaimed.

“Sure, uh huh,” Marvin dismissed. “Whatever you say, Charming. Just take it a couple steps away from me so I can concentrate.”

“Oh let him have fun,” Roman goaded, gesturing to Eric. “He’s got a hot Brazilian boyfriend.”

“Did ye hear that dipshit talk?” Marvin scoffed, smiling a bit. “Fooker was American.”

“Oh can it, Copperfield,” Roman smiled back,  but was pushing Eric away a little farther away from Marvin. Roman already started to give Eric rather lofty advice, and in Marvin’s mind it was woefully unhelpful, for dating someone. Marvin left them to it, it let him concentrate on the pictures, and Roman would be back to pester the magician for his phone again anyways.

The three heroes on a sailing ship with a pirate crew, and before long Marvin would join in on the fun.

[70swonderpoisonstark]

Wait, you survived? ( V )

// You and Steve survive the plane wreck and end up seventy years in the future. Everything’s different and the only person that understands the confusion and pain of losing your entire world is your now dead husband’s best friend. When the two of you are forced to adapt to the world around you, things can get complicated. //

 “If you love someone, tell them.

                         For hearts are often broken 

   by words left unspoken.”

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Buildings were falling, crashing onto the streets. Aliens flying everywhere. You and Steve were helping civilians get inside or underground. Trying your hardest to keep everyone safe while also fighting for your lives. Your shots were dead on, head shots killed aliens just as effectively as they killed Nazi's. You went down the streets, rushing people away from the action while aiding the team with killing down the numbers. You'd lost Steve at this point, you'd been running up and down the streets, listening for the sound of Tony's blasters as you vigilantly fought the hoard of creatures that had been released through a giant portal in the sky. You were in the main part of the city, at the center of the action, punching, kicking, flipping through the air as you avoided being dusted by the alien weapons.

Steve watched helplessly as you were cornered time and time again by the horde that was unleashed on the city. He tried to fight his way over to you, but they kept coming, pulling him away from you. There were too many, they'd never make it out of this alive if they kept coming at this rate. Giant centipede-from-hell creatures filling the skies with fury, destroying everything in their path, releasing more aliens onto the ground. It was hopeless, but you kept on fighting, with the rest of them.

Energy blasts were coming from every direction, time itself seem to slow as you dodged blast after blast, shot after shot. Pure adrenaline forcing every move you made. Instinct driving you to fight, kill, survive. A crash a couples miles away lead you towards the rest of the group. You circled up, watching as more of them came out of the giant blue hole.

Steve ran off, helping the local police align their plan with his own. Saving the people was what mattered right now and he had to focus.

You fought alongside Natasha and Clint, dropping alien bodies as quickly as they came. Thor made an electrifying entrance, and Steve finally made his way over to you. He looked you up and down, checking for any obvious injuries and silently panicking about you being non-enhanced and not an assassin. He couldn't stop the fight to physically check you over, but by God that would be the first thing he did when this was all over.

Dr. Banner had finally showed, driving on a beaten down motorcycle. His look of shame had been replaced with strength. He seemed ready to do what needed to be done, and make up for his past mistakes in New York. He was ready to be the hero he had always been.

"That's my secret Cap, I'm always angry." A devastating blow demolished the skull of whatever armored alien whale, causing it to fall literally head over heels onto you guys. Steve covered you and Natasha as it came crumbling down. Igniting a fury in what was left of the aliens as they screamed their battle cries at the top of their lungs. Steve took the lead, shouting out a plan as the group fanned out. You, Steve, and Natasha stayed on the ground, taking out as many aliens as you could, bouncing creatures between the three of you as you tired out, working in unison as you ripped throats out. Natasha bounced, clasping onto one of the hover machines being flown by the aliens, flying off to God knows where. You and Steve stayed behind, throwing each other looks as you fought side by side, fighting memories as you kicked ass. They'd redone both of your original suits, his was more vibrantly star spangled and yours a much more abstract collection of dark navy, maroon and gray. It was hard not to imagine the two of you doing the same thing all across Europe before the fall as your moves synchronized together. Every crippling blow, every strike of the feet and hands, it was impossible not to see the symmetry you possessed on the battlefield; mirroring each others move without even a glance.

Steve focused on his fight, shield, punch, hit, uppercut, roundhouse. Fighting his way through squadron after squadron of evil. How was he reminiscing and battling at the same time? Aliens mirroring HYDRA goons time after time, the howling commandos behind and around him, you and Bucky on either side, taking down foe's with ease. His heart ached for the old days when the whole team was together, he'd have something smart to say to Dum Dum, only to be reminded that you were all he had left. He had to adjust to the times and realize he was fighting aliens, not Nazi's.

"Captain, the bank on 42nd past madison. They've cornered a lot of civilians in there." Clint radioed. He looked at you, torn between leaving for another fight or staying here with you.

You grabbed two aliens by the back of the head, breaking their necks in one swift pull forward as you looked at Steve. "Go! They need you, I can handle myself."

After a brief hesitation, he left to defend the civilians, all the worry for you pushed to the back of his mind as he found another clan of invaders. Silencing a bomb as he resourcefully kicked tables and mantles to take the aliens off their feet. Taking the full force knocked him out the window, and shortly he found his way back to another fight.

You looked up just as Tony had flown into the belly of the beast, shortly blowing himself up and flying out into the street.

"Try not to die, Tony. I haven't had a chance to clown your tech yet." You shouted as you continued to fight. He'd smashed into a few signs, slightly injuring himself but accomplishing the task at hand.

"I can shut the portal down." Natasha yelled throughout the comms.Finally, victory was in sight.

"Do it!"

"No, wait." Tony exclaimed, his voice strained from all the damage he'd taken.

"Stark these things are still coming!"

"I've got a nuke coming in and it's gonna blow in less than a minute." Was the last thing you heard before you saw a hundred pound nuke being flown into the sky by none other than Tony Stark. He barely missed his own building, and you heard the cheers of the city as the nuke passed through the wormhole. You and the team knew it was a one way trip, but they didn't. They hugged their coworkers and their families as you watched Tony sacrifice himself for the world. You couldn't move as you watched the portal collapse with Tony inside, as the opening narrowed slowly, Tony's armor nowhere in sight. You wanted to cry, but forced yourself to have hope that somehow he'd show up. The aliens around you powered down one by-

You inhaled sharply, knowing the intense feeling too well, one of the Chitauri had managed to stay up long enough to sneak attack you, driving a blade clean through your abdomen, the blade sticking out the back, you tried to radio for help, but just as the alien soldier fell, so did you.

Steve and the team moved to corner Loki in the tower, you weren't responding, but your coms may have been damaged in battle so there wasn't anything to worrisome about that. Thor handcuffed him with asgardian cuffs, and shortly after muzzled him. The team was given assignments and handed equipment off to other agents as they slowly cleared out the room. Thor kept Loki guarded, with the magic that was entwined in his cuffs he wasn't going anywhere, but nobody was willing to take their eyes off him regardless. Steve went to coordinate search and rescue making his way down the stairs, starting with the Stark tower to look for any survivors. He wandered around the city in a two block radius from the tower, knowing eventually you'd make your way there even with busted comms. After his check he asked the team if anybody had seen you, told them to scan around and see if they could see you walking around lost. Nobody had seen you since Tony fell the first time. A gut feeling told Steve something was wrong, and he frantically searched the surrounding area, praying you were only mildly injured, even though the voice in his head was telling him otherwise. Clint was the first to speak, and his words froze Steve in his tracks.

"Cap. I found her, but you're not gonna like it." And just like that Steve's heart stopped, his blood chilled as he listened, no details nothing as he sprinted to the nearest window. Clint gave him your location and Steve found you immediately.

"Tony. (Y/N)'s down. I need medics on 40th past the deli." Tony didn't bother radioing back as he quickly armored up and flew to where you were, he collapsed next to you, taking his helmet off as he felt the sting of each of his own injuries. He checked your neck for a pulse, hearing the sirens and knowing Steve was on his way, you had to be alive. He held his two fingers on your neck, praying to feel something, anything bounding around. He was dizzy himself from his fall, so keeping focus on something as simple as seeing if you had a pulse was hard when he could feel his own beating his skull. Tony used all his strength to to focus on you, pressing deep down onto your carotid. His head dropped, nothing. With the puddle of blood around you it didn't shock him, but he knew it would unravel Steve. He'd lost hope knowing the reality of the situation was heartbreaking, and then he felt it. Nothing strong, but he felt a slight pressure against his fingertips. You were holding on, barely, he heard the sirens getting closer but they needed to get there soon.

Steve's knees hitched as he saw you, blade impaling your side. You're unconscious body laying on its unaffected side, the sword holding you up unevenly.

"Is, Tony is she.." Steve couldn't breathe, the sight in front of him made him dizzy, he ran five feet and threw up, staring at your pale body he doubled over, hands on his knees. He couldn't force himself to believe the sight that was so real in front on his eyes. He dropped to his knees, grabbing your hand as he watched your chest with scrutiny. You were struggling, but he could see your breathing, it was definitely not as much as it should have been, and your chest shook with every half breath you took, but it was something, right?

"Tony, tony, she, she's not, she's gonna be." He pushed your hair out of your face, you'd taken a beating and a half and still you were the most beautiful woman in the world. He held back the tears he so desperately wanted to cry.

"Steve, it doesn't look good, but let me handle this, I promise I'll do my best." Steve couldn't let go, you were all he had, you were everything, and now you were dying in his arms. He was helpless yet again, watching another person he loved die before him.

Cheeks stained with silent tears, you used what was left of your strength to squeeze Steve's hand, he knew you loved him, he was your best friend, but you couldn't leave him, not like this. Stark pulled you from him and disappeared into the sky. Blasters the last thing Steve saw before he broke. Sight going black, the last thing he see's is Natasha running his way.

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//There goes Tony being the most selfless person on the planet like ALWAYS(Tony Anti’s will be blocked SNS) You’re kind of a badass huh? Who knew, oh wait, YOU DID BECAUSE YOU’RE FUCKING AMAZING AND I LOVE YOU SO NEVER DOUBT YOUR SELF WORTH BECAUSE YOU ARE ALWAYS IMPORTANT, ALWAYS LOVED, AND ALWAYS HAVE A PURPOSE AND A REASON TO BE HERE AND ALIVE NO MATTER WHAT. FIGHT LIKE HELL, BECAUSE AFTER YOU SURFACE AGAIN NOTHING AND NOBODY CAN FUCK WITH YOU. BE PROUD OF YOUR SMALL VICTORIES AND NEVER DOWNPLAY YOUR EMOTIONS. YOU. ARE. VALUABLE. AND NOT BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU CAN DO, JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE HERE, ALIVE, AND BREATHING IN AIR. YOU MATTER, ALWAYS, AND FOREVER. Sorry for the all caps rant but my own personal anxiety/depression has been kicking my ass so I know there’s others who may need to hear that. If anybody reading this needs to talk to somebody, or just vent to an unbiased person I am MORE than willing to be your sounding board. No issue is too big or small. Message me, please. I know what it’s like to have all these feelings and emotions and not have nobody to tell them too because they wouldn’t understand or you don’t wanna be a bother or it’ll go away eventually. SO TALK TO ME, if I can’t help you’ll at least be able to get it out.//

//You guys are going to love this! This is such a fun story for me to write, and all the positive feedback is really helping, so thank you all for your likes and reblogs, every one of them brings a smile to my face and makes my day. Let me know what you guys think, what you’d like to see, what you don’t wanna see, and some crazy vocab words and I’ll write accordingly, thanks for the read, and HAPPY SPOOKY SEASON!!//

[shabre-legacy]

Tika and the Siren

Flash grinned and slapped Garen on the back as the crew of the Lady Luck stood in the shipyard looking at the fully repaired Freighter sitting there. If they were examining the interior, they would have seen the mishmash of crude, but functional amateur installed pieces and professional repairs. The ship had been developed through both into a first rate smugglers ship. Not the prettiest out there, especially with the plating patches that the astromechs had just finished welding into place; but it was fast, comfortable and most importantly had many hidden cargo pods and storage spots. You could tuck a lot of stuff in there. Someone could search the ship thoroughly but unless they already knew where to look, they wouldn't find anything. Sirasa, the ships Cathar medic, had already drawn up a map of the hides on flimsi (that way it could be destroyed with no trace as soon as it was memorized). The only thing missing was a name; the space where it would be conspicuously empty.

 Garen laughed as he crossed his arms and leaned back a bit, a big smile matching the rest of the crew. "We did good on this one. Kit's gonna love it."

 "She's going to completely adore it." A cheerful voice said from behind the group.

 A chorus of greetings followed are Garen half-turned, "Hey Boss, looks like ya got whatever it was you were combin' the market for."

 Captain Cradu Jinot, a tall, broad-shouldered grey Cathar with warm eyes, slicked back hair, absolutely no cares at all for what anyone might think of his genuine, fangs and all, grins and a far warmer personality than one might expect from a smuggler, stood just behind the crew; cradling a small box and grinning up at the ship. "Look at this, all finished and repaired, she's a real beauty, boys. You did damned good."

 Flash shrugged, a little sheepishly for someone who'd been working with Cradu as long as he had. "Aw, Boss, it ain't that much of a thing. We jus'  wan'd the kid to have a good Life Day now that she's back home. That's all."

 Sirasa shrugged "seemed like after everything, giving the kid as much freedom as we could was the best we could do for her." The group sobered for a moment remembering when Kael had rejoined their crew after her time away and the clues they'd gotten about what had happened. Many of them blamed themselves, letting the youngest member of their little family test her skills with another crew she didn't know with no backup. They'd been trying to show they trusted her as a competent adult and Cradu, who loved his Kit like she was his own, wanted to make sure she was ready for the rest of the galaxy when she was finally ready to leave for good and had thought that a temporary job with another crew was a good way to test herself. He was on medical downtime and the job had sounded easy. His Kit could run that and get some experience with people who only knew her as another adult on the crew and then come home to the Lady Luck. it had all crumbled around her and now they wanted to try and make sure she knew she still had a place and to take care of her even more than before, if that was possible.

 Garen decided to try and lighten the mood again. It was Life Day after all, even if they hadn't started their celebrations yet. "The only thing she needs is a name. Korgran's got a droid ready. Thought we'd let Kit name her. Her ship, her name"

 "Where is Korgran anyways."

 Flash shrugged, "Last I heard boss, he was at the range with Kit, there most of our downtime lately

 Cradu nodded, Korgran had a protective streak when it came to Kit, teaching her how to use more than just the two small pistols she carried, that was just his way.

 There was a small chime on a comm. Garen pulled his out and scanned the message that had come in. "Hey boss, my friend came through, got that reservation at that cantina."

Nuri and Flash instantly grinned. They did love a good cantina and most of the back rooms had been reserved for weeks, Life Day was a popular celebration. Getting a room big enough for the whole crew to celebrate off ship was impressive. Captain Cradu grinned at them, "Well then, what are we waiting for. Work's done. Time to relax, people." He grabbed his comm and sent out a quick message to Korgran and Kit and another to the rest of the crew and they all headed off to the Cantina.

                   -------------------------------------------------------------------

 Sirasa sat on the bar in the backroom and watched the celebration going on around her. The whole crew had finally shown up and their little party was in full swing. Even the new muscle was here. Their little core group of 6 plus the captain that had been together (with the exception of the Captain’s Kit) for over a decade and the other newer 7 crew members all simply celebrating living another year. Their usual outings were in the main part of a cantina, with people drifting in and out as they went about their own ways of celebrating a job well done, or a clever escape or trying to relax after a tough run or close brushes with death or whatever the job had carried. It wasn’t often that they had parties like this, so they took advantage of the time to just let loose, some of the crew had even brought in their family members or friends or lovers who were here. She’d have her work cut out for her in the morning dealing with all the hangovers, if she decided to help, since technically hangovers on shore leave were the individuals problem. 

 Loud laughter burst from the other side of the room and she glanced over smiling. Kael was laughing and dancing on one of the tables with Nuri, who’d finally gotten back from wherever she’d gone with a few new tattoos, just in time to join in the celebrations with everyone. Adding a welcome home party to the celebrations added another layer of delightful chaos. They’d had more than a few drinks so it wasn't the most graceful dancing, but they were having fun. It was good to see Kael finally relaxing enough to have some fun and a few drinks with the crew again. She’d been so cautious for a long time after she rejoined the crew, there’d been a time that they thought she’d never smile again, but time and care seemed to have brought back Kit back and it never failed to make their little family smile to see her enjoying herself

 The night went about as well as they could expect it to with 14 drunk spacers packed into one room, as it got later, the crew and guests began drifting off to the rooms they were staying to continue the festivities with their guests privately or just to pass out. Eventually it was just Sirasa, Kael, Flash, Garen, Korgran, Nuri Shazeo, Mirialan charmer/muscle/slicer, Uikislita “Uiki”, the Twi'lek copilot, and Captain Cradu were left. Uiki had pulled Nuri aside to update her on their plan while the rest of the group had kept Kael distracted.  Even the rest of the crew who’d helped with the surprise they had planned for Kael had left this part to this core group. 

 Sirasa and Flash had been talking for awhile when the captain caught their eye. He raised an eyebrow in question and after a quick glance at the rest of the crew and Kael making sure they were in good enough shape to head out, they shared a look and nodded at Cradu. He turned and nodded over to Garen who turned to Uiki, Korgran, Nuri, and Kael. “Hey, we should double check the ship, make sure everything’s locked down before we get too wasted.” They nodded and stumbled to their feet. 

 “Didn’t we lock up when we left earlier?” asked Kael, just drunk enough to not remember fully. 

 Flash called over across the room as everyone started moving towards the door, “Of course we did, but better to check again.”

 “B't  g's'cha uku tchhlla- wiachipa.”  Nuri laughed, “yakuqal  ik gikchhllu kh'wabo ganá ná síla p'tychuchhi sq'ki.” (just humor them star-blossom) (better to check twice today then look stupid tomorrow)

Getting moving and the water that Sirasa passed around to the group as they left the Cantina and took the shuttle taxis back to the Spaceport, helped them a bit so by the time they reached it, they were more or less sober. The crew had taken care to have the new ship put in a hanger near the Lady Luck, so Kael didn’t realize they weren’t headed toward the hanger bay. She thought they were until the group stopped and Korgran and Nuri gently took her arms. “What’s going on guys.” She asked worriedly. 

 Korgran squeezed her hand “Relax ad’ika , we got you a gift, but the others want to surprise you, so you’ll have to close your eyes. I won’t let you trip.” (little one, daughter, of any age)

 Kael was still just tipsy enough and trusted this group enough that she relaxed and closed her eyes. "If you run me into a wall or something, I’m going to be so mad.” That got a laugh from the rest of the group as they turned and Korgran and Nuri carefully guided her as they moved over to a different hanger. Kael could hear the door open and felt the echo of a hanger bay as they entered and moved towards the middle.

 Flash walked into the Hanger carefully watching Korgran and Nuri navigate the hanger without Kael tripping over anything. The Captain had gotten that little box he’d come back from the market with again and there was some kind of gift bag that he was carrying as well. As they got near the droids waiting to add the final touches to the ship, they stopped and everyone crowded around so they could see Kaels reaction to what they believed to be the best gift ever.  

 Korgran stepped back beside Cradu and Nuri moved to hold Kaels shoulder turning her to face the ship. “Alright, Kit, open your eyes.” 

 Kael opened her eyes and took in the sight. The freighter, fully repaired, polished, ready for flight. Garen grinned as he watched her jaw drop. “That’s...That’s my ship...but...she’s…”

 “We decided to get her finished for you. You’ve been working on her for awhile and we thought we’d get you to the stars a little faster.”

 Tears started falling down Kaels cheeks as she covered her mouth in awe, she just stared at the ship. She’d thought it was wonderful when it was still junk, seeing it repaired, repainted, it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen in her life. 

 Uiki leaned forward, “ash ohk vahs dei ayy- n'olan, ash huhsi laboo a goh” (she's all yours star-blossom, she just needs a name)

 Kael was openly crying now. They seemed to be happy tears, but Flash didn’t want to risk them being sad tears. He stepped closer to embrace her as Uiki and Nuri hugged her from the side. Sirasha leaned on Garen  and Korgran stood with his arm around Cradu as they watched, Kit was clearly a bit overwhelmed by their gift. “It’s Life Day, Kit, you deserve something good, you’re family.” Sirasa stated gently. “You gonna give your new bird a name.”

 “Take your time and make it a good one, Kit, she’ll be with you a good long time.” Garen murmured with a smile. He could see the shock fading from her face as a smile burst through the tears. 

 “I will in a minute, get over here all of you.”  She choked out pulling away from Flash a bit and turning to open her arms. Garen chuckled a bit as the group moved in for a big group hug. She held onto them for a couple minutes. Enjoying a few minutes where she could be in a hanger and feel loved and safe surrounded by her family. Eventually they all separated, and Kael stepped away from the group and walked over to the starship. She stared up at it in awe and placed a hand gently on the hull. She couldn’t believe that the beauty she’d seen in the junkyard was repaired, she’d look even more beautiful when she took to the stars. And her family had done this for her, they’d noticed her efforts, found her ship, brought it here and had it finished just so they could surprise her with it.

 “Storm Siren” she murmured quietly.  “á khoe Ichhiá Tuchola” (she's Storm Siren)

 “Didn’t quite catch that Kit, wanna speak up a bit.” Flash called with a laugh in his voice.

 She spun around, letting herself twirl just a little bit and added a skip to her step as she moved a bit closer. “Ichhiá Tuchola  Storm Siren, I’m going to call her Storm Siren. she’s been singing to me for years now. Seems like it fits.” She shot a smile at the group as Korgran gave the droid that she hadn’t noticed a signal. 

 “cea ohk talcank.” Uiki told Kael as the droid moved and began painting. (That's perfect)

 “talnu isochhu guochiñ rapra silu p'u khoe litá dih Tchhlla- wiachipa” Nuri whispered with a squeeze. (sounds like a ship you were born for star-blossom). She loved this crew. Nuri, Uiki and Sirasa were the big sisters she’d always wanted and Nuri impossibly made moments like this even better than they already were. Somehow reminding her that she was part of something bigger than even this crew without taking away from the moment at all. Kael couldn’t look away as the Aurebesh lettering appeared in neat clean lines of fresh paint on the ship. The Storm Siren. her starship! Hers! Best! Family! Ever! 

 Sarisa handed her a datapad and a folded piece of flimsi, drawing her attention back to the people around her. “Everything you need for her is on the datapad and the flimsi has all her hides and how to open them.”  

 Nuri looked at her with just the biggest smile.  “p'u khoe litá ik p'ik ki tchhlla, ku khoe p'á tq'chha. Lu q'omal ik aliyana p'u gieá ní t'e p'á gie ceupa.”  (you were born to roam the stars, it is your destiny. We wanted to help you get there under your own guidance.)

 “Thank you, all of you, I just...She’s wonderful. Thank you so much...I can’t even…” She was practically bouncing, ready to run in and look around. She wasn’t going to fly her until she was a bit more sober, she wanted to be sure to remember every second of their first flight together with perfect clarity, but she wanted to see everything. Before she could head in though, Cradu stopped her. 

 “I know you want to see everything kit. But you got one more gift, this one is from me and Korgran.”

 Korgran shrugged “Mostly you, riduur” (husband), He gave her a grin, “I mostly just kept you distracted while Cradu handled everything.”

 Cradu elbowed him “None of that, your idea, you’re part of the gift giving too.” The group was chuckling at their banter. When they were working, they were complete professionals, but downtime is downtime and they’d been together for a damn long time. 

 Kael did bounce now, “More presents?!!” She was practically beaming. Cradu had gone a while without seeing that smile, and it didn’t show up as much as he’d like anymore. He handed over the little box he’d been carefully holding. “Here you are kit.” Kael opened the box and her eyes opened wide in surprise. Cradu made sure to take a holoimage of that moment. 

 “Oh, aren't you just the most precious thing.” She cooed, gently reaching in and pulling out an incredibly tiny Manka Lynx cub. The cub blinked and stared up at her face as Kael carefully held her.  “You’re just so tiny and adorable.” She looked over at him and Korgran and just seemed at a loss for words. 

 “She was orphaned young, runt of the litter, she’ll need some extra care, but she’s so young that you’re the first face she’s seen, she’ll imprint on you. She’s yours for life now.” He explained. “She’s just little now, but eventually she’ll be strong enough to back you up wherever you go.”

 “Loyal backup never hurts  ad’ika. (little one, daughter).A bonded Manka, that’ll do ya well or protect your ship while you sleep or go out. Figured you’re all grown now, sooner or later you were going to strike out on your own. Ought to have a reliable ship and someone watching your back. Now, you can come back safe whenever you want anytime you leave.”

 Korgran was rarely so sentimental, usually only around those he considered family like Cradu or Kael, sometimes though, the rest of their little core group got to see his sentimental side as well. The little Manka cub had rolled over in Kael’s hands and was batting at the long tips of her bangs that dropped low enough to tease. Kael seemed entranced with the tiny thing, her gaze darting between the cub and the ship like she couldn't decide which was more important for her to see first. The rest of the crew was just leaning back and watching the girl they all liked to think they helped raise coo over two gifts that were the best that her little family could get for her. 

 Cradu placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. “We’re gonna head out to the shuttles, got plenty to drink so take your time. We’ll head back to the rooms when you’re done looking around. You should get a good night's rest before taking her out.” Cradu hung back for just a moment longer than the others. he brushed Kael's hair from her face. "You've got your ship now you can get back into the stars. The ground is no place for you, Kit, your feet were never meant for it. You're star-born and I can't wait to see the path you carve in them." He leaned down to kiss her forehead before walking out after the rest of his crew, giving his Kit some time to get acquainted with her ship.

 Kael insisted on one more group hug before they all headed out laughing and joking. The Zabrak split from the group and leaned against the wall right outside the hanger and nodded over to Cradu while he headed out to the shuttle pad. They had an understanding. He’d have his time with his husband later, for now, Korgran would keep people from bothering their adopted daughter. They would make sure that Kael stayed safe for whatever time she’d be close enough for them to do so. 

 Kael cuddled the little Manka cub to her chest and stared up at the ship. The droid had finished and she could barely stop staring at the freshly painted Aurebesh lettering clearly spelling out Storm Siren. Anyone who saw the ship would know who it belonged to. She glanced down at the bag at her feet. Korgran had taken the datapad and other things she’d been holding and tucked them into the bag with the supplies for the cub. 

 She glanced down at the tiny thing again. She seemed to have worn herself out playing with Kaels hair. “I’m gonna call you Tika.” She whispered, her voice echoing in the emptiness of the hanger in the middle of the night. She picked up the bag and half in awe walked up to the ship and after pulling out the datapad and checking, she reached up and entered the code to lower the ramp stepped up and unlocked the door and for the first time walked into a ship all her own

notes: trying out a new method for translations, let me know if it works. Languages, Korgran is Mando’a, Uiki is Ryl, and Kael and Nuri are both Mirialan

[dawnbutterfly]

Reality

This one I wrote around the same time as the Adoption Timeline fics. Even though I wrote it before them, the Adoption fics were the ones that Keeper ultimately convinced me to post, which is why I didn’t post this one at the time, because it would make it kind of weird. 

With that context out of the way, enjoy my hurt/comfort NK x Butters ship fic that takes place intermittently in the episode “Safe Space”.

“And that's why we called you down here. Eric said you're so focused, you'd probably have no problem getting through it.” PC Principal said. Grant said nothing, as usual, but a smirk crept onto his face, and he held back a snort. “Something funny? I could easily give you detention instead.” PC Principal said. Grant covered his mouth, but more snickering snorts escaped, and he broke out laughing. He hopped off his chair, walking towards the door without looking back. “Oh, I'll see you in detention for the next three weeks, mister!” PC Principal shouted. Grant waved goodbye without looking back, and shut the door behind him. ⁂ Grant ran through the hallway, worried. He could hear Butters' shouting from three classrooms down, something about a man coming to get him. He was half ready to pull out a weapon to defend him with. As he ran past one of the Kindergarten classrooms, which were for some odd reason located on the second floor, he caught a glimpse of Kyle and Stan. He skidded to a halt, just in time to see Butters. He was naked, his eyes wild, his hair a mess. And the instant he came into Grant's view, he turned around, and jumped right through the window. Grant stood, paralyzed with horror, as his eyes slowly widened to match his feeling. A rising scream escaped his throat, startling the kids in the classroom, as he ripped himself from his stasis and took off towards the stairs at a dangerous, stumbling pace. “New Kid!” Kyle called out, following behind him at a safer stride. “Oh god! Oh god! Please no!” Grant screamed as he nearly tumbled down the flight of stairs, grasping onto any handhold he could find so he could fling himself around turns without slowing. He burst out the front doors of the school, running over to Butters' side. “Butters!? Butters, are you conscious!? Tell me you're conscious! Oh god, please tell me you're not…!” Grant yelled, horror and nearly belligerent worry coating his voice. He clutched at his head, trying to organize his extremely disheveled thoughts. His eyes snapped open and he whipped out his phone, dialing 911, just as Kyle and company came running out the door after him. “911, what is your emergency?” The operator asked. “South Park Elementary! My best friend just jumped out of the second story window!” Grant half-shouted, nearly hysterical. “He's bleeding badly from his head, and he's got glass embedded in his body!” “H-He's unconscious right now! I-I-I can't tell how bad his other injuries might be, I don't want to move him in case his neck is broken…!” He continued, forcing himself into an analytical state to keep from going into shock. “Please! Send somebody to help him! Please save him!” “EMT's are on their way, stay on the line please, young man.” The operator said routinely, yet softly. “How old is the injured person?” She asked. “Ten… We're classmates…” Grant said. “You're right not to move him. If there's an adult there, have them help, but otherwise just make sure nobody else moves him until the ambulance arrives.” The operator instructed. “R-Right…” Grant said shakily, nearly hyperventilating from stress. “Young man… your friend is going to be okay. Take a deep breath.” The operator said, shifting gears. Grant did as instructed, and took several deep breaths, trying to compose himself. “You've done very well in this situation, even better than some adults I've talked to. I'm sure your friend will be fine.” She said again. “I-I hope so…” Grant said, still shaken. “I-If he… I-I don't know what I'd…” “I'm sorry to ask, but do you know why he jumped?” The operator asked. “It will help us treat him later on in the hospital.” Grant almost choked out a sob at the word 'hospital'. “I-I don't know the details. I heard him shouting something about a man coming to get him, and by the time I found him, he jumped.” He said. “He's… he's naked right now. I think he might have been hallucinating…” He finished quietly. “He was, dude.” Kyle said from behind him, making him jump and turn around. “PC Principal had him running like thirty people's social media accounts, and filtering out their negative comments. He's been at it non-stop for like a week now.” Kyle continued. Grant's eyes narrowed, and he clenched his fist so hard the color drained out of it. “Him…” He growled through clenched teeth. “He put Butters on that…?” “I'm sorry, young man?” The operator asked. Grant snapped out of his fury. There would be time for that later. “Sorry. My friend just told me that he suffered a work-stress related mental breakdown.” Grant said clinically. “Thank you, young man.” The operator said. Grant heard the sirens as the ambulance drew close. “The ambulance is here…” He said into the phone. “Very good. Please, get a safe distance away and let the paramedics do their job.” The operator said. “Right…” Grant said, standing up as the ambulance parked right in front of the school and a couple of people got out with their equipment. “Thank you…” He said quietly, hanging up the phone. The ambulance soon took Butters away, heading towards Hell's Pass Hospital, and Grant was left with his other friends, sitting on the steps of the school. Grant had started shaking, the adrenaline having worn off, leaving him in a nearly shell-shocked state. “Hey, dude… are you alright?” Kyle asked cautiously. “Do I look alright!?” Grant asked harshly. “My Butters just threw himself out a window!” Stan raised an eyebrow, almost smirking. “'My Butters'?” He asked in an amused tone. Grant blushed at realizing what he'd said. “'My best friend'! Shut up!” He said, embarrassed. “Dude, you almost threw yourself, screaming, down a flight of stairs for him.” Kyle said. “It's pretty obvious.” “Yeah, and it's not like there's anything wrong with it…” Kenny mumbled through his parka. Grant sighed, burying his face in his hands, more from stress and exhaustion than from embarrassment. “Ugh, not the right time, guys…” He said through his hands. “I just… he's my best friend… the first friend I made when I moved here…” “I-I should have been more aware of what was happening with him. I should have stopped this from-” He started, but was interrupted by Kyle pulling his shoulder to face him. “You are not responsible for this!” He said sternly. “This is on PC Principal, and all of the people who couldn't handle negative twitter comments on their own. Not you.” Grant took a deep breath, shuddering. Kyle's eyes softened. “But, if you really want to be more involved, and make sure you know when something like this happens, there is a way.” Kyle said. Grant looked up to him. “How?” He asked. Kyle just kept looking at him, and let Grant realize on his own. This time, Grant did bury his face in his hands from embarrassment. ⁂ Grant sat by Butters' side in his hospital room. They'd managed to stabilize him, but he was in pretty bad shape. Still, he'd managed to convince them to let him in. It was so easy for him to persuade people… Suddenly, the door to the room opened. Grant looked up to see a group of people all pile into the room. Among them, he saw PC Principal. His eyes filled with fury as he stood up. “You!” He almost shouted, then instantly covered his mouth with his hand, looking over at Butters. He turned back to the group. “What are you doing here!? Come to try to finish the job!?” He hissed. “New Kid…” PC Principal said, agitated, but much more subdued than usual. “What are you doing here, you're supposed to be in detention.” “Oh, I'm sorry, I couldn't make it on account of my friend taking a swan-dive out the second story window.” Grant growled. PC Principal looked at the ground. “And who are you all? The gaggle of weak-willed cry-babies who drove him to this?” He asked. The group all looked like they wanted to cry. “Hey! There is no need for that!” PC Principal said, still trying to keep himself reigned in. “You're right. This whole thing happened because you made him look through so much of that kind of negativity.” Grant said coldly. “Hey, he didn't have to do it! He could have taken the detention like you!” PC Principal said. “In every city I've ever lived in, that's been known as 'extortion', and comes with up to a $10,000 fine and 15 years in jail.” Grant said, shutting PC Principal up. “But hey, I've got good news: I'll take the job!” Grant said with sarcastic enthusiasm. “If you wanted me to do it so badly, you could have just said so! You didn't have to try to kill my cru-” Grant caught himself, stopping. Several of the group bit their lips, all of their eyes shifting to extreme regret and pity as they took the meaning of his halted words. “You didn't have to try to kill my best friend.” “I-I'm sorry…” Demi said. “We just… we couldn't handle it all anymore…” “So you put all of it on a fourth grader!?” Grant shot back. Demi opened her mouth, but closed it again, looking at the floor. “What's the point of even being on social media if you can't handle the social part!?” “We just… wanted a safe space…” Seagal said. “There's no such thing as a 'safe space'!” Grant said, making the group look at him strangely. “The world is a cruel place, and somebody has to deal with it. For everyone who wants to be coddled and shielded from it, somebody else has to be that shield, and suffer in their stead.” “How is it fair that you get to sit there in an echo-chamber, listening to nothing but hollow reinforcement, while somebody else suffers for you!?” He asked. Nobody could answer. “You sound just like Reality…” Vin Diesel said. “I've been through reality!” Grant said. “Do you have any idea how many times I've had to move? To just uproot from my life, from all of my friends, and run away because of…” He stopped, the group looking on, wondering what a 9 year old would need to flee from. Grant sighed, slumping back down into his chair. “Why do you adults get to be weak, while children like me and Butters have to be strong…” He asked absently, not looking at the group. “Get out. Just… just get out…” He mumbled. The group looked at each other uncomfortably, but all slowly made their way out. Grant looked over at Butters, still unconscious. He began to cry. ⁂ Butters slowly opened his eyes. His whole body hurt, and he saw that there was some kind of mask over his nose and mouth. He couldn't remember what happened. “Oh, dude! He's awake!” A voice came from beside him. He turned his head slightly to see Kyle, Stan, and Kenny in the room with him. It hurt to do so. “Oh… hey fellas…” He managed to say, his voice raspy. “How do you feel, dude?” Kyle asked. “Like I fell off a building…” Butters said. “Well… I mean, you kind of did.” Stan said. “W…What…?” Butters asked, eyes widening a little. Even that hurt. “You don't remember?” Kyle asked. “You went totally nuts and jumped out a second story window.” Kenny said. “I-I don't remember…” Butters said, worried. “It's alright dude. The stress just got to you is all.” Kyle said. “The doctors said that you're going to be fine.” “That's good… thanks for making sure I got to the hospital, fellas…” Butters said. “Actually… that was the New Kid.” Stan said. Butters' eyes widened again. “R-Really?” He asked. “Yeah, dude. He's the one who called the ambulance, and he stayed with you practically every second since you got here.” Kyle said. “W-Well where is he now?” Butters asked. Stan and Kyle looked at each other uncomfortably. “He wanted to be here when you woke up, but…” Kyle trailed off. “He said he couldn't stand seeing you like this anymore.” Stan finished. “Looks like twenty hours of watching his best friend unconscious in a hospital bed was too much, even for him…” “Wow, he must really care about his friends…” Butters said with a tiny laugh. “I think…  I think it's more you specifically.” Kyle said. “What do you mean?” Butters asked. Stan and Kyle exchanged glances again. “Look, New Kid didn't want us telling you anything, but…” Stan said. Butters looked at them, confused… ⁂ Grant paced back and forth slowly in front of the door to Butters room. Kyle had told him that Butters had finally woken up, and he rushed over to the hospital. But once there, he became anxious about entering. He'd walked out on Butters, only for him to wake up not an hour after he left. He knew the others had told him as much. Not only that, but he was afraid to see Butters awake and in pain. He stopped pacing, taking a deep breath. He held it, and opened the door. Butters looked up, smiling weakly when he saw Grant's face. “W-Well hey there, friend…” He said, his voice still a little scratchy. Grant walked over, stopping at the edge of Butters' bed. “How do you feel? Are you in any pain?” He asked uneasily. “A little. But they have me on a lot of pain medicine, so it's alright.” Butters said weakly. “That's good…” Grant said, placing his hand on the bed next to Butters absently. Suddenly, Butters weakly took Grant's hand, making him look up in shock. A slight blush crept onto his face. “Something on your mind?” Butters asked with a small laugh. “N-No…” Grant said, looking away. “You sure?” Butters asked again. “The way you're acting is a little… curious.” Grant turned back, raising an eyebrow. “Curious?” He asked. Butters just stared at him, as Grant's eyes slowly shifted from inquisitiveness to dull annoyance. “How much did they tell you?” He asked. Butters chuckled weakly. “Enough…” Grant sighed. “I might kick those guys' asses later…” He mumbled. “Did you really throw yourself down the stairs for me?” Butters asked. Grant grinned, blushing. “More or less.” He said. He sat down, not letting go of Butters' hand. He leaned back, blowing out his tension. “So, you're really…” Butters started. “'Bi-curious'? No curiosity about it.” Grant said, closing his eyes. “I usually try not to get too attached, in case the government finds me again and I have to move…” He grinned again, looking over at Butters. “But I couldn't help it. You're just too cute⹈” This time, Butters was the one to blush. “I've got crushes on a few other people in town, but with you…” He said, trailing off. “You're always so nice to me, no matter what. True, genuine kindness.” He said. “You're probably the kindest, closest friend I've ever had…” “When I saw you throw yourself out that window, my heart damn near stopped.” He said. “I thought I'd lost you… oh god, if I'd lost you…” Butters squeezed his hand lightly, causing him to look over. “I'm alright, alright?” He said with a small smile. Grant nodded, then sighed, turning to face forward again. “I know you probably don't feel the same way. Even if you did, you have a girlfriend, even if she's all the way in Canada…” He turned back to Butters with a smile. “I'm just glad you're alright…” He said. Butters closed his eyes. “You're right, I can't say I have those kinds of feelings towards you. I wouldn't want to cheat on Charlotte either…” He said. He opened his eyes, smiling. “But I still think you're pretty great. And I'm still your best friend, right?” Grant nodded. “Of course you are, and I wouldn't want an unrequited crush to come between that.” He said with a smile. “Why I didn't tell you before…” He mumbled. His face went serious. “But, since you're my best friend, you have to tell me when things like this are happening to you.” He said sternly. “I know you, so I know you don't want to burden others, but you can't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders alone…” Butters squeezed his hand again. “Alright, I promise…” He said. Grant smiled softly, satisfied. “Good…” He said. His face brightened. “Now, I think you could use some rest.” He said, finally letting go of Butters' hand. Butters nodded weakly. Grant himself then yawned, to the amused smile of Butters. “Sounds like you've been up too long too…” Butters said. Grant grinned sheepishly. “I'll be back tomorrow, if that's alright.” He said. Butters smiled. “That'd be nice. Hospitals are less boring with a friend.” ⁂

Now just as a post-fic disclaimer, I do not personally agree with Grant on the topic of safe spaces. But, to be fair, his crush did just jump off a building because of those people, and how they achieved their “safe space” was all wrong anyway. :p

[rkchaeryeong]

MGA Season 5 ୨୧ Episode 5 ୨୧ Trios Dancing and rapping to Fire Truck with: @rknak and @rkpwj

After working with a friend last week, she was back to working with strangers. Though that didn't have to be bad, not at all, as long as they'd get along and work well. The worst possible scenarios were getting along so well, they'd get distracted more than practise, or not getting along at all and not getting anywhere either.

Luckily, there didn't seem to be any problems in her team – the girl seemed to pick a weird mood between two or three of the two teams up though. She wasn't sure if her intuition was right there, but then she didn't care too much about what was going on, as long as it didn't involve her and the team would work well and not be distracted every ten seconds.

Choosing a song somehow seemed to get more and more difficult with each round. They'd have to find and agree on something all three of them were both comfortable with and had the skills for. Finding out however, that they were all dancers, made Chaeryeong relax. At least they could finally put a focus on that.

A few choices were thrown around – some of which she really liked but were already taken – and they eventually settled on one of her suggestions. Fire Truck was energetic and loud. A good choice for a flashy stage to get attention, but also an obnoxious option when sharing a practise room. The other team's choice wasn't exactly quiet either though and she could only hope there would be no petty taking turns in turning the music louder than the other group. She had neither time nor nerve for childish stuff like that.

Eventually they managed to divide lines and all that, so they could properly get to practising. The dance was easily burned into her brain, she just needed to make her movements precise, to perfect every little detail. And of course she had to manage her rap well, which would prove much more difficult.

In an interesting “turn” of events, she started spending a good chunk of the time she wasn't practising with Suwoong from the other team. The both of them seemed to be a bit more chatty than the others and she thought they clicked well. It was nice to get a good distraction from the worries the show brought with it and he was fun to talk to. So fun that she felt like she knew his whole life story at the end of the week and she'd even talked quite a bit about herself. It made her realise even more than during the previous week that she needed to be around people and socialise more. So the trio teams and shared practise rooms were pretty much perfect for her.

She also enjoyed the time spent with her team, though she felt like it took a bit longer to properly connect with them. But the time they went shopping and had lunch was nice, and she felt closer to them.

Overall—even though she came early and stayed late almost every day—she had a good time preparing for this performance. Sure it was tough and took a lot out of her, plus she's never trained this much for anything before, but her years of experience were surely coming in handy. She knew her limits, how much she could push them without fainting or anything of the sort and knew when she should take a break. She also made a point of not sleeping over at the practise room, but going home every night, so she could properly rest and recharge at home.

She even forgot about the cameras a lot, only making sure to wave and bow every morning and night. Sometimes during beaks, she would position herself in front of one and went through expressions for the performance, featuring both serious and comedic attempts. Another time she talked to it (though that had felt a little weird, so she didn't repeat that), asking whether they were watching the team's practise well and if they saw the good progress they made.

The girl could hardly wait for their group to be called. She sat still, her eyes scanning the many groups before them, observing their every move and studying their expressions. They were all good, really good. On one hand that was bad – it would be easier to win this, if her opponents were weaker, but on the other hand that would be boring. She wanted a challenge.

One of the performances that really stood out to her was the group performing “Love Shot”. It was one of the options her group had considered as well, but the song was already taken. Yeji stood out to her the most. The dance was different from the original and she thought the other might have choreographed it herself. It was something she hadn't much skill in herself.

As the team before them stopped, she knew it was their turn every second now and it felt like electricity shot through her, all the way down to the tips of her fingers and toes. A smile tugged at her lips, but the girl did her best to suppress it. While strings seemed attached to her trying to pull her up to the stage, she wouldn't let herself feel too excited before the performance was over and until she knew for sure that they'd done well.

Get it lifted

They shouted together right at the beginning and she felt the excitement buzz through her veins again, a crooked smile finally pushing through. And she was glad to be starting first. She didn't want to wait any longer.

Fire truck What’re you looking at Mr. fireman on the floor Make a fire, I’ll cool the heat I’ll make this unhappy place even hotter When I hear the sirens, I feel

Chaeryeong moved smoothly, like she's never done anything else in her life. Her moves were exact, obviously practised again and again and again. Her rap, too, was being executed well. Her pronunciation precise, but not so that it was taking away from the flow. She'd often seen performers start off weakly from not being quite into the song yet, or whatever, hence Chaeryeong had practised the beginning extra hard. After all it carried much weight–if she messed up now, interest in the rest of the performance could be lowered, attention not undivided. If they couldn't keep interest up until the end, they shouldn't even consider being one of the top 3 performances and in the girls eyes, they should at least manage that. At the very, very least be in the top 5.

The performance passed, her dancing continuously exact and her rap, while definitely not perfect and much more difficult than the last, still surprising even herself. Her lower voice was surely a good asset in this case and she's learned a lot about rapping from the past weeks. She wasn't lucky that the progress showed, after all she'd worked hard for it, practising endless hours. It was earned.

Yeah be anywhere, everywhere Just call me Look at Look at how, just like playing with fire Bling, I’ll appear, Just Blink for me I’ll cool down your anger

With the gaze of someone who knows what they want and who's completely aware of their own skills, the girl flows through her second longer part, sliding over the floor confidently, oozing charisma. She'd practised this so often, sought out the best ways to appeal to judges and tv-audience. The girl knew what she was doing. Her body precisely placed for every step, while her rap could be improved, but her expression seemed to say “So what? I'll improve with every step I take, never stopping. You'll see.”

The big moves and slight cockiness were quite the opposite of her usual calm and collected behaviour, and as she rapped the part, she fittingly winked at the judges.

(Ey yea yea yea yea) Hands up if you feeling the vibe now (Ey yea yea yea yea) One step two steps go

She skipped left and right, light as a feather, making it look like the moves were almost spontaneous, even when she was leaving nothing to chance that she didn't have to.

After her rebellious child-years, she'd grown to control herself as she grew older, into her teen years, she learned how to behave in a way that would get her what she wanted without being obvious about it. She learned to study diligently, to put time and effort into what she had to, pushing through without letting herself falter. Now she was glad about it more than ever.

For the remainder of the song, she continued having a few solo lines here and there and many shared ones with the two others. She always knew where they were, even if they weren't directly in her vision. She found that important, to make sure they looked like a team. So they were dancing together, rather than each doing their own thing. And the girl kept in mind that during every part she wasn't centre, she had to keep her expression up and still give it her all, or else she'd be overlooked easily.

Once they left her burst of energy left her and she felt a little dizzy. She ignored it as best as she could and smiled at Suwoong, who's team would perform afterwards. Even though she might've overdone it a little, she knew this is what she wanted to do. As often as she could. The girl couldn't imagine not standing on stage again, practically craving it like water. And there wasn't even an audience outside the judges yet, but form the dancing competitions in her past, she knew how it felt to be cheered on. And while she was confident in her skills, she really hoped to make it to the next round.

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

Interview Analysis

alright i’ve been sitting on this for FAR too long. let’s get s t a r t e d

Danny Homan: Yeah, so uh. The Calypso Twins have managed to create a cult called the Children of the Vault and in doing so they’ve kind of done something that people thought was impossible on Pandora. They unified the Bandit clans, y’know, You saw in Borderlands 2 the bandit clans were just a disparate group of maniacs who were mostly just killing each other if they weren’t being killed by you or by Hyperion. But the Calypso Twins have done the impossible and they’ve unified the bandits in pursuit of the Vault and they’ve kind of organized them and made them kind of like follow their every beck and call. It’s kind of a strange phenomenon that we’ve never really seen in the Borderlands universe and, uh, as you maybe saw with the video there’s a lot of new fun to be had with a cult of bandits. They don’t always kind of obey, right?

Tell us something we don’t know, right? Mostly just wanna talk about “they’ve unified the bandits in pursuit of the Vault”. Despite the fact we know there’s more than 1 Vault in bl3, he says ‘The’ Vault. I have talked about this before, but I’ll go over it quickly here. I think the Twins have knowledge about a Vault they really want- something called the “Great Vault”. I think it’s the red Vault we see in their stained glass portraits, the Vault we see on their black and white mural. I think they’ve basically formed a religion, not just around themselves, but this Vault as well. Probably by promising these bandits that the Vault will bring them back towards a more stable existence with a supply of food/money/guns. I imagine Tyreen has some bullshit excuse for not bringing them directly to the big boy, probably like ‘we need to harness the power of the other Vaults first before we can face that one’.

I personally thought that maybe the cult was formed after the twins had already opened the red Vault, but that wouldn’t make sense of them leading the cultists to it. Unless the Great Vault is not the red Vault we see in their art. Also possible... 

Moving on

Danny Homan: I mean, Handsome Jack is amazing, y’know, what can you say? And I think the answer is that you don’t try to mimic something that got past success, you try to create something different and new and just as a writer, the Calypso Twins are a hell of a lot of fun. I mean, you have this sibling dynamic, which I don’t know if you have any brothers or sisters but like for those of us that do, you understand that kind of crazy close relationship that’s like, quasi-competitive, quasi-cooperative and, throughout the course of the game they just, their relationship and how it kind of changes and warps is I think just really exciting and really entertaining.

So, one of the main reasons I think Ty and Troy are gonna end up trying to kill each other. Besides the fact they’re also villains. 

Idk, even in some of the trailer shots Troy doesn’t seem happy around Tyreen. (He might just have resting bitch anxiety face tho lmao.) Despite that, you can see that when they shake forearms when Lily lost her powers, Troy pulls away from her grip pretty roughly. And I know we all want them to have a strong sibling dynamic, especially with how the Hammerlock sibs are, but bottom line is that these guys are the villains. They’re competing against Handsome Jack in the eyes of the players- the guy who killed Bloodwing and Roland and made Tiny Tina cry. They’re gonna have to do some pretty despicable things, and betraying someone who trusted you like a sibling does would definitely do it for me. No forgiveness there.

I do think it’s interesting that he mentions competitiveness and being cooperative. From what we know rn I can see the whole cooperative thing being that Troy is the brains behind the whole operation while Tyreen is the muscle. Tyreen keeps Troy alive and Troy helps her run the cult. I have no idea what the competitiveness is but I’m really hoping it’s going to relate to being streamers with views and shit. “Hey, Ty, 13 bandits sacrificed themselves for me in the past hour alone.” [Ty looks up, covered in blood] “Oh, that’s cute. I’m at 48, nerd, get on my level.” “You killing them doesn’t count.” “... Nobody will know the difference, shut up.”

Danny Homan: Yeah, I mean. Again, you know it kind of all goes back to the fact that they don’t quite look like bandits, there’s something kind of strange going on there. I don’t want to spoil too much of it but no, when you head to Pandora there’s...the greatest underused resources are the bandits themselves, right? They’re an army that were prisoners that were left by the corporations, they’ve kind of become the worst versions of themselves, and the Calypso Twins are smart, they’re savvy, right? They saw this opportunity to maybe galvanize the bandits into a cult and create an army of their own, and the Livescreams, and Let’s Flays, and these kinds of things; they’re a way of amping up their followers and kind of creating this cult machine that kind of attracts more and more followers. It increases their strength.

holy shit okay there’s a lot here and y’all know what I’m about to say: “Holy fuck I hope this is hinting they’re related to Atlas somehow”

okay now that we’ve gotten that out of the way:

“They don’t quite look like bandits” With their coats and Troy’s super high-tech implants, yeah, they certainly look like corporate assholes sent to ‘masquerade’ as bandit leaders. I could see them ending up being Maliwan and/or getting ganked by Maliwan halfway through then Katagawa ends up being the big ol baddie, especially with his VA’s tweet. (But I’m still not letting the Atlas thing die. Not yet :3c)

They could also simply be from a richer family name, I guess? We know Typhon got a shitload of money from Atlas to give them the Vault key/Vault location, so it's possible they’re doing all this to continue/rekindle the family tradition of Vault hunting and then decided to be super efficient about it.

Related to that is the line “When you head to Pandora” which makes me think the Calypsos are off-worlders who came to Pandora specifically because they knew they’d be able to start their cult there. A planet where there have been 2 Vaults already opened? You’re saying there’s a Vault Key already on world? All the people there are crazed after their corporations left them to die? AND they were worshipping the Firehawk/Sirens for a while? This sounds like the perfect place!

Danny Homan: Sure. I mean, part of it is in the name, the Children of the Vault right? There’s this belief that the Vaults are inherently theirs. They own the Vaults, maybe that it’s their birthright for example. A lot of it really goes back to the fact that the bandits were mistreated, they were left by Dahl Corporation, and they’ve kind of been left ot their own devices on Pandora just to survive the best they can and so the Calypso Twins come along and they recognize that thing: people need a purpose, even if it’s a terrible, maniacal, murder-soaked purpose, people need something to believe in and they need people to believe in them and that’s kind of what the Calypsos have provided. They’ve kind of gone “oh bandits, everyone calls you animals, everyone calls you trash... but we see there’s something, there’s something in you, there’s something we can elevate your murder to. Murder in our name.”

hoooo this is a doozy

So the idea that the cultists are the true owners of the Vaults. I mean, it makes sense. The owner of Dahl didn’t come down and excavate and find all this shit by himself, the workers did. They’re the real owners of these Vaults. They were the ones who put in the work, not whatever big man stepped over them and took the rewards. 

What I don’t understand is ‘it’s their birthright’ in reference to the bandits. I guess we could go metaphorical and say ‘birthright’ as in their new life as a bandit, but... that feels weird. I think this stuff is actually a reference to the twins just as much as its a reference to the Pandoran bandits. (coughAtlascough) I mean, if the twins have some sort of connections to the Vaults like everyone and their mother is theorizing (be it corporation, their ancestor being Typhon, them being Vault monsters/aliens/demons/whatever), then it makes sense that Vaults would be their ‘birthright’. Like, logically. “My dad/grandfather/whatever found the first Vault ever so, technically, they’re mine by blood!” “I’ve been looking for these Vaults for longer than you’ve been alive, human, they’re mine!” “I was created to find/open/help fight the monster inside these Vaults, so they’re mine!” etc etc. 

The whole “people need a purpose, people need something to believe in, they need people to believe in them” uh, yeah, I think that’s about the twins just as much as it is about the bandits. I’m wondering if they’re telling the bandits they’re going to help save the universe by following the cult. By telling them, yeah, murder in our name, we’re gods, this is what the universe needs. This is going to bring justice to you for what the corporations did. etc

Danny Homan: Pandora is one of a kind. It’s this place where insanity seems to be kind of the de facto personality trait that someone needs to survive. Whether you’re a hero or a villain. When you take that aspect of Pandora, how do you bring it to the other planets in the borderlands, right? I think for me that comes down to the fact that the borderlands have kind of been this staging ground for different corporations, it’s like the wild west. It’s a gold rush kind of area. Every place you go has its kind of own different brand of insanity. Madness and insanity and this fact that this is kind of a dark galaxy, right? It’s a place where the governments have fallen, and corporations have kind of taken their place. They’re basically arms dealers with some new-yous and some other technology kind of thrown in so wherever you go in the Borderlands universe there’s that kind of unifying factor of: humanity hasn’t done so great, and there’s only a few people that are what you would call [decent].

Not really much I have to say here, although I do think it’s interesting he mentions New-Us considering they’re not canon and it’s been stated several times that they aren’t by both word of god and by some 'non-canon' posters in TPS. I wonder what that’s supposed to mean. God, I hope they don’t decide to make them canon this game. That would destroy literally all tension story-wise.

Danny Homan: Promethea is rad. It’s the home of Atlas Corporation, it was the site of some of the first Eridian discoveries, so Atlas Corporation discovered Eridian ruins and that was kind of what sparked the borderlands kind of wild west trip to Pandora. There’s just some fun stuff, we’ve never experienced this kind of city in the Borderlands franchise, we had an opportunity in Borderlands 2 but the city is rad, there’s so much fun humour with service bots that you might have seen from the videos. Playing in the city gives you that other side: you have Pandora, you have the wild west, and then you have “what’s insane about a city?” Pretty much everything.

Ah Promethea. Mostly stuff here we already know, tho I have a few questions. 

First, lemme copy and paste something I posted in the dev questions and answers for the bl discord server: is that Eridium growing out of the ground on Promethea and if so does that confirm the Vault there was already opened? And if that is true then does that mean that Gortys was wrong when she said she was created as Atlas's last ditch attempt to open a Vault, or was the Vault on Promethea not opened by Atlas (she references Hyperion opening the 1st Pandoran Vault so we know she was in production still after "those Hyperion guys" open a Vault so it's not like her info is out of date regarding Promethea)? If that's so, did Typhon open it even though he said he sold the key/location to Atlas? Also why is nobody mining Promethea's purple rocks when Pandora was clearly very lucrative for Hyperion? Was Atlas keeping the Eridium secret on Promethea so they could do tests and shit like Hyperion did on Pandora a few years later? Tell me your secrets!!! And if the Vault did open on Promethea, why is there no Eridium scar??)

yeah, lots of questions for Promethea. And one more: are the swamp lands we see in the trailers apart of that planet? I was under the assumption they are because of the way Promethea is described in BL1, plus the outskirts of the city definitely have that swampy feel, but we don’t actually see any of that. Tho Typhon does say: “... Quazmarian Quarry and I fell through some brittle rock” so maybe the other bits of Promethea are more rocky than I originally believed. I do think we’re going to visit that area. I mean, that’s where the Vault supposedly is, according to ya boy Typhon, so...

u can see from orbit a significant portion of it definitely does have city lights around. though we can’t actually see which parts are land and which are water, so who’s to say for sure. And, to be fair, the lights seem to be changing/wavering so I would even so far to say that it’s some sort of shield (to keep the rocks in orbit from smashing into cities constantly and/or prevent Maliwan attacks)... but that’s just a guess.

Danny Homan: The siege moustache, yeah. Funny side story: part of the reason he has a moustache is because of me. I was going through a very strange social experiment and I was just curious how my co-workers would react if I grew a moustache, and it was a very fascinating week of people - when you grow a moustache people just come up to you and insult you, which is kind of a fascinating thing. When we were thinking about Promethea and Rhys, he’s besieged by Maliwan Corporation and he’s kind of been pushed back into one little area. We thought: “okay, well what is he gonna do to kind of rally his troops and make them believe him?” And it’s a siege moustache.

well at least he’s not the Calypso twins, rallying people and making them believe in their leader because of murder so he’s got that going for him. Excited to see just how many more people insult Rhys over the course of the game. I am fucking ecstatic to see what Fiona is going to say.

Danny Homan: Yeah, Handsome Jack is dead.

god bless Danny Homan

seriously, I hope they don’t bring back AI Jack as a way to subvert this. I really really hope they don’t. Let the character RIP. Bringing him back is only going to beat a dead gift horse in the mouth. or whatever

Danny Homan: I don’t want to spoil anything at this moment, you might learn a little more at E3. Man, Tales is such an amazing game, I don’t know, I just love it. Telltale did such an incredible job and all of those characters are just fascinating. Whether its Rhys or Vaughan or Fiona, and yeah, who knows.

I’m hoping it’s Vaughn. I love Vaughn. But confirmation that Fiona is okay and alive and everything would be great, too. Only a few more days, y’all. We can do it

Danny Homan: You know, you’ve gotta write for the person who’s never played the game before and doesn’t know what Pandora is, doesn’t know what a Claptrap is, right? We write for - we had to kind of straddle that line between people who have played every game in the franchise and people who are just experiencing it for the first time. What you quickly learn is that insanity is kind of the rule of law. Claptrap at the beginning of the first missions says, you blow something up and he goes, “Relax, on Pandora it’s really super weird if something's not exploding!” And that’s how we onboard players. Because when you hear that line and you go “okay, that’s a weird thing. Explosions are just par for the course on Pandora.”

this does make me a little worried that the storyline won’t be as in-depth as we’re all hoping it is. I mean i know I get a little crazy with the theories bc i live my life in the wiki, but people new to the series would be like “whu?? huh????”

and i mean, not that i’m saying you shouldn’t play the game if you don’t have at least a little bit of lore knowledge, but I’m really hoping BL3 will fill in the huge gaps we need and if they have to cut things because they won’t make sense to newcomers of the series, that’ll make me sad. i’m talking stuff like revisiting things from TPS, the Destroyer from BL1, etc, etc. I hope they at least have some cutscenes explaining previous events like the beginning of bl2. Although it’d be a lot more difficult cuz the story in bl1 is pretty fuckin simple lol and now they have to summarize 4 games for someone who’s never played them before. ouch.

Danny Homan: You work on - we have quite a few writers and we kind of work on all of the missions together. We kind of have missions that we start with, and characters that we shepherd, but it’s a pretty highly collaborative environment. We have a writers room, we punch up stuff, we play our missions. I’ve always loved Ellie, I just think Ellie is one of the most amazing characters and it’s been such a pleasure to be able to write for her. I’m a southerner at heart, so I’ve been able to sneak in a few: “squish squish Jellyfish” and “in a while crocodile” kind of stuff...

I’m happy Ellie is apparently having a bigger impact in this game than the previous one. Most of her side quests are great and tbh unlike most npcs I don’t get quite as annoyed when I’m going my 50th playthrough and have to do the Ellie stuff. I’m glad she was the one to inherit the Catch-A-Ride stations and not Janey. It seems right

>Would you say that there’s a favourite character [of yours] of the new ones that you have? Danny Homan: Well, we haven’t met all of them yet so it’s kind of hard to weigh in on that. >That’s fair. Danny Homan: I’m excited about the new characters. Borderlands is awesome because there’s so many characters from this franchise and they’re all really rad and fun to work with. As a writer, being able to create new characters is good.

Confirmed we’re going to be seeing more characters than the twins, Lorelei, and Nope girl. And you can bet your ass I’m trusting NONE of them until the game is over lmao

>Are we going to see the final unknown Siren in this story? Danny Homan: *sighs* You’re gonna have to wait and find out, man. >Are new Sirens created when old ones die? Danny Homan: These are all great questions. You might find out some of that in this game. Who knows? >Can existing people become Sirens? Danny Homan: Um, that’s an interesting question. I mean, there’s a lot of ways that someone can become a Siren. It’s not a de facto X-Men kind of thing. There’s some different conditions that kind of arise. Yeah, Sirens are unique and I feel like we like to keep it a little amorphous. What we like the most is when fans kind of create their own myths and stories about how this kind of stuff happens. As a writer we try not to definitively say one thing because there’s a lot possible.

Okaaay so there’s a lot here.

To start, when Danny is like “iunno man, wait and see” I wanna say that’s almost a guaranteed ‘yes’. I mean, like, if it were the case that it wasn’t going to happen, he could’ve just been like “no, sorry, that doesn’t happen”.

(proof, the next interaction is: >Are we going to see Scooper in this story? Danny Homan: I don’t think so.

Additionally:

>How many tea parties with Tina do we get in Borderlands 3? Danny Homan: *laughs* You’re going to have to wait and see. >There’s a lot of wait and sees going on. Danny Homan: We don’t want to spoil anything!)

So theorizing for the 1st 2 questions?

Final Unknown Siren: we know Steele, Amara, Tyreen, Lilith, Maya, and Angel. Steele died 12 years ago, meaning the ‘final unknown siren’ has to be at most 12. Angel’s dead, too, but the other Siren would be 7, so I don’t think we’ll be meeting her. She’s most likely the mystery mask girl we see in the MoM, and we all have our theories regarding her.

are New Sirens created when Old Sirens die? Well... we kinda already knew that in general, but I get what the interviewer is actually trying to ask. Are Sirens we know going to die in this game? I’m gonna say yeah. I think either Lorelei or Nope girl (Little Blue) are going to get Siren powers one way or another. I wouldn’t be surprised if Maya/Lilith don’t make it through this one. I want to say Lilith will die, since she’s been in almost all the games, but Maya is apparently training some little girl, so she is in the path of d a n g e r. Maybe they’ll both die. Who knows!

As for the “can existing people become Sirens”. I’m gonna say yeah. I think Danny leaves his answer supre vague for a reason. We know Tyreen has the ability to steal Siren powers, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she (or Troy) has the power to gift stolen powers. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the red Vault we see the twins at in their art gave them their ‘Siren’ powers. Maybe a corporation finally found a way to create artificial Sirens (Atlas, I wouldn’t be surprised w/ Troy’s red tattoos and Maliwan has an entire area called ‘Archives’ with a Vault symbol on the door and what look like Siren tattoos sprawled across a building. We also gotta consider Hyperion’s eridium testing... not that they could ever do it, but maybe another corporation could have built off that?) 

In the comics it's shown Lilith gets her tattoos after an older Siren dies in front of her, but maybe Sirens are chosen when they are born and they get their tattoos later in life when their powers are unlocked (by another Siren dying/losing their powers/whatever). We do see a pic of Angel on Jack’s desk without tattoos, so that is plausible, tho people have also mentioned he could’ve photoshopped her tattoos out so nobody would question him.

Anyway. Yeah, there’s probably a lot of ways a person can become a Siren. 

>How much time has passed between BL2 and BL3 narratively? Danny Homan: Roughly the time since BL2 launched, so it’s been about seven years. >So just chronologically accurate to the development time. Danny Homan: Yeah, absolutely.

Shoutout to that one person with the Odyssey theory about how the time between bl2 and bl3 would be 7 years to match development time. right on the mark, my man. People who quote Randy saying it’s about 5 years: claptrap confirms it’s 7 years during his Clapslist board quest activation.

>Is there one Vault Hunter in particular that’s returning that you’re excited for people to see - now that we’re kind of talking about how we can’t talk about a lot of the new ones, is there a returning one you’re particularly excited about? Danny Homan: For Borderlands 2 I played as Maya and we saw her on the ship. She was always my favorite, I love Sirens in general. She’s a great character.

Not much to say here, Maya looks fantastic in bl3 tho. God she looks badass as fuck. Hope she takes over if/when Lilith dies lmao

>Speaking of the ship, it’s interesting that we’re getting this homebase dynamic that’s a spaceship. Are there any pop culture properties that you kind of borrowed from when designing that? I got Firefly-esque vibes when I was watching the presentation. Danny Homan: Yeah, there’s similar kinds of franchises that kind of quasi-sci-fi-west. What I love about Sanctuary [3] is that it is a spaceship but it’s got band-aids on it, you know? It’s a Borderlands spaceship so it’s got broken parts of the ship and it’s kind of got its own charm. It feels very lived-in. So as you walk around you see stairs that have been broken, you see an exhaust pipe that someone has put tin foil over, right? It’s very kitbash put together.

More reasons I’m of the theory that Sanctuary-III has been in operation for longer than BL3. Unfortunately, probably not the case, but I want to believe! We do see those screenshots in the trailer of the ship being infested by rat-like aliens, so I’m sure there will be a quest or two to clean those out. My question is if that happens before we get the ship (we must clean out the ship in order for Ellie to work it and get it in orbit) or it happens while we’re already in-flight and the rats got in through a shuttle ship/fast travel/whatever. Or, alternatively, the infested one we see is a totally different ship and we’re going in for parts/some reason. Like a ship AI or something. that’d be cool. I wonder if Sanc-III has a ship AI... I miss Felicity...

>How much work went into designing the ship’s atmosphere? It feels like a lot of the NPCs had things to say. Is there a lot of writing that goes into that as well? Danny Homan: Yeah, we’ve got a lot of NPCs on board. Our goal as writers is to make it feel like a living breathing place, right? So we spend so much time traveling around the ship being like “what would I want to comment on? That exhaust pipe is leading to nowhere. Let’s comment on that.”

I would not be surprised if we end up collecting NPCs from every planet we visit. We already see Promethea Citizens on board during the Sanc-III demo (which let to me questioning the timeline of that demo, I stand by my theory that it happens after we go to Promethea and after we visit the Monastery planet- that’s why Tannis has the dino corpse (Promethea) and Maya is on-board (Monastery). But, then again, maybe the swamp planet isn’t Promethea. Kinda think it is though. We’ll find out and I’ll update things accordingly.)

>Any one specific narrative beat that you can talk about that you’re really excited for fans to experience in Borderlands 3? Danny Homan: I really like the moment where we first meet the Calypso Twins face-to-hologram. Tyreen says “you’re my most loyal follower you just don’t know it yet” and there’s a lot kind of packed into that line. The Calypso Twins have this kind of strange arrogance where they presume you’re just going to be another one of their followers. There’s some interesting ways that kind of plays out.

asefdrtadfs there’s so much here holy shit. Homan confirming “You’re my most loyal follower, Vault thief, you just don’t know it yet” is super important. I 100% believe the twins know exactly what they’re doing and have an inside man and are letting all this play out. I would also not be surprised if they have a way to see the future ala mystery masked girl’s siren power, but I may be reading into things too much there lol

I also think it's interesting he says “we first meet the Calypso Twins face-to-Hologram”. I wonder what that says for my “the room after Shiv is somewhere we’re going to get info on the sun smashers stealing the key from the RC” theory. Might mean the twins are doing a broadcast on TV to all their cultists, or maybe Mouthpiece is broadcasting. Wouldn’t even be surprised if they’re livestreaming their murder of the HBC people (we find all those corpses, after all). Could explain why Ty says “did you come all this way just to see me? didn’t know you were such a super-fan. well, too bad, you missed the show!”

>Is that going to crop up in the narrative - them trying to kind of pull the player over? Danny Homan: That and also just that kind of sense that entertainers always kind of feel like everyone should be watching them. Everyone should be paying attention to them. >That’s an interesting beat. Danny Homan: Part of the fun of the Calypso Twins is that they are entertainers, right? They’re entertaining you and they’re entertaining the bandits. That’s why the cult exists. They’re kind of - they’re doing terrible things in the name of their cult.

I love this so much. It would be super interesting if we end up teaming up with them at some point to beat a badder enemy (Maliwan, Vault Monsters, Seraphs, Eridians) whatever it may be. Would be really cool if the Watcher pushes for us to join up with them (ALL the Vault Hunters we can get). I wonder if they’ll have quests like Jack (when he asks us to kill ourselves) but instead they ask us to do weird shit on camera for their ECHOnet channel. I’m sure Gearbox will find a way to make it all appear morally gray in the end anyway lol

Actually, where IS the Watcher..? I hope she doesn’t die in Commander Lilith... Maybe she went back to the Eridian homeworld. Oh that’d be interesting. she comes back later on in the game to lead us there/deliver news or smth...

[ourceliumnetwork]

The update you’ve all been waiting for

LOL nah I know better.

Anyway now that I’m finished with my marathon 14 hour anxiety attack over potentially losing my apartment i’ve worked so hard for. I figure I should probably like...say something about the things.

Deets under the cut:

So like. ‘s been a while, yeah?

I think last I posted about myself, I was pretty happily involved with a guy I’d been with for a while, things were good, I had two cats, a house and a future and everything was hunky dory.

And as some of you may have figured out, when my life is falling apart I become a hermit crab. You can’t find me. I stick to one outlet and my feelings stay inside. 

Mostly because my vent zone’s been found out and I don’t feel comfortable with talking about shit with the person I’m venting on yet. Happens every damn time.

Anyway. so.

God I don’t even remember the last update you all had. 

Maybe...Maybe I just start from the beginning. 

Now i just have to figure out what part’s the beginning. Okay. 

So as some of you know, or have gathered over the time you’ve been following me, I used to be in a really REALLY shitty and emotionally abusive/manipulative friendship. Things went down, I got out and I actually was really lucky to have been transitioned from one singular abusive friend to a very supportive and caring friend group - and I had a boyfriend and that helped too. That one was part of the new friend group, I was connected, I had a place to go so I wouldn’t go running back like the FIRST time things went poorly and I should have learned my lesson. Shit was good.

That guy decided I was (and I quote) “Like riding a roller coaster” and he didn’t want to be on it anymore. And no, not in the fun way. I guess I should have figured it was probably not a great idea to start a relationship with a guy who named himself after heavy artillery but what can I say? I have a thing for abused guys.

So anyway, 6 months after I’d cut off the one friend I’d had for 4 years, who I’d had during my transition from living at home to living out in the wild like a real adult, I was alone again. I’d moved an hour away from home, my roommate and who I’d been counting on to be my default friend to hang with in town didn’t have a lot of time (or more likely just didn’t like me much). I spent a month by myself playing World of Warcraft, and chatting with random dudes from a dating site. Had 2 dates in that whole period of time and one of them was what I thought was a keeper.

It started out great. While we weren’t living together I could count on regular sleep overs with him, we’d hang out every day. I mean we spent every. single. day. together since 2 days after our first date until...well until about a month ago.

I thought this was my Christmas I’d been dreaming for - a guy who wanted me, thought I was pretty, wanted to take care of me and who didn’t think I was a total weirdo. Told me I was smart and beautiful and sexy and all the things I’ve been wanting to hear for...well, a really fucking long time. 

That first year...if I could have had that again, even just the promise of it...

Well, after a year we started talking about moving in together. My lease was ending and he was intent on buying a house. So, he bought a house, I moved in, and it was just about perfect. And then about 2 weeks after he moved into the house and got settled, he got laid off from his job. He didn’t go back to work for a really long time. Admittedly he did have a nice cushion to fall back on and he was able to help on 1/2 the bills for a while. But then he didn’t have that much, and I was paying everything and I didn’t make as much as he had. And he was able to get another job, but then he lost that one, went back on unemployment, tried again. Got a new job. Lost it. Got a new job. Lost it. I’d say it was a good 2.5 years I was paying for everything, if not longer than that. And every time he had money coming in, it was his credit, his bills, his loans that got paid off first. And in that time, well, I made things work. I bought the groceries, I paid all the bills, and whatever he decided he would be able to afford I’d get from him whenever he would get it. I didn’t keep track of anything. It was our house, that’s what partners do.

The cycle just got worse as what little he had after each job got smaller, and my ability to hold everything together started fraying like construction paper on a first grader’s art project. My glue stick wasn’t enough to make a masterpiece. 

I maxed out my first credit card, the one I got because he insisted I needed to have one in order to get any kind of credit score so I could be approved for loans. I’d used it to help pay for the amount on the furniture the financing option wouldn’t cover. I used it to buy the washer and dryer. My grandparents had given me money to help buy the refrigerator for the house. I had to pay the bills out of my bank account most times. And when that card wasn’t usable anymore, I got another one. And in that time period I’d gotten a third because I needed repairs on my car and I couldn’t afford to do anything else. So here I was, going further and further into debt. I paid the bills in his name first, as on time as I could so his credit score wouldn’t be affected because that was the one thing he said over and over again - I had to make sure to pay his bills on time because that was *his* credit score I would be effecting.

No mind was paid to mine. Not until I was too deep in the hole. 

after I maxed out all three of my credit cards, I was unable to make payments on the first one anymore in order to keep up with the bills. I had a new job, that pays more than my first one but I was going through hell with my health. Because you know, why the fuck not. So I wasn’t at work all the time. and he didn’t have a job. And I was paying for a house I knew I couldn’t afford, but he insisted it could be done. So I did it. and when I couldn’t do it, and I knew he didn’t ahve money and his mother didn’t have money (because he wouldn’t not talk about how she didn’t have the ability to continue giving and giving), and I had already asked too much from my parents. God I had asked so much from them...I couldn’t think of anything else but to look online for credit options - could there be any kind of way I could get cash fast to make sure the bills were paid? 

I ended up taking out 2 payday loans. I don’t recommend it. When I still couldn’t make things happen on time, I got found out because I lied to him about the bills being paid. I thought i could do it in enough time I wouldn’t be found out. I thought I could fix it. And I was lectured that didn’t I know I could come to tell him I needed help with the bills? Didn’t I know we could ask his mom for help?

but I didn’t know I could do that. Because everything I’d heard from him was that he was only getting so much and it was just barely going to do this and do that and his mom was retired and she didn’t have a million dollars and she gives it away willy nilly to save everyone but she won’t take care of herself. And I saw that it didn’t matter to them - he bought models and games and video games all the time with whatever money he had left over. I didn’t ask for any money for groceries. He didn’t offer. His mom would take his family out for dinners, to vacations, everything. But I didn’t want to be one more burden on her.

In December I had opened up that there was no way I could make the house payments on time. everything was late, nothing was going to be able to be taken care of. And he was angry. I’d lied to him. I was afraid of looking incompetent and it ended up doing exactly that after all. because how could I not know how to manage money? Except...I do. I practically went to school and got an associates in how to make sure money stays in a bank account. FOR A BUSINESS. I know how to do this.

His anger he luckily didn’t take out on me right away. He went to his mother to discuss things with her but I was left by myself during that time, wondering if he’d follow through on his threats previously to kick me out if I lied to him again (I’m a habitual liar to make sure I stay safe. It’s a bad coping mechanism and I thought i’d gotten past it). When he came back he had a game plan and told me that if this ever happened again I could forget about living there anymore.

And I tried again to keep it under control. but...I can’t make that sort of thing work. It would have taken a fucking miracle. And my parents had outright told me they were no longer going to help support him. They’d offer me support and help me find my way out of the hole I’d dug myself into but they couldn’t give me anymore money if it just went to keeping him comfortable while he was unemployed. Again. 

I don’t blame them. I should have left in December when the red flags added sirens and flashing lights. I just wanted to make it work. I wanted to make him happy.

And I don’t care what nice things he said after I told him I was tired. I was done. I wanted out. He definitely would not have been happy with me. Ever.

I wasn’t ever good enough. It was the way he was raised, he said, that praise wasn’t something he ever gave out. It wasn’t given to him, so all he knew how to do was criticize. Sorry, suggest improvements.

I wasn’t praised either. But I know how to tell people I’m proud of the effort they’ve made. And I’m more than happy to give it. But I refuse to fawn all over someone who’s never helped around the house until they want something and then they do everything.

I’d bring up my issues with him - I did! I was really good about actually talking to him about really big shit for me. And he’d make a change. for like 2 weeks. And then something would happen and he wouldn’t be able to do the things anymore. So I’d take back over for while he was out, and he’d never take it back again. 

And he kept doing that over and over. Until I knew bringing up my issues was pointless because I’d end up having to take care of it anyway. Another reason why I didn’t go to him with the fact that i was unable to make my finances support two grown ass people in a mortgaged house.

So, about...eeehhhh a month and a half ago? ish? I’m not looking at my calendar or I’d give a better estimate. Sometime in mid april anyway. I started indicating that I was no longer happy. Because I wasn’t. I hadn’t been. Not for a really really long time. I was tired. Tired of constantly being told I wasn’t good enough when I cooked, cleaned, shopped, and worked to keep a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, and supplies for the cats.

I stayed four months too long for the boys. I couldn’t...can’t...bear having let them go. They’re my babies. And you have no idea how much it broke my heart to know if I left I’d NEVER see them again. 

Still does tbh. Over and over again.

timeline. stick to the timeline. 

so I started planning my escape properly. I’d been thinking the word “escape” for a long time in relation to him. to us. If you’re ever in a relationship and instead of “ending” or “breaking up” your thought is “escape” get out. Get out right then and there because something is WRONG.

And then. after about 2 weeks of him trying very hard to keep me from wanting to leave, I gave up. The cats...while i love them so. much. aren’t worth me being put down, belittled, made to feel less-than, made to feel small and stupid and crazy, made to be afraid that one slip up and I am homeless. If I could have even considered being able to take care of them I’d have fought so hard. But I’m not able to feed me properly. I can’t have a cat right now. Let alone two. I couldn’t take them from having free range of a giant house with so many windows and doors and birds to watch and cats outside to play with through the back window...that would have been more cruel. They’ll forget about me eventually. They’ll be taken care of and loved. And that’s all I want for them.

And to those of you going “but...but what?”

The only thing I know for sure about this man’s capability to love anything on this planet is that he loves animals - cats above all others. He would do a lot to make sure they were cared for. It sucks that I wasn’t as important as the cats. He showed them way more affection than he ever showed me.

They’re safe and cared for. That’s...that will have to be enough.

So...to those who were here for the pictures of Mr. Thumbs with all his thumbs and his monster huge paws, I don’t have the ability to take new pictures of him. I have a good number on my phone I can’t bring myself to get rid of. My background is still the babies laying back to back happy and relaxed on the bed at my feet. My facebook picture is still me with my prettiest baby because I can’t change it. Not right now.

Sorry. this was a tangent. I need to get it off my chest more but I can’t do that right now. The screen is hard to see through tears.

So I broke up with him. Broke up with him and stayed in the house because I didn’t have anywhere else to go yet. I hadn’t been prepared completely. It seemed like fate that I was able to look at this place. 4/27 is when I came out with my parents to view it. Walked through, made sure it looked good, was a safe place for me to be. It’s in the part of the city I’ve always wanted to be in. It’s low rent, low cost for utilities (internet and electricity are all I have to pay outside of rent for this place). My apartment is right at the stairs so it was easy to move things in, I’m on the middle floor so my energy bills are going to be low just by the nature of insulation. there’s only about 6 stairs up to get to my apartment. It’s perfect.

And it was ready almost immediately. I wasn’t ready for how soon everythign was. My parents helped me pay the deposit on the place, I was able to work out a payment plan for the electricity deposit, I could wait on internet because I was grandfathered into the plan my dad has for cellphones with unlimited everything for the price he pays for it (which, honestly, fucking shit dad, how the hell did you get away with that one hm?).

...

I’d almost forgotten about the “contract”. That was clever of him, really. I signed over my rights to the furniture I’d *just* paid off, the washer, the dryer, the fridge my grandparents gifted us, the cats. He wrote up an itemized list. I was to look it over and make sure I approved of it - I didn’t, but my suggestions on negotiation were not ever amended to the document. This was in return for him not asking for half of the payment for the plumbing bill that had occurred when one of the ceramic pipes busted in the yard, backing up all our plumbing and making it so we couldn’t use the water in our house for 2 months. And because I was with him at the time, even though the bill was in his name, and the house was in his name, and I wouldn’t get anything from the plumbing being fixed in the house, he considered me responsible for half of that bill.

Probably more because it was 6k or something like that (I was under the impression it was 5k but it kept growing when we would talk about it so it’s a rough estimate).

So. I gave up all the things I’d bought, that were mine. I gave up the boys. And I could leave.

We signed it and had it notarized (lucky him, his aunt is a notary. hm). I had no one nearby on my side helping me fight for myself. But you know, I eventually decided 1) the stuff is just stuff and 2) it was less for me to worry about moving. This ended up being a blessing in disguise now that I think about it.

That friday was payday. I had been told to stand my ground and not give him any more money because, fuck, I’ve been paying for EVERYTHING. I don’t actually owe him shit. Didn’t. Whatever. And I caved. I told him I could get him a partial amount of the house payment (to be fair, he added that into the contract as well). Well, payday comes and I don’t actually have enough to do that AND get into the apartment the next monday which was the plan. And I was told not to give in, not to give him any more of my money because it’s not his. I didn’t owe him ANYTHING. Probably would have been thrown out in small claims court but whatever. So I didn’t go by the ATM on my way home from work. I thought I might be able to get away with it. And then he gets dressed and tells me to get myself together, we’re driving to my bank so I can get the money.

That...was the tipping point. I’d been in communication with my mom all evening and so i told her. I told her i’d failed in sticking to my guns. That he was taking me to the ATM so I didn’t have the option of not giving him the money at this point. He wasn’t going to do anything else that evening until I’d done it.

I managed...I managed to talk him down by a bit. So I could afford...you know, some of the stuff I had coming up. Because I wasn’t going to be able to survive honestly. I had...like...less than $10 in my account after what I took out. 

I was upset. I was mad at myself for breaking, for not standing up for me, for being here so long that the ATM trip was just another in a series of ATM trips any time I owed him money and hadn’t gotten it for him yet. It was normal. I’d normalized it.

And my parents...were extremely worried for me. The plan that whole weekend was to begin packing so I could move the next weekend into the apartment. So i took the laundry upstairs and I folded it and got it ready to put away. Mid folding, he comes up and wants to talk.

Mind you, despite having been broken up for a week, I was still sleeping in the bed with him, I was still supporting him in ways that I don’t even know if I was aware I was doing it. I’d given up so much ground just so he wouldn’t be upset. but I couldn’t love him anymore. Not...not like that. Not like I had.

So. He asks me what’s going on. Why I’m upset. And...3 years of frustration and anger and fear bubbled out of me like fucking ol’ faithful.  I was terrified. I recognised myself using prey techniques to make sure I wasn’t targeted. Be loud, be more loud than him, wave your arms - be bigger than you are, look dangerous. Try hard not to freeze and cow down and hide. 

It didn’t matter what I said or how I tried to show him how he had been abusive, how he had manipulated and hurt me. How he had neglected my feelings and my wellbeing for his own. He...was angry I’d ever say those things about him. He went to his mother’s house and in a panic I packed everything in the bedroom I could fit into my car and drove an hour to my parents at 10:30 at night. Got there during the worst rainstorm too. I was scared and I was sad and I was weirdly relieved and I hated it.

I got really drunk that night. Slept like a fuckin’ baby tho. Shit I even woke up early the next morning. My mom and I talked about everything and I told her I NEED to know when other people are seeing red flags because clearly I ignore them. So we came up with a warning system so I won’t get upset about it (because I will) when the person I’m around the most is a toxic person for me. It’s emojis. Because emojis are good. Emojis are happy. Except the angry ones.

My parents and I went to my Nana’s house - oh by the way she’s got cancer and is going thru chemo IN CASE ANYTHING ELSE NEEDED TO HAPPEN TO ME DURING THIS WHOLE SHITSHOW. Grabbed her pickup truck, and dropped off the things in my car to store for the time being. I’d packed a little overnight bag for the weekend. I could get more of my clothes after I was out.

We went to the house, we packed me up in about 4 hours into 2 sedans and a pickup all (okay, most. I realized later that I left some items, and I’d chosen to leave behind certain ones because it was messy to separate due to the owner of the other half of the items not being there and me just not wanting to deal with it) of my things were out. I was out. I gave him my key. I was on the way out the door and my dad...did something that dads do. Turns around - a foot from the door, mom and I were already outside on the porch - and goes off on him. Oh, i should mention his mother was there this whole time we’re packing. She was cleaning while he sat and...??? I honestly don’t know what he was doing and I frankly don’t care. Dad told me later it was to make sure that his mother knew what he’d been like, what he’d done. 

Shortly after getting on the road with my things he texted and told me after we got the phones sorted out he never wanted to see or hear from me ever again - he was going to pay off the phone bill and make sure we could get that done that day.

Around 7pm that evening I got a message from our friend who we joked was my sister-wife because we were all so close before she went into the army. I may have talked about her. She was already upset with me because I’d decided I didn’t want to work through the issues with him. I didn’t want to put in the time and I had also neglected to check up on her and she has cancer. She told me I was a toxic person and she didn’t need my kind of negativity in her life. I told her I was sorry she felt that way but I understood her decision.

She then responded and told me I wasn’t sorry, i was selfish and some other things - I...I blocked it out a bit and I deleted the thread with her from facebook because I couldn’t look at it. I already felt like shit. I continue to feel like shit. But...I deserve the chance to be happy too.

My nana allowed me to store my items at her house (she has A LOT of space omg huge house in the middle of the mountains, love it) until I could get into the apartment and actually have help with moving things in. I didn’t sign on the apartment until monday, (which is a whole ‘nother set of...anyway) so I was technically homeless Saturday and Sunday. My parents kept me Saturday but Sunday night I needed to be closer to work to make sure i got in so I couched with a friend from work who lives nearby (er...relatively. she was safer than the other option which was definitely closer but less...anyway).

Monday morning I arrived for the final walk thru with the maintenance people, I got my key, I had a friend help me move in the futon mattress I’m sleeping on, and that weekend I had a gaggle of lovely people come and help me get everything from the vehicles to the apartment - which was done in like an hour and a half. We had pizza, and then I was in my apartment. I was free.

Stipulations on being in the apartment of course. That was a ...thing. Friday I’d already been very flustered about money - not just because he was expecting half the house payment (or as near as I could muster) but because the perfect apartment was slipping through my fingers. I didn’t know if I’d have enough money for the deposit and then my parents helped me with that (which was AMAZING). And then they told me I needed the rent up front for me to move in. The rent I didn’t have because I didn’t know it would be needed up front. I should have known but I’ve never lived in an apartment owned by a company before so I had no idea. I was scared that because I didn’t have the money to be able to do the rent AND the electric by monday, AND he was forcing me to give him the money, I wouldn’t be able to live in the apartment that seemed so perfect.

I was able to work out a deal with the company - As long as the electric was in my name by monday, and I had the account number, I could get in without ahving the rent there as well AS LONG AS I had it by my next paycheck. Then the next months rent would HAVE to be on time. Perfect! I said, I can do that. I was on top of the world. I could do ANYTHING.

Which was going to be fine, except. then the past three weeks happened. Depression hit hard and it hit fast. I knew it was coming - of course it was coming - I’ve lived with it my whole life. And now it had something to feed off of.

I don’t get to sleep well, and when I’m asleep I’m ASLEEP. Slept almost 14 hours last saturday night into Sunday morning. Waking up is as hard as getting to sleep and I don’t have the motivation to get from my room to the kitchen. I spent the first week playing video games thinking “oh I just need time to get accustomed to my new space, that’s all this is”. I unpacked some. I decorated some. I got groceries. I made food. 

I stopped playing video games. I stopped watching my tv shows. I’ve pretty much just been in bed for 3 days now. I didn’t even eat anything yesterday and today was...not great dietary wise.

And I don’t have money. My parents are able to help me this month with rent but I HAVE to get back to work. I’ve GOT to get out and be outside. at least outside.

I have to do these things because I don’t have other options anymore.

Anyway. that’s the story as far as I can go right now. I’ve probably left shit out. I’m tired though. The cats...talking about the boys took a lot out of me. I’m really fucking upset about them. But...one day it won’t hurt nearly as much and maybe one day I can acquire a pirate kitty. or maybe another kitty who needs love. an older one because they need the snuggles.

Idk i can’t think about that right now. I have to be able to feed myself properly before I acquire any other living creature to take care of. I’ve proven I can’t keep up with the responsibility, or I wouldn’t be in this situation.

[crimsondomingo]

Day 6: Pirates

For my July AU a Day Challenge

“Whadda ya wanna do with him, Lenny?”

“Put him in my quarters.”

“Oh really?”

“Nothing funny, Mick, I just don’t want any of the rest of the crew getting ideas.”

They were already giving Len side-eyes about pulling the body up from the water, drifting as it had been on a stray plank of wood from the destroyed ship they’d been pillaging—after the fact, they hadn’t been the ones to destroy the ship this time. Somehow Len had just known the man was alive, and he was right, finding a faint pulse and a pretty face.

He was dressed well too—a merchant’s son? A young politician? A prince? Who knew. All Len cared about was finding out everything he could about this young man.

“Maybe he’s a siren sent to seduce you,” Lisa said as she stood in the doorway to his captain’s quarters, watching as he stripped the young man out of his wet clothes.

“Hilarious. Now would you hand me something dry to put him in?”

“Something of yours?”

“I’m not borrowing something of Mardon’s.”

“The crew is going to ask questions if their captain starts acting like a hero. They listen about no killing innocents, only soldiers in battle when we take on ships, but saving young men from drowning…”

“I’ll find the profit in it, then they’ll all have to eat their words if they think I’ve gotten too warm-hearted.”

“Not possible for the dreaded pirate Captain Cold, huh?” Lisa teased as she handed him a simple shirt and slacks to put the boy in.

Their ship, the Rogue, was both one of the most feared pirate ships in the Caribbean and one that the people cheered for since they were known to not take hostages, not kill women or children or innocents, and they only stole from the very rich.

They were the type of pirates people loved to tell stories about, which was more what Len wanted than riches—to be known and remembered.

He also wanted someone to keep his bed warm and options were limited among his crew. Not that he would ever take the young man against his will, but he hoped saving his life might paint him in a good enough light to have a chance.

It was thinking this, tucking the man into Len’s bed, warm and dry now and in dire need of food and water once he woke up, that he roused. Lisa was gone, the others having left Len alone, so he made sure to lock his door and have this moment in private.

“Where…?” a hoarse voice asked as hazel eyes blinked around the room. It was a nice ship, always kept clean, the room decorated in riches from their spoils since Len was the captain after all, but there was a definite air of piracy about things, which seemed to strike the man immediately.

He sat up quickly, then groaned as he clutched his head.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself now. You nearly drowned. Have a drink. I’m sure everything will clear up in a moment.” Len handed him some cool clean water.

Wary with his brow scrunched, the man accepted the water and drank greedily before beginning to slow down.

“Thank you,” he said at last. “I drowned? You found me in the water?”

“I saved you from the water. Do you not remember how you got there?”

“I…” he looked lost as he tried to recall.

“How about where you were headed? The ship you were on? Your name?”

Panic began to overtake him as nothing sprang to mind to answer any of those questions.

Then Len had a dastardly thought.

“My dear Scarlet,” he fought quickly for a name as he looked at the red shirt Lisa had dressed him in, “you don’t remember me or our ship?” As he took the water back from the man, he reached his hand to gently cup his face.

“Our ship?” Scarlet reached up to rest his hand over Len’s.

“You were on a mission to infiltrate another ship and discover if its riches were worthy. Another group of pirates beat us to the punch. I feared you’d been blown away too, but then I found you again, drifting safely for me to retrieve you.”

“You’re a pirate.”

“Yes.”

“I’m a pirate?”

“Oh yes.”

“But…you’re the captain, aren’t you? In a room like this… And I’m… We’re… Are we…?” His face flushed the color of the namesake Len had given him, but he did not look scared or upset by the notion, he looked intrigued, eager and excited.

Boldly, he clutched Len’s hand tighter and looked at him like he enjoyed the idea of being a pirate wench very much.

“And how did I get so lucky?” he asked.

“Who else could be as deserving of my bed?” Len said as he drew forward to steal a kiss.

While Scarlet recovered, Len told the others that he had tricked the young man into thinking he was part of their crew, and that they would go along with it to see what knowledge he might provide and so that Len could have someone keep his bed warm at last.

The crew all snickered and didn’t question the idea. In fact, they all grew to like young Scarlet quite quickly. He made a good pirate.

Only Len, perhaps with more of a heart than he ever would have admitted, could never bring himself to fully take advantage of Scarlet while their courtship was built on a lie. He always pulled away, even when Scarlet made advances himself and begged to be taken to bed.

Finally, after a few weeks and several successful pirating missions together, Scarlet demanded an answer for why Len would not bed him.

“Because I lied to you.”

“I know. I lied too. I know exactly who I am.”

“What?” Len stared in incredulity. “Since when?”

“Half an hour after I woke up when all my memories came back.” He shrugged with the most adorable blush. “My real name is Bartholomew Allen. Barry. I’m no one special, Len. My family is all gone and I was being sent to live with a friend of my father’s I don’t trust, Eobard Thawne. I had nothing and no one else, but I hate Thawne, I don’t want to live with him. You saved me from that.”

“You… The whole time…” Len was mostly impressed that Barry had never given himself away.

“I wanted to stay with you. I wanted to start over. But you’re such a sweet man, you couldn’t accept what I offered while it was based on a lie. I’m sorry I lied too. But if you would still have me, you can take me now, have all of me, always. Unless you’re too angry that I lied too.”

How could Len be angry when he’d started the lie and was being offered everything he wanted?

He reached for Barry and pulled him in for a bruising kiss.

“Oh Scarlet, we have so much to make up for.”

[wincestisasincest]

Murder in the Blue Morgue -- Part 5

Trigger Warning: Death

With a warning like that, how can you not click on this?

Last part I’m posting for tonight, and be on lookout for a masterlist.

First chapter: https://twincestforthewincest.tumblr.com/post/181730682110/murder-in-the-blue-morgue-part-1

Second chapter: https://twincestforthewincest.tumblr.com/post/181756574650/murder-in-the-blue-morgue-part-2

Third chapter: https://twincestforthewincest.tumblr.com/post/181756696770/murder-in-the-blue-morgue-part-3

Fourth chapter: https://twincestforthewincest.tumblr.com/post/181756885220/murder-in-the-blue-morgue-part-4

“Alright, kid, where are we off to?” Russel had been quick to rush them out of the house and onto the streets, leaving 2D and Kathleen to discuss whatever matters befell them. He knew that it might end up with some physical violence, but he just wanted to get Jo out of the house, because it would’ve been more violent with someone who more easily provoked her. “Um, I mean, you were thinkin’ a diner, right?” She was still a little awkward around the band, as, though she would never admit to feeling a little overwhelmed that they all showed up, it still was a change of pace. “Preferably one with a hot waitress.” Murdoc stumbled behind them. It takes more than one beer to get Murdoc drunk, of course, but that was assuming that it was his first beer of the day. “I can get you one with an easy waitress,” She started to walk on the right side of the street, with the band, minus 2D, trailing behind her through the unfamiliar streets, “So, you just casually flew all the way out here, huh?” 

“Needed a break, y’know? And, we never really visit other places unless we’re on tour. Just wanted to see casual New Jersey,” Noodle was looking to make conversation again, “Besides, I don’t know if ‘D would’ve been able to face that woman without our encouragement.” “He won’t, y’know. We should’ve stayed.” “Nah, he’s actually pretty capable, we just needed to push him to actually see her in the first place.” Noodle made sure to leave out the part where they purposely taken the painkillers out of his suitcase so he could stay focused.” “Also, you need to get outta that house. That woman is a massive bitch. Dunno how she ever got any, even Dents has standards.” Murdoc, though not considerate, wasn’t stupid. And he made sure everyone knew that. “Yeah, sorry about that. Trust me, we saved the bad stuff for when people aren’t in the house. But normally I don’t stick around for that long anyway.” “Yeah, my parents were shitty too. More advice? Your birth doesn’t determine your family, and for your sanity you need to move out as soon as possible.” Murdoc once again threw in his 2 cents, spewing things that, while unsolicited, were at least relevant. And, for once, he was happy to share his life experiences. “Again, I already got that. But, thanks. Oh, look, we’re here.” She turned into the glass doors of a sparsely populated diner. The bell rang above them that alerted the attention of a waitress with dark, black hair and a large smile. “Hey! Joey! How’ve you been?” She approached the group with a couple menus in her hand. “Y’know, the usual. Break’s over. School’s shit.” Jo shrugged and looked at the floor. “Ever the optimist. And you brought new folks!” “Yeah, luv, we’re scouting out the best girls of Jersey.” Murdoc shoved his way to the front, sensing someone just as eager as he was. “Well, you came to the right spot! But I’m not off work for a few hours, so we’ll see what I can do for you now, and you can come find me after hours.” She gestured for them to follow her to the corner table, with Murdoc’s eyes trained on her ass the whole time. “Y’know, Jo, I can’t remember the last time anyone but you and your buds sat here.” She and Jo shared a laugh. “Well, you’ve worked here for two months. Just wait for spring, that’s when all the crackheads start to show up.” The group took seats around the table as Jo continued her conversation, with the girl passing out the menus. “Dear, it is Jersey.” “Hey, going to college doesn’t count as living here. Only I get to insult Jersey. Not that it needs help.” “Alright, you folks take a look at those menus and I’ll be back in a minute.” The waitress sashayed off into the kitchen, leaving the group in a decided silence and Murdoc slightly stunned as his eyes followed her. “What’s her name?” “Gina.” “Damn.”

//The meal passes, because transitions amirite folks//

“And they invited you the next year?” “Everyone knows you can’t have a party without Murdoc Niccals.” Murdoc leaned forward, a french fry in one of his hands, or ‘chip’ as he called it, obviously way too invested in the telling of his many holiday stories. “Even though he was in prison next year.” Noodle hadn’t spared any expense in going outside of her comfort zone with this meal. In all her time living in England and Japan, she couldn’t deny that she had gotten both her best and worst food experiences in America. However, the greasy, juicy burger that had sat in front of her an hour ago was definitely one of the better ones. “Wouldn’t be the last time either.” Russel had to admit that he’d been missing classic American food, even if it wasn’t like what he’d had in Brooklyn. Of course, New Jersey pizza, especially with the yelling in Italian that he’d heard from the kitchen, was nothing to sneeze at. “Damn.” Jo leaned backward in her seat, feeling her pancakes already beginning to digest in her stomach. Diner food was always fantastic, and it practically ran through her blood at this point, but it never ceased to make her incredibly tired. “Hey, now, I was only guilty once, and I was just caught because that goddamn brothel wanted me back.” Surprisingly, even though he, at one point, had been one of the most immoral people that England had ever known, most of the reasons he had gone to prison were fairly tame. False checks, contact breaches, etc. The boring crimes were the only ones where he cared to get sloppy. “Well, no, gettin’ in trouble with the cops is nothin’, you’re only really in trouble if you get caught.” Jo munched on one of Noodle’s fries, similar to Murdoc, wholly invested in the conversation. “Little young to be robbing stores, are we?” Russel could remember back to his own childhood, even in private school. One of the best parts of being a kid, of course was doing illegal things and knowing how illegal they were while you were doing them. “Nah, robbing stores is trashy. Just trespassing. But again, you’re only really in trouble if you get caught, so I’m clean.” “Alright folks!” Gina returned to the table, slamming the receipt in the middle of the group, “It’s been a pleasure having you all here tonight, and I do hope to see you again. Especially you,” She blew a kiss to Murdoc, “Jus’ give a yell when you’re ready, the place is practically empty.” She was right. The diner was completely vacant, and most of the lights were off as the staff had begun to clean up. The group had spent more time at the diner than they’d originally intended, getting caught up in conversation while slowly gnawing away at the food, which was admittedly delicious. Even Noodle, who would normally ask for dessert at this point, was completely stuffed. “Alright, so mine was 7 bucks, and-“ Jo had pulled some of her babysitting money out of her back pocket, and begun flipping through the cash.” “Wait, mine was only 6 dollars?” Noodle had pulled out a 20-dollar bill, ready to cover the expenses. “Well, yeah. We don’t just like diners because they have good food, they’re also cheap.” Jo had forgotten that not everyone was familiar with having delicious food this readily accessible. “Uh, Noodle, I only brought pounds, can you cover me for, uh, 15 dollars?” Murdoc had insisted that he had brought dollar bills when the rest of the band was going to the exchange counter, and that his time would be better spent ‘discussing’ music with one of the cashiers at the gift shop. “Damn, Murdoc, what did you buy?” Russel, too, was thumbing through his wallet. “Only, like 2 beers.” “No problem, Mudz.” Noodle sighed. The group had left their cash on the table, including a rather generous tip considering the racket that they’d made, and cleared out into the empty, dark streets. The buzz of cars was in the distance, but any populated roads were at least three blocks up. All of the streets with the most popular food or shops were almost entirely ones where people would walk. “So, um, are do you guys wanna go back to the apartment, or…? Because, like, if you’re curious about the nightlife I can give you directions or somethin’.” Jo was never good at ending meetings, especially when they resulted in her having to return home, but she couldn’t keep them here all day. “Actually, yeah, are there any bars around-“ “We’ll head back with you and see if 2D is still busy.” Russel interrupted Murdoc, yet again, legitimately curious if 2D had turned out alright. “Where would ‘D have gone if he was done? Back to the hotel, right?” Noodle was just beginning to realize how chilly the night could be, even in the city, slowly rubbing her arms. “I hope so.” Russel lead the way this time, vaguely remembering the way that the group had taken on their way there. He and Noodle continued up front, with Noodle gawking at some of the lights while chatting with Russel about some of his memories from living in the area. “Psst.” Jo whispered into Murdoc’s ear while they continued down the street. “Yeah?” Murdoc copied her whisper instinctively, his attention grabbed. “2 blocks up from the apartment, on 419 Edgebrook Street, it’s free drinks with karaoke that night. And there’s a strip club just down the street. Just tell ‘em you know Marty and they’ll let you in.” “Who the bloody hell is Marty?” “I know the son of the guy who runs it. Marty is his dad.” “Hm. Thanks, kid.” “No problem.” Sirens blared down the street, closing up just behind the group, and slowing down as they passed the group, making them halt in their tracks. The cop driving the car pointed his flashlight out at the group, finally landing it on Jo. “Josephine Powell?” “That’s me.” “You’re gonna have to come down to the station with us.” The group began looking at each other, slightly panicking. “I didn’t do it.” Jo didn’t know that trespassing could land someone a police chase. “What? No, you’re not being arrested, it’s your mother?” “What happened?” “She’s been murdered.”

DUN DUN DUN!!!

Thanks to all of y’all who got this far.

Be on the lookout for more chapters!