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hellfirenacht · 5 years ago

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The Convention Fic Chapter 4

Beetlejuice x Reader (Gender Neutral)

First Chapter

Friday (Evening)

It didn’t take long for you to get ready to head to the aquarium. You dug through your suitcase and pulled out the outfit that you had brought specifically for partying in. Though you knew that this was a date and wanted to look nice, the aquarium would allow everyone to wonder around for a few hours before letting those who paid for the After Party into one of the Ballrooms, which Beej was quick to inform you was a 21+ event.

You were practically bouncing with excitement as you changed and freshened up. The hyena that Beej had given you was sitting on the bed, protecting your phone as it charged. Beej was kicked back on the second bed, watching you with an amused grin.

“You know, you look great no matter what you’re wearing.” he commented, scanning you up and down. “But I gotta admit, if I wasn’t already dead you’d be killing me right now.”

You gave him a smirk. “Is that rigor mortis, or are you just happy to see me?”

He laughed, “And here I was worried that you’d be too tired for this.”

“Normal tired is gone, I’m only left with that kind of 4 AM tired where everything is funny and I’m invincible. But don’t worry- I completely intend to pass out as soon as we’re done.” you affirmed.

“That’s why you’re my best mod- you’re always ready to party and work.” he replied with a grin. “You ready to go yet, Babes?��

“Yup! Just gotta put my shoes on and I’m good to go!”

You grabbed your beat up tennis shoes, not wanting to risk blisters for the rest of the weekend. As much as you wanted to look good, you also had a job to do for the rest of the con. You swapped out your backpack for a small pouch that rested on your hip and around your waist and shoved your phone, camera battery, key, badge, and money in.

“Ready!”

Beetlejuice just snickered at you as he pulled himself off the bed and looked you over. “I gotta say Babes, you look stunning for our first date. The fanny pack is really doing it for me.”

You pouted slightly. “Watch it, Bug Boy.” you warned in a playful tone. “Besides have you ever washed that hoodie?”

“Nope!” he said with such pride for a second you were inclined to believe him.

The playful teasing continued as you made your way out of the building and towards the Aquarium a few blocks over. The sun was just now showing signs of going down, though late in the evening. Beej’s green-tipped hair was an interesting contrast to the warm yellows, reds, and hints of lavender of the setting sun. The air around you was comfortably warm as you crossed the busy street with other nerds who were also on their way to the nights event. The two of you cut through the large park where you had held the meet up the other evening, and Beetlejuice slipped his hand into yours again.

It was comfortable. Though the two of you had only met in person just the other night, not even 24 hours before, it didn’t feel awkward or strange. Maybe you were closer to him than you had originally thought. All those late nights in the chat, playing games, talking on cam, they suddenly meant so much more now that he was there with you. He was real, and the two of you were close, and now here you were, on a date. A real actual date. A warmth spread over you at the thought.

The air around the Aquarium was cooler than the air at the park. Perhaps it was the shadow the building cast in the late evening sun, or the slight smell of sea water that tinted the air. The two of you easily slid through security and presented your tickets before entering the building.

The aquarium was large and tall, split up into five different sections ranging from river fish to freshwater fish, to ocean fish. Together you decided to start at the river fish, and you pulled out the video camera. Though this was a date, both of you agreed that even if you didn’t post the footage, it was still something the two of you wanted to remember together. You couldn’t help but be okay with that, plus seeing him through the lense of the camera as well as in person felt right to you.

Together the two of you toured through the different sections, looking at fish, getting B-Roll footage of cosplayers and at one point Beej even interviewed a fan that came up and introduced themselves. With each new section brought new fish and creatures for the two of you to point and look at. Beetlejuice was fascinated by all the creatures, which surprised you.

“I’ve never been able to see fish before.” he stated, which seemed like a strange answer. “I’ve never been to a fish zoo or even the beach before so this is all new to me. You know, I never understood the whole thing with humans being obsessed with other animals but I think I get- oh my god they glow!!”

Beej grabbed you by the arm and pointed excitedly at the Jellyfish that were glowing against the blacklight of the tank that they were chilling in. Beej’s smile was so wide and his pupils were so large that you his eyes almost looked black. It was clear that this man was going to lose his shit at any fish that had bioluminescence. He was practically shaking with excitement as he pressed his face up against the glass like a little kid.

You did manage to scoot him out of the way to allow yourself room to get some footage of the tangled mass of jellyfish. You agreed- it was really cool seeing the different fish glowing under blacklight. As you pointed the camera a Beej again, you swore that he was glowing under the light as well- the same green that you saw back in the arcade just the night before. You made a mental note to ask him what kind of hair dye he used but for now, your breath was caught in your throat with how... weirdly beautiful he looked.

He was still the same Beej that you had seen a million times before on a screen, but there were some things about him that a camera just couldn’t do justice towards. His laugh was louder in person, and right now it felt more honest. Not that you were surprised, you always understood that internet personalities were just that- personalities. You saw what they wanted you to see but with Beej it felt different. Yes, in this time and place it was a more intimate experience being next to him and seeing him in person, but you were starting to realize how genuine and honest he was with his audience. You could feel your heart swell at the thought, not only could he be himself on camera, he could also be himself with you.

“Oh man I’d stay here all night if I could!” he said, leading you out with a big smile on his face. “Next year we’re staying an extra day and we’re gonna sneak in here at night and scooba dive with the jellyfish.”

“That’s a terrible idea.” you laughed. “I’m in.”

He smiled at you, his eyes still shining with excitement. “And that’s why I asked you to be here with me!”

“Someone’s gotta bail you out of jail when your roommates aren’t around.” you countered.

The tour ended with the last area- the Ocean fish. It took you a little bit longer to make your way in there, as the two of you stood in front of the exhibit, pointing your camera at the mascot of the aquarium; a large orange fish named Deepo.

The two of you stood there, laughing hard. Beej has his phone out and was going live as the two of you laughed at the ridiculous looking fish.

“Disney... Disney please sue something!” Beej begged, zooming in on the wide lifeless eyes of the statue that smiled across time and space. “DEEPO. His name.. Oh God-Satan his name is DEEPO!”

There were tears streaming down your face as you both pointed and laughed. Around you, some other con goers were also taking pictures, while some were looking at the two of you like you were high or drunk. It didn’t matter, the point is Deepo would either save your soul or destroy it. After cities collapsed, oceans dried up, and humans were eradicated- Deepo would live on as the uncaring God of the New World.

You really needed to get some real sleep tonight.

After finally pulling yourselves together, the two of you straightened up and finally the two of you stepped into the large tunnel, finding yourselves surrounded by fish and soft blue lighting. You couldn’t help but let out a small gasp as you looked up, seeing a fish swim over your head. All around you was ocean life- the tunnel was right under a large tank, allowing you to see fish from every angle.

“Oh wow...” you whispered, looking up. Beej took the camera from your hands and started filming as you took in the view. Fish of all colors, shapes, and sizes were swimming around the two of you, feeling so close even though the glass protecting the tunnel was at least two feet thick.

“I gotta admit, this is pretty impressive.” you heard Beej from across the tunnel, filming a small school of yellow fish. “I’m glad we- oh holy shit!” his head shot upwards and you followed his line of site and gasps.

Above the two of you, a whale passed over head, followed by a shark.

“That’s a shark!” Beej gawked, following the creature with the camera. “Holy crap, that’s a shark! Babes, I want that. I want that shark. I love that shark. I need that shark to live.”

“Well it’s a good thing you’re dead because it’s staying here.” you replied, eyes still glued to the top of the tunnel, watching the larger fish swim around you. It was absolutely breath-taking. You moved to the side of the tunnel until your legs hit a ledge for you to sit on, keeping an eye on everything around you. You were suddenly okay with the suggestion of just staying here forever with these fish. You had no clue that fish could make you feel this safe or content.

After a few minutes, you glanced over at Beetlejuice who had the camera pointed at you. How long had he been filming you staring at the fish? You felt a little embarrassed now.

“Hey, I thought this was your show.” you said, trying not to be embarrassed.

“It is, and I like to show off things that make me happy.” he said with a wink. “Plus you’re stunning in this light. I can’t be the only one that looks good here.”

The compliment felt warm in your chest compared to the cool air of the aquarium. You wanted to brush it off, or tell him no, or even fire something back at him but instead you said something that surprised yourself.

“Thank you.”

You accepted the compliment with grace and a smile. It felt true- between the amazing lighting, the outfit you had chosen, and the feeling of being with Beetlejuice... you felt stunning. Moe than that, with Beej around you felt seen. You felt like all your hard work went both noticed and appreciated. Everything you did for him he thanked you, praised you, told you how much it meant to him. He saw something in you that you hadn’t seen for yourself in a long time. For this moment, you could see yourself the way he saw you- an amazingly capable person, a fun person, a giant fucking nerd, a friend, a crush.

That was the confidence boost you needed, and you felt secure. You felt safe. You felt like you could do anything you wanted because knowing that someone you looked up to and respected so much could see it in you. You stood up and walked over to him, keeping eye contact the entire time. You reached out and lowered the arm that held his camera knowing that this next moment was for just the two of you.

Beej got the hint and allowed you to stay in control of the situation, knowing exactly what was going to happen next. You reached out and touched his cheek, feeling the scratchy beard against the palm of your hand. Briefly you wondered how much maintenance it took for him to keep it tinted green like his hair before leaning in and pressing your lips against his.

His mouth shifted into a smile against yours as his free hand rested on your lower back. The cool skin of his lips combined with the cool air around you caused goosebumps to appear on your arms and the back of your neck. The kiss was short, only a few seconds long, but it was enough. When you pulled back, Beej was grinning hard and you could almost swear that he had hearts in his eyes. The two of you stared at each other like the dopey love-struck idiots that you were for a moment before you took his hand.

“Come on, Love Bug.” you said. “Let’s keep going.”

The two of you finally made your way out of the tunnel after getting a few more shots of different fish before making your way into the next room. Again, you were almost rendered speechless as the two of you found yourselves in front of a large tank that stretched from the floor to a very high ceiling. The large tank gave you a perfect view of how large the whales and sharks were compared to the smaller fish. There were whales and stingrays and large bloated looking fish you had never seen before.

Maybe you would take up Beej on the offer of breaking in to spend the night.

The two of you found a spot to sit in front of the large glass wall as you stared out into the water. In this moment, no words needed to be said. For once Beetlejuice was enjoying a comfortable silence as the two of you put away the camera and just let yourselves be. His hand found yours, and your head found his shoulder. Together for the next half hour, you rested and just took in the view of the amazing sea creatures swimming around.

Around you, cosplayers took amazing pictures next to the tank, nerds took selfies with the fish, and the two of you couldn’t help but laugh a bit at one pink-haired cosplayer crying happy drunk tears over one of the large bloated looking fish. (“It’s so ugly!” she cried and laughed. “I love grouper fish! I love him so much he’s so ugly he’s beautiful!”).

You almost dozed off once or twice as you rested against Beetlejuice. It felt so relaxing being next to him, that you wished that you could just spend the rest of the weekend here. But after a while, he nudged you.

“You still good to go to the after party?” he asked. “It’s gonna start soon, but if you’re tired I understa-”

“I’m gonna party!” you yawned and stood up. “Give me a sec to wake up and I’ll be good to go.”

You took a moment to stretch and get your body to wake up. Turns out at the fish for however long you two were there had left you feeling pretty well rested and happy. Your brain was still a little fried from spending the past few days on little sleep but you could make the the next few hours.

By the time the two of you made it into the ballroom where the party was being held, the DJ was already blasting music and people were lining up at the two bars set up on each end of the large room. There were two glass walls on different sides of the rooms, much smaller than what you had just been looking at but still large enough to peer in and see it was large enough to fit in a few whales. The tanks were dark at the moment, you assumed to give the animals some rest after a long day of being gawked at, but a few congoers were still camped out by the viewing areas, relaxing with their drink and peering into the darkened tanks.

The two of you bought some drinks and found an empty standing table to stay at for the moment. There was a large dance floor in the upper right corner of the room, the DJ booth next to it. On the wall they were projecting clips from various animes and also Steven Universe for some reason. That was the only non-anime being shown on the screen, and you wondered who had put the looping montage together.

Beej chugged down his two drink quickly, itching to get to the dancefloor. “I gotta show these breathers how to really party!” he said.

You had to admit, you wanted to get on the dance floor as well. The DJ was playing an amazing mix of anime, cartoon openings, group dances, old emo music and songs that would make any nerd get up and dance.

The music woke you up better than the drink in your hand. Beej politely waited for you to finish it before dragging you to the dance floor. Beej was a beast once he was in the crowd, jumping from group to group and dancing with anyone who would let him close. You couldn’t even be jealous when he found himself in the middle of a group of girls as he began flossing like there was no tomorrow.

You could have sworn he said he hated flossing before. You wondered if that changed one he actually learned how to do it.

The crowd started to form into a circle around Beej. People jumped in and out, showing off their moves and having small dance-offs. Everywhere people were cheering and having fun. The DJ changed songs, and a spark ignited inside you- this was a song that you knew very well. A specific song from A Goofy Movie that made every inch of your body suddenly go feral. Beej had his moment in the spotlight but now it was your turn.

You were about to teach these nerds what it really meant to do the Perfect Cast.

You waited for the right moment to jump in, your confidence fueled by the slight buzz of alcohol in your system combined with your amazing date with Beej. This was the moment you had been waiting for your entire life, and nothing could fucking stop you.

The chorus kicked in and you found yourself rushing to the center, looking around at the crowd and starting on the dance that you had learned so long ago. Everyone lost their shit.

“THEY’RE ACTUALLY DOING IT!”

“WOOO!”

“IT’S THE PERFECT CAST!!!”

“TEACH ME PLEASE!”

“Oh snap, looks like we got someone who knows their Disney!” a voice said over the speaker and you realized that the DJ was talking about you over the mic. You snapped back into reality with a huge smile and looked over at Beej who couldn’t have been more proud of you. As you jumped back to the side of the circle and let someone else take over you got a few highfives and compliments.

“Damn Babes, why didn’t you tell me you could dance?” Beej asked, still smiling wide.

“I forgot!” you laughed. “Oh wow, I haven’t done that in forever. I... I forgot I knew it until I did it!”

The two of you danced together on and off for the rest of the night, taking breaks to occasionally have another drink or rest. Beej had much more stamina than you, seemingly never needing to rest or take breaks. When you needed a second to catch your breath he’d hover between making sure you were okay and running back to the dance floor. You honestly didn’t mind, you loved seeing him out there, making friends and being the center of attention.

By the end of the evening, as the party was starting to draw to a close, you found yourself sitting against the viewing glass, tipsy and happily gazing out into dark tank where a few whales swam in circles. The pink-haired girl who you’d seen earlier crying over fish was next to you, seemingly in the same boat. There was an unspoken agreement that this spot was the Quiet Spot. Even though behind you a party raged on, filled with nerds, and lights, and alcohol, this spot was for being drunk and watching fish. This was a pastime you could get used to.

“There you are!” came a voice from behind you, causing the two of you to jump slightly. You looked up at beej and held your finger to your lips.

“Shhhh....” you whispered loudly. “You’ll throw off the whales.” okay, maybe you were closer to the side of drunk than tipsy.

The DJ started playing Don’t Stop Believing and there was a roar of excitement from the crowd behind you as drunk nerds scrambled to the dance floor. A chorus of voices of all kinds filled the air as everyone in the room seemed to sing along to the music that was pulsating through the air.

“I think I’m having a religious experience.” the pink haired girl said, as she stared continued staring at the whales.

“Me too.” you said, to Beej’s amusement. “Same time next year?”

The girl nodded in agreement. “May the whales don’t stop believing.” she said solemnly.

You stood up, wobbling a bit, but Beej held you steady. “You usually this much of a light weight?” he asked.

“Strong drinks.” you mumbled with a smile, leaning into him.

“Alright, I think you’re partied out.” Beej said. “Your fragile human body needs sleep. And probably other things too.”

“Water... food.” you replied and the two of you made your way out of the building, headed back towards your hotel. The night air felt good against your warmed skin, you didn’t realize how warm the room had gotten with so many people dancing. You were comfortably drunk with a dopey grin on your face as you clung to Beetlejuice.

“Hey... Beej.... are you my... booooooyfriend?” you asked, looking up at him.

“I’ll be whatever you want me to be, Babes.” he replied. “Think you can handle dating a demon?”

“Pffff... you aren’t scaaaary.” you slurred, and laughed at the offended look on Beej’s face.

“Excuse you, I am the ghost with the most!” he said. “I’m the scariest demon you’ll ever meet!”

“If you say so, neeeeeeeeerd!” you giggled.

Beetlejuice managed to drag your drunk ass back up to your room, and helped you use your key card. This time you did not immediately drop your pants (much to Beej’s dismay) but instead went straight to the bathroom to pee, wash your face, and get a glass of water.

“Beej... Beej I got a secret.” you said as you exited the bathroom.

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“I’m a little bit drunk.” you giggled and took a few long gulps of water.

“No shit?” he smiled at you.

“Not even a little turd.” he laughed at that.

“I’m gonna... I’m gonna drink this water so I’m functional tomorrow.” you set the glass down. “OH! Oh! I did... I did something smart!” you were bouncing on your feet.

“You’re the one that holds all the braincells here, but what did you do specifically?” Beej watched you with an amused grin as you stumbled slightly to the mini-fridge and pulled out a to-go box. “Got more food at Waffle House when we went. Because I’m SMART!”

The two of you turned on the tv to watch a movie with too many commercials as you ate your cold waffle and drank your glass of water. You soon found yourself resting against his shoulder again.

“Hey Beej?” you asked. “Where are you staying this weekend anyway?”

He stiffened slightly at the question. He wasn’t ready to tell you that he was just teleporting between the con and his home hundreds of miles away.

“I uh, don’t exactly have a room.” he replied, hoping that your drunk brain would let it go. It didn’t.

“What?” you looked up at him. “Wh-where are you sleeping?” your eyes looked like they were tearing up, oh shit, oh fuck, he did NOT want to make you cry. “Are you sleeping in your car??”

“Yes!” he blurted out. “I am... sleeping in my car!”

“No!” you pouted. “No! Bad Beetlejuice!” you stood up with a look that would be angry if it wasn’t coming from a half-drunk breather. “Stupid Beej, dumbass...” you mumbed to yourself and walekd over to the tv, grabbing a small envelope and pulling something out. “Can’t do anything without me, I swear.” you threw a piece of plastic at him and he looked it over. It was an extra key-card. “You’re staying HERE for the rest of the weekend you stupid, dumb... stupid face!”

When his mom had yelled at him when she was drunk, it was horrifying. He’d retreat into himself and tell himself he was as worthless as she said he was. With you, it was different. Your words sounded angry, but your eyes were full of hurt and concern. You didn’t really think he was stupid, or maybe you did, but either way it wasn’t a feeling of malice towards him. Someone was concerned for him, someone cared, someone wanted him around.

Who was he to say no to that?

“Alright, alright, if it would make you happy.” he replied with a grin. “But where am I gonna sleep, there’s only one bed!”

You looked at him in confusion, glancing between the two beds in the room. You were drunk but you weren’t stupid. At least, you didn’t think so.

“Beej there’s another bed right there...?” you questioned yourself. Was there one bed or two?

Beej stood up and grabbed a hold of your suitcase that was laying on the floor in the corner of the room. He walked over to the second bed and sloppily dumped out the contents onto the spare bed.

“I dunno what you’re talking about, all I see is this large pile of clothes!” he smirked. “I don’t know about you but in my experience humans don’t usually sleep on piles of laundry.”

You smiled and let out a small chuckle. “Oh, silly me. I suppose you’re right. There’s only one bed. One large bed that we could both fit in.”

“I insist that you take the bed and I will sleep on the floor.” he smiled.

“No no no, you’re the guest, you take the bed.” you said, grabbing his arm and pulling him onto the bed. He pulled back the covered and crawled in.

“Nah, I think you should take the bed.” he pulled you close against him, allowing you to take in his scent.

“...Your hoodie smells awful, take it off.” you grumbled, helping him remove the offending piece of clothing. You wondered if he had been correct about not washing it ever.

You didn’t hear anything after that as sleep overtook you quickly. Beej’s cool body under the warm blankets created the perfect temperature for falling asleep. Beej held you against his chest and turned on the tv low. He didn’t need to sleep, but he would stay until you woke up. Your warmth and weight on him allowing him a feeling that he’d only ever felt in one other place.

To Beetlejuice, you felt like home.

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NOTE: Want to make a cameo in the next chapter? Click here!

#nacht fic #beetlejuice x reader #gamer beej #the convention fic

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jq37 · 5 years ago

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The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 9

Bad Kids Family Reunion

Can you believe we’re on our last episode for the year? I feel like we just started! We may not have another episode until January, but we left off on a doozy this week so let’s get going. This ep is basically split into two parts: The bulk of the Bad Kids in the Land of the Lomenelda and Adaine in Catheldriel Tower. In the ep, we go back and forth a little, but I’ll just summarize each part separately to keep things simple.

Lomenelda Family Reunion

As you probably remember, last week the group decided to teleport to the Land of the Lomenelda because Catheldriel Tower was too secure to get into directly and because The LotL is both close by to the Tower but also the ancestral home of Fabian’s mother’s side of the family.

Once they arrive, they see it’s basically the most stereotypical elven forest ever. Pristine woods, beautiful animals, haunting music. Fig puts a clove cigarette on the ground as an offering to a deer that she thinks might be her creature (which she still hasn’t paid for as far as I know) which brings out an elf named Telemien to tell her to stop littering. Telemien is very Elrond-esque and he has all the classic elven traits--long-winded, breathy speech, weirdly inflected words, turning into sand to be dramatic. He also happens to be Fabian’s grand-dad.

Gilear rolls very well on his diplomacy check and, combined with the fact that they’ve brought family, the group in welcomed into the forest with open arms. Fabian fills his grand-dad in on why they’re in his neck of the woods and Telemien informs him that the Abernant family has been disgraced, Adaine’s mom was found guilty of treason (though he doesn’t know the exact crime) and fled, and their land has been seized by the Court of Stars. While the Lomenelda are generally apolitical, Telemien doesn’t have a problem saying that he has a low opinion of the Abernant family and Anguin especially is an amoral, power-grabbing, sonuvabitch.

Riz, who is shouldering the entire responsibility of keeping the Bad Kids on task since Adaine is currently locked up, rolls to see if anything weird is going on in the forest and we learn that the Lomenelda basically just drug their teenagers with magic grapes and sad music to keep them chill and not horned up (something he finds iffy until a day of herding his friends towards a very time sensitive rescue mission at which point he’s like maybe this guy is on to something). Still, Riz warns the group against eating anything, which is always a good rule of thumb when you’re dealing with fae-adjacent nonsense (and Kristen does ping faint fey/celestial energy when she casts a Detect Evil and Good).

Fig and Riz are willing to leave for their rescue mission pretty much right away but the group decides to get a full night’s sleep first so they can regain spell slots and stuff. Ragh goes to flirt with some elf teenagers and Tracker reminds Kristen that they need to have a chat vis a vis Garthy and Sandra-Lynn. So, four episodes after the fact, Kristen finally tells Tracker that Sandra-Lynn hooked up with Garthy but she does it in such a blase and offhanded way that I assume was an attempt to sell it as not a big deal to Tracker to prevent a trip to the doghouse. It’s not the strategy I would have suggested and clearly the dice agree with me because she hits double Nat 1s on her persuasion roll. Tracker gives her another shot to give the real reason why she kept the info from her (besides “I didn’t wanna tell a lot of people,” which is such weaksauce). Kristen says that “so much was happening” and just Tracker stalks off.

Fig, having seen Tracker leave in a huff, asks what just went down and Kristen tells her. Fig takes Kristen’s side and is appreciative that Kristen was willing to let her mom’s business be her own business. Kristen decides to give Sandra-Lynn a heads up that Tracker knows what she did. Sandra-Lynn is distraught enough about the situation that she makes the mistake of briefly giving Kristen whisky before wising up and sending her to the Van, sans alcohol.

Fig talks to Gilear who, if you remember, also noticed that something was up with Sandra-Lynn and Garthy. Fig doesn’t give details but basically confirms it and says that at least he can take solace in the fact that him getting cheated on was probably more on her than because of anything he did. Gilear responds by telling Fig a little about Sandra-Lynn’s short-lived adventuring career: Apparently, Sandra-Lynn was a rising star in the adventuring world back when she went to Aguefort but her career was thrown off the rails when she joined a party as a replacement and ended up romantically involved with one member of a couple. The couple was very powerful and the one she was with didn’t treat her very well. Eventually, she was kicked out of the party and her name was smeared by the couple. After that, she couldn’t really find another party to join which is why she works for the Ranger Corp now. Gilear knows who the couple in question is but declines to tell Fig.

And the Kristen/Tracker trainwreck continues. Kristen gathers flowers for Tracker and finds her sulking in wolf form. Kristen did a decent job on the flower picking but whiffs her persuasion roll with another Nat 1! Tracker says that Kristen is always going off about being introspective and doing the right thing, but sitting on this, paralyzed with inaction was just as much of a wrong choice as taking an action and, also, it just plain sucked. Kristen kind of tries to “yes, dear” her way through the lecture but then gives Tracker the flowers in such a way that implies that eventually Tracker will get over it which Tracker does not care for at all. She stalks off for a second time.

Fig decides to tell Telemien that Gilear is dating Hilariel (his daughter) and they leave to take a walk and talk about poetry. Gorgug (who is very exhausted by all of the elven nonsense going on) goes to the Van and asks Ayda if she can cast Sending for him to Zelda. After accosting him (you can take the girl out of the pirate city and so on I guess) she says she’ll do it for 150 gold. The message essentially says, “Hey. We’re safe. Sorry about screwing up. I’m working on it. Miss you.” He rolls Persuasion with disadvantage and a 12 gets him left on read all night.

Tracker has cast the Moon Haven spell and everyone (except Gilear) piles into the Van. Kristen, who’s sleeping alone tonight for obvious reasons, walks into Ragh’s room and sees that he has brought a high elf teenager. She quickly leaves to give him privacy and then decides to take Adaine’s room for the night. While she’s awake, she notices that Gorgug is still awake too. He says he messaged Zelda and he hasn’t gotten a reply yet. Maybe it’s a time zone thing? Kristen is pretty sure it isn’t a time zone thing. Gorgug also notices that Kristen came out of Adaine’s room and not Tracker’s. They hug it out over both being in the doghouse with their respective partners.

Fabian, who had previously failed his Con save with an 8, gets to re-roll because of the super fine, elven forged, 800 thread count sheets he brought into the Moon Haven (that Riz refused because it seemed inappropriate while Adaine was in jail) and he got a modded 20, finally getting over his levels of Exhaustion. Our boy isn’t back to his old self but he’s getting there.

In the morning, Riz is very anxious to leave and very over all the elven and Bad Kid shenanigans. Ragh is also very ready to leave, but that’s mainly because he wants to escape his (first ever) hook-up who is a liiiitle too into him being a half-orc if you know what I mean. Kristen decides to give one of her classic, patented, inspiring speeches which is just a glorious trainwreck that’s half public apology, half total ramble, 100% uncomfortable for everyone involved. Then, she offhandedly asks Telemien if he can see Kalina in the photo. He can’t but, guess what? She can. She freaks and asks Tracker to hug her cause she’s freaking out. Tracker obliges until Kristen pushes her luck and asks if she’s slept off being mad at her, at which point she up and leaves for the THIRD TIME. Even Fig is like, “Yikes, girl.”

Ayda isn’t sure if this is a good time (it’s not) but she got a reply back from Zelda. Zelda said that she couldn’t answer because she was at a party and says trying to build a cell tower is crazy. “It’s all whatever Gorgug. I don’t blame you.” The gang walks Ayda through the nuance of the text and why the prognosis is looking negative on the Zelda front. She offers to hurt Zelda for Gorgug. Gorgug appreciates the sentiment but declines. Ayda also says she can research Planeshift for Fig once they’ve rescued Adaine.

But back to the matter at hand. Telemien explains the defenses of Calethriel Tower: It’s defended by a lot of arcane spellcraft that will protect against most magic attacks but is vulnerable to physical attacks which the elves would see as too base to defend against. All of the defenses are powered by Elemental Pylons (which are basically like power transformers). Also, Gilear tries (and fails) to ask for Hilariel’s hand in marriage by inducing vomiting in himself which makes slightly more sense in context but only slightly.

When they get to the edge of the valley where the tower is, Kristen sees that the Pylons are pretty far away from each other (like, miles away). There’s no way to hit both towers and then get to Adaine before someone realizing something’s up. The group mentions that they’re also supposed to be breaking out Aelwyn but Fabian is a lot less gung-ho about that part of the plan than he previously was, pre-existential crisis. They talk it out for a while and end up coming up with the following plan: The hirelings will go to one Pylon to destroy it. Gorgug, Fabian, and Riz will destroy the second Pylon at the same time. Once the Pylons are down and the magical defenses are weak enough that they can use magic without it being countered, Fig (disguise expert), Kristen (in case Adaine or Aelwyn need heals, which they will), and Ayda (who has teleportation and invisibility spells) will go in and get the sisters. Then, everyone will meet at the Van and teleport out (or at the very least, get together to plan a different way out).

Abernant Family Reunion

Meanwhile, in Calethriel Towel, Adaine is having a Day. She’s been put in a Torture Orb which isn’t that bad for the time being but it is very annoying and Boggy is pretty upset. She’s actually not being prevented from casting spells because the elves wouldn’t expect her to have slots yet and she can’t really regain them without trancing. She can sense that the prison is full of permanent magical effects (powered by the Pylons she doesn’t know about) which is unusual since those are really hard to achieve.

The elves’ hubris in not completely stopping her from casting spells works out to Adaine’s favor. She casts Dispel Magic and needs to hit a 15. She gets a 19 and her orb disappears. Unfortunately, that sets off an alarm. She needs to hide but she’s not exactly Riz. She decides (to my immediate delight) to hide in Aelwyn’s room. She only rolls a 6 but that only means that Aelwyn clocks her when she rushes in, not the guards. Speaking of the guards, on a 15 perception check, Adaine can see that there actually aren’t a ton of security mages. It just seems that way because they can immediately teleport to wherever the problem is from these doorless archways.

Anyway, Kier rushes in with some green, 8ft tall, magical construct guards. As she does so, Aelwyn motions for Adaine to stay silent. Kier asks Aelwyn if she knows where Adaine is and Aelwyn basically says, “How should I know?” (which is a question and not an outright lie, smart in case any kind of lie detector spell was running). Once Kier is gone, Aelwyn telepathically messages Adaine (which is a cantrip she’d be able to do even without spell slots) and asks if Adaine has any spell slots left they can use to escape. Adaine says she has 4 first level spell slots and her frog, but her spellbook was taken (as was her jacket). Aelwyn says it was probably taken to the vault on the first floor but it would have been locked down because of the alarm was triggered. Then she and asks if their mom found her and Adaine said she did, briefly.

Up close, Adaine can see more clearly what she glimpsed for a second when she was brought in. Aelwyn is doing BAD. She’s shaking just from the effort of keeping upright and having trouble putting together thoughts. Completely unprompted, Adaine tells Aelwyn that nobody deserves the torture she’s going through and that it’s barbaric and undeserved. Aelwyn immediately starts tearing up (as much as she can being so dehydrated) and says that she can’t remember exactly what it is that she did--both to the world in general and to Adaine specifically--but it was also barbaric and undeserved. She apologizes and is self aware enough to realize how messed up she must have have been that it took months of literal torture to get her to a place where she realized that she had things to apologize for--even though she can’t really remember what they are at this point in her mental deterioration. Adaine, in turn, is aware enough to realize at this point that their parents didn’t just screw her up; they screwed up Aelwyn too by treating her like the golden child. Aelwyn reflexively defends their parents, saying that they tried their best and that they were just trying to make them better by having high expectations but Adaine, who’s had a year of therapy to unpack her trauma, gently rebuffs her. “Expectations without love? What’s that?”

At this point in the conversation, Aelwyn starts repeating herself like an NPC that’s run through all their scripted dialogue options. Adaine realizes but is very patient with her until she’s found and brought back to her cell. However, her cell is close enough to Aelwyn’s that they can message each other. She also uses Ray of Frost in her Orb to make a kind of Slip and Slide to keep her spirits up and she’s able to avoid taking a level of exhaustion in there.

Later, Kier comes in with Adaine’s dad so they can talk. And by that I mainly mean so he can talk at her because she still wants nothing to do with him. Anguin tells Adaine to stop being stubborn and just do what’s asked of her to avoid execution. She also doesn’t know how he is OK with how they’re torturing to Aelwyn. He says she’s being a drama queen since Aelwyn committed treason and she’s not being literally physically beaten or injured. Adaine starts trying to respond to that and then decides to just demand a lawyer. Anguin thinks she’s being ridiculous because things like lawyers and democracy are Solesian concepts and ridiculous, unlike Falinel’s totally normal system government which involves immortal dancers and moon phases.

Adaine, in probably the most high-elf-y display we’ve seen from her, formally curses her dad in the name of the seas and the moon and sun. Then she casts Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on her dad (wasting one of her very few spell slots in a very in character way) because she truly cannot help herself. After Kier quickly dispels it, she demands to see the Solesian Ambassador. But you’re a citizen of Falinel, says Kier (though she can’t hide that the threat gets to her a little). Yeah, but I go to Aguefort, says Adaine. As soon as his name is invoked, a hologram of Aguefort pops up like Clippy and says, “Hey, it seems like you’re F’ing with one of my students. Now, I’m the baddest bitch that’s ever lived. Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?” Kier smirks and chooses the hard way. The hologram blinks out, an alarm starts going off--

And that’s where we end for the year!

*Note: Anguin and Adaine also were contenders for Detention and the Honor Roll respectively but it would have been for basically the same things as last week so I chose other people.

Detention

Kristen for The Worst Apology Ever

I’ve been concerned about this whole Sandra-Lynn/Garthy thing blowing up since it happened, man. I read the writing on the wall. And I knew, if she didn’t get ahead of it, this was gonna splash back on Kristen. And then she decides, not only is she not going to get ahead of it, she’s gonna actively jog further behind it? Truly wild.

And it’s even crazier because, yeah, it would be an awkward conversation to have but it wouldn’t have reflected badly on Kristen (who didn’t do anything), just on Sandra-Lynn. And, yeah, not great for group dynamics but, you know what’s way worse? Tracker being mad at Kristen AND Sandra-Lynn. Tracker’s not even so mad on her Uncle’s behalf as she is about how Kristen decided to handle the situation which, yeah! Duh! How did you think cutting your girlfriend out of the loop would go?

And, listen, a lot actually was going on. The Fabian ordeal then Ragh got possessed, Riz got ambushed by Kalina, they fought Wicklaw again and Adaine got kidnapped. All of these things happened very close together than they’re all #1 Priority type things. She for sure had time to tell Tracker (and should have) but it wasn’t the most pressing thing going on. There is an apology that includes the words “there was a lot going on” that actually works but DAMN, this was NOT it chief.

Honor Roll

Aguefort for Having his Students’ Back

Listen. Aguefort is a crazy, mercurial, semi-feral agent of chaos who I would never leave children in the care of.

HOWEVER, when he comes through he REALLY comes through and man did he come through for Adaine.

Of course, it remains to be seen what his help will actually look like but he gets this spot for bringing a spot of hope into a pretty terrible situation in a very cool way. Well, that and the Drama of It All.

Also, I’m just relieved he’s at least somewhat keeping track of the child assassins he’s sending out into the world.

Random Thoughts

Adaine Re: Boggy: He’s with me how dare you?

Brennan says near the end of the ep something like, “I didn’t think we were gonna spend a whole episode dunking on eleves,” but, honestly? Valid. I really can’t stand elves in most media (even though I usually play elves or half-elves) because they’re so pompous and holier than thou and constantly talking about how fleeting everyone else's lives are. It drives me nuts. Moonshine in Naddpod is my favorite elven archetype in anything because she totally inverts the trope.

“I can’t believe I’m half this.”/”You are not half this these are high elves.”

I love how Fig has absolutely no concept of how this “make me a creature” thing is supposed to work. Does she think Aguefort is just gonna release it into the world without telling her and she has to just, like, find it? Not that that doesn’t sound like something he might do, but still.

Gorgug gets so sick of the insane elven pronunciations and talk about how he’s gonna die at 20 and general nonsense that he has to go lie down in the Van which is The Mood.

Fabian receiving a long, elven greeting from his grandad and then giving the most kid-like response--“Yeah so I’m in high school and I have a school project I need help on and it’s like 60% of my grade”--was very funny.

A couple lore points from this episode:

Fabian’s grand-dad crafted a sword for the king of Falinel 3000 years ago which is why he was gifted the land they live on.

Calethriel Tower was originally a monument by a grieving widow to her husband died in war with Highcourt 500 years ago.

For more detailed physical descriptions and info on the lore, you can check out jamiebluewind’s post on that here.

And then you can also find new character descriptions here and transcripts of the two big RP scenes in Calethriel tower here and here.

And I just wanna give another big shoutout to @jamiebluewind who saved me a lot of backtracking with these descriptions/transcripts. I really appreciate the effort it takes to do that and it’s a super useful resource to have.

“Sheetsmith” High elves are truly insufferable. I’m with Gorgug on this.

I love Fig’s continuing efforts to be Gilear’s cheerleader. Their relationship is so great and it’s come a long way. I also love his brief moments of insight and competence (like, lol, remember in ep1 when Fig disguised herself as her mom and he drove her to school anyway? I loved that) so I was really cheering for him when he successfully did his diplomat stuff at the top of the ep and during his talk with Fig.

Fabian saying he wants his V-Card “removed” like it’s an infected appendix or something. I’m curious to see what, if anything, he says to Aelwyn when they see each other again, seeing as they’ve both hit rock bottom since the last time they met--which, to remind you, was at an insane house party where they were both at like a 14 out of 10.

I think it’s really great that, despite how much the Bad Kids clown on each other, they’re all super patient with explaining social nuances to Ayda. And I love that even though Ayda is pretty unclear about what the appropriate response is to anything, she is pretty ride or die but quick to rein it in once someone talks to her.

“It’s probably fine if Gilear has a grape.”

It’s very important for me to note that the funniest thing that happened this episode was a player action, not a character action and it was Siobhan--after about an hour of sitting in relative silence as the rest of the group did their thing--pulling out a present for Brennan--a set of Sugar and Dice Candy Dice. “So you can eat your fucking dice!” Amazing.

Brennan, as Telemien, recited some poetry and either Brennan just had that memorized or he was freestyling poetry with a consistent meter and rhyme scheme which is just too much for me to handle rn.

Kristen’s “inspiring” speech included the line, “Friendship is thicker than water and we need water to live.” Classic Kristen.

I truly cannot wait for Hilariel to re-enter the story. I want her takes on so many things and I want to know what her relationship with Gilear is like so so so bad. I wonder if he’s gonna tell her what happened with her dad. I didn’t really get the sense that she and Telemien stay in touch very much. But, in fairness, I don’t think she’s kept up with anything/one much in the past 20ish years. Imagine a wedding arc. Now that I’ve thought of it, I want it more than I can imagine. You know Fig would appoint herself Best Man.

The friend group thing where someone says your name wrong once and you pray it doesn’t become A Thing, even though someone’s already in the process of changing the group text title to that. Anyway, you know everyone’s gonna be spelling Fabian’s name Fah-Bee-Ahn in their group text for the foreseeable future.

Fig Re: Gorgug using the Pirate Sending Spell to Zelda: You can end with raunchy promises.

What party was Zelda going to in the Red Waste mid-quest? Was there even really a party? Or was it maybe a Gold Gardens type thing? Based on my experiences being a teenage girl, I would not be surprised if that text was written by committee.

“She’ll come back?”/“Sure.”

Kristen taking Adaine’s vacant room was such an evocative image. I can see it perfectly. Just her curled up alone in this immaculate room with little Adaine-y touches, sad about two things.

The Bad Kids in the forest had maybe the biggest Teenager energy that I’ve seen in any episode of FH so far. Like, that Tracker/Kristen argument alone.

“If you wanted me to build a cell tower I would do it immediately and I would know how.”

I don’t know if there really haven’t been many Kristen and Gorgug scenes or if I’m just forgetting but I loved their one on one in this ep. They’re good scene partners.

I also really liked Gorgug’s talk with Ayda who has been a great addition to the squad. And I love how easily she jumped from, “You’re a good person from what I’ve seen” to that John Mulaney sketch where he’s like, “That guy sounds like he sucks. Do you want me to murder him for you?”

Brennan gave everyone some XP this ep so they’re very close to level 9. Lol at everyone suggesting they Fight Club each other to grind the last bit they need.

“My friend is kidnapped and the rest of my friends are just dancing and eating grapes!”

Telemien’s abject revulsion to the point of throwing up at the operation of a gun (which is why Gilear induced vomiting before asking for Hilariel’s hand btw) was a Choice on Brennan’s part.

“The body protects itself and secretes more hit points.”

Telemien offers to get the best eleven eyesmiths (sure) to make Fabian a new eye and it shouldn't even take long. Unfortunately, in elf-time, that could mean anything from 1 - 100 years.

WHY CAN KRISTEN SUDDENLY SEE THE SHADOWCAT? WHAT IS GOING ON? I’m like thisclose to thinking that it actually is transmitted through bodily fluids like some people were saying. But, seriously, what’s changed since last time the picture was taken out? This was post argument with Tracker. Is that a factor? Or does it just feel like it might be because it was the last major thing to happen before she was able to see it? I want to sit down during the break and make, like, a conspiracy theory board to put together all the data we have on this so far because I feel like every single new piece of info we get is something unexpected but I falso eel like we’re gonna hit ourselves when we realize what it is.

Fig is very ride or die for Adaine this whole episode. She basically had no spell slots but was ready to go after Adaine right away, she offered to go in to get her alone as a “one woman Adaine retrieval team” while everyone else dealt with the Pylons, and when Ayda said Adaine was her best friend, she was like, “Well Adaine is kinda my best friend.”

“By the transitive property, are we best friends?” [Yes] “I grow richer by the day.” I love her so much.

Even though Telemien is like more than a thousand years old, he’s apparently never met a goblin because he calls Riz a “strange, green, mouse thing.”

Riz: Who among us hasn't killed someone?

That "on mushrooms" bit had big "cell tower" energy.

Gorgug: Your grandfather is pissing me off.

Siobhan, to Lou who just Rolled an 8 on His Con Save: We're gonna get you new hands for Christmas.

“It’s Gilear’s day baybee!”

I loved Riz and Fig teaming up to give Gilear as much help as possible for his botched attempt at asking for Hilariel’s hand. “Did he just call himself a throw-up boy?”

If you think about it, it actually is extremely funny that Adaine would demand a lawyer. She’s lived in Falinel almost her entire life but she studied abroad for one year and all of a sudden she’s like, “I have rights!”

Gilear very specifically said that Sandra-Lynn was with, "a member if the couple" and not which one it was. That was such an intentionally vague phrasing that I'm surprised Fig didn't call him on it. Also, I'm curious whether Fig actively knows who it is (maybe a teacher at school) or if he just knows she would go track them down for shenanigans once she had a name.

Also, speaking of Fig, wild that her Catfishing of Dr. Asha is one of the only relationships standing at this point.

OK, I ate my vegetables now I get to talk about Abernant Family Drama.

Those of you who have been following me since I became active in the d20 fandom probably know that one of the first things I wrote were a series of meta-bordering-on-drabbles about what a future relationship between Adaine and Aelwyn could look like because, from episode one, my thought was, “There’s not one messed up sister in this house, there’s two.” I have been on the Abernant Sisters Against Their Parents train since S1 y’all and I thought it had a decent chance of happening but then Aelwyn’s iconic S1 episode happened and we learned she was working with Kalvaxus and she got thrown in jail so there wasn’t much time for development from her.

But then, it became clear that the Abernant family was gonna be all up in this arc and I got excited again. I mean, I tempered my expectations. The confrontation could have shaken out in a couple of different ways. And I would have enjoyed watching Adaine verbally destroy two family members instead of just the one, don’t get me wrong. But y’alllllllllll.

I thought Adaine and Aelwyn would put aside their differences and end up on the same side eventually but I wasn’t expecting Adaine, with absolutely no prompting, to take the path of compassion so quickly and absolutely. And, in turn, I didn’t expect Aelwyn to be as apologetic and forthright as she was. And, man, her whole situation is heartbreaking. The idea that you were so messed up that it took a year of torture to be able to recognize that you were living such a fundamentally flawed life? And then reaching that point but at the cost of your stability and the information needed to make things right? Literally not knowing what’s real and what your fevered brain has made up? That’s so tragic, man.

And Adaine was so gentle with her. The patience as she started repeating things and the kindness as she firmly cast away any remaining delusions Aelwyn had about their parents and upbringing. I am so constantly upset by how well the cast in general but Bren and Siobhan specifically just spit out these fully formed masterpieces that I would need to take a full hour to think through before even opening a Word Doc. It’s really magical.

I have no idea how much mental damage a healing spell can fix, if any, but I’m very interested to see what an even slightly more stable Aelwyn looks like, post all of this. Like, say she gets completely stable due to a combo of therapy and healing magic over time. What is her personality even like at that point? Does she revert back to a version of her old personality but with the acid aimed at someone who deserves it? Does she start from scratch from this baby deer learning to walk place she’s at right now?

Very good DM move from Brennan to have Adaine’s low stealth roll to be Aelwyn noticing her and not the guards so we still got the Aelwyn confrontation and not a quick and frustrating capture.

Aelwyn asked Adaine if, “mother found you,” which makes it sound like she checked in with Aelwyn before she fled. I continue to be very interested in the clues we’re getting to what that woman is up to. Maybe Aelwyn knows more info that the gang could get once she’s a little better or via a detect thoughts or something similar.

I want Anguin to look me in the eye and tell me to my face that not letting someone rest for a full year and not letting them eat or drink and literally keeping them on the brink of death isn’t torture so I can jump through the computer screen into Falinel and strangle him with my bare hands. Like, boy, you’re not even going to go with, “This is justified torture?” You’re gonna say it just straight isn’t? Man I can’t wait for the Bad Kids and/or Aguefort Himself to get sicced on this bastard.

OK, I don’t wanna end on a point about Anguin so, instead, think about Adaine and Aelwyn keeping each other company from nearby cells via the Message cantrip. Isn’t that bittersweet? Closer than they’ve ever been but physically separated and it took literal torture for them to get there.

Oh! And, actually, I almost forgot but this is also a good note to end on. Shoutout to Adaine for switching from Elven to Common when talking to her dad, just to be that little bit more of an annoyance to him. You gotta rebel how you can.

That's it for 2019, guys! We don't have another ep until January 8. Have a good New Years in the meantime and I'll see you then!

No Nat 20’s were rolled this ep. Gorgug rolled 1 Nat 1 and Kristen rolled 2 (or three if you count the one she rolled with disadvantage).

#fantasy high #fantasy high live #fantasy high spoilers #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #forgot the cut

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tsundanire · 5 years ago

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I was tagged by the wonderful @gracerene09 <3

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2019. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Last year was a tough one for me. I was going through a lot of personal stuff, and had some big impactful things happen that really cut down on my ability, and willingness to write. I have to send a huge shout out to Grace and the erised mods for being so kind while I quietly dropped out for some of those reasons. That being said, I did write a piece or two that I’m still exceptionally proud of.

Catching the Niffler - Co-written with @keyflight790 [E | 10k | Drarry] Summary: “Tonight, we’re going to play Catch the Niffler.”Harry heard a couple of squeals from around the room and he let out a breath. Last week they had played Spin the Bottle, and Harry could count on more than one hand the witches that had spelled the glass to point to him during their turn. Harry had tasted enough sticky lip balm and cherry chapstick to last a lifetime.**No Nifflers were harmed in the writing of this fic** Notes: We wrote this for @bixgirl1‘s prompt for hpkinkfest. Chris and I genuinely love writing together, and she pulled me out of a bad place to put this all together. And honestly, I’m so happy she did. It was our second venture since kinky christmas, and I’m still so proud of it.

Dying in LA Part 1 and Part 2 - [E | 14.4k for both parts | Drarry ] Summary: Part 1 - After the war, Harry loses all sense of purpose. He travels the world aimlessly, from one spot to the next, chasing a high that never lasts. When the morning comes all that's left is a pounding head, and a foul taste in his mouth. Until he stumbles into a bar in L.A., where his past and present collide. Part 2 - It's been one year since Harry left L.A. and his life with Draco. Notes: Wrote this for @lcdrarry at the start of last year, because we all know I can’t resist writing Panic! At the Disco song based Drarry fics so. That’s what happened. There’s a lot in this fic, so mind the warnings. I struggled to finish the story, but as I told Chris earlier today, I’m glad it’s over. It feels a bit like closing a chapter on my life. And now that it’s done, I can breathe again.

The truth is rarely pure (and never simple) - [E | 4k | Wolfstarbucks] Summary: James goes camping with Remus and Sirius. When the rain washes away any plans for a hike, they find themselves stuck inside their tent with little to do. Notes: This was something I wrote for me, based on something that had happened to me in my early twenties. There’s feels and smut, and yeah. Like the other two, this one means a lot to me as well.

Exactly 120 degrees - [T+ | 2k | Blairon] Summary: Ron is livid. Medium, Soy, Half-Caf Latte. With whip. Steamed to exactly 120 Degrees. What the hell is wrong with this tall, obnoxious, devilishly handsome, arsehole? Notes: I don’t know what this was. Don’t ask. I wanted to write something funny, or at the least cheeky, with my boy Blaise <3, in text-fic form. That’s all this is. But I still love it all the same.

Obedience: To the letter - [E | 2.6k | Percy Weasley/Barty Crouch Sr] Summary: Sometimes following the rules can get you into trouble. Notes: I’m pretty sure this was the first thing @cheekytorah-laceybauthor ever beta’d for me. This and #6 were inspired by pure randomness in the Drarry server started by the wonderful @lalionnebelle. And one more for good measure (Because I couldn’t not put this damned thing on the list)

The foley of Spring - [E | 1k | Firenze/Whomping Willow] Summary: Firenze follows his herd as they head into mating season, but something rather unconventional awaits him. Notes: Honestly? I have nothing to say about this other than, I blame the drarry discord. As per usual. Pure shenanigans.

And sooooo now I shall tag: @april-thelightfury115 @diligent-thunder @coriesocks @chromat1cs @gnarf @hogwartsfirebolt @cheekytorah-laceybauthor @letsdothepanic @olliemaye @harrypotterfanfictionwriter @thefifthbiscuit @thunder-of-dragons and literally anyone else who wants to do this thing.

#my works #my writing

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wantlonger · 5 years ago

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𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐔𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 (𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟎) 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

content warning ahead for religion, murder, suicide, and other triggering topics. lost post, more lyrics under the cut.

my mind is clearer now.

i can see where we all soon will be.

you have started to believe the things they say of you.

and all the good you’ve done will soon get swept away.

you’ve begun to matter more than the things you say.

i’ve been your right hand man/woman all along.

and they’ll hurt you when they find they’re wrong.

my admiration for you hasn’t died.

but every word you say gets twisted ‘round some other way.

and they’ll hurt you if they think you’ve lied.

i am frightened by the crowd.

we are getting much too loud.

please remember that i want us to live.

all your followers are blind.

too much heaven on their minds.

it was beautiful but now it’s sour.

he won’t listen to me.

what’s the buzz?

tell me what’s-a-happenin’.

why should you want to know?

don’t you think about the future.

don’t you try to think ahead.

save tomorrow for tomorrow; think about today instead.

i could give you facts and figures.

i could give you plans and forecasts.

why are you obsessed with fighting times and fates you can’t defy?

let me try to cool down your face a bit.

that feels nice, so nice.

[name], that is good.

she/he/they alone has tried to give me what i need right here and now.

it seems to me a strange thing mystifying, that a man/woman/person like you can waste his/her/your time on women/men/people of her/his/kind.

yes, i can understand that she/he/they amuses you.

it’s not that i object to her/his/their profession.

it doesn’t help if you’re inconsistent.

they only need a small excuse to put us all away.

who are you to criticize her/him/them?

leave her/him/them, she’s/he’s/they’re with me now.

try not to get worried, try not to turn on to problems that upset you.

don’t you know that everything’s alright?

we want you to sleep well tonight.

let the world turn without you tonight.

if we try, we’ll get by.

forget all about us tonight.

sleep and i shall soothe you.

why has it been wasted?

we could have raised maybe three hundred silver pieces or more.

people who are hungry, people who are starving, they matter more than your feet and head.

there will be poor always, pathetically struggling.

look at the good things you’ve got.

you’ll be lost, you’ll be so sorry when i’m gone.

ah, gentlemen, you know why we are here.

we have not much time and quite a problem here.

listen to the howling mod of blockheads in the street.

tell us that you’re who we say you are.

he is dangerous.

we need a more permanent solution to our problem.

one things i’ll say for him/her/them, [name] is cool.

but how can we stop him?

i see bad things arising.

i see blood and destruction: our elimination because of one man.

fools! you have no perception!

the stakes we are gambling are frighteningly high.

we must crush him/her/them completely.

this [name] must die.

won’t you smile at me?

this common crowd is much too loud.

tell the mob who sing your song that they are fools and they are wrong.

they are a curse; they should disperse.

you’re alright by me.

why waste your breathe moaning at the crowd? nothing can be done to stop the shouting.

won’t you fight for me?

won’t you die for me?

did you see i waved?

i believe in you and god, so tell me that i’m saved.

there must be over fifty thousand screaming love and more for you.

you will rise to a greater power.

we will win ourselves a home!

you’ll get the power and the glory.

you’d see the truth but you close your eyes.

to conquer death you only have to die.

he/she/they had that look you very rarely find ... the haunted, hunted kind.

i asked him/her/them to say what had happened.

he/she/they never said a word, as if he/she/they hasn’t heard.

the room was full of wild and angry men.

i heard them mentioning my name and leaving me the blame.

roll on up, for my price is down.

come on in for the best in town.

take your pick of the finest wine.

name your price; i got everything.

come and buy; it’s all going fast.

borrow cash on the finest terms.

hurry now while stocks still last.

you, at least, are still alive.

name your pleasure, i will sell.

i can fix your wildest needs.

i got heaven and i got hell.

get out! get out!

my time is almost through.

after all i’ve tried for three years -- seems like thirty.

see my purse? i’m a poor, poor man.

i believe you can make me whole.

see my skin? i’m a mass of blood.

there’s too many of you, don’t push me.

there’s too little of me; don’t crowd me.

heal yourselves!

i don’t know how to love him.

i’ve been changed, yes really changed.

in these past few days when i see myself, i seem like someone else.

i don’t how to take this.

i don’t see why he moves me.

he’s a man, he’s just a man.

i’ve had so many men before. in very many ways, he’s just one more.

should i bring him down? should i scream and shout?

should i speak of love, let my feelings out?

i never thought i’d come to this.

what it all about?

don’t you think it’s rather funny i should be in this position?

i’m the one that’s always been so calm, so cool, no lover’s fool.

if he said he loved me, i’d be lost, i’d be frightened.

i couldn’t cope. i’d turn my head, i’d back away. i wouldn’t want to know.

he scares me so.

i want him so.

i love him so.

now if i help you, it matters that you see these sordid kind of things are coming hard to me.

it’s taken me some time to work out what to do.

i weighed the whole thing up before i came to you.

i have no thought at all about my own reward.

i really didn’t come here of my own accord.

just don’t say i’m damned for all time.

why are we the ones that see the sad solution -- know what must be done?

cut the protesting, forget the excuses.

we want information, get up off the floor.

we have the paper we need to arrest him/her/them.

you know his/her/their movements, we know the law.

your help in this matter won’t go unrewarded.

we’ll pay you in silver -- cash on the nail.

i don’t want your blood money!

that doesn’t matter, our expenses are good.

i don’t need your blood money!

but you might as well take it -- we think that you should.

think of the things you can do with that money.

we’ve noted your motives, we’ve noted your feelings.

this isn’t blood money it’s a fee, nothing more.

i must be mad thinking i’ll be remembered.

i must be out of my head!

look at your blank faces! my name will mean nothing ten minutes after i’m dead.

one of you denies me.

one of you betrays me.

not i! who could? impossible!

cut the dramatics! you know very well who!

why don’t you go do it?

you want me to do it?

hurry, they’re waiting.

if you knew why i do it ...

i don’t care why you do it!

to think i admired you, for now i despised you!

you liar! you judas!

what if i just stayed here and ruined your ambition?

hurry, you fool, hurry and go!

save me your speeches, i don’t want to know! go!

you sad pathetic man/woman/person -- see what you’ve brought us to.

our ideals die around us, all because of you.

someone has to turn you in.

every time i look at you i don’t understand why you let the things you did get so out of hand.

you’d have managed better if you had it planned.

don’t disturb me now; i can see the answers.

knew that i would make it if i tried.

will no one stay awake with me?

will none of you wait with me?

take this cup away from me.

i have changed.

i’m not as sure as when we started.

then i was inspired ... now i’m sad and tired.

could you ask as much from any other man?

why should i die?

would i be more noticed than i ever was before? would the things i’ve said and done matter anymore?

if i die what will be my reward?

can you show me now that i would not be killed in vain?

show me there’s a reason for your wanting me to die.

you’re far too keen on ‘where’ and ‘how’, but not so hot on ‘why’.

alright, i’ll die!

why then am i scared to finish what i started?

i didn’t start it.

i will drink your cup of poison.

take me now before i change my mind!

must you betray me with a kiss?

we’re gonna fight for you!

put away your sword, don’t you know that it’s all over?

it was nice, but now it’s gone.

why are you obsessed with fighting?

stick to fishing from now on.

tell me [name] how you feel tonight?

do you plan to put up a fight?

do you feel that you’ve had the breaks?

what would you say were your big mistakes?

do you think that you may retire?

did you think you would get much higher?

how do you view your coming trial?

have your men/women/people proved it all worthwhile?

come on [name], this is not like you.

let us know what you’re gonna do.

you know what your supporters feel.

you’ll escape in the final reel.

now we have him! now we have him!

[name], you must realize the serious charges facing you.

that’s what you say -- you say i am.

there you have it. what more evidence do we need?

thank you for the victim. stay awhile and you’ll see him bleed.

i think i’ve seen you somewhere, i remember.

you were with that man they took away. i recognize your face.

you got the wrong man/woman/person, lady.

i don’t know him.

i wasn’t where he was tonight -- never near the place.

that’s strange, for i’m sure i saw you with him. you were right by his side, and yet you denied.

it looked just like you.

don’t you know what you have said? you have gone and cut him/her/them dead.

i had to do it, don’t you see? or else they’d come for me.

that’s what he/she/they told us you would do ... i wonder how he/she/they knew ...

who is this broken man cluttering up my hallway? who is this unfortunate?

you look so small, not a king at all.

what do you mean by that? that is not an answer.

how can someone in your state be so cool about his fate?

please explain to me. you had everything, where is it now?

[name], i am overjoyed to meet you face to face.

you’ve been getting quite the name all around this place.

that’s all you need do, and i’ll know it’s all true.

you just won’t believe the hit you’ve made ‘round here.

you’re all we talk about! the wonder of the year!

oh, what a pity, if it is all a lie.

still i’m sure that you can rock the cynics if you try.

if you do that for me, then i’d let you go free.

i’d only ask things i’d ask any superstar.

what is it that you have got that puts you where you are?

i am waiting, yes i’m a captive fan.

i am dying to be shown that you are not just any man/woman/person.

has something gone wrong? why do you take so long?

hey! aren’t you scared of me!

you are nothing but a fraud!

take him/her/them away, he’s/she’s/they’ve got nothing to say.

get out of my life!

my god! i saw him! he/she/they looked three-quarters dead!

he/she was so bad i had to turn my head,

i know who everybody’s gonna blame.

i don’t believe he/she/they know i’ve acted for our good.

i’d save him/her/them from this suffering if i could!

cut the confessions, for the excuses. i don’t understand why you’re filled with remorse.

all that you’ve said has come true with a vengeance.

the mob turned against him/her/them -- you backed the right horse.

you’ll be remembered forever for this.

you’ve been paid for your efforts.

pretty good wages for one little kiss.

but i only did what you wanted me to!

for i have been saddled with the murder of you.

i have been spattered with innocent blood.

i shall be dragged through the slime and the mud.

when he’s/she’s/they’re cold and dead, will he/she/they let me be?

does he love me too? does he care for me too?

my mind is in darkness now.

my god, i am sick! i’ve been used!

and you knew all this time!

i’ll never know why you chose me for your crime.

you have murdered me! you have murdered me!

we have no law to put a man to death.

talk to me, [name].

you’ve been brought here -- manacled, beaten by your own people.

do you have the first idea why you deserve it?

where is your kingdom?

i’m through, through, through!

there may be a kingdom for me somewhere if i only knew.

i look for truth and find that i get damned.

he’s/she’s/they’ve done no wrong -- no not the slightest thing!

this man/woman/person is harmless, so why does he/she/they upset?

he’s/she’s/they’re just misguided, thinks he’s/she’s/they’re important.

you’ve got to be careful, you could be dead soon.

why do you not speak when i have your life in my hands?

how can you stay quiet? i don’t believe you understand.

you have nothing in your hands.

any power you have comes to you from far beyond.

everything is fixed and you can’t change it.

you’re a fool -- how can i help you?

you have a duty to keep the peace.

don’t let me stop your great self destruction. die if you want to, you misguided martyr! i wash my hands of your demolition!

die if you want to, you innocent puppet!

why’d you choose such a backwards time in such a strange land?

don’t you get me wrong -- i only wanna know.

who are you? what have you sacrificed?

[name] superstar.

do you think you’re what they say you are?

tell me what you think about your friends at the top.

who’d you think, besides yourself, was the pick of the crop?

did you mean to die like that? was that a mistake?

they don’t know what they are doing.

where is my mother? where is my mother?

why have you forgotten me?

#rp memes #broadway rp #indie rp #musical rp #memes #sentence starter #indie roleplay #roleplay memes #you do NOT have to send any in to me #i just wanted to put this out there

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thewritingstar · 5 years ago

Text

A Royal Heart

This is my fic for the big bang event sponsored by the wonderful @nalugruviaevents !

My amazing partner was @goldenmorpho who made a gorgeous piece of art to go along with my fic and big thanks to @rieriebee for being our lovely mod for our group.

This is a Gruvia princess Au and ive been working on this bad boi for a few months now. So I hope you all enjoy!!!

It was a dark day on the kingdom. The clouds turned foggy and the sky cried viciously as Juvia watched her mother's casket lowered into the earth. Juvia clenched her fists until her knuckles turned a ghostly white as the worms squirmed on top of the carved wood. Even though her burial was filled with all of the people who adored her, it wasn’t good enough. The smile that shone brightly on the princesses face was locked away under her icy heart as she said her final goodbye to her mother and this lands queen.

In that moment Juvia struggled to hold a smile and her heart was filled with a dark cloud. Every step she took, every breath gasped was held underneath a burden of sorrow that couldn't be shook. Her life became trapped under her mask and eternal rain swarmed inside her.

-Two Years Later-

“Juvia my dear.” The door opened to reveal her father. “I have a question for you.” His eyes were trained on his pride and joy. He leaned against the opening to her room and watched as she brushed her hair, a sigh escaped his lips. She looked so much like her mother that he began to question if she was even gone sometimes, but then Juvia turned and mustered up a small smile. His eyes soften and he walked behind her and picked up her tiara.

“Juvia is listening.” She stated and watched through the mirror as her father placed the silver crown on her head, something he would do since she was a little girl. A simple act, but nonetheless comforting

“You will be 18 soon my dear.” She knew where this conversation was headed and nodded accordingly. “And that means-”

“Juvia is to be wedded, I understand.” She sighed and slipped on her ring and stood to walk towards her balcony. “Juvia knows her duties as a princess.”

King Loxar followed her. Guilt fled through him knowing how unfair life could be. Since the death of her mother, Juvia refused to be courted, and he couldn’t blame her. However the kingdom needed their next queen and Juvia’s time for match making was coming to an end.

“His name?” she asked as she picked a flower blooming from the tree. The petals fell onto the marbled balcony as her dainty fingers plucked each petal, a silent wish destined to each.

“Well, you get to choose.” At these words the princess turned her head. Perfectly plucked eyebrows arched and furrowed as confusion crossed her face.

“Juvia believed that courting was over, my husband is to be determined already.”

“Yes but I decided that if you were to be married, it would be for happiness and love. Juvia-” He placed his hand on her shoulder and tilted her chin up. Sapphire orbs glistening in the light, a reflection of emptiness came from the depths of her pupils and he begged for the day that her heart could be free from grief but that possibility would take years and years, maybe even centuries. “I want you to be happy. Marrying your mother was my greatest moment right after your birth. Being a royal means sacrificing your happiness for the sake of the kingdom, but I want you to be able to have a marriage that you are happy with, even if it's just for a moment.” he said.

A small nod came from the princess. “Thank you father, but Juvia is confused. How will Juvia decide?”

“I have devised a competition. The rules are simple, the first man to make you laugh shall win your hand.” He smiled brightly and his response was a crooked head and a raise of eyebrows. “It shall start in two months.”

“Juvia thinks that is a silly way to determine a marriage.” She smiled softly at the thought of her father's plan.

“Maybe” He kissed the top of her head and turned to leave her room. “But you will be happy.”

Juvia turned her eyes towards the giant willow tree that sat outside her balcony.

“Happy.” She whispered. The word seemed foreign to her but she wondered if someone could actually bring her joy to her surface.

“Princess Loxar, dinner is ready in the grand dining room.”

“Thank you Levy.” Juvia spoke.

She walked down the hallway that was plastered with murals and paintings of past relatives and leaders. The iconic blue hair was traced back for many generations, a true symbol of her family's crest.

Her eyes were trained to the walls when she bumped into something hard, or someone. Instantly she fell back on her bottom, her plush skirt providing a pillow as the other person let out a groan and a basket filled with rags was tumbled to the ground. Her head was a mess before she came back to her senses and realized what had happened.

“Ehh, Your majesty my apologies.” The foreign voice spoke as he rushed to her side to help her up. She hadn't seen his face yet but the moment their fingers met, a spark ran through her body. She squeaked as she was toppled onto her feet.

Her eyes finally met the man who had overthrown her balance and she let out a quiet gasp.

In the servants clothes was a boy. Dark raven hair that swept across his face and eyes that captured her in a way no one's had. Her was about her age and she didn’t recognize him at all.

He stuttered another apology and it took Juvia a few moments to realize she had been staring at him for far too long.

“Please it's alright, it was an accident, Juvia wasn’t looking where she was going, my apologies uh?”

“Oh Gray, Gray Fullbuster, at your service.” His demeanor changed when he did an over the top bow and picked up his basket.

“Are you new? Juvia doesn’t believe we have met before.”

“Oh um yeah. I was taken in as a new stable and servant, plus anything else that needs to get done.” His eyes went to the floor, a sense of embarrassment washed over him. “I shouldn't keep you waiting for dinner Princess-”

“Juvia. Just Juvia is fine.” She corrected him and a dust of blush filled his cheeks as he nodded slightly.

“Oh okay, Juvia. Sorry again for bumping into you.” He bowed slightly and awkwardly for that matter and quickly left the hallway leaving Juvia feeling flustered.

She took a step forward before turning her head to see him leave, something about him intriguing her but she shook her thoughts away and found her way to her dinner chair.

As she sat and quietly ate her soup, Juvia’s mind kept bouncing back towards the raven haired boy.

There was feeling deep in her gut, one she didn’t know how to handle and her thoughts became consumed with him.

“Juvia? Are you alright? You have been zoned out all through the meal.” The father asked and her eyes widened and she felt a small blush as if she had been caught doing something wrong.

“Juvia is sorry, she seems a little preoccupied is all with...the competition.” She managed to stutter out.

“Oh. Yes of course.” He father gave her a nod.

She set her spoon against her bowl and looked back to her dad that sat across from her.

“Father? What was like when you first met mom?” She asked. His eyes looked to hers and he was almost in disbelief. The queen was hardly a topic they discussed unless it was for public purposes.

A soft look arrived on the king's face. “Well it was a slow start. I was quite a stubborn suitor and when I began to court your mother, I really didn’t care all that much about marriage. But then there was the ball and the last dance of the night went to her and I. Under those lights, she glowed like an angel, her smile was breathtaking and then it clicked for us. It’s all a matter of time but you will know when it happens my dear.” He stood and walked to kiss the top of her head before leaving the dining room to attend to his duties.

Juvia sat in silence with her thoughts, wondering if she would ever feel that moment.

After dinner, Juvia resigned to her bedroom. Her held a glass in one hand and was humming a simple tune before tripping.

“Ahh” She screeched and saw the glass of water spilled on the carpet, yet her body was inches from the floor.

“Are you alright Princess?” The voice came and when she stood she was met with the brown eyes of Gray.

“Oh, um, yes, thank you Gray.” She squirmed and dusted off her dress. She looked down at the mess she had made but Gray was already on the floor cleaning it up.

“I’ll go fetch you another glass Princess.”

“Juvia. Please call me Juvia.”

“Oh right. Sorry Princ-Juvia, still not used to it.”

“That's alright. Sometimes Juvia gets frustrated at this massive castle,always making her trip and such.” she grumbled.

“Yeah, I like it. Nice and roomy. Beats my shack any day.” He commented.

“Y-you live in a shack?” She asked and he nodded.

“By the rivers edge nice view...I can bring you if you would like?”

Juvia stopped to think and knew she probably wouldn't be allowed without an escort to go. “Tonight? Juvia could sneak out to see?”

“Sneak out?” A smile crept to his face. “Sure tonight sounds good. Warning, it's a little small.”

“Small is perfectly fine.”

“Then I guess tonight it is” he smiled and walked towards the kitchen. A blush spread onto his face as he realized that the Princess was coming to his see where he lived.

As night fell over the kingdom, the only sound was the click of the princesses balcony double door where she silently slipped out with a simply black cloak covering her body. The giant tree helped guide her way down until her feet felt the earth and the cold air of the night filled her lungs.

A small lantern softly lit her way as she walked through the back gardens and towards the stables. The creak of the wooden door to the horses private stalls let the boy know she had arrived.

“G-Gray?” She softly called and nuzzled her horses nose as she passed by. Her voice let out a speak and she was picked up and the top of her hood fell to reveal her blue locks.

The familiar hands that helped her off the floor during their first encounter held her tightly as she turned in his arms.

“Princess.” He whispered and even in the darkness, she could sense how close they were. His nose brushing against hers before pulling back slightly. “I was afraid you weren’t going to come.”

Her hand brushed his cheek and she gazed at him silently. “Juvia would never break her promise.”

He nodded and guided her out the back door and to his own private quarters. A small wooden shack that was meant for one, or two if you tried, it was small and looked desperate but he assured her that it was more than enough.

They sat on his bed, her back against the wall and him on the other side. The night was filled with conversations.

“And that’s how Juvia will get married.” She sighed. His eyes trailed her face and knew that it must suck to have to be wed to a person you don’t really know.

“Well look on the bright side, you’ll be married to someone who can possibly bring you joy. And since it’s your kingdom, you’ll always have me.” He shrugged and turned his face.

“Yes, Juvia will.” She whispered and they fell into a quiet moment. Her gaze found the window and she looked down. “Juvia must be getting back.” Her voice held sadness and she didn’t want this moment to end but Gray nodded and guided her towards the back gardens.

“Did you climb the tree?” He asked amazed and she simply nodded and began to walk forward. Her feet stopped and she turned back towards Gray who had a look of dread hinted on his face. Quickly her lips pressed against his cheek and left just as fast.

“Thank you Gray for listening to Juvia, she knows it’s a lot to process but she feels much better.” Her legs climbed the tree and she left his with a blush on his face and a heartbeat that was going way too fast.

“Anything for you Juvia.”

---

The routine of her slipping away into the night became common and they had mastered each others schedules, bumping into each other or her personally asking to go fetch something. They had become closer than ever, a true friendship had blossomed and Juvia felt safe and happy when she saw the familiar face. As the end of the two months were nearing, Juvia's fondness for the servant had grown and he seemed to be returning the favor.

The other servants had noticed the connection and banter and teasing arose from Grays side but he shrugged and folded the silk napkin.

“I don’t know what you’re getting out of this?” Levy said. She dropped another pile of napkins on his table and he turned to look at her.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“The competition starts next week, she’s going to be married.”

“Yeah and?”

“Gray.” Levy sighed. “Once she becomes queen do you really think she’s going to leave her nightly quarters to come see a poor servant boy in a run down stable?”

“Well its not-”

“Face it. Once that crown is placed on her head, small glances and chit chat are all you are getting.”

“Why do you care so much Levy?” He scoffed but deep down he knew she had a point and a feeling of dread washed over him.

She sighed once more and looked at him sadly. “Because I don’t want you to get disappointed. I know what it's like to grow close to someone you can’t have. It's one of the worst feelings.”

Gray watched Levy walk out the door with a tray of folded napkins. Her words played over and over in his mind and he wished he had more time before the stupid love fest started.

That night when Juvia entered the quiet stable, Gray wasted no time.

“Juvia, when you are married, is this going to end?” He asked and stretched his hand to rub the back of his head.

The princess returned her tea cup to the sauer in her hand and looked at him with confusion. “What do you mean Gray?”

“It’s just that...you’re going to be married soon and have the duties as the queen. You won’t have time for a poor stable boy like me.” He gazed fixated on the window and he lowered his head in shame. That's all he was, a poor stable boy. A boy whose parents were killed and he was shipped to the castle in order to survive. He was sitting with the princess yet when he looked around, all he saw was a damp shack and a lonely place to call home.

“T-thats not true. Gray, you are one of Juvia's friends, I would never-” But she stopped because she understood what he was saying. “Juvia doesn’t see you as a servant and she never will. Juvia might become queen and sure her responsibilities may take over more of her time but she doesn’t undervalue you at all. You are very important to Juvia.”

“Thanks Juv.” He smiled.

“It’s getting late, Juvia should go.” She left quietly as she came, dreading the fact that this might be one of the last times she would have with Gray.

—-

“Let the completion start!” The guard said and sounded the horns. Juvia watched as many princes from across the lands had shown up to claim her hand.

Her eyes wandered to each man. She knew some faces such as Prince Natsu. There was Prince Loke and she would rather choke to death before marrying a playboy like him. Prince Lyon who was always hot on her tail and didn’t know that her eye rolls meant not interested.

Many other men were there too, some nobles from high class families and just plain rich boys with too much time on their hands.

She sat above the ballroom in the watching throne and her eyes found the dark hair boy dressed in the waiting uniform with a silver tray in his hand. He looked up and noticed her stare and gave her a small smile as he handed one of the suitors a glass of champagne.

Her attention went back to the announcer and the competition was in full swing. She was lead down to the row of boys and dreaded each moment.

Juvia moved down the line, each man was to introduce himself and that meant her hand was being kissed more times than she wanted and jokes were being cracked. No one made a lasting impression except for when she turned her head and noticed that Gray looked exceptionally well in his attire. A small blush formed from the thoughts but quickly vanished when Prince Lyon placed his lips to her hand and she suppressed a gag.

Her usual frown made its way to her face as the group was taken to the back landscape to ride horses and play some sports. Juvia shot a small glare at her father who only offered a thumbs up and a smile.

“Juvia is not looking forward to this.” She huffed under her breath.

The days passed by and the routine began to wear on the princess. Everyday she would spend countless hours with different men, slightly chatting and trying her best not to let her mind wander. The only thing keeping her going was the thought of her leaving her bedroom door and finding Gray at the stables where she pours her heart out and even makes fun of the suitors as they share a slice of cake she had snuck away from the table.

The week was coming to a close and her mind felt exhausted. No one, not a single boy had even brought a simple smile to her lips, a few got close but that was because one of them fell. Tonight was the last event, the gala and the most important. Tonight would be the night she would choose a suitor and by the looks of it, she wouldn’t be marrying a man for love but instead one she could tolerate.

Everyone would show up in their best suits and dresses and dance the night away. Juvia hoped that maybe tonight, she would dance with someone and know they are the one, but she knew not to get her hopes up.

There were only a few more hours before she had to greet the insane amount of people, and only a few days before she was engaged to someone.

Her eyes were lost in the mirror as she waited for her corset to be tightened.

“Princess you look lovely.” Levy stated as she places her silver crown on top of the princesses royal blue locks. Levy was right. Juvia stood draped in a royal blue ball gown with silver linings. Long lace sleeves framed her fingers and her mothers ring proudly shined on her hand.

“Thank you.” Juvia gave a small smile and stepped off the dressing stand and followed a guard towards the ballroom.

She entered and all heads turned towards her. Gasps were sent across as she walked with grace and elegant towards the top of the staircase where her thrown and father stood.

“My dear you look marvelous!”

“Thank you father.”

“Just remember have fun tonight.”

Juvia tried to smile and turned towards her throne. As she went to sit down, a hand was already in her face and she peered up at the figure.

“Princess, may I give you the honor of having the first dance with me?” Prince Lyon said and it took every muscle in her body to not scoff at his arrogant ways, but her gloved hand found his and she was lead to the dance floor.

As she placed herself in the proper dancing position, her eyes found Gray. He hadn’t spotted her yet as he was busy serving food and wine to people much more important to him.

“Yeah know our children would have magnificent hair and be extremely beautiful.” Lyon said and captured back Juvia’s attention.

Her face fell flat and she rolled her eyes and finished the dance and left right as the beat stopped. Every time she walked away from a dance, another suitor was in her face and she had no choice but to curtsy and engage in three minutes of pure torture while the boys talked about their future children and how they were the best, Juvia's eyes kept going back to the raven haired boy.

An hour or two had passed and she finally escaped to the back of the room near the trays of desserts. Picking up a small slice of cake, a gasp escaped her lips as Gray whispered a ‘hi’ in her ears.

“Oh Gray, it's just you.” For the first time that night Juvia had smiled and Gray returned the gesture.

“Yep just me.” He smirked and placed his tray down. “How's it going?”

Juvia rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Juvia is having the time of her life.”

“I bet.”

She looked around and quickly took his hand and guided him down the hall. She pulled them into the living room and sat them on the couch.

“Aren’t you going to get in trouble if you are caught?”

Juvia shrugged and for once she didn't care. “Juvia needed to escape from there. If one more man came up to me I was going to scream.”

“I can understand that.”

His gaze went past her blue locks and to the mass amount of picture on the fireplace mantle. He quickly stood and picked up one of a baby Juvia. She was in a blue frilly dress and was smothered in chocolate cake. He noticed her bright smile in the photo and was thankful that he was lucky enough to see her smile now.

“Juvia thinks those pictures are embarrassing.” Her face was heated up and embarrassment made her hands to cover her face.

Laughing Gray sat down and took her hand in his. He looked around and brought her face closer.

“I had a bad stripping habit as a child. My parents would chase me down until they managed to get my clothes back on, even happened in public.”

Juvia’s eyes widened and her cheeks filled with air until she let out a laugh. A true laugh. One that filled the depths of her tummy and sent tears out of her eyes. Gray watched her face get redder as she let to laughs escape.

“Beautiful.” He whispered to himself and he couldn't help but join.

After seconds of feeling completely free, her giggles died down and she covered her mouth slightly.

“Your laugh is amazing.” he commented and she paused. “I’m really glad I heard it.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Then I guess you’d be glad to know you’re the first.” Her eyes were still locked with his and their nose brushed against each other.

“Can I be the first to kiss-” but before he finished she had grabbed him by the collar and pressed her lips against his.

In that moment she felt her armor fall, her iced heart melt more than it had and a warmth fill her. He kissed her back with such passion that she was afraid to pull away and let the moment end.

In the need for air the pair pulled apart. His lips became tainted with a slight pink and her crown had fallen to the floor but all she cared about was him.

She let out a small giggle and his lips found her cheek. “I love your laugh.”

“I love you.” She felt him tense. “I mean I-Juvia-”

“I love you too.” He kissed her once more.

The king looked around the ballroom for his daughter. Panicking he excused himself from the place and wandered down the halls knowing she had probably left for a drink in the kitchen. He passed the living room and stopped. Backing up, he carefully peered into the room.

Sitting on the couch was Juvia. Her knees to her chest and her dress draped over the velvet seating. Next to her was the servant boy, Gray. sat looking at each other and a tear came to the kings eye as he heard it.

He heard the melody of her laugh. Saw the blush spread to her cheeks as she covered her mouth and playfully slapped him on the arm. Gray continued until she was holding her stomach and wiping a tear from her eye.

The king left before being spot and smiled brightly.

The pair slipped back into the grand ballroom, each taking their place on the other side of the room. The warm feeling in her stomach didn’t die down as she stole a glance of him before returning to her throne up above. She sat next to her father and didn’t realize her smile was still in motion.

She turned to look at her father and saw the misty look in his eyes.

“Father? Are you alright?” She asked and placed the top of her hand on his.

“Im perfect Raindrop.” He placed his other hand on hers and she smiled at the fact that he used her childhood nickname.

“It's time to announce the final dance.” He said which made her smile drop a little.

“Oh, yes of course. However none of them had done what you requested, Juvia is sorry.”

He kissed the top of her hand and stood. “I know Raindrop.”

He cleared his throat and was handed a microphone. “Attention everyone! Thank you so much to all the fine men who participated in the challenge for my daughters lovely hand and our kingdoms future. I have decided on the final dance and there has been a clear winner. Juvia my daughter, will you take your position in the center of the floor?”

She nodded and with each step, her heart grew heavy and heavy until she felt empty standing in the middle. She could hear the whispers of everyone wondering who was the lucky winner but she knew that her father must have chosen a random one. She could feel the intense gaze of Gray and knew that her heart belonged to him but now she would be wed to another man.

“The only man who is fit and well enough to earn my daughters hand is Gray Fullbuster.”

Juvia's eyes snapped up and she locked eyes with the raven haired boy who stood with the silver plate to his chest.

“What?” Both of them whispered but Juvia's heart swelled as Gray was pushed towards her.

“This is an outrage!”

“He's a poor boy”

“A true disgrace”

People kept yelling and Gray looked down, ready to leave the dance floor until his wrist was grabbed lightly.

“Juvia I-”

“You did it.” She smiled.

“What?”

“You made me laugh.” She giggled. “You make me happy. Happier than I have been in a long time.” Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she pulled his face close to hers.

“Thank you.” She said before kissing him.

Gray shut his eyes as he leaned into the kiss. All eyes were on them and in the moment, Juvia felt happy. A pure and subtle emotion that she had been craving and it was worth the wait.

They pulled away from their kiss and she heard the final song play. Smiling, she took Grays hand and lead him in the dance.

Everyone watched as they spun around on the floor, her dress glided along the ballroom floor and small giggles left her mouth.

Gray thought she looked radiant and he was in awe that he was in love with a girl like her. A part of him fell as the song came to an end but the look on his princesses face told him that she enjoyed it.

“What now?” He asked as he looked around the room.

“Now Juvia and Gray live happily ever after.” She smiled.

“I like that plan.” He smirked and he grabbed her waist and planted another fairy tail kiss on her lips.

---

#gruvia #gruvia oneshot #gruvia event #princess au #gruvia fanfic #juvia loxar #gray fullbuster #gray x juvia #nalu event #fairy tail #fairytail #thewritingstar #goldenmorpho #fanfic #gruvia fic #gruvia princess au #big bang fic

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mydearestreaderfanfics · 5 years ago

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Haunting Me (Zero x One-sided!Reader)

Warnings: angst, bullying

Word Count: 2,541

Prompt/Request: Second day of the October Special: Masquerade.

Summary: Tonight was suppose to be my opportunity for change. Things were supposed to be different in the best ways possible. I just wanted happiness and a chance at a brighter tomrrow. I can't believe I let myself have hope. Your dream night at the masquerade ball becomes your worst nightmare. Can you handle this heart ache?

Author: Mod Rene

I stared at this pitiful reflection given to me by my full body mirror in my dorm room. My mother’s dress in nothing but tatters and stains on me was not exactly my favorite look. This dress was beautiful. It was passed down generation after generation for so long that calling it a cliché tradition was an understatement. I wanted a magical night in it just like all of my relatives and ancestors had. Of course, that was most definitely not my luck. Happiness was never truly within my grasp. I was given the saddest cards in life. I’m officially convinced. What happened, you may wonder?

Sit back. Get ready for a movie. Quite honestly one of the saddest you will ever see on top of that.

*FLASHBACK*

“Kaname-senpai told me to come with him to the masquerade valley. How crazy is he? The disciplinary committee has to be on shift 24/7. Who else will protect the student body?” Yuki spoke half-heartedly I’d already known she wanted to go. It’s been all she spoke about for the past four days. I couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped my lips as I heard her draw on about it. After a tired sigh left her lips, I turned to her calmly.

“Yes of course. We must always be protected here at this private school which is quite mostly isolated. Can’t chance any rogue wild birds swooping down over our heads. What’ll we do without disciplinary committee members there to stop them from stealing the punch!!!” I joked looking her way with mock fear. Dramatics were my forte after all. She looked less than happy with me however giving me a puffy-faced pout. I couldn’t help but tease her. So many opportunities would show and to miss them would just be cruel to myself. We continued to stroll from class to the dorms not breaking eye contact as we spoke. It seemed ok until a matter of seconds later.

“You’re so mean Y/N!!!! I’m genuinely concer-" Yuki was cut off by my bumping right into one of the other girls and falling back. The two notebooks I’d been carrying with me flew up and so all loose papers were now falling around me. I remained on the floor shaking my head slightly. At first, I’d refused to open my eyes for fear of seeing the rage in the said other student's face. There was also the fact that I had a feeling this was some kind of start to some very bad luck.

Someone cleared their throat demanding my attention and grasping it. Sure enough, a very angry girl from my class stood in front of me with her arms crossed and head high. Her eyes were downcast making me feel entirely inferior.

“Y/N!!!! Are you alright?” Yuki immediately got down on her knees to be at my level and help me gather my things. I hadn’t looked away from the furious teenage harbinger in front of me but I did still nod slightly to answer Yuki.

“Her? She bumped into me. I’m the one in order for concern!” My classmate screamed quite angry with me. I visibly flinched slightly at the raise of her voice. Yuki rose to her feet in front of me with an angry glare in her eyes completely directed at who stood in front of us. I began to gather my stuff slowly before also moving to my own feet. I wasn’t one for scenes so I simply bowed my head and apologized.

“You weren’t the one on the floor. And it wasn’t on purpose!!!” I nodded at this statement which Yuki so boldly spoke out for me there really was no point to it though. This girl really seemed to hate me for whatever reason. After a mere stare down she scoffed and walked away leaving me and Yuki alone.

“Y/N-"

“Let’s go. We have a ball to get ready for.” I murmured with my back to Yuki walking away. I didn’t want to talk about it. I already knew what she’d say. It was the same thing every time. I needed to stand up for myself more. I needed confidence. No one could see, but I was trying. It’s never easy being what you’re not. With baby steps each day, I was working towards getting better as so many people had said. Tonight was the night I’d show it. I was finally going to confess my feelings to my crush.

Tonight I would get to tell him how I felt, regardless of how he felt about me. I just wanted to tell him. It wasn’t for him. It wasn’t for a future with him. This big move was solidly for me to prove to myself that I could do it. That somewhere in me was someone brave enough to speak my voice. So having said this, I stood in front of my full body mirror in the dress my mama gave me specifically for this night. A beautiful black gown slim fit to my figure. I was blessed with my mother's curves and now I’d stop hiding them.

Tonight I would shine. My face was framed by a couple pieces of hair on each side of my face as my hair was in a high ponytail, slicked back and straight. My facial features were shown and highlighted for once in my life. I wanted to be seen tonight. I wanted him to see me for once. There was a statement being made here.

“Y/N. You look absolutely amazing!” a smile graced my lips fully at Yuki’s words. A small gasp left her lips which I followed with a deep breath in, never looking away from the mirror. I nodded twice rather quick making the elation within your heart quite clear. A purely happy giggle left my mouth as I did one nice spin in front of the mirror slowly. I’d felt completely successful with my look and confidence had never felt so good. How dumb of me.

“I just hope he notices that too.” Mistake number one. Yuki had no idea about my crush on Zero. This wasn’t a topic I’d ever preferred to bring up to anyone. I have just always been so guarded that I never felt ok with talking about this stuff. I still didn’t want her knowing. She was so close with him, it made me further embarrassed. My eyes went wide as soon as I’d said it and her eyes did too. The only difference between us was my obvious discomfort and her very obvious smirk. I began to sweat just slightly.

“Who is he?!”

“Ohhh no one important.” I shifted in my heels and turned away from her to head towards my bed. It was about as messy as my own inner thoughts at this point, and so I needed to find my purse within it all…and my sanity. Yuki came up to me as I shuffled through my disaster of a bed to urge the name of this mystery he out of me for a good 5 minutes before giving up with a pout. I had finally found my purse right as she exhaled a defeated sigh next to me. I turned to her kindly and put my hand on her shoulder.

“You’re my best friend Yuki. I tell you everything. But I can’t tell you this person’s identity until after tonight. I promise you’ll hear about it tomorrow. If all goes well, you may just catch us there together.”

“If you say so. I guess” Her smile was sweet and so it earned a bigger one from me. I scanned her own outfit for a moment before I begin to give her some of her own compliments.

“You look stunning. You wore the dress Kaname gave you! So disciplinary committee will be partying too?” We laughed together as she gave a small nod and blushed. I couldn’t help but smile at this moment. Things were going so great already. I felt it was safe to assume the night really was going to be one blissful enough to remember. One impossible to forget. I was right about the unforgettable part of it. Sadly, not the blissful.

We arrived at the masquerade ball shortly after the discussion in the room. She broke off from me to find Kaname which I’d already known was going to happen. I hoped things would end up great for her. She'd finally get to confess her feelings. They could finally be together and happy. I thought I’d known how she felt about him and how much she really loved him. I didn’t know how wrong I had been. I want to assume Kaname hadn’t had any idea either.

I walked around looking for Zero, having absolutely no luck for a good hour of my search. I’d still gotten many offers to dance and boatloads of compliments, primarily from the boys but that was still nice. The night hadn’t been bad that far. With my poor luck, however, that most certainly was not going to last. I’d been walking toward the door leading toward the school, garden when it all went so wrong.

That same girl from just earlier had seen me and I’ll assume she was still unhappy. Now it was most likely for more than one reason as she was usually the one receiving all of the compliments being sent my way. Girls are usually not ok with that. She was no different. As I began to step out, she placed her heel on the back of my dress, causing it to tear and me to fall forward. I hadn’t expected it and therefore lacked any preparation to catch myself properly. I landed on my wrist wrong in the last-minute attempt to break my fall and catch myself. The sharp pain made me wince slightly and so she laughed bitterly.

My lip quivered slightly as I stared at the floor, attempting to gather myself. Her friends, as well as herself, stood around me simply laughing at my unmoving sat up from. I was determined to hide my obvious pain or sorrow. I wanted to prove to myself I could be brave. I was going to. However, this gave her a new plan.

“Aw, you want to cry? Does the baby need help? Here.” Before I could look up a cold liquid hit me in a large quantity all at once. The punch bowl then hit the floor next to me. I didn’t mean to do it, but I cracked. Tears began to spill down my cheeks at what seemed not to be within my control. I couldn’t look up. I couldn’t look anyone in the face. Maybe I did look good at the beginning. Maybe I did feel good about myself. There was none of that left at this moment I know how ridiculous and small I looked. With how horrible I felt now, people obviously looked at me with pity. Even so, no one helped me. No one said anything. Not a single person in that ballroom moved to stop any of this. Some of them even laughed along as well.

Why? Why did they all have to be so cruel? Why couldn’t they be kind, humane, demoralized people? Did their parents not teach them sensibility? I had done nothing to these people. They’re so cold to me without having even met me or gotten to know me. Without looking at anyone I got up and ran out of the ballroom.

I ran as fast as my heels could allow. When they began to hurt and hinder me, I threw them off and kept running. My tears kept falling and it angered me. I was mad at those people, yes. I was also mad at myself. I shouldn’t have run out. I shouldn’t have been careless. I shouldn’t have let them cause these tears to begin with. I wasn’t stronger. I was still so weak and it infuriated me. I had thought this night was officially the worst. It could have not gotten worse. Nothing could possibly make this night darker than it had already been. Maybe by this time, my heart should have known how untrue that was.

It had been almost as though each time saying that, I had placed a jinx on myself. Leave it to my lack of luck to hurt me further. As I came to a quiet stop at the fountain in the front of the school, I saw them. And my heart finally just shattered.

My mind went blank. The few pieces left in my shattered heart were reduced to a cold powder. I felt pure despair, but only for a second. It only lasted a second. That first second upon seeing it and realizing what my eyes had witnessed.

Yuki. And…Zero? Kissing? What? What about Kaname? What about every time she’d talked about him? All those times she would visit him. Every time he sent her gifts and was there to accompany her. The blatantly obvious tensions between the two and the care colored in both parties' eyes when they locked. Where did all of that go? That was never the look she gave Zero. She always talked about needing to watch him like any sister would panic and worry for their brother. That’s what she said Zero was to her. The troublesome brother. Why? Why? Why any of this?!?! Was it all really to bring me to this numb hopeless state of mind? Is that all I am meant to feel in life is pitiful or absolutely nothing at all?

Who did I make so mad up in the heavens to bring me all of this disaster? Why was I so haunted?

Yuki pulled away abruptly upon opening her eyes and seeing me behind them. Except, it wasn’t me she saw. No, it was the one and only night school king himself just behind me she saw first.

“Kaname-senpai!” it was quiet. Zero only turned around long enough to glance at Kaname out of the corner of his eye. I couldn’t stand to stay any longer. I turned to run, only for Kaname to grab my wrist, the same one I sprained before. I winced shortly.

“Do you love him?” my eyes opened wide. I refused to turn around. I couldn’t. It was quiet for a few minutes.

“..yes. I’m so sor-" I ran. He let go of me and I ran. I ran to my dorm faster than I’d ever run in my entire life. Never have I ever felt so destroyed and defeated in my life. This heartache was the kicker. I gave up after this. I have been locked up in my dorm room all night. I haven’t taken my dress off. Or opened my door to anyone, Yuki included. She stopped by, I think. Maybe it was my despair messing with my head. Not that it matters. This night has been dreadful. The masquerade was never a good idea. Having hope was the dumbest one yet. This was never to be forgotten. It is only a night to haunt me for the rest of my life. I never want to speak of the haunting masquerade.

#vampire knight #zero x reader #fanfictions #zero #angst #bullying #mod rene

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saihara-shuichi-imagines · 6 years ago

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ShuichixReader Monster AU 2

I got one positive comment and I was like ‘Fuck yeah, Let’s keep this going’ Previous Chapter Here! Chapter 2: Dead by Daylight

You glanced over at their booth uncomfortably every so often, trying not to make your staring obvious. You listened to them as closely as possible, trying to remain stone faced so they would never know. You returned to your usual busy work of polishing the same glass to no avail. “You’re disgusting me, Kokichi.” Shuichi said callously. “Chew with your mouth closed.” “I can’t help it, It’s good.” He spoke muffled, shoving cheese fries into his mouth. “Coming here was a good idea-” “Close your fucking mouth!” Kaito yelled. “You get on my nerves.” “The Offspring of War is awfully pissy this morning.” korekiyo said calmly. Every word he spoke was calm and collected, no malice detected in his voice though his words were brazen. “Maybe you should order a nice tall glass of calming the hell down?” “Bite me.” “No, It’d probably give you leukemia.” “He’d deserve it.” Kokichi said, “He’s been hitting on our bartender all night.... Speaking of which, Can I get some more fries and another cosmopolitan!” He yelled to you, startling you a little. You scrambled for a glass before you heard someone else chime in. “No more drinks, Kokichi. We have work to do and If you’re hammered, you’re gonna make it harder on the rest of us.” Shuichi said, taking a sip of his water and then putting the glass down aggressively. “I’ll be back, I’m headed to the bathroom. If I come back and you have another fucking drink, I’m killing our bartender.” You squealed, biting your lip and staring off to the ground. Kaito simply laughed at you taking a few cheese fries from Kokichi while he was distracted. “Ouma, You’re gonna get my sexy bartender killed-” “Oh whatever, You’ll screw anything that moves-” “Not you.” He scoffed, flipping the plate of fries onto the table. Your eye twitched, sensing the trouble you would have later tonight scarping dried cheese off the tables. They continued their argument and you just kept a hard eye on the bathroom door. As they chattered, you wondered what it looked like in there. You hadn’t checked the bathrooms since you arrived at work. What if they were atrocious? The son of death just walked into the mens room and what if your bathroom were absolutely appalling! You were horrified for a second, ignoring the fact that a small argument had begun at the table. When you noticed Kaito arguing with Kokichi, and Korekiyo hanging his head in shame, you decided to peek into the mens room to see just how bad it was. The last thing you needed was such a V.I.P trashing your establishment online. You entered the bathroom quickly, leaning against the door and listening carefully. The gentle sounds of streaming water let you know exactly what was going on around the corner and you sighed. He was using the urinal, and most likely would notice you if you decided to check the bathroom now. Coming in here was a terrible idea. You closed your eyes for a minute, trying to think of a game plan when you were ripped from your thoughts. “The hell are you doing in here?” You heard in front of you. You let out a shrill scream and Shuichi clicked his tongue, annoyed. “Did you follow me?” “...The water-” “One of your urinals has a leak.” He said, explaining the streaming sound you were hearing. you mouthed ‘oh’ just leaning against the door and maintaining eye contact with death himself. The awkward silence was finally ended thanks to him. “Do you often walk in to hear your customers take a piss?” “N-No I-” You stuttered, trying to think of a believable excuse that didn’t sound as lame as ‘I needed to make sure the restroom wasn’t fucked up’. “Kaito and Kokichi are fighting... so I... got out of there.” You trailed off, praying your explanation was good enough. he still looked irritated. “Fucking idiots,” He breathed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I can’t take them anywhere.” He seemed less tense at your excuse, leaning against the wall opposite of you and complaining to himself. “They’re gonna blow this.” “....Big job ahead?” You said softly. Bartender’s are good at getting information. It comes naturally. Something about questioning him in particular though was terrifying. To your surprise he answered, harmlessly enough. “We’ve got to meet up with our dads for the last time before we’re on our own and taking over their jobs. You think those assholes would take this more seriously.” “That must be hard.” You answered, almost immediately. He nodded lightly, looking off to the side and fiddling with his gloves. He seemed at peace, like he was speaking from the heart for the first time in ages. “Maybe they aren’t ready to grow up-” “Well, What about me?!” He snapped. His voice sounded strained. Maybe more like stressed. “Do they think this is what I want?” He looked into your eyes, instantly snapping out of his relaxed state when he noticed how big your eyes were while looking at him. He immediately collected himself, shaking his head and pushing past you like he was on a mission. You followed him, heading over to the bar where you felt safe. The room noticeably tensed when he entered and they all looked to him and ceased their conversation. “Get up guys, We’re leaving.” “Awww, so Soon?” “Don’t give me that shit, Ouma. Let’s get going.” He demanded. They all stood obediently, seeming to take his orders seriously despite their annoyance. He turned back to you as they filed out the door. “How much do I owe you?” “ Oh, well, the fries were like, 10 and the drinks were like-” He groaned, making you flinch. He reached into his suit pocket, taking a bill and slamming it on the counter. “You can keep the change, A little tip for your patience. We were never here.” He turned heel and walked out, giving a weak wave as he made his way out of the door. The crisp $100 on the counter waved slightly as the door to the bar slammed closed.

Next Part Soon...

-Mod Kork.

#sh #shuuichi saihara #shuichi saihara #saihara shuichi #Shuuichi #Dangan Ronpa #danganronpa #danganronpa x reader #danganronpa imagines #ndrv3 #drv3 #drv3 imagines #Monster Au #chapter 2

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itoshit · 3 years ago

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Time slowly went by, days turning to nights. And nights turning to days. That day, when I left Vee, I didn't think it would have been the last time I saw her. But she left. My men found her quickly of course, some even offered me to bring her back to me. But the whole point was to not be in contact anymore. I refused to see any picture of her, to see what she was up to. Ran's reports were enough for me. My heart was hurting me, especially when I learnt the existence of her friend, Darren. I was in the private room of one of our clubs, and Ran showed me a picture of them together. She seemed happy, healthy. And I was glad to be out of her life at that moment because honestly, I shattered everything and everyone that I touched.

It was not too long after I cut our strings. I remember that night vividly because that was my very first step to hell. Drinking to forget what I saw, I apparently passed out. Sanzu was the one bringing me back home. My place didn't look good anymore, but I didn't care. No one would stay here except me anyway. I wasn't even sleeping in my bed anymore, not that I was sleeping in the first place. But I couldn't do it. Too hard. Her scent lingered everywhere in my room, in her room. The small amount of sleep that I had was spent on my couch. Christmas went by too, and nothing happened. Her coat and the concert ticket were left untouched in my bedroom, in a random drawer. That evening, I stayed alone in my apartment, trying to imagine what it would have been with Vee around. We would have probably been drinking and laughing, making out on my couch. I'm sure she would have wanted me to buy a Christmas tree, and we would have decorated it together. And the night would have finished somewhere in my apartment, both naked and drowning in each other's touch.

Six months have passed. I tried so hard to forget her face with the many girls trying to get into my pants. I tried so, so hard. But I've never been able to touch someone else. Vee was like a drug, and I was experiencing it. But I was so content for her, she looked like she was finally balancing everything in her life, and she was probably grateful for that. She probably didn't want me back in her life, and I would never dare to enter hers anyway. She must felt relief after all that ended up.

I went back to the Mikey I was before meeting Vee, the cold; heartless man I used to be. My black hair was the only different thing from that past.

Every night I recalled our moment spent together, the only vestige of her was in mind.

Well, my vision seemed to be quite subjective and false, because on few occasions, the guys talked to me. Kakucho, Sanzu, Takeomi and Ran were the ones telling me how I changed, in a bad way. To them, I was more reckless. There were probably right, not that it mattered anyway.

Dante and La Cosa Nostra became close allies, the first trying his best to ease my heart. He presented me to his wife and children, and they were probably the ones who helped me getting through all that shit.

My life didn't make sense anymore. Without Vee by my side, I could finally say it, I was nothing. A dead man walking. While she looked so... full of life.

I saw Senju multiple times, and what I said to Vee was obviously completely false. I've never let myself be tempted with her flirt. The Yamaguchi-gumi stayed on the low for a while too, making their presence known from time to time.

They attacked one of our clubs once, and I almost died in the process. That's maybe what the guys reproached me when they said that I was reckless. Luckily though, Sanzu helped me. Got shot close to the heart, would have died if he didn't push me at the last minute.

The not so discreet scar that I had on my chest was a daily reminder that life was, even for me, something ephemeral.

Tonight was no different than the other nights. Would drown myself in work, files, alcohol and memories of Vee. That scared me because I was slowly starting to forget the sound of her voice.

Mikey.

Hm?

You can't keep doing that

Doing what?

You're not living, you're just... surviving. Amico mio, it's not good. Even Luka noticed your pain, shall I remind you he's only 8? You need to do something.

Look Dante, I appreciate your concern but I'm working right now. Did you call me to say something else?

Your girl has been-

She's not mine anymore. I lost her long ago.

... Venus is going outside tonight. Ran told me and as requested from you, my men keep an eye on her. She hasn't been outside since you stopped talking. You should come and-

Scoffing at him, I rolled my eyes, forehead pressed against my hand.

Dante, just... don't. She's clearly better off without me, and the Yamaguchi-gumi understood she wasn't someone who counted for -

But that was a lie! Manjiro. You could try again with her! We could finish them off, and you two could be happy together. It's just-

No we won't. They got the message when we blew their hideout up. No needs to start something big like this once again, especially when we all know the finality of it.

And what is if if you're so sure of yourself? You know what? I'm gonna bring her to you tonight. You're always staying at your office, expect her and I to be here.

... Venus doesn't need me. She realised she didn't miss me, and that I was only a cancer in her life. I need to go, don't call me again. Thank you for what you did back then.

Hanging up, I left my phone on my desk, leaving my office, but not before asking my executives to meet me in our meeting room.

What's up Mikey?

All sat around me, I looked at them first, before speaking.

Just, thanks for what you did for me.

Snorting, Sanzu stared at me, pupils dilated.

Why does it look like farewells though?

You can leave, you have your evening off. Find some pussy to fuck, get drunk, get high. Do what you want. I want you all to be here tomorrow before 8am.

Groaning, Sanzu stood up, and was the first to leave the room.

You okay?

Of course I am Ran.

Nodding, he patted my shoulder while Rindou simply smiled at me.

Koko had an eyebrow raised.

What's up with you Mikey?

Nothing. You can go Hajime.

Eh? First time you're saying my name. But alright, goodnight Mikey

Now alone with Mochizuku and Takeomi, I turned to them.

Guess I'll head to the strip club then.

Go ahead Kanji

Door closing, I felt Takeomi's eyes on me.

What?

What are you up to Mikey?

Nothing, just need a night away from work. Why aren't you leaving?

Raising his hands in defeat, Takeomi stood up, and as he was going to exit the meeting's room, he stilled.

Manjiro. Don't do anything stupid yeah?

No worries.

Eventually alone, I sat back on the chair, chin on my crossed hands. Would I regret what I was about to do? Probably not. Vee gave me hope, showing me some good time. But I wasn't destined to happiness. My place was in darkness, in hell.

An hour passed, and directing myself to my office, I checked the security cameras. It was 9pm, everyone left the building, as I requested beforehand.

Turning one last time to my office, I suddenly imagined Vee here, with me. Taking my gun off my hoster, I put it on my desk. Closing the door behind me, I went to the roof.

The last time that I've been here was when Sanzu surprised me, and when I said to him that if I happened to die, he would take the lead.

Guess nothing has changed since then.

Approaching my feet from the edge, I looked behind, a flash blinding me for a while. The good old days, when I was Toman's leader, Ken-chin by my side. Takemichi, Mitsuya, Chifuyu, the Kawata twins and the others were below, acclaiming me.

How were they doing now? Did they find happiness? I hope so. Vee crossed my mind too, leaving a warm feeling in my heart.

Throwing a glance at the concrete, I felt cold sweat on my forehead.

I'm sorry, Venus

-Mikey

TO EXPLAIN MYSELF - I wanted to keep the final scene from the manga, when Bonten Mikey is with Takemichi. It's not to destroy the good mood at all, but I do think Mikey is someone who's extremely tortured in his life (as everyone knows lmao) so in this case, where him and you were an item and he had strong feelings toward you, obviously it will destroy him more. Hopefully it's not a triggering subject for you, if it is, I'm sorry bby 😔

see now mod… *exhales*

Yeah, I don’t know about this, Dee.

We stood outside the bar, which from the outside, looked pack to capacity already. Apprehension consumed me. Darren noticed, taking my hand into his and squeezing it.

Do you wanna go home? he asked gently. We don’t have to go in if you don’t want to.

I shook my head. If I couldn’t do this, with my best friend no less, I probably wouldn’t be able to do any social event.

No, I’m fine. But we are leaving before 11.

He winked at me.

Fuck yeah we are.

We walked in together at that, arm in arm. Eyes flitted to us and then away when they realized we weren’t anybody of importance. A few lingered on me, recognizing me from the news maybe. I ignored them, allowing Darren to introduce me to his friends. He was right, they were nice. We shared a few drinks, me only having one beer to the others four. After Natalie, I just didn’t trust drinking anymore. Or people in general, always looking outside of people’s actions for their hidden motives.

We left at ten as promised. I shoved Darren and a couple of his friends into separate Ubers since they were way too drunk for me to even trust them driving. After I managed to get transportation for the final drunkard that I was with that night, I started walking toward my own car. But I noticed something. Somebody was following me. Clutching onto the pocketknife I started carrying ever since I got back home, I steeled myself with the thought of pulling it out and taking a life if needed be.

As the person neared, my grip on the hilt was knuckle-white and tight, with little to no chance of slipping off. When they touched me, I spun around fast, placing the knife right beneath their throat. I was smart enough to avoid streetlights.

Who the fuck are you? I snarled, pressing the knife closer with each word I spoke.

The man threw up his hands quickly, but made no move to disarm me. I’m with Dante of La Casa Nostra.

Who?

Me, somebody spoke from our left. I chanced a look and found a man sitting in the back of a heavily tinted jeep. My heart sunk. I learned a long time ago that tinted jeeps were the poster cars for criminal organization and gang leaders to move around in. My name is Dante, Venus, and I came to you requesting help.

Funny way of asking for it, I bit, throwing a look to the man who was following me. And besides, I don’t think I can help you.

It’s about Mikey.

I froze, unsure how to answer for a few seconds, then eventually came up with a, I don’t know a Mikey.

We were there with the Yamaguchis, Venus. La Casa Nostra was a big help in aiding Bonten in that victory. Our sniper was the one that saved your life. So technically, you owe me.

Could I even argue that? I had a feeling that even if I wanted to, there was only stalling I could do before he lost his patience and just forced me to do what he wanted. Powerful men weren’t used to being challenged, after all. Slowly, I placed my knife in my pocket, but always kept it ready to grab in case I had to run. I walked up to the Jeep and hopped in beside Dante, keeping my distance at the same time.

What do you want?

I wanted to get straight to the point, go home if possible.

It’s Mikey, he sighed, pinching his nose as if even the thought of the man pained him to talk about. He’s… not doing so well. Not sleeping, barely eating, wasting away.

Have you ever stopped to consider he was always like that?

It honestly sounded like he was behaving just as he was—

But that was before you met him, Venus.

I clenched my jaw, remembering how he had started eating and sleeping at my request, soon not even needing me to tell him to do either at all. A certain beach date flashed into my mind and I shook my head to rid myself of the memory. Dante observed my reaction, and I wanted to pinch myself for giving an observable one.

Either way, I’m worried, Venus. Mikey is a good guy, an extraordinary ally, but with the way things are looking…I don’t think he’s going to survive much longer to be any of both. Which is why I offered to take you to him as a last resort.

Without my consent?

With or without, he admitted with a laugh. I’m that desperate. He’s not well, Venus. Even my children are concerned.

I gnawed on my thumbnail.

Bringing me to him might not fix him. They might make things worse. For both of us, I wanted to say.

Or they might make them better, he argued.

You couldn’t possibly know that.

I’m willing to take that risk.

I couldn’t answer that. Few things could talk down a stubborn man. I wasn’t one of them.

You know, I really think you and Manjiro belong together. You’re both just too stubborn to see that.

I didn’t reply to that, either. I would’ve agreed once. Manjiro made sure I couldn’t.

We arrived to the building and I was astounded by how distinctly I remembered it despite being away from it from so long. My mind went on that nurse who helped me escape. I wondered if they fired her.

Dante hopped out of the car the same time I did, using a fancy keycard to gain access into the building. Walking through it, I realized I never took the time to appreciate how large the space was. We reached the room where Dante said he’d be— the meeting room.

Mikey, I’m here as promised, Dante announced and I held my breath. I hadn’t the slightest clue what to say when I saw him, or whether what I’d say would be the right thing. Probably not, considering I wanted to curse him like a dog.

I still had time to think of something though. When Dante opened the door, nobody was there.

Am I being pranked? I asked Dante whose eyebrows were furrowed.

That’s strange. He hasn’t checked out of the building at all today so he’s still in here.

I looked around for a bit, feeling something amiss, and then I found the window looking out over the city. Dante, is there any room in this place that has a better view than this one?

No, this is the highest floor in the building. No view comes close. Why do you ask?

They all had something in common. This room, Mikey’s house’s design, the hotels he booked, down to the dates he scheduled— there was one common denominator.

The view. I snapped my fingers. Mikey likes the views!

But there’s no better view than… the roof. He’s on the roof.

I wasted no time, bolting out of the door. The elevator stopped just to the meeting room floor. Only stairs could take you up to the roof. I sprinted up them by God’s grace, barely even winded by the time I opened the door.

Good thing too, because the sight of Mikey took my breath away. It was only his back, the same black hair I had seen him in the last time fluttering in the wind. What worried me most was not where he was standing, feet firmly planted on the ledge. What worried me most was how relaxed he was on the ledge, as if he wasn’t staring a certain death right in the face. A strong enough wind would send him right to it. I couldn’t witness that. My feet moved on their own, fueled by adrenaline. I had barely reached him when he started to push himself over the ledge, but I caught him in time, gripping my shirt between his fingers and snatching him back with all my might. He fell back easily, too startled by the fact somebody was there to catch him to brace himself. He landed right atop of me in a heap of limbs. My hands were trembling. It was as if I had just realized how close I was to missing that chance to grab him. Tears came into my eyes, but I didn’t know if they were from anger or from fear.

You idiot, I whispered harshly through sobs. You fucking idiot.

#tw suicide attempt #🗝; citizen #🗝; mikey #🗝; chronicles of vee: vol. 1 #now mod let me tell you how long i pondered this response #i sat and reflected okay.#in shock.#angst clearly is ur thing bc.#wow

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fearofaherobrine · 7 years ago

Text

Roleplay Server Log #299

“Drinks With Jeb, Homecoming, Modded Seeds”

[CP] Grins as his liquor is brought to him-

[Jeb] Happy now? That stuffs 184 proof

-It's a bottle of Bruichladdich whiskey-

[CP] - Will be soon enough, although this stuff would probably knock you flat on your ass

[Jeb] I didn't think we were sharing. I thought you'd want it all.

[CP] - Oh I do, just stating a fact though. We have some polish vodka on the server and it's the only thing that an get me decently drunk in a reasonable time

[Jeb] What's it called?

[Yster] You're just going to end up puking....

[CP] - Spirytus, knocked GK out after a couple of sips

[Yster] Gk? As in, the big ass dragon?

[Jeb] You have my full attention.

[CP] - Yeah, it's been awhile since he and I have gone out drinking since he's helping Endrea with her kids

[Yster] That's really sweet. I thought he was a big ol' grump.

[Jeb] Is trying to get the bartenders attention- Yeah man.... kids... they change everything...

[CP] - He helped raise Endrea too. And he's mellowed out since helping with the kids and being around Sweet Alex

[Yster] Sweet Alex? I take it you've got multiple Alex's as well as Steves? I know you've got at least two Steves, right?

[Jeb] -Spirytus aquired, but just two shots for now-

[CP] - Yeah, usually when a brine shows up, the Steve and Alex will sometimes follow. But there's a bunch of different relations between the groups

[Jeb] Bangs a shot and snickers- Yeah... you aren't gonna fuck yours. That would be weird. - swimmy expression

[Yster] Do you have an Alex?

[CP] Scowls a bit- Yeah, but she's not from the same era as Stevie and I, she was created by Harvestman

[Yster] Stops mid bite- He... shouldn't be able to do that.

[CP] - Well he did

[Yster] That's not good... gods he's a piece of work. He should really be deleted.

[Jeb] Wow... this stuff is strong...

[CP] - Told ya- He's about five shots in- And Doc looked Alexis over, found some code meant to harm me if Alexis ever defected to my side or Stevie and I made up for some reason

[Yster] You know, we can't do it directly, but if we can provide something to help you fight, we could do it on the down-low.

[Jeb] Had the second shot and is certainly drunk-

[CP] - He's got a super dangerous sword right now, countering that is the main problem right now. A single small scratch from it completely deleted me

[Yster] I wonder how he got a hold of that...?

[Jeb] Time to partner up with your dad! Hic!

[CP] - Fuck no

[Jeb] But he's got the- the- shieldy thingie-

[CP] - Which I'm sure works both ways, nothing getting in, or out

[Jeb] Starts laughing - You could hold him by his feet and beat Harvester with the shield-

[Yster] Eye-roll

[CP] - I don't think he, my mate, or my brother would appreciate that- He changes the station on a different tv to a toddlers show

-Lots of cussing and some popcorn being tossed around as the remote is fumbled for-

[Jeb] Still laughing-

[Yster] Yeah, he's drunk.

[CP] - Told you that stuff was strong- He has had about twenty shots now

[Jeb] ssssokay I'm goooood

[Yster] And this is why I'm driving

[CP] - If he gets stupidly drunker Lie can sober him up

[Jeb] Noooooooo

[Yster] He's okay. Let him be drunk. He hardly gets to do this with Markus gone all the time.

[CP] Is starting to feel a buzz- Well he only has to ask and I can drag him in to Sam's bar

[Jeb] Sam is the mannn

[Yster] Do what now?

[CP] - Drag him into the game?

[Yster] No, I mean, you have a bar in the game? Heh, Makes me think of Tapper.

[CP] - It was originally made just for the brines, but everyone uses it. Sam is the skeleton bartender

[Yster] Weird. -eating wings-

[Jeb] Had another shot and is looking contemplative. - All you needs sa mods...

[CP] - Not when you can get the real shit from out here. Speaking of mods though, we've found some odd things on TLOT and Steve's server...

[Jeb] Spins an empty shot glass on the bar- I'm not supriissed. I went through some shit...

[CP] - Like dinosaurs?

[Jeb] I thought I deleted that one... fucking.. fuck... I was just trying to give em something....

[CP] - Well you missed them, and they've been found. The fucking raptors have created their own little civilization

[Jeb] hooo boy... ah well they can do their thing... that's probably the least of what's lurkin

[Yster] What are you talking about?

[CP] - And what else might there be?

[Jeb] Runs a finger around the rim of the glass... - maybe some big ol- bugs, other stuff... I was trying to give them a fighting chance. But nobody ever found the sword pieces... I don't even think they even found the fossils....

[CP] - Where are they?

[Jeb] Scattered around. Buried. It's supposed to be like a - like a treasure hunt mod.

[CP] - Oh for fucks sake...- He files the information away to let TLOT know later

[Jeb] Mighta helped... but they got away... oh well.. fucking NOTCH.... Good riddance.

[CP] - There's a chance another might have spawned

[Jeb] Blinks- oh yuuuusss, new cycles... they'll be different... and they've got the book-

[Yster] Elbows him hard-

[Jeb] OW!

[CP] - What book?

[Yster] Aggressively eating, she looks embarassed-

[Jeb] Slides down against the bar with his fingers spread- The bookitey book

[CP] - Need something more than that

[Yster] Nice one dipshit-

[Jeb] Yeeehehehheeh

[CP] Is about to ask again but his attention is drawn towards the door of the establishment. A slight scowl makes it's way to his face-

[Jeb] One more-

[Yster] No, you're already useless.

[CP] Is keeping his eyes trained on a familiar figure in a bright red coat with messy black hair-

[Yster] Notices his gaze- Friend of yours?

[CP] - Yeah...

[Locklear] Approaches the group- Ah, Herobrine, I thought it was you I saw entering here

[CP] - Fuck off Locklear

[Locklear] - Now now, no need for such language

[Jeb] Drunken wave-

[Yster] Turns to face the new person. - Hello

[Locklear] Focus' on Yster- Hello, I'm Dr. Locklear, and you are?

[Yster] Yster, and the drunken goofball is my boss Jeb.

[Jeb]Heyoooo.

[Locklear] - Charming, I see you're not participating in the festivities?

[Yster] Ah, just enjoying some wings. I like to make sure my friends get home safely, do you like chicken at all? -Holds up the plate. It's still has several wings and some celery and carrots

[Locklear] - Ah yes, I've tended to many a child, and no thank you

[CP] - Yeah by stealing organs for them

[Jeb] Hey!

[CP] - Oh shut up and drink some more

[Jeb] I'm not a child... And I'm practickkally a parent to you so shup.

[CP] - No you're not!

[Locklear] - Now why would you say that?

[Jeb] Becasssuuue I made the game!

[Yster] With a lot of help. You know it was Markus's dream to begin with.

[Jeb] Yeeeaaah.

[Locklear] - Ah, so in essence the gods of your game

[Jeb] Right on ya! I got temples an everythin-

[Yster] Yes, well some of us like to take a more personal approach then others.

[Locklear] - And you my dear?

[Yster] A little bit of everything. I make and marry sounds with things happening in the game, I do debugging, some item modeling, I work with the legal team too.

[Locklear] - You're a very educated woman then?

[Yster] Oh yes. I have a degree in software engineering.

[Locklear] - I see- He glances at a watch on his wrist- Well, I must be going, I'm on a tight schedule

[Jeb] Seems to sober up for a minute- Did someone say something about organs?

[Yster] You said you were a doctor? Are you on a hospital night shift or something?

[Locklear] Smiles a little- I suppose you could say that- He stands and moves towards the door

[Yster] Smiles slightly - Mystery man...

[CP] - Be careful

[Yster] If he's a friend of yours I'm assuming that is a literal warning.

[Jeb] Oh shit.

[CP] - I mean, he has better morals than the rest of us

[Yster] Eyebrow- What's his deal specifically?

[CP] - He seeks out very specific targets, usually murderers or rapists, tortures and steals their organs, and then gives the organs to those who need transplants

[Yster] Blank look- Well... I guess he's doing a weird kind of community service.

[Jeb] Just loooks scared-

[CP] - Relax, neither one of you is in danger from him

[Yster] Ah, Reminds me of Hannibal Lechter.

[Jeb] You love that shit.....

[Yster] Not my fault all you can watch is Disney movies with your kid.

[CP] Scoffs and drinks some more, starting to really feel the effects of the alcohol-

[Jeb] Gets another shot and downs it. He's just flopped on the bar. - Fuck.... you get it Cp, you got kids in da hooouuuse.

[CP] - One annoying little NOTCH

[Jeb] And all da babby dragonz

[Yster] I thought the kid one was okay?

[CP] - He keeps trying to get between me and Lie. And Endrea keeps her kids pretty well corralled

[Jeb] Welsh hez supposed to prtect her....

[CP] - There's nothing for her to be protected from!

[Jeb] Not everaaa Herobrine ish nice!

[CP] - Yeah but I'm meaner than them

[Yster] It's just a general objective. At least he's not trying to hurt her.

[CP] - Yeah yeah, whatever. At least he's hanging out more with Firebird than being at our place. Speaking of NOTCH's though, about that book

[Jeb] How to be a NOTCH 101!

[Yster] Shut up!

[CP] - I'm sorry, what?

[Jeb] So they don't do stupid shit... or else-

[Yster] Is beet red and embarassed as fuck

[CP] - I see...

[Jeb] Takes the tiniest sip from a mostly empty shot glass and suddenly flumps over.

[Yster] Annnd he's out cold.

[CP] - I did tell him that stuff was strong...- He's swaying a little himself

[Yster] It's not like he's never been drunk before. - gives the last bone a bit of a lick as she strips off the meat. - all done.

[CP] Just tucks the bottle into his jacket-

[Yster] Notices- A bit for the road? It's okay. He bought the bottle anyway.

[Bartender] Comes to check on them- Oh dear.

[Yster] It's okay. I'm sober. I'll make sure he gets home. - She pulls his wallet out of Jeb's pants and pays for the alcohol with one of his cards.

[CP] - He didn't listen to my warning

[Yster] I don't think it was that he didn't believe you, he was just okay with being drunk tonight.

[CP] Shrugs-

[Yster] Small smile- Shall we go then? Or are you not done annoying the patrons by playing with the tv?

[CP] Does it one last time, but with every tv in the building-

-General noises of anger from everywhere as they scramble to change the channels back-

[Yster] Haha, griefer.

[CP] - But of course- He stands up and grabs Jeb, dragging him towards the door

[Yster] Grabs a couple of peppermints off the bowl on the bar and follows- Thanks for that. He's hard to move when he's shit-faced. We usually bring Tokig to help out.

[CP] - What ever- He heads straight towards the car

[Yster] Hey, just a thought. Does the automatic item pick up thing work for you out here?

[CP] - Yes

[Yster] Flicks a peppermint at him and watches as the candy vanishes - You know that works for NOTCHs too, don't you?

[CP] - Yes, as it does for player too

[Yster] Gets an evil look- what if you chucked something at your NOTCH that he wouldn't want in his inventory?

[CP] - Probably just chuck it out

[Yster] Not if it's something infectious. Just thinking aloud...

[CP] Opens the back doors of the car and tosses Jeb into the back seat-

[Yster] Arranges Jeb a bit more comfortably and buckles him in before getting in the drivers seat herself. - just a normal weekend. I'd complain more if I had something else to do.

[CP] Takes the passenger seat and jams the seat as far back as he can just to make Jeb uncomfortable- What, no boyfriend?

[Yster] sighs- I usually scare them off.

[CP] - Little tiny you?

[Yster] And it's attitudes like that that inspired me to learn how to fight. I could kill a man with a pencil if I needed too.

[CP] - I'd like to see you try

[Yster] Scowls- I don't have to prove anything to you.

[CP] Shrugs, he's a bit drunk but does lean against the window of the car-

[Yster] Hunkers down a bit but she's driving carefully- They tend to not like my apartment either....

[CP] - Is it too messy?

[Yster] No, I collect horror memorobilia. I like it, but it's not exactly romantic.

[CP] - Laaaaame, all that stuff's comedy compared to what I lived with on a daily basis

[Yster] Once again, I have nothing to prove to you. I like what I like. Anyone who has a problem with it can take a flying leap.

[CP] - Whatever

[Yster] Pulls into the driveway of Markus's house- It's been real. Have a good rest. You seem a bit tipsy.

[CP] Glances at Jeb- Are you sure you don't want my wife to sober him up a little?

[Yster] Nah. He'll be fine.

[CP] Narrows eyes a little before stepping out of the car. Once near the door he attempts to teleport to the other side and ends up teleporting backwards instead-

[Yster] Snickers-

[CP] Scowls and tries again, clipping through the door a little-

[Yster] Loses it laughing- glad to see you enjoyed the alcohol

[CP] Quickly spots his wife bundled up on the couch sleeping and goes to join her, shifting her around until he is under her. As his guard is down from the alcohol he releases a calming aura as he drifts to sleep holding Lie-

[Doc] Tumbles out of Notch's Tv and looks around, Xe smiles when xe spots Cp snuggled with Lie and breathes a sigh of relief. They look around in the dark room for the others- -

[Deer] Is curled up in a chair and Flux is with Notch in his bedroom-

[Doc] Pulls up a footstool and leans on the chair with an arm around Deerheart's shoulders. Hir sigh of relief is audible as xe contacts hir lover-

[Deer] Snuggles into Doc and stirs a little- Love?

[Doc] Xe takes a deep draught of her scent- Missed you....

[Deer] Hums contentedly and falls back asleep-

[Notch] Wakes up in the morning and snuggles into Flux-

[Flux] Wakes up a little- Good morning

[Notch] It's always good when I wake up with you. Though I do feel a bit homesick.

[Flux] - True, I suppose CP's back by now...

[Notch] If he didn't break anything or kill and anyone last night, I'll count it as a win for everybody.

[Flux] - Shall we see if the others are awake yet?

[Notch] Sure- He gets slowly out of bed and heads down the hall.

[Flux] Stretches and follows Notch-

[CP] Is still holding Lie, asleep on the couch-

[Notch] Well it looks like Doc found us...

[Flux] - Did we tell them we had left the bunker?

[Notch] I don't think we did... shit... but then. You can trust Doc to find Deerheart without fail.

[Flux] - This is true- She looks over at CP as she laces her arm through Notch's- I wonder how your friend is faring this morning...

[Notch] Probably having a hangover.

[Flux] - Well at least CP won't have one

[Doc] Gives a little yawn-

[Deer] Snuggles a bit closer-

[Flux] - Should we make them some breakfast? Or should we just had towards the bar on the server?

[Notch] looks around at everyone and the space that still smells a bit of dust and neglect. - I think I've inconvenienced everyone enough for a long time. Let's go home.

[Flux] - Then let's wake them up

[Notch] has a sappy thought and sneaks over to Cp, he puts a gentle hand on the big brines shoulder and shakes him very slightly- come on son, let's go home.

[Doc] Is awake and quietly watching with a small smile-

[CP] Grumbles and pulls his wife a bit closer-

[Doc] Smootches Deerheart- time to go home I think

[Deer] Sleepily- Good

[Doc] I left Yaunfen with Buff all night, I'm sure they'll be glad to see you

[Deer] - I miss our baby

[Lie] Starts waking up as well-

[Doc] And I missed you-

[Notch] Come on Cp, you're the best portal maker. I don't mind if you go home and take lie straight back to bed.

[Doc] I'm not sure I'm feeling that patient - Xe gets up and takes a ready fighting stance before lunging forward to break a hole in reality that leads back home. The opening shows Doc's garden on the other side, it's afternoon there and Basil can be heard splashing around offshore.

[Deer] Rolls out of the chair- Home... [CP] Finally starts waking up-

[Buff] Walks up to the hole on the other side and looks though- Neat!

[Doc] smiles- yeah, sometimes it is.

[Notch] Steps through with a sigh of relief and offers a hand to Flux

[Lie] Stays urging CP along towards the opening-

[Flux] Accepts the hand and steps through-

[Notch] is watching her closely to see if she changes back to her normal colors

[Flux] After a few moments is her usual purple self-

[Notch] Ah, you're lovely as a human, but this face is the one I fell in love with. - he holds her gently and kisses her deeply-

[Buff] Heart eyes -

[Doc] Your turn my love?

[Deer] Smiles and steps through, her transition back taking just a little longer because of what she lost-

[Flux] Returns the kiss and reaches up, undoing the magic on Notch's hair-

[Notch] Thank you, I was missing that-

[Flux] - You're welcome

[Doc] oh thank goodness.

[Lie] Guides her tired mate through-

[Yaunfen] Is dozing in the sun, having stayed up very late due to the excitement of Deer returning-

[Doc] closes the hole with a flourish. - Xe slips a hand around Deerheart and dips her with a kiss

[Buff] You're little one passed out, but I'm sure they'll be happy when they wake

[Deer] Smiles and once released by Doc goes to give Yaunfen a gentle hug- I've missed you so much baby

[Doc] So did I miss anything? You guys kinda snuck off without me

[CP] Pulls out the bottle from the previous night- Got more booze for the bar

[Flux] - We visited where all of this started

[Doc] Thats... good? You mean?

[Notch] I took her to see the mainframe at the Mojang office.

[Flux] - I may have stumbled across CP's Notch while looking at all the servers as well

[CP] - What?

[Notch] She just spotted him moving around from outside the computer, he didn't see us or anything.

[CP] Growls- Which seed?

[Notch] Shrugs and looks at Flux.

[Flux] - Why do you wish to know?

[CP} - So I can tear that bastard apart

[Notch] Not yet. I don't want to see anybody get hurt. We still don't have a way of countering him.

[Doc] You remember what happened last time.

[Notch] Did Jeb tell you anything useful?

[Buff] Can I help at all?

[CP] Getting angrier- Just tell me! I'm nearing an energy surge! That should be enough to take him down!

[Lie] - CP no!

[Doc] Goes pale - This is not a problem to be solved by battering yourself against a wall Cp.

[CP] - BUT HE SHOULD BE WEAKENED BY NOW!

[Doc] Please tell me what you did to keep from freaking out while you were irl. You should have had one of these already since your sword went missing.

[CP] - Fucking Polybius and Karla... And fucking

[Doc] Karla did something to you?

[CP] - Had a fucking black feather that did weird shit

[Notch] How odd.

[Buff] A feather?

[Doc] Could we ask her to do it again?

[CP] - OR I COULD JUST GO KILL THE BASTARD!

[Doc] A bit bitter- Do you really want to be a kitten and a kid again Cp?

[Lie] - Let's try this...- She summons a vampiric flower

[Notch] That looks dangerous...

[Doc] Takes a big step back but stays between the flower and hir mate and child-

[CP] Looks at it- That did nothing last time

[Lie] - Try again

[CP] - No

[Buff] Well it's kinda neat looking.

[Lie] - CP please...

[Buff] Don't be a jerk to your wife. - He picks up Cp, holding his hands to his sides and sets him down firmly next to the flower.

[CP] - FUCKER!- His foot moves a little and he feels an instant drain on his power

[Doc] Is that better?

[CP] - Fuck you...

[Lie] - I think it worked

[Doc] Thank goodness. I'm in no mood to fight with you Cp.

[CP] - Yeah well maybe you should be checking your NOTCH's inventory

[Buff] Looks worried-

[Doc] Why would I do that?

[CP] - Because they were given things

[Buff] ....

[Doc] Looks at them both- what kind of things?

[Deer] - I'm sure it's nothing, if it were bad, Buff would have told us, or CN

[Buff] Muttering to himself quietly - I'm doing a good job....

[Lie] - Are you sure you're not delirious CP?

[Doc] At Deerheart - Do you know something about this? Or is this just a character assessment?

[Deer] - I know a little, I assure you, it's nothing harmful

[Doc] Well I do trust your judgement.

[Notch] I doubt it would be anything bad. Nearly the whole development team is on our side.

[Flux] - Let's turn our thoughts to other things, we did only just wake up, we could use some food

[Buff] Looks a little relieved. - I've been up a while, is it okay for me to go sleep?

[Deer] - Absolutely Buff

[Buff] Thank you - he hurries off.

[Doc] What about Yaunfen? I guess we should wake them up.

[Deer] - Or we could carry them in our other forms

[Notch] I just want to go home. Is that okay with you Flux?

[Flux] - Absolutely

[Doc] Oh? You want to go to the bar? I was just going to make something.

[Deer] - Let somebody else do the work Doc, I want to tell you everything I saw

[Doc] Smiles hugely- thank you love. I can't wait to hear it. - Xe steps away from the garden and flops out into hir dragon shape. - Ahhh.... bliss. Ready when you are.

[Deer] Shifts as well, picking Yaunfen up and putting her child on her back-

[Lie] - Come on CP, we should take your new liquor to Sam

[CP] - Fine fine

[Doc] Is it okay to just leave that flower?

[Lie] - I don't know...

[Doc] Then... Cp? Can we have a small fireball? That might be the best route. No sense in leaving hazards laying around.

[CP] - Gladly- He quickly burns the flower

[Doc] Good job. - Xe gets to hir feet and shakes out hir mane a bit- Anybody wants a ride speak now, or you'll be walking.

[Lie] - Walking is fine

[CP] - Fuck no

[Doc] Your choice. I just need to strech my legs a bit anyway. Let's go- Xe starts trotting towards the bar.

[Lie] Follows them, knowing CP will follow her-

[Deer] Moves smoothly, trying her best not to disturn Yaunfen-

[Doc] Falls back to walk next to her and busks her gently, brushing her a little with hir tail fluff.

[Deer] Hums happily at the contact before glancing at Yaunfen- I'm betting our little one has a lot to tell me too

[Doc] I'm kinda glad they didn't see you before you changed back . I think they might have been weirded out a bit. - Playfully nomms the nub of one of her antlers-

[Deer] - Well eventually they will see it

[Doc] Yeah, gonna warn them first though. I tried to wake you, but you were out of it. I feel bad for leaving them with Buff all night. Well it was probably two days here at least.

[Deer] - Oh... That's right, time moves differently

[Doc] Num num on a different nub and gives her a smootch- I missed you so much. Apparently TLOT had some trouble too. Someone stole the grass block out of Nessies temple. They took her Nether Star too.

[Deer] - Oh no! Were they able to fix everything at least?

[CP] - So somebody actually pissed off the bitch?

[Doc] You say that like she isn't easy to make mad. And yes and no. Lie replaced the block and she and TLOT and Steve slew a wither, but the new star hasn't been delivered yet. The whole thing worries me.

[CP] - Why give her another? She won't use it

[Doc] I'm not sure. It's a good way to keep her from bitching, and to be fair it's not a huge deal to let her have one. It's decently symbolic for her native Herobrine to give her some small treasure since she was the acolyte of his enemy and we have a kind of agreement with her now.

[CP] Scoffs- Maybe Notch should give it too her

[Doc] I assure you he is not interested in Nessie worshipping him. And it seems to make Flux jelous as fuck.

[Deer] - Yes, but it might get her to be calm for a little while at least

[Doc] Eh, this is TLOT's diplomatic thing, let him handle it.

[Deer] - Alright

[Yaunfen] Shifts around on Deer's back-

[Doc] Gives Yaunfen a loving nudge- We're both here sweetheart

[Deer] - Wake up sweet heart

[Yaunfen] Sleepily looks around- Mama?

[Doc] Coos over them-

[Yaunfen] Wakes up more- Mama! Mama!

[Deer] Laughs a little- Yes baby, I'm right here

[Yaunfen] Lunges to wrap themselves around Deer's neck

[Doc] Is purring a lot-

[Lie] Smiles and leans into CP a little-

-The group reaches the bar and Doc walks across the air so that Deerheart can use the little bridge. Xe's high stepping like a horse and wearing the biggest smile.

[Yaunfen] Is excitedly blabbering about everything they did while Deer was gone-

[Doc] Waits by the door and opens it for Lie and Cp-

[Lie] She and CP enter the bar-

[Deer] Encourages Yaunfen to get smaller and goes smaller herself once Yaunfen is on the ground-

[Doc] Shrinks down as well and takes the opportunity to group hug them - Did you have fun with Buff kiddo?

[Yaunfen] - Yes! We did lots of running and jumping!

[Doc] Figures, - xe leads them inside-

[Sam] Waves to everybody-

[CP] Plops the bottle of alcohol onto the counter- For the collection

[Sam] Examines it closely -

[Doc] So what it is? More vodka? It looks like a brown rum.

[CP] - Whiskey

[Sam] Signals that Gk will be happy.

[Lie] Takes a seat- Hey Sam? Could we get some breakfast?

[Sam] Nods and gets to work-

[Doc] So Notch said something about you hanging out with Jeb?

[CP] - Yeah, he promised me booze

[Doc] Oh, hence the bottle. I presume he was smart enough to get you something super strong rather then beer after beer after beer.

[CP] - That stuff's almost on par with the polish vodka

[Doc] Duly noted.

[CP] - Yeah, Jeb also got super drunk and let some things loose

[Doc] Anything that might actually help us?

[CP] - Ummm... TLOT's seed is modded?

[Doc] That would explain a few things. Do we have any idea what kind of mods?

[CP] - Well the main one seems to be a sword that you have to search for all the pieces for

[Doc] A sword? Why on earth....? That's like trying to find a single endermite in a nether fortress.

[CP] - It would have been useful against his old NOTCH

[Doc] Now there's a problem I'm glad to be rid of...

[Sam] Starts passing out plates - Lie has a mess of scrambled eggs with bacon and potatos, Cp has a plate with bacon, sausages and a steak.

[Lie] - Thank you Sam

[CP] - Who knows, the sword could still be useful

[Sam] Lays out a lot of syrupy waffles, bacon, milk, and coffee for Doc, Deerheart and Yaunfen-

[Doc] Maybe. I'll add it to the addenda.

[Yaunfen] Immediately starts shoveling food into their mouth-

[Doc] It's really the theft itself that worries me. Who steals from a bunch of monks who practice fighting all day?

[CP] - A weirdo?

[Doc] Drinks hir coffee and takes a thoughtful bite of waffle- yeah... but it feels symbolic. They took a grass block and replced it with a cobweb block. You can't place those under normal circumstances, it's a creative move.

[CP] - Looks like TLOT needs to pay a bit more attention to his seed

[Doc] He's not an admin Cp. He doesn't even have a server spirit like Deerheart or Flux to consult.

[CP] - Well then what do you suggest?

[Doc] I'm not sure. I mean, he doesn't have any desire to just rule them all with an iron fist or anything. Just smack them back into line if they're mistreating one another.

[CP] - Well he'd better figure out something unless he's too scared to even return to his own seed

[Doc] Somehow I think you're just being mean and baiting me now.

[CP] Scowls- TLOT has a seed that he can go to at any time and yet he will not, I WANT to return to my seed but can't! He's being a coward!

[Doc] I think you don't understand that he doesn't have the same sentimental feelings for his seed as you do. The mobs don't obey him, all the homes he made there were destroyed, and the Testificates don't need him to run their lives. He's happy wherever Steve is, and the rest of his friends.

[CP] Would stand and storm out but Lie stops him-

[Lie] - CP... I know you want to go there, make certain your generals are alright but-

[CP] - You don't get it! I have no idea what is happening to my army! Winston has not reported back in ages! For all I know it's because he's been destroyed! If I try to move what remains of my mobs, Harvestman will follow! And yet TLOT can freely go between his seed and here and yet he WON'T take advantage of that! It's absolutely asinine!

[Doc] I'm sorry Cp. I've offered to move your people many times and you always refuse me. I don't know what to do for you. And I know you're angry but I don't understand why you want TLOT to leave so badly. He has little reason to do so.

[CP] - Because if this is a threat to him or his people, he has a chance of protecting them as I currently can't do for mine!

[Doc] If you want to help him, I'm sure he'd be grateful for it.

[CP] Dissolves into an angry silence-

[Doc] Do you want to help?

[CP] - Fuck off

[Doc] I'll let him know. If he doesn't already. That was quite an outburst.

[Deer] - Love, let's just give him some space

[Doc] Nods- You said you had things to tell me anyway.

[Deer] - Oh yes!- She begins listing of all the small things that she saw and her pottery lesson

[Doc] Did you pick up any souveniers while you were out? I'll make a note to go check on Mort in a few days to see how your bowl is doing-

[Deer] - Um, just some food

[Doc] Something new?

[Sam] Is now listening intently-

[Deer] Nods and pulls out the food Markus had given them-

[Doc] Is already multipling things and passing copies to Sam. - So this green stuff is kinda slimy but it smells good... the potatos are familiar enough, but what the brown crumbly stuff? It smells like meat.

[Deer] - It is! It's fried chicken!

[Doc] Makes some copies and sniffs a piece before taking a bite- Oh that's good... it's messy and probably terrible for humans, but I like it!

[Deer] - Yup!

[Lie] Is speaking soothingly to CP, trying her best to calm him-

[CP] Has had enough and just leaves, leaving an awkward silence behind-

[Doc] Turns to see him go. - I'm sorry Lie. I know he's upset about his mobs, but I don't know what to do for him. I'm no match for Harvestman either.

[Lie] - But he does bring up a good point, we haven't heard anything for some time

[Doc] What about you and Endrea? Can either of you contact Winston?

[Lie] - Endrea might be able to... But if she dies over there...

[Doc] I said contact him. Not go over there. Winston can come here, remember? Even if he's the only one we can save, that's better then nothing

[Lie] - I'll ask her about it later

[Doc] Do I need to use the chat for you again Lie? You can whisper you know.

[Lie] - No, it's just at this time of day she's feeding the kids and the other dragons that need it

[Doc] I see.

[Lie] - I'll catch her when she gets home

[CN] Is still a bird but is almost finished molting, his brown feathers having turned a shimmering blue and black-

[Firebird] -Has 100% been gathering up lost feathers and moving them to where CN can't get to them-

[CN] His flight skill has increased and he's hunting for the feathers-

[Firebird] -Watching CN flit about-

[CN] Frustrated noise in that he can't open chests to look-

[Firebird] -Small grin-

[CN] Defeated he flies over to Firebird and lands on his shoulder-

[Firebird] Given up? -Pets CN a bit-

[CN] Long frustrated noise-

[Firebird] -Just small grin- I'll take that as a yes. But really, why would you want your old feathers? Look at em now!

[CN] Slight consenting noise-

[Firebird] -Pet pet- You know, about now you could probably turn back. The lock down of forms ended a while ago.

[CN] Loud indignant and somewhat angry noise-

[Firebird] What? -Innocent look-

[CN] Beats Firebirds face with his wings-

[Firebird] -Amused laugh before patting CN a bit- Do you know how to Switch back?

[CN] Shakes his head+

[Firebird] Well, I'm not sure how it works for others, but I focus really hard on what I looked like and just... Will myself to be that way. You give it a try.

[CN] Shuts his eyes and concentrates, vibrating a little he's so focused-

-After a couple if minutes he starts shifting back-

[Firebird] There ya go.. While you're at that.. -Switches to his usual form, petting his tail fringe a bit.-

[CN] Tumbles awkwardly to the ground, naked-

[CN] - Firebird! I'm back to normal!- He does not see the little tuft of feathers covering his butt

[Firebird] Good job! Do you have any clothing with you bud? -He doesn't see them yet either-

[CN] Looks in his inventory- No, they must be in my room

[Firebird] Alright, let me see what I can scrounge up -Moves about to poke and prod through chests-

[CN] Starts looking for his molted feathers-

-They're all crammed in a single chest-

[CN] Happily starts pulling them out-

-A lot of feathers, enjoy bird kid-

[Firebird] Hmmm.... -Fabric ruffling noises-

[CN] Starts going through them trying to find the best-

[CN] - Of yeah, sorry I destroyed your book Firebird...

[Firebird] Hm? My book? I thought it was yours... -Turns, a bundle of fabrics in hand- Oh! CN, you have a tail.

[CN] - WHAT!?- He spins in a circle trying to look

[Firebird] Kind of like mine, but still tiny.

[CN] - But... But...

[Firebird] But? -Walks over and offers CN the flowing clothing articles so He can pick one- Do you not like it?

[CN] Quietly- I'm not supposed to have a task...- He starts looking through the clothes

[Firebird] So? If you like it it doesn't matter if you do or not. -Most seem like old white shirts of his, one still has a long yellow cape clipped onto it-

[CN] Pulls on the one with the cape- I don't know...

[Firebird] Well, I'd say give it a week or two, see if it grows on you. You wanna go down now?

[CN] - Yes please, I'm tired of eating seeds

[Firebird] Alright, here. Hang on. -Holds an arm out to CN- I gotta find one of the doors first though...

[CN] Takes Firebirds hand-

[Firebird] -Guides CN along before finding one of the balconies of the tree. It's got a bunch of carpets and a nest in one corner- ahh, here we go.

[CN] - Your best looks a lot better then the one I tried to make...

[Firebird] I've had a lot of practice. A lot.

[CN] - Oh... Will I want to build more?

[Firebird] Maybe, you might. I find them comfortable when I'm a bird and just to lounge around in. Now that you can fly you might find a few of them around. Here, you wanna hold onto my shirt, I'm gonna bring us down.

[CN] - Huh? Okay- He reaches his arms out to grab Firebirds shirt

[Firebird] Both hands, and do not let go.

[CN] - Got it!- He grips tightly with both hands

[Firebird] -Makes sure CN's secure before backing up a few steps, taking parts of his cape in his hands. He rushes forward and sails off the edge of the balcony, heading down. Because they're near the top there's a long way to go. Firebird is totally laughing like a madman.-

[CN] Shrieks in fear-

[CN] - FIREBIRD!

[Firebird] -Laughing as they sail closer to the ground-

[CN] - FIREBIRD LOOK OUT!

[Firebird] -Throws his arms out after a moment, them jerking upward into the air before sailing along the desert a bit-

[CN] Whimpers a little-

[Firebird] Oh shhh... You're fine. -Sticks his legs out, milling them a bit as they get closer to the ground-

[CN] Clutches tighter- That was scary...

[Firebird] That was FUN! You'll learn to enjoy that sort of thing! -Lands and scuttles along the ground a few steps-

[CN] - I don't know...

[Firebird] -Slows to a pace CN can hop off if he wants to- You'll see...

[CN] Jumps down- So where are we going?

[Firebird] - shrugs a bit -

[CN] Kicks some sand as he walks- Can we get food?

[Firebird] Sure, what you hungry for? We could stop at the doctors..

[CN] - Mmmmm... Steak!

[CN] Runs a bit ahead of Firebird-

[Firebird] -Walks after CN- Sounds good.

7 notes · View notes

spnroundrobin · 7 years ago

Text

Masterpost: Round Three - Ship Round

Prompt: Newly human Cas has been staying at the bunker and helping the boys with research while they are away on hunts but has been feeling lonely being in the bunker by himself. During one of the lulls between hunts, he broaches the subject of getting a pet. Dean isn’t very excited about the idea. (established Destiel)

(Remember: This is the ship round so ship to your heart’s content. We’d like to keep this Teen rated so no sexual acts on screen. Innuendo is allowed. Sam is in the bunker so he can be included but side characters will have to be over the phone or on Skype.)

Schedule and Posting Instructions

(As submissions are made, they will be posted here by the mods.)

#1 @deadlykittenkay - Submission: 1

Cas was sitting at the table with books spread out before him and Dean’s laptop. He had decided to take a break from his research on how to get Mary back from the other universe. He always enjoyed watching videos online the featured little kitties and puppies playing. Sometimes Sam would try to find one that he hadn’t seen yet and send it to his phone while he and Dean were hunting.

Cas muted the current video of a cat pretending to be the famous Pokemon character when he thought he heard the bunker door open. After several beats of silence, Cas let out a heavy sigh. The bunker was such a lonely place without another living presence there, whether it be the Winchesters or Jody and Claire. Cas needed a companion, especially if Dean continued to be the over protective boyfriend, insisting that Cas stay behind on the bigger jobs.

#2 @zolaliz - Submission: 1

Of course, Dean would never agree to a pet.

“Who’ll feed it when we’re away, knee deep in some world-ending shitfest? No one. And then it’ll stink up the bunker.”

Cas scowled, recalling the conversation. As much as he hated to admit, Dean did have a point.

He mentally ruled out cats and dogs, glancing longingly at the muted laptop screen. Most mammals would need the same amount of care. Cas had learned over the past few weeks that humans were included in that category of high-maintenance, as he struggled with remembering to eat and sleep. This only added fuel to Dean’s runner-up argument against getting Cas a companion.

“You gotta start taking care of yourself before you go off trying to take care of something else, Cas,” Dean would say, in that highly hypocritical way of his (though Cas highly doubted that was intentional). But Cas reasoned he could work around that argument once he found a way to make Dean’s first one void.

He clicked open a new tab, and tapped “pets that don’t need to eat” into the search bar. Unsurprisingly, it heeded no helpful results.

“Maybe I’ll try to refine the search,” he mumbled, and bounced his fingers over the keys again.

#3 @ravenscat-tumbler - Submission: 1

Cas spent hours trying to find the perfect pet that would be low maintenance but that would still keep him company. He finally decides on a hamster. He knew that it would be easy to care for and not very costly. The little guy would also keep him company when Dean and Sam were away for cases.

The only thing now was to convince Dean to let him get one. He knew that Sam would be open to the idea and he also knew that Sam would help him convince Dean. So, he just had to bring up the idea with Sam first.

Perfect, now all he had to do was wait for the brothers to come home, hopefully safe and in one piece. He sits back and stretches on his chair. He does some more research and finds some useful things to help the brothers speed up their hunt. He picks up the phone and before he can dial he gets an incoming call from Dean.

He answers with a smile.“Hello, baby. I was just about to call you.” Cas answers.

#4 @blue-reveries - Submission: 1

“I just wanted to let you know that Sam and me are on our way back,” Dean said. Castiel could hear the rumble of the Impala in the background as Dean paused. “You sound like you’re in a good mood, any particular reason why?”

Cas scowled; was he really that transparent? He was going to have to seriously up his game if his plan to bring Dean around on the pet front but he knew it was going to have to be extra devious. His eyes widened and he smiled as an idea occurred to him.

“Nothing really but I was going to ask if you were going to be home tonight?” Cas replied smoothly, standing up to wander into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and started taking inventory.

Dean hummed in the affirmative. “Yep, we’re only about an hour out now. I was going to ask if what you wanted for dinner, we’ll stop somewhere on our way in.”

Smiling, Cas pulled his chosen items from the fridge. “Actually, since you’re almost home, I was thinking I could make something,” he said, grinning to himself. “I need something to do anyway and you guys are probably sick of take out.”

“That sounds really freaking good,” Dean sighed happily. “We’ll see you in a bit, babe.” This was followed by a quieter, “love you.”

“Love you too,” Cas said, smiling and shaking his head. All this time and Dean was still shy about saying that when Sam was nearby. It didn’t bother him since he knew it was just a fear of brotherly teasing, not that Dean was ashamed of them. “See you soon.”

After Dean hung up, Cas sat his phone down and looked at the pile of ingredients in front of him before glancing at the clock. He calculated carefully and smiled as he started peeling potatoes.

An hour was plenty of time.

Almost exactly an hour later as Cas was putting the finishing touches on the food, a familiar metallic clang echoed through the bunker and signaled the boys return. He worked quickly to clean up and wash his hands, hurrying out to the main area to see Dean and Sam’ booted feet clomping down the staircase.

“Oh my god, what smells so good?” Dean groaned as he walked over to drop his bag on the map table. He smiled brightly and pulled Cas into a tight hug, giving him a quick peck on the lips at the same time.

Sam rolled his eyes affectionately. “Hey, Cas,” he said as he walked by to place his armful of books on the table. “I’m gonna go clean up before I eat. Don’t let Dean eat it all. He’s been whining for the last half hour about how hungry he is.”

Stepping back from Dean but not dropping his hand, he chuckled. “Don’t worry, Sam. I’ll make sure to save you some.”

“Speaking of food,” Dean interjected not so smoothly as Sam disappeared down the hall to his room. He draped himself over Cas’ back and wrapped his arms around his waist. “What are we having?”

“I may have made homemade bacon cheeseburgers and fresh cut french fries,” Cas said innocently; happy that Dean couldn’t see the smug smirk on his face.

Dean squeezed him into a quick hug and kissed him on the cheek. “Mmmm…my favorite…”

Exactly, Cas thought, internally preening as everything fell into place as he planned as he and Dean trooped to the kitchen. And just wait until you see the peanut butter pie.

#1 @Deadlykittykay Submission: 2

As expected, Dean showed his appreciation for the burgers with gusto. He would moan appreciatively with each bite, his cheeks filling like that of a chipmunk, or better yet, much like the hamsters videos Cas had seen on YouTube. Castiel couldn’t help but smile at Dean fondly every time he did this. Even Sam was enjoying his meal, despite his brother’s unseemly manners.

Cas had missed the brother’s terribly and watching them bicker and interact with each other, even throwing stray fries at one another, filled Cas’ chest with warmth. Between this, the feel of Dean’s knee knee against his own, and listening to Sam retell the story of the latest hunt, Cas nearly forgot about his mission behind tonight’s dinner.

“So,” Sam started, pushing his plate away and smiling at Cas. “What were you up to while we were gone?”

Cas just shrugged, glancing at Dean before redirecting his attention to Sam. “The usual. I’m still trying to find some lore about alternate universes. It’s a bit trickier than I had imagined.”

“Come on, Cas,” Dean nudged his knee with his own, giving him a found smile. “Don’t tell me you were a nerd the whole time.”

Cas rolled his eyes and reached for the brother’s empty plates. “No, Dean. I did more than research. I watched Netflix and YouTube videos. Pie?” he asked quickly, internally kicking himself when Dean groaned at the mention of the videos

#2 Submission: 2

Skipped

#3 @ravenscat-tumbler - Submission: 2

“Pie?” Dean’s face lights up at the mention of pie. “You made pie too? God, you’re perfect.” He says and then immediately blushes.

Sam snorts into his cup as he tires and fails miserably to hide his laugh. Dean glares at him and rubs the back of his head in embarrassment.

“I’ll go get that pie now.” Cas says.

Dean nods not meeting anyone’s eye.

“I’m gonna go put these plates in the kitchen.” Sam says, grabbing the dishes off the table and heading after Cas.

“Hello, Sam. Do you have a minute?” Cas asks as Sam walks into the kitchen.

“Yeah man, what’s up?” He asks, putting the dishes in the sink and leaning back against the counter. He looks at Cas and waits patiently.

Cas takes a breath, “I would like to get a hamster.” He says in one go.

“A hamster?” Sam tilts his head.

“A hamster.” Cas repeats again. “I need someone to keep me company when you two leave to go on long hunts.”

“Uhm, Ohhkay. So what’s the big issue?” Sam says, scratching the back of his head.

“And I need your help to convince Dean.”

Sam groans, “Dammit, that’s gonna be hard but alright, I’ll help you.”

Cas smiles warmly at Sam.

#4 @blue-reveries - Submission: 2

A quick and rough plan was quickly established and it all started with an extra large slice of peanut butter pie and Netflix.

“Wow, that was so freaking good,” Dean groaned, leaning back in his chair and patting his stomach before letting out a contented belch that had Sam scrunching his nose. Cas picked stood up and collected their plates. Dean tugged him down and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, a sure sign that he was in an extra happy mood. That would make the next stage of the plan easier.

Sam pushed back from the table and stood up. “I think I’m going to get into some sweats and watch some Netflix, you guys in?”

Dean replied in the affirmative and, while Cas quickly washed up the dishes, he and Sam went to change since Cas was already comfortably dressed. Fifteen minutes later, Cas and Dean were on the sofa in the room that had become the unofficial den after they’d picked up a couch at a second hand store. Sam was booting up Netflix from his armchair.

They settled on a light comedy show since Sam and Dean weren’t really interested in anything heavy after being out on a hunt. Cas curled up next to Dean and rested his head on his shoulder but he wasn’t really watching the show. He was waiting for his opportunity.

Three episodes in he enacted phase two.

Over the course of the next episode, Cas slowly and carefully situated himself so that his head was pillowed in Dean’s lap, one hand resting on his knees. According to plan, Dean began absentmindedly running his fingers through Cas’ hair while he continued to watch and Cas pretended to fall asleep.

“You know, I kinda feel bad for him,” Cas heard Sam say after about twenty minutes of ‘sleeping’. “Cas seems like he’s been sort of lonely while we’re gone.”

Dean grunted. “What makes you say that?”

“Oh, he just mentioned how nice it was to have people moving around in the bunker again,” Sam said, his voice appropriately casual. Dean continued to toy with Cas’ hair, a sign that he was still relaxed. “I have to admit, it does get boring here when you’re by yourself.”

“I mean, we could probably take him on a few extra hunts,” Dean said though he sounded extremely reluctant, “but it’s really been working out for us to have someone here at home base.”

Cas heard Sam shifting in his seat. “Oh, yeah, I agree,” Sam replied before letting the conversation pause for a little bit. Cas had to work really hard to keep his body relaxed. “I don’t think it would hurt to have a pet around here though.”

The hand in Cas’ hair froze.

Dean sighed heavily and Cas’ stomach twisted in anticipation. “Sam,” he said heavily, his hand starting to move again, “you know my stance on pets, man. Cats hate people and dogs are just too high maintenance for a bunch of dudes who routinely get stuck on the road for weeks at a time. It’s not like we can call up the neighbors and ask them to pet sit.”

Cas felt his stomach start to sink. Dean wasn’t going to go for it; having Sam talk to Dean first wasn’t going to help his case. He had just decided to ‘wake up’ and forget the whole thing when Sam spoke up.

“But what if it wasn’t a cat or a dog?”

#1 @deadlykittenkay - Submission: 3

“Then what, Sammy?” Dean asked his voice sounding much more tired than Cas had ever heard come from the hunter. “A fish? So that way we can come home to it bloated and floating upside down? Think of how he reacted when you accidentally killed the bee last year. How do you think he’s going to react to a fish dying. Not just any fish but his fish.”

Sam sighed and leaned forward, bracing his forearms onto his thighs. “Not a fish, Dean.”

“Well I’d rather go to Hell again than have a snake or glorified spider in the bunker.”

“What about a hamster?” Sam tried.

Dean wrinkled his nose in distaste. “I don’t know, Sammy. They’re rodents.”

Sam’s eyes connected with Cas’ from across the room. Cas opened his mouth to say something but closed it when he saw the flick of Sam’s hand, motioning for him not to say anything.

“Dean,” Sam said softly, a tone that Dean knew as the one Sam uses when he pulls his lawyer card on someone. “You love Cas, right?”

#2 @zolaliz - Submission: 3

Skip

#3 @ravenscat-tumbler - Submission: 3

“Of course I do!” Dean says a little too loudly. He bites his lip and looks down at Castiel, who stirs in protest.

Castiel keeps calm and tries not to open his eyes.

“Of course I do.” Dean says again, a little quieter this time.

“Then don’t you want him to be happy?” Sam asks.

“I do,” Dean says, looking down and carding his hand through Cas’ hair. “but I don’t see how a stupid hamster is going to do that.” He grumbles out.

“It will Dean, trust me. It will.” Sam says. “It gets pretty lonely here when you are alone.”

Dean sighs softly, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“I know.” Sam says smugly.

Castiel opens his eyes and looks in Sam’s.

Sam smirks down at him and Castiel mouths ‘Thank you’ at him.

#4 @blue-reveries - Submission: 3

When he’d “woken up” from his nap, Dean hadn’t said anything at first much to Cas’ disappointment. Maybe Dean had taken the time to think and decided that he’d changed his mind. It actually hadn’t been until they were getting ready for bed that Dean had haltingly admitted that he had been wrong and that it wouldn’t be a horrible idea for Cas to have a pet.

“So I guess, if you wanted, we could go to the pet store tomorrow and you know, look for some sort of critter…but only one.”

Cas tried extremely hard to receive Dean’s acquiescence towards getting a pet with grace and dignity and felt he succeeded…barely. Instead of jumping up and cheering at finally achieving his goal, he beamed and leaned in to kiss Dean silly before moving on to other ways to show his gratitude.

It would be well into the later part of the morning before they left their room for breakfast the next day.

After breakfast, which definitely seemed to take longer than normal to Cas, they left the bunker to head into town. Cas had the directions to the pet store pulled up on his phone; he’d spent days upon days while he’d been on his own researching the best places to find pets and had bookmarked marked them.

“Turn up here,” he said, pointing to the last turn that should take them to Pet-topia. Excitement had him practically vibrating in his seat as Dean pulled the Impala into the parking lot and maneuvered into one of the store’s parking spaces.

Dean looked vaguely grumpy as they got out of the car but Cas suspected that he was just trying to pretend to be upset that he’d caved to save face or other such nonsense. He trailed behind Cas as they entered the store.

There was a bored looking teenager standing at the register when they entered who sighed heavily and didn’t straighten from his slouched position over his phone when he asked in a flat voice, “welcome to Pet-topia, is there anything I can help you with today?”

“No, thank you,” Cas said, noting the teenager went happily back to his phone.

Keeping his and Dean’s discussion in mind, he forced himself to pass the rabbits and other larger animals despite the fact of how much he wished they were an option and walked on until they found themselves in front of the hamster display.

Looking down into the massive cage, he saw oodles of small balls of fluff; some of them scurrying around on the wood shaving covered cage floor or on the wheels while other’s nibbled at the food and water or laid sedately in their chosen spots. Cas looked down at the hamsters, his heart sinking ever so slightly.

How was he supposed to pick just one?

#1 @deadlyangelkay - Submission: 4

Dean could tell from the slightly panicked look in Castiel’s eyes and the frown etching it’s ways at the corner of his mouth, that he was over whelmed. Hell, Dean wasn’t even the one picking the damn rodent and he felt over whelmed.

Dean’s heart broke when he heard Cas mutter that he should just get a fish. He hated hearing the defeated tone in his love’s voice and was determined to make this easier.

Dean draped his arm around Castiel’s shoulder, pulling him closer and placing a kiss to his temple.

“How about this?” Dean suggested. “You spend some time with these little guys, see which one grabs your attention and I’ll go look at the cages and crap for his new home.”

Castiel gave Dean a small smile and nodded. “That is agreeable.”

“Awesome. Text me when you’ve found the one.” He gives Castiel another kiss, to the forehead this time and smiles at him before heading off to cages.

Dean had no idea that there were so many options for a hamster to call home. As if picking the perfect one was hard, Dean could only imagine how Castiel would feel about selecting a cage. Dean selected a colorful plastic monstrosity that had a Ferris wheel looking thing attached to it.

Of course, Dean turned down the wrong aisle and was accosted by the site of adorable balls of fluff. He would never admit it, but he had a soft spot for rabbits. The little balls of fluff with floppy ears and twitchy noses made Dean give pause every time. And this time was no different than any other time. Especially when one of the dwarf rabbits happened to be interested in his movements. Dean would be a bold face liar if he said that the damned ball of fluff hadn’t already set it’s hooks into him. And how could it not? It’s black fur contrasting with the bright blue eyes. Dean was so captivated by it that he hadn’t even noticed he had company.

“I thought you said no rabbits,” Castiel’s voice was soft and teasing.

#writer 2 drop

#3 @ravenscat-tumbler - Submission: 4

“I did not say that…” Dean starts, “And I’m not saying that now either.” He finishes. Castiel just smirks at him, eyes glinting.“Don’t give me that look.” He says, turning back to looks at the dwarf rabbit. “We can get the rabbit if you want to Dean.” Castiel says. He stands slightly behind Dean and places his hand on his lower back, looking at the rabbit with him. “He is a cute little fella, isn’t he?” Dean ask. “That he is.” “Alright, let’s get em.” Dean says, making up his mind. Castiel smiles warmly at Dean and then goes to talk to the person at the counter.The lady helps them pick out the necessary items they need to take the rabbit home. They leave the place with loads of bags and a lot less money than they came with. They come home and Sam is instantly taken to the little guy.“Hey, his features look like Cas’.” Sam says with the bunny on his lap. He scratches behind his ear and the rabbit wiggles his nose in content. Castiel smiles mischievously looking towards Dean, who had adverted his gaze and was pretending to read the bag of the food.“Is that why you wanted to get him, Dean?” “What?” Dean asks, looking up and pretending to hear them for the first time. “Did you want to get the rabbit because it had similar features to me?” “What? No! Don’t be ridiculous.” Dean says. “Anyways… what do we name the little guy?” He asks changing the topic.

#4 @blue-reveries - Submission: 4

The debate on what to name their, and Cas maintained that this pet belonged to all of them now after seeing Sam and Dean’s faces, rabbit raged on for the rest of the day until a decision was made just after dinner.

And so the rabbit was dubbed Bruce in honor of the Hulk and so that he had a “manly” name.

(Though Cas suspected Dean only agreed to the name so he could go around saying “Hello..my name is Bruce…” in an entirely inaccurate Australian accent despite his previous insistence that Finding Nemo had been boring.)

Originally when they’d been hammering out the details on where the hamster they’d been planning to get would reside, Dean had been adamant that “the critter” would be staying in the room next door to his and Cas’ room. He’d argued that he didn’t need a rodent in his living space. So Cas was surprised when Dean picked up the rabbit cage they’d purchased and carried it past the room they’d prepared only to enter their bedroom.

As much as Cas wanted to ask why their new pet was suddenly allowed to be in their room, he refrained. Today had been a big day for Dean what with agreeing to not only having a pet but changing that pet to a slightly bigger animal so he didn’t want to risk pushing his buttons too much. He cuddled Bruce to his chest as he watched Dean clear off a space on the one dresser for the rabbit cage; the little ball of fluff burrowing into the fabric of his t-shirt. Running his fingers through Bruce’s hair was extremely soothing and this pleased Cas.

Bruce wouldn’t be a substitute for actual human interaction but he’d definitely be a comfort and a fitting companion for when Sam and Dean needed to leave for extended hunts.

“There,” Dean said, stepping back to brush his hands off. He stood there, examining his handiwork for a bit before turning to face Cas. “Bruce’s place is all set.” Dean reached out and scooped Bruce out of his hands, cooing at him. “Here you are, big guy. A home just for you.”

It took every ounce of control that Cas had cultivated over millenias of existence to not burst out laughing at his self-proclaimed “macho” boyfriend turning into a puddle of goo in the presence of a small bunny.

#1 @deadlyangelkay - Submission: 5

A few weeks had passed since they had brought home both Bruce and Peanut. The brothers hadn’t found a case and it gave time for all three to bond with the animals. Cas’ favorite part was watching the rabbit and hamster interact and Dean’s reaction to it. At first Dean was hesitant, having his precious Bruce and the rodent near each other. But once Sam pointed out that essentially the two were brothers, Dean begrudgingly relented.

Now, it’s as if Dean looks forward to their play time. Castiel smiles fondly at Dean as he laughs at the way Bruce and Peanut play. More like the way that would climb over Bruce and Bruce would twitch his nose at the hamster. The best part about watching “their boys” – as Dean has started to call them – was the Dean would periodically lean against Cas. Happy, content, and peaceful.

Before Castiel knew it, it was time for the Winchesters to go off to another hunt. Dean gave Cas the familiar speech about how it was just a simple salt and burn and they would be back before he could miss them. And as always Cas would roll his eyes because after all this time, when has anything been easy for the Winchesters? A quick kiss goodbye and a promise to call when they got to the motel, Castiel was once again left in the large quiet bunker.

He scooped up Bruce into his arms, the little guy nuzzling into his shirt as he carried Bruce to the bedroom. “You know, there’s an excellent documentary on Netflix that you might like,” Castiel says softly, happy to no longer be alone.

#round three #masterpost #round three: ship round - masterpost #ship round #destiel

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doomedandstoned · 7 years ago

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ELDER

Rallies Russia!

-Review: Nick DiSalvo | Forward: Billy Goate-

-Photos: Mo Nemo | Film: Anton Rodionov-

"The funny thing I've noticed about Russians is how reserved they can be, but then when the music is playing they are going crazy, moshing or stage diving, and crowd surfing the whole time."

Earlier this month, Doomed & Stoned brought you a two-part feature on Acid King's first ever appearance in the Russian Federation. Now, we are pleased to present the sights and sounds of another cross-continental concert tour, that of the mighty ELDER.

You're looking at another stunner of a photoset from the young Saint Petersburg photographer Mo Nemo, snapped at Elder's MOD Club show on August 3rd, 2017. The night before, Nick DiSalvo (vocals, guitar), Jack Donovan (bass), Matt Couto (drums), and new member Michael Risberg (guitar) played at The Volta in Moscow. The Re-Stoned, a band we've long touted as a prime example of Russian heavy psychedelic rock, opened on that particular evening. Ilya Lipkin (guitar), Vladimir Kislyakov (bass), and Andrey Pristavka (drums) performed a sublime series of songs from their recent LP, 'Reptiles Return' (2016). It was, of course, time for Elder to show off fresh tracks, too, namely selections from the new album that topped the Doom Charts: 'Reflections Of A Floating World' (2017 - Stickman Records).

By all accounts, the setlist included almost all the songs from Reflections..., including "Sanctuary," "The Falling Veil," "Staving Off Truth," "Blind," and "Thousand Hands." Let me tell you, that second guitarist has sure come in handy in pulling these off! The band also played what is now a bonafide hit: "Compendium" off of 'Lore' (2015 - Armageddon Shop). That song in many ways foreshadowed the complexity of the new material. Then there was the beloved "Gemini" from 'Dead Roots Stirring' (2011 - MeteorCity Records), which no Elder performance would quite be complete without.

I reached out to frontman Nick DiSalvo this week for comment on their trip. "Well," he replied, "I can certainly share some thoughts about Russia in a stream of consciousness sort of way with you." That was just fine by me, and I invited Nick to give us all a first-hand account of his band's visit to this land rich in vodka, literature, political intrigue, and most of all music. My piano teacher, who came to the US from Russia for her doctorate degree, is a disciplinarian. From her I've gotten an idea of how seriously Russians take the art and the science of music. You'll find this quite easy to confirm both anecdotally and historically.

How, then, would heavy music fans of the Moscow and Saint Petersburg underground take to the soaring progressive stylings of these four ambitious muzykanty from the States? The next words your read will be from Nick's tablet...

We've been to Russia twice now, both times in the same cities (Moscow and St Petersburg). I can only assume that sounds as fascinating to most American readers as it was for us. I think we have a very biased view of Russia in the States and assume that the country is very "foreign." Let me tell you, that's definitely not the case in these two cities -- two of the biggest in Europe (if you want to count Russia as part of Europe). We're lucky to work with a really cool promotions team over there called Madstream. Their guys Andrey and Vadim have surprised us with their professionalism and hospitality that's truly a leg up from the rest of Europe, even. That's really saying something, since most European clubs and promoters treat bands amazingly.

We had an early flight in from Milan to Moscow and were pretty whacked out after an hour and half drive from the airport through the city to the venue. The city never ends! The sprawl of Moscow is truly awe-inspiring, not necessarily in the best way.

In Saint Petersburg (band photo)

We got in for soundcheck at the venue Volta. Big stage. The club could be suited for any kind of gig and certainly doesn't give off the dingy rock club vibes (except for the makeshift water closet backstage that really does remind you you're in Eastern Europe). Soundcheck is fine and we retire to a long forgotten luxury for a few hours, the hotel, to catch some sleep.

I sleep through my alarm and wake up to Mike jostling me, since we need to get back for bus call. This is different for us, getting shuttled around to hotels and back. Normally, we travel in a sort of converted camper van and a stationary bed and shower are truly a treat. I don't know how many fans we really have in Russia, in Moscow maybe 200-250 people come to the show. For a city of 20 million I'd say that it's not much, but the scene is really just developing here.

The fans who do come are rabid and we get a rare taste of what it must be like to play in a famous band. Leave the backstage area and everyone grabs you, wants a photo, an autograph, to tell you an anecdote, and you realize the bizarre and fantastic nature of your situation: an American band in Russia surrounded by people who are just like you, music enthusiasts stoked on a concert. The funny thing I've noticed about Russians is how reserved they can be, but then when the music is playing they are going crazy, moshing or stage diving, and crowd surfing the whole time.

Welcome Package! (band photo)

A nice photographer we met on our previous trip is backstage and gives us some gifts: a bottle of vodka, some matchboxes, lemonade, all labeled with handmade Elder labels. That's pretty damn cool. The venue feeds us well and too much on borscht (a Russian tomato soup), lasagna, chicken. It's all fantastic, too. Our show is fine, despite an amp blowing up. Matt, Mike, and I improvise a jam for what feels like 10 minutes while a stage crew struggles to replace it. After the gig, we hang for a bit with the fans and drink some beer, then head back to the hotel where Boris is checking in for their gigs in Russia the same week. We try to drunkenly convince them to hang out with us in our hotel room, but they politely refuse.

In Saint Petersburg (band photo)

The next morning we have a train to St Petersburg, 4.5 hours away with the fast train, which is super modern and clean like much of what we've seen of these cities. Jack and I laugh at English translations of items in the "on board shop" magazine, order some souvenirs, and are amazed to see our photo and some information about our gig last night in the train magazine (the equivalent of finding your photo in an in-flight magazine on an airplane). When we arrive we're again transported to a hotel in St Petersburg. This city's historical center is absolutely beautiful, full of "old" buildings (the city itself is relatively new, from the 1800s) and Czarist monuments and buildings. Instead of sleeping, we have a walk around and look for some food. We're not exactly successful.

Tickets for the big show! Photo by Denis Kolpakov

When we arrive at the venue for soundcheck, we're surprised to find it's directly in the historical center, not a five-minute walk from the winter palace. After soundcheck, we take a tour of the area with another guy from the show. The great thing about this area is the souvenirs. You can find amazing coffee mugs and all kinds of kitsch with photos of Trump and Putin on them (in 2016 it was mostly Putin kicking Obama's ass, etc.).

The show tonight is smaller, but also a lot of fun and we play every song we have, again. Last time St Petersburg was crazier, this time Moscow wins in the energetic fan competition, but still people are dancing, moshing, and having a great time. We do the dance of autographs and fan photos after the show and then return to the hotel, more exhausted than anything else. The next morning we manage to catch some breakfast in the lobby where a large Jewish travel group is doing the same. Our trip to the airport and back to the van waiting for us in Vienna is uneventful, but the trip in Russia leaves again a lasting positive impression that we're not so different after all.

Live & Loud:

Moscow

youtube

Live & Loud:

Saint Petersburg

"The fans who do come are rabid..."

"We're not so different after all."

Follow The Band.

Get Their Music.

#D&S Concert Review #Elder #New Bedford #Massachusetts #Progressive Metal #Doom #Metal #The Re-Stoned #Moscow #Saint Petersburg #Russia #Photography #Mo Nemo #Nick DiSalvo #Doomed & Stoned

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originaldetectivesheep · 7 years ago

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The Thirty and One Nights' Momentary Diversion - The Abortive Translation of Elinor Littlebranch

Tonight's tale comes to us from the near-future or an alternate present, as robots and humans, living together, examine what's truly meant by the "self"; where life and death touch that, and just exactly how sexy you can pose in a shirt from a goregrind band.

The Abortive Translation of Elinor Littlebranch

I lifted the clock up, shaking it a little, trying to see if anything would go weird just from getting it rattled around. I'd already reset it twice in the last three weeks, no power drops or anything, and it was already like an hour behind again. "Man," I said, "I really don't want to, but I gotta think I've got to replace this clock radio at last."

"I don't get why you haven't done it already," Elinor said from the doorway, leaning against the frame. "I mean, you cycle out old phones like nothing – what the hell are you so attached to an old clock radio for?"

I turned, still holding up the clock, a finger on the top to keep the long-broken cover of the cassette deck from falling off. "I've got a lot of history with this – I've had it since I went to college, even before; I first heard Hypocrisy on the radio over this thing, and one way or another it's survived from the era of cassettes to cloud-based streaming, still pretty much working the way it's supposed to. It's seen the singularity, six girlfriends, three inter-state moves, and now nearly four years of an AI roommate who doesn't know what knocking is, or why she ought to do it around other people's doors."

"I could be your alarm clock," Elinor said, reaching up to tousle her hair like she was trying to do 'sexy', shrugging to almost-slide the shirt she was wearing off her other shoulder. "I could sneak in here in the morning and blow in your ear, and then sing the theme from Boku no Jinsei nannte daikirai that you always pretend to not get maudlin over until you poke me in the eye to make me shut up."

I set the alarm clock down with a buzz and a clunk, shutting off the broken radio again. "First off, we both know you wouldn't do that, or if you did, you'd do it once and then skip and laugh when I woke up late for work. Second off, you know that I know you don't actually like me like that, and that messing around is against our Roommate Best Practices. And finally," I said, my voice raising in spite of myself, "if you are going to do the 'sexy pose in a dude's big shirt' thing, you need to do it in one that doesn't say IMPLODING GORGE across the chest in bloody viscera. Come on, Elinor. Seriously."

"Man, you never let me have any fun," she complained, stripping the shirt off and throwing it randomly at some corner behind the door, slumping away like she was actually mad about me not playing with her.

"Hey – wait – that was my Imploding Gorge shirt! Don't just take stuff out of the laundry and throw it around wherever! Put it back in the hamper, jeez!" The alarm clock started buzzing again, and I dove to yank the cable out of the wall. I was really going to have to do something about that.

Helping make breakfast – well, for her, huffing esters off the teapot and the bacon pan, and then getting to run the dishwasher because it was marginally easier on the neighbors than playing Insect Warfare records, which was her second choice – improved Elinor's mood a little, and as for my part it was only one shirt I had to pick up, then back checking the news, eating my breakfast, and ordering another alarm clock to show up at work on Monday. It was easier that way – I wouldn't have to worry about scheduling the delivery when Elinor was off shift, or asking her to take it in, and I could put off actually throwing the old one out a little longer.

"Iain?" I looked up. Elinor was sitting folded up on the other sofa, her tablet up to her chest.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Do you think you have some time today – to come out shopping with me?" She was looking about as nervous and as hesitant as I'd ever seen her – as it was even possible for a robot to look.

I pushed my laptop back onto the coffee table. "Sure, I don't see why not; are like Yukio and Traylie and Jamila busy? It's just, it's kind of rare that you'd want to hang out with me."

Elinor knocked her head back, the thing she did instead of taking a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah. But – I really need the moral support, and I can't think of anyone else I'd want with me for it."

"What's the deal?"

She leveled down at me again, eyes wavering. "I've… been saving up, and I want to go out to Micheltage and see if I can find a new chassis I like."

I sat straight up. "Sure – sure, if you want to. But – I thought you liked your body just the way it was. Didn't you just get tuned up like three weeks ago?"

Elinor smiled a kind of wry, kind of half-smile. "I did – I got the effectors in my arm tightened up again – and now…" She lifted up her left hand, flexing her fingers; the last two were slow to close, and they didn't open all the way. "There's something wrong in there; I'm breaking down. I could change out the arm, but do they even make whole unit spares for this chassis any more? And it wouldn't be my arm – I dunno how to explain it, but it'd just be weird. It'd be weird in a new body, too, but maybe it'd be easier than swapping stuff around piece by piece. But I still want someone I know there with me: I've been in this chassis since I bootstrapped up, and I don't know how I'd handle being in something else." She suddenly grimaced, looking more concerned. "Is it okay? Is this weird? I don't want to like put all this stuff on you, but I don't know who else I could ask. If you're –"

"No, it's okay," I said, standing up so I could go find my shoes. "Just let me know when you're ready, and I'll call us an autocar."

"Car? Why a car?" Elinor asked. "Why not the bus? It's cheaper, and it doesn't take that much longer."

"Because the last time we took the bus out that far, you got bored and started asking it all kinds of dumb questions, and it nearly missed a bunch of stops. Don't you remember how that lady was about to haul off and punch you, and the bus had to slam on the brakes and nearly run over that AI guy rollerblading in the bike lane?"

Elinor scowled. "Man, you really never do let me have any fun around here." She didn't stop me, though, as I tapped the app to call the car.

Elinor calmed down on the way over, and was unusually calm and reflective as we walked in from the autocar drop station to Micheltage. I couldn't blame her; it was always sobering to walk in to this place, both for what it represented and how it was almost the last big-box kind of store left. The signs for intelligent electronics, where you could interview and homestay a toaster you could have an actual conversation with; the wide shopfloor of the latest humanoid and parahumanoid chassis models, with androids and their friends or partners walking carefully around, deep in thought about an almost life-defining purchase; the placement agency, where nervous and lonely humans and nervous, new-booted AIs waited to interview each other as roommates, until the robot got a job and got on their feet – or like with Elinor and me, on and on because we'd actually become friends, friends for what was looking increasingly like life off a brief "Death metal?" "Death metal." "Fuckin' death metal." in the interview booth. And now here we were, picking out her next chassis.

I hung back – this was her deal, after all – as Elinor wandered through the floor, looking over the different models, posed like Greek statues. The impossibly humanoid and extravagantly parahuman models at the front, the expensive ones, she drifted straight on past, without even a hint of longing; Elinor had her own ideas of what she wanted. Budget-friendly but not too cheap, reliable, no extra limbs that she'd have to buy a new wardrobe to accommodate. As I followed, I got the definite sense of her type; she was sticking closer to, and coming back to, pretty much just the next generation of her own current chassis. She was, after all, who she was, and she wasn't looking to turn into a juicer or a quadcopter or a centaur, or even just swap modes and identify as a dude robot: Elinor was Elinor, and she'd be Elinor in her new body too.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" I turned, but the attendant was clearly already talking to Elinor, clearly the one who'd be making the buying decision today. Micheltage obviously took customer comfort seriously: most of their sales staff presented very conservative and average-humanoid, but the one helping Elinor had a blue undercut and a clearcoat mod on their right arm, showing off the skeleton and cable harnesses inside the chassis. Elinor was her own person and if she wanted to leave the house wearing her one Maggot Plague shirt with the executioner shoving the Pope under the guillotine, I couldn't stop her; if it let her get to the models she was actually interested in maybe buying before someone could get over and try to upsell her, so much the better.

"I – yeah. I'm, actually, maybe looking for a new chassis today, I think – could I maybe see what kind of range of options you have for this model?" Elinor pointed at the one she'd been looking the most closely over.

"Of course; certainly," the salesperson said, motioning towards an alcove that might be a fitting room. "Won't you come this way?"

Elinor nodded and followed, waving back to me. "Come on, Iain; come in while I pick." I hustled up just as they got to the door, the attendant looking me carefully over as if they were trying to decide what exactly our relationship was. "This is my roommate, Iain," she said, clomping me on the shoulder, almost pushing me ahead onto the sales rep. "I bet you were wondering if he was like my boyfriend, or some dude I was stringing along like I might want to date him, and wondering what the hell was wrong with my taste, right? Ha! As if." Elinor gave me a dig in the ribs going past, and I drove my hands down into my pockets. That was her nervous laugh, like she still wasn't sure about this. I could deal with her bad-mouthing me, if that's what it look for her to keep it together, but she was going to owe me for this later.

The "fitting room" was a VR booth; the sales attendant carefully moved icons through the air to show off the range of chassis options, the new features of the new model. For what it was worth, the verisimilitude was better, the sensors had an improved response range, and there were all the usual promises about less energy use, better battery life, more storage capacity, faster reflex actuation; it wasn't that much different from virtual-showrooming for a new laptop. Elinor eventually got down to a combination of features that she liked, and wouldn't break the bank, and that they would be able to put up from stock on hand; her current hair color had gotten discontinued, but she picked out another shade that was nearly there, and sat back, nodding, satisfied.

The sales rep looked over the assembled options on their tablet. "All right, Ms. Littlebranch, if that's your final configuration, I'll send this on to the back for customization, and then we can go along to the test-drive pod, and when the chassis is ready, we can trial you in it. It'll only be a few minutes to get your options fitted out."

Elinor leaned forward. "This part – for the test drive, can Iain come in too?" She was clearly nervous, but the attendant just smiled and nodded.

"Certainly. We're very aware that it can be strange to boot up in an unfamiliar chassis, so in fact we recommend that our clients have someone familiar with them to help them adjust. Mr. Vanderschaaf is welcome as well." They tapped on their tablet, and then pointed with an open hand at a doorway that had slid open in the VR wall. "This way please."

The doorway led on to a short corridor into a spare and medical-looking room with what almost looked like a morgue slab in it for furniture; the salesperson sat Elinor on the slab, and pulled around a chair for me next to it, then left us, checking on their tablet as they went off, presumably to wheel Elinor's new chassis in. "Well, this is a great atmosphere, and totally not an anxiety trigger at all," I said, looking around at the grim décor.

"Aw, come on," Elinor said, cuffing me on the shoulder again, "it's great. I bet you want to climb up here and lie down and play about-to-be dead, don't you?"

"That is, uh, exactly the problem," I said. "I know it's different for you, and that you're going to still be you when they transfer you over to the new chassis, but humans can't exactly do that just yet. I'm sorry if I'm making it weird for you – it's ridiculous, you bring me down here for moral support and now you're having to keep me stable."

"Aww, poor Iain," Elinor said, punching me again. "You got it so hard. But I'll make it up to you – on the way out, I'll make a distraction in front of the security camera so you can feel up that deluxe sexbot chassis by the entrance, the one that looks like Jamaica Tasso. I know you want that glorious fourth-gen nuvo-silicone booty." I was not going to go around feeling up floor-model sexbots, but before I could say anything back to Elinor, there was a whirr of wheels and electric motors through the corridor behind us: her new chassis coming in. She lay back on the slab as the sales rep and a couple other techs nestled the new body in beside her, then started to connect up the transfer cables and diagnostic displays between them.

"Thank you for your patience, Ms. Littlebranch," the salesperson said, hanging back as the techs checked all the connections. "This will take a moment, and you may have a sense of lost time. You're going to need to power down and go into a save state: when we confirm that the save is complete, we'll trigger a hard shutdown and then transfer your shut-down gestalt into the new chassis. When we send the hardware boot command there, you'll wake up in your new home." Elinor nodded, her head donking against the hard plastic. "Then, whenever you're ready, you can start your power down." The sales rep looked down at something on their clipboard, and Elinor's eyes shot over to the side, to me.

"Iain," she whispered, "while I go under, will you hold my hand?"

"Sure," I whispered back, sliding a hand up to hers along the slab. "But –"

"I don't care if you tease me about it after," she hissed, looking straight up again. "But I'm scared – I'm scared. I've never been in another chassis; I'm scared about shutting down like this and I don't want to do it alone." I nodded, my hand slipping over the cool plastic skin and hard-ridged steel skeleton of her fingers beneath it, pressing against her touch sensors as Elinor cycled down and turned herself off. The techs leaned in, opening panels and activating switches, muttering about the transfer progress; right now, Elinor was somewhere in between the body she'd always been in and the new one next to her, not quite one or the other. What if something went wrong? What would happen to her? Would she be the same – no, she could go back, they couldn't seriously delete the local gestalt just running a transfer. It had to be.

"And… transfer complete, running the CRC check," one of the techs said, and the other two bent over the other screen, closer to the new chassis. "CRC is… good, all intact; starting the hardware boot." I was still holding on to Elinor's hand – no, I was still holding on to the hand of a Burriss-Knepper Model 31 "Alexandra" general-purpose AI chassis, the chassis that Elinor had been using ever since I'd met her. She wasn't here any more – this wasn't 'her' in any sense that would matter. I let go, and stood up slowly. In a couple more seconds, Elinor would wake up, and I wanted her to be able to see me when that happened – I wanted her to know that I was still here for her. The eyes of the new chassis focused, a flinching behind, and she blinked.

"Elinor – Elinor, are you all right? I'm still here." I leaned over as the techs started unplugging their monitor cables, closing up the access panels. The chassis' reactions were slow, like Elinor was still figuring it out, but at length she looked at me and spoke.

"Yeah. Yeah; it's different, but I'm fine. It's just… different." It was almost Elinor's usual voice – almost, but not quite, different technologies and different parts in the speaker mechanism. She was obviously trying to use the same settings, but the same positions in the EQ of her new body had different outcomes in the output synth. She slowly raised herself up, slowly and gingerly, making sure that the new servos would respond, making sure she understood her range of motion.

"Does it – how does it feel?"

Elinor thought for a moment; it was strange, a little bit, to think of her in this new body that didn't barely look like what I associated her with at all, but the way she held herself when she was thinking about something, it was clearly her in there and nobody else. "I… I dunno what to compare it to," she said at last. "It's just… different." She lifted up her left hand, rapidly curling and uncurling her fingers. "Maybe – maybe kind of like when they cut off a cast."

"You don't know what that's like – when you bent your shin strut out of line falling over that amp you just went to the robotics garage and had them straighten it out with the hydraulic press. How do you know what a cast is like?"

"When you're comfortable," the sales rep cut in, "perhaps you'd like to take a walk and see how the new chassis feels? Take as long as you like; we'll stay here with your former chassis and your other things." Elinor nodded, pushing herself up to stand, wobbling, on shaky legs as she got used to how locomotion was going to work. She took a step, another, more confident, and twirled in place, the plain white standard-issue gown floating up away from her frame. She nodded over at the door, beckoning me to follow, but stopped going around the slabs, looking down at her old chassis lying still where she'd left it.

"So… that was me," she said, looking it over. "That's what I looked like – for real, from the outside. It's a weird feeling – I'd only ever seen myself in a mirror, mostly, so it looks like everything's backwards. Like it's not real." She traced a hand along the chassis' arm, across where the actuators for those sticky left fingers were, down under the plastic skin, and then left it, heading out through the hall. I followed; it seemed like she was adjusting just fine, but you could never really tell.

Elinor seemed to be getting a greater command of her body as she went, more confidence in her stride, as she came out back into the VR fitting pod; the cameras were projecting us onto the wall now, a full-body, full-flow uncanny-valley backwards video mirror. She turned around to me, half confused, half with some strange expression that I couldn't place, as I came through the door. "Hey – hey Iain – who is this white-dress whitebread robot chick in here with you, looking like she's too cute for her own good?"

I stopped, brows furrowed. "Elinor – that's you. It's just us. And you don't need to fish for compliments like that – if you want to go back and get changed, then –"

"Seriously? Wei-rd," she said, not listening, leaning into the wall like she was looking at herself in a bathroom mirror, a finger yanking her cheek back to inspect her teeth, her jaw armature. "It sure looks and sounds like she's doing all the stuff I'm doing, but it's so weird – like she looks almost like me, but not really; I'm talking and it's, like, not my voice that's coming out – are you listening to me, or are you listening to her?"

"Elinor, I'm telling you; this is you. This is you – this is your new chassis. This is what we came out shopping for – this is the model you wanted." I was starting to get alarmed; Elinor was pulling at the slack plastic synthskin of her face.

"It – I – she – it's – it's not me. I'm in there – I'm in there, somewhere, but – but this isn't my body. This isn't my face – it's not my hair – I – where am I? Who am I? Where's my body? What happened to me?!" She was shaking, digging her fingers into the skin, eyes defocused and dilated – she was going to rip herself apart.

"Elinor – Elinor – calm down. We can go back – we can go back – your old chassis is still there." I put what I hoped was a comforting hand on her arm, trying to bring her back to herself. "We can go back, and you'll see it – you'll understand, and you'll get better. If –"

"Right," she said, a strange and haunted note in her voice that I'd never heard before, "right – it's still there – I'm still there – I'm still there lying dead on that slab – I'm dead, and this is a nightmare – I'm dead and reincarnated – my body – I'm still dead in my body and they're going to cut it up and recycle it – I'm dead and I'm going to get ground up and whosever's body this is will come back and force me out and –– " and suddenly, just as suddenly as her fit had started, she went limp, the techs who'd done the transfer holding her up as one of them held in her emergency-off switch, the sales rep murmuring some kind of robot ASMR into her ear as she locked up and shut down.

"Wait!" I yelled, stretching out a hand. "You can't – she just –"

The sales attendant shook their head. "She'll be fine. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon side effect of booting into a new chassis, particularly for an AI who's only ever known one body and has spent several years building up a self-image tied to it. We do these test drives, and have the VR booth set like this for them, just so that if a customer does have a disassociative psychotic episode, we can usually catch it before they do any permanent damage to either themselves or their new body." They smiled a pleasant and stable smile that had nothing to do with building protection from mental breakdowns into their sales cycle. "We will bring Ms. Littlebranch back in, and transfer her back to her former chassis; once she's recovered, we'll discuss whether she still wants to go ahead with the purchase." The salesperson smiled again, and then followed the techs as they carried Elinor's body out; I just shook my head, and it was a while before I got the nerve to follow them back in.

Elinor took a while booting back, at least before she signaled anything that had to do with consciousness; the Micheltage techs had left, giving us some space alone. "Hey," she said, looking over at me, still flat on her back. "I guess I really freaked you out back there."

I shook my head. "No, it's all right – I'm sorry that this happened for you; I don't know –"

Elinor sat up, pulling herself around. "No, it's all right. I guess I learned my lesson." She lifted her left arm up, curling her fingers, looking almost with relief at the sticky ones. "I was talking with the staff while I was out, and I think I'm just going to have the arm off, as soon as they can get the interconnect bridge for a new-model one in. I'll save some money, and I guess I still want to keep this chassis around, at least the parts that don't need replacing right away." She smirked. "But that was a hell of an experience; I sure hope that by the time your chassis wears out, they've got uploading, so you can freak the hell out like that – and I can be the one watching."

I breathed out, shoulders slumping down. "I'm glad that you can think of it like that – I'm just glad that you're conscious and you can remember. When they EMOed you I was sure that they were doing a buffer flush – that they were killing you there, and they'd boot you off the gestalt left in this chassis, and you wouldn't remember anything."

Elinor waggled her eyebrows. "You know, they might have, and you'd never know." She smiled evilly at my shocked expression. "They didn't, but I almost wish they did – wouldn't it be wild to have an insane evil version of me lurking in a rack-model chassis that didn't get flushed right?" She stood up, tracing the lines of an autopsy incision on the new chassis, the chassis that had briefly been her, lying on the other slab. "What's that old human proverb? 'That is not dead which can eternal lie; And with strange aeons death may die'?" She turned her head around, smiling, that weird light up in her eyes.

I shook my head, trying to keep down the shivers. "God damn it, Elinor," I said at last, "if you're feeling good enough to give me the heebie-jeebies like that, we don't need to stick around here any more. Come on, let's go home; we can even take the bus, if you just promise to stop creeping me the hell out."

#fiction #30and1nights

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nationalpark-rp · 7 years ago

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Announcement & Updates

Hello, everyone! Manectric-mod here. I’m so glad you’re reading this, because Meowth-mod and I have some very exciting news to share with you. It’s big—no, it’s HUGE news. This news could knock the socks right off your feet if you were wearing any! These last few months have been quite the eye-opener for us mods.

Summer is upon us, and we’ve been doing quite a lot of thinking on the future of our fantastic group. Questions like, “How can we make this group better?” and “What can we do that’s fun and exciting?” crossed my mind on more than one occasion, and our dear Meowth-mod had to listen to me ramble off all my ideas before we came up with something concrete. And I am so thrilled to tell you that our efforts have finally reached their climax: our brand-new, never-before-seen ideas are coming into play RIGHT NOW!

We mods have tasked diligently over the past few months and now we’re ready to make them live. So sit back, relax, and read the following post; there’s a lot of new content ahead.

★ NEW THEME ★

That’s right, friends! The National Park has a brand-new theme! I’ve worked very hard on updating our theme, and that not only includes new graphics, but new coding, as well! Rach, the mun of our very own Giovanni and Prof. Kukui, has gone above and beyond helping me with the more intricate aspects of theme, and honestly, none of these changes could have been made without her help. Thank you so, so much, Rach!

Here’s a quick run-down of all the new changes:

New theme

Updated pages

Rules

Masterlist

Resources

Group chat (we have a Discord!)

Brand-new mod pages

Isn’t the theme beautiful? I worked very hard on it. Gone are the flowers of yesterday, here lies a tribute to the upcoming Pokémon: Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon games! Would you believe me when I said I’d planned on making the sun and moon motif before those games were announced, because I did! Our old theme was sorely outdated, so I am very happy to have replaced it.

Not only was the theme updated, but every single page on the hub has been revamped to some degree! The most important of these pages include the Rules, Masterlist, Resources, and Group Chat pages. Don’t forget about the new admin introductions!

The Rules page has undergone a major overhaul! They should now be written clearly and concisely, making them much easier to read where they were not before. The only rule that has been changed is our minimum requirement: players must now write a minimum of six (6) sentences in a roleplay post in order to be considered active.

Both Masterlists, desktop and mobile, have been updated to include characters from Pokémon Colosseum/XD and all of the Pokémon Ranger games. Players now have the opportunity to explore their rosters at length, as well as the chance to write for their Trainer Classes.

Our Resources pages is better than ever before! Today’s update brings about a more in-depth look at all of the resources available for writers. Each link has a description as to what each link is about, so you can be confused no longer! In addition to this, there is more variety of resources to choose from. The world is your oyster!

The group chat page has also been thoroughly rewritten, so make sure you freshen up on our rules.

We mods have introduction pages! You may find them on the not-so-secret hidden links on the hub. Just click on our names! I have written Meowth’s, and my darling partner has written mine. We’re like Jessie and James, only cooler and more productive.

★ DISCORD SERVER ★

You heard that right! Like I mentioned above, the National Park now has a Discord server! Our group chat page has been updated to reflect the new changes, so be sure to go over the rules carefully.

Some of you might be asking “Why the switch?” but others might be wondering what took us so long to get to this point. For a long time, Skype has been one of the go-to programs for group chats and instant messaging, although now it is easily outclassed by many others. The most popular chat program now is Discord, and many users have already made the switch. We’ve familiarized ourselves with it, and now we’re ready to make the switch for the National Park, too.

What does this mean for the current Skype group? Well, we’re still going to have one, however it will not be the “official” group chat any longer. A few members cannot get or use Discord, and must continue using Skype, and so for their inclusion, we are keeping that Skype chat open. Members are still allowed to join the Skype chat, but our new and official chat is now hosted on Discord.

We encourage anyone who is interested in joining our new Discord server—or if you cannot get/use Discord, our Skype chat—to message us stating that you’d wish to join. We’ll get back with you and add you to the chat(s) as soon as possible!

★ EXTRAS BLOG ★

Last but not least we have our extras blog.I have been on the edge of my seat excited to announce this one! Lovingly called National Park MORE, our extras blog is an all-in-one blog dedicated to you, our lovely members. This sideblog is a branch of the hub, and will post periodically everything that our hub and event blog couldn’t.

You know those characters we don’t have, but that we really want to write with? We’ll advertise for them! Need a little pick-me-up after a hard day? We’ll cheer you up every week with a little positivity!

Features of the National Park MORE blog:

Character requests

Positivity quotes

Character development prompts

“Can we really request characters?!”

That’s right! One function of our MORE blog is dedicated to requesting characters! This means that everyone can go to the MORE ask box and ask nicely for a character to join our group. Not only will we answer it, but we’ll publish an ad as soon as possible! Both Meowth-mod and I can name a few characters off the top of our heads that we’d love to see within the group, and I’m sure you can, too.

Members are allowed to request characters via the MORE blog.

In order to request a character, simply state which character(s) you’d like to see. It’s as easy as 1-2-3!

Waiting is the hardest part. Try promoting interest by reblogging these ads. The more exposure, the better!

“What’s this about positivity?”

I’m so glad you asked! This is a feature that almost came as an afterthought. There are a lot of positivity blogs around on Tumblr, but Meowth-mod and I wanted to create something more personal, something that is dedicated solely to you wonderful members. The quotes we’ve chosen are specifically to help you create confidence in yourself.

An example of a positivity quote would be something like, “Bad days are only days that are bad. You can get through this.” It’s personal in its own way, and it’s something that we need to remind ourselves about. As long as we know we can get through a rough patch, we will.

Things will get better; you just have to believe it. This is the type of advice we want to give, and so we will be posting a positivity quote every week.

“Hold on—did you just say ‘character development’?”

I sure did! We have a lot more up our sleeve than just character requests and positivity quotes! There’s more! My dear friends, you’re in for a real treat tonight. This blog is also dedicated to character development. Meowth-mod and I know just how much you all love making headcanons and developing your characters, so we came up with a way to help you in that endeavor!

Each month we mods will provide a new character development topic for you all to enjoy. This will give you a chance to think about and develop new ideas that you may or may not have considered before with your muses. We hope that with these prompts, your characters will become even more three-dimensional than before!

These character development posts will cover a wide range of topics, including your character’s personality, their past, as well as exploring their intrapersonal relationships. This way, you can consider all factors of your muse’s life—isn’t that exciting?

Here’s how these character development prompts will work:

We’ll provide you a set of questions and scenarios for you to think about.

You can choose to answer one, some, or all of the questions/scenarios listed. If writing a drabble in response to the prompts is more up your alley, we encourage you to use your creativity and explore your character to their fullest!

There is no limit to what you can do for these prompts. You are allowed to write in any style you wish, whether it’s a answering the questions, writing a drabble, or any other format you like.

The first character development prompt will post on July 1st, and then on the first of the month from there on out. Prompts will be numbered and linked in the navigation page on the MORE blog.

Please tag all of your character development prompts as “ #np prompts ” (without quotes).

These character development posts are completely optional! You can write as much or as little as you want, so let your imagination go wild! Have fun!

Unfortunately, these prompts are supplementary and do not count towards activity.

The idea behind these character development prompts is for you all to be creative. You should write about what seems fun, and write about what you want to do with your characters. These prompts exist to aid in your character’s development—so you should enjoy your time doing it!

Meowth-mod and I are beyond excited to see what wonderful works you all can come up with. We sincerely hope that these questions can help you develop your muse even further than they are already. And with the amount of talent and passion you all put into your writing already, we know that you will blow us away.

★ STAY TUNED ★

And that’s all we have for you tonight, friends! A lot of brand-new ideas have made their way to our humble group, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally be able to share this with you. Meowth-mod and myself will continue to work hard to make the National Park a great place to be. These new additions are just the start of it. We hope that with these new features, your experience here can be even better.

July is a very important month for us, too! Not only will our first character development prompt post, but it’s also the time for our second summerniversary! We have a lot of cool ideas for that event, too, so stay tuned for more news!

We hope that you have a wonderful rest of your day! See you soon!

~ lots of love from the mods at the National Park ❤

#natpark announcements #hub update

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r3b3lgrrrrrrrl · 5 years ago

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A LunaTic and her Gunn (Part 46)

"A Bullet with Butterfly Wings"

@lovemythsworld

@creatureofthen1ght-v3

Slightly Day Drunk, Colson and Luna burst into their hotel room kissing and laughing. "I can't believe he did that!!" Luna manages to get out between giggly kisses.

"He's a fucking Sicko!!" Colson laughs, carefully pulling her tiny green bikini top off of her. They're talking about Mod proposing to an old lady in the casino just a few minutes before.

"If he legit brings her to dinner, I don't know if I'll be able to keep it together." She says, the last word being caught in a moan.

Colson has made his way from her mouth, to her neck. Nipping the scorpion as he kisses down her stomach. She runs her hands through his hair as he pulls her bikini bottoms down with his teeth. Stopping to look up at her, each time he licks and kisses the bare skin of her thighs. He pulls her bottoms all the way off.

As she goes to step out of them, he places his hands firmly on both pedicured feet. Planting her in place. "FUUUCK, Colson...." She moans as he licks around the inside of her left ankle. Slowly drawing his tongue up her inner calf, over her knee cap before licking the inside of her left thigh to her bare pussy.

Throwing her left leg over his shoulder, as she still stands, he dives his face into her sopping cunt.

"I Fucking love the taste of her pussy. Sweet ass peach." Colson thinks gripping Luna's ass as his tongue hits every note of her pussy.

She cries out for him again as he licks her juicy folds, tickling her clit with his tongue.

Pulling on his hair to steady herself, she closes her eyes and rides his sweet face until she cums in his mouth. Dropping her leg, he looks at her, pleased with his work. As he lifts his body up, she wipes her cum off his chin with her thumb before sucking it off as he watches.

"You're so fucking Dirty!" He tells her, dick bulging, before he kisses her passionately. His mouth is all over her neck again, he runs his hand over her smooth ass. ❗SLAP❗

"Weeeeak....." She teases him with a sly smile.

"I'll show you weak. Bend the fuck over." He directs her. Doing as she's told, she bends over the edge of the bed, wiggling her ass in the air for him. Looking over her shoulder, she watches as he licks the palm of his hand. She braces herself for him. ❗SLAP❗SLAP❗SLAP❗SLAP❗

She moans in pleasure to his delight as he spanks her. Hard. ❗SLAP❗She yelps this time, pulling back.

"You caught my puss, Bunny!!!" She whines.

"I know, I felt it. I'm sorry." He pulls her back towards him. "Come're." He tells her as he bends down, pulling her ass up to lick and kiss her swollen pussy. His touch and sweetness erase any unpleasant pain.

He kisses both her ass cheeks. Biting the tattoo on the right one. Still bent over her, his tongue follows up her spine to her neck.

"HOLY FUCKING CHRIST!!" Luna screams out as he bites the back of it while sliding his huge cock inside of her. "UNHHH!!" She continues to moan loudly as he grabs her tits, fucking her from behind with deep, long strokes.

Her moans excite him as he picks up the pace. "Fuck me, Bunny." She begs as he pushes deeper into her "FUCK ME HARD."

"Like the dirty little whore you are?" He taunts her. Lifting her by the throat, putting his other hand on her hip to keep their rapid pace. Fucking each other rough, how the both like it. As she feels him about to release inside of her, she dips her chin down, pulling his index finger from around her throat and into her mouth with her tongue. Sucking on his finger and bucking against him hard, she makes them both cum easily.

"FUCKKKKKK." He exhales, running his wet finger down her bottom lip to her tits, holding her close. They're both standing, breathing hard as he pulls her chin up to look at him. "I love you, Addie." He laughs kissing her on the forehead.

Smirking and rolling her eyes, she tells him to shut up as she playfully shoves him off of her.

Tossing herself across the bed, she lights up a joint as she watches him move around the room. Dick swinging.

"MOTHERFUCKING B.D.EEEEE!!!!!" Luna smiles to herself, beyond sexually satisfied. Her mind pops to Bleta, the lyrics to Brooklyn Bitch play on repeat inside her head 🎶If you weren't mine, I'd be jealous of your love🎶If you weren't mine, I'd be jealous of your love🎶 "I really...."

"Shower?" Colson breaks her thoughts with his gorgeous grin.

"Yup!!" She replies, passing him the joint as she follows him into the bathroom.

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

Getting dressed for dinner, Luna has on a tight black dress with side cut outs and knee high boots. Colson's dick gets hard when he sees her pull the legendary cheetah print coat out of her bag.

"You're going to wear that tonight? He asks excitedly. Blue eyes dancing.

"Mhm." She responds with a smile as they head to meet everyone else in the lobby.

Arm carefully around her shoulders, waiting for the elevator, he ducks down close to her. "In case I didn't tell you yet, you look wonderful tonight, Kitten." He murmurs in her ear. The doors open as she pulls him into the empty elevator for a 27 floor make out session.

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

Dinner at Joël Robuchon's Le Monde is beyond amazing. Conversation is light and fun. Alcohol flowing as usual. Mod being slightly disappointed to not be reunited with his new found love.

"I can't believe she came by and I was sleeping!" Rook complains about missing Stephanie at the pool. "You shoulda woke me up." He says to Luna with a bit of an attitude.

Giving him an apologetic look, she tells him she's sorry. "But hey!" She continues "Would you have rather met her, just waking up, discombobulated as hell. Or awake and on point, like you are now?" She tries to persuade him.

Giving Luna a huff, Rook agrees she's right.

"She pulled that one out of her fucking ass." Colson smiles, amused by his girlfriend's power of persuasion.

"Christopher!!" Bella says, greeting the older gentleman approaching their table. She stands as he greets her with a kiss. "How are you?" She asks.

He responds with a "Great!". Chatting with her, he looks around the table spotting Luna. "Stephanie said you girls were in town!! How good to see you both!" He walks over to kiss Luna's cheek.

Seeing Colson's jaw clench at another man touching her, she introduces them. "Christopher, this is my boyfriend Colson and our friends, Slim, Rook and Mod. Guys, this is Christophe de Lellis. He's the Executive Chef here at Le Monde."

The guys say hello, complimenting their meals.

"OH, FUCK!" Luna says standing up. "I don't know what I was thinking!! Congratulations on the third Michelin, Buddy!!" She pulls a laughing Christopher in for a hug and congratulatory pat on the back. "I'm sure Joël is ecstatic, Eh?"

Christopher nods his head proudly.

She turns to Colson. "Christopher and his partner Joël are family friends. They know my Mom-mom from back in the day, when they were just poor, little, pizza boys." Luna teases Christopher. "And now they have, this one, 2 at home in NY and, what 6 or 7 others through out the world, I believe."

"The American dream." Christopher says displaying his hands out, beaming. After sending his love to Patti, kissing the girls goodbye and thanking the guys for their company, Christopher heads back to the kitchen.

"I can't take you anywhere, can I?" Colson laughs asking Luna as she sits back down.

"Nah. Not really." She tells him with a smile and a kiss. They finish dinner before heading to The Park to experience Enigma.

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Backstage is insane as with any of Stephanie's shows. Between the crew, props and costume changes it's always looked like a different universe to Luna.

"SMIIIITH!!!!" Stephanie shouts for Luna, running up to her in only fishnets, panties a bra and a wig cap. "UGH!!! I'm so excited you're here!!" She exclaims, slipping a bullet into Luna's hand. "One shot. It's from The Netherlands." She tells Luna with a sneaky smile before throwing an "I love you!! ENJOY!!!" over her shoulder as she runs off.

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Luna goes to find her seat and Colson. Stephanie had hooked them up. They're in VIP, just behind the pit.

"These are great seats!!" Bella shouts.

"Steph said this shit was too." Luna responds opening her hand. "It's pure as fuck. She said just take one shot." Luna warns her. Bella nods in understanding as she lifts it to her nose. She passes it back to Luna who hits it herself.

Luna nudges Colson, who's talking to Slim. She shows him the bullet. "Hit it once and pass it. Let them know ONLY once tho."

He takes it from her, asking her where she got it.

"Steph." She responds. "She said it's from The Netherlands, so it's not cut like we're used to. Let the boys know that." She tells him with a concerned look in her eye. Colson takes her seriously, trusting that Luna knows her drugs. After Colson bumps it himself, he passes it with the strict warning. Once everyone has hit it, he passes it back to Luna. As she slides it into her purse, he reassures her no one did too much. Just then, the lights drop and the show begins.

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Of all the artists Luna knows both personally and otherwise, Stephanie has always been her favorite performer, even back when she was playing little clubs in The West Village. She's only gotten more amazing and creative in time.

The amphitheater is booming with electronica, raging guitars, thumping drums, a heart wrenching piano and wild fans. The imagery is mind blowing. MDMA only amplifying the feelings of the thriving colors and sounds as Just Dance rips through the air.

Bella and Luna dance, sing, hold hands and even cry while going ABSOLUTELY bonkers during the show. Rook and Mod move over to them. Both dancing and singing along to Luna's surprise. Colson and Slim are locked into Stephanie's stage performance. Sitting. Not moving. Only staring. Very intently.

Looking over to check on Colson, Luna sees her boyfriend stuck. Reaching in her purse, she pulls out 2 joints. Sitting down next to Colson, she hands him a lit one and a bottle of water. His big eyes and wide smile thanking her. Moving down, she sits next to Slim, handing him the same items. He's able to utter the words "Yooooooo...." with a grateful look.

About 20 mins later, they're both up. Moving, laughing and taking in the atmosphere with the others.

"SHE'S FUCKING SIIIIICK!!!!" Colson shouts at Luna as he scoops her up for a passionate kiss. The vibration of the room and drugs pulsing through them.

Stephanie sings live, dances her heart out and flies through the air. Enigma is not a concert. It is not a show. It is an experience like no other. Stephanie explaining to Luna her concept a long time ago. Enigma being a spirit guide and manifestation of Stephanie's inner most psyche, guiding her to a greater truth about herself over the course of almost 2hrs.

Luna stares at her friend in amazement. The same way she did all those years ago, at the first show of Stephanie's that she had ever caught.

"She fucking did IT!" Luna's heart glows with pride for her friend. Never doubting she could.

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Rolling their faces off, after the show they're headed back stage. Colson points at a drum kit, teasing Rook about his love of Gaga.

"Look at THAT fucking smile." Luna thinks snapping a quick picture of Colson.

Things are much calmer in the dressing room. Stephanie is sipping a glass of champagne, smoking a joint when they all come in. "Hello!" She says standing to greet them. "Thank you so much for coming. Did you enjoy?" The 6 of them erupt into giggles. "So, you did." She laughs, tilting her head with a knowing smile.

"It was fucking off the wall, Steph!!" Luna exclaims hugging her friend. "You nailed it. It's so much greater than we ever IMAGINED it could be!!" She kisses her friend hard on the lips.

Stephanie kisses her back. "God, I love you, Doll." She tells Luna, thinking back to that tiny apartment and a simple concept. "What are you guys doing tonight?" She asks.

Luna looks around at her tripping, giggling friends. "We were gonna play some poker, but I think we're probably gonna hit The Strip and watch the colors. Wanna come?" She asks.

"ABSOLUTELY!!" Stephanie declares.

"Awesome!!" Luna grins, hearing Bella shout with her in unison. She's close enough for Luna to reach out and squeeze her hand. Grateful for their connection.

Luna then turns to look for Rook. Finding him, she pulls him over. "Steph this is Rook, Rook, Steph. She's gonna hit the strip with us." She tells his happy eyes with a smile.

"It's an honor to meet you!!" He beams brightly, taking her hand, making Stephanie blush.

"Let me change and I'll meet you by the stage." She tells them. Luna hands her back the bullet, which Stephanie promptly hits and passes around to them all again.

It's deff gonna be a colorful night.

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Out on The Strip, they are their normal, wild, fucked up selves. Just tripping balls on a Monday night in Las Vegas. The boys are running up and down the sidewalks. Slapping signs, jumping all over each other. The girls skip together, linking arms and giggling. Everyone is pointing at something in amazement. Colson swings Luna around, continuously kissing and laughing together. She makes him sad when she declines his piggy back ride because her dress is too short. Making it up to him with more sweet kisses and I love-LOVE yous. They're loud and rambunctious. Happy and having fun. Roaming in and out of the casinos. One always catching the other before they cause too much ruckus. Although, Colson does channel his inner Tommy at The Fremont. Smacking up a tray of drinks, while screaming "WHOOOOOOOOH!!" in the waitress's face. Instantly grabbing Luna's hand and running for the door. The other 5 hauling ass behind them. Hysterically laughing as they all safely make their get-a-way. The mini Eiffel Tower catches them, while they all stand and stare at the lights. Holding hands in a row, feeling a deep, spiritual connection. Later, Mod tries but fails to throw Bella in the Bellagio fountain. Rook and Stephanie hit it off right away. Her appreciating his love of her art and respecting his craft. At some point Colson pulls on Luna's cheetah print coat. He looks great in it and keeps trying to share its softness on everyone. As they wander around Vegas, Luna gets a great shot of him distracted, laughing at some strangers, standing with a posed Mod and Slim. Rook, Bella and Stephanie deep in philosophical talks behind her. Pounding water, puffing on pens, the group spends the rest of the night wandering and laughing. Stephanie enjoying the rarity of blending in.

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It's late-late when Colson and Luna make it back to their hotel room. Everyone had popped a bar before splitting up to ease the buzz in their heads. Slipping off her dress, she climbs into the soft bed as he heads into the bathroom. She's knocked out by time he comes back in. Taking off his clothes, he slides into bed with her. She moves enough for him to slide his arm under her, cradling her on his chest.

"God, I fucking love her. Mmmm..... She smells so fucking good... I'd spend the rest of my life right here if I could." He thinks kissing her forehead.

Wanting the world to know how he feels, especially Bleta, he grabs his phone. Staring into the camera he takes a selfie and posts it to his Instagram. He captions it....

Trust and believe. This is how I start every day and will always end each night. With MY girl

🐰💖🐱 💯 #loveLOVEyou #Vegasbaby #mybadlittlething

With that he sets his phone down, snuggles into Luna and happily falls asleep.

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To be continued.....

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