#we (as in all four siblings) have already made plans to go up north next summer to recreate some of dad's photographs

[apassingbird]

i met my oldest half-brother for the first time in eight years today and it was such a strange experience in the best possible way

[crestbound]

in another life, i was free.

In one lifetime, they’re gathered around a fire—him, Dimitri, Felix, and Ingrid. It must be summer in Fraldarius; Sylvain can hear the crash of ocean waves off the towering cliffside far away. They’re not old enough to be here completely unsupervised, but neither are they too young to know how to sneak away. The Fraldarius maids must be turning the castle upside-down.

The fire crackles. Sylvain remembers that look on Felix’s face; it’s the look he gets when he boasts about something Glenn had done, to be inevitably followed by his own plans to follow in his brother’s footsteps. 

(He misses that look. He misses when Felix’s eyes used to shine with a world of things to look forward to.)

“I wish I had a sibling too,” Dimitri admits. “Someone strong, like Glenn... or smart, like Miklan!”

No, Sylvain thinks wryly, you really don’t.

But the one huddled by the fire, handing Ingrid a skewer of meat, doesn’t agree. This one looks happier. This one is braver.

“I can be your brother, Dima,” he says, which is everything wrong and everything he’s ever tried to be. “I can be everyone’s big brother!”

“Oh?” comes a familiar voice, carrying over the sound of footsteps on sand, of waves yet to announce a storm. Sylvain feels his heart jump once and catch in his throat when Miklan walks into view. It’s almost a knee-jerk reaction, to run in between them. 

“Miklan—” he begins, but even his breath tangles in his lungs when Miklan simply walks right through him. (Run. Why are you here? I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry—)

“Forget about being a brother,” Miklan says, lacking so much vitriol that Sylvain has to turn, light-headed and nauseous, to stare at him again. “You’re going to be grounded, first. All of you are. The whole castle’s in a panic; Glenn’s about to round up the entire Fraldarius army just to look for you brats.”

“But we wrote a letter!” the young Sylvain protests.

Miklan rolls his eyes. (Wrong shade of brown. His hair’s so much shorter, here. He’s missing the scar on his jaw.) “You wrote ‘off to play.’ That’s not a letter, Syl.”

Syl.

His heartbeats grow louder and louder in his ears, crashing against an incessant ringing, the howling gusts of his breaths. Miklan’s never called him that. Miklan’s never been this nice, either. Miklan is...

(If it weren’t for you...!)

...Miklan is...

Shall we try again?

In another lifetime, the Margrave is ill. They say he caught a sweating sickness from the north, where the Srengi have been tearing down the border walls and pillaging the villages just beyond. He’s expected to die within the moon.

Sylvain is six years old when the margravine tells him.

“Oh,” he says, and looks down at his feet. His mother taps her finger on the table once, too proper to clear her throat. Sylvain straightens up to look at her until she smiles. “When is Miklan coming home?”

“Perhaps in a week or two,” she replies. “But I trust he will be present for the exchange of seals.”

They’re to destroy the margrave’s official wax seal stamp, made of gold and treated blackwood, and create a new one—this time, with Sylvain’s initials instead of his father’s. It’ll be used to seal the letter to the king, announcing the death of the margrave and a schedule for his heir’s arrival at the capital. In Fhirdiad, he’ll kneel before the throne and swear his pledges again.

Sylvain frowns, and resists every urge to shift uneasily in his seat. “...He has to be. Isn’t it going to be his ceremony?” After all, Miklan is the margrave’s firstborn. He’s charismatic, and he’s smart, and he’s terrifyingly brutal with a lance. There isn’t a single soldier in the Gautier cavalry that doesn’t admire him.

But the margravine isn’t part of the cavalry. Though she hasn’t said a word of it herself, everyone in the castle knows that their lady, a paragon of every feminine virtue belonging to the nobility, laments every day for her one failure in life: Miklan Anschutz Gautier, born to her without a Crest. 

Imagine that.

“Oh, Sylvain,” she tuts. Her hands are soft when she reaches out to touch him, brushing the hair out of his face and tucking unruly locks behind his ear. “Don’t be silly; of course it will be you. You’re our son.”

But not Miklan. Not Miklan, whose eyes are a closer shade of hazel to the margravine’s than Sylvain’s are; not Miklan, whose laughter echoes the same way the margrave’s does, heavy and confident. Not Miklan, born with a blessing from each of the Four Saints, from Macuil’s keen eye for strategy to Indech’s indomitable strength. 

But not Miklan, Crestless and worthless, of the right flesh but not the right blood.

The margravine pulls back. She looks satisfied with her work. “Now,” she says, “Let’s enjoy some tea, shall we?” It’s one of her favorites, a cinnamon blend with a touch of honey. In this life, Sylvain likes it, too.

His brother ends up returning home in five days. Just an hour after sunset, Sylvain—older, taller, the one that survived—watches Miklan kill him. 

Neither of them flinches when a sickening crack sounds from the bottom of the well.

In this lifetime, that’s the end.

—we try again?

The next life starts with blood.

He’s angry. Not him, but him—the Sylvain of this life, thrown away and forgotten. There’s a jagged scar that runs from his left temple down to his right cheek, a sick mirror image of Miklan’s worst injury.

And it strikes him, then, that this is the life where it finally happens; this is the life where everything’s turned around. Flames devour a small village just on the border between Gautier and Fraldarius. They don’t have much to plunder, but it isn’t about what can be stolen; it’s about the message that’ll be sent.

Even here, Fraldarius and Gautier enjoy a good relationship. Even here, Sylvain is smart enough to know the best way to hurt his father is through shame.

Your son did this, they’ll tell him. Control him.

And what can he do but try? Even disinherited and stripped of everything he has, Sylvain is still a Gautier. He’s the margrave’s responsibility, especially when he begins causing trouble for the duke.

But of course his father would never come himself. Sylvain can burn a hundred villages, kill a thousand civilians, steal a million bars of gold, and still, still, he’d send his prized son, his Crested son, his only son, to clean up the mess. That’s what he’s good for, after all. That’s what he’s worth. Riches and loves, hearth and home, all because the right blood sings in his veins.

“Miklan,” he rasps, smoke thick in his lungs. “Of course he’d send you.”

“That’s enough now, Sylvain,” Miklan replies, brandishing the Lance of Ruin. It titters and glows in his hands.

Sylvain—the real or the fake, the one that doesn’t belong, the one that should, that wishes, that doesn’t want to be—releases a quiet breath. Then another. A sound, then two, then three.

Then, he laughs.

Miklan kills him here, too.

—try again?

There’s a war in this life.

Behind him, on top of the hill, Dimitri refuses to die. He is a torrent of anger that threatens to tear open the heavens to drag down the Goddess by her neck. Several feet in front of him, Ingrid is already dead. She’s half-crushed by her pegasus, bent and twisted in all sorts of ways. 

Between her and Sylvain—the one fighting, the one losing—is Felix. The Sylvain that doesn’t belong knows with a sinking feeling in his gut that the blood on his cheek is Ingrid’s.

Sylvain lifts the Lance of Ruin. It’s tittering more than he’s ever seen in his life, stained through with blood and ichor.

“Hey, Felix?” His voice sounds tired. “Remember when we were kids and we made a promise about dying together?”

Felix doesn’t flinch. He’s always been like that—stubborn and unyielding, willing to commit himself to his decisions to the bloody, sad end. “I remember.”

Sylvain smiles, and it’s a pathetic thing, cracking at the edges. “Well,” he says, “seems we’re about to kill each other.”

There’s one moment where their heartbeats crash against each other, in sync. The next beat, they’re skewed again. One sounds like wardrums; the other, a funeral dirge. It isn’t hard to guess which is whose.

“Sorry, Sylvain.” There’s a flash of a blade. Sylvain—both—wonders if the blood that’s still on it is Ingrid’s.

“Fe—”

“You’ll die first.”

(I know.)

—again?

That’s enough.

[fefipranon]

Rivamika Fic Preview

Topic: Mikasa, a hardcore feminist, kidnapped by Levi, the leader of one of the most powerful gangs and who is the book definition of a dick.

Mikasa Point of View (P.O.V.)

Here I am, another restless night. Turning on my bed like a hamburger patty being flipped on a grill, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep. I can hear birds chirping outside so it's probably already morning but my thick light-blocking curtains make my room look as dark as night. Whoever invented those, has a special place in my lazy heart.

I started hearing shuffling sounds outside the door of my room. These two have no sense of self-preservation, I thought. My two roommates, Eren and Armin, have been living with me for a year now. I met them ten years ago, starting my teenage years, a tragic event brought us together. Since 'that event', Eren's parents took me in as their own and he introduced me to Armin, his best friend since childhood.

We are inseparable, even now as adults. Even though Armin works as an accountant for a law firm, I work as a Computer Engineer for the CIA, and Eren works as a veterinarian, when we are together, we still act like silly kids. I love them like siblings love each other, which means that we also fight like siblings, and right now they are breaking a golden rule.

You see, I love them. I would give my life without a second thought for them, but, there is something I love more: my bed. I can be a charming and decent person, AFTER my morning coffee, and AFTER I wake up on my own. If anyone dares to wake me up from my precious sleep, there will be hell to pay. I am not a morning person, who is it really? Those who said they are, are not to be trusted, they are probably psychopaths and serial killers. I also don't trust people that don't like cheese, how could you not like cheese?! They are probably part of those reptilian people that conspiracy theories warn you about from alien abductions and shit.

I heard Armin's voice, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

I walked to the door to better listen to their conversation.

"She promised to join us for our traditional 'Sunday pancakes' today since she has failed to wake up early for the last four Sundays in a row! It's her fault!", Eren said.

"You know she is not a morning person! She will kill both of us!", Armin said.

I saw the bolt of the door shaking. Eren was clearly picking the lock from my room. He really has a death wish. I stared around my room looking for ideas on how to greet him, and my eyes landed on my hamper which was almost full of my dirty clothes. I walked to it and grabbed two dirty socks and rolled them together in a ball.

"You can still run away and save yourself.", Eren said.

"I will just stay out of her room, and watch how she kills you while eating popcorn then."

No Armin, you are going to get it too since you are not stopping him, I thought. Then, I heard the beep sound from the microwave. He really made popcorn, unbelievable. I rested my back against the wall next to my door, waiting for their intrusion.

"Do you even know how to pick a lock?", Armin asked.

"I've seen it in movies, they open everything with bobby pins on those spy movies so, how hard can it be?", Eren said.

I pinched the bridge of my nose thinking, he can't be serious. But knowing the bastard, he probably was, and I didn't have the patience to wait for him to finally open my door. So I opened it myself.

He looked at me in shock and said, "Mika-"

But I cut him short by shoving to his open mouth the ball of dirty socks. Armin was on the way to the microwave and yelped at the sight of Eren spitting the dirty socks from his mouth and coughing. I gave him a death stare and yelled:

"You are next!"

"Fuck no!", He yelled as he ran to his room with me running behind him.

He got into his room and closed the door before I could get to him.

With a sing-song voice, I said, "Oh, Armiiin, open the door now and I might forgive youuu."

"Bullshit! I will only open the door after you have your morning coffee!"

Suddenly, the smell of popcorn hit my nose making me smile. Armin never got to get his popcorn out of the microwave. He and I have this unhealthy addiction to popcorn for years now. I mean, who doesn't like popcorn? Those are other types of people I don't trust.

I walked to the microwave and took the popcorn out. I grabbed a fan and pointed it directly to the door of his room. I opened the bag and started eating in front of the fan. He will smell it eventually.

"That's a low blow, stinky feet!", Eren said.

"Is that!? Are you eating MY popcorn!!?", Armin shouted.

"Mmm delicious and extra buttery. Thanks for making popcorn for ME, you are so considerate. You shouldn't have-", I was cut short by Armin slamming his door open and running towards me.

I started running away but he tackled me, making me drop the bag causing the popcorn to fly out, "Give me back my popcorn you thief!", he shouted.

"Did you stuck your socks inside somebody's ass?! This smell is not human!", Eren shouted.

Ignoring Eren, I shouted to Armin, "No! I'll take it as a peace offering apology from you two for waking me up!", while we both struggled to get the bag making a mess of popcorn all around the apartment in the process.

Armin managed to run away while Eren grabbed me and tried to get the dirty socks into my mouth when someone knocked at our door.

We all froze, Armin stared at both of us and asked, "Are any of you expecting someone?"

We both shook our heads in response. I ran to my room to get my gun, Eren did the same while Armin watched the door and grabbed the gun we stored in the kitchen for emergencies.

I immediately started thinking of all the possible threats that could be behind our front door. This is all Eren's fault, I thought.

You see... I was deemed a 'child prodigy' at a young age. I started college at the age of 12, my studies were disrupted for a couple of years when 'that event' happened. Later I resumed my studies and by the age of 18, I already had a bachelor's degree in computer engineering. I joined a couple of hacktivist groups and helped them with the usual stuff: DDoS attacks to government websites, machine learning algorithms to find patterns in social media of government bot accounts, you know, the usual stuff.

One day Eren challenged me to hack into the CIA so I started with a social media scan looking for stupid people that post their work information, I just needed someone with access to the building. In summary, after finding a few victims I did a MITM attack on their phones and computers. From there I got access to the network, installed a backdoor, and had access to everything. I did a similar process to gain access to other intelligence agencies' networks from different countries.

Since we were broke at the time, I did ransomware of the data but instead of money, I asked for a job and immunity for the crime. I also sent them part of a list of vulnerabilities in their system and told them that if they wanted the full list they had to comply with my demands. Since I was already deep in trouble I decided to also give them evidence of the access I gained to other countries' intelligence networks. Not even an hour passed by, and they were already begging me to take the job.

Thinking of who could be behind my front door right now, I thought about the time I got access to the Russian 'Federal Security Service' agency and replaced their data with, well, some 'not-so-innocent' pictures. I think Putin hates me. There is also what I did to the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau agency... I think Fluffy Kim hates me too.

None of it would've happened if Eren didn't challenge me in the first place! It's completely his fault!

I got out of my train of thought when we were back at the door and Eren asked us, "Ready?"

We nodded in response, and Eren slowly opened the door.

He quickly pointed the gun at the unexpected visitor who was... An innocent girl scout who was trying to sell cookies.

The kid yelped scared, but Eren quickly hid the gun and said, "Oh, we don't want cookies."

"I want cookies!", I protested and pushed Eren away from the door.

"Order for me too!", Armin said.

Author P.O.V.

After getting their girl scouts cookies, Eren started making pancakes while Armin and Mikasa sat in seat stools behind the small kitchen island facing him. They had popcorn on their messy hair, and on their clothes. "You two better clean the mess you made!", Eren shouted.

"It was Armin's fault!", Mikasa shouted while Armin gave her a death stare.

Eren started to stick his tongue out while making disgusted faces.

"What's the problem Eren? Are you having a stroke?", Mikasa said teasingly.

"For fucks sake Mikasa! I have washed my mouth around five times already and I can still smell your stinky socks! Those things are a hazard!", Eren said while walking away to the bathroom to wash his mouth again.

"The pancakes are going to burn!", Mikasa shouted.

"You take care of them, stinky feet! I am on my way to drink some bleach!", Eren shouted back.

Mikasa rolled her eyes and walked to the stove while Armin stood up to turn on the television. While flipping the pancakes Mikasa took a look at her phone notifications and messages. She started looking through the messages from her girlfriend's group chat:

Sasha: OMG! I just saw the cutest guy ever!

Annie: Did you banged it already? 👉👌🍆

Sasha: I wish! I don't even know how to talk to him yet!

Christa: Where did you saw him?

Sasha: He works at a new bookstore that opened near my apartment.

Christa: Did you tried to talk to him somehow? Or just stared at him like a mentally unstable stalker?

Sasha: Well, I asked for book recommendations, he started asking me about what I liked so he could give me a more accurate one but the dick of his boss cut him off telling him to go back to the cash register.

Annie: Maybe we should meet up for lunch to come up with a plan.

Ymir: I just saw that I have new messages. I tried to read them all but my lazy ass just read 'cute guy' and 'bang it already' and skipped to the end. I am up for lunch and the 'banging plan'. Speaking of people in need of banging, @Mikasa wake your ass and join us!

Annie: 😂😂

Mikasa rolled her eyes and replied:

Mikasa: I am awake, count me in for lunch, and the 'banging plan'.

Christa: Girls, call the police, that is not Mikasa, that's an impostor! There is no way that woman is awake this early!

Mikasa sighed and typed,

Mikasa: Eren woke me up, putting his life on the line.

Suddenly Eren's phone made the sound of a new message notification. Mikasa rolled her eyes and thought, here we go.

Eren grabbed his phone, unlocked it, stared at his messages, and started laughing. "Sasha just asked me if you are okay because you are awake. She wants to know if it's really you before calling the police. She also wants to know if I am still alive."

"Hey guys check this out.", Armin said while turning up the volume of the TV.

The news was on. Mikasa served the pancakes on the plates. She took two of the plates and gave one to Armin while sitting next to him. Eren grabbed his plate and sat next to Mikasa. The three of them were seated on the sofa in front of the TV watching the news.

Breaking News:

'We are reporting live outside of Mitra's bank. Just moments ago, criminals robbed the bank and took three hostages with them. The police are tracking their whereabouts at the moment, avoid the area. The perpetrators' identity has been confirmed as the gang that calls themselves "The Scorpions". They are commonly identified with a Scorpion tattoo on their necks, reach out to the police if you see anyone suspicious.'

"These guys again, they piss me off.", Mikasa said.

"They are the same ones that robbed one of the stores of the mall right?", Armin asked.

"Yes, those assholes take hostages with them but they end up always killing them.", Eren said.

"That's the gang that posts the videos about they killing the hostages like is some sort of sick hunting game?", Armin asked.

"Yes, they take the victim to a secluded wood area and tell the victim to run, after a minute or so they run after the victim to kill it, recording the whole thing.", Eren said.

"That's sick.", Mikasa said.

"That's why they are one of the most feared and powerful gangs around.", Eren said.

"It doesn't make sense, the tattoo I mean, who would be so stupid to get a tattoo that clearly dictates that you are a criminal? Why have the police not caught them yet if they have a fucking mark on their necks screaming I'm the killer?", Mikasa said.

Suddenly Eren's phone made the notification sound again. "Oi, Mikasa, Dad wants to meet with us today for dinner, he is in the area."

"Tell him to pick us up then.", Mikasa replied.

-----

Mikasa P.O.V.

I arrived at the restaurant where the girls planned to meet for lunch. As I was walking from the parking area to the restaurant I felt the unease sensation that someone was following me. I've been feeling this for two weeks now. Even though I have gained many enemies by my hacking 'activities', and I joke about Putin or someone else knocking on my door, the reality is that it's highly unlikely that they know my identity. I didn't use my network, on top of it I used nested VPNs mixed with virtual machines with an eastern VPN added on top. Even though the probability of them knowing my identity is almost zero, my job provided me with an apartment in the most secured area in town plus extra police patrols around the building. But, of course, you can never be too cautious, so I always assumed the worst.

I took my phone out and texted my boss: "Activating precaution protocol."

Almost instantly he replied: "I will be on the lookout."

My boss, Pixis, has been very overprotective of me since I started working for the CIA. Since the first day that I arrived at the office and introduced myself, he personally asked to work with me. He was impressed by the stunt I pulled and introduced me to everyone on his team like I was some sort of Messiah sent by Thor itself from the land of Narnia. But not everyone reacted the same way he did when he saw me. It seemed like I wasn't what they were expecting to see since I do not fulfill the stereotype of a programmer. I am not a gamer, I am a ballerina, and what seems to be the worst of all to them is that I am a woman.

The biggest fear of a male chauvinist pig is a woman with confidence having success on a field dominated by men. When will they understand that women can do everything men do while even wearing high heels?

Ever since college, I've heard crap like:

"She probably slept her way in."

"Too pretty to be a programmer."

"A woman in my team? She will probably end up making us do all her work."

"She will probably need to be trained in the most basic crap. She doesn't look like she even knows how to do basic programming."

It's exhausting being a woman, why do we have to put double the effort to at least be noticed or recognized? When will they stop calling us 'emotional' or 'bossy', and start calling us instead 'passionate' and 'leaders'? We intimidate them because they can't control us and they know we have the potential to kick their asses.

I was snapped out of my mental rant when I received another text message from my boss: "Location received. As always, call me if you need to talk."

Good, from now on, until I turn it off, my boss will have a constant live feed of my location using my phone's GPS. Also, in case of emergency, I only have to press twice my phone's power button and in a matter of minutes the police, FBI, and the SWAT team will arrive at my location ready to get rid of any threat.

I can relax now, I thought as I opened the door of the restaurant and met my friends.

"Mikasa! We are here!", Sasha shouted while shaking an arm up to get my attention.

I sat at the table and grabbed the menu, the waiter was already taking the orders so I ordered the first thing I saw that was to my liking. Then I took out from my purse a box of girl scout cookies that I bought for Sasha and gave it to her.

She yelped excitedly and said, "This is why I love you!" while hugging the box.

"So, we've been booked for three schools next week.", Christa said.

Christa was referring to a feminist organization we all created that focuses on motivating girls to pursue a college degree, especially in fields dominated by men.

"I think that it's the most we've had in a week so far!", I said.

"Yes, people are helping by sharing our social media accounts. I have messages of people who want to join us.", Ymir said.

"We should hold a meeting for newcomers, we are going to need more people eventually anyways.", I said, and Ymir nodded.

"So Sasha, what do you have in mind so far to talk to your cute guy?", Annie asked.

"I have no idea, someone needs to distract the manager of the library so he doesn't interrupt us again.", Sasha said.

"Who volunteers as a tribute?", Ymir asked.

"Is the manager at least cute?", Annie asked.

"He was hot but had this unapproachable vibe, and on top of that, a jerk.", Sasha said.

"In that case, I offer Mikasa as a tribute.", Annie said.

"What!? Why me?!", I shouted.

"Because you never get intimidated or scared, and you always speak your mind. That personality is the greatest weakness of self-absorbed jerks.", Annie said.

I stared at her in disbelief while Sasha yelped excited looking at her cellphone.

"Girls! The package arrived! Just received the amazon notification.", Sasha said.

All of them gave me a devilish smile, confusing me, I asked, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Mikasa, this is an intervention.", Christa said with a serious tone.

"We've noticed that you've been grumpier than usual. We also know that you haven't, well, how do I put this?", Ymir said.

"You haven't had a good fuck in a while!", Annie shouted.

I wanted the earth to swallow me whole right there. Annie said that a little too loud for my liking.

"Where are you going with this?", I asked.

"Well, we bought you a little something to help you deal with, you know, the grumpiness. It just arrived at your door.", Sasha said.

"Are you crazy! You know I live with Eren and Armin!", I said.

"Come on is just a package in your name, they are not going to open it.", Annie said.

"You definitely don't know Eren.", I said in disbelief.

When we finished eating I rushed to my car and drove as fast as I could to my apartment. I ran to the elevator and then ran to my apartment's door. The package wasn't there. I panicked and opened the door and saw Eren about to open it. I ran and tackled him making us both fall to the floor.

"What the fuck Mikasa!", He shouted.

"Why were you trying to open MY package?!", I shouted back.

"Because it could be something dangerous sent from one of your enemies, like Fluffy Kim for example.", Eren said.

"Why would Fluffy Kim send me something life-threatening via AMAZON!?"

"I don't know! Amazon sells some weird shit and they ship from all around the world, I am pretty sure North Korea is included."

I gave him a death stare, snatched the package, and went to my room closing the door behind me.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. I opened the package and found the box of a pink glow-in-the-dark vibrator. I grabbed my phone and wrote in the group chat:

Mikasa: Got the 'package'.

I put the phone down and opened the box. The thing brought batteries and had a little plastic paper that said, "pull here". I think is to protect the device from direct contact with the batteries, I thought.

I pulled the damned paper and the thing started having an epileptic attack. That thing had a demon inside and I didn't know how to do a fucking exorcism! Scared of it, I screamed and dropped it to the floor.

Apparently, Eren heard my scream because he shouted, "I knew it! I am not letting you kill her Fluffy Kim!" while slamming open the door of my room.

I panicked and jumped on top of the frantic thing that looked like it was break dancing on the floor, to hide it.

"What happened?!", Eren asked me.

"Nothing! Get out!", I shouted, trying to stop the damned thing from moving. It felt like I was riding one of those mechanic bulls.

"You screamed! Something happened!!", Eren shouted worriedly.

"What's all the fuss about?", Armin appeared.

"Fluffy Kim sent something dangerous from Amazon to Mikasa!", Eren shouted.

"Fluffy Kim didn't send me shit! Get out!", I said giving a pleading look to Armin.

He got my message and pulled Eren by the back of his shirt, out of my room, and closed the door. I took a deep breath and found the button to turn that demonic thing off. I checked my phone again and read the messages:

Sasha: Yay! You have to name it!

Annie: She's right! Put a name on it!

Mikasa: The thing tried to kill me! I literally just pulled out a piece of paper from it and the thing started to have a panic attack!

Annie: 😂😂

Christa: You can control the intensity, check the instructions! But first, name it!

Ymir: It has to be a sexy name.

I rolled my eyes knowing that they won't drop the subject until I give the thing a name.

Mikasa: Any suggestions?

Sasha: Just think of something that turns you on. 🔥🔥

Something that turns me on, something sexy, I thought as my mind went blank. I started looking around my room. I had a stack of letters and spam stacked on top of my nightstand. I sighed and went through it, I stopped at a promotional flyer for men's underwear. It had a couple of men modeling the underwear. This could work, I thought.

Mikasa: I found a flyer of men's underwear, the models are kind of hot.

Annie: You are messing with us right? 🤦

Sasha: Hold on, she might be onto something. What's the name of the brand?

Mikasa: Levi's, I like it, I will call it Levi.

Christa: 🥳🥳 Now, it's time to let Levi give you a good time!! 🥳

Mikasa: 🤦

I put my phone down and stared at, well, the Levi thing. I still have a couple of hours until dinner, how do I start? Porn? I thought making my mind go into another rant.

Another industry dominated by men, made for men: the porn industry. They try to sell a ridiculous idea of what 'good' sex is supposed to be. They show a man sticking his penis in a woman's vagina with little to no foreplay time. After that, they start going ridiculously fast, like the world is about to end, and start changing the poor woman to different positions like she is some kind of rag doll. They do all of this while ignoring the most important thing: the clitoris. If the poor thing could talk it would scream something around the lines of:

"I'm fucking bored dude!"

"She is faking it!"

"Feeling nothing bro!"

"If I would describe this whole experience with you, I would use the forever-alone meme!"

I locked the door and grabbed the thing, "Let's see, please don't kill me."

-----2 hours later-----

Mikasa: Levi, oooooh Leviiiii!!!!

Annie: 😂😂

Sasha: 🥳🥳🍆🍆🥳🥳

Christa: 😎🔥

Ymir: 💥💦

--------

Author P.O.V.

"Mikasa, are you ready? Dad is already here!", Eren shouted.

"Yes!", Mikasa said, opening the door of her room ready to go.

"Well, someone is in a good mood.", Eren said while raising a brow.

Ignoring his comment Mikasa said, "Let's go, we don't want to make Grisha wait."

"You are right, Dad has texted me like 5 times already since he arrived.", Eren answered.

They took the elevator down and walked by the building lobby. Eren looked at the security guard and said, "That's a new guard right?"

"Yes, he arrived around two weeks ago.", Mikasa responded.

They went out of the building where Grisha, Eren's dad, was waiting for them inside his car.

"We have to make a quick stop at the bank first.", Grisha said.

Mikasa groaned in protest and said, "You know that nowadays you can do mostly all bank stuff through the internet right? I can teach you."

"I need to speak with a manager, is an account that locked me out and they told me to go to the bank directly. It will be quick.", Grisha explained.

"Why do old people avoid using technology?", Mikasa whispered to Eren.

"I heard that!", Grisha said.

They arrived at the bank and Grisha took a piece of paper and started to fill it out with his account information. He told Mikasa and Eren to start making the line for him. He finished filling up his account information and walked to the spot they were in the line.

"I'm hungry, they look like the Zootopia sloths.", Eren said looking at the bank employees.

Suddenly, a loud sound was heard that shook the whole building. Grisha jumped on top of Mikasa and Eren throwing them to the floor. Smoke was coming from everywhere. A huge truck had collided with the bank's main entrance, making a hole. In an instant, a bunch of men with guns, wearing hoodies, and a clown mask entered the building.

"Hands up! And sit on the floor now!", one of them commanded.

Mikasa P.O.V.

Grisha sat on the floor hugging me, and Eren sat in front of me protectively. A couple of the men grabbed an employee and went through a door. After a minute they started going out with black bags. I remembered that I still had my GPS location shared with my boss since lunch. I grabbed my phone and double-clicked the power button, it was programmed to send a high-priority emergency signal to different agencies. I hid my cellphone, pinching it with the inside border of my jeans and pulling my shirt over it. At that moment, one of the men was walking in front of all of us. He was staring at each one of us on the floor.

Eren was covering me with his body when the man said, "You, move!", to him.

Trying to still cover me Eren asked, "Where?"

The man moved closer to him and said, "To the side, now!", and pointed the gun at his head.

Eren hesitated for a moment but then he moved. I was looking to the floor avoiding the man's gaze, hoping that it had the same effect as when a teacher asks a question in a classroom and you avoid making eye contact in hope that he doesn't pick you to answer.

I saw him with the corner of my eye as he lowered the gun and tilted his head. It seemed as he was confused for a moment.

Grisha tightened his hold on me and I saw the man pointing his gun again.

"You!", he said.

I felt a cold metal being pressed against my forehead. When I lifted my gaze I was staring down the barrel of a Walter Q5 Match Semi-auto pistol, held by a man who had... a scorpion tattoo on his neck and grey eyes.

"You are coming with me."

-----------

Want to know what happens next? Check the rest of the story here: 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27557422/chapters/67401547

or in Wattpad:

https://www.wattpad.com/980985373-saved-by-deception-encounter

[rjhpandapaws]

A Cup of Something Better

Chapter 15: Even the Best Intentions can be Misread

Celebrating Connor passing his finals this soon might have been a bad idea. Hank know Connor needed to worry about something to be able to function properly. It came with being an older sibling and that was something Hank understood well; but this was a bit much. Connor had told him the results wouldn’t be posted for another week but he was checking his phone for what seemed like the hundredth time since they got to the cafe. “Alright, give me that.” He held his hand out even though he didn’t actually plan to take the phone, “We’re here to celebrate you finishing your nurses exam, not to sit and worry about the results.” Connor snapped back to himself and tucked his phone into his bag. “Right.” He sighed quietly, “I know the results aren’t going to be posted yet, but I keep thinking that I’m going to get a message that I failed.” Had he been dealing with anyone else Hank would have rolled his eyes and dismissed it, but he knew how hard Connor had worked for this. He held himself to an impossibly high standard and that made Hank worry on his behalf. Both as his former professor and as his friend. This wasn’t just about grades for him, it was also about proving to himself that he was good enough.

Hank took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Connor, you didn’t fail. Not with how much time you took to prepare.” He ran his thumb along the back of Connor’s hand, “I know you’re worried because this one decides a lot for you, but you also said that it wasn’t as difficult as you had thought. That was because you were prepared for it.” Hank gave his hand another squeeze, “There’s no doubt in my mind that you passed, so just relax.” “Have you met me Hank?” Connor remarked and this time Hank did roll his eyes. “it’s a tall order, I know.” He said sarcastically, “But seriously Connor, take some time to catch your breath. It will be fine, I promise.” Connor sat back with a sigh. It made keeping a hold of his hand a bit of a reach. “So how are the manuscripts coming?” He asked with a smile. Hank laughed as he let go of Connor’s hand, “Wow, I tell you to relax and you attack me.” He ran a hand though his hair, “They’re going, but I’m a bit stuck on both if I’m honest.” Connor finally seemed to relax, “I was only trying to make conversation.” Hank quirked a brow as he finished off his latte. Connor always seemed to love interested in heating about what he was trying to write and how it was going. His enthusiasm made it easier for Hank to get unstuck, and made writing as a whole a lot more fun.

“I’m going to get another coffee.” Connor said as he stood, “Do you want one as well?” “Yes please.” Another latte wasn’t about to help his sleep schedule but it was a weekend anyway, “Mind ordering them to go? There’s more I wanted to do today to celebrate.” “Alright.” Connor replied and eyed him with suspicion, “I’ll meet you at the car then?” “Sure.” Hank agreed. He’d had this surprise planned since Connor finished his base finals but he hadn’t had the energy then. Connor had been trying to get him to give away the surprise since then, and Hank was having a hard time telling him no. It wasn’t anything much in his opinion. Spending what was left of the day at his place and then dinner at a restaurant Connor had seemed interested in. It wasn’t something Hank would have done for anyone else though. Usually it would just be drinks or something small, but this has been weighing on Connor. He deserved a day to celebrate being free of it, and to ring in the start of something new the right way. It wasn’t a date, of course. As much as he liked Connor, that was something that needed time. He didn’t want to do anything that made Connor uncomfortable.

When Connor came out of the cafe he looked a little annoyed. Hank wondered what had happened between he left to order the drinks and now that bothered him so much. “You alright there Con?” He asked as he got to the car, “You like someone intentionally gave you decaf.” “North was being her usual pleasant self.” Connor replied as he handed Hank his drink, “Also, Josh says hello.” The sudden switch in gears almost gave Hank whiplash, “Hello to Josh then.” He settled in the driver’s seat, “Are you ready to head back to the house?” “Yeah.” Connor smiled from the passenger’s seat, “My dog has apparently missed me.” “Your dog?” Hank laughed as the old car rumbled to life, “You’ve only spent one weekend with him.” “It was love at first sight Hank, I’m telling you.” He said with a dramatic sigh that made Hank laugh again. He glanced at Connor with a half smile, “You let him onto the couch didn’t you?” Connor placed a hand over his chest and scoffed in mock offense, “How dare you suggest such a thing? I obeyed all of the rules.” That was a fucking lie and they both knew it, but Connor was in a good mood again and that was all Hank could ask for, “Which is exactly why my giant fucking Saint Bernard has decided to become a four legged tripping hazard every time I set foot in my kitchen.”

“So I might have fed him a little.” Connor admitted, and then after a pause, “At each meal.” Hank shook his head with an amused smile, “Only you would give in.” “I’m weak okay.” Connor replied with a smile. They settled into a comfortable quiet after that. It didn’t stay comfortable for long, Connor’s thoughts were after him again. His eyes were dark with worry and distant with whatever thought had his full attention. Something was bothering him and Hank was inclined to believe it was more than just the exam, but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions. “You’re pulling away from me again.” He said as he parked the car, “Is the exam really bothering you that much?” “Ah, no.” Connor met his eyes for a moment and then looked away almost frantically, “I was just thinking.” Hank could believe that, but there was something he wasn’t being told. “I’m here if you want to share.” He offered, “But for now we should head inside before Sumo breaks down the door.”  Connor smiled as he got out, “That’s a good plan.”

They could hear Sumo from outside the house and Hank smiled to himself. Sumo always got overly excited and forgot that he wasn’t as small as he used to be. Hank opened the door and tried to move Sumo back away from it. “Get back you big lug.” He huffed as he worked on pushing Sumo away from the door, “He can’t pet you if he can’t get into the fucking house.” As soon as Connor made it into the house that was it. Sumo moved past Hank with the kind of agility a dog his size shouldn’t have. He heard Connor thump against the door and gave a sympathetic wince. He turned around and Connor was grinning from ear to ear, just as excited to see Sumo as Sumo was to see him. “Hey buddy, I told you I would be back soon.” He laughed like he wasn’t being pinned to the door by a giant dog, “Yes, I missed you too, I promise.” “Sumo, get down.” Hank said in a commanding tone. Sumo turned to stare at him and Hank pointed at the floor firmly, one of them had to be the stern parent and it clearly wasn’t Connor. With a huff that was probably the canine equivalent of annoyance Sumo reluctantly did what he was told. Sumo didn’t let Connor out of his sight as they made their way to the living room.

Hank settled on the couch and looked over to find Sumo as close to being in Connor’s lap as he could get. His head and front paws were in Connor’s lap and he was relishing in the attention. “I’ve never seen him so excited to see someone else again.” He remarked lightly, “Normally he sticks to me like glue. This almost feels like betrayal.” Connor rolled his eyes, but Hank got the smile he had been going for, “I suppose that’s because he knows who the softer touch is.” Hank laughed and shook his head, “That’s a word for it. So are we going to try and catch up on House today?” Connor had both of his hands buried in Sumo’s fur but nodded, “I don’t know how far we’re going to get since you said you have plans for later.” “We have plans for later.” Hank amended as the show got started, “It’s part of your surprise.” Connor eyed him skeptically, but didn’t say whatever was on the tip of his tongue. They both got pulled into the show and it only felt natural to wrap his arm around him when Connor leaned against him. It felt like Connor belonged there and it was all Hank could focus on for a while. He wanted to memorize it in case tonight fucked things up between them.

When Netflix prompted to see if they were still watchin Hank got up to get drinks. It had been a while since he’d had alcohol in his fridge, but Connor had picked this one out while they had gone out to pick up some things for Sumo. He grabbed a bottle for Connor, and after hesitating for a moment grabbed one for himself. He handed Connor’s to him and got comfortable again. He watched Connor take a drink and then wince, it was routine by this point. “I forget that you don’t drink often. I could get you something different if you would like.” He offered even though Connor had already made himself comfortable against him again. “I can handle one beer Hank.” Connor remarked, “I’m not that weak.” Another drink accompanied by a wince, “I just have to get used to the taste again.” “Next time I’m out I’ll grab some wine coolers for you to try.” He said as he hit play and put his arm over the back of the couch. “Thanks.” Connor hummed. When he was genuinely relaxed Connor became a liquid. It was down to whatever he was lounging on to keep him upright. In this case it was Hank. Connor’s head was against his shoulder in a way that looked incredibly uncomfortable. He seemed content though so Hank stayed still so Connor would stay close. He didn’t want this to end.

As all good things did, it had to, and did. In the sudden blast of heavy metal of an alarm Hank forgot he had set. He swore and scrambled for his phone so he could shut it off. The sudden sound had sent Connor upright and he heard glass meet wood with more force than was probably intended. The alarm had done its job though because Hank had lost track of time. Just like he always did when it came to Connor. “Sorry about that.” He said once he finally got the damn thing to shut off, “I set in in case I fell asleep.” He stood with Connor and stretched, “It’s about time to head out so we don’t miss our reservation. Do you mind feeding Sumo while I get ready?” “Of course.” He replied brightly, “Come on Sumo, it’s dinner time.” Hank went back to his room to change. The place was pretty nice but not enough to have a dress code, but he still felt like a t-shirt and jeans wasn’t going to cut it. Especially with Connor in toe. He changed into a button down and dark jeans, tied his hair back, and took out his contacts so he wouldn’t have to do it when he got back. He gave himself a once over and then put his glasses on. Satisfied that he looked alright, he made his way back down the hall.

“You ready to head out Con?” He asked to double check. Connor took a long moment to reply and when he did he sounded nervous, “Uh, yeah. I’m ready.” Hank gestured to the door, “Alright then, let’s head out.” Connor gave a sharp nod and Hank held the door open for him once he was ready. They walked to the car together and Hank chose to play jazz on the way back into Detroit. Connor alternated between making small talk and trying to ask what they were going to do. Every time he did Hank would only smile and change the subject. Connor was gearing up to ask him again and Hank only shook his head. “If I told you then it wouldn’t be a surprise.” He pointed out again, “That and we’re almost there, just be patient.” “Hank.” Connor groaned dramatically and Hank laughed. “You’ll like it, I promise.” He said and then changed the subject, “How has work been?” He narrowed his eyes but chose to indulge Hank anyway. “It’s been alright, not as busy as it is when classes are in session.” He said with a shrug, “We’re going to be training another new girl starting next week.”

Hank gave a slow nod as he turned into the entrance of the parking garage, “Because Josh is about to start his student teaching, right?” “Yeah.” Connor said absently as he looked around in an attempt to get a hint as to what they were here for, “I might have to cut back on my hours as well depending on how the nursing program treats me.” “I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Hank replied to try and abate Connor’s worry, “We’re here.” “Are you anymore inclined to tell me what we are doing?” He pressed again. “No.” Hank quipped, “But I am willing to tell you that it’s my treat. I don’t want a repeat of the last time we got coffee.” “I ask for the bill one time and you never let it go.” Connor groused good naturedly, “I was trying to be a gentleman.”  “It was greatly appreciated.” Hank replied as they got out, “It’s my turn this time though Connor.” “Thanks Hank.” He replied. Hank locked the car and they made their way to the elevators. When he looked over at Connor he was lost to his thoughts again. Curiosity lingered in his eyes, but worry darkened them as well. Hank wondered what he was thinking so hard about. The exam again? Or was it the nursing program this time?

“Hey.” Hank said to get his attention as he pressed the call button, “You have a good memory. Think you can remember that we’re on the lavender level?” “Uh. yeah.” He said absently, he wasn’t all the way back to him yet, “The lavender level, got it.” “I knew I was in good hands.” He remarked, but Connor was mostly gone again. The elevator at the end of the hall opened and Connor stuck close as they stepped inside. He came out of his thoughts on his own this time and finally seemed excited for the night. Seeing his slight smile reassured Hank, he had felt like he might have overstepped some sort of unspoken boundary. When they hit street level he used the crowd as an excuse to take Connor’s hand. There was a long moment of nothing, and then Connor’s hand gripped his. Hank ducked his head and grinned like a fucking moron. It wasn’t a date, he kept reminding himself, but it felt like one and he liked it. He would keep these feelings to himself of course, he didn’t want to push Connor away. Tonight was about celebrating his success and Hank wasn’t about to ruin that with unnecessary feelings.

They made it the the Italian restaurant and ducked inside. Connor hesitated in the doorway and Hank squeezed his hand to reassure him. He took a deep breath and crossed the threshold. Hank reluctantly let him go to go check in so they could get their table. “Alright Con.” He said to get his attention when he got back, “Let’s go.” Connor nodded again. He still looked uncomfortable so Hank took his hand again and squeezed it. Maybe he should have let on about what they were doing because Connor looked like he wanted to turn tail and run. he let go of Connor’s hand when they sat down and waited to speak until their server had left. “You look uncomfortable Connor.” He said gently. Connor hesitated before he replied and looked around like he expected someone to be listening in. “I’ve never been somewhere this nice.” He kept his voice quiet that Hank nearly missed it over the other chatter in the restaurant, “It’s probably expensive Hank.” It was, but that was the point. Graduating was something worth celebrating. Connor had worked hard and Hank wanted to give him something that was worth the effort he had put in to get this far.

“Of course it’s a nice place.” Hank offered lightly, “You only graduate so many times and I wanted to celebrate. I should have checked in with you, I’m sorry.” “Its alright Hank.” He replied, “I was just surprised.” Hank rolled his eyes and that made Connor laugh, “Well okay, that wasn’t the right word; I wasn’t expecting something like this. I thought it might be a movie or something.” “Go big or go home.” He joked, “Sorry if this is too much.” He was going to offer that they could go do something else, but Connor spoke first. “It’s fine.” He said kindly, “I just needed a moment to adjust, I’m fine now.” Hank smiled and they looked over their menus in relative quiet. The last time Hank had done something like this was back when Jeff had been promoted. When the server came back Connor surprised him by ordering some fruity cocktail kind of drink. Hank ordered a coke for himself. He was glad to see Connor branch out a little. “I didn’t think you would order another drink after the beer this afternoon.” He joked. “You said go big or go home right?” Connor grinned, “I’ll only be having the one anyway. I’ve been wanting to try it.”

They ordered when their server brought the drinks. He eyed Connor when he heard his order but didn’t comment. They’d had that conversation before and he understood that Connor was only trying to be polite. Hank could appreciate that, but sometimes he wished Connor wouldn’t think so much. Dinner passed with Hank constantly having to remind himself that this wasn’t a date. Which was something that became easier once Connor was tipsy, he wasn’t about to do anything that could be misinterpreted. Well, he would try his best not to anyway. He didn’t want to give Connor the cold shoulder either. By the time they were ready to leave, Hank could confidently say that Connor was drunk. He was glad to have been the one of them to stand first, because Connor didn’t even manage to get upright before he was pitching forward. Hank rushed to catch him and pulled him against his chest. Connor let out a content hum and Hank smiled. “This is nice.” Connor muttered into his chest and Hank was pretty sure he didn’t realize he had spoken at all. “You really are a light weight aren’t you?” He remarked with an amused laugh, “You’ll just spit your thoughts right out.”

Connor didn’t reply for a long moment. “Sorry.” He said quietly and tried to straighten up. Hank’s arm loosely around his waist was the only thing that kept him from pitching the other way. The walk back to the car was actually pretty fun. Connor kept insisting he knew where they were parked and Hank indulged him. He used the arm around his waist to guide him in the right direction. After a few interesting detours they made it back to the bank of elevators. “Do you remember what level we’re parked on or did your drink take that from you too?” He teased. He had it saved in his phone just in case. “We’re on lavender.” He replied indignantly and then frowned when he stumbled over his words, “My drink didn’t take anything from me.” Hank took Connor’s hand so he could reach the right button without disrupting Connor’s balance. He felt Connor intertwine their fingers but he didn’t say anything. He was drunk, it didn’t mean what Hank wanted it to. He knew Connor was staring at him and when Hank met his eyes he was struck by all of the emotion he saw there. Those beautiful brown eyes were saying so many things and Hank couldn’t understand any of it. Connor was too drunk to explain it to him. It was unfair in the most bitter sense.

Connor looked away first and Hank felt like he had missed the chance to say something important. To answer all of the feelings he had seen swimming in Connor’s eyes. He didn’t know what to say, what the right words even would have been. When he saw the first of the tears roll down Connor’s cheek the mix of guilt and regret he felt was physically painful. He reached out to wipe those tears away. “Hey.” He prompted, “Come back to me Connor.” Connor came back to himself a little, “Sorry.” He said and Hank squeezed his hand. “Lesson learned.” He said gently as they stepped out of the elevator, “Too much alcohol puts you at the mercy of your thoughts.” Connor let out a laugh that was heavy with unshed tears, “Apparently.” Hank let go of him long enough to get into the car and out of the parking garage. He hadn’t realized that he had taken Connor’s hand again until he felt his own get a soft squeeze. Reflexively he rubbed the back of Connor’s hand with his thumb. He would have given anything to know what he was thinking so hard about. He wanted to know if he had done something wrong. If he had done something to hurt Connor at some point tonight.

“What’s eating at you?” He asked when Connor hadn’t said anything by the time they reached his apartment complex, “You’ve looked miserable the entire ride back, Tonight was supposed to be nice. If it’s something I did, could you please tell me?” Connor flinched and his grip on Hank’s hand tightened to the point of nearly being painful, “Could we maybe talk about this inside? Because I don’t want to be alone right now.” He turned the car off and carefully let go of Connor’s hand. Whatever delight he would have normally felt at finally being invited up to Connor’s apartment was completely overshadowed by worry. “Of course.” He replied and hoped that his voice came across level, “Let’s go.” Connor got out first and Hank had to rush to catch up to him. He didn’t know what was happening anymore. Before dinner things had been fine, and now Hank wasn’t so sure. Was it the alcohol? If that was the case then he definitely wasn’t going to pick any more up on his next grocery trip. If anything it would help him to quit entirely. Or maybe tonight had felt too much like it was meant to be romantic. Which meant that this was about to get very uncomfortable.  Hank would explain himself, apologize, and start keeping his distance.

The silence between them was heavy with the words that neither one of them knew how to say. Hank wanted nothing more than to hold Connor and comfort him, but he didn’t want to make things any worse. It was the longest elevator ride of Hank’s life. Connor lead the way to his apartment. He held the door open for Hank and then moved to feed his fish. “Um.” He started as he made his way to the kitchen, “Make yourself at home.” Hank did his best to as he settled onto one of the barstools. He was pretty surprised when he heard the coffee machine start up. “It’s a little late for coffee isn’t it Con?” He asked, but he could understand wanting something that was familiar to the both of them. “Don’t worry, it’s decaf.” Came the reply. Connor made a point of not looking at him as he continued, “I wouldn’t that to you. I mean, I know you will probably be up anyway; but I don’t want something I did to be the reason why.” Hank was officially fucking lost. He needed to know what was going on inside Connor’s head because they were very clearly on two incredibly different wavelengths. Hank crossed his arms on the countertop and took a deep breath. This called for a delicate touch and Hank wasn’t good at that.

“Connor relax.” He began, “I don’t know what’s bothering you, but I promise I won’t be upset. But I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.” The smile he got from Connor as he set the first mug of coffee on the counter in front of him looked more like a snarl, “Please don’t make promises that you can’t keep.” Hank had never seen this side of Connor before and he was honestly surprised. Connor hissed out a sigh and collected himself, “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.” Hank took the mug and held it in both his hands to keep himself from reaching out for Connor, “Did I do something wrong tonight Connor? You’ve neem acting odd since the restaurant and I don’t believe all of it can be blamed on the alcohol.” “Yes and no.” Connor replied after a long moment of silence. He was holding his mug with both of his hands and in front of his chest like it would protect him. “I know it’s not much of an answer, but I thinks it’s more of how I interpret the things you do than the things you actually do.” That explanation came across just about as clear as mud. Connor still had alcohol in his system, his words were bound to come out a little wrong. “I don’t understand.” Hank said and hoped a rephrasing would make more sense.

Hurt and frustration mingled in Connor’s expression. He squeezed his mug tightly enough that his knuckles began to turn white. He took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh and then spoke, “I find myself particularly attached to you, and I find that I tend to project those feelings onto the actions you take.” He stopped to breathe, “I know that you don’t feel the same and having alcohol tonight was a bad plan because it blurred all of the lines I drew and it hurt; because tonight almost felt like you loved me too.” Hank’s heart broke at Connor’s words. He had tried so hard to keep his feelings at a distance in an attempt to avoid this exact situation. He never meant to hurt Connor like this or lead him on. He hadn’t been careful enough. His good intentions had only hurt Connor. He had to fix this; alcohol or not, Connor deserved to know he felt the same. When he sobered up Hank would reassure him as many times as it took. “Who’s to say that I don’t Connor?” He asked as he made his way into the kitchen. He just wanted Connor to look at him and see that he was being honest.

“Don’t.” Connor snapped and slammed his mug down onto the counter hard enough that Hank thought it was going to shatter, “Don’t do this to me. Either you do or you don’t. Please, don’t make me question myself more than I already am.” Hank set his mug down beside Connor’s. After a moment of hesitation he turned Connor to face him. He needed Connor to understand that he meant all of this. He didn’t want Connor to question his feelings any longer. He deserved to know just how loved he was. Hank had a lot of hurt to make up for. He took a deep breath to collect himself, “I’m sorry, I thought I was clear in my feelings.”  He smiled softly, “But to use your words; I find myself particularly attached to you as well.” More emotions than he could count passed through Connor’s eyes but hesitation was the one that lingered, “You aren’t just saying this to appease me because I’m a little bit drunk, right?” “As much as I believe that this should wait until you’re sober, I wouldn’t do that to you.” He moved his hands from Connor’s shoulders to wrap his arms around him instead, “I’m being completely honest Connor.”

Then he was being kissed. Connor moved with enough force that he pressed Hank back against the counter. He tangled his fingers in Hank’s hair and Hank pulled him closer. Connor tasted of coffee and very faintly of that overly sweet drink he had at the restaurant. Hank pulled away before things went too far and Connor chased after him. Hank rested his forehead against Connor’s as he spoke, “As much as I would love to continue, this is something better left for when you’re sober.” “Will you stay the night?” Connor pressed. If Hank had been a stronger man he would have said no, but when it came to Connor he may as well have been made out of putty. “Only if you promise to behave,” He relented. Connor grinned like the cat that caught the canary and stepped away from him to empty their mugs. Hank pulled out his phone to message Kara to ask if she could feed Sumo in the morning since something had come up and he wouldn’t be able to make it back to the house tonight. They would have a lot to talk about tomorrow if Connor was feeling up to it, but for now Hank just wanted to enjoy the moment.

It didn’t take long for Connor to fall asleep once they got into bed. Hank wasn’t sure how much of it was because of the alcohol and how much of it was because Hank was running his fingers through his hair. He began to drift off not too long after Connor’s breathing leveled out. His last thought before sleep finally pulled him under was that tonight wasn’t too bad as far as first dates went.

[oumaheroes]

WIP Extract- Breathe

This comes from my fic Reset, which is long and large and something that is most certainly impossible to read in a day.

The fic itself mainly focuses on England and France with FrUK as the relationship, but I enjoyed writing this interaction between Scotland and England and wanted to share. Context wise, England has been shot in the shoulder and has got himself into a bit of a political pickle- Scotland was called in to help dig him out of the very self-inflicted hole.

-----------

Scotland did most of the talking. England was far too tired to argue or to properly conceptualise any next steps that were needed and the only emotion he found distinguishable from bone aching tiredness was deep gratitude. Now that everything was being handled by someone else, and someone else who England trusted to be competent, there was no panic or worry to keep him alert and he was finding it increasingly difficult to stay conscious, let alone remain focused on conversations enough to be able to provide intelligent input.

France was very much the same. He hadn't spoken much more since the motorhome, not even when North had laughed at him for his ridiculously baggy stolen clothes. The location of France's own things was a mystery- perhaps they had been abandoned at the care home or chucked out of the window as they'd driven here- who knew. Technically they were England's clothes anyway, so France wasn't too bothered.

The most France had done was rummage through Scotland's luggage before they set off and triumphantly pull one of Wales’ jumpers out from his suitcase to take for his own.

'If I ever insult the lovely Wales' fashion choices again, please remind me of this moment.'

It was a horribly garish thing, mottled with splashes of bright red and blue. It was entirely the sort of thing Scotland would also eye up and steal. Terrible looking though they may be, Wales' jumpers were, somehow, always the most comfortable and he was frequently annoyed with his siblings for taking them if he left them anywhere for too long, which he often did.

'We all know that as soon as you get back to your own clothes you will conveniently forget this conversation.'

France ignored England in favour of pulling the jumper over his head and giving a long sigh of contentment.

'Go on, hurry up,' Scotland pushed past him to the driver's door, causing him to stumble forwards, 'chuck England something to cover the blood and get in the car already. I'm leaving with or without you in five minutes.'

Although they now had the backing of the embassy to explain any erratic and untoward behaviour concerning the general public, England did look particularly horrific and it probably wouldn't end well if they waltzed in looking as they did. There was a high chance someone would panic and phone an ambulance which was the last thing anyone wanted- hospitals were always risky for their kind and drawing more attention to themselves at the moment wouldn't be wise.

Because of this, England before too long thankfully found himself in a hotel lobby wearing an extremely large green monstrosity he was most certainly not going to give back later.

Someone, probably not Scotland because the place was far too comfortable looking and Scotland was always the most careful (England preferred the word stingy) with money out of all of them, had arranged a hotel for them in Le Mans. It wasn't anywhere too extravagant or fancy but it was a bed each and that was honestly all England wanted right now. It wasn’t even that late in the evening but all he could think about was going to sleep somewhere and being left very much alone.

Sadly, he wasn't given that luxury. As soon as they'd checked in and avoided the suspicious eyes of the hotel staff, Scotland had bullied him into his room and through to the bathroom. He'd requested that the embassy bring additional medical supplies when they arrived for their nations to use and whilst England was pulling off the top most layers of clothing he unpacked them on his bed, picking out what he thought they'd need.

'It's not too bad,' England called out to him from the bathroom, giving up on his top completely and cackhandedly cutting his way free with a pair of medical scissors. In the room next door, he could hear the sound of a shower turning on- France must have jumped straight in, 'it'll be fine with a wash.'

Scotland returned with some bandages and antiseptic solution and placed them down on the counter, 'Sure.'

'Honestly.'

'Okay.'

'There's no point fussing, I can do it myself.'

England made a grab for the antiseptic but Scotland moved it back and away, out of easy reach, 'Christ, would you stop?'

'Just give it here, you go check on France or North.'

'No, England sit.'

There was a wooden chair in the bathroom and Scotland pulled it over and tried to push England into it. Too tired to properly fight him England sat, but reached over to the counter to grab for the gauze.

Scotland slapped his hand away and stood in front of them, blocking him.

'Scotland. Let me-'

'Bollocks to that, look,'

Scotland crouched down in front of him and England bristled immediately at the offense, 'Don't treat me like a child.' He wasn’t dying.

'I'm not, just,' Scotland made an exasperated noise, 'calm the fuck down.'

'I am calm, you are what is currently stressing me out.' England grit his teeth and forced himself to sound level-headed and somewhat close to polite. He really couldn't be arsed to deal with any more grief today and his tolerance for his brothers' particular flavour of annoyance was always low.

'No, hear me out for a minute,' Scotland put a large hand on England's good shoulder and let it rest there, heavy, and England tensed at the contact, 'breathe, for just one bloody second. Even before France came back you weren't feeling great and you've had a shit few days. Just breathe, and stop trying to take control of every damn thing.'

Scotland's eyes looked far too serious and, dare he say, concerned and England tried to shrug him off, 'I'm fine, I only got caught in the shoulder- it's nothing any of us haven't had before. There's no need for all of this,' England gestured with his head to the neat rolls of bandages and the bottle of antiseptic. They were modern luxuries to them; effective and modern medical supplies were only things that were easily to hand in the last century. England had received far worse injuries before, hell, had received far worse injuries from Scotland before- this truly was nothing worthy of any particular extra care or attention.

What he wanted was for Scotland to leave him alone and go and check on North, to make sure he was okay and let England pick at his shoulder how he wanted. Scotland wasn't usually one to provide any form of tender affection or coddling, whilst England had been growing up Scotland's method of child rearing at been a firm, rough bluntness that he now found oddly comforting and expected. This sort of behaviour usually came from Wales, so to see it from Scotland was incredibly unnerving.

'I'm not talking about the shoulder,' Scotland only tightened his hold and England tipped his head back against the wall in frustration, 'I can feel you better now that I'm close and you're putting me on edge.'

There were benefits to being in a political union. The UK was made up of four separate countries, four independent states with long, messy histories that intertwined yes, but were still very separate beings. However, under the United Kingdom they formed one nation, one political entity and that caused a strange blurring of self, sometimes. It gave them all a sort of fuzzy idea as to how the other members of the union were doing- how the English banks were faring, how the Welsh harvest was coming along, how much the tourism in Northern Ireland had swelled and boosted the local economy and how much the fishing industry was suffering in Scotland.

It was handy; it was extremely useful when it came to planning and understanding how to best move forward as one nation of 4 people, and it was also a pain.

It was a pain because England couldn't hide himself as much as he wanted to around his brothers these days, couldn't put on an entirely impenetrable mask of indifference as he would like because if there was something wrong then the other members of the United Kingdom would know about it, regardless of how much he tried to cover it up. He was used to this feeling of intimacy with Wales, who had been bound to him since 1301, but Scotland still felt somewhat new. They hadn't always had a peaceful relationship, their people had often been at very bloody war with each other, and at times it still felt odd for Scotland to read him so well, even after three hundred odd years together. Especially in moments when England wanted to come across differently to how he really felt.

It sometimes felt even stranger for Scotland to act upon England's vulnerability with kindness rather than take advantage, although England knew that he was being unfair to think that. He hadn't always given his eldest brother the opportunity to demonstrate anything other than what England had come to expect and a lot of that he knew in hindsight was self-inflicted.

As for right now...

England forced himself to meet Scotland’s eye, 'I'll be fine. I just need to sleep and eat something and get home.'

'Aye, I know,' Scotland gave his shoulder a brief pat before letting go, standing up to pick up the supplies on the counter, 'but you feel like you're gonna have a heart attack so until then, let someone else do something for a change. You don't have to do it all on your own.'

England closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the tap as Scotland washed his hands. Scotland was calm and healthy, his banks were strong, his people were happy and he felt steady and familiar- an old ancient lullaby and a well-trodden path to home.

Despite what he said, and even though he wouldn't never admit this even to himself, having Scotland nearby felt good and England had to concede that maybe his brother was right. He took a deep breath in and held it for a moment before letting it go, feeling the tension that he hadn't realised was there lift from his shoulders and jaw.

Scotland made a noise of approval and stepped closer, a calloused hand on England's arm to warn him about the incoming stinging sensation, 'everything is being handled. After this I'll go grab us something to eat, drag North in the shower, and you can go to bed.'

Belatedly, England realised that their entire conversation was being held in Brythonic and although a small part of himself was unamused that Scotland could trick and lull him into passivity so easily, he was mostly grateful for it. A shared history, a collective notion of stability, peace and default comfort wasn't something to take for granted. England couldn't quite bring himself to express this in words, but he hoped that his appreciation for it came across well enough by keeping his eyes shut and doing as he was told.

[snarkwrites]

07 | gangsta ; sweetpea

Notes:

So.. the sexual tension. The longing. The lingering touches and all that awkward but cute shit.. That’s starting here. Can we say sloooow burn? Because considering I’m now six chapters deep and they really haven’t... Done too much as far as touching / flirting / interacting, yeah.. That’s what this is. If you weren’t looking for a slow burn, I’m honestly not sure what to tell you? Other than oops? There’s been a few days pass between last chapter and this one. It’s alluded that Sweetpea and Alyssa have been bumping into each other over the course of.

This chapter came to me on a whim. Because I thought it’d be cute / awkward / funny to have one or ther other fall asleep in class, so here we are. The things my brain does to me at 9 pm, i s2g.

Warnings:

non canon compliant - this is the biggest warning, so if you’re into things that follow exact canon plot you are... definitely not going to like this. angst & slow burn, heavy sexual tension starting now, actually - this is just so everyone who started reading this thinking the smut would transpire in a hurry knows that apparently, it is not. violence / swearing & fighting, possible underage drinking and other shenanigans - look.. it’s high school. shit happens. also apparently, my ofc Alyssa uses the word fuck like all the time?... eventual sexual content / a virgin original character - this one is self explanatory. yes, i plan to write a smutty chapter in this at some point. when? i don’t rightly know. it’s got a while before we get there.

Pairing:

Andrews!Sibling OFC, Alyssa x Sweet Pea

Other Parts:

[ one - two - three - four - five - six - soundtrack ]

Other Stuff:

[ faq - tag list doc ]

Tagging:

@brithedemonspawn​ is the only person on my Riverdale tag list. If you’d like to be tagged for this story by all means.. Please let me know. Please, I beg. It’d make me super duper happy!!!

                                                    SEVEN.

“Where’d you disappear last night, man? It’s only the second night this weekend...” Fangs asked the question, gazing at Sweet Pea expectantly. Sweet Pea shrugged and grumbled quietly, “Went for a walk.”

“Where?” Fangs asked.

“Around, okay?” Sweet Pea snapped.

Fangs smirked. Teasing him with a laugh, “By around, you mean you wandered off and found yourself over on the North side.”

Just the way Sweet Pea tensed told the tale in it’s entirety.

And Fangs smirked to himself. “Did your little walk wind up with you walkin past a certain red-head’s house?”

“The park.” Sweet Pea answered. He scowled at how easily Fangs seemed to be able to read him. And for a few seconds, maybe he panicked. If Fangs could pick up on the whole thing this easily, did that mean Alyssa could?

,, you better hope not, otherwise, everything will get awkward. She’s never going to go for you. You need to do the smart thing and get over her already.” 

“So you did find her. What the hell was she doing out at the park by herself?” Fangs asked, a brow raised. Sweet Pea was a million miles away and just seeing him like this had Fangs smirking to himself about it because Sweet Pea was not the kind of guy who got like this.

Apparently, Fangs mused to himself, there was a first time for everything.

“Walking her dog, I think. Or laying on the grass, looking up at the sky and talking to the dog.” Sweet Pea chuckled. Smiling to himself a little because he knew Fangs wasn’t really paying him any attention. Too busy watching the Keller guy walk past. Sweet Pea cleared his throat.

Fangs snickered. “Yeah, that sounds like her.” he mused aloud, distracted.

Sweet Pea muttered something. When Fangs asked him to repeat it, he refused entirely. The two fell silent as Cheryl, Toni and Alyssa made their way over.

“Sorry, we had to pull this one out of bed. Again. Because someone decided she just had to watch all of the Saw movies last night.” Cheryl explained, with Toni snickering and adding on, “We had to physically remove her. And she is violent when she’s mostly asleep. I thought I was going to lose an eye in there.”

“I thought I was swinging at that fucking little creepy puppet from the movie, okay?” Alyssa yawned, hugging herself between Cheryl and Toni. Apologizing to both.

Sweet Pea found himself gazing at her. A brow raising when he realized that her eyes weren’t green with a hint of brown, but brown. A deep dark brown, at that.. And that she was wearing glasses today. Thick ones. ,, and honestly, I prefer it.” the thought came but he was quick to shove it down. Or he tried to shove it out.

“You wear glasses?” he questioned.

“Not normally, but my brother scared the shit out of me pounding on the door and I dropped a contact down the sink.” Alyssa grumbled.

“Clearly, she is not a morning kinda girl.” Fangs chuckled, stepping away when she raised her hand to take a lazy swing at his upper arm and pouted up at him.

“Not when I only went to sleep at 3? Or was it 4?”  Alyssa shrugged.

They started down the hall, splitting up to go into their respective classes.

Alyssa settled into her seat and Sweet Pea opened the textbook, putting it between them. When he happened to look down because he felt pressure against his side, he found her leaned against him, snoring quietly. 

He glanced towards the front of the room. Mr. Keaton hadn’t noticed yet. Carefully, he moved his arm. Leaning down, muttering against her ear, “You gotta wake up now, Cherry.” making her shiver as a result and huddle against him even more stubbornly refusing to move.

“Uh uh. Warm.” she squirmed around as if she were trying to get comfortable. Tucking her feet beneath her in her chair. Sweet Pea grumbled, poking at her until she woke up. Trying to stop himself from having any sort of reaction to the way it felt to have her pressing against him. Because honestly, it was something he could definitely get used to. Even if he’d die a thousand slow and painful deaths before he admitted that to anyone, let alone himself.

Chuckling and giving her a smirk as soon as he saw the way she blushed. Leaning in to mutter quietly, “Careful, cherry. People might start talkin.” in a teasing tone.

Alyssa shrugged as she muttered quietly, “Honestly, I’m out of fucks to give.” and then rubbing her eyes and yawning. Going quiet as she tried to focus on the open textbook between them. Brushing against Sweet Pea’s side a time or two just so she could get a better look at the page closer to him.

Quick to pull away, making him pout to himself when he knew she wasn’t looking and nobody else was paying attention either.

By the time the bell rang, Sweet Pea definitely needed the long walk to his next class on the other side of campus just to even attempt pulling himself together.

Having her right under him for an entire class period. Now having her make best friends with Toni and Fangs. Constantly being around her. Being reminded that he wanted what he felt he couldn’t have.

It was.. Really starting to drive him crazy. 

,, and now, you’re actually getting to know her and it’s making it harder to keep her at arms length..” the thought came, taunting him until he swung at his locker door in anger.

Sooner or later, something had to give.

[dnd-drunks-n-debauchery]

Recap/Highlight reel of Friday Night's session

Brought to you by @nevergonnarollagain AKA Cookie (26/03/2021)

The session picks up from where we left off last week; Jayfice keeping watch at the window and spotting a group of people in black and blue, led by someone in front dressed in green. Jayfice recognises this group of people; these are the Brokensky, and the person in green is their leader, bounty hunter Ivan Pierce. 

Jayfice starts going round waking everyone up, grabbing a couple of pans to bang together to speed up some of the slower wakers. Once everyone is awake Jayfice explains that the Brokensky are on their way to the town right now. Javier simply doesn't have the mental capacity to deal with this information after everything that's happened and goes back into his resting trance despite Jayfice's protests.

Inora and Jayfice discuss what to do and Inora asks permission to inject Javier with some kind of substance. Javier untrances and points out that he can see and hear what's going on in his trance, but agrees for them to do whatever they need to do. Inora injects Javier with some kind of golden, glowy liquid while Jayfice starts making plans.

After some thinking Jayfice sends Javier and Harmony to go and look through the mailroom to see if they can find anything that could help them in a fight against Ivan. They then take Inora and Rosania to go and look through the potion shop.

In the potion shop, Inora looks around and explains that the potions haven't been made properly at all so would probably do more harm than good. She does however think there will be enough ingredients here to make medicine stuff to heal anyone who needs it during or after the fight. After some contemplation Jayfice tells her to do that and leads the way to the blacksmith, grabbing a few potions at random as they leave.

On the way over to the blacksmith, Jayfice introduces themselves to Rosania and formally welcomes her to the team. She rolls her eyes, prompting Jayfice to remark that she's going to love it.

Inside the blacksmith, Jayfice climbs up onto a shelf to get a good view of the room while Rosania judgingly stares at them. The pair look through the room to see if there's any weapons or armour, but there doesn't seem to be anything. Jayfice finds some coal and contemplates trying to set a building on fire with Ivan inside, but decides against it.

The pair head over to the general store next, meeting up with Ned on the way. As they walk over, Rosania starts thinking about trying to run away. She ultimately decides to stick around, but only because she feels slightly responsible for getting Jayfice's brother shot (long story) and wants to try and make up for that somehow.

In the general store, Jayfice picks up a pack from the counter while the others look around. The food stalls are all empty, and judging from the mess it was probably the potion-seller who took all the food. Since there doesn't seem to be anything of use here, Jayfice leads the group towards the bakery.

On the way over, Jayfice glances towards where they saw the Brokensky approaching, and while they're still some distance away they're closing in fairly fast. They head towards the bakery, but as they pass the small temple they decide to go in there instead. Rosania simply carries on towards the bakery, and Ned follows her.

In the bakery, Rosania clambers over the counter while Ned searches the main room. A door at the back catches her eye, and determining that there isn't much of use in this room she walks over to it. After one last glance around the room, Rosania gently opens the door.

Meanwhile, in the temple, Jayfice is looking around. There's five dragon heads on the wall around a desk, and a bunch of couches set up like pews. There's also an egg and an open book on the desk, but they decide to leave it for now, instead walking over to a door to a back room and opening that. 

In the room Jayfice walks into, there are tables lined up with burnt bodies on them. Dragon heads are mounted above the bodies, angled in such a way that the mouths are pointing down at the tables. If anything were to pour out of the mouths, the bodies would be directly hit. Jayfice walks over to the dragon heads and touches one of them, and is unnerved by how...strange...it feels. Too smooth and detailed to be made of stone, but too pristine and whole to be dragon scale. 

Jayfice walks back through to the main room and tries to grab the egg to look closer at it, only for four of the dragon heads on the wall to shoot fire at them. They manage to dodge most of the fire, but do get singed. They let go of the egg and walk out of the temple, deciding to come back to this later. As they leave they hear a strange sound, and turn around to see the fifth dragon head shoot a frost ray and put out the fire. They announce to the room that they're not done with this place yet, and they get the feeling that the temple returns the sentiment.

Meanwhile in the bakery, Rosania walks into the back room. There's a lot of flour, sugar and honey, but apart from that nothing of interest. She goes back to the other room and climbs back over the counter, then she and Ned head outside to meet up with Jayfice.

Outside Jayfice looks over to see how close Ivan and the Brokensky are, and is worried about how close they're getting. Rosania tells Jayfice what she found, and Jayfice heads back to the inn to talk with their brother and find out if Javier and Harmony found anything.

After some back and forth the group in the inn decide on a plan; they'll set up some barricades to force Ivan through one small area, and as he goes through someone will drop a flour bomb on him. They'll need all the time they have to tear down some of the other buildings' walls and set up their barricades, but they reckon it could be done.

Jayfice and their brother go to find Rosania back at the bakery again and Jayfice asks her to be the "dump boi" for the plan. Seeing her confusion their brother attempts to explain what Jayfice means, but ends up making Rosania feel nervous. Jayfice interrupts and explains themselves, and once Rosania understands the plan she agrees. The feathered siblings tell her that maybe she could turn into that "big lizard thing" again and attack Ivan as well, and while Rosania nods along silently she secretly panics.

You see, the thing about Rosania is that she's only been a druid for just over 12 hours at this point, so she's had no real time to get to grips with her powers yet.

So she has no idea how she did that or even if it could be done again.

She keeps this unfortunate fact to herself however, instead grabbing all the flour she can from the bakery and climbing up onto the potion shop roof to wait for Ivan to come.

As Rosania walks off with the flour, Vannessa walks over to Jayfice and shares some worrying news; a small group of Ivan's men split off from the main group and are circling round to the west side of the town. As Jayfice processes this info the elven woman they heard last night telepathically tells them that there's another group of Ivan's men heading round the eastern side.

Jayfice calls everyone available to the main square and tells them about Ivan's group splitting up, then they and their brother split up their own group to try and take on Ivan's units, with Jayfice, Javier, Harmony and Ned taking on the main group and luring Ivan through the flour bomb trap. Satisfied that they have all grounds covered, everyone splits off to fight their respective opponents. As Jayfice is about to head off with their group, they see a flash of green to the north. As they watch, they notice that it's someone in a green cloak, who stands facing away from them and waiting for combat. Then suddenly they vanish, and Jayfice hurries to catch up with their group.

As Jayfice gets into position, Ivan finishes his trek to the town. The Brokensky members still with him stay back and seem to set up a small camp, while Ivan starts talking to Jayfice and trying to convince them to surrender and just go back to their home with him since neither of them actually want to be in this situation. Jayfice stands their ground, although worryingly Ned seems to be pretty interested in Ivan’s plea.

Eventually Jayfice gets fed up of talking and fires an Eldritch Blast at him. All it really does is piss him off, and he starts making his way over to attack them as Jayfice Eldritch Blasts him again and Harmony casts Fireball at him. Up on the roof Rosania is waiting for the group to run past so that she can spring the trap on Ivan.

Ivan makes it over to the group and attacks Jayfice, Javier and Harmony. He doesn't attack Ned however, hoping this would help convince him to hand over the bird.

And Ned slowly walks up behind Jayfice, hand outstretched to push them into Ivan's grasp. Jayfice glances back at him, knowing what's about to happen and already accepting it.

Ned hesitates, seeing the expression on Jayfice's face.

Then he pats them on the back and Moonbeams Ivan instead.

Relieved at having not been betrayed by their friend, Jayfice goes back to trying to follow the plan and runs into the main square. Meanwhile on the roof Rosania keeps waiting to spring the trap, although having seen Ned almost hand over Jayfice she's feeling very concerned.

Ivan taunts Jayfice for running off and attacks Harmony with his two war picks, dragging her to the ground with them and spraining her unbroken arm. He swings round to attack Ned, but Ned is able to dodge out of the way.

Ned dives back towards Ivan and attacks him with his hand axe, not doing very much damage.

Javier is mad that Ivan's taken down Harmony. He glares at Ivan for a moment, and a weird mist forms around Ivan. As quickly as it appeared it's gone again, and Javier dual-fireballs Ivan.

Hearing their friends in trouble, Jayfice spins round and races back to the fight. They cast some kind of spell to knock Ivan prone, then Ned attacks Ivan again.

Rosania realises that there’s very little chance of the plan working out now. However, she keeps waiting on the roof in case she does get a chance to enact the plan, although the longer the fight goes on the more nervous she's getting.

Javier casts some kind of spell and swings at Ivan with his fire rapier, surrounding him with booming energy in the process.

Jayfice runs over to Harmony and casts Spare the Dying, stabilizing her and preventing her from dying.

Up on the roof Rosania decides that since the plan has already gone off the rails there's no point waiting any longer to see if it gets back on track. She carefully shuffles along the roof, then throws the flour bomb at Ivan. Unfortunately Javier gets caught up in the explosion, and he ends up more affected by it than Ivan. Needless to say she feels pretty guilty about that.

Ivan heals himself as the explosion settles, then attacks Javier with his war picks and drags him to the ground. He then gets up and moves over to Jayfice as Ned lashes out with his axe, barely doing any damage. He attacks Jayfice with his picks as well, sending them to the ground.

Ned rushes over to Jayfice and heals them, then casts Moonbeam at Ivan again.

Jayfice scrambles to their feet as soon as they come round, then looks Ivan in the eye and calls him a bitch. Then they cast firehand at Ivan's face.

Up on the roof, Rosania freaks out. She jumps down from the roof to try and help, and in the process she turns into an Allosaurus. As an Allosaurus she runs over to Ivan, and Jayfice finally works out what sort of creature Rosania's been turning into; they point at her with a massive grin and shout "Dinosaur!"

Rosania makes it over to Ivan and slashes at him with her claws. 

At this point Ivan is pretty injured. He starts coughing up blood as he tells us that "This is the first...of many." Then he throws his war pick in the air and it multiplies itself before launching the clones at us. As we all get hit with picks Ivan turns invisible.

Ned is the first to notice and shouts for everyone to throw snowballs to try and find Ivan. He throws as many snowballs as he can, but eventually determines that Ivan isn't standing in the area any more.

Javier somehow manages to get back up on his feet, and his hair starts glowing a little bit. He outputs a warm, comforting energy, and it relaxes Rosania enough for her to turn back into herself. She runs over to him and heals him, muttering apologies for when she hit him with the flour bomb.

Jayfice brings out the three potions that they grabbed from the potion shop; one of them is a brown oily substance in a work glove, one of them is a glowy teal liquid in a capped horn, and the last one is a gassy azure substance in a tankard. They decide to drink from the glove first, and they poke a hole in one of the fingers before drinking as much as they can. The glove has clearly been used for it's original purpose before being a potion holder, which makes it even more disgusting. However, it seems to have relieved their hunger and thirst.

Emboldened by the success(?) of the first potion, they remove the cap from the horn and drink the teal potion. For a few seconds nothing happens. Then suddenly they start to hear agonized screaming. They wonder for a moment if they're hearing the screams of the damned before working out what it is; the potion lets them understand plant language, and all of the grass around them is screaming in agony. It's pretty disorientating to say the least.

Deciding to tempt fate, they drink the azure potion and...there doesn't seem to be any effect? Maybe it's just faulty. A faulty potion. Or maybe it was supposed to do something that Jayfice is already experiencing. Either way there doesn't seem to be an effect, and all of the potions have been drunk.

Unfortunately that's where the session ends. Guess we'll have to wait until next session to find out what's going to happen next!

[solarscholarsofmagick]

Cosmic Love: An Astrologer’s Notes on Eclipses

Solar and lunar eclipses are spectacular events for those who enjoy watching the sky, but did you know that they also act as major triggers for life events? Essentially, a solar eclipse is a maxed-out new moon, while a lunar eclipse is a maxed-out full moon. For those of you who are familiar with the phases of the moon and their meanings, this means that a solar eclipse would signify a big new beginning, and a lunar eclipse would signify a majorly emotional ending.

Eclipses can trigger a huge number of happenings, good and bad. You can get an idea of what exactly will happen by looking at the house and sign placement of the eclipse and what it activates in your chart. Speaking of which, only eclipses that aspect your natal chart directly will impact you significantly. We all may feel the intensity of these astrological events but only those who have an aspected planet or point can truly feel the weight of the eclipse, in particular those with an aspected Sun, Midheaven, Ascendant, or Moon, as they are the most significant.

If you don’t already, begin tracking eclipses, specifically those that make close aspects to a natal planet or point, and see if anything happens around that time. Events may occur on the exact day of the eclipse, or they may be dragged out. For a solar eclipse, you can expect to feel the energy of the eclipse about 3 to 6 months beforehand, and it may last for well over a year afterwards, especially if the eclipse aspects one of the more important placements noted above. For a lunar eclipse, there’s a slightly shorter time frame of about 2 months before and after the eclipse for major events to take place. However, you may feel the effects of a lunar eclipse well beyond 2 months after the eclipse took place.

Eclipses run in cycles like the planets do, and they go through one family of signs at a time, based on the qualities (Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable). It takes about 7-8 years before a sign family will repeat itself, and roughly 19 years for an exact degree of a sign to repeat itself. This means that in the course of a year, there can be anywhere from four to six eclipses in the same sign family, with the potential to affect you significantly if any of these signs are emphasized in your natal chart.

Now let’s get into some examples of eclipse-triggered events. I’ve collected research on a handful of different people’s charts during different eclipses and they’ve all been affected in different ways. To start, I’ll use my family as an example.

On July 27th of 2018, there was a lunar eclipse at 4 degrees Aquarius, exactly conjunct to my brother’s natal Uranus. This triggered a major health crisis for my brother, as well as an emotional crisis as well. On the night of the eclipse, he was admitted to the hospital with severely high blood pressure and was going into kidney failure. Now, keep in mind that my brother was only 20 at the time – much too young to be dealing with these kinds of health problems! Mars was conjunct to the lunar eclipse as well, and transiting Uranus was making a square to his natal Uranus, further aggravating his condition. Uranus rules the nervous system, and the nervous system controls the blood pressure. Mars rules the blood, and Uranus was in Taurus, ruled by Venus, which rules the kidneys. All the stress on these planets from the lunar eclipse triggered my brother’s high blood pressure, which runs in our family on both sides. And because Uranus was involved, activating his 4th house of home and family, he felt a deep need for personal freedom as well. At the time, he was living with our parents and having many arguments with them. He had been planning to move out for a while, but this lunar eclipse solidified his decision with all the stress it caused him at home with our parents. Four days later, he was released from the hospital and the doctors had prescribed him medication for his blood pressure that he will be taking likely the rest of his life. This is the nature of an eclipse (causing life-changing events) and with Uranus involved, it was very unexpected and abrupt.

Rewind to a solar eclipse in March of 2006 in Aries, this one activating my mom’s natal Mars in her 12th house of hidden enemies. This was right around when my parents were fighting a lot and just before they got a divorce. This solar eclipse triggered many arguments between my parents, some even a bit violent. This event is pretty self-explanatory, with Mars being the most aggressive planet in its own sign, placed in the 12th house. This would translate to an abundance of anger and excessive arguments with a man in the native’s life, which is exactly what happened. My dad became an enemy to my mom, an enemy that she didn’t expect to discover when she married him. This eclipse also loosely activated my mom’s Neptune in her 7th house of marriage, dissolving the marriage over the next few years in court. On the other side of the story, the same eclipse activated my dad’s natal Pluto in Virgo in his 8th house of shared resources. Natally, Pluto here would point to a partner who is obsessed with money, and before the divorce, this might not have been the case, but after the eclipse triggered my dad’s natal Pluto, the fighting ended up being primarily over finances and child support. This eclipse triggered a series of court battles between my parents obsessively fighting over money. My dad ended up having to pay my mom a large amount of money in child support over a span of about 5 years. This same solar eclipse in March of 2006 also triggered my natal Sun by opposition, indicating the loss of a male figure in my life. This manifested for me as a temporary loss of my father, as he moved out and I saw him less often.

In my own experience, I’ve dealt with many significant eclipses. However, one stands out more than the rest. In November of 2013, I had just started school at University, when I met another student through a ride share group. This student seemed to be just another freshman guy starting school and didn’t pose any threat to me when we met. However, the eclipse on November 3rd that year triggered my Midheaven and Mars, bringing a major change in my life. Later that month, the student invited me to a party and I went. Being a college party, we were drinking and socializing, but as the night progressed, he started acting more and more possessive of me. I had barely known him a week or two, but he was acting like I was his property. He kept tipping my cup back, forcing drinks down my throat, and as a result, I lost consciousness later on in the night. He dragged me upstairs onto a bed and proceeded to climb on top of me to assault me. What’s interesting about this eclipse though, is that it was a solar eclipse in the sign of Scorpio, which rules obsessive behavior, taboos, and sex. Activating my Mars and Midheaven in my 11th house, this translates to me as a life-changing physical event (sexual assault) occurring in a social setting or related to a new acquaintance (11th house). Saturn was also involved with this eclipse, conjunct the eclipse by 2 degrees. Saturn implies a long-term effect, and in my case, I received an ongoing diagnosis of PTSD, and my depression was magnified during that year after the incident, as Saturn can cause major depression also.

I’ve observed my friend’s charts and their life events related to eclipses as well. In June of 2012, there was a lunar eclipse in Sagittarius, directly triggering one of my friend’s natal Mercury and Uranus. On the other end, the Sun was also activating his Chiron. This was the day his brother died in a car accident when he was hit by a drunk driver. Mercury rules siblings and Uranus rules unexpected events and accidents. As you can imagine, Pluto was transiting his 8th house, activating his North Node in a trine and his South Node in a sextile as well.

Someone I knew even was imprisoned after a series of eclipses activated his natal Sun and Moon in Libra as well as his Mercury in Scorpio. It was deserved- think justice- as Libra is a fair-minded air sign and rules judges. Uranus was also involved in the eclipse, conjunct the Sun, indicating a loss of freedom. Pluto was squaring his Sun exactly at the time too.

On a more positive note, eclipses can trigger very positive changes as well! In another friend’s chart, I’ve seen a solar eclipse activate her Venus in her 1st house (Leo) in a conjunction by 2 degrees and her Midheaven exactly by trine in her 9th house (Aries). She was rewarded with a new job teaching young children in China- this is her Midheaven being activated in the 9th house of distant travels, and the eclipse is coming from her 1st house of Leo, the sign of children. She even made a significant connection to one of the students who made a noticeable first impression on her second day there. The student ended up being one of her best students!

Sometimes there can be large amounts of money involved when a solar eclipse activates specific houses. One friend of mine inherited $100,000 from his grandmother when she passed, right around the time of a lunar eclipse that activated his natal Saturn (grandparents) in his 2nd house of finance, from the 11th house of large amounts of money. The Sun was activating his 5th house of fun and pleasures, so as a result, he went on a major drug/alcohol/stripper binge (Neptune was squaring his natal Moon at the time as well) where he encountered many fake friends who used him for his money. The 11th house is friends and acquaintances as well as huge dream amounts of cash, and his 11th house falls in Scorpio, so there was definitely manipulative behavior involved.

There are many other kinds of events that eclipses can trigger as well. Depending on the planets, houses, and signs involved, there may be marriages, engagements, pregnancies, divorces, promotions, traveling, moving homes, major health issues or improvements, surgeries, educational developments, major accomplishments… The list goes on! Just think big, though, as that seems to be the theme with eclipses. During my research, I asked each of my friends what the most significant time or moment in their life was, and almost every single one of them had an eclipse as their first answer. They recalled the exact month and year, some even the date, and it came immediately to mind. When I went to check the dates of that year’s eclipses and compare them to their natal charts, sure enough, there was an eclipse activating something in their chart.

So next time you hear of or get to witness an eclipse, no matter where it is in the world (as these cosmic events affect all of us), think to yourself what in your life might change or be disrupted. What might evolve or take action? Or even better, consult your natal chart and try to figure out exactly what will happen, guided by your intuition!

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[hedwigstalons]

High Expectations - Ch18

Short fic?  Really?  How the hell have we reached chapter 18 already?  

@willow-salix has been a huge support all the way through.  She wields the red pen mightily

Earlier parts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen

AO3 chapter link

Chapter Eighteen

John closed the apartment door and basked in the silence.  The last few weeks had been awful but the last few days had been hellish.  If you had asked him two days ago what had been the hardest part of this summer he would have answered without hesitation his thesis defence interview, not because he had any difficulty with his project but because, even after 4 years at Harvard some of the faculty still struggled with his presence.  

He had bounced onto the quad aged sixteen, looking more like twelve, and instantly made a name for himself by criticising the work of one of the more well respected professors on campus.  It probably hadn’t helped that he had been right.  Since then he had been dogged by whispers of ‘Daddy’s money’ or heckled as an android freak as he eschewed the company of the peers that would never truly be peers due to the gaps in both age and intellect.  University had been a bittersweet mix of unbridled access to learning mixed with a social web to navigate that made high school look like an insignificant warm up.  The culmination of it all had been his thesis defence in front of a panel who didn’t know whether to be intimidated by him or offer him a cookie for being a good boy.  Still, he was walking away from it all, with dual honours and a postgraduate distinction, at an age not dissimilar from those just starting their higher education journey.

The troubles and torments of university, however, had nothing on the hell on Earth that was Boston airport for an extended period of time. He could now categorically say that this had been the worst part of the summer.  The route between east and west coast seemed to be plagued by delays but this, his final time of making the journey, had topped the lot.  Being held up for an unspecified period of time in an airport lounge had brought out the worst in humanity and after a delay that had pushed past 36 hours in the end he would be quite happy to never see another human ever again.  With the apartment door firmly shut on the outside world he fully intended to recharge and bask in the solitude before Alan got home from school.

He padded up the hallway to deposit the travel bag containing a few meagre essentials in his room but never made it that far.

The apartment might have been silent but it wasn’t empty.  His room was next to Alan’s and through the open door he could see that self same teenager sat cross legged on the bed, head set on, controller in hand and eyes glued to the screen that flashed with neon laser cannons and moved at a dizzying pace.  Part of him wanted to tiptoe on past, pretend he hadn’t spotted his younger brother, and collapse onto his own bed.  John could have sworn that he hadn’t done anything that could penetrate the teenager’s electronic cocoon but before he had crossed the doorway Alan’s head whipped round and fixed him with an intense blue stare.

Alan paused the game, dropped the controller next to him and slid off the headset.  He continued to stare in a way that he could see was making his older brother uncomfortable, holding the eye contact that always made John squirm a little, but at this point he didn’t care.

The weeks before Gordon’s departure had been busy.  With a fixed deadline firmly etched on the calendar Jeff had ramped up the pressure on Gordon to gain his pilot’s licence and all the myriad of special endorsements he would need beyond the basics in order to complete a cross-continental journey solo.  Alan wasn’t quite sure why such a high rated licence was necessary but he had appreciated all the extra time at the airfield it necessitated.  Almost every weekend had been spent there so that Gordon could get in the required practice and he had always tagged along, partly to spend more time with Gordon and partly in the hope of getting a lesson himself; it turned out flying was something he had a flair for and he relished those precious moments in the cockpit.  But then Gordon had gained his licence and the lessons had dried up.  Time in the sky went from being a priority to something his father was too busy to provide.  It rankled that he wasn’t worth the effort. 

And then the dreaded day had come.  The day he lost the brother he was closest to to the military might of WASP.  He’d probably come across as petulant and moody, his goodbyes stilted and brief, but the sullen exterior had been his armour protecting him from breaking as something inside him died.  He hadn’t even been able to go with Gordon on the trip up the coast as had been the original plan.  A last minute change had seen their father disappear off on some mysterious overseas errand, leaving Virgil to play taxi service to the WASP to be.  He had begged to go too but unfortunately for him the start date for Gordon had coincided with Scott having some leave and Virgil was staying up north to indulge in some oldest brother bonding time.  So he had been left behind, alone in the apartment, with the promise that John would have arrived by morning. 

Morning had dawned but the promised sibling hadn’t appeared.  The logical side of him knew there would be a perfectly rational explanation for John’s delay but the emotional side of him just added it to the heap of rejection he was feeling.  No one gave a damn about him.  Noone cared what he was doing.  He’d turned right around and headed back into his room to kill zombies.  When the second morning dawned and he was still alone the only difference it made was that the zombies were replaced by asteroids.  

John was pinned uncomfortably by the stare.  Everything about Alan screamed out that he was issuing a challenge, daring John to pass comment.  If he had ignored John’s presence he probably would have been left alone but John was a Tracy too and as with all Tracys he never could resist a challenge. 

“No school today?” he queried, one eyebrow raised in preemptive skepticism.

“Does it look like it?”

“What it looks like is you playing video games on a Tuesday in term time.  The news didn’t mention any schools being flattened by freak hurricanes so why are you here?”

Alan just shrugged and went to pick up his controller again.

“Alan!” 

“What?!  It’s not like there’s any point me being there.”

“There is always a point to school.”

“Yeah?  Well I’m not learning anything there, the stuff they set is just insulting.”

This was one point John could empathise with, boredom in the classroom was a familiar feeling to him.  He felt lucky that he had met forward thinking teachers early on in his school career.  Teachers that had put the effort in to find out his level rather than being happy to have a coasting child in the class that didn’t need their assistance.  The result had seen him progressing through grade school at a pace that, while it still felt slow to him, at least meant he wasn’t inflicted with the full, tortuous twelve years.  Alan on the other hand had been forced to stay firmly in his age grade. 

“What about your friends, surely you’re bored here without them?”

That just earned him an eye roll.

“Can we just skip the questions and head straight to the part where you lecture me.”

“Would it make a difference?  I’m not Dad but you do realise he is going to be majorly pissed when he finds out, don’t you?”

“He’ll only find out if you tell him.”

“You think he won’t find out from school?”

Alan just sighed.

“Seriously Johnny, Gordon and I got all comms from school diverted directly to us years ago.  I’ve already responded to their email.”

“You and Gordon did that?” He was secretly a little impressed that his brothers had found a way to bypass the school systems although he was concerned that their father had seemingly never noticed.

“Well, okay, I did that.  Gordon’s not so hot on the technical stuff but it was his idea.  Dad’s never been that great at dealing with letters and permission slips so I just got in through a school admin account and updated the contact details.  If it’s not a report card he isn’t interested.”

John decided not to pass comment on the low level hacking his baby brother had pulled off.  Instead he picked his way across the minefield that was Alan’s floor to join his little brother on the bed.  The mattress felt deliciously soft compared to the plastic seat upon which he had been forced to spend the night and he felt his bones sigh in relief.  His own bed was still calling out to him but his big brother instincts were screaming at him to fix things, even if he wasn’t entirely sure what he needed to fix.  The screaming won.  He leaned across to grab a second controller off the cluttered bedside unit and synced it into the game.

“So, what’re we playing?  I don’t recognise this one but then there wasn’t much time for gaming at Harvard.”

Alan looked bemused by the turn of events.  Scott held an authority that demanded respect, Virgil would take a softer and more caring approach, Gordon provided a mix of straight talking and fun whereas their father subscribed to the school of parenting that was mostly indifferent until an indiscretion was unearthed.  John was still a bit of an unknown entity, he’d never taken on the role of authority figure for Alan and he couldn’t work out his brother’s strategy.  

  “Uh, it’s something I made myself.”  Alan disconnected his headset and the background music of the pause screen sounded out harshly in the otherwise quiet apartment eliciting an involuntary wince from John.  He guiltily turned the volume down to a more comfortable level before resuming play.

They sat side by side in silence for a few minutes, blasting asteroids and navigating their way through a fast moving debris field.  The game concept appeared simple and John wondered why Alan had done it; it wasn’t like he couldn’t afford to stock up on the commercially available games.

“Games design is a new one for you, this a school project or something?”

John sensed the eye roll even without taking his own eyes off the screen.

“Hardly.  School sucks.”

“So, why make the game?”

“It’s not about the game.  I wanted to see if I could model a debris field.  Thought if I could get it right it could be good training, you know, before astronaut school.”  

“I think you’ll find Tracy College already has their own simulators.  How do you even know this is accurate.”  Alan had made no secret about his desire to head into space and it looked like that was still the life plan.  Part of John hoped the game wasn’t accurate, the objects were flying in thick and fast and he was struggling to react in time to find a clear path for his craft and guide it through.  Alan, on the other hand, was having no such difficulties; his movements were lightening fast and the game seemed to hold no challenge for him.

“Borrowed your books.”  Alan set his own controller down as John’s ship took a direct hit and exploded in a mass of technicolour pixels that ended the game.  He stretched out and plucked a weighty tome off the edge of his desk.

“Borrowed?  I don’t remember you asking.”  John recognised the volume as one of the few undergraduate text books he had investing in the hard copy of.  Slips of coloured paper stuck out at intervals and the pages were rather more worn and well thumbed than he remembered.  

Alan pointedly ignored the question and instead flipped through to the relevant pages.  

“I’m not sure if I got this bit right though.  I struggled to combine the effect of an explosion induced debris field interacting with a meteor shower.”

However John had been expecting his talk to go with Alan, it hadn’t been like this.  He soon found himself drawn into an animated discussion of the core principles of astrophysics and how material behaved in a vacuum.  Alan’s grasp of the subject, considering he was entirely self taught, surprised the elder Tracy.  On his rare visits home Alan had always pestered him to go star gazing or asked him his thoughts on the latest developments in astronaut training but he’d had no idea that Alan’s interest had extended into him seemingly attempting to study most of the first year of his Harvard course from home.  No wonder the kid was bored at school.  

When Jeff returned later that night it was to find the two boys deeply engrossed in some project or other.  Books and piles of scribbled notes lay scattered around them and John’s fingers danced through lines of holographic code as he pointed out some facet or other to the younger boy who seemed to hang on his every word.  He assumed John was helping Alan with his homework and thought no more of it as he settled down to his own evening. 

xoxoxox

“Mr Tracy, a Miss West is on the line for you.”

Jeff frowned at the unexpected intrusion from his personal assistant.  “Miss West?”  He couldn’t place the name.

“She says she is calling from the High School, Sir”

“Put her through then.”  He paused a moment until the slight click indicating a change in caller reached his ears.  

“Mr Tracy?  I’m Sarah West, Alan’s home room teacher.”  The woman on the other end of the call sounded slightly nervous and with good reason, the Tracy reputation was formidable and seeing Alan’s name on her class list when he had joined the school had led to rounds of commiserations in the faculty lounge.

“Miss West, what can I do for you?”  He tried to keep the puzzlement out of his voice.  The last time he had received a call from the school, or any kind of communication now he came to think about it, had been over Gordon’s suspension.  He hoped he was not in for a repeat of that embarrassing incident.

“I just wanted to check on how Alan was doing.  The class are all missing him and hope he is able to return to school soon.”

Jeff understood the words being spoken but the actual sentiments made no sense.  As far as he was concerned Alan was at school at that very moment.  He kept his voice carefully neutral.

“I thank you for your concern Miss West.  I will certainly pass on your regards when I see Alan this evening.”

“Thank you Mr Tracy.  Please accept my best wishes for you and all your family, it can be so hard when these things happen.  Please keep me informed of his progress through the parent portal and once Alan is well enough to come back we will look at putting a catch up and transition programme in place for him.  Alan is a bright boy and I have every confidence that he will be able to catch up with these missed weeks.”

“Thank you Miss West.  I will of course keep you informed.  Now if you will excuse me.”

“Of course Mr Tracy, goodbye.”

“Goodbye Miss West.”

Missed weeks.  The words rang out in his head, causing him to rub his temples.  Trouble at school had always been Gordon’s domain, he’d been gone for months but still his influence was being felt.  Alan had always taken after John until now; good grades, generally studious and with a passion for space. Whatever was going on Jeff knew he needed to nip it in the bud.  Pausing only to inform his PA that he would be heading out for lunch and might not return that day Jeff headed back to the apartment.

Jeff found Alan in his room, engrossed in some project or other.  He rapped smartly on the doorframe, breaking the teen’s concentration and causing him to look round in surprise.  The look Jeff was treated to wasn’t one of fear or remorse though and there was certainly no sign of guilt at being caught where he shouldn’t.

“Alan, my study.  Now!”  He strode off down the hallway without waiting for a response.

Alan sighed and followed, knowing that to ignore a direct command would be foolish.  By the time he reached the study Jeff was already behind the desk in his customary position for dispensing judgement, a situation Alan had rarely been in but had certainly heard about often enough from Gordon.  He was more than a little intimidated at the prospect of what was to come but he tried not to let it show as he stood there, ramrod straight, waiting for his father to make the opening move.

“So Alan, I had an interesting call from Miss West today.  Explain yourself”  

The words caused Alan’s stomach to drop, there was no way he could pass today off as an isolated incident now.  He had been signing off on his absences via the parent portal but if his teacher had actually called up then it was likely his father knew everything.  Not knowing what to do for the best he opted to say nothing.  The silence stretched out uncomfortably as he felt himself being appraised by eyes as hard as flint.

“I see.  Let’s keep this simple.  How long have you been skipping school for?”

“Since the beginning of the semester.”  There was no point lying about it now.  After his few days of indiscretion when Gordon first headed off to WASP John had made sure he went off to school each day.  At the end of the summer holidays though, with John and Virgil departed for Tracy College, there was no one to force the issue.  September had arrived and with it the start of a new school year but among the faces arriving for a fresh round of learning Alan’s had been notably absent.

“Why?  Your teacher seems to be under the impression you are unwell.  Are you unwell?”  The skeptical lilt to the voice and raised eyebrow would have made even John proud.

“No.”

“So why are you risking failing high school?” 

“Failing it?”  Alan snorted  “School’s boring.  I’d be able to get my diploma now if they’d just stick me in the right classes, then I could be done with the place.”

“And what makes you think you could complete your diploma now if you won’t attend class” 

“John did.”  Alan’s chin jutted out in defiance and Jeff was given a sudden and uncomfortable reminder of another son who had found school far too easy.  The arguments may have had a different focus but Alan wouldn't be the first Tracy to have found the system too limiting, the difference being that John had been fast tracked before the boredom got too much.  “I’m not learning anything at school.  It’s not like I’m just flunking out though, John’s been sending me some stuff through that’s far more interesting.”

“That’s as maybe but did John tell you to just ditch classes?  I seem to remember him maintaining an exemplary attendance record”

For the first time Alan felt a wave of guilt, the weight of it causing him to bow his head in shame.  John may have agreed with him that the school work he was being set was far too easy and been coaching him on more challenging topics to feed his thirst for knowledge on all things astronomical, but his brother would never have condoned him skipping class.  He was not going to let John take any of the blame for his choices.

“No, Sir.”  

“I see.”

Alan wasn’t quite sure what it was his father saw as he stood there being appraised like some interesting specimen.  There was another drawn out silence.  He could almost hear his father’s thoughts as he considered his next move.

“Show me.”  Alan’s head jerked up in confusion.  “Persuade me.  A key skill you would learn in school, if you were there, is how to present a well balanced and constructed argument.  Prove your case.  I’ll be here waiting.”

Alan had been expecting some sort of reprimand, either a bawling out or a quietly pronounced punishment.  So far he had received neither and he was feeling a little on the back foot but then his father had a flair for the unexpected, it’s what made him a formidable adversary in the boardroom.  He retreated to his room to think upon the challenge.  He wasn’t sure what he wanted to prove, didn’t have a clue what his argument was or what he wanted to achieve but he knew he had better come up with a plan fast.  It felt like he was being offered a lifeline of some sort but a lifeline that had the potential to cut you down if grasped in the wrong way.

He retreated into his room and sat down at the desk, the detritus of his latest project from John scattered in front of him where he had abandoned it at his father’s command.  What did he want?  He knew he didn’t want to go back into that hell-pit high school, each day of drudgery just sapped the life out of him, but how could he prove to his father that school was only holding him back?  He gazed unseeingly as the scribbled formulae he had been working on, all the time conscious that his father wouldn’t wait forever.

Those same formulae presented him with his answer.  His father had always been focussed on results, getting the most efficient return on his investment and abhorred anything he viewed as a waste of time.  Alan knew that if he could prove beyond doubt that attending school was just wasting precious learning time then he might never have to go back.  He started gathering together the work he had been doing for John as evidence that he really didn’t need to sit through another hour of basic trigonometry when he was already able to apply it to complex problems.  

Jeff sat back and waited.  He couldn’t predict Alan’s next move but then he realised he didn’t really know Alan at all.  All the way through the young boy’s life his care had fallen to others.  Others had formed him and moulded him and evidently turned Alan into someone capable of missing several weeks of school under his nose without him realising.  Those influences had all been evident during their short exchange.  He had witnessed Gordon’s defiance and determination, John’s intellect and Virgil’s sense of justice.  Even traces of Scott were evident in the set of Alan’s jaw and the way he held his shoulders despite Scott only really being present for half of Alan’s short life.  How telling that a brother absent some eight years held more influence than he did as father.  If there was one thing common to all his sons though it was the ability to rise to a challenge; the afternoon had the potential to be surprising.

Jeff never made it back to the office.  He couldn’t remember the last time he had had a meaningful and in depth discussion with his youngest son.  His conversations with Alan were normally limited to a few perfunctory exchanges in the evening and maybe a goodbye if Alan was up before he headed to the office.  Over the course of the afternoon he got more insights into Alan than any mere report card could give.  For a start those bland documents could only show that Alan had met the maximum expected standard for his class, behind the lists of grades his son’s true abilities had been hidden.  

Alan might have been skipping school but he hadn’t been squandering his time.  Jeff was treated to comparisons of the high school math curriculum compared to the problems John had been setting, ostensibly as a way of Alan bolstering a future college application as the middle Tracy had been unaware that the youngest had abandoned his traditional studies completely.  Physics, coding and a raft of other topics handy for the modern astronaut similarly followed and it became clear that Alan was willing to put the effort in on the topics that interested him. 

Once Alan had finished lambasting the Californian education system he turned hopeful eyes on his father.

“So, can I quit?” 

If there was one thing that Jeff agreed on it was that the current curriculum being inflicted on Alan was uninspiring and certainly not challenging for the youngster.  He was also conscious that his lawyers had not managed to secure the removal of their family tragedy from the text books in time for this academic year and therefore Alan would be subjected to the same ordeal as Gordon in just a few short months time if he stayed in the classroom.   However, he also knew that without a high school diploma Alan would be unlikely to be able to access the higher education he needed to turn his dreams of space into a reality; he knew this from his own path to the stars.

“No.”   

“But Dad…” 

“No Alan, I will not have any son of mine walking away from education without a high school diploma.  If you are at all serious about becoming an astronaut then you need to play by the rules, without a diploma you would be ineligible for any of the space programmes out there.”  

Jeff watched the disappointment flood his son’s features and wondered if Alan had really been paying attention to his words and whether he would spot the loophole in his pronouncement.  He waited as Alan put together his next move, he could almost see the thoughts as they played out.  Alan always had been the son to wear his emotions closest to the surface.

“I just have to get my diploma, right?”  There was a hesitancy as a glimmer of hope was seized on.

“That’s right.”

“But there are other ways of getting my diploma, not just in school.  Right?”  

“Potentially.  So what do you want to do?”

“Can I...can I do homeschool?  I’m sure we’ve got everything I need to join an online programme and then just get it done.”

Jeff paused as though contemplating the request.  Really, having Alan homeschooled would be better for both of them; Alan could learn at his own pace and he would find it easier to have oversight of his son’s progress and commitment.  

“You have until the end of the week to find a suitable programme otherwise I will march you straight back to the classroom myself on Monday morning.  I know you don’t see the point of half the subjects you have to take but they are important, your diploma is important, even if it’s only as a paper steppingstone to better things.”  Jeff found himself on the receiving end of one of Alan’s grins and realised sadly that he hadn’t seen one of those since their last flying lesson.  “Now, don’t you have some research to do?”

Alan took the hint and headed out of the study with far more bounce than he’d had when entering it.  Jeff had no concerns about delegating the task to his son, the similarities to John had been clear to see and he had every faith that Alan would find a suitable programme within the allotted time frame.  The fact that the change to homeschooling came with the added bonus of one less loose end to tie up when the time came to relocate was not lost on him.

[four-loose-screws]

FE4 Suzuki Novelization Translation (Gen II) - Chapter 9

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Chapter 9 - Dragon Knight Arion

T/W: Mention of likely one-sided romantic feelings between adopted siblings.

Ever since the child hunt was carried out at Grutia Castle, many of the citizens had come to see Seliph and his soldiers as a liberation army.

The same people also spread the news that General Hannibal's son had been taken hostage. His name was Coirpre, and he'd been entrusted to Luthecia Castle's General Disler.

"Let's save the hostage!" Seliph said. "If we do that, the general may respond with a ceasefire."

It was the liberation army's fundamental policy to avoid pointless battles as much as possible, and Hannibal's army was also very powerful, so reaching a conclusion without fighting him was the best possible option.

But to get to Luthecia Castle, they would have to get past Hannibal's army, which was stationed in front of Kapathogia Castle.

"Does anyone know of a road we can take that will allow us to avoid being seen by Hannibal's army?” Seliph asked.

The villagers took him into the mountains behind Kapathogia Castle, where hunters were using the land as their hunting grounds. 

According to the hunters, if they avoided General Hannibal's army and traveled on the foot to the base of the mountains, there was a road that circumvented the castle.

"Alright, let's take that road!" Seliph exclaimed.

Since the rescue mission was to be a surprise attack from beginning to end, it was best to only let a few people go, so they narrowed the group down to Seliph, Ares, and finally, Fee, who would act as a flying column. 

The problem was the countermeasure in case of Hannibal's army attacking before the rescue had been completed.

"I have a Sleep Staff. Whoever I use it on will sleep for four to five days straight." Lana said.

"I didn't know there was such a useful spell! Why haven't you used it until now?"

"The staff will break after one use, so I didn’t want to use it until we were in a desperate situation…"

Shanan was chosen to lead the army while they were gone. 

-

With the hunters as their guides, Seliph and the others headed out.

They traveled west in a straight line, then turned south at the foot of the mountains. That area was wooded, so they didn't have to worry about being seen by enemies.

The forest cleared when they neared the castle.

"Starting from here, we'll have to climb into the mountains a bit."

The path was steep, and they couldn't make much progress on foot.

Fee gave a report every day on what she observed from the skies.

On the evening of the fourth day since they'd set out, they made it to the backside of the castle.

"Up until this point, we haven't run into any enemies at all. But tomorrow, I suspect some will be flying around in this area, so I will go ahead to Luthecia Castle." Fee said, then turned west and flew away.

"What should we do? It may take a toll on our bodies, but it would be safest to travel behind the castle tonight because we'd be able to get past it very quickly."

They of course thought it best to follow the hunters' suggestion, and started moving again without taking time to rest.

The hunters were right. Because they were following right along a steep mountain, there were areas where they had to walk almost right against the castle wall. However, the soldiers didn't think anyone would ever pass through such an area, so they were able to safely make it through.

"For the last stretch, we should travel south. We'll soon come out to the main road that leads to Luthecia."

"Thank you. You might have saved a lot of lives by helping us. How can we repay you?"

"We don't need repayment. But…"

"But?"

"If you can, please save the children that were taken away to Miletos."

"Understood. We'll try as hard as we can. ...No way, are those children…"

"No, none of them are mine. But my sister's son was taken. He's a smart, cute kid, yet they had the gall to do something so terrible to him!"

-

When they arrived at the main road, they could see that Hannibal's army, located to the north, had begun to move. Though Seliph and the others did not know it, Hannibal knew that King Travant had deployed, and ordered his own army to attack.

"If the king himself has gone to battle, then we have no choice. All units, attack!"

However, Hannibal's army was made up entirely of infantry units, so they didn't make it in time to fight alongside Travant. By the time they neared Meath Castle, the dragon knight unit the king led was already completely destroyed.

Lana turned towards Hannibal's army and waved the Sleep Staff.

Hannibal, marching in the center of his army's formation, was enveloped by a white, heavy cloud. However, that didn't mean that the sleep magic affected everyone. The soldiers outside of its range remained loyal to their orders and continued their attack. Shannan and the rest of the liberation army had no choice but to fight them without stopping.

-

"Lana said that the sleep spell will last for four to five days. The others must come back with the rescued hostage by then."

Because they'd heard that the distance between Kapathogia Castle and Luthecia Castle would take two days to travel, they only had a small margin of leeway.

Seliph and Ares did not take any breaks aside from allowing their horses time to rest, continuing onward.

In the evening two days later, they'd come so far that they could see Luthecia Castle. Fee had arrived earlier, and came to report on the situation at the castle.

"There's hardly any soldiers here. I'm pretty sure there's just a front line and those rounded up to protect the main building."

"Then let's attack tomorrow at dawn. Fee, you fly over the castle wall, and open the gate. After that, we'll storm the castle."

With the plan for their surprise attack decided, Seliph and Ares got a full night's sleep for the first time in a long time.

The surprise attack was a success. General Disler was killed by Ares and Mystletainn the moment he came out of his bedroom in a panic. 

The other soldiers were mostly still in bed. By the time they woke up, the general was already dead, and upon hearing that news, they surrendered.

They found Coirpre in the dungeon. He'd been treated more like a prisoner than a hostage. From what they'd heard the villagers say, they'd gotten the feeling that General Disler had a bad reputation. 

Coirpre was still young, but already very proper and polite.

"I am Coirpre, General Hannibal's son. My father stated that he wanted a ceasefire with the liberation army, but King Travant misunderstood that, and took me as a hostage. So I beg of you! Please take me to my father! I want to convince him to stop fighting!"

Of course, that had been the reason for their surprise attack in Luthecia Castle. Seliph entrusted Ares to keep watch over the castle, and immediately left with Fee, taking Coirpre towards Kapathogia Castle.

Along the way, they saw a single dragon knight flying towards them. Fee readied a counterattack, but the dragon knight did not try to start a fight.

"You are Prince Seliph, yes? I am Altena, daughter of Quan of Leonster."

The dragon knight landed next to Seliph, dismounted her dragon, and greeted him.

"Oh, so you're Prince Leif's sister! He told me about you."

"My brother's story was true. Since I have learned the truth, I can't fight against you any longer. I too am a descendant of a Crusader. Please allow me to join the liberation army."

"Of course, with pleasure! Prince Leif will probably be happy as well when he hears the news.”

"I just have one request. Arion… No, Prince Arion. I don't want you to fight him. His way of thinking is completely different from the empire's."

"Even if you ask, I can't stop that from happening, though I don't want to fight Prince Arion, either. If only he'd made you the mediator of a ceasefire. Nothing would be better than that."

-

The liberation army met General Hannibal near Kapathogia Castle. He'd just woken up, and had left the battlefield to return to the castle and order all the soldiers there to deploy.

The moment he saw his son, he was surprised. But when he heard everything from Coirpre, he approached Seliph, and said, "I'd like to thank you for saving my son."

"General Hannibal, we are only fighting those who agree with the ideas of the empire. I've heard that you are also against the child hunts, and that King Travant is already dead. Why would we fight against each other any longer? Please end this battle. And, if possible, I want you to fight the empire with us. You are called "The Shield of Thracia." We are still young, so please be beside us to guide us."

"If you insist, then I have no choice but to accept. So long as you don’t mind fighting with an old man like me, then I will devote my strength to you. I'd also like you to add my son to your army. He probably told you this already, but I took him in and raised him. When I found him, he had a staff that seemed to have a long history. When he's old enough, we will learn the meaning of it. Seliph, I happily entrust him to you."

General Hannibal's remaining soldiers also joined them.

-

The liberation army, now even stronger, gathered in Luthecia Castle to capture Bishop Judah's Gruthia Castle.

At the same time, they received word that a large imperial cavalier unit had crossed the Miletos-Thracian border.

At the strategy meeting, Altena suggested that it would be the best course of action to settle that fight first.

"I know the terrain of that area very well. The road leading from the border to Luthecia Castle that the cavalier unit can take is a thin mountain path. How about Fee and I meet the enemies halfway, and reduce their numbers? If we swoop down to attack, then use that force to fly over the mountains, they won't be able to counterattack at all."

"That's a great idea, Lady Altena!" Hannibal agreed to the plan right away.

"Because the enemies are calvary, they'll attack by taking turns. If we reduce their numbers by even just a little bit, it will make things that much easier for the rest of the army."

When she’d joined the liberation army in Isaach, Fee was still just a trainee pegasus knight. However, after fighting in battle over the span of a year, she'd evolved into a seasoned falcon knight. She couldn't compete with Altena, who wielded a Holy Weapon, but her flying and combat skills certainly weren't inferior to Altena's.

The enemy cavaliers were worried by the two flying soldier's attacks. Because they didn't know when they would be attacked, their paranoia grew stronger and stronger without end. And even when they were attacked, they only had a split second to react, so there was no way for them to counterattack. No matter how well-trained they were, all they could do was take damage in a one-sided battle, causing their morale to drop. 

Once they were off the mountain road, the spirited imperial soldiers were no more. It wasn't just their numbers that had decreased. Their exhaustion and drop in morale was even greater.

The battle was as good as decided the moment they saw the main force of the liberation army spreading out and waiting for their arrival.

-

While the liberation army was marching towards Grutia Castle, Arion was in Thracia Castle, proposing a ceasefire over and over again. However, not a single soul agreed with him.

Several powerful iron ballistae were set up at Grutia Castle, however, the unit that was supposed to protect them was not there. 

The liberation army's calvary entered the edge of the ballistae's range, then charged at full speed ahead. Their goal was to move as quickly as possible and lower their chances of getting hit by the ballistae's bolts. 

Within the blink of an eye, they trampled the ballisticians, and captured Grutia Castle.

As if they had been waiting for that to happen, three dragon knight units flew from Thracia Castle and towards them all at once.

When Hannibal saw them, he turned pale. "That is the Three-Headed Dragon formation."

"What is that? This 'Three-Headed Dragon.'"

"Those units are each targeting Meath, Kapathogia, and Luthecia, a formation they call the 'Three-Headed Dragon.' They utilize it when an enemy is targeting Thracia and has gathered together too many of their troops in one place, and they wish to launch a counterattack all at once. Prince Arion practiced it many times."

 "I'll defend Meath!" Altena said. "Lana should have a Warp Staff. I want to get to Meath as soon as possible."

"Will you be okay on your own?"

"If we divide our numbers up too much, the main army will probably come attack us here. For now, I will protect Meath!"

"Let's do as Princess Altena says." Hannibal agreed. "I'll protect Kapathogia. I want those remaining to head for Luthecia and intercept the enemy unit headed there. When we do, that's where the real battle should begin. If we take out their commander, the subordinates will surely change course. In other words, they won't continue moving towards Luthecia. And if we defeat them entirely, they'll want the others to come reinforce them. Until then, Lady Altena and I will take care of those other enemies."

The fight went exactly as Hannibal had predicted. When the dragon knight unit headed for Luthecia saw Fee trying to intercept them, they turned towards Grutia Castle to fight the liberation army.

-

Once she'd lured the dragon knight unit a good distance away and defeated them, Fee and several cavaliers turned towards Kapathogia to provide reinforcements there.

Hannibal wielded a flame sword and fought the oncoming dragon knights. Though he suffered several wounds, he did not lose even the slightest bit of energy. He was able to hold out until reinforcements came, just as he'd promised.  

-

The day had come for Arion and his dragon knight unit to fight.

This was his response to Altena's final letter:

"As a warrior of Thracia, I cannot consider a ceasefire after you've killed this many of my soldiers. You too should know that very well. Now, I wait for the day of our final battle. From the beginning, I have thought not about whether we will win or lose, but that, as a warrior, my acts are not an embarrassment. Still, do not hold back. Tell Lord Seliph to come at us with everything he’s got."

Seliph said in response, "Thank you. Tomorrow, the last battle will finally begin. It may be difficult for you to fight, so you should stay on the rear line."

Altena did as Seliph suggested, and did not go out to the front line, instead flying high in the sky from the rear.

Even though the liberation army was fighting against the once great Thracian Dragon Knights, their numbers had already been so greatly reduced that the battle proceeded to go in the liberation army's favor.

Then, she saw a single dragon flying towards her.

"It's Big Brother." She realized it in an instant. "He's going to try to fight me."

Though she had Gáe Bolg, she knew that she was no match for Arion and Gungnir. At best, the fight would end in a tie.

'I will die by his hand.'

A sweet memory filled her heart.

When she'd stood up to Travant, she'd pictured her ideals in her mind, but never thought things would end up like this. For a moment, she worried that it was all her fault.

'What will become of Thracia now?'

She had no memory of Leonster. Thracia was her one and only home.

'Perhaps dying by his hand is the greatest end for me.’

She raised Gáe Bolg and yelled, "Let's do this, Brother!"

The two dragons flew towards each other in a straight line, with their opponent on their right side, as if they were in a jousting match.

As the distance between them shrank, Altena could see clearly the face of the man she loved. She could also see the sparkling tip of Gungnir, aiming straight for her.

'Watch my final attack!'

When they crossed paths, she thrust Gáe Bolg forward.

She felt resistance ripple through her arm.

However...

What about the attack aimed for her? Where was the blow from her beloved that was supposed to lead her to a sweet death?

She was in a state of total shock, but her eyes moved and laid upon her beloved's dragon, hurtling towards the ground.

"Brother!"

His dragon fell into a forest, and she lost sight of them.

"Brother!"

She burst into tears.

The battle was already over, but Altena did not return to land. She continued to fly through the skies, thinking of Arion.

No matter how many tears fell, they did not cease, continuing to stream down her face.

But, eventually, the time came and her tears to dry up.

And it was then that she understood the reason why her beloved did not strike her with Gungnir.

'Brother, you ordered me to live, right? I understand. I will live. I will fulfill my duty as the inheritor to Gáe Bolg. If that is what you wish, then that is what I will do. But, my life is terrible. All of my dreams have been crushed… The moment you were gone, I knew for sure. That for a long, long time, deep within the bottom of my heart, I've wanted you to hold me in your arms. Why did you give me that dream? And then go so nobly all by yourself…'

Altena soon landed at Thracia Castle.

Her tear stains had already vanished.

In their place was nothing but the face of Lance Knight Njörun's descendant.

[hvssans]

(OLIVIA HOLT, CISFEMALE) - Have you seen PARKER HASSAN? PARKER is in HER SOPHOMORE year. The COMMUNICATIONS MAJOR is 20 years old & is an ARIES. People say SHE is INTREPID, DISARMING, BRASH and UNRELIABLE. Rumors say they’re a member of KINCAID SOCIETY. I heard from the gossip blog that SHE WAS IN THE CAR ACCIDENT THAT KILLED HER EX AND LEFT HIM THERE TO DIE.

trigger warning: death, alcohol, drugs

basic info

full name: parker theresa hassan

birth date: april 13th, 2000

pronouns: she/her

hometown: hillsborough, north carolina

sexuality: pansexual

height: 5′1″ on a good day (actually 5′0″)

eye color: brown

hair color: blonde

build: athletic

tattoos: the ny yankees emblem on the back of her neck

piercings: earlobes, won’t go any further because she would have to plug them during baseball season and it’s a pain in the ass

style: comfort over style, function over fashion. unless she’s going out then as little covered as possible while still being considered “decent”

favorite color: orange

favorite food: cupcakes

zodiac: aries sun, leo moon, sagittarius rising

mbti: estp

hogwarts house: gryffindor

enneagram: type 7 wing 8

temperament: sanguine-melancholic

alignment: chaotic neutral

growing up, parker was always really close to her dad. tom hassan was a minor league baseball player that had almost made it to the pros before he suffered a career ending injury, and parker had inherited his athletic ability. she was able to throw a baseball at the ripe young age of three, and by the time all of her friends were starting tee-ball, she had already joined little league. not that there wasn’t a fight to get her into little league with the traditional southern values of her small town, but they got her in and that’s what mattered. practicing brought parker and her dad closer together, and she knew if she looked out from the pitcher's mound, her dad would be in the stands watching.

and then one day, he wasn't.

when parker was a sophomore in high school, and the only girl on the boy's baseball team, she was a pitch away from throwing the first no-hitter in her school's history. she was on fire, and nothing could break her focus. she looked up to meet her dad's eyes - like she always did before she was about to throw the last pitch - and tom hassan wasn't there. parker lost her focus and the batter hit a home run; her team ultimately won the game, but parker still felt like she lost.

after that day, parker gave up on everything. she wasn't ready to take on so much responsibility; she was fifteen, for crying out loud! she did everything she could to stray away from responsiblity: she quit the baseball team, her grades slipped, she started hanging out with an undesirable crowd, and she discovered the wonders of alcohol. it was nice to forget her problems for a night, even if they came to confront her in the sober light of day. (DEATH TW) but one night, she got in the car with a guy she'd been seeing - she knew he'd been drinking, but he swore he was good to drive. parker was too far gone to argue, so she climbed in the back while he and his friend claimed the front two seats. what happened next was a blur, but the next thing she knew, the car was wrapped around a tree. the two guys were unconscious or dead - she couldn't be sure which - but she luckily had come out relatively unharmed. she climbed out and ran, the adrenaline sobering her up enough to get her to a safe place. nobody ever found out she was in the car with them, and she swore nobody ever would. she was only sixteen.

after that night, parker felt the need to turn her life around again. with the help of her old coach, she got back into fighting shape and back on the mound. her oldest brother replaced her dad in the stands, usually accompanied by at least one of her four siblings, and she led the team to victory again. college scouts sought her out, and she ended up choosing yates. she’d gotten better offers at schools with better baseball teams, but at a liberal arts school she knew she could continue being the star player - she needed the attention to survive, like tinkerbell.

parker started her radio show during the spring semester of her freshman year at the campus radio station. it took a lot of work to convince her professor to actually let her start one, since she wasn't exactly known for being "responsible", but with months of research and planning to back her up, her professor finally gave in. with parker's popularity around campus, "parks and sex" quickly became the most listened to radio show in the area, and once it became available for download on spotify, the most downloaded podcast. it was the first time she’d ever accomplished anything outside of baseball, and it’s nice to have something that isn’t directly connected to her dad.

fast facts!!

she’s a big ole cuddler

she keeps sneaking stray dogs into her room because she loves dogs so much and wants to save them all

(stray cats she usually leaves alone because they like being outside but she still loves them)

her best feature is her ass

she is the first person you’ll notice in a room

you either love her or hate her there’s no in between

she has five dogs and four cats at home, and they all miss her terribly when she’s gone (though they tolerate the rest of her family)

(imagine fitting nine animals into your bed at one time because that’s what it’s like when she’s home for breaks)

she can’t cook for shit and also can’t mix drinks so unless you’re making a drink for her, she’s drinking it straight (or just incredibly unbalanced lmfao)

wanted connections

friends friends friends

hook-ups hook-ups hook-ups

exes exes exes

the friends that sit in the stands at her games wearing shirts with her name on them or holding up signs

her roommate having to put up with her constantly bringing animals home

girl squad

(also let her romance all the wlw pls we need more GAY)

flirtationship

a “one that got away” type of thing where they both clearly had feelings but never got their timing right

idk that’s all i got really!! thanks for reading!!

[reviewpri]

Beware-Alt Right is claiming GoT

I do not think DnD set out to do that...no, but it is happening.

and I do not think that all the people coming out to give a positive spin on season 8, in particularly, justifying Mad Dany are Alt-Right inserts- but some are.

How is Alt-Right claiming GoT? Well, they are spreading misconceptions about Daenerys solely based on the show in order to convince people that fighting for a more just society is misguided.

(not the same people, but on the same level of those who keep crying over the fact that selfish Dany is going to these places, liberating slaves while ignoring their culture...whatever that means.)

Note those claims are wide enough to convince normies and some leftists also that being a revolutionary equals being a tyrant.

1- Daenerys is a white savior.

Wrong. The trope that we are dealing with is actually “ going native”- a white person embracing and being embraced by other people/culture.

(in this case, Dothraki- and that they were presented as almost irredeemable savages is on GRRM )

Moreover, she rules over a very racially diverse population who had been ruled by a racial elite that Daenerys is no part of- meaning, she does not think her race makes her superior to the underclasses-  the Ghiscari, on the other hand..

2- Daenerys is an imperialist.

Wrong.

I am not going to touch on the fact that we are speaking of a 20th-century concept when speaking about a piece of fiction depicting a magical medieval world.

Daenerys' intentions have never been set up an Empire with her as Head. What she wants is to end slavery. Period. This will also explain her taking over the Dothraki, not only because she wants an army, but because the Dothraki are great suppliers of slaves.

She stays in Meereen because first if she leaves before the transition is way underway, they Ghiscari Elites will enslave the people she freed again. And, she wants to learn how to rule.

3- Daenerys is bloodthirsty

Wrong.

This is a show invention. Daenerys first impulse is NEVER to “ burn cities to the ground”, but she is constantly advised to do so.

4- Embracing Fire and Blood is the first sign of her tyranny.

Doubtful. 

Daenerys is compared to Aegon, the Conqueror.

Aegon was not a lunatic who kept burning things. Quite the contrary- despite having the obvious advantage of three dragons, Aegon would give his enemies a fair warning before he went to war.

Most probably, Daenerys will repeat the two events that set Aegon to be King: the Field of Fire ( season 7) and burning the Red Keep ( as an analog for Harrenhal)

5- Daenerys going crazy is GRRM ending.

Doubtful.

First, DnD cited the “ she is a Targ and they are crazy” reason for her meltdown, which is bullshit. 

Second, they retconned the whole thing in addition to changing the dynamic of Daenerys and her advisors. 

SEASON 8 HAS NOT BEEN METICULOUSLY PLANNED SINCE SEASON 5- the retroactively going through scenes, changing their meaning or actually inverting their meaning, show just that.

Examples that impacted the story:

a- Theon did not make fun of Tyrion when they met in season one- it was the opposite- They retconned it because they made Tyrion, who is a bloodthirsty man with daddy issues who cares nothing about the smallfolk ( and was portrayed as that for four seasons) to be a pacifist. In that scene, they wanted to remind us that Tyrion is a nice guy, who can be a bit emotional. A turn for the character who, at season 4 had screamed that the populace of KL should have died during Stannis attack.

b-Daenerys did not force Jon to give up his Crown for her to go North- the one who made this demand was Cersei. But this is the version of the story that is in the mouths of the northern Lords- and neither Daenerys nor Jon rectify the mistake because, voilá---the writers decided that Daenerys IS Cersei now.

c- Targaryens never went North to fight against Starks, like Tyrion said they did, so really, the northerners could not still remember it because the fact never happened. ( and this episode, of the King Who Knelt, is in the History and Lore section- so, it is TV Canon)

d- Jaime had already told Brienne the truth about his actions during Robert´s rebellion when they weer at Harrenhal and why he killed the Mad King, but by season 8, that scene never happened- or Jaime had lied back then for no reason whatsoever.

e- Daenerys and Jon never spent time together during their childhood, but by season 8 she is telling him about when they were young and she could not count till 20...something that would only make sense if the dialogue was written for Jaime and Cersei.

f- The House of Undying vision of Daenerys had already been fulfilled by season 7. Daenerys had literally the chance to take the Iron Throne, but she chooses to go cross the Wall and go North. She gives up her plan to blow up the Red Keep- shown in the vision with a Seven-Pointed Star, meaning it was a “what could have been” they elected to retcon ( which can be attested because Daenerys, in the original version of the scene, mentions it as a difference between her vision and the reality.) to save Jon Snow North of The Wall.

Season 8 they inverted the chronological order of the vision to fit their plot- Daenerys is North and, instead of resting her troops, she goes South and for some reason ( madness) she destroys the whole thing with dragon fire, but miraculously, The Iron Throne remains. Drogon then sets fire on the Throne, which melts? ( why has not melted before? same reason Tyrion manages to find and recognize the corpses of his siblings- because logic does not matter.)

As their infamous Austin panel shows, DnD confirmed they were interested in writing scene for scene, not necessarily characters arcs or themes. They also said that they divorced the books since season 5, that they made GoT theirs, that the magical elements were downplayed and finally that they simplified the scope of ASOIAF to a “ Power is everything” mentality.

Power being their concern explains why the series is called “ Game of Thrones”, which is just the name of the first book. 

GRRM is often quoted as not believing in heroes...but in fact: he does. What he does not believe in are in perfect, never at fault heroes:

“My own heroes are the dreamers, those men and women who tried to make the world a better place than when they found it, whether in small ways or great ones. Some succeeded, some failed, most had mixed results... but it is the effort that's heroic, as I see it. Win or lose, I admire those who fight the good fight.” 

Note that DnD gave this definition of hero- the ones who try to make the world a better place- a sentence that Daenerys repeats at least a couple of times during seasons 6 and 7.

and again..while GRRM gives space for his heroes to “win or lose” ...and admits that most heroes “ had mixed results”...he does qualify them- the dreamers- as heroes nevertheless.

Therefore this vision...this black and white vision of Daenerys as Hitler with Dragons (incidentally- Alt-Right has been known to make claims that nazism- as in national socialism- was, in fact, a far-left movement.) that just because she started out freeing slaves by force, it never meant she was in fact, a hero, but a misguided despot in the making...is not GRRM, but Dave Benioff and Dan Weiss.

To place things in context, the producers of GoT are members of the Elites. Of course, they sympathize with characters like Sansa and Tyrion ( their admitted favorites) who are members of Elite- in case of Sansa, the Starks are what one could call benevolent aristocrats- but aristocrats nevertheless- and to them...it does make incredibly sense that a person who is willing to go as far as to challenge the Elites for the well being of the underclass by using violence ( Daenerys) would be a step away from being a Tyrant.

Am I saying that GRRM does not intend to make Dany crazy? I am not saying that. I cannot say what his intentions are. What I can say is that, in his own words, not only Daenerys, but most of the characters are going to be Darker in the next book. Possibly, keeping with the tone of the series, this means Daenerys will go grey. 

Grey could very well choose to go for the Red Keep, as Aegon went to Harrenhal, despite innocents are being held there. Some people will call her crazy...others will see the actions as simply a part of a war.

I think he intends to allow readers to decide.

Personally though...I am not sure I am up to it anymore. By making Daenerys a victim of rape, one who not only survives and thrives, but chooses to fight against such inequalities instead of becoming the abuser ( Cersei) that he might use such character to discuss the limits of being a hero...I find it distasteful.

As of now, ASOIAF is shaping out to be one of many standard fantasy series. It has been sold as nothing of the sort, but as an inclusive, realistic portrayal of a generational saga where the main characters would have to contend with the mistakes of their fathers...but GoT leaves the impression that ASOIAF is, indeed, just white men´s wank.

[7deadlycinderellas]

The Maiden of the Sea, 4/5

Ao3 link

When the girls are four and a half years old, Sansa manages to find the time to take a ship from White Harbour for a visit. 

Ely, the girls’ nurse, looks confused. 

“If your sister’s Queen in the North, why do you live all the way down here? Should I do my hair fancy or something?”

Arya shakes her head. Ely’s sixteen year old with crinkly red hair and a face full of freckles. She doesn’t generally go for fancy, which is good when your job is keeping track of a pair of very active children.

“If she makes a single comment about your hair, I’ll pull hers.”

Not that she really plans on being childish to Sansa. She has missed her terribly. Her letters have been a bit cryptic, and part of Arya is anxious to see her sister’s reaction to her current life. 

“Just try and make sure the girls are clean, and please try and stop them from pinching each other too much.”

Ely nods, and Arya leaves, knowing the twins are in capable hands. Ely has six siblings and can wrangle even the fastest toddler. 

She then goes to retrieve Gendry from their solar. He’s at the table with his head in his hands. 

Arya reaches out and tugs him by them. 

“Come on, it’s time. They announced the arrival at the gate five minutes ago.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes.”

Ely meets them in the courtyard, dragging a child by each hand. Lyra and Lysa are both in neat dresses, their hair tied in ribbons. Lysa fidgets, while Lyra quietly drops Ely’s hand to cling to her father’s. 

The ride from Weeping Town isn’t very long, and by the time the riders enter, Sansa is still immaculate upon her mount. 

She looks diminished, without her northern furs, but no less regal than Arya remembers. Her gown is a deep gray damask, the bodice with an overlay of black lace, making her complexion look even paler. 

Gendry had reluctantly put on his best leathers and a doublet of dark blue. It lets him maintain some dignity, even if he must look his station.

Arya had asked the seamstress in Weeping Town who had made her wedding clothes to make her a few similar ones out of linen or wool. They’re easier to care for, but beautifully embroidered, and excellent for when Arya wants to impress someone, or needs to make an impression.

Lysa’s still fidgeting, so Arya grabs her and hoists her up into her arms as the Queen in the North dismounts her horse and is welcomed 

With a squirming child in her arms, Arya manages a curtsy even worse than the ones from her childhood.

“Your grace,” she greets her, with a heavy note of sarcasm in her voice. 

A smile bursts onto Sansa’s face, and Arya finds herself filling up with glee.

Lyra looks up from where she holds her father’s hand and asks, in her quiet, even voice. 

“Are you really a queen?”

Lysa pauses her squirming to add,

“If you’re a queen, where’s your crown?”

That makes Sansa smile. “I am indeed, I am queen of all of the North. And I left my crown at home, I thought it might fall off when I was on the boat.”

Lysa looks disappointed, but stays quiet, so Arya gestures over her shoulder. 

“Come on, it’s dinner time anyway.”

Dinner is fancier than Arya would have liked, but Merope insisted that she wouldn’t have a queen going back home speaking modestly of her cooking. 

Sansa watches quietly as Lysa and Lyra get up and look expectantly at their mother.

“Go ahead, but stay in the yard,” Arya tells them, and they vacate the Round Hall. 

She hears Sansa quietly ask Gendry, “How do you tell them apart?”

Gendry nods at the bits of twine they wear tied as bracelets around their wrists. 

“Lyra wears hers on her right arm, Lysa on her left. You can remember because Lyra has an ‘r’ in it.”

“And after knowing them a little while, you don’t really need it,” Arya adds. 

After the meal is done, Sansa asks her to see her to the Godswood.  

They pass Lysa and Lyra playing at swords with wooden sticks. Tris sits off to one side, and Arya suddenly hears him say,  

“Why do I have to be the princess?”

“Cause you have the prettiest hair.”

“I wanna be the dragon.’

Arya snorts. Tris does have very pretty hair, thick and blonde and curly. And even though they’re not a month apart, both girls are taller than him already.

They’ve just passed into the Godswood when Sansa suddenly says, 

“Seeing them before, I could have sworn it was me and you.”

Arya smiles and laughs. 

“They do fight like cats and dogs. But that aside, they’re not really much like us at all.”

They’ve reached the pool, and Arya gestures for Sansa to sit down next to her. It’s sunny somehow, even this late in the day, and it’s like the rare quiet afternoons when they were young. 

She tells Sansa about how Lysa spoke first of the twins, and how after, it seemed like Lyra was mostly content with letting her sister do the talking. How Lysa announced to all of them a few weeks ago that she planned to run away and become a mummer. 

“And Lyra seems quiet, but that’s not always accurate. A few moons ago one of the guard’s sons called Tris a dirty bastard. Lyra lashed out and grabbed him by the arm and squeezed, and wouldn’t let him go until he said he was sorry. I saw the boy after, she left bruises on him.”

That was definitely one of the signs that Lyra was closer to following after her father rather than Arya, no matter what Gendry said.

Sansa’s looking at her funny,

“What?”

“You’re happy.”

Arya feels a noise escape her throat. Hearing it put so simply is strange, foreign. 

“I am, truly.”

Sansa looks away and tilts her face up towards the sun. 

“I wonder what Mother and Father would think. That after all these years...that I would be the sole ruler of Winterfell, running an independent North, and you would be happily married with children.”

“We each got what the other wanted.”

They both chuckle, because they know it’s only superficially true. 

“I didn’t know what to think...you left so suddenly before, and then three years later I get a letter that you’re marrying a man that I thought you barely knew.”

Arya smiles. Explaining everything in letters had been a daunting task. Explaining that she’d chosen to come back to Westeros. Explaining that she was marrying, that she was marrying the same man she’d taken to bed before the Long Night. Explaining that she had, in fact, known him for years. 

“Everyday’s different,” Arya muses, “But I adjust. I come and go, like the tides.”

She pauses before her next words, 

“What about you Sansa, are you happy?”

Sansa chuckles, 

“I wonder if anyone has ever asked a queen that question before...my home is safe, my people are safe. I know where everyone left in my family is, and that they are alive. That’s more than I could have hoped for for most of my girlhood. Of course...there’s still the question of the future.”

She takes a glance at Arya, and she feels it cut like it often did when the two were children.

“I suppose it isn’t the best time to bring up the question of succession.”

Arya sticks up her nose at the question. No it is not the right time. As much as it pleased her that thanks to one of Bran’s rulings, she no longer had to pay heed to anyone giving them condolences and asking when they were trying again for a boy.

“I don’t even remember which one came out first. I can’t answer questions about which one will inherit before they can even write their names.”

It’s also unspoken that neither her nor Gendry will be mentioning the word betrothal until they’re old enough to say if they want it for themselves.

“Why are you heading to King’s Landing so early? The next small council meeting isn’t until early next year?”

She has been wondering. Gendry and her have to make the journey too, but they had been planning to take this long go round of the Stormlands proper for a while, and Sansa showing up right before they’re set to leave seemed fortuitous. 

Sansa sighs, 

“I spend so much time wondering about Bran. About how he even ended up where he is...and I just wish I could be there for him more.”

Arya suddenly wonders if Bran has confided in Sansa half of what he has in her. She did have the dream where he was a porpoise after all, as bizarre as it had been. 

“I’m sure it will be good for him to see you again,” she assures Sansa. She then stands. 

“I best be getting off to bed.”

“I think I’ll stay out here for a while.”

Arya nods, 

“You can get to the guest rooms alright?”

Sansa nods in understanding, and Arya leaves the Godswood. 

She bumps into Ely on her way back to her chambers. 

“Both girls are in bed milady, if not asleep. Too excited.”

Arya nods, she’ll check in on them in a minute.

“Are you Ely? Excited?”

The younger girl nods. 

“I’ve never been more than a mile or two from Weeping Town before! It will be like going on an adventure.”

They really lucked out finding her, Arya, thinks, as she creeps quiet as a mouse to peek in on her daughters. 

It had surprised her and Gendry when they had offered to get them seperate beds, that they hadn’t wanted them. Arya remembers hating sharing a bed with Sansa when they were small, and had thought Lyra and Lysa would be the same.

But no matter how they were at each other’s throats throughout the day, at night they would curl up together in their little bed. Right now they were both on their bellies, Lyra’s arm slung over Lysa’s head and Lysa tucked into her side. 

Though Arya suspects they’re just pretending to be asleep, she shuts their door and leaves. 

Gendry’s already stretched out on the bed when she comes in and begins changing for bed. 

“Everyone ready to go in the morning?”

Arya nods, 

“Why exactly are we going towards Bronzegate first? Tarth is closer.”

Arya laughs at the petulance in his tone. 

“Because we like Tarth, it will make getting through all the other houses and keeps easier if we get to go there at the end.”

Gendry rolls back the covers to let her slip in. When she’s settled, he leans over and starts planting kisses on her chin. 

When his hands make for the ties at the top of her small clothes, she hates having to stop him. 

“Moon’s blood remember? Day or two left.”

Gendry actually pouts. 

“Never thought you of all people would be squeamish about that.”

“I’m not squeamish,” That’s putting it mildly, the first time she’d gotten her moon’s blood after the twins were born, she’d dragged him out of bed in the middle of the night, gone to the Godswood, gone on all fours and told him to make her howl at the moon.

“I just don’t want to make a mess someone else has to clean up. And Sansa’s still in the Godswood.”

When she notes his lip is still stuck out, so she lets her hands drift downward. 

“Want me to take care of you?”

Gendry pushes her hand away and starts working at his own laces. 

“S’okay, I can do it. I’ll pay you back on the road. All those bushes and caves and little groups of trees…”

“All there to district Lysa and Lyra from their unknowing quest to remain only children.”

Gendry laughs as he takes his cock in hand. Arya curls up under his other arm, nose pressed in his neck, inhaling the hint of smoke still on his skin. She likes watching him do this, especially when she can turn her head and try and see what he sees. She loves stroking his hair and sucking his ear lobe and running her fingers over the taut muscles in his chest and stomach as he works himself over. 

He comes in a spurt across his stomach and Arya retrieves a rag from the basin to wipe him off. 

“Try and focus on this,” she tells him, “Instead of the days and days of horse riding and listening to old lords talk about themselves that are ahead of us.”

The next morning, both parties pack up their horses and take off down the road. Sansa’s group splits off and takes the Kingsroad on it’s way to King’s Landing. She stops to hug Arya at the fork in the road, and the twins wave and yell out behind her until the party is well out of the line of sight.

The foal that Selwyn had sent for the twins as a baby is now a squat, gray mare named Thistle. She moved at a placid pace regardless of whether she was unburdened, carrying one twin, two, or both and Ely, though both the twins did their best to be good enough on her back to not need Ely plunking herself behind them to make them behave.

Arya giggles to herself whenever she sees Gendry bouncing uncomfortably in his saddle. All the years, he still rides like a green boy. 

The first night they’re eating supper after setting up camp, Lysa comes up to the two of them and asks, 

“Why do we have to go to all these places?”

Arya smiles, and puts her piece of bread down in her mug of broth. She pulls Lysa into her lap. Both girls are tall for their age, but slender, and Lysa’s head nearly hits her mother’s chin. 

“All of the houses in this land are sworn to me and your father. They serve us, and we have to keep them safe. It’s our responsibility, and someday, it will be yours or your sister’s. So you have to know the land, know it’s people.”

Gendry lets her talk, nodding along with her answer. 

Her answer seems to satisfy Lysa, so Arya lets her mind wander. She spies out of the corner of her eye Lyra sneak up and offer Gendry a flower she picked, and she feels her heart twinge. 

It doesn’t take long to reach Bronzegate, seat of House Buckler. 

The castle rises out of a crag, somehow seeming much more imposing than Storm’s End. Both of the girls are struck dumb by it. Gendry just takes a look, sighs, and says, 

“I’d forgotten how big a pain it was to get up there.”

Bronzegate, and by extension, Lord Ralph Buckler, are exactly what Arya has come to expect from highborns. Gracious, proper, and exacting in their manners. 

And so ungodly boring. 

Lysa and Lyra are both in awe of the grandness of the keep. Storm’s End, after years of neglect, has been left rather modest by comparison. The two of them, and Ely, get to be led around and told the history of the whole keep. 

Whereas the Lord and Lady of all of the Stormlands get to be bored out of their skulls, sitting in too-soft chairs around a too-big table while the near elderly Lord Buckler goes on and on about the going-ons of all of his extended family members who still remain in the area of Bronzegate, who’s gotten married, who’s been knighted. And he’s got a lot of them. 

It’s no wonder that by the second day of these discussions, Arya begins slipping one foot out of her boot during and starts running her toes up one of Gendry’s legs. 

(“You.” he says, punctuating his sentence with a hard kiss, “Are a goddamn horrible tease.”

He’s got her pressed up against a column in an dark, empty hallway after they’ve been left to their own devices. He’s already got one hand down her breeches, and she’s not exactly seeing the downside.

“Oh don’t pretend like you were listening in the first place,” Arya replies, as she wiggles and tries to help him get her breeches unlaced.)

And so the next time, her hand wanders straight for his lap instead. 

It’s halfway through the third day that Gendry finally snaps, and tells Lord Buckler to ride through the village and show him exactly how the tax cuts that had been put in over five years ago were working out. 

After a moment, Lord Buckler nods, and calls for someone to have his horse saddled. Gendry ends up quite pleased by what he sees, farmers who can keep their homes in good upkeep, and a village where everyone seems to have an occupation.

“See?” Arya tells him later that night, “Sometimes it’s better to just get straight to the point.”

She speaks with confidence, but Arya leaves Bronzegate feeling like the same wild, out of place child that she spent most of her childhood as. 

The area on this side of the Stormlands doesn’t have much, just a lot of villages with big swaths of empty land between them. Low hills and sharp peaks, without even very many trees. The journey through this is uninteresting. 

“I thought it would be more like after we escaped Harranhal. Like freedom” Gendry admits one night, in their tent. 

“It was just us and Hot Pie then though, we didn’t have all these people or responsibilities. “

Namely, the two young girls sleeping spread out right next to their parents. The two of them are having a grand time on the journey. Every day there are trees to climb, caves to dig into, a new animal they’ve never seen, and endless stories from nearly all of the men, as the guards from Storm’s End came from all over the Stormlands. 

Even if it also came with the discovery that quiet, good natured Lyra was as voracious a climber as her uncle Bran had been as a child. Great, now both of them had the abilities to give their parents heart attacks. 

They reach the foothills of the red mountains, and with them, they pass the ruins of Summerhall. 

Even Lysa grows quiet, seeing the ruins of the huge, burned castle, with the wild trying it’s best to grow over the corpse. Arya hears Ely’s whispering voice telling the girls the story of the Tragedy at Summerhall, and feels her chest ache, the darkness sneaking in with the memories of Harrenhal.  

Arya swears she can smell it burning, seeing the ruins. She can smell the fire and the ash and the clouds of smoke and heard the screaming-

“We should do something with it,” Gendry says gruffly, “It’s no good to anyone sitting there empty, and letting the stories of ghosts grow around it won’t do any good either.”

Arya nods. He’s right. Sitting empty, it could provide shelter to an army attempting to march on them, or on the Reach, or even King’s Landing. He’s right, but as they ride away, the darkness does not entirely recede. 

They make it to Blackhaven, seat of House Dondarrion. Arya feels her mind perk up. Their relationship had been complicated, but both her and Gendry still held some respect for the late Lightning Lord. 

In comparison to some of the keeps they’ve seen, it’s quite small and modest, though the bottomless moat does make one contemplate their own mortality, and any bandits from the mountains would have a very difficult time making it. 

And while the current holders of the seat are not like Beric at all, they do at least seem to share in Gendry and Arya’s grief. Of course, this happens in the midst of another long, dull discussion of court gossip, over another stupidly fancy table. 

Also unfortunately, the cousin who is currently the heir of Blackhaven, is seemingly also fond of having a certain sort of female company in his keep. 

Arya isn’t jealous when she sees the woman with the rich, red gown and the carefully curled hair lean rather obviously over Gendry’s chair and whisper in his ear. She knows he’s just embarrassed, even before she sees his face turn bright red, but seven hells if it doesn’t annoy her. 

Later that night, she flops onto the obnoxiously fancy bed in Blackhaven’s guest chambers, turns to Gendry while he’s still undressing and asks, 

“You sure you’re never going to get bored of me and start going off with painted whores?”

There’s a note of surprise on his face when he looks at her, and a bit of hurt that Arya feels come at her heart. She’s fishing for his words of affection, of commitement, and she knows it, but sometimes she needs to make him talk. 

He doesn’t say a thing before laying down beside her on the bed and pulling her over onto his chest. 

“Surprised you couldn’t hear her, how loud she was whispering bout ‘I’ll do that thing your wife would never’...”

Arya snorts despite herself. 

“Wouldn’t be specific either would she?”

He pushes a bit of her hair out of her face. 

“Wanted to draw me in with whatever I answered that with. Want to know something I learned the first time I trudged around this whole damn place?”

“That you hate highborn twats who have never lifted a sword against an enemy, yet have a thousand of them?”

He pauses. He’s used close to those exact words before. 

“Yes. But also, most highborn men I’ve met? They don’t like their wives. Not to say exactly, that they never found them attractive, or even loved them. They don’t like them.”

Arya frowns. She’s never quite heard it put that way. 

“Like, even if I suffered some horribly disfiguring accident that left me with no cock...or hands, or lips...you’d still want me around right?”

Arya frowns even harder, 

“How did you manage that one?”

Gendry rolls his eyes, 

“Just imagine it OK?”

She stops and thinks. She really can’t imagine not having him around. It makes every tiny part of her hurt. She even feels a tear threaten to drop. 

“Fine, I get it.”

Gendry rolls her over and kisses her neck and her shoulder, and lower. When he gets to her belly, he tells her,

“So quit worrying about me, whores, and their vaguely defined bedroom activities.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just, this whole trip ended up just making me feel insecure.”

Gendry snorts as his fingers begin to work at her smallclothes. 

“It’s not just you. Everyone we’ve met on this trip seems to want to do nothing more than talk about my father. About how great he was to hunt or feast with when they were younger, how great a warror he was. They never mention how shit a husband or a king he was.”

Arya is suddenly seized by the realization that what she’s just asked might have made it worse. She stills under him and reaches to pull him back up so she can look him in the face.

“You’re not your father. I’ve met him remember? He was old and fat, and while those can happen to the best of us, he also didn’t care about anyone anymore. Not his queen, or his oldest friend, or his subjects. That isn’t you. 

Anytime you need to be reminded of that, come find me and I’ll find a way.” 

Gendry lifts himself up on his elbows to look at her. 

“Shall we get revenge on them all by fucking loudly on their fancy bed?”

Arya pauses, in thought. She then moves to stand up. 

“I have a better idea. Lets sneak out and go fuck on their stupid fancy table instead.”

A slow smile erupts on Gendry’s face, and he stands and grabs her hand to pull her up.

“See what I mean? Seven hells, I like having you around so much.” 

Things get easier when they leave Blackhaven and head for the coast. Arya can tell where they are before they can even see it- she can smell the salt on the air, suddenly stronger. 

It brings her joy. She hadn’t realized how much the sea had become part of her, as much a part as the snow and forests of the north were.

And not just her. 

When the first bit of the ocean comes into view, Lysa and Lyra immediately drop their quarrel over who’s taller (Ely had even brought over a book to show them they were exactly the same height right now). Lyra climbs onto a rock to peer into the water and prepare to dive if the water is deep enough. Lysa simply bellows and rushes into the choppy waves at the coastline. 

They’ve both got Tully fish in their blood, Arya muses, that and they’ve lived by the water their entire lives. 

There are more stops to be had along the coast of the Sea of Dorne, but getting through them is easier on both Gendry and Arya. Ely takes Lysa and Lyra out to swim most days, in waters that far are calmer than Shipbreaker’s Bay is for most of the year. Arya joins them when she can, floating on her back and gazing up at the thick fog that lays over the sea. 

One night when they’re staying in an inn to talk with an emissary from Estermont (so they would not have to make the journey by boat, and Gendry tells her because the keep is in rather poor shape from storms), the sky is somehow perfectly clear. Before bed, Ely touches Arya’s arm and tells her, 

“You should come with us milady, there’s nothing in the world like nightswimming.”

The moon is huge and full, and Arya even manages to convince Gendry to strip to his undershirt and braies and wade in with them. 

Arya finds a large rock and lays down upon it, Gendry soon joining her as Ely teaches Lysa to float on her back while Lyra splashes around. 

“I miss being at sea. If, instead of letting you marry me when I came back I had just kidnapped you and thrown you on my boat, would you have come?”

Gendry stills. 

“So long as it wasn’t the kind of boat I would have to row.”

That’s a good answer. She waits before asking the next. 

“What if I’d asked you before I left Westeros? If i’d asked you to give up the noble life to join me at sea?”

Gendry rolls on his side.

“You didn’t though. I don’t think it’s worth it to get stuck on ifs. We’re here now.”

She smiles and kisses him slowly, once, twice. 

“Where do we still have to stop after this?”

“Rain House. That’s not too bad. The Wylde’s are all loud and fun. Then, hopefully finding an excuse to avoid Griffin’s Roost, then Tarth, then back home.”

She listens with one ear to Ely telling the twins about how the stars and moon that they see in the sky are the same the world over. The sea is too, Arya thinks. All the lakes and rivers that feed into the ocean, that all eventually join the same water. 

The sea here is the same as the sea at Storm’s End, and White Harbour and King’s Landing, and even all the way to Braavos. She’d sailed, learned that if you go off in one direction long enough, you’ll end up right back in the same spot. It’s a nice thought, that if Bran was in the Red Keep looking at the harbour, or Sansa staring off while she sailed from Winterfell, were looking at it now, then they were all looking at the same thing. 

It’s a nice thought, she thinks, for a near perfect night.

[nationalhoranleague]

Two | Tomorrow

≫ Everly - Monday, October 26, 2015 ≪

"Casey!" Lillian screeched, tossing a green bean at my brother's face, hitting him smack-dab in the nose. "Don't be stupid!"

I glanced up at my father who sat with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at my two older siblings with a disapproving look. My mother sat next to him, her dainty hand trying to hide her smile. I always got a kick out of my parents, they were complete opposites, but they got along so well. You would think that after being with someone for thirty-three years that you would get tired of their antics, but my mother claimed to fall more and more in love with my father each day. I aimed for a relationship like theirs.

"How about you both stop being stupid?" My mother and I giggled as Casey and Lillian instantly stopped arguing to look at my father. Lillian settled back into her seat next to me while Casey wiped at his nose.

My father sighed and everyone was quiet for a moment, all of us eating, the only sound in the room was the clanking of silverware and the clock on the wall behind me ticking.

"Everly Grace," My mother addressed me, tapping on my plate with her fork. I swallowed and looked up at her. "How was practice today?"

I shrugged, now pushing chicken around on my plate. "Not great, I couldn't quite get out of my head today."

She sighed but shrugged her shoulders. "It's fine, it was only one practice, right?"

She had a point, it was only one practice. One bad practice is not the end of the world.

"You're always too hard on yourself, Ev," My dad chimed in. I looked up from my plate to see everyone's eyes on me. "Plus, you just had knee surgery in February, relax a little."

I felt my shoulders relax. My parents always knew how to find the right words to comfort me.

"Are the Penguins still practicing there?" Casey asked suddenly, pulling me from my thoughts. It was almost like he knew that I had done nothing all day but replay my practice and seeing Sidney again in my head.

"Uh, yeah, I think so," I responded, keeping my eyes downcast on my plate. "I don't think our practices overlap, though."

"Really? I read somewhere that Crosby likes to come to practice extra early, usually around the time you finish up." Did he already know? Had a straggling member of the media seen the two of us together?

I coughed, attempting to clear my throat. "Interesting, I'll have to keep an eye out for him."

I glanced up at Casey, who seemed to not know a thing about me seeing Sidney today. I exhaled and allowed my eyes to search for everyone's eyes at the table. Everyone had their view downcast on their food, except for my dad who was wiggling his eyebrows at me, a suggestive look on his face.

Oh, boy.

Because my mom made dinner, my dad had to wash the dishes. I offered to help him as Lillian and Casey made excuses about how much work they needed to do, or how they needed to call their out-of-town fiancées.

It was quiet between us for a while, my hands dunked in soapy water as he dried the plates I handed him. He cleared his throat after he heard my mom turn on a recorded episode of Chicago Fire.

"You're a bad liar you know? You have a tell." He teased, nudging his elbow into my ribs, as he looked over at me with a smirk.

"I do not have a tell!" I argued out, my voice still in a whisper.

My dad laughed, his laugh was hearty and warm and always made me feel safe. "You look at the ceiling,"

I groaned and refused to look over at my dad. A pregnant pause hung in the air. "We've met before," I started. "In Raleigh, Eric Staal introduced us a few years ago."

I looked up to gauge the look on his face. His graying eyebrows were knitted together. "Sidney?"

I nodded, making a piece of hair fall into my eyes. I attempted to blow it back into place. "Crosby," I confirmed.

"So, you saw him again today?" He asked, trying to keep his voice low and calm. My dad was born and raised in Pittsburgh and had been a Penguins fan for as long as he could remember. He absolutely adored Sidney, as a fan of the game, of course.

"Yeah, we met again," I confessed. "He's a really nice guy, you know?" He nodded.

"Yeah, I've heard," He agreed, as I handed him the last clean plate to dry and put away.

"He, uh," I pulled the drain stop from the sink and shook my hands, watching the droplets of water fly from my fingertips and onto the window in front of me. I looked over at my father as I dried my hands, his eyes looked like they were ready to pop out of his head. "He's giving us tickets for tomorrow's game."

"Us?" My dad could barely get the word out.

"Yes, us," I responded, hanging up the dish towel to dry. "Me, you, and mom," I confirmed, causing a wide smile to come across his face.

"Can I meet him?" He was so quiet I almost didn't hear him over the dishes he was putting away clanking together.

I smiled. "I'm sure we can work something out." My dad nodded his head, clearly trying to keep calm. "But, we keep this a secret, between the three of us, deal?"

My dad continued to nod his head eagerly. "Of course." He pulled me into his arms for a hug and I got a strong whiff of his Tim McGraw cologne that he's been using since my mother bought it for him in 2008. "Have I ever told you-you're my favorite daughter?" I laughed but, nodded regardless. It was no secret.

I had just begun to doze off when my phone lit up on my bedside table next to me, the vibration against the wood startling me.

SC

It was so nice meeting you for real today!

Hey! Thanks again for the tickets, Sid!

Anytime. They'll be at will call under my name, they'll ask for your ID, but other than that, you should be all set.

:) We're all so excited! Can't wait to see you tomorrow!

Speaking of which, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to meet for lunch tomorrow before the game?

I would love to! Keep me updated on a time, I can meet you wherever and whenever I'm just unpacking my boxes tomorrow.

Meet me at the Iceoplex around 11?

That's great! See you tomorrow!

See you tomorrow, Ev.

I went to sleep with a grin on my face.

≫ Tuesday, October 27, 2015 ≪

I was shaking as I turned into the Iceoplex parking lot. I had to pee and my nerves in preparation to see Sidney were running high. I was parked there for a minute, just staring at the huge sign in front of the building that read 'Official Training Center of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Olympian Everly Cassius', before I forced myself out of the car and into the cold building. A small part of me wanted to run back to my car and forget about my plans with Sidney all together, but another part of me, a larger, more confident part, wanted to see Sidney. The confident Everly carried me to the front desk of the Iceoplex.

A larger woman behind the desk looked up at me as I propped my arms onto the counter. "Oh, Everly!" She all but screeched before standing up and rushing to hug me.

"It's good to see you too, Rita," I said with a laugh, as she pulled away from me. Rita had been working at the Iceoplex for as long as I could remember, in fact, she taught one of my skating lessons when I was younger. "How are you?" I asked as she walked back around to the other side of the desk and sat down.

"I'm lovely, how are you? How does it feel to be back in the city?" Rita asked me before she quickly turned behind her to look through the window that opened to the ice.

"I'm missing the warm North Carolina weather, but there's no place like home, right? Feels so good to be back." I explained to her as I gazed onto the ice myself. Her eyes followed mine, and she chuckled slightly.

"It's not an open practice today, but I think I'll allow you to be an exception. They're nearly done anyway." Rita said as she tapped a pen on the desk twice before pointing at the entrance to the ice with it.

I smiled, offered a wave, and then walked past her desk and through the door into the spectator area of the rink. I walked down along the front side of the bleachers until I reached what was aligned with center ice and then climbed about four rows up.

There were three men standing on the ice, laughing rather loudly, as they spoke inaudible words to each other. Eventually, after a couple of minutes, they all settled down and slowly began to leave the ice one-by-one. The average-sized guy left the ice first, barely glancing at me as he passed by. Shortly thereafter came the tallest player who stopped just beside the set of bleachers I was perched upon and looked up at me.

"Here for Sid?" I narrowed my eyes but offered a small smile.

"Yeah," He grinned and tilted his head in the direction of the only person still on the ice.

"If he not done in twenty minutes, go get him." The second half of the 'Two-Headed Monster' grinned devilishly before winking at me and making his way down towards where I knew the Penguins' dressing room to be.

I turned my attention back to the scarred ice in front of me and watched as Sidney pushed around some pucks, shooting all but one into the back of the net. The rink was nearly silent, the only sound was of Sidney's skates rushing back and forth across the ice and the occasional puck hitting a pipe. I watched him for a bit, not paying attention to how long I'd been watching until I realized it was a quarter till noon. I hopped down the rows of bleachers and walked towards the goal he was shooting at.

"Hey!" I shouted, knocking on the glass between a set of his powerful shots. His head snapped up and he caught my eyes with his. "Wanna get some food?" He placed a grin on his face as he nodded and then motioned for me to meet him over by the bench door that would allow him to come off of the ice.

Sidney skated over to the bench door and came to a hockey stop, nearly snowing my legs. He pulled his helmet from his head and shook the sweat out of his hair. "Hey, hey, pretty lady." I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks. "How's your day going?"

I cleared my throat. "I can see it getting better,"

Sidney grinned like a three-year-old on Christmas morning. "Let me go get showered and changed and then we'll head out. Twenty minutes tops."

"But, you have to choose." Sidney all but whined, before popping a piece of his waffle into his mouth.

"I think Brendan Gallagher would be entertaining." I offered before taking a sip of my iced tea, which was definitely not sweet.

Sidney nodded, swallowing his bite of waffle. "Not bad, but I was thinking Tyler Seguin."

I laughed and shook my head. "He has some growing up to do first, plus, I don't really think he's looking to give up the bachelor life at the moment," I concluded with a nod of my head, making Sidney crack a smile at me. "We've gotta get a nice guy."

Sidney sat for a moment, watching his fork push his waffle around, sopping up the last bit of syrup on his plate. "Olli,"

"The little blonde Finnish kid? Number three?" Sidney nodded, before taking the last bite of his third waffle.

"He's the nicest guy, has a great back story. He'd be an amazing bachelor." Sidney decided and I nodded, agreeing with him. Bachelors with a backstory tend to be the best kind of bachelors.

"So, it's decided." I declared and Sidney nodded his head. "Do you have a favorite teammate?" The past hour and a half had gone just like this, barely finishing one conversation before starting another.

Sidney laughed and shook his head before pointing his fork at me. "Do you have a favorite sibling?"

I tilted my head and smirked. "Yes, my sister," I answered almost immediately.

Sidney snorted, and then widened his eyes and covered his mouth like he couldn't believe that he had just snorted. "Geno," He spoke, finally, muffing his answer with his hand.

I smiled, now pointing at him with my fork. "That was my guess,"

Sidney was standing on the opposite side of my car door with his arms crossed over one another on my rolled-down window, his sweatshirt hood pulled tightly over his ears. "So, I'll see you tonight?" He asked, grinning widely.

"For sure," I confirmed with a grin.

Sidney smiled at me. "I would like to meet your parents tonight if that's okay with you?"

I laughed, of course, it was okay with me. "Sid, they idolize you, they would love that. Thank you." He grinned, dropping his chin down onto his arms and looking up at me through his incredibly long eyelashes.

"Anytime." Sidney smiled and nonchalantly reached a hand inside my car to play with the buttons on my door, forcing my back windows to roll up and down. "I'm good with parents, you know?" He asked, lightly, making my cheeks flush even darker than before.

"Sidney, you could insult these people and they would thank you." I teased, causing Sidney to fall into a fit of laughter.

He shook his head and stood up straight as he finished laughing with me. "I-I need to get going, but I'll see you tonight." I nodded and he winked at me as he began to walk backward toward his car.

"Good luck, Captain," I called as I turned the key in the ignition and felt my engine turn over.

"Hey, with your beauty in the stands distracting me, I might just need it."

My cheeks were redder than a bunch of cherries, yet again.

Read Change on the Fly here!

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chatzy // rooftop rager

DATE: Saturday, April 4, 2020 CHARACTERS: Akira, Malia, Parker, Kieran, Jack, Alec, Ime, Blue, Casey, Rosie, Miranda, Graves, Jacob ABOUT: A birthday bash on Rat Cage rooftop turns into a series of scuffles and romantic rendezvous. TW: blood, mild violence

SATURDAY AFTERNOON 

 "Darling Gregory!" Akira clapped their hands together as they approached the manager of the warehouse above the Rat Cage. "Don't call me darling, Akira." "Sure thing, cutie. So," Akira leaned against a pallet of wood, "I was just wondering if the roof was structurally sound enough to support a small party of, say, thirty people?" "I don't want to answer that question." Gregory sighed. "Sounds like a fearful yes." Akira grinned wickedly.  

SATURDAY NIGHT 

"Welcome to the Rat Cage!" Akira held his hands out, at the first guests scaling the ladder to the roof of the Rat Cage. Akira had strung up a long rope of fairy lights that he had stolen from the rec room closet. Scattered on the floor and taped to the ducts were photocopied fliers that read:

AKIRA WAZ BORN: party at dark, rat cage. BYOB—BRING UR OWN BO(Y/I) TOY

Similar fliers were plastered all over the windows and doors of every building on the main promenade downtown. "Glad to see you got my message."(edited)

Parker stood at the bottom of the ladder and looked at his siblings and Jack. He bobbed his head from side to side respectfully despite not recognizing the loud music and smiled. To him, nothing wrong had ever happened at the rat cage and all he had there was a good time, so he was somewhat looking forward to this party. "Oh crap, do you think we were supposed to bring a present?" @spexile @ellis(edited)

“We are the present,” Malia replied with a shrug. She moved toward the ladder and made a face. “We have to climb this?” @caitlin @spexile(edited)

"Seems like it," Kieran responded. "This doesn't seem fire safety compliant." "Yeah, this is, like... Sketchy." Jack craned his neck looking up at the roof of the warehouse. "How did he even carry the speakers up there?" @caitlin @ellis

Parker didn't see too much of a problem until everyone else pointed it out. "Um, maybe it's a power or something? Or he strapped them to his back?" He shook his head, realizing that it was probably a rhetorical question. He watched their expressions. "Did you... not want to go up?" @spexile @ellis

Alec came to a stop behind the gathering of Aphrodite kids. "What's wrong? Oh, there's a ladder? Awesome!" They turned to Ime and gestured towards it. "S'just like home, eh? Knew all that practice would come in handy one day!" @caitlin

Ime grinned widely as they looked at the setup, tilting their head back to look up at the roof. They patted Alec on the back. "Oh, awesome, roof party. Let's scamper on up there. Unless this is a waiting line. You think they weren't on the list?" @brynnith

“Who are they a child of anyway?” Malia wondered out loud. She sighed. “No, lets go up. Let me go in front so one of you can catch me if I fall.” @caitlin @spexile

"Uh, can I go after?" Jack asked Parker. "Since my depth perception is... You know. In case I fall." @caitlin@ellis(edited)

Parker smiled and nodded, not looking behind him despite hearing more voices. "Yep! I can go after that. Catch you guys if you fall." He looked at Kieran. "Unless you're also doubting your climbing skills." @spexile @ellis

Kieran shook his head with a slight smirk, glancing back at Alec. "Alas, this is not my first roof climb." @caitlin @ellis @brynnith

Alec laughed at the ridiculous idea the Aphrodite kids weren't on any list. "Looks like a line, we'll have to wait our turn. I haven't been to a roof party in ages." They grinned at Kieran and gave him two thumbs up. "You're a master! Perfect technique!" @spexile @caitlin

Malia thought Kieran’s comment was cute and worth investigating later on. She put a pin on that thought, though, to focus on climbing. Carefully, she made her way up, hating every second of it. When she emerged on the roof, she wiped off her hands and found the guest of honor. “I see the devil is keeping us on our toes, huh?” @caitlin @spexile @brynnith

Ime wiggled their fingers in greeting to Kieran and sighed at Alec. "That's such a shame. I guess we know that we came here while the party's bumpin, though." @spexile @brynnith

"What's life without a little adventure?" Akira smiled as Malia crested over the edge of the roof. "Glad you could make it." Akira peered down to see who else was coming up. "No friends this time?" @ellis

Jack started ascending the ladder next. "Okay, if I fall off this ladder, please make sure they get me away from this warehouse before I die. I swear to god if I have to haunt this place..." Jack trailed off as he reached the top. @caitlin

"Oh, everyone is my friend," Malia replied, moving out of the way of the ladder. "I guess I'm just the most adventurous of them. Who knew?" @spexile

Parker exhaled a laugh at Kieran's comment, giving Alec a little nod of acknowledgement finally. He laughed at Jack and stood at the bottom as he began to climb. "I won't let you die." He waited until he was most of the way up the ladder and looked back at the rest of the group. "I think they're a bit dramatic about climbing a ladder." He shook his head before following Jack once he was fully on the roof. @spexile @brynnith

"I'm very impressed," Akira dipped his head. "Welcome," he added as Jack reached the roof. "Hi." Jack stepped forward a few paces to give some clearance to everyone climbing the ladder. Jack looked around at the measly decor. "Nice place." "Nice face." Jack grimaced. @ellis

Alec waited for the ladder to be free and then quickly scampered up. They waited at the top for Ime, gazing around at the new view. @caitlin

Malia's mouth opened in shock, and she covered her mouth so Jack wouldn't see her start to laugh. "Hey now, let's play nice on that one topic specifically." @spexile

Parker stood on the roof and looked around. "Uh, happy birthday." He smiled at Akira politely and then stood near Jack. "Hey, you managed to get up in one piece." @spexile

"Uh, yeah," Jack replied to Parker, turning away from Akira. "Let's hope it stays that way." As Kieran, Alec, and Ime stepped onto the roof, Akira welcomed the full group. "Make yourselves at home, everyone! It's an open floor plan, but if anyone's feeling particularly frisky, the air ducts toward the north side are a bit of a labyrinth." They winked. "I'm sure you'll get creative." @caitlin @ellis @brynnith

Ime managed to climb onto the roof rather quickly for someone in heels and smiled wickedly at Akira before nudging Alec's side. "Are you feeling creative? Want to figure out some air ducts?" They stretched their arms over and behind their head. @brynnith

Parker smirked and shoved his hands into his pockets as he looked around. "Some place," he said to nobody in particular.

Alec wiggled their fingers at Ime. "I gotta figure out my mood tonight first! Are you feeling creative?" They turned towards Akira and produced a root beer Dum Dum from the inside of their jacket. "Hey, happy birthday! You probably have a million of these already but I'm broke and know you like them and figured, thought that counts?" They offered it to them. @spexile @caitlin

Malia hooked her arm through Parker's. "I think it's.... versatile?" she offered, trying to not sound too judgemental. @caitlin

Parker nodded and exhaled. "Very different from the last rooftop we were on." He shrugged. "It's a nice idea for a birthday." @ellis

Ime flashed a smile. "I'm always feeling creative." They looked at Kieran, Parker, and Malia. "I like that you all match. Was that planned?" @brynnith @spexile @ellis

Akira pressed a hand to his heart as he took the lollipop. "The thought does, but this is also incredibly thoughtful," Akira winked. They pulled the wrapper off the Dum Dum and popped it in their mouth. Akira reached into their pocket and produced two more for Alec and Ime. "Care to join?" @caitlin @brynnith

Malia sighed. "They can't all be that nice," she said sadly. When Ime complimented them, Malia flashed a grin. "We're just naturally fabulous." @caitlin @spexile @brynnith​

Alec beamed when their gift was accepted. "I would love to! You're a right good host, eh? Party snacks." @spexile

Ime took the Dum Dum graciously, a hand over their heart. "Why thank you." They rummaged around their jacket pocket and produced a D20, and held it out in the center of their palm to Akira. "For you." @spexile

"Well now," Akira sang. "What is this?" They picked the D20 up off Ime's palm and held it up in the light. "Incredible. How does one use this?" @caitlin @brynnith

Blue wandered over to the famous rat cage, holding her phone out with the flashlight on to guide their way. "This is sketchy as fuck, I love it so much." She grinned back at Casey. "Did you talk to them about the fight club?" @spexile

Alec scoffed when Ime produced the die and nudged their shoulder. "That was mine." They didn't actually look offended and looked back at Akira. "You roll it and there's twenty different options! Great for making decisions." @spexile @caitlin

Ime winked at Alec. "Oh, well, I guess it was, then. It also was at my apartment, so I just assumed." They shrugged without finishing the sentence and looked back at Akira. "Yeah, more style than flipping a coin. If you have less than twenty options you can make it in intervals of fives, fours, tens, the like." @brynnith @spexile

Also Ime responded to Malia totally on time with a wink. @ellis​

Parker looked down at himself and then at Kieran and Malia. "I guess we do match." He looked at Jack again so he could be included in their conversation again. "Did you want any wine? Or are you afraid of not being able to climb down again?" @spexile @ellis

"Um, I'll be afraid whether or not I have wine." Jack snorted. "So wine would be great." Akira smiled at the little token. "Most of my decisions number far less than 20, so that's great information. Thank you," they smiled at Ime then looked to Alec. "And thank you again, indirectly." @caitlin @brynnith

"Ew, I didn't even think about climbing down," Malia groaned. "Oh my gods, wait, I meant to say it earlier but did you know that someone legit got like, punched at the last party here? I didn't even see it happen." She shook her head. "Um, also, I want more wine, too." @caitlin @spexile

"I heard that it happened, yes. I think I even noticed the fight developing, but I try my best to avoid fisticuffs in public settings, so I turned a blind eye," Kieran shrugged. Jack narrowed his eyes. "What... Why do you talk like that." @caitlin @ellis(edited)

Alec ran their fingers through their hair to mess it up. "No problem! Happy to be of assistance." They unwrapped the Dum Dum to start on it. "I love your roof. Something about being up high sparks joy, I feel like a cat sitting on the top of the wardrobe." @spexile @caitlin

Malia waved her hand. "Don't question it, Jack." @spexile @caitlin

Parker unhooked the reusable water bottle keychain from where it hung on his belt loop from when he was climbing up the ladder. He held the bottle out to Jack and frowned at Malia. "Really? I hadn't even noticed. Who was fighting?" He snorted a laugh at Jack. "I think it makes sentences more interesting." @ellis @spexile

"Oh my gods, it gets so much sketchier, you don't even fucking know, Blue!" Casey was almost galloping forward in excitement. "And yes! Oh my fucking gods—" He stopped in his track and grabbed Blue by the hands. "I went this morning. And one, Akira is actually really intense. Like, you'll notice it at this party probably, but holy shit—one on one? I thought I was gonna die and I have never been more turned on. Which brings me to number two—the fight club is on, baby." @ellis

Akira laughed. "Happy to provide you with a vantage point. I thought I'd shake up the elevation this go around, since the last party seemed to inspire... Chaos." @brynnith @caitlin

Blue whooped. "Fuck yes, Casey! I cannot wait to kick ass! Okay, you and I gotta fight, too. I swear one day I'm going to actually hit you." They were alternating pulling each other along to the warehouse. She looked at the ladder in confusion. "Up?" she asked, but already started climbing before getting an answer. @spexile​

Rosie spread her arms to present the ladder to her siblings. "Bueno, time to make like monkeys. I fucking knew I wore pants for a reason," she announced, as though she ever wears anything but pants. @a general chris @electriclightparade

Ime unwrapped the lollypop. "Of course. What kind of birthday would it be if I hadn't gotten you a present?" They winked at Alec and nodded at Akira. "I heard that quite a lot that happened last time, so I showed up today so as not to miss out again." @brynnith @spexile

Alec looked around as they heard more people start to arrive. "Ime was devastated to have missed the chaos! They'll never miss a party here again." @caitlin @spexile

Casey shrugged. "The flier said rooftop." He waited until she was all the way up before climbing up to the roof himself. @ellis

Malia sighed. "I think it was Ben? But also, he had it coming because he cheated on his girlfriend so..." She looked at Jack. "Pass that to me when you're done." @caitlin @spexile

"You're in luck. I've been working on a little something and I think you can expect to see a lot more happening here in the near future," Akira teased. @brynnith @caitlin

Miranda looked up at the ladder, then down at her white pants, then shrugged.  "Fuck it.  Not like I paid for these anyway."  She glanced between her two siblings, and when Rosie gestured to the ladder, she moved to climb up first.  "No need to fight children, I'll go first." @brynnith @electriclightparade

Jack took a big swig from Parker's wine bottle just as Kieran took a swig of his flask of whiskey. For a brief moment, their eyes connected and neither of them liked it. "Here," Jack offered, passing Malia the bottle. @ellis @caitlin

"That's so vague and exciting! Wow." Alec looked between the two of them, then spun around to head over to the main other group. They pointed to Kieran's flask. "Whatcha got there?" @spexile @ellis @caitlin

Blue scanned the crowd on the roof, immediately saw Parker and his company, and frowned. She felt a little flush of anger and unscrewed her flask. "Who's the birthday boy?" she asked loudly. @spexile

Ime raised their eyebrows. "Is it a secret little something?" @spexile

Graves glanced at the ladder and whistled. "Starting the night off right, oh-kay!" He patted his pockets, checking for his flask(s), then watched as Miranda started up the ladder. "Watch your step Mont- no promises I'll catch you if you fall!" he called to her. He nodded at Rosie, "You're up next, hermana." @brynnith @a general chris

"It might be—" Akira was interrupted by a loud question. Akira raised their hand and Casey quickly grabbed Blue's arm to bring her over to where Akira and Ime stood. Akira smiled as they approached. "You're looking for me?" @ellis @caitlin

Rosie snickered and bumped Graves' shoulder as she skipped over to the ladder. "Going last 'cause you're scared, tumbitas? You better catch me if I fall, I'll be aiming for you anyway." She started to scale the ladder after Miranda. @electriclightparade @a general chris

Jack flinched at the sound of Blue's voice, but he quickly caught himself and took a deep breath. "Whiskey." Kieran held the flask toward Alec. "If you'd like to try it." @brynnith @ellis @caitlin

"Yeah I am, I've heard a lot about you from the president of your fanclub," she replied, baring her teeth in a grin. She regarded Ime with a head nod. "What's up?" @spexile @caitlin @brynnith(edited)

Parker nodded. "I guess so." He frowned, wondering how he missed that. He heard Blue and felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "Um, pass that to me when you're done?" He asked Malia. @ellis(edited)

Ime was rapt by the suspense. They nodded at Blue and took the lollypop out of their mouth so they could speak. "Not much, learning about chaos." @ellis @spexile

"Sure, thanks." Alec took it and took a sip before passing it back. They only made a slight face at the taste. "That's pretty good! Is whiskey your favourite drink?" @spexile

Malia regarded both Jack and Parker with interest, and then Kieran and Alec, and wondered how in the world she became the fifth wheel. She took a large gulp of wine. "Here you go. I think I need to make out with someone. Sorry, is that weird to talk about with you? Do you think the guest of honor would be down?" @caitlin @spexile @brynnith

Casey turned his back toward Akira and muttered quickly to Blue, "Wow, I can't believe you just exposed me like that, not cool." Akira didn't seem to notice. "Well, I'm throwing this party, in case you missed it." They smiled. "Feel free to dance, make love, wreak havoc. Maybe even all at once if you can manage." @ellis @caitlin

Miranda paused to flip Graves off halfway up the ladder.  "Pendejo." She stepped off the ladder when she reached the top, she leaned her arm against the side of the ledge of the roof, acting like she had been waiting a century for the other two to finish climbing.  "You're so fucking slow!  Hurry up, I wanna drink." @brynnith @electriclightparade

Parker blinked at Malia and looked at Akira. "Um, kind of? I think they're talking to someone." He looked away so Blue wouldn't see him looking in her direction and sipped his wine. @ellis

"Um, robe guy?" Jack looked back at Akira. "I mean—their hands are literally on their hips holding open their robe. Like, that is definitely not accidental." Jack turned back toward Malia with a shrug. "I feel like your odds are pretty good." @ellis @caitlin

"It is," Kieran chuckled. "I suppose it's not one of yours?" Kieran took back the flask, screwing the lid on tight before pocketing it. @brynnith(edited)

Ime grinned. "I didn't know that you could separate the three." @spexile @ellis

Akira tapped his nose then pointed to Ime. "I love the way you think." @caitlin @ellis

Malia shrugged. "My odds are always good. I'll give it a few minutes." She glanced between Jack and Parker again and smiled, flipping into a more teasing tone. "Or do you want me to leave you two alone?" @spexile @caitlin

"Maybe I should've gone first so you could catch me," he laughed, pretending to rub his shoulder like it hurt. Once Rosie was climging the ladder, Graves unscrewed the flask he was holding and took a sip. He waved to Miranda, then flipped her off with a crooked grin, before screwing the top of his flask back on. Graves tried to stuff his flask in his already full pockets but quickly gave up. He held the flask between his teeth like a heathen as he started up the ladder. @a general chris @brynnith

Alec laughed. "It is one of my favourites! After wine. I just don't drink much." They gestured to themself. "Strictly 'no bring, only mooch'. Wow, that makes me sound like a terrible person to hang out with at parties." @spexile

Kieran laughed. "It does." @brynnith

Parker rubbed his cheek and shook his head. “Um, I don’t think it’s that easy to be alone here.” He took another sip of his drink before holding it out to both Malia and Jack @ellis @spexile

Rosie flipped Miranda off with one hand as she retrieved a small bottle of tequila from one of her many pants pockets with the other. "You could've started without us!" @electriclightparade @a general chris

Alec grinned at him. "Will you still hang out with me? @spexile

Jack took Parker's drink once again. "Yeah, you don't have to ditch us every time." He took a drink of the wine and held it out to Malia. "Unless you secretly hate us, then I guess go for it." @ellis @caitlin

Ime gave a small salute so they could do something cool back. “Fools hardly differ.” @spexile

Kieran smiled and shrugged. "I suppose we'll just be two terrible people to hang out with at parties." @brynnith

Miranda rolled her eyes, pushing off the ledge.  "I could've, last time I try to be at least somewhat gracious."  She opened her trusty bag of alcohol, pulling out a bottle of rum, already twisting off the cap as Graves reached the top of the ladder.  "I mean, I'm all up for the change of scenery, but I'm actually annoying I can't show you the fucking human sacrifice lair in the basement.  We barely got out alive last time."  She said dramatically, before taking a drink from her bottle. @electriclightparade @brynnith(edited)

Malia rolled her eyes. "It's very easy to be alone on an open floor plan! Just go to the corner and radiate big 'don't bother me' vibes. And I'm not ditching you, just, giving you some space." She sighed. "I guess I'll stay while there's wine." She moved so she was at Jack's other side. @spexile @caitlin

Graves laughed as he brushed some dirt off his jeans. He blinked for a second, taking in the scope of the rooftop party. It wasn't until Miranda said human sacrifice lair that he tuned back in. "I'm sorry, I didn't know we were here to witness a sacrifice. Who's the volunteer?" He snaked an arm around Miranda, swiping the rum from her grasp, "gracias sis." Graves took a big swig. "Let's get this par-tay started! Woo!" @a general chris @brynnith

Miranda rolled her eyes when Graves stole her bottle, in turn reaching into one of his pockets and stealing one of his flasks.  She scanned the roof, observing who else was there already.  "Hm, that depends.  Do you think we need a virgin sacrifice.  If yes? Nos chingamos."  @electriclightparade @brynnith

"Thank gods, I'm safe," he smiled another crooked smile and followed his sister's gaze. "See anyone fun? Who- uh who's hosting this anyway?" He traded her bottle for his flask, sniffing it to see which one she'd taken. "Fireball, sick - cheers!" He tapped the bottle with the edge of his flask, smiling when it clinked, and then took another sip. He wasn't pacing himself well, but hey, it was a party.

Miranda laughed, lifting her bottle to clink against his, taking a drink as she once again scanned the crowd.  "Fun? Sorry, there doesn't seem to be any mirrors here right now, so that's an overwhelming no.  As for host," She pointed out Akira from the crowd. "Them."  @electriclightparade

Alec laughed. "Hey, I don't think you're terrible to hang out with at parties! But I don't think that about myself either. Did my loft give you a good warmup for the ladder tonight?" @spexile

Parker turned so that he, his siblings, Jack, and Alec made a big circle, making it harder for people  Blue to jump in. "That's true, I guess." He smirked. "I knew you only liked my for my alcohol." @ellis @spexile

Rosie grinned at her siblings then held up her tequila. "Shots? I have enough to go around!" @electriclightparade @a general chris

"It did," Kieran nodded. "You know, as treacherous as a single construction ladder propped up against the side of a warehouse might seem, it's still an easier climb than maneuvering out of a window." @brynnithApril 5, 2020

Graves looked to the person Miranda pointed at and tilted his head, taking in the sight. "Now that is an outfit," he said to his sister. "YO! THAT'S A SWEET ROBE!" he shouted, waving an arm in Akira's direction. At Rosie's mention of shots, he nodded vigorously. "Fuck yeah, shots! Always shots! Monty, you ready? Shots city!" @brynnith @a general chris @spexile

Alec waved a hand. "So humble! I've never seen such roof-climbing talent!" They laughed. "And now it's becoming a habit." @spexile

Blue grinned at Ime, swatting Casey away. "I like you, too," she said. "Oh shit, name's Blue, by the way, shirtless guy. Happy birthday and all that." @caitlin @brynnith

Akira laughed at Graves's boisterous greeting. They gave a wave back before stepping away to some shadowy vantage point. @electriclightparade

"No, no," Kieran protested. "Twice is a coincidence. The next time I'm on your roof, you can call it a habit." @brynnith

Malia rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. I also like you for your spice cabinet." @caitlin @spexile

Miranda let out a laugh as Graves screamed across the roof, being jostled around slightly due to his arm around her.  She looked back at Rosie when she mentioned shots, and grinned.  "Do you know me at all?  I'm so in." @brynnith @electriclightparade

Jack snorted. In a laughing sense not the other way. @caitlin @ellis

"So you're going to go on my roof again?" Alec sounded incredibly pleased by that. "Or are you going to never go again so it doesn't become a habit?" @spexile

Ime smiled. "Amazing. I love the lewk. Classic egirl aesthetic." @ellis

Parker flipped Malia off and held his hand out for his bottle. "Go make out with robe guy somewhere I can't see." @spexile @ellis

Malia laughed. "Give me the wine one more time and I'll stop embarrassing you." @caitlin @spexile

Rosie passed the mini tequila bottle to Miranda and immediately produced another one from a different pocket. "To having a fucking blast tonight!" @a general chris @electriclightparade

"No. I'm not embarrassed. You're just mean and maybe I want to save my wine for me and Jack," he joked. @ellis

Blue did a little bow, her arms out dramatically to either side. "You look hot, too, and I love the shirt." She couldn't help but notice Parker again on her way up, then took another gulp from her flask. "Casey," she said, holding out the flask for him. @spexile @caitlin

"Blue," Casey accepted the flask and took a big gulp. "So is someone gonna fight at this one or what?" @caitlin @ellis

"Thanks. It's actually impossible for me to have FOMO because the party only happens when I'm there, but, y'know." Ime shrugged and smirked at Casey. "I hope so. I missed the last one." @ellis @spexile

Malia narrowed her eyes. She thought of a joke but knew Parker would have a stroke if she said it. So she just rolled her eyes again. "Fine, but only because I like Jack." @caitlin @spexile

Miranda gladly took the bottle Rosie offered up, twisting off the cap as she looked over at her brother.  "Do one of those have tequila in it? Or do you need a bottle from your amazing, wonderful, sisters?" She held her bottle out to Rosie.  "May we stumble home and not remember shit." @electriclightparade @brynnith

"I think I could make it happen," Blue said with a dark chuckle. "If you really want. People might cry, though, because it's me. Should we get Akira to watch?" @spexile @caitlin

"I'm so glad," Jack grinned. @ellis @caitlin

"Watch? They'd probably participate." Casey looked around for Akira, but they were nowhere to be found. "Or... Not. Uh," Casey turned to point at the Hermes kids, "I bet Graves would be down." @ellis @caitlin

Parker stuck his tongue out at her but held his bottle out to her anyway. "One more sip." @ellis @spexile

Ime raised their eyebrows and exhaled a laugh. "That'd be a great birthday present, I think." @ellis @spexile

Blue followed Casey's finger and saw her girlfriend standing next to Graves. "Hold that thought," she said, taking back her flask. "BRB." @spexile @caitlin

"To getting fuckin' blasted tonight!!" Graves grins and takes his tequila flask out of his pocket in response. "I brought my own to save more alcohol for my amazing, wonderful sisters." He raised his flask to their tiny bottles, laughing as Miranda spoke. "I know I climbed up that ladder, but the more we drink, the less likely it is that I'm getting back down. I'll audible it. Bottoms up bay-bee!" He winks at Rosie and drinks. @brynnith @a general chris

Blue walked over to the Hermes kids, sliding in next to Rosie and draping an arm over her shoulders. "Hi babe and babe's brother and sister," she chirped. "What's up?" @brynnith @a general chris @electriclightparade

"To blacking out and falling off this roof!" Rosie finished with a laugh and took her shot. She pressed a kiss to Blue's cheek when she put her arm around her. "We're taking shots! Y'want?" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

Malia grinned and took the bottle back. She took more than a sip. "Kay, see y'all later!" She walked off in search of the host. @spexile @caitlin

Miranda took her shot, throwing the now empty mini-bottle in a random dark corner of the roof.  "Are we dooming ourselves to spending the night on this roof?  I mean, I'm down." She watched Blue walk over, and grinned in greeting.  "Hello, manita's babe." @ellis @brynnith @electriclightparade

Malia didn't see where Akira went, but she weaved her way around people until she made it back by the air ducts. They weren't kidding, it was a maze back here, especially in the dark, but she made her way through it and heard a faint muttering. "Are we doing a ritual back here? Should I turn back and pretend I didn't see anything?" @spexile

Parker gave Malia a little wave and stood a bit closer to Jack. He looked between him and Kieran and Alec. "So... Watch any good movies lately?" He cringed and took a sip of his wine. "I haven't watched much in French since I was uninvited to our family movie nights." @brynnith @spexile

"Hey!!! Blue!!!" Graves beamed when his sister's girlfriend joined their little group. "Those pants are sick. Want a drink? I have five flasks, pick a number." He raised an eyebrow at Blue, then looked at Miranda. "Roof would probably be as comfortable as the floor so....I'm in."  @ellis @brynnith @a general chris

"We'll just see," Kieran shrugged at Alec's question, way back when it was still timely. He turned to face Parker and Jack after Malia left. "Alec and I watched Cléo de 5 à 7 the other week, which I thought was pretty excellent." "Wait," Jack interjected. "Do you all speak French?" @caitlin @brynnith

"Aw, we'll make it." Rosie took another swig of her bottle. "Even if we gotta lower us by rope." @a general chris @ellis @electriclightparade

Blue gave Miranda a hang-ten sign from the hand draped over Rosie. "Three," she said automatically to Graves, tucking her own flask in her pocket and holding her now free hand out for Graves' offer. "Thanks, kiddo. Hey babe, I have two questions. Well, I guess one, now, since your brother just gave me more alcohol." @brynnith @a general chris @electriclightparade

Alec turned in towards the group as well. "It's one of my favourites!" They tilted their head at Jack. "I do 'cause my step-mom's from Québec." @spexile @caitlin

"Oh," Jack nodded. "My mom's from Milwaukee, so..." @brynnith @caitlin

Rosie wrapped an arm around Blue's waist. "Shoot." @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

"Cool!" Alec grinned at Jack. "Where's that?" @spexile @caitlin

"Good choice," he passed her the flask without comment. "Gotta guess what it is." @ellis @a general chris @brynnith

Blue held the flask out for Graves. "Unscrew, please!" She turned her attention back to Rosie. "Would you encourage or discourage me from talking to Parker right now?" @electriclightparade @a general chris @brynnith

Parker shrugged and motioned and himself and Kieran. "Well, our mom's the goddess of resent and pettiness, so we get to speak French." @spexile @brynnith

"Hm, let's see." Rosie tapped her chin. "Are you pissed at him? In a serious way?" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

Kieran snorted. "That's not inaccurate." "That... Checks out," Jack snorted. He turned back to Alec. "Um, Milwaukee's in Wisconsin. I never lived there though, it's just where my mom grew up." @brynnith @caitlin​

Miranda took another sip from her bottle, her eyes bouncing from person to person as they spoke.  "Oh, is there drama incoming?" @brynnith @ellis @electriclightparade

"Oop, I gotcha." Graved unscrewed it quickly, sneaking an amused look at Miranda. Once Blue was set, he took another drink for himself from a different flask, listening to the gossip. @ellis @a general chris @brynnith

Alec nodded their head along. "Wisconsin," they repeated, trying and failing to visualize where that was. "They have... cheese?" @spexile @caitlin

Akira emerged from behind a duct to approach Malia when they heard her calling. "No, no, not interrupting. I was just readying a little surprise for later." Akira stepped closer to the light so Malia could see him more clearly. "How are you enjoying yourself?" @ellis

Blue shrugged. "I might be a little annoyed, but I'm not planning on melting flesh, if that's your concern." She lifted the flask to her nose. "Smells like metal," she said, then took a sip. "Raspberry vodka?" @electriclightparade @a general chris @brynnith

"Nah, no concerns." Rosie waited for her to finish tasting the drink. "If you're just a bit annoyed, sure, why not?" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

Malia's brows lifted in interest, but she figured they'd want to keep the surprise a surprise. "So far it's been pretty dull for me, I won't lie," she said with a shrug. "But I have faith you can make it more interesting." @spexile

"I guess? I don't know, I've never been there," Jack repeated. "But they probably get cheese?" @brynnith @caitlin

Parker smirked at Alec, wanting to make fun of them but also not really sure what else they had in Wisconsin. "Cheese... like Colby Jack." He sucked his cheeks in. "Um, but that movie sounds cool. What was it about?" @brynnith @spexile(edited)

Unlike him, Miranda didn't bother to hide the amused look on her face.  She reached into her bag, and pulled out two more mini bottles of vodka. She reached up to rest her elbow on Graves' shoulder, looking only slighter ridiculous due to their height difference, and dangled them in front of his face.  "Wanna take another shot?  I'm bored." @electriclightparade @brynnith @ellis

"Probably," Alec agreed. Their eyebrows drew together for a moment as they tried to figure out what Parker was talking about, and then they realized the movie he was asking about was the film they had watched with Kieran, not one called 'Colby Jack'. "Oh! It's about a vain woman believing she has cancer and coming to terms with beauty being temporary."

"Well, he has a friend with him," she muttered before taking another shot from the flask. She eyed the crowd she was with. "Would you guys like to interrupt a conversation for me?" @brynnith @electriclightparade @a general chris

Jack shut his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temple. He wasn't sure if he was meant to laugh or cry. Kieran, hoping to pretend like the moment hadn't occurred, added onto Alec's description. "It's also a nice study on existentialism." @brynnith @caitlin

Parker wondered briefly if he should jump off the roof. "That sounds like your kind of movie." He laughed and took another sip of his drink before holding it out to Jack again. @spexile @brynnith

Akira grinned. "There are always ways to make things more interesting. How dangerously would you like to live?"

Alec understands the joke belatedly when wondering why everything became weird. "Oh! Colby Jack." They laughed. "I get it now." @spexile @caitlin

Parker covered his eyes with his hand and sighed. @spexile @brynnith

Jack clapped a hand over his face. "Oh my gods." Kieran just pressed his lips together and nodded. "Dairy humor." @brynnith @caitlin

"Bingo!" Graves answered Blue on time. He laughed when Miranda reached up to lean on his shoulder, and crouched a little to help her out. "A shot would be excellent," he elongated the word, for dramatic effect. "You are carrying me home tonight, right Monty?" @ellis @a general chris @brynnith

Malia tilted her head, appraising Akira. "Why don't you set the pace and I'll tell you if I want you to go further?" @spexile

Miranda laughed, shoving him off of her at his question.  "Oh definitely.  Look at all this muscle."  She flexed, and while she had some definition, she definitely wasn't gunning for 'brawniest camper' anytime soon.  "I'll get us down this roof in no time, Gravy."  She turned when she heard Blue, intrigued.  "I'm listening.  What do you need?" @ellis @electriclightparade @brynnith(edited)

Alec laughed again at what Kieran said, shaking their head. "You guys are hilarious." @spexile @caitlin

Blue glanced over her shoulder then leaned a little closer. "I wanna talk to Parker without the white-haired boy having a meltdown." @brynnith @a general chris @electriclightparade

Akira turned his head toward the light to get a glimpse of the crowd before stepping in toward Malia. "Just say the word." Akira brought a hand up to the back of her neck, tracing a finger down her shoulder blade, across the back of her arm, and down past her wrist until he found her hand. With a soft tug, he stepped back toward the darkness behind the ducts, urging her to follow. @ellis

Ime glanced at Casey after rebooting and raised their eyebrows at him. "Do you think anyone's gonna start a fight? Or should we spill some oil on the roof and make everything just slightly more exciting?" @spexile

Rosie looked over to Parker and Jack and made a face once she understood. "Y'wanna get Parker off to the side, or the guy away from the group?" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

Miranda pointed at Rosie when she asked her question.  "You beat me to it.  And I'm guessing just...sending a text is a no-go?" @brynnith @ellis @electriclightparade(edited)

Blue drank again. "Mmm, I think I'm finishing this," she informed Graves. "Parker aside." @a general chris @electriclightparade @brynnith

Jack snorted. "I mean... I like cheese." He shook his head quickly. "Nope. Sorry, shouldn't have—let's just move on. New topic." Kieran smirked and took another sip of whiskey. @brynnith @caitlin

"I could just go over and ask Parker to walk away with me," Rosie offered. "At this point nothing I do can come as a surprise, he's used to it!" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

Malia thought that was simultaneously so strange and so hot and absolutely followed Akira into the darkness. @spexile

"Ugh, babe, you're so smart." Blue kissed Rosie on the cheek. @brynnith @a general chris @electriclightparade

Graves stood beside his sisters, listening to their conversation with Blue. He made a face as she finished his flask, but he just pulled another out of his pocket in response and winked at her. "Happy to be of service," he smirked, then drank. He wondered who else was here, but hadn't gotten a very good look at the group before doing shots with his sisters. @ellis @a general chris @brynnith(edited)

Parker didn't really know how to bounce back from this. He ran his hand down his face and groaned. "When's everyone's birthday?" He already knew Alec and Kieran's birthdays. @brynnith @spexile

Alec mouthed 'wow' silently, in awe, and was about to spring into action towards a new topic when Parker spoke. They gave him an odd look, but answered nonethless. "October third. Like, the Mean Girls day." @caitlin @spexile

Rosie kissed Blue before she leaned too far away. "Cool cool, now?" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

"Fuck it, might as well." @brynnith @electriclightparade @a general chris

"That's definitely the easiest option. Go for it, Manita." She then handed the mini bottle to Graves, before unscrewing her own and taking the shot.  @ellis

Akira led Mal through the darkness, the ducts buzzing deeply around them. They walked slowly, taking an almost grid-like route, each turn perpendicular, almost counted out. Then, without notice, Akira stopped and guided Mal slowly against the wall of a towering, silent duct before closing the distance between them. @ellis

Parker frowned at Alec's look. "Mean Girls day," he whispered after Alec, not really knowing what that meant. @spexile @brynnith

Alec squinted at Parker. "Why do you always repeat what I say under your breath?" @spexile @caitlin

Jack and Kieran pressed their lips together. They looked at each other in silence, once again sharing a moment of awkward solidarity. Kieran suppressed a small grin at the thought. "My birthday is the 18th of January," Kieran piped up. "In case you were wondering." @caitlin @brynnith

Rosie patted Blue's back then detangled herself from her girlfriend and headed over to Parker's little group. "'Scuse me girls and gays, I gotta grab Parker for a sec," she addressed to all of them. @spexile @caitlin

Graves grimaced as he unscrewed the mini bottle that was presented to him. "Okay, I- last one before I take a little breather." He quickly downed the shot and pocketed the bottle. "Sis, how do you feel about roaming the roof?" Graves moved to take a step forward and felt himself sway a bit. He laughed at his own drunkenness, his nose crinkling, then turned to look at Miranda, "Lead the way." @a general chris(edited)

Parker flushed and opened his mouth to respond, but then jumped on Rosie's opportunity to leave. "Oh, yeah. S'why I was asking, for the birthdays... Anyway yeah, bye." @brynnith @spexile

Casey has been drinking from a small water bottle of pure tequila that he brought and talking up some townies.

"Uh, bye." Jack was almost grinning in disbelief. "Wow." "When is your birthday, Jack?" Kieran asked. "Uh, it's August 11. '99." Kieran nodded. "Warm." "Uh-huh." @brynnith(edited)

Rosie laughed. "The fuck did I walk in on, Parks? C'mon." She lead him away from the group. "Heads up, I'm leading you to your doom. Yo, babe, I got him!" @caitlin @ellis

Parker followed along with Rosie and felt the sense of dread appear as his anxiety about his last situation faded. "Oh. Um, hey." He looked over Blue's shoulder so he could seem like he was looking her in the eye.@brynnith @ellis

"A Leo," Alec commented to themself. "Awesome. So Jack! I know like, nothing about you. Sick eye patch, you're like an intriguing pirate. Not drinking tonight?" @spexile

Miranda laughed as she watched her brother sway. He had beaten her on pre-game shots and it was definitely starting to show. “Okay, you drunk idiot. Let’s go.” She dropped her arm, from his shoulder and started walking in a random direction. “Anyone in particular you’re itching to talk to?” @electriclightparade

Blue turned around when Rosie hauled Parker over to her. She bared her teeth in a grin and then turned to Rosie, kissing her quickly. "Thank you, babe. I'll come find you." She took Parker's arm. "Lets go for a walk, Valentine." @brynnith @caitlin

Ime scampered up and rested their elbow on Alec's shoulder. "Hey, this shoulder still hurt?" They nodded at Kieran and Jack. "I like the 'fits." @brynnith @spexile

"Ugh." Jack folded an arm across his chest and pressed his fingers against his eyepatch. "I was—I mean, I was having a bit of Parker's wine. I don't—I'm not 21 yet soo I can't buy myself alcohol for these things." "Here." Kieran held out his flask. "It's whiskey." "Uh... Thanks." Jack took the flask hesitantly. He took a sniff, didn't like the smell, and took a sip anyway. He tried not to make a face. "Thanks. Um," Jack handed the flask back to Kieran. "Sorry, I think we've talked, like, twice. Remind me your name?" As Ime walked up to join them, Jack appended, "Thanks." @brynnith @caitlin

Rosie wiggled her fingers in a wave goodbye to her girlfriend and then headed back to Graves and Miranda. @a general chris @electriclightparade

Parker let Blue take his arm and followed along after Blue, tense. "sure thing, Byrne." He tried not to sound suspicious. @ellis

Alec laughed and wrapped an arm around Ime's shoulders. "A bit!" They gave Jack a sympathetic nod. "Not being legal here sucks." @spexile @caitlin

Graves leaned into Miranda just as she dropped her arm from his shoulder and almost tripped. He took a moment to steady himself and began to laugh. "I'm not drunk Mont- just a tiny bit tipsy." He held his fingers close together to demonstrate how much, still laughing. "I dunno, maybe Casey? I saw him talking to some randos. I gotta ask him about a uhhh about a thing." Graves steered them in Casey's general direction. @a general chris @spexile(edited)

"It's Bluebryn, you asshole," she said, but she said it casually so it was unclear if she was really angry about this. "Want some raspberry vodka? I also have tequila in my pocket." @caitlin

"Well, I turn 21 this summer, so..." Jack shrugged. "I'll get trashed, I guess." Kieran snorted. "Good to have goals." He turned to Ime. "Hi. I believe I neglected to shake your hand at some point." @caitlin @brynnith(edited)

“Right, cause that doesn’t sound sketchy as shit.” Regardless, she scanned the crowd, changing their direction when she stopped Casey in the crowd. Her attention was torn away for a second when Rosie appeared and grinned at her. “Welcome back. I think our brother is about to try and join a cult or some shit.” @electriclightparade @brynnith @spexile(edited)

Casey was in the middle of regaling some townies about the wonders of spicy noodles when he noticed a much more interesting group of people walking towards him. "If you'd just excuse me—" Pushing the strangers aside as if parting the sea, Casey made a beeline towards the Hermes kids. "Oh my gods, please save me from these white people. One of them just pronounced La Croix like a French word." @a general chris @brynnith @electriclightparade

Ime nodded sympathetically. "I legally helped with an autopsy before I could legally drink." They smiled at Kieran and held a up an. "Yes, I remember that, as I always will, like an elephant." @spexile @brynnith

Rosie slung an arm around Miranda's shoulders. "Sweet! Can't wait to witness that." She grinned at Casey. "Yo, my guy. When am I gonna get to try and hit you again?" @spexile @a general chris @electriclightparade

Alec shook their head. "Twenty-one. That's some old drinking age." They looked between Ime and Kieran with a wide smile. @spexile @caitlin

Parker laughed. "Yeah." He looked at her and then at her pocket and shook his head. "I have wine." @ellis

"Cool, fine, I guess we'll just get straight to the point." Blue dragged Parker to a relatively empty part of the roof while she drained her flask, and then spun to face him. "So are you just going to fucking ignore me forever?" @caitlin

Miranda let out a laugh as Casey came running over. “Fucking idiots, all of them.” Her head tilted when she heard Rosie’s reply. “Whose fighting who? Now I’m interested in this conversation.” @brynnith @spexile @electriclightparade

Parker rubbed his forehead and shook his head, giving her a small smile. "I'm not ignoring you." @ellis

Kieran chortled. "I've always wanted a pachyderm for a nemesis. Thank you for realizing a lifelong dream." Jack gave himself a tight squeeze and idly scanned the room, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. In the dim lighting, he couldn't see where Parker went. Jack exhaled and looked back toward the group. "Sorry, wait—did you tell me your name?" @brynnith @caitlin

"Cay-sey! Dude!" Graves punctuated each syllable with a finger gun because he's more drunk than he thinks. "We're fighting," he said, in response to Miranda. He gestured between himself and Casey, and then around the whole roof. "It's gonna be WILD." @spexile @brynnith @a general chris

"You literally pretend to not see me every time you see me, but okay." She angrily shoved the now empty flask into her other pocket and took her phone out so it would fit. Because she was drunk, and impulsive, and angry, actually, she turned her flashlight back on and shone it in Parker's face. "Please try that response again." @caitlin(edited)

Alec leaned against Ime as they laughed at Kieran's joke, despite having no clue what a pachyderm was. An elephant? It didn't matter. "That's Ime! My sibling, and best person on this earth." @spexile @caitlin

Casey cackled. "Oh my gods, you guys don't even know! Listen to this—" Casey held his hands out, as if to pause the conversation. "I talked to Akira... I think we're starting an actual fight club." @brynnith @electriclightparade @a general chris

"Fight CLUB!!" Graves yelled and punched the air. @spexile(edited)

Ime pressed a hand to their chest, not really understanding the word. "I'm known to make dreams come true." They flashed a smile and pointed at Alec. "And this is Alec. We're like those statues where one tells only lies and one only truths and you have to guess who is who." @spexile @brynnith Parker hadn't felt especially anxious until the light was shone in his face. He shook his head. "I wasn't, like, ignoring you. You just didn't come over to me." @ellis(edited)

Miranda almost face palmed when Graves spoke. “Holy shit, you’re so dumb and even more drunk.” She looked over at Rosie and Casey to roll her eyes but didn’t when she heard about the fight club. “Wait,” she turned to face Rosie. “Didn’t Akira mention that in the murder basement?” She now faced Casey again. “That shits actually happening?” @electriclightparade @spexile @brynnith

"No fucking way! I'm fucking impressed at that commitment. Here's to following through and shit." Rosie took another shot. "I'm so in." @spexile @a general chris @electriclightparade

"Because you always come over to me!" she snapped. "Or because now, when I'd come over to you, you're with," Blue lowered the light from his face so she could shove Parker, hard, surprising herself with how angry she actually was, "that fucking guy! You know, the one who almost killed my brother!" @caitlin

Jack snorted. "That's reassuring." Kieran stepped in towards Jack so the four of them were forming more of a circle. "Interesting dynamic. So who's the liar, then?" @brynnith @caitlin

Parker crossed his arms and frowned. Because he had drank a lot of his bottle very quickly due to being so awkward he felt somewhat more impulsive. "I'm sorry that I have to be the one to come over to you when I'm hanging out with the guy you maimed." @ellis

Casey looked around, but couldn't spot Akira. "You guys should fight me," he proposed to the Hermes trio. "You should all fight me right now and the first person who hits me, I'll take you out to hangover brunch tomorrow." @a general chris @brynnith @electriclightparade

Alec grinned. "Ime, of course! Except they aren't. My name is Alec." They blinked at Jack as realization dawned. "Holy mackerel, were you asking me for my name the whole time? I'm sorry! I thought you were talking to Kieran for some reason!" @spexile @caitlin

"Uh, no," Jack shook his head. "We know each other." "We do. Jack is—" Kieran quickly caught his tongue as he remembered the present company. "Jack is a friend." Jack looked at Kieran then quickly down at the ground. @brynnith @caitlin

Ime raised their eyebrows. "Quite obvious that Alec is the liar, they can't stop talking in circles." Ime raised their eyebrows and looked between Kieran and Jack. "Are you lovers?" @brynnith @spexile

Alec threw back their head and laughed. "Ime! Oh my god." They recovered and tilted their head at Kieran and Jack. "Do you know each other through Parker?" @spexile @caitlinracheljones

"Ew." Kieran rolled his eyes. "Absolutely not." "Just ew. No offense," Jack turned to Kieran, who was already shaking his head dismissively. "Yeah, we know each other through Parker." @brynnith @caitlin​

Ime flashed their teeth in a smile. "Ah, okay. They were acting like Parker with you." They laughed a bit and then hummed at Jack and Kieran. "What were you talking about before I rudely interrupted?" @brynnith @spexile(edited)

Jack tipped his head. "Um... What?" Kieran clapped a hand over his mouth. @caitlin @brynnith

Alec tipped their head back to look at the sky. "Oh my god," they repeated, under their breath as they shook their head. "Ime." @caitlin @spexile

Miranda assumed her previous position of resting her elbow on Graves’ shoulder. Partly because she had no desire to punch Casey, and also to force her brother to have to bend slightly and not do anything more stupid while fucking hammered. Last thing she needed was to explain to Chiron how her brother fell off a roof. “See, a hangover brunch implies we actually get a hangover. Which of course.” She gestures to herself and her siblings, though not as long at Graves. “We’re pros so that’s not a huge concern for us.” @spexile @brynnith @electriclightparade(edited)

Blue's face flushed as she ignited with instant rage. She wanted to hit him, and she grabbed his bottle in an impulsive urge to use it against him. But instead, she held herself back and shoved him again. "Fuck you." @caitlin

Rosie nodded along for an appropriate amount of time to what Miranda was saying, and then lunged towards Casey to try and hit him. @spexile @electriclightparade @a general chris

Ime tilted their head. "Were you just introducing yourselves, was I not interrupting?" They linked their hands behind their back. "Is somebody going to fight tonight? Or am I at the wrong party?" @brynnith @spexile(edited)

"Honestly," Graves said, trying to shrug off Miranda's arm, "brunch sounds delicious." He took another, long drink from his flask of tequila, just as Rosie lunged at Casey. Graves hooted in amusement. "Rosie YES! Get that brunch!!" He bounced on the balls of his feet, getting hyped up and taking one more drink before pocketing his flask. @spexile @brynnith @a general chris

Miranda knew she’d never be able to contain Rosie, so she didn’t even attempt to stop her. “If you hit him, I want French toast in the morning.” She looked at Graves. “This is why you don’t get drunk at the pregame. If you didn’t, I would let you punch him.”  @brynnith @spexile @electriclightparade

Parker held his hands up and took a step back. "Blue, are you kidding me right now? Leave me alone." @ellis

Jack pressed his hands to his face, exhaling deeply. "Okay... Why do I always end up feeling like there's a big joke in the room that only I'm not a part of? Is it me? Am I the joke?" Kieran stayed silent, his lips pressed together. @caitlin @brynnith(edited)

Casey's vision blurred as suddenly he entered hyper-speed. Except this time, he had already been hit. "Fuck!" What felt like a minute later, Casey caught his balance from the impact and turned around. He touched his fingers to his lip and found blood. "Oh my fucking gods. You hit me." He looked up at Rosie, smiling ear to ear. "You fucking hit me!" @brynnith @a general chris @electriclightparade

"No, no, not at all!" Alec shook their head immediately, concerned now. They launched into an explanation. "Ime meant 'cause Parker's always really weird with me about being friends even though we hang out sometimes. 'Cause I annoy him. And you guys just had a weird, like, 'dot dot dot friends?' moment. So they were saying it was awkward?" @spexile @caitlin

"No, fuck you Parker. I'm allowed to be pissed about it! If you hadn't just avoided me like a fucking coward we wouldn't be having this conversation!" Blue shouted back, her voice getting steadily louder. "Dude, I don't even— I just— Ugh, fuck! So you get some good dick and now you think I meant to do that?"

Ime tilted their head at Jack, actually unsure about what he meant, for once. "I wasn't making a joke. I wanted to know if people were..." They spun as they heard a scuffle happening. "Fighting," they whispered. @brynnith @spexile

Rosie jumped up and down in excitement and fist pumped. "Fuck yes!" She held out her hand for fist bump from Casey. "You owe me brunch!" @spexile @a general chris @electriclightparade

Miranda couldn’t help but laugh when Rosie made contact. “Wow, I don’t think that could’ve backfired any harder for you.” She dropped her arm and released Graves, now crossing her arms over her chest. She liked to think that she provided a great distraction. @brynnith @spexile @electriclightparade

Parker balled his fists. "Fuck off, Blue, I haven't even fucking..." He took a quick breath. "Whatever. I haven't been ignoring you. Sorry that I didn't come over to you so you could make fun of me while I sit there like a clueless asshole." @ellis

"Oh shiiiet! Rosie, damn hermana!" Graves' face broke into a huge grin when his sister's fist made contact with Caseys' face. "Damn Case," he laughed. His vision swam for a sec and the world turned a little off kilter, but he shook his head and it cleared. He didn't realize he was so drunk, but he definitely felt more impulsive. "Case, Casey, man. My man. My turn. Hit me, " Graves gave Casey a super bro-y sup nod, and raised his hands. "I'm ready." @spexile @brynnith @a general chris

Jack shut his eyes, and pressed his fingers against his temples. Kieran, at a loss for words, gave Alec a look and nodded toward Jack with a shrug. @brynnith

Blue unscrewed the cap of Parker's bottle and threw the contents into Parker's face. Wine soaked his head and shirt. "You're an asshole, Parker. You and that freak are perfect for each other." She turned, and then turned right back. "Oh, by the way! I've been telling you to buy ugly clothes so you'd look ridiculous." @caitlin

Casey cackled. "Backfired?! That's exactly what I've wanted! Oh my gods—" Casey stepped in to fist bump Rosie. "Fuck it, brunch and mimosas, god damn!" He turned to Graves. "Wait—what? I'm not gonna hit you!" Casey laughed. "The point is that it's a fair fight, I don't wanna just hit you to hit you." @a general chris @brynnith @electriclightparade

Alec gave Ime a distressed look. "Are you okay?" they asked Jack, running a hand through their hair. "It was just a bad joke. Us Tyche kids are known for those." @spexile @caitlin

Miranda was distracted from Graves being an idiot again by Blue screaming. She looked over just in time to see her dump wine on Parker, and covered her mouth to hit a quick laugh that bubbled out of her. She glanced over at Rosie to see if she noticed what was going on, slapping her brother to get his attention. “Oh, shit. There’s the drama.”  @electriclightparade @spexile @brynnith(edited)

Akira led Malia back to the point where they met. "You can find your friends, I'll hang back." Akira squinted towards the crowd. "Though it looks like... There's fighting happening." Akira was caught somewhere between a grimace and a smirk. "Figures, right?" @ellis

Rosie threw her hands up in the air. "Fuck yes. Score." She laughed at Graves, but turned her head in time to see Blue cover Parker in wine. "Fuck." Her smile faded. "Shit. Fuck." She immediately started towards where Blue was headed. @a general chris @ellis @electriclightparade

Parker didn't process anything that happened until Blue had turned for the second time. He took a step forward. "If I'm an asshole then we're the perfect friends!" He was yelling now. He pushed his hair back. "You know what, fuck you for that. I look like a fucking jerk to my siblings who make me feel like a fucking idiot and I thought it was funny but you know what, it isn't! You're fucking mean, Blue." @ellis

Jack just shook his head, trying to ignore Alec's inquiry, but the sound of Blue and Parker's screaming had cut through the noise of the party. Or maybe it was that the noise had subsided to give them way. "What the fuck—" Jack stepped in their direction to get a better view. Kieran sighed, seeing what was happening in the distance. @brynnith @caitlin

After 20 minutes with Akria, Malia decided her hair was a lost cause. She was mid-tying it up into a ponytail as she glanced over her shoulder, following their stare. "Oh, shit," she muttered. "That's my brother." @spexile

Ime turned back when they realized that Alec was actually upset. "Oh. Yes, I did make a bad joke." They frowned, confused. "Did you want to hear a good joke?" They looked over when Parker started yelling and pulled out their phone. "I'm not on my game, missing everything." @spexile @brynnith(edited)

"Go," Akira suggested. "Before she spits on him." @ellis

Alec pressed their hands to their cheeks and turned towards Blue and Parker as well. "Oh my." @spexile @caitlin

"Better mean than a clueless douchebag and a terrible friend, you fucking prick." She spit at his feet, then spun on her heel to march away. She remembered that she still had his bottle in her hands. She turned back once again and threw first the bottle, and then the cap at him as hard as she could. @caitlin

Graves' grin only broadened at Casey's response. He nodded, trying to be solemn, "T'was a test. Y'passed. A fair and generous oppo-" He broke off in the middle of his sentence when he heard a scream. Seeing Rosie walk away, he put the pieces together, then looked at Miranda. "Should we uh, 'elp her?" He looked in Casey's direction, eyeing his face, to see what damage Rosie had done. His glance lingered a second too long over Casey's split lip, before he focused on the other fight brewing. @spexile @brynnith @a general chris(edited)

Rosie winced when Blue threw the bottle at Parker. "Fucking christ." She stopped a couple feet away from her girlfriend. "Y'wanna go?" @ellis

"Doesn't everyone want me to go?" she asked Rosie sharply. She headed toward the ladder. @brynnith

"Um..." As his attention shifted to the other fight, Casey stepped in toward Graves and Miranda. "Maybe we should let this one play out." @electriclightparade @a general chris

Rosie hurried after her. "I'll go with you." @ellis

Parker stepped out of the way of the bottle and spun to avoid the cap. His eyes stung. He wiped more wine off his face and pressed his palms into his eyes. "Fuck!" He sighed and tried not to notice anyone looking at him.

Miranda watched Rosie approach Blue, but didn’t immediately follow her. “Hang on a second.” She took a few steps forward, so she was closer just in case, but paused when Blue headed towards the ladder with her sister not far behind. “That’s a no.” She let out a sigh, first Macey, now Rosie. Thank god she wasn’t dating. “I’ll check up on her later, give Blue some time to cool off.” @spexile @electriclightparade

As soon as Blue stepped away, Jack made his way quickly to Parker. "What the fuck was that? Are you okay?" Jack spoke softly but quickly, trying not to sound harried. His eyes scanned over Parker's body for any cuts or bleeding. "I'll be right back," Kieran muttered to Alec before slowly heading over to his brother. @caitlin @brynnith

It was too late to stop him being spit at, and from blocking the things being thrown at him, but Malia hurried over anyway. She took her brother's hand and glanced at Jack, and Kieran approaching. @caitlin @spexile

Alec nodded at Kieran and looked back at Ime, eyebrows drawn together. @caitlin @spexile

"Um..." Casey looked between them. "Group decompression brunch?" Casey half-joked. @a general chris @electriclightparade

Blue shook her head without looking back at Rosie. She paused at the top of the ladder to blink away tears that were blurring her vision. "You shouldn't have to stop your night because of me." @brynnith

Ime kept recording and whispered to Alec. "Should I stop recording? Or should I get a tearful end?" @brynnith

Akira waited until Malia reached her brother before returning to the shadowy location where they had retreated to. He turned on his phone flashlight and swept the area, revealing several wooden crates packed full with small explosives. He sighed disappointedly before clicking the light off and starting back toward the main area.

Parker flicked wine from his hand and shook his head, grabbing his bottle. He crouched and occupied himself with looking for the cap. "Yeah, I'm fine." @spexile @ellis

Graves stopped mid-step when Miranda called for pause, like an obedient puppy. He looked over her shoulder at their sister, a worried look on his face. When it seemed like the fight was dissipating, he relaxed and turned to Casey. "Brunch! Even though I didn't punch you? I'd kill for some eggs and hash browns, honestly," he winked and raised his eyebrows at him. @spexile @a general chris

Rosie hesitated then touched Blue's back. "Duh, but I'm gonna anyway. Let's go smash some bottles or shit like that." @ellis

Alec frowned at Ime. "Stop recording. You should delete that." @caitlin

Malia quickly scanned the outfits of the two boys surrounding her, then glanced back to the party, then back to Parker. "Give me two minutes," she said to them. She gave Jack a look that he hoped he would understand to mean to keep him there. She then ran over to Alec. "Hey. Can I take your flannel? I'll buy you a new one." @brynnith @spexile @caitlin

Alec started pulling their flannel off as soon as Malia mentioned it. "Yeah, yeah! Don't worry about it." They handed it to her. @ellis @caitlin

Miranda wasn’t as quick to turn back to Casey as Graves was. She kept Rosie in her  peripheral vision, and her smile was wiped from her face. “I was serious when I said I wanted French toast.” She butted in, but not fully paying attention to the conversation.  @spexile @electriclightparade

Ime sighed and turned off their camera but didn't delete it. "I wish I got her throwing wine at him." @brynnith

"Aw, I'll take you out for brunch any time, baby, you don't have to kill for me," Casey winked back at Graves. "So group brunch it is, then!" Casey nodded at Miranda. @electriclightparade@a general chris(edited)

Jack wasn't entirely sure what Malia meant with her look, but he stepped in toward Parker after she left. "Are you hurt?" Kieran hovered right behind Jack, shooting dirty glances at anybody who came too close. @caitlin

Malia took the flannel and gave them a grateful look as she immediately rushed back to her brother's side. "There are air ducts over there, no one will see you, if you want to change. We can use the bottom of that shirt to dry your hair. Kieran or Jack, can one of you try to find some water to get this out of his face?" @spexile @caitlin

Blue pressed two fingers under her eyes, then shrugged. She smiled at Rosie a little. "Sounds fun." @brynnith

"Um, yeah, I can—" "Here." Kieran unzipped the small bag at his side and pulled out his hydroflask. "This is water, I swear." He handed it to Malia. @ellis @caitlin

"No." Parker said gruffly and frowned, but softened his expression when he remembered he was talking to Jack. "No, I'm fine. I'm okay." He sighed at Malia and shook his head. "It's not a big deal. I don't care, I'm just trying to find the bottle cap." @ellis @spexile

Rosie smiled back at her tightly. "Let's go. Your place or mine? Or somewhere else, I have glass bottles on me." @ellis

Graves' eyes widened for a second, before his face broke into a lopsided grin. He felt his cheeks warm as he replied, "Deal. No to the killing, yes to the brunch. You tell me when." He gave Casey a little salute, tapping two fingers to his temple. "Monty, I need...water, and sleep. Time to go home?" Graves started towards the ladder. Over his shoulder, he called to Casey. "You have my number." @spexile @a general chris

Malia took the hyroflask and cradled it along with the flannel. "You'll find it better when you get that out of your eyes." @caitlin @spexile

Miranda watched Graves make his way over to the ladder and low-key wanted to scream. “He’s gonna fucking fall off that thing, isn’t he?” She looked over at Casey. “But yeah, we’ll figure brunch out, especially since mimosas were mentioned earlier.  We’ll talk later.” She then went after her brother to start attempting to get him down safely, Macey’s speed dial ready to go if it got to that point. @electriclightparade @spexile

"I'll help—" Casey decided the drama had subsided and ran over to help steady the ladder as they both went down. @a general chris @electriclightparade

Blue shook her head again. "Wherever you wanna go. Somewhere else, I guess." @brynnith

Rosie nodded and hung back as she watched her siblings go down the ladder. "Looks like my cabin's gonna be full tonight. Wanna swing by, grab some empty bottles, start a campfire by the woods and break shit?" @ellis

Parker felt strangely like he might cry. "Ugh. It doesn't matter, I found it." He sighed and stood up as he held the cap in his hands. "I might just leave. He wiped his face. @ellis @spexile

Once Parker stood up again and seemed like he wasn't physically injured, the sting of hurt from Ime's joke returned to the surface and Jack took a step back. "The apartment?" Kieran asked, taking Jack's place beside Parker. @caitlin @ellis(edited)

Alec shook their head at Ime. "You don't need that." @caitlin

Akira hovered at the corner of the lit area, watching carefully to see if anybody looked physically injured, but otherwise said nothing.

Malia recognized her brother's expression and didn't try to push, lest he get more upset and then even more upset for getting so upset. She silently made him switch his empty bottle for the hydroflask. "I'm done here, too." @caitlin @spexile

Ime hummed and shrugged. "You're right. This was not the fight I came for. You seem stressed." @brynnith

Alec pressed a hand to their forehead and shook their head again. "I feel bad." They made a face before speaking. "I think I need to stop sleeping with Parker?" @caitlin

Parker opened the hydroflask and took a sip from it. He held it out to Jack, Kieran, and Malia. "Does anyone else want water? I know I just finished that bottle, but I feel fine." He exhaled a shaky laugh. @ellis @spexile

Ime frowned and tilted their head. "Do you? That's upsetting. Are you sure?" @brynnith

Kieran took the bottle from Parker and took a sip before passing it to Jack. Jack brought the hydroflask up to take a sip, but stopped short. "Why does it smell like—" "It's my kombucha bottle." Jack lowered the bottle and slowly passed it back to Kieran, grimacing. @caitlin @ellis

"It is, isn't it?" Alec pressed a hand to their forehead. "I dunno. Isn't it kinda weird? If Jack likes Parker? I don't wanna upset him." @caitlin

Malia smiled at her brother's joke. "I think I'm okay." She glanced over her shoulder, making sure Blue was gone. "Want to head back?" @spexile @caitlin

Ime shrugged. "Aren't you sleeping with Parker's sister?" @brynnith

Parker sighed and shrugged. "Yeah, I don't care." He looked at Jack. "Will you come with us?" @ellis @spexile

Jack looked up at Parker, a little stunned at the request. "Uh... Yeah." He glanced at Kieran, who was very decidedly looking away. "I'll come." @ellis @caitlin

"Well, yeah, but less often." Alec watched the scene with Aphrodite kids and Jack over Ime's shoulder. "But it's not the same," they sighed. "Who's gonna rail me now?" They shook their head once again after speaking and looked sheepish. "That's not what's important. I hope he's okay."@caitlin

Ime shrugged. "Just ask him to rail you some other time. I won't bring it up again. Or go out with a bang." @brynnith

Alec shrugged and looked back at Ime. "Eh, it'll work out." @caitlinNEW

Malia smiled to herself and lead the group to the exit. @caitlin @spexile

Parker lifted his lips in a bit of a smile and then shrugged again. "You don't have to. I just don't want you getting, you know, shanked by a raccoon or something on the way home." He followed after Malia. @ellis @spexile

Ime poked Alec's cheek. "I'm sure it will. You always get lucky, no?" @brynnith

The smile on Jack's face didn't quite reach his eyes. "Thanks." Jack let Parker and Malia start ahead. Kieran locked eyes with Jack for just a moment, but still didn't know what to say, so he gave a small nod and followed after his brother. Once they were a few paces ahead, Jack followed too. @caitlin @ellis

Alec brightened up at Ime's words. "You're right!" They glanced around and noticed Akira standing by the edge of the lit area. "I gotta try to expand, eh? See you later!" They patted Ime's shoulder and headed over to Akira. "Heya, guest of honour? How's lurking going?" @spexile @caitlin

Akira was smiling, but their brows were furrowed. "Swimmingly. Lots to observe." They leaned back against a duct to face Alec fully. "Something about this place just really gets people going, huh?" @brynnith

Ime nodded at Alec and then sighed when they saw them walk over to Akira. They moved to follow the Aphrodite kids out and took out their phone to text Jacob.

😩 It's April first! 😩That means it's April fools 😝 and it's time to 😜 FOOL 🍆 around!!!!💦👅 April SHOWERS 💦💦💦 bring May flowers!!!🌺🌸🌼🌷😩😈 TRICK bæ into 👉👌 and you'll have a wHOLE YEAR of 🙌🙌GOOD LUCK 🙌🙌 😵💦👅🍆 IGNORE THIS MESSAGE AND NO TRICKS 🍆💦👌👈 for 10 YEARS 😩😩😷 SEND to YOUR 10 😈😈 SLUTTIEST 😩😩friends and you'll 😵 SPRING into a SEASON of 😵💦😈👄Pleasure 🍆👌💦😩😈

Malia paused at the ladder. "You go down first, I'll make sure it stays steady. Are your eyes bothering you?" @caitlin @spexile

Parker went down the ladder easily. "I'm fine. I'm just upset that I washed my hair for this." @ellis @spexile

"I would agree but people seem down to fight anywhere." Alec smiled at Akira. "Not that your place doesn't get people going. This is awesome as fuck." @spexile

"Parker," Malia said, her voice falling back into a gently exasperated tone, "you should be washing your hair anyway. What kind of Virgo are you?" @caitlin @spexile​

Parker scoffed at Malia. "Of course I wash my hair anyway. I just meant that I washed it specifically before this, and now I have to wash it again. Stop calling me a Virgo." @ellis(edited)

"Glad you think so." There was a sparkle in Akira's eye as the smile on their face grew fuller. They stood up properly, taking a step toward Alec. "I take it you had a nice time then, despite the chaos?" @brynnith

She shook her head since it was too dark for him to see her rolling her eyes. "Hold the ladder steady," she said as she started to climb down. @caitlin

Jacob responds to the text once his ears recover.

Unsubscribe.

Alec grinned wider and lifted their chin. "I'm easy to impress." @spexile

Ime smiled at their phone.

No tricks for ten years 😩😩😷 so sad 4 u

Kieran did as he was told, holding the ladder and trying not to focus on the drop down. "Why always the roofs?" He muttered. @ellis Jack stayed a few feet back, waiting idly for his turn. He almost jumped when he noticed Ime standing nearby. Jack's immediate instinct was to look the other direction, but after a short moment, he turned back and walked in their direction. "So Alec and Parker are hooking up?" @caitlin

"Hmm." Akira furrowed a brow and crossed their arms, but a smirk still pulled at the corner of their lips. "I'm not sure how to take that. Are you saying I'm really not all that impressive?" @brynnith​

Ime raised their eyebrows at Jack and they tilted their head. Their lips curled as they acted as though this was the first time they were hearing this information. "Are they?" @spexile(edited)

Alec laughed and ran a hand through their hair. "Not in the slightest. I'm saying I'm still having a good time." They tipped their head to one side. "But it could always be better." @spexile

Parker held the ladder steady for both Malia and Kieran. @spexile @ellis

Jack scowled. "Don't fuck with me right now. I'm not gonna flip a shit, I'm just..." He sighed. "I just wanna be in on whatever this is." @caitlin

Ime shrugged. "I think so. My sibling doesn't kiss and tell. I was making a joke to my sibling. I think the awkward boy likes you." @spexile

Akira couldn't help but smirk. "Funny you say that. And your idea of a better time?" @brynnith

As Kieran descended the ladder, he noticed Jack talking to Ime, but had already committed to going down. "Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," he muttered to himself. @caitlin @ellis

Jacob texted back after a few minutes.

Trix are for kids.

Malia stood at the bottom of the ladder and waited for Kieran to follow, and then frowned at him while he descended. "What's wrong?" @spexile @caitlin

Alec rocked back and forth on their feet. "You live downstairs?" @spexile

"Ugh." Jack rolled his eyes. "No fucking duh, he likes me." He walked away from Ime without another word and started descending down the ladder, his heart sinking in his chest. @caitlin

Kieran glanced between Malia and Parker, then up at Jack as he descended the ladder. "Doesn't matter," Kieran lied. Jack's feet hit grass and he gave an awkward smile at the others, not really looking Parker in the eyes. "Ready?" @caitlin @ellis

Malia was frustrated with this weirdness but decided this was secondary to Parker right now. She nodded at Jack and settled back at Parker's side. "Let's go." @caitlin @spexile

"I live downstairs," Akira repeated. "But looks like almost nobody's left up here." They shrugged. "If you're into that."

Ime frowned a bit and shrugged.

Where do you live? Don't worry, I'm just trying to rob you.

They followed Jack down once he was the whole way down. @brynnith Parker frowned a bit and smiled at Jack. "Yeah. If you don't want to come back with us, I can just walk you back to yours." He looked down. @spexile @ellis

"Was I hoping you'd say that? Maybe." Alec raised their eyebrows at him. "In the shadows here, or you gonna lead the way?" @spexile

"Um." Trying hard to ignore Ime, coming down the ladder just behind him, Jack tried to make the best decision. He sighed. "Yeah. I'd appreciate that, if you'd be cool with it." Kieran was preoccupied with a moth fluttering by. @ellis @caitlin

Read 04/05/20

Jacob sent the message after he had to correct the speech-to-text multiple times, then added his address to the next text and sent it. @caitlin(edited)

Akira chuckled. "Not to overstep on a first encounter, but I set up some special birthday candles for the party." Akira shrugged. "Didn't really get the opportunity to light them, but I'd hate to see them go to waste. If you wouldn't mind a little ambience." @brynnith

Ime grinned, not really noticing Jack, and left, possibly going to Jacob's,,,,,, who could ever be sure.

Alec took a step forward to close most of the distance between them. "Special birthday candles? What does that even mean?" They laughed. "But yeah, ambience, let's go." @spexile

Parker smiled at Jack and dipped his head a bit before looking at Malia and Kieran, slightly flushed. "Um, we can walk home with you guys first, it's on the way." @spexile @ellis

Akira found Alec's hand and lead them back to where the bigger ducts were. Before stepping into the dark, Akira let go of Alec. "Wait here." They stepped into the dark for a few moments. Then suddenly, there was a loud hissing sound and a fountain of sparks started spewing from some point in the dark. Then another. Then another. Akira laid each sparkler down on the ground in a big triangle before returning to Alec and pulling them into the center. "Surprise." @brynnit

Malia assessed the situation then made eye contact with Kieran, unsure if he'd agree with her but doing it anyway. "Kieran and I can walk back together while you two go to Jack's place, it's no big deal." @caitlin @spexile

Kieran hopped onto Malia's instinct. "I'll be up when you get back." He nodded at Jack. "Take your time." Then, without waiting for Parker to respond, Kieran turned and gave Mal a look of let's go before walking away at a slightly brisker pace than usual. @caitlin @ellis

Alec followed and waited without issue. As soon as the sparks lit up, their eyes widened and they gazed around, pulled inside the lights easily. "Whoa," they breathed, grasping the front of Akira's robe. "Some birthday candles." They turned to kiss him but changed their mind at the last moment and returned to watching the sparklers so they didn't miss a moment of the light or effort of the display.  @spexile

Malia pressed the flannel into Parker's hands. "Call me tomorrow, okay?" she asked, then gave him and Jack a smile before turning and rushing to catch up with Kieran. @spexile @caitlin

Akira leaned in to kiss Alec before they turned away to watch the sparklers. Akira chuckled under their breath. "Don't worry about that. I've got a box of thirty." Akira wrapped a hand around Alec's lower back. "We can light them slow. One at a time."

[swtorizz]

Lost Apprentice (Ashara/Sith!OC) Ch. 5

Chapter 1 | Chapter 4 | AO3

It must’ve been only an hour or two of tossing and turning before Ashara accepted her fate and chose to get prepared for the day to come. She expertly tiptoed around the ship (something she’d learned to do so as not to disturb her crew mates back in the day) until she made her way to the ‘fresher. The water fell quietly and the warmth and steady pressure felt heavenly on her skin. After a few minutes she sighed and stepped out, retrieving her clothes from the wash as she did so.

Once fully dressed, Ashara wandered into the storage room in search of something to sustain her appetite. He, of course, was already there.

The Sith tossed her a protein pack. The togruta caught it effortlessly and tore it open without a second thought.

“The way you move around the ship I’d think you’ve been living here.”

She scoffed between bites, “it feels like I never left.”

The Sith sent her a curious look, “Do you ever miss your master?”

She shrugged, “sometimes. He was kinder than most Sith. He always had something wise to say. I just wish he could give me advice now.”

The Sith clearly wanted to ask what happened, but by the look on his face he decided better of it.

Despite it being so early, the Sith was already well-groomed with his dark hair combed neatly and his boots shined. He stared at Ashara as she ate.

“What?” She mumbled, mouth full.

He shook his head, “I apologize. I was lost in thought.” He pulled over the datapad he’d had sitting next to him that Ashara hadn’t noticed until then, “I may have found us a lead.”

Ashara waited for him to continue, “I contacted my sister, the one in Intelligence. She told me that Darth Iratius has gone completely into hiding, but his son is not so lucky. He is currently docked at Dantooine.”

Ashara nearly choked on her food, “what are we doing here? We need to move now! Before—“

“Relax. I have someone scouting onworld. If he leaves that spaceport, we’ll be the first to know.”

She did relax a bit, but Ashara remained tense. She feared greatly for Nala’s safety.

“I’m setting a course for Dantooine.” She proclaimed, leaving the room before he could interject.

She was nearly on the bridge when he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

“Stop. Andarus will have someone watching the skies. The moment we arrive he’ll be on the ground and Nala will be in danger.”

She ripped his hand from her, “I don’t care. She’s counting on me. I need to do whatever I can.”

Immediately she turned and headed for the console.

She heard him sigh from behind her, “you may be the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”

“Thank you.” She grumbled.

In seconds the ship was launching into hyperspace. Ashara did her best to avoid thinking about her nightmare which meant chanting her meditation in her head.

There is emotion. There is peace. There is emotion. There is peace.

As the ship arrived in Dantooine’s atmosphere, she felt herself relax a bit. At least now she was on the same planet as Nala.

The togruta knew now that the disguise would be no use. She made sure her lightsaber was clipped to her belt as she flew the ship towards the spaceport.

As soon as they landed, the ringing of an incoming holocall sounded from Darius’ pocket.

He answered, “yes?”

A male voice, deeper even than Darius’, sounded from the other side. Ashara was too busy gathering herself to glance at the hologram.

“He just exited the ship. But he’s heading North.”

“North?” Ashara cut in, “Nala’s house is to the South.”

“It must be a distraction.” The Sith said to himself, then spoke a bit louder, “follow him. Ashara and I will go to Nala’s house. Don’t call unless it’s urgent.”

The holo flickered away. The two quickly made their way off the ship and through the spaceport, electing to rent a speeder rather than take a taxi.

They half expected to meet resistance along the way, but they arrived in half the time with no issue.

It was upon arrival that Ashara truly became fully alert. There was no sign of anything out of the ordinary. Other than the fact that it was mid-morning and no one was tending to the crops.

This concerned Ashara.

She jumped off of the speeder at her first chance and ignited her saber.

Besides the mild gusts of wind, it was quiet. Too quiet.

Ashara found herself hesitating at the edge of the field. She was ready to face what was ahead, but still afraid of what she might find. The speeder’s engine cut and Darius appeared at her side.

He waited with her a moment before saying anything, “are you ready?”

She nodded, then led the way to the front door.

The house was dark. Cold. Ashara used her lightsaber to illuminate their immediate surroundings in soft blue. Slowly, she tiptoed into the main living space—empty. Then the first bedroom—again, empty. This happened again and again, her heart rate increasing each time, until they got to the last room.

Her old room.

From outside the door she sensed nothing, but Ashara knew well that one could hide themselves with the Force. Bracing herself, she kicked the wall panel with her boot and the door rushed open.

Empty.

Nala and her family were nowhere to be found. This concerned Ashara more than anything else possibly could have.

“Where—“

But she was cut off as Darius’ holo went off again. As he lifted it and clicked the button to answer, all Ashara could hear was the pounding in her ears.

“She’s here.” Said the man on the holo. He was crouching and his voice was low, “she matches the description you gave me. Andarus is saying something to her, but I can’t get close enough to hear it.”

“We’re on our way. Don’t interfere unless you have to.” Darius told him.

The hologram nodded and disappeared. Ashara was on the Sith’s heel as they dashed back to the speeder. Darius input the coordinates he’d been sent through the holo into the speeder, pushing it forward just as Ashara clambered on.

The long drive to the Northern desert was grueling. Ashara felt herself go through several emotions, and had to chant to herself as they sped along, “There is emotion. There is peace.”

When they began to approach the coordinates’ location, Darius slowed until the engine was at its quietest. Despite his unwavering exterior, Ashara could feel worry seeded deep within the Sith. For a moment she was thankful to know that he wasn’t completely heartless, as most Sith were, and she felt bad for assuming. She also realized she knew very little about him beyond his wanting to help her.

Her thoughts were cut short when she spotted something in the distance: a caravan.

Three bantha were being led by what looked like military officials. Their pace was clearly too quick, as the bantha were protesting loudly enough for her to hear from hundreds of meters away. She squinted, but could see little other than the large animals, grass, and endless desert beyond.

“We need to get closer.” Ashara whispered near the Sith’s ear.

“We can follow, but once the grass has dwindled we’ll be out in the open. We need a plan for our approach beyond that.”

Ashara wanted to protest, but knew he was absolutely correct.

And then she remembered the holocall, “where’s your contact?”

“Here.”

Ashara jumped from her seat, lightsaber extended in an instant. She sliced the tall grass in front of her to see a zabrak man standing further among it.

His skin was a dark red, covered in elaborate black tattoos, and his eyes a bright orange.

His voice was, of course, the same as that she’d heard on the holocalls, “I’m sorry, I was shrouding myself with the Force. I assumed you would hear me coming.”

A Force user? Ashara returned her saber to her side, “are you a Sith?”

He blinked, looking almost amused, “I am. I’m surprised my brother didn’t tell you.”

Ashara turned to Darius, incredulous, “how many siblings do you have?”

He gave a small chuckle, “only four.”

“Anyhow.” The zabrak chimed in, his deep voice like an anchor in the conversation, “the woman you’re seeking is on top of one of the banthas. Lord Andarus is walking alongside the first.”

Darius nodded thoughtfully. The zabrak spoke again, “brother...he’s kidnapped children too.”

“We know,” he murmured, staring at the ground as he thought, “they’re Nala’s.”

Before Ashara could ask what the plan was, the zabrak pulled something from his pocket.

Ashara gasped, “a stealth generator!”

“I brought one for each of us.” He handed Ashara hers and quickly she went to activate it.

Darius grasped her wrist, preventing her from doing so, “wait. We need to establish a strategy.”

Ashara plucked his gloved fingers from her arm, “I go now and take care of the Sith, how about that?”

“So were killing him?” Darius asked, eyes boring into hers.

She flinched, “if it comes to that, yes,”

“He’s kidnapped Nala and her children, Ashara. We can’t leave him alive long enough to give the order to kill.”

Ashara thought for a moment. She glanced at the zabrak, who watched them with his hands clasped behind his back, an amused look on his face.

“Fine.” She muttered, “we’ll kill him before he can hurt them.”

As she prepared to turn on the stealth generator, she turned to the zabrak, “I’m Ashara, by the way.”

“So I’ve heard.” He smirked, “Darth Volentus.”

Ashara wanted to quip are all your siblings Darths, too? but kept her mouth shut. She activated the stealth, watching as her companions shifted into nearly invisible figures among the grass.

The three snuck into the desert with Ashara at the lead, their pace fast. She made sure not to go so fast as to stir up sand, however. The caravan was already far enough out that without a speeder it would take hours to catch up, but Ashara was perfectly willing to do so. It was missions like these where she was incredibly grateful for her Jedi training. She may not have learned the delicate art of patience, but she had learned willpower and persistence.

Dantooine’s sun was high above when they finally were close enough to begin preparing for an assault. The two Sith stopped as Ashara did.

She peered ahead to the banthas, now able to clearly see the two children tied to the last creature’s back. She could see the sun glinting off of the dried tear trails on their faces. She pushed down her anger and forced herself to remain calm.

With a deep breath, Ashara mentally prepared herself. She knew that if she acted quickly and used the Force, she could propel herself from one bantha to the next in a matter of seconds.

She reached for her lightsaber.

And suddenly, her stealth field disappeared.

One of the Sith at her side used the Force to reveal a stealth-detecting droid in the sand in front of them.

Several men on the caravan shouted. The element of surprise gone, Ashara was just barely able to propel herself onto the back of the bantha. She unleashed her lightsaber and tore the brilliant blue through the ropes connecting the captive children to the animal.

By now, the Imperials had begun shooting. Ashara deflected several bolts from both sides before vaulting to the next bantha. With a deep breath, she pushed out with the Force and sent the surrounding men flying into the sand on their backs.

And then she saw Nala.

Nala stood in front of the caravan, now completely at a stop, with a lightsaber at her neck.

Through the corner of her vision, Ashara caught the Sith striking down Imperials on the ground, easily taking down groups of three and four at a time.

“Stop!” She yelled, loud enough for them to freeze just as they finished off the last of the lackeys.

Ashara jumped down to the ground, using the Force to soften her fall. She made eye contact with Andarus—whose face was now twisted and scarred by corruption—and tossed her lightsaber to the side.

“I’m at your mercy.” She called, raising her arms in surrender, “please, just let her go.”

The only sounds to be heard in the open desert were Nala’s sobs and the hum of pure energy emanating from the now three active lightsabers.

Nala’s dark hair was unkempt. She wore her nightgown, clearly having been taken before sunrise. Her soft laugh was now a terrified cry and her bright eyes pouring.

The Sith Lord aimed his lightsaber closer to her throat, expertly so in that it didn’t touch her neck. Nala was gasping now, unable to move any further back with the Sith’s fist in her hair.

“You and I can both feel it.” Ashara pleaded, “she’s not Force Sensitive.”

The Sith’s head tilted, and he smiled. Ashara felt her gut clench, “her? You thought I meant her?” He laughed, an evil, wretched sound, “I said the girl, you idiotic alien scum.”

The girl. Ashara whipped around, only to see the children caught in the arms of two soldiers who had apparently been stealthed themselves. She turned back when Nala yelped.

But she was too late. Nala’s body crumpled to the ground in a lifeless heap. The children screamed. Ashara blinked.

And the Sith leapt at her.

Before she could even think, Ashara reached a hand up and caught the Sith midair with the Force. His red eyes widened as she choked him, invisible hands wound around his neck with inhuman grip. The man dropped his saber and clawed at his throat, legs kicking wildly.

All she felt was anger. Hatred. It was unfair.

“Nala didn’t deserve to die.” She whispered.

She relished the feeling as the last of the air left his lungs and he took his final, short breath. He hung limp in the air, but it wasn’t enough. Ashara clutched harder with the Force, until she heard his bones snap, one by one…

“He’s dead, Ashara.”

Darius placed a hand on her shoulder, and Ashara snapped out of it instantly. The Sith crumpled in the sand.

Ashara felt...lost. Not vengeful. Not glad. Just...incomplete.

But she turned quickly when the children’s crying rushed back into her ears, like a wave crashing into the shore.

The zabrak stood above them, the two Imperials laid dead on the ground, the kids sobbing into each other’s arms.

Ashara felt their anguish and despair through the Force. She swallowed, and approached them slowly.

And when she did, she felt a tiny spark of something she hadn’t before. She’d never paid enough attention to notice it, but from the girl came the smallest bit of familiarity. Of the Force.

She struggled to remember their names, “...Mei? Lutis?”

The children peered at her through their tears, clearly terrified. Ashara took a deep breath, “I am so sorry. You have no idea. But I need you to come with me and my friends now, okay?”

“Are we...going home?” Mei asked between sobs.

“I…” Ashara actually had no idea what to do with them, “we’ll see, okay?”

The kids nodded. Heartbroken, Ashara helped them onto one of the banthas and had the Sith gather Nala’s body while she distracted them. Once they were ready, Ashara picked her lightsaber up from the sand and glanced over at the Sith’s body.

Without a word, she took his lightsaber and boarded a bantha.

It was past nightfall when they arrived at Nala’s house. Ashara helped the children into their beds and tucked them in. They were asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows, to which she was grateful.

She closed the front door to the house as quietly as she could. Darius stood waiting for her on the porch.

His dark, tall figure would look menacing in the night had she not already known him, “my brother found someone in the village who’s willing to take them in. They’ll be picked up by a neighbor before sunrise tomorrow.

Ashara nodded, “and what about the girl’s Force Sensitivity?”

“The neighbor is aware.” Darius explained, “he has my personal holofrequency and will contact me if there are any issues.”

“Good.” Ashara murmured.

“I think it’s time we get some rest.” The Sith said quietly and then, as if an afterthought, he added, “can I ask you something?”

Ashara raised a brow at him, “sure.”

“Why take his lightsaber?”

She glanced down at her left hip, now adorned with Lord Andarus’ lightsaber. She looked back up at the Sith and shrugged, “I used to always have two. I was trained to use two. Why not?”

The Sith nodded, seemingly in approval. The two sped towards the spaceport on the rented speeder, returning it as they left for the ship.

Darth Volentus was waiting there at the ship for them.

“He lives on Dromund Kaas.” Darius explained, “we’re taking him home.”

“Ah.” Ashara said, too worn out to say much beyond that.

The three boarded the Fury vessel and set a course for Dromund Kaas. As the ship flew itself in auto-pilot, the three Force users sat on the couch next to the holoterminal.

“Thank you. For everything.” Ashara said to the zabrak. Though she meant what she said, her voice was hoarse and deadpan.

“Anything for a friend of my brother’s.” He smiled.

“I hadn’t realized I’d earned friend status.” Ashara mumbled, just loud enough for them to hear.

Darius, grinned, tongue in cheek, “generally when I meet someone who’s not wearing pants, we become friends rather quickly.”

Volentus was unable to quench his snickering, “my, you must be closer than I thought.”

Ashara felt her face grow warm, “that’s not—it wasn’t like that. He surprised me.”

“I’ll say.” The zabrak chuckled.

Ashara changed the subject, “so is your mother the zabrak? Or your father?”

They glanced at each other in a way that completely sobered the room, then answered at the same time, “mother.”

She wondered about the shift in mood, but didn’t mention it, “Why don’t you have the tattoos, Darius?”

When Volentus cocked his head curiously, she explained, “he won’t tell me his real name, so that’s what I call him.”

He nodded thoughtfully, seemingly unfazed by the answer. Apparently it was normal for Darius to not give out his name to just anyone.

“I chose not to get them when I came of age.” He answered, referring to the tattoos, “hence why I appear more Pureblood than my siblings.”

Ashara pondered this, but didn’t press further. Volentus was, once again, unfazed.

Just then the ship pulled out of hyperspace, marking its arrival at Dromund Kaas. Ashara left to her quarters to allow the brothers to say their goodbyes.

As she felt the ship pull into the orbital station, she set down her lightsabers side by side on the unused top bunk.

She sat down to meditate, but sleep came to her before she could even begin.