#who knows what else both of them have RAAAH

[kavehater]

My mum can shit on every race every group of people every country every state even in Iraq and other sects but at the end of the day the bad genetics of various medical issues will always be the reason we die lmao.

[found-wings]

fit would have the Worst time traveling with resident Sillies incorporated (codebreakers) because its physically impossible for the two of them to adventure without the 15 stops they make along the way like omg. rewatching The codebreakers vod (july 13th one) and oh my god it takes them like triple the amount of time to get to the location on the map because of how often they find random structures to explore. (bonus is phil stopping to look at a tree tallulah likes and etoiles making fun of him for being hyped at wood before realizing the wood was pretty and taking some LMAO) and the only reason they skipped some structures- was bc phil needed to go to sleep soon 😭😭

with how fit (literally in canon too) is Very used to reeling phil back in when he gets distracted, I can't imagine this man having to deal with TWO OF EM with adventuring with codebreakers and etoiles who will see any structure that isn't garbage and stop the boat to go there with everyone since he doesn't explore with others often 😭) and with how they adventure for hours at a time ???? (not even including phils 2 hour sunbird chase from the recent streams. . .)

like quite literally in lore, 100% the only way for fit to quit the adventure which clearly isn't going anywhere without just straight up leaving (or praying someone messages him and gives him an excuse from these mfs who can't stay on topic for shit) would be to hope that they get a boring massive ocean and phil falls asleep on the ride which gives them an excuse to head back home, or for a code to sweep by at spawn and get messages in the chat which means etoiles would have to warp there 🙏🙏 other then that, he'll def be stuck with the sidequest lovers over here with no hope of seeing their destination before sundown (especially with how fit leaves earlier then everyone else on streams) - 💿

GOD I LOVE THESE THREE AND THEIR DYNAMIC SO MUCH RAAAH

Thank you Fit for who would somehow probably ( barely ) have so much patience with these two sillies that are both equally as all over the place sometimes 🙏🙏

Etoiles 100% makes Phils wandering off even worse, they are just. all over the place if they notice anything barely interesting - Phil seeing something shiny and Etoiles tagging along for the hopes of a good dungeon maybe, disappearing from Fits sight within seconds AJAJAJ

Also the thought of Phil falling asleep while traveling through a giant, albeit boring ocean is <333 unless it‘s Phil driving the boat. then I‘d be hella concerned WHEEZE

I do adore the thought though of Phil dozing off as he listens to Etoiles and Fit, or the rushing of wind & splashes of waves as his eyes slowly close, staring off at god knows what. This usually ends up in a 50 50 chance at either Phil falling asleep or instantly waking up again if anything of interest flashes through his vision

( this has probably resulted in Phil suddenly jumping up out of his half slumber, pointing aggressively at whatever he saw and going either 'STOP THE BOAT, LOOK!! :D' or just straight up launching himself out of the boat before either of the other two can react. he needs the shiny )

Conclusion : Never go on a roadtrip with the silly Codebreakers, because you‘ll either have to constantly drag them along or quit the trip not even halfway there JAHJA

[umemiyan]

Raaah this is all I have rn buuut if you have any additions

Yours and saukras heats syncing up and alpha ume

Both you and Sakura trying to take care of each other until it becomes too much

There's only one alpha that you'd trust to take care of the both of you, one who's helped you before. It takes some convincing on Sakura's part, but you get him to agree to it and end up calling Ume.

By the time he picks up, you're already back on top of Sakura, rolling your hips. He's pawing at your hips as he let's out choked moans, flushed from the chest up.

"Hello? Hello..? Is everything al-" Umemiya starts before being cut off by your high pitched whine for an alpha, but not just any alpha, him. His breath hitches, cock twitching in his pants as he hears the slick movements of you riding Sakura. " baby.. my sweet omega, I'm gonna need you to tell me where you are so I can come take care of you."

- 🐓🍻

HEAD IN MY HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i’m going insane skdbdidjdkd ume best alpha EVERRRRRRR istg like he would totally try to step up and take care of both of you I LOVE HIM SM

i love when omegas try to help each other but it’s just difficult when they’re synced up like that and have almost no other option but to seek out a third party. and who better than umemiya?? especially if he’s helped you before and you can convince sakura to trust him in the heat of the moment.

god, haji’s gonna be drowning in those pheromones. it’s intense enough with just one omega in heat, but two? he almost doesn’t know what to do with himself, but he does his best because you’re both counting on him. he pushes his body to the limit because he can’t give up—your hormones won’t let him. both you and sakura are dousing him in your need, and it’s his duty to see that you’re both taken care of.

UGHHH i’m just imagining him showing up and being like “you did a good job trying to take care of each other. but i’m here for you now.” and he sees how sakura stretched you out a little bit while you tried to get satisfaction hfsjsjdkdj

it’s a tough decision to see who gets knotted first, but sakura ultimately decides to shoulder the burden and let it be you. he aches and you’re both shaking and sweating, but he’s trying to be selfless and chivalrous like someone else he knows. you don’t think it’s fair, especially since he already tried to help you first before hajime got there, but he insists.

haruka watches as hajime works your body, preparing himself to be next. i also love the idea of sakura never having had an alpha during his heat before, either spending them completely isolated or trying his best with a beta or another omega, so he’s not prepared for how satisfying it is. he can see the pleasure and pacification in your face and wonders if it’ll be like that for him too.

but he’s a little afraid of going fully vulnerable like that and giving into his body, so it helps to see the connection between you and hajime as well as hear your encouraging words. being soothed and properly knotted for the first time is such a blissful experience, and he can’t imagine ever going through a heat all by himself ever again.

i could go on forever but. yeah.

[kayssweetdreams]

A "Perfect" Vacation Ch9

Meanwhile, Back at the Hotel...

The sun had finally set as the group were now whooping it up. The more younger kids had been put to sleep in their rooms, as the adults and Wonder Stars went to check out what else the hotel had to offer. Sana and Eis had taken it upon themselves to explore the wildlife on the island to see what tropical life existed along with them. However, their little Safari had been dragged out until the sun had fully set, and the moon gazed down at them.

"Sana? Do you think we should get back to the hotel? It's getting pretty dark, and we've wandered pretty far..." Eis said, gazing up at the darkened sky. Sana on the other hand, pressed forward "Oh don't worry Eis. Just a few more minutes and we'll head back. Besides, I'm pretty sure that everyone is singing karaoke, or having a dinner date." She said. 'I wish WE were having a dinner date...' he thought as a stray branch smacked him in the face, much to his frustration.

Sana then gasped in joy as she spotted a baby parrot in a small nest on a branch. "Wow! Give it up to Ka Lā, she sure knows how to give animals a good home." She says, turning to Eis. But to her confusion, the pyrophobic firefighter was no where to be seen. "Eis? Eis? Where did you go?" She asked out, hoping to get an answer from her vanished friend. That's when the bushes rustled near her, causing her to walk backwards.

Sana tried to hide her fear, Sure she loved being alone in the forest, but she was never out there at NIGHT. "RAAAH!!" A sudden roar came from behind her as a hand grasped her shoulder, causing her to give a scream and scramble backwards on the ground. Her fear quickly turned to annoyance when she saw a chuckling Eis in the bushes, laughing his head off at her fright. "Not funny Eis. Not. Funny." She grumbled, her eyes narrowed at him.

Eis finally got his chuckles out as he helped the fallen bird lover up "I have to admit, that was a little funny." He joked, making an already annoyed Sana even more annoyed. "I was about to have a heart attack! I thought you were-" Eis cut her off "Were who? Lance? Reala? Madame Prim? Yeah sure. 'OOOOOOOH! LOOK AT ME!! I'M CRAZY MADAME PRIM!! YOU AREN'T PERFECT ENOUGH!' He mocked, using a fake voice akin to a very wicked witch.

Sana smiled at his antics, and found herself laughing at them as well, when the bushes began to rustle again, but this time it was all around them. "E-Eis? Is this another prank?" She asked, but the firefighter shook his head "I'm not doing this." He said, his back meeting Sana's. The two of them grew worried before they felt something knock them both down, and hold a sweet smelling cloth up to their faces. The two of them panicked as they tried to get the cloth off them, but it was no use, as the began to feel very drowsy.

Sana attempted to fight unconsciousness as much as she could, but her eyes became as heavy as sandbags, and she could hear someone saying through her muffled ears "Hurry up and get them ready. The boss is in a bad mood..." just before her vision went black

[noxexistant]

RAAAH ROMEOOO HEADCANONS 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️💨💨💨💥💥💥💥🦅🦅🦅🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

romeo oh romeo mi ángel

thank u so much for asking for him <3 here are some baseline characterisation hcs to get us started

send me newsies writing/headcanon/art requests!!

first and foremost: a sweet kid. we see that he’s social - and, importantly, social in a consistently positive way. he’s always smiling and is always good-natured in the interactions he initiates. even his famous flirting seems to be entirely without the motivation of interest, and he’s totally unperturbed by rejection, and i like to think it’s just an excuse to initiate conversation. it gives him an in, rushing up and telling girls how pretty they are or whatever else - plus he gets to compliment them, which often gets them smiling, and sometimes it gets him a sale. nothing but wins. (except for every time it earns him scoffs and glares and sometimes even a shove as they move past him, but he brushes all that right off.)

he is, also, at least fairly naive. he goes running to the cops during the fight with the strikebreakers, desperate for their help. like he has no idea that the cops aren’t on their side. he’s loud and scared and totally open with his emotion, and he goes down hard when the cop hits him. which begs the question - why doesn’t romeo know, like the rest of the newsies do, that the cops aren’t to be trusted? in my opinion, it implies that romeo has a family, hasn’t been raised on the streets or anything like that, to have to have learned the hard way that cops can’t be trusted. maybe he’s a bit sheltered, at least in comparison to the rest of the newsies. i definitely headcanon him as being close with his mother, who he calls “mama”, and also having some siblings. probably younger, seeing as it sure seems like he hasn’t had the influence of older siblings teaching him certain harsh truths. he considers himself the coolest older brother, helping provide for his family.

relating to both his social habits and perhaps his naïveté (or just blind kindness) - he waves and smiles at morris, unprompted, during sales. it’s one of my favourite background details from the proshot, and we unfortunately don’t get to see morris’ reaction, but we see romeo look up at him on the balcony, smile and wave, and then kind of pout/shrug and give it up, so we can only assume morris probably just glared back or something. romeo doesn’t seem particularly scared or put off though, almost similar to how he reacts when katherine rejects him, and i like to think it’s just sheer determination. particularly with morris, at least that early - before everything that happens during the strike - romeo firmly believes that he could worm his way into even people like the delanceys, just by being persistent and kind, and believes that that’s what’s needed. people are mean because they’re sad, so by being nice, maybe he can make them less sad and make them be nice!

also: romeo isn’t his real name - it’d be a little too perfect if it was, i think - but he absolutely does not understand the joke of the nickname. when katherine mockingly calls him “romeo” to brush him off in jacobi’s, he rushes to jack and asks, “how’d she know my name?” implying he didn’t get katherine’s joke, so he doesn’t get the joke in general either. he’d be so excited if someone explained it to him, though - the other boys gave him his name after this cool, handsome flirt from a play? awesome! so, he and the juliet girl get together in the end, right? …right?

[nyxknocks]

If there are two things I love its monsters and nuclear radiation/fallout. Godzilla is and always has been a perfect marriage of these two hyperfixations of mine. I've seen this Godzilla a handful of times over the years and I love it every single time I watch it. (And, fun fact, strontium-90 was one of the isotopes released during Chernobyl though it's not the one that's mostly to blame for the tragedy that happened).

There are so many goofy things that happen in this movie that seem like plot holes but are actually what I feel like what people would really do in a situation like this. For example, they hypothesize that Godzilla was woken up because of the hydrogen bombs and their answer to fighting Godzilla off is... bombing them. You think a depth charge would do more damage than hydrogen bombs? Like, the whole thing is that Godzilla got stronger/empowered by the radiation. Goofy. Another small contradiction is at the beginning when the toothless elder explained that their oral history specified that Godzilla would come on land only if they ate all the available fish, but the villagers would offer a human sacrifice to get a better yield for fishing. It just shows the psyche of humans in an excellent but subtle way, I feel, that really makes the film not entirely fantastical. The humans act human and do dumb human things when faced with something so fantastical. (Also, I love the idea of these oral histories that are so common in human society [coming from a classics major] being used for a badass old mutated dinosaur. It's so close to magical realism I eat that shit up!!!)

Obviously this movie is a critique on what radiation does to society and the monsters the bombs were both specifically to Japanese society as well as civilization as a whole. It warps and mutates things that could, theoretically, be peaceful into abhorrent destructive monsters. Nuclear bombs, hydrogen bombs, etc. all of it are these massive giants that humans created in order to terrorize other humans, because there really is no other reason to create a bomb with these particular isotopes and elements, what have you, besides absolute destruction. You could argue that Godzilla themself is a physical manifestation of the United Status--a giant, irradiated monster that attacked Japanese society--and I think plenty of people have made that comparison. It's an easy one to make and its not something I disagree with necessarily.

Another way you could look at it along the similar vein of what I said above is that Godzilla represents the "what if" that Japanese society likely had during the war. What if the U.S targeted Tokyo instead of Nagasaki or Hiroshima? The other "what if" aspects that I think are very to-the-point in this is the conversations between the two diametrically opposed sides on how to deal with Godzilla.

You have the side that wants to just straight up kill them, which I think lends itself to the Japanese war-mindset that was victory above all else. It's not a strictly Japanese mindset either, because humans really do love killing each other just for funsies or for money. It's also a hypermasculine ideal (in my opinion) that the one with more weapons/is stronger will prevail. They show off their technology and firepower and it's all raaah I'm a tough guy. (This is further argued for when you think about how... someone, I forget who, said that Japan didn't win the war because they were technologically behind. You could argue that making this film is a way for them to get some of that face back like "look, see, we have technology and know how to use it too!" but this isn't something I fully argue for. I can just see how one could).

The other side is fighting for the scientific research aspect. It's specifically stated that it would be good to study Godzilla to see why they are so protected against radiation, which I imagine during the time of the war and afterwards is something the Japanese specifically would want to know the answers to considering they were BOMBED. Radiation was a fairly "recent" discovery too that was a whole ass wild card no one fully understood but played with anyway. Learning from Godzilla how they were able to be protected from radiation would do incredible from the humanist standpoint of protecting the population from greedy overpowered war machines as well as going the marvel route and making some badass superhumans. I could go on about how I feel about both of these view points and I think its a fascinating discussion that we're still having even though this movie is nearly what, 70 years old? Godzilla fucks so hard.

Technical Shit:

Obsessed with the first bit we see of "Godzilla" is the blinding white light of the people on the boat. Obviously, duh, that's the light from the bombs (I believe the term is Cherenkov radiation? The light that the bombs give off. But I'm not 100% sure). The sound design fucks SO hard. Even after multiple viewings of this movie and all the ones that have come after, the original screech of Godzilla is so chilling and powerful. There's a weird jumpcut around 52 min mark with Emiko that was jarring. I did not like that but also its an old movie so I have to give it grace. Similarly the audio throughout is often blown out which is another product of its time, but owie my ears. Again, I love practical effects SO much. They add so much more to a movie in my opinion and Godzilla as mildly silly as they look in this movie still cuts an imposing figure. The sheer destruction throughout. UGH! Chefs kiss. 15/10.

edit: didn't realize but realizing now the parallel between Oppenheimer and Serizawa. do with that what you will.

[duckymcdoorknob]

Hey this looks fun! And because I'm oh so creative (/s), how about:

Denki Kaminari

"... all I need is to be struck by your electric love" (Electric Love by Børns)

Fluff + humor (could be either platonic or romantic)

Gender neutral 2nd person pronouns

And I have not heard Don't Bite but I'm going to now 😆

I GOT SO CARRIED AWAY SKSNSKSN I LOVE KAMI

(Y/N) giggled uncontrollably as Denki spun them through a, terribly executed may I add, ballroom dance in the dorm kitchen. The smart speaker on the countertop was playing a gentle song, which was a shared favorite between the duo.

It was the afternoon and everyone was out to run errands. Denki drew the short straw and stayed home to “cook dinner” with (Y/N).

“Baby you’re like lightning In a bottle.” the blonde cooed as he dipped his partner.

“Was that your attempt at flirting?” (Y/N) chimed as they were brought back upright, dangerously close to the latter’s face.

(Y/N) was so close they could practically feel the warmth that was now beaming across Denki’s features.

“Uh...” he smiled with furrowed eyebrows, “maaaaybe~.”

“It was really shitty.” (Y/N) managed to reply through their snickering figure.

“Heyyyy!” Kaminari whined as he spun (Y/N) into another dip, “My flirting is impeccable thank you.”

“Kami! Let me go!” They chuckled as they stared into his shimmering gold irises.

“Nope.” He wrapped his arms around their waist and pulled them upright, “I can’t let you go now that I’ve got you.”

“Well, Denks, you’re going to have to. Because I don’t know who else can make mass servings of katsudon quite like I can.” They replied, scrunching their nose and sticking their tongue out.

“Oh my g-“ Kaminari felt a blush bubble up from his chest to paint a gentle flush over his ears, “do not do that. You’re too cute.”

(Y/N) grinned sinisterly, once again mirroring their previous action.

The blonde clutched his heart dramatically, “Ah... too cute. You’re gonna make me short circuit.” he whined as he balanced himself on a barely warm pan of garlic bread. “Owwwwie (Y/NNNNNN).”

“Aww my poor sweet boy. Let me see.” The student cooed through pursed lips.

“I got’sa boo-boo.” He pouted, sticking his bottom lip out.

“Yeah you do. Poor baby. Are you gonna live?” They put down the bowl they were mixing and grabbed at his wrist to examine his just-so-barely-pink-tinged hand.

“I don’t know!” He held his other hand up to his head and allowed himself to collapse in the latter’s, luckily now empty, arms.

“GAH! DENKS!” They shrieked as the pair of them fell to the floor, giggling violently.

“Worth it!” Kaminari cried as his arms shot up in victory, “man. I’m off my game today. First my pick up line sucked, now I can’t stay on my feet when I dramatically flop into your arms? Gee. I must be slacking off in training.”

“Heh. You suck at pick up lines all the time.” they muttered with an innocent grin.

“What?!” Denki asked with a shocked, but humorous, expression, “That’s it! RAAAH!” he cried as he begun to wrestle the latter beneath him.

“DENKS STOP! HEY!” They chuckled madly, fighting back with both their arms and knees.

“TAKE IT BACK! I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU DO BETTER!” Denki returned their chuckling, backing off of them.

“FINE!” They barked as they jumped to their feet, offering a hand for the blonde, “After we finish cooking, Slacker.”

“UGGGGGH FINE!” Denki whined, crouching down to meet the cupboard, in which he would search for the raw rice container.

“Hah, All I need is to be struck by your electric love.” (Y/N) stated nonchalantly, never letting their focus shift from their bowl.

Denki hit his head and fell to his butt as soon as he had heard the incredible pick up line, “DID YOU JUST USE MY QUIRK TO MAKE A PICK UP LINE?!”

“Yeah I did, toots.” (Y/N) shook their head with an amused scoff, “C’mon clumsy one. We have work to do.” They helped the dumbfounded boy to his feet.

“Wait!” Kaminari yelped, “before we continue!”

“Hmm?”

Denki placed his hand behind (Y/N)’s head and pulled them into a sweet, chaste, kiss. “Hn. Struck by my electric love.” he mumbled as he channeled some static into his finger, shocking (Y/N) shortly after.

“DENKI!”

“Sorry! Sorry! Let’s just finish dinner!”

“NO! GET BACK HERE!”

Class 1-A returned to a messy kitchen, unprepared dinner and (Y/N) and Kaminari chasing each other around the common area, giggling madly once again.

“DO NOT SHOCK ME! IT TICKLES!”

“FINE! THEN STOP TRYING TO TICKLE ME BACK!”

“NEVER!”

“THEN SHOCKS ARE STILL GAME!”

“NO! DENKI- GAH! STOP THAT!”

“NEVER!”

[lu-undy]

Un-alone, chapter 10

Here it is!

“So you have come on the promise of nothing, hm?”

The air was cold and the morning, slightly foggy in Boston. Jérémy couldn't see his father's sly smirk.

“You said I’d get a job.”

“So you came here for the job?”

“What else?” The young man answered, raising his hood above his head to cover himself from the cold. He looked on the bench and the older man was smoking. 

“You are three minutes late however.” Lucien rose to his feet and glanced at his watch. 

"It's only three minutes." Jérémy shrugged.

"A lot can happen in three minutes." 

"Like what?"

"I held your friend Johnny back in less than three minutes."

Jérémy fell silent for a while.

"So, you gonna tell me what the job is or what?" 

"Impatient. You remind me of myself when I was… about half of your age." Lucien started walking away.

"Hey…!"

"What do you see around you?" Lucien asked as Jérémy caught up with him.

"What?"

"Describe it." 

Jérémy looked around. 

"Uh… We're in a park and uh… It's freakin' empty and I got the feeling that I woke up for nothin'?"

"Uh-uh." Lucien stopped and raised an index finger. "The surroundings, not your emotions."

Jérémy sighed and followed when the French stranger walked again.

"Alright, alright…" Lucien couldn't help but smirk seeing his son obey him so easily. "There are trees and benches and… Grass grows, sun shines and I don't know what I'm doin' here!"

"Again." Lucien said. "Surroundings, not yourself." 

"Why the hell am I doin' all this?!" 

"Silence and resume at once." Lucien calmly answered. 

"Raaah…!" Jérémy's frustration grew a notch more. "There's no one and nothing, man! Now either you tell me what the fuck this job's about or I'll go with my pals!"

Lucien chuckled. 

“What?!”

“You might be fast on your legs, but you are blind.”

“What?!” Jérémy’s voice jumped an octave.

“Look around you. There are people.”

“Yeah, and?”

“Describe them to me.” Lucien repeated. 

“Ugh…” The young man sighed and his shoulders sank. “There’s a guy with a… A coat and a beanie cause it’s freakin’ cold and uh… There’s an old woman walking her tiny dog, God I hate those, they look like mad rats…!”

“Description.”

“Right, right… There’s another guy with a dog and that’s it.”

Lucien stopped walking. 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” He threw the cigarette nonchalantly and it landed in the bin. “You have not finished.”

“Yeah, I have, there’s nothing else!”

“But there is.” Lucien insisted and turned to face his son. “What about that man far to your right? And the squirrels fighting in that tree? And the bench in front of us, you have not mentioned them.”

“That dude’s homeless and who cares about squirrels and benches?”

“The question has never been about who cares. I asked you for a simple task, yet you did not complete it."

Jérémy shook his head before lowering it. 

"Let us see something else." Lucien approached a tree. "Stay where you are. I will hide behind this tree. Count five seconds and try to find me." 

"So now we're playin' hide-and-seek?" 

Lucien ignored the question and went behind the tree. 

“Do I have to close my eyes to count or…?”

“I shall leave this to your discretion.” The voice with the French accent answered from behind the tree trunk.

“Alright then…” He kept his eyes open and counted out loud. “One… Two.. Three… Four… And five. Ready or not, here I come!” Jérémy approached the tree decidedly and went behind it. “What the-?”

The older man wasn’t there. 

“How the hell did you manage to go anywhere? I was there and watching everything!” The young man looked left and right, up and down, as if the Frenchman could have flown to the nearest cloud or hid underground. “Hey…? Uh… I don’t even know your name! Uh… You… Frenchie?”

Lucien rolled his eyes. 

“Frenchie…? Oi! Where are you?” Jérémy started walking around. 

Lucien made his son’s wandering around last for a while longer, mildly amused by his bewilderment. 

“For fuck’s sake - ouch?!”

“Language.” Lucien had appeared out of a cloud of thin smoke and gave a light tap at the back of his son’s head.

“Where were you?!”

“Waiting for you to find me and again, you left me disappointed. I am starting to think that you might not suit the job.” Lucien got his cigarette case out and flipped it open. His hands went on autopilot to take a cigarette and flick his silver lighter. “Nevermind then, I wish you luck on your path.”

He started walking away and counted down in his head. He knew Jérémy would not let the opportunity slip. But of course, he wanted to show the boy that he had to hang on and fight for what he wanted. It was a stroke of luck that Lucien offered to train him and follow his steps. Never had the Frenchman thought that he would be training his son and putting him in the same train of life as his, but something deep down inside yearned to see Jérémy have a better life than his own. Jérémy wasn’t him. Maybe, maybe he could pull it off. Maybe, if Lucien helped, just maybe he could fabricate himself a life that made sense.

And like the desperate man he was, Lucien believed it. He believed his own imagination and his own little narrative. Again. 

Some people never learn, others don’t want to. 

“Hey! Hold on!”

A sly smile flashed on his thin lips as he stopped. Lucien slipped his gloved hands in the pockets of his long, dark blue coat.

"You can't just make me wake up super early and leave me there?!" 

"Then, try to follow me." Lucien walked decidedly and Jérémy caught up with him. As the morning sun rose and more people came to the park, the young man got distracted by the passer-bys -- Lucien noticed his gaze wander and stick to any and every woman he could glue his eyes on -- and as he reached the gates of the park's entrance, Jérémy looked to his left to the Frenchman but he wasn't there. 

"Oh, jeez! Again? Seriously?!" He shook his head and frowned, annoyed. He looked around him and saw a silhouette with salt and pepper hair make a turn at the end of the street. "Oh!" 

Jérémy ran to it and took the same turn only to look for the man again. He should have been right there! Jérémy walked in the streets, looking left and right at people, at each alley and crossroads. 

"Where the fuck is he - ouch?!" 

"Language." Lucien appeared out of a thin cloud of smoke and had tapped the back of his son's head again. 

"Where were you?!" 

"Right behind you." 

They now walked side by side.

"Look, you gotta tell me what the job is, I'm tired of playin' with you." 

Lucien pulled the door to a café and held it open. 

"I presume you skipped breakfast this morning." 

The door was open long enough for the smell of coffee and warm pastries to reach Jérémy's nose. 

"Yeah but this place is not for people like me." He answered, ashamed to just admit bluntly that he lacked the money to afford something there. 

"Come on, I don't have all day." Lucien insisted, and Jérémy sighed as he walked past his father, entering the warm café. 

There was some faint jazz music playing in the background and people were all dressed in suits and ties. Jérémy blushed and lowered his head. His hoodie and jeans full of holes screamed louder than he ever could in that decor. 

"A table for two. Thank you." 

Father and son followed the waiter. As Jérémy sat down, Lucien pulled his hoodie off of his head. 

"You are inside. Covering your head is impolite." He said before his son could protest.

Lucien went to his seat and removed his scarf and long, navy blue coat. They both were seated in a corner. 

"What will you have?" Lucien asked, still reading the menu in his gloved hand.

"First, your name." 

The older man's eyebrows twitched. Ah, finally, something he did not see coming. Interesting. 

"You may call me L."

"L?"

"Oui." 

"L like what?" 

"A lot of things." Lucien's eyes never left the leather-back menu. 

"L like liar." 

The Frenchman's eyes flashed from the menu to his son's blue eyes. 

"Pardon?" He asked in his mother tongue. 

"You told me I'd get a job and I'm sittin' here with you with nothin'. You're a liar." 

Lucien frowned and put the menu back on the table.

"You should watch your tongue."

"Why? What're you gonna do, huh?" 

Lucien took a deep breath. 

"I am sure you can remember Johnny. If I can stop him from causing a scene with three fingers, you may wonder what I might do to stop you, young man." 

Jérémy stared back at his father fiercely. There was something in the Frenchman's beard, in his neck-long, salt and pepper hair that tickled his eyes whenever he looked at the Frenchman. And those glasses… 

The Bostonian sighed. 

"So, what will you have?" Lucien resumed and picked up the menu again, as if nothing had happened. 

"Nothin'... L." 

"Yet, you clearly crave it." 

"I-!" Jérémy stopped himself and lowered his voice again. "I can't pay anythin' from here." He almost whispered, looking left and right. 

Lucien lowered the menu enough for the young man to see his eyes. 

"That was not my question." He answered. "Young and starving as you are, you may go for the full English breakfast."

Jérémy wanted to both thank him for the free meal but also beat him up. The arrogance of that guy, seriously! There he was in his little suit and tie, lookin' all prim and proper, about to pay a breakfast for a guy half his age like he's doing charity work!

"Hold on." The young man frowned and stopped his train of thought.

Lucien hid his eyes behind the menu again. 

"You don't wanna know my name?" 

"I already know it. I think I will go for a cappuccino and a croissant, or maybe a pain au chocolat…? Hm, I am hesitating."

"How d'you know my name?" 

"I could ask you the same with the negative form. Non, it is definitely cold this morning, I shall go with both a croissant and a pain au chocolat. I might have the appetite for both. Hm, who would have thought?"

"What…?" Jérémy blinked repeatedly and squinted. "What's that supposed to mean…? Anyway, what's my name then, fancypants - ouch?!" 

Lucien tapped him at the back of his head again. 

"What was that for?! I didn't say the f-word!"

"Non, you did not, but you lacked the respect you owe me." Lucien calmly answered and a waiter approached. 

"Have you made your choice, gentlemen?" 

Lucien looked at his son. 

"Y-yeah, I get the full English thing… Ouch?!"

"Ask politely."

"Please…!" Jérémy added, rubbing the back of his head. 

"And for me, a cappuccino with a croissant and a pain au chocolat. Merci." 

The waiter disappeared and left father and son alone. 

"Jérémy."

The young man opened wide eyes. 

"Your name is Jérémy. You were born on a day of early June, a Saturday if I remember and it all happened here, in Boston. You were raised by your single mother, in the chaos that is a household dominated by seven half-brothers, all older than you are. May I add that they are far from good examples to you and you are at a point in your life now where you must decide." 

Jérémy's jaw dropped. The waiter came back and placed their order on the table. 

"Merci." Lucien answered with a polite nod and a smile. He waited for the waiter to disappear before he took the sugar cubes, two, and dipped them in his coffee. 

"I must decide what?" 

"What indeed." Lucien answered as he lazily stirred his coffee. “You should eat while it is hot.”

Jérémy pulled the plate closer to himself and didn’t waste time. The father watched as his son dived in his plate. Poor boy, he must have been quite hungry…

“You can either follow your half-brothers and friends.”

“Or…? What can I mph-ouch?!”

“Do not speak with your mouth full, it is impolite.”

Jérémy grumbled and between speaking or eating, he chose eating. His eyes darted back down to his plate. 

“Or you could follow me.” Lucien finished and Jérémy finished chewing and gulping down on his strips of bacon before speaking. 

“Follow you?”

Lucien took a sip of his coffee and put the cup down. 

"I must warn you however. Accepting to be trained by me, means that you will have to leave your half-brothers." 

"What?" Jérémy frowned again. "What d'you mean 'trained by you'? And are you sayin' I'll have to leave my brothers behind?"

"I'm afraid that it is much safer this way, for you and for them." 

"What the f-ouch! Ok, I got it… What's the job about? And why did you have me do all this weird stuff this mornin' in the park?" 

"Simple tasks, simple tests."

"And what's the result then?" 

"You have some precious qualities…" Lucien started and Jérémy smiled widely, inflating his chest like a proud rooster. "But a lot to learn still and the attention span of a chicken." 

"A chicken?!" 

"Non, actually… Uhm, what are they called in English again…?" Lucien took a split second to think. "Ah, oui, the attention span of a fly." 

"What?!" Jérémy's jaw dropped. 

"You cannot focus on anything for longer than a few seconds and your eyes are not trained to see but to ignore. You choose to pay attention to ladies passing by in the street when you should let the surroundings offer their richness for you to absorb."

"You make no f-" Lucien raised his gloved hand. "Freakin' sense." Jérémy said and nonetheless ducked his head slightly, in anticipation for the hit behind it. 

"But I know you can be patient. If you put your attention in something, and by that I mean something other than women passing by, then we can work."

"Mh…" Jérémy continued eating. 

"Do you know Washington square?"

"Yeah, why?" 

"We are heading there after breakfast." 

"Why?" 

"This is the location of your new job."

"What? There's only offices and skyscrapers there!"

"Oui, the main building is the headquarters."

"The headquarters of what?" 

"It matters very little, I am taking you underground."

"Uh…"

"There is a gymnasium. I need to test your fitness." Lucien said and grabbed his croissant. 

"So you remove the gloves only for the croissants? Man, you're so French…" Jérémy shook his head and looked back down at his plate. 

And you are half that. Lucien thought with an amused smile on his lips. 

When both gentlemen finished, Jérémy was surprised to see that indeed, L was taking him in the direction of Washington square. 

"You sure know your way around here but you haven't been here long, have you?" Jérémy asked.

Lucien's eyes twinkled and he smirked. Jérémy must have thought that given the strength of his French accent, Lucien wasn't from these parts of the world. He however knew how to navigate through the streets with ease. Ah, oui, oui! The deductive mind! There it was!

"This gives me great hope." He answered. 

"What? Why? Wanna become a tourist guide or something?" Jérémy asked. 

"Non." Lucien answered with a chuckle. 

"Then what?" 

They crossed the square and arrived at the foot of the main skyscraper. Lucien stood in front of the door and turned to his son. 

"Les chiens ne font pas des chats."

"Y'know I don't get a bit of French, right?"

"I think in English you say 'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.' Now, I must say that I am pleased that you prefer following me rather than the path of your half-brothers."

"H-hold on, what? Who said I'm acceptin' the job? I don't even know what it is?" Jérémy asked. 

"You have followed me this far, haven’t you?” Lucien cocked an eyebrow.

“Yeah but-”

“Exactly.” Lucien cut him. “If you walk through this door, there is no means to turn back and return to your life. If you follow me through this door, you sign your life to your new employer.”

“You?”

“Non. Much bigger, so big in fact that it is surrounding you.”

“What?”

“Jérémy.” Lucien put his hands on his son’s shoulders and looked him dead in the eye, bending slightly down to be at eye-level. “Are you sure you want to choose this life? You renounce your family, your friends, your life as it is. Do not think of the money, for if I train you, you will make plenty of it. Think about what your heart wants right now.”

Jérémy frowned and looked down. 

“What do you want right this instant?” Lucien asked. 

“You sure this job’s not illegal?”

“Absolutely not.” Lucien answered. 

“It’s clean? I’m not doin’ things to hurt people without them knowing?” Jérémy looked back up at his father’s light blue eyes.

“You might hurt people, but trust me, more often than not, they know there is a threat. Part of  your job is precisely for them not to know that you are it.” The father answered.

Jérémy took a deep breath. 

“Why are you asking me this? I would have expected you to ask me about the pay and such, yet you are asking me something about the rightness of this? You were about to deal drugs, Jérémy.”

“I know - I just… My Ma’…”

Lucien’s eyebrows jumped. 

“What about her?” He asked.

“She used to hurt people without them knowing. It’s awful.”

“That is very thoughtful of you.” Lucien answered and Jérémy saw that his father’s gaze changed. “I… I did not think you would think in such a compassionate way.”

“Well, it’s just that… Because of her, I never got to see my Dad and… Now, I can’t even ask her.”

“I am sorry.” Lucien answered. “I am really sorry for you and I wish things could have been different.” Both took a deep breath. “But now, you have to make a choice.”

“Can I at least know what the job is?”

“You will know only if you accept. What I can tell you is that it is a delicate job. But, Jérémy, I know that you have it in you to shine and strive with it.”

“How could you know that after a game of hide-and-seek and a fancy breakfast?”

Lucien smiled. 

“Trust me, I do.”

Jérémy took a deep breath and looked left and right. 

“Right, ok.”

“Are you sure?”

“No but… I guess, yeah.”

Lucien couldn’t help but grin, his smile was however tinted with something that was a mix of pride, with a hint of sadness. Jérémy reminded him of himself, years and years ago, when Lucien himself had taken up the job.

“You will not see your brothers or your family ever again.”

“I don’t have a family.”

“Nor will you see your friends.”

“You should be happy about that.” Lucien raised a curious eyebrow. “You didn’t seem too keen on me hangin’ with them, eh?”

They exchanged a smile. 

“Oui, but this isn’t about what I would like for you or not. This is your decision to make.”

“Yeah, ok, I’ll take the job, whatever it is.”

"I can give you a few days to think about it." Lucien offered but he knew how impatient his son was…

"Nah, I'll go for it." 

“No regrets?”

“Open the door already…!”

“Fine.” Lucien pulled the door open for his son. Jérémy entered and his father followed him. The son raised his eyes to the sign at the reception. 

“You’ve got to be shittin’ me.... Ouch?!”

“Language.” Lucien answered as he passed his son to walk to reception. 

Jérémy was left in awe. Now, he couldn’t read well but those three letters, he knew them. He looked up at the screens, lines flashing that meant nothing to him but he could only imagine their value. And then people passing him, most of them in suits and ties, ladies in tight skirts and white shirts, glasses on their noses and looking busy, important even…!

“Agent L, French DGSE. Is the gymnasium open?”

“It sure is, Sir, it’s down the stairs to your left.”

“I know, merci.” Lucien headed for the stairs and stopped when he realised that his son wasn’t at his side. He turned to see him in awe in front of the sign hanging above reception. “Jérémy? Please, let us not waste time.”

“Uh? Hold on…!”

Lucien had started to go down the stairs and his son caught up with him. 

“Hold on, L…!” Jérémy held his father back by his sleeve when they finished hurtling down the stairs. Lucien turned to him. “Is this really…?”

“Is this really what?” Lucien asked. 

“The motherfu-ouch?!”

“Language! You are in headquarters here, young man, watch your tongue.”

“Who cares about it?! I’m at the CIA - Wouch?! What was that for?”

“Lacking respect. I do care about it. Now, follow me. Physical training starts now.”

Jérémy’s eyes shone bright, scintillating with excitement. Oh if only his Ma’ could see it! No doubt she’d be proud…

Right?

[muffinrecord]

Hey muffin, thanks for answering my ask! Now that I know your favorites for each category, who are your least favorites?

Oh lord, you want some discourse??? You want some discourse in MR??? Is this your evil scheme??????? Okay sure, but I’m going to put it under a read more so folks who want to avoid negative takes on their characters don’t have to see it. Like before, this is MR originals only.

Flame: I wanted to answer “Touka” but I love to hate her so nah. ...I think I’m going to have to say Aimi. Now, my reasoning isn’t for what you think it’ll be-- it’s not because she’s so focused on her dudecrush. It’s just that I feel like her story won’t be expanded on. It’ll always be “Aimi wants to confess her love but then something amusing happens and she doesn’t.” This can be a fun dynamic, but it gets old fast. 

Like, Kirika is kind of similar to Aimi. Both of them have quotes that almost entirely revolve around their intended romantic partners. But Kirika has the benefit of her manga stories where we can see her change as a character, and I know she develops and changes along the way. Aimi... I’m not really confident that she will go down that kind of road. I’d love to be proven wrong though!

Aqua: Natsuki and her background annoys me. I ranted about it a while ago (link here), so I won’t go into too much detail, but I have no idea why they talked about sexism being in her past but then doing nothing with it. Also I really hate this trend of “tomboy girl is secretly girly and wants no one to know.” Maybe this is all a reference to Sailor Jupiter or something but I see this constantly repeated in magical girl stories and I hate it. LET THE TOMBOYS BE TOMBOYS. There is NOTHING wrong with being feminine, and there is also nothing wrong with being masculine! Raaah!

Forest: Wow, there are a lot of characters I like in Forest. Hmm. I guess for me it is a toss up between Alina and Konomi. Note, I do like these two characters but both of them have elements I don’t like at all.

I like Konomi’s potential. I go into it a little bit in this link, but I think she has a very selfish streak while also being a very kind person. I really want to see this expanded on. I’d love an event where someone yells at her to stop talking about flowers and if we could see the fallout for that. She has such a beautiful design and I feel like everything is set up for it, we just... don’t have the actual conflict. Without it, she’s just sort of there and exists.

Alina meanwhile... I like her every time she’s not in the main story lmao. I think they play up her “psycho” aspect too much, to the point she doesn’t even feel like a person, just a cartoon. Her magical girl stories tend to be more introspective and interesting-- more two-dimensional overall. I think I would like Alina more if she wasn’t paired with art. The whole pretentious art snob thing feels mega played out and I’m kind of not into it.

Light: Wow, another hard one! Uhhh. Hmmm.

Okay, this is another character I like, I just don’t like her as much as everyone else. But Sasara. Not because of anything really about her personality so much but. Her “dad” thing is really weird. One of her quotes is about her talking about how cool her dad is, and that’s cool, but then she starts talking about how he’s hot and I’m kind of... wary of this.

Luckily most of her appearances drop this weird-ass aspect of hers, so I can safely pretend it doesn’t exist.

Dark: Mifuyu. Some of these characters I don’t like because of how they are written. But for Mifuyu, I feel like I would dislike her if I met her in person, and I’ll leave it at that.

Void: Mitama. I’m not a fan of predatory lesbian tropes. However, I also promised to not talk about her ‘cause I know a lot of people love her, so I’ll leave it at that.

[ckret2]

Ghidorah prompts! climbing a mountain, first flights, passing requirements, annnd “Dancing Queen” by ABBA

EDIT: I’ve tried to insert a read more half a dozen times. I’ve tried on both mobile and desktop, in both the normal text editor and HTML mode. Tumblr refuses to let me. I apologize for the length.

Edit 2: What’s up it’s three months later and not only will tumblr still not let me insert a read more, it also deleted the text from the original ask when I tried to edit the post. Lucky for tumblr I predicted it would do that and copy/pasted the ask! Tumblr’s a shit show.

Did you want angst? You’re getting angst. Backstory angst. With climbing a mountain + first flights. Although not impossible, it’d be pretty hard to write angst to “Dancing Queen.” I’ve been trying to hammer out my personal Ghidorah backstory headcanons, so this gave me a good opportunity to test them out.

I see Showa’s “Ghidorah is a terrible space invader who compulsively destroys planets and keeps getting mind-controlled by aliens” and Heisei’s “Ghidorah is an experiment fusing together three adorable empathic dragon-kittens whose original purpose was being loving pets” and I raise you a “why don’t we have both?” Ghidorah is basically three 500-foot-tall kittens at this point in history so they’re less RAAAH and more weeeh.

I’m… probably not taking new King Ghidorah fic prompts at this point, due to the fact that I’ve got six asks and five replies with prompts. … Unless you’ve got one you’ve really really really gotta share. EDIT: And, of course, I always take fic prompts via ko-fi, hint hint.

###

STAND UP AND TRY AGAIN

###

They flap twice, dragging their massive body into the air, feet lifting off the peak of the artificial mountain for the first time that day; but they feel far too large for this, and their balance is wrong, and as they try to stabilize themselves somebody takes control that he shouldn’t have. Their wings pump out of sync. They crash into the mountain and tumble to the ground.

The starry black sky and cold white dust spin dizzily around their faces. Shards of gold in their peripheral visions clatter around, like a kaleidoscope made from their own body. They shut their eyes, one head at a time, waiting for the spinning to stop.

A voice in their head commands, GET UP, and they are powerless not to obey. PATHETIC! CLIMB BACK UP AND TRY AGAIN.

Only one of them opens his eyes. It’s easier that way, without three different views tangling together, making the landscape throb like a migraine.

Slowly, they roll back over. Moving their body is like three different people trying to control the same marionette, each reaching out to grab a string and tug on a knee or a wrist or hip or neck, without any practice or instructions. Usually, one of them will grab hold of a muscle, tense it a moment to make sure no one else is trying to use it at the same time, and only then gradually move it. It’s slow going. A day where they do nothing but stand upright and raise their wings can leave them sore and exhausted from moving so slowly and holding their muscles so tightly.

Just standing isn’t good enough today. FASTER! Their masters think they should be better at this—better at everything—by now. They feel their masters’ forced patience turn to frustration and disappointment more and more frequently. They try to move faster.

One claims control of one wing. One claims the other. One controls one leg. Maybe like this? Take one big piece, instead of a single muscle, and focus only on that. Take turns. Crawl uphill jerkily. One leg, uncontrolled, is dragging; one of them takes control of both that leg and a wing, alternating between them. He loses their rhythm, they try to lift both wings at the same time, and their long necks and heads flop into the mountainside.

White dust puffs up and settles on their scales.

They consider staying there.

GET BACK UP!

They get back up.

It’s easier with one of them controlling both legs and the others sharing the wings.

They miss being small. They miss being separate. They miss living inside. They miss having pillows. They miss cooked food. They miss short necks. They miss when their heads didn’t throb and their muscles didn’t ache. They miss when their minds were their own. They miss walking and flying and moving without having to think about it. They miss when the masters and owners around them sometimes felt happy, instead of angry and frustrated and burning with a long simmering wrath. They miss their owner, who would pet them and smile at them and love them.

They’re at the top of the mountain.

AGAIN. STAY STRAIGHT THIS TIME. The master feels irritated already, already convinced they’re going to fail. As if it’s so easy! How would all of them like being stitched into a three-headed monster and yelled at to do a hand stand?

Their burst of rage synchronizes them. Their wings spread wide and slam down. It’s the hardest they’ve ever flapped. They shoot into the air. Dust devils twirl down the mountainside.

They feel the masters’ fear.

Their anger pounds in their throats like a heartbeat, and each time it pounds they flap again, lifting higher, straining through the thin atmosphere toward the stars, like they can escape to another world…

The anger drains away.

They crash back down to the mountain.

It takes a long time before the dust settles and they can again see the artificial white hill with its glimmering black windows where the masters are watching. The masters’ fear is giving way to excitement, amazement, joy.

They think it felt better when the masters were afraid.

That thought scares them. They don’t know which one of them the thought comes from. That scares them even more.

But the masters are happy now. They have accomplished their given task and are exhausted by the effort. Maybe they’re done for the day, now that the masters are happy? Maybe they can go home at last, curl up on the ground between the fences, and sleep?

THIS TIME, TRY GLIDING.

Their heads droop.

But they’ll try to obey. They have no choice.

###

Comments/reblogs are welcome! Check the “source” link below for my masterlist of Ghidorah-centric and Rodorah fics, as well as my AO3 and Ko-fi links.

[datela-vodenit]

Babysitting (Wildstar fic)

Since people liked the drawing, this is what I came up with in the hours I had free today. Grammar and spelling mistakes might happen, but hopefully you guys enjoy. :)

Taren peeked around the corner of an empty crate. It was a perfect night for a sneak around a dominion camp. The aurin hadn’t really partaken in stealth missions too often, but for the right price, he couldn’t pass up the offer. His bots were in a bush somewhere, waiting for his signal. From the looks of it, the camp mainly consisted of draken warriors. At least he’d have a better chance at getting away quickly, their armor doesn’t exactly look built for speed. Then he noticed their supply tent, a guard at the side of it. Taren ducked back behind the crate again and took out a laser tether along with a small remote. Taking a deep breath, he pressed a button on the remote. In the distance, he heard the explosion of a ton grenades, as well as the chirping of his bots.

Their distraction seemed to have worked, all of the draken had taken up arms and started to make their way towards the ruckus. Taren made a beeline for the supply tent, relieved to see that it was free of guards. He skidded to a halt in front of a mountain of crates. “Woah!” He exclaimed proudly. “I mean, I hit the jackpot, just a shame I can’t take all of ‘em.”

He triggered the tether and tied it around three heavy crates. Clunk! Taren jumped at the sound of a pile of spears falling behind him. Whipping out a pistol, he turned around to face whoever made the noise. To his surprise, it wasn’t who he was expecting. He gazed down at a tinier version of a draken. The child was a dark brown and auburn color with blonde hair and green eyes. They were decorated with necklaces, bones, and red rags. The kid hastily lifted a large spear and pointed it Taren. “Go away!” They cried, baring their rounded fangs.

Taren lowered the pistol and grunted, “I can’t deal with this now…”

He then pointed the pistol behind the tent and began to shoot holes to tear out and escape. It was then that the draken child screeched. Taren flinched and tried shushing at them, but it was already too late - the mother had already showed up. She was a much bulkier version of the child, venom eyes gleaming maliciously at Taren. “Oh, uhm, hello Missus! You’re child is misbehaving a bit…”

He didn’t have time to recover before the draken lunged at him and plunged them both out of the tear. She slashed towards Taren’s chest, but he managed to snatch the clawed hand before she made a mark. She did the same thing with the other hand, but he caught the other as well. Taren whistled shrilly, calling at his Bruiserbot. The robot answered immediately, letting the Artillery bot do his fiery business with the other draken. The bruiser bashed into the draken mother and stunned her. Taking the chance, Taren stood up and bolted for the crates. Luckily, it seemed like the child had run off and the tethered crates were still there. He took up the tether and whistled for his bots to follow him.

The trio met up at a grinder bike and attached the crates behind it. “Good work, guys.” The aurin praised his companions, who bleeped cheerfully.

Taren heard the screams of the draken behind him, who were close behind. Taking a hint, he started up the grinder and began his journey home. The group of draken behind him quickly grew smaller as he rode off into the horizon. He chuckled to himself and relaxed his arms. Now, he set his destination to the nearest exile camp.

-0-

Taren pulled into the entrance of the camp where a woman and a granok were waiting for him. “Sorry I couldn’t get anymore,” He apologized to the granok soldier.

Before he could continue speaking, the granok cut him off and reassured, “Don’t worry, kid! You did what you could, whatever’s in these crates should be enough for the camp.”

The woman approached him and tossed him a bag of coins. “Here’s your payment, cupcake. Thanks for the help.” She smiled, giving him a friendly wink.

“Well, thanks for the job! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be-”

“Wait a sec…” The granok interrupted him once more.

Taren looked towards the soldier and gasped loudly. The granok was holding up the draken child from before, struggling to keep a grasp on the thrashing gremlin. “Ah… we didn’t order a draken with our supplies.”

“B-But, he wasn’t there before! I mean, he probably slipped into the crates while I wasn’t looking!” Taren cried out in confusion. “Sir, I wasn’t meaning to take him too!”

“Alright, alright, kid! You gotta get this kid back to where he belongs before his parents come lookin’ for ‘im!”

“What?! No, no, no, no, no! I just got back from a near death experience!”

“Well, death ain’t done wit yah yet!” The granok growled, holding out the draken to him - who started reaching for him angrily. “The draken know who you are and if they find yah, they might kill yah!” The woman agreed, “It might be the best option you have. Just give them back the kid, but don’t let them see you!”

Taren had lost the fight. His shoulders slumped forward, holding out his arms to take hold of the pissy child. The draken dropped into his arms and the kid started to bite at him. “AGH!” Taren yelped, fixing the kid upside down so his claws or teeth wouldn’t reach him… but his feet did.

“Die! Die!” The child shrieked as he kicked at Taren’s face.

The granok whispered to the woman, “Wonder if that was baby’s first words.”

Taren’s bots hummed humorously, amused by the comment. Taren scoffs and goes for the tether. He manages to wraps it around the draken and sets him atop the grinder, keeping a hand on the kid’s head so he doesn’t escape. Taren sighs and looks towards the exile pair for help, but only received shrugs. Closing his eyes, he tells himself, “Well… it’s the right thing to do…”

When all was decided, Taren sits down behind the draken and revs up the bike. His bots chirp at him curiously, but he holds up a hand, “Ah, actually guys, you should sit this one out. If I’m lucky, this shouldn’t take long… plus there’s no room, sorry.”

The two bots whined sadly, Taren feeling slightly guilty for having to leave his pals. “Don’t worry, everything’ll be fine and I’ll be back before you know it.” He then looked up to the exiles and said, “Can you watch ‘em for me?”

The woman nodded, “Sure thing, they’ll be here when you get back.”

“Tha- KBFF!” The child had headbutted Taren’s chin, stopping him from finishing his sentence.

Taren grumbled, “Alright, I’m off.”

-0-

This was a real drag for Taren. He had spent all morning, trying to stay awake while avoiding headbutts and shoves from the draken child. Luckily, the kid was getting tired and slowly drifting to sleep. Hearing the snores of the child almost made Taren fall asleep too. “Ugh… this won’t end well if I don’t get any sleep.” He mumbled under his breath.

He pulled the grinder over towards a cave he spotted and parked it outside. Taking up the child, he carried him into shelter and set him down. He shivered, he would need to get a fire going before getting rest. Gathering the necessary supplies, he began to make his fire, carefully watching the kid while he was doing so. Taren reminisced as early as he could to his childhood. He certainly wasn’t this annoying as a kid. Did he ever kick his dad in the face? No! Actually, he might’ve tried kicking his dad once or twice… but it wasn’t in the face!

He managed to get the kindling fired up, placing it under a bundle of sticks and letting it do its work. Taren sighed happily and slouched over. “Finally… I can get some sleep now…” He groaned, even though the glow of morning was starting to rise over the horizon.

Taren let himself flop to the floor, making one more final check on the draken. Then, he closed his eyes, letting all the stress wash away from him.

CHOMP! Taren woke up to pointy teeth digging into his scalp. “AUGH!”

The draken child had woken up before him and started chowing down on his head. His bites were weak, but strong enough to remain latched to the aurin’s head. Taren ripped the kid off and gave him a stern glare. The child spat out any hairs he took with him and hissed. “Oh, you think you’re tough stuff, huh?” Taren barked. “You’re lucky I’m a nice guy or else I probably would’ve ditched you when I-”

Taren stopped himself there. The draken seemed to be puzzled at Taren’s sudden change in mood. A few moments after, Taren came to and knitted his brows together, “No biting anymore, you got me?”

“Psh… okay…” The kid growled, pursing his lips.

Taren then sat the draken down, giving himself a moment to breath and glance outside. The sun was just touching the edge of the ground, meaning he had little to no sleep. Seeing this made Taren fall back to the ground, rubbing his eyes with annoyance - this draken brat was going to be the end of him. A faint roar caught his attention and he sat right back up. It was gone for a second, but came back again. He realized that it wasn’t exactly coming from a beast though. The sound was coming from the kid’s stomach. “I’m hungry!” The child yelled, pounding his feet on the ground.

Hearing this also made Taren’s stomach growl. He breathed through his nose and nodded his head, “Me too. Wait here.”

Taren left for the grinder and fished out one of his backpacks. He took it back into the cave and sat in front of the fussy draken. Taren stuck his hand into the bag for a moment, but then had a thought. He raised a brow towards the draken and lifted his hand out, setting it on his knee. “Now, if you want food, you have to tell me your name and say ‘please.’”

“No!”

“Tch, that was very rude. I don’t think I want to give you food now.”

“Raaah!”

“Name and some thanks, please!”

The draken thought it over and mumbled out, “Zaku…”

“And?”

“Food, please.”

Taren smiled brightly and took out some jerky. “Alright, here you-”

He noticed that the draken can’t really take the food with all the tether still around him. Hesitantly, Taren reach towards the tether and switched it off. Despite being surprised by the aurin’s actions, Zaku swiped at the jerky and started gnawing on it. “Can I get a ‘thank you?”’ Taren complained.

“Mpbhbbh.”

“I guess I’ll take that.” Taren sat back, watching the child scarf down his food. “So, Zaku, huh? Cool name! My name’s Taren!”

This is how Davvik got on his good side, right? Give the kid food and they’ll like you? Although, Taren will have to find a way to teach this kid not to chew with his mouth open. Zaku finished off the last stick of his jerky and smudged the crumbs off his face. He crawled towards Taren and held out a clawed hand, “More!”

“Hey! You can’t have more food talking to me like that! I need to eat too as well!”

“MORE!”

“NO!” Taren tried pushing away at Zaku, but the child persisted.

Taren swatted away at the child, making him land on the ground with a loud thud. Zaku slowly sat up, sniffing with a sad frown on his face. Taren’s sneer turned into a look of regret. The draken started whimpering and tearing up. “Oh shoot…” Taren muttered.

He looked down at his bag and saw a single stick of jerky left. Taren approached the kid and kneeled with stick in hand. “Okay, I’m going to give it to you,” he said, keeping it away from Zaku’s grabby palms. “But you should talk to people like that, ever! It’s rude and hurts people. Now, will you behave?”

Zaku lowered his hands and looked down. He finally squeaked out, “Not hungry.”

His clawed hands pressed onto Taren’s hands and pushed them towards the aurin’s chest. Taren wasn’t really expecting that, maybe the kid wasn’t so bad after all. He smiled at the kid and bowed his head, “Thank you, Zaku. That was really good.”

Zaku crossed his arms and legs, turning himself away from Taren. With that, Taren ate the last stick and closed the bag. Taren then stood up and stamped out the fire, turning to Zaku and explaining, “Hey, we’re gonna need to leave soon. When we get to your mommy, I need to you to say anything of what’s happened between you and me. Do you understand?”

The draken tilted his head to the side. “Don’t tell your mommy about me, okay?” Taren repeated slowly.

“Why?”

“W-Why? She might… hurt me.”

“Nu-uh, Mommy nice.” Zaku firmly stated.

Taren snickered nervously, “Ahhhhh, I don’t know about that.”

“Mommy. Nice.”

Taren rolled his eyes, “Whatever you say, kid. Come on, let’s get going.”

Zaku got up in a flash and ran outside, Taren closely behind. So far so good, Taren thought fondly, helping Zaku onto the bike. They resumed their journey, nearing the camp.

-0-

“I gotta pee!”

The grinder screeched as Taren slammed on the brakes. Zaku leapt out of the seat and towards a stray bush. Taren wiped his forehead, knowing that could’ve been a disaster had the child not said anything. While the child was doing his business, Taren was taking the time to think about how hard it must’ve been for Davvik to take care of him - on a spaceship no less. Having to teach him from the ground up. For all the flack that he gives Dav, he really does appreciate what the mordesh has done for him, despite never really being vocal about it. Perhaps he was a bad child. Taren slumped down in his seat, starting to doze off from lack of sleep.

His eyes started to blink to a close until his vision was completely dark.

“AAAAAHHH!”

Zaku’s screech woke him up. Two pumera were haunched, creeping their way towards a fallen draken child. Taren immediately took action and whipped out his big gun. “HEY!” He shouted after the pumera. “Over here, pussy cats!”

The pumera lunged towards him, Taren back up while aiming his gun towards them. Taren was about to pull the trigger when he backed up into a bolder behind him, breaking his focus. To his surprise, the pumera had stopped chasing him and quickly dashed in the opposite direction. Taren’s face fell as he figured out what was going on, “I have a feeling this is going to be… very bad…”

The boulder behind him began to rise from the ground, dirt and rocks crumbling away from the shell of a huge boulderback. Taren stood in shock, clutching his gun. The monstrosity looked a little too big for his liking though. There was only one thing he could do. “Zaku, get to the bike!” He shouted at the child.

The boulderback roared, signaling Zaku to rush towards the grinder. Taren swiftly joined him there, nearly get crushed by the beast’s pillar-like legs. He started revved up the grinder and sped away, the boulderback shrinking from their sight. Zaku giggled at their escape, looking up at Taren to see if he was laughing too - he wasn’t. “Uhm… you good, Zaku?” He asked quietly.

Zaku nodded vigorously and smiled. That was enough to put Taren at ease and he returned to a calmer state. “Alright, let’s finish this journey.”

-0-

They had reached the outskirts of the camp in the evening, the sun preparing to set. Taren got off the bike, lowering Zaku’s tiny legs onto the ground. The draken was already making his way towards the camp hastily, until Taren ran in front of him. “Woah woah woah!” Taren abruptly yelped. “Remember to keep your promise.”

“Huh?” Zaku crooned, tilting his head again.

Taren sighed and knelt in front of the child, “Don’t tell your mother about me, ever! Don’t say my name, don’t tell her I rescued you, just say you got lost or something.”

Zaku twiddled his thumbs together, finally getting what Taren means. “Come back?” He asked shyly, a twinkle of hope in his eyes.

“Me? Ah, I can’t.”

Zaku’s lip quivered softly, “Why?”

“Uh… Cause I don’t think your mommy would like that.” Taren bluntly stated, his voice cracking slightly.

The draken shook his head and wrapped his arms around Taren’s shoulders. “Stay, my friend!” Zaku begged.

This touched the aurin’s heart as he hugged Zaku back, “I know, but I can’t! I just can’t do that.”

His arms clenched tighter around Taren’s neck, not wanting to let go. Taren breathed deeply, rubbing the child’s back. A thought came to mind and he pulled the draken away, “Maybe someday we’ll see each other again. Maybe when you’re older.”

“Then you stay?”

“Uhm… we’ll see.”

Zaku looked down towards the camp, where his kind were bustling about. He saw his mother and started towards her. But he stopped and turned to Taren. Zaku went for Taren’s hand, “Come!”

Taren winced in anxiety. He wanted to grant Zaku at least one last walk before he had to go. Maybe he could make it to a rock before he would let Zaku go free. “Alright, Zaku, I’ll walk with you, but then I have to go. Okay?” He told the youngling.

Zaku nodded and smiled. They made their way silently towards the camp, Taren taking each step cautiously. There was something about hold the hand of the enemy’s child that felt so… awkward. Of course, the draken were an enemy of the exiles, but Taren couldn’t help but feel if everyone acted like Zaku the factions would get along better - minus the clawing and kicking. Maybe he just had to give a few of them some jerky and they’d calm down. They had made it to a decently sized boulder and Taren crouched down behind it. He held Zaku’s tiny palm in his hands and gleamed, “It was nice to meet you, Zaku. I hope we can see each other again.”

“Yeah!” Zaku cheered, giving one last hug to the aurin.

“See you later, bud.”

And with that, Zaku rushed towards his mother. Taren watched as the older draken’s expression lit up at the sight of her young. She ran towards Zaku and lifted him off the ground, spinning him in her arms and squeezing him tightly. Taren smiled at the sight and leaned his head into his hand; he was glad to have done some good.

“HEY!”

Taren nearly jumped out of his skin hearing one of the draken warriors roaring behind him. The draken had snatched his collar and held him up in the air. “I found him!” The soldier growled, throwing him towards Zaku’s mother.

Taren thumped onto the ground, glancing up at a furious looking draken lady. “Taren!” Zaku shouted, swiftly covering his mouth.

His mother raised a brow curiously. “You steal my kid, furball?” She questioned menacingly.

Taren slowly lifted himself onto his knees and shook his head, quietly admitting, “I didn’t take him, I just returned hi-”

“Her.”

Taren did a double take, “Pardon?”

“My daughter, you didn’t steal her?”

It took Taren a moment to answer, but he did so with a lilt of confusion, “I found hi- her in one of your supply boxes. I just thought… it was the right thing to bring her back to you.”

The draken’s eyes squinted. She didn’t really look like she was buying into it and the rest of her posse didn’t really seem to be convinced either. She looked to her child and questioned, “Did he steal you, Zakura?”

Zaku looked to Taren then back at her mother and shook her head, “No. I follow.”

The mother made a noise of disappointment, “You should not go following after bad people on your own.”

“Taren’s not bad!” Zaku yelled. “Taren’s my friend!”

The mother looked back at Taren, who was sweating nervously, wondering how he was going to walk away from this. The draken lady sighed and softened her expression slightly, “If my daughter is telling the truth, you are truly lucky, fuzzball.”

Taren looked up at her hopefully. “Get out of my sight before I change my mind.” She sneered, not even giving Taren a side glance.

He stood up in disbelief, Zaku smiling down at him. Taren bowed his head and simply said, “Thank you, ma’am.”

“What did I say?”

Taren stumbled away, looking back and waving at Zaku. She waved back at him gleefully, standing on her mother’s shoulders. He could hear her faint goodbye as he made his way back to his bike. Smiling to himself he sat down on the bike, taking out his communicator and tapping a series of buttons. It rang until he could hear the voice of Davvik, “Hello?”

“Hey, Dad.”

“What’s going on, Taren?”

“Ah… just wanted to talk for a bit… to say thanks ‘n all… for everything.”