#why was the solution to just yell her kid's name

[namtans-jean-jacket]

i agree with the "agatha's trial was fake" camp bc it doesn't make sense if it was real!!!! but i also don't understand it if it was fake!!!!! i need a real explanation in one of the last 2 eps bc i don't understanddddd

[meekmedea]

CRACK AU thought - let's just say Volumnia has been cooking up some odd concoctions in her lab lately.

So the snake bite happens as it does in book canon. It's treatable, and maybe there's two parts to this antidote. Part 1 is given in the lab. Part 2 (at the hospital) is where someone messed up.

The screaming that Coriolanus overhears is because it is anything but comfortable to be forcibly de-aged to a child.

Someone messed up labelling the solutions and now they've got a 5 year old Clemmie on their hands instead of an 18 year old.

And 5 year old Clemmie is just as much of an escape artist as her older counterpart. They get her into kid sized clothes, and she makes her escape. She's actually a bit more successful since little kids can get into spaces adults can't. So while the hospital is trying to catch her, they're also trying to convince Endymion & Aelia that their daughter is very sick, but everything is still under control.

So she gets out of the hospital, but not very far when she runs into someone. Literally.

`

Enter Felix, who's been dejected that he can't get medication for Dill. He's on his way back to the Academy and blinks when a kid runs into him. Why does this kid look so much like Clemensia?

While he eventually realizes this is Clemensia, she's far more skeptical that he's Felix. She doesn't have the memories of her 18 year old counterpart. Felix panics and decides he has to tell someone about this. Clemmie's parents? The President? School is the last thing on his mind as he's trying to bribe her into going with him.

It goes great until some peacekeepers spot him, and are like: wait, that kid is the one we're looking for. Cue a chase through a park with Felix thinking that if he has Clemmie hide in a bush, he can order off the Peacekeepers and come back for her. Nobody accounts for the fact he'd be held up by them instead and Clemmie gets discovered and has to run.

She's like a cat, getting into places you think she shouldn't be able to. And in her haste to escape, she ends up inside the enclosure where the tributes are. Just dives behind a bewildered Reaper seconds before Peacekeepers appear, demanding if they've seen a kid run by.

Nobody is planning to snitch on the kid, who looks as if she is in some sort of hospital gown. And are those snake scales on her?? What is the Capitol doing to children?

Moments after the Peacekeepers leave, we get:

Clemmie holding out her hand: Hi, I'm Clemmie! What's your name? Reaper staring her down: ... Clemmie: 🥺🥺 The other tributes: Aw come on, just shake her hand. Reaper: *finally shaking her hand.* Reaper.

Everyone's trying to figure out why she's in here. Clemmie's answer is straightforward - people were trying to hold her down and inject something. It hurt. She ran. There was some boy who tried to help, and had her hide. Except she got found so she ran here (she has more of her 5 year old mindset.)

And her answer only solidifies that they are NOT turning this kid over to the Capitol. Particularly when someone Treech pointed out the snake scales and almost made her cry, because she didn't know about them until they were pointed out.

"Wow, real smooth." - Bobbin, probably.

Conversation devolves into: hey, if someone bigger than you is chasing you, you should do XYZ. Also a bit of: [tribute name(s)], stop teaching the 3 year old how to murder someone. / I'm not 3, I'm 5!

`

While this is going on, the hospital staff are losing their mind. As are those in the lab, like there is a missing mentor somewhere out in the city. Felix has been hauled back to the presidential estate for a supposed lecture, only for it to become him yelling at the President that his friend has been clearly subject to some human experimentation.

Arachne's funeral still goes on the next day, but minus the living tributes being paraded around. Moving the tributes is a liability, and the Capitol don't want to deal with it, when somewhere in the city, there's a missing mentor. Around this time, someone discovers Clemmie in the enclosure. The only issue is that she has no intentions of leaving with a stranger.

Word gets around quick, so as the funeral is going on, a news team is there by the zoo. Lucky doesn't get the scoop he's looking for, rather, he gets chewed out by the 5 year old who's very indignant on their behalf. Also some district sympathetic sentiment (the 5 year old who hasn't experienced the dark days has a very different outlook on things. Hector would be proud though.)

"Clemmie, get back here! It's dangerous!" - some tribute trying to catch her.

"You're being very rude to my friends." - Clemmie, standing just out of arm's reach from the bars and about to give Lucky a piece of her mind.

Quite a lot of people see this broadcast. Namely, Endymion & Aelia who immediately recognize their daughter. They have many questions.

`

Coriolanus gets volunteered to persuade Clemmie to leave the enclosure. It almost works until a tribute whispers to her that he was the one who kicked Reaper and she decides she doesn't want to talk to Coriolanus anymore.

But not before kicking him in the shins in retaliation. (A tribute or two cheers in the background haha)

The other mentors are told to attempt to persuade their tribute. Not that this works. If anything, the tributes that sort of get along with their mentors, have them leave thinking that maybe the games should end...

Reaper's mentor is absent (rude). Nobody from the Capitol is allowed to mention that Clemmie is his mentor, in fear that he would decide to take it out on her.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I've been dreaming of the Loyalist of Clubs.

There are so many regrets born out of ignorance. So many bonds lost to time.

He wishes he could have done more then.

How does a moment last forever? How can a story never die?

“Wh-What’s happening, Trey?”

The question comes from the boy huddled on the guest bed. He’s smallish and demure, like a rose bud yet to bloom. His eyes and cheeks are the same color as his hair—red, from crying.

Trey awkwardly peels himself away from the door. Even shut, shouting is audible from beyond it.

“HE KIDNAPPED MY SON!! Bring him back this instant, or I’ll call the authorities!”

“Ma’am, please calm down. They’re children—”

Trey pictures Mrs. Rosehearts as a balloon, bright red and inflated with hot air. The more she screams, the more air leaks put of her twisted mouth. She shrinks and shrinks until she poofs out of existence.

It doesn’t feel right to stand, so he sits on the bed beside his friend. The frame groans from their combined weights, light as they are.

“… I’m not sure,” Trey admits. “I saw you upset and grabbed your hand and ran. I didn’t want you to be stuck in that situation anymore.”

He pats a pillow. Attempts to comfort his friend.

“You can stay here.” Forever, if you want. But he doesn’t say that, only hopes it in his heart. The solution is so simple in his kid mind. “At least until your mom isn’t mad anymore.”

“Is that… allowed?”

“Sure it is. My parents won’t mind—er, probably. They like having new people over. We’ll pretend it’s a normal sleepover.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s when you sleep over at another person’s house—that’s where the name comes from. You stay up late, watch movies, play games, eat snacks, and then fall asleep together.”

Riddle’s eyes widen. “That sounds like breaking so many rules,” he says nervously.

“Those are the rules for sleepovers. The point is to have fun.”

“Fun…” Riddle nibbles on his lip, drawing his knees closer to his torso. He hugs his legs, collapsing into himself with a sniff. “I-I don’t know—I don’t like not knowing. I’m scared, Trey. Mama is so angry with me. I’m not supposed to…”

“It’s okay to not know. No one knows everything.”

“Mama does. Everyone says so. That’s why she’s always right.”

“That’s not true. I know she’s wrong about this—about us, and about Che’nya.” He grabs Riddle’s clammy hand and squeezes. “She can’t keep us three from being friends.”

“We are…?”

“Yup.” Trey pokes him, then points to himself, “We’re friends. And friends stick up for each other, watch each other’s backs.”

Riddle hesitates. “Is that… the rule?”

“You can think of it like that if you want. But I didn’t do any of this because of some rule, I did it because I wanted to help you somehow, any way I can."

"B-But we're just kids. What can we do?"

Trey worriedly glances at the door--the adults' voices haven't quieted at all--then at Riddle and the stress deeply etched into his round face. This isn't a good place for him right now either.

"We could... go over to Che'nya's. He and his grandpa will be happy to see us, and we can all have that sleepover.”

Riddle looks bewildered at the mere suggestion. "We're going to leave?"

"Shouldn't be too hard. We've already played hooky before," Trey says, tugging him up and off the bed by the arm. "Besides, a walk can help take your mind off of things."

We can be ourselves. We can forget our worries. Everything can be as it was.

Riddle’s eyes are wide with alarm. His knees wobble, and Trey catches him.

“It’ll be fine! I’ll be with you all the way—so if we get yelled at, we can be yelled at together. You won’t be alone.”

Not ever again.

Riddle responds in a shaky mew. His cheeks are wet from crying, and his words trembling—but his trust is firm. “O-Okay… I believe in you. Let’s go. Let’s go see Che’nya.”

Trey smiles reassuringly. “Alright, we’ll escape through the window. It’s a classic. You know how to do it safely by now, right?”

“Yes…!”

The two boys scramble to the bedroom window, undoing its latch and sliding it up. Trey leads the charge, easily clearing the sill. He looks back, urging Riddle to follow.

The threshold is daunting, less the boundary between inside and out and more like the bridge to a world unknown. When Riddle charges at the open window, he expects to smack into the wall. To fall, to fail.

The ground rumbles,

Splintering, fissures appearing.

“You got this!!” Trey cheers from the other side.

Riddle vaults too early and slips.

Panic shoots through him like a bolt of lightning.

Something erupts from out of the floor, racing under the boy to break his fall. Riddle lands on a thick, cushy stalk, leaves twisting around it. Above him, a giant head of petals--blue, bell-shaped, and ringing.

Bluebell.

Another flower sprouts by the boy's feet, bearing a crimson mouth--two lips, pulled back in a laugh. "Frolic, rejoice," says the Tulip. "Be free.”

“Free, free,” a patch of tiny, shrinking violets choruses.

“To dance around the posies and spin daisy chains and search for four leaf clovers.”

“We’ll lift you up when you’re down.”

Plants are poking out from every inch of the guest room, making their own quips and banter. Trey should be startled, but instead he laughs and waves for Riddle.

He waves back shyly, then gasps. His feet find something squishy yet solid under them.

Mushrooms with flat caps, a whole flight of them, in ascending height. The boy clumsily crosses them, each step sending up a cloud of fat, lazy spores. Riddle sneezes, nearly careening off the side—but a wall of snapping dragons or sly gloves in foxes closes in, surprisingly gentle as they support him.

He hops over the sill with ease.

And the flowers follow.

It’s a rainbow come alive, color sprawling over the roads and knitting rooftops with new lattice designs. Some designs dare to go higher and flashier: beanstalks that pierce the clouds, fruit clusters so heavy they bend and droop, petals dripping with jewels. Even the air is more jubilant, filled with shimmering particles--pollen?

Sunshine opens on Riddle’s face.

“Whaaaa~ So pretty!!”

“Isn’t it?” Trey’s grin is so wide his teeth ache. “We should hurry and get Che’nya so he can see this too.”

“It’s going to take so long to wade through all of this.”

“Fine by me." Trey grabs his friend's hand. It feels so small in his, and he thinks of a seed in need of water and light. "We can take our time to stop and smell the roses!”

His other hand reaches out and finds the stem of a large passing dandelion tuft. It forms an umbrella from its fuzzy white tendrils, the perfect shape for sailing on the wind.

Whoosh.

Trey and Riddle squeal as they're whisked off.

Up, up, and away, where their troubles can't chase them.

[s12-kittie]

Jade's trauma reveal (SPOILERS!!!)

This thing is not edited yet, so it'll look better in the final draft, I promise :')

Also, for the context: this is Jade having another vision. The visions work like dreaming (or sometimes lucid dreaming), so Jade's thinking process is a little messed up

Also this scene is a solution to two problems: now the readers can know Jade's backstory without me explaining and Jade has a perfect reason to lose control over her emotions and yell at Ruby

@magixfairyix @darlenicy @thewillowofveles

Jade found herself in the birch grove. It should’ve been late spring, since the leaves on the birches, as well as the grass below them, were bright-green.

Noticing the brown building that stood nearby and that was her orphanage, the teen recognised the place. This grove had used to grow there when just a few years ago before it had been chopped down.

She couldn’t remember how much years ago it was.

“I didn’t know there was such a magical place!” A child’s voice jingled nearby before the two pre-teen girls went by the nymph.

One of the girls was pale and thin, with bright, cheerful eyes and short straight hair.

Jade frowned. Was it Daisy? But Daisy’s hair wasn’t dirty-green with light-green tips. And Daisy sure didn’t have bright-green eyes.

The nymph gasped.

That girl was herself.

“A perfect spot, right?” Another girl replied. She had long, brown hair and brown eyes.

Something in this girl’s appearance seemed familiar to the teen, but she couldn’t understand what.

Giggling, she girls ran by, and the Jade followed them.

“I’m so happy that you’re my friend now, Angelica.” Little Jade smiled even wider. “I always wanted to be friends with such a pretty girl like you.”

Angelica.

This name gave the nymph chills.

Even though she didn’t know why.

Meanwhile, the girls, with the teen following, reached a small sunlit clearing, on which there were several boys around the same age.

Angelica waved to them, and the little Jade followed her example, while the nymph froze, staring at the children.

Now she remembered everything.

She remembered that the birches had been cut down five years ago.

That Angelica was the one to bully her for all the years Jade had spent in the orphanage.

And, most importantly, she remembered what was going to happen next.

Angelica took little Jade’s hand, leading her closer to the boys, while saying something; the teen couldn’t hear anything because of blood pulsing on her ears.

Little Jade smiled to the boys and came closer.

“Stay away from there!” The nymph yelled, jerking forward. “Please!”

But her little version kept on walking before stopping in front of one of the boys. Hardly had she opened the mouth to say something, the two other kids pounced at her, and Angelica and the lifted the sticks from the ground…

“Stop!” The nymph yelled before finding out that the vision had vanished.

She crouched down on the ground, breathing shakily, while tears ran out of her widened eyes.

Five years ago, why hadn’t she figured out?!

She could’ve prevented this.

She could’ve suspected.

She could-

Her nails bit deep into the soil.

Idiot.

Idiot.

Idiot!

She was nothing but a pathetic idiot.

[the-way-astray]

STRIEEFE 😆

This was the Katie prompt

(Sophie pov)

Sophie had always wondered if kissing could be as great as people had claimed. But kissing Keefe was so. Much. Better-

She stumbled forward suddenly. She glanced around. She wasn't in the Grove with Keefe anymore. In fact, Keefe wasn't anywhere!

People milled about in the park. Sophie tried to find a clue to where she was. Birds chirped in the breezy air.

The Forbidden Cities. She was back in the Forbidden Cities. But... why? How could she get back to Keefe?

(Stria pov)

The last thing Stria expected while taking her walk was to be randomly teleported into her childhood book series. But now, here she was, lips pressed against her least favorite character.

It had taken her a second to process what had happened. One moment, she was walking at her local park. The next, she found herself practically eating Keefe's face off.

Once she had realized what was going on, she jerked away. Keefe looked hurt until his eyes landed on Stria. His brows pressed together in confusion.

That face lasted all of two seconds before Stria reered her arm back. She slapped him clean across his cheek. It left a handprint on his face.

(Keefe pov)

Keefe reached up to feel his bruised cheek. It felt like it was starting to swell. Who was she? Where was Sophie?

"The frick!" He yelled. "Who are you?"

"I'm Stria," she told him. "Why was I kissing you?! I hate you!"

Ok, rude.

"You just randomly teleported in place of Foster. You don't even know me. HOW DO YOU HATE ME?"

She snorted. "Oh, trust me. I know you."

Ok, he wasn't liking this chick. "Ok, if you know me so well, what's my name?"

"Keefe Sencen," Stria replied, not missing a beat.

"That's freaky."

She crossed her arms. "Like I said. I know you."

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"Because," she scoffed. "You're obnoxious, manipulative, immature, and, frankly, you're basic."

"Ok, I don't like this replacement Sophie," Keefe decided.

"I didn't ask for this either!"

He raised his hands in surrender. "Ok, fine, how do we switch back?"

"Like heck if I know."

Keefe tried to rack his brain for a solution. "What were you doing when you got teleported here?"

"I was walking in the park near the water fountain."

(Stria pov)

Keefe considered this for a moment. "Alright. I think I know how you guys can switch back."

Stria had a strong feeling she wasn't about to like this plan.

"So we all need to do what the other was doing when you got swapped."

She thought about the implications of what that meant. That meant she was going to have to kiss him again. Hard pass.

"No," she decided.

"Do you want to go home or not? I'm not a fan of this plan either."

"Ugh. Fine." She rolled her eyes. "Sophie better walk by that fountain again soon. Or else I might end up vomiting in your mouth."

Every cell in Stria's body wanted to twist, scream, crawl, and kick as she stepped closer to the blonde boy in front of her. His stiff arms wrapped around her waist. He crinkled his nose before finally leaning down. Stria had to physically hold back her gag.

She was counting on Sophie as her lifeline at this point. Several minutes had gone by, lips on lips, and she had to keep herself from squirming. Even if all of her instincts screamed at her to clock him in his smug smirky face and run.

(Sophie pov)

Sophie still didn't know what to do. She had gone by a nearby hotdog stand for some food. She missed meat dearly. But she had finished it now and was sitting on the bench.

She was hoping that she waited long enough she'd get sent back home. Nope.

She sighed and headed back off near the main plaza of the park. She was getting antsy. She started to go near the fountain to look out at the water and coins of little kids wishes.

But when she got in the vicinity of it, something happened. She was disoriented until she realized she was back to kissing Keefe. She was back!

He pulled away and let out a sigh. "Oh, thank God," he sighed. "You're back!"

He crushed her with his hug.

"What happened to your face," she asked. She gently reached out to his bruised face.

"I don't wanna talk about it," he mumbled. "I'm just glad you're back."

He buried his face in her neck. She laughed and patted his head.

sigh . . .

the excessive use of exclamation points is absolutely taking me out

“The Forbidden Cities. She was back in the Forbidden Cities. But... why? How could she get back to Keefe?” this question is never answered . . . why did the swap happen

“The last thing Stria expected while taking her walk was to be randomly teleported into her childhood book series.” yeah, but why me . . . there are so many other kotlc fans

“One moment, she was walking at her local park. The next, she found herself practically eating Keefe's face off.” this sentence was pure pain to read. well. technically i wouldn’t be kissing him i would be trying to wash my mouth out with soap

“Once she had realized what was going on, she jerked away.” i like to think some core part of me would be way ahead of me and jerk back without my conscious kind no knowing what was happening yet because that’s how much i dislike keefe

“She slapped him clean across his cheek. It left a handprint on his face.” to be fair, i wouldn’t really blame him or hit him because that’s mean and this isn’t really his fault

“"I'm Stria," she told him. "Why was I kissing you?! I hate you!" Ok, rude.” please save me from this cringe

“"Because," she scoffed. "You're obnoxious, manipulative, immature, and, frankly, you're basic."” you forgot so many things . . .

“"Sophie better walk by that fountain again soon. Or else I might end up vomiting in your mouth."” please let me vomit in his mouth . . . i want him to feel pure disgust in my presence . . .

“Every cell in Stria's body wanted to twist, scream, crawl, and kick as she stepped closer to the blonde boy in front of her.” yeah, my skin actually physically crawls when i get disgusted so this is pretty accurate

“Several minutes had gone by, lips on lips, and she had to keep herself from squirming.” SEVERAL MINUTES???? what the fuck . . . do people kiss for several minutes even . . . also why should i keep myself from squirming. squirming doesn’t change the kissing part

“She had gone by a nearby hotdog stand for some food.” while i was having the worst time of my life, sophie was getting food???? realistically she’d be panicking but okay

“"I don't wanna talk about it," he mumbled. "I'm just glad you're back."” oh come on keefe tell sophie about my triumph

that honestly wasn’t too bad. at least i was disgusted by keefe the entire time. i rate this a 3/10

[numberonetacostan]

hi its your honorary microphone fictionkin coming in to talk about insane AU's I have so last night while I was completely unable to sleep, I was thinking a lot about my qsmp x inanimate insanity AU. Qsmp stands for quackity smp and for context its about these people trapped in an island called 'quesadilla' run by this pseudo-goverment called 'the federation'. So like the good taco and pickle interacting truther or whatever, I decided that it would be pretty funny if the fed just snatched them and put them on this island, and they just wake up not only to see each other but to see their surroundings and realize that they are in a place unknown to them. I think pickle would be so fucking uncomfortable, but I feel both of them set their issues aside from a moment to try and get out of here whatever this place is. And they get a video from the federation! its the introductory video and then they realize they are practically confined by walls, the video tells them to not press this oddly placed red button on the wall but since they are desperate to escape they do so anyways and its the moment of realization that you cannot escape this island. You are trapped in this island now, maybe you should start getting used to it. And I think this realization just kinda hits them a little too hard, they are both dazed, looking at the destroyed wall knowing that there might just not be a way to go back home and they dread. I was planning for them to fight or something but I think they are so in shock they cannot really pay attention to everything going on between them, they are trapped in an island. And they cannot escape, I think they freak out. I think they both ally to try and find some kind of way out because despite everything they are smart. They know that fighting wont bring a solution so they do this small 'truce' of sorts. This is also the time they meet 'cucurucho' cucurucho is the census beareu (whatever its spelled as) of the island. Her is a white bear with a creepy smile and talks in text-to-speech voice:

but then, a week has passed. And no progress aside as a possible way to contact the other contestants has presented itself. I think after a bit this is the moment they fight, I think the heavy reality of their situation hits them and I think they are so stressed out taco would probably completely snaps when pickle tells her off just like when he did on episode 16 and they start arguing, contents of this arguing should be obvious by now. But almost as some bad joke from life, the federation calls. They have a surprise for them: in the original smp, after the first week the players were given an egg to take care of in pairs. Since in this AU pickle and taco are the only ones in the island. The federation gives them one of these eggs called ''bobby'' by jaiden and roier in the original

taco and pickle, understandably so- when the confussion wears off are very fucking upset. They were stranded in this island with no way out, forced to be with each other on top of all of that despite their story together and these people whoever they were thought it was a GOOD idea to take care of a baby dragon egg until it hatches and its mother comes back. Just how much more worse it can get? I think more than angry at each other they are angry at the federation, but in the end after this anger and hurt and fights I think they just come to the agreement that despite everything this thing is practically a child. And it need their help to survive. So begrudgingly so they would start another truce only for this kid who has no idea what the fuck is going on or why these people that are meant to take care of him are yelling and so pickle grabs the certificate the federation handed them and calls him 'bobby'. I want you to know taco completely stops to look at him in the face because she finds the name just so stupid. ''Bobby?'' ''Bobby.'' ''BOBBY?! OUT OF ANY FUCKING NAME YOU COULD HAVE CHOSEN YOU CHOOSE BOBBY.'' and welp bobby is with them now. I don't have a lot to say more than as the days, weeks, months pass they become attached to this weird creature, it was meant to only be temporal something until it hatches but is it normal for eggs to not hatch after so long? but hey, what do they know about 'dragon eggs' or whatever shitty (possibly made up) story the federation told them. And so I think they still fight, I think they are uncomfortable with each other for a while, but before they know this creature makes them laugh and makes them perhaps joke with one another and try their best to take care of this things unknowinglly ends up bonding them somehow. And before they knew it they are in some weird situation where they aren't really friends? but they still joke with the other and make silly comments about the egg they are taking care of and know that despite everything they can trust the other to take care of this child that is by all means like theirs now. They get attached because bobby is amazing and bobby is silly and bobby just brings out the best of the other. Its the first time they can actually look at each other and smile for a new day and play...maybe goof around for a little bit. Grabbing crops and materials enough to surviva in this strange island they are stranded in. So its more like this unspoken solidarity they have and the trust they have on the other to take care of this egg. Pickle seeing taco's more maternal side with bobby just like she did with luz in my AU. Taco is protective of those she cares about and its especially true with bobby, she cares about this little guy so much. And just know bobby ADORES HER, like shown with jaiden he is honorary mama's voice he would be more silly and perhaps a little bratty with pickle like he was with roier but seems like a pretty little angel with taco around. With pickle he lets on more his chaotic side and you know this guy also loves him to death, they joke and go exploring and go to dungeons and bobby is fearless always facing danger head on and pickle despite this eggie being younger than he is can't help but smile and pat its head and wish for this sparkle and mischief he has to never go away when he turns into a dragon. They both know that there is probably going to be a point where they have to say goodbye, where they have to let the egg to hatch and fly away from the nest but they would be dammed if they didn't got attached to this thing. And they do. They do.

WHICH BRINGS ME BACK TO MY FAVORITE PART OF THE AU AND IS THAT WHEN THE S1 AND S2 CONTESTANTS ARRIVE INTO THE ISLAND THANKS TO THE FEDERATION AND THEY FIND TACO, PICKLE AND THIS WEIRD EGG THEY ARE TAKING CARE OF???? wait what do you mean this is your child. Why are you and taco so familiar with each other now. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS GOVERMENT JUST HANDED YOU AN EGG TO TAKE CARE OF AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF SCHOOL PROJECT.

so its been months by this point. Saying that everyone was fucking worried over pickle suddenly disappearing its an understatement. But I love to think of the shock they have when they see a taco awkwardly beside him, I think maybe just maybe pickle brought up mic to taco. Because she may have told him what went on and he saw the way taco tenses when he did, he saw the pain he had and when talking about it he saw the lovestruck adoration that exist within her for this woman that he never saw in her. And so I think he understands the way her face changes to reflect pain when she looks at microphone, the way she tries to make herself look smaller- invisible. And so he does her a favor, he tells her to go take care of bobby since he probably just woke up because he understands taco needs some time to prepare herself before talking to mic, taco does. And faintly pickle is able to hear a small ''thank you...'' escaping her lips. I think he does kinda explain the entire mess that went on and everyone is confuse but like they get to the house they built and they get to meet the legend himself. Bobby. And listen I think a lot of them would be so fucking confused but I know mic would fucking love him the moment she sees him ,is adoration at first sight she is sobbing and crying as she holds him and poor little egg is confused but I think bobby to an extend knows this woman is important to his mom. So he chooses to welcome her with open arms and play around her a little and they end up bonding while pickle and taco are awkwardly still explaining the story to them. there is more to it but I want to know your thought over the entire thing cuz its an AU I had a lot of fun thinking about :D see you soon!

Hi Kiara!!!!^^ Welcome back, and thank you for your submission!! :)

I'll start by letting you know in advance that I don't know a single thing about Minecraft smps!!! I mainly watched Minecraft youtube around a decade ago now (jeez) in the days of DanTDM, Stampy, PopularMMOs, and such, yeah? So I'm going to focus more on Pickle and Taco and how they interact rather than the quackity smp's plot, if that's alright!! Regardless, it was a neat read, and I appreciate the effort you must have put into typing that all out!!!^^ I'd know how long that sort of thing can take ;).

Pickle and Taco lost and forcibly separated from everyone else has a lot of plot potential, depending on when this takes place!! Pre-season 2? Mid season 2? Post-canon? Their dynamic would change quite a bit depending on when it takes place, yeah?

So Pickle is uncomfortable being alone with her, which is fair, and I imagine here she's rather quiet and sheepish since I'm assuming you're placing this post-canon. I can definitely see them not believing it at first, not wanting to believe they're trapped in another game(?) after just having found out that they were unknowingly trapped in one for over a decade. They would come to a silent mutual agreement to not argue or bring any of their issues up for the sake of getting themselves out of there. I can see Taco coming up with dozens of different ideas and schemes to try and get them out, none of them working would be quite discouraging to her, as well as a bit agitating to Pickle. He does not trust Taco, which is also fair, and if she could con her way through an entire season why can't she con her way out of this? He would definitely be having doubts about whether or not she was really trying to help, or if she was involved in her being stuck there in the first place.

I can definitely see both of them snapping after a failed attempt. Pickle is distrusting, which is fair, Taco is discouraged, they're both exhausted, they get into a pretty nasty fight.

That egg thing disturbs me. I will certainly be seeing it in my visions of the apocalypse. Regardless, uh. Yeah Taco would find naming it Bobby pretty dumb. They all call each other by their object names anyways, why Pickle would not just call it "egg", she does not understand. I can see Pickle and Taco falling into more of a rhythm over time, though, yeah. They're the only two people there, like it or not, they depend on each other not only for survival tasks but for social interaction. I am unsure of how alive the egg is, but for my sake I hope it is minimal. I do not know why it crashes so hard into uncanny valley for me, however it does, and I am Afraid. Anyways, yeah, I can see Taco and Pickle bonding in an odd way as they're forced to survive together. Pickle wouldn't trust her, persay, but he would trust her with his life.

It would be interesting for the other contestants to find them though!! They'd certainly be surprised to see Pickle and Taco talking so casually, but mostly happy to see them!! Well. Some people wouldn't be that happy to see Taco but my point still stands. Tacomic reunion hooray!!!! :3

[storiesbyjes2g]

3.101 Cash money

I took Kooper for a nice long walk, which was something we didn't do often. He was chill and required less physical activity than Rosie, so I always favored her when I wanted company on my jogs. Even though he could have gone without, he appreciated the time together and smiled the entire time. When we got home, Sophia was standing at the door giving me that look. I unleashed Kooper as quickly as I could and whisked her away into our love den. Being on vacation in a fancy house was cool and all, but nothing compared to our own bed. I think we were trying to show it how much we missed it and lingered there until our stomachs growled around dinnertime. Afterward, we attempted to settle on the couch in the office, but we were intercepted by a huge pile of presents. I forgot that was a thing sims did at weddings. Sophia was overjoyed at the sight; it felt like Winterfest all over again.

I let her open the first two from my parents, but then she handed me a box that had my name on it. I thought it was odd that the sender would single me out when the gift should have been for both of us. But when I saw who it was from, I understood.

"It's from Dub! Oh, there's a card..."

[click to enlarge]

I couldn't believe it and had to sit down and read it again. He had no idea how much of a blessing that was for us. Or maybe he did. Whatever the case, I was elated, and humbled, and determined, and proud, and all the other positive emotions. Our friendship was such a beautiful thing. Not because he gave me money, but because it was pure. It had no conditions or warnings or complications. He was the kind of friend I always wanted.

Eventually, it hit me that Sophia and I were about to come into a bunch of money and we could accomplish our dreams a lot sooner than later. I started dancing in my seat.

"A money tree? I didn't think they were real," Sophia said.

"Isn't it great?? If it grows fast enough, we could be in our house by next week!"

That thought excited me even more, and I danced even wilder.

"It's a very generous gift," she said hesitantly, "but..."

Like a record scratch in the club, I stopped. Party done.

"What's wrong? With all the money we're about to have, you'll never have to work again if you don't want to. We can go on vacations and stay as long as we want, buy our kids whatever they want... Hell, maybe I won't have to worry about teaching classes anymore. It's gonna be great!"

Her hands snapped to her hips, and I knew I'd messed up somehow.

"No, Luca! This is what I mean! I like who we are. Money has a way of changing sims, and I don't want that. I thought you taught yoga because you were passionate about it. Why would you stop? Are you doing it for the money?"

"I am passionate about it! But it's also how I make a living. If I didn't have to worry about making money, maybe I wouldn't have to worry about going from spa to spa, begging for a chance to teach!"

Her eyes flicked open, like she just realized something.

"But that's why you're going to open a studio."

"Yeah, but..." I sank back in the chair and let out all the air in my lungs. "That was my mom's idea. It's a good one, and sometimes I want to do it too. But sometimes I want my own plan. Everything I've done has been her idea, and..."

"So...you don't want a studio?"

"I don't know!"

She gasped.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. It's just...it's complicated. You want me to return the seed, then?"

She sighed.

"No. That will be an insult to Dub and his family..." She sighed again and paced the room, searching for a solution that would satisfy us both. "It would be nice to move into our house before the baby comes, but I don't want this to get out of control."

Something like a bolt of lightning struck through my soul, and I felt my eyes grow as large as the sun.

"The baby?! Are you-"

She gasped again.

"I'm sorry! That came out wrong! I just meant it would be nice to be settled in our home before we start having babies."

"So...we're not having a baby?"

"Not at the moment."

I was a little bit disappointed, to be honest. Her slip up shocked me at first, but I was kind of excited about it.

"Alright, so what do you suggest we do?" I asked.

"I just think we need a plan. Put some controls on it so we don't go crazy."

Heh, I know she said we, but she totally meant me. Whatever.

"We don't know how much money it's going to give us," she continued. "So what if we just take what we need to get our house and cover ourselves for a few months?"

"Alright... But what happens after that?"

"It can just sit there until an emergency comes up. Or when our kids want to move out or go to university or get married or...whatever."

The plan wasn't exactly what I wanted, but at least she wasn't completely opposed. This very much felt like one of those pick your battles moments, so I conceded.

"Okay fine. We can do it that way. Let's get this thing in the ground."

We went outside and picked a spot to plant it. I laughed when I took the seed out of the box.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"This seed! It's cash shaped like a flower! What kind of wizardry is this?"

I dug a hole, dumped the seed, covered it, and poured some water on it. Then, I stood over it, watching as if something were supposed to happen.

"Grow fast, little guy. I want to be in our new house as soon as possible."

Before going back into the house, I sent Dub a message to thank him for the gift.

Dub's note written by @mysimsloveaffair

[abbatoirablaze]

Behind Closed Doors, Chapter 1

Word Count:2k

Warnings: some cursing.

“So what I’m hearing is you made a mistake?”

Sebastian growled as he tried to keep from throwing his cell phone at the wall, “I didn’t make a mistake, Petashnik.  My manager did.  I’m calling you because I want you to fix it.  Tonight is a big night, and I want it to go perfectly.”

“Sounds like you need to shake things up with your manager then, Stan.   Not me,” the man on the other line said apathetically, “I understand that you may be having a big night, but I’m not the man that caused the problem.  I’m the man trying to offer you a solution.”

“Trust me,” Sebastian growled through the phone, “Marty is done with me.  I’ve decided that I’m going to personally see this through.”

“So then…what can I do for you?” he reiterated, asking the question once again, “you’ve got a girl for tonight, so you do have a date, correct?  She showed up to your apartment?”

“The girl…the one that I actually wanted…I want her…not…this girl that showed up at my apartment.” He frowned as he looked over to who was supposed to be his date for the evening to the party.  She was sucking in her cheeks, and giving him a dissatisfied look in response.  He frowned and held a hand up, “no offense.  I’m sure you’re wonderful.  I just-hadn’t picked you, so I-”

“If she’s wonderful, then what’s the problem, Stan?” Petashnik asked, cutting the actor off as he tired listening to his complaints.

“She’s not the girl I chose.”

“And who did you choose?”

“Excuse me?”

“What girl were you meaning to pick before your manager fucked it up?” the inpatient man repeated, “What was the number on her headshot?  I don’t mean to be blunt, but our call is nearing a half-hour and you’ve yet to tell me who it actually is, when she might be on call.  If it’s a simple mistake like that, then we can switch out the girls.”

Sebastian’s eyes lit up, “Really?”

“Really.  What is the number on the back of the shots we sent you?  I take it you still have her shots.  Most of the men like to keep the ones they pick so that they can…compare.”

Sebastian stalked over to his counter where surely enough, the boudoir photo of you sat.  Flipping it over he repeated the ID number on the back. 

There was a moment of silence on the other end and Sebastian could hear the clicking of something being typed into a computer, before the guy sighed on the other end, “Sorry, kid.  She was booked tonight as well.  She’s not available.”

“Well then why did you send out her picture?”

“Actually…looks like late last night we had a gentleman come in and signed her for a short-term contract…PR relationship deal.  You know how it goes.  She’s not going to be available for twelve to fourteen months, that is if you’re still as interested as you were initially.  You’ll have to wait at a shot for her.”

“TWELVE TO FOURTEEN MONTHS?” Sebastian yelled, “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ELROY?”

“Some actor shooting up in the ranks needs a serious relationship to show that he’s not just some East Coast party boy…sorry, Stan.  She was signed late last night after your manager already turned in the request for Violet.”

“SON OF A BITCH!” he growled, his hand slamming down on the counter while his mind ran at lightspeed, “what’s the actor’s name?  Maybe I cou-“

“It doesn’t work like that, Stan,” Elroy chuckled from his end of the line, “she signed the contract agreeing to the PR relationship, and we don’t just give that information out.  Paying customer or not.  Looks like you’ll just have to keep an eye on the tabloids and track her down on your own dime if you’re that serious about the girl.”

“God damn it…” he hissed.

“Need anything else?” he asked, “still got time before your party!  Did you want me to send over a different girl?”

“No…” he grumbled, “I don’t have time to get to know another one…”

“So how did the two of you meet again?”

Sebastian felt his breath catching in his throat the second he saw you. Your melodic laugh had him drawn even closer, ignoring the date he’d brought with him.

Sure, it was a short-list preliminary party for men and women who were considered for the Marvel films slated for a few years from now, but he couldn’t believe his luck when he saw you on the arm of one of the other guys. 

“Well, I was at a café…and Chris just happened to be there-“

“Did you ask for an autograph?” another of the men asked, cutting in.

“Actually…I accidentally took her drink,” Chris lied, a blush rising on his cheeks as he looked at you, “she was there studying for one of her midterms and I grabbed her drink…”

“He was hungover from a party the previous night, so he didn’t think twice when he’d barely paid and they called the drink order.  I guess he thought that they were just giving him he celebrity treatment because they recognized him from a previous film,” you said playfully as you leaned into him, “and apparently, he didn’t hear it when they called my name at the end of the drink order, either.”

“In all fairness, what are the odds that two people got that drink?” he asked, adding his own laughter in as his arm looped around your waist, pulling you even closer to his side, “I’ll have you guys know that it was a very particular order…I wasn’t just being a douche, grabbing the first drink I saw!”

“Our names sound nothing alike!” you accused, “and I get mine with cinnamon sprinkled on top…god your face was amazing when you tasted it.  You looked appalled that someone would get cinnamon on it.”

Sebastian couldn’t help but feel drawn to you as you giggled again, eyes never leaving Chris’.

“A more romantic person would have called it fate!” Chris teased, nudging, “fate intervening and pushing us together.”

“You two are cute, I’ll give you that!” Another actor, Mark Ruffalo, had smiled as his own arm held firm on his wife’s waist.

“So…what happened from there?” his wife asked curiously.

“I not so nicely asked him how my drink tasted, to which the barista apologized and began to remake it, while Mr. Doe eyes here tried to play innocent, acting like he’d had no idea that he’d just chugged half of my drink down.”

“I was!”

“Long story short he tried to play the actor card, and I told him that I didn’t know who he was.”

“I still think you were trying to knock my ego down a peg…” he shrugged, “I mean…come on everyone’s seen Fantastic Four…” 

“You know darn well I saw Not Another Teen Movie…Mr. Wyler!” you teased playfully.  A blush rose to his cheeks, like there was some inside joke between the two of you, and it made Sebastian’s blood boil as you leaned in and brushed his cheek before leaning against him, “Worked, didn’t it?”

He smirked and pressed a kiss to your temple, and Sebastian frowned.  The two of you seemed to have a very easy connection, and he found himself wondering if it would have been the same with him if he’d gotten to you first.

“You two are too cute!” Marks wife commented, softly, leaning against her own husband. 

“You’re giving us too much credit!”

“No, really…things don’t happen like that anymore!” Mark commented with his own smile, “its…refreshing.”

Chris gave them both a polite smile, but it was you that spoke as you gently pointed across the room, “babe…isn’t that your friend, Scarlett?  I thought you said she was going to pass on the Marvel stuff?”

“So it is,” he commented, his brow furrowing as he turned his attention back to Mark and his wife, “ I’m sorry to ask this, but do you mind if we cut out and say hi to Scarlett?  I haven’t seen her in months.”

The people that they’d been in a conversation with were perfectly okay with the two of you leaving it, and so you made a polite and curt goodbye before following Chris along to another group, threading seamlessly through the people.

“Are you sure you even want me here?”

Sebastian’s gaze shifted to the woman that he’d been with for the past few hours, and he shrugged to himself, her presence not entirely mattering in the slightest to him, “do you want to be here?”

The two shared a look and she frowned, “I saw one of my regulars in the other room…he’s probably upset that I took another booking-“

“Go…but tell Elroy I’m not paying for the night.”

She shrugged, making her way away from him and he frowned to himself.  Taking out his phone his frown only deepened when he thought about how much longer he’d have to plaster on a smile and work the room before he could slink back to his apartment alone; thoughts of you on his mind.

“Twelve to fourteen months!” he muttered to himself as he shook his head. 

“Those things will kill you, you know…”

Sebastian nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the door closing behind him.  You took a few steps towards the balcony and leaned against the railing, looking out into the open air. 

“You look like you could use one…” he said softly, “know it can’t be easy lying like that in there…”

You frowned as you gave him a look, “e-excuse me?”

“You and Evans,” he chuckled, taking another drag before blowing the smoke away from the two of you, “I know he went to the company…you were in a lineup of available girls yesterday…”

“I saw you with Violet…” you uttered softly, “Before she started hanging around a director…did she ditch you?  I-I could mention it to Mr. Petas-”

“Didn’t care for her company,” he said with a shrug as he cut you off, “I was supposed to have a different girl…my manager screwed up the order.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah,” he shrugged, flicking the butt over the edge, “tried to rectify it myself…but when I called today…you weren’t available anymore.”

“Oh…” Your eyes widened ever so slightly as you looked at him, the realization that he had wanted to order you crossing your features, “y-you wanted to book me?”

He leant against the rail and nodded, not feeling confident to look at you any longer, “Yeah…but Elroy said that you’re going to be booked for the next twelve to fourteen months…so it doesn’t look like I’ll get to enjoy your company any time soon…”

“Oh…uh, yeah…Chris and I-“

“I know what it is…” he chuckled, “PR relationships happen all the time in our business, sweetheart.  Just uh-you know…if you are interested, after it’s all said and done…you should give me a call…”

“I-It’s not just a PR relationship,” you admitted softly, not daring to look at him either as you thought about the details of the contract that you had signed, “Chris…he wants to settle down…have kids…a wife…he uh-his manager explained it all to me when they sat me down last night to go over the contract.  I-I’ll be staying with him…and I’m with him.  We’re a couple.”

Sebastian’s eyes snapped to yours his brow raising, “What?   Elroy said-“

“Twelve months is the time frame Chris set as a minimum…if nothing happens after fourteen months then we can readjust and see if we want to continue,” you admitted softly, “he-he wants to start trying immediately though.  So he-“

“You’re a high-profile escort.  You don’t have kids with the client.  There’s not a contract for that sort of thing.”

“There is though…”You laughed, shaking your head at him, “it’s called a Behind Closed Doors contract…and it means just that.  The PR relationship is just a part of it…but I’m obligated to get to know him…just as he is with me…I won’t be available in twelve to fourteen months…if uh-things go well, I won’t be returning to the company.  I’m going to be with Chris…the contract signing was last night, but that was also the night of the final interview, where he chose between me and Violet.  I’m sorry Elroy gave you the wrong information, Mr. Stan.” 

Chapter 2

[crazycat010]

Eight half-bloods shall answer the call

OPPOSITES ATTRACT part 2

Leo Valdez x OC Zarya Mirova

click here for the Opposites attract masterlist

IN WHICH: Leo leaves for the quest to save Hera and then comes back just in time for a new strange prophecy to be said, that will leave him and zarya not only shocked but also full of things to do

Reader is referred to with her own name, mostly fluff. No explicit context.

word count=3.847 words

You were woken up by a very hot, burning sensation spreading across your body.

Your eyes widened as you quickly got up from your sleeping position, up on the tallest branch of the massive tree.

You descended from it, checking out the situation: there he was, the gigantic rugged bronze dragon everyone feared. He’d been built by the ex-counselor of the Hephaestus’ Cabin, but had started malfunctioning a couple of months ago. Many campers had tried to find a solution to the dragon problem, but the creature seemed to have gone mad, burning and destroying everything within its reach.

It was the main reason for which many dryads and satyrs had left the woods, and Annabeth always scolded you for going in there recklessly, but you never listened to her.

You’d already met him a few times, but you both usually ignored each other: he must’ve sensed your ice powers and you knew about his fire breathing, so you both knew things would’ve gone down if you were to fight each other. Besides, he’d stopped being that much of a problem once he’d started going out more, probably to explore or maybe search for his long lost master.

So why was he suddenly here, and who or what was he fighting against?

A flash of brown curls could be seen from your post, and that’s when it hit you. What was HE doing here?

You jumped down from the trees, creating an ice shield and successfully saving the latino’s life by getting him back on the tree.

“What the heck do you think you’re doing?” You whisper-yelled at him, making sure he hadn’t been hurt by the flames.

He stared at you in shock, quickly explaining himself: “I could ask you the same question. Anyways, I think I can help him.”

You stared at him, confused.

“Do you trust me?”

“No.” You dead-panned him, a tone so serious probably only Annabeth would’ve had the guts to keep discussing with you, yet you found yourself even more surprised and annoyed when he replied.

“C’mon, please!”

“I said no, it’s too risky.”

“Says the girl who sleeps in the woods.”

“Shut up idiot.” You scanned the area: the dragon looked like he was leaving, so you could bring back to his cabin the latino elf and pretend nothing ever happened. 

“I’m no kid, you can’t tell me what to do.” He interrupted your flow of thoughts.

“No, but I can drag your ass back to Camp and get you a well-earned punishment.”

“But then you’d have to explain how you find me here, and I don’t think Annabeth, as a child of Athena, wouldn’t take a lot of time to realize someone’s started sleeping in the woods lately.”

The idiot had a point, and the only thing you were left to do was glare at him and think about a compromise.

He might’ve been recklessly stupid, but he looked like he had a plan, so you decided to hear him out and at least give him a chance at convincing you to let him go, and perhaps, help him.

“What’s your plan?”

He looked reassured to have even the slightest possibility at going back to what he was previously trying to do, answering you: “I’ll go down there and trap him under a net I’ve made, attached to those trees.” He pointed to an area not too distant: how had you not been woken up by him earlier? You had a very light sleep.

You pushed back all the questions, nodding along to figure out what was going on in that little mind of his.

“Then, I’ll clean his circuits and fix him!”

“What am I going to do in all of this? And how do you hope of not dying because of his flames? Need I remember you, he’s a robotic dragon made out of celestial bronze and with a terribly tricky fire-breath?”

“You’ll see. I promise I can do this. I know I can.”

“Fine, but I’m getting you out of there if I see something not right.”

“That sounded more like an statement than a suggestion…”

“I wasn’t asking for your permission.”

Having finally convinced you, the boy jumped down from your hiding spot, yelling at the bronze dragon to get his attention.

The metallic creature huffed and puffed, unamused by the small boy.

Leo started waving a bottle of Tabasco in the air, getting the dragon in the perfect position before the trap sprung, rendering the creature unable to move.

You’d seen the faint glimmer of light in his neck, but weren’t able to react as the trapped dragon blowed a giant flame in the kid’s direction: you had let a camper die. It was all your fault. You were never going to be able of forgiving yourself.

With half a mind of destroying the bronze creation, you ran to the burnt spot where Leo had been standing, flames and smoke swallowing you whole.

You looked around, panicking: where was he? Why couldn’t you at least find his body?

Suddenly, a strong force grabbed you by the waist and pushed you out of the fire circle, making you fall rather harshly onto the ground beneath.

You felt another body fall on top of you in a messy mix of limbs and bodies.

You swiftly got up, pointing your sword at the figure. When the smoke started to dissipate,  it revealed the idiotic champ from Cabin 9.

“What the heck were you thinking?” He exclaimed.

“I-I saved you.” You stuttered, mind going blank. How was he alive? Hat had just happened? You were on the verge of tears both from the anger towards yourself for letting this happen, from the pang of guilt and sadness at the thought of Leo’s death, and lastly, from the shock caused by his reappearance.

He stopped arguing once he noticed your trembling state, disoriented and scared, and it made his heart skip a beat: where you really this worried about him?

Your panicked state was soon masked by the icy glare you always wore, scolding Leo for his reckless actions.

After you had calmed down, you asked him: “How did you do that?”

“I-I don’t know, really. It’s a thing I’ve just recently noticed: I’m immune to fire, and I can even summon flames, though sometimes involuntarily…”

“I’ve heard about that power. It’s not common even between the sons and daughters of Hephaestus. There hasn’t been someone like you in probably decades.”

“I figured…”

“Hey, what’s up with you?” You noticed his small frown and saddened expression.

“It’s nothing really.” He wiped his nose with his shirt, getting up from the ground.

“Bullshit.” You seethed. You may be cold and distant, but you hated when you couldn’t help people, and right now Leo really looked like he could use  a friend.

“After I showed up, with my powers and everything, bad things started following. What if everything happened because of my powers?”

“I think you’re looking at it from the wrong side. What if, your powers came, because bad things were happening?”

“Are you suggesting I’ll use them to save people?”

You shrugged your shoulders, heading in the direction of the angry dragon.

Leo regained control over himself quickly, hiding the happy look on his face at the half-compliment and catching up with your quick pace.

“Hello big guy! Want some Tabasco?” He approached the bronze dragon.

Where did he get Tabasco? You know what, never mind.

“Look, I only want to help you. I’ll remove the control panel so I can clean it and fix it, so don’t you get mad at me.” He told the machine, as if it was a real person.

In one brief movement, he took the circuit system out, powering down the creature and began cleaning it with some supplies he’d brought with himself.

After he’d fixed it, the dragon was still in a bad shape, but at least it had stopped trying to kill everyone. Instead, it lead the two of you further into the woods, until you reached a huge bunker.

It looked old and rusty, as if nobody had come in there for a long time, which was probably the case.

You managed to all fit in there, and soon, you found yourself cleaning up the room while Leo worked on the dragon, after having found two big wings to attach him.

Your frown had grown: how had you never came here before? You spent most of your days, or nights at least, walking in the woods, yet not once had you noticed this place. Whomever had built it, must’ve been a very smart guy.

After a few hours, most of the work was finished and the sun had already began rising, when you found an odd-looking belt, covered in dust.

Cleaning it quickly, you went to Leo, who’d just finished his work on the dragon, offering him the belt.

His eyebrows furrowed in a funny way as he took it with extreme carefulness, like it was made of gold and diamonds, and not old and worn-out leather.

As he put it around his waist, he inspected the big lateral pockets, opening them, as a box of mints sprung out of the seemingly empty container.

“What?” He exclaimed.

Starting to realize how it worked, he opened the palm of his hand, and said: “I’d like, three bolts!”

Soon, three perfectly shaped and shiny bolts jumped out of the pocket, landing in his hand.

A short silence followed: had you found a magical tool?

“Woah, this is so cool! You should take it! You found it first.” He began undoing the belt.

You shacked your head vehemently: “You read the Bunker’s name, it says Bunker 9. Therefore, it belongs to the Hephaestus’ cabin, which leads, to you. Besides, I wouldn’t know how to use it, I already have my weapons where I need them.”

He gulped down. “Thanks, I guess. It looks so interesting.”

A short lived silence followed.

“Oh look! It’s already dawn! We should head back to Camp.” He said, reactivating the dragon.

“What are you gonna name it?” You asked, curious.

“What?” He replied, confusion etched all over his face.

“The dragon. You found it and fixed it, so it’s yours now. You should name it.” You explained.

He nodded along, scurrying after you. “Festus.”

You looked at him questioningly. What kind of name was that?

“It doesn’t mean anything. Not that I know at least, but I think it suits him.”

A long pause followed. In a meek attempt at tuning down the uneasiness you were feeling in your stomach, you broke the ice: “I don’t think we should tell about this, not until you’re back from your quest, at least.”

“You’re right, I guess…” He simply stated.

You shrugged your shoulder, just as a long trumpet noise was heard: breakfast had started!

“We’re gonna be late to breakfast, a-and Jason and Piper will leave without me! T-this was a bad idea.” He began rambling.

You stepped on his foot, effectively shutting him up.

“Ow! What was that for?” He exclaimed, grabbing his foot in his hands dramatically and starting to jump up and down on the other one.

“Find a solution, not a problem.” You hissed menacingly.

Festus was calmly wandering around the forest in a way better mood than the one you’d found him in last night.

“We could fly on Festus!” He proposed.

“Wait what? We?” What was he implying? That was definitely not the solution you had in mind.

“I mean, you have to get back to Camp too right?”

“I’ve got my horse.”

“Well, he isn’t here now, is he?” He grinned smugly.

He was cut off by you whistling. Shortly after, your white maned pegasus arrived flying.

“I have to go on a mission too: there are a couple of kids hat need to be brought to camp.”

“Soo…You won’t be coming with me to the dining Pavilion?”

You shook your head, for the hundredth time today.

“Sooo…It’s a goodbye then?” He said, almost questioningly.

“We’ve only met yesterday.” You said, unfazed.

He ignored your statement: “I’ll see you when I come back, Zarya.”

You nodded along, watching as he climbed onto his new dragon.

Before he could depart, you said: “Hey Leo. If you ever need anything, you can always Iris-message me…Nissa told you how that works, right?”

He simply nodded in response, mind shortcutting and brain going fuzzy at your sudden worried and caring tone.

Departing, you flew away in opposite directions, yet something gnawed in the back of your mind, telling you it was not the last time you’d see each other, and that something quite interesting would surely happen once he came back.

AFTER LEO, PIPER AND JASON SAVE HERA.

A rather loud commotion brought your attention away from the cleansing and rearranging of your weapons. What was happening?

You finished sharpening the last dull blade and then got out of the Ares Cabin, where you’d helped the other campers sharpening their swords with the ice shards you could easily produce from your hands.

A familiar voice stood out, as you recognized Leo Valdez in the huge crowd that had surrounded the three missioners.

You didn’t know how, or why, but you felt relieved to know everyone was safe. When you’d found the head of Festus in Bunker 9, on a windy weekend when you’d decided to rearrange the messy place, you’d gotten quite concerned about the fate of your three friends-ehm fellow campers.

Nobody had seemed entertained by your arrival, but just as you were heading back to your own Cabin, a warm hand grabbed your wrist, spinning you around.

A panting Leo came into your view, saying between heavy breaths: “Hey Zarya! Long time no see eh! I’m sorry I wasn’t able to Iris message you that much, we were kinda busy with all the battles and stuff.” He chuckled, letting go of your arm.

“Hello to you too Leo, and you needn’t worry about that, I figured…”

You bit your lip, trying to fill the awkward silence that was building up: “How are you?”

“As perfect as ever, chica. What about you? Didn’t miss me too much, did you now?”

You offered a tight-lipped smile: “I’m good, thanks…”

“That’s it? No cheesy love confession or anything?” He tried to lighten up the mood.

You turned to stare at the ground, already regretting what you were gonna say: “I’m…I-I’m glad you’re back.”

You could feel his amazed expression, but didn’t have time to keep up the conversation as he was swept away by Annabeth and Chiron, both desperate for the mission report or news that could lead them closer to finding Percy’s unknown location.

You watched him disappear in the small room, the small devil on your shoulder telling you you should’ve at least ruffled his messy hair. To be honest, you’d missed him a lot, everyday hoping to get a call from him, even if it was just a quick greeting, yet everyday ending up more and more disappointed, frustrated and worried than the one before. This mix of emotions had troubled you for the past weeks, rendering more and more difficult to concentrate on the simplest of tasks, like going on patrol in the woods or even doing archery; one of the many reasons for which you had chosen to sharpen the blades that morning, feeling even worse than usual. You didn’t understand why though…He was just one of your many fellow campers…Right?

The day flew by pretty quickly, with Leo showing everybody Bunker 9 and telling them about his fire powers (which only you, Piper and Jason knew about besides him). During the tour, you felt Annabeth glaring at you. She was probably mad because you hadn’t informed her about the mysterious place, but you’d told Leo to not tell anyone about it. Even though he’d told his two friends, it was simply because, being on a mission with him, they deserved to know where he’d repaired Festus and gotten his magic belt from, so you weren’t angry at him for partially breaking his promise. The tour ended with Chiron organizing yet another assembly around the camp-fire to discuss the various missions’ developments aside from the one the three newbies had conducted, for example the one you, though mostly Annabeth, were working one which was centered around finding his ex-boyfriend. Percy.

You’d been told about Jason’s past and the Roman Camp, but didn’t have much time to recover from the shock as Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Camp’s new Oracle, made another prophecy, like the one she and Jason had told before his departure for Hera’s saving mission, though slightly different:

"Eight half-bloods shall answer the call,

Beneath storm or fire the world must fall,

From forgotten frost, a new hope shall rise from the depths,

And foes bear arms at the Doors of Death.”

Suddenly, all the campers’ and instructors’ eyes were trained on you: who else could the ‘forgotten frost’ be?

A wave of emotions hit you like a tidal wave: nausea and confusion from the mission you were going to be part of, nervousness and unease from the prospect of having to fight along other half-bloods and being actually part of something for the first time in your life. Thinking about this should’ve brought you joy and relief: you were finally chosen for something! However, you couldn’t help the growing anxiety that arose in your stomach: what if you weren’t up to the standards required for the quest? What if you made a mistake that caused the failure of the quest or even someone’s death? What if you ruined everyone’s chances at winning and became hated by all of the gods? Your mother had yet to claim you, maybe because she was ashamed of you, or she was disgusted and repelled by you. All your past worries and negative thoughts threatened to split your mind in halves, but you were able to keep your composure, though you knew the walls you’d fiercely built would risk tumbling down, especially if you were to fight alongside others that would have to be able to trust you and therefore, get to know you better, in order to work together.

You gulped down wearily, beads of cold sweat running down your temples as you started nervously fidgeting with your hands: why was everybody staring at you? You should be cold and restrained, so why were you panicking?

Chills ran down your spine as a warm hand caressed your back, trying to even out your breathing. You didn’t need to look over your shoulder to recognize the latino, who soothed you in a motherly way as Annabeth approached you just as worriedly.

Once you’d regained control over your emotions, Chiron rose from his seat, shushing the chatter: “It looks like the prophecy has changed. I suppose we all know who the ‘forgotten frost’ is, right Zarya?”

You got up slowly and went to the center of the assembly where Chiron stood, nodding absent-mindedly.

“How is she supposed to help on this mission? She’s unclaimed and hasn’t got total control over her powers, so she’ll only risk hurting others. Perhaps what ‘forgotten frost’ means is another girl whose powers have been undervalued and whose heart and mind is ready to take any decision in the name of the quest’s success. Ergo, me!” Drew Tanaka, the infamous arrogant and manipulative head of Aphrodite’s Cabin spoke up, not-so-subtly trying to make yet again everything about herself, picturing you as the bad guy of the situation who didn’t even deserve to be here.

You may have not liked yourself that much, and  perhaps, there was the chance you thought you were no better than all the other campers in here, if not even less significant and useful, due to your past and your inability to use your powers fully, yet this was nothing compared to the hate you’d grown for Drew. She was always so vain, using her charmspeak to control others and flirting with boys left and right, always prying to be the center of attention. She’d come to dislike you after she’d failed to charmspeak you: it was like the icy walls you’d built around you thanks to your powers and suppressed feelings, the same frost the prophecy talked about, protected you from her words. After she’d seen her attempts fail over and over again, she’d grown accustomed to hating you with all her guts, constantly trying to get on your nerves and painting you out as the bad guy in everybody else’s perspective.

You were done with all her bullying, having endured enough of it, but weren’t able to speak up for yourself as Leo raised his voice, coming to aid you in a moment of weakness: “Hey! Don’t you talk about Zarya that way! She deserves more than anyone else to be here. I may have not known her for long, but I’m sure she’s worked hard to earn her rightful place at Camp as a respected and strong demigod. Everybody knows she’s the one the prophecy talks about, so next time keep your useless and self-centered comments to yourself, Drew!”

You swear you could’ve hugged him right then and there, even Chiron looked shocked at Leo’s sudden outburst.

With the most serious face you’d ever seen on him, Leo stared at the conceited Aphrodite’s daughter blankly, almost menacingly.

“Fine then, let her be part of this mission. But don’t come back to me crying after she’s ruined all your chances at succeeding with your plans. You’ll regret this!” She exclaimed, scoffing. And with that, she turned around and left, shortly followed by a few of her half-siblings.

You nodded towards Leo as a thanks, but also to stop him from continuing to argue with Drew.

You took in a long breath, unsure of what to do next, now that all eyes were back on you.

“I may not be able to control my powers yet, but I’ll keep working on them. I assure you, you can trust me. I want to see this done and the quest ending in a success just as much as you do. I probably have more motives than you to participate in this quest.” You referred to the fact your mother had yet to claim you, and this was the perfect opportunity in which you could prove your worth and earn her respect.

Noticing your nervousness, Annabeth stole the spotlight: “So, to sum it up, me, Piper, Jason and Leo are part of these eight demigods. I think Zarya and Percy have two spots reserved for them as well, so we just have to go to this Roman Camp where we’ll hopefully find the remaining two. Right?” Everyone nodded, forgetting about your presence just as fast as they’d noticed it.

With much uncertainty, you took a step back, repositioning yourself next to the now sitting Latino.

That was it, right? The start of a new adventure…Who knew where it was going to take you?

Hiii! Thank you so much for reading! I hope you've appreciated this post. Part 3 is coming up soon (sorry if it took me one to post this one) but you're more than welcome to come check out my account with my other posts and/or make requests(MASTERLIST). Do NOT plagiarize this or any of my content.

Love you guys! See you soon!😘

Written by crazycat010 © 2025 crazycat010

[thechaotictheoryy]

Unravel. | Chapter 13: Loving You Isn't Worth It

summary: What if you had chains around your heart but you were the one who put them there? If you took a look at Parker’s heart, you would see a nice beating heart but Parker felt there were heavy metal chains wrapped it. After years of a disconnected relationship with her parents and a hard break up with her boyfriend of four years, Parker Williams made her heart mentally chained. Declaring to never fall in love again but what happens when she meets a witty musician who is all about seeking love?

pairing: main character x Hongjoong ft. ex! Yeosang

genre: (18+ minors dni), romance, fluff, lots of angst, coming to age, college au, smut, strangers to lovers, self discovery

word count: 3,765

chapter warnings: crying, yelling, Hongjoong's flashback, glass breaking, verbal and physical abuse.

song rec for this chapter: Merry Go by DPR Ian

Three years ago. 

Monday June 10th, 2019. 

Seattle, WA

Hongjoong

Growing up, I always watched my parents make up and then found a solution to end the chaos. Things seemed so easy so I always thought relationships were fairly easy if communication was always there and expressing to each other would be simple. Also, my parents told me fights are impossible to avoid even when you’re in love. At the end of the day, you and your partner are still two different individuals no matter the similarities. They wanted me to find a nice girl and understand the hardships. 

I would write short poems about girls and how I found them intriguing. Kids always find me a little weird because I was off writing somewhere.  My first kiss was in fifth grade and it was under the slide with a girl named Heather. I liked Heather, I didn’t know why but having my first kiss with such a cute girl made me like her. Me being an ignorant fifth grader, I thought we would continue to have whatever was going for a very long time. I was ten, trying to experience these hardships my parents wanted me to go through. 

Heather ended up avoiding me once we entered middle school. I told my parents about Heather and I felt about everything because I wanted to know how someone could kiss me and tell me they like me, just to avoid me. They looked at me with saddest eyes and they tried to explain that everyone just wasn’t comfortable telling everyone that they like someone openly because we were so young. I didn’t fully understand so I would try to talk to Heather every chance I got but she would avoid me until one day I confessed to her in front of our class and basically cussed at her for leading me on if she didn’t want me. At the time, I didn’t care how I looked in everyone’s eyes. Looking back on it, I feel a little embarrassed because I wanted this first crush of mine to work out. After that happened, she pretended to act like she didn’t remember me in front of everyone and I was bullied for  a “stalker”.

I had to transfer schools because the bullying was taking a toll on my mental health. I never knew at the age of eleven, I would think about ending my life but the feeling was there. I remember just having milk poured on my head and watching Heather laugh as it ended. 

I knew at that moment I really did want to die. 

My new middle school was so much better but it was better because no one knew me and I was able to just avoid everyone, closing myself off to vulnerability. No more writing love songs and poems openly for everyone to see. It didn’t feel good, it didn’t feel good to not be myself. I felt like I was living in a shell and my parents told me it was okay to be myself but I felt like I would get bullied all over again or my heart shattered by another girl. 

Years came to follow and I entered high school. I decided to finally let myself be able to feel and made a lot of friends in the music production club and writing club. 

Sophomore year, I remember being in the room where our club held meetings one day and this girl walked in with the prettiest greenish gray eyes that I ever seen in my life, in fact she was the only person I knew with that eye color. Her wavy black hair had complimented her tan skin. I could tell she was either new or she had just never come around before. I wasn’t used to seeing other Koreans in Washington. I remember my best friend Elliot introducing her as a new member and she had just transferred from a school in Arizona. Our eyes met that day and I knew it wouldn’t be the last time we would stare into each other's souls. 

I remember how her mouth curved into a smile when she realized it too.

I remember her rolling the name “Soojin” off her tongue.

I remember how I held her in my arms, kissing her two weeks after that. 

I remember having sex for the first time in her bed one month after we had our first kiss. 

I remember her asking me to be her girlfriend right after. 

I knew that she was going to be the love of my life six months later. I knew she was someone I wanted to be with forever. I wanted to graduate with her and head to college together. I wanted to become a famous music producer while she became a famous sculptor. I wanted to own a little house in LA and we grow old in that little house together. I thought we would be this perfect couple who could work out anything that came our way because that’s how we seemed in everyone’s eyes. 

They were wrong

I was so wrong. 

Oh, I was so fucking wrong. 

I was so wrong for thinking that “perfect” was something that a relationship could be. This relationship was far from perfect. It was very close to shitty, draining, irritating. The first eight months was something close to perfect but it felt like a switch went off, a switch went off in her. I never understood the phase of people having two sides but I came to find out when dealing with Choi Soojin. 

She made me hate myself. 

She put blame on me when something didn’t work out for her. 

She forced me to have sex even when I wasn’t in the mood. 

Her anger triggered me into having panic attacks. She would yell at me to shut up and punch the wall because she knew that hitting me would make everyone around us talk. Her choice to not hit me was for more of her reputation, not mine. She abused me verbally, mentally, and emotionally. She loved seeing me depressed and crying rather than seeing me smile because my happiness pissed her when she was going through something. 

Everyone probably would think.. How can a guy be abused by a small petite girl? But I wasn’t confrontational unless I knew I could take it. My parents taught me how to love and raised me so softly. I could raise my voice, I could be this angry person but a side of me just couldn’t break like I wanted to. 

She wanted me to hurt way worse when she was hurting. 

She wanted my pain to be way worse than hers. 

I was her punching bag, I was assaulted by her words. She knew my love language was words of affirmation so she knew words had a very strong effect on my character. She knew how to rip me apart and I let her because I loved her. 

I guess today I got tired. 

I was done with all the bullshit I had been going through for the past two years.

Now I was currently walking up the stairs to her house. I had to take a few stops getting here because I didn’t know how the outcome of this was going to work. I knew that this was possibly going to be a disaster and it would lead to us yelling at each other. I just couldn’t be a punching bag anymore and I needed to let this go before we got into college and this continued. I know when we both got to USC we would barely see each other anyway because we were in two different majors. I rather rip the bandaid off right here at home then back up in a different state. 

I saw that her parents weren’t home and that was a good thing because I know how she acted when her parents were around. She would probably try to cry and pin everything on me. I knocked on the door and waited for her to come open it. Hopefully she wasn’t sleeping or anything, I had texted her an hour ago and told her I was coming over. 

I waited a few more minutes and heard the door unlock. The door opened and she looked at me with such a dull expression. She moved to the side, letting me inside. I heard the door close and the next thing I knew my back was pressed against it with her lips landing on into mine. I tried to push her and she pinned my wrists against the door, kissing down my neck. 

“I didn’t come over here for this,” I bit my lip, containing my moans that were threatening to escape my lips. I didn’t need her to think I wanted this because I didn’t. 

“Why did you come over then?” She stopped and looked at me. 

“I want to break up Soojin”

Her eyes widened a little and she let go of my wrists. She was quiet and it was scaring me a little that I wrapped my arms around myself. She tilted her head a little and then caressed my cheek with her left hand. 

“You’re kidding, this is some type of joke” 

“It’s not,” I shook my head, making her hand fall. 

“Joong,” her tone changed, I could hear the anger building up. I knew she was getting angry because her fist was not balled and her left eye was slightly twitching. I hated seeing this, I had nightmares about her face sometimes. I always felt like she would slip and actually hit me but that day never came. 

“We can’t do this anymore. It's not healthy for either one of us, mostly for me. I can’t continue to sit here and let you talk to me the way you do Soojin when something pisses you off. I’m drained and I’m tired.” I felt tears well up in my eyes. 

“Such a fucking crybaby,” she walked away and headed up stairs.

Was she not listening to me? Was she trying to ignore and act like this can continue? I wasn’t going to let her insults make me back down today.

“Soojin,” I followed her upstairs. 

“We’re not breaking up Joong, just cry like you usually do and hit me tomorrow.” She was about to close the door in my face and I stopped the door with my foot. 

“Don’t fucking dismiss me” 

“Who do you think you are talking to?” She opened the door and got in my face. Usually I would back down and apologize but I couldn’t today, no matter how much I wanted to cry. No matter how much my brain was telling me to say sorry and continue in this relationship. My heart couldn’t take this pain anymore. 

“I’m talking to you Soojin, we need to break up and just move on with our lives okay? You can either accept it or keep living in delusion. I hope you find peace.” 

I moved my foot and turned to walk downstairs. I wasn’t going to go back and forth with her about how we need to stay together. She had to know that one day, I was going to get fed up and leave when I could. Moving to a different state for school was going to give me that opportunity. 

I felt myself fall because she tripped me and hit my knees hard. I looked at her and she was hovering over me. I was prepared for if she actually decided to hit but it wouldn’t make a difference with me staying. I still was going to leave this house single, whether she liked it or not. I honestly was praying for her parents to come home at any minute. 

“Hongjoong, we are not throwing away two years because you want to be a selfish stubborn bitch. I know sometimes I can be a little too much but I can work on it. We are going to the same university in the Fall, there should be no reason why we can’t work on ourselves before we leave.” 

“You literally just put your hands on me and just called me a bitch. You still think I want to be with you? You’re more fucking insane than I thought” 

“Watch your words”

“What are you going to do Soojin? Hit me? If you wanted to, you would have done so already” 

She pressed her lips together and grabbed my hair, pulling it. I Groaned in pain and tried to prey her hands off. I wasn’t some fucking rag doll and I wasn’t going to let her treat me like one. 

“Soojin! Fucking let go!,” I said, scratching at her hands. 

“Stop being such a fucking weirdo and I wouldn’t have to act like this Joong. You just come to my house wanting to break up out of nowhere. If being with me was such an issue, you should have left a long time ago!” She finally let go, pushing me away. 

I did something that I never thought I would do. 

I slapped her. 

I slapped her with all the power I had. She held her cheek and looked at me with a shocked expression. I was breathing hard, holding onto my head. My head was fucking throbbing and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was bleeding a little from how hard she was pulling my hair. 

“Get out before I do something I don’t want to do,” she walked into her room and slammed the door. I walked downstairs and out the door. Tears rolled down my face as I walked down the street. 

I was free. 

I was finally fucking free and it felt good. 

I stood up for myself and felt so damn good. 

I never thought I would let someone have such an effect on me. My parents didn’t raise me to bow down to anyone but because I was a hopeless romantic, I couldn’t stop myself.

I craved love. 

I craved all the attention she gave me. 

Sometimes I thought I stayed with her because I just needed someone to need me and want me in that way especially after what happened in middle school. That situation with Heather always remained in my head. I felt like it was so traumatizing and the dark thoughts I had about myself made it always sit in the back of my head. But being with Soojin, I barely thought about Heather and the pain she caused.

I thought falling in love with Soojin was the best thing to ever happen to me. 

I just didn’t know it would cost all of my mental sanity to stay with her. 

Next Day.. 

4:23pm.

I was sitting at my desk in my room, fixing up a short story I was working on to release some inner emotions. My parents were gone on a trip for the weekend and my brother was at work so I would be alone until later tonight. I wish that wasn’t the case, I really wanted to hang out with someone from home today. I would call up one of my friends but I just didn’t want to be a burden to them. Plus, me and Soojin had the same friends. I didn’t want them getting into what happened between us. 

I heard a banging on the front door and it made me jump. I walked downstairs, grabbing my dad’s baseball bat that was next to the staircase. I looked through the peephole and saw those greenish gray eyes. I rolled mine and put down the bat. 

“What do you want Soojin!” I yelled. 

“Open the door Hongjoong”

“I told you yesterday we were done, I’m not doing this with you” 

“Just.. open the door or I’ll break a window and climb in” 

“And you’ll be paying for it” 

“Joong,” I heard her voice soften. “Just open the door please. We can talk this out.” 

“After what happened yesterday, I don’t expect you to talk without putting your hands on me. It’s best if you just leave and we don’t have to see each other again” 

I heard her sigh and jingle the knob. I crossed my arms and just watched it move around. There was no way I was opening the door for her. She was going to be standing out there all day and I wasn’t going to sit around to watch her. I turned around and started going upstairs. I flinched when I heard a big clash and some glass hit the ground. 

Did she really just break our fucking window? 

My parents are going to be pissed. 

I ran down the stairs and saw her come through the window, falling to the ground. 

“Are you fucking insane?!” I yelled. 

She got up and walked to me, pieces of glass in her arms and blood starting to drip down her right arm. “Joong please can we just talk? I don’t want to break up. I don’t want to lose you.” 

“You are unbelievable,” I walked to the kitchen to grab a broom and dust pan. I had to clean this shit up and explain to the my sibling why our fucking window is broken. 

“Joong,” she blocked me from walking to the glass. 

“Move!” 

“Stop it!” She grabbed the broom and pan out my hand, throwing it to the side. 

“You are really pissing me off and I can’t do this shit with you! Get the fuck out and don’t ever come back into my sight again Soojin!” 

She grabbed my face and tried to kiss me. I slapped her hands away and pushed her hard. She ended up falling on the ground. My eyes widened at the sight of her starting to cry. Why the hell was she crying? What could she possibly be crying about? 

“Soojin” 

“Joong please don’t leave me,” she crawled to me, hugging my legs. “I love you too much, I’m sorry I’m such a shitty person. I’m sorry for treating you the way I do. I promise to get better, I want to be better for you,” she sobbed, I felt her tears starting to stain my sweatpants. “Please Joong, let’s work this out together. I need you. You don’t know how fucking bad I need you.” 

I felt tears roll down my cheeks. 

She needed me so she could take her anger out on someone. 

She needed me because being her punching bag made her feel alive. 

“Soojin” 

“Don’t you love me? I thought we were so in love, nothing could ever break us apart. You told me that Joong, you told me that” 

“Loving you isn’t worth it. It isn’t worth this Soojin” 

She sniffled and kept crying into my legs. I just let her until she let her tears run out. There was no going back. I couldn’t imagine letting her continue to be in my life like this. My family already could tell I haven’t been happy but never asked me about it because they knew my strength. Today might be the day that they find what’s been going on because of the window. 

She cried into me for another ten minutes and eventually left without saying a word. She had looked at me with those puffy eyes and slammed the door to my house. I knew that was the signal that we were never getting back together and I couldn’t be more relieved. 

I grabbed the broom and pan that she threw, going to clean up the mess. I even found the two big ass rocks she threw into my house. I put them back out and tapped some cardboard on the whole of the window that was smashed. I checked the time on my phone and saw it was thirty minutes after five. My sister would be home in like ten minutes and I truly am not excited to explain what happened but I would rather tell her first before telling our parents. 

Ten minutes felt so painfully long till I heard those keys jiggle into the door and the door swing open. I heard those heels click against the ground in such a rush. 

“Joong! Joong are you here?!” I heard Bumjoong yell. 

“Living room!” 

He came in and had a concerned expression on her face. 

“The fucking window, what happened?” 

“Soojin is what happened,” I crossed my legs, laying my head back.

“As in your girlfriend Soojin?” 

“Ex-girlfriend”

“What the hell happened?” He came and sat down beside me. I felt his eyes wandered all down my body. He was trying to make sure I wasn’t hurt. 

“I’m fine, it’s just a lot” 

“I got time” 

I sighed and started to explain everything to him. Me and my brother were alike in a lot of ways, we didn’t interrupt when people were talking, especially when expressing something to us. Definitely a trait we received from our mother because my dad was the complete opposite. 

“This had been going on for longer than a year and you didn’t tell us,” his eyes showed a hint of sadness. 

“It was my problem and I didn’t want it to turn into something big”

“Joong, you were being abused and you should have let someone know. You just turn eighteen in November, I know you’re technically about to be an adult and you honestly didn’t have to tell me now because that’s your privacy but you are still my little brother and I should have known you were dealing with that”

He was right. I should have let someone know. I could have talked to him, I know he wouldn’t have told anyone else if I didn’t want him too. I felt a little bad because I had been hiding this from everyone and just been trying to stay mentally strong. I could have drowned and it would have been too late for anyone to notice. Who knows what I would have done if I would have hit my breaking point. 

“I’m sorry,” I said. 

“It’s okay, just know you aren’t alone. We do have to tell mom and dad about the window though”

“I told her if she broke it, her parents would pay for it so she better be ready for dad’s lawyer to call her parents” 

“Dad is always ready to sue somebody which I know this isn’t going to be a fun time” 

“How do you think mom is going” 

“Rage” 

Never would have thought that my two days would be like this. 

taglist: @hwaslayer

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[donnetellotheturtle]

Siren

Chapter 6

Varian didn’t like that Hugo was so quiet. He had his suspicions on what Hugo was. He only wondered why he wouldn’t just tell him.

“….Im not an idiot, you know.” Varian said after a couple long hours of silence. Hed figured Hugo would break it eventually, but the blonde didn’t, leaving Varian to be the adult and broach the topic.

Hugo looked at him. “I never said you were.”

“Youre a siren.”

Hugos face paled. He didn’t say anything though, so Varian continued.

“The late night trips back on the sundrop…You smell like the sea. Not in a bad way…I actually really like it…your blood is silver. And when you’ve been out of the water for too long, you were about to die.”

Hugo bit his lip. The sick feeling was starting to settle in again.

“I have a lot of questions…”

“Don’t expect me to answer.”

Varian sighed. “Youre still not going to open up to me.”

Hugo glared. “Oh sorry you figured out what I am and you expect me to suddenly be an open book? Hell no hairstripe.”

Varians baby blue eyes bore into Hugos. Hugo looked away before the guilt started eating at him more.

“Hugo. My mom was a mermaid.”

Hugo turned.

Varian smiled a little. “I guess you noticed that my singing voice wasn’t exactly…normal.”

Hugo was speechless. He didn’t know how to react to this information.

“So do you have-“

“The tail? No.” Varian chuckled. “No gills either. But besides the singing, I can hold my breath for a long time. Though I think that comes from my dad teaching me not from my mom…”

“Can you swim?”

“why do you think im a sailor?”

Hugo took a deep breath. “….what was her name?”

“Ulla.”

“Ulla?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“…..That was the name of my moms research partner. She disappeared a while ago.”

“Huh.” Varian chuckled. “Small world.”

Hugo curled up, starting to feel worse. “Shit…”

“Hugo, you need to tell me how you called for help. And what they’re going to do when they get here.”

“…I…I don’t know exactly. But they’re going to bring down the ship after rescuing us.”

“So theyre all going to drown?”

“Is that a problem?”

Varian hesitated. Hugo raised an eyebrow. “Goggles, they kidnapped us and are going to force us to kill ourselves trying to shut down this thing on Motonui. Plus with what they’ve done to you in the past, I’ve half a mind to do it myself.”

“Aw…you do care.”

Hugo playfully punched his arm. “it’s only cause you’re half siren.”

“Nah I think you started caring way before that…I saw that look when I gave you your glasses.”

Hugo blushed. “I um…”

“I care about you too.”

Hugos face went bright red, before he hacked out a cough. When he pulled it away, silver blood was on his hand. That…that was not a good sign.

“We need to get you into the water.”

“I-If we could just hold out…Donella and Cyrus should be here soon…hopefully.” Hugo coughed more. His chest hurt.

“We don’t know when they’re going to get here. We need a solution now.”

“I could…I could try to sing?” Hugo shrugged.

Ruddiger made a chirping sound. Like an alert. There was a crash up top. Then yelling. It was like they were being attacked but it didn’t indicate that there was another ship. In fact it sounded like just one person. Then it went silent for a moment.

The door opened. Varian looked up and to his absolute relief, his aunt was there.

“Adira!”

“it’s time for a jailbreak!” she sliced the lock open, then bent down to Hugo, who raised an eyebrow at her. “oh kid doesn’t look too good.”

“Hes sick! He needs sea water quickly.”

Adira made a face that Varian couldn’t figure out. Then she looked up at Varian. “Grab Ruddiger and let’s go.”

Hugo tried to get out of Adiras grip as she lifted him bridal style. It made his stomach churn.

“How did you know-“

“Who do you think sent him? Come on, freckles.”

Varian followed his aunt up top. Everyone, including Andrew, were unconscious.

“Holy shit Adira.” Varian mumbled.

“I didn’t even touch them. Come on. Before they wake up.”

Adira casually walked with Varian to the makeshift bridge she had on her own boat. Varian let out a sigh of relief at being away from Andrew, then frowned at seeing Hugo, who was hacking up a metaphorical lung.

Adira removed the bridge and casted off, getting as far away as they could as quickly as they could.

“Adira, he needs sea water. Right now or he’s going to die.”

Adira looked down at the blonde. “Right. I’ll take care of him. You go get changed.”

“But I want-“

Adira just gave Varian a look. Varian pulled back. “…please be careful with him.”

“Don’t leave me alone with this crazy lady!” Hugo tried to wiggle out of Adiras grip but it was like steel.

“Ill be right back.” Varian chuckled. “and she won’t hurt you. Right Adira?” he looked up at his aunt.

“Of course…We’re just gonna have a talk.”

“A talk or a talk?”

Adira shrugged. “We’ll see where it takes us.”

“Adira!” Varian glared.

“Fine. A normal talk.”

Varian nodded, satisfied, and walked below deck, Ruddiger on his shoulders. He had his own room there. Adira put down Hugo, then locked the door behind her nephew, just in case. She didn’t want him seeing what she was going to do.

Hugo was splashed with sweet sweet ocean water. He took the deepest breath that he had in days. His stomach settled. It felt like he could breathe again. It took a few coughs but his throat eventually came back to normal.

But when he opened his eyes, She had a sword pointed at his throat. God this job sucked.

“Okay Siren.” She said simply. “Start talking.”

Hugo grimaced.

--

Varian was relieved to finally be in safety. Still, on this ship…it was like walking into a memory.

He remembered the last time he was on this ship. 14 and grieving over a father who wasn’t dead but not able to be with him anymore. This was the last spot he had seen him up and moving and talking and truly alive. Not just a meat sack unable to talk to him.

Varian took a deep breath, going into his room and taking off his clothes, changing into one’s that Adira had set out for him. He went over to the water basin and cleaned his face hair and hands. The rest of his body could wait for later.

He looked in the mirror. When did he start looking so much like his dad?

Ruddiger sat on Varians old bed, and made a sound to get Varians attention. The boy looked over to him. “So Adira sent you huh?”

He just nuzzled Varians hand as he sat down the bed next to the raccoon. Varian chuckled. Then noticed a cheese platter on his bedside table. He smiled and shared them with Ruddinger.

He was worried about Hugo, sure, but he also knew he could trust his aunt to take care of him and make sure he was safe.

So for now, he let himself relax. He let himself settle into his childhood bed.

--

Not far from Hugo and Adira, a large wave appeared. Hugo immediately knew.

“Cyrus.”

Adira stopped, looking at the pirate ship in the distance that was swallowed up by the monstrous wave. For a moment, Adira thought it was coming for them. Then it calmed as if it never happened.

Adira put her sword away as there was a large splash and Cyrus was on the ship, over Hugo, grabbing his face.

“Ow, ow Cyrus! Stop it!”

Cyrus, a large man soaked in sea water, wearing armor as if he’d been ready for a fight, was examining Hugos face.

“They didn’t hurt you anymore than you needed right?” He asked.

Hugo chuckled, and then threw his arms around Cyrus. Cyrus breathed a sigh of relief. “You dumbass don’t ever scare me like that again.

“Cyrus.” Adira said simply.

Cyrus turned, then smiled. “Adira. It’s been a while.”

“Ten years.”

Hugo let go of the bigger man as he stood. “…you two know each other?”

Adira nodded. “the only reason he didn’t drown this boat too. Good work by the way.”

Cyrus chuckled. “Just taking care of this one.” He ruffled Hugos hair, who grumbled in response. “He sent me a blood message.”

“my conch shell is back on the sundrop.” Hugo muttered. Adira relaxed a bit.

“I apologize for my previous behavior.” She sheathed her sword. “But since you’re Cyrus’ son…you get a pass. For now.”

Hugo blushed. “I’m not his…”

Cyrus just looked at him. Hugo smiled a bit.

She came over and unlocked the door, opening it only to find Varian tumbling out. She didn’t look surprised. “Hey freckles.”

Varian chuckled. “Hey Adira…what’s going on?”

“Your boyfriend here is with an old friend of mine.”

“Hes not my boyfriend!’” Varian and Hugo yelled at the same time, both of their faces going red.

Cyrus and Adira looked at each other, and chuckled.

Cyrus then looked at Hugo. “You look sick. Come on, let’s get you into the water.”

“….can we talk about the mission?”

Cyrus nodded. “Donellas not far. We can talk about it with her.”

Varian frowned softly, looking down. Hugo saw him and smiled. “I’ll be back in a bit, sweetcheeks.”

Varian blushed hard. “Hugo!”

Hugo winked, and he and Cyrus jumped into the water.

Adira looked at Varian. “God you’re just like your dad.”

Varian cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Both of you fell in love with sirens.”

Varian blushed deeply. “I’m not in love with him! He’s my friend!”

Adira ruffled her nephews hair. “Yeah. That’s what your dad said too.”

< >

Read this on A03!

[ghostbustermelanieking]

i've never really considered myself a theater kid (mostly because i've never involved myself in productions outside of like elementary school) but this is an inaccurate self evaluation, i think. anyways, i coincidentally got to see wicked twice onstage (once on broadway), and the constant bombardment of advertisements led me to see the movie last night. and i had a surprising amount of thoughts! below the cut, bc there are some spoilers (for the movie and for both halves of the musical)

i should start by saying that i really did enjoy this adaptation a lot, way more than i would have guessed months or years ago, and that's pretty cool. in my mind, the extended run time works to flesh out some things that felt rushed in the original musical, and just to build the world more, and i really enjoy it. in some ways, i think this movie is closer to what little kid me was envisioning when i read the wikipedia synopsis

i frickin loved the shout outs to the original wizard of oz, like the title plates (which i MISSED the opening title but i've seen pics), or the bike elphaba rides, etc. i've probably missed a lot from this story bc i've only ever seen these characters as vague shapes through nosebleed seats, but listening to the soundtrack before going to see the movie helped me pick up on a lot of easter eggs in the lyrics i'd either forgotten or never noticed (holy fuck the wizard and i kills me 😭)

my favorite song from this musical since i saw it in 2019 has been what is this feeling, i don't know why i ever doubted myself

i love how they did the green elixir part of the opening song, but i'm shocked spotify just like. put jeff goldblum's name in the track listing, like we're not supposed to know that yet. they went through the trouble of only releasing half the soundtrack for lack of spoilers, but then they spoil elphaba's father in the credits??

this was basically me internally the entire fucking movie

in every fucking scene, but particularly when they hold hands, and when elphaba yells let her go its me you want! during defying gravity, and the fucking dance scene ahhhghgdhgh

obviously i ship the hell out of elphaba/glinda, it's so obvious, but i do admittedly have a real soft spot for fiyero/elphaba. i vibe with it, particularly the way they frame it in this movie

the solution is a three way

admittedly glinda is an interesting and frustrating character, and i'm curious to see how i'll feel seeing part 2. my memories of the stage musical are so fuzzy bc it's been years. i feel like i'm consistently so frustrated with glinda's limitations when it comes to elphaba and her cause, and i know that opening scene is her acting, for a reason, but it leaves a weird taste in my mouth without the second half to wrap it up. perhaps that is the point?

i really can only kind of remember the stage version -- there's like certain moments that pop out to scratch my brain every now and then, but also probably a lot i forget. the movie helps to pad out the story and make parts of the musical feel less rushed -- more on that later -- but there's some things i'm uncertain as to whether or not they're additions; can any fans of the stage production help me out?

i'm 90% sure elphaba not being intended to stay at the school is something they added (i love that explanation as to why she and nessa were starting at the same time), but i'm not positive

i also feel like that first scene of glinda and elphaba in the room was an addition, but also unsure?

the scene where fiyero runs into elphaba in the forest?

did elphaba get glinda in with morrible in the original musical or did the movie add that?

i know the oz history segue in one short day is an addition, but where did they discuss the grimmerie in the original musical? i do not remember its introduction

i feel like the guards going after glinda and elphaba saying it's me it's me is an addition, but i can't be sure (part of me hopes it is, because in my heart it's a tribute to sarah fier, but it probably isn't)

most of the additions were excellent. i loved the setting switch to a secret animal meeting in something bad. i love the addition of the bear nanny to elphaba's backstory. i love that they actually include a chase scene before defying gravity, bc i cannot for the life of me fill in how elphaba gets to sing defying gravity in the stage production

also i've seen other people scream about the choice to have elphaba fall and take her childhood self's hand before she flies, but i'll add to it. i fucking loved that

now for the things i wasn't as big a fan of

some of the song/montage sequences went on for what felt like way too long for me. particularly defying gravity (i hate to say it, but my god, i was like lmfao how have the guards not caught them??) i love most of the sequence and i'm not even sure where the cuts would be made, but i've seen someone joke that the last song played for like 30 minutes and that is kind of what it felt like

the idina/kristen cameo (ALSO spoiled by spotify!!) made me smile so much, buuut it did feel like their moment dragged on a little too long. and this is a stupid thing to complain about, since it's in every fucking trailer, but i wish idina hadn't done the little defying gravity moment because it felt like taking away from cynthia's moment at the end, at least in my mind

like maybe it would've worked if they'd made the joke in the 2nd part? idk

even though the length is not an issue to me, i do wonder why we didn't get more time in the middle part where elphaba and glinda are just close friends. it feels like everything between popular and the train scene was more focused on fiyero and the girls, which like... it's important, for sure, but i was hoping the run time would add just some more meat to the friendship (like i'm fully invested ofc but there's a little voice inside me going "shit, this is a big turn around; i need more of this and the why." like that little moment before popular where elphaba flinches away and doesn't want to be vulnerable? her stepping away when glinda calls her beautiful at the end of popular? i wanted a little more of that lonely girl uncertainty)

i am still surprised i had this many thoughts, but what are you gonna do? i really enjoyed the movie and a year is too long

[gotta-pet-em-all]

🪐

Teresa Chihiro never wanted a child. But thanks to one ill-advised college party, she has a daughter. And thanks to the fear of her family finding out about what she did, she now has a husband. He isn’t exactly the loving type; he looked a lot better in the half-dark lighting of the party with the haze of alcohol to cast a rose-tinted light on his features.

But she has them, right up until the day that her parents disown her, and she’s fucking had it. She gets into a fight with her husband, the kind of fight that makes her five-year-old-daughter hide under the bed. She snaps and lashes out until he's reached his limit.

"Why are we even married?" He demands. "Because you damn sure never loved me, and I never wanted that brat."

"Neither did I, but we have a daughter, dipshit!" She yells in his face.

(He doesn't come back after that.)

So that's fine. He'll just be a deadbeat, if that's the kind of person he is. She takes her maiden name back, Corbin, changes her daughter's name too, and seethes. There's a couple weeks where she's so angry, she can't even cook without having a breakdown in the kitchen. And she never wanted a daughter, but that's a scared and hungry kid.

Bryelle Corbin stays at the pokemon center for about a month. It's not an ideal solution for a child, but it's better than having her around the house when Teresa's in this kind of state.

So, she picks up her life, throws away her pride, and starts trying.

In another life, she gave up, she joined a suspiciously cultish group and ignored the red flags. But in this one, her stubbornness wins out.

She hires babysitters, she spends a lot of time at the pokemon center. They hire her as a paid intern-- she was in college for human nursing, but she can adapt. She's determined and skilled, and she's not going to throw away all of her schooling just to become a stay at home mom. She more than earns her place, and gets a permanent position as a nurses aide.

Her daughter... she doesn't love her daughter. Whatever maternal instinct was supposed to kick in, it never did. But she knows the kid deserves better. So she lets her keep the alomomola she finds in the wild one day. She takes her daughter to the arena behind the pokemon center so the kid can run around asking every trainer she meets if she can pretty please snuggle their pokemon. She asks a group of trainers who seem well versed in the matter, how can I deal with my daughter's health issues?

So what if the kid flaps her hands and is a picky eater and doesn't make a lot of friends in school. So what if she's clumsy and gets hurt a lot during recess? Teresa writes a couple emails to the school board, asking them to go easy on her during gym, figures maybe Bryelle just has something wrong with her coordination, and cooks the same meal over and over.

It's hard to call them a family. She never wanted a family. But her kid has a partner pokemon and a favorite babysitter and a set of knee pads for how often she falls down. And maybe that can at least help to make up for the love that never existed.

Teresa Corbin doesn't love her daughter, but she at least wants her daughter to feel loved.

[fayesemblemring]

Faye's Fòdlan Journey: Season 1 - Chapter 1: Welcome to Fòdlan

Introduction

<-Previous Masterpost Next->

After two posts' worth of introductions and preambling, we can finally start playing the actual game.

The objective is simple: Defeat the bandits' leader before they burn down the village. Easy enough.

Weapon Durability returns in this game, contrary to Fates, Echoes and Engage. Personally I feel pretty neutral towards the mechanic as a whole, but it's a nice way to balance Combat Arts, returning from Echoes and consuming durability instead of HP this time.

Here when a weapon breaks, instead of disappearing altogether or turning into a worthless 30 weight 0 might weapon you have to repair or get rid off, it gets a penalty in Might, Hit and Attack Speed, which could be a more elegant solution depending on how severe it is.

Bows also seem to work like they did in Echoes, with an added penalty on hit the further you attack from. Which is, you know, pretty fair. Wonder if Hunter's Volley is just as busted here.

After having a pleasant chat with the three completely ordinary kids, they along with Byleth begin clearing out the bandits, while Jeralt sits in the back doing fuck all and yelling random advice.

Thanks, dad. Really cool.

Good thing Edelgard's there to pick up his slack with the first crit of the game.

Also the proportions between the characters and the village is really funny. My main Edelgard headcanon is that she's a huge kaiju fangirl, so it's nice to see she's fulfilling her dreams. All she needs now is learn how to fire a laser from her mouth.

After killing a few bandits, their leader shows up to pick a fight with Byleth.

They kill him pretty easily.

Except Kostas must have smuggled a Revival Stone from Elyos, since he gets back up like it's nothing.

He charges at Edelgard, but Byleth puts themselves in the way.

But just when the bandit is about to strike...

The world stops.

And Byleth finds themselves in front of Sothis once more, who is pretty peeved they were about to throw away their life so recklessly, since that would also kill her.

She finally introduces herself: Her name is Sothis, also known as "The Beginning". Though she wouldn't be able to tell you why is that, given that lo and behold, she has amnesia, the favorite plot point of modern Fire Emblem.

Someone had to have it, and since Byleth seems to have all of their memories, she lost her privilege to hers. Honestly, I think she'd get along with Alear.

One thing's for sure, though: Her first impression of Byleth is... less then stellar. While she lives and breathes sass and metaphors and moves and emotes a lot for someone with the eepy disease, Byleth is overly blunt, barely emotes and tells morbid jokes with such a straight face everyone thinks they're serious.

Or at least, I'm having them be that way. I love the idea of Byleth being selectively mute and socially inept.

(Also apparently support points can go down? I doubt you'd be able to get the characters to dislike you so it probably just hinders your progress to get their convos)

Apparently Sothis stopped time, something she herself didn't remember she could do. Well, that's convenient.

Luckily for both of them, she figures out she can reverse time too.

Not thanks to Byleth, who joked they could just sit here and wait to die.

Sothis turns back time just enough for Byleth to react to the bandit's attack, bids them farewell with some cryptic nonsense and- wait, is that readable text?

Upon further inspection, it is, even if the only phrase I recognise is at the top, "The goddess always lives in heaven and Fòdlan" and "It is watching over us. The mother[???]".

That's neat! Didn't expect to see readable text in actual English. Usually this stuff is hidden with a special alphabet.

Anyway, this time instead of just putting themselves in front of Edelgard Byleth actually strikes back at the bandit leader, finally putting him down for good.

Wait is he aware Byleth turned back time? How!?

Byleth earns the MVP, which in this game looks like one of those photos you'd get for Employee of the Month. Which I suppose makes sense.

A face shows late to the party. It's Alois, of the Knights of Seiros.

He's really happy to see Jeralt after 20 years, who apparently was the former captain.

Jeralt is way less thrilled to see him, though.

Jeralt and Byleth are "invited" to return to the Garreg Mach Monastery with Alois and the Three House Leaders. I say "invited" becuse Jeralt clearly does not want to go there but feels he has no choice, and I suspect Byleth would just go wherever their father goes.

Before heading out, Byleth has a chat with Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude, who all seem... oddly interested in them.

Huh. Jeralt would have done wonders in Elyos with a name like that.

Claude makes it clear once again that our presence at the monastery is, in fact, mandatory. So for all of those who hoped there was a secret fifth route where Byleth just retreats to the woods and lives a long, peaceful life, I'm sorry to crush your dreams.

They finally mention they're students at the Officers Academy of the Monastery. And through a quarrel they immediately start with each other, we learn they're the heirs of their respective nations.

Whoah. Shocker, I know.

And already not only they're fighting each other (seriously guys it's only the prologue, fucking chill), they are all strangely in awe of Byleth despite them having just killed a few bandits (with their help no less) and are already fighting each other to have them join their side. Boy, this does not bode well for the future.

WAIT I ALREADY HAVE TO CHOOSE WHAT

I know I'm going to choose Dimitri regardless given this is Azure Moon, but GEEZ this is way too soon to force a choice like this onto the player! You just met these people and already you have to declare your allegiance to one of them!

With that choice way too important for just the prologue of the whole game being done, we finally head back to the monastery.

But not before Byleth ponders a bit about the three of them.

They think Claude has an easy smile that is striking as well as fake, that Edelgard is constantly judging them and that Dimitri seems honest but with a lot of darkness to hide. What that means, we still don't know.

All in all, a decent Prologue. There isn't a lot here to chew on, but it shows the basic mechanics fine enough. The lightning is great and I LOVE Fòdlan Winds as a track.

Fòdlan as a whole has a particularly distinct sound, I think. Though I wouldn't be able to tell you why.

I am still baffled they have you choose a route this soon, though, and while the house leaders bickering with each other already is just worrying in-universe for the storm that will one day come, the fact they already seem to be throwing themselves at Byleth's feet for just killing a few bandits is mainly concerning for the narrative.

While I don't think power fantasies are inherently a bad thing, I fear it wouldn't gel at all with what Fòdlan seems to be going for. But I guess we'll see.

Lastly before closing off, a few notes about the characters we met until now.

Seiros: Local goddess is fucking pissed. I guess we'll see the aftermath of what happened in the intro soon enough. Also I still swear her design is Greek-inspired.

Nemesis: Wonder what caused the war between him and Seiros to begin with?

My guess is likely the creation of the legendary weapons given that, you know, they seem to be made out of Seiros' family and that is enough reason for her to want him dead. But if that's the case, we still don't know why he did that. Is it just for power, or something else?

Byleth: Not gonna lie, getting a few red flags from the way they're handled. No customization options, a mostly silent protagonist, their dialogue choices may very well have barely any effect. Not to mention they already seem to sloowly gravitate the plot around them.

Jeralt:

Jokes aside, he seems fine as a parent. Save for him not doing anything during a bandit attack.

The question is always not if he's gonna kick the bucket, but when. I even somewhat know the how.

Hey, he's a Fire Emblem parent, is that really a spoiler?

By the way, I'm suprised he's a Paladin. Always thought he was, you know, a Mercenary, but maybe that's just because I kept comparing him to Greil given they're both mercenary dads.

Sothis:

BEST GIRL BEST GIRL BEST GI-

*ahem*

I freaking love her.

She's the perfect combination between refined and a sassy chaotic gremlin, and she has one of my favorite tropes which is living inside another character's body. I am SO excited she can talk to Byleth whenever (and apparently read their thoughts?) and can't wait to see what they do with her!

Alois: Very little to say since we barely met him, but he seems a jolly fellow.

Claude: You know, maybe this is a 4D chess move I don't understand, but isn't the whole point of a schemer and deciever to NOT come across as sketchy? I feel constantly talking about how sus you are kinda undermines that but, what do I know.

Edelgard: Ah, the one who just mentioning her name starts a flame war. Not much to say about her yet, although she seems the type to sleep light with a few knives on her person, given how openly mistrusting of others she is.

Also she is a massive kaiju fangirl. I don't care how little sense that makes, you will have to take that headcnon from my dead body.

Dimitri: Honestly right now I'm just waiting to see what that "darkness" is about. I just know it will lead to him becoming VERY murdery in the timeskip so boy, can't wait to see him snap.

Introduction

<-Previous Masterpost Next->

[stylinskies]

I.

Wind’s in the east, mist comin’ in….

This wasn’t going to take him down. Stiles stared at the piece of paper on his desk until his vision went blurry. He knew the answer, but it was just brushing against the fingertips of his sleep deprived memory. What gets wetter as it dries. “A towel!” He yelled in triumph, the few members of his department still there turning to glance at him as Frank rolled his eyes at his partner. 

“No way man, a towel?” He scoffed, grabbing the paper from Stiles and the page a day calendar that it came from to check the answer. It was a Secret Santa gift from the head of Finance to Frank, who forgot to fill out the form so he got what was left at the gifts under $10 table at Barnes and Noble the day before the gift exchange. Frank had decided to make it a daily challenge for himself to solve the riddle before lunch. But for some reason, this one in particular was stumping him for the past three days. Instead of asking for help, he refused to change the day on the calendar until he solved it on his own. 

That is, until Stiles finally snapped. He was already getting his ass kicked by this serial killer case, no way he was going to let a fucking calendar for children taunt him too. Which is why another triumphant laugh burst from him as Frank stared at the solution to the riddle. “Dude, seriously when are you going to stop questioning me?” The eyeroll he got from his partner only made him laugh harder.

“Whatever dude. I’m going to get more coffee,” Frank said, crumpling the offensive riddle and dumping it into the trash can as he grabbed his wallet. “And I’m getting you decaf.” Stiles let Frank walk out with that Trump card played, and once his friend turned the corner, Stiles pulled a can of Redbull out of his bag and cracked it open. With his distraction out of the way, there was nothing else to do but turn his chair back to his evidence board. 

Red lines criss crossed over maps of his hometown and pictures of crime scenes. Three deaths, seemingly random. But there had to be something connecting them all. There was the religion angle…one of the identified bodies had been a steady member of a church. But the only other identified victim hadn’t from what detectives could find. Finding a connection would be easier if the third body — another woman, the second one found — had been identified. But she seemed to have put up a fight. There was some facial reconstruction that had to be done before they could connect her to the missing person’s database. There had to be something. 

He was only pulled out of the rip current of his own thoughts by a voice behind him. “...on the phone.” Stiles had tuned out the first half of the sentence as he turned. 

“What Brad?” Stiles asked the agent who typically worked the front desk. Maybe he sounded a little too irritated by the interruption, because Brad shot back with an irritated hand wave to Stiles’ clue board. 

“The case? Local PD is on the phone. Wants to talk to you.” Looking back at the board, Stiles narrowed his eyes, and then turned back to the other agent. 

“For fucks sake dude just say my dad is on the line.” Rolling his eyes, Stiles grabbed his desk phone and dismissed Brad with a single finger hand gesture. “Hey dad. You don’t usually call this number…” He said, sitting up. In reality, his dad never called his office line unless there was a break in the case. 

“It’s all business kid,” Noah said, voice crackling through the receiver, but Stiles can’t still hear the exhaustion in his words. “Need you down here. We identified the third body….” Brown eyes went straight for the board, staring at the image marked Jane Doe. There had been something about the blonde hair caught in the tree branches that seemed familiar.

And then his father said the name. “Heather. Her mom said she hasn’t heard from her since she went back to school. Didn’t think anything of it until her brothers birthday passed and she didn’t come home…We didn’t think about her because she wasn’t on the missing persons…Stiles are you listening?” 

He was. But he also wasn’t. Stiles’ ears were filled with the static of memories of growing up with Heather. Losing touch and reconnecting over the summer. It was only a few days, and things were awkward when Stiles turned a specific advance down, but it was like their childhood friendship just hit a growth spurt with them. “Yeah I’m here,” He said, swallowing around the memory of their last words. If you change your mind, you’ll know where to find me. She had winked at him and he had just snorted. He wasn’t interested in finding her for that. 

But Stiles didn’t want to find her like this either. 

“Figured it would be better if you and I told her mother. Instead of a random suit. Can you get here by the morning?” He checked the corner of his computer screen, already reaching for the open can of RedBull. 

“Yeah, dad. I’m on my way.” He said, hanging up after a quick goodbye and chugging the last of the energy drink as Frank walked back in. “Get in the car,” Stiles said to his partner, barely shutting his backpack in his haste to get out the door. “We’re going to Beacon Hills.”

Like something is brewing, about to begin.

The blonde one fought back. Which was less of a hindrance to the plan, and more of an irritation. They were on a time crunch, what didn’t these people understand? Their sacrifice was for the greater good — well a specific greater good — and pleading for their lives wasn’t going to change anything. They’ve learned to tune out the crying. The praying. The bartering. White noise as they prepared the ritual, whispering to the being that gave them life again before, begging to be given another chance to take on those that hunted them. 

But the blonde — they knew her name, but giving them names made it more complicated — had apparently practiced escaping from bonds. Because their back was turned for just a second and she was running through the forest. Screaming for help. Oh this would not do. They didn’t have time to play around. It didn’t take long to catch up — the uneven forest floor knocked the blonde one flat on her face as she tried to climb out of danger. Long nails dug into the ankle as they dragged her back. The screaming became less of fear and more of pain, as the debris beneath her tore at her skin, peeling back skin and leaving a path of blood in her wake. 

The screaming didn’t stop until the garotte was pulled tight against her neck. And it wasn’t until that silence came that they could breathe again. One step closer. “If you can hear me….” They whispered. “I await the power you can provide.”

The wind only whistled in response.

Can’t put my finger, on what lies in store…

Beneath their feet, the blood dripped off rocks, melted into soil, and settled into the roots of a tree long forgotten. Satiating a thirst that hadn’t been dealt with for years, something stirred in the darkness. A disquieting silence interrupted only by the rustling of leaves above. The sacrifices were made to get power, and power it would bring. As above, so below, the philosopher’s said. And as they were above, preparing sacrifices to awaken the power that was once so great, so below, someone was waking up after decades of sleep. 

What can rein without a crown? 

A spirit, brought into this world, only to be taken out. To be forced into the shadows, festering in its anger for decades. Gaining strength with each body sacrificed in the name of the Nemeton. They wouldn’t be bested again.

Chaos.

But I fear what’s to happen, all happened before.

[authordanielleforrest]

Fated Mates of the Drakoan: Episode 1

He stared down at a list of names, the information in front of him overwhelming. Name after name stared back at him, along with country of origin, popularity, pronunciation, spelling variants, and so much more. He nearly growled with frustration. 

You just need to pick one.

It felt weird, just picking a name like this. He’d been putting this off, just going by “commander” when talking with the human ships, but that wasn’t exactly a long-term solution. He had to pick a name if he wanted to interact with humans with any regularity. They didn’t have the oral capacity to pronounce many Drakonian names, and from what he could tell, it was a time-honored tradition for foreigners on Earth to pick local names. And he supposed it was easier to learn to identify with a name people could pronounce than to wince every time people butchered your birth name.

With resignation, he scrolled down with his eyes closed and tapped his finger on the screen, then peeked one eye open.

Davin.

“I guess I’m Davin now.” He sighed and switched screens on his monitor, returning to the impetus that had finally forced him to pick a name—the situation with Earth. His fleet and the remainder of the human military ships surrounding the planet had been trying to contact Earth command for days now, too many days, and they were growing concerned.

No, that wasn’t true. They had long passed the point of “concerned.” No one said it, but he could see the panic rising in the eyes of the captains of the other ships when they had their conference calls.  Everyone was worried.  No one knew what was going on down there.

As he continued reviewing what little information they had, he tried to reassure himself that everything was probably fine. From what they could tell, those last bombs, the ones that had turned the tides of the conflict, had also deactivated or destroyed every satellite in orbit. He could communicate with the other ships, but his records indicated that a massive amount of the Earth’s communication systems relied on that satellite network that was now defunct.

His comm buzzed, startling him and jerked his mind away from his concerns for the people of Earth. “Damn it,” he said, copying a common Earth phrase he’d learned while watching their media back home. He’d grown up with it. The streaming services had set up shop on Koa for the human colony there, but it had quickly become quite popular among the Drakoans as well.

Davin looked down at his bracer, internally groaning when his sister’s name scrolled across the screen. He tapped answer, and the bracer interfaced with his desk, putting the video up on the monitor. She smiled at him in that enigmatic way she had, and he knew something was up. 

He sighed. “What did you do?”

She clutched her chest, pretending to be offended. Light glinted off pale red scales she’d clearly spent a sizable portion of the day polishing and primping to perfection. “Me? I can’t believe you’d say such a thing.”

Davin didn’t speak, instead crossing his arms and waiting for the inevitable confession. He was reminded of why he spent so much time away from home. His family was chaos incarnate and joining the military had been the only way to get a little peace in his life.

Of course, chaos could never let peace reign for long, and today was no different.

Eventually, she gave up the pretense. “It wasn’t me.” She looked away from the camera, her gaze roving around the room, and he just knew she was trying to come up with some excuse that would shift the blame away from one of her nightmarish kids. Because why else would she be calling? It certainly wasn’t to talk to him. “My son was playing in your room earlier today.”

Davin’s entire body went tense, and he saw red. “My room is off limits. You know that.” It took everything in him to keep still. He wanted to yell, to pace, but a fit of anger wouldn’t solve anything, especially not with his family. 

“Oh, you know kids. Can’t keep them out of anything,” she said, waving her hand in dismissal.

Yeah, especially when you unlock the door for the little monsters.

He could just see it now. His nephew had probably been whining and generally being a pain, and instead of actually parenting him, she’d bribed him with exploring the forbidden, aka his uncle’s locked room. “What happened?”

She held up an action figure that was currently missing an arm. “It was an accident.”

Davin ground his teeth and closed his eyes, trying to regain control.

Anger doesn’t solve anything. Besides, you can’t strangle her over a comm.

He opened them again and forced words out through gritted teeth. “That… was a Star Wars Limited Edition. I bought it when I was ten.” It was one of his most prized possessions. Growing up, he’d been obsessed with Star Wars. There had been other “Science Fiction” shows and movies to watch, but many had steered a little too close to the familiar, a little too close to home. But Star Wars? Star Wars was different. It involved special powers and the ultimate fight of good vs. evil. For a little boy, the idea of playing around with a light sword and moving things with your mind? Pure magic.

As he’d grown older, he’d started collecting. It was hard coming by these things, partially because he lived on another planet and partially because Star Wars was a very old franchise and thus a fairly niche one. Not everyone had even heard of it, and that made wanting to collect all things Star Wars even more important to him. He couldn’t enthuse about it with his friends, and so he’d thrust those impulses into his treasures.

As he’d grown up, those impulses had matured, and eventually, they’d even been part of the reason he’d decided to join the military. The idea of being like the Jedis was appealing to him. He liked the idea of being a hero, of being on the front lines, of maybe even being the only thing between peace and war. 

She waved her hand again. “I know how much you like your silly Star something or ‘nother, but he didn’t mean it. It was just an accident.”

He looked away.

There she goes again. Opens her mouth and suddenly I’m pissed.

“It wasn’t an accident,” he ground out. “It shouldn’t have been within his reach. The door was locked for good reason. I don’t want anyone touching my things. You know this.”

“Oh, it’s not that big a deal.”

“Isn’t it? You encourage him to violate someone’s privacy, their personal space, then you try to prevent him from having consequences when he damages another person’s property, which is a crime, by the way.”

She glared at him, her expression growing calculating. “Do I have to get mom on the line?”

For a split second, his heart lurched in his chest, his immediate reaction of panic setting in before he could control it. “Mom” was the ultimate authority, and each of his generation wielded it like a finely hewn weapon to be unleashed with ruthlessness. “You’re lucky I don’t have the time for this. Lives are on the line, and I need to go,” he said, changing the subject.

“Aren’t they always?” A slight smirk tipped her lips. “Well, I said what I intended to say. I’ll catch you later.”

She ended the call, and he fell back in his seat with a groan, palm covering his eyes. “Family sucks.” A part of him wished he could go home and inspect his room. What else had the little monster got into while he was breaking things? Just thinking about the possibilities sent anxiety spiking through him.

I need to upgrade my locks.

He took several deep breaths, then pulled up the messenger app on his desk. 

Hello, Mom. Can you upgrade the locks on my room? And this time, don’t give my sister a key. My nephew got in there again.

He hit send and let out a deep breath. “It’s so much easier to talk to her over text,” he said, shaking his head and chuckling at the contradictions. He loved his mom, loved his family, but most of the time, he needed at least a few hundred thousand miles between them just to stay sane.  

“Now, where was I?” He checked the open screens on his computer. “Right,” he said, staring at information that had started to blur together and almost make less sense the more he reviewed it. And the longer the problem persisted, the tighter the knots in his stomach grew. The unknown was a terrible thing, and knowing that the fate of an entire planet, an entire species, was unknown? He didn’t even want to think about what all could be going on down there. It was too much to contemplate.

Knock, knock, knock.

He looked up at his office door. “Enter.”

His second in command stepped in, shoulders pulled back and chin high. Behind him, his tail was perfectly still, speaking to the reserved presence he was known for.

“Have you picked a human name yet?” 

“Van,” he said with a nod, his line of a mouth growing even thinner. It was the closest thing to a frown he’d ever seen on the man.

“Good. Have we heard from the humans again?”

“I talked with the Captain of the USS Venture.”

“And?” Davin leaned forward, eager for news. They’d come to back up Earth’s defenses from an alien invasion days ago, only to find destruction. A shiver ran up his spine as he remembered the devastation. A massive debris field had cluttered the space around the planet, with only a handful of human ships still registering on the bridge’s display. Around those ships, countless unidentified orange dots had surrounded them, and for a heart-stopping moment, he’d wondered if his fleet had arrived too late.

But moments later, an explosion had detonated unlike anything he’d ever seen. His people were mostly peaceful, keeping to themselves, keeping a standing military exclusively for defensive purposes. He’d never seen anything like it. He’d believed it impossible. That is, until that blindingly white light had blotted out their cameras and shorted their displays, throwing the room into perfect darkness. 

They’d scrambled to get their systems back online while fearing for their allies. With no working cameras, sensors, or comms, all they’d had was their imaginations to fill in the blanks on what had happened. It wasn’t until later, when they’d reestablished contact with the other ships, that they’d learned that Earth Command had detonated a nuclear bomb. 

Many nuclear bombs.

“The satellites are a lost cause,” Van said, interrupting Davin’s thoughts.

“Oh?” he said, tuning back into the conversation. It had been easy of late to let his mind wander. There were just too many unknowns in this situation, and he didn’t like it. His mind wanted to run through tactics and scenarios, plan out strategies for each potential eventuality, but the possibilities were limitless and there was only so much time.

“The Venture’s Captain sent shuttles to investigate if they could salvage any of the satellites, but a significant percentage of them have already lost geostationary orbit. Many more will require extensive repair and some, they haven’t been able to find. He thinks they were destroyed in the blasts.”

Davin nodded. “And that means there’s no hope of communicating with Earth?”

In an uncharacteristic expression of emotion, Van sighed. “It means communication is more… difficult. As we’ve been able to confirm, their communications systems are designed around those satellites. But the captain’s also concerned that there could be broader issues at play.”

“Like?”

“The planet’s gone dark.”

Davin tensed. “Gone dark?”

“Yes. During their investigations, shuttles that traveled to the night side of the planet reported no electrical lighting visible from space.”

Meaning they’ve lost power.

“So,” Davin said, “even if we had the satellites up and running, there’s no guarantee anyone could respond.”

“That was my conclusion as well,” Van said with a nod of respect.

“Contact the human captains again. I want a conference call.”

“You have a plan?” Van asked.

“When do I not?”

Van paused, waiting for the explanation he knew was coming.

“Someone has to go down to Earth, reestablish contact. Without the satellites, there’s no way to even try to do it from here.” He shook his head, worry for the humans intensifying. What was happening down there? Were they okay? And had any of the enemy managed to slip past them before the blasts?  He hadn’t really thought of that yet, but it was possible, right?  There was no guarantee all the enemy had been destroyed.  Anything could be going on down there.  Nothing was outside the realm of possibility at this point.

“And you intend it to be us.”

Davin nodded. “I do.” He couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. Maybe it was a failing of his, but he’d always believed if you wanted something done right, you didn’t ask someone else to do it.

“They could shoot at us. They just fought off an alien invasion. You know how humans can be.”

He did. He’d seen enough human movies and shows to know sometimes their modus operandi was “shoot first, ask questions later,” but he didn’t care. The humans needed help, and he wanted to help them. 

And there was no one he trusted to do that more than his own people.