#and he pointed it in the direction of a human. without any safety barriers (????). and he pulled the trigger.

[florida3exclamationpoints]

I didn't realize Alec Baldwin was on trial already but if he doesn't get found guilty .........

[perictione00]

Selfish

Ch 5: Betrayal

Pairing: Geto Suguru x reader

Warnings: Manipulation, deception, cheating, use of curse words and mentions of murder.

Synopsis: You left the Jujutsu World behind the moment the source of your warmth turned cold. So what happens when you come face to face with that one episode in your life that you wanted to obliterate? Simple, you reap what you sow.

Jujutsu Kaisen Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Ch 4

2011

"What the fuck is wrong with you? I had it in control."

"Yeah, sure, you did. I could see that you were enjoying it even."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You tell me!"

"I can't believe this. I'm doing exactly what you want."

"I don't remember wanting you all over the monkeys."

"All over the monkeys? Suguru, I'm trying to win their trust to get the funds. Isn't this what you wanted?"

"Your soft porn presentation won't get us any-"

"Oh yeah, and killing them will? Soft porn presentation, right? That's how you think of me? I'm here trying to maintain order and secrecy in this organization that you are hellbent on broadcasting to the whole fucking world by killing every non-sorcerer in sight, and you tell me that I'm the problem? Hah, gimme a break."

"Listen-"

"I'm done listening to your bullshit. I'll talk to you when I think you deserve it."

You left the room without a word, enraged at his buffoonery. Things changed a lot in the last year, but you still couldn't comprehend how it came to this. Frequent fights at the dinner table became commonplace. It was embarrassing how the expression of anger, something that you considered very personal, happened in front of his inner circle. How Mimiko and Nanako would come by to explain his point on his behalf. And at night, he would come to your room to apologize in the best ways possible, only to repeat his mistakes again the very next day.

He was more violent than ever now, as if the barriers that kept his fury in check were shattered by the force of his hatred for non-sorcerers, and somehow it slipped into the personal space that he shared with you. Suddenly, he was more rigorous about your appearances and meetings with them. Minimizing your interactions and reducing your role in the organization. You were sure you hadn't done anything wrong, so it felt unfair to face such consequences.

Geto doesn't know when it started. Maybe it was the time when some deadmeat of a man had the audacity to stare in your direction too long, or the time when a fucking politician asked you out during negotiations, or the time you encountered Nanami on a random day and froze. Yeah, maybe it was Nanami all along. It was then that he realized how jealous of a man he was. He knew that you loved him, but he feared that one day you might not feel the same way for him when you discover what he dreadfully and desperately wanted to hide from you.

It was in 2008 that he actually manipulated the entity and located its position inside of you for the first time. Funnily enough, of all places, it had latched itself onto your heart. That's not all there is to it, though. The curse reached out to him in some way that day, in the coffee shop. And although Geto doesn't know how, he communicated with it. It felt like it was calling out to him. He could hear the voices in your head, and it scared him of the possibility that if you gave in, you might be lost forever. However, exorcising the curse was out of the question, so he made the choice that served his interests and his greed.

He doesn't feel guilty, but he surely feels insecure about your relationship with him. Do you really love him, or does it have something to do with that creature? Day by day, he is becoming more paranoid regarding your whereabouts, the people you meet, and the people you talk to. He can no longer fathom the thought of having you out of his sights. He would keep you isolated if it ensured your safety. Geto knows how it sounds; regardless, he wants to hold onto the only remaining thread of humanity, you, forever.

And that's how he met Miguel. In spite of your rare condition, African sorcerers seemed to know quite a lot about it. From various sources of myths and legends, these abominations were said to exist from birth, and here's the twist: their emergence was marked by incantations of a human ritual, deliberately done in order to sentence an individual to a lifetime of hell. Suguru might be a folly of a man, but even he wouldn't wish that for a human child, maybe because he wouldn't want one to be born in the first place. Humans were pityful creatures, and your case was just another reflection of their harmful desires.

He wondered if you noticed the absence of nightmares or how he insisted on always being by your side in your unconscious state. He remains uncertain of the nature of your response upon revelation of the extent of his dominion over the entity, so like a coward, he continues to shroud this from you. Geto Suguru was sure that he was helplessly hooked on you, and he didn't like sharing, so of course he killed every non-sorcerer that had the privilege of coming in close proximity to you. He was so accustomed to your presence that he felt suffocated without you. It infuriated him whenever you would beg for mercy for a monkey. Were you forgetting the end goal? Or did you start losing faith in the cause and in him? He couldn't deduce why you would waste your energy on a pathetic soul. Why would he find your scarve in the pocket of a non-sorcerer he killed? And why would you accept gifts from non-sorcerers? He wasn't delusional about addressing these things, right?

Geto Suguru was an enigmatic leader, a great friend, and an even better lover. He came back for you when you needed him the most. Just when you thought it was the end of the line for you, he rescued you like a knight in shining armor. You were grateful for him. He collected the scattered pieces of your life that were falling apart in front of your eyes and molded them into something worth living for. He presented you with a sense of comfort that you craved. You were grateful. But why were all these feelings vanishing? Why was your voice breaking? Why were tears of betrayal escaping your eyes? Why was he kissing someone who was not you?

There it was. The voices were back again, worse than ever. Taunting you for ever believing that you deserved happiness. You had given up on your morals, on your one true family for him. You would've given up your life for him. So why would he do this to you? Were you just another asset, a stepping stone to achieving his purpose? He dared question your loyalties while actually being the guilty one. You wanted to move, but you needed to be sure. There was nothing to hold on to, yet you wanted to believe in him. You hoped it wasn't real. Unfortunately it was. He didn't stop. You wanted to scream at him, confront him, and slap him. But it would've been too lenient, and you didn't want that. You wanted to hurt him so bad. Right where it hurts.

It was all a fucking joke. He made a joke out of you. And you wanted to return the favor twofold. So you picked up your cellphone and called him.

"Hello Kento?"

Ch 6

[omnipol]

While talk of contradictions can sound abstract, this kind of situation provides an embodied experience of the antagonism between your own legitimate interests and the interests of another: if the person you are caring for literally requires you to be awake at any point in the night, if they wish to turn over or to go to the toilet, your own needs have to take a back seat. In one harsh example, a member of the team lost their job due to going off sick during a mental health crisis. This felt like another case of the support needs of care workers and disabled people (including disabled workers) being forced into a damaging antagonism. It also reflects one of the ways the organisation of society relies on a distinction between disabled people (as receivers of welfare) and non-disabled people (as producers of value) which doesn’t map onto reality.

Another particularly grim example of this was when one of us, 12 hours into a shift, received news of a friend’s death, and had to continue working for another 24 hours, which was the earliest time another carer could be available. Absent social mechanisms that could provide a safety net for such emergencies, eroded from years of privatisation, our needs were in direct opposition. It’s not fun having to push through grief to get to the end of your shift, but neither is it fun or fair to have the person who attends to your basic needs be in tears - never mind the psychic toll it must take knowing that you’re one emergency away from being fucked. The wage is a poor compensation for this - not just because, literally, it is usually so meagre, but also because it becomes a barrier to two people being human on the same terms - a social relation arbitrarily uniting two individuals at the same time as dividing them.

The nature of the shift work meant that none of the carers had much contact with each other, except for brief handovers when the next person arrived - though at the end of several days without much sleep, you didn’t really feel like having an extended chat. The Whatsapp group for organising shifts and other work related things included the person we cared for, as well as their dad, who’s behaviour was much more typically ��managerial’ (for example engaging in tactics like calling us individually before team meetings to try and make us feel guilty for asking for paid travel time). At the same time, it was clear that he really just wanted his child to have a life as free as possible of the ritual indignities imposed upon disabled people in the UK.

The inclusion of our client in the organisation of their care was an essential part of safeguarding their sense of agency and dignity, but it had the secondary effect of restricting the space for people to talk freely with each other about frustrations and conditions. I remember one person expressing difficult feelings about our working conditions, and a few days later being mysteriously removed from the group (and from the team). They were somewhat hesitant after I reached out to them, and in any case attempts to try and talk about things fizzled out - even if the situation could somehow be undone, the mutual trust had been broken. Similarly, attempts to reach out to other carers, with the aim of gauging frustration or difficult feelings, were not easy. People felt uncomfortable about backchannel communication, or guilty about suggesting that they weren’t fine with everything going on - or alternatively just felt that there wasn’t really anything we could do without jeopardising the wellbeing of someone who we not only cared for, but did indeed care about.

https://notesfrombelow.org/article/contradictions-care

[lyssaterald]

Take Flight, Part ?: Mischief

In which student mischief and attempts at bullying can lead to something good.

Content Warning: General spoilers for the main story. Minors and ageless accounts do not interact! Named character, and slight mentions of character’s past and history which are not expanded on as they are not important to this chapter. Weirdly, I switch between past and present tense. Sorry, not sorry. Unbeta read.

Staring at the ruined cauldron was doing nothing for my temper even as the remains of my potion was starting to eat away the stone beneath it. One of my fellow students had tossed a firework into the Sleeping Solution that had been for the surprise practical for this class, and I had only escaped injury because of the blood barriers I wore like a second skin. If I had been a normal human, I would have been screaming and writhing in pain by this point. Solomon, as usual, was monitoring my body language to try and help if I needed him.

Which I didn't.

As it stood, the professor had been lecturing me about safety and showing off for the last ten minutes. He was even going on about assigning me extra cleaning duties for having damaged the classroom while the unfinished ingredients mixed in a hazardous slop and turned acidic.

"No," I stated calmly as he was wrapping up his lecture. The demon stopped speaking mid word and stared at me.

I flicked off a bit of the potion that had remained on my hand and heard it splat against someone else's cauldron. There was a muffled shriek and the scent of burning metal renewed itself. Without bothering to watch, I threw an ice spell in the same direction and more screams went up, but I was done with this class and it's bullies. I'd been enduring them for the last two months of our second semester together.

Apparently, the demoness who had ruined my potion and been trying to harass me had a thing for Lucifer. She doesn't seem to have taken well to the idea of me being with him in a relationship. She'd taken to school yard antics to try and bring my days down and to fuck with my mood.

Child's play.

Well, mission accomplished! Just not in the ways she had hoped. I smiled at the little she-devil with the bronze hair and emerald green snake scales that covered half of her face, neck, and trailed down and under her scanty shirt. The rest of her was humanoid enough to almost pass for human. She was pretty, fragile-looking, and her full mouth was pulling into a sultry frown under my look.

"Thank you for the safety demonstration with the fireworks, Aresha," I said and the professor's head slowly turned towards the she-devil. Her scaled tail was curling slowly from view behind her desk-likely to hide the fact that some of her scales were scorched. "As you can see, any basic shield spell will ward off most harm a potion explosion of this kind. What do you say about extra credit points for the demo, Professor Borzin?"

He had seen the tail retreating as clearly as I had and his small, dark eyes flickered between us for a second. "Yes, Lyssa, that seems appropriate. I'll call on the Little Ds for clean up," he said. "As for the exam, we'll reschedule it for Saturday afternoon." His greasy voice rose over the loud groan that the other students gave. "Class dismissed!

Aresha flicked her hair back over her shoulder as she reached to pick up her bag and hurry away without even putting away her potion ingredients. "This isn't over!" she hissed at me as I put away my own supplies.

"Sure," I agreed and she huffed angrily out the door.

The last of my things packed away, I headed for my Politics of Heaven and Hell class. On the way there, I hopped over two trip attempts, ducked under an arm that had been thrown in my way, and shoved through a duo of Aresha's little minions that had tried to block my path. My Politics class was the only one where I did not share a schedule with any of the brothers, angels, or Solomon. It was the only part of my day where I wasn't being hovered over or closely watched, but it had the effect that I walked alone through the halls alone between Potions and Politics, which also happened to be on the other side of RAD.

It had taken a fight of epic proportions with Luci to get him to relent on him or one of his brothers always walking me to this class. I had dug in and fought with him until his temper had won out and he tried to use threats to get me to comply. That had resulted in me hopping out the window I'd placed at my back and scaling to the other side of the building before he could finish his third or fourth threat.

Claws and wings were sometimes useful when they forgot I was only mostly human. Exploring the surrounding forest in my off time had also been useful in leading them on a mad search for me while I hid in one of the taller trees and watched them following my scent trail. Which had brought Diavolo and Barbatos out to the House of Lamentations when the search had gone over two hours. Diavolo had come directly to my tree and asked me to come down until I relented to him and climbed down, still in my Other form with my draconic features and wings revealed. The agreement where Diavolo would have invisible eyes on me at all times at RAD left none of us except Dia happy, but it had given me some semblance of freedom from constant hovering.

Those memories took me to the door of my Politics class and had me frowning at the two bulky, squish-faced demons with more animal features than human that were blocking the door. I was usually in the classroom with a minute or two to spare between and the bell chose that second to ring, making the two demons grin at each other.

Great, so the goal was to make me late.

It wasn't a rule that was usually enforced on me since I had been on point about my attendance, but usually being late would result in a detention after school. The other students had made sure to describe in detail some of the punishments that other tardy and absent students had gone through, some of the stories so outlandish that it had me squinting at them.

The click of the door lock had me growling under my breath and clutching the shoulder strap of my bag. Late students were also absent students if they weren't in class by the end of the first minute after the bell.

The twin morons were chuckling to each other as my frown deepened. "Are you asking for a fight?" I growled at them and their smiles quickly dropped away. I'd had my share of scrapes that'd I'd won since arriving. "Don't forget you're absent from your classes as well." The look of realization that dawned across their faces made me chuckle and lifted my spirits. Dim and Dimmer hadn't realized what Aresha was setting them up for when she recruited them. "Best get to the library and do independent study if you want to mitigate the punishment."

They scurried off without so much as a glance back at me as they hurried off to do their own thing. Without Dim and Dimmer blocking my path, I jiggled the handle and sighed at the ungiving metal. Right, so Politics of Heaven and Hell was out for today. Running my fingers through my hair, I considered just ditching for the rest of the day. Devildom History and Mathematics were confusing subjects on my best days. They'd be a headache today when I was already heading towards a foul mood.

With a sigh, I set off down the hall and paused at the fork that would take me to the library or towards Diavolo's office and the entrance hall. I glanced down both sections and weighed the options. Option one was to make sure I earned the detention...Option two was to not make it any worse. My lunch hour was right after Politics so it would give me at least two hours to run about with just the invisible eyes on me.

But it would also be an option to spend time with Diavolo for the rest of the morning.

He didn't usually have morning classes to look after since Barbatos made sure his schedule was full of paperwork and meetings until noon. If he wasn't in his office, I could always take the suddenly free two hours and go for a short flight. That would surely improve my mood for the rest of the day and whatever petty tricks Aresha had in store.

My feet took me towards Diavolo's office even as the itch to fly was growing under my skin. Diavolo hadn't had much in the was of free time this month as he and Luci were buried under a mountain of paperwork from-presumably from the Devildom's House of Lords. Their complaints had seemed to take an uptick in the last weeks of our semester as we headed towards the weeklong break everyone was supposed to get while Diavolo's birthday was celebrated.

My knock was soft on his door, but Diavolo's voice was clear when he called, "Enter." Golden eyes flickered up at me with his public smile already in place as I pushed the door open.

It was the smile that, if you didn't know him, could convince you that he was nothing but a goofy prince with the power destroy anything he desired, but chose not to do so because he was too...young. It was what I had taken to calling his lonely smile and I hated when he used it on me, but it melted into something more real as he realized who I was. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he held a hand out to me in invitation.

Quietly closing the door behind me and dropping my bag to the side, I strode forward to take his hand and let him pull me into his lap as he buried his head in my shoulder. My fingers slid through his light red hair as I breathed in his scent. Musk, cinnamon, and the smell of rain after a downpour. It was always a little different each time I saw him, but he always reminded me of home and settled that pang that would haunt me sometimes.

His red blazer was draped over the arm of his chair and documents were spread out around him on the desk as well as to the right of his chair. The tension left my body as I nuzzled into the hug and felt his arms tighten possessively. Even if no one other than the brothers, angels, Diavolo, and Solomon approved of my presence in the Devildom, that was all I needed.

Forget the others. Forget Aresha and her ploys. They are unimportant.

We sat like that for a couple of minutes, just Diavolo hugging me and my fingers running through his hair and scratching gently at his scalp. Until his DDD trilled loudly and shocked us into loosening our embrace. I gave it a baleful look as he reached for it and gave me an apologetic smile.

"Lucifer," he greeted and I rolled my eyes at him, drawing a laugh from him as he switched to Infernal for his conversation. They did that when they didn't want me to know what was being discussed. It was annoying and I fidgeted on Diavolo's lap as I cast a look at my bag.

There was still time for me to get some studying in preparation for one of my other classes. Diavolo's remaining hand slid to my thigh and gave a squeeze to catch my attention. He leaned back into his wing-backed chair and shook his head.

He wants me to remain.

Warmth flooded my chest and I leaned into him, tucking my head under his chin so that I could hear his heartbeat through the white-cotton dress shirt he wore. The beating of his heart was steady, strong, and reassuring. Mixed with him speaking in Infernal in his smooth tones and I was drifting into a state of half-awareness. I don't know how long I sat there with him, but I must have dozed off as I jerked awake when he shifted beneath me and set his phone to the side.

"Did I disturb you?" he chuckled at my bleary blink up at him. I could only chirr at him before I looked up at the clock on his office wall and almost leaped out of my skin at the time. Diavolo's hands on me kept me in his lap.

Two hours had passed by.

I groaned at the mistake I had made and buried my head into Diavolo's shoulder. Not one but two absences in the same day. It was starting to look like I might as well just skip the entire day and deal with the consequences tomorrow.

"Ah. Its past time for your Devildom History class," Diavolo said apologetically and I beat my forehead gently on his collar bone.

"No, I should have paid better attention, Dia," I groaned against him and he laughed at my muffled voice. "Should I even bother going to the rest of the classes today?"

He dropped a kiss on the top of my head and answered, "Lucifer will be most disappointed if he hears that you missed most of your classes." I growled at him and his laugh vibrated in to my chest.

Would it be too selfish to ask to remain with him for the rest of the day?

We'd had a thing going on between us for a couple of weeks now and I wasn't sure how serious he was about it, not that it could matter since I only had a year with them. But he was fun to be around and it was comforting to be held like this sometimes, not that Lucifer didn't also hold me like this while he worked in the evenings. There was just something different when I was with Diavolo.

Still, I hadn't moved and he hadn't made to push me away. "Was it a very important topic you and Luci discussed?" I asked cautiously.

"Middling," he hummed, sliding his fingers through my hair and pressing a lock to his lips before letting it fall away and repeating the motion. My stomach flipped as he did it again and the warmth spread from my chest to the rest of my body even as his golden eyes never left mine. "We probably shouldn't play...what was the word...hockey?"

"Hooky," I corrected with a laugh. "Hockey is a sport humans play on the ice with sticks, bladed shoes, and a heavy, round disk."

An odd sport but humans seemed to enjoy violence with their mass entertainment.

"Sounds interesting. We should try it sometime," he mused, still watching me. I knew what he was waiting for, but I just smiled at him, waiting for him to make his own decision. His eyes strayed to the window and I grinned harder.

"It probably isn't a good idea," I stated, running my unVeiled claws across his cheek. He shivered sightly under the touch. "Barbatos and Lucifer would be mad at us if we just vanished."

"There are no important meetings this afternoon or tomorrow morning." His eyes strayed back to the paperwork on the desk and he sighed, moving my whole body with the motion.

I shouldn't have been encouraging him along, but it wasn't like we had gotten up to mischief together, yet. It was something we hadn't yet gotten the chance to do something together and I knew whatever he had in mind was going to be outrageous and give Lucifer a headache, but the itch beneath my skin was making me lean towards whatever his idea was.

Diavolo was starting to grin back at me, seeming to be weighing his work against his desire to escape. "We could take some of your work with us." And that won him over.

After that, it was a bit of a scramble to dump my school bag out, hastily sort through what documents looked important and what could wait, and determine what grimm we had on us for the escape. I had jewels from my recent shed and he had an obscene amount of money in his wallet that made me laugh.

I got the window pried open while he was pulling his blazer back on and looked down at the courtyard. There were a few students milling about on their free period and enjoying the fresh air, but it was otherwise clear. Diavolo put a hand on my back as he leaned over me to check out the scene below.

"Fairly empty," he commented. "But I am still recognizable. Should we take the entrance hall to depart?"

"Nah, I have an idea," I said and turned to hand him the bag of documents. He looked down at me and took advantage of being so close to me to steal a kiss. It caught me off guard before I leaned into him and put a clawed hand on his face. I pulled back a second later and laughed with excitement. "We should probably wait until after our escape. Meet me on the tower closest to us when I distract everyone."

He stepped back from me and watched me with curiosity as I hopped up on the windowsill and took a moment to unVeil my wings. A soft touch from him had me looking back at him, but his gaze was raking over my wings like he did every time I showed them to him.

With a giddy whoop, I leapt out of the window and closed my wings around my body to spiral down. At the last moment, I snapped them open and threw an ice spell across the courtyard amidst screams of surprise as everyone scattered and I sharply changed my trajectory back towards the sky before quickly banking towards the roof.

My landing was rough as I skidded to a halt and then crashed into Diavolo, our wings tangling. I was euphoric. Laughter hadn't come this easily to me in years. My body was lighter than a feather and my heart was pounding when Diavolo picked me up and kissed me. It was hard to pull back from him, but I did and shook my wings free of his four.

"Where to?" I asked, feeling heat rush to my face.

His fingers threaded through mine and I stepped towards him again. "Do you trust me?" he asked, brushing a kiss across my knuckles.

"Yes."

The answer was automatic and breathless. It was like I had always belonged here, with him.

"Follow me, then."

And I did.

[cheekygreenty]

In My Head - The Darkling x Reader

Supppeer angsty and kinda sad?

The fire engulfed the golden kefta in a water-like rhythm. The cracks and sparks echoed in the open field amongst the silence that settled around all of you. Alina was exhausted, Zoya was grieving, the Ketterdam criminals looked shaken too. But you were unmoving, as still as a painting and not showing a single emotion. They had all witnessed your heartbreak as it fell and crashed the world around you, breaking every part of you. They watched as realization flooded you that you never truly knew Aleksander. They watched as he tore your heart from your chest and threw it into the depths of the Fold to rot.

Painted a picture,

I thought I knew you well

It was humiliating. Alina had tried to warn you but you played her off as selfish and unwilling to use her powers for the good of all Grisha. You told her she was stupid and foolish for loving an otkazat'sya when in reality you were the fool for loving a man that didn't exist.

You told her she was crazy, that Aleksander would never lie to you and that he was good because you knew him. In truth, you were no better than him. You blindly followed everything he said, completely ignoring the alarm bells in your head. You had grown used to them as weeks went by, to the point of the alarm playing a low comforting tune in your mind all day and all night.

There weren't enough apologies in the world to say sorry for the things you'd done and said to Alina and she'd insisted that no apology was necessary because it wasn't your fault, 'It's not your fault you only see the good things about people' she whispered to you before she left to change. But the good things about him weren't there; they never existed. It was all in your head, a mind so desperate for love it concocted a whole new Aleksander, one which you loved so much and would do anything for.

I got a habit of seeing what isn't there

'We were all fooled Y/N, Don't blame it all on yourself' Despite her grieving and sorrow, Zoya's hand rested on your shoulder briefly as a sign of comfort. Without her, you wouldn't have been here right now, alive and breathing.

'I don't blame myself. I hate myself for being so blind'

'Me too'

I thought that you were the one

But it was all in my head

------

You could feel the nothingness of the Fold threading through your hair even inside Alina's tunnel of safety. You stared at her shackled feet, pushing the guilt away and replacing it with a sense of righteousness. There was nothing else that could be done to keep her in check, if she wanted to escape and hide from her destiny forever then she would do so over your dead body.

The Fold needed to be gone and if chaining her to the skiff was going to be the only way she obeyed then so be it. Your mind quickly spiraled back to her hasty words back in the tent. She was panicked and desperate, clinging to your arm like a wailing child begging to be heard. Her lies were bizarre and abundant, no doubt the works from her long journey to the Stag but they were unbelievable. So extreme even a Fjerdan would laugh at their ridiculousness.

The skiff suddenly stopped, Novokribirsk visible in the distance with lines of First-Army troops standing in neat lines.

'Why have we stopped?' A dignitary asked and you wondered the same thing. You searched the skiff for anyone with an explanation, but everyone looked equally as confused but Alina looked mortified. What is going on?

'One more demonstration. You’ve seen what the Sun Summoner can do' You whipped your head around to him slightly moving away but his arm pulled you back to his side with an edge. You heard the loud jangle of Alina's chains as she tried to move. 'Now bear witness to what I can do… with her power.'

He pushed you to Ivan, who took no time in holding you back by the arms, caging you in his grasp. You resisted on the simple basis that you didn't know why you were being restrained just like Alina but the answer came all too soon. There was no time to shout or gasp as Aleksander raised his own hands and the black shadows of the Fold expanded into Novokribirsk, killing everything in its path.

You stood motionless as the horrible sounds of volcra swarming and humans screaming flooded the air. Alina's words came back to you again but you didn't listen. No, you didn't want to. Zoya seemingly came down from the mainsail and looked at the black void in a hypnosis-like stare but nobody dared say anything. There was a silence on the skiff while hundreds and thousands of lives ceased to exist in a matter of seconds.

The comforting tune in your head had suddenly turned into a blinding screech, rendering you frozen and flabbergasted. He did this, Aleksander did this. How could he do this? You tried to fight the heartrenderer off, squirming desperately in his arms to cover your ears from the slaughtering sounds. Your knees had given out by now and Alina was on the floor of the skiff, struggling to get up due to the heavy and awkward chains. I put them there.

'Today, we redraw all the maps. With the power of the Sun Summoner at my command, I control the Fold.' A sob erupted from your throat right at the minute you realized Alina was right. You didn't listen, this is all my fault. Ivan pulled you back up, roughly smacking a hand over your mouth to stop your pathetic cried of betrayal. You fought a little harder, trashing around in hopes of escaping his hold or at least getting someone's attention but nobody seemed to care. They all feared for their lives.

'All countries will answer to us. For who would oppose us now?' He briefly shot a look in your direction but spared you no emotion. It was then that you saw the real Aleksander, blood-thirsty for power and revenge. The Black Heretic.

Everything you are made you

Everything you aren't

The next five minutes were a complete blur. You somehow found yourself fighting for your life and those around you. Your head was empty of its usual whirling thoughts as survival mode kicked in. Kill or be killed. You stopped counting how many hits you got or how many bruises were forming on your body. It was primal and in your Grisha nature to protect those around you, and in that haste of battle you made your allegiance to Alina obvious.

There was no time to think about Aleksander. You weren't quite sure you wanted to think about him. He was on this skiff with you, on the opposing side that just murdered a town full of people yet the part of your brain, your imagination, craved to be by his side. To please him by obeying, to get his touch in return. You were addicted to the man who had ruined your innocence.

'You betrayed me' His voice was right behind you as was his hand, creeping up the side of your throat and forcefully pushing you against the barrier of the skiff, ready to throw you over to the unlit Fold.

'I betrayed you?!' Your shout was loud and hearty, overflowing with sadness and shame at being relieved for being next to him again. You clawed at his tightening hand, feeling your airways restrict and your vision become fainter and fainter. You would die at the hands of the man you loved.

'Look what you made me do Y/N, do you think I want to kill you?' Your head bopped but your stupid heart grasped at the sadness in his words, he still loves me. 'I don't want to. I really don't'

'Then don't' you chocked out, your hold on his wrists becoming limp. You felt the ever-so familiar touch of his lips grace your temple and then he retreated.

The world went dark but your body hit the deck of the skiff, not the soft sands of the Fold and your lungs abruptly filled with forced Squaller air.

Yes, I did it to myself, yeah

Thought you were somebody else

'What are you going to do now?' You still sat by the fire while everyone stood. Zoya had left your side and was talking with Alina but you filtered out the noise. Your head was too full of your own self-hatred to stand any more voices so Jesper's question to you went unnoticed. 'Y/N?'

You looked at him and shrugged. You didn't want to move, your body still ached too much from being dragged away from the brink of death to make your way somewhere safe.

You would never admit it around anyone, but as Alina spoke of the Darkling being dead, a wave of grief washed over you. It was cold and unpleasant; unwelcome. But you knew love didn't disappear overnight. You didn't know who saved you on the skiff, whether it was he who had let you go, or was it Zoya who battled to have you freed from his grasp.

As much as you had created the Aleksander you viewed, the foundations were all him, you had only added on or omitted the parts you did and didn't like. You prayed it was him who spared you, you prayed there was something real about your Aleksander, that that was a foundation.

The tears that fell down your face in a stream were assumed to be for the betrayal and the horridness of what the Darkling had done to you and others, when if fact they were for him. You cried because you would never see him again, you cried because the people who had helped you get out of the Fold were the same people who had killed him.

-------

When Mal caught your deathly stare in his direction, he had to do a double-take. You had the same look in your eyes as the General did when he fought him in the Fold, that exact replica of coldness and rage; revenge. But surely he was wrong. You were happy to know the Heretic was dead. He betrayed you the most out of everyone here and almost killed you. Why would you be vengeful?

He waved it off with a shake, it's all in my head.

------

Masterlist

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[retvenkos]

sprinting through cobblestone streets |

The Dragon Prince - Callum, Rayla, and Ezra, x Platonic!Reader, slight fluff requested by @biqherosix​​

tw: a mob, feelings of inadequacy

word count: 2.3k

prompt: “have you always been this idiotic?”

A/N: alright, so i know the request just said callum,,,, and i was going for that originally,,,, but then this happened. i hope you don’t mind? i was going to rewrite it but then it was 2k words and i couldn’t part with it.

Summary: Being half-elf, half-human, there was nowhere that (Y/n) truly belonged. But perhaps their luck would change, when they run into a group of idiotic travelers about to be run down by an angry mob...

Being half-elf in the Human Kingdoms was risky living. (Y/n) had been born on the human side of the Breach, and yet, every day was a danger - a possibility that fear would threaten their very existence. (Y/n) had known very early on how to live as an outsider; they knew how to hide their more telling attributes and how to stay away from towns. They lived in secret, away from everyone else and only stopping into town when necessity called for it, but there was always a low level of risk, to their existence. Not a day passed where (Y/n) wasn't constantly looking over their shoulder; there were always on edge, even in the comfort of their own home.

(Y/n) had been to Xadia once, when their elven parent begged their Queen to take mercy on (Y/n), for they were just a child and a victim to their parent's whims. It wasn't their choice to be half anything - all they had ever wanted was a place to be whole. The Lux Aureans turned them away, and before (Y/n) could return home, they tried to run away.

They had foolishly thought that other elves would take them in - that perhaps Xadia was a more just place than their family had feared.

They had made it far, but not far enough. 

(Y/n) was brought back to the Human Kingdoms with their hood pulled over their head to hide their pointed ears. In Lux Aurea, it had been a horror that they did not have any horns. Here, in this place they would learn to call home, it was a blessing that there was less of them to hide.

(Y/n) had learned long ago to make no friends, to keep their head down and work hard, praying that perhaps, one day, they would be allowed into Lux Aurea as something other than the child of a traitor.

One day, (Y/n)'s parents had woken them in the middle of the night, pressing coin into their hand and telling them that it happened - they had been found, and they had to split up. They had kissed (Y/n) on their forehead, and it was the last they had seen of a friendly face for a year.

(Y/n) had run, only settling down to create roots when they had made it to Katolis - far from where each parent would be. They were careful, in this strange, new kingdom, settling in the thick of a wood where men rarely traveled, preferring to stick to the wider roads. For months, they lived without incident, only visiting villages for supplies twice - walking for days at a time so they weren't seen in the same place twice, and not coming from the same direction.

When supplies were running low once more, (Y/n) took the last of their coin and headed toward a new village - one further away, where no one would know their face. It had been a week's walk, but the burn in their thighs would be worth the protection. They slipped in amongst the crowd easily enough - the day was cold, the seasons changing to something with more of a bite and everyone had a thick cloak on, most of them with a hood pulled up, barely above the eyes. (Y/n) had found a villager to barter with easily enough, and it was when they had almost secured a reasonable deal that they heard the shouts that plagued their worst nightmares.

"You're an elf!"

Their blood ran cold.

(Y/n) had spun on their heel faster than lightning, their hand flying to the dagger they kept strapped to their side. Their heart was pounding with enough force to knock out any attacker they came up against, and despite the fear that struck their heart, (Y/n) kept a cool head. In a crowded marketplace like this, it wouldn't be long until innocent farmers became an angry mob, their ranks full of pitchforks and butcher knives. They expected to worst to greet them, but when (Y/n) turned, the horde of villagers wasn't looking at them at all, but three other travelers, one of which was unmistakably an elf.

"An elf? No way!" One of the travelers - a young boy with messy brown hair, chuckled nervously, projecting his voice in an almost comedic way, trying to wave off the villagers as the group slowly backed up, edging themselves towards the mouth of the street, where they might find a chance of escaping. "We're all very much human, here..."

(Y/n) slipped their bag of coin into their pocket, ducking and weaving through the crowd to edge their way closer to the ostracised group. If (Y/n) could find an outlet, maybe they could sneak off and save their own skin. But if they could create a distraction of some sort and pull the elf and her friends to safety, maybe they could be given some type of reward...

A reward that might earn them a place in Xadia.

 "My human friend is wearing an elven costume! Y'know, for... a play?"

(Y/n) sighed at the lame excuse before pushing over a street cart.

The villagers were startled, caught off guard by the loud crash and apparent destruction, and it was just enough time for (Y/n) to rush forward, seizing the elf's arm and dragging her forward out of the crowd. The boys followed in suit, and together they got a head start, sprinting through the cobblestone streets.

"Hey!"

The villagers got their bearings quick enough and were only more enraged by the idea of a chase. (Y/n) took a sharp turn down the narrow street that they had originally entered into town from, ushering the group forth. A hay cart stood in the middle of the street, and (Y/n) picked up the young boy that held a glow toad by the back of his jacket to help him vault over the obstacle. The other boy from earlier - the one with the terrible excuse, jumped over with a fair amount of success -  the adrenaline mixed with some quick thinking leading him to step on boxes nearby like makeshift steps, making the jump easier to handle. The elf jumped over with remarkable agility and (Y/n) followed in suit, the sudden movement pushing their cloak back, revealing their best-kept secret - their elven shaped ears. 

(Y/n) cursed but didn't have time to scramble for the hood, instead choosing to press forth, leading their new allies into the woods, where they had just enough time to find a hiding place from the mob, the hay cart having been the perfect barrier.

Only half of the villagers passed by their hideout, judging by the cacophony of footfalls and heavy breathing, accompanied by the gruff voice of one villager, who decided to round everyone up and wait by the main road - they would have to get out, somehow.

The group had managed to stay exceptionally still, while their pursuers cleared out of the wood, but (Y/n) could feel three pairs of eyes watching them, their level of scrutiny unsettling.

When all was quiet, (Y/n) dared to venture forth, and they found the woods uninhabited. The three that (Y/n) had saved were slower to exit their hiding spot, and when they did, they turned on (Y/n) quickly - the elf already whipping out her swords.

"Who are you?"

"You mean other than your savior?" (Y/n) said, putting their hand on the hilt of their dagger - just in case.

"What are you, then?" The elf took a step forward, her accent punctuating her every word. "You're not human, but you're not elf either."

"I'm both."

And the revelation was just enough to stun the elf, allowing the idiotic boy from earlier to step up. "Well, thank you for your help back there. Right, Rayla?" —he shot a glance at the elf and she pushed her lips together, clearly still on edge— "I'm Callum and this is Ezran with Bait. And you are...?"

"(Y/n)." They crossed their arms against their chest, narrowing their eyes.

"(Y/n)," Callum repeated, nodding his head slowly as he shot wayward glances back at his friends, who were still assessing the situation. Ezran peered up at (Y/n) with a trepidatious kind of respect while Rayla still held her swords out, her brow furrowed, mirroring (Y/n). 

"What were you doing in a human village, (Y/n)?" Rayla all but spat, tightening her grip.

"Apparently being smarter than you - have you always been this idiotic?" (Y/n) turned to look at Callum and he reeled backward, offended. "Going into a village market with an elf is a death sentence! You could have been caught."

"You went in there!"

"Because I had to! You are a human traveling with an elf - you could have easily gone without her."

Callum blinked, tilting his head to the side. Little Ezran walked up, tugging on his brother's sleeve. "(Y/n) has a point, y'know."

"Yeah, well, we just didn't think of it," Callum mumbled, earning a scoff from (Y/n), which elicited a glare from Rayla. "But in our defense, things were going smoothly until I tripped and pushed Rayla's hood back."

(Y/n) chuckled darkly, rolling their eyes, and Rayla took the opportunity to press forth. "What are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be in Xadia?"

(Y/n) took a step closer, as though daring Rayla to make a move. "Shouldn't you?"

"Whoa!" Callum stepped between the two, gingerly pushing them apart. "Shouldn't we all be?"

(Y/n) shot him a suspicious look - one that they had been saddled with their whole life. It felt odd, almost, giving it to someone else. "Why would you be heading to Xadia? Why are you traveling with an elf, anyway?"

Callum chuckled nervously again, grabbing the back of his neck with one hand and pointing at (Y/n) with the other. "I mean, no better place than Xadia - right? The magic, the elves, the dragons..."

"Callum doesn't know what he's talking about," Rayla recovered, but there was a slight shake to her voice - a tell. "He's taking me to the Moonshadow Path - we're friends. He's not coming with me. Humans don't belong in Xadia."

But Callum winced at that, and Ezran looked down, his feelings hurt. If Rayla noticed, she found no point in disputing her statement, choosing instead to press forth.

"Do you?"

And (Y/n) thought of why they had saved this group of idiots in the first place... in the hopes that they would get the recognition needed to belong in Xadia. For a couple of humans, a glow toad, and a Moonshadow elf, they seemed pretty intent on making it to the magical world beyond the Breach. Whatever their reason, it must have been good, seeing as they banded together, despite the hatred that ran between their races. (Y/n)'s immediate reaction was to leave and never look back - face the consequences of saving these odd travelers and find a new village to buy grain from, continuing to live the way they always had - but they couldn't. For a reason that was beyond what (Y/n) had always thought to be true, a feeling that went beyond their mantra to make no friends and keep their head down, they felt the urge to stay.

Ignoring the voice in their head that screamed at them to not make such a stupid mistake, (Y/n) lifted their hand and pushed away Rayla's sword with the tip of their gloved finger.

"I don't belong anywhere. But I hoped that by saving you, maybe I could." 

Ezran took a sympathetic step forward, coming out from behind his friends, and looking (Y/n) deep in the eye. There was something in his gaze that made (Y/n) feel like he understood them, despite their lives being so different. Callum put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder and (Y/n) noticed it was in his eyes, too. They turned to Rayla, and she looked away, but there was a fury in her eyes - a familiar wave of anger that had to be righteously earned from being cast out, from being an outsider in a place that should have been home. 

Suddenly, it dawned on (Y/n) that this ragtag group of wanderers didn't belong anywhere, at least, not anymore, and were walking to Xadia with a hope that (Y/n) had lost long ago.

"You can belong with us if you want," Ezran spoke up, and his words seemed to have the conviction of one twice his age, as though he had been born to royalty. (Y/n) entertained the idea as they considered his words. He certainly held the air of a royal, and he had nice enough clothes to be in the nobility.

"Ezran." Rayla fixed him with a look, one that implied they had secrets to keep.

"They saved our lives, Rayla, we can't just leave them."

The elf hesitated, but Callum stepped forward, a bit of suspicion still swimming in his eyes, but something more hidden beneath. "What Ez means to say is that you can journey with us if you want."

(Y/n) raised an eyebrow. "And you're sure Rayla isn't going to kill me when my back is turned?"

"Not if you don't give me a reason to," Rayla said, and Callum turned to her with a poignant stare.

"We need all the help we can get, Rayla. We need to be safe if we're going to make it back to Xadia"

"Do you trust them with our cargo?"

(Y/n) cocked their head, and Rayla looked at them with a harsh glance. Callum sighed. "I don't think we have much of a choice."

"Alright, then," Rayla sighed, taking a step forward and extending her hand. (Y/n) hesitated for a moment before pulling off their glove, exposing their lack of a fifth finger, and clasping it with hers.

"You'll take me to Xadia?"

And Callum was the one to answer, shaking (Y/n)'s other hand with his own. "You can walk with us as long as you'd like."

-- taglist: message me if you want to be added to a taglist!

[mocacheezy]

Things that made watching Transformers (2007) easier and even enjoyable:

[note: B'verse gets the treatment that it gets by fandom for good reasons. There are tons of posts that dissect the bullshit of these movies far better than my second-language-english-non-american self could ever tackle, so I am not doing that, or plan on doing that. But if I decide that I'll get through every continuity of the franchise I will find a way to make it fun for myself. And so, this is my search for golden nuggets in these movies, because they did bring in new fans to the franchise and that's why we have other continuities that we might not have otherwise. Credit where it's due, and some positivity for those that did find B'verse at least amusing if nothing else. ]

🍴🥄🔪🍴🥄🔪🍴🥄🔪🍴🥄🔪🥄🔪🍴🥄🔪

Frenzy

Anytime Frenzy was on screen made me smile because his movements and personality were hilarious, he is just so expressive despite looking like someone super glued a bunch of knifes together. I wouldn't know it was Frenzy if I didn't go to the Wiki, but no matter that, he was funny and that's what matters.

The original Cybertronian robot modes

We don't see them for long, but the glimpses were glorious. Just look at Optimus

Gorgeous. What I wouldn't give to see the details up close. Maybe I'll go looking eventually, but this is just so nice.

We also get a "sexily rises from the pool" scene with Ironhide (probably unintentional and I am biased due to being a robofucker. In any case, very very nice and Cybertronians look so good as aliens)

"Excuse me, are you the Tooth Fairy?"

You see this kid?

This little girl was the only human I cared about in the movie until I saw just how badass Mikaela is, and how cool the military dude is. I don't like kids, but I would lay down my life for this girl.

This one scene just makes me think of what would happen if her parents showed up way earlier. Ironhide would be her guardian and it would be both adorable and hilarious because "Honey, you have to drive in a sentient alien that looks just like our car because the goverment men said so or there will be consequences and potential alien threats."

There are so many joke potentials there; the cultural barrier, the "I am the ine that is supposed to keep her safe" glaring contests, there is just so much shenanigans that could happen.

Also, tea party with the kid. Tea party with the kid.

Sam Witwicky actually reacts like an average human would when faced with the situations he finds himself in

Do I like Sam Witwicky? No, he is the kind of character that I would want to punch irl because of his personality and actions. He is disgusting. But watching him scamper and scream and stutter when faced with giant metal robot aliens that can squish him like a bug? Good, that was a beliavable reaction and I enjoyed it a great deal.

Megatron. Just, ✨Megatron✨

(the best screenshot of the few I could take while watching, no, I am not going back for a better one, he looks perfect like this)

I also laughted at how they kept him frozen like a popsicle. And not even well, like, they COULD'VE made an actual freezer and pop him in instead of using those couple of tubes just so he was displayed for all personell to gawk at. HE CRASHED IN THE ANTARCTIC!

The design looks so good, because it looks ALIEN and POINTY and AGH!!! The colors? There are no colors that would make him stand out, he looks like someone opened a cutlery drawer, mixed up what's inside, threw in some extra knifes for a good measure and then shook the whole thing until this guy materialized from the pile. It is both incredibly annoying and satisfying.

🔪

Mr. Welker did an amazing job with his voice, I don't know what the directions were, but oh man it sure sent shivers down my spine. That is the kind of voice that spells "You are going to die" and I already have my coffin picked out.

EDIT: SO APPARENTLY! IT WAS NOT WELKER THAT VOICED MEGATRON.

It was Hugo Weaving, and yes the man did am amazing job, but I apologize a million times, I was CERTAIN that THE OG VA OF MEGATRON WOULD ALSO HAVE VOICED MEGATRON. LIKE, OKAY BAY, OKAY!

🔪

LOOK AT THE AMOUNT OF ICE! With how quick he came back fully online once Frenzy turned off the freeze liquid tubes, I bet he was half awake through the whole thing. Systems just below idling or something, in any case, AGENTS YOU ARE SO DUMB! WHO WAS GIVING SUBPAR FUNDING TO THEM, THEY BETTER BE FIRED!

I also was glad that Sam refused to call him by the name the sector asigned to him, despite Megatron being in stasis. And that he insisted they use the correct name. Good job Sam, acknowledge the threat by the actual name and show respect to a fellow sentient lifeform. Even though said lifeform is hellbent on destruction of the universe and your world.

ALSO, AND I CANNOT STRESS THE LAUGHTER AND AMUSEMENT HERE; the sheer DISRESPECT! They don't disassemble Megatron's corpse. No, these idiots, these absolute morons decide to dump him into the ocean, letting him sink to the lowest possible point (not sure if they did say it was the M' Trench or not), where there are proper freezing temperatures - good! You're learning, good job!! - just... In full. Full corpse. What's left of him. Just blup! Down with the fishies he goes!

I understand that they probably didn't know how to approach Optimus about it, but... At least behead the guy. He came back ONCE, who is to say he won't come back again?! Safety precautions my dears.

They also completely disregard what a giant extraterrestrial metal alien rusting away on the bottom of the ocean could do to the ecosystem at large. Like, I find this incredibly amusing, because this ISN'T something most folks think about when watching a movie but we have giant squids down there. We have so much weird things down there, the ocean isn't even fully explored AND YOU WANT TO CHUCK AN ALIEN CORPSE DOWN THERE?!

Now the real question: is he a looker? *looks at the pictures* hmmmm, depends on if you like knifes. Like, really like knifes. Like really, really REALLY want to get it on with a fine assembly of kitchen knifes that were exposed to the elements but somehow haven't rusted away completely.

I think he's neat.

Needs a good long powerwash though. Preferrably with something to help the whole "I was frozen for more than 50 years and sprang back to action as soon as I woke up" thing that happened.

My man needs to take a moment and get his bearings, like dude. Please. You can conquer the world after some energon and slow system boot-up period. The strain on the systems my dude, you ain't young.

Also love that this "death" was probably reused in TFP because lord golly, do we love our faves ending up under the sea. (Though Megan took a much bigger fall, Bayverse WAS PLOPPED INTO THE WATER LIKE A NEWLY ACQUIRED FISH I CAN'T YOU GUYS I CAN'T!)

In short: I love the comedy of american military giving such disrespect to an Alien Warlord. These guys are really sealing their fate.

I loved the way they got the Witwicky family to be important to the plot

The whole "selling my great great grandpa's glasses on e-bay" thing gives us a very good self insert/OC/rewrite/movie AU potential. Don't like Sam and his disgustingness? Find a way to write a cousin or some far off relative or hell, even just someone who buys the glasses off e-bay and go wild with it!

Archibald was also clearly an inspiration for Isaac Sumdac as far as I can tell, what with both of them using Megatron as a means of helping technology advance.

Only difference being one of them lived and actually talked to Megatron after he came back online and the other got driven to madness and death due to the amount of information beamed into his brain. Isaac also acquired a space baby daughter, so the guy is absolutely luckier of the two.

Mikaela being fucking competent and badass throughout the movie, and not being just fanservice eyecandy

I could do without the fanservice, but her personality? I loved it. I loved that she wasn't crawling to Sam and wasn't being "hard to get". Which is also why I was very displeased at the very sudden "oh yeah, romance! She returns his feelings after he took her for a ride and let her vent her frustrations!". The movie is 2 hours long and they could throw in some moments where these two connect?

Welp, it is an action movie, boy gets girl no matter what, can't complain about the staple in the genre.

However, Mikaela x Optimus? Now THAT is something I considered as soon as the two locked eyes and interacted. Like, even taking my shipping goggles off, these two could have a very interesting dynamic and Mikaela could be a very good protagonist. I wonder what the movie would be like with her as the lead and Sam being the fucking moron she has to drag along with her.

BUT ALSO! Can we talk about the horrible, excruciating fact that her and Bumblebee drove around with Bee's damaged legs dragging over asphalt all the time he was shooting at 'Cons? There were sparks flying! SHE WAS DRIVING BACKWARDS! She took command of the situation and did what she could because Bee still wanted TO FIGHT!

Also, they way she beat up Frenzy? Gorgeous, I want to slap Sam's non-existent balls off for not atleast saying "thanks". The dude would be sliced thinner than cabbage if she wasn't there.

The millitary man we are supposed to care about because his wife gave birth while he was on duty and we see his baby three times in the whole movie, actually being a pretty awesome and well-written character

Look, personally, I was a little confused at the reason why we were seeing his wife and baby interacting/the scene where she thinks her husband is dead. Mostly because I don't like kids, so scenes like that, when I don't even know who the character is, have no impact at all. Him having a baby isn't going to make me like the guy more, unless I know his character. Him being absent because he's on duty doesn't mean he'll be a good dad (though he looks like the kind of man that will try his best, and I like that in a man). So seeing his wife and kid at the start of the movie seemed pointless to me.

BUT! FOCUSING ON THE POSITIVES HERE!

Lennox is a good character and whenever he was on screen I was invested in what is going to happen to him. He's the kind of action movie lead that would have me invested, despite my meh interest in mainly gun fight oriented action movies.

Essentially, loved the guy, would love to see more of him while also being able to tell what's happening on screen. Also the comedy scenes he was in were usually funny.

~

Okay so these are the things I like about the first movie! It was very long, had to watch it on 2,5x speed because it simultainously dragged while ALSO giving me too much information, but the moments like these and the way my imagination latched onto characters I liked made it watchable. It isn't a movie I'd use to introduce someone to the TF franchise, but it provided me with lots of material for my imagination to run wild.

[jjk-anime-horray]

Call of Spirits

Megumi Fushiguro x Reader

Spirited Away Au

Previous

Chapter Two:

The tall spikey black haired boy kept dragging you further into the unknown world ahead of you trying to get you to safety. And while it was only for a couple of minutes it felt like hours that you hand was snagged by his. Looking down to your collection of tendons, bones, and skin that compiled into making your organic mechanism to grab things you gasped, and pulled away from they boy whose face you yet too see as you saw what was happening to your hands. They were fading away, you were becoming the ghost while all of the spirits solidified around you in the darkness of the night.

Seeing your distress, the male turns around to visualized what was happening, his vibrant green eyes snapping open in realization upon noticing your dilemma.

"Dang it" You here him whisper to himself, or you, you couldn't really tell at the moment. You see his slender yet muscular fingers reach into the pocket of his robe, and you take the time to examine the stranger that was saving? dragging? moving? you, you didn't know at this point, but you did know that when you look at him you immediately get sucked into his dazzling green eyes.

Everything about the boy infront of you was out of worldly, but not in the way that he had huge teeth or was shaped like a raddish like some of the spirits in the hotel?.....Gathering you were currently in. He was out of worldy because he seemed so physically close, but distant at the same time, and he was absolutely beautiful.

When he rummaged through his pockets his pale skin practically glowed under the lights of the spirit life around you. His skin however was a stark contrast to his hair which could rival the deep night sky in its darkness, and wildness for that matter. Everything about his appearance contrasted itself in a poetic way that made him stunning. His height even though he seemed barely there. His fierce eyes that seemed to shift from bright green to dark blue based on the lighted fixated in a sharp slanted matter near his nose that only complimented the soft subtle feature of his face.

"You need to eat this." Is all he says curtly before shoving an oddly sweet smelling piece of bread, or was it even bread?..... Into your hands from his pocket.

All you do is give him a look of complete confusion, but then realizing his wording he rephrases his statement:

"Eat it, it will keep you from fading away in this world."

Without having many options, or any other options for that matter you break off a piece of the loaf in between your fingers and bring it too your mouth for consumption. The loaf tasted unknown and out of the ordinary, but you kept eating it because while you did the boy kept to his promise because you body started to reappear again under the night sky.

You had so many questions swirling in your head, but the most prominent three were who are you? what is this place? and why do you seem so familiar? You decide to ask the most important questions first.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Megumi."

"What are you?"

"A spirit."

"You don't look like a spirit."

"There are many type's of spirits in this world, however I don't remember what type I am though."

He isn't very much of a talker you thought to yourself, but luckily you could tell that he was being honest. You just had a feeling about him that he wasn't bad, like a neighbor or someone you've met before, but you were disoriented from your position so you couldn't really tell if it was non-sense or not.

"What is this place?"

"This place is a bathhouse for spirits who need a vacation, it's a part of the spirit world, it's like another reality of earth in away, but that's why you needed to eat something of this world to stay."

"What would have happened if I hadn't eaten it?" You asked worried and curiously.

"I don't exactly know, but you would have left this place in one form of another with out your parents."

Your parents! You needed to get them back, or well, get them back then figure out how to turn them back into humans.

"Yeah, you can't really get them out of hear without doing that first."

Dang it you said that last part out loud.

"How am I going to be able to get them back?" You ask the oddly familiar boy you know as Megumi.

"I don't know exactly, but you are going to need to get a job in this place first, if you want to do that I mean, there isn't many jobs here that spirits will allow you to do most likely, but I do think that the crafts-maker boiler man, Yaga, will help you, you need to listen carefully to the directions I'm about to say because I need to go soon, so I won't be able to repeat them twice. First you need to make your way through the bath house without being detected, so stay out of the way of it's customers and other spirits, then you'll need too..........

You intently listened to the spirit boy speak to you, the tone of his voice almost juxtaposed itself, it was calm, shallow and mellow someone could argue, but it was deep, hurried, and rushing to get all of the needed information about it out. Like a tamed river almost, but not quite a stream, a river that used to roar, but that got dammed up, and stuck in one place, longing to be free from the barrier. You payed attention to the details about staying away from certain types of spirits, places that you shouldn't mix up or go to, not use the elevators because you'll run into other spirits. But you couldn't get past the fact that he seemed so beaten down when he was acting lively.

"Lastly, you'll need to take the set of stares that spirals around the edges of the base too this building, but be very careful, the stones aren't as stable as they used to be and maybe a little bit slippery. "

You noted all of that then started to execute his directions, but before you could quietly run off you arm was tugged, holding you back and pulling you a little bit towards him again.

"One last thing, what is your name?" He acted calm when he said this but you didn't look past the light dusting of pink on his cheeks indicating that he may have been flustered.

"Its (Y/N)."

"(Y/N), remember that, you're going to need to know that for later, and don't forget it, it's the single most important thing you are going to need to remember in this place. Be careful with it, and be carefull."

With the final word left from his mouth he let you go from his grasp, signaling you to sneak off deeper into the bath house, to start your quest to save your parents from their fate. You tipped toe around the corner out of his sight, being careful to not cause a single creak of the floor boards or click of sound, you hurried of to start your journey, not exactly knowing what wonders and dangers lie under the mysterious roof of this house.

[bibliophilea]

Just a Flesh Wound - Ch. 2

Sorry for the wait on this chapter! I’m not sure when I’ll get to the next chapter, but I do intend to phinish this phic!

For @littlebadger.

ao3 | ffn

1 >2< 3 4 5 6

Danny's not doing so well.

It took Tucker, Sam, and Danny four hours to catch those cat-snake-ghost things — tassel-whatsits, he'll have to ask Sam what they're called later — and everything would have been fine if Valerie hadn't butted in, screaming about vengeance and death and whatnot.

Now, three hours later, Danny still hasn't managed to shake Valerie off his tail, and Tucker knows he must be tiring. None of them have gotten a break in seven hours, and it'll only take one slip up before Danny's got a hole in him they can't patch up, or Valerie takes him to her secret lair to do who knows what, or turns him over to Vlad, or—

Don't think about that.

"Remind me again why I can't just shoot at her, Tucker?" Sam growls. She's got Danny and Valerie in her scope, but her finger is very pointedly not on the trigger of the ecto-bazooka.

Tucker lists off his fingers. "One, because you might hit Danny. You're good, but not that good. Two, because you might hit Valerie, and Danny wouldn't like that. Three, because you'll blow our cover, which could blow his secret identity, and who knows how she'll react to that. Four, because—"

Sam sighs in frustration. "Alright, alright, I get it, Tuck."

"Hey, you asked." He raises an eyebrow.

"I know. It's just—" she growls. "I hate that we can't do anything! We can't even direct him to safety because she keeps getting in the way! She's going to hurt him if we can't get her off his tail or distract her or something!"

Sam throws her hands in the air, then flinches as one of Valerie's shots goes wide, hitting the parking garage across the street behind them. Dust kicks up from the impact, and it rumbles ominously. She's lucky that building's condemned, Tucker thinks, and the road workers are on break — otherwise she might hurt someone when it collapses—

Wait.

"Or something," Tucker mutters, before grabbing his binoculars and searching the sky for Danny and Valerie. He catches sight of them as Valerie shoots again, this one barely missing Danny and hitting the condemned parking garage again. It kicks up dust and debris, clouding his vision before Danny darts away again.

"What did you say, Tuck?" Sam asks.

"Or something! I've got an or something!" Tucker exclaims, dropping the binoculars so they hang from his neck. He fiddles with the Fenton phone in his ear, switching it from listen to talk and listen.

"Danny, we need to collapse the building."

"What?!" Two different voices ring out — Sam's beside him, and Danny's in his ear.

"Dudes, just trust me! We collapse the building, kick up a ton of dust you can hide in—"

"Then you can transform and stay invisible while we point Valerie away from you — Tucker, you're a genius!" Sam declares.

"But guys there's — there's people in there and — ah! Shit! — we can't just—"

"Dude, chill. It's the parking garage on the corner. The building's condemned. Just fly low so Valerie shoots at the base. We'll help take it down!" Tucker turns to Sam. "You ready to use that bazooka?"

Sam's grin is feral. "I thought you'd never ask!"

Danny doesn't speak, but he dives down to street level, goading Valerie into following him behind the condemned building with a stuck out tongue. Tucker runs along the street, Sam close behind, taking a good look at the condemned parking garage for the first time. There are no glass windows save for the four corners that hold the stairs and elevators. Most of those windows are gone, now — destroyed by ghosts or by ghost hunters or by kids looking to throw rocks at something that would break without consequence. It doesn't matter now — the building itself is half collapsed, huge chunks of concrete taken out of it as if from an explosion, leaving the broken steel rods within bare. What remains could collapse at any moment, and no one save the dead dares tread there.

He's glad the building is half-collapsed already — it makes finding the main supports keeping the rest of it up that much easier. He's so glad he took that engineering class.

"See that pillar over there?" Tucker asks, pointing into the collapsed side of the parking garage. "Take that one out first."

"On it," Sam says, readying the ecto-bazooka. With careful aim, she fires. The green-tinted ammo sails through the air, exploding against the pillar with a blast louder than a firework. The parking garage rumbles, and some of the lower floors cave inwards. As the greenish smoke clears, they see that half the concrete on the support is gone, the support itself bent inwards.

Sam's grin widens, and Tucker feels himself grinning with her. After hours of fruitless brainstorming, they can finally help Danny escape Valerie's rage!

Together, they destroy more supports, Tucker guesstimating which ones would help the building cave inwards, Sam expertly taking them out one by one. Tucker hears Danny's taunts and Valerie's screams of rage in his ears, and the sounds of impact and rumbles of the parking garage when Valerie's shots hit the building. Dust begins to fill the air. And the parking garage slowly, surely, begins to topple inwards.

Tucker has never seen a building collapse before. Not in person. He expected the dust and the noise, but he never expected there to be so much of it. He turns away as the dust comes billowing towards them — rips the Fenton phone from his ear as it emits a burst of feedback from the collapsing building and curls over himself — feels Sam yank him behind a concrete barrier and they huddle together, unable to see anything beyond the dust or hear anything beyond their less than controlled demolition—

"—can't hide forever, ghost!"

Tucker doesn't know how long it's been —two minutes? Five? Ten? — when he hears Valerie's voice over the buzzing in his ears. That's not good. Valerie should be gone by now. Danny can disappear and fly as a human, but not for long, especially after seven hours of non-stop fighting. He stands up from behind the concrete barrier, and sees Sam do the same out of the corner of his eye.

"He went that way!" Sam shouts and points.

"Inviso-Bill stole my PDA!" Tucker shouts.

Valerie pauses in the air, turning to look at them. "What?"

"Ph— Inviso-Bill stole Tucker's PDA!" Sam shouts.

"He went that way!" Tucker shouts and points.

Valerie shakes her head, growling in frustration, and points at Sam. "You. Uh, citizen. Just tell me where he went."

Sam nods, covering Tucker's mouth. Tucker resists the urge to lick her hand. "He went that way." She points down the street. "Towards the beach."

Tucker pulls Sam's hand away from his mouth.

"And he stole my PDA! My poor Jessica!" He throws his face into his hands, lamenting the loss of his PDA. He remembers when Technus stole and took over his poor PDA, and he sniffles a little. Every good lie has a kernel of truth, he's learned. And it's more important than ever that he sells this lie.

"Ugh, whatever, Fo— uh, citizen, who I definitely don't know. Um. Thanks for the tip." And then Valerie flies away, down the street at first, but steadily rising until she clears the rooftops. She then changes her bearing, disappearing behind the library.

"Man, I thought she'd never leave."

Tucker and Sam jump. They look down to see Danny sitting between them, slumped against the concrete barrier. He looks wiped. His eyes are closed, head lolling against the barrier. One leg is bent, foot resting against the curb. The other is outstretched, slightly elevated onto the sidewalk. His hair, skin, and clothes are stained gray with dust — if it weren't for the sweat beading down his face, Tucker would say he looks like a ghost. Not an Amity Park ghost — rather, a ghost from one of the movies. Quiet. Unmoving. Dead.

Then Danny opens his eyes. Piercing blue reflects the sky above, before turning to Tucker and Sam. He smiles lightly, and then raises his arms. "Help me up?"

Tucker and Sam grab his arms, heaving him up to a standing position. He sways for a moment — then the leg that was outstretched buckles, and he leans hard into Tucker with a grunt.

"Woah, dude, take it easy," Tucker says, adjusting himself so he can take on Danny's weight.

"I'm fine, Tuck. It's just—" he hisses as he gingerly places his foot on the ground, leaning further into Tucker. "Just a flesh wound."

Tucker sighs. "I know, man. But we still gotta check it out." He takes a careful step with Danny onto the sidewalk. "Sam, any luck getting a ride?"

Sam nods, typing into her phone. "I'm texting Mahira — she might ask questions, but more importantly, she won't tell mom and dad."

"Cool." Tucker's about to say something else when a soft snore snuffs against his ear. He looks down to see Danny, leaning his full weight against Tucker, eyes closed and nose snoring in his ear. Tucker smirks softly, rolling his eyes, then adjusts the way he's holding Danny, scooping his friend up bridal style. Danny would never let him carry him like this were he awake. Asleep as he is, he snuggles into Tucker's sweater, pressing his cheek to Tucker's chest. Tucker's smirk softens into a smile.

When did Danny get so light?

He walks slowly, taking his time, letting Sam walk ahead of him as he stares down at his best friend. He's still covered in dust, his hair matted with it. Bruises have begun to form on his arms and face, and are peeking out from beneath his shirt. Between the tassel-whatsits and Valerie, today has done a number on him; and it's barely noon. Despite this, his face is more peaceful than Tucker's seen in a long time. Free of tension around his eyes, free of the constant frown that normally burdens his face. Danny deserves this, Tucker thinks.

Click!

Tucker looks up to see Sam holding up her camera, a smirk on her face.

"Hey!" Tucker shouts, but then stops himself when Danny stirs.

"Shush, you," Sam sings out, turning back around. "You don't want to wake him up!"

"No fair!" Tucker whines, only just loud enough for Sam to hear. Sam chuckles and smiles back at Tucker, then runs ahead to the corner where the SUV is waiting. That must be Mahira.

Tucker picks up the pace, but only just, careful not to wake Danny. He lets Sam answer Mahira's questions; he figures Sam'll fill him in on her excuses later.

He looks down again at Danny, and can't help the small smile as Danny snores against him.

Sleep well, buddy.

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

From @ednamrenee 's comments that are way too wonderful and insightful to keep to the notes only and I'll try to go point by point with this since there is so much I agree to with this (excuse the messy thoughts as I go)

Lol, and I enjoy hearing the perspectives of those who have a harsher take on JC than me. 😂 I agree with you re: CQL, it definitely didn't seem to know where to put JC's character, which is a shame because he's a very interesting one. I don't mind if CQL-onlies want to that to that version, media consumption being a very personal experience and all that, but if I have to read one more interpretation like JC thought the life-debt between WQ and him was paid..

I do think that it's a detriment to the adaptions closer to the novel and the AU that CQL is to be so heavily tied together into the western fandom. Since they are so different from each other they really can't be compared to each other. The characters are not alike which lends to the very out of place interpretations that become so heavily popular.

...when he got her out of prison, I'm gonna go insane. Never mind that it's not what happened in novel canon (or even donghua canon, I don't remember about the manhua), never mind that it was an added scene to go forth with the one-sided JC/WQ thing, never mind that even if it had been canon, it in no way balances the life-debt JC owed the Wen siblings (and I'm not even considering the golden core transfer, we can't hold over him what he doesn't know).

In terms of the debt he owed even with the awkward romance they tried to make, if it was "payed back" it does not excuse him from essentially hiding that away and letting it be buried under the calls to exterminate all Wens. It does not erase the fact that they had helped, and he chose to just not expand upon this when their safety was at stake out of, I suppose, petty jealousy of Wei Wuxian (I really don't know what CQL was going for with his resentment towards Wei Wuxian since he'd had that since he was young. But, it also makes whatever love he did have for Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian so much more shallow then it was in the novel and starkly more cruel for a character they tried to humanize while keeping the novel points skewing the themes of Jiang Cheng as a character.

It just feels like a sorry understanding of life-debts and that's why culturally huge thing, so...no? Don't do that? It's fine having JC not pay much attention to the debts. It makes him interesting, it makes him coldly pragmatic over valuing even things that his own culture holds dear. It's a great trait, and even a good one for a leader maybe. I am up for JC deviating for the norm when it's about such virtues while WWX sticks to them, and JC wasn't exactly sneering...

Yes! This is Jiang Cheng as a character at his simplest and why I personally find him fascinating! He is pragmatic and cold to a fault that works well in the cultivation world MDZS set up, however, it doesn't work the same in CQL when you have the boogyman story of the Yin Iron as the root of all bad instead. The character actions no longer line up with the theme of the original work since so much emphasis is placed on a piece of metal ruining everything instead of the cruelty of humans alone.

...at the mo dao until it put him in a politically delicate situation. That's fine! Interesting character traits! But like. Fanon perception more often than not strips all of these from him and that's just unacceptable to me. I'm not even going to speak of the entire genocide thing, despite knowing about the innocence of the Wens and how they're just feeble old people and women and children.

The bleed over of CQL trying to make Jiang Cheng softer in his youth made headcanons with no true base for it in his behavior as an adult a lot more muddied. As an adult in any adaption, he's not really shown to have any positive sort of sentimentality towards Wei Wuxian. Certainly with Jin Ling in CQL it implied heavily that he did hit him just like Madam Yu to Wei Wuxian, where at least in the novel he was just... a very aggressively, unkind, cruel uncle that spoiled his nephew and gave in with that cycle of negative action over progressive action (The massive narrative mirror between how Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji raised a child left to them suddenly). He was not sorry for the hand he took in killing the Wens, he blamed them for taking his right hand man away and putting his sect, in what he thought, was unneeded trouble, morals be damned like his mother. Like she had said about Lan Wangji and Jin Zixuan, they stuck their head too high and they brought death upon themselves for talking back to a higher power for acting on their kindness over politics.

(Lol, this got long, sorry!) I absolutely agree that in terms of interpersonal relationships, Jin Ling is the only one with whom Jiang Cheng can begin to grow. The thing about the Yunmeng brothers is that whatever was between them is now tainted by bad blood (quite literally) on both sides, both of them have hurt each, knowingly or unknowingly. Both of them are a source for mental stress for each other, that's canon for any adaptation.

I understand the urge to want a rosier, I guess, take on this. I'm more used to the novel interpretations and neither ever really use the wording of being like family, or brothers, this was left to Jiang Yanli specifically calling Wei Wuxian her brother as the only Jiang to do that. The barrier of their social class is still a backbone of Jiang Cheng's possessiveness in thinking Wei Wuxian was his to order about as a sect leader twisting the innocent promise Wei Wuxian gave. But both don't associate anything positive with the other anymore. Wei Wuxian certainly isn't sentimental for Yunmeng Jiang as a home when he is resurrected or Jiang Cheng. He was planning to run off in the opposite direction of it to start as someone new! That does not read to me as pining or love anymore for the past (and I've written a piece before how CQL sanitized his longing of Lan Wangji solely by replacing it with Lotus Pier want and Jiang Yanli as a parental figure).

Can we not act like "ohh it's just miscommunication, they're both just dumb and horrible at feelings". It's not that simple. MXTX establishes this painstakingly, and just loving someone has never been the point. YZY loved JC too, she still managed to mess up his head. Love isn't the point, which sounds very hurtful I know, but it's also true. Reconciliation after all this bad blood takes a huge amount of emotional labour on both parts.

I can not reiterate enough that love was not the only thing needed between the Yunmeng siblings. None of them really ever understood each other and had different wants. Jiang Cheng never understood Wei Wuxian and his fascination of Lan Wangji out of discomfort. He did not accept whatever was going on there and later used it as shaming fodder. Both have done an unforgivable disservice to the other and really, nothing can mend old hurts as bad as they were. The kindest option is to leave each other alone and move on with a happier life for the self. The codependency of this is more than disturbing when used in reconciliation material especially for Wei Wuxian who was never that and is the one who actively asked for Jiang Cheng to move on, because he does not have the will to extend the effort of rebuilding a relationship anymore. It's a very human response to a broken relationship and not cruel, it just is a realistic view of a bad relationship that always ended for the worst when they tried to talk. Their own ideals are nothing alike and clash, they are not what the other needs and Wei Wuxian by the end of the novel is ready to leave it and move on with others without Jiang Cheng.

And, never apologize for long thoughts! I love it! This is why I very much enjoy interactions on here that are productive. Seriously I am a Jiang Cheng fan, I am just not into the gum drop sweetness for reconciliation. They are a disservice to him and his end that can better him without the crutch of Wei Wuxian there, which is exactly how his resentment spawned in the first place. He has a chance to do better by himself on his own terms, that doesn't need to be ruined with a codependent bond that had been forced and very one-sided in the end and remained as that for 13 years.

[greenteabtch]

Inquisitor as a Companion: Ty’as 

Hehe a lot of my mutuals have done this already but I’ve decided to debut my new Inquisitor by sharing them as a Companion! I put my whole heart into this, I hope you enjoy!

Name: Ty’as (she/they)

Race, Class, & Specialization: Qunari (Vashoth), Mage, Rift Mage

Varric’s Nickname for them: Mystic

Default Tarot Card: The High Priestess, Upright: intuitive, unconscious, inner voice.

How they are recruited: After addressing the Chantry in Val Royeaux, the Herald can speak to Solas in Haven about a matter of concern regarding Elven artifacts that measure the veil. He will mention the one in the Hinterlands, as well as a second, temporary location in the Hissing Wastes, beginning Measuring the Veil.

If the Herald does not travel to the Hissing Wastes to activate the artifact before reaching Skyhold, the location will disappear and Ty’as will no longer be recruitable. Talking to Solas will reveal that he felt tremors in the Hissing Wastes, leading him to believe the artifact had been destroyed. This earns slight disapproval from him.

If the Herald agrees and journeys to the location, Solas will be locked in as a party member for the duration of the quest. On arrival, there will be a small scene where they approach a half buried Dwarven temple. Solas will comment that the veil is alight, though with what he’s uncertain. If you investigate further he says the spirits are unusually talkative, and it is too difficult to piece out their message at this time. Descending through the temple, the Herald will encounter a mix of human smugglers and Venatori, each hoping to loot the deserted temple for forgotten art and knowledge. They will have to fight through them to reach the goal marker. Eventually, after two floors, the party will reach a wide room that looks to have been a former library.

A small cutscene plays as the Herald looks around the deserted room, saying they see no signs of any artifact. If playing as a Cadash, they’ll ask if Solas had gotten the location right, as the Shaperate never reflected the presence of any Elves in Dwarven settlements in the region. Solas will reply that he was sure it was here, only to blink and fire a spell towards the door which they entered. He shouts that the figure has the artifact, and the Herald catches sight of a cloaked figure running off in the direction they came and a chase is given through the temple. Before they can reach them, the figure throws up a barrier that causes the Herald and their party to bounce off and stay trapped as they make their escape on horseback. Solas, though aggravated, will sigh saying that it is fine. He is able to sense the artifact through his connection to the Fade. If a non-mage Herald asks why he did not dispel the barrier in the first place, he will comment that it is not a typical barrier, and in fact it seems to be imbued with a spirit of protection. If the Herald is a mage they will ask Solas why they cannot dispel it, to which he will answer the same. The conversation is ended by the barrier dispelling on its own, and Solas indicating that he will lead the way.

At this time the quest Measuring the Veil is marked complete, with a new quest taking its place called Building a Bridge.

The scene changes to an open market in the middle of the desert, colorful fabrics and jewel tones shining in the sun. The Herald and companions look surprised as Qunari pass by, of all ages and walks of life. They look at the party in surprise and question, murmurs indicating shock that they had been discovered by outsiders. If the Herald is an Adaar, they can say “Well… this is starting to look a lot more like home.” If Iron Bull is in the party, he will wonder to himself “Tal-Vashoth? Working together?” The party is then approached by a Qunari male, with one horn broken and a guarded expression. He appears to be a leader of the community, and greets them in Qunlat, asking them to explain who they are and state their business. The Herald can explain the occurrences at the temple, with Solas’ interjection about an artifact of his people being stolen, to which the Qunari male will rub his chin and ask how he can be certain that they’re not Venatori or Smugglers themselves. If Dorian is in the party, his clothes will be pointed out as clearly of Imperium make. The Herald can then show the Mark as proof of their role. 

If playing as an Adaar, the Qunari will apologize in Qunlat, and introduce himself as Nehara, the storyteller and leader of the Tal-Vashoth Encampment. Otherwise he will nod and invite them to follow him to the object. As he leads them to an orange printed tent in the back of the camp, he will refute Solas’ claim that the Elven artifact was stolen, to which Solas will dryly question if Nehara believed it was just being taken out for some air. Nehara will hum, stopping at the tent and saying that he had better let the Seer explain. With puzzled expressions, the party enters, the world around them fading into black. Companions may comment at this point:

The Iron Bull: Oh shit… 

Dorian: Good, I was beginning to forget what it was like to black out from expensive wines.

Vivienne: The fade? No… this couldn’t be… how curious…

Solas: Interesting...

Varric: I miss Kirkwall, at least the weird shit there was bright red in your face crystals, not the ground disappearing under your feet.

Cassandra: What is this… where are we?!

Sera: No friggen way, no friggen way!

Cole: Hello!

Blackwall: Right… guess we could do without the floor… and the walls.. And the sky…

The figure from the temple is positioned at the center of the darkness, and the Herald walks towards them, the party trailing behind. They face away from them, the artifact peeking out, glowing. The Herald has the option to either greet them, wait for them to respond to them, or rip their hood off. 

Option 1: Ty’as hums, asking for just a moment before standing up to face them, artifact in their arms.

Option 2: Ty’as continues to work till they are satisfied, before standing up to face them with the artifact.

Option 3: Ty’as continues to work, though they frown, before standing up to face them with the artifact. 

They will greet the Herald with a name derived from the Herald’s class. 

“Shanedan, (Warrior: Beres-taar, Rogue: Hissrad, Mage: Rasaan)”

Ty’as removes her hood, revealing her horns and explains that she is the village Seer, tasked with communing with the spirit realm and guiding the village through metaphysical matters. She apologizes for running off with the artifact in the Dwarven temple, returning it to Solas with a bow, explaining that she had thought that they were smugglers and wished to protect the artifact. If she had known it was the Herald, she says she would not have run. When asked how she knew about the artifact, Ty’as will smile and with the flip of her hand call a weave of colorful spirits to flow around her, before spinning them away. She explains that amongst the Tal-Vashoth, she is a Seer, the bridge between the natural world and the spirit. They had alerted her to the presence of the artifact when the breach exploded in the sky, and she has been monitoring it ever since, the spirits highlighting the importance of keeping it safe. Solas will look unconvinced. The Herald can ask his opinion, to which he will express that Ty’as’ story is not impossible but he has never met a Tal-Vashoth or Qunari that let their mages run with open mouths, not to mention hold a position of power. Iron Bull can also be consulted, to which he will offer a similar opinion, though run closer to the side of distrust. If Ty’as hears this, they will frown but plainly express that respectfully, what they know of Tal-Vashoth could be boiled down to the size of a Fennec’s nutsack. Iron Bull will snicker at that comment, despite him reaffirming that just because Ty’as could tell a joke didn’t mean Tal-Vashoth couldn’t be dangerous. Ty’as looks discontent but turns to the Herald. 

“I truly meant no disrespect. In truth, I am concerned by the breach, as any. The spirits are whispering of change in the winds, and I must take care to keep them safe.” With a woosh, the blackness disappears and the party is standing in the tent, plush pillows beneath their feet, Ty’as, no longer cloaked, is sporting travel bags and wrapping a shawl around their shoulders. “I will accompany you in your journey.”

The Herald may ask about their village, to which Ty’as will explain that their role as Seer calls them to care for the well being of the spirit realm to balance that of the physical. If they neglect the spirits to tend to their people, they will all suffer in the wake of the breach.  

The Herald can say two things.

Option 1: We’d be remiss to pass you up. (Slightly Approves, Ty’as is recruited for the Inquisition)

Option 2: I think we already have one too many mages. (Ty’as is not recruited for the Inquisition)

If Option 1 is selected, Ty’as will smile, thanking the Inquisitor for their trust. They say they will say their goodbyes. A scene will play where Ty’as walks through the village market, escorted by small children, and accepting supplies from merchants. She will meet Nehara in a hug, who will spin her with a laugh. A small exchange passes between them:

“Panahedan, imekari. Be safe on your journey.” (Take refuge in safety, child)

“Panahedan, Papa. Sataareth kadan hass-toh issala ebasit.” (Take refuge in safety)

The scene ends as Ty’as walks up to the Herald. The Tal-Vashoth village is now explorable, with merchants available, and additional lore about Tal-Vashoth if the Herald speaks to Nehara.

If Option 2 is selected, Ty’as frowns, puzzled. “The spirits did not describe you as a Qalaba.” With that she will brush past them, covering her head with her hood, as she stands at the exit to her tent. With a look back, she bids a final apology to Solas, and thanks the party for their time, walking off into the sand, never to be seen again. The Tal-Vashoth village is explorerable now, with merchants available, and additional lore about Tal-Vashoth if the Herald speaks to Nehara. Additionally, speaking to Nehara will reveal that Ty’as has journeyed on her own to stop the Breach, with or without the Herald’s help.

Where they are in Haven: Ty’as can be found in Adan’s Apothecary, perusing his shelves of herbs. When the PC walks in, they can occasionally hear Adan grumbling about Ty’as messing with his already shoddy equipment, to which she will liltingly reply that she didn’t hear him complain when she brewed a pot full of Vandal’s Tears. 

Speaking to Ty’as will unlock dialogue about:

The Kossith

Their views on Mages

Vashoth/Tal-Vashoth/Kossith Encampments across Thedas

The Qun/Qunari

Their role as a Seer

Their thoughts on Spirits

Their life at the Hissing Wastes Encampment

Where they are in Skyhold: Ty’as resides in the tower between Cullen and Iron Bull’s. Hanging from the beams above are cycles of stained glass, ornamented like mobiles that cast a rainbow pattern along the ground. The stone walls have been covered with tapestries and blankets similar to those seen at the Tal-Vashoth village. A table containing various ground spices, herbs, and dyes sits to the side, and a hammock covered in furs is suspended from the “second floor”. Pillows of orange and red are scattered in a circular fashion around a woven rug, and unfamiliar magical instruments of all shapes and sizes stick out from a chest to the side of the room. A kendang drum rests against it. There is a changing screen with gilded geometric patterns, and a wardrobe.  In the very center of the room is a flat pot of ashes, incense sticks protruding, steaming as if they were just lit. Flowers lie around it, as well as some food offerings. Typically, Ty’as is standing at the desk, staring out the window that looks into Skyhold, sitting in one of the circular pillows, lighting a stick of incense, or hanging strings of Plumeria Alba. For their opening cutscene they are pinning the blankets up to the wall, commenting that she has been amongst ruins before, but for some reason Skyhold’s walls feel eerie, like they were intended to block her connections to the spirits. The Inquisitor can offer to help her put up tapestries, which will give slight approval as she says she’d feel much more at home that way.

Things they Generally Approve of: 

Greatly Approves

-Letting Solas kill the mages in All New Faded for Her.

-Disbanding the Templars in Champions of the Just.

-Allowing Blackwall to stay with the Inquisition after Revelations.

-Selecting ”A dwarf/qunari/elf/mage will fight for us all” when made Inquisitor.

-Having less than 75 court approval at the end of Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts.

Approves

-Letting Celene be killed/having Gaspard executed in Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts.

-Defending/Showing respect to nonhuman races and mages.

-Letting Cole remain a spirit.

-Being brought to the fade in Here Lies the Abyss.

-Finding the Chateau D’Onterre and uncovering its secrets.

-Aiding the spirit of Command in Crestwood.

Slightly Approves

-Helping Vivienne collect books for the Circle.

-Allying with the mages in In Hushed Whispers.

-Being brought to places where the veil is thin, like ruins or former places of battle.

-Exacting creative punishment in judgements (conscripting Alexius/Blackwall, etc).

-General acts of humility and compassion, such as aiding refugees in the Hinterlands.

-Humorous dialogue.

Things they Generally Disapprove of: 

Slightly Disapproves

-Not aiding the spirit of Command in Crestwood.

-Vehemently anti-magic rhetoric.

-Sacrificing the Chargers in Demands of the Qun.

-Encouraging Cullen to continue to take Lyrium in Perseverance.

Disapproves

-Stopping Solas from killing the mages in All New Faded for Her.

-Putting Gaspard alone on the throne in Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts.

-Non-Elf Inquisitors drinking from the Well of Sorrows.

-Being taken into the Deep Roads.

-Conscripting the Mages in In Hushed Whispers.

Greatly Disapproves

-Recruiting the Templars as allies to rebuild in Champions of the Just.

-Banishing Blackwall for his crimes.

-Encouraging Cassandra to rebuild the Seekers.

-Forcing Dorian to reconcile with his Father.

-Cruelty and unjust dialogue/actions.

-Allowing the Wardens to remain in Orlais in Here Lies the Abyss.

Similar to Solas, Ty’as’ approval can be recouped through investigative dialogue about her experiences with spirits, magic, and respectful/affirming words on the Tal-Vashoth. It is not too difficult to earn high approval with her, though.

Mages, Templars, Other?: Growing up in her Tal-Vashoth community, Ty’as was removed from the width of the mage-templar conflict, though she had heard about some of it from word of mouth. She believes that mages can be free to exist without threat, but that Southern society has propagated an unhealthy fear of magic, rather than an understanding. To that extent, though they would prefer Circles to exist only as optional institutions of study, they believe in a paced transition towards changing the Southern perspective on magic that promotes harmony between Fade-Dwellers (spirits) and World-Born (physical beings). Only then can true freedom be achieved for all. Their views are most closely aligned with Vivienne, though they hold a strong distaste for the abuses committed by templars and sanctioned by the Chantry, and prefer disbanding them as the first step towards achieving peace.

Friends in the Inquisition: Vivienne, Iron Bull (later), Cole, Varric, Blackwall, and Solas.

Rivals in the Inquisition: Cassandra, Iron Bull(beginning).

Neutral in the Inquisition: Dorian, Sera, Cullen, Josephine, Leliana.

Romanceable: Yes, to all races and genders.

**If unromanced, and Iron Bull is not romanced, they will strike up a physical relationship that eventually turns  fully romantic. Asking Ty’as’ opinion on Iron Bull will result in a line of dialogue that shifts depending on the stage of their relationship. Stage 1 (Antagonistic): “Ah. He has made it clear where he stands on people like me. I have nothing against him, but I will not seek out a Qalaba and expect it to think.” Stage 2 (After Adamant, Neutral): “He has sought me out about the events in the fade. He is processing the best way he knows how.” Stage 3 (Friendly): “[laughs]... He told me a marvelous story yesterday about his Chargers. I don’t think he sees it, but he is truly a Mother Hen sometimes.” Stage 4 (Romantic; if neither has been romanced): “Maa Asala has grown. He is trying his best to unlearn his fear, both of my people and the spirits... I take great pride in him. Perhaps one day I can show him the village. The children would love his rack.”**

Names

Rivalry: “(if non-Qunari) Basra.” “Inquisitor/Herald.” “(if Qunari) Bas.”

Neutral: “Inquisitor Lavellan/Trevelyan/Cadash/Adaar.” “Beres-taar/Hissrad/Rasaan.”

Friendship: “My friend.” “(Name).”

Romance: “Kadan.” “Maa Asala.”

War Table:

Awfully Bland Here Isn’t It? (After Recruitment)

Inquisitor/Herald,

I’ve noticed a distinct lack of… diversity in your cooking supplies. It has made it difficult for me to perform my offerings to the spirits. If it pleases you, I believe I have a solution which benefits us all. I have contacts with Tal-Vashoth merchants who will be able to provide the Inquisition with a variety of herbs and spices at a reasonable rate. Our traders have access to stocks a Southern peasant would go their entire life without seeing. At worst, you’ll be able to resell them for a decent profit. If you can, though, try to keep this quiet. I would not want to risk the wellbeing of my people.

Please consider.

--Ty’as

P.S- I think the troops would be delighted to have a little bit of flavor added to their meals, wouldn’t you agree?

Options:

>Josephine: This is an incredible opportunity. It’s been whispered amongst elites that Tal-Vashoth trade routes span the entire continent and are impossible to access, for obvious reasons. I can have my emissaries establish a connection with the listed merchants and retrieve supplies of all flavors, materials, styles, colors... Did I already mention this was an incredible opportunity?

>Leliana: We’ll have to keep this quiet. Parading into their market and naming the Tal-Vashoth as our suppliers may inspire backlash amongst Andrastians who couldn’t tell a giant gray rock from a living, breathing, Qunari. My scouts will discreetly meet with these merchants and bring back a small batch of supplies.

>Cullen: This isn’t the North. As silly as it is to admit, the blandness of the food may go unnoticed if we don’t introduce anything new. I say we leave the Tal-Vashoth be and save our gold.

Results:

>Josephine: The delivery arrived this morning and it smells as wonderful as it feels. Unfortunately, Inquisition emissaries in full garb inspired gossip amongst the locals, and now rumor has it we are a long-arm of the Qun disguised as an Andrastian military force. Nothing will come of it, I’m sure, but it is not exactly ideal.

Received: 5 Felandaris, 5 Amrita Veins, 10 Dawn Lotus, 10 Witherstalk, and 7 Rashvine Nettle.

Ty’as slightly disapproves.

>Leliana: In and out, with not a head turned in surprise. Quite the find.

Received: 3 Felandaris, 3 Amrita Veins, 8 Dawn Lotus, 8 Witherstalk, and 5 Rashvine Nettle.

Ty’as approves.

>Cullen: Well. We might not have “java beans” or “galangale,” but at least we maintained our soldiers expectations.

Received: 20 influence.

No approval change.

Contacting the Kos-Rasaan (Available at Skyhold)

Written in a rushed but curvy script.

Inquisitor,

As I was meditating on the events at Haven, I recalled a conversation with my mentor where she lectured me on the Kossith’s recounts of the First Blight. Little outside our community are aware, but the Qun is only a recent innovation amongst our people. Outside of Par Vollen, expanses of innovation and knowledge dating back to the Divine Age were whispered and shared throughout Kossith/Tal-Vashoth societies. With Tevinter and Par Vollen’s history, it would be crucial to get in touch with Kos-Rasaan, to see if her knowledge reflects any existence of this Corypheus, and moreso, if the Kossith encountered others like him.

She may know a weakness that has slipped through the fingers of recorded history.

--Ty’as

Options:

>Josephine: I’m told the University of Orlais has scholars in the area. They may have some knowledge on Kos-Rasaan’s whereabouts. We can send them along with appropriate gifts, such as incense or rare roots.

>Leliana: Allow me to dispatch some of our Elven agents to search for Ty’as’ mentor. It may take longer, but the Kos-Rasaan may find it more amicable to have direct contact with a small number of Inquisition scouts than an unknown entity.

>Cullen: We can send troops to cover the area and conduct a thorough search of the desert. With luck, we’ll find Ty’as’ mentor by sundown.

Results:

>Josephine: The scholars were given quite the scare when they accidentally activated a series of wards, entrapping them in a feisty collection of Deathroot. They readily thrust out the gifts we had brought along, to which I’m told, Kos-Rasaan found amusing. She has sent this message along (see after all advisors)

Received: Saartoh-Bas Kos Issqun (Staff)

20 Power

Ty’as Greatly Approves

>Leliana: Our agents just narrowly missed the deathroot vines that shot from the canyon’s walls. I was told Kos-Rasaan was somewhat disappointed, but greeted them with warmth. She has sent along the following message (see after all advisors)

Received: Saartoh-Bas Kos Issqun (Staff)

20 Power

Ty’as Approves

  >Cullen: In an awkward first-encounter, our soldiers were caught in a series of wards that trapped them in vines of all shapes and sizes. Reacting, they attempted to cut themselves down, which did not please Kos-Rasaan. She was thankfully merciful on the realization that they were rookies, but we should probably consider sending a gift basket. Or replacement vines. I don’t know. 

Received: Saartoh-Bas Kos Issqun (Staff)

20 Power

Ty’as Slightly Approves

Attached Letter to Each Result:

Inquisitor Adaar/Lavellan/Trevelyan/Cadash,

It is certainly a surprise for a Saarebas of my years and reclusion to be put in touch with the Southern force making the ground quiver. Your scholars/scouts/soldiers were a welcome reprieve from the darkness of the times, [if Josephine used:and I thank you for the offerings you have sent (not to mention the gift of laughter).] Maa imekari was smart to point you in my direction, as throughout our history there have been tales of Dark Magisters claiming to possess the power that Corypheus wields. The spirits we have tended to since the birth of our people have whispered of mages entering the fade, but of a Maker or Andraste, not. There may be truth yet to Corypheus, perhaps corrupted after centuries being unable to leave the fade, or merging with a soul of… what you might know as an “Old God.” In any case, I had your agents transcribe some of our oral history regarding him. With any luck you’ll find something of use.

Give my blessings to Ty’as. Please remind her to keep both feet on the ground.

--Transcribed by a precise scholar’s/efficient scout’s/blotted soldier’s hand.

Companion quest:

Chasing a Dream

Triggered by entering her quarters after Here Lies the Abyss and +35 Approval. A cutscene will play where the Inquisitor looks around the room. It seems to be empty, but the incense sticks are recently lit. They look up to see Ty’as, hanging upside down from their knees. The Inquisitor can ask her what she’s doing, to which she will gracefully drop down with a sigh. She will explain that she is trying a technique that will pool her spiritual energy towards her crown, but once again it is to no avail. The Inquisitor can prod further, at which point she will frown and gesture for the Inquisitor to join them on the cushions. Ty’as will disclose that she is trying to widen her mana pool to seal her connection to the fade and achieve abilities similar to that of a somniari. If the Inquisitor asks why she describes with a fond look that the somniari leads a perfect state of being: one foot firmly planted in the spirit realm, and one in the physical. Though she would not be a true somniari, she would be able bridge the tiny magic deficit between herself and that of one to fulfill her role as a seer beyond a doubt, and serve her community in the ultimate way.

There are some Dialogue Options here:

a) You already seem to have a strong connection with the fade. (slightly approves)

Response: It is as you say… In truth, though, it is not as effective to commune with the beings there but not be able to enter their home as they enter mine. 

b) Getting sick of the physical realm? (slightly disapproves)

Response: I am equally bound to both realms, to neglect one would be to give a starving man food but no water.

c) So you’d be more susceptible to demons (slightly disapproves)

Response: It’s far more complex than that, but I suppose if you must put it simply. I would also be able to communicate with more spirits than before.

d) (Flirt) Ah, so now you’ll be making even more appearances in my dreams? (slightly approves)

Response: Even more you say? That could be arranged...

A mage Inquisitor may say that they thought that there was no recorded way to increase one's connection to the fade, to which Ty’as will look thoughtful. They will reveal their Father had passed down a story about a Kossith mage, who after performing a ritual, was able to enter the fade at will. They explain that they had always wished to pursue the tale, but after seeing the fade for themselves, began to look in earnest, resulting in the discovery of a set of tablets describing the ritual in the tale. Ty’as says that they need it retrieved from the private collection of a rich Orlesian merchant, and asks if the Inquisitor could spare the resources.

The Dialogue Options are:

a) We will get you what you need.

Response: [with a smile] You have my thanks Inquisitor. I will leave the location of the artifact with your advisors. (Approves)

b) Are you sure about this?

Response: I know it must seem like I’m chasing a loose thread, or that I am attempting to alter the physical fabric of my being. But I need to do this, to fulfill my role as a Seer. (Returns to options A and C)

c) I don’t like the sound of this.

Response: [frowns] Do not act as if you are more versed in what I need than I am. Please… you wouldn’t understand. Should you change your mind, I will leave the location of the artifact with your advisors. (Disapproves)

In any case, the quest Chasing a Dream will appear in the journal. To continue the quest, the Inquisitor must go to the war table, where a quest marker by the same name will appear in Val Royeaux.

Chasing A Dream; War Table

Inquisitor Lavellan/Adaar/Cadash/Trevelyan,

The tablets that Lady Ty’as seeks are housed in the DuRellion’s Estate. When we petitioned them for custody, citing the cultural value of the artifacts, they responded with an elegant refusal. Apparently it has been ‘passed down in their family for generations and generations…’ The tales these nobles spin… They will soon be hosting a soiree where they intend to showcase their immense collection of magical objects. If we play our cards right, it could be an opportunity to acquire a closer look at the tablets.

Yours,

Ambassador Montilyet

Options:

>Josephine: I could secure the Inquisition invitation to the DuRellion’s soiree. All they need is a little bit of assurance that the Inquisition will remember their generous contribution.

>Leliana: It would be simple enough to retrieve the tablets before the day of the Soiree. I hear blackouts are becoming common again throughout Orlais. A product of the civil war, perhaps?

>Cullen: Not participating.

Results:

>Josephine: It took several hours and multiple barrels of Antivan wine, but the tablets are secured. 

Received Quest Object: Tablets of Tjioman

Ty’as slightly approves

>Leliana: The soiree was cancelled after a sudden run of power outages led to the disappearance of the tablets. I’m told they suspect the Marquis! There always was bad blood between them. 

Received Quest Object: Tablets of Tjioman

Ty’as slightly approves

To continue, speak to Ty’as in her tower. She will be grinding a red colored mixture in a bowl, before drinking it. They turn when the Inquisitor enters, excitement in their voice as she asks for the tablets. The Inquisitor hands them to her, and she steps back, mouth moving as she looks over the ancient script. She halts her pacing.

“It would seem that I need your help once more. The ritual requires the presence of one who has walked the fade before. A somniari... or you.”

Dialogue Options:

a) But I’m not a mage? (non-mage Inquisitor)

Response: But you have the mark, and we all saw what happened in Adamant. (Returns to dialogue tree with this option gone)

b) This is starting to sound dangerous. (slightly disapproves)

c) What would you have me do? (no approval change)

d) I trust you. (Flirt) (slightly approves)

Response: Thank you...That holds great meaning for me.

“The instructions are difficult to translate. You will…for lack of better words.. Open a rift inside of me. Not in actuality, of course, but that is what it will feel like to you.”

Some investigative options are available now, which reveal that going through with the ritual will widen Ty’as’ mana pool, but at the cost of making her more attractive to demons. She may be more susceptible to possession, and lose some of her livelier qualities. She would be more powerful and see more of the Fade and its spirits if the ritual is performed.

Option 1: Say you will help Ty’as perform the ritual. (Greatly Approves)

Ty’as thanks the Inquisitor and says the two of you must go quickly, before this moon cycle ends. The scene changes to that of the desert, likely the hissing wastes, as Ty’as climbs a dune and sits below a barren tree. They pull out a mixture of gold and mark their face in ceremonial dress, beckoning the Inquisitor closer and doing the same for them. Then they pour a potion from their belt, sharing it with the inquisitor. They smile, looking somewhat nervous, but relax into a lotus position, waiting for the moon to finish its ascent. When it has reached the highest point, Ty’as will exclaim “Now!” and the Inquisitor will reach their hand out, showing a beam of green similar to when they close rifts protruding from Ty’as’ forehead. After a second, there is a boom that flings the Inquisitor back into a rock and knocks them out. When they awake, the sun is rising, and they scrabble over to Ty’as who is lying flat on their back. The Inquisitor shakes them awake and Ty’as opens their eyes, a coat of blue over them but snapping away with a blink. She accepts the helping hand up and smiles. “It is done.”

Option 2: Say you will not help Ty’as perform the ritual. (Greatly Disapproves)

Ty’as is visibly distraught and tries to convince the Inquisitor to change their mind, but if they stay their course, they eventually acquiesce and say that if it is so then it is so for a reason. The cutscene ends and the quest And Morning Came is available.

And Morning Came (Only if the Inquisitor did not help Ty’as perform the ritual)

Ty’as is sitting on the wall which overlooks Skyhold’s lower level, birds tweeting. They turn their head at the Inquisitor’s approach, a tentative smile on their face.

“I wanted to apologize for putting you in that position, Inquisitor. It was a daunting ask, one that you were reasonably cautious of.” They watch as Cole tends crouches by a sick man.

“I wanted to be more than I was born as. To rise to the role I had been given. I was so consumed with my love for the world that I did not stop to think that I was born as I was for a purpose.”

Dialogue options.

a) You’re perfect as you are. You always have been. (Flirt) (approves)

>Response: [softly] You speak from the heart?

I. Where else? (slightly approves)

II. Without a doubt. (approves)

III. I take it back. (disapproves)

*picking options I and II will bring a smile to Ty’as’ face, and she will look at the Inquisitor with pleading eyes, before looking to their lips, and away.

b) It’s easy to get lost in our ambitions. (slightly approves)

c) You care very deeply for your community. (approves)

d) That wasn’t very wise. (slightly disapproves)

“You are right… [she smiles towards you] I am feeling ...whole. Thank you, Inquisitor. For standing your ground.” They rise from their seat, walking off towards the battlements before calling over their shoulder. “Come by anytime Inquisitor. I am grateful for your friendship.”

Romance: The Land of the Living (Available if Ty’as was flirted with during Chasing a Dream or And Morning Came)

Activated by entering Ty’as chambers after the prerequisites are met.

The scene changes to twilight in Skyhold’s lower courtyard, where Ty’as is pleasantly speaking with an elven scout. She has picked a flower for Ty’as, who gratefully accepts and weaves it through her hair. The elf stutters, blushing like mad and taking their leave when the Inquisitor approaches. Ty’as watches fondly, before looking towards the Inquisitor, who asks, “New friend?” Ty’as shakes their head, explaining that people often like to bring them gifts of affection, despite her lack of interest romantically.

Dialogue options:

a) So you’re leading them on? (slightly disapproves)

>Response: (sighs) It is in fact their own fantasy. I make my intentions clear from the start.

b) In high demand then? (slightly approves)

>Response: (laughs) Apparently so. Perhaps my appearance is attractive to them.

c) Not the type to be tied down? (Flirt) (approves)

>Response: (she peers up seductively) In a manner of speaking I am. 

“In truth, I have never had a very structured experience with romance. Training in isolation for the decade of your maidan years does make that difficult, and my people struggle to view me as someone to know intimately.”

Dialogue options:

a) Is that something you want? (Flirt)

b) That’s not something I’ve struggled with. (Flirt)

>Response: (coyly) No?

c) I could never see you that way. (Ends scene)

She stands, gesturing the Inquisitor along. They walk towards the outside gates as the stars begin to show. They pause at the outermost wall, Ty’as leaning against it and looking over the glaciers.

“I want to live. To feel like I might die and fear every second of it.” Their voice drops, and they look to the Inquisitor, caressing their face. “To experience unimaginable levels of ecstasy and pleasure, achieved with one that I love. I want to be…” They drag their thumb over the Inquisitor’s lip. “Physical…” They look into their eyes. “Emotional…” Their lips part. “Yours.”

a) [Kiss her] (Locks in Romance) (Greatly Approves)

b) I want that too. (Locks in Romance) (Approves)

c) I can’t give you this. (Ends scene) 

Picking option A or B will result in a passionate makeout against Skyhold’s outer walls.The scene fades to black and the Inquisitor awakens in Ty’as’ room. Ty’as is already awake, and watches the Inquisitor languidly with love in their eyes. 

Tarot card change

Ritual Performed: Death, Upright: end of cycle, beginnings, change, metamorphosis.

Ritual Not Performed: The World, Upright: fulfillment, harmony, completion,

Romance: Judgement, Upright: reflection, reckoning, awakening.

Banter

Cole’s reflection on their thoughts:

“Colorful smoke, the smell of incense fills my nose, songs sung over a hundred ages, beasts and legends and heroes alike, us, me, ours, ‘Papa, are they proud of me?’”

“Ra’s staff sweeps my legs, ‘Again!’ bruises bloom, my proof, my flesh is frail, but I am strong, bright, blasting. I will try again.”

(If ritual was completed) “They’re loud now, they always were, they liked to talk, but too loud now, I can’t rest, I must listen, this is my purpose, Compassion help me!”

(If ritual was not completed) “She stares at her reflection, touches her nose, her eyes, her scars, her horns. This is me too.”

(If romanced) “Bodies and bodies, no, a body, one to hold close, confide in, who believes. He/She/They ground(s) me like roots in the desert, buried deep, tangled. Spirit and soul, united, alive, awake.”

Comment(s) on Mages: “Fear… so much fear… of the templars and of themselves…” “They are stronger than this.” “I wish I could sit down and speak to them all.” “It doesn’t have to be like this.”

Comment(s) on Templars: “Little people in big suits.” “I am sorry that they have been twisted to fear their siblings.” “They wield magic too.” “There is something to be said about people who hide behind weapons and armor”

When looking for something: “It seems the spirits are guiding you!” “I wonder what we’ll find!”

When finding a campsite: “Let us rest.” “A breath would be welcome.”

When the Inquisitor Falls: Low Approval: “Goodnight!!” “Meravas (So shall it be)!” “May you lie in the grave you dug.” // Neutral: “I will be there in a moment!” “Spirits watch them!” // High Approval: “I’m here!” “Rethsaam Inquisitor (We all protect the Inquisitor!)” // Romance: “Maa Asala, please do not leave!” “Spirits, not yet, not them!”

Upon killing an Enemy: “Spirits take you.” “Maaras, kata. (Nothing is ended)” “Asit tal-eb. (It is to be)”

When they are low on Health: “Virtues, some kindness please!” “Ah, those aren’t health potions.” “If you demand my soul, meravas!”

When revived: “My journey continues.” / “Not today, it seems.” / “You have my thanks.”

When a companion is low on health: (Iron Bull) “Losing your touch, Bull?” / (Varric) “Seek higher, Varric!” / (Dorian) “I’ll lend you my assistance!!” / (Sera) “Watch your surroundings, Sera!” / (Cassandra) “Ouch.” / (Solas) “Look forward, Vehl (Mentor).” / (Cole) “Compassion, knives are okay!” / (Vivienne) “My lady, allow me to help!” / (Blackwall) “Beres-taar, please care for yourself!”

When a companion falls: (Iron Bull) “(sigh)” if romanced: “Parshaara! You will not.”/ (Varric) “Small one!” / (Dorian) “Let’s not nap now, my friend!” / (Sera) “Sprightly one! Wake please!” / (Cassandra) “Hm.” / (Solas) “You are stronger than this, Solas!” / (Cole) “Compassion, no!” / (Vivienne) “My lady!” / (Blackwall) “My friend! Spirits guide him.”

When they see a Dragon: “Breathtaking. True embodiments of Protection.” “They are highly respected amongst my people… in person it is clear to see why.”

Default saying: 

Rivalry: “Ah, how unexpected.” “Inquisitor/Herald.” “Hello.” 

Neutral: “Inquisitor Adaar/Cadash/Lavellan/Trevelyan.” “How can I help, Inquisitor/Herald?” “Did you have need of me?”

Friendship: “My friend, let me start a brew you.” “Shanedan!” “Something is on your mind? Sit with me.”

Romance: “Maa Asala,” “How lucky I am, to share a moment with you.” “Your visage never tires me, Kadan. Speak with me for a while, please..”

Travel Banter:

The Iron Bull: So… your whole village back there…. Tal Vashoth?

Ty’as: Yes.

The Iron Bull: All of them?

Ty’as: What answer are you seeking?

The Iron Bull: Just an explanation to the number of hornless, the black eye-balls… features you don’t have.

Ty’as: Our community is descended from Kossith who left the North before the Qun took place. Some of their physical traits still show, to speak little of their cultures and histories.

The Iron Bull: But you’re really a Tal-Vashoth. 

Ty’as: My Mother is. She met my father after leaving the Qun. I am simply Vashoth. You believe what I say about the Kossith?

The Iron Bull: I’m looking for a reason not to.

(After Chasing a Dream is completed)

Solas: This ritual you found… did it succeed?

(If ritual not completed) Ty’as: Perhaps it did long ago, but it was not to be for me.

Solas: That is… unfortunate to hear. A greater relationship with the fade is one to be treasured.

Ty’as: I understand what you are saying, Vehl, though I find I am grateful for my relationship now. We cannot force ourselves into a deeper connection with friends and lovers, the spirit world is the same.

Solas: A unique way of approaching it. I am glad to see you remain whole.

Ty’as: (smiling) Me too.

(If ritual completed) Ty’as: It did.

Solas: Ah, how intriguing. How has dreaming been since?

Ty’as: Dreams have always been different, but the few times I have managed to sleep have blessed me with visions been beyond description.

Solas: Few times? Not sleeping well then?

Ty’as: No. Adjustment has been… odd.

Solas: I can imagine. When we return to Skyhold, I will send over some herbs that may help. Ghilas eth ma. (Go with safety.)

Ty’as: Compassion, is this the only form you have?

Cole: Leliana doesn’t let me fill out reports.

Ty’as: Ah, my mistake. 

Cole: You mean why don’t I look like Bronala? I can grow the horns if it will help, but I don’t think Vivienne will like me on four legs.

(If present) Solas: Nor will the rest of the Inquisition, I believe.

Ty’as: No, thank you. I would not wish you to change yourself for me. Be as you are.

Cole: You were not wrong about what we look like. Some windows are more colorful than others.

*Bronala- An animist god said to embody compassion in Kossith religion.

Cassandra: Ty’as, Cullen has told me that you have been aiding our soldiers through stretches?

Ty’as: It is called merengtakan. Would you like to join us? It may give you some peace of mind.

Cassandra: I pray to the Maker for that.

(if present) The Iron Bull: You’re missing out, Cassandra. I felt a pop in my back so big I thought I lost part of my spine.

(if present) Sera: Frig. That arse would’ve been the perfect target.

(if present) Varric: Listen, I was skeptical too Seeker but you can’t argue with the results. Look how much handsomer I’ve gotten!

Ty’as: We all have different pathways to clarity. Go as you wish, but you are always welcome.

Dorian: Ty’as, you’re awfully tall.

Ty’as: [laughs] You’re awfully small.

Dorian: Yes, astute observation. I was just thinking it must be difficult to find clothes in your size, like Bull.

(if present) Iron Bull: My lack of clothing is a personal statement.

(if IB present) Dorian: Right, that’s why you don’t wear a shirt in minus 30 weather. To make a point.

Ty’as: No more than it’s difficult for you to find a tailor willing to sew forty buckles together and make a onesie.

Dorian: Well, touché.

Blackwall: So. What did you do for fun in the desert?

Ty’as: Ate fruit, communed with the spirits, danced naked in the moonlight, mancala. 

Blackwall: Mancala you said?

(if present) Sera: You?!?!? Oh… joking.

(After Revelations)

Ty’as: Blackwall…

Blackwall: Yes?

Ty’as: I am proud of you.

Blackwall: … Thanks.

Vivienne: Ty’as, have you had the chance to look over the books I sent you?

Ty’as: I found them intriguing, my lady. Did you give any thought to the scrolls I sent?

Vivienne: Of course. This research on the fade is… one lacking in the Circles. 

Ty’as: If it pleases you, I will be happy to make copies so that you may share them amongst your peers.

Vivienne: No, allow me darling. I’m grateful for the knowledge. Spreading education and understanding of magic will be a huge help to young mages across Thedas.

Ty’as: You are as intelligent as you are beautiful my lady. I could not agree more.

(If in party) Iron Bull: Damn...

 Leaving the Inquisition: If approval is low enough for them to leave, the Inquisitor will find Ty’as descending from the tower wearing travelling gear. They will say that it is clear that the Inquisitor was not who they thought they were, and that their partnership will end here. The Inquisitor may try to ask Ty’as to stay, but Ty’as will say that the spirits signs are clear, and the Inquisitor’s poor leadership and cruelty are intolerable. They will leave if the Inquisitor does not apologize and pledge to do better, never to be seen again.

[elmidol]

Error: Program Not Found - Nineteen (NSFW)

Summary: You are in charge of programming the droids that work most closely with both General Hux and Kylo Ren. Unbeknownst to you, each of these two men have it in their heads that your relationship extends beyond the workplace. This causes things to escalate quickly when your two apparently secret boyfriends compare notes on their respective partner who is far too similar for their liking.

Read on AO3

Chapter Warnings: sex in all three routes

Side Notes: Contains all three routes, divided by breaks

Error: Program Not Found

 “Lust is a lovely word and makes love so much more interesting.” - Michael Faudet

 Nineteen: Desire

 [Kylo Route]

 You twirled the stylus between two fingers while checking over Eddard's shoulder at the adjustments he was making to the design. It was a new file, copy and pasted from a blueprint, and one he would need to send to your datapad once the pair of you finished making changes. Less issues arose regarding the droids' programming than their physical composition. A recent discussion had lended insight to needs that might arise, such as the potential possibility that the droid would be required to physically lift a patient. You did not want the droid to be overly bulky either, however, as that could slow it down unnecessarily as well as increase the cost of materials; for the latter, you imagined certain First Order officers would utilize that as a means of forcing the project to be discontinued.

 You reached past Eddard to mark an area on a portion that he was not using. The pair of you worked flawlessly, easily falling into a rhythm that other members of your team had taken note of. They felt at ease discussing matters with Eddard, aware that he would relay the information to you. This was precisely what you had hoped for, namely for when then assassination droid project entered its later stages.

 Eddard glanced at the adjustment that you had made and began to integrate that into his own version of the droid’s body. Satisfied, you moved away from him in favor of sitting in front of a console where you worked on the coding unique to the physical therapy droids. You had made notes of steps you hoped to take over the coming week, and falling behind in any area was not an option. Aelin had volunteered to fashion a temporary droid to test behavior in the assassination droids; that had given you a small window to devote yourself to this project. Otherwise the board would have demanded that you shelve this for the end of the week.

 The majority of them, you thought with a forming scowl, did not understand how programming and droid design worked, not really. All they were familiar with were the results, the product. They were also the first ones to complain if something went wrong; something that would be caught given proper time and testing. Their unrealistic expectations had dissuaded previous programming specialists from renewing their contracts. You could not say that you were not grateful for this; you would not have a job here if the others had failed to leave. That did not mean you were not set on demanding, albeit silently, that those officers learn a thing or two.

 After finishing the line of code that you had been working with, you were struck by the memory of another note you had made. You promptly pulled up a folder that listed where you would locate the programs you planned to delete entirely. The physical therapy droids would not be administering medications of any sort; this was something that had been agreed upon, and such programs could later be worked into the droids for future models.

 “Do you think there should be more flexibility in the droid’s thumb?” Eddard asked whilst tapping the end of his stylus against his lips. You turned around in your seat, furrowing your brow and working to remember the exact specifications that had previously been agreed upon. Once more in sync with you, Eddard held up the display and pointed with the stylus. “There are some stretches where the patient might require a better grip. Improved dexterity would be easy to add and upgrade the amount of those exercises the droids can perform.” You stared at the joint in question for another second then bobbed your head in three quick nods. Eddard returned the datapad to the table. His stylus worked across its surface, and you twisted around to focus on your own task.

 The additional dexterity would lift some of the restrictions you previously believed would hinder the programs you had in mind. Why you had not considered the rather simple solution of modifying the joint, you were not certain. It was an oversight that did not embarrass you; this was the entire purpose of having a team. A competent team at that. You looked over at two of the junior programmers seated to your left with a smile. One had been tasked with reading through the coding you wrote for errors, and the other tested known viruses against various portions that were meant to be already protected. Warfare came in many forms. You would not risk an already injured individual being subjected to harm from tampering committed by rivals or enemies.

 I do not want to be complacent and believe they would not attack me in a similar manner. You wrinkled your nose in disgust over hypothetical threats to your safety that could arise with working on droids. There were countless, though some would be beyond what the common officer would think up. I am working to design a droid that will do that, though. It will conceal itself and then kill another. Not only manually. The best way would be to have the droid perform other acts that endanger the target, no different than if a human was assigned to the kill. Poison. Sabotage.

 Your stomach churned, and you shook your head to think instead of the programs that you were working with in the present.

 By the end of your shift, you were grateful for the knowledge that your quarters would be empty of human companions aside from a single guest. As for the droids, TeeArr was assisting Aelin, and the MSE droid remained shut down until you could spare some time to work on its programming without interruption. The guest who would be visiting was none other than Kylo Ren. You suppressed a shudder at the thought of him while you walked past First Order personnel. You ducked into the mess hall long enough to grab a nutrition bar and a drink. Replenishing your energy reserves would only be wise, after all.

 You entered your quarters to find that your guest had already arrived. Quirking a brow, you studied his frame as Kylo continued to crouch before the MSE droid with his head tilted to the side. He ran a gloved hand along the remnants of the dent his foot had created. This was one of those moments where you could not read him so easily, could only guess as to where his mind wandered.

 You set the ration bar and drink down on a bolted table so that you could get to them later when you found the need. For a moment you considered whether or not you should have grabbed something for Kylo as well. Yet you did not think he would be remaining in your quarters after the two of you were finished.

 “Are you going to stay masked while we…?” you trailed off, noting that your tone had gone from lighthearted to strained. Kylo rose to his full height while twisting around in a fluid motion. Facing you, he reached up with both of his hands and undid the latches on his helmet. “I understand needing to keep barriers.” You gestured with your hand at the walls of the room, pointing out the fact that the two of you were in your quarters rather than his. An agreement, one that you had initiated.

 "The Supreme Leader views many things as sentimental weaknesses." That unspoken I would have wanted you to remain with me overnight offered a glimpse of the prison in which Snoke kept Kylo confined.

 You swallowed thickly, curling your fingers towards your palms. Kylo took a step in your direction. You mirrored his action, meeting him halfway so that the pair of you were standing quite literally toe-to-toe in the center of your quarters. As he had walked, Kylo had removed his helmet and carried it along. You placed your hands on its surface, noting each and every groove, every dent that it contained from battles and training exercises. Some were difficult to catch with the eye; the texture elicited a soft sigh from you.

 “I appreciate that this is not one of those things.” You glanced up, peeking through your eyelashes at him then lowering your gaze back to the helmet. His lips had parted, and those brown eyes had darkened. Showing his face in this intimate setting—now you could not help but wonder how Snoke would have treated Kylo; did he abuse him verbally and physically? You were aware of the Supreme Leader’s power only by hearsay. You had, on the other hand, witnessed what Kylo could do, at least in part. For him to be wary of Snoke, you would willingly admit to the fear that arose.

 To change the subject and draw your thoughts and his away from Snoke, you shifted your hands downwards on the helmet until your limbs eclipsed his. The textured leather gloves stuck to your skin, creating friction that had not been present on the mask. You smiled, tilted back your head, and released a heavy breath.

 “I do not want to wait any longer.” His eyes widened a fraction at your words then narrowed as his mouth twisted upwards into a predatory grin. You shuddered in response, your toes curling and a smile forming on your face in return. Removing your hands from his, you toyed with the hem of your shirt. Kylo’s gaze followed your movements, tracking everything you did with a growing hunger. “You should put down your helmet.”

 The teasing earned you a grunt. Kylo licked his lips yet obliged. He moved to the side long enough to place his helmet on another raised surface in the room, which meant that neither of you would be tripping over it any time soon. That was just as well; you wanted to be reckless while you could. You began to work your clothes off of your body, and you noticed with glee that Kylo experienced identical feelings.

 He stepped forward after removing his cowl and belt. Kylo shrugged off his outer robes with an ease you had not expected. Perhaps you should have, you mused, since he wore them often. Your thoughts were quickly cut off as Kylo cupped your breasts as he surged forward to claim your mouth. You whimpered into the kiss, your body burning with pleasure as he began to knead your breasts. You placed your hands on him in return, feeling his muscles through the shirt that he wore. You had seen him shirtless before, had felt him, however it was different this time. Knowing that he would be inside of you, every touch was intensified.

 You flattened your palms on his abdomen and slipped them downwards, moving them in reverse as soon as felt the edge of the material against the tips of your fingers. His flesh underneath was warm, the muscles taut. You clenched around nothing, again imagining him moving inside of you, aware of how these muscles would shift. Kylo released a moan into the kiss, a hungry sound that preceded your name. Your knees weakened at the unexpectedness, yet you did not fall. An invisible Force kept you in place, and you were grateful for it.

 “I want to feel you.” The whine that escaped you did not embarrass you. You nodded your agreement as he kissed your lips again then your chin then neck. You tilted your head to allow him better access to your throat, which he nipped. His teeth grazed your skin until he found a spot he liked near your collarbone, a spot that your uniform would conceal.

 “Mm...you can leave a hickey a little higher. I am not ashamed.” The noise that left him caused your cheeks to heat up. Somehow, you had managed to catch him off guard. His mouth hovered just over your skin, his tongue flicked out for but a moment as he licked his lips. “Too sentimental?”

 “No.” Almost breathless, except that you could feel that warm air run along your wet skin. “You’re sentimental with droids and their purposes.” His words were not meant as an insult; he was merely stating facts, and you could hear a note of curiosity in them. He worked to understand you in the same way that you tried to understand him. The freedom that you had to show emotions, did he envy you that? If he did, he did not hate you for it. Such jealousy did not cause him to harbor any ill will. Instead, if it did exist, it encouraged him to shift upwards and begin to nibble your throat higher, just as you had all but asked him to.

 Closing your eyes so that you could relish in the feel of that skilled mouth, you trailed your hands from his abdomen to the hem of his pants. You toyed with the elastic, letting it snap into place after hooking one finger into it. Kylo released a puff of air that you could have sworn was a chuckle.

 Kylo groped you through your bra again then slipped his hands past that barrier, cupping you and swiping his thumbs along your nipples just as he bit down on your neck. You clenched again, another whimper leaving you followed by a swear. His tongue flicked back and forth in time with his thumbs, and he caught your hardened nipples with the seams of his gloves. Your sensitive flesh burned for him more simultaneous to growing too sensitive. You squirmed, starting to lean away only to undulate your body nearer.

 You lifted one hand and placed it on the back of Kylo’s head, running your fingers through his hair. He had started to walk backwards, bringing you along with him towards the bed. Kylo sat down on its edge, and you straddled his leg, grinding against his thigh. He unclasped your bra then worked it down your arms. Pulling away long enough to get rid of the cloth, Kylo claimed your mouth with a hunger you matched.

 Your tongue caressed his before he once more kissed a trail downwards, this time making it to your breast. Kylo nipped at the right one, pinching the nipple of the left. You rolled your hips, riding his thigh while working open his pants. The pair of you pushed away from one another. Your hands flew along the final layers of your clothing, your eyes glued to his body as Kylo did the same for himself.

 Fully naked, Kylo pushed you onto the bed and climbed on top of you. His pelvis crashed into yours, and he wasted no time rocking against you. His cock slipped between your folds, eliciting a moan from your mouth as well as a groan from his. He repeated the action, this time adding more force. You swore, bucking up your hips to meet his thrusts. Leaning up, you captured his bottom lip with your teeth then let it pop back into place. Kylo caressed your cheek with his mouth, which ghosted its way up to your ear.

 “You’re so wet for me.” His voice was husky, deep. Kylo placed his hands on your hips as you ground against his cock. You spread your legs wider, the two of you working together so that the next thrust lined him up with you, allowed him to move into you. The head of his thick cock spread you open, filling you completely. You trembled at his size, at how he felt within you. You whispered out a swear, your eyelids fluttering as he sank in inch by inch.

 Kylo wasted no time fucking you, pumping into you. You set your hands on his chest, slipped them up to his shoulders. You wanted to feel every inch of him. Kylo placed one hand on the bed by your head, propping himself up so that you could look down the length of your bodies to watch. You did just that, biting down on your bottom lip and furrowing your brow as another moan spilled from you. You toyed with your clit, and Kylo adjusted how he fucked you, moving more slowly, dragging out your pleasure.

 He used his other hand to play with your breasts again. Kylo rolled a hardened nipple under the pad of his finger. You marveled over how different it felt compared to when he had been wearing gloves. Your inner walls clenched around him, the wetness from your body coating his cock and creating crude sounds with each and every thrust. Kylo pinched your nipple and tugged until you moaned loudly, your cunt tightening around him.

 He dropped his hand down lower, pushing at your limb so that he could hook his thumb against your clit instead. He rocked it back and forth, coated his thumb in your slick, and then teased you at a different angle, his movements fast. You grabbed at the blankets underneath you, your scream of pleasure swallowed by his mouth, muffled by his tongue as you came. Kylo did not stop moving, his hips pounding into you even as you clenched around him over and over, your vaginal walls pulsing as he fucked you through your orgasm.

 Kylo pulled almost completely out then snapped his hips, reentering you and moving until he was fully sheathed. You threw back your head while meeting his thrusts, aware that he was close. You could feel him, could hear him. His growl. You saw the way he bared his teeth, relished in the way his entire body trembled as he came, filling you with his hot cum. He continued to thrust into you, his hips gradually stilling, until he had fully softened. Only then did he pull out and roll onto his back, lying beside you.

 You held your breath for a moment. Would have done so for longer except that you were a panting mess, and your body would not allow you to. “Stay for a little while?”

 “Of course.” You could hear the smirk. “We’re not done here yet.” It made your heart flutter; you could read between the lines. This was about sex, but also about spending more time with you under the pretense of sex. You could rest for a while, could close your eyes, and he would be able to watch you without the threat of sentiment being used against him by the Supreme Leader. He could argue sex. Could argue desire.

 You extended your hand and set it atop his chest. “Not by a longshot.”

  ---------

 [Hux Route]

 You twirled the stylus between two fingers while checking over Eddard's shoulder at the adjustments he was making to the design. It was a new file, copy and pasted from a blueprint, and one he would need to send to your datapad once the pair of you finished making changes. Less issues arose regarding the droids' programming than their physical composition. A recent discussion had lended insight to needs that might arise, such as the potential possibility that the droid would be required to physically lift a patient. You did not want the droid to be overly bulky either, however, as that could slow it down unnecessarily as well as increase the cost of materials; for the latter, you imagined certain First Order officers would utilize that as a means of forcing the project to be discontinued.

 You reached past Eddard to mark an area on a portion that he was not using. The pair of you worked flawlessly, easily falling into a rhythm that other members of your team had taken note of. They felt at ease discussing matters with Eddard, aware that he would relay the information to you. This was precisely what you had hoped for, namely for when then assassination droid project entered its later stages.

 Eddard glanced at the adjustment that you had made and began to integrate that into his own version of the droid’s body. Satisfied, you moved away from him in favor of sitting in front of a console where you worked on the coding unique to the physical therapy droids. You had made notes of steps you hoped to take over the coming week, and falling behind in any area was not an option. Aelin had volunteered to fashion a temporary droid to test behavior in the assassination droids; that had given you a small window to devote yourself to this project. Otherwise the board would have demanded that you shelve this for the end of the week.

 The majority of them, you thought with a forming scowl, did not understand how programming and droid design worked, not really. All they were familiar with were the results, the product. They were also the first ones to complain if something went wrong; something that would be caught given proper time and testing. Their unrealistic expectations had dissuaded previous programming specialists from renewing their contracts. You could not say that you were not grateful for this; you would not have a job here if the others had failed to leave. That did not mean you were not set on demanding, albeit silently, that those officers learn a thing or two.

 After finishing the line of code that you had been working with, you were struck by the memory of another note you had made. You promptly pulled up a folder that listed where you would locate the programs you planned to delete entirely. The physical therapy droids would not be administering medications of any sort; this was something that had been agreed upon, and such programs could later be worked into the droids for future models.

 “Do you think there should be more flexibility in the droid’s thumb?” Eddard asked whilst tapping the end of his stylus against his lips. You turned around in your seat, furrowing your brow and working to remember the exact specifications that had previously been agreed upon. Once more in sync with you, Eddard held up the display and pointed with the stylus. “There are some stretches where the patient might require a better grip. Improved dexterity would be easy to add and upgrade the amount of those exercises the droids can perform.” You stared at the joint in question for another second then bobbed your head in three quick nods. Eddard returned the datapad to the table. His stylus worked across its surface, and you twisted around to focus on your own task.

 The additional dexterity would lift some of the restrictions you previously believed would hinder the programs you had in mind. Why you had not considered the rather simple solution of modifying the joint, you were not certain. It was an oversight that did not embarrass you; this was the entire purpose of having a team. A competent team at that. You looked over at two of the junior programmers seated to your left with a smile. One had been tasked with reading through the coding you wrote for errors, and the other tested known viruses against various portions that were meant to be already protected. Warfare came in many forms. You would not risk an already injured individual being subjected to harm from tampering committed by rivals or enemies.

 I do not want to be complacent and believe they would not attack me in a similar manner. You wrinkled your nose in disgust over hypothetical threats to your safety that could arise with working on droids. There were countless, though some would be beyond what the common officer would think up. I am working to design a droid that will do that, though. It will conceal itself and then kill another. Not only manually. The best way would be to have the droid perform other acts that endanger the target, no different than if a human was assigned to the kill. Poison. Sabotage.

 Your stomach churned, and you shook your head to think instead of the programs that you were working with in the present.

 By the end of your shift, you were grateful that TeeArr was assisting Aelin and the MSE droid was safe, shut down until you could spare some time to work on its programming without interruption. You would not be spending the night in your quarters. Instead, you headed for General Hux’s private quarters. It took effort to keep the smile off your face. Not that anyone observant would be oblivious to your destination. Still, keeping your composure would ward away some of the awkward and potentially inappropriate teasing you would otherwise incur. There would be plenty of that the next day once the stormtrooper guards gossiped that you did not leave.

 Armitage’s quarters were set at a comfortable temperature, a few degrees above the majority of the ship to ensure Millicent’s health remained the best it could be. She crouched near the TIE cat bed, her tail swishing back and forth. She shimmied then crouched back lower. You grinned as you observed her, your head tilted a little so that you could listen for sounds that would reveal Armitage’s location. You remained unsure if he had returned from the bridge just yet; you could be waiting a little while, which you did not mind.

 You placed the datapad you had brought with you onto the armrest of the blue couch. Stretching your arms above your head, you interlaced your fingers and arched your back, alleviating some of the tension that had built after spending hours at a console.

 Millicent leapt up to her full height and pranced over to you. She did not meow or release any other noise. Instead she sat a finger’s length out of reach and stared up at you with unblinking eyes. You blinked, though. Then furrowed your brow and engaged in the staring contest that she had started. She rolled over onto her back after a handful of seconds elapsed. Millicent reached a paw out towards you while meowing plaintively. You obliged, taking a step forward and crouching long enough to stroke the top of her head and scratched her chest. She purred with contentment, her eyelids slipping closed even as you rose back to your full height.

 You curled up on the couch for a small catnap while you waited for Armitage. Millicent leapt up with you, the small feline curling against your stomach and purring. As you closed your eyes, you pet the top of her head. You drifted off within minutes.

 A hand being placed on your shoulder roused you from that sleep. You shifted your hands around Millicent, tugging her gently so that you did not squish her, and rolled onto your other side. Armitage had already shed his greatcloak along with his outer shirt and belt. Your eyes wandered along his undershirt and pants. Peeking over the edge of the couch, you noted with pleasure that he had taken off his boots as well. He was just as eager as you were.

 “I hope you are well rested,” he said teasingly, his voice deep. You flicked your tongue along your lips, sitting up and relinquishing your hold on Millicent. The cat leapt off the couch, rubbed against Armitage, and then padded over to her cat bed, curling up inside.

 You tracked her movements while you replied to him. “I certainly am. Are you?” A low chuckle reverberated from him. You spread your legs a little, and Armitage rose, slotting himself between them. His mouth hungrily claimed yours, his hands beginning to roam your body the same as yours were doing to his. “Are you going to be ruthless in bed?” you asked teasingly against his mouth. He groaned in response, his hands slipping up under your shirt and groping your breasts through your bra. He pinched your nipples, tugging at them, making you clench and whimper with need.

 “Not this time.” You hummed out your approval at the acknowledgment that there would be future engagements such as this as well. “Mm...your things are by the bed.” You kissed him, smiling against his lips at how orderly he could be. It was nice to know where your overnight bag had been placed, sure; but that was not your focus. Right then, you wanted clothing to be removed.

 You broke away from the kiss to take off your shirt then tugged at his undershirt so that it untucked from his pants. “You are still overdressed.” His eyes glinted with hunger at your words. Armitage grasped your thighs and parted your legs further, rolling his hips so that you could feel how hard he was. You ground against him in return, growing more wet as the friction increased. Armitage kissed the corner of your mouth before tackling your neck with tongue and teeth. He nibbled downwards until he reached your collarbone. “Oh!” You moaned then swore before cupping the back of his head and tilting your head to give him better access to your neck. “Do not worry about leaving marks.” You were not ashamed to be in a relationship with him.

 His nose skimmed your flesh, his hot breath hitting the area he had just bitten. You closed your eyes to melt into the sensations of his touch. Meanwhile, you busied your hands with opening the front of his pants as well as your own. Armitage was skilled, that tongue undulating salaciously. He groped you through your bra again, shifting his hands around your back to undo its clasp. He cupped your breasts in either of his hands, kneading them and toying with your hardening nipples in alteration. His mouth moved with yours, your tongues dancing together in time with each roll of his wrist, with every thrust the two of you made against one another. His hard cock pushed against you through the confines of your clothing.

 “Do you,” he began, briefly cutting himself off with another kiss, “want to go to the bed?”

 “No,” you moaned, arching your back as he pinched your nipples again, tugging at them then swiping his thumbs back and forth against the sensitive buds. “Right here.” You would have said right now as well, however you knew that it was unnecessary. As orderly as the man could be, you could feel his need, knew he was not going to make you wait much longer before he was inside of you.

 You raked your hands up through Armitage’s hair, disheveling it, marveling how soft it felt. He shuddered under your ministrations. Armitage pushed you onto your back and climbed atop you. His hands were busy, in constant motion as he stripped you down to your socks, which you worked off and kicked away. He once more kissed a trail downwards, though this time he went further, taking a bared breast into his mouth. He cupped its twin, kneading and sucking at you. Your toes curled, and you rolled your hips, arching up off the couch so that you could reangle yourself, so that you could feel him against you. Armitage shifted a thigh against you instead, and you ground down. He pushed at your hips, and you whimpered, baring your teeth though you obeyed the silent command.

 It was worth it; he shoved down his pants, finished stripping, and you felt his naked thigh against your cunt in little time at all. You rocked back and forth, toying with his hair again and biting your bottom lip to stifle a groan of pleasure with how he teased you. He moved his other thigh between your legs, spreading you open and again crashing his pelvis into yours, rocking against you. His movements and yours brought his cock between your folders. You groaned at the feel of him, at how the head of his erection brushed your clit with each thrust. Armitage moaned, too. He rolled his hips again, more desperately, more hungrily. You swore, bucking up to meet his thrusts and entangling a hand in his hair to bring him down for another kiss.

 You trailed your fingers down his chest and over his abdomen, feeling the muscles twitch in response. Armitage lined himself up with you, rolling his hips more slowly so that you could feel the head of his cock begin to spread you open. He sank into you inch by inch. You curled your toes at the feel of him, your eyelids fluttering as you moaned and trembled. His first thrusts were shallow, allowing you to adjust to the size of him. He was thick, stretching you wide.

 Armitage reached behind you with one hand to grip the armrest of the couch. He cupped your chin with the other, tilting your head back and peering directly into your eyes. “You’re so wet,” he all but purred. You moaned in reply, whispering his name. He kissed you, his desire spiking, his hips moving quicker. You reangled yourself so that he brushed against your clit with his thrusts, reaching down and toying with yourself as well.

 He knew where to pet at you, what parts of your skin to touch so that electrifying pleasure traveled throughout your body. You clenched around him, growing more wet and closer to orgasm. To prolong your pleasure, you moved your hand away from yourself to instead ghost your fingertips up his abdomen to his chest. You circled a nipple, and he mirrored your actions. You swore again, shuddering as the dam built and built until you were pushed over the edge.

 Armitage continued to move within you, fucking you through your orgasm, teasing your sensitive flesh and turning you into an incoherent mess. You sighed into his mouth as he kissed you, pounding his hips faster as he chased his own release. You wrapped your arms around him, felt his chest against yours. Your walls clenched and unclenched around him, your vaginal walls pulsing as he continued to move. His thrusts became more shallow. His tongue mirroring those movements.

 He broke the kiss as he came, his cum filling you with each subsequent thrust. Armitage whispered what sounded like your name and you stroked your hands through his hair, felt those soft tufts while staring into his eyes. He did not stop moving until the both of you finished, his hips coming to a gradual halt. He pulled out of you, backing away to give you room to rise, though you nestled against him on the couch almost immediately.

 “I just want to stay here for a while.” He hummed his agreement, though he reached for his pants and worked them up over his hips. He grabbed his black shirt and passed it to you, which caused you to break out in a grin. Rather than wear it, you used it as a lap blanket. This earned you a chuckle. He might have said something, however Millicent trotted over to the pair of you. She hopped onto Armitage’s lap, laying down with her front paws on your legs, kneading the material of the shirt. “I am still unsure how I feel about working on assassination droids.”

 “They will be good for the First Order.” A grunt from you. Noncommittal. “They will cause death, certainly, however it is worth considering that for each droid that succeeds, that is a flesh and blood person who did not have to be in such a position.”

 A person who did not have to kill, you thought, groaning and setting the heels of your hands on your eyes. “Honestly I think part of the issue is that I am exhausted.”

 “I will make us tea, then we can relax together, hmm?” It sounded heavenly. Armitage shifted Millicent into your lap, and she laid back down without making a single noise of protest. You watched Armitage walk around, noted the way his body moved. He was less rigid here, a fact that was more apparent with his shirt off. “Do you have a preferred blend?” You shook your head, stating that anything that would help you rest and ward away a headache would be best. “I have just the one for us.”

 “Oh? Stressful day?” You had not asked him about it sooner in part because you felt that it was a silly question; he had many projects to overlook and countless officers along with stormtroopers. It was dizzying to consider.

 Armitage brought two cups over along with the blend and a kettle. He walked away once more, long enough to grab the portable heating device. “Not terribly. I was distracted a bit, thinking of this.” His eyes lifted from the kettle to land on your face. You smiled at him. “I look forward to sharing the bed with you.”

  --------

 [Poly Route]

 You twirled the stylus between two fingers while checking over Eddard's shoulder at the adjustments he was making to the design. It was a new file, copy and pasted from a blueprint, and one he would need to send to your datapad once the pair of you finished making changes. Less issues arose regarding the droids' programming than their physical composition. A recent discussion had lended insight to needs that might arise, such as the potential possibility that the droid would be required to physically lift a patient. You did not want the droid to be overly bulky either, however, as that could slow it down unnecessarily as well as increase the cost of materials; for the latter, you imagined certain First Order officers would utilize that as a means of forcing the project to be discontinued.

 You reached past Eddard to mark an area on a portion that he was not using. The pair of you worked flawlessly, easily falling into a rhythm that other members of your team had taken note of. They felt at ease discussing matters with Eddard, aware that he would relay the information to you. This was precisely what you had hoped for, namely for when then assassination droid project entered its later stages.

 Eddard glanced at the adjustment that you had made and began to integrate that into his own version of the droid’s body. Satisfied, you moved away from him in favor of sitting in front of a console where you worked on the coding unique to the physical therapy droids. You had made notes of steps you hoped to take over the coming week, and falling behind in any area was not an option. Aelin had volunteered to fashion a temporary droid to test behavior in the assassination droids; that had given you a small window to devote yourself to this project. Otherwise the board would have demanded that you shelve this for the end of the week.

 The majority of them, you thought with a forming scowl, did not understand how programming and droid design worked, not really. All they were familiar with were the results, the product. They were also the first ones to complain if something went wrong; something that would be caught given proper time and testing. Their unrealistic expectations had dissuaded previous programming specialists from renewing their contracts. You could not say that you were not grateful for this; you would not have a job here if the others had failed to leave. That did not mean you were not set on demanding, albeit silently, that those officers learn a thing or two.

 After finishing the line of code that you had been working with, you were struck by the memory of another note you had made. You promptly pulled up a folder that listed where you would locate the programs you planned to delete entirely. The physical therapy droids would not be administering medications of any sort; this was something that had been agreed upon, and such programs could later be worked into the droids for future models.

 “Do you think there should be more flexibility in the droid’s thumb?” Eddard asked whilst tapping the end of his stylus against his lips. You turned around in your seat, furrowing your brow and working to remember the exact specifications that had previously been agreed upon. Once more in sync with you, Eddard held up the display and pointed with the stylus. “There are some stretches where the patient might require a better grip. Improved dexterity would be easy to add and upgrade the amount of those exercises the droids can perform.” You stared at the joint in question for another second then bobbed your head in three quick nods. Eddard returned the datapad to the table. His stylus worked across its surface, and you twisted around to focus on your own task.

 The additional dexterity would lift some of the restrictions you previously believed would hinder the programs you had in mind. Why you had not considered the rather simple solution of modifying the joint, you were not certain. It was an oversight that did not embarrass you; this was the entire purpose of having a team. A competent team at that. You looked over at two of the junior programmers seated to your left with a smile. One had been tasked with reading through the coding you wrote for errors, and the other tested known viruses against various portions that were meant to be already protected. Warfare came in many forms. You would not risk an already injured individual being subjected to harm from tampering committed by rivals or enemies.

 I do not want to be complacent and believe they would not attack me in a similar manner. You wrinkled your nose in disgust over hypothetical threats to your safety that could arise with working on droids. There were countless, though some would be beyond what the common officer would think up. I am working to design a droid that will do that, though. It will conceal itself and then kill another. Not only manually. The best way would be to have the droid perform other acts that endanger the target, no different than if a human was assigned to the kill. Poison. Sabotage.

 Your stomach churned, and you shook your head to think instead of the programs that you were working with in the present.

 Hours later, two pairs of footsteps echoed in the hall and filtered into the room. You would not have taken notice of them had they belonged to stormtroopers or officers that you had no intention of meeting with that cycle. These footfalls were familiar to you. Their presence prompted you to glance at the chrono. You could log out of the system in less than four minutes’s time. That Kylo Ren was drawing nearer was a mild surprise; the two of you had already agreed to spend extra time together in your quarters. Armitage entering the room beside Kylo, though, was what caught you off guard. You would be spending the night cycle with him, and he knew that you had plans with Kylo.

 There was no air of antagonism rolling off either of them that you could feel. You finished deleting another unnecessary program then began to close out of the applications and wrap up your supplies. TeeArr was working alongside Aelin, so he was not present to comment on the pair. Armitage reached you before Kylo did, although this was in part due to Kylo slowing his pace for Armitage to do so. You blinked in surprise.

 “I am going to be a little later,” Armitage said, his voice low though not quite a whisper. If anyone here was going to eavesdrop, it did not matter how quietly he spoke. He was simply being discreet so that those still involved in their work would not be interrupted. “I wanted to give you the option to reschedule if you wished.”

 “If it is only a little later, I would like to keep the plans as they are.”

 “Very good.” He cleared his throat. “Other projects that we will be involved with have elements I must personally oversee.” Ah, the assassination droid. You hummed in acknowledgment of his words, and gave a nod in return when he inclined his head as a means of dismissing himself. His eyes had swept across your mouth, a fact that you had not missed. He would have kissed you had there not been witnesses. You watched him walk away.

 Kylo, in the meantime, stepped closer. He cocked his head to the side. “Perhaps you should lead the way.” Another thing that you appreciated about both of them; they gave you plenty of opportunities to make decisions and also to change your mind. You could go to your quarters or to his. No matter what things would be a bit scandalous. You would either go to Kylo’s quarters or yours with him then go to Armitage’s. People were going to talk. More than they already were, that is. You snorted and began walking. Kylo trailed along after you through the door. It was sweet of him, you thought, to come pick you up as he had.

 You rolled your shoulders as you walked, debating for a moment which place you wanted to go. You would not be interrupted in your quarters since you had been able to make the proper arrangements. On the other hand, spending time in his quarters felt intimate on a different level. Did Snoke monitor him there? You felt gross thinking about that. Shuddered and decided that you would stick with your quarters, at least for this time.

 The two of you entered your quarters, you first and then him. As the door closed behind him and you turned around, Kylo removed his helmet and set it off to the side. Both of you knew what was going to happen here. It was what you had thought about; or, one of the things. You would focus on Armitage later though. Right now you just wanted to be with Kylo, to touch him. This physical closeness was something that you had started to crave more and more frequently. While you were not limited on time, you knew that Kylo was.

 You toyed with the hem of your shirt, watching him watch you. Seeing the hunger in his eyes, you began to work your clothes off of your body. Kylo stepped forward after removing his cowl and belt. He shrugged off his outer robes then reached for you, cupping your breasts as he surged forward to claim your mouth. You whimpered into the kiss, your body burning with pleasure as he began to knead your breasts. You placed your hands on him in return, feeling his muscles through the shirt that he wore. You had seen him shirtless before, had felt him, however it was different this time. Knowing that he would be inside of you, every touch was intensified.

 You flattened your palms on his abdomen and slipped them downwards, moving them in reverse as soon as felt the edge of the material against the tips of your fingers. His flesh underneath was warm, the muscles taut. You clenched around nothing, again imagining him moving inside of you, aware of how these muscles would shift. Kylo released a moan into the kiss, a hungry sound that preceded your name. Your knees weakened at the unexpectedness, yet you did not fall. An invisible Force kept you in place, and you were grateful for it.

 “I want to feel you.” The whine that escaped you did not embarrass you. You nodded your agreement as he kissed your lips again then your chin then neck. You tilted your head to allow him better access to your throat, which he nipped. His teeth grazed your skin until he found a spot he liked near your collarbone.

 Closing your eyes so that you could relish in the feel of that skilled mouth, you trailed your hands from his abdomen to the hem of his pants. You toyed with the elastic, letting it snap into place after hooking one finger into it. Kylo released a puff of air that you could have sworn was a chuckle.

 Kylo groped you through your bra again then slipped his hands past that barrier, cupping you and swiping his thumbs along your nipples just as he bit down on your neck. You clenched again, another whimper leaving you followed by a swear. His tongue flicked back and forth in time with his thumbs, and he caught your hardened nipples with the seams of his gloves. Your sensitive flesh burned for him more simultaneous to growing too sensitive. You squirmed, starting to lean away only to undulate your body nearer.

 You lifted one hand and placed it on the back of Kylo��s head, running your fingers through his hair. He had started to walk backwards, bringing you along with him towards the bed. Kylo sat down on its edge, and you straddled his leg, grinding against his thigh. He unclasped your bra then worked it down your arms. Pulling away long enough to get rid of the cloth, Kylo claimed your mouth with a hunger you matched.

 Your tongue caressed his before he once more kissed a trail downwards, this time making it to your breast. Kylo nipped at the right one, pinching the nipple of the left. You rolled your hips, riding his thigh while working open his pants. The pair of you pushed away from one another. Your hands flew along the final layers of your clothing, your eyes glued to his body as Kylo did the same for himself.

 Fully naked, Kylo pushed you onto the bed and climbed on top of you. His pelvis crashed into yours, and he wasted no time rocking against you. His cock slipped between your folds, eliciting a moan from your mouth as well as a groan from his. He repeated the action, this time adding more force. You swore, bucking up your hips to meet his thrusts. Leaning up, you captured his bottom lip with your teeth then let it pop back into place.

 Kylo placed his hands on your hips as you ground against his cock. You spread your legs wider, the two of you working together so that the next thrust lined him up with you, allowed him to move into you. Kylo wasted no time fucking into you. You set your hands on his chest, slipped them up to his shoulders. Kylo placed one hand on the bed by your head, propping himself up so that you could look down the length of your bodies to watch. You did just that, biting down on your bottom lip and furrowing your brow as another moan spilled from you. You toyed with your clit, and Kylo adjusted how he fucked you, moving more slowly, dragging out your pleasure.

 He used his other hand to play with your breasts again. Kylo rolled a hardened nipple under the pad of his finger. Your inner walls clenched around him, the wetness from your body coating his cock and creating crude sounds with each and every thrust. Kylo pinched your nipple and tugged until you moaned loudly, your cunt tightening around him.

 He dropped his hand down lower, pushing at your limb so that he could hook his thumb against your clit instead. He rocked it back and forth, coated his thumb in your slick, and then teased you at a different angle, his movements fast. You grabbed at the blankets underneath you, your scream of pleasure swallowed by his mouth, muffled by his tongue as you came. Kylo did not stop moving, his hips pounding into you even as you clenched around him over and over, your vaginal walls pulsing as he fucked you through your orgasm.

 Kylo pulled almost completely out then snapped his hips, reentering you and moving until he was fully sheathed. You threw back your head while meeting his thrusts, aware that he was close. You could feel him, could hear him. His growl. You saw the way he bared his teeth, relished in the way his entire body trembled as he came, filling you with his hot cum. He continued to thrust into you, his hips gradually stilling, until he had fully softened. Only then did he pull out and roll onto his back, lying beside you.

 The two of you laid there together for a time, enjoying simply being in one another’s presence while you caught your breath. Kylo would not leave until he had to. In the meanwhile, you slowly redressed after regaining your breath. He did as well, though he did not pull on his helmet or cowl immediately.

 When it was time for him to leave, you walked out of your quarters with him, an overnight bag in your hand. It was a relief for you that he acted normally. Kylo had watched you pack, had not given you a single strange look. He was genuinely comfortable with this arrangement. It alleviated some of the fears that you had harbored. You had kissed him one final time before he had put on his helmet, aware that you would not be able to after you had left.

 [Armitage’s Quarters]

 You placed the datapad you had brought with you onto the armrest of the blue couch. Stretching your arms above your head, you interlaced your fingers and arched your back, alleviating some of the tension that had built after spending hours at a console.

 Millicent pranced over to you and reached a paw out while meowing plaintively. You obliged, taking a step forward and crouching long enough to stroke the top of her head and scratched her chest. She purred with contentment, her eyelids slipping closed even as you rose back to your full height.

 You curled up on the couch for a small catnap while you waited for Armitage. Millicent leapt up with you, the small feline curling against your stomach and purring. As you closed your eyes, you pet the top of her head. You drifted off within minutes.

 A hand being placed on your shoulder roused you from that sleep. You shifted your hands around Millicent, tugging her gently so that you did not squish her, and rolled onto your other side. Armitage had already shed his greatcloak along with his outer shirt and belt. Your eyes wandered along his undershirt and pants. Peeking over the edge of the couch, you noted with pleasure that he had taken off his boots as well. He was just as eager as you were.

 “I hope you are well rested,” he said teasingly, his voice deep. You flicked your tongue along your lips, sitting up and relinquishing your hold on Millicent. The cat leapt off the couch, rubbed against Armitage, and then padded over to her cat bed, curling up inside.

 You tracked her movements while you replied to him. “I certainly am. Are you?” A low chuckle reverberated from him. You spread your legs a little, and Armitage rose, slotting himself between them. His mouth hungrily claimed yours, his hands beginning to roam your body the same as yours were doing to his. “Are you going to be ruthless in bed?” you asked teasingly against his mouth. He groaned in response, his hands slipping up under your shirt and groping your breasts through your bra. He pinched your nipples, tugging at them, making you clench and whimper with need.

 “Not this time.” You kissed him then broke away from the kiss to take off your shirt before tugging at his undershirt so that it untucked from his pants. “You are still overdressed.” His eyes glinted with hunger at your words. 

 Armitage grasped your thighs and parted your legs further, rolling his hips so that you could feel how hard he was. You ground against him in return, growing more wet as the friction increased. Armitage kissed the corner of your mouth before tackling your neck with tongue and teeth. He nibbled downwards until he reached your collarbone, the opposite side from what Kylo had previously touched. He did not react to any marks that had been left. That served to arouse you further, to increase the level of comfort you had with him.

 His nose skimmed your flesh, his hot breath hitting the area he had just bitten. You closed your eyes to melt into the sensations of his touch. Meanwhile, you busied your hands with opening the front of his pants as well as your own. Armitage was skilled, that tongue undulating salaciously. He groped you through your bra again, shifting his hands around your back to undo its clasp. He cupped your breasts in either of his hands, kneading them and toying with your hardening nipples in alteration. His mouth moved with yours, your tongues dancing together in time with each roll of his wrist, with every thrust the two of you made against one another. His hard cock pushed against you through the confines of your clothing.

 You raked your hands up through Armitage’s hair, disheveling it, marveling how soft it felt. He shuddered under your ministrations. Armitage pushed you onto your back and climbed atop you. His hands were busy, in constant motion as he stripped you down to your socks, which you worked off and kicked away. He once more kissed a trail downwards, though this time he went further, taking a bared breast into his mouth. He cupped its twin, kneading and sucking at you. Your toes curled, and you rolled your hips, arching up off the couch so that you could reangle yourself to feel him against you. Armitage shifted a thigh against you instead, and you ground down. He pushed at your hips, and you whimpered, baring your teeth though you obeyed the silent command.

 It was worth it; he shoved down his pants, finished stripping, and you felt his naked thigh against your cunt. You rocked back and forth, toying with his hair again and biting your bottom lip to stifle a groan of pleasure with how he teased you. He moved his other thigh between your legs, spreading you open and again crashing his pelvis into yours, rocking against you. His movements and yours brought his cock between your folders. You groaned at the feel of him, at how the head of his erection brushed your clit with each thrust. Armitage rolled his hips again, more desperately, more hungrily. You swore, bucking up to meet his thrusts and entangling a hand in his hair to bring him down for another kiss.

 You trailed your fingers down his chest and over his abdomen, feeling the muscles twitch in response. Armitage lined himself up with you, rolling his hips more slowly so that you could feel him sink into you inch by inch. You curled your toes, your eyelids fluttering as you moaned and trembled. His first thrusts were shallow, allowing you to adjust to the size of him. He was thick, stretching you wide.

 Armitage reached behind you with one hand to grip the armrest of the couch. He cupped your chin with the other, tilting your head back and peering directly into your eyes. He kissed you, his desire spiking, his hips moving quicker. You reangled yourself so that he brushed against your clit with his thrusts, reaching down and toying with yourself as well.

 He knew where to pet at you, what parts of your skin to touch so that electrifying pleasure traveled throughout your body. You clenched around him, growing more wet and closer to orgasm. To prolong your pleasure, you moved your hand away from yourself to instead ghost your fingertips up his abdomen to his chest. You circled a nipple, and he mirrored your actions. You swore again, shuddering as the dam built and built until you were pushed over the edge.

 Armitage continued to move within you, fucking you through your orgasm, teasing your sensitive flesh and turning you into an incoherent mess. You sighed into his mouth as he kissed you, pounding his hips faster as he chased his own release. You wrapped your arms around him, felt his chest against yours. Your walls clenched and unclenched around him, your vaginal walls pulsing as he continued to move. His thrusts became more shallow. His tongue mirroring those movements.

 He broke the kiss as he came, his cum filling you with each subsequent thrust. Armitage whispered what sounded like your name and you stroked your hands through his hair, felt those soft tufts while staring into his eyes. He did not stop moving until the both of you finished, his hips coming to a gradual halt. He pulled out of you, backing away to give you room to rise, though you nestled against him on the couch almost immediately.

 “How are you liking the arrangement? I hope it hasn’t added any stress.”

 You appreciated his concern. “I did worry for a little while. I think that we are finding a nice groove, and neither of you are making this awkward. I feel wanted, respected.” It was the latter that filled you with so much warmth. You cuddled even closer to him. “I am looking forward to sleeping together in your bed.” You looked to Millicent, who began to pad over to the two of you. “All three of us, of course.”

 “Of course,” he said with a chuckle as Millicent hopped onto his lap and stretched out.

[jamestrmtx]

Fairytale Complex - [Undertale | Sans x Reader]

[Gender Neutral, Frisk's Parent Reader | Slow Burn]

Chapter Six | Dogbass (Part 2 of 2 | His POV)

[First] | [Previous] | [Next]

They stand up like an undead from their grave, almost stumbling to get back to their feet and taking up all the strength they have left to stare at the man with a somber gaze. One look at their face tells they're about to either blow up or faint, the latter Sans assumes more of them based on what he knew about them so far. He stays closer by as a result and tries not to intervene yet, finding himself watching by the sidelines as he always seemed to do even before his life here on the Surface.

"I'm aware I can't just trust these people easily, but that doesn't mean they aren't worthy of being heard." They take a breath far too shaky and followed by a pause far too lasting. "I… I may not be the best (mother/father) out there, but I do care. And I'll show that by making sure I'm aware of the monsters' actions while still allowing my child to keep being friends with them." The skeleton takes his gaze elsewhere when he notices a camera flash from nearby. The owners behind those devices, most recording and some taking snaps of the scene, are either snickering or left with their mouths agape as they continue to engrave the scene both in their phones and minds. "I'll accept whatever decision CPS makes in terms of Frisk's safety, but for now, I…" The human interrupts their own sentence when they stumble, cutting his idea of dealing with those nosy people short. "I…"

They take a slow step back, huff out an exhausted breath, and -- without missing a beat -- stumble again and fall back. The skeleton takes a leap and stands behind them, nulling their fall with his own body. The last words to leave them are incoherent mumbles, and their half-lidded eyes close shut as they press their face against his chest for support.

The man continues with his rant regardless, pricking some annoyance into Sans's mind as he attempts to tune out the noise and concentrate more on the human in his arms.

"Hey," he calls out, louder the second time when it goes unheard. "Can you stay quiet for a sec? They're sick."

"Oh, they're sick alri-"

"He said shut up."

A familiar voice helps him deal with the man, though he doesn't care over who the person is right now. Instead, he drags the fainted human with him back to an empty seat and thanks another when she offers hers. As more people spread out, he's provided with more space to spread their body across the seats left out for them, taking up three in total. 

"(Y/N)?"

His call is responded to by another mumble, much weaker and quieter than the last. He sighs and takes their face with one hand, using the other to keep their body from falling off. "Can you open your eyes for me, please? I need you to look at me."

Sans reminds himself of their satchel and turns his gaze around to see the man he'd given up his seat to's thought the same way as him. He gives it to him and helps keep (Y/N) in place while he takes a look inside, retrieving a first aid kit from its contents. The monster whispers a blessing under his breath and turns back around, nodding for the man to step back to his seat while he returns to tending to the fainted human. "Thank you."

The man nods back and receives help from the earlier woman as he limps back to his seat. Hushed fighting noises can be heard between the man who started the fight and the man quelling it, though once more, the skeleton can care less about the owner of that voice as he tries to focus more on the situation at hand. "(Y/N)," he calls out, louder this time. "Do somethin' if you can still hear me."

Another quiet mumble leaves their mouth as they furrow their gaze, likely troubled by a pointed headache -- or what could be a migraine at this point. He stops crouching and kneels next to them instead, taking a few more items from their belongings after he's settled himself next to them. A soft but sudden swerve from the bus sends them too close to the edge, though he manages to gather some Karma from the earlier event, strong enough for him to create a barrier and keep them from following off the makeshift hospital bed. His hands are shaking, though he doesn't acknowledge it. Be it from the agreement's terms looming over him or the human in his hands far too weak for them to last another hour -- or a mixture of both -- he's not initially sure of, but another look at their scrunched up face and how their expression's furrow turns far more harsh and denoting of their ill state makes him dismiss the consequences of the agreement and concentrate more on the health of the human he was barely just getting to know well enough as a potential friend. 

He sits down on another of the few empty chairs left out for him and suspends his body over theirs, struggling to meet with their face due to the difference in height despite how little it is compared to most of the people he knew. The human was no taller than his brother, but even then they were still tall enough to make him out to be the shortest when compared with them. His hand reaches out for their face again, and he comes across a cold, cold temperature, sufficient for his soul to jolt in response to it. People around seem to notice what's going on -- be it for his expression or not he isn't paying attention to now though -- and tell the bus driver to hurry, heightening the possibility of a bumpier ride, but leveling out the risks of the human dying on the spot.

While the bus continues to move, the monster continues to find more ways for helping with the situation. He starts by performing CPR on them, but carries on with his original plan when the human doesn't respond to the treatment. He goes off to prepare some alcohol swabs by dousing a few cotton balls and pads with the substance and pressing one after another against their nose, until they manage to cough and open their eyes, even if just a little and even if they end up closing these again.

The monster breathes out a sigh as he realizes it's not lack of oxygen but rather weakness overall, weighing down on their body hard enough to make their breathing scarce and their body and mind equally unresponsive. A shiver crosses with his spine when he imagines the state they could've ended up in had Frisk gone missing for longer than they had. If almost two months of their absence had caused this much of a change in (Y/N)'s health, another one more could've likely been enough to end their life, be it accidentally or -- harder to think about -- purposefully. 

"Please, do somethin' again if you can still hear me," he says, setting those thoughts aside.

A hand reaches for his own when he says that, landing just the right amount of gentle for it to pass off as a winter breeze or a ghost's touch. 

It doesn't squeeze at his nor does it move from that spot, but that action alone of having their hand move that much helps him relax some more while he waits to arrive at a hospital.

• • •

"What's your relationship with (miss/mister) (L/N)?" the nurse asks.

"I'm an acquaintance," he replies, obtaining a cautious look from the man.

It's made clear that, with how quick he is to bring that question up hardly seconds after seeing the mentioned person be taken away for emergency care, he's eager to set things straight -- and fast.

The monster stretches when the nurse leaves, in dire need of that after carrying the human all the way from the bus stop to the hospital's entrance. The nurse, on the other hand, prepares all the necessary documents for their stay at the front desk, leaving him alone to observe the hospital's indoors from where he's told to wait at, from the white interior to the distinctive smell of sterility. Even the few people who'd helped the monster with the situation at the train stay close by, some sitting by the waiting room with him and others standing near the doorway, but without obstructing any other potential emergency or those going in and out. 

When the nurse returns with the papers, Sans takes out the agreement letter and shows it to him. He receives an almost immediate answer as to what the nurse thinks about his relationship with the patient just by the apologetic look on his face, directed at the letter as he reads through it. His face scrunches up, and he offers that look at the monster before giving the letter back to him. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait nearby while a family member or a partner gets here. Have you contacted anyone yet?"

"Yeah." He nods, hands slipping into his pockets as per custom, though now's more of a nervous tick rather than how it tended to be: relaxed and unbothered. "Their aunt should be here soon."

"How soon, sir?"

"Uh, like…" He checks his phone. "Like four hours. It'd take longer, but one of my friends is gonna pick up their kid later to help her get 'ere quicker."

The nurse crosses his arms, sighs, and gives a knowing yet heartfelt look at him. "What can you do to prove you're trustworthy, then? I need someone we can trust to test something on the patient." His eyes narrow as he scrutinizes the skeleton's face and overall attire. "You're a scientist, right?"

"Used to be."

"Good enough for the occasion. Could you come here with me for a second? There's something we think could help your friend out, but we need the approval of someone knowledgeable from the Underground -- someone who knows better about this kind of stuff than we do." He lets his arms go and eases his expression with a smile. "If you do that, you can check on the patient soon -- with a nurse's close supervision, of course."

Not really giving too much thought to the situation, Sans shrugs and agrees with an 'alright'. "What's your doubt?" he asks.

"I need to show it to you," the nurse replies. "It's about a strange substance discovered in some humans after they fall to the Underground."

Sans accompanies the man to his desk, who takes a small set of keys from his back pocket, unlocks the bottom drawer, and motions for him to stand close by. "It has a rather… risky medical history, so we wanted to ask someone with more knowledge before doing anything too rash." From there, he takes out a thin but tall, unlabeled glass bottle and leaves an empty syringe behind. Just from the neon red colour of the substance and its viscosity, both qualities able to be seen thanks to the material it's contained in, Sans already has his answer: no.

Determination was far from safe when injected on rather than when it naturally came to be. Even humans could feel the aftereffects of such a strong substance in their veins, and for most monsters, it was either lethal, fatal, or dangerous enough to deform them for life. He hesitates at the thought of it being used for malicious reasons, but eases up a bit when taking into account how the nurse is practically showing his discovery to him without any need for secrets or lies. He assumes that -- if the man were to have any bad intentions -- he wouldn't simply be flaunting the substance around or acting that nonchalant about its existence.

"It's not safe," is the first thing he says, words almost rushing from his teeth. "Injecting that to a human -- or anyone, actually -- is taking a huge risk. That substance should come naturally, and not by injecting it into the subject's body."

The nurse frowns, but relents. He sets the bottle back where it was, closes the drawer, and locks it back down. Then, he turns back to the monster and adds, "So considering those risks, you agree the treatment's off the question for this patient?"

"Definitely. It's better to do some more research before getting in on anythin', even if some of our past scientists did experiment with that substance at the Underground."

Nodding, he steps aside from the desk and gestures for the skeleton to follow him off to the hallway, far from the entrance and the waiting rooms. As they both walk, the man stays quiet and appears lost in thought, though that changes when he stops meeting the floor during his daze and asks, "Could you at least give me more details on this substance later, then?"

Sans agrees with a quiet hum, not in uncertainty, but due to being lost in thought himself. "As long as it ain't used on anybody for testin', then sure. We can work on that."

The man stops walking and lights up with a smile. "Excellent!" he exclaims, almost beaming in response. "Follow me to the patient's room. I'll have another one of our nurses watch over you while I'm gone."

He smiles back, though a bit late due to the topic still occupying his mind. "Thank you."

• • •

The room's North Pole cold, bleak, and dimly lit, though the latter's fixed when the nurse meant to watch over him passes through the hallway. She turns a few more lights on and stands in front the open door, greeting him with a stern gaze. A notepad rests in her arms, written on to such an extent that there's more ink rather than paper.

In enters the woman, brown skinned and brunette compared to the pale and ginger haired man from earlier ago. Wrinkles can be seen on her face, revealing her to be older compared to the seemingly novice nurse who attended him before. A few grey hairs stick out this way and that, though her professionally tidy bun masks most of it away with a scrunchie. 

"Stay in that chair, sir, and don't get near the patient," she demands, staring down at him. "And please hand over the agreement letter. We require a copy of it to have proof of your acquaintanceship with the patient."

He does as told, both in terms of keeping his distance from (Y/N) and in giving her the letter. "Why the distance, though?" he asks. "Is it somethin' contagious?"

"No." Her forbidding look deepens and almost turns to a glare. "We simply do not want you touching the patient unless it is absolutely necessary."

It takes him a second to process the sentence, though he nods after that's done with. "I understand." He walks to where she points at, though stays standing as he continues to talk with her. "Could I know what's their condition, then? It... kinda looked like a panic attack, but then they also told me they didn't eat or sleep well for the past two months."

Appearing surprised for just a moment, the woman returns to her sedate expression as she checks her notepad again. "Well…" She huffs. "You're not too far off. Both of their symptoms combined and worsened each other out, which resulted in them becoming that weak." She then takes out a cellphone from her pocket and unlocks it, tapping on the screen a few times before having a sound play, likely from a recent, viral video based on what's spoken throughout it. "Would you care to look at this recording for a minute? One of the witnesses present during the incident caught you acting rather… strangely with the patient." The nurse gives the phone over, though she hesitates when her hand brushes with his, an act of hesitation masked by a stern visage.

The first thing he sees when replaying the video is nothing out of the ordinary given the situation displayed: him giving CPR to someone in need of that treatment. It's not until he remembers how touchy such a subject can be considering the factors of who he is and his reputation on the Surface -- and even more so when taken out of context -- that he understands why she's made that comment. "I was giving 'em CPR. Be a bit weird if it'd be doing anythin' else considerin' the situation, don't ya think?" He looks up from the video of him placing pressure on their chest and giving them mouth-to-mouth (or at least, his technically was one, taking into account that thing he could do with his skull whenever he ate or drank something; it was a thing most of the comments on Phrasebook talked about rather than over what's happening to the human in need: the strange malleability of the monster's skull, with some others questioning over how he could even be performing CPR despite not having any lungs) as he tries to bring air back into their system, and holds back the urge to point out how obvious that situation is. "What's wrong with that?"

"Couldn't have someone else done it? There were plenty of people present."

"I'd say that's a bit of an insensitive question to ask after what they've been through."

"Answer my question, sir."

Sans sighs and hands the phone back to her. "It was a moment of high tension. I couldn't help what happened back there, and if I did wait 'til someone else showed up, that would heighten the chances of me losing 'em before they could get 'ere."

"Maybe so, but that first treatment gave no results. They remained in a coma until you rubbed alcohol on their nose. If you knew that would work, then why did you not do that in the first place?"

"Same reason why I didn't wait 'til someone else came to give 'em CPR. It was a moment of rush n' panic."

"But you were still-"

"...Sans?"

For what has to be the first time since meeting the human, the monster feels relieved at hearing them call him by his casual name. It's a faint and strained attempt, revealing they've used all their strength just to call out for him. Never he would've imagined feeling so pleased at hearing a still-to-be friend's voice, nor does he allow himself to let his other type of imagination run wild, one related to the warmth he feels in his soul when turning to their side and seeing them awake -- weak and confused, but still there.

"What happened?" they ask, frowning. "Are… Are you okay?"

He tries to approach them, though he soon receives a warning from the nurse not to. "I'm, uh… I'm alright," he says, replying from the distance of the chair he's been told to sit on. "Don't really think it's helpful to ask this, but… What about you?"

They chuckle and a smile keeps itself on their face. "Everything hurts, but I feel way better than I did back at the bus."

He grins. "This's probably a wild guess, but has it gotta do with having no one screamin' at you?"

They nod and let their smile grow, albeit at the cost of triggering a sudden and visibly acute headache. "Definitely," they reply.

"And having nobody else gossipin' about it?"

"That, too." Their smile fades as they say that. "Could you... come over here for a moment?"

Sans spares a glance at the nurse, only to receive a quick nod in approval and a hint of a smile. Though left unsure as to what's caused such a sudden change in her temperament, he takes up the opportunity without protest and stands next to (Y/N), waiting for them. "What's up?" he asks.

The human makes an effort to stand up, but fails soon after. To make up for that, they reach out for his hand and squeeze it, smile making its comeback as they reply with, "Thank you." A pause follows as they let go of his hand, tucking theirs under the sheets. "You've acted far sweeter than that dog we met at the park today."

"Settin' some high standards here, huh?"

They let out a laugh. "It… hurts when I do this." So instead, they grin. "Never thought being happy would be so painful."

The skeleton grins back at them and quirks an iris, estranged by their feelings and their choice of words alike. "Even after what you've been through today?"

They nod. "Even after all that, I'm... I'm happy now."

[First] | [Previous] | [Next]

• • •

Hope y'all have a decent New Year's Eve! This's the last update of this year, so here's to wishing 2021 is a little bit better for all of us. It's unrealistic to say things will be back to normal at the drop of a hat, but there's no harm in staying hopeful for a better future.

Take care, and stay safe! ❤️

• • •

Tag List (Comment or message me if you want to be added to it!)

@the-simp-express​

@nektotersh

[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 77: The Hungarian Horntail

Sirius would swear the ground kept shaking even as he got himself up onto hands and knees, his vision was staying blurry longer than usual rather than letting anything into focus, and at first he thought it smoke in his eyes as he finally distinguished bonfires dancing all around him.

His long dark hair fell in curtains around his eyes, but now that he'd adjusted, it did nothing to obscure the fact he was face to face with a dragon. He screamed. A high pitch, death like noise that hurt his own ears, causing the fire breathing nightmare to roar louder and spray a white hot breath right towards him. He tried to get to his feet, too fast, and lucked himself into falling just below the deadly blast. Then he did get himself upright and took off at a dead run, until he ran face first into an invisible barrier just barely on the shadows of the last cage.

He staggered back, clutching his freshly bleeding nose but gripping his heaving chest instead, took the seconds it was worth to see the other seven weren't actually in the cages with any of them but staggering about in their own fear, and made the split second decision he wished he'd had available to him two summers ago.

"Padfoot, are you okay?" James asked in concern, seeing the blood matting his muzzle, but the dog merely shook his head, and his whole body with it, before pacing anxiously as far from the nearest dragon he could.

"That's a question I don't expect we'll get an answer to until we leave this spot," Remus pointed out. "Even then, I'm sure it'll just be, shut up."

James nodded in silent agreement and decided to get right to that, summoning the book to him. The book came shooting from in between the feet of the largest black one that had spikes all along it, the blue cover was blackened around the edges and still smoking slightly, not a great omen.

Peter came hesitantly over to them, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly but still asking in genuine concern, "is he okay?"

"You try asking him," Remus nearly had to shout over the still roaring beasts, who seemed no more pleased with their presence than them. Remus barely noticed, despite the fact he'd usually salivate at the chance to see live dragons. His eyes were on the nick in his ear once more, barely illuminated in the still bright flames being shot in all directions. His gut clenched once more, he wondered if he was going to be sick again. Why on Earth did Peter come over here to check on them when he had every reason in the world not to?

James Potter read out the very obvious chapter title as the other four stayed huddled in the shadows as well for safety.

"Which one's the horn-tail, do you think?" Alice asked quietly enough she hoped it wouldn't cause the green one to keep direct eye contact with her, glaring in a truly predatory way.

"Ah, the one with horns on its tail?" Frank offered politely, watching Regulus's progress. He was braver than he would have given the kid credit before moments ago, he'd scattered after them upon first finding themselves here, but was now walking back between the four enclosures cautiously to head back towards the Marauders group.

Amazingly, he made it to the other side without a burn, though the blue one had tried her best.

"Why are they here?" Lily demanded faintly. "Hagrid having a baby on the school grounds was insane enough, what the bloody hell is wrong with this Tournament?" She finished by answering her own question.

"I don't want to know," Alice groand, clutching Frank's hand harder. He returned the pressure in kind, all three of them wincing and burying their backs farther into the invisible barrier.

Regulus was chewing painfully on the inside of his cheek as he slowly but openly approached the four like they were more dragons. He had no clear goal in joining them, an oddity itself as he never did anything without a reason. All he was sure of was that he'd never heard his brother scream like that.

James stopped halfway through Skeeter's blithering article, admittedly happy with any reason to stop he was so disgusted, but tracked Regulus coming closer with narrowed eyes. He had three good reasons not to trust whatever he was coming over here to say right now, all involving the three currently around him.

He hadn't said a word about Remus, or to him, but neither had any of the others. He didn't know what would incite Regulus to now, but he'd push the welp into the nearest dragon's cage if that was it.

He had zero clue what that recurring conversation Regulus and Peter had been having was about, but was in no mood to learn of it now when he wanted a chance to try and have Peter back talking to them, he didn't trust any Black to help with that right now.

Padfoot was currently shaking on his strong legs, all fur bristled on end and tail between his legs as he let out heart stuttering growls and soft whimpers intermittently. This bloody area was traumatizing enough to the lot of them they'd be happy to never be so close to a dragon again, he couldn't imagine having to stare at these things for hours with no clear way to escape, again. It was the dog though Regulus had his eyes on as he approached.

Regulus almost couldn't hear his own voice amidst the still painfully loud roaring, so he cleared his throat awkwardly and tried just a touch louder, "is, ah, is he-"

"No, he's not alright!" James Potter was scowling at what he perceived as a stupid question. "You mind if I get around to fixing that?" He waved the book obnoxiously.

Regulus frowned, but shook his head and kept what he'd really been about to ask to himself as Potter continued. Is he going to change back, had been his actual question, as it was hard to put together what his mind was telling him, that this beast was actually somehow his brother. He shot a side glance at Lupin uncomfortably, he couldn't imagine being trapped like that, in a body so, minimal.

The last time he'd seen this massive canine, it had its jaws around a werewolf that would have happily eaten them all. Now it looked like just as much a dangerous animal itself, and a cornered dog was the most vicious kind. The blood just barely visible in the glittering teeth from the injured nose that he'd caused was not helping the image.

His parents would be impressed, he vaguely realized the longer he looked. Despite the fact he had to remind himself every other second that was indeed Sirius, rather than another terror of this Forest, his sixteen-year-old brother was an animagus. Not a fact he'd really taken the time to appreciate back when it had been revealed, considering everything else happening. He shot another anxious look at Lupin, this time out of the corner of his eye, and then glanced through the thick foliage once more to make sure it wasn't a full moon again, but couldn't see through it to be sure.

Orion and Walburga had been wrong about so much, it seemed. The Dark Lord, his screw-up of a brother never managing to accomplish anything, it seemed they were even wrong about werewolves as well. The pale, tall kid that stood half behind James Potter looked more afraid of him than vice-versa as he seemed to be waiting for something just as much as Regulus was. He chanced a glance at Peter, who was still standing just a few feet away more than was casual but standing firmly nonetheless, obviously more weary of keeping his eyes on the massive dragons than any other immediate problem like the two seemingly dangerous animals at his back.

Regulus again had to remind himself of his Animagus lesson he'd had just this year, that the difference was Sirius was in full control of his mind, where a werewolf never was. Just because this terrifying bear-like dog looked like it was going to lunge forward and tear their throats out any second, Sirius wouldn't...right? Surely if he was, he would have done so to Peter and claimed delirium when he changed back, but instead as James Potter kept talking, detailing Harry's reaction to the article, Sirius almost began to relax.

Not by any noticeable means if you weren't looking for it, but Regulus was. Almost one by one, his fur began to smooth out, his tail came out from under him to merely become horizontal, and he was leaning forward on his toes. Careful, calculating, eyes still resting on the danger and teeth bared, but no longer growling quite so loud.

He'd been studying Animagi a bit for his upcoming exams of course, but never with any more intensity than the curricular questions he might perceive. Nothing of the magnitude Sirius must have gone through to be like this. Regulus only knew the very basics, and even those processes were still beyond him. The question that really boggled the mind was, why had he done it?

At the time, the book version of his brother had said it was to help their werewolf friend, but what use could this be except a meal? It had come in handy, certainly, in keeping him at bay, but only for the precious time it took to get away from those deadly jaws. The creature was unreasonable at all senses though, it had nearly torn Sirius and Potter to shreds without a second thought, so clearly no pack mentality had spared him.

It was a conundrum he had no hope of understanding without actually talking to Sirius, and possibly Lupin so long as he was going to stay in his human form while doing it. As Potter had pointed out though, that didn't seem likely to happen until they got away from this place, the Horntail shooting a blast of fire in their direction that all five of them had to duck to avoid proving a valid point.

After that, Potter's reading increased in tempo even more, he almost blurred through Harry's trip to Hogsmeade, and Hagrid's odd invite that nevertheless they all almost immediately understood would somehow lead to this place.

Lily almost wanted to slap the gamekeeper for being so excited about this, even bringing a competitor's Head along like some sort of date. Even Potter could come up with better romance than this!

Alice and Frank winced and pleaded with the ground to swallow them whole on the spot when they heard that the challenge Harry would be facing did indeed include these dragons, nesting mothers to be spacific. The clutch of eggs, now that they knew to look for them, was indeed in the massive shadows well guarded, anybody would have to be insane to get near them! If Harry died trying, what would happen to them?

James' voice wavered uncomfortably as he heard that Karakaroff was sneaking there just as Harry was leaving, his mind going to Cedric and some kernels of pity for the kid who would be the only one of the Champions left out, but the majority of his mind was still on Harry and how he was going to! Hopefully Sirius would be of some help, after he had his own little freak out while talking to Harry in the fire?

He at first uneasily exchanged a small look with Remus as the conversation began, at least Sirius was looking better than the unrecognizable murderer from the Shack had described, but the longer it went on, the more obvious their worried exchanges got. Until finally he flat stopped and his mouth hung open for several beats, and Remus didn't even prod him to keep going.

Sirius had no reaction to the dragons Harry would soon be dealing with. Sirius was more worried talking about the Death Eaters in the castle, like Karkaroff! Sirius...really had changed.

Whether it was Azkaban or just time, they wondered what other little things would he have also prioritized over? He was still reckless, impulsive, this they knew, and he clearly put Harry above his own well-being, at least that was the same... but did he still have sticky fingers when it came to his friends' clothes? Did Sirius still throw his head back and laugh with his whole body? Did Padfoot still remember what it was like to trust anyone besides himself?

The big, glaring obvious difference of what would happen to Peter had shook them to their core, but it wasn't until now they thought back and really felt in their bones how different this world was, almost alien from theirs. It had been almost fun up until that awful moment to think of this as their future, that James and Lily would get together and have this child, that they'd just hear the tales of Harry's insane school years and find out what had killed them so they could keep the good and pretend the bad would never come. The real question though, was how any of this was going to end?

"Would you two quit gaping at each other like fish!" Peter finally snapped as the silence dragged on and Padfoot began whimpering uncomfortably right at their feet. "Dissect his shitty choices later please and get us out of here before we're roasted alive!"

The red one shot a mushroom-shaped fire right over his head to prove his point.

James swallowed uncomfortably, but complied, trying to take what comfort he could that was the first normal thing Peter had said to him in a while, and smothering whose fault that was how long it had been.

Finally as the pages reached their end for this chapter, Regulus did speak up once more, the question coming out of him the least of his concern really, but the only one he expected anyone other than him to come up with an answer to for now. He looked at Remus Lupin, and asked, "does that really help?" His eyes needlessly flickering back to Sirius, err, Padfoot? The dog that had actually almost loosened up, still in a tense weary stance, but of a hunter sighting its prey rather than fending it off. His brother.

Remus Lupin smiled in surprise, but answered cordially, "like you wouldn't believe."

[diddlesanddoodles]

DUMPLING ch 60

The trees were shapeless shadows against the night as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Blood pumped hard in her ears, and even with her gasping breaths, she could still hear them coming for her. Beneath her feet, she could feel their heavy footfalls as they crashed into the earth, and it was as though the very ground vibrated. Seven of her steps to one of their own, and even at a slower pace, their wider strides more than made up for the difference.

Her saving grace was the narrow gaps between the ancient trees. Additionally, her pursuers were just as hindered by the dark as she was. If she used her fire, she would reveal herself and her advantage would be lost. As it stood, she was not in a good position to face off against a large group of bloodthirsty giants.

She was lucky before, she doubted any chance at a repeat performance. The others had not expected their fellow to fall as easily as he did.

As Thrist fled with Jae, Nenani had turned to face the marauding group that attacked them and left Andy dead. The giant with the dagger had rushed her. His enormous frame had been cast in deep shadows against the stark white of her flames. He barreled towards her, dagger raised and shining. The blade was nearly as long as she was tall, glittering with the white and blue of her fire.

Nenani ran to one of the closer trees, whipping a vine back and upward towards the giant as he drew closer. Instinct rather than real calculation drove her. But it had been a lucky strike, with the end of her vine catching the edge of the giant’s jaw just as he passed. It curled around the back of his neck, and the thorns snagged into his flesh and began to slice as the vine pulled taught. The whites of his eyes grew large as he fell forward, dropping his dagger to reach for his neck as he fell. Nenani made it to the shelter of the tree just as he slammed into the earth, and the shock of it nearly threw her off her feet.

But Nenani did not bother to look back to gauge how devastating her hit had been. Instead, she ran onward, using his fellows’ momentary confusion and shock to her advantage. She had the barest head start before they began to follow after her. The height of their hubris was diminished, but not altogether extinguished.

And now they were angry.

“I thought you said you knew how to fight fire mages!” demanded one of them.

“I do!” snapped someone else. “Killed three during the war, but I never saw one do anything like that!”

“Then what fucking good are you?”

“Just shut up! New magic or not, it’s a damn child!”

“Go tell that to Baeu!”

“Sooner rather than later the little bitch is gonna lose steam,” snarled another giant. “And when we do catch her, I’m gonna pull each of her fucking limbs off one by one. And then peel her skin off.”

……………….

She was growing tired and slow, with her legs becoming clunky and dumb with fatigue. She found herself tripping over small twigs and mud holes until at last, she had to stop. Her lungs were on fire, and no amount of air seemed enough to satisfy them. Nenani huddled miserably under the heavy brush of a bush at the base of a small cluster of yearling trees. Their leaves were still thick and green, but their points were hard and thorn-like, gripping at her hair and dress and stabbing her hands and legs as she scrambled into them to hide.

The giants were moving as one group rather than splitting up, and their enraged prattling had not ceased. Nenani waited quietly under the prickly bush until she could breathe evenly again to move to another hiding spot.

Several times she dove for the cover of a bush and waited for them to move on before running back the direction she had come, just to try and throw them off her trail. Then the giants’ voices began to draw closer again.

In the dark, Nenani moved slowly in the other direction but continued to eye the brush and trees behind her. She was sure that any moment they would come into view and spot her and the chase would begin anew. But if she could keep her steps slow, perhaps they would not hear her at all and she could put more distance between them without having to kill anyone else.

The fleeting moment of power she had felt earlier in the day now tasted putrid and bitter.

A hand slipped through the dark to rest upon her shoulder. Nenani started, nearly leaping clear out of her skin as she whirled around, arms erupting into orange flames. There stood a human boy with short cut hair and grayish-green garb regarding her and her flames with a dour expression. It took her only a moment to recognize him as the boy in the tree who they had come across earlier.

The one who said she smelled like fire.

“Oh,” Nenani said, her flames dying away. “It’s you...”

“Come with me,” he whispered. The hand resting on her shoulder gripped hard, and he bodily steered her forward. She went without a fight, more out of bewilderment than anything, and by the time she came back to her senses enough to ask him anything, they were a good distance away.

“Where did you—” she began.

“Say nothing,” he warned in a harsh whisper. “Just keep moving. The tree with the hollow there. Go to it. Inside. Hide there.”

“I can’t see very well. And there are giants...”

“They won’t find you,” he said shortly and pushed her along at a quicker pace. She could see the dim outline of a large ironwood tree, the base of it wide and dark. When they got closer, Nenani could see better that the dark area was actually the hollow itself. She felt a hard push between her shoulders and fell forward. Gracelessly, she tumbled into the patch of wet leaves and muck, grimacing as her hands fell upon the slimy debris. Turning back to the boy, she opened her mouth to berate him, but he silenced her with a hand. With his other, he traced along the edges of the hallow, and a thin iridescent sheen fell across the opening. Through it, she could see the world beyond in better light. “No one will see you if I do not wish for them to. So long as you stay inside there, the charm will shade you from prying eyes.”

Nenani took a moment to watch the swirling colors, reminded of how light and colors danced across the surface of a soap bubble. She turned her eyes to the boy.

“Are you helping me?” she asked. “Why?”

“You are a walking wildfire,” he told her.

She blinked at him and frowned. “I’m sorry?”

“Left alone, you will burn my forest to the ground. I would fail in my duties to not stop that from happening,” he explained bitterly. He studied her for several moments and the severity of his expression softened. “But I also see a little of the Green Mother in you. It is very small, but it is there. Like that little boy who ate the ironwood sap. But your fire is far more a part of you than the green. Strange oddity, you are. You must have uncommon parentage.”

Though Nenani knew she should feel offended by the way he said ‘uncommon parentage’, she decided to ignore his tone.

“Our father,” Nenani answered. “He was Thorn.”

The boy gave a small nod in understanding, regarding her again with an enigmatic expression.

“I have knowledge of them. Lost cousins, we call them. So that makes us distant cousins as well I suppose,” he said at last, a spark of amusement in his eyes. He knelt down to her level. “I have never seen fire and earth merged into one being. Your magic was a wonder to behold, cousin. But there is a great imbalance in you.”

“Imbalance?” she asked. “What do you mean?”

“One side is pulling you to fire. Anger and fear and destruction. Revenge and blood. The other pulls you towards the Green Mother. Kindness and love and healing. Protection and trust.”

Nenani bit hard into her lip, his words ringing truth loudly in her head.

“Do not feed the fire so willingly,” he warned. “Fire is power, yes. But it is also unwieldy and short-lived if not tended and nurtured properly. Fire is a forever hungry beast, and no matter how much you feed it, it will never be satiated. It will take all of you until you have nothing left to give. You are on a path of destruction. Your fire will consume you if you allow it.”

Nenani looked down at her hands, just barely visible in the dark. “I need to be strong. I have to save my friends. My family. I can’t just do nothing. The...the giant who rules this place...the lord here. He is an evil man. The people you put in your gardens. That is his doing. They escaped his prisons. And there are others. Many.”

The boy regarded her for a long moment. “It is not my place to interfere with the affairs of outsiders. My priority is the safety of my people and the preservation of my forest. But this false lord concerns me greatly. There are giants all over my forest tonight. Fighting one another. Killing one another. I cannot breathe without smelling their blood, and I very much wish for them all to be gone.”

Nenani got to her knees and crawled closer to the barrier.

“Lord Colem came to help us,” Nenani explained. “He wants to bring Lord Brennan to justice. If we can do that, your forest will be yours again and we can rescue the people he has prisoner. My friends are already trying to free them. Could you help? You can do magic too. You’re a mage like me. Could you help us?”

“I cannot promise you anything,” the boy said, rising back to his feet and stepping back. “But we will make sure this forest is protected. When the spell drops away, it means you are safe to leave the hallow. Until then, stay inside. Regain your strength.”

“I can’t just sit here,” she replied. She pushed a hand towards the shimmering veil, but as he fingers brushed against it, her hand stopped as though pressing against glass. “What?”

“You should practice patience,” he suggested. “When the danger has been dealt with, the spell will fade.”

“No!” she snapped and began to bang her hands against the barrier. “Let me out!”

The boy tapped it with a finger. “You are a child who has wandered too far from her minders. You want to fight a foe as tall as the ironwoods who would snap you into bloody little splinters.”

“I’ve already killed two of them,” she shot back. “I’m not weak. I just need rest.”

“And I am giving it to you.”

“Not like this!”

“Do not mistake brutality for strength,” he quipped. “Stay here. Rest.”

“Fine!” she said. “But please! My friends are at the big house trying to save the humans there. If you can help them, please do it.”

“I will do what I must,” the boy said after a pause. “But I make no promises.”

As he turned to leave, Nenani called out. “Wait! One more thing. What’s your name?”

The boy tilted his head around just enough that she could see one green eye. “Ezra. And you, cousin?”

“I’m Nenani,” she replied.

“Like the river,” he said, the ghost of a smile creeping along his jawline. “I will leave you to rest, cousin Nenani. And heed my words about the fire.”

With great reluctance, she looked around her and at last nodded, giving into her fatigue. “Thank you, Ezra.”

With a nod, Ezra ran to a tree and scaled up the trunk as fast and as agile as a squirrel before disappearing into the branches above. She did as Ezra had instructed her to do and waited. For what seemed like hours, she waited, and as a deeper night fell upon the forest, Nenani found the pull of sleep pulling at her more and more.

It was not until she awoke to find the first whispers of dawn brightening the sky that she realized she had fallen asleep. For the briefest of moments, she did not know where she was and thought she was back in Vhasshal. But her chilled skin pulled her back to reality with a sickening crash.

The barrier was gone and the early morning quiet. Set just outside was a bright orange leaf, and set atop it was a pile of shriveled dark things. Picking one up to examine it, Nenani realized they were dried berries. She ate them quickly and with abject relish. Only after the fact did she realize it was probably not a very wise thing for her to eat random berries.

But if Ezra wanted to kill her, he was going about it in a very roundabout way. After she had finished her meager breakfast, she crawled out from the hollow and began to walk. She let her instincts guide her but still kept her eyes and ears open for any signs or sounds of giants. After a half hour, she came upon the first of them.

The vines had no thorns, but they were as thick as ropes and of such a deep green they almost appeared black. They snaked up from the ground in great numbers, wrapping around one foot and up the leg, squeezing hard against the body. They wound across the chest and under the arms, around each bicep, down to the wrists. Wrapped tightly around the neck, Nenani did not have to wonder what it was that had ultimately done the giant in. His lips were blue and his tongue swelled out from his mouth.

The giant was entangled with the vines against a large ironwood much in the same way the humans they had found had been. But instead of being preserved in a peaceful forever sleep, the giant’s remains were more akin to a warning than anything else. She did not linger.

After a few minutes' walk, Nenani came across another much in the same state and two more close by. As she studied the last one’s face, she marveled how someone who looked so human could behave like such a monster. Lost in her own musings, she did not hear the approaching footsteps. It was not till she heard the soft squish of damp leaves that Nenani turned to face the sound. Above her she saw the mouth of a large bag descending upon her, and then all at once, everything went dark. The walls pressed in as large hands gathered her and the bag up and into the air. She flailed and kicked at the fingers that held her and cried out.

“Easy there, little thing,” said a voice. “It’s dangerous out here all alone – OW!”

The rough spun fabric was dry and brittle and caught flames in mere seconds. The owner of the giant hands at the very least had the presence of mind to not immediately drop the flaming bag and instead quickly sat the whole bundle down very quickly.

The vertigo sent Nenani’s head spinning and she was tangled up in the charred remnants as she desperately swatted and pushed her way free. Arms still aflame, she scrambled to her feet and looked up to see an unfamiliar giant. Balls of fire materialized in her palms, but the giant was already putting a good bit of distance between her and himself.

“Gods above!” he squawked, nursing his singed fingertips and staring in open shock and fear at Nenani. “Why did you do that? I was just trying to help you! I didn’t mean no harm!”

Nenani glared. “Liar. You’re trying to capture me!”

The giant’s shock was rotating towards incredulity. “You could have said you were a fire mage!”

Nenani returned his incredulous look. “Who are you?”

“I’m the fella you just burned!” he snapped.

“Do better than that,” she snapped back. “Or I’ll do worse. So who are you? What do you want?”

The giant made a face and took several large steps back. “Captain told me to do a sweep for any stragglers and that’s what I’m doing. Cripes and crackers, I think you burned my finger prints off!”

Nenani paused. “Wait. Stragglers? What sort of stragglers?”

“Human stragglers!” he replied. He wasn’t even looking at Nenani anymore, seeming far too preoccupied with assessing the damage to his fingers. He stuck one in his mouth, wincing. “A few got lost in all the chaos of last night and we’re looking for them. I thought you were one, but clearly you’re…wait.”

The giant’s eyes widened and he turned them back to Nenani, seeing her in a new light. He pulled his hurt finger from his mouth. “You...you’re a fire mage.”

Nenani raised an eyebrow and looked pointed at the still flaming balls in her palms.

“I mean,” he continued. “That means…uh, well. You aren’t...the Princess by any chance, are you?”

Nenani eyed him more seriously. “Are you with Lord Colem’s men?”

The giant nodded. “I am.”

Nenani slowly lowered her hands. “Uh, then yes. I am. The princess I mean. Nenani. My name is Nenani.”

“But...I thought the rangers took you and the prince to safety already?” he asked. “What happened?”

“We were attacked. One of the rangers, Andy, he was killed,” she explained. “I told Thrist to get Jae to safety.”

The giant regarded her as though he thought very little of her actions. “Why didn’t you just go with him?”

“I could fend the attackers off better than Thrist could,” she answered.

The giant looked down at his fingers and back at her before his eyes drifted over to one of the dead giants still strung up in Ezra’s vines. “You...you did that then?”

“No,” she replied. “That was someone else.”

The giant shook his head in disbelief and ran a hand down his face. “Well, all that doesn't matter much right now. I need to get you back to camp and be quick about it. Our scouts reported earlier last night that the line we pushed back was a distraction and two more are sweeping in on our weaker side. Probably gonna try and take manor back. Colem won’t give it up easily.”

Nenani perked up. If they had taken the manor then surely Farris and Keral’s mission would have been successful. “Do you know if they were able to get the humans out? The ones down in the kitchens?”

“Most of them were moved last night,” the giant explained. “A lot of them aren’t too keen on us though, and a few ran off the moment they were free. I was to do a sweep to try and find them before Brennan’s men come through.”

Relief swept over her and she broke into a smile. “I’m glad,” she said quietly. “They did it then...”

He regarded Nenani cautiously and held his hands up. “Now, if you promise not to burst into flames, I can escort you back to the camp. As I was saying, those bastards are supposed to be coming through this way soon. I’d imagine these fellows all strung up were a scouting party.”

Nenani opened her mouth to answer when a rustling of foliage overhead drew both their gazes upwards. Pressed between the branches, Nenani spotted green gray garb and the now-familiar face of Ezra. He looked ragged and tired, and there were several rips along his sleeves.

“They are coming,” he said. “Many. We tried to slow their march, but we do not have the numbers. My people have moved away for their safety.”

“What the...” said the giant, squinting up at the human. “Who are…?”

“How close are they?” Nenani asked with renewed anxiety. “Ezra?”

The boy looked down at her with a defeated expression. “They will be upon you soon. You must flee from here, cousin. I am sorry. I did all we could.”

Before she could ask anything else, her ears pricked up as they caught a strange sound on the wind. Like a strong gale pushing trees. Her feet could feel the faint vibrations of many moving feet. An army on the march. 

Ezra looked off behind them and sneered before turning back to Nenani. “Leave now!” 

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BONUS ART

[remmushound]

Curse of the Clan part 6! @scentedcandlecryptid @selfindulgenz @digitl-art-monstr @brightlotusmoon

As Bishop guided the Clan through the cold, sterile halls of white, none of the brothers felt comfortable enough to say much of anything. Bishop’s footsteps echoed with each sharp strike of his formal black shoes, the only sound in the facility aside from the mechanical murmuring of machines and employees at work. When the silence became too much to handle, the brothers began to try and bully each other into saying something to break the cold tension. They nudged and shoved and whispered hush whispers to each other before Leonardo finally spoke up.

“Hey Bishop!” He called, “can I have a sip of your water?” He pointed to bishops flask on his waist.

Bishop stopped walking and snapped to look back at Leonardo, though his smile never faltered. “It’s not water.”

Leonardo’s nostrils flared to bring in more of the acrid smell. “Seriously? Drinking on the job?”

“It doesn’t at all affect what I do here, trust me.” Bishop laughed.

“And what exactly is it that you do?”

With a sharp turn, Bishop went right back to walking. The Hamatos huddled around each other, hesitant to follow until Bishop called back to them without stopping his stride.

“Come along then, Hamatos, we have a lot to discuss.”

One by one, the brothers continued to follow Bishop down the hall until it opened into what seemed almost like an underground warehouse, though Bishop and the family were on a higher deck looking down upon the expansive room.

“What’s this place, mister Bishop?” April asked, walking over in an attempt to peer over the barrier.

Bishop grabbed a hold of April’s arm with a vice-like grip and yanked her back hard. “Don’t go near the barrier, little girl.”

Raphael was upon Bishop in an instant, snatching Bishop’s arm and twisting it slowly. Bishop resisted for a moment, but ultimately relented with a laugh and relinquished. When Raphael let him go, Bishop brought his arm back to his chest and rubbed it gently.

“You okay April?” Raphael asked, looking to April.

“I’m fine.” April huffed, rubbing her arm where Bishop had grabbed her as she pressed herself deeper into the group so she wasn’t so readily exposed.

“Sorry to frighten you.” For the first time, Bishop smiled in April’s direction. “Just didn't want you to fall.”

“Would ‘please step back before you fall’ not have worked?” Leonardo asked with crossed arms.

“Yeah!” Michelangelo added, “You didn't have to put your hand on her!”

“My apologies.” Bishop gave a laugh that shook his whole body and removed his hat to give a bow. “It’s just dangerous here in the holding area. Wouldn’t want you getting hurt…”

“Wait wait, holding area…?” Donatello prompted with a deepening frown. “That’s deeply concerning.”

“What exactly are you holding?”

“Yes. Here at TCRI, we isolate and incapacitate dangerous mutants, yokai, and other cryptids that might pose a threat to human safety and put our work here at risk. You understand that don’t you?” Bishop was almost like a snake, cold and constricting as he circled the family with his eyes trained on April. “Wouldn’t want you getting hurt.”

“You said that already.” April huffed, glad to be able to hide her full body behind the bulk of Raphael.

“Did I? Sorry.” Bishop laughed, finally stopping circling the brothers and starting to walk along the length of the balcony. “What exactly I do here isn’t much your concern, you know. I protect people, and that’s all you need to know.”

“But why the whole conspiracy?” Leonardo wasn’t going to stop questioning everything here, no matter the fact that each of Bishop’s words seemed to cut deeper and deeper and made Leonardo almost sick. “Why is it so important to keep humans blissfully aware of the creatures they share earth with?”

“Silly boy. Humans barely accept other humans of different skin and beliefs…” Bishop looked back at Leonardo without completely turning around, “Do you really think they’d accept a whole other sapient race…?”

***

The tour took far longer than any of the family was comfortable with, so when Bishop finally brought them into the elevator to take them to the roof, it was a great relief. But soon it turned quickly as awkward when they saw just how many floors they had to pass.

“Dude, how tall is this building?” Leonardo scoffed, motioning to the wall of seemingly endless buttons.

“Just 56 floors above ground. But there are five floors below.” Bishop answered helpfully.

“Sounds… great!”

Five floors up and already the silence was stretching before them. Michelangelo looked around at each of his family, watching the nervously anxious expressions on their faces that only served to further his own upset until, quite suddenly, he piped up with,

“There once was a ship that was put to sea and the name of the ship was the Billy of Tea~ The winds blew up, her bow dipped down, oh blow my bully boys blow.”

A heartbeat of silence before Leonardo’s musically inclined voice sounded. “Soon may the Wellermen come to bring us sugar and tea and rum~.”

Not to be outdone, Donatello took the second half of the verse with great enthusiasm. “One day when the tonguing is done, we’ll take our leave and go!”

April broke in before Michelangelo could say the next verse, but Michelangelo didn't care; especially not when he got to hear April’s angel-like voice. “She'd not been two weeks from shore when down on her a right whale bore! The captain called all hands and swore he'd take that whale in tow!”

Everyone, sans Bishop, joined in the next verse. “Soon may the Wellermen come to bring us sugar and tea and rum! One day when the tonguing is done, we’ll take our leave and go!”

They kept singing, much to Bishop’s increasing frustration, until they reached the top floor and Bishop gladly ran out. He motioned them to quickly follow. Their song was drowned out by the loud whirl of metal as a helicopter awaited them on the roof, its blade spinning and ready for takeoff. Bishop had to talk extra loudly to be heard over the rumble.

“This is the helicopter that will take you to the drop-off point.” Bishop practically yelled, “You will be provided with enough food and supplies to last the fortnight!”

“Wait—just like that?” Leonardo asked, “Shouldn’t we get more details or something? You’ve hardly told us anything!”

“I don’t have any bags packed!” Michelangelo whimpered.

“I need at least a two day notice before doing any traveling!” Donatello scoffed.

“You will be provided with more information on the way.”

“I’d like to be provided with it now.” Leonardo called, then turned to his brothers, “I think we can all agree this is highly sus, right?”

His family nodded their agreement.

“There is no time to waste, Hamatos.” Bishop called, “You must hurry.”

“It— it’s fine Leo.” Raphael tried to comfort with a nod of his head. “We’ll be together, right? We’ll be okay. Come on Mad Dogz!”

Raphael smiled and stood up straighter as he went to lead his family onto the helicopter. Bishop stopped Raphael before he could get far.

“What are you doing?” Bishop asked.

“Uh. Going on the helicopter…?” Raphael pointed.

“No. Not you.” Bishop shook his head, “Or you or you.” He pointed to Leonardo and Michelangelo.

“What?”

Bishop pointed at Donatello. “HIM!”

“Me?” Donatello gawked, pointing at himself.

“What? Wait—wait! Why does only Donnie go?” Raphael demanded. He and the rest of his family formed a protective circle around their brother.

“Because unlike you three, he was competent enough to not break his mystic weapon.”

“But… Donnie doesn’t have a mystic weapon?” Michelangelo frowned.

With a wave of his hand, a guard came over and offered Bishop what could have been mistaken for a bo staff, with a spike at one end joined with what looked like a sickle claw and on its other end was a spiked mace. Bishop accepted the weapon, and then presented it to Donatello. It took the softshell a moment to realize he was supposed to take it, and when he did take it, his movements were slow and hesitant.

“Ain’t that the weapon we saw when we all got our mystic weapons?” Raphael asked, rubbing his head.

“Yeah!” April agreed, “And Donnie didn't want it, so he left it on the shelf!”

“Talk about luck.” Leonardo whistled.

“Wait wait wait!” Raphael shook his head and put a hand on Donatello’s shoulder, pulling him back protectively. “You can’t take Donnie!”

“Why not?” Bishop asked, tilting his head, and widening his grin.

“Because he’s our brother!” Raphael declared, “And you ain’t taking him without us going along!”

“There’s only enough provisions for one.” Bishop laughed.

“Then we got a problem, don’t we?” Raphael crossed his arms and stood strong and stubborn. His family followed his stance and stood as solid as a brick wall.

“You all will be too busy with your own missions to miss your brother, don’t worry.”

“What missions?” Leonardo demanded. “You’ve told us literally nothing!”

With another motion, three more guards came forward and presented Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael with weapons of their own; a set of tonfa, an odachi, and a kusari fundo.

“Ohhhh!” Michelangelo’s eyes shimmered like gold in the earth.

“Nice!” Raphael felt the weight of his weapons approvingly.

Leonardo accepted his weapon, looking down at it a moment before looking back up at Bishop. “We already have weapons.”

“Oh? Do you?” Bishop’s head tilted to the point of almost snapping.

“Yeah. Katana and sai and nunchaku, like we had before we got the mystic weapons. Our nimpo weapons? Thought you were up to date?”

Bishop’s entire body trembled with each laugh. “Oh, no no no. Those won’t do. The mystic weapons have to be the same. Otherwise you can’t seal the barrier!”

“WHAT BARRIER?!” They all cried out as one.

“We don’t like to mix things up when it comes to mystic weapons.” Bishop said. “You understand don’t you?”

The brothers all looked around at each other. Each of them could read the other like a book, their mixture of emotions collected into one shared feeling of anxiety as they fed off of each other's fear and distrust of the man in front of them.

“You have every right not to trust me.” Bishop nodded as he spoke, “You do not know me. It is only natural to be nervous. But please do allow me to tell you what you will be spending the next two weeks of your life doing. Unless you want the evil to escape?”

“Nobody wants that...” Raphael grumbled softly

Bishop clasped his hands together and looked expectantly between the brothers and their father, overlooking April pointedly. Raphael put his hands on his hips and gave a long, heavy sigh.

“Fine.”

“Oh, wonderful.” Bishop’s eyes gleamed, “I shall start with you then, Raphael. With your Tonfa, you must find the blessing of a king. How fun.”

Raphael looked down at the tonfa in each hand. “I get to meet royalty? Sweet!”

“Your journey will take place in the western wing of the hidden city!”

“Isn’t that the bad side of town?” Leonardo asked.

“Exactly.” Bishop turned to Leonardo. “And you, Leonardo, must get the blessing of a ronin’s ronin.”

“What does that even mean?” Leonardo scoffed.

“You tell me.” Bishop laughed and closed his eyes a moment. Then he handed Leonardo a small medallion. “This will help you get back home! Your journey is taking you somewhere far, far away, where Yokai thrive and humans do not.”

“What about me?” Michelangelo squeaked.

Bishop looked to the smallest. “You must get the blessing of a Seamer of Time!”

“What does that mean?” Michelangelo frowned, bringing a finger to his lips in concentration.

“It is not me to tell you. You must figure that out yourself. But you may find your answer somewhere in the hidden city.”

“What? I don’t even get a specific part of the Hidden City?! That’s so... Vague!”

“And uh… where do I fit into this picture?” Donatello raised a hand.

“You are a very special case, Donatello.” Bishop walked close to Donatello. Uncomfortably close. “The closer the mystic weapon is to the barrier, the longer it can hold. And you will be the one who brings it there.”

“And then?”

“And then keep it there!” Bishop laughed. “And Japan will be your hime while you wait for your brothers.”

Donatello frowned. “I’m just gonna sit around and wait for my brothers to do all the fun work? Don’t I get a mystic prophecy or something?”

“Well you are rather soft.” Bishop whistled through his teeth. “You should be glad. You won’t be in any physical danger!”

“And how do you know all this?” Leonardo asked, motioning vaguely.

Bishop gave a low, growling hiss. “You ask a lot of questions boy.”

“And you don’t give a lot of answers.” Leonardo met evenly.

Bishop and Leonardo remained staring at each other until Splinter decided to break it up, tugging his sons and April aside for a family chat.

“You can’t seriously be considering this, dad!” Leonardo growled.

“Blue…” Splinter didn't seem to know what to do, shaking his head. “This is something we can’t risk! We… we have to do this.”

“I don’t trust Bishop, dad.”

“Neither do I!” Splinter almost snarled, “But we don’t have many other options. Bishop has information and technology that we do not! You don’t have to trust him, Leonardo, but I ask you trust me…” Splinter put his paws to his chest in a pleading motion.

Leonardo looked around at his brothers and April. “What do you guys think?”

“I mean… if it’s important enough that grandma comes back from the dead to warn us, then we should probably at least look into it.” Donatello said.

“But— Donnie! You’d be a whole country away!” Leonardo said desperately, “And— and I don’t have my odachi to reach you! I can’t use my nimpo weapon without the nimpo state!”

“We have Draxum…” Michelangelo suggested softly. “He can make gateways...”

“Raph?” Leonardo looked to Raphael.

Raphael gave a nervous whine, his face practically melting with anxiety as his eyes darted back and forth as if looking for the right thing to say. When he finally decided, it was like a lightbulb blipped to life in his eyes.

“Donnie’s right! We at least gotta give this a shot!” Raphael decided with a nod, “I mean, it’s only two weeks right? We can handle ourselves for two weeks!”

“I trust your judgement, Raph.” Leonardo had to bite his tongue to force back the doubtful anxiety that tried to escape him. Raphael was the leader, and Leonardo had to trust in that. He just hoped Raphael knew what he was getting them into.