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kpurereactions · 5 years ago

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Love Shot

CHAPTER 3

Pairing: Exo x Reader

Rating: Drama, Angst, Smut, Fluff

WARNINGS: Language, Eventual Violence, Lots of Smut Later on

Chapter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

It was hard to find something ball worthy. Balls really weren't in my resume in things im able to do, so I had no idea how to go about shopping for one. It seemed stupid, and it was stressing me out so much even Mino realized it. He tried to help, he really did but after the third store I could tell there was no use in having him there, so I had to just let him leave.

Once I found it, I knew it was right. All of the stress of finding the perfect dress really took a toll on me, and as I stared at the fleshy pink tulle gown I couldn't help but to wonder why it was I had become so obsessed with finding something that fit me perfectly. It was because of Baekhyun. And possibly Junmyeon too. That part scared me. Why I wanted to impress these two men made no sense to me. The feeling of my heart fluttering when Baekhyun was laughing, or when Junmyeon was smiling took over and I had to put the dress down.

The excitement of the ball took over everything that day. I knew I would be the only self readied person there, so I decided to take my time. Make sure there was no room for error. I couldn't help but stop and look at myself on my way out, the soft fairy lights in my now dim room catching the gold that scattered the soft pink material made me feel like a goddess.

I smiled to myself, running my hand over my stomach once before collecting enough of the skirt to make it easier to walk down the stairs. A large black car waited for me outside my apartment and to my surprise no one else was in it. A short balding man bowed deeply to me as he opened the door, his hands moving quickly to gather the rest of my dress into the car so it didnt catch in the door.

The drive was spent trying to calm my nerves. The closer I got the more sweaty my hands became and I couldnt do anything else but wipe them on the seats as we finally turned down the long drive way. Cars stacked closely behind each other as guests arrived one by one. The wait to exit didnt help my nerves as the closer I got the more beautiful women I saw exiting with their dates. It was intimidating.

I was surprised to see Beakhyun, Jongmyeon and five other men standing outside of their house when It was finally my turn to get out. I froze seeing Junmyeon walking closer to the car, eventually opening my door for me.

“You look… Beautiful, Y/n.” He said, taking my hand. I could tell he ment it by the look in his eyes. He seemed truly shocked, but given it was really the first time hes ever seen me not covered in paint I didnt let it get to my head.

He held onto my hand even after the car door had closed, leading me slowly to the other men who stood there, all looking at me. I let my eyes scan all of them. They were all handsome, all in different ways. My gaze ended with Jongin, the look in his eyes more genuine than they had been the past few times he had met me. I found this strange, but I didn't have time to think about why it was since Junmyeon took no time in introducing me to the boys.

I smiled as I shook each one of their hands, each boy just as polite as the one after until my hand once again fell into Jongin’s. In a swift motion he flipped my hand over and kissed it softly, the cocky, almost dangerous look flashing through his eyes quickly. Junmyeon cleared his throat.

“Okay, that's enough. Sehun here has a gift for you.” He said thankfully. You pulled your hand away from Jongin a little too roughly and turned your attention to the man Junmyeon referred to as the youngest of the seven.

Instead of saying anything Sehun approached you slowly, reaching into his coat to pull out a delicate gold mask embroidered with diamonds. My eyes went wide, it was the most beautiful thing ive ever seen. Before I could protest the jester Sehun had rounded me, placing the mask over my face and tying it softly. As soon as I felt his hands dropped I turned to see a soft smile on his stone face.

“Ready to have some fun?” Baekhyun said, making me turn around again.

Junmyeon’s hand was once again reaching for mine, and even though I knew a bit better this time, I didnt stop him from taking it and leading me back up to the porch. We walked through the house, Junmyeon leading me in front of all the other boys who flanked us closely. The house, which seamed to glow a brilliant gold rather than the white it did before, had people from all corners of the world scattered about. It was obvious, though, that the party was outside. Two men in tailcoats opened a set of wide, tall double doors for us to an extensive garden. There were lights hanging through all the trees, all leading to the same center where a large fountain was running, and just to the left was a set up floor where people were dancing.

“Y/n, Would you like a drink?” Junmyeon asked, his hand moving from mine to the bare skin of my back. He smiled warmly as I nodded, excusing himself before I could offer to go with him.

“Ill introduce myself again, My name is Jongdae.” My attention moved to him, and once again I smiled. “Baekhyun told me you were commissioned for your art. Thank you for taking the time.” He added, sweetly.

“It’s my pleasure. I really do love your home so im excited to be able to contribute.” I said.

Junmyeon returned to hand me a glass of wine, pointing out he remembered how I had been drinking white wine at our first meeting. The four of us had been talking intently while others wet off to do what they pleased. Jongdae and Baekhyun together had me laughing nonstop, the stories they started to tell of their pre pubescent years making it hard to even get a sip of my drink in. Junmyeon, on the other hand had finished him in attempted to hide the fact he was getting slightly embarrassed at the stories being told.

“How about he go dance. What do you say?” He said turning to me and pushing his empty glass into Baekhyun’s empty chest.

I smiled at the other boys as my hand for the third time was taken. I couldn't lose the smile that had grown as Junmyeon led me to the middle of the dancefloor. He pulled me in close before starting to lead our dance.

“Why are you still laughing?” He said in a fake hurt voice.

“It's just funny to see that millionaires are people too.” I teased, laughing as he spun me away before spinning me back in tightly.

“I have a feeling about you.” He said once I was back into his arms and we were back to swaying at an appropriate pace.

“And whats that feeling?” You asked, not quite sure you you were flirting or not.

“That were going to be come very fond of you. And you of us.” He said.

Before I could ask what he meant by that we were being summoned back by Baekhyun and Jongdae where they stood by the bar. Junmyeon once again took my hand, which now just felt natural. Baekhun handed you a new glass of wine before doing the same to Junmyeon. You stood there laughing, but this time the glasses of wine where going down a little faster than they had been before.

Junmyeon introduced you to people when he could, but thankfully were very self aware of just how much you were drinking. Eventually more of the guys started to make their way over to the four of us, Chanyeol being the first, and the flirtiest. I didn't mind though. I honestly was too drunk to care. The one conversation quickly turned into two conversations as Chanyeol and I started to get distracted, laughing and whispering lightly as you pointed at the people dancing.

Before I could get a grasp on things Chanyeol was pulling me towards the dance floor causing me to shove my glass back at Jongdae as I was pulled away quickly. We laughed the entire way we half jogged back to the dance floor, and once we got there our dance moves were so dramatic and goofy it was hard to keep a straight face we were maintaining. Chanyeol was so fun, and I think he knew he was since I couldn't control my laughter.

A tap on Chanyeol’s shoulder was the only thing that would have separated the two of us, and before I could really protest Jongin’s body was knowing being pressed to mine. I made Chanyeol laugh one more time by extending my arm out as if to say I would miss him before turning back and wrapping my arms around Jongin’s neck.

Dancing with Jongin was so different than dancing with Chanyeol. I had sobered up enough for my body to remember all of the concerns about him, but I was still drunk enough to not care. Or so I thought. The way he looked at me made my skin hot. He was taller than me even in my heels, so the way he looked down at me caused my heart to flutter. I decided to be bold. I could feel something might happen, so I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be making a mistake by someone who scared me.

I had so much to say, but the communication between my brain and my mouth seemed to be shut down as none of these things I wanted to say came out. Instead I was stuck there, unable to get myself out of his grasp and completely in a trance by his gaze. I couldn’t stop myself from letting my eyes wonder his face. His eyes were dark. Lustful as the warm feeling of his hand against my cold skin held me tighter. Nothing was being said, but our bodies were talking to one another. He noticed my eyes flicking from his to his lips causing his tongue to gently poke through before his teeth caught his lip.

I was convinced he could feel my heart as it was about to jump out of my chest from beating so hard. As we swayed his grip tightened, but not in a way that made me feel suffocated. I couldn't push the feeling of comfort out of my mind. As he held me tighter his head dipped so his lips hovered right by my ear. Goosebumps covered my skin as an eruption of static seemed to run down my neck.

“Lets sneak away.”

That was all he needed to say. I felt like I should protest. My sober mind was begging me too, but my legs followed all too willingly as his hand grasped mine and pulled me through the crowd. I was all but running by his side as we snuck into the darkness to find a side door that no one was hovering around. His hand held mine lightly as he led the way up the stairs, slowing down only enough to allow me to collect my skirt so I didn't trip on it.

The hallway we ended up in was dimly lit, but I didn't have a chance to take a good look around as I was desperately being pushed against a wall, my hands now both being held above my head. I accepted Jongin’s kiss willingly, his lips crashing against mine before his body held me in place against the wall. He didn't fight me when I pulled my wrists out of his hand as if he knew I was going to wrap them tightly around his neck. His kiss was rough, but smooth as his lips fought with mine. I couldn't help my hands from tangling themselves in his hair, at that moment, all I could think about was touching him and him touching me.

I squealed gently followed by a giggle that made him smirk as he stepped back and pulled me with him, his eyes growing dark as he backed me up and into what I assumed was his bedroom. As if my hands had a mind of their own I tugged at his coat until it fell off his shoulders, my hands not stopping until the buttons of his shirt were completely undone. I took a minute to admire is body, letting my fingers trail back up to his chest. He was very obedient, I noticed. My hands found their way under the material that still touched his shoulders and before I could push that down he was doing it for me, quickly connecting our lips again. I felt his hands making their way up my back, searching for the zipper to my dress. He found it with ease, giving it a soft tug and letting his hand take its time as it traced down my spine.

Easily my dress pooled at my feet, his hand now finding their way around my waist again to pull me in tightly. Once again he walked me backwards, out lips still moving at top speed as we both fought for breath. He laid me down gently, his hand not letting go of my body until I was secure on the bed and he was between my legs. I was surprised to feel the kissing slow, but not surprised when his lips left mine to kiss down my neck.

I watched him as his head lowered slowly on my body, his lips kissing every inch he made. The feeling of his teeth pulling at my panties caused my arm to cover my mouth. I didn’t realize just how turned on I had become. His eyes met mine as his hands finally made their way down from where they held my waist. They were dark, and full of lust. I couldnt help but to grow shy as he pulled my panties down. Sex was something ive had, but not often so the thought of being naked in front of someone was still new to me.

It was like he could sense that as he stood back over my body, his forearm flexing by the side of my head.

“Any time you say stop I will.” He said sternly, watching me closely as I nodded to show him I understood.

He paused for a second, watching me, but I quickly closed the gap by wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him back down to me. I didn't want him to stop, no matter how shy I got.

His hands once agains trailed down my side, his touch so light it tickled my body. My chest rose and fell heavily as I tried to catch my breath again, watching him as his head once again dipped down my body, his hands now moving back up and under me to unclasp my bra. I let my eyes close, wanted to feel him touching me and nothing else as he moved to position himself.

He didn't hold back for one second, his tongue moving vigorously against my clit as two of his fingers slowly stretched me out. I couldn't help the heavy breaths and moans that escaped my lips as my hand gripped the bedsheet in desperate attempt to allow him to finish me off. It didn't take him long, though. The muscles in my stomach clenched as my body contorted quickly. His free hand moved to wrap around my thigh, holding me open as my thighs began to quiver furiously. I let out a loud breath, my head tilting backwards as my entire body seemed to release with pleasure.

My heart raced and my fingers ached as I released the bedsheet, my eyes slowly opening to see him grinning still between my legs. He let out a low chuckle after he kissed the inside of my thigh and my body shook once more due to how tender I had become. He slowly crawled back up and once again placed his lips right beside my ear.

I didn't even let him say what he probably wanted to say. I needed him more than I had before. I didn't care how tender I was, I needed him to finish what he had started. My fingers quickly fumbled with his belt as he attempted to kick off his shoes. I didn't care about anything in that moment, not even enough to finish undoing his pants. My arms wrapped back around his neck pulling him back in closely and kissing him harder than I had been before. Again his hands wrapped around my waist but this time to sit me up.

I could feel him undressing himself once I had followed his mouth into a kneeling position. I was fully ready to return the favor orally, but he had something else in mind once his pants hit the ground. Not once did I open my eyes as he sat next to me and pulled me onto his lap. I let a small smile through once I could feel just how hard he had become. I let my hips roll over him as if he didn't already know how wet he had made me, as if to tease him. I smiled again, this time wider, when his hand caught me from rocking again and lifted me up. I let him position me over his tip and then slowly push me down till he was all the way in me.

It was his turn to smile at the groan I seemed to get out through our kiss. He started to guide my hips back and forth, controlling my movements for me as we both began to pant. I realized in that moment how much I enjoyed letting him control me, so when his arm wrapped around my back and he stood, instructing my legs to wrap around him with his other hand so he could turn us and place me back on my back I couldn't stop myself from gripping at him tighter.

He didn't waste one second to start pumping quickly, his body pulling back from mine as he pushed my legs back towards my chest. I wanted to watch him work. To see the veins pop in his chest and arms as he watched himself pleasure me but the motions of his hips were too much for me to keep my eyes open. I let a loud moan as he maneuvered my knees so they were over his shoulders. He was able to get deeper because of this, not hitting a part of me I never knew existed. He noticed how much I liked that, and knowing he could do it better he quickly flipped me over so I now laid on my stomach. His hands pressed into my back, pushing me into the mattress even more as he pounded downward, hitting my G Spot with every motion.

He seemed to read my body better than I could, as I could feel him chuckle as my body started to tighten in preparation for my second orgasm.

“Hang on baby, i'm right behind you.” He whispered, bending over so his lips brushed against the back of my neck as he spoke.

I couldn't contain my moanings as the second orgasm erupted through my body. My hands clenching desperately to the bed sheets as his own moanings became more consistent. Every pump seemed to send another smaller orgasm through my body until he was quickly pulling out and the feeling of cum covered my back. His own body rested on mine, a mixture of sweat and cum making my skin flush with excitement as he peppered kisses over my shoulders.

Propping myself up onto my elbows I turned my head to accept one last kiss to my temple before he got up, instructing me to stay there while he disappeared into the bathroom. I let my head fall once again, exhaustion finally taking over my body. The feeling of a damp, warm towel cleaning off my skin caused my eyes to droop, and by the time Jongin was back to pull me under the covers I was already half asleep and there was no point in fighting his arms wrapping around me tightly.

Chapter 4

#exo #exo senarios #exo fic #exo smut #Junmyeon #Suho #Jongdae #Chen #Jongin #Kai #Baekyun #Kyungsoo #DO #Lay #Yixing #Chanyeol #Sehun #Minseok #Xuimin

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tiger-in-the-flightdeck · 5 years ago

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Who wants to read my FIRST EVER posted fanfiction? It’s from 2008, but was written even before that.

I won’t be posting it on ao3, so this is going to be where it sits for now.

It was one of those deliciously lazy days at the beginning of summer. It was warm enough in the house that Gojyo was feeling drowsy and cat like, but not hot enough that he was sweating buckets just sitting in the livingroom. He was laying on the couch, his feet up on the arm of it, his hand thrown over his eyes to keep the light out of them. Not asleep, but not totally awake, he had been there for about a half hour, dozing while Hakkai was at the market in town. His roommate had walked, so the little dragon was curled up in a potted plant near the front door. Every so often Gojyo heard a contented little sigh coming from that direction.

One of those days. He thought to himself, scratching at his stomach, and giving a great yawn. Even Hakkai hadn't been feeling overly industrious today, only wanting to go to town to pick up some mushrooms since they couldnt grow it in their little garden. Barbecue tonight. Four large steaks were marinating in the fridge right now. The two extra because Sanzo and his pet Monkey usually invited themselves over for dinner and Hakkai, ever the good host, wouldn't dream of feeding them less than he could give. Gojyo had cut a deal with a butcher nearby, in exchange for redoing his roof and bathroom, they would receive a cow and pig, pre-slaughtered of course. It hadn't been a very hard job- Gojyo finding himself enjoying working with his hands in something constructive- and now the two of them had enough meat to last nearly a year. More if Goku didn't come by so often during meal time. That, combined with the prosperous garden in the backyard, they were fairly comfortable.

Gojyo sipped on a glass of lemonade sitting on the floor beside him. The day was too nice to sully with beer. Shifting to put it back on the floor had given him a rather unpleasant wedgie. It took him a few moments to dislodge it, and when he finally readjusted himself, he now hard a swollen hard on from rubbing against the inside of his jeans. Ignoring it for a while did nothing, before he finally decided To hell with it. He was by himself anyway, and he had been a good boy lately. Taking a glance to the frontdoor to make sure that the dragon was asleep before quietly unzipping his pants. He hitched up his shirt, tucking the hem under his chin and began running his fingers through the silken dark crimson hair around the base of his cock. He was fully erect now, laying had against his stomach, the tip bumping into his belly button. He reached lower and massaged his balls and tugged on his scrotum. Moaning softly, he bit his lip and started to stroke himself, his thumb describing a slow circle around the head to spread his pre-come over it.

Brown hair brushing his thighs, smirking lips suckling on his flesh. Oh shit. Green eyes looking up at him through dark lashes. Not... Slender, sure hands stroking him in just the right way. "...Hakkai..." he moaned aloud, gritting his teeth wondering what fucked up being was putting these images in his head. Yes, he knew he was attracted to Hakkai in more ways than one, but this was the first time he had really thought about him while touching himself. He was pumping his hips into his hand while picturing his best friend kneeling between his thighs "Gods....Hakkai..."

He froze at the sound of paper crinkling and refused to open his eyes. If I can't see him, I can't see the the look on his face, he reasoned, cock still in hand. He heard Hakkai chuckle softly and walk to the counter. He must have come in through the door in the kitchen, which opened much quieter than the front door. "Sanzo and Goku will be hear in about a half hour. Would you mind finishing up, then helping me with supper?" He could hear the humour in his friend's voice. Clearly enjoying tormenting the halfbreed.

"Nngh, no, I'll uh, just wash my hands and then we'll get supper d-done." Cracking and eye open, he saw Hakkai had his back to him. He tucked himself back into his pants, carefully zipping up - his hands were still shaking.

"Well as long as you're not going to be too uncomfortable."

He wobbled into the bathroom, washed his hands and splashed water on his face. "You are so totally fucked." He told his reflection softly.

***

Back in the kitchen, as soon as Gojyo closed the bathroom door, Hakkai collapsed against the counter, his body quaking with silent laughter. Oh, he knew that Gojyo had been trying to be secretive about his feelings towards his roommate, but he never thought he would catch him jerking off while groaning Hakkai's name. It shouldn't have been so funny, but they were comforable enough in their relationship that Hakkai would be snickering about it for weeks, with no one really being hurt.

Gojyo came back from the bathroom, and Hakkai smiled his evil little smile. The redhead nearly lost it at the sight of his friend holding a pair of tomatos and a cucumber. "Salad?" He asked, slowly running the cucumber under the tap, stroking dirt off, watching Gojyo out of the corner of his eyes.

"You are an evil, evil man. You know this, right?" Gojyo snatched the tomatoes and washed them as well.

Hakkai reached out and took one from him, hefting it in his open palm. "Don't you just love sun ripened tomatoes? They are that perfect texture, and they still hold some of the risidual heat of the day." Oh, this is just too much fun. He brushed a fleck of dirt of with his thumb, Gojyo's right eye twitched.

"I hate you right now." His voice was getting low and husky. His erection came back with an aggressive demand. "I'm about to bust a seam here."

"Don't worry. I know how to sew remember." Hakkai tossed his head, his hair falling to one side of his face. His good eye twinkled with mirth and... something else. He very slowly licked his bottom lip, then caught it between his teeth.

With a low grunt, Gojyo tossed the vegetables onto the counter, grabbed Hakkai's hips and pushed him hard against the counter. His lips slammed into his friend's and he ground their crotches together. Hakkai grabbed handfuls of scarlet hair and twisted his head for a better angle to kiss.

"Heeeyyyy! We're heeerrrrre!" They heard feet pounding up the front porch.

"Kill me. Now." Gojyo groaned low and long before going to let the rest of their party into the house. I'm going to be humping trees before the day ends, I can see it now. He glanced back at Hakkai, who was slicing the vegetables. How the bastard could go back be to being so calm, he had no idea.

Goku tumbled into the house, practically buzzing with energy. "Hi guys! We brought a pie!" The boy held it up proudly. "I made it myself. From those apples we bought the other day."

"Why thank you Goku, that was very nice of you." Hakkai took the pie and put it on the counter. Taking the steaks from the fridge, he lead them out to the backyard. "Gojyo, if you would be so kind as to light the barbecue? Thanks." He jerked his chin to the barbecue that was just off the back patio.

The steaks were great, Hakkai knew how each of them liked theirs. Sanzo- medium well, Goku- medium, Gojyo- medium rare, just on the rarer side. All seasoned perfectly. Gojyo had made his baked potatoes, and the salad they had made together with the pie made a wonderful meal. The preist and his pet stayed late, until Goku was nearly nodding off. Hakkai wrapped up the rest of the pie to send home with them, and ushered them out the door.

"Sleep time." Hakkai said, as soon as the door was closed. "You would think that those two would want to spend less time with us now that we are back from India." He shook his head in wonderment, ignoring the pained look on Gojyo's face. He had already made up his mind that they would explore what had happened in the kitchen further tomorrow, but now, he was tired.

Hakkai turned down the bedcovers and fluffed the pillows. Gojyo followed him with his eyes before changing into a new pair of underwear to sleep in. Horrrny. Must bend him over bed. Must... He shook his head and climbed into his side of bed. Hakkai slid into the bed, and turned on his side for Gojyo to spoon. Their bodies fit together perfectly, but Gojyo had to pull his hips back to keep from poking his friend. "Sorry." he mumbled and reached down to tuck himself into the waistband of his boxers so he could snuggle against Hakkai's back.

"It's alright. Have sweet dreams."

Teeth grit together with force enough to pop his jaw.

****

Gojyo was surprised to find that he didn't wake up sticky. They made breakfast, Hakkai read the newspaper, and Gojyo fixed the showerhead. Neither brought up what happened the day before. It was early afternoon, and Hakkai was kneeling in his garden, weeding. Stripped to the waist, Gojyo watched him from the kitchen window, a cup of coffee in his hand. He looked ridiculously adorable in his straw hat with a big plastic daisy on the side. Even his gardening gloves had flowers printed on them. Gojyo finished his coffee, rinsed his cup and went out the back to kneel beside Hakkai. He stared stupidly at the plants, unsure what he was actually looking at.

"Those are weeds." The healer pointed at the dandilions then at the red peppers. "Those aren't." He chuckled quietly.

They stayed like that in companionable silence for several minutes before Hakkai dropped his trowel. "So, do you think about me often when you masturbate?" He asked softly, turning to his friend.

Gojyo couldn't read his expression. "I haven't jerked off that much since we came home. Like maybe once every few weeks. I don't think of much, I usually have a magazine or something like that."

"Ah. Would you be uncomfortable if I told you I've thought about you any time I have touched myself in the past three years?" He brushed hair away from his eyes. "That I've wanted you to kiss me like you did yesterday for so long, so badly."

"Uh... Um."

Hakkai grinned and tilted his head to one side. "Does it?"

"Not at all." His voice was deep and throaty, his adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed loudly. "Fucking, hell no." He reached out, grabbed the front of Hakkai's shirt and pulled him roughly to him. His tongue probed into the brunet's mouth, and he relished in the little sounds of pleasure coming from his partner. "I want you so damn bad, 'Kai." He kisses a line down his throat, nuzzling into the collar of his shirt to lick at his shoulder, then up to suck on his ear. Gojyo tugged Hakkai's shirt up and off, tossing it to the side before ducking down to suck on a nipple.

Soon Hakkai was panting, his hips moving gently. He pulled back and shoved Gojyo down onto the ground. Peeling off his gloves, he ran his hands over the muscled lines of Gojyo's stomach and chest. He dipped his head down to lick his bellybutton. Gojyo buried his fingers in chestnut hair to guide his face lower. Enjoying the look of hunger on his partner's face, Hakkai reached to the garden and snapped a bean vine off a pole, one of the ones that wasn't giving forth any pods. He wound it around Gojyo's wrists and dropped them to the ground.

"Well, you certainly aren't subtle." Hakkai smirked as he popped open the fly of Gojyo's snug jeans. He tugged them down his hips, pleased to see that he wasn't wearing any underwear beneath them. "Out of clean shorts?"

"Nnh, didn't feel like wearing any to- Ahh!" He cried out when Hakkai wrapped his tongue around the head of his cock. With one hand he undid his own pants, with the other he twirled a finger around the head of Gojyo's cock. "Im sorry Im not cut." the red head mumbled somewhat incoherently.

"That's perfectly alright, I'm not either. Catholic orphanage and all. Besides, the foreskin helps with this:" Hakkai wrapped his hand tightly around the shaft, and pumped up and down. Without loosening his grip, the foreskin made it easier to pump hard and fast. "I wouldnt be able to do this otherwise. Plus:" He bobbed his head down and nipped gently at the skin, sucking it into his mouth.

Gojyo began chanting obscenities, his hips bucking up. His head lolled from side to side, the rich earthy scent of the garden filling his nostrils. Right in the damn yard, he thought, trying to watch as Hakkai was stroking himself slowly while sucking Gojyo. "You've done this 'fore 'aven't you?"

There was a wet pop as Hakkai let go of his cock. "No actually, just thought about it a fair amount." He repositioned himself between Gojyo's thighs so his friend could see him touching himself. He leaned forward and rubbed their hard shafts alongside eachother. He was interested to see that they were nearly the same size, Gojyo being just the smallest bit longer and thicker. Holding himself up on one hand, he kissed him deeply while fondling them both with his free hand.

"Tell me you love me." Gojyo moaned, eyelids fluttering, face flushed. "Tell me, please."

A happy laugh, none of the cruelty the halfbreed was terrified to hear. "Of course I love you, you great dolt. The blood in my veins." He murmered against scarlet hair.

At the sound of his voice, Gojyo's hips bucked upwards. Taking the cue, Hakkai crawled down and began sucking again. He was so damn good, Gojyo didn't know how he did it. When a gentle hand reached up and began cupping his balls, he started to writhe. "Uhnn, 'Kai, I don't know how long Im gonna last." Those unbelievably sexy lips, his cock disappearing almost entirely into that gorgeous mouth, peeking out and slamming back in. Hakkai pressed two knuckles beneath the base, massaging. Gojyo suddenly felt a great pressure building almost as soon as he began pressing like that. "Fuck, gonna come babe. Its gonna happen, now!"

Hakkai pulled back, lifting himelf up, the sun behind him haloing his head, letting thick ribbons of semen strike him. Gojyo's eyes bugged, it was getting everywhere, splashing across his lover's stomach and chest, hitting his face, even getting in his hair. It was something that turned him on when he watched a video or looked at a magazine, but actually seeing his come covering his lover kept him hard. When he finally stopped shuddering, Gojyo snapped the vines that bound his wrists. Hakkai was still kneeling, his tongue poking out of his mouth to lick at the corner of his lip to taste Gojyo's come, with a look of interest on his face.

"Shower, now." He grabbed the waistband of his pants, and hobbled into the house, toeing his boots off just inside the door. Hakkai followed after him. Gojyo pushed him roughly against the bathroom door, licking his neck. "Ohh, I can taste myself on you."

They started the water, and Hakkai found himself slammed against the wall under the showerhead. Since Gojyo had fixed it that day, the pressure of the water was more powerful.

"I've never, uh, been with a dude before, Hakkai. You're gonna have to tell me if Im hurting you." He knelt in front of him, pressing Hakkai back so the water streamed off his chest, soon they were both soaked. Hakkai was guiding him by the hair, showing him where it felt best. The first man he had ever touched, and he was going down on him. Gojyo couldn't really believe it. He could taste pre-come building in his mouth, bitter at the back of his tongue. "I want you Hakkai." He kissed the tip of his cock almost tenderly before rising. "I want to make love to you, fuck you, gods, I just want you so fucking bad." He was trembling, his breath coming out shakily as he bent his head to kiss him. "Can I?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Hakkai reached for the soap and began lathering them both up. He stroked Gojyo's length until the suds had built up to a thick froth. He handed the bar of soap to the redhead and turned around. He heard the slapping sound of Gojyo rubbing the bar between his hands. He gasped when those hands reached down between his thighs, using the soap as a lubricant. His spine arched as first one finger pressed against his enterance, then a second. Rubbing his cheek against the cool tile of the shower wall, Hakkai forced himself to relax. The wrong sound: a whimper, or a gasp of pain, and Gojyo would lose all confidence, and this wouldn't be finished. The fingers moved in and out, slowly at first, gainly speed gradually.

"Are you ready yet?" Gojyo's voice shook with need. He had never needed someone as much as he did at his moment.

"I am. I'm ready for you." He spread his legs slightly. Being so close in height was going to make this easier on them both, Gojyo didn't have to bend his knees so much to be able to press into him. He did so, agonizingly slowly. The soap helped to ease the resistance, but Hakkai was still virgin tight. It took several minutes before he was fully inside, and another long moment that seemed to last for an eternity before he was able to start thrusting. He had both hands gripping on Hakkais hips, partly to help them move, partly because he wanted to touch as much of the other man as he could. Gojyo pressed his chest against his lover's back, kissing his ear, tugging on the silver cuffs. "I love you, I love you, I love you." He pulled out long enough to turn Hakkai around. Hakkai braced a foot on the soap dish on the wall, one hand gripping the shower head, the other the curtainrod. He wrapped his free leg around Gojyo's waist, tipping his hips up invitingly. Gojyo flipped his wet hair back from his face and took him more roughly this time, passion starting to take him over. The water from the shower was pooling between them. The halfbreed laced his fingers with Hakkai's around the shower head, his other hand jerking his partner off, fondling his balls.

"Getting close? I'm gonna come again Hakkai." He dropped his head back as he felt the pressure building inside him. "Nngh, come with me Hakkai. Please babe!"

Hakkai's breath quickened. He began nodding, biting his lip, and grunting softly. "Yes Gojyo. I'm almost with you." He cried out when Gojyo pushed him hard against the wall, slamming into him as he came with a violent shudder. Hakkai's orgasm hit with an almost blinding force. Gojyo caught most of the semen in his fist, bringing his hand to his lips to lick it clean. "I love you Gojyo." They pressed their foreheads together, panting heavily. Gojyo drew himself out slowly.

"I love you 'Kai." He was slurring his words. "Orgasms...fun...whee...must do that again."

Hakkai turned the water off and wiped his hair back from his face, smiling with eyes half closed. "Of course. Later. Food now."

It was several weeks later when the preist and the monkey came back for another visit and couldn't find the roommates in the house. Venturing into the backyard turned out to be a horible idea for the preist.

"Sanzo, why are Hakkai and Gojyo fighting? ....Oh...oh.... um, they're not fighitng, are they? Um." He broke into a grin. "Hey, so thats where you got that position!"

#tiger writes #saiyuki #oh god it's terrible

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p-artsypants · 7 years ago

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Rage Awakened (3)

@chachacharlieco @violetstar-writes (If anyone else wants to be tagged in updates, please let me know!)

Ten years ago, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus lost their fellow apprentice, Sora, in Deep Jungle. Now, they are to return with two new students, Riku and Kairi, to lock the heart of the world. All the while, something watches from the trees. Feral!Sora AU

Ao3 | FF.net

That night, Kairi laid awake, thinking. She couldn’t get the strange boy out of her head. If he really was Sora, what were they going to do? Take him back with them?

But ten years alone in the jungle would change a person. Did he even know how to speak? Could he still summon his keyblade?

Would they just have to leave him behind? That didn’t seem fair. Even if he wasn’t Sora, being all alone in the Jungle just didn’t seem right.

When he looked at her, his expression held a lot of emotion. Fear, curiosity, and lot of wonder. How frightening it must have been to see another creature like him, and yet so different.

From her sleeping bag, she looked over at her teammates. Everyone was asleep and all was calm. The fire was still going, though only bright enough to cast a soft light on the immediate area. Crickets and strange animals hooted outside the treehouse, where the moon shone blue light through the windows.

Kairi loved nights like this. It was so different from her days in Radiant Garden, where even the nights had noise of the city, of clanking and whirling machines. In the Land of Departure, the nights were nearly silent from her window high in the castle. This though, this was just perfect. She had been to so many worlds in the last year, traveling with her teammates. Nights like these, where the darkness retreated at the light of the moon, and life persisted.

It was relaxing and comforting. Though the Jungle held many mysteries and dangers, this was a haven.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of feet hitting the floor, though very gently. She glanced to the other end of the treehouse and saw a silhouetted figure, crouched and crawling towards them.

Kairi didn’t move, though she prepared in case he meant harm. Eraqus once said she had a problem with naïveté, and that she often trusted people too quickly. Still, she felt like this stranger meant no harm, for if he was the same boy she had seen earlier, he easily could have left her to die out on the field.

The boy slowly tracked through their camp, his steps imperceivable over the sound of the crackling fire and Terra’s snores. He curiously dug into the first pack he found, which belonged to Ventus. He pulled out a shirt, feeling the fabric and turning it over to examine it. When it failed to interest him, he shoved it back into the bag.

Then he slowly and hesitantly leaned over Ventus himself, studying his face. Then he moved onto the next person.

He peaked in everyone’s luggage, pulling out interesting items to sniff or taste. Though he didn’t actually take anything. Then he sniffed each of her teammates, touching their hair and any armor that was nearby.

It felt like she had been watching him for an hour before he finally made his way over to her. She closed her eyes, pretending to sleep.

She heard him shuffling through her clothes, then heard him sniffling near her ear. She stayed extremely still, keeping her breathing even, as his face drew closer to hers.

It seemed his evaluation of her would be different from the others, since she felt the softest skin against her lips.

Her eyes fluttered open in shock.

Those blue blue eyes stared right back at her, with all the wonder in the world.

She didn’t scream this time, just stared back at him.

Had he just...kissed her?

His eyes widened slightly as a smile took over his lips. He seemed thrilled that he had awakened her.

Carefully, since he was only inches away from her face, Kairi sat up. He remained close, but followed her movements.

He flicked his eyes over her body briefly, now that she was in pajamas, but continually met her eyes. Likewise, Kairi looked over him, now that he was close and not about to leave.

He had a large leaf on his arm, held in place by mud. It looked like a primitive bandaid. She frowned, and threw off her blankets.

The boy didn’t like the action, and whimpered, thinking she was leaving.

Instead she stood and quietly walked over to their first aid kit. She opted for a potion, so as not to startle him by summoning her keyblade. Then she took her canteen and a rag.

All the while, he watched, curious as to what she could be doing.

Finally, she smiled at him and beckoned him to follow her outside.

He did so eagerly, ever interested in her world.

Outside the treehouse, on the balcony, Kairi knelt and wetted the rag with the canteen.

The stranger was quick to crouch in front of her, immediately in her personal space.

She reached out, her hand hovering over his arm.

He tilted his head, looking at her expression, and then where her hand was. Then he leaned that arm towards her.

Carefully, Kairi peeled off the leaf and began to wipe off the mud. A potion would heal up the wound just fine, but it would have to be clean first.

The boy hissed suddenly and ripped his arm away.

She dropped the rag and held out her hands in a calming way.

Seeing she meant no harm, he slowly reached his arm back out, letting her finish.

Once clean, she offered him the potion.

Instead of taking it, however, he reached his hand out and touched her face ever so gently, then leaned in, unaware of how uncomfortable he was making her.

She couldn’t help but laugh a little, mostly out of nervousness. “Haven’t you looked at me enough already?”

His eyes widened at the sound of her voice, and he gave a silent laugh, like a dog panting, and danced on his toes.

Again, she offered the potion.

He sniffed it, and then gave it a withering glance.

“You drink it,” She pantomimed drinking, and encouraged him to do the same.

So he did, but screwed his face up after at the bitter taste. But then he blinked, feeling the pain in his arm gone. Glancing down, his wound was completely healed, and there wasn’t even a scar. He did his little dance again.

“See? All better!”

He showed his appreciation by swooping in and nuzzling his nose with hers.

She crinkled up her face in response, not expecting the action.

Then he backed off a few inches, his eyes bright, and pleasant grunts coming from his throat.

“Uh, you’re welcome?” Kairi laughed.

He tilted his head to the side. “Wel...come?”

“You can speak!” She clapped her hands in joy.

He mimicked the action. “Speak!”

“Ah, but not very well, I guess.” Still, she touched her chest, right above her heart. “My name is Kairi.”

He glanced at her hand, then her face, and mimicked the action, hand on his chest “Kai...ri?”

“Close.” She took his hand and placed it on her chest, “Kairi.”

Realization hit him. “Kairi!” He patted her heart. “Kairi!”

“Good! Now...” she placed her hand on his chest, right over the ‘X’ scar. “What’s your name?”

He looked at her hand, frowned, and without another word, leapt over the railing and into the darkness of night.

Kairi was left alone, only able to wonder. She touched the tip of her nose, then her lips, and blushed.

—

The next morning, over breakfast, the group talked over their plan for the day. They decided they would split up again, same groups, and travel East and West this time.

Kairi was barely paying attention. After the boy left, she finally was able to fall asleep, even though he had only given her more questions than answers.

“Kai?” Riku asked, noticing how quiet she had been.

“What world’s did Sora like?” She said suddenly.

Terra and Aqua stopped eating and pondered the question.

“Why do you ask?”

“I just...wondered. Maybe there’s a way to find out if it’s really him by bringing back some old memories.”

Aqua considered, “Gosh, I don’t know if there was a world he didn’t like! He was so friendly to everyone...almost to a fault.”

“You know the most important rule of keyblade wielders?” Terra asked.

“We mustn’t meddle in the affairs of other worlds.” Quoted Ventus, like a good noodle.

“Well, he loved to meddle. He always found a way to get in people’s business. Usually, we helped solve problems, but mostly Sora just stuck his nose where it didn’t belong.”

Aqua pondered, “But a favorite world, specifically? Well, he liked The Caribbean. He loved being a pirate and the big ships.”

“He also liked Neverland and flying.”

“And oh! He liked Halloweentown!”

“For Santa?” Asked Riku, like it was the obvious thing in the world.

“Of course for Santa.”

“Aqua, do you remember what world he talked about for weeks after we came back?”

“Um...gosh, we went to a lot of worlds back then. Which one ware you thinking of?”

“Enchanted Dominion.”

“Oh yeah!”

The other three just looked in question. “Where?”

Aqua sighed sadly. “It’s one of the early worlds that fell into darkness. Princess Aurora and Maleficent’s world.”

Riku groaned loudly.

“What’s crawled up your butt, Riku?” Asked Terra at the reaction.

“I hate that bitch so much.” He shook his head. “Sorry for the language but…she’s just the worst.”

“I thought Princess Aurora was nice.” Said Ventus, innocently. Since her world had fallen into the darkness, she had been living in Radiant Garden, along with two other Princesses, Snow White and Cinderella.

“Not Aurora! Maleficent! Geez…”

“She was the one who made you succumb to the darkness, isn’t she?” Kairi asked.

He rolled his eyes, “yeah. Anyways, that’s in the past now. What did you guys do in Enchanted Dominion?”

“You guys know about Aurora’s curse, right?”

“Let’s say I don’t…” Ventus cringed.

“When she was an infant, Maleficent cursed her to die at the age of sixteen, after she would prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. Only because of the good fairies did the curse change from death to sleep. And with true loves kiss, the spell would be broken.”

“Well, it must not have come true then, given we saw Aurora a few weeks ago.”

“Oh, it did come true. When we arrived in the world, the curse had already come to fruition. Aurora was asleep in the tallest tower, and the fairies had put the whole kingdom to sleep as well, so no one would worry.”

“That had to be weird to walk into,” Said Riku.

“Extremely.” Deadpanned Terra.

“We wandered around for awhile until we found the tower that Aurora was sleeping in...well, Sora found it. He tried waking her up by tapping her shoulder and going, ‘excuse me ma’am.’ Then the good fairies found us and explained the curse, and that Aurora’s true love, Prince Phillip, was being held prisoner in Maleficent’s Castle.”

Terra laughed, “when Fauna explained that Aurora needed a kiss to wake up, Sora said ‘well, I’ll kiss her!’ He just didn’t understand why it had to be this one guy specifically. It was hard to explain without using the analogy of a key to a lock…considering he’s been able to unlock any door he’s wanted with the same key his whole life.”

“So what did you do?”

“Well, the fairies asked us for our help, since they didn’t want to worry the kingdom, and they led us to the Forbidden Mountain. Sora at least stayed behind at the gate, but he insisted on being part of the adventure. So Terra and I snuck into the fortress and freed Prince Phillip, but we had to fight our way out. And just as we were about to reach King Stefan’s Castle, Maleficent appeared.”

“And she was pissed.”

“I know how that is...” Riku said under his breath.

“The fairies had given Phillip a sword and shield, so he wasn’t completely defenseless...but it wasn’t much help. She turned into this huge dragon!”

“Oh wow, she can do that?” Ventus asked, horrified.

“She’s a witch with the powers of darkness. There’s no telling what all she can do.”

“So you fought her as a dragon?”

“Yeah, and she put up one hell of a fight. And Sora fought valiantly, well, for a...I think he was five at the time?”

“You let him fight?!” Kairi shouted, aghast.

“We always did. How else was he supposed to learn?”

“I don’t know! Somehow less dangerously!?”

“So, what happened?” Asked Riku. “Maleficent is still prowling around, but Aurora is awake. Homeless, but awake.”

“Well, Phillip dealt the finishing blow.” Aqua said.

Terra quoted, “‘Sword of Truth, fly swift and sure. Let evil die, and good endure!’ At least that’s what the spell was supposed to do.”

“But we were all surprised to hear she was back. She’s like a weed that won’t stop growing. We led Phillip up the tower to Aurora, and he kissed her. She woke up, and so did the rest of the kingdom. And they all lived happily ever after…until the darkness came.”

Kairi hugged her legs to her chest, totally invested in the story of young Sora. “So, when you guys came back, he talked about it a lot?”

“Mostly the dragon,” Terra explained. “In our downtime, we would play this game…” He trailed off, and then sighed, remembering.

Aqua laughed. “Oh my god! I remember! We would play this game where…” she caught her breath, “where one of us was the ‘dragon’, one was the ‘Prince’ and then the other was the ‘Princess’. It was basically reenacting what had happened in Enchanted Dominion.”

“Honestly, I loved being the Princess,” Terra said, unabashed. “I actually just slept.”

“The catch was that the ‘Prince’ had to wake up the ‘Princess’ with a kiss. Usually on the cheek or forehead.”

Terra sighed, “yeah, but there was one time where Sora was the ‘Dragon’ and I was the ‘Prince’ and he insisted I kiss Aqua on the lips.”

“Did you?”

The treehouse was quiet as he said quietly. “…yeah.”

Riku and Ventus laughed loudly at his blushing face.

“I know it must hurt,” Kairi said, once things calmed down. “Talking about him again, but it’s really nice to hear about him.”

Aqua smiled, forlorn. “Yeah…full disclosure, if this wild stranger ends up being him, I am going to cry.”

“I had forgotten a lot of this until we started talking about it.” Terra admitted. “It was just…easier not to think about it. I still remember him declaring, quite proudly, that one day he was going to find a Princess like Aurora, one that would wake up with his kiss. I told him it was inappropriate to kiss girls while they were sleeping and he retorted,” he made his voice high pitched and whiny, “but all the other Princes are doing it!”

Something about that statement made Kairi’s heart ache.

“That was over ten years ago, but it doesn’t feel like it.” Aqua said, raising to her feet. “Well, we have a jungle to search, and two things to find now.”

#kingdom hearts #fanfiction #sora #Kairi #soraxkairi #SoKai #Birth By Sleep #rage awakened #feral!sora #tarzan au #kh #kh2 #kh3

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bodega-daydream · 6 years ago

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November 22, 2019

It started out as kind of a nice dream. I was in a class and in the class there was an assignment to bake the best pie, and the old man teacher would rate them. I had a pie but for some reason didnt think its was worth having him rate it even though it looked pretty good. Finally at the end I was made the snap decision to have him rate my pie, but I had apparently blended it up into this really sugary red slushy drink. He tasted it anyway but couldnt really rate it because he couldnt see the crust. fine, whatever. I was then talking to people from school when Josh from BP came up and said that he, Tony, and two other BP workers were going to be on 8 out of 10 Cats and I was sooo excited to know someone who would be on the show for me to watch. Cut to later- I'm at the lake down the street from my house. I was looking through videos on my laptop and was showing Michael to see if he remembered them. Undetermined, but they involved me with shorter hair and a GIANT frog. I think this was based off my frog stuffed animal, but it was real in this video and I had taken him to the lake for a swim. I had had him for years and wondered how long he'd last and then the frog was like I haven't laid my egg yet so pretty much he couldnt die until he laid his one giant egg? whatever. Then I was cold and on the sand and I think we were heading back up to my house. It was dusk. We heard a scream from the neighboring property. There were already a few people over there that seemed to be looking for the source. It sounded like a little girl. I shouted to ask if anyone needed help. But they couldn't find anything. Toward to the top of the beach now, and at night, we saw a bunch of children in this fenced in area. IRL This woman is a swim coach, so it wouldn't be insane for her to have kids at her house, so in the dream, I didn't think anything of this. Yet. The longer you observed the kids, they were kind of running wild in this fenced in area. Then I noticed that one of the kids has smashed his head on a rock and his head was covered in blood. But I think it was suspicious circumstances because the cop lights were flashing in the background through the trees. Though no medical help was there yet. Starting that moment, I had been hanging out with Lewis who showed his EMT badge while walking over. I saw through all of the mess him trying to help out a different kid (for some reason no the kid with the giant hole in his head from the rock lol) but he didn't have any of his supplies with him (because we was just hangin out). At this, I ran over because I had a bunch of stuff that could help. Apparently I just keep a very make shift first aid kit on my person. Though when I got over there, this one kid we were helping looked absolutely fine but apparently had these invisible type of burning sensation on his cheeks. I looked into my bag but it was like kind of useless lol had a small bottle of tea tree oil and some other random stuff. I knew what kind of pain the kid was dealing with though. Lewis gave him something and I told him that I understood and that the best thing to do was to just take a cold hand (bc mine are always cold) and just hold it against it and feel the pain until it stops hurting, because it won't last that long. We then walked away and went back to the police station where I was apparently a detective there. This station was also the house across the street from the lake. Daytime now. One of my detective colleagues was this man who looked like John Krasinski meaning it actually was him, but not him. There were some kids outside (outside was now a city street) being lined up as witnesses or something. The other detective there, a woman, was taking statements from the kids. But then I overheard her make this plot to frame my John Krasinski coworker. I tried to warn him without giving away who was trying to frame him and he help trying to insist on telling his partner, this woman. I was like dude. no. and he wouldn't listen. The kids started walking through and that kid I had helped passed by and gave me this look. Then someone else came in and sort of yelled at me for encouraging his growing sexual love for buses lmao said I was too accepting and that I should have discouraged it from the beginning. My argument was so what, he loves to love buses. Anyway, I was trying to tell John Krasinski about the plot and then I was walking away and he grabbed my wrist. But then the other woman came over instead of letting go, we hid the fact that he was holding my wrist behind my back which also looked suspicious. Then there was another line up of kids outside. They had turned around and this one kid was looking up at us and was like I want to talk to her. I assumed he was pointing to the woman he had spoken to before, which was the 3rd detective. But when he came inside, he wanted to talk to me. I was surprised, but then it was the kid that kind of confessed to lying to the other cop about how the evidence she gave him (to frame John Krasinski) was a lie. But dude, the truth was like 20x worse. Instead of some tiny piece of metal sticking him from inside some box, he admitted that it was actually just part of this bracelet he was wearing. I asked to see the bracelet but it had no metal sticking out of it. Then he was like no, it's part of me. and then this series of spikes that had been implanted in his wrist stuck out through his skin like barbed wire. At this I was like nope! and took a step back. His father came rushing in but he had the same thing going on in his wrist. They could control when the spikes would come out. We learned that they were both extremely violent. The dad was bad, but the kid looked like he would be much worse because he was learning it all from his dad. I didn't want to be near this kid anymore because he seemed to fixate on my fear, as if he would come and find me one day to hurt me. I wouldn't look at him. The wife showed up and she was drunk because she was usually being abused by her husband. I think we let them all go because we couldn't do anything about the situation because she wouldn't accuse her husband of anything. Cut to me going to the live taping of 8 out of 10 cats starring my BP coworkers. Instead of sitting in the studio, there was a ton of outside seating that faced the studio that had large screens on it that was displaying what was being filmed. It opened with Kate McKinnan so this was apparently SNL instead lol but whatever. I was sitting out there in what seemed like stadium pews. The place was decorated in vines and leaves, kind of medieval. A lot of people were moving around the pews, but I had a large space open next to me. The drunk mom came and sat next to me. It made me so nervous because I didn't want to deal with an intoxicated person, but also her husband must be around. The show goes on and she gets up and walks to the doorway to enter the stadium. I somehow acquire this little girl that's sitting on my lap, maybe 7 years old. Turns out this is the daughter of the drunk woman. I'm very protective of this child for some reason. The mom and the husband are doing this weird princess knight act idk, I just know it's happening but I'm more focused on the crowd. Some tiny elderly people come and sit next to me and are asking about this girl (rightfully assume she's not mine bc this girl is blonde). Cut of after this performance, and I'm with/kind of am this woman. I'm on a bus and I'm heading to this beach area. I'm trying to get away from this crazy husband of mine. There was some floaties put out in the water and it was like yes, she's finally getting away. But then I'm like...no this is too easy, and I dive down underwater and I see this man with all of his evil friends waiting there to grab her. She manages to swim away. She's running and running trying to get away. They had this evil dog that was kind of also the husband and kept barking and biting her trying to alert him to where she was. Somehow we got the dog off and jumped onto one of those mini school buses (I'm with her now). There's only one seat and she takes it with her daughter on her lap and we tell the bus driver to gtfo of here. He knows the situation, and drives off. I'm sitting on the floor and looking out the window. Both me and her are in white spa robes, not significant, just random. There's this sense of relief as we're driving off. The dog had kind of handed me this piece of metal and I gave it to her. This apparently meant something as she looked at me and she was like "he really did love me." as in he let her go despite not being able to control his violent nature (even tho it was way worse than that). The mini bus pulls up to the back parking lots of the woodbury commons. We think we're safe until I see this man running a hot dog stand taking pictures of the bus we're in. The bus driver had pulled over and got out of the bus but then I yelled wait, we're not safe here and then her husband pops out from behind something and starts coming for us. The bus is moving and I think this dude some how offs the driver. The woman gets up and goes to the door of this still moving bus and shoots her husband in the head. I'm am #shook. I did not know she was going to do that with such ease or that she even had a gun. I took control of the bus because there was chaos now because she just shot someone and cars were appearing out of nowhere. I was like, flooring it and I was like OKAY I'm taking us straight to the police station. I was way more affected than this lady. Realizing now this was not a great decision and that we should have stayed put, we got pulled over at her parents house. We couldn't exit the bus without being processed by a cop (I was a normal person now, not a detective). I was instructed to head straight to the Montgomery police station to pay a $250 bail (I know, doesnt make sense) but I was compliant. I had to get there. I thought about calling Lewis to help me with the bail because I knew he would, but then realized I had that cash on my person and that I could just go over there and pay it myself. As I was walking toward the kitchen to get my stuff, I realized that I shouldn't be driving because I just went thru a trauma that hadn't hit me yet. I decided it was best to call Lewis after all and have him pick me up so I could freak out in the car and not be driving. But as I was going through my phone to find his contact, I noticed this woman's 3 sisters trying to slyly take pictures of me, just like the hot dog man and I started freaking out. And then my phone was going crazy, receiving every photo they took of me instantly. They didn't know what was happening and I was checking their phones and someone had set that to default and my phone was going crazy. I couldn't get to the call screen. I knew someone had bugged these phones so they could locate me or get my info. I decided to use someone elses phone to call Lewis. The mom was looking through the phonebook for his number when I was like Lewis can I just borrow your phone, you already have the number in it (only realized this flaw when I woke up lol) but I made the call and he answered. He had just said, "Hello?" when I heard the husbands voice in the background saying that he was a police officer to someone. And then I woke up, and I couldn't tell where I was for bit or if I was safe.

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hortascountrysidenotes · 6 years ago

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A whiff of Autumn

At last we have had some decent rain and much much cooler as well so the garden has perked up enormously. A good inch in the dog bowls this morning was a most welcome sight and the colour in the border in the form of the dahlias and the start of the Sedum and Michaelmas daisy is a welcome sight after last weekends dessicating wind. Courgettes have got a second wind too, and the newly transplanted lettuce have been given a perfect start.

A very busy social week at Beck Farm with many old friends staying and local friends joining us for supper has meant little has been done in the garden so in the next few days I shall gird my loins to start clipping the yew hedges, topiary and beech hedge, plus on Tuesday the boys are coming to clip and tidy up the Holm Oaks. Next month one of them returns in his capacity as pro tree surgeon to do a severe reduction on the yew tree by the kitchen and the purple plum Prunus cerasifera Nigra near the garage. One good thing about doing the yew will be the annihilation of all fruit bearing shoots so we shall not have to worry about Scout poisoning herself this year. We have also picked up the last of the small yellow plums so another dog hazard is over! Labradors, who would have them - the lower raspberries are all disappearing before my eyes and the upper ones are unusually being taken by blackbirds - normally the autumn varieties dont get hit too badly. Luckily since the advent of the raised beds the beetroot and carrots are safe! The purple plum is a beautiful shape, but getting very large and taking a good deal of light from the PV panels - not great, but they respond well to pruning, and as with all the plum and cherry family need doing in the summer months to avoid the chance of Silver Leaf which is very destructive.

No training has taken place save for an hilarious evening on Monday when some friends joined us for a training walk, bringing their two little girls along who are crazy about the dogs! Armed with my bag full of dummies and the dummy launcher we set off with perfect control - all 3 sitting at the stiles being called through individually by name, and then each doing 3 excellent retrieves of dummies put out along a hedge line and over a ditch. All going well. Then the dummy launcher came out, and as I had forgotten the leads I sat Inca and Scout well back with the girls and had Mavis by my side. The first two were fired and Mavis didnt see where they had gone so I sent Inca from behind me - Scout ran in on the third, couldnt find it and nor could Inca, so the little girls were sent who did find it, the fourth was a bad shot by Mr Horta and it went into the bottom of a ditch under some nettles - found by Mavis but pinched by Inca as Mavis tried to scramble out, and the fifth which was perfectly positioned, Mavis quietly at my side marked it brilliantly, and then just as I was about to send her, two black missiles from behind shot forwards and completely stole the limelight. So tomorrow I am taking Mavis to my training area on her own!

All quiet again now,so today I took the dogs to the Nar as Mr Horta was fishing.The river looks much better and refreshed and it was absolutely lovely. The Konik ponies are doing a great job at grazing free range - it would be super to have them here on the common - they are friendly and very pretty. However the cows are doing a great job here and it was a pleasure to see them on my return as if grazing the savannah.

We have a young Whitethroat visiting the birdtable which is a most attractive little person. Several sparrows and starlings are getting into trouble coming down the chimneys. One swift seems to still be here, going under its tile - not sure if just lagging behind or if there are still young. The swallows dont look like having a third brood and are just flitting about with youngsters now coming and going but not roosting in the garage. Butterflies are good - better numbers of Red Admirals, Comma, Skippers, Small Coppers, Gatekeepers and Speckled Woods, but not great at the moment on Tortoiseshells and Peacocks.

Visiting three of my gardens this week to see how things are going and yew shapes to clip at two of them. Projects starting to build for the autumn which is encouraging.

Keep deadheading dahlias and all perennials to encourage continual flowering. Continue to water tomatoes if fruit still forming up but take out leaders if not already done as any more fruit is unlikely to form up. Clip hedges now. Order bulbs for autumn planting. Cut lavender for drying if flowers are still fresh and remember it is nearly time to cut lavender back. Last opportunity to prune or cut evergreens such as laurels and Choisya.

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doedoodles · 7 years ago

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Can anyone tell me about SeteAlem?

I’ve had a lot of freaky dreams about this dark neighborhood with weird stuff happening in it. And last night was no different. I told a couple of my friends about the dream and I’ll post what I wrote here as well: “ Ok so basically I was entering this abandoned house in this neighborhood that pops up a lot in my dreams (never been to it before and have no idea where it is) but the house resembled the inside of the abandoned hospital i had been i on vrchat before on a smaller scale. so when I recognized it I though 'oh there shouldn’t be anything in here' and went into the downstairs area. except then I heard something charging down the steps after me. When I looked at it I barely glanced at it but got a good view of its face, it was this thing low to the ground on all fours with big black eyes that were like a void and i could tell it had a big mouth with full intentions of me being in it. So because I was cornered I grabbed the first thing near me, which was a chair, and swung it at the creature. thankfully it deterred it for the moment and it went back upstairs. However up the stars was the only way for me to get out of that place.So I grabbed a couple of solid glass bottles cuz the chair would be too big and there was nothing else useful and made my way up the stairs to get out. When I got up there was this dog thing there, but something told me something was wrong with the dog and to leave it there. It followed me to the front entrance and the more I looked at it, the more i could tell it wasn't a dog. The dogs face looked more like a mask and while its body matched its color, it was too long and the back was arched, and its front legs were like hands. When I got through the door i shut the creature in and locked it, but then the creature started trying to get out, knocking a board loose and trying to squeeze through the space it opened up. I could tell it was going to get out and ran down the street. even though I had no idea where I was, I recognized that if i took a certain route id get out. s I darted down the main road and started cutting through some backyards which I knew were also abandoned houses despite how nice they looked. as I did so I could hear the creature letting out this distorted barking, and then i heard it get louder as i climbed over a large truck t jump a fence. I knew it was about to catch up to me fast.” Now one of my friends lives in Brazil and told me about this place called SeteAlem. She thinks this is the place I’ve been dreaming about. I’ve had several dreams similar to this, but I had never encountered a monster like this before. Normally when I dream of this place I encounter weird people.

The first time I had dreamt of this place I was being carried to it by a large stork. It was like an island where you couldn’t see the water past all of the trees surrounding it, and we were flying over a bridge. I didn’t see what was on the other side of the bridge, but I knew that was the only way in and out of that place. Then, I had another dream where there were a bunch of people my age and some adults. The adults kept trying to drag us into this very secure looking school, and something told me I shouldn’t go there. So the moment I had a chance I ran to try and find the bridge I had seen before. During this time I was running through a very confusing neighborhood that was like a maze, and met a little boy who wanted to help me get to the bridge. He was very pale but I don’t remember what all he looked like. I just remember that while he was leading me through he told me I had to make sure not the get caught and that I wasn’t really supposed to be there. But when I got to the bridge something dragged me back into the neighborhood and I saw the giant stork guarding the entrance just before I woke up again. And the dream I quoted was the last one I had in this place. My friend said that its some sort of urban legend and some thing its a purgatory, but I can’t find a lot of information about it. If anyone can tell me more about SeteAlem I’d be very appreciative, and maybe it’d help me to get out of that place n my dreams when I know more about it.

#SeteAlem #weird dreams #consistant dreaming #urban legend #purgatory #locations in dreams #giant bird?

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bunchamunchafaunus · 7 years ago

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The Rise of a Ventian Queen [2]: The Next Step

“So, Peri.”

Hearing her name got the worried woman’s attention drawn from her bedridden friend to the man behind her. A raised brow curious what he wanted, such only getting stronger seeing him pat at the floor beside him.

“Come tell me some stories of Team Empress while we wait for her to recover.”

Such a simple request actually got the Komodo laughing. She wasn’t sure why she had expected anything else, but for some reason it caught her off guard. It only took another glance back to the slumbering Qilin to realize they were going to have to wait for a fair while before she’d wake. They definitely had time to relax, especially given she was sure the NeverCondor would take to the skies to get away from the canyon once it could.

So she did just that. Stepping back till she felt her back eased to the wall by her tail keeping her from just outright falling against it, she found herself on the metal ground beside her friend’s father figure. Taking in a breath to relax herself as she let her shoulders drop at last. Tail curling round to fit it’s thinner end under her legs.

“Well to start, I think I gotta mention she was the most awkward person out of everyone in the room the night before our entrance exam. No lie, she just kept looking over everyone in some awestruck state for about an hour at least while people came in and out of the room.”

The two laughed some, Peri recalling the silly look that had been on Emma’s face back then, Umbir imagining it.

Knowing they were in for some fun chatter, they made themselves comfortable and began. Not too long after would they feel the engines of the NeverCondor roaring to life and the large metal vessel leaving the ground and beginning to soar.

- One Day Later -

P - P a p a...

S h i t! E m m a!

Ringing.

L a y h e r h e r e!

Silence.

Darkness.

Was she?

No, no, she was still hearing noises here and there. So very faint and muffled, but they were there. Familiar voices, laughter, beeping... snoring? She was still so warm too. She had to be alive, right? Yeah, yeah, she had to be. From everything she knew, she’d be cold if she wasn’t.

For some time it was just this empty void. The odd sound so faint and muffled here and there, but nothing all too loud or obvious. Just the constant wonder of what might have happened to her and what would come to pass. It got to the point she was actually starting to worry, trying her best to have something, anything change. Yet nothing did, no matter what she tried.

Though something eventually changed, a small, tiny little dark orange light breaking the darkness. One that would change to fit a form, a humanoid figure. Instantly she knew what it was, and felt herself calm with it’s presence quickly. But that calm would suddenly be shaken up, hearing a voice. One that was clear, one she never heard before. A woman’s voice, low, echoing, comforting. One single sentence being spoken by it.

“I am proud of you”

The source of this voice disappearing soon after, leaving her alone in the quiet darkness once more. But this would not last long before the Qilin felt herself falling. Such a sudden sensation causing fear and panic to fill her, making her body jerk and flail for a single second as she sat up and found herself awake, staring at a wall judging by what she could now see her aura flowing up. Her breathing being long, deep breaths as she took in the situation.

Aching and sluggish body, left leg felt better but right knee still stings, a slight pinch in left arm, the sudden moving form of a person with a blue aura running past her view. The left side of which showed nothing defined when they saw the other living being, just a messy uncontrolled pattern of blue spread across a whole half her vision. Blinking a few times, she could tell her aura was switching from it’s default navigational assistance to the protective layer and back each time. Eventually stopping, closing her eyes, and focusing it to it’s defensive capabilities before letting it ease back to it’s usual sight-providing action. Finally staying as such whenever she blinked afterward.

“Emma!”

The Princess’ head turned immediately upon having the ever so familiar voice register to her, seeing the umber form of her father figure standing in what seemed to be a doorway. Plus some slight peek of a friendly red aura just around the door-frame beside him though it would duck back to be hidden as she saw the man draw closer. Soon after feeling his arms wrap ‘round her upper body and his cheek against the top of her head.

She wanted to return the embrace, but her body felt slow, heavy even, much more than she was used to. It even hurt some to try and move anything beyond how her body was now after having awoken so suddenly. Though she was sure she could manage speaking at the very least, so she cleared her throat before attempting to.

“Papa?” Her voice a little rough, but she still spoke. Not getting an answer right away, she could feel his arms move and saw his form begin lowering some. Soon seeing the shape of the man’s head as he had dropped to one knee in front of her so she wouldn’t have to turn her own head up so high.

“Yes, Lil’ Filly?”

That nickname again, she wasn’t sure whether to feel comfort hearing it again or to be annoyed by it and say she wished she hadn’t woken up as a joke. Quickly deciding against the later.

“What-... What happened? After what I did?”

“Well, assuming you remember up to the point I signaled the NeverCondor to fire, they got the two shots off. The destroyed rocks and trees from the blast on the cliff and the mountain began falling down into the canyon, but I’m pretty sure you somehow managed to stretch out your Semblance’s range because it all stopped mid-air and began spreading out across the width of the canyon itself. Once the Goliaths were getting right under the debris, it began dropping. Some hit the first two, the rest began falling on the next two, but all the stuff that you had circling the three of us quickly sped up and began being loosed in the direction of the front two Goliaths. The barrage forced them to start moving backward, thus suffering the rest of the falling debris like the two behind them. Four Goliaths were pinned beneath all sorts of rocks and trees, likely dead, and the Grimm on the far side were blocked off.”

Hearing it back from Umbir, Emma was sure she had been awake for the events he recalled. Her own mind replaying the sounds she had heard at the time. The thunderous gunfire from the Airship, the trumpeting sounds of the Goliaths, stone hitting stone, she was sure of it. “What about after that?”

“After the wall of debris settled, you collapsed. You had exhausted the vast majority of your aura to the point that you couldn’t stay awake. The Dust crystal you had used fell from your hands, depleted, and the winds around us started to die down. With the remains of the Grimm horde that were on our side starting to move again, I had Peri take you and get you into the NeverCondor. I ran back on my own, the turrets were manned, cannons recharged or reloaded, and the majority of what we still had to worry about of the horde was destroyed. Once enough was gone, we took to the skies. We’re settled above the ocean right now.

“How long was I out, Papa?”

“I wasn’t exactly paying attention to the time, but judging by the position of the sun compared to how it was when you lost consciousness, it’s almost been a full twenty-four hours.”

Twenty-four hours, it felt like she had been in that dark space for so much longer than a single day. One shaky inhale later, the name he had mentioned snapped back to her mind, making Emma move in sudden worry, despite the pain she felt by doing so and the wince it earned from her. A noise which got her father figure immediately rising to stop her from moving too much and carefully lay her back down.

“What about Peri, where is she?”

“She’s fine, Emma. Your teammate’s a wonderful young woman who cares a lot about her friends. Peri was actually by your side for the first few hours, it took telling her about how strong you were during your recovery after Samuel grabbed your neck that one time to get her to calm down, eat, and get some rest. She’s still asleep since she used up quite a bit of her own aura against that horde as well.”

To hear the Komodo was safe and resting eased the Qilin’s worry for the other. Sighing with relief as she let her head press back against the pillow.

“I’m gonna have to face them now that I’m here aren’t I? Make sure all those people aren’t scared about him finding them and ruling them like Manus did so they don’t attract Grimm like that again.”

Umbir chuckled a little. “It’s actually kind of funny that you mention it. There’s some soldiers who were loyal to Cres, now loyal to me, out side this room right now. They insisted on standing guard outside the Medical bay to make sure you’d be safe while you were out.”

This revelation was... odd... to say the least. Emma was so sure she would never be able to successfully fill any Royal role for so long in her life. Then she announced herself to dozens of Nobles as the Princess she was by blood, making word spread of her living state after having been thought dead for a good while. Now, she had people looking to her to be their Queen. People from her own place of birth. Ventian civilians and soldiers both. She didn’t feel ready to accept the role they needed her to play, but if she didn’t, she knew the events of the previous day would eventually happen again.

Maybe even to a much, much worse degree.

“Either way we look at it, I can’t really move right now can I?” She remarked with a little chuckle behind her words. A sound which Umbir repeated on his end at the inquiry.

“No, not really. Not without it hurting a lot since you’re body’s still recovering from such a heavy dip in aura. Maybe tomorrow you’ll be able to move around better again. Plus your legs could use just a bit more rest. The cut on your left was shallow, but it was long, and the scrape to your knee was a lot worse, so even with another day of your Qilin genetics healing that up it’s going to be sore when you try to walk on it again.”

“Okay ‘DAD’. I’ll stay in bed...!” A joke reply, but one that both parties laughed at.

“It’s nice to know you’ve still got that childish side to you after all this time and all the hardships you’ve faced, Emma. I’ll go get you some water.”

The Qilin simply nodded in thanks for the man’s concern and care, letting herself relax and her eyes close for a moment while she listened to his footsteps leaving the room. A shuffle of a couple other metal clad feet outside the room moving to clang together before stepping to what she assumed was a basic defensive stance for the Soldiers she had been informed of.

Over the next few hours, Umbir would come and go from the room. The two speaking over various different topics and points of her experiences ever since she had left Ventus so long ago. At one point even getting Peri up and visiting Emma to see how everything was going. The three of them conversing and interacting for a fair while longer before one-by-one people left the Medical bay for the night leaving Emma to rest on her own.

It was about noon the next day when the Qilin’s friend and teammate would enter the Medical bay with a set of new, clean clothes in a bag for her.

“Big day today for ya, Em’.” The woman remarked making her way toward the Qilin’s bedside. As she did, she watched the young woman atop the bed adjusting to an up-right seated position with a smile across her face. “Roy and I made sure to get something that looks real fancy.”

“Roy’s with you?”

“Well not right now, no, he went to talk with Umbir about something, but I did drag him along for the clothes.”

“You didn’t get something that’s all show without any comfort did you...?”

“Oh hell no, I know well enough that we tailed Faunus need clothes that are comfortable over everything else. Stuff’s real soft on the skin and still looks nice. I’m not gonna say you’re going to be comfortable mentally or emotionally while you’re up in front of your people, but at the very least you will be physically.”

Lifting the bag in her hand, Peri placed it down into Emma’s lap. “A nice white button-up top with a black knee-length skirt that has purple floral patterns, some white thigh-high socks, and a purple ribbon that can be tied into a bow under your collar or you can tie back your hair with it. I’ve got you~ Now go ahead and get dressed, I’ll be waiting outside.”

“Thank you, Peri.” Emma spoke with a soft thankful tone while the Komodo was close enough to still hear. Watching on afterward while the woman’s red form would leave the room, leaving her alone in it again. Taking a second, she made sure to pull the curtain by the foot of her bed ‘round to hide her from view of the door to the room.Once with more privacy provided, she shifted to get off the bed on the far side to begin changing her clothes. Taking a second of pause noticing her necklace was absent from around her neck.

About five minutes would come to pass before Peri and the four soldiers standing ‘round the door as protective guard for the Royal within the Medical Bay would hear the door open. A second later seeing the Qilin step out from the room within the newly provided clothing. The bag in hand containing the clothes she had changed out of, and the purple ribbon in her hand. Tail behind her finding itself dropping low and pressing against her leg with uncertain worry about the situation.

The four Soldiers, upon seeing her come to a stop, would turn to face her directly. A single stomp being done as they would, unknown to Emma, salute to her. Peri on the other hand could see that the three men and one woman had their right hands raised and placed diagonally across their chest while their left was tucked behind the small of their backs.

Taking a second, the Royal looked around to the four unfamiliar aura forms that surrounded her. A rather nervous smile present upon her face that all present could see clearly. After a couple seconds of silence, one of them would clear their throat before speaking. The sound drawing Emma’s foggy eyes to the unknown person immediately to her left before their pale yellow form in her eyes would lower to a knee.

“Your Highness, Melo Grove, I used to serve the late Queen Cres rather closely.” A soft woman’s voice quickly introduced herself. “I’m unsure of whether Sir Dew has mentioned it directly to you yet, but Cres truly did regret forcing you out of Ventus. For the past few years especially she searched for any sort of sign that you were alive in hopes of eventually meeting you in person and apologizing for her actions. When word spread among nobles across Remnant that you were present at the Duke of Coste’s charity event, she was ecstatic to know you were alive and well.”

What the Soldier said, while not entirely new to the Qilin as she had, indeed, heard some of it from Umbir, was appreciated. If not for the fact it contained some new information, then because it came from a voice which sounded so genuine and confirmed what her father figure had told her. Still, even with how she felt, there was the whole fact that being treated the way she was by these four was entirely new territory. A short glance to Peri for some sort of assistance just earning a shrug to the red shoulders of her friend’s figure.

“I-...” Focusing her attention back to Melo, she swallowed a nervous lump that had formed in her throat. Stepping closer to the kneeling woman, she shifted the lone ribbon to the same hand holding the bag as to clear one up for freedom of use. Then bringing that same hand up to gently rest on the woman’s shoulder, which caused their head to rise and she could feel their eyes on her once more. She noticed now a soft vibration of anxiety in the pale yellow form. One she attempted to ease by giving a soft, more confident smile.

“Th-Thank you, Melo. It-uh... it comforts me knowing Queen Cres wished no ill will towards me during the last years of her life. I-... I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to fill her shoes since I honestly never really expected to be doing... well.. any of this honestly, but I hope that we may work together as well.”

It was obvious to the four that the Royal they were currently looking to wasn’t exactly used to any of this. That despite how unsure of herself she sounded, the Qilin was trying her best. They could all respect that, immediately feeling much more comfortable with her as the one they would soon follow. Melo herself now giving a wide smile as she looked up at Emma.

“I would be honored to work alongside you, Your Highne-”

“Emma, please...”

“Emma... I look forward to serving you.”

Seeing the woman’s head bow again, the Royal watched her soon rise to her feet again.

“Is there anything we may do for you... Emma...?” The tone of Melo’s voice made it obvious she was going to have to get used to using a proper name instead of a title while addressing her superior.

For a short bit, things were quiet on the Qilin’s end, looking between the four soldiers again, this time in thought. “C-Could I maybe get some more privacy with Peri? We’re in a safe place, I really don’t think I need four guards here...”

She didn’t see it, having been looking away from the one Guard who’s name she knew so far at the time. Melo’s attention moved between the other three, the group coming to an unspoken agreement before the trio of still unknown Soldiers would take their leave. Relaxing their forms and beginning down the hall of the Airship they were currently in.

Sighing once there was less attention on herself, Emma turned to the woman once more. This time bowing her own head as she voiced her appreciation. She received a bow in return. After which her attention moved to Peri as she fetched the ribbon from the hand the bag was in.

“Could you tie my hair back? Just want it all to be nice and neat behind me for when I do this.”

The Komodo, befitting her personality, chuckled some at the request, but nodded none the less. Stepping to her friend, she took the ribbon in hand before physically encouraging a turn with a gentle push to the shoulder. Once such movement finished, she brought the ribbon between her lips to hold it while working on collecting the mass of near white hair that belonged to Emma. Every now and then working a hand down the length of it to try and funnel it all together better the farther down it went.

“Peri?”

“Yeah?”

“You possibly know where my necklace went?”

“Yeah, Umbir has it. Said he’d be giving it back later while you’re addressing everyone.”

Her answer made some sense to the Qilin, nodding a little in understanding as she fell silent for her friend to finish her work.

Once she felt she had a good enough control of her friend’s hair, Peri shifted hold to one hand as the other retrieved the purple fabric and worked it around the hair to replace her other hand. Finally being able to begin working on tying the ribbon tight to give a clean and proper finish to Emma’s appearance with a small bow holding her knee-length hair together at the bottom of the back of her neck. Looking to Melo, she earned an approving nod from the woman before looking back to it herself and nodding her own head.

“There ya go, ‘Your Highness’.”

The joking use of the title earned an elbow moving to impact with her arm. Laughter following from both the Faunus as Emma turned to face her teammate again. All this right before the shorter of the two would move to hug the taller, which was quickly reciprocated.

“Thank you, Peri, for everything you’ve done the past few days.”

“You’re welcome, Emma.”

The two letting their embrace last a couple seconds longer. Breathing in the comfort they shared knowing they were both alive and well after what they had gone through the other day. Once comfortable, both let go, Peri patting at Emma’s shoulder as one last gesture of fondness before she’d speak again.

“Now, you’ve got a crowd to address.”

A deep breath in and a sigh out would be taken by the Qilin. “That I do...” She glanced the two ways down the hall available to the three of them, brow furrowing some. “Um... Melo?”

“Yes?”

“D-Do you know what way we need to go?”

“That I do, just follow me.” Without missing a beat, the pale yellow figure Emma had turned her eyes to stepped side-ways. An outstretched hand gesturing the opposite direction than the other three had gone earlier. Quickly following up the gesture by turning herself in full and beginning down the hall.

The two Huntresses followed behind the woman for a minute or so, passing through the hallways and by some crew members here and there. Multiple different rooms they may have been able to turn into as well, yet Melo kept going. Eventually turning into a much wider hallway than the ones that they had walked through so far. One with a multitude of people seated along the walls, some standing, others walking between each other. The moment they did, Emma froze.

Looking down the hallway, the Qilin’s sight was filled with such a vast array of colors filling it. The initial viewing of so many people was too much for her with half being as messy as it was. It hurt her head to see all of them. She turned her head to clear her view and hopefully ease the strain it put on her. Peri’s red soon stepping into view as she felt her hand at her shoulder.

“Your eye bugging you?” Her question only received a nod from the shorter woman as her left eye closed and a hand rose over it.

“Her eye?” Melo stepping around to the Royal’s side with her question. “What happened?”

“A while ago Emma had an incident where she saw some odd aura that she said looked like a person. She called out to them, they didn’t respond, she tried to get closer but it just kept moving at the same distance away from her. She said it seemed to just slide around, never taking a step or turning or anything. Eventually it stopped, she got right next to it, then the next thing she knew she woke up back in her room at the Inn our team owns. Umbir said that he had been watching over her for a while, and when he saw what was happening he followed her, but when he caught up an Ursa had hit Emma into a tree, and she was unconscious on the ground. He killed the Ursa, brought her back and ever since she woke up, her left eye hasn’t been working the way it should.”

While Peri retold the events to Melo, Emma found herself shivering some remembering it all. Her mind calling back to the months where she felt unlike herself afterwards. It got her right eye closing as well as the discomfort of the memories from that time began setting in.

“Wh-What do you mean it’s not working the way it should? Can she not see with it?”

“She was born blind, Melo. Sometime during her childhood her aura adapted to allow her eyes to register visual sources of aura and give some semblance of sight. She sees everyone as generic humanoid forms of solid color based on what their aura’s color is, which ever since the old Great War tends to match with their name. Mine’s Peri, my aura is a dark red, I’m a red figure to her. You’re Melo, I’m assuming mellow yellow, so she sees you as a pale yellow form. Ever since what happened, she’s explained sight in her left eye as a repeating pattern mess of color whenever looking at someone. After being told what a Kaleidoscope is, she said that’s pretty much what it’s like.”

Hearing this, the somewhat absent gaze she had seen the young white haired woman had given to her and the other Guards earlier began to make more sense. “Ah...” This was new information that she knew she’d need at a later point. It was going to be a bit of a learning curve for how to handle things with Emma. “Maybe it’d be a good idea to get her some type of cover for her left eye then. Eye patch or something...”

Turning to look over the people filling the hallway, she could see some of them looking to the trio with curious eyes. A few even worried, one or two doubtful gazes from some older individuals. Gently grabbing onto Emma’s shoulders, she guided her back around the corner, gesturing for Peri to follow. “Just keep her here, I’ll be right back.”

The Komodo nodded before watching as Melo went into a light jog down the hallway to return where they had just come from. Carefully she helped Emma to lean against the wall after the form of the Guard disappeared ‘round the corner down the thinner hall. Afterward stepping close to the corner again and peeking around it to look over the civilians filling the area.

“E-Excuse me, miss?”

A young voice would register in the Komodo’s ears, guiding her attention down to see a boy standing next to her. A pair of small antlers growing atop his upturned head among dark brown hair and his bright blue eyes looking up at her. His arms were tucked ‘round behind his back. She stepped from the wall before lowering herself to her knees to be at a more equal level to him.

“Hey little man, what’s up?”

He seemed to be a little nervous with how he lowered his head a tad further than it already had to simply keep looking at her.

“Is that... Is she our new Queen?”

His question got Peri’s head turning to look to Emma. She could see the her gaze turned to focus to the boy beyond Peri’s form, hand now away from her left eye but the eye itself still closed. She turned her red eyes forward to the child again just after.

“Well. technically she’s not just yet, but she’s going to be soon. She’s just feeling a little under the weather right now, bit of a headache. You know what that’s like, right?” A soft smile came to her face seeing the boy nod in understanding.

“I- uh... M-My mommy helped me make a necklace... I wanted to make it for our new Queen after she told me about how she was ex-exhi-”

“Exiled?”

“Yeah, that word!” His hands finally came out from behind his back. In the one was a collection of a dozen small, smooth black stones that had been drilled through to fit them onto a braided silver and gold cord. None were exactly the same size as another, nor shape, but it seemed they were all sanded down to be smooth and rounded. Smaller stones being farther out and larger being closer to the center. “I collected these, whenever I found a black rock I picked it up. There isn’t a lot of them, but they always look so nice...”

Peri felt a familiar hand at her shoulder, looking up and back it was Emma. Shifting aside atop her knees, she gave enough space for her friend to get down beside her. Even offering a hand to support her as she took to her knees, a slight wince escaping putting as much weight as she did on her right. Still a little sore she guessed.

Now at eye level with the bright blue form of the boy, Emma could see an ever so subtle vibration to his form. She put on a gentle smile in hopes of calming his nerves

“What’s your name?”

“C-Cele.”

“Cele, very nice name. I would love to wear the necklace you’ve made for me, is there a clasp on it or is it a full loop?”

“My mommy tied the ends of the cords we used when we were done braiding it.”

“A loop, then, would you mind putting it on for me?” As she asked this of the young boy, she shifted closer to him and bowed her head forward. Closing her eyes she simply waited. It took a few seconds, but she soon felt his little hands brush against her hair some. A second more passing before the weight of the stones on the cord was fully present on the back of her neck. After a second more, she lifted her head, a hand moving to pull her tied hair out from beneath the braided cord then to fix it beneath her collar. With it fit proper into her outfit, she turned her attention to Cele again. The anxious vibrations from earlier now gone.

“Thank you, Cele. I’m glad to know there are such kind children like yourself from Ventus even after everything it’s people have been through.”

He was quiet a moment after before she could feel his arms suddenly around her neck. It was unexpected, but Emma returned the hug with a hand gently pressing to his upper back. The hug ending almost as quickly as it started, the boy ran back down the hallway to return to his mother who stood a ways down the hall. Taking her hand, he looked up to her and they began talking about something. Peri noticing a smile across the woman’s face as she crouched down to her son.

“Damn you handled that nicely.” Peri spoke up as she rose to her feet again.

“You did most of that though being the one to talk to him first.”

“The kid probably thought I was a body guard or something, so it was actually a pretty smart idea for him to come to me first. Gotta give the lil’ dude props for that.”

“Plus for working on this with his mother.” Em’s hand moving to let her fingers move over the stones now settled across her chest.

“So? How’re you feeling after doing your first Queenly act?”

“Queenly act?”

“Yeah! You just interacted with one of your Kingdom’s next generation, accepted a gift from them, praised them, and helped them feel better before sending them back to their guardian! You can’t see it, but that kid’s really happy and he’s even bouncing a little while telling his mother all about you and how it was to meet you.”

What her friend was saying... actually made a lot of sense to her. No matter what way she thought about it, what she just did was something a leader or hero would tend to do in stories. Stories both fake and very real. The fact she actually did something like that without realizing it, there was some confidence that filled her.

“I’m feeling like I can actually do this...”

“Hell yeah you can!”

Another pat of Peri’s hand to her arm like before occurred and the two of them laughed a little.

“Emma!”

The oh so familiar voice got the Qilin turning her head to look down the hallway behind her. Both the earthy aura of her father figure, the source of the call to her, and that of the pale yellow belonging to Melo were making their way to her and Peri. Poking at the Komodo’s leg got her attention, a hand lowering to help Emma return to her feet with her uncomfortable knee. Managing to get back up just as the two reached them.

“Hey, Umbir, where’d Roy go off to?” Peri called out to the man as he kept drawing closer to the two of them.

“Your brother’s talking with Captain Maho. I told him to show Roy where to go once they’re done so he can be present for whatever Emma’s got in mind.” He took a moment of pause to his speaking as he glanced over Emma’s new clothing. “Speaking of, It’s nice to see you on your feet again, Em’.” Her father figure spoke up, a gentle smile across his features.

“It’s nice to be on my feet.”

“Sir Dew bumped into me while I was on my way out of the Medical Bay.” Melo spoke up explaining his added presence. “I grabbed a cotton pad and some medical tape that we can use to cover your eye, Emma.”

“Emma?” Umbir’s tone a little confused turning to look to his underling. Such earning a shrug from the woman.

“She requested that I call her by her name and not using a title.”

Em’ could feel the man’s eyes fix on her, clearly looking for some confirmation. Nodding her head, the man did the same understanding the situation.

“Okay” Melo spoke up getting the Royal’s attention as she extended a hand with a small square between her fingers “hold this over your eye.”

The process took about a half minute. Emma taking the cotton pad and carefully holding it over her left eye, Melo unwrapped strips from the tape, tore them off, and secured it in place. One down the side of the square on the outer side of the Qilin’s face, one smaller piece across the corner by the top of her nose, and one last strip along the bottom above her cheek.

“There we go.” The woman turned her attention to Umbir again. “Could you return this to the Med-bay? I’ve been around the civilians more often than you have, I think it’ll be good for me to be with Emma while she’s around them.” Her hand holding the medical tape aside for him.

“Sure. If you three get to the catwalk before I catch up, I’ll meet you there.” Taking the roll from his underling, he turned and began back to the medical room of the Airship.

“What’s he talking about with a catwalk?” A confused Emma speaking up in question.

“There’s a catwalk in the room we’re heading to. High up, gets people in a noticeable spot, can let a voice carry through the room well. Best place to speak to your people and say whatever you need to.”

Emma nodded in understanding after it was explained to her what was meant.

Just before the Knight went to begin guiding the two again, she noticed something that got her to step closer and gently lift the necklace with a finger. “Did a little boy with antlers and blue eyes give this to you?”

Her question got a nodding confirmation from Emma.

“That’s actually really nice, Cele did good.”

“I know, right? Lil’ guy’s got a good eye and creative mind!”

“That he does. Gotta give him a high five while we pass by.” A smooth transition from the trained woman as she gestured for the two to follow her again. Stepping ‘round both to round the corner once more and begin down the crowded hallway. Looking ahead she could see little Cele being picked from the floor by his mother. Their eyes meeting and the trio sharing a smile as the distance between them was beginning to close.

Emma on the other hand, as she followed behind Melo, kept her had turning to look over the people around them. Seeing so many people, thankfully now only through her right eye, she was able to look over them more properly. Seeing so many whom appeared to be adults, others small and childish, a couple clearly elderly. So many auras of varying colors, but so many of them in different moods.

Some dimmed, others shivering, a few vibrating, a couple having shrunk even. Sadness, despair, anxiety, fear, so much negative emotions. Even if some of them seemed to be easing as they saw her. But a few brightened and glowing aura’s stood out to Emma’s sight. Most which she didn’t know, a lot being children whom she heard quietly asking various things about her to their guardians. Though one was a bright blue that she had met just a minute earlier.

As the three came up to Cele and his mother, Melo stretched out a hand and the boy quickly reacted. Reaching his own hand out, the two connected for a ‘high’ five. Afterward his attention quickly shifted to Emma, the Qilin could feel his gaze on her, and even if she couldn’t see it they shared a smile. Once it came Peri’s turn to pass by, he gave the kid a thumbs up and a wink. Waving with her tail as they passed and continued on.

It only took another minute of walking, passing by multiple more groups of people till they would fine themselves stepping into a much, much larger room. Within was the bulk of the Ventian civilians, dozens of them if not a hundred or so at bare minimum filling this room alone. There was still some space to move around and for some breathing room, but so many more people than what was within the halls leading here.

“Up this way.” Melo spoke up, stepping off to the side where, after a second, Emma’s aura would reveal a stair case as it began flowing through the room.

Turning her attention up the stairs, she quickly noticed a familiar aura, ever changing between seven colors and never staying as one of them for more than a few seconds at a time. Roy. His form bent forward, she supposed he was resting against the railing of what she guessed was the catwalk. Off to his side, however, stood two auras more. One she remembered from when she and Peri arrived in the canyon the other day, and one of a beige color. The red aura of the man from the canyon with his arm ‘round the smaller beige being.

“Hey there, Princess.” Roy spoke up as the trio got up onto the catwalk proper.

“Roy.” Emma greeted in return, making her way to hug him, feeling his arms return the embrace quickly.

“Hey, leave some room for me!” The sister of the Gaia duo stepping over to the two opening a space to welcome her into their hugging. As the three shared this moment, a breath of relaxation was taken by each. After which they broke apart, though Peri kept her arm round Roy’s shoulders as they set into a comfortable stance together.

The Qilin, however, would feel a tap at her shoulder. Looking to the source, it was Melo gesturing to step past her friends. Following her, the two stepped over closer to the two auras whom were unknown to the younger of the two. Seeing both of them move to turn to face her. Only now noticing that the beige shorter being had a pair of animalistic ears atop their head. Really, really tall ears.

“Emma, these are the NeverCondor’s Captains. Captain Maho Agna and his wife Captain Begi Vix.” The Guard introduced the two to the people to Emma. Gesturing first to the taller red form, then the shorter beige.

Before she could do much, she would see the man’s hand reach forward urging for a handshake, one which she took with a bow to her head. After which she saw that of the shorter of the pair bow her own head before hearing her speak up.

“It’s a pleasure to meat you, your Highness. Umbir’s been working pretty closely with us and he’s told us a lot about you. Actually kind of been looking forward to meeting the ‘Aura-Sighted Huntress’ for a bit now.”

“Please, just call me Emma. No need for titles between us. I’ve never really felt like I’d be able to fulfill the role, so this is all going to be new for me.”

“Well, if it’s going to be any bit similar to being a Captain, you can come to us if you need some advice at any time.” A masculine voice, she assumed Maho’s as she turned her attention to his aura form.

“Thank you, Captain. I’ll keep that in mind for the future.”

“Here.” Maho again, his arm moving, seemingly to retrieve something. “Whenever you’re ready, there’s a switch on the side of this headset that you can use to turn it on. Once you do, a microphone will fold out and you can speak into that. It will broadcast your voice through the entirety of the ship. Since the Ventian refugees we have on board are spread about the central area of the ship, this will let all of them hear you from where they are.”

The object held out to her, according to what Emma would see with her aura flowing over it, appeared to be a wireless thin headset. One side ending with a thinner stop she assumed would fit over or behind her left ear. The other with a wider and thicker section with a somewhat similar shaping as the other, just with an extra bit that she assumed would go inside her ear. Reaching to take it, she brought it to hold in both her hands across her front.

“Thank you, again Captain. For taking care of... my people... in their time of need. For bringing them to a safer place. I’m not absolutely sure about it, but I think I have an idea of a location where they can be housed for some time until we’re able to get some more proper housing set up. Just might take some time to get it ready for them.” A fairly obvious bit of nerves present as she said that second sentence.

“If you need any help with that, just let us know, alright? We’ve got some people who’re great with repairs and building, and there are actually quite a few of your people who’ve offered to help us with keeping the NeverCondor in good shape while they’ve been on board.”

“I’m glad they’ve been able to help with your travels since you’ve taken them in.

“Y’know” Begi again “for someone who’s unsure how well they’re going to do as a Queen, you’re already handling yourself pretty well just talking with us.”

“R-Really?” A somewhat disbelieving tone to Emma’s voice.

“Hey, that’s the kind of talk I’ve used to make some deals as Captain while Maho’s not been available before. There’s definitely going to be some hardships and some things to get used to, sure, but I think you’re going to do fine in the long run, Emma.”

A gentle smile came present to the Royal’s face hearing Begi’s words. “Thank you, Begi. It helps knowing so many people have been showing faith in me.”

Feeling a hand come to clasp onto her shoulder, Emma’s head turned to look for the source behind her. Seeing Umbir’s aura, she moved her own hand to hold over his. Now with her smile even brighter.

“We’ll have your back, Emma. You’re not going to be alone at any point in this stage of your life, I can promise you that.”

His words were a huge source of comfort to her in this moment on top of just him being present overall. Though after hearing him, her head turned and she looked down over the crowd beneath them. Slowly feeling her smile weaken some, her nerves getting to her as she saw many of them moving closer, to look up at them.

“Despite all the support, I don’t even know what to say to them. I’ve not been in Ventus for years, some of these people are children who were born after my exile so they don’t even know who I am beyond a false Princess. They’ve lost who was likely their best leader since Manus, and now they either turn to Samuel and hope for mercy, or they look to an uncertain young girl who was raised to be a maid for her own half-brother. The only other time I’ve spoken to even a fraction of this amount of people was at the Duke’s charity event when I announced I was still alive, but I had Octavius Tyrian with me at that time. My closest supporter and friend on the Noble front, and he’s not here right now...”

“Hey” her father figure called to her to earn her attention “you’re going to do wonderfully. Breathe in,” he himself inhaling, Emma mimicking him “breathe out,” both of them exhaling “You’ve got this.”

The short moment the two shared was something they tended to do when they were younger. Any time young little Emma had been panicking or upset for reasons related to her disabilities, Umbir would come to her aid. Getting to his knees in front of her, a gentle hand cupping her cheek, another holding her arm or hand. Speaking to her, calling out the nickname she had given her, and getting her attention before working through the process with her.

Both remembered this in the moment, taking one more to hug each other with a single arm.

“Thank you, Papa.”

“You’re welcome, Lil’ Filly. Take some time to think over your words, and when you’re ready, you’ve got the microphone.” His hand patted at her shoulder, leaving it a second after to step over by the Captains to chat with them a bit.

Now on her own among the group, Emma stepped over to the railing of the walkway. Both hands coming to rest atop it, headset in hand. She could feel so many people looking up to her in the moment. It actually surprised her a fair bit just how many people filled the lower section of the room. Combining the number she could guess was present to those in the one hallway she had her eye act up in, she was sure it was a minimum hundred people. The fact there was even more though, that actually got her nerves acting up some.

Still, even with the nerves present within her, she set her mind to attempt to piece together some collection of words. Something she thought would be fitting for a new leader to say to those she’d watch other. She couldn’t really come up with anything all that fast, it was definitely going to take a minute or so at least. Stepping back from the railing, she backed herself to the wall behind her to rest against that instead. Hoping that clearing her sight of the multitude of people below would help her think.

The Gaia siblings glanced over to the thinking Qilin for a second after seeing her form move as it did to the wall behind. Peri, out of the corner of her eye, noticing Melo looking to the Royal as well with some worry present in her gaze. A flick of her tail off to the side getting her attention, after which the Komodo mouthed “Just give her some time”, receiving a nod in understanding. Watching the Guard then turn to join Umbir and the two Captains for the time being. The two of them, however, moved to the corner at the top of the staircase that lead up to the catwalk which they stood on. Further from the rest of the group and a tad more private for them to talk without interrupting their friend.

Remembering back to her time at the Duke’s charity event and the speech she gave there, some ideas did come to mind. Though really thinking them over, the ideas she had back then were meant for high-society people that could’ve provided support for her. This time it was a bunch of people who were scared and unsure of what their future held for them. People who looked to her for some sense of comfort or safety. Two very different things, very different wordings needed.

Working her mind to think of some sort of answer, her eyes lowered to look to the headset her aura covered with each pulse of it. Taking in a lip to nibble at it as she thought, and her tail beginning to swat gently against the wall behind her.

A few minutes actually ended up passing as Emma had her mind hard at work. Not noticing the people having moved around her, her mind having tuned out their voices to focus her own inner vocals. Having switched which side of her lip was being nibbled on every couple seconds, at one point bringing both in and just pressing them together. By now, she felt like she had a couple points she wanted to get across, but there was a lack of proper wording to use to get them out. It was actually a little stressful being unable to piece together words like she was needing to.

Suddenly feeling a hand to her shoulder, the Qilin nearly jumped as her attention was forced back to the world beyond her mind. Blinking a couple times over, uncovered eye glanced about. Noting Roy absent from Peri’s side to her left, Melo standing in front of her and just a little toward the right, then Umbir leaning against the wall beside her with the aura forms of the two Captains and the Gaia Brother standing some distance away.

“Emma?” The woman before her calling her name, getting her eyes turning to her pale yellow aura again. “You alright?”

“Yeah... Yeah, I’m fine, I just... I know what I want to tell them, but I’ve not been able to think of words I should use to get those messages across...”

“Why not wing it then?” The extremely familiar of Umbir’s voice spoke up, earning her attention immediately. “Some of the better speeches that Manus or Cres ever gave were mostly just them going out and talking.”

“I don’t know if I should be inspired hearing that my biological father, who was apparently a Tyrant most of his reign, had good speeches because he just ‘winged them’...” A doubtful response from Emma’s end at his idea.

“I’m not saying you should be, Emma. I’m never going to tell you to be inspired by anything Manus ever did with how horrible a man he was. What I am saying is that you don’t necessarily need to plan out every last word that you say. Just take what you’ve got, figure out how to word it all as you do.” His shoulders rising a little during the end of his sentence. Relaxing just a second later.

Emma had her head nodding for a short bit as she thought over the idea. It would work, she had the somewhat vague idea of what she wanted to say in mind and she knew what exact points she wanted to make known. Winging it would likely be her best option over all wouldn’t it?

Some bit of her was feeling a little more sure of herself when thinking of taking the plunge that would begin her role as Queen. Of making her voice present for the Ventian people to hear.

She was still a little nervous, yes, but that was her worry that she’d be treated the way she was while leaving Ventus all those years ago. Plenty of the refugees were undoubtedly old enough to remember that day, some possibly having even been among the people whom had spit disgust her direction. as well.

Yet. really taking a second to think of it, there wasn’t exactly a reason for her to think of that... To think such a thing would be unavoidable. Especially not with how everything had been just days ago. At least she hoped that after what had happened it wouldn’t be that way...

“Y-Yeah... I think I can do this. Just give me another minute.” She could see the pale yellow head nodding in understanding. The woman then stepping away to lean over the railing of the catwalk and look to the people below. Something becoming clear to the Royal in this moment, Melo had a tail. A long tail with a rounded end that unfurled from ‘round the Guard’s waist to curl beside her leg.

Emma was a little surprised she hadn’t been able to notice the extra appendage on Melo before, but thinking over it for a second, she figured that she had kept it wrapped ‘round her waist till now. She’d have to ask what sub-species of Faunus the Knight is later. Too many things were much more important right now.

Thankfully it didn’t take much longer till she felt she was more ready to be able to do what she needed. Taking a deep breath, she moved herself away from the wall and stepped closer to the railing. Once more, she could feel the eyes of the people below fixing to her. Swallowing down the nerves that rose from the sense that most all of them were turning their eyes to her, she lifted the headset in her hands, fixing it atop her head and fitting the two sides so they felt right on her. One more breath, and with her hand rising to feel for the switch, she pushed it across it’s spot, and with a gentle click beside her ear, the microphone was now available.

A chime suddenly rang out in the room, three notes in a rising tone. The echo from beyond the room making it clear to her that this was, in fact, going across the ship. Bringing her hands to hold at the railing, she took one more breath.

“P-People of Ventus.” She could hear her own voice repeating, a somewhat electrical tone to it. “I am Emma Smoke Khromatos, Daughter of Manus Aescae Khromatos and Aligar Kaj. Due to my birth mother, Aligar, dying shortly after I was born, I was raised as a maid to the royal family under the name Smoke Kaj by the maid named Harley Nara. A woman who I assume a good sum of you know as she was a kind, wonderful woman that would frequently venture to the market along the main road for supplies. I would often be present with her, a young, scared little girl who rarely spoke when around people I didn’t know.”

She had to pause a second to breathe and calm herself, recalling her past having brought up various emotions which she hadn’t exactly expected. The breath she took to calm herself being just barely heard across the speaker system of the ship.

“Eventually... as I grew older, my Faunus trait began showing more and more. Thankfully with the maid outfit being as long as it was, it hid my tail for a long while. Though after a particular fall that I took, Queen Cress saw it. This ended up giving away my true identity. That I was a child of her King born out of wedlock. Angered by this, she ordered that I be exiled. That night I stole a weapon that was to be given to my half-brother Samuel the next week. Having been his training partner for a while under the watchful eye of Sir Umbir Dew, I had experience with the kind of weapon it was. I disguised it as a walking stick, and the next day I had it with me when I was escorted out of the Kingdom to the Solitas mainland to wander on my own.

One thing lead to another, I found myself on a boat to Sanus, and I traveled to Vale. Meeting with a teacher from the Hunter Academy of Vale, I expressed a wish I had developed during my travels to be able to keep other people safe during their own travels, as I had been helped by Hunters and Huntreses myself at various points on my own journey. Thankfully after displaying my capabilities with the Scythe and what little I could control of my Semblance, he was able to help me enroll in Beacon. I had to tell the headmaster my true name and my story, but he felt I had potential, so he let me in.

By the time I was one of the students and placed into a team fittingly called Team Empress, word had spread that a Princess had been exiled, and eventually killed by a Grimm. With the assistance of the son of a Noble family that supported me even back when word first got out of my situation, I was able to get in touch with some other members of Noble blood, eventually even being invited to a charity event held by the Duke of Coste. At this event, I spoke to settle the rumors of my death, and set word to be spread around that I still lived.

As Lady Melo Grove has revealed to me, Queen Cress had been trying to discover if I was still alive for a while before the Charity event. Wanting to contact me and try to welcome me back to Ventus with open arms to try and repair our relationship. I’m unsure, but she may have even been wanting to accept me as a proper member of the Royal family and an heir to the throne should Samuel have not been fit for it.

However, at it was soon after I attended the Charity event that the attack on Vale happened. Beacon Academy was swarmed by Grimm, some of Atlas’ technology went haywire and starting attacking students and civilians, and the Cross Continental Transmit System tower of Vale was destroyed. Communications were hindered across all Remnant because of this, and Cres was unable to contact me in any easy way like she might have been with the CCT system up. Instead, she decided to get in touch with some of the Noble families based in Sanus who supported me. One such pair of Noble families was the Baron and Baroness of Montai, and the Duke of Coste.

A couple months back, after you arrived in Sanus aboard the NeverCondor, Umbir dew came to find me, and alongside a close friend of mine, Octavius of the Tyrian family, he showed us video footage of the meeting that Cress had with the three Nobles. I could only hear it, but what I heard made it clear that the Queen wanted the best for me. Asking the Montais and the Duke to take care of and support me in her place should she die before she’s able to meet with me and fix things between us....

Sadly... neither her request or her wishes could possibly be fulfilled... Just as their meeting was ending, a cloaked woman was let into the Quartz Stage by guards loyal to Samuel. This woman rendered the fully armored Umbir Dew incapacitated, killed the Duke of Coste and the Montais, and after my Half Brother took the crown and left the building, she killed Queen Cres as well.

The sounds of gunfire and screams could be heard as background noise as Umbir began to recover control of his suit, and his body in turn. After retrieving the Necklace from around Cres’ neck and pocketing it, Umbir rushed outside, and the sound of raging flames and explosions became clear... The rest of this story you all know already.”

Once more she’d pause, feeling a lump in her throat remembering how she handled everything when it was revealed to her that such tragedy had happened to her home.

“Now... when he came to me, Umbir left the Queen’s necklace with me and for some time I avoided wearing it. He told me that I needed to come talk to all of you... To give you some sort of hope by becoming the next Queen and leading you through this difficult time.... But I was unable to bring myself to do so, I was scared, doubtful, and felt I couldn’t possibly fill in the space left by the late Queen Cres... So I never came.

I left all of you scared, unsure of what the future held for you, and those emotions grew more and more each day. Growing to the point it drew the attention of Grimm. Too much Grimm for the NeverCondor to have been able to handle without help. At the time, Umbir called for me, for my team and any others I could get to help.

Initially, me and my teammate and friend Peri Gaia intended to call more people to help us confront the Grimm Horde which was assaulting the Airship. But something happened.

I’m unsure how many of you know, but I was born blind. I am blind. Though at a point in my life, my aura began changing and adapting, interacting with my eyes in a way that removed it’s protective nature as a sort of default, and instead let me perceive auras. Right now, as I look at everyone in this room, I see you as a vast array of wonderful colors. Reds, blues, greens, yellows, even a couple more uncommon ones like grays and metallic shades.

Back when I arrived, what happened to me was something that happened once before, but I saw what I can only explain to be a ghost. An aura figure that didn’t belong to any living physical body. One of a ghastly white color. Last time I had encountered it, I entered into it’s embrace and I felt at peace. Like everything was right in the world. Though it also distracted me enough for an Ursa to find me, which proceeded to hit me into a tree, injuring my head and damaging my left eye further than it already was.

Seeing the ghostly aura again, I knew something would happen if I went to it. I was unsure whether it would be something good or if it would be bad, but I had to know. , With some help from a crew member that I’m told goes by the name of Sprig, I was able to get to the figure and once again feel it’s touch. The odd aura was calming, pleasant, and for a short time it felt there wasn’t any horde surrounding me. Yet in it’s embrace, something happened this time that didn’t before.

The being spoke to me. It’s words... I couldn’t understand them at all. Yet even still, there was some sense of understanding that came as I listened to it. I came to know what I had to do to help with the Horde, to have some confidence that I could lead you, and to know it’s identity. As crazy as it sounds... I’m not entirely sure of it myself, but I’m sure the name that it put into my mind was that of our first Queen. Of Giulia Khromatos. I’m unsure why Giulia came to me or how it’s even possible, but she was there, and even though she’s absent right now, I know she’s here watching over us.

Using the knowledge Giulia gave me, what seemed to be based on an experience she herself had with the Ventian People of her time, I was able to come up with an idea that would hopefully work to fend off enough of the horde. With a Dust Crystal in hand and Giulia’s help, I was able to use the Dust to stagger the Grimm horde, and my Semblance at a much stronger state than I have ever been able to in my time as a Huntress. The combination allowed me to successfully fend off what Grimm were more of a threat, block a large sum of the horde from being able to get to the NeverCondor should those closer to the ship be destroyed.

Though I do have to give thanks for my friend and teammate Peri Gaia and the man who’s been my Father Figure for my entire life, Umbir Dew. Without the two of them, there were multiple points during the encounter where I very well could’ve died. A couple where they almost did themselves”

Turning to look back to the Komodo and the Armored man one after the other, the two both shrugged after glancing to one another and stepping forward to her sides. Emma herself looking between the two before focusing to the crowd again. A smile now present.

“Without Peri and Umbir, my effort in settling the rumors of my death would’ve turned out to be for nothing.” She could hear Peri chuckling, thus making her laugh a little alongside her. Not really even caring it would be broadcast through the entire ship. Though she did calm herself a couple seconds later.

“After what happened two days ago, I ended up losing consciousness due to severe lack of aura. According to Umbir, I was out for a full twenty-four hours. Over this time, the NeverCondor’s crew was able to clear out as much Grimm as they needed to have the time necessary for them to launch and take to the skies safely. To get all of you to safety. But this is only temporary...

If I were to have left the instant I could instead of coming here to talk to all of you, it would’ve set the cycle in motion all over again. You would feel that same fear, despair, anxiety, and uncertainty still, possibly even worse, and eventually Grimm would’ve come again. The next time would’ve likely been worse, so much so than what this time was.

But it’s because I know that and because of the faith that I’ve received from the people beside me right now, and because of the kindness of a little boy among you who welcomed the idea of me as your Queen so easily that I stayed. That I am right here, right now, speaking as I am, and addressing every single refugee. What I am about to say, I may sound unsure of myself, but that’s not because of how I’m feeling right now or because of you. It’s because of doubts I had harbored all my life and the fact that, just like all of you, I am scared to step into this unknown territory.”

Pausing, Emma took a deep, audible breath to ready herself physically, mentally and emotionally for what she was about to say. A part of her unable to believe she was taking this step, that with all the negativity that had filled her whenever she thought of herself as a ruler, she was about to set herself to such a role. There was actually a want to hesitate, to stop right now and just run, but she knew she couldn’t. She had to do this.

“I, Emma Smoke Khromatos, twelfth generation of the Khromatos lineage, will not hide any longer. Starting today, I will take upon myself the role of Queen of Ventus. As shaky as the road ahead may be with having to learn and adapt, to the best of my ability I will lead you all to a future where we can return to Ventus and free it of the legacy of tyranny which Samuel continues in his fathers stead. It may take some time to get there, but I promise you, I will get us there. I just need your faith and your trust.”

The intercom system would fall silent for a short bit. Emma quieting herself hoping for some kind of reaction from the crowd. She could feel eyes leaving her and hear voices down below. For a few seconds she was feeling unsure of whether or not what she said was right. If the words she used didn’t work and the Ventian people wouldn’t support her. She could feel her tail curling ‘round her leg as worry began to settle in.

But then she heard something, cheering and clapping, all so faint from the hallway she and the others entered the room from. The quiet applaud soon growing louder while still muffled. Louder again, the opposite side now, just another second passing before the very room she was currently in began cheering up to her. Some merely clapping, others shouting words of support and positivity.

It actually took Emma by surprise a little bit to know they were accepting her. That after all of her self-doubting, people were able to believe the would be able to lead them. Finding herself choking up some just from the realization that so many people believed she could do what she was so sure she couldn’t for so long. The impact of the moment hitting her hard enough she could’ve sworn she couldn’t breathe.

Before she was able to say or do any more, she could feel a pressure against the side of the headset. Soon discovering it was Umbir shutting the headset off. Turning her head to him, she could see his hands raising with the aura-filled pendant necklace hanging between them. Moving it closer to her to set it ‘round her neck as his aura glowed bright with happiness.

Moving to hug him, Emma felt his arms quickly return the embrace and his voice speaking one simple line that sent tears rolling down her cheeks..

“I’m proud of you.”

#The Rise of a Ventian Queen #Emma Smoke Khromatos #Peri Gaia #Umbir Dew #bunchamunchafaunus

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kyanmaaaa · 8 years ago

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aight heres another dream journal

putting under a read more because this is the most vivid dream ive had in yeaars and i like to go in depth

okay so, my family and i are visiting this cool city type area with my grandparents, its a neat place thats hella popping with people, all the tech is a little outdated so its in need of a rehaul but its kinda cool, on the way to a store i have a stranger talk to me abt shoplifting and i watch someone else get chased down and tackled by a group of men in all black

the entire street of people changes path to avoid that, so we my family and i are at this department store now, its also pretty important to mention i can kind of see faces and hear the actual peoples voices in this dream, rare for one person maybe tops but i think even the strangers had faces in this dream, we dont stay in the department store long and leave to get checked in to the place we’re renting

place seems kinda nice! nice good size, little quieter area, but the whole place is overgrown with plants, and i dont mean like vines growing over the building i mean like theres a literal fucking tree sprouted out of end side and growing into the area above the street, now that i think about it there werent any powerlines. bricks of the buidling where just filled in with well developed flora and the like,

top floor of the building is where we stay but we check out the basement area to the place, i think a friend of my moms or maybe my aunt joins us here? the basement is.... not as in as good of shape as the upstairs

which isnt surprising because the only way into the basement was a set of stares and a ladder right next to the building, the stairs were covered in various plant grime like from when u go to a park thats not picked up as much as it should be. the ladder was just, sitting on the other side of the stairs completely loose , i distinctly remember it being a ladder but it was really more of a tube with no top, all sides of it were covered in extremely soft healthy grass, disturbingly bright in comparison to everything else. I took the stairs.

i can really only describe the basement as decrepid, walls have crumbled away to reveal supports that just look like dust and dirt, aunt/mom friend person tries to pull out a shelf and takes an entire section of a wall. she comments on how she couldnt tell that it was suppossed to be a part of the wall in the first place and honestly? i couldnt tell either. it just feels unnatural and dead in there and i decide to leave immediately. I take the ladder on the way back up and feel refreshed

since we’re all set in we head back into town to explore some more, on the way there we see a a couple dance and play groups and stuff like that performing in the streets, most of the members are middle school age with some adults, we stop at a large one featuring a dance troop performing some thing based on disneys pocahontas, with actual native americans playing the different parts but it still reaaaaaaaally doesnt feel right (i comment on this to my brother)

cut forward to the end of one scene and this dude dressed as a raccoon introduces himself as haaving the very important role of allowing people to kick him in the stomach (he has that cartoon bully voice like, that dude from phineas and ferb or campcamp) and then of course im like WHAT THE FUCK and step the fuck in cause i aint abt to watch this stocky ass little kid get his ass beat

This offends raccoon dude and this next part is really fuzzy, probably because too much happened in this part of the dream and ive been up for abt an hour now so memory of the dream is starting to fade, but during this part one of raccoon kids legs gets broken and i get dragged to the top of a giant fucking dam above where the performance is going to continue. Raccoon kid explains that he has obtained special permission to have people kick his neck instead. He demonstrates this with a drawing of a multicolored striped worm? Like, pointing at one stripe and saying kick me here, (this is played for laughs)

So the dam im on towers above every single building ive seen in the entire area, as even the department store was only 2 very short levels tall, and thats when it really clicks that something is absolutely not fucking right with this area, like, with how many people are here how do they fit in such small buildings?? Etc etc cause it just doesnt match

Before i get murdered or something i dunno, dylan steps in from either the troop or somewhere else? And we fucking book it

Dreams going to be out of order now but essentially what happens is us fucking booking it from a bunch of people, and heres just some bullet points before this turns into a fucking essay

Get back to where i stay thinking im safe

Mom stabs out camera in my phone on accident

Not safe there so me and dylan try to find a safe place in various hotels, every single one we check in this building has people fucking or about to fuck so we book right as those group of men in black break in to try and get us, they arent even in suits or anything theyre really obviously supposed to be undercover but theyre all in black so???? Stick out bad

We leave the city and its the next day by now, next segment of dream is us hiding in various patches of grass and bushes while cops on horses run around trying to find us, (several minutes of this is just them continually jumping directly above where we are, the timing feels like it’s supposed to be comedic)im very scared of getting stepped on, legs are starting to hurt from runninng and we’re getting hungry

Next area is also extremely grassy, less yellow toned as the area before, just feels safe here, i take a nap in a concrete thing, its like.. If u took a drawing of a football and raised the outlines of the shape up like walls, it titled down the hill slightly and ended in water, like a really weird version of the things that we have that let our creeks and stuff pass under roads

Theres two dudes playing football or something nearby, they seem nice and dont bother us except to make sure we’re okay (i dont like jocks so this surprises me)

Im not sure if this next part was real in the dream or not as my dream self was very disoriented at this point, i fed an enderman a marshmellow and almost drown, this is somehow an older womans fault?

So cops catch up again and we waid through a flooded area of something.. Not sure if im underground or in a city its just dark and cold and wet and feels like death, get out of there mercifully quick, need to rest but cant

I lose my shoes at some point during this and comment to dylan that i have to get shoes or im not going to last, legs hurt a lot at this point, running on adrenaline alone

So we go to target!

We get split up

I keep going to the sports section? Somehow manage to blend in the building at different points so i have a bit to rest my legs as four just, normal cashier type guys keep trying to catch me, i kno im going to collapse soon

I put on some shoes and im about to walk out in them calmly as ive realised i blend in at this point, im recognised either by the bright blue shirt im wearing or my face as one of the target workers is a coworker of mine

He comes across as kinda malicious, i dont remember his name atm but hes the guy who thinks its okay to say ret*rded because its uuuuuur fault for getting offended

I get tackled down and give up, legs were going to give out soon anyway, im not sure where dylan is as we got separated ages ago and adreniline kicks back in but im pinned by 4 people so its hopeless

And then i woke up, heart rate was really fast, i thinkk i slept almost exactly 8 hours

so things that stick out the most in this dream, inclusion of real people, the extreme detail and the consistant use of nature as something sinister, like false hope or something

#dream journal

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anomalagous · 9 years ago

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lc’s ongoing long-ass list of what the fuck, teen wolf, and other sundry E606:Ghosted edition.

scott getting a little tiny bit snarly at the sheriff for not believing~~ in stiles gives me life

this old-ass map not only puts beacon hills on top of a real life place called scotty place which still makes me laugh, but also substantially more north and eastward than i originally estimated.

why the fuck didnt naziwolf just get the fuck outta bh?

why did he choose to stay and teach high school of all things?

california requires an 18 month accreditation course and a certain GPA of teachers who do not have an education degree, i know this from direct experience. its been three months since naziwolf busted out of his bacta tank, so what the fuck

if he forged his credentials, how

when

when did he actually learn all of the post WW2 physics and electromagnetics things he clearly genuinely knows and has a genuine interest in?

did the dread doctors read him bedtime stories from their science journals?

if so, what the fuck

i guess if youre an alpha werewolf you can sleep in the backseat with no seatbelt and its not a big deal if you crash

good job on malia being the driver and not crashing them im proud of her

reading the date of the canaan abduction in the standard american way it was april 8th, 1987, which cant be a coincidence given that’s stiles birthday (albeit pre-stiles)

if canaan has been abandoned for 30 years, who has been cutting these obviously not overgrown lawns and trimming these obviously not overgrown accent shubberies

why isnt that flag beat up or torn in any way?

kudos on giving that convertible the old 80s style california plates but why arent any of the windows on any of the cars busted out? no flat tires? no rust or missing doors?

also that shot of the ‘town’ where there was more substantial damage looked fake as hell and the crosswalk was proceeding at the wrong angle and i cant unsee it.

why is there still power running to these street lamps?

for that matter who has their street lamps scheduled to turn on in the middle of the day?

was that block party banner over the street lettered on both sides? it reads properly no matter what side youre looking at, which seems weird.

why is there blood on the carousel? was that explained? we’ve never seen the ghost riders’ gun draw blood that i can recall

im not even sure we’ve really seen their whips draw blood per se and certainly it wouldn’t have caused that kind of blood stain

also why is the blood still wet and red 30 years later? why wasn’t that newspaper rotted out? either time impacted this town to make it shitty as hell or it didn’t, pick one, you cannot have both. it still rains enough in california to totally disintegrate a newspaper in thirty years.

how the fuck did that carousel function even that tiny bit after 30 years in the elements?

why did melissa have to sneak chris argent around, couldnt he have just declined the operation against medical advice?

also good to see scott got his utter inability to lie from his mom

even if malia isnt wearing 100% stiles’ void-hoodie how could the costume department have thought for a minute we wouldnt have thought that was the void hoodie?

malia having a hallucination of theo in the same episode he comes back in for real seemed both rushed and entirely unnecessary.

in fact these hallucinations seemed wholesale unnecessary and neither scott nor malia deserved that nonsense

were all of these dead leaves already on location or did some poor asshole have to ship them in and then ship them out again

come to think of it, at first i was really excited to see coral/eucalyptus trees as they are actually trees that are in california (as opposed to the type of oak the nemeton is, which is distinctly Not a type of tree in california) but then i realized those are Southern California Trees and if beacon hills (and canaan) are that far north and close to the oregon border, the trees should be way more pines and evergreens and not coral or eucalyptus or ... any deserty tree, really.

seriously were these hallucinations just to show malia can feel sad too?

malia was wearing really subtle gold eyeshadow earlier. now it’s dark shadowing up to her browbone. does being a werecoyote also mean being able to shift your makeup at will? cause thats cool

do little girls seriously still play with baby dolls while hitting their first strides of puberty? im beginning to think i was never actually a little girl.

how much younger than malia was kylie supposed to be? bc she looks like 12 here but malia was like... 10 when the desert wolf murdered her family, right? was SHE the younger sister??

teen wolf shamelessly reusing shots with new filters on them like never before. this ain’t even the fifth time i’ve caught them doing this, this season, and i’ve literally never seen them do it in any of the other seasons.

im not sure anybody told kylie’s actress she wasnt gonna get to make out with shelley

how do werecreatures get piercings? or were her ears pierced first before the change?

why does anyone let liam make any decisions, ever?

i do not get why everyone finds naziwolf so hot

seriously i have a little tree-bush exactly like this right outside my door/garage and that shit is wild and untamed in just a month of no trimming in 30 years it would not have that nice slender shape anymore

also trees being choked to death by kudzu or whatever all these vines are dont look that healthy

is there even kudzu in california??? ive never seen so many vines in all my 10 years of living here.

the first house scott goes in theres like no tv in the living room but there is one chair (with no dining table) all alone in the dining room area, which just looks sad.

oh sorry two chairs set up in what was clearly the worlds most melancholy staring contest.

my dentist used to have that exact sailboat wallpaper trim around the top of his exam rooms.

scotts bullying a door.

have melissa and chris argent actually told the pack about the head-biting yet bc i feel like they should know

i think more people have asked scott if he’s okay in this episode than in the last three seasons, which is sad bc it’s basically just lydia and malia that do it.

that one house has some brutal earthquake damage in its exterior wall.

poseys microexpressions are so woefully underrated, he really is brilliant.

i have more grey hair than jr bourne and that makes me really angry

i like that they’re doing alchemy with druidic compounds/hedgemagic/whatever you want to call it more than i could possibly express.

why is there a porch loveseat on the step up to this one house but that FLAG IS ENTIRELY INTACT?

how convenient that all three of them were looking at that window when lenore decided to fuck with the drapery.

that said scott’s resultant HOLY SHIT?!?? face is amazing

how has lenore been surviving in this town, does she not need water, electric, heat, groceries? where did the lemons for the lemonade come from?

all this wood paneling is the most 70s thing i have ever seen in my life

i appreciate the little cast iron redwood decoration with the ‘m’ on the bottom of it.

everything!! in!! this!! house!! is!! brown!!

that piano as a busted af bass key there.

i feel like i’ve seen that other metal flower/leaf decor before. the new version of the stilinski house, maybe?

lenore has an intimidatingly large smile and i feel like that as an intentional casting choice

how come malia and scott couldnt hear her heartbeat after scott explicitly called out that there were no heartbeats? or for that matter not hear that caleb also didn’t have one? (presumably.)

im not 100% sure but i think malia is holding scott’s hand when they enter the dining room area of lenore’s house, which is adorable so i accept no other reality now.

i honestly feel really bad for lenore.

i would say the fisheye lens is s6′s slo mo but the slo mo didnt go anywhere

i dont know if its supposed to be fancy or artisinal or whatever you called that in the 80s but dont put green shit in your lemonade, green shit does not belong in your lemonade. lemons. sugar. water. it isn’t hard.

malia like chugs a good half of her glass at once, but when she sets it back down it is more full than any of the other glasses. i prefer to think she just faked drinking it to try and gain lenore’s trust than it’s a continuity error from the props department.

when lenore starts using her banshee powers to shake the house, it also magically converts the lemonade into water.

lenore has a pair of decorative ducks on her wall but they appear to be two male mallard ducks, so. gay duck decor.

so when does lydia get to have telekinesis?

i dont think im a very big fan of how angela harvey handles scott.

malia did NOT make a fist like she was really committing to trying to punch out that window.

seriously scotts the alpha he doesnt need lydia to give him permission to do things scott thinks need to be done

that being said scott going into the basement with a creepy kid when youre obviously in some kind of horror movie trope was stupid

the cameras they used for the senior pack team were super blurry anytime anyone moved even the littlest bit, its so annoying.

scott barely being tall enough to reach this tiny-ass basement window is endearing to me

there is no way a vhs tape that wet would run. i remember vhs tapes. they were not sturdy.

i feel like we used to have the same VCR in my parents’ room tho

also what the hell camcorder did they record this on that put it straight on VCR, camcorders in the 80s had weird little small VCR tapes you had to put in a converter. that was just a standard VCR tape.

also why are there jumpcuts in the home video? did somebody cut the original footage and THEN put it on a standard VCR tape? how much fucking work was THAT??

caleb goes from 0 to 100 on the creepy poltergeist scale real quick

well okay maybe from like 40 to 100

banshee duel yessssss

literally why would noshiko do this after she saw what happened with the nogitsune

not that i necessarily think theo is as dangerous as the nogitsune but he is well bad enough

look at this worthless white boy doing this shit against all the advice of the woc around him

why does the sword do this, i thought the power was in kira and not the sword

if the power is in the sword why couldnt noshiko fix her own damn blade

look at this other worthless white boy even more worthless than the first

that looks like melissa is putting like grout on chris’ injury that does not look comfortable

oh look hes screaming imma guess it was not in fact comfortable

gratuitous jr bourne fanservice

awwww theyre holding haaaaands again

how did this kid get on the stairs the last time we saw him he was by the tv, why did scott and malia let him herd him like this

i appreciate malia’s willingness to beat up a kid poltergeist immensely

of the pictures on caleb’s walls, many are pictures of insects. one is a blue crab. one says ‘guten’ on it, which somehow entertains me a lot.

this is the second time this episode has tried to make me scared of carousel horses

the vhs footage loops while no one is attending to it which is not how vhs tapes work

malia is such a treasure

that being said having nearly drowned twice in my childhood this whole drowning-on-dry-land conceit is not super great for me

screencapping this is so gross

i love lydia’s fierce banshee scream face

so the blood was on the carousel before the wild hunt attack, as we see in lydia’s vision. SO WHY IS IT THERE??

THERE ARE KIDS RIDING ON THIS CAROUSEL WHILE SOME OF THE HORSES ARE BLOODY

poor skateboard bro couldnt even take his skateboard like rude wild hunt

i feel like there’s a lot more ghost riders here than there are in beacon hills. maybe the ghost riders just come for particular towns and the ones in bh are actually like... cora isaac and danny.

its amazing how much younger a good foundation can maybe somebody look

did liam SERIOUSLY just tell theo he can kill whoever he wants? did i hear that right? bc that is a TERRIBLE thing to tell theo, who has ALREADY KILLED A LOT OF PEOPLE, even if what you meant was ‘dont kill us you need us’.

i cant believe we got this cheap knockoff as an excuse to not have kira and then they didnt even let him have the powers he needed to do the job

otoh watching his ass get blasted back into the tunnels was satisfying

literally nobody cares if youre okay theo you murderous fuck

i wonder how many times scott had someone steadying him telling HIM he has to breathe like hes doing for malia right here

i should really keep a tally of how many times scott does stiles’ lizard tongue thing while stiles is gone

this is gross of me to think while the character is basically drowning but hey now i know what scott looks like with his bottom lip all wet and covered in somewhat translucent stretchy goo--jizz. okay. it looks like jizz.

scott mccall nearly drowns on dry land after a lifetime of severe asthma and the first thing he does after is ask if malia is ok

luckily THIS time she asks if HES okay to but jeez

he looks so shocked and confused to be asked extra jeez

more scolia handholding, this time while fleeing danger

i was literally three in 1987 and i still have more grey hair than lenore who was demonstrably an adult in 1987 I AM VERY ANGRY

that being said i realized why caleb here’s clothing was bothering me so much. nobody had shorts that long in the 80s. everybody wore short as hell shorts in the 80s. it was thighs everywhere.

these stupid motherfuckers taking theo to scott’s HOME and putting him in scott’s SAFE SPACE without even WARNING HIM oh my GOD

those better not also be scott’s CLOTHES

ok but WHY are the wild hunt trapped? did they BRING the northern lights or is the northern lights related to what’s trapping them?

excuse me but WHEN did lydia see anything related to what happens to people after the wild hunt takes them and why didnt we get to see it too?

seriously its like if scott is thinking of stiles then lizard blep

im so mad at liam for bringing theo back and putting him in scotts house i cant even see straight

and i just know that this anger that scott is being allowed will be it

and in a week or two itll be working with theo like nothing ever happened

im honestly shocked he even got this much

he even got undercut there by malias (also justified) rage

cool that the morrigan got a namedrop but i dont trust them with that story eitherrrrr

man let me tell you if this was martin and not scott and somehow he had been murdered and resurrected and was then confronted with his murderer in his pack house that murderer would not fucking leave alive

im still kind of mad that this season brought claudia back to life just to make her so sketch and make me kind of hate her, i didnt want to hate her

oh okay its a different weird leaf decor piece than the other one

oh yeah noah OKAY NOW youre starting to believe BUDDY you have faith issues

#long post for ts #like this is so long #so so so long #just my train of thought tho #no episode of teen wolf is without sin #read at your own risk #this is unfiltered #and idk what tags its gonna end up in #but my biased opinions are Obvious.

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apsbicepstraining · 8 years ago

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How a Republican baseball rehearse in Virginia became ‘a killing field’

In a rampage lasting 10 sickening instants, a gunman targeted Republican politicians as they impounded an early-morning practise in a picturesque park

America has been made to endure this sting before when a mass hitting desecrates its most cherished infinites: a schoolroom in Newtown; a cinema in Aurora; a religion in Charleston.

This time, with the sunup, a baseball ballpark in Virginia became, in the words of Senator Rand Paul, a killing field.

What legislators who trade their clothings and ties for baseball outfits absence in fitness, they make up for in earnest fervor. Such is the dedication of Steve Scalise, the count three House Republican, and my honourable colleagues that they regularly start rehearsal at 6.15 or 6.30 am at the Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, in all the regions of the Potomac river from Washington DC.

What we know about the Virginia shooting

This allows them to beat both the heat, which was heading towards 90 F( 32 C) on Wednesday, and the clamor of Capitol Hill.

Their surrounds are a serene, affluent orbit of disconnected redbrick houses with porches, clipped lawns and trees where bother is hard to envisage. The baseball field is close to the ballpark where neighbourhoods amble their puppies, a childrens playground and a YMCA. It lies about halfway between Washington DC to the north and George Washingtons farm, Mount Vernon, to the south.

There were 20 House members and two senators present, is in accordance with congressman Joe Barton of Texas, the Republican teams manager, grabbing the last opportunity to touched some dances before Thursdays annual kindnes game against their Democratic rivals.

Just after 7am, a male who would be identified afterwards as James Hodgkinson, 66, from Belleville, Illinois, sauntered up to congressmen Ron DeSantis and Jeff Duncan as they were going into their vehicle to leave the field, the pair recalled.

James T Hodgkinson, the suspect in the Virginia shooting. Picture: AP

Duncan told reporters that the man asked me if the team rehearsing was a Democrat or Republican team. I told him the latter are Republicans. He said, OK thanks, turned around.

Minutes afterwards, as the dedicated amateurs were nearing the end of batting rehearse, there was a thunderous blow. They stopped and stared, perplexed. Congressman Rodney Davis of Illinois said afterwards that he thought something heavy had dropped at a structure site.

Hes got a gun! person screamed. Another person hollered: Thump the ground!

He was hunting us

One of the most color accounts would come from congressman Mo Brooks of Alabama. I was on deck, about to smacked batting rehearsal on the third-base surface of home plate, and I sounded a thunderous bam, and I look around and behind third base and the third base bunker, which is cinderblock, I realise a rifle, he told CNN. And I meet a little of a figure and I then listen another blam and I realise that theres an active shooter.

Hodgkinson, wearing jeans and blue shirt, was exerting a rifle from behind a chain-link barricade near third base. By most forecasts, he would fire at least 50 rounds, the missiles kicking up soil and gravel. There was confusion. Brutally uncovered on the open realm, beings variously hit the deck, dived into a bunker for extend, hastened into the dog common or climbed over a barricade and ran for “peoples lives”. Team administrator Joe Bartons 10 -year-old son Jack hid under an SUV.

Congressman Mike Bishop of Michigan told the New York Times: He was hunting us at that point. There was so much gunfire, you couldnt get up and range. Pop, pop, papa, pa its a tone Ill never forget.

Hodgkinson stopped shooting as he moved from near the third-base dugout towards the backstop behind home plate. He never got on to the field because the chain-link fencing around the park was locked. Barton said eventually: Had he gotten in the fence, it would have been a bloodbath.

A opinion of the baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, after the shooting. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/ AFP/ Getty Images

Texas congressman Roger Williams, who coaches the Republican team, contributed: We were sitting ducks. We had nothing to fight back with but at-bats, if it is necessary to that.

The first victim was Scalise , 51 , who had been fielding balls on second base. He was smacked in the hip and collapsed to the field, bellowing. He managed to drag himself to the outfield grass, leaving a course of blood, onlookers said later.

Two Capitol Hill police officer, Crystal Griner and David Bailey, who were in Scalises security detail, immediately recalled fervour. Senator Jeff Flake wailed: Are you friendly? Are you friendly?

One shouted back: Yes!

One of the officers suffered a gunshot wind but deterred firing. Both is commonly praised for saving several lives.

Alexandria resident Katie Fillus told the Washington Post she saw a female polouse draw out a artillery and shriek, Drop your weapon! but the gunman killed her. She descended on the ground in front of us, and we were all just trying to lay as flat we are to be able. And I belly-crawled, dragging through the mud. I got to the car and I ducked under the car and I laid as close as I could under the car to hide from the person. Then the police seemed to come.

Congressman Brooks, meanwhile, had thrown himself down at home plate, but decided to take a chance and run to the first base bunker, where about a dozen congressmen and aides were lying. Among them was congressional aide-de-camp Zachary Barth, who had been struck in the leg and hobbled across the field. Brooks took off his region and another congressman exploited a tourniquet to try to slow the bleeding.

In the meantime, Brooks told CNN, Im towards the right-field surface of the dugout and theres gunfire within about five, six, seven feet of my heading, and I look up and theres a guy with a gun exploding away. Fortunately, it was one of the good guys, one of our security item, who was filming back.

Of course it was handgun versus rifle, our handguns versus the crap-shooters rifle on the third-base course just outside the chain-link fencing, and he was cautioning us to stand down.

He included: But for the Capitol police and the gallantry they depicted, it could very well have been a large-scale murder. All we would have had would have been baseball bats versus a rifle. Those arent good odds.

Police arrive

By 7.09 am, Alexandria police had received a request reporting fires fired at the ballpark, according to its leader Michael Brown. Three minutes later they arrived at the scene.

Members of the FBI response team search for prove on the field. Photograph: UPI/ Barcroft Images

Hodgkinson a home inspector who, it was soon uncovered, had volunteered for Bernie Sanderss presidential campaign was shot at 7.14 am. His frenzy had lasted roughly 10 minutes.

Congressman Mike Conaway said: The people down to a handgun, he plummeted his rifle, they film him, I go over there, they applied him in handcuffs.

It was not clear how much season passed before Hodgkinson died. The lawsuit was multiple gunshots to the torso, according to the coroners report.

The coast eventually clear, Brooks, Flake and others ranged towards the wounded Scalise. Arizona senator Flake remembered: I wanted to get at him but there were still fires going overhead from both sides. Lastly, when the crap-shooter was down, I simply operated low-spirited out to Steve.

They put pressure on the hip meander to stem the bleeding while Brad Wenstrup, a congressman from Ohio and a doctor, checked for any other winds.

After medical personnel arrived, Flake said he retrieved Scalises mobile. I got his phone and called his wife, only to make sure she didnt listen the report before. So, fortunately, she hadnt, and I was able to tell her that he gazed to be stable and we were with him.

A helicopter landed in the field and took five people to local infirmaries with gunshot wraps: Scalise, who remains in a crucial situation, lobbyist Matt Mika, congressional aide-de-camp Zachary Barth, a Capitol police officer and the gunman.

Brooks said: At that time, the police were causing all of us to gather outside the first base front and the chain-link fencing and cordoning off the neighborhood is to ensure if there was a second crap-shooter we would be better protected.

FBI special agent Tim Slater summaries the press after the two attacks. Photo: Zach Gibson/ Getty Images

The normally tranquil neighbourhood was stunned. Bullets had lodged in or are going through openings of the nearby YMCA. Alex Heimberg, 19, who had arrived at 6am for a morning exercising, had been in the cellar there during the gunfire. We didnt genuinely know what to think of it, he said. It could be loads declining from upstairs. Its just something weve never knowledge but we were given context when a follower came down and said there was an active shooter and we said, Oh crap, it is also necessary get somewhere safe.

One patron greeted casually, wrapping himself in a towel and using a sauna, Heimberg recollected. The YMCA was on lockdown for around three hours.

A show of solidarity

It soon emerged that the shooter Hodgkinson was a leftwing activist with a record of family violence. He had signed an online petition calling for Donald Trump to be charged and wrote on Facebook: Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed our Democracy. Its Time to Destroy Trump& Co.

Hodgkinsons Facebook page later removed by the company likewise peculiarity photographs of Senator Bernie Sanders, who said he had been informed that Hodgkinson had clearly volunteered for his presidential expedition last year. I am nauseated by this odious act, a shaken Sanders said on the Senate floor. Let me be as clear as I can be: savagery of any kind is intolerable in national societies, and I condemn these recommendations in the strongest possible terms.

The drama in Alexandria all but offset the days business at the White House and Capitol Hill. At 11.36 am Donald Trump, sombre on his 71 st birthday, announced that the assailant have already been died from his injuries. In a partisan and rancorous political climate, Trump also made a measured are calling for harmony. We are strongest when we are united and when we work together for the interests of all, he said.

Bernie Sanders strongly condemned the killing after it came out the believe had volunteered for his presidential expedition. Image: Saul Loeb/ AFP/ Getty Images

And for a date, at the least, the feeling in Washington seemed to have changed. At 4pm, the managers of the Republican and Democratic congressional baseball teams appeared together at a seam press conference and devoted that the game at Nationals Park on Thursday would go on. Barton said: It will be play ball tomorrow night at 7.05.

Mike Doyle, the manager of the Democratic unit, lent: Were not going to let incidents like this change our way of life or daily routines.

The congressmen likewise knew any other message. They guessed the two attacks was a consequence of the increasingly poisonous political climate between politicians, the written press and the public.

Members are not looked at as parties any more, Barton said, indicating on the change since he was first elected in 1985. People think they can come to our town hall gratifies and say exactly “the worlds largest” obnoxious circumstances and well not feel anything personally.

As a first step, Doyle said the Democrat invited Republicans to the Democratic Club for dinner. Barton ribbed him that he would ordering the most expensive steak on the menu. Doyle hit back: Were Democrats. We dont have steaks. Thats your club.

The post How a Republican baseball rehearse in Virginia became ‘a killing field’ appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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Three days with The Dice Man: I never wrote for money or fame’

His 1971 novel was a countercultural sensation, selling 2m copies. But the author has surrounded himself in mystery. Why?

When I read The Dice Man 15 years ago, I wanted to know who had written it, and why. It read more like an act of survival than a novel, but whether it was the authors survival or mine, I wasnt sure. I had stopped drinking alcohol and I was looking, simply, for another drug. The book made me high; it offered multiple universes, all of them safer than vodka.

The Dice Man is seemingly an autobiography, narrated by a bored, clever New York psychiatrist, Luke Rhinehart. He is a nerd run mad. He decides that, in pursuit of ultimate freedom or nihilism he will make decisions using dice. He offers the dice options, and they choose for him. The dice tell him to rape his neighbour, but he fails because she wants him. The dice make him tell his patients what he thinks of them (my favourite dice decision). It was a perfect novel: a fantasy of escape and, for me, a search for an absent and charismatic father.

The book was published in 1971, an era devoted to psychoanalysis (not the mocking of it), and it was not an instant success. But over the course of 45 years, it has become a famous book, with devoted fans. The Dice Man has sold more than 2m copies in multiple languages and is still in print.

Dicing became a minor craze. Richard Branson said The Dice Man had inspired him, although he used the dice for only 24 hours because it was too dangerous to carry on longer. The entrepreneur Jeremy King opened a series of London restaurants due to a dice decision. In 1999, a Loaded magazine writer, who described Rhinehart as the novelist of the century, took heroin after a dice decision, while his girlfriend performed in a strip club. In 2005, comedian Danny Wallace published a memoir, Yes Man, in which he travelled the world saying yes to everything, again loosely inspired by Rhinehart.

As his notoriety grew, journalists came to interview the Dice Man. But Luke Rhinehart does not exist: he is the pseudonym of a man called George Powers Cockcroft, who shielded his real identity from his readers for many years. There was no Dice Man in these interviews, but there was no one else, either. Cockcroft played his part as an avuncular blank who liked dicing and drinking, a sort of Robert Mitchum pastiche; and of Cockcroft, whom I increasingly found more interesting than Rhinehart, there was almost nothing.

Why write a perfect novel, give all the credit to a ghost, then never write its equal again? I have been emailing Cockcroft since 2002, when, in a frenzy of half-hearted self-destruction, I attempted to dice my way through a Conservative party conference in Brighton. It was for an article, and I sought his advice, which was friendly and encouraging. The choices I gave myself were timid would I order a hamburger or a steak? though I do remember pretending to be Jesus Christ in the restaurant of the Grand hotel. The article was not a success, and was never published. The appeal of the dice is: how much power will you give them? I gave them nothing, and they gave nothing in return.

I have tried to interview Cockcroft before. I even met him once, in a hotel bar in London 10 years ago. He looked large and alien amid the pale chintz of Kensington, wearing a stetson that almost reached the chandelier. Last year, around the publication of his most recent novel, Invasion, which is about a friendly and intelligent alien who comes to Earth and is bewildered by our stupidity, we had a telephone interview in which he claimed, at 84, to be multiple selves, describing himself as we. We he and I were on a conference call with his publicist, and I asked him where The Dice Man had come from. You must realise, he told me softly, his voice a little hoarse, I have always conceived of myself as being multiple having, you know, a dozen different selves, if not a thousand different selves, at any given moment. He sounded croaky and crotchety, and I didnt push him. Instead, I asked if I could come and stay with him in upstate New York.

***

George Cockcroft, I say for the tape recorder. Yes, he says. Here I am.

We are in a large white house in Canaan. The houses are widely spaced here, on hills around a pond of ice; there are spindly trees on the horizon. The house is warm, comfortable, shabby, with wind chimes on the terrace.

Cockcroft is very tall and lean, his face weather-beaten from years of sailing and working in the garden. It has a kind of luminous joy that is very childlike, unless he is weary. His voice is deep, hoarse and excitable. He is, in some ways, very conventional for a myth: he chops wood, drinks whiskey, eats chocolate biscuits, feeds the fire. When he wants something, he shouts for his wife, Ann. They have been married for 60 years and there is deep love between them. I can feel it all through the house.

Cockcroft at his home in Canaan, New York. Photograph: Reed Young for the Guardian

Slowly, he tells me the facts of his biography. He is warm, courteous and curious; at one point, when I mention I need money to buy a house, he offers, very seriously, to lend it to me. Sometimes he says he cant remember things. Sometimes he says he doesnt know why he does things. Sometimes he repeats that he has multiple selves, and cant access the one who has the answer to my question. (I begin to think he does this when he feels threatened; if it were habitual, wouldnt he they do it all the time?) Then he will give a sorrowful grin and we retreat: he to his study, to write or to answer emails from fans, I to the sofa to read a novel Ann wrote many years ago. Later, we try again.

Cockcroft grew up 30 miles away, in Albany. His grandfather was the chief justice of the supreme court of Vermont; his great-grandfather was the governor of Vermont; so the creator of The Dice Man was born to New England grandees. I ask about his family. My parents were both college graduates, he says, a curious first observation from a novelist who doesnt care about class. His father Donald was an electrical engineer, his mother Elizabeth went to Wellesley College. She was clever and expected cleverness from her two sons.

As a boy, he was shy and compliant, and began to use the dice at 16. He was a procrastinator: So I would make a list of things to do in a day and the dice would choose which one I did first. Then he began to use the dice to force myself to do things I was too shy to do. If the dice chose it, then somehow that made it possible.

He says he didnt have a single original thought in his adolescence. He went to his fathers school, again showing how little originality I had, and studied electrical engineering, like his father. I cant believe how naturally and easily I was conforming to everything, Cockcroft says. His younger brother James, an expert in South American politics, was a rebel; even today, his website describes him as author, lecturer, revolutionary. But I was a total conformist, he says. I was intellectually dead until I was 20.

He also studied psychology and English literature. He worked nights in a psychiatric hospital, and considered being a lawyer. (I long to meet a dice lawyer.) The dice chose Ann for him. He was driving home from the hospital and saw two nurses. He got out his dice. If it was odd, he told himself, he would offer them a lift. One of them was Ann.

She looked like Rita Hayworth, and he fell in love with her immediately, applying to Columbia University to be close to her in Brooklyn. They married in 1956 and had three sons: Corby, Powers and Christopher, who has paranoid schizophrenia and still lives with them. Cockcroft avoided the draft to Korea because he had varicose veins: I hate to think what would have happened if I had gone into the military, he says. (The dice soldier.) Instead, he taught English literature at a series of colleges in America and beyond.

With Ann in 1956, minutes after proposing to her. Photograph: courtesy of George Cockcroft

He says he has no idea why he began writing. He read outsiders, and men who railed against belonging: Tolstoy, Kafka, Hemingway. His first attempt at fiction was about a young boy who is locked up in a psychiatric institution because he thinks he is Jesus Christ. He abandoned it after 80 pages, but one chapter featured a psychiatrist called Dr Luke Rhinehart. He was a minor character, Cockcroft says, but there he was.

The year he began writing The Dice Man, 1965, there was a crisis in the marriage. He and Ann were living in Mexico with James and his family. Ann was pregnant with their youngest son, and developed hepatitis. She was very frightened for herself, for the baby, Cockcroft says. She felt isolated, and felt I was somehow closer to my brother than her. She came back from Mexico very resentful of me, and frightened in a way she had never been before.

He was reading Zen and Sufism, which he describes as attacks on the self. Somehow writing the book and reading these philosophies enabled me to be detached from any bad places I was in, to not be enmeshed in them. He wrote slowly, 50 pages a year for five years. His previous writing had been laboured and self-conscious, but this was different. As soon as I began writing The Dice Man, he says, I felt I had found my natural voice. I didnt think of it that way at the time, but the book is about what makes human beings unhappy and how they can escape.

He admits the writing was psychoanalysis, a way of understanding, and processing, his brief estrangement from Ann. The Dice Man involves some of the things I could do if I could free myself from Ann. But the book went way beyond that. There is, for instance, much adulterous sex.

Lukes wife in the book, Lil, funny, sexy, a good mother, is something like Ann. He admits that the children are based on my own children. But he couldnt go as far as Luke. My dicing has always been very limited, he says. I was wise enough to know that I didnt want to risk my marriage by giving options to things that might ruin the marriage. I never gave an option that would hurt people.

Upstairs, above his and Anns bed, there is a painting of two Georges one good, one bad by Ann. Her paintings fill the house. I wasnt consciously angry, Cockcroft says, of the trouble in their marriage. Sad is closer than angry. I never get very unhappy. Every year that goes by, you realise how unimportant everything is. I dont think Ive asked much of life since I wrote The Dice Man. I was ambitious then. Ive mellowed. Pretty soon Ill be a liquid lying on the ground.

Above the couples bed hangs a painting by Ann of two Georges one good, one bad. Photograph: Reed Young for the Guardian

Is Luke your repressed self, I ask. Because, for all his wit, Luke Rhinehart is a raging man, and George Cockcroft is not. But he wont answer the question. Remember, he says, there is no single you. So that is a question I would not answer. Later, he does go further. Luke is the hard, cold version of George, he says, then adds: What I have come to love about the Luke of the novel is his willingness to be a fool, his willingness to laugh at himself.

He shows me an excerpt from his diary, dated 10 June 1969, written in Mallorca: I must finish the Dice Man novel. I know that if I open the novel and begin to read it, I, and it, will live, and my desire to work on it and complete it will bloom again. I am the Dice Man in a way I am no one else. It is the idea which my life has created. I am not good for a second one. I am not a professional writer. I am without talent in any way. But the theory of the dice man, the ironic spirit of his life, grows as naturally in my rocky soil as do boulders here along the rocky coast of Mallorca.

Cockcroft came across the journal three or four months ago and was startled: he doesnt remember feeling that way. Later, in a restaurant by the frozen lake, I ask if the description of Luke that opens the novel is him: I am a large man, with big butchers hands, great oak thighs, rock-jawed head and massive, thick-lens glasses. Im 6ft 4in and weigh close to 230lbs; I look like Clark Kent.

Id have to look at it again, Cockcroft says. Physically, its not me. I made him a much bigger man. Hes overweight.

Luke is overweight? Ann says. I dont remember that.

Thats how I always picture him, he says.

Ann replies: I always picture him like you.

***

When Cockcroft was a child, there was a calamity. His father developed cancer in his 30s. He decided he wasnt going to put himself and his family through any more pain, he says, and he called up his doctor and said he was going to shoot himself and to come over and handle things, and he shot himself. Its the longest single sentence Cockcroft utters. He was eight or nine at the time. He cant remember exactly. He says his mother greeted him at the door after school and said, Father is dead. His only memory, after that, is, going out to the garage and not crying and wondering if I should cry. He was not close to his mother. She was a Vermont puritan, and not a naturally warm person. Did you ask her what happened to your father? No, he says, and for a moment I can hear the compliant boy. I mean no.

Do you forgive him? I admire him, he says wonderingly, as if the question is ridiculous. But it was a savage act of separation; his father didnt say goodbye.

Cockcroft says he remembers almost nothing of his life before his fathers death. He shows me fragments of an autobiography he has not finished, because he has not solved the problem of writing a narrative by multiple selves.

Was our childhood so traumatic we cant face it? he writes, in the third person. Our brother, Jim, thinks so. Jim is three years younger than we are and he remembers a cruel father that used to whip him with a belt. We dont have a single memory of being beaten with a belt. Jim is unrepressed, remembers a cruel father; we are repressed, remember nothing. Saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing. We have no painful memories pre-Dads death-day, nor any happy ones.

***

In 1969, while teaching in Mallorca, Cockcroft found a publisher for The Dice Man called Mike Franklin, and swiftly wrote the second half of the book. Franklin called it a near masterpiece and got a huge advance for the American edition.

It did badly in America, partly, Cockcroft thinks, because of a cover jacket featuring a naked woman lying on a bed. But it did better in Europe, particularly in England, Sweden, Denmark and now Spain, where it was for a time the most requested library book in Spanish universities.

No publisher asked for another novel, so he didnt write one. He fell into indolence; he was busy sailing and raising his children. Another example of my life of ambition, Cockcroft says, sarcastically. All through my 20s, I was fighting ambition. My mother had made me very ambitious to be successful at whatever I did, and I felt that was a sickness. I never wrote for money and I never consciously wrote for fame. The Dice Man was part of a lifelong process to get me to relax and enjoy things as they are, and not aspire to more than I have.

The film rights to The Dice Man were sold, and he wrote screenplays for a film that was never made. He and Ann travelled for years, often on boats; they smoked marijuana. He sank a catamaran in a storm in the Mediterranean, after Ann had prayed for three nights on deck while he apologised, precipitantly, for drowning their children. (They were picked up by a Scottish freighter 40 miles off the coast of Africa.)

The family settled in Canaan after following a Sufi cult to New York state. The Dice Man grew in fame, but Cockcroft didnt. He spent his money, and earned more. He discouraged any questions about his real self, and people rarely asked. They interviewed Luke Rhinehart and that was it, he says now. I wasnt being secretive so much as simply preferring to keep the two identities separate. Rhinehart allowed him to have a private life. Acquaintances in Canaan do not know he is the author of The Dice Man.

Cockcroft with his sons Powers (left) and Chris in 1972. Photograph: courtesy of George Cockcroft

He wrote books only when the mood, or the advance, came: White Wind, Black Rider; Whim; Long Voyage Back; The Book Of Est, a guidebook to a popular 70s cult; The Book Of The Die; and Naked Before The World, a novel alluded to in The Dice Man. Jesus Invades George is a very funny tale of George W Bush being possessed by Jesus Christ. He wrote The Search For The Dice Man, in which Luke ends up in a Japanese monastery, but it is the work of a sleeping writer: Luke barely appears and, when he does, he is a cipher.

In 2012, an email announcing his death was sent to 25 friends, apparently from Ann: It is our pleasure to inform you that Luke Rhinehart is dead. He very much wanted us to tell you this as soon as possible so you wouldnt be annoyed that he wasnt replying to your emails. But people were upset, and he later apologised for his thoughtlessness, blaming Luke. To pretend to die while sneakily lurking here and there in the darkest shadows is the lowest of the low. But we can expect no better from him.

Ask me about Invasion, he says now. He wants another roll; he is enjoying the attention. This latest book is full of his politics, which are the politics of Bernie Sanders; its tone is amused disgust, and it is very funny, if you can handle an alien protagonist who looks like a beachball, and whose beachball friend is called Molire.

I try to find a tactful way to ask him: do you mind that The Dice Man, your first book, is your best book? But my opinion doesnt bother him, because he cant agree. Right now, he says, using the multiple pronoun, we have no idea of the relative merits of our novels. At this moment, Invasion is liked very much by most of us, more than our previous books. Two years ago, we told people our favourite novel was Whim. After I finished writing Jesus Invades George, it was our favourite novel. If Invasion fails to sell, he says, he doesnt think it will bother him for more than a single afternoon.

At the end of my stay, I ask Cockcroft again about his father. He tells me he has nightmares about the garage attached to the house in which he grew up, in which he tried to weep after his fathers death. He has an image, he says hesitantly, too faint to be a memory, of a maid washing blood off the walls in the house, at the top of the stairs. I feel morbid, prodding him. He has already told me more than he has told any journalist, and he doesnt believe in cause and effect. He cannot see a connection between his fathers suicide and the creation of the Dice Man, so I stop.

But a few days later, after I have returned to England, he sends me an email. Last night I had a really remarkable dream, he writes, using the first person. For the first time in months, if not years, I was outside the house where my father committed suicide. I was walking over to our neighbours house, where contractors were arriving to do some sort of work that involved both the neighbours property and ours. I said with great confidence and authority in the direction of the contractors (not seen), I am George Cockcroft, the owner of this property. I think the subject line, in capital letters, is a joke at my expense. It says, Im CURED!

Invasion by Luke Rhinehart is published by Titan at 8.99.