#//event details will be shared soon ooc

[asksugxrmotta]

Listen up bitches! It's finally time for the most important event of the fall social calendar, Sugar Motta's Annual Halloween Spooktacular. You are all invited, and feel free to bring your friends - the cool ones anyway. It'll be hosted at my dad's Ohio property, which is just a 20 minute UberBlack from campus.

As for the dress code, costumes are mandatory. Same as last year, there will be a $1000 cash prize for the best costume.

See you all Halloween weekend.

[deansapplepie]

Till THE DEAD do us part | Chapter 4

A/N: This story will take place in all the seasons, but it’s not exactly a rewriting cause I’d have to re-watch everything to use the exactly lines of the characters, also I think it’s better if I tell a side story without changing the main facts of the story.

This story has a Female Reader, but I don’t describe her appearance, so anyone can identify with her.

Chapter 3 Chapter 5

Chapter 4: Pinky Promise

Summary: The group arrived at the CDC and were welcomed by Dr. Jenner, that asked just for blood samples so they could stay there. The group ate better than they have been eating in weeks and also drank a lot. Y/N and Daryl talk about the past while they share a bottle of whiskey and things get just a little bit out of control.

Warnings: swearing, little angsty, fluffy, alcohol consumption, sexual tension (?), a hot kiss 🥵, Minors do not interact. Nothing extremely sexual and detailed, but if disturbs you in any way it’s better not to read. Maybe some characters are ooc, idk 🤷🏼‍♀️

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Grimes!Reader (Rick’s Sister)

Word Count: 2,877

Extra notes: I proofread the text, but English is not my first language, so feel free to correct any mistakes, of course with love. I’m consulting a timeline of everything that happened, but it can happen that I put events out of order, but I don’t think it’ll make much difference in the story. ALSO, I’m very nervous about the path this chapter went so I’d be glad if you told me what you think.

As soon as the door opened everyone entered, but there was no one. Where were the person that opened the damn door? After some minutes a man appeared, gun on his hand and he just lowered when you proved you offered no danger. His condition to give you shelter, was to take blood samples of all of you to examine. A fair price for a scientist, how could you deny?

After you picked everything you needed from the cars, the man named Jenner, closed the metal doors and you followed him to get your blood samples taken. You were not over joyed to get your blood taken, because normally your veins were pretry dificult to be found and people would end up torturing you with a needle until they found your vein.

“You’ll probably find my vein here.” You said pointing to a place one inch from your elbow. Yeah, your vein was easy found in a very strange place. “My veins are difficult to find, that’s why I’m telling you.” ‘And because torture is not my kind of entertainment’, you thought.

“Don’t worry, I’ll only do it when I’m sure I found it.” He tried to make you calm. And he didn’t lied, he really waited till he found it and then he collected your blood without much trouble or pain.

He took everybody’s sample and then took you to the kitchen. A full supplied kitchen with good food, alcohol, water and all the appropriate devices to prepare anything.

“Glenn, did we die and I didn’t notice? Cause this looks a lot like heaven.” You commented with the young man.

“If we did, I didn’t notice it too.” He replied. God! You didn’t think you would miss so much having a kitchen with all the appliances you were used to.

You prepared the food together and the drinks were served. Everybody was so happy, having a good meal, drinking and chatting. There was a long time you didn’t feel such a light atmosphere. You all joked and smiled, maybe the alcohol was helping a little.

“Hmmm, never thought I’d taste such delicious wine again.” You commented next to your brother.

“Go easy on the alcohol sis.” Rick told you, as if he knew how to drink.

“Shut up Rick, you know I can handle alcohol better than you.” You said making him have a good laughter, in no way you were a better drinker than him. “Hey! Let a woman have her dreams.” Everyone joined Rick on his laughter, brightening the room with joy.

Very reluctantly Lori gave Carl permission to taste a little of wine, and he hated, so she was happy. Glenn was getting drunk for the first time and all of you were encouraging him, even Daryl, which was really funny to see him all lose and even smiling, genuinely and openly smiling. Alcohol was a dangerous thing, but it could also show you things you didn’t know about other people, good and bad. You sneaked some appetizers to Luna, which she gladly took.

When dinner was over Jenner showed you around, there was rooms where all of you could stay, and bathrooms with hot shower. Oh my God, you couldn’t even remember the last time you took a hot bath. You claimed one of the rooms and went directly to the bath.

You took your time in the bath, washed your hair, let the hot water fall against your back and relax your muscles. It was so good, it had been only two months and you already missed this little luxuries from the old world so bad. When you finished drying yourself, you brushed your hair and put some comfortable clothes, your sleeping shorts and a tank top. Then, you missed something important, where was Luna?

You left your room and passed looking on the rooms that had the door open. You saw Carol putting Sophia to sleep and you couldn’t help, but smile. They deserved happiness and you were glad they were safe here, as you were glad you family was here too.

“Carol, did you see Luna? I can’t find her.” You asked her from the door.

“No, I just came from the rec room with the kids and didn’t see her. Maybe she’s with Rick or Shane?” She suggested, you didn’t know. You didn’t want her messing around in an unknown place.

“Ok, thanks. Gonna continuing looking for her. Have a good night Sophia! And you too Carol, rest yourself.”

“Have a good night Y/N/N” they replied.

You continued looking in the rooms that you could see open, but she was nowhere. You saw the door of Daryl’s room half opened and decided to knock, maybe he saw her somewhere.

“Come in” you heard he say, and you were not expecting the scene. He all cleaned up, a bottle of whiskey in his hand, his back on the wall, sitting in the sofa and Luna all over him.

“Am I interrupting something?” You asked playfully, Luna looked at you and swinged her tail, but she didn’t move from where she was.

“Not my fault she likes me better.” He took the bottle to his mouth all cocky.

“Seriously, I’m already thinking about giving you her custody. It’s obvious she doesn’t love me anymore.” You dramatized sitting on the sofa right next to him.

As soon as you touched the couch, she came all your way with her cold nose, and she laid on both your laps. “I think she wants to say that she likes us both.” You stated.

“Want some?” He offered you the bottle of alcohol.

“Is this even a question? Just give me the bottle Dixon.” You take the bottle and take it to your lips, whiskey was not exactly your favorite drink, but having the alcohol in your system was too good. Just not having to worry about being sober and ready to fight at any moment.

You stayed a long time in silence, just passing the bottle around and sipping from the drink. Here it was, that comfortable silence that you used to share and right now you could do it without worrying much. You rested your head back on the wall and looked at his profile, he was handsome and also cute, you felt kind of lucky for being able to take a look at this pretty serious grumpy face everyday.

“What did ya do before all this?” He asked and sipped on the bottle.

“You mean before I became a professional Zombie killer?” You joked, a bitter taste in your mouth having to talk about your failed career. “I was a vet. What about you?”

He looked at Luna and nodded like it made a lot of sense since you had Luna, but in fact anyone could have an animal. “I’d go around with whatever shit Merle was up to. In few words, I was a nobody. I had nothing as cool as you had.”

“Don’t say this. You weren’t a nobody. In fact, when it all happened, I was unemployed. So if you were a nobody, I was just like you.” Your head still resting on the wall, your eyes still on his profile and you thought how could he think so low of himself.

“Ya weren’t nobody, princess.” He turned to look at you and you swear that your heart skipped a bit when you looked in his cute baby blue eyes. “Ya just didn’t have a job.”

“So didn’t you.” He didn’t understand why you’d try to cheer him up and tell him he was more than what he actually was. Since he could remember he knew everyone thought that the Dixon’s were no good. Nobody wanted to be around his brother or him, and it didn’t change at the quarry. And why should it change now? He’d always be what he was, but you seemed to look at him with a whole different look than anybody else and you never told he was no good or a piece of shit… you mostly had good things to tell him, even when he was a dick with you.

“What’s going on in that head of yours, D.?” You looked at him and you almost could see all the gears working in his mind. You still looked in his eyes, both of your heads resting in the wall.

“Ya think I’m better than I am.” He also looked in your eyes and tried to see anything that showed you were fucking with him, but he didn’t. You were like Rick, you had honest eyes and couldn’t hide your emotions at all even if you tried. And at the moment you didn’t have any bad emotion in your face.

You wanted to say that he thought too low of himself, that he was better than he thought. You could see it, but it was not like you were good with words, and in the last 24 hours you got him upset more times than you would like, even if he was the asshole in one of them. Maybe it was the alcohol speaking, but you couldn’t put yourself to look away from his face, and now your eyes wandered all over his face, from his handsome eyes, to his lips, the small freckles under his eyes and the cute mole above his lips… God! You really wanted to kiss him, and your intoxicated brain could not think straight, if you were sober you’d never have the courage you were feeling at this moment.

He was no different from you, not that he had never spent any time admiring your features, he had done it many times. Your beautiful eyes, your nose, your lips and even your jaw. God, if ever existed one, he had thought more than he would like to admit about running his mouth over your jaw, your lips… kiss, lick and even bite your neck. But before, you were never this close to him and he had never got this drunk with you or near you. He had not felt like this before, like if he didn’t touch someone or were close to someone… he wouldn’t be able to breath. He thought it was pathetic, well that was what Merle would say, because feelings was something only pussies did. The alcohol in his body talked stronger than Merle’s voice in his head, and all he could think was that your faces were a few inches from each other and that he could feel your warm whiskey breath and the smell of your clean hair, and when you crashed your lips against his, he wasn’t able to control anymore.

You pressed your lips against his and you didn’t expect he’d kiss you back, you expected him to push you away and tell you to fuck off. But once your lips were on his, he kissed you back. Your hand went to his face and caressed him, while his hand went to the back of your head pulling you closer and you couldn’t help but feel more invested into the kiss, your lips moving in sync, your tongue caressing his bottom lip and he couldn’t help but open his lips and let you deepen the kiss, take your way, do whatever you wanted to do… He was completely at your mercy and at this moment he wasn’t even ashamed of admiting it, at least for himself. It didn’t take much longer for you to part from the kiss, you needed to breath. You pulled apart slowly, forehead against forehead, heavy breaths and rosy moistured lips. You were so into the kiss that you didn’t even noticed that Luna had gone to the floor, your bodies were much too against each other and one of your legs were on top of his.

When the reality hit, of what had just happened, he pushed himself to the farthest side of the sofa from you. “We shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have done this.” He got up and were about to leave the room, but you were faster holding his hand.

“Daryl, you can’t leave your own room.” You said getting up and trying to look into his eyes as much as it was possible standing up, since your height difference. “If someone have to leave, it must be me.” He didn’t say anything, red cheeks and trying to piece everything that just happened together. “I iniciated it. The fault is on me. Did I kiss bad? Did you not like it?”

“No, it was good. It’s not…”He tried to find his words, but his thoughts overflowed his mind while his brain separated the things he could say and the things he couldn’t. “We’re friends, friends don’t do it.” He had never called you a friend out loud, but this was the perfect time to say it instead of saying how fucked he was and how he didn’t know how to do emotions, he didn’t believe in love or that he could be loved, and how you two getting involved like this would just fuck the whole group.

“Well… when friends get drunk shit happens sometimes. Never happened to me, but… there’s a first time for everything.” You over explained a little, because you were kind of nervous. “It’s all my fault, don’t blame yourself and don’t worry too much. There was a long time I didn’t had a good kiss and you were just too cute... I’m sorry.”

“I did it too, ya don’t need to be sorry.” He averted your gaze, shy, still concerned with everything going on his mind.

“This will not change things between us, right?” You asked and he didn’t answer, still avoiding your eyes. Shit. Shit. Shit. You had probably ruined one of the few good things you had in this shitty world. “Daryl, promise you’ll not avoid me and we’ll still be the same.”

“Ya won’t rest until I promise ya something today, aren’t ya? What is it with ya and promises?” Why were you always asking things from him? At the same time he wanted to tell you to fuck off, he wanted you to be close, at least close enough so he could keep an eye on you.

“I just don’t want things to get odd between us.” You raised your hand in between both of you, all fingers down and just your pinky up. He looked at your hand and could not believe that you were doing it. “Ok, now promise that we’ll still be friends.”

“What are ya? Five?” Who in your age made pinky promises? Why did you have to be so… vivid? “Fine. Let’s make the fucking pinky promise.”

He took your pinky in his and then you sealed it with your thumbs. “Happy?”

“Yes, now I can rest assured that we’re still friends.” You smiled and he rolled his eyes, but deep inside he felt a small warmth and oh, he was so afraid of this, because he had never felt anything like that before and he had no idea of what to do with it. “Have a good night Daryl, and thanks for the drink.”

“Luna, come on girl. Let’s go to sleep.” You called for the german shepherd, she got up from where she was laying, got a lick on Daryl’s hand and waited for him do caress her head, after it she followed behind you to your room.

You closed the door, put your back on it and slided to the floor. You could still feel his lips on yours, his hand at the back of your head, fingers tangled in your hair and the heat of his body. How could you ever have a normal life after this? It could sound dramatic, but there was so long you weren’t this close to a man… Years actually, you didn’t even get on dates after Paul and he never did you feel this good as just kissing and touching Daryl made you feel. Fuck. Shane was right, you definitely had a crush on him, maybe more than this. And you Y/N Grimes didn’t do ‘more than this’, not anymore. You didn’t even do ‘less than this’.

You got up and decided it was time to go to bed and try to sleep. Luna laid by your side and you snuggled to her. “What should I do Luna?”

“Woof!” She said and gave a lick to your face.

“I already did it Luna, and I don’t know if it was the correct thing to do. I didn’t even know if he liked it.” Anyone would think you were crazy, but talking to Luna from time to time kept your sanity in place. “I’m not you, you know?”

Final Note: Thanks for everyone reading, liking, reblogging and commenting, it’s really good to receive your feedback.

Taglist: @sunnybunnyy2

[ask-majoko-and-pals]

Hey everyone! Welcome the blog! My name is Majoko Kaneko Violet. My mentor Mr. Hassel said I should start a blog to meet more people. When I asked if I could include some friends of mine, he said it was a great idea!

Of course, Geeta overheard and well... She meant well, I'm sure. But she went a little overboard with recommending things to do, and what to say. Thankfully, my friends and I got her to tone it down. But she did set up up with a nice moderator known as Modjoko! She'll be the one to put up some rules (under the cut) surrounding ask content, as well as our introductions so the rest of us can focus on answering.

Modjoko, ooc: Hello everyone, what you saw was the in-character introduction of this blog. Right here is a more detailed explanation of what the blog is and how it functions, as well as the rules of asks.

This is an rp blog in which I will answer questions about my characters— Majoko, Dante, Hack, Rye, Galatea, and Lucibelle. They are Pokemon trainers in the pokemon Violet Universe/Timeline, set soon after the events of the game, the Teal Mask and Indigo Disk, along with Mochi Mayhem.

Within this blog, I will respond to your asks in character as Majoko or one of her pals, most likely with text (as it is fastest,) art, and sometimes photos. I will also directly interact with them, hence the ooc//out of character dialogue tag present in this post.

The characters will interact through this blog as if they all share a social media account, such as making posts outside of answering asks (a good example would the Majoko's warm welcome,) and posts the blog reblogs will correspond with things the characters like. Reblogs will also say which character has reblogged it, and might include short conversations between them!

Ask Rules:

- Aside from basic respect and good manners, please refrain from NSFW asks. While all the characters here are adults, any asks that aim to harass them or put them into explicitly NSFW scenarios will not be answered, and will be treated as making the characters uncomfortable. (Such as asking Majoko her bra size.)

- The only "exception" I can make is if the character brings up an NSFW topic first. For example, if Majoko were to make a post on this blog asking about a sexual innuendo, then sending an ask that interacts with that post is okay and will be answered.

- Harassing the characters for their gender, pronouns, sexuality, and disabilities will not be met with a response. (Such as telling Majoko being bisexual makes her an attention seeker.)

- All things in this blog take place in the pokemon universe, and asks/reblogs/posts pertaining to the real world will likely be met with general confusion. (Such as asking Majoko if she knows what a Jaguar is.)

- Roleplay blogs are encouraged to interact with Majoko and her pals through asks, so long as they comply with the first four rules.

- Magic Anon is on, as well as Pelliper mail!

- This list will be updated as time goes on.

- Most importantly: If you're not sure about something, ask about and find out!

[theopulenthq]

Mini Plot Drop - aboard the Nagler

(tw: death, murder) Brazil's great docks were in sight, and all were eager to finally put to bed the end of their journey. Soon, they would be off their ship, into their estate rooms, and set loose upon the sandy beaches... or so, everyone had hoped. Minutes before floating into the royal docks, a scream is heard from the upper decks, and the ship becomes a flurry of activity. A frantic chase through the helm towards the lower docks, and a body discovered above - The Bonaparte Queen of Northern Spain has been murdered. Before the Nagler even had chance to drop it's anchor, the Ortiz military && security team executed a hasty arrest of the perpetrator, and conducted a thorough search of their room. Within their belongings, startling && disturbing evidence was found... detailed plans upon crumpled parchment outlying certain attacks in Lal Qila during the Reckoning, a crest of the Ortiz smudged with blood, and two full vials of Madagascar poison. Questions fill the frightened minds of those still aboard, awaiting the chance to get off the boat - who were the other two vials for, what does this mean for Spain, and who ordered the assassination? Answers are sure to be revealed in the following weeks as the Tribunal plays out - now adding a new criminal to the list of those to be interrogated && put on trial. One thing is for certain, though... no one will be sleeping easy their first night in Brazil, knowing that traces of The Reckoning still haunt their path, and the violence has not yet ended.

OOC Information:

As mentioned, the event above occurred just as the ships were arriving to the docks of Brazil.

We will still be posting our full, Month of June Events + Locations update tomorrow at 7pm. This will put us in Brazil during the Month of June. We are sharing this piece to build additional context for tomorrow's newsletter.

[krowesadventureblog]

[OOC blog Info post]

Figured that a pinned post would be a good idea to explain the conceptual baselines of this blog and whatnot, so here ya go.

================================================

-First off, blanket unreality warning for this entire blog. It is a pokemon irl rp account, after all.

-This blog follows the main series games canon, but locations and concepts from the adventures manga and the anime may be included. I will start an alternate blog for PMD canon stuff in the near future, too, so please hold off on PMD-universe questions until then! (I appreciate ya'll PMD homies, as PMD Blue Rescue Team was the first pokemon game I ever owned!)

-Pokemon that are considered gods include Arceus, the creation trio, the lake guardians, the super-ancient trio, the forces of nature quartet, the aura trio, the Tao trio, the guardian deity quartet, the light trio, and Regigigas.

-Other legendary/mythical pokemon are considered closer to cryptids or urban legends, as well as the ultra beasts, Cosmog + Cosmoem, the paradox duo and other paradox pokemon.

-Legendary/mythical pokemon that have been owned by trainers in the anime such as the lesser Regis, Heatran, Darkrai, and Latios (and by extension Latias) are considered exceedingly rare, and are sought after as subjects of study to verify the true nature of other legends.

-The Pocket Monsters Encyclopedia (released in 1996 in japan) states that pokemon are capable of shrinking down to fit in tight spaces, explaining how they fit into pokeballs. I imagine that this also explains the move minimize as well.

-Modern pokeballs have internal components that force the afforementioned shrinking behavior to occur. As for more ancient pokeballs, like the ones seen in PLA, I have a theory that I go into more detail on over on my main account + blog (https://www.tumblr.com/clockworkcorvus/702945786986643456/theory-pokeballs-were-re-invented?source=share), which I currently hold as my headcanon. TL,DR: old pokeballs used some underlying ruinic magic tomfoolery to achieve similar results to that of modern pokeballs, but the knowledge of said magic has been lost to time.

-This blog may discuss some darker aspects of the pokemon world that are implied throughout the series (eating certain pokemon, food chains, pokemon killing people and vice versa, etc.), so be warned. I will tag posts covering such content appropriately for the more squeamish folks in the pokemedia community.

-This blog is always set within the modern era of the series, so as of right now it would be following the events of Scarlet and Violet, and will likely canonically move forward with the events of the eventual dlc that will be releasing for the games.

-This blog is an inclusive space. Bigotry of any kind (Racism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Semitism, furphobia, etc.) will not be tolerated, nor will those who excuse/refuse to denounce such behaviors from others (none of that "both sides bad" crap). Additionally, pro-shippers, pedophiles (this includes lolicons, obviously), zoophiles, and other deranged folks like that will be relentlessly mocked before being reported and blocked. DNI if you are one of these degenerates. smug "reddit atheist" types of anti-theists will also be blocked.

-I will try to keep OOC posts to an absolute minimum, mostly limiting them to posts like this or discussion of meta-aspects of the pokemedia fandom/community. A side blog for worldbuilding posts filling in the holes of the pokemon canon will be made at some point.

-As an avid worldbuilder, I currently have plans for a fan-game/region, and aspects of that may be tied into this blog at some point.

-Don't expect much artwork from me, at least not yet. I plan on working on my art skills soon. Any art I may post until further notice will likely be artwork I commissioned, and/or reposted with the permission of the artist.

-My main blog + account for non-rp stuff is @clockworkcorvus, and any OOC pokemon-related asks (Ex; Favorite pokemon game? Funniest KO you've seen?) are likely better sent there.

-A secondary blog, @pokemonloreadditions, exists as a resource for people roleplaying in these tags that want some holes in the pokemon lore filled for them. Where does meat come from? How does the government work? Stuff like this will be expanded upon in that blog. -I will block any account that follows me without having changed their blog name from the default "Untitled" name, as that is the sign of a bot.

[shamelessrabbithole]

i think noel stepped away from social media when he left shameless on season5. because every gallavich/mickey fan spent YEARS commenting under every post from the actors of the show to have mickey back and ask about noel. to the point that some actors (from the main cast with whom he had a good relationship) would make posts about it being very angry and it was sad as hell cause harassing isn’t good at all, the actors have none to do with it and plus it potentially ruined their relationship with noel. when he appeared on season 7 shanola shared a video with noel saying that they love each others in real life (with noel kissing her head! so cute.) and then added ‘angrily’ <ask noel about noel>. i guess the ones who got it worse were cameron (and he fought a lot with people on twitter because of that. as no one seemed to care and comment on ian’s arc but only about his relationship with mickey) and also trevor’s actor (and noel even took a picture with him, probably trying to calm people down but i guess he did the opposite). once he came back for good, the cast shared a bunch of videos where they asked if they were happy to have noel back and they joked around saying they didn’t like him or asked who he even was and noel would say things like ‘this isn’t looking good for me’ (of course it was joking) they would also try to share more noel/cam content for the fans so they would be happy (from everyone in the cast not only cam and noel themselves) they would also get angry once deleted scenes would be released and it had gallavich ones (esp if they were soft ones). they once got angry under a promotional picture noel shared because it was a scene with him and cameron that we didn’t see (yet) in the series and he had to edit it explaining it was an intro that was supposed to be shown soon. people really have no idea how to behave. noel is an adult and i guess that after spending years like that he doesn’t want to deal with these things anymore. during their shared cons the fans talked about the camo kiss saying it was a necessary scene and complaining about gallavich ones being deleted often. cameron and noel tried to play it cool by being on the shows side saying they know what they were doing and they can’t complain about it. i’m sure they said that because they know how fans get and the possibility to anger the fandom and make another mess isn’t exactly the best idea. one thing i see tho is that cameron speaks a bit more freely about the writers in the show. saying they kept changing and many of them didn’t watch the previou seasons, not knowing how to write the characters and what happened (making things ooc) how he didn’t like ian jumping from one person to another and if i remember correctly he didn’t like how they treated his mania in season8/9 (which is why he left to have him end up with mickey and come back only if ian and mickey would be together and all that) so yeah if i were them i would stay far away from the internet too!

Thanks for sending this. I know the general vibe in the Shameless fandom that existed when Noel left, but it's always good to get nuanced details from someone who lived it. You also make a good point about how all of the negativity created more hostility than was necessary and it is what potentially keeps Cam and Noel from sharing too much with fans.

I don't get the sense in Noel's case, that he's operating under that hesitation, though, because the show's popularity is nothing like what is was before. At this point, more international fans are latching onto Shameless because it's become available to a worldwide audience. People are discovering it for the first time, even though the events you're detailing occurred over a decade ago. But, there is no pandemonium today as there was before.

I think for Noel, it's water under the bridge, because from what I know of actors, their goal is to reinvent themselves to audiences with every new career opportunity. So, rather than remain mentally and emotionally stuck in one uncomfortable career phase forever, I think he's taking the healthier route and not dwelling in the mayhem of all that.

To me, it looks like he's taken a step back until it makes sense for him to promote something. A lot of the Shameless actors are just as quiet on social media these days (Elise, Isidora, Kate, Emmy) without it sounding any alarms. Some celebrities deactivate altogether, which I really hope he never does, and it absolutely saddens me as much as any other Noel fan that we barely ever see his beautiful face these days. But, unfortunately, it is what it is.

[noelle666]

Pathologic fanfic - A Little Mouse. Part 1

I have a brainrot for several days, a strong one, I need to put on a paper. I'm sure it might be interesting only to me and maybe to 1,5 groundsmen but anyway it's mostly for me cause... I just can't hold it anymore.

There will be two parts (for one the story in my head is too big).

Part 2 is here.

Daniil Dankovsky x fem OC Events soon after Pathologic Bunch of other OCs (because we need scientists) Definitely will be some OOC because I don't really remember Daniil's personality and events of the game related to "Thanatica" but I read the article on Pathologic wiki so... Hope it helps.

A train arrived to the Capital; Daniil heard a train conductor's voice saying goodbyes to passengers. The young man was sitting and looking though the window: the city was the same and different at the same time. Was it an influence of the Steppe? Or were Aglaya's words true after all? No, no, she was bluffing, she definitely wanted Bachelor to work on the edge of his abilities and stress could've been a nice tool in that situation. Thanatica still stands, one cannot break it easily with brutal force, the scientist was sure of it. He blinked and stood up - no sence of postponing the inevitable anymore. He took the tram which will bring him "home" if this "home" still exists.

In 20 minutes Dankovsky arrived to the destination. It is here. It stands. Thanatica is alive, the light and shadows are seen through the windows, which means it was not closed and collegues are still working. Daniil entered the building, and scared and worried men and women surrounded him: they were interrogated, yes, but members of the Inquisition left Thanatica as sudden as they arrived. Scientists were feared they've been watched, they acted carefully while their leader was far away fighting mysterious illness not by his will. But after all Aglaya was bluffing. Thanatica will always be alive. And now it is also free. Bachelor quickly checked his cabinet - some documents were not on their places, but nothing strange here - collegues might've used them for their research. As for the other detailes, everything looked as usual. Inquisiton would've turned everything upside down but it seemed such actions were not needed. Daniil talked to scientists left in charge and left the building. The day was on the way to its end, and a little rest won't harm.

The next day Bachelor arrived early in the morning, as he usualy do. With lots of energy, he studied almost every centimeter of his cabinet merely to yet again make sure nothing is lost or destroyed. Then, he checked laboratory and spoke with his closest collegues: Alexey Martynov, a bulcky, tall and calm man who can be found either among flasks and reagents or on the porch smoking a sigarette at least five times a day, and Maxim Grachov, talented, sharp-minded, popular with women and sometimes very annoying towards Dankovsky (to such an extent Bachelor was ready to punch Grachov to his smug face). If anything or anyone can be a measure of any changes, these two could be perfect examples: if they act as usual even on the brink of catastrophe, it means the disaster is not that bad. Thankfully, they were working as they always did, so nothing wrong with the laboratory too. Collegues shared recent news, and Bachelor left them to came back to his cabinet.

Hours passed unnoticed, skyes turned very dark and rain starded pooring mercilessly. "And I don't even have an umbrella", - thought Daniil. He could've stayed and sleep on a couch as he did several times but decided to go home. "Maybe I am lucky and won't get too wet". On a porch he saw a young woman he's never seen before: short, long brown hair decorated with light grey ribbon, dark clothes, large cane umbrella. She looked at Daniil, and Bachelor noticed her face looks a little bit dollish: fair skin, big blue eyes. The young man looked up to the skyes and then down to puddle on the ground. He was ready to go but saw a small elegant hand holding umbrella right in front of him.

"Please, take it. You are a scientist, you must not get sick".

"What about you?"

"I... I am as it is", - the young woman handed over her umbrella to Daniil and quickly went away.

"What a strange specimen", - Bachelor's gaze folowed an unknown new aquaintance up to the moment she dissapeared in a wall of rain. He opened his "sudden present" and went to a tram station.

The next day Dankovsky visited Thanatica's archive, the only place, as he thought, his new aquaintance could be: she didn't look like a person of science (Daniil's insight always could tell it), and only couple of people far from thanatology were working in the building, here, in the archive. The lead archivist, Olga Konstantinovna Voronova, greeted the young man: a middle-aged woman, stocky build, melodic voice, a person very picky and attentive towards little things. Daniil asked her about a young girl who probably works here, and, as expected, his suspicions were confirmed: the name was Martha, she started working as junior archivist the day after Bachelor departer to the Town-on-Gorkhon.

"A fussy lass, thinks quickly, responsible, polite, very good handwriting. She left the archive several minites before you arrived, went to Grachov to get some analitics or analisys. She works hard, you know, stays until late evening. She lives somewhere close to Thanatica, comes here by foot, I think. I will tell her to visit you".

"No, thank you, I'll come again by the end of the day".

Late evening, the most part of thanatologists left their working places, only few of the most stubborn ones (or those who had no one at home to wait for them) were staying occupied with researches and experiments. Rain started floading the Capital again. Daniil was walking through the coridor towards the exit and the archive located near to it: door was slightly opened, Bachelor noticed a light of lamp standing on the farest table at the cornen or the room and a silhouette of a young woman writing somehing in a notebook. It was so quiet once could hear a fountain pen scratching paper.

"A little mouse", - Daniil said these words barely audible, he knocked the door and entered the archive. Martha raised her gaze and almost jumped out of the chair.

"Good evening", - Daniil greeted her and put an umbrella on a table, - "This is yours. Thank you for lending me this umbrella".

"Oh, it's nothing, really. But... It is raining again and you..."

"Please, do not worry, I cannot allow myself use your kindness once more. And, as I can see, you also have no umbrella with you today".

"Oh... I can manage".

"Chances to get sick raise each time you walk under rain. I cannot allow people who work here waste their health so easily. I have a compromise, if you allow it: I can accompany you to your house. I owe you a little service, after all, and I don't like to have debts. It will make us even".

The young woman nodded, she changed a white robe, the same every Thanatica's member was wearing, to a coat and turned the lamp light off. Daniil and Martha left the building, they passed two residential blocks and went into the yard dimly lit by street lights. The young woman stepped on a porch, turned around and looked at her companion, standing next to her, too close it could've broken every boundaries of decency but in their case such closeness was necessary. She was about to thank Daniil, even though their little travel was silent, when a bright lightning cut the dark skyes and thunder rolled overhead in a deafening wave; rain had no plans to stop, on a contrary, its power grew much stronger.

"Please, come inside!"

Martha quickly closed her umbrella and opened the door, she was holding it waiting Bachelor to come in, and he had no other choice but to follow her lead.

"It seems luck abandoned me. Oh well", - Daniil thought to himself.

"Feels like the weather hates us now", - Martha looked through a window next to the entrance door, - "Please, follow me. My apartment is on the third floor. I'll make you tea to warm you up and wait out the downpour".

So, that's it, so easily and quickly. Usually young lady could've invited a man to her apartment only after several meetings or dates, well, if it was a lady of strict morals. Daniil recalled Eva Yan who, in a middle of a night, was very generous allowing him to stay at The Stillwater, an intruguing, charming and loving, very opened and ahead of the time (in a way) young woman she... was. Was. Bachelor shook off the memory and followed Martha. She definitely was not like Eva, she's strickter, more humble (at least it was his first impression), but they both had the same desire to care about the others. At least the young woman walking upstairs right in front of Dankovsky wanted to care about him for some unimaginable reason. Or maybe there was no reason at all - human's soul and mind are tricky things.

The young woman took keys out of her bag and opened two locks, she entered dark coridor and pulled the cord of the lamp on the wall to the left - a "beacon" appeared in the middle of thick darkness.

"Come in. My place is pretty humble, but please, make yourself at home. Oh, and it is not necessary to take off your shoes".

The girl was cunning: yes, rooms of her apartment were rather small, but there were three rooms which, for many, looked too posh for a single tenant. Martha neatly took off her coat, changed boots to slippers and went to a living room to turn the light on; the young woman opened wet umbrella and put it on the floor next to a window and went to another room to the right of the entrance coridor.

Daniil entered a living room, small yet cozy passage room, big window on the right, furniture on the left: a book shelf, a little couch for two people, a table, two chairs and a commode the wall above which was decorated with a small painting of flowers in vase and a clock. The young man came closer to a book shelf, he started studying it: mythology, art albums, philosophy, floriculture brochures, classic literature both domestic and foreigh, gothic literature, et cetera, et cetera.

"Are you hungry?' - a familiar voice distracted Bachelor from contemplation of books. - "I have a raspberry pie, it's a bit dry though since I made it yesterday, but edible. And... I can make some open sandwiches".

"A pie would be enough, thank you!"

Daniil took out one of albums and sat on a couch to occupy himself while the mistress of this house is busy with late dinner preparations. Time was flowing in a odd manner, maybe because of rain, maybe because the atmosphere of that little flat somehow distorted the perception of reality; even ticking of wall clocks sounded blurred. He finished wathing half of the album when clocks' mechanism became alive, and sonant "ding" filled the space - half past nine. The last tram departed from the nearest to Thanatica station at nine and the closest one will arrive only at eight in the morning. "Uh, stuck in another adventure. Out of the frying pan into the fire", - Dankovsky closed his eyes and sighed trying to focus and think about the plan of further actions. Some part of his mind was sure the kind young woman will allow him to stay since rain has no desire to stop, but backup plan is always needed, just in case. He heard soft footsteps: Martha entered the room holding a tray with two cups of tea, two plates with pie pieces, sugar bowl and cutlery - with all this in her hands she looked even smaller than before. Dankovsky stood up and helped her, the young woman smiled confusedly, she led him to the bathroom so the guest could wash his hands. They had dinner in silence although it didn't feel awkward.

"You haven't told me your name", - Bachelor took last sip of tea out of a cup and looked at Martha. The woman's cheeks turned pink.

"Forgive me for being impolite. Martha. Martha Kuznetsova".

Of course he already knew the answer, but was curious about the reaction.

"And, I suppose, you know who I am".

"Oh yes, you are the founder of Thanatica, a brilliant scientist mister Dankovsky, Daniil... sorry, I can't recall your patronymic".

"Just Daniil".

He continued asking Martha questions: how she learnt about Thanatica, why decided to work there, other common and harmless questions about her hobbies. It did and did not looked like an interrogation at the same time; the young woman wasn't sure her interlocutor was truly interested in her, his collegues told her Daniil Dankovsky is a very passionate person regarding thanatology and science in general, he is a workaholic and even though he can get along with some people, they are not very interesting to him. Or so people said. For her person in front of her didn't look like a souless machine: Bachelor was looking at her attentively with his dark amber eyes, smiling faintly from time to time. Martha had no abilities to analyze people but believed every person had at least something good inside - you just need to find it, like a well hidden treasure.

Another single "ding" broke the line of conversation - half past ten, time to go to bed.

"This is a guest room. I've never had guests before since the moment I moved into this apartment, but do not worry - the room is clean and not dusty. If you need to use bathroom, please, feel free, you will find clean towels on a table next to a sink".

"No worries, Martha, I am a very humble guest and don't need much".

The young woman nodded and left her guest. Daniil took off his crimson jerkin, slightly unbutton white shirt, took off his boots and laid down on a bed which looked new and felt new. She was right, no one ever slept here. Does she have any friends? Family? Daniil's gaze was piercing white ceiling; after some time his mind was ready to dive into a slumber when he heard soft knocking. He got up and opened the door: Martha was standing right before him, her hair was loose, she definitely was preparing to go to sleep too. She was holding something in her hands.

"Forgive me once more for bothering you, but I completely forgot. here, it is an allarm clock. If it won't bother you, tell me when do you usually wake up? So I could get up a bit earlier to make breakfast".

"Martha, you already did so much for me. I owe you once again".

"What? No! No, no, I am doing this not to make you my debtor but because I merely wanted to help a good person".

"You think I am a good person?' - Daniil chuckled.

"Yes", - Martha answered firmly.

Daniil smiled again: what a strange specimen indeed.

"Eight in the morning. But please, no breakfast. Tea will suffice".

The young woman smiled.

"Good night, mis... Daniil".

"Good night to you too, Martha".

Dankovsky lied down to a bed again and closed his eyes; a rithmic sound of falling raindrops worked as lullaby, in several minutes Bachelor's mind was swallowed by a deep slumber.

[keijiluvr]

JUST SOME BOY

Pairings: Atsumu x Reader

Warnings: Implication of cheating, angst

NOTE: this is my first time writing about hq boys so i’m sorry if it might be ooc :( also pls be nice about this, i know it sucks but anyway here you go!

Part 2

Being in a relationship with Atsumu for more than a year now really has been wonderful for you. You felt happy, comfortable and content with him. You make each other happy as giggles and laughter would leave your lips, pulling the other’s body closer to them. Affection wasn’t really an issue as kissing has been normal for the both of you. Subtle hand holding and nuzzling against the other’s neck has been a routine most of the time, eager to just feel the touch of the other. Mornings filled with soft smiles, brushing the other’s hair and leave kisses all over their face.  

Both of you know each other like the back of your hands, being able to know if something’s troubling the other and be able to talk about it and work things out. You were able to support him throughout his struggles especially with volleyball and he’s always there to listen whenever something’s bothering you. It was safe to say that you can imagine yourself staying in this so called fairytale for a very long time. 

But it didn’t last that long. 

It started two weeks ago. That gut feeling that something’s wrong, screaming and begging at you to listen. No matter what you do, it wouldn’t disappear as it clawed its way up to your mind, disturbing your thoughts as it pushed it to the back of your mind and let itself stay inside your head for a while. It’s been bothering you for days. You thought it was just you being paranoid or a common feeling of nervousness but why would you feel like that? 

“Tsum?” 

“Sorry, Coach told me to stay behind to practice more on.” 

You brushed it off, it didn’t really matter to you as long as he got home safely and that he’s okay. This would happen sometimes and you’re always waiting for him in the apartment, ready to reassure and relieve some stress with him. You’ve been his anchor, always keeping everything grounded and steady and he liked it. How come things started changing? 

However, the constant late night practices started happening frequently as excuses kept on piling up. 

“We have an important match coming up. I really have to practice.” 

“Bokuto-san wanted to practice more on his spikes, he needed me.” 

“The team stayed a bit longer to practice some more.” 

That’s when that gut feeling kept nagging at you, resulting in countless negative thoughts running around your mind while you stay in your shared bedroom, alone and awake as the night settled in. Did something go wrong? Did you do something? But then you would feel foolish for having that kind of thoughts. You would reassure yourself, repeating a mantra in your head that everything’s fine, he just needs time to practice. 

It was like a constant play of a broken record inside your head, not letting the fear eat you whole. It was scary, frightening even but you should trust him, you do trust him. 

So you lived as if you have nothing to worry about, understanding that he has to prioritize his career first and that everything will go back to normal soon. He’d start coming home early after the match, you’d feel his skin on yours, the apartment would be filled with laughter and new memories. You hoped it would be like that soon. 

It felt weird, today feels weird for you. It wasn’t that good kind of weird, it was the opposite. Your hands felt clammy, your heartbeat setting an uneven pace and this gut feeling, the familiar gut feeling but much more intense than before. It felt as if something bad is supposed to happen today, as if your body is sending alarming bells to you, trying to warn you about the possible future events that may occur today, that you need to prepare yourself for something. 

But what could it be? 

Going back to reading the text messages you sent to your boyfriend, you felt anxious. Why would he leave you on read? Did something bad happen during their practice today? That might not be the case since someone from the team would’ve called you right away if something happened. You felt silly, crazy even due to how paranoid you are. Who could blame you though? It’s been hours and he hasn’t even thought of replying to your texts. 

You’ve thought about so many possible scenarios, even reaching the point of something happening to the gym. Hell, enough scenarios just to put your mind on edge that causes your legs to shake due to nervousness.  

Reaching for your phone quickly, you inserted the passcode as soon as you heard the familiar ding coming from your phone. 

You bit your lower lip, forcing yourself not to let out a sigh, to show your disappointment. What did you expect though? No matter how hard you try, nothing will change. He prioritizes volleyball over anything. If it’s practice, it’s practice. You should know that by now as you were always there for him, supporting him and cheering him on as he does the thing that he loves. But why can’t you ignore this gut feeling? That same gut feeling that’s been desperate to grab your attention, to make you listen that something is obviously wrong. 

Maybe it’s telling you that an accident might happen so without giving it a second thought, you decided to text the person who you’ve been friends with for a while just to check up on Atsumu.

You were in a state of shock, completely still as you read the message over and over again. Your grip on your phone tightening its hold as your chest felt heavy. Blinking, you haven’t even noticed the tears as they fell, landing on the sheets below you. Your mind whirling with endless amounts of negative scenarios, a bunch of what ifs making your heart ache more. 

But this isn’t the time to mope around and drown in negative scenarios. You need answers, you need to hear the truth and you know the person that can answer every question that you have. 

Atsumu realized that he came home late once again, letting out a sigh as he shut the front door behind him, trying to be quiet as possible too since he noticed how the lights are turned off indicating that you might have fallen asleep. Biting his lower lip, he was on his way to the kitchen to grab something to eat when he noticed someone sitting on the couch. 

“Y/N? You almost gave me a heart attack.” He let out a chuckle, sauntering over to you but felt himself stiffen. 

There you were, hugging your knees close to your chest. Teary-eyed, you looked up at him, “Where were you, Atsumu?” 

“What? I was at practice like everyday.” 

“Don’t lie to me, please.” The way you begged, desperate to know the truth even if it will hurt, even if it will break you. It would be better to know the truth rather than pretending to be living in a healthy and stable relationship with someone you once knew. 

As he stood there, you couldn’t even recognize him anymore. Nothing changed with his physical appearance but it felt like you were talking to a stranger, to someone you barely even know anymore. Your chest tightening as your eyes welling with tears. “Please.” You sobbed 

Holding out his hand, he tried to wipe your tears away. However, you turned your head to the side, not wanting to feel his touch, knowing you’d crumble more in his grasp. Instead, the hand was left hanging in the air as you avoided his gaze, wiping your own tears. Defeated, he sat beside you, watching you carefully. “Did someone tell you?” His voice small. 

You let out a humorless chuckle, wiping your fingers to your shirt as you faced him. “Someone told me some things. You weren’t staying at the gym to practice more, Atsumu. He told me how you would always be the first one to leave practice, always in a hurry yet you always come home late.” You whispered the last few words, voice cracking before clearing your throat. 

Pathetic, you felt pathetic. As the warning bells continued to ring inside your head, you couldn’t help but cling onto one positive thought that maybe, maybe he’s working on something for days and wouldn’t tell anyone. That maybe he was just busy and didn’t think of telling anyone. 

But why would he lie to you? Why would he pretend to be at practice? 

“I’m sorry.” 

“I was planning on telling you but I guess I’ve been a coward for avoiding it. I met someone, Y/N. She makes me happy. I’m sorry you had to find out like this.” 

That part of you that has been trying to give you hope started diminishing at his response. That small part of you that was believing and trusting him, the one that you held onto so so so tightly disappeared, leaving you falling into the void.  The fact that all of the effort and progress that you’ve been trying to do lately came crashing down onto you, pushing you further into the darkness. 

It triggered you. His words triggered something beneath you. I was planning on telling you. I’m sorry you had to find out like this. 

Is he being serious? You felt as if he wasn’t being sincere for his actions, for what he did to you. It felt like it had no effect on him that you found out. If you didn’t find out today, would he still keep on doing it? But what pierced through your heart, what kept repeating in your head was those words. She makes me happy.

Did you fail? Were you not enough? Did you not make him happy? 

It felt as if your body moved on its own, standing up abruptly and slapped him across his face. For once, you didn’t regret your actions. He deserved it. Looking down at him, you tried so hard to memorize his face. Before he could utter another word, you were out of his sight. 

You clenched your fist, feeling your palm burning as it serves as a reminder that you hit him before running to your room to pack your things.

“It looks like they’re coming back.” 

Turning around, you eyed the stadium with a soft, little smile. The banner with his team on it proudly shown as people gather to view the details of the upcoming match. Your gaze landed on his picture, content as you saw how happy he looked especially with his teammates. 

That night, it was the last time you saw him. It’s been almost a year now and admittedly, it’s been tough to get back on your feet but you’re almost there. Your heart might still long for him, it might still ache since there are days that the pain becomes unbearable but you’re thankful for the people around you that have been patient enough to guide you back to your feet. 

“Who’s that? It looks like you know him.” Your friend asked, pointing at the guy you’ve been staring at.

“Don’t worry about it, he’s just some boy.” 

It might be a long process, the healing but you’re willing to undergo through the long process until you can finally move on from everything without feeling the pain, the ache and the misery. For now, you’re just happy for him for achieving his dreams. 

[aminiatureworld]

In My Dreams IV

Characters: Xiao, fm!reader

Word Count: 3,167

Warnings: Brief depiction of violence, nightmares

Premise: The past is many things. Something to admire, something to learn from, something to hold dear. And yet how unreliable it can be, especially in the hands of ghosts.

In which the reader dreams of the past.

Author’s Note: Translation notes and historical references will come after the fic. This one was a little sketchy/ooc, prolly because I’m tired.

Xiao

If there was one thing that you appreciated most about your relationship with Xiao it was the fact that he never attempted to cage your independence.

Though the adeptus had a penchant for clinginess – something he’d never actually admit to – the circumstances of both his and your past had set a standard for a level of separation that you greatly appreciated. You were never pressured to tell Xiao about things you weren’t comfortable sharing and in return you never pressed your partner in regards to topics or events that made him somewhat uncomfortable.

And yet there was something very isolating about such a freedom.

It was an ordinary enough commission, laughably so in fact, the kind that you could knock back in ten minutes flat if you put a little effort into it. Treasure Hoarders were once more encroaching on Liyue, this time gathering at the vicinity of Dunyu Ruins, something that would surely be a hazard to the archaeologists who gathered to study the lost jade monument. The act of chasing out the Treasure Hoarders was indeed easy enough, and it was only until you started rifling through their loot that you found yourself uneasy.

The lid was an innocuous enough item. Though the box that it once covered was nowhere to be found it must’ve been a work of art, as the smooth tortoiseshell lid was clearly the result of patience and love. Painted a deep blue it depicted a snowy scene, with a castle or cathedral at the front and center. The building itself was of a unique design; a tall turret stuck out at the top while small onion domes sat a little lower, each painted a more outlandish color than the last. The architecture was completely unlike what one might see in either Liyue or Mondstadt, and really there should’ve been nothing to it except the odd design of the building. Yet the moment you set your eyes upon the building you felt something harden in the pit of your stomach.

You never thought about what you couldn’t remember; after all, what was the point of it? Why mourn something you weren’t even sure was good or bad? Yet in that moment you felt that you would give very little to not remember just a little bit. At least enough to know why the image of a cathedral in the snow made you wish deeply for something you couldn’t remember, and frightened you just as much.

“Something’s wrong with you face.”

“Xiao!” You sputtered, surprised by the sudden bluntness of your partner. “My face is just fine, a little dirt won’t kill me.”

“That’s not it.” Xiao scowled. “Your face is harder than usual. Did something happen?”

“Nothing happened! Sometimes I just don’t smile, okay?” You instinctively moved the corners of your mouth upwards, trying to ignore the sudden jump in your heart rate. “I’m fine.”

Xiao looked supremely unimpressed at your efforts, sighing and flying up to the balcony of the Inn. You sighed, letting your expression once more droop. It was easy sometimes to forget how in tune Xiao was. You wouldn’t expect it from an adeptus who had spent thousands of years mostly secluded from humans, but your partner was impressively good at reading your mood. Usually you didn’t mind the ability of his, even welcoming the fact that he so bluntly brought up the question of your feelings. But today you wished despite yourself that he was a little less aware. After all, how could you explain to your partner what you didn’t even understand yourself?

The rest of the night was oddly tense. Though Xiao said nothing you could tell from the way he stared intently at your face that he hadn’t given up his suspicions. For your part you tried to ignore his gaze, talking about trivial matters such as the question of replacing the Guild roof and the fact that you had managed to gather a few Qingxin during your commissions. All the while you felt the roiling of your heart; and all the while you kept rubbing your fingers along the smooth finish of the lid in your pocket as if in doing so you might suddenly be struck with what you currently missed and currently, desperately, needed.

The next day you walked up to Katherine utterly exhausted. Though you’d made a concerted effort to sleep, knowing that if not you’d just arouse more worry in Xiao, most of the night had been spent tossing and turning, your eyelids feeling paper thin as you attempted to drag yourself down into the depths of sleep. Of course now that the sun was shining you felt like even a stone bench would be a soft enough mattress. Blinking heavily you smiled awkwardly at Katheryne.

“Any commissions today?”

“Two ordinary sweeps and one request.” Katheryne tilted her head slightly. “Are you sure you don’t need rest?”

“I’m perfectly fine Katheryne, thank you for worrying. You said there was a request?”

“Yes. It seems that the citizen who noticed the Treasure Hoarders for us claims to have been robbed by them. He says to meet you at Dunyu Ruins so you can hand over the item.”

“And what item is that?”

“He said it was some sort of box lid. He didn’t give many details I’m sorry. If you’re uncomfortable though of course we could send someone with you.”

“I’ll be fine, thanks for worrying.”

“Of course! Good luck!”

“Thanks.”

You turned around, trying to stem the ice that flooded your veins. Who was this man to whom the cathedral belonged? How did he come across such an odd item, was he from one of the other nations of Teyvat you hadn’t visited? Most of all you wondered if he held some connection to your past. The idea thrilled you in some way, though dread also lingered. You weren’t entirely sure you wanted to meet this mysterious person. Commissions were commissions however; you wouldn’t betray the Guild. No matter how much you wanted to; you couldn’t.

The Dunyu Ruins were still, no monsters seemed to linger at the gates and no other adventurers peeked out from behind old walls. The air was utterly still, something which worried you greatly. Walking at an increased rate you sought out your mysterious commissioner. The more you thought about it the more you wished the whole thing to be over as soon as possible. Turning the corner you stopped in your tracks, gazing in awe at the person a few meters in front of you.

The first thing you thought was how oddly he was dressed. The second thing was that he was much younger than you had expected. The third thing was that you felt an odd sense of familiarity from him.

“Ah yes, the adventurer who accepted my commission. Have you brought what I asked of you?”

Though a response was certainly in order you found the words stuck in your mouth. Staring at him you felt the ground shift between your feet slightly. He was familiar, this young man in front of you, and yet he was also a perfect stranger. He seemed more like an apparition than anything, a spirit who had yet to cross to the far side. You stepped closer, reaching out your arm slightly. If you went to touch his shoulder, would your fingers go right through him?

“You really must think it’s odd that I’ve returned.” The man chuckled. “I assure you I’m completely real. You weren’t the only one to survive sister, though I know that information might be too little too late?”

“Sister?” You snapped out of your trance. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Surely you aren’t pretending not to recognize me? I think that’s beneath even you. Come now, was I such a brat as that?” Reaching out the young man went to grab your hand. Instinctively you pulled away, feeling discomfort shoot through you.

“I don’t know what you mean? And you certainly aren’t my brother! I’ve never had a brother!”

“Then who was the kid you lived with your whole life before the incident?”

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know about any incident or any brother. You asked me here to return something so I’m returning it.” Reaching for the lid you thrust the little work of art in front of you. “Here. Take it.”

“So you really don’t know who I am?” The young man reached out to take the lid. “How is that possible? Have they gone so far as to erase me from your memories? Have I been taken out of your family?”

“They?”

“The gods.” The young man’s eyes seemed incredibly harsh all of a sudden. “Their presumptiveness holds no bounds.”

“Don’t speak of the archons that way.”

“Answer me this,” the young man ignored your protest, “where are you from.”

“Why should I tell you that?”

“Humor me.”

“I…” You stood there for a moment, wondering whether or not you should tell this strange figure the truth. Morbid curiosity floated in your mind, and you took a sharp breath. “I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

“So I really have been erased from your mind.”

“Nothing’s been erased! I just don’t remember, should that surprise you so much?”

“Yes, it does. I see my plans will have to be changed.” The young man took a deep breath. “Very well then, we shall see what we shall see. I have an offer for you.”

“And what is that?” You felt suspicion wash over you.

“Join the Abyss.”

“Over my dead body!” Instinctively stepping away you drew your polearm. So that’s what this was about.

“I figured you might say that. However, let me tell you this. Our family was torn apart by the cruel whims of faraway gods. Teyvat suffered the same fate, still suffers it. You may not remember what happened to us, but I know it is buried in you somewhere. If you wish to avenge our family, then you’ll join us.”

“I have no petty thoughts of revenge against the gods.”

“That may very well change.” The young man smirked. “I’ll be back in a week. I expect your answers then.”

He was gone before you could say anything, carried away by a blanket of purple stars. You stared at the empty ruins, confused and empty, feeling far worse than you had felt when you arrived here.

“You look worse.”

“Thanks Xiao.” You let out a sigh, unsure how to respond.

You’d spent the rest of the walk back to the Wangshu Inn in agony, thoughts darting back and forth as you tried to reason with yourself about the veracity of the young man’s claims. There was no proof he was who he said he was after all, no proof that he wasn’t simply insane, or trying to convince you to join him by lying. Yet there was something about him, his demeanor, his anger, something that spoke to a truth about him. Not that the idea made you any happier. After all truth or not, he was still an Abyss member, or at least an advocate. You could never side with him, even if he was your long lost family. And yet what if he was your family? What then? Would it truly be a betrayal then to simply send him packing?

Xiao’s hand enveloped your own, the soft warmth drawing you out of your confused thoughts. Looking up you found him leaning into you, the tips of his hair lightly brushing your cheeks. His eyes bored into you ask he scanned your face. You stood perfectly still. You knew what Xiao was doing, knew that he was trying to figure out the depths of your discomfort. It was valiant of him, even if you hoped that he turned up empty handed. How could you tell Xiao, an adeptus who served directly under Rex Lapis, about the man who blasphemed the gods.

“You should sleep.” Xiao finally pulled away.

“It’s still early evening.”

“You didn’t sleep well last night, I could tell. You should sleep now; maybe you’ll feel better.”

“Maybe.” You replied, knowing that even if you slept better than you had ever before nothing would change when you woke up.

Still your eyelids were heavy and your feet aching. Sleep beckoned you with open arms, and you were quick to fall into its depths. Pressing a soft kiss on Xiao’s cheek you made your way up the stairs. Collapsing onto your bed you let out a sigh of relief. Sleep was coming on fast, and you quickly found the outside world swirling away. The last thing you were aware of was a dent in your mattress, and a set of familiar eyes staring down at you, filled with affection and worry.

It was dreadfully hot. That was the first thing you were aware of. The second was how loud everything was. There was a terrible sound swirling around you, inhuman shrieks seemed to rise up from the ground beneath you, accompanied with a banging that cracked through the air, echoing oddly in a night that was all too quiet. The third thing was that you had no idea where you were. Looking around you found yourself reeling at the scene that met your eyes. The house in front of you must’ve been nice at some point, but now had fallen into ruin and disrepair. Smoke was drifting up from a door that led into the ground, and bottles lay in pieces on the ground. A wall seemed to separate the house from the outside world, so tall that you had no idea what lay beyond it. Trembling slightly you felt yourself move towards the source of the noise, feet moving despite the rising dread that you felt. Making your way down a set of stairs a few lines came to you all of a sudden.

A ceiling of amber, a pavement of pearl

The smoke was thicker now, filling your lungs, leaving you short of breath. Little bits of orange blurred your vision, wielded by strange men in strange uniforms. They seemed distorted in the smoke, made into ghosts that might haunt a child’s nightmares.

Through the narrow paved streets, where all was still

You didn’t move your head towards the back of the room, somehow you couldn’t. Your very soul fought against it. Instead you closed your eyes, overwhelmed with how hot it was.

“You’ve come so far and you can’t even look?”

The voice was mocking, familiar, full of scorn. Opening your eyes you stared at the men in front of you, the men with fire at the tips of their hands. Why did he want you to look? You knew what you’d see. Somehow you knew.

We climb’d on the graves, on the stone worn with rains

You couldn’t make it out among the smoke. All you knew was that it was red.

You screwed your eyes shut, even as sudden clarity danced before you. Someone was calling your name.

There was a hand on your shoulder.

And alone dwell forever

The smoke cleared, and with it the dream.

The scream ripped through your throat before you could even process it. You knew that you should stop, knew that you were no longer dreaming, knew that the hand on your shoulder belonged to your terrified partner. Still you screamed. You screamed and screamed and screamed.

“Hey. Hey!” Xiao’s voice was frantic. Shifting your gaze towards him you felt yourself begin to tremble.

“It, it was true. It was true, I saw him. I saw him. I saw me. It was true. I, I, they’re dead. They’re dead.”

“It was a dream. No one’s dead.”

“But Xiao, they’re dead. He was right, they’re gone and dead and somehow I forget them.”

The loneliness slammed into you, mixing with the horror that sent your stomach churning. You dug you nails into your palm, desperately trying to stop shaking. Everything seemed distorted, the light emerging through the window just as menacing as the dark.

“Take my hand.”

Xiao pulled one of your hands on his lap, gently opening it and running his fingers over the marks that now rested in your palms. Unfurling your hand you it was flat against his he covered it with his own. Letting his palm rest gently against yours he looked up at you.

“No one is dead. You were having a nightmare.”

“I was remembering, Xiao. I finally remembered something. And now I wish I never had.” You unfurled your other hand, wiping furiously at the tears that pooled in your eyes. “I’m so alone Xiao, I’m so alone.”

“You aren’t alone.”

“My family, my family is gone. The only one left is an Abyss member. I, I’m so utterly alone.”

You felt Xiao drop your hand slightly. The sudden lost connection made your founder for a moment, but soon the feeling was lost as Xiao wrapped his arms around you. Pressing kisses to your forehead his grip was tight and strong, encasing you utterly in soft comfort. Letting yourself collapse slightly you leaned into his embrace.

“You’ll never be alone. I’ll always be here.”

If promises were conveyed in actions then you had no reason to doubt Xiao’s. Though the air around you was sticky with heat you found yourself pressing into your partner’s chest eyes more, soaking up every bit of connection that you could get. Xiao said nothing more, simply keeping you in his embrace, lips brushing against your cheeks as he kissed away your tears.

You knew that he wouldn’t ask about your brother that night, perhaps not even the morning afterwards, or even tomorrow evening. After all your partner wasn’t one for words, and your relationship wasn’t built upon the expectation of painful transparency. If you weren’t ready to talk he wouldn’t push you.

Eventually your tears slowed, though the pain in your chest still burned like a brand. Bringing your hands to your chest you gazed up at the adeptus who was still wrapped around you.

“Can we stay this way a little longer?”

Xiao’s eyes gleamed catlike in the moonlight. Leaning down he brushed his lips against yours, sighing slightly as you met him with exhausted ardor. Pulling back you rested your head on your partner’s chest. The dulled beat seemed almost musical, a reminder that Xiao was alive, a reminder that he was right next to you.

You had assumed in some way that it meant he didn’t care, or didn’t want to know. Though you would’ve never thought that before, the feeling of loneliness that had threatened to swallow you up had made that perfectly clear. Yet Xiao did care, cared enough not to prod and poke at wounds that were surely bleeding even now. Cared enough to kiss your worries away, cared enough to let you embrace him as long as you needed. Cared enough to show that you weren’t truly alone. 

In a week you’d give the young man who had once been your brother an answer. In a week you’d face the fact of your loneliness, of a family that you’d once been a part of. In a week you would let yourself be truly lonely. But until then you would listen to the familiar beat of Xiao’s heart as you remembered that you weren’t truly alone. That you never would be.

-------

The box lid itself was based off nothing in particular. The building painted on it is a reference to Saint Basil’s Cathedral. 

The poem I used was “The Forsaken Merman” by Matthew Arnold

The scene in the reader’s dream is a reference to the execution of the last Imperial family of Russia. It took place in the basement of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg on July 17th/18th 1918. 

[nevernevadahq]

NEVERNEVADAHQ EVENT: DO THE EVOLUTION PART THREE

The festivities are to expected under the sponsorship of such a lucrative organization, and most doubts surrounding Asena Bank’s capability of recovering from the wire transfer scandal subside. Many civilians begin to trust the bank again, going as far as taking business cards and planning their return in the morning to the floor below to open an account. Phones ring between auctions eagerly to place bids miles away, fans raised high and tremoring hands wave over their interest in a bid, and the goal for the night is met just halfway through. 

As cocktails and music swell through the basement that’s made up to be just as grand as the top floor, it’s easy to lose some details but after they’ve settled, the image is all you can see. Cellular reception may be limited, but the Wifi connection comes in and out for use. If a text doesn’t come in, a paper’s been slipped into a jacket pocket or scrawled over a bathroom mirror when you believe you’re alone. Drinks bleed into napkins believed to have been discarded before one’s order with a message that’s mean for no one but who finds it. Tonight is about coming together, but for all the wrong reasons. 

In order to evolve, you must start by burning the night. Bring fire to warm your allies, burn bridges to seek out your freedom, or illuminate the path you’ve always been too afraid to go down because of the monsters you’ve been taught lie in the dark. One thing is certain, though— someone out there knows you better than you know yourself and they manipulate the strings to your success or your destruction. 

SUMMARY: The Asena Auction is a success and the goal set for donations for the foundation is met nearly halfway through the night. The happy tone, however, doesn’t last long and is infiltrated by a series of messages to all attendees. Whether by text from an anonymous number, a message stuck in someone’s pocket, lipstick on a mirror when you walk out into an empty bathroom, or a napkin found by your side at the bar, everyone has become a target to a request specific tailored to a potential threat or ally. 

IC INFORMATION

Each muse has been reached out to by an unknown party with a message concerning a potential threat or ally in a warning of how the night will end. No muse knows the origin of this message, or that anyone else has received them unless your muse shares this on dash. 

OOC INFORMATION

All muses have been assigned to pairs with one muse having a specific task for another. All muses must carry out the task, or will face consequences that will come into play very soon. The pairings are randomized, but have been moved around to ensure that different muses have the chance to interact with some they haven’t had many threads with yet. 

Please ensure that all ask boxes are open as messages given to your muses will be sent out starting now. Reference these messages for specifics on the tasks given to your characters. You must publish these answers on dash either with no message, your character’s reaction (as long or as short as you want it), or with a visual of your character’s reaction. Get creative!

Please begin transitioning all threads to part three and refrain from starting any new threads that pertain to the beginning of the event. Most muses should already be at Asena Bank partaking in the event.

PAIRINGS

Hyacinth Lài is tasked to attack Brielle Fournier. 

Fionn Callaghan is tasked to ally himself with Blythe Sweetwine.

Katerina Devereaux is tasked to ally herself with Malivalaya Saelo. Puck Bailey is tasked to infiltrate either party. 

Julia Amato is tasked to protect Audrey Rousseau. Cyrus Rousseau is tasked to attack Audrey Rousseau.

Violet Madden is tasked to protect Leyla Duymaz. 

Amadeus Jude Castellanos is tasked to attack Jackson Barrett.

Mason Torres is tasked to attack Luxana Coia. Rhiannon Hale is tasked to attack Luxana Coia.

Lili Lài is tasked to attack Luciana Morales. Evren Bosnak is tasked to ally himself with Luciana Morales. 

Brighton Andrews is tasked to ally himself with Sadie Sweeney. Abraham Sweetwine is tasked to protect Sadie Sweeney.

Lincoln Porter is tasked to attack Talia Arslan. 

Holden Markham is tasked to ally himself with Nadia James.

Alejandra Ruiz is tasked to ally herself with Aspen Parrish. Roman Moreno is tasked to attack Aspen Parrish.

Sebastien Moreau is tasked to attack Briar De la Rosa. Linnette Antonelli is tasked to protect Briar De La Rosa.

Sibel Bosnak is tasked to ally herself with Safet Guray. Darragh Callaghan is tasked to ally herself with Sibel Bosnak.

Dominic Murphy is tasked to protect Jesse Valencia.

Andrew Whittemore is tasked to protect Benjamin Van Solkema. Korrine Stone is tasked to attack Benny Van Solkema.

Ari Arora is tasked to attack Blue Sweeney.

Frankie Morales is tasked to attack Atticus Bailey. 

Taron Lynch is tasked to ally himself with Vespasian Moreau. Julian McClain is tasked to ally himself with either party. 

[saltmageelliexiv]

𝕃𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘  𝕗𝕠𝕣  ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕥:

The Basics ------------

Name: Eliceyn ‘Ellie’ Birch

Birthday: June 22nd

Race: Hyur [Highlander]

Age: 30 years old

Sex: Female

Sexuality: Ambiguous [has taken male and female clients; see OOC]

Marital Status: Single

In-Game Location: Crystal Data Center - Balmung & Mateus

Carrd: Eliceyn Birch Carrd

Physical Appearance ––– –

Hair: Black

Eyes: Gold

Physical Build: Curvy

Piercings: Ears

Distinctive Markings: Spider tattoo on back [Not shown on in-game model]

Personal ––– –

Profession: Courtesan, Escort, Exotic Entertainer, ‘Purveyor of Secrets’

Family: Evelia Cross, Mother, Incarcerated & Estranged Vittorio Landon, Father, Alive Dethalis Cross, Elder half-sister, Alive Violetta ‘Vee’ Landon, Younger Half-Sister, Alive Sibylle Landon, Youngest Half-Sister, Alive Kadir Landon, Youngest Half-Brother, Alive Greyson Birch, Son, Alive

Pets: Vidar, Dire Wolf [Currently lives with her eldest sister] Nym, Chocobo [Usually stays in Kugane]

Known Friends/Allies: Asterix Kearn [ @asterixkearn], Best Friend [As close as one could get] Kylar Hane [ @sarcasmandsteel], Former Client - Contact Amiah Valroux [ @amiahvalroux-ffxiv​], ‘Adopted Daughter’ [Mother figure]

Additional Information ––– –

SMOKING HABIT: Often [Usually lighter tobaccos]

DRUGS: On occasion [Nothing extremely heavy; recreational/medicinal use]

ALCOHOL: Often

RP Hooks ––– –

Harlots of Kugane/Eorzea: Having known only a life of vice, sin, greed and gluttony, Eliceyn was turned to the life of whoring at the age of sixteen. She worked in her brothel until she was twenty-one years old before she disappeared after the sudden death of her Madam. Two years later, she returned to Kugane and opened up her own brothel where she housed beautiful men and women from all over Eorzea and the Far East. After rumors circulated of gruesome murders done under her roof, her brothel was shut down, and the Madam had fled Kugane, returning a year later as an independent ‘exotic entertainer’, being found in both the Far East and all throughout Eorzea. Details: Clients: Being a rather well-known escort, Eliceyn has had a number of clients she had taken. Along with her skills as a lover for a night, she is also known to cost a small fortune to have her for one night. Aside from providing company in one’s bed, she is also available for exotic, risque entertainment, or even just as a simple companion for one to show off at large events. Perhaps you have hired her in the past? Or have heard of her services? Former Employee: Running the brothel for quite some time, she had employed many men and women throughout the years, some staying for the long-term, some coming and leaving as soon as they arrived. She is known to be firm, have zero tolerance for mutiny, but was also known to be kind to those who were less fortunate, and even house victims of abuse who needed sanctuary, even offering them work. Perhaps you worked for her at some point? Or even requested her aid during a hard time?

The Confederacy: After running away from her first brothel, Eliceyn quickly found a home in The Confederacy. There, she learned how to use a blade [more efficiently, as she had previous experience] and even learned how to operate a gunblade used by the Garleans after stealing one from a wandering group of soldiers. She was known to be deadly on land AND at sea, having a deadly quick-shot with a gun, and being able to escape with ease after disappearing into the depths of the sea. Details: Brothers [And Sisters] in Arms: While she was only with the Confederacy for a mere two years, she quickly found a home among the sea-faring gang of thugs. Showing loyalty to those who fought under the banner of the Confederacy, she was quick to run into open fire to save a friend if needed. If you fought alongside her, you would also be able to bear witness to her unusual, and deadly, powers. Garleans: Having no love for the Garleans, evidence in having found no friend in one, she has shown to be quite the thorn in their side during her time fighting them. While she showed proficiency in cutting them down with a blade, if the bodies she left behind weren’t filled with lacerations, slices, or bullets from a gun, they were found withered and almost mummy-like, some of the bodies even turning to nothing but dust and ash when touched.

OOC Info beneath the cut!

OOC ––– –

Hello, and if you see this, thank you for taking the time to read/like/share this post! A little [edit: a lot, apparently, I am so sorry to whoever is reading this...] about me as a roleplayer: 

I am an essential worker, so, unfortunately, there are times where I may not be available in-game for RP [these days my hours have been reduced so I do have some extra time]

Due to the themes of this character, I prefer the people who interact with me on this character to be at least 18 years old. Eliceyn is very much not a character suited for minors or those uncomfortable with dark/mature themes.

While Ellie is a proud sex worker and has no shame, this does not mean I will ERP with you. I, nor my character, are here to fulfill OOC sexual desires/needs, and I ask that my desire to not ERP right out the gate with new people be respected.

In regards to Ellie’s sexuality: she is romantically attracted to men canonically, but due to her occupation, she is willing to take female clients [just as well, the “Respect the no ERP” rule applies here as well]

I am open to quite a bit; don’t be afraid to DM me. I am open to ideas and such. And while she is an 18+ character, I am more than okay with RPing more light-hearted scenes.

I’ve been in a writing rut for a long time, and would like to try and get back into roleplay in-game; for longer things, I would be open to Tumblr and Discord, but I am also open for smaller scenes in-game. I also prefer one-on-one scenes vs large groups, as I am quite self-conscious about my writing.

[ @mooglemeet​ @crystalxivrp @balmungrp​]

[cursedserpenthq]

IC:

The brutal storm rocked the Cursed Serpent for what felt like an eternity. Wicked winds and forceful waves knocked the ship off course, and the days long assault caused more damage than expected. After discovering some major issues, the exhausted crew realized that they couldn’t rest and relax quite yet. An emergency stop needed to be made in order to repair the ship. If they attempted to continue sailing, they would surely run into deadly trouble.

Luckily for the crew, getting blown off course might have been a blessing in disguise. Once visibility returned, a small island was spotted not too far away. It was decided that the crew would ground there in order to repair the ship.

Surviving the worst storm any of the crew had ever seen wasn’t easy and repairing the ship will be hard work, but the crew is in for an even bigger surprise. For now, they’ve taken refuge on the island and have begun fully assessing the damage to the ship. Soon, they’ll come to find that they aren’t the only hapless souls on the island.

After only a day and a half on the island, the crew will find Lyra’s brother, Arroyo, and the story he has to tell them will change everything.

OOC:

The dash plot is now finished. You are welcome to keep writing your plot replies, but please do your best to finish them up in the next week.

Our discord event will take place on Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 8:00 p.m EST. The basis of the event will be the crew running into Arroyo and learning all he has to share with them. More details to set the scene will be released on Friday evening.

I am aware that this might late for some members. If you can’t participate in the event at all, please assume your role will simply work on the ship. If you need to join late or leave early, that’s no problem either!

If you choose to write any starters before the discord event, they should be set on the island. If you’d like to hold off posting an open until after the event, that’s a-okay.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and get ready for some major plot developments!

[icariahq]

Caution. Protection. Safety. Those were the primary focus when the Gods first met for a solution. A 'haven' for their children to live out their natural lives. Not even a shadow to reach past the blockade of wards. 

For a little while, their plan was going smooth. Demi-gods from all over were migrating to the island paradise. Soon, business were thriving, relationships were being formed and many able to express the powers they always kept hidden within. The horrors of the past trickling out until they became faded memories.  Icaria, by all appearances, was the salvation they all needed. The home many desired.  On a moonless night, that was all to change. What should have been a typical morning, Icarian police were notified of a series of possible break ins. As they searched the premises they soon learned that the residents, two demi-gods, vanished once more... and one, one was not as lucky.

NEWS RELEASE:

Nandi “Dee” Tillman was found strangled a few feet from her bed. A funeral is to be held Saturday mid-day. All are welcome. Dee, daughter of Khione, was born in Chicago, Illinois  22 years ago. Dee and her family moved to Icaria at a young age and has been a constant and well loved part of Icaria culture since. She ran Vinyl Countdown. In leu of flowers, please donate records to her old shop.  Missing people include: Calisto Innes, daughter of Ares, local bartender and student of pharmacy.  Trevor Fauci, son of Pan, owner of Tilly Farms.  If seen, or if you have information regarding the missing people or the death of Nandi Tillman please call the non emergency number. A funeral for Nandi will be held Saturday at 12:30. A wake will follow with food, drinks and light music. A note from Nandi’s friends and family: “While we’re mourning the death of Nandi we are also celebrating her life! Tell stories about Dee, and share stories about Calisto and Trevor as well. Lets band together to work our way through this tragedy.”

The question remained, who, or what, killed and kidnapped these demi-gods. What made its way onto Icaria and what are the demi-gods supposed to do now that their safe haven has been breached? What will you do?

OOC details:

   -   The funeral is Saturday, but the event will start Friday, 27th, at noon and last until Monday night.   -  Feel free to make a starter that takes place at the funeral or wake or within the day after the funeral.    - No threads need to be put on hold or dropped unless you decide to do so, but please talk to your writing partners about it if you do decide to place them on hold or drop!    - Tag @icariastarters for any new starters you make so we can make sure they are seen by all! Please give this a like if you’ve read it so we know you understand!

[flyswhumpcenter]

Bad Things Happen Bingo! The event where you send me requests according to this marvelous card! (Red cross is the completed prompt, character headshots are prompts I’ve already filled. Green deltas are for requested prompts.)

The schemer got schemed.

5K words. 5 fucking thousands words on some overly edgy Inazuma fic. I guess that's the power of self-indulgent writing lmao I'm sorry for how purple prose-y this reads. I don't know what it is about me this September that makes me want to write abstract stuff. And why was it so weird to write dialogue for this? I wasn't writing this awkwardly on purpose I s w e a r About the fic itself, it's mostly Orion-compliant, aside from a couple details and me deciding the match against France should have happened. The idea made more sense in my head before I started actually writing it, but oh well. I'm more impressed by how much I've written for this than anything else, tbh. I hope you still like it! I really want to write more Inazuma, so this was still a blast to write, even if the last part is... kind of weird? I didn't think I'd take this direction, but I didn't want it to end on a depressing note. Inazuma wouldn't, so why should I? This is already way too edgy for its own good, better balance things out. I also may have forgotten they're supposed to be fourteen or something, but it's easy to forgot with the alt continuity honestly. It may also be fairly OOC, but it depends on how you see the characters, I suppose. In all cases, I have a lot of fun writing these three in particular, so you can expect more of them to come one of these days.

--------

Two Birds in One Stone

Summary: For once, Nosaka didn't quite guess what was ahead of and coming for him. Now, if he had been the only one affected by his fight against Orion... Then it'd have been much better than that, most certainly so.

Fandom: Inazuma Eleven: Orion no Kokuin Relationships: Platonic Ichihoshi & Nosaka, Nishikage & Nosaka

Wordcount: 5.5K words

Event hosted by @badthingshappenbingo

AO3 version available here.

------

The biggest traps are the stealthiest, Nosaka learned against his will during the worldwide tournament.

 It’s a stupid lesson to learn this late, way too late, in fact. It’s like observing a bird dying in his hands and realizing this wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t caused its death by accidentally crashing into it. Death he’s very nearly avoided causing recently, but even that detail doesn’t help relieve him. It was obvious, yet he didn’t take it as seriously as he should have, brushing it off as no bark and no bite…

He wishes he had gotten bitten instead, right as he stands in front of a door in a corridor, alone, half sunk in the darkness. His hands are bloodied, he doesn’t want to see them.

 The events keep repeating in a loop, tinted with bitter regret and a desperate wish to redo everything again. He’s not used to the awful taste of failure and near-defeat: even if they’ve won in the end, it wasn’t thanks to him, quite the opposite way around. If Ichihoshi hadn’t been there at the right time and properly equipped –and that thought sends chills down his spine— who knows would have happened to him and Japan’s team next.

It’s not like he can do anything about it now, since time is a treacherous one-way road, but it doesn’t prevent his mind from looping around the question over and over again. After all this time spent scheming, spent elaborating complex plans and betting on the near-impossible, he’s finding himself stuck in one place, contemplating failure and decisions he could and should have taken.

But it’s easy to just regret and mop around, licking one’s wounds like an injured animal: fixing one’s mess is much harder than people make it out to be.

 It started with the least subtle trap anyone from Orion could have laid before him: a message written in Cyrillic, all in Russian, as if trying to stir some primal fear he found himself missing. He wasn’t scared of Russia or their team, Perfect Spark was terrific as a team but they were no actual criminals. As such, he merely asked Ichihoshi to translate it for him, which the latter did with ease: as he had guessed, living and playing in Russia for a while had made Ichihoshi bilingual. He had to have talked with Froy Girikanan in one language anyway.

Ichihoshi didn’t seem very thrilled about the meaning of the piece of paper, eyebrows frowning and sweat pearling down his temples. The more he read, the worse his expression got, to a point where Nosaka was starting to wonder how bad these few words could have been. Cyrillic couldn’t have expressed in so few characters such violence that a former Orion agent would have been horrified about it.

 “N-Nosaka,” he asked him with a hesitating voice, “where does this come from?”

“It was slipped under my door,” he replied with the least worry in the world. “I suspect it to be no more than an ill-tasted joke. It’s too easy.”

“I guess, but… This sounds very serious. We know the Orion Foundation has enough funds and means to do this to us.”

“Do what? I’m afraid you haven’t told me about the meaning of this message yet, Ichihoshi.”

“R-right…” He seemed more than reluctant to read it. “It’s more or less telling you to stop investigating into Orion’s business if you don’t want everyone around you to suffer the consequences. It also states it won’t hesitate to employ great means to reach that goal and that you should better off surrender to them right now. And… well… The rest is tasteless, to say the least…”

“Tasteless?”

“I… I’m not sure if I want to read out all of this, it’s a gruesome list of what they’d do to us…”

“I see,” Nosaka didn’t, really, but there was no way Ichihoshi would be able to withstand translating that for him. “Thank you for this anyway. I’m still convinced this is but a bluff, so you shouldn’t worry over it.”

“Got it…”

 And he seemed to be right, for a couple days. The training sessions went perfectly smoothly, the match against France unfolded correctly (having to face not a single Orion player felt refreshing, for once). The team was growing and improving, welcoming Seishuu’s Mizukamiya in its ranks soon enough. More bickering amongst players, more discussions shared around a plate of dinner at the cafeteria, more scheming on his part against Orion. It was all fine, all so fine, and it’d obviously eventually resolve things in the long run.

He should have seen it coming, frankly, in retrospect. He should have sensed it was all too good, coming from the snake that was Orion, slithering in the dark with dagger-sharp fangs waiting for the opportunity to strike.

 The first real weird instance that happened was already fitting of Ichihoshi’s intimidated stance when reading a simple piece of paper. People sometimes missing dinner had never been much of a weird thing: they’d show up later and grab a plate of what would be left, once they’d have been finished with whatever they were doing. It wasn’t like there wasn’t a microwave oven to heat up food that’d have gone cold since then.

Still, he had mentally noted down who was always showing up for dinner at the same hour, nagged by the message despite his best judgement. Some were fairly obvious: Iwato, Asuto, Umihara, (in fact, most of Raimon’s members) they’d never fail showing up at the time dinner started. Technically, Nishikage and he were part of them, mostly due to the message having gone around (and it was obvious that he’d tell his right-hand about that, wasn’t it?). One of the few other people who’d have never failed showing up early was also Ichihoshi, ever since his identities merged together.

 As such, it was no less than odd for the latter not to show up when dinner was announced, on one day, soon before the match against Brazil. He was miffed about this fact, sure, but there was a possible rational explanation for it, so he didn’t insist against himself: if Ichihoshi was late, it may have been because he was researching information on the team they were going to go against soon and had forgotten to check the time it was, most likely too engulfed in searches to do so.

Yet, there was something off enough about this to make him almost bite his thumbnail. A few minutes to arrive late was all fine and not suspicious, but seeing everyone but someone who was always on-time show up, eat and leave was starting to make him worry. The message kept coming back to him, no matter how many times he forced himself to push it back into the depths of his mind, until it was almost unbearable and Nishikage himself made notice of how tense he had become throughout the evening.

 In the end, they were the last to leave the cafeteria, and he decided to go search for Ichihoshi. It was weird that this boy had still not shown up in the cafeteria.

 Their footsteps resonated in the corridors as he viciously searched for a familiar tuff of blue hair, for anything that’d give him an idea of where his aide had gone. His room was empty, no shared room had any trace of him in it and anyone he asked about their comrade’s whereabouts met him with confusion, worry or simply no information to give. No amounts of “Sorry, I’ve not seen him tonight yet, I’ll make sure to tell you if I see him” would give him an idea of where to head next, but at least, that was confirming this was indeed suspicious and not just his mind rendered unable to rationalize little things.

Seeing a trail of blood made his go cold, though. Before he realized it, he had started running in the corridors, forgetting everything around him, until the zigzagging lines stopped in a darker corner of the establishment and he was faced with what must have been matching the lines Ichihoshi hadn’t dared saying in out-loud Japanese.

Not that his unconscious body would have been able to do so either.

 Nosaka wasn’t that used to the sight of blood, this much he was discovering when coming across this disaster of a vision, a nauseating stench of iron immediately reaching his head and making it spin for a moment. In a sharp reflex, almost forgetting he wasn’t alone in this mess, he ordered Nishikage to call for help in a hurry and kneeled next to the body drenched in red, still liquid enough to taint his hands as he tried to make sure his comrade wasn’t dead, observing the surroundings as he searched for a pulse and exhaled a sight of relief when feeling one.

It was a sinister sighting he got forced to face. Sinking in the night’s darkness, barely lit by the emergency alarms, the faraway lights of nearby corridors and the stars and moon by the window, was Ichihoshi, hands covered in his own blood, a stainless exacto knife discarded nearby and a flare of murder to it all. This was gratuitous and needlessly violent, and his eye couldn’t help but spot in the darkness a paper with Cyrillic written on it.

It wasn’t a mere coincidence.

 By a miracle, they didn’t lose Ichihoshi that night, saved in extremis by a blood transfusion and a few stitches. He was clearly not in a playing condition from the incident, yet his recovery was announcing itself to be a quick one: he had actually not lost that much in the corridor. More scare than harm, he supposed.

That was a relief Nosaka didn’t dare make obvious to the outside of his mind.

 It was ashamed and shameful that he presented himself in front of a hospital door on the day after. He insisted on being alone, leaving Nishikage behind (who could wait for him or just do his own thing, he wouldn’t have minded either way), and entering the room with heavy footsteps and even heavier thoughts swirling in his mind. In his pocket, one of the reasons he was there. One of the reasons he was ashamed of being here too.

He had inspected every corner of the hospital corridors he had walked through to get there, just in case. He had also learnt some Cyrillic before coming, but that wasn’t to transcribe anything: it was only so he wouldn’t get a room number wrong. He couldn’t risk asking a receptionist, so better do that by himself and not risk anyone’s life in the process again. One endangered comrade was far than enough for a trickster resorting to cryptic messages. A trickster that made him feel unsafe enough for everyone around him and himself that he couldn’t even ensure himself of anyone’s safety anymore.

 Scheming against someone he knew the face and modus operandi of was easy. It had always been easier to point holes in a known person’s plans and means than some unknown mask smirking upon them with contempt. He couldn’t come up with an actual rebuttal with how little information: even the handwriting wouldn’t get them anywhere. The cleanliness of the knife found at the scene indicated this person had more than likely gotten rid of any DNA possible, hiding their track like a meticulous mind.

For the first time, Nosaka felt unable to do anything real against a situation he should have been able to do something in. It was a wit’s match, after all: there was no reason for him to be this paralyzed by difficulty when he had always been capable of winning his previous chess matches. Suddenly, he tasted powerlessness and it made him go restless. Not even kicking a ball was emptying his mind of the worry.

 When he eventually pushed the handle of the door and entered the room, he was surprisingly greeted by a smiling Ichihoshi, his skin barely paler than usual, waving at him slowly and gently. He didn’t quite know why he couldn’t find any resentment in his teammate’s eyes or demeanour but brushed that side for the moment being: there had to be an explanation and he could just wait for it. Patience was key in a situation where he wasn’t in control. For now, that was: after all, being patient and resisting the assault would provide him with an opportunity eventually, wouldn’t it?

He sat next to Ichihoshi, studying in rapid glances his condition from he could see. An intravenous injection in the left wrist, a bag of blood; another in the forearm, of something else, either painkillers or antibiotics, maybe nutriments. No way to tell for sure, so he skipped to the next element. Bandages on the chest, from what he could see: made sense. He couldn’t see any other limb, but neither arm bore anything that wasn’t clothing, so—

 “Ah,” Ichihoshi suddenly spoke up, “I got told it was just a deep scratch. I wasn’t stabbed or anything.”

Wait, had he just somehow read his thoughts?

“I see. I’m glad it wasn’t as grievous as we thought it was. Speaking of which, how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine! Well, fine enough for someone who got attacked like that, but it’s not entirely unexpected, coming from Orion… Sorry for worrying you all like this. I’ll be fine soon, at least.”

“Will you be back for the next match?”

“I’m afraid not, but I’ll be there for the one against Italy, I promise.”

A smile. Too bad he’d have to crush it.

 “Say, Ichihoshi”, he asked, “I know this is of bad taste and comes with bad timing, but could you translate something for me?”

The smile disappeared as soon as it appeared.

“The word left next to me, right? That’s the last thing I remember before passing out.”

“Exactly.”

 As soon as he put it out of his pocket, left almost intact, Ichihoshi picked the paper in his hands and read through it, expression only slightly more relaxed than the first time around. His hands trembled, almost folding the paper under their press, until they untensed and their discussion resumed.

“This is but the beginning, for I’ll hit two birds with one stone. What’s odd is that it’s written in older Russian…”

“And the first wasn’t?”

“Not as far as I remember, at least… I wonder what they’re trying to mean with this. I don’t think it’s anything positive, though.”

“I doubt their intentions are any better than what’s happened to you anyway. It’s certain that you were the first ‘bird’, but who could be the second?”

“It has to be you, right, Nosaka?”

He paused for a minute to think about it. It only made sense for an Orion agent to get rid of their enemy’s commander, right? He had the flare of the Emperor of Tactics shining all around him in this tournament. He had to be the second target mentioned by the sombre message. There was no other way around, right?

“I suppose you’re right, Ichihoshi. Let’s be careful from then on.”

“Agreed.”

 The day Ichihoshi got discharged from the hospital was, coincidentally, the day Japan went against Brazil in the FFI. As he had expected, there was Orion meddling threaded through the entire faceoff: acupuncture tactics against Mizukamiya choosing to pretend like they’d be doing the same. It all ended with Japan’s victory, a freed Brazilian team, and an injured right hand. Nothing quite out of the ordinary, even if the messages kept popping in his head, and his eye always glanced back at Ichihoshi sitting on the bench, as if it made him feel safer about it all.

Which was a mistake, but on the pitch, he couldn’t have focused on that. There was a match to play and much bigger stakes hanging over the grass, other people to free from the enemy’s clutches, a tactic to pay attention to. At least, he still had his talent for acting to his service, as to seal the deal and sell the lie. The victory absolutely mattered, as it had always done since the beginning of the tournament.

 The blinding optimism of Inazuma Japan’s players almost intoxicated him into sharing their appeased mindset, almost made him forget about the poisonous fangs here to eat him alive in two vicious bites. Two birds, one stone. The vague wording of it still reminded him of nothing precise, but he still told Nishikage about it, brainstorming as they usually did, yet nothing came of it. Talk about running out of inspiration.

Both papers used were nothing but ordinary: white lined paper, standard printing paper that was then cut. Almost a bland modus operandi: it wasn’t original, but it was effective as not to be traced. Contacting the authorities came to his mind, but he quickly realized that’d end up putting all of them in danger in the long run. They never knew how brutal Orion could get on them. Oh, they had never known, in the end.

 The following days untensed his shoulders and brought back some of his sleep. The lack of anything serious happening combined with the training for the match against Italy had taken most of his awake thoughts, trying to piece together a strategy to adopt before it even started, helped by Ichihoshi and his analyses. It was nothing out of the ordinary for them, quite frankly, as this had become their routine, yet something still felt off. The, perhaps baseless, threats still swung over his head like Damocles’ sword.

That was his main mistake there: being unable to tell precisely where the sword was going to fall.

 A mistake he realized far too late, as it only came to his mind when discussing Italy’s team with Nishikage and Ichihoshi before the afternoon training session. It had been a casual conversation until the point where the latter wanted to check the paper again, thinking of something new for the investigation.

“What do you have in mind?” Nosaka asked as he put it out of his pocket and gave it away.

“I’m wondering who the second bird is again… We were sure it’d you, but nothing’s happened yet, and I wonder if it’s not because you’re always with someone else. I got attacked when I was alone.”

“That’s true. I suppose they’re only armed and prepared as to assault people when they can’t be spotted doing so.”

“Considering Orion’s influence and power,” Ichihoshi then pointed out a detail, pensive stance and eyes shining in a new light, “it’d be weird for them to be this careful. They could easily manipulate the situation to their advantage. I also still don’t understand why I wasn’t brought back to Orion either, if their motivation was to neutralize the people going against them. You’d think a traitor would have been a prime target to get rid of, but they left me to bleed out instead…”

“You’re rising a good point. I don’t think our enemy is actually siding with Orion. They seem more like opportunists profiting off from our conflict with the foundation.” He needed a third perspective on this, certain to have finally made a breakthrough in this blind investigation, so he turned to his usual aide. “What do you think of this, Nishi…”

 There was no one to meet his eyes.

“Nishikage was called by Sekiya.” Ichihoshi couldn’t hide the amusement in his reaction. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice him leaving!”

It was weird for him not to notice someone leaving his side, but it wasn’t like it wasn’t planned. He did remember something about a check-up. And it wasn’t like Nishikage couldn’t defend himself, so even if he was alone, he’d be…

“Wait, Ichihoshi.”

Something was wrong.

“You were attacked inside our centre, right?”

“I…” A struggle to remember. “I was. Why?”

Nosaka suddenly rose from his chair, almost punching the table they were sitting around while he was at it.

“His hand! How could have I forgotten about his hand?!”

He left in a hurry, forgetting to drag a half-confused Ichihoshi with him on a chase against time. That was what had sounded so wrong with this entire ordeal…!

 His thoughts were racing inside his head. He was a fool: the second bird had never been him. If they had wanted to get rid of the enemy, they’d have gotten to him first, wouldn’t have bothered leaving their former mole to die, as if giving him a chance to survive the attack. The cryptic Cyrillic had been a lie all along: someone wasn’t out for the team, he was out for him, and he had been a fool to believe otherwise. How in the hell had he taken so long to realize about what Ichihoshi had pointed out?

It was revenge by proxy. Someone was out for him and was using the worst means possible to reach their goals. A cold-blooded revenge whose devilish devise had to have made them be quiet about it, scared of the power of the Orion Foundation when it had never been implicated in the entire thing to begin with. That had been a lie and he had been too focused on something else to notice everything crashing down around him, just because the ceiling hadn’t started sweating dust above his head…!

 Yet, Nosaka’s blood almost ran cold when he saw, in a different corner of their living quarters, his closest ally being put a knifepoint by the person who had most likely already attempted killing Ichihoshi.

The crimson peeking through the bandages on his right hand was all he needed to get furious at the other man and himself alike.

 “No…” A strangled scream, stopped by the slash of a blade.

The unknown man barked some words in a language he didn’t understand, most likely Russian, while putting his available hand on his prey’s mouth. What was going on was absolutely cryptic, undecipherable to him: he lacked the linguistics to understand, he was finding out. Somehow, he had attracted the hatred of a man whom he didn’t even share a language with.

 Obviously, that meant there was no hope with talking with him: his words would never reach him, even on the most literary level of the saying. All there was to it now was trying to act against a situation where he was put at an obvious disadvantage. Not quite an easy feat to accomplish, would he say so himself, especially when trapped in such a catastrophe.

There was no air for a misplay on his part, so he analysed the situation. He was himself unarmed, couldn’t speak Russian, but was the object of the conspiracy. On the other side of a narrow corridor, a corner almost hidden away, Nishikage held at knifepoint and already bleeding and a man who didn’t speak a word of Japanese, armed with just this one knife he was using, face hidden by a mask. Calling for backup or leaving to get some would possibly result in Nishikage dying while he’d be gone or in front of his eyes. Yet, the lack of backup was an issue on both sides, so it was almost equal on that front. He only needed a hostage of his, a human shield to use, he supposed.

 “Nosaka!!”

The echo of Ichihoshi’s voice made him turn around in a bolt, panic settling in for a moment. If the man ever heard someone else coming their way…

“Don’t,” he almost said, before hearing a muffled yelp coming from his side. Turned around, saw his friend bleeding from the chest, and didn’t need anything else.

 Ichihoshi reached him in mere moments, breathless, a ball in his hands. Anxiety could be read all over his face, splattered on his eyes and brows, breath shaking. As soon as he came into the field of vision, the man started barking again, shooting his words like a machine gun, an aura of threat to them.

“A-ah…” Ichihoshi started mumbling, expression worsening.

“You understand what he’s saying, don’t you?” Nosaka asked, still in a hurry, putting all hopes on a comrade’s abilities.

“Y-yeah… It’s kinda hard to translate because he speaks so violently and so quickly, but he’s saying that you’ve ruined his life by interfering with Orion’s plans…” He gulped, hands trembling. “He’s also saying you’re next… We need to stop him as soon as possible!”

“Agreed,” he replied with his head turning back to the lone renegade. “Do you have a plan?”

“I…” Another gulp. “I don’t!”

He was getting impatient with all of this.

“Fine.”

 Noticing a little space between the blade and the throat it threatened to slash, Nosaka picked the ball from Ichihoshi’s arms and calculated an angle as quickly as possible. He had only a couple seconds, if not frames, to have it hit as perfectly as possible, lives being on the line more than previously. Yet, he lacked the time to think about it, so he kicked the ball and hoped for the shoot to do as hoped.

A smirk drew itself on his face when the knife was launched away from the vicious hand, flying in the air, as the hostage freed himself and the blade fell back to the floor, clinking against the tiles. Not leaving the time to the man to react properly, he rushed to the latter, putting his foot as firmly as possible over the guilty wrist. If his intent wasn’t to directly cause pain, there was still a desire in him to do so festering inside his chest.

“Ichihoshi, go get some help, please,” he ordered as calmly as possible, even if the flame was becoming a fire by the moment.

“C-coming!”

 Events after that passed by in a flash. Cries from his teammates, grunts from the assailant, panic, phone calls, sirens. The dopamine rush he had had when tackling the culprit had disappeared as soon as it had come, leaving him to just observe things from a distant point of view, trying to keep himself under control.

He walked mechanically out of the situation, rummaging through a sea of boggled thoughts. Coming after him was one thing: he expected it. Ichihoshi had been tasked with neutralizing him by Orion until fairly recently. However, coming after people close to him to get to him had nothing on that. While one could have argued Ichihoshi had always been a risk for being a former disciple of Orion, it couldn’t justify coming after Nishikage, who had merely been as much of an adversary of Orion as everyone else. Someone made personal what had always been a conflict of collectives and, to that, he may have wanted to punch a wall.

 The door opens right next to him, reminding him to break away from his thoughts. It’s only been a couple hours at most since this entire disaster unfolded, and even then, he’s trying to convince himself it’s been longer than that. Well, even the best of lies won’t work in this situation, so he shakes his head and faces his captain, with whom he’s just had a talk.

Truth be told, Endou had never been the type to hold a grudge against a teammate, even when they had almost committed a crime. It wasn’t that Nosaka had been surprised to be immediately forgiven right after he had finished explaining everything with rage still trembling inside his throat, as it was but the opposite way around: he was more so astonished by Endou not sharing his point of view on the situation. In fact, faced with the anger of a captain whom hadn’t been informed about the message or neither of Ichihoshi or his theories on the matter, he had almost run out of words, yet defended his position anyway.

 Endou’s opinions made sense, he has to admit. The smile and soft tap on his shoulder much less.

“He’s asked for you,” he tells him, a thumb pointing at the door frame. “You should speak to him yourself. See you later!”

On that, Endou takes his leave, leaving his secondary captain alone in the middle of a echoing corridor and a door that just has to have conveyed their conversation on the other side of the room.

 Left with no choice, Nosaka takes a deep breath and enters. There is a galaxy of somewhat similar events where he wasn’t scared by having to confront Nishikage. Not even the tumour intimidated him into being unsure of the outcome of the conversation. However, all previous certitudes are now lying on the floor, because this isn’t the same as before: the situation has changed, his responsibilities too. Mind racing to process through the memories, trying not to succumb to anxiety, he makes his way in.

The discussion about that tumour keeps nagging at him, but he quickly busts out what allows it to do so. Put into perspective, it only affected him: even if he had betrayed Nishikage’s trust by hiding that away from him like he had hid it away from the world until that point, it had never affected Nishikage himself. This, however, is a different situation: should have he guessed not to have been the second bird, this would have never happened. Injustice has always made his blood boil, from the day he was conscious enough to understand the concept, and knowing he’s partially responsible for it this time around makes him want to go back in time and defy the odds to do so.

Instead, he’s just faced with the fatality of facing his own misplays in this messed-up chess game.

 He doesn’t sit on the chair he can guess to still be warm. He only feels like staying up, so he doesn’t have to prevent his eyes from noticing every detail that bothers him. Still, he’s a diplomat of sorts, a representative of Japan to the rest of the world and the captain whenever Endou isn’t on the field. He should be able to talk to a teammate, especially one as close as this one.

“I’ll admit I don’t know what you expect from me,” he starts, unsure himself of what he’s supposed to do right now, scoffing at himself with an excuse for a laugh. “I don’t know what to say, or rather, how to say it.”

Silence on the other side of the line. He doesn’t look up to see what this translates into visually.

“I should have been more careful than that. I blindly assumed I’d be next and forgot they could get to you instead. You were only collateral damage in all this. For that, I’m deeply sorry. It shouldn’t have been this way.”

 He crosses his arms and tries not to sulk. It’d be a dumb thing to do on his part. He’s guilty as charged, doesn’t deserve to be the pitied one. Not that either of them would appreciate pity of all feelings. He believes what he’s feeling is sympathy and not dirty pity, perhaps closer to empathy, but in the end, it’s all words and nuances for nothing. Overthinking what to call something won’t fix the things he’s allowed breaking.

 “Nosaka.”

The calm tone in Nishikage’s voice almost makes him jump, eyes now on his teammate. To his surprise, he gets greeted by what he thinks is a smile.

“What is it?” He gathers himself in time for a reply.

“It’s fine.”

Short and straight to the point. As expected, coming from Nishikage. Still, the sentiment behind it is more perplexing.

“You… do mean it, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

 Nosaka feels a smile coming to his face, inexorable.

“Well then. You don’t mind having been attacked because you were my aide?”

“No.”

There’s just something so much more convincing to a dry, single word, than any long speech he could be given.

“Hearing you say this gives me relief. I’ll be more careful next time so that doesn’t happen again. This was already one time too many.”

“Don’t beat yourself over this, Nosaka. It’s fine. I understand.”

“…Thank you. In fact, thank you for always being there.”

“That’s nothing.”

 Silence rises up again and he goes to finally sit on the chair, whose gone cold. The air isn’t as heavy anymore, yet they don’t exchange words: they’re silent and content in being so, it seems, and he doesn’t have the words to break through it. There is nothing to be added anyway: they’ve made their cases, their points and, in the end, he gets to postpone guilting over all this sometime later, when he’ll have a clearer mind. When the heat of the moment will have passed, when the optimism of the team will intoxicate him again and he’ll have his wounds patched up by the sun.

He likes the calm between two storms much more than as he thought he would until now.

[sozotohakai]

Some of you might recognize the tag. If not, I used it when my brother went through a major stress event. Which was well over a month now, and as I did update (but in ooc post, I forgot about the tag), things have been ups and downs since.

Things are still going ups and downs. It’s been very hard for me emotionally and mentally, as I’ve also had to expose myself to him, having to explain myself to make him understand my limits (or try to, at least).

As it is, I want so much to go back to pattern habits, though that won’t come quite yet since next week is new year. And tomorrow the weekend. I’m doing my best to feel I recover whenever I have free days, though (and I’m super thankful I do manage to recover to something stable somewhat easily).

I also miss so, so much writing. Be it rps, fics, or my work, I miss it all. But I haven’t been able to do much, or do anything at all, with these due to how much mental space I had to give so regularly. It’s pure stubborness and some luck that I finished my secret santas.

There’s at least one issue we need to solve. I don’t know how things are going to go after this, but I am honestly so damn tired of not being able to reassure people. I had to warn when things went down, as I knew it would make me behave differently, then of course I wanted to reassure as soon as I perceived it was better.

Then like a vicious cycle, things went down, then up, then down, and I found myself in a cycle of not being able to either stop reassuring or stop warning things happened. So I’ve taken a decision.

I’m not going to do much sharing anymore. When it was just from times to times, sharing about something was okay, in my eyes, so you’d know why if I was more quiet or not much around. But this? I can hope it smoothes out soon, but it’s now becoming something that files under “things to be aware of that can explain my fickle activity”.

In short: frow now on, I’m not going to share much, if at all, about how it’s going with my brother, and possibly in general. Just know that, if my activity if fickle, it can either be due to focusing my energy on my work and/or fics, or because I’m dealing with life stuff (which now includes my brother, until he recovers and learns to handle himself). And if it’s neither of those, sometimes it’s just that I’m taking time to myself.

I will still be sharing&talking (about stuff) to my friends, obviously. I’m not cutting myself off or hiding my feelings. If we speak ooc, I’m likely to still reply honestly if you want to know how I’m doing. However, for most people, I think I might also just say “its going good!” or “X/Y/Z is bothering me a bit but otherwise fine!” and not go into details.

Thank you, sincerly, to everyone who’s still. Patient and around. I honestly hate, like skin crawling shudder, to be forced to “be negative”. I don’t want to loose people because external things made me not as positive or bright as I am. Allen’s blog, especially, is such a safe and happy place, both to me and as I make it to be. So I’m tired of allowing external, negative factors to influence it.

I won’t be the first and I won’t be the last, to have external factors affecting the mun, and we all implicitely know that a mun can have things to deal with that they don’t necessarily share. So I’ll jump on this track, that it is implicit to know anyone (including me) can deal with things I’m not sharing publically, or barely mentionning.

To be fair, the main reason I would share is to reassure people, so that there was no excessive worry of the “why”, and to let know when things were smoother again. But I guess, my blog can speak for itself.

This makes me think! I will still share, in OOC posts, if I’m been busy with fics or my work. I will also still share if I’m just relaxing. So, if I am not around/am being quiet, and I don’t share about focusing elsewhere or relaxing, that’s when I’m likely dealing with external things. Just know I do share a lot with my mom, and also often seek my friends. And to be fair, I don’t let things beat me down because I’m happy with my life, and just try to remove that from me. Just try. I’ll wrestle whatever tries to the ground and deep into the fire of earth. So don’t worry (too much for those who can’t help it) about me ♥

[glee-dsm-events2]

It’s that time of year again! Time for the Dom auction/Scavenger hunt. This is like two events in one! First, the scavenger hunt where students perform tasks for points. Then the Dom auction where subs can use the points from the scavenger hunt to bid on Dom’s up for auction.

The schedule:

Sunday8/4/-Monday8/5 tasks will be sent to your discords

(As soon as you have tasks you can start handing them out to people)

Sunday 8/4-Sunday 8/11: Scavenger Hunt: Do tasks for points

Monday-8/12- 8/13 Tuesday: Dom auction bidding

Thursday-8/15-Friday-8 /23 Mark Swap Week (Dom’s auctioned off live as subs, subs who won auctions live as Doms)

Why do I want points?:

Because if you are a submissive or a subby switch you can use these points to bid on a Dom in the Dom auction. If you win, that Dom will be YOUR claimed sub for the Mark Swap Week. AND YOU will be a claimed Dom for the week!

More details on exactly how to bid will come later.

All points collected will be added to your graduation point total, even if you use points to bid

Dom’s and other people not interested in bidding can still collect points towards graduation.

How to get points:

Very soon everyone will be receiving tasks on your discord. Please, do not post these tasks, save them. Each task is worth twenty points, but here’s the catch - You cannot do your own tasks. You must go around to your classmates and ask them what tasks they have, perform one of those tasks, and prove it, to get the twenty points. (You may only do one of someone’s tasks, in other words, you may only get twenty  points from each person, and may only give twenty points to each person.)

Of course, none of this is mandatory, but even if you don’t plan to bid, please play along and help your classmates out. After all, any points you earn, you get to keep toward your graduation points. Those up for auction should hand out the task they have but do NOT do tasks for points. (The ones up for auction get 350 points just for participating.) Only one person can collect points for a task, no splitting points, sharing points, combining points etc. Even if someone else helps you complete a task, only you get the points.

What to do when you’ve performed a task:

Once you have found someone with a task that you think you can handle, tell them you plan to perform that task. You then have 24 hours to provide proof that you’ve completed the task or the task is up for grabs to anyone.

When can I start? As soon as you see tasks in your inbox, you may begin asking for tasks from others. (Remember, you do not do your own tasks)

Highlights:

You use the points to bid on people

You get the points by doing other people’s tasks, think of it like a giant game of truth or dare, or a scavenger hunt.

Don’t post the tasks you were given, save the message in your inbox, and only tell people that ask what your tasks are.

Each task can only be given to one person.

So, if you have “build a human pyramid” and “Eat a bug” submitted to your character and Silas comes to you asking what tasks you have. You tell Silas the two tasks. He can pick ONE of these tasks to perform. You then hold that task until he provides proof that he did it, or 24 hours are up. When he has provided proof, you award him the points. (Keep track of who you give points to with the form below. Keeping track of the points is going to be critical!)

If someone doesn’t provide proof in 24 hours that they’ve completed the tasks, you can then allow someone else to take that task.

You cannot share, combine or just give away your points.

Each character as a total of 40 points to give away, 20 to each of two people.

People up for auction can’t perform tasks, as they cannot bid, but they do still need to give their points away.

If your character really wants a Dom up for bid, make sure you do as many tasks as you can to get the points you will need.

Many of the tasks start with “Convince someone” or say specifically not to let the other person know you’re doing it for points. Please play along. If you’re trying to complete the “Get a student to howl" task, don’t just ask them to, or tell them you need them to for points.

Some, however, require a partner or a group of people to complete, like “build a human pyramid”~ these are okay to tell other characters what you need them for and that its for points. ONLY YOU will receive the points, however.

Tasks that start “Find someone who” generally are ones where you can let the other person in on it.

If in doubt, just ask an admin :)

Providing Proof:

Please copy and paste this form and post it under a read-more privately, or safe it as a draft to be posted when the scavenger hunt portion of the event is over if you prefer to keep your point total private. It will help you keep track of your points. Edit the post as you get more points or give away more points. Please tag this post as “gleedsmpoints19” so that I can find it

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My task one:(copy and paste the task submitted to you here)

Completed by: (put in which character completed this task and link to the post if possible)

My task two:

Completed by:

My task Three:

Completed by:

My points log:

1. (Copy and paste in the task you completed and who you got the task from)

2. (Example: “Build a human pyramid” ~Silas Karofsky (link to the post )

3. ( “Eat a bug” ~ Ryder Lynn (link to the post)

Total points earned: (#tasks x 20)

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THIS IS IMPORTANT:

When you’ve completed a task, you need to notify the task holder, and show proof on the dash:

For a picture proof: Find a picture that proves your character completed the task. Do the @mention of the task holder, and tag any other parties that helped you complete the task.  Also, link the post with proof on your masterlist. If you bid later and cannot prove where all your points came from, your bid will be invalid!!!

NO! You cannot head-cannon tasks. You must provide SOME kind of proof on the dash that it’s happening.

When you get proof that someone has completed your task, message them IC or OOC to confirm and award points.

Okay, I think that’s everything! PPPPPPPLLLLEAAASSE, re-read and ask if you don’t understand. I’m sorry about the length and complicated-ness of everything.

If you have any questions, ask on discord or the main.

Have fun!