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bamf-jaskier · 4 years

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I’m reading a non-canon short story written by Andrzej Sapkowski about Geralt and Yennefer’s wedding called Something Ends, Something Begins and my heart is literally so full. Even Asaps has to get tired of having so much angst so this short story is a literal fluff-fest and I love it so much.

So I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes from the story and if you all want to read it, here is the link.

"One day she'll break her neck," growled Yennefer, watching Ciri galloping in the splashing water, bent, firm in the stirrups. "One day your crazy daughter will break her neck."

Geralt turned his head and without a word looked into the sorceress's violet eyes.

"All right, then," smiled Yennefer, without averting her eyes. "Sorry, our daughter."

She hugged him again, pressing herself against him firmly, bit him in the arm again, kissed him, and bit him once more. Geralt touched her hair with his lips and carefully pulled her gown over her shoulders.

I am literally...I swear, we finally get domestic Yenralt and it isn’t even in the canon universe. I am literally going to fight someone. This is so damn cute and the way Yennefer is like “our daughter” my goddamn heart.

The list of the guests wasn't that long. The engaged couple compiled it together and charged Dandelion with sending the invitations. Soon it turned out that the troubadour lost the list before he could even read it. Because he was ashamed to confess, he used a cheap trick and invited whomever he could. Of course he knew Geralt and Yennefer well enough that he didn't miss anyone important, but it wouldn't have been him if he didn't enrich the list of the guests by an admirable number of quite random persons.

Why does it just make sense that Dandelion would fuck this up? It’s so in-character, putting him in charge of the guest list was the first mistake.

No one invited the golden dragon Villentretenmerth, because no one knew how to invite him and where to look for him. To the general astonishment the dragon turned up, of course incognito, in the form of the knight Borch Three Jackdaws. Of course, where Dandelion was present, one could not speak of any incognito, but even so few believed when the poet pointed at the curly-haired knight and claimed it was a dragon.

The image of Dandelion just pointing at this dude and yelling “He’s a dragon!” is fucking hilarious, especially when you consider most people don’t know dragons can shapeshift.

"Was it you who invited

Triss Merigold?

"No," the witcher shook his head and silently praised the fact that the mutation of his blood system didn't allow him to blush.

"Not me. I think it was Dandelion, even though all of them claim to have learned about the wedding from the magical crystals."

"I don't want Triss to be present on my wedding!"

"But why? She's your friend."

"Don't make a fool out of me, witcher! Everyone knows you slept with her!"

"That's not true."

Yennefer's violet eyes narrowed dangerously.

"It is true."

"Is not!"

"It is!"

"All right," he turned around angrily. "It is true. So?"

The sorceress was quiet for a moment, playing with the obsidian star on the black velvet ribbon around her neck.

"Nothing," she said at last. "I just wanted you to admit it. Never try to lie to me, Geralt. Ever."

I love the little bickering. Also, like, even though Triss and Yennefer are friends try valid of her to not want her at the wedding. She slept with Geralt!! Love how Geralt tries to deny it at first but gives up ten seconds later. Geralt really tried to pull the “just friends” card and Yennefer was having NONE of it.

The doppler accused Villentretenmerth of racism, chauvinism and lack of knowledge on the discussion's topic. Therefore, the insulted Villentretenmerth changed for a moment into his natural dragon form, destroying several pieces of furniture and causing a general panic. When the situation calmed down, a fierce quarrel began, in which humans and non-humans accused each other of lack of open-mindedness and racial tolerance.

A quite unexpected twist in the discussion came from the freckled Merle, the whore who didn't look like a whore. Merle announced that the whole debate was stupid and pointless and didn't concern true professionals, who don't dinstinguish between such things, which she was willing to prove on the spot (for an adequate reward, of course), even with the dragon Villentretenmerth in his natural form.

In the silence that fell abruptly in that instant they heard the female medium proclaim that she's willing to do the same, and for free. Villentretenmerth quickly changed the topic and began discussing safer topics, such as economics, politics, hunting, fishing and gambling.

Everything about this sequence is perfect, absolutely prime. Dragons and Dopplers fighting, Merle saying she would fuck a dragon in dragon form. This has EVERYTHING.

"I'll get going right after the feast," Ciri repeated.

"I want... I want to feel the wind in my face on the back of a galloping horse again. I want to see the stars on the horizon again, I want to whistle Dandelion's ballads at night. I'm longing for a fight, the dance with a sword, I'm longing for the risk, for the delight victory brings me. And I'm longing for solitude. Do you understand me?"

"Of course," Geralt smiled sadly. "Of course I understand you, Ciri. You're my daughter, you're a witcher. You'll do what you must. But I must tell you one thing. One thing. You can't run away forever, even though you'll always try."

"I know," she replied and cuddled herself closer to him. "I still have hope that one day... If I wait, if I'm patient, then I, too, perhaps will live such a beautiful day like this... Such a nice day... Even though..."

"What, Ciri?"

"I've never been pretty. And with that scar..."

"Ciri," he cut her off. "You're the most beautiful girl in the world. Right after Yen, of course."

"Oh, Geralt..."

"If you don't believe me, ask Dandelion."

"Oh, Geralt."

Ciri telling Geralt she wants to travel and move on is just heartbreaking but it makes sense. She has more adventures to go on. Geralt’s story is ending. Hers is beginning. Also Ciri feeling insecure about her appearance and Geralt being a good dad and comforting her? Amazing.

"I have unfinished business there," she hissed. "For Mistle. For my Mistle. Even though I avenged her, but for Mistle one death is not enough."

Bonhart, he thought. She killed him out of hatred. Oh, Ciri, Ciri. You're standing on the edge of an abyss, daughter. Not a thousand deaths would avenge your Mistle. Beware of hatred, Ciri, it consumes like cancer.

"Watch out for yourself," he whispered."I'd rather watch out for others," she smiled ominously. "It pays off more, it works better in the long run."

I will never see her again, he thought. If she leaves, I will never see her again.

"You will," she answered unexpectedly and smiled with a smile of a sorceress, not of a witcher. "You will, Geralt."

When Geralt asks what Ciri plans to do on her travels she literally says: I am going to avenge my dead girlfriend and murder some people. Which is not a healthy coping mechanism but damn if the idea of a gay revenge story doesn’t sound good to read.

The priestesses Iola and Eurneid also sobbed, when Yennefer refused to put on the white wedding dress they had made for her. Not even Nenneke's mediation helped. Yennefer cursed, threw around hexes and dishes, while repeating that she looks like a fucking virgin in white.

The enraged Nenneke began yelling, too, and told the sorceress that she behaved worse than three fucking virgins at once. Yennefer responded by conjuring a ball of lightning and demolishing the roof of the corner tower, which had its good side, too. The crash was so terrible that Caldemeyn's daughter got shock from it and her diarrhea stopped.

Once again, this scene has EVERYTHING. Yennefer getting so pissed it demolishes a tower. The shaking being so bad it stops diarrhea. Also, why does Asaps use diarrhea so often in his books? You know what, I don’t want to know.

Triss Merigold and the witcher Eskel from Kaer Morhen, were seen again, sneaking, arms linked, into the garden summerhouse.

Is that...IMPLIED TRISSKEL?? OKAY THEN. All the Trisskel friends out there: They hooked up at Geralt and Yennefer’s wedding I don’t make the rules.

"Yen..."

She looked breathtaking. Black wavy locks, curled up with a golden tiara, fell in a shining cascade over her shoulders and the high collar of a long white brocade dress with black-striped sleeves, pulled together on a bodice with countless drapes of lilac ribbons.

"Flowers, don't forget the flowers," warned Triss Merigold, all in dark blue, and handed a bouquet of white roses to the bride. "Oh, Yen, I'm so happy..."

"Triss, darling," sobbed Yennefer all of a sudden, upon which both sorceresses embraced and kissed the air around their ears and diamond earrings.

"Enough of those endearments," ordered Nenneke, smoothing the folds on her snow-white priestess dress. "We're going to the chapel. Iola, Eurneid, hold her dress, or she'll kill herself on the stairs.

Triss and Yennefer’s friendship is so sweet sometimes. Like, they would literally murder each other but they would also murder FOR each other too.

Yennefer approached Geralt and with a hand in a white lace glove she straightened the collar of his black cloak, embroidered with silver. Geralt offered her an arm.

"Geralt," she whispered into his ear. "I still can't believe it."

"Yen," he answered her in a whisper. "I love you."

"I know."

I don’t know is Asaps is purposefully referencing Star Wars here but either way this had me tearing up. Geralt and Yennefer deserve a happy ending and even if it’s not officially canon the author wrote it so this is canon in my head.

The wedding was splendid. Ladies and maidens cried collectively. Herwig was the master of ceremony, a former king, but still a king. Vesemir from Kaer Morhen and Nenneke stood in as parents of the betrothed couple, Triss Merigold and Eskel as witnesses.

Okay but why is Asaps sneaking in the Trisskel? I want more of it and this pairing definitely intrigues me. Also Vesemir and Nenneke as their parents? That’s so damn sweet. I swear to fuck this entire short story is too damn cute and I want more of it.

I cannot stress how much I love the energy Merle brings to the table. Saying she would straight up fuck a dragon. The power of it all.

#I am OBSESSED #like this has EVERYTHING #and I mean EVERYTHING #the witcher #yenralt #asaps #andrzej sapkowski #The Witcher books #myposts #yennefer #geralt #triss #eskel #trisskel #ciri #wedding

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the-slasher-files · 3 years

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OC: DOMINIK DIMITRI KULOKOVA

SON OF ANDREI KULOKOVA AND XAVERIA LAH-MO

This is 100% a collab with @horrorslashergirl

Nickname: Dom, Niki, White Wolf, Dragon

What he calls his s/o: Babe, beautiful, lapa (Russian for little paw meaning sweetie pie)

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Demisexual

Nationality: Russian, Norwegian, American

Languages: Russian, Norwegian, English, Romanian, Dutch

Voice: He is pretty soft spoken and doesn’t talk much but when he does, it demands attention. Dom grew up around many different people so his accent is unique; At first you hear a faint Russian accent but after a while he sounds more American from his mother and uncle (Akshay Lah-Mo) then there are a few words that he almost sounds Romanian from growing up around Decebal, Nadia and Alexander.

Occupation: Animal rescuer, exotic pet trade breeder and self taught engineer

Location: Northern Russia (status: still living with parents)

Hair: Snow White faux hawk that goes all the way down to his neck

Eyes: Icy blue, sometimes look white in the reflection of snow on a sunny day. Intense. Sharp. Powerful. When he is killing his pupils are blown wide and a darkness seeps into the blue from the rims almost making them look black.

Height: 6′3

Body: Quite lean but powerful, definitely not a show off with his body and hides it under baggy clothing

Tattoos: Soft tattoos for the soft boy. Both arms, his whole torso, back and neck are covered in tattoos of women, nature, animals, cherubs and soft quotes in Russian and English

Clothes: Cyberpunk modern streetwear clothing. He sticks to mainly blacks and greys. Often wears cargo pants with lots of straps and oversized pockets, hoodies and large over sized jackets to hide his frame, along with vests and harnesses. When killing he wears his hood up and a black half face mask.

Weapons/fight style: Extremely skilled in hand to hand combat from his father and the people he grew up around. Skilled in guns but doesn’t like to use them. He makes his own weapons such as the blades on his forearms, also uses brass knuckle knives.

Preferred Method of Kill: This is the interesting part about Dominik, he doesn’t kill until he absolutely needs to. He will torture and maim a person but gives them a chance to change their ways, if they don’t he will come back and he will use slow torture, using his blades to cut people open then apply various types of animal venoms on the wounds making someone die slowly and painfully.

Motive: Killing/hurting people that illegally trade exotic animals and poachers

Smell: Fresh rain and blood orange with hints of violet leaves, black tea and motor oil

Relationship with parents: As a young boy Dominik was very close with both parents equally not being able to see a flaw at all within them and getting equal attention between him and his twin sister Anastasia.

However, as he got older and started to become his own person he was hardly aggressive and loved to just be quiet and play on his own, even just going into the woods by himself only to get lectures about leaving the home alone, especially from Andrei but that was just out of love and protection for his son. Dominik was also always more of a softer boy which Andrei didn’t really know how to ever deal with which lead him to be harsher and colder with Dom even though he loves him so much, they just do not get each other.

Having the rocky relationship with his dad, Andrei, Dominik found comfort in his uncle Akshay Lah-Mo and his mother, Xaviera. On many occasions Andrei was busy with Anastasia so he would often feel like Andrei’s little disappointment when in reality that isn’t true but, Dom would always go to Akshay for fatherly love and he was more patient and understanding, they would take long nature walks and just get everything off his chest, the white wolf feels very deeply and has a lot of thoughts he needs to get out. He would also do the same with Xaviera and she taught him everything about animals and how great they are so he took up a lot of her animal rescuing traits and how to deal with the most dangerous like a charm.

Dominik prefers the quiet and peace that Akshay and Xaviera have along with their gentle nature towards him, Andrei’s brutish and blunt approach confuses him. He just doesn’t understand why Andrei is the way he is with most things, his temper, the desire for the kill and a lot of his values so Xaviera becomes the closer parent.

Personality: When you first meet Dominik you might take him for a little awkward or a loner or even cold but once you get to know him he is a really cool dude. Just because he doesn’t talk much or like to be around the crowds doesn’t make him weird, he just wants to in his room listening to his music while taking care of his animals or working on his weapons.

He is definitely the guy that only speaks when spoken to, often times he won’t strike up a conversation unless you are very close with him or if he is standing up for you. Dom is comfortable with the silence and just enjoying the company of the person beside him so don’t be put off by that, he’s not mad or upset he just is more interested in observing people than speaking with them.

Once you break the quiet exterior and learn more about him, Dominik is a very nice person and he feels very deeply. He is more for profound deep conversations then mind numbing meaningless ones, that’s for sure. With feeling deeply comes thinking deeply, and Dom has a very active mind, not to the extent as his dad but it is pretty busy and he always has something on the go, from tinkering with his motorcycle to rescuing a new animal. One of the best ways to get to know Dom or help him clear his mind is going for a nature walk, the calmness and peace of the wilderness brings him out of his shell.

Having Andrei as a father this brings some of his qualities, Dominik is a bit of a dare devil that loves to race his motorcycle through the streets and he loves to play with some of the most dangerous reptiles on earth. Another quality he gets is his dad’s temper, but it takes Dom a long time to explode but when he does it is scary and you better run before getting your face punched in.

#andrei and Xaviera’s baby boy #my writing #oc #horror #slasher #slasher x reader #Dominik Dimitri Kulokova

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aros001 · 3 years

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First time read through light novel vol. 18. Random thoughts.

I somewhat suspect the author was hungry while writing this volume.

Also, wow, I knew Kizuna was short but the prior artworks never gave me the full idea of how short. She

is only chest-high compared to Naofumi and Glass (I suppose that could make Glass happy, though; ease of access for Kizuna and whatnot).

Given that, outside of the natural gluttons like Filo, S’yne, and the killer whale sisters, the only person on Naofumi's side with the "Eat food for EXP" matter is Itsuki, I think this is him falling dangerously close to thinking only in terms of game mechanics instead of reality, much like the other three heroes had been early on. Theoretically, yes, if you can gain levels and strength just by eating, why wouldn't you do a lot of it? But he's almost outright ignoring the physical discomfort and pain it's causing his allies and seeing only the numbers. Not to mention that he himself doesn't appear to be eating nearly as much, as he's focus on the cooking.

That said, it is cute that this is the first time in her life Filo is starting to feel full.

Chapter One: Sloth

OH SHI-! Oh, wait. Wrong franchise. We're good. I did not want to have to imagine Kizuna biting her fingers off (Kizuna: "My brain trembles!!!).

If Kizuna is indeed suffering under the curse of Sloth, I'm curious what triggered that specific sin for her. We only have the four heroes of Raphtalia's world to go off of but each sin applied to that specific hero for a reason. Naofumi: Wrath because of his hatred of what Witch and Trash put him through. Ren: Greed because he wanted more EXP, levels, and loot; a toxic extreme of his solo-adventuring. Itsuki: Pride because he believed only in his view of justice. And Motoyasu: lust and envy because of his obsession with Filo and being kept away from her. Kizuna's obsession with fishing, even when there's other important matters that need to be dealt with, I suppose could be considered lazy and thus lead to sloth as its extreme, but it feels a little bit like a stretch.

As he did so, the books from a nearby shelf whirled up into the air, forming . . . a dinosaur . . . perhaps. No, a dragon. The monster’s name was “Magical Tome Dragon.” Now things were really getting a bit crazy. A dragon created from books! Was this some kind of joke?

I want a Yu-Gi-Oh card of that.

“Don’t tell me, Glass is like the Raphtalia of this world? Could we really get that lucky?”

I mean, that's what the fandom likes to joke when it comes to her and Kizuna.

Breaking the sloth curse through Kizuna's love of fishing was about what I expected. Not complaining, of course. Again though, I'm just wonder what about her coincides with Sloth. She prefers talking it out and making allies as opposed to fighting but I wouldn't exactly call that lazy or slothful either.

Kizuna had a lot of folks like this among her allies—people who had started out as enemies but then became allies. If I fought someone as an enemy, there was generally no coming back—there were exceptions, like Sadeena and Shildina, so it was probably better not to generalize.

Glass and L'Arc are literally standing right next to Naofumi as he thinks this and Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki all tried to murder him at one point or another. S'yne was part of the gladiator fights too, now that I think about it, and while they never fought he and Trash were definitely enemies for a while. This dude turns more enemies into friends than freakin' Naruto. Being kind of oblivious is part of Naofumi's character but I suppose this could be seen as an interesting look as to how exactly he considers someone an enemy. If they fought him for reasons he eventually came to understand and sympathize with, then he perhaps doesn't consider them as ever having been a "true" enemy.

Aww, Glass is jealous of Tsugumi being close to Kizuna. And unlike Raphtalia with Naofumi, Kizuna doesn't have any kind of tragedy that keeps her opposed to relationship and would require Glass to be patient. I suppose Glass could simply be afraid of hurting their friendship by proposing romance or even that Kizuna doesn't swing that way. And this is from Naofumi's perspective, so Glass being gay could be completely off the mark. Still, it'd be nice to get a solid landing one way or another. Even Eclair unknowingly rejecting Ren at least give solid confirmation that he's into her and why they're not together.

“What! I’m the Hunting Hero! I don’t handle the cooking part!” Kizuna complained.

“And I’m the Shield Hero!” I retorted. Not the Stewpot Hero! If anyone called me that, I would kill them with cookery!

And technically, you're not even that right now. Not with that mirror on your arm. The mirror is cool and all but I am looking forward to Naofumi eventually getting his shield back. He just feels incomplete without it.

“Almost feeding time!” one of them said. Others proceeded to chime in.

“Yes . . . the time we’ve all been waiting for.”

“The moment we live for, basically!”

“Even if I only get to eat one mouthful . . . that is the fuel that will keep me alive!”

“I’ll never eat anything but his cooking ever again!”

“I think the schweiz is the best! It has to be!”

“No! The stietz!”

“Hey! No fighting! We’ve been warned about fighting!”

Did they stumble across a food cult?

“It isn’t bad,” Filo said. “It just isn’t as nice as yours, Master.”

“Well, okay . . .” I replied.

“All of the heroes have cooked in the village, Mr. Naofumi, but Filo and everyone else all feel the same way,” Raphtalia told me.

Filo also grew up with Naofumi's cooking since birth, so while he's already a good cook you get the added taste of home for her. I've said it before but out of everyone I consider Filo to be the most like Naofumi's daughter.

“Then you wish to settle the bill,” she replied. I thought it was free. As my suspicions intensified, the girl spread both of her hands and continued. “How was the food at Seya’s restaurant? It was so delicious, wasn’t it? If you wish to become a member, please leave all of your assets or hand over anything that can be turned into money. If you leave some personal items as collateral, you can have some time to go and fetch some offerings.”

Yep, that's a cult alright.

“Master’s food!” Filo said.

“They’ll get a surprise when they taste what you’re cooking, kiddo,” L’Arc said.

“Indeed. Your victory is assured, if that’s the best they can do,” Glass agreed. I was still concerned about how aggressive they were being. Were they hopped up on endorphins or something? They weren’t acting in character at all.

My first thought was that the OOC behavior was some side effect Naofumi didn't realize came with the Mirror weapon's power-up method, but then why wouldn't Raphtalia or Kizuna be effected when they have been eating the food too? Then I thought maybe they were more used to eating Naofumi's food in general and would have a tolerance to any addictive effects, but then why is Filo still effected?

“That’s the best dish Seya’s restaurant has to offer! Seya’s curry bag! And it’s Fifth Floor too!” one of the MCs shouted. I barely stopped myself from tipping over onto the ground. He really was just reheating a premade curry in a bag! So he was allowed to heat and serve already finished dishes? I mean, that might give me some ideas myself . . .

“The flavors that are normally lost in reheating have been sealed in the bag using proprietary technology! Now you get the maximized flavor from the moment you open the bag! This truly is the ultimate culinary technique! Everyone, watch this kitchen miracle closely as it unfolds before your astounded eyes!” The MCs continued their diatribe, but it just made it harder for me to keep a straight face. It was all a matter of perspective. Capturing the flavor in a bag was certainly a worse approach than making it on the spot.

“Naofumi . . . am I imagining things? It looks to me like he’s just adding or warming up instant ingredients using hot water,” Kizuna said.

So, like most other antagonists in this series lately, Seya is just an arrogant, entitled fraud high on his own stolen power. Why am I not surprised? Though he is giving me a bit of a Kazuma from Konosuba vibe with how he managed to figure out how to recreate items the old heroes would have talked about from Japan. It's odd to say he doesn't have nearly the same level of charisma as Kazuma give...well...it's Kazuma and he's deliberately written to be a massive scumbag.

I do like with his magic powers and awesome cape, Naofumi is basically the little muddy boy meeting a superhero, one who will save the day through cooking.

As for Kizuna . . . I handed her some of the fish we had brought in and had her cut it up. She’d finished with the poisonous fish already. Her life as a fishing fool was paying off now. She knew her way around a fish. The blood had been skillfully drained, and overall, she was a step ahead when it came to gutting and cleaning.

...You think the Hunting Tool can turn into something like the Wunder Boner

I explained pointedly, looking at Seya, Trash III, and the other MC. Trash III responded by flipping me off. I could taunt with the best of them, and I mouthed some swear words back.

I mean, one of my favorite scenes in Isekai Quartet was Naofumi and Shalltear sassing each other, so I can agree with that.

“Pollution?” Kizuna asked, looking puzzled.

“You didn’t notice that?” I replied. “Well, just watch.” She wasn’t the brightest bulb, that was for sure.

“Hmmm, I think I need to go wash up,” the rotund noble said. “I’ll be right back.” The judges proceeded to take turns visiting the washroom. Once they had all returned, it was time to eat Seya’s food.

“Huh?” Kizuna, L’Arc, and Therese were looking puzzled. The other diners around us too. I guess there was cause for a little suspicion.

...Did Naofumi give them laxatives?

“Ah!” Kizuna finally cottoned on. “So that’s why you used so many medicinal herbs in your dishes!”

“Exactly. The reason they all wanted to go to the washroom after eating was to expel the toxins. I also used other herbs to bolster the lethargic feeling that would bring on,” I explained.

He gave the judges f**king laxatives! That's hilarious! I get the actual explanation he gives is more complicated than that, relating to purifying and digestion and getting them to finally take notice of the toxins in Seya's food now that they're free from its hold, but it's funny to think that's basically what he did. He won a cooking competition through dishes that encouraged the judges to take a sh*t (or a p*ss, I suppose).

“Hey . . . you’ve been reading too many cooking manga. It’s an illusion that delicious and good things will be evaluated highly. What you need is popularity and demand,” I said. Of course, it had to taste good, but putting the emphasis on that as a bare requirement was also a problem. If you were planning on selling food in a restaurant, of course it had to taste good. Customers came because of other elements, because of popularity. If Seya’s restaurant collapsed here, it would cause trouble for all the judges. That was why I’d created an escape for them. In order to realize the future that boy wanted.

While we don't see Naofumi selling his wares so much anymore because he has far less of a need to, it is nice we do still get that cynical and merchant side of him. All that time didn't just go to waste and it's still a key part of his character.

“What, then? What do you want?” Seya asked.

“There’s someone behind all of this, correct? Someone pulling the strings. If you tell us all about that, we’ll let you go. Hey, I have an idea. Write it down on this piece of paper here. I want a record of this.” I said and passed a piece of paper to him. Seya’s expression immediately brightened.

“That’s all you want? Fine, I can—” But the rest of that sentence vanished into an awful grunt. The moment Seya tried to write a single word, his head simply crumpled in on itself. He managed a brief scream, and then his entire melon exploded. I didn’t want to traumatize my allies, so I quickly threw up a cage and blocked out the grisly scene. Then I gave a sigh.

Well...that was kind of f**ked up for Naofumi to do. Don't get me wrong, after what they had to do to get Takt to be willing to confess, this is much less horrific. But Naofumi did basically just give Seya false hope and then trick him into executing himself. I get why he did it and how dangerous the vanguards are, but it is interesting to think that while ROTSH isn't the darkest of the light novel series I've been reading, Naofumi, save for Ainz Ooal Gown, is definitely the most morally grey of the protagonists compared to Kazuma, Subaru, and Goblin Slayer.

“No matter how delicious the food is, if you eat the same thing every time, you’ll start to get sick of it. Once you get sick of it, you won’t overeat simply because you won’t want to. I’ve been applying that concept to my food,”

That is better than what I was thinking with Naofumi getting too into the game mechanics. And boy do I feel for his friends. It's the same thing that killed me off of soda for a few years. Obviously it's worse to starve than be overstuffed but it's still not a pleasant experience.

We were talking about the primary reason why Kizuna was summoned here in the first place. To put it simply, the idea was to revive the Demon Dragon.

YYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

And they Tanya'd him too; reborn as an infant of the opposite gender. So does that make Kizuna or Naofumi Being X?

“Seriously . . . it brings dragon tears to my dragon eyes to see you, the great Shield Hero who defeated me, now reduced to this.” The Demon Dragon placed her front paws against her head and muttered sadly to herself.

“I hope you aren’t looking for sympathy,” I said harshly.

“Just think about it for a moment. The same bunch who shouted about defeating me and saving the world are now back, having screwed everything up, relying on me—their sworn enemy—to save them! Take a look around. Does this world look like it’s at peace to you? Well?” the dragon said, really coming for me now. What was worse, I didn’t really have a reply. This world was still plagued by humans fighting each other and had been ravaged by the vanguards of the waves. Everything the dragon had said so far had been so on the money that Kizuna and Glass probably didn’t have any response either. “Can you see how this might feel like something from your own past? Having been chased as a criminal, and then having to clean up after those very weaklings who were chasing you after they had been beaten down by the waves and people from another world?” That punch really landed hard. I wanted to call it a low blow, but she was basically providing a stunningly succinct summary of my life in these other worlds.

Seriously though, after Kyo, Takt, and the various other vanguards, it is so refreshing to have a villain who speaks with some dignity and can actually make a decent point or two, rather than "I'm strong so I can do whatever I want! Losers!" In my vol. 16 random thoughts I compared Takt to All For One from My Hero Academia and I still feel the same way. The two are not that much different goal-wise. They wanted the world and had the power to make it theirs, thus their actions. It is an immature goal when you think about it but AFO did not act anywhere near as immature as Takt and it made him feel so much more intimating. He would sometimes mock his enemy but when he did they were deep cuts that he knew would get under the skin of someone he truly hated, like All Might, rather than just throwing out insults and acting like a brat. And the Demon Dragon is the same (the High Priest too, now that I remember him, even if I don't talk about him as much). I liked Glass as an antagonist because she was intimidating, spoke only as much as she needed to, and was very powerful compared to the protagonists at that time, getting Naofumi to fear facing her again and giving her weight to the story and for the audience. Finding out later her motivations gave her some depth and added grey to the situation. The Demon Dragon is not nearly as sympathetic, but he still works for a lot of the reasons she did. There's presence to him, er, her. It's not a brat who needs to be knocked off their high horse but a genuine threat.

And being able to work with the heroes weirdly makes that even better. The Demon Dragon calls a 100 year truce, not because she's on the side of good, but because she wants there to still be a world around for her to take over. She's completely open about her goal, which ironically makes it easier to trust her.

“That should do for now,” the dragon said. “Hmmm, and this is a female body. Excellent. Shield Hero, under the condition that you will ultimately mate with me, I shall provide even greater cooperation.” So that was how long it took for things to take a crazy turn.

Still a little weird that she wants to f**k Naofumi though. And when the anime gets to this part there is almost definitely going to be a fanfic or doujin. Actually, now that I think about it, there are going to be creators getting some mileage out of when the Demon Dragon tried to take Naofumi over earlier in the series.

“Can’t you make do with Kizuna? She’s one of the four holies from this world. You’ll just have to overcome the gender barrier,” I said.

“Why me?!” Kizuna exclaimed.

“What are you planning on doing to Kizuna?” Now Glass turned a hostile gaze on me too.

Ahh, Naofumi's such a d*ck, I love it. Also, now that's two rivals in one book for Glass. She's almost caught up with Raphtalia.

It would have suited us better if the enemy was a bunch of morons. It was annoying that life never worked out quite so easily. We had no idea how bad it was going to get with the waves, so we had to plan our moves carefully and move to prevent this “fusion of the worlds,” whatever that meant.

Wouldn't that be a heck of a comeback to my bitching about the villains? The ones behind the vanguards have been sending out their idiots first, the ones arrogant and drunk off their power, to soften up the heroes first and cause a bunch of damage but that they know will ultimately just get killed. Takt and the others getting offered up as sacrificial lambs basically because those like S'yne's sister don't like them either.

“I’m starting to feel sorry for Naofumi,” Kizuna agreed.

“He probably thinks you two are in the ‘harem,’” I told them.

“I really don’t like that,” Glass responded. “No, I don’t. I don’t like that at all.” I wasn’t sure why she said it three times, but I didn’t like it either. Just for the record.

“Naofumi is a friend and a comrade, but we’re not like that!” Kizuna retorted. I wondered if she really understood the situation. She was the type who needed things to be said directly to her face.

“A shame we don’t have Fohl here. Even L’Arc would have worked,” I said. Just a few guys mixed in might have broken the group up a bit and prevented it from looking like a harem.

“Naofumi . . . even if we did have some guys, it would probably just give them some different ideas. Like . . . boys love?” Kizuna said. It sounded like, whatever the composition of the party, they would presume a lewd relationship with me at the center.

You know, you never hear about this kind of thing with Ren and Itsuki. Motoyasu went out of his way to have a harem and he still doesn't get it thrown at him as much as Naofumi does. Maybe it's one of those "He protest too much" kind of mindsets, where the more Naofumi denies it the more people think it's true.

“You got lucky. If a wave had occurred with the world of our illustrious leader, we were planning on shattering you. That’s the problem with this system; that’s the only way to get the reward for destroying a world,” the sister explained. I’d heard this talk about rewards for destroying worlds before, I vaguely recalled. I had no idea where that reward came from.

So there's a third world mixed up in all this. Obviously there already was the implication of multiple universes with S'yne and such but now there's a big spotlight on somewhere besides Raphtalia and Kizuna's worlds, where the big bad supposedly lives.

“That’s pretty much what I was expecting. Shield Hero, let me tell you something interesting,” the Demon Dragon began. Then she looked at the Artificial Behemoth’s chest again. “That part there houses a corrupted holy weapon from this world, which has artificially turned the monster into one of the four holy heroes and has allowed it all the power-up methods. It’s basically the monster version of a holy hero.”

I'm somewhat suspecting it's the Blunt Force Holy Weapon, given how easily that beast is smashing through barriers.

The soul that Raphtalia had pulled from the vanguard of the waves was not much like the body it had come from. Instead, it was a gloomy, Japanese-looking guy who was probably in his thirties.

...

“The vanguards of the waves are people who have been reborn or transferred over here after being selected by the one who assumes the name of God. They are given all sorts of abilities, such as the power to steal holy weapons or seven star weapons. They come into these worlds and start causing chaos,” I explained.

“Reborn? You mean like having spare bodies, like Kyo?” Raphtalia asked.

“No, something else. Just their souls were led to this world from Japan, and then they were reborn here as someone from this world. With their memories of the past,” I said. For example, they are people who died in unfortunate accidents—people like Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu. This “god” would whisper to them that they had died an untimely death and offer to reincarnate them in any world they liked. They were already dead and so had no reason to reject such an offer. If they did, the “god” probably claimed to be taken with their resolve and promised to give them additional cheat powers, basically forcing them to accept. In some cases, maybe they were just forced to be reborn, no matter what they felt. I’d read books like that, loads of them. Now that they knew being summoned to another world was actually a thing, why not getting reborn or transferred over?

So I was right about Takt being some OC f**kboy! They're all OCs! They're people from Japan who died and now are getting to live out their sh*tty power fantasy fanfiction as their equally sh*tty original character! As a source of useful but disposable minions, that's actually kind of brilliant. We saw how bad Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki had been at the beginning (with Naofumi himself potentially on that path as well before he was betrayed) and they were chosen by weapons that actually have the world's best interest at heart. Take those same people and have a malevolent entity constantly feeding their egos and pushing them to do terrible things because "it's their right to do so" and "they're the real heroes" and you've got an near endless source of wrenches to throw into the works of those trying to stop you.

Of course, now I just have this image in my head that the World Eater is Aqua from Konosuba. Which would actually be kind of amazing, not gonna lie. A godly being reincarnating otakus from Japan into a new fantasy-based world for a singular purpose and giving them special powers and tools in exchange.

“What if . . . and just hear me out . . . what if this one who assumes the name of a god is somehow responsible for my game knowledge?” Itsuki quietly suggested. That sounded possible to me now. Even if being summoned was the correct process, having some prior knowledge would change your actions once you arrived.

Before, when the Shield Spirit had explained to Naofumi that he was a first pick choice and the other three heroes were their weapons' third picks, I'd theorized as to why and how the final selection ended up. Assuming the weapons were telling the truth about being able to grant any wish once the waves were over, it could be assumed they have some power over reality even in the four's home universe. So I'd theorized the weapons set up a window to snag their picks, with the shield getting Naofumi and the other weapons, by sheer unfortunance, had their picks keep missing the window and thus they became more desperate, thus why their third picks had to die in order to reincarnate because the weapons couldn't leave things to chance anymore.

Now, with the new speculation and info, we can assume the World Eater has some influence over other universes too, including the heroes' original ones. So two new theories come to mind.

The first, and one I find most likely, is that the World Eater is causing video games that are similar to the worlds impacted by the waves to appear in the original worlds of the heroes. In theory, the butterfly effect could cause a chain of events that'd lead to such games existing, so it's not like the World Eater is just dropping them into each reality. It would just need to nudge things in the right direction. If video game knowledge is actually detrimental to the heroes, then that leaves less choices for the Holy Weapons (at least in regards to what their ideal candidates would be) and opens up more choices for the World Eater, since it wants arrogant and know-it-alls like that for vanguards.

The second, which could still work with the first, is that the World Eater is aware of humans the Holy Weapons have their eyes on and is actively sabotaging them. A weapon has a first choice, so the World Eater throws the game or other things in their path to turn them into a less desirable option, possibly even vanguard material.

After all my comments about the recent antagonists, S'yne's sister is starting to grow on me. She's filling a similar role as Witch; manipulating and using people before ultimately tossing them aside. But like the Demon Dragon and High Priest, there is more of an air of dignity about her than with Witch. With the exception of her sister, she's not really talking down and belittling anyone to try and promote her own strength. Like Glass she feels like someone who is genuinely powerful and doesn't need to prove it. How she's using the enemies of the week is curious and perhaps even a little scary because it does feel like she's testing and experimenting and these losses are not really a loss for her. And there's the added mystery Sadeena threw in over what she really wants. Whether bad guy with a bigger agenda or a secret good guy, she's more enjoyable to read about, as opposed to the vanguards where the biggest enjoyment they offer is watching them get taken down, and even that's not much with all the whining and tantrums they have after they're beaten. She's different from Witch and Kyo. She's not completely high off her own power and doesn't refuse to recognize her enemies' strength. Her casually teleporting away for a bit when she realized the battle was turning in the heroes' favor gave a ton to her character.

I'm just looking forward to when she gets a name other than S'yne's sister or Moron Woman. I appreciate Naofumi's completely lack of caring for learning the names of people who don't deserve it, but if she's going to be a serious antagonist or secret ally, a name would help.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/shieldbro/comments/kdwai7/first_time_read_through_light_novel_vol_18_random/

#rising of the shield hero #random thoughts #reddit repost

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itsivyberry · 4 years

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tri-wizard champion {5}

The Maze

Draco Malfoy x Hufflepuff!Reader

a/n: my Christmas gift to you because 2020 has sucked ass and I want to finish this series before it’s over❤️ enjoy also READ THE MF TRIGGER WARNINGS THEY ARE REALLT IMPORTANT THIS TIME

word count: 4590

warnings: major character death, lots of blood, anxiousness, mentions of vomiting, sad sad stuff dude, also literally loss of a limb (there’s a warning before it begins, please don’t read if you can’t stomach it)

summary: the truth about the Y/L/N’s is to be revealed soon when Y/N is facing the dangers within the maze of the third task.

tag list: @drawlfoy @fanficflaneuse @ccelinewritess @accio-rogers @babyhoneystvles @nekee-lilac02 @dracofeltonmalfoy

masterlist

{ 1 } { 2 } { 3 } { 3.5 } { 4 } { 5 } { 6 }

gif credit: @harrysweasleys

The final task approached rapidly.

News about the sudden death of Barty Crouch spread throughout the student body quickly.

Y/N was growing anxious, more than she ever was for any other task. The spots from the grindylows had faded to a lighter color, similar to the two gashes on her back.

But now here she was, waking through a doorway to face the entire Hogwarts student body along with families and the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students clad in a black and yellow outfit to represent Hufflepuff.

The three Hogwarts champions stood by their entrance to the maze. Cheers could be heard from every angle at which they stood, a lively march being played by the band.

Many students had homemade banners with the champions’ last names written all over. Y/N smiled at the sight of Draco holding a large banner with a silly drawing of her and Y/L/N written in big, bold, sparkly letters. She gave him a funny face and a thumbs up, and he blew a kiss right back mouthing “good luck.”

“Sonorus!” Dumbledore casted the amplifying charm, and the sounds of cheers and music died out. Students clambered to sit down, eager to hear about the task.

“Earlier today, Professor Moody placed the Triwizard Cup deep within the maze. Only he knows it’s exact position. Now, as Mr. Diggory...” cheers erupted at the sound of Cedric’s name, and Amos held his son’s hand high in recognition, “...Miss Y/L/N and Mr. Potter...” cheers grew louder and students stood, yelling for Harry and Y/N, including Ron, Hermione, and Draco, “...are tied for first position, they will be the first to enter the maze, followed by Mr. Krum...” more cheers, “...and Miss Delacour.”

“The first person to touch the cup will be the winner. I’ve instructed the staff to patrol the perimeter. Should, at any point, a contestant wish to withdrawal from the task, he or she need only send up red sparks with their wands. Contestants! Gather around. Quickly!”

Y/N rushed up, following Cedric to where Dumbledore stood. Her heart was pounding.

The five champions huddled up, and Dumbledore placed his arms around Y/N’s and Krum’s shoulders.

“In the maze, you’ll find no dragons or creatures of the deep. Instead you’ll face something even more challenging. You see, people change in the maze. Oh, find the cup if you can. But be very wary. You could just lose yourselves along the way.” The ominous undertone to his voice gave Y/N goosebumps.

Draco watched intently, trying to listen to what Dumbledore was saying to the five teens, but had no luck. His heart was pounding just as hard as Y/N’s was.

“Champions, prepare yourselves!” Dumbledore instructed, and the crowd cheered again.

Without thinking, Y/N turned around and bolted to the stands, stopping right in front of where Draco was.

“Wish me luck!” She said, jumping up to wrap her around a around his neck and pulled him close. He sat up to lean over the railing blocking the two of them, hugging her so tightly. “Awes” and “oohs” circled around the two of them.

“Good luck.” Draco whispered in Y/N’s ear, pulling back just enough to press his lips on hers in a rushed and anxious kiss.

She pulled away quickly, touching her feet to the ground and smiling warmly at him, before rushing back to her designated entrance to the maze, unknowing of what she should find inside.

Y/N looked into it, her heart hammering. It was too foggy to see any clearer than maybe 6 feet in front of her, and the hedges were impossibly tall.

Her thoughts began to bite at her. What if I don’t make it through in time? What if something in there kills me? What if I get lost and nobody can see the red sparks?

She wished she had the support of a representative like the other champions did. Y/N looked over to see Amos giving Cedric a tight hug, whispering something in his ear.

Just as quickly as he had hugged his son, he made his way over to the young girl and gave her a big hug too. “You’ll do amazing, Y/N. I wish both you and Cedric the best of luck.” He said into her ear.

“Thank you, Amos.” She smiled at him, allowing him to step back over to his son.

Cedric smiled at her, but it was wobbly. He could tell she was just as nervous as he was, and tried his best to comfort her with the distance between them.

“On the count of three. One-“ Dumbledore’s voice was cut off by the canon exploding early. Y/N couldn’t breathe as she watched Harry take the first step into the maze. Cedric followed right after, and the lively music from before flooded through the small arena.

The second Y/N stepped at least two feet into the maze, the entrance sealed off. It was deafening, how silent it had suddenly become.

Draco watched closely, as his girlfriend was suddenly separated from the eyes of the spectators. He knew her parents were watching somewhere in the crowd, feeling just as nervous as he was.

The only thing Y/N could hear was her own staggered breathing and the snaps of twigs beneath her feet. The passage was narrow, and she kept her want tightly in her hand.

The maze seemed to change every passing second, passages forming quickly. She was running now, trying to make sure she wouldn’t get crushed.

The first scream caught Y/N’s attention. It was loud, and bone chilling, and echoed throughout the entire maze. She was so sure the other champions must’ve heard it.

She was frozen. The scream must’ve come from Fleur, she had decided, and was silently praying the girl wasn’t hurt.

It was when an explosion over head, red sparks from only a passage over, had broken Y/N from her trance.

From outside the maze, everyone was silent at the first sight of surrender. Draco was repeating a mantra in his head.

Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N.

A glimmer caught her eye. She had barely moved from the entrance, not nearly putting in as much effort as she thought she would.

Y/N walked slowly towards it, whipping around and keeping her eyes open for any threat. A twig cracked behind her, and she screamed when something tackled her to the ground.

Draco heard the second scream. He knew it was Y/N after Fleur was removed from the maze. It took all of his control not to jump from the stands and force his way into the maze to find her himself.

“Y/N? Oh, Merlin I’m so sorry!” Cedric pulled himself off of her. “I thought you were Krum! He’s gone insane!” He helped her up.

Y/N’s eyes were blown wide and her breath was short. “You- you scared me! Don’t do that!”

Cedric must’ve seen the glimmer too, a glowing object in the distance.

“Together?” He asked her, not taking his eyes off the prize.

“Together.” She spokes quietly, taking the first step towards the cup.

Indistinct shouting not very far from the two Hufflepuffs made both of them jump. Krum, who’s eyes seemed to be incredibly cloudy from what Y/N remembered they actually looked like, was shooting hexes at Harry.

Harry’s defenses were down. “Get down!” Cedric yelled, jumping in front of Y/N and dodging the hex that had missed Harry. Y/N shrunk into the hedge to the left of her, covering her face with her hands.

“Get down!” Cedric yelled once more, Krum yelling another indistinguishable hex at Harry who was now on the ground.

“Expelliarmus!” Y/N gained the courage to jump up, hitting Krum square in the chest. He was thrown further away from the three of them, and seemingly unconscious.

Cedric ran over to him, kicking his wand from his hand. Y/N and Harry both realized he was about to cast another spell on him, Godric knows which one.

“No! Stop!” Harry yelled, holding him back. “He’s bewitched, Cedric!”

“Get off me!” He shoved Harry harshly.

“He’s bewitched!” Harry repeated.

“Cedric! Stop! Listen to him!” Y/N yelled, holding him back as well. Cedric shoved her to the ground so hard, her wrist snapped in half from the angle at which she hit the hard dirt. She cried out and it echoed, using her elbow to sit up and her feet to push away from the two boys. She had already caught a look at the ungodly angle her hand was suddenly bent at, and it made her want to vomit.

Cedric realized what he had done at the sound of his best friend’s scream. He was about to hold his wand up to send sparks for both Y/N and Krum, but Y/N jumped up before he could.

“Stop! We’ve already made it too far.” Her voice trembled. She was shaking violently, keeping distance between her and the two boys.

It was silent for a moment, the deafening sound taking over between the three teenagers just as when they first entered the maze.

“Together?” Cedric asked quietly, repeating what he said earlier, and looking at both of them.

“Together.” Harry and Y/N said at the same time.

Just as Y/N took a step towards them, a violent gust of wind hit her back and loud cracking echoed.

“Go!” Cedric yelled, grabbing Y/N’s good hand and running towards the cup. Harry ran after them, as quick as he could.

They made it to the center of the maze, and there stood the magnificent Triwizard Cup.

“Go on! Take it!” Cedric yelled.

“Together!” Harry yelled back, looking at Y/N who still had tears streaming down her face.

“One, two, three!” The three students jumped forward in the nick of time, grabbing ahold of the cup. A bright white light filled Y/N’s vision, and she was suddenly dizzy.

The three of them dropped onto the ground. She could sense their location had changed before she opened her eyes.

Harry and Cedric were on the ground near each other, gasping for breath. Y/N was thrown on the ground along with the cup, just a few feet away from them. The shock was beginning to wear off, and the pain was almost unbearable in her wrist.

“Come on, Y/N. Get up.” Cedric spoke quietly, the stillness of their new location scaring him. “You okay?” He asked both of them.

“Yeah.” Harry stood, looking around. Y/N allowed Cedric to help her stand, and she could finally see where they were. He held her broken wrist loosely in his hand, putting a protective arm around her shoulder.

A graveyard. The cup was a portkey. The sky was dark and cloudy, fog covering the rolling hills. Y’all tombstones towered over the three of them.

“Where are we?” She whispered.

“I’ve been here before.” Harry spoke suddenly.

“It’s a portkey. Harry, the cup is a portkey.” Cedric smiled mischievously down at the glowing cup.

“I’ve been here before.” Harry repeated. “In a dream.”

“Cedric! We have to get back to the cup. Now!” Harry’s voice was filled with fear and realization.

“Harry, what’s wrong?” Y/N asked, her eyes filling with tears again, thinking the worst that could possibly happen. Were they set up?

“What are you talking about?” Cedric pulled Y/N closer, trying to keep her safe from whatever Harry had realized.

A door creaked open loudly in front of them. It made Y/N jump, and the first tear rolled down her cheek.

Harry began shouting when a figure walked from the doorway. A scruffy man turned as he collapsed on the ground, and a fire was lit from under a large cauldron in front of the doorway. Cedric released Y/N from his hold, rushing over to Harry.

“Harry! What is it?” He spoke, his voice cracking from fear.

“Get back to the cup!” Harry yelled out of pain again, sounding rather irritated.

Cedric put distance between him and Harry as the figure stepped out from the doorway. Y/N immediately recognized him as Peter Pettigrew, a good friend of her parents before he betrayed them all for Voldemort. Her eyes were wide when she realized what he was holding in his arms.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Cedric spoke, holding his wand up as a threat.

“Cedric, back down now!” Y/N yelled pulling his shoulder back. He shrugged her off.

“Kill the spare. Keep the girl alive.” A raspy voice spoke.

“Avada Kedavra!”

“No! Cedric!” Harry yelled, attempting to stand but was too late.

A bright green light temporarily blinded her. She watched the unforgivable curse hit Cedric and throw him over her head and behind her. The second his corpse hit the ground, a loud sob escaped her mouth.

Peter rushed over to Harry, using his wand to force him to stand. He backed him up into a statue that locked him in place.

“Do it! Now!” The raspy voice spoke again.

Peter hesitated for a moment. He walked over to the cauldron, keeping a hold of the blanket in his hands but dropped whatever was holding it into the boiling substance.

“Bone of the father unwillingly given.” A disgusting bone was levitated from the ground, caught on fire and into the cauldron.

Y/N’s breathing was too short when the realization of a dead body behind her set in.

“Flesh of the servant...” he turned suddenly, rushing to Y/N and forcing her towards the cauldron.

“Stop! What are you doing to me!” She yelled, trying to release herself from his grip, but it was too strong.

“Willingly sacrificed.” A large knife was pulled from his sleeve. He forced her broken wrist above the steaming substance as she thrashed against him.

********THIS PART IS GROSS PLEASE PLEASE DONT READ IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE REALLY GORY STUFF!!!!!!!!!!! ‼️‼️‼️‼️

With no hesitation, he dug the sharp knife into her wrist, cutting through the bone and severing her hand into the liquid below. She screamed, louder than she ever thought she could. Blood spurt from her hand, staining the grass by her feet. Peter threw her on the ground, away from him and Harry.

She made quick work, ripping part of her shirt to wrap around her wrist, trying not to pass out from the loss of blood and the sight of her bone. Y/N had been taught what to do in this situation, just not to herself. She could barely even register what was happening as her fight or flight took over.

“And blood of the enemy...” he used the same knife to cut part of Harry’s sleeve. “Forcibly taken.” Peter dug the knife into his wrist, blood rushing down Harry’s arm and dripping from his elbow. He cried in pain, and it made Y/N wince.

Peter tapped the hilt of the knife over the cauldron, letting a few dropped of Harry’s blood sizzle into the liquid.

“The Dark Lord shall rise... again.” He spoke, breathing loudly.

Harry’s screams broke Y/N from her daze due to the blood loss. The entire cauldron caught on fire, melting away to reveal none other than the slimey, naked, disgusting body of Lord Voldemort.

Black smoke surrounded him before his pale feet touched the ground, forming into a cloak of some sort.

Y/N could hear him inhale deeply, running his hands along the pale, veiny skin on his head. She could tell this was the first time in a while he had taken his human form.

Peter stepped forward, his face full of awe and adoration.

Voldemort walked forward to Peter, looking down and laughing quietly but maniacally and the form he had taken.

“My wand, Wormtail.” Voldemort spoke harshly toward his follower, holding out his hand. Peter brandished the wand, bowing deeply and holding it out to Voldemort.

“Y/N, hey, look at me! You’re going to be okay. We are going to make it out of this. Stay close to the portkey.” Harry whispered, turning his head to see Y/N in her awful state. She looked petrified, seemingly wishing this was some sort of nightmare.

They watched as Voldemort took the wand from Peter, inhaling deeply.

“Hold out your arm.” He commanded Peter.

“Master...” Peter started to cry. “Thank you, master.” He began to hold out one of his arms.

“The other arm, Wormtail.” Voldemort spat. Peter’s eyes went wide as he held his other arm, allowing Voldemort to take a grip on it.

He shoved the tip of his wand onto the bare skin of Peter’s wrist, and the dull ink that once was there grew darker, revealing the Dark Mark in its true form.

Thunder rumbled throughout the graveyard. Y/N jumped, trying to stay as quiet as she could.

Voldemort looked up into the clouds. Y/N followed his gaze, and right before her eyes a dark skull formed. The skull opened its mouth, and a thick trail of smoke bellowed out of it, heading right towards where they were. The smoke broke off into different paths, becoming darker.

The second the smoke touched the ground, a person appeared. There were too many for her to count. Dressed in dark cloaks, skull masks and pointing hats, she couldn’t identify any of them.

“Welcome, my friends. Thirteen years, it’s been, and yet... here you stand before me as though it were only yesterday. I confess myself... disappointed.” Voldemort spat again, his voice echoing through the graveyard.

“Not one of you tried to find me. Crabbe!” Voldemort yelled, rushing up to one of the figures and ripping the skull mask off. Dark smoke followed.

With just a flick of his hand, Voldemort was now revealing the figures.

“Macnair! Goyle!” Y/N recognized the names. Crabbe and Goyle, two of Draco’s closest minions. She was silently praying there wasn’t a Malfoy among them.

“Not even you, Lucius.” Voldemort walked up to the last standing figure, ripping of the mask. A crow flew away violently from behind them.

Y/N was trying to stop the bleed of her wrist, but it soaked through the fabric she had wrapped on it. She was fighting off the black spots of her vision.

“My lord,” Lucius was brought to his knees. “Had I detected any sign, a whisper of your whereabouts-“

“There were signs, my slippery friend. And more than whispers.” Voldemort interrupted him.

“I assure you, my Lord, I have never renounced the old ways.” Lucius removed the hat from his head, revealing a familiar platinum blonde. Y/N let out an involuntary sob as she realized, but soon quieted down.

“The face I have been obliged to present each day since your... absence... that is my true mask.” Lucius continued as the other Deatheaters around them stood.

“I returned.” Peter spoke shakily, raising a hand for recognition. He gasped and doubled over when Voldemort rushed over to him, the cloak bellowing behind him.

“Out of fear, not loyalty. Still, you have proved yourself useful these past few months, Wormtail.” Voldemort’s voice softened just the slightest bit.

Y/N didn’t have time to realize when he was walking over to where she sat on the ground, over by Cedric’s body.

“Oh...” he spoke, pushing his face around with his foot. Y/N winced as he tutted loudly. “Such a handsome boy.”

“Don’t touch him!” Harry yelled, shrinking back when Y/N flinched and Voldemort glared at him.

“And who might this be, Wormtail? I see you used her for the spell.” Voldemort sneered, looking down at Y/N.

“Y/N Y/L/N, my Lord.” Wormtail spoke up. From behind Voldemort, Y/N saw Lucius whip around with an unrecognizable look on his face.

“Y/L/N?” Voldemort repeated, and Peter nodded. “Stand, girl, now.” He demanded.

Y/N stood slowly and shakily, keeping her composure in front of the Dark Lord himself.

Voldemort’s hand whipped out to grab her wrist, taking a look at the damage that was done. She inhaled sharply, letting out another sob from the grip he had.

“Well done. You have served me well, Y/N.” Voldemort said, dropping his grip and letting her arm fall limp. She kept a hard face despite the tears running down her cheeks.

Her eyes flickered to Harry. He had an expression that said “back down.” Voldemort followed her line of sight to look at the boy he hated so very much.

“Harry. Oh, I’d almost forgotten you were here. Standing on the bones of my father. I’d introduce you, but word has it you’re almost as famous as me these days.” Voldemort paused, maintaining eye contact for a second more.

He turned suddenly to his followers. “The boy who lived. How lies have fed your legend, Harry. Shall I reveal what really happened that night 13 years ago?”

“Shall I divulge how I truly lost my powers? Yes, shall I?” Hs muttered to himself, walking away from Harry.

“It was love. You see, when dear, sweet Lily Potter gave her life for her only son, she provided the ultimate protection. I could not touch him. It was old magic. Something I should have foreseen. But no matter, no matter. Things have changed.” Voldemort ended his monologue, rushing up to Harry and raising a hand as if to strike him.

“I can touch you... now.” He brought his pointer finger to touch Harry’s scar.

The screams that filled Y/N’s ears were agonizing. She shrunk into herself, wincing away from the noises. When Voldemort screamed along with Harry, ripping his hand away from his face, the screams stopped.

“Astonishing what a few drops of your blood with do, eh, Harry? Pick up your wand, Potter!” Voldemort released the statues grip on Harry, letting him drop to the ground.

“I said, pick it up! Get up! Get up! You’ve been taught how to duel, I presume, yes? First, we bow to each other. Come on, now, Harry. The niceties must be observed. Dumbledore wouldn’t want you to forget your manners, would he? I said, bow.” He was speaking so quickly, almost going crazy at the thought of fighting Harry once and for all. With a wave of his wand, Harry was forced into a bow.

“That’s better. And now!” Voldemort growled, running towards Harry and throwing him onto the ground. Y/N watched, using her feet to shove her back farther from the scene. When she hit something, she turned around quickly to see Cedric.

“No, no, no, no.” She kept repeating, grabbing his face in her hands. It was as though she finally realized what had happened. She had lost her best friend. Sobs were heard from where she sat on the ground. Her tears dripped down her chin and onto Cedric’s cold face as the dual behind her continued. She winced at every hex that was sent to either of them.

“I’m so sorry, Ced. Please. Please.” She begged him, grasping at his shirt, still sobbing violently.

Y/N never took her eyes off of Cedric, even when Voldemort and Harry cast such strong spells that they collided, created a blinding light from behind her. It was went Harry’s Expelliarmus spell finally hit the tip of Voldemort’s wand when she turned around to see an abonormallt large spark erupt.

It took the form of Cedric, alive and smiling at the two of them. Another old man, presumably a muggle, took place on the other side of them. Two more sparks formed to be a woman and a man. The man was speaking quickly to Harry.

“Harry! When the connection is broken you must get to the portkey! We can linger for a moment to give you some time, but only a moment. Do you understand?” Harry nodded.

“Harry, Y/N,” Cedric spoke from above. Y/N’s tears began to start again at the sound of his voice. “Take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my father.”

“Let go.” The woman’s voice was heard. “Sweetheart, you’re ready. Let go. Let go!” All four spirits rushed forward when the connection was broken.

Harry ran quickly over to Y/N and Cedric.

“Hold onto him! Accio!” Harry pointed his wand at the portkey, grabbing Y/N’s hand as she wrapped her arm around Cedric’s. The portkey took them right back to the arena.

The three of them landed hard on the ground. Cedric’s body was sprawled, and cheering erupted. The lively music started once more, nobody noticing what had happened. Harry was crying now.

“Harry, let go of him. Let go of him!” Y/N sat up, pulling Harry off of Cedric’s body.

He knocked her off, the exhaustion finally hitting her as she collapsed on the ground. Fleur rushed forward, and Y/N had never been so glad to see her.

She screamed loudly, looking around and covering her mouth with her hands in terror.

“Harry!” Dumbledore yelled, rushing from his spot in the stands. Hagrid hesitated to continue clapping when he realized what was happening. The music finally died down with the sounds of a trumpet flailing.

“For God’s same, Dumbledore, what’s happened?” The minister rushed to the ground by Harry and Cedric. Two Beauxbatons girls were helping Y/N up, her head lolling as she finally began to lose consciousness.

“Help! We need help here!” One of the girls called, her accent thick. Draco rushed up so quick, breathing heavy. “I’ll take her.” He spoke to the girls.

Y/N looked up quick at his voice. “Don’t touch me! Don’t let him take me! Get away from me!” She screamed, thrashing away from his hands.

He seemed so hurt and confused, putting his hands up in surrender. Y/N could tell he looked scared, more than she was at the mere sight of him.

Madame Promfrey was quick to rush up to Y/N, Taking her from the girls and putting her on a stretcher. “She’s coming with me alone.” She spoke harshly to every student surrounded it Y/N. Gasps were heard as the stretcher was levitated and everyone could see the damage.

“That’s my boy!” The faint cry of Amos filled Y/N’s ears. She used all her strength to lull her head to the side, watching her best friend’s dad collapse next to his son’s corpse. Her face scrunched up as hot tears escaped her eyes, dripping from the bridge of her nose onto the fabric of the stretcher.

Y/N eventually succumbed to the darkness, not caring who could see how hurt she was. Every student saw the blood soaking her shirt, how dirty she was, and her missing hand. It was an awful sight, and some people had to turn away so they wouldn’t lose their dinner.

Pomfrey was quick to take her to the Hospital Wing, fixing her up and cleaning her off so she could rest comfortably.

~.•*✰

Students would linger in over the next few days, checking up on Y/N to see how she was doing. She was always the same every time; asleep, but alive.

There wasn’t much Pomfrey could do about her hand. Tragic, it really was. Y/N would have never been considered as a follower to Voldemort, much less a loyal servant to him.

Dumbledore helped shield her from the press and the students that were begging to know what had happened in the maze. He made sure Y/N wouldn’t wake up to threats or feel incredibly unsafe somewhere she called home.

Professors were now worried about how to tell the students about the death of the golden boy, and how to not let it slip that Voldemort is back, alive, and rapidly gaining power.

But that was an issue for when Y/N woke up, and the truth about her family would finally be revealed.

~•.*✰

a/n: wow! Sorry about this one! I decided to leave on a cliff hanger, lol my bad. I’m done using the movie as a reference so the last chapter is coming straight from the noggin onto my cellular device. Merry Christmas tho, hope y’all got everything you wanted! Happy holidays and happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, or whatever you celebrate during this time! Love you all so much

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theultimatefanficwriter · 4 years

Note

What about Mondo protecting his gf from a rival gang?? I’m livin for protective Mondo™️ rn hahaha ty!!!

Oh hell YES! Dude, this prompt is awesome! Thank you so much for it! I love protective Mondo!

Trigger Warning: Attempted Sexual Assault

Not Yours-Mondo Oowada x Reader

You paced your apartment, chewing worriedly on your nails. You glanced at the clock for what seemed like the hundredth time. It was nearly past midnight. “Where is he?” You muttered to yourself. “He should be home by now.”

Terrible thoughts began crossing your mind as you imagined what could have happened to your boyfriend, Mondo Oowada. He was the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader, so danger wasn’t new to him. But he usually wasn’t out this late. At least not without telling you.

Just as you were about to call him, you heard the door knob turn. Your gaze shot over to the door and waited anxiously as it opened. You let out a relieved breath as you saw Mondo. You ran over to him and hugged him. “Mondo! You’re ok!” You exclaimed.

He chuckled and hugged you back. “Of course I’m alright, baby.” He assured you.

You pulled away after a moment and glared at him. “What do you mean, ‘Of course I’m alright’? You were gone for hours longer than normal! And you didnt text me! I thought something had happened to you!”

Mondo chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, right. Sorry, Y/N. We were staking out the rival gang. We think they’re making a move on our terf.”

You crossed your arms. “And you couldn’t send me a quick text to let me know?! I thought you were dead!”

Mondo rolled his eyes. “Babe, nothing can hurt me, let alone kill me. I’m fine, aren’t I?” He walked past you, shrugging his jacket off and throwing it onto the couch.

You clenched your fists and went after him. “Don’t just walk away from me, dickhead!” You exclaimed. “You aren’t fucking invincible! You might be fine now, but what if next time you aren’t? Imagine what that’ll do to me!”

“That won’t happen, Y/N.” The gang leader said bluntly, standing beside the couch with his arms crossed. “I’d never let it.”

You groaned in annoyance. “You can’t control everything, Mondo! Some things are out of your control!”

“And they’re in yours?!” He snapped, spinning around to glare at you. “What fucking use would texting you do?! So you’ll know where to find my God damn corpse?! Jesus, Y/N, just fucking drop it! Even if I do get killed out there, there’s nothing you can do about it, so just get over it!”

Your eyes widened, and you stared at him for a while as tears filled your eyes. “Get...get over it?” You whispered. “How would I be able to just...get over it if you died? Would you be able to get over it if I was killed? ...Do you care about me that little?” The tears began to fall faster.

Mondo’s angry face softened. “Ah, shit. Y/N...I-I didn’t mean-” He reached a hand out towards you, but you turned around and ran out of the apartment, your boyfriend calling your name as you did.

You ran a good distance from the apartment building before you leaned against a wall and began crying into your hands. You stayed that way for a long time.

Eventually you had calmed down enough and you thought about the situation again with a clearer head. You loved Mondo so much. You were always worried for his safety whenever he went out. The fact that he didn’t worry angered you. What if he got reckless, and got himself hurt? Or worse? He was the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader, so you knew he was a professional at this sort of thing, but still. With his hotheadedness he could easily get into a situation he couldn’t get out of.

On the other hand, maybe you shouldn’t have said what you did. You knew he cared about you, and if you died he would most likely blame himself for it like he did with his brother. And he did have a point. You wouldn’t be able to do anything in time even if he did text you. You just wanted to make sure he was alright, but maybe you were a bit too overbearing about it.

You let out a sigh and looked around. It suddenly hit you what you did. You had ran outside.

Alone.

At night.

On streets known for criminal activity.

What the hell were you thinking?

You clung tightly to yourself as you began hurrying back to your apartment.

“Hello there, gorgeous~”

You stopped dead at the voice, and slowly turned around. There you saw a group of men approaching you. You swallowed. “Um...H-hello?” You replied nervously.

They chuckled. The one in front walked closer to you; a tall, muscular man with short brown hair and blue eyes. The rest of his crew stayed back as he continued to approach you, forcing you to back up until you hit a wall. “What’s a pretty girl like you doing out here all alone, hm?~” He asked, placing his right hand against the wall beside your head.

You looked up at the man, shivering at his smirk. “Uh, I was just walking home...” You answered quietly. “So, if you’ll excuse me...” You moved to the left, trying to get away from him.

But he put a stop to that, slamming his left hand against the wall, trapping you between it and him. He chuckled lowly. “Hey now, there’s no rush. Come on, stay a while.”

You swallowed anxiously, fear slowly taking over. “N-no thanks. My b-boyfriend is waiting for me.”

The man smirked and snickered. “Oh, I know your boyfriend, doll. Mondo and us have a bit of...history.”

It was then you noticed the jackets they were wearing. The emblem on the front was of a dragon breathing fire that then engulfed itself. You paled. “You...you’re the Blazing Dragons...” You whispered.

The leader chuckled. “You got it, babe. And we know all about you. You’re Mondo’s little sweetheart.” He took one of his hands and grabbed your chin roughly. “Dunno how that muscle head got a beauty like you, though.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “F-fuck off.” You snapped at him. You were trying to appear brave, even though you were terrified.

It must’ve been obvious, because the man in front of you smirked and shook his head. “You’re cute, doll.” He told you, before releasing your chin and slapping you harshly across the face.

You let out a surprised yelp and fell to the ground, reaching up to hold your cheek. You barely had any time to react before you were pulled up by your hair and thrown into the wall, causing you to let out another pained cry.

“Don’t talk back to me.” He snarled, pulling your head forward a bit then slammed it against the wall. He leaned in close to your face. “You got that, bitch?”

You were close to tears from both pain and fear. You nodded. “Y-yes. P-please dont h-hurt me...”

The man holding onto you’s intimidating snarl slowly turned into a smirk. He released your hair and instead went back to pinning you to the wall. “See? Aren’t things much better when you cooperate?”

You let out a soft whimper. “Please let me go.” You begged.

The leader chuckled lowly. “Sorry, sweetheart. It’s nothin’ personal, but we gotta leave a message to Mondo.” He took one of his hands and slowly brought it down to-

No.

Your eyes widened and you pushed at his chest. “No! Stop!” You exclaimed, trying to get away from him. You didnt get very far before the leader grabbed your wrist and pulled you back towards him.

“Get back here, you skank!” He hissed. He looked over to his gang members and pushed you towards one of them. “Hold the bitch!”

You began to hyperventilate as your arms were grabbed by one of the men. The leader began walking slowly towards you with a sinister grin on his face as the sound of a motorcycle engine approached.

Wait....a motorcycle?

You watched as the leader got a metal pipe to the shoulder, causing him to stumble back as the motorcycle engine got quieter.

You saw all of the Blazing Dragon members began looking around frantically. The sound of the motorcycle got louder again, and this time you could see who was driving it.

Mondo.

You smiled in relief as he jumped off of it and immediately whacked the goon holding you with the pipe. As that one fell down and you scurried to the side and out of the way, one of the other members jumped onto your boyfriend, holding onto his shoulder. Another took a bat and hit him in the side causing Mondo to wince. Anger filled his eyes, and he threw himself at a building, colliding the man on him with the wall and knocking him out.

Mondo turned to face the one that had hit him. He growled at the man and swung the pipe at his head. The guy managed to avoid it at the last second. Mondo snarled at that, a vein popping from his forehead as he rushed the guy. The goon’s eyes widened as the Crazy Diamond leader tackled him to the ground, then punched him several times in the face until he had passed out.

About this time, the leader had gotten up. Mondo noticed this, and he slowly turned to face him. He gripped the metal pipe tightly, his breathing heavy, his teeth clenched, and his face red from anger as he stalked over to the man.

The leader of the Blazing Dragons reached for one of the bats dropped from his dropped men, but Mondo reached him before he could and kicked his knee, causing him to kneel. Your boyfriend then raised the pipe and brought it down onto the man’s shoulder, making the man scream out in pain. Mondo then bashed him in the side, then the stomach, then the back when he fell forward from the pain.

He raised the pipe again to bash his head, but you grabbed his arm. “Mondo.” You called his named softly. “Don’t.”

He stopped, and looked down to you, then at the leader, who was breathing shallowly. Your boyfriend paused a moment before sighing and tossing the pipe to the side. He then turned to you and immediately pulled you into a hug. “Babe! Oh, God, I was so worried!” He exclaimed, holding you close. “I felt like such a fucking ass, so I was gonna apologize when you got home, but you were gone for so long I got worried, so I went looking for you and...” He trailed off. “They....they didn’t do anything to ya....did they?”

You bit your lip. “The leader slapped me...really hard. And slammed me against the wall. And they were going to do worse...but you got here in time.”

Mondo let out a low growl. “Those fucking bastards.” He snarled. He cupped your face gently. “I’ll never let anyone hurt you, baby. Alright?”

You smiled softly and nodded. “I know, Mondo. I love you so much. I’m sorry for the fight earlier.”

He chuckled and shook his head before kissing your forehead. “I don’t give a fuck about that. All I care about is you’re safe.” He gently took your hand. “Now come on. Let’s go back home.”

You giggled and nodded, following Mondo back to his motorcycle. As the two of you got on it, you wrapped your arms around his middle. You leaned your head against his back and closed your eyes, feeling safe knowing you had him to always protect you.

Oh boy this prompt gave me a hard time! I liked it a lot, but I went through like three or four different ideas before I got one I was mostly alright with, that’s why its not as long as I usually make them. So I really hope you like it. If you don’t, I’m really sorry. I tried. Also, I’m sorry I’m pretty bad at fight scenes. I tried!

#danganronpa #non despair au #mondo oowada #x reader #reader #request

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autisticfangpyreclub · 4 years

Text

Don’t fear the dark, let it protect you - part two

Lloyd never paid much attention to his dragon side. But he never could have imagined how much it wanted to be heard.

The smell of bacon and eggs greeted Lloyd as he entered the kitchen. He sat down at the table, and Zane handed him a plate.

“Sorry, it’s a little cold,” he said with a frown, “we were going to wake you up but…”

Lloyd shrugged. “It’s alright, don’t worry about it…”

He poked at the bacon with his fork, unease gnawing at his gut. He’d never had a problem eating meat before. He ate meat all the time. But the overwhelming smell of grease and burnt flesh coming from his plate was nauseating, headache inducing even. Suppressing a gag, he pushed his plate away.

Cole looked over at him in concern. “What’s wrong, you feeling sick?”

Lloyd’s cheeks flushed. “No, just, uh…” he stuttered, “I’m just not… uh…”

“You don’t appear to have any sort of high temperature,” Zane said, placing a hand on Lloyd’s forehead, “though your face is very red… is there something wrong with your food?”

Lloyd gently pushed Zane away. “No, it’s fine, but… do we have any vegetables?”

Zane blinked and raised an eyebrow. Everyone at the table gave him similar bewildered looks. “Vegetables?” Zane asked.

“Yeah, I’ve been really craving some all morning,” Lloyd replied, getting up from his seat, “we probably have some carrots leftover from thursday right?”

“Yes, but…”

Lloyd opened the fridge. He snatched up the bag of baby carrots and started shoveling them into his mouth. Zane stared at him, mouth agape.

“Lloyd, are you sure you’re… feeling alright?” he asked as he watched Lloyd toss the empty bag aside and move on to the lettuce.

Lloyd swallowed a mouthful of lettuce and shrugged. “I dunno, I feel fine, why?”

“Because you hate vegetables!” Jay said, “did you fall out of bed and bonk your head or something?”

Lloyd finished off the head of lettuce and stuck his head back in the fridge. He sniffed for more vegetables, growling when there were none to be found. He was still hungry.

Kai placed a hand on his shoulder. “Lloyd, what’s going on-”

He snarled at him, his teeth suddenly much longer and sharper. Kai jumped and drew back in alarm. “Woah, dude!” he yelped.

Lloyd slapped a hand over his mouth. How had that slipped out? His eyes darted between Kai, who was still slowly backing away from him, and the shocked faces of his friends. He shuddered.

“I… I have to go…” he mumbled, and ran out of the kitchen, ignoring the shouts behind him.

He didn’t stop running until he was outside the monastery, standing on a patch of grass overlooking the cliff. Lloyd sighed, and sat down to catch his breath. He shouldn’t have trusted those oni in his dream. He shouldn’t have let his oni side take over. Now he was turning into a monster.

...a monster with an unending hunger for vegetables, which to be fair, wasn’t the worst possible scenario. It was almost kinda funny. Okay, the snarling was bad, but he could deal with that.

Speaking of hunger, the grass he was sitting on smelled pretty tasty too…

Before he could stop himself, he was down on all fours ravenously munching on the grass. He probably looked so ridiculous. He didn’t care though, all that he could think of was how sweet and delicious the grass was.

“...guys, I found him.”

Lloyd froze like a deer in headlights. He hesitantly turned to see Nya standing behind him, and almost felt like dying from embarrassment.

“Um… this isn’t what it looks like,” he said weakly.

Nya raised an eyebrow. “Really? Because it kinda looks like you're on all fours eating grass like a goat.”

Lloyd looked down at his hands. “Okay, yeah, it is what it looks like…”

He stood up and brushed himself off, as the rest of the ninja gathered around him. Cole laid a comforting hand on his back. “Hey, no matter what’s going on right now, we’re here for you y'know?”

Kai nodded and patted Lloyd on the head. “Yeah, and sorry about what happened back there, I didn’t mean to scare you bud.”

Lloyd leaned into his touch and smiled. “Thanks guys… but you shouldn’t apologize, you were right to be afraid…” he murmured.

“Aw, don’t say that!” Jay said, “we’d never be afraid of you, even if you have turned into a werebunny!”

Lloyd squinted at him. “A… what?”

“Y’know, a werebunny, like a werewolf but a bunny,” Jay explained, “that’s what happened right? You got bitten by one and now you're turning! Oh no, tomorrow’s a full moon too-”

“I’m not turning into a bunny!” Lloyd shouted, “I’m turning into an oni!”

“Since when do oni’s eat vegetables?” Nya asked, “seems weird, given their whole destroy everything thing you think they’d eat meat.”

“Herbivores can be quite destructive, even more so than carnivores actually,” Zane said.

Lloyd groaned and put his head in his hands. “I don’t wanna turn into a giant bunny… wait, why aren’t you guys more freaked out? I just told you I’m turning into an oni!”

“Why aren’t YOU more freaked out?” Jay shot back, “I thought your oni side taking over was like your greatest fear.”

“It was, but… I had a dream last night that I turned into a full oni, but I wasn’t destroying anything, or hurting anyone,” Lloyd said, his body relaxing as he remembered, “it was… peaceful.”

“Have you talked to Wu about this yet?” Cole asked.

Lloyd shook his head. “No… but I think I should, before I start eating grass again… ugh…”

Master Wu was deep in meditation when Lloyd crept into the room. He sat across from him, and crossed his legs. Wu didn’t acknowledge him. The room was awkwardly silent for a moment.

“...I sense something is troubling you,” Wu said.

Lloyd flinched, then cleared his throat. “Yeah… so, um… it’s kinda hard to explain…”

Wu poured a cup of tea for himself, and then one for Lloyd. “I’m listening.”

Lloyd nodded in thanks and took the cup of hot tea. Deep breath in. Master Wu is part oni too, he’ll understand. “I had a dream last night… about the oni.”

Something in Wu’s expression shifted. His grip on his cup tightened. “...what happened in this dream?”

“I turned into an oni.”

Wu gasped and narrowly avoided dropping his cup. He coughed, composing himself. “You must’ve been horribly frightened by this vision.”

Something in the way Wu was looking at him made Lloyd nervous. Like he was being interrogated. He tensed his shoulders and looked away. “Uh… actually… it wasn’t that bad.”

An uncomfortable energy settled over the room. “What?” Wu asked, a dark tone seeping into his voice.

“Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but when I was an oni, when I was with the other oni I felt…” Lloyd wrapped his arms around himself and sighed, “safe… like I belonged.”

Wu stood up abruptly. He grabbed Lloyd by the arm and pulled him to his feet. “Wait, master, what-”

Lloyd’s next words got caught in his throat. Wu was glaring at him, like he had done something seriously wrong. “Lloyd, listen to me, and listen well.”

The nervous feeling Lloyd had was crawling in his gut, making his head foggy. He tried to pull away, but Wu’s grip was strong. “Master please let me go-”

“The oni are dangerous, deceitful creatures who only crave destruction, you cannot trust anything they say.”

“Master, please stop, please let me go-”

Wu ignored his pleas. “You must suppress the darkness, or it will consume you, just like it consumed your father.”

At that, something in Lloyd snapped. He growled. His nails transformed into claws, and he swiped at Wu with his free arm. He hadn’t meant to scratch him that bad, but from the pained scream Wu made he’d obviously done some damage.

Lloyd scrambled back the second Wu let go of his arm. The smell of the blood on his claws only riled him up more, his eyes narrowing and illuminating the dark room with a neon green glow. “I told you to LET ME GO, old man.”

Wu gaped at him, gingerly touching the gash on his face. “How dare you use your claws against me nephew!” he yelled.

“I am not my father,” Lloyd snarled, “I’ll never be my father, and I do not fear the darkness anymore.”

Green scales covered his arms and legs. He grit his fangs as his horns tore through his skin, this time not bothering to grow them slowly. The pain only gave him clarity.

“You say oni are dangerous and deceitful… what are you then?” Lloyd asked with a scowl.

“Excuse me?”

Lloyd rolled his eyes. “You're more oni than me, and you know it,” he said as he approached Wu, claws bared, “maybe that’s why you lie, maybe that’s why you don’t tell anyone your secrets even when it could help them.”

“What are you talking about-”

“You lied to me!” Lloyd could feel tears pricking at the corner of his eyes, but he pushed them back, “you knew embracing my oni side wouldn’t make me dangerous, but you still made me suffer!”

Wu’s face changed from anger to sorrow. “Lloyd… I’m so sorry, but you must calm yourself-”

“SHUT UP!”

Fiery tears poured down Lloyd’s cheeks. Scales had grown over his entire body, leaving him thankfully fireproof. He cried out as his limbs cracked and popped, becoming more animalistic and quadruped, until he no longer could stand on two legs. He fell to the floor with a thud.

He looked up at Wu, terror in his eyes. “This… this isn’t like what it was like before… what’s happening to me…?”

“I… I don’t know…”

Rigged spikes formed on his wrists and ankles, and along his newly formed tail. He heard a gross tearing noise as large bat-like wings burst from his back and ripped through his shirt. Lloyd’s pained cries morphed into growls. His face pushed out into a snout, the final part of his transformation before he collapsed in exhaustion.

Before he passed out, he saw Wu standing over him. Hopefully this scared him enough to make him never want to grab Lloyd like that again.

“Oh youngling, you poor thing…”

Lloyd opened his eyes to see a familiar face leaning over him. A gentle paw touched his cheek. “Oni…?”

The oni smiled, and stroked his hair. “My name is Theta, actually.”

Lloyd groaned. “Theta… what happened? My head feels awful…”

“You transformed into a dragon,” Theta said quietly, “but don’t be afraid, in time you will learn how to control your shapeshifting abilities.”

“But I… I attacked master Wu…”

“Oh don’t worry about that, he deserved it,” Theta scoffed, “he won’t harm you ever again, I promise.”

A calming sensation washed over Lloyd as he was cradled in Theta’s lap. “Um… sorry for the weird question, but what pronouns do you use?” he asked.

“She her dear,” she replied, hugging Lloyd close to her chest.

Lloyd sighed in content, and snuggled into her warm fur. She hummed a lullaby for him, one his father had sung to him when he was little. He felt safe.

“Rest now child… even when you awake in the physical realm, my shadow will still protect you.”

#lego ninjago #ninjago #lloyd garmadon #ninjago lloyd #ninjago zane #ninjago cole #ninjago jay #ninjago kai #ninjago nya #ninjago wu #peaceful oni au #ninjago au #ninjago oni #ninjago oc #body horror tw #oni lloyd #dragon lloyd

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idjitlili · 4 years

Text

Fili x reader

Summary:

Imagine being in one of the cells in Thranduils dungeon, only for fili to be put in the same cell.

Warnings: mention of parents potentially death( not confirmed) , slight nudity.

Word count:1952

Who were you exactly? You don’t really know, you weren’t from this world. As a child you loved pirates of the Caribbean, so much that when you turned 17 , your parents took you on a real pirate ship.

No pirates of course , and it actually sailed , it was great until something went wrong.

You could swim of course , how could you want to be on the waters without knowing how to . once the ship went down something dragged you by the leg , pulled you into the water , I guess like the kraken does. Anyways everything went black, and you woke up in a forest ,which you later found out was called Mirkwood.

You got surrounded by spiders , and I mean not house spiders but like cow sized. It was disgustANG. Yet you didn’t have to worry about the spiders for long , when a bunch of long haired dudes shot them dead ,with arrows. But you did worry about them after , they dragged you up asked you who you were, which they didn’t believe.

A blond man, with weird shaped ears , began to question you once you was on your feet.

“Who are you ,human?” He basically spat , disgusted.

“Uhh..y/n ma’am.” You had answered, slowly , confused to where you were and who these people were,where were your parents?

“You should not speak to the prince of Mirkwood like that.” A ginger women , spoke sharply, You hate her already , you had thought.

“The prince of where? Who are you people? Where are my parents?” You asked desperately.

“We are not people , we are elves mortal, how would we know where they were you are the one trespassing.” The blond elf that looked like Orlando bloom ,spat.

“Hey will turner , you tell me , I woke up here , last thing I remember was being in a sinking ship.”

“You are weeks away from the sea, you are lying.”

“I am not , now tell me where I am.” You shouted angrily.

“We are taking to you to the king now.”

You were then dragged away to king thranduil.

Let’s just say Thranduil is a cold hearted man , you ended up in a cell. So that leads you to present time.

Did I mention you dressed up as captain jack sparrow for the ship ride. Well yeah you did.

You sit against the stone wall , with your hat over your eyes, leaning on the bridge of your nose. Sleeping, that’s all you could really do in here. That was until the lock of you cell was unlocked ; you heard steps of heavy boots walk into the cell. Then the cell was locked again. You lift up your hat , to see this muscular blond man , with long locks , and braids in his Moustache. He was cute.

It was strange he was Put In a cell with you, you had noticed that men and women were separated,when put in cells. For obvious reasons, you decided the reason why he was put with you was because you had dressed like male pirate. Still confused you, your shirt was a v cut low like jacks they could see that you weren’t male. You weren’t a over weight male dude with man tits.

God You hope he wasn’t a rapist or a serial killer.

“Hey” you spoke quietly to the blond man, as he sat from the wall across from you.

“Hi, “ he replies back, looking you o v er.

“ are you a Corsair?” He asks after viewing your clothing.

You had no idea what they hell that was,

“ what’s that?”

“ a sea raider, my lady.” Oh so he knew you was a woman, it’s not that hard.

“Oh you mean a pirate. No I am not, I don’t even know where I am. You don’t have to call me my lady, it’s just y/n” he scrunches his face up with confusion, not b hearing the term pirate before.

“Alright..y/n. You are in Mirkwood, the land of the elves. I am fili.” He spoke confidently.

“I thought elves were made up , but then I saw their ears. I have never heard of Mirkwood before.”

“Where are you from then, I thought everyone knew of elves.” He suspected you were from far away.

“Y/c (your county) “ you spoke to fili.

“I have never heard of that, where about is that in middle earth.”

It was strange you had never met this man , and you were telling him these things freely, what about stranger danger. Well he’s not a stranger because you know his name.

“Middle earth? What are you on about. It’s just earth.” You had never been this confused in your whole life.

You go on to explain how you had ended up in Mirkwood forest , and they had just thrown you into a cell. Fili was very confused be assured you that he knew someone a wizard that would be able to help you. He also called Thranduil a cocksucker. He told you about Thranduils hatred for dwarves and you asked how he knew and it turns he was one. But he was tall so you never thought anything before then, you just thought he was human. He had even told you that he was travelling with a company and his uncle thorin was going to reclaim his throne , from a dragon or something. Which they had a hobbit for bugling.

“ so those clothes aren’t something you would normally wear?” He questions you cocking his left eyebrow up.

“Oh no , if I wore these all the time people would question my sanity.”

“ ooh well I like them. “ he smiles at you.

“Thank you sir fili, I like your Moustache braids.”

“Thank you miss y/n. Lets hope we get out of here.” He grins again, looking at the door briefly.

“Wait you are taking me with you?”

“Did you think I would get out and leave you who was wrongfully imprisoned.” He laughs.

“Thank you, I see that you are kind man ,sorry dwarf. “ before you can say anything more fili’s dwarven friends shouts begin.

Fili gets up to look , he turns back to you smirking , holding out a hand for you to take which you do and he pulls you to you feet. He was a strong dude that was sure. The cell clicks to infer it is unlocked by a even shorter man , that must be the hobbit , Bilbo. You and Fili walk out the cell, the hobbit looks at you confused.

“Fili , who is this?” He questions.

“Iy/n, uh I am not a sailor.” You speak to the hobbit and a rather strong man that stood next to him , he looked majestic. That must be his uncle.

“Thorin we must take her with us, she isn’t from this world I am sure of it. Please.”

Thorin scoffs, “how can you trust her?” Before you can say anything Bilbo says we must leave now. While you had run down the stairs , a dark haired dwarf had caught up with me and fili , who had ahold of my hand all the way down the stairs.

“Who is the this lovely lady, brother?” Ah yes filis brother what a charmer.

“Y/ n” you spoke , as you approached the wine cellar. Bilbo forced us to go to the barrels and to get into them.

“I am kili, Fili’s brother, at your service.” He replies bowing and grabbing your free hand bringing it up to his lips, kissing it softly.

You mock jack sparrows bow , after he let go of your hand. You smirk. Fili pulls you with him to a barrel, “do you want to share, I fear that we be in danger out there , once we leave.” You nod at his question.

“Kili will you help her in?”

Fili gets into the barrel at the top of the row, and kili lifts you so you are able to slide in the barrel as well.

“Thank you kili.” You smile at the dwarf. He smiles at you , and gets in his own barrel.

Without barely any warning Bilbo tells everyone to hold tight , and suddenly you are all thrown into a river. The water soaks you , you lift your hat off putting it in the barrel safely. You look around to see the Orlando elf and his ginger bitch friend following you, as well as these creatures, Fili called orcs. They were ugly.

“Fili hold my legs.” (Sorry I put that in the kili one too.) he does as yo u stand in between Filis legs , somehow.

Looking at the elves you speak loudly ,

“Remember this as the day as the day you almost caught captain Jack sparrow.” You smirk , placing two fingers straight to your head , and farewelling the elves.

Only to your surprise you are soaked with water when an dead orc falls into the water. Soaking your shirt, making your shirt very see through, however you didn’t notice this. The guards had taken your jacket away. Douchebags.

You sit back down, in the barrel waiting for you reach land. Too bad you thought damn , my bra is visible bye the v line so I’ll wear no bra. Sad mistake.

“I guess the water thing is what I get for being cocky.” You laugh, as does fili wrapping his arm around you to secure you.

Let’s just say , Kili does get shot because Fili lifts you into the air so you could reach the lever , opening the gate. Haha fuck that orc, we are smart.

Quickly you all reach shore and get out of the barrels, walking onto the shore.

“Well that was fun.” You speak suddenly In your waist coat and hat in hand.

“Uh miss y/n..” spoke kili , his face red, looks away from you , trying not embarrass you.

“Yes...?” You are beyond confused at this point.

You see fili walking up to , removing his coat,putting the coat on your shoulders,Pulling it around your front and doing up the middle button. He whispers in your ear “your shirt was wet, and see through.”

You now were beet red looking at the dwarf, “oh god, did everyone see?”You mentally curse yourself.

“no just kili , the rest were too busy emptying their boots.” You sigh I reveal stil haunting thoughts, that these men had seen your assets , no one had other than family and that was when you was younger.

“Thank you.” You smile at the shorter man.

“You are welcome, not that I didn’t like what I saw.” He smirks at you.

“Oh .. do you want to trade by any chance?”

He laughs at you,if only you knew what he was going to be doing in his free time next.

(Boy city boyyyyyss)

“ pleaseeeee , has your left nipple ever bled before , mine has! I accidently scratched it and it hurt for days.” He was now shocked at your words.

“Really?”

“Yes my dude.”

In lesss than minutes you are on the barge with fili he has hold of your hand resurringly, maybe you don’t want to go home. The chances of your parents of being alive was slim, but you had a chance of a life here, if you wanted you could dress up as a jack anyday.

Unknowingly to you that wouldn’t be the last time fili would see your mellons. You sure in hell don’t let azog take him away from you. He was one good piece of treasure. Not all treasure is silver and gold,mate.

#fili imagine #fili x you #fili x reader #the hobbit x reader #the hobbit fili #the hobbit imagine #the hobbit x you

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aidendh · 3 years

Text

Explosions, Wings and Power (A Bnha fanfic) (WIP)

(I haven't touched this in weeks, so I thought I'd post the WIP)

Word Count Goal: 2500 - 4000

Description

Nightmares,

He didn’t have them often, but they tended to feel familiar and real. ‘Doctor’, ‘Sludge’, ‘Dome’. What did they mean? Only one Katsuki Bakugo knew and he would use them to keep his friends safe. He was not gonna waste this second chance.

It doesn’t hurt if he changes the future, right?

When given another chance at life, the newly named ‘Katsuki Bakugo’ treads through it with his best friends on their path to become a hero.

Chapter 1

“Basa, wait up!” Cried out Izuku, his mop of green hair bobbing as he ran. The little boy's emerald green eyes kept his best friends in sight while falling behind.

“Yeah! We can’t fly like you ya’ know!” exclaimed Katsuki while narrowing his piercing red eyes, trying to see through his spiky ash blond hair. He was faring better than Izuku, but he still couldn’t keep up with their airborne friend.

Said boy (Chujitsu), despite being less than a meter off the ground, called back, “Well maybe you guys should hurry up!”. He turned his grey barely haired head back with his narrow grey-blue eyes glancing at his flightless pals.

What was keeping him airborne was a pair of red dragon-like wings, his Quirk.

Quirk: A power usually manifested at around the age of 4 and what 80% of the world's population had.

Chujitsu Tsubasa: Known as Wings, his transformation type Quirk allows him to temporarily grow wings on his back.

_______________________________

-9 Years later-

*Jet set r-*

A 14-year-old Katsuki Bakugo swiped his phone to rid it of his alarm. He then turned over in his bed and drifted off.

*All Might The-*

Katsuki swiped his alarm off again then pulled his phone over to check the time.

‘Time: 8:20’

‘7:30 Get up Alarm-Missed’

He blinked, giving himself a moment to wake up and process the screen. ‘8:20? ...! Overslept!’

Scrambling out of bed, he quickly changed into his black Junior High uniform and grabbed his bag and phone. Booking it out of his room and past his parents, he gave a quick “See ya!” to them and left for school.

His mother (Mitsuki Bakugo), the spitting image of her son, just shook her head in amusement.

“See ya trouble!” She yelled after him.

Katsuki’s phone rang in his pocket. After checking the ID and confirming who it was, he answered.

“Kacchan, where are you?” Chujitsu asked.

“Booking it to school while rethinking my life, you?” He replied.

“Waiting at the gates with ‘zuku. What happened? You’re normally the first one here.”

Katsuki slowed his run as Aldera Junior High showed in the distance.

“Just Overslept,” he paused, taking in a breath, “nightmares again.”

Chujitsu took a minute to process this. It was rare for Katsuki to have nightmares and was considered a big deal if they kept him up for more than one night. This would cause him to become paranoid and overprotective over the subject of his night terrors.

With any other person it wouldn’t be considered this big of a deal, but whenever this happened to the blonde danger was sure to follow. Chujitsu knew this better than anyone as it had saved his life once before.

“Just don’t push yourself today,” was heard just beyond the nearby gate that the sprinting teen was approaching. After hanging up the phone Katsuki rushed in and grabbed the other greenette’s arm to stop his momentum.

“Hi, Kacchan!” Greeted Izuku, as Katsuki started to regain a steady breath. After some small talk they headed in to find their class so as not to be late.

________________________________

-Last Period-

“So, as third year students, you need to start thinking more seriously about the future, and what you want to be doing with your lives.” Started the non-descript teacher.

“I could get Bakugo-San to hand out some Career Aptitude Tests.” Said Bakugo got ready to stand up but stopped at the boring tone of his Sensei.

“But... Why bother, I know you all want the Hero track!!” At the sign of Sensei about to throw the papers across the classroom, Katsuki spoke up.

“Sensei, even if that is true, we still need to fill out the High School part of the form. We’re not all aiming for the same school.” Many students groaned at his gruff and demanding tone, most expecting this from their Class Prez.

“Ah, Bakugo-San, you are correct on that front. Now that I think about it, aren't you, Tsubasa-San and Midoriya-San aiming for U.A High?” At this accusation, their classmates went into an uproar of voices.

“Really!?”

“They’re trying for the national school?!”

“Isn’t there a 0.2% acceptance rate?”

“It’s impossible to get into!”

Though one stood out more than the others,

“A Quirkless loser won't stand a chance!” After hearing this, the class stilled. Not many people mess with the Quirkless student, not with Bakugo and Tsubasa on his side.

“I think the principle wouldn’t like to hear that someone is disrespecting one of Aldera’s top students and my best friend?” Katsuki stated with a threatening sweet tone and piercing grin. He may be one of the top students, but he was willing to snitch on others if it meant his friends would be safe. That shut the accuser right up.

“Now, now you two. I don’t want another fight breaking out in my classroom.” Stated Sensei,

“Bakugo-San please pass out the sheets.”

________________________________

-Elsewhere-

A woman screamed in the populated streets as a man that appeared to be made of green sludge rushed past with Yen Bills scattered inside his Liquidus body.

“Hey, get back here!” Yelled the store clerk that just ran out of a nearby store. Some more people shouted in protest of the thieving criminal, but all was for null as he rushed out of sight.

“Yell all ya’ want sucker! This cash is mine!” Grinded his gargling voice. Other bystanders just carried on with their days, this wasn’t the first criminal, and it won't be the last.

“Dude where are all the Heroes?” asked a civilian, confusion etched his face, “Normally one would attack right away.” Despite the worried looks of others, however mild, a nearby senior scoffed and turned to a fellow colleague.

“Remember when we didn’t need to worry about criminals using their Quirks left and right?”

“Seriously there’s no stopping them.”

Back at the same store a sickly blond man exited with shopping in each hand. His lanky body then expanded and grew in size to a buff and well-known Hero.

“Yes, there is,” At hearing the recognizable tone, bystanders looked over and were immediately stripped of their worries. “You know why? Because I am here!”

_______________________________

-After Class-

“Wanna go to karaoke?”

“Sure.”

“A Gigantification quirk huh? Didn’t Kacchan come up with one just like this?” Muttered Midoriya, scrolling down the news on his phone about a new Pro Hero’s debut.

Leaning on the greenette’s desk, Bakugo glanced at Izuku’s phone.

“I’m heading to the shopping district in a min, you guys want anything?”

Jumping up spooked, Izuku stuttered out,

“K-Kacchan! Um... it’s fine I don’t really need anything.” The third member of the trio piped up from the doorway,

“You paying?” asked Tsubasa, his thin grey ponytail resting over his shoulder.

“Yeah right!” Answered the blond while as he rolled his eyes, “Sure. What’cha want Basa?” The long-haired teen pretended to think it over.

“Not sure.” Was his reply. Bakugo just scoffed,

“Candy it is then.” He looked back at Izuku who was typing something on this phone, most likely notes on the new Hero and Criminal from the news.

“You sure you don’t want anything ‘Zuku? I heard the new Hero collectors' cards are in.” His face overcame with a sly playful look, knowing that Midoriya was collecting them.

“B-but Kacchan! You don’t have to; I can just pick some up tomorrow!” Though he tried to persist, the greenette looked thankful knowing that the blond would do it anyway.

“No buts!” Bakugo grinded heading to the door.

“See ya guys!” The trio then headed out their separate ways, though Katsuki couldn’t get the feeling from the back of his mind that disaster was sure to come.

Stopping in his tracks, he turned his head back to his Best Friends.

“...Chujitsu, stick with Izuku for me, will ya?” At the sight of the blonde's wariness and the worried tone of his voice, Chijitsu and Izuku were quick to agree.

_______________

Feel free to critique this in the comments!

I love hearing from you guys!

#aidendh's writing #writing #aiden's aus #rau #bnha #ewp au #bakugo katsuki #katsuki bakugo #Chujitsu Tsubasa #bnha tsubasa #midoriya izuku #izuku midoriya #bnha au #ewp katsuki

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tsuki-chibi · 4 years

Text

Marinette March Day 26: Comfort

Behind? Catch up on AO3: Under My Umbrella

-------

"It's time," Plagg announced.

Marinette's heart turned over. "Is it really?"

"It's 1:45am," Plagg replied, glancing from her to her computer. Adrien turned around, looking pale. He'd been officially working on homework, but Marinette suspected that he had gotten as far on his homework as she had on her design for Jagged. Which was to say, they had made no progress at all.

After she'd talked to Chloé, she'd realized that going back to Alya's was pointless. Her parents and sisters would be home soon, which meant that Nino, Adrien and Marinette couldn't hang around for long without some uncomfortable questions being asked. So Marinette had gone home, figuring that it couldn't hurt for her parents to see her face for a bit. She’d pretended that she’d slipped out early that morning to meet Alya before school before rushing up to her room.

Because Adrien couldn't go home, of course - even if he'd wanted to, none of them would've felt comfortable with Adrien or the Black Cat miracuous being under the same roof as Hawkmoth. So Chat had been waiting for her on her balcony, and she'd slipped him into her room with her parents none the wiser. They had shared Marinette’s supper, and otherwise wiled away the time as best they could.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Marinette asked, twisting to get a better look at her partner. He looked as tired as she felt, but sleep had been out of the question for both of them.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Adrien said, very quietly. Plagg and Tikki exchanged worried looks, and Marinette bit her lip. Chat had always been much better at words than she was. Whereas her tongue twisted and stumbled around, he seemed to know what to say to make every situation better. It was frustrating to know that she couldn't comfort him the way he deserved. Then again, was there anything anyone could say that would make this situation better? Probably not.

"Okay," she said finally, deciding that now wasn't the time. "Tikki, spots on!"

"Plagg, claws out!"

It was very strange to see Chat standing in her bedroom and know that Adrien lay beneath the familiar mask. Ladybug held her hand out to him. Chat closed the distance between them without hesitation and took her hand. Rather than leave, she took a moment to pull him into a hug. Remembering her earlier desire to give him more hugs made her feel both sad and determined, because it turned out that Chat got even less hugs than she could have ever imagined. She hugged him tightly for as long as she dared before reluctantly letting go.

"You get the miracle box. I'll get everyone organized?" she said, touching his cheek.

"Right. I'll meet you at the school," Chat said, and she nodded and stepped back, searching his eyes. Transforming and the hug seemed to have calmed him down a little, which was good. She wished she could say the same for herself.

They went their separate ways once they were outside. She, Nino, Adrien and Alya had talked it over and ultimately decided against inviting the police along. Adrien had pointed out that it was dangerous to have what were essentially civilians along when dealing with Hawkmoth and Mayura; if something went wrong, the battle could turn nasty very quickly and the Agreste mansion, while not small, would still be a confining space. Alya had promised to bring her phone along so that she could take some incriminating pictures just in case the word of Paris's superheroes wasn't enough.

Ladybug landed just inside of the gates of the school a couple minutes later. Alya and Nino were already there, and so were Kim and Max. Seeing them helped to ease Ladybug's nerves and she smiled as she walked over. Before she could say anything though, Luka and Kagami emerged out of the shadows and came over. Right on their heels was Chloé, who crossed her arms as she approached and looked like she was trying very hard to pretend that she had accidentally stumbled upon their meeting as opposed to having received a direct invitation. Everyone looked expectantly at Ladybug, who swallowed.

"Thank you for coming. I appreciate it more than you know," she said softly. "We're just waiting for two more people."

"Wait, two?" Alya said, looking confused. "I know we're waiting for Chat, but all of the other miraculous holders are here."

"Uh, I've only used my miraculous like once," Kim said, half-raising his hand.

"Me too," Max admitted, straightening his glasses. "I don't know how helpful we'll be."

"Hopefully, everything will go smoothly and Chat and I will do the bulk of the work. You're all here for back-up," Ladybug reassured them. "And if you don't want to be here, I understand. None of you are under any obligation to stay."

Chloé scoffed. "I want my miraculous. I'm not going anywhere."

"Of course we're going to help," Luka said, giving her a gentle smile. "Hawkmoth has put everyone in this city in danger. The least we can do is support you and Chat Noir now that you're finally getting the chance to take him down!"

Kagami nodded her agreement. "I would be honored to help," she said quietly.

"That's great and all, but who else are we waiting for?" Nino said.

"Uh... me?"

Several people jumped, which had Ladybug biting back an amused smile. Alix, for all that she was loud and sassy, was very good at sneaking up on people. Judging by the smirk on her face, she had done it on purpose. Alya looked utterly baffled by the sight of her, and Ladybug could tell that Alya was running every akuma battle through her head in an effort to figure out where Alix had come into the picture. Of course, that was something Alya wouldn't be able to figure out no matter how much she thought about it: the future Bunnix had, for the most part, only interacted with Ladybug, Chat, and Alix.

"Alix? Wait, what?" Alya said finally.

"Dude, you never told me you had a miraculous!" Kim exclaimed.

Alix rolled her eyes at him. "That's because I technically didn't. My future self has one."

"Your... future self?" Max repeated, eyebrows furrowing.

"Alix is, or will be, the holder of the Rabbit miraculous. Much like the Snake miraculous, it deals with time," Ladybug said, figuring that she'd better explain before everyone got even more confused. Luka suddenly looked very interested in the conversation.

"The Rabbit miraculous, huh? I haven't heard of that one," Alya said, frowning.

Alix shrugged. "Like I said, I've technically never held it. I always knew that I would someday, but I didn't think it would happen so soon."

"From what I can tell, Bunnix is usually our last line of defence," Ladybug said. "I asked her to come here tonight as a precautionary measure. If something goes wrong, then Bunnix can go back in time to tell us not to do whatever we did that made things go wrong."

Nino squinted. "I hope that sentence made sense to you, because it didn't to me."

"I get it," Luka said, and of course he did. Ladybug shot him a smile.

"I get it too," Alix said. "And I can definitely do that." She looked small but determined, standing there with her hands shoved in her pockets.

"That's good, because we're going to need all hands on deck," Chat said as he dropped down next to Ladybug. He had a bunch of miraculous in his hands, which he quickly passed out: the Snake to Luka, the Dragon to Kagami, the Monkey to Kim, the Horse to Max, the Fox to Alya, the Turtle to Nino, the Rabbit to Alix, and lastly, the Bee to Chloé. Ladybug watched closely as Chloé affixed the Bee miraculous into her hair.

The street lit up with an array of brightly colored lights as the kwamis appeared. Over the general murmur, Ladybug couldn't hear what Chloé said to Pollen. But whatever it was made Pollen smile, and then Pollen flew up and kissed Chloé's cheek. Ladybug didn't think it was her imagination that Chloé's eyes looked a little shiny as Chloé brought her hands up and hugged Pollen close.

“Okay, everyone. You know what to do,” Ladybug said.

“Trixx, let’s pounce!”

“Waayz, shell on!”

“Sass, scales slither!”

“Longg, bring the storm!”

“Xuppu, showtime!”

“Pollen, buzz on!”

“Kaalki, full gallop!”

“Fluff, clockwise!”

Alix was last, her voice uncertain, but she was swallowed up in the same light as the rest. When the light faded, Ladybug was left looking at several different superheroes. Seeing them all in one place was a little overwhelming. She had never given out so many miraculous before, and suddenly she understood why Master Fu had always been apprehensive about letting too many miraculous be active at once.

But then Chat’s hand settled on her shoulder, giving her a comforting squeeze like he could sense exactly what was going through her head. He smiled at her and she smiled back, reminding herself that there were their friends. She trusted every single person here – even, she realized, Queen Bee. They were all united over a common goal, and they wouldn’t let her or Chat down.

“Okay,” she said. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Pegasus, you’re going to create a portal into the Agreste mansion.”

“The Agreste mansion? Wait, is Hawkmoth –” Ryuko’s eyes went wide.

“Hawkmoth is Gabriel Agreste,” Ladybug confirmed grimly. “And Mayura is Nathalie Sancoeur.”

“Oh my god,” Queen Bee said quietly, and Ladybug knew she was thinking of Adrien. She thought, glancing sideways at her partner, that it probably wouldn’t be long before Chat told Queen Bee the truth about his identity.

“Focus,” Ladybug said, clapping her hands lightly. “Queen Bee, Ryuko, Viperion, you’re with me to go after Hawkmoth. Rena Rouge, King Monkey and Carapace, you’re with Chat Noir and you’re going after Mayura. Bunnix and Pegasus, the two of you are going to wait in the hall. If something goes wrong, you’re our back-up. So Pegasus, make sure you feed up your kwami if you have to.”

“Right,” Pegasus said.

“Everyone ready?” Chat said. His grip on her shoulder now was tight; he didn’t like the idea of them splitting up, but it made the most sense. And there was no way in hell she was letting him go after Hawkmoth. Not after what had happened in the alternate timeline.

Hearing the agreeing rumbles, Ladybug took a deep breath. “Then Pegasus… do your thing.”

“Voyage!”

#miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #ladybug #chat noir #post reveal #under my umbrella #marinettemarch2020 #marinettelove2020

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onthevirgeofdestruction · 4 years

Link

Dreaming While I Wake

Sanders Sides Foster Care AU - Roman-centric Angst & Hurt/Comfort & Abuse Recovery

Roman tries to be upbeat and hopeful despite all the shit that’s happened to him. And a lot of shit has. Luckily, his new foster home is with two literal rays of sunshine (and a sarcastic asshole).

Words: 3,998 Warnings: Bad Teachers, Scorn of Peers, Violence Against Golems and Soldiers, Weapons, Negative Self-Talk, Negative Self Image, Playful Threats Characters: Roman, Thomas, Virgil Universe: Dreaming While I Wake Genre: Vibing™ too hard

Chapter 23

chapter 1 for new readers - ffn mirror

Roman sighed and leaned back on the bleachers. It was dodgeball day, it seemed. He wasn’t the biggest fan of being hit by something unexpectedly, so not having to participate was relieving. Roman didn’t want to do homework or read a book to pass the time, like they allowed him to, because it would make him look like a major nerd to a ton of dudes with testosterone pumping and that was just bullying central.

He couldn’t use his phone during school hours, though. He’d just do it anyway if the gym instructor wasn’t watching. She wasn’t a fan of the doctor’s note at all and continued shooting glances at him. As if he would mysteriously heal or something equally miraculous. They weren’t all mean glances. Mostly just annoyed. He got the same from most of the other people in his class. He’d probably also be jealous of sitting out on dodgeball, too, if he wasn’t already.

The gym teacher seemed miffed about the fact that the physician’s note was open-ended since Roman had to be cleared for exercise by a doctor. It was the same for any broken bone, but without a cast, people had trouble believing it seemed. This wasn’t Roman’s first rodeo with broken bones or anything. She was vexed she’d have to print up packets to serve as make-up classwork. Roman wasn’t aware you learned anything in gym class other than suffering, so that was new.

He wished he had the packets to work on already. She wasn’t doing anything other than lying back and ignoring a bunch of teen boys pummeling each other with dodgeballs, so it’s not like she couldn’t go into her office and print them up. Maybe she was attempting to make Roman stew in frustration for not taking part. If she was, she was succeeding fantastically. Roman was jittery and pissed off and generally in a terrible mood.

Fighting slouching in bleachers was surprisingly difficult. He just craved to lie down and take a nap, but the classmates would hate him more if he did. So Roman persevered and watched from the bleachers, catching himself slouching when the soreness in his side got worse. He positioned himself up high enough up that he was out of the danger zone of dodgeballs, but that meant the people against the wall could see him clearly.

He received bitter looks from people who were out and sitting on the sidelines on the gymnasium floor. He didn’t understand the ire since they were relaxing, too. Roman would personally rather take a dodgeball to the chest than a steel toe boot, but life just didn’t work out like that. He tried to elevate his feet while he watched. He wouldn’t get much of a chance to raise them throughout today, and they hurt. It was still better than staying home again. At least they were finally well enough that he could walk.

It was Roman’s bitter luck that Nolan was in his PE class and kept shooting him glares. This period was taking him forever. Nolan seemed to get progressively more annoyed at him for whatever reason. Roman sighed and decided not to look back. He didn’t prefer to accidentally start some kind of glare war. Roman’s left foot tapped nervously as he stared at the gym ceiling, waiting for the minutes to pass.

When he noticed himself fidgeting, he was supposed to wear the gloves, but there was no way he was ostracising himself even further by doing that. He didn’t care that he technically agreed to a compromise over it not wearing them in school. He stood out like rainbow tulip in a dead lawn with gloves and a T-shirt. They weren’t as obvious with his jacket, but his jacket was white and the brown leather just contrasted it. Roman just couldn’t find a way to make it work. He had shoved the gloves deep in his backpack instead.

He checked the massive wall clock in the gym as he carded his fingers through his shaggy hair. Roman had a bit of time to pass until history class. He had just sort of stewed in anger for most of the period, but his brain must have finally ranted out what it wanted to say for Roman to be capable of thinking about something else. He knew better than to challenge the times his head was obsessed with something by now. It was just easier to wait it out. Just another 10ish minutes of chilling on the bleachers to go. He was so bored it hurt, like a painful pressure gripping his brain and trying to open it up.

Roman lolled his head back to the ceiling and forced his mind to drift instead of fighting it. Something fun. Something cool. Fighting off an army atop a dragon. A spectacular sword. The dragon’s flames were acid green and melted everything instantly. Roman leaned back on his hands on the next row up of bleachers.

He was fighting the magically animated golems of an evil tyrant. He fired a crossbow to protect the dragon as it decimated the golems below. The great iridescent black dragon was trying to charge up a blast when Roman was nearly thrown off of it by flying machinations that expelled ice beams from their torsos. He was able to catch on to the tail and pull himself back up, deflecting ice beams with his sword. The dragon charged up its power in time thanks to Roman’s defense, and the machinations melted into puddles far below.

The dragon shot Roman a look, and Roman understood in an instant. The mighty winged beast flew close to the earth, and Roman tumbled expertly off the dragon. Roman and his trusty sword ploughed through the golem army, swinging wildly and protecting himself with well-timed blows and using the enemies as his shields. Roman approached the castle by foot as the dragon cleared out further golems around him. The army was dwindling, and they were successful.

Roman turned his eyes to the looming castle ahead. He had to stop this madness. Roman reached out and the dragon’s great claws swooped down and grasped Roman’s arm and lifted him from the field of decimated golem parts. The dragon flew Roman over the moat and past the raised drawbridge, but ballista prevented the dragon from going any further in. Roman was jettisoned towards the outer castle wall to get him closer to his target. He rolled as he landed on between the crenelations, skidding to a stop to stand and fight the soldiers.

Humans were arming the ballistae and defending the doors, and Roman couldn’t bring himself to kill, so he sheathed his blade and instead relied on his legs to do the talking. Roman leaped about and kicked soldiers off the machinery, knocking them out in a few precise hits to disable them. The guards at the door brandished blades at Roman, but he reached for his crossbow and fired a well-placed shot at each, pinning the soldiers by their clothes to give Roman just enough time to breach the doors.

The guards inside weren’t so easy, though. Roman had to take out his trusty sword once more to defend himself. He knew the evil sorcerer’s magic compelled them to fight, and they didn’t deserve death for the mistakes of another. Roman did his best to take the higher ground and send soldiers toppling down the stairs in the tower. He hoped he hadn’t harmed them too severely, but perhaps once this was all over healers could come help mend those Roman had to battle off.

Roman ascended the stairs into an upper corridor. Massive banners billowed in the wind that blustered through the hall. The magic was stronger here. Roman had to resist the powerful effects that caused his head to swim in the aura alone. Things would be worse in the inner chambers. His boots clicked loudly against the cold stone floors as he dashed down the hallway. This area was suspiciously empty of soldiers and the smell was strange. It felt almost electrically charged. Roman ran into a dead end. This couldn’t be the wrong way, could it?

He examined the hall further as he turned around. The walls were adorned with massive tapestries and sconces fitted with gems. The waste of the kingdom’s resources alone was ample reason to dethrone this monster. But his use of the forbidden magics propelled Roman forward to do what had to be done before the entire kingdom fell to ruin from the sinister arts infecting the lands.

Banners and tapestries littered this hall, but a strangely blank wall between two sconces caught Roman’s attention as he passed. Roman wasn’t practiced, but he felt what he was looking for. He reached deep within himself and forced out the raw power within. With unrefined powers, he could do nothing skilled, but he could break a barrier. The illusion shattered and a strident cracking sound shook the hallway. One minor success wasn’t enough to celebrate, though. Roman was here for one reason alone. He scaled the stairs that were obscured by the now broken barrier two at a time as he pushed deeper into the belly of the beast.

The staircase narrowed and Roman sprinted with all of his being to escape the shrinking passage, staying ahead of the walls cinching shut behind him. This dark sorcery could try to deflect him, but Roman was quicker. He raced up the stairs and cleared into a new chamber just as it was becoming too narrow to traverse. Roman stumbled in, his bearings shaken by the sheer intensity of the tainted aura encasing the chamber. This would be his most challenging battle yet.

He straightened his back and locked eyes with the dark sorcerer upon his despicable throne. The entire room shook with the sorcerer’s booming, sinister laugh. Roman drew his blade and stood his ground. He wouldn’t show weakness now. Now that the final battle was here, he had to stay strong. He couldn’t afford an ounce of fear as he slowly approached the villain’s throne as the ominous wind howled all around them. Then the bell rang and Roman tumbled back on his bench from the shock. Shit.

Roman grabbed his backpack and left as fast as he could safely stand down the bleacher stairs. The students down on the wood gymnasium floor weren’t familiar, however. And even the wrong age group. Son of a bitch, did he miss lunch? Stupid ridiculously short lunch periods! He was late for class. Goddammit, he didn’t even get to defeat the evil sorcerer!

He wasn’t surprised nobody told him or anything, but he couldn’t exactly be a speed demon on his healing feet. Roman knew if he stepped the wrong way he’d get stuck at home a few days again and he wasn’t risking it. He also didn’t need detention for running. Roman went as hastily as he could manage to his history class.

He’d rather be back in the castle than history, but he could never get a daydream back once he lost it. That meant that particular kingdom was doomed to fall to the taint of the forbidden magic under the rule of a tyrant. He was at least lucky he ended up daydreaming instead of sitting there and being bored for the whole period.

Roman pushed the classroom door open as quietly as he could achieve, but a classroom’s worth of eyes landed on him as he arrived. He flinched at all the unwanted attention and headed for his seat.

“Detention, Mr. Reinhart,” The teacher drolled as Roman slid into his desk. Son of a bitch. Roman was fated to detention either way. He had so much homework though, it wouldn’t make a difference if he started it in after-school detention or if he did it at home. Roman may as well do it today, just to have it out of the way.

The teacher’s voice droned on as Roman got out the things listed on the board and struggled to follow the lecture. It felt like the words went right into gibberish land when he attempted to focus on them, so Roman had to find the careful balance between focused and distracted without slipping into another daydream every class. It was annoying as hell.

He tapped his fingers on his thigh and started doodling stars in the margins of his notes. Other than clearly jumping in the middle of a lecture, he could start to try to pinpoint things that sounded important to take notes on. People, years, locations, quick event summaries, and concepts that were generally interesting. Teachers liked to use kinds of things those on tests. Missing part of the lecture was nothing new for Roman, anyway. His notes were always a scattered mess out of context, but if he managed to label an overarching category, he could usually understand them.

Roman was sketching a bobcat jumping between the stars when the bell finally rang again. He traded his homework for a detention slip at the teacher’s desk and left the classroom in a huff. That dragon with the awesome super hot flames would totally eat that teacher for breakfast. He wished to know more about those tapestries, too. He had lots more notes to fail to take and pages of homework to turn in, though, even if he could get a daydream back.

If Patton didn’t help him on Sunday Roman didn’t think he could have possibly done all the homework he had gotten over the 3 days he was out. It was like the school was trying to kill students with mountains of paper. How many trees did academia kill every year, anyway? Probably a horrific number he shouldn’t look up and depress himself further with. He couldn’t stop thinking about that daydream. Those golems made such a cool noise when they died, damnit. He’d probably give up and attempt to bring the daydream back next class.

—

Roman sighed with relief when his eyes met with the couch as he arrived at the house that afternoon. His feet were sore as shit and he wanted to put them up more than anything. Stupid fresh skin, not hardened to the brutal reality of life yet. He felt it every time the skin on his foot bent.

He slid his backpack under the coffee table so no one would trip over it and kicked off his shoes to lay back on the couch. Bed might be better, but couch . Sure, he seemed like he lived there lately, but right now home was wonderful. Roman buried his face under a throw pillow and sighed with relief as blood shifted out of his feet and he was no longer opposing gravity to keep a straight spine. Good posture was hard.

“Roman?” Thomas asked, and it sounded like he came into the living room from his office. “Oh, there you are. I was wondering where you were. You didn’t answer your texts,” He said, sounding concerned. Whoops. He felt a little bad for worrying Thomas.

“Sorry, after school detention,” Roman said plainly, flipping his hand. “Hadn’t taken my phone off silent yet,” He explained from behind the cushion.

“Detention? For what?” Thomas asked curiously.

“I was late to history,” Roman responded blithely as he flopped his arm loosely off the couch.

“Because you couldn’t move quickly enough? Those heartless-” Thomas sounded surprisingly pissed. He’d seen Thomas being irate before, but this was new and a little scary, if he was honest with himself. He knew it wasn’t about him , but all angry adults made him want to run. He needed to cut Thomas off.

“I was late because I was an idiot and spaced out waiting for gym to be over, not because I couldn’t get there on time in the stupid 8 minutes they give you,” Roman interjected quickly. Thomas settled down fast, thank god, and just looked concerned again. He was used to ‘concerned’ from Thomas. That was fine. Roman settled down again, sinking the tension from his muscles back into the couch. He was hungry and thirsty but didn’t feel like getting up. He didn’t even feel like getting up to play games. Though he had at least another hour of homework and shouldn’t play anyway, or he’d forget to do it.

“Were you-” Thomas started and Roman had a feeling he knew where this was going.

“I was fine. I was just daydreaming and didn’t hear the first bell go off,” Roman cut him off to explain.

“How did you not hear ?” Thomas asked, bordering on disbelief and befuddlement.

“Daydreaming, remember?” Roman reminded him, unsure why Thomas was confused. Had he never gotten caught up in a daydream before? It happened to Roman every few days, it seemed.

“And nobody told you?” Thomas asked, furrowing his eyebrows. What kind of school did Thomas go to where people looked out for you? Geez.

“I’m lucky I didn’t get pelted with a dodgeball. It’s fine. The detention is already done, and I did some homework in it,” Roman shrugged lazily. “Detention isn’t much of a punishment when you have nothing better to do. There was a stoner in there just doing zen finger crochet for the whole hour. It was amazing. I think I learned how to do it just by watching him. I’ve only ever used a hook,” Roman said, still feeling very impressed by how he didn’t stop or do literally anything else. Roman’s gesturing knocked the throw partially off his face and he didn’t bother to move it back.

“I… suppose that’s a good way to look at it. Is there something we can get so you can have more fun at home?” Thomas proposed, sounding awkward. Roman had no idea what he could feel awkward about, though, and he certainly wasn’t giving Thomas any money-spending ideas.

“And make detention suck worse for the next time I mess up?” Roman lilted airily and let out a single dark laugh.

“ Roman ,” Thomas responded firmly, crossing his arms and furrowing his brows. He had a surprisingly intense gaze for a dumb joke.

“What? It was a joke,” Roman replied dryly with a small huff.

“I don’t appreciate that you made the assumption that you’ll inevitably mess up,” Thomas sounded upset and shook his head lightly, looking pointedly at Roman.

“Well, it’s the one constant in my universe, so why not embrace it?” Roman sighed and flipped his hand dismissively close to the floor, feeling too lazy to move more than that.

“ Roman ,” Thomas chided. Roman rolled his eyes that were partially skewed by the pillow.

“Fine, whatever. I don’t need anything. I’m sorry, that was in poor taste or something,” Roman conceded. He was too tired to argue.

“Why are you shaking? I didn’t scare you, did I?” Thomas asked quickly in a concerned tone. Roman furrowed his eyebrows and threw off the throw pillow to look at his hand.

“Oh, huh,” Roman commented blithely, watching his hand slightly tremble. “No, you didn’t startle me. I’m okay, I’m just fu-frickin’ tired. That happens often, I don’t know why. I assume it’s my crap sleep,” Roman explained and his hand sagged back down.

“Good catch, kid,” Thomas chuckled weakly. “I’ll make you some tea, maybe that will help?” Thomas said, not sounding sure but hopeful nonetheless.

“You don’t need to do anything for me, like I said it just kind of… happens,” Roman shrugged and laid his arm over his eyes.

“I’ll make myself some tea, too,” Thomas said lightly and headed to the kitchen. Roman huffed, but he wouldn’t mind some tea. He could make it himself without bothering Thomas, but if Thomas was already doing it for himself, then maybe that wasn’t a big deal and he could let it go.

Something was unsettling about laying his arm over his eyes, so he returned it to limp noodle status and stared at the ceiling instead. He wondered how Remus was doing. He also wondered what Virgil was doing holed up in his room again. Virgil had that laptop. Maybe he did something on that all day. Being allowed to use the TV here was awesome, but Roman got the draw of hiding in your room with the door closed. The living room was open and a central part of the residence. Lying around in the living room for nearly a week made him much more comfortable here, though. Thomas and Patton were worrywarts, but they were… nice. Being out here was okay sometimes. He didn’t want to push it, or anything.

Thomas came back out into the living room and slid a mug of tea on the side table near where Roman was laying and he sat down nearby with his mug, holding it in his hands and looking like he was sniffing it. Roman caught a whiff of the tea while he passed, and it smelled like vanilla and spices, which smelled relaxing.

“I feel like playing something kind of silly. Do you want to join me?” Thomas looked over to Roman with a small smile.

“Um, yeah, sure,” Roman nodded and slowly shifted himself to sit up on the couch again, putting his feet up and sitting sideways. “I’ll go lay in your office, or something, you don’t have to stay out here to watch me,” Roman offered nervously. He had fun playing with Thomas last time, and Thomas knew when to stop so Roman wouldn’t end up playing forever on accident and forget his homework.

“No, I hit a roadblock with writing. I need to take a break before I fry my brain. We cook stuff together in this game, it’s kind of fast-paced but it should be fun,” Thomas responded brightly, getting up to grab the controllers. “The game is kind of hard with just two, so inviting Virgil might help. Will you text him?” Thomas asked, slipping out another controller from the charging station. He passed off a joycon to Roman with a smile. Roman nodded and invited Virgil to play with them.

“Do you think he wants to?” Roman asked carefully.

“It never hurts to ask. It’s nice to feel included even if he’s busy with something,” Thomas said, settling down on the couch again. That was a nice thought, but Roman didn’t like it when people shot him down when he invited them to things. Roman watched his phone uneasily while he waited for a response. Virgil normally texted back quickly. Virgil sent back a thumbs up and came down the stairs a moment later.

‘I will kick your ass,’ Virgil signed with a smug smile, backing up into the couch and climbing up to the top. Thomas tossed him a joy-con and smiled brightly.

“Okay, one sec,” Thomas said and straightened his hair while the game loaded. “Cool. Pick your characters here. Make sure they look different enough you don’t get confused. Patton had that problem,” Thomas chuckled. Virgil picked a vampire, Roman chose a dragon, and Thomas picked a unicorn. Roman was amused they all chose supernatural avatars. Virgil stared at the loading screen in confusion for a moment where it showed the map.

‘Wait, co-op?’ Virgil fingerspelled and narrowed his eyes at Roman. Roman held up his hands and shrugged.

“What’s wrong, Virgil?” Thomas asked, noticing Virgil’s glower.

“I suppose I should have specified this wasn’t a versus game,” Roman replied, glancing between Virgil and Thomas and chewed his lip.

“It’s fun, just give it a shot. A few levels and we can switch to a fighting game if you don’t like it,” Thomas offered. Virgil considered it for a second and nodded in agreement, turning toward the TV and looking intense. Roman liked that compromise, as well. He hadn’t played a fighting game in a long time and couldn’t wait to show Virgil he’d need a lot more than determination to beat him.

Personal Taglist: @bunny222 @elizabutgayer @prinxietyforever @kanene-yaaay-o-retorno @the-sympathetic-villain @croftersjam15 @ollyollyoxinfree @xytiiko

the taglist repository:

High school: @dragonwithproblems @starlight-era @averykedavra @potatsanderssides

Roman Angst: @k1ngtok1

Hurt/Comfort: @callboxkat @nonasficcollection @supernovainthenightsky @evoodo123

Roman-Centric: @smileyzs @robinwritesshitposts @thatgaydemigodnerd

Fostering AU: @i-am-not-a-dinner-roll

literally everything sanders sides: @katelynn-a-fan @dwbh888 @grouptalekindnesssoul @the-hoely-bleach @anvil527up @fanficloverinthesun @brain-deadx0 @the-grounded-raven @ananonsplace

#tsss #sanders sides #tsss fanfiction #sanders sides fanfiction #tsss fanfic #dreaming while i wake #ts roman angst #ts roman #teen!roman #dad!thomas #angst #chapter fic #violence tw #bad self talk tw #teen!virgil #fanfiction #fanfic #ayri writes

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farawaysoph-ie · 5 years

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The Bone Witch Incoherent Whatever

I started these books mainly because I can't read French very well, but this is a story for another list. I started them and finished them, and I didn't know I had needed such a story. This. Bad. So I guess a super long and super spoiler-y list was in order (while I cry again because they are too much T.T)

Rin Chupeco was immediatly added to my list of favourite human beings: the dedications were a mood and the acknowledgments, gosh wonderful

Tea of the Embers, love of my life, is amazing, I don't care about anything I loved her from her first words until the very end

Somehow we always knew where this was gonna end, but i didn't feel prepared at all, my heart breaking and mending at every chapter

"My only claim of strangeness was that I read fiercely, learned thirstly"

"We asha are always expected to be on our most proper behavior, to never have so much as a hair out of turn. Asha do not cry or scream or make threats. When people cut us, we are expected to do only two things: smile and bleed.”

The world building, the power system, the politics, Tea's commanding of the Dark

The deal with Mykaela heartglass broke my heart, I have ex that I regret and the idea that I could remain stuck like that, loving someone and slowly dying because of that terrifies me (HOW COULD YOU KILL HER WHEN THEY WERE SO CLOSE)

THE AZI

I repeat THE AZI

Tea looked at a giant three-headed undefeated dragon, went around in its head, saw it just wanted to be left alone (which same) and said I'm gonna keep it (which again SAME)

What do I have to do to befriend a dragon? (TELL ME)

Zoya turning out to be a magnificent and fierce warrior with a major case of ChildhoodFriendCrush, and not irrelevent mean girl

Also her and Shadi are just so cute, the way the first is always embarassed and everything and the other just loves and teases her more

"Unfortunately, the oracle had something very different in mind with me" takes on a WHOLE new meaning when you finish the trilogy

I hated how people started getting more and more scared of Tea, when in the end it was all a plot, a lot of prejudices were to blame, and they seemed to forget how kind my girl always was

I have to say I liked Aneah and all the words she whispered, give me a twisted dark lady and you have my attention

"A little corruption is good for the soul, Tea." To which yes, let a girl get revenge

I'm looking at you filthy oracle, I can understand the "I have to sacrifice something to win this fight" way to go, but you were just a pathetic crazy liar, how dare you corrupt Althecia

I can't get over that, I didn't see it coming

The elders made me sick, those horrible hags tested my patience, go die of old age Hestia or whatever

The end of The Bone Witch will always have my heart because Chupec dropped the ship bomb on me with a "Let's go, Kalen"

After going on with "a boy who died for me" and "I made a note to strangle Kalen as soon as I saw him again", AND THEN THAT

I was rooting for them, so I think I screamed or something: you say enemy to lovers, you have my attention

Those two invented love, it took them two books to get around, but was it worth it. They were so devoted to each other, like Kalen stayed with her against Everything and Everyone, like literally. We stan one loving boy

Whats more the oracle had predicted the next bone witch was gonna bring about the dead of her lover, and he was going around "get away from the prince!", then she went, brought down the freacking azi, trapped a Faceless one using her dead horse, and he was like "I guess I'm doomed"

gosh Fox

It all started with "Let me be clear: I never intended to raise my brother from his grave, though he may claim otherwise. If there’s anything I’ve learned from him in the years since, it’s that the dead hide truths as well as the living."

He is exactly how a big brother should be, you can feel him come back to life in every sense, slowly, until he falls in love. I could feel all his love for a sister he kept understanding less and less despite being in her head, and how this held him back from a life he wanted, but knew he shouldn't have had in the first place

Beautifully done, I felt and understood Fox, despite him not being the narrator, despite being angry at how the situation with Daisy was hurting Tea, the two of them were power siblings

“We need someone in our heads to tell us whenever we’re being idiotic. It’s the Pahlavi way.”

Mistress Parmina with her love for money, always stood behind Tea, despite her way of doing things and I wished that Councilor Ludvig was my granpa, I mean he was this kind, smart politician who taught Tea a lot and helped them mantain peace

Ah the well meaning Inessa, I liked her, but felt like I haven't seen enough of her

But the joke of how there were no rulers to get accidentally engaged to killed me, that's awareness

Polaire T.T

The infatuation for Kance stayed that way and I'm glad, and most of the last books I was like, don't hurt my girl

The Heartforger was a rollercoaster ship-wise: Tea insults Kalen, he is standing behind her; Kalen tries to be nice to Tea, Tea is very confused; pretend they are a thing in front of family; Tea compels Kalen hoping to save his life, Kalen is not pleased at all; unsuccessful apologies; realization, "compel me too", you gotta destroy this two dudes who were rude to you, so I can go "that's my Tea"; you don't just stab the Deathseeker while the bone witch is watching; very public kiss; taking each other back from Faceless influence

All the time they spent with a Heartshare rune between them

"We danced for a few minutes without saying anything. A Daanorian woman worked up the nerve to approach us but backed away when I glared at her. “Angry about something?” “You do know there are women itching to kill me right now, right?” His grip tightened. “Did someone compel the people in the palace? The wards are still in place.” I sighed. “That’s not what I meant. Never mind.”"

“Nobody’s more of a fighter than you. You’re the bravest, strongest, most amazing man I’ve ever…”

Realizes

"I mean you are alright"

When Tea jumped off the tower and the azi caught her !!! (yes I screamed, because I love one queen)

"He was the only place I could rest my head and dream without nightmares plaguing me, as they had for the last three months."

Rahim and Ches were very precious

And don't get me started on Likh

Lady Likh can very much kick your ass on her own, but try to hurt her and you'll have to speak with my punches

Khalad agrees with me (the guys in this family don't know how to get the hint)

But in the end, he was helping Tea so Likh could wake (tears, tears everywhere)

The induced madness and the Blight stuff were sick

From when Tea almost jumped off the window, with Kalen terrified poor boy, to killing Daisy (her own free and light sister T.T), to not remembering a second suicide attempt

Black heartglasses being associated with violence, and Tea's one turning because of what other people did to her

Tea' simple "I want to live", can't a girl have peace? Be free like the azi? Have daughters with her eyes and her singing voice?

"I felt the hatred you were capable of like it was my own. And in that instant, I loved the darkest part of you, because I understood, better than Fox or Mykaela could. I’ve known you at your worst." If this isn't love I don't know what is

Drunk Tea was a sight to be hold, and perfect: take off every filter from the dangerous Dark asha and what she has to tell you is how much she loves Kalen

“I don’t care. I’ll bring us back from the grave if I have to, silver heartsglass or not.” “And I will kill anyone standing between us,” he promised, before his lips closed over mine, “even if I have to crawl out of my grave to do so.”

And you know what? THEY DID.

Tea taking her trials, which after the last chapters were nothing worse than her nightmares: her home burning, her own execution could not compete with Daisy's death and Fox rejection

But Kalen was not a price she could ever think of paying

"You can’t break the rules simply because you want to. More often than not, the rules wind up breaking you."

“The world is a much bigger place than the space I occupy, and with even greater consequences.” “There will be no world if you aren’t here with me, Kalen.”

Yadoshans warm my heart

"That is the nature of tyranny, young Tea. Maintaining power is their sole intention. Why worry about retaliation and revolution when they have always intended to wield the sword?"

The whole part in which they killed Kalen and the azi, ripped my heart out

The song she must have sung for hours, and the azi waited until the end to say goodbye

Thank the Creator for the visions she got, or she would have really drown herself T.T

“Sons and daughters,” she echoed, “sons with my fire, daughters with my eyes. Mayhap one day, they will. A life worth dying for is a life worth living after all.” She laid a hand on her companion’s shoulder, squeezing. “Let’s go, my love.”

Even after this long list I feel like I didn't do justice to this trilogy or to how much I loved it. Tea's fierce and kind strenght, even when every one but Kalen was suspicious of her, even when she was going mad because of poison, even when she was trying to outsmart a ruthless enemy, did something to me.

I spent three books knowing that she didn't care if she survived, if she could save her friends then her wish to live was not important. She didn't want much, she just wanted to live. But she let go of that for everyone else. Yes I'm going to cry again.

About the ending I like to think that for finally healing the world she was rewarded, so she got the quiet life with Kalen she'd always deserved. I like to think that she and Kalen remember, that after they'd done enough they finally found their peace and freedom.

They were together, they got to be someone else and had all the time in the world.

#the bone witch #the bone witch spoilers #the heartforger #the shadowglass #rin chupeco #spoilers #incoherent whatever #the bone witch incoherent whatever

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yutaya · 4 years

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Iron Fist Rewatch: 1x01: Snow Gives Way

-Someone barging into Ward's office acting like they own the place and also know Harold is alive must have sent such a jolt of fear through Ward for a second

-Ward puts himself between Danny and Joy when it seems like Danny might get physical

-Ward tells Joy not to have Danny arrested - Harold concerns?

-Danny PTSD set off by the elevator turbulence?? But he was fine going up. Just stress induced? He's shaking.

-FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT BREAK INTO THAT HOUSE

-Joy's dog just disappears after this episode?

-Danny just meditates or something to get that dog to calm down. Calms his mind so as to seem not a threat / not present? Is Danny some sort of animal whisperer? I'm now positive that at some point during Danny and Ward's Adventures Across Asia, they were stranded somewhere for some reason, Ward is complaining about being stuck in some muddy backwater hick town or whatever, Danny just sort of strolls up to some large animals (attached to a cart? Wait, that would be stealing. Hm...) goes all zen state, then says to Ward "they'll take us to the next town" like that's a normal series of events and not COMPLETELY INSANE, DANNY, WHAT THE F---.

-Pictures on Joy's shelf: Harold with his arm around young Joy, all six of them on some vacation. Rands + Meachums kind of separated in this photo, though. Don't people normally stand closer together in group photos? Also, young Joy much shorter than young Danny. Note: Wendall's hands on both Heather and Danny's shoulders. Harold's hand on Joy's shoulder. Ward and Danny both have hands in pockets.

-"Dad says rules are for pussies" ;___; (Young Ward refusing to pay monopoly rent because he just doesn't want to. Starting the corrupt financial elite training off early, huh?)

-"Oh, here comes Mommy and Daddy to protect you and give you lots of hugs and kisses and tell you what a sweet little boy you are. It's disgusting. *sweeps all the game pieces off the table even though they've clearly been playing for awhile and it's not like Danny just won he was only asking for like $200*" Ward, you dramatic bitch. Also, they were literally only saying they were home, not necessarily rushing in to protect Danny from the Big Bad Ward refusing to pay $200 monopoly money. Metaphorically, I suppose this is still Ward being a sore loser, though. It's not monopoly Danny beat him at, it's having parents who love him. T_T AND THEN HE LIES ABOUT IT, PLAYING THE BELEAGUERED BABYSITTER, ASDFGHJKL - WARD. (Note: neither Danny nor Joy speak up against this blatant unfairness. Previous failure? YOU'RE SUCH A BULLY, WARD.)

-Big Al is first person to be friendly to Danny and I'm sure Danny doesn't forget it. Headcanon Danny is def actively caring towards 'lower class', including homeless and drug addicts, and actually sees + treats them as equals. Classism definitely a theme in these shows with the people who struggle financially like Colleen being the kindest and most charitable and the rich being assholes.

-But also why is he informing Danny that the internet can be used as a search engine with no prior indication in their conversation that Danny doesn't know this? I mean, Danny does not, in fact, know this, but.

-In the news article, the photo of the Rands is the same one in Joy's apartment, but the Meachums are not there. However, they are not merely cropped out: the background extends into the spot they should occupy. Did some poor news article graphic designer have to go find a photo of that tourist spot background at the exact right angle and photoshop them together to get rid of the Meachums, or was Joy's photo a photoshopped family vacation image, which could have explained the awkward distance between the two families, even though it wouldn't have been that hard in editing to set them all closer together? Maybe they all still went on the same vacation together, but instead of asking a passerby to take a photo for them, both families took photos of each other and then someone combined them at a later date? Practically speaking, that still means the angle would be likely to be off for the background, and it's also suspicious that there are zero other tourists around. These rich families rented out the entire space?? Would lend to lack of external parties to take a group pic for them. Obviously, IRL explanation is they're all photoshopped onto a static background, but fun to think of the in-universe reasons. ...Actually, most likely explanation is that they took multiple photos - Rand only, Meachum only, maybe also kids only, Wendall+Harold only, etc, as well as group. So this entire train of thought is inconsequential. Oops.

-Harold had a big event funeral, "mayor and everything"? That must have been fun for both Harold and Ward, with significantly different usages of the word 'fun'.

-Hello Joy, not only did I follow you home to accost you at your front door the morning after I attacked the security at your workplace to enter your probably restricted top floor executives offices, I also did extensive research into your childhood history down to the position you and your friend played on your childhood soccer team, oh and also I broke into your house yesterday where I interacted with your dog. Now watch while I prove my physical prowess by flipping over a taxi.

-Bird flying into city while Danny meditates?? Symbolically, follows the idea of the bird flying through the pass that was Danny's sign to leave K'un Lun and return to NYC. Spiritually - what? AU where the bird is Danny's spirit animal and he's connected to it / seeing through its eyes right now. For the HDM AU fans: bird could be Danny's separated dæmon? (Would a HDM AU Danny's dæmon be a dragon? Honestly, idk how much dragon stereotypes match Danny's personality. Would have to think about that. Would be funny if someone else had the dragon dæmon, not any of the Fist holders.)

-Danny. Danny. Colleen JUST HUNG THAT FLYER UP. Take one of the little tabbies, if you must, that's what they're for, but don't take the entire flyer down! Those cost money, you know. And it takes time to cut all those little tabbies out and then go around hanging the flyers up.

-Colleen be like "dear god, this is why you shouldn't be nice to people, they start trying to hit on you, @ random park dude, please stop talking at me and following me while I continually shift out of your line of vision"

-Danny: "Hey you speak Chinese? I speak Chinese." Colleen: "I'm Japanese you dick. :)"

-Ward: I'm gonna make sure our personal security team is guarding you against this clear and present threat, but also we're still not calling the police??

-Ward turns this from either a crazy homeless guy or a scam artist into a potential organized corporate sabotage - the kind of threat that Joy is more easily able to compartmentalize her emotions on and crush under her heel?

-Ward just gets into a moving vehicle with someone he has verbally acknowledged as an active threat to his family. Did you have ANY stranger danger safety lessons growing up, Ward?

-Danny now appears to be actively threatening Ward, while using the reasoning that Ward and everyone else have been seriously trying his patience and he's in danger of losing his temper, but he's still giving Ward one last chance to back down. Note: this is a technique commonly employed by abusers, and probably more triggering to Ward than Danny knows, even though Danny probably actually does think he's being sincere as opposed to manipulative.

-->Aaaand Ward responds by ratcheting up instead, because of course he does, IMMEDIATELY leading to the gun to head scene. oh, geez.

-Danny provides personal details - probably this is the moment Ward starts to believe it might actually be Danny somehow, against all logic and reason. He looks shaken, then immediately starts trying to gaslight Danny. asdfghjkl WARD.

-->Ward lying to Danny's face and putting himself in the position of the righteous with Danny as the person in the wrong when they both know it's a lie is very reminiscent of the monopoly scene from when they were kids and the implied constant behavior from when they were kids. But this time, Danny doesn't accept it the way he did as a kid. He stares at Ward, remembering this pattern, actively teetering on PTSD flashback mode, and fights back. Makes Ward think he might be about to kill them both - while having flashbacks that hinder his ability to stop so Danny in hindsight gets freaked out about what he almost did too. (Note: looking freaked out and claiming he didn't mean to almost kill them both just now was probably more concerning to Ward rather than less.) And then he promises he'll be back because this isn't over. gdi, Danny, no wonder Ward wants you gone asap.

-Colleen, trying to tell Danny to go away because he's being a creeper: TAKE A HINT TAKE A HINT

-Danny, casually: Oh yeah Master Lei Gun "The Thunderer" used to smack me hard in the face with the practice swords

-Colleen bringing a sword to a gun fight

-Danny grabs enemy's gun, but not to use as weapon/defense - only to disarm it and run off - which Colleen sees.

-What festival is this that's happening in Chinatown? Has anyone figured out an IF timeline? Could compare dates to real world events, see if there's any potential cross over.

-None of these bystanders so much as bother to look at the fistfights happening 2 feet away from them

-Ward sitting in his office eating his food (it has decorative greens so you know it's ~fancy~) and answers his phone smiling because he's expecting the good news that Danny-probably-an-impersonator-but-also-potentially-maybe-not-but-we're-not-thinking-about-that-Ward-get-a-hold-of-yourself is dead. Way to be a villain stereotype, Ward. I know you try real hard at it so good job uwu

-Harold intro. Ward clearly at his beck and call and just as clearly resentful of it. "I think...” *resigned* “-of course, right away." is such immediate shorthand for someone abusing the power imbalance. (Note: Ward puts off approaching Harold with the "Danny problem" until night 2, tries to handle it quietly until he has implicated himself (Danny now knows Ward tried to have him killed) and Danny is still present and now an even bigger threat)

-So many elevators. All express to specific floors/areas? This lobby is so unsettling. Elevator leads to another hall full of elevators, then stairs, then handprint access to hall with second elevator into penthouse. (Note: Ward is one of those people who press the close door button multiple times with a frustrated facial expression)

-Ward to Harold: "How do you even know about that? ...Shit. Are you behind this? Is this another one of your stupid tests?"

-Harold to Ward: "I wish you would take things like this more seriously, so I don't see my company destroyed."

-Photos on Harold's shelf: young Joy, posed photo of Meachums in formal-ish clothing, Harold's hands on both kids shoulders, indistinguishable group of people on a bridge(?) somewhere. Group photo atop a fancy box, Joy photo in front of the Meachum family photo. On Harold's desk: another photo of young Joy, this one looks like one of those posed school photos where they have the kid stand against a "tree" backdrop.

-Ward says out loud that he could ignore Harold and Harold wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Harold casually observes that Ward is now and has always been childish. Ward remarks that Harold has been telling Ward he's disappointed in him his whole life. Harold is still disappointed in Ward right now.

-Harold: this is how you make your employees loyal to you. *proceeds to display his complete dominance over Kyle, who looks nervous and threatened by the direct attention* Ward: "Jesus, Dad, what the hell is wrong with you?" (Still doesn't do anything to remove Kyle from this situation though)

-Harold lectures at Ward as if everything Ward has ever done is wrong, always, including snapping his fingers at him when he starts to speak himself, like a bad dog, and listing off things that Ward has already brought up to Joy as if Ward is an incompetent who would never consider those angles himself

-Ward makes a snide comment, Harold snaps at him, Ward smiles a little bit because he has succeeded in getting under Harold's skin for a moment

-Harold: Leave this to me. I'll tell you exactly what to do. Ward: Like always. Harold: Like always.

-Awww, Danny was rushing back to tell his new friend Al all about Ward sending people to kill him, possibly looking for advice? ;_; (Also, why is there a foreboding music significance to Al having a bird tattoo? Does this ever come back??? I don't remember this mystery going anywhere.)

-Danny is lurking in Joy's office. He doesn't say anything even slightly reassuring, like that he has an appointment, just heavily implies that he snuck in. sigh.

-"I'm not gonna hurt you," Danny laughs, after displaying a whole lot of extremely threatening behavior. Joy smiles, drugs him, and buys time until it kicks in.

#iron fist rewatch #iron fist #snow gives way #my stuff #the immortal iron fist

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rudemaidenswrite · 5 years

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Can I Join You?

BY: @pusantheamazonian

Fandom: Stranger Things Jim Hopper x Reader

Based on that tiny clip of season 3 trailer where Hopper is sitting alone at a restaurant.

It's been fifteen minutes waiting outside the restaurant alone and your brother still hasn't shown up yet. You had actually dressed up nice, in your favorite Y/F/C dress.

Not waiting anymore you head inside to the hostess stand. Before you can speak you see something that hurts your own heart. The man you saw entering the restaurant when you pulled in. Is sitting alone in the middle of the restaurant. It's obvious that whoever the other seat was reserved for is a no show. As if they've stood him up. He's not bad looking or anything, he's actually kind of adorable. In his peach and mint colored shirt and khaki jacket.

But it's when he angrily lights a cigarette you ignore the hostess and make a straight line to him. It's a sadness that you know too well.

"Hi. Um do you mind if I join you?" Nervously you point at the empty chair.

"What?" He looks up startled.

"Can I join you for dinner? I'm alone and it looks like you're alone. I thought you might like some company."

"Yeah.. sure." Fumbling he quickly straightens in the chair. "My name's Jim."

"Y/N." You give him a smile as you sit down.

"You from Hawkins?"

"No, I live just outside Upland."

"Ah Upland the fighting Rams. Hawkins and Upland were the biggest rivals."

"They still are for some reason." Nodding you awkwardly place the napkin in your lap.

"What brings you here?"

"My brother is here for work so I decided to come visit. He's the one who stood me up for dinner."

"Well… as you can see my date never showed." He gives an I'm definitely not stressed smile.

"Sorry about that." He instantly waves off your apology.

"It's not your fault but it's the last time I let a coworker set me up."

"See that's where you went wrong. Cause now it's going to be awkward at work."

"Yeah well that's how it goes."

The waiter appears and you both just radle off the first thing you see. Before this night becomes a disaster you might as well break the ice.

"Well do you live by yourself or have children?"

"A daughter."

"How old?"

"Thirteen."

"Oh I remember those days. Hormones and hating everyone." Nodding you take a sip of water.

Chuckling he pulls out a photo from his wallet.

"My daughter Jane." He shows you a picture of him and a brown haired girl. When he leans in you notice how his eyes soften when talking about her. She must be his whole world.

"Awe she's adorable! I'm loving the outfit." She is wearing a black romper with colored dinosaurs on it. "Is she relaxing at home tonight?"

"She's with her friends. Every Friday night they play DnD or whatever it is." Shrugging he doesn't really remember the name.

"It's called Dungeons and Dragons, but most people call it DnD for short."

"You know what that is?" He's shocked, obvious by the way his eyes widened.

"Yeah I used to play it back in highschool. My character was a Ranger Changeling named Sirx. Who liked to pretend they were an elf." He gives you a confused look. "Older brothers."

"Older brothers can be a dangerous thing."

"Dangerous to some." Smiling you visibly see him relax. Which relaxes you.

The night goes on and the awkwardness goes away. You're chatting as if you haven't seen each other in years. Ignoring the time and looks from the staff as it gets late. It's not until the server puts the check down do you both look at the time. It's almost time for them to close.

You both reach for the check but you pull it away first. "No I got it. I intruded and asked you about dinner."

"I was already here. I can't let you do that." Shaking his head he reaches for it again.

"I said no." Giving him a stern look he finally backs off.

"You have a mean look. But I get the check next time."

"Next time?" Surprised you double check that he really just said that.

"Well yeah… if you want." Shrugging he avoids eye contact.

"I would love to."

After paying for the check and having him accompany you to the car. You swap numbers and hope he does call you next week. All the while trying to resist hungrily staring at his body.

Hopper is barely able to open the door.

"You're late." El states from the couch. Flipping through the TV channels. "Johnathan dropped me off."

"I know. Sorry that I didn't call." Taking off the jacket, he moves to grab a beer.

"How was the date?"

"Uh..they didn't show up." Shrugging he tossed the lid on the counter.

"Why are you late?" Ignoring the TV El turns around.

"Well that's the thing. I was going to leave when someone asked if they could have dinner with me. I said yes and that's why I'm late."

"You like them?"

"Yeah she seems nice and all but I don't know. The original date was just to get Flo off my back."

"Friends don't lie." El puts him on the receiving end of an angry stare.

"Yes…" Internally groaning he hates it when she pulls that card. "She's cute and I had fun. But I don't think now's the time for dating. We just got you enrolled in school and have to make sure you keep up."

"Everyone else has a Dad and Mom. But that's okay this is still home." With a huff and a little bit of a cold shoulder

"Seriously? You're starting a fight because you want someone else here?"

"Everyone has two parents except me and Will."

"Sorry, but I haven't been in a stable relationship for years."

"Why?"

".... After Sara… I-I blamed myself. I pushed everyone away and my wife divorced me."

"Divorce?"

"Uh to permanently leave, a government legal word meaning to stay away after two people don't want to be married anymore."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's fine. Come on time for bed." Hop points.

"It's not a school night."

"Bed."

Groaning El sluggishly heads to bed grumbling about it being the weekend.

"Ah home sweet home." With a sigh he chugs the beer ready to hit the hay.

Unable to sleep Hop is up early making breakfast.

"Dad."

"What?"

"Mike and the rest are going to Crazy Pete's carnival tonight. Can I go?"

"How much? How long?"

"$10 for the ride pass. I don't know how long, but I figured I could stay with Max tonight. And you could call your date." Jim groans at the last comment. "What?"

"I'll make you a deal." El perks up when he turns. "You don't do anything dangerous or comment on my lack of dating. I will call her to see about another date after I drop you off."

"Deal."

"What's her name?"

"Y/N. Why?"

"Just wondering." El smiles sitting down at the table.

You're wandering around the carnival when you see Jim surrounded by a bunch of kids. Excited, you didn't expect to see him so soon. You notice one of the girls is his daughter. Approaching him you hear the conversation.

"Dude I'm a dollar short." The brown curly hair one says.

"Dustin!" Everyone groans.

"Well what do we have here? Six hoodlums whose low on funds and a grumpy father." You sneak up right beside Jim.

"Y/N? What are you doing here?" He about jumps out of his skin.

"Um it's a carnival? Why wouldn't I be here?" Holding back laughter you try to remain serious.

"See she gets it." Dustin sasses.

"What are you short a dollar for?" Nodding at the pile of coins.

"The unlimited ride pass." Another one says.

"Thought so, I'll be right back." Quickly walking to the ticket booth.

"Y/N? Is that her?" El now pesters.

"Yes."

"Who's Y/N?" Mike asks.

"My date last night." Hop grumbles.

Returning you hear the ooooooo's from the kids.

"Now let's see I have six wristbands and oh! Look there's six children here. How about we make a deal?"

"What kind of deal?" The redhead girl asks.

"How about you tell me your favorite color and you can have them."

"Blue." El blurts.

"And we have our first winner of the evening!" Smiling you hand a wrist band over. Once the others saw how serious you are. They couldn't say the color fast enough. Then like lightning they all bolt leaving you alone with Jim. One shouted later chief as they ran.

"You really got to stop that. You're going to make me look bad." Teasing you with a smile.

"Stop what?"

"Paying for everything."

"Eh don't worry about that, they're on the house."

"On the house? You work here?" Now he's confused.

"No. I work as a school secretary."

"Wait, does your brother work here?"

"Close. My brother owns the carnival."

"Owns the carnival? Crazy Pete is your brother?" He motions to the whole carnival.

"No. Crazy Pete is my uncle. My younger brother took over when he retired."

"You're not crazy. Good, just your brother and uncle." Hop is a little jumbled at this news. You laugh at his response.

"No I'm not crazy… So what's with the whole Chief thing?"

"Oh I'm the chief of police here." Shrugging it off he starts walking waiting for you to catch up.

"Ah, so that's why people were staring even more when I sat down at dinner. Becoming the local gossip."

"Something like that. The old ladies say I don't play well with others and smoke too much, drink too much. Too much baggage."

"The normal reasons of gossip for any single people over twenty five."

"Yeah well I'm not twenty five." Huffing with a dissatisfied look. Obvious that he finds himself too old for this.

"Well what do you say? Want to take a walk around? Maybe hit the ferris wheel?" Eyebrows wiggling you hold up two more wristbands. Trying your best to instigate another date and just maybe some other less appropriate things. Cause he is still adorable as hell and the scruffy dad bod does things to you.

"Only if you win me a stuffed animal."

#stranger things #season 3 #david harbour #jim hopper #reader insert #reader #jim hopper x reader #elven #jane hopper #stood up #blind date #single parents #dad hopper

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wazjunz · 4 years

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Cult of the Mongoose (Chapter 1)

“Dude… is he talking to his sandwich!?”

Raymond stole a glance at the boy beside him. Sam was small, even for a Year Eight. He had pale, sandy, nothing-coloured hair, mousey features, bony shoulders and tiny arms. And yes. As the older kid across the walkway has just pointed out, it did look a lot like he was whispering to his lunch. The older boy and his friend were only a few metres away, sitting on a bench on the other side of the concrete walkway connecting the Art department from English, but Sam seemed not to hear the comment. The small boy continued chewing; his cheese sandwich held close to his face. He chewed with his lips slightly open, and kept his eyes locked firmly on the sandwich, his eyebrows would raise and fall as he chewed.

“Oh my God, I think he is,” the older boy continued.

His friend shook his head and laughed. Raymond felt very vulnerable, dreading that the older boys would turn their attention to him next. Raymond put a lot of effort into being invisible, and he suddenly felt more exposed than usual. After waiting long enough that it wouldn’t seem like he had been scared off by the older boys’ comments, Raymond mumbled a goodbye to Sam and walked quickly away. Sam didn’t look up from his sandwich.

Raymond checked his watch. Damn it. He’d planned on spending longer with Sam before moving on. Sam sat alone in a quieter area, and was happy with almost no conversation, so Raymond could kill almost 20 minutes with Sam sometimes before he got too nervous and moved on. There was still forty minutes before Lunch ended. Most days Raymond could secure his favourite spot in the library before anyone else got there. There was a small corner with a low armchair, hidden between shelves, where he could hide out completely alone for an entire recess or lunch if he got there first, but today was a Wednesday. On Wednesdays before lunch he had Drama. Drama was in a demountable way out the back of the school and as far from the library as you could get. Today, by the time he got to his safe chair a couple of Year Tens were crammed into it, giggling and poking one-another while their Group slumped on the floor in the surrounding aisles, smirking knowingly, rolling their eyes at one another.

As he passed the Library doors Raymond considered checking his spot again, but he couldn’t risk it. If the Group hadn’t moved on they might spot him lurking again and call him a stalker, or worse, a Nigel. As in ‘Nigel-no friends’. Raymond put his head down and walked quickly through the crowd in the main quadrangle, past the snaking canteen lines, and out a side gate towards the basketball courts. Raymond didn’t like going near the basketball courts. That was where the second most intimidating group of Year Nines hung out. It was their Area. All the Groups had an Area. The basketball court was the sporty/ tough Year Nine’s Area. They were the biggest Group in Year Nine. The group consisted of two Sub-Groups. The sporty kids (identified more by their running shoes and Adidas track pants than actual sporting ability) and the tough kids, who liked to cultivate an air of delinquency, without ever actually getting into much trouble. The more affluent sporty kids enjoyed the danger and protection of the tougher sub-group, while the tougher sub-group used the prestige of the sporty kids to keep them from being identified with the socially undesirable ‘Dero’ group- who got in actual trouble.

Raymond was equally terrified by both basketball court Sub-Groups, so before he got too close to the courts he jogged down a slight hill to two demountables on the edge of the oval. The eroded, grassless patch of dirt between the demountables was one of his emergency, temporary back up havens when his spot in the library got taken. This was Gumbum’s Area.

Gumbum’s real name wasn’t Gumbum, but it was what everyone called him. Gumbum was bigger and louder than the most confident Year 12, but not for any reason that anyone could figure out. He was shaped like a giant bowling pin, and moved like a T-rex. He had a meaty butt and legs, but stood with a slouch that made his shoulders look disproportionately small. The entire Year thought he was an idiot, and not without justification. Gumbum found himself very funny, and cracked jokes and laughed loudly at himself during class. Often the jokes were references to some wierd Japanese animation series that no one else had seen. Every single one fell flat. Gumbum was permanently unfazed though, and either didn’t mind or didn’t notice that his company was seen as social suicide by his entire year group. Without friends his own age, Gumbum simply found like-minded weirdos from younger Years, and cavorted with them joyously in this strange Area between the demountables. Gumbum was a semi-safe ally for Raymond for two reasons. Firstly, because most other Year Nines gave him a wide berth, Raymond was usualy safe from bumping into anyone scary while in Gumbum’s proximity. Secondly, Gumbum was so big and loud, and unashamedly dorky, that Raymond felt that if he was spotted with him he might look vaguely normal in comparison.

Raymond heard Gumbum laughing like an excitable fog horn before he rounded the corner of the first demountable. The man-sized 14-year-old had two Year Seven boys clinging onto each of his legs, and one on each arm, while a weasly-looking Year 8 threw popcorn into his open, guffawing mouth. It was unclear what exactly the game was or how it hard started, but it was exactly the sort of thing Gumbum and his tiny friends seemed to be doing all the time. Raymond leaned awkwardly against the side of the demountable out of the way of the action. He tried not to smile, but the sight was pretty great. Gumbum had stumbled under the weight of the tiny Year Sevens and had one smooshed up agianst the demoutnable wall squealing, while the rest still clung on giddily. The Year Eight continued hocking handfuls of popcorn into Gumbum’s snapping jaws. Suddenly Gumbum threw his head back, spraying popcorn kernels into the air. “THIS. ENDS. NOOOOOOW!”, he yelled to the sky. Year sevens were suddenly flying off his thrashing limbs, crashing to the rocky ground, gasping with pain and laughter. Gumbum turned and saw Raymond standing awkwardly near the corner of the demountable.

“Oh, Hello Raymond,” he said.

Gumbum made a point of knowing the name of every Year Nine, and a good smattering of the older and younger students’ names. He would use everyone’s names like they were close friends, much to the discomfort of his peers, who didn’t like the implication that they were on speaking terms with the most obvious weirdo in the year. Another reason Raymond sometimes sought out Gumbum in a pinch was that, just like Sam, hanging out with Gumbum meant Raymond barely had to say a word, although (very much unlike Sam) this was because Gumbum never shut up. Gumbum had figured out at some point that Raymond watched Dragon Ball Z, so whenever they crossed paths he would launch quickly into long monologues about hypothetical fights between characters and intricate plot points he had important thoughts about. Having a loud conversation outing him as a Dragon Ball Z watching type was not something that appealed to Raymond at all in the hallways and classrooms generally, but in the near-panic of a library-less lunch time, and in the relative safety between the demountables next to the oval it was a trusty way to eat up some time. Today even that fallback was ruined though. Gumbum had barely started ramping up when a basketball slammed into the wall above their heads and flumped to the dirt near his feet. Gumbum jumped to pick it up and walked out from between the buildings to hand it to an exercise flushed Year nine girl chasing it down the hill.

“Here you go Kellie!,” he said.

Raymond looked at his feet and slid his back along the wall, trying to blend in to the shadows as the girl approached, but he saw her see him, her eyes flicking momentarily between him and Gumbum. She took the ball quickly, forcing a polite smile from the corners of her mouth, before sprinting back up the hill to her friends.

“See you Kellie!” Gumbum called after her.

Spooked, Raymond half raised his hand to Gumbum in a tiny wave, and mumbled “OK, seeya man,” before striding quickly back toward the main school buildings.

Raymond checked his watch again. Only ten minutes had passed since he left Sam. He still had 30 minutes to kill. There was nowhere to sit and hide on his own without it being obvious he was alone, but he could only do so many laps of the school without that looking weird. He had one more option, but it wasn’t one he liked. He took the longest path he could to stairwell near the Art block, walking as slowly as possible without it looking like he was walking slower than a non-weird person would walk.

The entire school, (with the exception a couple of newer buildings) was carpeted in old frayed astroturf coloured carpet. The strairway leading up to the Art classrooms had the added affect of being speckled with droplets of old paint and stomped bits of clay that couldn’t be cleaned out, making it look like a slime clogged waterfall. The stairway changed directions half-way up, where a wobbly old table lived in the corner next to a window peeling with year’s old red and black paint. The table was Ryan’s spot. The corridor at the top of the stairwell was claimed by another large group of Year Nines, somewhere around the middle of the social ladder, running a distant third behind the Populars and the Sport/Tough Groups. Ryan was probably technically part of that group, but his arrogance and moodiness meant that as often as not he put himself in self-imposed, attention seeking exile on the wobbly desk in the stairwell, rather than deigning to hang out with lower life forms. This set up worked well enough for Raymond as Ryan’s volatile moods kept others away, and made him ill-disposed to making jokes and small talk, which Raymond’s panic stricken brain struggled to keep up with.

The other good thing about Ryan was his MP3 player. He had the only one in school. It was white with a greenish backlight and circular touch dial that let you scroll through songs, and the songs were good. Sometimes, rarely, Ryan would let Raymond take an ear bud and listen to half a song. Once he let him have both headphones and scroll through the tracks himself. Ryan was smart and he had cool and interesting taste in music. Unfortunately he was also pretty much one hundred percent not a nice person. Ryan had something mean to say about everyone and everything. He wore a permanent scowl and was always picking at his fingernails like he was punishing them for something. He was also incredibly moody, and could switch from having an interesting conversation to insulting your mum without warning or reason. Raymond found the fact that Ryan already acted like he hated him oddly comforting, but spending more than a few minutes with Ryan always felt odd and uncomfortable. Raymond approached Ryan and leaned on the window with his shoulder. Ryan looked up and pulled out one of his earbuds.

“What.” He said.

“Nah, nothing,” Raymond mumbled. “What you listening to?” Ryan sighed dramatically.

“The Swerves” he said.

“Oh cool. I haven’t heard of them.” Raymond replied.

“Why did you say they’re cool then?”

“Oh, I dunno. The name sounds cool…”

“Uh-huh.”

Ryan stared at Raymond with his ice blue eyes, eyebrows raised.

“How many songs can you get on there?,” Raymond asked.

Ryan rolled his eyes and looked at the ceiling.

“Maybe like 50. I dunno, depends on the songs.”

“Cool. That’s pretty cool. That’s like three or four full albums.”

“Yep. I guess.”

Another awkward silence ensued.

“Is that all?” Ryan said abruptlky. “Like, did you want something or did you just come up here to stand there like a weirdo and tell me you like my MP3 player?”

“Oh, yeah. No. Anyway. Seeya.” Raymond replied, starting to move away back down the stairs.

“Ok. bye. Die in fire,” Ryan said in pretend cheerfulness to Raymonds back.

Ryan said that to everyone. It was like his stand in for any normal phrase he didn’t feel like saying, and he seemed to drop it almost without realizing. Once he said it to a teacher, almost certainly by accident, but he got in big trouble. By Ryan standards the conversation had been a mild success, but it hadn’t taken much time. Raymond checked his watch again. With 15 long minutes still to kill and no other loner allies to visit Raymond did the only thing he could think of and headed back towards the library.

Recently Raymond had started to feel as though he could sense when his Spot was taken and when it was free. As he neared the library he got a hopeful feeling in his stomach and tentatively started to believe that he might get 15 minutes of safe time in his spot with a pile of books before the bell rang for fifth period. He dodged a screaming group of Year Sevens and slipped through the heavy swinging door into the relative quiet. The library was split into three levels. The ground floor was shaped like a big square with the middle cut out. To Raymond’s right and behind him was the borrowing counter, and staff area. The rest of the square was ringed with clumps of desks with four or five chairs grouped around them, and the walls were covered with laminated posters that looked like they’d gone up when she school was built 30 years before. A few groups of students sat at some of the tables. This area was brightly lit by fluorescent lights. In the centre of this square the floor dropped downa couple of metres, making a sort of sunken area ringed by large steps that could double as a sort of in door ampitheatre for classes or presentations. Technically book-wise this was the Young Adult section. One low shelf in the sunken square had a jumble of crappy graphic novels and busted up surfing magazines thrown in it. Most of them were terrible old Asterix comics, and similar things, so Raymond rarely ventured down to look. In two corners those round stand-up spinning book stands held piles of thin paperback novels in bright colours. No one really seemed to ever read or borrow any of them, but Raymond had learned from the giggles and not-very-covert whispers of groups of students that two or three has nudity or sex scenes in them. It was easy to tell which ones they were because they were very beat up. Especially a yellow one, that apparently had a part about two guys doing something in it, and bore the scars of being dropped into the laps of unsuspecting young male victims, and subsequently hurled across the room while their friends cackled.

Raymond’s spot was in the ‘mezzanine’, which was the same shape as the ground floor, but up a flight of stairs in front of the borrowing desk, and with a balcony looking down over the Young Adult section. The mezzanine was where most of the books were. Dirty skylights gave the whole area an otherworldly, hazy, gloaming glow. Two rows of massive beige metal shelves ran down each side of the square. Raymond had the sections highlighted in his brain. Right at the top of the stairs was Sport (gross), which morphed into science (meh), and turned into religion (shrug) in the back right corner. Turning down the back side of the square took you through Art and Design (cool), then history (rad), and finally, Raymond’s favourite, the weird stuff.

Raymond’s spot was a low, cushioned armchair with heavy black metal legs covered in squeaky off-white vinyl, tucked in an alcove, and nearly completely out of view until you walked right past it. The chair faced directly onto Raymond’s favourite shelf. Althought he would often grab a couple of massive art and history books (he especially liked the gigantic Encycolpedia of Modern Military Uniforms), the vast majority of his attention always went to the metre-and-a-half bottom shelf across from his Spot. An old yellow sticker on the shelf at this section read “Paranormal/ unexplained/ horror.” It was a treasure trove of off-putting descrioptions, heart-pounding eyewitness accounts and creepy illustrations. Fifty minutes outside of the library was an age, but a lunchtime spent in his Spot seemed to Raymond like a fleeting moment. He always pulled out way more books that he had time to look through in one sitting. He’d stack the big ones near his feet, balance the smallest on the arms of the chair, and pack the hefty medium sixed hard covers next to his thighs. He loved the books for their stories and ideas and pictures, and their ability to transport him to another world, and raise the hairs on the back of his neck, but he also loved the feel of them. The weight in his hand. The way the thick plastic p[rotecting the covers gave a moved under his fingers as he swung the tomes in his hand down the aisle. The books were his real allies.

About half way up the steps to the mezzanine, a glimpsed view under the shelves showed Raymond that his feeling was correct. The entire floor seemed deserted now. He jogged the last few steps and set off towards his spot. With 15 minutes left he could still flick through a couple of his favourite books. He was rounding the Religion corner, and mentally shortlisting which books he would pull down, when he nearly walked into a Year Ten coming the other way. The boy was tall, a little pudgy, and smiling over his shoulder as he joked with a Year ten girl walking just behind him. Both he and Raymond stopped abruptly to avoid a collision. Raymond froze, and the tall boy did a short double take as he recognised that he recongised Raymond.

“Oh, hey Ray,” the Year Ten said.

“Hey man,” Raymond replied, not knowing where to look.

“How you been dude? You sort of disappeared on us hey.”

Raymond knew he needed to reply quickly but his brain was doing what it always did in this kind of situation. He felt like his mind had turned into spaghetti, and his thoughts were going too slow and too fast at once.

The tall boy was Cameron. He and Raymond were best friends from the start of primary school until the middle of Year 6, when Raymond moved away for a few years. When he came back to his home town, Raymonds mum had decided that it was time to make up for a mistake she felt she had made in sending him to school too early, when he was just a little kid. Raymond was smart, but he had alwaus been a little immature and social stilted compared to others in his year, so when his family moved back to town after being away, Raymonds mum told him he would be doing Year 9 again. Raymond didn’t kick up a stink. Raymond never did that. He did worry that people who remembered him from primary school would be at this high school though. There were only two big public high schools in town, and he felt sick about having to explain to people who recognized him from primary school why he was now in the shameful category of people who had to repeat a year. Cameron’s family lived just around the corner from Raymond’s family home, which they’d moved back to when they came back to town. He’d caught up with Cameron once before school went back (Raymond’s mum had called Cameron’s and set it up without telling Raymond). It was a little awkward at first, but Raymond had always liked Cameron, and even found his mum and his older brother Kim easier to talk to than most people. That day they ate Cameron’s mum’s ‘Specialty’ pizza (plain wraps with melted cheese and tomato paste) in front of the TV and pretty soon things seemed more or less like they’d been years ago. Raymond didn’t tell Cameron he was repeating. On the first day of school Cameron and his brother came out of their house as Raymond was walking past. It was about a half hour walk to school. Raymond was nervous but Cameron and Kim were both super funny and smart. The brothers talked about big ideas and local urban legends and people they knew. Cameron almost never stopped talking, Kim chimed in when he could with a dark joke or a witty comment, and Raymond followed along not saying much, but grinning and laughing along.

When they got to the school gates (massive spiked things swung open from a tall barbed-wire-topped fence) Raymond hesitiated. Cameron grabbed the handle of Raymond’s school bag and playfully tugged it as he strode towards his group’s Area.

“Come on man, you can sit with us,” he said.

The cracks started to show even on that first day though. Cameron’s group were really nice, and interesting. They were basically six boys who sat on the big steps outside Food Tech, but they had a sort of mirror group across from them which was mostly girls, and the two sort of orbited one another, coming together and drifting apart like a tidal inlet. Cameron introduced Raymond around. One of the other boys remembered Raymond from primary school, and for a while Raymond was able to blend happily into the background of the conversation. Predictably the talk soon went to subjects and timetables and who had which teachers this year. Someone asked Raymond what class he was in for Maths and his brain went to mush. Cameron noticed Raymond struggling to explain and intervned.

“Nah Ray’s actually Year 9, so he’s going to have his own hell to figure out haha.”

Raymond noticed a confused look brush over the face of the guy who he’s gone to school with previously. And them moments later a look of shrewd understanding. Raymond was outed as a repeater. No one said anything, and Raymond kept hanging out with Cameron’s group, in that Area for the first two weeks of school, but he was constantly worried that someone would say something about him being a Year 9 hanging out with Year 10s. Inter-year hanging out wasn’t really done. People mostly stuck with their own year group, and Raymond felt like other Year Nines were starting to notice that he sat with Year Tens as well, which made him worried that he would have to explain to more people that he had to repeat. He wasn’t connecting with anyone in his classes either (except for weird, co-loner interactions with Sam, Gumbum and Ryan). He wondered whether the other Year Nine’s thought he was weird- and that hanging out with Cameron’s group was adding to it. Slowly, Raymond started to spend some lunch times in the library. In the fourth week of term he found his Spot, and the shelf of awesome books. He started sneaking to the library right after class, every other lunch time and recess. The more time he spent way from the group the more awkward he felt when he did show up, so by the sixth week of term he started going to the library whenever he could, and avoiding Cameron’s group all together. He never spoke to Cameron about it, and started leaving for school as late as possible, to avoid being on the same schedule as Cameron and Kim. He just didn’t know how to explain, and was worried about offending Cameron, so he pulled his usual move and avoided anything scary or hard.

Now, about three months after he’d weirdly dropped out of Cameron’s fold, they’d come face to face, mere metres from Raymond’s hiding place. Raymond realised with horror that he hadn’t replied to Cameron’s question yet. He laughed nervously and looked at his feet.

Cameron gave him a slightly confused look. His friend walked around the pair.

“You coming Cam?” she said.

“Yep,” Cam replied, still looking at Raymond. “Come hang out again some time man. If you want. I’ve got some books you’d like. Crazy shit. You can borrow them… OK, seeya man.”

Cameron caught up with his friend and disappeared down the stairs. Raymond dragged the pads of his fingers on his right hand down the right side of his face, in a hard repetitive motion. It was a sort of tick he had when he really felt like he’d stuffed up, which was a lot of the time.

He walked to his spot, grabbed as big a handful of books as he could from his favourite shelf and dumped them on his lap as he sunk into the squawking vinyl. Suddenly he found he couldn’t muster the energy to open any of them. He sat, staring at nothing for the remaining ten minutes until the bell.

He caught a glimpse of himself in the windows in the library doors as he left and noticed that the right hand side of his face was all red.

#periodical #fiction #paranormal

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