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bots-basket · 3 years

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Safety in numbers #6

Balan had Placed the girl down in a more comfortable position as the Tims crowded around her to keep her an eye on her- And also keep her from toppling over. He couldn’t imagine what kind of trouble she had gotten into to cause her to be in such an exhausted state.. But then again- There has been some strange thinking’s going on lately...

— Earlier —

The bout tunnel Balan had been stuck in was filled with the Black crystals and they were getting more aggressive by the minute- growing in every direction and trying to strike down the magical maestro. He might’ve not been able to destroy them, but he could definitely dodge them without much difficulty.

He flipped and spun out of the way with ease and avoided getting hit by the ominous crystals.. but even Balan knew he needed to find another way to deal with these troublesome growths before there wasn’t any room to dodge anymore.

And then, The crystals suddenly stopped growing. That’s strange.. And when Balan decided to get a closer look to the crystals, the color faded the moment he touched them.. and a few moments later they crumbled into dust. Even stranger still. But now that they aren’t attacking him, he could finally get out of the tunnel.

Glancing to the main crystal that was still blocking his exit, Balan Raised his Fist and simply smashed into it, watching the pieces fly without much resistance. He would probably wonder about what made these crystals so strong than weak in the first place- but now was not the time. That and he didn’t want to get stuck again.. talk about embarrassing.

But as soon as he entered the Stage.. He wished he has stayed within the bout tunnel. Everything had completely warped way more than Balan could've imagined..

Everything that José had loathed had come to be.. The entire area was dead and withered.. no a single crop in sight. The dirt was a pale dried out color and the sky was a deep dark purple.. And he couldn’t sense anything or anyone. Nobody was here. What could’ve happened here..?

— Present —

Balan gently placed his hand onto the now sealed off door that lead to the once beautiful and luxurious Farmland turned wasteland... He had no idea where José..no.. Barktholomew could’ve gone. Usually once they’ve turned into a Negati Boss, they’d stay in their mindscapes to protect them... so why would He leave, Especially when his scape had turned into.. That?

Balan frowned as he traced his fingers over the outline of the doors Handles securely sealed together... He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this at all. As if On cue, a Familiar Voice broke him out of his wonderings. Whipped his head around to see another standing beside him.

“ For Once, I Too don’t like the looks of that Door.”

It was Lance. At Once Balan got into a defensive position incase The Negati Master wanted to try and throw down, but was slightly surprised to see him hold out his hand and shake his head.

“ I’m Not here to fight.”

“ Then why are you here?”

Balan raised an eyebrow to him as Lance held up his other hand to show something to him.

“ I want to know what’s going on.. starting with this.”

The Negati Master was holding a strange little Orb between his fingers, and it was giving off its Soft and Steady green pulse glow. Seeing this little orb slightly confused the wonderworld Maestro as he looked onto it with a lowered Guard.

“ what is it?”

“ Something Powerful. While you were off Lallygagging, Something Happened within Barktholomew’s Mindscape.”

“ I wasn’t lallygagging! I- just wasn’t able to come right away. Speaking of Barktholomew, What happened? I saw his Mindscape in complete ruins when I arrived.”

“I’m Not completely sure. But What I do know is that Barktholomew went completely out of control-if I hadn’t stepped in, She would’ve been no more. Where were you?”

“ I was stuck in one of the bout tunnels, no thanks to you.”

“ What are you implying Balan?”

“ Your Negative crystals had sealed me in, and then started to ATTACK me. Since when did they get so powerful?”

“ crystals..? That wasn’t me.”

“ What?”

“ I couldn’t even enter the bout tunnels, let alone create crystals to stop you. Whatever you saw, it wasn’t me.”

“ Then what could’ve possibly done that?”

“ Whatever sent Barktholomew into frenzy, and then ruined his Mindscape.. It’s a mystery. And then there’s this thing.”

Lance moved the little orb between his fingers before glancing over to the girl.

“ And Her.”

“ Her?”

“ Before anything happened, she had a few of these little things. She talked to them and was always carrying them. And When Barktholomew went wild, This particular Orb Leeched off of my power-”

“ It wHaT-“

“- and summoned a Beast. It was nothing like anything I’ve created before, and yet in a way- it felt like it was like me.. Not A Negati. I want Answers as to how and why that thing appeared, as well as to what’s going on.”

“ I might not know what’s going on.. but I can explain the orbs.. for starters, The one your holdings name is Bass.”

The two turned to see the girl sitting upright and rubbing her eyes slightly as she made her statement. She had woken up a little bit ago, but decided to remain quiet and listen, as she did best. She Readjusted her glassed before petting one of the Tim’s that had excitedly bounced into her lap.

“ Your awake! Thank goodness your alright”

Balan let out a sigh of relief as he headed over to help her up with his usual big ol grin on his face.

“ Bass?”

Lance murmured as he looked to the orb that Glowed significantly brighter than it did before.

“ His Name’s Bass... And He can hear you. He’s one of my Guardians.. they’re all my guardians.”

Rosie replied as the little orb glowed a Brilliant green as brightly as it could whenever she said his name. It was obvious that it was very attached to her. The girl reached into her hoodie pockets and pulled out three more orbs, the ones she had from before.

“ This is Zephyr, Roxas or Rox for short, and Onyx. And you already know Bass... And um.. I’m Rosie..”

Each had their own steady glow of color that brightened whenever she said their name out loud. Balan leaned in to get a better look at them, now completely interested in whatever these strange things could be.

“How Curious! And you say they are your guardians, Rosie was it?”

The magical maestro mused as he reached out to touch one of them, Only to get aShock to his fingers. He cringed back a little and shook his hand, not expecting the sudden electric jolt. The Action made A small Laugh escape the girl as she looked to him with a small smile.

“ Sorry...Roxie just gets Excited. His core has a small crack in it- so his power tends to leak out when he gets too emotional... Yeah- Well.. Um.. they’re my guardians Cores at least. They used to have bodies to go with them-! Until they didn’t...”

Rosie began to become a little more uneasy the longer she spoke, gently tugging on her braids with her free hand. She’s wasn’t so used to talking too much around others.

“... I hope I’m not prying, but What happened to them?”

She felt a twinge in her chest when she heard Balan’s Query.. Her mouth felt kinda dry and choked up as she remembered the unfortunate events that happened to cause them to loose their original forms.. She began to tremble as She started to get scared again..

“..I- T..They-..”

Lance watched Quietly as not only the Tim’s, but the Negati aswell began to also get closer to her in attempts to calm her down. Balan however recognized this reaction, as she had reacted the same way once before. His expression changed from a worried look to a slightly more serious one.

“ It’s because of those men from before, wasn’t it?”

“......mmhmm...”

“ What Men?”

Lance interjected, his attention to this conversation now apparent. Now they were making some progress within this mystery. Balan turned from the girl to make eye contact with The Negati Master, his expression unchanging.

“ Some unsavory characters were trashing the theatre lobby searching for her. And judging by their rude behavior, their intentions weren’t well intended. It got to the point I had to politely remove them from the premise.”

“ Hmm.. that reminds me of something, I had found this when examining Barktholomew’s area.”

Lance reached into his coat with his other hand and pulled out the capsule he had found inside Barktholomew’s Mindscape thanks to the Negati. Once it was shown, their reaction was the same as before, Hissing and growling at it. But The Negati weren’t the only ones disturbed by it. The Tim’s themselves curiously glanced over at it- only to suddenly cringe away from it and Lance as far as they possibly could. None of them liked it.

And When Rosie herself headed over to see what it was, She Nearly stumbled backwards and dropped the cores if Balan hadn’t of caught her. A look of pure terror filled her eyes as she began to hyperventilate once more, shaking uncontrollably as she slipped into a panic attack.

“Rosie? Rosie! ROSIE! Hey- Hey! It’s Okay, it’s okay.. Your alright- Breathe! just Breathe.. We’re right here.. Nothings going to happen to you, I’m right here.”

// I Didn’t expect Something like this little capsule could set her off so badly ... What happened to you..?//

Lance thought as he stood there examining the capsule while Balan did his best to calm her down.. but it wasn’t working.. She just clung onto the now dimly glowing cores and stuttered out a Name as the cold realization hit her like a Winter freeze.

“T..T..Tobais.., Tobais is Here...We’re all gonna die..”

#{ daydreaming; drabble }#{ safety in numbers; balan wonderworld!verse }#{ shy but sweet; rosie }#{ follow your heart; balan }#Balan #Lance #balan wonderworld #balan wonderland #( Yep. it’s him. )#( my veteran followers may scream now )

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atomic-taco-muffin · 3 years

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The Legend of Hana Part 43

Warnings: More angst/fluff but there is some crack in here

Rating: SFW

Sora, Lily, and the others had landed in Hollow Bastion, and Lily and Era felt like this world looked familiar to them.

“Gawrsh! I know it’s been awhile, but it sure looks different now,” Goofy said.

“Really?” Lily asked.

“Yeah! Last time we were here, this place was so infested with Heartless, nobody could live anywhere,” Donald said. As everyone else was looking through the shops, Sora spotted a familiar foe. A Shadow Heartless.

“Over there!” he said as he pointed to the Heartless. Lily and Era wnet after it, surprising the trio.

“They’re like ninjas!” Donald said. Before they could defeat the Heartless, it was defeated by a beam of light, scaring the two.

“What was that?” Lily asked. Sora and co caught up and saw the Heartless gone.

“Did you get it?” Sora asked.

“No. Something else beat us to it,” Era said.

“Sora?!” someone asked. Sora looked over and saw one of his old friends. It was Yuffie!

“Yuffie!” Sora said as he smiled. Yuffie walked over to them and smiled as well. “Lily, Era. Meet Yuffie!”

“Hi!” Era said.

“Nice to meet you!” Lily said

“Nice to meet you too! Man, I can’t believe that it’s been a whole year! We’re fixing up the castle too,” she said. Era and Lily looked over and saw a castle not too far away from where they were.

“Yeah, I almost didn’t recognize it!” Donald said.

“We’ve still got a lot of patching up to do, but this is our home. And I want to make it peaceful, no matter how long it takes,” Yuffie said.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Lily asked.

“Yeah! Thanks! Leon’ll be so happy to hear that! We’ve been having a lot of trouble lately.” Sora looked over and spotted a Dusk walking along the roofs.

“Hey! That’s a Nobody!” he said.

“Yeah, that’s one of the problems,” Yuffie replied. Sora was reminded of his goal and turned to Yuffie.

“Oh right! Have you seen Riku or the King?” he asked.

“Nope. You haven’t found them yet?” she replied.

“Nuh-uh.” As they were talking, Era noticed more and more Dusks appearing.

“Look!” he said. Everyone looked tat where he was looking and saw the Dusks but they got zapped by that same beam fro last time.

“Hey, what’s that?” Lily asked as she pointed to one of the beams.

“Claymore. The town’s defense mechanism. We use it chase of Heartless ‘cause we’re still a long way from having a peaceful town,” Yuffie said.

“Wow,” Goofy said.

“Our secret hideout’s right around the corner. C’mon!”

“Secret hideout?!” Era gasped as he smiled.

“Some things never change,” Lily giggled.

☽✧☽✧

The Anti-Spirits had arrived in Hollow Bastion and began their search for Sora but had no luck. They knew that he was gonna arrive. Well, mostly Hana. You see, she’s been having more and more dreams about him. She couldn’t tell if they were getting on her nerves or not.

As they were searching, a dark corridor opened up and Xemnas stepped out of it.

“I thought that you were searching for the Keyblade wielder,” he said.

“We are. We know that he’s here, we just don’t know where,” Yui said.

“Heh, chances are that the Heartless were too much for him,” Roxy said.

“Remember what he did to my dad, Roxy. The Heartless are no match for that Wielder,” Rumi said.

“Whatever. If he does arrive, then I’ll take care of him,” Xemnas said and disappeared.

“Tch, does he always have to ruin our fun?” Roxy asked.

“You know that he has good reason to do so,” Yui said. Roxy grumbled something under her breath and the girls disappeared.

☽✧☽✧

At the secret hideout, Cid, Leon, Aerith, and Merlin were discussing ways to get rid of the Heartless and make the town more peaceful. As they were talking, the door burst open and Yuffie and the others stepped in.

“Hey everyone! Sora and his friends are here! He even made two new ones!” she said. Leon and the others smiled as Sora and co walked in.

“Meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!” Yuffie said.

“Hey, everyone! Did you miss me?” Sora said.

“Heh, looks like we found our ‘bomb.’ Who’re the newbies?” Cid said.

“Oh! I’m Lily and this is my little brother, Era,” Lily said.

“So, what can you two do?” Leon asked.

“We’re both Keyblade Wielders but my sister here is a Spirit,” Era said.

“Spirit, you say?” Merlin asked.

“Mhm. I’m the Spirit of Life. And I’m looking for my twin sister. The Spirit of Death.”

“Well, we’ll need all the help we can get,” Aerith said.

☽✧☽✧

Leon led Lily and the others down the bailey and told them what the plan was for Hollow Bastion.

“We want to restore Hollow Bastion to what it used to be. Who knows? Maybe something even better,” he said as he walked. “There’s still a lot to do, but I’m sure we can handle everything...except for that.”

Leon pointed toward the castle where a sea full of Shadow Heartless laid, scaring the five heroes.

“How can there be so many of them?!” Sora asked.

“I don’t know. Most likely, there’s something in that fort,” Leon replied as he turned to Lily and the others. “And...I hate to ask this, but we were hoping you can get rid of them.”

“Of course!” Sora said.

“SORA! YOU’RE CRAZY!” Donald yelled.

“THERE’S MILLIONS!” Goofy shouted.

“Come on, you guys. We can take them! Besides, with Lily and Era here, it’ll be so easy!” Sora said.

“He’s right, you know,” Lily said. Donald and Goofy soon agreed but everyone heard a voice not too far away from where they were.

“Where do you get that boundless optimism?” someone asked. Sora and the others raced outside to see six cloaked figures with four girls with bear masks sitting in front of the six. Sora stared at the girl with the blonde hair, sitting in the middle, and remembered all of the dreams he had of her.

That’s the girl from my dreams. But she looks different here

“What? Who are they?” Leon asked.

“ORGANIZATION XIII!” Sora and the others exclaimed. The leader of the six snapped his fingers and a group of Dusks surrounded the heroes.

“Our hero grows arrogant,” he said.

“Looks like we’re gonna have to teach him a lesson,” the girl from Sora’s dreams said. Sora, Lily, and Era summoned their Keyblades and quickly got rid of the Dusks.

“Hm, not bad,” Anti-Yui said.

“Well? how’s that for ability?” Lily asked. The leader snapped his fingers again and more Dusks appeared. But they were quickly defeated by Lily and the others.

“So?! Who’s next?!” Era asked.

“I feel sorry for the Keyblade, seeing it being used like that,” one of the cloaked figures said.

“Huh? Shut up and get down here! You’re next!” Sora said.

“Me? As if! Let me give you a tip. The Keyblade has far more potential than you’re capable of drawing out as you are now.”

“WHAT?!” the three asked. Before the figure could go on, Claymore decided to knock him in the air, making the Anti-Girls cackle. But they soon stopped, as more and more beams came down. Organization XIII and the Anti-Girls quickly disappeared, leaving Sora confused. Why did that girl from his dreams look like that? He had to find the answers. He just had to.

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xeo-kunsatan · 3 years

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Beast Choices Chapter 3. Beast Blood

In the previous chapter...

Betrayus was reading a book about occultism but he noticed that Muriel haven't came back with the wood for the fireplace, he got Worried and left the cabin to look for her in the forest holding his flashlight.

Everything was dark and the singing of the owls were sounding around the forest.

Betrayus: M-Muriel!... Where are you?

Betrayus suddenly saw something strange in the woods.

Betrayus: Huh?...

???: Grrrrhh...

Betrayus: !!!!

Betrayus ran away from that place while the creature was chasing him but suddenly he tripped by a rock and fell down from a slightly short mountain leaving him unconscious for a moment.

After waking, he quickly get up but the creature was in front him, staring at him like a tasty prey.

Betrayus: *trembling* W-What are you?...*steps back*

???: Grrr

The creature ran to Betrayus but it suddenly stopped and recognized him like it had meet him before.

???: Betrayus...

Bradley: How do you know my name?..

???: Oh dang.. I am so sorry!..

Betrayus: W-wait... Muriel?.. is that y-y-you?

Muriel: Yes...*sighs* this is other thing.. I haven't told you before...

Betrayus: Muriel...

The moment was interrupted by a shot in the Air.

Hunter: it's a good night to hunt coyotes.

*shots a coyote which was walking by*

Muriel: Holy Shit!!... Ok.. Betrayus.. I know you are probably angry with me.. but... the most important thing to me is your safety.

Betrayus: What the-...

Muriel: *takes Betrayus in her arms and runs off*

Betrayus: OH FUUUCK!

Muriel started running away from the hunter taking a way to lost him so she can take Betrayus safely to the cabin.

Muriel: Damn it, he is getting closer!...

Betrayus: Don't stop Muriel, pls don't stop!

Muriel; I'm trying!..

Muriel makes her paws transform into cheetah paws making her run faster

Betrayus: Wow... You have a lot to explain me later Mury!..

Muriel: I'll do it later!.. I'll promise!.

Hunter: Do you think you can escape from me?

The Hunter manages to shot Muriel but fortunately it missed it leaving her a simple scratch.

Muriel: ARRGGHH!! *She stopped*

Betrayus: Muriel!!

Hunter: Wait.. is that another person!?..

Betrayus: You son of a Bitch *throws him a fire ball*

The Hunter started burning and yelling of pain.

Muriel:.. Tray Tray..

Betrayus: Yeaaah .. I also have another thing to tell you.. hehehe sorry..

Muriel: Dummy.

Muriel taked Betrayus and ran away from the scene to their cabin, when they where about to go to the cabin Muriel's left paw was trapped in a bear trap.

Muriel: AAAARGHH!!!

Betrayus: Muriel!.. oh no this is even worst..

Muriel:*sarcastic* you're helping me a lot...

Betrayus: Sorry sorry!... *Opens slowly the trap to flee her paw*

Muriel: ouch ouch.. this..*she transforms into her normal form to then faints*..

Betrayus: Muriel No!!...*sighs* well at least we are close to the cabin..

Betrayus covered a naked Muriel with a jacket he was wearing and carries her to take her to the cabin.

Betrayus: We are back Yuū... Uhhhh.?..

Yuū:*changes channel* °\\\\°

Betrayus:.......*leaves with Muriel*..

Betrayus have taked Muriel to the bathroom to bath her to attend and clean her wounds

Muriel: *wakes up* B-b-betrayus?

Betrayus: Mury!..*hugs her carefully to not hurt her*... You're awake, you had me so worried..

Muriel: *Sighs* I'm so sorry... That makes me act like an animal..

Betrayus: what's exactly "that"?

Muriel: I dunno how to call it.. Uhh Animal Metamorphosis?... Uhh Shapeshifter Beast?

Betrayus: How does it work?

Muriel: In general I can transform myself or some parts of my body to animal parts but just if I touched, watched and remembered so well certain animals of certain races, my principal transformation is the awful beast you saw before.

Betrayus: Honestly you were cute and Fluffy in that form.

Muriel:*chuckles* stop Jocking~

Betrayus: Seriously hehehe~, and what animals you can transform?.

Muriel: Well if I can remember, an Arctic Wolf, a Cheetah, a Polar bear, Emperor penguin, Arctic hare, Arctic Owl, Arctic Fox, Deer, octopus, and a Raccoon.

Betrayus: Wow, Mury your power is so awesome!

Muriel: Heh really?

Betrayus: Yeah!

Muriel: and what about you? You're in fire

Betrayus: Well it's nothing, I just can create fire, it was so difficult for me with this power and my family.

Muriel: Same old dude.

B&M: Always we had to find a place to practice for myself...!!! *Both Chuckled*

Betrayus: Hehehe Even in this we have in common

Muriel: Yeah, hehehe what a coincidence

Betrayus: Hahahah, a really sweet coincidence~...*kisses her neck*

Muriel: Ohh~ Tray Tray~

Betrayus:*Hugs her* Don't worry me like that Mury... Please.. you're so important for me

Muriel: i'll promise, you're important for me too..

Both started kissing and... Not gonna write this in this family friendly post heheh.

The Next Morning.

Betrayus: *yawn* Morning Mury~ *kisses her forehead*

Muriel: Hehe~... Morning my sunlight..*holds the letter from her Dad*

Betrayus: oh so you finally will read it?

Muriel: Yeah, after all this is years without seeing him nor even know anything of him, I miss him, and at having this letter and money means that he didn't wanted to hurt me and that he miss me.

Betrayus: I see, so what does the letter says?

Muriel: Well...*Starts reading*

"Muriel... I send this money for you

So you can keep yourself..

I really sorry for all the things I said to you.. how i treated you.. because of something that.. it actually wasn't your fault....

I was completely blind by the remorse and the pain by losing your mother, in all this time I figured out how stupid I was at treating one of your mother's Treasures she left for me... You and your Sisters.

It's too late, it's okay if you never forgive for that.. but all I want.. is that at least you're okay... I love you

And I will always love you.

-Marlos Plizetxki."

Some tears appeared from Muriel's eyes.

Betrayus: Mury!.. you're okay?

Muriel: *sniff*...*sighs* Yeah... It's an apology of him.... I can't be really mad at him, even when that doesn't justified the fact he treated me as a freak since my childhood, it's no use to have remorse against him.. that Grumpy Boomer.

Betrayus:*sighs* Mury *hugs her*

Muriel: even when I was treated as a shit, I make a plan to leave my house, I studied too hard to finally leave them with my basic studies finished... Also finding out what was my purpose..I used to help out my old classmates with their problems because that made me forget my problems.. that's how I found out my purpose.....you know why am I lucky?

Betrayus: for what.

Muriel: Because I meet you, my Number 1 patient *boops him*

Betrayus: Heheh Muriel.. I am lucky too at meeting you.... I love you Muriel~

Muriel: and I love you too~

Both kissed on lips but suddenly Betrayus Tickled her.

Muriel: H-Hey Hehehe stop.

Betrayus: What? You don't like it..

Muriel: No-oh *steps back*

Betrayus: ohohoh so you wanna play like that? I'm gonna Catch you!

Muriel: Nuu!! *runs off*

They started playing tag you're it.

The vacations have ended for them,

It was time to go home, Muriel and Betrayus packed up to then Roxy taked them to the airport.

It was time to say goodbye.

Muriel: that were the best vacations we had, even more having you as our guide.

Roxy: it was a honor, *gives them a paper with her number* in case you need me when you came here, I'll be there.

Betrayus: Roxy thank you for everything

Roxy: you're welcome, Mis amigos.

During the travel.

Muriel: I will miss that beautiful place..

Betrayus: Me too ....*fall asleeps on her*

Muriel: *smiles and cuddles with him as well to Sleep*

Betrayus and Muriel left PacMexico completely happy by their adventures to then return to Pacopolis.

How much this can evolve?

Nobody knows.. for now.

Extra

Muriel: Hey Tray Tray, can you turn on this fireplace?

Betrayus: Sure, *uses his fire to turn on the fireplace*

Muriel; Ohh~ much better, did anyone told you that your power is beautiful?

Betrayus: *sniff* You're the first person who says me that *hugs her* Hmm~

Muriel: Aww don't cry my pogchamp~

Betrayus: can you transform into a Rabbit?

Muriel: Sure *transforms into a Arctic Hare*

Betrayus:*holds her and scratches her ears* Awww you're so cute~

Muriel: Hmm~ please continue~ *Bunny Purr*

Yuū: hmp..*jealous*

#pmatga #pacman and the ghostly adventures

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crystalninjaphoenix · 3 years

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MerMay 2021 Day Fourteen TridentCorp

This was no place for children to be running around. While there was nothing particularly dangerous in the rooms of the Institute, researchers kept giving the pair of twelve year olds sideways looks. They might break one of the tanks and cause water to pour out onto the floor, or mess around with some of the files and get them all out of order. Nobody actively stopped them, but everyone had an expression of “whose kids are those and why are they here?”

“Okay, I’m bored,” Sereia declared, hanging off the doorknob of a nearby door and causing it to swing on its hinges. “Do you wanna go see what Mom and Dad are doing, or do you want to look at more nerd stuff?”

“Nah, I’m bored, too.” Muirin had been staring at a tank of starfish, but they weren’t exactly doing anything. “We’ve seen everything.”

“Alright, c’mon then.”

The two of them left, heading over to an area near the back of the Institute, far away from any entrances. They slipped past a few secure-looking doors, seeming quite proud of themselves for being able to do so, until they came to a room near the corner. This room was made to look as friendly as possible, with wide windows, walls painted a pale blue, and a pair of sofas. Though perhaps this cheerful appearance was undermined by the large tank of water in the center, surrounded by various strange equipment. Next to it was a smaller tank on wheels, with a tarp on the floor that had been used to cover it.

“We’re back!” Sereia announced, slamming the door behind her and Muirin. “What’s up?”

Stacy immediately looked up. “Everything went alright? You didn’t get in any trouble?”

“Mom, please, would we tell you if we did?” Sereia said.

The other woman in the room, wearing a bright yellow shirt underneath a jacket with the words ‘Institute of Marine Biology’ written on the back, laughed. “Ah, Reia, you get sassier every time I see you.”

Sereia looked proud at that. “Thanks, Aunt Roxy!”

“Nothing happened,” Muirin said, playing with the visitor’s pass in a lanyard around his neck. “Except people looking at us weird. Did anything happen in here?”

“Not much,” Stacy assured them. “Right, Chase?”

Chase was in the smaller tank, the one with wheels—or, well, actually, he was half out of it, pretty much leaving only his tail in the water, and leaning over into the other tank. For a moment, he didn’t look away from the merm floating in the other tank. Jack. Asleep as ever, tethered to those strange machines that served a variety of purposes, from nutrition to monitoring his condition. There hadn’t been any change in the past few months. Chase had been chattering to him in the strange merm language, but he’d gone silent a few minutes ago and just held Jack’s hand. It took a solid few seconds for Stacy’s question to register. “Hmm?” Chase looked up, and nodded, waving at the kids. “Hi, shellies. Have fun?”

“Yeah, Dad, don’t worry,” Muirin said. “It was pretty cool.”

“Well the fish were cool, when we saw them,” Sereia modified.

Roxy looked troubled. “You didn’t touch any of the tanks, did you? A lot of the fish and sea creatures we have are being kept because they were found injured. Tapping or anything wouldn’t be good for them.”

“No, we know that, don’t worry!” Muirin hurried to add.

Stacy laughed a bit.

“Oh? What’s so funny?” Roxy asked.

“It just occurred to me that it’s strange how we both went into the fish business,” Stacy chuckled, shaking her head. “I mean, I had a good reason to be interested in fish—” Chase made a clicking sound, like an amused dolphin. “—but you? Well, I guess you just had to do everything I did.”

“But better,” Roxy rebutted. “I am a scientist, and you are an aquarium lady.”

“Well, guess who’s dating the actual merman out of the two of us?”

“Yeah, well. I guess you win on that end.” Roxy looked upset, but behind her back, the two kids looked at each other and rolled their eyes in unison, knowing it wasn’t that serious. “Anyway, let me know when you guys are ready to head ou—”

A radio on Roxy’s belt crackled. “Hey Roxanne? You there? I think something’s up.”

Roxy frowned, and picked up. “What is it, Dan?”

“There’s this weird group of visitors that showed up. They’re heading your way. We’ve tried to distract them, but the lady in charge is insisting she sees you, and someone told her where you were. She’s getting really close to, uh...that room.”

Roxy paled. “Don’t worry, I got it.” She hung her radio back on the belt. “You guys be careful, okay?”

The family nodded silently, and Chase squeezed Jack’s hand harder.

Quickly, Roxy left the room, and was barely out in the hall when she saw the group that she’d been told about. About five of them, all unfamiliar, with four of them wearing dark blue jackets with silver highlights, and the woman in front wearing a long blue coat. Hiding any nervousness she might’ve felt, Roxy walked over to greet them with a smile, not noticing the small form of a twelve-year-old girl following her.

“Hello!” Roxy said cheerfully. “I don’t think I recognize any of you? Did we do a partnership I wasn’t aware of?”

The woman in front stopped, and the rest of her group along with her. “Roxanne Aguado?” She asked.

“Yes, that’s me. What can I do for you?”

“I’m Dr. Lise Ester, we are from TridentCorp.” Ester smiled. Her voice was slightly accented. “We hear you are doing great things at this institute.”

“Me? Specifically?” Roxy laughed. “I’m flattered, but it’s not just me. We have a whole team here studying ocean life and helping them out. Um...if I may ask, what is TridentCorp? I’ve never heard of it.”

“TridentCorp,” Ester repeated, tapping the lapel of her coat. There was a small logo there, a blue patch with a silver trident and a ring of circling fish. “We are oceanographers and marine biologists, much like here. We seek to understand the sea and all its creatures. I am surprised you have not heard of us, Dr. Aguado. We are well known, particularly in Europe.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.” Roxy cleared her throat. “Would you like a tour?”

“No thank you, we have already received offers, and declined them.”

“Oh, are you sure? I’d love to show you some of our work. What are your specialties? We aren’t equipped for too many large animals, so there aren’t any dolphins or whales, but of course we have a lot of smaller fish—”

“We have heard a great deal about this location, Dr. Aguado,” Ester interrupted. “And we have heard you have made large discoveries in sea life.”

“Discoveries? I wouldn’t say that.” Roxy tried very hard not to glance over her shoulder at the room. “We haven’t found any new species or anything like that.”

“Really? Are you sure?” Ester insisted. “I was told you would know something about it.”

“No, afraid not. Who did you hear that from?”

“A coworker of yours.” Ester leaned around Roxy and glanced further down the hall. “What is in this area?”

“Well, if you’d let me give you a tour, you’d know,” Roxy laughed, a bit too loud. “Um, it’s mostly staff stuff, like breakrooms, you know.”

“Unusual that the staff areas would be in the section of the building over the water,” Ester hummed. “Usually, they would make use of that, and put many large tanks here, or pump water to smaller ones, at least.”

“Well, I...guess you do things differently over in Europe,” Roxy said. This wasn’t working. Ester was very much leaning forward, and the rest of her group was getting impatient, shuffling about and gradually moving closer. She really needed to distract them, but—

“Hey! Where are you from?!”

Luckily, a distraction arrived in the form of a very energetic twelve-year-old. Sereia, who’d been hiding and listening from behind Roxy, had also picked up on the vibes Ester and her TridentCorp group were giving off. So she burst forth, practically jumping up and down as she let her mouth run a million miles a minute. “You said you’re from Europe, right? Are you, like, French? Why is your company name in English if you’re French? How’d you get here, on an airplane?”

Ester looked taken aback. Her expression practically screamed ‘what’s with this sassy lost child?’ “Ah...your...daughter, Dr. Aguado?”

“Oh, uh, this is my niece,” Roxy said. “She and her brother are visiting today.”

“I’m Sereia Aguado, twelve and a half, nice to meet you!” Sereia said loudly. “Did you fly first class on your airplane from France? I want to fly first class one day, I hear you get a foot rest!”

“I—young lady, I am German, not French,” Ester said haltingly. “Though not everyone on our staff is. And our company name is in English because—”

“Oh do you speak German, then? I want to take German as an elective in junior high! Mom says I should take Spanish but I already know some Spanish ‘cause my grandma and grandpa speak it a lot, and if I can understand it, I think it’s good enough. School is already boring, anyway, I don’t want to be even more bored. But Muirin, he’s my brother, weirdly likes school, but actually I think he just says that, he’s probably just okay with it but since he’s smart he’s supposed to like it—”

“Well, thank you for your time, Dr. Aguado,” Ester suddenly said, backing up and indicating for the rest of the group to follow her. “It is clear you are busy today, so we will return and discuss this another time. Does next week work for you?”

“Yeah, sure.” Roxy tried not to sound too relieved. “Feel free to make an appointment with us!”

“Yes, of course.” Ester and the group from TridentCorp turned and left back the way they came, though Ester continued to look back over her shoulder occasionally, as if expecting to see something.

The moment they were out of sight, Roxy breathed a sigh of relief. “Reia, that was amazing,” she whispered.

Sereia beamed. “Thanks!”

The two of them turned and reentered the room, surprised to see it changed a bit. The tarp on the floor had been flung over the tanks, but being meant for only one, it only half-covered both of them. Stacy and Muirin were lying on the floor, trying to physically block the bottoms of the tanks visible. But upon seeing Roxy and Sereia, they relaxed a bit. “No one’s coming, then?” Stacy asked.

“Nope,” Roxy shook her head. “Thanks to Reia, here. Get the kids a treat on the way home.”

Relieved, Stacy stood up and started pulling the tarp off the tanks. Muirin raised a corner and said, “It’s fine, no one’s here!” That caused a flurry of motion from under the tarp, inside the tank, and with some splashing Chase managed to push the tarp off. “All fine?” He asked, expression drawn and worried.

Roxy nodded. “All fine. I’ll take care of it if they ever come back, which...they might.” She hesitated. “Listen, uh...Chase. I think they know about your friend here. The woman in charge, Dr. Ester, she made comments about sea life ‘discoveries.’ I...can’t think of anything else that could mean.”

Chase went even paler than usual. He leaned back over to the other tank, looking down at Jack, asleep and defenseless. A few whistling, chattering words full of vowels came from his mouth, and the others didn’t have to speak the language to pick up on the fearful tone. “We need...to wake him up,” Chase decided. “Now.”

Stacy nodded, and looked over at Roxy. “Have you figured out anything?”

Roxy shook her head sadly. “We’re unfamiliar with their biologies in the first place, but it just seems like he’s...asleep.”

Muirin and Sereia wandered over, joining Chase in staring at Jack. “Dad...?” Muirin said quietly. “What about—I-I think it’s a bad idea, but...the way he got like this...has to be reversed in the same way...you know. Right?”

Chase nodded absentmindedly, eyes flicking up to a screen on one of the weird machines. He had no idea what they did, but he knew what that green line, going up and down, meant. “Maybe. I’ll ask the others.”

Roxy cleared her throat. “I’m not sure what that means, but in any case, you shouldn’t leave right at this moment. We should make sure those guys from TridentCorp are completely gone first.”

The others all murmured in agreement.

Outside, a couple of black vans were pulling away from the Institute building, all with the logo of a silver trident and fish on a blue background stamped onto their sides. Dr. Ester sat inside one of them, talking on the phone. “Sie haben definitiv einen. Aguado verhielt sich furchtbar misstrauisch. Sie bemühte sich sehr, nicht in die Halle hinter sich zu schauen.” She paused. “Nein, wir sollten ein wenig warten. We don't want to look strange.” Another pause. “Mach dir keine Sorgen, Sir. Sie werden unserem Streben nach Wissenschaft nicht im Wege stehen.” And with that, she hung up. She wasn’t about to lose this second one.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticegos #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticeye au #septic egos #septic egos au #chase brody #brigid writes fanfiction #mermay snippets

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roxyrumbles · 7 years

Text

It really was convenient that Stormer had family in London. Roxy’d initially asked Jetta to come along with her, but Jetta was uncharacteristically antsy at the thought of going back to the UK for any length of time, even though Roxy had asked really nicely. Well, nicely for Roxy, anyway. So she’d had to head over with Stormer in tow instead.

Now, she couldn’t very well drag Stormer along with her to meet up with this detective guy she was after, because her Great Idea involved Jem and the Holograms (who else?) and Stormer just so happened to be dating one of those Holo-jerks. Roxy loved her bandmate to pieces but she was also, like, 80% sure Stormer would rat her out in a heartbeat if it came down to choosing between her and Kimber. Better not to test that theory.

So Roxy had to go alone. She was in ultimate incognito mode (which essentially meant no Misfits makeup, sadly), shades, ‘Weights Before Dates’ muscle shirt, b-ball shorts, basically, looking like the exact last person you would expect to be looking for a detective. Or so she hoped. She was acting on her own, after all, and the fewer people who could tie this back to the band, the better. She wasn’t Clash, after all. She wasn’t gonna screw up if she acted behind the Misfits’ backs. She wasn’t gonna drag their names through the mud.

Great plan, right? Well, it would be better if she could actually find the place. Roxy had apparently gotten herself turned around somewhere along the way, and everyone she asked directions from had a distressing tendency to tell her to look for such-and-such street name rather than telling her how many blocks to walk before turning right or left or whatever, and it just wasn’t working out for her. She’d eventually called Jetta, who’d spent approximately ten minutes swearing at her because “10 o’clock there doesn’t mean it’s 10 o’clock in LA, Roxanne Pelligrini!!” But eventually, once Jetta had calmed down (and woken up), she’d been able to figure out where Roxy was and give her directions from there.

So, by the time she finally found the damn place, Roxy wasn’t in any mood to screw around. She slammed the office door shut behind her by way of greeting. “So, like, do I have to make an appointment or what,” she said flatly. God have mercy on the poor soul who tried to turn her away.

#theholisticdetective #[i'm not saying roxy dresses like a douchey jock/frat boy but like my headcanon is that she dresses like a douchey jock/frat boy]#[roxy: how do i make sure nobody recognizes me]#[roxy: *takes off makeup* mission accomplished]

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okimargarvez · 4 years

Text

REVERSE - 21

Original title: Reverse.

Prompt: Penelope is the new girl on the BAU team and Luke tries to treat her cold.

Warning: A.U., possible OOC.

Genre: drama, romantic, family, friendship.

Characters: Luke Alvez, Penelope Garcia, BAU team, Derek Morgan, O.C. Sam Cooper’ team, Roxy.

Pairing: Garvez.

Note: oneshot 62 in Garvez collection.

Legend: 💑😘👓🔦🐶❗🎲🎈👻🎬🎵.

Song mentioned: Amici per errore, Tiziano Ferro.

Reverse- Masterlist

GARVEZ STORIES

This part is dedicated to @londonrosebooklovingwitch and @inlovewithgarvaz ^^

21 # It's another journey, put it in this way...

It is another hug to upset the balance laboriously reached by Agent Alvez. However, the female protagonist is different. He is drinking a coffee when he recognizes the sound of those steps. Low-heeled shoes. Since she became a mother, this is the best she can afford. How many times has she complained to JJ and the two laughed at it, together. He looks up at her but shakes his head in disbelief. It must be a vision. She is beautiful, dressed entirely in various shades of gray, trousers, naturally; she never loved skirts. The first thing he notices, when he realizes that she is real, is that she has cut her hair. Then she literally jumps on him. -Luke, oh God, Luke, you are okay!- she hugs him so tight that it takes his breath away. He does the same, feeling safe, serene, stretching his nostrils to pick up her scent... that has changed. He strokes her back, then gently detaches her from himself. However, she instantly kidnaps his hand.

-Of course, I'm fine, but what are you doing here?- Chrissie nails her nails into the soft flesh of his palm. -Not that I want to complain...- here, already better, her clear, cerulean eyes seem to warn him. She finally leaves him free. Not that he wanted it, as he said... it's just that it's strange. He struggled to get used to her absence.

-I received a message from Emily telling me that you had been injured and you were very serious.- she says, starting to breathe normally, now that she is sure that he is well. If he hadn't been so fond of risking, of being on the front line, perhaps she would have hesitated a little more. -I called you and you didn't answer.- Luke lifts his cell phone, screen black. She shakes her head. He will never learn to use chargers correctly. -I ran to Quantico, even if there was something that didn’t convince me...- or rather, precisely because there was something unclear. Why pretend she doesn't miss working for BAU?

The brunette lifts her phone and shows him the text message, as well as the sender. She leans against him, naturally. It is certainly not the first time and Rich has learned not to be jealous of it. Because then it seems... no, wrong would be a blasphemy. But it's not strange either, the right adjective. It's different. But it should be there another woman so calmly in his arms. He knows exactly who, but he'll continue to play the role of the dumb, at least for a little while longer. -No, it's better to discuss it with the rest of the team.- this time he's taking her by the hand. -Come on.- they cross the bullpen.

A cry is heard from the balcony, where the offices of the highest members are located. -Christine!- the woman runs down the stairs. Luke smiles, witnessing the repatriation.

-Emily!- another hug. -You really deserved to become the boss, I've always seen you well in the leadership roles.- the two immediately begin to chuckle, as if it were not true that they haven't seen each other for years. -JJ, my beloved blonde.- the former expert in communications with the press and media joins them.

-Chri, how nice to have you here!- comments the latter, with shining eyes.

She is much more cold; she always has been. So deeply similar to him, so deeply opposed to... -Same.- she then turns to the other man. -Rossi...- who shakes his head, dragging her into his arms.

-My little mouse who is too busy to write to me...- it is an affectionate rebuke.

She smiles and shrugs. -I'm sorry, I’m guilty.- she declares. One person is still missing, except for Spencer who cannot be present, even if he is finally out of prison. A nice relief. - Tara, how's your brother?- she asks.

She knew what happened in these months even though she wasn't here, mentally notes Luke. -Better, thank you and your Lise?- the pride of a mother paints her face.

-Oh, it's a little monster, she makes us despair, Rich and I don't sleep for more than two hours in a row...- only one can really understand her. It is she who comments.

-But it's still worth it, isn't it?- only then the man realizes that Garcia, Penelope, deliberately remained on the sidelines, probably feeling excluded from that parenthesis of joy. He can't help feeling a wave of sadness, but he doesn't do anything to change things. Stephanie is distant too, but she seems less affected by the whole thing.

-Every day.- she answers, becoming serious. Then she shows the same message to others.

Prentiss forces herself to take matters into her own hands. -Unfortunately, Christine is not here for a pleasure visit.- she says and everyone goes to the round table room (as Reid's mother had called it the first time she entered, after all she was an English literature teacher). Penelope comes in last.

Christine sighs, preparing to explain. -I received a message from Prentiss that made me believe that Alvez was injured during a mission.- she senses everyone's eyes on himself. She was no longer used to it, but it's a good feeling. -Someone must have hacked her cell phone and since I made it 99% secure, as much as mine... It must be a genius in my field.- she concludes.

-Seems like the typical skill of Scratch.- Walker reflects aloud.

Luke nods. -Unfortunately, Chri was unable to trace the address from which the hacking was carried out.- the blonde with glasses tries not to focus on the amber hand that is affectionately stroking his best friend's arm.

She sighs, seeing that nobody takes the floor. -I could try to give you help... Together we will surely make it.- she smiles, but looks only at the woman.

-Penelope Garcia, right?- she approaches her, to shake her hand. - It's like meeting my favorite Rockstar.- here she managed to make her blush. She hears giggles, one is Luke's. -It's nice to meet you, although I would have preferred a different circumstance...- she nods. They are so different that it’s impressive. Agent Alvez seems to be living in a parallel reality. His best friend and his... his nothing.

-Same.- she gives her an open smile. And then, she says it. -I've heard a lot about you.- with that cheeky tone. Chrissie glances over her shoulder.

She purses her lips in an amused grimace. -I bet I can guess the source.- Garcia laughs at her joke. He knew they would like each other. It was so obvious.

But it still bothers him that they joke in common on him. It is too strange. -Could we go back to Scratch?- he asks, sounding a little too desperate.

Emily gives him a hand, for other reasons. -Well, now we'll leave Christine and Garcia to work at the address.- the two nod in sync. Then she spreads her arms. -We can't do anything else.- all of them go out, except the nominated ones.

Christine touches her shoulder. -Can I be excused, Penelope?- the blonde nods. She closes her eyes once, driving away the tears. She knows perfectly well where (by whom) she is going.

She finds him exactly where she had imagined. On the balcony, watching the weather become progressively wintery. Luke turns to look at her. -Hey, honey, shouldn't you take care of the source?- his tone is sweet. She nods.

-Yes, but I must also tell you something else and I am sure Penelope will be well for five minutes.- as she could do it all alone, but she doesn’t add it.

He takes a moment. -She's not as good as you are.- he says stubbornly. Chrissie shakes her head in open disagreement.

She points a finger at him, accusingly. -Here, you see, that was what I wanted to say.- he swallows. -Em' and JJ told me.- here's the real source, thinks a crazy part of his brain, trying to escape from the moment of truth. -Don't you think you could be a little nicer to her?- there is no self-control when he is with her. He opens his mouth wide like a teenager caught smoking marijuana by his parents. -Come on, did you see her well? She is a ray of sunshine, the most sensitive and affectionate person in the Bureau, if not the entire universe.- he rolls his eyes, annoyed by the fact that she is so much right, yet this is not enough for him.

He sighs, before making his admission. -Yes, but... She's not you.- she nods.

-One more reason to do it.- she pushes him amicably. -Luke, you know I miss you very much too, but I saw how you look at her, you know? And how she looks at you.- and it's not even her specialization, analyzing people's behavior. -I don't need to be a profiler.- she reads his mind.

This doesn’t mean that he will give up without a fight. -You won't want to insinuate... No!- he shouts, frightening a sparrow resting on the ledge. -I can hardly stand her, she with all those trinkets on her wrists, on her hands, that golden hair and her inappropriate and out of place jokes...- Christine shakes her head, giving him a (weak) punch on the chest.

-Alvez, you really are a fool about women.- it wasn’t the first time she told him. -Do as you like, now I have to go back to the office.- she starts and then stops, turning to look at him. -But you know that you're throwing a wonderful opportunity in the toilet... And all because she took my place.- she loves her refined way of expressing herself. As Orpheus should have done to bring his beloved Eurydice back to the world of the living, she doesn’t look back. As soon as she enters the round room, Garcia gestures for her to join her.

She indicates the screen. -Hey, maybe I found a way around that block.- she says shyly. She is quite convinced that much of the blame lies with that idiot of her best friend. But if he thinks she will sit idly...

-Penelope, you are a true genius.- she gives her a quick hug.

-Thanks, I...- she hesitates. -I'm going to tell the others.- Christine gives her the approval. It is up to her now. Just two minutes and everyone is there again, even the jerk.

-Now we can catch him.- Emily announces. -Wheels up in 5.- the strength of habit prevails, even when it is not necessary to use the jet, as in this case. He goes out, followed by the rest of the team. Even Chrissie is preparing to imitate them.

A hand around her wrist stops her. -Hey, where are you going?- she smiles.

-Lise and Richard are waiting for me.- she observes him nodding. -I just wanna say hello to Reid, I'm so mad that he didn't tell me anything about what he went through, even if I understand it, in a way.- they hug. She places her head on his chest. Facilitated by her tallness and by not wearing high shoes. -Try not to get yourself killed, okay?- she whispers.

And Luke replies with the same sentence as always. -I'll do.- she comes off first.

-Luke, you have three minutes.- she winks at him, pointing to the watch on his wrist, before disappearing into an elevator. He sighs, shakes his head, still feeling her perfume... but it's the wrong one. As he walks with the intention of preparing himself, he is caught by a sort of vision, which however in his head he renames as a presentiment. He sees himself dead, a corpse on the asphalt, thrown away by a terrible accident, but he is much higher, he is pure spirit and is tormented by a single regret. Die without ever knowing. His feet quickly change direction, while the awareness of not having enough time grows. He reaches the security door and opens it wide. Penelope is there, curled up on herself in an almost fetal position, her face covered with her hands and her hair's a little messy. For the first time, he doesn't give a damn about how she is dressed and her accessories. He no longer needs that spiel to stay. He observes her body shaken by sobs, hearing her groans of pain.

He clears his throat. -Garcia. What... Why are you crying?- she lifts her head, not masking the tracks. Big tears run across her cheeks. He stretches out his hand with the intention of drying them, but remains so, without completing the gesture.

However, she doesn't mind. -I'm... I'm just afraid.- she squeezes her hands until she cut herself with her fingernails and make blood come out. He doesn't seem to notice this either. A red spot adds to the colors of her dress. -I wish I hadn't found that damned address.- she confess. She certainly never held back as much as he did, but this, of course, is her moment of total openness. -I'm afraid something bad might happen to you all.- she adds, while the lower lip begins to tremble. Luke takes another step in her direction.

-You know it can happen every time we get out of here.- he points out, but his tone is low, calm, not to blame or as if to tell her to open her eyes and notice where they are. He is definitely late. If they don't wait for him, it must have been the fault of fate.

Penelope echoes him. He can no longer think of her as Garcia. Not only. -I know.- she hugs herself, but it is his arms that should comfort her. -Fears are not rational.- he nods. She stands up, taking off her glasses and wiping her face with a tissue. -What are you doing here? Aren't you going to leave?- she asks. She is trying to get rid of him. A step. Another. Another one. One more.

-Yeah.- he's practically on her. -I just needed to do one thing first.- he sees with the eyes of his mind Chrissie and his abuela cheering. -You never know.- he slowly approaches his face, lowering himself. She is hardly breathing, probably considers it more likely he is about to slap her, rather than what is about to happen. She finds partial confirmation when she sees him raise his hands, which however rest on her face, still wet and red. He scrutinizes her reaction for a moment, then nods to himself, bends over what little separates their lips and kisses her. He doesn't give her many seconds to kiss him back. Maybe he still has time to reach out to others. -I will come back and we’ll talk about it.- it sounds like a promise. It will be better for you, thinks Penelope, wearing headphones and preparing to play her part in this mission.

TAGS: @martinab26 @thinitta @shyladystudentfan @pegasus-scifichick @paperwalk @the-ellen-stuff @astressedwriter @symphonyashley @kofforever @myhollyhanna23 @tootsienoodles @centiaaa @penelopesluke @dumbdraws @onefail-at-atime @reidskitty13@adorarapril @princesstreaclefanfic @glocknade111-blog @magiunific @fallen-novak @dreatine @hopelessdayydreamer @racing-against-the-sunset @majo0803 @vickyd-2012 @writing-whats-that @wearejuststars@klngzeewp @heylittlehollywood @kirstenvangsness @blu3crush@futureperfectmedia-blog @jade-cheshire3303 @life-between-pages @tooshorttobeanadult @xxlonelyghostxx @honeydoodles @pennypeabody @alessiapolimeni @bbyxk @full-on-fangirl @catlynhoss05 @lushmp3 @glittergunshots @tinymiko @baby-i-am-fireproof @unpensieroabbandonato

#garvez #criminal minds #cm #penelope garcia #luke alvez #emily prentiss #jennifer jareau #tara lewis #david rossi #spencer reid #o.c.#penelope x luke #luke x penelope #garcia x alvez #alvez x garcia #a.u.#tiziano ferro #amici per errore

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zenithlux · 4 years

Text

Cadence - CH 17

In which Vergil learns what might be wrong with him, with help from his friends and family.

Catch up on the story here!

Don’t say I’m out of touch With this rampant chaos your reality I know well what lies beyond my slipping refuge The nightmare I built my own world to escape.

Imaginary - Evanescence

It took less than ten minutes for Vergil to have an existential crisis.

Why did I call Nero?

Why didn’t I call Dante?

What is wrong with me?

Why will you not leave me alone?

And the questions went on and on; a never-ending wave of increasingly dark and impossible to answer things. Vergil tried to stop them. He tried not to think about the possibilities or the mark on his chest. He tried to convince himself that the voice in his head was no more than a nightmare. That the portal he would have opened would have led to nowhere, and he’d just looked like a fool in front of Kuro.

That sword no longer belongs to you. Kuro had said.

What does he know?

A knock on the door startled him. “Verge?” Dante’s voice echoed inside.

Go away, Vergil tried to say, but nothing happened.

“Nero said you might need some help.”

Vergil held back a swear as he forced himself to his feet. He’d barely started zipping his vest up before he heard. “Oh hey Kuro! Didn’t know you could open the door.”

“Are you calling me a fool, mortal?”

“... Why do you have Yamato?”

“Your brother almost returned to his master.”

Vergil took a single step and hit the floor before he could stop himself.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw nothing but pure darkness. He tried to sit up, but a pair of burly hands pushed him back down. Panicked, Vergil fought back. Something cold slipped from his head as he yanked on the arms. They pushed harder, fingernails digging into his skin. Voices echoed in from all directions- a rabble of nothingness. “Let me go!” He snapped. “I will not…”

Nelo.

“I’m not...”

Come back to me, Nelo.

“I’m not his…”

“Dad!”

He froze as a single word broke through the chaos. Dad? No one had ever called him that. No one should call him that. He wasn’t a father. He was barely a man. Just some pawn in Mundus’ endless game. Vergil thought he could escape. He thought this was over. Was two decades of his life not enough? Would the consequences of his mistakes never end?

“I wouldn’t do that, Sunshine,” another voice said. “He’s not exactly in his right mind.”

“It’s alright,” A woman said. Vergil recognized them both, but couldn’t place their names. Everything was dark. So dark. So cold. He was trapped again. Paralyzed and lost in the suit he’d been shoved into.

Then a soft hand brushed his cheek. “Vergil,” The woman’s voice whispered again. “You’re alright. We’re all here for you.”

His eyes snapped open as he gasped for air. Dante’s hand tightened on his shoulder, but it was Roxy’s eyes he met first. Behind her was Nero with a look of pure relief as his shoulders sagged forward and he shook his head. Even further away was Nico with Aki in her hand and a smaller Kuro on her shoulder. “Let go,” Vergil said. This time, his voice was calm enough that Dante listened. Yet, Vergil didn’t sit up. Instead, he let his eyes drift back to her. “You’re awake.”

“Thanks to you,” Roxy said with a nod. Her hand had yet to leave his cheek. “Kuro didn’t have to do much this time.”

“How long has it been.”

“A little over a day I’ve been told.”

“A day,” Vergil said, his voice hollow. “I’ve been out for a day?”

“I found you unconscious in the bathroom,” Dante said. “Don’t worry though! I cleaned ya up and the kid only found ya sleeping,” He gave Vergil a lazy grin, but he heard the truth behind his brother’s oddly peppy words, nobody saw the mark but me. Vergil nodded, hoping to convey his gratitude. If Dante understood or not, he didn’t respond.

“What happened?” Nero said.

Vergil’s eyes closed for another moment. What did he say to that? The truth seemed more unbelievable than anything else he could say. But he had called Nero here for… something.

Why had he thought that this was the right call again?

Yamato.

And, as painful as it was to admit it, Vergil said. “I need one of you to take Yamato.”

Nero, Nico, and Dante all exchanged glances. “Who are you and what have you done to my brother?” Dante said.

That time, Roxy pulled away as Vergil practically shot upright. “Do you honestly think I’d joke about such a thing?”

Dante threw his hands up between them. “I mean the things practically your security blanket, Verge. I’m shocked you’re not holding it right now.”

He wasn’t wrong necessarily, but Vergil really thought his brother could word that entire sentence differently. Instead, he explained what was happening. Or, at the very least, what he assumed was happening. It was difficult to know for certain what was in his head or not. He’d recognize Mundus’ voice from anywhere, as it had permeated all of his nightmares since even before he’d escaped hell. But whether or not he was actually calling to him…

He stopped short and glared at Kuro. “You knew.”

Kuro snorted. “I used to be one of Mundus’ pets myself a long time ago. I remember you.”

Vergil’s eyes widened. “I don’t…”

“I escaped just after he promoted you,” The dragon said. “As did my brother. But my story isn’t important.”

“Promoted?” Nero said. “So you were, what, working for this… Mundus guy?”

That time, it was Dante and Vergil who exchanged glances. “Listen, kid,” Dante said slowly, looking to Vergil for permission. When Vergil said nothing, Dante continued. “Did you ever wonder why your dad was gone for so long? Why he never sought you out or all that jazz?”

Nero frowned. “I just assumed…” He trailed off.

“That I wanted nothing to do with you?” Vergil said.

A slight red tinged Nero’s cheeks. “Well I know now that you didn’t know about me. But still… figured you were an asshole for just abandoning whoever my mom was too.”

“He abandoned everyone,” Dante muttered. Vergil glared at him, but his brother didn’t meet it. “He was trapped in hell, Nero. Twenty years of his life, gone to this ‘Mundus guy’.”

“I’ve heard of him,” Roxy whispered. “But I never imagined…” She closed her eyes and shook her head before meeting his gaze again. “Kuro explained what happened, and we have a theory as to what’s going on. I’ve already called Dia on the matter but…” She trailed off as her eyes flickered away.

“What?” Vergil asked.

“You’re probably not gonna like it.”

“Just get on with it,” Vergil snapped. She flinched before he caught himself, but an apology didn’t come. If she expected one, she didn’t show it. “What’s your theory?” Vergil said, his voice much quieter than before. A part of him already knew what she was going to say , but hearing it was much better than assumptions.

“Kuro believes that Mundus forced you to make a pact with him,” Roxy said. “Now that you’re free, he’s trying to call you back.”

The room went dead silent. Even the younger devil hunters, who had learned Mundus’ name all of five minutes ago, went slack-jawed as their eyes snapped to him. Vergil couldn’t read anyone’s expressions. Dante’s lips were pressed together, and his gaze had hardened to the point that even his eyes didn’t give anything away. Nero looked somewhere between horrified, confused, and trying to find the right words to say. Nico looked like she was pondering something beyond Vergil’s comprehension. Only Roxy’s expression was soft as she placed her fingers on the back of his hand. “It’s alright,” She said. “We can fix this.”

“How?” Vergil said. “How can you fix this, Roxy?”

It was Nico who snorted. “Who knows more about pacts than our resident summoner, V-man?”

“Dia, technically,” Roxy said. “But yes, I know a good amount.” She pushed herself to her feet and took a small step back. “Can the rest of you leave for a bit? I need to speak to Vergil.”

“Are you sure about that?” Dante said. “He’s nearly lost it twice.”

“Keep that sword away,” Kuro growled as he crawled onto Roxy’s shoulder. “And she’ll have nothing to fear.”

“No offense,” Nero said. “But I’m with Dante on this one.”

“I’m not a wild animal,” Vergil said.

“But are you in control?” Dante said.

Vergil glared at his brother. “Yes.”

Dante shrugged. “Alright then,” He beckoned to the other two. “I’ll grab Yamato. You’ll have to take Nico back to the van.” He waved his hand in front of her face to make a point. She didn’t even blink. “She’s far, far away in a galaxy I like to call the Nico-veerse.” He disappeared into the kitchen before returning with Yamato. “We’ll be nearby, sunshine. Holler if you need us,” He glanced at Vergil one last time. But, when Vergil nodded, his brother smiled and left.

“We hadn’t planned on leaving for a few days,” Nero said. “So…”

“We won’t be long,” Roxy said. “Promise.”

Nero hesitated, but he soon followed after Dante, dragging a very distracted Nico behind him. Aki chirped his goodbye as he hopped off Nico’s shoulder and found his way onto Vergil’s lap where he curled up and promptly fell asleep. And while Vergil thought he should have found this annoying in any other situation, the creature’s soft purrs against his legs was oddly soothing. All he could remember was Shadow sleeping beside him on the few nights his human self got any rest. He recalled how he’d wake up in the morning with the oversized kitten lying right on top of him, only a few pounds shy of crushing him outright.

He’d found that comforting too.

“Dia’s going to visit tomorrow,” Roxy said. “But I need to know what we’re dealing with.” She hesitated, followed by a sigh. “I know you’re probably not comfortable with the idea, but Dante mentioned a mark?”

“... It appeared yesterday.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“How could you possibly know any of this?” Vergil said.

“I know how pact making works,” She countered. “Every demon can be made into a familiar, Vergil. Half-demon or otherwise. My father and Dia studied the effects of half-demon familiars for years before he died. I don’t know everything, but I know enough.” She shook her head. “Humans are able to escape it. Demons can’t. The two halves of your mind are fighting with each other. However…”

“However?”

“Half-demons need a powerful item to bind them to another soul,” Kuro said. “Marks can manifest, yes. But they are not enough. Not when the host wishes to control the other.”

“We think Mundus may have used Yamato,” Roxy said. “If he knew of its portal capabilities, then it’s likely he assumed he could bring you back whenever he wanted, so losing you wasn’t an issue.”

“He likely did not expect you to resist.”

“How can you be certain of any of this?” Vergil asked.

“I’m not,” She said. “With everything I and Dia know, it’s still a shot in the dark. But it’s all we’ve got right now, Vergil.”

“Luckily for you,” Kuro said as he hopped down to the couch. “We may already have a solution.”

“Which is?” Vergil said.

“Dia thinks that we may be able to break your connection with him by creating a new one with me.”

Vergil didn’t understand why his body clenched at the thought. He didn’t know why he suddenly felt light headed, or why the world was spinning. And he certainly didn’t know why he recoiled at the sheer idea of making a pact with her. But there it was. An uncertain and terrible fear that burned in his veins and pulsed in his head. But, as if noticing his distress (was it really that obvious?) Roxy quickly sat across from him. “I would never force you to do anything you don’t want to do,” She said. “And Dia thinks I can break it the second you are free from Mundus’ control.”

That didn’t make him feel any better. “You’re asking me to risk…” He trailed off, self-conscious. Servitude was the word on his tongue, but was that even fair? He wanted to believe that he trusted Roxy. They had gotten to know each other over the last nine or so months. Almost a year now as friends, and at least three months as close companions.

But did that mean he trusted her with his life?

And if not… Did he trust anyone?

“If it would make you more comfortable,” She said. “Then I can show you my own marks as well.”

“You would do that?” Vergil said. “For me?”

“I’m asking you to give me something very personal,” She said. “It’s only fair that I do the same for you.”

“Besides,” Kuro said with a flick of his tongue. “If making a pact is the only way to protect you, then you’ll have to trust each other, or it will never work.”

Vergil was starting to think that the dragon might be reading his thoughts, but he didn’t dare mention it less he gave himself away. But his heart stilled as Roxy held her hand out. “Are you alright?” She whispered; the silly, special phrase that had quickly become their own. Slowly, Vergil met her fingers with his own and nodded. And in that moment, as she squeezed his hand with a quiet reassurance and returned his gaze with a confident smile, Vergil decided that he would trust her. Her, his brother, his son, Nico… all of them.

Because if there was one thing Vergil had finally learned over all these years, it was that he couldn’t fight a war on his own.

“I’ll go first,” She said. “If that’s alright.” She pulled away from him and shed her sweatshirt, revealing a tight fitting tank top beneath. And it was at that moment that Vergil fully realized just how small the woman before him was. He’d known this already, as her head only came to his chest even in shoes, but she looked even more petite than before. The thought of hurting her… of crushing her with a single hand…

He squeezed his eyes shut when she wasn’t looking, and pulled his thoughts back to reality. He wouldn’t hurt her. He couldn’t hurt her. Not Roxy. Not the woman he’ d grown to care so deeply for.

Care deeply for.

He really was a fool.

And Vergil might have blushed once she removed her shirt, but his eyes drifted to the ice blue swirls on her stomach. Her marks were much lighter than his had been, but Vergil could still see the exquisite details of every small snowflake. The lines continued around her waist, and when she turned, Vergil saw that both sides connected to a dragon-wing. Vergil could feel the demonic magic pulsing from the lines themselves, and he realized that this was the power he'd been feeling. Kuro's power, yes, but mixed with her own humanity. But behind the marks were scars; long, jagged scars that Vergil was certain would never truly fade. Momentos of the accident, he assumed. But they were worse than he thought. But right now, as she shared a piece of herself with him, he didn't dare ask for more.

He had a feeling he'd know soon enough.

When she turned back to face him, there was a playfulness to her tone. It was almost as if this was all completely normal and she wasn't sitting before him in a rather lacy and debatably risque blue bra. And it was that thought, of all things, that finally brought the heat to his cheeks. But only a little. No more than was necessary. (He'd have to ponder the strange buzzing energy that pulsed through the rest of him later). "Your turn," She said. And when he did unzip his vest, she waited for a nod before pressing her fingers against his mark.

Her touch made him shiver. This was wildly intimate. More so than any hand holding. But if she felt any discomfort, she didn't show it. Professional, Vergil thought. And if she could manage that, so could he.

“The good news,” She said as her fingers traced the lines. “Is that this isn’t a very strong mark, meaning he’s aware that you can fight him off if given enough time.”

“Why would it appear now?”

“Could be to scare you,” she said. “He might want you to think that you don’t have a choice, or that returning to him is an inevitability. But do you see how faded the lines are?” Vergil nodded before she continued. “His link to you is tenuous at best, and I think Kuro was right about Yamato.”

The dragon huffed. “Of course I was.”

“Regardless,” she said with a soft glare in the familar’s direction. “Dia will be able to tell us more tomorrow.” Her gaze shifted back to his chest and she frowned.

“What is it?”

“This one in the middle,” She said. “ It’s not a mark, persay. It’s more of a scar. But you heal everything… right?"

Vergil reached for the zipper of his vest. "I guess some wounds never heal… even mine."

Then their eyes met, and it took everything Vergil had to keep his gaze on hers. Roxy was close now. So…. very close. If he turned just right and leaned forward just enough…

“Are you alright?” She whispered, but there was something else to her tone. Something else Vergil couldn’t quite pick out of the chaos raging in his mind. He found himself reaching for her cheek, and his knuckles gently caressed the skin as he stared into her beautiful emerald eyes. She tilted her head and nuzzled against him, eyes never leaving his own. The hand on his chest drifted to the side as she shifted closer. Her breath was cool on his lips and smelled of mint. He tilted his head and leaned in…

“If you were planning this,” Dia’s voice echoed in disapproval. “Then you probably shouldn’t have called me.”

Roxy jumped at the same time as Vergil. And, in an uncharacteristic show of clumsiness, his forehead knocked straight into hers. The resounding thud made his ears ring. She groaned as she pulled away, rubbing the side of her forehead as she fumbled around for her jacket. “It wasn’t like that,” She muttered. “And you said you were coming tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow. Today. It’s all the same.” She waved her off. “Now lets see if we can fix our little Mundus problem, shall we?”

Ko-fi – Master List – AO3

#zenni-writes #cadence #update #vergil #dante #nero #roxy #vergilxoc #vergilxroxy #dmc fanfic

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journeysintowebcomics · 5 years

Text

Homestuck Liveblog #188

UPDATE 188: Postscript

Last time Dirk had flown out of the planet with Rose, letting Jade wake up and Dead Calliope control the narrative again. Now what? Let’s check out the end of the meat epilogue!

It doesn’t take long for them to start their planning, that night Jade is already home and Roxy is getting leads about where Dirk is. Jake, still heartbroken over the loss of Dirk forever, tells her Dirk has left the planet. Will he join them? Not likely, I’d say. They’re so dedicated to getting leads about where Dirk may have gone Kanaya even decides to call Jane, even though La Presidenta is persona non-grata in this household.

How is it possible a conversation about incest is possibly the longest conversation in this epilogue? Not really much to get from this, except that Dave doesn’t have any shame in showing public displays of affection. I guess now that he has gotten Karkaroni as a boyfriend officially any inhibitions about the matter are gone. Heck, even though Karkaroni protests it’s not like he doesn’t dislike it, I’d say.

ROXY: awwwwwww

ROXY: u boys cute :)

DAVE: hey can you just forget you saw that thanks

ROXY: hehe

ROXY: thank u

DAVE: for what

ROXY: for doin somethin that turned that steaming dogshit fire of an incest conversation into somethin that just made me feel v v happy

ROXY: if only for a fleetin moment in these dark AF times

KARKAT: DON’T MENTION IT

It did turn that mess of a conversation into something else, so yeah, thanks.

So, Jane either doesn’t know where Dirk is going or doesn’t want to tell. I for one am inclined to think she doesn’t know, because Dirk is a cagey person and wouldn’t just go around telling anyone his plans to make it easier for his opponents to stop him. He’ll welcome them getting in his way, but he won’t let it be too easy.

It seems only a couple people knew Terezi was back in Earth and now she’s not picking up the phone. They also wonder where John is, and Dave comments John with the retcon powers would be able to teleport them into Dirk’s spaceship. Maybe that’s why Dirk made Terezi take John’s body, so in the off-chance they manage to revive John he wouldn’t be able to take them to where Dirk is, and now that Terezi is who knows where, they can’t find John’s corpse anyway. Maybe she’s in the spaceship too, right in Dirk’s manipulative claws.

if they ever wish to see john again, be it his cadaver or otherwise, they will need another means of following the ship. a different guide altogether.

Oh, I suppose that means Terezi is in the spaceship after all.

Watching this, Dead Calliope has a change of heart and decides to lend them just a little bit of help, if only to stop the prince from doing anything. All she does is make Jade point in a direction. Ah, there we go! A compass aiming at Dirk, I bet. Now all they have to do is go in that direction – if they decide to follow Jade’s enigmatic finger pointing, that is. There’s a possibility they won’t.

DAVE: oh oh

DAVE: i think i know whats up

DAVE: shes tryin to say theres something important over that way

DAVE: is that right jade

DAVE: can you hear me??

dave walks over and kneels in front of her chair. he looks closely at her. her face, though still expressionless, strikes him as serious and tense.

DAVE: jade is it john?

DAVE: johns that way right

DAVE: you want us to go in that direction to find john

DAVE: is that it jade?

Close enough. If John’s body is up there in the spaceship then yup, he’s right. Boy, it’s going to be awful for everyone to find out John’s rotting inside a wallet.

DAVE: maybe its not john that way maybe its...

DAVE: jade is it...

DAVE: is that where DIRK went?

it’s barely noticeable, but dave picks up on it. her face relaxes slightly.

Bingo! There you go, you have your work set ahead for you. Best of luck, everyone!

Now that she has indicated the general direction of Dirk’s location, Jade returns to her inert state, doing nothing. Thankfully, Dave says they’ll have to bring Jade along, so I guess someone will be in charge of carrying her around. Karkaroni, fired up, makes Kanaya start calling Jake so they can borrow a spaceship.

they will believe they are on a quest to retrieve a wife and rescue a friend. but they will discover their true mission is of much greater cosmic significance than they imagined. the seer is firmly in the thrall of the prince and will not easily be pried away. and as regards the heir, though resuscitation remains a theoretical possibility for those still striving for it, the truth of his role is it has reached a greater sense of narrative finality than any of his allies will bring themselves to admit. his influence over canon has come to an end, as has this particular story. his ultimate sacrifice was made to put the missing keystone in place and avert the supreme dissipation of all that shall be considered to hold truth, relevance, and essentiality.

Alright, so, reviving John is not impossible, or at least Dead Calliope doesn’t outright say it’s impossible. She does say it’s just a theoretical possibility, though, so maybe...that’s just a fancy way of saying it’s impossible? Oh well. Anyway, the important part of this paragraph is that it’s stating John’s death was a necessary thing for the continuation of existence, which I can believe, really. Honestly, I was very surprised all eight humans managed to go through Homestuck alive, I really thought one or two would die. John dying and that being necessary isn’t really a big surprise.

Maybe in the Candy epilogue he doesn’t go fight and everything is destroyed. Sure would be tragic!

That aside, it seems Dead Calliope is getting ready to leave the narrative alone, because she’s saying goodbye and saying she’ll just keep the power of narrative so Dirk can’t take it back, and give gentle hints whenever the group needs them. Someone in charge of protecting the cosmos shouldn’t get too involved with it, after all. And that’s the end of the page.

Postscript time. The text is black, so the narrative is back to normal, nobody controlling it. Elsewhere, Aradia -- wow, I had completely forgotten she existed. I guess she’s just hanging out in the emptiness nowadays – is with the Jade that fought Lord English and was sucked into a black hole. Her eyes are solid black, which I assume indicates Dead Calliope is handling things. The first order of business is to eat raw meat, because no cherub has ever heard of cooked meat, I guess. Once she’s done, she howls, and opens a hole up there in the sky.

ARADIA: i take it everything went as you hoped

Time works differently here in the middle of nowhere. Maybe by now Dirk is dead. In that case, yes, everything went as Dead Calliope hoped.

Jade looks down at her hands as if they belong to an alien. She can feel it now. Abilities have been awakened inside her that no being has ever commanded before.

The same thing Dirk and Rose were going through, perhaps? She raises her hands in direction of the black hole.

Nearby, a red haze gathers in the air. It condenses into concentric rings and spheres of ruby light. The luminous shape of a man fades into the center of the special effect. When the light subsides, Aradia notices the man is made of polished metal. She recognizes the gear symbol on his chest, identical to her own. She also recognizes the sunglasses the robot is wearing. She knows who this is.

ARADIA: dave?

DAVEBOT: sup

Well this is new. Leave it to Homestuck to introduce a weird variation of a character on the eleventh hour. First the combined sprites, now this. This is a bit concerning, given how Dirk is the robotics professional left in the story, but it also could be a development that happened in the Candy epilogue. Maybe over there instead of messing with Rose he decided to do this to Dave. I’ll find out if I’m right, when I read that epilogue.

Now that Davebot is here, Jade goes flying into the black hole, and Davebot offers to take Aradia along. It’s mentioned Sollux is somewhere, being a grouch. I also completely forgot he existed.

DAVEBOT: so thats a yes then

ARADIA: what

DAVEBOT: youre coming

DAVEBOT: better decide quick i doubt that dank fuckin hell funnel is staying open for much longer

ARADIA: yes i suppose so

ARADIA: thats where all the action is right?

DAVEBOT: all the action that matters yeah

ARADIA: off we go then :)

DAVEBOT: word

I don’t have the slightest idea what’s going on, really, but there they go. Alongside Jade, Dave and Aradia go, leaving everything else behind. The meat epilogue ends with this line:

Where the hole gaped just moments ago, there now exists an imaginary line.

Above this line resides all that matters. Below exists all else. Never again the twain shall meet.

I think I get it. Through that hole there was everything that’s in the Homestuck universe, where things will happen and life will go on. And here, outside of everything, the reader is left, unaware of what exactly is going on. There’s myriad of possibilities all happening at once in Homestuck, and we as readers won’t ever find out about them anymore. Could be some really tragic events, or maybe everything is going really well now.

Without a narrative we sure aren’t going to find out!

And that’s it. That’s the end of the meat epilogue. So, I have some thoughts to give next time, so I’ll end the update here.

Next time: next update

#homestuck #homestuck liveblog #webcomics #liveblog #webcomic liveblog

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gal-liveblogs · 5 years

Text

So we start off Homestuck 2 with a picture of space. Got some green space clouds. So far nothing I would not expect. Though I see there also appears to be a spaceship of some kind, zooming through all this space. Would this be Dirk’s ship?

. . . Yep. That’s defiantly Dirk’s ship. I’m sure Theseus has some really deep, literary meaning, but the reference flies right over my head. As does most of Dirk’s references. He’s too smart for me.

I find it funny that Jake continues the tradition of emblazoning his face on his things. We saw his alt-self of Grandpa Harley doing at all the time. Dirk, of course, has to scribble out the face of his ex.

Dirk. Dirk, are you wearing a villain cape right now? Is that what you’re doing in this moment? Dirk, please.

He is totally wearing a villain cape, complete with tattered edges. He is also wearing a Heart gi, because Dirk is nothing if not anime.

Jesus Christ, I already see the paragraphs of orange under this. You’re gonna make me read all this, aren’t you. Dirk?

Dirk proves to be as verbose as ever.

So did Dirk really write out all his narration on physical pieces of paper and scatter them over his desk? Did he do that just to be Extra, or is that something he has to do as an Author now? Do they only count in the narrative text if they are actual text and not just his own thoughts?

Whatever the case may be, Rose interrupts his soliloquy.

I have it on authority that decanting is sometimes necessary to ensure a wine is at its best. I like to think that the same was ultimately true of her.

Decanting of a person’s soul sounds particularly ominous, thought I can’t express the exact reason why.

ROSEBOT: I just imagined you wearing an apron over your god tier outfit and almost felt my facial fuselage buckle in such a way as to approximate a fleeting smile.

Glad to see being a robot and also assimilating all her possible selves Rose remains a sass queen.

DIRK: Alright we get it you are literally a robot.

DIRK: No need to keep pointing it out every chance you can get. I got enough of this with the Auto Responder.

ROSEBOT: I'm just playing along.

ROSEBOT: One of the fundamentals of bad science fiction is that any artificial beings must make their inorganic nature known at every juncture they can.

DIRK: Do overly precise and completely meaningless statistics that you pull out of your ass on the fly also count?

ROSEBOT: Oh absolutely.

ROSEBOT: That's one of the first things you just sort of spontaneously learn when being booted up.

ROSEBOT: For example, I've calculated that by making these remarks I have raised the base level of amusement in all my conversations by 36%.

DIRK: Well I don't personally find them very funny.

Dirk has some trauma with robots pulling out bullshit statics. Which makes it all the more fascinating he continues to build robots that can have free thought.

Jesus Christ, it wasn’t just the lighting, Dirk’s shades really are orange now. Hussie may not have known about Kamina when he designed Bro, but Dirk always wearing Kamina glasses has just become a part of his character. So much so that they are even colored like Kamina’s instead of black now. I have to wonder, had Kamina not been a character that already existed or if people hadn’t kept pointing out that Dirk/Bro wore shades similar to an anime character, would Dirk be so anime? Is being anime just a character trait that Hussie gave him because of a funny coincidence and he wanted to play up the joke, or was he always intended to be so anime?

Also is that trashcan literally an inferno?

ROSEBOT: I just thought you might like to know that we're getting pretty close to your chosen crash site.

Do they not know how to land the ship? Does the ship not have landing gear? Do they need to crash for narrative reasons and otherwise would be perfectly capable of landing normally? Is Rose just making a joke?

DIRK: Wait, crash site??

Oh, good, Dirk is as confused as I am. So that rules out narrative reasons.

ROSEBOT: A landing gear appears to have fallen just a little outside the realm of vital.

So lacking landing gear it is! God damn it, Jake.

DIRK: (God DAMN it English.)

Ha!

ROSEBOT: Don't be such a chud, Dirk.

I am afraid to ask what a chud is. Is that like a cuck? I don’t know what a cuck is either. I am also afraid to ask what a cuck is.

ROSEBOT: She's functionally mortal, remember?

Yeah, that really sucks that Karkat, Terezi, and Kanaya all lack godtier. Karkat would complain about his lack of flight abilities, but I’m surprised Terezi or Kanaya never brought up this fact. Especially Kanaya, what with her marriage to Rose. Kanaya would eventually grow old and die, leaving Rose to keep on living. Of course, Rosebot has decided to leave her loving wife behind so in this particular case that point doesn’t matter.

DIRK: You mean to say that you don't think we'd be in peril if it came to it?

DIRK: There's nothing about our situation that strikes you as falling within the bounds of precarity, as far as the rules are concerned?

ROSEBOT: Oh. You're right. I suppose I hadn't thought of that.

ROSEBOT: But I think we can remain calm in the knowledge that nothing particularly heroic is going on right now. At least, not that I'm aware of.

DIRK: ... Right.

Not sure if Dirk’s meaning flew over Rose’s head, or if she’s just choosing to ignore the possibility of Just deaths as a joke.

That doesn't mean this (*gestures to the narrative*) isn't still going to be a thing, though.

I don’t know why, but this tickles my funny bone.

All in all I think you'll find, as far as narrators go, I'm an excellent... hm. On second thought, maybe that's a bit of a problematic phrase. Yeah, yikes, that one's got a sordid history. Best we steer clear of it. We're all lucky I'm around to make those kinds of sensitivity judgements on everyone's behalf.

I’m glad you can recognize that Homestuck fans all have a fight or flight response that that memetic phrase, but I don’t appreciate you patting yourself on the back for being sensitive when you, as a narrator, could not use Roxy’s correct pronouns once they came to light.

It's time to get this story back on the rails, back to what it was always supposed to be. I know it, and you've somehow always known it too. There was something else, some other route that Homestuck was meant to take but then didn't, a way that wouldn't've spent so much time dicking around with stuff nobody cares about. Like seriously, why did we all have to sit through talking about everyone's most intimate and private feelings for two hundred thousand fucking words. That would never have happened in Act 1. Where did it all go wrong?

So Dirk’s grand plan is to go back to the asinine tomfoolery of Act 1? To do away with character relations and feelings and have people messing around with their sylladexes? I must say, I never would have expected this from the likes of Dirk. I thought he was all about the complex thought processes and inner turmoil.

Thank you for returning the narration to classic black, Dirk. It’s so much easier on the eyes.

Channelling my full potential as an ascended player of Heart, I expand my consciousness to commune with the boundless force of collective willpower that is the internet.

Wow, who knew Heart players could become the internet. I mean, I guess it makes sense. The internet is just a collection of people, and Heart is all about the soul.

I was really hoping the command box he made would be an actual command box. I missed out on the Homestuck days of old where the command box was a real thing. It would have been fun to be a part of that myself, but I understand the fandom is just too big for that ever to be feasible again. That’s why it was done away with in the first place, and that was when the fandom was smaller.

The writers came up with e good command, though.

Yeah, I have a feeling Dirk is going to decide to ignore this command and stop taking suggestions. Either that, or he’s going to inform us that he is not making Homestuck, he’s making Homestuck 2.

But I should have known better. People think you can run a story like this? This must be just about the stupidest idea anyone has ever come up with. I'll just have to make up the commands myself from here on out. Seemed to work ok for the other guy.

Yep, pretty much what I expected.

Oh Jesus Christ, what even is this room?

O.K., let’s take things from the top. Looks like we got the beta kids’ entry items, as well as their Aspect flags from Prospit and Derse. Why does Dirk have these things? There also appear to be some cruxite dowels next to them, but they are any of the colors we’ve seen before.

WOAH, HOLD UP, Are those Dave’s copies of SBURB? Or are they Bro’s? Clearly Dirk has just collected a bunch of items from various points in Homestuck’s timeline like some sort of museum. For what purpose, though?

Oh my god, there’s a Tab watering can. I assume it was alchemized, since Dirk mentioned earlier using alchemy to make his rad new shades. I wonder why Dirk has that Skaianet poster on his wall. I would have thought he’d want nothing to do with anything Jake had his fingers in. Then again, there also appears to be a kotatsu with Jake’s bedspread in the middle of the room.

I can’t tell what the green thing is next to the mutated kitten. Or what that other green thing next to the robot horse is either.

OH FUCK ME THERE’S A ROBOT CAL IN THE PROCESS OF BEING MADE. DIRK, NO. WHY. YOU HAVE THE NARRATIVE CONTROL NOW, YOU SHOULD KNOW CAL IN ANY FORM IS BAD NEWS.

Is that... Is that an anime body pillow there at the bottom?

I also keep my FLORA OF THE SUCCULENT PERSUASION in here, so's I can keep an eye on them.

Dirk grows succulents... That is not a character trait I expected of him.

> Continue

#homestuck 2 #homestuck 2 liveblog #liveblog #gal liveblogs

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queen-of-the-avengers · 6 years

Text

Still Some Good Left In The World

Characters: Natasha Romanoff x Reader, Tony, Happy, Pepper, Madame B

Word Count: 1,763

Warnings: minor angst, mostly fluff

Summary: After filling in for Pepper as Tony’s assistant, you see someone from your past that you never thought you’d see.

Author’s Note: This is for Roxy’s @roxyspearing 1k Gif-tastic Challenge! and my prompt is the gif below! This was so much fun to write! If you have any requests, please send them in! This is unbeta’d and any and all mistakes are all on me.

Feedback the glue that holds my writing together

Tags at the bottom

“Yes, Pepper, I know what to do. You’ve sent over everything I could possibly need and more,” you spoke to your best friend on the phone.

“Don’t give me that tone, Y/N. I have some really important business to take care of, and I need you to take care of Tony while I’m gone.”

“I know, Pepper. Seriously, you don’t have to worry about this. I can do it,” you tried to assure her.

“Okay. I’ll call in a few days to see how things are going. I have a lot of meetings to go to, so I’ll call you later.”

“Okay, you take care of things there and I’ll take care of things here. Deal?”

“Deal,” she laughed. “Okay, love you.”

“Love you too,” you said right before she hung up. When Pepper told you that she needed you to be Tony’s assistant, you thought she was crazy. When she told you Tony handed over his company to her, you knew she had to be joking. However, she proved you wrong when Tony himself told you everything she is telling you was true. Being Pepper’s best friend, you’ve gotten accustomed to Tony’s ridiculous ways which is why she asked you to be his new assistant in the first place.

She was going to be gone for a few months and in that time span, she needed you to make sure Tony doesn’t do anything stupid. You and Tony got along great, so it wasn’t a problem in that sense. It’s just that you had school since you were going for a business degree, and you really couldn’t afford distractions right now. The only reason you took the job was because Tony would be able to give you great recommendation letters and even a job once you graduate.

He was a fun person to be around, but when it came to actually doing work, he had a hard time staying on track of things he wasn’t interested in. So, it was your job to make sure Stark Industries stayed standing for when Pepper came back.

It was your first day on the job and you felt good about yourself. Wearing a new outfit, you felt confident in your stride, holding onto the clipboard with all the paperwork Tony needed to sign made you feel powerful, and your heels clicking on the tile floor made you feel important. Nothing could go wrong on your first day, especially when Happy Hogan was scheduled to babysit Tony the whole day. All you needed to do was get in, have him sign papers, and then get out.

So simple.

Upon entering the room, you heard Tony talking to someone and you assumed it was Happy. They were training since Tony needed it, and you hoped to be out of there in 5 minutes so you could go back to your homework. However, when you approached the corner, you heard a female’s voice which you didn't recognize. You knew almost everyone in the tower, but this person you didn't know.

Turning the corner, the sound of your heels on the floor made everyone stop and look at you. Tony and Happy were in here, but there was someone else as well, someone that looked very familiar. Her red wavy hair and deep blue eyes were the most noticeable features of this woman. Something in the way she stared at you made you think you knew her. However, you couldn’t recall ever meeting her recently.

Who was this woman and why did she look so familiar? Rifling through your memories, you tried to remember where you might have met or seen her. Going back as far as 10 years ago, there wasn’t a single file opened on her. You could have gone back farther, but you wouldn't dare open that door. It’s reserved for the Red Room and you swore you’d never look back on those days.

Those were dark days of intense training, hand-to-hand combat, killing your friends, and being brainwashed by people who thought they knew better. Pepper didn’t know of your time in the Red Room, in fact, no one did, and you’d like to keep it that way. There was just something about this woman that made you think back to those terrible days.

“Rule number one,” Happy spoke to the woman, yet she never took her eyes off you, “never take your eyes off your opponent.”

Just as Happy went to take a swing at the woman, she swiftly turned around and grabbed at his boxing glove before twisting it back. Even though she was only wearing a white button-down shirt and black pants, she was still very agile. Flipping her body over, she wrapped her legs around Happy’s head before slamming him to the ground. Just like that, your mouth dropped open. If you didn’t recognize that woman, you definitely recognized that move.

Walking over to Tony who was sitting down and watching the whole thing happen, you sat next to him.

“Who is that?” you asked.

“Natalie Rushman. She's from Legal.”

“Right, well, I have some paperwork you need to sign so I can get back to doing what I do,” you chuckled, peeking at Natalie once more.

“And what do you do?” Tony asked, taking the paperwork from you.

“Business school. Something you’re going to help me with,” you smirked, meeting her eye once more. Happy started tapping the ground in an effort to get Natalie off him, and she did. She swiftly got up before smoothing down her shirt. Getting out of the ring, she grabbed her binder and made her way over to you and Tony.

“Here,” Tony said, handing you the papers after he signed them.

“I’m Natalie,” she smiled politely at you.

“Y/N. Where did you learn to do that?” you asked but she evaded your question.

“I am going to need your impression,” she said to Tony.

“My impression? You have a quiet, reserved, maybe an old soul,” Tony started but she cut him off.

“I meant your fingerprint,” she smirked and opened the binder, letting Tony do the work himself.

“I knew that,” he mumbled and placed his fingerprint on the ink before the paper.

“Anything else?” Natalie answered when he was finished.

“No, thanks,” you answered for him. She nodded and looked at you before leaving the room.

“Let me guess, you googled her?” you asked once she was out of sight.

“Of course.”

“Let me see it. Something isn’t right with that girl,” you stated before going over to the coffee table and looking at the digital file that JARVIS left when Tony asked for it. You were going to get to the bottom of this first and foremost.

After intense research, everything on Natalie Rushman was squeaky clean. There was nothing alarming on her records which means that she was hiding something. Nobody’s records were that clean. Something was up and you wanted to know right now.

At the end of the day, you learned from Tony she was cleaning out his office to make room for Pepper when she came back from business. Reaching the floor his office was on, you walked to the door and knocked before opening it. He was right, Natalie was there putting things in boxes.

“Hey, you got a minute?” you asked and she looked up.

“I have to get this done,” she started to say but you cut her off.

“It’ll only take a minute,” you pestered on.

“Sure, what do you need?” she asked and you walked inside the room before closing the door.

“You ignored my question earlier. How did you do that move with Happy?”

“Oh, you know, I took a few classes of self-defense,” she said vaguely.

“A few self-defense classes taught you that?”

“Is there anything else you needed?” she asked, but you stared at her. The more you stared into her eyes, the more familiar she became. Just like that, memories and flashes of her became more prominent in your mind before you got a clear picture of where you knew her.

“Natasha and Y/N, you’re up,” Madame B said sternly, leaving no room for discussion. Getting up on shaky legs, you made your way to the middle of the room where Natasha was standing. There wasn’t any reason to be nervous since you were one of the best trainees here, but Natasha was the other best one. You’ve seen what she can do, and she doesn’t provide any mercy.

“Begin,” Madame B stated. Immediately Natasha charged at you, and you tried your best to block her attempts to break you down. It was working for a little while, but your mistake was trying to punch at her. She grabbed your hand and twisted it back, flipping her body over so she wrapped her legs around your neck and slammed you to the ground.

That is where you knew her from. She was in the Red Room with you. How you didn't know if earlier, you couldn’t answer that, but you knew now.

“Is that all?” she asked.

“Natasha Romanoff?” you asked with wide eyes.

“No, I’m Natalie Rushman,” she said calmly but you could see the panic in her eyes.

“You’re Natasha Romanoff. That’s where I know you from. The Red Room. You did the same exact move on me as you did on Happy.”

“Wait,” she said, snapping her head to you, “Y/N Y/L/N?”

“Yeah,” you breathed out. She couldn’t seem to form the words until you gave her a tight hug.

“You’re really here?” she whispered.

“Yes, I am,” you breathed in her scent just as she tightened her grip on you. Before you two were trained to become assassins, you two became fast friends. To drown out the pain and torture from the Red Room, you two told each other everything, becoming very close. So close, you even formed a crush on her. But before anything could happen, Madame B turned your best friend into a ruthless machine. The only reason you weren't killed when you trained with her, is because deep down, you knew she still remembered you.

“I tried so hard to forget those days,” you said as you pulled away. “But one look at you, and I’m starting to remember. Not of the torture, but of us.”

“I never thought I’d see you again.”

“I’m here now. I don’t know what happened to you after you left, but I’m here now.”

Pulling her back in, you gave her another tight hug, reminding her that there was still good in the world.

If you want to be tagged, add yourself to this document! If your tag doesn’t work, find out why!

@likiyoshi-lijie @until-theend-oftheline @linkpk88 @vvishous @kendall-michele @5aftermidnight @superapplepie @cutelittlepurplesouls @feelmyroarrrr @jointhehunt67

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coffeebuoy · 6 years

Text

so basically i’m gonna start making actual like. blog posts? i guess? about my day and my life and stuff because i suck at keeping a journal so i’ll just air my grievances all over the internet for an indiscernible amount of people to see.

if you don’t like this and don’t give a shit about my problems, then well, you can unfollow me i guess. i’m sick of being too scared to post on my own blog because of what people think. i’m just sick of caring too much about what people think in general i guess.

so, blatant self hatred aside, today i’m going on a plane. i’m leaving in a little less than two hours to the airport and i’m traveling north to go to a convention with my friends. i’m so excited!!! i’m gonna be cosplaying roxy, god tier dirk, and god tier jade and i am just so excited.

i’ve been relapsing really bad on my drinking lately so i haven’t decided yet whether i’m gonna get drunk as roxy, but i probably will because, as i said, i’ve been relapsing.

i believe one of the reasons why i’ve been relapsing lately is because there’s a weed shortage in my state, where weed is not legal, so it’s difficult enough to get it in the first place. i haven’t been able to smoke so my anxiety has been through the roof. i haven’t been able to escape my thoughts and my reality which i so desperately yearn to do in every waking moment of my life, so i’m forced to try coping with an onslaught of negative emotions i’ve been repressing and ignoring for so long that i no longer even understand.

and i try to make sure my way of coping with my overwhelming surplus of issues is every bit as unhealthy as possible because, hey, that’s just how i roll.

this is disorganized as fuck but i’m just trying to get all this shit out. i’m a vibrating ball of anxiety that freezes up at the slightest issue so if someone were to approach me and ask me to spill what’s been on my mind, i’d look at them with stress in my eyes and inform them that i have no idea. i’m not one to pay attention to what’s bothering me or how i feel about situations because not only is it just too overwhelming, but it’s habit to ignore shit like that. a habit instilled in me from childhood.

when you are someone with an endless deep deep well of emotions and hypersensitivity, having a mother who tells you multiple times about how any situation ever is “not about your feelings” while also failing to comfort you in any way ever, or even take an interest in not only your problems but the things that make you happy (bonus points if your interests and the things that make you happy are things she disapproves of), you tend to enter adulthood with more than a few issues that you can’t even comprehend. you spend your entire life ignoring your emotions, spend so incredibly long believing (and STILL believing to this day) that your emotions are too much for others, nobody cares about how you feel, and you think you can just shut off your emotions to not bother others, and sometimes you can, but at what cost? dissociation? constant, unending dissociation from everything that makes you yourself?

every human on earth has emotions that need to be shared and understood. every child needs a parent who is there to listen to their child when they are upset, instead of punishing them and not teaching them how to share their emotions, leaving this poor child with no skills on how to confront others until they blow up in an explosive fit of rage under the oppressive weight of so many instances of mistreatment that they always blame themselves for.

children need more than just a roof over their heads, a warm bed, and a meal every night. they need love, care, genuine human connection, and to be taught valuable life skills. i’m not saying they need to be sheltered, or demanding the parent take an overzealous interest in every aspect of their child(ren)’s life, because every child has the right to have secrets. every child has the right to privacy. every child has the right to make their own mistakes and learn from them, not being coddled and protected from every little thing, leaving them scared of the big bad world when they grow up.

raising children is no easy task and i have absolutely no experience in doing such, but i just wish that more parents would either recognize and work on their own issues before bearing children, or learn more about the countless ways you can fuck up your kids for life and taking steps to avoid doing those things.

but i guess i’m just too sensitive and empathetic towards others.

#he speaks!

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sserkets · 7 years

Note

DirkAR,,

I got u some DirkAr friend, with an extremely exciting cowboy au.

Dirk and Hal are not related in this au, in fact I’m not even sure you could call what they are in canon related. Tw for hanging but nobody dies.

Lucky Shot

“A man makes his choices known though his actions. A man makes his values known though his words. You, Dirk Strider, have made it known your choices. And they are less than acceptable. Do you have any last words?”

Dirk swallowed the lump in his throat. He could feel the rough texture of the rope around his neck, tight enough to dig in. Slowly, he removed his gaze from the sherif to look out in to the crowd of people who’d gathered to watch. He scanned the faces of dusty cowpunchers, Saloon girls and towns people but there was one face he didn’t see. Fucker couldn’t even make it to his hanging.

“No,” Dirk replied thickly.

“Then by the power vested in me by the territory of Texas, I send you to meet your maker.”

The panic in Dirk’s gut reached a fervor pitch as the floor of the gallows dropped out from under him. In an instant he couldn’t breath. He gasped, but no air filled his lungs. The pressure on him was crushing. Dirk thrashed, his arms struggling against his binding and he kicked uselessly. Blood rushed in his ear, deafening him.

This was it. This is how he died.

A gunshot split the air, and a single slug hit the rope. It frayed until the weight broke it, and without tension the nose loosened and Dirk sucked in a much needed lung full.

He didn’t stick around to see who’d come to his rescue. Ducking his head, he tore out from under the gallows, his boots digging in to the sun baked earth. There was a commotion behind him, someone yelling at him to stop, and then a bullet wizzed by him and hit the dirt in front of him.

He snaked right, ducking in to a back alley that let out on the street behind. The prairie laid out just outside of town, with a rocky canyon with plenty of paths to loose a search party just a mile north. He’d never make it on foot, he was still light headed and his lungs were still screaming.

“Dirk!”

His head jerked left, and he was almost hit by an oncoming horse. His own horse. And come to think of it he recognized the second horse and rider too. “Hal?”

“Thank me later, get on!”

Dirk didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed for the saddle horn, trying to pull himself up, but he had no strength in his arms. A hand on the back of his shirt yanked him up, and they were off before Dirk even had his feet in the stirrups.

Thundering hooves carried them out of town, there was a dull roar still coming from Main Street and someone else was shooting. A third horse fell in behind them and Dirk realized it was Jane.

That must mean Jake and Roxy were-

“They’re fine, Dirk. It’s you and me who’ve got to get out of town,” Hal shouted. “I don’t think they’d take too kindly to somebody shootin’ down a convicted murderer.”

Dirk didn’t respond, just focused on staying upright.

They rode for a while longer before they stopped in the middle of a cactus grove. Jane was the first to dismount, and then Hal. They switched horses, trading a blood bay for a dapple grey, and then they switched shirts and hats. It was pretty obvious what was going on here, Jane was making herself out to look like Hal to run a distraction.

“Get off your horse, Dirk. You’re riding with me,” Hal instructed.

“Absolutely not. I’m not about to let you do this, Jane. It’s too dangerous,” Dirk defied, his voice still rough. “You guys should go together and let me go it alone. I’m who they really want.”

“We’ve all got warrants, Buster. We’re outlaws,” Jane said in her classic no nonsense tone. “Wearing clothes isn’t illegal, and they won’t send a woman to prison.”

“You however,” Hal added, using his spur to side step Jane’s horse next to Dirk’s. “They’re just gonna string you back up, and I like my Dirk’s alive, thanks. Get on.”

Jane reached over to take Dirk’s reins from him. He didn’t fight her. Quietly, he dismounted. Hal let him use the stirrup and Dirk maneuvered himself to sit behind the saddle’s seat on the skirt, his legs dangling.

“I’ll see you guys at the rendezvous point,” Jane waved, kicking Hal’s horse in to a brisk trot and ponying Dirk’s horse behind her. She didn’t look back once.

Slowly, Dirk’s hand snaked around Hal’s middle. He smelled like Jane, and dust, and sweat, but his warmth was welcome. Truth be told, Dirk thought he was never gonna see him again. Hal must have been worried about this plan. Dirk could tell because he was talking so little. Maybe he was scared of missing his only shot, maybe he was scared of getting caught. Maybe even scared of dying himself.

“Ready?” Hal asked finally, and Dirk could feel his leg shift as he asked the horse foreword. They’d have to move slow, this was a lot of awkward weight on the horses back.

“I can’t believe you pulled that off,” Dirk muttered, leaning his forehead down on the nape of Hal’s neck.

“You aren’t the only smart one,” Hal snorted. “I can weigh possibilities just the same as you. And I’ve got twice as better aim.”

“Shut up,” Dirk huffed. “You were scared of guns until you were twelve.”

Hal laughed off Dirk’s remark, instead switching his reins to his right hand, freeing up his left to hold.

#ask nova#dirkhal #dirkar #my fanfiction

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themockingcrows · 7 years

Text

Whisper Just For Me: Ch. 12 - Shadows Past And Present

This chapter is SFW AO3 Mirror: [X] Being separated from Dave is continuing to prove painful, and keeping positive is harder and harder. You're not sure how long you can keep it up, really, but Jade continues to work miracles where she can. For instance, it's all thanks to her that you're both finally getting to meet Dave's surviving relative and learn more about him. Hopefully learning his past will help your present and Dave's future.

This Roxy girl, while unable to see you directly, was extremely observant in other ways. Everything you knocked over or threw around was noticed even if she was not there to witness, as if she had a picture perfect memory of what her home looked like prior to walking out with her keys and bag. Similarly, she was somehow able to tell it was not the doing of her cat, and you weren't certain just how that was. Not bad for a week or two of practice, you'd be proud if you weren't busy mourning that observance halting literally an inch in front of your own face or anything useful towards getting you home.

You could hover upside down beside her while she surfed (Was that what it was? You'd heard the phrase in movies John watched, read on the bright screen of his computer over his shoulder, but you'd never really focused on hearing anyone say it aloud..) the internet, and she would just keep typing, the only sign of something causing her discomfort or distress being the faint crease between her sharp brows.

The cat was another story. You were getting a good deal of fun out of tormenting that fur ball with your simple presence, and if that presence involved playfully swatting at its bottle brushed tail or popping up out of the flooring slowly and following it around acting like you were going to touch its favorite toys, then so be it. Entertainment was all around you in this place, but without being alive, it was.. limiting. Most of the things Roxy did were fun were found in different electronics, even some of her books! You'd caught her pulling a little slab of a screen out of her bag and thumbing along till she had gotten to a bookmarked p, age of text, which she then toted around the apartment with her all the rest of the evening. She even took it in the bath from what you'd seen prior to your hasty exit.

For some reason, peeping on her felt different than peeping on John...Didn't entirely stop you, but the peeks were brief and curious, appreciative before leaving to dart around knocking things off shelves.

Roxy's hanging pans and pots were definitely fun to rattle and toss around, as were her drawers of socks. There were so many colors and types, and different designs, they looked like ribbons when they fell into heaps on the floor. At first she'd feared a robbery, coming home to that, and had wandered the house with a kitchen knife before taking her bedding to the bathroom and sleeping in the tub with her (angry, protective, fluffy) cat till dawn with the door locked and the light on.

Now? She was used to it and annoyed.

She would speak to you, but not at you personally. You had become her 'Casper'. Fitting, you supposed, but no less obnoxious. You contemplated how much energy it would take to spell your name out on the floor in socks, but realized it wouldn't matter. A name wouldn't get you home, and there weren't enough socks in the house to explain an address. Managing a pen would be doable, if not scrawled, and you didn't dare risk possessing her after a brief desperate prodding at her physical and mental hold felt like being stung.

Her dreams were blocked to you, guarded, and secretive. Frustrating. You missed John's easy to access mind, his lack of reservations, how open he was. ..Maybe it's because for all Roxy's ghost jokes, she didn't fully believe in them at all outside of stories. Or, more specifically, that she didn't believe they'd be around HER or in her previously calm, entirely ghost free home.

You wished she'd leave one of the game systems on sometime. Little electrical pulses, little pushes, you could manage. Perhaps with those buttons so close together, you'd even be able to play something that required some timing. Master of Mario you wouldn't be again without some hands, most likely, but surely you could explore some of the larger worlds that had lit up this girl's television screen. Her computer too, actually.

W to move forward, S for back, D and A for right and left. Clicks of the mouse to select actions and do things and speak to people. Simple gestures. If she'd just leave them open, you wouldn't need to exhaust yourself getting them into position to access them in the first place, and you might be able to play!

Roxy carried her laptop from her living room to her bedroom, screen lit up to some kind of mail. ..E-mail? No, no. Instant mail. Instant message, John already taught you this, don't forget it! You'd watched John talk and learned the little shortened messages and what they meant all on your own, even spouted them back at him with the planchette before. You'd talked to Rose on that Skype thing, had seen her on screen and she'd seen you, how could you forget that! This wasn't the Skype thing, but you were half sure you'd seen it or something similar before.

...If you'd lived, would you be an adult enjoying these things on your own now? Or would you be older and gray? How old would you even be, for certain? You'd just thought of that with John before, but now it was a struggle. Time felt funny, slower, and you lost track of what you were doing and where you were, chest aching. The world faded to darkness.

When you were aware again and out of your daze, Roxy wasn't home, and it was potentially afternoon judging from the light streaming in the windows. Mutini was dozing on her pillow with his feet in the air, a living plushie with too much tuna-flavored stuffing and a bat attitude. Her laptop rested, still open, on a small lap desk. Leftovers from either an early meal or a late night snack rested on a plate on top of the wrinkled blankets, crusts from a sandwich and a few crumbles of ridged potato chips. There was a small bar on the bottom right that was keeping track of a percentage, text flying fast enough that you couldn't keep up with what was being said below the numbers and the bar. It was about 60% complete now, whatever it was, and showed no signs of slowing down as it ticked up to 61%.

Her messages had been left open, two separate windows over top of a third. You recognized the multicolored internet symbol as the same kind John would click and complain about the provider of if it took more than a breath to load something, and loomed closer to get a proper look at it upside down before sinking down into the mattress.

Mutini startled awake when your chill brushed his tail, hissed wildly and tore off for the living room.

Purple text color, bright but easy enough to read. You'd seen a lot of text colors over John's shoulder when he used a different kind of window, liked how the blue looked, and remembered he had a friend who used this kind of purple as well. The words were crisp, precise, and clearly written compared to the pink above it. You were willing to bet the pink was Roxy's writing, and were surprised by how garbled it looked, even if she was able to edit it to get her meaning across afterward with the little stars. You squinted a bit and sorted through the corrections. ..Oh. The files were multiple games, music, and other files, all coming in bulk. She'd started it last night and it was only in the 60%'s? You supposed even enhanced speed of modern technology just couldn't instantly make something appear like that once it was over a certain size. Maybe further in the future, then.

Roxy had apparently left this person with the purple text hanging without a reply, and you were frustrated on their behalf. Didn't sound urgent at least, more of a conversation that had been neglected.

TT: Are you asleep already?

TT: Oh. Odds are you're at work now, looking at the time. Kudos for keeping the job this time around instead of quitting because you got bored of others on your shift fucking everything up. Maybe you'll manage to change some of their habits by being the good example, get more positive things on paper that for some reason your prior qualifications weren't enough to convey on their own.

TT: Wait, does that mean you didn't sleep at all before going in? I don't know how you do it, I'd kill to stay awake longer and keep functioning that well. Or at least kill to get a good, uninterrupted night's sleep for once. There's been a lot going on here lately as usual, and on top of that some friends are having issues as well so that's been keeping me busy.

TT: Do you know how tiring it is to advise someone who's lost something they couldn't even properly see till a few months ago themselves? Like helping someone find a lost puppy, but nobody else can see the puppy or hear it, and it won't die if you forget to feed it so you can't even hope to find a body for a resolution.

TT: I suppose a body could be found easily enough if they looked through enough records, if he wasn't cremated and scattered, but it's not a body they're wanting to find. It's a big mess all around.

You frowned a bit and re-read what had been typed as recently as an hour ago according ton the time stamp. That was definitely a weird thing to say. Maybe this person was a detective who didn't deal with face to face things? Maybe it was online hunting and tracking. No bodies there, just data and energy, the only pulse an electrical hum and the steady beep of a wireless connection.

A second message window was open behind the one with purple text, bright cyan letters and a cheerful way of speaking from the bit you could make out of the conversation. Bits and pieces, didn't really make sense. Behind that was the internet, open to a step-by-step site you had seen John pull open and try to use when he'd first become aware you were co-habitating with him.

So she realized there was some kind of a haunting happening at least for sure, and just wasn't going out of her way to hunt you down..? It was strange to realize. John was so focused on getting proof of you, to communicate with you, give you attention, that being acknowledged in passing and otherwise left along felt strange. Lacking. Akin to being completely ignored, especially since she wasn't bothering to find your fucking name.

Casper. Bah.

Fuck Casper, you weren't a friendly fucking ghost, you were a grown ass adult who-. ...Right? Grown adult. Or nearly? Fuck, not this again, stop thinking, stop thinking. You didn't want to risk losing time again in confusion or your own thoughts, not sure what was happening with that, not liking it. What if it became more permanent? How would you ever get home then? ..Was it because you were away from home so long now? From where you'd lived..?

Panic seized you, and you stared at the screen once more with purpose, to the open messenger. The keys made the letters when they were pressed with enough force, and if there was someone ready and waiting on the other end who was good at finding people, maybe they could help. You'd never tried to hunt someone down yourself before, let alone with these limitations in place, and definitely not in this year. This person sounded like it was their business to find people online, maybe they could find John online for you.

..COULD you type?

Pressing the tiny individual keys would be tiring, as would the attempts at not shorting the device out just by touching it.. Sucking batteries dry and overloading other things, what a fucking life. This computer looked much newer than John's though, shiny and fairly thin save for what looked like some manually added hardware attached to the outside and secured in place. Maybe because this was newer, stronger, and you were very determined it would be possible?

If so, you'd have to talk to John about that messaging idea he'd brought up before when you got home successfully, to open another venue for talking to him and others. John could hear you now, could feel you when you were together, but Jade was still harder to reach now and then. Clearly speaking would be amazing and worth the fatigue afterward if you could rest. Maybe you'd even get to type in your own color, be different from everything else. Perhaps even keep a messenger open so you could talk to John on the go, like he said before..!

No more guessing and wondering, then, it was now or fucking never and forever being apart from the person you loved. Risks had to be taken, what the fuck was there left to lose!

Psyching yourself up, you finally reached a hand out over the keys and focused on the letters you wanted, trying to will them down with the same force you used to knock over books and papers or fling socks with without potentially wrecking the thing. A sense of panic rose up in your chest as the climbing percentage bar slowed to a halt along with the rest of the words flying by underneath.

TG: h

Okay. You got a letter. It was tiring in another new way, a deep pull of giving up energy to this machine while hoping to not take too much from it in turn by mistake, but you had gotten a letter without too much issue. Now for the rest.

TG: help me

There. That was clear enough, right? You needed help, so you were asking for it, what else were you supposed to say? Oh, shit, right. People liked manners when you were asking favors, right? Wouldn't want to be rude. Floating and scaring people was one thing, but speaking in text somehow brought out memories of at least attempting to kiss up to people in the past, remembering manners he had no need for anymore while incorporeal.

TG: help me please

Enter was how these were sent, right? There was a little button beside the text that said send, but you didn't want to try fucking with the mouse at all to touch it. Instead, you went for Enter and hoped it worked. The message blinked away, and reappeared up underneath the purple text in bright pink. Satisfaction filled you, but was quickly replaced by dread as the loading bar flickered to life and then stalled once more. ..Was that your fault?

Quick as a flash, the messenger dinged softly and purple text flared to life anew.

TT: What's wrong? Are you alright? What do you need help with?

Fuck! Someone was really live over there! That was a quick response, you were communicating live! Don't panic, don't panic, just. Move the keys again.

TG: lost

The fan suddenly started up inside the laptop, cooling it down as it began to pump out more and more heat. That had to be your fault. You were tiring yourself out just with this much, restraining as much of the potential damage as you could but still trying to force the buttons to move on your unseen command, and you could imagine the strain being put on this machine from the parts you weren't able to control. Shit, had to get it across at least!

TT: What did you lose? Oh, no, did you misplace something again. What is it this time.

TG: john

TT: What?

..John. John what. You were having trouble remembering his last name. You knew it well as you knew his face, what the fuck was the problem, what was happening, why couldn't you remember his last name? The fan wavered as if it were going to turn off, and the screen flickered for a moment, neither of which you could care about.

You couldn't remember John's last name anymore.

Panic turning to rage and sorrow, you stopped trying to block yourself from the keys, stopped caring about damaging them, and unleashed yourself as hurriedly as you could

TG: john john john john john jo

TG: hn john help me help john helpmeh

TG: elpjohnhelphelp helphelphelphomejohn

TG: homehelphome hel

The last string was sent in a frenzy, hammering the Enter button and seeing the pink fill the screen before it all went black. The fan had turned off, as had the computer itself, and you couldn't stop shaking. Fatigue was trying to drag you under even in your misery, and you wanted to do anything but sleep now. You wanted to be home, you wanted to stop forgetting things, you wanted everything to stop hurting.

You wanted John.

Things went dark again, and you felt the pull of the pendant willing you to return to rest, a slowly pulsing red heartbeat that nobody in this building could properly see.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Thank you for meeting with us, Mr. Strider,” you said, adjusting your crutches off to the side. It had gotten a lot easier to wander around with them, even if they did leave your palms feeling abused and your armpits sore, the mobility was worth it. Jade had convinced you to stay at home long enough to heal up and rest after a few shifts at work, and all of it was worth it just to make it to this meeting a few cities away. You and Jade had woken early, taken off after dawn, and driven till you arrived at an older theme restaurant. Odd place for a meeting but beggars couldn't be choosers, and with how heartsick and stressed you were with Dave missing, any strings of information held the promise of making you feel less separated from him.

It had been instantly obvious which table held the man you were to meet with.

From looking at Dave's picture and trying to guess numbers and ages, you couldn't tell for sure if this guy was his brother or his dad. Then again, with how much time had passed since Dave's death, it was no surprise the man looked fairly old either way. Pale blonde hair that poked out from underneath a gray baseball cap was streaked here and there with sprinkles of salt and pepper, more noticeable when he peeled the hat off to rough up the strands with calloused looking fingers. The sunglasses were a gag you were sure, some leftover tidbit from an anime convention or abandoned stock in a store. His eyes when he removed the sharp points of plastic were a shade John had never seen before, nearly orange gold in the light, and permanently exhausted looking from the bags beneath them. Dark, well worn in circles beneath each.

“Sorry it wasn't sooner, I run my own business and it's hard to find any down time, but you already know that considerin' how you found me,” he said. You focused in on the tone, caught similar sounds of Dave's whispery voice, and shivered. Not bad, just. ..Strange. So similar but just different enough, and of all things: alive. “Go ahead and order whatever you want, tab'll be on me for makin' you two schlep all the way up here. I'd recommend the burgers personally, the pizza's more like a greasy napkin with tasty toppings on top.”

“I think I'll take that into consideration,” Jade said, reaching for a menu and peering over it. “..What a weird place though. It's like a knockoff Chuck E. Cheese. Creepy looking puppet theme all over the place.”

“Think some pictures and décor is wild, you should check out the animatronics themselves,” the man said. “They're like a huge music box working four separate bodies on one central hub, but when they move the music is some regurgitated blend of rock, pop, and attempts at rap if the audio doesn't fizzle out on the main bot's speakers.”

“You must come here a lot then,” you guessed, peering down at the food. Aside from pizza and burgers, there was standard restaurant fare and what looked like a pretty good ice cream sundae you'd need to investigate for dessert. “Can I ask what to call you, actually? I can't just keep calling you Mr. Strider.”

“Depends which one you want. Real one, one I work under for the company, or what friends call me?” he asked, leading Jade to lift a brow at him.

“...That's a bit weird, just saying. Let's go with what you'd rather we call you, then. Real name would be a good backup, if you respond to it at all. Your website was pretty sparse on much else than what you were marketing.”

“Hah, still surprised you spent so much time on there tryin' to track me down, if I'd known what this was about I'd have checked my spam folder sooner. Just call me Bro, then. Everyone falls back on that. Apparently I don't look like a Broderick kind of guy since I'm not headlining on a soap opera,” he said, giving an idle looking through the menu even if he knew everything on it by heart by now. When a waitress appeared a moment later, he added his soda order along with your drinks, with a request to hold the ice on his. He also asked for the pizza, with a mention he'd think about dessert later and might add more to his order.

“I thought you said the pizza was garbage?” you asked, wondering if it had been a joke and if you'd regret your burger later when it arrived.

“Oh, it is. It's absolute garbage. But it's pretty tasty garbage, if you're used to it.”

“...Can I ask why you wanted to meet here of all places?” you asked finally. “I mean. I know it was because you were busy and we needed to come this way, but there's all kinds of places around. Why this spot?”

“Because when it was brand new, Dave used to like it. He was really little at the time. Same garbage pizza, games in the back, lights, music, other kids running around. He wasn't big on the animatronics, that was more my thing, but long as we didn't go near the stage he liked it just fine. Had a few birthdays here, his request. I come back around once in a while. Usually in winter, though.”

“Why winter?” Jade asked.

“His birthday was in December, so I guess it's just habit. Still smells the same after all these years. Dunno if that's a good thing or something for a health inspector to worry about,” Bro said with an amused snort.

Three tall glasses of soda arrived on a black plastic tray carried by the same waitress, and were divvied up between the three of you along with napkins, hot sauce, and a slick glass bottle of name brand ketchup. Bro asked if she had any honey mustard, or ranch, and was told that she'd look around for him just in case, but warned that they were probably out again.

“Before we get into all these questions I know you've got, I gotta ask: why are you askin' questions in the first place? Who's Dave to you, you're pretty young to be askin' about him.” He paused, squinted a bit. “Or not. I can't tell that well from this angle, you've got baby faces. You kids of a classmate of his or..?”

“I live where he used to. Or where you both used to?” you said hesitantly. “And. ...A lot of strange things have happened. Which led me to find his name, and to find you. I want to know about him, and I can't find anything about either of you, so I just. ..I just needed to find out what was happening.”

“What kind of strange things,” Bro said, sounding hesitant for once. “..What, you gonna try feedin' me some line about ghosts or some shit? Kid, if there's an afterlife, I'm sure Dave's already up there sleeping till the afternoon and polishing his halo when he ain't doing aerial stunts.”

“Like I said, some strange things! And. ..And what if I am,” you said, hoping you didn't just doom the conversation entirely. “What would you say if I said he'd been hanging around where I live still, and that the reason I wanted to ask about him was to understand why.”

“Bullshit,” Bro said bluntly. “Kid would've moved on, there's nothing there for him. Not anymore.”

“Okay, then he moved on and there's still something weird happening that's linked to him. Can I at least get to know about him? Or about who he was?” you ask again, trying to keep calm. You're almost glad that Dave wasn't with you right then, unsure of how he'd be reacting to his family, or if he was even ready for that. If he wouldn't just instantly disappear upon seeing him.

Bro looked uncomfortable, cornered, and spent a good minute and a half fucking around with his soda and straw, chasing bubbles and avoiding talking. It had been decades, and apparently the subject was still a store one. You were almost positive he'd call everything off and bolt.

“...You would've liked him,” he finally said in a quiet tone. “Everyone liked him that I could see. Real charmer, even if he had a mouth on him. Got in and out of trouble faster than anyone has a right to, but none of it ever stuck. Nothing serious ever, he was a good kid, just.. Y'know. Stupid kid shit brand trouble.”

You nodded and held your glass close to sip from the straw slowly, and glanced to your side to catch Jade's face in your sight. She had taken out a notebook and was jotting down a few memos on it as a precaution. Any slip of information she could catch, she'd make a note on for later, just in case he suddenly balked and left.

“How old was he when he died?” you asked, trying to go with as tame a question as you could manage. “Youngish?”

“Not quite twenty. Day after he turned eighteen, he started talkin' about wanting to live on his own, go to school, get a job. We argued about it. I didn't have the company back then, funds were tight and I wouldn't be able to help him with paying rent very much or bailing his ass out if he landed in hot water. Didn't feel right, felt like a huge waste of money. It would've been easier if he just stayed home and commuted places.” Bro went quiet for a moment, then smiled a little. “So of course soon as I said 'No', he went and found a job and busted his ass savin' money. I signed the lease for him since the owner of the building was a hard ass about his age, and said I'd take responsibility for any property damage so he'd let a younger dude live there instead of an adult, yadda yadda. ..Things were a lot different back then.”

Jade pursed her lips a bit as she wrote. ..Eighteen when he got the place, but that was different from what she'd found out over time and pieced together. The lease was for two years, and he'd gotten the place at eighteen, and died before he was twenty? Dave had said he WAS eighteen when questioned. Was he remembering wrong? Or just remembering how old he was when he first moved in to the apartment? Research had showed that sometimes spirits memories were locked in on one specific point or age, and if moving in to that apartment had meant so much to him, maybe that's why he was remembering it so specifically. He also didn't seem to either remember or WANT to remember how he'd died, so perhaps avoiding his real age for another reason..?

“My Dad had to co-sign my lease when I got my place at first, but we transferred it soon as we could,” you said with a slight grin. “They were finnicky about me too, but trusted him. I keep expecting a knock at my door and a note being pinned there saying 'sorry, but we changed our minds'.”

“No shit? Wonder if it's the same guy who owns it, or if he passed it on to a family member or somethin'. It was privately owned, not run by some corporation, or at least it was back then.”

“Tubby bald guy with a mole on his neck?” you offered, and snickered when Bro nodded a few times.

“Wasn't bald before, but that sounds familiar. Dave was there for over a year, and we just never bothered to swap the lease over to be in his name when the second year's lease started up. The setup was good and it kept that guy mostly off his ass, and I had it written in my own paperwork as Dave renting from me as a sub-letter. He'd have a squeaky clean rental history far as anyone was concerned whenever he decided to move somewhere else, never late with his payments or nothin'. After he passed, I kept making payments on the place because I couldn't bring myself to go clean it out, was worth bleedin' myself dry over to avoid. ..When I finally did, lease was up and I couldn't bullshit myself anymore, cleaned it up and moved everything out.”

“Sounds like you helped him out a lot,” Jade said. “And it sounds like he enjoyed that apartment a lot, too.”

“Oh yeah. His castle, basically, same as everyone else who gets their first place. Dave was proud as hell of that little slice of heaven, even though the AC hardly ever worked and the place needed some repairs even back then. When he wasn't inside, he was prowling every square inch of that building like he was memorizing it, doing projects out back or in the front if they weren't too big or messy. Turned a section of his place into a studio after figuring out where the best light was or how to block it in other spots.”

“Studio?” she asked, making another note. “Was he an artist?”

“...I guess you could say that, yeah. He had a really interesting style, kept pouring out work left and right, I was sure he was gonna go pro in one thing or another if only 'cause of how much he kept making. Ambidextrous too, his style'd change dependin' on the hand, and a lot of his jokes were mostly things only we'd be able to understand.. but they were really distinct to him. Did photography too, used to have pictures strung up all over the place after he'd developed them himself. That camera was like his baby, most expensive thing he owned for ages, kept it on the shelf with all the dead stuff.”

“...Dead stuff?” you asked with a frown.

“Yeah. Formaldehyde and skeletons and shit. He loved all that junk, kept really clean samples and displays. Never wanted to go in for taxidermy, seemed more interested in the animals whole or what was inside instead'a just looking at the outsides. Not sure if it was a carry over of him learning about paleontology and archaeology in school as a kiddo. Pretty sure it made a lasting impression on whoever saw'em, though,” Bro snorted, looking over when the waitress came back once more with a few trays in hand. Pizza for himself with a side of onion rings, and burgers for yourself and Jade, both with sides of crispy looking fries. No ranch, but the woman had secured some honey mustard and left it on the tabletop for Bro to open and dole out onto his plate.

“Do you have any of his work left?” Jade asked. “I'd love to see some of it. Drawings? Photographs?” Maybe be taking a few snapshots of his work, she'd be able to jog some memories for Dave, communicate with him more. If he was into art, perhaps there were art supplies he'd be able to interact with and make things with, have a bit of fun once he got home if he didn't feel like moving on to the afterlife yet.

“I kept some stuff in boxes over the years. Nowadays, I've only got one in storage. But I do have somethin' else,” he said, and leaned to the side to roll his sleeve up. The tattoo was simple, and it took a moment to understand that you were looking at a stylized face gone soft and slightly blue with passing time. “This guy was one of the characters he made up. After Dave died, went ahead and got it done. ..Seemed fitting.”

You didn't feel hungry, but you played with your fries and got a few down anyway, wanting to keep the air casual and calm. Your new phone had a nice, clear storage section to keep the picture of the tattoo you snapped safe for later.

“..So if he moved out when he was eighteen, died when he was nineteen.. I take it that it was really sudden?”

Bro's hint of a smile faded away and he dropped his sleeve, smoothing the fabric down to hide the face again as if it were something precious to be protected and hidden from the outside world.

“Yeah. Crazy sudden. It's not really anything you can plan for, y'know?” he said. “He never showed any kinda signs or anything, but apparently if he'd joined into sports it might've happened even sooner, or maybe might've gotten caught.”

Jade leaned forward curiously, and made another quiet note.

“Signs of what?” you asked, finally ready to learn what happened.

“He.. He had somethin' with his heart near as anyone could guess afterward. Can catch it sometimes nowadays in some cases, but he didn't show anything wrong when he was little or anything like you'd think there'd prolly be. They said he went into an arrhythmia and that spun into a full on cardiac arrest. Ever seen that shit on the news, people in sports or teenagers suddenly going down without any warning? Same thing. Dunno if there was a defect somewhere in the heart for sure or not, medicine wasn't as advanced as it is now and they couldn't find anything specific back then. It was in the back yard of the building, in summer. One second he was up and we were sparrin', putting each other through some paces and working up a sweat. I was sure he was gonna beat my ass that time, kid got even faster than he used to be. Next thing I know he went down like a sack of bricks and stopped breathing, face went all blue.”

“I've seen those reports, yeah. ..CPR didn't work?” Jade guessed, speaking up when you'd gone completely silent, stomach giving another nauseating twist. “I don't know about cardiac problems, would that have even helped?”

He shook his head and stirred his drink, looking like he'd lost his appetite as well.

“Nope. I tried, though. Who wouldn't try? Screamed my fuckin' head off for someone to call 911, didn't have cellphones back then, didn't wanna stop trying to get his heart going till someone got there to help. When help finally got there, they tried too. Couldn't manage it even with everything they brought in their kits, and it'd been too long by then too, so.. they called it. Took him away.” Bro's voice was quiet. “Still feels like my fault. Kept that shit out of the paper, wasn't their fuckin' business. Most there was would be a little blurb of an obituary a few lines long, and I know his friends did some kinda gathering or party to celebrate him on their own time. Basic ass funeral, couldn't afford much more.”

“You said there was no way you could've known, though,” you pointed out. “He didn't have any sign something was wrong, right?”

“He'd fainted once or twice over the months beforehand but we thought he was just dehydrated or somethin'. Kid drank more soda and juice than water, was always a struggle to make him drink much else. ..Still. I keep wondering how much longer he'd have lived with that tickin' time bomb if I'd never sparred with him that day. Or ever, even. I fucked up a lot, it might've made it worse every time without me knowing. Pushed him way too hard as a kid, I fought him like I'd fight with an adult, busted his ass more times than I wanna admit to while teaching him shit. I didn't.. I didn't know jack fuckin' shit about raising a kid or being around kids, but I can't undo any of that and it's stupid to sit and wonder what would've changed if I hadn't done any of it 'cause I can't undo it or take it back now. If he hadn't keeled over with me he'd probably have died on the job lifting something heavy too many times in a row, or in the middle of hookin' up with someone,” he mumbled, but he didn't seem to be convincing himself much with his words.

“..I'm sorry to ask this, but I wasn't sure and now I definitely can't tell. Was Dave your brother? Or your son?”

Bro's face twisted again.

“Dave was a surprise I wasn't anticipatin' or ready for, if that answers your question. I'd prefer to leave it at that, thanks.”

Jade nodded and scribbled a bit more in her notebook with a quiet sound. “Sorry, won't pry on that then, got it.”

“S'fine, not like you'd have any way of knowing. I keep my shit pretty private for a reason, and everyone calls me Bro. He did too.”

“Was Dave buried locally?” she asked, wanting to get a look at the stone.

“Cremated, and there's a little stone with his info on it. Gonna go in the same plot when I go someday, already got everything worked out and set up ahead of time. Not much to see there though. Basic. Things were still tight. I keep it clean, put some flowers and things he liked on it once in a while, but I know he's not there. If he was, he'd be bitching at me for not bringing better music when I turn up probably.”

“What was his favorite kind of music?” Jade pressed. Things Dave liked. Things that made him happy. Any of this information was just as useful, if not more, than learning how he had died. You weren't sure what you'd do without Jade there right then, keeping clear enough to keep moving forward instead of free floating like you were right then.

You wanted to cry. You wanted to find Dave even more now, talk to him about this, make him feel welcome, never leave him behind again so long as he wanted to stay. No wonder he hadn't talked about it. If he did remember, it was traumatic, too sudden to even think about. Unfair. Entirely unfair. Maybe even painful. If he didn't remember.. that made sense too. You reasoned that you'd be upset not being able to remember how you died as well.

The pendant hadn't been in your car, hadn't been at the hospital, and you had no leads on where the fuck to even start looking for him now. The most you had of Dave aside from an empty apartment, the data you'd gathered in the past, and the new picture was the jellyfish plush he'd picked out at the aquarium that now rested on your bedspread awaiting his return.

Everything felt bleakly empty all at once, rushing up like a slap to the face, and you stopped being able to listen to the conversation clearly.

“..You said weird shit was goin' on though, linked to Dave, and that's why you were asking all these things. What kind of weird shit,” Bro asked again suddenly, apparently a bit more willing to speak and listen now that the scab had been peeled back and the raw wound beneath thoroughly gouged till it went numb again.

“...Please, don't be upset. But we think.. potentially, maybe, he might still be around,” Jade finally said in a rush. “Or at least some part of him might be. We wanted to learn about him, see if it really was him, see why he was still there.”

Bro stared, and looked like he might leave at the very notion. His hand reached for his shades and he pulled them on, sharp and dark, making him look much more severe despite the comical appearance they lent at first glance.

He didn't get up, though.

Instead, he stared hard at Jade, then towards you and your miserable expression, waiting in silence on his side of the tabletop as if awaiting some sign.

“..If it's him, tell him to find the light however he can, so he can stop hangin' around. If he's hanging around because of me, tell him I said the same. He deserves better. If he's hanging around for some other reason.. I guess try and find why so he can go.”

“And if he wanted to stay?” Jade asked. “..If he wanted to stay, would you want to say something else to him?”

“No,” Bro said. “Because he'd have to be out of his damned mind to want to stay down here when he could be moving on to somewhere better. It'd suck to be all excited to see him again someday only to find he missed the fuckin' bus to hang around on Earth alone.”

“Right,” you said. “I get it. Got it. Is there any way we can see the box you have in storage?” you asked. “I'll leave you alone after this if you'd prefer. Drop contact, won't bring it up anymore. Won't bring him up anymore. You've answered all our questions so far, you've been a huge help.”

“..Yeah. Yeah, I could let you paw through that box. You'd need to come by where it's stored though,” he said. “It ain't too far, if you don't mind following me to it. I'd offer to just drive you but with how shit is these days, I know that would go over like a lead balloon.”

“We'll go,” you said automatically, and Jade nudged you. You nudged her back with your foot. You were sure you could both trust this guy. It was Dave's family after all, and that little bond was still stringing you along like a security blanket while he was gone. The chance to see more things that Dave had seen, maybe touch things he'd touched, was appealing in his absence. “Let's eat or grab some boxes and go.”

A bit surprised by the sudden agreement, Bro blinked and nodded. Right. Food was there. That was a good idea.

“Sure thing.”

#Homestuck #my fic

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