#AND NO I have no science backed up for this accessory choice I just wanted an excuse to symbolize them looking like cuffs

[ptanalo]

Ah I wanted to rant more headcanons abt neon and her gear as a type of insulators for her powers even tho it’s not that deep

[2dmanlover]

Lab Cat | Il Dottore x Fem!Neko?Reader :3 NSFW

NSFW one shot Dom!Dottore x Fem!(Neko?)Reader . semi modern au? (cellphones, sweatpants etc.)

cw// NSFW 18+ explicit sexual content, size kink, tummy bulge, slight breeding kink, neko reader (ears, tail, and teeth), pet play, slight daddy kink, oral (m recieving), talk of being his experimental subject. 

~3.1k words

a/n- so i had this amazing idea and i wrote it in like two hours today so here u go! ENJOY<3

summary~ Your good friend Dottore wants you to help him out with his experiment. After you take his potion, you wake up from your nap, adorned with new accessories, and frantically report to him, asking to come over and see these unforeseen side effects for himself.

“Unfortunately, not many people want to participate in my experiments anymore,” Dottore’s voice crackled through the phone due to the Akademiya’s shitty reception. 

“Fine. I’ll be there in a minute,” you sighed, abandoning your papers to put on your shoes. Being Dottore’s friend and fellow scientist, it wasn't abnormal for him to ask you for assistance, normally you’d say yes, but there was something a bit unnerving about being on the receiving end of a mind altering drug. Especially so as you often saw the effects of your own little malign elixirs on your patients. Ultimately, you trusted the man– trusted that his intelligence shouldn’t betray your wellbeing. 

You gave a benign knock on the door as you swung it open, the creak resonating through the lab. Dottore’s hunched form perked up at the sound of your entrance. 

“Took you long enough,” he chided. 

“Be grateful I even came at all,” you playfully pushed him, flashing a smile. You and Dottore were not much different from each other— especially in relation to everybody else. The two smartest in the Akademiya, with similar drive, skill, and goals, the pair were bound to be friends. 

Sat atop of his desk, legs swinging, you opened up his journal, combing through the notes of the dog-eared pages. It seemed his experiment was to restore the instincts and reflexes that humans left behind in their rapid evolution. The animal of choice being a swift feline. 

‘A couple temporary biological advantages couldn’t hurt.’ You thought.

He approached you, swirling the test tube filled with a cloudy blue tincture, a smirk of excitement teasing the ends of his lips. 

“You’ve tested it on mice, right?” You inquired, taking the tube and swirling it around, a bit wary of the uncertainty of its effects on humans. 

“Well— yes. Some things have been altered to achieve my desired results. But it should be safe. You know I wouldn’t hurt you,” he assures. Your brow quirks at the word ‘should’. 

You flipped through his notes a few more times, educating yourself on the possible side effects and the science of it all. 

“Okayy,” you drawled, bringing the tube to your lips and tipping it back like a shot, the back of your sleeve wiping the rest from the corners of your lips. The bitter aftertaste makes you wince. 

“You may feel fatigued or weak, but that’s to be expected, just go to sleep. We can begin our tests in the morning.” He plucked the test tube from in between your fingers. “Should anything else arise— call me immediately.” 

Nodding, you hopped off the desk, skirt sweeping a few loose papers to the floor. 

“See you tomorrow then!” You waved, letting the lab door shut behind you. 

You weren’t excited per se, but you certainly weren’t tired enough to go to sleep. Some part of you wanted to see the effects take place in real time, perhaps it’s the scientists’ psyche. As you changed into a big shirt and shorts, you felt your body take on the sore tingle of weakness, your watch only reading 8pm. Despite the curiosity, the warm wool blanket and soft couch threatened to envelop you in sleep. 

Only a few hours later you woke up, a sharp pain bruising your tailbone. Sitting up, you reached behind you to feel around for your phone. You snatched your hand away at the tickle of fur against your hand. Eyes widening and hand slowly reaching back to inspect what you may have been sleeping on. Not finding a phone- or an animal- rather, you felt your own hand prodding at some furry length that seemingly sprouted from your body while you napped. You held the appendage, running your hand over it, pulling it into view. It was long and covered in soft fur the same color as your hair. Revelation struck and your hands flew up to the top of your head. Just as you expected, or unexpected for that matter, there sat a pair of soft cat-like ears. Unlike the tail, which you had full control and feeling of, the ears lacked the ability to hear, especially seeing as you still had your human ears. You looked down at your watch, taking note of the time you noticed these changes– still friday- 11pm. 

To confirm you weren’t dreaming, you made way to the full length mirror that hung in your bedroom. It was there you saw the extent of it all. You saw your cat ears twitch at your tactile inspection. Your jaw fell slack, making your sharp canines visible– the glint of the light catching your attention.

“Oh god,” you almost laughed at yourself. “Dottore!” you almost yelled, stomping your foot. 

‘What am I even going to say to him? I turned into a cat? Be real.’ You thought, pacing around your room. Looking back into the mirror you calmed yourself down, reassuring your reflection. 

“Dottore?” you said into the phone, as calmly as you could manage. 

“Yes? Are you okay? What’s wrong?” his voice crackled through the phone, sleep still clearly rasping through the shitty reception. 

“Sorry to wake you, but something happened– like a side effect– and I do not think this is right,” you nervously laughed at the end of your sentence. “I need you to come over ASAP.” Dottore obliged, you didn’t know whether to laugh at yourself or yell at him. 

His dorm was not very far, so you took the fifteen minutes to tidy up and change into a big hoodie, making sure to tuck your tail into the back and cover your ears with the hood. 

You checked yourself one last time in the mirror, a knock at your door startling you. 

“Uh, hi,” you choked out nervously, opening the door and motioning him to come in. Some part of you feared your outfit was a little too unprofessional, considering you were quite literally in your pajamas, but your worries were quelled upon seeing Dottore. The man was clad only in a white tee and gray sweatpants, journal tucked under his arm, his unkempt hair confirming your suspicions that you may have woken him up. 

“Okay, so… Here’s the problem,” you sat on the couch as he stood in front of you. Shakily, you pulled down your hood and untucked the tail from the back of your hoodie. Dottore’s eyes opened wide and his hand went to his chin. You surely weren’t pulling a prank on him, you weren’t even the type to do so, yet it was that shocking. Your body language was more than telling; looking down, ears flattened, tail hugging your side, fingers twiddling with the tip in your lap, face flushed with the utmost embarrassment. He motioned for you to stand and do a little spin, so he could see the extent of this anomaly. His gaze burned into you as you obeyed.

“How… peculiar,” the small snicker that came out of Dottore made you blush even harder, if that was even possible. You looked up at him, unable to hide the anger on your face. Even with your fists balled at your sides, and tail fluffed in annoyance at his jest, he could not take you seriously, looking like an angry little cat. 

“It’s not funny!” you scrunched your nose at him. 

“It’s pretty funny,” he admitted.

He sat beside you, reaching his hand up to your head, stopping halfway to ask for permission. 

“May I?” you only nodded, shame not letting words come out. He placed his hand on the top, petting you? No– he could not possibly be petting you– he was… inspecting you. Softly prodding at your ears, asking questions about whether you could feel it, or if you could hear out of them. Nod, nod, nod. It felt… good? Different from when somebody pets you. It was like the satisfaction of a scalp massager. 

It wasn’t until he stopped that you realized your head rested almost on his chest. Your eyes snapped open, blush flooding to your cheeks. When was the last time someone touched you like that? Not in a scientific setting. You had to remind yourself that this was not affectionate. Purely for research purposes. But he could not have been inspecting your ears for that long? Right? 

Too embarrassed to move, you simply stayed there, as he jotted notes down in his journal. You were startled by the feeling of his fingers at the junction of your tail and spine. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled under his breath. You whimpered, involuntarily, as he applied pressure to your joint. Thighs shifted together at the feeling of his fingers touching a seemingly sensitive spot. With blush scattered across his cheeks, he wrote something down in his journal. Heat flooded your face once again at the realization that he was very carefully observing your every reaction. Your hand flew up to your mouth and you sat up straight. Looking at Dottore, it seemed he was not nearly as affected by this as you were. He acted perfectly composed, leaving you to be the only one bursting at the seams. However, his body betrayed him, as your gaze fell down, catching a glimpse at his bulge, exaggerated by the gray shadows of his pants. 

When he looked back up, you frantically looked away, trying to meet his eyes. His face was flushed and his pupils dilated. 

‘He’s just tired.’ You reassured yourself in your head. 

“How did that feel?” his voice was calm, contrasting to his face, elegantly twirling his pen between his long fingers. He looked to you, expecting an answer, almost knowingly. There’s no way he couldn’t see the furiously blushed puddle you melted into, or how you’d shift your hips at his touch.

“Uhm- aha,” you stammered, “it felt good- nice. It felt nice, you know?”

Your ears were stiff, further displaying your awkwardness. He motioned for you to elaborate. 

“Oh. Uh, it felt, uhm, pleasurable– I think the word is,” a pink dusting crossed your cheeks, absolutely burning with embarrassment. He couldn’t help but smile. There was just something so comedic about your normally cool and professional demeanor, being broken down by something as simple as his touch, something that, for all you know, was just research. 

He hummed, going back to record your response. 

“You have new teeth too, no?” you nodded, gnawing at your bottom lip only to be reminded of such teeth as they painfully caught the skin. 

He reached his hand up, the back of his fingers brushing against your jaw as he stopped. 

“May I?” he asked, just like before, looking you in the eyes. You merely nodded in response, shifting closer to him for better access. 

“Open,” he commanded.

His thumb brushed against your top lip, lifting it up to reveal your fang-like canines, then ran across the point. The rest of his fingers almost cupped your cheek. Surely he could feel the raging heat of your face, his feather-light touch sending a shiver down your spine. 

At your bottom lip, he ran his thumb across the flesh once more, leant a bit closer to see the smaller teeth. Your eyes closed as he jotted down his notes. You could feel him rub across your bottom lip again, but this time, not pulling it down to reveal your teeth. Eyes barely opened, the warmth of his breath telling you his proximity. Your tail swayed behind you. His hand shifted down to hold your chin and your eyes fluttered closed at the chaste kiss he pressed to your lips. 

You leaned into it, chasing the warmth a little when he pulled away, nose still touching yours. He expected protest but was met with your hands reaching up to cup the sides of his face. At that, you pressed another more fervent kiss, his hands falling to sit at your hips.  

He took over, slipping between your lips and feeling the points of your teeth with the tip of his tongue. You whined into his mouth, moving to straddle him in a more comfortable position on the couch. 

Your faces broke for a moment, gasping after forgetting to breathe. He looked up at you, a smile threatening to lift the corners of his lips. You dove back in and his hands began to roam. One hand stilled low on your waist, the other reaching around to press and rub against the bare skin at the base of your tail. Your breath hitched at the contact and your head tilted back. Dottore took the opportunity to kiss, nip, and suck at your throat, leaving red marks on the tender skin. 

 “You’re a pretty little thing, you know that?” he whispered through clenched teeth as you shakily ground down into his bulge. 

“Thank you, Dottore,” you mewled in a desperate, high pitched voice. He sighed at the sound of his name spilling from your lips. 

His hands began to roam again, one grabbing at the plush of your ass, then giving you a small spank, and the other coming down to tease you through your shorts in the front. You whined out again, bucking your hips into him as his thumb rubbed circles around your clothed clit. 

You could feel him twitch under you as his resolve finally caved. He broke away to see you in all your beauty. The sight of your flushed cheeks, slightly tousled hair, and the peaks of your nipples showing through your shirt was absolutely ravishing to him. 

He tucked his face in the crook of your neck and continued to suck at your sensitive points. It was easy for him to be able to tell what made you feel good. You were just so utterly responsive, and he was so observant. Truly a scientist's dream– a perfectly responsive subject. 

“Why don’t you get down on your knees for me, pet?” he instructed, voice thick with desire. You happily obliged, eagerly settling on the floor between his legs and hastily pulling down his sweats and boxers. 

His fully hard cock sprung out, hitting his stomach, as you stared wide-eyed at his impressive length. He took a few languid strokes, smearing the precum that beaded at the tip. Both of your hands wrapped around him, leaving the rest for your mouth. 

You took a kitten lick at it, letting his bitter essence coat your tongue. When you finally closed your lips around the tip, he signed, running his fingers through his hair. You looked up at him with obedient eyes, bobbing your head up and down. He loved the way your glossy eyes shone in the light, tucking a hair behind your ear so he could see them better. His fingers combed through your hair and played with the soft ears, eliciting a small whine and a shift of your hips against your own heel. 

“Look at you, taking me so well,” his eyes were dark, admiring your efforts to please him.

He gathered the hair at the back of your head and shoved his cock all the way down your throat, your nose touching his pelvis. You looked up at him, catching the smirk on his lips. Desperately trying not to choke on him, you breathed through your nose and swallowed around his length. He groaned, releasing your head and patted on his thigh for you to come up. Your knees almost buckled under you as you stood up, his hands roughly pulling both your shorts and panties down. You stepped out of them, straddling him again as he planted another kiss on your lips. 

You grinded against his shaft, rubbing him against his own stomach, before he stilled your hips with one hand, the other coming up to grab at your neck. 

“So desperate…” he gritted through clenched teeth, cock aching to be inside of you. Dottore’s hand shifted from your hips down to your heat. He ran his fingers through your slick folds, just barely pressing into your entrance. You sighed and arched your back into him.

“God you’re so wet already? What a whore you are,” he spoke into the shell of your ear, squeezing at the sides of your throat. 

“Yes, fuck–” you fell against his chest, keening at his words. He barely lifted your hips and guided his cock to your dripping cunt, rubbing through your slit before sinking the tip in. 

You let out a breathy moan, rocking your hips to try and take more of him. 

“So tight…” he threw his head back as you began to bounce on him, taking more and more of his length every time. 

He settled at the base of your tail again, tugging and rubbing, as you connected your lips with his. He found each point that made you feel a new kind of pleasure among your new accessories, for a lack of a better word. 

“You’re so big… I feel so full,” your head tilted back, you rasped through the throes of pleasure. He pushed his palm against the bulge that appeared and disappeared in your belly through every stroke, adding more pressure to your brimming pussy.

“Such a good little kitten for me,” he groaned. Between thoughts of his cock filling you up, you blushed at the idea of being his, thanking this chemical mishap for the fortunate situation you were in now. 

“Mm-hmm,” you nodded frantically in response. He lifted your shirt to your mouth, you grabbing hold of it between your teeth. His neck craned down to lick at your nipple, capturing it between his teeth. You clenched around him, feeling an onslaught of sensations beginning to push you towards the edge. 

“Please– Daddy, can I cum?” you moaned out, letting the hem of your shirt fall down. Your words were so unexpected to him– you asking him to cum, calling him Daddy– submitting to him, being his. It was all so precious. How long had he been dreaming of this moment, considering it fantasy. He twitched at your voice.

“Yes, kitten. Cum for me,” you could hear him just barely over the sounds of your thighs, coated with your slick, slapping against his hips. He tugged at your tail again, sending you tumbling from the peak. You bit into his shoulder, breaking skin with your sharp canines. He fucked you through your high, following in suit shortly after. His seed spilled inside of you, filling you up as he slowly ground your hips down onto him, fucking it deeper inside. 

You collapsed against his chest, panting and wrapping your arms around his neck. Through the haze, you couldn’t help but think that maybe this was on purpose. 

“You didn’t mean to turn me into your uh-, kitten, right?” you cringed at your own words; it was just something so ridiculous. His laugh rumbled through his chest as you turned to look up at him.

“Of course not,” he pet the top of your head, your ears flicking at his touch. “but, I won’t say I wasn’t hoping that this might happen.” His lips curved into a mischievous smile. 

“You could have just asked me out, Dottore.” you teased him. 

“But isn’t being my test subject so much more fun? Much more being my pet,” He retorted in a chuckle, that sadistic side of his coming out in his smile.

“Yeah. I guess so…” You smiled up at him, closing your eyes at the peck he left on your lips.

[fandomsnstuff]

We're three weeks in team, the end is in sight! Have some blupjeans

Also vague mentions of sex but nothing explicit and barry gets playfully called a whore

@taznovembercelebration

Day 21: first/only

Barry has a work thing to go to and, as always, Lup's his first choice for a plus one.

Read it on AO3

When Barry comes home, Lup's dancing around the kitchen to her music nearly on full blast, and the house smells divine. She smiles when she notices him and turns the volume down before it gives him a headache. Excitedly, she says, “so?!”

“They gave me the award.”

She yells happily and hugs him and kisses his cheek. “Congratulations!”

He feels his insides gets all mushy, but from decades of practice, he's able to keep his cool. “Thanks. There's going to be a dinner next week, and they gave me a plus one, so…”

She goes back to stirring the pot she has on the stove, shaking her head. “Barry, Barry, Barry. Are you sure you want me to come with? I don't want to scare away all the corporate girls. I'm sure they'll be all over you, now that you're a big shot.”

“Oh, god,” he sits at the breakfast bar, “now I definitely want you to come with me.”

“What? You don't want the ladies fawning all over you?”

“I'm super good on that. I'd just not go if I could. They want me to make a speech. I need moral support.”

Lup laughs. “Then of course I'll go with you.”

She turns her music back up to an acceptable level for Barry's sensitive ears. He plays sous-chef as she cooks, chopping various vegetables and shredding cheese as he's told. They talk about their days, Barry's award, his speech, the upcoming dinner.

“Have you ever had a plus one that isn't me?”

Barry squints at the ceiling, “I think I went to something in college with that one girl.”

“The redhead?”

“No, it was…” he clicks his tongue, “god. What was her name? I don't even remember anymore. The one I, like, half dated for a few months.”

“You half dated a lot of people in college, you'll have to be more specific.”

“I did not see that many people.”

She points at him with her spoon, flinging some sauce in his direction, “you were a whore in college, Barry.”

“Maybe! But that's because I didn't date that much. I may have been a whore, but I was faithful.”

She rolls her eyes at him, but she's smiling. “Ethical sluttiness aside, I know you went to something with the redhead.”

He snaps his fingers, “it was the blonde who I broke up with because she talked shit about you, we went to an event with the science department. She had the bible verse tattoo.”

“Oh, yeah… wasn't that grad school?”

He shrugs. “Hell if I know. My time in academia's all just a haze of caffeine, homework, and sex.”

“I hear that.”

The dinner rolls around later that week. Barry's waiting at the front door when Lup comes down the stairs in all her glory. She's wearing a sparkling, floor length, fitted emerald green dress with off-the-shoulder straps, a sweetheart neckline, and an alluring slit up one of her legs. It goes with the dark green suit jacket she picked out for him. Her shoes and accessories are gold, matching his tie.

“Quit tugging at your collar,” she says, swatting his hand away. He hadn't even realised he was doing it. She does up the buttons he'd left undone and tightens his tie up to his neck. She adjusts his collar and lapels until she's satisfied and says, “there. So handsome.”

“I don't want to do this. I'd rather stay here and watch movies with you.”

“Aw, Bear,” she cups his cheek, “I know. But I'm not letting you miss out on a dinner where you're the guest of honour. Even if it's dull.”

He groans. “Fine.”

He opens the door for her, then locks it behind him. The whole drive over, he's reciting his thank you speech in his head. It's a lot of filler nonsense thanking the company and the directors and whatever other higher-ups need their asses kissed.

When they pull up to the fancy hotel holding the banquet, Barry has to take a few deep breaths before turning the car off and getting out. Lup puts a hand on his shoulder. “You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah. Just. One second.”

She squeezes his shoulder. “If you genuinely feel like you're going to panic, tell me and we'll go. You know I'm good at excuses, and I have no problem being the bad guy.”

He looks over at her. “Really?”

“Of course. I care more about you not having a panic attack than I do about you making a dumb speech at a dinner. I'll pretend I'm sick all day long for you, babe. Remember the halloween party in middle school?”

He relaxes some, and laughs. “You pretended to have the stomach flu, and committed so hard you didn't come to school for a week.”

“Exactly. And I'd do it again.”

He takes a breath. “Okay. I'm ready.”

He always feels more confident walking into a room with Lup on his arm. Even if they are just long time childhood friends, she's stunning, and charming, and smart, and wonderful in every way. To think she's as committed to him and he is to her, to the point where they bought a house together (for logistical reasons, of course), it still blows his mind all these years later. He may be hopelessly in love with her, but he's long since been able to set that aside to preserve what they have.

They mingle and chat to all sorts of people that Barry kind of knows. Corporate life really is quite different than academic life. There's so many people on the outskirts that he knows of, but probably couldn't pick them out in a crowd.

One person he does know, however, is his supervisor, Craig. He's a burly guy, looks like he'd be an asshole, but is actually quite cool. When he sees Barry, he grins widely. “Barry!” He shakes his hand firmly, “congratulations! Well deserved.”

“Thank you. There was certainly a lot of work that went into getting here.”

He spots Lup at Barry's side and his eyebrows raise. “And this must be your lovely wife.”

Barry's whole body goes stiff. “Uh-”

But Craig's already reaching to shake Lup's hand, “it's a pleasure to finally meet you…”

She takes his hand. “Lup Taaco.”

“Lup, that's right.” He taps his temple, “I knew it started with an L, but this ol’ noggin lost the rest of it. I've heard so much about you.”

“Have you now?” She side-eyes Barry.

Sure, he's talked about her a lot. There's a lot to say about Lup. They've got over 30 years of friendship under their belts. He didn't know Craig assumed they were married.

“Oh, yes,” Craig says, “I've heard all about you two meeting as children and going through school, and college, and adult life.” He puts a hand to his chest. “Such a sweet love story.”

Lup links her arm with Barry's again. “I think so, too. Barry's truly my first and only love.”

“Why don't we go sit down!” Barry says, a little too loudly.

“Great idea, babe. I can't be standing around in these heels all night.”

Lup's called him babe before. That's normal. She calls everyone babe. He's totally not overthinking it after she called him her first and only love. He's especially not overthinking it because that's exactly how he feels about her.

He's all good.

Craig escorts them to their table, and Corporate Dinner Banquet drags on. Barry's able to get himself back to some semblance of a normal demeanor. Eventually, it comes time for the award presentation and his speech. Lup has a hand on his back for as long as she can as he stands and walks away. He makes his way on stage and takes the dumb little plaque with his name on it, and stands at the podium and makes his boring speech no one wants to hear. Near the end, the light bouncing off the sparkles of Lup's dress catch his eye.

“And… there's one more person I'd like to thank. Lup,” What's he doing? Is he dumb? Maybe, but this is the most genuine thing he'll say all night. He looks right at her, not caring about the rest of the room, “you're my best friend, have been for most of my life. You've been there for everything. My highest highs and lowest lows. I never would've gotten this far without you, and I hope we can spend the rest of our lives facing the world together.” He hesitates, but makes the leap, “I love you.”

She blows him a kiss as the room applauds. He gets off stage as fast as he can while still looking normal. When he sits down, she presses a kiss to his cheek. “That was so sweet, I didn't know you were going to do that.”

He laughs nervously. “Me neither.”

An hour later, they're in the car heading home. It's quiet, just the sounds of the road and the radio on low keeping them company. At a red light, Barry drums on the steering wheel. “Lup?”

“Mhm?”

“Why didn't you correct Craig when he called you my wife?”

He can see her look over at him in his periphery. “Why didn't you?”

“I froze up. I didn't realise he'd made that assumption. And then you played along, so then it'd be weird if I didn't.”

Lup hums. “Well, for one thing, we've been claiming each other as common law spouses ever since we'd been living together long enough to do so. It was easier to play along. Besides,” she reaches over and guides one of his hands off the wheel, linking their fingers together, “nothing I said was untrue.”

He takes a shaky breath and squeezes her hand, “even the part about… being your first and only love?”

“Especially that part,” she says softly.

He's silent as they drive down the darkened city streets. He can feel her eyes on him and her hand slots perfectly into his own. He wants to kiss her so badly. But. Driving. “God, I wish I'd waited until we got home to do this.”

Lup laughs and kisses his hand. “We're almost there, then I can kiss your brains out.”

[yuukitte]

[The root cause]

Chihiro is at a loss.

This is the room assigned to her in the House of Lamentations in Devildom.

Chihiro was summoned to Devildom a few days ago.

And now, as an exchange student from the human world, she is attending "RAD".

In front of Chihiro are the study materials used at "RAD".

The amount of materials is so great that it forms a small mountain, and there are many subjects she has never heard of. They are probably studies unique to Devildom.

She immediately checks the materials she has just received from Barbatos, but there are so many words that she does not know.

Math is fine. The characters in the human world and Devildam are the same.

The problem is science, home economics, and magic history, which frequently contain words for various things that only exist in Devildam.

Chihiro: "I have no choice. I need to look up each unknown noun in the dictionary and write it down in my notebook."

There does not seem to be a dictionary in the study materials she was given.

As Chihiro stood up from her chair to go tell one of her siblings that she wanted to borrow the dictionary, she saw something shining in front of her.

It was a ring on Chihiro's right hand, and the gemstone set in the base sparkled in the moonlight.

It was a ring she had made herself, a delicate piece with a blue topaz set in a silver base.

Since she had only just finished it, she was wearing it to check how it felt on her finger.

Chihiro took it off her finger and carefully put it away in a desk drawer.

Chihiro: "The ring feels OK. Now the question is how to sell it."

It seemed like a very difficult thing for her to sell her work, as she was not particularly good at communicating with others.

She decided to think about it later and focus on the dictionary for now.

A while after Chihiro left her room, Mammon stood in front of her room.

Mammon knocked on the door in front of him, feeling a bit irritated.

He was assigned to take care of Chihiro, who had just arrived at Devildom. Therefore, all minor contacts were to be communicated to Chihiro through Mammon. This time, he came to convey a message from Lucifer to Chihiro.

Mammon waited for a while, and when there was no response to his knock, he decided to call out to the door.

Mammon: "Hey, Chihiro! Are you there?"

Mammon doesn't like Chihiro very much. She is obviously a serious girl, and she looks like she thinks all the fun things in the world are pointless.

Mammon: "I called out to her anyway."

Mammon turned the doorknob. The doorknob turned easily. The door didn't seem to be locked.

This is one of Mammon's bad habits, and when he saw an unlocked door, he imagined what valuables were inside.

Mammon looked around once to make sure there was no one there, then opened the door as quietly as possible.

Mammon quickly slid through the open door and closed it as carefully as he had opened it.

Chihiro's room was dimly lit because the lights were off, and was surprisingly bleak. There was only the bare minimum of furniture and a pile of textbooks on the desk. Mammon was a little disappointed. It seemed unlikely he would find anything of value there.

With a sigh of dissatisfaction, Mammon casually walked over to the desk where the textbooks were piled up, and opened the drawer without any hesitation.

The moonlight filtered in through the slightly opened curtains and shone on the contents of the drawer, and a sharp light caught Mammon's eye.

Mammon: "Hey! What is this..."

There was something clearly different there. Mammon picked up the small, reflective ring.

It was a delicate ring. From what he could see, the jewel set in it was not of high quality, but the silver decoration on the base seemed to be quite pricey.

However, a slight doubt crossed the back of Mammon's mind.

From the looks of it, Chihiro doesn't seem like the type to wear such jewelry. When Mammon first saw Chihiro, she was so plain that he couldn't tell her gender. The only accessory she was wearing was an ear cuff on her left ear.

Mammon briefly considered the possibility that the ring might be something important to Chihiro, but a different thought quickly took over his mind.

What if the ring had been a gift from one of the brothers?

Mammon snorted in displeasure.

He wouldn't like that. Mammon was the one taking care of that human, so if someone was going to give her a gift, it should go through Mammon.

Then Mammon had a great idea.

Mammon: "I'll sell this ring and use the money to buy Chihiro a new ear cuff. Something more modern and stylish."

Besides, Chihiro must not like this ring, leaving it in a drawer like this.

The thought pleased Mammon so much that he hummed as he slipped the ring into his pocket, unaware that someone was watching him leave Chihiro's room.

Chihiro: "Thank you, Lucifer."

Since none of the other brothers had dictionaries in good condition (theirs were dirty, folded, and nibbled), Chihiro finally went to Lucifer and was able to borrow one.

Chihiro carefully held the thick dictionary close to her chest so as not to drop it.

Lucifer: "Don't worry about this much. Just don't walk around alone too much. If something happens to you, it will cause trouble for Diavolo."

Chihiro: "I see, I'm sorry."

Lucifer: "Know your place as an international student."

As Chihiro nodded obediently to his words, there was a gentle knock on his room door.

Then the person who knocked called out.

??? "Ah, Lucifer? Are you there?"

It was Levi's voice.

Lucifer replied briefly, raising his eyebrows at the slightly irritated tone of his voice.

Lucifer: "Come in."

Levi: "Thanks. Hey, Mammon was...huh, Chihiro?"

Levi was surprised to see Chihiro there as soon as he entered the room.

Chihiro waved at Levi and said hello.

He sighed in disgust.

Levi: "You two are here, it'll be quick."

Lucifer: "What happened? Did Mammon do something?"

The air was tense, and Levi shrugged his shoulders in anticipation of trouble.

Chihiro looked back and forth between their faces, confused, not understanding what was about to happen.

Levi spoke to Chihiro.

Levi: "Hey, you should check the room right now to see if anything's missing."

Chihiro: "Eh? Why?"

Chihiro had no idea what was going on and had a question mark floating over her head, while Lucifer had furrowed his brow as he understood everything. Levi told her the details of the incident.

Levi was looking for Mammon, hoping to get him to pay back his debt today. He wasn't in his room, so Levi ended up wandering around the House of Lamentations.

And just as he was near Chihiro's room, Mammon came out humming.

Levi didn't call out to Mammon right away, but hid in the shadows. He had a bad feeling about it.

After Mammon had completely left, he waited a good amount of time before knocking on Chihiro's door.

As expected, there was no response from Chihiro. By the time Levi got a new reason to look for Mammon, Mammon had already left the House of Lamentations.

By the time he finished listening to the story, Lucifer had a headache. And he ordered Chihiro.

Lucifer: "Chihiro. Check your room for anything missing before dinner time. Report back to me later."

Chihiro was confused, but nodded. She roughly understood what they were thinking, but she didn't think there was much to worry about. She had only just arrived in Devildom and hadn't even properly furnished her home yet.

Leaving Lucifer's room, Chihiro headed to her own room, thinking about which of her belongings were of any real value.

Mammon entered the dining hall in high spirits, not even trying to hide the grin on his face. He had a small bag with a brand logo printed on it hanging from his hand.

Mammon: "Hey! Lord Mammon has returned!"

Beel: "You're late, Mammon."

Among the other brothers waiting in the dining hall, Beelzebub, who was the hungriest, complained to Mammon.

Beelzebub was one of the two demons who were unaware of the heavy atmosphere of the dining hall and Lucifer's irritation.

The other of the two, Mammon, soothed Beel by saying "sorry," and walked straight up to Chihiro, who was sitting at the seat closest to the entrance.

He seemed unaware of the other brothers, who were glaring at him in silence.

He then pointed the small bag hanging from his hand at Chihiro.

Mammon: "Here, I'll give this to you."

Chihiro blinked at his completely unexpected behavior.

Chihiro: "For me?"

Chihiro was confused, but she smiled at him anyway.

Chihiro: "But I didn't give you anything to get from you..."

Lucifer: "Chihiro."

Lucifer's sharp voice interrupted Chihiro.

While the other brothers shrugged and stood on their feet ready to run away at any moment, Mammon finally noticed the heavy atmosphere in the dining hall.

And soon, he realized the cause of the heavy atmosphere and his smile froze.

Lucifer: "Where did you get the money to buy that, Mammon? You don't have the card with you right now, do you?"

Lucifer's dark eyes pierced Mammon straight through.

Mammon: "Well, well, well... you see..."

Mammon mumbled for a moment, but then his face brightened and he spoke confidently.

Mammon: "This is recycling!"

Lucifer: "What?"

Chihiro: "Recycling?"

Lucifer and Chihiro asked at the same time in response to Mammon's unexpected statement.

Mammon nodded vigorously and turned his attention back to Chihiro.

Mammon: "I just happened to come into your room and found your ring by chance. Who gave it to you? I didn't think it would suit you, so I sold it and used the money to personally choose some accessories that would suit you!"

As she listened to him, Chihiro's eyes gradually widened.

Everyone in the room thought she would cry. Now all the brothers knew that the ring was a one-of-a-kind piece that she had worked so hard to make.

Asmo: "Um, Chihiro..."

Asmo tried to calm Chihiro down before she started crying, but he was interrupted by Chihiro's own voice.

Chihiro: "You're kidding me?! That sold!?!"

Asmo was so surprised by the loud voice that came from her small body that he fell off his chair.

The other brothers were stunned by Chihiro's crazy voice. Only Lucifer remained calm, interested in this unexpected turn of events.

Chihiro jumped up from her chair as if she had springs in her body, and jumped on Mammon, who was staring blankly.

Mammon: "Hey, Chihiro, calm down!"

Chihiro called out again as she pulled Mammon's hand, who had lost his balance in shock, to help him up.

Chihiro: "Thank you!!! Thank you Mammon!!! That's the ring I made!!!"

Mammon: "Huh!?"

This time Mammon also yelled out.

Not understanding what was going on, Mammon looked at Lucifer in confusion.

Lucifer said quietly, rubbing his temples.

Lucifer: "The ring you sold was handmade by Chihiro."

Mammon: "Wha... You're kidding me?"

Mammon was quite shocked to find out that the ring he had sold, thinking it was a someone's present for Chihiro, was actually handmade by Chihiro. However, he had no time to analyze why he was so shocked. Chihiro was holding his hands with a big smile on her face, jumping around like a child, and he was being bossed around by her both physically and mentally.

Chihiro: "I'm not lying! You see, I've always wanted to sell my work, but I've never sold one until now!!"

Mammon stared blankly at Chihiro's smile. It was the first time he'd seen Chihiro smile genuinely.

He felt his cheeks gradually heat up.

Chihiro: "How much did you sell it for!?"

Mammon: "Oh, well, I sold it for a high price."

Chihiro: "It sold for a high price! Yahoo!"

Chihiro let go of Mammon's hand, cheered, and thanked Mammon again.

Chihiro: "Thank you so much. You're the most reliable devil in Devildom!"

Mammon saw a close-up of her smile, and no joke, it looked like flowers were blooming and shining around it. In his head, Cupid was flying around and angels were blowing flutes of blessing, even though he had been a devil for a long time.

Then his vision went dark.

When Mammon woke up, he was in his room, and his brothers, except for Lucifer, were looking at him like the seven dwarfs in Snow White.

Beel: "Thank goodness, you're awake."

Beel, who was (supposedly) the kindest to Mammon, nodded in relief.

Asmo peeked in from beside him.

Asmo: "Mammon, do you remember? You turned red and collapsed. Lucifer said it was brain fever."

Asmo looked very worried, but his eyes were sparkling with curiosity, and he couldn't hide it at all.

Seeing this, Mammon slowly looked around at the other brothers.

There were various reactions, from astonished, to disgusted, to genuinely worried, but what they all had in common was that their eyes were filled with at least a little curiosity.

Mammon took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs.

Mammon: "You guys, get out of my room!!!!!"

As Asmo's joyous laughter echoed, Mammon finally succeeded in getting everyone out of the room.

Mammon leaned his back against the door and sat down, covering his face with both hands. His face was hot.

Mammon was forced to realize that he had now fallen into a completely troublesome state of mind.

Meanwhile, Lucifer and Chihiro remained in the dining room.

Chihiro was going to take care of Mammon with the others, but Lucifer stopped her.

Lucifer: "So, are you sure it's okay?"

As they quietly continued eating, Lucifer asked Chihiro again.

Chihiro: "That Mammon sold the ring? Of course, I'm really happy. It feels like a dream."

Chihiro was still smiling. Even as she put the food in front of her mouth, a happy air was oozing from her.

Seeing this, Lucifer smiled faintly.

Lucifer had no intention of blaming Mammon for his crimes in front of everyone. He just wanted to see how Chihiro would react to this incident. It was because it could be a factor in judging whether she would be able to get along well in Devildom in the future.

Only Chihiro herself had not noticed that Mammon had started to have special feelings for her.

[landboundstar]

Day Pass: Mad Hatter

"Thank you, Edward. This is very nice of you."

I put a hand on top of my nervous friend's hand to stop his babbling.

"Jervis, it is not a problem to take you out for lunch. Here we are."

Jervis would have been fine getting a drive-through at McDonald's, but I wasn't. And I wasn't about to treat one of the first people that I had empathized with in my therapy group like he wasn't worth something special.

Pulling into a parking spot beside the restaurant, I opened Jervis's door and guided him to our table, a hand at his back and thought about how we had met.

Therapy in Arkham Asylum is a hit or miss affair. It doesn't do to get too attached to one therapist. They frequently change therapists to avoid that and its resulting…complications. And the turnover rate with good therapists is ridiculously high. Some, I thought sourly, I only wished had a high turnover rate. After years of Dr. Crane and Dr. Strange failing to get the desired results from me as a patient, Dr. Arkham himself decided to see what was wrong with my surly ass. Years of "therapy" with Crane's drug enhanced exposure therapy to treat my trauma and Strange's odd biofeedback that only seemed to worsen my obsessiveness had me being an extremely paranoid boy with some paredolia on the side of my other issues. Meeting with the good doctor for therapy hadn't been a high point in my plans. But, well, as a patient in Arkham I hadn't had much of a choice. So, imagine my surprise to find a good old fashioned group therapy session with no terror or mindfuckery. And that was where I met Jervis. Not quite a case of like minds meeting, but what I imagine what it must feel like for a piano virtuoso to meet an expert sculptor. Just an admiration and appreciation for the other person's skills.

We had been friends ever since.

What? You expected me to be humble? I was mentally unstable, not mentally deficient. And for all his quiet self-effacing tendencies, once Jervis started talking about his technical expertise or any of his passionate interests, there was a brilliant mind waiting to be discovered. 

Disturbed, obsessive, socially awkward, but brilliant.

Jervis fidgeted with his light hair, looking uncomfortable in the borrowed button up and dress pants from the asylum laundry. I noticed they had not given him a hat. Part of me hurt for my friend, knowing he identified so much with his accessory. And the rest of me realized the wisdom of not overly indulging his fixation, for everybody's well being. Especially Jervis himself.

But, like with my puzzle ring, sometimes it was important to scratch that itch. To find ways of being yourself without giving in to the madness.

Like a tea party, perhaps?

But not the crumpets and tea cake sort. That might be a little too tempting for Jervis. But I thought this restaurant might just do the trick.

"Do you want to order, or do you want me to?" I asked, remembering just how overwhelming simple decisions could be sometimes.

"If you don't mind. Please." Jervis said.

The waiter came over with a smile. "Welcome to Qnia. Are you ready to order?"

"We are. Can we get two orders of the moroccan mint tea, and then we are splitting an order of chicken tagine with couscous, zaalouk on the side. And two pistachio croissants to finish the meal."

"Of course. I'll bring your tea out in just a minute."

"Tea?" Jervis perked, a slightly too enthusiastic gleam in his eyes.

"Yes, it should go very nicely with the food." I told him.

The food came promptly, and we talked about music, art, and science rather than books or movies. 

I paid the check as we finished the last of our dessert, listening to Jervis tell me about a recent scientific study about using specific tones and frequencies to help subliminally curb addictions and its results. He still was his meek, polite self, but with a confidence he normally only got when fully delusional.

As I pulled out to drive back, I made a mental note of the restaurant.

It had been a lovely place to treat Jervis to a tea party. We would have to do it again.

[emathevampire]

Formal, texture, and change for Amanthos 👀

Thank youuuuu for asking about my beloved librarian... Current ask game here, if anyone else wants to hit my inbox!

formal: What's your OC's formal look? Do they like dressing up? Do they have different looks for different occasions? He absolutely does NOT like dressing up, but occasionally he has to. Since he's baaaarely an inch shorter than Arekos, he usually borrows formalwear. Always black, though the golden accessories Arekos prefers sometimes look a bit odd with his more wintery complexion. Their shared clothes don't fit him as well as they used to, since he lost a lot of weight after becoming undead, but he's handy enough with safety pins and temporary tailoring in a pinch. I actually have pictures for this, so...

texture: Does your OC favor any specific kinds of cloth or textures? Is there anything they can't wear or don't like? What sort of fabrics do they prefer? Amanthos hates velvet and corduroy, and also hates wearing the hoods of his cloaks up as they irritate his ears and mess up his hair. He likes smooth or soft textures, and is especially attached to his monk's robes, which are perfectly worn in and comfortable after hundreds of years of use. He wears silk undergarments and shirts, soft thin leather trousers, gloves, and boots, and then layers of woolen monk's robes on top along with a heavy wool scarf. In especially cold weather, a fur-lined wool cloak and coat are added to the mix. It's rare to see him less than fully dressed, as he has to hide the scars from his crucimigration that mark him as one of the undead.

change: Has your OC ever drastically changed their appearance? Significant haircuts, big tattoos, complete wardrobe swap, etc? Why? How do they feel about the change? Oh yes. When Amanthos went through the Ritual of Crucimigration, he was crucified and raised as form of undead known as a Necropolitan. This left him with scars from the cursed nails used in the ritual, for starters, his eyes gained an eerie appearance like cloudy glacial ice, and later on his poor eating habits caught up with him... he lost a good 15lbs in the intervening 300 years or so (which is a lot for anyone, much less someone 110lbs soaking wet), and being undead, he's completely unable to gain that weight back again. He does his best to keep up normal eating and drinking habits now, but the damage has already been done... Amanthos is simultaneously vain and quite self conscious, he works very hard to maintain his appearance but it's a constant struggle. It's safe to say he didn't handle the change particularly well... though you'd be hard pressed to get him to admit it. He did it for science, after all. His heart is torn, on the subject of regrets... for the price he paid to see his beloved stars up close was far more than just his life, his choices may yet cost him his soul along with everything else he holds dear before he finally truly returns home.

[embroidery-pro]

Monogram Fonts for Machine Embroidery:

The Ultimate Guide to Monogram Fonts for Machine Embroidery:

FAQs and Tips

Hey there, embroidery enthusiasts! Ready to dive into the world of monogram fonts? Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, choosing the right font for your machine embroidery projects can be a game-changer. So, let's unravel the mysteries of monogram fonts and answer some burning questions you might have. Grab a cup of coffee, and let's get stitching! FAQ #1: What's the big deal about monogram fonts in machine embroidery? Okay, so you might be wondering why we're making such a fuss about monogram fonts. Well, here's the scoop: monograms are like the secret sauce that adds a personal touch to your embroidery projects. They're not just letters; they're a way to make your creations uniquely yours (or someone else's if you're gifting). Monogram fonts can transform a plain old towel into a luxurious bathroom accessory or turn a basic tote bag into a personalized fashion statement. They're versatile, classy, and oh-so-customizable. Plus, who doesn't love seeing their initials on stuff? It's like leaving your mark on the world, one stitch at a time! FAQ #2: What are the best fonts for machine embroidery monograms? Alright, this is where things get exciting (and a bit overwhelming). There's no one-size-fits-all answer because the "best" font depends on your project, style, and personal preference. But don't worry, I've got your back! Here are some top contenders: - Serif fonts: These are the classic go-to's for a timeless, elegant look. Think Times New Roman, but fancier. - Sans-serif fonts: For a clean, modern vibe, sans-serif fonts are your best buddies. They're like the cool, minimalist cousins of serif fonts. - Script fonts: Want to add some flair? Script fonts bring that handwritten, personal touch to your monograms. - Block fonts: Bold and attention-grabbing, these are perfect for making a statement. - Decorative fonts: When you want to go all out, decorative fonts with flourishes and ornate details are the way to go. Remember, the key is to match the font with the project and the recipient's style. A frilly script might not be the best choice for your brother's gym towel, you know? FAQ #3: Can I use any font for machine embroidery? Hold your horses there, partner! While it's tempting to use that super cool font you found online, not all fonts play nice with embroidery machines. Here's the deal: - Embroidery-specific fonts: These are designed with stitching in mind and usually work like a charm. - Regular fonts: Some regular fonts can be converted for embroidery, but they might need tweaking to look good when stitched. - Thin or intricate fonts: These can be tricky. Tiny details might get lost or look messy when embroidered. Pro tip: Always test your chosen font on a scrap piece of fabric before committing to your final project. Trust me, it'll save you a lot of headaches (and possibly tears). FAQ #4: How do I choose the right size for my monogram? Size matters, folks! But don't worry, it's not rocket science. Here are some guidelines: - For small items (handkerchiefs, cuffs): Stick to 1-2 inches. - For medium items (towels, tote bags): 3-4 inches usually works well. - For larger items (blankets, jackets): You can go up to 5-6 inches or even larger. Remember, these are just starting points. The best size depends on the item, the font style, and your personal preference. When in doubt, print out the monogram on paper and hold it up to your item to get a visual. FAQ #5: What's the deal with monogram etiquette? Oh boy, monogram etiquette – it's like a secret handshake for the embroidery world. Here's a quick rundown: - Traditional order: First name initial, Last name initial (larger), Middle name initial. - Couples: Her first initial, Their last name initial, His first initial. - Same initials: You can use all the same size or make the middle initial slightly larger. But here's the thing: rules are made to be broken (sometimes). While traditional etiquette is great for formal items, feel free to get creative for casual projects. The embroidery police won't come knocking, I promise! FAQ #6: Can I create multi-color monograms? Absolutely! Multi-color monograms can add an extra pop to your projects. Here are some ideas: - Use different colors for each letter. - Stitch the outline in one color and fill in with another. - Add a colorful border around a single-color monogram. Just remember to consider the background color of your item when choosing your thread colors. You want that monogram to stand out, not blend in! FAQ #7: What are some trendy monogram styles right now? Trends come and go, but some current favorites include: - Minimalist monograms: Simple, clean lines for a modern look. - Botanical monograms: Incorporating floral or leaf designs around the letters. - Vintage-inspired: Think old-school charm with a modern twist. - Geometric monograms: Using shapes and lines to create unique letter designs. - Watercolor effect: Soft, blended colors for a painterly look. Remember, while it's fun to follow trends, choose a style that resonates with you or the person you're creating for. Trends fade, but personal style is forever! FAQ #8: How do I maintain the quality of my monogrammed items? You've put in the effort to create a beautiful monogrammed piece, so let's keep it looking fabulous: - Wash with care: Turn the item inside out and use a gentle cycle. - Avoid harsh chemicals: Skip the bleach and opt for mild detergents. - Iron with caution: Place a cloth over the monogram when ironing to protect the stitches. - Store properly: Hang or fold items to prevent creasing of the monogram. A little TLC goes a long way in preserving your embroidered masterpieces! FAQ #9: Can I combine different fonts in one monogram? You betcha! Mixing fonts can create a unique and eye-catching monogram. Try these combos: - Script + Block: Elegant meets bold for a balanced look. - Serif + Sans-serif: A classic pairing that never goes out of style. - Decorative + Simple: Let one letter shine while the others play supporting roles. The key is to maintain balance and ensure readability. Play around with different combinations until you find your perfect match! FAQ #10: I'm new to machine embroidery. Where should I start with monograms? Welcome to the club, newbie! Here's a beginner-friendly game plan: - Start simple: Choose a basic block or serif font for your first attempts. - Practice, practice, practice: Use scrap fabric to test different fonts and sizes. - Invest in quality materials: Good thread and stabilizer make a world of difference. - Join online communities: Connect with other embroidery enthusiasts for tips and inspiration. - Don't be afraid to make mistakes: They're part of the learning process! Remember, every expert was once a beginner. Take your time, enjoy the process, and soon you'll be monogramming like a pro! Well, folks, we've covered a lot of ground in the world of monogram fonts for machine embroidery. From choosing the perfect font to mastering monogram etiquette, you're now armed with the knowledge to create stunning personalized projects. Remember, the beauty of monogramming is in its personal touch. So don't be afraid to experiment, break a few rules, and most importantly, have fun with it! Whether you're stitching gifts for loved ones or treating yourself to some custom swag, your monogrammed creations are sure to impress. Dicover our great collection of fonts for embroidery machine  Now, go forth and monogram to your heart's content! And hey, if you come up with any cool font combinations or monogram hacks, drop them in the comments below. Let's keep this embroidery party going! Happy stitching, everyone! Read the full article

[whosscruffylooking]

The Purest Things-First Day Jitters (Aaron Hotchner x Female Reader)

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: None.

A/N: There will be a Part 2 to this piece based on S3E10 in order to give some groundwork to the dynamics amongst the team once the reader joins them. Enjoy reading! I had so much fun making this piece. 

The Purest Things Masterlist

au! october 2007

"Criminal profiling is more of an art than a science. Modeling a criminal profile demands the precise marrying of psychological and rational instincts with the crime scene's particulars. What steps would you take in the process of analyzing a suspect to form a solid profile," the stoic BAU Section Cheif asks.

"First, I would want to accumulate all attainable information about the crime to help explain the "how" and "why" of the offense," you counter.

"What kind of information?"

"I'd want to acquire knowledge on the victim to examine the victimology. For example, I'd determine the victim's career and place of employment, friends, family, social status, criminal records, and daily routines and habits. Then, I can look at the connection between the victim and the unidentified subject. Did they know each other, or are they strangers? Why was the victim targeted, and was it them specifically, or are they just one quarry in a tangled web of attacks?"

You look for some signal in Cheif Strauss's attitude as to whether or not you should continue. 

Let’s ramp this up a notch. 

Taking the liberty of doing so regardless, you continue.

"Then, I want to know more about the attacker. I want to classify him...or her, as well as the offense. Why did it take place at a specific location? What is the motive? Is the suspect an amateur or a professional? This collection of data helps to assemble a proper crime assessment. I can now paint the picture of what happened before, during, and after the attack. Next, I can start to hypothesize and formulate a complete profile; I can deduce the kind of person we are dealing with. This assessment includes the age range, social status, what type of career he or she may hold, their I.Q., anything that describes the attacker. Now, I can give the profile to investigators and work to capture the assailant. The profile not only helps track him down but also helps refine the interrogation process."

Pausing the video recording, David sets the remote on the table.

"Academically, she's perfect for the job, Aaron. But will she fit in with the team? She seems too well trained, too straight from the textbook."

"That's why I wanted you to see this next part."

They both watch you in expectation.

"If I may Section Chief Strauss...as much as academic training benefits a student in laying the foundations for their selected career field, all of the studying and laboring over perfect grades becomes virtually obsolete once on the job. Instead, implementing the mechanics and learning through experience, trial, and error is far more beneficial. Executing what you've learned in the real world and refining your expertise in the field is the only way to accurately reveal whether or not you are capable of doing your job."

Rossi snickers at your straightforwardness. Aaron crosses his arms, struggling to fight back the urge to smile.

"Care to expound on that?" Strauss proposes.

"You don't trust the current...organization within the BAU. You feel as though Unit Cheif Hotchner and his team pose a threat to the unit. However, I think you put more emphasis on the chain of command. Specifically, you don't trust Agent Hotchner. In the entirety of this vetting process, you have continually undermined the Unit Chief's role in selecting a new agent. He has not been included in any of our telephone calls. Never once have you cc'd him on our emails. Nor has he been invited to sit in on our in-person interviews. I think the only time I've set eyes on him was in the lobby. He seemed to be completely unaware of my presence and purpose here. I'm sure that were I to be hired TodayToday, I could walk right into his office, and he would be blindsided entirely by my arrival and position on the team. Now, if I am to be apart of this renowned group of individuals, I want to know that I will be a part of it. I do not intend to be an outsider in my field or a pawn for higher-ups' ulterior motives. So, with all due respect Cheif Strauss, I would like to withdraw my application. If any of the aspects that I have touched on prove true and impact my role within this unit, I have no interest in undermining an established team that has no place for me."

Rossi claps Aaron on the shoulder, "She'll do just fine."

**********

You step inside the lobby of the FBI Academy. Although the sight is not new to you after your intense vetting process, it now takes on a new meaning. You have a new purpose. Processing your surroundings, you regard the entryway's clean efficiency. Considering the darkness that looms over this bureau, the lobby is welcoming all the same. 

So this is what my tax dollars have been paying for.

Noticing that an elevator has arrived, you call out to the person inside one of the many lifts. They hold it open for you. The sound of your clipping heels progresses as you run across the glossy tile floor. High heels may not seem like the most logical choice for your first day of work in the FBI, but when wearing them, you feel elevated. As if the world is your stage and you are the ballerina dazzling the crowd in her pointe shoes. Sure, they are uncomfortable at times, but wearing them can almost be considered a superpower. A quintessential accessory of the iconic femme fatale.

The woman in the elevator gasps as you climb on board, startling slightly.

"Are those Jimmy Choos?" She squeals.

You laugh and shake your head, peering down at the patent leather footwear, "No. I wish, though! They're just some old Steve Madden's I got on the clearance racks." Seeing her shoes, you imitate her enthusiasm, "Those are unique! I've never seen a green...quite that color on shoes before."

Chuckling, she thanks you, "Shoes are one of the many ways I express myself. I'm pretty sure at this point I have a pair of shoes in every color for every mood. Today I was feeling a little envious, so I chose this lime green."

"Envious?" You ask.

"There is a Doctor Who convention going on this weekend, and I have meet and greet tickets for the entire cast, but I've been called in on a case. Meanwhile, three of my friends from counterterrorism are on their way to meet David Tennant as we speak. So yes, I am envious."

"Oh my gosh, I heard about that! Catherin Tate is going to be there too. God, what I would give to meet Donna Nobel in the flesh."

"You watch Doctor Who?" Her eyes widen.

You shrug my shoulders, "I'm a bit of a self-proclaimed Whovian."

Shoving her bags underneath her shoulders to free her hands, she stretches them to you, "Penelope Garcia. We are going to be the best of friends."

Taking her hand in yours, you introduce yourself, "I'm Y/F/N/ Y/L/N. I look forward to having a best friend in the building. Today is my first day."

"Oh sweetie, you are going to do amazing," she looks up at the floor number as the elevator dings, "Well, this is my stop."

Stepping off alongside her, you notice her slight surprise. "Mine too," you announce proudly.

"Wait," she whispers, holding a hand up to your face in a stopping motion, "Today is your first day. Oh! Are you the newbie?"

"Today is my first day as a profiler at the BAU, yes."

Stomping her feet repeatedly, she cheers, "Oh, this day keeps getting better! My darling, you will fit in just fine. Now come with me. There's another fellow Whovian I'd like for you to meet."

Following her through the enormous glass doors and into the department, you can't help but feel slightly overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle. "Welcome to the bullpen," she turns around, beaming, "Oh! Spencer, come hither, the new girl is here!"

The young man spins around in his chair and raises his eyebrows, giving you a once-over; he strolls across the office to meet you. You can't tell if he is too tall or too thin. Perhaps, his head is just considerably big for his body, or his lengthy hair gives that illusion. When he nods at you, holding his hand out to greet you, he looks slightly like a little bobble-head doll.

"Dr. Spencer Reid at your service!" He melodically sings.

Nerdy pipe cleaner. I like him.

"It's a pleasure, Dr. Reid. I'm Y/F/N Y/L/N."

"I read you got a full ride through college and graduated from Berkley with a semester completed at the University of Kent for Psychology of Criminal Justice, and you have a degree in Forensic Psychology."

You nod, impressed by his research—time to dazzle him with yours.

"And you, Dr. Reid, attended Caltech. You completed your undergraduate degree at 16, and you hold Bachelor's degrees in Psychology, Sociology, and Philosophy. Very impressive."

"You forgot PhDs in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Engineering," he adds.

You nod, "My apologies."

Breaking a tiny smile, he shifts his gaze to the floor as you notice the light tint of pink shading his cheeks. Unable to resist, you feel the heat rise to yours as well.

"Ah! You must be our newest recruit—Benvenuto nell'esperienza della tua vita," a gentle voice echoes from behind you.

Turning around, you see a familiar-looking, dapperly dressed older gentlemen gliding down the stairs to greet you.

"And you are Agent David Rossi. I attended one of your guest lectures at Berkley three years ago," you reach your hand out to meet his.

"Call me Dave, and you can thank me for inspiring your career choice later. Right now, we have a case. It looks like it'll be a first day via baptism by fire for you kiddo," he lifts his thick eyebrows and winks at you. David motions for you to follow his lead, and you eagerly journey behind him.  

In the conference room, you are met with the eager faces of four other new colleagues. The first to catch your eye is the herculean adonis, whose attention fixates on you. You watch as his eyes scour you top to bottom, taking your whole body in.

Four words. Sculpted by the gods. Where has he been all my life?

"Where have you been all my life?" The statuesque man purrs, running his thumb across his bottom lip.

Ha. Jinx. You can buy me a drink anytime.

"Hiding from men who lead an introduction with that," you strut over to shake his hand. A knot swirls in your stomach as your finger-tips touch, but you quickly dismiss it as mere infatuation.

Throwing his head back in laughter, he responds, "I like you already. Derek Morgan."

"It's nice to see you again," the bright, blue-eyed young woman you recognized as the media liaison smiles, "I'm Jennifer Jareau, but you can call me J.J." On the day of your first interview with Strauss, she offered you directions to the Section Chief's office.

Next, Agent Prentiss introduces herself. Her thick, raven-colored hair elegantly falls to her shoulders and encompasses her diamond-shaped face. There is a spirited as well as clever expression in her eyes.

Finally, Agent Hotchner stands up. You are taken aback by his astute and severe manner. He's taller than you recall, although you have only observed him from afar. Like most men, he seems to have become an automaton of the modern workplace, measured and valued just for his productivity and obedience. He is tense, most likely swallowing intense trauma and concealing it so he can get up each day and do the same tedious job again and again. Most men display these traits in the way they parent, becoming domineering companions, stacking decay over destruction until their home-life collapses. What remains is a mass of bitterness resentment.

Yet, he exhibits none of this. Beneath this rather tough exterior, you can discern that he is the kind of handsome that infiltrates your bones, that exudes an air of olden times before he's even said a word to you.

Tag List:

@chellybear98​ @destiny-tsukino​ @wanniiieeee​ @sweetiecake180 @vampiracontessa​ @weexinling​ @spaghetti-dad187 @hothskies​ @star-stuff-in-the-cosmos​ @mac99martin​ @clairedragonessbaker @cecemariee7302​ @halloweenwithreid @megans-txmblr​ @theoldestguard @purpledragonturtles​ @chazubagi​ @frogrrylovebot @agentaaronhotass​ @obsssedwithjustaboutanything @mcntsee @ssagube @softhetixx @kenzies-mr-j @peachyotps @cat11-2 @prettylittlemoonlight @ravenmoore14 @gubs-boobs @spencerreidsoulmate

[i-write-boop-spoops]

Steven Stone Fluff Alphabet

To go along with my NSFW Alphabet, I decided to do some fluff for my favourite rock nerd. Hope you enjoy!

A = Activities (what do they like to do with their s/o? how do they spend their free time?)

He loves being outside with you, going for hikes, walks and sea swims. Likes to learn with you too, wandering around museums and discovering new things about science, history and culture.

He probably won’t take you mining unless you’re really into it, it can be quite tedious and dangerous, but he loves when you help him polish stones, or help make them into decorations or jewellery.

He has a soft spot for lazy days where you two are draped across his couch watching trashy reality TV shows and fun, animated films

B = Beauty (what do they admire about their s/o? what do they think is beautiful about them?)

Likes how kind and caring you are, not only to him, but to his Pokemon and almost everyone else.

He thinks you’re beautiful in every way, but he in particular thinks your eyes sparkle like the rarest, most precious gem he has ever seen.

C = Comfort (how do they help their s/o when they feel down? what makes them feel better?)

Steven is a little oblivious, so you might have to tell him that you’re down, but as soon as he knows, it’s his mission to cheer you up! Lots of kisses and cuddles, your favourite meals delivered, a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen. If you’re sad due to an insecurity, he will wax poetic about how amazing that part of you is to him.

If you’re very stressed due to work or school, and you finally have time off, he’s going to whisk you away to a sun-drenched beach in Alola, the finest room in Hotel Richissime in Lumiouse, or his gorgeous villa by the Batte Zone in Sinnoh (provided he hasn’t given it to some ten-year-old yet lol) to help you unwind and enjoy yourself.

When he’s down, he needs reassurance, and lots of physical affection. He might also throw himself into his work/hobbies to an extreme degree, skipping meals and sleeping little, so you’ll have to ensure he gets fed and a good few hours of sleep until he starts feeling better.

D = Dreams (how do they picture their future with their s/o and in general?)

He would love a little family with you, a couple kids running around, maybe in Mossdeep, but he’s down with moving inland, or to your home region if you’re not from Hoenn, if you would prefer.

He definitely dreams about kissing you goodbye and ruffling his kiddos’ hair before he goes to work. Since his mother died when he was so young, he never really got to experience the classic nuclear family, so he longs to provide it to his own children.

He’d like to go back to college too, get his Masters and maybe PhD in Geology and work in that field. He really does not want to be involved with the Devon Corporation, so he hopes he can work with it as little as possible

E = Equal (are they the dominant one in the relationship or are they rather passive?)

I would say your relationship is equal for the most part, the only thing that tips the scales in Steven’s favour is his wealth and connections. He can get you things or into places that you, as a regular person, wouldn’t be able to at all otherwise.

He doesn’t hold this over your head, he finds people who do that rather gross, and he’s not your sugar daddy either. He does spoil you sometimes, but that’s just one way he expresses his fondness for you.

F = Fight (how quick are they to forgive their s/o? what are they like in an argument? who says sorry first?)

Steven is a reasonable man, so I think once he’s calmed down and thought about it more, he’s ready to forgive you if you’re sorry, Now, this all depends on the nature of why you were in the wrong, if that’s the case. He will let small things slide, and is willing to compromise on bigger things, but if you do something like cheat on him, he will never forgive you.

When he is in the wrong though, he will own up to it, your relationship is more important than his pride.

He doesn’t go for cheap shots or low blows, and he only raises his voice if he is really pissed. If this is before you live together, and the fight occurs at his house, he will get you to leave, but makes sure you get home safe.

G = Gifts (what kind of things do they gift to their s/o? are they spontaneous or do they stick to special events like anniversaries?)

So. Many. Rocks.

Seriously, your shelves will be filled with amethyst clusters and pretty pebbles. Some of this rocks will be jewels encrusted in some stellar accessories.

Beyond that, he’ll get you things he thinks you might need. Complaining about your coffee maker? He’s just gotten you a top of the line model with a prepaid subscription to receive new pods full of expensive Kalosian coffee every month for the next five years. Need a new bag? He’ll have one that costs double your rent shipped to you by the end of the day.

His gifts are expensive and high quality, but he does not buy you them for the sake of flaunting wealth. He just thinks you’d like them.

H = Heart Eyes (what are they like in love? is it obvious to others? how do they express their love? do they brag about their s/o to others?)

Steven feels like nothing can bother him. His smile is wider and his eyes sparkle whenever he thinks of you. He compliments you all the time and gives you lots of tender kisses and touches, spoils you a bit too. He doesn’t really brag, he thinks your amazingness stands for itself.

I = Impression (what first attracted them to their s/o? how accurate was their first impression to how their s/o actually is?)

He just thought you were very pretty when you first met, very sweet and cute. Evidently he was correct :)

J = Jealousy (do they get jealous easily? how do they deal with it?)

Steven rarely gets jealous. He’s not an arrogant guy in any way really, but he is confident in himself and in your relationship.

Things like money, power or status don’t threaten him, but appearance, particularity musculature, does. Steven’s quite the lean, slim guy, and sometimes he thinks he might not be strong or masculine enough for you, no matter how much you disagree. It honestly made him hurt a little when you jokingly called Leon, the Galar champion, a himbo.

When he is jealous, he gets a little stiff, he frowns, he holds onto you a little tighter if you’re around the person who makes him jealous. When he’s alone, he laments about it.

K = Kiss (are they a good kisser? what was their first kiss like? where do they kiss the most?)

Steven is a suave, smooth kisser, each kiss makes you feel like you’re the most precious thing in the world.

Your first kiss with him felt right, he gently cupped your cheeks and kissed you slowly in a manner that portrayed exactly how he felt about you.

He likes to kiss your cheek and forehead, and sometimes your knuckles if he’s holding your hand.

L = Little Things (what are the little things they love about their s/o? are they attentive?)

He loves how kind you are, loves how you treat his Pokémon like each one is the cutest ever, even if they are decidedly not cute. He likes how you look after him, making sure he sleeps and eats, showing up to his house randomly with treats or just to visit him. He really appreciates it.

M = Marriage (do they want to get married? how do they propose? what would the wedding be like?)

Making you his spouse would make him so happy!

His proposal would be very intimate, a night time picnic, either stargazing, watching fireworks or a meteor shower. He’d turn to you, with a soft smile, and tell you exactly how much you mean to him, and how much he loves you. Then, he would take out a small velvet box and ask you to marry him. The ring would be jaw-droppingly ornate, with your favourite gem in the middle.

The wedding would be intimate too, very swanky, with geode centrepieces and formal attire. He’d ultimately like to hold it in somewhere like Reflection Cave, but he’s down to hold it in a castle or hotel otherwise, with nice gardens of course.

N = Nicknames (what do they call their s/o? what do they get called?)

He calls you sweetheart, darling, love, my gem.

You call him Stevie, babe and dreamboat. Sometimes rock nerd or dork if he’s going on about geology.

O = Open (do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? is it easy for them to share?)

He’s pretty open, once you two have been together for a good while. He trusts you enough to tell you his insecurities and darkest thoughts, like how he feels burdened by the weight of his responsibilities, how his strained relationship with his father affects him, or how he still has trauma regarding the loss of his mother.

Just make sure to give him a big hug after he tells you, ok?

P = Pancakes (are they a good cook? how often do they cook for their s/o? breakfast in bed or fancy dinner dates?)

Steven cannot cook to save his life. He never needed to learn, they had a personal chef at home when he was growing up, and when he was older he would go out for food or get it delivered all the time. This continues when you get together, he always insists on paying.

That being said, he’s definitely up to learn, especially if you teach him, or if you can’t cook either, he’d love to learn with you.

Q = Quirk (a random quality/ability that is beneficial to their relationship.)

Steven has a super gentle, super careful touch, which means he gives the most amazing scalp massages. You have no choice but to melt when his fingers are caressing your head.

R = Romance (how romantic are they? are they cliché or creative?)

Extremely romantic, more elegant than corny. He wants you to know how beautiful and amazing you are, and he wants to put in effort to prove that point.

S = Sleep (who falls asleep first? do they need their s/o close to them? do they have any bad habits?)

You do usually, he likes to watch you snooze before he falls asleep. He likes to have you close to him, but he can sleep without you just fine, not waking up next to you is really more of a pain to him.

For bad habits? Steven has a tendency to lose track of time and go to bed very late. It can be frustrating when you need a good cuddle before bed, and when you have to deal with a barely-conscious, sometimes grouchy Steven in the morning.  

T = Thrill (do they need to spice up their relationship with new things or do they stick to a routine? how often do they do new things?)

If Steven wants to go somewhere or do something, he does because he has the luxury to. So when it comes to new experiences, like visiting somewhere new, trying a new activity, and you both want to go there or try it, he will have it organised straight away.

He only really has a routine when league business is in full swing, and when he is no longer champion, anything goes. Though if you have a routine, he will work around it.

U = Unity (did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? what traits do they share?)

Steven, due to his wealth and connections, had a habit of dropping everything to go on trips or rock-hunting whenever he felt like, which was detrimental to many of his relationships, mainly because he wouldn’t notify people before he left.

You, however, have taught him the importance of taking other people’s feelings and opinions into account. You’re so attentive with him, and in turn, he learns how to do just that with all the important people in his life.

You’re both kind people, who care deeply about each other and Pokemon

V = Value (how important is their relationship to them? what is it worth compared to other things in their life?)

At the beginning, the relationship is just a luxury for him, something he enjoys, but not something he needs in his life. But the longer you two are together, the more important you and your needs become to him.

You definitely become his point of focus, your happiness is his goal. He doesn’t stop engaging in his hobbies and interests, but he does do so in a manner that disrupts your relationship the least.

You are his rock, the love of his life, and he puts you before everything.

W = Wild Card (a random fluff headcanon.)

Cried while drunk at his Bachelor Party because he just really wanted to be married to you already and he could not understand why he had to wait to do so.

X = XOXO (do they like to kiss and cuddle? are they upfront about their relationship or rather shy when in public?)

Steven is quite affectionate at home, lots of soft kisses, hugs and long cuddles.

In public, his displays of affection are very elegant and appropriate. He wants you to know he loves you and finds you beautiful, even when in public. He likes to hold your hand, or rest his on your hip or the small of your back.

Will kiss your lips as a greeting or to say goodbye, but will mostly stick to occasionally kissing your cheek or forehead when you’re out.

Y = Yearning (how do they cope when they spend time away from their s/o? do they miss their s/o?)

Steven really starts missing you when there’s no way you can be together, like when he’s abroad and/or working. Usually during these times, he texts frequently and calls you at least once a day, provided he’s not stuck in some cave. He likes to gaze fondly at pictures of you, planning how he’ll make it up to you when you reunite

Z = Zoo (do they have pets? do they want some in the future?)-

Of course! He is/was a champion after all, so he has his pokemon team, plus some random beldum floating around. You treat his like your own, and vice versa, so it’s a very happy household.

[solarsunsimagines]

NOT GOING BACK

Pairing: Corbyn Besson x gender neautral!Reader

Warnings: None

Request: Nope

MASTERLIST

——————————————————————————————————–

Although I want to tell you that I'm the popular jock with twenty minions running after, I can't, unfortunately that fantasy is completely the opposite of my high school life. Being an easy target had kept me on my feet for most of my schooling days, but sometimes I would trip and fall, and that's when life felt the most hopeless. It was no secret that I was unpopular, bullied and ridiculed for almost everything.

Unfortunately, in this day in age, showing the slightest sign of weakness means that you'll be hunted like fresh game, so you suck it up, put on a brave face until you get home, and ultimately break down over your bottled emotions.

Even though I seemed to be ridiculed by everyone, the one person who actually never said anything bad about me, just so happened to be the most popular guy in school. He was popular, yes, but he honestly didn't have a bad bone in his body, at least from what I had heard over the years.

For some fucked up reason, this boy had always been a secret crush of mine. Sure he was completely out of my league, and he never really spoke to me, but he was a good guy, and that's all that mattered to me.

His name is Corbyn, Corbyn Besson. He was in the same year as me, but we had almost no classes together. He was more of a science expert, while I was the art nerd. In the few classes we did together, the universe thought it would pull cruel jokes on me, and make him sit next to me in every single one. unfortunately, it was never his choice, but I was still grateful that I could be somewhat close to him.

Thankfully, this year I am a senior, meaning that in a few months, I will never have to see these people ever again. Although it does also mean I'll never be able to see Corbyn.

Recently the school had been promoting the prom to a rather unbearable extent, there were thousands of posters around the school, pin badges were being handed out, and almost all of the seniors were talking about it non-stop. Everyone seens to already have a partner, which I am severely lacking, so if I don't suddenly make one appear out of thin air, I probably won't go, or I'll just go alone. I had always dreamed that Corbyn would take me to prom, but with his very recent girlfriend bragging about all the accessories and her dress that she got recently, there is a billion to one chance that he would ever look my way.

Most days, after school, I found myself sitting on the bleachers finishing homework while watching the footballers finish their practice, it was a somewhat boring tradition, but it was efficient.

After about an hour of scribbling down some answers for a history pamphlet we had to fill in, I had felt the presence of someone else sitting down next to me, yet I refused to look up, scared that it was one of the stupid jocks who had spotted me.

"Hey." The person said, I recognized the voice immediately, making my head turn directly toward him, staring at him in shock.

"Hey..." I say slowly, as I didn't fully believe that he was sitting by me, and the other part was sure that this was the day that he finally joined in on all the bullying toward me.

"Whatcha doing?" He says kindly, making me look back at my homework.

"History pamphlet." I say blankly. I would be lying if I said I wasn't completely freaking out over the fact that he was talking to me, but I tried to remain as chilled out as I could.

"Oh, right, I haven't even started that."

I look up at him, my eyebrows furrowed over the fact that I'm 100% sure that he doesn't take history.

"You don't take history." I tell him, making him chuckle.

"You got me." He laughs, wiping his face with his hands. "So, I do actually have a reason for being here."

"Which is?" I scribble down some more things, not caring if they made any sense.

"Well, I've been thinking about the dance recently..." he pauses.

"Okay?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?" My heart literally stops at those words. Great, he has joined in with everyone else.

I grab all my things, and put them in my backpack, not daring to look at Corbyn.

I stand up and walk down the bleachers until I'm finally on the football field, wanting to get as far away from him as possible.

"Hey! Where are you going!" I hear him shout after me, but I just keep walking.

It seemed like I had made a good space of distance between us when I felt him grab my arm, I instantly spin around, ready to finally fight back, when I'm met with a very concerned looking face.

"Why are you running from me?" He asks, clearly offended.

"Because I know you're not serious, so I'm sparing myself the hassle of finding out it was a lie."

"But it's not a lie?"

"Why would someone like you, want to take someone like me." He chuckles at my words.

"Because, I don't think we're that different from each other." I scoff, "I'm serious, I've seen you in class and you seem nice, I just wanna get to know you some more."

He seemed genuine, but something inside me was stopping me from completely believing him.

"I just don't get it, you have a million girls waiting for you to ask them, so why me?"

"I don't want to take anyone else? Just let me take you, if it doesn't go well, I'll leave you alone for the rest of the year."

Ultimately this whole thing could end up being a lot more messy then I could ever imagine, but I didn't want to miss the dance, and I surely wouldn't want to pass on this offer.

"Fine, I'll text you my address, guess I'll see you on Friday?"

"Yeah, you will." He leans forward and kisses me on the cheek, making me blush hard.

I watch him as he runs in the opposite direction. He skips his way into school, making me laugh at his strange ways.

[purplebass]

#2 Celbratory Fic! And it's another one with Jesse and his uncles + cousins. This time, Jesse spends time with uncle Gabriel, Thomas, Anna and Grace. You can just say is a continuation of this other fic I've posted a few days ago. The next fic will be about Grace and Christopher (also: anon, I hope you don't mind I'll use your prompt!). I also hint at this in this fic. So, happy reading! ✨

Characters: Jesse Blackthorn, Thomas Lightwood, Gabriel Lightwood, Anna Lightwood, Grace Blackthorn, Lucie Herondale

Jesse sat across his cousin Thomas in the carriage, and it was a bright morning. He forgot how hot the weather could turn towards the summer season, and wished he hadn’t worn a coat, because the air in the vehicle was stale, and he was sweating. Too late. Too late and too bad the windows seemed to be stuck, but at least they had almost arrived at his uncle Gabriel’s house.

“Are you adapting well?” Thomas asked him.

“Uncle Gabriel and aunt Cecily are very kind,” he said. He accepted to live at their house for the time being, while he continued training to become a shadowhunter. “And Anna decided to give me her room while I’m there. I can’t express my gratitude enough.”

Thomas smiled. “Don’t mention it. You’re part of our family. But even if you weren’t, we would still help you, Jesse.”

Jesse couldn’t help but grin, and blush a little. He remembered when he was a child. His mother never failed to mention how his uncles and their families were corrupted, evil, and they needed to be kept at arm’s length, if he ever were to cross paths. But his relatives had been nothing short of welcoming.

“Looks like we’re here,” Thomas announced, glancing outside. “By the angel, uncle!” he exclaimed next, as he opened the door to get off.

Jesse exited after him, and saw his uncle Gabriel touching the side of his shoulder. “Is everything alright?” he asked. Thomas seemed to have stormed inside already.

Gabriel looked up, and winced a little. “Yes, yes. I wanted to open the door for you, but Thomas beat me to it,” he shrugged. “Did you have fun at Gideon and Sophie’s?”

Jesse nodded. “They took me around Idris. It was really nice,” he said. He had seen Idris already, when he was a ghost. But seeing it during the day was something entirely different. He liked the shadowhunter city, and the life that came with it. Although, if he had to be honest, he preferred the area where Blackthorn Manor was located, at the edge of Brocelind forest, where there was nothing else but vegetation around him. And Herondale Manor.

“I’m glad, I’m glad,” Gabriel replied. “When you’re ready, we will accompany you to the manor like you asked last time. Do you still want to renovate it?”

“I think it’s my duty as the last Blackthorn alive.” It felt weird to utter the word alive without thinking himself dead. I am alive. I am alive. I am living. “And I want to see if there is something that can be salvaged from the ruins. You know, family heirlooms, and things like that.” There weren’t many things in the manor that Jesse had cared about, because admittedly, there hadn’t been much to begin with. He hoped that most of the items he used whenever they were there, like the old books which probably belonged to his father or grandparents, hadn’t been destroyed in the fire. He had cherished those books. They were one of the few goods that had given him a glimpse of how his father might have been around his age. He didn’t live that long, after all.

Sometimes, he found himself thinking about Rupert. How life might have turned out, if he hadn’t lost his life before he was born. Now his uncles, aunts and cousins were the closest thing he had to a family. His uncle Gabriel offered to teach him how to use the bow and arrow, which had surprised Jesse. He hadn’t asked anyone to help him with training. He was happy someone offered to help him.

“I’ve always wanted to learn how to use it, but we didn’t have one at Chiswick,” he told Gabriel in the training room of the London Institute, where there was more space available to practice.

Gabriel had made a face. “Strange. There was one which belonged to me, but maybe,” he had shaken his head, lost in thought. “Nevermind. Let’s get started, shall we?”

And then he had spent the day learning how to hold the bow and shoot. It hadn’t been easy, and his shoulders were a little stiff, but he had managed to pull a few good shoots by the end of their session. His uncle had patted his shoulder lightly and had congratulated him. It felt good.

“Not bad for your first time,” he had commented. “How did you find the bow?”

“I think I like it.”

“If we train more, you will get even better. No pressure.”

Jesse wasn’t sure if the bow and arrow was his weapon of choice, but he surely wanted to know more about it. “Thanks, uncle Gabriel,” he had replied, making his uncle’s face brighten.

It was the first time he had called him uncle.

Gabriel and Jesse reached the drawing room. Perched on an armchair, newspaper in hand, sat his cousin Anna Lightwood. “About time, cousin. My tea’s got cold,” she said, twirling the cup in her slender fingers for show. It was empty.

Jesse had heard a lot about Anna. Had seen her while he was a ghost as well. She had a reputation for being fashionable and very direct, confident. Two things he didn’t think he was, but not everyone was perfect, and he was sure that Anna had demons of her own. Perhaps, someday they would talk about it like cousins did. He believed.

“You know that our family’s carriage is slow, Anna,” said Thomas from the window, his arms crossed on his chest.

“Right. Anyway, you’re here, finally,” she said, rising from her seat. “Are you excited that we’re about to redo your wardrobe?”

“I trust your judgement” he answered. “But please, don’t make me ridiculous.”

“You, ridiculous?” Anna’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “You could never be ridiculous with such features. Trust me on that. I will make your black hair and green eyes combination shine.”

“If you say so,” he pursed his lips. “Grace,” he said then, as his sister crossed the threshold. She had been staying at the Lightwoods as well, but lately she had been spending more time at Grosvenor Square, where the Fairchilds lived. She told him that she liked to help his cousin Christopher in the lab, and that she wanted to learn more about science. Jesse couldn’t object about that, because he knew that his sister could never truly pursue what she wanted. He just wanted her to be happy, and if science was what she was interested in, so be it.

“I’m sorry I’m late, but I had to change.”

“Did my brother burn something again?” Anna asked. “Last time I wanted to watch what he was doing, he ruined my tie.”

“And he almost burnt my eyebrows once,” Thomas reminded them.

“Nothing of the sort,” Grace said. “It’s late, isn’t it? Shouldn’t we go?” she asked hurriedly, as if she didn’t want to continue that conversation. She barely talked about what happened in the lab, and he guessed she didn’t want to. Not that he wanted to know. He respected her privacy, but not everyone did.

Thomas stayed behind because he had something to do, whereas Jesse, Anna and Grace decided to take a walk to get to the shops where they could find something for him. They didn’t disguise themselves, which he liked. It made him feel part of the world again, to be seen by people. The street Anna had taken them teemed with pedestrians going about their day, and they reached the clothing shop soon. It had a big sign on it, and some dresses on display.

Anna decided that purple and burgundy were Jesse’s color, and she chose a couple of waistcoats. She insisted that she would pay, saying they were a welcoming gift. Now they were visiting the third shop, which was a three floor building which sold different items for men and women alike. He believed they had bought several pieces already, but Anna was convinced that he needed a coat for the winter season, even if it was almost summer. Ah, and a bathing suit. Really? As she was looking around to find the perfect piece, he decided to take a tour around the store, since he had never seen one like that before.

He was by himself as he waited, because Grace excused herself that she also needed to look for something. He walked around and glanced at the accessories and the clothes, until something caught his eye.

“I don’t think that is her style,” Grace said, reappearing by his side as if she had appeared out of thin air.

He lifted a brow. “I don’t know who you’re talking about,” he feigned ignorance. “And how do you know what her style is?”

“You’re right, I have no idea about that. Although I’ve paid attention to her, I’m not sure.”

“About what?” he peered at her as she was checking something from the same rack.

Grace gave him an unreadable look. “She seems fickle. I’m worried that now that she managed to bring you back, she won’t be interested anymore.”

“I understand your concern, Grace,” he told her flatly. “But I can assure you, it’s nothing like that.”

“Has she told you she loves you already?”

“How do you know that?” he asked, blushing, glancing away.

“She did,” Grace said, inclining her head. “I can’t believe it. I thought she would never.”

Jesse didn’t know how Grace had realized that, but he could tell that she understood his feelings, and she didn’t want him to get hurt. He was about to ask her something, when Anna interrupted them.

“This looks refined, cousin,” she commented. “Lucie will like it,” she added, before she stormed away again.

Jesse and Grace exchanged a glance, and the latter grinned. He felt his cheeks warm, and he walked away before his sister could notice he was blushing.

...

A few hours and several bags of clothes and accessories later, they all went back to the Lightwood residence. Anna was pleased with what she had chosen for Jesse, and said that she’d be looking forward to seeing him in one of them at the next event, whatever that might be.

“Anna has a good eye for fashion,” Grace commented, holding two bags of clothes as well. “Do you think she likes us?”

“Why wouldn’t she?” Jesse shrugged. It was a curious question he did not expect.

“Well, you’re her cousin, whereas I’m -” Grace stopped mid-sentence, making Jesse wait. “Lucie.”

She turned abruptly, as if she had been caught with her hands in the cookie jar. She glanced at Grace, then at him. “Hello, Grace. Hello, Jesse.”

“What are you doing here?” Grace asked bluntly. It sounded a bit like an accusation, but considering the conversation they had had in the shop earlier, he expected it. Grace was wary of Lucie.

Lucie sighed, and managed a smile. She wasn’t wearing a hat nor gloves, and he suspected she had been waiting for them. He glowed inside. She came to see him. Which excuse would she use today? He bit his lip expectantly, amused.

“I had to run an errand for… for aunt Cecy,” she mumbled, clutching her hands nervously. “She needed something to do something, I guess.”

Grace wasn’t convinced at all, but she let her go. “See you next time,” she just said, then gazed up at Jesse one last time before leaving them alone.

Once Grace was out of sight and out of earshot, Lucie advanced. She offered him her best smile, which he exchanged with one of his own.

“Nice excuse you’ve got here, huh,” he said.

“Was it that obvious?”

“She already knows, Lucie,” he revealed, to which Lucie just nodded. “You know that Anna took me shopping today,” he changed the topic quickly. He opened his arms, and she hurried to him and put her hands behind his back, and her head on his chest. He closed her in an embrace, and interlaced his fingers behind her neck.

“Did you buy a lot of things?” she asked excitedly. “I can’t wait to see you in one of the suits you bought with Anna.”

“You will see them soon enough, I think. Isn’t there a party next week? At the London Institute?”

“Is it?” she glanced up. “I didn’t. Why has no one notified me?”

“Do not sound so angry,” he chided, a smile dancing on his lips. “No one knows.”

“Are you teasing me, Jesse Blackthorn?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” he admitted. “I have something for you,” he said, and produced a small pouch from his pocket. “Here.”

Lucie examined it, and then looked inside. There was a silver comb with a butterfly decoration in it. “It’s precious,” she told him. Unable to hide her joy, she hugged him again, this time more tightly than before. “I really like it.”

“I’m glad,” he remarked, caressing the back of her neck. “I had to make up for the one I couldn’t retrieve from Chiswick.”

“Nevermind about that. I like this one more,” she said, and raised her head so that he could kiss her.

Someone cleared their voice, and they separated. It wasn’t a secret that they were together… to most. But probably, not everyone had caught up.

“Does Will know about this?” Gabriel asked, but they could tell he wasn’t serious, just curious. And he was smiling.

“Come on, Gabriel. Leave them alone,” Cecily intervened, taking her husband’s arm to lead him away, winking at them. “They were just embracing.”

“He will know next week,” Jesse said, making Gabriel and Cecily stop in their tracks. “That I plan to spend the rest of my life with Lucie, however long that might be.”

Lucie opened her mouth in surprise, and looked at him. “Jesse, are you...”

“Yes. Are you?”

“Undoubtedly, yes!” she exclaimed, embracing him again.

“Did he just propose to her or it’s my impression?” Gabriel wondered out loud.

“He did. Yes, he sure did,” Cecily said, and dragged a blabbering Gabriel away, while Jesse basked in his own happiness with Lucie, and he felt alive.

Taglist (if you want to be added or removed, send me a PM): @princesslucinda @kit-12 @immortal-enemies @lucian-evander @esa-emery @danieldyers @blackthorn-trash @rinadragomir @fortunesandfables @itsdaughterofthemoon @silvenys@thomastair3 @livvyheronstairs @ holding-infinity-and-a-book @lovelaces @axoloteca @autumnangel20 @cordelia-cardale @lucie-blackthorns

[ace-in-a-shopping-cart]

Day 3

Prompt: You have an animal that only you and your soulmate can see.

Word Count: 1,226

Main Taglist: (Send an ask to be added or removed!) @starlocked01,​​​ @spoopy-turtle,​​​ @lizluvscupcakes,​​ @more-fandon-than-friends​, @i-cant-find-a-good-username, @vindicatedvirgil, @star-crossed-shipper, @justaqueercactus, @gayboopnoodle, @sanderssidesweirdo Soulmate taglist:(Send an ask to be added or removed!) @elizabutgayer, @melodiread, @tsshipmonth2020, @mikalya12

Logan smiled as the black cat jumped onto his shoulder. He ignored the fact that the cat had not been there before and instead looked at her neck. Sure enough, there was a full capsule attached to the collar. The accessory was a light purple that looked almost indigo and had a name tag attached to it. The tag had names on both sides. One side said ‘Demon’ the other said ‘Shadow’. This was a direct result of both soulmates getting to name the creature.

Gently, he took the note from the capsule on the collar and gave Shadow a few pets while he read the note. It was a long strip of paper rolled into a tight cylinder so it took him some time to go through it. Once he was done, he smiled and grabbed a similar strip of paper from his desk, writing a reply.

Many would wonder how this system came to be, or even how it was possible. The answer is that Logan was a very curious teen and had a lot of time on his hands during the summer. He’d known about the soul animal his whole life, had known his soulmate was the only other one who could see Shadow. What he hadn’t known is a lot of other things about the animal. His first order of business had been to list all his questions out.

Could objects be attached to the animal and still be there when the animal visits the other soulmate? Does the animal truly visit the other soulmate or do they have two different animals that they both can see? Would the object disappear once the other soulmate removed it from the animal?

Once that was done, his experimentation started. First, he’d found a nice collar that was pleasing to the eyes and went well with the cat’s black fur. He’d attached it to the cat and waited a week. During that week, the cat went back and forth between both soulmates as she was wont to do. At the end, the collar had stayed on and became a permanent fixture. It had even gained the extra accessory of a tag that allowed you to write on both sides. The side facing out had ‘Demon’ already written on it. Logan had loved it, having this first contact with his soulmate and knowing they speak the same language.

His next step was to quickly grab a pen and turn the tag over to write ‘Shadow’ as that’s the name he’d been using for the cat the whole time. He then took it one step further and grabbed a few small capsules. He’d read about homing pigeons carrying messages in capsules like this and thought it might work on the collar as well.

He’d sent a small strip of paper basically explaining that this was a test to see if this worked and that his name was Logan. He greeted his soulmate and told them a bit about himself. He didn’t have to wait long before he got a reply saying the test worked and that his soulmate is happy to finally be able to talk to him. His soulmate said his name was Virgil and gave some basic information about himself.

Thus, they managed to strike up a conversation and became friends. They soon came to be the other’s closest confidant, making sure to tell them everything first. Logan told Virgil when he won the science fair and Virgil told him when he got accepted into a dance studio. They got closer by the day, secrets written in the dead of night, jokes shared between two smiles, a million little things happening to bring them closer. Soon, Logan was marveling at the question of how many other people had thought to do this, how many previous generations had been unable to do it.

He hadn’t realized it’d happened until one day he was lying in bed, reading over a new note from Virgil and had the thought pop into his head. He knew in that moment that he loved him, he just didn’t know when it began. Did it begin when he first read his name, repeating it aloud to himself to test how it felt on his tongue? Was it the first time he realized there was someone out there who knew his whole being and accepted him for it? Was it the first time he wondered about Virgil’s laugh, or the way his own name would sound in Virgil’s voice? Was it some indeterminable collection of moments that made it impossible to pinpoint the exact moment?

Whichever way it came about was irrelevant now as it was irreversible. Logan wasn’t even sure he’d want to reverse it if he could. Loving Virgil was both an emotion and a conscious choice that he made. He wouldn’t have it any other way, loving someone he’d yet to meet.

A few days later, he went to a small coffee shop that was on his way to a new doctor’s office. While waiting in line, someone came in and attracted a lot of attention. Turning, Logan found a man with a cat around his shoulders. His hand was buried in the cat’s fur and he seemed to be using it to calm down from something based on the way he stood in the corner and the way the cat kept raising her head to bump against his cheek.

Several people walked over and seemed to be asking the cat’s name. Logan, however, saw the collar and knew exactly who it was. Abandoning his place in line, Logan walked over, his skirt swishing around his knees. He smiled as he came close, Shadow stretching out a paw to bat at his shoulder. “That’s where you were.” He said, having not seen her that morning.

The man, Virgil, looked surprised. “You can see her?”

“I can.” Logan replied simply, reaching out a hand to let the paw rest on. “I’m amused you named her Demon. After all, she’s quite docile for a cat.”

Virgil chuckled, a sound that Logan knew he could melt over. “She’s called Demon because she loves to sit at the end of the bed at three in the morning like a sleep paralysis demon.”

Logan laughed. “How about I buy us both coffee and we can chat in person for a while, not having to wait a few hours for replies?”

“I’d like that, Logan.” Just as he thought it would, his heart skipped a beat when Virgil said his name.

“Say that again.” He said before he could stop himself.

“Say what?”

“My name.”

Virgil smiled. “Logan, Logan, Logan. I’ll say it as many times as you want.”

Logan could have kissed him right then. Instead, he cleared his throat. “What’s your order?”

Virgil told him and he was off, getting back in line to grab them and search for his soulmate and cat, who seem to have taken residence in the corner booth by the window. Logan walked over with a large smile, sliding in across from him before they talked about anything and everything under the sun. They enjoyed the way they could speak and hear the other respond, the chance to see the other’s face while talking, to be able to be close to the other and have him close as well.

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch14 Battle Gym Leader Bea

You two had found yourselves out of Hammerlocke by sundown that day. But not before you went back into the town and stopped by that cafe you both had passed earlier, and each gotten a free piece of cake and small cup of tea from those coupon things that Applin Boy had given to Gloria as thanks for helping him. Cake and tea weren't exactly what you would call dinner but you weren't going to complain about free food. Your drizzilie sure tried sneaking it from you but settled for the small bag of fruit you tossed at it after you told him no.

"So," you asked Gloria after taking another sip of the tea you received, "You mentioned challenging Bea next right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Remember how I told you there was four gyms that gave the same badge?" You nodded. "The Fighting Type and Ghost Type gyms give the same badge. While the Ice and Rock gyms give a different badge from the Ghost and Fighting gyms, they give the same one as well. So either someone can just chose the Fighting or Ghost type gyms then move on and chose either the Ice or Rock type gyms. But I plan on stopping by both. The closest one just happens to be the Fighting Type Gym run by the Gym leader Bea. Not only is she the top fighting type pokemon trainer, but she's been the winner of the Galarian Martial Arts Championship seven years running undefeated. They say she can go bare fists with her machomp and win."

"Wow. She sounds really strong."

"She is. Which is why I think that's why Hop's going there too." She frowned stabbing at a piece of her free cake. "He said he wanted to become stronger. Challenging another strong gym leader right after defeating Kabu but loosing to Bede sounds like he's trying to conquer another hard challenge to prove he's strong. ...I'm worried about him."

"I know, but don't worry," you assured with a smile. You remembered enough about the game to know Hop would definitely bounce back, and after hearing him speak the other day, you knew he'd be fine. "He's a strong and has enough determination in him to move a mountain if he felt like it."

...She smiled at you. "Thanks Y/n.  I knew I made a good choice in my traveling buddy."

You paused a moment...before blinking. "That reminds me. Why did you want me to come along with you back in Postwick? I mean it's not that I mind, but we were practically strangers then."

She shrugged. "I really don't know. I know it's gonna sound weird, but there's a really good atmosphere around ya. Like...You just give off good vibes, and my gut feelings are usually spot on anyways. An' I wasn't wrong!" She smiled. "You've been a great friend ta us!"

You smiled. Well that was strange. It was almost like what Sonia said about your 'good aura', but you weren't going to complain about the nice compliments.

"You're one of the gym challengers endorsed by Leon, aren't you?" Both of you looked up and blinked at the sight of an older woman, who looked older than Kabu, dressed in a blue and pink outfit with accessories, an umbrella in one hand, was pretty tall for someone you'd expect, and aquamarine eyes looking at Gloria curiously. Stunned that you two hadn't noticed noticed her walk up to you before now, both you two looked at each other before Gloria looked back to the old woman and nodded. She hummed for a moment before suddenly holding out something to her you recognized right away. "My name's Opal. If you want to know more, have a look at my league card." Gloria's brown eyes stared at the card for a moment before taking it from the lady. "I'll keep an eye on you, Child. I want to see what you can do when you go all out."

Both of you watched silently as she silently just...turned around and walked right out of the cafe. Like nothing had just happened. Leaving the two of you sitting there looking after her blankly before looking at one another with blank faces wondering if that actually happened.

Eventually you blinked as Gloria looked at the card handed to her. "Who was that?"

"According to this..she's Ms. Opal." She looked up to you holding up the card in her hand, "And the Fairy Type Gym Leader from Bellonlea!"

"What?" You held out your hand as she offered it to you. "Lemme see that." And true to Gloria's word, it was an official League Card with the picture of the very same elderly woman you just spoken too on it. "Huh." You handed it back to her. "I wonder what she was doing all the way here in Hammerlocke then?"

She shrugged before pocketing the card. "The same thing as Lee? Like maybe she's seein' the Chairman too? Or maybe traveling since I don't think anyone would challenge her yet. March is almost over so it's still pretty early in the year for anyone to gather many badges."

Wow. Almost three months had passed already? You must've lost track of time from traveling so much. You weren't too sure but shrugged. "Who knows? C'mon. Let's finish eating and hit the road before it gets too dark outside."

After the meal the two of you headed back out on Route Six as the sun nearly set in the sky making everything lightly darker but had enough light to still see. The lights of Hammerlocke shining out as the two of you left the dragon town. You were a bit nervous about running into Raihan or that Mr. Rose again, but you ran into neither as you left the town. Thank goodness. You and her then fell into the familiar routine of walking, camping, and more shaking of berry trees as you passed by them by chance. Only this time Gloria seemed to pick back up her hobby of taking pictures for her dex challenge again. The photos Victor had given her had filled up a good sizable amount of the book already but there was still more photos needed for it as well as for that curry dex challenge book she needed. It was a bit random but you were glad she found something to keep herself occupied on the way there, and photography was a pretty neat hobby. Although she didn't seem to be as into it as Victor was. If she wasn't doing that, she battled a pokemon here n' there as you either watched or gathered food or some other needed thing to be done and like before you traveled past a few small towns, houses, or other travelers heading in the opposite direction. No signs of the boys, but you were glad not having any more run ins with those Team Yell grunts as days passed as you two slowly made your way towards Stow-on-Side.

"So how long until we reach Stow-on-Side?," you asked one day while walking.

Gloria hummed for a moment before whipping out her phone and flipping through the screen once it turned on. Lately the region around you had started to get rockier with more and more hills and cliffs jutting out of the earth until it slowly consumed both side of the path the two of you walked. "According to Rotom we should be there sometime tomorrow if we keep on goin' down this pathway." That was great news! "Also accordin' ta this, there's another historical wonder protected by the Galarian Conservation Society! ...Hmm. I wonder if she'll be down here too??"

You rose a brow at her. "Her who?"

She looked at you. "When I was chattin' with Sonia at the vault I showed 'er some old pokemon fossils I picked up. Useless really. Ye find 'em sometimes and see 'em in your science classes n' museums and the like. I was gonna give 'em to Hop as a gift since he's into that kinda stuff but she told me an old scientist friend of hers was in Stow-on-Side trying out this new fossil restoration or somethin' like that. But she couldn't find any fossils to try 'em out on."

......You blinked. "Since when did you get fossils??"

"I found two by accident back when we 'ere in the Wild Area. Y'know. When I fought that wild diglett in the cave." You groaned remembering that experience. "And then some bloke traded me two he didn't want at the pokemon center for the applin I was gonna put back when the red-headed bloke didn't want it. I completely forgotten I even had them til I remembered just now."

"That reminds me. Whatever did you do with those other pokemon you were given? Especially that baby toxel. It looked pretty young."

"Ah! I sent it to Mum to take care of! She mentioned being lonely without us there so I thought she'd like raisin' the wee tyke!"

You rose a brow. "Can she handle a toxel??"

"She sent me pictures of the lil thing sleepin' with Munchlax so I think they're doing just fine!"

"If you say so."

The both of you traveled until the sun went down and you set up camp under a shady ledge before quickly packing up the next day at day light and going to travel again. Until coming to a bunch of bright stony ledges and cliffs in a dead end where the path ended just a few yards in front of the cliffside. .......Which left the both of you confused looking around.

".....Does this mean we're at Stow-on-Side?," you asked pressing you hand against one of the rocky hills before yanking and waving it back from the heat of them sitting in the sun all day. Speaking of which it was hot as you traveled. Must be entering summer territory. Your f/c eyes scanned up and down the cliffs surrounding you all and a hand pressed above your brows to block the sun. "Or did we make a wrong turn somewhere??"

"Can't be! We followed nothin' but Route Six all the way here!" Gloria had already brought out her phone giving it a little shake. "Accordin' to this Stow-on-Side's just up ahead!"

"So either your phone's broken or we have to suddenly learn how to rock climb." Your eyes scanned the ledges more. They looked a little too dangerous to just be climbing without any professional gear or unless you were a rock climbing expert. To which you had neither...."What about that corvisquire you have?"

"It's not big enough to fly either of us up these mountains!...*sigh* We might have ta just call a flying taxi at this rate."

Yeah. That might be the best option either of you two had at this point. ....Your Drizzilie, which had taken to fully putting itself into your pack with just his head peeking out from under the lid to avoid the sun, suddenly gave a look towards something shiny. Before it's eyes widened and it gave a loud chirp poking it's head out fully to the both of you. You looked over your shoulder as it continued to make noises at you. "Whoa! Hey. What is it boy?" It's arm popped out and he pointed his hand towards the other side of the dead end you were at. You both looked over and you blinked at something against the cliffside shining in the sunlight. "Hey! What's that over there?" You pointed and began walking towards it...Gloria blinked, before putting her phone away and quickly following after you. You approuched the shining thing and soon discovered it to be a- "It's a ladder!" Walking forward more it was indeed a metal ladder. Secured and bolted to the cliffside and going up until it ended at the very top of it. "....What's a ladder doing here?"

"That must be how people get ta Stow-on-Side from 'ere," Gloria reasoned. "Ya think they'd actually make this more easier to get too."

"You'd think so. Good Boy!" Drizzilie gave a huff before returning to it's spot inside your bag. Ok be tsundere. Pausing to look at it for a moment you grabbed it before immediately letting go from how hot it was. "...You really think this is the way?"

"There's no other way around here other than a taxi, and what do we have to lose? The worse case scenario is that we'll hit another dead end or just climb to the top and hail a cab like we were thinkin' anyways."

She had a point. And if you did end up just going to the top of the cliffs here you could get a better look of your surroundings. So reluctantly you nodded. "Alright. But let me go first to make sure it's safe."  Slowly and with a sigh you grabbed the metal ladder wincing in pain when the hot metal stung your hands lightly, and began to climb up. It wasn't too hard or high of a climb, and you were fast to release the ladder as hard as you can also considering the weight on your shoulders, it made it a bit more difficult. Once you reached the top however and climbed up all the way, you noticed there was nothing but more ledges, dead grass, and...another ladder leading somewhere ahead of you. Standing up, once you deduced it was safe, you carefully looked over the edge to Gloria looking up at you and waved. "It's safe! And I found another ladder!"

Gloria didn't even hesitate after that. In her excitement you weren't sure if she just didn't notice the pain or bared it to climb up but you were there to offer a hand and pull her up with you once she was there. And you two wasted no more time and got climbing. Not baring to stand in this heat anymore. The second ladder you climbed up lead to the top of one of the larger clifftops, a small pond of some sort, and another much longer ladder leading you further and higher into the mountain sides and you two went. Your muscles were sore and tired from the extra weight of your Drizzilie who peeked out and down from your bag every so often, and your hands burnt under the ladders' metal. You were sure it wasn't enough to be badly hurt for a long time, but it sure stung, and you were paranoid that at any moment you would fall. But luckily you didn't and by some miracle forced yourself NOT to look down before making it to the third ledge and ..another ladder. Gloria right on your heels. Rinse and repeat. Climb, pray to whoever heard you that you wouldn't fall, get to the top, and then do it again. The both of you must've been on your seventh or eighth ladder and ledge at this point and you were resting on your knees exposed to the hot sun tired, breathing heavy, and shaking your sore hands. Gloria doing the same with her hands before reaching up to wipe her brow and look around ...Before spotting and pointing to yet another ladder.

"Hey look! It leads up to a tunnel of some kind!"

You looked to the giant black whole that the ladder lead into and groaned. "Oh PLEASE tell me this isn't going to be another mine."

"Only one way to find out!" She happily bounded towards the ladder, and with another groan, you slowly forced yourself to stand and followed after. Where does she get so much energy? And in this heat? She was already half way up the ladder by the time you got there and began slowly climbing, grip so hard your knuckles turned white to keep yourself from falling. Gloria making her way right into the tunnel and disappearing from view as you got closer to the top yourself. "Y/N!!" She suddenly shouted echoed by the tunnel. "Ya gotta see this!!"

"I'M COMING!!," you strangled out in a shout still making your way up.

Gloria was waiting for you when you finally got to the top, letting her grab your arm to pull you with a grunt into the shady tunnel with her. With a sigh as your sore hands touched the cooled floor of the cavern, you twisted your legs around, and just sat there breathing and wiping at your forehead from the long trip you two had suffered. Gloria was kind enough to let you catch your breath, considering it must've been harder for you with your Drizzilie being no help, for around five maybe ten minutes before you turned your head..and blinked at the light coming from the other side of the short tunnel. Gloria went ahead and started walking towards it...and you again forced yourself up and walked after her. But slower this time considering how tired and sore you were. She stopped by the cavern opening and once you caught up, your eyes widened.

"Holy smokes!"

Carved into the cliffside was the BIGGEST statues you had ever seen! The stone digletts stared out blankly onto the horizon and were blocked off by a chained fence embedded into the stone ground below it. Was this the historical landmark Gloria spoke of yesterday? She started walking forward and after a moment you followed staring up at the massive stone beasts before you. A flash of light going off as she snapped a picture of it while passing....Before she turned and with a gasp that had you snapping forward pointed excitedly.

"Y/n! Look! We found it!" What was unmistakeningly a stadium shone brightly in the sunlight as you looked and blinked, and before it was a couple small buildings, one including that classic pink pokemon center. You two wasted no time in jogging towards it past the statues and up a small flight of stairs carved into the stone floor, past under a wooden gate of some kind and over to the buildings ahead. Where you saw people. PEOPLE!! Walking around doing their everyday lives as usual! You two had successfully found Stow-on-Side! The tall two story buildings were all carved from stone as well with a couple small tables in the pathway you two walked that had a few people yelling at passerbys to come and bye from them as they sat under umbrellas from the hot sun. As you walked past everyone Gloria took out her phone again and after a few taps on it nodded in glee. "This is Stow-on-Side alright! Apparently the diglett statues we saw are part of some famous ruins including an ancient mural up the path by the stadium! We should go check those out once I'm done with the battle here!"

"Once we rest first!" You sighed and again reached up to rub your temple. "I'm beat from all that walking and climbing! And it doesn't look like this place has any inn or public place besides the center we can rest up in."

You both turned right still walking along the path towards the stadium.

"Yeah? Well I can check on my regional map of Stown-on-Side. It should tell u-" She stopped. Freezing like someone paused her on tv. Her face suddenly drawing a blank. Curiously, you stopped too and turned around to give a raised brow at her suddenly blank expression. Before you turned to look where she was looking. A whine coming from your backpack as your Drizzlie poked it's full head out. And you under stood why she stopped. IT WAS THE BOYS!! Both were talking to each other walking down from the stairs leading to the big stadium, until they happened to look down towards the both of you and stopped. The four of you staring at one another in surprised silence...Before Gloria straight up BOLTED towards them both! "HOP!!"

"Glori-AH!!" The poor boy didn't even get a chance to finish talking before he was glomped by the brunette nearly knocking the both of them over in the process.

"I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!! YA PURPLE HAIRED LOONEY PONYTA!!," she shouted with a smile. "YA HAD ME SO WORRIED!! DON'T DO THAT!!"

"N-Nice to see you too!," he forced out strangled by the crushing hug, "M-Miss Y/N help!"

You walked on over but didn't need to pry them apart thankfully as she let go and let Hop breathed and clutch at his chest by the time you got there. Victor looking annoyed opening his arms. "And what am I? An invisible Sobble?" Gloria giggled before giving her brother the expected hug he wanted.

"We thought we'd miss you guys here by how long it took! Were you here that long?"

"Sadly yes," Hop answered rubbing at where Gloria nearly crushed him to dust. "Turns out there was a few people here itchin' to battle Bea before going on to harder gym leaders like Kabu, so we had to camp out for a bit for an opening."

Gloria paused...slowly retracting her hug from her brother and turning to him, face concerned. "Does...D-Does that mean you didn't win?"

...He smiled. "Took me two tries! But I managed to get my fighting badge!"

"You did!! Hop that's amazing! I told you, you could do it!"

He chuckled....before his face turned back to a neutral one. "But...Glory." His hands came to stuff themselves into his pockets. "I'm still not too sure what I should do about all that stuff I told you before. About me being weak and dragging down Lee's good name and all, yeah? "..He smiled again. "But the only thing I can do is get stronger right?"

With a sigh Gloria gave her own determined smile, reached over, and made him blink as she flicked his nose. "That's what we've always told you, Hop. I never lost doubt in ya."

He paused for a moment gold eyes blinking and looking cross eyed at his nose, before his face went pink again and he chuckled. "Y-yeah! A-Actually I was hoping for a b-battle with ya the next time I saw you." Your Drizzilie whined more. "Vi-Vic's been battling me and helping me build up my team and come up with new s-strageties on how to battle upcoming gym leaders. So I'm gonna try out all kinds of different things against you and see what works!..If you wanna battle that is?"

"Do you really need to ask? You're on!"

"Then let's do this! I bet an all out battle with my true rival will help me get my head on straight-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-"

A screech that pierced your eardrums interrupting Hop from saying anything else. Immediately all your hands shot up to your ears and you all made some kind of cringed face or closed their eyes from the scream that came from directly behind you. You forced yourself to turn around at your drizzilie's head poking out from your bag. Mouth open wide and yelling at the top of his lungs before he abruptly stopped upon noticing you had looked at it in utter shock.....How could such a small thing make such a noise!! Slowly, the others uncovered their ears as well giving the three back and forth looks, before also looking in the direction of your bored looking drizzilie.

..........Victor blinked and pointed at your backpack. "What the absolute Arceous was THAT!?"

"I......have absolutely no idea." You eventually managed to get yourself to talk. "I've never heard him make a noise like that before."

"Could there be something wrong with him?," Hop asked rubbing one of his ears, "It is pretty hot and he's a water type. Maybe he's gotten dehydrated from lack of water or something?"

You jumped. YOU HADN'T EVEN CONSIDERED THAT WHILE TRAVELING!? WHAT THE HECK!! YOU WERE AN AWFUL TRAINER!! "I...." You swiftly turned nearly nailing Gloria in the side with your back pack in a panic. "I-I gotta get him back over to the center just in case! You two go ahead and have your battle!"

"I'll come too!" Victor stepped forward. "I meant to stop by anyways to grab some potions from the center."

If you heard him you didn't pay him much mind as you practically stumble-ran your panicked self back down what few steps you had climbed up towards the stadium and RAN towards the center with Victor right behind you. You nearly tripped and slammed in your haste turning the corner and RUNNING past the vendors calling out towards that bright pink building. The people inside jumping and looking on in surprise when you practically ripped the doors off their hinges bursting inside and without missing a beat flew to the wide eyed nurse joy standing behind the counter, swiftly turning your back where your drizzilie still bored looking despite everything that was happening right now, and in panic DEMANDED she'd take a look at him NOW!! Surprisingly no one moved, too shocked to really know how to react. It took Victor coming in and explaining calmly to the startled Nurse Joy what the drizzilie did and politely asking her to look him over did she finally react accordingly. She took her sweet time in the next ten minutes pulling your water pokemon from it's hiding place, making it sit on the counter as you watched a nervous wreck with Victor assuring you he was ok, and slowly and carefully examining him as a doctor would a patient during a physical....All to just smile at you and tell you essentially......Your Drizzilie...Was throwing a tantrum akin to that of a moody angsty teenager during puberty. ....You blinked and had to be explained to again as, even though Drizzilie was a little dehydrated from the hot weather, he was actually throwing a tantrum because he was hungry. So you, worried you might have let something bad happen to your pokemon without knowing, had panicked over nothing and rushed him over here to be told he was acting like a toddler not getting their way because he was hungry......WHAT!?

"He's perfectly healthy, you probably just haven't fed him today yet and he was just expressing that to you in what way he thought you'd understand. Although in this heat he is naturally a little dehydrated, and you yourself look it too and exhausted. My advice to the both of you is to rest here for an hour or two out of the weather and have you both drink some water. I'll lend you some and some pokemon food so it doesn't happen again. After all we don't want anyone dropping from the heat."

You sighed. Relieved Drizzilie wasn't really hurt, but annoyed he had scared you for no reason. You shot a scowl at the pokemon standing next to you and as soon as it made eye contact with you looked embarrassed to the floor. Nurse Joy was nice enough to give you some bottled up water and a small bowl of pokemon food for the two of you and you thanked her before Victor was nice enough to help you carry them over to the table and chairs in the corner. You gladly plopped yourself down in one chair exhausted, sighing as at last your muscles got a chance to rest among the cool ac of the center. Victor sat across from you as your drizzilie plopped itself on the floor by your feet with it's newfound food and water to make it happy.

".....Hey. Y/n?" You hummed from where you had laid your head against the table. "Are you ok?"

".......Yeah."

".......Would you like some water?"

".....Yeah."

He was nice enough to hand you a bottle of water which you chugged down before resuming your position of laying against the table silently resting. Even when the other two finally caught up to you and entered the center.

"My strategy goes right to the pot when I've got all these bad thoughts running through my head," Hop's voice came as you heard the door open just didn't look up.

"Yeah. But I also barely won. I blame the heat. 'Sides you're gettin' better!," Came Gloria's voice right after him.

"Hrmmm. I tried switching my team members in and out to max out their potential in every match up but we just couldn't get it together somehow. Maybe that's why I'm still so weak?"

"Call yourself weak again n' I'll drag ya ta Lee myself kickin' n' screamin' and have him talk ye out o' that crazy mindset!"

"Ok! Ok! I won't! No need to go all charmander on me, Mate. .......Oh! Y/n! Hey!"

"......Hi," you mumbled to Hop.

"So how'd it go? Is everything ok?"

"Oh yeah. Turns out he was just throwing a big whiney fit cuz he was hungry like a big baby, but he should be fine now. How was your battle?"

"OH! That's good to know he's not hurt or anything. It was fine thanks. I got to see how my tactics work on the battlefield and what to improve on. In fact I think we're ready to move on. Are you ready to go, Victor?"

"What?! You mean you're both leavin' us again?!" This time you did force yourself to look up. More out of concern than anything as Gloria stared at the two boys, and you noticed Victor had stood up from his seat. "B-But we just caught up with you!"

...Hop sighed. "I know, and I don't really wanna split up either but I still have some things I need to work out myself. And I wanna make more good choices when it comes to battling and strategies for them. .." He smiled. "But Lee really is the greatest trainer, and I don't want people laughing at him all because his little brother is rubbish. It's not enough. I've got to try harder and harder and hard 'til no one's laughing!"

"But....you're not rubbish to me."

Hop paused again before sighing again. "I know...That's why you make such a good friend and rival, Glory."

"............Hey Hop." The three looked at you and you hesitated for a moment. Would this change the game's story events?? Well it wouldn't hurt to give him some words of encouragement like you gave Sonia. "Listen. You got the Fighting Type badge right?" He nodded. "Then you're not rubbish! You said it yourself that there was a few other gym trainers were here because they didn't want to challenge Kabu yet. But you did. And you won against the guy that supposedly makes their numbers drop."

He blinked wide eyed, not really expecting that. "Yeah...But just barely. And not exactly how I would've liked."

"So? That didn't stop you from winning on your FIRST try either way. How many trainers besides you two have those bragging rights?? The dude's so powerful he personally says congrats to anyone who does beat him. A guy doesn't do that unless only a few actually manages to get past him. Sure Bede may have beaten you. Sure he said a bunch of stuff about you and your brother, but he's just doing it because he's trying to get under your skin. He's trying to make you doubt yourself. He's trying to make you lose." You pointed to the wide eyed looking boy. "Hop. You CAN'T just be calling yourself weak. Leon and you are both strong. Just in different ways and Leon sees that in you. Why else would be agree to sponsor you in the first place? Haven't you seen what you've been able to do so far?" You gestured to his back pack. "In there somewhere is four badges ok? Four badges that you won on either your second or even first try. Do you think I could have done that? Absolutely not. You have four badges and you just need eight to compete at the end of the year! It's been three or four months and already you've come farther than most of your rivals in the challenge." You smiled. "That's not rubbish or weakness Hop. That's your true strength plain and simple."

Hop continued to stare at you with those bright gold eyes for a long moment, before the biggest smile you had ever seen on him came through. "...Yeah...YEAH!!" He pointed at you. "You're absolutely right! ...I...Still need some time to think about a few things, but I appreciate the words."

You smiled and nodded. "You'll figure it out eventually. Until then, just keep calm and work hard and you'll get there. Don't worry yourself over what Bede said because Gloria's right about him being wrong."

With a nod, Hop turned back to Gloria who blinked back at him. "I'm off, mate. Off to find the kind of pokemon that I can really draw the strength out of."

She frowned. "We'll meet up with you later tho...Right?"

"Oh you know we will! I still have to beat you sometime. I'll see you around. Ok?"

....Gloria nodded and the two of you watched as they bid farewell and after a moment they were gone. You two looking after where they left....before you looked over at Gloria's sad face. "Hey. Are you alright?"

After a second or two she nodded. "Y-Yeah." She inhaled. "Yeah I'm good. It's just a bit unfair y'know? Gah!" Her hands came up to grip her head. "I wish I could just get my mind off all this!"

You opened your mouth to speak- "That child." And practically yelped, jumping up, as the both of you whirled around face to face with....Opal. The elderly woman staring at where they boys left. "Gym Challengers should battle for the sake of their own pokemon. Why worry about saving the Champion's name? We all know he's unbeatable."......You exchanged a look with Gloria. "Anyway, here's a little something for letting me watch your battle." To your surprise what she handed out (more like put in Gloria's stunned hand-) was another league card. "Now on you go, Child. You're headed to the Stow-on-Side Gym next, no? The Gym Challenge is about having fun."

You both watched silently as she once again appeared out of no where, before ignoring anything she just did, and just...Left! Gloria finally blinked before curiously looking down at the card in her hands. Slowly turning to you as she rose a brow. And looked up to you. "..This is Bea's League Card."

....You blinked. "You mean the gym leader from this gym?" She nodded. "Why on earth would she have that?"

"I'm more confused on why she's here too."

"I'm more impressed she managed to do all that climbing required to get here. Wouldn't be surprised if she did the smart thing and grabbed a taxi....But she's got a point." You pointed to the card in Gloria's hands. "We came here so you would challenge Bea. If you want to get your mind off things, then a battle against her would be the best thing to do just that."

Gloria stared at you a moment. Before looking down to the card in her hands a determined look coming over her as she inhaled and pumped a fist into the air. "You're right again! I came here to challenge the fighting type gym and it's leader! I didn't spend days travelin' and climbing an unholy amount to just quite now! Hop plans on challengin' me 'n the finals! I owe it to him to at least try my best to get there with him! If he can do it then so can I too!" She turned, her mind dead set and seeming to forget you. "Look out Bea! Cuz 'ere I come to get that badge!!"

"You can do it!," you called after her as she suddenly ran out of the center, fist still high in the air. And leaving you sitting there by yourself. After a moment you sighed and leaned your cheek back down against the table. You were too tired and sore to move at the moment and your back could use a rest from days of lugging that troublemaker aro- The chair in front of you creaked as Drizzilie climbed onto it, before pulling itself onto the table and sat there next to your head, careful to not sit on your hair spilt over on the table behind you. After a moment it gave off a questioning sound and tapped your head as if expecting an answer outta you. You blew out a breath. "I get you're used to being carried around by now, but now you're bigger and heavier. And it's starting to strain my back out." It made another squeak noise. "That means you're a big boy now. One day you're gonna be taller than ME!" You were right that Inteleons were genuinely taller than most humans if you remember right. "What then? You can't expect me to piggy back ride you everywhere. It tires me out. So after today, how about you start giving walking a try?" Your answer was a few pats to your head. "I'll take that as a yes. Because there's NO way in heck I'm trying to carry you back down those ladders."

It was...mostly a blur right after that. It was almost embarrassing how fast you were to fall asleep sleeping half way on a table, but you must've been more tuckered out than you thought. You weren't even too sure how much time had even passed. All you can remember was waking up to a flash of light from behind your retinas making your sleeping body flinch....And your hearing picking up giggling from a far distance. And the feeling of something pressed against your neck. It felt like a cool water balloon just laying again your neck, not that you didn't mind being inside from the heat and all that, but you definitely shied away from the something that was shaking and as COLD AS ICE sniffing at your cheek. With a groan from being deep in sleep for so long, your eyes slowly blinked open to blurry yellow-....Yellow?? You blinked back more in your sleepy stupor as your drizzilie laid lazily like a cat in the crook of your shoulder and next as you yawned. Reached a hand up to rub at your eyes. And looked at the yellow dinosuar as it tilted it's head at you curiously. Blank faced you sat there and stared at it. ......It blinked and gave a small noise. And you yelled up immediately shoot up to your feet as the thing gave a scared sqawk like a parrot and dove itself to cower behind Gloria shaking. Drizzilie chirping in annoyance at being disturbed from it's spot of rest on the table next to you! Everyone in the center was either hiding behind the counter or like you pressed against the walls away the scary looking pokemon who looked like a giant yellow dinosaur trapped in a blue upside down acorn. The thing gave a sad noise as you stared at it, body pressed against the wall, your chair knocked over in the process of getting up. Gloria was already cooing at it soothingly and patting it's head, camera slung around her neck and a picture in her other hand........You pointed.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!?"

"Calm down, Y/n. Ya gonna scare Arctozolt even more than the wee babe already is," she said calmly patting it's head.

......You blinked. "I SCARED HIM!? Gloria what IS that?!"

"Oh this?" She gestured to the thing glancing around nervously. The only ones not so freaked out about it was apparently her and your Drizzilie who looked more annoyed it's nap was cut short. "Remember that scientist las I mentioned before? Well I found 'er wonderin' around with the weird contraption in hand. You were still sleepin' when I went back out for food so I figured why not give it a try? This is only one of four new wee ones I've got....But I wanted to come to you straight away because...well..." She looked nervously at you with a strained apologetic look. "I think we might have ta make a run for it."

.........You blinked. "....Run from what?''

She hummed making a rolling motion with her now free hand. "That scientist lady may be lookin' 'round for me cuz I ran off with her 'research'." She gestured to the pokemon who pressed it's nose against her arm curiously.

......"Gloria." You peeled yourself from the wall finally. "PLEASE tell me you didn't steal those pokemon."

She scowled stuffing the picture into her pocket. "I nay stole anything! Especially since it was mine in the first place! They were my fossils she just did some science whatcha-may-callit to 'em. It's not my problem she throws a fit once she sees me flee with 'em. 'Sides. Do ya really want them cooped up in some lab being studied like statues?"

....Well...You couldn't argue with her there. So with a breath in you breathed out calming yourself and held up your hands. "Right." You quickly moved to grab your bag, Drizzilie taking the hint and hurrying to climb off the table to join after you. "Ok then. Let's leave. And put that thing in it's ball-" You paused. ".....hey. What about Bea?"

"I told you I came for the Fighting Badge didn't I?", she asked pulling out a pokeball, in a flash of blue the light the thing was gone. "And I walked out with it as well! No need to worry ye head off!"

You nodded already going to the door. TIME TO LEAVE!! The last thing you wanted was to be arrested by a scientist for tampering with her research or stealing or-...Or whatever Gloria did while you were out cold. Darn it you had to stop being such a deep sleeper! You should've went with her instead of sleeping in! "Which is the fastest way out of Stow-on-Side?" You asked speed walking to the doors with your pokemon at your heels easily keep up with Gloria in tow behind you.

"The fastest way out is the back path leading behind the stadium." She said pointing as you sped walked out into the hot sun. "It's up that long stairway past the mural!"

You nodded. Sounded good to you! And your body was well rested from that powernap so you had the energy now to spare. Footsteps slapping against the stone pavement the three of you sped walked past people who looked like they'd seen a ghost. Oh no. Don't tell me Gloria paraded whatever ancient thing that was on the way there! Looking around, you peeled your eyes out for any sign of an angry scientist with a machine or anything the like. And you did run into a scientist. Just not the one you were fearing. As you two made it up the first flight of steps that lead to the stadium and path to the mural, a dash of yellow side lined you.

BARK!!

WHOA! You yelped and swung your arms out as you stumbled a step, only saving grace was Gloria who thanks to her quick reflexes grabbed onto your pack and pulled you back upright. Catching yourself back onto your feet as the yamper culprit wagged it's lightning bolt tail and panted happily at the both of you before giving off another loud bark. ....Wait a second. A yamper?? What was a yamper doing all the way up here? That could only mean one thing.

Footsteps rapidly approuched. "I'm so sorry!" You both turned. "Is everyone ok?"...Yep. It was Sonia. You both sighed in relief to see her. Thank goodness! It was just her. The red headed scientist quickly approuched scowling at the happily panting pokemon before wagging a finger at it and placed one hand on her hip. "Bad boy! You know better than to run off and scare people like that!" The dog pokemon tilted his head at her but otherwise didn't change it's expression as she turned to you two apologetically. "I'm so sorry about that. He can get easily excited. But it looks like my yamper really likes you, huh?"

"Sonia." A hand on your chest as your headed tilted back with a smile of relief, "Thank goodness it's only you."

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to come examine the ancient ruins and mural around Stow-on-Side after flipping through all those history books in the Hammerlocke library." They had a library?? "I thought maybe something was here. Anyway, we've run into each other at a good time." She happily turned and gestured up the way towards the stairs you two were about to run up anyways. "You know the mural here in Stow-on-Side I just mentioned? It's said to tell the story of the hero of Galar as well. Though what's there today is actually a replica of the ancient art that used to be here."...She paused...and you blinked as she turned to Gloria with seemingly a bright new idea in her mind. "Say. You tend to have surprisingly sharp eyesight, so I was wondering what you might think when you see the ruins?"

Gloria blinked..her hand coming to rub her arm embarrassed. "Uh..Actually I haven't see the ruins or m-mural yet."

She blinked taken a back. "Oh really?,'' she asked surprised. Gloria nodded embarrassed and Sonia held up a hand in assurrance. "Hey that's alright. There's a first time for everything. Since you haven't see it yet, how about we go together since I'm heading there anyways?"

"Would we!?," Gloria beamed and you coughed to gain her attention.

"Aren't you forgetting we're supposed to be leaving town for something?," You pressed raising your brows.

"Yeah. We're still going the same place anyways. But don't ya think running would make us look more suspicious?"

You opened your mouth...but closed it. She had another point. It's make you both look suspicious if either of you just ran outta here like a ghost was chasing you, it'd make you look like you were fleeing the scene of the crime. Acting along with Sonia like tourists would probably help you both blend in here a little better with the other people walking up and down the stairs...You nodded. Alright. You'd do that but then you two had better skedaddle while you had the chance too. Sonia looked please at your answer and would've probably expressed it too, if it wasn't for the earth rattling KA-BOOM sound that went off like a bomb somewhere above all of you. The echo of it boomed across rattling the sky, and you and the other two girls, and a whole bunch of other people looked up in alarm at the frightening sound. Which had come in the direction of the very place you were about to head off too. Sonia's yamper made a distressed bark sound and scampered behind the woman's legs. Drizzilie too seemed mildly surprised at the sound. The best you would describe it as a far away grenade or a firework going off, but who'd have either of those around here!?

"Wha...What in the world was that!? What's going on up there?!," Sonia managed to asked out before another ka-boom noise had you all more startled. "Sounds like it came from the direction of the ruins, too!"

"Maybe some of the old things are collaspin' in on themselves from age?", Gloria suggested.

That made a worried look come over the young scientist and a hand came up to her cheek. "Oh no! That's not good! Those are historical sights we're still studying!"She gave a look to the pokemon still cowering and shaking behind her heels. "Let's have a look! Come along, Yamper!" Her heels left loud footsteps in her wake as she turned and ran towards the stairs the yamper whimpering like a scare dog before quickly running after it's owner.

You yelped as Gloria suddenly grabbed you too and yanked you into a run after her. "Come on! We gotta see what's goin' on too! That's are way outta here remember!?"

You didn't argue with that. Only willed yourself to ran with Gloria after Sonia who was already ahead of you running up the flights of stairs as fast as her legs could carry her. Without the extra weight on your shoulders anymore it was really easy to keep up with them as you all ran past people who were looking with concerned, confused, or scared faces up towards the top of the stairs. One little boy even gripping the pants leg of who must've been his grandmother sobbing in fright. Sonia was the first to reach the top of the hot weathered stairs and stop facing what must've been the source of the sounds because ANOTHER giant boom noise echoed throughout the sky. Your heart raced in your throat, and your lungs heaved as you picked up the place. The second one to get there was Gloria and then a minute later you right behind her and then your Drizzilie who had resumed to running on all fours just to keep up with the lot of you. And the source of the noises were laid at your all's feet. No it wasn't a grenade. Or fireworks. Or even ruins collasping in on themselves from old age. It was a HUGE elephant looking pokemon who must've been the size of a large soccer mom's mini van who had it's trunk halfway stuck inside the cliffside where this strange but beautiful looking hand painted mural was drawn onto the cliffside. A giant hole was in the mural sadly disrupting it's beauty as many spiderweb cracks surrounded it as the elephant thing forcibly pulled it's trunk out of it scattering rock dust and tiny fragments at it's base. And the white haired boy encouraging it on as he pointed.

"Yes! Destroy it! Destroy it all!," he shouted to the elephant pokemon in absolutely frustration, "We're going to find those Wishing Stars!" Your eyes widened in absolute SHOCK. Holy heck!! It was BEDE!! What in the world was he doing!? The others must've been in shock too because they didn't react at all staring in horror as the thing raised it's trunk again and with a sickening crunching gravel sound slammed it's trunk back into the whole it created. More cracks slowly forming across the pretty painted picture. "We've got to bring the chairman more wishing stars if we want to please him! Copperajah! If you're truly the chairman's pokemon then you should feel grateful for this chance to help him find wishing stars!" The thing gave out another elephant sound and repulled it's trunk out from the now slightly bigger hole it made.

"BEDE YA BLOODY KOOK!!," you both jumped as Gloria finally found her voice, hands flying to grip her head as she stared horrified at the destruction before her. At the sound of her scottish accent Bede let out a high pitched wail of surprise and whirled around back pressed to the pokemon's side as his wide purple eyes stared. Surprised no doubt to see Gloria there. She threw her hands at him and his mess. "WHAT IN THE WHOLE STUPID HAIRBALL BRAIN SCHEME OF YERS ARE YE DOIN' NOW!?"

Bede continued to stare at her wide eyed for a moment, before instantly righting himself and dusting himself off. "Oh my. You again." He was WAY to calm for this to be normal. "So you think that you can start collecting wishing stars now and get in the chairman's favor? That's the way of things, is it?!"

Gloria blinked and looked at him like he was stupid for accusing her of something so...so...Well stupid too. "Have ye stumbled and hit your head on somethin' or is your head so stuffed full of that fluffy hair ya can't see what you're doin' right there!?" She pointed even more at the destroyed mural. "And what are ye goin on about wishing stars for!? Like I give a ratatta's arse 'bout lil rocks when I already have the one I need!"

"I see. So you have some cunning in you. But I won't have it!," he growled pointing back at her in anger. "I won't allow anyone to stand in my way! I have to win this for the chairman! Do you really think I'd let you keep me from everything I want!!"

"Did ya even hear what I just said!? I don't want ta git in your way! I want ye ta stop damagin' that thing! Are ye deaf!?"

He chuckled without any happiness. "Oh yes. My partner's move is simply splendid, wouldn't you say?" He held up his hand and with a snap the copperajah as he called it gave a giant elephant roar before lifting it's trunk back up and striking back into the same place it had been before hand. "Now leave me be until I can figure out what to say to you officially!" He turned back around. "I have work to do."

"What do we do!?," you turned to Sonia in a panic as she as panickedly looked back to you as you helplessly pointed at the GIANT elephant thing. "I can't take that thing on with Drizzilie! I can barely beat my own sleep time!!"

"I-I-..." She stammered looking around panicked hands lightly shaking not sure what to do herself before whipping to the stairs to everyone there. Sweat on her face. "SOMEONE GET THE GYM LEADER!! SOMEONE GET BEA NOW!!"

Good idea! Bea would absolutely be able to stop this but by the time she got up here that mural would've been nothing but rubble- ?! "GLORIA NO!!!" Your hand snapped to stop the girl but she was too fast as your hand grabbed empty air.

Gloria had dropped her bag to the ground. Her hands gripping her camera so hard her knuckles were white as she charged forward with speed you hadn't seen her use before. The copperajah pulling it's trunk back again to slam it for the hundredth time back into place in the crater it made in the rock as Bede persisted in barking at it to do so. It's trunk lifted high to the point it was about to slam it back down, when Gloria slid her way between them and the mural, before holding up the camera- "SAY CHEESE!!" And a flash of bright white shot out. The copperajah gave out a pained wail as it turned itself away from the flash quickly shaking it's head. The trunk that was raised to strike the mural more instead coming to it's own body to rub at it's eyes. Bede himself flinching back with a angry cry followed by a growl and gritted teeth as he was stopped.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?," he cried out angrily to her arm wiping at his eyes before blinking wide purple eyes full of confusion at the scowling girl. "I'm doing this for you! I'm doing this for everyone in Galar!!"

"What you're doin' is destroyin' Galar! Not helpin' it ya dummy! Why would I want ya doin' this for me!?" Bede stopped seeming stunned and...it might've been your panicked mind but he looked a little hurt at her words as she glared and held up her camera at him like a weapon. "Now stand down before I get more evidence of yer crimes!"

"...I...But why? How can this be?" ..He numbly pointed at her. "How could someone like you get in my way? I was the one chosen by the chairman! I was the one to defeat the champion!" He cried out at her. "I'm one of the elite! Someone who can shoulder the future of the Galar Region!" He pointed at her. "YOU EVEN AGREED WITH ME!!"

"Since when did I agree with destroyin' ancient sights for bloody sparkly rocks!?"

He didn't get time to anwer. In fact none of you did as a group of footsteps made their way from from behind you and your Drizzilie chirped in surprise before diving in front of your legs to avoid being swarmed by a few people in police suits like you'd often see Officer Jenny wear, a few gym staff people in white suits, and at least three pokemon that you supposed was to help restrain the culprit. You and Sonia looked around yourselves surprised but relieved to see the police coming FINALLY, and Bede suddenly looked even more panicked hands at his sides and lookig around widely as he was affectively surrounded.

"Make way for the Chairman!" Hey! You recognized that woman's voice. And turned just in time for the Chairman himseld and an angry Oleana part their way through the crowd. But instead of feeling relief anymore, a bad feeling pooled at the end of your stomach. "Challeger Bede!" She yelled and just when you thought Bede couldn't have gotten any paler, his skin turned such a white the bright white of his hair could've been considered darker than his skin tone. "I wondered what you were up to when you asked to borrow Chairman Rose's copperajah.I can't believe you'd try to use the chairman's pokemon to destroy a historical sight!"

Wait wait WAIT! HOLD UP!! They actually let Bede borrow THEIR pokemon without asking what he was doing and surprised about this!? ..A low rumble noise came from the wall as a piece of it slid away between the cracks around it. A few pebbles falling from it and landing right behind Bede's feet. No one noticed but Gloria who was still standing between Bede and the destroyed mural, blinking and looking up at the stone wall. You all were too busy watching the show between Bede and his sponsors to notice.

Bede had stood there stunned for a moment before scowling and pointing at her, but his tone was obviously scared. "Who cares for some ancient ruin when the next thousand years are at stake!? Did you stand in the path of a pokemon's simple beam or something?" Wrong move. Oleana looked even more angry now. "How do you expect to support the Chairman with that sort of thinking!?"

More pebbles fell down and Gloria looked right up, twisting her body around as she took a few steps back staring at the wall.

"Bede." Bede Froze. Absolutely. Freaking. FROZE as the Chairman addressed him holding a hand up to Oleana who immediately stood down at his motion. "Young Bede." His hand was slowly returned to his pocket, the chairman's eyes scanning his pokemon who still shook it's head and the absolutely destructon of the once beautiful mural. And shook his head. How was he so calm about this? "It pains me to say this but I am truly disappointed."

".....W-What?"

"It's true that I'm the one who found you, back when you were all alone." He sighed reaching a hand up to rub his head. "I saw talent in you. You reminded me a little bit of myself back when I was young. That's why I sent you to a trainer's school, to give you a chance at success. But trying to destroy the mural, part of Galar's history! You show no love toward Galar!" He looked back up to the boy who by this point was lightly shaking. Just staring at him like a little scared mouth. "You are clearly not a worthy challenger for the Gym Challenge."

"W-W-WHAT!?," Bede shouted at him. "B-B-But all I have ever done was for you!" He placed a hand to his chest. "All I have ever done was for Galar! Y-You must be joking right!? You're disqualifying me from the Gym Challenge?! But you're the one who endorsed me! T-T-There are a hundred different ways we could sort this out!" He insisted more desperate. "Why are you chosing the worst possible option?!"

Mr. Rose just held up a tired hand again. "I don't want to hear anymore from you, Bede. We will decide what to do with you later. For now you will return to Hammerlocke with us."

"B-B-But-.." He looked around in a blind panic around himself at every staff, policeman, and other adult there watching him. More pebbles falling and Gloria's eyes widened in danger. "I-I REFUSE!! THERE WAS A MISTAKE!!"

"Challenger Bede," Oleana stated firmly, "I'll be taking those wishing stars you have gathered. And you WILL be returning with us to Hammerlocke."

"I- N-No wait!" He was grabbed by two men in those white gym uniforms and his purple eyes shrank as Oleana walked towards him.

That's when the Chairman turned towards the rest of you and smiled apologetically. "AH! Sonia! And Gloria and her friend too!" You both turned to the Chairman as Gloria paid no attention to you, the Chairman, or Bede's shaking form as Oleana collected what looked like more sparkling gems out of his pockets. "Terrible shame all this." he gestured to the seen before him and you wanted to hurl at how disgustingly calm he could POSSIBLY be about all this! "An absolute disaster." OH YOU THINK!? "I never wish to see us lose challengers for this sort of reason. Yet we do what we must do to keep things fair and sportsmanlike."

"Then why did you lend him your copperajah without watching him?," you found yourself saying with a frown, "Or have a young boy collect stones from possibly dangerous mines?"

He fell silent, giving you a look that could have been surprised at what you said as you still stared at him. The reality of what you had said not catching up to you then and there because on top of what just happened something else struck. The sound of cracking walls and moving gravel made everyone look up as the cracks and wall of the cliffside moved ever so slightly under the weight of the lose boulder as it slipped free and fell down towards the earth. Down right towards the scrambling and screaming people. Right towards the frozen form of Bede as his mouth opened in a silent scream at the heavy rock barraling towards him as he stood in it's shadow- Well the rock did made contact with the ground, shattering into lots of tinier pieces on impact. Everyone yelped and cowered, arms flying up to shield their faces or turning away as the tinier rocks flew everywhere. Bede and Gloria laid upon the ground sprawled out from where she tackled him out of the flying death maker's way. Both groaned out before sitting up. Bede once again freezing at the sight of Gloria being so close and pulling him up into a sitting position with a scowl!

"Ye alright?"......he slowly nodded. "That's good." Before she began shaking him. "WHAT THE ABSOLUTE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? NOW DO YA SEE WHY IT WAS A STUPID IDEA YA DUMMY!? YA COULD'VE BEEN CRUSH BY A STUPID FLYIN' BOULDER!!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" A loud female voice cried out and if you thought Oleana's loud voice was scary it was nothing compared to the slightly smaller than you woman who stomped her way through the crowd barefoot, angry, and with at least three fighting type pokemon behind her. Just how many people were going to show up here!? And how could she stand walking around barefoot on the hot ground!? The grey haired woman looked absolutely shocked at the state of her town's mural and all the debry around the ground from it, but unlike everyone else who stood around taking a long time to react, her reaction was instant. Anger flooding her features and her face looked like a tea kettle ready to pop as it turned beat red. An accusing hand was pointed at the destruction caused. Wait. She looked familiar. "WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!?"....Oh right! You saw her on the card Opal had given Gloria! It was Bea the gym leader of this place!...And she did NOT look happy to see what happened. Even more unfortunate for Bede some people around him pointed him out to the angry woman and once she snapped his gaze to himself still half held by Gloria, you could tell he was just one more heart attack away from fainting. "SO IT WAS YOU!!" She pointed right at him. "IT'S BAD ENOUGH YOU INSULTED THE TRAINER I ENDORSED BUT NOW YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY OF RUINING MY TOWN'S SUPPLY OF INCOME TOO!? WHERE DO YOU THINK SOME OF THE MONEY TO KEEP THE STADIUM RUNNING COMES FROM YOU LITTLE PUNK!? I SWEAR BY THE TIME I'M THROUGH WITH YOU YOU'LL BE GLUING THE ENTIRE THING BACK BY HAND WITH NOTHING BUT A LITTLE CHILD'S GLUE STICK!!" By now Bede looked pale enough to pass as a ghost.

"Bea now, now." The Chairman held up his hands to her in a calm manner. "Calm down. I'll pay for all the damages and repairs to be fixed. We'll have an exact replica of the mural back up in no time at all. It'll be like this never happened."

"WHAT?!" She snapped a look towards the chairman. "AND LET THIS LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER GO UNPUNISHED FOR ALL THE TROUBLE HE'S ALREADY CAUSED!?"

"I never said he wasn't going to be punished. We were just about to figure that out just now I assure you."

She huffed crossing her arms. "Oh yeah? Is that right? If you ask me you should take away the gym badges from him-"

"NO!!" Bede gave off an 'Oof' as Gloria suddenly grabbed him to her in a protective manner and his face hit her shoulder as he blinked confused. The adults looking at her in a way that made you nervous just standing there watching.

...Bea got a look of realization over her before she pointed at Gloria. "Hey. I know you. You're the trainer that I just badge the Fighting type badge too. Are you in on this too?"

Gloria shook her head no. "NO!! Are ye kiddin' me?! I'd never do somethin' as stupid as this!" Her hand pointed at her. "BUT YA CAN'T TAKE AWAY HIS GYM BADGES!!" She then pointed at the Chairman who blinked at her. "AND NEITHER CAN YE!! BEDE WON THOSE FAIR N' SQUARE!!" Bede blinked and looked up to her in shock. "YER RIGHT THAT HE SHOULD BE PUNISHED FOR DOIN' WHAT HE DID!! BUT GYM BADGES ARE A SYMBOL OF ALL THE HARD WORK YOU PUT IN AS A POKEMON TRAINER JUST TO GET THEM!! ONCE A GYM LEADER GIVES THEM TO YA IT JUST SHOWS HOW MUCH YOU IMPROVED AND GROWN FROM THEN!! IF YOU TAKE THEM FROM HIM THEN YOU'LL BE DOIN' NOTHING BUT TELL HIM HIS WORTH AS A TRAINER IS NOTHING AND I WON'T ALLOW THAT!!" Her grip on him increased slightly. "Punish him for what he did to the mural if you want, but don't you DARE take his gym badges from him!"

You weren't sure whether you wanted to bury yourself under a rock or be proud of her in that moment, but her words got the Chairman to stare at her a moment. Humming and eyeing her protective stance frowning at him before he sighed and nodded. "She's right Bea. I won't tamper with the progress he's already made thus far, but he sure will be answering for the mess he's caused everyone today." He gestured back down towards the stairs. "Come. Lets discuss what we can do about the mural out of the hot sun alright? Ms. Sonia I don't suppose you could stand by until my team gets here could you?"

Sonia blinked."...OH! I-i-...Sure."

The two of you stood there as everyone and their pokemon trickled out of the destroyed area and back down the stairs after the chairman and gym leader who shot a nasty glare at Bede before she left. ...Bede slowly pried hmself away from Gloria falling back onto his bottom as she blinked. He got up shakily, dusting himself off in the process, before looking back to her. The two of them silently staring at each others for the longest time.

"Bede," He jumped and turned to Oleana as she stood there waiting for him expectantly, "Come along. You're aware the Chairman doesn't like to kept waiting." Bede paused for a moment looking between her and Gloria exactly once, before turning and started walking towards her. She turned and walked away from the three of you as Gloria slowly stood herself. Bede not sparing either of you a head glance as he walked past the two of you head down without a word.

The three of you stood there watching everyone leave down the long flight of stairs silently ...before you finally broke the silence by looking at the mess as the copperajah lumbered past after it's owner. ".....Well I can say for certain that this so fair has been the most eventful day I've ever had in my life."

"Tell me 'bout it!" Gloria grumbled dusting herself off as she walked over to you to which you looked at her.

"Hey. Are you ok? You're not hurt are you?"

She shook her head no to your relief as she still deeply frowned. "I know the show ponyta was a looney but I didn't think he'd have the gall ta pull somethin' like this."

You hummed. ".....Somehow I don't think that was exactly all his fault."

"Whatcha mean by that?"

You went to answer her but was cut off yet again by voice. "Now that I think about it..." Both of you looked to Sonia who hummed. "You know. During one of Bede's matches, I heard the announcer say that Bede has no family. Apparently it was Rose who took Bede under his wing, and so Bede was battling for the Chairman's sake." Gloria looked between you two surprised, but you were more angry than surprised at this point gaining a frown. You had pretty much picked up on that by now. "*sigh* But that's a story for another day." She looked to the destroyed Mural. "Oh poor Bea. What an awful turn of events. I hope the mural survived all that."

"I doubt that." Gloria kicked a decent sized rock away from her at the mention.

And then that's when the rumble started. Just like the sound of the rock that nearly crushed Bede, only there was a lot more of it! The three of you looked up in horror at the cracks in the once pretty mural finally giving away under the strained weight, and it fell apart.

"LOOK OUT!!"

You quickly grabbed Gloria and yanked her behind you as your Drizzilie once again ducked behind your legs for cover as the rocks fell away and crumbled to the ground in a heap. Sending smaller rock fragments and dust everywhere making the three of you cough up a storm. But it's when you looked up however, is when the REAL mystery began. Because when the two of you looked up....your eyes widened. In place of where the mural used to be was a pile of rubble and a hole in the cliffside. But in the hole ..was a couple of statues. Two of which were two GIGANTIC dog looking pokemon holding a sword or shield in their mouths, and behind them were two kings carved into the stone.

"...Hey." You glanced at Gloria shaking dust from her hat and Sonia walked up wide eyed to the statues. "Are you ok?" She nodded before plopping the hat back onto her head. "Good. What about you Sonia?.....Sonia?" You blinked and looked over to the orange haired woman gaping up at the statues...Huh. Why did they seem familiar to you?

"......Not a brilliant turn of events, but the ruins were brought into the light for us to see!," Sonia finally said after a long moment of silence. "What does this tell us about Galar's legends?"

"Uuuuh." You rose a brow up at the statues. Not really sure if she was talking to you or not. "A....sword and shield?" You guessed based off what the things were holding in their mouths...Hey. Wasn't this whole game's thing revolved around a sword and shield or something??

She nodded. "Right! More than any hero, there's those things that appear to be pokemon that stand out! Not just that, but those pokemon appear to be holding a sword and shield as if they were using them! Anything else look interesting to you?!"

"Uuuuh. ...Those two guys there." You pointed to the two king statues. They're the same as the tapestries aren't they?"

"I didn't notice that! Oh good observation! There really were two heroes. But if that's the case then why only the one statue at Budew drop inn?"

You shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe whoever built it didn't feel like making two giant gold statues."

She hummed. "More than any statue of a hero or old tapestry, these ruins made in truly ancient times must show us the real truth! Which means that....."

"....The sword and shield are pokemon?"

"YUP!!" She snapped with a smile to you making you blink. "I was thinking the same thing! Seems like at some point in history the sword and shield were combined with the two actual pokemon and treated as the same thing!" She hummed looking back to all the rubble. "But then what? They just faded from history? Two young heroes. The sword and shield were actually pokemon. But why would the truth of these ruins be hidden when their stories were depicted in artwork?"

"...Maybe they had something to do with it?" She looked at you and you pointed to the human statues. "The kings or whoever they are. They went through a lot of trouble hiding this..maybe it was to protect the things that protected them."

She hummed. "Possibly. We won't be too sure until I get Mr. Rose's approval to study it more. Thanks! With your help I really feel like we made a big discovery here!

"Not sure how I helped but your welcome!"

"..So there was history being covered up by all that over stylized artwork. I'm gonna have to look into this some more. OOHH!! IM SO EXCITED!! NO RESEARCHER HAS EVER MADE SUCH A DISCOVERY-" A bark caught both of your attention as Sonia looked down at her feet in time for her yamper to drop something white at them. And she blinked. "Hey boy. Whatcha got there?" Not a bone you hoped. She quickly reached down as you leaned over to look and she stood up with a white mask in her hands. It was covered in does and a bit yellowed with a few scrapes, and had three black holes in it presumably for a person's mouth and eyes. "Well would you look at this. I dont think this is from the ruins. ...It kinda reminds me of the one's Allister wears."

"Who?," you asked trying to see it. Sonia handed it over to you and you grabbed it from her to get a better look.

"Allister. He's the boy who's in charge of the Ghost type Gym just down the road there." She pointed towards the exit path from Stow-on-Side. "It's located by the Stow-on-Side cemetary, but it'll take a full day just to get there from here. I just mentioned it might be his since the only one I've ever seen with that kind of mask was him at the Entrance Ceremony....But I guess you'll be headed to Bellonlea next, right?"

You opened your mouth- "Y/N!!!" You were nearly knocked to the ground when Gloria ran up to you and grabbed you suddenly. Yanking you forward hard enough to send you stumbling a few steps as she panicked. "It's that restore scientist lady! She's headed up the stairs this way!" She pulled you into a run away from Sonia as she watched bewildered down the path away from here. Your Drizzilie running at your heels.

"Bye Sonia! Good luck in your research!!," you called back.

Guess you'd be able to finally leave Stow-on-Side.

[aimeelouart]

Here is a prompt worthy of only the best cloud tormenters: The reason the family name is 'Strife' is because all who carry the bloodline are cursed with supernaturally catastrophic bad luck. The presence of a Strife activates murphy's law. It is exacerbated by negative emotion, and is a feedback loop of chaos and destruction.

My brain said NEW AU SERIES and I am powerless to resist. Baby Mine is now included in this universe.

Murphy’s Law - 1036 words, no pairings, Angeal Hewley & Cloud Strife, dimension-hopping

Trigger warning: very brief moment where someone thinks someone else committed suicide

--

There was a man sunbathing on the roof of the Tower, over the President's office. Since the security footage showed that he'd gotten up there using enhancements (though no one was sure how he'd gotten to the top floor in the first place), he was assumed to be a particularly reckless SOLDIER and the nearest First was called to deal with him.

Unfortunately, that meant Angeal had to trudge up to the top floor and mete out punishment to what was, in all likelihood,  a dumb teenager high off his first mako injections. With a sigh, he snapped his PHS shut and made his way up.

Except, he didn't find a teenager on top of the roof when he climbed up. He found a man who looked a bit older than him, maybe twenty-five to twenty-eight, which was strange because there were very few SOLDIERs that age, and none of them were stupid enough to sunbathe over the President's office.

The man pulled one hand from where it was crossed behind his head and waved lazily. "Howdy," he said, not even bothering to open his eyes. "Come to kick me out, SOLDIER?"

"Hm," Angeal said, narrowing his eyes and taking a moment to really look at the man. He had long blonde hair, wild and unkempt, pulled into a ponytail at the base of his neck by a pink ribbon. A matching Ribbon was tied around his bicep, but that was equipment, not an accessory. His clothing looked like a SOLDIER First uniform, if you tilted your head and squinted: a black ribbed shirt with a high neck that zipped up the front, a short-sleeved shirt beneath that, baggy black cargo pants, mismatched gloves. There was no stomach guard, and his sword harness didn't look like any standard design Angeal had ever seen. Most strikingly, he had an enormous buster-type sword laying next to him, pressed snug against his side. 

Angeal was absolutely certain he'd never seen that sword before. He would have remembered a beauty like that.

"Take a seat," the man said, and Angeal noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes and the pale color of his lips. "I'll be gone in a minute anyway. No point in arresting me when it'll just cause problems for you."

"Oh?" Angeal asked, moving closer and dropping down into a crouch. Something was going on here. He felt it best to act cautiously until he knew what. "How do you figure?"

"Well, awkward questions tend to crop up when a prisoner vanishes on your watch."

"Very confident, for a man laying on the roof of the most secure building in the world. You sure you could get away from a First Class?"

The man snorted, cracking open one eye and looking at Angeal from the corner of it. His irises were dazzlingly bright, mako blue with an eerie ring of green (a green that matched Seph's eyes) around his pupil. A chill went down Angeal's spine at the brightness of the gleam. That was no Second or Third class level of enhancement. That was beyond even First Class. Beyond even Sephiroth, though he rejected the thought immediately.

Ignorant to his growing alarm, the blond said "nothing to do with 'getting away,' Mr. First Class. I have no choice in the matter. It's just what's going to happen."

"Someone after you?" Angeal asked lightly.

The man closed his eyes and settled back with a sigh. "The universe, maybe. Or my family name. Or whoever cursed my family name. But a singular person? I wish. That would be old hat."

"Your...family name?"

"Strife," he replied with a laugh. "Fitting, isn't it? The name Strife, cursed to eternal Strife. And since I got the shortest straw of all, here I am. It gets worse with negative emotion and...well. Let's just say I've felt my share of negative emotion." He sat up and looked at Angeal very seriously, the intensity of his gaze killing the words Angeal wanted to say in response.

"This is stupid of me," the blond said,  "but I've never been particularly smart. Listen. There's a kid that's going to come here, probably. Wants to be a SOLDIER. Don't let him. Tell him to go home. Tell him to let the world take care of itself. Tell him he's not good enough, if you have to. Just make sure he stays far away from the Shinra Science Department."

Working past the sudden dryness in his throat, Angeal said, "a kid?"

"Cloud Strife," the man said. "His name is Cloud Strife. You really can't miss him. He looks like⁠—" he smiled, humorless. "Well. Me."

"Your...kid?"

The blond threw his head back and laughed uproariously at the suggestion. "Ha! No. You'd be closer guessing twin, but even then, no."

A twin years younger than him? The man was crazy,  maybe from the mako, maybe from sleep deprivation, maybe just...crazy. Angeal ignored the uneasiness in his gut and decided it was time to end the whole charade, for everyone's sake. "Sure. Cloud Strife. I'll keep an eye out. Now, how about we get off the roof and get you to medical, huh?"

"Aww," the blond cooed at him, standing fluidly to his feet and picking up the sword. Angeal followed, watching him closely. "You're trying to help. That's cute, but no." His head tilted slightly. "Mm. Seven seconds left." He holstered the sword on his back. Angeal tensed, ready for him to bolt or attack.

He casually walked over to the edge of the roof⁠— and stepped off.

"Shit!" Angeal cursed, blurring to the edge in the hopes of...what? It was too late to save him from falling. Horror churned in his gut. Was this what the crazy man had meant by vanishing? Suicide?

But...when he looked over the edge of the roof, the man was gone without a trace. No body below, nothing in the airspace for miles around. He was just...gone.

Angeal leaned back, one hand going to his forehead as he felt his pulse slowly calm. The Turks would have security footage to know what really happened, but...well.

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye out for Cloud Strife.

[abnormallynice]

About a boy who wakes up in the Underground and surrounded by monsters. On the way to go back home, he meets others, faces challenges and makes friends. Maybe these other beings aren’t so different from himself, afterall?

You play TWEWY and listen to Undertale Let’s Plays at the same time and this is what happens >:P Stick around and read the Headcanons if you have a minute (obvious spoilers for both TWEWY and Undertale ahead):

- Neku-Frisk fell into the Underground but wasn’t completely sure how. He thought he was being careful… did he trip? …was he pushed? - Those headphones aren’t for music, but act more like sound mufflers. Too much/loud noise all at once makes him anxious and aggressive and want to retreat to a ‘safer place’ just for himself. The headphones are a way he can cope with over-stimulation. - Monsters physically are a combination of humans and the Noise creatures from Twewy. Other than the obvious tribal-like appendages and markings, monsters can use magic and their souls are made up of love, hope and compassion (like the monsters in Undertale). - Instead of a heart, souls are represented by musical notes. Each monster has their own 'song’ and only a certain few can hear them. And like a game with BGM, areas and spots have their own songs as well. - Beat and Rhyme HAD to be the skeleton brothers. The skull motif just made the choice easy! Although, knowing what happens in TWEWY and the genocide route in Undertale, Rhyme as Sans might seem odd. To that I decided that Rhyme deserves some love and redemption. And more credit for the clever girl she is. - The clothing items on Beat and Rhyme do move and emote. Because monsters and magic. - Everyone’s personalities are combinations of the characters they are crossovered with. For instance,

Sans and Rhyme are both observant and think highly of their brothers, which Rhyme-Sans inherits. But Rhyme-Sans is less lazy and more playfully apologetic about playing pranks.– Beat-Papyrus has a lot of energy and desire to be the best. But it’s less about popularity and more about being someone Rhyme-Sans can be proud of. And also he still skates. He’s a really cool dude afterall.

Eri-Undyne has a desire to protect other monsters and motivates them to do what they can do best. She’s a little more aggressive than Eri but it’s all   for betterment of her community. She’s still a royal guard.

Shiki-Aphys. Shy, closeted nerd that loves science and making cute clothes but has trouble loving herself for who she is. Replace anime with fashion for this version. Royal seamstress that also dabbles in science and doll-making.

Joshua-Dreemur, the serial murderer. Once prince of the Underground, able to hear and make beautiful music with his magic. Died and became an orange flower. Vowed to destroy monsters and the Underground because they have no good in them. All they are are noise. Saw Neku and knew this was his chance for world(and self) destruction.

- Yes, that’s the Dogechiko. It sits in Snowdin. - Yes, Eri and Shiki are dating (or will, at least). - I refer to each character here as 'TWEWY character’-'Undertale character’ but in the crossover, they call each other by their TWEWY names. You can too, if you don’t want to say or write long names ;p That’s all I can remember right now but I’m sure there are more I’ve forgotten or chose not to mention just yet. I’ve been plotting and concepting and drawing this on and off for about a month now. Doing the designs for everyone was really fun (including the ones characters that I haven’t featured here). I tried to match characters together that I thought had similar personalities and/or had similar stories. Most were REALLY easy choices, some were hard. Designs were difficult at times because on one hand you have the simplicity of Undertale, and the detailed accessories and clothes from TWEWY. Tried to stick somewhere in the middle. I hope I can draw and add more to this AU. The similarities between TWEWY and Undertale are almost STAGGERING.

[memorymistress]

{jeon yeo-bin, 28, cis woman, she/her} || min-ji nam is a mutant with the ability of memory manipulation they’ve been in new york for two years where they spend most of their time as mortician. when i think of them, i think of the name of a childhood friend you can’t quite remember, ink bleeding through a page, hands that don’t warm up, a long black coat with two buttons missing.

nam min-ji was the first child and only daughter to two loving parents.  she’s born in a small fishing town in korea. she’d remain an only child for four years, until her brother was born. her first seven years were unremarkable, then her parents pack everything and move to america for a work opportunity for her dad. she has an eidetic memory, which helped a lot during her schooling. she speaks two languages: korean and english, along with a small bit of french thanks to a required high school class. her life is normal, and she pursues a degree in chemistry with a minor in photography, and the former would lead to her pursuing an associate’s degree in mortuary science. after seven years of college, she’d shadow a local funeral director for a full year before going off on her own. her work has taken her all sorts of cities, even back to korea for a short stint. now, she’s back home in new york, running her own funeral parlor for the past two years. 

those are the facts. that’s her life story. 

it’s all wrong. 

nam min-ji was the first and only daughter to two loving parents. she’s born in a small fishing town in korea. she’d remain an only child for four years, until her brother was born. when she was five, she started a game that would entertain her friends and other neighborhood kids. if she touched their hand, she could tell them what they had for breakfast, what their mother had told them earlier in the day word for word, or what they’d gotten for their last birthday. the kids were amazed at min-ji’s ability, and begged for her to teach them. she’d just smile. by six, kids would come up to her in school for help remembering where their house was, what the teacher had said an hour beforehand, or other things their little minds couldn’t quite recall. but min-ji always could. 

the fun and games ended when her teacher noticed how children flitted to and from her desk. she wanted to know what was going on, as the disruptions were becoming a nuisance. min-ji, a little kid and proud of what she could do, wanted to show off to the adult. she grabbed her hand. images filled her head of a man yelling, and she could hear her teacher yelling back, something about money and cheating. min-ji frowned at her teacher, and repeated the exact words the man had used at her. the adult flinched and looked at her in horror. 

it was the beginning of the end. 

she’s sent to the headmaster’s office. neither them or the teacher could decide what was there to do about her. was she spying on the teacher? had her parent’s heard and told her? any rational conclusion couldn’t fit as how had the girl been able to say exactly what the teacher’s husband had? at the mention of touch causing it, they came to one solution: min-ji could no longer have skin to skin contact at school. she was to come everyday in gloves.

little min-ji became a pariah in a matter of days. there were whispers of what caused her new daily accessory, why the teacher wouldn’t even look in her direction anymore, if her ability to look in the past was actually a curse. her parents took her to different doctors, all of which had no clue what caused min-ji’s abilities. 

a year after her incident at school, a group of kids a grade older than her cornered min-ji in alley. they grabbed her hand and yanked a glove off. 

“show us your magic trick, freak.” 

min-ji, in tears and scared as the other kids pushed and smacked her head, discovered a new skill she had. as her hand was placed in one of bully’s, she saw a blur of memories and shut her eyes tight. she wanted it all to stop. stop. stop. STOP. and then it did. she was back in her own mind, and a sense of calmness washed over her. the other kid wasn’t so lucky. he dropped her hand and looked around. 

“where am i?” their group’s eyes widened. “who are you?” he questioned. unable to understand what was going on, the children screeched, one pulling on their now confused friend away from her. 

“get away from her! get away!” they yelled to each other. 

word was spread around. the boys’ parents are furious, claimed min-ji cursed their son. the entire town was aware of min-ji’s...quirk now, and they were furious. nothing her parents said could soothe the angry mob. a sympathetic doctor had contacted them, and let them know of a school that taught children like her in new york. her parents had no other choice, as they were just as worried about their daughter as much as their neighbors were scared of her. 

within the next few months, her family were moved to a two bedroom apartment in new york. in another week, min-ji was enrolled in the xavier institute. the harassment from their town, move, and overall culture shock of a new place had shaken min-ji. she didn’t understand what made her so different, made her so hated. 

slowly, she became to understand it. as she met the other kids, she could see their various talents and how hers weren’t just an everyday oddity. for awhile, things improved. she still wore her gloves, but with one on one teacher instructions, she learned to control and sharpen her abilities. there were still bumps and dives in the road, but nothing too bad. 

then, she took off her gloves one day. she’d met someone she’d wanted to hold hands with, to touch without fabric as a barrier. it was a mistake. she wasn’t ready. 

her excitement caused her to push her own memories onto her current crush, so much so they felt like they were experiencing it. for the first time in more than half a decade, she saw the emotion she saw in those kids’ eyes in the alley. fear. 

the other students started to avoid her. they’d flinch if she even brushed past. they were all different, but now people realized fully what min-ji could, the extent of it. how do you know if your memories are your own? is she messing with us right now? i feel like i’m forgetting everytime i’m in a room with her. min-ji realized even mutants couldn’t resist acting on their panic. 

still, there were a couple of people who stayed by her side, were friends with her. it didn’t ease the sting of people being scared of her entirely, but it helped her cope. as soon as she graduated, she was out of there. professor xavier had been kind enough to pay for her schooling to a university. she flourished there as no one knew she was any different. her parents were proud, happy that she’d grown up to be the woman she was. they found her choice of career a bit funny, but were glad she knew what she wanted to do. 

it’s during her year shadowing a funeral director things are thrown awry. the president confirms the existence of mutants. people will find out. they always want to know why she wore the gloves. 

with mutants coming out of the shadows, she panicked even moreso. she left the city, wanting as much distance between her and the school as possible. then, she couldn’t run anymore. she was in charge of someone who turned out to be a mutant, as well as their friends who attended the service. one had the ability to see other people’s mutation. he pulled her aside, began peppering her with questions. her repeated denial was met with an invitation. they had a group of mutants, people to test their powers with. if you don’t let it out once in awhile, you’ll explode. that conversation kept her up for weeks, until she finally gave in. it was uncomfortable at first, as she was resistant to revealing her abilities. when she did, it wasn’t fright that met her. it was amazement. 

she’s thriving again, but this time as herself. her true self. everything was going well, she was happier than ever. her powers weren’t a curse. they could make people happy, make her happy, like they had as a child.  

but she started to use it too much. she overexerted herself. she began having ideas, ways to speed up mutant acceptance. as she discovered she didn’t even need to touch people to look into their memories, to change it. why couldn’t i just meet the president, rewrite his history so he comes up with stronger mandates for mutant protection? some were for it, most were wary. you’re going off the deep end. take a step back. she didn’t care, she had a gift and wanted to use it. the amount of bodies coming into the parlor that were mutants had skyrocketed over the years. something had to be done.

the group agreed, just not with her. a plan was made with the other telepath among them as the main player. with their abilities, as min-ji slept one night, they put a stop to min-ji’s fantastical plans by erasing her knowledge she was a mutant at all. it took some time, to fill such a large part of her life enough that she wouldn’t be suspicious. 

it worked. min-ji started over without knowing it, and has been living that way for the past eight months. she wore gloves because her hands were always cold. i was born to be a mortician, huh? she’d joke to people once she told them her line of work. it’s normal. she’s normal. nothing could change that. right? 

okay so hi! i would love to plot with everyone and write with everyone! i’m izzy aka bells (i answer to either!) my discord is gaytendo#6961 or you can im me on here!! i can’t wait to write and talk with all of you!!