#But Fox and Ice would absolutely get some raised brows | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tooweirdforyou · 3 years

Text

Platonic! Straw Hats x Teen! Reader » Continued. PT 2

Request : Can we have more teen reader with the straw hats and they protect them and teach them things

Hi, do you mind if we get more platonic teen reader with the straw hats?

Is there going to be a part 2 of the teen reader and straw hat Pirates?

I FINALLY FINISHED. I didn’t realize how popular this would be, holy crap. This is the first time I had someone request for a part 2 for something, let alone 3 people. It feels kinda nice 😂

I’m trying to keep reader GN, but if I end up writing female pronouns or hints of a female reader, then I’m sorry :(

this might be in parts, ( should I turn this into a multi-fic? lol )

PART ONE | PART THREE

includes interaction w/ : Nami, Sanji, Chopper & Usopp!

Summary : continuation of life with the straw hats, as a teen. This time, they will get you to open up! >:)

“So, treat them nicely, okay?”

Nami’s sing-song voice fills the room as boys stare in surprise at the sudden appearance of the two girls and their younger crewmate.

You felt a little uneasy in the presence of the crew, their eyes lingering on you as you shifted you weight.

“Er.. im sorry for.. staying in my room a lot.. and.. for.. making you worry..”

Even though Nami already explained the reasoning for your actions, you still felt the need to apologize. However, when it continues to be silent, you feel yourself fidgeting with the hem of your shirt.

Then your Captain spoke. Well, laughed.

“Shishishishi!~”

Everyone turns to Luffy, who is grinning widely. “Apology accepted! Who knew you were just shy the whole time? We assumed you didn’t like us! Shishishi!”

Your eyes widen at him and you felt an embarrassed blush creeping up onto your cheeks as you look down to hide it. “I-I’m sorry.”

Robin places a gentle hand on your shoulder and smiles softly to the crew. “Well, now that we know the truth, why don’t you spend the rest of the day with us? One by one.”

“I like that idea.” Nami grins before glancing down at you. “Well? Who do you want to spend time with first, [Name]?”

You blink at her before looking around to see them staring expectantly at you, offering rather kind smiles to you, patiently waiting for an answer.

“..I don’t know..”

...

The others deadpan and sweatdropped at your response before Nami sighs softly. “That makes sense, you wouldn’t know where to start.”

Nami then grins. “Then, I’ll volunteer and go first! Sound good? No complaints? Great!”

“Hey! How come you get to go first and show [Name] stuff?!” Usopp points a finger at the navigator, narrowing his eyes as he frowns.

Nami simply sticks out her tongue and gave a childish expression. “Because I volunteered! Now let’s go, [Name]!”

Dragging you away with the pull of your hand, Nami pulls you off towards the aqua lounge despite the many protests, complaints and calls after her.

“W-wait, is this a good idea?.. I don’t—“

“Of course it is. You want to spend time with us don’t you?” The navigator smiles once you two enter and shut the door.

Now it was just the two of you, in the lounge.

“Well..” you trail off, still feeling awkward and perhaps a little bit nervous about all of this.

It was pretty sudden after all, just minutes ago you were in bed reading a book and now, you’re playing play date with your crew members.

Nami softens her smile and went over to the couch and took a seat, patting the spot beside her.

“I know this is a lot. We don’t have to do much but talk, and maybe get you to open up a little more. Tell me about yourself!”

Hesitantly, you nod and walk closer towards her, before sitting down beside her, turning your body to face her.

“...what do you wanna know?..” you mumble, Nami barely catching it but still heard it anyways.

“Anything about yourself. Your family, your life before you became a pirate, your favorite foods, hobbies, any crushes you might’ve picked up along our journey~” the navigator winks at you making you blush faintly at her, turning away with a sigh.

“I don’t have any of the sort.” You scoff lightly, closing your eyes but Nami wasn’t convinced. “Oh?”

“What about that pink haired marine? Koby, wasn’t it?”

You snap your head to her quickly, brows furrowed.

“Koby? Marine Captain Koby? I’ve hardly met him. Besides, he’s a marine. Even if I did like him, it wouldn’t work out anyways.”

You turn away once more, Nami grinning at how quick you responded and how much you talked just now.

“If Koby wasn’t a marine, would you date him?” Nami hums and you kept silent, though the red hue forming on the tips of your ears were enough for her.

“..he’s attractive.” You mutter and Nami giggles.

“Okay, okay, so then, how about any of the older men we met? Traffy isn’t that much older.” She thinks for a minute, her thumb and forefinger under her chin.

You raise a brow at her question. “You mean the Captain / doctor?.. Law?.. he seems.. really annoyed easily. He’s so frowny and never sleeps.”

“Not much different from someone else..” Nami sings under her breath making you playfully roll your eyes.

“I wouldn’t go for him either. He’s attractive, I guess, but... no. I think the fact that I’m in Luffy’s crew too, he might be pretty annoyed already.”

“I think it’s just Luffy in general.” Nami sighs and you smile a bit at that.

“Okay, how about that red haired one? Eustass “Captain” Kid?”

“Too violent.”

“Ace or Sabo?”

“Luffy’s brothers.”

“Perona? The Ghost Princess?”

“I don’t like her ghosts.”

“Vivi?”

“She’s gorgeous and rich, but no.”

“Tashigi?”

“She’s into Zoro.”

“Anyone from our crew?”

“We’re family.”

“Buggy?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Any of Sanji’s brothers?”

“They have no emotions.”

“Silvers Rayleigh?”

“A silver fox, but no.”

“Anyone in Whitebeard’s crew?”

“Izo is absolutely stunning .. and Marco seems really nice, I guess.. but no.”

“That empress, Boa Hancock?”

“She’s too into Luffy..”

Nami heaves a sigh as she leans back and crosses her legs, one over the other.

“So the closest one to your attraction.. is Koby.”

You shrug and smile slightly at her defeated look. “I’m not really into anyone...”

“Perhaps you’re just young. You’ll definitely be growing in some..” The orange haired female eyes your body for a good minute, making you shift. “..areas real soon.”

“Right.. what about you?”

“Huh?”

You shift in your seat and made yourself comfortable on the cushion. “Is there someone you like?..”

Nami blinks before looking up and thinking for a moment. “..I guess there isn’t.” She answers and you raise a brow. “I thought you like Luffy..”

The navigator seems offended at the statement, recoiling at the thought. “Luffy’s a huge pain in the ass. And besides, like you said, we’re a family.”

The corner of your lips tug upwards slightly. “And Vivi?”

This shut the female quick, and you can see the pink tint of her cheeks. “Vivi’s a friend.”

“Well, that friend, most likely shares the same feelings.” You hum, looking straight at her calmly. “I mean.. you’re very beautiful. Everyone would love you.”

Nami’s eyes widens at the unexpected compliment from you, her heart feeling warm at that, but you didn’t notice.

You didn’t realize how much you ended up talking, your voice felt dry and sore in a way. Though for some reason, you didn’t mind.

You kind of enjoyed this time with Nami, despite only talking about possible crushes of yours.

Instinctively, you rub your throat and Nami notices, standing up and offering her hand. “Come on, we can talk more later. You’ve talked enough, I’ll take you to Sanji.”

“Are you sure? I figured you’d want to spend more time together..” you clear your throat and Nami just smiles gently.

“We have everyday to do so. Besides, I’m sure it’s been a while since you talked so much so I’m happy enough with what you gave me.” Nami says, helping you up and began leading you out.

“Time for you to spend time with someone else, and don’t worry, I’ll make sure the others don’t force you to talk and Sanji makes you something to help your throat.” She assures, making her way back to the kitchen, which didn’t take long.

“O-okay..” you nod, eventually making it to the door and Nami just opens it up, seeing only a few of the members, so some must’ve left.

The four in the room look up at the door and find you, instantly smiling at the sight of your form.

“Already done?” Chopper questions in confusion and Nami smiles. “I would’ve spent more time with them but there’s so many of us, so we should make it short and easy for them for today.”

Robin, Brook, Chopper and Sanji nod in agreement at their navigator and Robin smiles gently.

“So, who would you like to spend time with next?”

Nami nudges you to speak in front of them and you turn to Sanji.

“Uh..Er.. Is it okay if I spend some time with you?..”

Sanji widens his eyes, clearly a bit surprised but nonetheless, smiles in joy. “Of course, [Name]-chan!”

Nami then ushers the others out, the only one to sulk being Brook but Nami was quick to slap his skull.

The door shut closed and you awkwardly stood there, shifting your weight. You never spent much time with them, despite fighting battles alongside the crew, so you weren’t sure what to do or say.

Sanji, noticing your discomfort, smiles lightly and gestures for you to sit at the counter as he stood behind it, in the kitchen.

“So, [Name]-chan. Is there anything you want to drink?”

You look around the dining room, taking a good look since this was one of the first times actually being in here.

“..Tea?.. my throat kind of hurts...” you mumble, reaching up to rub your throat again and Sanji nods. “I know the perfect thing! Ice or hot?”

“[ Either one ].” You answer, shifting in your seat and making yourself comfortable a bit in the stool and watched as Sanji quickly went to work.

Watching him silently from the counter, you lean on your palm and thought for a minute.

What were you supposed to talk about?

You hardly knew much about them and isolating yourself from them let you absolutely awkward and unsure of what to say or do, so you hoped Sanji would do something.

But the poor blonde cook kept silent, figuring that’s what you’d prefer as he made your drink.

So you had to do it.

“Sanji?..”

The blonde hums gently, letting you know he was listening.

“Uh...so.. what’s for dinner?..”

Sanji stays silent for a moment, taking in the hesitation in your voice before turning around to face you. “.. Anything you want, [Name]-chan. What do you want to eat?”

You ponder a bit at his question before feeling your stomach growling at the thought of a particular food. “..Can you make [ Food ]? It’s from my homeland and.. it’s really good.”

Sanji’s eyes lights up and he grins widely. “I’d be honored to make a dish native to your homeland, [Name]-chan!” He deflates a little bit and leans back. “However.. I’m a little worried I won’t be able to make it as good. I know I have the proper ingredients though, I’m sure.”

Sanji’s been studying on his own time, with the small assistance of Robin, knowing she was also studying up by gathering information from your island.

You offer a small smile as Sanji turns to take the drink he made and set it in front of you. “It’s okay.. I trust that you can make it even better.”

Sanji widens his eyes at the sudden compliment and encouragement, feeling his heart warming towards his younger crew member.

You take the cup in hand and brought it up to your lips, taking a light sip of the beverage.

“I see.. in that case, we shall have [ Food ] for dinner tonight.”

Your smile widens just a little bit at his announcement and you continue drinking before seeing Sanji still staring at you. “What is it?..”

“Would you like to help me?”

You pause in your movement, eyes wide at his question. “You want me to help you? I can’t cook.” You furrow your brows at the suggestion.

I mean, sure you had some BASIC skills, but nothing as extravagant compared to Sanji.

“I’d love to show you! Besides, I’m sure you can also offer me some tips and suggestions on your home dish.” Sanji grins assuringly, bringing a small, comforted smile to your lips.

“Okay.”

And so, after handing you a spare apron and letting you prepare yourself as he got the ingredients set, the two of you got to work.

Sanji moving towards the cutting board, you point to the vegetables set out by him.

“You should start cutting these up.. they should be bite-sized.” You inform, Sanji nodding and quickly cutting up the given ingredients with ease.

While Sanji finished with that, you began to look for the pots and pans and after finding what you needed, you did what you needed, ( whether it’s boiling water, filling a skillet with oil, etc. ) and set it onto the stove to heat.

“[Name]-chan, I can handle the stove. I don’t want you to accidentally burn yourself with the fire or the oil, so I’ll leave the cutting and mixing up to you.”

Nodding your head, you move aside and let him take your place before moving towards the cutting board.

‘.. how can you cut vegetables so beautifully?..’ you sweatdrop and began preparing what you needed to do before looking around.

Your eyes widen a little in remembrance and realization and you set the items down before heading to the rice cooker. You open the lid and find the pot empty and pulled it out, looking for the rice grains.

It didn’t take long to find it, fortunately, so you began to put in a few cups, and with the amount of food you were bound to make for Luffy, more than four was needed, obviously.

You did what you needed to, plopping the pot back into the cooker to cook the rice before going to the cutting board.

“Sanji, should we.. cook the meat first or cut it first?..” You trail off, unsure yourself as you went over to the fridge to find the meat.

The blonde cook ponders for a second before speaking. “It’ll be best if we cut first, so we can cook it all a lot quicker.” You merely nod in response as you pull out the required meats and brought it over to a new cutting board set up.

“Do you know how to cut them?” Sanji inquires, turning to you, which you nod in response. “I mean.. it’s just cutting it into smaller pieces. Right?..”

Sanji chuckles. “Yeah, in a way..” He lowers the flame on the stove so the oil/water can sit before moving to your side. “Here, let me show you.”

And so, with another cutting board and knife, he teaches you the correct and efficient technique, explaining which parts to throw and which parts to save.

“And then you cut them up into this size and set it aside to use. Did that make sense?” You nod at him, making him smile as he returns back to the stove.

Prepping yourself, you began to cut the meats into bite sized pieces, getting rid of the unnecessary parts and discarding them into the trash, exactly like Sanji had explained to you.

‘This feels nice.. cooking with Sanji.. even if we aren’t talking, it’s kind of, comfortable..’

The tiny curve of your lips move upwards as you thought silently, but distracted thoughts flooded your head as you no longer became focused on cutting.

‘Maybe, I should ask to cook with him more often.. it’ll be great to learn and spend more bonding time with him.’

You were so lost in thoughts, you forgot what you were doing and suddenly hissed in pain.

The sound was loud enough to catch Sanji’s ears as he widens his eyes and turns in a panic. “[Name]-chan! Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just a cut..” you poke at the blood, watching it drip down a bit quickly. ‘Guess I cut more of my skin than I think, by the looks of it..’ you frown.

“Let’s get you to Chopper.”

“H-Huh?.. but I’m fi-“

Sanji wastes no time to pick you up, as if you broken an ankle, and began carrying you over to the medical office.

An inaudible sigh escapes you, you relaxing in defeat as you thought about the medical office.

Sure, you’ve hurt yourself plenty of times before, nothing too fatal but enough to need patching up from Chopper. You were always up and out of the office pretty quickly, so you were curious to what the room even looked like.

“Chopper.”

Sanji knocks twice before opening the door with ease and walks in, seeing the little reindeer at his desk. “Sanji, [Name]! Something wrong?” The chirpy reindeer asks, a smile wide on his face.

“[Name]-chan’s hurt.” Sanji explains briefly, setting you down gently onto the bed and you turn to the little doctor.

“It’s just a cut.” You bluntly state, showing your finger and Chopper smiles lightly. “Nothing serious, at least! We should go wash and get it bandaged before an infection comes though.”

You nod and stand back up to head to the sink in the office, Sanji offering a weak smile. “I’m sorry, [Name]-chan. You got hurt because—“

“Huh?” As you stop in your tracks and turn back to face the blonde, you peer up a bit and shake your head. “It’s not your fault... I just got lost in my thoughts.” You murmured out, turning away.

You turn back to the sink and began washing your hands. “You should keep cooking, Sanji.. I look forward to you making [ food ].” You sneak a glance back at Sanji and held a ghost of a smile to him. “Cheer up, okay?”

Sanji widens his eyes at your expression, before he lets out a relaxed smile and light chuckle. “Yeah.. I’ll get to it then.”

With that, the chef left you alone with Chopper, who returns with his supplies.

“All cleaned up? Head on over to the bed and sit again!” Chopper smiles and waddles over to the bed before hopping up onto the edge.

You follow after the tiny man and sat across from him, holding out your finger.

Chopper, who kept silent to focus, began to clean up the cut with alcohol and wrapped your finger into a bandage.

‘Guess now is a good time to spend time with him..’

“So.. you came from Drum Island.. right?..” You internally sigh for being so awkward around them. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to mind.

“Yeah! It’s where I learned to study medicines from Doctorine!” Chopper excitedly claims, looking up from his task, which he finished.

“Doctorine? Oh.. you mean like your guardian?” You prodded at your finger a few times, seeing the wrapped bandage.

“Something like that. She taught me everything I know.” You nod at him and look to him. “Guess she must be a genius, since you know a lot. Right?”

Chopper widens his eyes at the compliment before waving you off with a scoff.

“Flattery doesn’t make me happy at all, don’t think you can fool me so easily~” Chopper sings, blushing as he danced on the bed.

Your eyes held a hint of amusement at Chopper as he calms down. “But you’re right. Doctorine is the best doctor I know.”

“I bet she is.” You stand up and dust your clothes, gesturing to your finger at the doctor.

“Thanks for patching me up, Chopper..” You watch the reindeer put on a wide smile and nods eagerly. “No problem! It’s my job!”

You pat his head lightly and nod, heading to the door. “I’ll get going then, see you later..”

With that, you exited the medical bay and shut the door behind you, wondering what you should do next.

‘Now what?.. Should i go back to Sanji to help?.. or should I find someone else?’

You wandered the upper deck aimlessly before making your way down to the main deck, where you found Usopp fumbling with something.

‘Hm. Usopp..’

You make you way over to the sniper, watching him suddenly jump up and cheer. “Eureka!” He hollers excitedly, startling you.

“Um.. did something.. happen?” You mumble, somewhat cautious as you step towards him.

Usopp jumps in fear when he hears you, before visibly relaxing and grinning determinedly. “Yeah, I finished my creation!”

He holds up his latest work, which seems to be an advanced archery bow.

The bow itself has an attachment that can carry arrows so you don’t require a separate bag, and it’s string seemed much more flexible to allow better accuracy and distance.

“Oh wow, that actually looks really cool..” you quietly awed, eyes widening in interest as Usopp chuckles eagerly.

“Right?! I’ve been working on it to better advance my stealth, since guns can be pretty loud, and slingshots can be tricky sometimes!”

He then smirks down at his bow and arrow in his hands and holds it up, readying an arrow upon the bow and aimed at the can that sat on the railing.

“But these bad boys are tipped with several of my ammo so I don’t need to grab the mini seeds anymore, since these arrows already have the affect!”

Usopp lets go of the arrow and it pierces the can with ease, knocking it into the ocean.

“Woohoo! Alright!” Usopp cheers, laughing hysterically. “Haha! I did it!!” He jumps around in joy, you watching with a slight smile. “Yeah.. you’re a brilliant inventor and sniper after all.”

Usopp pauses, eyes widening as he flushed a bit at the unexpected compliment, before snapping his head to you.

“You want to try, [Name]?” He smiles widely and held out the bow. “I can help you aim if you’d like!”

You thought for a bit before nodding, actually a little bit excited. “Yeah, sure. It looks really cool.”

Usopp felt his pride building up at your words and grins. “It is cool! Here, hold this and I’ll go set up the cans.”

Taking the bow, you inspect it closer with interested eyes. ‘I don’t remember the last time I touched a bow.. did I ever?’

Usopp returns quickly to your side and smiles, pointing to the cans. “Alright, [Name]. Now just hold up the bow, ready the arrow and take aim!”

You nod in understanding, steadying your arms and aimed directly at the center of the cans. Pulling back the arrow, you lined it up into position, going on Usopp’s count.

“Alright, and..... fire!”

You release your hold and watch the arrow shoot straight into the center and knocked itself into the ocean, like Usopp’s.

“I did it!” Your eyes widen and you smile to yourself. “That was awesome!” You turn to Usopp with bright eyes, but Usopp just laughs. “Nice shot!”

Usopp holds up his hands excitedly and you smile softer, hanging the bow onto your arm and high-fived him. “Yeah.”

“You sound like you’re having some SUUUPPERRR~ fun!”

The two of you turn to the source of voice and find Franky grinning at the two of you from below deck.

“Yeah, I just showed [Name] my latest creation and she just made a nice shot with my bow!” Usopp grins and Franky whistles. “Not bad, kid!”

The corner of your lips move upwards, a sheepish expression taking over your face. “Thanks..” you turn back to Franky and spoke. “What are you up to?”

“Ah, fixing something with The Sunny from down here. Almost done but it’s a little difficult, especially since I’m adding a new feature. Wanna check it out?”

You glance to Usopp, who nods that it was okay, and you return the bow, heading to Franky calmly.

“Yeah, sure.”

A/N : YAY, that took so long. I’m really happy with how this turned out, and I’m extremely excited to get to Zoro, Luffy and Brook’s interaction but unfortunately, I reached the limit so this is what happens, I’ll have to make a part 3. ;-;

Anyways, I’m so sorry for the long wait, I seriously hope this was worth the wait and that you look forward to the other’s interactions and then the final family interaction!! :DD have a lovely day/night, everyone ! <3

#tooweirdforyou #one piece #one piece x reader #op x reader #x reader #op #one piece writing #straw hats x reader #straw hats #one piece strawhats #strawhats #teen!reader #one piece x teen!reader

386 notes · View notes

whump-a-la-mode · 3 years

Text

Nemesis - Part 6

Based on the votes from last time, it’s time to get Hero some help! With A winning out, Hero has decided to trust Teammate-- let’s just hope they deserve that trust.

Thanks everyone for their suggestions, again! @freefallingup13 had a particularly good and whumpy :)

As of time of writing I have to wake up for work in an hour but uhh. Worth it

Without further ado:

CW//Unreality, hallucinations (including spiders, body horror, blood, and needles), strong language, gags, restraining

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

When Villain awoke, the spiderweb that held them in place, the web that that turned and held their limbs until they choked for air and the bitter taste of salt, was no longer made of the same silk.

That was not to say that it had, beforehand, been made of silk at all-- to say that it had not been made of veins turned inside out, a ring of plastic choking on a seagull. No, they knew what it was like to be a fox tripping on its own tail, and that was not this. The glycol in their veins still made them shiver, a mouth full of dry ice stubbornly refusing to melt, but it seemed as though the spider that wrapped their own veins around their neck had turned the other way.

Simply to test this theory, somewhere, someone kicked out-- a twitching gesture with a leg that may or may not have been attached to Villain’s body, somewhere. The silk web yielded easily, though it did not break.

The spider would not allow that to happen, which meant...

A pair of eyes, for the first time in a millennium, snapped open.

The face that stared back at them could not have possibly been a face, as faces were supposed to have eyes and mouths and...

But the doctors, the nurses, the orderlies and scurses, did not always have faces. Not when they did not feel like it. Not when balancing the formulae would take too much energy.

The faceless face that was not a face reached forward, reached towards them. An appendage, a spiders leg.

Villain fought with their muscles, willing them to scrape up long-forgotten memories on how to contract, which they agreed to do in slow order. Propelled by things that were perhaps limbs, they scrambled backwards-- only to soon find themself backed against something far less yielding than web.

The hand, the hand, the spiders leg, it would not give way. Villain’s breathing quickened at the thought of the appendage piercing their veins, piercing their heart, as it had done so many times. Yet, even as they fought, the wall would not yield to them.

They had spoken to walls before, and they did not usually reply, but usually and its kin were unimportant in the present moment. By some miracle, their tongue emerged from its cage of ice.

Villain screamed, but there was no one to hear it.. No, there was only a face without a face, a spider’s limb, and a knock on the door.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Hero froze.

For the first time in what was now far more than a year, they moved less than Villain. They were reckless-- that was what everyone had always said, in jokes and insults alike-- but this time, their impulses failed them. If they had any sort of impulse at the moment, it was the urge to hide under their bed covers and wait for the noise to stop.

But it was not going to stop. They knew that, they weren’t stupid.

Or, maybe they were.

They had been stupid enough to drag Villain back here. Stupid enough to hide them in a closet of all places, in which they were now thrashing and screaming loud enough to shred their throat. Stupid enough to let Teammate hear. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The smart decision would have been to slam the closet door shut, shout something about watching a horror movie, and handle the problem on their own terms. In this disaster of a situation, the fact that only they knew Villain’s whereabouts gave them at least the slightest modicum of control. That secret, it was all they had.

Giving that away, giving away their only tiny piece of leverage, that would be a stupid decision. But... Ah, to hell with it. Sitting at the bottom of a pit, there was no real reason not to grab a shovel.

Whatever facial expression they answered the door with, it seemed to do absolutely nothing to alleviate Teammate’s worries.

Again, Villain screamed, though this time it wasn’t coherent enough to be described in words.

“Oh god.” Teammate shook their head, as if they had only just realized that, whatever was happening, it was more than real. “Oh god, Hero. What did you- Please don’t tell me you’re like, murdering someone in there.”

Another scream. A string of ‘please’s’ and sobs.

Hero opened their mouth, but found their tongue too dry for words. Instead, they gripped Teammate by the hand, practically throwing them into their room before slamming the door.

Teammate’s bewildered gaze spun around, finally landing on the frenetic figure in the closet.

“Hero, is that-”

“Villain.”

“What the fuck.” Quick as always, they seemed to take only a moment to let the gears in the head grind. Seemingly having made their choice within that split-second, they dropped to their knees next to the closet’s entrance. “Hey, hey. Villain! You need to be quiet. The first step in figuring this thing out is you shutting your mouth.”

Hero dropped next to them, crawling forth to their friend’s side. They shook their head somberly.

“They can’t hear you.”

“What?”

“Their, um, their head isn’t working right now?”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Not right n-”

“I don’t want to leave! I want to go home! You don’t have to do this- Please don’t do this! Let me go, no, no, no!”

“You’re not...” Teammate sounded breathless. “You’re not even touching them.”

“They don’t know that.”

“They can’t hear me?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

It took Hero’s eyes a moment to process the flash of activity. If Teammate had an ounce of hesitation in their body, it seemed to have dissipated as they threw themself forwards. The full force of their thrown weight slammed into Villain, sending them sprawling onto their nest of blankets.

If they thought in that moment, they certainly did not act on those thoughts, as their next action seemed so impulsive that Hero wondered why they hadn’t thought of it.

Teammate shoved their hand on Villain’s face, struggling to hold their mouth closed-- when this proved impossible, they went a step further, simply shoving their hand as far into the half-conscious Villain’s mouth as it could go.

Villain’s screaming stopped, though its finale was accented by a yelp from Teammate. They gritted their teeth in pain as their trashing captive gritted their teeth around their hand.

“This really hurts.” It may have hurt, but Teammate, by some miracle, did not lose their composure. “Do you have anything to like, gag them?”

“Gag them?”

“Yes!”

“Um, um.” Probably making far more noise than they thought have, Hero scampered about their dorm. A moment later, a hand towel from the bathroom was thrown to Teammate’s hand. “There!”

“It’ll do.”

Yanking their now-bloodied hand from the villain’s jaw, they quickly replaced it with the fabric, forcing it between Villain’s teeth and securing it firmly around the back of their head.

For the first time, Hero breathed.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The ice in Villain’s mouth was torn from their jaws, replaced in short order by something fleshy, throbbing, and tasting of iron.

The spider had moved far too quickly for them to resist, holding them firmly from behind. Though they could see eight twitching legs forcing them still, they could only feel one of them-- wrapped around their chest, restraining their arms against their sides.

Their-

Their arms?

What were... Bones and tendons wrapped in muscles and ligatures and skin and it was theirs and they could feel it. Oh, god, it was warm. The blazing warmth of a furless animal held against bare skin.

How long had it been since they had had arms?

They could not move them, not far, but at the moment, that was far from their largest concern. Instead, they were far more focused on the fleshy thing (a hand? what did that word mean?) as it removed itself from their jaws, replaced just as quickly by something cold and silken.

Again, again, again they tried to talk to the wall, to beg it to allow them passage, but something rough and scratchy was holding their tongue.

The orderlies, the spiders, the seagulls, did not want them to scream. They did not want them to run away. They did not want the walls to wake up, to listen to them.

There was two of them, now. Two tormentors. One behind and one in front, en devant. They had multiplied, as if their webs alone were not enough to hold their prey.

Even without faces, they managed to speak, and even with eight limbs, they managed to only move four of them as they shifted positions. Switching places. The one behind became the one in front and...

Two limbs, now, wrapped around their front. Warm. They were so, so warm. Villain felt to be wading into the ocean, letting the hot, salty water carry their weight.

It was a spider holding them-- they should not feel like this! The web yielded easily against their thrashing, their legs, they had legs now, but the orderly held firm.

The orderlies... the orderlies were cold. Their veins ran thick with liquid nitrogen. Why was this spider so warm?

Villain felt to lose control of their limbs, yet, this time, that control was not snatched away from them. Not like so many times. It faded, warm ocean waters pleasantly taking the weight of wakefulness away.

The tide came in, gentle and slow. Villain breathed it in, filling their lungs with the orange waves, until the water took the pain away.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“They’re asleep?” Teammate raised a brow.

Hero shook their head, moving as little as they could in doing so. They were equally as cautious as they tilted their head downwards, looking to where Villain’s head had slumped backwards, resting on Hero’s shoulder.

“Not asleep. Just... Just relaxing, I think.”

“Okay. Please don’t tell me they’re gonna start screaming again once you move.”

“Uh... Hopefully not. I doubt it. They’re calm now, I think.”

“Are you going to explain to me what in the world that was all about?”

“Mhm. But first... I don’t think they can eat yet. But let’s get them some water.”

“A bottle?”

“Just a cup. They’re still weak.”

“That’s why my hand’s bleeding?”

“You know what I mean.”

Teammate rolled their eyes playfully, but nodded. They took a moment to wash their hand of blood and possible infection before returning, a paper cup of water in hand.

“I’m scared they’re gonna choke.” Teammate admitted.

“You’re scared for Villain?”

“I- I mean... They’re not really Villain right now, are they?”

“They’re Villain. But I don’t know if they’re a villain.” On queue, the unconscious person in Hero’s grasp shifted and whimpered. Hero tightened their grip, holding their charge secure until they quieted once more. “I just know they’re weak.”

“Do you think we can get some water down, then?”

“If we go slow. I don’t think I can let go. Can you just, kinda, tip it into their mouth?”

“Mhm.”

Teammate shifted their position on the floor, gently tipping Villain’s chin upwards with one hand, using the thumb to coax their mouth open. With the other hand, they tipped in what amounted to less than a swallow of water.

For a moment, Villain seemed confused, before some latent instinct kicked in. Again, Teammate tipped the cup forward, and again, helping more water go down each time until the glass was empty.

“Thank you.” Hero smiled, wavering, only then realizing just how much exhaustion threatened to grip their bones. “Let’s get them back to sleep.”

“And then, you are going to tell me everything.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Outside Hero’s window, a choir of unseen crickets chirped, calls reaching from the grass to the top of the skyscraper they called HQ.

It wasn’t exactly the most appropriate ambience for the situation, but it was better than screaming. A lot better than screaming.

In the earliest hours of dawn, two figures sat on a bed, swinging their legs over its side.

“So... Let me get this straight. You got messaged by a random person claiming to be some kind of hacker?”

“Yep.”

“And then they showed you classified documents saying that Villain was being drugged.”

“Mhm.”

“So you pretended to be the most powerful man in the city and... effectively kidnapped your nemesis.”

“I think at this point I’d say former nemesis, but... yeah. Pretty much.”

Teammate stared at Hero for a long moment, countenance as incredulous as it was dismayed.

“I love you, you goddamned idiot.”

“Gay.” Hero snickered.

“Is not. Your partner is in that closet over there.”

“Villain is not- I am not awake enough for this discussion. But, yes, pretty much. That is the story up until now. If you’re gonna yell at me, please be quiet. I don’t want to wake Villain up.”

“I wasn’t going to yell at you.”

“You weren’t?”

“You did the right thing.”

Hero blinked in disbelief.

“You really think-”

“They were suffering, that much is clear. What you did was impulsive and stupid, no doubt, but anything is better than that rehab place. Even if you just kinda, shoved them in your closet.”

“T- thank you. I think.”

“I do have one question, though.” Teammate looked up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I just did.”

“I mean before.”

“I didn’t-” Hero sighed, dipping their head. “I thought you would have told me to get over it. To leave it be.”

“I wouldn’t have. But there’s nothing we can do about that now.” Teammate exhaled. “So... what do we do?”

“About Villain?”

“Yes, about Villain.”

“I think- I mean, I’m no doctor, but I think it’s going to be a rough few days. I don’t have the documents, but they were heavily, heavily medicated. Coming off all of that will be difficult.”

“It would kill them, will it?”

“If it does, then we have a bigger problem. I don’t know anything about any of that stuff. The best we can do, I think, is just to keep them comfortable. Water is important. And maybe some food if they can get it down. I hate keeping them in, y’know, a closet, but moving them isn’t an option right now. Not when they’re liable to go all crazy-eyed at any second.”

“We’re really going to play, what, wildlife rehabber for your nemesis?”

“Pretty much, honestly.”

“Well.” Teammate gave the look- the look they always fixed Hero with, right before dashing into a plan that was ill-advised but somehow always successful. The look of possibly misguided determination. “Then, we need to take shifts. You have a calendar on you?”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The world was made of blocks.

Villain moved their hands to their face, trying to remove the dirtied glasses that they were certain sat in front of their eyes, but found nothing of the sort. With leaden eyelids, they blinked, though the world refused to clear itself.

The beige block atop them was warm, coaxing them back to sleep, but they had no interest in returning to unconsciousness. For a reason they could not quite understand, the very thought of it made their mind spin with spiderwebs.

Instead, they hauled themself to their hands and knees, all four limbs under them shaking and struggling to stay still. When at last they gained the strength to lift their head, they did so-- only to find two faces, an inch away.

Faces.

Oh my god, they were faces! Blocky and blurry, but faces with eyes and mouths that moved, showing tongues and teeth and...

And they were speaking.

Villain blinked, again, the nonsensical action managing in some confused way to clear their ears.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. Don’t push yourself. It’s Hero. I’m here to help you.”

From one of the blurry bodies, a limb emerged. A hand. An offering.

A hazy offering.

Still wobbling, Villain attempted to copy the gesture, lifting their own hand, attempting to pass it through the other limb. To shake away the ghost made of mist.

Instead, they found flesh. Real, solid human being.

Something was in their mouth, but it could not quiet their thoughts:

You’re real?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Thanks so much for reading! Just like last time, there are two options along with every part of this story. Alongside each options is a question, so that you guys can give more specific suggestions if you so wish. This time, the option is for Villain, not Hero.

A.) This may all be a little confusing, but if Hero says they’re here to help, then they must be telling the truth. Trust Hero - Should the same trust be extended to Teammate?

B.) This doesn’t make sense. This can’t be Hero. Even if it is, it’s some kind of trick. Don’t trust Hero - Should Villain attempt to escape?

(This time, it’s less about what’s more sensical for Villain to do, and more about what would be the most fun, and whumpy! :) )

#whump #whumpee #whumpblr #whump community #nemesis #choose your own whump #choose your own adventure #hero villain prompt #hero #hero caretaker #villain whumpee

65 notes · View notes

wxldchxld · 3 years

Text

This started out as like, a light piece just to describe what Beck’s workspace looks like and I won’t lie I’m a little obsessed with it. People always ask me like how tf Harper and Beck get along and... this. It’s this. Harper turns into a big sappy baby who lives off of nothing but Loving Her Wife Juice.

I’ll probably go back and edit this a couple of times for typos and other things but I love it so much I just wanna post it rn. And I won’t be putting it under a cut so y’all will have to live with it.

Harper knocked, almost tentatively, on the open door. From outside she could smell the intoxicating aroma of fir trees and herbs, sweetened by dried apples and candied citrus, drawing the attention of any passersby and calling them in. But she lingered there, knocking a second time when she got no response. Somewhere an old record player was crackling as Judy Garland sang about far away places over a rainbow, and a warm voice was humming along with it. Harper gently ran her thumb over one of the embroidered silk foxes among flower petals embedded into the translucent curtain that covered the door. The fabric, a deep ocean blue, shuffled under her attention, and the little creatures looked as if they were dancing.

Even on the threshold of Beck’s workshop, the world felt so slow. Time didn’t abide by schedules and obligations. It flowed like a lazy river on the precipice of winter, slowly but surely crusting over with ice. If she stood still long enough, would it freeze entirely? Or would the warm glow that haloed her lover forever melt away the sharpest crystals and encourage it to move on?

She didn’t need to knock. She didn’t need permission to enter. Not only did she doubt Beck would care, but the building was hers. The city--in its own way--was hers. It was her nature to utterly and completely possess things---to take them into herself to keep. If someone asked, she’d likely have even said Beck was hers.

But she had no claim over this place. It was a feeling that went far deeper than any deed or contract or organization. The magic here was so perfectly interwoven with it that it felt like it belonged to Beck.

Inside the room, there was a little tsk and a rich, quiet laugh. “What are you doing hanging out there like a bat? The door is open.”

The door was always open. Beck still clung to the old superstitions of their people. Ancient rules about hospitality and ways witches ought to behave. Rules made in a time when their people had been valued and listened to, long before Christians had turned them into a target and Google had rendered them obsolete. But Beck claimed it wasn’t about people, it was about magic, and its strange laws that were shrouded in mystery. Magic, she said, liked to know its witches were always open and welcome to it. In return for a witch’s “proper” hospitality, magic would sweep away the bad luck that so often got caught behind closed doors. And--again according to Beck--spirits were much the same, and closing the door on them might cause otherwise benign entities to turn dark with anger.

But Harper had been raised by much less traditional witches. One specifically that would have worn her back end raw with a wooden spoon for letting the heat escape and airing their business out in front of their neighbors.

She pushed the curtain aside and stepped into the room, leaving any lingering thoughts of her mother laid on the doorstep with the rest of her worries.

The apartment was an explosion of barely organized chaos. Dried herbs and flowers hung from the ceiling or were pressed between the thick, heavy pages of spellbooks laying on the shelves beside jars stuffed with candied fruits and tea leaves. Knitwork and embroidery and tapestries and clothing in all states of completion were laid out on tables or hung up from the wall. Live plants in brightly colored pots lounged in the sunlight that poured in from the huge windows on the far side of the wall. There was a collection of open-faced cabinets filled with canisters of wood and glass and stone that sat in clusters with no apparent system of coordination. Above her the high ceilings had been turned into an aerial playground of wooden bridges, little boxes, and plush cushions either nailed into the wall or floating in midair among the drying plants where her most cantankerous familiar could sit and look down on the apartment like a goddess. A fire roared energetically to her right, and to her left there was a small kitchen where an enormous pot of sliced apples was being attended by an enchanted spoon.

It was nothing like the penthouse they shared when Harper left her work to come home. But oddly enough Beck’s workshop didn’t feel cramped or chaotic. It was warm. It was inviting. Everything melted together on the merit that no two things were remotely related to one another in any sensible way. A way that suggested every single item had been purposefully hand picked or handmade by the master of the domain and placed precisely where they were meant to be.

And there she sat, behind it all, nestled among the plants in front of a wall of windows. Her feet were curled up in the plush, gliding rocker beside her, and she was smiling up at her through a halo of sunlight. In this place she was a queen, and her crown was made of braids entangled with wildflowers and encrusted with knitting needles and crochet hooks that she had stuck away for safekeeping and promptly forgotten about. She was holding a little stuffed creature in one hand, and pulling a needle and thread in the other.

Beck always seemed fondly amused by the slow, reverent way Harper entered her domain. Their eyes met for a few gentle seconds, and then Beck looked to her right, where something shimmering and half formed in the sunlight began to move. Harper tried to focus on the spirit, but it collapsed in on itself and turned into a yellow moth as big as her hand, and lazily fluttered into the shadow of a flower by the window.

“That doesn’t unnerve you?” Harper asked, taking a seat in an armchair across from her girlfriend.

Again the blonde let out a breezy laugh that harmonized with the music in the background.

“You spend half your nights in an enchanted necropolis in some undisclosed abyss with only dead people and a renegade faerie for company, and an air spirit unnerves you.” She said, a playful perk in her brow.

Harper scoffed in feigned offense. “Dead things don’t think. They don’t watch me. I don’t like to be watched.”

“What a shame. You’re quite the sight to look at.”

Now Harper laughed, a rare, genuine chuckle of amusement. She wasn’t modest by any means, but Beck’s flattery could still make her heart race and her stomach fill with butterflies. As if it were the first time, even though compliments fell from Beck like droplets of rain in a spring shower.

“Well it’s a privilege. And it’s only bestowed on people I think highly of.”

Beck snorted soundlessly. “I can’t imagine there are many of those.”

“Only one, currently. And I’d let her do anything she pleased.” Harper replied. There was a small, suggestive grin on her lips, and a devilish twinkle in her eye.

“Oh?” Both of Beck’s brows raised and the hand holding her needle pressed against her heart as if she were shocked. “Then I guess I have someone to be jealous of, because you certainly don’t let me do whatever I want.”

Again she laughed, and Beck joined in with her. Harper rolled her eyes, her quick tongue failing her, and said lightly. “Shut up.”

“See?! There it is right there. Always bossing me around.” The little witch clicked her tongue in fake disapproval.

“Anything you want to me.” Harper corrected, still grinning so wide that it hurt her cheeks. “The fact that I don’t let you wreak havoc all across the tristate area is not the same.”

Beck held up both her hands in surrender. “Hey, you say potato, I say tomato.”

“That’s-” Harper halted her correction when she saw the look on Beck’s face that suggested her point was about to be proven perfectly. “Absolutely right.”

It was Beck’s turn to roll her eyes, and then she returned her attention to the project in her hands. Harper leaned forward just a little to try and catch a subtle glimpse, and without a word from the necromancer, Beck raised up the stuffed animal to show.

“Essi has decided that she’s infatuated with snails.” She said, shaking her head.

Esteri was a frequent visitor in their home. Harper could remember when she was born how Beck had practically lived at Frankie’s house and brought the infant home with her when her friend needed rest. Midori and Jari had done just the same, and the door to her penthouse had practically revolved for months as the gaggle of friends came and went. Essi had just turned three a short while ago, and she’d grown into a wild-eyed, challenging little girl. Consequently, one of Beck’s favorite hobbies consisted of indulging her every whim and encouraging her to be as difficult as possible. If that meant making a snail to feed her newest fancy, Harper knew that “Aunty Beck” was more than happy to provide.

“It’s not surprising, between you and Dori I don’t know who lets her play in the dirt more.”

“We play in the garden.” Beck corrected.

Harper refused to give ground. “Gardens are mostly dirt.”

“It’s important for witches to know how to plant and grow.” Her playful tone had gotten a little more serious. Not angry, but carrying a thread of absolute belief. “You could use a bit more time in the garden. And the sun for that matter.”

“Alas my love,” She sighed dramatically, “I am a creature of the night.”

Something soft bounced off her nose and fell into her lap. It was the snail. It’s stupid, smiling face laughing up at her.

“Are you throwing things at me now?” She teased, “Do you really want to start this with me?”

“You’re the one who said I could do whatever I wanted to you.” Beck wasn’t even bothering to contain her wolfish grin.

“You. Not this creature you’ve created. I can’t take an attack like this sitting down. I have a reputation to uphold.” She stood up, stuffed animal clenched in her hand, and slowly walked toward the fire place.

“Don’t you dare!” Beck squealed. They both knew it was an empty threat, that Harper would never disrespect the woman she loved so brazenly, but Beck threw the blankets off her lap and scrambled to her feet in a flash. Harper held the stuffed creature high above her head as Beck latched onto her.

There was a flush of heat that certainly didn’t come from any fire as their bodies pressed together. Beck was all soft curves over surprisingly strong muscles and blue eyes that glittered in the flames.

“Give me that back!” She demanded, trying to sound stern and reaching hopelessly for the toy. The pair stumbled and fell against a wall. When it shook a cascade of lavender petals and thyme leaves peppered them like confetti.

The necromancer curled one of her legs behind her lover’s and held up the animal higher. “I never knew you had this kind of rage inside of you. You know maybe you should go to therapy.”

“I never knew you were so annoyi-OH” Harper swept them both to the side, and Beck only managed to stay upright because she was being held against her so tightly. The little witch huffed, her cheeks flushing. “Oh I’m going to knock you over the side of the head so hard it smarts for a month!”

“See! There it is again! That rage!” Harper teased, merciless. A little childish, even. “Beck it’s me! Please, remember you loved me once.”

“You’re too rotten for loving. You give me that toy right now!”

Harper was shaking with laughter, her free hand wrapped around Beck’s waist as she strained. Beck was laughing too, intermittently. Every few seconds her angry façade would break just long enough for a smile and a chuckle that made her quiver against her.

“Why are you so godsdamned tall?! Was your mother a giant?” Beck’s hand had a hold on her wrist and her nails were just barely scratching the skin that ignited a dangerous excitement in Harper.

“A troll, actually. It’s a wonder I turned out so pretty.” Harper carefully guided them through the room backing them into the perfect position. When her hand was at just the right height, she felt the toy roughly ripped away from her, and the enormous black feline leaped over the both of them with it in her mouth, and (likely sensing what was about to happen) ran out into the hall.

"They say the devil has a pretty face---and Angrboda you’re giving that back!” The smaller witch tried to twist to look at her familiar, but Harper had pulled her tight against her body. Now with her other hand free she tilted up her lover’s chin and kissed her softly, the both of them still intermittently giggling.

They turned again, fingers tangled in one another’s hair, lips locked, the air between them dissolving until her lungs burned but still neither of them pulled away. Not until Harper had backed the witch up to the armchair. She gave her lover a rough push and watched her fall back into the seat, panting and grinning in delight.

She placed a knee on either side of Beck and trapped her against the cushions, reveling in the way she shivered. Her head stooped to whisper in the little witch’s ear. “And what would you let the devil do to you?”

Beck's hands were tightly gripping her hips, trying to pull her even closer. She smelled like apples and wildflowers and everything Harper loved in the world. She was everything Harper loved in the world. Perhaps even the only thing she loved in the world of the living.

“I’d let her do anything she wants.” Beck said beneath her, and the record came to a scratchy stop, and all Harper could hear was the crackle of the fire and the door slamming shut behind them.

#drabbles #my drabbles #i love them so much tho omgggggg

11 notes · View notes

detroitbydark · 4 years

Text

Chp 13

Characters: Commander Fox x Mouse (reader), and more Jedi/clones/politicians than you can shake a stick at.

Summary: that one time Padme throws a big party, Bly cracks jokes, fox hates himself some more, mouse wears matching underwear, and Anakin has a heart to heart.

A/N: Snuggle up Fox Fanciers this boy is stupid long and full of yearning on a level I didn’t know I could yearn. You’ve been warned!

Special thanks as always to @skdubbs and @crimson-dxwn for being my sounding boards and supporters in all this. Love you ladies! 😘

————

“For the love of the Force…” Mouse curses quietly. Padmé was never going to let her live this one down. She turns, admiring herself in the floor length mirror. The kriffing dress was perfect. Like, absolutely perfect. Had she not lost a few kilos since Coruscant she may not have even fit it to begin with but she had and it did and it was all that mattered at the moment.

It was easier to admire the stunning red dress clinging to each curve, cutting off just below her knees than it was to think about him. Yeah, knowing Fox was going to be there and seeing him were two entirely different things. Seeing him had felt… complicated.

There had been a split second when she’d first laid eyes on him in that door, bucket slung under his arm, that she would have done anything he asked just to be near him. The loss she’d felt the first few days on Naboo was nothing in comparison to what she felt when he’d entered the Senator’s office. It was a blessing to be holding Leia, to have Luke as an excuse to leave as soon as she could.

She couldn’t think with him there. Her first instinct had always been to radiate to him, even before she’d really understood that was what she was doing. Fighting that instinct was hard and it hurt, but she didn’t think she had it in her to be that girl anymore. She didn’t know if she could give all of herself again and again to be pushed away when he got scared.

Padmé had said all the activity would be just a few days and then they’d be back to normal. Mouse just had to survive. She’d gotten good at that.

On the way out the door she questions retrieving a shawl. She’d be eating with warriors, battle hardened soldiers. She doubts their delicate sensibilities would be thrown into a tizzy by the sight of her scars. Maybe the more delicate socialites and their wives, but she doesn’t much care for their opinions.

She reaches up to touch the skin of her shoulder as an afterthought. It wasn’t the appearance so much as the feel of it she didn’t like. She hated rubbing the lotion into it, the almost rubbery feeling of the proliferative tissue there, but the doctors had said it was important to keep it softened to prevent it from tightening and contracting over the joint. So, two to three times a day, Mouse let go of her own uneasiness and pressed the special lotion into the skin, rubbed and massaged until the skin was pink with irritation.

The walk to the grand dining room is short and Mouse's heels echo softly down the large hallway. She can hear the conversation before the doors are even opened for her, punctuated by deep, masculine laughter. She’s fashionably late and Padmé raises a brow from her spot across the room. Mouse offers an apologetic smile and the senator returns it. Anakin stands a foot behind his wife. His attention is split between watching her and conversing with his former master.

It’s odd seeing the Jedi, both men, in formal wear. Tuxes just don’t look quite right on them. That’s not to say they don’t cut striking figures - General Kenobi would have his choice of Coruscanti society girls if he marched around the capitol like that. It's just a little wrong to see the Jedi not in their robes.

“Sweetling!” The deep rumble drags her attention from the senator who returns to speaking with the men in front of her, neither of whom Mouse recognizes.

“Marshall Commander,” she greets, turning and accepting a soft kiss on the cheek as Cody draws near.

“Mous’ika,” he chides, using the name he’d obviously heard somewhere.

“Yes, Cody?” she asks sweetly, managing to hold in her giggle until he laughs.

“That’s more like it! How have you been?”

Mouse falls into conversation with the Commander of the 212th. They’d met a handful of times now since she’d arrived in Naboo. The Commander had accompanied his Jedi on more than a few visits and while General Kenobi was spending time with his former Padawan, Cody had taken to having tea with Mouse and Padmé. He was a steady man who loved to gossip over holodramas and sip herbal tea. In another life maybe, Mouse could picture him as a professor, or maybe the owner of a bookshop. Something quiet, studious.

A server makes the rounds as they chat and Cody plucks a flute from a tray and hands it to her. She takes it with thanks. The bubbles tickle her tongue as she takes a drink. Something prickles at the periphery of her senses and she glances around, trying to figure it out what it might be. She shakes off the feeling and gives her full attention to the Marshall Commander in front of her.

“This isn’t either of our particular scenes, I believe. We’ve got to blend in somehow.” He holds up his own tumbler in show, amber liquid and round cubes of ice rolling around in its confines.

“That’s very true. I was afraid I’d get here and be relegated to a wallflower.”

“As if Padme would allow that,” he scoffs.

Mouse laughs again. “Are you always right, Cody?”

“Ask General Kenobi.”

Music plays quietly, a string quartet from Coruscant flown in for just the night, as Mouse falls in at Cody’s side. A few troopers in dress greys stop to chat for a moment here and there and Mouse dutifully smiles and offers polite conversation, laughs at the appropriate times. She recognizes some here and there, a scar or tattoo sticking out in her memory, all Commanders with the occasional Lieutenant thrown in for color. She feels the sensation again and can finally place it. It’s as if someone is watching her. Cody offers her a questioning look as she glances around again. She flashes a smile and shrugs. She was being silly. No one was watching her.

“Are you still sponsoring the little girl on Coruscant?” Cody asks, making polite conversation.

“Me’kar? Yes, I actually just received a comm from her guardian the other day. She’s doing well, picking up basic incredibly fast.” Mouse had started sponsoring the child shortly after her arrival, not able to get her bright smile and sweet eyes out of her mind. It wasn’t uncommon for the children’s home to accept sponsorships to supplement the small stipends they received from the Republic. It cost money to keep the children dressed and fed and extras could be more than the budget allotted for. Mouse was more than happy to do it and the updates and occasional holo from the little girl were bright notes in her week.

“Have you given more thought to adopting her?” Cody asks knowingly, as if it was a forgone conclusion.

“I’m still thinking.” Mouse shrugs. It wasn’t a decision to take lightly, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the little girl and what it would be like to come home to her everyday, to be a mother to a child that needed one. She’d once harbored a silly dream of a family with one clone commander and little Me’kar playing a starring role. Now she still thought of a family, but maybe just of two and not three. Cody glances over her shoulder, a smile splitting his features. Mouse turns and sees, arguably, the most beautiful Twi’lek woman in the galaxy wrapped in a body contouring dress that looks nearly painted on.

“Have you met General Secura? Let me introduce you. She may be able to answer some of the questions you have.”

———

Aayla Secura was wonderful. Mouse found herself completely enthralled with the twi’lek woman as she spoke of Ryloth, customs, and traditions. The Jedi didn’t think her idea of adopting Me’kar to be improper and encouraged her. Family was important for her people and she didn’t believe any child should grow up without the opportunity to have one.

“I would encourage you to fill out whatever application needs to be started immediately. Bring the little one here or raise her on Coruscant, either way it sounds like you’ve been thinking a great deal on it. You’ve asked such important questions. The rest is all just figuring things out as you go.”

Mouse can’t help the bright smile she flashes. Aayla glances over her shoulder as Mouse takes a swallow of her second glass of bubbly. It’s sweet on her tongue and reminds her of Fall orchard fruits, crisp and delightful. She’s just a little bit more relaxed than she’d been an hour ago as the alcohol works to relax her nerves when she thinks she feels eyes again. She’s quick to laugh it off as nerves - she hadn’t been around so many people in ages.

“Have you met my Commander Bly yet?”

Mouse wonders on “my” for a moment, but as soon as the Commander is at the Jedi’s side she wonders no more. He stands close, closer than to be expected and his hand rests along the cutout in the Jedi’s dress for just a moment longer than is proper as he greets her.

“I’m rounding up stragglers, sir,” he says with a half smile, turning and offering Mouse a nod. She holds out a hand and Aayla introduces her. Bly has a moment when his brows twitch up in unison before he takes her hand and shakes it gently. “If you ladies would care to, I believe we're supposed to take our seats for dinner.”

Bly offers his arm to his general and she slips hers through it, allowing him to guide her. Mouse follows a half a step behind as they move to the grand hall. Large round tables are set up under sparkling chandeliers. Mouse tries to break off to a smaller one, out of the way and to the side of the room, but it seems Cody has taken up the rear behind the trio. He takes her arm gently as she tries to veer off.

“I believe you were assigned a seat of importance, Sweetling.”

Mouse shakes her head. She really was only here because Padmé wouldn’t hear of her not being there. She tries to explain to Cody as Bly glances over his shoulder. A look passes between the two troopers.

“I’m sure there’s at least one seat left at the head table.”

Mouse watches as Aayla gives her Commander a questioning look. She swears she sees him wink.

She’s not watching where he guides her, still gently trying to plead her case. She looks to her left and sees Padmé smiling brightly and knows she won’t back her up in her decision to hide in the shadows. Cody pulls the chair out for her as she offers him a grumpy look. He chuckles and captures her hand, bringing it to his lips for a soft kiss. Mouse feels her cheeks flame, too flustered to come up with anything in response. She doesn’t pay attention to the set of greys next to her as Cody nods and she slides into her seat. Not until he walks to his own seat beside General Kenobi does Mouse turn to introduce herself.

And comes face to face with the Commander of the Coruscant Guard.

Fox is leaned back in his seat, brow raised in her direction. He radiates slow simmering irritation.

“I- I’m sorry” she doesn’t know why she’s apologizing. She had nothing to do with this. Her eyes dart around frantically trying to find any other option, an escape, but all the other seats are full and the last of the guests are taking their places at the other tables. If she got up now she’d only draw more attention to herself.

Fox says nothing as he turns back to his drink and Bly on his other side. Mouse stares down at her plate, her stomach already twisting into knots. She throws back her drink, downing the rest in one swallow. A passing waiter offers her another and she readily accepts. Maybe if she’s just a little bit drunk this wouldn’t be so bad.

Padmé clears her throat and all eyes fall to where she stands at the head of their table. She’s resplendent, of course, in a loose cream gown that drapes her in the most eye pleasing of ways. Even if she didn’t have an air about her that demanded attention, her wardrobe choice alone would have done the job.

“I’d like to begin by thanking everyone for their company on this lovely evening. As I’m sure you’ve heard,” she says as if she’s letting the room in on a grand secret, “we’ve recently welcomed our first children into the world.” The small gathered crowd laughs as if on cue. Mouse glances to the other tables. She didn’t know faces, but she’d dutifully typed all the names into the guest list Padmé had dictated. They were some of the most influential individuals in the outer rim. Padmé has thought to treat this evening as a soft unveiling of the plan she’d eventually propose to the senate. It was a test crowd of her peers. She’d use their reaction to modify and gauge where to go from here.

“Now,I find being a mother is much like being a senator. There is always something that needs doing and a mother’s work, much like a senators, is never done.” She offers a smile as she glances from one side of the room to the other.

“The men and women I have invited here today,” she gestures to the clones and Jedi around her “are very familiar, also, with work that never seems to be done. These are the Marshall Commander and Commanders who keep the Grand Army of the Republic afloat. They and their men risk their lives for a Republic which has given them nothing in return, and for that,” Padmé gives a gentle smile around the table, “I want to be the first to openly admit that we have done them a grave disservice.”

Mouse glances to see the wait staff lining up along the walls with the first course. She really does try to pay attention to what the senator has to say, but Fox is so close. She can imagine she wouldn’t have to move far to be back against his chest, feel his hot breath against her skin. Maybe he’d wrap his arm around her, hold her tight, whisper sweet things in her ear-

Maker, she was pathetic. Her stomach turns in agreement.

“Throughout this evening I hope each and every one of you enjoy yourselves, and I also hope that you take a moment to give these brave men some of the gratitude that we, as a Republic, have denied them for far too long. Something I hope we will begin to change in the not so distant future.”

Polite clapping erupts as staff circles the tables and places the first course in one impressively synchronized movement. As Padmé sits, her husband leans in and presses a kiss to her cheek. Mouse looks away.

The food looks good. Or at least it should. Mouse had helped pick out the menu herself. Crudité, a small salad of exotic fruit, a light dressing. It should be perfect. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying it if the sound of silver clinking against china meant anything. She takes a bite and chews carefully - it has all the depth and flavor of sawdust.

“I didn’t realize you had a type.”

Mouse glances at Fox who is firmly staring at his own plate, chewing as if nothing is amiss. He’d always looked good in his greys but he looks utterly delicious now. His hair is longer and his face is shaved clean of its usual five-o’clock shadow.

“Excuse me?” Her voice is quiet, barely above a whisper.

“I didn’t take you for a trooper chaser.”

The food very nearly gets stuck in her throat as she attempts to swallow. She takes a pull of wine from her glass, coughing lightly.

“Everything ok, Mous’ika?” Cody asks from across the table, concern evident.

Retrieving her napkin from her lap, Mouse covers her next cough. “I’m fine, Cody.” She tries to give him a reassuring look from behind the fabric. “Must have forgotten to chew,” she jokes awkwardly. At her side Fox makes a low sound. Cody glances between the pair of them for a moment before turning back to General Kenobi at his side.

“Cody,” Fox says, and Mouse catches the quick flash of brown eyes. “I seem to remember it took nearly a year for you to say my name. You’re moving faster.”

“Why are you saying this?” she questions. Why would he think such a thing? She hadn’t done anything that deserved such an accusation. He shrugs before turning to Bly and asking him a question about field munitions.

It leaves Mouse's head spinning. No one else seems to notice as they all speak quietly to one another.

“Commander Bly? General Secura?” Bail looks to the other side of the table and the pair. “What are your feelings on Senator Amidala’s personhood bill I sent you?”

“Far be it from me to dislike a law that makes me human,” Bly cracks. A round of laughter rises among the other troopers present. Aayla rolls her eyes at her Commander in an unmistakably fond way.

“What I believe the Commander is trying to say Chancellor, is that it is a more than welcome change to the status quo.”

“I was trying to say that?”

“Yeah, the vocabulary seems a bit past him,” Fox cracks dryly.

Aayla looks from one to the other. “Force I wish General Koon and Commander Wolffe could have been here. Maybe than you’d remember how to behave.”

“The ori’vod is the one who taught us,” Bly offers with faux indignation.

Obi-wan manages to smother a chuckle, though a smile still tugs at his lips. “Master Plo Koon sends his deepest apologies. The Wolffe pack is still firmly entrenched on their mission and he didn’t feel it appropriate to leave them.”

There’s a general consensus of agreement among the group. Mouse catches General Kenobi's occasional glances around the table, the majority of them falling between Commander Bly and his General.

“Senator Amidala,” he begins, his voice pensive, “How do you propose to introduce your personhood bill?”

Padmé gives a warm smile. She’d been waiting for this; Mouse can tell by the way her eyes sharpen and the slight quickening of her voice. “I think we need to show the public that it’s not only the GAR that stands behind the Clones, but also the Jedi Order as well.”

Mouse makes a small sound of dissent, feeling Fox adjust next to her.

“Mous’ika?” Cody questions, “Do you not agree with the senator?” Mouse looks embarrassed as she glances Padmé’s way, but the senator looks more curious than anything. Mouse gathers her thoughts while she finishes her glass of wine. A passing server goes to refill the glass but, at her side, Fox waves him off. She wants to glare at him, but all eyes are on her, waiting.

“I’m no politician, so I’m not sure my opinion should amount to anything,” she begins, “but general public opinion about the Jedi Order is not…” She looks apologetically at the few Jedi at the table “Well, it’s not good right now.”

There’s some concerned looks flying her way. Bless. It was easy to miss what was happening at home when one was in a war zone the majority of the time.

She reaches for where her wine should be and grabs a glass of water that hadn't been there a moment ago. She takes a sip before speaking again.

“It would be a poor decision to align solely with the Order on this one, I feel. Just a look at the holonews and you’ll see articles and op-eds questioning the Jedi’s involvement in the war.”

Fox clears his throat.

“She’s right” How sweet it was to hear those words. “We’re dealing with domestic terrorism on an unprecedented level. Nothing that we can’t handle but it’s something to take into consideration. The public feels like the Order has overstepped its bounds. It lacks policing of its own.” Fox holds up his hand when Obi-wan goes to speak. “While that may not be the case, in the court of public opinion the Order is guilty more than it is not.”

Mouse can feel him looking at her, handing the reins back over. “The average Coruscanti already is apprehensive of such a large military force within their presence. It’s going to take some doing to convince them to see the troopers as anything but soldiers awaiting orders” she finishes diplomatically.

There are speculative looks and nods around the table. “Much to think about,” Bail agrees, taking a slow sip of wine. His eyes linger between her and Fox for far longer than she likes. “Thank you.”

Mouse nods, her cheeks glowing hot from the attention. Her hand brushes against Fox’s as she sets it back down on the table. Her fool’s heart skips a beat when he doesn’t pull away immediately. She fights the urge to lace her little finger with his. Luckily, the next course comes and they both have to adjust to the changing of plates.

Her stomach is still turning in loops and food is still not something that sounds appealing in the slightest as the main course comes out. She doesn’t even remember what it’s supposed to be. It looks like it was probably delicious, roasted meat and delicate fresh vegetables sautéed to perfection. She takes a few testing bites but her plate remains mostly untouched.

“Quit pushing your food around and eat”. Of course she hasn’t forgotten Fox is sitting next to her. It must have been too much to hope he had forgotten about her.

Again, when she glances his direction he doesn’t seem to be paying attention to her. She doesn’t acknowledge he’s said anything and listens in quietly as the others at the table chat.

She takes another bite and chews slowly before swallowing.

“Come on, another,” he says. This time something is softer about his voice. When Mouse looks she sees him glancing at her.

Her chest tightens uncomfortably. Why did she give him the power to do this?

“Mouse.”

She thinks for a moment that she just might be imagining things. Under the table Fox’s booted foot knocks softly against hers letting her know she wasn’t. This wasn’t fair.

“Eat.” It’s a soft plea. He didn’t get to be soft with her anymore. He didn’t get to give orders. He’d lost those privileges.

“I’m not hungry.”

Fox’s head turns slowly at her words. “You could have fooled me. You look like a strong wind could blow you away.”

“Let it go, Commander. You're being ridiculous,” she manages to whisper under her breath. She doesn’t realize the table has gone quiet, that half a dozen or more pairs of eyes are watching them. Fox hasn’t either.

“There are faster ways to kill yourself than starvation. I’m sure you remember at least one other way.” The sudden acid in his voice hides the sound of frustration and strikes a direct hit.

Mouse has never considered herself a dramatic person, far from it really. So the rapidly rising urge to turn and punch him in the eye comes as a surprise. The anger behind it is soon replaced by mortification when she realizes that everyone has gone quiet.

Cody’s jaw is set into a tight line, the antithesis of Bly’s slackened one. Both Aayla and Bail are staring down at their plates. Mouse doesn’t look at the others.

Fox is frozen at her side, unmoving and unspeaking. Horror is dawning in his eyes as she pulls the napkin off her lap and places it in her still full plate.

His hand fumbles reaching for hers under the table but she skitters out of his reach.

“If you’ll excuse me?” She addresses the gathered group, “I’ll be back shortly.” Hot angry tears are already starting to swell in her eyes as she pushes away from the table and makes her way from the great room. She manages to keep it together until she’s in the guest wing. She doesn’t slide to the floor in a heap til she’s in her room.

She doesn’t return to dinner.

————

“You know I remember it all.”

The words catch Fox by surprise. He picks up the tumblr resting along the stone terrace wall and takes a drink as he looks at the Jedi - former Jedi- he didn’t even know what Anakin Skywalker was anymore.

“Congratulations?” Bitterness is already brewing in his gut. First Mouse and now this? Could it get any worse? Could a man not drink away his self-loathing in peace?

“The first time I met the Chancellor I was a child, but I remember it like it was just this morning. He smiled at me. It was like having someone see me for the first time. Like my Mother. Like Qui-Gon-“

Fox isn’t in the mood for this.

“-as I got older his attention focused on me. He honed me. Groomed me for something-“

“That’s great, sir, really.” He’d failed to hold back his acidic comments when Mouse had been near. Now that it was Skywalker he doesn’t even care to try.

“Shift it Fox and listen to what the kriff I’ve got to say.”

Fox brings the glass to his lips and finishes it in one long, slow pull before taking it and throwing it out into the placid lake below. It would have felt better had it smashed. The urge to break something has been simmering on the back burner all night. Skywalker was bringing it to a rapid boil.

“And what are you trying to say Jetii? Your life story means to me about as much as sith spit.”

Something dangerous flares in the other man’s eyes. “We’re the same, you and I.”

Fox barks a laugh, a bitter stagnant sound as he feigns turning away for just a moment only to spin right back. “You and I are nothing alike. Are you one of millions? Does your order see you as interchangeable battle fodder? Tell me your serial number, sir.”

“Your loyalty is unquestionable. You would do anything for the people you care about.” Anakin seems undeterred by Fox’s growing ire. “We both love women who are far stronger than we gave them credit for-“

“Shut up.” Fox’s voice is low, a warning growl from a wounded animal. He’d already hurt someone he’d claimed to love, said something ugly and cruel. It wouldn’t take much effort to get him to throw a swing against the man in front of him.

“-we think we know best. Sometimes we do. Then we let our own ego get in the way and we hurt the ones we love with our good intentions.”

“What about shut up don’t you understand?” Fox takes a step forward, chest out. He wants this to escalate.

“What I don’t understand is how you can take a girl like her and purposefully hurt her. I watched her put a blaster to her-“

“ENOUGH!” Any cool Fox had left vanishes as he closes the space between them. His finger jabs into the other man’s chest, punctuating his point. “You don’t get to talk about her. You don’t get to talk about that night.”

How dare he. In the end, who was he but Sidious’s favorite lap dog? Rage boils over as Anakin steps into the jabbing finger, making Fox take an unwanted step back.

“Yeah? You want to go there? Pretty sure I remember being there just as much as you were. I was also there when your blaster killed Fives.”

Fox can’t hide the way he flinches at the name.

Anakin takes a slow even breath before he speaks again. “Fox, I’m not going to say I didn’t want to turn the damn thing on you and put two through your composite -Jedi way be damned- but I can look back and remember what your face looked like. When you stepped in the corner where you didn’t think anyone could see? You didn’t want to shoot Fives. You didn’t want to kill your brother.”

Fox closes his eyes, tipping his head up toward the night sky.

“She knew that too-“

“You think I don’t realize what she was doing? You think I don’t realize she was ready to sacrifice herself so I didn’t have to kill someone else I - “ He opens his eyes focusing back on the Jedi.

“But you didn’t feel her in the Force like I did. I was as much of a mess as any of us but you know what I felt coming from her?”

Fox shakes his head. He doesn’t want to know.

“Resolve. Love and resolve. She would have done anything to keep you safe. She was the only steady one of us all.”

“Why are you doing this to me?” He’d seen it in Mouse’s eyes, that decision she’d made and would have followed through with. For him. The nightmares where she had to follow through still found him, the ones with her wide eyes staring up blank and glassy while smoke rose in tendrils from her head.

“Because we're the same. Our love was used as fuel for manipulation. It was a tool to gain our compliance. I saw a future where Padmé died. Over and over and Palp- Sidious made me think I could stop it. If I did what he said I could stop it all. Then he was dead and I still had the dream. But you know what? She would have died at my hands because of me, because of my blind, fumbling attempt to prevent it in the first place and my children -” Emotion swells in his voice.

“When I watched you tonight, when I heard what you said, I saw those very blind steps I had been taking all over again. Stop it, Fox. She doesn’t deserve it.” Anakin stops and takes a deep breath,

“You don’t deserve it. Let the pain stop.”

Fox drags himself away from the Jedi, turning his back to stare out at the expanse of water below. “There’s no fixing what I’ve done”

“I think you’re wrong.”

“And I think you’re a fool.”

———-

Fox feels spent. Physically and emotionally exhausted, riding the fallout of an adrenaline surge down to rock bottom after his confrontation with Skywalker.

He’s ready for bed. He needs a solid six hours of sleep. Maybe a coma?

He wasn’t pleased with the continued attempts by others to force something with Mouse that was obviously not meant to be. He wasn’t pleased with his own behavior in response to it. He wasn’t a Hutuun, but he had certainly acted like one. Honestly, he'd rather take the butt of a blaster to his head as opposed to thinking about it anymore.

He tried to think of something else. Personhood. Not in a million lifetimes did Fox think someone as powerful as the Chancellor of the Republic or one of its most brilliant senators would take up the torch for him and his brothers. It was bound to be a controversial bill but after listening to Bail and Padmé speak, it didn’t seem so overwhelming. It was a real possibility that the end of the war wasn’t going to mean the proverbial scrap heap. The end of the war could mean citizenship, recognition, lives outside of battle and the GAR.

The thought left him a little lightheaded - or maybe that was the Alderaanian wine that had been flowing.

He tries to rein in his excitement at the thought. If Fox had learned one thing in his time in Coruscant and among politics it was that politicians were exceptionally good at dragging their shebs when it came to anything good. It would require finesse and more than a little debate for the good Senator to see her plans to fruition. If anyone could do it, it was Padmé. The time frame in which she could do it was up for debate. Fox raises a brow as he looks down the hall. If the sound coming from General Secura’s room meant anything, there was some very brisk debating going on between the General and her Commander.

Fox tries not to look at Mouse’s door as he goes to his own. He tries not to think about what personhood would mean for his vode that had broken regs and found something to fight for outside of the GAR.

Fox is barely in his door, already bending to remove his boots when he hears it, a soft plaintive voice in the hall. It’s instantly familiar. He’s already cursing himself. He’d done enough to her tonight. Obviously, he’d proven that he couldn’t be in the same room without hurting her. He hears her voice again and he’s pulling the door open without a second thought.

Mouse is leaning half in the hallway. “Hello?”

The disaster that had been dinner flashes in his mind's eye as do Skywalker’s words from a short time ago.

Let the pain stop.

Clearing his throat, he steps into the hall.

“Oh Maker...” it’s not the exact thing he was hoping to hear as she laid eyes on him, but he’s sure it’s no less than he deserves. “It had to be you, didn’t it?”

Fox gives her an appraising look. Her cheeks were hot and flushed even before she’d seen him and the gown she’d worn to dinner is still firmly in place. Her gentle eyes are rimmed in red. She looks just as stunning as she had a few hours ago.

The foundation his resolve has been built upon continues to crumble.

He chides himself. That foundation had never been strong, not when he’d asked Bail to transfer her, not when he’d seen her in her hospital room, certainly not when she’d given him the cold shoulder earlier when they’d arrived. It seemed everything about Mouse worked to destroy the barrier he’s tried to erect between them.

“What’s wrong?” He asks gruffly. He’s tired from travel and of the mental gymnastics he’d been putting himself through. Mostly though he was tired of feeling like he was fighting with both her and himself.

Mouse's eyes dart each way down the hallway as if looking for someone else to save the day. She isn’t that lucky. A particularly loud moan coming from Secura’s room emphasizes that point.

“My dress-“ a new wave of red blooms in her cheeks, “the zipper is stuck. I’ve been trying for nearly an hour and…” She glances down at the floor and her bare feet. He hates that she won’t look at him but he’s done nothing to earn that honor now has he?

He huffs taking a breath and a leap. “If you don’t hate the idea of my help, I’m willing to offer it.”

Mouse's eyes slowly rise back to his. “I-“ she’s making a decision as well. He can see it written across her face. Maker, he thinks, please give me this one chance.

“Yes. Please.” She stutters out her answer, pulling away from the door frame and moving into the suite. She glances over her shoulder as she moves as if she’s afraid he wouldn’t actually follow.

Mouse stops near a small dressing table with brushes and makeup laid out on its top. A full size mirror is immediately to its side. She watches him in the reflection. It’s the first time since the hospital on Coruscant that Fox has been alone with her. That feels like so long ago, another life and time. They’re two different people now.

He steps carefully into her space as if one off movement would spook her and this would all end. This close he can smell the soft floral perfume she’s dabbed on. He can feel the heat radiating from her. Equal parts comfort and temptation rolled in one.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” he says suddenly. Skywalker’s words haunt him. “I shouldn’t have said the things I did.” Mouse’s head cocks to the side as she watches him.

“Why did you then? I’m certainly not Cody’s type and-“

“And what?”

She steals herself. Fox can see the deep breath she takes before she speaks again, “even if I was, my interest will always lie elsewhere.”

The meaning of her words strike home. “Me? After everything?”

“It was always you.” She admits softly.

She still- she still cared for him? After everything? After he’d nearly killed her. After he left her maimed. After he pushed her away over and over.

More of the wall crumbles. All he’d have to do now is take one big step and he could be over it.

“So, this zipper you were talking about?” He deflects, needs another minute to think because there's too much to sort through and he can’t make more mistakes. Not with Mouse. Not with them.

She nods softly toward her left side, pulling her arm forward to show the jammed apparatus. Fox closes his eyes. Her scars stand proudly from under the thin straps of her dress. When he opens them he catches Mouse watching him in the reflection, her look is sad.

“I can find someone else-“

His hand immediately drops to her hip as she tries to walk away, pulling her back and erasing the laughable space in between them. The shock shows on both of their faces.

“Easy,” he manages, and after a moment she settles against him. His thumb rubs small circles over her waist and he’s not sure if he’s trying to soothe her or himself. “I’m just coming up with a plan of action.” That draws a small smile from her but it’s all the encouragement he needs. “You need help taking your hair down?” He turns his head, the tip of his nose brushing against the soft strands still secured in their up-do.

It’s an absolute sithshit question, she had two working arms she could remove all the pins and clips herself, they both know this. Fox just wants- he wants more time. He wants to be ready to look at the damage he’s done and not feel repulsed by it. To maybe, just maybe, not hate himself when he looks at it.

“I- yeah, that would be helpful.” She says quietly after a moment. She sits on the stool in front of the mirror, her eyes following his actions with apprehension and curiosity. Fox takes a steadying breath and begins.

He’s never done this before, that is to say done anything more than held hairpins passed to him by senators like Padme and Chuchi on a transport after an event when they complained of the intricate styles giving them headaches or had simply needed to feel free of the bindings of senate formality. He’s seen enough though, and begins to work slowly from the base of her skull working up to the crown of her head. Mouse holds out her hand and he drops the thin pins in as he goes. As her hair begins to spill down, he watches her transform before his eyes back into the mouse he’d always known. Loose waves frame her face, still painted to perfection. Her red lips part and a soft breath escapes her as he massages his fingers along her scalp. Tension melts from her shoulders and she begins to lean back into him as his fingers rake through her hair, untangling strands until they slip smoothly through her fingers.

“You're going to make me fall asleep if you keep that up,” she says finally. The ghost of a smile crosses his face.

“Come on then. Stand up. Let’s get this thing undone before you have to sleep in it.” The stool is pushed to the side as she stands, and Fox moves a half a step back so he can see what he’s doing.

“The chain,” she says softly, catching his attention. “Unclasp it first, before the zipper. I can’t reach that at all.”

The thin gold chain hangs low on her bare back, spanning the distance between the straps of her dress. It glitters temptingly in the light, just like it had when he’d seen it earlier at dinner, when his mouth had gone dry at the mere sight of her.

Fox meets her eyes in the mirror as his hand moves softly from her right hip, up and over her back. His fingers drag feather-light over the bare skin they find. Mouse's eyes flutter shut and he can see her inhale deeply. Her skin was still as soft as he remembered. He gently scoops her hair to one side, over her right shoulder. Her eyes are still closed.

“Breathe, precious girl,” he orders softly, fighting a wince at the pet name that slips out. If Mouse cares, she doesn’t let on. She exhales slowly, opening her eyes at the end. Her pupils take a moment to adjust back to the light. “Am I ok?” he asks quietly.

“Are you?” There’s no heat or snark in her words. She’s staring at him, genuinely curious.

“I think so.” His fingers find the tiny gold catch holding the chain in place and it opens with ease.

“Can you- do you think you can do the zipper. If it’s too much to look at I-“

Fox stops her with a low sound. She hadn’t looked unsure or self conscious in the gown she wore all night. He wasn’t going to be the one to make her question it now. He’d already done enough.

“I’m good.”

He gently presses her left arm forward to gain access. He takes a steading breath as he looks down. The scarring spills across her shoulder, two shades lighter than her normal skin tone. He’s seen plenty of burns in his career and this wasn’t the worst but it feels like it is because he was the cause of it. A few centimeters more and he would have missed her entirely. A few centimeters the other way and-

His fingers move to the gown, easily plucking open the hook and loop closure at the top of the zipper. Mouse sucks in a sharp breath as the tips of his finger skim along the bare skin there.

“Is this ok?” he asks. She nods mutely. “I need words, Mouse,” he urges as gently as he can muster.

“It’s good.” Her voice wavers slightly as she speaks, “Go- go ahead.”

Fox can hear his heart beating in his skull. He can hear the rush of air through his lungs. Everything feels loud as his fingers slowly work at the jammed zipper. Mouse’s breathing is shallow as his fingers press into her, as they pull and twist until whatever has been keeping the closure jammed comes loose and it slides down. His fingers trail behind the zipper as it falls open.

He looks up to find her eyes on him again in the mirror's reflection. Her pupils are blown wide and her lips are parted. Fox feels the beginning wave of blood rush to his groin, the surge only becoming stronger as Mouse slowly - carefully - reaches up and slides the right strap of her gown down. She doesn’t look away from his reflection as her hand trails across her collarbone to the left strap. She pauses as if waiting for him to tell her to stop.

Fox puts the tips of his fingers over hers and together they lower the strap. He can see the rest of the scar now, can really get a feel for the size and the shape of it. It’s glossy compared to the surrounding area, as if her skin had been pulled too tight and frozen that way. She slides her fingers from the strap - laying flat against her lower arm - up, bringing his fingers along with it.

“Does it hurt?” The question slips out as her fingers glide over the surface.

“Not usually. It pulls sometimes,” she says softly, “They both do. I use lotion, try to get it massaged a couple times a day.” Fox’s eyes lock on hers. “The other option was worse.”

That’s right. She could be dead. He’s tried not to think of that the last few months, so trapped in his own guilt about hurting her that each time the psych droid brought it up he immediately countered with how she wasn’t and she had to live with what he’d done to her.

“Can I…?” He glances down and then back up. Mouse gives him a tense smile and a nod.

It feels different from how skin is supposed to feel. It feels thicker, less textured missing the fine hair that covered the rest of her arm. He traces the outline of it. It had only been glancing, the distal part of her shoulder taking the brunt of the burn from the bolt. His fingers map out the boundaries twice before he comes to a stand still.

He doesn’t want to stop touching her.

“Where’s your lotion?”

She doesn’t question him. He can see it in her eyes, in the split second of hesitation. She doesn’t want this to stop either.

One arm moves across her chest to hold her gown in place while the other reaches to the dressing table and wraps around a bottle. Fox takes it when offered and squeezes a small amount into his hand.

He’s taking that step over his wall, he realizes. It doesn’t feel like much of an obstacle anymore anyway as it lays in crumbles at his feet.

Her skin is warm under his touch, no real difference between the good tissue and the scarred as far as temperature is concerned. He works the lotion into her skin pressing his thumb in firm circles from the edges to the center. Mouse lets out a tiny sigh and it’s becoming more difficult to ignore the desire roiling in his belly.

“Fox…” he hums in response to the soft moan of his name, “it feels so good.”

“I missed you, Cyar’ika.” He offers tentatively as he presses in close, aligning her back against his chest. His free arm wraps around her waist holding her lightly against him. His hand falls away from her skin and his mouth descends to pepper soft kisses. She was warm. She was alive. she could be dead but she wasn’t and in the end it was because of his actions that he could still hold her, still hear the soft hitch in her breath as he sucks gently at the juncture where her shoulder and neck meet.

Mouse’s head tips, offering him more room. Her arm falls away from her dress and reaches back behind her, cradling the back of Fox’s while he sucks a mark into her skin. A sea of red flutters to the floor as the dress falls. Fox growls as he looks up and sees the pair of them, him still in his greys and her naked except for a small lacy pair of red panties. His red. From there his eyes travel up, finding the other shot he fired.

The scarring to her right flank is worse than the shoulder; he can see the puckered skin and the patterned appearance of healed grafting but he doesn’t feel the wave of guilt he’s felt earlier. She was alive and hot in his arms.

“Tell me to stop.” He demands quietly against her skin, “make me stop.”

Mouse’s hips press back against the hard line of his erection straining in his greys. Another low growl spills from his lips as he spins her around. Her lips are on his in an instant, messy and desperate as she presses up and into him. Her teeth pull at his lower lip. “Fox…”

His hands cradle her face as he slots his mouth over hers, breathing in the air she gives him like a gift from Fett himself. He can feel the press of her breasts against his chest, the way her hands wrapped around him and gripped at his back.

It was a dream. It had got to be. If it was, it was the first good one he’d had in months. Mouse whines quietly as his hands slide down and grips her hips as if they were the only thing tethering him to this reality. It’s too much and he should stop but he can’t because what he should do and what he wants to do are too wildly incompatible. His fingers graze over the pebbled skin of her right flank. Mouse inhales sharply.

“Stop.” The word leaves her mouth with sudden desperation, like it had been pulled from her body unwillingly. It’s like a bucket of cold water thrown over Fox as he jerks away.

Mouse turns from him, shaking her head as she snatched up a robe and quickly wraps it around herself. They’re both panting quietly.

He’d done something wrong, misread her signals. He was scum. He was an idiot. He should-

“I can’t do this again” She’s still breathless when she speaks, ruby lipstick smeared over swollen lips. “Fox look at me.” She demands quietly when he tries to turn away. “You can’t do this to me again.”

“Do what?” He can hear the desperation in his voice, he sounds pathetic.

She looks at him for a moment before she moves closer to him. He wants to turn away. He doesn’t want to hear how he’s ruined everything, how everything has become clear but it was now too late.

Her hand comes up softly to his cheek as she looks at him through dark lashes. Her voice is barely above a whisper.

“You can’t make me want you again, not if you're going to push me away when things get hard.” She has her free arm crossed over her chest. Her tone isn’t as strong as her words. They waiver as they fall from her lips.

He wants to make her every promise in the book before he even knows if he can keep them and it’s not about getting his dick wet.

He misses her. Has missed her every single day since the horrible event in the Chancellor’s office.

He misses her smile - the soft one she saved just for him. He misses the way she viewed the world from a different but similar way he did. He misses planning for a future with her even if he hadn’t told her any of it. Most of all he misses the quiet moments, the times when they would just lay together and enjoy being near one another.

“It was all for you Cyar’ika.” He says with force, as if he said it sure enough he’d convince her that every action he’d ever made in regards to her was completely selfless.

“Kriff” she curses, shaking her head. Her hand falls away and he misses the warm feeling of her skin against his, “you of all people-“ she mutters under her breath before speaking clearly.

“I get to make choices Fox. When it comes to my life, I get to weigh the risks and benefits and I get to make choices. You took that away from me. Have I loved being here?” she asks, gesturing around at the sumptuous suite, “I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t, but would I have rather been with you? Do you know that answer.”

Fox shakes his head.

“That’s right! Because you never asked. The truth is I would have rather been with you every minute of every day of the last three months. Doing paperwork, writing schedules, reviewing supply requisitions, it wouldn’t have mattered because I’d have been with you.”

“Cyar’ika, I didn’t-“

“No Fox, you didn’t think.” She sniffs lightly, her eyes bright with unshed tears, “I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything in my life and you pushed me away. You turned your back on me when I needed you and now? Now you’re here and we fall into our old patterns? Not again. Not unless you can promise me you are in this 100% because I can’t do it again. My heart just can’t.”

Fox reaches out and swipes a trailing tear with his thumb “I-“ She leans into his touch, her cheek resting against his palm as her eyes drift shut. Just one second. she allows herself that. She straightens and steps away before his eyes can memorize the image of her.

“No, don’t say anything right now. Leave. Think. Decide what it is you really want. If it’s me you can find me and let me know.” There’s a finality to her words that has him biting back any response he may have made. She steps into him, rising up on her toes and gently bumping her forehead against his own.

“I do love you,” he says quietly.

Mouse blows out a ragged breath. “I know. You just need to decide if that’s going to be enough.” She moves toward the door, opening it. “Goodnight Fox.”

#fox and mouse #commander fox #cc 1010 #commander fox/reader #tcw

143 notes · View notes

squiggle-dragon · 4 years

Text

So, I've decided to also post full chapters of Faded here in addition to Ao3. So, here's the second chapter.

Chapter 2: "Do I know you?"

Soul cracked his eyes open, vision blurring initially as sunlight filtered in. 'Daylight…? Fuck… how long was I out for?'

He was resting on a nest of blankets in some sort of contraption, similar to a basket. While Soul was not necessarily up-to-date with the technological advances of the world, he at least managed to acquire a fair amount of knowledge.

'Plastic basket,' he decided, lightly pushing against the sides with a furry paw despite his body's protest. He started to stretch, immediately thinking better of it when pain shot through every square inch of his small form. The youkai paused, noticing a makeshift cast on his other foreleg, 'What's this…? A splint?' Soul scrutinized it, narrowing his blood-colored eyes before giving it a tentative sniff. The scent of antiseptic burned his nasal passages and he sneezed profoundly, wrinkling his nose in displeasure, 'Absolutely horrible.'

Memories of the previous night returned to the forefront of his mind and his lip curled slightly, 'They'll be six feet under the ground when I recover.' The fox drew his lips back further into a fierce snarl, digging his claws into the blanket, 'And I'll hunt down that cocky bear and turn it into a bear skin rug. No one jumps me like that when I'm-'

"Oh, you're awake!"

Soul screeched in surprise, fur standing on end and eyes wide with alarm. Raising his gaze, he spotted the source of the voice and stared at her warily. She seemed relatively young from what he could tell, as humans aged very differently than youkai. Their eyes met and Soul squinted slightly as a peculiar feeling overcame him.

‘I’ve seen those eyes before… somehow…’

The pigtailed girl knelt down next to the basket, lightly resting her arms on the edge of it and peering down at him, “I didn’t mean to startle you. Sorry about that.” The human offered a warm smile, which he felt himself relax slightly at, “You’ve been out for two days. I was really starting to worry about you, little fox. I gave you some antibiotics and-”

‘Anti-whats-is?’

“-just in case. I mean, you got beaten up by a huge bear of all things! You’re lucky I could scare it off!”

She grinned at him, and he was sure he’d blush if he wasn’t currently two feet tall and covered in fur. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt oddly embarrassed.

“You also broke your leg,” she continued, her smile fading into a look of concern. Her green eyes traveled down to the splint currently on his left foreleg and he followed her gaze, nostrils flaring slightly at remembering the scent of chemicals.

“I hope you’re comfortable,” the girl added after a small pause, hunching over slightly. “I just kinda had to use what was available. Unfortunately, that ended up being the laundry basket.”

His ears flattened against his skull and he glared up at her, growling lightly, ‘Are you serious?! Your dirty clothes were in here, weren’t they?!’

Taken aback ever so slightly by his suddenly hostile aura, his absent-minded savior frowned, “Hey, I launder my clothes daily, okay?”

‘So they WERE!’ he hissed angrily.

She narrowed her eyes and puffed out her cheeks a bit, clearly able to tell he was agitated with her, “Would you calm down? I’m quite clean! Do you actually understand me or something? Because this doesn’t seem like normal wild animal aggression to me….” He froze at her words, so she continued, “You only have to deal with me for a bit, okay? As soon as you’re healed up, I’ll release you back out so you can continue your moodiness elsewhere.”

Soul let out an audible snort, achingly rising to a seated position despite the cast. He furrowed his brows, starting to feel light headed almost immediately, 'Oh right… I haven't eaten in a few days.'

The youkai squinted slightly, feigning interest in some invisible spot on the blanket in an attempt to ignore her. There was no chance in Hell he would be accepting any more aid from this weird human. A powerful, nine-tailed kitsune at the mercy of a tiny human girl?

'Unheard of and laughable.'

In the brief moment of silence, his stomach decided to betray him and let out the most shameful growl that he was sure could be heard by the human girl in question. Soul froze, ears pinned back and expression completely mortified. ‘Fuck! No! Fuck, fuck, fu-’

“Sounds like you’re hungry,” she commented, causing him to sulk slightly. Still, he refused to look at her and remained tensed, cursing his stomach a thousand times. Hunger was such a pathetic weakness.

He started to make some noise of protest before he realized that the pigtailed girl was missing; likely finding food, no doubt. Soul growled before trying to hop out of the basket, instead throwing his body against it. The result was the laundry basket tipping over on its side, forcing him to topple forward with it. His tail obscured his vision as he growled again, painstakingly moving to where he could even make the attempt to stand up, ‘Oi! Get your ass back here! I will NOT be indebted to you! HUMAN! Don’t you DARE!’

Soul awkwardly stumbled out of the room, given the cast on his leg. His body ached and pleaded with him not to be so rash with his movements. He knew full well he should be resting, but he sure as hell was NOT about to let himself come across as some weak victim. He could take care of himself, damn it! The bandaging and doting for two days was enough.

While he had no idea of the layout of this strange place, he was easily able to find his target by following the noise. This girl didn't exactly make it difficult with all of the racket she generated - which seemed to be a talent of hers when he thought back to the incident with the bear.

The kitsune awkwardly entered the kitchen, body lowered and his large ears pricked forward as he approached. The girl in question was currently crouched in front of an open cupboard, biting the nail of her thumb in a thoughtful manner. She was examining a can clutched in her other hand, furrowing her brows in deep concentration.

Despite his impeccably stealthy entrance, the girl almost seemed like she could sense his presence. Soul froze when she looked up from the can to meet his gaze. She pursed her lips a bit before hesitantly holding up the can for him to see, "Do you eat dog food…?"

Every fiber in Soul's small body seemed to light up at the sheer audacity of her statement, wanting to yell at her for such a dumb question. The fox arched his back in an almost cat-like manner, fur ruffling as he glared at her and snarled, 'Do I look like a dog to you?!'

Despite his clearly aggressive reaction to her, she seemed mostly unaffected outside of mild irritation. Any normal person would likely be wary or even scared that the snarling fox would lunge at them. This strange girl, however, treated him more like a petulant child.

"Goodness fox, it was just a simple question," she replied with a hint of agitation before putting the dog food back into the cupboard. “Given your attitude problem, I didn’t think you would. It was just something that normal foxes tend to eat if given to them and it was on the list when I researched it.” Closing the cupboard door, she stood up and stretched her back for a moment with a grimace, “I’m a college student, so therefore quite poor. However, it would seem I need to move a little up in the price range for your more sophisticated tastes.”

“Fortunately for you,” she started after a brief pause, walking over to the stove. “I had gotten some chicken earlier to make some chicken noodle soup from scratch since I seem to be battling a small cold. I’ll give you some of the chicken and a bit of broth, if that will suit your tastes better, Your Majesty.” Ignoring the sour expression he gave her in response, the human equipped an apron and started to prepare the meal.

Soul watched her quietly as she worked, eventually deciding to lay down against one of the farther walls. When she set a pot on a nearby counter, an envelope resting along the edge drifted through the air and gently landed a short distance away from him. The fox glanced at the envelope, curiosity winning out as to what it was. With another wary glance up at her, he slowly inched his way across the floor in a rather comical fashion, given the cast on his leg.

After what seemed like an hour to him, he stretched out one paw and managed to rest it on one corner of the envelope, feeling oddly accomplished at the meager task. His long tail twitched happily, clearly easily amused at the simplest of things. Soul pulled the envelope closer to him, blood-colored irises searching out the name on it, ‘Maybe now I’ll know what the hell this crazy human’s name -- !’

‘Maka.’ The kitsune’s body went rigid as soon as he made out the girl’s name, feeling the oddest sense of foreboding. Much like her eyes, her name seemed somehow familiar.

Why did it feel like a boulder of ice was currently settling in his stomach?

While the dam didn’t break open, it was clearly overflowing and he was caught in a downward spiral. Before he could process one emotion, another broke through almost like a tidal wave - or would, but everything felt also strangely faded.

Fear… which made his recent experience with near-death pale in comparison despite the fact he knew it wasn’t but an echo of the original emotion.

A profound sadness… like something gravely important was lost. It briefly felt like his heart had been ripped out and a gaping hole was left in its place… yet he didn’t bleed. Slowly bleeding to death would have been more merciful.

And finally, a surge of anger that threatened to take over completely. The rage Soul felt almost overwhelmed the feeling of loss and his power felt on the verge of being let loose. His eyes glowed ominously, lips drawing back in a snarl as the feeling only intensified. Faint outlines of his other eight tails could be seen waving in the air behind him as his power crept up, seeming unaffected by his weakened state. At this moment, however, Soul could not care less if he transformed to his true form here in the kitchen. His mind felt blank aside from the desire to lose control - to kill.

Something needed to be destroyed…

Someone needed to be torn apart….

Somehow, the sound of the lid slamming down on the pot snapped him out of whatever confusing trance he had been in. His eyes widened in shock, trying to get his breathing under control as his body trembled in the wake of the strange event. Losing all strength, Soul collapsed onto his stomach and laid there with a distant glaze to his eyes. His brain scrambled to make sense of what it all meant, Maka’s worried voice barely registering. Even as she kneeled at his side and scooped him up, talking to him... her voice sounded so muffled.

“Tama!” another voice cried, sounding similar to the girl’s voice that was currently cradling him - yet it certainly wasn’t her. It couldn’t be, because her lips didn’t match the motions.

Just what the hell was going on?

Slowly, Soul managed to pull himself back to reality and focused his gaze on Maka’s worried expression. His hearing returned to normal to hear her muttering various things about how stupid she was to think she could take care of him properly. For whatever reason, she was in a state of blind panic over him - and he couldn’t figure out why. He’s treated her like crap this entire time, being aggressive and - as much as it pains him to admit it - ungrateful.

This crazy girl faced down a bear for him, though he was sure she would not be able to take it on should it have attacked. They would have both been dead. But this insane girl did that and he remembered being wrapped in something she had been wearing. It was warm….

And suddenly - the fact she was now battling a cold now made sense. She was sick after running out in the rain and using her main source of protection to bundle him up. Then while he was unconscious, she tended to his wounds the best that she was able. Now that he thought about it, he could faintly remember waking up briefly to see her passed out on a strange chair near his basket. It wasn’t for more than a minute or two due to being in such bad shape and feverish to boot, but she hardly looked comfortable.

She was going to share her soup with him as well, which caused another twinge of guilt. Oh, he really needed to be less of a little shit. It didn’t sound like she could really afford to have an extra mouth to feed, but here she is - offering to share.

It was at this point that Soul noticed tears starting to roll down her cheeks and he sighed, somehow feeling really uncomfortable about her crying. With a gentleness that he didn’t even realize he ever possessed, he raised a furry paw and rested it on her cheek.

‘Maka… I don’t know who you are, but the tears need to stop. For some reason, I really can’t stand to see you crying… you weird human.’

He gasped out in pain when she suddenly captured him in a borderline bone-crushing hug. The same anger from his previous interactions with her did not rise to the surface and he instead let out another sigh - possibly for air at this point. Okay, so she was worried about him.

Somehow, he could deal with that.

#soul eater #soma #soul eater au #soul evans #fox demon #fox youkai #maka albarn #soul maka #faded au #faded chapter 2 #soul x maka

2 notes · View notes

hellsingrevamped · 4 years

Note

Integra and female S/o sneaking fun smexy times in her office?

(made this after a drink or two Enjoy.) It started with a wet dream, the kind of dream that she remembered in the morning, The kind of dream that made her grind her mattress. She now lay on her back looking looking through her phone. Her other hand lingered over on the hem of her pajama bottoms. She reached over to the other side of the bed for Integra, but that side was made... and cold. “Right, she got up early... Damn it.” She sighed and moaned. The call of the alarm on her phone pulled her out of bed and dress. Work went on, yet the heat still there it lingered, she didn’t mind. Well in the beginning, buy the time lunch came around shed rubbed her legs together nonchalantly. “A walk down to the kitchen, Food, coffee, tea, something other then sitting at a desk.” Her mind made her get up and stop working. In the first floor of the manor he greeted Walter as she walked past him in the kitchens “Ah good, you’re here.” He nodded with and kind smile as he handed her tray for Integra. tea, Little bowel of soup, and a little plate that had some kind of fancy looking cake on it. “Sir Penwood is at the door and I need to see him, would you mind taking the tray to Master Integra from me?” “Yeah absolutely.” Short walk later she opened the door to Integra office, and there Hellsing was like always sitting at her desk, looking powerful. “Baby, Hungry?” She held up the tray and walked over to the desk, Integra smiled. “Hungry, I am. Hello my love.” “Hello.” Setting down the tray, Integra takes her tea.“I missed in you in bed this morning. Reached over and you were gone.” “I had too, Getting work out of the way now, than be taken over buy it later.” Integra pulled out her chair patting her lap. “Come sit chat with me a bit.” Her love did so, wrapping her arms around lazily over Integra’s shoulders, pulling her closer to kiss her lips. What was meant to be a peck on the lips now a wanting kiss. Integra held her love and melted into it pulling away after a moment. “And where is this coming from hmm?” “This morning I wanted to so bad when I woke up. Would you want to sneak one in, Please say yes.” Her hand lingered over Integra’s chest, opening some buttons on her shirt. Hellsing pulled up her sleeve and took a glance of her watch.” We would have ten minutes.” “And?” She pulled at Integra’s tie making it tighter, ice blue eyes look her up and down. “Good thing to get this out of the way first, then be taken over buy it later... and trust me, i’d overwhelm you Integra.” Kissing Hellsing again taking her bottom lip between teeth she giggles. “On the desk facing me.” Hellsing ordered her voice soft her love gladly fallowed. The heat between her legs now like a heart beat. Integra was amused Watching her love through off her top a fox like smirk on her face, but it faced as she looked past her love to the door. Seras stood there smiling with raised eye brows. “Oh no do go on, don’t stop with me here.” Hellsing grunted bitterly. “What is it.” “Walter told me to tell you that Sir Islands and Penwood are here, and you’re needed down stairs.” Integra’s love covered herself back up as Hellsing stood up from her chair. “Yes fine i’ll be there.” Seras nodded and left.rk Hellsing fixed her own shirt. Her love sighed wiping her hands over her face. “Aw well i’ll get back to my work then.” “Ah, ah, ah you’re staying in here.” Hellsing took her loves hand leading her to sit down then leaning in close to her love’s ear. ”I want you, you are going to sit here and wait for me, start without me. I’ll be back for my lunch.” “Mmm, Yes ma’am~.”

10 notes · View notes

hollywoodhangar · 4 years

Text

@silvcrreaper said: ( For Claudia ) How did he get into the room without her or Gelert knowing? Hard to say, regardless, the heavy blanket he draped around her shoulders was more than enough to alert her of his presence, as he then drifted to ease against the desk, arms resting in front of him as he grinned down at her. "You should take better care of yourself, m'lady. S'not a good idea to work late into the night." And, no, he wasn't going to say how he got in without her knowing.

“Bandia sábháil sinn!*“ The jolt Claudia gave was practically driven by horsepower, her chair bouncing off the wooden floor in reflection of her shock. The little unassuming burlap bag she was flicking coin into flew across the desk and spilled its rich, clinky remnants into both her cold, untouched dinner and dessert, as well as the mass scatter of papers, letters and maps the Countess’s desk is cluttered with. Honestly, it’s a wonder how one can get any work done with how much of a mess this desk is.

Her head whips immediately in the Undertaker’s direction, wide-eyed and bewildered, brows furrowed! .. and she relaxes, face sinking into the palm of her hand, the other mindlessly clasping the blanket’s ends to bring further around her cold shoulders. A very much welcomed gesture - her skin was feeling cold as ice since the embers of the fireplace started dying. “Callows you wicked little fox of night, you scared the daylights outta me. Where in the Hell did ya come from?” As if the expected Mary Poppins refusal would stop her from asking just the same. She shot an eye to the wolf who laid next to her chair on his own luxurious cushion, absolutely nonplussed by the mortician’s appearance, his eyes simply flicking in his direction with his little brows raised and ears perked, head lifting a little.

But in ever the valiant effort to defend his master, Gelert opens his maw and makes a muted “woo” noise, the sound not even coming out. A huge paw reaches up and rests on Alaric’s knee. There, stopped ‘im.

“oh you are the pinnacle’a protection, my knight in sheddin’ armor.” Claudia snort-wheezes, her accent full slipping; however, if just for the moment, she doesn’t seem to mind that. “.. Hold a tick,” However, her mind does click and finally register what he’d said - for the most part. Some of it’s a little gibberished. A dark fingernail pokes from the blanket to point at the relaxed “invader”. “Wha’ was that ya said about my work?” She doesn’t ask in a, “you dare?” fashion, but one that is genuinely asking for clarification.

// * Goddess save us!

#silvcrreaper #♈ [ CLAUDIA; THE WATCHDOG. ] ━ 『 the bastard countess. 』#♈ [ CLAUDIA; IC. ] ━ 『 & with a wolfish grin. 』#♈ [ CLAUDIA; claudia&callows. ] ━ 『 ‘ar ndóigh tá siad glas.’ 』#♈ [ BLOG; ASK. ] ━ 『 letters to hollywood. 』#(( undertaker wins 10 points for managing to spook the countess. well-played! ))#(( also this is so tender thank u ;v; ))#(( hope this is an ok response! o/ ))

1 note · View note

savannacentralperk · 5 years

Text

...Our First Date

A/N: As always, thank you to kt_valmiri for editing and ScaraMedn for beta reading! Enjoy, everyone!

………….

Skye grinned down at her little brother who was pouting on Jack's couch. Her eyes moved from young todd to the overly excited cheetah fawning over him and Judy. The doe was grinning at their sitter, the vixen having no doubt she was just as excited about the evening as the cat.

"Oh! Em! Goodness!" Benjamin Clawhauser gushed as he pulled out a stack of movies from his bag, adding them to his tower of board games on the coffee table. "We're going to have so much fun! I have games, music, magazines, snacks! We'll order pizza and make s'mores! We can even have a dance off! Ooooooo! I'm so excited!"

"You're a brave mammal for being willing to watch these two, Benji," called Jack from the hall. Walking into the living, the buck kept his eyes down as he straightened his sweater. "You're going to have your paws full."

The grin on Skye's face became slightly bashful when the buck looked up and saw her. His entire body went still, his ears standing straight up on his head as his eyes took her in. Once again, she applauded her mother’s skills in picking out clothes. Her black skirt and sapphire blue blouse complemented his own dark jeans and white button up. Casual, with a hint of class. He looked good enough to drag back to the bedroom for several days.

It was only the fact that Ben's voice echoed loudly that had them remembering everyone else in the room.

"Oh, don't be silly, Jackie! Judy is an absolute delight!" Benji's fur bunched as his chubby face lit up on Nick. "Oooooohhhhhh! I don't think I've ever met such a little fox before! Fox kits are so cuuuuute!"

Nick scrunched down in his seat further, looking disgruntled. "I'm not little…" he grumbled under his breath. "Or cute."

Judy laughed at his reaction. "Oh, how the tables have turned!"

With a glare at the bunny doe, the todd crossed his arms and looked annoyed at the situation, though a smile tugged at his muzzle. Ben merely bounced around as he did inventory on what he had brought, his smile never leaving his face. Completely charmed, Skye knew why Jack had chosen him. She just hoped her brother wouldn't make his life too miserable.

"I'm expecting you to be on your very best behavior, young todd," she lectured as Jack came to stand next to her.

"Same goes for you, Judes." His little sister's face flashed with shocked outrage as her mouth fell open, Jack cutting her off before she could retort. "And don't give me that 'I would never!' look. I've known you for thirteen years."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"It means you're exactly like me." He smirked at Judy's frown. Turning to Skye, he gave her another look over, the skin under his fur tinged pink. "And you look… disgusting."

Skye snorted and gave him a playful push, the buck smiling.

"Seriously though," he continued, catching her paw and pulling her towards him. "You're beautiful."

With a shy smile, she put her paws on his shoulders and lowered her muzzle to his. "Thank you." Her lips lightly touched his before they were interrupted again.

"AWWWWW!"

Starting, Jack and Skye simultaneously dropped their ears and looked over at their siblings. Nick and Judy snickered at them while Ben beamed with his eyes aglow.

"Ahem…" Jack cleared his throat and ran a paw down his crimson ears. "Call us if you need anything. Judy, if you and Nick hang out in your room, door stays open. Ben, don't let them out of your sight."

"And you," Skye turned her focus to her brother. "Best. Behavior. I mean it. If you cause Ben any trouble, it's bedpans for you. Got it."

Rolling his eyes, Nick held up two fingers. "Best behavior. Scouts honor."

With a final stern glance at the teens, Jack and Skye headed for the door. As soon as it was shut, Ben bounced back in front of them, grinning happily.

"I'm so excited! Are you two ready to have some fun?"

Nick repressed a sigh as Judy sat up straight and gave the cheetah a sweet smile.

"Actually, Ben. I'm a little hungry." Nick gave her a look out the corner of his eye. Judy just smiled at their sitter whose face lit up.

"I'll order some pizza!"

"I think it's my sweet tooth that's really starving. I was thinking more like ice cream."

Ben looked hesitant. "I don't know, Judy. I'm trying to cut back."

"And you've been doing such a great job. So, treat yourself."

Ben's face morphed into a longing look at the idea of all the treats he had denied himself lately.

"Weeeell…" he began hesitantly. "I guess one cheat night wouldn't hurt!"

Judy grinned and bounced off the couch. "I'll get ice cream and chocolate syrup! Nick, you grab the cupcakes from the counter."

"I'll get the bowls and spoons!" Ben squealed. "And I'll put on some music!"

Nick laughed at their enthusiasm before doing as he was told. Maybe the night wouldn't be all that bad.

……….

Less than five minutes into the seminar, it became very obvious the mouse on the stage was not Marcus Lemousis. A quick examination of their tickets confirmed the spelling of his name was wrong. Deciding to stick it out, the buck and vixen shrugged and took their seats. And what a mistake it was.

Jack and Skye sat in their chairs, visibly cringing at the mouse enthusiastically speaking on stage.

The buck leaned over to her to whisper, “I was expecting this to be a bit more…”

“Businesslike,” she supplied, “and less…”

“Ponzi scheme.”

Both mammals shared a chuckle behind their paws before Jack motioned for her to leave her seat. Creeping along the aisle, Skye reached behind her and felt him grasp her paw. Giggling and keeping low, they snuck into the center aisle and darted for the exit. Thankfully, the Royal Palm Hotel had a spacious and busy lobby. No one really noticed the pair running away from the conference.

Skye was still laughing as they raced towards the lobby bar, the hippo bartender in his finery nodding a greeting to her and Jack before filling two glasses with ice and water.

“Wow!” the vixen laughed as she climbed up to take a seat on a bar stool. “That was a huge waste of time. How much did those set you back, Jack?”

With a leap, Jack landed next to her, still grinning. "I didn't pay for them. We have Sandra to thank for that." The hippo bartender gave them a confused look before he set water glasses in front of the pair. The buck winked at her before turning his grin to the larger mammal. "And no sense in stopping the party. Barkeep, a bottle of your finest Pinot Noir, please."

Nodding, the hippo turned to the wine shelf behind him.

"Very classy, Mr. Hopps," Skye grinned as the bartender set two glasses and an open wine bottle in front of them.

"Classy is my middle name, gorgeous." With a grin, the buck poured them each a healthy amount before setting the bottle aside and raising his glass. "Miss Wilde. Thank you for joining me here tonight. It's not the fancy, romantic night of dinner and dancing that I wish I had treated you to. But I can't complain. That was a very… entertaining… Marcus LeMousis impersonator. And, after everything, I still get enjoy your company. Not a bad first date."

Her glass was still touching his as she smiled at him. "Date?"

"I mean," Jack smiled nervously and fidgeted on his stool. "I understand if that's a bit too forward… I mean, we've known each other for a couple weeks so I understand. But, being here, with you, tonight… It just feels like… well…"

"A date," she finished, leaning towards him. The paw not holding her wine glass moved to his jaw. "I think I can live with this being our official first date."

Their lips had just barely brushed when they both heard the not so quiet scoff of a mammal next to them. She was prepared to just tune out whomever the nosy mammal was, but she felt Jack's ears fall down his back as the mammal huffed again. He tensed, his lips still pressed to hers, before pulling back.

"Hey," she whispered to him softly. His brows were furrowed in anger as he began to turn his head towards the intruder. Skye's paw slid from his jaw to his cheek to keep his attention on her. "Ignore it. It's just you and me. On our first date."

A slow smile spread on his face at her words before the buck nodded and kissed her again.

"Disgusting!" Jack and Skye gently broke apart and rolled their eyes at each other before raising their glasses to sip at their wine. "Hey, perverts!"

Taking determined sips, they exchanged head shakes. "Ignore it," Skye repeated.

"Hey," came the angry, slightly slurred voice again. "I'm talking to YOU, stripes!"

"But we're not talking to him, handsome," Skye murmured to Jack, who laughed with her.

Though their laughter died when a firm nudge landed on his shoulder.

Jaw set and face fighting to stay blank, Jack turned to look at the mammal who interrupted them. "Can I help you?" he asked the burly ram glowering down at him.

"Yeah you can help me," he snapped, looking over at the vixen with disgust. "You can help me but not making my wife and I throw up our dinner. Have some respect! I’m sure bunny does can be an easy lay, but that doesn't give you the right to shove your tongue down the throat of a pred in good society! Have some decency."

"Sir," all three mammals looked to the bartender who was eying the ram sternly. "I'm going to have to ask you to return to your seat. Any issues with other patrons can be reported to management, who are equipped and trained to handle them. So, please, stop bothering our other guests and return to your chair."

Casting one last glare at the vixen and buck, the ram made his way back over to his wife, the small ewe haughtily adjusting her glasses and turning her nose up at them.

"I apologize for the disturbance," the bartender continued, bringing their attention back to him.

He gave them a small smile. "If there's anything more you need, please let me know."

"Thanks," Skye leaned forward to read his name tag, "Joseph. I think we're okay for now. Right, Jack?"

"Here's to you, Joseph!" Jack raised his glass grinning as Skye copied him. "May the world be filled to the brim with wonderful mammals like you."

Joseph grinned and nodded before moving down the bar to continue helping his patrons.

"Sir!" The shrill voice had the couple looking over at the ewe, who shot them a venomous look while her husband stared daggers in their direction. "We would like to speak to the manager, please! NOW!"

Before Joseph could respond, a well-dressed deer buck strode up to stand next to the sheep couple.

"Hello, ma'am. My name is Derek and I'm the bar manager. What seems to be the problem."

"The problem is the lack of decency this bar seems to have," the ram began while his wife nodded in agreement. "I work hard and pull double shifts to treat my wife to a nice evening at one of the best bars and restaurants in Zootopia. And we have to spend the night with those two freaks of nature practically rutting next to us? That, DEREK, is a disgrace to this city!"

"Oh, my gods! It was one kiss," Skye interrupted, her raised voice catching their attention. Jack swiveled in his seat to face them and crossed his arms as he glared back at the sheep. Skye's paw rose to his shoulder as she drew herself up behind him. "It's not like we were ripping each other’s clothes off!"

"It was disgusting!" The ewe shot back. Even the wool piled on top her head seemed to shake with anger. "Your parents ought to be ashamed of both of you. Your relationship is everything that's wrong with this world and I live for the day when these stupid politicians wise up and finally ban you deviants from the rest of us decent mammals!"

"Oh, yeah!" scoffed Jack as he jumped from his seat and took a step towards them. "You're so decent you have to jam your nose into other mammals’ business and screech about a something you know absolutely nothing about. Yeah, you're a real hero, lady!"

Derek moved to stand between the two couples and raised he's hooves. "Please, let's calm down. I would be very upset to have to remove anyone from the hotel. So, if you'll just"

"Don't you speak to my wife like that, stripes!" The ram jumped from his spot and stepped as close to Jack as he could. "At least I found me a lady I can spend the rest of my life with. Unlike you, who's probably just satisfying some perverted kink." His beady black eyes moved from the buck's outraged face, to Skye's shocked blues. "You heard me, sweetheart! All this bunny wants from you is what's between your legs. All these bunnies are nothing but whores"

Jack had seen old nature shows and dramatizations of how prey and predator were before everyone became civil. He had always been impressed at the speed at which everyone seemed to move. Skye put them to shame. One moment, she was tense and angry on her stool behind him. The next she was leaping from her seat in a perfect pounce, landing gracefully on the other side of a very startled Derek.

The ram's eyes went wide with shock as she grabbed the closest filled glass and splashed in his face followed by a sharp, open pawed slap.

To his credit, the ram wasn't surprised for long. His eyes narrowed in rage as he drew back his hoof, only to have the vixen dodge, the ram's punch lining up beautifully with Derek's groin. The deer buck gasped in pain, Jack gave a gaff in amused disbelief, while the sheep couple gave bleats of horror.

"I think we'll be going now, Joseph," Jack said, pulling some bills from his wallet and tossing them on the bar top. Skye hurriedly rejoined him, both noticing the group of security guards headed their way. "Like, now. Keep the chaaannnggge!"

The last bit was drawn out as Skye grabbed his paw and ran towards the exit, laughing as the ewe and ram were halted from following. A pair of guards went after the bunny and fox, who ginned at each other and picked up their pace.

"Hey, Jack?" asked Skye as they ran towards the hotel lobby.

"Yeah, gorgeous?" The pair of them ducked under the outstretched hooves of a waiting giraffe, the security guard uselessly shouting at them to stop as they easily passed her.

"How much was that bottle of wine?"

The doors were in sight, blocked by a tall, burley lion scowling at them. Glancing at each other, they ran even faster towards him and lowered their heads in a charge. At the sight of the two fast approaching small mammals, the lion gave a very unlion like squeal and moved out of the way.

Still running as they burst through the double doors and hit the sidewalk, Jack laughed and shrugged. "NO CLUE!"

Their laughter was breathless as they continued to run, the guards that had originally been after them stumbling to a halt just outside the exit. A warthog doubled over and panted before looking at the hyena next to him. Both turned to glare at the embarrassed lion.

"Thanks for your help, Tom!" growled the hyena sarcastically.

"Yeah," agreed the warthog. "Your bravery knows no bounds."

Tom hung his head and shame. "Sorry…" With disappointed shakes of their heads, they looked at where their targets had vanished. After a moment, the trio turned from now bunny and fox free sidewalk, and headed back inside.

………….

Skye didn't know what had come over her. One moment, they had been running away from the Palm Hotel security guards. Now they were several blocks away and ducked into the first alley they had seen. The pair gasped for breath and laughed as they peeked around the corner, the vixen vaguely amused that Nick's trouble-making streak seemed to be genetic.

Huh, she thought as she looked at Jack with a smile. Who knew Mom passed on the hoodlum gene?

The buck was panting lightly, before he met her gaze with a grin of his own. His blue eyes were bright with amusement as he looked at her. Her heartbeat sped up as their paws reached for each other. Jack pushed her against the wall, his lips capturing hers as his paws rose to cup her face. Her arms slid around his neck easily, one leg lifting to pull him close and keep him there.

They couldn't get enough of each other. Lips parting only briefly to pull air into their lungs before they connected again. A loud growl from both their stomachs had the couple giggling into the shared space. Parting and pressing their foreheads together, they smiled and breathed each other in.

"Food?" he asked with a smile.

"Food," she agreed. Jack's paws slid down her body as he prepared to push himself away. Only to be pulled back in for another kiss. When she finally released him, Skye smiled at the dreamy expression on his face. "And afterwards, maybe I'll treat you to dessert."

Gently moving passed him, letting her paw trail down his chest, she made her way back onto the street.

"Yes, ma'am." Paw in paw, with goofy smiles on their muzzles, they carried on with their first date.

……………

Nick and Judy looked cautiously at the large cheetah collapsed on the couch. The furniture gave a small groan at his weight.

They’d had an eventful night with Ben popping in a movie that was quickly ignored in favor of new music he had put on his phone. The fox had dissolved into laughter as Judy and Ben bounced around the living room, their 'dancing' bringing tears to Nick's eyes. After a couple hours, and several s'mores and bowls of ice cream, the large cat had flopped onto the couch, panting.

"Whew!" he gasped, closing his eyes as he tilted his head back, tongue lolling out of his muzzle. "Give me a minute, guys. Just gotta catch my breath!"

Judy watched his breath even out before a loud snore cut through the silence. With snorts of laughter, the teens looked at each other.

"And he's out like a light," Nick murmured, creeping from his place on the floor to stand next to the doe. "Very clever, Carrots. Sugar him up and let him crash. So diabolical! I mean, what would Jack think if he found out?"

He grinned at her when she gave him a hip bump. "Easy there, Slick. I go down, I'm taking you with me."

"There's a threat." His smile softened when he looked over her. "So… what now?"

"I want to show you something."

Perplexed, he watched as she made her way to the door. Following her as it was pulled open, both teens peeped downstairs. The Perk was still open, though most of its patrons were calling it a night. Turning away from the hum of the mammals closing up shop, Judy shot him a grin and crept towards the second set of stairs leading to the roof.

"C'mon," she whispered as she moved up the stairs.

Bemused, Nick closed the door quietly and followed. The bunny paused at the roof door and grinned at him.

"Ready?" she asked, her grin growing wider as he enthusiastically nodded his head. "Okay… Voila!"

She pushed the door open and stood to the side. Nick's eyes widened at the sight that greeted him. An obstacle course stood in front of them, an intense combination of monkeybars, balance beams, rope ladders, and agility tires. It was an impressive set up. One that had the todd asking a very important question.

"How the hell did I beat you?" His eyes were narrowed in confusion as he turned them to her.

With a sigh, Judy gave her head a shake. "I ask myself that question every day. Wanna go for a round?"

"Get ready to lose again," he shot back, racing her towards it.

Nick was the first one on the rope ladder, giving a loud laugh as he landed on it, only to have it cut short by a small body tackling him.

"Hey!" he shouted as Judy climbed up his back and stepped on his head. She pulled herself up onto the monkeybars. "That's cheating!"

But Judy just laughed from where she stood. "You know there's no shame in calling it quits! I thought you foxes would be good at this."

"Watch it up there little bunny!" came his response, giving her a mock frown. "Keep talking like that I'll have to gobble you up."

"You'd have to catch me first, Slick." And without another word, she moved further through the obstacle course. Nick was right behind her, leaping from bar to bar and climbing up and down ropes. He was always just a claw's length behind of her, something she took great pride in. But like he anticipated, she paused just a bit too long to gloat.

"Gotcha!" The todd tackled her to the ground, earning a loud groan from her followed by laughter.

"Get off me, you dumb fox," she exclaimed through her giggles. "You weigh a thousand pounds!"

"Ha ha ha! Knock me off if you can, Fluff!" Nick grinned down at her as his fingers dug into her sides, making her laugh harder.

"Yoyo you're the worst!" Judy squirmed under him, her paws on his shoulders, trying to wiggle away.

"Oh! You don't mean that."

Nick laughed and eased up on his tickling. Judy's laughter died down in equal measure though her smile remained. Her paws were still on his shoulders and small body tucked under him. Nick's paws stayed still on her side, his thumbs resting lightly on her belly. Both teens smiled into each others eyes their muzzles moving closer, eyes falling shut when they felt their lips brush together

"Oh, my gods!"

The loud, panting exclamation startled them out of their trace, both their eyes going to the roof doorway. Benji leaned against it, panting, obviously fighting to keep from doubling over. Nick and Judy scrambled to the feet, both blushing furiously.

"You… *gasp*… nearly… *pant*… gave me… *wheeze*… a heart attack!" Pushing away from the door frame, he staggered over to where they now stood. "Don't ever do that again! Jack will kill me if he knows you two snuck off."

"Sorry, Ben," they muttered together, eyes cast to the floor. Benji finally caught his breath enough to smile happily at them.

"Oooooooohhhhhh!" he squealed, paws coming up to cover his smile. Suddenly snatching them both up in a hug, he gave a little wiggle of joy. "I just can't stay angry with you two! You're both so"

"Don't say it!" Judy gasped out. Both teens were released just as suddenly as they were caught.

"Oh, alright!" Benji chirped, still beaming at them. "Let's get inside before Jack and Skye come back. And remember! Nothing happened."

"Right," agreed Nick, looking over at Judy who walked towards the roof door just in front of him. "Nothing happened."

Judy smiled over her shoulder at him, eyes filled with disappointment. "Nothing at all."

……………

The city was as dark as it could get. Mammals were fewer on the streets, shops and restaurants waved off their last patrons, and one by one, the lights from the surrounding homes flicked off. An early summer breeze swept through the silent streets, adding just the right amount of romance to the night when paired with glow of the street lights.

Skye was walking on air.

Paw in paw, they savored the feeling of closeness as they bantered easily. It was later than they expected to be out and part of her worried about any potential trouble Nick would be in. One never knew with her youngest brother. But those worries moved further and further away every time she caught Jack's eye.

“So,” began the buck, with a smile. “You always dreamed of be a GM for an independent coffee shop in Savanna Central?”

Grinning, Skye shrugged. “I actually never had a dream for what I was going to be when I grew up. I couldn’t decide.”

“Just kinda fell into the coffee shop biz, huh?”

“Something like that. It’s just always lively and changing. I like the work and the mammals I’ve met,” her eyes flicked over to him coyly, “ and work for.” Jack’s blush was as visible as his happy grin. Nudging him with her elbow, she moved closer to him as they walked. “So… What did Jack Hopps want to be when he grew up?”

“Ahhh…” The paw not holding hers reached up to scratch his neck as his blush intensified. “Well, I knew I always wanted to be a cook or baker. Something that had to do with food.”

“Buuuut…”

With a bashful shrug, he continued. “My Pop-pop used to tell us his war stories. He was part of this elite team of government agents, always running around the world doing these amazing things. He made it seem like they were spies. Pop-pop said he had code name and everything. It was all very 007.”

“I’m guessing you use to pretend to be part of the action?” They shared a laugh as he nodded.

“I had a name picked out and everything.”

Pausing her steps, Skye’s jaw dropped. “What was it?” He shook his head vigorously. “C’mon! Tell me! I’m not going to judge or laugh. I promise.”

Releasing her paw, Jack bit his lip and looked down shyly as he muttered to himself. Skye quirked her eyebrows and leaned her head in towards him. Giving him another small nudge and encouraging smile, she waited patiently for him to repeat himself.

“My code name was Jack Savage,” he said, his voice still a bit soft. Looking up at her finally, he cleared his throat and kept walking. “You’re laughing.”

“I would never,” she countered, still smiling and taking his paw again as they continued their walk. “I like it. It has a ring to it. And I think you would have been a great spy.”

“Aww, now you’re just trying to butter me up.”

“Is it working?”

“Almost too well.” They laughed again, walking closer together.

Finally, they came to the darkened door of the Perks.

"I had an amazing time, Skye," Jack began as he pulled his keys out.

“I did, too, Jack.” She watched him toy with his keys, seeming to think unlocking the door would end their night. Stepping closer, her paws slid up his chest as her muzzle dipped until her lips met his. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she vaguely heard his keys drop as he pulled her closer.

“If you’re interested,” he panted when they parted slightly for air, “I know a spot really, REALLY close we go to for a night cap.”

“Lead the way then, tiger,” she purred back before nibbling his bottom lip and wrapping her tail around his waist.

Groaning, he pulled away and stooped to grab his keys off the ground. Hurriedly unlocking the door, while Skye’s paws and lips did their best to distract him, Jack stumbled through the door and disarmed the alarm. After making sure both were reset and locked, he pulled her in for another passionate kiss before dragging her upstairs.

Their desire cooled marginally at Jack’s apartment door, remembering Nick, Judy, and Ben on the other side. Exchanging one last, heated kiss, they straightened their clothing out before Jack let them in. Apologies for being late died on their lips after seeing what they walked into.

“Oh my,” Skye murmured, her voice tinged with amusement.

Ben lay sprawled on the floor, an open magazine draped over his face barely muffling his snores. An upturned popcorn bowl lay next to him, its contents surrounding him. The coffee table was covered in empty pizza boxes and ice cream bowls, stray marshmallows and open bags of chips and pretzels. On the tv, the menu for a DVD was displayed.

Both adults turned their attention to their siblings. Nick and Judy lay asleep on the couch. The todd was sitting up against the back of it, his head resting atop of Judy’s. The little doe was snuggled against him, his tail in her arms.

“I’ll get a blanket and pillow for Nick if you get Judy,” Jack whispered after shutting off the tv then tiptoeing away to the hall closet.

The vixen stepped over Ben and around the coffee table. Judy barely stirred when Skye gently pulled her brother’s tail from the doe’s arms and scooped her from the couch. In his sleep, Nick grumbled in protest before falling over and settling back into sleep. Jack returned with the pillow and blanket, smiling and gesturing down the hallway towards Judy’s room. Turning his attention back to the sleeping todd on the couch, he carefully slid his paw under Nick’s head before settling it on the pillow.

Nuzzling into it, the todd was covered with the blanket as Skye came back from Judy’s room.

“... camping trip this weekend, Dad… tent has holes…” Jack cocked his head at Nick’s sleep talk, before turning to look over at Skye. The vixen’s eyes grew distant and sad, her body frozen in place with her arms crossed.

Concerned, Jack walked over to her and put his paws on her elbows. She smiled sadly at him, grateful he didn’t ask her what was wrong.

“He was one of Nick’s scout leaders,” she explained, letting herself be led to his bedroom. Jack let her enter first, gesturing for her to take a seat on the bed. “The day he…” She shook her head and looked down at her paws. “He was going to take the pack camping that weekend. Nick said it was the last thing Dad ever said to him. I didn’t know he still dreamed about it.”

He let her go silent, let her get lost in her thoughts, but still reached out to grasp her paw. All he wanted was to let her know he was there. Something she seemed grateful for when she looked up and smiled at him. Jack smiled back and scooted up to the head of the bed, still holding her paw.

Following after, she lay on her side facing him.

“Tell me about him?” Jack asked with a soft smile, passing his paw over her face tenderly.

“How much time you got?”

“For you, beautiful,” he murmured back, pulling her into his arms, “I have all the time in the world.”

……………

The trauma ward at Tundra General was nonstop busy. One of the weather generators had malfunctioned, causing a section in Tundra town to warm considerably. The issue was caught fairly quickly but once it was working again, the drastic change in temperature had turned the roads into sheets of black ice. Several unsuspecting cars lost control, resulting in TG radioing for any and all available paws to help out.

Vivian was on her first shift. She had set herself up in her hotel room earlier. The same hotel, in fact, that she and Matthew had stayed in for their wedding night. Mercifully not the same room, though. But it still put her into an emotional coma.

Which, given her profession, was a blessing.

Not long after Matthew's death, Vivian found she had problems helping her fellow foxes. No matter their fur color or stature, each one reminded her of him. Considering the area of TundraTown where the generator had failed was sixty percent fox, the vixen nurse needed that coma to survive the sea of red fur she now faced.

She was walking beside the stretcher carrying one such todd, eyes straight ahead as she and her fellow nurse headed towards the patient's new room with the doctor right behind them.

"This one here, nurse." The lioness doctor stepped back to let the smaller predators carry on through the door. "I'm passing his chart onto Dr. Beest. He's a better… stature for this room."

Vivian smiled at taller mammal and saluted. "I'll fill him in when he gets here, too. I'm going to get Mr. Fax settled, then I'll be right back down."

With a smile and nod, the doctor went on her way leaving the patient to Vivian and a pig sow. Carefully, both females transferred him from the stretcher to the bed. The sow was paged, leaving just Vivian to take his vitals. Pressing her stethoscope to his chest, she listened closely and frowned at the rapid heartbeat.

"Don't stress too much about that," rasped the injured todd, his swollen eyes on her and pained smile on his muzzle. "It beats that fast when there's a pretty vixen nearby."

"And don't worry about my gagging," Vivian replied with a smile of her own. "It's only because I'm lactose intolerant. So, cut back on the cheese, please."

The todd gave a pained laugh. "Ouch! And here I thought it was a car accident that made me hurt this badly." Still smiling, he closed his eyes and sighed as Vivian continued to check his vitals. "So, Nurse Wilde… any relation to Officer Matthew Wilde?"

His eyes opened to the best of their ability when he realized she’d froze. Understanding bloomed when he saw her turn away from him.

"I met him once," he continued quietly. "He was a good todd. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you…" Neither spoke another word, save for Vivian explaining how the various remotes in the room worked.

Dr. Beest had just entered when Vivian was finishing up. After briefing the badger on what had been done so far with the todd, he gave her a smile and said she could head back to the trauma ward. Giving the patient a polite nod and smile, she turned to the door.

"Nurse Wilde?" The pained voice had her pausing before she turned back to the wounded todd. "If it's not too much to ask, I'd be honored to enjoy a cup of coffee with you. As a thank you for taking such good care of me. And as a bribe to hear all about the life of one of my heroes."

At a loss for words, Vivian looked at the ground briefly before raising her eyes back to him. Dr. Beest watched with amused curiosity, slinking away from the bed to be as inconspicuous as possible.

"Just focus on getting better, Romeo," she said finally, giving Mr. Fax a tired smile. "Then we can talk about getting coffee."

"Deal." He returned her smile before looking over to the badger doctor. "Well, doc, you heard the lady. Let's get me better."

Vivian left with a shake of her head. Moving through the halls of the hospital, back towards the trauma ward, her fingers twisted the warm metal of her wedding band. Exchanging bands was a more modern thing among foxes. Scent marks were more than enough for a married couple, bands were usually reserved for widows and widowers.

But the look in Matthew's eyes as she had slid his onto his paw, mere moments after he had done the same with hers, kept flashing in her mind.

It's only been three years, she thought as she rejoined the chaos. What would your kits say? What sort of wife are you to even consider having coffee with someone other than your husband?

Just…

… Stop.

………..

Morning was never a difficult thing for a Hopps bunny. Both Jack and Judy were used to being woken up well before sunrise to get some farm work in before going off to school. The buck's internal alarm clock was finely tuned to the routine, the habit having gotten worse when The Perk was first opened.

This morning, however, had him waking to the pleasant slide of a leg across his hip as a gentle paw slid down his chest. Smiling at the press of an inquisitive nose in his neck fur, he turned his head to nuzzle back. Getting up for the day was going to be very, very difficult if she kept doing that.

"Good morning," he murmured, Skye pulling back to smile into his eyes.

"Good morning." Their lips pressed together in a sleepy kiss. Skye giggled as he rolled himself on top of her, pressing kisses into her neck.

Waking up next to her was the most satisfying experience he had ever had. Even if they hadn’t gone further than just kisses and cuddles. There was clumsiness in Skye’s voice when she spoke about her father, endearing her even more to the bunny buck. Something told him she wasn’t use to talking about him, as though she had burdened herself for the sake of her family.

Propping himself over her, Jack grinned down at her before kissing her lips.

“Mmmmm…” she groaned in delight when their kiss ended. Her big blue eyes batted up at him.

“Are you always this affectionate in the morning, Agent Savage?”

Jack chuckled and kissed her again. “Only with you, gorgeous.”

“You know,” Skye began after kissing his lips again. Her paws moved to the front of his shirt, popping the buttons free. “We got a little sidetracked last night. Not exactly how I was hoping we would end the night.”

“Is that so?” Jack lifted one of his paws and moved it to her knee before sliding it down her thigh, her skirt already bunched around her waist. “And how were you hoping the night would end, Miss Wilde?”

“Well, something like thi-”

A loud knock broke their spell, both growling at the interruption. The door swung open, revealing Nick with a paw clamped over his eyes.

“Are you two dressed?” he asked, ears flattened on his head.

With sighs, Jack pushed himself off Skye as they begrudgingly straightened out their clothing.

“Yes, Nick, we’re dressed.” Skye rolled her eyes as Nick peeked through his fingers and gave a dramatized sigh of relief.

“Good! Judy’s making pancakes and Jon wants to know if you two are still alive.”

“What time is it?” Jack asked as he reached for his phone. Sometime in the night, it worked its way out of his jean pocket. Which explained the knot in his thigh from where it had been jabbing him.

“It’s eight thirty,” answered Nick, smirking as the pair of them sprang out of bed in alarm.

“We’re late!” They exclaimed at the same time.

“This is also not the morning I had in mind!” Jack said, Skye laughing in agreement.

Her eyes landed on her brother who laughed at them before heading back to the kitchen.

“I’m going to take Nick back to my apartment so we can change,” she planned, after making sure she had gathered all of her things. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Sure you don’t wanna play hooky?” They grinned at each other as they moved to the bedroom door. Skye’s paw reached out and grabbed him, pressing him to the door frame and kissing him passionately.

“This is a ‘To Be Continued’, Agent Savage.” Pressing another kiss to his lips, she smiled alluringly at him before heading to the kitchen.

“Yes, ma’am,” came his dazed response, a big grin plastered on his face.

…………..

The day was actually fairly quiet. After the initial morning rush, everyone fell into their usual workday routine. Nick dutifully kept up with the pile of dishes, Judy rushed around the lobby making sure tables and floors were clean. Skye and Sandra were checking inventory while Kari and Gideon were setting up the dessert counter.

"Ok," muttered Jack, oblivious to the amused smile Skye gave him. "I have the cookie ingredients all set up for Gid to start on, Jon is working on lemon curd for the tarts, and we need to taste test the berry compote. And that sandwich shop ordered seven loaves of sourdough, so I have to check the starter. Busy, busy day…"

Muttering and running through his mental checklist of duties, Jack walked to the order board and pulled a few down. Sorting through them, he wandered into the front and stood where Gid and Kari were finishing up.

"I hope you like cookies, Gideon. We have to make enough for us and at least five orders so far." The buck grinned at the young fox's excited expression.

"I can't wait!" The young exclaimed. Kari laughed at his enthusiasm, shaking her head as he accepted the orders Jack offered him and rushing back to the kitchen to wash up. Jack smiled after him.

"Gotta love his spirit," the buck said happily. Exchanging a look with Kari, he pulled a to-do list from his apron pocket. "Since it's slow, I want you to do a walkthrough of the lobby. Nick and Judy finished detailing the kitchen a lot sooner than I thought they would. This should keep them occupied for at least a day or two"

The sound of the bells had both of them looking towards the door.

"Welcome to the Perk," greeted Kari, taking her place behind the register and smiling. "How can I help you?"

Jack felt his stomach drop. Teeth clenched, he gulped audibly and turned to look through the order window at Skye. They exchanged glances before turning their attention back to the ewe in front of the register.

"Well, well, well," the short, familiar female began, her green eyes filled with vindictive amusement. A hoof reached up to adjust her glasses as she smirked at the buck. "Isn't this a coincidence."

"I don't suppose you're here for one of our famous lattes and a muffin, are you?" Jack gave her smile that was only slightly nervous.

With a small laugh, the ewe from the bar shook her head. "Even better…" Her other paw pulled up a rolling briefcase. Bending to unzip one of its pockets, a metal clip board was pulled out and pen clicked open. Straightened up, she smiled wickedly again and adjusted her badge.

"Health inspection."

#wildehopps #nick wilde #judy hopps #jack savage #skyezootopia #savageskye #au-alternativemeeting coffeeshop

11 notes · View notes

windmaedchen-kidfox · 5 years

Photo

PAST ACTIVITIES

Blackquill takes a final look over the crime scene. "I think there is nothing more to do here. Let's head back to the office."

"Back to the office it is then!", the happy detective agrees.

Fox hesitates for a moment. "Very well. Uhm... if you don't mind, I would like to go ahead and meet you downstairs by the car in 10 minutes?"

“I suppose that all right, but what are you up to now?" The detective may have asked but he does not look puzzled at all. It isn’t unusual for Fox to excuse herself to pursue some investigation.

"Hm... you will see for yourself in a bit."

With that Fox turns and leaves the two men behind. Fulbright and Blackquill finish up at the crime scene and leave a couple of minutes later for the parked cars outside. As they exit the building and walk towards the car, they notice Fox leaving the ice-cream shop at the corner of the street. With some dark item in her left hand and an ice-cream cone in her right, she absent-mindedly walks up to them. Fulbright throws his hands in the air in surprise.

"Detective Fox! Why, you are on duty and you get yourself an ice-cream cone?!"

Fox now looks at her colleague and then back at her ice-cream. "It has been offered to me. It was impossible to refuse."

"And what are those items?" As Fulbright points towards Fox's other hand she chuckles and shows them off.

It's a small top-secret spy notebook including pen and UV-light and night-vision goggles, of course. They were.... old evidence, that I had to retrieve."

"Old EVIDENCE?! I don't understand, Kid, would you care to explain?"

Blackquill had watched silently so far but now raises the corners of his mouth to a gentle smile. "I see. Is that the evidence of your ... past activities, yes?"

Fox returns Blackquill’s smile. She then nods towards the car. "It is. But let's get going."

Licking her ice-cream, Fox opens the back door to let Blackquill take a seat first, then enters the car after him. Fulbright takes the front passenger seat but not without protest and a demand for an explanation.

As a police officer takes the three back to the precinct, and while Fox finishes her ice-cream, she explains the situation to Detective Fulbright.

"You know... by now that I love everything about spies, right?"

Fulbright answers slowly. "Yes?"

Showing off her two items again she continues. "Some time ago... I was actually one of them. And I was the best of the best."

Blackquill bursts out laughing. "Hahahaha! The best of the best?! I don't know, Kid, you were arrested, after all."

The detective stares at the passengers behind him, a cold sweat above his brows.

"A-Arrested? One of them? Wait, are you saying.... YOU WERE A SPY AND YOU GOT ARRESTED?!! But how is that possible, I saw your police record and it's a clean sheet!"

Fox lifts her finger to her pursed lips. "Hah! Some things are not documented for the public to see, you know that, Robert."

Fulbright is still pale of disbelief and that both, Fox and Blackquill, take this so lightly, concerns him quite a bit. "So... uhh, what exactly happened then?"

"The ice-cream shop I came out of? It is the best in the whole of Los Angeles. Small, but they have a tightly guarded secret to their recipe. The competition desperately wanted to put their hands on it and they were willing to pay a good price, too! I was close to one of those desperate ones. He wanted me to find out what it was and I agreed."

Fulbright squints his eyes and adjusts his glasses thoughtfully. "Hold on a second... an ice-cream recipe? That's a rather small fish for the ... best of the best spies out there..."

"And what exactly do YOU know of that business? Don't underestimate the significance of delicious ice-cream." Fox leans forward closer to the front seat.

The detective looks like he is biting down on his tongue and mutters a silent "... go on..."

“I spend days around and inside that shop to figure out how to best get my hands on the recipe and finally it became necessary for me to further infiltrate the place. I prepared well. My small notebook, a small toolkit, my night-vision special equipment and some small rations and in I went. I hid very well, in my opinion back then. The vent from the kitchen leading out to the yard and hallway. Perfect vantage point."

Blackquill interrupts Fox narrative. "Perfect vantage point, indeed!"

A little dismayed she continues, ignoring the prisoners chuckles as best as she can. "Yes, well... as you said, though, I did get spotted after all. Spying on people like this is rather exhausting. So I did, to my embarrassment, fall asleep. When I awoke, the business was closed and everything was dark."

Fulbright brows came down over his eyes. "You fell asleep ON THE JOB?! My, as far as 'I' know, spies that fall asleep on their job either get caught or loose their life!"

"You are right, Fool Bright, and that is exactly what happened! I hope she's a better detective now than she was a spy. Hahahahah!"

"Hmpf! Anyway, I tried to back track my way out of the vent but found that going backwards is rather complicated. The truth was, not only did I fall asleep... I also got stuck. And on top of that, I was desperate for the toilet. My perfect mission became a miserable shadow of the job it was meant to be. I didn't know how long I was there but eventually I couldn't hold out any longer and ended up with wet pants and tears down my cheeks. And that was the moment someone came back into the kitchen!

'Hello?' a voice said. Instantly my spy-instinct kicked back in. I had to hide.

'Is someone there? Where are you?'

'NO' I shouted to him. 'I am not anywhere!'.

'Goodness gracious, it's a ... '

'NO!'"

Fulbright looked puzzled. This was too absurd to be real, what spy having any pride in his work would ever do this? Leaning back into the seat, Fox continues her story.

"The owner of the place had spotted me. He tried to make me come out of the vent but I refused. Of course, I also refused to tell him who I was so he ended up calling the police. They tried to lure me out of there also, but ... I just couldn't show myself like that, could I?"

"So how did you get out of there?"

"In the end I agreed to come out provided they would not laugh at me. I thought that was a very good deal, indeed."

Fulbright’s face takes on the most serious look he could possibly muster. "You are pulling my leg."

"NOT AT ALL! It's exactly how I say it was! I managed to find my way back out but I had to leave.... certain evidence behind to not betray my profession. The asked me all kinds of questions but I remained silent. I refused to say my name, why I was there but insisted that they cannot make a spy reveal their mission. In the end, they had no choice but to take me to the station and wait until I was claimed by my parents. And since 'I' was playing the game to the bitter end.... they returned it by filing an official report."

Once more Blackquill adds commentary to her story. "Reason for arrest: Unlawful trespassing of private property and espionage with intent of theft."

"Hahahaha, yes. I was given some spare clothes and food and I was even taken to a holding cell where I would sleep overnight in company of a female officer. And the next day, I was released, under great secrecy and special conditions."

For once Fulbrights face shows nothing but a blank expression. Blackquill's laughter and Fox's sly smile made him absolutely certain that this wasn't the 'real spy deal'.... but surely Fox wasn't completely making this up either, right?

"Bobby. I had just turned 8 when this happened." The red-head looks at her partner sternly. He shifts position and explaims loudly:

"YOU WERE EIGHT YEARS OLD?! AND YOU DID ALL THAT? Kid, you must be joking! Are you serious?"

"Completely. I even have the police record to prove it."

"Ha ha ha ha, Fool Bright, you may want to investigate your partners a little better. You never know just who you get to work with... "

Fox waves Blackquill’s remark away with one hand. "I can assure you, that after this I withdrew from the dangerous business of espionage and focused on ... how to catch them. Way easier than to be a spy yourself."

"No doubts..."

Fulbright sighs, staring at Fox thoughtfully, even sadly a bit. "I would never have suspected you to be capable of that...."

Fox reaches out with her own hand to touch Fulbrights, resting on the edge of his seat. "Hum, we all have little secrets. But all you have to do is ask, and I shall answer."

"Of course! Ha! And asking I shall!" His spirit lifts immediately and a big grin reveals his teeth. "I think I may have to ask for that police report to begin with. After all, evidence is all in our line of work!"

"Certainly!"

Fox's past activities remain topic for the remainder of the journey and they all have good laughs.

#(hc)

10 notes · View notes

sabraeal · 6 years

Note

Obi and Shirayuki's wedding, please

“Alright.” Master scrubs a hand down his face, shoulders slumped wearily. Beside him, Miss shifts uneasily. Obi doubts she’s ever been in this position; he’s suffered Master’s disappointment before, but Miss –

Well, he doubts she’s ever heard a raised voice.

Master lets loose a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Walk me through this again.”

The winch creaks as the lift scrapes up the side of the Ramtops, the village at the bottom growing smaller and smaller with each turn. A wind shudders through, shaking the cage around them, and Miss steps into him, purposeful. Her head ducks down, hiding against his coat.

“It’s so high,” she remarks, voice strained and tight.

“The Hounta have lived in these mountains for generations.” He peers down at her with a grin, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. “You should’ve expected it. Besides, I didn’t think you had a problem with heights, Miss.”

She shivers; he feels every inch of it along his side. “I didn’t.”

He means to tease, but the winch locks as they hit the cliffside, shaking them again. He’s only just gotten Miss back on her feet when their escort heaves open the gate.

“This is it,” he tells them in a hilly Samese. Obi can understand it, just barely. Miss just squints, confusion writ clear across her brow.

Looks like there’s something you can’t learn all from books after all. He’ll have to tease her later.

“We won’t be coming back up until the –” the escort uses a word either Obi doesn’t recognize or is garbled by his accent – “is over. So as to not disturb.”

“Yee-ah!” Shirayuki tries in her enthusiastic yet terrible Samese. “Thanks to you for to bring high yes thing.”

Obi grimaces. “She means thanks for the lift.”

The man smiles, charmed by her attempt. “Go on then. It looks like the elders are waiting for you.”

They are, hidden just around the bend in the path. Shirayuki isn’t quite sure what makes them elders; only one of them seems to be very old, as cantankerous-looking as she’d expect of a man whose lived four score on a mountainside like this. The others are a man hardly older than Izana, his face bright and open, and a woman well into her pregnancy, maybe thirty-and-five with eight or so weeks to go, if she was to take a guess.

“Oh, good!” The younger man comes forward to meet them, carrying a staff taller than he is. The bells on it chime as he moves, making the mountain twilight seem more mystical, more magical than it had been moments before. She likes him already.

He opens his mouth again, and –

And Shirayuki’s paltry Samese fails her. She’s only just begun to learn it, cobbling a curriculum together from what books she’s found in the library and what she can make Obi teach her, and anything beyond simple conversation is…impossible. For now.

She lays a hand on Obi’s arm, giving him a look that she hopes convey how lost she is.

“A minute, Miss,” he huffs out, brows drawn. “This is a different dialect than I’m used to.”

The man hardly begins to speak before the older one interrupts him, which makes the woman snap at him, and – and she does not blame Obi for his grimace.

“The wise man here says that it’s good they sent…two of us?” He shrugged. “He used a word I don’t know. The people who are two? Something like that. And then old man oak back there said they should have sent more – something about an insult? – and now they’re all debating…philosophy.”

The old man shouts something, and Obi coughs with surprise. “Uh, and history, it seems.”

The younger man extricates himself from his companions with an apologetic expression.

“Excuse them,” he says. “Come this way.”

Master stares, mouth flat. “I thought you spoke Samese fluently. That was the whole point of sending you.”

“Yes,” Obi allows, biting back his irritation. “But the Hounta don’t speak Samese, strictly.”

“Oh, yes!” Miss warms now, anxiety melting away in the face of details. “It seems that this tribe of Hounta have remained geographically distinct from the influence of the Samese, and –”

“Right,” Zen sighs, rubbing at his forehead. “Sure. Let’s just…skip to the wedding.”

There is…a lot of wine.

Or at least, some type of liquor. Elejas tries to explain – something about reindeer, or maybe mountain goats? – but Obi can draw a conclusion from how Rafi refuses, hand pressed over her belly, and from how Henddo scoffs, pushing it away with a scowl.

There’s dancing too; a bunch of stomping and hooting and the rattling of bead work all along their boots and belts and collars. They’ve dressed him like one of them, though instead of his gakti being a vibrant blue or red, it’s a deep black, its designs picked out in white and silver. Even the fur of his boots is black; a dappled color that he finds himself growing fond of with every passing cup.

“Wolf,” Elejas tells him with a grin. “For cunning. For quickness.”

“Am I going to need those?” he teases.

His guide laughs. “On the Longest Night, you must be quick to catch the sun.”

Well, that’s….cryptic.

A hand claps his shoulder, and he looks down into the pale, ice-blue eyes of Rafi. Her smile takes the bite from her gaze.

“The sun has risen,” she tells him, even though the evening is black as pitch, creeping towards the dead of of night. A laugh huffs out of her at his confusion, and she sweeps her arm to where the unmarried women bed down, and –

And there is Miss, gakti a blinding white, threaded through with gold. It must be an heirloom, a costume the village has mended a thousand times to fit a thousand girls, but now it is pristine, fitting like it was made for her.

Obi swallows. He shouldn’t have had so much of this wine stuff.

She sees him, smile spreading her lips, and she makes to call out, but –

But her gaze hooks on his body, eyes rounding. Her lip press together, pink rising high on her cheeks. Shyly she weaves toward them, the white fur of her boots melting into the snow.

“Fox,” Rafi tells him with a sly look. “For fleetness of foot. And for luck.”

He should probably read some meaning in that, get some message. He doesn’t though, not when Miss stops just before him, eyes lifting to meet his.

“Obi.” His name forms in the air between them, hardly more than a breath. “You look very handsome.”

His heart gives a treacherous and wholly expected pound.

“Ah, Miss,” he says, a moment late, “you’ve stolen my line.”

Her gaze is steady when she says, “I know.”

“Here.” Rafi shoves an end of a woven belt into each of their hands. “Don’t let go.”

“We can’t let go?” Shirayuki asks dubiously, thumb passing over the cunning weave of the belt. “Not to eat?”

“Not to eat,” Obi tells her, verging on exasperation. He’s spent a quarter of an hour trying to understand the elders’ garbled, and at times, conflicting instructions. “And definitely not to drink.”

“What if…” She flushes. “What if I have to pee?”

Obi grins. “Then I will valiantly try not to peek, Miss.”

She slaps her free hand to her cheek. “Oh my.”

A man and a woman – slightly younger than her or Obi by the look – come to set a wide platter in front of them, as well as a cup that would take at least both of her hands to hold. Elejas and Rafi thank them – she thinks, her Samese is shaky even on that point – and turn to Obi, presumably explaining their purpose.

His brow furrows. Ah, it is more of that Hounta dialect that stymies him.

“Those two were originally going to do…our roles, I guess,” Obi says, his annoyance with his slow translation obvious. “But now they’ll wait a year. For some reason.”

“Oh, should we apologize?” Shirayuki searches the crowd for them, but she had been hardly paying attention when they’d come, and finding one blond head among many is not a skill she excels at.

“No, apparently this is an honorable role too. They’re going to bring us food,” he explains haltingly, “but we have to eat off the same plate? And drink from the same cup? Something like that.”

“And not drop the belt.”

“Oh yeah,” he says, watching with hungry eyes as they fill the goblet between them. “Definitely don’t do that.”

Henddo hobbles up and barks something at the both of them. Obi only blinks, reaching across to wrap his fingers around the stem of the cup. “He says it’s ceremonial wine. We have to help each other drink.”

There’s not enough space for her hand on the stem, and she wraps it half over Obi’s, his warmth bringing back the feeling in her fingers.

“At the same time?” she asks, giving the cup a dubious look.

“No, you first.”

She glances down at the dress they’ve given her, warm and perfect, and sighs. If only they could practice on Obi first; at least the black of his tunic would cover the stains of their mistake. On her, it will be clear as day.

They shakily guide it to her lips, and the sweet tang of the wine washes over her tongue; bog berries and orange rind and something else before the bitter hits. It comes on strong, for just a moment, and she coughs, sending wine down the corners of her mouth.

“Oh, Miss!” Obi helps her set the cup on the table, raising his thumb to swipe at the escaped wine, and he –

He licks it, right off the the pad of his thumb, slowing as he realizes what he’s done. He does not drop her gaze, their breaths mingling, and she can’t help but think of when she saw him in these ritual clothes, looking every inch like he belonged, like he was used to hauling a ram over one shoulder and an axe on the other, meant to marry the prettiest girl in the village.

A catch, they would call him.

“Now you,” she says, more breathless than she expects, wine sloshing over the rim as she shoves it toward him.

His hand wraps oh so slowly over hers, each knuckle lingering before it winds with hers.

When he drinks, his eyes meet hers over the rim, and all she sees is amber.

Master scoffs. “That can’t be legally binding.”

“Oh, absolutely it is.” His Highness crosses his legs at the knee, lounging in one of Master’s chairs like it was the throne of Clarines itself. “We are allies with Sama and the Hounta both, don’t you remember, brother? Their marriages are legally binding within and without our borders.”

A grin curls across his mouth. “But please, go on. I’m intrigued.”

It’s only once they’ve finished the cup, cheeks flushed, that Henddo hobbles up to them and says, “Now kiss.”

Obi nearly spits out his venison. “What?”

Henddo’s Samese is the worst out of all of them, but Obi gets the gist of what the man spits back at him: you heard what I said, boy.

A hand presses delicately against his sleeve. He turns, staring down into the endless green of Miss’s gaze. “What is he saying?”

“It’s…” He darts a look at the old man, who looks like he won’t be moving until he gets his way. “It’s not anything, Miss.”

“Obi.” Her voice takes a harder tone. “It’s important to Clarines that we do this right.”

“I –”

“Kiss,” Henddo shouts, in unmistakable Clarinese, and Miss goes red all over.

“Oh,” she murmurs, hand pressed to her chest. “Oh.”

“Miss.” His heart flutters sickeningly beneath his ribs. “We don’t have to.”

“No.” Her gaze meets his then, determined. “Obi, kiss me.”

He swallows his groan, leaning in. From one of the other tables, he hears cheering, hears, the sun yields to the moon on longest night!

Their lips meet, the air disappears from his lungs, and all he feels is the moment stretched between them as they touch.

He pulls away, gasping, though they’ve done nothing more than press mouths to one another.

It’s enough.

“Really.” Izana lifts a brow, skeptical.

He turned his chin just so, gaze catching on Shirayuki. She squirms. “Is that what you remember, too?”

Henddo’s words rise and fall in sing-song as he speaks, soothing to her unknowing ear, but Obi’s hand grows pale on the goblet, mouth pulling thin.

Her hand slips from beneath his, coming to lay on his tunic. It’s soft beneath her fingers; she can’t help but stroke the fabric, just slightly, drawing his attention to her. She feels dizzy when their eyes meet, like she needs only take a step and she’d drown in amber, like a fly on a branch.

Ah, maybe she shouldn’t have had so much of that wine.

“What is he saying?” she asks, pressing closer. They’re seated nearest the fire – a place of honor, so Rafi and Elejas have both assured them – but she’s still so cold, and Obi emits heat like a burner, drawing her like a moth to a flame.

“It’s…” His eyes dart away, cutting toward Henddo. The elder only thumps his cane on the stone, impatient. “It’s not anything, Miss.”

She frowns, annoyance creeping up her throat. They’ve come here to face this mission together, a test before Izana sends them out to the Northern Lords. He shouldn’t be – be protecting her.

“Obi.” She locates her sternest tone, the one she uses on her more wayward students. “It’s important to Clarines that we do this right.”

He looks trapped, caged between her questions and the elders’ demanded. “I –”

Henddo, in a single, crystal clear bout of Clarinese, shouts, “Kiss.”

Oh. Oh.

“Miss.”

She meets Obi’s gaze, so concerned, and she realizes she’s spoken out loud. “We don’t have to.”

But she wants to.

The realization hits her softly, like falling to a mattress after a long day on her feet. It’s not shocking, or difficult, but – expected. A relief.

“No.” She draws herself up, meeting his eyes. She sees the hesitance there, but also – also –

The hope.

She tugs on the belt, nearly yanking him off his seat. He just barely catches himself on the table. Their breaths mingle between their lips, so close.

“Obi,” she breathes, “kiss me.”

His mouth presses against her, gentle yet firm, and for a whole second her mind blanks; it tries to compare this against the ones she has shared with Zen and just – fails. She can’t do anything more than sit, lips slotted against his, and feel her stomach flip, feel the way his touch is like wildfire under her skin.

He starts to stiffen, to retreat, and that – that is what moves her, what brings her free hand to cup his cheek, to bring him back down to her –

As soon as she moves her mouth, he groans.

Oh, she wants to make him sound like that again.

The wanting sets her ablaze, dragging him closer, mouth opening beneath his when his tongue traces her lip. Distantly, she’s aware the Hounta are catcalling, but it’s all just music in the back of her mind, meaningless words that only urge her toward him, letting him consume –

Someone clears their throat. When they disentangle themselves, Rafi is giving them a thoughtful look, rubbing at the round of her belly.

She says something to Obi, and he blushes from forehead to collar. Clearing his throat, he says, “I didn’t quite get all of that, but apparently it’s time for all good ritual couples to go to bed.”

“Oh.” Her heart skips its beat. “That sounds nice.”

Master pinches at the bridge of his nose, eyes screwed shut. “It’s – fine. You may be married, but without…c-consummation, we can just…get an annulment. It will be like it never –”

“Ah.” Obi feels sweat prickle over the whole of his body. He can safely say, this is the most nervous he has ever been. “About that…”

Henddo has not stopped yelling since Rafi marched them from their hut, clothed in their undergarments.

Obi barely understands any of the argument that follows – he’s distracted, already thinking about how they’ll have to present this – this marriage to master – but a few salient points seem to present themselves.

“They’re, um…” He coughs, turning his head from Miss’s intent gaze. “They’re upset we didn’t….act out the whole ritual.”

“Whole…ritual…?” Her eyes widen. “You don’t mean…?”

“Have sex, yes.” He holds up the belt. “The moon is supposed to, er, catch the sun.”

She eyes the cloth dubiously.

“Don’t worry, Miss.” He waves a hand. “I’ll explain this was all a misunder –”

“Obi.” Miss looks worryingly thoughtful, hand tracing down the beading of the belt. “Would it appease their gods if the ritual was completed a night late?”

His mind tumbles back to the night before, shrieking and cheering outside the hut as the villagers fought off evil spirits – other masked Hounta – that would try to keep the sun from rising. He could pick out a word or two, silly things, but his mind is occupied – and his hands, as Miss squirms against him, humming pleasantly against his lips as he kisses her again and again, soft and pliant beneath him –

He cough, heat riding high on his cheeks. “I’ll ask.”

#escapingtheirony #obiyuki #my fic #Holiday Promptathon #ans #the ritual is completely made up #drawn from a few different traditions but none in specific #but the gakti are traditional saami regalia #which are the nomads of northern scandinavia #i had a few ideas for weddings #but unfortunately i was quite ready for the ones planned in fics #(i'd hoped to get a little closer on a couple of them #but that didn't quite happen!)#but i figured #who doesn't love a good accidental marriage really

22 notes · View notes

ladyseaheart1668 · 6 years

Text

Endless Summer Fan Novel (Book 1, Chapter 11)

In the lobby of The Celestial, my friends stand in a circle. No one moves. No one speaks. They stand slack-jawed, eyes glued on the blue image of a woman shimmering before them.

“Error.” Iris speaks in her pleasant, modulated voice. “Visual input is registering as frozen.”

“No, Iris,” I answer in a voice dull with exhaustion. “They're just...staring at you.”

“So...” Quinn finally says, “this is the observatory's A.I.?”

“Not exactly. She's a backup copy Alodia and Zahra restored. But she doesn't know what happened on the island.”

“It remembers nothing?” Aleister groans.

“No,” Iris confirms. “I apologize for the inconvenience.”

On the couch nearby, Michelle is wrapping Craig's sprained wrist in an ace bandage. She snorts.

“Sounds more like convenient to me.”

“Ouch!” Craig yelps as she tugs hard on the bandage. “Easy, doc!”

“Pipe down, you big baby. You know ripping that pipe out of the wall didn't help this sprain.” She shakes her head. “Anyway, I thought you were the toughest guy in school.”

Craig grins. “You really think that, Meech?”

“Shut up. I'm just saying. How do we know if she's telling the truth?” She nods at Iris.

“You do not,” Iris replies. “I was not programmed to have any facial tics to signal deception.”

“Thanks for making my point.” She secures the bandage on Craig's wrist. “By the way, I'm shocked we didn't all get killed out there.”

“We're fine, Michelle,” Sean says. “We handled ourselves well.”

I sigh, sinking into a chair and putting my head in my hands.

“We were lucky, Sean,” I murmur. “This island's getting crazier by the minute. There was a good chance a lot of us wouldn't be coming back. We can't keep pushing our luck like this.”

“Thank you!” Michelle says. “At least Alodia gets it!”

“Really, Alodia?” Sean sounds disappointed. “Sure, we had some close calls, but look what we accomplished...”

Diego puts a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it protectively. “...I think you've had more than a few close calls,” he murmurs in Spanish.

“Don't worry about it just now,” I say softly back in the same. I glance up and notice two pairs of eyes sliding over to us. Jake and Estela are watching us. I sigh. ...Obviously, the Columbian and the man who has lived the last few years in Costa Rica both speak Spanish. I'll have to remember that. Diego and I can't expect to be able to have private exchanges in public just by switching languages.

Estela turns her attention back to Iris. “What's important is that Michelle has a point. The machine can't be trusted. We should destroy it. Now.”

Iris' lips curve into a frown, her holographic brow wrinkling. “Please refrain.”

“No way, dude!” Raj cries. He leaps in front of Iris as Estela moves towards her.

“Get out of the way, Raj!” Estela growls.

“No!”

“Raj is right!” I say sharply. “Take it easy, Estela. It wasn't that long ago that none of us trusted you, either.”

“Exactly!” Raj says, shooting me a grateful look.

Estela glares at me. “That was a massive gamble on your part.”

“One that paid off,” I answer firmly. “We wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you, right?”

“...Don't be too sure that it paid off just yet.” Still, she backs down.

“Thank you, Alodia,” Iris chimes.

“You can thank me by proving me right, Iris.”

“Affirmative.”

“You know,” Zahra says, “If I could just get my hands on that golden snitch thing, I could get a look at what makes Iris tick.”

She makes a grab for the projector drone, but it evades her fingers.

“I would prefer if you did not,” says Iris.

Zahra makes another grab for it, and it evades her again. “Just! Get! Over! Here!”

“Alodia...” Quinn says. “Those voices on the radio...are you sure that's what they were saying?”

“My god, it's...it's erupting...the volcano's erupting...”

We all stop dead, looking at Iris. Her holographic lips are moving, but her voice is that of a panicked man. The same we heard at the observatory.

“Uh...what is she doing?” Diego asks.

“That's what we heard,” Grace replies grimly. “She must've recorded it.”

“This is unbelieveable...” Iris continues, this time in a woman's voice. “The La Huerta volcano is erupting, but...it's not like anything I've ever seen...” And then, in the terrified whisper of an old man, “...God help us all...”

Diego shivers. “...That's not creepy. That's not creepy at all...”

“No, it's stupid!” Craig snaps. “It makes no sense! The volcano hasn't erupted!”

“Yet...” Grace murmurs. We all look at her. “...We might be hearing broadcasts that haven't happened yet.”

“Grace...what are you saying?”

“We gotta face facts. Sabertooth tigers? Giant mutant crabs? A fox that breathes ice? Now this?”

Murphy tips his head questioningly, trilling. I look over at Jake, who meets my gaze. Somehow, I can tell he's thinking the same thing I am, remembering those strange atmospheric lights we saw from the airstrip control tower...

“Everyone's thinking it,” Grace continues. “I know it's scary, and we want to keep telling ourselves everything's okay, but we can't afford to do that anymore. So let's just say it out loud, okay? ...Time travel.”

Everyone starts talking at once.

“That's just silly!” Lila shrieks.

“This isn't your fanfiction, Grace!” Michelle cries.

“Yeah, and I must have skipped the part in my evolution textbook about ice-breathing foxes!” Craig adds.

“I didn't say we were traveling in the past,” Grace sighs. “Just like the broadcasts, maybe somethings just haven't happened yet.” She gestures pointedly to Murphy.

“Okay, I mean, let's say sure, it's got something to do with time. I admit it's the only explanation that accounts for everything we've seen, but...” Sean shakes his head. “What matters is, what do we do about it? I think the observatory proved one thing, and that's that no help is coming for us.”

“...It's up to us, then,” I murmur.

“Alodia's right,” Grace says. “It's just a problem, and every problem has a solution. We just have to find it.”

“Yeah,” Jake grumbles. “Sure thing, Mulder. Good thing we've got a crack team of geniuses here to deal with the situation.”

“You can't think that way,” Quinn says insistantly. “I know what it's like to want to throw in the towel, but we're all counting on each other.”

“Uh, guys...?” Raj speaks up. “There is one thing we found here at the resort while you were gone.”

He reaches behind the bar and pulls out a photograph of a picturesque marina, filled with docked yachts and sailboats. I immediately recognize it. It's the one they found when I found myself as a passenger in Raj's mind while I slept.

“...This is...here...”

“It's only a couple miles south,” Raj confirms.

“It's Mr. Rourke's private marina,” Lila says. “Reserved for only the resort's most illustrious guests. Many kept their prized yachts there.”

“And if there are any left...”

“We know what we have to do,” Sean finishes for Michelle. “Everyone get your things. We're getting off this rock.”

“Oh, yes, certainly!” Aleister sneers, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “After only narrowly surviving our little jaunts to the shelter and the observatory, why not wander off again?!”

“Aleister!” Sean cries. “You can't seriously be suggesting we stay here after what we just talked about!”

“I am simply asking for a little more pattern recognition. We are extraordinarily fortunate to have survived this long.”

“And we'll keep surviving!”

Aleister meets Sean's gaze steadily, his expression grim. “So you insist. But keep tempting fate, and we may face something we cannot survive so easily.”

For a moment, a wave of cold dread crashes over me. From somewhere deep within me, I feel it rising to the top of my brain: the knowledge that Aleister is absolutely correct.

* * *

Whether or not we're walking to certain death, the fact remains that the marina is our best hope of escaping La Huerta. In my suite, I gather my belongings into my duffle. For a moment, I consider bringing the dossiers that I have hidden under my mattress, but I decide against it. If there is a usable vessel at the marina, and if it can get us off the island, I don't see much point in bringing them. I would rather have them hidden.

A knock at the door interrupts me. I open it to find Quinn standing outside. She smiles shyly.

“Hey...”

“Hey. Come on in.”

She accepts my invitation. “I'm um...really, really glad you're back. With the rest of us, I mean. I've been thinking about you.”

“That so?”

“Yeah. I was actually pretty worried about you.”

“Didn't think I could handle myself?”

“Oh, I have no doubt you could handle quite a bit.” She moves to the window and gazes out over the island. “...I can't believe we're leaving. I know it's only been four days, but...”

The sunlight casts her reflection against the glass window. She looks like a ghost, floating over the island peaks. I watch her raise a hand to touch the glass, her expression solemn.

“...But...?”

“...I feel as if I've known you forever.” She turns to face me. “Do you think we'll still talk? When we get back home, I mean?”

“Of course we'll still talk. I didn't know any of you except Diego before we got here, and no matter what happens, I feel like I made friends for life.”

“Let's just hope that 'for life' is a long time.”

“Amen to that.”

She shifts awkwardly, rockinig on her heels for a moment. For the first time, I realize that she is carrying a small department store bag.

“There...is another reason I stopped by. I found these really nice clothes in a suitcase a guest left behind in my suite. They must've been here for some mountain climbing. They'd be useful if things get dangerous out there. Besides that, I thought they would look really good on you.”

She holds out the bag, and I accept it, carrying it over to the bed. I pull out a pale blue tank top, a pair of sturdy jeans, and some solid hiking boots. Underneath that, there is a pair of fingerless hiking gloves, and a bandolier-style utility belt, complete with a knife sheathed at the shoulder.

“Woah!”

Quinn comes to sit beside me on the bed. “See, you'd have all these tools, like the knife and such. So no matter what happens, you'd be prepared. ...What do you think?”

I hug her. “It looks awesome, Quinn! You're the best!”

“Really? You like it?”

“I'll put it on right now.”

“Okay. I'll turn around.”

“Oh, don't bother. I don't have much modesty left. Constant costume changes at dance team shows tend to knock the shyness out of you pretty quick.”

I peel off my burgandy tank top and cuttoff jean shorts. I am not blind to the fact that Quinn is biting her lip as her eyes trail over my barely-clad body. I grin.

“You okay there?”

“I'm fine. I just...kinda don't want you to put it on now.”

“If things go well, maybe you can take it off me later. ...Finish what we started in the kitchen.”

“Careful,” she says softly. “Don't make a girl promises you can't keep.”

Something in her tone dries up any impulse to flirt. Perhaps it is because I am not sure I want to finish what was started in the kitchen. I clear my throat and pull on the climbing gear. She helps me tighten the straps on the belt.

...God, what the hell is wrong with me? I've kissed a gorgeous woman and a heart-stoppingly beautiful man, but I can't imagine crawling into bed with either of them? Well...no...that's not exactly true. I can see visions of lying with Quinn in my arms, holding her close, and stroking her hair...visions so beautiful they make my eyes moist. And those visions are overpowering any visions of kissing her naked flesh or tasting the valley between her legs. Meanwhile, the thought of Sean holding me in his arms post-coitus just makes me feel...hollow. Everything I envision before that makes my blood rise, but I think of lying in the afterglow, being tenderly held against his broad chest and caressed by his gentle hands, and I want to pop that dream bubble and run away from it...

“...How does it feel?” Quinn asks, bringing me back to the present.

I gaze at my reflection in the mirror, admiring the way it fits. “As a matter of fact, it feels amazing.”

“It looks amazing, too.” She meets my gaze in the mirror. “...Are you ready to go home?”

“...Ready as I'll ever be. ...Let's go.”

* * *

We take the path along the shoreline to the marina, leaving a wide trail of footprints in the sand. It will take longer than the path through the rainforest, but it's also safer. I look back over my shoulder, watching The Celestial's tower disappear behind the trees. I glance back and notice Zahra trailing her eyes up and down my body.

“...See something you like?”

“Just digging the new look. That's a pretty nice knife you got there.”

“Thanks.”

Zahra flashes her own knife, a switchblade that she unsheathes with a practiced flick of her wrist. It glints in the sun.

“...Mine's bigger.”

At the head of the group, Jake looks out over the horizon. Iris floats beside him.

“Got a weather report for us, Princess Leia?”

In the ensuing silence, Diego clears his throat. “I think he's talking to you, Iris.”

“My designation is not Princess Leia.”

“It's 'cause you're a hologram, and she was a hologram in that one scene and...” Jake rubs a hand over his face. “Dammit, if you don't remember any references, nicknames are gonna be friggin' impossible.”

“...Alias accepted. Princess Leia, now accessing weather scanners. High of: Nintey-one degrees. Precipitation: zero percent. Humidity: Seventy percent. Barometer: 30.1 inches mercury. Visibility: 6.2 miles.”

Jake blinks in surprise, then smiles. “Perfect weather for the trip.”

“So, where exactly are we sailing once we get a boat?” I ask.

“Northeast. Santo Domingo's about 250 miles from here. Those big yachts in the marina definitely have the range to get us there.”

“Hey, Jake,” Diego says. “So, you were in the military, right? What exactly is gonna happen to us when we get there? I mean, if this time travel crap is real, are we about to get quarantined?”

“Or thrown in the loony bin,” Zahra adds.

“What if we go back to like, World War II times, and we have to kill Hitler?” Craig suggests. “I always wanted to kill Hitler!”

“Relax,” Jake says. “Most likely, it'll just be the local coast guard. They'll either let us go...or they'll throw us in jail for the rest of our lives.”

Diego looks at me nervously. “He's kidding. Right, Allie? Tell me he's kidding.”

“He's just kidding, Diego.”

“...Heh...I knew that.”

I glare at Jake, who is shaking his head. “Why are you always trying to scare people?” I hiss.

“Only when they should be scared,” he retorts. “You don't think every military on the planet is gonna wanna know what we saw? What we found? We gotta get our asses outta here, but that doesn't mean the danger's over.”

I don't respond. Suddenly, I am very glad I chose to leave those dossiers in my room. We all walk on in comfortable silence for awhile, occassionally making small talk.

Then, just behind me, Aleister starts muttering to himself.

“How could I have been so stupid?”

“What are you talking about?” Grace asks.

“I never should have come here!” he snaps. “Why did I do this to myself? Why did I think my life would somehow be better after coming here? What did I expect? I should have simply accepted things as they were...”

“Easier said than done, bro,” Craig sighs.

“Maybe,” Quinn says. “But it's worth it the effort to find peace with yourself.”

“I guess I kinda felt the same way,” Grace says. “I wanted something else for myself, but I should've known not to rock the boat.”

“Better to know your limits,” Zahra agrees. “Taking risks just gets you on the F.B.I. Watchlist.”

“I just want to get back home and have everything exactly the way it was,” Michelle adds.

“Come on, guys,” Sean protests. “Look where we are! Look what we've faced! You telling me you haven't felt like you've grown in the last four days?”

“I've grown sick of the pep talks, Cap,” Jake mutters.

“I've had too many close calls in the past four days to feel much other than scared,” I admit. “I'll never roll over and accept death, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna get any thrills out of fighting it off. ”

“Come on, Alodia. You're an athlete. Isn't it worth pushing your limits to achieve new heights? What's living worth if you don't strive to be more than you are?”

“Yeah, on the balance beam or the tumbling floor or at the barre. But what's happening on this island isn't living, Sean. It's surviving.”

“Maybe you're right. But for my part, I still think trying to affect change is worth the risk. Coach always told me, whether it's an engineering class or a 260-pound linebacker, you've gotta look each and every challenge square in the eye and face it head on.”

“Was your coach around three feet tall and a motivational poster?” Jake quips.

“Hilarious, coming from a guy who takes his advice from Jose Cuervo,” Sean shoots back.

“Speaking of Jose, if any of you kids find yourself in Costa Rica, look me up. First round's on...” he trails off suddenly as we round the bend at the end of the shoreline, his face falling. When we see what he's looking at, we all stop short, staring dumbly.

...Smoke coils slowly in the air like black snakes. The crystal blue water of the marina laps against the charred wood and metal of the ships' shattered hulls. ...They've been destroyed. Every yacht. Every boat. Millions of dollars worth of exquisite luxury vessels. They are all in charred, smoking pieces, floating in the marina, their shivers strewn over the docks. As if they were blown apart by bombs...

“...Lila?” Raj says weakly. “This...doesn't look like the photo.”

Sean steps forward, his expression slack. He drops to his knees. “...How...?” he whispers. “...Why...?”

“First my plane, now this?” Jake mutters.

“Someone is trying awfully hard to keep us here,” Estela says grimly.

“See?” Aleister cries. “This is what I'm talking about! This is what we get for trying!”

Grace whimpers, tears forming in her eyes. Michelle puts an arm around her.

“Will you shut up, Aleister?! You're scaring Grace!”

Seeing Grace's tears, Aleister suddenly looks stricken. He looks away contritely, murmuring an apology. I look back at Sean, slumped on his knees, gazing out at the devestation. Suddenly, I feel my temper flare. All his pep talks, all his attitude, all his acting like the team captain, the leader, the hero, and suddenly it's too much? Suddenly, even he is ready to roll over and accept defeat? Rage bubbles up in me, and I can't swallow it.

“Get the hell up, Sean!” I snarl.

He looks back at me. “...Alodia...”

“I'm not accepting defeat!” I scream. “Are you?!”

Jake puts a hand on my shoulder. “Maybe you should...”

I shrug him off. “No! I told you I am not going to roll over and accept death! I am decidedly not having fun anymore, but that does not mean this island gets to keep me! I'll fight until it kills me! Are you gonna do any less than that, Sean Gayle?! Are you gonna be any less than that?!”

Almost to my surprise, he actually seems to be considering my words. To my further surprise, he sets his jaw and climbs to his feet.

“No. I'm not.” He looks back at me. “...Thank you. I needed that.”

Surprise drains the anger right out of me. “...Um...you're welcome.”

“Great talk and all,” Michelle says, “but what exactly are we supposed to do now?”

“I don't know,” Sean admits. “But I know what we won't do, and that's give up. There are answers here. We've just gotta find them. Something will tell us what we're up against.”

“You heard the man!” Craig says. “Split up!”

One by one, we start splitting off to search the marina. Murphy twines around my ankles like a cat, trilling a question at me. I pick him up.

“Where do you think we should start, fella?” Murphy yips. “Let's go help out our old buddy Diego, huh?”

“Your old buddy Diego who is literally five feet away from you,” Diego quips, grinning at me. “But I could use a hand. I think I found something already.”

I kneel beside him on the dock and see that he's fiddling with a hefty, waterproof case covered in seaweed.

“A case?”

“I guess. It was floating in the water. Can't get it open, though. The latch is stuck.” He shakes his head. “Every fiber of my being is telling me not to open the creepy box. That's like, Movies 101.”

“Well, someone's gotta open it. Why don't we open it together? That way, we're both Pandora.”

“I'm crossing my fingers that whatever's in here is not all the evils of the world.”

I take the knife from my shoulder sheath and use it to pry the latch open. Then, on the count of three, Diego and I lift the lid together. We both recoil immediately.

...Inside the case is another set of file folders, just like the ones I found in Rourke's office, and at the observatory. Pinned to the top of the folder is a picture of Quinn.

“...Uh...why is there a picture of Quinn in here?” Diego asks. “...Were they tracking us? I seriously doubt The Celestial runs background checks on every guest.”

I don't answer immediately. I open the files. Quinn is on top, followed by Craig and Michelle. Diego reads over my shoulder.

Target Analysis

Clearance: Epsilon

Surname: Kelly

First: Quinn

Middle: Erin

D.O.B: 1996 July 20

Birthplace: Boulder, CO

Background: Spent her whole childhood in a hospital battling Rotterdam's Syndrome (rare autoimmune disease.) Costs bankrupted her parents, leading to their divorce.

Psychological Profile: Constant near-death experiences give her unabashed craving of experiences, marked by socialization and intimacy issues.

Threat Assessment: 0 (strong-willed survivor, but not a threat)

Target Analysis

Clearance: Epsilon

Surname: Hsiao

First: Kuan-yu

Middle: Craig

D.O.B: 1995 Nov 17

Birthplace: Saginaw, MI

Background: Shy nerd turned big man on campus. Unlikely to be drafted into the pros. His star is fading fast, so he hangs onto the glory days. A grueling life has left him tough enough for any encounter.

Psychological Profile: Not very bright, but intense loyalty (particularly to his QB, Sean Gayle) prevents him from being manipulated.

Threat Assessment: 3

Target Analysis

Clearance: Epsilon

Surname: Nguyen

First: Michelle

Middle: Thuy

D.O.B: 1995 Dec 31

Birthplace: Bellevue, WA

Background: Raised by a single mother, taught to work hard for what she wants, and she wants it all. Top of her class, will have her pick of med schools. Stud QB boyfriend is just the cherry on top.

Psychological Profile: As motivated and hardworking as they come. Hard to tell if she enjoys her status, or if it's all a means to an end.

Threat Assessment: 5

Quinn's profile is stamped with the sigil of a dolphin. Craig's is a pawprint that I think is supposed to be a bear. Michelle's is what appears to be a stylized peacock.

“This is insane!” Diego whispers. “What's the point of all this? And what do those weird symbols mean? They all look like animals.”

“I'm not sure. But it all has to add up to something.” I am quiet a moment. Then, after checking to see that there is no one around who could understand me, I whisper in Spanish, “There are more of them. I found more at the observatory, and some in Rourke's office. I've been hiding them under the mattress in my suite. ...Someone is tracking us, Diego.”

“Shit! Allie, why didn't you tell me?!”

“I was scared. And distracted. And I don't want to trust anyone else with the information just yet.”

“I won't say anything. ...Who have you found?”

“...You. And Sean, Jake, Estela, Raj, Zahra, and Grace.”

“...Dare I ask what it said about me?”

Impulsively, I throw my arms around him. “...Nothing I didn't already know. Nothing you don't know I know. But please...don't ask me to repeat it.”

He holds me back. “...Okay. Okay, Allie. I won't. ...But you'll let me read it, won't you?”

“Yeah. When we get back to The Celestial. I assume we will go back by the evening...”

“Probably.” He pats my back. “...Don't go to pieces on me now, Allie. You're supposed to be the brave one, remember?”

“...You're brave, too.” I pull back. “Will you find someplace safe for those? I'm gonna look around a little more.”

“Can do.”

I leave him to it, wandering over to Craig, who is at the far end of the dock.

“Hey, Craig, any luck?”

“Actually, yeah. Check it.” He gestures me over, and points out a jet ski tethered to the dock, completely intact.

“Oh, wow! Good find!”

“Yeah...but it's almost out of gas. Nowhere near enough to get to the coast.” He sighs and looks around at the smoke rising from the destroyed ships. “Guess we're still stuck here.”

His words make sense, but his tone is easy. Nonchalant. ...Almost cheerful.

“Craig...you still don't want to leave, do you? Even with all the monsters and the time travel, you want to stay.”

“...Yeah,” he admits. “Guess I do. Maybe I like it here.”

I am quiet a moment. The details of his dossier are still fresh in my mind. Of his, and Diego's...I wonder what the people tracking us would have to say about me.

“...I have nothing to go home to, either,” I confess softly.

Craig freezes. “...Really...?”

“Yeah. ...Nothing I'd really miss, anyway. ...The most important person in my life is already here.”

I look over at Diego. A memory comes to me unbidden...of the last time either he or I had any real family outside of each other. ...The last time either of us had someone in our lives outside of each other who we trusted so completely. I remember the moment it all changed, that winter break when he turned up on my doorstep in tears, a hastily packed suitcase in hand...

“In some ways, this place feels like a fresh start,” I continue. “Maybe it's dangerous, maybe it's weird, but here I feel...important somehow, ya know?”

“...Yeah. Actually, I do.”

“...Just remember you're not alone, okay?”

I lay a hand on his arm. He nods, trying to look nonchalant.

“...Yeah. I know. ...Thanks, dude.”

“Comin' through!” Jake bounces past us, leaping from the pier to a splintered sailboat. He deftly maintains his balance on the slick deck.

“Careful there, Top Gun!”

He smirks at me. “I ain't never been careful in my life.” He rummages through the sailboat's storage compartment, taking out maps and bits of paper. Then he gives a triumphant shout. “Ha! Come to papa! Hey, Princess! Catch!”

He tosses me something small and orange. I manage to catch it.

“Hey, a flare gun! Nice!” I consider firing it, but then think better of it. “...No point in firing it now, when we don't know if anyone's around to see it.”

“That's using some sense. We oughta wait until we see a plane or a ship in the distance.”

He hops back onto the pier. I look past him and see Lila on the deck of a massive yacht. The bow is mostly intact, but the ship is snapped in half, with the stern portion mostly submerged. I pass the flare gun to Jake, and cross the gangway to join her.

“Lila! Find anything over here?”

She shakes her head, frowning. Her forehead is creased with concern. “...Not yet. It's just...weird...”

“What is?”

“I feel like I recognize this yacht.”

She heads to the middle of the ship, where the deck ends in twisted, splintered steel. A cracked staircase leads down to the partly submerged deck below.

“Wait, you're not going down there, are you? It's flooded...”

“I have to check something.”

“I'm coming with you, then.”

“Really? Well...let's go then!”

We head down into the dark compartment. Lukewarm seawater rises quickly around us, lapping at my knees, then my thighs, then my hips as we wade further in.

“This must've been a storage compartment,” Lila murmurs.

I duck under a hanging cargo net and find several cracked wooden boxes that have tumbled from their shelves.

“Be careful, okay? I've got a bad feeling this ship is gonna go completely under any minute now. What are you looking for, anyway?”

“Proof. Help me with this?” She gestures to a wooden crate, and I help her lift it out of the water. Lila wipes the brine off the label. “...There it is. This vessel's name.”

“...Daedalus?”

“I was right,” Lila says softly. “We're on Mr. Rourke's yacht.”

“What does that mean? Why would he leave it here?” Lila doesn't respond. Tears gather in her dark eyes. I put a hand on her shoulder. “Lila, I'm sure he's okay somewhere.”

“Thank you, Alodia. But I'm not so sure about that.”

Before I can respond, a sudden crack shakes the floor beneath my feet. Lila screams.

“The yacht! It's going under the--”

The water rushes in and closes over my head, cutting me off. The stern of the ship breaks off from the bow and slips beneath the surface. And it's taking me and Lila with it. I swim desperately for an exit, but my path is blocked by the thick ropes of the cargo net. Fast as I can manage moving through saltwater, I rip the knife at my shoulder from its sheath and saw through the ropes of the cargo net. When I've broken through, I grab Lila's hand and pull her after me as I rush for the surface.

We breach the surface and greedily gulp the air, reaching to grasp the edge of the pier as the others come running up to us.

“Holy hell!” Jake grabs my arms and pulls me onto the safety of the pier. “You guys okay?”

I nod weakly, coughing up a little bit of seawater. Diego kneels beside me, rubbing my back.

“How'd you even make it out of there?” Sean asks.

“It's was Alodia's quick thinking,” Lila manages to gasp. “...I'd be dead now if it weren't for you.”

“It's Quinn you should thank,” I say with a weak smile. “She gave me the knife.”

“I'm glad you're all right, Alodia,” Sean says. “Way to keep your wits about you.”

“Gotta admit, I'm impressed,” Jake remarks. “I thought you were a goner for sure.”

I snort, poking him. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

There's a shout from the other side of the marina that catches our attention.

“Everybody!” Grace yells. “Come here quick!”

We pick ourselves off the ground and hurry over to the pier where Grace is standing by something tied to the dock beneath a large tarp.

“What've you got for us?”

Grace yanks away the tarp, revealing a speedboat, completely intact.

“A high-performance runabout,” Iris chimes. “Visual analysis indicates a Neptune-class model 2850.”

“It almost looks brand new,” Grace observes. “Not sure why this one's okay when everything else is destroyed, but...”

“Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Short Stuff,” Jake chides.

“Pretty sure the Trojans would feel differently about that,” Diego mutters.

“Does it have keys?” Sean asks. Grace shakes her head. Sean looks hopefully at Zahra, who raises an eyebrow.

“Are you telling me to hotwire it?”

“Noooo, I'm not telling you anything. You do exactly as you please.”

“You're goddamn right.” She flicks out her knife and hops into the boat. After a couple minutes of tinkering, the engine revs to life.

“Hell yeah! Nice work!” Jake gives her a hand out of the boat. “What's the range, Blue Girl Group? Can it get to the Dominican Republic?”

“That's you again, Iris,” Diego says when the hologram doesn't respond.

“I see. Range is sufficient to reach the Dominican Republic on a full tank of gas.”

Jake checks the gas gauge and winces. “It's got gas, but it's not completely full. A little over three quarters of a tank. She might make it. But she also might stall out in the middle of the Caribbean and we die.”

“Who's 'we' in this situation?” Diego asks. “Because to fit everyone, we're gonna need a bigger boat.”

“You're right,” I concede. “It's way too small. A couple of us should go and bring back help. But who? It's a gamble that it would even reach safe haven.”

Everyone looks around uncertainly, until Sean strips off his shirt and hops in. “I'll go. I can be back with help before you know it.”

“Easy, Magellan. You'd get lost within a mile.” Jake strips off his shirt and hops in beside him. “I know the Caribbean. I'll play navigator.”

“We've got room for a third. Anyone else wanna come?”

“...Allie should go,” Diego declares.

“...I should?”

He sighs. “Maybe I worry too much, but you've gotten clawed up and knocked around more than I'm comfortable with in the past few days. And no offense to your skills, Michelle, but I'll feel better knowing Allie's on her way to civilization and a fully-trained doctor.”

“I agree with Diego,” Quinn says.

“As do I,” Estela chimes in. “You have seemed to take the brunt of the abuse this island is keen to heap on us.”

“Whaddya say, Princess? Fancy a speedboat ride with me and Steve Rogers here?”

“Sure. I'll tag along. But for the record, Diego totally worries too much.”

Diego chuckles, hugging me. “I know, I know. But you indulge me and I love you for it.”

Sean and Jake each offer me a hand and help me into the boat.

“Welp,” Zahra says. “It was nice knowing ya.”

“Zahra!” Lila chides, and turns to us. “Here, take some extra water with you. We've got enough to spare.”

“You two look after my friend here,” Diego says, then smiles at me. “And Allie, you look after these two dummies.”

I snort. “Can do. We'll be back soon. Promise.”

Sean takes the throttle and guides the speed boat out into the open ocean. He increases speed a bit and the island begins to recede behind us, our friends on the shore shrinking down to pinpricks. I suddenly feel nervous, especially leaving Diego behind.

“...I hope they'll be okay until we get back,” I murmur.

“They'll be fine.” Jake lies down on a seat and stretches out in the sunshine. “Sit back and relax awhile, Princess. We've got about three hours of nothing but flat ocean ahead. ...I've got some sunscreen in my bag if you want it. You look like you burn easy.”

I snort. “Yeah, yeah, I'm as white as a Victorian aristocrat. Pass it over.”

I slip off my tank top and jeans to apply the sunscreen, spreading it over my arms, legs, belly and face.

“Need any help with that?” Jake asks.

“I could get your back for you,” Sean offers quickly.

I grin as a deliciously wicked thought crosses my mind. “...Why don't you both help?” I am delighted to see them both look startled.

“...Both of us?” Sean asks.

“...At the same time?”

“Yeah.” I smirk at them. “I wanna make sure I'm tooooootally covered.”

The men share a weird look.

“Well...uh...I guess we could stop for a second,” Sean relents, and slows the boat to an idle.

I part my hair at my neck and lie down on my stomach, still grinning wickedly. Sean and Jake line up on either side of me and begin spreading out the sunscreen. I can't help drawing in a deep breath. Jake's touch is rough, firm, and forceful, like a deep massage. Meanwhile, Sean's is soft, gentle, caressing. Under their combined touch, I feel myself melting.

“You're doing it all wrong!” Jake hisses. “You're not even getting it into the skin!”

“You're the one missing spots!” Sean snaps back.

“I think you're both doing great,” I mumble appreciatively.

“Does that feel all right?” Sean asks, rubbing a spot on my shoulder.

“You have no idea...”

Jake works a spot on my lower back. “How's that?”

“Absolutely perfect.”

Way too soon for my liking, they finish up, and Sean revs up the engine again. Jake's hand lingers on my back a moment longer. I realize his fingers are just touching the edge of the bandage on my ribs.

“...I just changed it before we left. Should be good for at least three hours.”

“How do they look underneath? They still hurt?”

“Yeah, a little. But they aren't bleeding, and they don't look infected.”

“How about that bite Estela mentioned?”

I sit up and show him the site, where all that remains is a small puncture wound. “No swelling, see? And I haven't had a fever or anything that would indicate any reaction to the antivenom.”

After a moment, he nods.

“...I think Petey was right to send you along with us, at any rate. You're probably fine, but it'll also be a lot safer if you're checked out by professionals as soon as possible.”

I pull my clothes back on. “I'm sure you're right. But, since all that poking and prodding is about three hours away...” I stretch out on the deck, yawning. “I'm gonna get comfy.”

He chuckles. “Atta girl.”

I close my eyes, savoring the warmth of the sunlight on my face and the smell of saltwater. Suddenly, I feel a chill pass over me. The view from behind my eyelids, red a moment ago from the sunlight shining through the blood vessels, suddenly turns dark. I open my eyes and find the sun has slipped behind a cloud. ...A huge, bruise-colored cloud, pregnant with rain. And there are more tumbling in fast behind it.

“Storm's rolling in fast,” Jake observes, his voice low and grim. “Surf's kicking up quick.”

Almost to punctuate his words, a wave slams into the side of the boat, causing it to lurch sharply. I grip the guardrails. Chilly winds whip past me, tugging my hair away from my face and spraying me with raindrops.

“See that?” Sean says loudly above the noise of the wind. He is pointing towards the sky. In the clouds overhead, I can make out the sparkle of orange lightning.

“I see it,” Jake says. “Just like what we saw from the plane.”

“Guys!” I shriek. “Look out!”

Dead ahead of us, a massive crater has opened up in the ocean. Deep, dark water swirls at unbelieveable speeds.

“Whirlpool!” Jake cries.

“There's something coming out of it!” I cry.

All we can do is watch in horror as a massive creature breaches the surface and rises at least ten stories above us. It is serpentine, almost draconic. It towers over our little boat, the orange lightning reflecting off its blue-scaled body. The tops of leathery blue wings rest just above the water's surface. It has no eyes that I can see, only two curling horns where its eyes ought to be. But its open mouth reveals rows upon rows of sword-like teeth. Lightning crackles between the jagged dentata, leaping from tooth to tooth like they were clouds.

“...Sweet mother of God,” Sean whispers.

The creature lets out a howl that echoes across the marina. My heart wedges in my throat. We haven't gotten at all far from La Huerta. And our friends are still standing on the shore.

#Endless Summer #play choices #choices stories you play #pixelberry choices #Diego Ricardo Ortiz Soto #jake mckenzie #sean gayle #craig hsiao #aleister rourke #raj bhandarkar #estela montoya #quinn kelly #zahra namazi #michelle nguyen #grace hall

5 notes · View notes

admhawthorne · 7 years

Text

Still playing with that crossover

“Okay, you grab a table, I’m just gonna…” Kara vaguely motioned in the direction she rushed, heading quickly toward where the restrooms were located.

Cat huffed and glanced around. Much to her annoyance, everyone was trying very hard not to stare, which, of course, meant all eyes were on her. “No one will know who I am, huh,” she muttered to herself while she waited for a young brunette who was clearly the only server in the establishment to seat her.

“Hi,” the server greeted with a tense smile. “Welcome to Granny’s. Would you like a table or a booth?”

“A booth.” Cat glanced around again and noted that all eyes were still on her. She internally groaned and checked for the least conspicuous place in the diner, which was a table in the back corner. Waving her hand dismissively, she stated firmly, “Never mind. We’re sitting there.” She pointed at the table as she made her way to it.

The server followed behind, and Cat caught her making eye contact with a teenaged boy sitting in one of the booths. Whatever the silent exchange was, it set off Cat’s curiosity. Something was going on, and she hoped it didn’t have to do with some crazed fan ambushing her while she looked like she’d been standing in front of an industrial fan for three hours straight, which wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Uh, my name’s Ruby,” the server began, stretching her name out while handing over a menu and placing the other at the chair across from Cat. “I’ll be waiting on you today. What can I start you off with?”

Glancing over the menu, Cat raised an eye brow at the list of terrible to absolutely horrible-for-you foods. Apple pancakes? Hot chocolate with cinnamon? Lasagna? Blackened Sole? She couldn’t decide if the list of options was diverse or terrible. Who mixes those types of foods together on a menu?

Dropping the menu to the table in disgust, she rolled her eyes and rubbed at her temples with her forefingers. Kara really had managed to pull them into mom and pop hell.

“I’ll have a cup of coffee, black,” she dropped her arms to the table and looked up at the young brunette to make sure she was taking down the order correctly. “I’ll also want a glass of water, no ice, and the salmon salad minus the croutons and onions. My girlfriend will have the double cheeseburger, extra pickles with French fries and a hot chocolate.” She shrugged. When in Rome? “Let’s do the one with cinnamon, and she’ll want a slice of apple pie for desert with extra whipped cream.”

Ruby nodded and then frowned. “Okay,” she seemed confused, “I’ll get that right in and be back with those drinks.”

“Yes, do,” Cat swished her away with a flick of her fingers, and the server turn quickly to scurry to the counter to shout out the order to cook. Much to Cat’s surprise the order seemed to have a name.

“One Sheriff’s Special and one Mayor’s Meal, plate ‘em,” Ruby called out, tossing the order ticket onto the counter.

Cat narrowed her eyes. What was this all about? She watched as an older woman with wired rimmed glasses leaned over the order window and waved to catch Ruby’s attention. “Are Emma and Regina here already, or did they call ahead? Because, if they’re already here, then I need to talk to them about Zelena’s…”

“No, Granny,” Ruby cut in, giving the woman a very hard look. “We have new customers. They just happened to order the exact same thing as the sheriff and the mayor.”

“New customers?” Cat continued to watch from the corner of her eye while pretending to check emails on her phone as ‘Granny’ leaned further out to see who the new customers were. She glanced over in time for their eyes to meet, and the older woman seemed to pale for a second. She quickly pulled herself back into the window. "Ruby, call… well… call,” she stated and then completely disappeared into the back with the meal ticket in her hand.

Before Cat could think more on that strange comment, Kara bounced around the corner and took her spot on the other side of the table. “This place is so cute! Just look at how… how diner-like everything is!”

“Yes, it’s charming,” the older blonde drawled out with a sigh. “I already ordered for us.”

“Great! That makes us that much closer to pie,” Kara said with a wide grin. “So, I was thinking, after we eat here, maybe we could look around a little bit before we go on to New York. I mean, how often do we get the chance to explore a small town, and I sort of miss it, you know?”

“I forget you spent your adolescence in a small town.” Cat scrunched her face up. “I don’t know, darling. I’ve really been looking forward to spending as much time in bed at the hotel as possible; haven’t you? I feel like we haven’t had a day off in ages.”

Kara slumped a little. “It has been about two months since we’ve been able to get away.” Her face fell as she continued on. “They have a park, though?”

Cat scoffed at herself. This was supposed to be a fun trip for both of them, not just another errand Kara did to make her happy. If the younger woman wanted to explore Mayberry RFD, then why not? What could it hurt? “Alright, fine. Let’s go see their park. Maybe,” she leaned back as the server brought in the drinks and carefully placed them on the table, “we can check out their town square? This seems like the type of place to have some sort of questionable antiques store and ‘historical’ marker somewhere around the middle of the town.”

The server took in a sharp gasp of air under her breath, which caught both women’s attention. Cat narrowed her eyes at the brunette. “Is something wrong?”

“Uh, no,” Ruby answered unconvincingly. “No, everything’s fine. I just, uh, I thought I was going to spill your water there for a second. Sorry.” she held a hand up in a show of guilt, and turned to quickly leave before anything else was said.

“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d begin to think something strange was going on here,” the older blonde commented as she sipped at her coffee.

Kara raised her eyebrows and gave a quick look around. “What do you mean? Everything looks fine to me.”

“Yes, well, we both know looks can be deceiving.” Cat shrugged, shaking her head. “I don’t know. Call it my reporter’s instincts, but something more is bothering that waitress than the fact she’s serving the Queen of all Media in the dinky little diner she works in.”

“Maybe? But, come on, it could be a million different things.” The younger blonde huffed, leaning back in her chair and scooting down a little. “For once, can’t we go somewhere or do something without it turning into some kind of save-the-world thing? Cat, don’t get me wrong here, but I’m sort of tired of saving the world right now. It’s exhausting being the savior all the time. I mean, I don’t regret doing it… Um, saving people and the word or whatever, but I need a vacation before I burn out.”

“Okay,” Cat replied softly as she reached across the table to place a reassuring hand on the other woman’s forearm. “You deserve a break, and I’m sorry. It’s just hard to turn it off.”

“I completely understand that,” Kara replied with a sad smile. “So, do you think they’ll have, like, a bakery or something on the town square?”

“Unfortunately, we don’t,” a smooth, alto voice answered, catching both women by surprise. They looked up to find a well-dressed brunette and a slightly less well-dressed blonde standing by their table. “We do, however, have a lovely coffee shop on the square, The Seven Ravens. They roast their own beans.”

“How… quaint,” Cat replied cautiously. “I take it the entire town prescribes to the fairytale naming tradition? Do you have a Tailor in Heaven tailoring shop? Is your pound called ‘The Fox and the Cat?” She leaned over and asked in a faux conspiratorial whisper, “Is your local bar called ‘The Singing Bone?”

“The Rabbit Hole, actually,” the brunette replied with just a hint of an uptick at the corners of her mouth. Extending her hand, she introduced herself, “I’m Regina Mills, the mayor of this town, and this,” she nodded toward the woman standing by her side, “Is Emma Swan, our sheriff.”

Cat looked at the offered hand for a long moment before taking it with a look that spoke to how displeased she was to be talking to anyone that wasn’t the woman sitting across from her. “Cat Grant,” she nodded toward the younger blonde, “Kara Danvers.” Kara gave a little wave hello. “And why are the mayor and sheriff of the town standing at our humble table?”

She maintained eye contact, daring the mayor to make her next move because now there was no doubt in Cat’s mind that something very off was happening, and she was going to find out what it was.

“We actually came to have lunch with our son,” the sheriff explained with an easy smile, turning to give a quick wave to the teenaged boy the server had earlier had the silent conversation with. Cat gave a quick look to Kara to see if she’d picked up on the ‘their son’ comment. Kara nodded slightly, but neither commented, content to see how much information they could get by letting the other women talk. “But, when the Queen of all Media visits your sleepy little town, I mean,” the sheriff shrugged in an ‘awe shucks’ kind of way, “can you blame us for wanting to come say hello?”

Cat wasn’t buying it, and a quick glance to Kara said the younger woman wasn’t either. Before she could subtly grill them more, her protégé stepped in.

“So, your titles alliterate with your last names?” Kara grinned, ramping up her sunny disposition, which was a trick she’d learned put people at ease quickly leaving them open to accidentally saying more than they meant to. It was a fantastic reporter’s trick. “That’s kind of neat!”

“Uh, yeah?” Emma gave the brunette next to her a dorky shrug. “I guess they do. Have you ever noticed that before?”

“No, dear, I can’t say that I have.” Both seated women noticed the grimace run across the sheriff’s face at being called ‘dear’ by the mayor. They made mental notes but didn’t interrupt. The brunette turned back to the women at the table. “If you have any questions about our town before you leave it, we’d be more than happy to answer them for you.”

“Actually, we do,” Cat replied with a twinkle of determination in her eyes. The mayor’s comment set her instincts into high gear. Why did two of the town’s high ranking politicians want her and Kara gone so quickly? What, exactly, were they hiding? And it was extremely questionable that the mayor and sheriff were… what? Married? At least in a relationship. That stank of crooked politics, which was one of Cat’s favorite things to expose. “My girlfriend and I were wondering if there was anywhere we could rent a room for the night. We were thinking of waiting until tomorrow to leave so we have plenty of time to take in the atmosphere of your town.”

“Yeah,” Kara added with a little bounce in her seat. “I thought I saw a really nice park, and I’d like to go explore the docks a little bit. Plus, Cat promised we could take a look at the town square to see what neat stuff we might be able to buy that we don’t need.” She looked across the table and tilted her head to the side in question. From the outside looking in, the question was, ‘Right? We can do those things?’ However, the older blonde knew what the real question was. ‘We’re doing this, and why can’t we not be nosy for a change?’

Cat shrugged dismissively. “I don’t know, Kara,” she replied, which was an answer to both the real unspoken question and the fake one. “I suppose.”

“Oh, well, I’m not sure,” Emma began uncomfortably, “if there’s really anywhere to stay. We don’t actually get a lot of tourists to our town.”

“Is that so?” Cat narrowed her eyes and stared down both standing women for a split second. “I thought I saw that there are rooms to rent above this place, aren’t there? Oh, but, on second thought,” she waved her hand in the air as if to suggest she was being a touch ridiculous, “how would you know if there are rooms available or not? I mean, you don’t run the bed and breakfast here, do you?”

She was challenging them to see how they would react. The mayor subtly shifted, taking control over the sheriff and answering for the both of them. “No, we have our hands full running the town and watching after our son.” She gave Cat a tight lipped smile. “If you have children, I’m sure you can understand what I mean.”

“I do,” Cat replied with a quirk of her eyebrow. A person would have to live under a rock not to know the Queen of all Media had a son.

“Well, I hope they do! I want to see everything before we leave.” Kara leaned back enough to look around the standing couple, and her grin widened. “I think that’s my burger.”

“You really do have a hollow leg,” Cat said with a chuckle, effectively ending the chess match for the time being. “You’ll have to excuse us. Kara gets cranky if she doesn’t have her lunch time ball of grease.”

“Yes, Emma’s the same way,” Regina replied, and her eyes widened for a quick second as if she’d surprised herself with her response before she continued on as if nothing had gone awry. “I honestly don’t know how she manages to stay this fit with the amount of bear claws and French fries she consumes on a regular basis.”

“Hey, I work out,” the sheriff defended with a scowl. “Two days ago I ran for nearly an hour straight.”

“Yes, to catch Pongo.” The brunette rolled her eyes and scoffed. “I’d hardly call doing your job working out.”

“You try chasing down that Dalmatian. He’s quicker than he looks. I swear he’s part Greyhound.” Emma groaned. “I wish Archie would get Pongo’s collar fixed. How hard could it be to buy a new collar?”

“Dr. Hopper tends to get sidetracked, as you know.” Regina chuckled, turning back to their two seated women as Ruby stepped around her to place the food on the table. “Well, we’ll leave you to it. I hope you have a peaceful stay.” She motioned for Emma to head to the table where the teenager was seated, watching them intently. The mayor gave her best politician’s smile and added as a parting remark, “And welcome to Storybrooke.”

With the departure of the mayor and sheriff from their table, Cat noticed people had stopped starting at her and Kara, and she wondered why their interaction with the other two women had caused the shift in interest. She shook her head and leaned forward to catch Kara’s attention to make sure she was tuning her super hearing in to what she was about to say. “So you sense something’s off here, too?” Her voice was barely audible, but Kara nodded nonetheless. “We’re looking into this. I smell a story.”

Kara sighed, taking a bit bite of her burger and chewing almost sadly before swallowing it down and stealing Cat’s water to wash the taste of burger away. “Even if it is, it’s not like it’s a national headline breaking kind of story. It’s more like a local paper headline kind of story.” She sighed with irritation at the dismissive shrug her observation received. “Do I at least get paid overtime for this?”

“That depends,” Cat replied at a normal volume.

The younger blonde whined a little. “On?”

Cat raised her eyebrows and took a bite of her salad before answering. “What capacity you end up having to work.”

With groan and a nod of her head, Kara reach out for the ketchup. “Yeah, okay, but, if I have to work at all, then I demand another vacation. I’ll call the hotel after we leave here and cancel our reservations,” she added in a defeated tone.

The older woman nodded approvingly. “Deal.”

A/N Soooo.... how’s this?

#supergirl #supercat #once upon a time #swan queen #ouat/supergirl crossover

28 notes · View notes

5hfanfiction · 7 years

Text

Deliver Me Love (With A Side Of Fries)

A/N: Hey guys! So @lucyinthesk-y gave me this idea and I thought it was super cute so here’s this adorable oneshot based off of their prompt!

“Camila!”

“¿Sí, Papi?” Camila groaned in reply. She knew that yell meant she had another delivery run to do and she was not in the mood to bring another greedy human being their food.

Camila worked for her parents as a delivery girl for their restaurant, La Niňa Bonita, which they basically named after her. They started the restaurant a few years after she was born, wanting to give the people of Miami “real mexican food, not that mierda deseducada they serve at Taco Bell”.

Camila was honestly only working there for money and to kill time between her transition from high school to college. Don’t get her wrong, she loves her parents, and she loves the restaurant, she just loathes the people who she delivers to.

“We got a big order going out, mija. Must be a party or something!” Alejandro, Camila’s father, yelled excitedly.

“Exactly how big, Papi?” Camila asked tentatively, a little scared at how happy he was to be making her drive around a lot of food.

“Hm.. enough to feed seven people? Maybe eight?”

“Holy shit, dad!”

“LANGUAGE MIJA!” Sinuhe, Camila’s mother, yelled from the kitchen, making Camila grumble profanities under her breath.

“Just think of the tips you’ll get!” Alejandro said encouragingly.

“Yeah definitely, the last ten people were too stuck up their ass to give me anything,” the brunette grumbled so her mom wouldn’t hear.

“If you don’t get something good out of this delivery, I’ll buy you ice cream, okay?” her father bargained with her.

Camila’s face lit up immediately. “Deal, now help me get this in my car so I can hurry back and get my ice cream.”

Camila drove through University of Miami’s campus, searching for the building she was delivering to. She knew for sure her dad would owe her ice cream, college kids were the worst when it came to tips and manners. When she finally found the building she was trying to find, she got all of the bags of food in one trip (because momma didn’t raise no bitch), and entered the building. She got in the elevator and took it up to the 7th floor, and began her search for the room she was looking for.

Camila vaguely remembered as she walked down the hallways that she took a tour of this building when the university accepted her as a student, the guide saying that this was the main freshman housing. She was surprised it was so quiet, you’d think that college freshman on a Saturday night would be obnoxiously loud.

When she finally found room 727, she set the food down onto the ground, shaking her arms out a bit before knocking on the door. She heard a thud on the other side of the door, followed by a muffled “fuck”. She would’ve giggled had the door not opened immediately afterwards.

Camila couldn’t be blamed for her mouth hanging open. The girl in front of her was hot, like Megan Fox’s long lost daughter hot. Her eyes were bright green, sparkling in the dim fluorescent light as she looked at Camila. Her dark hair was down in unruly waves, cascading down her shoulders and strewn across her face. The girl in front of her ran a hand through her hair to tame it, and Camila was sure that she was in the presence of a goddess.

“Hey, what’s up?”

‘Fuck, even her voice is hot!’ Camila thought to herself. The girl was staring at her patiently and Camila suddenly remembered why she was here.

“Oh shit, my bad, I just uh.. Delivery?” Camila hurried out, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment at her inability to be a normal human being in front of pretty girls.

The girl in front of her giggled at her flustered state, nodding, “Yeah, that’s for me.”

“Are you having a party or something? I mean this is an assload of food,” Camila asked as she glanced at all the bags at her feet.

This time, it was the girl’s turn to blush. “Uh, no. I just, uh, I really like your guys’s food? So I just kind of order in bulk?” she replied, sounding more like she was questioning herself than answering a question.

Camila laughed at her response, finding the girl absolutely adorable. “Well, who am I to judge?” She smiled, making the girl in front of her visibly relax.

“Well here’s what I owe you..” she trailed off slowly.

“Oh, I’m Camila.” The brunette introduced herself with a small wave.

“Lauren,” the girl replied with a bright smile, handing her the money.

Camila counted it quickly, her brows furrowing in confusion. “Lauren you realize this is like ten dollars more than you owe, right?”

“Keep the change,” Lauren shrugged.

Camila immediately shook her head, trying to give the money back to Lauren, “I am not taking this much money from you, from what I know all college kids are broke and ten dollars is like gold to you guys.”

“No, I insist. Take it, please,” Lauren spoke as she placed the ten in Camila’s hand and closed the brunette’s fist with her own hand. Camila could only nod dumbly, too shocked by the fact that the gorgeous girl in front of her was basically holding her hand.

“Do you need some help getting that into your dorm?” Camila offered.

“Don’t worry about it, I got this,” Lauren smiled happily. “Thanks again, Camila. It was nice to meet you.”

“Anytime, Lauren. It was nice to meet you too,” Camila replied easily, making her way back to her car with a permanent smile on her face.

“So do I owe you ice cream?”

“Not this time, Papi.”

It had been maybe two weeks since Camila had met Lauren. Every time her father called out a big order for her to deliver, she would secretly hope it would be the green eyed girl, but every time it was some asshole that treated her like second rate garbage instead. She figured she must’ve scared her with her awkward gawking and inability to form a coherent sentence.

Camila was sitting in the restaurant, idly playing with the salt shakers while waiting for her shift to end, when her father called out to her from the kitchen.

“Camila! There’s one last order I need you to run and you can go straight home afterwards if you’d like, I won’t need you anymore for the rest of the day.”

“Can I just leave my uniform here then?” Camila questioned.

“Sí, no me importa,” he responded with a wave of his hand, “I’ll load your car while you change.”

Camila walked into the back room, taking off her uniform and replacing it with her Stussy crop top and ripped high waisted jeans. She took her hair out of her ponytail and shook it lightly, looking into the mirror to make sure she didn’t look like she just woke up. Satisfied that she didn’t look like a half dead zombie, she met her father out by her car.

“Where to this time?” Camila asked Alejandro.

“It’s those party people again,” Alejandro smiled as he handed her the address.

Camila’s eyes widened as she read the familiar address. It was Lauren. She looked up at her dad, who was still smiling at her, and she hugged him tightly.

“Gracias, Papi,” she mumbled into his shoulder, “I’ll see you later.”

Camila sat in the parking lot of Lauren’s building, touching her makeup in her rearview mirror. She was really nervous about seeing the green eyed beauty again. Admittedly, it’s probably because of the small crush Camila had developed on the girl, but she pushed that thought out of her head immediately.

She couldn’t possibly be crushing on someone she met once, could she?

She made the journey up to Lauren’s dorm, her heart pounding harder with every step she took towards her door. She sent the food down and knocked lightly.

The door opened to reveal Lauren, clad in a pair of black ripped skinny jeans and a The 1975 shirt. She was wearing barely any makeup but it was just enough to make her eyes look absolutely stunning, and her hair fell down in gentle waves.

Well shit, Camila was definitely crushing on her.

“Uh h-hey there,” Lauren stuttered, a blush rapidly spreading across her cheeks.

Camila’s head tilted in confusion, until she remembered that she wasn’t in her uniform this time. This time she actually looked hot, and Lauren was stuttering which meant..

‘Holy shit she think’s I’m hot,’ Camila realized. An idea popped into her head, she could use this to her advantage.

Camila basically gave the girl the smoulder. She ran a hand through her hair, tousling it to one side as she looked up at Lauren through her lashes, biting her bottom lip.

“Hi, Lauren,” she spoke, her voice slightly raspy.

“Oh fuck,” Lauren mumbled under her breath.

“Did you run out of your stock, I assume?” Camila asked, smiling teasingly at the girl.

“Sadly, yeah,” Lauren replied, finally able to form a sentence. “It’s good to see you again, you look.. You look amazing,” she spoke honestly, causing Camila to blush.

“Thanks, I’m just glad to not be in that uniform for the rest of the night,” the brunette giggled.

“Oh yeah? Then why are you here if you’re done with work?” Lauren asked curiously.

“You’re actually my last run, then I’m going home to eat ice cream and watch cartoons,” she answered honestly.

Lauren pulled out her money to pay Camila for the food, cursing as she counted it.

“Fuck, I don’t have enough money to tip you,” Lauren exasperated as she ran a hand through her hair.

Camila just shook her head at her and smiled, “You don’t have to tip me, Lauren. I don’t mind at all.”

Lauren stood their for a moment, looking completely torn. Camila thought she looked like a puppy, in all honestly.

“You said you’re off, right?” Lauren asked, to which the brunette nodded.

“Would you uh, would you maybe wanna share some of this food with me?” she asked timidly.

Camila was surprised for a second, that this gorgeous girl was asking her to hang out with her, but she smiled immediately afterwards.

“I’d love that.”

“Oh my god no! There is no way that Lana Del Rey follows you on twitter!”

Camila and Lauren had spent the better part of the last hour basically rolling on the couch laughing as they talked and got to know each other. Camila learned that Lauren was studying architecture with a minor in women’s studies because she’s extremely passionate about art and the state of world. She also learned she lives alone since her roommate dropped out of college, leaving her to a dorm by herself. Lauren hates the color orange, loves her family more than anything, and wants to use her voice to educate those around her to love and not hate.

Camila, in turn, tells Lauren that she’ll be starting at University of Miami next fall, majoring in music composition, because she’s always been incredibly passionate about putting her emotions into the swell of the violins and the beat of the drums. She told her about her parents own the restaurant she delivers for, which Lauren tells her to thank them for making actual authentic Mexican and Cuban dishes because she would probably have died without a good meal from her parents if it weren’t for them.

Currently, Lauren was telling her about the time Lana Del Rey followed her on twitter. She said that her friends had told her that she followed Lauren, and green eyed girl called them “fucking idiots” until she looked at her phone and saw it for herself.

“I promise she does, look!” Lauren showed her Lana’s twitter, the space below her username saying “Follows You”.

“Holy shit, that’s amazing!” Camila exclaimed, making Lauren smile brightly and nodding.

Camila finished her food, slightly disappointed that she would have to leave now that her only reason for being here was gone.

Lauren must’ve sensed the shift in her mood, because she placed her hand on the brunette’s knee and looked into her eyes. “Are you okay?”

Camila gave her a fake smile, “Yeah I’m good.”

“Don’t do that, what’s up?” Lauren looked right through her facade and it kind of scared her.

“It’s stupid, don’t worry about it,” Camila waved it off.

“If it’s upsetting you, it isn’t stupid,” the green eyed girl spoke seriously.

Camila just sighed, knowing she wasn’t getting out of this. “I just.. I don’t want to leave yet..” Camila trailed off.

Lauren tilted her head to the side, looking at her like she was crazy. “Who said you had to leave?”

“I just thought that since we finished eating-”

“Hey, you can stay as long as you’d like. If I didn’t want to hang out with you, I wouldn’t have invited you in.”

Camila looked into Lauren’s eyes to see if she could find any sign of dishonesty, but she saw nothing but truth. They stayed there for a moment, just looking into each other’s eyes, pulling each other in, until Camila saw Lauren’s eyes flicker down to her lips and back up.

Camila bit her lip subconsciously, noticing the way Lauren’s breath hitched slightly when she did. She didn’t notice how close they were until she could feel the other girl’s breath hit her face. Camila looked up into the girl’s emerald eyes one more time before shutting her eyes and leaning in, lips meeting halfway.

Camila sighed into the kiss. Lauren’s lips were the softest she had ever kissed, gently leading her as they kissed. The green eyed girl nipped at her bottom lip, making the Latina groan quietly. Camila felt the hand on her knee move up to her thigh as she tugged her closer and ran her tongue along her bottom lip, deepening the kiss. They kissed like that for a while, so natural that it was like they had kissed many times before. Their kisses slowed until Lauren was the first to pull back, resting her forehead against Camila’s.

“I’ve been wanting to do that since I first saw you,” Lauren admitted breathlessly.

Camila giggled slightly, “God, same.”

Lauren sighed happily, kissing her once more before leaning back to look into the brunette’s eyes.

“Does this mean I don’t have to order more food this week as an excuse to see you?” Lauren asked hopefully.

Camila laughed loudly at her words, leaning into Lauren’s shoulder to keep her upright.

“Definitely not.”

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! I apparently love writing fanfiction now so I’m gonna be writing a lot of stuff coming up soon!

Be sure to check out my story Touch My Soul (Hold It Tight) and my other oneshot Be Mine For Like Five Seconds! I promise they’re not awful.

I love you all and I hope you’re all doing well

-Katie

(As always, you can find my story on wattpad here)

#UPDATE #one shot #AU #slash #camren #humour #romance fluff #submission #Deliver Me Love With A Side Of Fries

65 notes · View notes

beet-rootesoupevodkabanya · 7 years

Text

Post-apocalypse military AU.

Well, dear Feli, next part of our AU is here. One day... One day I promise to gather it all in a decent work. And post on AO3 finally. 😜✨ Actually the day passed as crazy as it began. At first - Yakov with his "love marks", then message from border controllers that blond woman is trying to cross it. Of course it was Miss Nikiforova who lost her way and somehow was managed to walk rather long distance by foot. It caused another stupid mess of calling here and there to make someone to take her to the city finally. Then - walking with Makkachin. And then Snow King simply called his Private Guard to watch the sunset from the wall. Like why not as long as weather is still fine. Walking on the wide path of the wall top and watching Victor cuddling Makka time to time, Yuuri couldn't get rid of the feeling his General is just trying to delay the moment he'll stay alone with his thoughts. Despite of all joyful mood he radiated. But still... When he thought Yuuri didn't see him, his smile faded away uncontrollably. [No, Private Katsuki, U shouldn't. U shouldn't invade into personal emotional space... Fuck it.] Maybe it looked insane and stupid. Or childish. But right in the middle of lazy talk about nothing Yuuri clumsily hugged his commander from behind: - Can I... Please... Stay with U for sleepover. I don't want U to be alone. [How. Pathetic.] But cold fingers covered his hands softly. Burring face into Victor's back Yuuri more felt then saw his slow nod. General stayed still caught off guard by embrace. Didn't move with closed eyes and didn't smile anymore. Only when Makkachin whined tugging Victor's sleeve they both noticed the sunset is already over. - Sorry... - muttered Yuuri, not really knowing what for. Of course he violated all possible subordination and rules during this day. But... He was used to be a disappointment already. (At least as he personally thought...) - Well... As long as we can't move the chair to continue watching the sunset, let's go back. - Snow King snorted again forcing out some joy. Yuuri smiled glancing at dark sky: - U really resemble me of him... - U think so? - commander raised a brow - Well... I don't mind. I always wanted my personal planet. If U'd be a fox, would U go with me? - Fox?.. - Yuuri's voice obviously darkened with sadness - Not a Rose but a Fox. Abandoned friend, not a love of your life... General Nikiforov stopped and turned to him, grabbing both boy's hands, weirdly serious despite of childish theme: - Friends can't abandon each other. Friends could have to go occasionally but they will always return. And honestly the Rose... The one U grew up from the little one and still endure all awful personality. It's called "child", U know. Yuuri raised his head realizing what was just said. Realizing. Realizing... Rea... [WHAT HAVE I JUST ASKED????!!!!] He stormed downstairs with burning face. "Love of your life".... How could it happen at all???!!!! Makkachin barked somewhere behind. Of course on the living floor General caught up with him. - Wait, Yuuri! [He could just order... And I'd have no choice but to stop. But he never uses it in daily life. U're weird General Snow King...] Cold hand grabbed Kaiyo's elbow: - U promised to sleep with me tonight! Boy from Safe Zone frosted on sport chocking with gasps. Not just red but already almost purple. Ice splinters looked puzzled. With soft innocent question. Then some suspect appeared into blue frosted depth... He instinctively pressed hands to the mouth but of course too late... Beautiful face flashed crimson red. Great General Nikiforov gasped helplessly staring into black abyss of Yuuri's eyes. And they both burst into laughter. Of course this left no possible way not to stay for sleep-over. Although it was too early to sleep... Of course it wasn't the first time Yuuri spent the night in General's room. He woke up here recovering from battle damage, being comforted after breakdown or even if he fell asleep in the living room being exhausted after trainings. General brought him here and he always felt revived in the morning. This man could seem airhead and even spoilt sometimes but actually had an amazing ability to comfort and give a new strength. Yuuri sigh. Unlike his commander he was able only to cause more troubles. At least he personally was sure in this. - Yuuri... - Victor's voice was soft - if U have any question - ask. I'll answer everything. They set on the window ledge. General's arm laid on Kaiyo's shoulder. It was dark already and they didn't turn the light on but even in gloomy room it was obvious how icy-blue depth darkened despite of radiant smile. He didn't want to talk. But still some part of him did. To Yuuri. Of course most of all boy from Safe Zone wanted to ask about Victor's past but wasn't sure it won't cause any pain. But still... How to talk about it? He frowned thoughtfully: - Honestly... I want to ask a lot. But the most important... - he raised his eyes on commander. - What can comfort U? What do U need to feel better? [Again just great, Private Katsuki. He can just laugh at your face answering:"Not U!" And he'll be absolutely right after all...] Quiet sound of General's breathing stopped for a moment. In short, almost invisible move he bended to Yuuri, softly kissed his forehead and turned away. With lips tightly shut and closed eyes. He didn't say a word for so long Makkachin already got bored and pecked them both with his wet nose whining. Victor opened eyes and caressed dog's ears. With usual tenderness but his moves and unblinking eyes looking through Makkachin were a kind of mechanical. - U want to know what was with that women. And why Yakov let her in. - His voice sounded weird. Just too normal. Even joyful. Beautiful talking doll from fairytales... - U don't have to...- Kaiyo tried to stop him but General's fingers desperately squeezed his shoulder. - Well... Listen... *************************** Factory on the end of the city had still released gray smoke. It exploded two days ago. But honestly they had no people, or time, or even energy to care of technical objects. And of human's corpses. Weird epidemic took away countless people. Like Black Death hundreds years ago. Problem was similar: Unknown virus. But this time it attacked not flesh but mind. Central neurological system stopped working properly. In a second victim lost all senses and ended up being locked in colorless, soundless prison of own body. Keeping traces of brain activity body still moved for some time. Blindly. Aimlessly. Most of eroded died simply because their uncontrollable moves caused calamitous accidents. Others who were under care of rare healthy ones mostly died from exhaustion. Because they were unable to eat or drink. Or satisfy other life needs. Of course there were hospitals... But lack of non-infected persons made it impossible- to care of all victims. And noone knew why virus didn't touch that rare ones. They had no choice but to leave corpses where they were just ruining buildings to bury them. The priority was - to save some of victims - that lucky (or not) persons who were infected but their bodies still worked. After toughest period health returned to them. But their memories were changed. At first it looked like a form of cryptomnesia. But then it became clear it's something else. ************************ Base of survivors was adapted in hurry to be a kind of hospital. The toughest thing was to guess if victim will survive or not. Or rather to say - if it's logical to spend limited resources on this or that one or not... Especially in a situation when part of non-infected citizens had chosen the way of prowlers. And risk of attack was always high. Their base shared it's list of survivors to other shelters every evening. To count survivors is easier then dead ones now... Every evening silver-haired teen rushes to the connection post to get survivor list. And pensively returns to the wall. Every list stubbornly includes that name. "Miss Nikiforova. Alive. Healthy." Black sky. Cold and distant with countless stars. Silver-haired boy stays on the wall staring into autumn dark world. Darkness is calming. It never causes pain, never hurts eyes. It's easy to hide from everyone. But there's no need to hide tears. The best protector. Best partner-in-crime. Best silent teammate. It's always here, wordlessly. Embraces unavoidably from everywhere but never suffocates. Does the love feels like black abyss?... Boy snorts at own thoughts. One of countless things that shouldn't be voiced out ever. Other teens would try to bully of course. Adults would laugh at. Most of them are dead now. Except Yakov, Lilichka and Her... If to express Her in one phrase it'd be "spinning head". Because of her childish inability to care of herself, because of how easy she lost her mind about new man or new dress, because of lots of men who were after her beauty (but ended up running away from "inadequate bitch" really soon), and because of that feeling of blurry spinning world when air tastes like iron. After skipped slap on the face. - Vitya, get down from there! - old officer shivers from cold wind. Of course his troublesome pupil heard him even before he called. Just ignored as usual. What a kid?!... - C'mon, get down, it's almost time for evening meal. [No, Yakov, don't. I know everything U're gonna say by heart. U're just... Not on time...] - Ok. U can go. I'll join U soon. - silver-haired boy doesn't turn to his teacher. But his voice sounds normal, just a bit ringing. Officer Feltsman sigh: - C'mon, Vitya... I know U check up information about your mother everyday. I know U care an... Something like giggle or snort (or just a sob...) interrupts him: - Who said I care?... Reasons are different. Thin shadow jumps at the fencing of the wall. A bit further from Yakov. Almost disappearing in cold darkness. Only silver hair radiates a kind of misty light. - Vitya, stop this!!! I know U're not as bad boy as U try to pretend! U love your mother. And she loves U. [Yakov... U really are NOT ON TIME.] Silver shadow spins around laughing. Darkness and long, splashing under the wind, hair hide fast gesture of wiping cheeks. Teeth bite through white skin of hand. It's so painful - even distracting. From that burning feeling into chest and head. - U know nothing. - Victor laughs again. [Laugh can cover sobs. Tears from laughter are natural.] - I don't even want to know anything!! - Yakov is almost angry. Why does this kid enjoys playing drama so much?! Silver shadow jumps further again. ["Eyes are the mirror of the soul"?.. Maybe. But usually people see nothing but the reflection of own ideas in that mirrors. Mirrors. Countless icy mirrors are breaking somewhere inside. Breaking and restoring again. Splinters are sharp. Silver-haired teen falls on his knees crying. Sobbing. Screaming. Splinters are everywhere. He breaks mirroring walls with bare hand, stabs the floor with biggest splinters. He screams, shouts. Coughs, choking with sobs. Tears are mixing with blood. Hair. Clothes. Boots. Floor. It all is covered with broken glass and crimson carpet.] Boy clicks the lighter turning to old officer. Breakdown is safely hidden inside. Behind icy mirrors. Of course Yakov jumps on the spot: - What??!!! Stop it right now!!!! U're too young to smoke. Gray cloud covers Victor's face giving a second to force out normal expression. He joyfully giggles again: - Too young to smoke but adult enough to kill people and drag corpses here and there?... Yakov sniffs for some seconds. Not knowing what to say. And finally mutters with apologizing intonation: - Gimme one... Silver-haired boy nods, steps closer and lays a cigarette and a lighter on the fencing. Old teacher stretches a hand and boy jumps back. In one nervous move. - What? - mumbles Yakov - Don't U think U're overplaying it, drama queen? Boy laughs again. Friendly. Joyfully. But stays where he is. - Youngsters... I won't ever understand U... - he doesn't sounds mad. More like confused. [U really won't, commander Feltsman.] [Breakdowns are tiring. Glassy maze is ruined. But mirroring walls are only tougher now. Silver-haired teen lays on the floor right on splinters. Some of them are stuck in white skin. Long wounds on palms are open to the bones. He reaches face to move away soaked in blood lock. But splinter stuck in palm cuts eye and cheek. He closes eyes. Better not to move. Never move anymore.] - Hey! Don't U dare to fall asleep staying there!!!!!! - Yakov's scream makes silver-haired boy jump where he is and drop a cigarette. - Please, Vitya!! - now old teacher is really begging for mercy - Lets go down. If something bothers U, tell me. U can think I understand nothing because I don't have kids. But at least I had parents long time ago. I know what parental love really means. [What if teacher's belief in parental love is the only unshaken thing he has now?... To ruin it just because of Her?.. No way. It's just... Stupid. Right?..] Victor jumps from the fencing near old officer: - Ok, ok, lets go to have a supper. He smiles brightly and reassuringly. And almost hears splinters cracked under boots... ******************** - It all is boring and kinda stupid, U know... - Snow King tried to force out a smile but it turned into a wry grin. - No, it's not! - Yuuri jumped from the window ledge. He didn't even try to wipe tears away. General shivers from sudden loss of warm body that leaned to his side all this time: - I'm sorry, Yuuri, I made U upset... - No! It's not like... - desperate boy's voice cracked. He impulsively seized Victor on his arms despite of perplexed gasp, brought to the bed and hugged him tight, making to lean to his chest instead of a pillow. Just like his General did lulling damaged Yuuri in a van after their first task together. - Tell me. Please. Tell me everything. - boy's fingers softly went through silver locks. - Even if I won't understand something, I still care... I'm always by your side... Victor said nothing. But leaned tighter, stroking Kaiyo's arms. With nervous, tense moves. - Ok, if U wanna some details, ok. - his voice sounded calm, even carefree. But his fingers were icy-cold. And pressed boy's skin too tight. Almost painful. If someone would ask Yuuri his name right now he'd definitely be unable to answer. The whole world compressed to the one person, one moment, one desperate need to cure his pain. He didn't even notice leaning with a cheek to silver hair left them wet from tears. Victor turned around with his usual reassuring smile and softly wiped wet traces away: - C'mon, Yuuri... I'm not saint or something to cry this much. Boy dragged him back into a tight hug stroking cheeks as if searching for invisible tears: - U're not saint. U're my own God. My only God. Gods don't have to be saint. Snow King snorted with a puzzled expression: - Yuuri, малыш/ baby, idolizing someo.. - It's not idolizing!!!! - boy cut him off tightening the embrace again and burring his face into silver hair. He would be happy to explain. But words drifted away leaving only meaningless gasps. But somehow General got it without words. Rested his head on Yuuri's shoulder and began to talk again. Again with that unsuitably indifferent, joyful voice. ****************** It's a deep night but the room isn't dark enough. White nights. Fucking troublesome thing that attracts an endless herd of different visitors to the city. And it'd be ok but She goes out every evening. All glamorous, in clouds of perfume she flies away in her high-heels. Searching for her Prince Charming or at least billionaire. Silver-haired boy of five years old puts a stuffed bear under the blanket covering it all and steps to the wardrobe. When She flies out like this it's better to be prepared and listen. If the lock clicks before the morning then it's time to hide. She is always angry. And it's better not to get under her hand. Boy sits on the floor near the old wardrobe. To get there fast if needed. (Once he already was late to hide. It's still painful to talk. Although... There's noone to talk to anyway... Isn't it good?..) This old furniture is full of her [out of trend?] clothes, including fur coats. It all is in mess. She won't open it, at first because she thinks there's no place to hide, at second - she simply doesn't want to put all that stuff back after searching. Click-clack. Keys over the door. She almost blindly searching for keyway. Sobbing loudly. Drunk again... Boy silently disappears in a dark hole of the wardrobe. Buries under clothes. And habitually leans to the gap between door and wall. To see what she'll do next. Although it's heard pretty well. Slamming the door behind she falls on her knees right there. She cries. - Why?... Why???!! Where are U, Vitya?! Why didn't U meet me??!! Aren't I your mother??!! According to loud noise she almost falls trying to get up. And breaks into son's bedroom. 3a.m.? Who cares... She throws shoes at the small form under the blanket: - U ruined my life! He'd loved me if I didn't have U!!! Sobbing she desperately locks her fingers where must be the neck under cover: - U're no better then your father! U didn't even meet me when I needed U! U'd better die before being born!!! Silver-haired boy doesn't even breath in his hide-out. She won't look here, right?... He knows every her word by heart. It's not the first case. It had happened countless times already... She sobs again. And finally realizes there's no living person under the blanket. How fast, Your Majesty... Bear is desperately kicked to the wall: - Where did U find this shit, U little scum??!!! (Just great. This thing was a gift to her from one of her short-time boyfriends...) - U ran away???!!! U left me, traitor!!!! Go die!! Don't ever return!!! Noone needs U anyway!!! Noone would ever love U!!!! I hate U!!! Die already!!! With tempest of sobs she falls on the bed. After some time her gasps turn into quiet snorts. She's asleep. Boy relaxes a bit moving away from gap. In a morning she'll feel too sick to be seriously mad. It means he can sleep now too. Of course here. In this safe darkness. Adults like to tell scary things about dark places. About monsters under the bed or in wardrobes. Maybe here is a monster too?... He stares in the further corner. If someone is here is he scared by all of that? Boy softly pets a place near soundlessly whispering to the darkness: - Don't be afraid. Lets sleep. She won't find us. ******************* - As U see, it's kinda shameful... - Victor shrugged his shoulders indifferently - Maybe someone else could find a way to deal with her... Maybe it's really my fault... Yuuri gasped from shock. After all he'd just heard this statement sounded beyond any belief. Before he was able to say something, cold fingers stroke his tear-stained face. - God! Yuuri! It's not good at all. Now I'm seriously made U upset. - he cupped boy's cheeks forcing out a puppet smile. - Now let's have a tea and talk about something better. General ruffled Kaiyo's hair, got up from the bed and stepped to the kettle on the small table near the door. [Mirroring splinters. Everywhere. Stuck in hands, face, stabbed into throat, not letting any word out. Glassy dust grits under boots. Although in the corner of his soul Snow King realizes he's bare feet now. But feelings from mirroring maze behind frosted sky are uncontrollable. It was stupid to let Kaiyo touch this glassy mess. Boy had just damaged himself. He is crying now because of it all...] - Hey, Yuuri, would U prefer green or bla... Boy from Safe Zone stormed from the bed. [Is he going to run away? Is he this scared? Of course he is...] Warm body bumped into Victor's back with a desperate, almost suffocating hug. - No! It's not your fault! Don't U ever say it again!!! Please! Please... - Yuuri chocked with sobs. - It's not a shame. Please... U don't have to pretend U're ok. Even if everyone thinks U must be... Please... Victoru... Kaiyo didn't even notice he has called his commander not only by first name but by it's Japanese pronounce. Just like he used to whisper secretly to his photos long (or not so long?...) time ago. - Please... I'm here for U, I'm yours... Please, order me, shout at me, beat me... Do anything... But, please... Don't pretend U're ok and it all doesn't matter... Please!!! [Splinters... Sharp mirroring splinters. Everywhere. And glassy dust. No, Yuuri, don't. U'll hurt yourself...] Snow King turned to his Private Guard. Although it was not so easy to do in that tight grip. - Please... It's a lie - that noone loves U. She knows nothing!!!! General Nikiforov inhaled to say at least something calming to subordinate but coughed chocking with words, buried face into Yuuri's shoulder and bursted into tears. What exactly Yuuri whispered to his crying Snow King even he himself couldn't say for sure later. Every sweet word he kept for years, since the day he first time saw picture of youngest High Officer from Military Elite. Broken ice shaking into black ocean waves. Deadly for any living creature. Black abyss leaned to frosted splinters lulling painlessly. When tight grip on Yuuri's ribs became weaker he softly pulled his General back to the bed. Hugged him, pressing his head to the chest and kissed his temple. More and more tears still dropped from tightly shut lashes. But breath of his commander was more steady now. Only when it became calm and slow showing that Victor dozed off tired from breakdown, Yuuri noticed Makkachin was politely laying on the armchair, entrusting his human to the newbie. Boy from Safe Zone exhaled nervously. Unlike Makkachin he wasn't so sure he really was able to cure General's wounds. Especially if to take in count it all sounded like a nightmare. But he'll do everything to fulfill this task. Yuuri leaned to silver hair with lips: - Aishiteru desu, Снежный Король... Honestly he was sure commander doesn't hear him. And of course can't understand. But for a second relaxed hold on his waist became tighter. Yuuri's face burned... No. He didn't wake up. Boy from safe zone hugged him tighter and kissed his forehead again. This time Kaiyo woke up even before the sunrise. It was the first time he opened eyes before his commander. Too early... It's possible to sleep more... He leaned in tighter covering them both with a blanket. Moved silver locks away from beautiful despite of being swollen from tears face. Kissed temple again and whispered. Almost breathed out inaudibly: - U still didn't answer me... What can comfort U? Cold hand traced boy's back and stopped into dark locks. Warm breath touched his neck with half-asleep husky whisper: - U can...

#idk when my dear Feli will have time to read it #but I hope it'll cheer U up 😘#Although it's kinda sad but our boys deserve proper understanding...

4 notes · View notes

bloojayoolie · 6 years

Photo

Af, Being Alone, and Animals: but i dd spend about 2 months looking ater a small dude ranch oper碵on dring the winter months artednh intemet hookup, onine stuf handled by small ofice in town hang around, shoot funs 게ttledaknow,more pay and-phone ine but tostay durngan e during summ card the costco a d load up on food because %ck dealing ith that road more than neccesary out meals and such have all the food, need for the 2 months but forgot sham g suppies always forget so ething fuck t week one i started talking to the horses week two, they started talking a half spam cans of by hand, used shovel and dug trench and tunnel nelwork theough the ever deepening snow Ip9 a master of moving within my winter hours in attempt to tack, wrestle and ho e de deer for domestication, brethy entertaned idea of using said doe as tckpuppet ala 222897 nearly succeeded, doe managed to break loose before i could finish the kno DO manage to succeed in knäing coyote to death one night, shoot others and brain tan hides into fur cape for other unnasnow escapades many strange things those nights, some creatures one might call a skinwalker, wendigo or worse onger fear these beasts for i have become frozen death itsel from the snow cappad peaks of each building the the tunnel system beneath the snow around the property i have absolute dominion i need othe merest hostile act against the ranch is met by thundering death from my Mosin 거 rout ely catch small animals by hand and either play with them for a short while before setting them loose or silently dispatching them with my hands before they go into the stewpot but alas, al good things must come to an end one moming i hear a faint sound, one i havent heard in a long time, ike the fragment of a lyric to a forgotten song sound about like that hibernating bear i found roof of the bam i see i gaze down upon my crystal world, the shot, bayoneted, kniied, clubbed and sodomized remains of the snowman wars, the harse herd looling to me their leader for guidance, all along the treeline, creatures both large and small cowering beneath my finty gaze, twin chips of ice peering out from my coyote skin cloak guest cabin habt with the snowmen before i attempt to speak and let him know im right behind him im close enough i could bayonet him and must resist the urge my voice cracks in an attempt to say helo from long under use thought i was going to get fired, and nearly dd, but ater he asked about everything that went on and seeing that tha ranch was in perfect order he decided that as long as i showared i could keap the look and we incorporated a whole "mountain man workshop" for the guests, teach them a lttle bushcrat, simple survival stuf and i got a raise out of t. i)00 23.10 No 1:17:42 No.20980609 (36 KB i would gueSS Bam was gambrel style, lot has hay and feed storage, snow pilled to the sides and with a ltle work i managed to build a set of stairs to the pesk and set up a smal snow hut, just big enough for me, my mosin and some smal snacks to lay down in. had small windows al around soi being alone for that long does strange things to you, you gain an intimate knowledge of everything around you. the moment somathing doesnt jve, you are instantly aware of it >be chilin ith my newest addition to coyate fur cloak up on the roof, chowing dowm on some jerky, almost late aftemoon, overcast can hear the satt movements af the horse herd below me a tant knacker n0w and then maxed with their ating and breathing -hear one of them give a brief snort and the rest go silent, no movement giancing to my left i can see one of the roans looking intently to the southwest, into the wind an instant later it hits me, a smell lie rotten meat mixed with an teenagers gym clothes locker that got left over the summer with some kind of a musk to it as well -crouching in my snow hut i pull out my monocular and scan the treeline on the other side of the pasture to the south, that last coyote i bagged was in that direction i find the spot where i had skinned it out, and i know right where the carcass should be i look down the the horses and can see them ail still looking in that direction, not moving no neighs or even nervous wickering between them > pop open the ammo can i keep up there, grab a few fresh stripper clips to tuck into my coat and slide down the slope i set next to the stairs on the north side of the bam snowghost my way along the fence line still keeping my ears open, the smell has faded somewhat, but the musk still lingers like greasy ingerprints on a reshly poished 1911 at a store malke my way to the southen Sence lne, al i can make out is the faint indentations of where snow has fallen to cover my tracks from two days ago yards away, c decide tuck it and walk over to where the coyote was, i can see the drag marks clearly, right over the tracks of whatever grabbed it stracks are deep, but obscured by the drag and whatever took it left by the same path i arrived, cutting east, deeper into the woods, you go far enough and you hit the bob marshall that deep musky scent is stil strong, sticks in your nose the the ofactory equivalent of peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth, but not nearly as tasty can see from the way the tracks are spaced whatever it was had a long, bipedal stride, sinking almast twice as deep as my own bootprints into the snow fuly intended to leave the carcass tor scavengers and the like, but seems we have a new player n the game made my way back to the bam,horses are stil fiocated on the southerm pasture line, figure ill stock a few provisions in the haylaft othis marks the start of many a night spand buried in the warm hay pretty used the the night noises around the place, coyotes yowing, maybe a cat screetch and owls caling out dead fucking sience, even the horses kept close to the bam and quiet as snowal didnt get much sleep that night, that musky smell had finally worn off by about dark next few days were uneventful, not a whole hell of a lot happening. second wave of snow fascists attemped to take the stronghold that is my snow fortress and were repelled by a wave of glorious 7.62x54 musk smell slamming crouched low and took a snow trench to the bam stairs and made my way fort, peering over the edge i could see something movng by the treeline down had dark brown fur coering t at least thats what it looked ike, it stayed low whle it moved othe head appeared elongated ending in a blunt muzzle, almost like a bear, but almost like if you took a rottweilers head, took off the ears, scaled R up and covered it in coarse brown hair a deer fronm son of a bitch, that one was MINE exe and its up and looking around, stil with a slight hunch but this thing is BIG, like &- after a momenttgrabs its prize around the nock with a single long arm and takes of into the woods again, i give it a whle before investigating fuck trying to find this thing in >茁the same time, im pissed this thing has the GALL to malest my territory, a strange thought comes into my mind this is my tentory ill mark it how i like, right slong where ts tracks go from the treeline to the clearing before the fence, i piss all along it, took a steaming dump right in one of its foot prints over the next couple af days wat and observe the whole time i cant shake the feeing that im being watched as well also starting to figure out why the boss managed to buy this ranch bunk house making some combread to go with my chǔ when i hear the horses start raising 9 lands of hell, 2 types of chaos and a side of mayhem throw on my coat, grab my mosin and afix the bayonet as i charge out the door towards the corrals in almost knocked ormy feet by the smell first of. smells like a wookie in heat, but i cant see anything looming まof the growing darkness o i make it the main corral attached to the bam and i can see all the horses are panicking, shying away from one side of the comal, the one part of > cant be sure but i would bet money ts he head of the same one i saw it take a few days ago, trn of the neck、just below the head -looking to the treeline i can see a form fading into the pines >bury the head and get the horses calmed down, head back to the cabin othis spooked my horses, made me bum my combread and kiled a deer in MY temitory the next day i keep an eye out, head towards the northem pastures and manage to back another coyote, but i bring the whole carcass back with me this time mother fucker >skin it out carefully, made sure to leave the guts intact, save the hide for later use and bury the carcass underneath some old straw to let it ripen bloated and mpe cayote gather a few pine bows and use an E tool, did a bed to lie down in, cover my tracks with the pine boughs and line the bed with them >Open up cayote and leave it about 10 ft in front of me, cover up my last tracks, fox bayonet, chamber a round and cover my sef with snow now the wating game begins >manage to get used the the rotten coyate smell ater awhile, toes are cold but not the numbness that heralds the numbness of hostbite, thank god for redwings the my □ Anonymous 02/19/16(Fn)03 1056 No 28981228 File its footsteps were barely making a sound in the snow with that musky odor getting stronger with each footfal a hard time controlling my aven wth could see moving through the trees now but my first thoughts on a bearike or dog head and muzzle were wro g. andi ealized where had sr elled something like this musk before long legs and torso leading to powerul shoulders what i guess at a hunch was the neck of an oversized goat head, easily almost 3 meters tall black beady eyes wth a malevolence in themn and stumpy homs pushing theough the hair above ts brow i could see the greasy hair of its chin dripping with saliva leaking from the coners of its mouth as it snifed the air sounding for all the world ike an enormous set of bellows it snorted out a fetid plume as it raised it head and looked past my position to the bam and ranch seemingly satisfed, it stepped out of the trees, crouched and moved towards the coyote, i wated as it got closer 30 s15 sucking in as much air as i could i leap from my concealed position, bringing my mosin up over my head and shouted for all i was worth that sound that came out ofl me i dont think i could ever replicate, Ei did it would have t everything was contained in that scream, every shouted order to for bayonets and charge, every screaming bails on fre rush across no mans land, every howl of fury as blades met, and every roar of primitive fury that another dare take what is mine stopping dead in its tracks i reared up to its full teerible height, almost twice mine in boots and coyote coat >summoning up another shout i shouldered the rifle and took a pace forward, how, i dont know, i was ready to piss mysef with my own stupidity this was something alse, this was a force of nature, and i was going to stand aganst it File ducking its head it glared at me with those obsidian orbs of primordial hunger, this creature was contesting its claim s own, the bass loose the tenuous hold i had u ears i couldet move forward everything in me was screaming to cut an run, but as i stood there gazing down the abused wooden length mosin, the dings and pts in the stock stood dont lonow how, i dont know why, but i took strengh in that, this weapon had faced monsters before, faced an unstoppable machine and brought with a snort of fetid breath it moved to take another step forward anawering with another cro-magnon hol i stode forward, standing over the offending ple of guts that had become the Ine in the snow a scarce few yards from me stood a creature out of forgotten legends, a nightmare made mandest glaring at me with hatred a low rumbling growl bat that i could feal in my chest as its lips skinned back over foul teeth in twisted parody of a grin, baring teeth that had no business in even an over sized goats mouth a third primitive scream escaped my lips as i sighted just over its shoulder and ired my mosin erupted from the i stepped forward, past the coyote, and raised the rifle above my head, stretching upwards on the balls of my feet for as much extra height i could muster, screaming at the top of my lungs for whatever reason, that was enough, backing up and fnally tuning around, it stalked off into the woods somehow deep down in that primitive part of my bran knew i had won, but the ratonal part of my brain stil wanted to piss myself 02/19/16(Fr003 40 50 № 28981350 the barn with a bottle never came across another kill anywhere on the property ater that, found tracks, but never aywhere near the perimeter clearing between the fence and the tree line. even sighted it from a distance a few times after that, but alwarys from a long ways i made the barest mention to the boss ater he had been back for awhile, but he just chalked it up to al the other crazy shenanigans id been up too while i held down the fort for 2 months, but wasnt realy interested. tried talking to a few tribal elders, but none of them wanted anything to do with me thats pratty much it for spooky stones from that tima gave each other a fairly wide berth.

#funny #lol #humor #memes #meme #memehumor #dank memes #funny pics #rolf #lmao #Af #Being Alone #and

0 notes