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ripperdaddy · 4 years

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the viktor vector romance path + ending we deserve

Disclaimer: This is definitely something I came up with in my head. There will be a few instances that are solely made up so it can tie in with the “story.” This is purely fictional; something I wished happened if there was a possible Vik romance 🥰 This is based on my general knowledge of the game & Vik’s life. All gifs + images are from my own personal play through, but wouldn’t be possible without the help of the Appearance Menu Mod, found on Nexus Mods by the creators, MaximiliumM and CtrlAltDaz. And the shirtless Vik mod by the lovely samsnak ♡

It would start after completing the Paid In Full quest where you pay Vik back the eddies you owe him.

I feel like realistically, the general player would have to be at least halfway through the story to have collected enough eddies. I would say that a good point in the story where we can begin the romance is that you’ve already established a connection to Alt and have dealt with the VDB’s.

I think it would be a short side quest like River’s. Vik already plays a big part in the story overall on his own, so I don’t think it’s necessary to make his “side quest” too long. His romance would just be an addition to the ending.

And as much as I would love for him to be a bisexual option for both male/female V, if we’re sticking with the game’s standard with limiting partners to only one kind of partner, he would only be romance-able by a female V with a feminine voice.

V: Finally scrounged up enough eddies to pay you back in full.

Vik: Hold on to ‘em just in case - you need ‘em more than me.

V: I’m not taking them all the way to my grave, Vik. Here. And.. thanks again for doing so much work on me ‘thout ever seein’ an enny.

Vik: That’s what friends are for.

Then, there is an additional option for dialogue to trigger the romance path.

V: Friends? I think you’ve been in and out of my body more than anyone else I’ve hooked up with in Night City.

He laughs, with a coy smile. “Well, can’t argue with you there. Why don’t we take some of these eddies and grab a drink. You know, to celebrate. Catch up on old times. Haven’t seen you round here much lately, kid.”

You agree to meet at the El Coyote Cojo tomorrow evening.

You meet around 9 PM and you are welcomed by the sight of Pepe and Vik at the bar.

V: Nice choice of venue.

Vik: Thought you’d like it. Haven't been here since.. well, you know.

V: I miss him, Vik.

Vik: I know, V. Me too.

You immediately take a seat and tinker with a few dialogue options, where you can either have a sweet moment talking about Jackie or some surface questions to ask, like how he’s doing, what kind of drink he likes, etc. But it all winds down to Jackie anyway, where Vik confides in you about his past. Judging by how Vik was so affected by Jackie’s death, and V’s (if you chose the suicide ending), you can tell that he has lost a lot in his life, and keeps his circle very small.

You then achieve an even closer, more personal relationship with him. But, ultimately nothing happens other than the usual, wait 24 hours in game for a text/phone call from Vik to head into the next stage. At least now, you have established the foundation for a future romance.

Halfway through the 24 hour period, you get a text from Vik thanking you for the lovely evening. No reply needed, as he calls you once the 24 hour mark hits and invites you out for another date.

You meet at Tom’s Diner for coffee in the afternoon. It starts off with him apologizing for being emotional the previous night and asks if you’re open to hanging out again and going down to Pacifica to watch a fight with him.

Vik: Hey, V. I just wanted to apologize about last night. I didn’t mean to be such a downer.

V: It’s okay, Vik. We share the same grief.

Vik: I was going to head down to Pacifica and catch a real good match later on today. I was wondering if you’d like to come along, think it’d be great for the both of us, you know, as a distraction.

pssst even Johnny’s rooting for y’all ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Johnny: Hmm, interesting.

V: What?

Johnny: Never thought you'd be going out with this guy.

V: Vik's amazing. And I mean--we basically owe it to him since he practically saved our life.

Johnny: Don't tell me you're going out with him out of pity.

V: I'm not.

Johnny: I know, I can feel you get all mushy-gushy. It's almost repulsive. Just wanted to hear you admit it.

V: Eat a dick, Johnny.

You arrive before the GIM and blend into the crowd.

V: Nothin’ like watching guys beat the shit out of each other to get your blood pumpin’, huh?

Vik: This is a real good matchup, V. This kid’s fresh, young talent.

V: You miss it, don’t you?

Before the fight begins, Vik shares a story about his time in the ring and coming in second in the Watson Boxing Grand Prix.

There’s some extra fun options in the dialogue, you can bet some eddies on who’s gonna win, or side with him. The fight ends, and you two head outside.

Since you’re already out in Pacifica, you head over to the boardwalk (where you would ride the roller coaster with Johnny) and he starts telling you about the last days of his boxing career and how he transitioned from the sport to being a ripperdoc.

You both share a sweet moment with each other, reminiscing about old times and talking about V’s future with the relic. This is where I would see Vik confessing how he feels about you, mentioning how grateful he is for Jackie introducing you to him.

The evening ends and Vik asks you to give him some time to try and dig up some footage from his storage and have you come over to watch. You can kiss him then wait another 24 in game hours before the last quest. Halfway through, he texts you and asks you what you’d like for dinner. You can opt for pizza or chinese.

I haven’t seen or read anything about how or where Vik lives. If I overlooked something, please let me know! But for the sake of the story, let’s say he does actually have his own place that’s now introduced in the game. Personally, I think he has a typical bachelor pad, like a really nice apartment. Not too far from his clinic either. He looks like he would just walk to work. Vik definitely has a lot of money, but he’s so humble I doubt he would choose to live lavishly. As mentioned in the beginning, he typically just “sleeps nights” ever since he was over “being a legend” so I’m guessing his lifestyle is very routine. He goes to work, goes home, sleep. Seems unlikely he has a place like the Peralez’s. It would probably be just the same as V’s but decorated to his taste.

The evening comes and you are over at his place. He’s dressed in just a white undershirt, no exo-glove. You get to know more about his family, how he grew up — scanning things around his place. Then he plays some footage of one of his fights for you, while you two have a conversation and share a beer. As you two sit on the couch, you get close, then have an opportunity to kiss him.

then this is where da sex happen hihihi (ノ・ω・)ノ

The next morning you wake up and you two have a heartfelt conversation about where this is going. He already knows your situation, so I would assume he is very accepting and supportive. And with Vik, he seems like the kind of guy who would still want to be in your life and keep the friendship the same way despite no longer being together romantically. So it’s official. He’s your man 🥵 !!11!1!

Like how River gives you the “fuck the police” tank top after sleeping with him, I think Vik would give you his Night City Devils t-shirt that provides you with a significant amount of armor or some kind of cyberware upgrade that makes you invulnerable for a brief moment while using your hands to fight enemies.

Note: I was thinking of Vik giving V his boxing glove necklace, but because it's part of his character's appearance in the game, I don't think we would be able to essentially "take it" from him - unless he gives you a replica as a keepsake. Which I think would also work.

If you successfully romance, during the rooftop scene near the end of Nocturne OP55N1 (despite Vik’s disposition of him telling you to take matters in your own hands and being a little closed off), you still have an option to reach out to him when Johnny advises you to call a loved one.

V: Hey, Vik. I just wanted to say, thanks for hanging with me, until the end.

Vik: Quit talking like it is, V. Just do what you need to do.

V: I mean, think of it. It’s like I’m heading into the last round of this whole thing.

Vik: Well, in that case.. remember—keep your hands up, guarded at all times. It ain’t over just yet.

V: Heh.. I can feel it, just a few more punches.

Vik: Now look at you - the new welterweight champ of Night City.

V: Thanks, coach.

Vik: Last piece of advice from the coach's corner. Just.. be careful, kid. Remember, I’m with you.

Okayyyy, soooo I’m not the biggest fan of how CDPR gave us two of the same endings (Path of Glory). The only difference is that Rogue’s life is spared. I would have assumed that not only would we get to keep Rogue around, things should have played a bit more differently for V if we took the route of going solo against the corpos. So let’s tweak it.

This specific ending; it should be after getting through Don’t Fear The Reaper where you single-handedly manage to rip through Arasaka by yourself. Johnny goes back to Alt & Rogue is still alive. Yes nobody dies!!!

(honestly this ending can apply to any love interest you choose)

Vik and V are now living together in a lavish penthouse, entertaining an upcoming merc to do their work for them (which is now the current POV of the player.) You were recruited by Rogue at the Afterlife, who told you to visit this couple for a real, preem job.

They give you some vague details about the gig and go on for a brief moment about what you will be doing and what you should expect. Vik emphasizes to you that it’s important you get what they need because it’s for his wife, V, as her life depends on it.

As Never Gonna Fade Away is playing in the background, they tell you to break into Arasaka HQ.

Then the game officially ends.

#cyberpunk 2077 #viktor vector #v/vik #let us romance the ripperdoc you cowards

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tossawary · 4 years

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Chapter 24: “Seeing is Believing” of “pride is not the word I’m looking for” random favorite lines and commentary. Not a full list or full commentary, but longer commentary than usual to talk about quest construction.

AN: This was... a weird chapter to write. When I started outlining, I had... the conversation with Shen Qingqiu planned... the conversation with Shen Yuan planned... the fact that SQH, SY, LQG, and LFL was the quest party... and the fact that they get the Eye at the end of it. That was everything.

The entire rest of this chapter came together FRIDAY LAST WEEK.

Huan Hua Palace wasn’t going to be there. The Weeper didn’t exist. The Eye or its previous owner wasn’t at all connected to the Garden Master. The Shadow Cave Wolf Spiders didn’t exist. The murder plant didn’t exist. The mysterious monster showing up at the end wasn’t originally planned either.

I mean, I had a lot of pre-existing plot threads to tie in and weave with, but ohhh boy! Picture someone lying facedown on a floor like, “I forgot to plan the contents of the super important quest...”

I was originally going to have the Eye quest a lot simpler, but given the weight “Death of the Author” had when I finally reached this part of the story, that wasn’t really going to do! It had to be bigger than that! It needed oomph! This also felt like a good opportunity to really establish the new SQH-SY dynamic. To explore SY fumbling to find a place in this world without strict character role, especially in relation to settled and well-supported SQH.

“One attempts to remain dignified,” Shen Qingqiu agrees. “As there is little point in kicking and screaming about how such ignobility isn’t fair.”

“Ha! Is there ever?”

“Not in my experience.”

“Yeah, it’s definitely not cute when I do it,” Shang Qinghua jokes.

Shen Qingqiu’s lips actually twitch at that.

Success?!

AN: I wasn’t going into this fic with the intention of writing any Shang Qinghua and Original Shen Qingqiu almost friendship! But it started developing and it seemed a shame not to explore Shang Qinghua developing a real relationship with Shen Qingqiu (though not a particularly close one) when the man is suppose to be the scum villain (and the readers know that the man might get replaced by Shen Yuan).

I can see myself writing more Shang Qinghua and Original Shen Qingqiu content in the future. Someone dropped a particularly nice prompt for them in my inbox that I’m looking forward to exploring at some point.

(I mean, not to say that Shang Qinghua has a type, but Shang Qinghua has a type and it’s handsome, deadly, intimidating, frosty men with a villainous character design and trust/abandonment and communication issues. I could make it work.)

“Ah, well, two ‘ideal’ situations come to mind: severing the personal relationship for good… or, ah, talking about how to do better and trying that. You don’t have to forget or even forgive if you don’t want to! But, ah… there’s got to be a difference between totally swallowing your anger and cutting ties forever, right?” Shang Qinghua says awkwardly. “If there’s… ever going to be anything good afterwards…”

Shen Qingqiu stares at him for a sweat-inducing length of time.

“Ah, fuck,” Shang Qinghua thinks.

“Sorry,” he says. “Ahhh, I’m just… thinking about something someone told me… in… in regards to some of my own problems. Never mind! Never mind!”

AN: Luo Jiahui really is out here making Moshang and Qijiu get their fucking act together just by setting a better example.

“Shizun, my apologies for the interruption, but I came to ask Shizun if he would be willing to join our music lesson today? The disciples have missed his playing and are eager to present their improvements.”

“...Very well, unless anyone here would disagree…?” Shen Qingqiu looks directly at the Qian Cao Peak cultivator, as though daring her to object and die.

“It’s an excellent suggestion!” the Qian Cao Peak cultivator says quickly.

The young woman smiles. “And perhaps Shizun could sit in on the calligraphy lesson afterwards? In order to offer his opinion on my progress as a teacher?”

“Fishing for compliments is unbecoming,” Shen Qingqiu says dryly.

“Wait, what?” Shang Qinghua thinks.

AN: So, this has all been happening in the background, but Shen Qingqiu accepted this House of Rejuvenation woman onto his Peak about... 6-ish years ago now? This is kind of meant to parallel Shang Qinghua’s once-secret relationship with Luo Jiahui.

Shang Qinghua was out here trying to be a better person and Shen Qingqiu noticed; now Shen Qingqiu has his own positive (platonic) relationship with a nameless background character who was meant to die for plot reasons. What a thing, huh? If the story was saved because Shang Qinghua started a domino effect of saving random people who went on to change things?

After all, as Shang Qinghua said to the kid, besides Peerless Cucumber’s apparent talent for cultivation, he knows that his fellow transmigrator has three very important skills that will serve him well on An Ding Peak! 1) An encyclopedia knowledge for even seemingly pointless bullshit (which is kind of flattering, honestly). 2) The willingness to fight total strangers over seemingly pointless bullshit. And 3) a sharp enough tongue to win.

Peerless Cucumber didn’t find these points as funny as Shang Qinghua did.

AN: Shen Yuan was always going to end up on An Ding Peak. I thought about sending him to Qing Jing or Qian Cao or Qiong Ding... or any other Peak... but that would take him too far away from Shang Qinghua to really explore their relationship and to move him around conveniently in the story. And SY sticking to An Ding seemed to best illustrate the fact that SY is lost and doesn’t know what to do except cling to SQH.

“It’s not much, sure, but it’s yours,” Shang Qinghua says finally. “You’ll be joining the talisman classes soon, so don’t try anything from a book and then need to request some home repairs.”

Peerless Cucumber nods and puts his stack of manuals down on the table.

“How’s your tutorial mission going?”

“Fine,” the kid says shortly. “Have you found anything for the other one yet?”

“Ah, not yet.”

AN: “Are you winning, son?” meme energy here.

Ah, now Shang Qinghua recognizes his fellow transmigrator’s expression! That’s the same stunned expression one of his Huan Hua not-disciples, Yu Chaonan, made upon meeting the Bai Zhan Peak War God for the first time. Shang Qinghua assumes that Peerless Cucumber was expecting a man who looked more like a musclebound giant and less like a pop idol (if one with amazingly muscular arms), which is a super common and never-not-funny misconception people have about Liu Qingge.

“Brother of one of the most beautiful women in this world, bro,” Shang Qinghua reminds his fellow transmigrator, amused. Aha! Now Peerless Cucumber’s vehement disinterest in the harem stuff is making even more sense than before!

Shang Qinghua’s assumption gets 100% confirmed when it comes time for Peerless Cucumber to fly with Liu Qingge for the next leg of the journey. The other transmigrator is so embarrassed and awkward about it that Shang Qinghua’s super direct brother-in-law asks if the young man is alright.

AN: This was so fun to write. Shang Qinghua really can use the Liu siblings to gauge people’s sexual/romantic orientation.

The map (or rather, the copy Shang Qinghua made of the delicate original map) takes them to a green and grey landscape of leafy trees crawling over a wide network of tall cliffs and deep gorges. Gurgling rivers cut through twisting rock formations. Shang Qinghua can’t see any of these rivers on the map. Or these deathly drop ravines. From the outside, the whole thing looks like a natural maze (holy shit, there could be so many monsters and death-traps in there!), and Shang Qinghua would know those golden robes flying low over the hanging trees anywhere.

“Huan Hua,” Liu Qingge mutters.

“Do you think they’re looking for what we’re looking for?” Luo Fanli asks.

“That’s usually how it goes,” Peerless Cucumber says, before Shang Qinghua can.

AN: I came up with the skeleton idea first. Then I was like... “I should give it three eyes.” And then I was like... “But who IS this dead author? A god? A spirit? What grander implications am I spinning here?”

And THEN I remembered that I had some ambiguous powerful being force the Garden Master into exile due to a flood. This was because, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the immortal man Gilgamesh meets in the abyss is the survivor of a great flood. So I was like, “Reduce! Re-use! Recycle! There’s my skeleton!”

So I wanted to relate the skeleton to water because of the flood angle. Water as a symbol of cleansing/reincarnation is a big thing throughout many cultures. I can’t remember exactly how the crying aspect came up, but I knew there was going to be water in the temple now, so at some point my brain like was, “Bro, this skeleton should totally be crying because mythology vibes.”

So I built the surrounding land off the idea that there was water flowing from or around this temple. At this point, I had decided that Huan Hua Palace should also be looking for this artifact, so I had to come up with a way to hide the temple, yet have a way for SQH’s party to track it down.

The damage to the doors is worse: someone once upon a time collapsed a part of the cliff face around the entrance, essentially leaving only the top fourth of the utterly smashed stone doors visible. It’s a wall now and has been for ages. It looks like it would take days to dig through the rubble. Someone has even super helpfully carved, “These doors will never open again,” just above the wreck.

“Guess we’ll have to go in as intruders rather than guests!” Luo Fanli says.

“What would be welcoming us inside a lost temple exactly?” Shang Qinghua asks vaguely, inwardly cursing the fact that explosive mining techniques will definitely attract the Huan Hua Palace Sect cultivators’ attention and also probably collapse the whole cliff on them.

“We only have to clear a passage for us, not the whole door,” Peerless Cucumber says optimistically. “Is there a special technique for this kind of thing?”

“Aha, not really.”

“Oh.”

“Why don’t we just keep following the water?” Luo Fanli says.

“...How so?” Shang Qinghua asks.

“Some of those waterfalls could be passages inside,” Liu Qingge explains, because he and the little sister-in-law apparently share the same brain. He’s already eyeing the waterfall wearing down the giant statue on the left.

AN: Temples in quests need to have traps and obstacles and monsters! Well, not ALL of the did, but this one did. I based the obstacles they faced as much as I could around the whole “Death of the Author” theme, while using this whole quest to explore Shen Yuan, Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua, Shang Qinghua and Liu Qingge and Luo Fanli, and so on.

The idea here with the door is that the “author” is not going to let them inside the temple to take the interpretation of the narrative (the Eye) for themselves. The story is over (the temple is closed for business)! The author is dead! If they want to get inside, they have to break inside or slip inside as intruders.

This also creates a convenient obstacle to hold up the Huan Hua Palace Sect cultivators so that our party can be nearly caught later! And shows off Shang Qinghua, Liu Qingge, and Luo Fanli’s twisty lines of thinking.

Luo Fanli is holding the light and Shang Qinghua passes the other transmigrator to her, while accepting Liu Qingge’s hand for help getting out of the water.

“Ahhh, that was fun,” Shang Qinghua mutters.

Then he notices that Liu Qingge has the Cheng Luan sword out and ready. Shang Qinghua looks through the surrounding darkness, but all he can see are columns and water. For a moment, he thinks he sees something, a prowling shadow at the other end of the cavernous room, but he wipes the water out of his eyes and it’s gone.

AN: The water in Shang Qinghua’s eyes briefly lets him see a flash of the invisible monsters who show up later! It helps up the tension.

Another low growl rips through the darkness and Peerless Cucumber shuffles a little closer to Shang Qinghua. Because that sounded really fucking close and yet Shang Qinghua still can’t see the thing that’s making that sound.

He doesn’t see Liu Qingge lunge at him either. He only feels his brother-in-law shove him into Peerless Cucumber, knocking them into the water, out of the way of something that howls when Liu Qingge slashes at it with his sword. Shang Qinghua rolls off Peerless Cucumber and looks up just in time to see dark blood splatter across the watery floor. Liu Qingge pursues the attacker with a second slash, but only seems to meet thin air this time.

“It’s invisible!” Luo Fanli cries. “Fuck!”

“Behind you!” Liu Qingge snaps, and spins to slash at the thin air beside him. Dark droplets of blood hit the water again and something hisses at him.

Luo Fanli whirls and slashes, searching for an opponent.

“They’re reflected in the water!” Liu Qingge yells at her, standing guard over Shang Qinghua as he gets to his feet again. “Listen for their footsteps and vocalizations! Feel the demonic energy and air displacement!”

AN: I got this from a list of Dungeons and Dragons puzzles. The idea is that there’s some puzzle that must be solved, but the truth of the room can only be seen in the reflection of the nearby water (or mirror or whatever).

Which felt fitting for a “Death of the Author” quest! Whatever an author’s intentions, the story is what they actually wrote, so the audience interprets a text without the context of the author’s insight. The truth (of the story) is in the reflection (audience interpretation)! It felt like a fun idea.

It also allows Shen Yuan to actually contribute to the quest via monster lore and bring up his impaired vision problem. And to confront Shen Yuan with the reality of this world. And to show off Luo Fanli’s fighting skills. And to show off LIU QINGGE’S legendary fighting skills, instincts as a warrior who fights many dangerous beasts, and the fact that he’s clever and observant!

Liu Qingge is good at what he does! And this is what he does!

Someone has… angrily… or desperately… carved a lopsided message into the wall.

“‘If I go blind, so does the world,’” Peerless Cucumber reads.

“...That’s probably not good,” Shang Qinghua says.

“Nooo…” Fanli agrees.

The messages continue as they climb, carved into the walls, the ceilings, the floors. Most of it is illegible. Some of it is just nonsense. Some of it looks like the same kind of historical records carved into the broken tablets. Some of it looks like someone attacked the walls after reading what was written there. There are deep gouges in the walls and cracked marks that would match a giant’s hands.

“‘The water cleans the lies,’” Peerless Cucumber reads. “‘I am the only one who can see.’ ‘Lies everywhere, lies everywhere, lies everywhere.’ ‘The water cleans the evil.’ ‘I do not have enough tears.’ ‘Everything is nothing now. Everything in vain.’”

“You really don’t need to read them!” Shang Qinghua tells the kid. “It’s fine. It's totally fine.”

AN: This is mostly here to up the tension, but it’s also here to try and give insight into this being and relate them more to the “Death of the Author” and the “Seeing is Believing” themes.

I also saw the phrase “If I go blind, so does the world” while I was browsing a list of riddles for D&D campaigns and I was like, “THAT’S SICK, I’M USING THAT.” Really brings the “an eye for an eye” and vengeance vibes. (The riddle was longer than that one phrase, but the answer was “the sun”.)

The top of the temple reveals one massive room that looks like someone was alternatively scratching their insanity into the walls and tearing chunks out of the interior design with their bare hands. Overtop of the rubble is that eerie overgrowth. There’s a fine layer of water over the floor. At the center of it all is an incredibly enormous desk, cracked in half, with a robed skeleton sitting behind it, slumped over the top. It’s a little too large to be an ordinary human.

Plus, its skull is a little too long, probably to accommodate the third eye socket in the forehead. There’s something gleaming softly yellow in the third eye socket.

“Is… there water dripping from its eyes?” Luo Fanli whispers.

“It looks like it…” Peerless Cucumber whispers back. “Like it's crying…?”

“Still…? Is it dead or not?”

“Holy shit,” Shang Qinghua thinks, slightly nauseated. “System, bro, the worst bro I’ve ever known, tell me that we have not been swimming in a three-eyed skeleton’s magical undead tears or something this whole time.”

The shitty, no-good System stays unsurprisingly silent.

AN: Okay, so the idea here is that this being was someone who recorded history and shared their knowledge freely. This being had the ability to discern the truth of a person - they were extremely perceptive. (The Weeper is either female or doesn’t have a gender, by the way.)

The Weeper met the Garden Master at some point. The Garden Master was an asshole, a liar, arrogant, etc.. The Weeper and the Garden Master clashed badly, until the Weeper sent the cleansing flood that nearly destroyed the sect and the Garden Master essentially had to flee to a personal abyss.

The Garden Master sent the plant as a final “fuck you” to the Weeper. The plant caused the Weeper to slowly go mad. The smashed tablets and destroyed temple are the Weeper’s work. The Weeper (not in a great state of mind) had the temple closed themselves once they realized they and their work had been corrupted. This was a “you destroy my (embellished) reputation, I destroy yours (and your entire life)” plot by the Garden Master.

The idea behind the tears is the whole “water is cleansing” thing. The Weeper tried to clean away the madness using their magical water-related abilities... and it actually worked for a long time. But eventually the madness began to overpower the effects of the magical water. The Weeper’s tears are from frustration and helplessness at losing control.

The water inside the temple combats the plant’s physical effects. Also stabbing the root killed the plant and essentially broke its mental/spiritual powers.

Unfortunately, to get the fuck out of here, they have to go back through the temple. But hey! That’s still a lot better than an extended hike through an underground, haunted desert in darkness! The battle with the now-dead plant caused its growth to writhe around the temple. The vines need to be hacked through sometimes as they travel down through the rooms of broken shelves and shattered tablets.

“So much history lost…” Peerless Cucumber murmurs.

“He still thinks of himself as a reader - an observer, a visitor, separate from the flow of fate.”

AN: This is... absolutely based on the Heart from the Dishonored franchise. But this sort of item didn’t originate with Dishonored and I need it! It’s a surprise/mystery tool that will help us later!

The Eye isn’t exactly a mind-reading object. I mean, it kind of is, but it works in a very specific way that I’m looking forward to getting into.

From there, their path back out of the natural maze is even more careful and stressful than before, now that the Huan Hua Palace Sect cultivators are actively looking for them rather than the temple. It’s slow-going and stressful and silent, except for when the Weeper’s Eye presses too close against his chest.

“He is afraid that if he starts screaming, he will never stop,” it tells him, when he’s looking at a pale-faced Peerless Cucumber, as they fly over a particularly deathly-looking drop.

“Oh, me too, bro!” Shang Qinghua thinks. “Seriously! Tell me something I don’t know!”

AN: Having Shang Qinghua be totally unimpressed by an object like this was very funny to me. He’s the author! He’s a transmigrator! He knows these people well! He already has insight into their situations.

Shang Qinghua groans, but supposes that Peerless Cucumber would have at least been disguising Liu Qingge from the back. “You tell them that you were tracking thieves who stole something from Cang Qiong Mountain Sect,” he says quickly. “Rule of embarrassment! Admitting something that makes us look bad to a rival makes it sound true. Don’t tell them what was stolen and act really offended if they try to poke into Cang Qiong business. I’ll come back as soon as I get these two out!”

Liu Qingge nods and launches forward into the fight.

“We’re just leaving him?” Peerless Cucumber says, as they do exactly that.

“I’ll get changed and come back ‘looking for him for urgent sect business’ as soon as I’ve dropped you two off in the last town,” Shang Qinghua says. “I’m really good at acting stressed and confused, and at desperately needing an unstoppable wandering Liu Qingge back at Cang Qiong Mountain Sect immediately. Now let’s go! Let’s go! Mission isn’t over yet!”

AN: Shang Qinghua is, at heart, a liar. I love him.

#tossawary updates #tossawary svsss #pride is not the word #tossawary commentary

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kunstpause-archive · 3 years

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Read on Ao3

Day 8: Adroit

And again some more modern a - I swear I am also going to write something else this month - eventually 😅

Emet/Reader

When Hades shows up the following evening, he holds to boxes of steaming Thai food in his hands, insisting that if you are already staying late, you should do so with a somewhat decent dinner. And it’s definitely more than decent. Not to mention the company is delightful. You talk about this and that, not even looking at the time as you tell him how you are slowly making your new apartment habitable. Hades meanwhile regales you with some more anecdotes of his friend upstairs and his never-ending quest to get him to work less. Over an hour has passed until you finally get around to talking about anything work-related.

“So, what kind of name is ‘Emet-Selch’ actually?” you ask the question that has been repeatedly on your mind.

In front of you, Hades coughs, needing a moment to not choke on his food before he looks at you with a question written all over his face.

“Pardon me?” he murmurs. “What?”

“The boss,” you point out. “I’ve wondered about that; it sounds like a strange name, don’t you think?”

“It’s more akin to a title, actually,” he says after clearing his throat, and that information makes you perk up.

“It is? Oh, kinda like a stage name?” you wonder. “That makes sense; I guess he is an artist, after all.” With a frown, you add, “So what’s his real name then?”

Across from you, Hades lets out a laugh. “I am sure you can easily find that out by employing twenty seconds of your time into a search engine, my dear.”

You shake your head vehemently.

“I am not going to google my boss; what if I find out something I really didn’t wanna know?”

He looks at you across the rim of his glasses like you lost your mind.

“And how is this any different?” Hades asks with a raised brow. “You don’t know what kind of stories I could tell you, after all.”

“Yeah, but then it would be your fault for blabbing and not mine for snooping,” you claim, nodding gravely to underline your point.

“That… is not how it works,” Hades mumbles before he goes back to his food with a shake of his head. “Seriously, you have not looked up the company you’ve come to work for even once?”

You had not. It’s not like you hadn’t thought about it, but ultimately, you had decided against it, and so you give him a shrug.

“It has a splendid reputation, everyone in my class wanted a job here, and I didn’t see the point,” you say before grabbing another bite. “I guess I just like to make my own impressions?”

“An admirable attitude,” Hades murmurs with another shake of his head. “If, perhaps, prone to complications.”

“Huh?” At his muttered afterthought, you look up, but he just waves it aside.

“Ah, don’t mind me.”

You finish your dinner with some more not work-related talk, and before he leaves to get some more work done himself, you give him the small folder you prepared with your proposed changes. He assures you that he will forward them once again as he wishes you a good night and a relaxing weekend.

You have both, but you are almost tempted to go to work on a Sunday for having nothing better to do. You could finally unpack the rest of your things, get your apartment into a state that is actually comfortable to live in, but you’re still not feeling like it. If you’re honest with yourself, it’s not necessarily the work itself you miss and wanna sit around at the company for. Out of all the people you have met over the past week, you definitely like Hades the most. He is kind, thoughtful, unobtrusive, and he listens to your complaints as well as talks to you whenever you both seem to have a little time. And sometimes… Sometimes you notice his eyes sparkle when he looks at you, and it is not only a welcome sight; it is one that sends little jolts of excitement through you each time you catch him. It doesn’t even matter that you have basically just met the man or that he seems to be a good few years older than you - you would like nothing more than to get to know him better.

A feeling that only grows on Monday when you go through your inbox, and an email from your boss already contains some parts of your proposed changes, together with a small thank you note for your very skillfuly adjustments. Hades didn’t waste any time relaying your thoughts, it seems, and you smile to yourself before you decide to visit the coffee cart downstairs and get him something as a thank you. You have no idea what he likes, except for coffee, of course, but the elderly lady behind the counter knows her customers, and a little while later, you are on your way up to his floor, carrying glazed donuts with you. You wouldn’t have suspected him of having a sweet tooth, but the coffee cart lady insisted that those were his favorite.

When you exit the elevator, you look around. You have no idea where his office is precisely, only the floor it’s on. You’ll simply have to ask the next person you see to point you in the right direction.

It turns out to be unnecessary, as you round a corner and practically run into the man himself.

“Persephone,” he greets you with a confused look, holding your shoulders steady to keep you from stumbling. “What are you doing here?”

The way he seems so surprised but at the same time genuinely happy to see you makes you smile. He looks a little different, and it takes you a few seconds to realize that, for once, he is not wearing glasses.

“Looking for you,” you say, holding up the bag with the baked goods to show him. “I brought a thank you for playing messenger for me.”

He looks a bit confused, but as he sees what’s in your hand, his eyes light up.

“Are those donuts?”

“You really do have a sweet tooth,” you laugh as you nod. “So, I was wond-”

You stop talking in surprise as his hands around your shoulders tighten, and he pulls you further around the corner all of a sudden, looking past you with a slight frown.

“What are you doing?” you mumble, unsure just how to react when Hades motions you to be quiet.

“Shhh, I think I saw Hythlodaeus,” he whispers, and now he has you thoroughly confused.

“Your friend?” you murmur back as you wonder about the sudden secrecy.

“He is trying to rope me into something, and I am avoiding him,” he explains quietly, shifting you just a little so he can peek around the corner. “Oh no,” he murmurs. “He’s heading straight this way. Get in there.”

He nudges you through the door right next to you into an empty office. Everything goes fast, and before you know it, you find yourself on the inside, slightly wedged between the office door and Hades, who quietly snaps the lock shut.

You look at him questioningly, trying to make sense of all this when he puts a finger over his lips, indicating you not to make a sound.

A second later, you nearly flinch when someone knocks sharply at the door.

“Hades, are you in there?” an impatient voice asks, and in front of you, Hades mouths the word ‘Hyth’ in a quiet explanation.

“You can’t avoid me forever, you know?” the voice comes again. “This fundraiser is happening, you are going, and if you want to look approachable for once, you’re bringing someone.!”

You have to swallow down a giggle as you realize what it is he is trying to avoid. Somehow, it doesn’t surprise you. He doesn’t seem like the very outgoing type.

“Come on,” comes Hyth’s voice again through the door. “You could ask that cute singing girl from downstairs you’ve been mooning over to come with you; it will be fun!”

Hades winces slightly in front of you, and your eyes widen at those last words as a sudden feeling of giddiness has your stomach jump. With the way Hades looks at you almost apologetically by now, there is little chance his friend means anyone else, and the thought is nothing if not exciting.

“I’ll just be back…” the voice from outside claims before you can hear the sound of someone walking away.

For a moment, you stay quiet, almost unwilling to say something. The slight tension in the air is far too precious, after all. But at the same time, you are not the calmest or most patient person, after all.

“Cute singing girl from downstairs?” you comment with a raised eyebrow, and for a moment, Hades has a sheepish look on his face.

“Well…” he starts, but before he can say anything more, you give him a playful wink.

“You know, I think I’ve heard of her,” you say with a knowing look. “Rumor has it she has been slightly mooning herself about some upstairs guy. So…” you trail off for a moment, grinning at him. “If you ask her, she might actually say yes.”

Something between you shifts as the sheepish look from earlier is completely gone from his face now, replaced by something decidedly different. Unveiled interest is in his eyes as a slow smile spreads across his face.

“Is that so?” Hades murmurs in a low voice, and you are suddenly acutely aware of just how close he is.

His arm against the door, he half cages you in, and with the way he is so much taller than you are, he is practically filling out your whole view. He gives you a long look, and then his other hand rises, and your stomach flutters as his fingers graze your cheek, gently brushing over your skin as he draws a strand of hair out of your face. He tugs it behind your ear, fingertips ghosting over your neck in the process, and you swallow heavily as you look up into his golden eyes that are, for once, not behind a pair of glasses. He is so close all of a sudden, and you lick your suddenly dry lips, very aware of the way his eyes follow the motion. You barely dare to breathe as you wonder if the intense way he looks at you means he is going to kiss you when his smile slightly widens.

“Good to know,” he finally says, letting his hand fall away but still keeping close.

“Are you going to ask?” you wonder with bated breath, and there is a twinkle in those warm eyes as he gives you a slight nod.

“Eventually,” Hades says, still smiling before he finally takes a step back. “But Hyth is not going to let this rest,” he adds with a frown at the door. “I’ll leave to go look for him, and you can sneak out of here a few minutes later.”

The assumption that you would somehow need to sneak out has you furrow your brow in confusion.

“Sneak out?” you ask. “Why would I need to do that?”

“You really don’t want to get people talking,” Hades says with a sigh. “Everyone on this floor is a horrible gossip; you have no idea what you’d set yourself up for if you just walked out of here.”

It doesn’t lessen your confusion at all as you wonder just why anyone would even care if you walked out of a random office with him, but before you can point that out, his hands run over your upper arms, and he nudges you to look at him.

“Persephone, I’m going to come by your office tonight, and I’m going to ask you to go to a fundraiser with me,” Hades says in a surprisingly serious voice. There is a slightly crooked half-smile on his face as he looks down at you with clear anticipation, and you smile back at him at that.

“I look forward to it,” you say with a genuine smile, but Hades doesn’t seem to be done.

“In the meantime, please do me one favor, and google this company,” he murmurs, and just like that, your confusion is back, and you scrunch your nose. “Trust me, my dear,” he insists, “You really want to know some things before you decide to say yes!”

That is not ominous at all, you think, but with a final smile, he lets go of you, unlocks the door, and is gone faster than you can process. A bit forlorn, you look at the bag still in your hand before, for the first time after being dragged in here, you look around the room. It’s the most spacious office you have ever seen. There are shelves willed with folders on one side, a couch, and a sitting area on the other, but at the center, behind a large desk, it’s the floor-to-ceiling windows that catch your eyes the most. The view from up here is so breathtaking that it takes you a few more moments to notice that some impressive things are hanging at the far wall. Honors, prizes, and rather prestigious awards. All made out to…

Emet-Selch.

You nearly let the bag of food slip from your grasp as you realize in whose office you stand, where Hades had dragged you in to. For a few seconds, you think you both can count yourself lucky that it was empty when you notice something else. There is a pair of glasses lying on the desk before you, glasses that look very familiar. You have stared at them quite a few times over the last week, after all. You realize that Hades’ colleague had straight-up assumed he was in here when knocking at the door, and behind the desk, the windows show a clear view of the nearby park as things suddenly click, and you are not sure if you are mortified, very confused or maybe even slightly angry. All you know as you put the bag from the coffee cart down on his desk for him to find later is that the first thing you will do when getting back to your office is heed his advice and look some things up. And tonight, when he shows up at your office, you will make him give you some answers.

#FFxivWrite2021 #FFxivWrite #Kunstpause writes stuff

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houseisekai · 3 years

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House Miisekai Prologue: The Adventure Begins!

House Miisekai Masterlist Here

====

Our story begins in the land of Miisekaitopia! (No, I couldn't think of a better name.)

It is a world where everyone from both storylines and unholy amounts of AU's can live in peace without worrying about wars breaking out every 4 seconds.

At least it was.

The darkness came without warning, a great and terrible shadow threatening all of Miisekaitopia! An unspeakably huge dick came and stole everyone's faces! Then, to add insult to injury, put those faces onto monsters across the land!

But, we shall follow the perspective of Sara Valestein, Instructor of Class VII and the original House Isekai...

Sara casually strolled through the hills, enjoying the sunlight and wind blowing gently across her.

(Sara) "...Goddess I am so bored."

She had been kicked out of yet another bar recently for drinking too much.

Again.

Left with nothing to do, she decided to take a trip to nowhere in particular, going wherever fate took her.

Sara continued muttering to herself, mocking the established "rules" for drinking in a tavern until she noticed something flying in the air.

(Sara) "Is...that a face?"

She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things, and saw the eyes slowly float over to a nearby butterfly.

(Sara) "Uh...?"

(Sara) "GAH!"

The horrific creature began floating faster towards Sara, which prompted her to run full speed ahead towards the closest town.

As she ran out of breath, she ran towards anyone would even take a minute to listen.

(Sara) "H-Hey, there's some freaky bug thing out there with a human face!"

BE-LOP!

Tiny lines of text ran down the guide's face.

It showed too many messages at once for her to properly read it, and the person remained completely still.

(Sara) "...Hello?"

(Everyone) "..."

(Sara) "...Right."

Sara moved to the next person she saw.

...

Sara saw a platypus with a name tag 'Perry' calmly sitting on the market stall.

(Sara) "Hello, anyone here?"

The platypus stared at her, not saying a word.

(Sara) "...What in the hell is with this town?"

Next try. That would probably work.

...

(Anakin) "What did we get ourselves into this time?"

(Obi-Wan) "I'm not sure but...I do not like this a single bit."

(Anakin) "At least you're in a taller body, my head barely reaches your stomach!"

(Obi-Wan) "It's not the first time."

(Sara) "Hey, excuse me ma'aaaaaaaaaa...What in the?"

(Anakin) "Listen lady, we got our own problems right now. We're not in the mood-"

(Obi-Wan) "What my young padawan means is that we unfortunately cannot spare any help if you need it ma'am."

(Sara) "...Evidently."

Sara nervously walked away from the two grown men in a child and woman's body.

(Sonia) "Did we get transported again?"

(Gundham) "By the works of dark magic, no doubt..."

(Sonia) "Oh, looks like there's someone over there. Hello ma'am, do you know where we are?"

(Sara) "Eh?...Huh. That's a good question. Where is this?"

(Sonia) "Oh well, I'm a bit more comfortable knowing that someone I like is with me here!"

(Gundham) "I...uh...er..."

(Sara) "That's cute. Ah, to be young again..."

Sara left the two to talk amongst themselves before finding the next...person?

It was an extremely fat rabbit that was grey and white.

(Sara) "What in the hell-"

BIG BIG CHUNGUS, BIG CHUNGUS, BIG-

(Sara) "Okay, screw that."

Sara finally saw the mayor and approached him, and when he turned she almost jumped.

It was a Piranha plant. She thought so anyway, it was covered in white polka dots and bright red.

(Plant) "Ah, welcome to the town miss?"

(Sara) "Uh, Sara. Sara Valestein. Listen, there's this weird face that attached itself to a butterfly outside your place! You're gonna do something right?"

(Plant) "Did...did you say a face float down? OH NO."

(Familiar Man's voice) "OH YES."

(Sara) ?

(Anakin) "Uh, master?"

(Obi-Wan) "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

The platypus, fat rabbit, and the discord notification looked up into the skies, getting increasingly alarmed.

(Gundham) "THIS DARKNESS...IT'S...IT'S OVERWHELMING!"

(Sonia) "His voice sounds grating like Souda's..."

(Plant) "COINS PRESERVE US! IT'S..."

[Imperial Will - Final Fantasy XIV OST]

(Dark Lord Chris) "KNEEL BEFORE YOUR GOD, AND OFFER YOUR FACES UNTO ME!"

(Sara) "...Faces? You mean like services or...?"

(Anakin) "Maybe that's metaphorical?"

(Obi-Wan) "I'm not sure I want to find out-"

(Chris) "NO, YOU REALLY DON'T. ALSO NO. I MEAN IT LITERALLY!"

Several faces began to fly off the townspeople.

First was the platypus's face, quickly followed by the discord notification and Anakin's.

(Obi-Wan) "ANAKIN!"

Then it was Sonia and the fat rabbit's faces that floated next to Chris.

(Gundham) "AAAAAAAGH!"

(Plant) "OH MY GOD, THIS IS HORRIBLE!"

(Sara) "Can someone tell me what the hell is happening?!-"

(Chris) "THESE NOW BELONG TO ME! NOW, GO TELL THE OTHERS WHAT YOU'VE SEEN HERE, FOR I WILL BE COMING FOR THEM NEXT!"

Chris flew off into the skies, the faces following closely behind.

(Sara) "What an asshole!"

(Plant) "ADVENTURER, PLEASE YOU HAVE TO HELP US!"

(Sara) "Right uh..."

Sara reached for her sword and pistol, which was nowhere to be found.

(Sara) "Well, that's just great..."

Obi-Wan struggled to walk over to here, still not accustomed to his body and looked at Sara.

(Obi-Wan) "Ma'am, I'm afraid I cannot go into battle myself to assist with this matter. And we don't appear to have our weapons either..."

(Sara) "So, what do you reckon I do? Ask nicely?"

...

(Sara) "Damn it."

OUTSIDE OF TOWN...

Chris was floating away from the town when Sara finally caught up to him.

(Sara) "HEY, JACKASS!"

(Chris) "...Oh, you mean me. I-I mean, OH, IS SOMEONE TRYING TO BE THE HERO NOW?"

(Sara) "Don't play smart with me you glasses wearing freak! Give back their faces!"

(Chris) "Or what? You're going to fight me?"

Sara cracked her knuckles.

(Chris) "...Oh shit. Uh, here have it."

The face slowly floated over to a slime, which reattached itself and began hopping towards Sara.

(Anakin's voice) "OH MAN, I THOUGHT THE KID BODY WAS BAD!"

(Chris) "Uh anyways, LATER!"

Chris quickly flew away from Sara, leaving her and Anakin's face on a slime.

(Sara) "Alright, LET'S GO!"

Sara drove her fist into the slime, which quickly bounced off.

(Sara) "...Oh right. It's a slime."

The slime retaliated by knocking Sara onto her back.

(Anakin's voice) "Sorry!"

(Sara) "Damn, my weapons aren't anywhere to be found either!

"I AM THOU...THOU ART I..."

(Sara) "Oh, what is it now-HURK?!"

Sara reached for her head as the voice boomed thunderously.

"THOU ART...Okay, no we're not rhyming. I'm your guardian spirit, Sara!"

(Sara) "Really now? And where were you during Erebonia?!"

"ANYWAYS, it seems you're in a bit of trouble! Do you need some help?"

(Sara) "It's either getting help or getting killed by a damn slime of all things, so...Yeah, sure."

"Good choice! Now, I bestow upon you the awesome power of the guardian!"

(Sara) "You're gonna explain later where I got this from, right?"

"That depends, do you want the plot to get moving? Our other posts are slowed down as it is, and this has gotten too meta in just the first few lines of this."

(Sara) "Ugh, fine."

Sara's outfit shined forth and became donned in armor, wielding a new sword.

(Sara) "Hey, you cheap bastard, where's my gun?!"

"This is a fantasy RPG, why would you get a gun? Just kill the damn slime already!"

(Anakin's voice) "WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?!"

(Sara) "Hold on, I'll getcha outta there, HIYA!"

[COOL QUIRK: WEAK POINT]

Sara took one swing of her sword and smacked the slime into the floor, it quickly disappearing.

Anakin's face floated off the slime and back to the town.

"That was..."

(Sara) "Really anti-climatic."

"You should uh...probably go back to the town and check up on Anakin."

INSIDE OF TOWN...

Anakin's face slowly floated back onto the child's body, making him trip over.

(Anakin) "AGH!"

(Obi-Wan) "So, how was it?"

(Anakin) "I was just put into a slime's body, how do you think I feel?!"

(Obi-Wan) "Same as usual, got it."

Obi-Wan turned to Sara, who now looked like a proper knight.

(Obi-Wan) "You have our thanks for helping us, Miss?"

(Sara) "Name's Sara."

(Anakin) "Thanks for helping me out there. What are you gonna do? We'd join you but our bodies would just get in the way."

(Sara) "I'm going to uh...Hey, what is the plan?"

"What do you think? You're the only hero in a fantasy land."

(Obi-Wan) "Is she alright?"

(Anakin) "Yeah, she started doing this earlier, no idea what's up with it."

(Sara) "Might as well go after the others, see what happens I guess. Anyways, I'll be back once I restored this town, until then!"

Sara held onto her sheathe and ran out of the town, those still faceless watching her leave.

(Gundham) "Please hurry. Sonia is...unsettling me."

(Plant) "Miss Valestein, you're our only hope...!"

(Anakin) "Think she'll be okay? That talking thing is really concerning me."

(Obi-Wan) "Probably...?"

[Chase Me - Faky]

(Sara) "Right so...do I just go forward?"

"Where did you see him fly off to?"

(Sara) "Was a lot more focused on trying NOT to get murdered by the slimes."

"It was just a slime, you've killed enemy mechs and demonic beasts like it was nothing!"

(Sara) "That's when I had my weapons and ARCUS unit!"

"..Still. Should've had no problem. I probably didn't even have to interfere."

(Sara) "Good goddess, am I going to be stuck with you? Actually WHO even are you?"

"The narrator! In a sense anyway."

(Sara) "What-"

And so begins the tale of Sara Valestein and her quest to defeat the Dark Lord Chris!

What friends will she encounter on the way?

How much of the meta can we break more than we have?

How many more jokes will the writer run into the ground as this series goes on?

FIND OUT NEXT TIME, ON HOUSE MIISEKAI!

(Sara) "...What?!"

STARRING:

And yours truly as the antagonist for this story!

Here's to some more god-awful written meme stories like this one, everyone!

#House Isekai #House Isekai ARR #House Miisekai

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duhragonball · 4 years

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[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (126/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation. This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

[20 July, 233 Before Age. Nagaoka.]

"Okay, so Treekul's in a bad spot. She should have been more careful about who she got mixed up with. Yeah, and she shouldn't have been so eager to run off on another quest. But that's what makes Treekul cool, you know? Other alchemical historians? They just sit in libraries all day, poring over dusty holo-fiches. But Treekul goes out and finds things. And for once, she had backup. Two Saiyans, Lesseri and Endive, and then we picked up a third, Guwar. With their support, I could discover all sorts of artifacts."

Treekul stopped, shook her head, and gestured to slow down. "I mean she could discover," she said. "Sorry. My therapist always told me this works better if I refer to myself in the third person. You'd think I'd be used to this by now, but I-- but Treekul's under a little more stress than usual. Like I said, it was handy to have three Saiyans backing her up, even if they only wanted her to find things for them, at least she knew no one would mess with her. And she scored some decent leads along the way. There's a treasure trove of artifacts in that penthouse on Quadzityz, assuming it survived the war. Lesseri and Endive killed the owner and wrecked the security systems, and most of that stuff isn't even valuable to anyone else. Nothing to stop Treekul from walking in and helping herself. Another paper for the academic journals. If she ever makes it out of this mess, that is."

She began to pace back and forth around her modest living quarters. The strips of red fabric that made up her "robes" trailed behind her legs as she walked.

"The Saiyans were looking for a cult," she continued. "And Treekul heard it was named after 'jindan', an alchemical term for mercuric sulfide. Or, rather, the fundamental principle that mercuric sulfide represents. So she saw an opportunity and agreed to help them find this cult, using her expertise with a geomantic compass. Guwar was a mathematician, if you can believe that, so he helped out with the calculations. He was a really nice guy. Bit of an inferiority complex, but I get the feeling that goes for every Saiyan."

She stopped herself again. "Not 'was', 'is'. Guwar is a nice guy," she said. "Just because no one's told me what happened to him doesn't necessarily mean he got killed in the war. It's just... Treekul could really use his help right now. Or even if he can't help, it'd be nice if he were here to listen to her, like he did back on the ship, before they found the Jindan cult.

"Turns out the cult was real all along, and they leave just enough bread crumbs out there so that other Saiyans can find them. Their leader is the Saiyan King, Rehval III, but here, he calls himself 'Trismegistus', a reference to the Thrice Blessed alchemist from ancient writings. Rehval seems to think he's uncovered some great secret, something that makes him the greatest alchemist ever, and from what I've seen, he might be right about that. His Jindan potion makes Saiyans even stronger, and he must have thousands of them working for him. Only trouble is that they have to give up their free will. Rehval tells them what to eat, when to sleep, they all have sex in some 'breeding pit' thing that I don't even want to think about..."

She paused to rub the bridge of her nose, then ran her hand over the short green hair on her lavender scalp. It was normally a satisfying feeling for her, but not this time, her hair was too long for that by now.

"The others all did whatever Rehval told them to. All they cared about was power. They brought Treekul here, and no one was interested in how she got home. No payday, no paper, no treasure trove of artifacts. Instead, Rehval decided to keep her as some sort of alien pet. He thinks he can train her to be an alchemist, and so far he hasn't done too bad a job of it, at least when he's not creeping on her. It makes me... It makes her want to scream. But that's okay. It's okay for her to be frightened. She's never been this afraid, and she's got good reason to be."

She stopped pacing and looked intently in the direction of her bed. "So here's the good news. Treekul has options. Sure, she's not any closer to getting off this planet than when she first arrived, but she hasn't been wasting time either. Treekul didn't get this far without being resourceful. She can be absolutely terrified and still get herself out of this. That's what makes her strong."

She went to a small writing desk along the wall of her room and picked up a scroll. It carried a faint odor of rotten eggs and olefins. "Rehval's convinced that she'll become his apprentice, I guess ruling over the Saiyans like a god isn't enough for him, he wants to pass down his knowledge of alchemy. Well, fine. If he's as talented as he says he is, maybe he'll show Treekul a little more than he should. Something she can use to get out of here. For instance, this scroll belonging to Mirdane talks about disguising yourself perfectly, even down to smell and ki signature. If Treekul can get good enough at alchemy to figure that out, she could walk right up to the shipyard and be halfway to the next star system before anyone knew she was missing.

"I know what you're thinking: Treekul's a quick study, but she's an archaeologist who studies alchemists, not an alchemist herself, so maybe that plan is little too ambitious. Fair point. Which is why she's been working other angles. The boss wants her to play one of his priestesses, right? He's dressed her up in a cocktail dress that went through a blender. Well, that gives her access to all his brainwashed goons, and all that undeserved authority that comes with it. She hasn't heard from the acolytes who offered to show me around the hangar, but they seemed pretty enthusiastic about it. Don't worry, when they finally take her on the tour, Treekul won't spend too much time there, just enough to get a feel for the place when it's time for her to snoop around by herself.

"And if that doesn't pan out there's always Endive. Too bad about her. For a while there, I was sure she'd turn on the boss. From what I hear, Rehval does something to the cultist's memories, so they don't recognize him as the king, even of they knew him before when he ruled Planet Saiya. At some point Endive must have found out that "Trismegistus" is the same guy who killed her father, but she doesn't seem to care. He's been using her for one of his casual sex hookups for weeks now. I thought..."

She stopped and took a seat in her chair, then looked down at the red flats on her feet. "I just thought-- Treekul thought Endive was smarter than that. She was so disciplined and focused. You'd think she wouldn't be so easily manipulated, but... she's become completely devoted to him, and the scariest thing is that you can tell she knows it's wrong. But enough about her. If Endive and Lesseri won't help Treekul, then Treekul needs to forget about them."

She stood up and started pacing again. "Speaking of sex... Treekul doesn't want to go down that road, but she has to keep it in mind. Rehval has his followers convinced that he needs a rotation of women to share his bed. Something about 'balancing his bodily humors', but I think we all know he just wants to have a good time. He wants Treekul for some reason. All those women at his beck and call, and he wants the one woman on the planet who isn't interested. It's like he's waiting for her to fall madly in love with him. Yeah, good luck with that. Still... if she's going to earn his trust, she need to play along with his expectations. Maybe she ought to flirt a little, so he'll think his plan is working. He's not exactly unattractive, it's the whole 'delusions of grandeur' thing that's a turn-off."

Treekul stopped and crossed her arms as she looked at the bed. "Here's the problem. If she's not careful, he'll probably get bored with her and have her brainwashed like everyone else on this planet. Or he'll just kill her for being an alien. On the other hand, if she's too careful, and Treekul waste too much time playing the eager disciple, the he won't need to brainwash her, because she'll basically be doing it for him. Ugh! What a fix."

"Um, were you finished?"

"Huh?"

The Saiyan man lying on her bed had sat up and pointed to his ears, which were stuffed with wax. "I'm on duty in ten minutes," he said. "Unless you need me to stay here..."

Treekul gestured at her own ears for him to remove the wax, and so he did.

"Yeah, all finished," she said. "You were amazing, Zhoybok."

"It's an honor, madam priestess," he said as he rose from the bed, "but I really don't understand your species' mating practices. You didn't even touch me the whole time."

"Oh, you don't remember any of it, then?" Treekul asked in mock concern. "I guess the psychic vibrations must have been beyond your comprehension. That happens with aliens who lack the secret eighth sense my people have. You probably just hallucinated me pacing around and talking to myself."

Zhoybok was astonished. "As a matter of fact, I did!"

"To tell you the truth, a lot of my kind frown on this sort of thing. They think it's perverse to have this level of intimacy with life forms who can't experience it properly. But for me, I think that's part of the thrill. It's so... savage, don't you think?"

Zhoybok wasn't sure what to say, but he wasn't interested in disputing the words of a priestess, so he accepted her compliments and excused himself. Once he was gone, Treekul shook her head and lay down on the bed. Lying was tiring work, even to someone as gullible as Zhoybok.

"I really need to get more comfortable about talking to myself," she said.

*******

[20 July, 233 Before Age. Interstellar Space.]

There were only four people aboard Luffa's star-yacht, which now criss-crossed the worlds of the Federation in a frantic effort to keep pace with the Jindan Cult's attacks. The Federation defenses were spread thin, and if any invading ship managed to land on a planet, there were few who could stand up to the alchemically-empowered Saiyans inside. Luffa was getting better at fighting them, but their numbers were beginning to take a toll on her body. Dr. Topsas, her personal physician, had found ways to heal her in time for the next battle, while the clairvoyant Dotz had proven handy at predicting attacks before they happened, so Luffa could plan her travel. The fourth passenger on board, Zatte, was Luffa's wife, and she was beginning to wonder if she served any useful purpose here at all.

"That's ridiculous," Wampaaan'riix said when she shared her frustrations with him over the subspace radio. The Yetitan looked as enormous as ever, despite the desktop monitor scaling down his nine-foot-tall frame. "You practically operate the entire ship by yourself."

"So did Keda," Zatte said. She was rubbing the muscles in her arms and legs while she spoke to him. "And she did it better than I ever could."

"And you find no honor in succeeding a fallen comrade?" Wampaan'riix asked.

"It's not enough," Zatte said. "Keda didn't recognize Luffa as a xan-nil'Dor. For her, Luffa was a friend, and sort of a business partner, I guess you could say. For me, she's my wife, and an instrument of Providence. I have to do better. Especially now."

It was almost impossible to read his expressions through the coat of long white hair that covered most of his face, but the way Wampaaan'riix narrowed his eyes was unmistakable. "You're not thinking of going with her into the field?" he asked warily.

"I already have," Zatte said. "At first it seemed to be just what I wanted. I'd set up somewhere safe and shoot down cultists to keep them off Luffa's back. Trouble is, she took it as a challenge. Lately, she's been making it her business to take out the enemy before I can get a shot off. And that's romantic and all, but--"

"You two are insane," Wampaaan'riix grumbled.

"Look, I have to be there for her," Zatte said. She had moved on to stretching her hamstrings. "She's fighting a war against her own kind. Even the Saiyans on our side don't fully trust her. She doesn't let it show, but I know how much it eats at her. I can't imagine what it would be like to fight other Dorluns."

"I agree, she needs your support," Wampaaan'riix said. "But if you keep pushing yourself you may not be there when she needs it the most. This Dotz woman. She can predict the enemy attacks, can't she? Why not ask her for help? If she can tell Luffa where to go and when, then she can do the same for you, right?"

"That's the problem," Zatte said. "Dotz can't see Luffa's fate, only the planets and battles that lie ahead. We only know Luffa will get involved when Luffa decides to intervene."

"Strange, but even if that's true, why not see what Dotz can read about your own future?" Wampaaan'riix suggested. "I'm surprised you haven't already. You're a survivalist after all."

"I... I can't," Zatte said. She rose from the foam mat on the deck of her cabin and approached the desk.

"Well why not?" Wampaaan'riix asked. "It can't be a moral objection. You seem to have no problem with any of Dotz' other readings."

"Look, I... I have to go. I'll call you back, okay?"

"Just promise me you'll do it in the daytime," Wampaaan'riix groaned. "I know you've been in space a long time, but my den is on a different day-night cycle than--"

She hastily switched off the monitor, and a second later Luffa entered the cabin.

"I set the slow cooker for three hours," Luffa said as she rubbed her hands together. "How long before we get to Dodjem?"

"Tomorrow morning," Zatte said. They met in the center of the cabin and embraced.

"Dotz thinks there'll be ten Jindan Saiyans there," Luffa said with a smile. "Should be interesting."

"I'm going with you," Zatte insisted.

"Oh, I can handle ten," Luffa assured her.

"Then I'll watch you through my scope," Zatte said. "Or I'll shoot a few down for you, but either way, I'm coming along."

"Heh. Okay. You worry too much, you know that?"

"Someone has to," Zatte said. "Dotz still can't see your future, you know."

"Well, her other predictions are getting better," Luffa said. "On Shoust IV, she managed to get an accurate count on the enemy. She even located them to within a one mile radius. I think her powers are really coming along."

"Yeah, but she can't see your future."

"Does that still bother you?" Luffa asked.

Zatte tightened her grip on Luffa's torso and swung her onto the nearby bed. A moment later, she was had climbed on top of Luffa, planting her hands on her shoulders.

"No, it doesn't," Zatte said. "Not anymore."

"I'm not sure how to respond to that," Luffa said with a grin.

"I thought about it," Zatte said after giving her a long kiss. "I prayed about it too. Is it all right if I light some candles?"

"Uh, sure, knock yourself out," Luffa said.

Zatte rolled off of Luffa and went to a storage cabinet on the other side if her cabin. She removed four candles and laid them on the floor in a trapezoid formation surrounding the bed. After she lit each one, she got back in bed and knelt beside Luffa.

"Is the scent too much for you?" Zatte asked. "I know how sensitive your nose is."

"It's fine," Luffa said. "Smells kind of nice, really."

"It's not exactly sacred," Zatte said. The incense is just to keep insects away during religious observances. It makes me feel closer to Providence, though. So does this."

She placed her hand on Luffa's neck, and rested her thumb where she could take her pulse. The she took a deep breath and muttered something in her native language.

"Uh, what's going on here, exactly?" Luffa asked.

"I realized that I was letting Dotz' abilities cloud my faith in you," Zatte said. "I promised myself that I wouldn't ask her to read my future. I was worried that she might find out that I end up living without you somehow."

"I won't leave you, Zattie," Luffa said. "We've had our ups and downs, but you're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"I have to trust that," Zatte said. "That's why I can't let Dotz's predictions bother me. She's getting better at them, but not when it comes to you. That scared me for a while, so I started meditating on it."

"Go on," Luffa said carefully.

"I came to realize that it makes sense that Dotz can't see your fate, because you're part of the Divine Plan. If she knew what you were going to do and when, then it would be like she was seeing into the mind of Providence."

"Or maybe I'm just so powerful that my ki interferes with her readings," Luffa suggested.

"Sure, that could be all it is," Zatte said. "But I like the version that supports my fanatic devotion to you."

She leaned over to kiss Luffa, still taking her pulse as they embraced. Luffa pulled away gently, and shook her head.

"You know how uncomfortable I get with this stuff," she said.

"I know," Zatte said. "But you keep getting hurt out there, and Dotz doesn't know what will happen next, so this is how I cope."

"I mean, you tell me I'm like God's righteous bludgeon or something, but the other night you... well, it was great, but maybe it was sacrilegious?"

Zatte straddled Luffa again, and held down her shoulders. "It's okay," she said. "Sex is a consecration ritual in my culture."

"Oh yeah?" Luffa asked.

"Dorluns value survival. People don't usually have sex while they're being chased by predators. They do it when they're safe and secure. And it can bring about new life."

"Huh. Maybe that's why my own people are so uptight about it," Luffa said. "In public, I mean. I've always had... ah!... mixed feelings about being safe."

"It's all in how you look at it. We're flying through a vacuum, faster than the speed of light, through a war zone, on a pleasure craft with no crew. And we're not exactly dressed for action right now. But if you're still bored, I'll... mmph!... I'll see if I can keep you amused for a while."

*******

[21 July, 233 Before Age. Interstellar Space.]

The battle on Dodjem went as smoothly as could be expected. Dotz' prophecies were mostly accurate, and Luffa was able to surprise the enemy before they noticed her ship. They fought back ferociously, and Luffa's right shoulder was scorched by a ki attack, but Dr. Topsas was confident that he could heal this in a matter of days. Dodjem was liberated in less than two hours, and Luffa proceeded on her way to the next battle Dotz had predicted, in the Ryllax System.

"Careful," Luffa said, guiding Zatte's hand away from her banadaged shoulder. She had set up the slow cooker once again, and the two of them had convened in Zatte's cabin.

"Does it hurt?" Zatte asked as she gingerly lifted Luffa's blood-stained shirt over her head and other arm.

"Sure it hurts, but that's not the point," Luffa said. "Doc'll really be sore if you mess up his bandanges."

"It's a wonder the whole ship isn't full of this stuff," Zatte said. She tossed the shirt at the laundry receptacle, but it hit the rim and fell out instead. "I mean, where does he put it all after he cuts it off of you?"

"He eats it," Luffa said.

"You're kidding."

"No, seriously. I've seen him do it. He makes all of these bandages from his own webbing. It takes a lot of protein to make that work, so he doesn't like to waste it."

"I had no idea," Zatte said. "You think you know a guy... whuh--!"

Luffa pulled her close with her good arm. "Forget about him for now. I wanted to talk about that shot you took back on Dodjem."

Zatte's expression shifted from genuine surprise to feigned innocence. "Oh, did that bother you, darling?"

"I thought one of those Jindan bastards found you," Luffa said. "I had one of them wide open, ready to kill, and I had to pass it up so I could chase the other one down before he found you."

"He had no idea where I was hiding," Zatte boasted.

"I know," Luffa said. "Even I couldn't find you. How am I supposed to watch your back if I don't even know where you are? You're taking a big risk out there, you know that, right?"

"That's the way," Zatte said. "Talk dirty to me."

"Oh, I'll do more than talk before I'm through with you," Luffa said with a grin. "I'll-- dammit..."

She rolled away from Zatte and drew her arms to her chest.

"Let me see," Zatte said.

"It's nothing," Luffa insisted. "Just give me a minute."

"Let me see," Zatte insisted back. Luffa made an irritated grunt, but didn't resist when Zatte took her hands in her own.

"I was starting to think your hands had stopped trembling," Zatte said as she massaged Luffa's palms. It didn't actually do anything to improve the situation, but it made them both feel better when she did this. "I haven't seen you stuff them in your pockets much lately."

"It's... it's not as bad as it used to be," Luffa said. "I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with Katem, but I think it still helps. Maybe it's all your prayers."

"He's kind of a hot mess," Zatte said.

"Just like his mom, huh?" Luffa chuckled.

"You're not a bad mother, Luffa. What happened wasn't your fault."

"I know," Luffa said. "It doesn't help much, but I know."

"You're still worked up about Fytpall, aren't you?" Zatte asked.

"I've seen worse in my time," Luffa said.

"Maybe, but you were pretty shaken up when you came back from that one," Zatte said. "You don't usually stick around and see what the civilians are going through."

"I'm just... I'm not strong enough, Zattie. I know that sounds stupid coming from me, but I know I could do better than this. If I was just a little better, I could..."

"You're good enough, okay? And maybe you can get stronger, but you can't just get there instantly. It's like you always tell me when we spar."

Luffa didn't say anything, but her heavy sigh was response enough. Zatte continued to rub her thumbs into the scars on Luffa's hands.

"You don't have to be tough for me," Zatte said. "It's okay. It's okay."

Soon enough, the tremors in Luffa's hands subsided, and they went back to what they were doing, although the mood had shifted from flirtation to comfort. Within thirty minutes, their clothes lay on the deck, and they were entangled in the sheets. Zatte occasionally said something in her own language, and kept her finger on Luffa's carotid artery as she muttered to herself. Eventually, she sat up and cradled Luffa's upper body in her lap.

*******

[24 July, 233 Before Age. Interstellar Space.]

"I was so busy favoring my shoulder that I left my knee wide open!" Luffa grumbled. The campaign on Ryllax had ended hours ago, but Luffa's clothes and hair still carried the scent of Ryllaxian pollens from the battlefield.

"Are you going to make it to Eirzee IV?" Zatte asked as she carried Luffa's pants to the laundry receptacle. She took in the strange aroma one last time before shoving the clothes into the hatch.

"Oh, sure," Luffa said. "Doc repaired the worst of it, and I'll have to play it more carefully, but now he's gonna kick me out of the kitchen!"

"You don't know that," Zatte said.

"I can practically hear him, Zattie," Luffa said. "'Saving planets is one thing, but I'll not have you undoing all my work making a casserole, little mammal.'"

"What, now you can see the future, too?" Zatte asked. She was setting up candles around the bed again.

"Heh, maybe. I guess Old Darbock's genes are finally kicking in," Luffa said. "But it looks like I only know how to predict cranky doctors, so Dotz's job is probably safe."

"Well, I hate to take sides, but we can get by on leftovers for a while," Zatte said. "You cook too much food anyway."

Luffa lay back in the bed and groaned. "Still? I keep cutting the portions down for you guys, and it's still too much? That's insane..."

"I'm going to do my litany now," Zatte said. "Any requests?"

"I, uh, I don't think so," Luffa said. "Well, bless Dotz again. And Doc, and the others. And yourself."

Zatte began speaking slowly and methodically, reciting lines from the Dorlun Holybook in her alien tongue. Luffa only knew bits and pieces of her language, but Zatte had been happy to translate for her whenever she asked.

Luffa felt strange whenever her wife did these kinds of observances. She had never been comfortable with being a "chosen one" in Zatte's theology-- or anyone else's, for that matter. And yet, watching this woman pray over her so fervently was somehow inspiring. Zatte had suffered so much in her life, and yet she refused to abandon her principles. It reminded her of Saiyan pride, though Luffa supposed that most beings would just call it stubbornness. Zatte was too zealous to give up hope.

"Thank you for letting me do this," Zatte said when she finished.

"No problem," Luffa said. "Your language is pretty."

She leaned over and fetched a bottle of oil from the edge of the bed. Carefully, she dispensed a small portion onto her fingers, then dabbed it on Luffa's throat and wrists, tracing along the path of major blood vessels.

"All done," Zatte said.

"You've been really ramping up the religious stuff lately," Luffa said. "The litanies, the candles, the oil. I don't really get it myself, but is it helping you?"

"I think so," Zatte said. "The Dorluns prefer not to waste resources on empty ceremony. Some types of xan-nil'Dor call for physical labor. Farming a plot of land, or defending an important place. You, though, well, you're damn near invincible, so you're pretty low-maintenance. I just need something to do. A routine to renew my devotion to your cause."

"Like a practice drill," Luffa said.

Zatte rose from the bed and started putting out the candles. "Yeah, I guess you could call it that. I may not be able to stop your hands from shaking, but at least I can show that I care. I think that's worth doing."

"Maybe," Luffa said. "It's not a big deal. They don't interfere with my fighting."

Zatte lay down beside her and took her hands in her own. "It just reminds me of what you've been through. I can't take away your pain, but I can try to empathize. You taught me how important that is."

"I taught you?"

"Sure. You're the most compassionate person I know."

*******

[27 July, 233 Before Age. Interstellar Space.]

Dr. Topsas did not order Luffa out of the kitchen, though after the battle on Gairess, he began to wish he had. He implored Luffa to wait before heading off into another battle, but the point was moot. Dotz had no new predictions, and so Luffa found herself with no choice but to wait. Once more, she spent the evening in her wife's cabin.

"I... I gotta admit," Zatte said as she tried to catch her breath. "Even with the broken ribs... you really--"

"Is this messed up?" Luffa suddenly asked.

"Is what messed up?"

Luffa pointed at herself and then at Zatte. "Us," she said. "I mean, you've got the candles set up, you say a prayer before we go to bed, and then we talk about almost getting killed to get in the mood."

"Don't forget the sparring," Zatte said.

"You know, I never sparred with Kandai," Luffa said. "He never wanted to, and I never questioned it. He was so much stronger than me that he didn't see the point. But the gap between you and me is even bigger, and I love sparring with you."

"We're aliens," Zatte said. "I'm cut off from my own people and you're unique among yours. There's nothing conventional about us."

"I know, but... Zattie, are you ever afraid?"

"Of course," Zatte said. "Fear keeps you alive."

"I mean, are your afraid right now?" Luffa asked.

"Here? With you?" Zatte asked. "No. Are you afraid?"

"Yeah," Luffa said.

"About the war? Your son?"

"I'm afraid I'm not good enough," Luffa said. I feel like I'm gonna screw this up. Like I have before."

She reached for Zatte's face, and gently removed the patch from her right eye, revealing the scar tissue and prosthetic implant underneath.

"If it's me you're worried about..." Zatte began, but Luffa put her finger on her lips to silence her.

"I know, you're prepared to burn for me, or suffer whatever it takes, right? I wish I had a tenth of your courage. I wish... well, I wish there was some other Super Saiyan handling this."

"Aren't you always saying you're stronger than they were?" Zatte asked.

"Maybe I am, but I bet the old heroes never had to deal with the kind of baggage I've got."

"This is about your hands, isn't it?" Zatte asked. She took Luffa's palms into her own, and held them steady in case they began to tremble.

"It was four years ago," Luffa said. "I should have gotten over it by now. I should have gotten over Keda's death, I should have gotten over everything... The old heroes never had to deal with this sort of thing. They just fought and won. Nice and simple. I'm fighting, and I'm winning, but I keep dwelling on it all. Worrying about battles from the past, wondering how I'm going to do in the next ones."

"Maybe they had it just as bad," Zatte said. "Maybe the storytellers just left those parts out."

"Sometimes I wish things were different, you know? You told me before this is exactly how you wanted things to be, but I bet you'd like it better with Keda still alive. Or hell, the rest of the colony."

"But they're not alive, Luffa," Zatte said. "I have to accept that they're gone."

"I could have saved them all," Luffa said. "I had the power. I must have had it inside me all along. If only I had known how to use it then. When it would have mattered. If only I wasn't such a coward..."

"Don't say things like that!" Zatte said. "I know you use that kind of talk to get yourself fired up, but I don't want you believing that sort of thing. You're the bravest person I know."

"It's not enough," Luffa said. "That's what I worry about, anyway."

"And that's what the candles and the prayers are for," Zatte said. She lifted Luffa's hands slightly. "I don't just pray for the tremors to stop," she said. "I pray that the tremors won't interfere with your mission. I pray that you can accept what you are the way I do. You know why?"

Luffa didn't answer, so she lay down beside her and took her hand.

"Maybe you're right, and maybe another Super Saiyan could deal with this better than you could. You've told me that you think there might be another one like you, a thousand years from now. Well, I don't think the universe can wait that long. I think we need a Super Saiyan right now, and you're it."

"You're right," Luffa said. "It's just hard to see it that way from the inside. All these fights I've been having with these cultists, they start to run together after a while. It'd be different if they were stronger, or if I could come at them healthy. But they keep chipping away at me, and there doesn't seem to be any end to it..."

"We've got some time, at least," Zatte said. "Dotz hasn't seen anything new coming up, right? Remember how you used to fly over the coastlines on Luffasworld?"

"Yeah," Luffa said, "but that's way out in the galactic core. By the time we got there--"

Zatte put a finger on her lips. "I know that, but Woshad's not far away. We could take a few days to look around there."

Luffa seemed pleased by the suggestion, but before she could speak, a chirping noise sounded from the cabin's intercom, and both women looked up to see the light blinking on the panel on the wall.

"Um, this is Dotz," came the voice through the speaker. "Well, um, the service robot told me I could talk to the whole ship this way, and I thought it might be faster than trying to find everyone. Despye's been attacked. Or, well, it will be in about twenty hours. It looks pretty bad to me. I saw about twenty Saiyans, and one of those rock creatures they use."

"Oh no..." Zatte said.

"I, uh, set a course for Despye," Dotz continued, "and we should be heading there now, but I thought one of you should check to make sure I did it right. I'm still getting used to the helm controls..."

"We won't get there in twenty hours," Luffa grumbled. "Those bastards will have a head start, again. Even if the fleet can get there before us--"

"I know, I'll take care of it," Zatte said. She rolled out of the bed and went to find her clothes. "You need to get some sleep."

"Fine, but make sure you get some yourself," Luffa said. "I mean... you're going with me, right?"

"So I can watch you wipe them out before I can even line up a shot?" Zatte asked. "Sure, if you want me to."

"Actually," Luffa said as she patted her swollen knee, "I was thinking I might lure a few in for you to shoot. Make things a little easier. For Doc, you know?"

Zatte grinned as she pulled her shirt over her head, and most of that smile was still there when she turned to look back at Luffa. "For Dr. Topsas," she said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. "Makes sense. He's been working pretty hard lately."

"Just don't stay up all night cleaning your guns, okay?" Luffa muttered.

Zatte pulled on a pair of shorts and headed for the door. "Anything you say," she chuckled as she headed out into the corridor.

NEXT: Rats in mazes.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #zatte #treekul #wampaaan'riix #zhoybok #nagaoka

6 notes · View notes

kumeko · 4 years

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A/N: For the Merlin zine! After so long, I’ve finally posted it, ahahaha. I wanted to do a piece on some of the lesser used characters, in that sad gap between end of canon/modern era.

...

…

...

The path was well-hidden, with long grasses and weeds covering all but the faintest sliver of it. If Merlin hadn’t traversed it a thousand times by now, he would not have found it. As it was, he almost got lost three times. It was a good thing he had de-aged himself before coming here, or he would never have made it.

“Finally,” he grumbled as he emerged from the forest and walked toward the lake. Approaching the shoreline, he sank onto the grassy knoll next to the water. The ground was still soft after the spring rains. “That was tiring.”

You should rest then. A voice bubbled out of the lake, washing around him like sea foam. Leaning forward, Merlin peered into the water to see a face smiling up at him.

“Freya,” he breathed, smiling broadly. Her face rippled in response, her image distorting slightly. Did she look the same as she had when they first met? He wasn’t sure; he could barely remember those early days. Not that he had to—she existed now, and for that, Merlin was grateful.

He was tired of saying goodbye.

How are you, Merlin? She started to emerge from the water, like an iceberg rising. Droplets ran down her body as she leaned against the lake’s bank. Resting her head on her crossed arms, she glanced up at him. “You’re scratched all over!”

“Nature took over,” he grumbled, gesturing back to the woods. He could handle most things, but not the brambles and thorns. If only he had brought shears or a machete. “We should never have let go of the gardener.”

Freya blinked owlishly before laughing. “You never change.”

“I’d like to think I’m a little smarter.” Merlin pouted. Sitting back, he gave her a winning smile. “Maybe even handsomer?”

She broke out into a fresh burst of giggles, shaking her head. “Merlin!”

“Everyone has that exact response.” He frowned. Letting it go, he looked out over the lake at the castle. Avalon was just as untouchable, as unreachable as it had been that night. If only he had reached it then—would Camelot still be standing? Would Merlin still be alive now, centuries later?

There was a price for everything, and the price of failure was too much: a loss of home, of companionship.

Of memory.

Quietly, he asked, “Has he awoken yet?”

He didn’t really need to hear her reply, just as he didn’t need to see the pity in her eyes as she shook her head. “No, not yet.”

“He always did oversleep.” Merlin shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, trying to feign indifference. “That’s why I had to do all the hard work.”

“Well…” She gave him an impish grin. “You were very brave at least.”

“Were? And that’s all?” Merlin splashed her lightly and swiftly moved back before she could retaliate. He still wasn’t sure how much power over the water she had and he didn’t want to end up at the bottom of a lake. Looking up, he could spot a white speck flying in the sky. “Is that Aithusa?”

Freya followed his line of sight, squinting. After a few minutes, she hummed affirmatively. “She likes to fly in the afternoon.”

“It helps her stretch her wings,” a throaty voice rumbled behind him. There was a soft grunt as a heavy body was dragged across the ground. “Her wings are slowly getting stronger and she needs the exercise.”

“Kilgharrah.” Merlin smiled. Getting up, he turned around to greet the old dragon. Unlike this place, time had not been kind to him. His wings were in tatters, his scales worn and dull, and, as he walked forward, there was a slight limp. “It’s good to see you again, old friend.”

“And you too, young warlock.” His lips curled back slightly, revealing his sharp canines as he smiled. “Though I suppose you are not so young anymore?”

Merlin sneered. “I don’t think you’re one to talk.”

“No, no, I suppose not.” The dragon didn’t argue, merely curling up on the ground. It had been centuries since he had flown, even longer since he had left this place. “How fares the world of man?”

Merlin sat back down, wrapping his arms around his knees. It had been almost fifty years since his last visit and yet, oddly enough, there wasn’t much to tell. Civilizations had risen and fallen, men had discovered new technologies and fought over them, and in the end, humanity remained the same. “I’m thinking of moving,” he replied instead. “I’ve been 70 for the past ten years. I can barely remember what it’s like to walk straight.”

Kilgharrah didn’t comment on the change of topic. “You still have not found any companions, Merlin?”

He shook his head with a wry grin. “It’s a little hard to make friends when I know how it’s going to end.” Almost everyone he met was an ordinary human, who would live an ordinary life and die an ordinary death. There were no kings, no noble quests and ancient monsters now.

Aside from this place, there was no magic.

“There are almost no sorcerers out there,” Merlin murmured. He looked down, playing with the ends of his shirt. “There are no druids, no witches—I even went to the source of the old magic and there was a small village there.”

“So it too has been lost,” the dragon murmured, glancing up at the sky. Following Aithusa’s movements, he sighed. “I had expected it, but not so soon. It seems the sky is the last untouched domain. Perhaps one day they will conquer that, too.”

“Are we safe here?” Freya asked, worried. She peered at the forest, as though humans would be marching out of the grove any moment now. Biting her lip, she dipped her hand into the lake. “I can’t leave this place.”

“No, they will not come here,” Kilgharrah consoled her, shaking his head. “Magic might be waning elsewhere, but here it is strong. Avalon cannot be touched by those who are not invited.”

“Why is magic disappearing?” Merlin lifted his head, watching his friend for his response. “I thought…you said I had succeeded.”

“You did,” the dragon replied simply, as though that was all he needed to say. And maybe, to him, it was enough.

But it wasn’t for Merlin. Not after all those years outside, those years spent watching magic become a fairytale, a story told at bedtime to help children sleep. Even Arthur had become legend, more myth than human, and Merlin couldn’t remember what was fact and what was fiction anymore.

“Then why is magic dying?” Merlin asked again, swallowing down his fear. “It’s even worse than it was during Uther’s time.”

“He would be happy to hear that.” The dragon snorted, annoyed to hear that name once more. “Even after death, the man still angers me.”

“I still can’t forgive him.” Freya frowned darkly, crossing her arms. “After all—"

“You’re avoiding the topic.” Merlin’s fingers dug into his shirt. They did this every time; Kilgharrah would change the subject, and Freya would follow suit. But not today. Taking a deep breath, he stared up at the dragon. “Did I fail?”

Taken aback, Kilgharrah shook his head slowly. “No—”

“Did I fail?” His voice broke, and Merlin trembled. “Is that why?”

There were things he could never forget, even if he wanted to. Arthur’s hand in his, his grip weakening. I’m cold, he had murmured, his voice barely a whisper. Hold me. His skin was clammy from sweat, cooling as the day faded away.

The light had died from his eyes before he could reach the water, before he could be saved. Merlin had lost his king, his friend, back then. What he had never considered was that he might have ruined magic, ruined Albion as well.

“Merlin.” A leathery snout brushed against Merlin’s body. He could feel the rumble from the dragon’s voice as he spoke. “You did not fail.”

“Then why is magic disappearing?” Merlin asked, gripping his wrists tightly. “Why is Arthur dead and Camelot gone and—” I’m left alone. He couldn’t say it, the words stuck to his throat like glue.

Kilgharrah seemed to understand anyway. “I do not know everything, Merlin. Despite my age, some things are secret to me as well.” Gently, he pushed his head next to Merlin’s body, calmly breathing in and out. Merlin could feel his own heartbeat slow down and follow suit. “I do know that you met your destiny and you did not fail. One day, the Once and Future King shall return and, with him, magic will flourish once more.”

Merlin leaned against the dragon, breathing in his scent. It was of charcoal, of earth and fire and centuries long gone. It shouldn’t have been as comforting as it was. They were kin, someone had told him once. Dragon and Dragonlord, connected by a deep magic. Perhaps that was why this felt almost like an uncle soothing him.

“All things must end.” The dragon sounded almost wistful as he spoke. “Even your wait shall one day end.”

“Will it?”

Freya pulled herself even higher out of the water, reaching out to grab Merlin’s limp hand. Squeezing it, she smiled. “It will. Until then, we’re here with you.”

“Freya…” Merlin grasped her hand back tightly. He was lonely, yes. Home was no longer what it was, yes. But what he had forgotten was that he wasn’t alone.

He still had Freya and Kilgharrah and even Aithusa. He still had a place to come back to. If Kilgharrah said his wait would be over one day, then it would. He had never led Merlin astray before.

“Thank you.” Merlin smiled, looking at Freya and then Kilgharrah. Wiping his eyes, he felt his ears grow hot with embarrassment. He had been acting like a child, and at his age, too. “Don’t tell Arthur about this. He’d never let me hear the end of it.”

The dragon chuckled. “Perhaps I was wrong. There are some things that do not end.”

“You’re supposed to reassure me!” Merlin grumbled.

“Don’t worry, we’ll keep it a secret. Just like with all the other times.” Freya deftly dodged his incoming splash before slipping back into the water. “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.” Merlin waved. Turning back to the dragon, he grinned. “So I guess it’s just you and me now. Just like old times, huh?”

The dragon looked up at the sky once more, his eyes trained on Aithusa. She flew in figure eights, lower and lower with each lap. As she grew closer and closer, Merlin could see the slight dip in her flight, the shakiness of her movements. “I have a favour to ask of you, Merlin.”

“Sure.” Merlin couldn’t resist the rare change to tease his old friend. “It’s usually the other way around. It’s about time you asked.”

Kilgharrah didn’t take the bait. “Aithusa has been getting stronger. She might never be able to speak properly or fly as she should, but she is improving.” The dragon paused and closed his eyes. “I ask only that you keep an eye on her in the coming centuries, that you aid her in her growth.”

“I’ll…try…” Merlin winced, not liking it at all. Ever since he had killed Morgana, the dragon either tried to bite him or hurt him. “I thought you were taking care of her.”

“I was.” The dragon opened his eyes now, focusing on Merlin. “But I can no longer.”

The jest died from Merlin’s lips. This—this was serious. His voice came out a ghost, barely a whisper. “Why?”

“I might not be here next time you return, Merlin.” His words were casual, factual. As though they didn’t mean anything.

As though they didn’t mean everything.

Merlin froze. “No.”

“Everything ends, Merlin. Even I.”

“No.” Merlin couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Swallowing hard, he dug his fingers into his thighs. All he could think, could say, was that one word. That one plea. “No.”

“I told you centuries ago that my time was coming.” Almost tenderly, the dragon extended a wing to wrap around Merlin. “In order to save Arthur, I flew my last. Since then, it has merely been a question of when.”

“But…there has to be…” Merlin couldn’t deny the scars, the holes in the wing. Nor could he look away from the patchwork of scales on the dragon. When had he gotten so old? There were gaps in his hide, areas where aged skin showed through. Just when had it gotten so bad? Now?

“Not today. Maybe not tomorrow.” The dragon breathed out softly. “But when you return next, I will not be here. It is only too bad I shall not live to see the return of magic.”

“I can’t save you?” His voice came out a ragged whisper and he buried his face in his knees.

There was a price for everything. A witch had told him that, centuries ago. Merlin could barely remember her aside from her sharp blue eyes and the wicked curve of her red lips. She had held out a golden chalice as she spoke. There is a price for everything: an eye for an eye, a life for a life.

Merlin thought of his wait, of the eons that would pass before Arthur returned. What was the price of a king, of a friend? He had been paying it all these years, and he would be paying it for years to come. Even that was not enough to equal the price of a life. He looked up at the dragon, at the last of his kin.

He could not take that cup again, could not fill it with the waters of life and force him to remain.

“It is my time,” Kilgharrah said. “Just as it had been your friend’s time before me.”

There was no fighting it. Merlin blinked back his tears—he had already cried enough today. “I’ll take care of her.”

“Thank you, Merlin.” The dragon looked across the lake. “Perhaps I was too hasty back then.”

“Hasty?” Merlin blinked, confused.

“When I asked you to retrieve her egg.” The dragon sighed and lowered his head. Resting on the ground, he closed his eyes. “I should have waited longer.”

What if. I should have. Those thoughts had plagued Merlin’s mind for the past few centuries. Arthur could have lived. Gwen wouldn’t have cried. What if, what if.

“What’s this, doubt?” Merlin teased, forcing a chuckle. “The great dragon thinks he’s wrong?” Rising, he walked up and pressed his face against the dragon’s nose. “It’ll be fine. I’ll take care of her, and it’ll be fine.”

He would be damned if he let Kilgharrah die plagued with regret.

“Hmm…” The dragon sighed, ruffling Merlin’s clothes. “Thank you, Merlin.”

“It’s nothing.” He stepped back. Forcing a smile, he gestured at toward the forest. “I have to go now—I’ll come back soon.”

Kilgharrah gave him a long look before nodding. “Goodbye, kin.”

The finality of it all settled on him like a woollen cloak. Not trusting his voice, Merlin waved and left.

There’s a price for everything, a witch had warned him once.

He had understood that. He just never thought the price for waiting would be so steep.

#merlin #kilgharrah #freya #aithusa #arthur pendragon #fanfic

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nocturnegyser · 4 years

Text

The Start of Clean Trash

Warren x Raccoon(reader)

A/N: I wanted to expand this little world a bit and make a story about the band Raccoon started, it’s also kind of a prequel to, “The Feels”, so plz enjoy but if it sucked plz be mean. (I can also take requests if u want...)

———

(y/n) has been at Xaviers for over a month, and has been doing relatively fine for the most part. Considering this is the first time she’s lived apart from her older brother.

(Y/N) also played guitar and always dreamt of starting a rock band, she could shred like Brian May and had the voice of Haley William, she was the perfect punk rocker.

She and Warren would occasionally would rock out together but never really perform in front of anyone, plus Warren was busy with X-Men training and (y/n) with classes.

That’s when (y/n) decided to start a band.

———

One day after classes, after getting permission to start a band from Charles, (y/n) was making posters for her band.

The poster read, “Wanna join a band? Join me! (y/n) anytime at the music room after 3:45pm to 6:45pm!”

(y/n) was hopeful about the turnout, expecting at least a few people to show up.

After putting up the last poster on the message board outside, “You think anyone’s gonna show up?” Warren asked.

“I’m hoping so, there’s gotta be at least one other individual here not too busy to join a band,” (y/n) responded

“Yea, sorry I couldn’t join..”

“Nah you’re fine, when responsiblites call, you answer.... at least I think that’s how that saying goes,” (y/n) snickered

Both headed inside for the time being.

Not too long after, a relatively new boy walked up looking at the poster

“....New band huh?.. that could be interesting.”

———

The next day (y/n) was waiting at the music room for what felt like hours, even though it had only been 29 minutes.

“Ugh!! Man.. I thought at least SOMEONE would have been interested. Oh well... I guess all that convincing was for not.” (y/n) said to herself discouraged

Almost at the same time as she began to lose hope, a tall boy came walking in the music room with a maroon instrument case.

The first thing (y/n) noticed was his big rat ears and tail, and secondly, his eyepatch.

“Uh... I was wondering if you were still holding auditions for the band?” the intriguing character asked

“Uh... yeah sure, of course. What do you play exactly?” (y/n) asked astonished that anyone came at all

“I play the bass,” the boy responded

“Oh wow! Exactly what I looking for,” (y/n) responded, both smiling a bit, “Tell me a bit about yourself, Mr.....”

“Palneski, Mars Palenski, I started coming here about 3 months ago.”

“Oh that’s perfect, I’ve barry been here myself, a month and a half now to be exact.”

“I’m an Aries, I began playing bass when my sisters boyfriend taught me...”

“Aww”

“Yeah, he ended up going to jail on running an underground poker ring.”

“Oh...”

“Yeah.. he was pretty cool, he made me this eyepatch”

Accidentally mishearing him, “He put you in that eyepatch??!!?”

“No no no! You misheard me, I said he made me this cool eyepatch, my dads the one who put me in it,” Mars then flipped his eyepatch up revealing a red bloodshot eye

(y/n) was a bit horrified but even more intrigued

“What happened there?... if you don’t mind me asking..” (y/n) asked

“Meh, pops went off the deep end one night on me and my mom, she had clipped her ears and tail before she met my dad, imagine their surprise when a freak like me popped out,” Mars revealed

“Well you’re not the freak in this situation,” she reassured him

“But other than that, I’d like to join your band if that’s cool”

“Yea yea of course, you’re the only person to show up so far so... show what you can do”

“With pleasure,” Mars replied, then plugging his bass that was pastel pink with purple paint splatters

Mars took a deep breath and began playing the baseline from Vulfpecks Sky Mall

(y/n) immediately knew what he was playing and was impressed he was pulling it off

Like every musician, there were things he needed improvement and missed a few notes but (y/n) hardly noticed or didn’t care

After his more than adequate performance, (y/n) stood up clapping with sparkles in her eyes

“You’re in! Welcome to..... I don’t have a band name,” (y/n) giggled

“Awesome! when are practices?” Mars responded

“Well that’s the thing, you’re the only one to really show up to this, we don’t have a drummer yet,” (y/n) responded.

“But if you want, you can help hold auditions for a drummer if you”

“Meh, not like I’m doing much, I don’t see why not,” Mars replied while packing up his bass

With that, (y/n)’s band finally has a start.. somewhat

———

The next few days proved to be fruitless.

No one showed up or wanted to join (y/n)’s or Mars’s band

“Man... you’d think with a prestigious enough music programs you’d think there’d be at least one other kid wanting to wail on drums,” Mars sighed

“Yeah... well I almost started this with another drummer but he’s got training,” (y/n) signed in response

“You know a drummer? who?” Mars asked

“His name is Warren, big metal wings, thuggish looking”

“Oh I saw him around, didn’t think you two hung out”

“Yeah, our schedules don’t always link up unfortunately,” (y/n) then staring off in thought about hanging out with Warren more

Mars noticed this and decided to speak up, “You like him?”

This caught (y/n) way off guard, “W-what??! what makes you say that??”

(y/n) now blushing

“I can tell by the way you stare off when talking about him,” Mars teased

“Well... it’s not that I LIKE like him, I just think he’s... cool, ok?”

“Yeah, cool. Got it,” Mars then looking forward himself a little surprised he was able to get that out of her

———

Finally, after almsot 2 weeks of waiting around, (y/n) finally had someone audition for drums

(y/n) and Mars were overly excited, (y/n) more than Mars

(y/n) immediately began interrogating the individual trying for the drums but they didn’t seem all that interested

“So tell us a bit about yourself,” (y/n) began, Mars was just sitting back in his seat with a semi interested look

“I guess I started drums in middle school band,” they replied

“Awesome, you ever play in a rock band before? Not that that’s a requirement, neither of us have either, we’re just curious,” (y/n) asked

“No, I don’t play to rock, mostly classical or school songs,” the already disinterested drummer responded

“Oh, well uh, we’re a rock band so.. I dunno if that’s-“ (y/n) began explaining before Mars cut her off

“Listen, we’re not looking for anything in particular, but I can tell you don’t wanna try out for this band, do you?” Mars immediately taking over

“Not really, I haven’t drummed in a while and honestly, wanted to drop it forever ago but my parents wanted me to try out..”

“So... you don’t want to join?” (y/n) asked a little sad

“No, sorry”

“That’s ok, let us know if you change your mind,” (y/n) letting them know before they walked out

“UGH!” (y/n) then slamming her head on the table

“We didn’t even get to hear how they sounded!”

“I’d imagine maybe not very good if they haven’t played since middle school..” Mars added

———

Immediately the next day, Warren was waiting in the music room for Mars and (y/n) with an audition ready, but not from him, his apprentice.

(y/n) stood there trying to take in what she was looking at

Warren Worthington III, one the the schools most intimidating residents/students and former horseman of the apocalypse... with a 5th grader drummer apprentice

Warren immediately began explaining what was happening, “Ryan here, decided he wanted to give your band a try, (y/n).”

(y/n) still standing there dumbfounded, sat down and began asking Ryan the usual

“So... tell us a bit about yourself, Ryan”

Ryan, very timidly began, “Well... I’ve only been going here 2 months and... and...”

Taking a deep breath, finall let out what he wanted to say, “I would like to join your band!”

Ryan now blushing

(y/n) finally grasping what was happening, understood what was going through Ryan’s head

“Ok, go ahead and play us something if you’d like,” (y/n) then motions towards the drums

This is the moment Ryan had been waiting for, the moment he spent hours training under Warren

Ryan began with a slow tempo Single Stroke Roll which transitioned into a picked up tempo Rebound Stroke

Warren had been watching from the door while (y/n) and Mars sat there in awe at what Ryan was able to do

after finishing, Ryan sweating and breathing harder than ever

(y/n) and Mars both immediately began clapping and both at the same time in unison said, “You’re in!”

Ryan having aspired to join a band of his own, finally happening, he bang crying and ran off the strage to go hug Warren to thank him for everything

(y/n) seeing this interaction made her heart flutter a bit

Seeing how good he is with kids, she began having thoughts

I wonder how he’d be with his own child, what kind of father would he be?

Immediately realizing what she’s thinking she began blushing

Ryan then decided to introduce himself to Mars and he took a liking to Ryan immediately and took him on as an apprentice as well

(y/n) walked up to Warren, both blushing a bit

“Thanks for giving Ryan a chance, (y/n).” Warren thanking (y/n)

“Ah, well, I was more than likely gonna let him join anyways, no one else was showing up, well one other person did but they weren’t interested”

Both giggled to themselves

I’ve never seen Warren giggle to easily (y/n) thought to herself

“Well.. I suppose we should get our newest addition situated and uh...”

“Oh, yeah for sure.. I guess I’ll just...”

“Yeah.. I’ll see you around I guess”

Both still blushing as Warren exited

———

Both Mars and (y/n) having gotten to know Ryan, (y/n) decided they should come up with a band name

“It should be something that represents all of us,” (y/n) stated

“How about... overnight heartbreak?” Mars suggested

“I never got my heart broken before... not by a girl at least,” Ryan responded

“The harmonies of The Gifted?” (y/n) already not liking her own name idea

“.....Well.. Ryan can manipulate water... you and me are trash animals..” Mars pointed out

“Trash animals??” (y/n) raising a question

“Yea, rats and raccoons are primarily found in trash cans”

“I’ve only been found a dumpster ONCE, and that was to find my tamagotchi I accidentally threw away,” (y/n) retaliated

“I’ve been found in multiple dumpsters, multiple times,” Mars said almsot bragging

Both forgetting Ryan was right there

“Uh well... I like cleaning so.. I’ve never been in a dumpster...” Ryan chimed in

“Cleaning huh...” Mars commented

“Clean... dumpsters.... trash animals..... cleaning trash animals....” Mars was saying random thought out loud to spark an idea for the other

“Clean.....”

“Trash....”

“Clean...”

“Trash”

“Clean”

“Trash”

“Clean Trash!!”

Both Mars and Ryan going back and forth before in unison coming up with a name

(y/n) immediately loved it and the trio had finally decided on their name

“This is gonna be fun,” (y/n) said fist bumping both Ryan and Mars

———

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thewritewolf · 5 years

Text

Nino’s Quest Chapter 9: At the Gates

The party finds the lair of the Necromancer and struggle to find a way in. Their righteous quest quickly devolves into a cuddly sleepover.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3. My ko-fi.

The wind was howling as Nino and Alya approached the bakery. Winter was well and truly here, but that wasn’t too surprising. It was the last week of November, after all. Nino looked up at the grey skies and frowned as a few stray snowflakes danced to the ground. They had gotten lucky so far with very little snow, but something in his gut was telling him that wasn’t going to last much longer. Just in case, Nino had brought a change of clothes. Who knows if they were going to get snowed in? Especially given how long this session was going to last.

It wasn’t every day they marched into the halls of the Necromancer, after all.

For now, though, they marched into the bakery.

“So… how’d it work out yesterday? I didn’t see much of them after we let ‘em out,” Nino whispered to Alya as they waved at the Dupain-Cheng parents.

She poked her head into the living room and turned to look at him with a wide grin. “See for yourself, babe.”

The two of them were sitting on the couch playing Ultimate Mecha Strike. Despite the fact that the entire couch was open to them, Marinette was practically sitting in Adrien’s lap. His arms were wrapped around her and his chin rested on her head. For a few solid moments Nino was left stunned at the threshold of the room, staring in awe. At least until Alya jabbed him in the back with her elbow.

His startled yelp caught Adrien’s attention. A bright smile lit up his face. “Awesome timing, guys! We were just about to decide who was the absolute master of Mecha Strike.”

“It was me,” came Marinette’s reply as the victory screen played.

“As if there was any doubt,” Adrien murmured. Closing his eyes, he nuzzled his nose into the crown of her head.

“Hey! That tickles.”

“Too bad.”

“Well,” Alya cut in, “if you two are done being sickeningly cute, we’ve got a Necromancer to stop. In case you forgot?”

“I know, I know. Fighting evil, saving lives - the usual.” Adrien didn’t open his eyes or loosen his hold on Marinette, but Nino could see the knowing smirk on his face.

“Speaking of the usual…” Marinette said as she extracted herself from Adrien. “How does croissants for everyone sound?”

Alya followed after Marinette, leaving Nino to start getting set up. It wasn’t hard to miss the dopey smile that his best bud wore, or how he was almost melted into the couch. Even though that had been the plan all along, Nino was still surprised it actually worked.

“So… you and M, huh?”

“Mhm…” The smile grew wider.

“Dude, you’ve got it bad. I’m just glad you guys finally figured it all out.”

“Yeah…”

“Mind telling me what happened?”

Adrien shrugged. “We just needed to talk things through. That’s all.”

“Sure, dude.” Nino softly punched Adrien on the arm. “Just took a locked door and a bunch of time to make you do that.”

A blush spread across Adrien’s face. “We got there eventually..”

As much as Nino wanted to pry or tease a little more, he was just glad to see his friend so happy. Those two definitely deserved each other.

Just as he finished setting up, the girls returned with a plate of fresh croissants. The perfect food for planning an invasion.

“Alright, my dudes. You’ve discovered the great entrance to the ruined dwarven city. The gates are big and strong. You can hear something moving, can catch glimpses of something marching back there. But whatever it is, it’s not alive.” Nino tugged on his cap. “Well, uh, not in the usual sense, anyway.”

“We can probably take them,” Alya said as she cracked her knuckles. “We’ve trounced worse baddies.”

“I’m not so sure about that. Skeletons gave us a lot of problems back in the mines.” Marinette was tapping a finger to her cheek.

“I know that look, Mari.” Adrien grinned. “What are you thinking?”

“Well, what if we don’t use the main entrance? If it really is a city under there, then there’s no way the Necromancer can have the entire place guarded.”

Alya crossed her arms. “That sounds great and all, M, but do we know of any other entrances?”

“I don’t know.” Marinette locked eyes with Adrien. “Do we?”

Adrien seemed to catch on quickly and scrambled through his notes. “Oh! There’s got to be some legends or stories about this place, right?”

“Hm…” Nino made a quick roll and nodded. “Yeah, you’ve heard a few tales. And between the four of you and all those years of neglect, you could prolly find it. But what are you gonna do once you’re there?”

“That’s where I come in,” Marinette wore a serious expression, her eyes distant as she imagined their mission. “With my super high stealth, I can steer us clear of patrols. And if I find a good place to stash the rest of you, I could even do some scouting on my own.”

Alya narrowed her eyes and cupped her chin. “If we pull this off, then we might just avoid the Necromancer’s entire army…”

“...AND we’ll have the element of surprise.” A vicious grin split Marinette’s face. “He won’t have a clue that we’re coming.”

“Right, okay.” Nino took a deep breath. This… wasn’t exactly what he expected them to do, but being DM meant being able to improvise. Nino rolled a perception check for the four of them, more for show than anything. They’d have to roll pretty high to spot a secret passage. “After a few hours of following your half-remembered story, you don’t find anything. Do you want to keep looking?”

They all nodded resolutely.

“Right.” Nino rolled another round of perception checks. Nothing. “More hours pass. The sun is starting to set. Do you still want to keep looking?

Alya was looking a bit less certain, but Marinette remained confident and that was enough for Adrien. With majority in favor, they kept searching.

“So the moon is out now. It’s full and half of us are some kinda elf, so we could keep searching, but-”

“We keep going.”

“M, what if we can’t find anything? Maybe we should make camp, figure out a new plan.”

“Alya, trust me. I’ve got this.”

“But M-”

“If this plan doesn’t work, then we just aren’t equipped to open the gates and fight the baddies. We’d have to go back anyway. Besides - I’ve got a good feeling about this.”

Alya sighed. “Alright… We stay at it.”

Nodding, Nino rolled a perception check for them. His character failed, as did Alya and Marinette’s. All that was left was Adrien’s character.

Who, naturally, rolled a twenty. His first of the entire campaign. Shocked, it took a minute for Nino to recover. “So, um… With the moonlight coming down, Adrien spots some glowing runes on a rock. He plays the song that he has been following and sure enough, the stone totally vanishes, revealing a stairwell that leads deep underground.”

“Sweet.” Alya says as they all tear into celebratory croissants. “What do we see down there, babe?”

“You’re walking for a while, but eventually the tunnel opens up into a dusty, abandoned quarter of the city. You pass through long abandoned checkpoints and guard posts. When you step into the main cavern, you realize why the city went quiet.” Nino paused to down his pop, leaving the party enraptured. “The ceiling had collapsed, tons of mountain stone crushing the city. Even now, a massive ramp of rock squats in the middle of the city.”

Adrien, his hands folded in front of his face, narrowed his eyes. He spoke in his bard’s voice. “Who knows what lies beneath?”

“Soon enough, the Necromancer.” At their confused looks, Nino added, “Even though you feel death all around you, the air is filled with the sounds of picks hitting stone… And the rattle of bones.”

“Is there somewhere nearby that I can hide these guys?” Marinette jerked a thumb towards the other two.

“Sure. There are plenty of abandoned buildings around here. Most of ‘em prolly won’t collapse ontop of them.”

“Yeah, well, thankfully I have all that training in engineering, remember? I pick the most structurally sound one and try to sneak over to the cave in.”

“Oh, dang. Forgot about that.” Nino cleared his throat. “With the other dudes safely tucked away, you can sneak over to the landslide. Roll for stealth.”

“What am I hiding from?” She asked as she searched for her d20.

“Human zombies in rusty metal armor.”

“Huh. Rusty because of being really old or because zombies don’t take gear of their stuff?”

Nino thought about it for a moment. “The second one.” He glanced at the die roll. “Okay, that’ll be good enough. You get a clear view of the rocks and, well… there are tons of short, stocky skeletons in tattered rags. Probably dwarven, most of them are only armed with picks, but there are a few dozen of ‘em crawling over it. As you watch, one tumbles off and shatters as it falls down the cliff… and right into a huge hole. Whatever they’re digging for, you get the feeling they’re close.”

Marinette tapped at her chin. “Alright, I get a good look around to see if I can guess where the Necromancer might be.”

“There’s a battered but sturdy guard tower that sometimes flashes a sickly green light. Other than that, its shambling undead everywhere.”

“Can I get there easily?”

“Uhh… maybe. There are guards out front, but the tower is kinda out of the way, away from the throng of undead.”

Adrien make a confused face. “Why would he set up there…?”

“Not a lot of intact buildings, I bet.” Marinette nodded. “And he wants some quiet too. Maybe we can use that in our favor?”

The session devolved into making plots and figuring out how best to ambush the dark wizard. They were so engaged in their conversation that they didn’t notice Sabine’s arrival until she put her hands on Marinette’s shoulders.

“Gah!” Marinette started and tilted her head straight up. “Oh, hi maman. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to let you kids know that Tom and I are going to bed. The snow is coming down pretty hard now, so we’d rather you all stay the night.”

While Marinette tried to gently brush off her mom’s hands as they messed with her hair, Nino got up to look out the window. Sure enough, a layer of snow blanketed Paris with no signs of stopping. The darkening skies also reminded him of how early he’d had to wake up the last couple days.

Fighting down a yawn, he turned back towards his party. “What do you say we call it here and pick it up in the morning? Maybe we can watch a movie or something.”

Marinette tilted her head up to look at her mother. “Can my friends spend the night in my room? Then we can be out of the way when you guys wake up in the morning.”

Sabine seemed to consider this for a few moments before replying, “Of course dear, but remember our talk…”

A fierce blush spread across Marinette’s face. “Maman!”

“I’m just saying!” Laughing, Sabine left the room.

An awkward silence stretched before Adrien naively asked, “What talk?”

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

After a few movies, they were exhausted. Nino was looking down from Marinette’s bed at the unfolding drama of who would get the chaise.

“Adrien please - I’m fine sleeping on the floor. I’ve got plenty of pillows and blankets. It isn’t that bad.”

“If it isn’t that bad then I can be on the floor. You already gave up your bed to Alya and Nino. At least take the chaise.”

“I’m the host!” She hissed in irritation. “I have to make sure all my guests are comfortable!”

“And I will only be comfortable once I know you’re sleeping on something nice and soft!”

In a huff, Marinette threw her pillows and blankets on the floor of her room. For a hot second Nino was worried that she was about to jump him, but no, she was just angrily building a nest on the floor. Adrien gaped at her for a moment before dropping his stuff on the ground and doing the same.

“I mean it, hot stuff,” Marinette growled through a faint blush. “I’m sleeping on the floor no matter what you do. You may as well just take the chaise.”

Adrien took a deep breath as if winding up for a long spiel. “No.”

Both of them stubbornly get into their blanket nests and glared at each other, but from his spot from above, Nino could see them slowly inching together. He shook his head and ducked under the covers, where Alya had already tucked herself in. Her eyes were closed as she nuzzled against the pillows.

As he was taking off his glasses, she mumbled, “The babies still being ridiculous?”

“You know it.”

“Good. Can’t have everything change all at once.”

“Right as usual, babe.” Nino leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Night.”

A serene smile graced her face as she whispered back, “Night.”

#Miraculous Ladybug #Nino Lahiffe #Alya Cesaire #DJ Wifi #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrienette #Dungeons and Dragons #DnD #D&D #ml fanfiction #my writing #Nino's Quest

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hunnywrites · 5 years

Photo

Arcade Dreams: Chapter Ten

Summary: There’s a new girl working at the Palace Arcade and Hawkins’ Family Video. Billy can’t stand her, and the feeling is mutual. No matter what everyone else seems to think.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove/OFC

A/N: I’m so excited to finally post this chapter. There’s some chapters later on that I’m excited to share but this is probably one of my favorite chapters for this fic. I hope y’all enjoy it as much as I did!

It turned out that everything was closed in Hawkins on Christmas. So Teddi’s initial, pathetic plan of hiding out in the coffee shop for the day with Lord of the Rings was a bust. It had been different in New York. If there hadn’t been anything in town open, Teddi could always make the short drive into the city and something would be open. She’d spent a lot of Christmases in Chinese food joints with a book over the years. Now she was resigned to going to her spot at the lake. The kids had told her about it. She’d overheard them talking about a place they called Bywater Pool and the Tolkien fan in her had to know all about it.

Usually on Christmas her family would play pretend for just a little while. They’d wake up relatively early and Teddi would get her gift before they went their separate ways for the rest of the day. This Christmas her dad wasn’t even home. Her mom had mentioned he’d got some overtime working on the mall and he wouldn’t be home until late that night. So Teddi made herself some toast with jam and headed out for her very lonely Christmas day while her mom stayed home and did...whatever it was that she did all day. Teddi didn’t really know. Or care.

She didn’t go to the lake often. It had been easier when she had first moved to Hawkins and it hadn’t been so cold. Teddi would drive out, park next to the water and flip the radio on while she sat on the hood of her van and read a book until she finally managed to drag herself back home. Now the lake would be frozen over and everything would be covered in snow. But it would be peaceful and she’d get out of the house. That’s what really mattered.

But of course, as most things lately, things wouldn’t go according to plan. As Teddi got closer to the lake, she realized there was another car parked by the water. And not just any car. Billy’s Camaro. She gripped her steering wheel tightly. Of all the places in Hawkins, on all of the days, why did he have to be here at her spot? Teddi pulled up next to him, rolling down her window and glaring over at him. Billy was reclined back in his seat, eyes trained out on the frozen water and smoking a cigarette. His radio was playing so loudly she was sure he hadn’t heard her pull up.

“Seriously, are you actually stalking me, Hargrove?” she asked with a loud huff. Billy’s head snapped over in her direction, suddenly aware that he was no longer alone, and rolled his eyes when he spotted Teddi practically pouting at him. “It’s Christmas. Don’t you have anything better to do?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Larsson. This is my spot.” he blew smoke out in her direction.

Teddi scoffed. “Your spot? It’s my spot. I’ve never seen you here before.” she argued. Despite how tired he looked, Billy smirked.

“That’s probably ‘cause I come here later than you.”

Gross, Teddi thought as her nose scrunched up. “Please don’t tell me this is where you bring girls.”

“Fine, I won’t tell you.” Teddi rolled her eyes at the smug look on Billy’s face and turned away from him. She grabbed her book and settled in for a long day of the never ending quest that was continuing to ignore Billy Hargrove. It didn’t last long. She hadn’t even read half a page before she found herself looking over at him out of the corner of her eyes. Why wouldn’t he be home on Christmas morning? Where was Max? Had he heard about the rumor that Tommy H had started? And if he had, why wasn’t he teasing her about it?

“...Have you spoken to Heather?” she found herself suddenly asking.

“No. Why would I?” he had a point. He was social at work, sure, but outside of that he mostly kept to himself unless Teddi was around for him to torment.

She felt a little relieved though. Clearly he hadn’t heard. Teddi shook her head. “Nothing. She just called me yesterday about something stupid Tommy told her,” Billy didn’t say anything, he just rose his eyebrows expectantly as he waited for her to spill the beans. Teddi huffed and set down her book. “He said he found Cheryl and Brian hooking up, and then when he saw you carrying me out to the car…” she didn’t finish the rest. She didn’t need to. Billy chuckled.

“If Heather actually thinks I got in your pants then she doesn’t know you all that well, Larsson.” Teddi let out a small laugh herself. Again, he had a point. She was also a little surprised he wasn’t taking the opportunity to tease her.

“Are you…,” Teddi scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. “Are you okay? I mean, you’re here and not home…”

Billy flicked the butt of his cigarette out of the window with a shrug. “I’m fine. Just don’t feel like being home. Like you.” that gave Teddi an entire list of questions that she wanted to ask him, but she knew better than that. If she pushed then he would just snap at her as per usual.

So she settled for a less complicated question. “You hate Christmas too, huh?” she almost winced at how stupid she sounded. But if it was one thing the two of them bonded over, it was things they both hated.

“You could say that.” he said flatly.

Teddi pursed her lips for a moment. She would probably regret this decision, but she would blame that whole Christmas giving spirit. “...It’s probably a lot warmer in the van. I was thinking of sitting in the back. You can join me as long as you promise not to be, you know...the worst.” she said with a small smile to let him know she was teasing.

Billy looked at her silently for a moment before smirking. “Are you flirting with me, weird girl?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m only offering because Max would probably be pretty upset with me if I let you die from hypothermia.” she said with an over dramatic eye roll. She was surprised when Billy shut the Camaro off, grabbed his cigarettes and lighter and slid out of the car. She crawled over her seat to the back and threw the doors open to let him in.

Billy hadn’t known what he was expecting from Teddi’s van, but it wasn’t what he found. There was actually shag carpeting. It matched the light blue velvet that was covering the walls inside. A bright pink bean bag chair sat behind the passenger side seat and across from that was a two person seat that was folded up and fastened down. There were a few empty, slightly crushed Tab cans scattered around, along with a stack of board games (Billy couldn’t help but roll his eyes when he spotted Dungeons and Dragons), some magazines and a bright yellow, rolled up sleeping bag that was covered in colorful flowers. There was also a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. It all somehow screamed Teddi.

“Sorry, it’s kind of a mess in here. But I don’t usually have company…” Teddi said nervously as she tried to kick the empty soda cans aside. Billy didn’t say anything. He plopped down onto the bean bag and jabbed his thumb towards the radio.

“I am not listening to this shit.”

Teddi gaped at him. “It’s Siouxsie and the Banshees!” she argued.

“It’s garbage. Don’t you listen to anything good?” he asked, leaning over the passenger's seat and opening the glove compartment. Teddi watched on with both confusion and amusement as he thumbed through her cassette tapes. “You listen to Kiss? Jesus, Ted, there’s no hope for us ever being friends.” his back was turned to her, but she could hear from his tone that he was kidding. Not that it mattered to her or anything.

“And what’s wrong with Kiss?” she asked, settling down onto the carpet and crossing her legs.

“They’re for chicks.”

Teddi laughed. “I am a chick, Billy.”

He shrugged. “You know what I mean.” he took the cassette out of the deck and replaced it with the Kiss tape he’d found before returning to the bean bag.

“I don’t get in your Camaro and rummage through everything, you know.” she argued. Teddi pulled a small cooler out from under the driver’s seat and flipped it open. She pulled out another can of Tab and held it up to Billy.

He took it and gave Teddi a knowing grin. “Yeah, you just steal my smokes,” as if mentioning them had reminded him of their presence, he reached into his pocket and pulled a cigarette out. He placed it between his lips and lit it, taking a drag before offering it to Teddi. She hesitated, and Billy rolled his eyes. “I think we already established I don’t have cooties, Larsson.”

Teddi let out a soft huff-like laugh and took the cigarette. “So you know my secret then, huh?”

“Secret?” Billy snorted. “You’re even chattier when you’re wasted. You almost told me your whole life story,” the worried look that Teddi had made him drop the subject. He took a drink, watching her fidget around uncomfortably. “...So how come you hate Christmas?”

Teddi took a somewhat shaky drag of the cigarette, blowing out a cloud of smoke slowly before handing it back to Billy. She shrugged. “I’ve always hated it, I guess...it wasn’t so bad when I was little. I got presents then at least. But it was always really obvious that my mom just dumped the first couple of dolls she saw into a cart and bought them. When I got older they would just give me a card with some cash. This year I don’t think either of them even realize it’s Christmas.” she said with a small laugh. Over the years Teddi had saved up the money she’d received for Christmas. At first she had been a little too young to fully understand why she was doing it (she later realized it was simply intuition). There was almost this voice in her head that had just urged her to hoard it. Eventually she started working and added to her savings. She only spent a little here and there on clothes and her van. Now she was sitting on quite the nest egg.

And I thought I had it bad, Billy thought. Susan had at least gotten him some presents. A couple of albums and some shirts she knew he’d like. Christ, Neil had even gotten him gifts when it had just been the two of them. It was always some stupid hobby he wanted Billy to pick up. Baseball bats, a basketball, cleats. When he had turned thirteen Neil had gotten him a bb gun, but when Billy shot out the window of Neil’s car “on accident” Neil had thrown it in the fireplace and Billy had gotten one hell of a “talking to”.

“What are they, drunks or something?” he asked. He knew that if he’d been talking to anyone else that he would have never asked a question like that. He never would’ve gotten so personal. Even now with Teddi he knew there was a chance that she would shut him out. But at least he felt comfortable enough with her to ask.

“Dad is,” Teddi said with a heavy sigh. “My mom just...doesn’t care about anything that doesn’t have to do with her. Back in New York she used to be one of those really big yuppie moms that went to cocktail parties and had all this really ugly white furniture…” her voice drifted a little. She’d been a little surprised that she had shared that much. It hadn’t seemed like much, sure, but when Teddi tried so hard to keep everything about her home life so close to the chest sharing much of anything about her parents was sort of a big deal to her. But what seemed like an even bigger surprise to her was that Billy actually seemed interested in what she was saying. “...What about you?” she asked carefully.

Billy’s head fell back as he breathed out smoke. “Just...not into all that family shit I guess,” but that wasn’t very fair of him. He had asked Teddi about her family and she had given him answers. Not many, but Billy knew it was enough to be a big deal to Teddi. He could at least return the favor. “...Susan likes to pretend like we’re the fucking Cleavers. My dad sits on the couch with a beer and checks out unless things get too loud. Max only comes inside for dinner and to sleep,” it was the cleaned up version, but it seemed to appease Teddi. He was grateful she didn’t look at him with pity, but that was probably because they were in the same boat. Even though neither of them wanted to say it out loud.

Really Billy just wanted out of the house. He had played his part in Susan’s perfect family fantasy. The four of them had all sat around the Christmas tree and opened presents. Neil had been in his usual spot on the couch, glaring down at Billy and Max with a silent threat to make sure they let Susan know how much they loved and appreciated everything she had done to make their Christmas so wonderful which made it all feel less genuine somehow. Once the presents had been opened, Max had grabbed her new skateboard and was outside before anyone could stop her. So Billy went to his room, changed, grabbed his keys and was out of the house before Neil could get off the couch. He had heard Susan calling after him. He could hear the disappointment in her voice, and he did feel a little bad for leaving. He didn’t feel much towards Susan in general but pity. She did him a solid every once and awhile when it came to Neil, but that was about it. He definitely resented her for letting Neil speak to Max the way he did. And of course he’d have to hear from Neil once he got home. That didn’t matter to him right now. Anything was better than having to sit around pretending they were one big, happy family.

Billy dropped the cigarette into the now empty can of Tab and nodded at Teddi. “So, what’s the tattoo of?” he asked. He definitely wasn’t about to spend his Christmas having a pity party with her. And Teddi seemed to welcome the change of subject.

Teddi let out a loud snort, smiling and shaking her head. “I am totally not telling you.”

“Come on, Larsson. It’s Christmas,” Teddi clicked her tongue against her teeth but couldn’t quite hide the fact that she was still smiling. She rose to her knees, turning her back to Billy. She flipped the band of her jeans down to reveal the tattoo. Billy leaned forward to get a better look and let out a soft laugh. “A butterfly?”

“I know,” Teddi groaned, turning back around. “I thought it was like...cool and symbolic or whatever.” the weirdest thing about this exchange was that it didn’t feel weird to Teddi. Things never felt weird between her and Billy when he could just relax around her. She wished things could be like this more often. She liked hanging out with Billy when he was like this.

“And completely cliche.” Billy teased.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, like a skull smoking a cigarette?” Billy made a mocking face at her. Teddi laughed softly and pulled her knees to her chest. She rested her chin on her knee, tilting her head as she looked at Billy. “You know...if someone told me like...a week ago that I’d be spending Christmas in the back of my van with you I think I would’ve laughed them out of the building.”

Billy flashed a nearly devilish grin. “You know, the last time I was in the back of a van with a girl-”

“Oh my god. You ruin everything, Hargrove.” Teddi laughed. Billy laughed, one of his genuine laughs again, and Teddi decided she really liked it when Billy smiled. Sure, the grin he flashed all the girls was definitely nice to look at. But this smile was almost like a secret. Like she was getting a look at the real Billy that not many others got. The one that he tried so hard to hide from everyone. It looked good on him.

He pointed at the stack of games next to her. “Alright, if we’re gonna be here all day and you’re not gonna do what I want then break out Dungeons and Dragons,” the look on Teddi’s face was priceless. Her jaw dropped and she let out the tiniest gasp at his suggestion.

“You’re gonna play Dungeons and Dragons?”

Billy laughed again. “Fuck no. That’s for making fun of my tattoo. And I’m not playing Dream Phone either,” Teddi scoffed loudly and gave him a dramatic eye roll, but Billy caught her smile as she turned to the stack of games. She pulled out Clue and held it up to him with raised eyebrows. “Deal. Pass me another Tab.”

It took three rounds of Clue and a game of Operation for Teddi to find out that Billy was extremely competitive and that he was amazing at pretty much every board game in existence. Teddi was sure that there wasn’t a single thing that Billy was bad at. Maybe except basic manners. Eventually she talked him into a round of Dream Phone (he of course won that too) and Billy fished out a stack of tapes out of the Camaro and brought them over to the van to show Teddi what real music was.

Teddi liked Billy’s music. Billy would’ve fallen on his ass if he hadn’t already been sitting on it when he found out that Teddi was as big of a Metallica fan as he was. “If you like Metallica then how can you listen to all this new wave shit?” he asked incredulously.

“I’m a very open minded girl ...stop smirking at me, pervert.”

Eventually the sun started to set, and the pair decided to go their separate ways. Billy hopped out of the back of the van, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket before turning back to Teddi. “You gonna be at the pool tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yep. Bright and early. You?”

“Bright and early,” he repeated with a nod. “Later, Larsson. Merry Christmas.” he said in a teasing tone before heading over to the Camaro. Teddi crawled back into the driver’s seat, unaware that she was still smiling until she noticed her discarded copy of the Fellowship of the Rings in the seat beside her. She had spent an entire day with Billy Hargrove, and she had enjoyed herself. Maybe hell was freezing over. Or maybe Billy just wasn’t quite as bad as he liked for people to think.

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove fic #billy hargrove x oc

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admiralty-xfd · 5 years

Text

Culmination

This is Chapter 18, only a couple more to go. Thanks so much to everyone who’s been following along. To start at the beginning please click here.

RECONNECTION

SCULLY

(This)

Things have been changing for the better for the first time in a long time. After years of being without him she’d almost become numb to the idea of ever going back to the life they’d had before everything went to shit.

But life has been moving the two of them along at a pleasant click; it’s almost like it was before he was abducted all those years ago, at least as far as their professional relationship is concerned. She feels oddly comfortable doing the very thing she tried so hard to escape for so long. It irks her a bit that she’s here again and actually enjoying it, but that makes her happy in spite of herself.

She and Mulder are in a different place now, and she’s starting to have enough distance from the bad times to appreciate that. Time really does heal wounds, as she always suspected it might, although she’s aware some wounds may leave scars that will never heal completely.

The strangest thing happened back when her mother died; although it broke her heart in a way she knew it would, as she sat on that log with Mulder, the small jar that contained her mother’s remains at her feet, she felt a blessing she hadn’t expected. It was as if Maggie had given her one final gift: further confirmation of how short life is, and what she needed to do before it was over for her as well. It was helping her start to let go of the past, so she could appreciate more of her future.

My son is named William, too.

Her mother’s words had taken her by surprise because the two of them never spoke of William. She’d allowed the loss to hang over them, never talking about it. But her words also surprised her because she had said them not to her, but to Mulder. Her final words were spoken to Mulder.

In the end, Mulder was Maggie’s family too. Perhaps she’d always hoped they’d reunite. Scully took comfort in this idea.

William had been her priority over Mulder for a long time, and he wasn’t even in her life anymore. He hadn’t been for such a long time that even her own memories of him were beginning to fade. She knew it was only a memory, or an idea of something that might have been, that had taken over her world and not relinquished its grasp. The notion that such an intangible thing had this much power over her was frightening.

When she’d given up her baby she hadn’t anticipated the ripple effect such an action would have, and how could she? She hadn’t fully realized at the time that being a mother isn’t something you can give back, something you can leave behind. She was a mother without a child. This became her identity. And it had colored everything around her, including her relationship with Mulder.

She still often thinks of her son, and the life she’s missed. She wonders whose eyes he has; are they still hers? Or have they changed, as babies’ do, to look more like Mulder’s? Is he a rebel or does he follow the rules? Does he like science or is he more of a dreamer?

She’s learning to wonder these things like she always has, but with joy and hope instead of sorrow. She’s starting to come to a place of acceptance rather than grief. If she can get there then maybe, just maybe she can let him go. She truly believes if she can do this, she and Mulder will get to a better place as well.

In the meantime she’s doing what she can to begin again with him. One thing she’s certain of is that she’s more comfortable now being with him than she is being apart. There’s not much he needs to do for her to fall in love with him all over again. They are on the verge. Now she believes it’s a matter of when, not if.

“Can I use your shower?” she asks him one evening in their unremarkable house.

“Our shower, and of course you can,” he replies pointedly as he peruses some work they'd brought home with them. He doesn’t smile because he’s not making a joke, he’s stating a fact and she knows it. She may have left this place years ago but it’s still their home to him. Maybe it always will be to her too.

They’ve been spending a lot of time here lately; he had insisted keeping her close to him ever since she was attacked and nearly strangled to death in her hospital room. The event had shaken her far more than many other near-death experiences she’d had, so she’d indulged him in his request.

She knows what would have happened had Mulder not been there. Knowing she was about to die and seeing him act in that way had gotten her thinking. There was no hesitation, no time for questions. No time for answers the old Mulder may have sought. It wasn’t about the quest, not anymore. It was only about her. She was his family and he would stop at nothing to keep her safe.

When it came right down to it, she was his highest priority and he was showing her with his actions. Seeing the worry etched into his face, the fear that he’d almost lost her yet again, was enough to make her start believing, really believing, in them again.

For the first time in a long time she’s actually okay with him wanting to take care of her, so she’s allowing his protective streak some breathing room. He’s trying to win her back and she knows it. She can’t help but like it.

“What do you want for dinner?” he asks her as she mounts the staircase.

“Anything is fine, you want to do take out?”

“If anything is fine I’m going to make something for you.”

She raises an eyebrow. “You? Are going to cook?”

“Don’t be so skeptical, Agent Scully,” he says as he starts opening and closing cupboards.

She is skeptical, very skeptical, but it’s so cute that he wants to cook for her she decides to play along.

“I eagerly await your culinary masterpiece,” she says as she heads upstairs.

After she showers and dries her hair she puts her clothes back on, attaching her holster to her belt. She doesn’t usually keep her weapon on her all the time but she’s been overly paranoid since her attack. She heads back downstairs and to her great surprise she hears music playing. Mulder is pouring tomato soup into two bowls, next to a couple grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. There’s a candle in the center of the table.

Her jaw drops. “Oh my God, Mulder.”

He looks at her like a wounded puppy. “No good?”

She shakes her head. “No, it’s adorable. Look at you.”

He grins. “Is that a good thing? Adorable?”

“Yes, it is.” She’s impressed by his efforts. Mulder made a mean scrambled egg back when they lived together but that was the extent of his cooking capabilities. As for everything else, the music and the candlelight… wow. It isn’t that his capacity for romance is surprising, it was actually something he’d been very good at back when things were good. But this is the first time since they broke up that he’s made an effort like this, with such obvious intent. She feels something involuntarily stir inside her that she cannot ignore.

“Well, have a seat, Scully. This is four-star.”

She smiles at him, and feels herself pulled to him in spite of herself, like a magnet. She likes this, she likes all of it. She can’t help it.

They sit together at their kitchen table and eat, like the hundreds of other times they did before tonight. George Harrison sings softly in the background.

Let me in here

I know I’ve been here

Let me into your heart

“Adorable.” He looks at her and his eyes narrow. “I can live with that. At least you didn’t say ‘adorbs.’”

“‘Adorbs?’ Is that… a thing?”

“Apparently?” He takes a bite of his sandwich. “I’ve been learning some new lingo. Trying to keep up with the youth.” His mouth is full and he says it like “yoof.” Some things never change.

“Ah,” she replies. “Does this mean you’re taking selfies and tweeting, too?”

“No. I can’t even with that stuff, Scully.”

She smiles, chuckling. He’s still funny, to her. Humor is something she’s missed a lot in general over the past few years, but particularly his brand.

She takes a bite of her sandwich. It’s good.

Let me know you

Let me show you

Let me grow upon you

“Still haven’t replaced this table, I see?” she asks, sitting back in her chair.

She looks at the crack in the wood for a moment, then suddenly the memory of how it got there stirs and she can’t help but look at him and make a face.

“Never,” he grins.

She knows he’s thinking about it now too, about how she’d come home from work one night in a really good mood and he’d been particularly amorous and they ended up on top of the table. They'd been so caught up in the moment they weren’t able to stop it from toppling over, depositing them both in a giggling heap and leaving the telltale crack on the corner. She’d hurt her back but it had been entirely worth it.

Fair enough, she thinks. After the awfulness of how everything fell apart, she can’t imagine how it must have been for him to live here alone, in this house full of memories. Every room, every crack held a story like this. Perhaps holding onto these memories of the happy times had been a good thing for him, rather than bad.

He grins and his eyebrows go up. “Do you remember that time you cuffed me to the staircase and I was still somehow able to get your clothes off with one hand?”

Her face flushes. Oh, she remembers.

“I do remember. Pretty sure you got something else off, too.”

This is fine, this is fun, she thinks. Just taking a trip down memory lane. No harm in that.

“Uh huh,” he replies, smiling like a cheshire cat. “That was the night we broke the stairs, if I remember correctly.”

“Yeah, but you fixed them, Mulder.”

“I guess I did. I had to.”

“You could have gotten a new kitchen table, though.”

“If I replaced this table, that would mean I’d have to replace the coffee table, the armchair upstairs, the crack in the shower tile, the porch swing-”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” she laughs. “We really weren’t very careful, were we?”

“We certainly weren’t,” he says, very pointedly. “I know I wasn’t.”

She does not miss the subtext and looks down at her bowl of soup.

“Neither was I,” she admits.

They eat quietly for a minute.

All I have is yours

All you see is mine

And I’m glad to hold you in my arms

I’d have you anytime

She tries to ignore the song, but it’s hard. All of this feels really good and even if it’s just for right now she lets it in.

“I like this song,” she says.

“I remember,” he smiles.

“This is really nice, Mulder. Thank you for doing this.”

His eyes go soft. “You’re welcome.”

They sit there quietly for a bit.

“I don’t know if I ever even apologized for hurting you, Scully. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything now, but I am sorry.”

She looks up and gives him a warm smile. The anger and hurt she had felt towards him and towards their entire situation dissipated a long time ago. All that really remains now is uncertainty. She doesn’t quite know how to communicate that to him. Still, it’s nice to hear.

She can’t help but feel a small wave of sadness wash over her, this inability to talk to him, really talk to him, is something she doesn’t like.

“It means something. I’m sorry too.” She isn’t exactly sure what either of them are apologizing for anymore but she’s glad all the same. Every little step is a step in the right direction.

He reaches his hand across the table and she takes it. They look at each other for a moment, something small that feels so huge lifted off their shoulders. He squeezes her hand and starts to rub the back of her thumb with his. The effect is electric and she feels a chill run down her spine. She’s amazed that such a simple touch between them can still be so magnetic after all these years.

“Jesus, Mulder,” she says in a soft voice.

“We’ve still got it, huh?” he replies, smiling. They sit and gaze at each other like they used to, the music echoing softly against the walls of the house. Their house. It’s really, really nice. Without meaning to, they’ve opened the door for the topic of their relationship to slip in but she can’t decide if she really wants to talk about it. Maybe subconsciously she does. They’ve already been holding hands and gazing at each other and talking about their sexcapades so it seems like this is just the way the evening is going.

In any event, she breaks the spell first. “Don’t we still have some work to do?”

She releases his hand and gets up. She feels relaxed enough to take her weapon off her belt and sets it on the table.

“I think so? The files are on the coffee table.”

“You mean the broken coffee table?” She can’t help herself. She doesn’t even know what she’s doing. Everything about this feels so good, she just wants it to continue.

“It’s not broken, Scully. Just a little… wobbly.”

“Wobbly?”

“Yeah, wobbly.” He leers at her. “Kinda like you were after I was finished.”

She smirks. God damn. Maybe this is more dangerous than she thought. Maybe she kind of likes it.

She wants to get him back for that one, it’s only fair. But now she truly worries if this goes on much longer they’ll probably be adding another crack to the kitchen table and she’s not quite ready for that.

Not yet, at least.

So she looks him in the eye and allows her tongue to roll over her lower lip thoughtfully. She rarely does it with intention but she knows damn well he likes it. The way his eyebrows reach new heights lets her know she’s won this round.

She turns, heads to the couch and then hears his voice again. “Let’s save the work for tomorrow, huh? I’m not in the mood to burn the midnight oil.” He turns the music off and leans forward to blow the candle out, moving it to the counter.

She had just picked up one of the files they were working on and sets it back down. “Yeah, okay.”

She collapses onto the couch and Mulder follows suit, removing his phone from his pocket and setting it on the couch between them.

He picks up the TV remote and flips the channel a few times until Truth Squad With Tad O’Malley pops onto the screen. The headline “President Trump Tweets Daycare Workers Should Be Armed” crawls across the bottom of the screen.

“This fucking guy,” Mulder grumbles.

“You know, he asked me out. We kind of went on a date.”

He gapes at her. “Donald Trump? What the fuck, Scully?”

“No!” she laughs. A huge, rolling laugh she hasn’t let him see in years. “No. No. I mean Tad O’Malley.”

Mulder’s jaw drops. “Are you kidding me? That guy?”

“It wasn’t a love connection,” she admits. The opportunity to get a rise out of him had been far too tempting.

“But… that guy was nuts, Scully.”

She looks at him and raises an eyebrow. “Yes, he was. Apparently I have a type.”

He rolls his eyes, acknowledging the jab, but presses on. “This country has gone off the deep end, and guys like that aren’t helping.”

She sighs. “You can say that again.”

“Okay but I won’t, because I’d rather not talk about Tad O’Malley now, and probably not ever again.”

She tries to think of some way to change the subject, but she’s stumped. Anyway, Mulder isn’t done.

“I can’t believe you went out with that guy,” he says, shaking his head. Apparently he does want to keep talking about this. He’s kidding, but she can tell he’s a little annoyed.

“If it’s any consolation, all he really wanted to talk about was you,” she admits.

He makes a face. “Well, I guess I’m glad I ruined your date.”

He isn’t joking after all. She can see in his face he’s hurt. He really didn’t want to hear about her dating life. She was only trying to have a little fun, she never planned on upsetting him. The evening had been so pleasant, everything felt so comfortable. She hadn’t intended things to turn serious.

“There wasn’t really anything to ruin. It would never have worked out. I was just… blowing off steam, I guess.” She can tell the wheels are turning in his mind, that maybe he knows she was blowing off steam at the time because of him. “I’m sure you had to do it, too, on occasion.” She’s fishing and she knows it. She’s dying to know.

He stares straight ahead and shakes his head no.

She tilts her head skeptically. “Oh, come on. How many?”

Still not looking at her, he holds his hand up with his fingers forming a zero.

Zero.

She’d wanted to believe it all these years. She hadn’t been with anyone else, either. She’d been on a few dates with a few men but could never quite get there with anyone. At a certain point she knew she was only doing it to prove something to herself, to prove she was over him. But somewhere along the way she knew: she’d never been over him.

“Did you even… try?”

He shrugs. “Try what? To get over you?” He finally looks her in the eye.

“Well… yeah.”

She suddenly feels an overwhelming wave of melancholy wash over her. How sad he must have been this entire time, how lonely. She’d known it, somewhat; she was lonely too. But seeing his face right now, hearing him admit this to her, just makes her sad. Not out of pity; out of empathy. They’ve spent so much of their lives being lonely.

She doesn't want to be lonely. She wishes this was easier. She wishes a lot of things.

“I can’t do the impossible,” is all he says. He’s not trying to flirt, or be cute. He’s being completely serious.

She doesn’t know what to say to this, so she turns back to the television. He flips some more channels until a Ramones Behind the Music comes up. He looks at her and she nods. He sets the remote down on the table and they both kick their feet up onto the wobbly coffee table and watch silently for a few minutes.

His hand is beside him, next to his phone, and hers is so close they are almost touching. The centimeter between them is on fire. She can’t believe the intensity of this, how this is making her feel. It’s like she’s thirteen and they’re at the movies. It’s like she’s eighteen and they’re about to have sex for the first time.

It’s like she’s twenty eight, in the FBI basement office, and she’s finally met the man she’s going to be with for the rest of her life.

He must be thinking the same thing because his hand is suddenly covering her own, and before she knows how it happened her fingers have interlocked with his. She feels butterflies she hasn’t felt for twenty years.

After a while, she notices he’s fallen asleep on the couch next to her. She picks up the remote and mutes the television so she can listen to him breathing. For just a moment she watches him, listens to him, and pretends they’re something they are not.

MULDER

(Plus One)

They haven’t been this close in years and he feels as if he may even be dreaming. He’s still behind her, right behind her like always, but his arms are around her this time, finally. She’s in his bed, in his arms, and they are talking about the future.

In the fucked up, half-jointed, stumbling way they usually do, but still.

He remembers not so long ago when his hands were on her shoulders and she let him in on a little bit of her own regret. It had given him hope, but she was still facing away from him, her back to him. Like so many lonely nights in their own bed at home when she thought he didn’t see her anymore, she’d turn away. Not like she used to when things were good. In those times, she’d let him see her face, their smiles mirroring one another, eyes locked, truly seeing each other like they did when they were only just partners learning to understand one another.

“What if we lose our jobs?” she asks him softly.

“Then what’ll we do?”

He feels her turn around in the sofa bed to face him and she looks into his eyes, smiling. For the first time in years they are finally on the same page.

“We’ll think of something,” she says playfully, and it’s enough for him to know her intentions. It’s something she used to say to him back when they were on the run, moving from town to town, from motel to motel.

What are we going to do with all this free time?

We’ll think of something.

Sex had been all they really had to do, and they’d gotten really good at it. Knowing what she liked and how she liked it had become his new obsession at the time. Scully was never one for obsessions but the way she’d learned his own body was admirable even for a medical doctor.

Together they were good, they were really good.

Now as she reaches over and traces his jawline with her finger, even in the dark he can see in her eyes what she wants. There have been countless times in their relationship she’s been the one to take over and be in control, but this time he can tell she wants it to be him. She wants him to change them this time.

He wraps his leg around her hip and pulls her in close, tips her chin up to his and their lips touch for the first time in so very long. His sensory memory recognizes her taste, her scent, as if not a day has passed.

He runs his fingers through her long hair, hair she alway kept long when she could because she knew he loved it so much. He’d told her before it reminded him of when they first met, back when she’d been only a fantasy. Seeing her growing it out again over the past several months had given him a subliminal hope, that maybe she was doing it for him. He likes to think so, anyway.

She threads her fingers through the soft hair at the nape of his neck and for a few minutes they both just live in the warmth and comfort of familiarity, of each other, of this kiss they’ve both been waiting so long to share. He feels such reprieve in this moment, like a wandering nomad in the desert having finally found an oasis.

Four years, seven months, twenty six days since the last time they were together. How has he lived this entire time?

He hasn’t lived. He’s merely survived. She is the only one who can bring him back to life.

He wouldn’t mind kissing her forever but tonight there will be no excruciating slow burn; they are different now, they have grown. He rolls her onto her back without breaking contact and begins to unbutton her pajama top. Her hands go to the bottom of his tank top and she begins to tug on it but he pulls away and gently stops her. He suddenly has a strong desire to make this all about her. She looks confused and is about to say something but he stops her with his mouth, and she takes the hint.

He wants to make her understand. He wants to make her believe in him again.

He sits back on his haunches and looks at her. Just a few hours ago she was asking him if he thought of her as old. He couldn’t say then that his dick certainly didn’t think so, even though it was exactly what he’d been thinking.

He truly believes he’s never looked at anything so goddamn beautiful before, and he wants her to know he thinks that.

“How can you not know how beautiful you are, Scully? You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

She closes her eyes and smiles. Even though he’s telling her the god’s honest truth he can’t help but feel like he scored a point, and any hope she gives him for reconciliation he will gladly accept.

The very last time they’d made love was burned into his brain, even though they had already lost sight of each other at that point. He’d thought about it constantly in the months following her departure so he could keep the memory strong. It had still been amazing. Even when their minds wouldn’t agree, their bodies always would.

He’s ready to have her back. He was ready the day she left him. He knows he has to wait until she is, too, but he will wait as long as it takes. He’s done it before.

He wants to kiss her everywhere he can, and that starts out as his plan, beginning at her neck, and moving slowly down her body, but he can’t wait for very long before he’s got her legs up over his shoulders and is making good use of his lifelong oral fixation. He doesn’t have to work very hard because soon he hears her moaning and knows yet another search for truth has been vindicated. He loves to hear that sound more than anything.

Her hands go to the top of his head and she digs her fingernails into his scalp as she screams out his favorite “Mulder” on the list. He’s waited so long to hear it again. It was worth every damn minute.

She’s breathing heavily as he pulls the sheet back up over her body. He kisses her forehead then rests his head on her chest. She continues running her hands through his hair and he can feel her calm. She then says his name once more, quietly.

“Mulder …”

It’s a new “Mulder,” a different one. He hears about a dozen emotions wrapped into the single word. He could name them all if he wanted to, but he hears the one that matters most and that’s enough.

He smiles and lays there for a couple minutes, closing his eyes. Her heart is beating so fast. He’s perfectly prepared to fall asleep right here and now but then he feels a tapping on his shoulder blade and lifts his face up to look at her. Her eyes narrow and she raises an eyebrow.

“Don’t you think for a second we’re finished.”

He grins and pushes up onto his forearms, pressing his lips to hers as she smiles widely, her fingers in his hair, then trailing down his back, to the waistband of his boxers.

Making her scream out his name again after so many years was its own reward but he’s certainly not going to put up a fight.

***

The manager has called twice, and actually come knocking once. It’s an hour past checkout. He’s not sure if it’s their tardiness or the noise, but he doesn’t care.

Truth was, he’d been absolutely exhausted when they’d returned to the motel from wrapping up their case. He knew she was, too. So the fact that they are lying here together now must mean something, something important.

He lays naked with her in bed, their bodies entangled in a way they haven’t been for so long. Besides last night, that is. Last night had been slow, romantic, familiar, like they were finding their way home again.

This morning, though… wow. It hadn’t been like that in longer than he can even remember.

If you need anything, you just call me?

I can’t imagine that I will, she’d responded.

He knew that look, though. He’d seen it a million times. He knew if he waited by the door long enough she would open it this time.

And open it, she did. She was the same Scully he remembered in his old apartment all those years ago, when she crossed the room without hesitation and showed him exactly what she wanted. He loved her then, and he loves her now.

This feels like home to him, her finger lazily drawing circles on his chest, his hand combing through her hair. He smiles as he thinks of her Freudian slip earlier in the week when she’d referred to the house as “our home.” Maybe she feels the same way.

“I’ve really missed this, Scully,” he tells her. He has no reason not to be honest with her.

“Me too.”

“Can we… can we talk about us?”

She pauses. “I’m not ready.”

He’s silent. One thing he’s always been able to pride himself on is being able to shut the fuck up when she wants him to.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, Mulder. I do and I will. Just not right now.”

It’s never right now, it’s always more waiting. But they’ve taken another huge step, so he’s content to wait.

In response, he pulls her on top of him so her body is covering his, her head resting just below his chin. He quietly brushes her shoulder blades with his thumbs and just holds her. It’s times like this he’s grateful for their height difference; when he holds her this way they fit together so perfectly.

His heart aches that she won’t talk to him. They’ve never been the best at communication when it comes to matters of the heart, a small sacrifice he’d been willing to make since they were so good at matters of the brain. They always felt it, they just had trouble conveying it.

Last night felt like a start, but it reminded him of the conversation they’d had back in Kroner so many years ago when neither of them could really say what they actually meant. Instead they’d talked in circles, hovering around the point but never actually reaching it.

When she’d presented the possibility he might find someone else, actually choose someone else over her, he’d physically recoiled. It wasn’t something he ever even considered. He wondered how she spent all those years apart; even if she’d been busy trying to find some other person who could replace his role in her life, he sure as shit wasn’t. So he hedged a bit with his response.

As confusing as he found her line of questioning, he knew she wouldn’t have said any of it unless she truly meant it. As hard as it is for either of them to broach a difficult subject, he truly felt the weight of her words in that moment. They rarely talked about children, her infertility, William, any of it; it had always been just too painful. And when she’d mentioned the idea of him having more children with someone else, he felt so strange… like there was something else she’d meant to say but hadn’t said it.

At the risk of sounding insensitive, what’s stopping you?

He wonders at his own question. He’s not stupid, he knows the likelihood of Scully having more children of her own is right around zero. But sensitivity be damned, he wanted to know. If she’d wanted more children after having to give up theirs, she could have found a way. She would have found a way.

It’s me. I am what’s stopping her. The children she wants to have are the children she would have had with me.

He knows it, she knows it, they both know it. So why can’t they just say it?

He had the life he wanted with her, and didn’t realize it was exactly what he wanted until he’d lost her. Now he can admit to himself she may have been right, that he had some growing up to do. He now knows he doesn’t have to change who he is to be the person she needs; he never did. He just needed to come to understand that. He understands it now, more clearly than he ever has.

Sometimes I think the world is going to hell and we’re the only two people who can save it.

She was right about that. One thing he does know is that they are the only two people who can save their own worlds from going to hell. Hopefully they stop wasting time soon.

“I’m really glad there ended up being no more room at the inn,” she says as she snuggles close to him.

He chuckles. “We ought to leave the manager a thank you card.”

“And a very big apology gift basket,” she laughs.

“I really needed that, Scully. I needed you.”

She doesn’t stop herself from being honest with him. “I did too. It’s been too long.”

It’s not everything he wants, but it’s still music to his ears. He knows there’s hope.

She pushes herself up on her hands, her hair falling into his face, and looks into his eyes.

“I’m not ready to come home yet, Mulder. But I am ready to start trying.”

Her smile is so tender, so genuine. He touches her cheek and looks into her eyes, hoping she can tell how much he loves her with one look. He lifts his face up to hers and they kiss, softly at first but soon she’s straddling him, ready for round three.

He wonders how they’ll explain the late checkout charge on their expense report, then promptly forgets about it.

Thanks for reading!

#txf #msr #msr fanfic #fanfiction #adorbs #this #plus one #culmination #they're falling in love again

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lynxgriffin · 6 years

Text

Straight Outta Monster Narnia

HEY HEY I WASN’T EXPECTING TO DO THIS EVER AGAIN BUT WE’RE BACK

I’M GONNA PLAY ME SOME DELTA RUNE HERE

THOUGHTS AS I GO! ARE UNDER THE CUT!

Here we GOOOOOOO~!

Survey Program! Nice! Ominous!

I am here yes!

Truly excellent dude

OH MAKING A VESSEL NOW what are we Xehanort

NEATO I can pick Chara or Frisk heads or others…

Let’s do someone new. This kinda longish hair head.

STRIPES FOR DAYS! Longish sleeves, methinks

The legs are almost all the same LMAO

This is so friggin creepy I l OVE IT

Favorite food is PAIN nah it’s soft

BLOOD TYPE D. D for DOGGO

You have been gifted with kindness, not-XionFrisk

Pain AND seizure. Kinda wonder what happens if you say no tho…

But I don’t want to start over so let’s go with yes

OH FRIGGIN BUUUUURNED BY THE GAME, HAHAHA

Hi Toriel, you’re looking nice!

That’s a lot of friggin trophies over there

Also Kris, you need some eyes

RELIGIOUS SKA

So we have overachieving perfect child and sad boring child, okay

Awww Gerson wrote a book! How neat

It’s only you…..FOR NOW!!!!

It just isn’t home without white fur stuck in the drain, is it

CHAIRIEL’S RETURN!!!!

Also there’s some weird graphical flicker going on when I move and I wonder if it’s not because I’m playing full screen here

“Spray For The Boys, Flamin’ Hot Pizza Flavor” Damn Toby I missed your incredible sense of humor

DOES TORIEL USE PET SHAMPOO please say yes

ASRIEL’S AT COLLEGE AND UNDYNE’S A POLICE MONSTER, PERFECT

PROFESSOR ALPHYS IMMA GET AN A+ IN ANIME CLASS

DAMN who do I pick as my partner

Like…I really want Temmie…but also Snowdrake…

Random snake is also very good…

Ahhh I see this is gonna be pre-determined

HAHAHAHA FUCKIN BURNED AGAIN BY THIS HORRIBLE BLUE DUCK

Thank you cool snake I love your origin story

Oh this reindeer girl is very cute

MOTHA. FOKKIN. SUSIE

I instantly love her, goodbye

Oh Alphys you’re so not good at putting anyone in trouble

I JUST REALIZED TEMMIE HAS HER EGG ON THE DESK

Susie are you eating chalk

Oh sheet I like Susie less now

GAH DAMN THIS ESCALATED QUICKLY

Susie, Kris doesn’t even HAVE a face

Haha totally cut off my answer there

Hmm. I sense…a theme here.

Wow this really is putting on the restrictive aspects here

Now that’s a spooky face

Oh it ain’t gonna be that simple, mean girls

Well, this sure seems like an underground! Also…Kris is green now, okay

Hi there creepy waving things!

To reiterate: this is soooo creepy AND I LOVE IT

Puzzles! We got puzzles again! CREEPY PUZZLES

Whelp, we found Susie, just kinda hiding out in a…dead dust bunny thingie

LOL so much for a party member following you around

Well this is a new and interesting take on the bullet hell mechanics

Such interesting and different architecture

THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESSSSS

Yes let’s take a sudden HARD SHIFT into Final Fantasy

THE QUEST OF THE DELTA KNIGHTS that was an MST3K ep you know

About like…Leonardo da Vinci actually. Except he was a whiny bitch

LMAO Susie just “nah destroying the world sounds neat”

JOKESTER SANS GLIDES IN A FLAMING TRICYCLE SURE WHY NOT

VERY DIFFERENT COMBAT SYSTEM

“Dunno how I got an ax but like, that’s cool”

CAN’T WAIT FOR THE REMIXES OF THIS BATTLE MUSIC OKAY

Dunno if there’s a pacifist version of this game but I stick to tradition so I’m gonna try it

RALSEI. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE

THE POWER OF FLUFFY BOYS SHINES WITHIN YOU it sure as hell does, game

The heckin heck Ralsei is so cute

Yup yup we gonna try pacifist this first time!

“If you’re reading this…I guess you’re dead.” Fair enough.

Gaster noises when trying to use the cell phone, hmmmm…

It’s an inverse papou fruit!

Susie just up and attacks this cake, all right

Battle is cool but it’s gonna take some getting used to, think I accidentally used both of my items

YOUR SENSE OF DIRECTION WON’T SAVE YOU NOW

“It’s like a dinner made out of three glasses of milk” Ralsei you’re SO CUTE

Now to see if TP stays leveled between battles…

“I thought you were running away.” / “Yeah, I finished.”

Fugdamn I want —pictures of Spiderman— remixes of this music ON MY DESK TODAY

FRIGHTENING FANFARE

Damn that puzzle still is tricky

Gah damn that was hilarious but also terrifying

We have the power of FLUFFY BOYS and MEAN GIRLS we are UNSTOPPABLE

Ohhh so that’s what the heart outline does!

Now that is a coooool cat and I like him already

Awww I don’t have enough money for the spooky sword

Susie just roastin’ everybody left and right

THEY GOT BARRY

These mechanics continue to be interesting and a bit more complex

“Damn, didn’t get to impale myself” I’m sure you’ll get your chance Susie

It’s really interesting how we’re basically group-battling to PREVENT the tank from beating the crap out of everyone

Oh now that light trick is weird

They keep throwing the usual chess and playing card guys at us and somehow I’m Suspicious

Is that a bucket. ARE Y’ALL HOMESTUCKING AT ME AGAIN

LMAO did Susie call us the Fuckboys or something

Oh, the Shit Squad, I guess!

THE POWER OF THE SHIT SQUAD SHINES WITHIN YOU HECK YESSSS

“I, Mr. Society, am far too intelligent to ever bow down to such a tyrant!” Hmmm.

Oh, it’s Sir Lion Plateface again

L E G S

THE BOSS JUST DRINKS A GALLON OF MILK THAT’S FINE

Well Ralsei got kinda junked there but WE DEFEATED SIR LION PLATEFACE

Cakes…are also my enemy…

Yeeeeah kinda saw that one coming

Susie I get the feeling you’re not going to enjoy being a bad guy either

Dang son I have no clue what’s going on anymore WE JUST HAD SOME SALSA IN A TREE STUMP

This jack’s got my number

That sure is a three-eyed three-headed cat thingamajig

Awww I like Clover

“All proceeds go to kicking your ass” CAN I USE THIS LINE IN REAL LIFE PLEASE

Hot damn we just squeaky hammered our broken cake into ULTIMATE CAKE

Why does a sweet little boy have a mustache indeed.

Create a machine to thrash your own ass, nice

It’s my beautiful death laser duck! Tops in GUN’S

Man Susie and Lancer are just having the time of their lives here

Finally, respect for pinecone-eaters!

Awww Susie, are you actually starting to worry about someone who respects your eating of chalk and pinecones

Oh thank goodness, got through that maze thing

Yes, finally, it’s our DUCK TANK LASER

Why does it say Tuna on it

“Your design sucked so we blew it up” This is like that one Berlin tour guide I had

GANGED UP ON THEM WITH KINDNESS, HA

Whelp, back to telling enemies that Susie will kick them in the shins I guess!

YES LANCER JOIN THE SHIT SQUAD

OMFG THAT FAAAAACE WHAT IS THAT FACE

Hey we’ve got a full Final Fantasy team now! Neat

STOOL FORME

I like how Lancer just sliiiiiides around outside the party instead of walking with

Hmmm well that friendship feeling didn’t last long

You done got locked in the dungeon

Yup sure did eat that jail moss two minutes in

HUH, we’re controlling Susie now

In which choices do not matter…

SUSIE’S FOKKIN PISSED

And we can’t control her actions…but why controlling the human soul?

A pair of eyes got arrested?! What IS the world coming to?!!

Oh dear, we found a bunch of kings in baby jail

Why are these filthy cages so happy-looking

Awwww Susie joined the party for realizes!

So, this about final boss point for this business?

Why are you guys just sitting on a pile of loot

And just who is this sassy lost child?

BAAHAHAHAAA

HECK YEAH WE GET TO FLIRT AGAIN

I am now BED INSPECTOR yes

Hello again fancy blue boy

“Can…can we see it” / “No.”

This sure is a jammin party with CLUB MUSIC OH HO HO HO

Awww he put his bicycle to bed

‘Welcome to my shop, you ungrateful worms” HELL YEAH

I do not wisheth to hear your MP3s! I would rather listen to the sweet song of Death!

Prepare for a battle with…WHATEVER THIS IS!!!!

JUST FUGGIN CHUCK RALSEI AT SIR LION PLATEFACE, I LIKE IT

Six dollars, for all of that?! Geez

WHELP this looks like final boss time…

Hiiiii there Lancer

Oh dang is gettin serious now

Oh woooow that’s…someone’s fetish right there

HOKAY that was tricky but! Having the defense abilities certainly helped with pacifism through that…

Despite ending this peacefully, I don’t think this scene is gonna end on a happy note…

W H E L P

DAYUM that face from Susie!!

Awwww poor Ralsei

We only have BAD-byes WUAH WUAH WUAAAH

DAWWW lil’ Asriel-lookin dude with glasses (and YES I see that anagram there)

LMAO Susie’s face

EPIC ROCK MUSIIIIIC

Also I’ve really been enjoying the color effects

Awww look at this epic adventure you two had in the closet

So basically we went to Monster Narnia, neat

Awww Susie likes Monster Narnia

Oh no we worried Toriel! THE WORST

LIBRARBY

YOU STUDY THOSE HOT DEMON COMICS FOR COLLEGE, TEMMIE

Hiiii Toby you busy makin’ something!

ALPHYS NO, YOU BETRAY MEW MEW KISSY CUTIE

OFFICE UNDYNE, DOn’T ARREST ME

I like reindeer girl’s rowdy hospitalized dad

PARTY ANIMAL TORIEL CONFIRMED

I like how there’s just a poster on the wall in this room that reads PAIN

The police tape simply reads NGGAAAAAHHHHH!

Good grief there’s SO MUCH STUFF TO EXPLORE HERE BUT I HAVE TO KEEP GOING

Snowdrakes don’t have arms, oh no!!!

“Does it hurt to be made of blood??” ….Yes. Yes it does.

HIIIIIIIII SANS

Woah woah woah WOAH WOAH SANS

Everyone is here! Even Ice Wolf!

Yes I’ll take a Double Ice Pizza you weirdos

OH MY GOOOOOOOOOD IT’S BURGERPANTS

10 OUT OF 10 GAME NOW

HIS FACES!!!! “C H I C K S”

That was brilliant, Burgerpants, thank you for existing

Catty!!! Hey where’s Bratty!

Noooo you gotta be besties with Bratty!

Brother Doug…?

Oh no, Mettaton, come out and talk to us!

ASGORE, HELLO

OMG Asgore hugs

Soul flowers….???

Awwww got some flowers for Toriel

THE GAY GUARDS IN THEIR GAY FLANNEL, YAY

It’s so late but I can’t stop until I’ve talked to LITERALLY EVERYONE

Thaaaat’s politics! …Rarely.

Comes to church for the fruit juice, sounds about right

DOG GRAVE, NO

Let’s go into the woods…what could go wrong…

Why can’t I get into the creepy shed…

Well, I think I got everything, so let’s go home now…

ASRIEL MAINS YOSHI IN SMASH CONFIRMED

Awwww Toriel is not big on Asgore’s bouquet!

OKAY decided to go to sleep here.

…Well that didn’t work out great

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

UUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

WHAT??????????

WHAT????????????

WHAT?????????

HAHA I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THE FUK HAPPENED IN ALL OF THIS BUT UH. WHEN’S CHAPTER TWO??

THAT SURE WAS A HELL OF A THING

No really Toby please WHAAAAAAATTT

OKAY I HOPE I DIDN’T MISS ANYTHING IMPORTANT BYYYYEEEE

#undertale #delta rune #lynx plays delta rune #lynx plays undertale #undertale spoilers #delta rune spoilers #scheduled this so it posted after the no spoilers rule so hopefully that works out #NO PLEASE WHAT HAPPENED HERE I STILL HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS #also I NEED MUSIC REMIXES NOW #also also so uh #EXPECT ART IN THE FUTURE #SORRY I CAN'T HELP MYSELF #including doing the running commentary thing!

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joiesamevans · 5 years

Text

Human Nature

Who: Sam Evans & Mercedes Jones @sassymercyj

When: Saturday night, 6/13

Where: Roma Mia and Irish Gold and the sidewalk

What: Sam and Mercedes go out on their first date and learn a lot more about each other (no triggers)

Mercedes had spent all day trying to find something to wear, she wanted something that would catch Sam's eyes but would also not be too much. She hadn't been on a date in such a long time that she was extremely nervous about what do do or wear, and she really liked Sam so that made things even scarier for her. Finally she settled on a formfitting pink dress with silver heels, Spence said she looked good, a little over dressed but then again Mercedes didn't really have anything that wasn't either a little over dressed or under. She really needed to go shopping next week. After a quick shower, she dressed and took her hair down. Leaving her hair to fall over her shoulders she added subtle makeup, earrings and finished her look with her favorite peach body spray. Sam said he would pick her up at 7, so she watched the clock and patiently waited, hoping he didn't change his mind.

All of Jeff's advice was running though Sam's head as he walked himself down to the sorority house. He knew he was overthinking all of this and just kept reminding himself to breathe and actually have some fun. Spending time with Mercedes was always fun after all. He swallowed as he reached the front door and gave the doorbell a ring, holding the single lily he'd brought in front of him. Why was he sweating? Maybe because he was wearing a leather jacket in July. Whatever, he looked good.

Most of the girls had been gone, of doing their own thing, which Mercedes was happy about. She made her way down the stairs when she heard the doorbell. Walking to the door she opening it, smiling at Sam. "Hey, you look great!" She said, steeping out of the house.

Sam's jaw quite literally fell open as Mercedes stepped out onto the porch. "I, um... I... thanks," he finally managed. "You look.... amazing. And other words I can't think of." Good thing she told him he was cute when he was flustered. He held out the lily he'd brought for her in offering. "This is for you. Jeff told me flowers were a good idea, but then the internet told me they were a bad idea, so I didn't know what to do. So I brought one."

Mercedes blushed, Sam was too adorable for words when he got like that. "Thank you Sam." She looked at the Lily and reached for it. "Flowers are good, one single flower, that happens to be one of my favorite flowers. Its really good. Thank you again Sam." She held the flower close. "Should we go?"

Sam smiled and gave a little nod, proud that he hadn't done something stupid right off the bat. "Good." He held his arm out in an offer for her to take it so they could walk together. "So... how has your day been so far?"

Sam had to be the sweetest guy she had ever met, taking his arm in hers she blushed as she moved closer to him. "My day? It was spent getting ready for this, coming up with this idea I have for Glee and dealing with some of the girls. How are you? How was your day?"

"Ooh, ideas, huh? Can't wait to find out what they are and then hear you crush them." He smiled, surprised to discover that his nerves were starting to melt away now that they were actually together and he wasn't just alone with his thoughts. Those always got him into trouble. "Pretty good. I hung out with Jeff this morning once I finally drug him out of bed. Did some planning for LARPing club. Looked into that whole kilt thing. Pretty excited about it."

She nodded. "Yep been talking to Ryder about a winter show. I am pretty excited about it." She looked up to him, and nodded. "Sounds like a very exciting day. Okay what is LARPing? Spence talks about it too and I am curious. As for that kilt thing? I told you, you'd look hot, or hotter."

"Sounds fun." Even if it did add another thing to his busy schedule, Sam knew he'd be in for sure. Performing was always a ton of fun. He chuckled at her question. "Live action role playing. Not the... sex kind. Not that I'm against that! Anyway... we, uh, get dressed up in these kickass costumes and go on quests and stuff. I think a kilt could really give my costume that something it's been needing."

"Mercedes nodded. "It should be, I am excited about that, and the rush party next week...might have to actually participate in that seven minutes in heaven game now." she teased. "Sooo you like sex roleplaying?" She raised an eyebrow, did he expect sex from her? "LARP...so its like bringing something like Harry Potter, to life? Thats pretty cool."

Sam's eyebrows raised, more than enjoying the sound of that. "Wait, you get to pick your partners for that, right? It's not like spin the bottle and I'm gonna forced to be in a closet with Spence while she insults for seven minutes?" His eyes got wide at her question and his throat went dry again. How did she do that to him? "Oh, I've never done it. I mean I've done role playing and I've done sex. But not together. And, yeah, but it's usually more Lord of the Rings."

"Its my party I can make it happen...I mean if the date continues to be go well." she teased. "I would like too, play sometime or be apart of it sometime if you guys allow people who are not in the group to join once or twice." Mercedes stopped walking, she needed to make sure they were on the same page. "Okay, I know that people on this campus seem to mate like... bunnies on vacation. But I don't sleep around...I have fooled around once or twice but that is it...and I know you are nothing like any of those guys, but if this is you just wanting sex from me..." She linked their hands together. "I like you alot but I don't know if I can give you that..."

"No pressure or anything," he chuckled. His smile was a little surprised, but in a very good way. "Yeah? That'd be awesome. I'm pretty sure I can get the president of the club to allow it since... he's me." He stopped when she did, a slight look of confusion crossing his face that quickly turned into panic. "Oh, no! I didn't mean... I wasn't like saying it was a thing we should do. I just... look, sometimes words come out of my mouth before I know what they are and it makes me sound really dumb and I'm sorry." He gave her a hand a squeeze and offered an apologetic look. "I do have two questions though."

"Oh so I have to get close to the President huh?" Mercedes shook her head. "You don't sound dumb, you are never dumb, I get it, you know what you want to say and sometimes your mouth speaks before you can process it. Not dumb, just different. And its not like I wouldn't want to do that with you but there are things that..." she stopped, telling a guy on the first date that you can't sleep with him because the only time you ever had sex it was against your will, was not a good thing. "Sure what are your questions?"

"You don't have to, but he wouldn't be mad about it or anything," Sam chuckled, slowly starting to walk again as he kept Mercedes' hand in his own. "Still, I get myself into this situations or whatever and even if I'm not dumb, it like... feels that way. And I don't ever wanna make you uncomfortable." He sighed. "Okay, so first... where do bunnies go on vacation? Because I think that sounds adorable. And second, when you say you don't want to have sex does that mean like... ever?"

Mercedes chewed her bottom lip. "Well as long as he wouldn't be mad I am getting close to him. " As they continued to walk, she nodded. "I know and even if it feels that way, I don't ever want you to feel like you are dumb or stupid or any of the other names you or other people call you. And you aren't making me uncomfortable not at all. You make me feel safe, and happy." she said softly. "Bunnies go to the bunny farm of course, its the hottest spot for bunnies." At his next question she swallowed hard. Gabe's words echoing in her mind. Seeing a bench nearby she lead him too it and sat him down before sitting with him. "When I say I don't want to have sex, I don't mean forever. I haven't had sex, not really. Its a long story a long horrible story that ends with me giving up on music and guys. You are the first guy I can see myself falling for and wanting to have sex with and I guess I am scared that once you know me, my story all of me you wont want me."

Sam couldn't help but smile at the thought of making Mercedes feel safe and happy. That's exactly what he wanted to do for her. "Good. Oh, man, a bunny farm sounds fun. My mom has some bunnies at the ranch, but not a farm's worth." He sat down, slightly worried he'd said a dumb thing again, but he listened intently. "I could never not want you, Mercedes. Even if you, like... murdered somebody. You didn't murder anyone, did you? Just... so I know." He shook his head because he was saying dumb stuff again. "I don't know what horrible stuff you've been through and I'm not gonna push you to talk about it or anything. Unless you want to, then I'm hear to listen. And, I'm not gonna lie, I like sex. It's fun. But... I like you way more. And I'd never pressure you into anything before you're ready."

Mercedes smiled. "I would love to see your farm one day, I bet its pretty great." she said. Hearing Sam speak it warmed her heart, he was sweet and caring and she didn't know how she got so lucky. "No Sam, I didn't murder anyone. But glad to know you got me if I did." She leaned in and kissed him softly, taking his hand again she looked down to their fingers. "Its a long story, but basically, I met this guy who wanted to make me a star, record a demo, my dad told me not to trust him but I was 16 and stupid so I left home for L.A. and at first it was great. I was recording I was singing I was living that dream. But then he started taking the money I was making for himself, he was drinking and using drugs. When I found out and wanted to leave he..." she swallowed hard stopping. "I was a virgin, I was only 16 and he was a grown man who could overpower me." she let go of his hand. "if was a few months after that I was able to get rid away from him. I came back home, focused on school and decided to go into Law instead of music. I thought if I turned my life around, then it would make up for all the bad." She looked at him with glossy eyes. "So now you know, still want me?" she asked almost praying he still did.

"It's the best. If you like horses. If you hate them, it's probably terrifying," Sam mused before Mercedes started talking again. His heart sank as he listened to her and he felt his mixture of sadness and pure rage mixing up in his gut. Now he was ready to murder someone. "He...? Shit." Realizing what he said, he quickly apologized. "Sorry." When she pulled her hand away, he reached out to take it again, locking their fingers together. "Of course I want you. And... I'm so sorry that happened to you. I can't even imagine someone hurting anyone like that much less someone as incredible as you. Whatever happens with us, it's never gonna be anything that you don't want to happen. Like, 100%. Not just sex, but anything." He leaned over and pressed the softest kiss to her cheek. "And we can, like... figure that out together as we go. Tonight, I'd really like to take you to dinner and then out to karaoke afterward if you're up for it."

"Okay I love horses, when I was a child, I use to rid them at camp every summer. Its the most, freeing feeling in the world." She could see that reaction on his face, the sadness the anger, she knew it well. And just like Gabe said, Sam surprised her, he understood what she was saying, understood. She reached over to him and hugged him tightly, feeling a weight lifted off of her. "Dinner and Karaoke sounds like an amazing time, as long as you sing with me." She said pulling away. "And as long as you are okay with me stealing a kiss every once and a while."

"Right? It's the best. I miss it so much when I'm here." But here had Mercedes and Tennessee didn't, so he couldn't complain too much. He held when she hugged him, not really wanting to let go. He knew how strong Mercedes was, that she knew how to take care of herself, but he couldn't help but want to protect her. "Heck yeah! That was the plan. I love singing with you." He stood from the bench and held out his hand for her. "And I definitely won't complain about that either."

Mercedes nodded. "I wish they had a stable around here...I would love to go horseback riding now." She really loved the way things were between were going, she was happy they got all the heavy out the way. Standing with him she nodded. "I love singing with you too." And it was the truth, his voice was amazing. "Oh?" She stood on her toes pulling him into a kiss, it was meant to be soft, but the moment her lips touched his, she wrapped her arms around him.

"Me too. Maybe we can figure it out some other time." He shrugged, not really wanting to go and get homesick now when it wasn't the time for that at all. But then she was kissing him and he forgot where home even was. His arms wrapped around her waist and he held her close as he returned the kiss, gentle but still well enough to let her know he was definitely enjoying it. He smiled as they pulled apart and slowly shook his head. "Yeah. No complaints here."

Mercedes chewed hoer bottom lip the moment the kiss was over, to stop herself from kissing him again. "None from me either, I mean if you wanted to kiss me." She said, taking his arm back in hers she smiled. "So dinner."

"I will remember that, I promise you." He turned himself around so he was facing the direction they needed to go and led her forward once again. "Yes, dinner. Since we don't have one of those heaven closets yet after all. Also I'm hungry."

Mercedes leaned into Sam as they started walking. "Too bad too, I could use 7 minutes in heaven with you right about now." As they walked it was an easy silence between them. "How about we play 20 questions?"

"Or 700," he replied with a wink. The city at night was so different from back home. He enjoyed both of them for different reasons though. "The kind where we ask questions about each other or the kind where we decide to be like.. Mickey Mouse and then the other person has to guess who we are?"

"Or and let me counter with infinity." Mercedes laughed and shook her head. "No not like the game, but like I ask you what your favorite color is and you tell me, then you ask me a question. Its a way to get to know each other better."

"We might need water eventually," he laughed. "Oh, good. I'll be much better at that one. I mean, I know a lot of random characters, but I know me better than any of them. Alright, you go first."

"I mean if we have to take breaks for eating and drinking so be it." she laughed. "Okay good. Lets start with something easy. What is your family like?"

That one definitely was easy for him and it brought an affectionate smile to his face. "They're so awesome. So we have a ranch, as you know. My dad's like, the hardest worker I've ever met. He's always done everything possible to take care of us, even during the rough years. He taught me everything I know about ranching and life. And Mom-- she's the best. I love her so much. She works just as hard, does riding lessons for kids, which she loves. Makes the best pancakes ever," he recalled fondly. "Okay, so... what's one album you could listen to on repeat?"

Mercedes loved the way Sam spoke about his family, it was clear they were close. "I have never actually been on a Ranch but the way you talk about it makes me want to visit." She listened to his question and thought about it. "Hmmm. I could tell you the obvious Patti, Aretha and Beyoncé...but I think you want something that no one would know. DNA from the Backstreet Boys. I could listen to that all the time." She thought for a moment. "If you were stuck on a deserted island and could have any five things with you, what would you have?"

"I'll have to take you some time," Sam offered. "You could meet Taffy." He nodded along as she named everyone he expected her to and then let out a laugh. "You're amazing. I love it. Wow, I get five? I'm gonna ignore the actually smart ones like rope and knives cause that's not what this game is about. My guitar, for sure. A portable TV with Netflix that never ran out of power. Picture of my family. Endless supply of Doritos. And maybe a volleyball so I could draw a face on it like Tom Hanks." He hummed softly, his lips pursed while he thought. "Dream vacation?"

Mercedes eyes widened when Sam offered to take her home. "You wanna take me to your home?" She smiled. "Okay who is Taffy?" Laughing she looked at him. "Amazing? What makes me amazing?" She nodded listening to him and agreed. "Okay that is a great list, though you should have said like water or something. But other than that bravo. As for my dream Vacation.... Paris. It has romance, great food and shopping. What is your favorite color? And Why?"

"Of course. If you wanted to go. I know Mom would love you. Taffy's my horse," he explained matter-of-factly. "Because the Backstreet Boys are amazing and you like them, so... that's just math. And I told you I was ignoring the obvious practical ones," he reminded her. He saw the restaurant up ahead and felt his stomach rumble a little. "Blue and green. Both of them 'cause they remind me of home. Where the mountains meet the sky."

"Yes I would love to visit your home...but would your mom be okay with me going? And I have to meet Taffy." Mercedes squeezed his arm. "Backstreet Boys are amazing and I am glad we are on the same page with this cause that might have been a deal breaker." Mercedes laughed shaking her head. "But like still. " She nodded. "That is a great answer. I can see why you love them."

"Why wouldn't she be? Mom loves when people visit. Especially people I'm very close to. Makes her feel better about her little baby boy being so far away." Sam rolled his eyes with affection as they reached the door to the restaurant and he held the door open for Mercedes. "That would've been heartbreaking." Checking in with the hostess, he rested his hand at the small of Mercedes back as they walked to the table, waiting until they were seated before he continued. "Favorite food? Thought I'd go... what's the word? Topical?"

Mercedes blushed, Sam wanted her to meet his mom and she wasn't freaking out. "Its a date then.To meet your mom and taffy." As they entered the restaurant she nodded. "Yes,. it would have been. " With his hand at the back she noticed all eyes on her. "Okay, favorite food I can do that. Its Mac and Cheese. I love it. And I make it pretty great too."

"And you can finally see me shirtless on a horse in person," he teased, though he fully intended to follow through on it. "A classic. And you realize you're gonna have to make it for me now, right? Sadly, that was something I never really picked up. The cooking thing. I really love to eat though, which also causes problems sometimes." He wasn't going to worry about his calories tonight though because tonight was special.

"You and this getting me to see you shirtless on a horse. Makes me think of those old spice commercials." She nodded in agreement. "Oh I can do that, I love to cook, and I can throw down in the kitchen but the best dishes are by far my Mac and Cheese and my Grandma's Sweet Potato pie." she said proud of herself. " Why does loving to eat cause a problem?"

"I'm telling you. It's gonna make me irresistible to you. Just wait." Sam pointed a finger across the table and gave Mercedes a confident look. He shrugged at her question, glancing through the menu. "Just... makes it harder to keep up with the whole... look."

"Maybe I already find you irresitible." She looked at him and realized what he meant. She sighed glancing at her own menu. "You want to know the first thing that caught my eyes about you? It wasn't your abs, or your body. You weren't shirtless or showing off how in shape you were. You came into glee and sang and I thought, this is a man with confidence to just be himself. Then I got to know you and you were funny and sweet. On the very long list of reasons why I like you, why I am attracted to you and why I agreed to this date, your body is on the lower end of it."

Sam let out a soft sigh. He hadn't meant to talk himself into this corner, but his mouth had gone off without his brain again. "It's different when I'm singing," he explained with a shrug. "I know I'm pretty good at that and the music just kind of... makes you feel things, you know? So I can just be myself. But out in the real world it's different. People just see some dumb blonde. So I give them something to be distracted by."

Mercedes frowned. "So who cares what people think? People judge me all the time I know I am not the standard of beauty for some people. I know what they think of me but instead of playing into what they think I show them who I am. Sam you are so much more than a pair of very sexy abs." She reached over the table for his hand. "But to be clear I never saw you as some dumb blonde. And your real friends don't either."

Sam turned his hand over and stared at their joined fingers for a moment. "I guess when I first started school... the city was so different and I felt so out of place. I just wanted to make friends. And it's kinda hard to get out of thinking like that." He looked up and met Mercedes eyes, smiling softly. "Thanks."

"Its hard trying to fit in when we were all born to stand out." She said. "But just... just know that no matter what, I want you to be you around me, not who you think people want you to be, or who you might think I want you to be. I just want you to be you. Nothing more." She ran her thumb against the side of his hand, but before she could speak, the waiter came up asking for their order.

Sam smiled at those words. He'd never thought about it that way before. "I will. I promise." He looked up at the waiter with his usual winning smile, letting Mercedes order before he took his turn. "I feel like we lost track of our game..."

"I am glad I could opening your mind, even just a little." She said as she glanced at the menu. "Can I have your Lasagna Napoletana and a root beer." Once she ordered she nodded. "I believe it is your turn to ask a question."

Sam ordered himself some spaghetti and meatballs before rubbing his hands together as he thought about more questions. He was glad they were able to have these more meaningful discussions with each other, but he still wanted them to have some fun too. "Okay. What's your guiltiest pleasure?"

Mercedes sat back and thought about his question. "I mean I have a few but the most guiltiest? Okay you can't laugh...I like to sit on my bed eating strawberry cheesecake ice cream while I binge watch shows that I haven't seen before. Right before school started I spent three days binge watching Stranger Things. What is your favorite song? Like one when it comes on the radio, no matter where you are, you have to sing it?"

"You're just describing college, Mercedes." Sam laughed before bringing his fingers up to his lips and scrunching his nose up. "That was not a laugh at your answer. Just that you're guilty about that answer," he explained. "Okay, you're not allowed to laugh at this either. But it's Footloose."

Mercedes laughed shaking her head. "I mean of course I am guilty about it Sam! I have classes and duties as President of the LADee's and I am sitting in my room eating ice cream and watching Netflix." She blushed. "Guess even in college I do things overboard." at his answer she smiled. "Okay so like I totally get it though."

"Yeah, but you have to take care of yourself. We all work real hard on the ranch. And here I've got classes and football and clubs. But my mom made me promise I would still take time to rest, which includes Netflix binges. Not all the time, but sometimes is nothing to be guilty about. Just sayin'." Sam held his hands up in innocence. "If you could have dinner with any three people, who would you pick?"

Mercedes listened to him and smirked. "You are gonna make sure I take care of myself from now on aren't you?" She didn't mind it, maybe his way of thinking would rub off on her. "Any three people? Oh man okay... well I mean since I am already here with you I can cross that off my list. So Aretha Franklyn, Elanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr." As their drinks arrived she glanced at him,. "Marvel or DC?"

"Obviously," Sam replied easily as he buttered a piece of bread. He nodded along at her list. "Good choices, good choices. Even though I have no idea what Eleanor Roosevelt ever did in her life," he admitted with a shrug. He went to sip at his water and his eyes went wide as he set it down. "Why? Why would you do that to me? Are you trying to torture me?" He sighed and ran a hand down his face dramatically. "I can't... I just can't."

"Well good luck I am stubborn." She said taking her own bread. ""Women are like tea bags, you never know how strong they are until they are in hot water" that is one of my favorite quotes from her. She advocated for women in the workplace, and the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans. She was incredible and I wish I could leave a mark like that on this world." Mercedes said with a sigh. Looking up at him she laughed. "Okay, Okay fine but you have to answer this. TV Flash or Movie Flash? And Did you like Edward Norton Incredible Hulk Movie."

Sam's brows drew together and he mouthed the quote back to himself, trying to figure out what the hell it meant. And sort of picturing Mercedes in a giant tea cup. "Well, that all sounds like really awesome stuff. And I know you can leave whatever mark you want to," he added with certainty. "TV Flash. He's super hot. No Chris Evans, but still I'd hit that. Which... is not a thing you say to a girl on a first date." He blinked a couple times and shook his head at himself. "Well, I didn't watch it until after I'd seen Avengers, so the whole time I was just like: Why are you not Mark Ruffalo? I want you to be Mark Ruffalo."

Mercedes knew Sam was trying to figure the quote out, she could see his mind working. "The Quote is just telling women that they are stronger than they think they are. And I hope so, I want people to know me for something remarkable." She raised and eyebrow at him. "Okay first of all I agree 1000 percent. TV Flash way hotter and just better all around. I would hit it too." She teased with a smile. "And all I can say is Yes! Liking that version is a deal breaker. It was horrible. Mark Ruffalo is Hulk and no one can tell me any different."

"Oh. That makes sense. And I think you just being you is pretty remarkable, just sayin'." A smile of relief crossed his face at her admission and he let himself laugh. "I love dating a girl I can talk about hot guys with," he joked. "Jeff thinks I look like Hulkling and he's right, which is really annoying cause I wanted to be Cap."

Blushing she looked down at her plate. She looked up at him when he said dating. "Dating? We are dating now?" Hearing what Jeff said she nodded. "I say you look like both and since you do, you can pick which one you want to be."

Sam tilted his head, the smile still in place. "Well... this is a date, right? So I guess legally or whatever, we'd probably have to go on one more before we're allowed to say that. But who cares about rules, right?" His chest puffed up a little bit and his smile got a bit prouder. "See? I'm telling Jeff I like you better than him. But not really cause he'd give me that pouty face of his."

Mercedes looked up at him. "Well, we can always say that the gym was like a date, and walking over here was a date so I guess this is our third date. So yes we are dating..." She licked her lips as she took a sip of her drink. "Do not tell him that! He will hate me.."

"See? You're a genius. I knew it." Sam laughed and shook his head. "I won't. He would never hate you, but I still won't. The only reason he's arguing is 'cause he wants to be Cap anyway." The food appeared and he leaned back as their waiter set the plates in front of them. "Since we're on the topic, who's your favorite Avenger?"

"You make me want to figure things out to make it work." Mercedes swallowed. "Well he can be Cap on his own, but to me if you want you are Cap." She glanced down at her food and looked at Sam, reaching her hand out to his, she bowed her head saying a quick prayer over their food, then grabbed her fork. "Okay that is not fair making me choose, but if I had to pick, Hulk, all day everyday."

Sam stared intently at his fork as he spun it around in his hand over and over again, accumulating a giant wrap of spaghetti. "Is it cause you wanna brag to everyone that you're dating a guy with such awesome spaghetti skills?" He winked across the table and scooped a bunch into his mouth. "I always dreamed of being America's ass. But, see you say stuff like that, and maybe I should go with Hulkling."

Mercedes watched him and nodded. "Definitely! I think we could take you on the road make some money off of you." She took a bite of her Lasagna. "I mean with an ass like yours, you can pull of America's ass but I can see you being Bruce Banner as well." She took another bite. "This is so good, here you have to taste it." She took a forkful and pointed it towards him.

"But then I couldn't compete in the spaghetti Olympics," he pointed with a little grin. "So you been looking at my ass, huh? I don't know though. I'm not a very angry person." He eyed the fork that was held out in front of him and moved to wrap his lips around it, sliding them off a little more slowly than he normally would.

Mercedes frowned. "Decisions, decisions." She blushed looking down at her plate. "I mean its a nice ass, and I am not blind. And no you aren't a angry guy, but I wouldn't want to see you when you are angry." Mercedes watched Sam and couldn't take her eyes off of him as he tasted her dish.

"You can look at it any time you want," Sam assured her. "Oh. I see what you did there. I'll probably stick with Cap though. He'd do anything to protect the people he loves and that's something I always wanna do." He was still smirking even as he licked the sauce off his lips. "Delicious."

She bit her bottom lip. "Oh I will. And I mean mines is pretty awesome if you want to look at it." She nodded. "That is true, Cap is all about protecting his loved ones and I see that in you. You are very protective of your loved ones, of those that you care about." She closed her eyes shaking her head. "You are a tease and thats just rude." As they finished eating, Mercedes was surprised that they had an endless amount of topics they could touch, while making the conversation seem so effortless. After dinner, she grabbed her togo bag and smiled at Sam. "So where too next Cap?"

"Oh, believe me, I've snuck some peeks," Sam admitted with pink cheeks. "But I'll feel better about myself now that I have permission." He chuckled at the tease accusation and shrugged innocently. "Teases would do that and not give out the kisses. And I think I already said you can kiss me whenever you want, so." Sam slipped his hand into hers effortlessly as they exited the restaurant. "Irish Gold? Get a couple drinks, show 'em what singing really is on the karaoke stage?"

Mercedes laughed as they held hands. "But like why am I the only one stealing kisses? Its completely one sided." She heard where they were going, and smirked. "Believe it or not I have not been there before."

"Maybe I'm saving up for the most epic end of the night kiss you've ever had. Ever thought of that?" Sam suggested, giving her a playful little smile as they walked. "Really? It's my favorite weekend chill spot. You'll love it."

"Most epic, end of the night kiss? Well that is a big build up." She leaned up and kissed his cheek then kept walking like she didnt. Well I look forward to taking part in your favorite weekend spot."

"Good thing I know how to deliver." They walked their way over to the pub and Sam pulled the door open again to let Mercedes in. "Would... you mind going to get us a couple drinks?" he asked with an innocent smile . "Meet me in a booth to look at the song catalog?"

Mercedes smiled. "I dont mind. What do you want to drink?"

"Budweiser, please." Sam rarely even got carded in here himself and since Mercedes was of age anyway, hopefully it wouldn't be a problem. He gave her a kiss to the cheek before disappearing from the bar and grabbing a book of song options to flip through in a booth.

Walking over to the bar she waited for the bartender to take her order. "You here with Sam?" Mercedes looked up to see a few girls looking at her. "Yeah." "As friends?" She grabbed her drink and Sam's and shook her head as she walked away. "Nope." Making her way into the booth she smiled. "Budweiser for you and sex on the beach for me."

"Sex on the beach without me?" Sam joked without thinking. "Sorry. I promise my sex themed jokes are just habit and not pressure." He took a drink and offered a hopeful smile. "You know those girls up there?"

Mercedes laughed. "I mean find a beach once our relationship gets there and we can figure it out." She winked at him. taking a sip from her drink she shook her head. "Nope, they were actually asking if we were on a date."

Sam's eyebrows raised and he grabbed a napkin to fan himself with dramatically. He glanced back over at the girls curiously. He'd seen them around before but he didn't know why they should care. "Ahh, what my mom calls 'the busybodies'. Clearly not having enough fun with their own lives."

Mercedes laughed shaking her head at him. She smiled and shrugged. "Well they can be busy with another body, you are mines."

"Yes... I am." Sam reached across the table and took Mercedes' hand in his own, drawing it over so he could press his lips to it. He kept their fingers tangled as he smiled across the table at her. "So... which duet should we blow them away with?"

Mercedes smiled as he kissed her hand. She scooted over to him leaning against him as they looked at the list. "I say, either Summer Nights or Human Nature."

"I do love me some Michael." They were both awesome choices, but he kinda thought Summer Nights would be better with some back-up singers to play against. "Let's do Human Nature for sure. I'll put our names in."

Mercedes grinned. "Who doesn't love some Michael?" She nodded at his choice and took a sip of her drink. She watched a couple get on the stage and couldn't help but get a kick out of how adorable they were.

Sam put their names and song selection on the list before he sat back down and took another drink. "Just gonna do slightly buzzed karaoke tonight," he promised her. He watched the others sing and bobbed along. "What do you say? Wanna go make everyone in the room jealous?"

Mercedes laughed taking another sip of her drink. She nodded at Sam's question. "Of course I want to make em jealous but making out in front of them isn't showing off of talents, or not the talent you want to show off.

Sam laughed brightly as he stood from the booth. "Those talents we'll keep between us. But we can at least sing for them and make them jealous of our future stardom. And that we're the best looking couple in here, obviously." He held out a hand to her so he could lead her to the stage.

Mercedes smiled. "How can I say no to that?" She took his hand and let him lead her to the stage. She wasn't nervous to sing in front of anyone, but she was nervous about singing with Sam. Taking a deep breath, she began to sing. "Looking out across the nighttime, the city winks a sleepless eye. Hear his voice, shake my window, sweet seducing sighs."

Sam was as mesmerized as he always was when Mercedes sang. Her voice always took his breath away. He smiled before guiding the mic up to his own lips. "Get me out into the nighttime, four walls won't hold me tonight, if this town is just an apple, then let me take a bite..."

This was the duet she never knew she needed, the duet she never knew she wanted. Standing closer to Sam she continued to sing, By the end of the song everyone disappeared and it was just her and Sam. No one else was there, no one else but them.

Sam's eyes met Mercedes and they stayed there, just connecting with her as they sang. Something just felt so right about it. Even after the song ended, he kept staring at her until he heard a wolf whistle from somewhere behind him. Chuckling, he turned back to the audience and gave a little bow before gesturing at Mercedes and applauding.

When everyone started applauding she smiled, bowing along with Sam and pulling him off the stage. "That was so much fun, you were right!" She leaned in and kissed him.

Sam felt so good. Not just the high from singing that he always got, but also from see Mercedes having such a good time and knowing he had something to do with it. "It happens once in awhile," he laughed. He led her back to the booth and they talked more about nothing and everything. "I guess I should get you home before I have a whole sorority after me."

She was sad the night was ending it was one of the best nights she had ever had, and the best date. Sam was such a great guy and if she was being honest he scared her. "Yes you should, they are very protective of me." she said with a sigh.

"I've noticed a lot of people are. You have a lotta people who care about you," Sam told her as he stood and offered his hand to her again. "Which further proves how awesome you are. I promise I'll get you home safe and sound though."

Mercedes smiled taking Sam's hand and standing. She leaned against him. "Does that mean that you are now one of those people. You know who care about me?" She nodded as they walked in the quiet darkness.

Sam's fingers slipped between hers until they were all interlocked. "You can bet your life on it," he assured her as they walked. He swung their hands gently as they walked and finally stepped onto the porch of her house. "Okay... you ready for this?" he teased.

Mercedes continued to lean on him, the walk was far too fast for her liking. When they got to her house she smiled biting her bottom lip. "Of course."

Maybe Sam had built himself up a little too much, but he'd do his best either way. Stepping forward, he wrapped an arm around Mercedes and drew her close to him. His other hand came up to cup her face gently and he leaned down until their lips met. He started as gentle as can be and slowly deepened the kiss, making sure she was reciprocating before he pushed too far.

Her heart skipped a beat when he moved closer to her, wrapping himself around her and pulling her even closer to him. The moment their lips touched, she melted into him, going at his place, because he was taking the lead of this dance."

Sam's tongue teased gently at Mercedes' lips as he drank in the taste of her. He could definitely get used to this. He kept on kissing her for another few moments before he finally had to pull back, if only to catch his breath.

As she parted her lips, their tongues danced around each other excitedly, a soft moan left her lips as her arms wrapped around his neck. When he finally pulled away all she could say was "wow" while looking in his eyes.

A slightly nervous laugh passed his lips as he exhaled. "Told you I was saving it up," he managed before leaning down again and just resting their foreheads together for a moment. This was definitely the best date he'd ever had. "Thank you. For such an awesome night."

This was perfect, she didn't want it to end. Their heads rested against each others as they both reflected on such a great moment. "I should thank you for asking me out. This was the best date." She leaned up and kissed him softly. "I should go." she said but didn't move.(edited)

Sam made a little disappointed noise even though he knew she was right. It was late and they both had a busy week ahead of them. "Okay. I will... talk to you tomorrow," he promised her, reluctantly stepping away and holding onto her hand until he couldn't reach anymore. He gave her a cute little wave over his shoulder as he finally headed down to his own house.

Mercedes sighed heavily, she wanted nothing more than to invite Sam up to her room. But a night of making out wouldn't do this date justice. Watching him leave she bit her bottom lip. "Sam, wait." She rushed over to him and pulled him into her arms. She kissed him deeply, then pulled away. "You are, something special Sam Evans." She pecked his lips once more before walking backwards to her house so she could see him. Walking to the door she gave him one last glance before going inside with a big smile on her face.

#pmercy #//i will be amazed if anyone actually reads this novel we managed to write lol

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redwoodrroad · 5 years

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🖊 !!!

!!! oh man i really wanna talk about morten because for all i draw of him i dont talk about him enough. here’s a pretty recent screenshot of him in Skyrim, the game i made him in:

his full name is Morten Alexander Iversen, and i originally made him uuuhhhh over 6 years ago, i dont really remember but it was the first time i played skyrim–i actually named him after the lead singer of A ha, Morten Harket lmao, because i wanted him to fully encapsulate that like Nordic / Norwegian vibe (and also at the time i had an obsession with a ha and lbr it never went away); his last name is just a name i found, and his middle name is a reference to my own last name!

some general info: he’s got shoulder-length black hair that he does fishtail braids with, one on either side of his head that follow the curve of his head until he reaches the back of his ears, and then he lets it down; he also has light blue eyes, a Pretty full beard, and several scars on his nose (they might be hard to see in that picture but i draw them pretty prominently). he’s probably about 7 feet tall in-game, but in any modern retelling i do with him, he’s about 6′2″. he also has a deep voice but no, like, traditional nordic accent. if you can imagine like an east coast accent that isnt quite southern, isnt quite northern, it’s like…. somewhere in there. in the game, he tends to wear heavy armor, but he prefers using a bow for most situations and then switches to a sword with his right hand and ice / fire magic with his left hand. i dont wanna fill up my followers’ dashboards, so if you’re interested in reading about him, i put it all under the read more! :D

so in the game, he’s a nord as i said, but he doesn’t completely align with the nords–i have an ENTIRE sociological mock-up of the culture of nords in skyrim, and to sum it up, they’re very conservative, theyre close-minded, and they dont care for people (even among their OWN people) with mental illness / disabilities, people who arent so much power- / dominance-oriented, or, say it with me now: gays. on that list, morten falls under all three! hat trick!! so he kind of keeps away from his brethren in that regard; he’s also a very quiet person overall and prefers to not be in big crowds or even in big open spaces, he really likes his solitude. which is tough when youre the dragonborn and everyone knows it rip

speaking of being dragonborn, i imagine that his dragon is like…. an entire personality within himself. not that it has really any agency, but it’s a nagging sensation that draws him towards what dragons want: power, money, sex, food, naps, etc. morten’s dragon is very dominant and wants morten to go all out–it wants him to fight everything, garner lots of wealth, reach a worldwide level of notoriety, and like anything else you can imagine a greedy, power-mongering dragon might want. morten himself, however, does not want any of that; he just wants to chill. so you can imagine the duality there, huh. more physically, his dragon is like an ice-oriented dragon, so morten’s shouts (while mechanically can be whatever he wants because it’s all in the game mechanics) in my mind always have a little twist of ice. he prefers the ice-oriented shouts, and anything else not related to ice will still have little ice particles come out (even if they might be melted by fire-oriented shouts). likewise, morten’s use of magic with his hands are always ice- or cold-oriented

beyond the dragon, he has terrible memory problems, and ive worked the canon amnesia into something of like…. a trauma response? it’s way too much to go into and also has to do with some of my personal childhood experiences, so for now we’re just gonna let it be shielded by amnesia; likewise, that sort of brain-haziness also applies to present memory-storing, and morten really has trouble remembering names, dates, conversations, and even situations even as he is adventuring through Skyrim. this also applies to processing issues–he for sure has dyslexia, and not just in reading; he might hear a sentence but parse out the words in a different order–and over-stimulation, which is really why he hates being around other people or even talking to other people for a long period of time. he also suffers from depression, anxiety, and paranoia, and because of all these mental things, he really found himself becoming drawn to the Prince that oversees this general sphere of mental health: Sheogorath. during that quest where the dragonborn helps him and pelagius inside pelgius’s mind, morten was incredibly drawn to sheo and in my mind took time to sit with sheogorath at the end of the quest just to chat because sheo made him feel like…. that haze that covers his brain just lifted and let him think clearly without the stressors of the outside world affecting him. even the dragon soul stopped yelling at him in that moment because it too was soothed by sheogorath’s presence. so with that, morten grows closer to sheogorath, and in my canon, they chill out a lot in skyrim haha

i also want to say that morten grew really close with the greybeards–particularly Arngeir. Arngeir, being really the only one who Could talk to morten and who always had such helpful wisdom for him, really became something of a father figure to morten, and without needing to, morten returns a lot to the temple to just chill with arngeir, he just loves him so much.

finally, i also wanna talk about his relationships: he becomes the thane of Whiterun first and meets Lydia, and they become absolute bros. later down the line, he meets a guy (havent figured out who it is yet, might end up being an OC) who he falls for a little, and they have a thing for a long time–until this guy starts becoming really abrasive with morten and displays such a lacking in understanding of morten as someone with mental illness, so he leaves–and he’s replaced later by the beautiful and adorable Erik the Slayer, whom morten meets as the dragonborn normally does in Rorikstead, and after he gives erik’s father money for erik’s armor, and after a few months when he returns to find erik trying to become a hired mercenary, morten asks him to join him in adventuring. it takes some time, but there’s a mutual crush, there are late-night chats under the stars, drunken storytelling that involves coming-out stories and previous bad or silly relationships, and eventually a big gay kiss. and of course, a marriage in the temple of mara. i may or may not have had to hack the game with console commands to let morten marry him because he wasnt romance-able but we’re here now and they live together in the Lakeside Mansion just outside Falkreath. morten also meets Serana during the Dawnguard dlc and becomes bros with her too (and introduces her, the raging lesbian, to lydia, the rampant bisexual, and you know).

sheo is still a huge influence on morten’s life, and there are TONS of silly instances where both erik and sheo have to sit in a room together and just kind of accept the fact that on one hand morten is sleeping with an actual terrifying daedric prince and on the other hand morten is married to a boring mortal and not a fun daedric prince, can you guess which one of them holds which opinion

so right now, morten is happily married to the love of his life, he has some pals livin it up with him in the upstairs bedrooms and a prince who visits him occasionally, and his little farm is full of chickens and cows and horses and a library tower full of books and a full garden outside WITH BEES, and hes just living his best life !

thank you for asking!! i hope you enjoyed reading about my boy!! he’s my blog icon, and i love him so much. also feel free to check out my “morten tag” tag if you want to see like general vibes about him, aesthetic posts, meme shit that reminds me of him or might be something he would do or like, and art ive made that features him! and thank you again ;u;

#morten tag #tes #dragonborn #the elder scrolls skyrim #thank you so much for asking!!!!#redwoods words

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fadedtoblue · 7 years

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Overall thoughts on Jessica Jones S2

So how about that S2 huh? I finished it Sunday night but found that I really needed to take some time to sit and try to destruct all of the emotions I had over it. A good conversation with a friend the other morning helped me get a better grasp on my feelings regarding this season. Specific thoughts below the cut...

Clearly this season has been a divisive one amongst the fans...mostly that it imploded a lot of things / characters who were well loved and didn’t live up to what it was in S1 -- to a certain extent that might be true. I’ll say that I understood what they were trying to do with this season but I don’t think they were able to bring it altogether with the execution. Nothing wrong with trying to do something different but when the final product doesn’t feel like the best outcome, it’s difficult to not be disappointed. Anyway, I’ll try to break down what I liked and didn’t like.

The good stuff:

Seeing these characters in this world again. Coming off of Defenders, I was most intrigued to see Jess, Trish, and Malcolm and well, if that’s what you’re looking for you get it in SPADES. Everyone plays a crucial part in season 2.

Character driven stories to the max. If you enjoy character driven stories, then you’re in luck, as this is essentially the majority of JJS2. Any of the good stuff that happens is purely on the character level -- whether’s it’s shading in more sides of Jessica’s personality and messy internal conflicts, or showing Trish’s steady and frustrating decline, or introducing new side characters to drive home the crux of each character’s central conflict...this is where the show really made sure to take their time. Everyone has their own moment to drive the narrative forward, though some are able to do it with more purpose than others.

Exploring new relationship dynamics. This will probably also end up being in the bad category lol, but generally speaking, I liked that they tried to show our primary characters in dynamics that felt different from last season. It made me feel like the world had continued moving, and the characters were growing, which was cool. And I realize I may be in the minority but I actually ended up liking Alisa and the surprise twist that she was Jessica’s mom actually worked for me?? I wasn’t sure what they were doing with her, as I found her to be frustratingly one-note when they first introduced her -- like, okay, she’s just going around killing people involved with IGH? What’s the point? But the reveal that she was actually Jessica’s mom made it all click for me. Sure, it still skirted the line a bit between drama and flat out soap opera but I think this was one of my favorite new dynamics. It was a hot mess in a lot of the moments, and it really shouldn’t have been one of the main drivers of conflict in this season, but I’m sympathetic to the messed up mother / daughter connection and seeing Jessica fall apart and not know what the hell to do about this woman.

Malcolm. Special shout out to Malcolm who was truly the MVP of this season. He also goes through his own shit but he is probably the one who manages to come out of it in better shape than he went in. It was sad that the trust was so broken by the end between him, Jess, and Trish, but I think he needed to mature beyond the naive idealist who idolizes Jessica and find his own footing.

The bad stuff:

Too much character focus, not enough of anything else. They threw a LOT our way for all of the characters. Jess dealing with her family’s deaths. Jess dealing with her trauma at IGH. Jess dealing with her relationships with Trish and Malcolm going down the shitter. Jess going apeshit on the competition and going on probation and to anger management. Jess dealing with her mom being alive and being a scary ass murderer. And oh wait, Jess also randomly kills a guard and has a dissociative episode where she imagines Kilgrave around every corner. And this is just Jess! It’s incredible that for all of the things I listed, which I think worked in that they contributed to Jessica’s gradual breakdown over the season, it really felt as if we were treading water most of the time narratively. Because every time something bad happened, or she made a bad decision, or whatever...nothing happened. Nothing got really resolved or truly broken until the end of the season. And the thing is, I 100% track with why Jessica keeps flip flopping around. I absolutely see that she’s barely hanging on and she literally can’t deal with it all and especially WHY she can’t deal with it. But it could have been more to the point and still driven us to larger, more important story details. This feeling of nothing happening also applied to Trish, who had a story line I appreciated on paper -- showing just how hard a person can spiral downward, especially someone who used to be an addict and now isn’t just dealing with street drugs, but ridiculous power-inducing shit -- but my god, this woman has this awful fall off the wagon, pretty much blows up her life, career, relationships, also nearly dies in her quest to gain powers from the mad doctor, but still manages to bounce back enough to snipe Alisa with a handgun from 50 feet and deal with zero consequences. I’m not going to list out every storyline for every character, but while these character building moments work to a point, the lack of balance and payoff make for difficult TV watching. Also Jeri’s storyline started out intriguing when there was still a connection to IGH but once that went out the window, it just felt like it should have been on another show altogether.

Too many plot contrivances. This was a point of conversation I had with my friend and like, nothing wrong with plot contrivances to create moments for our characters to DO something but I think a better written show could have created these moments more naturally. And maybe the problem was that some of these moments felt contrived because things were getting dragged out and it was hard to ignore the moments when they happened.

Bad overall plotting of the storylines. So the weird thing is that I pretty much got why everything happened the way it did. But literally every storyline could have been condensed by 2-3 episodes. It was as if this stubborn dedicated to driving the story purely by character also meant to the writers that they needed to slowly draw out each detail and reveal. No, not really. With each delaying tactic that kept us from getting to the next point in the story, it killed any momentum that was starting to build up. I have no expectations that JJ should be an action driven show, but if you’re going to go full tilt into the psychological slow burn, there has to be a balance somewhere. If it’s not going to be some overarching villain, then it should be a better mystery. You know?

Lack of payoff with IGH. Listen, I don’t know what’s up with TPTB and if there’s something preventing these creative teams from writing compelling shadow organizations or whatever, but we’re 0/2 now and that’s so majorly disappointing. To find out that IGH was ultimately just one somewhat well-intentioned dude who got a little carried away with human experimentation...really?! That was something that majorly deflated my sails as it could have been exactly the kind of grounded connective thread that could’ve being pulled across all four shows. This is where the separate but connected universe really bites these shows in the ass because obviously, they all exist in the same time and place and share characters but because they also need to stand as individual shows and be able to pursue their own creative agenda, the choices made by one show inevitably affect the others show that could’ve used IGH.

Random stuff:

As much as Tennant’s Kilgrave (and his crazy good screen presence) was missed, I think it was ultimately the right choice to keep him limited to an episode. My husband was griping about how they could have integrated Kilgrave’s over the shoulder taunting throughout the whole season instead of saving it for the end, but I disagreed. The way they set up his reappearance made a lot of narrative sense to me -- that her accidentally killing the guard, on top of the incredible stress she’s under to take care of everyone’s shit, is what makes her temporarily dissociate and conjure up this vision of Kilgrave. The shtick would have gotten old quickly if he’d be present the whole season, and it would have severely undercut her progress from last season, at least the aspect where she was able to face her abuser and take back her life. I guess you could have done some version of PTSD and that’s why he’s in her head, but I think it would have been a distraction.

Trish is an interesting pickle for me. I am not that emotionally invested in her as a character so for me, the shift in direction doesn’t devastate me as much as it seems to have done for a lot of people I know. And honestly, I think the point of her storyline was to make her this awful and unlikeable. There was already a kernel of the competition and jealousy that existed in her relationship with Jess, but her idealism and compassion for her sister usually won out. And I think it’s also worth noting that she was already pushing Jessica’s boundaries way too hard, even before she falls off the wagon, but obviously falling back into drugs exacerbated a lot of the things that were already lurking under the surface. Also, I don’t think I was even bothered by the fact she’s the one who killed Jessica’s mom, but as I briefly alluded to earlier, it really bugs me that she didn’t reap the full consequences of her season long arc, especially since she still gets to become Hellcat at the end. That being said, karma has a way of coming back and biting you in the ass. If Jeri had to reap the karma of her craptastic behavior of S1 this season, then I fully expect Trish to face it in S3. Ideally we’ll see her attempt to be the hero she’s always wanted to be and crash and burn in spectacular fashion. There’s a reason why our heroes are the heroes and while I don’t think it means Trish will never get to be a hero, being a hero for the wrong reasons doesn’t make you a hero. And this is a tough lesson that I really want to see Trish learn.

Alright, I think I covered most of it. Apologies for any errors, I try to edit my word vomit but I’ll usually miss something :p. And if you want to chat / vent about particulars, I’m all for it! Hit up my asks or send me a message!!

#jessica jones #trish walker #marvel's jessica jones #jj s2 #meta #my thoughts #p talks about stuff #jj spoilers #jessica jones spoilers

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call-me-rei · 4 years

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Chapter 4

***I’m SO SORRY that I abandoned this story for so long! Anyway, regular updates on this and PL will be happening since we’re all stuck at home and I’m not working much until August (yay summer). Please read, like, comment, and enjoy!***

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It had been two days with no response from Kellin. My anxious self was wondering if he had seen the message. What if something happened to him? What if he blocked me because he didn’t know about the pen pal thing?

Worse, what if he had seen the message, scrolled through my profile, and decided that I was some lame kid who wasn’t worth his time? That thought broke my spirit.

“Will you quit?” Mike asked in an annoyed tone.

“What?”

“You’re all mopey and for no reason. Seriously, it’s bringing me way down.”

“Sorry for having feelings,” I snapped. Mike just rolled his eyes as we continued walking to school.

Maybe my brother was right, maybe I should cheer up. Chances were that Kellin didn’t use Facebook as much as other people so maybe that’s why he didn’t reply. But then again, you get a notification on your phone when someone messages you. Unless he turned off his notifications. But why would he turn them off? Unless…

“Vic!” I jumped at the sound of my brother’s loud voice.

“What?” I asked, irritated.

“Snap out of it, bro. We’re here.” I looked up to see that Mike was right, we were at school already. I sighed and adjusted the weight of my backpack before I walked up the steps.

“You sure you’re okay?” I nodded. “You don’t seem like it.”

I shrugged. “I’m just overthinking. Nothing to worry about,” I assured him.

“If you say so.” I looked to see the worry on his face. I frowned. I didn’t mean to worry my brother with how silent I was being. I gave him a small smile before we parted ways, going to our lockers. After getting the books I’d need for my first couple classes I shut the metal door and slid to the floor. I took my phone out and scrolled aimlessly through Twitter.

All I wanted was to get my mind off of the fact that I wasn’t going to make a new friend. It sucked because we probably would’ve been great friends. I had looked through his profile and I saw that we liked some of the same bands. He had a couple pictures of himself on his page as well.

I wound up on his Facebook profile. I clicked on his profile picture and observed it. Kellin had black hair and didn’t smile much in pictures. I wondered why that was. He did have pretty blue eyes though. I wondered what they looked like in person.

I exited his picture and went down his page some more. There wasn’t much to see since we weren’t friends online, but I got a good idea of who he was.

I was about to put my phone back in my pocket when a notification dropped down the screen.

It was from Messenger.

It was from Kellin.

I was giddy with excitement, but I tried to hide it as best I could since I was in the hallway and other students were already looking at me, wondering why I was sitting on the cold ground.

I opened the app and read the new message:

Hey Vic. Sorry it took a while to answer

That’s it, I thought, no other explanation? I shook it off and typed a response.

It’s ok. Been busy?

He answered almost instantly.

Yeah you could say that

Busy with school rn

I chuckled. Yeah me too. Where do you go to school?

Michigan. You?

San Diego, I answered.

Oh cool. Cali! he responded. I’ve always wanted to go. Is it true that it’s always sunny?

I chuckled. Not always but most of the time. More often than not.

Cool

I scowled at his response. I didn’t want this conversation to die before it even started.

So are you in high school or college or…? I asked.

The three dots lingered on my screen for a while before his response came and took the air out of my lungs.

Elementary. I’m in 3rd grade

What?! WHAT??????!

Lol I’m sorry, I’m fucking with you! I’m in high school.

Sorry, but I couldn’t resist, he sent.

I rubbed my eyes in exhaustion. This kid already had jokes, meaning he was way more outgoing than I could ever hope to be.

I locked my phone before sliding it into my pocket. The school day was about to start, and I didn’t need to have my phone taken by a teacher. I stood and dusted the seat of my pants. I picked up my books and walked to my first class, all while having Kellin’s stupid reply playing in my head.

***

Lunch rolled around eventually, which meant some much-needed guy talk. I wasn’t the most open person, even with my friends, but sometimes I would let some details of my life out to them. I didn’t know what it was but being open and honest didn’t come naturally to me. I could do it with Curtis since we’d known each other all our lives. He knew when I was hiding something, and he’d ease me into telling him what I was keeping secret.

I put my books in my locker then checked my phone. Since it was Friday the gang was going to go off-campus for lunch. We did that about twice a month. We would do it more often, but we always end up fighting about where to go. In my opinion, the argument is never worth it.

I looked at the group chat we had. Tony had suggested street tacos, and since no one else had replied it looked like we were gong to get those for lunch. I smiled because there wasn’t any fighting, meaning the other guys agreed with him, or they hadn’t seen the message. Either way, I wasn’t going to let them argue about this one. I wanted tacos.

I walked to the front entrance of the school to wait for my friends. Soon after I got there, Jaime and Tony walked into my line of sight. I waved them over with a smile.

“So, tacos?” Tony asked when they got to me.

I nodded. “Sounds perfect.”

“I’m down, but only if the other two get their asses down here in the next thirty seconds.” I rolled my eyes at Jaime. It was obvious that he was hungry since he wasn’t normally an angry person.

I texted Curtis telling him to hurry.

We’re coming. Mike has some things to finish…

I rolled my eyes and relayed the message to Jaime and Tony. Jaime huffed. “Tell them where we’re going. Curtis has a car so he can drive Mike to meet us.”

I sent the message and left the building with Jaime and Tony. There was no stopping Hime when he was hungry, so I walked behind him without a word.

After showing out IDs to the security guard in the parking lot, we were on our way to one of our favorite food trucks. My stomach rumbled the closer we got to our destination.

We arrived in about five minutes and had our food in another three. Mike and Curtis joined us after the three of us had settled at a table in the middle of the park.

“Okay, you’ve gotta tell me,” Tony started, “what were you ‘finishing up,’ Mike?”

Mike gulped down his burrito and washed it down with his soda before he answered. “I was working my way into Alysha’s life.”

We all groaned.

“What?” he asked, seemingly offended.

“No offense bro, but you’ve been trying to get with this chick for almost two months. You’ve never talked to her and I doubt she even knows you’re alive. Give it up.”

“Look Hime, you may not agree with me, but that’s cool. You’re still my brother and I won’t take that to heart. Just know that I’ll remember this.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew Jaime said that to get through to my brother, but when Mike was determined there was nothing you could do to stop him. It was better to go along with him than to go against him. I wasn’t sure if what one of his best friends said would hurt him in any way, but I was glad to hear that it didn’t. I don’t think our group would’ve wanted to pick sides in this thing.

“What did you do?” I asked my brother. He smiled his winning smile before he spoke.

“Well I talked to Danielle again. Apparently she thinks Alysha is pretty cool and wants to get to know her better, but Alysha likes to keep to herself. That got me thinking about how I never really saw her talk to anyone in class or in the halls.”

We nodded along, curious to hear where this was going. Believe it or not, but we became invested in Mike’s quest for his girl.

“Well,” he continued, “I figured if she doesn’t wanna talk to anyone, I won’t talk to her.”

We stared at Mike with quizzical looks on our faces.

“Huh?” Curtis asked after some time of silence and pondering from the rest of us.

Mike’s grin grew. “I’m gonna leave her notes in her locker. That way she won’t have to talk to me if she doesn’t want to, and at least she’ll know who I am. At the very least she’ll know someone wants to her to know her.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Tony affirmed.

I nodded. “I think she’ll like that. And I can help you write some stuff if you want.”

“Thanks you guys. I just hope this works.”

***

After lunch we went about the rest of our day as usual. I had another soccer practice at the end of the day due to the game happening the next day. Once I had packed my gear up from the locker room I met up with Mike and we walked home.

“You don’t think my idea is stupid, do you?”

I looked at my brother. He had a sad, lost puppy dog expression on his face.

“Of course not,” I answered. “You’re showing her that you care about her by trying to make her feel comfortable. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it, and she’ll finally know you exist.”

“Ha ha, so funny,” he said in monotone.

I laughed. Messing with Mike was so easy.

The walk home led to me taking a well-earned shower before heating up leftovers for dinner and lying in bed waiting for sleep. Of course I scrolled through my phone as I waited.

I swiped through the pages of apps on my screen when I noticed I had a notification on the Messenger app.

Shit! Kellin messaged me and I ignored him. He probably thinks I hate him because of his joke. Fuck!

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before I opened the app and the message.

Hey, I didn’t mean to freak you out earlier. I thought it would be funny. I hope I didn’t scare you off

I smiled at his message. I was worried about what he thought of me and he was worried about the impression he made. It was a bit comforting to know that he was as socially anxious as I was.

It’s cool. I guess it was kinda funny. Sorry, I just had a busy day and I just saw this

No worries dude. It’s all good, he replied. How was your day btw?

Busy. You messaged me at the start of school so I had to put my phone up. Then I had soccer practice

You play soccer? That’s so cool!

I chuckled. You really think so?

Yeah! I’m athletically challenged so I live vicariously through others lol

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Lol well it’s cool that you think that’s cool

Was that the right thing to say? No, that was stupid. I facepalmed and bit my lip in anticipation for the response to my lame comment. Why’d you say that, Vic? You couldn’t think of something better to say?

I decided to redeem myself. So what kinds of things are you into?

We messaged back and forth for hours. We talked about our interests, hobbies, families, and all of the other usual things people talk about when they first meet. It was almost one in the morning when I finally told him I needed to sleep. Since he was in Michigan that would’ve made it almost 4 AM; I didn’t want to keep him up all night. We said our goodnights and for the first time in a long time, I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

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