#I say not disclosing any information or details about her :)))

[moon-my-beloved]

Wicked Game: a little snippet of the next chapter :3

“I don’t think I can do this.” You mutter nervously, clenching your sweaty palms against the fabric of your gloves for the millionth time that day as you sit in the passenger seat of Laswell’s car. You two had arrived earlier than expected and were now parked outside the house that belonged to the four men Kate had been speaking of these last couple of days. You barely caught any of it though, too busy trying to figure out why you even agreed to do this in the first place.

You had managed to grasp little bits of information from the conversation, at least important ones that Laswell could provide to you. John being the oldest of friends she had met in London at a soccer game. A quirk on her lip forming as she recounts how their first conversation, more like a debate, started their friendship. They worked together, in an organization of some sort called ‘Task Force 1-4-1’ taking down bad guys as Laswell simply put it. That’s where the other three come in: Simon, Johnny, and Kyle. She had explained that they all have worked together on various missions she could not disclose but made it clear that these were people she trusted with her life.

“They’re family.” Crow's feet deepened as her eyes crinkled with the smile she wore while talking about them. You knew Laswell would never lie to you but at that moment you felt the warmth in her words with how much compassion and inclination she had for her team.

She had spared any detail of their personal lives, stating that there would be no point in meeting them if she just told you everything that she knew about these men. You’re here to get to know each other, she had said, not knowing that it was probably the last thing you wanted these four guys to accomplish.

It was really meaningless. You would just end up being a small blip in their minds once this whole ordeal is over.

“Getting cold feet on me?” An amused expression written all over her face at your troubling state. Turning off the engine and unbuckling herself, she turns her body to face you as she crosses her arms over her chest “Nervous?”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, you lean your elbow against the small space between the window and you, rubbing your fingers over your eyes before breaking the silence. “You know I’m not good at whatever this is,” Hand waving desperately in the air and eyes flickering towards the house and hers just to be met with a stoic face as she listens to you ramble about how you just want to go back home like you’re a spoiled child having a tantrum in the middle of a candy store. You might as well be at this point. Pressing your lips together in an attempt to stop yourself from saying too much, you sit up and look at yourself in the front view mirror. “I just don’t know what to do, Kate.”

‘You don’t want to disappoint her.’

A small chuckle can be heard from the woman along with a warm palm against your shoulder breaking you out of your thoughts as you lift your head just enough to meet Kate’s sympathetic yet serious gaze.

“You won’t mess it up if that’s what you’re worried about. I know this can be.. different for you but I promise, things will go great.” A soft smile on her lips as she gives your cheek a small pat before pulling away. “Just let me do the talking and we’ll go off from there, okay? Baby steps.” She reassures you, grabbing the small bags of gifts from the backseat for you to take. “Here, you’ll be my little delivery person for today.” She says as she hops off the car and closes the door behind her.

“Shit- wait!” You give yourself a quick once-over, barely managing to catch up to Kate as you try your very best to avoid any of the small gifts from falling off your arms. “Rude.” You say when you meet Kate at the front door.

“We don’t want to keep the boys waiting with how eager they’ve been to meet my ‘mystery’ friend.” The corner of her lip twitching up into a smirk as she points at the door. “You ready?”

“Just knock.” You say. A bit harsher than you wanted it to come out as you look the other way to find anything to distract yourself from your own misery.

Rolling her eyes, Kate lifts up her hand and lands three solid knocks against the wood of the door, shoving her own hands into the warmth of her puffer jacket. You think you hear Laswell complain about how cold it is before a booming voice can be heard coming from the other side of the door followed by heavy footsteps inching closer.

You tense up, feeling like your heart is about to beat itself out of your rib cage if that’s even possible with how anxious you are.

‘Fuck. Maybe you can make a run for it.’

As if Laswell could sense what you were thinking, she grabs the hem of your coat to hold you in place before the door swings open.

[lightlycareless]

Has Naoya and Y/N ever been caught during the deed lol?

😏 why would you want to know that, hm? hoped they have? hehehhe lmao ignore me.

Ok so this actually gave me the best excuse to write a small follow up of what happened after this one-shot heheh. Call it a… Naoya and Y/N aren’t as smooth as they thought.

(but you’ll find another answer at the end of the drabble too 😊)

warnings: none. just the slightest mentions of nsfw. also this is a continuation of another oneshot so as needed I have to say MINORS DNI. mentions of pregnancy. a jealous manager. naoya defends what's his.

Happy reading!

It would happen just a few weeks later after that mission ended through a keenly attentive, not easily fooled manager who didn’t believe any of the words written down in the report.

They didn’t make sense, none of it did; but what was most infuriating is that everyone seemed to be ok with it!

And of course they would—the Zen’in heir probably paid his way out of it, just like he always does, and who would dare oppose him?!

Your manager, though, as if he wasn’t very much already, suspected there was something deeper going on. Far more than what the eye revealed between the two, which became nothing but clear for him when that transpired.

What did you even see in that wretched, egocentric, selfish, boring man? He’s done nothing but constantly belittle those around him with his grandiosity that wasn’t even his to being with! Given to him by those before!

It hurts him so much to see how hopelessly in love you are with Naoya, someone so kind and beautiful as you… that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to open your eyes to the truth, even if that were to greatly humiliate you.

And so, after slowly, diligently, for days and days on end, examining the report and place you both allegedly cleared of all curses, he comes to the shocking, albeit slightly disgusting conclusion that something more transpired there.

An insult to the protocol you both swore to abide as sorcerers, as well as a transgression to his yet-to-be disclosed feelings for you.

One that he did not hesitate to inform to the higher ups, those that initially didn’t care much for it, thinking it to be nothing but senseless gossip, until he reminded them that this could easily be used as a way to blackmail the Zen’in—imagine the outrage from the community if they were to hear of the unruly relationship between the heir, and you, though coming from a respected family, was still considered a lesser sorcerer to their standards?!

He wished to not cause you any pain, but it’s only through this method that you’ll understand why Naoya was not good for you. Nothing compared to what he can provide, if only you’d let him.

Something meant to happen when summoned by HQ to be interrogated, alongside relatives and fellow sorcerers that wished to see if the rumors circulating the two were true.

“Care to explain what truly happened in the mission?” One of the higher ups would speak, eyes directly set on you, the one firstly responsible for the job.

“I—I’ve written it in the report, there’s nothing else to say.” You quickly respond, doing your best to hide the tremor in your voice, well aware that your lies had been discovered yet hoping they truly hadn’t. “Unless you wished a detailed explanation of… something else…?”

“The truth.” Another insists. “Do not act like you don’t know what we’re talking about—we have enough evidence to dictate otherwise!”

“But—But nothing happened! I just miscalculated the presence of a curse, but I fixed it afterwards! The place is safe to be inhabited again!” you gasp. “I know there’s a discrepancy in the hours in between but it was nothing that—”

“There shouldn’t have been a discrepancy to begin with!” The first one adds. “What exactly were you two doing during the mission?!”

“She’s told you already, it was only a slight miscal—” Naoya interjects, only to be shot down immediately after.

“This is for her to answer!”

“I—I don’t have anything else to say—” you stammer, growing desperate at their relentless insistence, feeling like you were being effectively cornered with no foreseeable escape…

Which would have been almost true, if they hadn’t irked Naoya in more ways than one, beginning from this useless summon, their belittlement of you, and now, their interruption when he spoke.

Naoya was never one to accept offences towards himself or anything that pertained to him, regardless of who it came from…

Perhaps it was time to remind them of who truly held power here.

“But I do.” Naoya frowns, taking a step forward and looking them in the eye, preparing himself to state the new course of your and his life. “The reason why we took longer than anticipated was because I proposed to her. I’m going to marry Y/N.”

“What?!” Your manager is the first to squeak, followed by the gasps of those present at the meeting and confusion from the higher ups.

“We kept this relationship a secret because honestly, it is no one’s business to know of it.” Naoya proceeded, now taking your hand. He feels the uncertainty in your skin, the fear of disclosing an aspect kept secret until now…

Yet, his company reassures you that even though this was not the way either envisioned revealing their relationship, he is not ashamed to do so. Assert was his heart had been dreaming of… as well as offer a distraction from the lapsed that occurred during the mission.

Although for the last…  speckled with a bit of exaggeration.

“And she’s pregnant too. So, you’d do good to not refer to the mother, and my wife, of the future Zen’in heir in such crude manner!”

And with that, Naoya’s purpose becomes true, with the notion of the outrageous mission tossed out the window and effectively replaced with the unexpected news of your new civil status, what it meant for the L/N, the Zen’in, as well as the supposed pregnancy that officially united both.

Your manager was beyond enraged that his plan not only failed but paved the way for his worst nightmares to become real—though that is something he wouldn’t have to worry about anymore, Naoya having quickly labeled him as the responsible behind this ridiculous endeavor and promptly got… rid of him.

Besides, it’s not like you’ll have much use for him either way, for your attention will solely remain on him from that point forward.

And perhaps something else…

“Well, it’s a good thing we managed to get out of that one alive.” Naoya says, now that it’s not necessary to hide your relationship with him, he finds comfort in walking through the halls of his alma mater while holding your hand. “Though it’s a shame of how it came to be…”

“I suspected this might’ve happened, but that doesn’t mean I was expecting half of the jujutsu community to be there…” you silently admit, still battling through the shame and sorrow this situation brought you. “At least I won’t have to worry about how I’ll tell my family about it!”

“I’m more worried about the pregnancy I had to lie about so they’d leave us alone.” Naoya laments, a part of him… hoping it wasn’t the case. “However we proceed from here, it’s bound to have some… outrageous responses.”

Thankfully, his prayers might just be heard.

“Actually… it might’ve not been a total lie…”

Naoya stops on his tracks, eyes widening as he turns to see you.

“Y/N?” he murmurs, unwilling to be fooled on, unless…?

Your smile tells him everything.

“I fear that the pill might’ve not worked as properly as we hoped.” You continue. “So, you were not that far off when saying I was pregnant…”

“Are you being truthful right now?” Naoya breathes. “Or is this a ploy to—”

“Why would I do that?” you pout before giggling. “I want this baby as much as you do!”

“Then you’ve made me the happiest man in the world.” He immediately admits, taking you into his arms before lifting you for a kiss. “I can’t believe it, a baby of our own!”

“Well, believe it!” you grin. “But what are we going to do about the wedding…? I hoped to get married before getting pregnant…”

“We’ll have to do it quick. Preferably before your stomach begins to show.”

“…And before nothing fits me anymore.” You lament.

“You’ll look delectable either way.” He playfully incites, you pout once more. Naoya laughs as he pinches your cheek. “My wife.”

“Husband.” You smile back, leaning into his hand. “And soon, daddy.”

“Don’t say that, unless you don’t mind being caught here too.”

“Ugh no, let’s go home.” You say, not batting an eye as you pull him to the exit, hoping to leave all this behind and focus on the congratulations your family (and some of Naoya’s) have in order, as well as the preparations for your new, loving life next to your beloved husband.

And Naoya happily obliges, a bright, wide grin on his face caused by the satisfaction a home with you signifies.

Ok so... I have to say, they hadn't been caught per say, because everyone knows when they're doing it. Like, it's not a secret—they're loud. Especially in paper thin walls as the ones at the Zen'in estate.

However, let's say that the innocent ones, the distracted, new members of the staff might've gotten quite the surprise the first time they heard about this. Maybe even stumbled upon them... who knows? 😏 Actually something just crossed my mind. I'll write about it later.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this small, nobody-asked sequel for that one particular oneshot! I've had this thing on my mind for a while, how everyone would eventually know of their relationship. Just as Y/N said, one less thing to worry about.

Thank you so much for sending in this ask!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend, take care, and hope to see you soon!!

[chaifootsteps]

The entirety of this following ramble is me bringing to attention a very specific moment in the history of Viv's interactions with her fan base and how that interaction itself reflected on her as an early but easily ignored warning sign of her tendencies and lack of self-restraint online to come. I have only ever seen one anon vaguely reference this incident in passing on your page some months ago, so I think that providing a more detailed account of the incident may actually be a really important look at Viv’s personality in the past that not enough people are aware of. Almost everyone and their dog knows about the "My name is Caine, I am your Bitch" incident from last year because the internet quickly saw, in mass, the way Viv composes herself online regarding opinionated content about her and her creative works. This reveal was important because thousands of people learned through more than a few twitter posts that Viv is not good at, ironically enough, "taking a joke". However, over a year prior to the MNIC drama was the drama around the delay announcement in June 2022 for episode 8 of season 1 of Helluva Boss: Within a day of the announcement, a relatively small youtuber made a live stream talking about their disappointment with the delay announcement, explaining that this delay announcement revealed that they had been waiting for months on an episode that wasn’t even directly relevant to the plot developments from the previous episode 7, and that Spindlehorse had not been providing a reasonable amount of previous communication with the fandom about the state of episode 8 when considering how Helluva Boss was a nearly entirely fan funded web series. 

And then Viv herself showed up in the youtuber's live stream chat.

I don't know if some fans informed Viv of the stream or if she found out about it herself, but what matters is that she started basically arguing with the youtuber via the chat about why the Spindlehorse team couldn't disclose the reason for the delay and that the youtuber wasn't giving the creative team enough credit for their attempts to prevent having to delay the episode’s release, along with stating how the creative team were themselves upset by the complications of the delay. When the youtuber stood firm on their disappointment with the lack of communication and how the fans can't be expected to know the details surrounding a situation they aren't told about, Viv basically admitted defeat and left the stream chat, her last comment being "Sorry for saying anything".

The next day, the youtuber made a follow up video summarizing the delay update, their feelings on it, Viv's comments from the stream, and a final remark towards the Spindlehorse creative team about the communication the youtuber felt Spindlehorse owed their audience. Within a few weeks, the youtuber had to delete the summary video due to the extreme amount of backlash and dogpiling they got by Helluverse fans for their opinions and how they stood firm towards Viv's comments. I know my description of the event has been fairly vague, but part of that is specifically because there is very little information available that this all even transpired because of how quickly the degree of harassment led to videos being deleted. I won't say the name of the youtuber for the sake of their anonymity, but they were decently known in the earlier days of the fandom because of the lore and theory videos they specifically made about the show, a show they had great admiration for. However, I still think it's important you know more specifically that this happened and why it matters since many people come to you asking about the complex timeline of Viv's behavior. Well, in June 2022, one incident in that timeline that barely any Helluverse fan knows about was that one time when Viv went onto the live stream of a small-scale but dedicated fan of her show, argued with the fan on their stream where everyone in the stream audience watching would be witness, criticized the fan for their behavior and how they spoke out on a literal lack of information in front of that entire stream audience, and then played the pity card as she signed off. If I had to explain what the point of all of this was, it's that I just wish this fandom (antis and stans included) knew more about that incident several months before the MNIC incident when Viv, who had significant influence over her fanbase of millions at that time, caused so much distress towards a small scale fan of her own shows for committing the apparent sin of stating their own opinion. Viv has refused to "not get involved" in online conversations both big and small for YEARS proceeding the MNIC shenanigans, and in this case in June 2022, that included her self-serving, ego-protecting involvement causing significant distress for what had previously been an extremely loyal fan of Viv's own work who was simply stating an opinion to whatever other fans wanted to hear it.

For anyone who's curious, there are actually screenshots of this happening.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I’m confused. Why would he get deported? He’s married to (presumably) a US citizen already. Not sure if I missed something?

Well, the simplest explanation is that everyone who immigrates/emigrates to the US has to fill out paperwork to stay here. Doesn't matter who you are, who your family is, who you're married to, where you're from, what money you have. Everyone fills out the paperwork.

Being married to a US citizen only affects the type of visa (Spouse of US Citizen) you get and which application (Form I-130, the Petition for Alien Relative) your sponsor fills out to start the process.

The longer/more detailed explanation of the process, and the background for the lawsuit about Harry's visa application, is this:

(Apologies for how small the text is. I didn't want it to be a multi-page thing.) I'll describe it below the jump.

But essentially, Harry's process to become a legal permanent resident through his marriage to a US citizen is:

Sponsor/Meghan submits Form I-130 to the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), requesting approval to bring her spouse to live with her in the US.

USCIS reviews the form and will approve (left green circle) or deny (left red circle) the application. If they deny it, that ends the process. They can try again later. If they approve it, then:

Sponsor/Meghan pays a bunch of fees and a visa case is opened.

(The big giant square text) More paperwork and documents are submitted. Meghan and Harry do this together. (I'll explain this in a bit.)

The Spouse/Harry has his immigration interview.

USCIS will review the visa case file and make a decision on whether to approve or deny the visa request. If they deny the visa, then depending on the justification for denial, the Spouse/Harry may request a waiver or he can submit additional documentation for further consideration. If the visa is approved, then the Spouse/Harry is given approval to travel to the US and once he's here, he gets permanent residency - aka "the green card."

Now, getting back to the giant text block and the "more paperwork" requirement. In this phase of the process for a spousal visa, the couple must provide:

An affadavit of support from the Sponsor/Meghan (this basically says that she has enough income to support Harry and they won't need government assistance)

Supporting financial documents (probably tax declarations)

Harry's passport

Additional photographs of Harry

Form DS-260, the Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application from Harry (this is Harry's application for residency)

Harry's birth certificate

Their marriage certificate

Harry's military records (the US requires anyone with military service in any country to submit)

Harry's police certificate (information about whether he has been arrested or charged with crimes/what kinds)

Harry's Medical Examination form (which sometimes is done after the interview)

Form DS-260 is the big one. It basically asks the immigrant (Harry, in this case) about everything in his life: his childhood, his work history, his social media accounts, where he's lived, his family of origin, his children, previous travel to the US, medical and health details (including history of substance abuse. communicable diseases, and vaccination record), criminal history, security and background details, and social security.

If you're found to have lied about anything on this form - for instance, something pops on the background check that isn't disclosed or your answers in the interview are inconsistent with what's reported on the form or your social media tells a totally different story - it's grounds for your application to be denied and, if you're already here in the US, you to be deported.

This is what the DHS/Homeland Security lawsuit is about. The DS-260 has a question about drug use. The Heritage Foundation (the plaintiff in the case) is suing DHS to find out what Harry reported about his drug use on the form and in his medical history because historically, the US does not allow people with drug addictions or past drug use into the country. After Harry's admissions in Spare that he's basically a functioning addict, the Heritage Foundation assumed that Harry said "no" on the drug use question (which would be a lie) and they want to find out if he was given special treatment because of being Queen Elizabeth's grandson. (I also suspect the Heritage Foundation wants to find out if Harry has a regular passport or is traveling/living in the US on a diplomatic passport as well.)

So going back to your original question, yes, Harry can still be deported even if he is the spouse of a US citizen and even if he is a permanent resident. All the marriage to a US citizen means is what forms get filled out and what supporting documentation is submitted. That's all; there aren't any other protections involved in being married to a US citizen.

But there is a benefit to immigrating via a "green card marriage" - if you come to the US on any other kind of visa, the requirements are much stricter and the waiting period for eligibility can sometimes take much longer. Particularly on the latter, the US actually has requirements on how many people per country can immigrate/travel in a given a year, even if you're sponsored by a business or a friend or a family member (eg a brother or uncle). So some people end up waiting years to move to the US; that's just the demand on the system. But with a "green card marriage," you get to jump most of the queues and your waiting period for eligibility disappears in an instant. You can literally begin your application to move to the US the day you get engaged to a US citizen or the day you get married.

But you still have to go through all the hoops and fill out all the paperwork anyway. No way around that. No matter who your grandmother is.

Now for the part that makes all of this even more complicated: COVID.

A lot of rules government-wide were relaxed because of the COVID national emergency. One of the areas in which a lot of rules, standards, and regulations were relaxed is immigration, which caused an enormous backlog of paperwork and cases. Why? Because we're the goverment, y'all, and we move at slower-than-glacial-pace. In March 2020, we still processed a million things by hand on actual physical paper. (Remember, I'm a fed. I've got horror stories for days about this.) So part of the issue with everyone going home is that the paperwork didn't come home with us. It just kept stacking up and stacking up and stacking up in the office because we were still using paper systems and there hadn't been enough time to automate processes or digitize systems when we were ordered to work from home on March 16th. (Particularly in the DC area, talks/plans to send us all home started literally the week before, on March 9th. That was zero time to do anything but scale up the VPN and give everyone a laptop so whole entire agencies can work from home - because remember, before March 2020, it wasn't a thing for us in government to work from home.) So in June/July 2020 when the local stay-at-home orders were finally lifted, we all went back to the office to huge backlogs of paperwork and casework. Backlogs that were still growing by the day, and backlogs that needed to be handled quickly. As a result, there were a lot of decisions made to just "rubber-stamp" everything as quickly as possible. In DHS/USCIS, that meant citizenship and visa applications weren't as closely reviewed as they may have been in the past because the bosses were telling us "just get it done" because the Trump Administration was breathing down everyone's necks to deliver results that they could use in his re-election campaign.

So there's speculation now that Harry's visa/immigration application is one of those cases that got "rubber stamped" to get through the backlog. And part of that speculation is an attempt to understand when exactly did the visa paperwork get processed and whether there was undue special treatment in doing so. Was he part of the backlog that was grandfathered/rubber-stamped into the US? Or was his application processed before that?

Because if his application was processed before he moved here in March 2020, well, then the Sussexes aren't telling the truth about where they lived or what they were doing. Reason being that typically on a spousal visa, you usually can't already be living here in the US when you apply for it. You apply from your home country and come to the US only once your visa request has been granted.

So did the Sussexes apply for Harry's visa when they were living in Canada, starting the process as early as November 2019 when the BRF forced them into a vacation and panicking in February 2020 when COVID started closing borders? In that case, did the Sussexes apply diplomatic pressure to expedite DHS's review of Harry's case so they could be in the US before borders closed? Or did they say "screw it" and moved to the US without waiting for a decision and then applied diplomatic pressure to have Harry's case approved retroactively?

Or did the Sussexes apply for Harry's visa much earlier, when they were still living in the UK/working as full-time royals? And if that's the case, then did they really go to Canada like they said they did, or did they just hide out in the US for a bit so Harry could pick up his green card, and then they traveled to Vancouver/Canada for New Year's?

Or - perhaps the more tinhatty scenario - did the Sussexes apply for Harry's visa right after the marriage, at the earliest opportunity Meghan could've filed the paperwork? In which case, their secret honeymoon could really potentially have been a trip to the US so Harry could claim his green card.

Option 3 is incredibly farfetched. We know the Sussexes can't keep their stories straight so I feel like if that's what had actually happened, there would've been holes poked into their "fleeing to Canada" narrative already.

I probably lean towards Option 1 (they exploited COVID to move here) but Option 2 is pretty plausible too.

Anyway, that's a ton more than you/anon probably expected. (It's a whole lot more than I expected to write about too.) But hopefully this clears up some confusion about what exactly is happening with Harry's immigration status, why it's possible he can still be deported, and sheds a little light on the Homeland Security lawsuit.

Edit: added some clarification (see bolded part under the flowchart)

[hbowarbabes]

Living to See Another Day Pt. 4 (Bonus scene)

Summary: At Dulag Luft Prisoner of War Transit Camp, Y/n is being interrogated by Lieutenant Hausmann. Assuming she’ll give up information, he is immediately proven wrong.

Words: 1.2k

• • •

"Cigarette?” Lieutenant Hausmann held the carton in front of Y/n, waiting for her to take one. Y/n's heart raced as she looked at the man before her. He was tall and imposing, with sharp features and piercing eyes that were staring into her soul, not blinking once.

“I don’t smoke.” She swallowed nervously as he studied her with a calculating gaze.

Y/n had already turned down his offer of pouring her a glass of whiskey. On a regular day, saying yes to a drink would be no problem. But today, she felt the man had more sinister intentions behind the nice-guy act. 

Lieutenant Hausmann set the untouched carton of cigarettes back on the desk, eyeing Y/n with interest. She could see the curiosity in his eyes as he took in her appearance – the only female air force pilot he had ever interrogated.

“So, I was made aware that you didn’t arrive here on your own, yes?”

Hausmann sat, both hands interlocked as he grinned smugly at Y/n.

“Yes. I arrived with another member of my fleet.”

Y/n was careful with the amount of information she disclosed. One wrong word, and they might try to use it against her.

“And if I could have the name and any other-“

“I don’t know the man personally.”

Y/n cut the interrogator off just as he reached for pen and paper. She wasn’t going to leave him with details about Bucky.

“You don’t know the name of a man stationed at Thorpe Abbotts? A man in your fleet?” Hausmann chuckled dryly.

“No, really. I don’t waste my time conversing with them as I have other important duties to attend to.”

Y/n made it all up, all while keeping a stern face. She just hoped the interrogator would buy her lie and not try to dive into the details of her work and her colleagues.

"Y/n," he said, his voice smooth and collected. "I must say, you are quite a rarity in these parts. The only female air force pilot I have had the pleasure of interrogating."

Y/n bristled at his insincere tone, but she held her tongue. She knew that giving in to anger would only give him more reasons to kill her off. If she planned to live, she’d have to play it safe.

Hausmann straightened his posture, steepling his fingers in front of him. "Tell me, Y/n, what brings a beautiful lady like yourself to the mess of this war?" he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Y/n felt her blood boil at his condescending tone. She clenched her jaw, trying not to give him the satisfaction of seeing her get pissed.

Hausmann leaned forward, his eyes locked on hers.

Y/n grew irritated by his words, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She had dealt with sexist remarks before, especially in a male-dominated profession like the air force. But she refused to let this man get under her skin.

“What is it you’re trying to say? You think I shouldn't be here?” Y/n asked, her voice steady despite the fear bubbling in the pit of her stomach.

Reaching across his desk, Hausmann pulled a thin file, opening it, flipping back and forth between pages. From Y/n’s view, there looked to be not much writing in the file. Just a picture of her during her time in flight training. It was odd since she never even remembered having a picture like that to herself.

"You understand why you're here, Y/n." Hausmann said in a low, menacing voice.

"No, I don’t understand." Y/n shook her head, her eyes narrowing.

"We have reason to believe that you are a spy."

Lieutenant Hausmann smiled, a cruel glint in his eyes. "We need some details on you and your recent mission as there is no information in your file. The Gestapo would have every reason to label you a spy. If you speak of anything you have knowledge of with this mission of yours, I can pass on the word that you are not a spy."

Y/n felt a surge of anger at his words. She knew the importance of keeping details of her mission a secret. All the information was classified. His false words of optimism left Y/n unwilling to spill the details.

“What would that do for me?”

“It would put you in a better place of course.”

Y/n wasn’t convinced. He wasn’t promising her a damn thing. She knew she wasn’t going back to England to begin with.

“How so? Because I don’t see how someone like you would be willing to get me back home.”

Hausmann leaned back in his seat, his eyes never leaving her face. Y/n remained silent, her jaw clenched in defiance. Hausmann's eyes narrowed, his patience wearing thin.

"You may think you are being noble by refusing to cooperate, but in the end, you will only be hurting yourself. It’s your choice."

Y/n remained silent, her lips pressed tightly together in a thin line. He sighed and eventually closed the empty file on his desk, pushing it out of his reach.

Hausmann kept his gaze on Y/n, studying her carefully.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Y/n. You can make your time here much easier if you just tell me what I need to know. All you have to do is cooperate, and I can assure you that there won’t be any further issues.”

With a steely resolve, Y/n met Hausmann's gaze head-on and spoke in a firm, unwavering tone. 

“You’re not going to get anything more than what I’ve already given you.”

Y/n's heart raced in her chest, but she refused to show any sign of fear. She knew that Hausmann was trying to intimidate her into revealing sensitive information, and she was not about to give him the satisfaction.

"You are making a grave mistake, Y/n," Hausmann said coldly.

Y/n mentally cursed herself, hoping she made the right decision. She knew that she was risking her own safety by refusing to comply with his demands, but she also knew that she had to stay true to her principles.

“I really expected more out of someone like you, Y/n. A woman of honor. A woman of class.” Hausmann’s steely blue eyes pierced through Y/n’s angered eyes, watching her closely with a devilish grin.

“I take it they don’t teach ladies how to act properly, do they?”

“And I take it they don’t teach you and your men how to act decently around women, do they, Lieutenant? That’s a shame.”

Hausmann's face twisted into a mask of anger as he realized that Y/n was not going to give him what he wanted. With a snarl of frustration, he moved his hands away from the desk, inhaling deeply.

“I gave you a chance, Y/n. But since you are unwilling to comply, I really wish you the best.”

“Screw you.”

As Hausmann gave Y/n a smug look, the door of the office burst open. The two officers returned, each grabbing one of Y/n’s arms and dragging her out of Hausmann’s office

Y/n held back the urge to scream profanities at the interrogator as he simply grinned at her while she was being escorted to her room, once again being left alone to fend for herself.

[jungkookjeon0007]

Nights in Vegas | CH. 4 (JJK FF)

☆ summary: When Olivia flies to Las Vegas for her first ever BTS concert w/ her best friend, she was expecting to make lots of unforgettable memories... What she wasn't expecting was to end up with the lead singer, Jeon Jungkook, knocking on her hotel room door only to find her in nothing but a towel. What will happen when the golden maknae wants to see her again? Will it lead to heartbreak, or a promising future for them both?

☆ pairing(s): jungkook x olivia.

☆ ratings: (18+) for detailed sex scenes + harsh language.

☆ genre: smut, angst, fluff.

☆ word count: 1.44k.

☆☆☆☆☆

Unknown: Hey! 👋🏼

Olivia: Hey. Who's this?

Unknown: Don't tell me you've forgotten about me so soon. 😞

Olivia: If it's the person I think it is, then no. I could never forget about you. 😊

Unknown: I'm glad you could never forget me, because I know for a fact I will never forget you. 💜 But in case you needed confirmation, it's Jungkook. 🫣

Olivia: Of course I knew it was you, did you need something? ☺️

Jungkook: Yes actually, I wanted to see if you were ready to sign the NDA? We have some free time and can use the conference room for extra privacy within the next 10 minutes.

Olivia: Absolutely. 😊 Do you want me to meet you down there?

Jungkook: Yeah if that's okay. It's conference room number 1. I wanted to come up  and get you myself, but where I'm just getting back from dance practice my manager thinks it's easier if we just meet. 🥴

Olivia: Your manager is right, there's no need for you coming all the way up here then going right back down. I will meet you there in 10, just let me get freshened up really quickly. 💜

. . .

I hopped out of the bed, heading for the bathroom to fix my hair. I had just woken up from a nap and didn't want to look like a bum when I walked into the conference room.

"And where are you going in a hurry?" Lacie asked while leaning on the bathroom doorway.

"I need to go meet Jungkook downstairs at the conference room. He wants me to go ahead and sign the NDA form with his manager since they have some free time."

I sighed heavily.

"What is it?" She asked confused.

"Do you think this outfit is too laid back for meeting with him?"

"Liv, you look absolutely perfect. Hell I think you could wear a paper bag and the man would still think you're beautiful."

I smiled, keeping the outfit on and making my way to the door. "I'll see you in a little bit, love you."

"Love you babe, have fun."

. . .

Once the elevator stopped in the lobby, I exited making my way to the conference room. I knocked on the door and was met with his bunny smile as it opened.

He motioned for me to come in and had me follow him over to a big table in the middle of the room where a man was waiting with the paperwork.

"Olivia this is Mr. Kim Hyun Soo, he is going to be helping us with the NDA forms today."

"Hello sir." I stated, as he bowed politely with a smile.

"This will not take long, I just need you guys to take a seat over here and I will go over everything with you." Hyun Soo motioned towards the long conference table as the two of us made our way to a seat.

We sat down and immediately he slid papers in front of us. "Okay so there are multiple rules and guidelines we have to follow when the NDA is in place. As you can see the first page is where both of your names will be, stating this mutual agreement is between the two of you specifically. Basically this is saying for you Miss Olivia, that you will not disclose any information you obtain with or about Jungkook and your time together. If you'll sign this portion, we will then proceed."

I grabbed a pen and signed the line, looking at Hyun Soo once I was finished. "Okay perfect, let's move on. This next portion is something Hybe and our attorneys have written up in case this situation ever occurred between one of the members and a fan. You will need to read each line item carefully, along with the consequences if you fail to follow the rules provided to you. Read them aloud please so I know for certain that you have read them."

I grabbed the paper, suddenly feeling nervous. With both of their eyes on me, I began to read. "Number 1, ARMY is prohibited in the sharing of photos, videos, schedules, or any other private information obtained about the idol. Number 2, the idol and ARMY are not allowed to engage in physical contact or relationships when in the public eye, failure to follow this rule will result in a punishable offense-"

I stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath as I was shaking from nervousness. I suddenly felt a hand lay softly against my thigh, patting it gently. I looked into his eyes and Jungkook simply smiled, nodding his head, "It's okay, keep reading Liv. You're doing great."

I smiled, feeling better as I continued to read the rest of the rules and their consequences.

"Okay perfect, if you can just sign your names on the last page I will get them documented for you."

We signed our names and handed the papers back to Hyun Soo, "Thank you for your cooperation with us Miss Olivia, you and Jungkook are now allowed to see each other in his free time. I hope you both have a wonderful day." He bowed and without another word, left the two of us alone in the conference room.

"Wow, that was so intense." I said, looking at Jungkook in relief.

"I know, that was a pain in the ass but it's all finished and we don't have to worry about it now. We can hang out whenever we want and no one can get in the way."

We smiled at each other before I realized his hand was still on my thigh. He met my gaze and quickly retreated his hand, seeming nervous. "I-I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that without ask-"

"Shh, it's okay. You're very sweet for comforting me while I was nervous, thank you." I then kissed his cheek.

He blushed before clearing his throat, "So would you like me to walk you back to your room?

I nodded and without another word, we walked out of the conference room and back down to the elevator.

. . .

Coolest Group Chat Ever has been created.

Jungkook: Hey! Hobi and Olivia, I have you both in here but couldn't add Lacie. Could one of you add her so we can all 4 talk about tonight?

Olivia: On it! There, she's added now! 😊

Lacie: Hey!

Hobi: Hi everyone. So what's going on tonight? 😁

Jungkook: Well I was thinking we could go out to dinner then hit the club after. We will call ahead of time for both, that way we can have private seating at dinner and VIP in the club.

Hobi: That sounds perfect, I'm down if the ladies are good with that.

Lacie: Absolutely. 😊

Olivia: I'm good with that for sure. ☺️

Jungkook: Awesome, then it's settled. Hobi Hyung and I will pick you both up tonight at 8. Make sure to wear something a bit fancy, but also something you can wear to a club! Oh and Hyung, have you and Lacie signed the NDA with Hyun Soo yet?

Hobi: No, we're actually meeting him in 10 minutes though. Everything will be all set by tonight so don't worry. 😉

Jungkook: Great! Liv and I have already signed ours, I just dropped her back at her room. Ladies, we will pick you up at your room later, until then everyone enjoy their day! 😊

. . .

Lacie and I smiled at one another as we laid on our beds. "I still cannot believe this is real."

"I know, I feel like we're living in a dream." I replied, staring up at the ceiling.

"I have to say though, you and JK look so good together." She was now propped up on her elbow, looking over at me.

"I think the same about you and Hobi, he seems like a very sweet guy." I stated as she smiled.

"Yeah he's the sweetest, I'm so glad we're getting to do this and that you guys got us this chance. Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

We both giggled as I looked back at the ceiling, "Of course, and I love you too."

It was silent between us until she suddenly sat up, panicking.

"Liv? What the hell are we supposed to wear tonight??"

My eyes went wide, "Shit."

[mothellie]

My Current Events

Stranger Things Big Bang 2024 · Artist I'm making art for @medusapelagia for this event, alongside @ghostdeb. Due to a mix up mostly on my end, this story ended up with two artists. Working with them both on this project has been so fun and I'm excited for posting! My art is in the final stages of completion. Should be done by tomorrow and ready for our agreed upon posting date. For more information on her fic, visit medusapelagia's blog!

Steddie Big Bang 2024 · Author I've been claimed by the absolutely lovely and talented artist known as @danadaria. I still have some major work that needs to be done as far as my writing goes for this fic, but I can say it's Omegaverse with Omega Steve and Alpha Eddie, has enemies to lovers written all over it and with a sprinkle of forced proximity. I'm so very excited to get this out for you guys, and I may post more details as I wrap this fic up now that claims have passed. Stay tuned!

Billy Big Bang 2024 · Author Claims have not happened for this event yet so I can't disclose any details about what my fic is about, but I'm so unbelievably excited to put it out to the world. It's a fic idea I've had for a while that I'm finally making happen. I definitely WILL be posting about this fic after claims!

Stranger Things Sapphic Mini Bang 2024 · Author & Artist Claims are currently ongoing for this event so I won't know who my artist or author is for a little bit, and I won't be able to disclose any details about my fic. But I'm also extremely excited for this one as well because I'm finally giving life to one of my favorite (and extremely underappreciated) rarepairs!

My Upcoming Events

Stevie Week 2024 I'll definitely be participating in this July event centering Stevie Harrington, probably posting a lot regarding my transfem Steve Harrington agenda. Steve has always been a character I love to headcanon as trans in every which direction (probably because I project the most onto him lmao) so I'm VERY excited to have an excuse to post about her. The event starts on July 4th, so more to come!

Eddie Munson Big Bang 2024 Signups for this open on July 1st and I already have a fun idea for a potential fic for it. Stay tuned!

Stommy Big Bang 2024 I definitely have some ideas for this event and I would love to participate! I'm excited to see more love for the ORIGINAL homoerotic love-hate Steve ship lmao.

Steve Harrington Big Bang 2025 The timeline for this event got moved back, but rest assured I WILL be joining this bang. I'm so extremely excited for it.

Stranger Things Reverse Big Bang 2025-2026 I've never participated in one of these events before and I would absolutely LOVE to. Signups open late 2025 so I have a WAYS away to begin this.

[theemployees]

Spirit Weapons in the Hidden City

Many keep up with Big Mamas Nexus News and recently we have all seen the new challenger, Ameise, an ant yokai wielding two twin blades bursting with spiritual energy, their orange blades lighting up with the fire of ancients wowed the audience increasing the match attendance tenfold!

Now what I wondered dear reader is what are these enchanting blades and where can the nexus get more?

(My artistic rendition of Ameise in her debut fight)

The Ancient Art of Spirit Forging

I have read through many a history book looking for anything about these strange magical artifacts, I’ve seen the insides of ancient museums and yet nothing I find leads me to the creator of these weapons besides an old veterans statue from the Great War. I understand many of my audience is too young to remember such a time but when warfare ravaged the hidden city these weapons seemed to be quite common. I researched even further and found a few veterans around the city, as sadly scarce as they may be I finally got an interview with a fine gentleman named Shanty for a mere beer…

Our conversation was very informative despite his laid back demeanor, he lamented of times before the war, till we got to the meat of this Simurgh! 

“An old pal of mines father used to forge em, I got one of my old relics at home. The key is for the spirit to actually want to stay with you, keep em clean, form a bond, whatever.” I tried to inquire further but my feathered friend hesitated to give me their supposed “friends” name. After a call and a few more drinks Shanty gave me a number and an address and I got to speak to the last and only known person who practices what Shanty called “Spirit Forging” 

The Last Known Forger

I have been asked to not disclose the name or address of this yokai so I shall be referring to them as the forger here is our conversation log over tea:

“So what exactly is ‘Spirit Forging?” 

The forger snorted at my question “Well it ain’t exactly called that, it’s just simpler to say than the elemental translation” 

“Which is?”

“It’s more of a principle, called Vinculum inter arma vitam et mortem… yeah a little hard to understand but Spirit forging is as good as any name”

“So what is it?”

“…basically a bonding of spirits either past or natural occurring, into an item, there’s lot of different spirits with all differing effects and personalities but overall it’s just magic item creation with purpose”

“Purpose?”

“Most magic items were either made before the war by skilled magic artisans, formed into existence by powers far greater than my own, magic focuses like wands or staffs, or spells infused into items through complete accident, although there are some instances of purposeful magic item crafting in modern times it’s a little ehhhhh. Spirit forging is an agreement between a spirit, an item usually weapons or armor, a forger, and finally a wielder. If you mistreat your spirit depending on the temperament you can either end up with a powerless blade or a bashed in skull.”

[A small segment of this conversation had to be redacted for time and privacy]

“You mentioned personalities and temperaments these things are alive?”

“Ermmm yes and no? Spirits can form either naturally in spirit groves, through a massive loss of life or under some very specific conditions that neither of us would have the time to go over in one day, in reference to their personalities…” they pulled out a chart of spirits at this point which they allowed me to copy down a few details before we moved on from this discussion in particular... Sadly I only was able to copy down the most common colors

Red - Powers:  Conjuration - Temperament: A range of personalities most border on sadistic in their anger but others are calm and caring for others Orange - Powers: Fire production - Temperament: excitable fire balls, real friendly, keep away from alcohol, hardest to control and regulate Blue - Powers: Quick travel (hue of blue effects the power level; lightest travels further distances, darker blues/indigos tend to be able to access realms beyond but are more unstable; a perfect balance allows for a skilled user to access both at the expense of A LOT of energy) - Temperament: usually more calm but with the same enthusiasm of an orange spirit Purple - Powers: Evocation through creation - Temperament: Logical and calculated a little more introverted tend to lash out if a user is too pushy Pink - Powers: Floral control and creation - Temperament: Calm and connected, bonds formed naturally are strong

“Spirits ain’t very picky about what colors they hang out with eventually forming Spirit Groves, their little communities that usually form in caves, forests, really any dark place in the hidden city, most spirits tend to collect in dark areas and then light up the area by growing a shielding centre tree that protects spirits from detection, but I think the only major example people kind of know about would be the HoneiSukles cherry blossom tree”

“The tree has spirits?!?”

“HoneiSukles is a big district, souls untethered to a belief get lost when they die and if they aren’t getting pulled to a collection of souls in a spirit grove well they head to a place familiar or umm beautiful to them. Plus with the idea that their old queens spirit pulling them to the area is an interesting theory which is… plausible”

“Souls get lost… do you know what happens after death?”

Now the forger paused for a minute and chuckled a bit “No- No kid I ain’t know what happens after death I study spirits I ain’t a deity or anything. I should clarify, souls are yokai that have passed while spirits I use interchangeably but are naturally occurring, I make an effort to only use spirits in forging. When you’ve been on the business as long as I have you can tell if you’re harnessing a creatures power or stealing someone’s after life”

“So what about the religious?”

The forger snorted “I’m not sure to be honest, I’m not even sure if i’m right If you wanna talk about this I’d suggest talking to a theologian on that, it’s all theory… all I know is what I do which is harness.”

“Will you ever sell your blades to say the battle nexus? It would be an amazi-“

“No. The nexus does not and will never have my support. I work for those I know will care for my weapons and the spirits in them.”

“But-“

“No. May we move on?”

“Alright well how do you care for the spirits?”

“Well keeping your weapons clean is always a good idea it’s like cleaning their “room” talking with them, engaging in activities they enjoy blue spirits are quite found of catch while purples may decide they want to play with building blocks for the day, they don’t eat per say but they can be bribed with some glow fruit…”

“Glow fruit?”

“A naturally growing fruit found exclusively in groves, no bigger then a penny, they do as the name implies… glow. Gives the groves their whole atmosphere. Plus wizards and witches love working with the stuff since it increases the volatility of potions.”

“May I request something?”

“Shoot”

“Well you’ve mentioned the spirit groves a few times and I was wondering if you could show me one… for my report” 

The forger paused for a moment again and shrugged “Sure… but that’ll have to be another day I have to go pick my kid up from their… wait you’re still recording ain’t you?”

“Yup!”

“Mind turning it off..?“

“Oh right sorry!” *Click*

And there you have it dear reader my research on Spirit Forging! Although my blacksmithing friend may not seem eager to provide weaponry to the battle nexus, you must admit their craft is an interesting study that I’m sure gladiators and spiritual philosophers would both be interested in. Hopefully I’ll return next week with an entry about these “Spirit Groves” that or the research I have done on “The Great War.”

This is G.R.F. signing off!

Published by the U.M. institute of Knowledge and Journalism in the Hidden City

[arlecchno]

mission accomplished [ scaramouche x reader ]

twenty-five | viktor and yun jin

prev masterlist next

as the plot thickens with a new victim, you were dead set to catch viktor stepanov, once and for all. you didn't know this would end up way different than what you had imagined.

warnings: use of scaramouche's, childe's and signora's real name, death and killing mentions, breaking in, kinda fluffy in the middle, kidnapping¿, very suspenseful at the end (i think)

a/n: i'm incredibly sorry for the long delay of this chapter, been a bit busy last weekend. but it's here now, and i hope everyone enjoys the suspense as we're nearing the end of the series. 7k+ words. 90% proofread so please lmk if i've gotten anything wrong.

grammatical errors may occur so please let me know if i've made any mistakes!

“so…” you started, hurriedly scanning your eyes to your surroundings, checking if someone was near you. seeing that no one was in sight, you continued. “what do you want to talk about?”

childe cleared his throat on the other line. “we found a new victim.” he dropped, causing you to let out a short gasp.

it had been… how long now?

two months. it's been two months since you've last heard of a new victim, and now the killing is happening again.

wait, but…

“but viktor's been with me the whole morning? i don't understand.”

“anastasia obolensky. familiar with the name?”

you took a moment to think, recalling where you had heard of the name. if memory serves you right, that'd be…

“the university's chancellor?”

childe hummed. “she was found dead at her home this morning.” he informed, and you gripped your phone a little tighter.

going for the higher ups of the campus? you wondered to yourself. isn't that too far?

anastasia was one of the campuses most respected chancellors, and had contributed a lot to snezhnaya university. if word got out that she's dead, who knows what hell would break loose.

but viktor… he has been with you all night, right? would that even make sense for him to head out and kill people whilst being drunk?

“i don't understand.” you replied, still in disbelief. “he's been with me all night.”

“what were you two doing?”

“well, it was actually the four of us.” you awkwardly let out a chuckle, causing childe to usher you further on the information. “him, yun jin, scara and i. yunjin invited us to dinner, they got drunk, bla bla bla, you know the basics.” you didn't bother fixing him up with the details. knowing childe, he probably knew the rest of it already due to experience.

you peered over your surroundings once again, this time trying to find a seat. you walked over to a small park bench once you've caught glimpse of it, relishing a sigh of relief after standing for so long.

after a moment, you continued. “anyways, i don't think he'd have the time to go out and kill people. i stayed up for an hour or two after they passed out, trying to clean up everyone's mess. if he had gone out, i'd have noticed it right away.”

“what time did you sleep?”

“around twelve or one, why?” you asked.

“report says that the estimated time she was killed was at two in the morning.”

widening your eyes, you left your mouth agape. so he went out after you were asleep?

you shook your head. “no, wait, this is confusing me.” you replied, squeezing your eyes shut before opening them once again. “he passed out after a couple of drinks, there's absolutely no way he'd wake up in less than an hour after that. i remember him telling me that he couldn't hold his liquor well.”

“also.” you continued, already scoffing at the thought. “where the hell have you been?! you can't just disappear on me for two months and then finally show up just to tell me someone's dead!” you shouted into the phone, resulting in childe wincing at the tone of your voice.

he sighed, and you heard sounds of rummaging in the background. “i'm sorry, y/n. i still can't disclose the details to you.”

“what details?” you asked coldly. “what the fuck are you doing around behind my back?”

childe groaned. “look, it's nothing that you should be concerned about. just… focus on your case right now, i'll tell you once everything's calmed down.”

“what?” you questioned further. “you're not doing dirty work now are you, ajax? you know i hate those kinds of people. i'm gonna fucking kill you when i get back.”

childe chuckled from the other line. “of course not, y/n. i'd get fired if i'm working with people that aren't from the department.” he said.

from the tone of his voice, it seemed that childe was telling the truth. but somehow, you don't trust him, not even a single bit.

it's the first time that's ever happened to you.

on most occasions, you fully trust childe. you had never doubted his words, because he was always telling the truth, and never once broke a promise. he is one of your best friends after all, you'd never doubt him.

you still remember the day you two promised each other to never go behind each other's backs, and to always go to one another for help, no matter how dire the situation is.

but now, you had an inkling that he had just broken that pact. for whatever reason, you wouldn't know, and not that you would pry on it either.

you'll just have to confront him once the case ends, whenever that is.

sighing, you changed the subject. “so? what do i have to do now? this is his seventh victim, i think.” you said. “i can't just let him get away with this.”

“have you… ever considered looking for other suspects?”

you blinked. “are you telling me that viktor has accomplices?”

“most serial killers need accomplices to continue on with their crimes, sometimes they're also just cover ups for the actual serial killer.” childe informed.

you hummed, thinking of the possible accomplices he could have at the moment.

to be honest, you've never really seen him hang out with anyone during your stakeout times, and have never seen him interact with people other than yun jin.

“wait.” you blinked once again, the cogs in your brain turning. “you're not suggesting it's yun jin, are you?”

childe merely chuckled. “you'll never really know unless you look further into it. anyone who is close to him can be possible suspects or accomplices.”

“but yun jin is innocent. i see her every other day, and the killings never happened during the night before our classes together, unlike viktor, when all of the victims were found the day we do have classes together.” you countered, defending your dear friend.

there was no way a sweet person like her could be someone looking out for blood.

childe shrugged, but stopped when he realised he was talking to you over the phone, opting to let out a huff instead. “like i said, you'll never know unless you look further into it. it could be anyone at this point, and i'm also sure you're smart enough to figure everything out.” he tried convincing, and you took a moment to make a decision.

“...fine. i'll look into it.” you finally decided, heaving out a breath soon after. “i'll see you after i'm done with this case. don't do stupid shit while i'm not there.”

hanging up the call, you stared at your phone screen, looking at your call history. you don't really call people much, well, not that you have that many contacts saved in the first place. childe's name, ajax was at the top, as you had just hung up on him a second ago.

the second one was yun jin from a few days ago, when she had forgotten to turn off the oven and asked for you to do it for her.

the third was from viktor, when he was asking you if you could write up some notes from mass communication class since he was absent on that day.

the fourth was signora, or as you had saved her name, rosalyne. she had face-timed you around a month ago to check up on you after your fight with scaramouche, along with the incident from the night before.

the last one that was visible on your screen was the one and only scaramouche, who's name is written in red, meaning that you didn't pick up his call the time he had dialed for your number.

it was the first and only time he's ever called you after the fight happened. you didn't bother picking up his call, nor did you even bother blocking him. knowing scaramouche, he's not exactly someone to be on his phone that much, so you don't think it was any use to block him anyways.

and you were right, he never bothered you after that.

though you won't deny that sometimes, you kinda wished his name would pop up on your screen.

you still had his name saved as scara, the name you had always called him since forever. you thought of changing the contact name after finding out his real name, but you didn't have the time to do so, definitely not after everything.

a smile ghosted your face as you clicked on his contact information, the picture of you and him from a few months back on display as his profile. hovering your fingers over your screen, you made some adjustments to his contact details.

“what're you smiling at?”

snapping your head upwards, you look at the person who approached you, who turned out to be viktor.

you quickly widened your eyes, standing up abruptly. “o–our class finished already?!”

viktor shrugged, slinging his bag over his shoulder properly. “it was only a thirty-minute class since it isn't from our usual schedule. what took you so long?” he asked.

“oh…” you flickered your eyes elsewhere, gripping your phone to your side. “a friend called me, and i kinda got distracted, haha…” you muttered awkwardly, rubbing the back of your neck.

the tall brunette looked at you skeptically, before sighing. “i can give you the notes later. i have to run to the psychology department right now though, i have class soon.” he informed, and you turned your head to look at him.

“thanks…” you mumbled. “i'll uh, i'll head to yun jin's dorm then. see you?”

“yeah, see you later.”

you watched as viktor walked away, heading towards his destination. sighing, you brought up your phone to look at the screen once again.

the picture on display as scaramouche's profile had changed. now, it was a picture you had taken with him the night before the incident occurred, the one at the balcony.

although the picture you took was in a rush, you could still see most of it clearly. it was a selfie of you and scaramouche, you had one hand holding your phone, the other holding up a peace sign over scaramouche's head, presenting them as bunny ears.

and even though scaramouche was forced to take this picture, he reluctantly followed suit, a soft smile plastered on his face, one that was only presented to you. one of his hands was holding onto the railing of the balcony, the other wrapped on the side of your waist.

smiling giddily once again, you stared into the picture for the next few seconds, before flickering your eyes to the contact name, that was also changed earlier.

the name is now changed to the one you had heard just recently, the one that he had buried deep within him, the one that he never revealed to anyone, except for you.

kunikuzushi.

with a purple heart beside it.

you've convinced yourself the emoji you had added was only for aesthetic purposes. no other reason behind it whatsoever.

stepping inside yun jin's dorm, you peered over the living room, that is now all cleaned up, all thanks to you. if it weren't for your work last night, this place would be a total mess, with bottles of beer and vodka scattered throughout the small area.

you landed yourself on the small couch, staring up at the ceiling.

it was a thursday, meaning that you had no classes for the day. scaramouche and viktor would have their psychology class by now, you figured.

you're not sure if yun jin has gotten home or not, so you decided to stand up, sauntering over to her room.

you knocked on her door a couple of times. “yun jin? you there?”

no response came.

“yun jin?”

again, no response.

you huffed, hand on the knob. though when you brought it back to your side, you accidentally twisted the doorknob, causing the door to open slightly.

raising a brow, you looked at the door confusedly. huh, she didn't lock her door, you think as you peeked through the small gap between the door and door frame.

you know this might sound crazy, borderline creepy even, but you felt like investigating yun jin's room. sure, you had entered it just last night to take care of both yun jin and viktor, but you didn't have the time to look at her room properly, given how it was late and you had other things to do, such as taking care of scaramouche.

furrowing your brows in contemplation, you recalled back to your and childe's conversation from an hour ago.

“you'll never really know unless you look further into it. anyone who is close to him can be possible suspects or accomplices.”

well, it wouldn't hurt to just take a quick look, no? you asked yourself.

you supposed it would be for a good cause. seeing how long this case is taking to end, you would do anything to solve it.

and if it meant sneaking into your friend's room, then so be it.

yun jin's room looked exactly like what most fashion students' rooms would look like, except for the fact that she's a criminology student.

you stood in the middle of the room, scanning your eyes to every single detail of her room. papers that were sketched out with designs scattered throughout the room, with some plastered on the wall, some placed on her desk, some on the floor, and whatnot.

it wasn't anything bizarre nor uncommon to you. maybe it was due to the fact that your old roommate from a few years back was also an art student, pursuing their passion in painting. to say that their painting supplies were clumsily placed everywhere would be an understatement.

and honestly, it shocked you how yun jin did not pick fashion design as her major, not even as her minor, too.

what could possibly be so interesting about criminology that she'd just throw away her passion in fashion design?

you scoffed at the thought. it was hypocritical of you to say such a thing, when you yourself were exactly the same when you were her age. your love for wanting to become a police officer had overthrown every other interest you had, leading to you choosing criminology as your major, and soon landing yourself in the police academy the second you graduated.

yet, you had no regrets, for if you didn't choose criminology, you wouldn't have gotten into the police academy, if you didn't choose criminology, you wouldn't have gotten your dream job in the most prestigious precint, and if you didn't choose criminology, you wouldn't be standing here today, working on a big case.

sighing, you continued on with your investigation in yun jin's room.

this is not the time to be pondering on useless topics.

—

after what felt like an eternity, you practically gave up on searching around her room. no evidence nor leads in sight. there was absolutely nothing that you should take note of, let alone be suspicious.

you think this was a waste of time.

sighing, you turned to head towards the door, before stopping yourself in front of a corkboard that was plastered on the wall near the bed.

the corkboard in particular did not catch your eye, however, the pictures that were pinned there did.

it was a picture of yun jin, and someone beside her, hugging yun jin tightly at a restaurant. the young woman was around her age, and you figured they were close, given hoe the picture is on the corkboard. though, the details wasn't what piqued your interest.

you recognised that face.

but somehow, you couldn't pinpoint it.

the polaroid beside it caught your attention too.

it was yun jin with two other women now, with yun jin being in the middle, hugging the others at what you assumed was at a park, dated a few months ago, as what it had been written on the white frame of the polaroid.

once again, you recognised those two faces, yet you couldn't figure out how you did, or where you have seen those faces.

there were other pictures pinned on the corkboard, and most of the people in the pictures made you realise that you quite literally recognised each and every one of them, which made everything more confusing than it already is.

how did you recognise these people?

where have you even seen them?

have they gotten arrested before for you to be familiar with their faces?

your thoughts were cut off when a notification came in from your phone, causing you to fish it out from the pocket of your pants to read the new notification.

yun jin

hey luna!

sorry but i might arrive home late today

please don't wait for me! >-<

you smiled at the messages she sent, momentarily forgetting about the familiar faces you saw earlier.

it's fine, take your time! ||

sighing for the umpteenth time that day, you shoved your phone back into your pocket, walking away from the corkboard until you reached the halls, closing yun jin's door shut.

the last picture in the corner of the corkboard went unnoticed by you, which had a photo of yun jin and the chancellor of snezhnaya university, anastasia obolensky, eating out together.

you hated how awfully silent the dorm is right now.

it was currently late at night, and yun jin still hasn't gotten home. you didn't mind it of course, yun jin is a grown-up, and you're not someone who had the authority to keep her away from doing things, but you always enjoyed yun jin's company.

she was always someone who could make the whole room light up, she was someone who could brighten up someone's day, and she's one of the few people who knew about your problems with scaramouche.

so with her being absent in this dorm makes the atmosphere really… dull.

you had spent the evening eating some takeout as dinner, too lazy to even get up and cook up something in the kitchen. if scaramouche were to hear about this, he would've whipped out a full course meal, nagging at you for eating unhealthy and greasy food.

the thought made you let out a few laughs, remembering how scaramouche would always cook up food for you, no matter what circumstances may arise.

as your laughter died down, you bit your bottom lips, before shaking those thoughts off your head.

this is definitely not the time to be thinking about him.

you were in your room at the moment, sitting at your desk as you had just finished doing some work around ten minutes ago. you had been cleaning up your desk for the rest of it, decluttering the many papers on the wooden surface.

a brown a4 sized envelope tucked in your mess on the desk caught your attention.

you picked it up from between the files on your desk, opening the manilla up. a set of pictures and other written details were inside, making you recall back to when scaramouche had given you this the other day as you took out the contents.

“everything in that envelope are new evidence i've gotten, and all of it leads to a whole different person.”

right, you haven't gotten the time to check out the new evidence scaramouche had gotten, from where, you don't even want to question. it's not like he'd ever give you the answer anyways.

the first photo that greeted you was a picture of a wooden cabin, the least of evidence you had expected.

why is there a picture of a cabin? was this mixed up by accident?

you furrowed your brows, ignoring the picture as you continued looking at the next few papers in hand. they however seemed as though to be completely useless, as they were only printed details on the purchase of the cabin, with receipts and purchase history.

though, you stopped when you read the name of the bank account's transaction history.

you blinked once, twice, before scanning your eyes on the paper once again, reading each and every syllable there is, in sheer disbelief with what you're looking at right now.

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

snezhnaya bank

yun jin

date: 11/17

description: cabin in the woods

withdrawal: XXXX

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

you widened your eyes.

no.

impossible.

you flipped through the other papers in hand, scanning your eyes and stopped every time you see the same name, over and over again.

what?

did viktor rope yun jin into buying stuff under her account to avoid himself from being caught?

“most serial killers need accomplices to continue on with their crimes…”

you groaned in frustration at the conversation with childe from earlier that played in your mind.

there was no way the ever so innocent yun jin, would be an accomplice to viktor's crimes, especially when she was so passionate about becoming a police officer.

you tossed the papers on the table, pinching the bridge of your nose as you grumbled.

this is giving you a headache.

and you're sure as hell viktor had snuck behind her back to purchase a random cabin in the woods. it's not her doing.

yun jin was still nowhere to be found in the dorm the next day.

you figured she slept over at viktor's dorm, given how she'd do that occasionally. though, she'd usually inform you first, but the last thing she did was leave your text message on read, which was yesterday.

you didn't bother on messaging her, seeing how you have a criminology class together. you'll just ask her later on.

but it became a problem when yun jin didn't show up to class.

your professor had just dismissed your class, yet yun jin still hasn't shown up, making you worried. where could she possibly be to miss out on class?

for the duration of your time being friends with her, she has never, ever, skipped class. no matter how busy she was, she'd always make time to show up to class, even if it was only for a few minutes. so for her to skip class was something unusual, especially to you.

she probably overslept, right?

you grabbed your phone and clicked on yun jin's contact name, hitting the call icon. but after a moment, it went to voicemail.

you raised a brow. strange. she always answers her calls, no matter the situation.

huffing, you clicked on viktor's contact name and called him next, and once again, it went to voicemail after a few seconds of waiting.

you can't be serious, you thought to yourself.

did they both oversleep?

sure, it is understandable that it could be pretty hard to wake up early, especially for a class that starts at eight in the morning, but can't they even hear their ringtones ringing throughout the room? unbelievable.

and to make things worse, someone plopped on a seat beside you, causing you to turn your head to look at them. once you did, you yelped.

“w–what… what are you doing here?!”

scaramouche merely rolled his eyes, before placing a plastic container full with food in front of you on the table. the action made you raise a brow in confusion as you stared at the lunch box.

you looked at him again. “what's… this for?” you asked confusedly.

“you're really stupid, huh.” the sudden jab of insult as his first words to you made you glare at him. “we share the same food delivery account, remember? i saw you buying takeout last night.”

you still had a perplexed look plastered on your face, making scaramouche turn his head elsewhere, too embarrassed to look at you in the eye as he mumbled out his next words.

“i… made extra food this morning. i didn't want them to go to waste, so i'm giving them to you.” he nervously said, cheeks burning up. “d-don't think i did this willingly! i just didn't want to waste the leftovers!” he exclaimed.

as he finished his sentence, your confused expression slowly changed, and before you know it, you're hugging scaramouche.

burying your face to the crook of his neck, you smiled. “thank you, kuni! i've kinda been craving for your home-cooked meals for a while now.” you muttered, voice muffled as you wrapped your arms around him tighter.

scaramouche was taken aback for a few seconds, before he hesitantly reciprocated your hug, engulfing you with his arms. you two stayed like that for a moment, until you slowly detach yourself from him.

“do you…” you stopped yourself before you could even finish your sentence. no, you shouldn't do that, not after what happened the other day. “ah, nevermind.” you mumbled.

you don't want him to have high hopes for this... whatever relationship you two have right now. it's just too risky, especially now, when you both are burdened by the big conflict that is the incident.

“spit it out.”

you widened your eyes in shock. “what?”

“did you not hear me?” his grip on your waist tightened as he brought you closer. “go ahead and spit it out. now.” he repeated, words venomous.

you blinked, confused as to why he was acting so bold all of the sudden, when he was quite the embarrassed mess just a second ago.

scratching your temple, you reluctantly continued on with what you were gonna say, as scaramouche watched you with narrowed eyes.

“well, do you, uh, want to...eat this together?”

eyes wide, scaramouche was, shocked to say the least. even if he was the one who insisted you to continue on with your sentence.

scaramouche quickly turned his head sideways to hide the blush on his cheeks, causing you to gaze at him confusedly.

the ravenette slowly nodded. “that…that'd be nice, i guess.”

you did not expect this to be the most awkward moment you've ever had with scaramouche.

hell, you didn't even expect to be back at his, no, your shared dorm.

you and scaramouche were on the small couch, the lunch box sitting on your lap just nicely.

to say that you were too scared to make the first move would be an understatement.

“aren't you gonna eat that?” scaramouche was the one to break the deafening silence.

you twisted your head to look at him. “well, i uh…” turning your head back to stare at the container on your lap, you slowly grabbed it, opening up the rectangle-sized container in hand.

utensils were already there as a set of the lunch box, and the sight of the cooked meal before you made your mouth drool in delight. the aroma of his home-made meal made you want to munch it all up more than anything right now.

you picked up a spoon, and quickly shoved it in the food before picking it up once again, bringing the utensil to your mouth, swallowing the delicious meal.

you sighed in contentment, the food tasted heavenly, just like every other meal scaramouche has made. you won't deny that you had missed this, missed his very delicious meals, missed the way he'd always cook up extras for you, and definitely missed the way he'd always look at you with a fond look as you tried out his meals.

you glanced at him, and without a doubt— scaramouche still had that same expression plastered on his face, looking at you so fondly as you had your first bite of the meal he made.

picking up a spoonful of food once again, this time, you brought it over to the front of scaramouche's closed mouth, your other hand beneath his chin.

“what the hell are you doing?”

“you said you wanted to eat together.”

“i didn't say that. you did.”

you grumbled. “okay, sure, but you were the one who said ‘it'd be nice’, so i'm just doing what you agreed upon.” you insisted, resulting in scaramouche's cheeks to flare up once again.

the ravenette was about to say something when you suddenly shoved the spoonful of food into his mouth, leaving him no choice but to eat the meal you had fed him. after the spoon was empty, you brought it back to the container on your lap, scaramouche taking a few seconds to swallow up the food in his mouth.

“tastes good?” you asked.

scaramouche quickly looked away, the tips of his ears turning red. “it– it's my cooking, obviously it'd taste divine.”

you scoffed, picking up the spoon to eat the rest of the meal.

what a stupid guy, you thought to yourself.

the afternoon continued on with you eating the meal scaramouche has made whilst talking with the ravenette, occasionally feeding him a spoonful once in a while. you absolutely paid no attention to the relentless refusals of his, saying that 'he has his own hands to feed himself', yet still accepting the meal you spoon-fed him.

“can't you stay longer?”

you sighed, shaking your head as you stood at the front door.

it was almost evening now, and you two were currently standing by the front door of his dorm, ready to part ways.

you don't think either of you were ready.

“just for the night? it's getting late.”

you shook your head once again. “sorry, kuni. i have to head back to yun jin's to check up on her, she hasn't gotten home since yesterday.” you said, eyes looking into his indigo ones. “i might have to visit viktor's dorm too to see if yun jin's there.”

“viktor?”

“yeah, why?”

“it's just that...he wasn't in class yesterday.”

your forehead wrinkled in confusion. “what do you mean?”

scaramouche shrugged. “i didn't see him during class the other day. he'd always insist on sitting next to me whenever we had class together, but he wasn't there.”

“that's… strange.” you commented, twisting the doorknob. “i'll have to check up on them at their dorms.”

scaramouche stopped you, hand grabbing your wrist, causing you to flicker your eyes to him. “i'll accompany you.”

you shook your head for the third time that night, making scaramouche furrow his brows.

“no, you should stay here. i'm sure they're just busy with whatever they're doing right now.”

“but what if you get in danger?”

sighing, your free hand reached out to grab his hand that was holding your wrist. “look, i'll… call you when i get home, okay? just to assure you that i'm fine.” you caressed his knuckles, hoping that'd ease out whatever worry he had in mind.

scaramouche huffed, looking down to the floor.

“okay...fine.”

you smiled, holding his hand as you opened the door. stepping out to the halls, you turned to look at him for the last time that evening.

“then, i'll get going now.”

“but…”

you rolled your eyes playfully, amused with the expression scaramouche had right now. he was pouting, hand holding onto yours tightly, as if he really didn't want you to go.

“i'll be fine, kuni. stop worrying about me.”

“promise you'd call me?”

you smiled, nodding as you do so. “yeah, sure, i'll call you.”

before you even got the chance to walk away, scaramouche engulfed you in a hug, knocking the breath out of your lungs.

he wrapped his arms around your figure, just like he did earlier this morning. you grumbled, but reluctantly did the same, hugging him with your bundle of layers of clothes and jacket.

you were the one to pull away first, hands falling to your sides. scaramouche however, still had his arms wrapped around your hips, causing you to blink up at him. scaramouche made no move to remove his hold from you.

“hm? is there anything else that i forgot?” you asked, referring to him still holding you.

scaramouche looked like he was in deep thought, given how he did not bother answering your question with his words.

but after a second, he answered you with his actions instead.

the hurried movement made your eyes widen, as you hesitantly brought up a hand to brush over your forehead, the spot he had just left a quick peck. it was only for a fleeting second.

did he just… kiss your forehead?

flustered, you quickly snapped your head to him, wanting to say something before it died in your throat, as the sight of scaramouche's flushed face greeted you.

even though it was a simple gesture, it still made you… shy and awkward. you've never really gotten a forehead kiss before, especially by someone like him, so for scaramouche to do such a thing would be a total shock to you.

you still remembered when he'd never fail to jab at you with his insults and degrading words, and you still remembered when you'd always reply back with snarky remarks just to spite him back.

but right now, you two were way far from being enemies. you don't even think you two are friendly colleagues at this point, because you're absolutely sure this is not something that co-workers do with each other.

co-workers wouldn't hug each other at the most random times, co-workers don't give you extra home-cooked meals, co-workers don't feed each other food, co-workers don't share the same food delivery account.

and co-workers definitely do not kiss you on the forehead as a goodbye gesture.

the moment was unfamiliar, yet you had a feeling it'd be engraved in both of your minds tonight, or until forever, even.

“be safe, y/n.”

“...yeah. i'll see you later, kuni.”

you left your shared dormitory with a fond smile, and flushed cheeks. the warmth of his lips still lingered around the spot on your forehead, making you ten times more flustered than anyone else in the building.

and scaramouche had the same embarrassed expression once he closed the front door, leaning against it as he hovered a hand over his mouth, in disbelief with what he just did a second ago.

the trip back to yun jin's and viktor's dorm building was quicker than you thought, and before you knew it, you were already in front of viktor's door.

you heaved out a sigh.

you've never gone inside viktor's dorm, so this would be a first. would a serial killer's dorm look the same as your average-college-guy dorm?

the answer is just right behind this door.

readying yourself, you built up the courage to finally knock on the door, waiting for it to open.

and when the door finally opened, someone… unfamiliar greeted you instead.

“huh? d'ya need anything?” the stranger asked, making you sweat. you don't remember viktor having a roommate.

“is uh, is viktor here? i need to see him.”

the stranger raised a brow. “that weird guy?” they asked, pointing a finger towards the dormitory beside him. “his dorm is that one. think you got the wrong place.”

“oh.”

you bowed down profusely. “s–sorry! i thought it was this one!”

the stranger laughed. “'s fine. go on now, i got a show to catch up.” they said, closing the door.

groaning, you smacked your forehead in embarrassment. archons, how did you even got it mixed up?

you sauntered over to the dorm the stranger had pointed out, heaving out yet another sigh.

well, here goes nothing.

knocking on the door once again, you waited for viktor.

yet no one opened the door.

you frowned, knocking on the door once again.

and yet again, no response.

surely, they'd be up by now, right? there was no way they were still asleep.

you fished out your phone from your jacket to dial his number, and waited for him to pick up the call.

it went straight to voicemail.

“what in teyvat…” you mumbled, looking at your phone screen. you clicked on yun jin's contact details, and called her.

it also went straight to voicemail.

“you've gotta be fucking kidding me.”

you snapped your head to stare at the door, contemplating with what you're about to do right now.

it's okay, you assured yourself. this is for the case, there's absolutely nothing wrong with trying to break into your suspect's dorm.

you held your guard up, and grabbed onto the knob of the door, crouching down until you were face to face with the lock.

you've had your fair share of practice at picking locks, so this wouldn't be a hassle for you.

you quickly rummaged your bag for a paper clip, and once you found it, you looked to your left and right, making sure no one was in sight, before averting your attention back to the lock.

yet as you twisted the doorknob by accident, it opened.

“it's… it's unlocked?”

you stood up properly, pushing the door.

the dark living room greeted you, with no signs of viktor nor yun jin whatsoever. you raised an eyebrow as you reached for the switches on the wall beside you, and when the lights finally turned on, the empty room still greeted you.

you scanned through the room confusedly. where the hell are they?

quickly walking over to one of the closed doors in the dorm, you twisted it open, and yet another empty, dark room laid in front of you.

the other room was empty too, yun jin and viktor were nowhere to be found.

you scratched your head. where could they be?

are they at yun jin's dorm?

—

but as you entered yun jin's dorm after that, you were still greeted with silence, no sign of them occupying those two dorms, which made everything more confusing than it already is.

are they out watching a movie?

no, impossible. yun jin would have notified you further.

are they having a date?

no, she also would have notified you earlier, and she wouldn't have her phone turned off.

so, where were they?

sitting at the dinner table in yun jin's dorm, you took a moment to think. maybe they're at either of their parents'? you thought to yourself, shifting your eyes from your lap to the wooden surface of the table.

a piece of paper there caught your eye.

huh, that was never there before.

picking it up, you quickly scanned your eyes over the paper, and a small note was written there.

find me, before it's too late.

your eyes went wide as you read the short message, gripping onto the paper tight.

what did the message mean? find me? where?

and what did it mean before it's too late?

is… yun jin in danger?

you quickly got up, scrambling to your feet to piece the puzzles together. you fished out for your phone once again to call yun jin.

the familiar melody of yun jin's ringtone rang in the dorm, and you twisted your head to the living room, eyeing her phone on the coffee table as you quickly walked over to pick it up.

impossible. you were sure her phone wasn't here the last time you were sitting on this very couch, which was just last night.

did she come back here while you were gone, and left her phone here?

shit. you placed her phone back on the coffee table. she's definitely in danger.

you hurriedly made your way to the front door.

find me… you repeated the same words over and over again as you headed out to the halls, slamming the front door shut.

find where? where can you find her?

yun jin's and viktor's dorms are empty, so they would be crossed out from the list of possible places you could find her.

you sweat, the thought of yun jin being in danger frightened you. is viktor really going as far as to harm her girlfriend just for the sake of luring you in his trap?

wait.

does he know you were a cop?

and if he does, does that mean your cover is blown?

you gritted your teeth. no way. you had done everything in order to not get your cover exposed, so how in teyvat did he even figure it out?

you ran down the halls, heading towards the elevator. once the elevator doors closed, you continued on piecing the puzzle.

find me.

find me.

find. me.

your eyes widened upon realisation.

as the elevator dinged and slowly opened its doors, you hurriedly ran outside, before forgetting that your car was still at the workshop, meaning that you had no transportation to get there quick.

groaning, you think of another solution to quickly get to your destination.

a light bulb popped over your head, but was dismissed when you let out a sigh. no, you shouldn't trouble scaramouche by driving you there.

hell, you don't even want him to know that yun jin and viktor were gone, and that you couldn't find them.

you grumbled frustratingly. there's no other way.

viktor's frat house isn't that far off from campus, and you haven't ran in a while.

surely this quick trip would strengthen your muscles.

as you almost reached your destination, you were already out of breath.

archons, you've forgotten how tiring running would be, especially when you haven't worked out in so long.

with ragged breaths, you made your way towards viktor's frat house. you had left your bag back in the dorms, along with your bundle of scarves and layered clothes, so that you wouldn't have to carry so much stuff on you. and yet without any of those distractions, you were still tired as ever for running such a long distance in a time span of five minutes. you don't even have an ounce of idea how that's possible, but what's important is that you made it here in time.

once you reached the doorstep, you paid no mind to even think if the door was unlocked as you swiftly twisted the doorknob, causing the door to open. you were thankful that you didn't have to pry out yet another paper clip, if you had one with you in the first place.

the sullen interior of the frat house greeted you.

you turned on the lights, heading towards the living room.

if you remember correctly, viktor had a hidden basement somewhere in the living room. you stood in the middle of the area, peering over your surroundings until you finally saw the hidden basement in the corner of the room.

the rug that was covering the plank was already flipped, just enough access for someone to open up the plank to the basement.

you raised a brow.

so they really are here.

you breathed in deeply, before exhaling.

this is it, you think. it's time for you to save yun jin.

without any weapons whatsoever.

you grumbled. you really weren't prepared for this, huh.

it's fine, you thought to yourself. your never ending physical combat trainings back in the police academy would do you justice.

pulling up the plank, you eyed the entrance down to the basement, a ladder attached by the wall.

the distance from the floor of the living room to the floor of the basement was suitable enough for you to jump right in, and you did just that, landing yourself professionally on the concrete floor.

you hastily stood up, turning yourself to look at the basement.

it was empty.

what?

you were sure this was the right place.

the only stuff that filled the basement were a bunch of useless junk that were thrown out for parties, and a random table in the middle of the basement, with yet another note placed on top of it.

you quickly walked over to the table, snatching the paper to read the contents.

you got the wrong place. think again, y/n.

eyes wide, you stared at the paper in shock, sweating.

he knows your name?

archons, your cover really is blown.

but most importantly, you went to the wrong place? how could this even happen? you wondered to yourself as you crumpled the piece of paper in your hand, too frustrated with the events happening as of now.

you're sure… you're really damn sure this was the right…

you blinked, before your eyes went wide once again.

fuck, of course.

tossing the now crumpled paper to the side, you quickly went back up with the ladder, scrambling to get out of the stupid frat house that was no use to you.

once you got outside, you ran to your next destination, pulling up your phone to call for the one person you needed at the time. how can you be so slow on catching up with his clues?

of course it'd be the cabin.

the exact cabin you found in the evidence scaramouche had given you.

the exact cabin under yun jin's name.

how could you even miss out on such detail?

the frat house was just a distraction to mess with you. the basement you and scaramouche had thought preserved the most darkest secrets of viktor stepanov was only filled with a bunch of junk for parties and such.

viktor knew you were headed for the frat house first. he knew that you knew about the secret basement he had there. and he absolutely knew that place would be your first target.

the tall brunette had tricked you from the very start.

viktor already had you wrapped around his finger from the very beginning of this case, trapping you in with the many tricks up his sleeve.

and the worst thing is that he is winning.

you hurriedly ran for your life, not even minding the numb and tiredness you're getting from using the strength of your legs for the past ten minutes. yun jin's life was in serious danger by the hands of a serial killer, and you're not going to let anything happen to your new friend.

the call rang for a few seconds, until it finally went in.

“y/n? you got home safe?”

you didn't answer for the next few seconds, only the sound of wind crashing through the mic of your phone.

“y/n? you okay?”

“call–call the squad, now.” you said through heavy breaths, continuing on running.

“what? are you okay? why are you running?” scaramouche asked worriedly, and you didn't answer immediately. suddenly, it dawned on him. “wait, you're not–”

“just fucking call the squad and tell them to head for the cabin! yun jin's in danger!”

the sound of rustling can be heard from the other line, until you heard the sound of the door closing. “y/n, don't go there by yourself. wait for me.”

“there's no time! she–she could be hurt any second now!”

now, the sound from his line was matching yours, as scaramouche was currently running too. “you're unarmed, y/n! stop running and–wait for me to come and get you!”

“no use, i'm almost there now.” you were right, the cabin was a few hundred meters away from you now, you could practically see the small roof of the cabin from here. you were thankful the woods isn't far off from viktor's frat house.

“y/n. stop, please. don't you dare go in until i get there!”

“no. i–i need to save her. just–call the squad and tell them to barge into the cabin. we're gonna close this case tonight— once and for all.”

“y/n, you're going to die if you go there alone. how many times do i have to keep telling you to stop being the stupid fucking hero you think you are?! was that fight not enough?!”

you morphed out a small smile, stopping yourself just right in front of the cabin.

“i won't–i really won't mind dying in the line of duty, as long as i get to save people.” you mumbled through heavy breaths. “and–this people in question just happened to be one of my closest friends.”

scaramouche started up his car, the sound of his engine filling up his line. “y/n, just wait until i–”

you hung up, turning off your phone for good.

this is it, you think through batted breaths.

if yun jin and viktor aren't behind this door, then you've completely fucked up this case.

but if they are, you've got to prepare for the worst.

there's no other solution behind this.

you're unarmed, you have absolutely nothing to shield you from being attacked, and to be honest, you're not ready in the slightest, yet you had a feeling that you just had to do it now, or else you'd be scarred for life.

holding onto the doorknob, you braced yourself for what you're about to face behind this very door.

you've reassured yourself from the frat house all the way here that nothing bad would happen, and that you would stop viktor before he could make things worse, but the way your body is shaking and trembling right now was saying otherwise.

you gripped tightly onto the doorknob, your shaky hand making it continuously rattle like a madman.

no. you have to do it now.

before it's too late.

just like what the note had said.

viktor had waited for you to crack this case. he had only mentioned your name in the paper, and he had left these notes for you to find.

he was anticipating for your arrival, not anyone else's.

there was no time to wait for scaramouche, let alone wait for the squad to arrive. the precint to here is at least a fifteen-minute drive. you could try stalling some time until they get here, but that'd take too long, and you're not sure if you'd be alive by the time they arrived, so you have no choice but to finish this off yourself.

you sighed for the hundredth time that evening.

the memory of scaramouche vowing to protect the people of snezhnaya played in your mind, and you smiled to yourself with gritted teeth.

yeah. ready or not, you had made an oath to protect the citizens of snezhnaya, in any sorts of circumstances, deathly or not.

there was no other way for you to prevent this from happening.

the only thing you could do now was stop viktor, save yun jin, and get out of this mess.

even if it meant sacrificing your own life.

slowly twisting the doorknob, you heaved out yet another warm breath, the cold weather hitting you like a brick. the winter season was close, and it could snow anytime now.

you hoped you'd have the time to witness the snow after this, at least for one last time.

as the door opened rather quickly and harshly, you hurriedly slammed it shut, peering over the inside of the cabin. it looked like any other cabin you've seen off the internet, except that instead of a cozy atmosphere, it was only filled with despair.

someone was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, their hands and ankles being restricted to a tight rope. you couldn't make out on who it was due to their head hanging low, so you decided to do what any other person would do when they're curious.

you slowly walked closer to the person tied to the chair to see them clearly, but when you finally got to see who it was, you furrowed your brows in confusion.

“viktor?”

a reminder that this exists and there's a very slim chance that is the ending, but who knows, haha!

taglist; @beriiov @hopesandlegacy @cloudsandrenoswife @salamiwrites @thenightsflower @bleedingwhiteroses222 @lisiastak021 @yuuki4646 @lez-zuha @ryhie @sleepy-waffle @yoursockstinks @shizunxie @kunikame @kunikuzushiit @anonwhocried @vqqrii @luminesuprrmacy @calxb-do @sixscara @xooya @mobiussdarling @mafukissu @antri13 @ireallylikehamsters @hejtorii @moatsnow @sinnersbyfear @cloudxemoji @yashimeto @kaoyamamegami @brokensmileandtears @chuuyaswifeeee @oasis888 @periwinklesbaby @justranella

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want to be added to the taglist?

[buckets-and-trees]

happy sleepover! 🎉🎉

I’m still thinking about Minotaur!Bucky x scientist!reader. how are they doing? what’s life like for her in his home?

and one more for this round of talking about Sacrificial...

I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED, AMBER! LET ME TELL YOU!

okay

so

Minotaur Bucky wanted you. There's a lot of backstory there that is future story content, so I won't divulge too much. But there's history, there's complex factors that led to the situation. Bucky's not going to be forthcoming with everything either, and that's a point of tension between you two.

He's got trust issues and you hate being denied information.

BUT

In general, things are good.

Deliciously too good.

I only went there briefly at the end because I didn't want to go heavy into logistics since we'd just smutted it out and I didn't want to erase that ruined feeling with too many details, but I tried to very very briefly lay out that this time around (because he did let it drop that she was not the first sacrifice offered to him) Bucky has been the architect and he was meticulous here. You packed up and moved for this fellowship - he had the villagers leave all of those things in a specific drop location so he could retrieve it and bring it back for you. He's keeping you longterm.

You're having heaps of deliciously and ruinously good sex, and he came up with the idea that maybe this time around the villagers should set up a fake grant/fellowship so his pet could be a scientist who would be happy to be in the Amazon doing science-y things and be a clever girl who could fascinate him.

He uses you as much as he dotes on and worships you now.

And it's not primal living.

The villagers think he's living a savage lifestyle, but he's not. You're both quite comfortable. And safe. You know the Swiss Family Robinson tree house? It's a lot like that. Not a five-star hotel with all the bells and whistles, but let's just say you're shocked when you first wake up. How he's even managed this? Even more maddening information he doesn't want to talk about with you - though he'll disclose more of that to you before some of the other things you're demanding to know.

But it's also completely off the beaten path. You're not really a reluctant prisoner anymore, but Bucky did make it very clear that if you tried to escape, there were enough natural and implemented dangers that you wouldn't survive - if you managed to escape him in the first place. But he also made it clear he doesn't want you to have any real practical reason to want to leave the beautiful cage he's built for you.

Link to the List of Sleepover Games

[icedragonlizard]

What Sectonia and Haltmann are doing after their revivals in the 'Lost Miracles That Finally Become' AU

A few months ago, I wrote a fanfiction about this AU that involves Morpho Knight allowing Kirby to give him wishes, which he then proceeded to request Morpho to bring both Taranza's queen and Susie's father back to life and into their right minds, which then resulted in two extremely emotional reunions at the Divine Terminus.

I ended the fanfiction right as they all left the Divine Terminus and then just very briefly summarized how both Sectonia and Haltmann got settled into their respective home areas. Again, the summarizations on both situations were very brief.

I can mention a lot more details on what they do in this AU after they've been revived. I don't at all plan to write another fanfiction that takes place in this AU so here you go at me going all in at disclosing information here onto this tumblr post.

'Keep reading' tag down below because it'll be a big post:

Sectonia

Like shown in the fanfiction for this AU, Sectonia suffers from immense guilt for her villainous actions after she's been brought back. The guilt is so bad that she still has difficulty forgiving herself even after Taranza assured her that he still loves her and that everything would be okay. She's relieved to be back alive and in her original form, but is still overall extremely traumatized and distraught.

When Taranza brought Sectonia back home in Royal Road's castle, the rest of Floralia freaked out. They then calmed down and kept their distance when assured that she won't ever become a monster wasp again since the spiders would never dare go anywhere near a dimensional mirror. A repeat of Triple Deluxe isn't going to happen.

Sectonia herself just completely stays in Royal Road as far as Floralia is concerned. She'd never dare go anywhere near the other Floralian islands. If anything, whenever she leaves her home, she and Taranza would just go other places such as Popstar proper. The excruciating guilt she bears convinces her to not touch any of the Floralian islands that aren't Royal Road.

The two spiders are close again. Sectonia is emotionally hurting, but is beyond grateful to Taranza's unwavering support and love for her, even if she still feels like she's undeserving of it sometimes. But she doesn't let that out because she knows he doesn't want to hear it.

Sectonia tries her hardest to be nice when meeting people that Taranza introduces her to, but that's not always easy. She's prone to having irrational freakouts due to how traumatized and guilty she feels. The moment anyone shows any sort of suspicion or anger, she'll flip out, telling them she's not a danger anymore, and tells them to just tell it like it is and that they "hate her and think she's ugly". People normally don't really have that much malice, though.

How does Sectonia interact with all the other dream friends when Taranza introduces her to them? I'm not going to go over all of them, but overall most of them can get along with her okay. They're more or less happy for Taranza that he has his beloved queen back. And for the most part, they give Sectonia the necessary space and respect after she shows herself to be self-loathing and prone to freaking out.

She most notably becomes friends with Kirby, Susie, Magolor, King Dedede and the mage sisters and Hyness. She already met Susie and Kirby at the Divine Terminus, and she also becomes friends with those others listed upon meeting them.

Dedede forgives her for the TDX events and welcomes her just like he's welcomed Taranza back then. Magolor, being a close friend of Taranza, tries his hardest to be supportive and sometimes says humorous things to help ease her mind (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't) and the mage sisters of course appreciate another unhinged woman with magical powers just like them. Hyness came together with her over their corruption experiences. He tells her that he's felt immense guilt over what he's done, too.

Sectonia and Susie become quite close, though. They become each other's favorite female friend, because Susie and Taranza were pretty much besties beforehand. Susie acts as a pillar of support (she's not the best at that, but she's done it for Taranza previously, so she can do it to the other spider) and helps introduce Sectonia to all her stuff. I'll mention that Sectonia develops a hobby into doing ridiculous things with furbies like what Susie does. LOL. Two unhinged messed up women have a bonding activity of making fucked up furbies together.

Two dream friends, however Sectonia cannot be in the same room with. Those two, of course, being Dark Meta Knight and Marx. Taranza hasn't gotten along with either of those two, and so Sectonia doesn't either.

Sectonia's immense guilt, trauma and prone to freaking out gives little incompatibility with Marx. When she was still a ghost, she literally watched as Marx had told jokes about her that made Taranza flip out. It made her extremely angry. Even when it was a long time ago since he last told a joke about her, she refuses to forgive him for it. Sectonia would berate Marx on sight and if he got close enough, she'd lash out and attack him. Taranza has pleaded for Magolor and the mage sisters (some of Marx's friends) to keep the jester the hell away from his traumatized queen. They cooperate with that request.

Sectonia wants DMK dead for his involvement in her corruption. To be clear, Dark Mind (because he's actually still alive, lol) was the mastermind of using the mirror to corrupt her and DMK was just the hitman he used, but that doesn't matter. If they got anywhere near each other, Sectonia would drop everything to hunt down and try to kill DMK. That's something Taranza was doing until the star allies enforced a separation between him and DMK. They've had to stop Sectonia from trying to tear DMK to shreds when they first met after her revival. (Kirby and wave 2 insists that he still deserves a chance to improve, just like Sectonia is now given the chance to improve)

Fortunately for DMK, he can use the mirror world as a refuge against Sectonia because she wouldn't dare go near a dimensional mirror. Whenever he decides to leave the mirror world, he heavily stays on guard and hides himself if he ever sees the spiders nearby.

But aside from DMK and Marx, Sectonia has little to no problems with the other dream friends.

Overall, Sectonia does a lot of relaxing inside Royal Road to help slowly recover from her trauma and guilt. And many of Taranza's friends help introduce her to all the stuff they deal with, such as the aforementioned stuff that Susie does. She's on the very slow road of trying to feel better, and it's slow, because it's gonna take a long time to recover from all that horrifying guilt.

But Taranza is joyous that she's alive again. He missed her so much. And maybe the biggest reason why Sectonia is glad to be happy again is for Taranza's sake. She saw all the grief he had for her while watching over him as a ghost.

Okay I think that's it for Sectonia. Let's go over Haltmann now.

Max Haltmann

When he first got brought back to the Haltmann Works Company's headquarters, a lot of the employees asked if he'd become president again, but he said no every time. Like stated in the last chapter of the AU's fanfiction, Susie continues to be the president of the HWC. Haltmann is simply much too proud of her that he doesn't want to take that from her.

Instead, he's in retirement. He doesn't work in any position of the HWC at all. Susie recommended that to him since she feels like he should take it easy after being dead for so long.

But he does feel like he still owes her in some way after how he mistreated her when he was Star Dream's puppet. Susie recreated his business suit to give to him. And he's made the promise that he'd fly his mech to go hunt down anyone that hurts his daughter in any way.

This father and daughter love each other again. Of course it's not exactly the same as it was before, with Susie having been all grown up and being very independent and all, but they're just glad they saw each other properly once again.

Haltmann being in retirement means he can very easily join Susie in the vacations that she schedules, mostly in Popstar.

He mostly sticks to the company's headquarters as his main residence, though. The headquarters made a room for him to sleep in whatnot, but when he's not in there, he goes around the headquarters to experience everything that's there, from the restaurants and the stores present in that area.

He absolutely feels guilt for what he's done in the past, but he's able to control his emotions better than Sectonia can. And while he's glad to be alive again, he doesn't actually have much in the way of plans for what he wants to do with his life after he's been brought back.

If anything, he's just happy to have seen his daughter again and to have let her know that he still loves her. Back when Susie's grief was more severe, it was so agonizing for Haltmann's ghost to watch. It broke his heart watching her constantly vent to herself about how she worries he'd hate her. And so the reunion was entirely cathartic for him (and to Susie). He's just happy that his daughter now knows that he loves her and isn't mad for accidentally killing him back then.

As far as how he'd be interacting with the others in the Kirby cast, such as dream friends, the thing is that Susie isn't actually friends with a whole lot of the star allies. She considers a lot of them to be 'coworkers' more than anything (Taranza, Magolor and the mage sisters are the main meat of who are her friends). But they're glad to see that she has her dad and back to normal similarly to how they're happy for Taranza having his queen back. Although he seldom interacts with most of them due to spending most of his time at the HWC's headquarters.

The ones that see him the most often are the ones that were coming by the company's headquarters to visit Susie beforehand. So that means Kirby and the rest of wave 3, including the mages. That now includes Sectonia when Taranza gets her to visit the place like he did.

Haltmann already met Kirby and Taranza at the Divine Terminus after reuniting with his daughter, and so he becomes friends with them. He's super thankful to them for looking out for his daughter while he was dead.

Magolor and Hyness are other big examples of friends that he makes.

Magolor was darn incredibly hyped to have met Haltmann. In fact he becomes enough of a rascal to try to insert himself as some sort of 'nephew' figure for Haltmann, with Susie just rolling her eyes when he does that.

Something about meeting a fellow egg-shaped capitalist made Magolor gravitate towards Susie's father for a while. Susie was a bit embarrassed over that at the beginning, but came around to welcome it. After all, Susie and Magolor were already kind of sibling-like in the dynamic of their friendship, and so she figures it's fitting. And Haltmann has come to quite like the blue-cloaked mage! He thinks Magolor is amusing a lot of the time, and was glad to tell him all about what things were like before the Another Dimension incident.

The Jamba quartet was excited to meet Susie's dad. Haltmann became friends with Hyness. They of course talked about their incidents that made them go mad. Hyness and the mages even invited Haltmann to check out their Jambastion fortress, which Susie went with him to show him around there.

How most of the other dream friends would interact with Haltmann wouldn't be too dissimilar to how they interact with Susie. A lot of them (Dedede, animal friends, etc.) are neutral with Susie, so same goes here. The dream friend that Haltmann would have the most problems with would be... Marx, since Susie has had problems with him. But Magolor has made the deal to not have Marx interact with Haltmann, lest it would make Susie extremely angry. And it wouldn't be a good idea for Marx to aggravate Susie anymore like what he did in the past, considering how Haltmann would respond to it.

Haltmann may occasionally go to visit the other planets that the HWC has helped and made reparations for in his daughter's rule. Susie would go with him every time. She'd introduce to the planets that he's back, and don't worry that he's back because Star Dream is still gone and thus planets still can't be mechanized again.

I think that's more or less about it for Haltmann. He doesn't do a lot of work after he's been revived. Again, he's just happy to have reunited with his daughter, he's just happy to let her know that he loves her, and he's happy to see her being a happier person as a result.

-----

That wraps it up, methinks! Although one more thing: Considering Magolor has made masks for both Sectonia and Haltmann (both forms in Sectonia's case), how do they react to those when they go to Merry Magoland for the first time?

Sectonia wasn't happy. When she saw the masks as a ghost, she perceived it as being mocked (it doesn't help that Taranza initially complained about it until he got over it), and it still felt that way to her when she came back to life. Magolor reassures that he never meant to mock her with it, it was just to honor her. It took some time for her to get over it. She's friends with Magolor, but was not happy about the masks. She legitimately thought she was mocked at first.

Meanwhile, Haltmann had a much more approving reaction. The mask played into his pride and he felt honored, just like what Magolor was striving for! Which makes it funny that Susie, similarly to Taranza, wasn't happy with the mask at first, as she was initially mad for Magolor to have done it without permission. She's not bothered by it anymore, though. Haltmann was never bothered by it, even when he saw it was a ghost!

Okay, I think that's everything now. I'm not going to write a fanfiction that covers the stuff in this tumblr post, but I just felt like showing you what happens in the AU after the fanfic I wrote for it months ago!

I've got other Kirby AUs that I'll talk more about in the future - including one where Kracko fuses with Dark Matter to become a monster like I brought up in a poll a while back - but for now here's info on the AU that I wrote a fanfic for!

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A former aide to former Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani says he told her the ex-New York City mayor and then-president Donald Trump were offering to sell presidential pardons for $2 million apiece, according to court documents.

The bombshell allegation was levied in a complaint filed against Mr. Giuliani by Noelle Dunphy, a New York-based public relations professional who is suing him for “unlawful abuses of power, wide-ranging sexual assault and harassment, wage theft, and other misconduct” committed while she worked for him in 2019 and 2020.

The lawsuit also claims that she was subjected to sexual assault, harassment, wage theft and other misconduct by Mr. Giuliani, and alleges that she was forced to perform sex acts on him and work in the nude.

Ms. Duphy’s lawsuit details an interaction she allegedly had with Mr. Giuliani on or about 16 February 2019, when he was serving as Mr. Trump’s personal attorney and attempting to dig up overseas dirt on then-former Vice President Joe Biden, who at the time was two months away from entering the 2020 presidential race against Mr. Trump.

She writes that as they reviewed emails between him and Ukrainian government officials, she asked if he had to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and offered to do the required paperwork for him.

The former mayor replied that he was allowed to violate FARA and other US laws because “[he had] immunity”, according to the lawsuit.

She then states that Mr. Giuliani asked her “if she knew anyone in need of a pardon” because he was “selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split.”

“He told Ms. Dunphy that she could refer individuals seeking pardons to him, so long as they did not go through 'the normal channels' of the Office of the Pardon Attorney, because correspondence going to that office would be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act,” the suit added.

During Mr Trump’s presidency, he frequently granted pardons to wealthy or well-connected individuals without the involvement of the Pardon Attorney, the Department of Justice official who is charged with reviewing petitions for executive clemency and making recommendations as to whether a given petition should be granted.

No evidence has ever emerged that either Mr. Trump or Mr. Giuliani were ever compensated for any presidential pardon granted during Mr. Trump’s time in office, but Ms. Dunphy’s allegation matches that made by another person who once sought a pardon from the then-president.

In August, The New York Times reported that former CIA officer John Kiriakou broached the topic with Mr. Giuliani during a meeting at the Washington D.C. hotel Mr. Trump’s company ran between 2016 and 2022.

Mr. Kiriakou, who in 2012 was sentenced to nearly three years in prison for disclosing classified information, told the Times that one of Mr. Giuliani’s associates at the meeting said the ex-New York City mayor could assist him — for a price.

“It’s going to cost $2 million — he’s going to want two million bucks,” he recalled the Giuliani associate as saying.

He also told the Times that he did not pursue a pardon through Mr. Giuliani because he could not afford to pay him $2 million.

“I laughed. Two million bucks — are you out of your mind?” Kiriakou told the outlet. “Even if I had two million bucks, I wouldn’t spend it to recover a $700,000 pension,” he said.

Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for and adviser to Mr. Giuliani, told The Independent in an email that the former New York mayor “unequivocally denies the allegations raised by Ms. Dunphy.”

“Mayor Giuliani’s lifetime of public service speaks for itself and he will pursue all available remedies and counterclaims,” he added.

The Independent has reached out to Mr. Trump’s team for comment.

[aphrodisiac-siren]

Innocence- Aemond X OC

Summary: War is an ugly thing; Something that is common knowledge to all and yet something people resort to anyway when conflicts arise. It was not something Eirlys Velaryon wanted though, nor what Aemond Targaryen wanted as well. It was a war they were dragged into, and suffering they had to endure for crimes they were innocent of.

Masterlist

Part 5

Several days had past and Aemond could feel his Eirlys slipping further and further away from him.

He had never regretted any of his past actions more. In that moment he'd felt as if he was merely obliging to one of his duties but eventually he'd wished he never listened to Aegon.

Unsure of how to resolve the matter, he decided to go and talk to his mother.

"It would help of you just told me what the problem is exactly" Alicent tried to explain when Aemond refused to disclose a number of details about his and Eirlys' conflict.

"It was just something I did that upset her, something that that can't be undone" he sighed "I'm hoping there's a way of showing her how sorry I am for it. I suppose I didn't think things through before doing it"

"Small gestures to reassure her you won't repeat your past actions" the queen mother tried to find a few solutions "spend some time with her, allow her to see you are working toward being better for her"

"The only time we ever spend together now is when she wishes to publicly show the nobles of our courtship" Aemond sadly admitted "we haven't been the same since that nigh- that incident"

"I see" Alicent hummed in response "I'd say give her time. Do not rush her into forgiving you, she will do it when she finds it in her heart to do so"

"Do you believe that she will?"

"Yes" the older woman smiled at her son "Eirlys might be upset at you but she still loves you the same. You both have grown so close to each other over the years, a little argument won't change that"

"I hope so" Aemond mumbled as he toyed with the hem of his leather vest "it's been a mess lately"

"Have you both had any talks about the marriage?" Alicent inquired.

"None as of late" her son shrugged as he avoided looking at her.

Alicent sighed, now getting slightly worried. She knew the two of them would get married regardless of their situation but she wished for her son to have a happy marriage, not one where him and his wife spent every waking hour avoiding each other.

She hoped in that moment that whatever happened between them would eventually die down so that they might once again go back to how things were.

Aemond went to Eirlys' chambers soon after, unsure if she would accept the invitation he was to offer to her.

He waited patiently for her to open the doors after he'd knocked, softly tapping his foot in anticipation.

"Aemond" she simply greeted in a monotone voice. A complete contrast to how she usually used to react, gracing him with her playful smile and on some occasions a hug.

"I am to circle the skies around the castle with Vhagar" he told her as he avoided direct eye contact "would you like to accompany me with Ember?"

Eirlys took a moment to consider this, tilting her head slightly to the left as she gazed at Aemond before quickly humming in response.

"I need to get dressed" she simply informed, but kept her expression unreadable "I'll see you outside. Have them ready Ember for me"

Aemond, despite her asking him to wait near the pit, had instead sent a servant with the message to saddle her dragon and have him ready along with Vhagar.

The prince waited patiently outside her door while she dressed out of her gown and into her trousers and coat, something more appropriate for riding on dragon back.

Eirlys took her time getting dressed, unaware that Aemond was still outside, waiting for her. She chose a maroon coat that looked almost brown and wore one of her black trousers with a black shirt that she tucked in. She quickly slid into her boots that she still had to lace up. Once she was content with her choice of clothing she decided to fix her hair. Instead of having all of it down she simply tied a braid on one side with a thick lock of hair and brought it over her head to act like a headband, pinning it behind her other ear.

Admiring herself one last time in the mirror, she stood up to head for the doors.

The princess didn't expect Aemond to still be waiting for her, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest while he stared off into the distance.

Eirlys felt the pace of her heartbeat increase when she caught sight of him. The way his jaw clenched and how the sleeves of his leather vest hugged his arms just right.

Aemond had grown taller than her over the years as opposed to when she was a few inches taller than him when they were kids. His height wasn't the only thing that had changed. His physique too was different, him now being toned and slightly muscular; not to mention his good looks that made Eirlys' rather annoyed since she was torn between throwing a chair or herself at him.

"You're still here" she spoke, snapping him out of his daze "I told you to go-"

"I already sent word with someone to ready your dragon" he pushed himself away from the wall and walked toward her, holding out his hand "allow me to walk you there"

"I can walk there myself" the princess muttered as she took his hand nonetheless.

The walk through the castle was rather silent, none of them making much of an effort to hold a conversation.

It was unusual for either of them to be this hostile but neither of them knew what to say while the tension between grew by the hour.

Upon their arrival, Eirlys let go of Aemond's hand to go and tend to her dragon.

Ember was a Persian blue dragon, with hints of teal amidst his scales. He hand a long wingspan and a crown of spikes.

The dragon made a low rumbling sound as Eirlys ran her hands along his scales. Aemond silently and cautiously walked closer behind her. Ember had grown quiet accustomed to the prince and didn't really mind him as long as the boy did not make an attempt to mount the dragon. Aemond knew of this, but he still did not want to put the dragon's tolerance to test.

"You needn't be afraid, Ember only dislikes anything of the colour green that moves" Eirlys joked but kept her face expressionless as she turned to look at Aemond in his green vest "oh, how unfortunate"

The prince grinned slightly with amusement at her comment. He was about to turn, to make his way to Vhagar, when he heard Eirlys swear.

"Fuck" she grumbled "my cloak"

The air was chilly that day and Eirlys had only just noticed she was missing her cloak. If the atmosphere was so cool already she could only imagine how cold it would get when she would be on soaring in the skies on dragon back.

Aemond sighed as he unclipped the little clasp at the neck of his long black cloak, swiftly taking it off.

"Here" he simply stated as he draped it over her shoulders while he stood behind her. He fixed her hair so that it wasn't trapped behind the cloak before he walked away, not giving Eirlys any time to protest.

"Iksan daor iōrves. Ao jorrāelagon naejot gaomagon bāne ñuha dārilaros" ( I am not cold. You ought to keep warm my princess) he spoke as he continued to walk.

"Hm?" Eirlys hummed as she struggled to translate the latter part of his sentence.

"Hm?" Aemond mocked with a playful smile as he turned to momentarily look at her, walking backwards before turning once again to make his way to his own dragon.

Eirlys gingerly fastened the silver clasp at the neck, stealing another glance at Aemond as he walked toward Vhagar.

She wondered if she was pushing it too far by giving him the cold shoulder but she was still rather pressed about what had happened that night and it was something she knew she'd take time coming to terms with.

She mounted Ember silently, fastened the chains around her waist and took hold of the reigns. She turned to see if Aemond was in the saddle as well before speaking to Ember.

"Soves"

~

Their calm patrolling of the skies lasted only about a few minutes.

Aemond had suddenly found amusement in having Vhagar fly directly in front of Ember, making it quiet difficult for the dragon to surpass him.

Eirlys, out of frustration, had Ember circle the other way to fly in the opposite direction but Aemond wasn't going to make this easy.

This resulted in a playful game of each dragon trying to overtake the other.

Vhagar was large and made it rather difficult to swerve around but Ember was comparatively smaller and thus more agile. As long as Eirlys flew him ahead of Vhagar, she could easily avoid getting obstructed.

Eirlys watched in amusement as Aemond still tried his best to overtake them but Vhagar wasn't as fast as Ember.

The princess didn't wish to admit it, but she was genuinely enjoying his company after such a long period of constantly avoiding him.

Once the sun began to dip beyond the horizon, both the royals made their descent and put a halt to their fun.

As soon as Eirlys dismounted Ember, she headed straight back, still keeping her pace slow so that Aemond might still catch up to her.

He of course followed the princess but kept a good distance between them, unsure if she even wanted to speak to him.

He was certain that he was enjoying herself with his company after their ride together on dragon back. He felt something in his chest flutter when he heard her laugh after weeks of gaining only silence from her for the most part.

Thought his moment of joy and hope seized immediately when he saw her urgency to dismount Ember and quickly walk away.

By the time they neared Eirlys' chambers he couldn't stay silent any longer, weeks of anticipation and unrest compelled him to finally voice his thoughts.

His long strides transitioned into a jog until he was only a few inches away from Eirlys. He gently grabbed her by the wrist, making her stop in her tracks.

Eirlys silently looked at him, allowing him to speak.

"How much longer?" He asked sadly, taking a step forward so that he was now standing in front of her, entrapping her between himself and the wall.

Eirlys didn't have to ask what he was talking about.

She knew.

And she too wondered,

How much longer?

How much longer would this pain last? The feeling of betrayal, jealousy. The feeling of being potentially nothing more than the second choice; her not being the woman he turned to while having concerns about intimacy. How he preferred a common whore, a stranger over herself, his betrothed.

How much longer would it be before the chains of her own emotions finally let her loose so that they might rekindle whatever they once had before it was lost forever.

Aemond loomed over her, his gaze softened while he patiently awaited for a response, longing for her to say something that would assure him that she still cared for him.

Eirlys didn't know what to say, she wanted to say she still felt for him, perhaps even loved him but she needed some confirmation, a final push.

She looked up at Aemond, noticing how close they both stood.

As much as Aemond craved for a response that would assure him of her feelings for her, she too longed for a similar show of confirmation.

"Eirlys?" He tried again, the concern in his voice quiet evident.

"Aemond I..." her words all got muddle up as she struggled to think of what to say. She sighed in annoyance as she rested her palms on his chest.

"Yes?" He asked after a long pause followed, gently resting his hands on her hips.

The princess looked up at him once again, her gaze flickered from his lips to his eye.

Kiss me Eirlys mentally begged.

Tell me to kiss you Aemond inwardly pleaded.

Eirlys noticed him too, momentarily stare at her lips as he hesitantly leaned forward but didn't proceed to close the gap.

"Why'd you stop" she breathed out, almost a whisper.

"So that you may continue" he answered in a low raspy voice.

Eirlys went on her toes just as soon as Aemond cupped her face with his right hand. She gently kissed him, entrapping his bottom lip with hers.

"I hate you" she mumbled into the kiss as she slid her hands up and around his neck.

"Mmh, I know" the prince murmured as he moved his lips against hers while pushing her softly against the wall "I'm sorry mmh- truly"

"I'm still upset" Eirlys pulled him closer, a complete contrast to her words.

"I'm still yours" he reminded, ever so slightly fisting her garment.

Aemond swiped his tongue on her bottom lip before he gently bit down on it, unconsciously pushing his knee in between her legs and eliciting a low moan from the princess.

Eirlys felt a sudden jab in between them while their bodies were pressed up against each other.

Aemond quickly pulled away as he felt himself harden.

"I'll see you before supper" he quickly informed before walking away in a haste to avoid Eirlys seeing the bulge in his pants.

He mentally scolded himself for managing to ruin an innocent kiss by letting his thoughts run riot and think of something so lewd that it made him hard.

Aemond desperately wished that she hadn't felt him through his pants but he knew the chances of that were slim since he was basically pulling her into him as if he was afraid that she'd leave if he let go.

Eirlys stood in the hallway, chest heaving as a result of her being breathless from the kiss they just shared.

Her thoughts lingered on one particular moment of Aemond's knee applying pressure at her core that made her moan at the sensation as if it were a natural reflex.

It was something she'd never felt before and something that now puzzled her.

She took a deep breath, as she tore her gaze away from Aemond, who'd just rounded the far end of the corridor to go back to his own quarters.

She clutched the cloak draped around her before pushing open her own doors and headed inside to change.

~

"Did Aemond tell you this himself?" Helaena asked.

"Yes, he did" Eirlys answered.

Eirlys had decided to confide in Helaena about the entire situation of Aemond, her and his visit to the whorehouse, feeling lost about how she ought to handle it and move forward.

"That's unlikely of him" the older girl said, confused "Aemond has never been the one too keen on visiting brothels"

"I'm aware it's a norm for the men to pay such visits" the princess sighed "but I just thought Aemond would tell me about his insecurities regarding his inexperience instead of a complete stranger"

"I suppose he must've found it difficult to do so" Halaena tried to look at things from her younger brother's perspective "he's known you since you were a babe, maybe he felt abashed to engage in such talks. Besides, for the sake of your reputation I doubt he would suggest.."

"I know" Eirlys responded, knowing that Halaena was referring to the idea of having sex, something she still had very little knowledge about "but I just can't seem to get past this"

"Have you spoken to him about this?" The older girl asked.

"Once, but it wasn't much of a conversation" Eirlys recalled their first and only time they spoke about this "I was upset and kept asking questions and he tried to explain himself. I don't really think I explained how I feel about this entire thing"

"Perhaps avoiding him and the subject isn't the best thing to do" Helaena told the younger girl, giving her a gentle smile "things will only get worse if you decide to suppress your feelings"

"I just- I-" Eirlys was slowly letting the frustration take over "I just sound childish. It's okay for the men to relieve themselves, it's nothing uncommon. And Aemond isn't even my husband as of yet. I don't understand why I am so distraught about this"

"Talk to him" Helaena told her once again "you needn't forgive him if you aren't yet ready. But at the very least, make him aware of the depth of how perturbed this has left you"

Eirlys was grateful for the older girl who listened to her and offered council on how she could perhaps manoeuvre around the situation.

She decided to address the matter on the morrow, feeling too emotionally drained to hold a conversation presently.

Everything thing had changed between herself and her dear Aemond. And even though she never showed it on the surface, it pained her. She found it difficult sometimes to cope with the distance that had formed in between them.

Eirlys had on some days cried herself to sleep, desperately wishing that when she woke up she would find out all of this was just a bad dream. She slept with the same hope each night and woke up disappointed each morning.

The princess headed to the library, hoping to get lost in some book so that she may momentarily escape her current reality.

Even now on her way to the library, she thought about the times she and Aemond used to visit this same place together or read together in one of their chambers, when Aemond used to help with her high valerian.

As always the library was dimly lit, quiet and engulfed her with the smell of burning candles, dust and old parchment.

She skimmed through some of the books, trying to settle on which one she would pick.

"Eirlys"

The girl turned around to see Daeron standing at the end of the isle. He held a number of books in one hand while he had one book held open with the other.

"Daeron" she simply greeted, not wishing to partake in a conversation.

"The hour is late, what are you doing here?" he inquired as he shut the book he was holding "and you weren't present at supper, are you alright?"

"Are you alright?"

No.

Eirlys' emotions got the better of her, causing her voice to hitch in her throat as she felt tears beginning to form.

She quickly turned away the moment she knew she could no longer hold back her tears, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth as she silently cried.

Daeron hastily placed his books on the shelf closest to him, not caring that two of those books had fallen to the ground. He made his way to her and hesitantly placed his hand on her shoulder.

"What's wrong?" He asked, concerned about Eirlys.

"Nothing" the princess sniffled as she desperately tried to calm her breathing and cease her crying.

The boy took a few more steps forward until he stood in front of her. He engulfed her in a hug, catching Eirlys by surprise. Yet the gesture only made the girl more emotional and she buried her face into his chest and sobbed some more.

She didn't know what had come over her, but for some reason she couldn't seem to stop crying.

"Has someone upset you?" The boy asked with a saddened smile as he held her close. Daeron had grown up alongside Eirlys and even though he wasn't as close to her as his older brother Aemond was, he still cared about her and over the years had grown rather protective of her.

He sensed the growing tension between Eirlys and Aemond and how they seemed to grow more and more distant as the days passed.

He took her silence as a confirmation after he put two and two together.

"It's about my brother, isn't it?" He softly asked, trying not to strike a nerve.

Eirlys wiped away a tear.

"We were best of friends" she simply stated amidst her tears "but he.. he.."

"What did he do?" The prince asked, his voice growing ever so slightly stern. He knew Aegon was the kind who would say or do things without thinking twice but he never took Aemond to follow in his steps and treat anyone with little to no regard for their emotions, least of all his closest friend and betrothed.

"I don't wish to talk about it" Eirlys wiped away another tear "but it hurts, it hurts so much even though I try to forget-"

"Shh" Daeron patted her back as he hugged her a bit tighter "my brother is a small brained arseling for making you cry like this"

Eirlys chuckled at his descriptive insult.

"Does he even know how upset you are? At whatever it is he's done" the boys asked "to a point where you're crying uncontrollably"

"N-no"

"What gentleman treats his betrothed like this?"

"I'll handle it" she responded as she sniffled after each word "it's just something I need to come to terms with"

"You shouldn't have to" Daeron mumbled "it's not fair for him to offend you like this and then have you just agree to get over it"

"I'm not sure how I am going to manage holding a conversation with him without breaking down" she admitted "I can barely think about it without crying"

"It's alright if you're this upset by whatever happened" Daeron ran his fingers through her silvery white hair "and Aemond needs to see how much pain he has caused you. He's only seen the best parts of you, it's about time he ought to learn how to handle and comfort the broken parts as well, most of which are credited to him"

"I suppose you're right" Eirlys pulled back to look at him before kissing his cheek "thank you Dareon"

"You can come to me anytime" he smiled warmly at her "I'm always on your side"

Eirlys managed to offer him a smile before she left the library, not in a mood to read anymore.

~

Aemond didn't know when it happened, but he was annoyed that it did happen.

Eirlys seemed to be spending more time with Daeron than himself and he did not like it one bit. Not to mention his little brother had made attempts to flirt with Eirlys on a few occasions, the very first being only a few days ago at the training yard.

Aemond needed an explanation as to what was going on between them, he couldn't bare to think of losing Eirlys to him.

"Daeron" he called out to him after they'd finished breaking their fast. Eirlys and Halaena had already left along with Alicent.

Viserys had grown rather ill as of late and used to dine within the comfort of his own chambers.

"Brother" the younger prince stood at the door as he awaited whatever his older brother had to ask.

"You and Eirlys seem to be spending quiet an amount of time together" Aemond briskly walked toward him "can't say that this sudden eagerness of yours to spend every waking hour with her hasn't taken me by surprise though"

"You had your chance with her and you ruined it" Daeron shrugged "you can't be cross with me if I'm treating her the way she ought to be treated"

"The fuck is that supposed to mean" Aemond menacingly glared at him.

"She doesn't deserve whatever she's going through" the boy stepped forward "she's been nothing but your solace when everyone else was busy making your life a misery. If you can't love her the way she's loved you then I wi-"

Aemond seized him by the collar of his tunic and shoved him against the door frame, clenching his jaw as he let his anger overpower his senses.

"Listen to me very carefully brother" Aemond hissed "it would do you well to remember that Eirlys is my betrothed-"

"And how do you treat your betrothed?" Daeron snapped, unfazed by his older brother's show of rage "do you know she's been crying herself to sleep each night?"

"What"

"I do not know the reason behind it nor is it my business to pry for an answer" Daeron shoved Aemond away "but since you so generously decided to remind me that she's your betrothed, it is time you start acting like it and take responsibility for your actions. If you cannot handle the weight of it, I would be happy to step into the role of wedding her"

"This is the first and the last time you speak to me like this" Aemond chuckled lowly out of mockery, resisting the urge to punch him square in the face "the next time you so much as mention your desire to take my Eirlys away from me, I will make sure to free your head from your shoulders"

"She doesn't belong to you" the younger prince remarked snidely.

"Get out" Aemond gave him a warning look "out, now!"

Daeron simply rolled his eyes as he left him in the dining hall.

"He's right you know" Aegon shouted from the other end of the room "you have to go and talk to her"

"Gods- the fuck are you doing" Aemond asked, startled by his presence "I didn't even notice you were in here"

"Too busy warding our little brother away from Eirlys?" Aegon smirked as he sipped some wine "I'm assuming she is upset about the whole incident at the whorehouse. Or your visit there to be specific"

"Why did you make me do it" Aemond sighed.

"Well simply so that you and Eirlys might-"

"She doesn't care about that! She never cared about any of it" Aemond snapped "it was stupid of me to give in to your instigative suggestions"

"I was simply making sure you would be able to keep your wife happy" Aegon shrugged, trying to deflect the blame "but I suppose you have a larger problem at hand compared to accusing me of being the reason behind this animosity between you and her"

"Please, you don't seriously think Daeron is going to pose a problem" Aemond threw a nasty look at his brother "the boy is just basking in the amount of attention she graces him with, something he isn't used to. She will never wed him"

"By the looks of it, she doesn't want to wed you either" Aegon mumbled under his breath as he drank his wine.

"I heard that" Aemond raised a brow.

"Congratulations" Aegon mocked.

Aemond did not wish to further ruin his mood by engaging in a conversation with his drunken brother who had decided to drown in his cups right after breakfast.

He didn't have any training scheduled for that day so he was pretty much left to himself for the entirety of the morning. He remembered how usually on days like this he would sit along with Eirlys to help with her High valerian.

He was dreading the thought that she'd perhaps begun the same ritual with Dareon.

Aemond had never considered himself to be jealous in nature, mostly because he'd never experienced it before. But now with everything going on he couldn't deny the fact that he was a man who could be easily lost to jealousy.

And he hated it.

How helpless he felt, how there was nothing he could do to suppress the emotion or how to avoid anything that triggered the jealousy.

If he felt all of this merely because Eirlys was spending time with his brother, who was now set on wedding her, he could only imagine how much of this pain Eirlys was carrying after he'd told her that he'd given up his virtue to someone other than her.

He recalled Daeron mentioning that Eirlys had spent nights crying herself to sleep.

Because of him.

He had brought so much pain and sadness to his sweet princess and it made his blood boil that he couldn't undo any of it. The one person who never failed to make him smile was the same person he had made cry almost every night.

Not only did he have to work on winning back Eirlys now, he also had to make sure Daeron stayed away.

~

As soon as Aemond left the dining hall he headed straight for the study that Eirlys used to visit to study history with the septa.

He wished to speak to her before she could begin with her lessons. He knew that now was perhaps a bad time, but he refused to wait any longer.

Eirlys too, was keen on speaking to Aemond and was headed back toward the dining hall to have a word with him before she was lost to her busy schedule for the day.

The two of them, who paced rather quickly through the castle, nearly ran into each other as they rounded the corner of one of the hallways.

"Apologies" Aemond quickly spoke as he took a step back after almost colliding into her.

"I was on my-"

"I wanted to-"

They both looked at each other awkwardly before a little smile crept to their lips.

"After you" Aemond held his hands behind his back.

"Well, I was just on my way to find you" Eirlys clearly her throat "I uh wish to speak to you"

"Likewise" Aemond nervously glanced at her "I was hoping to talk to you before your history lesson"

"Walk with me" Eirlys promptly replied as she took a few steps forward and Aemond followed alongside her. She didn't wrap her hand around his arm like how she used to, something Aemond took notice of. He wanted to reach out and hold her hand but decided against it.

"I suppose it's rather evident that I still have not put everything behind me" Eirlys spoke "though I will admit handling this situation with ignorance toward you and basking in my own sorrow was not the best way to clear the air"

"I do not blame you, Eirlys" Aemond stared at the ground, unable to meet her gaze "I did something that I was influenced to believe was part of my duties. That's all I've ever known growing up, doing whatever duties were expected of me. And since I was made to believe that this too was part of those same expectations, I did it merely out of obligation. If I knew that.. that..."

"Go on" Eirlys softly prompted, now slightly curious after he'd mentioned that this was the result of someone else's influence on him.

"I felt it improper and perhaps even a perverse conversation to have with you. If I knew how much it meant to you, or more like how little you cared about my inexperience in being able to bed you, I wouldn't have given into it" he admitted "And it was never a troubling concern until I was made aware of it. So it never quiet crossed my mind about hearing how you felt about the whole thing, all I knew was that I was expected of something and out of force of habit, I made the decision to not fail you in that aspect.

"I see" The girl simply nodded in acknowledgment, feeling slightly relieved that Aemond never acted on his own accord, influenced by his lust or desires.

She couldn't deny that only days before that incident occurred, both her and Aemond were in fact rather oblivious about the topic of intimacy. And so if Aemond was indeed made to believe by someone else that it was expected of him to please his wife in bed, she knew he would just instinctively cave in and oblige.

She knew the prince since he was a boy, he never questioned nor rebelled against the responsibilities bestowed on him. He simply did as he was told and tried his best to excel at everything expected of him. If he was convinced that this too was part of his princely obligations, then she knew he wouldn't question it.

"But we used to tell each other everything" she mumbled after a long pause "no matter what it was"

"I know. I was hesitant to discuss with you about this particular subject though" he truthfully told her "I never imagined the distress I would cause you by choosing to carry out the actions I did. You are my dearest friend and I swore to myself to protect you from anything or anyone who would inflict any pain on you. I never thought that I, the person who was to keep you from torment, would be the one who you would need protection against"

"It just felt like you seemed to find more comfort in conversing with a stranger at a whore house about your desire to gain familiarity with.. you know.." Eirlys trailed off, avoiding getting too descriptive with her words "rather than me, someone who has stood at your side for years now. And then after we sort of grew apart, it just got worse for me... or us I suppose"

"I could never replace you with any one else" Aemond turned completely to look at her, bringing their walk to a momentary halt "granted I did do something that made you think otherwise. But you know that my heart only burns for you, that's something that will never change. No matter how distant we grew in the past couple weeks. If anything, that only left me yearning even more for you"

Eirlys reached out to hold his hand and Aemond instinctively squeezed her hand gently, not taking his gaze away from hers.

"No more secrets" she looked up at him pleadingly "please"

"No more secrets" he caressed her cheek with his other hand.

The both of them stared a while longer, each one unsure of what more to say. Aemond hesitantly leaned in, craving a kiss that he was deprived of for so long.

Eirlys' lips formed a slight smile as she cupped his face. Yet when they were only inches apart she placed her thumb on his bottom lip, making him halt  and turn his attention from her lips to her eyes. He gently kissed her thumb as he awaited for what she wanted to say.

"I'm late for my history lesson" she informed as she stepped back, feeling a tinge of satisfaction after teasing him "the septa is going to kill me"

Aemond chuckled to himself as he watched her quickly turn and run down the hallway.

[vanilla-c0c0]

William Rex route - ch. 5 summary

All possible disclaimers are valid! I'm not a mother tongue speaker and I'm doing this for fun. 100% accuracy is not guaranteed. GUYS OMG WILLIAM’S SERIOUS EXPRESSION IS SO COOL🫣🫣🫣

!! TW !! / THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS STRANGULATION, VIOLENCE, BLOOD, NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE, GUNS, FOOD

Liam: "Ah, I found a sweet that Harri could like. Why don't we all get some?"

Harrison teases him, asking if he's in the mood for a picnic, but once he gets to smell the dessert he goes back on his word. Liam and Harrison already know what to get, but Will asks the former to decide for him; MC asks one portion of whatever Will is getting. While Liam and Harrison go into the shop, MC asks William if the "hard mission" he was talking about was going to collect information in a major bank in London. Apparently, she's right; but before the conversation can continue, the other two come back with the food: two portions of berry pie for William and MC. Apparently, MC has been so nervous (ever since William has told her it would be a hard mission), that she hasn't eaten breakfast nor lunch today. Liam tells her not to force herself (he's worried about her because he noticed she hasn't eaten any meal yet; MC comments that he seems to observe others more than he is observed by others), but the pie's smell is so good that she cannot help but devour it. William also seems to really enjoy it, and when MC sees him stuffing his mouth with the sweet, she gets this strange feeling; she realises that William is a human just like her.

Despite eating one slice of pie, MC still feels hungry, but before she can say anything, William asks Liam to go buy another one. When MC says that it's too selfish of her to ask for another one, William doesn't seem surprised. "...Really?" [Player choice: "Though I would like to eat it again" また食べたいけど +4 +4 points]

MC: "It was certainly delicious, so I'd like to eat it again. But it doesn't have to be now..."

William: "Mhh? As always, you're very patient."

MC: "If I feel like eating it again, I'll come buy it one day!"

By dusk, they arrive at the bank, and MC feels calmer with a full stomach. The bank president asks William what the requirements are this time, and the latter replies that he'd like to confirm the full details of a certain fund transaction. After saying this, he takes out an envelope and shows it to the other man, making him fall completely silent. William stares at the president, observing him in search of any change in his stance/expression. The envelope is the one with the sealing wax of the golden butterfly that they found at the mansion on the night of the killing. The bank president refuses to disclose any information, saying that he cannot say anything due to a trust issue.

William: "Could we say that your very important bank is involved in matters of money laundering? In order not to lose your customer's trust, it would be wiser to cooperate with the investigation."

But why isn't the police directly investigating the matter? Oh well, simply because someone of even higher rank than the police might get involved, William explains. The president sends a signal to the secretary, who impiles a huge quantity of materials on the desk; however, no one moves to take them or investigate them.

Harrison: "Is this all?"

The president confirms.

Harrison: "Yes, that's a lie. If you don't give everything over to us, don't you think you'll get in trouble later on?"

President: "E-excuse me for a moment... I just remembered there is something I need to do."

William: "Take it easy. We'll be waiting here."

The man leaves the room in a hurry and MC asks Harrison how he knew that the materials weren't what they needed; apparently, his curse allows him to tell truth from lie by simply looking at someone's face. Then, what kind of information did they come to find about? It's all about the letter they found that one night. Inside, there are requests for donations to a certain charity, but this charity doesn't exist (note: so the man from the mansion paid money to a nonexistent charity, and the money passed through the bank they're at). The golden butterfly on the wax seal is the symbol of a certain organisation that has been dormant for a while, but it appears that lately someone had been trying to bring it back to life. Today, they're trying to find out who's behind all this. When MC asks what kind of organisation this "golden butterfly" is supposed to be, William's face displays an unnatural cold anger as he stares down at the wax seal.

William: "As I have said before, they're people who trample on the liberty and dignity of England, and exploit her sweet nectar... they're vermins."

Suddenly, an alarm resounds throughout the bank, and William notes that it came later than he expected. The whole bank is immediately thrown into chaos: there's been a burglary on the ground floor, and everyone needs to be evacuated. All Crown members are as calm as one can be; the president must have reported to his "customer" that some people were looking into the golden butterfly, so the guy who was informed immediately staged a robbery to kill them under the cover of chaos.

BANG! BANG!

William calls out to Liam, while hiding MC behind him. Men in banker's clothes rush into the room with guns, but before they can do anything, Liam, who is nowhere to be seen, takes them all out while using the power of invisibility (note: William says "leave it to our cat").

Liam: "Hah... How was it? It was really cool right?"

Harrison: "Don't overdo it. Just say that that you were scared.

Liam: "Huh? These guys were the ones who were scared, they suddenly shot at us!"

MC: (There's no time to be scared when you're with these people...)

William proposes to go find the president of the bank, he must be hiding somewhere so as to confirm their death before the police arrives. They move through the empty corridors of the bank, until they encounter several armed men who try attacking them with knives. MC steps back and clings to the wall as to not get in the way, but in that moment...

With a wobble, her feet shake and her body sinks into the wall.

???: "AHHH!?"

MC is now in a mysterious room, and the moment she looks around, she's grabbed by her shoulders by a strong force; it's the bank president, whose complexion is so pale he's nearly turning blue. He starts firing questions at her, such as how she got into the room and where they found the envelope. He's panicking so hard, he's yelling, and his grip on MC's shoulders is so tight it's basically gripping her bones.

Bank president (piece of shit): "Ahah, does it hurt? This is all you women's fault for getting involved in men's work! What a shame it is for you, working-class women! Well, you don't look so bad; there's no reason not to take you in, right? You can betray those guys who put you through such a painful experience. Be obedient, please your master in bed, and I'll buy you delicacies, dresses and whatever you want. It'd be a comfortable life. It's a happiness you couldn't even wish for, right?"

MC feels nauseous, anger and sadness boiling deep inside her, to the point where she could throw up. And yet, she cannot speak. After all, this kind of contempt abounds in England, and even if you speak out, nothing will change. Sadness and anger are commonplace, and around the city, there's those who have it even worse. No one will help her. If she can endure it... But then... why? Why do people have voices?

"You're the only one who can listen to your heart and turn it into a voice"

For some reason, she remembers William's words.

MC: "....don't."

MC: "Don't decide my happiness on your own!"

The words spill out of her mouth. The president charges at her, throwing her to the ground, hands to her neck. As she struggles and resists, "death" comes to her mind as if it was someone else's problem. Even if you plan for the future, the end only comes suddenly. That is the truth, we only have "now". If this was to happen now....

William: "Raise your hands."

MC hears a cold voice, and suddenly air flows into her lungs. As she's heavily choking, she looks up.

William: "I will begin the interrogation now."

Darker than the looming dusk, the evil king's eyes are looking down on the president.

[paxesoterica]

Some Thoughts on Episode 14 (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury)

(spoilers & long)

*”Game-changer” is a term that I feel is sometimes overused, but with the amount of revelations and developments in this one episode, I think it’s justified.

*The first major reveal occurs right away when Prospera explains to Miorine that her mother, Notrette, was the one who started the Quiet Zero project, and that the purpose of the project is to use the data storms that a Gundam (in particular, Aerial) can generate to create an information network that can hijack any Permet-based system, which in the setting of Ad Stella would include *a lot* of important things, such as telecommunications (which, given the vast distance of space, is even more important than it is in real life), and, as we’ll later see, other Gundams. Put simply, Aerial can hack the planet solar system.

*Miorine is rightfully concerned that her father’s been trying to play god. Prospera agrees, but explains that it's for the sake of a world without war. She further explains that she sent Suletta to school both to make her happy (which Miorine expresses skepticism about, because regardless of recent circumstances, she's still loyal to Suletta), and to optimize Aerial under non-lethal conditions; everything was going fine until the Plant Quetta attack and Delling getting incapacitated, but Prospera seems certain that Miorine will agree to take her father's place in the project.

*Prospera notably refers to Suletta as 'the child' at one point, which is yet another hint that she doesn't love Suletta as much as she claims.

*When mentioning Plant Quetta, Prospera is holding her non-prosthetic hand with her prosthetic one, and both tremble. It's a very subtle movement, and given how far away she was from Miorine at the time, I'm inclined to think it was not done to deceive the latter, but because Prospera was genuinely shaken by the events at Plant Quetta. That may seem hard to countenance given how efficiently Prospera killed the terrorists and urged Suletta into battle, but Witch from Mercury seems to be interested in genuine portrayals of trauma, and I don't think it's unreasonable to infer that Plant Quetta reminded Prospera all too well of the Vanadis incident. It’s a small, but humanizing, detail, and an interesting choice considering the awful things Prospera will confess to later.

This post has a wonderful compilation of how lighting is used to frame Prospera: from Suletta’s POV, she’s only been shown to be bathed in light, while to everyone else she is standing in shadow. This gets played with in this opening scene, as Prospera advances into the light, but with a notably shadowed face, while leaving Miorine half in light, half in darkness. This seems to deliberately contrast with that scene where Prospera coaxed Suletta into killing; while Suletta stepped forward with a smile, Miorine stays still, neither advancing nor running, with a suspicious expression.

*Given the events of this episode, I wonder if the opening credits will have some changes next time.

*After the opening, we proceed with some Spacian adults checking out Gund-Arm Inc.’s event booth, but then turning up their noses at the delicious goat’s milk offered to them (ingrates).

*Earth House in general is worried about Nika, both because of her injuries and what she’s hiding from them, with Chuatury in particular not even saying anything when Till tries to comfort her. Nika shares some of her backstory with Suletta: she is an Earthian orphan like Sophie and Norea, and was delighted to get a chance to go to school, and had bonded with Suletta over seeing her as a kindred spirit. Unfortunately, Nika does not disclose her affiliation with Dawn of Fold, and leaves to fix her problems by herself.

*I really wish Suletta would just punch No. 5 in the face, maybe *that* would make it clear that his advances are creepy and unwanted. Sophie answers my prayers by bonking him in the head with a Haro and leading Suletta away.

*I also wish No. 5 would just stick to talking to Norea, he’s a much more interesting and tolerable character when he does that. Norea chides him on how his life as a Gundam pilot will be a short one, and he makes a curious remark on how her eyes remind him of someone he used to know, and who died alone.

*It’s unclear if No. 5 means the eye color or the expression, and you generally shouldn’t put much stock in characters with similar eye colors being related, but the fact that this was specifically mentioned leads me to wonder if there’s some connection between the Enhanced People and Norea, possibly familial, or, if Peil can change eye color and it just refers to expression, perhaps the Elans were originally Dawn of Fold Gundam pilots, along with Sophie and Norea, who signed up with Peil in hopes of obviating the Gundam curse.

*”Mr. Elan isn’t gross…” Yes he is Suletta, Sophie may be a terrorist and a murderess, but she’s 110% correct on calling him that.

*Sophie announces that her stake in the duel will be that Suletta becomes her big sister for real, and even promises not to kill Nika if Suletta agrees. In different circumstances, I think it’s likely Suletta would have forfeited then and there, but she promised her bride she wouldn’t lose any duels; Sophie decides that means she needs to kill Miorine to see Suletta as she was during their last battle, and then runs off to prepare for the Rumble Ring, the battle royale event mentioned last episode.

*Secelia acts as announcer, and goes over the rules; they’e basically the same as a normal duel, except it’s a free-for-all and maybe Suletta’s not at risk for losing Holder status (it’s unclear, but it also doesn’t seem too relevant, so for now I wouldn’t worry about it). Lauda, Felsi, Sabina, Renee, Chuatury, No. 5, and Suletta, along with some unnamed students, are all participating. Due to Delling’s absence, Sarius is acting as witness in his stead.

*Most of the named characters are using the mobile suits we’ve either previously seen them fight with or know them to be associated with (i.e. Jeturk House using Dilanzas), with the exception of the Grassley duo, who instead deploy two of the CFP-010 Heindree, which continue the “knight” theme Grassley mobile suits seem to exhibit.

*Belmeria approaches Prospera to talk about something.

*As the Rumble Ring is underway, Chuatury attempts to shoot Sabina’s mobile suit, but her aim is thrown off when she suffers a flashback to Plant Quetta; I appreciate the show’s attempts at realistic portrayals of trauma, but I feel so bad for those going through it.

*Lauda attempts to engage Suletta and get revenge, but is interrupted when Sophie’s Lfrith Ur (the green one) breaks into the arena and smashes Lauda’s Dilanza’s face in. Norea shows up in Lfrith Thorn (the brown one), and everyone is momentarily shocked to see them. Notably, No. 5 also remarks on them being the terrorists from Plant Quetta despite very clearly not having been there, but perhaps the Peil CEOs informed him of the situation despite the media blackout (or it’s a minor continuity error, tomayto tomahto); then again, it wouldn’t be the first time the show’s shown something that seemed off, only to explain it later. [another poster pointed out that he was debriefed at the end of episode 12, so nvm]

*Meanwhile, Nika is trying to contact the front management company to confess everything, but is interrupted by Shaddiq’s lieutenant, Henao, and is presumably kidnapped after (this awaits confirmation in a later episode).

*Sophie unleashes a barrage that damages the outer walls, and it’s important to note that the lasers and sabers she and Norea are using are blue in color.

*Up until now, most beam or laser attacks we’ve seen have been green, and this was to indicate they were in low-energy, ‘safety’ mode; Norea and Sophie of course have no interest in school restrictions, and are more than happy to give most of the students their first experience with actually lethal combat.

*Secelia recovers from her shock as Rouji informs her that the front management company is not responding, and urges everyone to evacuate; her warning is unfortunately too late for one of the unnamed student pilots, who is killed by Norea on live broadcast.

*Sophie and Norea then raise their Permet scores to 3, and activate six EDM-GB Gundvölvas, which are apparently a type of unmanned Gundam mobile suit that can be used much as how Suletta uses Gund-bits, and all of them start attacking.

*As they fight, and their battle takes them into space, Suletta asks Sophie about her motives, to which Sophie responds that she’s willing to kill for the creature comforts and necessities that most of Asticassia’s students take for granted. Suletta attempts to rebuke her but…

…well, what *can* she say to that?

*Chuchu’s Demi-Trainer gets its arm blown off, and it looks like she’s about to go into an actual killing rage, and I worry for a moment that she’s either going to get herself killed or kill somebody she didn’t intend to; thankfully, *Felsi* of all people calls her back to her senses when she asks for help because Lauda is critically injured, and Chuatury goes to protect them from the Gundvölvas. We saw Chuatury denounce Dawn of Fold as terrorists last episode, and this action firmly draws a line between herself and someone like Norea; while both have violent tendencies and are vocally anti-Spacian, only Norea is willing to resort to acts of mass murder, whereas, when it really counts, Chuatury is willing to defend people she ostensibly hates. I also can’t help but wonder if Chuatury’s action here might open the door to the Jeturks in general, despite their antagonistic history, making a heel-face turn somewhere down the line; it remains to be seen of course, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.

*In another contrast, Norea and No. 5 clash; Norea tells him to either fight like a Gundam pilot (i.e. raise his Permet score) and risk death, or abandon his Gundam if he fears death, both of which he declines.

*Sarius, unable to escape and awaiting rescue, is instead kidnapped by his son’s lieutenants, Maisie and Ireesha, which is witnessed from a distance by No. 5.

*Sophie and Suletta continue to fight, with Sophie pressing Suletta about Aerial’s purpose; if she’s not intended as a weapon for killing, then why is she so heavily armed? This prompts Suletta to vocally wonder why her mother designed Aerial that way; this might seem a bit naive of Suletta, even taking mental conditioning into account, but bear in mind she did grow up as a rescue pilot who used those beams and lasers as tools to remove obstructions to help people, so despite the obvious use she’s been making of them against her opponents, Suletta does have reason to not see them first and foremost as weapons.

*Sophie reiterates her threat to kill Miorine and destroy Asticassia, causing Aerial to go to Permet score 6 (whether by Suletta’s desire or her own will is, likely intentionally, unclear). Ariel generates an energy sphere similar to the one she used in the Grassley House duel, and takes control of the Gundvölvas, as well as affecting Lfrith Ur, though not controlling it outright; regardless, all of these Gundams’ (and even Sophie’s) Permet lines turn purple instead of their usual red, while Aerial’s remain blue. Despite the danger, even coughing up blood, Sophie insists on approaching Aerial as she seems to finally ‘feel’ to Sophie how she did when they last fought.

*The scene is interwoven with a conversation between Belmeria and Prospera, with Belmeria asking how Suletta is unaffected by data storms, and where, exactly, Prospera’s older daughter, Ericht, currently is. 

*There’s been a popular fan theory that Ericht Samaya was somehow transformed into the Gundam Aerial, and Sophie’s dying vision and Prospera’s words confirm it to be true. Of course, as has previously been the case in this show, there are plenty of questions left unanswered, such as how exactly this happened, and why, and, of course, if Suletta is not Ericht, then who is she? Like yes, of course she’s Miorine’s groom, and that probably will be the ultimate answer to that question, but while that’s the destination, it doesn’t explain Suletta’s origin.

*Belmeria is *horrified*, but Prospera calmly tells her that Ericht has gained a new body, that this “is the future of GUND that [they’ve] been searching for”, and then smoothly transitions over to attempting to recruit Belmeria for the Quiet Zero project, explaining that Delling created it to rid the world of conflict. Belmeria notes there must be more to it than that, and Prospera simply responds that she wants “to rewrite the world…So that Eri can be happy”.

*This may age like milk, but despite Prospera seemingly being okay with her elder daughter’s fate, I have a difficult time seeing the woman she was at the time voluntarily Gundamize her daughter, unless it involved, say, an accident, or was an act of desperation to keep her alive in some form or another.

*Suletta opens Sophie’s cockpit to find the latter is dead. Norea appears to claim Sophie’s mobile suit and body, and sadly tells Suletta this is the fate of all Gundam pilots, shifting to an accusatory tone when noting that Suletta seems to be an exception.

*Martin has apparently reported Nika for terrorism, as the front company arrives seeking her arrest, and also telling Earth House they’ll be detained on suspicion of association.

*Suletta tries to rationalize what happened, with some assurance from Aerial, insisting that Sophie must have been mistaken, that she and Aerial protected her friends and the school, and repeats her family’s cursed motto.

*According to Merriam-Webster, cognitive dissonance can be defined as: “psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously”; I’m not a psychologist by any means, but that strained smile and those tears? Suletta is definitely suffering from this, and is barely holding herself together.

*So, to summarize: 

Asticassia has suffered a terrorist attack, with at least one student dead, and at least several wounded, on live broadcast, in a way that the Benerit Group cannot simply cover up.

President Lauda, CEO of Jeturk, has been critically injured, with no heir apparent, while President Sarius, CEO of Grassley and Acting President of the Benerit Group, has been kidnapped.

Nika has been accused of terrorism and also kidnapped, and the rest of Earth House has been detained on suspicion of association.

Between the attack by Gundams and the arrest of Earth House, Gund-Arm, Inc. is in serious jeopardy.

“Elan” (No. 5) and Shaddiq are doing just peachy.

Sophie is dead, and Norea is escorting her remains back to Earth.

Prospera is recuiting people for Quiet Zero, a project with absolutely terrifying implications.

Delling is still recovering from his injuries.

Miorine is almost certainly about to play a incredibly dangerous game by pretending to cooperate with Prospera while secretly working against her, plus her groom and her company are in dire need.

Suletta’s newfound little sister is dead, she has no idea that her Gundam really is her older sister, nor that she is enabling her mother in a terrible plan, and she’s on the verge of a breakdown trying to reconcile what her mother and Sophie have told her.

*Folks, it’s perfectly reasonable to be distressed by all this, so remember to take a deep breath, and maybe drink some water if you haven’t recently.

*Not only has the school setting been permanently impacted, I'm wondering if Asticassia will even remain open, at least for now; between chaos in Benerit's upper ranks, with only Shaddiq and the ladies of Peil as possible leaders at this point, and the casualties among the student body, I'd imagine a lot of parents are reconsidering their children's enrollment.

*Between Gund-Arm and Quiet Zero, the situation of Earth House, Suletta, and Miorine seems overwhelming, but I wonder if Miorine’s new allies in the Space Assembly League (the ones made back in episode 10) will step and offer assistance.

*In addition to being a game-changer, this episode was also a brutal cliffhanger, and it’s hard to say where everything is going next. From the next episode’s “Father and Child”, it seems likely to focus on either Miorine and Delling, Shaddiq and Sarius, Nika and Naji, or possibly some combination of the three, but we shall see.

[jess-moloney]

A Breakdown Of Jess's Management Company

The company that Jess brags about owning (when it comes to talent management) is based out of the UK. There is no business listed under Jess Moloney's name if you look it up in California. Nothing is called Jess Moloney Management or any business run by someone with that name.

In the state of California to be a talent manager or agent you do need to be registered with the state and you need to get a license.

->Source<-

This already raises a lot of questions. How is her business which is only based in the UK valid for her to work with American clients? I'm not saying it's impossible but I am saying that for her to be legally operating as a talent manager as she claims she'd also need a license in the state she practices and I'm sure she doesn't just automatically get one because she owns a business in the UK.

Since Jess does not currently own Jess Moloney Management in the United States it's questionable how she's also operating a business managing talent in the United States and doing it legally.

If you try to look her or her company up in California to see if she has a license you will get no results there either:

->Look Yourself<-

From this we can conclude one of several things:

She's operating illegally

She's using a different name to operate

She's lying about having clients

Knowing this information alone, it seems impossible that Jess has clients that she's actively managing and if she is she's not doing it legally. I suppose it's possible that somehow she found a loophole and signed these people under whatever license she has in the UK. This would be a way to get around having a license to operate in California but I'm also going to guess it's not legal to do that since the laws of an entirely different country wouldn't apply there, and as I said, this is a state by state thing so that makes it even less likely.

How can she be managing any United States based talent under the guidelines of a UK business? Unless she's only handling clients from the UK (which she definitely isn't if she is managing people like Renell and Quil) then she's not doing it on the up and up. It makes me question how she ever did it in the first place. Another place she operates out of is New York but if you look it up, you will find you also need a license to operate as a talent manager there.

->Source<-

If you look her company up in New York it doesn't come up either. Which means she didn't get a license to work there either.

I'm not a lawyer nor do I know all of the details of this but I can say one would think that she can't just operate as a talent manager free and easy because she owns a talent agency in another country. As I said, these types of businesses are rife with legal contracts where money is exchanged.

All of this seemingly makes it impossible for Jess to legitimately be running the business she claims to be running in a way that is on the books. It's possible that it's all under the table and she has connections somehow so through networking she gets her "clients" some sort of work and they pay her under the table for the service or she bills it as something else like "freelance".

Seeing as how she definitely doesn't have the license she would need to operate in either state as a talent manager (unless she's using a different name or company that she's not disclosed which is possible but unlikely, seeing as how she says it's been the same business for 9 years she can't mean another one).

What does everyone else think because this isn't looking very good for the people who defend her and say this must be her job when all the signs point to it not being possible for her to have this job, at least not legally.