#a third of me is ace the rest is having a weird attachement to really weird things

[ardate]

Since you've sent me a ranking, allow me to send you one - three favorite legendary creatures?

Oh man that's a tough one, I sure love creechur. But (mario voice) here we go!

1- The Tarasque.

Such an absurd creature, an ancient pre-christian gallic myth that survived all this time, with the story of its demise still being celebrated in the original village where it supposedly happened to this day? Very difficult for me not to be completely entranced by this strange beast and having my heart filled with affection for it.

I mean. Just look at it. ♥

2- Dragons

Though the Tarasque technically is a dragon, I do have to add them to that list, the more common ones people think of when they hear that name.

It's an undying classic, powerful and classy, and you can absolutely never go wrong with those beasts. They always slap. Never fails.

3- The Monkfish (or Sea Monk)

I'm just. I'm fucking. Biaised towards that poor pathetic creature. Like. I mean. Just look at this fucking thing.

This is a monk fish. It was supposedly found somewhere in the 1500s. Apparently it does fill some sort of ecclesiastic role to bless the mermaids down there or something. Like I'm being straight up this is what they said back then. THis is so fucking funny to me. My friends and I found out about it in a book about sea myths on a vacation and we cried laughing at him for the whole week we were there and now he's legitimately our symbol.

I'm talking 'printing a flag with this goddamn drawing on it' symbol. Taking this flag wherever we go and putting it up proudly like we're the monkfish nation.

Monkfish truthers rise up. We out there.

[randomgooberness]

@temothylol you have just plucked the WRONG jenga stick, my friend. 

OKAY SO. the TLDR of this is: Mind(from Freeman’s Mind) puts the sample in the rotator like usual in his canon, but it gets all weird and snaps him into another timeline/universe: HLVRAI, and he’s forced to “go under cover” because the guy who they’re calling Gordon Freeman IS NOT HIM and is likely a government coverup here to replace him- so he has to play it cool as he tries to escape with them. Through this journey he learns the power of friendship and how to not be as much of a fucking asshole. 

This AU is being rped by me and my friend @shineyfish​ ! 

The SUPER SHORT TLDR is: mind makes friends and shit sucks so much but its otay the power of friendship :)

THE LONG VERSION IS:

(warning for blood, gore, and talk about suicide at the end)

Like I said, he’s transferred via Resonance Cascade, and thrown into the HLVRAI universe. When people address Gordon by his name, he goes. Oh shit this guy is here to replace me. What the FUCK. And of course when Gordon asks for his name he panics and goes “MIND. MIND YOUR BUISNESS” and it sticks. sorry dude you’re Mr. Mind now.

Unlike how Freeman’s Mind takes place over the span of a day or so, this follows more HLVRAI’s timeframe. Which should be more like 4 or 5 days but I always write it as like. a Month because it makes it feel more like a journey and I like it.

Just like in normal HLVRAI, shit is Looney Tunes and BONKERS, though, like Gordon does, he adjusts to it with varying levels of stress- kinda going into denial as well- though he realizes Gordon is kinda the “leader” as well as is the MOST NORMAL, so he’s the one he talks to the most- and Gordon himself see’s him as More Normal Than The Rest.

He is, however, more suspicious of Gordon because, unlike everyone else, he doesn’t seem like much of a person outside of Black Mesa! Like, sure, he has a Son, but... that’s kinda it? He likes video games? This guy is suspicious as HELL.

(Meanwhile, the ACTUAL reason as to why Gordon is Like That is because he’s the player characters model. His backstory gets made up on the fly and he’s not given as much stuff as everyone else- not to mention, even outside of being a vessel for someone to play a game, he’s...depressed. And lonely. He has identity issues and doesn’t fucking know what he’s doing with his life except for taking care of Josh every third week and then playing video games when he’s not doing that.)

A Running Theme here is: while it sorta takes a bit, they DO become friends! The cost of this is: Mind is NOT USED TO HAVING FRIENDS. Gordon isn’t either but Mind especially didn’t Plan to make friends nor did he Want to, and now that he’s attached to people, he freaks out more over the shit happening around him. Because he has people to WORRY ABOUT. Meanwhile, in Gordons case, he has someone who is “relatively normal” or another “straight” man in this situation, which means that he gets grounded more often and isn’t as mean- but this comes at the cost of, well, dissociation makes it easy to forget what's happening around you and the weight of it. If you get grounded during a traumatic event you Get More Traumatized. So both of them are more traumatized than their source versions LMAO.

As of writing this, we’re almost half way through RPing act 2, and Mind has only JUST realized he can trust Gordon(which I want to draw the scene where he realizes this SO BAAAD ace did a FANTASTIC job writing Mind starting to break the boundaries between what hes saying Out Loud and what he’s saying in his head), and they’re...getting along. It’s really sweet I like them :)

Another fun thing that they haven’t figured out in RP yet(mostly because they haven’t even realized they’re from separate universes yet), is that Mind is from 2007. HLVRAI is in 2020. I’m not sure how they’re gonna figure that out before they escape but it’ll be really funny. Here’s a post-plot doodle 

OH AND DONT WORRY IT’S NOT ALL JUST MIND AND GORDON. Those two get along the best bc Mind has very little tolerance for bullshit but he gets along with Bubby okay at first(after he betrays Gordon, he fucking HATES him and it’s hard to repair that). He is Scared of Dr. Coomer and sorta hates him, and he is also scared of Tommy but tolerates him the most out of all of the Science Team post-plot. As of right now in the rp, Mind has attacked Benrey NUMEROUS TIMES. Here’s my two favorites 

(dr coomer was played here by my friend Newt, though I play him most the time. I just gave them permission to interrupt as him at any moment because its funny as hell)

I also, just real quick, want to mention post-plot is p similar to my fic Headfirst for Halos, except Mind is also there as a wacky roommate. When Benrey moves in shit is the worst ever and its so funny.

Something I physically cannot refrain from spoiling is the Betrayal Scene. We have no Rped it yet, but we have planned it and the aftermath in-depth and it makes me FUCKING INSANE. 

Basically, like I said, Mind doesn’t trust anything for the first few days- ESPECIALLY Gordon. Also, Mind was going through Withdrawals the first few days(which were only relieved because he eventually told Gordon who started trying to hack his suit to give him some morphine routinely- not too much, just enough to ease his suffering until they got out).

This meant that Mind was very, very prone to shit-talking Gordon behind his back, especially to Bubby. This ends up morphing into a bit of a situation in Act 3. Mind trusts Gordon by then, but still makes a few jokes with Bubby and Benrey from time to time- though he backs out once it starts getting too mean(which is funny as hell because mind is the meanest guy there). Because he backs out, Bubby and Benrey don't trust him to let him in on their plan to betray Gordon, but they don’t throw him into it, either, thinking he’ll be willing to walk away and turn a “blind eye” when it happens. 

...He doesn’t, but he DOES earn a Blind Eye.

Mind dives in to help Gordon, and is IMMEDIATELY overwhelmed by the marines, and suddenly, he’s laying on the floor fighting for his consciousness while he listens to Gordon scream for help.

When he wakes up, he realizes a few things. 

1. He only has half his field of vision.  2. The walls are starting to close in.  3. His first and now Only friend is borderline-dead next to him and missing an arm. 4. The walls are starting to close in.  5. He has to get him, and a guy bigger than him, OUT of here.  6. THE WALLS ARE STARTING TO CLOSE IN. 

So, with that, he has to, in a spur of adrenaline, drag Gordon and himself out of a trash compactor while dealing with a new disability for the first time. Once they’re Out, he has to sit there, watching Gordon’s suit try to cauterize his wound and wonder if he’s going to lose the first person he’s ever Actually Fucking Cared About. He sits there for a few hours, and when Gordon finally wakes up, he is thrust into the position of comforting someone at their lowest point- something he doesn’t know how to fucking do. 

When he sacrifices his bandana to wrap up Gordons arm and try to prevent further blood loss that the cauterization didn’t seal, Gordon says something that, one, no one has ever said to him, and two, sounds a lot like last words. 

Gordon has no problem telling his friends he loves them. He said he loved Dr. Coomer within the first hours of the Resonance Cascade. 

Mind, meanwhile, is only just now realizing he has a friend in the first place, and that friend is dangerously close to dying.

Anyways. Mind does NOT trust Tommy when they meet up with him again, but only stops threatening to kill him when he realizes he’s making Gordon freak the fuck out. 

The Dr. Coomer fight. It goes um. :)

And when they meet up with Bubby, the guy throws Mind under the bus and tells him, right in front of Gordon, that he figured he’d be fine with the betrayal because he was Also shittalking Gordon. Up until that point, Gordon was only really trusting Mind(and sorta Tommy), so it’s a HUGE blow that he starts spiraling from, and Mind is forced to show character development by apologizing genuinely as he can to him and telling him that he trusts Gordon with his Fucking Life. Mind ALSO has to go through the extremely unsettling realization that him and Bubby are in more similar boats than he thought, messing with his black and white thinking patterns. 

Mind struggles with the concept that he might’ve just ruined his friendship with Gordon until the guy suddenly announces that, because he’s so bloodloss right now, he cannot lead, and appoints Mind as leader instead. Mind goes through the thought process of “OH YAY GORDON LIKES AND TRUST ME AGAIN!” to “YES. POWER FOR ME. I DESERVE TO LEAD” and then “OH MY FUCKING GOD THIS IS THE MOST STRESSFUL THING IN THE WORLD”.

another theme, and probably my FAVORITE, is their different stances on life. I’m putting this at the end because it has a Huge suicide warning.

Mind wants to live. He wants to get out of here, and live his life. He has Plans, he is always coming up with More Plans. 

Gordon...doesn’t plan. He doesn’t consider what he’s doing when he gets out- he asks everyone else, and then freezes up when he’s asked in turn. And, in the worst moments, he impulsively tries to die. In HLVRAI, this man has had at least 4 suicide attempts. He only spirals like that when his stress spikes, but it’s still not a good thing at ALL, and a sign that there is something deeper here.

So, when Mind witnesses all this with Gordon, he’s...horrified. The first time Gordon threatens to kill himself, he thinks he’s joking- because like, it was funny. Making a joke about shooting your brains out if you have to swim again is funny. But then when the guy tries to Swim Into A Blade, he realizes he isn’t joking. And he has no idea what to do, because his first ever friend wants to die and he’s already stressed at the idea of losing him from Outside sources.

It’s a contrast that is FASCINATING to work with and we’re having fun toying with it.

anyways thanks for opening pandoras box. I’m sure i have more to say but it’s all stuff ill eventually talk about or im forgetting and will discuss later. feel free to ask questions if youd like i feel insane over this naruto and among us crossover au

[magicofthepen]

hello! do you have a favorite audio with leela/romana ii/narvin/brax that isn’t part of the gallifrey range? i’m missing them a lot but also not really in the mood to relisten to anything so i’m looking for new stuff <3

hey anon, sorry for the wait! I do have some favorites!

in general: for more Leela and Romana stories, I’d recommend checking out their respective audios in the Fourth Doctor Adventures and seeing if any of the story descriptions grab you. I haven’t listened to any of the Leela ones, so I can’t provide any recs for hers, but if anyone else wants to jump in with favorites, feel free!

I haven’t listened to any of the Benny audios, so I can’t offer any opinions about other Brax audios, I’m afraid. but I can direct you to this excellent guide by @setaregan to Brax in the Benny stories! 

for Romana II: I absolutely must plug The Skin of the Sleek/The Thief Who Stole Time in the Fourth Doctor Adventures range. Romana and the Doctor land on a planet that’s mostly ocean except it’s not an ocean, and something weird is going on—oh, and Romana’s (only) friend from her Academy days is on the same planet on her own mission.

they are very Romana-centric audios, ft. some excellent Romana backstory details, a side character I have gotten So Invested In, and lovely Doctor and Romana friendship moments. highly, highly recommend!

also if you haven’t already listened to The Apocalypse Element and Neverland and Zagreus, they’re the trifecta of pre-Gallifrey Romana (and Leela) stories that help contextualize the Gallifrey audios—and Romana’s character in the Gallifrey audios in particular (especially true for TAE). they’re also free on Spotify! (TAE is very stand alone, Neverland and Zagreus are easier to follow if you’ve listened to the prior Charley and Eight stories, but I know many people have listened to them without that context.)

for Romana and Leela: the last third of Zagreus (first meeting!), but also I adore Collision Course from the Legacy of Time boxset. I’d recommend the whole boxset—it’s a big, fun celebration of Doctor Who at Big Finish with some great stories (the Jo Grant one, oh my god). but my Gallifrey fan heart is particularly attached to the last one because it’s a Gallifrey-era Romana and Leela story. the episode is part flashbacks to Romana and Leela each having an adventure with the Doctor on the same planet, and part them in the present day reacting to their changing memories of those adventures, and time getting really weird and them going on an adventure to fix it. it’s such a fun, feel good audio for me, I love it. (although it does require getting the whole boxset.)

for Narvin: so outside of Gallifrey he’s always a guest star, often flitting in and out of longer stories, and usually filling the role of “CIA character the Doctor’s butting heads with,” which makes recommending Narvin stories a bit tricky. however, one audio I can easily and happily recommend is The Quantum Possibility Engine—ft. early Narvin, the Seventh Doctor, Ace, and Mel. 

to quote the post I made immediately after listening: “OH MY GOD oh my god this audio is two hours ish of nonstop delight, I lost it 8 minutes in at Narvin’s sonic screwdriver and continued to grin nonstop for the entire rest of the story. Whose idea was it to put Narvin in the middle of a silly Doctor Who adventure because it was the actual best thing ever.”

so yeah here’s a few favorites of mine to get you started! and if anyone else else wants to rec audios, you’re very welcome to add on—especially for Leela and Brax, since I’m not as knowledgeable about their other audios.

[britishassistant]

Supervillain AU! I formally request the special addition of Yuu’s first kidnapping please.

Thank you for the ask, dear anon!

“Yoo-hoo, Reporter-chan? Wakey-wakey, it’ll be bad for you if you don’t get up soon~”

Yuu shakes their head groggily, the sing-songy voice not helping the pounding in their temple.

“Did someone get the number of the truck that hit me?” They mumble, blinking to try and get their eyes to focus.

“Dammit Deuce, you gave them brain damage.” A familiar, much more annoyed sounding voice said. “Their head’s gonna be all screwy and useless now, dumbass.”

“It was just a lovetap though!” A third voice, also familiar, protested.

The floor finally stopped moving in front of their eyes and Yuu realized some very important things.

One, the floor they were staring at was not the floor of the library where they last remembered being.

Two: Their arms and legs seemed to be tied tight to the arms and legs of an iron garden chair.

Three: There are many odd-looking people standing near them, all in clothes that are too coordinated not to be a uniform but too outlandish to represent a government group of some kind.

Oh Great Seven, Yuu thinks with a rising sort of hysteria. It’s finally happened.

Clowns have come to take me away for not brushing my teeth enough like Mom said when I was little.

“...Are ya sure you didn’t break ‘em?”

“...”

“Deuce.”

Yuu wonders if they should feel offended at being talked around like this.

“Enough of this nonsense!” A hand seizes Yuu’s chin and pulls their head up to face the latest speaker. An imperious-looking young man stands and walks towards the reporter, clicking his fingers. “Three of Clovers.”

A tall man in glasses hands the imperious young man what Yuu recognizes as their wallet. The shorter man glances at the contents disdainfully. “You. First and last name and age, now.”

“Y-Yuu Radcliffe, 23 years.” The reporter stutters, their initial hysteria morphing into a sinking feeling in their gut. If not the clowns, then... “Can I ask who I have the pleasure of talking to?”

“No.” The redhead holding their wallet snaps. “Current occupation and birthday?”

“Field reporter at TWST local news.” They force themselves to relax the fists their hands have balled into. “March 18th.”

Remember what Uncle Divvy always says. Stay calm, act cooperative, do or say whatever you need to to avoid injury. Any supervillains on this level trying to curry favor with or blackmail the dumb bird will have to go through Uncle Divvy first to contact him, and he’ll take care of the rest.

All Yuu needs to do is keep themselves alive until then.

They still can’t help but dread what they know is coming next.

The supervillain seems to notice their distress, and smirks cruelly. He takes his time walking forward and leaning down until he’s on the reporter’s eye level, hands resting on the back of the chair and eyes flicking over their face, almost as if he’s savoring the moment before he makes their life that much more painful.

Yuu braces themselves as he opens his mouth–!

“What is the best type of tea?”

Huh?

“Wait, what? I don’t—” Yuu asks, backpedalling as the supervillain’s face grows stormy at their lack of response. “Uuh...green tea? I guess? I mean, it’s the one I like the most, but I’m more of a coffee or hot cocoa person, so I’m not the best one to ask...”

The person holding their chin sucks in through their teeth and the annoyed familiar voice outside their periphary snickers “Oooh, busted~”

The supervillain is beginning to go as red as his hair, and the reporter can hear his teeth grinding. His hands are now gripping the back of the chair so tight Yuu would almost swear they hear the metal by their ears creak.

“Ri–Royal.” The man with glasses says.

The supervillain inhales and exhales almost violently, until what’s visible of his face under that mask is looking less flushed.

“The correct answer,” He says, voice trembling with emotion. “Was all teas at their due times. To drink green tea instead of rosehip at breakfast, or lemon tea at 8pm...the nerve of your arrogance is astounding!”

Yuu...genuinely isn’t sure how they’re supposed to respond to that. Instead they just go with, “I’m sorry, I’ve never had rosehip or lemon tea. Do you like them?”

“Do I—?!” The supervillain’s mouth works soundlessly, gradually going red again. He pushes off the chair sharply. “I—the ro—i-it’s not a matter of liking!! These are the Rules!! And the Rules must be obeyed!! Three of Clovers!”

“Yes, Royal Flush?” The glasses man asks.

“The reporter is forbidden from having any montblanc after dinner, and will take two cups of lemon tea at 8pm tonight and two cups of rosehip tomorrow at breakfast.” Royal Flush flashes them a cruel smirk. “Consider it a light punishment for your impertinence.”

Yuu blinks. Tries to make sense of what they’ve just heard.

Blinks again.

“You know if you just wanted to ask me out to dinner, I’d have taken a nice invitation or a bouquet. You didn’t need to knock me out and tie me up like this, I’m not that picky. I do have Tinder.”

Glasses guy makes a choking noise and erupts into a coughing fit.

The hand that’s been holding Yuu’s chin migrates to their shoulder for support as its owner lets out an undignified snort and gasps out something that sounds vaguely like “why wasn’t I recording, that was Magicam gold!” as he giggles. He’s a redhead too, but much more orange than his boss.

There’s a sputter of hysterical laughter that has Yuu twisting their head to see the two guys and the cat from the hydroelectric plant, both with these odd-looking metal collars around their necks, but otherwise unharmed. The talking cat is trussed up in so many ropes that it looks more like a bobblehead, also wearing a weird collar.

The third redheaded one is bracing his hands on his knees, wheezing out a litany of “holy shit, holy shit” between chortles. The dark haired one is holding the cat a confused expression, cutting off his friend’s laughter when he turns to ask, “Ace, what’s tinder?”

The momentary silence lets an odd squeaking noise be heard.

One that gradually grows in volume until it’s an outright screech coming from the supervillain in front of them. He’s so red Yuu is honestly worried about his blood pressure, pointing a shaking finger at them.

“I—YOU—YOU—OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!!”

Yuu chokes a little at the feeling of cold metal materializing around their neck, dragging their head down with its weight. The supervillain continues screeching, refusing to even look at the reporter. “YOU—! DUNGEON! RIGHT NOW!! NO DESSERTS!! GO!!”

There’s an awkward moment as Royal Flush turns away from them, as if expecting them to get up and walk out of their own accord while his back is to them.

“...So, does that mean you want them to untie me or something, or...?” Yuu wiggles their firmly bound hands and feet for emphasis.

The supervillian makes a sound like a kettle whistling, before he barks out. “Two of Spades! Ace of Hearts! GET them OUT OF MY SIGHT until they’re WILLING to COOPERATE!!”

The dark haired young man quickly shuffles forward, grabs the back of the chair, and drags it and the poor reporter attached to it out of the room and into the corridor. The metal screeches as it moves from carpet to concrete.

“Wh—Two, no, untie them first.” The man with glasses says, despairing, appearing in the doorway. “You’ll mark up the floor otherwise.”

“Ah! Sorry, senpai!” Two looks between the cat in his arms and the knots on the chair, before shoving the cat into the arms of the redhead who answers to “Ace”. Neither of them look happy with this development.

“Fgnah! Quit squeezing, ya jerk!” The cat protests, wriggling as best it can.

“Oh? What’s that? I’m sorry, I just need to make sure that greatest, lamest supervillain in the city doesn’t escape to go setting random crap in the lair on fire again.” Ace says sweetly, grip tightening.

“Tha’s your fault, an’ you know it!” The cat wheezes out, thrashing harder.

Yuu winces. “Hey, quit hurting him. Whatever he did, he doesn’t deserve this.”

The dark haired minion barks out a laugh as he tugs the ropes away from their right wrist while his redheaded counterpart sneers at them.

“Oh really? Bet you’ll change your tune real quick once you learn it’s thanks to him you’re here in the first place.” Ace of Hearts mocks. “Dumb monster sang like a damn canary when Royal pressured him a tiiiny bit, saying it was all your fault his precious ingredient is now in the sewers.”

“Tha’s a lie!” The monster? cat blurts out too quickly for comfort. “It’s all these two morons, I swear!”

“Why you little—“

“I don’t care.” Yuu cuts in before Two of Spades can hit the animal. “I didn’t destroy that thing, but even if none of you said anything, your boss would’ve found out I was involved anyway from watching my report on it on the news. So I don’t care, just-just quit hurting him.”

There’s a tense moment as the two minions stare down at the reporter. They do their best to meet the gazes without flinching.

Then the Ace of Hearts tosses the cat into their lap as the Two of Spades sinks back down to keep working on their ankle. “Fine. Since you like it so much, you can take care of it. Just don’t expect me to cover for your ass—you still owe me for the power plant.”

“I’m sorry?” Yuu curls their free arm around the bundle of rope, fur, and yowling insults and pulls it closer to them. “Shouldn’t that be the other way round?”

“You locked me in a closet with him!” Ace hisses. “Do you know how hard it was to get out before the cops came with him freaking out and messing stuff up?!”

“Oi.” Two shoots him a dark look from where he’s finished untying the reporter’s left hand. “Like you weren’t whining about us being digested until you knocked a broom over!”

“Sh-shut up!”

“Well excuse me for trying to save your lives.” Yuu bites back, rubbing the rope marks on their wrists. “Next time I’ll just run and let the sludge monster eat your unconscious bodies.”

“It’d save us all the trouble of this shit if you did!” Ace spits, jabbing a finger at his collar. “At least then we wouldn’t be on Royal’s shit list!”

Yuu lets the piece of information they were just given marinate in their brain as they glare at him. Well, now what exactly was that supposed to mean?

“Ngh...this knot won’t come loose.” Two says from by the reporter’s left foot.

“How about now?” Replies an unfamiliar voice, as a disembodied hand pulls deftly at a loop in the rope.

“Ah!” Two of Spades brightens up as the rest of the rope falls away. “Thanks a lot—”

The disembodied hand punches him in the face.

Yuu cries out in alarm at the sight of the minion falling backwards into the Ace of Hearts, knocking him down like a bowling pin.

A pair of clawed hands are then scooping them up, extra cat and all, and the reporter finds themself looking at the unsettlingly wide smile and purple cat ears of one of the city’s top heroes, running at full speed while sharpened playing cards whizz past his face and Ace calls out behind them “Senpai! It’s him again!!”

There’s a percussive boom somewhere in the distance, and screams of how the flamingos are loose as the hero winks down at Yuu. “Seems you’re a popular one today, kitten! But let’s get you back to where you where before you were so rudely catnapped, yes?”

“Not so fast, hero!” The orange haired guy choruses from the entrance to the staircase, and—from behind them as well?

The reporter’s heart sinks as more and more versions of the minion keep popping up around them, to the point where the hero is forced to stand on the bannister of the balcony they’re on.

And based on the fact that the hero hasn’t used his invisibility? Intangibility? powers, it’s likely that he can’t use them while holding Yuu and the cat.

They’re surrounded.

“You really can’t keep your paws out of anything that’s mine, can you?” Royal Flush’s tone is clipped as he glares up at the hero.

“Hey R-kun, Three-kun!” The hero pouts, hugging Yuu closer to his chest. “I come a~ll this way to play, only to find you’ve got a nyew toy you’re already playing with without me! How mean! You guys really are cruel!!”

“We’re sorry about that.” Three of Clovers says, edging closer. “If you just hand the reporter over to Four, they’ll be put away and we can all “play” together, no distractions. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

The hero makes a deliberating noise, holding Yuu out and away from him over the drop, tilting his head this way and that.

His grin grows unsettlingly wider.

“Look, R-kun, Three-kun!” The hero calls out. “Nyo hands!”

Wait, what—

The hero’s body vanishes.

Yuu and the monster cat plummet screaming past the illogically winding staircases of the evil lair.

Yuu tries to angle their body so that the frantically crying cat will be shielded from the brunt of the fall—!

“NO!!”

There’s a sound like glass shattering, and a feeling of being enveloped in something soft, cold and buoyant. The two of them bounce a few times and land back on it more gently each time.

Yuu cracks open their eyes to see that they’re seated on a strange, red, jelly-like mass. The cat in their arms tentatively sniffs, and then lunges to take a bite out of their cushion before the reporter can stop him.

“Shtrawberry?” He says through a full mouth. “Tashtes good!”

The reporter grabs him before he can go for another bite, a little thrown by his speed now that collar isn’t weighing him down. But where did this thing come from–?

Yuu looks up.

Royal Flush is leaning dangerously far over the balcony countless flights of stairs above them, one arm outstretched down towards them.

They stare at each other for a moment.

Then clawed hands fasten around Yuu’s waist again with a cheery “Nyow wasn’t that fun?” and Royal Flush visibly tenses and begins screaming things after the escaping hero that are barely legible through his rage.

The hero deposits them both outside the TWST news station with their wallet and phone back in their pockets. He at least helps them untie the monster cat, who promptly declares he just let them protect him, and scarpers.

Of course the hero is gone too when Yuu turns back around, before they can ask him what the hell he was playing at, dropping them like that, was he insane?! If Royal Flush hadn’t interfered...

The reporter has to fight the urge to lose their lunch.

Their boss rushes out and envelopes them in a surprisingly powerful hug, the woman almost lifting the reporter off their feet as she babbles about whether or not Yuu needs a hospital after getting kidnapped by one of the seven major supervillains.

Yuuken is quick to join the embrace with a bear hug of his own. He pulls back, fingers prodding gently at Yuu’s bruised temple and declaring he’ll drive them to hospital to make sure they don’t have a concussion.

He graciously waits until they’re in the car to ask why Yuu smells so much of strawberries.

The reporter can only give a half answer, partly because they don’t want to worry him, and partly because they have another question of their own buzzing incessantly around their brain.

Why was Yuu kidnapped in the first place?

Royal Flush never even mentioned Crowley, despite all the chances he had to do so. Not even an oblique or confusing metaphor or code. Does that mean he’s ignorant of the connection between Yuu and the League?

But if that’s the case, it circles back around to the first question: why kidnap Yuu to begin with?

Somehow the reporter doubts it was to just ask their tea preferences or invite them to dinner.

Those minions referred to that monster as Royal Flush’s “precious ingredient”. Ingredient for what? Is there something that Royal Flush thinks they witnessed that’s integral to a scheme? Did they witness something and just not realize it’s significance?

Yuu’s reporter senses are screaming that there’s a deeper story to uncover here. Yuu’s common sense is screaming that investigating the dangerous plans of the supervillain they’ve just escaped from is a terrible idea.

Though he could have just...let them fall. But he didn’t. And won’t he just kidnap them again regardless?

...

This is a terrible idea.

But if Yuu’s common sense was stronger than their reporter senses, then they wouldn’t be in this city in the first place, would they?

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #184

Oh shit we’re a day late. Sorry. Now that Summer’s over, Fate and Phantasms is heading out to Shimousa, starting with the Archer of Inferno! You know the deal by this point; true name spoilers and build breakdown below the cut, character sheet over here, but still expect a little bit of spoilage because you can’t spread out a character over 20 levels and not spoil a bit about them.

Next up: I thought the ghost of an occultist driving a car made by a talking lion would be the most convoluted character design for a while. I was wrong.

Tomoe Gozen is a Battle Master Fighter to talk with her fists and throw people around as well as a Hunter Ranger to get her fiery arrows and to specialize in fighting massive crowds.

Race and Background

Tomoe is kind of halfway between an oni and a human, never quite at home in either world. Thankfully that’s exactly what Tieflings are as well, so getting her race is pretty easy. As a Mephistopheles Tiefling she gets +1 Dexterity and +2 Wisdom, Darkvision for night raids, Hellish Resistance to fire damage (it would be awkward if you died to your own inferno), and the Legacy of Cania. This gives you the Mage Hand cantrip immediately, with one casting of Burning Hands and Flame Blade with your Charisma per long rest at third and fifth level respectively.

As the wife of a Lord, you’re the definition of a Noble, giving you proficiency with History and Persuasion. People just like you, y’know?

Ability Scores

Step one; Dexterity. You’re an archer, this shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is pretty high. (I mean I say that, but there’s ton of archers that don’t use bows, so...) Anyways, second is Strength. You throw people around like sacks of potatoes, so you gotta be pretty good at lifting them. Go with Wisdom as your third highest ability. Large scale battles are hectic, you’ve got to have a sharp eye to do your best work in them.  Your Constitution isn’t half bad, oni tend to be able to take a beating. Your Intelligence isn’t that high purely because we need other stuff more, so we’re dumping Charisma. You’re a bit awkward no matter which side of the family you’re talking to.

Class Levels

Ranger 1: Starting off as a ranger gives you plenty of goodies, including plenty of proficiencies, like Strength and Dexterity saves, plus three skills; Insight and Perception to read your enemies and Athletics to make it easier to haul them around. First level rangers also become Deft Explorers, which makes you Canny with athletics. That doubles your proficiency bonus for extra oni strength when you push and pull objects. You can also set a Favored Foe as a bonus action, dealing an extra d4 of damage once per turn after hitting them with an attack. You can do this proficiency times per long rest, and the damage grows as you level up.

Ranger 2: At second level, you gain the Archery fighting style for an extra +2 to your ranged attack rolls. The archer class is really made up of archers, huh? You also learn how to cast Spells using your Wisdom to cast them. Theoretically. You don’t actually have any spells that bother with that. At first level you can use Longstrider to move around the battlefield easier and Absorb Elements to add a little bit of fire to your arrows immediately. That helps less than the other elements since you’re already resistant to fire damage, but we suffer for our art here. Well, you do.

Ranger 3: Making it all the way to third level without burning out grants you entrance to a shiny new conclave, and the Hunter conclave turns you into a Horde Breaker when you take the subclass, specializing you towards dealing with large groups. Once per turn you can make an extra attack, as long as your second target is within 5′ of the first. You also gain Primal Awareness, letting you Speak with Animals. I don’t think anything in canon says you can do this, but your event is one of the only times we hear the servant animals talk, so I’m counting it. You also learn how to cast Zephyr Strike, speeding yourself up and possibly dealing extra damage at the same time. Controlling your spacing is vital when it comes to dealing with tons of enemies.

Ranger 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Strength for stronger punches. They’ll get even stronger in a second, don’t worry.

Fighter 1: Bounce over to fighter for the Unarmed Fighting fighting style. Now your punches deal 1d6 damage (or 1d8 if you have both free) and you can deal damage to grappled creatures at the start of your turn. You also get a Second Wind, which will heal you as a bonus action.

Ranger 5: We’re done multiclassing for a while, since heading back over to ranger will net you an Extra Attack each action. Now you’ve got two attacks against one target, or three if you can use horde breaker. You also learn second level spells, like Beast Sense and Enhance Ability. I don’t think you’re strong enough yet, so that latter spell will give you advantage on strength checks for the duration. (Or a target creature advantage on any one kind of checks, that’s just the most in-character option.)

Ranger 6: At sixth level Favored Foe grows to a d6, and you also become Roving, which increases your speed and lets you climb and swim without slowing down.

Ranger 7: Seventh level rangers will find it a lot easier to Escape the Horde, forcing disadvantage on all opportunity attacks against you. Right now you’ve still got to keep your distance from your enemies to use your bow and arrow, so this will help. You can also cast Aid to increase your maximum HP along with that of a couple of friends for something that will really excitate your whole lineage.

Fighter 2: Bouncing back to fighter gets you an Action Surge for two actions per turn once per short rest. Now you get up to five attacks in a turn thanks to Horde Breaker and your extra attack.

Fighter 3: If we keep on trucking we’ll hit third level, which is where things get really spicy. As a Battle Master, you get four Combat Superiority d8s per short rest, and you can add one per attack to attack you make, dealing extra damage and adding effects to the blow. Technically. Only one of your maneuvers actually deals with attacks, but that’s Pushing Attack, which will do a lot of work for you. When you hit a creature you deal extra damage, and if they’re smaller than Huge and fail a strength save, they get pushed 15 feet away. Your other maneuvers are Evasive Footwork, adding the d8 to your AC while you move to make fighting you even harder, and Tactical Assessment, adding the die to an Investigation, History, or Insight check. We might not have been able to make you smart, but this should cover whatever tactics you need. You’re also a Student of War, giving you proficiency in any one artisan’s tools. Pick your fave, you’re not exactly Hokusai.

Fighter 4: Our last level in fighter grabs the Crusher feat for +1 Strength and once per turn you can push someone an extra 5 feet as long as they’re large or smaller. Also, critical bludgeoning hits give all attacks against their target advantage until you start your next turn. Now you can fling someone 20′ away, and while that technically doesn’t let you throw them in the air I’d allow it. Honestly, if someone’s moving that far away their feet have got to be leaving the ground at some point.

Ranger 8: Going back to Ranger for good now gets another ASI right away, and Gunner is a weird feat to pick, but hear me out. It’s basically the crossbow expert feat, but it trades that bonus action attack for a +1 to Dexterity, which is way more useful since you don’t use a hand crossbow. You also get proficiency with and can ignore loading on firearms, but most D&D games don’t have those anyway, so it’s fine to be a bit out of character. The real good reason we’re here is to ignore disadvantage on your ranged attacks if people are near you. Archery and brawling don’t normally go together, now they do. You also get Land’s Stride so you can move through difficult terrain easier and have advantage on saves against magical terrain. You leave a lot of corpses around in Shimousa, but this’ll help you keep your footing in that demiplane of skulls you do your boss fight in.

Ranger 9: Ninth level rangers get third level spells, like your Primal Awareness spell Speak with Plants. That might sound totally out of character, but it turns out there’s a legit reason for it: Hey look over there, it’s Flame Arrows! Finally, you can dip 12 arrows into fiery goodness, and each one deals an extra 1d6 fire damage on a hit. You’ve got up to an hour to use all of them, but it also takes concentration so don’t get too attached.

Ranger 10: Tenth level rangers are Tireless, letting you heal yourself with temporary HP as an action Proficiency times per day, and you heal exhaustion on short rests. Some people call that inhuman, I call it efficient. Gilgamesh wishes he had what you do. You can also use Nature’s Veil to turn invisible for a round as a bonus action Proficiency times per long rest. Think of it like a smoke bomb. Or a wildfire bomb. Just set things on fire, hide in the fire, done.

Ranger 11: At eleventh level, hunters can let out a Volley of ranged attacks, letting you attack every creature within a 10′ radius of a point you can see. Technically, this means you can pump out up to 50 attacks per round thanks to Action Surge, assuming a lot of creatures are dumb enough to clump up next to each other. 51, sorry, Horde breaker’s still there. To make getting into position easier you also learn the UA spell Flame Stride, negating opportunity attacks, bumping your speed up by 20 feet, and dealing fire damage to nearby creatures when you run by them. It also explicitly sets items on fire, so now we know how you caused so much damage in Shimousa.

Ranger 12: Use this ASI to round up your Strength and Dexterity for stronger punches, tougher punch saves, better arrows, and a higher AC. A banner level for you.

Ranger 13: Your new fourth level spell from Primal Awareness, Locate Creature is way easier to justify than the last one. You just know where the enemy general is located, even in the thick of battle. We’re basically building a Dynasty Warriors character at this point, aren’t we? You also get Freedom of Movement, just in case you need to speed around the battlefield without setting stuff on fire. I know, it’s boring without the fire. You just have to make due for two more levels.

Ranger 14: Your Favored Foe grows again, and you can Vanish as a bonus action, hiding yourself without any way to track you, bar magic.

Ranger 15: Your final spell of the build will turn you into a mighty inferno that can burn down all of Shimousa! Well, not really, but if you Summon Elemental then Vanish away, it’s almost like you turned into a fire elemental, right? You can also Stand Against the Tide, using your reaction to redirect a missed melee attack at another creature. It’s really hard to hit you when you run away, so I suggest fishing for attacks of opportunity for extra damage.

Ranger 16: Use your final ASI to grab the Tough feat for an extra 40 HP. Onis, man. They’re hard to kill.

Pros:

You specialize in dealing with large groups of enemies, with plenty of ways to move through them and attack over large areas at once.

Working with your bow and fists means you’re never in a bad position in a fight. Hah hah, you ambushed the archer, I guess you’re just getting your skulls bashed in instead.

Your range and speed, combined with your punches’ pushing power, means you are great at choosing your fights. For the most part you can determine where and when you fight an enemy, giving you a pretty solid advantage. As long as your DM doesn’t make all the fights take place in a vacant plain somewhere.

Cons:

Your charisma is pretty dismal, so even if you have a plan in mind good luck getting people to follow it.

You’re also pretty unfocused, and I mean that in every sense of the word. You’d be a lot more consistent with damage if you only focused on punching or arrows, and since you’re specialized for bunches of weak enemies single bosses can be tricky.

Most of your magic damage is Fire, which is easy to resist. If you’re up against a demon or devil, you might just have a bad time.

[builder051]

Whumptober 2021 day 5: Misunderstanding

Nat on fire

Small mentions of drug use, sickness, emeto

___________________________

Nat gets the call to action a few minutes past five on Wednesday morning. Her phone, stashed in the bed and still on its charger , begins to blare loudly, as does the pager she’s long since thrown into the depths of the closet. Once she answers one, they’ll both stop. It’s usually convenient, except that today she’s nowhere near either of them.

On a normal morning, Nat would still be in bed. Probably still in the dregs of REM, but lately, she’s just been drifting off at this hour, the drink and drugs in her system wearing down and leaving her to catch a short rest.

That’s not today, though. It’s the middle of the week, and Nat’s not stupid. She hasn’t shot up in two days. She hates to think that small of a break would put her in withdrawal, for she can’t be that addicted, can she? But that’s about the only logical cause Nat can think of for her sudden and desperate urge to leap out of bed and spill her guts into the toilet.

She’s been at it since…midnight? Maybe two. There was definitely a two showing on her glowing digital alarm clock when she dashed past it and skidded on her knees into the tiny bathroom. Hours have passed; Nat can tell without turning around to look at the clock. Her abdominal muscles have begin to hurt from heaving. She’s distinctly lightheaded, even perched up with the support of the toilet seat. Everything tastes like sour tropical fruit and salt and sweat. And Fury has a general rule about not calling before don’t-be-a-dick o’clock.

There’s a pause in the loud ringing from the bedroom behind her, then it all starts up again. Someone’s hit redial. Nat sighs and leans away from the toilet bowl, testing herself before leaving it completely. She’s fine, though shaky, and her throat seems both abraded and extra wet. “Ok,” she says, trying to push out speech without having to cough first.

Nat reaches around in the now-cold bedclothes and finds her phone, lit up and flashing Fury’s name.

“What?” Nat groans, almost before she has the speaker to her ear.

“Well, good morning to you,” Fury says in a clipped, annoyed tone. “What took you so long?”

“I was asleep…”

“Yeah, well, speedy reaction times are still a thing.”

Nat rolls her eyes, but but the movement brings back full-on nausea, so she stops, presses her shaky, slightly damp hand to her forehead, and takes two steps back until she finds the closet door against which to ground herself.

“Romanov?” Fury seems mildly concerned about her. Or maybe the connection of the call.

“Yeah,” Nat answers. “Here.”

“Briefing at 6:30. Trouble’s come up,” Fury explains shortly. “In country, so at least the flight’ll be short.”

“Urgent, uh, stuff…?” Nat hazards, her head more than her stomach telling her she’d be more comfortable back in the bathroom. She’s sure she’s emptied out, but that doesn’t mean the urge to retch is gone.

“Do I call you in for anything else?” Fury asks, as if she’s stupid.

“Well, um—“

“Briefing. 6:30,”. Fury shores up. “We still have a coffee machine.”

“Oh—“. Nat has to move her hand down over her mouth. “I’m really not feeling—“

“You’re up to it,” Fury says. “I promise. You’ll be finished by lunch, and you can all go and have your little celebratory hamburgers and what all.”

Nat’s going to explode. She presses what she hopes is the red button to end the call and throws her phone back on the bed. Then she turns on the spot and runs the three or four paces it takes to re-enter the bathroom. She bends at the waist and violently heaves, bringing up absolutely nothing except a dribble of foamy spit.

“Fabulous…”. Nat wipes her mouth on the back of her hand, then tries to force her fuzzy brain into motion. She needs to go into the office, there’s really no choice there. Then things are largely up to fate; she can sit seasick through a PowerPoint and bum along on a mission where she may or my not throw up on a jet, or she can get to the office and experience things going downhill from there. Nat can’t visualize an outcome where everything goes well.

Once she’s feeling steady enough, Nat gets back to her feet and turns on the bathroom light. She ignores the pale yellowish ring she’s made in the toilet and grabs a brush to see to her hair. Under the sink there’s a dusty gallon jug of distilled water, probably meant for the steam iron left untouched on the top shelf of the pantry. Fluids are fluids, though, and Nat has no Gatorade at the moment, so she unseals the lid and lifts the heavy bottle with both hands in order to take a drink. The water tastes like plastic, but anything’s better than the horror currently festering behind her molars.

Nat wore clothes to bed, a pair of faded black sweats and a SHIELD academy t-shirt, so she doesn’t bother getting dressed. She shoves her feet into tennis shoes without socks. Then she nabs a plastic grocery sack that’s listlessly floating across the kitchen tile opposite the window unit AC and stashes inside a pair of rolled up jeans and her phone. Nat takes her keys from the hook beside the front door, then takes a last deep breath and steps out into the hazy dawn.

It’s humid, and Nat’s car is covered in soft condensation. The moisture in the air settles on her upper lip, making her feel artificially hot and sick all over again. It’s only for a second, though, for once Nat’s in her vehicle, she blasts the cold air until she’s thoroughly chilled. Her hand shakes as she adjusts the temperature again to something more moderate, and it takes nearly the entire ride up the highway for her body to settle.

Nat’s fine, apart from a few hard swallows and intent breaths, until she gets to the side streets leading up to the SHIELD building. Half of them are one-way, and with cars illegally parked at intervals where she’d like to be driving, rather more attention is required than she’s prepared to give at the moment.

Nat’s stomach groans as she manages to squeeze past a crooked PT Cruiser with one tire attached to the curb. She swallows quickly a few times, but her mouth waters, and she isn’t sure anything is actually going down.

The next turn puts her at the entrance to the parking garage. Nat’s grateful that her full-time status lets her whiz past the barrier without having to stop and take a ticket. She loops around the first level, then the second. She’s about to go up the third and park on four, which puts her closest to the correct set of offices and locker rooms, but she’s beginning to taste bile again, and she knows she won’t last.

There’s a cluster of parking spaces in front of Nat, the weird angled ones that are most likely to get backed into by other cars as they escape at the end of the day, but, hey. She needs a spot and she needs one now. Nat means to let the car coast forward into the space, but it stagnates, and she hits the accelerator lightly. She has to slam on the break to keep from plowing into the blockade, and the jolt sends pure agony through her head, which then feeds down her spine, and into her abdomen.

“Fuck,” Nat mutters, trying to open the door and escape without first taking off her seatbelt. She hangs out of the car door, gagging for a moment, then her nausea dispels long enough for her come to her senses, disengage the seatbelt, and completely exit the car.

Unsteady on her feet, Nat clings to the door and hangs her head. Her breaths come fast and light perspiration forms on her forehead. Her throat feels gunky and sore, and she’s unaware of what or how much she’s expelling until she hears the splatter agains the garage floor.

A car horn honks suddenly behind Nat, and she starts, whipping her head around. Headlights nearly blind her, but Nat can make out the silhouette of an open door and someone moving toward her.

“Nat?” A familiar voice calls, and she can see him pick up his pace, running now to close the gap between his car and hers.

Nat curses under her breath, then spits and shakes her head. There’s no real hiding the evidence, not at this point. Best she can do is come up with a convincing lie and hope her body can roll with it.

“Are you ok?” Steve asks, approaching her with arm outstretched. He goes to touch her shoulder, but changes his mind at the last moment and places his palm atop the roof of the sedan.

“Um. Yeah.” Nat clears her throat a little, which burns and brings on a secondary desire to turn her insides out, but she clenches every muscle esophagus to colon and manages to keep it down.

“Are you—?”

“Coffee.” Nat tries to find her voice. “Didn’t quite agree with me.”

“Uh…”. Steve shakes his head. “That’s not coffee.”

Nat turns her head a micrometer and sees him looking at the hideously yellow bile running downhill toward her tires.

“Why are you so interested in looking at my…” Nat accuses. “You know. And why’d you honk at me?”

“That was a mistake.” Steve looks mildly ashamed. “I just traded in for a newer model…” He trails off.

“No matter what year it is, you shouldn’t leave it idling like that,” Nat snaps. She gets a swipe in at her face while Steve’s looking backward at his inappropriate high beams.

“You seem like you’re in trouble,” Steve says abruptly, still turned away. “You’re really sick.”

The flickering fluorescents overhead can’t be doing anything good for her complexion. “Eh. Everybody gets hit sometimes.”

“You shouldn’t have had to come in.”

Nat’s laugh comes out more like a weak, hitching sigh. “Try telling that to Fury.”

“You downplay things. Hard. You know?” Steve’s free hand comes out of nowhere and the backs of his fingers rest lightly below Nat’s cheekbone.

“Get off, you creep—“

“Relax. I’m just checking your temperature.” Steve’s smile looks placating, but his eyes are wide and honest.

“Hm.” Nat sniffs and waits for him to be done.

Steve drops his hand back to his side and nods conclusively.

“What?”

“Just what I thought. You’re warm.” Steve doesn’t waste time. “C’mon, I’ll quit idling my engine and take you home.”

“Nah, I’ll probably ruin your new upholstery.” Nat gulps, disgusted by the possibility of new car smell filling her lungs and sinus cavities. “I don’t know. I’ll just…”. Nat looks into her vehicle, dreading the journey back to her apartment. She shifts her eyes back to Steve. “And I’ll have to beg out to Fury first, anyway.”

“I’ll do it for you,” Steve says. “On my word.”

“You’re not going to take pictures on your phone, are you?” Nat asks weakly. “You’re going to need proof to get past that guy…”

“If you can’t ride in a car, you need to be in medical.” Steve seems to realize he hasn’t broken it to her gently, so he backtracks and says, “With beds, you know?”

Nat wants to disagree. Even if she’s not fit for a mission, she can at least be independent. Take care of herself. But what’s she even thinking? She’s barfing in a damn parking garage, getting rescued by a coworker because she can’t even get up to the right floor.

“Fine,” Nat practically growls. “But no needles.” The nurse babysitting her doesn’t need to see the baby track marks dotting her inner elbow. She’ll keep those to herself, thank you very much. “No IVs. Bed. Bin. That’s all.”

“I’ll make sure that’s clearly communicated.” Steve nods , then jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “Let me go park that thing, and I’ll walk you in.”

“Sure…”

Steve vanishes, and a moment later, the offensive headlights dim to something more manageable. His car moves forward and comes to a stop a few places down from hers.

Nat could vanish, too. Run into the building. Jump into her driver’s seat and speed off.

She doesn’t need the help. Or the charity. Or the friendship, really. She isn’t quite sure why, but she stays.

[imagine-loki]

Blushing in His Colours, Chapter 23

TITLE: Blushing in His Colours CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 23 AUTHOR: fanficshiddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki being a Daddy Dom, his adores and loves his little, worships the ground she walks on. She has vaginismus, but he couldn’t be more supportive with her. RATING: M

‘Relax, sweetling. I know you can do this.’ Loki said softly as he rubbed her hip gently.

Mia took a deep breath and was able to relax her muscles enough for Loki to push the dilator into her. With plenty of lube, it slipped in and she gasped at the feeling.

It was the next size up they were using, now on the third one, as they both felt she was ready for it. She could certainly feel it was there, that was for sure.

‘How does that feel, love?’ Loki asked as he made sure it was nice and secure, wiggling it a little and making her gasp, that made him smirk.

‘It feels… weird.’

‘Good or bad weird?’

‘Good… I think. There’s no pain. Just… full.’ She blushed.

Loki grinned and moved up the bed to lie next to her. He trailed his fingers over her stomach, making her squirm a little. He slid his other arm underneath her body to her other side and he started to tease her nipples, his hand at her stomach slid downwards to play with her clit at the same time, making her gasp.

‘You look so beautiful, blushing and writhing in my arms.’ Loki hummed as he strummed her clit and right nipple at the same time, alternating to her left nipple now and then. His arms were so long it was easy for him to reach wherever he needed to, none of her was off limits to him.

Mia turned her face against him, hiding as she grabbed hold of his arm. The pressure on her clit was heavenly, a nice firm and steady rhythm. Having the dilator inside of her, making her feel full added to her pleasure too.

‘Your lovely quim held nice and open for me, you love being filled, don’t you little one?’ He growled.

She nodded quickly.

‘Use your words, sweetling.’ Loki said firmly, tugging on her nipple.

‘Yes! Daddy!’ She cried out, gasping.

‘Yes, what?’ Loki teased.

‘Yes… I love being filled, Daddy.’ She whined, still keeping her face hidden.

‘Mmm, good girl.’ Loki had her so wet, he was actually worried for a moment that the dilator would just come flying out again. So he used his ring finger to push against the base of it, making sure it stayed in place.

That became more needed when she had an orgasm, her muscles started contracting around it. She trembled and gripped his arm tighter, digging her nails into him. He almost came himself, it was always so arousing to make her cum.

He let her just rest for a while afterwards, with the dilator still inside her. He spoke softly to her, just stroking her back and hair. Until ten minutes or so had passed and he deemed that long enough for this time.

After showering together, they had yet another lazy day around the villa. Mia spent most of her time in the pool, Loki had to use his firm tone to get her out of it so she wouldn’t turn into a prune.

‘You are quite the water baby, aren’t you?’ He grinned as he held a towel open for her, she was pouting at having to come out again, even though she had been in for near two hours this time.

He wrapped the towel around her and started to dry her, kissing the top of her head. ‘Maybe we should get Stark to install a pool back at base.’ He chuckled.

‘That would be ace!’ She said excitedly.

‘Although then I would never see you!’

Mia shrugged. ‘I could become a mermaid. You could be the handsome visitor that comes to feed me and give me orgasms.’ She grinned over the top up at him, making him throw his head back with laughter.

‘As delightful as that idea sounds, I’d much rather have you in my bed with me every night instead of in a pool.’ He tapped her nose playfully.

When they went back inside, Mia went to put on some clothes. But Loki stopped her when he followed her into the bedroom.

She was confused as he sat down on the bed, but it became clear when he patted his thigh.

‘You said this morning how you wanted a spanking, I think now is the ideal time.’ He purred and put his hand out towards her.

Mia’s mouth went dry at the thought. She took his hand and he helped her down over his lap, ass up. She could feel his erection pressing against her stomach through his trousers.

‘Hands.’ Loki said firmly.

Mia reached back, giving him her hands. Instead of attaching the bangles together, he just held them both in one of his hands and started to stroke her bum. He smirked when he saw her glistening wet already, he couldn’t resist sliding a finger up and down her, making her moan.

‘Wet already. And I haven’t even begun yet.’ He teased.

He checked that she still remembered her safe word, then he began to assault her backside. The smacks echoed around the room, making her jump each time at the harsh impact. She couldn’t understand it herself, why she had been wanting a spanking. Or why she was absolutely dripping with every hit.

She could feel the power behind every swat, his large hand covering a huge area. It didn’t take much effort from Loki to have her entire bum reddened so soon.

Loki stopped after ten smacks, to play with her cunt for a while. He managed to slip two fingers into her rather easily, no resistance, surprising them both a little. But both were delighted at the same time.

After getting his fingers into her rather easily, he wasn’t about to waste the opportunity. As much as he wanted to continue spanking her, he put that on hold.

He curled his fingers and twisted them about, until he pulled a moan from her when he found just the right spot. He concentrated on that spot and started thrusting into her, harder and harder, until she shook so much she almost fell off his lap when she came.

‘Beautiful, sweetling. Simply beautiful.’ Loki hummed, slowing down his thrusting and stroking around inside her gently.

‘Oh god!’ She groaned, going completely limp on his lap. His hold on her hands kept her steady, he wouldn’t let her fall.

When he pulled his fingers out, he quickly sucked them clean before continuing to administer some more spanks. She yelped with each one, as it progressively got harder. Until Loki was sure she was almost at her pain limit, then he stopped and rubbed her bright red bum softly.

‘What a good girl you are, Mia. Daddy is very proud of you.’ He carefully helped her to sit up, she hissed as her bum stung against his trousers.

She cuddled into him though and held onto his shirt tightly, clinging to him. Loki rocked her back and fore for a while, until she had calmed down more. Then he lay her on the bed and got some soothing cream for her bum, helping with the stinging almost instantly.

Though weirdly, part of her wanted to feel it for a few days.

Mia felt quite floaty and content for the rest of the day. In the evening, they were just watching a comedy film on TV while they ate some snacks and cuddled on the sofa. Mia was naked while Loki was wearing his trousers and had an open shirt on.

‘Uhm, Daddy?’ She said quietly, turning more to face him. She had her upper body on his lap and had been like that for most of the evening.

‘What is it, love?’ Loki asked, stroking her arm.

‘I still don’t really get why I find so much pleasure in a spanking? I mean… I still feel good now after it too. And I, weirdly, enjoy feeling the sting whenever I move.’ She blushed hard.

Loki smiled and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. ‘That’s natural, sweetling. Some people are highly into pain play, but some, like you, don’t enjoy pain much but do enjoy a good spanking. It’s the intimacy of it, and the lasting effect. It makes you feel owned, doesn’t it?’ Loki said knowingly.

She nodded and bit her lower lip.

‘Pain also releases endorphins, which can make you feel good. And because you’re being spanked on your bottom, it causes blood to rush to that area. And what else is in that area?’ He smirked and lightly stroked her abdomen.

‘My… my cunt.’ She said a little shyly.

‘That’s right. So it heightens everything else. I’m guessing being over Daddy’s knee in such a vulnerable position is part of the excitement too, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, Daddy.’ She nodded again.

Loki smiled and kissed her forehead.

He had noticed since they’d been at the villa for the last week, just the two of them, she seemed to be in little space more often. More vulnerable seeming. Not that he was complaining, he loved looking after her. If she felt safe and happier being in little space, he was more than happy with that. He just felt bad about when they would return to base, she wouldn’t be able to be herself quite the same.

Though he decided to cross that bridge when they come to it. In the meantime, he was going to enjoy all the exclusive time he had with his girl.

[pudding-head-kenma]

Wear Your Name Proudly [ Konoha x Reader ]

Request: Fluff with Konohaaaaaaaa we all need it(I feel like u probably know who this is now lmao)

A/N: number 1. i’m too stupid to know who this is 👉👈🥺. number 2.... i guess this could be taken as angst?? but there’s cuddling, mutual trust and taking care of a loved one, and i consider that fluff 👉👈

You knock on the door for the third time in the last few minutes. For the first time, you hear ruffling inside, and slow footsteps approach you.

You and your boyfriend had planned to hang out today after his practise was over, since they were – for once – going to leave early, meaning you could use the rest of your free evening to have a date. He hadn’t texted you by the time practise was meant to be over, but you paid no mind to it, instead deciding to head to his house.

After the first knock, you figured he just wasn’t home. It wasn’t unlikely that they would stay just a little bit longer at the gym if they were finishing a practise match, so you decided to take out your phone and call him.

You heard buzzing inside.

Okay, that’s weird... So you knock again. By the second knock, you wonder if perhaps he left his phone at home, so you decide to text Bokuto and ask if they’re going to take long. He seems confused by your text, and lets you know that practise ended a while ago. You ask if perhaps Konoha had decided to practise a little more, and he tells you he went home before everyone else.

Okay, that’s weird.

Now you’re worried. If he’s home, why isn’t he answering the door? Or his phone? Did something bad happen to him, is he hurt?

Your third knock is a little more assertive, and you have your phone on your hand, ready to call someone if he doesn’t reply this time.

But you heard the ruffling and footsteps, and you immediately relax. He’s okay.

Well... him being okay is arguable. He’s alive, anyway.

“Aki?” Your voice is barely above a whisper, and you’re barely even sure why you’re calling out for him, unable to think of a single thing to say.

He looks exhausted.  His hair is ruffled in every possible direction, and you take note of how his eyes are slightly puffier than usual, his nose a little red. He looks... cold, emotionless. The entire house is dark, all blinds and windows closed even though it’s the middle of the day. At first, you wonder if he’s sick. Maybe he caught a cold and tried to go to practise but ended up overworking himself and decided to come home. However, you can see it in his eyes – he’s just going through a bad time.

There are times Konoha gets like this. Despite being a little sarcastic and even provocative with his team, which gives off the impression that he’s always a little mischievous and seldom sad, he tends to hide his pain away most of the time. This results in him exploding at random times, engulfed and overwhelmed by his own worries. By default, he doesn’t call anyone. He deals with it alone, and he’s back to being himself the next day.

It has been a while since the last time you saw him like this. You faintly remember it being about a particular game they lost that really took a toll on them, and he kept ranting about how Bokuto had gotten into one of his  moods at the worst possible time – he’s clearly very frustrated about that particular subject, as you’ve come to learn. He loves the guy to death, but it leaves him anxious to know their ace (not to mention captain) could just break at any time during a game when he’s meant to be the rock of the team.

Immediately recognising his mood, you drop your bag and wrap your arms around him, bringing him into a tight hug. He barely moves at all, letting his arms hang by his sides for a few seconds before moving them up hesitantly, wrapping them loosely around your waist. He probably tired himself out crying, and you’re not sure if it’s frustration, anger, or sadness, but it doesn’t matter. You know you need to take care of him today.

The first thing you do is take him to his room. He’s attached to you, but he’s not exactly dead weight. He’s mostly clinging to you desperately, like you’re the only thing currently keeping him together. All things considered, that’s probably not far from the truth, given the current situation. You make sure he lies down on his bed comfortably, pressing a kiss to his forehead in promise of being back soon before heading to the kitchen to brew some tea for him. It helps calm him down to talk over things over a warm beverage, you know that now.

A few minutes later, you’re able to help him sit down just enough for him to take the mug, and he immediately seems to relax from the shift in atmosphere – he doesn’t feel good, you can tell that much, but he seems a little calmer now that he has company.

“I’m sorry.” It pains you that those are the first words to leave him a few moments later – he has nothing to apologise about, and it frustrates you that he would feel the need to.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Aki. I’m here for you, you know that.”

“I ruined our chance to have a date. We probably won’t get any free time for a while.” He has pretty much ignored your reassurance – he doesn’t do it on purpose, he’s just focused on other things, lost in his own head.

You reach forward and gently cup his cheeks, making him lift up his gaze. When he gets into these moods, it’s not rare for him to be looking away, lost in thought while glancing at the floor, zoning out while focusing on a pillow. So you know that you need to snap him out of him from time to time, bring his attention back to you, back to reality.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for. We can have more dates in the future, it’s not important. Your well being is more important to me. Right now, and always.” You explain again, this time a little slower, making sure you don’t break eye contact. He needs to hear it, and you need to say it – not because he needs it, but because you mean it.

He freezes for a few seconds, overwhelmed with emotion once again. So used to taking care of his team, it’s likely that he forgets to take care of himself. To have someone else, someone he cares about, do it for him must feel like a dream. He relaxes into your touch, and his eyes close as he takes a sip from the tea, before he’s able to mutter out something again.

“I’m tired of being seen as the weak member of the team.”

This shocks you. You’ve seen their practise multiple times, and not once did you ever think he was the weak member at all. In fact, you can’t think of a single person who would be able to think that; in fact, he’s probably one of the strongest members, even with the whole team being very powerful in general.

“What are you talking about?”

“Everyone thinks I’m weak.”

For a second, you think he’s just exaggerating – not that it would invalidate his feelings, but when we’re stressed we tend to think others think badly of us. However, the way he speaks... He talks like it’s something he has come to accept a while ago, not only during this stressful breakdown. It sounds like he has been told that before, and it makes you feel uneasy. Was the team perhaps being unfair to him? You couldn’t imagine such a thing, but...

You don’t have much time to wonder before he speaks up again.

“I don’t know, I think- I thought I was pretty good, but they just don’t agree. I’m tired of that stupid nickname. I get it, I’m not fucking perfect at anything, I’m not a perfect setter like Akaashi nor a perfect spiker like Bokuto, but I’m trying. I’m really, really trying Y/N.”

It clicks.

You know exactly what he’s talking about. Through the years, the team had given him a nickname – you can’t remember exactly, but it’s something along the lines of ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’.  Like that popular saying. You believe it happened overtime, as he consistently showed his ability to take on any position just fine, even subbing in for Akaashi once when the time called for it. You know the team doesn’t mean any harm, but you never thought about how much it affects Konoha himself.

“I get that I can’t be the best at any of the positions, and I get that it’s ridiculous. I can’t just be a very good setter, a very good spiker, a very good libero, I can’t be a very good anything. I’m just average in all of the options. But why do they have to keep reminding me of that? I get it, I set the ball when Akaashi couldn’t reach today, but why do they need to remind me that it doesn’t work for me?” He’s getting more agitated as he speaks, likely as he recalls the events of today’s practise. You stay quiet, allowing him to vent, to let go of what’s bothering him.

“ ‘Ah, Jack strikes again!’ I’m sick of it. Why do they have to word it like that? I get it, I’m going out of my way, and I’m not even that good at what I do originally, but just- why? Why do you have to keep telling me that?”  He seems to be done talking. He brings his hands up to his hair, roughly tugging at it before covering his face, the tea long forgotten on the table next to him.

You understand. You never thought about it before, but you definitely understand. So, setting your tea down as well, you gently shove his shoulder. He’s pliant under your touch, trusting, expecting you to know how to help him, believing you can help him. You lie him down again and climb on the bed behind him, attaching yourself to his back immediately. He relaxes, melting into the warmth you bring, and his breath starts getting regular again.

“I think you’re misunderstanding. It’s not an insult at all, Aki.” He tenses up, but doesn’t speak. He’s willing to listen, even if he’s already objecting and formulating other possibilities in his head, other ways it has been used as an insult. You don’t give him the time to go into detail, speaking up once more in a gentle voice.

“Granted, it’s a nickname that bothers you, and that’s something worth bringing up with them. However, I’m sure everyone means it in the most flattering way possible. You know that saying continues, right?” That seems to peak his interest, because he’s shoving you away gently, only enough for him to turn around and face you. True to his name, any cuddling position works just fine for him, but he does have a preference for the ones he can see you.

You bring him in closer, allowing him to rest his head on your chest. You’re taking care of him today, and you want to show it through actions just as much as words.

“Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than master of one. That’s how the saying goes. It’s a compliment. You’re a generalist more than a specialist, meaning you’re better at resolving issues than someone who’s very good in a specific department. You’re versatile and able to think on the spot, instead of being stuck to your element.”

He seems to tense up a little at that as well, but this time it’s different. It’s not a pained tensing up, not a worried or anxious one, but more of a realisation. He realises that it could be interpreted like that as well, and fears he might have let his insecurities get the better of him. His grip around you tightens, and you wrap your arms even harder around him, a quiet promise that you’re protecting him.

“Do you know why you have such a good team, with such amazing specialist players? Because you’re there. If you’re there, they can focus on getting better and better on their own position, knowing they always have you. You always have everyone’s backs, Aki. You have Bokuto’s back when he’s being blocked, you have Akaashi’s back when he had to touch the ball first during a receive, and you have everyone’s back when Bokuto goes crazy and they need to depend on you to score. It’s because they have such an amazing generalist on their team that they can focus on being specialists. You’re their most important player. You keep the team together.”

By now, you can tell he’s crying. You don’t think you’ve really said all that much, but it must be very important for him to hear this. He has likely been doubting himself for quite some time, so it must be reassuring to be praised. It must be hard; Konoha is extremely into volleyball, and sometimes he gets really competitive. If he thought that nickname was used as an insult to tell him he wasn’t as good as the others on the team who excel at what they do, it must have really hurt him. You wish he had brought this up with you sooner.

No other words are exchanged between the two of you about the topic; you keep him close to you, gently combing through his hair in hopes of calming down his sobs, which now have gotten louder. He’s letting them pour out, and it’s for the best – his frustrations, his shame, his anger, they’re all pouring out with them, being instead replaced by confidence, understanding, and pride. He should wear the nickname proudly, because that’s the only way his team would ever mean it. He knows it, of course, knows they would never insult him in such a way, but sometimes he can get too much into his own head.

That’s where you come in. Your gentle touches and kind words are a silent promise of help, of compromise to him, to always be with him and help him through this. In the same way he helps you through your own issues.

At the end of the day, you two have each other, and will always have each other.

So you remain quiet, basking in each other’s presence, lucky to be together. Lucky to be able to count on one another, thankful for the time you’re allowed to spend by the other’s side, grateful for the wonderful memories you’re able to create.

And another day goes by, and you both end up sleeping the problems away.

When Konoha shows up confident the next day, now laughing along at the mentions of the nickname, nobody seems to notice.

But as you sit and watch them practise, you know. He has changed again, grown to accept himself even a little more, and you were there to see it.

And you sit there, hoping you’ll get to see it again.

[shreddedparchment]

Man and Wife Pt.01

The Perv

Pairing: Bucky x Reader          Word Count: 4,841

Warnings: smut, unprotected sex, small injuries, language, stranger sex

A/N: This fic is written for Kari’s Sebastian Stan Challenge. This might continue past this initial piece. I’m not sure yet. It works well on it’s own but I’m kinda eager to explore this. If you like it, leave me a comment! Or not. Either way is cool. If you happen to reblog, thanks so much for helping me spread my work!

What is the most awkward way that you can meet someone?

Somewhere on that very long list must be the way you met James Buchanan Barnes.

You’d been eager to get out of the house. This summer had been one of the hottest summers in the last hundred years. With heat indexes reaching about a hundred and ten degrees.

New York isn’t the hottest state and hadn’t seen a record-breaking heat since the 30s. That had been in the city.

Here upstate, it was even less likely. What the hell is happening?

Seeking a reprieve from the intense heat that made your skin glisten and sticky with salty sweat, you and four friends had jumped into your baby blue 1964 Volkswagen van and headed for the newly opened Ocean Dome—a three story water park sealed within a large climate-controlled bubble.

“Damn, Y/N, when are you going to fix the stupid AC?” A short girl with short wavy blonde hair asks with irritation.

She’s got her right foot resting on your dash and she kicks it hard with that foot in frustration.

“Hey!” You yell. “Leave my baby alone! She’s trying.”

You reach out and gently caress the faded and cracked faux wood dashboard.

“I’m sorry, baby, I’ll stick jelly beans up her nose when she’s sleeping.” You promise.

The blonde scoffs, laughing at your protectiveness with your unrestored vintage. She turns her gaze towards the back, the other three girls, all with varying styles and lengths of dark hair, are laughing loudly as they gossip.

“Did we need to bring all of them?” The blonde asks you.

“Case, we need to start at least trying to get to know our neighbors.”

“Why?” Casey settles into the passenger’s seat, relaxing more. “They’re sorority brats living off daddy’s money.”

“They’re not in a sorority.” You say with a laugh though a house full of fifteen girls is weird outside of that context.

“There’s like a football team of them in that house.” Casey argues with a laugh in her voice.

You glance into the rearview mirror as the girl sitting in the row furthest back stands up and pulls her shorts down pressing her ass to the back window to flash the car behind you.

You almost want to tell her to stop but you don’t want to seem like a square. They’re not paying any attention to you or Casey and don’t hear you talking about them.

“Look at them.” Casey complains. “They’re like wild animals.”

She shifts in her seat to turn to look at them better, tugging at her seatbelt.

“Hey! Are you going to wipe your butt oils off that window? Get your nasty ass off the glass.”

The girls just laugh harder as the third pulls her shorts back up and settles back down into her seat looking rightfully chastised.

“Sorry, Y/N.” The girl says.

“It’s okay…” You try to remember her name but she’s already talking to her friends and paying you no mind.

“I hope they drown.” Casey gripes.

“Case!” You laugh, the seriousness on Casey’s face drawing the amusement out of you like no one else can.

The water park is packed. Really packed.

“Maybe we should have come on a week day?” You wonder and are suddenly shoved forward as the three brunettes you’d brought hurry past you and disappear into the crowd.

“Ugh, good riddance.” Casey grumbles. “This place is new. And it’s summer. I doubt it’s going to get any less packed for a while. Besides, now’s the time to come while everything is still working.

“Yeah.” You agree and let your eyes rove over the first floor.

It’s the largest out of the three levels with a pair of large wave pools at the center. One actually creates large waves where people can surf and seems rather dangerous. You’re definitely avoiding that one. The second with the much smaller waves, is full of families with kids and young teens in neon yellow, pink, purple, and green tubes. They float casually, lazily as they enjoy the cooler temperatures of the water.

To the right are four long lines that flow up towards the third floor where two large yellow and orange slides weave down back towards the bottom floor into a smaller but deeper pool than the wave pools. There are also green and blue slides that flow onto the second floor into what you can see is another pool on the other side of a tall modern steel and plexiglass banister.

You can see people in bright bathing suits weaving around the second-floor pool towards small stalls where one can buy drinks and snacks.

Here on the first floor, the back wall is taken up by a large tropical themed restaurant, tube and board rental stations, the largest set of bathrooms in the park, and the lockers.

To the left of the two wave pools is a large expanse of space at the center of which is a large splash bad with a huge red and white beach ball, hollowed out with small kiddie slides flowing down from several sides.

Two fake palm trees spew water up into the air where it falls on toddlers and small kids as they giggle and splash. All around this kiddie section are hundreds of lounge chairs and umbrellas with small tables attached. As you scan the area, you can see that there’s hardly an empty seat.

Finally, around the outer walls of the first floor and going through the center space between the wave pools, is a winding Lazy River with bumper to bumper tubes and people milling about in the easy flowing turquoise water.

This one ride’s water is different in color from the sterile and chlorinated water of the other attractions. The large sign of its entrance advertises with large brightly colored words sticking out of the top right corner, ‘True Caribbean Waters’. Which really just means it’s a saltwater river.

You’re not unaware of how almost everyone in the Lazy River is paired off. This is where couples go to lounge and be together, guys pushing their girls on tubes. There are a few families sprinkled throughout, fathers pushing kids or mothers with babies, but the majority are cuddling couples.

“Where are all the other rides?” Casey wonders, exploring the space with her green eyes, just like you.

“Second floor?” You offer.

“What do you wanna do?” She asks.

“Let’s go find a locker.” You adjust the bag on your shoulder. Towels and extra clothes packed in.

You find the lockers by the bathrooms close to the large splash pad and countless lounge chairs. You and Casey manage to get two of them close to each other and after slipping your belongings into the small square space, you make sure to slip your waterproof wrist band on which is loaded with all of your spending money specifically set aside for today.

“So, what now? You want to-? Case?” You look around, searching over the heads you can look over and tiptoeing to get a glance around the taller people. “Casey? Casey?”

However, Casey is nowhere in sight. “Well, shit.”

“Wow chit!” A blonde toddler exclaims as he passes you with his mother.

The mother scowls at you.

“Sorry.” You offer, clenching your teeth. Oops.

Maybe Casey went to one of the wave pools?

Feeling self-conscious of the one-piece suit you’re in—a cute powder pink suit that is much sexier than you’ve ever considered wearing that leaves your back exposed, held together with thick straps that tie at a bow between your shoulder blades—you wander over to the center of the two large pools and quickly scan the bodies drifting up and down with the push of the waves.

No Casey.

A quick walk by the lines by the waterslides tell you that Casey is not a thrill seeker.

You check the bathrooms, the restaurant, the snack stands, and then wander along the splash pad, weaving through the countless chairs.

“Casey?” You call out every now and then, but she never responds.

Yes, coming here had been your idea. Yes, you are enjoying the cooler temperature and the smell of the chlorine. Yes, the water looks inviting, but you hadn’t wanted to be here alone.

You find yourself standing in front of the large arched sign of the Lazy River and sigh. Well, you’re here to cool off, right? Might as well cool off.

You toss your hair over your right shoulder and carefully descend the steps into the surprisingly cold water. You’re very aware of your nipples straining hard against your suit. You release the bar of the stairs and cross your arms across your chest but continue to walk into the water with a gasp.

The cool water takes your breath away, but you keep walking, following the flow of the river. Because it’s the weekend, the park is open late. You and Casey had carefully planned when you’d come to the park to try and avoid the crowds that would surely gather. It had already been late afternoon when you arrived. Now, after an hour of searching, you can see the sun beginning its descent through the large dome of the park, inching closer and closer to the horizon.

It paints the sky burning orange and rose petal pink, the tippy top of the sky fading into a dark plum with the first sparkles of the night’s stars peeking out.

Because it’s getting later, the Lazy River is less crowded now with families and older couples leaving, making space so that you can walk through the water slowly and without bumping into people.

A girl with bright red hair sits in a tube, her bottom disappearing through the center with her long legs gently scratching your arm as she and her boyfriend? Husband? As they pass, without paying you any mind, she leans her head back and the guy she’s with kisses her lips upside down.

You look away, aching with jealousy. You haven’t been kissed in so long!

You reach up and massage your lips as you walk along the artificial floor, the easy flow of the river pushing you gently forward so that you have to fight your progress. It makes your feet slip and slide along the floor.

After about twenty minutes, it starts to hurt. You should have grabbed a tube. By now the dome is lit by artificial light but here in the river, there are dim lights to give the area a soft glow with most of the bright lights reserved for the splash pad and the wave pools. The slides are closed which begin to drive away the more frenzied teens.

The sun is set and the last of the orange sunset fades into darkness.

“Woah, woah! Hey! WOAH!”

Two loud splashes sound around you and you begin to scream but you’re pulled underwater by the weight of a body and another splash.

You gurgle, fighting against the rush of choking water rushing into your throat. You can feel strong hands on your hips, and you’re suddenly pulled upwards out of the brine.

As your head breaks the surface, you gasp in a lungful of air and then begin to cough, wiping at your face to clear it of water.

Those strong hands, one oddly cooler than the other through your suit, are still on your hips.

You force your eyes open, straining against the blur of the water and the curtain of your wet hair as you try and see who it is that’s still holding you.

“Hey, I’m so, so sorry. My friends are assholes. Are you alright?” There’s a slight slur to his words, almost as if he’s drunk maybe? Or tipsy at the very least. His voice is deep though. Sexy if you weren’t so annoyed with having almost been murdered.

The cool hand pushes your hair back and you see a flash of silver as he does it. You’re almost able to process what it is you’re looking at but before you can there’s an outraged gasp.

“We’re what?!”

You feel the body in front of you move towards you forcefully as if he was roughly pushed and he slips. You don’t.

As he tumbles towards you, his face slides down and nestles itself directly into your chest, his angular chin pulling down on the V-cut neckline of your suit exposing more inner side-boob than you like.

Your body rages with an embarrassed fever. You can feel the heat start at your tummy and spread up into your chest, your neck, and your ears. Your heart beings to pound and this guy, whoever the hell he is, has his lips and nose pressed into the soft flesh of your breasts that he must be able to feel your heartbeat.

“Oh my God!” You gasp, reaching down to shove his shoulders away from you.

As he straightens up, you can see the blur of inebriation in his eyes. You have no time to see anything else. “Wow. Breasts are awesome.”

Your hand shoots out of its own accord and you slap him hard across the face then move around him and scurry away.

“Ow.” He says from somewhere behind you while his buddies, whoever they are laugh loudly. “Hey wait!”

You leave them behind quickly, your arms wrapped around your chest as you push yourself faster against the floor. It takes you a few minutes to find an exit and you hurry up the stairs. Dripping wet, you search for the set of stairs that lead up to the second floor and hurry up still searching the less dense crowd for Casey.

Once you reach the second level landing you pass the Bumper Boats and the Flow Rider and the pool where the less intense slides empty into. There are a few picnic tables with a people eating from the snack stalls or simply lounging around enjoying the atmosphere.

By the time you find the third-floor stairs, your right foot is hurting badly. You look down and see a small red stain on the step you just placed your foot.

“Damn it.” You keep going but avoid walking on the ball of your foot, which makes you limp as you try not to put too much pressure on it.

On the third level you find a pool bar. This must be where the adults hangout. Even now there are more people lounging here than there are on the second level. Every submerged stool by the light blue tiled bar is taken. The straw, tropical styled roof that in the daytime must provide much needed shade from the burning midday sun, doesn’t seem as popular to the other people who look up at the sky through the thick glass dome.

It’s littered with stars. The inky black is beautiful, but your foot hurts and you don’t see Casey.

You limp towards a distant corner, away from the people in the pool bar, past the faux stone archway that leads into what looks like a dimly lit cave with multicolored lights from which drifts music.

You head towards the area where the dome connects into the floor, several lounge seats angled towards the glass. They’re empty so you sit down, turning your back on the hustle and bustle of the park.

You pull your leg up, staring at the peeled skin on the ball of your foot. It’s not bad, just hurts because you’ve been ignoring it. Maybe you should have stopped by the first aid office and asked for some band-aids? And maybe bought some sandals in the gift shop?

“Hey.” You know that voice!

You turn and jump to your feet, wincing as you step on your scrape.

“Woah. Hey, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” It’s the guy from earlier. And enough time has passed that it doesn’t seem like he’s tipsy anymore.

Now that you’re not speeding away from him, you let yourself see him clearly. He’s big. Bigger than he felt in the Lazy River. He’s at least six feet tall, or close to it. His shoulders are wide, his chest is bare sculpted perfection, and his stomach is cut in deep rivers of glistening muscle. He’s wearing dark gray swim trunks with a large red stripe running down along the sides that sit low on his hips exposing the top of the V of his pelvis.

He sees where your eyes roam and he pulls his shorts up higher and quickly undoes the string holding them up and ties them on more tightly.

Your neck burns again, this time because you’d been caught admiring his physique. It’s kind of hard not to. Of course, this admiration quickly adjusts to curiosity as you eye his left metallic arm. Now that you see it more clearly, it’s dark, not silver like you’d thought. It’s almost black with small flecks of gold throughout.

Once again, he follows your gaze and quickly pulls his arm behind his back.

“Is this what it felt like for you with my head shoved between your boobs?” The man asks, feeling exposed.

“Yes.” You admit. Serves him right.

Finally, you look up at his face and your heart nearly shatters. He’s…he’s just so-His eyes are so blue, and his brow furrowed but they sparkle with amusement and embarrassment?

His chin is covered in scruff. He’s older. How much older? His dark hair is pulled back into a low bun. A recent decision as you distinctly remember the tickle of hair between your breasts when he’d found himself there.

“Sorry.” He says and takes a step towards you.

You take a step back and wince as you step on your right.

“Hey, really, I’m-I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to apologize for what happened before. I meant it when I said that my friends are assholes. People think Steve is some goody two-shoes but he’s really, really not.

“Steve?” You look at his arm again and you feel your like you’ve missed a step as you connect the dots.

“You’re Bucky Barnes?” You ask, curious but surprised.

“You know who I am?” He asks, smiling beautifully.

You can’t find your voice, so you nod.

You know this man from history, from the news. This man is famous in a not so good way but also a very good way. He’s a hero although most people see the Winter Soldier. You see both.

He blushes scarlet and reaches to pull his hair loose. He scratches the back of his head and blows a rush of air out through a nervous pucker of his lips.

“Look, I’m sorry about what I said before. I’m not-I don’t-It’s not like I’m some type of-”

“Pervert?” You offer, relaxing and quirking a brow.

He chuckles nervous and glances back towards the pool bar. No one is paying attention to the two of you.

“Yeah.” He admits. “I’m not that.”

Shame. For a moment—maybe you’ve been single too long? You kind of wish he’d throw himself at you but why would he? He’s hot and gorgeous. You’re…you.

Limping back to your seat you sit down and listen as Bucky moves to stand beside you.

“Are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing. I just scraped up my foot walking in that stupid Lazy River. I should have brought swim shoes.” You lament.

Bucky’s cool metal hand suddenly lands on your shoulder and you look up at him.

“Can I see?” You chew your lip and after a second of consideration, you nod.

Bucky moves around to squat down before you, pulling a large waterproof strip of gauze of the like you’ve never seen from his pocket. He also pulls a soft square of gauze and an alcohol wipe.

Okay, how long had he been watching you because there is no way that he just goes around carrying medical supplies in his pockets.

His right hand very slowly takes hold of your ankle, his hot fingers tickling your skin as he pulls your heel up to rest on his right knee.

Your breath hitches as his skin makes contact with yours and you feel a sudden churn of heat in your belly. It sends flutters through you.

Yeah, you’ve definitely been single too long.

“This is gonna hurt.” He warns you but you still hiss at the sudden sting of the alcohol.

He looks up at you apologetically, scrunching up his eyebrows with your reaction.

“Sorry.”

You lose yourself in him as you watch him care for your scrape. Why does it feel so good to be taken care of?

“You’re staring at me.” He says with a smile.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Why are you staring at me?” He wonders, his eyes flitting up towards you then back to your foot.

“You’re really hot.” You admit, so lost in him that you can’t help but just give it to him straight.

His cheeks burn red again, and his ears flush adorably too, but he laughs as he finishes wrapping up your foot. His eyes twinkling.

“I think this is the first time someone has told me I’m hot, just like that.”

“You asked.” You argue.

“I did.” He says, carefully putting your foot down as he meets your eyes. The subtle curve of his lips and the way he still hasn’t released your ankle sends a shiver down your spine. “You’re not angry at me anymore?”

“Angry?” You ask, slightly dazed.

“You slapped me.” He explains.

Oh, shit! You had indeed slapped him.

“You said breasts were awesome after having your face shoved between mine.” He raises his eyebrows, indicating he’s still waiting for an answer. “No. I’m not angry anymore.”

“Good.” He smiles. “Come with me.”

He pulls you to your feet and slowly leads you towards the arched entrance of that fake stone cave. The water is at about four feet here too then slowly gets deeper the further he leads you through it.

The cave suddenly opens into a small lagoon.

“Wow, this is pretty.” You sigh as you look at the too blue water and the carefully crafted ambience, soft ferns and vines decorating fake stones and hanging from the ceiling. You can’t really touch the floor anymore and Bucky is moving forward through the water still holding your hand as you cross into the pink, yellow, and purple lit cove.

On the other side of the cove is a textured vinyl flooring, painted beige to look like the shore of a sandy beach. You can hear deep bass bumping and techno music drifting in from another open archway that winds into a hallway.

“What’s that way?” You wonder as your feet find the sloping curve of the floor.

“A club. The water park people wanted to get their money’s worth, so they opened a club for us adults to drink and party. I should actually be in there. That party’s being thrown by a friend of mine.”

“Really? What friend? Steve Rogers?”

“No. Tony Stark.”

Woah! Tony fucking Stark!

“Is that where we’re going?” You wonder just as Bucky pulls you completely out of the water, but he suddenly twirls you around so that you face him. His hands find your hips and he backs you up quickly until you’re pressed into a small depression in the wall where you’re both hidden from view.

With your mouth slightly open and your eyes searching, you let your heart rage in its beat, rivaling the base of the distant music.

You can feel his fingers adjusting their grip on your hips, sending tantalizing tickles down your legs.

“I’m gonna kiss you, now. Is that okay?” Bucky asks, whispering warmly as he leans towards you.

You nod.

“You gotta tell me it’s okay, baby-doll. I’m not gonna kiss you and then have you slap me again.”

“I want you to kiss me, Bucky. Kiss me.” You beg, mint and pineapple on his breath. Maybe he ate one of those snow cones earlier?

His lips twitch into a smile before he rushes down to kiss you. His lips move softly, warm and tender, massaging your lips into submission.

As his tongue passes through the small opening you left for him, you groan and wrap your left arm around him. You place it on the center of his bare back, stroking the hard muscles eagerly.

Bucky’s metal hand wraps around the back of your head, holding you in place as he explores your depths while his right hand grazes the top of your bottom as he wraps it around you and pulls you up against his chest.

He kisses you until you have to pull away to breathe. It almost hurts your lungs as the oxygen rushes in.

“Oh, God.” You gasp, your body humming as Bucky merely shifts to press wet kisses to your neck.

He suckles on the skin against the hammering beat of your pulse.

Suddenly he wraps his hand down beneath your bottom and lifts you up. Your legs wrap around his waist, moving with instinct as he pushes you harder against the wall.

“Bucky…” You plead, and he rushes back up to meet your lips. “Mmmmm.”

You never do this. Meeting some guy and kissing him? Though, it’s not like you don’t know Bucky. You know of him. You’ve seen him save people. You’ve studied his past in school. You know where he comes from and you know where he’s been.

Bucky breaks the kiss again and pulls back enough to look into your eyes. He thrusts towards you, your quivering gasp ripping through you both.

“Tell me you want me.” Bucky begs, almost as if he needs to hear it.

“Bucky…”

“Tell me, baby-doll. Tell me you want me.”

“I want you, Bucky, please. I want you inside me.” You’re almost shocked to hear yourself say it because this is definitely not something you would do.

You’ve never slept with anyone you’ve just met, ever!

His cheeks burn and his eyes explode into darkness as he lunges forward, thrusting up into you again through his shorts. Just two small strips of clothing, that’s all that’s keeping you two apart.

“Tell me you want me again.” He orders.

“Bucky please…I want you.” You whimper, bucking against his hips and the hard rod barely contained behind his trunks.

Bucky is gasping for breath as he pulls his shorts down a bit at the front, just enough to spring him forward. He hooks his finger into the small fabric of your suit and pulls it aside before he deftly thrusts into you.

It’s quick and intense. It has to be with where you are. Out here where anyone might see you.

You shut your eyes, leaning down to bite hard into the skin of his shoulder. He grunts into your ear and you can feel his hard pelvis smack against you as he shoves himself into you in frantic and needy. It’s rough and volcanic with small but powerful and very quick thrusts.

You bounce against the wall, against his chest, your chest squished against his. When his groans come with every thrust, you know that he’s close. The sound of him making such lewd noises sends you over the edge.

You moan against his shoulder as the coil in your body snaps and you’re sent into ecstasy, biting harder and harder with every wave of euphoria until you taste the warm copper flavor of blood.

With one final thrust he freezes and explodes within you in thick flooding warmth.

Your body falls into numbness and you loosen your jaw, turning your head to rest your left cheek there on his shoulder.

Bucky’s left hand comes back behind your head and he strokes your hair slowly, caressing you with fondness.

“What’s your name?” He asks, and you’re shocked to realize you just slept with a man without first telling him your name.

You have all the power here. You could walk away, and he’d never know who you were.

But after today…after what just happened? How could you not see him again?

“Y/N…” You whisper, stroking the center of his back slowly as he continues to support your weight with your legs wrapped around him, still fully buried within you. “Y/N y/l/n.”

He nods.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you marry me?” He mumbles, kissing your neck softly.

You chuckle and let your breathing slow, but you know he’s not serious.

“I mean it.” He assures you. “Will you marry me?”

“What?” You pull back slowly, searching his eyes for the joke but all you see is warm sincerity.

“I want you. And I know it’s weird because we just barely met but I wanna keep you.”

“Bucky you don’t even know me.” You shake your head, confused.

“Marry me, baby-doll.”

“Bucky…”

“Marry me?”

“Buck-”

“Be my wife.” He whispers, leaning in to rub his lips against your own softly, a feather tease of skin on skin.

God, you can still taste that pineapple!

“Yes.” You relent and he smiles then kisses you hard.

Forever Tag List @until-theend-oftheline @jessieray98 @dsakita @coldfacedwarf @just-trying-to-survive-marvel @fairislesheets @jewelofwinter @mannls @moonlessnight14 @sovereignoblivious @pandazlazykid @lilulo-12 @moli1497 @shifutheshihtzu @the-real-mary-jane @pastelxvirgo @just4muggles @vulpecula-minor @wildefire @mdgrdians @tiffanynguyen03 @shield-agent78 @i-cant-shine-without-darkness @the-wayward-robot @babytrollgirl @alagalaska @sincerelytlh @theonelittleone @sea040561 @xrosegoldwolfx @peppermintvanillaa @awkwardfangirl2014 @toffeecoloredqueen @crist1216 @xxloki81xx @idk-random-fan-girl @romimiux @badassbaker @this-side-of-midnight5 @booklover2929 @natura1phenomenon @xlittlestarling @whosmarisaaarw

[snezfics-n-shit]

Whumptober Day 26: Faint

Fandom: Ace Attorney 

Characters: Godot, Phoenix Wright, Maya Fey, Franziska von Karma

Notes: Post-SoJ, Godot has recently been released from prison. Phoenix and Maya take him out for burgers and ketchup catching up. Human socialization? For Godot? He’ll take it. Too bad there’s someone who wants to ruin his fun.

“Don’t you think your first restaurant visit after prison should be something, I don’t know, nicer?” Phoenix stared at the Burger Barn menu. Was this really Godot’s idea? The coffee served there wasn’t even that good. “Miles offered us a reservation at a five star place downtown.” At least at somewhere more high end, the brand new suit Phoenix bought specifically for this event would have been appropriate. He still wore it, but it was definitely out of place.

“Are you saying this place isn’t nice, Nick?” Maya gaped in feigned hurt. “How could you!?”

“Yeah, how could you, Nick?” Hearing Godot call him ‘Nick’ made Phoenix uneasy. Maybe ‘Trite’ had a nice ring to it after all. “This isn’t for me, anyway. It’s for the Master.” Godot shot an affectionate smile at Maya. “Mia’s so proud of you. I promised we’d take you here once they released me.” 

“Yeah, she didn’t want to ruin the surprise, but I got her to tell me!” Maya laughed. “Sorry Pearly couldn’t make it, by the way. She and Trucy are comparing admissions essays tonight.”

“Who?” Godot stared at the two. “I know Pearl, but who’s the other one?”

“Oh, Trucy? My daughter.” Phoenix presented Trucy’s senior photo he kept in his wallet. “She’s around Pearl’s age, actually.”

“What the hell!?” Godot raising his voice caught the attention of the other patrons in line. “Then why didn’t you drag her around and put her in harm’s way at Hazakura Temple?”

“She’s adopted.” Maya corrected him. “I made the same mistake, honestly.”

Did Phoenix even look old enough to have a biological daughter Trucy’s age? Who would be Trucy’s mother if she was his? He certainly wasn’t surrounded by women during the year Trucy was born. 

“I think I’m going to pick out a place for us to sit.” Phoenix excused himself. “I don’t want anything, so you two can order without me.” Now that he had essentially been spoiled with home cooking, Phoenix had little interest in fast food. That, and he wanted Maya to understand how it felt to deal with a notorious fry thief.

He found a clean table next to the booths. There were four chairs, so he could use the extra one to hold coats unless someone from another table asked to use it. He couldn’t help but notice a familiar shade of blue in the corner of his eye and tried to pretend he wasn’t there.

“I know you can see me.” A woman in the booth next to him spoke. “How foolish to think you can call ducking your head ‘hiding.’”

“Oh, uh,” Phoenix laughed nervously, fully acknowledging the woman, “hi, Franziska.”

“You look frightened.” Franziska observed, not at all realizing that maybe, just maybe, it could be the whip sitting beside her. “You shouldn’t be,” she glared at Godot standing in line, “but he should.”

“Who? Godot?”

“He shouldn’t be here.” She stuck up her nose. 

“Is he not actually released from prison?” Phoenix blinked a few times. “Did we accidentally help him escape?”

“No, he’s been released. He should be at home.”

“So, he’s on house arrest now?”

“No, he-” Franziska stopped herself and looked away as soon as Godot and Maya approached the table with their food; to put it more accurately, Maya’s food and Godot’s coffee cup. 

Wait, was that some kind of string dangling around from the cup?

“Hi, Franziska!” Maya greeted her, completely blowing any attempt of cover. “Since when did you eat at Burger Barn?” She wasted no time after setting down the tray to start digging in.

“I don’t.” Franziska answered flatly. The bacon cheeseburger with the works, apple pie, and strawberry shake on her tray said otherwise. “I, um,” her ears looked red, “was told to order something if I wanted to sit here.”

“How’s Adrian doing?” Maya tilted her head before grabbing a handful of fries. “And why are you here ‘just to sit here?’”

“She is well, thank you.” Franziska took a sip of her shake. “She’s overseeing some renovations to our home right now. As for why I’m here, I have been tasked with monitoring Godot’s wellbeing until we’ve found someone suitable for helping him adjust to life out of prison.”

“You missed me that much, Princess?” Godot smirked. “After your chat with that author, you just had to see me again.” He took a brief sip from his cup, his hand obstructing Phoenix’s view of whatever was attached to the string.

“You really went through with that book deal?” Maya hummed. “Is that why you moved back here from Europe?”

“I did go through with it, yes. I left Godot’s apartment to discuss some things with that fool in the beret, but I told him I would only be out for a few hours.” Franziska took another, bigger sip of her shake. “I was on my way back to his apartment when I was informed he left home without my knowledge.” Franziska frowned at Godot, who was already confused why Phoenix was staring at him for so long. “Don’t even try to change the subject again, either. You know very well why you shouldn’t be here.”

“Doesn’t mean I care.” Godot shrugged and then directed his attention to Phoenix. “And what’s with you? I know you’ve seen a tea bag before.” His body swayed slightly in a way that didn’t look at all voluntary.

A tea bag? Wait. 

“You should care.” Franziska stood up, preparing for what she saw coming a mile away. “You were explicitly instructed to stay home and monitor your temperature on an hourly basis.”

“We both know that’s overdoing it.” Godot leaned on the chair next to him.

“You were also told that if your fever went up, you would need to go to the hospital.”

“Are you sick, Godot?” Maya gently tapped Godot’s shoulder, causing him to lose some balance. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Yeah, but it’s not a big deal.” As if only to prove him wrong, a sensation crept up in Godot’s chest, prompting a barking cough that he had worked so hard to suppress; he had done such a good job doing so, too. “I was going to go home right after this.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Franziska commanded. She took a quick bite of her burger before she grabbed hold of Godot from under his arms. “He pulled this with Adrian when she checked in on him earlier. I refuse to allow a fool like him manipulate anyone with such lies, especially not my wife. I also will not stand for whatever foolish escape tactics he roped you two into employing.”

Phoenix reached for Maya’s fries while everyone was so caught up in the distraction, only to find she had managed to wolf down both her burger and all her fries while he wasn’t paying attention. With an inaudible sigh, he put on his coat, considering the group was likely going home soon.

“Actually, um,” Maya fidgeted with one of her hair beads, “we just picked him up like normal. We never would have guessed he wasn’t supposed to leave home.”

“Figures.” Franziska pursed her lips. “I’m going to hazard a guess that he’s been regularly dismissing himself to ‘watch videos of seals’ as well?”

“Hey! How did you know?” Maya looked surprised as if by the third time Godot was ‘sent a funny seal video,’ it wasn’t at all weird. “He said it was a habit he developed in prison.”

“So he was going to the bathroom just to cough?” Phoenix asked. “That’s actually better than what I was thinking.”

“You are disgusting! How foolish do you need to be to-” She suddenly felt Godot become much heavier in her arms. As she expected, his fever caused him to collapse. “Wright,” She hoisted an unconscious Godot over Phoenix’s shoulder, “you are to carry him to the limousine.”

“Why me?” Phoenix grunted as he carried Godot; just staying in place like this was doing a number on his back. Not only was Godot heavy, but there was no doubt his fever was high. Phoenix felt sweaty on every part of him that Godot touched.

“Because I said so, that’s why.” Franziska gave such a strong argument, no wonder she was considered a prodigy prosecutor early in her career. She must have attended the same law school as Phoenix’s mother. She huffed as she hurriedly put away the rest of her meal in the to-go bag, grumbling something when she heard Phoenix and Maya share a chuckle over her ‘required purchase’ story being a flat out lie. She pulled out her phone and tapped on a few touchscreen buttons. “Our ride will arrive shortly. We’re taking him to the hospital, so don’t expect a ride home so soon.”

“Wow, we’re going to the hospital in a limo!” Maya said as if this were some kind of amusement park attraction. “That’s so cool!”

“Maybe we, uh,” Phoenix adjusted Godot’s position over his shoulder, “should refrain from calling a trip to the hospital ‘cool.’”

“For one thing, at least, I agree with your foolish boss.” Franziska collected her things as she led the two conscious parties to the exit, paying no mind to the crowd of patrons who stared in fascination with the spectacle. “You do still assist him, yes?”

“Well, not really since I became the Master of Kurain, but it would be really fun to assist him again.”

“I see.” Franziska hailed the limousine that approached the parking lot. “If you should ever consider assisting me on an international case, Adrian and I would be more than happy to bring you along.”

Phoenix wasn’t allowed to open the door, as demonstrated by the driver stopping him before he could even try. When the driver at last allowed the group in the vehicle, Phoenix and Maya found themselves amazed by the spacious interior. It would be an understatement to say the back was just the right size for Godot to lie back in.

“I’ll consider your offer, but something’s been bothering me” Maya held her hand to her face.

“What? Besides Godot’s cough?” Phoenix didn’t bother pushing Godot off his shoulder as he felt the edge of Godot’s visor pressing against him. “Or how sweaty I’m going to be if he keeps radiating this much heat?”

“I just think Godot could have used a good whipping!” Maya declared, surprising Phoenix and making Franziska laugh until she snorted. “I mean it! That would have told him he should go home!”

“He could have, yes.” Franziska patted the feverish ex-convict on the back. “The whip is retired, though. I just take it around as a habit.”

“No way!” Maya’s volume was toeing the line of potentially waking Godot. “Maybe you’re sick, too.” She jokingly felt Franziska’s forehead. “You feel fine, but something’s up.”

“It just does not fit in where I want my life to be right now.” Franziska spoke matter-of-factly. “Am I not allowed to improve myself?”

“I never thought of it that way.” Something about what Franziska said felt familiar to Maya, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Didn’t stop you from threatening me with it whenever I got out of bed.” Just as the conversation reached its softest point, it was too late to prevent Godot from regaining consciousness. “For a more pressing matter, why aren’t we at Burger Barn?”

“You collapsed!” Franziska raised her voice. If Godot was awake, why bother toning herself down? “We’re taking you to the hospital. You’ll likely need another breathing treatment and you are not making any excuses this time.”

“Do you think I can use the whip if he tries anything?” Maya grinned. “Why let it gather dust?”

“I’d like to see you try.” Godot laughed, but soon enough there was that cough again. “This cough makes me miss being unconscious.” 

“I don’t blame you.” Phoenix looked out the window, watching the scenery move along and keeping an eye out for landmarks that could tell him how close they were to the hospital. “That cough is pretty bad. Never heard one quite like it.”

“You know what?” Godot leaned back into the position he was in before he came to. “I’m going to wait and see if I can pass out again.”

“Then Nick can carry you again!” Maya clapped her hands together.

Phoenix had one thing to say to that.

“Objection!”

[smoljoelito]

homesick || erick colon

word count: 2,139

description: Erick is homesick and the only person that makes him feel at home is not by his side.

warnings: fluff 

masterlist

tags: @quierick @mepuserojito @ericks-mala-actitud @woowoodaaboo

A/N: watch this video before reading the one shot it’s so funny it’ll make reading it better.

I’m sorry this imagine sucks

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

The loud ringing of your phone causes you to about jump out of your skin as you’re launched out of your deep thoughts. When you see the name on the screen, you groan loudly, already knowing exactly what will take place in the conversation.

“Hey, Y/N!” Richard exclaims, not wasting a second before continuing, “Would you mind checking on Erick? He’s been acting weird lately. We invited him to go out with us tonight and he said no, which he never does. He won’t tell us what’s wrong, so I was wondering if you could ask him for us?” 

A sigh escapes your lips as you agree to Richard’s statement. You can practically see him beaming from your hotel room as you kindly finish the conversation before hanging up. When you applied to be an intern for Clara on CNCO’s management team, you never thought you’d become best friends with the band members, nor did you think you’d become particularly attached to the young Cuban member.

As soon as you both met, you knew he was going to be special to you. There aren’t enough words to describe what it felt like when you met him, but the one feeling you remember was tranquility. 

The whole day leading up to meeting the management team members and CNCO themselves, you were freaking out. You didn’t eat, you hardly slept, yet you had so much nervous energy. When you first met Clara, her gentle smile and personality took a weight off your chest, but the nervousness was still there when you met the boys. 

Thank god they were nice, incredibly nice, yet you were still incredibly anxious. Ever since day one, Erick has been able to sense your discomfort, or any feeling really besides happiness, and goes out of his way to make it better. Of course, that day, he began talking to you, asking you questions about your life and schooling, and the anxiety completely melted away. His presence was, and is, soothing.

From then on, you two were pretty much inseparable. If you didn’t feel like going out at night, he wouldn’t leave the hotel and vice versa. Before each show, he always gives you a “bueno suerte besito”, as he likes to call it, on the cheek, still to this day making you as red as a tomato. 

It’s no secret to anyone, including Clara, that he likes you. It’s so obvious that random people ask you in public if you’re dating. Even the fans like you, which is crazy. Everyone wants you to date so bad, and the only one holding back the relationship is, well, you.

You like him, you sure as hell do, but you’re afraid of risking your job. Clara already said it’s okay since the fans support it so much and because he really likes you. The issue arises after this internship. When you apply for an actual job with another company and they see you’re dating or were dating one of the members, the question of how well you actually did your job will arise. Anyone could think it was a publicity stunt.

And anyway, once the tour is over, so is your internship. There are merely a few months left, so would he actually want to stay with you after it all?

Keeping it private is a longshot since Erick already said he doesn’t want to keep you private. He wants to post about you on Instagram and hold hands with you in public, actually, he already told you that a while ago. Still, your fear keeps him locked away in the friend zone, even though your heart is aching for him.

Even now, your heart is aching for him, but for a different reason. You already asked Eric what was wrong, but he wouldn’t tell you. Instead, he shut the door of his hotel room in your face a few days ago and hasn’t spoken to you since. 

It’s incredibly odd to suddenly have someone that was such a constant in your life suddenly disappear. Even the air seems different; you almost feel completely out of place even in your own room. Normally, you and Eric would be snuggled up in someone’s room talking, watching a movie, or he would be singing to you, something he knows you love.

You know exactly what you have to do as you collect all your things together, before heading out into the eerily quiet hallway of the hotel room. Each step and breath you take is completely audible until you finally reach your destination.

Softly, your knuckles tap on the door of your friend, Erick’s hotel room door. The closer he gets to the door, the louder the thuds are echoing from inside, until the door swings open, revealing an anything but happy Erick. For a second, you two just stare at each other, no words being exchanged, but then, he begins to shut the door.

Not this time.

You push the door as hard as you can, causing it to fly open and for Erick’s grip to be released on it. As he stumbles back, you walk into the room, before softly shutting the door.

Spinning around on your heel, you face a very startled Erick, who just stands there, staring at you with wide eyes. A sigh escapes your lips as you cross your arms over your chest, meeting his intense gaze. As soon as his lips part, you cut him off.

“We need to talk and you’re not slamming the door in my face again,” You state sternly, trying to keep a poker face. In reality, you’re about as threatening as a rabbit, which Erick finds adorable. The anger you’re trying to put into your face makes you look like you have puppy dog eyes, completely tearing down the wall he put up around himself.

“Lo siento carino  Dime todo y piensaré sobre perdonándote o. Perdóname.” The honesty that’s evident in his voice causes you to drop the anger you’re attempting at portraying. With another sigh, you walk over to his bed, inviting yourself to sit on it and pull your knees to your chest.

“Dime todo y piensaré sobre perdonándote,” You say with a small smile, letting him know you’re kidding. This seems to relax his mood a bit, causing you to pat the spot next to you on the bed. Your fingers play with the edge of the sheet to distract you from staring at him and forgetting why you're here as he walks over. to sit next to you. Once he sits, crossing his legs, you dare to meet his gaze, which you find already on you.

“What’s going on amor?” You ask him, using the pet name you know he loves.

“Me extraño mi familia, en Cuba y en Florida mucho. No sé por qué ahora pero, por alunga razón, he estado triste por los últimos días.” You know it sometimes hard for him to express himself completely in English, so he always switches to Spanish when something serious is going on. The light that used to rest behind his bright green eyes has been dimmed, breaking your heart completely. His eyes disconnect from yours as he stares down at the comforter, trying to hide his apparent sadness.

In an instant, it hits you what’s wrong with him. Excitement runs through your veins, making you smack his arm to get his attention. 

“Ow!” He calls out, rubbing his arm and staring at you with his eyebrows knitted together.

“You’re homesick!” The word doesn’t seem to resonate in his brain, causing his eyebrows to furrow even more than before as his head cocks to the side slightly.

“Estoy triste porque llego a mi casa enfermo?” It takes all of your willpower not to laugh as you stare at him.

“No, no! La palabra significa cuando extraña malo a tu hogar o su familiar in inglés,” He raises his brows a big as he draws his lips downward slightly out of embarrassment for his bad English. You can't help but giggle, causing his eyes to meet your gaze again. The sound of your laugh always ignites something in him, drawing out a smile he didn’t know he could make based on the current feeling he was holding.

“It’s true though. They can’t come up to visit, they’re too busy. Every time I call they aren’t home or are sleeping because of the time zone differences. Lo que debo hacer?” He asks sadly, looking at you with hope-filled eyes. It seems for the second or third time today, you’re heart physically aches for the boy in front of you. He’s so attached to his family, which is something you love about him.

“Well, why don’t you text them and tell them you really miss them and want to see if you all can set up a time to FaceTime this week? I can’t see them saying no, they love you so much, Erick.” Within seconds, the boy is back to beaming at you, causing a sudden warmth to spread through your veins. At first, you don’t even realize his smile has made you smile the same way back at him.

“Eso es una buena idea! Gracias, Y/N.”

Before you can even respond, he’s already on his phone, fingers flying across the screen ecstatically. 

“Sent!” He calls out excitedly turning back to you. You smile at him happily, since his happiness seems to only enhance your own.

“Thanks for everything,” He begins, gazing at you, “I’ve been a really bad friend this week. I’m really sorry about that. I promise next time I’m hurting, I won’t push you away.” 

“I forgive you, Erick. It’s okay.”

“Good! Cuddles and Netflix?” He asks, causing you to grin, nodding excitedly at him. This is what you do for each other each time your down. It’s always cuddles and Netflix, no matter what.

Instantly, he’s pulling back the covers for you to get in, which you do, before sliding under them himself. Before you can even begin to lie down, his arm wraps tightly around your waist, yanking you into his chest. Your laughter rings out through the room, causing his heartbeat to skip a few beats, but when you smile up at him, it stops completely.

God, you have him so whipped, and he could care less.

With his arms wrapped around you and your head on his chest, you watch a random Netflix movie, unmoving. The coolness of the AC works in Erick’s favor, thank god, since you keep yourself tightly pressed into the side of his body for warmth. Knowingly, he doesn’t offer you a hoodie to put on over your tank top and shorts, even though he loves when you wear his hoodies. Right now, he wants to keep you as close as possible.

When the movie ends, neither of you dare move, not even to start the next one.

“You should FaceTime my family with me,” Erick finally says, shattering the peaceful silence of the room. The statement causes your breath to hitch in your throat, which Erick hears, causing him to grab your hand.

“Why?”

“Cause they love you so much! You know they always ask me about you and if we are dating yet,” He says matter-of-factly. The whole room goes completely silent, only the AC running in the background, and for a second, you can’t even hear him breathe with your head on his chest.

“You know we can’t.” Your voice is so quiet, you aren’t sure if he can even hear it. The confirmation he did comes in the form of a sigh.

“You know we can. The only person holding us back is you. I’m not sure what you’re afraid of. I mean god you know Clara is already talking about hiring you as a full-time member of the management team. She’s literally making a job for you right now.” You gasp loudly, lifting off his chest to look into his brown orbs to see if he’s bluffing.

“You’re kidding.”

“You didn’t know? Oh! I may have just spoiled the surprise... surprise nena?” He smiles cheekily at you when he says this causing you to grin back at him before excitedly bouncing up and down on the bed. His laughter sounds throughout the room at your excitement, but really his heart is beating twice as face as yours.

“Oh my god, Erick! You’re gonna be stuck with me!” You scream loudly causing him to burst out laughing yet again.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Well, now will you date me?” The statement stops your excited actions as you spin to face him. Your heart is dancing around in your chest, yet you feel constricted of oxygen. For a moment, you simply stare at him, contemplating the question.

“Yeah, yeah I will.” 

[badlydrawndrawnings]

atwq book one thoughts

when the first atwq book came out, i was no longer part of the targeted audience. still, when the book came out and i was at walmart shopping with my mom, i was able to check out the book/magazine section and read at least up to the end of chapter one (we had to leave because we needed to go to the checkout line). i liked what i read, and wanted to read more, but i just couldn’t afford to buy the book.

few years back i got spoiled on rather minor details of the books. i decided to do everything in my power to not get spoil from that point on (i usually hunt down spoilers in my other fandoms, but asoue was one of my first fandom i entered via me and my sister. no one else read the books or weren’t fans of them, so we turn to each other to talk about them. getting spoilers for my first fandom hurt me in a way that doesn’t hurt when compare to my other fandoms)

now i got a chance to read the atwq books and i took my sweet time (i began reading at the beginning of the new year year) for the first book. i hope i don’t get spoilers for the remaining books. i’m basically going to do a review of sorts for all four books, but it’s not going to be organized half the time and me probably having some rambles of the original asoue book series + personal stuff that’s not heavy. it’s under the cut to not clog up space + keep most spoilers out.

so this first book and i guess the rest of the series only exists because lemony and kit wants to steal something in the city and lemony deciding to leave kit all by herself, this hangfire wants a stolen statue that’s actually not stolen (because he’s the one who basically came up with the story it was stolen) for reasons, and hangfire deciding that as well as making up a lie he also decides to kidnap a man from his daughter for the BB statue (i’m too lazy to write out the whole name), with lemony deciding to stay to help ellington and strain’d-by-the-sea (i’ll call it sbts i’m too lazy to right it fully again).

thought it does make me wonder something. just how super important is ellington’s dad to be worth kidnapping and become a hostage as well. like, this guy is straight up willing to use ellington and her desire to get her dad back. yes, ellington has shady vibes but they’re all here because of someone who doesn’t want to do his own freaking work of stealing a freaking statue! 

granted because i got also strong noir vibes, especially given lemony is sort of crushing on her but not really and agreeing to help ellington find her dad and like, the opening paragraph of the book is something of a give away, i get the feeling i shouldn’t trust and have my heart on my sleeve 100% for ellington. she is clearly the kid friendly version of the woman character who makes the request to the detective and is totally gonna backstab the detective at some point.

but because i’m not really seeing these signs now in this first book, as well as having terrible judgement when it comes to backstabbing characters i’m just gonna do exactly as the above. i think because ellington talks fondly of her father from what i know of, i think it’s just me wanting a character in this series to have a good parent who is alive.

onto the next character moxie! i like moxie and her friendship with lemony. he needs friends who aren’t completely in this whole vfd mess. bit off topic, but i always thought the kind editor in asoue was a woman for some reason. and despite knowing her for a few days, lemony trusts her enough to tells her things kind of makes me think she is the kind editor.

so, pip and squeaks are clearly the kids who will wear a trench coat and pretend to be an adult. looking at the illustration, squeaks looks like a walking toddler but i get the feeling’s like, five. pip looks like his age so no problem there. so, gonna headcanon that when they go out to get their driver license they are going to ace the test with all early practice

in regards to dashiell qwerty, i like him, and for weird reasons. first off, his freaking last name is something i adore. qwerty is just the freaking first letter row of a keyboard. this is some ace attorney level of naming (they love puns and  meanings for many of their characters). second, the one illustration of qwerty makes me of ghost trick (the hair and sunglasses is basically the character design of the main playable character). i’m honestly sorry for bringing of things you probably don’t know, but i like him and trust him. i feel like i shouldn’t get too attach to him. if the sub-sub-librarian got freaking shot with a harpoon gun, i should expect something bad happen to qwerty. the fact he’s not even part of vfd makes me even more worry.

on prosper lost i have little to say. well, i can say ‘eh’. but it’s a good eh. he’s just a man trying to run a business in a dying sbts. i wish him all the luck it doesn’t close down

i have some harsh words about the mitchum family. but before i go into it, i want to talk about carmelita spats. as a child, i did not like her. she reminded me of a bully i had while as a kid who eventually left the school, so her return in the later books made me upset because shes like, agreeing to work with the villians. i wasn’t immune from bullies at least until my first year of high school, so when i did a re-read in middle school (and post high school pre-netflix show) i still didn’t like her. 

however, i admit i feel some pity i did not have for her when i was little kid. she’s clearly an orphan who doesn’t know it (i think her parents during taa were alive and spoiling her rotten), and while knowing that she was going to side with esme and olaf, a part of me wished something in the narrative change. i knew that realistically she was going to still side with the villains, but at the same time, i had the dumb idea that maybe she wouldn’t (so when it happens, i went ‘why did i thought the opposite that i’m being silly’). watching netflix!asoue and another re-read with netflix’s show in mind, she’s just a character i love to hate while having a ton of pity for her. i think her rotten behavior is because her parents are showering her love and affection, but sadly by this ‘babying’ and spoiling, it made her think she deserves everything and handed on a platter. hearing the wonderful words from esme and olaf (more esme than olaf), carmelita believe they were going to be loving her like her parents did, maybe even more.

when it came to deciding what is carmelita’s fate is, i usually think she survived the fire, but died from fire related injuries. however, after meeting the mitchum and their oh so ‘lovely’ son, i’m recanting it. i thought carmelita was a terrible child, but no, stew is the real terrible child. i read this book twice, and i can’t find anything from the pages to my freaking heart that can make me love to hate him or give him pity (like, even in the smallest ounce of pity my middle school self gave for carmelita). it’s not help that his parents are too blind and obsess with fighting with each other to work together and see their son is not the sweetheart they think he is. worst, i can’t tell if stew is using this to his advantage or if he’s just that much of bully who gets away with it and doesn’t know his parents are arguing that much.

(going back to carmelita, my new headcanon for her is that she was thought to be dead, and esme - who i think survived the fire- ditch out of grief. upset at being abandon, carmelita decides to go back home to what she presumed to be her worried parents (she’s been missing for like, a few days at max). but discovering the remains of her family house in ashes she enters an almost breakdown because in hindsight, she should have listen to the orphans, as well as having to accept she’s an orphan -the one thing she didn’t want to be. while on the trip back to her parents carmelita drags ernest -who i think also survived- into taking her home because since he worked with esme, carmelita is his responsibility now. ernest is still in grief over the lost of his brothers and wants nothing to do with her, but does so because he wants this kid to return back home to her real family and have no more part of vfd. with the discovery, ernest decides to raise her as his own. it works out compare to esme’s care, and carmelita becomes a better person due to ernest raising her as a real parent and not someone spoiling her 24/7 and because of their experience allow them bond and reflect their life choices.)

in regards to s theodora markson...i don’t know how to feel about her. everything she does in this book towards lemony makes sense if he was an older teenager of 17 or 18. she doesn’t want back talk and is willing to kick lemony out of the car. she is making lemony do things no one his age should do. i know lemony is an apprentice but this is all so mind-boggling hard for someone his age to do (like, even at 17 and 18 is the same but that's older so i’m not as worry but worry none the less). however, given she’s a vfd member, i bet what she went through is just a tough and harsh (maybe even more; times change it’s possible what lemony is going through is actually a water down version of what she and her generation went through), and if the schism affected her in ways i may never know. i do wonder who is her last apprentice.

as for lemony snicket himself...i have words. i got introduced to the asoue series as a kid via my sister and the movie, and it’s actually a funny story. my sister told me there’s this cool movie i would like. when i saw the the littlest elf stop motion i almost left the living room out of confusion. then some british narrator cuts in and after he does his bit, i sat back down and my sister paused the movie and laugh at me (turns out she watch the movie beforehand and wanted to see my reaction). throughout my entire life i only knew lemony snicket as guy who is very sad man who lost everything in his life and does his best to help three children who as it turns out, are children to the woman he loves (loved), and has maybe a faint hope of reuniting with what may be the last member of his family (i read the beatrice letters once and and beatrice’s ii letter wanting to meet him is one of the few details i remember).

so basically reading a kid!lemony snicket is jarring. i can’t say he has a personality change because kid!lemony is still the same as adult!lemony. clearly getting pinned for crimes he didn’t commit, being force to be on the run, and his fiancee broke things off with him happening around the same time and with the fact he probably never saw his siblings again when becoming a fugitive was the biggest shift to a lonely, depressed man who is willing to stay at the edge of a random town and cry and not set foot in it. however, i think there are traces of who kid!lemony eventually become.

kid!lemony is willing to go to a random town he doesn’t know. kid!lemony is spunky and wants to solve this mystery in his own correct way. kid!lemony is all ‘i’m gonna do something and there’s nothing you [theodora] or anyone else can do to stop me’ and like any kid, will make mistakes and will screw up (he fell for hangfire’s voice mimicry after all). but i know that in the end of the day, it’s only a matter of time before things turn sour and traces of adult!lemony shows up in kid!lemony. his ‘talk’ to the imaginary kit is definitely traces of what is the eventually adult!lemony: a lonely person who wants someone/something that is familiar comfort that could brings some amount of joy. kid!lemony uses his imagination, while adult!lemony turns to his memories (netflix!lemony could be using his imagination to ‘look’ into his memories to feel better).

there isn’t too much left to say, other than the spoilers i learn. i am upset to learn asoue characters cameo in the series. i got more upset that one of the cameos i learn was hector. i knew he was a vfd member because the tua confirm it via jacques letter to lemony, but this really 100% confirm it. i wanted to be surprise. it seems i wasn’t completely spoiled, because i was really surprise to see hector be the first cameo. 

hector is one of the few adult characters i like. i think it’s because i relate to his skittish behavior- i’m not on the level as him-  i thought of him as hispanic/mexican -i’m half mexican from my father’s side- and because until jerome and justice strauss’s return in the tpp, hector is the only adult who while failing baudelaires (for not standing up for jacques and willing to leave them in their jail cell) makes up for it 100% and grows as a character. he successfully helps the baudelaires when it came to saving duncan and isadora via the self sustaining hot air mobile home (contrast to jerome, who when the children begs for help, decides to not help because he realizes he’s not brave enough for the task), and rightfully calls out vfd the place for their rules and overall behavior (contrast to justice strauss, who while does use her judicial powers to make the marriage null and calls count olaf out, has listen to a legal argument first due to being enraptured by the idea of being on the stage).

i think by default, i like kid!hector. he basically had my reaction when asking  confirmation that the butler (hangfire) did it, and i share that desire of wanting a (good) mexican restaurant [i consider taco bell as a ‘mexican restaurant’ but honestly i don’t like their menu]. it’s jarring to see kid!hector speak his mind and can be harsh without any signs of the skittish behavior. i will say kid!hector’s call out reflect nicely on how adult!hector at the end of tvv called out vfd the place. i guess hector is the type of guy who would make call outs on other people, not the person who is the target of call outs. it’s sad kid!hector call outs kid!lemony for not helping kit, but adult!hector will do nothing to save jacques from his eventual death. adult!hector is the thing kid!hector would hate, and i can’t help but wonder if hector hates himself for what he did.

[mikakomori]

One Truth Part 3

As I was fed up with learning for my exams today, I decided to procrastinate by continuing this thing here lol Here’s Part 1 and Part 2

Anyways, here goes-

One Truth Part 3

For a few seconds everything was silent. The people in the crowd looked from one of them to the other, excited about what would happen next. Mika just stood there, dumbfounded and blinking until – she started snickering. Did he really just say that? Did that serious looking wannabe sleuth really just quote one of these crime shows on TV?  

At first the blonde didn’t understand why his opposite was suddenly so amused by his words. But when he heard her mutter the word “nerd” in between her snickers he realized just what it was he had just said. He had gone and quoted one of his detective dramas, again. And not only in public, no, he had done so in front of an - regardless of her doubtful abilities - actual detective. This was horribly embarrassing! Desperately trying to hide the blush that had now tinted his cheeks a flaming red, he quickly brushed past Mika to get to the other side of the body. “A-anyway, might I direct your attention to her hand again?” he started, still in the process of regaining his composure as he crouched down again.  

The young woman mirrored his actions and was now squatting down next to him. Glancing her way for a second, he was met with her smiling face. The way she watched him could be compared to when one was looking at a pet after it had just done something adorable. He regretted glancing her way immediately. Great, she now must have lost all respect for him, he thought as he gritted his teeth. What the blonde demon didn’t know though, was that while he surely had lost a lot of respect points, he had gained the same amount in adorableness. And those weighed a lot more with the purple haired woman.  

Mika thought he was cute for being a fan of these dramas. She wondered whether he also admired detectives and their work in general. If she could impress him, then would he maybe also become a fan of her? Whereas the sleuth had already gained quite the number of followers, the thought of the man in front of her potentially cheering for her with an excited spark in those teal eyes made her somewhat excited. Although she didn’t quite understand why. 

“Miss?” 

Being interrupted from her thoughts Mika perked up. “Hm? Oh, yes her hand. We already looked at it before so…”

“We looked at her right hand and saw what was missing from it. But I’m talking about her left hand right now – and what is present on it.”

Present? What did he mean? Mika directed her attention to the hand in front of her. Much like their right counterparts plum-colored fake nails were neatly attached to each one of Ganaria’s slender fingers. The difference being none of them was missing. Other than that, there were also stains of now dried up blood on her fingers as well as several dark blue dots in between them. Wait- 

“Are these-“

“Ink stains, yes.” The blonde nodded with a serious expression. “These blue dots are stains one would get from writing with a fountain pen. You know what this means, right Miss Detective?”

“She was left-handed.”

He nodded, satisfied with her response. “Correct. Now why would a left-handed person choose to write their dying message using their right hand?”

“They wouldn’t.”

“Exactly. Meaning-“ his lips curled up in a victorious smile. One couldn’t miss the enjoyment on the demon’s face as he spoke his next words. “The victim didn’t write the dying message.”  

A murmur went through the crowd of onlookers. Did someone really just prove the rising star detective Mika Komori wrong? All eyes turned on the young woman, excitedly awaiting her response. How would she react at being defeated by some random stranger? 

The woman in question gritted her death. As much as she hated admitting it, she had been wrong about the bloody writing having been written by Ganaria. “It seems… I was mistaken.” She hesitantly conceded as she looked into the triumphant face of the blonde demon. There went her opportunity of adding him to her circle of fans. A spark of disappointment started to form inside of her mind. But she quickly shook her head, preventing the feeling from manifesting itself. There were more important matters right now. 

If Ganaria hadn’t written “Kramver” on the ground, the who was it? Clearly it hadn’t been the suspected demon either. Writing your own name in the victim’s blood would be a tremendously stupid thing to do. Meaning there had to have been a third party involved. Someone who had used Ganaria’s blood stained fingers to write that message after her death. And there was only one reason they could have had to do that. 

“Detective.” Mika addressed the now even grumpier looking man in charge. “You can let Kramver go. He is innocent.”

“You’re kidding me, girl.” He grumbled in an overly annoyed tone.

The sleuth shook her head. “No. My deductions were wrong. Ganaria didn’t write his name on the ground. Meaning it was somebody else who did that after her death. And the only one who could have done that is the killer themselves. Which rules out our friend here as the perpetrator. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to write his own name.” 

The detective groaned as he ran a hand through his hair. “Fine. You’re free to go.” As he released him from the false charges the young man’s face lit up instantly. Immediately he scrambled to his feet and ran over to the blonde demon. “Thank you so much! If you hadn’t stepped in, they would have thrown me in jail, even though I’m innocent!” Eagerly expressing his gratitude Kramver bowed to him again and again making his savior visibly uncomfortable. “It’s alright really. I’m just glad I could help.” He held up his hands in an attempt to calm his opposite. 

Mika watched the scene with a sour expression on her face. Nobody had ever thanked her as eagerly as that for catching the criminal. The police barely managed to show any appreciation at all. Sure, she had gained the admiration of a lot of people but that was different. She couldn’t help but feel a little envious. Realizing the direction her emotions were going the purple-haired woman shook her head again. What was wrong with her today? She still had a criminal to catch! And with her only suspect having turned out innocent, she was back at square one.

After what had felt like an eternity Kramver had stopped bowing and taken off, disappearing into the crowd, finally leaving his savior alone. The teal-eyed demon let out a relieved sigh. He wouldn’t have been able to endure that much longer. As he turned his attention to the detective woman again, he noticed her slightly bitter expression – despite it being only visible for a split second before getting replaced by a concentrated look. Now she appeared to be deep in thought again, surely already contemplating new possible theories and scenarios. What was with that look? He wondered as he slowly made his way over to her again. 

Even though her attitude was somewhat… unnerving, the demon couldn’t deny that she had a sharp mind. Sure, she had been wrong about the bloody writing but the rest of her deductions still stood. Even though she had been at the crime scene for barely an hour, the young woman had already figured out the way the victim had died, found the murder weapon hidden away by the killer and tracked down a witness. He had stopped at the commotion shortly before her arrival and had therefore seen the whole process. And even though he wouldn’t want to admit it, he was quite impressed by what he had seen. Which was one more reason for him wanting to see this through until the end. He was curious about the conclusion this self-proclaimed ace detective would come to and was eager to be a part of the process. 

“So, now that we’re back at square one, what next, Miss Detective?”

Looking up Mika was slightly taken aback as she found herself looking in those teal eyes again. She hadn’t thought the blonde demon would still be here. She was sure he’d have left to gloat to his RAD friends on how he’d crushed some kind of pseudo-detective. But here he was, looking at her with genuine interest. It was weird really, and Mika didn’t understand it but she was somewhat happy about that.

Feeling her confidence returning, her lips curled up in a smile. “I was thinking of trying to get a new perspective.”

Her opposite raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And how will you go about that?”

The young woman grinned. “Hm Hmm. I think your inner fanboy will like that.”

“Fanb- Achem. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Being called that, the blush from before returned to his face resulting in Mika’s grin growing even wider. She could get used to that expression.

“It’s quite simple really. We’ll be doing something they’re doing a lot in your detective dramas.” In one swift motion she swung around causing her long white coat to flutter in the resulting gust. Taking a few steps forward, before turning slightly back again to look at him, shooting a confident smile. 

“We will reenact the murder!”

[kaiju-z]

FINALLY back on track, after a month and a half of stuff getting in our way, but here we are with session 20!!!

Seon Adventures Episode 20: Going Solo...

With the passing of the night, comes the light of day.

The trio of Belli, Luctan and Mournimar awake alongside Morgan and the elf baby with notably Amelia, Archie, Burk and Rimefang missing. Luctan does elaborate where Amelia had gone, though it gets missed in the confusion when everyone wonders what happened with Burk.

Thinking quickly on her feet, Belli sends a message to Burk to check where he is. But all he answers with is that  Rimefang’s fine, don’t know where Amelia is.”

As Luctan fixes the baby up for the day, packing him like a little baby burrito (a babitto, if you will), the remaining bunch go upstairs, while Belli gives a call to Amelia. Amelia, who had been having the most wonderful of sleeps she has had since a long while.

“No.”

Belli sends her a message again with a whistle.

“No. Just no.”

Luctan has to repeat himself on where Amelia actually is, much to the amusement of the adopted duo.

As they climb up the stairs, everything seems normal and as expected from the previous night, people coming and going, welcomed and- And the party for some reason get approached by a very confused human, wearing the robes of the temple of Keemis.

Brunette, with an undercut, in his 30′s, scars on his arms and face, the kind man delivers a letter to the bunch, asking if they’re the Cultbusters.

“Are you the Cultbusters?”

“Depends on who’s asking?”- Belli.

“3 of them!”- Mournimar.

After a brief sibling argument about just up and telling people their identities, the man elaborates that the letter is written by Burk. Or. Well, he helped Burk write that letter for the party.

Mournimar is the one to read it to everyone else. All lower case, a lot of the words are misspelled.

“ hi. this is from burk. i am leaving now. ive been thinking and i think i do not need to be here anymore. i found one of the guys i was looking for and it was really easy and no ofense but i was hoping for cold hard killers and u r not. but you were all realy nice to me, nicer than any one has before so i am going to miss all of u very much. rimefang is coming with me because hes too cool for u. also i think hes geting bigger cause he started sheding or some thing i dont know. i left some scales for u, and ur share of the gold. there is a lot of stuff i wana go do and i feel bad draging u guys with me so i gotta go do it my self. but i want u all to know im not just going to kill people for me. i am doing stuff for u. For amelia and luc i am going to come back and we are gona have the best fight ever and learn a lot. For beli i am going to steal the biggest shinyest kazoo i can find. For morni i will stop punching wolfs and also be nicer to weird animals i find in the forest. u were all very nice and good with peeple and not good at vilence, and thats a good thing. but i dont fit in. bye for a while

 burk “

The trio are devastated. Belli is the most vocal, with Mournimar having to calm her down, while Luctan stands stoically, with the baby in his arm.

Burk left.

It’s heart breaking.

It’s heart breaking and the cleric tries to cast Calm Emotions on the lot of them to try and soothe their woes. Mournimar fails his save, Luctan doesn’t even try and Belli tanks that and starts shouting at him for imposing his magic on them, without their consent.

“Don’t you fucking dare try and tell me what to fucking feel.” -  She is emotion personified.

When things calm down, Luctan apologizes and asks for the messenger’s name.

“ My name is Malak. I am a Devotee of Keemis. I’ve been living here in this temple for a few years.” He had heard of the Cultbusters’ reputation and found interest and want to join them on their questing, seeing as they’ve stirred some cults out of their comfort.

Thrown them out of their rhythm, if you will.

He is accepted, Belli referring to him as their “intern” for now and, with introductions made, and Malak gathering his equipment, the bunch of them take to the last tavern they had gone to for breakfast and meeting back up with Amelia.

Amelia waits for them there. Nel had spoken to her about how she managed to get her mother to agree on leaving town for a while with the help of a family friend. And she had made some sort of offer to Amelia.

The group are again together at the tavern and introduce Malak. Amelia and Malak shake hands as a distraught Belli pays the tavern keeper to go and work the kitchen for a while.

Amelia encourages her. “The fact he wrote us a letter means he cared about The Cultbusters.” She gently holds Belli’s arm, ‘cause Belli’s abandonment issues have kicked in hard.

There’s stress baking and then there’s stress cooking. And Belli does this handily. And she makes... so much food! 1st, second, third Breakfasts, if those were actual things, of course.

“It’ll be alright. He had to do what he had to do.”

As Belli comes and goes with increasingly more and more plates of food, we end up talking about the baby and his future. The little elven boy keeps tugging at Luctan’s hair, fussing at him and getting fussed at.

A few suggestions get made. From Malak’s suggestion to raise the child in the orphanage, to the talk with Nel the other day, involving handing him over to a rich family.

The decision is hard to make. Whether he likes it or not, Luctan’s attached himself to the little one, but he knows he can’t keep him with the party as dangers keep increasing on their journey. He had been having waking flashes back to every incident since the child was with them and how scared he was from the screams and roars and hurts and aches.

He couldn’t let the baby travel with them further. He knew what he was going to do, regardless of where the baby went, but still.

Amelia catches up with Malak on his Keemis Clergy work.

 He’s been at this for 5-6 years or so. He heard about the party after the CB helped arrest the local cultists. He’s fascinated by souls and how they transition, based on their alignment. He’s searching for an answer to this question. Basically, he’s looking for research.

Amelia asks where he’s from.

“I’m from Lian. It is not a good place to raise a kid and I left home, got a lot of people from my home town killed. We wanted to leave, thought we’d make our own band of soldiers to fight in the war and I’m the only one left. And so I try to find some meaning in the senseless death and resurrection and ended up meeting some Keemis priests. Fell in with them and came up here.”

The gang try to cheer him up about his backstory woes and some end up sharing their own troubles. Mournimar does so. Luctan gives away the shocker that his family owned slaves and that triggered his sense of aiding those in need, freeing the captive ones and fleeing via teleport scroll.  And lastly Belli tells the tragic story of her family.

Doting on the baby commences, while Mournimar gives Malak some pointers on the shenanigans he is up for with Belli, now that he is part of the group.

Following their hefty meal, Mournimar gets his new armor. Better fitted than his previous one. Since he found it in the barracks??? This one is more custom. Studded Leather, which raises his AC + 1

Going back on forth on where to go next, during this tragic shopping episode, Belli shares Burk’s treasures with the cleric, seeing as he had left them for the rest.

Before anything can be really bought, though, aside of the meals, we go for the payment on the Serial Kilelr job.

As the party draw closer to the dungeons, Mournimar suggests Belli let Luctan talk, which offends Belli, who gets encouragement from Luck and Malak that she’ll do great. Malak ingretiating himself by casting Guidance and Enhance Ability on the Half-Orc Bard, right before she approaches the receptionists, an older Half-Elf man and a yellow tiefling.

“Now is the time to prove them wrong.”

The conversation is quick and Belli shines during this process. We are thanked, the lot of us, for the work we did and are pointed to the office of the Captain in charge.

While walking, we get a few pointers on places to visit around town.

Generally South-West of the city is a good night’s time.” the HElf answers Amelia. Though, uh,  he wouldn’t know personally. Definitely.

We walk down to the office, knock on the door before walking in.

We are welcomed in by the Halfling woman inside. She’s dressed well for her job. Not exactly the outfit one would expect for prison duty, but then again, they didn’t have a good idea on that, themselves. Blue eyes observe us warmly and kindly, through a wavy bob haircut, while she fiddles with the cuff of one of her sleeves. Her office is bare, maybe she’s new, maybe it’s how she likes it.

She kind of looks everyone up and down. “I’m guessing you’re the folks we’ve been expecting, huh?”

The party apologize as they didn’t have a proper schedule in mind and the thought is shared vice-versa as it just... Really was like that sometimes? Often times?! A lot. It happened a lot.

For finding the hide out of the slayer of cityfolk, for convincing his husband to give himself up and testify about his beloved, the ‘busters gain a monetary reward. As she pulls out a big chest on the table, Belli tries to convince her to unionise. To some possible success? She certainly seems curious about the suggestion itself.

Ames kinda looks her up and down and gives a smol little thumbs up

She’s a valuable worker, she’s worth more.

On behalf of the city of Crystalgate, thank you for all of your efforst in intervening with the issue. The culprits have been dealt with.” Much to the four original members’ surprise, the husband has been released, having promissedto turn over a new leaf.

Luctan would later ask the captain, who introduced herself to the five as River Blackbrace (Just River), where he could find the husband and, after ensuring her that he planned no ill will towards the man, she guesses he’d be back in town or at one of the temples.

The woman feels like rewarding us with more, since this isn’t her gold, yeah? Lots of paperwork time prevented. The five are given suggestions on places to go and spend our money. Between " Neladrie's Rarities” and “Snipper’s Hall’, the clothing store of Grinella, they have some good options on their way.

Grinella is the best at her work, as far as River’s concerned.

Before they go, we mention to River that we plan on participating in the Spring Festival’s tournament.

River mentions that it was originally created as a celebration of the heroes Septum Sabata. It’s a series of trials re-creating what they went through to save everyone. Malak has watched it a few times and things happening around the arena a few good times. He’s the local CG expert.

And if they really feel down, there’s also a place... a-a-

Café where they summon fae animals.

And should they need a good book,  there’s a library in the north east. “The Lady Stormweaver National Library.” The conversation about books prompts Luctan to show off the “Handerstaad” he got from Sa Doma.

And River spills the tea that Kheyha is a local. And has spent some time in the dungeons for her alcoholism antics. (Never meet your heroes, kids.)

They are suggested to stay away from the Ebryosis followers. Best leave those kinky fellas to their own “dungeons”.

As they walk walk to the clothes and magical trinkets shops, Mournimar has a heart to heart with Belli, apologizing for his behavior. While Luctan checks the money with Malak. The sibs hug it out, while the money is counted and distributed amongst all of them, even as Malak protests some.

There’s a faint tingle of wind chimes as the five go to one of the most eclectic collections of goods of various kinds we’ve ever seen. Sort of an order to it, anyways. A rainbow pattern across the show. Vaguely arranged in no particular order. Pretty much everything’s in a different size and shape.

A high elven woman, Neladrie, sits in a tall stool behind a desk, very long hair. She glances vaguely at us and has a monocular on.

Good morning. Feel free to look around. Please be aware you’re being watched, so don’t get any funny ideas. And Welcome.”  She points at her watchful little pseudodragon, watching from the rafters.

Belli uses mage hand to pat the dragon.

She knows she’s a good gorl.

The search commences as each member of the party search foritems with some help of the shopkeeper.

Malak gains supplies for his Divination magic, including dragon bones.

Mournimar tries and fails to find anything that could enhance his wisdom.

Amelia gets her hands on some lovely sea shells.

Luctan gets helped with finding a focus for his recently developed magical abilities. A small purple crystal.

All the while Belli takes her pick, between some wild musical instruments.

There is an holy banjo with all the gods’ symbols.

There’s a great axe with a wider handle. A didgerydeath, if you will.

And also, what appears to be a kazoo 2. One sort of kazoo entrance and branches out into different sights. It’s like if a kazoo had different pitches.

There’s also a set of bagpipes.

And last, but not least, an ukulele of sorts. Upon testing it, the ukulute sounds like a spannish guitar, almost.

Ostentatious is her brand and after testing all the instruments, she agrees to buy the ukulute.

With purchases made, the gang take the next step of their journey, going to the “Snipper’s Hall”, where they meet the one and only  Grindelia Snipper. A Goblin Woman, standing atop a 7ft tall step ladder, measuring a tall model with her arm tattoo.

“OH! Welcome!” 

"Snipper’s Hall” is a long building, like a miniature Viking lounge house, with elements of stone to keep it stable. There is a wide variety of different sort of premade outfits, models of different heights going from 4.5 to 8ft tall... And. There’s a jewelry section.

After a greeting, the party make their requests and orders in a friendly sort of manner. Mournimar buys a jacket and a stag brooch, Belli gets herself a new, lovely outfit, a dress of blue and pink, as well as a canine bracelet. Malak’s fine as he is and Amelia is left uncertain with what to purchase.

Upon Luctan’s request... A custom outfit which’ll take a few days to put together, the poor secret Tieflingman gets handled with amazing strength and tenacity by the spunky and overly friendly goblin woman, who measures him nice and well with her arm and finger, taking his numbers with keen eyes, even with his armor still on.

He can’t be sure why, but the very suggestion she’s sent people to get treatment over the roughhousing sends a chill down his spine. The elf baby just has a blast during the entire developement.

Business transaction made, the next stop is “Peppery Pete’s Pile of Potions.”

Belli is still angry with the old gnome, over his potions involving Orcish strength, given the negative stereotype about Orcish intelligence lowering the user’s titular stat.

A stern talking to is to be had, before any dealings get made there.

Along the way to the shop, Luctan asks Malak if he knows anything about the tournament, beyond what the party had heard and he shares his knowledge with the gang:

“The Tournament is divided into three trials The Trial of the Elemental Lords, the Trial of the Beast and the Trial of the Betrayed.

The Trial of the Elemental Lords involves the blending of the elements being worked into a challenge that teams must overcome together.

The Trial of the Beast involves fighting a mighty beast that establishes victors as a cut above the rest.

The Trial of the Betrayed is the grand finale, the remaining 2 groups battle it out. But there are clerics on standby. You cannot aim to kill, just to knock unconscious. Any deliberate murder would be acted upon as such in a court of lawAfter the tournament, a party is held for all groups within the Echosmith Hall and the champions are presented with their rewards.”

Luctan’s mind wanders. Things to be re-worked in his goals.

The lot of them soon reach the shop and, upon summoning Pete inside, welcomes are had. Arguing commences between the Half-Orc and the Gnome as Pete ultimately admits that he stopped producing the particualr offending potion, much to the losses in his product.

Ideas are being thrown around on potions Pete could work on in turn, before any business could be had, involving the party’s wants and needs.

Aside from getting a Greater Health Potion and a new Potion of Wizard’s Folly (after giving his first one to Danton back in Sa Doma), the party have... particular requests.

Belli takes note of the “ Basilisk Tears “ potion. For 200 gold, she most definitely buys that and makes plans. Fast plans on the use.

On Luctan’s end, with the deal being made for Peter sponsoring the adventurers for the tournament to come, Luctan gives in to the support of the full party, now that they are all in the shop, as opposed to only half there. With the price for his sword’s modification being brought down to 1,000 gold and the helping hand of Mournimar, Amelia and Malak, who didn’t even want the share of money given to him, Luctan accets.

And hands his greatsword over to the gnome for the specific enchantments he requested.

Belli has that moment of realization, you know? The one, where you just know that you have to move, while the moving is available and contacts Ficus about the Potion of Basilisk Tears, a concoction that might JUST bring her family back to their old selves!

With the party’s blessings, she runs off towards the Crusty Challice, where Ficus will wait for her.

But she doesn’t go alone as Mournimar tails her, just to make sure she doesn’t get messed with, before getting to her older brother. All the while the rest of the group are welcomed to the back of the shop by Pete for training.

As the work out commences, Mournimar follows. And as he follows, he keeps an eye out for anyone shady that might be watching Belli on her way out of the walls of the city.

He doesn’t see anyone. But gets the feeling that he is watched. He investigates that feeling. He notices that someone in the crowd is watching him. Seems to be, looks like a bald older man, stocky built, little bit tall and for a second the tiefling swears there's the faint glimmer of horns in his shadow, but then they disappear. As does he as Mournimar tries to find him in the crowd. To no avail.

Regardless, he continues on the path to the tavern.

There’s a bit of a smog in the tavern as people’ve lit cigarettes and pipes. Belli and Ficus have a good long talk as she shows him the potion of Basilisk tears. They are shaken, misty eyed and anxious to see if it works. This horror that befell their family... It could end in the next couple of days!

By the time she hugs Ficus, Mournimar has entered the tavern and commenced watching over the shadyness that may be observed from the patrons.

Which is to say, he’s basically looking through a sea of shade.

He does notice, though, one of the bartenders has a sort of, finely shaped jaw and stood up black hair, a bit of stubble and seems to be watching Mournimar a bit more intently than normal.

Mournimar tries to stealth closer to the guy, even though he’s aware. He tries to figure out who the guy is, but he has no idea.

Eye contact is made between the two as the guy slides a glass with Brandy over to Mournimar and just continues with his work behind the bar.

Mourni has a leetl sip to make sure everything’s Gucci. Tastes like some of the brandy from around Bavorum. Nostalgic.

Through some small talk, Mournimar learns that the man’s name is “Joe”. Just a working Joe, you know?

It’s less of a talk and more of an interrogation as they don’t break eye contact.

“The brandy’s on the house, Mournimar.” the man answers with the name that the tiefling hadn’t given him. Like. At all.

No answer given on how he knows that.

He backs out the back door with a wink and Mournimar follows after her.

There’s no way the Half-Orcs don’t see this by now and they dash and jump on after the digitigrade ranger, who finds himself and Morgan out in the back alley, with no sign of the mystery man, named Joe.

He tries everything he can, from following tracks, to Hunter’s Mark, to Morgan’s snoofer, but nothing works. The man is just... gone.

With the Narahs catching up to him, he explains what happened and has to be talked down from pointlessly searching for a man, or whoever, who is just “GONE”.

It is then that Belli must explain to him that she has to leave Crystalgate with Ficus. To try the potion on her family. It’s hard on Mournimar, but the frazzled tiefling understands.

Belli hands him Orion and states that, if anything is to happen, she’ll call the others. They then agree to meet up with the others for a proper goodbye.

The others, by the way, doing pretty well for themselves in this new enviroment.

A deal has been made that every time Amelia does good in the training, Archie gets a treat.

Given that the chunky kitty is on his back, getting pats on his big belly from the baby, she’s killed this training.

The entire development has left the running quartet staggering back to the rest of the party. Mournimar doesn’t spot anything off on the way back. 

As everyone reconvenes, Mournimar gives them an update on the respective situations, giving in detail a description of this “Joe” character. He worries it could be related to Lazarus, his ex. Or Kahlia. Or Potencia herself. He gets calmed by Luctan’s wording on the subject.

“We’re a bunch of famous and attractive people. Let’s face it. we have fans.”

As the party splits up, with Belli making her goodbyes with the rest of the gang, Luctan Blesses her and Ficus, which catches Malak’s attention. Thinking about the type of magic being used, he can tell that, though holy, it is not one of the Five that has given Luctan his abilities.

With Belli and Ficus taking Kevin and Killer, the rest of the party opt to go to the circus on the outskirts of town.

“The Voluptani Mystique “, a big tent circus in the north-west part of town’s outskirts. It’s fabulous on the outside.

They pay and notice at the entrance, a red skinned tiefling woman with a long, ball gown dress, leaning against the booth she stood inside and she waves a hand over and leaves a small mark with Prestidigitation.

Lead inside,  it’s basically how you imagine a circus. An arena with seats around the circle. The four and their animal companions take a seat at the front as the Dancing Lights Cantrip flies around the tent, lighting and highlighting everything and everyone gathered, people of many walks of life. Just here for a little show to end the evening.

A cloud of smoke emits from the middle and the huge entrance of the tent swings shut.

Inside the cloud the lights start hovering, we can see the lights start changing color and go in different directions, erratic and suddenly there are hops from around the room where everyone’s sitting. And back in the middle, when they look, they see a high elf woman with pitch black hair falling long and wavy towards the bottom.

She stands with one hand in the air and one hand spread outwards towards the side. She pauses, looks around the audience and she whistles three high pitched notes. She snaps with her pointing up hand and the lights skatter, going right towards the audience. The cloud disappears and in the time it was there, the original woman is gone and there are two halflings, a man and a woman and they start doing all sorts of contortions. They entwine and roll in a ball. Throughout the whole show there is this almost hypnotic flute music. Pyrotechnic displays and after each one, there is a set of three elven dancer,s almost dangerously close as they maneuver around. Really fucking weird. A whole lot of illusion magic is happening here.

At one point the elven dancers starts flying around and Mallak, being a local, has seen this before.

After 3 hours of this weird bewhildering performance the entire room lights up and it’s completely clear and the original high elf woman, who’s actually an eladrin, is still in that same pose as when things started.

And she says “Thank you all once again, as always, please leave your tips with faith on the way out and thank you. She snaps with fingers and purple energy surrounds her as she leaves.

Bewhildered and amazed, Mournimar kinda wants to give this a go. Run away and joy the circus? Follow your dream, bud!

Having been in Crystalgate for a few years now, Malak had abided in a few viewings of the spectacle and, though it’s often with some modifications, it’s generlaly been the same good experience over time. He’s happy.

Amelia shares with the gang about the possibility of hanging out at Nel’s for a few days. As though there was any question on whether they would say “no” to such an offer.

 As the night covers the sky above Crystalgate, the party find themselves again at the rich sector of town, being watched by a guard.  Nel arrives at the gate, red faced after messaging Amelia. She forgot to give her a badge and was now paying the price with the run she had to make.

Sadly, though a talented bard,  Nel has the muscle content of a slug.

The party soon make it back to Shadowspire Manner, lead by Nel, after introducing Mal to the Half-Elven woman and sharing of Burk’s departure.

They are shown around. the rooms, the kitchen, everything they’d need, before she takes Amelia’s hand and leads her to her room. Nel’s room. She is the body guard and she must guard that body.

Mournimar and Malak opt to crash in Luctan’s room for the evening, deciding not to split the party any further than this.

Luctan watches out of a window for about an hour, while humming to the baby, before going to bed.

As Mournimar and Malak sleep, Mournimar has some kind of dream...

But Luctan doesn’t sleep.

No.

Instead, once he’s sure the others have fallen in rem sleep, he sneaks outside and goes for a short walk around the neighbourhood, doing whatever it is that he does at this time.

After coming back in, 5-10-20-to-30 minutes later, he feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and notices a shadow close to Mournimar, with no one casting it.

Then it disappears.

After investigating out the window, Luctan goes to bed and meditates... on something else.....

Day 2 comes to an end.

Previous Episode / Halloween Episode / Next Episode

[castcharmperson]

Oh dang dude! TarotQuest and Class of 1021 sound super cool! I love the idea of TQ revolving around the narrative of tarot cards, and fantasy grad school? Heck YES! Sounds legit! Also the characters sound like tons of fun! Your personal characters Peach Blossom and James also sound like totally interesting characters, and I'm sure it's such a blast to actually be a playable character! So I have a few more questions~ What are your top tips for DMs? For players? What makes a campaign a success?

you are now my favorite person and also i am crying. your enthusiasm is so kind and good thank youuuu

Great questions! Going to answer in reverse order:

Campaign Success- make sure your goal is always Fun. Now, Fun can mean different things for different players. For TarotQuest, fun is both “how much chaos can I cause” as well as “I want to Feel Things” for my players. For 1021, it’s largely more the former. When I play as Janes, it’s the latter. In Fate of War, Fun was “the power of friendship!!” If you’re a DM, try to ask your players what they love/want more of in dnd before starting a new campaign (or even after each session! I love getting feedback).

I’d also totally recommend Griffin’s philosophy for bigger narrative structure if you’re DM a grand story. Make the story module. If players want to seduce the grim reaper or cast Geas on a minor deity (Bo and Taako have similar chaotic energies. But if I give my sister a secret in-narrative sibling, I will make her cry. And I already made her cry once in TQ and it felt horrible) but those smaller arcs will hopefully keep the bigger story in one piece (Johnny Voreman in taz and [redacted because my date follows this blog] in TQ)

Player Advice- tbh, I’m not often a player. I think my best advice would be “be passionate, be committed, but accept that death saving throws will happen.” My first character, Lyra*, was a wizard with the worst AC. I was on the brink of death in most rounds of combat. It was very stressful because I was sooo attached to her. In the final session of that campaign, I critically failed my third failed death save. It felt like the dice themselves were screaming “your problematic fav is dead” and it hurt. Beyond even things to that extreme, try not to let bad dice rolls affect your attitude as a person. When the DM says no, accept that. Also, when the DM is clearly in the middle of a monologue of flavor text, please don’t interrupt them. Because when you ask five minutes later what was described during that monologue, the DM will be annoyed with you.

Your goals are Fun and Respect. Also, don’t be afraid to Go Hard with improv and crazy character choices. The DM usually is going All Out as an actor. If you are too, that makes the DM feel less weird.

DM Advice- accept now that your players will interrupt you. Try not to take it personally, they’re just excited.

But in all seriousness, take that module advice to heart. At the end of the day, dnd isn’t your story, it’s a shared story. It’s a collaboration. The best moments will be the ones you never saw coming. Prepare ahead, do your homework and really flesh out your world as much as you can. Your players will not see all of it, but it will always feel better to be overprepared than underprepared. Be flexible, know that everything you prepared might be thrown out the window. The best advice I have for DMing is “don’t say no. Tell them to roll for it.” Because sometimes your players want to do something wild- let them try. Let them fail. Or, sometimes they roll a nat!20 and you have to let them do the crazy thing they wanted to do. When that happens, my favorite thing to do is “yeah okay, you successfully do that crazy thing. Now here are the consequences of that.” With my players, this is usually when they persuade an npc to join them on an adventure. I usually can’t manage an npc and run the rest of the story. So when they roll well, I let them ‘succeed’ in presaussion, and the brutally murder said npc in front of them a few hours later. Nat!20 doesn’t mean “everything goes how you want and there are no consequences.” It means “yes, you do this very specific action how you want.”

Think about why you want to DM and be aware of what you’re wanting to get out of dnd in this very particular role. I DM because I want to tell stories- I have beginnings and some endings, but I don’t have the middle of stories. I want my players to make that middle bit with me, to give life to the story. If you want to DM to see how much you can break the players you’re playing with, that’s fine, but make sure the players have a similar desire to break your world right back.

And remember that this is supposed to be Fun for you too. If DMing isn’t Fun, take a step back and figure out why. You don’t want to dread DMing. Stage fright (which I even get playing with my closest and dearest friends) is understandable, but DMing should not be misery.

This is way more than I expected to write. Hopefully this makes sense? Your questions are so insightful!!! I’m so honored you asked lil ole me for advice!

*so funny story. I have a necromantic wizard named Lyra [lie-rah]. With no knowledge of her, my sister’s boyfriend made a blacksmith warlock named Lyrra [lee-rah] at the exact same time. It’s equal parts hilarious and a nightmare for my easily confused brain.

[shortcakemonster]

Go-Away Green pt. 2

Part 1 Part 3

Summary: The reader receives several requests to join the decathlon team. Her reaction provokes even more suspicion from Peter. 

There were eyes on you. You could feel them. 

Look away look away look away look away.

Why were they looking at you for this long? Usually, if someone looked at you, you wouldn’t even have time to deflect their gaze- they would’ve moved on before you’d realized it. 

But this had been going on for at least ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty. Why were they staring so much?!

Look away look away look away LOOK AWAY.

Maybe if you managed to make eye contact with whoever it was and caught them in the act, they’d stop staring at you. But there was no way in hell you were doing that.

BRRRIIIIIIIIIINNNGG!

You closed your eyes and let out a sigh of relief as the bell rang for lunch. Another advantage of not taking notes meant that you didn’t waste precious seconds collecting all your things into your backpack. You were immediately ready to slip out the back door and into the hallway before it got too crowded.

“(Y/N)?” came Mr. Harrington’s voice.

You froze momentarily, your back facing the front of the class. You inched forward experimentally. 

Forget me forget me forget me don’t call my name again let me leave let me-

“(Y/N)!”

You took a deep breath, trying to quell the nausea in your gut. You shakily turned around and silently made your way to Mr. Harrington’s desk, your head down. 

Talking to people was harrowing enough, but he was a teacher! What if you’d failed a test, or forgotten to turn in an assignment? What if he’d caught on to your abilities? What if he noticed that you didn’t take notes and thought you were cheating?

“I’m gonna keep this quick, ‘cause I’m sure you want to get to lunch,” Mr. Harrington interrupted your thoughts. “You’ve aced every single test you’ve gotten in this class, you write excellent papers- what I mean to say is that you’re a great student. I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m the coach for the decathlon team.” Of course you were aware. “And because Liz unfortunately had to leave earlier this year, we’re a little short. Not drastically, but we could use someone else for the team. Would you like to think it over?”

You were supposed to be just a name on a paper. He wasn’t supposed to put a face and a personality to that name. How did he even recall you as a student? You’d never answered a question correctly in front of him because he’d never managed to call on you!

He’d mentioned your essays, your test scores- would you have to dumb it down in order to get his attention off of you? Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. Maybe he’d find another student. Besides, he now had an expectation that you would do well in class. If you broke that expectation, it would raise even more questions.

His eyes, tired and hopeful, made you want to go bury yourself under a rock. Your gaze darted away from his as you shook your head, careful not to do it too frantically, before muttering the only word you’d said all day: “Can’t.”

It only got worse at lunch.

You normally sat by yourself in a corner somewhere, or outside on occasion, just so long as you were alone. You would also take out a book and put on some headphones to communicate the fact that you were Not Interested in Conversation. You never actually read or listened to music, though. Instead, your attention fell on the ambient noises of the cafeteria and the people you could make out in your peripheral vision.

It was strangely calming, in spite of all the other people around you. Maybe it served as a reminder of how unnoticeable you were in a crowd this large.

Unfortunately, your peace didn’t last for very long, as you began to feel eyes on you. Cautious as ever, you looked up to see none other than Michelle Jones- otherwise known as MJ- heading straight toward you.

The second she sat down at your table, you stood up and mumbled an apology from under your breath, your possessions already in your arms.

MJ’s hand shot out and nearly caught you around the wrist, but you quickly retracted your arm.

“No, no, sit. I just wanted to talk to you.”

You felt a pit in your stomach. Your heart raced, your mouth became dry. You made an attempt at getting her to leave you alone-

Stand up and walk away forget me go away don’t look back forget me.

-but it proved futile. You forced yourself to sit down.

“You might not know this, but I’m the captain of the decathlon team.” Of course you knew. “Mr. Harrington told me about you, and according to him, you’d be a good addition to the team.”

People were talking about you when you weren’t around. You weren’t supposed to exist in people’s minds. Of all the things in the world that other people could talk about, think about, why did you have to qualify?

It was easier to make someone disregard you if they had no aim or attachment to you. You were sickly proud to say that nobody at school was attached to you on a personal level, but when they had an aim, such as getting you on the decathlon team, they were a little harder to ward off. Especially when they were as smart and driven as MJ. She would never admit to being anything resembling a good leader, but it couldn’t be denied that she was one.

Still, as much as you admired her, it didn’t mean you were comfortable being on a team with her a bunch of other people- answering timed questions in front of a large crowd, no less.

You clutched your book and your backpack tightly to your chest. “N-no thanks,” you managed to spit out.

MJ was completely unfazed. “‘Kay.” She stood up and walked away, leaving you confused but relieved.

Michelle Jones returned to a lunch table full of expectant decathlon members. They all leaned forward in anticipation as she sat down.

“Well?” Ned prompted.

MJ looked up, as if suddenly remembering her purpose. “Oh, right. She’s not joining.”

Before anyone else had time to react, Flash hopped out of his seat and began sauntering over to your table.

“I’ll convince her,” he declared. “Nobody can resist the Flash.” He popped his collar for emphasis. 

MJ watched him walk for a while, then turned back to the rest of the team, her voice low. “Alright, real talk, I’m starting to get invested in this girl solely if it means we can kick Flash off the team.”

Suddenly, everyone else at the table had a new resolve to recruit you, nodding furiously along with MJ.

A sudden realization dawned on Peter. “Wait, does Flash even know her name?”

Everyone at the table groaned.

Eyes on you. More than just two, this time, though one pair was particularly interested. You focused on the ground, then followed the path before you up until you saw expensive shoes... skinny jeans... a polo with a popped collar... and an incredibly cocky grin.

Oh, no. There was no way they were siccing Flash Thompson on you.

It didn’t take much effort.

Turn around and forget me.

And just like that, Flash spun on his heel and returned to his table, plopping down into the seat beside MJ.

“The hell was that?” Ned asked. “Did you chicken out?”

Flash, lost in some sort of trance, blinked back to reality. “Huh?”

Peter rolled his eyes and stood up from the table. “Third time’s a charm.”

“Actually, fourth time, since Mr. Harrington asked her earlier,” Ned pointed out.

“Considering Flash didn’t even make it to the table, I’m gonna count this as the third time.”

Of course, Peter had other motivations besides getting you on the team. He’d felt it all during lunch so far, especially when Flash and MJ had come near you. His senses kicked in, alerting him to... something, he didn’t know what. 

You were doing something strange, and it was possible that you were the reason why Flash looked so out of it when he came back. Even MJ needed a second to come back to Earth. 

Had you hypnotized them, somehow? His heartbeat sped up at the thought, especially now that he was approaching you by himself. Oh, well. Better him than any of his friends. At least he was somewhat aware of whatever it was you were doing.

He didn’t get within six feet of your table before you abruptly stood up and darted through the crowded cafeteria, making a straight exit out the door. He entertained the thought of following you, but ultimately decided against it.

Peter returned to the table, slightly disappointed and majorly confused.

MJ, as always, brushed it off. “Look, she clearly doesn’t want to join the team. We can’t force her.”

“Maybe she’s just having a bad day. We could try again later this week,” Ned suggested.

The team nodded in agreement and stood up as the bell rang. Peter glued himself to Ned’s side and ducked his head down, speaking quietly as they made their way to their lockers.

“Dude, I think something’s up with her.”

“Who? (Y/N)?”

“Who else? There’s something weird about her. It’s like I can’t focus on her for too long. Have you noticed that?”

“Hm, not really,” Ned mused. “I mean, it’s not like I know her all that well, but it’s hard to notice someone when they don’t talk much.”

“Yeah, but this is more than that,” Peter insisted. “I can feel it. And you saw Flash and MJ earlier, they seemed really, I dunno, out of it when they came back. Flash didn’t even talk to her at all and he still looked like that.”

Ned’s eyes lit up.“Maybe she’s like the Silence from Doctor Who!”

“I mean, it’s possible, except you don’t immediately forget about her when you turn away. Not always. At least, I don’t. Everyone else seems to, though.”

“How about the TARDIS key? When you wear it, it makes you unnoticeable to everyone around you!”

“What’s with all the Doctor Who references?”

“Not my fault that show’s amazing,” Ned replied, shrugging.

Peter opened his mouth to reply, but his eye caught someone in the distance- you ducking around and in between people. What was your name again? His words died on his tongue.

A/N: I won’t be posting for a few days because I’ll be out of town and I won’t have very good Wi-Fi. Thanks so much for reading!

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