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ashensgrotto · 9 months

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Never Had a Friend (like Me) - Part 1

Original art piece by pfbatakopd on twitter (Used only for Header. Do NOT REPOST ORIGINAL ART)

Part 1 (You Are Here) Part 2 Part 3

YandereSoulmate! AU:

Part 1 (Am I Feeling Love?)

Part 2 (Protective)

Part 3A & Part 3B (Poor Unfortunate Souls)

Characters: Azul Ashengrotto X F!Reader

Word Count: 9,105

Synopsis: A chance for redemption comes in the form of a wish…

Author’s Notes: Ok, here we go. I received an anonymous message in my inbox for the next part of the Yandere!Soulmate series and I was actually going to work on it - but with the arrival of GloMas, working on the next part of ‘Raison D’être,’ wanting to finish “Weren’t You Aware, Angelfish?”, AND the holidays, time got away from me and I forgot about Scarabia’s segment for a short while.

However, because you all seem to enjoy this and want to know if the tako has redeemed himself - I figured I would work to get this part done. Now, warning - Pompefiore’s part is going to take a bit of time to complete because I will have to wiggle my way through my memory bank and replay a few parts of it (which is approx 76 chapters in length for those players who haven’t made it that far into the game yet) since I’m working so deep into Ignihyde’s chapter right now (which is a doozy - I’m still in chapter 67-tower 1, oof help).

This one is also going to be split into three parts - I promise it will not be a long wait for the second & third parts as this is my Christmas gift to all of my readers <3

Thank you all for your continued support!

Warnings are as follows: yandere behaviors, manipulation, imprisonment, & hypnosis

***

I’m in the mood, to help you dude

You ain’t never had a friend like me.

***

It had been weeks since the last overblot incident… and just as long since Azul last saw you.

He sat in his office, looking over paperwork for the last quarter and rubbing his brow with worry.

The profits had started to steadily decrease following his overblot, causing the Monstro Lounge to slowly suffer the loss, like an infection slowly eating away a mer’s life. He had no one really to blame but himself for that… Azul had lost control, let his obsession get out of hand and had hurt the people closest to him.

Jade… Floyd… you.

Azul let out another large sigh and set the report down, taking his glasses off and rubbing his face. He had considered going back to the Coral Sea for holiday, but was unable to due to two reasons; one, the ice floes would’ve made the journey too dangerous to travel alone - especially since Jade and Floyd had already prepared to stay at NRC for the holidays, and two… you were still here.

Not in Octavinelle where Azul had wanted you to be, but in a rundown shack on the school property.

The building had been a dorm, once upon a time, but ghosts had moved in and scared the students to the point that the building was deemed ‘unsafe.’ However, with your charms and personality, the ghosts were easily persuaded and welcomed you in with open arms - though Azul had a sneaky suspicion that both the headwardens of Savanaclaw and Heartslabyul had likely persuaded the otherworldly spirits in exchange for access to both of their dorms. Regardless, with you no longer in Octavinelle and now at the mercy of the headmage’s “generous” nature, Azul could only watch from the shadows as you now tended to the school property in a janitorial role.

Azul leaned back in his chair, his thoughts plagued by you before an obnoxious ringing noise filled the office.

He grumbled, picking the phone up, “Monstor Lounge, this is Azul speaking.”

“Hello baby, how are you?” the familiar voice of his mother on the other end made Azul jump in surprise.

“Mother,” Azul coughed, “Hello - I apologize I hadn’t had a chance to call you. We’ve been busy lately.”

“Oh, I know, sweetheart,” his mother answered, “It’s been busy here too… but everything’s been calming down since the ice floes came - though I was surprised to see your letter that you were considering coming home for the holidays.”

‘Shit…’ Azul had completely forgotten about that - when (Y/N) had lived in the Octavinelle at the beginning of the year, Azul had entertained the idea of potentially inviting her to his home for the holiday, slowly and suringly getting her accustomed to the idea of staying with him - although it would prove to be a difficult task, especially now.

“However, I’m assuming that you changed plans at the last minute,” his mother continued.

“Y-yes, I was indeed planning on coming… however, Jade and Floyd both decided to stay behind so I chose to stay as well,” Azul answered, the lie slipping easily off his silver tongue, “Someone has to keep those two in line, after all.”

His mother snickered, “Don’t be saying that in front of their father though. Sevens knows what the moray will do if you say anything like that.”

Azul nodded, clearing his throat, “Um, well… What's going on with you, then? The restaurant still alright? How’s Finn?”

“Finn’s well - busy as always,” his mother answered, “Business has been getting better - hired several new staff members as well… a few sweet mers around your age, Zully.”

Azul rolled his eyes, “Mother… we’ve had this talk. I’m… not interested.”

“You might not be, but it will happen one day,” his mother’s voice was calm and soothing before she sighed on the end of the phone, “However… I have a sneaky feeling that you’re still upset about what I told you all those years ago.”

Azul bit his lip, answering, “Of course not… Soulmates? That’s ridiculous.”

“Azul…” his mother’s voice turned into a scolding tone, “There are plenty of fish out there - I know you’re still pretty young to be thinking about it, considering a mer’s life is longer than most, but shorter than a fae’s… but I only want you to be happy.”

“I am, mother,” Azul tried to smile, “I’m content where I am - I’ve gotten stronger, my business is growing, and… I’ve learned so much.”

“Perhaps, but allow me to give you a little insight - it’s something I learned long ago,” his mother prompted, “Happiness, though may be defined as ‘the state of joy or contentment,’ is typically filled by three main parts of life; success, dedication, and personal. Dedication and success go hand in hand with each other - if you work hard and are dedicated, you achieve success - even if the tasks prove to be difficult to the point that you might fail over and over again. Personal can mean time for yourself - spending time with your hobbies or doing what you love… spending time with those you care about even.”

Azul listened to his mother’s words, thinking.

“I know that you are successful and you’re dedicated,” his mother continued, “But you won’t achieve happiness if you just focus on those two things - take time for yourself now and again, look for stronger connections within your friendships… and look for someone that will want to support you and you support them.”

“I… I think I understand…” Azul answered, “I’ll… take your words into consideration.”

“I hope so - your grandmother taught me that when I was still a little octo fry many years ago,” his mother answered, a teasing tone caught in her voice.

Azul couldn’t help but smile, “Yes… Nanna always did know what was best.”

“Yes, she did, still does even… Well, I should probably let you go, then - you have a lot of stuff going on there,” his mother let out a sigh, “Just remember… I love you, baby. Merry Christmas.”

“I love you too… momma. Merry Christmas and I’ll see you at the end of the year.”

“I’ll hold you to that, Zully. Stay safe.”

Azul smiled and hung the phone up, sitting back in his chair and looking up at the ceiling.

“Finding that so-called ‘other half’ is like - well - like the story of the mermaid princess and her longing to be with a human. It’s a rare occurrence that only happens once in a millennium if not longer. Anyone can be happy with or without their soulmate, Azul. There’s no reason you should go to such lengths to be with someone who may not even exist…”

Azul shook his head at the memory of that day years ago - he wanted to forget… but sevens knows he couldn’t forget you.

A sudden loud crash had Azul bolting upright, his features twisting in annoyance. As far as he knew, the only ones in the lounge were Jade and Floyd… which could only mean one thing.

Trouble.

“Those two morons…” Azul gritted his teeth, standing from his chair, “If I catch the lounge in a disarray again…”

He grabbed his jacket, tossing it over his shoulders, before placing his hat upon his head, the magestone pen morphing into the headwarden’s silver octopus topped cane. He hurried from his office and headed into the lounge.

Entering the lounge, Azul’s eyes widened at the sight.

The lounge was damaged - several tables and chairs were overturned, marred by huge cracks and scratches while lamps lay in pieces on the floor, the glass orbs scattered into a thousand fragments on the carpeted flooring and the magestones cracked and shattered as well. Azul’s eyes narrowed on Jade and Floyd’s figures, but realized they weren’t alone after all. Several students from the Scarabia dorm were there as well, their wands out and at the ready - pointing them at Jade and Floyd, who seemed to be guarding something on the floor.

Azul’s eyes widened in surprise at seeing Kalim’s magic carpet as well as Grim hiding behind the remaining two members of Octavinelle - and they weren’t alone.

You were there as well, cowering behind Jade and Floyd’s intimidating heights as the Scarabia students glared daggers at you.

“There’s no escape for you now, thieves!”

“Surrender quietly!”

“Mrow?!” Grim held his paws up, “You chased us all the way here?! You guys are seriously stubborn, you know that?”

Azul remained quiet for a moment, his eyes shifting to look you over - noticing how you had one arm close to your body. Were you hurt?

Azul’s eyes narrowed as he approached, his shoes echoing in the lounge as his stern voice addressed the situation, “What is all the commotion at this late hour?”

The students turned to look at Azul, one of them speaking quietly, “Y-you’re… Azul Ashengrotto, the housewarden of Octavinelle!”

“Would you care to explain what is going on?” Azul asked calmly, moving to stand in front of you with Jade and Floyd behind him.

“It’s none of Octavinelle’s business,” another student tsked, “Just hand over the two of them quietly.”

Azul crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his head as he eyed you and Grim out of the corner of his eye, “Now that I’m looking closer at it - it appears to be (Y/N) and Grim sprawled out on our floor, quivering and covered in dust. Heh - I almost thought they were a pair of dust cloths.”

“Azul, please,” Azul met your gaze, “save us with your spirit of benevolence.”

“Hmm…” Azul turned back to the group of Scarabia before him.

“If you refuse to hand them over, you’ll be blamed for their wrongdoings as well,” the student warned.

“Hey - are ya yankin’ my tail here?!” Floyd’s eyes widened dangerously, his teeth peering out from behind his lips, “Who do ya think yer talkin’ to?!”

“No fighting of any kind is permitted in the Monstro Lounge,” Azul kept his arms crossed over his chest, his focus reshifting to address the situation at hand, “This is a place for gentlemen.”

“What was that? Are you interfering?” one of the students asked, “Fine, we’ll just do this the hard way.”

“Hmph, I think it’s time we asked these ill-mannered patrons to leave,” Azul growled, clicking his tongue in annoyance, “Jade. Floyd. Show them the door.”

The eel twins grinned as they moved quickly, going after the Scarabia students like the set of predators that they were. Azul was quick to move and cover (Y/N), his overcoat covering your form to protect you from the fighting, “Don’t look, my dear, I do not wish for you to see such behavior.”

“Azul - I’ve seen worse,” your voice rattled him to the core as he huffed.

“I... don’t need the reminder.”

It didn’t take long for the Scarabia students to fall back, Jade and Floyd repocketing their pens.

“Go on an’ scatter, ya bunch of minnows!” Floyd laughed eagerly.

“We’ll be eagerly awaiting your next visit to our lounge,” Jade smiled.

As the last of the students disappeared, Grim jumped for joy, “Mya-haha! We did it! You see that?! That’s what you get, you bunch of jerks!”

“We, Grim? I think you mean they - Floyd and Jade - did it,” you ask before shaking your head and turning toward the trio, “Thank you, all three of you - I don’t want to think what they would’ve done if you hadn’t stepped in.”

“Thanks are unneeded, my dear,” Azul answered, standing and offering his hand, “However, I’m afraid we’ll have to bill you for repair fees for the tables and chairs - not to mention the lamps and assorted dishwear that was damaged in that fight. Not to mention our own labor rates, since we were dragged into this affair.”

“WHAT?! You’re charging us for that?!” Grim asked, throwing his paws up in the air.

“Surely it’s a small price to pay for us rescuing the both of you from the inky depths of peril? After all, (Y/N) did ask for my spirit of benevolence.”

“Azul, please,” you asked quietly, “There’s a reason that the Scarabia students were after us.”

“I’m assuming it has something to do with Kalim’s magic carpet.”

“... Not really,” you answer, “We were being held hostage.”

Azul frowned, not liking the word one bit, “Explain, (Y/N).”

***

Azul muddled over what you had just told him, Grim piping up every so often to include details about the Scarabia situation to add more information as the cunning octopus thought deeply. As Azul thought, his eyes kept shifting to you, his thoughts going deeper into self-loathing; if you had remained in Octavinelle, none of this would have happened - you would’ve been safe, not having to walk to an oasis down and back again every morning before even eating, or sleeping in a closet under lock and key, or even doing battles with other students of magic when you couldn’t even cast a spell yourself.

His poor little angelfish…

Azul’s eyes widened, an idea appearing in his mind… a chance of a lifetime had just been given to him and he would be damned to let it go to waste.

A knowning smile spread across his features, “...It sounds like we should go to their aid.”

“Myra?! Did you hit your head or something when I wasn’t looking?!” Grim asked.

“Of course not!” Azul feigned harm, lifting his gloved hand to his chest, “I’ll have you know, my dear Grimmy, that the last incident forced me to reflect on my greed. I came out a changed man!”

“Oh, really?” You asked, folding your arms across your chest, “Care to explain?”

“I decided to contribute to the school as a whole, in honor of the Sea Witch’s spirit of benevolence,” Azul explained, his features turning coy, “It’s common knowledge that the housewardens are typically the ones their students go to in times of need or struggle - even the vice wardens are responsible for that as well. However, the power has to be shared equally between both the house and vice wardens - and Scarabia’s all over the place. It’s faced with a crisis now and my own classmate is in need of help - I can hardly ignore them in their time of need.”

You watched Jade and Floyd give each other knowing smiles before the twins looked at Azul, Jade asking, “What is the plan?”

“Here’s my idea,” Azul proposed, “The five of us head to Scarabia tomorrow - we’ll go under the guise that we are returning Kalim’s carpet as well as offering assistance with the dorm’s studies, this will ensure our stay especially since Octavinelle did overwhelmingly well on their finals before break…”

“No thanks to your study guides,” Grim huffed.

“Grim,” You warned.

Azul coughed and continued, “Once we’ve secured our spot within Scarabia, we’ll be able to do a bit of sneaking around to figure out what’s really going on.”

“And I’m assuming you have an idea on how to do so?” Jade asked.

“Let’s get to that point before we make any rash decisions,” Azul answered.

“I think that is a wonderful idea,” you agreed.

“(Y/N)?! Are you crazy?!” Grim asked, “We can’t go back there!”

“Grim, we really have no other options,” you turned to the feline demon, “We’ve tried contacting the Headmage, the other students can’t get into the school because the dark mirror is closed off, we have no way of contacting Riddle or Leona either… Azul’s plan is the best we have right now. Personally, I’d rather not go back, but with the way things are looking for Kalim…”

“You’re afraid there’s going to be another overblot, aren’t you, pearl?” Jade asked.

Azul blinked, the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind. Yes, Kalim’s behavior was erratic, but it couldn’t be enough for the headwarden to go into an overblot… would it?

“I’m afraid so,” you admit, looking over at Azul, “I noticed that… when things got a little out of control, someone overblotted. I can’t bare to see another student go through that, much less a housewarden again. I’d like to try and prevent it from happening again, if possible.”

Azul nodded, “No worries, angelfish - I’ll make sure mine was the last one you saw.”

You give the housewarden a small smile of relief - thankful that he seemed to understand.

Azul remembered during his blot how the memories of his childhood came forward; the root cause of his pain and suffering that eventually became his thirst for power that festered and grew until it snapped - and you had seen it all. Whatever this strange magical gift was and how you received it, Azul was certain that it was your own form of unique magic - one that was so powerful that it may even make Malleus Draconia afraid if he knew about it; the power to look into one’s past and see everything that shaped them into who they eventually became was strong powerful magic indeed - but, of course, Azul didn’t want anyone else to know about it, considering he was victim number three to the overblot crisis that appeared to be happening this year.

Azul reaches out, offering his hand to you, “(Y/N), as headwarden of Octavinelle - allow myself and Jade and Floyd to help you and Grim solve the mystery of Kalim’s strange behavior. I’m certain the five of us plus Jamil will be able to ease Kalim’s troubles and bring back the peace Scarabia so desperately needs. Do we have a deal?”

You look at his hand, the memory of the first day you met him and the day you lost your legs both playing in your mind - but what choice did you have? You look at him and take his hand, squeezing it.

“Promise - this will make us even?”

“Indeed. I promise.”

183 notes · View notes

cialovesklopp · 2 months

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chapter one — mercedes amg

summary — contract signed, license accepted and off we go — it should have been that easy but the transition wasn’t. and now all hopes were resting on her. she truly hopes she won’t disappoint.

song — dead man walking [ brent faiyaz ]

warnings — none ( however if there is something that should have been, pls tell me )

word counts — 3.1k

cia’s quick rambles — so sorry for the long wait, so many things were happening and i completely forgot it with all the exams also coming up. however I got ahead of myself and finished the first two chapters. hope i have part three finished by next week. enjoy, this is just the beginning 🫶🏾

( masterlist / navigation / previous / next )

— august 2023

𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐌

princessaaliyah

liked by evamueller, mercedesamgf1 and 8.927 others

princessaaliyah first day of work, wish me luck

view all 1203 comments

username so she’s the girl toto appointed as new chief technical engineer? ⤷ username i really wanna know why her ⤷ username she doesn’t exactly seem like the normal appointment

username am i the only one surprised, how quick people found her account ⤷ username same, like they are actually scaring me

mercedesamgf1 welcome on board aaliyah, we’re already looking forward to our time together ⤷ princessaaliyah me too, thanks admin

username so happy to see more and more diversity here ⤷ username definitely, f1 is going to fall off so hard when lewis retires

username she is so pretty and sweet

evamueller already miss you so much, it’s so boring here ⤷ princessaaliyah now you know how i felt when you did a month in greece ⤷ evamueller taking the family jet now to come see you ⤷ princessaaliyah letting you know now that i’m broke and can’t bail you out this time ⤷ evamueller 😕

username i already love her ⤷username fr she seems to funny and sarcastic

susiewolff excited to meet you aaliyah, always nice to see a new female face ⤷ princessaaliyah thx susie, i’ve also heard so much about you ⤷ princessaaliyah think i’m hyperventilating

username predicting it now, she’s gonna build a rocket ship

username i really hope she’s gonna be the female adrian newey and have lewis win his eighth ⤷ username never with the way mercedes has been for the past two seasons

username there’s something promising about her

username am i the only one who finds it weird that she just appeared in the middle of the season ⤷ username it’s called silly season for a reason

f1 welcome to the sport aaliyah princessaaliyah liked this comment

username but why is there nothing about her? like her wikipedia page is almost blank, as if it’s been created yesterday ⤷ username maybe because she likes her privacy like normal people? ⤷ username apparently she’s still a student ⤷ username how do u know? ⤷ username my cousin used to go to the same university, she also has a phd in physics and a bachelor in engineering already ⤷ username and she’s only 26

username this is gonna be a funny second part of the season

username just begging that she can finally give lewis his eighth ⤷ username and george his second win

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄

to say she was amazed was an understatement. standing in front of the official mercedes amg quarters had her star struck. even though it wasn’t her actual dream workplace, the place reeked of excellence. and it felt good to be part of that.

just as expected it was raining in england which had her stepping out with an umbrella in her hand as she walked towards the modern complex. it was seven o’clock in the morning and the building's modern, metallic facade gleamed under the morning sun which had her breath hitch. it was beautiful and yet terrifying.

she was doing this for him, she reminded herself. this was all for him— a gesture toward redemption, a way to ease the guilt that gnawed at her in the quiet of the night.

aaliyah smiled when she saw toto personally waiting for her at the entrance in a black team rain jacket. it fit his darth toto vibe perfectly.

and how did she know about that? well, one good thing in her life was being an overachiever. she did not go anywhere unprepared and it was the same for her new job. between getting the offer and actually signing the work contract, she had done a full research into the world of f1 and all the lore that came with it.

and how did she know about that? simple: overachievers like her never went anywhere unprepared. she had a knack for digging into the details, and when the job offer came, she didn't waste a second. between getting the call and signing the contract, she plunged into the world of F1, reading herself into all the lore that came with it.

she could call herself a brocedes expert now.

“i’m happy to see that you made it.” he greeted her and the two walked inside. they passed teams of engineers and technicians moving with a synchronized efficiency that spoke volumes about their skill and dedication.

the hum of activity, the whir of robotic arms, and the occasional rev of an engine being tested filled the air with an electric energy. he would have loved this, she thought and a small smile appeared on her face.

this was her world, her area where she would excel. she had promised him that much and even though she was way out of her comfort zone, this was where everything came together and that created a new kind of comfort. the perfect mix of engineering and luxury cars.

“this is bigger than i expected,” she mumbled, still feeling starstruck as they continued. many walls were decorated by massive tvs and pictures displaying the latest amg models in action, zooming through picturesque landscapes and roaring down racetracks.

toto laughed. “well, the best for the best right?”

“so what’s the plan for today? it’s seven thirty now and the only thing we’ve been doing is walk.”

“well the next race is soon so today, you’re going to see the car in its full glory for the first time. lewis and george should be arriving here soon so they can tell you a bit more about it.”

of course, the two mercedes drivers she would meet for the first time today. she had read about them, instantly taking a liking to lewis. and she had found george to be very likable from what she had seen and heard of him. but meeting them in real life was always something else.

it was crazy for her when she thought back that two months ago, she had just been aaliyah prince. engineering student at munich university. and now she could add the title of chef technical engineer to her resumé. her life had gone from zero to 180 in the span of a month and there was no going back.

everything was already official, she had gotten her badge, she had signed her contract and the official f1 account had publicly announced the change. she was all in now.

after a quick tour of the factory that had been specially arranged for her, she and toto entered a huge gallery where all of the previous race cars had been stored. she stopped in front of the famous w11, cautiously touching its rear wing while her heart started beating quicker.

“impressive, huh?”

she turned around and found toto smirking at her.

“it’s definitely something. i think this was the most perfect car in f1 history, it did give lewis his seventh championship.”

there was something spark-like in toto’s eyes. “nice to know that you did your homework. and with you, i’m sure we’re going to get his eighth.”

she opened her mouth, wanting to say something before closing it again. she didn’t want it to sound wrong but she had to know. she needed assurance that her secret and past stayed hidden and buried six feet underground.

“didn’t they ask questions? why you suddenly chose to recruit a twenty-something student from university?”

“i’m the boss, i get to do everything.”

“i just mean, people will want to know where i am from, look me up. and that’s what scares me.”

“aaliyah, if this is about what I think it is — i’m the only person that knows about it and should know about it,” he began and closed the door to make sure no one could overhear them. “ we both talked about it, i handled it, don’t worry.”

“i just don’t want anything to come out,” said aaliyah, her voice much quieter. “and with me being a public person now—”

“you don’t want anyone to know that you have an iq of 171 and are a certified genius.”

she snorted sarcastically. “175 and believe me, my brain has been more of a curse than a gift to me.”

toto softly put a hand on her shoulder. “and i’m here for you now. i may be your boss but i’m also your friend. so if anything, and i really mean anything,” he emphasized, both knowing what they were referring to, “comes up, you tell me. call, or even come to my hotel room. there’s always a solution.”

the tour neared the end and toto led her to a special section with lots of computers and graphics. there were sketches and designs with specific attention to detail that amazed her in one way. aaliyah could feel a deep sense of admiration for the talent and dedication of her new colleagues.

and in the middle, in all its black beauty and glory stood two w14, one with a certain green-yellowish embroidering while the other had a blue one. she felt more than fascinated with them — this could become an obsession for her. staring at the car in front of her should have made her back out, maybe even run for the hills if the reports that she had read about mercedes and their w14 were true.

but instead it sent her brain into overdrive.

in her head she was already going over all the things she could experiment, of course under regulation of the other mechanics. this was the car she had to turn into a rocket ship and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t excited.

maybe that's why she sometimes viewed her brain as a curse. it was a relentless force, endlessly questioning and analyzing, never quiet. it burdened her with insights and thoughts that felt overwhelming, leaving her longing for peace she rarely found.

she edged closer to the car, her fingers brushing against its surface, the sensation almost dreamlike. the touch brought back memories of those old sundays, when life felt simpler. she recalled sitting with her father on the couch, watching the races when the cable worked, and how he loved to point out the drivers to little aaliyah, who only understood the allure of the cars.

it made her miss her dad so much.

the car itself was at first sight a masterpiece of combining aerodynamics and engineering with the law of physics. she could practically feel all the effort and research that had gone into developing it. her finger graciously traced the carbon fiber bodywork along, the coolness of the material sending a shiver down her spine.

her thoughts darted ahead, a whirlwind of possibilities for the car's transformation. she could already pinpoint some areas ready for modifications, envisioning tweaks and upgrades that might unlock new speeds, each idea a wave crashing against the limits of her own imagination.

aaliyah found herself so mesmerized by the car, she did not notice the two other persons enter the room. lewis and george were clearly surprised when instead of the expected elderly man, they found a young black woman standing in front of them, completely lost in her thoughts as she played with the car. they were clearly curious because except for her name, they didn’t know anything about her.

“you must be aaliyah,” said lewis in a warm tone and she turned around, nearly jumping because of the two new presences in the room.

great, she had already ruined her first impression and and it was lewis hamilton standing in front of her.

thank god she couldn’t spot a blush or else her face would have matched a ferrari car. “yes, that’s me, aaliyah. the new chief technical engineer. and for the record, in my head this went way better.”

they all laughed.

george took a step forward and held out his hand. “george russell, a pleasure to work with you from now on.”

damn, he’s tall. was height a requirement to work here?

lewis snorted. “believe me, i asked myself the same thing.

again, thank the lord her skin was too dark to blush. “i didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

she suddenly felt small, smaller than she already was in company of the three men. lewis hamilton was beautiful, ethereal even — his iconic dreadlocks were neatly styled in a typical bun, he had beige trousers matched with the black team merch on and his fingers were adorned with all types of rings. but it was his smile that made him probably the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

in other words, lewis reminded her of him.

then there was george, whose tall frame and youthful energy were equally compelling and kind of attractive. she knew they would get along well, his smile was warm and genuine as they shook hands. it really did feel as if she could find her place here.

“i’ll start again and just say, it’s an honor to be here. i can’t wait to work with you,” said aaliyah, smiling.

“it’s great to meet you too, aaliyah,” george said, his handshake firm. “toto didn’t tell us much but looking forward to working with you.”

“it’s always great to see another female face working in this environment,” added lewis, a warm smile on his face. “and your hair looks amazing by the way. i love the afro.”

was she about to cry because the lewis hamilton complimented her hair? never. but was she about to have an allergic reaction because of that? perhaps.

she passed a hand through her hair, untangling a few curls. “thank you, lewis. i appreciate the compliment.”

“always here if you need one, sweetheart,” he winked at her which had her laugh.

they continued their small get-to-know-each-other as they discussed various aspects of the car and how the last races had gone for each of them. some of them were good, others horrible and manageable. the two drivers told her where they thought was the most to work on and the challenges they encountered concerning the speed.

but as hopeful as they sounded, aaliyah knew she had to set limits to their dreams before she gave them too much and they would fall flat down on their arses.

“boys, let me just say something,” her tone became a bit more serious, “from what i heard about the rules concerning changes, certain can give you penalties. the current setup is good, i already see some things i can change but i can’t do much for now because i need to see it in action.”

lewis nodded. “you’ll travel with us for the next races, won’t you? or will you work from the factory?”

“i think both, like i said, i need to see the car in action. so the next race, i’ll be there,” she explained. “also, i need to note that there may be several areas i believe that need significant changes from the reports i’ve been able to read. and not only will this take time but there’s a high likelihood we might need to take some grid penalties for those changed. i just want to make sure you’re both on board with this before we go any further with this.”

they exchanged a glance, both drivers listening thoroughly to what she had to say. they were already struggling and in a hard battle with the ferraris concerning the second place in the constructor’s championship. but on second thought, a few grid places lower were definitely manageable if it meant fighting at the top again.

lewis was the first to nod again, this time towards her. “we’ll handle a few grid places. at this point, it’s anything to give those red bulls in front a fight and show them they’re not invincible,” he said firmly, determination clear in his tone. “we’ve been struggling with this car for a while now, the bumping may be gone but it’s still so slow. if you believe these changes will help us get back to the front, then we’re with you.”

“yeah, i absolutely agree. not going to lie, it’s been horrible driving this thing as it is. we trust your expertise, aaliyah. and if you think we need to take a step back to move forward, then that’s what we’ll do.”

aaliyah clapped her hands together. “that’s brilliant to hear. i promise i’ll do my best to give those red bulls a fight and make sure we come back as the famous silver arrows.”

she knew she could fix it—find the mistake and redo the equation. and if not for herself, then for him. there was no question in her mind; she was determined. she had never backed down from a challenge before.

#max verstappen x black oc #max verstappen series #max verstappen x oc #max verstappen instagram au #cialovessirlewis #lewis hamilton #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen fanfic #max verstappen #mercedes amg petronas #formula one #f1 x female reader #max verstappen x black! oc #max verstappen x black! reader

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steamberrystudio · 3 months

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07/07/2024 Tumblr Devlog

Hallo everyone! Time for the tumblr update! Whii~iich I think I may have skipped a couple - it looks like I did that annoying thing where I wrote up an update and *forgot to post it*.

Sorry about that!

So what have I been doing lately? Well. Lemme tell ya.

I wrote 23,000 words this week, for one. I am ded. ┗( T﹏T )┛

But let's jump into the details because in the most recent update I see, I was still revising chapter 10.

Summary:

Finished revising, proofreading, and formatting chapter 10

Revised Asher ending sequence

Revised Daaz ending sequence

Finished drafting Kav's endings sequence

Finished drafting Noel's ending sequence

Finished drafting Raif's endings sequence

Worked on a ton of UI changes and improvements

Worked on some sprite tweaks

Received some new BG art!

Writing:

So as you can see, lots of writing progress since my last update.

I finished revising chapter 10 and coding it. It turned out to be 88,000 words coded.

I revised and formatted Asher and Daaz's ending sequences into the game. Those two were already drafted and just needed to be cleaned up and put into Renpy.

The remaining four character still needed to be drafted but I had paused to revise the entire script so I could make some necessary plot fixes before I tried to draft the remaining endings.

With that done, I've moved into finishing up the draft.

Currently I have Kav, Noel, and Raif drafted and Yren in progress.

And that will be all the main game content complete!

The current un-coded word count amount is 625,000 words. 💪

Art:

So I have completed some CG work since my last update but the main thing I've been working on art-wise is UI updates and changes.

A lot of small changes to the general aesthetic as well as implementing a lot of small additions I've been contemplating for a while as QoL improvements.

Such as a little indicator that shows when you are in a "character branch" and things like that.

I've also made a few small tweaks to some of the sprites - mostly just making their expressions a little more dramatic since they were reading a bit flat to me. And, of course, adding new outfits. Always new outfits. LoL

And of course, new BGs from both artists.

Background are around 76% complete currently.

Other Stuff:

I guess UI goes in here too since in addition to the "art" aspect, there's the implementation aspect as well.

Once you change the look of something that has to be coded in, of course.

I ended up deciding that I want to experiment with moving the sprites around a bit more - mostly moving them a bit closer and then further away depending on the scene, what's happening, and how many characters are on screen in a given moment.

There are several benefits to this including keeping the screen from being static for long periods but also, there are a couple of characters that the player will really benefit from being able to see their faces up close (mostly Raif and Yren).

So yeah - in addition to redesigning some of the screens, I have also been implementing those changes bit by bit.

The game definitely looks quite different now. I recently saw a playthrough of the current prototype that's on Itch and was astonished because I forgot how it looked when it was first released. Ha ha. It's gone through a lot of changes.

Noel no longer matches the ceiling, for one! Amazing.

Upcoming Weeks:

I will be working on finishing up Yren's ending sequence and hope to get that done in the upcoming week - which means another heavy writing week.

As I've said elsewhere, I have been calling them "ending sequences" but in reality this is the last three chapters of each route which is about 20,000 words total for each character. I have about 3000 words of Yren's done and I'm actually only shooting for about 15,000 for the rough draft because I invariable add dialogue and variations when I edit, which means I have to undershoot the draft so I don't overshoot the word count during revision.

So yeah, I'll be completing Yren's final three chapters, then revising Kav, Noel, Raif, and Yren and formatting them into the game, which will give me the "final" word count for the project.

And then I will be "done" with the writing (in quotes because...you're never done with the writing until it releases. LoL

I should definitely be done with drafting and revising by my next update here but I can't really say what I'll be working on by that point. Probably...UI and CGs. Not sure.

We'll find out in the future I suppose! See you then!

#whenstarscollide #indie otome game #amare game #updates

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kotemf · 2 months

Text

Codywan week - day 1

This is my fill for the first day of @codywanweek. You can read here, on Wattpad (https://www.wattpad.com/1467166344-codywan-week-2024-day-1), or on Ao3 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/57917695). Hope you like it :).

Prompt: different order 66, lightsaber / lightsaber training, truth spell/serum

Obi-Wan was sitting on an uncomfortable plastic chair in the med bay, right next to Cody's bed, and reading through the messages on his data pad.

The war just ended. They killed general Grievous, the last high ranking CIS officer. There was no one to lead the droid army now. Most of the remaining Separatist forces surrendered or ran. The few who were still trying to fight were quickly dealt with.

It didn't have to be like that, though. Not if Palpatine made the call, not if the chips in the clones' brains were activated. Only thanks to commander Fox and the Coruscant Guard, Palpatine's treacherous plot was revealed in the last possible moment. All of the clones were getting their chips removed now, Cody already had his out and should be waking up at any moment.

Finally, Obi-Wan felt the bright ray of sunshine, that was his commander, wake up in the force. He set the data pad aside in favor of focusing on Cody. He knew from his own experience how dizzy and disorientated the cheap GAR medication could make a person. Cody will be lucky if he remembers his name.

"Trainer Gilamar?" Cody groaned before he even opened his eyes. Obi-Wan had no idea who that was but he assumed it was one of the mandalorians who trained the clones when they were still little cadets. Poor Cody probably had no idea where he was at the moment.

"No, Cody, I'm not trainer Gilamar. I'm Obi-Wan. Remember me, darling?"

"Obi-Wan?" Cody whispered as if he couldn't quite believe it indeed was him. He still hadn't opened his eyes, he probably forgot his eyes were closed. He snuggled into his blanket. "I love Obi-Wan."

Now that was just sweet. "I love you too, Cody." Obi-Wan stroked Cody's dark hair gently.

Cody hummed absentmindedly. "I like it when you do that. Can you keep doing that?"

That had to be an effect of the drugs. Cody was never this honest. He was grateful for what he got, he would never ask for more.

"You stopped," Cody complained. Another thing that he would never do was there not for the drugs in his system. For the three years they had known each other, Obi-Wan has never heard his commander complain. For the few months they have been secretly dating, his cyare has never complained either.

"Sorry, love." Obi-Wan continued brushing his fingers through Cody's curls. "How are you feeling?"

Cody took almost a minute to answer. Obi-Wan was starting to fear that the clone has fallen asleep when Cody spoke again. "My head hurts."

"Anything more?"

"'m tired."

That was perhaps the first time that Cody hasn't tried to hide anything from Obi-Wan. He had a habit of hiding his injuries, staying up until late at night to finish his paper work without saying a word. "Okay. Thank you for being honest with me. Can you open your eyes?"

"Open my eyes?"

"Yes, open your eyes. Can you do it for me, love?"

"Okay," Cody reluctantly agreed. He stretched slowly, sluggishly rolled over so he was lying on his back and then finally opened his eyes. He closed them after mere seconds on blinking at the harsh lights of the med bay. "It's too bright."

"Do you want me to turn the lights off?"

"Yes."

Obi-Wan reached out for the light switch. He hesitated before pressing the button. The room had no windows, the room was going to turn completely dark. Cody didn't like the dark. He never said so outright but Obi-Wan could sense his discomfort when in the dark and he also noticed that Cody often forgot to turn off the small lamp by his bed. How was he going to react to being in pitch darkness in this state? Obi-Wan guessed he will have to try. He turned the lights off. "Better?"

He couldn't see Cody opening his eyes but he guessed that was what the soldier did. "I can't see anything," Cody panicked. "No. It's too dark. I hate this."

Then the only thing Obi-Wan could do was to turn the lights back on. Only that was going to hurt Cody's eyes more and possibly even make his head hurt more. Well, there was one more option...

Obi-Wan lit up his lightsaber. "Is this good?" he asked as the soft blue light illuminated the room."

"Your lightsaber?"

"Yes, my lightsaber."

"You keep loosing it," Cody accused. He was right, Obi-Wan has lost his weapon many times on the battlefield. His commander always found it and brought it back to him. Their last battle on Utapau was no different.

"I'm lucky enough to have you. You always find it."

"I always wanted to try to use it."

"Really?" Why didn't Cody tell him? Obi-Wan would gladly teach him. "Do you want me to show you something."

"But... lightsabers are for the Jedi."

"You don't need to be a force user to use a lightsaber. Sit up and give me your hand," Obi-Wan ordered. He put the lightsaber on the training mode before placing it in Cody's hand and gently closing the clone's fingers around the metal handle. "Can you hold it on your own."

"Yeah." Cody sounded confident. Obi-Wan let go of his hand and let Cody get used to the weight of the saber.

"This is the basic grip. All younglings learn this," Obi-Wan explained as he guided Cody's arm into the common grip that younglings used when practicing their first katas.

"Can you teach me more?"

"When you aren't on bed rest anymore, alright?"

Cody sighed dramatically. "Bed rest sucks."

"I know, love, I know." Obi-Wan kissed the top of Cody's head comfortingly before gently removing the lightsaber from Cody's hand. "You will be fine in no time." That's what the medics said. Obi-Wan hoped they were right. He knew how much his cyare hated bed rest.

#codywan #commander cody #obi wan kenobi #star wars fan fiction #codywan week 2024 #lightsaber #star wars #fan fiction

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bradtomlovesya · 2 years

Text

Choices 3

Three: Take Me Back To The Day We Met

Peter Parker x Reader series

Summary: Everybody forgot who Peter Parker was. All his world tunerd grey until he met you and you started dating. It could have been perfect if it wasn't for the fact that MJ comes back and, surprise! She remembers EVERYTHING.

Warnings: Pure Angst!, mentions of cheating, swearing, descriptions of sex +18, fluff!

w/c: 3k

a/n: Enjoy this chapter! As always, coments, reblogs and likes are completely appreaciated. Thank you so much for all the love and support this series is having. I will be forever grateful! Thank you for staying 'til the end ❤️. Gif not mine.

Series Masterlist

Peter felt his heart sink in his chest and could blame no one but himself.

There you were, laughing with Austin at something trivial he had said. You had only gone on one date. You told yourself that you should move on and get on with your life just as you thought Peter had gotten on with his.

But that wasn't true because Peter was standing there holding back tears and the roses he had bought you behind his back.

He had set it all up, flowers, invite you, dinner, apologies, tell you the whole truth, promise ring, hug, kiss, happy again. Everything exactly in that order and without skipping a step.

However, Peter had overlooked one small detail. You guys had broken up almost two months ago and that made you free to date someone else.

Even more so if that someone was as cute smart and kind as Austin.

Austin was the exact opposite of Peter. Tall, blond, thin, blue-eyed, bad at science but very good at history. That explained why he was studying literature. Austin loved the attention, going out to parties (though not too much drinking) and spending time with his many, many friends.

Peter... Peter was totally different from that.

Probably for that reason you had agreed to go out with him. Because he was different from Parker and you didn't want to go through the same thing. He had already made you suffer enough.

Spiderman followed you on several of your dates. 3 to be exact. He wanted to make sure Austin didn't get smart with you and that you were healthy. Although it was probably also out of pure morbid curiosity. Peter felt a thousand knives go through his heart when he saw him kiss you and yet he didn't take his eyes off you for a second.

His mind wandered and he imagined himself in Austin's place and it was then that he resigned himself. He had lost you. He had lost you through his own fault and you weren't coming back.

That day Spiderman stopped following you and you wished he had continued to do so because Austin was starting to turn a little dark.

One night, you were in your bedroom watching a movie when Austin started kissing your neck. That was fine with you. What wasn't fine was that he slipped his hand under your skirt and between your legs and you weren't ready for that.

"Austin, I'm sorry. I'm not ready for this yet" you pulled his hand away.

"Please, y/n. We've been dating for two weeks, do you want to make me wait any longer?" The blond asked and moved his hand back up between your legs.

Peter would never have done that.

"Austin, seriously. Please stop" you pushed his hand away and sat down. You were not at all comfortable right now.

"God..." he swallowed deeply and then exhaled. "Can we at least do something oral? Seeing you wear that skirt has given me a huge hard-on. I need your help."

Peter had already seen you in that skirt and had only said it matched the color of your eyes.

"I'm not going to do anything. I don't feel comfortable and I'm not going to do it" you said firmly. You feared his reaction but you weren't going to give in to something you didn't want to do.

"Then I'll have to find someone to fix what you caused?" he stood up and took your arm. "A little unfair, don't you think?"

You wanted to scream. You wanted to spit at him. You wanted to tell him you were going to finish him off but you'd seen too many documentaries on female homicide to act any better than that.

"Austin, I'm on my period and I ate tuna in the morning so if you don't want your penis bloody or smelling like a fish fry we'd better save it for another day." You looked at him and he just nodded.

It was the best you could say... you weren't very proud but at least you could get out of that room in one piece. The documentaries had taught you that you don't tell a man you're going to leave him and take the kids. You just disappear the next day without a trace.

Obviously you weren't married and you didn't have children. But you weren't going to give him any more reason to get upset in front of you and earn an aggressive action from him. If he could run his hand up your legs without your permission, he could certainly do other things and you weren't going to stick around to find out.

You broke up with him by text message and talked to some of your friends, teachers and the principal. If Austin ever went crazy and did something to you, everyone would already know it was him because you had told them.

This news reached Peter's ears. Now he knew what Austin had done to you and his blood boiled like lava in an active volcano. Parker decided to take revenge. He didn't beat him, he was too good for that, but he did make him take off all his clothes except his underwear and threw two spider webs into his hands to stick him to the campus pole. It took several hours for the web to dissolve and by then everyone had seen him apologize to you in public, because it was part of the plan. Obviously you knew this was Peter made.

Parker still cared about you. You didn't know how that made you feel...it was like something about him drew you to him and your heart always ended up going back to him.

Peter had it in mind to use this to get you to come back to him or to at least listen to what he has to say.

Parker decided to start small. He knew he couldn't just walk up and ask you out after what he had done so he took it slow.

The first thing he did was leave you a note over a pizza box outside your bedroom that said: Thursday is pizza night.

When you saw the note you couldn't help but smile slightly. Too bad he wasn't around to observe your reaction.

The next thing was to leave you a stuffed dog stuck to the window with his web. The note said "No dogs allowed on campus but I know how much you want one. It's the best I can do... For now."

Your heart went out to him. If Peter was trying to get you to forgive him...he was succeeding in a small way.

Although, it still hurt that 1. he betrayed you like that and 2. it took him so long to try to fix it. However, it was you who asked him for time and space. So you were just mad and hurt.

But you had the right to feel whatever you wanted. He lied to you. He hurt you. Your feelings and reactions are yours and yours alone. You had learned that you shouldn't keep them to yourself. In part, Peter was the one who helped you to be more open emotionally...

The last of his moves was a small box with a note taped to it that read. "Sorry, can we talk?" And inside the box was the key to his apartment.

With this Peter wanted to tell you: I'm not with MJ because I didn't give her the key.

That's exactly what you thought. But it's never good to have false expectations so you took it as calmly as possible. Under the keys was another note that read. "7 pm. My apartment. Please."

You were going to go. But you wanted it to be a last minute surprise for him. If you were nervous, Peter was six times as nervous.

His spidey senses were driving him crazy. He was pacing back and forth all over his apartment as he counted the candles (artificial because we don't want fire accidents), dinner in the oven...lasagna. The only thing he had learned to cook from his Aunt May and nobperfectly because the cheese was a little browner than it should be.

The music, his favorite songs on a playlist and some of his own choice that repeated the word "I'm sorry" a lot, the message was explicit and implicit. Peter was sorry and wanted to make amends more than anything else in the world.

Parker was about to go crazy. He even hung upside down from the ceiling trying to calm his nerves. You were 16 minutes and 37 seconds late (not that Peter was counting) but you arrived and he was more than relieved.

He opened the door and there you were. Wearing that cute skirt again. Autin had ruined it for you, yes. But nothing Peter's smile at seeing you in it couldn't fix.

"You came" he looks at you like you're not real. Like you were a product of the blood pooling in his head after hanging from the ceiling.

"I'm sorry. I'm late... Anya needed help with the hem of her dress and it was torn so it was tedious to get it fixed" you bite your lip. If your heart is going fast you know hers is going with propellant.

"It's okay" he quickly replies. "It doesn't matter" he smiles that smile you missed so much. "The important thing is that you're here now."

"I think so..." you nod slightly and bite your lip walking into his apartment.

You inhale deeply and there's that signature smell of his home. It's an indescribable scent that every home has and you missed that smell so much...

"Did you like my gifts?" he asks hoping to hear the answer.

"It was nice... I didn't think you still remembered I wanted a dog" you fold your arms. You're here to talk. But you're still hurting and you were never good at being a hypocrite pretending everything is okay when it's not.

"I pay attention to you. I have always done" walks over to the dining room table and pulls the chair over to sit you down. "I made lasagna...the cheese is a little burnt so we can order food if you don't want to eat it or I can-"

"Peter" you stop him before he talks too much and smile. "It's okay... I like the golden cheese on the lasagna." You sit down and thank him as he pulls your chair into the dining room.

"Okay..." he inhales deeply and takes the lasagna out of the oven which wasn't on but, he kept it in there so it wouldn't get cold. "Water, right?" He asks as he places your lasagna in front of you.

"That's right" you watch the water fill your glass and then him sit down across from you. "You wanted to talk?" You blurt out once you both start eating.

"Yes...I did. I wanted to apologize for everything" he sighs and looks down at his fork after taking a big bite. "What I said about MJ last time didn't-."

"You don't have to explain that to me." You interrupt him.

"Please let me finish..." he looks at you pleadingly. "I want to explain to you why my choice of words wasn't the best and made you think I had called you because MJ couldn't and that's not true." He denies. "I didn't call MJ because I didn't want to call her. I called you because you're the one I wanted around, I want around." He clarifies.

"I see..." you take a sip of water. You know how hard it is for him to express himself in a good way.

"About what happened at the fair..." he sighs heavily remembering it. He hated himself for what he had done. "I got carried away with my emotions. I regret that every day and it will never happen again. I will never put you through that again if you decide to give me a chance."

"Why did it take you so long to ask her? Couldn't you decide between me and her?" You raise an eyebrow.

"No. I chose you. It took me so long to tell you because you'd asked me for some time and.... then I saw you with that asshole Austin." Her jaw tenses. "He's a jerk. And if it wasn't for my mistake we never would have broken up and you never would have dated that monster."

"You can't blame yourself for that. It was my decision to be with him" you close your eyes for a moment. "Thanks, by the way. Friendly neighbor spiderman came to the rescue." You smile and your eyes meet his.

"I couldn't sit still" he shrugs.

"And I'm glad you didn't" you move your hand across the table and take his.

"I...I'm really sorry for everything, y/n" his voice cracks. "Absolutely for everything and I miss you and I love you and I need you. Please..."

"So... to clarify..." you pause. "You and MJ didn't get back together?"

"No," Peter denies flatly. "We never kissed again or tried to go out as anything more than friends. That kiss was a mistake. Our relationship ended then, we moved on with our lives and I found you. The only good thing that has happened to me in so long...please don't tell me I blew it."

"Peter..." you sigh "it's true that you hurt me like I never thought you would but... there's also more to this story like the fact that you guys never had closure because of the multiverse" you laugh lightly thinking about how crazy that just sounded.

"Does that mean you don't want to get back together with me?" he asks in a low tone of voice.

"No, Peter" you sigh. "I do want to get back together with you" you look him in the eye. "But if something like this happens again I promise you that will be it. No more chances, okay?"

"Wait wait wait wait" peter gets up like a bolt of lightning and runs to his room to get the promise rings. He comes back with you and opens the little box so you can see it. "They're promise rings. I'll never put you through anything like this again, I swear."

You nod with a smile and Peter places the ring on your finger.

"You don't know how happy you've made me" he helps you up from the table and takes your cheeks to kiss you. "I love you, I love you, I love you..." he repeats over and over as he leaves kisses all over your face.

"I love you too, Peter" you laugh lightly and grab him by the collar of his shirt to kiss him deeply.

It's a needy kiss, so in the blink of an eye you're already on his bed as he kisses your neck.

"We can stop if you'd rather go slow" he pauses to watch your eyes.

"Are you kidding me? Peter, I need you" you moan and kiss him again.

Peter smiles and his hand goes up the inside of your skirt. Peter looks at you and asks if you agree before his hand lands on your underwear.

That's your Peter, the man you love more than anything in the world. A man who respects you, values you and makes you feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.

As his cock slips in and out of you, you try to maintain eye contact. His face of concentration mixed with pleasure as he feels your walls squeezing him just as only you know how is the most precious thing to look at.

"Is that okay?" He increases his speed a little and holds your hips.

"Harder, please," you beg. You arch your back to give him a better angle and pull on his hair.

"Fuck, princess... you're going to be the death to me" his hands intertwine with yours and he penetrates you deeper keeping up the pace. His Spider-Man skills make him last longer and tire less. Which you are infinitely grateful for.

When you both finish. Peter helps you clean yourself gently and lies down next to you extending his arm for you to lay your head on his chest. His fingers run lightly up and down your arm and his lips kiss your forehead.

"I'm sorry for being a jerk" He is the first to break the silence.

"It's okay...it's in the past" you leave a chaste kiss on his left pec and feel him bristle.

"No more secrets, no more lies, I won't ruin it again, I promise" he looks you in the eyes and takes your chin to kiss you.

"Remember the day we met?" you smile slightly at the memory.

"Of course I remember, I was going through a bad time and you made some horrible jokes that lifted my mood" he lets out a chuckle.

"That's when I knew you were the one" you laugh and caress his cheek.

"Why?" he frowns in confusion.

"Because you were the one who always laughed at the stupid things that go through my head." You scoff.

"You know when I realized you were the one?" He kisses the tip of your nose.

"When?" you ask intrigued.

"When you cooked a whole dinner to tell me you liked me and didn't run away when you found out I was Spider-Man" his eyes sparkle watching yours.

"I love you, Peter Parker" you lean in to kiss his lips.

"I love you too, Y/n Y/l/n" he kisses your lips deeply and full of love. "Forever and ever."

~~~♥︎♡♥︎~~~

Peter Parker Tags

@raajali3 @fangirling-galore @powerpuffluuvv @itszulli @hallecarey1 @xoxokiaraaxoxo @kaitieskidmore1 @lnmp89 @pure-a-tea @vixparker @army24--7 @spiderydreams00 @my-name-duh @nani-2305

'Choices' Tags

@parkerpeterparker2004 @afro-hispwriter @sakaki-chaaaaannn @insertsupercoolusernamehere @local-mr-frog @diasnohibng @stilesismyhusband @tombolland1996 @ellesalazar @cursedandromedablack @ifilwtmfc @newtmaskilledme @sweetenertea @wonieeee @jackiehollanderr @parkthothwa8 @cleverzonkwombatsludge @itsmadamehydra @luvherfairy @reneinii @pauuuus @rootbeerfaygo @janoskiansecondsofdirection @bubble-blu @silscintilla @agustdeeyaa @zadri @mrstangerinejohnson @amarawayne @rootbeerfaygo @roses-ztdx @marvelfreakgirl @greekmythsthing @pbeckn26 @brittney69 @ykyouluvme @fucktthisworld @dogmomalsop @midnightmystic @rayan39 @kneelforloki @555stargirl555

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thedudeplayinggalaga2 · 1 year

Text

See You In The Morning?

Kate Bishop x GN Reader

3K Words

Warnings: Mentions of injury, Angst, Language, Questionable punctuation, I think that's it?

A/N: This is the very first full fic I've ever written and Grammer/Punctuation has never been a strength of mine. I also have no idea if this story makes any sense but I had a good time writing.

You had forgotten to take your ADHD meds this morning, and now you were really paying for it. As you sat at your desk stopping and staring and stopping a multitude of different tasks without actually finishing any of them.

It was Kate's fault really, she had completely thrown off your routine as she had a tendency to do. It was a rather chaotic routine but it still got you out the door in enough time to grab breakfast and make sure you took your stimulant before getting to work.

But last night Kate hadn't come home, she had sent you a quick text telling you not to wait up. This happened fairly often since you'd moved in, and she would usually come home at 3 or 4am. But she hadn't made it home till this morning when you'd already been up and getting ready for work.

You grimaced to yourself thinking about the conversation you'd had with her.

"How's your other lover?" You'd asked

"Listen I know that's a joke but it's not a very funny one! I'm so sorry, I really am! But this mission I've been working for weeks finally had a big break and I needed to follow this lead! I'm so close to catching this guy!"

"It was a joke, and I'm glad you made some headway on your mission, but I did feel sad and concerned when I woke up this morning and you still weren't home." You said this to her with your back turned as you made lucky his breakfast.

You heard Kate get up and walk over to you, she put a hand on your shoulder. You turned to face her and had gotten the first good look at her face since she'd gotten home. You gasped "Kate, that's a pretty nasty cut above your eye! What the hell happened!?"

"I... Well.. you see there was a guy with a bat and.."

You didn't give her time to finish cause honestly you didn't think you wanted to know the rest. So you'd pulled her into the bathroom and started cleaning and patching up her various wounds before having to rush out the door so you would only be slightly late to work.

And now here you are, having a highly unproductive day and also worrying about Kate. She had been having way more late nights than normal recently, and pretty much always came home a little beat up. She definitely wasn't getting anywhere near enough sleep, you assumed this was probably why she had been super distant as of late. And last week she had forgotten about Lucky's vet appointment which was probably the most concerning thing of all.

You've been with Kate long enough to know and understand that this is just what dating a superhero can be like sometimes. But this time it was really starting to effect your relationship for some reason. Things where so inconsistent between the two of you, partly because you never saw each other and partly because when you did Kate didn't talk much about anything of substance.

As Kate had grown more distant you'd started to get shorter with her, finding less and less patience which you normally had a bottomless amount of for her. You'd also stopped planning dates with her, stopped waiting up for her even if she said she wasn't going to be too late, and you'd been regrettablely a little too harsh with her when she forgot Lucky's appointment and you'd hauled ass across town to take him.

Sitting at your desk, switching between the same three programs over and over again you started to tear up. You didn't like this, you didn't like feeling so disconnected from her. You hated how you two seemed to be living completely different lives. Because goddamit you loved Kate Bishop so much! You loved being her partner. Kate was absolutely wonderful! She was passionate, brave, and very caring. She used her skills and talents to help other people, something you admired very much about her. She made you feel seen in a way nobody had ever really seen you before. But most of all Kate made you feel safe, not just physically but emotionally too. She had always felt like home.

----

The subway commute home was never your favorite, it was always so busy this time of day and wildly overstimulating. But you tried to spend the ride figuring out your game plan for when you got home. You wanted to talk to Kate, if she was even home, but you didn't want to create conflict especially if she was going to be leaving again tonight.

As you walked into your apartment Lucky nearly knocked you to the ground, absolutely showering you in kisses.

"Ok! Ok! Lucky I love you too! But we talked about this buddy, you can't just jump somebody at the door!" You said pushing him off before giving him a scratch behind the ears.

You checked that Lucky had water and decided to let him outside as you assumed he'd been inside all day. Then you went to search for Kate.

You found her passed out in your bed on top of the blankets letting you know she'd falled asleep as soon as she laid down. You smiled though as you noticed she was wearing one of your hoodies and probably your sweatpants too.

You bent down the kiss the top of her head before settling down next to her in the bed. Stroking some hair out of her face you couldn't help but smile at your beautiful girlfriend and her slightly battered face.

"What time is it" Kate mumbled so quietly you could barely hear what she said.

"It's about 4:30 my love."

"You're home early."

"Yeah.... I was having a really bad brain day so my manager told me to just go home." You hoped she wouldn't press any further, but that was wishful thinking.

Kate finally opened her eyes to look at you, worry evident in them. "Must have been a real bad brain day for Stark Industries to suddenly prioritize mental health over productivity."

You let out a soft laugh, "Well I definitely wasn't being productive so more likely it just seemed like a waste of company time for me to be there."

Kate sat up against the headboard next to you, looking even more worried, she tapped your forehead softly with her finger "What's goin on up in there?"

You gave her a half hearted smile, "Well I forgot to take my meds this morning which isn't the end of the world but it definitely didn't help, there's also no way I've had enough protein today, and ...." You trailed off trying to decide if now was really the best time to tell her that you were also very worried about her and about your relationship. You decided against it because honestly you couldn't remember the last time you'd just sat in bed with her and you wanted to keep those vibes goin.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"Hope you weren't trying for an Oscar with that performance, because I definitely didn't buy it!" Kate said teasingly.

You groaned looking up at the ceiling "Sorry Kate, I just feel a little overwhelmed right now." Which was entirely true, you did feel very overwhelmed and your brain was going about 200 miles an hour.

"That's okay, how about we get some food and take Lucky for a walk?" She said suppressing a yawn.

"Are you sure? I know you're probably exhausted! You can rest more before you have to go to work."

Kate put her hand on your face stroking your cheek with her thumb. "Yes I'm sure baby, you're having a bad brain day, so let's get some food in you and take a little walk. Also..... I've missed you."

You leaned your head into her hand a little. "I've really missed you to my love."

----

Kate treated you to your favorite restaurant that had some outdoor pet friendly seating so Lucky could join. And now you were walking through central parking doing your best to keep Lucky from trying to chase squirrels.

You'd been walking in silence for a few moments when you finally broke it. "Kate, I was also having a hard time at work today because I was worried about you. And well, also about us...."

Kate slowed down and turned to look at you with a frown on her face "Worried because I was hurt this morning? Because really it was nothing! I appreciate you patching me up, you do a better job than me, but really I'm okay! It looks way worse than it is!" She rambled.

"Well obviously I don't like it when you come home hurt, but it's more to do with how distant you've been. I know how important what you do is, and I would never ask you not to do it! But... You haven't been home much recently, and when you are you seem so distant...." You trailed off realizing you didn't know where this was going.

Kate was quiet for what felt like forever but than she said "This guy I'm trying to catch, he's like really really bad, like I would tell you how bad he is but I really don't want to burden you with that knowledge. It's really hard for me not to think about it when I'm home I guess." She was just staring at the ground now as you walked, and the way her demeanor changed you could tell that this was really weighing on her.

Before you could respond she continued, "But, what did you mean that you're also worried about us?" Her voice getting quieter, almost nervous.

"Well.... I guess I just feel like we are living two completely different lives, passing like ships in the night hardly ever seeing each other. And when we do it's like you're not actually there, or I'm being grumpy with you. This is the first time in weeks we've actually had dinner together. Kate I love you so so much! But I'm getting worried because I want to support you, but I can't do that if I'm always being shut out."

You sat down on a bench taking Kate's hand in yours as she sat next to you. You studied her face trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"I don't like shutting you out.... I just want you to be safe and to not have to deal with the things I do."

"And I do appreciate you leaving out the gruesome details truly, you don't have to tell me everything, but it would be nice if I could at least know what you are feeling sometimes. Because otherwise I have to just try and guess."

Kate nodded her head looking out into the park thoughtfully. "Well right now I'm feeling like I'm absolutely failing at everything! I spent all night tracking that son of a bitch for nothing! I've really dropped the ball on my relationship with you, like I caused a whole ass bad brain day for you! And last week I forgot about Lucky's vet appointment!"

You opened your mouth to something but Kate quickly cut you off "I swear the god Y/N if you say anything about the vet appointment I'm emailing Pepper Pots to tell her you steal all your really good ideas from your intern!"

You gasped dramatically clutching your chest for emphasis "Okay! Uncalled for! But Pepper would know you were lying because my intern, bless his heart, couldn't tell you the difference between a PDF and a JPEG with a gun to his head."

"Okay! So a bad threat but I hope I made my point clear."

"Yes, I swear to never speak or the vet incident again. And I also will apologize for being so harsh on you about it too." You said more soflty "I definitely could have handled that better, I made it a bigger deal than it needed to be and you didn't deserve that. What I was going to say is thank you for telling me how you're feeling, it helps me understand where you're heads at a bit better."

You were going to say more but Kate leaned her head on your shoulder and started playing with your fingers causing your brain to short circuit for a half second.

"Do you think I'm failing?" Kate asked in a whisper.

You stared at her hand intertwined with yours for a minute before responding. "No Kate, I don't think you're failing, I know this bad dude is giving you a run for your money, but he doesn't know who he's up against! Kate Bishop, the world's greatest archer! You're gonna get him, you always figure it out."

Kate sat up and gave you another small smile, she looked down at lucky who was now sitting at her feet enthralled with a stick he had found. "What about us? Am I failing at this relationship?"

"My love, the fact that we are sitting here having this conversation is proof that neither of us are failing." You truly did believe that, and also kind of said it to reassure yourself too because recently you'd been wondering the same thing. "I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to be your partner. I knew there would be nights spent without you, secrets I couldn't know, and the occasional missed vet appointment...."

"Y/N!" Kate said warningly

"Last time I swear!" You said quickly putting your hands up. "But recently you haven't been talking to me about.... Well... Pretty much anything. And I miss you Kate, it feels like you've been gone for weeks and I miss you."

Kate looked at you with tears in her eyes "God I've missed you too Y/N. I do want to talk to you about how I'm feeling and what I'm doing. I just don't want you to get caught up in all this. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Well right now it's hurting me to not know anything that's going on with you."

She nodded "Yeah, I understand, I feel like I don't know what's going on with you right now either, like I don't even know what your current hyper fixation food is and I always know that."

"Well right now it's those little babybel cheeses, but last week it was BBQ chicken pizza from that place down the street from us."

"I bet Lucky enjoyed that one." Kate leaned down to take Lucky's stick before he shredded it more than he already had.

"Oh he very much did! Everyday I come home without it he looks at me as if it's the greatest betrayal he's ever experienced."

Kate stood offering you her had so you could continue your walk. "Y/N I promise that as soon as I catch that bastard my first priority will be making sure we get some quality time together okay? And in the meantime I will be better at communicating."

"Okay, I love you Kate, and I know you're gonna get him!"

---

You had gotten back home a few minutes ago and you were getting Lucky his dinner. You expected Kate was in your room putting her suit on assuming she would probably be heading out soon. So you were surprised when she walked into the kitchen wearing her signature purple sweatshirt and your sweatpants.

"I do need to go back out tonight but I thought it'd be nice for both of us if we maybe watched a movie or something before you go to bed?" She asked hopefully.

This made light up instantly, but then you frowned at the prospect of having to try and pay attention to any entire feature length film. "I would love that, but seeing as I didn't complete even one task at work today I just don't think I'm gonna be able to watch a movie."

Kate looked thoughtful "Good point, should have thought of that. Okay.... How about we watch TikToks together with New Girl playing in the background?"

"And that Bishop is possible the best idea you've ever had!"

So you and Kate spent the rest of the evening cuddled up on the couch doing exactly that.

---

You and Lucky had just gotten into bed for the night and Kate was getting ready to head out. She came and sat on the edge of the bed leaning in to give you a kiss. "Y/N if I don't get this guy tonight I don't know what else I'm gonna do."

"Well, have you asked Clint for advice?"

"No, he's on vacation with his family and I don't want to bother him."

You nodded, being sure that while Clint loved Kate and was always helping her out, he probably wouldn't appreciate his family vacation being interrupted by whatever it was Kate was doing. "Okay, fair, well I'm here for whatever happens. I might not be a superhero but I do work for a very powerful company and Jerry from the biotech department owes me about 20 favors. And I'll be her to patch you up, just try not to break anything cause then I really will have to insist on taking you to the ER."

Kate gave you a massive grin as she said "You're my superhero though."

"Okay! That was so cheesy it was physically painful to hear! Imma need you to go now!"

Kate responded with the first genuine laugh you had heard from her in weeks before leaning in to give you another kiss.

As she left the room she turned to look at you and Lucky all tucked into bed. "I love you both, I'll see you in the morning?"

"We love you too! Ummm... If it's not too much to ask, do you think you could bring me breakfast in the morning? I have to do two days worth of work tomorrow and it would help a lot!"

#kate bishop fanfiction #kate bishop fic #kate bishop x reader #mcu fanfiction #kate bishop x y/n

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periwinklemoonlight · 1 month

Text

hot to go! ⋆ a jrwi suckening fic ⋆ 11.1k words

summary: shilo helps emizel get ready for his date with theo — many, many hijinks ensue.

if you prefer, you can read it on ao3!

⋆⋆⋆

Shilo sits content at the edge of his hotel bed, hands folded daintily in his lap and humming a simple melody. His eyes lazily drift around the room’s decor, taking in the curves and contours of each unfamiliar object and wondering how it might feel to sketch it, to commit it to memory in the ivory pages of the book that sits neatly on the edge of his nightstand. A soft blanket crinkles around his legs and bunches up where Grefgor sits cross-legged behind him, gently sliding a plastic hairbrush through Shilo’s tangled locks. Curtains sway back and forth ahead of him, letting the slightest hint of a cool breeze into the room and wash across his face. The digital clock across the room glows a vivid red, reading seven twenty-three p.m. and signaling the start of a whole new night ahead of them.

“That’s a pretty tune, my prince,” Grefgor comments absent-mindedly. “Does it have a name?”

Shilo snaps out of his sleepy trance, consciously re-straightening his posture. “Oh, no, I made it up just now.”

“I wasn’t aware you were so musically inclined. I should be lucky to guard such a talented prince.” There’s something lightheartedly facetious, yet sincerely good natured to his tone. Strangely, Shilo notes somewhere in the back of his mind, it's almost a shock to be reminded of Grefgor's profession. He's never been allowed to befriend any of his guards the way he has with him these past few weeks, much less consider them a friend first and foremost. It's a welcome change, he thinks, and one he is happy to indulge in — even if it means being the subject of their banter sometimes.

Shilo smiles, feeling slightly embarrassed. “No, no. I think I much prefer the visual arts, you know? Painting, drawing, that sort of thing.” He glances at the small leather bound book on the nightstand. His gaze then drifts to the little brush, bristles stained with a dark kohl powder, next to it.

“Oh!” He continues, “And-”

“MAKEUP!” A boisterous voice finishes his sentence for him as it nearly knocks down the door and Shilo off the bed in one fell swoop. Grefgor catches Shilo by the arm, stopping him before he slips onto the floor. After a moment of steadying themselves, the pair glance up to see a jittery-looking Emizel standing in the doorway.

“Shit, that was kinda loud. Sorry man.” Emizel runs his hand through his hair sheepishly. “But, like, it’s also kinda an emergency.”

Shilo shakes his head, mindlessly messing up the hair Grefgor had spent the past twenty minutes smoothing to perfection. “A… makeup emergency?”

Shilo looks his brother up and down. He’s completely barefaced, save for a few small red spots on his chin and forehead. Perhaps there are some things even vampirism can’t cure. Beyond his face, his entire outfit is a mess. Every article of clothing seems to be mismatched, including his shoes. Socks and sandals paired with — judging by how it appears at least three sizes too big — what can only be one of Arthur’s black loafers is a choice, to be sure. Not a good one, but a choice.

“Yes? No? I don’t fucking-? Sorta. Arthur told me you know makeup. I need help with that. Makeup.”

“He wears it himself, does he not?”

“Yeah, but Broody McAsshole said he was too busy brooding to help me because he’s an asshole. So I’m here now. Can you help me out, dude?”

Shilo still looks baffled. “I mean, sure, but… what exactly is your problem?” Emizel stares at him for a second, then blinks.

“Oh, shit, yeah. Okay. Forgot about that part. Fuck.”

Grefgor scoots beside Shilo and pats the bed next to him. “Come sit, my prince. I am also more than willing to assist you with whatever you need.” Emizel obliges, wiping his grubby face with grubbier hands.

“Thanks, man. See, that's why I fuckin’ love you, Grefgor, dude. You’re always keeping it real as fuck. Like you’re always on some real shit.” Grefgor just smiles in the way Shilo has learned means he barely understood what was just said to him.

Emizel pauses, as if to take a breath, before speaking. “I asked Theo out, and he, wow, he said yes. So we’re going on a date.”

Shilo clasps his hands under his chin delicately. “A date! Emizel, that is very exciting!”

“Indeed, my prince!” Grefgor agrees, nodding.

“Yeah, but like, here’s the problem. Now I've gotta figure out what to wear. Like usually I don’t give a shit about that kinda thing but now I’m like, oh fuck, this is actually a thing now, and I can’t just look like ass if we’re actually gonna be going out, out, you know?” Emizel moves his hands rapidly as he speaks, less gesturing than just moving for the sake of movement, cracking his knuckles a dozen times over and twisting his wrists so fast it makes Shilo’s head spin.

“So you’d like me to help you look presentable for your date with Theo?” He asks, leaning in closer to speak to his brother and resting his chin on Grefgor’s shoulder to look over at him. His eyes are wide with wonder when he asks again: “Emizel, you are asking me to make you over?”

Emizel nods, then throws his hands over his face again when Shilo beams in response.

“But none of that fancy shit, okay? This is a first date, it’s nothing crazy. Casual, even. Yeah. Super casual and like… chill.” Emizel’s words do nothing to dispel the twinkle in Shilo’s eye.

“Oh, I can do casual! Yes! Now this is really exciting!” Shilo rises abruptly, dusting himself off before taking another look at his brother.

Incomprehensible is possibly the best and only word to describe his current outfit. Shilo can make out at least four different tops on his torso, the most visible of which displaying an oddly shaped yellow character. Emizel’s pants are in a similar state, each pair of shorts somehow baggier than the last and none of which secured by a belt. What concerns Shilo the most, though, is that the emerald cape flopping around his brother’s shoulders most definitely belongs to him, and that it was absolutely hanging in his closet before he went to sleep yesterday.

“Okay, so, whatever you’ve got going on right now, we are not doing that.” He pauses, furrowing his brow. “What even. What do you have going on right now. What was the thought process behind this.”

Emizel just shrugs. “Was tryin’ stuff on. Thought I could save some time if I just didn’t take the last thing off when I put on a new one.”

“A… valid strategy, my prince,” Grefgor comments hesitantly. A brief concerned glance to Shilo confirms his true thoughts.

“Grefgor do not enable him. Emizel, I am sure you could spare the five seconds it takes to remove your clothing from now on. We have plenty of time, don’t we?”

“Oh, nah, not really.” Emizel leans back with his elbows above his head until he lands on the cushiony bed with a soft thump. He glances up at the clock, which now reads seven thirty p.m. “The date’s in like, three hours? Eh, maybe closer to two now?”

“What.”

⋆⋆⋆

“Arthur!?” Shilo calls out loudly, practically slamming his door open. The sudden noise doesn’t seem to faze the older vampire, though his hair gets swept back from the force of the swing. Arthur stands in the hotel hallway just beyond the door, arms crossed impatiently and suspiciously missing a shoe.

“Have you boys figured it out yet? I’d quite like my other shoe back now, thank you.” Emizel wobbly slips off the loafer and tosses it at Arthur, who catches it with ease and slides it back on in one swift motion. Void mrrps from around his shoulders.

“Good. I assume you’re all sorted out, then?”

“Arthur,” Shilo begins, stepping closer and voice a half-whisper. “Arthur, it is worse than I could have ever imagined.”

“We require your credited card immediately, my boy.” Grefgor continues from behind the prince. Arthur’s gaze briefly drifts behind the pair and over to Emizel, who is staring at a wall and mindlessly picking at his face. He sighs.

“What a pain.”

“Arthur, you must take us to the- the… the m…”

“The mall, my prince.”

“The mal! And direct us to the makeup store immediately!” At that, Arthur gets a faraway glint in his eyes.

“Vampire Sephora,” he says to no one in particular. “I'm familiar.”

Shilo blinks.

“Alright. Well, there is no time to waste! Let’s go!” The young vampire announces as he strides down the hallway, heels clicking with every rushed step and an entourage of vampires at various energy levels following close behind.

⋆⋆⋆

“Really, you two, we don’t have the time to be arguing about this right now,” Shilo remarks from the back seat of a Toyota Corolla that belonged to a really very nice librarian about five minutes prior.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, man!” Emizel says, throwing his hands up for emphasis. “I’m the only one in this car who even has a licence!”

“I assure you, boy, I have driven countless times in my life. It would be much wiser to just let the more experienced driver take the wheel.”

“Horses and buggies don’t fucking count, asshole!” Arthur opens his mouth to speak. “And neither does your goddamn pennyfarting or whatever it’s called!” Emizel adds for good measure.

“Emizel,” Arthur begins, pointedly choosing to ignore the previous comments, “The last time you operated a vehicle, you nearly hit over a dozen pedestrians. You ended up actually hitting even more. I am the only one here that can take us to our destination both quickly and safely.”

“Yeah, whatever dude,” Emizel shrugs, pushing Arthur out of the way and himself into the driver’s seat. “Come back when you get one of these bad boys, then we’ll talk.” He reaches into his fur lined jacket and pulls out a small, chipped plastic Learner’s Permit with an expiry date reading four months ago. Arthur eyes it for a moment, then sighs as he slots himself into the passenger seat.

“Just try not to kill anyone,” he says, pinching his temple.

“No promises!” Emizel grins as he swerves out of the hotel parking lot and immediately begins barreling down the road, nearly launching Shilo out of the car window as he grips onto Grefgor for dear unlife.

“Besides,” Emizel says after a moment, tone much more casual — possibly too casual for someone who just ran three red lights, “I thought you didn’t wanna come help me out, Brood. You told me to fuck off when I asked the first time.” Arthur sighs again.

“I did not say that,” he refutes. “And I am still not participating in the makeover. I’m just here to supervise, make sure that none of you boys get into trouble. Has it occurred to you that maybe I might have been more open to the idea initially if you weren’t actively withholding one of my shoes when you asked?”

“Nah. Honestly, I was thinking of it as a little extra motivation.” Emizel begins adjusting the car radio, switching it on to a local pop station as he cruises into oncoming traffic.

An upbeat song suddenly begins blaring through the vehicle:

I could be the one, or your new addiction…

“Oh hell yeah!” Emizel cheers. He looks over his shoulder at Shilo and Grefgor, who stare back in confusion. He smiles a toothy grin.

“You guys like dances, right? You're gonna love this. When I say so, you two copy me, okay?” Shilo furrows his brow, but nods.

“Eyes on the road, Emizel!” Arthur chastises with a rap on the shoulder. Emizel does as told, but it isn't long until the pre-chorus ends and he swivels once more.

“Now!” He exclaims and begins waving his arms in the air to match the song, hitting Arthur twice in the process. Shilo and Grefgor try their best to keep up with his rapid movements, a tangle of limbs in the back seat.

“Emizel, what are we doing?” Shilo asks as he flails. One of his hands lands squarely on the top of Grefgor’s head, who momentarily squeezes his eyes shut on impact. A dozen unintelligible apologies waffle out of Shilo as he reels the offending hand back.

“You’re fuckin’ hot to go dude, that's what!” Emizel replies. “You got it down now?” Before either of them can answer, Arthur lunges past Emizel’s roving arms.

“The wheel! The steering wheel, Emizel!” He coughs out, frantically straightening it. Void hops from his shoulders into Shilo’s lap, startled by her owner’s sudden movement. Shilo yelps at her as the car veers over into the correct lane.

“It’s literally fine man! It straightens itself! I usually don’t even bother with it anyways!” He returns his attention to Grefgor and Shilo. “So you guys think you got it or what? The chorus is coming up again!”

“Y-yes my prince?” Grefgor replies, though it sounds more like a question than an answer. Shilo makes a non-committal noise, adjusting to the sudden cat in his lap.

“And again!” Emizel announces with glee, completely disregarding Arthur in front of him. He starts the dance again, and this time Shilo finds himself able to mostly keep up with the moves, only briefly brushing Grefgor in the process. By the time the chorus comes around again, a smile escapes Shilo’s lips when all three of them are doing it together.

“Easy, right?” his brother asks. “Theo taught me last week!”

“Yes, now that I have learned it! Oh, Emizel, you should teach Arthur now!”

“He will be doing no such thing! When does this song end?” Arthur grumbles.

“Ignore him, Shilo. I knew he’d be a hater, that’s why I only taught you guys.” Emizel sings along with the end of the song, finally turning back around once it starts to fade out.

“See, Arthur? It was fine!” He teases, putting his hands back on the wheel. Arthur straightens himself up and decidedly switches off the radio.

“It-” he coughs again, “-absolutely was not. No more music for the rest of the ride.” Void hops back onto his shoulders with a soft mrrp. Emizel blows a raspberry.

“Can’t do anything around here these days.” He complies despite his protests, though Shilo can’t tell if it’s of his own volition or the death glare his brother receives from Arthur each time he eyes the radio dial.

When Emizel stops swerving and the mall is finally in sight, Shilo dares to peer forward from the back seat and check the time. Seven fifty-two p.m. Huh. Well, for all his road safety faults, at least Emizel is fast.

⋆⋆⋆

Shilo, after taking several very necessary moments to instruct Emizel to please remove three of his five layers and another few to marvel at the revolving glass door, steps inside the vast mall with the others in tow. His hastily-tied heels click against the tiled floor, followed close behind by the softer taps of leather boots and loafers, and finally topped off by a single socked sandal.

“You don’t think someone’s gonna ask me why I only have one shoe on?” Emizel ponders, catching up to walk alongside his brother.

“Better they ask about that than the blood stains all over your hoodie,” Arthur answers stiffly, clearly itching to add an additional comment about the shoes.

“It’s not my fault I got hungry, man. Concentrating on driving takes a lot out of me.”

“I’m sure it does.”

“Arthur, you said you are familiar with the vampire Sephora?” Shilo asks, glancing around the bustling mall and trying his best not to get lost in the throngs of passing shoppers — both vampire and human alike from the looks of it. “She must be quite the businesswoman to sell cosmetics to all of these people by herself.”

“Something like that, yes,” Arthur says vaguely, taking the front of the group and gesturing for the others to follow. He weaves them through crowded eateries and past a funny looking moving staircase to the fabled store, hesitating at the entrance.

“What’s up Arthur, man?” Emizel asks with a gentle elbow. Arthur pauses for another moment before shaking his head and entering the store with the others.

“Nothing, boy. What are we looking for?” Emizel turns to his twin, who is presently gawking at the sheer amount of products lining the walls.

“Shilo, what are we looking for?” Shilo places a hand under his chin to think and leans against the nearest wall, which happens to be Grefgor.

“Well, how would you like to look, Emizel?”

“Fucking dope, preferably. But, uh, covering up my acne would be nice. And I like that spooky eyeliner-eyeshadow thing you do sometimes, too. Is that good?” Shilo nods slowly in understanding, then gestures for Grefgor to lean down. The prince promptly cups his mouth with his hands and whispers into his guard’s ear.

“Grefgor, I believe we are in deep trouble. I had no idea there were so many makeup products. Frankly? It is overwhelming. I don’t know what half of these things on the shelves are and I am very quickly realizing I may not be as well versed in the cosmetic world as I once thought but also that it is far too late now to admit this to Emizel and also that he and Arthur are staring at us very suspiciously.” Grefgor nods severely, opening his mouth to reply far too loudly and stopping when Shilo hurriedly presses a finger to his lips.

“I know exactly what we need,” he announces, whipping himself back around with his hand still on Grefgor’s mouth.

“What was that just now?” Emizel asks.

“I was just consulting Grefgor for his opinion,” Shilo says matter-of-factly. “He is also quite knowledgeable in the makeup department, you know.” A single drop of sweat drips down Grefgor’s forehead.

“Really? ‘Cause I don’t think you let him even get a word in.”

“Of course. That is the proper etiquette for consulting guards at Umbra Castle, Emizel.” Emizel seems to consider this, then shrugs.

“Europeans, am I right?” He elbows Arthur again with a grin and continues forward, ignoring the unamused and slightly concerned expression he receives.

After a moment, Shilo leans back over to Grefgor.

“You do not actually have any advice for us, right Grefgor?” He asks, voice soft.

“No, my prince. I only know as much as you have taught me. Apologies.”

Shilo sighs. “That is alright.”

He wanders around a few aisles, inspecting the various products and displays and trying to soak in as much knowledge as possible while appearing to be deeply considering the ramifications of choosing shade 001 over 000. Grefgor peers over his shoulder, mimicking his thoughtful pose.

“What have you gathered from here, my prince?” He asks, watching as Shilo turns two tubes of pale concealer around in his hands.

“Many things, Grefgor. And also nothing at all. There is so much in this world I do not understand, even in my immortal unlife I fear I may never have the time to learn it all.” He lifts the grayer shade higher. “This is definitely Emizel’s shade, though.”

“Great call, my prince. Speaking of, we appear to have lost him.” Shilo blinks as he slips the tube into Grefgor’s hand.

“Lost him? What do you mean lost him?” he asks, swiveling his head left and right as Grefgor expertly removes the barcode from the product with suspiciously well practised hands. Emizel is nowhere to be found, evidently having slipped off somewhere while Shilo was trying very hard to look like he understood what he was perusing.

“Arthur?” Shilo calls, noticing the other man had also vanished. At the sound, Void’s head pops up from behind a distant shelf, locking eyes with Shilo and letting out a small meow. Shilo dashes towards her, nearly tripping on the wrinkled cape hastily pinned to his shirt. He sees Arthur first, arms folded and doing his best to give as little input as possible as Emizel shoves various products in his face.

“Shilo! There you are, man!” Emizel says as he pushes past Arthur. “You really gotta stop running off like that. I know you said you had a plan, but I saw some cool looking sparkly shit and then some other colourful stuff and- You know what? Here. You can tell me if they suck shit. Or something. This guy still insists on being useless.” He presses a handful of items into Shilo’s hands.

“I’m here for supervision purposes only,” Arthur insists, though his glasses only barely hide the way he eyes the smokey palette to his left. Shilo examines the products, setting a few down onto a ledge and holding up a dark eyeshadow palette. He squints his eyes theatrically and nods firmly.

“Yes… A splendiferous choice, Emizel. The pigments, they are… strong! And vigorous! It is good. Yes.” He places the palette back down and picks up a small bottle of liquid eyeliner, taking a moment before shaking his head disapprovingly.

“Emizel, I’m afraid this product very clearly has an ancient curse placed upon it. You must remove it immediately unless you would like us all to be blown to smithereens.” Emizel’s eyes widen as he snatches back the bottle, haphazardly tossing it into the aisle behind him. Shilo glimpses at Grefgor nervously as he picks up the next item.

“Excellent observation, my prince. Yes, that item would have instantly vaporized us upon its opening.” Grefgor offers. “You have a trained cosmetic eye, indeed.” Shilo exhales slightly, relaxing his shoulders and turning back to see the product he picked up — a dark red lip gloss very obnoxiously and lasciviously labelled ‘VAMPIRE SEX BLAST’. He deflates with a cartoonish frown, pointed ears flopping down.

“Emizel we are not getting Vampire Sex Blast.”

Emizel crosses his arms. “Give me one good reason why not.”

“Wh- It is called Vampire Sex Blast!” Shilo exclaims.

“Yeah, and that fuckin’ rips!” Before Shilo can offer a really very reasonable counter argument, a concerned-looking woman with a ponytail slicked back into an afro puff and dressed in all black appears ominously at the end of the aisle.

She looks pointedly at the products strewn across the floor before glancing at the bickering brothers with an unamused expression. Shilo, oblivious to her discontentment, tosses Vampire Sex Blast away excitedly, lighting up as he notices the capital letters printed across the right side of her shirt.

“Ah, so you are the vampire Sephora!” He beams, clasping his hands together. “It is very nice to meet you! I am Prince Shilo Bathroy of the Ventrue clan. I have heard about your business ventures!” The woman furrows her brow slightly, looking as if she’s about to say something when Arthur steps up beside Shilo and places a hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry about the disturbance, miss. Don’t mind him,” he says as flatly as he can, trying to swiftly brush past Shilo’s introduction. “We were just having a bit of a heated discussion. My boys can be very… particular about this sort of thing. I’m sure you understand.”

“No worries, sir.” Her tone strongly indicates that there is, in fact, a worry, but she momentarily flashes him a fanged smile. “Well, if you or your sons are looking for anything specific, I would be happy to help you out.” She looks back between Shilo and Emizel, seemingly ignorant of the way Arthur sputters incredulously at her words.

“So you are… not the vampire Sephora?” Shilo asks.

Arthur sighs and leans down next to him. “Shilo,” he says, in a rather fatherly manner considering his disbelief just seconds ago, “I fear I may have misled you. There is no vampire named Sephora. This is just a Sephora for vampires.”

Shilo’s voice is small. “...What?”

“I’m sorry, prince. I should not have let this go so far. It is true that when I was last he-”

“Actually, sir…” She pauses, staring down Shilo with squinted eyes before seemingly deciding on something and mumbling, “Hmm. She may approve. Miss Sephora is in today, if the little prince wanted to speak to her. Follow me.” She turns and, despite her invitation to follow, faces the shelf next to her and picks up a rogue brush, instantly distracted with picking at the bristles.

“She’s what,” Arthur says dully, what was left of the light in his eyes suddenly vanishing as his glasses slide all the way down his nose with shock. That light immediately transfers to Shilo tenfold as his eyes widen gleefully.

“Oh! I would love that! Yes! Thank you, Aaaa…” Shilo cranes his head around to read her name tag, “Sha- Shakira!”

“Wrong,” she replies, but makes no move to correct him. “Now, come on.” She slips the brush into her pocket and disappears around the corner, singing an unrecognisable tune, the puff on the top of her head peeking over the aisles as she walks. The group does as told, except Arthur, who is still frozen in place with an appalled expression. Emizel snaps him back to reality with a sharp elbow, and he finally follows suit, pushing his glasses up again and hardening his expression once more.

“What is up with you, man?” Emizel pesters with a grin, clearly amused by Arthur’s bizarre behaviour. They follow the mysterious employee to the back of the store, passing by other intrigued workers with waves of varying degrees of politeness. Finally, they reach another woman, her back turned to them and looking over the contents of a cardboard box. Her hair is impossibly long and shiny, thin braids cascading down her back and flowing like a waterfall as she moves.

“Miss Sephora? This little prince — he said his name was Sheila — would like to speak with you.” When she turns, Shilo instantly feels like he recognizes her. It’s almost impossible to pin her as anything other than Toreador, for a start, considering her face of full glam makeup and the numerous pieces of jewelry dangling from her ears, neck, and wrists. She blinks her long false eyelashes at Shilo, studying him curiously.

“Hello!” He greets her with a wave. “My name is Prince Shilo Bathroy of the Ventrue clan. It is very wonderful to meet you!”

“Bathroy?” She repeats, her gaze intensified by the bold makeup around her eyes. A subtle tinge of a Southern accent paints her voice. “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that name. You’re a long way from home, aren't you?”

“Ah. Yes, I am. You… are the vampire Sephora, yes? My friend Arthur here has told me about your business enterprise.” Sephora gazes up at Arthur, who looks like he’s about to hurl.

“Is that so?” She asks, making eye contact with him. He doesn’t react. “Well, yes, I am. I’m surprised you don’t recognize me, Prince Shilo. I was sure your mother would’ve at least kept me in the history books.”

“You knew my mother?”

Sephora smiles. “Sure did. I lived in that big castle of yours, too, once upon a time. Back when I was Primogen. A long, long time ago now.” Even Arthur seems shocked at the revelation. The peculiar employee, meanwhile, is typing up a storm on her phone.

“How long ago?” Emizel pipes up. “Like, did you know any, uh, vampire dinosaurs or some shit?” Sephora looks at him disparagingly.

“Yes.”

Brushing past that, Shilo looks at her intently. “So you were a Primogen! Tell me, why did you leave? I am very interested.” Sephora spreads her arms out, gesturing around her.

“To start my business, of course! And it was the best damn decision I ever made, I’ll tell you that. I haven't kept up with vampire news for decades! But enough about me, prince. What brings you here?”

“Ah!” Shilo claps. “I am here to help my brother shop for his date. He has given me permission to make him over, which-”, he looks over to Emizel, “-I am very excited about!”

“There’s… two of you?” Sephora asks, grimacing as she watches Emizel pick his nose.

“Yes! Here, this is my brother Emizel, and my friends Arthur and Grefgor!” A meow. “And Void!” Sephora tilts her head in consideration, gaze lingering on Arthur for an uncomfortable second. Grefgor straightens himself, pushing his shoulders back before speaking.

“We have come to request your assistance with this task, my, uh, ex-Primogen…?”

“‘Manager’ is fine.”

“-My girlboss.” Grefgor leans over to Shilo. “I learned that one from the tiny lightbox!”

“Advice, hm? Well, for starters, yo-” A loud ringtone cuts her off: -is you say daaaaddy’s hooooome…

The group glances over to the source of the sound — reactions ranging from deeply uncomfortable to downright thrilled — while the employee looks up from her phone nonchalantly. “Sorry guys. My shift was supposed to end an hour ago but apparently my ride got bit by some dipshit outside the mall. This is really entertaining, though. Keep going.” Now distracted by her phone call, the employee, just as ominously as she appeared, walks backwards out of the store. Four pairs of eyes, some more feline than others, side eye Emizel.

Simultaneously, they recall the mess of watching him fumble sneaking into that poor person’s car, first attempting to get in through the trunk and resorting to nose-diving through the passenger side window when that didn't work. It was still an impressive feat, all things considered, especially since the car was still moving when he did it. Less impressively, though, was him then biting their wrist while it was steering the vehicle and promptly crashing the both of them into a tree.

‘Nerves’, he chalked it up to. ‘Stupidity’ was Arthur’s working theory.

Emizel smiles obtusely. “Tasted like Subway.”

“Well,” Sephora says, making her way in front of the group and beginning to lead them out of the back of the store as well. “I suppose I can spare a free consultation for the prince. If you’d send my regards to your mother, of course.”

Shilo inhales. “Of course.”

When Sephora steps into the main area of the store, her Presence is palpable. Every head, employee and customer, vampire and human alike, whirls to look at her, dropping whatever they're doing before Sephora waves a casual hand to dismiss their leering gazes.

“So, what made you settle in L.A.?” Shilo asks as he follows her, clearly affected by the sudden eyes on the group.

“Oh, I don’t live here, Prince. I’m just visiting this little branch while I’m in town. See, my sister told me she was going to the Elysium at that old club downtown and I thought, well, I could drop by and say hello, but I ended up missing the party by a whole night. A real shame too, I heard it was fire.” The group collectively grits their teeth behind her.

They stop at an aisle mirror, close to where they had previously tossed products around. Shilo excitedly places his brother in front of it, taking him by the shoulders and adjusting him so he stands in the center. He watches as Sephora takes a good long look at his brother, then walks into the nearby aisle. She chats leisurely with Shilo as she picks up various items from the counter and hands them back to him with a nod. She disappears into another adjacent aisle and returns with a few new ones, including a fancy-looking powder and small eyeliner pencil.

“Now, remember, these are all just suggestions,” She says. She makes an odd face until her eyes widen almost imperceptibly, as if with epiphany. “But remember… for some people… it might be more practical to look… within, for beauty.”

“Yeah man, I’m always saying that,” Emizel agrees, idly scratching his ass. Sephora squints at him.

“One more recommendation, if I may,” She says, reaching over to another aisle and placing a stick of deodorant in Emizel’s hand.

“Oh, you guys sell snacks here too? Thanks,” He promptly takes a bite.

Sephora's eye twitches. She peers at Arthur out of the corner of her eye. “You're paying for that.”

Arthur gulps.”Gawrsh!”

As the group files out, thanking Sephora for her help, she sets a hand on Arthur’s shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. Slowly, he cranes his head over to make hesitant eye contact. She gives him an unreadable smile. He trembles.

“Nice to see you in my store again, Arthur Bennett. Takes a lot of guts to come back after what happened last time.”

The walk to the next store is mostly silent, at least on Arthur's part.

⋆⋆⋆

“Alright,” Shilo begins, scanning the shelves of the Hot Topic. “What sort of occasion is this date of yours, Emizel?”

“I told you, man. It’s just, like, casual. Super casual. Honestly I could show up with what I’m wearing right now, it’s so casual. Or nothing at all, even. I could be butt ass naked and it would be so chill. Fuckin’… yeah.” Emizel looks more and more nervous with every word that rambles out of his mouth.

“Some clothes would be wise,” Arthur mutters, fiddling with a hanging necklace. A quick glance in his direction reveals Void peeking her head and paws curiously out of the Sephora bag around his wrist, evidently having abandoned Arthur’s shoulders in favour of being escorted like a chihuahua. Almost identically to her owner, she paws at a chain necklace, curiously watching the metal glitter in the fluorescent lights of the store.

“Yes…” Shilo agrees distractedly, disappearing into a clothing rack almost immediately after and emerging with a black frilly dress shirt — remarkably similar to the one he currently wears — in his hands. “Something like this, then?”

“No way, dude,” Emizel shakes his head. “I said casual! Plus, that literally looks exactly like what you’re wearing right now.”

Shilo furrows his brow, gesturing to his chest. His fingers brush against the twin columns of ruffles that cascade down the silky fabric. “Yes? This is my casual shirt.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“I'm not! I even forwent a waistcoat, I was in such a hurry to get us out the door!” He suddenly looks embarrassed, a tinge of pink painting his cheeks. “Oh, no. This was not the proper attire to meet someone as distinguished as the vampire Sephora. And certainly not befitting of a prince! Grefgor, Grefgor, do you think she believes me to be lowly?”

Grefgor’s expression is a mix of solemn and stony as he makes contact with Shilo’s large, pleading eyes staring up at him. “Never, my prince.”

Despite looking reassured, Shilo still collapses against his guard, sticking his pointed nose against his chestplate like an awkward woodpecker as Grefgor pats his back sympathetically.

“Look,” Emizel says, “How about we all just pick out some shit ourselves and I’ll try it on? That way everyone gets their input.” Murmurs of agreement, some more muffled than others, ring out through the group, and they get to work, keeping a watchful eye of the clock that now reads eight forty-one.

When everyone is done, Shilo tosses a barrage of clothes into Emizel’s arms and marches him into the dressing room, shutting the door a little too loudly behind him. Various struggled noises surge out of the room soon after, including several deafening crashes, a slide whistle, a squeaky ball bouncing, and a particularly painful fall — judging by the resounding FUCK! afterwards, at least.

Finally, looking a little worse for wear, Emizel emerges from the dressing room. He’s dressed in all black and wearing possibly more layers than he began with, somehow. He sports a long trench coat overtop of a black button-up and vest, long straight-legged dress pants and leather ankle boots, accessorised with three necklaces of various lengths, black leather fingerless gloves, and a chain that hangs at his waist.

“I don’t know about this, Arthur, man,” he says, doing a spin upon the request of a quizzical-looking Shilo. “I look like I have a bomb.”

Arthur pushes his glasses up his nose, then, with a long, drawn out sigh, makes a dismissive gesture for Emizel to return to the dressing room and hangs his head. Void meows sympathetically.

When he comes out this time, he’s wearing a shirt printed to look like a naked chest, one that very much does not match his own body type, paired with cargo jorts, knee high socks with the same square yellow character as the hoodie he discarded, blindingly red oversized crocs, and a hat with a cup holder and straw on either side. The cap is proudly embroidered with the words ‘I EAT DRYWALL’ and topped off by a single spinning propeller. Underneath it all is a black bodysuit made of thick fabric, a pattern resembling the skeletal system just visible on his limbs and his… unzipped fly. Shilo screams instantly upon seeing him, hurling his cape at his horrifically dressed brother with enough adrenaline-enhanced strength to knock him backwards into the dressing room again and out of his sight.

“My prince! Are you alright?” Grefgor asks, looking unsure even to himself which prince he’s referring to.

“I’m chilling,” Emizel replies from under a pile of clothes, his tone the verbal equivalent of a thumbs up. Shilo, meanwhile, has both hands on the sides of his head.

“Emizel, I don’t even want to know where you got that from, but you are absolutely not going on a date wearing some poor human’s skin! That is horrific!” Laughter bubbles out from the dressing room, much to Shilo’s dismay. “And you are laughing about it!?”

“No, Shilo, man! Here! Look!” Emizel calls between laughs, tossing the skin-shirt over the room door. Shilo screams again as it flies his way, ducking under the arm that Grefgor lifts to perfectly catch it midair.

“Grefgor I do not want to even look at it,” Shilo mumbles, gaze locked on the floor. Grefgor pinches the material, moving it around with his gloved fingertips briefly.

“It appears to… actually just be fabric, my prince,” He concludes. Shilo stands back up.

“Oh shit, for real?” Reluctantly, he also outstretches a hand to feel the fabric. It is, indeed, fabric. “Okay, well, it is still terrible and horrible and I would like it out of my sight immediately. Perhaps just remove it from this world entirely.”

“Right away, my prince,” Grefgor nods, pulling out a match from somewhere in his armour and promptly marching out of the Hot Topic, returning a minute later with an uncharacteristically harrowed look in his eyes.

“Grefgor did what had to be done, my prince.”

“Thank you, Grefgor,” Shilo says solemnly. “Emizel, please change now before I am compelled to set the rest of that outfit on fire with you in it.” Emizel blows a raspberry.

The next time he emerges, Emizel wears a costume that upon first glance, seems fairly similar to Grefgor’s usual metal-clad attire. With further inspection though, it becomes glaringly obvious that all his ‘armour’ is soft and squishy, and that there are obnoxious Party City tags hanging off of his elbow. Every head turns to Grefgor.

“Grefgor, why is this costume from the City of Parties?”

“I made a quick pit stop after I was finished disposing of the offending shirt, my prince.”

“But you were only gone for like a minute?”

Grefgor sniffs. “Yes.”

Emizel waves his arms around stiffly, seemingly unable to bend his elbows — or put his arms down. “I think you got this in the kid’s sizes, man. I feel like a penguin.”

Grefgor tries very hard not to smile. “No, my prince, this is exactly how it should be worn. You may feel like a penguin, but you are indeed now a strong and glorious bird, ready to defend your beloved from all harm that may come his way on your excursion.”

Arthur sighs and shakes his head. “Don’t lie to the boy. Everyone knows that penguins are not birds.” The face Shilo makes is indescribable.

“So is this what I’m going with? I’m not hearing any objections,” Emizel asks nervously.

“No! No. No. You have yet to try on my pick. Then we will decide,” Shilo says, holding up a finger. He pushes his barely mobile brother back into the dressing room, practically sliding him across the floor. He lands with another loud crash.

“Um. Shilo?” He asks, voice muffled. “Can you help me out here? I’m… kinda stuck.” Shilo turns back around, opening the dressing room door to find his brother collapsed face-down on the floor, wrapped up in the tiny knight costume with his limbs restrained at his sides like a worm.

Shilo begins to help his brother up, his laugh quickly turning into a yelp as Emizel springs up from his worm facade and the door slams behind them. Arthur, Grefgor, and Void share a look as an onslaught of sounds blast out from the room: more crashes, a spring being launched into the air, a cuckoo clock chiming, and a Wilhelm scream.

“My? My princes? Are you alright in there?”

A flurry of dust bursts out from behind the twins when the door opens.

Shilo’s eyes are wide and haunted when he emerges, completely unmoving save for his twitching left eye and hands which are quickly being balled into shaky fists. His outfit is… suspiciously familiar. Emizel, in contrast, looks pretentious, faux adjusting the emerald cape now pinned to his ruffled white shirt — the very same one Shilo was wearing moments before.

“I always wondered whether this getup would fit me,” Emizel thinks out loud, comically calm for the manoeuvre he just pulled.

“Emizel. Why did you have. Two of them?” Shilo rumbles through gritted teeth. The prince can barely contain his rage, wearing the very same shirt he instructed Grefgor to destroy just minutes ago. Emizel blows air at the top of Shilo’s head, now able to reach it with the poorly tied heels on his feet. The propeller on his hat spins stupidly.

“I figured something like that would happen,” He grins with all his teeth.

Grefgor is blinking rapidly, pivoting his head back and forth between the two. “My pr. My. My prince. My princes.” He reaches out a hand to tap Arthur on the shoulder and flinches when he lands on thin air. He looks over his shoulder to find Arthur and Void talking down an extremely concerned looking employee, the latter of which continuously glancing over to the three of them at the dressing room. When Grefgor turns back around, Emizel is smiling at him dopily while Shilo death glares at nothing in particular, propeller still spinning. An involuntary snort escapes his nose at the tableau before him.

Grefgor’s smile drops when he notices a crazed look in Shilo’s eyes finally surface, instantly springing into action to restrain his prince from mauling his brother and all adjacent employees. “My apologies, my prince. I am so sorry, my prince. I believe I have a cold. Please forgive me, my prince, it was just a sneeze. Please stop thrashing, my prince. My prince.”

Grefgor holds him under his arm like a football, restricting him from moving away but allowing his limbs plenty of flailing room as he dangles in place. Emizel’s eyes are wide, eyebrows raised and mouth pulled into a long, thin line as he watches his brother swipe at him.

“Oh shit, is he fucking frenzying?”

Grefgor tightens his grip ever so slightly, hoisting Shilo upwards. “It. It would appear that way, my prince.”

Arthur finishes talking to the employee and turns back around to see the polite little prince hissing and snarling like a wild animal, swiping and baring his fangs at his brother — inexplicably wearing his clothes — as Grefgor awkwardly presses him against his side with one hand and scratches his head with the other. Arthur blinks. He turns himself around a hundred and eighty degrees and begins heading towards the exit.

“My- My boy!” Grefgor calls after him. Arthur stops in his tracks, sighs dramatically, and turns back around again. He reaches into his coat pocket as he approaches, pulling out his flask.

“Oh, no alcohol in the store, please, sir-,” an employee attempts as he strides right past them. Arthur stops when he reaches his boys, closing his eyes and shaking his head for a moment. Void meows in agreement from the Sephora bag.

“Shilo,” he says simply, approaching the boy. He leans down, unscrewing the cap of his flask before carefully pouring its contents into his mouth. Blood drips down his chin and stains his already terrible shirt further. After a few seconds, Shilo blinks and stops flailing, now hanging limply in Grefgor’s arm. Gently, he rotates his prince upright and stands him back up.

Shilo inhales sharply, instinctively going to readjust his clothing and finding nothing of value when he does. He wipes the blood from his chin with his shoulder and exhales.

“I think- I think we are done here.” He looks humiliated, his cheeks so bright pink the others look monochrome in comparison. The corners of his eyes glisten red with the threat of tears.

“Aw, Shilo, hey, I’m sorry man,” Emizel puts a hand on his shoulder, still bloody. “I didn’t think you’d freak out like that. But, uh, don’t go yet, okay? I still gotta try on your outfit, don’t I? The. Shit. The one you picked out for me, not the-” He’s cut off by the sound of shaky laughter next to him as Shilo shrugs off his hand.

“You’re right, you’re right. This shirt is absolutely getting destroyed, though.”

The next time Emizel exits the dressing room, he’s preceded by Shilo, who, now back to his regular outfit, excitedly spreads his arms out to present his brother. He sports a long, white collared shirt with a grayish-blue tie tied loosely around his neck, an open vest just barely visible underneath his oversized leather Demons jacket, a studded belt weaved in between the loops of dark baggy jeans, and clean black sneakers. Even Emizel seems stunned by how good it looks.

“So? What do you all think? I tried to take your ‘casual’ advice to heart, as much as it hurt me to do, but I thought it would be best if I were to try to match your style a little more.”

“Yeah dude, I mean, fuck. This is actually pretty nice. I fuck with this.” Shilo does a great rendition of Grefgor’s patented confused smile.

“Well, if my princes approve, then so do I,” Grefgor declares, giving Shilo a warm look.

“It’s suitable,” Arthur approves. “Although, I still believe you should try wearing pants that fit you one of these days.”

“I’m only going to wear pants that go up to my ankles from now on because you said that. I’m gonna fucking waddle around forever now ‘cause you said that to me.”

“Then you really would be a penguin, my prince!”

With a grin, Emizel goes back to the dressing room and changes into his original terrible look (plus some new yellow socks), then stuffs the chosen outfit into a tote bag from a nearby display. He loops the bag — reading VAMPIRE BABE in sparkling gothic font — around his shoulder. The group begins to leave the store when a loud beeping suddenly assaults their ears. An employee rushes towards them.

“Excuse me, sir, I think you forgot to pay for an item you have there.”

Shilo looks bewildered at the employee, but a staunch bout of eye contact accompanies his next words. “What? Oh, we will not be doing that. Thank you for the suggestion, though.”

The employee blinks, and their eyes glaze over. ‘Huh. Alright then. Have a nice day, sir.”

“I will!” He replies cheerfully. The beeping still blares obnoxiously as the vampires conspicuously exit the store premises, leaving behind a handful of scrambling employees. As soon as they’re out of sight, Shilo grabs the Sephora bag from Arthur, prompting Void to leap out and slink up her owner’s arm until she rests back on his shoulders.

“I suspect we do not have the time to return to the hotel before the date, now,” Shilo figures. “Arthur, is there a bathroom in this mal?” Arthur glances around for a few seconds, then spots a bathroom sign up ahead. He points it out, and in an instant, Shilo has his brother’s wrist in hand and is sprinting as fast as his little legs can take him.

⋆⋆⋆

Shilo pulls his brother through the bathroom door, yanking him forward with a stumble as he barely finds his own footing and settles against the sink counter.

“Hey! Careful!” Emizel yelps, his wrist constrained by a surprisingly tight grip. He narrowly avoids slipping with his socked foot and falling directly on his ass only by virtue of spinning and falling onto Shilo instead. Shilo lets out a noise of surprise and pushes him backwards, giving Emizel a moment to stabilise. He tosses his Hot Topic tote bag on the floor.

“Jesus. They should really tell you when the floor is wet in here,” Emizel scoffs as he kicks away the plastic yellow sign blocking his way to the sink.

Shilo brushes himself off as best as he can, readjusting his cape and pushing back the loose locks of hair from his forehead. Emizel takes a moment to look at himself in the mirror, also sweeping his bangs back in a futile attempt to mimic his brother’s neatness and ending up looking far worse than he did a second ago. He makes a sour face and huffs in frustration. He glances over to his reflection’s left, where Shilo should be, and is shocked to see nothing but the bathroom stalls reflected back at him.

“Shi-?” He starts, cutting himself off as he whips his head around to where Shilo should be standing, and is very much standing, looking at him with slight confusion as he pulls out the various products from his little striped bag and sets them on the counter in front of him.

“Yes, Emizel?” Shilo asks, picking up a tube of grayish concealer and a large brush from the menagerie and rolling them over in his fingers unconsciously. “Really, I think it would be best if you were to wash your face first.”

“Ah. Yeah. Alright.” Emizel agrees, shucking off his oversized Demons jacket on the counter next to him. He turns on the cold water and begins splashing his face.

“You didn’t tell me you didn’t, uh, have a reflection,” He notes mid splash, words slightly garbled through the water. Shilo looks surprised at this.

“Hm. I guess I didn’t. I assumed, since, you know, it is such a common trait among vampires, it was not worth the mention,” He reasons. Emizel shrugs as he shuts the tap off.

“Maybe. But I haven’t met a lot of vampires,” He says, wiping the excess water with his forearm and shaking his hair around like a dog to dry off. Unsurprisingly, his hair looks better like this. Shilo flinches at the droplets that fly his way and flicks off the one that lands on his cheek. “Sorry.”

Shilo hums. “Don’t worry about it. There are more pressing issues at hand.” He starts to twist open the concealer, then pauses with a frown. “Such as how there is nowhere for you to sit.”

“Sure there is,” Emizel replies, hoisting himself up with his arms and hopping up onto the counter with his back to the mirror. Shilo gasps.

“Emizel!” He exclaims. “It’s all wet!”

“I’m gonna be changing anyways, it’s fine.” He drags out the last word.

Shilo purses his lips. “Well, you are lucky I wore my heels today,” he says, moving to be in front of his brother and punctuating his steps with a particularly loud click as if to emphasize his point. Emizel grins, looking down at him only slightly.

“You wear your heels every day, man. I don’t think you even can wear anything else at this point. You probably got, like, Barbie doll feet by now.” Shilo looks at him curiously.

“Who is this ‘Barbie doll’?” He asks, finally twisting open the tube and beginning to pat little gray dots onto Emizel’s face. Emizel instinctively shuts his eyes tight as the applicator comes close, earning a disapproving tut tut from his brother.

“I’ve got a lot of movies I need to show you after this,” Emizel responds. Rather mysteriously, Shilo thinks. Regardless, he is quick to get to work covering up discolourations and blemishes, laughing as he shoos away Emizel’s hands when he reacts to the brush on his skin.

“Emizel, I can’t work when you are grabbing at me!” Shilo giggles, gently smacking at the hand attempting to restrain his wrist. Emizel pulls back, embarrassed.

“Sorry, man! Instinct, or something. I don’t know.”

“What, you think I am… attacking you?” Shilo asks, barely holding back another laugh.

Emizel furrows his brows. “No! Shut up, dude! Shut up!”

Shilo pushes onwards, eventually calming down from his giggle fit as Emizel warms up to the strange and unfamiliar sensations attacking him from all fronts. He pauses once he’s done with each product, giving Emizel the chance to peer at his reflection in the mirror behind him as Shilo fetches the next items. The process is more intuitive than Shilo had anticipated; he is eternally relieved for that. Emizel also appears to be fascinated with each step, taking in every change of his reflection. Shilo, oddly, feels a small pang of jealousy each time his brother turns to examine his appearance.

When it reaches the time for eyeshadow, Shilo lets his brother pick out the palette. He chooses just black, at first, but is more than happy to let Shilo try his suggestion of layering a bold currant colour on beforehand. Emizel flinches again as the small brush comes close, smartly choosing to adhere to Shilo’s second suggestion of perhaps closing his eyes for this step, even if it means he can’t see how he looks. He nearly reacts a third time when he hears, just outside of the bathroom, a familiar British voice not-so-quietly request someone to use the ladies’ room for the time being.

A funny feeling of bewilderment strikes Shilo as he works away, pausing for a second with the thought that settles in his head. Emizel sneaks open an eye.

“Something wrong?” He asks, an unreadable expression falling over Shilo’s face. Shilo shakes his head, gesturing for Emizel to close his eye again.

“No, no! It is just funny how much easier this is when I can see what I am doing. No wonder Grefgor learned so quickly. It must have been like walking in the park.” Emizel hums in response, then actually processes what he just heard.

“Wait, you’re telling me you’ve just been doing this shit blind for years?”

Shilo looks sheepish. “...Yes?”

Emizel’s mouth hangs slightly open, his mind mulling over all the stupidly complicated looks he’d seen his brother wear in just the short time he’s known him, and then his own pitiful attempt at doing guyliner a few years back: leaning over a dingy bathroom sink with his face so close to the mirror his nose practically pressed up against the glass and promptly poking himself in the eye with his black Crayola pencil at least a dozen times. “No, no, nothing. Fuckin’ wizard. Nothing. Whatever.”

Shilo snorts, somehow still daintily. “I could teach you too, if that would be something you’d like to do. Grefgor could help as well.” A pause. “Maybe when we are in less of a time crunch, though.”

Something pulls at Emizel’s chest at the thought. “That could be fun, yeah.”

Is this brotherhood?

Emizel feels four fingers lightly smack his cheek twice, signalling he can open his eyes. Before he turns around to check his work, he sees Shilo smile — a little toothily, he notes. The tiniest hint of his fangs poke out from under his lip. It makes him look younger, somehow, likening his excited grin to a little kid playing dress up for the first time. Which, if Emizel thinks about it, is exactly what he is. He resists the urge to ruffle his hair.

Maybe it is.

“Now, all we have left is the eyeliner. Your eyeshadow is already pretty dark, but it’ll help accentuate it a little more. Make it look complete,” Shilo says as Emizel peers at his reflection. “Actually… you seem to be pretty sensitive with things near your eyes. Would you like to do this part yourself, Emizel?”

Emizel makes a face, suddenly blasted back to that lame memory. “No, no, no, that’s not a good idea. I’ll keep my eyes so open, don’t even worry about it.”

“Are you sure?” Shilo asks, almost sing-songy and absolutely trying to goad his brother into trying it out. Emizel sees right through his fiendish tricks.

“Okay, maybe I'll do it for like, a second. But if I mess it up and we don’t have time to fi-”

“If you mess up, it will be hidden by your eyeshadow,” Shilo interjects sweetly. “Speaking of time, while you do that, I will take all these pesky tags off the clothes in our other bag. That way, they will be all ready for you when you’re done.”

“You just think of everything, don’t you?”

“Of course! In fact, I had Grefgor snag me these from the vampire Sephora!” Shilo clicks a pair of mini nail scissors together. “The store, not the, ah, person.”

When he reaches for the eyeliner, Shilo suddenly notices an unfortunately familiar small, wine coloured tube of lip gloss among the other products, evidently having been snuck into the bag upon purchase.

“Emizel!” He chastises with no real malice. “Did you sneak V… Vampire Sex Blast in here?” His hesitation before saying the product name is palpable. Emizerl instantly bursts out laughing.

“What?! No!? Oh my god, dude!” He snickers. “Is it actually there?” Shilo picks it up hesitantly, slowly lifting it from the counter to show his brother, who laughs even harder upon recognition, throwing his head back and smacking it against the bathroom mirror. He reels forward, still laughing, as Shilo also fights back a smile.

“If you wanted it so bad, Emizel, you could have just said!”

“It wasn’t me, man! I’m telling you!”

Shilo hands him the eyeliner, a thin black pencil with a rounded tip, and gets to work with his scissors, dutifully snipping off tags. Emizel braces himself for his ultimate test, silently pumping himself up as he leans in way too close to the mirror again. He tries to readjust his wrist on the counter, then slips on the excess water from his prior splashing. He brushes the water off and tries again.

With an unsteady hand, he wets the tip of the pencil and presses it to the edge of his eyelid, drawing an equally wiggly line around his eye. He curses, trying to wipe off the product and only succeeding in smudging it further. Emizel almost goes for a paper towel, but stops when he notices that the smudging actually has improved the look. Cautiously, he replicates it as best as he can on the other eye, sweating up a storm with his attempt at precision. Shilo, meanwhile, hums a simple tune and bounces jovially as he snips and tosses tags into the trash bin. With a little more working up, Emizel goes for his waterlines next, mentally punching himself every time he feels the inclination to cringe.

By the time he’s finished, Shilo has too, and he quickly ushers his brother into a bathroom stall, tote bag of clothes in hand. Another round of raucous tripping and cursing later, Emizel emerges one last time, finally ready — minus his jacket, which Shilo playfully drapes across his shoulders. He steps back, letting Emizel approach the mirror once more to inspect his appearance.

Stepping on the nominally drier floor, Emizel almost doesn’t recognize himself. He looks clean, almost put-together, and completely different from how he did at the start of the night. Taking it all in, he thinks the makeup is mostly responsible for this; The intense, smokey colour around his eyes isn’t something he’s used to seeing on himself — rather, it’s much more emblematic of Shilo’s appearance. Emizel adjusts one of his lip piercings in the mirror. If it weren’t for those, and perhaps the shaggy mess of hair on his head, he thinks maybe he could pass as him.

Enthralled by his new look, and definitely assisted by his brother’s absence of a reflection, Emizel doesn’t notice the hand threatening to ruffle his hair until it’s far, far too late for him to plan and execute a counterattack. He yells cartoonishly as Shilo shakes him around in excitement.

“Hey!” He exclaims, wrestling Shilo’s hand off his head. Shilo just laughs, stepping backwards again.

“Just helping you complete your ‘casual’ look! You talk all this talk of being informal, yet I have yet to see you loosen up about this date!” Emizel smiles, consciously relaxing his shoulders. He slips his jacket on properly, making sure to adjust it first to make his brother proud, and takes a step back himself.

“Yeah, man. You’re right. You’re right. Fuck.” Emizel wastes no time wrapping his twin brother in a tight hug, effectively surprising him back. “Thank you, Shilo. You’re a good brother.”

He can practically feel the light radiating from Shilo’s smile as he hugs him back. After one last squeeze, Emizel draws away with a matching one.

“You can thank me again when you get back. Now, go have fun! Quickly! We must be nearly out of time!” Shilo pushes his brother towards the door with mirth.

“Shit!” Emizel exclaims, hopping into a sprint as he dashes out, passing by a blasé Arthur and Void, an eagerly waving Grefgor, and one very long line to the men’s bathroom.

⋆⋆⋆

Emizel kicks up dust as he halts his sprint as quickly as he started it, recognizing the surrounding streets and tall buildings that populate every corner he sweeps past. He has no idea what time it is; he left his flip phone in his other pants, tossed haphazardly into the bedazzled tote bag on the bathroom floor.

It doesn’t seem to matter, though. When he rounds another corner, just a block away from his precious shitty alley, he doesn’t see any sign of Theo anywhere. Great! He’s not late. Walking at a brisk pace now, Emizel can feel his nerves start to bubble back up through his body, giving him shivers despite his hellishly warm jacket. He takes his hands out of his pockets to shake them around, echoing his brother’s words in his mind: Loosen up!

Man. How is Shilo the one telling him to loosen up? Why is he so nervous, anyways? It’s casual. It doesn’t mean anything! Well. Maybe there’s his problem. Maybe he wants it to mean something.

A familiar street light bathes him in vivid red light as he finally approaches the alley. Emizel had never thought about it before, but in retrospect, it did make sense why a city run by vampires would want to install bat-friendly lighting on its streets. He’d never stopped to think about the bats the hundreds of times he hung out here with Theo, though. Rather, in his selfish mind, the crimson wash had only been there to make their little hideaway just that much more magical.

Emizel feels that magic start to thrum though his chest again when he sees a silhouette, running just as he had been mere minutes ago, come into view at the end of the street. Fully immersed in the vibrant red that Emizel had come to associate with him and panting heavily, Theo sprints towards him with a loose wave, gesturing wildly above his head. Once his best friend’s face surfaces from the ocean of scarlet surrounding it, Emizel feels all of his nerves suddenly melt away.

“Theo!” He calls out, picking up his own pace to meet him halfway and spare him the extra breath.

“Emizel!” Theo calls back breathlessly, squeezing his eyes shut as he meets him in a hug and nearly spins him around while he’s at it.

“I’m so sorry I’m late dude, you must’ve been waiting out here for hou…” Theo trails off as he pulls back, suddenly speechless as he takes in Emizel’s face up close. Emizel is at a loss for words, too — too stunned to even process what was said to him when he sees Theo.

Through the red hue cast over him, Emizel can make out the smallest hint of a darker colour in the outer corners of Theo’s eyes, intensifying his already warm gaze and making it so damn hard for Emizel to tear his away from him. His hair is freshly dyed and near blinding, bangs no longer neat — if they ever were — but still falling over his forehead and framing his face wonderfully. His numerous facial piercings glitter and gleam in the light. Emizel’s mouth falls slightly open as he lingers a little too long at the ones near Theo’s lips.

“Dude. You look so fucking hot,” Theo says, his breath suddenly escaping him again. Emizel blinks at him dumbly. What had he been worried about, exactly?

“You do too. Fuck. I could kiss you right now,” Emizel replies, words tumbling out of his mouth before he can stop them. Shit! Theo’s eyes widen slightly — almost scared — before a big smile breaks out from his lips.

“I guess we both had a bit of a makeover today, huh?” He asks, pulling back slightly to give Emizel a gentle elbow. Emizel grins back at him, sharp teeth on full display.

“I’ve got some crazy shit to tell you about tonight, man,” He admits. Theo draws back from their embrace fully, situating himself comfortably at Emizel’s side.

“You can tell me all about it on the walk there, then,” He says, his voice soft and gaze pointedly drifting down at Emizel’s hand as he laces their fingers together.

⋆⋆⋆

Shilo hands Arthur the Sephora bag, watching the older vampire curiously as he seems to scan its contents before taking it back. As he turns around to leave the mall, Shilo sees out of the corner of his eye Arthur reach into the bag and stash an all-too-familiar wine coloured lip gloss into his pocket and smile before letting Void hop on board. She shuts her eyes with a contented purr.

Well, he thinks as he leans into Grefgor’s shoulder. It seems everyone got what they wanted tonight.

#my writing #long post #just roll with it #jrwi #jrwi fanfiction #the suckening #jrwi the suckening #shilo bathory #emizel tucker #jrwi grefgor #arthur bennett #jrwi soda #fizzfangs #jrwi void

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pardi-real · 8 months

Text

Main Story Ep. 2 / Part 3 / Chapter 1 - Butler's Unity

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[Devil's Palace, Your Room]

Berrien: "My lord... Thank you for your hard work at the meeting. Please enjoy this tea; it should be refreshing."

> "Thank you, Berrien."

Berrien: "I heard... Haures got ahead of himself at the meeting."

> "Just a bit"

Muu: "Really?"

Berrien: "It's not like him indeed, Haures... he's been acting a bit strange since the last expedition. Always seems rushed."

Muu: "Certainly, his expression seems more rigid than usual."

Berrien: "Indeed, it's evident that, since the last expedition... The influence of that girl is affecting him."

> "She resembles his sister…"

Berrien: "Yes... that's what he said."

Knock... knock...

> “Who could that be?” > “Please come in..."

Click…

Lucas: "Excuse me, my lord. Oh... Berrien is here too?"

Berrien: "Yes. I was serving tea to the lord who just finished the meeting. Are you here for some business with the lord too, Mr. Lucas?"

Lucas: "No... a lot happened at the meeting, so I came to check on the lord's condition ♪"

> "Thank you for your concern, Lucas"

Lucas: "Are you okay, my lord?"

> "Yup, I'm fine"

Lucas: "That's good ♪ Oh! Right… This is a good time to tell you ♪ Berrien, I just received a reply from Lord Finlay... We are scheduled to go for another investigation in three weeks."

> "That’s quite soon..."

Berrien: "Certainly, as you say, my lord... This time, the nobles act quickly. It does seem Lord Finlay also understands the gravity of the situation."

Lucas: "Yeah... that's right. Now, we just need to decide who to send on the expedition…”

Berrien: “Yes…”

Lucas: “Berrien, you are hesitating about Haures, aren't you?"

Berrien: "Yes. Normally, he is absolutely indispensable… But my lord, what do you think about Haures... considering his situation?"

> “I think we still need him…” > "Haures' abilities are essential…”

Berrien: "Exactly as you said, my lord… it’ll be completely different without him."

Lucas: "But… Haures’ mental state has been unstable since the last expedition."

Berrien: "Indeed, he appears calm, but... It's clear that he's not his usual self."

Lucas: "Yup... But, considering his abilities, we can't do without him."

> "I don't want to push him too hard…” > “What should we do?"

Berrien: "Hmm... It's a predicament."

~ That night ~

[Devil's Palace, Foyer]

Berrien: "My lord, please over here..."

> "Okay"

Berrien: "Now... Let's embark on our next expedition with the butlers here."

Lucas: "Yup ♪"

Lamli: "I'm looking forward to the expedition with the lord~!"

Nac: "Lamli… This is not a game."

Lono: "Roger!"

Bastien: "Hmm…”

Lato: "Kufufu… How exciting."

Flure: "I-I'm nervous..."

Miyaji: "......”

Fennesz: "Quite a large group, isn’t it?"

Ammon: "True that…”

Boschi: "Hmph…”

Haures: ".....”

Ammon: "So… everybody here, right?"

Berrien: "Yes, that's correct. This time, it's an all-out effort. After discussing with the lord, we decided to have everyone go on the expedition. The mansion will be empty, but we’ll ask the Grovaner family to guard the mansion temporarily.

This mission is very important, considering various things. For such a crucial mission… Let's face them together. We've overcome a lot of things so far... This time around as well, let's overcome it together.

Of course, including Muu. Please protect the lord up close, as always."

Muu: "Yes! Of course!"

> "Thank you, Muu"

Lucas: "Fufu ♪ Now, I'll explain the strategy. In this operation, we'll split into three main teams ♪ The Archery Team, the Capture Team, and the Guard Team.

The Archery Team will attack with bows when the intelligent angel is flying high. Of course, do not hit it, okay? I want them to bring the intelligent angel as close to the ground ♪.

Then, the Capture Team. This is the most crucial team in this operation. As the name suggests, they will pursue the intelligent angel and capture it.

And the Guard Team. The team to protect the lord... Oops, I almost forgot... This team will also protect the Grovaner family's reconnaissance team ♪

We have three weeks until the expedition. Let's use that time to confirm our coordination."

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#aknk #main story

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dynamic-k · 6 months

Note

How you doin'

I think I finally broke out of the Writer's Block!! Time to celebrate with a coffee!

I also started writing the next chapter of the Guessing Game, uhhhh, whoops, why has it taken me eleven days-

I am also making a lot of headway on the next Arc Two chapter, and I am so unbelievably excited to bring it to completion because more LOREEEE!! And more subtle things to decipher, hehehe

And other not-so-subtle things... Yeah...

And also, uhm, a certain mother of the Alcoholic Twins, *cough, cough* Mum Rum *cough, cough*

I need to keep my mouth shut, cursors...

Why do I let you all ask me things-

Next thing I know, I'll be explaining King's full motives in way too much detail... '= w =

ANYWAY

Yes, I am doing swell and well, and good mood. U v U

Even though the Alan Becker Minecraft server has been very captivating as of late, and I find myself not writing as much because I want to hang out with Alan Becker fandom people-

WHICH BY THE WAY

I am on that server a lot, as Dynamic_K, so feel so free to say Hi and whatnot, I love meeting you all. :D

And you may also call me Scarlett, I don't care a bit.

Golden Boy, I thiiiiink, is going to still take me a while, even though I've actually made really good headway for the first time since I made chapter 2. It's gonna be so long, lol. I wrote down the plot outline, for the most part, and I just need to fill in the actual words. (Some of which is already done, hence my prediction about the chapter being like 10,000+ words, lol)

Don't ask me about A Second's Tale just yet. That's still sitting on the backburner of my incredibly spacious Mind Stove, simmering every now and then as I slowly piece together how I want the plot to go. I NEVER HAD A SPECIFIC PLAN FOR THAT FIC, IT'S GETTING TRICKY-

I'll finish it all, eventually, though. I promise!! I never EVER abandon a fic.

That's like my motto at this point!

...besides the Second punnery, the "I don't believe I have the faintest notion what you're insinuating" and some other things I say often...

*cough*

Anyway!

Yeah, I think that's it for major updates.

Feel free to clarify more specific inquiries in mah Askity Boxity-

OH STICK

I JUST REALIZED I FORGOT TO POST MY "Idea Box"!!

I had an idea, hehe, about three weeks ago now, oops-

That I could-

OH, never mind, you'll see, I'll get that out soon.

SHUHHCE

I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO DO, WHYYY

#Ask Scarlett #Super Sticks AU #Oh yeah I'm doing great /dead-serious

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coredrill · 7 months

Text

perhaps my most insane collection of brvn thots yet

do we think lulu is from the moon. i think this for three reasons. one: when she told superbia she was going to ride him the moon was quite large and prominent in the shot. symbolism. two: when she got her fancy hairdo, she had two little buns that looked like moons. three: “lulu” could come from “luna” the same way it could come from the first syllable of smith’s name. why would she become spanish? don’t worry abt it. also if she’s from there then maybe the “final battle” which obari allegedly said would take place in an unexpected location will indeed be on the moon (pls dont ask for a source on this bc i don’t think i could find it again but it was one of the like. EARLY early interviews iirc. or it was just a rumor. this part of the post is a joke anyways LMAO). however this IS a super robot show so i feel like the moon in general is actually a more expected location for me than like. idk. cleveland

everyone pointing out the animation differences maybe indicating different timelines is so funny to me cause like. if it’s NOT intentional, the fans are putting together a list of fixes to make for the bluray on a silver platter LMAO. also god i hope we get a western bluray release, i honestly am considering getting the jp one if it somehow winds up w eng subs though just cause i know it’s such a long shot for CRUNCHYROLL of all motherfuckers to put one together 🥲 discotek ur our only hope………………

i keep thinking abt the like. pacing of the previous fight scenes being reused in ep9 in such a smart way…………like with smith/lulu v superbia - isami/bravern v cupiridas AND with smith/lulu v knuth - isami/bravern v pessimism/vanitas they kept doing the quick jumps between each of the two fights in a way that made it clear that isami and smith were in conversation even if they were doing completely different shit, and then bringing that completely to the forefront this ep while isami is asking smith why he died and at the same time smith is refusing to die bc of his promise with isami. BLEW MY FUCKIN MIND to see the pattern reused like that, i swear to GOD everyone talks about how fun and hype this show is but it’s so damn GOOD too 😭😭 and then after that the fuckin. symmetrical docking ass cut and then later the gattai which has been held off for SO long bc they are no longer separate conversations. JESUS

called my shots too early tho w smith not melting ppl’s minds in a kaworu manner where they convolute the story x1000 to try to make him seem straight 😭 congrats white boy, your days are numbered until ppl start saying you love isami like he’s your pet dog……….also in a related fashion the giant naked smith fanarts are taking me out LMAO

you can tell idk shit abt fuck when it comes to time travel fuckery cause i rly am just here like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ atp LMAO, the serious theorizing is GONE. i trust the show to finish out in a satisfying manner and also in a way that my pea brain can understand and i’m rly looking forward to savouring these last 3 episodes :] and then rewatching the whole thing from the beginning once the remaining twists have been revealed and i Know :3 like not to get way too sentimental w 3 whole episodes left but we are so lucky to be following this story in real time you guys 😭 like i’m just gonna put the same post i made back after episode ONE here cause it’s true but times a million with what we’ve seen so far, truly this is such a special experience to have and i’m so glad this show waited until i got into mecha to get made so that i could like. Understand it yknow. anyways good for january 14 2024 version of me, you are so excited andyet still have NO idea the kind of treat you are in for 😭

“lewis” jumpscare tho omg. i forgot it took me like a week to figure out what the hell was goin on with all the characters first and last names LMAO. anyways everybody go look at sumiisa sekiha love love tenkyouken right now i am no longer asking

#a: bravern #bravern spoilers #t.bbbb #i think u can rly tell i wrote this at 3am in an airport LMAO

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wisecollectorofbooks · 11 months

Text

Decided to do "National Clean Your Home" Month this year, because I found it randomly on my "explore" page like 2 weeks ago and, well, I need motivation to organize my house. I've only lived here for 11 months already.

So, here's to me trying this out, and using my tumblr to keep track. Let's see how long this goes. Pinned for my easy finding this month.

Nov 1 - took down all random plastic containers in my upstairs rooms that needed to be cleaned for recycling, cleaned them, and put them with the plastics for recycling.

Nov 2 - put away two stacks of CDs that have been sitting on my stairs since... March? I think that was when I unpacked them. Also vacuumed living room floor.

Nov 3 - Took full recycling bags out to shed.

Nov 4 - Not even noon yet here in UK and I've already finally ordered the three shelf storage thing I needed for my kitchen, cleaned off half of my table downstairs, and filled another recycling bag of paper. Who knows what I can complete by tonight? update - just a bit more organizing downstairs.

Nov 5 - put stuff in crawl space that I've been meaning to for months. Will hopefully get the shelf thing today, and put that together so I finally have a place to put the slow cooker, rice cooker, toaster, and coffee grinder which doesn't involve just rotating things between counters and the table. Also have taken out two more bags out to shed for Tuesday recycling day. Update: I did get the shelf, and put it together, and now most of the "big" things sitting around my kitchen/table are stored away!

Nov 6 - Folded most of my dry clothes, and prepared for recycling day tomorrow. It was a long day.

Nov 7 - Folded rest of the clothes, put out recycling and compost bins. Folded couch blanket, which was graciously re-nested by one or both of the feline overlords. I have been duly chastised.

Nov 8 - cleaned off my desk, finally. Had the excuse motivation that I finally got my work-provided laptop for my WFH days on Friday and today was my first WFH day since then, so needed to get it set up, but first I needed space for it, so... clean desk. Also put away the clothes I folded the last two days.

Nov 9 - I did not forget to do it, I just forgot to log it here. But my task yesterday was to finally hang up a three part picture I bought in Thailand like... `14 years ago, that has been one of those things just floating around between my table, some chairs, the stairs, and the table again. So, they are now hung up! I also went out and raked up leaves and did another round of weeding in the garden.

Nov 10 - Honestly, today was a long working day (it is only 445pm as I type this, but my working hours are 8am-345pm, and today was just overly long) because it was my last day before 1.5 weeks of annual leave. So I think the taking the full recycle basket downstairs to be sorted into the bags will be all I do today. I may do something more later, but who knows. Reader - that is all I did today.

Nov 11 - Swapped over to my "winter" duvet cover (fuzzy! Warm! silver and white like snow! Matching pillow cases!) and washed my other linens so that I could make use of **checks weather forecast** the ONLY sunny day of my entire 1.5 week break. May also finally finish clearing off that table. I won't hold my breath on that one though.

Nov 12 - Cleaned the litter boxes.

Nov 13 - Cleaned one step off.

Nov 14 - Busy day because landlord has an inspector coming tomorrow for the annual energy inspection? I was notified yesterday evening about this. Have so far (it is just before 10 am) sorted through the piles of stuff on my office floor, set aside papers for recycling and for shredding, vacuumed the office floor and upper hallway, raked the leaves into my remaining litter bags, and taken recycling bags to shed. Still on the list to be done today: Organize my bedroom closet, finish clearing off the table... vacuum the bedroom, vacuum the stairs.

#naclyoho 2023 #pretending to adult #adulting is no fun #naclyoho #national clean your home month

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goldeneyedgirl · 2 months

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day 125 asking for home again please i'm begging u i don't mind if you have a new chapter an idea or just rambling randomly about this fic i'm only asking for crumbs i hope it will touch your heart

Anon, you moved me. I'm so sorry I forgot your request. I have a memory like swiss cheese.

The rewrite has temporarily stalled, only because I have four chapter fics going, three one-shots needing to be finished, and I'm plotting out Whumptober, Nanowrimo, and Ficmas. Plus I have uni work which involves planning and writing a manuscript in 2025. Soo rewrites have escaped me for the time being.

But I do have plans to add a couple of fics to that series. The next fic I was going to publish was second chronologically - Cynthia's wedding. So this takes place maybe eight weeks after Home Again, so everything is kind of new and Jasper gets to experience Alice's family nonsense and how the insanely rich live.

Other fics I was messing with in this universe (the file for these has disappeared, so I have to do a deep dive on my harddrive to see where it was filed but it's totally gone at the moment) includes Alice's father showing up in Mexico for a surprise visit at a very inopportune time; the Brandons deciding to have a pre-Christmas gathering at Alice's house so that Alice's mom can get a bunch of photos for social media; Alice and Jasper in Seattle (I mean, we need to have Maria show up at some point - I love writing Maria); plus drama around the rest of the family - Edward and Bella having a baby, Peter and Charlotte getting married, and just other wholesome nonsense.

I might also drag the OG drafts for celebrity Alice out of the archives for Ficmas because, listen, the original Vision was very different. I think there were three different versions in 24 hours, lol.

Anyway, here is some of the draft of Cynthia's Wedding/the Spectacle.

jasper.

Flowers.

That was Jasper’s first thought.

He’d never seen so many flowers in one place before.

Or ribbons.

Or people.

“Breathe.” Alice was standing beside him, looking much more at ease than he felt. She looked beautiful but almost foreign on his arm; she’d had hair and make-up people in their suite early, and had emerged with an artfully messy updo and an almost porcelain-doll appearance.

She didn’t seem entirely real, honestly.

None of this did.

They’d arrived in New York City the afternoon before and this had been the most eye-opening twenty-four hours of his life.

First of all, the chauffeur that had picked them up from the airport had swept them to one of the most expensive hotels in the city - he knew Alice had vetoed the Plaza, where Cynthia was getting married, citing a complete lack of privacy - and they had been quickly and efficiently swept up to a suite that was, frankly, nicer than his Seattle apartment. A perfectly tailored suit and Alice’s dress for the wedding had been waiting for them, along with a handwritten schedule and half a dozen floral arrangements - as well as a bottle of champagne and a ‘good luck’ note from Carmen, which made Alice snort.

There had been a dinner reservation made at the hotel restaurant with Alice’s godmother - a pinched woman who downed three martinis and left citing a need for a cigarette before they’d even received their entrees. Alice had laughed at his total bewilderment - “I’ve known her my whole life, Jas, and I’ve never seen her eat anything more substantial than a martini olive - or stay at an event longer than thirty minutes.”

The next morning, Alice had disappeared to spa treatments, hair, and makeup after breakfast, and returned to the room looking rather blank and popped two pain pills on a relatively empty stomach but had reassured him that she was fine. He’d even gone out to get her something to eat, but she’d only picked at it and blamed nerves about being in front of the camera.

And now they were at the wedding.

Alice’s dress was beautiful - dark plum lace tailored close to her body with a high neck and buttons running down her spine. The hem brushed the floor, concealing the fact that she had insisted on nearly four inch heels despite the pain they caused her. A small fortune of diamonds hung from her ears and around her wrist that Alice claimed belonged to the family trust, from a long-dead family member. The suit Carmen had arranged for him was tailored so perfectly that it was one of the most comfortable things he’d ever worn - and one of the nicest, far and away nicer than what he'd worn at his own wedding.

That made him a little nervous - first class flights to New York, the hotel room, the suit… Alice had convinced him that as her date, she was going to cover everything. He was doing her a favour, after all - Cynthia wouldn’t have allowed her to attend without a plus-one. But this whole weekend was costing more than his entire life, and that made him somewhat uncomfortable.

“This is…”

“A lot, I know.” Alice’s smile is pasted on her face, and doesn’t look quite right. “Just look like you’re happy to be here and no one will notice.”

“I’m happy to be here with you, this is just terrifying,” he murmured in her ear and for a moment, Alice’s mask dropped and she gave him a genuine, albeit bashful, smile.

The entrance had an actual red - well, gold - carpet at the entrance, against a wall of white roses. Various photographers were lined up, snapping away. It took him several moments to place a few of the other guests dotted along the carpet - models, celebrities, singers… It was surreal.

Ignoring people calling out to her, Alice carefully guided him inside the hotel.

—

The ceremony room was all gold and white, adored in hundreds of white candles, and masses of flowers in whites, pinks, and lemons. It was dizzying and oddly hypnotic, like standing in a secret garden but knowing that something wasn't quite right about it.

Gold chairs draped in silky fabric were arranged for the guests - rows and rows of them, negating Alice’s assumption that this was planned to be an intimate wedding. A white and gold bar was set up at the back of the room, where numerous people were clustered around - people Jasper had only ever seen on TV.

“You’ll be seated in the front row,” the perky attendant said, escorting them down the aisle, gesturing to two seats.

Securing a glass of champagne for Alice and a gin-and-tonic for himself, Jasper immediately returned to where Alice was seated - where a man was looming over her. He wearing a well-worn, rumpled suit, clutching a drink like it was a lifeline, and looked like he needed a shave and a good night's sleep. He wasn't anyone that Jasper recognised, but the way he was scrutinizing Alice made Jasper feel oddly protective of her.

"Mary, Mary," the man said in a rough voice that sounded almost mocking to Jasper's ears as he handed Alice her champagne.

“Alistair,” the fake smile is back but Alice doesn’t rise, merely nods at him. “How are you?”

Alistair, the former fiancé - a long-time associate of Alice’s father and not someone Alice has spoken of fondly. He didn’t know the details of the break up - or even the engagement - and he couldn’t bring himself to google search his own ... what? Girlfriend? Either way, it felt very disloyal to google things Alice didn't really want to talk about.

“You look better than I expected,” Alistair is frank, and is inspecting Alice like a piece of meat. “The way your family has carried on, I expected...”

"To be at death's door?" Alice offers sweetly.

"You not to be here," Alistair chuckles, before looking Jasper up and down.

Mr Platt is exactly what Jasper expected; an imposing man with salt and pepper hair and generic movie star looks. He doesn’t acknowledge anyone around him, firmly focused on his phone. There’s a haughty looking woman next to him in a shimmering dark blue dress and smooth red hair that Jasper suspects is his wife, even if she isn’t old enough to be Alice’s mother.

“Fourth wife, former assistant,” Alice murmurs to him from behind her champagne glass. “Mother of two daughters, and she’s very upset that neither of them were boys.”

#asks #my fic: home again #the problem with this series is of course the fact i have to source every single outfit or item to make sure its accurate #in one draft i spent forty minutes researching overpriced candles #did i need to find cynthia's wedding dress and alice's gown? yes. did i have to research wedding locations and hotels in nyc yes #jasper is realising that his college debt wouldn't even cover the catering at this wedding #alice is realizing two of her three exes are in attendance and there aren't enough pills in the world #cynthia isn't a villain i promise #she's just a post disney-channel society nepo baby #who has been repeatedly informed that alice is an unstable black sheep who is totally unreasonable #rose is scrolling furiously on social media and texting jasper to confirm/deny what she's seeing

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prince-rowan-of-the-forest · 1 year

Text

Assassination? (chapter 2)

----

Roman has been asleep for three and a half days, that doesn't make Janus' companions any more welcoming towards him when he wakes up.

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| Ao3 | Previous part |

Warnings: None that I'm aware of, other than Virgil being kinda a dick.

Pairings: pre-romantic roceit,

Word count: 3319

Notes:

Honestly I wasn't sure I was going to make a part two for this, I might write a third part, to get a real insight into their flirting and being cute whilst on the road, this one's more just a 'direct aftermath' lol.

I would like to put out a warning now that I might not be able to update every week from here on, since I have exams from now until late June. I do still have a bunch of chapters pre-written for the anaroceit Royalty au though, so whenever I don't have something new finished, I'll probably post that!

Also I will be putting out a poll this week, I just completely forgot about it, lol.

Please enjoy!

It had been three days since they left the city and Roman still hadn’t woken up. Janus’ trio had picked up the reward for the prince’s assassination (carefully hiding Roman under blankets and bags while they did so) and hadn’t stopped travelling since. Word of the prince’s death travelled just as fast as they did, though, and no matter where they stopped someone was talking about it. The flying rumours made it difficult to stop anywhere for long, especially with the still breathing prince himself concealed in their wagon, so they’d been taking turns to sleep on the road instead. At least things should get easier when Roman wakes up.

Janus wouldn’t say aloud that he was worried about the prince - three days was far too long to be asleep - but he was also certain that Virgil and Logan had picked up on his stiffness regardless. It didn’t help much that Virgil was still angry with him for kidnapping the prince in the first place and Logan was irritated that they now had to take all sorts of detours to avoid villages that did wagon checks to make sure no-one checking for illegal produce found him or guards who might spot the prince and raise the alarms.

He didn’t blame them for being upset with him, really. He had messed up the mission and put all three of them in danger by bringing the prince here. But at the same time… those amber eyes still haunted his dreams and Janus really hoped the prince would wake up soon…

—

Roman woke up slowly to bright light behind his still closed eyelids and a painful, throbbing headache hammering at the inside of his skull. He felt groggy, like his mind was stuffed with cotton wool and he was floating through a vat of honey. His limbs were heavy, feeling more like blocks of wood than arms and legs, and his mouth was dry as sandpaper.

As his senses slowly returned, Roman registered that he was wrapped in some form of blanket, all the way around like a cocoon, up to his neck. His head rested on something lumpy, a little scratchy against his cheek and just left of firm. Stupidly, Roman’s foggy mind provided the idea that… he definitely wasn’t in his bedroom back at the castle.

Slowly, as he laid there with his eyes still closed, Roman began to piece together the memories of what had happened. His mind still felt as though it was stuffed with wool, but slowly he put together the puzzle, an assassin, the vial of poison, the deal, multi-colored eyes - blue and yellow - snake scales that had glistened in the candlelight…

Part of him had expected Janus to bail on him. It would have made sense, he could have ran whilst Roman was asleep, it would have been the most logical thing to do. He would've gotten his reward and been able to move on. That same part of him hadn’t even minded the idea. Poison - or even a knife to the throat, if Janus had so chosen - whilst he was sleeping wouldn't have been the worst way to go.

But nevermind all that, because Roman was apparently not dead, just… incredibly uncomfortable.

When he did eventually manage to move his limbs - starting with just a twitch of his finger - he realised that not only did he feel stiff and like all his joints had locked up, but he ached basically everywhere, his shoulders, his back, his legs and arms, his neck. It left him wondering just how long he had slept for - and where. He could smell the barest hint of salt in the air. Maybe they were by the ocean?

Roman took a deep breath - he really could do with some water right around now - and peeled open his eyes only to shut them again when the blaring sun above him made the pounding in his head almost double. When he slowly opened his eyes again, he saw not the sun this time, but an unfamiliar face staring back at him which… least to say startled him quite a bit.

Roman was pretty sure he was tall, though he couldn’t quite tell exactly how tall, considering he was lying on what was likely the floor and this guy was standing almost directly over him, which… a little weird, but he already knew this wasn’t going to be like what he was used to. That was fine. His hair was long and unkempt, scraggly black mixed with purple and a little dull green and blue, skin pale as milk and a little sunken with eyes that looked a little too big on his face and were an almost ghostly pale blue. Roman found himself thinking he looked pretty creepy before correcting his thoughts, sure he looked a little creepy, but that was just because he was different from Roman. He wouldn’t let his parents' biases speak for him here.

Though the way he was silently and unblinkingly staring at him was starting to become increasingly unsettling regardless.

Roman shifted, attempting to ease the ache in his neck, and the stranger seemed to come out of a trance, turning away and yelling something that Roman’s brain refused to comprehend with his throbbing headache and the stranger’s unfamiliar accent.

Whilst they were gone, Roman tried to sit up and found that it just made his head spin and throb even more. He settled instead for stretching out his limbs and trying to regain feeling in the rest of his body.

Moments later, something was pressed into his hand by another unfamiliar figure, this person was crouched next to him, so he couldn’t discern his height in comparison to the other stranger, what he could discern was the strangers blue-tinted dark skin, dotted with silver freckles, his eyes like pools of murky blue water and hair resembling what Roman thought might be seaweed which also seemed to be dripping with water. After a glance Roman realised the object in his hand was a waterskin, which he went to drink before a thought struck him.

“Why should I-” Roman coughed at the dry feeling of his throat as he tried to swallow, he’d really like some of that water, but he didn’t fake his death and escape the palace just to get poisoned for real, “Why should I trust this? I don’t- I don’t know you, where is Jay?”

Roman thought it would be best to use the cover name Janus had given him. He knew how unwise it was to give out your true name to suspicious creatures you couldn’t pinpoint the identity of, especially ones you didn’t know.

“Jay is currently out getting supplies,” The one with seaweed for hair told him, “And this is just water, but you should sit up to drink it or you’ll choke.”

“How do I know you haven’t poisoned it,” Roman narrowed his eyes at the stranger, he still felt a little woozy, but the sensation was ebbing away by the second thank goodness. The first stranger appeared standing behind him with folded arms and a scowl on his face.

“Just drink the damn water,” He said, “It’s not poisoned, Jay made us swear not to hurt you.”

Roman… still didn’t trust that, but while he wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep, he did know that he felt like he’d been stuck in a desert for a week and the waterskin in his hand was looking more and more tempting every moment. Eventually - under one’s passive gaze and the other’s scrutinising glare - Roman slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position and tilted his head back to drink the water. It tasted normal, as water should, thank goodness. He must have drank half the waterskin in one go before looking back at the pair of strangers. Somehow the pale one looked even more annoyed now. He wondered distantly what he had done to offend the guy.

“You may call me Lo,” The blue one said, and after a moment that made it clear the other wasn’t going to offer a name, he spoke again, “He’s Vi.”

Roman opened his mouth to offer a nickname they could use for him too, before ‘Vi’ cut him off, “We already know who you are, Princey.”

“Princey?” Roman asked, with an offended gasp.

“Yeah, cuz’ you’re the prince?” Vi said, raising an eyebrow as if to say ‘are you stupid?’.

“No I get it-” Roman huffed, already irritated, “Just-”

“What?” Vi said, “Don’t like it? Well deal with it, just like I have to deal with you.”

With that, he turned around and walked away, hopping down from wherever they were right now. Roman watched him walk over to the large horse that was tied up to a post there and begin angrily brushing her fur. Eventually, Roman turned back to Lo, hoping to communicate all his questions with his expression alone.

“Vi is- a little prickly towards strangers in general,” Lo explained softly, “And, no offence, but neither he nor I are very happy that you are here, he is simply more overt about it.”

“I get it,” Roman shrugged, “I’m supposed to be dead.”

“Yes,” Lo said, pushing a pair of silver glasses up his nose, “You are.”

“Right,” Roman said with a sigh, so this was just going from one miserable existence where everyone hated him to a slightly less comfortable existence where almost everyone still hated him. Wonderful, Roman was really glad he made this decision now.

“Yes, Jay insisted we keep you around and that we do nothing to harm you,” Lo explained, “But please refrain from causing us trouble, or I may have to rethink my agreement.”

Roman shivered as Lo stood and walked away towards Virgil, well, that was terrifying.

All he could really do now was sit here and hope that Jay would be back soon and also hope that Jay following the plan and making Lo and Vi swear not to hurt him meant that he at least didn’t hate Roman like the other two seemed to. Roman wasn’t sure how long getting supplies typically took, but he really hoped it wasn’t too long. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand the scathing glances Vi kept shooting his way as he talked quietly with Lo over by the horse.

Growing up, Roman had learned all too well how to tell where he was not welcome, and he was most definitely not welcome here.

—-

It was approaching sundown by the time Janus got back to their makeshift camp. He hadn’t intended to be out for so long, but he had struggled finding a few certain items they desperately needed - one being a certain lotion for his scales. He’d also gotten some extra clothes for the prince, because while he absolutely was not comfortable changing his clothes whilst he was sleeping (Janus thought that would be a horrific breach of privacy) he was sure Roman would want something to change into from the gala outfit he was still wearing when he woke up.

When he did arrive back to camp, Virgil approached him almost immediately, looking stormier than usual.

Janus very quickly found out why.

“Your prince is awake,” Virgil told him shortly, “he’s already annoying.”

“Don’t judge him so quickly,” Janus said, inwardly relieved, so he had woken up, finally. He was a little annoyed that he hadn’t been here, but it didn’t matter.

“Just because you want to get into his pants, doesn’t mean the rest of us do, Jay,” Virgil said, crossing his arms, but pointing towards the path that leads further towards the cliffs, “He walked off that way, dunno where he went.”

“You weren’t keeping an eye on him?” Janus asked, frowning.

“I’m not babysitting a stupid adult royal,” Virgil told him, practically glowring now, “He’s your responsibility, you brought him here.”

Janus just huffed, rolling his eyes and passing one of the bags - with all the supplies for the group - to Virgil, keeping the bag with his own things and the clothes he had gotten for Roman in his hand and stormed off down the coastal path.

Really, he hoped this rift that he’d caused between them by bringing Roman here would fix itself soon. He hoped Virgil would warm up to the prince - though he doubted it would happen for a while. Either way, Virgil would have to get used to it, it’s not like they could just abandon Roman now.

The trail was winding and overgrown. The wind picked up as he approached the coast too, ruffling his hair and tugging at his clothes. It was getting dark - though he couldn’t deny that the sunset looked beautiful - and with night came cold. He really hoped he found Roman soon. He couldn’t help a pang of annoyance towards his companions for letting him walk off.

Luck must be on his side, though, because as he approached the cliffs his eyes caught on the bright red, gold and white of Roman’s clothes where the prince was sitting in the grass, knees pulled up to his chest and chin set atop them. Janus sighed softly and walked over, of course Roman was upset, he’d woken up somewhere unfamiliar surrounded by unfriendly - and possibly outright hostile, in Virgil’s case - strangers. No wonder he’d run off.

“Hey,” Janus said softly, though loud enough to be heard over the wind, “May I sit?”

“Jay?” Roman said, looking up, and looking immediately relieved, “Oh, you’re back.”

“Indeed I am, I hope the others didn’t cause you much trouble,” Janus said, though he’d known Virgil long enough to know how he would have reacted to Roman anyway. The way Roman sighed and looked away again told him everything he needed to know.

“Your companions do not like me,” Roman said, uncurling from his position just a little, “But I understand why.”

Janus hummed, not having an answer to that. He had to remind himself that he barely knew Roman, he didn’t know what he was truly like, didn’t know his mannerisms or how he would react to certain things. It made it difficult to interact, and was the main reason Janus didn’t like strangers in general. He thought he should try, though. Especially with this one.

“How are you feeling?” Janus asked, “You were asleep for a while.”

“I have a pounding headache,” Roman said, reaching to rub at his forehead for emphasis, “And I’m incredibly hungry, otherwise fine, how long was I out for?”

“Three and a half days,” Janus told him, “There should be food back at camp, if you want it?”

“I’d rather stay here,” Roman said, looking back up at him, he was sad to see that the fire in his eyes had dimmed slightly, “Your friends have made it abundantly clear that I am not welcome.”

“I know their first impressions were just wonderful,” Janus said with a sigh, “But you cannot write them off so quickly, they will warm up to you in time, trust me, I know from experience.”

“What do you mean?” Roman asked, tilting his head a little, Janus smiled, pulling his knees up to mimic Roman.

“I don’t think we know each other well enough for the full tragic backstory,” Janus said with a small smile, “But, they are as close as siblings, Lo and Vi, and they brought me into this group later after certain events.”

Roman nodded, looking back out towards the sunset, “Alright, I’ll trust what you say, and for the record, thank you for sticking to your word and bringing me along, even if your friends are a little prickly.”

“You’re welcome,” Janus said, nudging Roman’s arm to regain his attention before passing him the bag, “I got you some new clothes at the market - assuming you don’t want to remain in your gala attire?”

Roman laughed, “That is a kind gesture.”

“The reward we got for your assassination more than covered it,” Janus huffed, “So you basically payed for yourself.”

“Thank you,” Roman said, and Janus was started to realise how earnest his tone was.

“What… for?” Janus asked, frowning.

“I just- you’ve freed me, and - whilst Im sure you’ve had it worse - my life was hardly enjoyable back there, and you got me out, protected me, bought me clothes?” Roman said, trying to subtly wipe away a tear Janus was sure he wasn’t supposed to notice.

“As much as Vi is mad at me for it, I’m glad I could get you out of there,” Janus said softly, placing a hand on Roman’s arm, “I don’t know you well, but… back in the castle, it was clear you were unhappy.”

“Thank you, again,” Roman said with a small smile, “And I can- once I’ve gotten my barings I can leave, if you need me to, I’m happy to go alone.”

“Absolutely not,” Janus said sternly, “I didn’t kidnap a beautiful prince just for him to run off into the wilderness.”

“You think I’m beautiful?” Roman asked, blinking those oh-so-beautiful eyes of his, Janus blushed- because oh dear he totally just said that.

“I didn’t say that.” Janus said, wonderful.

“I do believe you did,” Roman said, grinning, “awee- you’re all blushy! That’s adorable!”

“I have reconsidered, you can leave in the morning,” Janus mumbled, looking away.

Roman laughed, loud and free, “No take-backs! You’re stuck with me now, sweetheart.”

“Oh no,” Janus huffed, “not petnames-”

“What, you don’t like them, darling?” Roman said, batting his eyelashes. Janus tried to cover the half of his face not covered in scales - which just happened to be bright red for no reason whatsoever - with one hand as he shoved Roman with the other.

“Stop it!” Janus cried, “I did call you beautiful, ok? Is that what you wanted?”

“Thank you!” Roman grinned, nudging him gently, “So are you, you know.”

Janus paused for a moment, while yes, those ‘pretty’ comments back in Roman’s bedroom at the palace had flustered him, he hadn’t really thought that Roman was being genuine, he still wasn’t entirely sure now, “Really?”

“Mhm,” Roman hummed, “I’d even go as far as to say you’re the prettiest person I’ve ever met, and trust me, I’ve been presented with many suitors.”

Janus choked, “That’s unfair, you can’t say that.”

“Whyever not?” Roman asked, looking almost genuinely offended, “Who are you to stilfel my truths?”

“Previously, the only person in this group able to lie,” Janus countered, “But now you’re here, so I suppose that title is invalid now.”

“I’m not lying to you, Janus,” Roman said softly, “That would be horrible of me, to lie about something like that.”

“I never said I thought you were lying,” Janus said, frowning, how the hell was this guy so perceptive? And on top of that, how had he earned such a reputation that painted him as some arrogant idiot. Really, it made no sense.

“Maybe not,” Roman said, reaching for Janus’ hand, “But you certainly implied it.”

“I did?” Janus asked, frowning further.

“You did,” Roman nodded, “I saw it in your eyes.”

For a moment, Janus couldn’t think of anything to say in return before sighing, “Are you sure you’d rather stay out here?”

“For now, yes,” Roman nodded, seeming to accept the topic change readily, “The sea is calming.”

“Alright,” Janus said, standing up, “In that case, I’ll go back to camp and bring you back something to eat, make sure you stay here?”

“Of course!” Roman smiled, “Thank you!”

Janus smiled softly as he stood up, turning to walk away, “You’re welcome, Roman.”

He’d barely moved a few paces before Roman called out again.

“Oh, and Janus?” He said, Janus turned, raising an eyebrow, “Do make sure you come back? It would just be so sad if I had to watch such a beautiful sunset alone.”

Janus laughed softly, “In that case, I’ll make sure I hurry.”

----

Tags: @full-of-roman-angst-trash @reptilianrapscallion420 @your-local-random-dino @cutebisexualmess @glacierruler @roseianxiety (if anyone wants to be added, let me know!)

#sanders sides #roceit #roman sanders #janus sanders #sanders sides fanfiction #virgil sanders #logan sanders #rowans writings

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