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havethetimeofyourstyles · 3 years

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Chapter Two.

SERIES MASTERLIST | word count: 10.7k

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March 12, 2017

It had been a week and a day since her move to New York, and Luci had never felt lonelier. Don’t get her wrong, she knew it’d only been a week when she had several more weeks to come to make friends and memories, but as she began to settle down into her new home, she felt very alone.

Luci had called her parents approximately eight times within the past week—some of them were twice in one day—and all those calls were due to her loneliness. Ren and Beatrice were starting to get worried, and a bit annoyed despite being glad that their daughter hadn’t forgotten about them, but the calls were getting a little too much. And not much to their surprise, their Lulu always had something to talk about, which she mostly ranted about being a bit nervous and excited about rehearsals.

Currently, Luci was headed to rehearsals as she walked to the Metropolitan Avenue Station, a two minute walk from her apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Knowing her directions and the subway quite well, she got on the G train and got off in Court Square in Queens. She walked five minutes to take the F train towards Manhattan, getting off on 7th Avenue before walking down the street where Broadway Theatre appeared in her sight.

Sighing, she thought about all the people she’d passed by. Seven train stops in total—people walking in and out of the train—less than ten minutes of walking, and despite the amount of people that rode with her on that train, she still felt like she was the loneliest person.

She understood the big city quite well; no one really paid any attention or cared as they just proceeded with their life while simply being someone she passed by and possibly would never see again. Luci would only hope that her new job would help her make friendships and change her view on relationships a bit better; she’s had a few bad relationships in the past, romantic and non-romantic that had messed with her mind throughout the years, but she’d rather not think about the traumatic events that impactfully took a toll on her mental health as she was walking into rehearsals for the first time.

Opening the door, she felt nerves rush through her body as she stepped into the Broadway Theatre where Miss Saigon would be in production for eight months. The theatre would be her home for the rest of the year. She’d work tirelessly, and devote her entire being to the role to be the best actress she could ever be.

All at once as she walked through backstage, it began to hit Luci. This was what she’d been dreaming of, and the realization had hit her hard once she walked through the doors and into the dark hallway that led backstage and the dressing rooms. There was commotion in the direction of the main stage and a few of her fellow cast members that were singing, could easily be heard as she was walking through the halls.

The behind the scenes action came to light once she walked through another doorway. Bright lights from the vanity illuminated the room, there were cast members reading from the script, and a few chatting on the couch. It was everything that she imagined and expected.

Luciana Suki was printed behind a black director’s chair next to the person who was playing the main role of Kim, Daisy Beck. Luci was a bit nervous to introduce herself to Daisy because she was one of the most iconic women on Broadway. She’d been acting on Broadway ever since she was a little girl; her mother was the head of the wardrobe crew and her father was part of the sound crew, so she practically bled and was born into the Broadway Theatre. It was easy for her to get her foot in the door because as her parents were busy, they would take her to the theatre and make her sit front row because they couldn’t afford a babysitter. And when the stage director needed a child to step in, they would have Daisy be in the show, and she would play the part effortlessly. She would stand center stage as the protagonist would sing to them while the bright light would shine upon them. Daisy Beck was a professional in all senses—she was the Meryl Streep of Broadway, and that intimidated Luci even more.

“Hi, Daisy.” Luci greeted, making Daisy turn her head from the mirror to her. “I’m Luci, the second Kim.” She added with a soft chuckle. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Luci put her arm out as Daisy stood up from her chair, meeting face to face with her.

Daisy’s expression held such power and confidence, and although Luci thought of herself as a confident person, Daisy was the different kind of confident; she was a different definition, a better use of a synonym that people most frequently use. She exuded the brilliance of self-assurance and certainty, like it was known to be that she had power. But then Daisy smiled brightly, making some of Luci’s worries wash away, but they were only stored nearby because the smile Daisy had on her face was more of an evil smirk.

“Daisy Beck.” She introduced herself, quickly shaking Luci’s hand before pulling away just as quickly as the shake. Daisy sat back down at her vanity and placed her Airpods in her ears before her new cast member got another word out.

Luci gulped, hanging her tote bag on the back of her chair before sitting down. She took a deep breath, easing her quiet nerves that were running around in her body. There was a bit of doubt in her mind about her career and the path she was on, but she quickly flicked it away, concentrating on the positive and the gratitude it took to get where she was, where she was sitting.

After a few moments of relaxing, easing into the loudness, everyone began to file out the door and head to the stage.

“Hi, Luci, right?” A brown-haired woman with hazel eyes beamed at Luci, and she couldn’t ignore such a friendly face.

Luci smiled, shaking her hand. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“I’m Nina. I play Gigi.” Gigi Van Trahn was a stripper in Miss Saigon at a club called Dreamland, hoping and dreaming for a better life in the States. “Is this your first Broadway show?” She asked curiously.

Luci shook her head. “I’ve done some shows off-broadway, if you can count that.” She smiled bashfully. She knew that she shouldn’t be embarrassed by being part of the off-broadway community because she had worked her way up, but she hated the weird eyes pointed at her and the whispered judgement everytime she said that she’d been on off-broadway, even though nothing was wrong with it, but for some reason, people had a certain distaste towards it.

“Yeah, that definitely counts! You should be proud of your upcoming; it’ll be historic once you move your way up.” Nina raised her brows and smirked. Luci smiled, breathing out a giggle. She loved when people were so hopeful of her climbing the ladder of success and dreams, and it made Luci giddy, if she was being honest.

Everyone made a distorted line across the stage, facing the thousands of red velvet cushioned chairs that would be the cast’s audience. The stage director, Tal, was standing downstage with a clipboard in her hand as she was talking to her assistant and pointing to the clipboard with a pen; the taps of her pen to the wooden clipboard echoed in the silent theatre. Tal was in her mid-forties; she had slick black hair, wore black framed glasses, and had a certain look of sternness that was made for scolding and confronting. Luci made a mental note to not get on her bad side because if looks could kill, then she’d see the light.

A minute later, they concluded their discussion before looking up. “Good morning, everyone! And we’re back here…again.” A coordinated laugh spread through the cast. “For the people returning: hope you all didn’t forget about me.” A small chuckle erupted. “But we have a couple new faces, so I’ll make this introduction brief and quick; I’m Tal, your stage director. I’ve been working in this business for a long time, so I know what I’m doing. This is my assistant Melanie, she’s just as educated and devoted to this play as I am, so if I’m unavailable, don’t hesitate to take things up with her.” Everyone nodded understandingly. “This is going to be a wild, stressful ride, but it’s gonna be a hell of a lot of fun, I can promise you that.”

A few ‘Hell yeah and ‘Period’s flew across the stage as people praised her words. Luci immediately felt comfortable with the space and energy that came from her fellow castmates. She was worried that she would have a constant feeling of being uncomfortable or as if she didn’t belong. But with Nina being so friendly, Tal and the cast uplifting and motivating the room, and minus Daisy’s weird and short attitude, she couldn’t help but feel like she did belong and that this was where she was meant to be.

Tal told everyone to get into a large circle to do a role call because there were a few new additions to the cast as the original cast before this day had departed from the production because there was either a better opportunity or it was time to say goodbye to this show.

After Tal individually called each name, the person was to introduce themselves, say what part they were playing, and a hobby they indulged in when they were not on stage. Usually, people didn’t pay attention to icebreakers and introductions because many found them boring, but Luci made sure to be attentive and memorize everyone’s names and faces since she was one of the few who was new to the cast and production. She also tried remembering their hobbies because she figured it would be a great conversation starter while trying to make friends.

It took quite a while to get to everyone, especially Luci since she was towards the bottom of the list because of her last name.

“Luciana,” Tal called out. Luci raised her hand, presenting herself with a smile. “Welcome to Miss Saigon.”

Luci stepped forwards a few inches inside of the circle. “Thank you, Tal and Melanie. Uh, my name is Luciana Suki, you could call me Luci, if you’d like. I’m playing Kim, alongside Miss Daisy Beck.” She looked at Daisy when she said her name, but Daisy had an unamused look on her face, but Luci ignored it. “A hobby of mine when I’m not constantly thinking about my job is knitting—I like to knit. Hats and scarves are my specialty and I have way too many in my closet for my own good, but I’m currently working on a cardigan and will do it for an hour if I have time.” Everyone clapped when she was done, and she stepped back out of the circle and into the line.

Next on the role call list was Samuel Talum, who had been making serious eye contact with Luci, but she avoided them, looking elsewhere.

“Hi, I’m Samuel. I play the second Chris. My hobbies include swimming on the roof of Soho.” Everyone laughed, but Luci didn’t seem to see what was so amusing about that, but she figured that was his personality since everyone found that hilarious.

Samuel looked at Luci as he stepped back into line, and this time, she reciprocated the eye contact. Her arms were crossed, face expressionless, which only made him smirk.

After introductions, Melanie suggested getting into groups to have a normal conversation to get to know one another and get more comfortable. The circle was concaving as the opposite sides were met. The theatre increased in volume and was filled with chatter and excited squeals; people hugged one another and jumped in circles, hopeful for another great season on Broadway.

Luci and Nina talked with some of the extras as they mostly asked Luci about her life and where she was from since everyone already knew each other.

“Hello, ladies.” Samuel walked up to the four women with a charming smile. The three immediately swooned for him as their eyes lit up as if he was the actual Oscar award himself. “Luci, it’s a pleasure to officially meet you.” He gave his full attention to her, taking his hand out. She politely shook his, not expecting him to kiss the back of her hand, locking eyes with her. She hated to admit it, but the action made her heart pound a little harder. Luci pulled away quickly, linking her hands behind her back.

“Good to meet you as well.” She gave him a small toothless smile. Avoiding his eyes, she looked back at the girls who were blushing and giving Luci a knowing look. They knew Samuel well enough to know when he had a crush, and they could definitely tell that he had a crush on her, to which Luci had a clear vision of it.

When the first day of ‘rehearsals’ were over, Tal announced that it was the same time tomorrow, and Luci was glad that she was finally had a routine again—waking up at eight in the morning to get her day started and leaving her apartment by nine to get to the theatre just before ten, which was when rehearsals started. Tomorrow’s rehearsals were going to be exciting since it would focus more on the play itself; Luci was itching for tomorrow to come.

Once Luci walked out of the theatre, saying her goodbyes to Tal and Melanie, and some of the cast that she made friends with, she was met by a fresh, chilly breeze, making goosebumps rise. It was the complete opposite of what she felt like inside the theatre: warm and flushed because there were so many people surrounding her, plus her nerves helped her stay warm; it didn’t help that they cranked up the heat inside the building as well.

As she was walking, passing by strangers that she’d never see again, she heard her name being called out from the distance. She thought she was hearing things, but she turned around to be met with Samuel who was jogging in her direction.

“Damn, you left quickly.” He smiled, which Luci had to admit that he was quite attractive—really attractive. A head of soft blonde hair sat perfectly on his head that if she were to mess with it, his hair would only get effortlessly better. His arms were so big and toned that she could see the outline of his muscles through his shirt (or she thinks that he purposely bought a small shirt to make up for the lack of muscles). He was tall, almost a foot taller than her that she had to look up when he spoke, but she didn’t let his height intimidate her. In fact, nothing about Samuel intimidated Luci, although she knew that that was his ultimate goal whenever he met someone new.

“Uh, yeah.”

“I was thinking…we should hang out sometime.” The suggestion made Luci raise her brows. “You know, since we’re gonna be seeing each other a lot, be co-stars, play the love interest together.”

Chris Scott, the role Samuel was playing, was a G.I sergeant who is making a return to America from Vietnam. Unexpectedly, he falls in love with Kim, who is a shy, young girl who also works as a stripper at Dreamland because of the fall of her city and the loss of her family from war. The club is run by the Engineer and caters to American soldiers. Kim and Chris have an affair, leading to feelings that are more than lust. Their affair leads to Kim getting pregnant and giving birth to their son, Tam. Eventually, Chris leaves and goes back home without the knowledge that Kim is pregnant. Kim and Chris are separated for years until he learns about his son, so he goes back to Vietnam to find Kim and Tam—the only difference is that he’s married to an American woman named Ellen. Kim urges Ellen that Tam should have a better life in America, rather than living on the streets, but Ellen is wary and refuses because she doesn’t want to lose Chris. Conflict, heartbreak, and unexpected endings flow throughout the plot of the story, making it a hit on Broadway.

Luci debated in her mind. She figured she could use some friends, some company, and she thinks it worked out perfectly since she was going to be seeing Samuel almost everyday. He got the impression that she wanted nothing to do with him outside of the theatre because of the polite but dismissive attitude towards him, but the look on her face when he proposed the idea was the opposite of what he had seen inside of the building.

To much consideration, Luci answered, “Sure, why not.”

Samuel sneered, walking alongside with her to wherever their route took them. It wasn’t like he was up to no good—purposely, at least. So, the two walked side by side, oblivious to what this might cause them.

April 21, 2017

Opening night.

The anxieties were crawling up everyone’s skin as they got into hair, makeup, and costume—specifically in that order. Everything felt rushed, like they were riding in a sports car, waiting to cross the black and white checkered line. But in reality, they were going the speed limit in a residential area.

Tal and Melanie made sure everyone got to the theatre at least two hours before the red curtain rose because she didn’t want everything to feel like they’re in a high-speed car chase, anticipating a crash.

The past five weeks had been an exhausting and intense thrill that Luci had never experienced before. The constant movement, the strain of her voice from singing too much, the tears from messing up a line, and the overwhelming fear of screwing up on stage had been her life for the past five weeks.

The day after introductions and icebreakers, the cast were to do a read through of the play, just to get an idea and feel of the script when rehearsing it with the cast. Since there were two rotations of the cast, the second cast—which was the one Luci was in—were to still attend readings and rehearsals when it was not their day to rehearse. They were to observe and learn the different techniques and acting that the first rotation provided so it would be easier to run through rehearsals without constantly stopping.

After the read through, which took two days, the rest of the week was followed by table work and blocking. Table work deeply goes into the script; it focuses on analyzing and getting to know your character—basically what purpose a character has. Blocking included roughly running through a scene organically, and seeing what works for both actors and what looks and feels better.

When the notes have been written down, the actors will stumble through the play without a script in reach. This process had slashed a bit of hope in everyone because of the difficulty in remembering the notes from blocking. Luci was properly beating herself up over it, and Samuel had reassured her that it was fine to make a few mistake since it was new and added in during blocking.

“Hey,” Samuel would call out after hearing another groan come out of her mouth. Luci would look at him with a frown, and he would comfortingly pat her shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, okay? You got this.” He would then walk away, giving her a wink that made Luci’s insides turn.

After three days of roughly stumbling through the play, working rehearsals were next. Everyone knew their lines, stage directions, the plot and depth of the characters, and the extra notes from blocking were implied to everyone’s brain. During working rehearsals, the cast needed to find a way to best tell the story to the audience. They worked in a large room that was a few blocks away from the theatre, and it had white tape all over the floor indicating where the character needed to stand. There was no mirror, just a blank wall that was painted black, so it was like they were in the actual theatre. The process was exhausting because the cast would run the entire play back for two more times for three days. So, when Luci got home, it would be five in the evening, and she would be ready to crash and call it a day.

In between working and dress rehearsals, the tech-crew, stage directors, stage managers, and designers would have their own rehearsals without the cast. They do this to make sure the lighting, music, and set were in motion and work smoothly for the play and audience. During these days, the cast would get a few days off, but they were to not brush the play aside just because they weren’t in rehearsals. They were told to do fittings with the costume crew so they could make their final adjustments for their character’s costumes. It was a more fun and light process where they could just stand on the elevated step and answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when they’re being asked if it was comfortable or too tight.

After technical rehearsals, there would be two or three days for Q2Q rehearsals, which meant Cue-to-Cue, and the technical crew and the cast would get together and rehearse the bits where sound and lights were needed, which is almost every scene since it’s a musical and the characters seem to sing as they’re arguing. These rehearsals were very technical and necessary, and it needed to be executed with precision, so the cast and sound crew would be on the same page and in sync.

Dress rehearsals were more of a sigh in relief. It showcased everyone’s hard work and talent, but it was also a surreal moment because even though they worked and rehearsed every single day for this production, it still didn’t seem real. The few days of dress rehearsals hit the actors in the face because everything was coming together. Tal had let a few groups of people into the theatre to watch and give them a preview of the show so the cast had an audience to perform to during dress rehearsals.

And the moment everyone had been waiting for: Opening Night.

The audience was filling the theatre in as security ushered them to their seats. Some took a picture in front of the stage, the influencers held the Playbill program out in front of them, capturing the renaissance theme of the Broadway theatre to post on their Instagram story, and couples who were there for date night. Not to forget, the important journalists, who hyped this play up way before opening night, that were going to critique and judge all throughout the show; they were sitting in the mezzanine, only the best seats in the house as it provided a panoramic view of the entire stage, so they didn’t miss a thing. Broadway critics could be the most hurtful writers, and they have a way of letting people down in the most elegant and sophisticated way that made it seem like their words aren’t so bad.

Backstage was twice as chaotic as it was on the outside. Although everyone was quiet, humming and whispering the songs, the inside of their minds were driving them crazy. If someone outside of the production who didn't have anything to do with the play, walked into the room, they would immediately feel the tension bouncing off the walls and breaking the mirrors of the vanities.

Even though it was the first rotation that would be performing today, Luci still felt incredibly nervous because anything could happen. Daisy could get sick or not want to perform, so it would be Luci who would have to step in, unless Tal tells the understudy to. Aside from the nerves, she felt incredibly proud of everyone and her own hard work. Rehearsing for about five hours—sometimes she would stay longer just to get extra help—had tired her out, but she knew that once it was her turn to step on stage, the exhaustion and stress would be completely worth it, and that would be when she knew she made it.

Luci was in one of the dressing rooms, and she heard a knock as she was buttoning her shirt that was just for show when there was a zipper on the back of her top so it was easier to change when she was in a hurry. She opened the door, revealing Samuel.

“Hi,” he greeted, getting in the dressing room with her before he closed it behind him. The space was small, so the two were pressed up against one another. He placed a hand on her waist as the other rested against the wall behind her, leaning down to kiss her lips. “How are you?”

Luci smiled when he pulled away. “Good. You?” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“Better, now.” He kissed the top of her head and Luci softly smiled, not used to the amount of PDA, even though they were somewhat in private.

Luci’s just as confused on how she was able to pull Samuel. After the first day of rehearsals when he caught up to her on the sidewalk and asked her to hangout, she found out that he was actually a really outgoing guy; she didn’t expect herself to laugh or actually enjoy herself when she said yes to his invitation.

After the first week of rehearsals, Tal had directed them to be more connected to their characters—to really feel what they’re feeling. This only enhanced their chemistry as love interests, making them closer. And on Wednesday evening, Samuel invited her over to his apartment. He knew what he wanted when he asked Luci to his place, and he really didn’t want to mess with her feelings, so he decided to be honest.

“Luci, listen. I just really want to fuck you,” he confessed straightforwardly, making Luci gulp. No one’s ever really admitted that fact to her, so it was quite surprising to hear as well as hot, if she was being honest. “I mean, I like you, of course I do. But I really don’t want a relationship right now, and we’re both stressed with rehearsals, so wanna fuck?”

He was right, she thought. She was stressed with rehearsals and the move, which she hadn’t even gotten the chance to buy proper furniture because she’s been so busy and also broke, so she could use a good fuck.

And she told him the same thing when she accepted his offer to hangout; she said, “Sure, why not.”

So, they’d been messing around ever since then—for the past five weeks. They had kept it on the downlow as he respected Luci’s wishes for not wanting to risk losing her first job on Broadway and have this ‘affair’ affect getting more roles. Samuel reassured her that people date and mess around off stage all the time—Luci raised her brows in suspicion since it was not his first rodeo—but he still kept the affection to a minimum when they were around people, no matter how difficult it was for him.

He leaned down to kiss her neck, leaving small kisses. “Hmm. Can’t wait to take you back to mine after tonight.” Samuel toyed with the zipper that was stitched on the back of her top.

“Yeah?” She smirked when he felt him nod against her.

He lightly nibbled her skin, making her softly gasp. “Gonna make you feel so good.” As lovely as that sounded, she couldn’t risk getting caught in the dressing room, so she pushed him away, earning a small groan that came out of his mouth.

“How about you save that for next week when it’s our actual opening night?” She said seductively, biting her lip as she refrained from laughing at his eager state.

“Fine, if you say so. Just know that you’re missing out tonight.” He teased, giving her a peck to her lips before quickly slipping out of the dressing room before anyone saw him.

Luci looked in the mirror, fixing her hair and taking a deep breath to rid the warmth of her cheeks that Samuel caused. Once she was presentable, smoothing out the creases of her costume, she headed out and heard that there was ten minutes until showtime.

Everyone was running around with a small flashlight that guided them through the dark backstage. The cast were getting last minute adjustments to their costume and makeup, a last minute run-through with their lines, and warming their vocals up as some of the technical crew were taping a small microphone to the side of their cheek.

The second rotation cast stayed back, hanging out for moral support for the main cast as it was a huge night for them. Luci was somewhat glad that she wasn’t part of the first cast because she felt like she could still use a lot of work in some scenes, so she had at least a week to get those scenes perfect.

As the crew walked back, Luci could hear the crew talk to one another through their headset, asking one another if things were set and if everyone was ready to go; the seats were mostly filled, just a few empty seats that were waiting to be filled by the people who were running late.

“Ready.”

“All set.”

“Alright, everyone, it’s showtime.”

The lights went down for a brief minute and a half, making sure the theatre was quiet from people being excited and startled when the room had gone dark, and then the red velvet curtains were pulled to the sides of the stage and the sheer screen was lifted. The orchestra began to play a soft melody as the opening scene started in Dreamland Bar.

Despite having seen the play multiple times during rehearsals and rehearsing it herself, she was in awe as she watched her cast members in action—true action with an audience in front of them and a very bright light that was shining directly on them. Luci had seen many Broadway productions, but getting to watch it from the side of the stage and actually being part of the production was just something so surreal to her.

The final scene was coming to an end; the orchestra intensified their music, the lights dimmed, the curtain closed, and the audience clapped—most of the room had given Miss Saigon a standing ovation. The curtain opened once more and the cast ran out to wave and blow kisses at the audience as the volume increased once it had gotten to Daisy Beck, the icon herself.

And just like that, five weeks of rehearsals and devotion, opening night was over. Luci couldn’t wait until next week because she could practically see the thrill and adrenaline that radiated off of her co-worker’s face, and that was a feeling she had been anticipating for.

Luci hugged the cast, congratulating them on their special, opening night. Everyone took pictures and videos with one another as they held bouquets of flowers.

“Daisy!” Luci called out once she approached her. Daisy turned around to be met with Luci’s arms wide open. She gave an emotionless smile, half-hugging Luci shortly as she only leaned her upper body against her but pulled away very quickly. “You did such an amazing job. I was so in awe of you on stage!” Luci exclaimed excitedly.

“Thank you.” Just like any other actor, no matter how much someone despised a person, they always took the compliment no matter what; it helped their egos grow in size, especially if it was from someone they couldn’t stand.

“You’re truly so magnificent up there…” As Luci was talking, Daisy’s eyes averted towards the corner where Samuel was standing; he was talking with some of the girls that played strippers at the club in the show. His eyes looked up, meeting Daisy’s eyes before he smirked and brought his attention back to the girls. The corner of her lip turned up, smirking as she felt herself blush from Samuel’s look.

Daisy and Samuel had some history together in the past. They go way back, all the way back to five years ago when they had roles in Chicago on Broadway. Just like any other cast members, they took a liking towards each other, and eventually got quite close. They both thought that their feelings were plain lust, but it was more of an emotional connection, so they tried being together and it lasted for a while until there were scandals and rumors going around that Daisy had been taking drugs just because she was seen partying with Samuel. The rumors eventually caught up to her, making her skin crawl and blood boil. So, she needed to be selfish and called it quits with him because her career was her pride and joy, and it was the most important thing to her at the time when she was just twenty-two.

When Daisy found out that Samuel was on board as the cast in Miss Saigon, she was absolutely thrilled because her feelings for him had never dissolved. And the main reason why she was annoyed with Luci on her first day was because she knew that Samuel was going to take a liking towards Luci, which he did; and now, Daisy was aggravated because she wanted her man back but he was too busy occupying himself with Luci.

Daisy looked back at Luci, pretending to pay attention to what she was saying. Luckily, someone had politely interrupted them, asking Daisy to do an interview with one of the journalists that critiqued the show, which she was ecstatic about.

When the theatre was empty, everyone left to go to an after party, which was at a posh cocktail lounge—a ten minute walk from the theatre and quite close to Central Park South—so everyone decided to walk; the adrenaline they still had kept them warm in the thirty six degree weather. It was quite late since they left the theatre at around eleven, so Luci decided that she wouldn’t stay long since her commute back home was still further than some of her co-workers.

The lounge was on the seventh floor of the W Hotel, and it screamed chic and expensive. It was separated into two open rooms, giving complete opposite vibes from each other. The more sophisticated and chic section of the room was filled with grey suede, cushioned sofa chairs with clean glass coffee tables placed in between those chairs. A black grand piano sat in the corner of the room with a large vase of fresh pink lilies and a few vanilla scented candles that were spread across the top of the piano. On one side of the wall were three semi-private booths with cushioned walls and a hexagon-shaped booth with LED lights surrounding the shape.

The second room, however, was where the full bar was. Something that caught Luci’s, and most people’s, attention was the bright sign that covered the entire wall behind the bar top and the bottles of alcohol. The light blue and red colored lights illuminated the entire section of the room. The bar room had the same type of sofas and tables with a chill-beat type of music that played through the speakers.

Peter, who played the first ‘Chris,’ had ordered everyone tequila shots; which naturally, made everyone happy as they cheered. Luci couldn’t remember the last time she went to the bar with some friends and completely enjoyed herself; all that had been on her mind before the move was the move itself, auditioning for the play, and her anxieties that came with moving to a city where she knew no one. So, a shot of tequila was very rewarding for her first proper night out in New York City.

“To a successful opening night! We’re gonna be back here when the second rotation gets their spotlight.” Peter saluted as everyone clinked their shot glasses together; Nina took a video of her and Luci to post on her Instagram story with Luci’s username and the longue tagged in the corner before downing the toxic liquid down their throats.

Everyone talked amongst themselves when Samuel placed his hand on Luci’s thigh. She quickly turned her head towards him, subtly pushing his hand off of it. He met her eyes, smirking and tilted his head as if he was saying that they should go into the bathroom, but Luci shook her head no, denying his silent request. Samuel rolled his eyes, averting his attention on the rest of the group, and Luci didn’t miss the way he shifted farther from her on the couch.

Luci was four shots in and she felt a slight buzz run through her head. The waiters were placing more drinks down on their table, but Luci knew she needed to get home, so she decided to call it a night and say her goodbyes to the group. She knew everyone lived relatively close to the theatre and the longue, so she didn’t expect anyone to take the subway with her so late in the night. What she did expect was for Samuel to offer her to spend the night or even walk her to the train station, but he simply waved at her, no private hug or kiss goodbye. So, she left without another word and walked over to the 57th Street Station and took the F Train down to Rockefeller Center where she had to get off and transfer over to the M Train that would take her towards Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue, and eventually, home.

On the train, Luci busied herself with a word search that was downloaded on her phone, afraid that she might end up falling asleep on the subway, until the subway stopped at the station she needed to get off at and walked home.

The click of her heeled boots were quite loud against the wooden floor in the hallway that led to her front door. She lugged her tote bag on her shoulder, fumbling with her keys until she got to her doorstep. Briefly glancing at the neighbor’s door right across from her before turning her back towards it and opening her own, the door behind her suddenly opened.

Luci quickly turned around, expecting her cute and attractive neighbor, but instead, revealed a woman with red hair, hurriedly putting her coat on. The woman smiled at her, and for a moment, Luci thought she was on the wrong floor, but behind the woman was Harry in a black long sleeve sweater and khaki flared pants. His chocolate brown hair had looked like he ran his fingers through it so many times that it sat effortlessly messy, but Luci didn’t know that the red-haired lady had done it for him.

She was quite in shock to see him, even though she’d known he lived right across from her. For the time she had been living in New York, she’d barely even gotten a glimpse of him; either their schedules weren't aligned or he was avoiding her. It wasn’t like she was trying to catch him when he walked out of his apartment or in the elevator—maybe she was—but a few neighborly chats were all that she wanted.

“Hi,” Luci greeted once the woman rounded the corner and away from both of their attentions.

“Hey, Luci.” Harry softly smiled.

They both stood in their entryways, awkwardly staring at one another as they didn’t know what else to say. The neighborly chats had gone so much better in her head, and she was mentally rolling her eyes at herself for freezing up so suddenly.

But luckily, Harry broke the silence.

“Long night?”

Luci smiled. “Yeah, kind of. Just came from an afterparty.”

“Hmm, what was the party for?” Harry raised his chin, puckering his lips slightly. Luci glanced down at his lips, observing how naturally pink they were, or if the lady’s lipstick had transferred over to his.

She was quite surprised that he was still carrying the conversation, or maybe he was just as nosy as she was.

“It was for Miss Saigon, the play on Broadway. Today was our official opening night.” She fiddled with her fingers, completely leaning her side against the doorframe.

Harry slightly nodded. “I’d have to watch it sometime.”

Now, that brightened Luci up, almost sobering her. She beamed at him, and Harry couldn’t deny the slight blush that appeared on his face once she so stunningly smiled at him. He pursed his lips, refraining from smiling so widely just from the mere sight of her grin.

“Yes, please do!” He smiled at her excitement before nodding his head.

A few awkward seconds passed, and Luci had the need to lie down after the day that she had. So, she sat straight up from her leaning position, placing her hand where she was resting to balance herself. “Well, I should get some rest.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” He stood up straight as well, taking a step back into his apartment as his hand held the door handle. “Sleep well, Luci.”

“You too, Harry. Goodnight.” A yawn took over her and she covered her mouth instantly. “Oh, Harry?” She called out, catching him before he closed the door. He raised his brows, her voice stopped him from shutting the door. “Maybe we could hang out sometime? I could use some friends and you seem really nice,” she suggested.

Maybe it was the slightest buzz that was wearing off, making her have the need to use up all the rest of the confidence she could gather up in her body and spew out the suggestion.

But whatever it was, she was glad that she did because Harry answered, “I’d like that.” She gave him a lazy smile, eyes drooping, and Harry knew that she needed to sleep.

After another bid goodnight, the neighbors both closed their doors for a night’s rest, but not before they both smiled into their pillow and replayed their conversation over and over in their head.

April 29, 2017

It was Saturday evening when Luci walked into the Broadway Theatre with the biggest smile she’d ever made in her life. Ignoring the nerves, she was back in the chaos and nervous tension the large theatre held for her very first Broadway show.

She spent the entire day preparing herself just so everything went smoothly. Her alarm woke her up at 7:30 a.m so she could take a walk around the neighborhood for a fresh start to her day. The sky started out as gloomy while the sun was just waking up as well; and the parts of the neighborhoods that she passed were quiet—the only thing that was heard were the honking cars over the birds flapping their wings above her—since it was the weekend and everyone loved sleeping in on the weekend.

Luci was still discovering new things, such as stores, dining, and secret passageways while her Nike running shoes padded against the cement of the sidewalk; that's what she loved about New York—there was always something new she’d discover in this city, and it was a never ending journey that never failed to make her gasp and giddy.

She stopped at a smoothie place before walking back to her apartment; and when she got to her front door, she looked at Harry’s, which she seemed to make a habit out of every time she walked in and out of her apartment, and she wondered if he was awake at this time—he seemed like a morning person, she thought. She debated knocking on his door before she left to go to the theatre to tell her that she was finally performing tonight, but she decided against it, wanting to hang out with him at some place else rather than her workplace.

After making herself a breakfast to go along with her drink, she took a shower and made sure to take extra care of her skin and body since today was such an important day for her; she wanted to feel good so she could look good, especially for tonight.

In between brunch hours, her mother called, making her squeal.

“Hello, mother!” She couldn’t contain her excitement over the phone.

“Oh, hi, My Lucky! How are you?” Luci could hear the bustling street through the phone as they walked through the city. Ren and Beatrice had flown into New York to watch her on stage as promised; Nathan was planning to fly into the city after work as well. Luci offered to pick them up at the airport, which required a car that she didn’t have, but they decided against it, knowing that she had a specific routine before a show and they didn’t want to interfere with that pattern.

“Oh, y’know, just doing nothing. Boring, plain, old me,” she joked, making Beatrice chuckle.

“How’re you handling your nerves?”

Beatrice always knew that inside the confident exterior that Luci had always presented herself with, there was still a shy and nervous girl that was always so hard on herself.

“I’m okay, Ma. More excited than nervous, I think, but y’know, once it’s minutes away from showtime, I’m gonna be a nervous mess,” Luci stated honestly, nibbling on the corner of her lip. She got herself comfortable on her forest green sofa that turned into a bed, and draped the tan, soft plush blanket over her legs. Her apartment was finally coming together, and she was thankful for her few days off of work so she could make her apartment feel like home.

“I know you’ll do great. Plus, all of us are gonna be in the crowd supporting you.” Beatrice encouraged her. “Anyways, I can’t walk and talk at the same time, especially when we’re walking through people, but I just wanted to check up on you. So, I’ll let you go and we’ll see you later! Oh, your father says hi and that he loves you. Bye, my star. Shine your heart.”

Her mother always talked like she was in a hurry, but it never failed to make Luci smile—it was as if Luci was listening to a voicemail, or remembered a fond memory, or looking at a photograph; Beatrice was a timeless treasure, Ren would say.

The rest of the day went by smoothly; Luci mostly watched some television on her iPad since she didn’t have a TV yet, caught up on some reading, and lightly went through her lines and quietly sang the songs. Once it hit 3:30, she was out the door and on the subway by 3:45.

When she walked into the dressing room where everyone was getting ready, her cast members looked at her warily with sympathetic eyes. Luci was confused, but she figured that everyone was just nervous, so she sat down at her vanity and was surprised to see Daisy sitting next to her. She thought that Daisy wouldn’t be here for Luci’s opening night and she was more surprised to see that Daisy was getting ready as she didn’t just want to stand on the sidelines, waiting for Luci to screw up to step right in.

“Hey,” Luci greeted with a smile, but Daisy simply ignored her, going back to do her makeup. Luci slightly frowned but shrugged it off before she sat down.

A few moments later, Tal came into the dressing room.

“Luci,” she called out, making her look up into the mirror, meeting Tal’s eyes. “Can we talk for a minute?” Luci nodded, eyes slightly widening like she was a deer in headlights. She followed Tal out of the dressing room and into a more private room down the hall.

She crossed her arms as a breeze passed by, sending a chill down Luci’s skin and she wished she had grabbed her jacket on the way out. “What’s up?”

Tal took a deep breath, not knowing how to break the news to her newest cast member. “So, there’s been a change for tonight,” she started, and Luci wondered if Samuel wasn’t going to play Chris tonight but instead, Peter or the understudy, Michael. Tal looked up, thinking about her words carefully and how to say her words as gently as possible. “Daisy is gonna perform tonight.”

She wished she hadn’t spoken so soon on how smoothly her day was going.

Luci stared at her mindlessly, blinking a few times. She felt like she was hearing things or dreaming, like her words hadn’t processed correctly in her brain. But when Tal was giving her a certain look of guilt, that was when Luci knew that her mind wasn’t making anything up.

“W-What?”

“I know it was supposed to be your night to perform, but Daisy said that she wanted to perform tonight…” Luci could tell that Tal was holding back on more information. “She said that she doesn’t feel like she needed to rest, so she’s gonna perform every night until she says so.”

Tears were forming over Luci’s eyes and it suddenly became difficult for her to see or hear. She curled her lips into her mouth, refraining a sob that was settling in the base of her throat.

“She knows, right? That it’s my night to perform?”

Tal nodded. “Yeah, she knows quite clearly. I even reminded her, and we got into this argument; she basically told me to choose between her and you, and-”

“It’s okay,” Luci interrupted, not wanting to hear the rest of that sentence because she knew that Tal had chosen Daisy, which she didn’t blame Tal for doing because why would anyone choose between the face of Broadway and some actress that no one even knows about? Tal knew that she didn’t have any power over Daisy even though it was Tal’s show and she was the stage director.

“Luci, I’m sorry. You’re free to go home though, if anyone is gonna step in, then it’ll be Wendy.” Daisy told Tal that she’d rather have the understudy step into her place if anything happened, and who was Tal to say no to her?

Luci nodded sadly, putting her head down for a moment before she looked up. Tal had the same look Luci had on her face because Tal genuinely felt bad that this had to happen. Luci walked away and back into the dressing room to once again, meet everyone’s dreadful stare. She grabbed her belongings, and Daisy pretended to not notice that Luci was there.

She felt a surge of anger running through her body as she looked at Daisy, and she was not one to let things happen to her without defending herself. What she was going to do could possibly cause Luci her job and maybe any role that she comes across her path because that’s how much power Daisy had, but the power Daisy exposed and portrayed didn’t make her any more powerful than she thought it did.

“If you’re the reason that’s depriving me of my job, then how about you tell me that. Don’t have people doing that for you because if you really wanted me out of the show, then you would’ve told that to my face right when you met me.” Daisy continued looking into the mirror, but she was alert to Luci’s words. Everyone in the room was silent, listening to the confrontation happening right in front of them. “Just sitting there and not having the urge to look me in the eye and tell me yourself is just downright cowardness.”

Without another word, Luci left the room, passing by Nina on the way out, asking if she was okay and Luci muttered ‘Yeah, fine’ before huffing out a sarcastic laugh and walking out of the theatre. She felt bad for giving her friend such a cold and short attitude, and she only hoped Nina understood why she was acting that way.

Suddenly, everything felt very…loud. On the outside, there were honking cars, people shouting at those road ragers, and the harsh wind that blew through her ears. All of that contributed to the loud thoughts running through her head, the disappointment of her hopes had made her feel dizzy, and the heartache of her crushed dreams had made her heart sink. Everything had gone smoothly up until now, and she hated herself for thinking this was all too good to be true.

Luci clutched at her chest as if she was holding her heart in the palm of her hand, signaling it to slow down its erratic beating because she couldn’t keep up. If she had felt heartbreak in the past by dumb boys who didn’t know how to treat her right, the pain that she felt did not compare to having her dream being crushed and ripped away from her in the split of a second.

Sure, she may be dramatic in that moment, but it was everything that she was feeling and it was a valid feeling. She felt like the world was against her and she was perplexed on how to operate this minor section of her life.

“Luci?” Through the midst of her chaotic and saddened mind, the voice that called her sounded quite familiar. She turned around, finding Harry standing a distance away from her before he walked forward.

“Harry…” Her tone was calm as she breathed out a sigh of relief, but her exhale was staggered. Tears glossed over her eyes, making her neighbor and the bright lights blurry, only seeing colored spots until she blinked and her vision cleared up as the tears streamed down her face.

“I thought it was you. Aren’t you—oh.” Harry was interrupted by the collision of her body as she wrapped her arms around his waist, loudly sobbing in his chest. Usually, she wasn’t like this; she wasn’t one to cry in front of people or show any emotion that she was truly hurt—it just wasn’t her. But she could no longer pretend like the events that happened prior didn't happen, and she really needed some comfort, a hug, anything.

Luci felt his hesitancy when his arms wrapped around her body, and she felt bad for hugging him without permission, but her comfort had taken priority. When he eventually did take her fragile and shaking body in his arms, it did everything she was looking for justice. The embrace was warm, even when it was cold and windy out; the hug seemed to have warmed both of them up. A sense of safety, and a complete sigh of relief came to mind where Luci felt like she could take a breather for a slight moment. His strong, muscular arms wrapped so perfectly around her that Harry felt like it was him who needed this hug instead of her, but he wouldn’t admit that because she was clearly being vulnerable in front of him, despite just talking less than a handful of times.

She pulled away, and he suddenly missed the warmth of her body for a split second before his attention turned to her wiping her tears away.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked concerningly.

“Yeah. I’m sorry for just hugging you out of nowhere, I-I should’ve asked.” Harry stared deeply in her eyes, and even in the state that she was in, her eyes were still bright; the lucidity of the bright lights outside of the theatre sparkled in her eyes, and it made him smile at how beautiful she looked even when she was crying.

He snapped out of his thoughts, realizing that he hadn't answered her yet. “No, it’s okay, don’t worry about it. Just…are you okay?” His concern for her made her feel slightly better.

“I’m good now. Uh, thank you for the hug,” she said bashfully; he gave her a soft smile, nodding his head. “W-What are you up to tonight?”

“Oh, uh,” he chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “I actually came to watch the play. You mentioned you were in it right?”

Luci’s expression softened. “You came to see me?” She felt like she could cry all over again at the fact that he was at Broadway Theatre to see her perform; her heart flipped instantly. Harry nodded, placing his hands in his black pinstripe trousers. “Well, it’s a good thing you caught me out here before you went in because you’d be disappointed to not see me when the show starts.” He furrowed his brows in confusion, tilting his head to the side like a lost puppy. “It’s a long story…if you have time?”

Immediately, Luci knew she wanted to keep spending time with him, and she hoped he felt the same. Plus, she was in a vulnerable state, and she needed someone to be with her.

Harry was hesitant at first, but he realized that she probably needed to vent to someone, so he responded, “Yeah, sure.”

She smiled softly, wiping the excess tears off her face before walking further away from the theatre; Luci texted her parents and brother in the family group chat saying: not performing tonight :( so I won't be at the theatre. I'll explain later. Seconds later, they blew up her phone with a thread of ‘WHAT?!’ and naturally, Nathan sent a series of curses, making Beatrice scold him in the chat for his language.

Harry and Luci walked until they landed on a Burger & Fry joint near Times Square. The sound of food made her mouth water, especially after crying; she needed to replenish and hydrate herself.

The two sat in a pink leather booth; the restaurant had a decent amount of people for a Friday night because the volume of chatter was heard over the music blaring through the speaker. It was a somewhat retro-themed diner with checkered flooring, a jukebox in the corner for show, and the wardrobe the employees were wearing; it was a fun and cool vibe.

Harry and Luci felt a bit awkward; they both weren’t expecting to end up in a diner together when they were supposed to be inside the theatre. They both avoided eye contact, looking around the very pink restaurant before a waitress arrived at their table and took their order.

From what Luci could tell, Harry was a quiet and shy guy, but that was just an observable trait, which was half-correct. But the only reason why he was shy was because Harry was closed off and didn’t let too many people in, so sitting down with Luci at a diner—someone he'd only spoken with a couple of times—was very new to him.

He fiddled with his rings—her personal favorite was the square Ruby gemstone with a gold band—and she knew that she needed to say something quick before he'd never talk to her again.

“So, Harry, can I ask what you do for a living?” His head propped up from looking at the bubbles from his soda in his Coca Cola glass cup.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m a middle school teacher. I teach Language Arts.”

“Fun! How long have you been teaching?” Luci placed her elbows on the table, interlocking her fingers as she rested her chin on her hands, giving him her full attention.

“For about eight months.” He told her the basics of his life, not voluntarily, but because Luci asked an abundance of questions and was genuinely interested in his life.

She learned that he was from Manchester where his sister and mother live and his father lived in Birmingham. He has a cat, which his mom had been taking care of ever since he left to go to college in America. He went to UCLA, becoming a double major in English and Education, which led him to wanting to become a teacher in the midst of essays and research. He decided to stay in America, ending up in New York for the change of scenery (Luci could tell there was more to that story than he led on), and was fortunate enough to get a job at East Side Middle School in Manhattan.

Harry also mentioned that the four stacks of grading piles had gone down to one, finally being able to have a Friday night free, so he wanted to watch the play. Luci’s lips twitched up, but she curled her lips into her mouth, suppressing a large smile into a small one as she thanked him for wanting to spend his free time watching the show.

He’d never talked that much, Harry thought. In between his stories and facts about himself, the food had arrived and Luci was still asking him questions. It wasn’t like he minded; he appreciated Luci being so attentive and interested in his life as a way to make small talk and make friends, but those were just the basics that he would tell anyone if they asked.

Harry then asked how long she’d been acting for and on Broadway. Luci told him that her career started when she was six and had been acting ever since. She shared her aspirations and dreams; becoming part of Broadway was her first dream, which she somewhat achieved, and Hollywood was her next stop whenever the time was right. Harry poured the same energy she did, asking questions and interacting with her answers to those questions.

Her mood seemed to decline as she explained why she was outside of the theatre crying.

“It just felt like she ripped my dream from me and ripped it apart. I-I don’t even know when I’m gonna get my chance to perform.” Her lips turned downwards as she felt a new set of tears glaze her eyes, but she pushed them back, not wanting to cry again.

“I’m sorry that happened to you. I’m sure it’ll be soon, and whenever that happens, I’ll be there to see you perform on your opening night,” Harry said genuinely; and Luci felt like she could cry all over again, not because of the destruction of her dream that happened in two minutes, but because Harry was possibly one of the sweetest guys she’s ever met.

He surprised himself with his words, but he meant them. Throughout their conversations and getting to know one another, he felt himself relax a bit more, shoulders slumping. He realized that Luci was a very ambitious and motivated woman, making him admire her quality traits; she was also very easy to talk to, slightly chuckling at a joke that she made because he appreciated badly-made jokes since he made them himself. But maybe he’ll bring out the jokes another time when they hang out again.

After an hour of staying at the diner and chatting with their table completely cleaned off besides the last-minute decision to order milkshakes, they finally decided to head home. They split the bill—only because it was fair and this unexpected night wasn’t a date—before they got on the subway towards home. They sat on opposite sides of each other, which Luci wasn’t expecting, but when Luci got on the subway cart and took her seat, Harry sat right across from her.

Once they both reached their respective doors, they gave each other a small smile before mimicking each other’s actions as they turned the key and opened their doors at the same time. Taking one step in, they turned around, standing in their doorways just like all the other times they’d bid their goodbyes to one another.

“Thank you for tonight, Harry. I really appreciate you being there for me, even if you didn’t have to.” Luci said, leaning against the doorframe.

He nodded. “You’re welcome. Thank you for a great night as well. I had fun.” His statement made her face lighten up. “Well, goodnight, Luci.” He walked further into his apartment as did she, and she softly waved at him before they closed their doors.

Despite not performing tonight, her night with Harry wouldn’t have happened if the unfortunate events were fortunate.

And that was the most positive thing that came out of tonight, and she was really focusing on the positives now.

come talk to me about your feelings, thoughts, and favorite moments! thank you for reading <3 next chapter will be posted next saturday!

#harry styles fanfiction #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff #harry styles writing #harry styles series #harry styles x ofc #harry styles au #harry styles ff #harry styles fic #harry styles x reader #harry styles smut #harry styles story #boyfriend!harry #actress!oc #harry styles #harry styles solo #hs au

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bakersstreetirregulars · 3 years

Text

Ovenbreak Season 6: LIVE!

💫 I- is everyone okay?

🕵️‍♂️ Everyone is okay and accounted for with the exception of Roguefort Cookie, who has escaped in the storm of jellies you created.

💫 O- oh…

☕️ As much as we all want Roguefort behind bars after this incident, you’re live on air.

💫 OH! Now that the update is now live, we can dive deeper into what we have! I’ll take this on by myself, Chestnut… I need to redeem myself after causing part of that mess.

🌰 Alright! I’ll be helping the others square everything else away. C’mon everyone, let’s her some space so she can focus on everything. She has a lot to unpack. Good luck! [Everyone is ushered out of the room except for Cream Puff]

💫 So much to talk about… where do I start??? We already covered Lilac Cookie in that other post… Ah! Right here.

Overall Cookie and Pet Level Changes

💫 First thing’s first. Everyone now has a maximum level of 15, regardless of rarity. Upgrades still require the same resources as before, and any Escape Points you get also remain the same for each upgrade. What’s changed because of that?

Cookie Trials: The maximum level cap has been updated to level 11 for everyone’s trial except for Gingerbrave’s trial

Magic Candy: Common and Rare Cookies can now create Magic Candies from level 3+ while Legendary Cookies can still create them at level 1

Cookie Cheer Squads: Levels were changed accordingly to the level update

Titles: All titles for Cookies can be collected by upgrading the corresponding Cookie to level 15

Affection: Affection points earned after leveling up a Cookie were adjusted

Mentor & Mentee: Loaned Cookies can be used at a maximum level of 11

The patch notes in-game have the listed resources required and Escape Points earned for upgrading Common, Rare, and Legendary Cookies before and after the update.

Balance Changes

Cookie and Pet skills will no longer activate once the run starts

Changed the overall balance of Cookies, Pets, Treasures, and Jellies on the map

Improved some features of Cookies, Pets, and Treasures

Some Treasures activated by touch or otherwise activated manually will now activate automatically (Nutcracker Mallet, Green Pea Slingshot, 1000% Juice, Melon Dynamite, Enchanted Broom)

Breakout

Escape from the Oven is now Special Episode 1 with 10 Cookies and it’s rewards rotated out to include the following:

Crystals

Dark Enchantress Cookie OR Eternal Eye of Darkness

Black Sugar Pirate Ship is now Special Episode 2 with its rewards of Coins and Legendary Pets (Dreamcatcher, Thundersnow Yeti, Ocean Dragon) and Cookie lineup of 3 Cookies retained from Spooky Spider Mansion.

Windcatcher has been added to the Breakout Shop.

Land’s End

Flowers of Spring and Fun-Filled Cookieland have been removed and replaced with the Crystal Pudding Cave and City of Wizards (yay!)

Some of the harder patterns in the Jungle of Beasts map were changed and it’s difficulty reduced to 2 stars

The Best Combi Leaderboard will be unavailable for a while with the two new maps being added

Cookie Trials

The level cap will be set to level 11 for everyone except for Gingerbrave

Rank scores and bonus missions were adjusted to account for balance changes

Leaderboards

Due to the addition of Invocation Cards, leaderboard scores for Cookie Trials, Trophy Race, and Breakout have been reset, including high scores and Best Combis

Scores from Cookie Trial Cups and Infinite Trials will not be reset

Dr. Wasabi’s Combi Generator will undergo an update while a score analysis of expected outcomes is being conducted, so scores given for Breakout and Trophy Race may seem off…

Cookie Cheer Squads

35 new Cheer Squads were added

Editor’s Note: Normally all of the new ones would be listed, but the app decided to refresh while Editor was referencing them, so all that progress was promptly lost. Not doing that again. That’s why you don’t let the app refresh or close without saving your work…

Other Related Info

The Enchanted Mirror treasure and Scorpion Cookie will arrive with the July 15th update. Yogurt Cream Cookie will be buffed on July 8th.

The distribution of Escape Points required to level up until Escape Level 18 has been adjusted (see the in-game patch notes), but the total amount of points required will stay the same

🌰 You’re doing great, Cream Puff, keep it up!

💫 Thank you! I’m trying my best! And now, the events:

Main Story Star Collection: Collect stars in Chapters 1-3 for Coins, Magic Powder, Crystals, Spirit Potions, and a Special Treasure Incantation!

Crystal Piggy Bank: Spend Crystals and buy packages to add more Crystals to the bank! Withdraw them after saving enough in one go to earn progress rewards! (6 💎 spent = 1 💎 deposited to a maximum of 100,000 spent, allowing up to 16,667 💎 withdrawn in total. 1 Package Point deposits 100 💎 to a maximum of 300 Package Points and 15,000 💎 withdrawn in total)

Invocation Card Readings: Complete tasks with Incantation Cards to progress through the readings and earn rewards to help start off your collection!

Deduction Race Reward Collection: Team Almond wins! Remember to collect your rewards before they’re gone!

Invocation Card Challenge: Borrow from a collection of 15 Invocation Cards that you don’t have and take them out for a test drive! Use cards that you have upgraded to aim for a high score!

Guild Run: Desert Bloom Season (We have yet to uncover the seasonal recipe!)

Cookie Run Kingdom Crossover: Complete stages in Story Mode for free decorations and Crystals in Kingdom! Make sure you have a DevPlay account connected to BOTH games to get the rewards!

Is that everything? I think that’s everything…! We’ll report back with more with each new update in the month. Until then, thank you all for staying tuned in and enjoy the trip back to Yogurca!

#cookie run #crob #cookie run kingdom #new update #cr ovenbreak #season 6

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tanzen-neko · 4 years

Text

Freefall (Gavin x MC)

MLQC

Warnings: Hurt/comfort, brief mention of blood.

Fluff inspired by “Free fall (ft. RUNN)- Ilenium and Gavin’s “Your Voice” call.

It was late, and getting later. There was still no sign of Gavin. She bounced on the balls of her feet outside his apartment door, listening to the city clock chime midnight; the witching hour. Yet the only one who seemed to bear witness to its dark enchantment was her. Everything in the city seemed to be blanketing in stillness, and quiet. Normally, she would enjoy it, but not tonight. Tonight it just fed into her swirling thoughts and scattered pulse. Where was he?! She sat down in front of his door, the cold tile seeping through the thin summer dress she wore. She shivered slightly, and rubbed her arms to try and warm herself. She knew it was in vain; the coldness came from within her. She took a deep breath in, and exhaled slowly in an effort to calm herself. Taking out her phone again, she stared at his number debating on ringing it again. She knew he wouldn’t answer, that only his voicemail with its short, terse “This number is unavailable” would hear the frantic notes in her voice. And no matter how she ranted and raved at the cool unattached voice at the other end, Gavin would not magically appear and reassure her. After looking at his last text, (a short message telling her he was due back tonight) she closed it, the locking noise echoing through the empty hallway. It had only been hours since his call, but it felt like years. She always worried about Gavin when he went on missions, that was nothing new. But he had never called her when he was injured. She blamed it on his chivalrous nature. He had seemed to make it his life goal to shield her from the less than savory aspects of his job, shrugging off his scattering of new cuts and scrapes as nothing, not realizing that each time he was hurt, her heart broke a little more. Even she herself seemed to have been unaware of the extent of her worry. Gavin was a pillar of strength to her. Something to be fawned over, but never fretted about. Her closest friend, and confidant, she had seemed to take it for granted he would always come back to her. But when he called her after his brush with death, she hadn’t been able to concentrate on her work. He had just sounded so tired, so worn out. She had never heard him like that before, and the worry had gnawed at her until the point that Anna herself had told her to leave for the day, her sympathetic smile grating on her already tender nerves.

“He’s fine, you know,” she had blurted out hotly at her. Immediately she had felt her face flush in embarrassment. She hadn’t meant to snap at Anna. She just couldn't stand that look. A look that all but stated he was gone. Anna had looked startled and took a step back before recovering the smile on her face.

“I’m not saying otherwise, dear. I just think maybe you should take a break. You’ve been working nonstop since he’s been on this mission. I think it’s time you faced your own feelings.”

And with a gentle pat on her arm, she had left her desk.

She snapped back to the current time, chewing her bottom lip. All on her walk home, she had thought about Anna’s departing words. Her own feelings? What had she meant? But even as she pretended ignorance, that voice in her heart had whispered the words she was afraid to say out loud. She liked Gavin. No, she loved Gavin. She loved him with every fiber of her soul. Being with him was like free falling into an endless abyss; petrifying, but oh so exhilarating. Every second she was with him, she felt alive. His smile, his frown, his awkward way of covering his mouth when he was nervous had painted itself on her soul until she was bathed in his colors. When she closed her eyes at night, his bright ember ones were the ones that helped her drift to sleep. When she felt insecure, his confident voice telling her she could do anything ran through her head. And whenever she felt stressed or bogged down by the day, she caught herself scrolling through photos she had captured of their outings on her phone, often laughing at Gavin’s shy aversion to smiling for her camera. He was truly the dearest part of her life. Why had it taken her so long to admit it? For that matter, when did the change creep upon her? Maybe it was after Minor’s multiple hints, or the way he emphasized her discovering the contents of the bloodstained letter from all those years ago. To this day whenever she brought it up to Gavin, he would rub the back of his neck, and tell her it didn’t matter. But it did, and she often found herself fantasizing about what he could have written and if their lives would be different if she had read it. Though she knew there was no use in it, she wished that she had gotten to know Gavin back then. But there was no point in dwelling in the past. She usually was a firm believer in that idea, but as usual, Gavin managed to stir up questions in her heart she tried to ignore. Well after his call, she had decided that she would no longer ignore the tingling she felt when he gripped her hand, or the way his eyes would cause the blood to rush straight to her head when he stared at her for longer than a second. She wouldn’t have called herself a coward, and she wasn't about to start now. So squaring her shoulders, she sat firmly against the back of his apartment door, vowing to stay as long as it took.

The ding of the elevator and the sound of two deep male voices jarred her awake. She must have fallen asleep waiting for Gavin to come home. With a quick glance at her phone, she saw that an hour and a half had past. The men were coming further down the hallway, and her heart leaped in her throat when she recognized one surly voice as Gavin’s. Hopping up, she tried in vain to smooth out all the wrinkles in her dress. Frantically, she tried to fix her hair, and fumbled with her purse, trying to strike a pose that didn’t scream “Oh hey, I’ve been sitting and sleeping outside your door for awhile now even though you told me not to worry.”

“Eli, I told you I’m fine. Leave me alone, for God’s sake.”

“Tsk, tsk, Gavin. You’re in a foul mood for someone who should be thanking me for helping your sorry ass home.”

“I told you, I don’t need your damn help, Eli, I could have made it on my own.”

Oh really, is that why I had to help you-”

The two had made it around the corner, and Eli stopped talking in surprise at her presence. Gavin tried to break away from Eli who had his arm wrapped around his side in order to support him. He let out a slight grunt of pain, and she stepped forward, afraid of him falling. It was when she got up close that she could see just how tired they both were. With ripped uniforms, untucked shirts lacking ties, and muddied gear, it was clear that this mission was harder than most. Even Eli’s normally well coiffed hair was sticking up in disarray. He was still in better shape than Gavin was, however. Up close, she could see the scruff that had grown on his face while he was away, and the weariness in his amber colored eyes. Gavin stared at her, disbelief mixing with disapproval.

“What are you doing here so late? Have you been out here by yourself?”

“ I, I haven’t been here long.” She pinched herself slightly for the lie. “And I’m here because, well..” She trailed off, suddenly feeling shy. Gavin still stared at her expectantly, the frown on his face making her feel like a student in the principal’s office. Eli looked back and forth between the two of them, a look of realization dawning on his face. His face broke into a smile that he tried to hide by clearing his throat.

“Well, Gavin. I can see you’re in great hands, so I’ll be on my way. Take as long as you need to heal up. I’ll handle the paperwork.” He glanced at her, a mischievous light in his eyes. “Take care of my partner for me, will you.” She felt herself start to blush, and she nodded her head, rubbing her arm. He shot a wink at Gavin, before making his way back to the elevators.

She and Gavin stood there for a moment in silence, both unsure of how to break it. Finally, he sighed. “Well, you might as well come in. It’s much too late for you to try and get back tonight.” He shuffled to his door, and she stepped aside quickly, suddenly feeling self conscious for the first time ever in his presence. He unlocked the door, kicking his shoes off barely before he made it to the entrance before switching on the kitchen light, bathing his apartment in a soft glow full of shadows. She had been to his apartment only once before, and quite briefly. Gavin kept a pristine look, clean and efficient, but it lacked comfort and style. She made a mental note to take him to pick out a few plants or pictures to help brighten up the space before she set down her phone and purse and opened the door to his fridge, grabbing a cold bottle of water for Gavin. He was reclining at an awkward angle, eyes closed.

She cleared her throat slightly to get his attention, and passed the water to him. Grunting out his thanks, he made quick work on it, and she felt herself mesmerized by the bobbing of his Adam's apple. She looked down, taken aback by the wave of lust that seemed to hit her as she stood in his presence. She had always thought Gavin was an incredibly handsome man, and sure sometimes she caught herself staring at his rear sometimes (all those squats paid off), but she had managed thus far to chalk that down to nothing more than appreciating a good looking friend. She could almost see Anna shaking her head in disapproval at her in her mind’s eyes.

“Yes, yes, I’ll admit it”, she mumbled to herself in irritation.

“ What was that?” Gavin asked. She started in surprise. When had he stood up?

“I said uh, less moonlit sits! I mean, I haven’t gone out for night walks since you’ve been gone.”

Gavin was still giving her a weird look, so she struggled to find a change of topic.

“Uh, should I get the shower running for you? I know you probably would like to bathe.”

Gavin shook his head before limping over to grab another bottle of water, grimacing when he bent down to grab it from the fridge.. He leaned against the counter, the shadows under his eyes almost like bruises.

“I was able to get a shower in at the hospital. Just didn’t think walking around in a backless hospital gown would have gone unnoticed.” The corner of his lip quipped up in a slight smirk, and she found herself chuckling at the thought of Gavin on Sparky, gown blowing in the wind as passerbys stared in astonishment.

“Hey don’t laugh,” he fussed, ears turning red as he covered his mouth. She waved her hands in denial, still unable to get the image out of her head.

“I’m not, I’m not! I’m sure you would still look very dignified Officer Gavin,” she said with mock seriousness. Gavin let out a “humph” of disbelief. There was a pause of silence, but as usual, it wasn’t an uncomfortable one. That was one of the things she liked, no loved, about Gavin. There was no awkwardness with him. It was like all the years of no contact, and the misunderstandings of high school had melted away the first time they reunited. She realized throughout their time together that he also never faulted her, or held her preconceived notions about him in the past against her. If anything, he was apologetic, as if the faux pas was caused by him and his rough approach to things. Gavin let out a yawn, and she felt a rush of shame. Here she was holding up his time, and he was too polite to say anything. What she had to say could wait; right now she needed to get him to bed.

“Gavin, I’m so sorry! I know you’re tired, and here I am holding you up. Please, let’s at least get you to bed.” She knew he was tired when he didn’t put up a fight. He just put down his half finished water bottle, and nodded, wearily at her. She made her way over to him, and held out her arm. Gavin looked at her questioningly.

“Lean on me. I’ll help you to bed.”

I can make it on my own. Besides, you’re half my size.” She straightened her back, resolutely.

“I’m not spun glass, Gavin. You of all people should know that. Now, lean on me.” Ears turning red again, Gavin tentatively put some of his weight on her shoulder, his other arm coming around her for support. She felt his warmth practically burn through her dress, and her heart started pounding in her chest. She had been closer to him than this before, but as they made their way to his bedroom, she couldn’t help the blush that started to creep up her neck. Maybe it was due to the fact that she had never been in his bedroom before. She helped him down onto his bed, and in an effort to look everywhere but his face, turned on the bedside lamp. She couldn't help but smile at the bare room. Like the rest of the apartment, Gavin’s bedroom was in the same utilitarian style. Besides the plush duvet on the bed, or the hickory desk set, there wasn't more in the way of creature comforts. Gavin began to unbutton his shirt, and he let out a curse. She rushed over to him, and slapped his hands away, gently.

“I’ll do it. Please just relax.” Gavin’s hands fell to his sides, and his chest rose and fell rapidly as she slowly began unbuttoning his shirt. She could smell the antiseptic and the clean scent of soap. It seemed that as each button became undone, the tension in the air became more and more unbearable. She felt like she was holding her breath and forced herself to exhale. Too quickly (or not quickly enough, she wasn’t quite sure which one), his shirt was undone. With a bit of a struggle, she helped him remove it, Gavin grimacing in pain as he pulled it off. She stared at his chest, and for once wasn’t caught up in the beautiful display of his muscle. Instead, her eyes were fixed on the bandage covering his chest. It was right over his heart, and covered the span of his ribs. Already he was bleeding through, the tinge of blood almost jarring against the pristine white of the wrap. It needed to be changed already, and she tentatively touched the bandage. It became blurry before her eyes, and it took several blinks before she realized she was crying.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok. I’m ok. I promise it looks worse than it is.” Gavin’s words were meant to comfort her, but instead she began crying harder. She couldn’t help it. What if he had been injured worse? Or better yet, what if he had died? He would have left this earth never knowing just what he meant to her.

“Gavin, I…” She couldn’t even finish her sentence. “You could have been hurt so much worse.”

He reached out his fingers, and clumsily tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. His calloused fingers sent tiny sparks against her cheeks. She sniffled, chagrined by her tears.

“Sorry. You’re the one hurt, and I’m crying like a baby.” She tried to shake Gavin’s fingers away, but he just cupped her cheek, instead.

“You don’t ever have to apologize to me. I’ll always be around to take care of you.” She grabbed his hand, and dropped a kiss across his scarred knuckles. Gavin stilled. She made up her mind right then and there. She wouldn’t leave his room until he knew how she felt.

“Gavin, you always take care of me. For once, for once let me do something for you. She clambered off of the bed, and went to his bathroom to look for his medical kit. After rummaging under his sink, she came upon it. She made her way back to the bed, and ignoring Gavin’s protests, she set out to change his dressing. When she uncovered it, and saw the blood leaking out of his angry looking stitches, she felt a wave of dizziness come over her. She fought it off, however, and after cleaning it as gently as she could, rebandaging it. She secured it back underneath his ribs like the first bandage. She set back a little to admire her work, setting the kit on his bedside table.

“I know it’s not as good as the hospital’s but… It’s not too tight is it?” Her fingers begin to trail around the top of the bandage again, but this time she managed to keep the tears at bay. She drifted up higher, and ran them gently over the scar on his collarbone. She felt herself wishing that she had been there to take care of him when he got it, or any of the collections of scars he had. Making a promise right then and there to be there for the next one, she leaned forward and dropped a kiss on it. His flesh was hot underneath her lips, and she darted her tongue out to trace it. Gavin’s breathing picked up, and she could feel his heartbeat as she nuzzled his scar.

“What are you doing?” he asked hoarsely, muscles tensing up.

“Shhh. I’m taking care of you.” She grabbed his hand, and gave the scars along each of his arms the same treatment. And as each kiss touched his skin, Gavin’s muscles became more and more relaxed. It felt like some tightly wound knot in his heart was slowly loosening with each caress. But though the knot was loosening, his pants seemed to be doing the opposite. He had dreamt of her kisses on his skin for so long, and now that it was happening, he didn’t have the strength to stop his body from reacting.

She shuffled herself down the bed to his stomach, and dropped a kiss along his scars there. She could feel Gavin’s abs flexing underneath her tongue as she ran it along them. His breathing was coming out almost in pants now, and she heard him exhale sharply as she dropped wet kisses in a trail to the cluster of scars at his hip that always drove her crazy whenever his pants would ride low. She had wanted to kiss them for longer than she cared to admit. And as she ran her teeth lightly against them, Gavin let out a strangled groan. She did it again, and his hips involuntarily jerked against her slightly as he let out another whimper. She shifted herself and sat up to look at Gavin. His amber eyes almost glowed in the darkness, the burning mix of lust and yearning tinged with a hint of confusion piercing her to her very core. He pushed his hair out of his face, and looked away.

“______?” her name coming out in an almost soundless whisper. “Why?” She chewed her lip, suddenly nervous and afraid. What if Minor was confused? What if all this time together was just him being a good friend to someone being swept up in a story bigger than herself. But even if that was the case, she promised herself she would tell him.

“I did it because I came to a conclusion today. Helped along by Minor and Anna. Gav, I, I love you. I love you so, so much. And if I’m honest, I think I’ve loved you for a while now. I’ll admit when you first came back around, I was scared of you.” She looked down, and rubbed her arm, sheepishly.

“All those rumors in high school, and the blood stained note, I never made an effort to talk to you. And I’m so so sorry about that. I just…” she trailed off, still upset with her past shelf for behaving the way she had. Gavin was silent for a beat. Suddenly, he grabbed her and pulled her to his uninjured side into a tight hug. She struggled a bit, worried about his bandages. As if reading her mind, Gavin ran a hand through her hair.

“It doesn’t hurt right now. Just, just let me hold you for a moment ok? Just for a little.”

Heart pounding, she relaxed and tentatively put her arms loosely around him. She loved the warmth of his body, the distinct comfort it always seemed to bring her. She breathed in his crisp, clean smell, and felt her heart slowly begin to resume a normal tempo. This was the effect he always had on her. Once in his arms, it seemed like there was never any problem she couldn’t overcome. There was something about his presence that just kept her grounded and calm. Gavin continued stroking her hair, and she felt her eyes begin to drift shut. The stress and worry, and then the sweet relief of being able to tell him how she felt hit her all at once. “Just for a few minutes more”, she thought. But before she knew it, she was sound asleep. Gavin heard her snoring softly, and chuckled to himself. Moving inch by painstaking inch so as to not wake her, he scooted his body down so that he was laying comfortably on his bed.. She let out a soft sigh before she snuggled closer to him. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head, the injury almost forgotten in lieu of her revelation. Belatedly, he realized he never said he loved her back, but that could wait. For now he whispered it softly in her ear before he closed his eyes, a soft smile of pure contentment on his face for the first time in a while.

#mlqc gavin #mlqc #mlqc bai qi #mlqc fluff

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astxlphe-fics · 3 years

Text

let me live (let me die)

The end of the fight with the Chevalier, and the start of something between Astolfo and Noé.

Chapter 5/?

< Chapter 4 || Chapter 6 >

Content warning : character death (OC), violence, mentioned character death, implied medical abuse (? Doctor Moreau is talked about)

Noé wants to ask Astolfo many questions, specifically regarding Antonio. Something is bothering him, but it’ll have to wait.

Right now, their focus is the Chevalier Ténèbre.

He still can barely believe that anyone would, on their own will, murder someone’s whole family. There has to be an explanation, a truth neither of them is aware of.

They let him come to them, and the Chevalier has no trouble finding them.

From his perch on the roof, Noé glances down at Astolfo, hiding against the wall at the street corner, a flash grenade held tight in his hands. He is utterly still, for now.

“This is getting rather tedious, though not entirely unexpected,” the Chevalier says. “The Granatums have always been a plague upon vampire kind.”

The glow of his eyes is bright enough that Noé can see it. The shadows move around him, muting his footsteps. It seems to lose some of its density when hit by the moonlight, though not entirely.

So, their suspicions are correct.

Astolfo rips the pin off the grenade, arming it, and lets it drop in the street, where it rolls down the pavement. At this time of the night, when people have either gone home or run away from the fight already, the sound it makes is too loud.

The Chevalier’s head snaps towards it and recognizes it with ease. He takes a few steps back, trying to protect his eyes, but it blows before he has the time.

Noé covers his face, closing his eyes as the bright flash of light explodes through the streets. It feels like it burns through his eyelids still, making him a feel somewhat dizzy, though not as much as if he took the full brunt of it.

The Chevalier isn't so lucky.

He screams, the light snaps his control over the formula, destroys the shadows around him, and Noé winces in sympathy. Having been subjected to an earlier version of the Aegis grenade, he knows it isn’t a particularly good feeling.

Not to mention, any chasseur out and about will be attracting to the flash like moths to a streetlight.

Astolfo darts out of his hiding place, quick enough to come close to the Chevalier while he’s still distracted. Meanwhile, Noé shakes his head to get rid of the lingering nausea, waiting for it to fade before joining the fight.

It looks like Astolfo doesn’t truly need him, though he won’t bet his life on that. He is fast on his feet, striking quick and getting out of range even quicker. Without the distance advantage a spear usually gives him, he has to force himself into his enemy’s space, push him to act before he can think.

Astolfo always was a smart fighter, though Noé supposes he has to be when.

Finally, his vision clears, and reinforces his body before he lets himself fall from the rooftop. His knee collides with of one of his shoulders, sending him tripping forward.

“You’ve brought a friend,” he hisses. “Afraid of facing me on your own?”

The shadows still have trouble reforming around him. The Chevalier’s hands shake as he tries to get them back under his control, and they shift and bubble while Astolfo dashes again. The Chevalier manages to avoids him, but barely, staggering,

Still, Astolfo staggers as well and seems to have forgotten all about Noé’s presence as he turns on his heels and runs straight into him. Noé’s balance wavers, and he grabs onto Astolfo to avoids the both of them stumbling over each other. “Be care—“

But Astolfo shoves his hand off. “Out of my way,” he snarls, pushing him away, “I’ll gut him—”

Noé shoves him out of the way as the Chevalier, having found his lost balance, comes at them. “Be careful!” he calls out again.

“Let—”

Noé’s hands grabs on the Chevalier’s wrist. “A vampire?” the Chevalier says, “no, worse, an Archiviste , helping a Granatum, of all people? Well, I thought I had seen everything.”

“Did you—” The Chevalier tries to rip his wrist out of his grip, but Noé is barely shaken by the struggle, his prosthetic arm holding on tight. “Did you kill his family?”

All Noé needs is a word — a single word that would suggest this man did not do it on his own volition, that something else is at play. Then maybe— then maybe—

Instead, the Chevalier laughs . “And we did our kind a favor ,” he answers, lips curling into a smile. “They deserved it after the what they did —”

And Noé shoves his knee into the vampire guts before he twists his arm until its bends. Then, he kicks his legs, throwing him down on the ground.

The shadows, back in his control, writhe and wrap around his ankles. Noé tries to move to pin him down but they trip him and he almost falls.

Running past him again, Astolfo drops on the Chevalier’s stomach, forcing him to stay down, raises his blade and plunges it deep in his chest.

The vampire howls and trashes, almost throwing Astolfo off but the younger man holds on and, with all the strength his human body can muster, stabs him again — and again and again and again and again , until he stops trashing and the shadows at Noé’s feet fade.

Still, Noé doesn’t move, staring wide eyed as Astolfo doesn’t stop. Blood sprays his face, seeps between the cobblestone squares of the street and his face twists with rage.

“Astolfo,” he calls gently as he pulls on the young man shoulder. “We need to go.” He can hear footsteps coming their way — the chasseurs. If they’re caught here, they’ll be in trouble. But Astolfo doesn’t react, dagger dragging out of the Chevalier’s body with a squelching, wet sound that sends a shiver down Noé spine. “Astolfo, he’s dead!”

He pulls harder at Astolfo’s shoulder, dragging him back on his feet, and the younger man stops. He jerks himself out of Noé’s grip, his blood-streaked face relaxing as he wipes it with his sleeve.

“He is.” His tone flat, he stares, unblinking.

Noé’s eyes linger on the very bloody, very dead vampire on the ground, nausea coming back full force.

Maybe following Astolfo around isn’t Noé’s brightest idea. He isn’t quite sure how many brutal murders he can handle, and as he sends Astolfo a sidelong glance he can’t help but focus on the splatters of blood on his clothes and in his hair.

Astolfo looks back at him, eyes dark — darker than every time the younger man has snapped at him in the past few days, darker than when he’d exploded in anger. But he hides his trembling hands in his wide sleeves and his lips quiver and his shoulders shake as if he’s about to retch so Noé asks:

“Are you okay?”

It takes almost a full minute for Astolfo to answer:

“He killed my mom.” Very audibly, Astolfo gulps and takes in a deep breath. “That night someone — someone was holding me down and I watched him murder my mother. She was— she was screaming and begging and he—”

He doesn’t finish his sentence, but Noé has a pretty solid guess.

She was screaming and begging and Jean Ténèbre laughed.

Then, swiftly, Astolfo kneels back down. He shoves his fingers into the vampire’s mouth as his body starts turning into dust, ripping one of his fangs out with ease. “Let’s go back,” he says when he stands back up, slipping the tooth in his pocket. “I need to clean up.”

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

With a sigh, Astolfo allows Noé in his hotel room.

Back inside, with the lights on, he looks even worse — dirty and bloody, eyes tired. He drops his dagger in the sink and shrugs of his coat, while Noé sets his own, along with his hat, on the back of the chair.

Soon enough, Astolfo disappears into the bathroom, leaving Noé alone with his thoughts.

In all their years fighting alongside Vanitas, he never killed anyone. He always knew he was capable of it, and made sure it didn’t happen, even by accident. He never settled for Vanitas’ justifications of “it’s too late”, always believing in an alternative. But those vampires were cursed, they did not control themselves. It had not been their fault.

The Chevalier Ténèbre is not one of those vampires and, thinking back on the smug grin stretched on his face, on Astolfo’s exhaustion and despair — to the point of asking someone he dislikes for help — he can’t bring himself to feel sorry for the man they left dead out in the night.

Someone knocks on the door before Astolfo gets out of the shower, and Murr hisses in warning. Still, Noé stands and opens, finding himself face to face with the old chasseur he’d barely the time to great earlier that day.

He’s wearing his uniform, a sword very much apparent at his hip, and doesn’t look pleased at all.

Noé’s heart speeds up, and t. What is he doing here? How did he find them? Is he here for Astolfo? He glances back at the bathroom door. The water is still running, and with all the blood and grime, it’s unlikely Astolfo will have finished cleaning up soon.

In the end, a form of anger or annoyance prevails at the memory of his exchange with Astolfo, how he talked and looked down on him.

“Good evening,” Noé still greets politely, wondering if he should be ready for a fight. The formula around him crackles and shifts slightly, unnoticed by the human, and strengths builds up in his limbs.

“It’s very much not a good evening.” One of his hand rests on the handle of his sword. “I’m here to see the boy.”

“He’s not here?” Noé lies, terribly so.

Antonio pinches the bridge of his nose. “If you tell me he’s dead I will chop your head off, vampire.”

“He’s not!!” Noé immediately affirms, shaking his head quickly for emphasis. “He’s unavailable, but alive and mostly unarmed!” Antonio doesn’t seem to be looking for a fight, but he still doesn’t let go of the formula. “And my name is Noé.”

So many people showed up before him seemingly peacefully and the night still ended with beating the shit out of each other.

Antonio looks him up and down critically from behind his glasses. He notes Noé’s guarded stance, the metallic glint of his wrist peaking between his glove and his sleeve, Murr’s raised hackles, the weapon in the sink. “So, you are the one who killed Jean Ténèbre.”

“Uh? No, I —” he hesitates — would it make a difference? The accords between humans and vampires are still recent, less than a year old, and some terms are still being discussed by the Senate, so he isn’t quite sure yet what would happen to Astolfo if they realize he’s the one who killed the Chevalier Ténèbre.

He could claim it was in defense of his life, which would be close enough to the truth and difficult to prove wrong.

Turns out he doesn’t have to think about it for a long time.

“What are you doing here?”

Noé didn’t even notice Astolfo coming out of the bathroom. He looks fresher already, wearing clean clothes and his wet hair a mess, though his eyes are red and somewhat puffy.

He scowls as he sees Antonio, narrowing his eyes as if to hide that he’d been crying. “What,” he repeats, “are you doing here?”

“Someone,” Antonio answers just as coldly, glaring at Noé, “killed a vampire we were planning on arresting and handing over to Altus Italy, like the new accords stipulate .”

“I’m the one who killed him.” His scowl deepens. “It appears that I didn’t need your assistance in finding him,” Astolfo goes on, chin tilted up. “He came to me on his own, and attacked me. I merely defended myself.”

“You stabbed him seven times in the chest in self-defense.”

“Exactly.”

He stares at Antonio, challenge in his eyes, daring the man to refute him. But his hands, closed into fists, shake slightly and tension settles in his jaw, so Noé steps up, moving closer to Astolfo.

“Unless you have something else to tell us,” he says, “I think you should leave.”

Antonio stays quiet for a short moment, before he sighs. "First of all, I wanted to apologise for some of the things I said to you yesterday. It was—" he pauses, looking for the right word. "Unecessarily harsh." Astolfo doesn't comment on that, simply crossing his arms, face blank. "And I promised you a talk. About Moreau.”

Blood pounds in Noé’s ears at the familiar name, and he pulls on Astolfo’s forearm, dragging him closer. He clearly remembers the man, the experiments, the way he referred to people as numbers, what he did to Vanitas and Mikhail.

Was Astolfo another one of his test subjects?

“What about Moreau?”

“I thought— he was interested in your marks —”

“So you thought it was an excellent idea to send me over to him so he could study them up close.”

“Do you really believe I wouldn’t have chosen another solution if there had been? You are my best friend’s son ."

Astolfo somehow met the doctor, Astolfo somehow got into grabbing distance of the doctor, and it was this man’s doing.

“No one in the world knew better how vampires worked, how marks worked. He said —” The man falters, and for a moment Noé can see his walls fall apart, see the anger and the guilt. “He promised he would find a way to erase them—”

“And you believed him?” He crosses his arms, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

“No one had any reason to suspect him at the time — and he was the only option that didn’t involve making my twelve years old godchild a soldier.”

That...makes sense, actually. At least, to Noé it does, but he’s not the wronged party here and it’s not his place to say so. Astolfo hisses under his breath and takes a step forwards, seemingly ready to go for the man’s throat. Noé’s hold on his forearm tightens, so he settles for glaring at the man, not trying to fight Noé’s grip.

“I think you should leave,” he says again, though not as friendly. He bares his teeth, and Murr snarls.

Antonio glances between the three of them and shakes his head, resigned. “You should leave the country as well. I’ll do my best to come up with a slightly more believable story. Be grateful, there won't always be someone to cover for you.”

“We will manage.”

He doesn’t slam the door behind him but might as well have. The silence following his departure feels loud, and Noé doesn’t dare ask Astolfo about anything.

Astolfo suddenly relaxes, his shoulders sagging, and as he drops down on the bed Noé lets go of his arm. He stares up at Noé, wide eyed, shaken. “I didn’t want you to hear this.”

“Is it something you talked about earlier?”

The younger man nods. “I didn’t want you to—”

“I know, and I didn’t want to be here when you two aired your dirty laundry and yet here we are.” He sighs. “I thought you were going to attack him.”

Astolfo’s nose wrinkles as he grimaces. “I suppose I must thank you,” he mutters, and falls silent again. “For your assistance against the Chevalier and for holding me back.”

"You're welcome." Noé sits down on the desk chair, still facing him, and he lets out a small, closed eyed laugh. Astolfo narrows his eyes at him.

“What is it now?”

“You said we too .”

“Excuse me?”

“You said we would manage,” Noé says again, and grins. “As in you and I .”

“I—” he stops himself and sighs. “I guess I did say it.”

“I’m glad.” He is , truly, because it means that Astolfo has accepted his help, that he’s willing to let Noé work with him for the time being. “We should rest, then decide what to do next.”

#vnc #vanitas no carte #astolfoé #astonoé #noe archiviste #astolfo granatum #writing #story: let me live (let me die)

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rainbowdonkee · 5 years

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With 2019 coming to an end, I wanted to make a list of my personal top 10 video games that came out this decade. I was 12 in 2010, and now being 21 video games have always been important to me! Many of the games that are the most dearest to me sadly came out before 2010 (HG/SS barely made the cut with the NA release). I tried to not make recent releases be part of my bias (FE3H lol), plus there were many games such as Bioshock 2, Fallout New Vegas, DA2, ACNL, and many more that I love but this list would have been too long!

1. Dark Souls (2011)

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

3. Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (NA 2010)

4. NieR Automata (2017)

5. Final Fantasy XV (2016)

6. Bloodborne (2015)

7. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (2017)

8. Astral Chain (2019)

9. Granblue Fantasy (2014)

10. Deemo (2013)

Dark Souls: Although I haven’t really completed the game personally, I’ve seen many playthroughs and videos about the story and characters. Hidetaka Miyazaki is absolutely awesome in creating those fantasy worlds and characters, everything that Dark Souls ended up influencing was pretty groundbreaking. And the OST is always enjoyable to hear again.

Breath of the Wild: This game took quite a long time for Nintendo to release, and when it finally came out on the final year of the WiiU and the birth of the Switch... it was pretty emotional. Also to realize that Iwata-san never made it to see the rise of Nintendo’s success after the failure of the WiiU gets me everytime, but I hope he sees all the smiles and joy BOTW has brought since its release. The game changed not only what is a LOTZ game but what is an open world, I’ve played it twice and each time I picked it up was a new experience.

Pokemon HG/SS: This game was released around Fall 2009 in Japan, but for NA it was out in March 2010. I still remember the anticipation for Spring Break to arrive in order to spend all my week playing it! I never had the chance to play the original Gold/Silver, so everything was new to me. My 12 year old mind almost exploded when I ended up finishing the Johto League only to find out we were ALSO traveling to Kanto!!! I was shook! This game is amazing, and I’ll forever wait for them to somehow add our Pokemons following us around, that mechanic was so cute! And of course the OST is golden, and I can always listen to it and be brought back to those days.

NieR Automata: I never played any of the past NieR games (although I was aware of their existence). The first trailer I ever watched had the “Become as Gods” song so I was hooked from the start! And learning that PlatinumGames and Square Enix both developed the game made me hyped for its release. I love everything about it, the characters, story, music, themes. By the time I finished the game, it had brought me into a journey of questioning so many heavy topics about life...I really wasn’t expecting that about a game. Not going to lie it may or may not have brought me a mini existential crisis but with a game made my Yoko Taro can’t be too surprised.

Final Fantasy XV: The game I so often heard fabled tales since as back as 2009 and the hype was just building up for this game! I remember going to the movie theater when they were having special screenings for the Kingsglaive movie (I dragged my friend, little brother, and mom lol). The game went through so much, many cuts and changes were made but I personally ended up liking what we got. Still super sad that many unreleased DLC’s were cut off, but the love I have for the characters and music will always stay.

Bloodborne: Hey another Miyazaki game, what can you say...the man just makes brilliant games. He took everything I love about gothic, victorian era, and Lovecraftian esque and made this extraordinary game. I’m here hoping that maybe this 2020 we can hear a slither of news of Bloodborne 2, the theme for this game is too good for them to leave it as only one game.

Fire Emblem Echoes SoV: After the train wreck that was Fates, I literally was not expecting for us to get another FE title so soon! Japan waited 2 years for Echoes but thanks to localization giving us Fates in 2016, we got SoV a year later. I never heard of Fire Emblem Gaiden, before this game I never played any of the Japan only FE games, so when news was coming out about this title I tried 100% to AVOID it. Why? Because this was the first time I could start a FE game without personally knowing anything about it, and when I first played it, right from the start it felt so different, it didn’t felt like a Fire Emblem game (which isn’t bad at all). With the new art direction it also felt like a whole new world, I love Hidari and I hope we get to see them more in future FE games. The game had a simple plot which I didn’t held it against them, I knew this was a remake, and personally I’m glad they didn’t added things like an Avatar or S-Supports. They stayed true to its original source, and SoV will stay as my personal favorite FE game. Also Heritors of Arcadia will be the best vocal theme we got in FE series.

Astral Chain: Oh snap another PlatinumGames IP? This developers are just too good! Astral Chain came out of nowhere although I’ve heard it was worked on for a long time, supposedly even before NieR Automata was developed. I really enjoyed the game very much, from all the 2019 games that came out it caught my eye and I went in with not too many expectations but I had a good time. The story took a crazy turn and I could see some similar themes as NieR Automata but it held its own ground to become unique. The fighting mechanics were so much fun to play and the music was also awesome! I wish more people talked about this game since it is Nintendo’s new IP. I hope we can get the twins for Smash Ultimate!

Granblue Fantasy: I first new anything about Cygames back in 2016 when I saw the OP for Rage of Bahamut. After Seeing the OP for season 2, seeing Azazel in all his glory I knew I had to watch the anime! Luckilly Rage of Bahamut season 2 was continuing in 2017 so I was able to catch up just in time for its final 10 episodes. I LOVE Azazel and Kaisar and of course ROB Lucifer! Then to my surprise I found out about GBF, and I was dumb and thought the app was unavailable in the west which is technically true since you need a Japanese account to download the app which has an ENG text option. So it wasn’t until 2018 that I downloaded the game and started my journey through the sky. This gacha game literally changed what is a gacha game to me, the developers listen to fans, the community is fun, and just everything about this franchise is so great. I’m not a hardcore player so I’m not too worry about grids, I’m here for the cute husbands. (Lancelot, Sandalphon, Albert, Grimnir I lov u).

Deemo: I love this game, one of the best app games I’ve ever had. Back in the day I used to play TapTap Revenge and that was my first taste of rhythm games, Deemo brought me back to those types of apps. Whenever I was anxious I could always play this game and pass the time while keeping my mind busy. Plus without Deemo I would have never known artist’s such as Mili. The game is on the Switch which I’m so happy because I was able to just get all the songs without flooding my tablets storage space.

#i won't explain why these are my favs since it will literally turn into an essay #fire emblem echoes shadows of valentia #fire emblem echoes #dark souls #darksouls #botw #loz #the legend of zelda #pokemon heartgold #pokemon soulsilver #ffxv #nier automata #top 10 #bloodborne #astral chain #gbf #deemo #video games #list

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grimelords · 5 years

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There is no limit to how many good songs exist! There are just so many!

My June playlist is finished, and on time too! Please enjoy all manner of bangers from Dave Brubeck, Nelly Furtado and everyone in between.

listen here

Night And Day - Hot Chip: I’ve started a band with some friends and my friend Tiana (who has requested a special shoutout in this playlist and is currently receiving it!) suggested this as a song for us to learn and she was extremely right to do it! It’s extremely funky and probably the most i’ve ever liked Hot Chip because they’ve finally allowed themselves to be emotional and feel the most important emotion of all: horniness.

Infinity Guitars - Sleigh Bells: The other day a friend of mine said ‘hey whatever happened to Sleigh Bells?’ and guess what: they have five albums and continue to release new music as recently as last year. They seem to steadfastly refuse to advance their sound and you’ve got to give them props for that. When nobody else sounds anything like you the smartest thing you can do is double down on your own weird thing. I’ve always loved this song and am totally enamoured by whatever mixing trick it is that enables this song to start loud as fuck and somehow finish even louder no matter what volume you play it at.

Hurricane - Bob Dylan: I haven’t watched the Rolling Thunder Revue thing on Netflix yet but I’m excited to because this is a good Dylan era and I’m always down for more footage of the world’s freak Bobby D acting like a maniac. This song is a good example of how have no control over how music is consumed once you release it because this is ostensibly a serious and angry protest song about a great injustice but my greatest memory of it is for at least a month when I was in boarding school a guy in my dorm would play it every morning super loud and we would all yell the words along as we were getting dressed. Having a great time being fifteen and yelling happily about a miscarriage of justice.

Grindin' - Clipse: I started putting together a playlist of songs with super minimal or no pitched instrumentation that almost totally rely on the percussion and the vocals to carry it. Basically the Pharrell special because he did it on this and Drop It Like It’s Hot and I’m sure more songs of his I haven’t heard yet. But also songs like Lipgloss by Lil Mama, Fix Up Look Sharp by Dizzee Rascal, Tipsy By J-Kwon (almost if it didn’t have the baseline) and The Whisper Song by The Ying Yang Twins. There’s heaps more I’m sure. It was a real minimal style for a little while in the mid 2000s and I think it’s great. It gives you so much space in the mix and it’s a great lesson: if the beat is hot enough and you’ve got enough charisma to carry the vocal you don’t need anything else at all.

Rock Lobster - The B-52's: Did you know the guitar in this is tuned CFFFFF? Did you know this song is nearly 7 minutes long? Did you know The B-52s had a hit with this and then didn’t have another hit until Love Shack fully ten years later? Truly everything about this song is insane.

Johnny Irony - Bad//Dreems: I think ‘are you bleeding?’ is my favourite bit of pre-song hot mic dialogue i’ve ever heard. I love the energy of this song, and what a fun throwback it is to I guess reference Lead Belly’s ancient song about doing cocaine Take A Whiff On Me for a new modern twist on a song about doing cocaine.

Girls On Film - Duran Duran: Have you ever noticed how the bass in this song is absolutely popping off? It rocks. I listened to just the isolated bass track on youtube the other day and it’s my new favourite song. I’m having a big moment with this early eighties art-funk thing where someone figured out you could put huge funky basslines into rock music and completely changed the game.

Love - Lana Del Rey: I figured out this month that my vocal range seems to be just Lana Del Rey but an octave lower which is absolutely great news for anyone that wants to hear me sing this song in a cowboy voice in my car.

Want You In My Room - Carly Rae Jepsen: I am absolutely in love with this song and also absolutely furious at it. Absolutely in love with the way it’s written like a duet with herself, trading lines and overlapping and harmonising. The big ascending guitar line that leads into the chorus. I love how horny the lyrics are, I love the very 80s robot voice in the chorus who also wants to fuck. It’s just phenomenal, which brings me to the the think that makes me so furious: this song just fades out? After the second chorus just as the saxophone comes in? Just as it’s getting good???

Genevieve (Unfinished) - Jai Paul: It's just unbelievable how good this sounds. The bass sound. The way the whole mix seems to float around. The cuts to silence that feel like someone took a razor randomly to the master. It all culminates in this frenetic nervous energy that feels like the song could just fall apart and stop at any point. And it does! It just fades to silence and then comes back in as a totally different song near the end before fading away again.

Elephant Talk - King Crimson: King Crimson is on Spotify now and I’m comically striking them off my list of Bands I Have A Grudge Against For Not Being On Spotify. It’s always kind of surprised me that for someone who loved The Mars Volta as much as I did I never really had a big King Crimson phase. I always liked them fine, and I love this song, but I never really sat down and gave them a proper listen. Maybe now they’re on streaming that’s all about to change and my girlfriend will have to suffer accordingly.

Kids In The Dark - Bat For Lashes: Very excited for Bat For Lashes next album if this is an indication of the direction. She's always had a very hazy 80s feeling, so purposefully leaning into it is only going to be great.

CHORDS For Organ - Ellen Arkbro: My favourite lady is back with 15 minutes of rock solid chords. Something I've been thinking recently in regards to Ellen Arkbro and Holly Herndon is people who make pretentious art unpretentiously, truly believing in their process and outcomes but very aware of and fine with the fact that it's silly, useless or unlistenable to anyone who's not interested. Ellen Arkbro posted a photo of an organ on instagram the other day and wrote "turned out this was one of the biggest instruments in berlin and it was also connected up to two other organs in the same space. Despite that I ended up playing an extremely quiet version of my music. I don't really know how that happened. I will play a louder version in st giles cripple gate in london this saturday if you're around" She posts like Courtney Barnett about her experimental organ drone music, I just love it. As for the music itself I don't really know how to explain this other than if you let it it can be extremely overwhelming. It's also the closest I've come musically to Malevich's Black Square and how I feel about that, which is hard to explain properly other that to say I love it.

SWIM - Holly Herndon: I'm obsessed with this Holly Herndon album. It's just amazing though I think the marketing and a lot of the writing about it is sort of.. misleading? There's a lot of emphasis being put on the machine learning and AI aspects of it, which as undoubtedly good and cool as they are, are sort of overshadowing what's so good about this in a simple way which is that it's just choral music for the future. It feels like it reaches so far back and so far forward at the same time it's incredible.

Too Real/Television Screens - Fontaines D.C.: I really had to stop myself from putting the whole Fontaines DC album on here because quite literally every single song on this is amazing. Just when you think guitar music is well and truly dead it pulls you back in!! Also the way he says 'aaa' at the start of Too Real just absolutely kills me.

Dangerous Match Ten - Scientist: I forget where I read it but some bass player was saying she learned to play by listening to Scientist albums, and so that made me listen to Scientist for the first time and go on a long dub trail and have a very good and dangerous day where I thought “..what if I become a dub guy?”. It’s very good. I don’t know anything about dub really, we don’t really have the jamaican population here for it to have any cultural currency like it does in america and the UK so my biggest exposure is the Dub radio station from GTA III and San Andreas which I’m now learning was mostly made up of Scientist songs anyway. Anyway dub is good, please keep an eye one me and watch as this playlist evolves into me becoming an evangelical dub guy over the next few months and start calling everyone m’brethren in a racist way.

Lipitor - Longmont Potion Castle: Lipitor. This is unfortunately unavailable on Australian spotify which is a crime but if you're from anywhere else please enjoy.

A Lot’s Gonna Change/ Andromeda - Weyes Blood: I am having such a time with this Weyes Blood album. Yesterday I spent all day playing A Lot’s Gonna Change over and over and over and today I spent all day listening to Andromeda over and over and learning how to play it. I suspect this will happen to me with the entire album, it has a complete hold over me.

I’ve listened to Weyes Blood before and she’s never really grabbed me and so it took a lot of people rhapsodising about this one to get me to give it a go and I’m so glad I finally did. This album really took me by surprise, and looking back now I love the development of her sound: from her original spacy noisy thing to the bonafide soft rock of Front Row Seat To Earth to this - an expensive sounding 70s singer songwriter pop album of absolutely devastating beauty and inventiveness.

Wasting My Young Years - London Grammar: I think what's so interesting about this song is that it sounds like an acoustic cover of a trance song. I don't really know how to explain it better than that. The way the deceptively fast four on the floor drums come in, the sort of adult-contemporary The XX instrumentation, the whole structure of it, it feels like a BBC Live Lounge cover of some forgotten rave classic. I love it regardless but it's an odd song as well.

Left Hand - Beast Coast: Beast Coast is lames and I didn't make it more that halfway through the album. On the fourth song there's a verse where one of these guys is doing that rap thing of talking way to graphically about eating pussy. He says lick lick lick it's gross. Anyway this song rocks though. The beat is that perfect mix of hard as hell and a little bit spooky and I love any song where one million guys do like four lines each.

Hung Up - Madonna: In the wake of not listening to Madame X I've been reflecting on how it's been 15 years since Madonna's last true banger, Hung Up, and in my opinion she's a legend forever for this song alone. Do you remember the Madonna x Gorillaz performance at the 2006 Grammys? Where she walked BEHIND the hologram? She still has so much to teach us.

Never Fight A Man With A Perm - IDLES: I love just how purely sweaty man muscle this song is. 'concrete to leather' are you kidding me?? That's the coolest shit I've ever heard. 'You look like you're from Love Island' also quite good.

Speakers Going Hammer - Soulja Boy: I was listening to this the other day and had to keep stopping and rewinding because of how advanced the flow is when he says 'Style swift hot like it's July 10th/Fly chick in my whip with nice tits/Her boyfriend paid for it, I didn't" he's like five minutes in front of the beat and combined with the internal assonance it just sounds sick as hell.

African Woman - Ebo Taylor: Man goes ham on toy piano must see

(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone - The Monkees: My friend Tiana (who I've mentioned twice now!) came to band practice and said she saw The Monkees last night. I thought no, that's impossible. The Monkees are all long dead, forgotten legends from a forgotten age. BUT I was wrong! Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz, the surviving Monkees tour to this day! And she introduced me to this great song which we learned for the band! Monkees forever!

Whoo! Alright! Yeah! .. Uh Huh - The Rapture: Somehow as time goes on this song becomes more and more important to me and more and more groovy.I used to think life’s a bitter pill but it’s a grand old time. Now that’s wisdom.

World Of Stone/Loinclothing - Hunters And Collectors: I've been getting very heavily into early Hunters And Collectors over the last couple of months. I think I put Loinclothing on last months playlist as well but fuck it, it's great. It's so primal and raw it feels like the first caveman who learned to talk fronting a band of cavemen who sing songs about caveman issues and passion. I love the incredibly wide open sound the drums and bass have and the fidgety guitar combined with the unhinged vocals creates this really unique ambience of menace and power without ever getting particularly busy and losing the spaciousness. Feels like yelling about monkeys on a wide open desert plain.

Coisa No. 10 - Marcello Gonçalves and Anat Cohen: I found this song ages ago on ABC Jazz I think, and I absolutely love the intricacies of it. It twists and folds in on itself over and over and over without ever losing the groove or relaxing into anything easy. There's so much tension in it even though the melody and groove are so fun, it's a great mix. I also found out it's from an album that's a tribute to someone I'd never heard of before named Moacir Santos, so I got the great joy of discovering his music via this song as well.

Monologue/Nana - Moacir Santos: Moacis Santos, as I understand it, was one of Henry Mancini's film composition assistants and also the guy that taught all the Boss Nova geniuses like Sergio Mendes. I love this Monologue where he tells the story of a mystical vision that inspired this song, which you assume being inspired by a vision would be of mythical importance and weight and but instead sounds like the theme to a cartoon about a grandma who has superpowers.

Weird People - Little Mix: I need more info about the identity of the robot voice in this song. What is his relationship to the singer. He starts off antagonistic: “get off the wall” then commenting on what happened to her: “fell off the wall” then just echoing her: “on the other side” then becoming her “i’m living my life”. It’s complicated and hard to explain but I believe the robot voice in this song is god. Anyway this song is a masterpiece. It’s an incredibly goofy and great piece of 80s revival that imagines a glorious alternate future where Oh Yeah by Yello is the template for all pop music.

3 Legged Dog - Marisa Anderson: Marisa Anderson used to write songs with words here and there among her instrumentals but it seems that over the last couple of albums she’s decided to stick to instrumentals only which I think is a shame. She’s obviously brilliant at it but I’d hate to be missing out on beautiful little slices like this. I love how small time this song is, it feels like a song you’d sing to yourself more than a song for anyone else.

Nighttime Suite - Adam Gnade & Demetrius Francisco Antuña: Adam Gnade is a guy I’ve been following for about ten years now who seems determined to stay obscure. He self-releases all his stuff in limited editions or on cassettes, some of my favourite things he’s ever done don’t seem to be available anywhere digitally any more (if they ever were). I remember years ago he seemed hard up for cash and he ran a deal on his website called a ‘lifetime subscription’ where if you sent him I think $100 he would send you everything he’s ever done AND would continue to send you everything he made in the future for the rest of his life. It was absolutely great, I would get CD-Rs and tapes and zines and things delivered randomly to my mailbox every so often for a couple of years and they were all fantastic. I guess at some point my lifetime subscription lapsed because he’s released a bunch of stuff I haven’t heard or read but that’s ok, you shouldn’t be able to buy someone’s eternal soul for $100.

Adam Gnade has developed his own style of folk music where he just recites a sort of prose poetry over music and it’s incredible. In the hands of anyone else it could feel overly pretentious, and he pretty often rides that line. He’s reaching for a sort of poet laureate of Americana ideal but very often he actually grabs it. His writing is great and magnifies the minor details of normal life into larger symptoms of the American mindset, like depression-era songs of marginalised and exploited people individualised and updated for the modern era. Most of the time he backs himself on a lazily strummed guitar or banjo and his music sounds like sitting on the front step or laying down in the tall grass, but for this song he’s teamed up with Demetrius Francisco Antuña for some real Godspeed feeling dark soundscapes and it’s really something.

We Are The Same - Lurch And Chief: I think it's a damn shame that Lurch And Chief broke up before they even put an album out because this song is a damn classic and I have begun praying every day for the return of Lurch and/or Chief. I love a big voice and there's two distinctly huge voices in this song fighting for position.

983/Near DT, MI - Black Midi: Fucking hell I love this Black Midi album. I'm so, so glad it exists. It feels like the next generation of the Slint Hella, Tera Melos etc lineage of math rock and I simply can't get enough of it. Pump it directly into my veins I'm obsessed with it.

Take Control - Amerie: I just screamed out loud in my car hearing this song for the first time because it samples Jimmy, Renda Se by Tom Zé one of my absolute favourite songs ever. And samples it amazingly, totally transforms it into something new while keeping the spirit of the original. Do you ever feel like a song was just made for you personally? It’s a very kind thing of my vlogger wife Amerie to do for me but I guess that’s just how she is. Also, thanks to Spotify’s new feature where you can see the actual credits for songs I got to find out that Hall And Oates are credited on this because it basically interpolates the the whole verse melody from You Make My Dreams Come True which I didn’t even realise until I looked up why they were credited.

Unsquare Dance - Dave Brubeck: Dave Brubeck's brain is huge. I can't belive it's possible to make 7/4 this funky. How come nobody else ever ripped off this rhythm? It deserves to be a whole genre. I also totally love the piano solo near the end where it turns into like a funky 7/4 stride and then abruply ends with a shave and haircut like it's 1925.

Suddenly - French Vanilla: Get a load of this fucking slice of dance punk that Discover Weekly served me up. I haven't even listened ot the album yet because I just love this song so much I'm stuck on it. Singing "I like the nightlife! I'm in the spotlight!" like you're being hunted with a knife? Incredible. The impromptue glossolalia about halfway through? Incredible. Everything about the saxophone? Incredible

Maneater - Nelly Furtado: There's nothing deft or subtle about Timbaland. Everything he does is just so heavy handed and thick. The drums in this are so straightforward and they sound like garbage cans.. Nothing ever plays at he same time as anything else . It's like a gorilla learned to play and it's absolutely fucking sick. And then the whole rest of the song! His insanely thick buzzy synth lines against the big beautifully stack clean harmonies

I, The Witchfinder - Electric Wizard: I've been getting back into Skyrim because I have a little worm living in my brain and I've discovered a good trick is to turn off the game music and turn on Electric Wizard instead. It increases the ambience because it feels like if you did an x-ray of the Dragonborn's head this is all that would be in there. It's just stoner metal in there and no other thoughts.

Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust: Can you believe how lucky we are to live in a world where the greatest song ever written is finally available on spotify? You can just listen to this any time of the night or day and immediately improve your life.

Don’t Chew - Spilled Oats: Here’s a very good and underexplored idea: what if guitar music but it sounds like chopped and screwed? Absolutely dynamite.

As an extra bonus treat here the absolute best ever chopped and screwed channel I’ve found on youtube, please explore Scobed & Robed: https://www.youtube.com/user/scottalexanderburton

listen here

#playlists

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askspsupers · 5 years

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Where do you guys fight crime?

[Guardian suddenly springs up, seemingly wide awake.]

Guardian: That depends a lot! We usually just fight wherever the enemy shows up, which is usually public spaces- the town square, city hall, banks, that kinda thing.

Galaxy Girl: As for time, I prefer fighting at night- in the daytime, I can only use my sun magic, which isn't always the right choice.

Flagitio: I like fighting at night too. Makes it easier to hide.

Tecton: I don't really care either way!

Lady Noument: Speaking of which...

[A loud beeping sound emerges from Noument's laptop.]

Lady Noument: Seems we've got an attack. The news reports are saying it's...Psypaper.

Scarlet Sentinel: Ugh, that guy? He never seems to quit...Why can't he just stay locked up?

Lady Noument: I agree...luckily, as long as you don't let him get into your head, he's not too tough to deal with. Will you guys be okay while I'm gone?

Rosethorn: Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?

[Flagitio leans forward.]

Flagitio: I can go with-

[Realist abruptly stands up.]

Realist: No! I-I'll do it.

[Lady Noument shrugs.]

Lady Noument: No complaints here. With me, Realist. Stay on your toes, though- you never know who might be lurking in the shadows to surprise us.

[Realist glances back at Flagitio.]

Realist: You don't have to tell me twice.

[Lady Noument and Realist exit.]

Guardian: Yo, Rosethorn. You wanna head out too? I think it's about time we get this Agent Equanimity guy on our side.

Rosethorn: Oh! S-sure. I think Lady Noument said he'd be at...Dark Meadows Estates!

Guardian: Gotcha! Everybody else, hold down the fort while we're gone. We'll probably be back after ya answer a couple questions, so don't miss me too much!

[The two move together and exit. Tecton looks over at the empty space next to him now that Realist is gone. The Scarlet Sentinel moves over and sits next to him. Flagitio continues to lurk on his own, while Galaxy Girl absentmindedly practices some of her star magic.]

[Guardian, Rosethorn, Lady Noument, and Realist will be temporarily unavailable for asks. After one ask is answered, Lady Noument and Realist will complete their task and return. After two asks, Guardian and Rosethorn will complete theirs and return.]

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invenblocker · 5 years

Text

Ratchet & Clank in Smash

I originally wanted to make a video about this, but PS3 is a bitch that uses HDCP to deny my capture card, so I can’t really record any footage to show off the source for the moves.

Moveset

General

Ratchet & Clank are a lightweight fighter with slightly above average movement speed, decent jump height and excellent aerial drift as well as a decently speedy fast fall.

Ratchet & Clank have one midair jump.

While Ratchet & Clank have a high dash speed, their dash startup is a bit on the slow end. Ratchet & Clank slides a bit when they stop. Because the dash is Ratchet deploying his hoverboots, if the duo dashes off a platform, they will also temporarily fall slower.

When holding down the jump button and moving downwards, Clank will deploy the helipack, drastically lowering the pair’s falls speed and slightly lowering aerial drift. The duo cannot fastfall while using the heli-pack in this manner.

Ratchet & Clank can wall jump.

Neutrals

Jab: Ratchet swings the omniwrench in front of him. This move can be inputted up to three times in a row for the classic three swing omniwrench combo (three horisontal hits in front of him).

Ftilt: Walloper: Ratchet hits in front of him with the Walloper. This moves Ratchet & Clank forwards with a large circular hitbox in front of them. Decent launch (kills at 80% at ledge?), but only deals about the same damage as a single hit from the jab combo.

Dtilt: Comet Strike: Ratchet throws the Omniwrench in front of him and it boomerangs back to him. The move can be reflected but not pocketed, inhaled, swallowed or anything else that permanently or temporarily removes a projectile. Anything that would destroy a projectile will instead force it to return. It tracks back to Ratchet & Clank perfectly regardless of how they move (which is bad news for them if it’s reflected). Jab, dtilt, utilt, dair, uair and utaunt are unavailable until the wrench returns to Ratchet.

Utilt: Ratchet makes an arching swing with the Omniwrench above his head. While not really referencing any specific moves in the source material, it is a fairly standard utilt.

FSmash: Negotiator: Ratchet pulls out the negotiator and fires it once the button is released. This fires a single projectile with the appearance of two rockets. The projectile flies straight forward unaffected by gravity and explodes on impact. If the move is charged, the projectiles will travel faster.

DSmash: Ground Pound: Clank charges up the thruster pack. When the move is released, the duo will shoot into the air very briefly and then immediately crash back down and create a shock wave.

USmash: Plasma Whip: Ratchet pulls out the Plasma whip and when the move is released, whirls it above his head.

Aerials

Nair: Pyrocitor: Ratchet spins around firing the Pyrocitor causing flames to erupt around him (note, much shorter range than the actual in game pyrocitor)

Fair: Concussion Gun: Ratchet fires the Concussion Gun in front of him. This move has a large cone shaped hitbox, but has very diminishing damage and knockback with distance, requiring Ratchet to be really up close to get an effective hit off.

Dair: Hyper Strike: Ratchet & Clank very briefly stop their momentum as Ratchet raises the Omniwrench above his head, then swings it down as the duo come crashing down with the wrench in front of them. People hit by the wrench are meteored down with the pair. When Ratchet & Clank hit the ground, a shockwave is emitted from the wrench dealing further damage and launching those caught up in it upwards and in the direction Ratchet & Clank are facing.

Bair: Holo Knuckle: Clank punches backwards with the Holo Knuckle. The move has a somewhat large square hitbox, but deals little damage and launch.

Uair: Ratchet makes a horizontal spin of the Omniwrench above his head.

Specials

Neutral-B: Combuster: Ratchet fires the Combuster. While the button is held, Ratchet will keep firing. The gun fires at about the same rate as Joker’s gun, but fires projectiles that move at a somewhat slow, but still decently fast speed. The projectiles can be aimed freely by tilting the stick, and gun dodges can be performed by flicking (smash inputting) it. Each projectile deals about 8% on hit, but not very much launch or hitstun (although neither will decrease with distance).

Side-B: Tesla Coil: Ratchet fires the Tesla Coil, shooting out a slow moving projectile. While a direct hit from the projectile does deal meaty damage and launch (slightly weaker than a fully charged Samus neutral-B, although the much slower movement speed makes it easier to avoid), the projectile will deal slight damage to enemies close to it as it travels, although only a direct hit will have any knockback.

Down-B: Holoshield: Ratchet throws out a small gravity affected projectile. The throw can be angled. The projectile is completely harmless dealing neither damage, launch or knockback. When it hits the ground, it will create a vertical shield wall. Anyone can walk through this shield wall unharmed, however all projectiles not shot by Ratchet will be unable to go through it. When a projectile is stopped by the shield, it will deal its damage to the shield. The shield has 100 HP but loses 10 HP each second (meaning it can at most be out for 10 seconds).

Up-B: Swingshot: Ratchet shoots out the swingshot, making for a tether recovery. This cannot be used to command grab, unlike Joker’s tether.

Other

Grab: Either a standard grab or a swingshot assisted one. When Ratchet successfully grabs an opponent, Clank jumps off his back and stands on his shoulder.

Pummel: Clank punches the opponent Ratchet is holding.

All Throws: Ratchet sucks up the opponent with the suck cannon and immediately shoots them in the desired direction.

Dash Attack: Razor Claws: Ratchet dives forward with the Razor Claws in front of him.

Ledge getup: Blowtorch Briefcase: Clank fires the Blowtorch brief case over Ratchet’s shoulder as he climbs up.

Final Smash: Time Bomb and R.Y.N.O: Clank throws out a time bomb exploding on impact or after traveling for a set amount of time. If anyone is caught within it, a cutscene starts in which Ratchet pulls out the R.Y.N.O. and rains hell upon their unfortunate victims.

Cosmetic

Utaunt: Ratchet throws his wrench from one hand to the other, then up in the air and catches it again.

STaunt: Ratchet collects a rare bolt.

DTaunt: Ratchet Looks at his shoe, scrapes it on the ground a bit and then first hits the side of it with the Omniwrench before scraping it with it.

Victory theme: Dreadzone, Challenge Complete

Victory Animations

Ratchet kneels down and holds out his palm and Clank jumps up to high five it.

Ratchet yawns in the background while Clank makes a snide comment followed up with his trademark laugh.

Ratchet calls one of his allies and reports that he’s done.

Outfits

1. The default outfit from Tools of Destruction

2. The outfit from the 2002 video game

3. The Electrosteel Armor from Going Commando

4. The Aegis Mark V Armor from Up Your Arsenal

5. The Holoflux Armor from a Crack in Time

6. The Protosuit from the 2016 video game

7. The Nether Armor from Into the Nexus

8. Ratchet wears his Marauder Armor from Deadlocked with Clank wearing his tuxedo from Secret Agent Clank.

The appearance of the rare bolt collected by Ratchet varies with costume.

The appearance of the Swingshot and Omniwrench varies with costume.

The ship used in the intro animation varies with costume.

Who Ratchet addresses in his call varies with costume.

The appearance of the R.Y.N.O. varies with costume, being replaced with the Arbiter in costume 8.

Classic Mode: Going Commando

Snake on Shadow Moses Island

Samus on Brinstar

Chrom and Robin in Arena Ferox

Megaman on Dr. Wily’s Castle

Fox and Falco on Lylat

Pit and Dark Pit on Skyworld

Bonus Stage

Galleom

Stage: Dreadzone Arena

A central platform made of six adjecent connected segments floating on top of lava. The lava extends all of the way to the side blast zones and will damage and launch you upwards on contact, this launch is fixed independently of damage and weight.

Segment 2 and 5 will occassionally start to flare up for two seconds, after which they shoot flames upwards, making them and the space above them hazardous.

Hit the lava three times in a row without touching ground and you will sink, losing your stock.

The lava extends all the way to the side blast zones.

Two floating platforms that occasionally rock a bit after which they flip upside down. Their underside is a hazard, so when upside down, this hazard makes them inaccessible. Each platform is as wide as one segment and they float on the borders between platforms 1 and 2 and between platforms 5 and 6.

The crowd can be heard cheering whenever a strong attack is landed, the stronger the hit, the louder the cheer.

When an assist trophy is summoned, the commentator can be heard introducing its entry and shouting out its name.

When stage hazards are turned off, the lava is gone turning the central platform into a giant floating platform. Segment 2 and 5 will no longer shoot flames, and the floating platforms have been turned into standard semisolids.

Spirits

Ratchet (Fighter Spirit)

Clank (Fighter Spirit)

Alister Azimuth

Captain Qwark

Captain Slag

Chairman Drek

Cronk & Zephyr

Dr. Nefarious

Lord Vorselon

Percival Tachyon

Rusty Pete

Sasha Phyronix

Talwyn Apogee

Mr. Zurkon

Potential Items

Suck Cannon: The suck cannon can suck in opponents, items and projectiles and shoot them out shortly after. Projectiles will be considered reflected by the user and items will be considered thrown by the user (meaning that if you for instance pick up a pokéball, it will release a Pokémon on your side) and consumable items are consumed upon being sucked in.

Alpha Disruptor: A giant laser that has to be charged before firing. Can be angled slightly up or down during the charging period.

Assist Trophy: Mr. Zurkon

Will hover around the summoner instead of moving freely.

Automatically shoots strong fast moving projectiles at enemies who get too close to the user.

After shooting a series of projectiles, makes a barage finisher shooting a larger projectile with great launch.

Can be KO’ed, but doing so is difficult as he moves a bit irratically, plus the user can move out of the way of attacks and take Zurkon with them.

#ratchet and clank #super smash bros #ultimate #super smash brothers #smash ultimate

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shirewalker · 6 years

Note

nikolina + 5

IT IS HERE! AT LAST!!

And it’s steamy. And LONG (+5k xD) and scifi!!

+ “I thoughtI lost you.”

Rated E ;)

Alina wasnot one to admit out loud to be wrong, although it was known to happen. But notwhen it came to Nikolai Lantsov. The captain of the Volkvolny, the fastest shipin the galaxy. And also the man that had stolen her and her friends away fromthe clutches of a mogul wishing to milk their powers for his personal profit.

Now, Alinawas thankful for the pirat—privateer to have saved her and her friends when hehad little to gain from it. Just the bounty the Darkling had put out forwhoever could find the missing Grisha ambassadors. But the man wasinsufferable, had an ego larger than his ship, and worst of if all… He washandsome. So handsome it made her want to throw food at him. Especially theherring Tamar and Harshaw seemed so fond of, a mystery no saint would everdiscover.

But NikolaiLantsov was also a brilliant and good man and, surprisingly, a good friend.When she didn’t feel like throttling him for his endless flirtation, Alina heldconversations with him that she couldn’t with anyone else. Not even with herold friend, Genya. Saints knew he was the opposite of Mal… The differencebetween these two men was that Nikolai supported every part of her. And this iswhere she was forced to admit to be wrong. She liked Nikolai, she had grownfond of the mischievous captain and his elaborate speeches and his annoyinglybeautiful hazel eyes and that hair so golden it had to be fake. And she had beenso sure she wouldn’t even consider him… cute. Or a close friend. Or even… more.

However,the universe and the oldest of saints have a strange sense of humour. Becausenow that Alina was growing used to her feelings for Nikolai… The captain haddisappeared.

They hadstopped by the Keramzinian service station, one that looked more like a tinymoon than an actual service station. Nikolai had gone to make some paymentswhile Tamar handled the refuelling. Alina had gone with him, just because he’dtold her there was a place where she could find art supplies and she hadn’tbeen able to resist that pull. Now, nearly three hours after waiting by theirmeeting spot, Alina was growing worried.

Theartificial rain poured just a few steps away from her as she nursed the mug ofcoffee she’d eventually purchased. The small hotel café was growing empty bynow, the guests having moved back to their rooms or to the restaurant in the undergroundlevel, where the walls were made of glass, a lovely fish tank circling theroom. Alina only knew of this because the café, in the ground level, had alovely ad showing up once in a while, trying to interest passers-by with thenovelty of the restaurant design. Having waited so long, Alina could have gonedownstairs to eat a proper meal, but Nikolai could show up any minute… so shestayed here, drinking the fifth cup of coffee in the night.

“Miss?” Awaitress came to her side, “Are you…” the woman frowned, “Miss Sunshine?”

Alinablinked at the name, stumped when the nickname the idiotic captain had givenher was spoken by anyone but him. Then it dawned on her… Nikolai...! “Yes, Iam. Is something wrong?”

Thewaitress wasn’t sure how to answer, “I don’t know, miss. But a message came foryou. ‘Return to ship. Tell Tamar to go to the Spinning Blade at once.’” Shefinished the message, her expression showing some concern. It was clearlysupposed to not raise alarm, but either Nikolai hadn’t bothered with keeping itsecretive or he… hadn’t had the time.

Alina paidthe coffees and tipped the waitress for her work, “Thank you. Huh...” shehesitated, “Do you have an umbrella?”

Thewaitress nodded, “I have mine. Do you need it?”

“I’d ratherpay for it.” She felt bad enough to take someone else’s umbrella, paying for itwould be the only fair option.

Thewaitress shook her head, “You can take it, I just started my shift. When it’sover, the rain will be over as well. It’s scheduled to end around three in themorning.” She eyed the street, illuminated by neon lights, “Though they’renever punctual with the announced minutes.”

Alina tookthe umbrella and tipped the waitress again before disappearing into thestreets. For a few minutes she walked briskly towards the ship, but then shepassed by a hologram map of the station and a thought came to her. Nikolai hadasked just for Tamar’s presence. Maybe it wasn’t as serious as her nerves hadmade it sound. Alina stepped to the map’s little gazebo and cleared her throat,“Direct call to the Volkvolny.”

“That willbe 37 credits.” An electronic voice answered.

“Paid indestination.”

A beep and,“Calling. Please wait. Would you like a privacy shield?”

Alinalooked around. Not many people walked about, many just walking away from therain as fast as they cool. She turned back to the hologram, “No.”

“Verywell.”

A fewseconds passed by before a rough voice answered, “Who calls?”

“Tolya, it’s Alina. Where’s Tamar?”

“Outside,waiting for you and the captain. Where are you?”

“Downtown.Is Tamar supposed to bring anything to him?”

“Not that Iknow of. The captain took everything needed for the transactions. Is there anyproblem?”

“I don’tknow. I—” The hologram fell silent.

“Call lost.Due to the heavy rainstorm communications are unavailable. Would you likeanything else?”

Alinaalmost said no but Tolya’s answer and worried tone had put her nerves on edge,“Tell me where I can find the Spinning Blade.”

“TheSpinning Blade.” The map announced with a red dot on a lower city level,“Located on level 002. Would you like more information?”

“Yes.”

“Unknown.”

Well,wasn’t that dainty… Alina sighed, “Give me a route.”

“Calculatingthe best route.” A beep and soon a green line was moving from her spot to theSpinning Blade. The hologram remained silent, waiting for Alina’s next command.

“Is there asafe and fast way to get there?”

Thehologram beeped for a moment, translating her question into an order, “Aprivate elevator is available for you. It’ll take you directly to the SpinningBlade. Would you like to call it? It’ll be 58 credits.”

Alinasighed, “Bill it to the Volkvolny.” She hadn’t brought enough money for thesethings, so she hoped Tolya wouldn’t mind taking in these surprise bills for thetime being. She would pay back, of course.

A wooshingsound came from her left and when she turned a tube of glass had appeared inthe corner of the map’s little house. Alina hated these elevators. Everythingwas see-through and simply… terrifying. But the thought that Nikolai could behurt… Her heart ached with fear. She took a deep breath and stepped into thething, hoping the journey would be quick.

TheSpinning Blade seemed to be… an illegal gambling spot. Alina wasn’t sure ifthis surprised her or not. Nikolai hadn’t seemed like the gambling kind, atleast not in this kind of things, so it was a bit odd to find him here.

A windowshattered as a mass of something flew through it. Alina swallowed a scream andhid in the shadows before realising it was… “Nikolai…!” Without thinking asecond thought, she rushed to his side as he climbed to his knees and spit outblood. “Oh saints. Are you all right?”

Nikolai’shazel eyes found hers, dark with adrenaline which was quickly replaced bysurprise and worry, “What the hell are you doing here, sunshine? I told you togo back!” He searched the darkened street, “And Tamar?”

“She’s nothere…” Alina winced, no longer sure of her stupid plan. It wasn’t even a plan,it was just… irrational worry. “I was close. I thought…”

Nikolailooked over his shoulder and stood on wobbly legs, “No matter. We have toleave.”

“Are yousure you’re all right?”

“I’mperfect, sunshine. Want to make sure?” He winked, though the strength of histease was like a damp piece of coal trying to catch fire.

Alina cuthim a look, “I’m serious. You flew through a window and spit blood.”

He grabbedher hand and took her through a dark side street, “I’m spectacular, Alina. ButI won’t be for long if we don’t catch that elevator again.”

“Didn’t itgo back?”

“How muchdid you pay?”

“Fiftyeight.”

“Then itmight still be there. You pay for distance but also time. Aha!” He beamed atthe sight of the glass tube. “A wonderful system, don’t you agree?”

“Anightmare.”

“Come now,it’s efficient. Go on, ask for it to open. It probably answers only to you still.”

Alinagroaned. Efficient… “Elevator. Open.”

The dooropened without a sound and the two stepped inside. The space was barely enoughfor both of them, but Alina was too worried with Nikolai’s health to overthinkabout this little fact.

“TheSpinning Wheel square.” Nikolai asked and soon they were flying through thegrid of elevators.

“Oh, youfound your friend!” The waitress beamed as the two walked in.

“Yes,here’s your umbrella. Thank you so much.”

“Noproblem. Is there anything else you need?”

“Yes.”Nikolai answered, “We’d like a room for the night. A private one. And anuntraceable phone line for the duration of our stay as well.”

Thewaitress nodded, taking them to the room booth, “And would you like automatedroom service or the classic service?” She asked as she tapped on the screen.

“What’syour opinion on the automated service?”

She pausedfor a moment, surely unused to clients asking for her opinion, “Oh. It’s good.Though I wouldn’t recommend it on Sundays. Too many clients, so the food isnever as good. Today the menu is delicious. Grilled salmon. Tomato soup. Blini,my favourite.”

“Thenautomated room service it is.”

She tappedone last time and a card slid out of the booth. “Your room is room 307. Theelevator will take you there. Enjoy your stay.”

Alinafollowed Nikolai, dying for a moment of privacy to make a tiny question. Thedoors closed, “What the hell?!”

Nikolaihummed to the elevator music before turning to her, “We can’t go back to theship yet, Alina. They know me. Staying in a hotel that offers anonymity is ourbest chance. And since they don’t know you’re with me, if we stay together thenthe chances of being found are even less.”

“Whathappened down there? Why did you need Tamar but when I got there you fled likea scolded kid?”

“Tamar canhandle that place. You can’t.”

“Like hellI can’t. I’m not a coddled princess!”

Theelevator pinged and the doors opened with a swooshing sound, “I know, sunshine.But you didn’t go there prepared for that place, you only went… Why did you come?” He asked, pausing bytheir door.

A violentblush took over her cheeks. Answering this question would mean giving in to anattraction that she kept denying to his face. Not answering would only make himsuspicious and eventually find the truth. Either way, Alina wasn’t walking outof this without having her feelings known. She looked away, “I… I was worried.Scared. I thought… When you flew out that window I thought you were seriouslyhurt. I thought…”

“Alina?” Heasked when her silence stretched on forever.

“I thoughtI lost you, ok?!” She screamed before covering her mouth with both hands, hereyes widening with shock at her own outburst. Not that she didn’t scream oranything, but it usually didn’t involve admitting this kind of truths.

Nikolaiblinked twice before a smile slowly grew on his lips, “Alina…”

“Are yougoing to open that door today or not?” She interrupted him before he couldshower her with his famous teases.

Nikolai nodded and swiped the card. She walkedpast him in a flash before stopping short at the sight of just one bed. Ohsaints, right. They were checked in as a couple. “So, about that thing you justsaid…” He sat on the bed, wincing slightly as his sore body finally met anothersurface.

Alina was ready to deny saying anything, buther worries seemed to take over any other thought, “Are you sure you’re fine?”She eyed the bloody lip, split by a punch, no doubt.

“Well…” He removed his shoes painfully slowly,“I am a bit banged up, but nothing that in the morning won’t be better,sunshine. After all, I am the captain.”

She rolled her eyes and went to get a damptowel, “How does that work with you being hurt? Does being a captain of a shipsuddenly grant you immunity?” She called from the bathroom, ignoring theluxurious bathtub that called for her.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. But it does mean I havehad to grow a thicker skin.” His eyes fell on the damp towel when she returned,“Plus, I have been through worse, sunshine. No need to worry too much.” Henodded at the towel, “Is that for me?”

“Not if you’re fine.”

Suddenly Nikolai made a pained face and leanedback on his elbows, moaning for good measure, “Saints, Alina… I think I’mdying… Please, sunshine… Help me.”

Alina didn’t know whether to roll her eyes orlaugh at this theatricals. She chose scoffing as she sat next to him and forcedhim to sit back up, “Come on. We need to clean that cut before it infects.” Shesaw his knuckles, “And those too.”

“My saviour.” A corner of his mouth curled upin a smile that made her heart skip a handful of beats.

Alina watched his face for a moment, lookingfor any other injuries while ignoring those eyes of his. Satisfied there wereno more bruises, she lifted the towel to his lip. His swollen but still lushand enticing lip. Saints damn her. She was avoiding his eyes and that hazelthat made her think of emeralds and the sea and honey and gold and other sillycomparisons and now she was stuck with watching his mouth. His infuriatingmouth. And the way it curved to one side with that strange smile, and the pinkshade that made her think of kisses under the sheets and behind library shelves.

Slowly she wiped away the dried blood, takingextra care not to open the wound any deeper. It had stopped bleeding and itreally didn’t need another excuse to spill any more blood. Nikolai hissed. AndAlina quickly put the towel away, “Does that hurt?”

He winced, “A little, yes.”

“We should have asked for some first aid.” Shesaid, raising the towel back up.

“We couldn’t, sunshine. Ouch...!” He hissedagain before pushing the towel away, “I believe the towel has helped enough. Itwon’t make it better than it is.”

“Then I guess dinner will have to help when itcomes. I don’t have anything else to help you.”

Nikolai’s secretive smile turned mischievous,“Well, I have heard rumours that kisses can make it better rather quickly.”

Alina’s stomach fluttered, “Would you like meto kiss it better?”

His eyes flickered to her mouth, “I wouldn’tcomplain.”

She threw the towel at him, “Well, I’m not yourmother. Want a kiss? Do better than getting yourself hurt.” She stood.

But Nikolai caught her hand and soon she wasflopping back to the bed, “Are you really cross with me, sunshine?”

Alina ignored him for as long as she could, butthat hand remained on her wrist and those eyes continued to search for hers.She huffed, “Yes. I am. Very… cross.”

Nikolai rose her hand to his lips and kissedher palm, “I’m so sorry, Alina. I shouldn’t have worried you.” He kissed theinside of her wrist and Alina’s heart stopped working properly, “I should haveknown to go there prepared for the worst scenario.” He kissed her knuckles, “Itwas a stupid decision on my part, sunshine. I deeply regret it.” He was back onher palm, slowly pressing his lips to her skin, as if this was the most importanttask the captain had ever had to do. As if it was the only thing he lived for.

Alina, on the other hand, was close to dying.His kisses were driving her crazy. Her heart, her mind… her body. Oh saints,there were parts of her body that were tingling and pulsing with anticipationright now and all he was doing was kiss her hand. Thoroughly. As if this wasthe height of kisses.

“Would you like me to kiss it better,sunshine?” He rasped, his eyes finally finding hers.

Alina’s mind was blank. No words came out. Noteven a snarky remark. But she knew what she wanted. And that suggestion was…rather… appealing. She nodded.

“Speechless. I have to say you do that do mesometimes too, Alina.” He put her hand back on her lap and cupped her nape,“You make a fool out of me. A speechless fool.” He whispered as he leaned in,his breath teasing her with the promise of a kiss that seemed eager to stretchtime before happening at all.

And then, it happened.

The first thing Alina noticed was the metallictang of blood, blended with the taste of coffee as Nikolai slowly pressed hislips to hers. It was a tender kiss, one asking for permission again and again.He pressed and pulled, his mouth gliding over hers as their lips grewacquainted with each other and more daring.

A groan grew in the back of his throat asNikolai’s hand knotted into her hair and he deepened the kiss, his body leaninginto hers, his other hand on the small of her back and pulling her closer.Alina let out a moan and circled his neck with her harms, eyes rolling in theirsockets as his tongue met hers and made her see stars. Saints, this wasincredible. It was like tasting only the best things in the world, likewitnessing the birth of a star or opening her palms and illuminating the world.Her blood rushed faster and faster in her veins, pumping harder with each teaseof Nikolai’s tongue, with each pull of his wicked mouth and each second theyleaned lower into the bed.

Alina took in a shuddered breath of fresh airwhen the kiss was broken, her lips missing Nikolai already. But not a momentlater his mouth was on her skin again, lacing her jaw and neck with kisses thatwent from chaste and tender to hot and passionate. Her skin tingled withanticipation, her throat echoing sounds that drove Nikolai lower and lower.

He was at her cleavage when the kissing slowedto halt. His breath was hot against her skin for a handful of heartbeats beforehe spoke again, his voice so raspy it should be illegal, “Perhaps… Perhaps weshould—should slow down…?” He said, though Alina felt like he wanted theopposite.

Her eyes fluttered open and she eyed theceiling, dark and covered in the tiniest of lights that blinked much like thestars above in the sky. What a beautiful ceiling. She bit her bit and pulledNikolai’s face up until their noses were brushing against each other, “I loveyou, Nikolai.” She whispered, just a little surprised with the words that cameout. That hadn’t been the plan, but then again… “I want you, to be with you. Idon’t want to slow down, not in the way you meant.”

Nikolai stared at her, speechless as she hadbeen earlier. His eyes were wide with shock, his mouth parted, waiting for hisreply to come. But before words could be made, a smile slowly curled thecorners of his lips, growing into a smile that was nearly blinding withhappiness. “Oh, sunshine. Those words are…” He let out a breath and shook hishead a little, “They are a dream come true. Oh, Alina…” He kissed her, “I loveyou too, sunshine. So much it makes my heart palpitate in scary ways.” Helooked up again and nodded, “No slowing down tonight then. Your wish is mycommand, sunshine.”

Nikolai undressed her ceremoniously, taking hissweet time with each layer he peeled away. He kissed every bit of uncoveredskin with the patience of a saint, each time he did so driving Alina just alittle crazier.

His clothes fell away in more of a rush, Alinataking charge of this before he could have a chance to strip in slow motion.Nikolai chuckled when she undid his pants and kissed his throat, that heartyand warm laughter vibrating against her lips and lighting up places in herheart that Alina hadn’t known of before. “Hasty?” He teased her, his hands limpas he let Alina do whatever she wanted to do to him.

Alina almost rolled her eyes, if it wasn’t forwhat her hands were uncovering down below, “If I don’t stop you, you will spendthe whole night undressing, Nikolai. And I would very much like to do more thanwatch you undress.” She bit hard on her lip as her hands finally found him. Hewas so hard already, so deliciously hard and he still had the nerve to teaseher. “Take it all off, Nikolai, please.”

“As you wish, sunshine.” He rasped, his voiceshowing a little of how worked up he was after her brief touch. “Saints, youare… So beautiful, Alina. So… Beautiful.” He whispered in awe as he kneeled onthe bed, his eyes taking in the sight.

Alina laid on her back, breathing erratic asNikolai’s gaze made her feel things she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. Likeshe was worth it all. Like she was the sun in the sky, the stars up above. Shelicked her lips, “You’re not so bad yourself…”

Nikolai chuckled, “Oh, sunshine, that mouth ofyours is just further evidence of my words.” He leaned down, hands caressingher thighs as he slowly parted them, “I can’t wait to hear every word thatcomes out of it,” He added, his eyes flickering from hers to her centre. Andthat alone had Alina breathing faster even before she felt the first lick.

It was quick and playful. Nikolai teased herwith his tongue, that mischievous tip living up to the fame it had in Alina’smind as he played her. Lazy strokes and quick licks, Nikolai spared no expenseat pleasuring Alina, drawing moan after moan out of her. “Oh… yes…!” She clawedat the sheets, trying to catch herself as Nikolai teased her into a realitythat dangled just out of reach, yet full of wonders. Another stroke, anotherlick and Alina was tipping over the edge, the world rewriting itself as shecried out Nikolai’s name and practically ripped the sheets apart in the heat ofthe moment.

Nikolai was beaming with pride when Alina sawhim again, his eyes dark with lust, his mouth stretched with a smile that madeher want to kiss him until time itself ended. “That was… incredible.” He said,and kissed the spot just below her jaw.

“I… Shouldn’t I be the one… oh, yes… sayingthat?” She moaned, this kiss already winding her tighter and tighter.

Nikolai slid a hand between her thighs anddipped a finger in her folds, “Thank you.” Was all he said before he startedteasing her once more.

Alina dug her hands on his back, the tonedmuscles a lovely spot to leave whatever nail marks she had to leave tonight.Nikolai’s finger teased her clit slowly, winding her tighter than ever untilAlina was certain she would burst apart if he didn’t stop, if he stopped alltogether. “Nikolai…”

He didn’t need her to utter another word.Nikolai knew exactly what she wanted. And he was going to give her, the wholenight if he had to.

The first press drew a surprised gasp out ofAlina. Her eyes fluttered open to find Nikolai staring at her, a soft lineforming between his eyebrows as he sank into her as slowly as he could. Hepressed his forehead to hers and whispered her name over and over again, like aprayer, like a vow, like a promise to live by forever. And then he was snuginside of her, fitting her perfectly.

Alina couldn’t keep her lips from cracking intothe most satisfied and happy smile of her life, “Saints, you feel so good,Nikolai… So good.”

He drew a little, a groan echoing his moves, “Likewise,sunshine.” And sank back inside, drawing a low moan out of her. “I want tonightto be special, Alina. I want you to know that it is special to me.” Hewhispered into her mouth, moving in and out of her so slowly she wouldn’t havenoticed it if wasn’t for all the nice and wonderful reactions it drew out ofher body and mouth. “I love you so much… So much.”

“I love you too, Nikolai… Oh, yes…!” His pacestarted to pick up. Nikolai took every hint that Alina gave him and followed itto completion, kissing and touching her whenever she needed him. And moving.Moving, moving, moving. His hips began to rock harder against hers, faster andfaster and faster. Alina’s low moans turned into louder cries, her handsdigging deeper into his back before she knotted one in his hair and pulled witheach new thrust of his.

Nikolai breathed fast, his mouth showeringAlina with kisses and groans and sweet nothings he couldn’t stop himself fromuttering. And it was all just wonderful and special and magical. It was everythingshe had ever dreamed of and better and then…

“Nikolai!” She cried out with a final thrust,her body, mind and soul tipping over the edge once more and disappearing in aworld of wonders. Nikolai followed her close behind, his cry for her like musicto her ears. Like sweet, sweet music.

“Look, sunshine. Blini.” Nikolai said from theother side of the room, where an opening in the wall offered a tray of food.“And chocolate as well.” He dipped a finger in one of the two mugs and moaned alittle after tasting, “And it’s really good.”

“Bring it over, you ass.” Alina demanded, herstomach still aching for food. After the soup and the salmon, Alina still hadstomach for blini and hot chocolate. Nikolai had… worn her out. Saints. Theechoes of their cries still lingered in the room, her body sore in all theright ways.

Nikolai flashed a smirk, and took off his robe.He slapped his backside playfully and posed for Alina, who just broke down inlaughter. Nikolai just posed with even more meaning, “I knew you liked it,sunshine. Don’t think I didn’t see you ogling my well defined body.”

“Just bring the food, all right?” She said, herface still stuck in a grin. Both out of his ridiculous poses and the fact thathe was butt-naked.

“As you wish, my love.” He brought over thetray, the scent of fresh blini and hot chocolate filling the room in his wake.“Here’s one for you,” He served her a mug, “And one for me.”

“Thank you.” She drank a little and sighedhappily, “This is so good… Oh! Snow?” She looked outside the window where snowwas beginning to fall.

Nikolai followed her gaze and nodded, “Theyhave a very interesting weather schedule here. I suppose it’s for visitors tonever miss a thing.”

“Isn’t it… Annoying for those who live here?”She thought about a life here, having to plan her whole day around a weatherschedule that could go from hot summer breezes to cold snowy nights. It mightbe fun at first but she knew she’d grow tired of it after two or three days.

Nikolai shrugged and served her a bit of blini.Alina arched an eyebrow at the fork but she took the bite anyway. His hazeleyes were stuck on her mouth, watching her eat for a moment before he spokeagain, “Most likely, but residents grow used to it.” Then he leaned in andpressed a quick kiss to her chocolate-covered lips. “Saints, you taste sogood.”

“It’s the chocolate, you horny idiot.”

He shook his head, “Horny? Maybe. But I’d argueI’m more of an idiot in love. A happy to be in love idiot. An idiotically inlove idiot.”

Alina rolled her eyes and pushed him lightly,“You really are an idiot.” Nikolai grinned at her and she scoffed.

The two ate in relative silence until nothingwas left behind on their plates and mugs. Alina sighed content, her stomachfinally full. “That was fantastic.”

“Better than me?” Nikolai pouted at her, goingas far as making his lower lip tremble.

“Oh, shut up.”

A playful grin danced on his lips, “Make me.”

Alina almost turned him down before sheremembered he was completely naked. She reached down with one lone finger, and drewa low moan out of him, “Careful what you wish for…” She danced with her fingeraround him, and up and down, and down and up, until Nikolai was hard as a rock.

Nikolai caught her hand and kissed her palm,his eyes dark with lust and love, “I wish… Saints… I wish to stay with youforever, Alina.”

She blinked, her heart stopped. “What…?”

Nikolai looked sheepish for a moment, “I don’t…I don’t want you to go back.”

“Os Alta?” He nodded. “Nikolai… Is that why youtook the long way around?”

“I’m afraid it was part of my reasoning, yes.”

She shook her head softly, a smile on her lips,“I had a feeling there was more to it than just safety. But Nikolai… I have aduty.”

“And yet you say it as if it’s a burden.”

He was right. Alina had cleared the Fold, shehad helped Os Alta and Ravka, that beautiful planet, and now she was just aGrisha held in the highest of regards, kept close just in case. The Darklingpraised her and her powers, and so did many, many others. Some days… Alinasecretly wished someone would take her away to see the world. When things gottoo much, when she felt like her job was done and she had nothing more to do inRavka. “Would you take me away?” She asked, her voice raw.

“If that’s your wish, sunshine. I would takeyou with me aboard my ship and show you the world. Discover the universe byyour side. Plant roots in a nice little moon. Whatever you ask of me, I will doit.”

Alina’s heart couldn’t take it anymore. It wasso full. So full. His words, his smile, the meaning behind everything he’duttered to her. Nikolai was ready to give her the world or walk away from hers.He just needed her word, her decision. She bit her lip and rose to her knees,carefully straddling him until their bodies were mere seconds away. She brushedher nose against his and smiled, “I like those ideas. I haven’t seen much ofthe universe yet. I’d barely seen Ravka before the attack. Before you saved usand I got to see so much aboard your ship.”

“Then the universe it is, sunshine…” He rasped,his voice thick and pained. Alina was staying just out of reach and he wassuffering with the distance.

“But I still have to go to Os Alta.”

“Of course, Alina. My job isn’t done yet…Saints, sunshine. You are so… wicked.” He rasped when she played with him againbefore guiding him to her entrance. “So deliciously wicked…” He whispered asshe sank onto him.

Alina moaned softly when he was snug inside ofher, drunk in the sensation of him, in his scent, his touch, his love. Shebegan to move. They still had a long time before returning to the ship. Shemoaned. They would make the most of it. She rocked her hips with his andsmiled. The universe. He was going to show her the universe. She couldn’t wait.

#grisha fic #theleiaskywalker #nikolina #alina starkov #jediknightrey #nikolai lantsov #the grisha trilogy #grisha #my writing #otp: I want to kiss you #Questions

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seraphcelene · 6 years

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TV: Roswell, New Mexico - 1x04: Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?

My thoughts are so random on this episode. There’s alot of threads being tackled and not all of them jive together. In the last two episodes watching Roswell has felt like watching three different shows all at the same time: there's a murder mystery, a family drama, and a YA high school romance in New Adult-ish clothes (omg, the genre collision). Then there are the B-plots: sexual orientation in the military and immigration politics. Trying to pull the narratives together into a cohesive whole makes for a jarring roller-coaster ride.

So, cowboys ...

Immediately, the title of episode four brings to mind stereotypes of the American Cowboy taming the Wild West. He's (always a He) gallant, tall, laconic, capable, stern, tough, emotionally unavailable, and physical.

Our candidates for cowboy hood are as varied as the stereotype is flat: Max, Michael, Kyle, Liz, Maria, Isabel, Master Sargent Manes. The problem of this line-up is the problem that the episode posits: Where Have all the Cowboys Gone? The fact is that they are missing. The stereotype is absent in the selection of characters provided. Looking back over the episode, they're knocked off one by one.

Spoilers!!

"There's a reason God put a cage around your heart."

Michael has none of the rugged, noble qualities associated with the cowboy. If anything he's more of a Drifter or a Desperado. That becomes very obvious in the light his awesome exchange with Maria:

"You drink just enough to burn off that Dramatic Cowboy Angst and then you start a fight before you have to pay."

It's SO Micheal and I am really enjoying the antagonism that exists between Maria ad Michael. The original pair had a similar, but less malicious vibe. The characters were romantically entangled, after all. Michael Vlamis's Michael Guerin is SO much more nuanced and troubled. Heather Hemmen's Maria DeLuca still carries some of Maria's quirk, but she is also very self-possessed and incredibly sharp. I still think the character is woefully under utilized, but we got to see some of her bite tonight and it was awesome!

Maria is pretty obviously our shaman in this storyline, guiding and insightful. Last week, she pointed Liz in the right direction to start her Rosa Treasure Hunt, this week it's all about revelations in the palm of Isobel's palm. Genuinely psychic, which I was so pleased to see, Maria has an odd place in the story. More connected to Rosa than to Liz, layer of remove sets her up as an outlier to all of the central action. She isn't a confidante like Kyle, dragged into the central narrative via his second romantic lead status and Liz's loose lips. In service to tonight's plot, Maria's reason for her beef with Isobel catty and high school as it sounds (I don't like you cause my BFF doesn't like you: the enemies of my friends are also my enemies, yada yada yada) acts as an entry point into a new facet of Isobel's character.

Reflections of Katherine Heigl slowly unfolds over the course of season one from this confident, sophisticated mean girl into this really lonely, needy TEENAGER was a highlight of the original series. She was clearly the best actress on the show, as later evidenced by her work on Grey's Anatomy, and I am still really disappointed that her career hasn't gone further -- you, guys, she has all the talent. Lily Cowles does a great job managing a similar trajectory, but her portrayal still reads a little disingenuous. She's missing the vulnerability that Hiegl exposed in Isabel so very well. Isobel's "carefully curated Pinterest" exterior (so aptly described by Maria) masks a woman desperate for security and stability and acceptance.

Isobel's utter pre-occupation with why Maria doesn't like her takes her down a pretty dark path. That attempted dreamwalk smacked so much of a mental rape attempt that it took me aback. Isobel's gifts make her good at violations. I didn't recognize it in last week's episode because the aggressiveness was missing. Isobel's interaction with Maria was very personal and very intent and intentional. The power dynamic though, interestingly, gets shifted pretty quickly. As Maria's psychic abilities peel back the mask that Isobel wears. It swings back again when Isobel literally shoves her abilities at Maria, demanding that she open her mind.

Isobel is obvs nobody's cowboy. She doesn't reflect the good, kind, true, upstanding hero. Her powers make her good at subterfuge.

Quickly, Kyle is way to urbane to be a cowboy. He's the town doctor: helpful, kind, smart. Master Sargent Manes is the villain. Nuff said.

Despite his very square and manly jaw and how well he fits the physical image, thus creating an expectation for us of how he will be and how we read him as a cowboy (with the hat and the boots and his thumbs in his belt loops), Max is definitely NOT a cowboy. Max is the love interest. Stereotypically, he read's as the girl in the triangle. Max is emotionally available, needy, and pining. He's laid his heart out for Liz only to have it repeatedly crushed. She does it again in this episode, admitting only that she feels something and that alot of that is terror.

In the final scene between Liz and Max, it was almost as if they were having two different conversations across time from the opposite sides of a relationship. Max, at least in his head, has been in this whole relationship with Liz that she never even knew about let alone participated in. His part of the conversation is about investing in and saving a relationship that doesn't, and never has, existed. Once again, Max declares his love for Liz and though she is able to acknowledge the feelings that he has, Liz isn't quite ready to meet him there.

So, who's left? Where HAVE all the Cowboys Gone?

Well, arguably, Liz, as much as she talks, is our laconic, capable, tough cowboy. The plucky go-getter heroine, smart, tough, distant, and capable. The entire opening scene in which Rosa describes Liz, words Liz echoes to Max, are descriptors that are traditionally coded masculine. Liz wears her distance as a badge, one that she isn't willing to let go of. I love that Liz has such a sense of herself. In that last scene, Liz is looking into the possibility of a future relationship with Max, she's still in the early exploratory phase of the relationship and is faced with a Max who is demanding more of her than she has to give. This is SO different from the original star-crossed love affair of the original series in which Max and Liz fell hard pretty instantly and equally. The shift in this iteration, the rebalancing of their affections definitely lends itself to a more grown-up narrative. Or at least, let's be honest, in this regard for Liz. While Max may still be hovering on the edges of some school boy crush for a girl he really no longer knows after an absence of ten years, Liz is living in an adult reality where love is never that simple.

Random Thoughts:

a) "People are the worse drug. They all hurt you in the end." The mystery of Rosa continues! Max does some dumb, melodramatic things and makes Jenna suspicious cause he's TIRED of hiding how much of a special snowflake he is! And then Roswell turned into a lifetime after-school special with the big reveal that Sheriff Valenti (the former) was having an affair with Liz's "teenage, drug addict sister"! Cue close-up, melodramatic tunes, and fade to black cause what can you say after that! Of course, all we've really mostly seen is Liz making one wrong left turn after another. She likes to get worked up, ratchet up the tension, make sweeping declarations inditing persons and then figuring out that okay, maybe, she might have been wrong. It's like a total soap opera.

b) What's the likelihood that crazy Alien Conspiracy Guy IS, in reality, an alien? Hiding in plain sight and all.

c) "You have exactly cinco segundos to get out!" Have I ever mentioned how much I love Spanglish? Well, any language mixing with English, really. I totes love it.

d) Master Sargent Manes remain an asshole.

e) Heart attacks out of nowhere, what up, Car Accident Kid and Papi Ortecho?!

f) I love that all of their powers have a physical limit and come at a price. It's not easy and there are repercussions.

g) Consensual, non-shamy, adult sex!! YAY!!!!

h) "I don't want to talk about him with you while I'm not wearing a bra."

i) And the finale reveals!!!! 1 - Michael killed "those girls." Does that include Rosa or just the other two? I get the feeling it was NOT Rosa, but that Michael's guilt is pushing him to become scapegoat for the sake of the family. After-school special Episode 2. No joke, it got really dramatic. 2 - The lights come back up in the city and there was, if my eyes don't deceive me, an imprint of a space ship over the city. What the actual fuck?!

#tv:miscellaneous #Review: TV #roswell new mexico

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extraplanetarystory · 5 years

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Part 14

The innkeeper (is that what it’s called here?) was a kjanxe who was more interested in a video screen than interacting with me. It looked like she was watching a race. And judging by the tiny paper she clutched in her hand, I assumed it was a race she had a bet on.

I leaned on the counter separating us, trying to look like I wasn’t using it to hold me up, and slid all the money the woman handed me to her. “I need a room. Just tonight.”

She looked at the money, looked at me, then grabbed it all, pressed a button on the far side of her desk, and pointed to a door across the lobby. “Time’s up at four-daylight.” She slapped her video screen and cursed as a race car spun out.

“What is that in galactic?”

I never really understood the different forms of time keeping, even though everyone I ever asked told me how simple the system was. There was the thirty jul galactic day, time which every planet kept, then there was the daylight-nightlight schedule unique to every planet that corresponded with sunrise and sunset. I guess I understood it in theory, I just could never reconcile the numbers. Even though I spent my entire life on Zi’inra.

“It’s—” Her ears twitched as she looked at a clock and counted on her fingers. Unlike the last kjanxe I saw, her ears were long and straight. Kind of like an elf. “Twenty-two galactic.”

I regretted asking her that in the first place. Cringing preemptively, I leaned toward her. Even if I knew how to convert the times, my day had been royally screwed over by my attackers. “How many juls is that from now?”

She went straight and the pupils in her gold-green eyes became slits as turned them on me. “Are you a kuma?” Her voice was decidedly more catlike and growly than it was a moment ago.

I backed away and pointed to my door. “Four-daylight, thank you.” I’ll just sleep and probably not wake up until she was angrily pounding on the door to leave. I could live with that.

Also, yes I am a kuma.

But when I entered my room, the last thing I wanted to do was sleep. The window was wide open for me to see the cacophony of the District outside. I fell into a chair right next to it and just looked out.

It was like a city in an old sci-fi movie. Dark and bright at the same time, crowded, dirty, loud, lively. It looked like the very definition of a city that never slept. And that made me wonder just what kind of things I could find out there. Was that kjanxe’s race taking place down here? Were there games? Shows? Food? Shopping? Lewd entertainment? Fortune tellers? A theme park? I was sure it was all of the above as I watched a series of hot pink glyphs dance in all different directions on the roof of the giant cavern.

Eventually, though, it couldn’t distract me from my problems at hand. Would I be able to get to the other side of Kellan in full gravity on my own? I knew we were close to it already in our conditioning, but alone?

And what did those men do with Riche’e?

What exactly did they do? They threw me through time and space? Was I really on Zi’inra for that minute? How could they do that? How were they able to do that?

And why? Why the hell would they do that to me? To us?

Was Riche’e okay?

The more I thought about it, the more anxious I became. Those men came out of nowhere, and I was starting to think that was truly literal. That man really did come from thin air and toss us into oblivion.

I looked at the street, at the people walking by, then looked around my room, half-worried I’d see one of the men in any spot. I never got a good look at the first one, beyond the fact he was tall. The second one, though, he was burly. He had thick eyebrows, beady gray eyes, and a square head. And I never wanted to see him again.

Was there a phone in this room? Or, phone-like device, rather?

There was something standing at an angle on a table near the bed that was obviously the exact thing I wanted. It was a clear screen connected to a cylinder base stand, an intricate circle design spinning idly in the center. Moving to the bed, I tapped the screen, and searched the symbols that popped up. If there was double-circles anywhere, I knew I would be able to press it and—aha!

I tapped the double-circles in the bottom left corner and prayed the next step would be just as easy.

Taking a deep breath, I watched the circles spin independently of each other and said in a clear voice: “Call Zega Headquarters.”

The screen dinged and the circles spun faster.

“Welcome to the Space Exploration Administration,” a man said in a telltale secretary voice. “How can I help you at this jul?” He smiled at the screen and I was taken aback. I hoped I would get anyone, but I wasn’t expecting an actual phone operator.

“I’m… I am looking for Pilot.”

This felt so stupid. There had to be a better way to do this, I just couldn’t think of anything.

“Instructor Pilot is unavailable at the Administration Headquarters at this jul. May I ask who is calling to convey a message when he becomes available?” The man’s eyes and smile were glossy and unchanging, and I realized this had to be a robot or AI. It was a business answering machine.

“Give this to any instructor that becomes available,” I said, hoping that was even possible. “My name is Jiaal Foxise and they may have noticed I disappeared from the building with the other new recruits… I am in something called the District. I don’t know the name of the hotel I am at, but I am sure you can trace this call back? I just want to let them know I am here. And if they can pick me up. Any Zega member that can help me...”

‘Mom, can you come get me from the mall now; I wanna go home.’

“I will convey your message to Director Rorn,” the man-machine said. “Goodnight.”

Director—? That was an important person who would definitely not be happy to hear that message. Hopefully the fact I was kidnapped for the second time in my life, and kidnapped by evil time travelers would help. I don’t know how it would help, but I hoped it would help.

The screen faded clear into that intricate spinning design again and I laid back. There was nothing I could do but wait now. I rolled toward the comm device and tapped until I had the double-circles listening to me again.

“How long until four-daylight?”

“Seven juls,” a pleasant voice chimed.

“Set an alarm for three-daylight, please.”

“Alarm set for three-daylight.”

I thought I should slide the shutters closed for privacy sake as I tried to go to sleep, but then I opened my eyes hearing that pleasant voice speaking to me.

“It is now three-daylight,” it said over and over again.

That was easy, I groggily thought, feeling like I was glued to the bed. Okay, so I wasn’t magically attuned to the gravity in the six juls I slept like I half hoped I would be. Why was this never a problem in tv shows?

The voice kept repeating the alarm and I looked out the window. It looked like daylight meant nothing down here. What was I expecting? It’s an underground city.

I slapped at the screen to shut up the alarm. It didn’t work until about the fifth slap.

Looking to the lit up display, I forgot for a moment that I wouldn’t see regular numbers I could understand flashing on the screen and groaned. Whenever I looked at numbers, my eyes glazed over faster than when I looked at letters. They were mostly circles and dots and my head hurt trying to keep them straight. I could understand single digit numbers. One was one dot, two was two vertically, three was a triangle of dots, four was a diamond of them, five was like two with a half-circle connecting them. I knew them individually up to ten. But when they’re written together, I couldn’t tell what was a dot, triangle, or diamond and I stopped trying to separate them before my eyes hurt.

Much was the same this morning. I closed my eyes and sighed. It’s three-daylight. I had one jul to figure out if I should hang around the hotel, call Zega again, or head off on my own.

There was a tap on the window and I jolted upright. Fighting through a back-and-forth wave of heaviness that told my head to lay right back down, I looked and saw a person. Because of course I fucking did, I never closed the curtain.

I stared. They tapped again and tried to wave me toward them. I threw a pillow. It didn’t even reach the chair, let alone the glass.

The person was hooded but it didn’t cover their face. No, the mask on the bottom half of it did. Their bright eyes rolled when the pillow flopped harmlessly on the floor. They tapped again and the way their head moved suggested they may have said something, but I didn’t hear it.

Instead of going toward the window, I rolled across the bed and left the room.

“Oh, by the Eight! She does know time!” The innkeeper sat up at the front desk and clasped her hands, looking sarcastically joyful.

“It was a rough night,” I said. She didn’t need to be mean about it.

I shuffled to the front doors and looked out a window, hoping to see the person from that angle. And I could. They stood some feet away from the building, idly turning in a circle.

They couldn’t be from Zega, could they? No, right? They wouldn’t be dressed all ominously in black with their face covered and knock on a freaking window to get my attention. Right? I mean, who knows how sci-fi organizations like this work in real life.

Still. No. I did not want to go out there by myself and risk it, whoever that person was. They had to be extra shady since they weren’t even trying to come in and talk to me.

I looked at the kjanxe. “There is another way to leave, yes?”

Her scruffy eyebrows knit together as she pointed at a hallway directly behind her. “End of there. What’s wrong?”

“Well, I don’t know, truly,” I looked out to the person again. They were still just standing there.

“Do you need someone run off?” She stood. “I love chasing people away.” She held up her hand like a claw, and I finally noticed just how sharp her nails were. Well, obviously. She’s a cat. Kitties have claws.

“I just want to know who they are,” I shook my head. “I really don’t need another person messing with my life right now.” What if they were with the time travelers? What if it was the one I didn’t see? I started toward the back hall. “No, I think I will just avoid them. I will go behind and hopefully they won’t see me.”

She watched me for a moment then went to the front window to look at my friend. Her hand was on the door handle when I turned and went out the back. I hope she wasn’t going to chase them off because my escape kind of relied on them staying right there until I was far enough away.

The back alley of the building was right up against the wall of the cavern. There was barely even a walkway laid out in the rocks, and I used the dripstones to help keep me steady as I went along. The next two buildings were much smaller than the hotel, but I decided to risk it after the second one and went toward the road. It looked like there was some park, or major foot traffic center not too far away. I could figure out the next step from there. It must be easier to stay away from the person there. It always works in the movies. Hide in plain sight.

Hugging the wall, I peeked around the corner to look for them, and found them backed against the front of the hotel with the kjanxe angrily poking at their chest. Their hands were raised, seemingly trying to placate her. I smiled. She was trying to distract them so they wouldn’t look for me.

Taking a deep breath, I looked across the road and gauged the distance, figuring out just how much strength I would have to muster before I let gravity get the better of me.

Before I let my nerves stop me from doing anything, I shook them out and started fast-walking.

“No, wait!”

I just managed to make it before I heard that shout. Looking back, the person was pointing, stepping around the kjanxe.

Crap! So much for her distraction. She latched on to them, though. I started hustling. Screw the park, I’d settle for anything that looked like a store. Or a restaurant. The road was getting busier and busier so that gave me hope.

This tiny place looked good; I reached for a door.

A loud zip ripped through the air and a person stepped into existence beside me in a flash of pinkish light. When I looked up, it was the masked person, eyebrows lowered. They are a—!

“Jiaal, stop. I—” It was a man.

“No!”

I turned around and ran. I just wanted to get away from him. But he didn’t let me. I barely took a step before he latched onto my arm.

“Ma— Jiaal, I want to help you.”

I hit his hand with a fist and, surprisingly, he let go. But he held it near, definitely ready to jump if I tried to run again. So I held up my fists, trying to look not as weak as I was, and backed up a step.

“Then why do you look like a bad guy?”

He pushed his hood back and pulled down the fabric masking his face. I half hoped I would recognize him but nope. He had brown hair, green eyes, and a chiseled jaw not unlike Riche’e’s but I didn’t know who he was.

“Why I’m here is complicated and I apologize.” He looked at his jacket, which was torn in multiple places. “And I need a new coat thanks to that zikuba.”

I couldn’t help my grin at the fact the kjanxe actually ripped his clothes. “That is what you get for being a creep outside windows.”

“Would you have preferred I entered your room? I know I am a stranger to you.”

“You could have waited for me in the main room.”

“Alryxe, that’s a good point,” he nodded with a sigh. “Look, I’m not supposed to be here and I don’t know how I should go about this. The people I break rules with usually know what’s—”

“Who are you? Why were you at my window?” I held my fists higher. “Are you one of the time travelers?”

“Let’s go somewhere and talk.” He pointed to the park. The brightly lit, bustling park.

I narrowed my eyes. “You go first.”

He huffed. “Jiaal—”

“No. If you want to go anywhere with me, I am following you. To a bench.”

He started walking, but kept looking back to make sure I actually was following him. I was. I wanted to see what he actually had to say for himself. But I also knew that he teleported to me just a minute before, so running was probably pointless at that moment.

And he did just what he was supposed to. He led me to a bench facing a small circular patch of grass surrounding a fountain that spit water in a rainbow of colors. He sat down and looked up at me, raising his eyebrows with more indignance than he had any right to have. He gestured to the spot next to him. I sat as far from him on the bench as I could.

“Who are you?” I was going to lead this conversation.

“Eagol Faxon.” He folded his hands, seeming to get the point. One of them, I noticed, sported a wired glove-like thing. I wondered if that was how he could do it.

“Eagle? Like the bird?”

“No—” He stopped, thought, then nodded. “Yes, actually, let’s go with that. Like the bird.”

“How do you know what bird I’m talking about?”

“That’s not important.”

I raised my fists again, and he laughed.

“I say yes because it sounds like my name,” he said. “So call me Eagle.”

“Okay, Eagle, who exactly are you?” I pointed at his hand. “And what is that?”

He held it up. “This is—” He bit his lip and looked around. He looked like he was waiting for someone to pop out for him at any second. He lowered his voice. “This is called a dymarul glove and it’s how I’m able to be here with you right now.”

“Why are you looking around like that?”

“Because the person I stole it from might show up. Or my mother, and she will be very angry I’m talking to you.” He pulled his hood back up and turned on the bench, facing me more fully but clearly trying to hide from the greater crowd of the park. He peeled off the glove and carefully tucked it into an inner pocket in the breast of his jacket.

“I don’t know which part to ask about first.” I leaned forward after a pause. “Did you steal it from a man? Mean face? Square head? Caterpillar eyebrows?”

He snorted a quick laugh but swallowed it, his face falling. “No, but he is why I stole it and I know he’s come after you already. His name is Steele Eakre-Ta’ash, his companion is named Arim.”

My heartbeat picked up its pace, even faster than it had from the energy I’d already spent. “Who is he?”

“He’s a dymarul deathbent on screwing up the galaxy just to spite—” He stopped, chomping down on his lips.

“Don’t you dare stop there!”

“He’s trying to ruin lives just because he can, and you’re right in the middle of his plans.”

#extraplanetary #writing #original writing #science fiction

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imaginetonyandbucky · 6 years

Text

Find Your Way Home | Part 3 of 5

Warnings for surprise (and unwanted) kisses.

When Bucky and Tony make it back to the Tower, they hear Steve first. “You shouldn’t have risked it!”

“Oops,” Tony says with a grimace. He straightens his shoulders and then leads Bucky out of the elevator onto the communal floor. Natasha is there, already changed out of her dress for sweats, facing off against Steve.

“I admit it, it’s totally my fault,” Tony says as he bursts between them. “The Buckster and I went out for ice cream and did not bring anything back for you. Whew, glad that’s off my chest. I guess maybe confession is good for the soul.”

“Tony,” Steve growls, unamused.

Bucky’s tenses in the face of Steve’s anger, but Tony doesn’t break stride.

“What’s up, buttercup?” Tony asks. “Look, we’re fine, everyone’s fine, so maybe bring it down a notch -”

Steve storms past Tony, up to Bucky. “Buck, are you okay?”

Bucky nods and looks past him to Natasha. “Yeah. It was just an intense memory.”

Natasha sighs, sympathy on her face. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d already remembered me.”

“Not.. not that,” Bucky admits.

“What?” Steve asks.

There’s a moment of silence, and then Tony steps in.

“Look, Steve, let’s just -”

“Don’t,” Steve warns. He looks back to Bucky. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

Bucky offers a smile. “Yeah, Stevie. I’m fine. Ice cream was a good choice.”

It wasn’t the ice cream as much as Tony’s ability to talk and distract Bucky from his thoughts, but it did help.

“Good,” Steve says with a sigh, his frown releasing into a smile of relief.

“I’m gonna call it a night, though,” Bucky says. He wants to page through his journals, try to see if there were hints to this in his previous writings. Then maybe he can talk to Natasha about it. He can talk to someone of his pack. He gives Steve a half-hug, then a nod to Natasha and Tony, and then heads to the stairs to go to his floor.

“Tony, I need to talk to you,” Steve says behind him.

(More after the break!)

The memories from the Red Room aren’t pleasant, but Bucky writes them down anyway. Sometimes it helps to get them out of his head, and sometimes it doesn’t.

Talking to Natasha helps. Someone to confirm them as real or not, to the best that she can say.

Steve does the same for those he was present for, and he and Bucky keep walking the streets of New York City, talking over old memories and making new ones.

And the rest of the pack. Bucky’s pack. Bruce is good to go to when Bucky wants tea and silent company. Clint is best for jokes and games, but he watches Bucky with a sharp knowing gaze at dinner. With Sam, Bucky keeps watching sports and trading sharp, teasing jokes. With Tony… JARVIS tells him that Tony is unavailable.

“Sir is traveling. May I pass on a message?” JARVIS offers when Bucky can’t find Tony in the Tower.

“Still? No, it’s not important,” Bucky says, frowning. He hasn’t seen Tony in days, ever since the ballet, but Tony does have a company to run. Tony makes sure to mention it often when he runs in and out and misses pack dinners.

Pack. Bucky has a pack. His bloody history and all, they don’t mind him joining their pack. Each of them shares pieces of their own past - Bruce tosses a comment over a cup of tea, Clint at the end of long sparring match, Natasha over discussion of Bucky’s journals, Sam after nightmares kept them both awake at three am and searching for hot chocolate - and Bucky shares pieces of his.

Bucky has a pack. He has a home, a territory. A place where Bucky doesn’t have to kill to survive or maintain some hierarchy. A place where Bucky can follow Steve’s lead, can watch his back. A place where he and Steve can sit together on the couch, sharing space as they watch the Wizard of Oz.

“We snuck into the theater to watch this,” Bucky realizes, the memory coming to him. “Then we got kicked out because we tossed popcorn at Frank Walsh.”

Steve turns to him, grinning wide. “Yeah, we did!”

“He - what did he do? Something with, with water?” Bucky asks.

“He’d tripped Mary Murphy so she fell into a puddle,” Steve confirms. “Wrecked her new dress.”

“Oh, yes, that was it!” Bucky says with excitement, the piece coming back to him. He grins back at Steve. The small, everyday memories were even better because there’s nothing but amusement and happiness. Bucky chuckles as he replays the memory again in his head, adding in Steve’s details.

“Buck, you’re amazing. I can’t believe… I’m just so happy you’re here,” Steve whispers.

Bucky grins. “Me too, punk,” he agrees as he lightly punches Steve’s shoulder.

Steve shoves him back, and Bucky laughs. Steve leans closer, and Bucky grins at him. Steve leans ever closer, and Bucky stares wide-eyed as Steve stares at Bucky’s mouth, still leaning in.

Steve kisses him, a light brushing of lips.

Bucky tamps down on his response of shoving Steve away and running, and simply freezes. Steve pulls back, dark blue gaze flicking up to Bucky’s, then licks his lips and leans back in.

Steve kisses him again, harder. When Steve reaches up to cup Bucky’s face, Bucky slides away. He doesn’t touch Steve, afraid he won’t judge the strength of the push correctly.

“I - I don’t remember that,” Bucky says, backing away.

He doesn’t remember. He doesn’t remember. He remembers dances and kisses and other things, yes, but not with Steve. He doesn’t… he doesn’t remember Steve, not like this.

Steve ducks his head, his face heating. “You wouldn’t. We couldn’t back then, but now things are different, Buck. Two alphas can be together, and it’s fine! We can be together now.”

“You’re bonded,” Bucky croaks from his dry throat.

“Not anymore,” Steve admits, squaring his shoulders.

Bucky leaps to his feet. “What?!”

“We broke the bond,” Steve says, getting to his feet as well. “Tony understands, it was never like that between us. Buck, you - you’re it for me. You always have been. Now that we can be together, I -”

“You bonded,” Bucky interrupts. “You don’t break bonds.”

“Another thing they do now,” Steve waves off. “Bucky, don’t you… don’t you want to try? With me?”

“I… I don’t remember,” he whispers, and then he runs.

Bucky runs from Steve. He runs from the Tower. He runs from Manhattan.

Bucky pauses when he crosses the bridge to Randall Island. From the park, he can see Riker’s Island and the planes landing at LaGuardia. The breeze blows the sharp scent of the river into his face, masking the scents of the others around him as he stands and stares.

Steve broke his bond with Tony for Bucky. Bucky invaded the pack and caused it to break. What if the pack breaks apart, because of this? The pack would be gone, and it would be Bucky’s fault. Steve would lose his pack. Bucky would lose his pack. The first and only good thing since Hydra found him, gone.

Bonds aren’t meant to be broken. Broken bonds… there had only been a few that Bucky had seen, right at the beginning of the war before he’d been drafted, but it’d been terrible. There was no need to wait for a letter home, the one left living knew immediately - that connection broken. A presence in your mind, keeping you company, suddenly missing.

Tony had been gone. Tony had left the pack because Steve had broken the bond. Steve had broken the bond because he wanted to be with Bucky.

Bucky gasps for air.

People around him start shouting and pointing, and Bucky looks up to see Sam in the sky with his wings. Bucky sighs, but he stays where he is. Sam lands in an open area, and then waves and does a few autographs before he comes over to Bucky.

“If you feel like a swim, I could recommend a few more sanitary options,” Sam says as stands next to Bucky.

“You following me?” Bucky growls.

“Yeah, next time you don’t want to be followed Mr. ‘I’m a Ghost Story,’ try to avoid the public cameras that JARVIS can hack into,” Sam drawls.

“Did you think of that yourself, or did JARVIS have to tell you?” Bucky returns.

Sam snorts. “I don’t know what Steve was worried about. You’re fine.”

Bucky turns away, his jaw clenched.

Sam eyes him. “Or not. You gonna tell me what happened to get you both so worked up, or do you want to brood some more?”

Bucky takes a deep breath. “I have to leave the pack.”

“Whoa, okay, hold up,” Sam says. “Why?”

For a moment, Bucky hates Steve for making Bucky say it because Steve didn’t tell Sam back at the Tower. “Steve broke his bond with Tony so he could be with me.”

Sam reels. “Damn. That’s a trip and a half.”

Bucky keeps it to himself, but he can admit that he’ll miss Sam. He’ll miss everyone. He’ll miss Steve, but he can’t be the reason that the pack breaks. He doesn’t want Steve to be without the pack, and Bucky can run if that’s what it takes.

“Doesn’t tell me why you gotta run, though,” Sam says.

“You don’t break bonds!”

“It might not have been the thing back in your day, but people do. It happens, sometimes for good reasons and sometimes for bad,” Sam says, kindly. “Look… Barnes, Bucky. People are people. What Steve and Tony do, or don’t do, is up to them. They’re able to make their own choices, and if they broke their bond that’s on them. That’s not on you.”

“What, and you don’t care that your pack is breaking?” Bucky spits out.

“Whoa, man. The pack isn’t going anywhere,” Sam defends. “We’re still here. We’ve been through too much shit together to let something like this cause us to split. Yeah, we all got some things to figure out. And you can bet that Nat and Bruce and Clint and yeah, me too, are gonna track down Tony and chew him for going through that alone.”

Sam stares out at the water, and Bucky processes.

“You need space, we can get that,” Sam continues. “But we’re a pack Barnes, and that includes you. Someone needs to be the riff raff we cart around.”

“Suck it, Wilson,” Bucky returns without heat.

“You wish,” Sam returns with a light punch to Bucky’s shoulder.

Bucky lets him land it.

He thinks about telling Sam about how he doesn’t remember that about Steve. He doesn’t remember wanting Steve. He remembers the pull of omegas, a few alphas, and even some betas - but not Steve. Steve is there, always there like a guiding light. Steve is always going to be pack, Bucky thinks, but not… not bonded. Not mate.

Bucky swallows the confession.

“You want to go for a drink or something?” Sam asks, pointing back towards Manhattan.

Bucky shakes his head. “I’ll meet you back at the Tower.”

Bucky returns.

Steve is visibly relieved and Sam gives him a nod. However, despite Sam’s assurances, pack dinner that night is the most awkward one that Bucky has attended.

It’s Steve at the center of the storm, though.

After the looks and the nudges and silence had reached a new level of tension, Clint finally asks, “So, Steve… got any news you’d like to share with the pack?” Natasha elbows him. “What? I didn’t sit through SHIELD’s lectures about Proper Pack Communication for this!”

“Clint does make a good point,” Bruce continues. “Why didn’t you tell us, Steve?”

Steve clears his throat and sets down his fork. He darts a quick glance at Bucky, but then meets Bruce’s gaze. “I thought Tony might want to be the one -”

“Oh no, it’s not that easy,” Clint interrupts, and despite the comical smile on his face his gaze is cold. He points his fork at Steve. “When he left - and we’ll kick his ass for that, when he comes back - you, oh Great Alpha Leader, had the responsibility to -”

“Clint,” Natasha interrupts softly, putting her hand on his arm. Clint settles back into his seat with a huff and turns away. “You should have told us Steve,” Natasha levels, her voice blank.

Steve raises his hands in defense. “Sorry, I should’ve -”

“Pardon the interruption,” JARVIS breaks in, “but there is a distress call coming in.”

An oil tanker is on fire ten miles off shore. The Coast Guard is on their way, but the assistance of the Avengers would be appreciated. Steve barks out the orders: suit up and get to the jet, Bucky you’re benched.

So Bucky stays behind, watching from screens that JARVIS provides as the Avengers take off to see what they can do about saving the crew and what’s left of the tanker. He doesn’t have audio, but he doesn’t need it to realize that the new screen that has popped up next to one of the exterior feeds from the Quinjet is from the Iron Man armor.

Tony is back.

Bucky sits back and watches the rest of the pack work together. Iron Man and Falcon rescue the crew, carrying them over to the Coast Guard boats. Natasha takes over as pilot of the jet to skim the waves while Clint looks for anyone who jumped ship. Steve coordinates with the Coast Guard to put out the flames and hook up the tanker to the tugboat. The Hulk not needed, Bruce starts giving environmental and wildlife protection agencies the heads up about the spill.

When the situation is handled, the Avengers head back. Now would be the perfect time for Bucky to disappear, if he is going to. He knows exactly how much of a head start he would get.

“Sergeant Barnes, would you care to oversee arranging a meal for when the pack returns?” JARVIS asks him.

“You need help?” Bucky asks, side eyeing one of the cameras that he knows JARVIS uses.

“I confess that without taste buds or even a simple desire to eat, I am not as skilled in the choosing of food as yourself,” JARVIS replies.

Bucky sighs. “Sure, I can handle that,” he agrees. JARVIS has never had a problem in choosing food before, but Bucky is glad to have something to do. The task anchors him to the Tower, as he reviews menu options and delivery speeds.

He doesn’t want to leave.

Bucky clears off what had been left of the pack dinner. He reheats what can be reheated and tosses what has to be tossed. He orders a variety of Indian dishes, a general pack favorite, to add to the table.

“Is… is Tony coming back too?” Bucky ventures.

“Yes, sir is currently en route back to the Tower,” JARVIS confirms.

Bucky adds some extra samosas to the order.

Everything is ready and waiting, when the Avengers return. Bucky lurks, he admits he’s lurking, in the corner as they come trailing inside. One by one they thank him for the food, and they collapse at the table.

Including Tony, who is all smiles and grins and ease as he takes a seat.

Dinner is easy. Tony exclaims over the extra samosas and piles them on his plate. Steve loses the tension in his shoulders as no one talks about what happened before the call. Clint and Sam joke, Natasha and Bruce fight over the last of the butter chicken, and Bucky sits quietly and simply listens.

Pack, still here, still together.

Bucky watches Tony most of all. He’s wearing the remains of a business suit, with the jacket slung over the back of the chair and tie lost somewhere else. The red undershirt is buttoned all the way to the top, hiding Steve’s mark that would still be on his neck. He’s thinner than he was before, and Bucky realizes that Tony has moved the food around on his plate more than he’s actually eaten it.

Bucky knows what he has to do.

He waits until lunch the next day, dodging Steve’s invite for another walk around NYC. He puts together a sandwich and then takes a deep breath before he asks JARVIS to take him to the penthouse.

“If you are looking for sir, you will have more success in the workshop,” JARVIS replies.

“To the workshop, then,” Bucky says with a gulp.

Bucky has never been to the workshop. Steve and Sam had edited it out of the tour, though let him know it existed. Dread and fear twist in his stomach. He’s been in the workshops of Hydra and has no desire to ever step foot in one again. He doesn’t want to associate those memories with Tony’s, isn’t sure when he sees the workshop that he won’t imagine himself there again.

The elevator doors open to panels of clear glass, Tony working on something beyond. Bucky knocks on the glass door, not able to stop his gaze from flickering to every corner of the workshop looking for… Bucky doesn’t even know, a chair?

Tony looks up. Something passes over Tony’s face, too quick for Bucky to identify, and then Tony waves Bucky inside.

Bucky enters, trying to keep the tension in his body from showing. Then his shoulders lower, his posture relaxes. The workshop is layered with Tony’s scent, comforting Bucky and offering no reminders of the bloody, painful memories of the workshops of Hydra.

“What can I do for you, Robocop?” Tony asks, wiping his hands off on a nearby rag.

“Nothing, I just… brought you lunch,” Bucky offers, lifting the plate as evidence.

Tony squints, a confused smile on his face. “You brought me food?”

Bucky nods.

“Uh, okay?” Tony says. “Just set it there, then.”

Bucky sets the plate where directed and then, with a nod at Tony, backs out of the workshop. The weight of Tony’s gaze is on Bucky the entire way.

Usually it was death that caused a broken bond, but Bucky remembers what he is supposed to do. Family takes care of the remaining half, always. Steve is his best friend, his brother, his always-pack. Bucky will take care of Steve’s bonded, even if it’s broken, even if Tony has a pack. Tony has Natasha and Clint and Sam and Bruce, and they stick to him a bit tighter ever since Tony’s return. Tony doesn’t need Bucky, not when Bucky is part of the reason that Tony is dealing with a broken bond, but this is Bucky’s duty.

For everything that Tony gives to the pack, Bucky can bring Tony food at the least.

He brings Tony another sandwich and a smoothie the next day. Bucky receives the same confused look as the day before, but he’s allowed to leave the plate and glass.

Bucky does it again on the third day, and Tony mocks the lack of variety.

For the fourth day, Bucky tosses together a fruit salad for Tony that turns out to be acceptable and then, after going to a soccer game with Sam, pages through a cookbook. He’s noticed how Tony continues to breeze in, out, and around pack dinners without staying for very long. It’s so close to being the same as before that sometimes Bucky thinks what Steve told him that day, after Steve had tried to kiss him, wasn’t real. Maybe Steve and Tony are still bonded, because Steve doesn’t act any different when they’re out walking around the city.

Except when Bucky catches Steve giving him these looks, sad and longing, but Bucky has been ignoring those.

Bruce takes a seat next to Bucky on the couch, stirring the tea bag in his cup, and Bucky looks up from a recipe for turkey burgers that seem like a lot of work without much reward.

“I admire your efforts,” Bruce starts, and switches from fiddling with his tea cup to fiddling with his glasses. He still doesn’t look directly at Bucky. “But Tony has a lot of people looking out for him.”

Several moments of silence pass before Bucky says, “I know.”

Bruce clears his throat. “Good. Then you know to be careful. Also, Tony only likes beef burgers, so I don’t suggest trying those.”

Bruce claps Bucky on the shoulder and then leaves. Bucky stares after him, a bit wide-eyed and feeling more nervous than if Natasha had come by and threatened with her knives.

Natasha doesn’t threaten, though, not even when she comes up next to him when Bucky is chopping vegetables. She sneaks pieces from underneath his knife, but otherwise says nothing and doesn’t pull out her own knife to help. She gives him a judging look, sneaks one last bite, and then walks away.

Bucky keeps an eye out for any additional tripping hazards as he brings the salad down to Tony.

Tony isn’t in the mood for a salad, though, and Bucky mentally berates JARVIS who guided him in this direction. Tony takes one look at the bowl and storms around the workshop table. There are deep circles under his eyes, Bucky notes, and more coffee cups scattered around than usual.

“Alright, enough. Time to come clean. Fess up, Buckster, what’s with the whole food thing?” Tony accuses as he waves at the salad.

“I, uh, thought you might like…?” Bucky offers, shrinking back.

Tony whirls, eyes bright and angry. “You don’t have to keep doing this. I am capable of feeding myself, no matter that I’m a castoff omega, or whatever it is that you’re thinking.”

“No!” Bucky defends. “That’s not… of course I don’t!”

“Then what? Some kind of penance or apology because of Steve? Don’t worry it’s not needed. He’s all yours.”

Bucky shakes his head, but the words won’t come.

“Well then what, you want to rub it in my face that he chose you? Guess what - I don’t even care!” Tony shouts. He turns and swipes everything on the table, including the salad, to the floor.

Bucky leaps back.

“You think, what, that I’m down here heartbroken? That bond meant nothing. It was all political, for PR and to cement the pack. And guess what, it worked! Congratulations, no hard feelings, Steve can dump me and our pathetic bond and move on to you now, and you don’t have to worry about me and this - whatever this is!” Tony kicks at the mess on the floor, and then whirls on Bucky, eyes wet. “So you can just fucking stop, okay? And get out!”

Bucky flees, but he turns back to look when the glass door hisses shut behind him.

Tony has crumpled to the floor, face hidden in his hands.

#winteriron #tony stark #bucky barnes #tony x bucky #alpha/beta/omega dynamics #a/b/o dynamics #alpha bucky #omega tony #past steve x tony #steve x tony breakup #background steve x bucky #(briefly!)#fic:fywh #prompts #hddnone

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