#and yes she is probably too shell-shocked to do much

[fuubee]

another drawing meme but violet has BEEF

[demon-at-peace]

DP + DC Danny/Dick p2

so hello here’s a p2 of this, cause people wanted more and I thought it would be fun. You should probably read the p1 for it to make sense.

-

Jason spent several minutes staring at the driveway before he looked at the others wearing the same shell shocked expression. “Dicks dating someone?" he asks them.

"I guess?" Tim answers, "did you know?"

"Of course not!" Jason retorts.

"That's hardly the issue, we need to know who Richards paramour is," Damian announces looking stricken.

"Sh*t he's right, we need to give him a shovel talk," Jason agrees, "Babs did you get his face on camera?"

"Of course I did, and yes I've already run him, looks like he's dating one Daniel Fenton, living at 232 Anderson Ave, Apartment 24," she answers easily.

"Sweet, thanks Babs, come on Dami hurry up!" Jason yells as they pile into the car. They rip out of the drive way with almost as much speed as Danny had.

They make their way to the apartment breaking every possible speed limit. And clamber out in a rush, pushing open the doors and heading up the stairs. It's almost a race, Jason in the lead, Tim and Damian shortly behind them.

They burst into the apartment and are suddenly on the ground. "I told Danny this would happen," a young female voice says. Tim glares in offense at the green furry thing pinning them down.

"What is it? Jason mumbles as he tries to sit up but finds himself stuck.

"CUJO UP!" the voice yells again and the furry mass jumps up so they are able to sees it's a massive green... dog? "Small Cujo," the girl, who they can now see looks like adoption bait commands. And the dog shrinks. "Good boy," she coos. Then she trust to glare at them. "What are you doing here?" she demands.

"Who are you?" Jason asks instead of answering the question. "And what is that?"

"I'm Ellie, Danny's sister, or cousin, or maybe my daughter? I don't know? Our relationship is kinda weird, I'm here to prevent you from ruining his date though. " she crosses her arms "And that as you so kindly called him, is Cujo."

At his name Cujo jumps up growing bigger so he can plant slobbery kisses on her cheeks.

"I'm sorry about my brother, he doesn't understand animals are as intelligent as a human," Damian snorts. Jason groans, Damian's love for animals had clearly overpowered his urge to demand answers from the girl. "By the way what breed is he?"

"Actually just a normal German Shepard, his unusual capabilities is because he's a ghost," She explains.

"A ghost?" Jason asks bewildered.

"Oh crap he told you literally nothing, wait did he just speed off?" she asks.

"Yes," Tim admits with pursed lips.

"That's gold!" she cackles. "Anyhow yeah Cujo's dead, Danny's kinda dead, like died and came back, and died and came back, like a bunch so now he's like Schrodinger's cat, both dead and alive. I'm like that too, and so is Dan. Don't worry though Jazz is fully alive, I think.....:"

"What?" Tim asks just shocks.

"It doesn't matter," Damian waves him off and continues giving the dog scratches.

"Yes it does! She said that the dog's dead Dami!" Jason groans. "That dog that belongs to Danny, Dicks boyfriends, who we need to find?"

"Right," Damian agrees but doesn't stop petting Cujo.

"You really are an idiot," Ellie giggles "No way in hell are you ruining my brothers proposal," she glares.

"P-proposal?" Tim chokes out staring at her in shock. "What the heck? We haven't even met Danny?"

"Ugh DAN!" she shouts, within seconds an elder boy who looks just like her is there.

"Oh it's Dick's family, wait did you spill the bean about the proposal? Ellie come on, we told you to keep it quiet!" Dan complains.

"I'm a blabber mouth, you know that, I kept it from Dick at least," she pouts crossing her arms, Cujo leaves Damian and licks her face in an attempt to cheer her up.

"Tell us where they are? You all have clearly done something to Dick, he would tell us if he was dating someone!" Damian argues.

"... Pfft- AHAHAH" she cackles, "You think we did something to him?" she asks laughing even as she says it. "Please as if, your bats aren't you? You don't talk to each other, I'v heard birdy's rants," Dan rolls his eyes.

"See he wouldn't just compromise his identity to anyone!" Jason stares them down. "And why do you call him birdy?"

"Danny came up with it like four years ago, Birdy was showing of his tricks and Danny decided he must have hollow bones, so he's a bird, really he got lucky Danny almost called him Tweety bird instead of Silly bird." Ellie says with a grin.

"Fine we won't mess with it," Tim relents, "but we want some damn background information."

"Jazz," Ellie says at once.

Dan nods "We need Jazz, I'll get her." He salutes and falls backwards through a portal.

"What the actual fuck?" Jason asks, though Cujo jumps on him the second he swears. "Huh?" he asks dazed once again pinned down by the massive dog.

"Danny trained him to pin Dan down when he swears, apparently you look enough like him for Cujo to jump you," Ellie giggles.

"Get him off me" Jason grumbles.

"You can wait for Jazz," Ellie shrugs,

---

this was so fun to write, and It made my day, which consisted of a presentation I definitely failed, and a breakdown, so yeah glad i got to write this.

Also @itsbushytailedfox cause they wanted to be tagged if I did a second part.

edit: we have a part three here

Bye :)

[penelopepine]

Mother Knows Best!

Simon "Ghost" Riley x Reader x John "Soap" MacTavish

Summary: Soap's mom trying to set Ghoap up with Reader! She loves Reader and she's going to make her a part of her family! Content: fluff Word Count: 1012

You had started working in Mrs. MacTavish's bakery a few months ago. She was a kind older woman who had welcomed you with open arms when you first started. Her two daughters were just as kind as well. 

They had come in one day, just checking in on their mom, and the rest was history after that. The three of you quickly became thick as thieves. After spending so much time with Mrs. MacTavish’s family they honestly felt like your own now; the only member you have yet to meet was her son, John.

If only you had known what Mrs. MacTavish had planned for when you did. She brought you into her family, and what better way to make that official than by having you date her son. The son who was already in a long term committed relationship with his lieutenant. That was just a two for one deal for you in her eyes. 

-

The day Johnny came into the shop it had been a surprise for everyone. He hadn’t told anyone that he was arriving home early. When he first stepped into the bakery he was expecting to see his mum, but instead saw you working behind the counter. He remembers her mentioning getting a new worker at the shop. 

“Hello, lass! You must be the one who has captured my mum’s heart! Anyone who can do that might as well be family; feel free to call me Johnny.” He introduced himself to you with a wink. “Speaking of my mum, is she in right now?”

You're shocked for a second upon a stranger coming in and introducing himself to you. Regaining your composure though you quickly introduce yourself to himself as well; excited to finally be meeting the son you’ve heard so much about. “Oh, yes! She’s back in the office right now, and I’ve heard my fair share of stories about you as well.” 

“All good things I hope. Would hate it if she gave a bad first impression.” 

“Don’t you worry I’ve only heard the best!” You two bantered with one another before Johnny steps away and makes his way towards the office.

He knocks on the door, and waits until he hears his mum’s muffled voice come from the other side, “Come in!” 

Without waiting for another second he throws the door open, and there sitting at the small desk is his mum. Standing in the doorway he basks in the surprised and excited shrieks when she realizes that it's him.

"Oh, Johnny! Come in come in! Let me see you." She calls him further in as she stands up herself with open arms. She holds him tight when she finally gets her arms around him. Johnny knows she's probably feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, and lets her hold him as long as she needs. "I've missed you so much!" 

"It's good to see you again mum." He whispers into her hair, "I've missed you too."

She pulls away and her eyes have a glossy sheen to him as she urges him to sit down in one of the chairs alongside her. Once there she asks him about Simon, and tells him what's been happening while he's been away. 

They continue to talk and catch up with one another before his mum asks him about you, "So … what do you think of her? She's cute isn't she!" 

Johnny couldn't deny that you were rather pretty; if he wasn't currently in a relationship he would have been all over you. He didn't know why his mum was asking him that though. "Yeah, she's cute. Why? Are you planning on playing matchmaker again? Which one of your friend's sons are you thinking about for her?" 

"Actually I think you should ask her out; I think she'd be good for you." 

"Mum! You know I'm with Simon!" Johnny's voice rising with anger at the thought of his mum wanting him to leave his partner. 

"She'd be good for him too!" She quickly reassured him, “I can see it now. The three of you living life to the fullest with one another.” 

Johnny feels absolutely shell shocked right now; unsure of how to really respond even, "Wait? You want me and Simon to date her?"

"Exactly!" She exclaims, "She'd be perfect for the two of you!" 

"Mum-"

She interrupts before he can continue though, "Just talk to her! If you don't like her like that, or if you and Simon don't want that kind of relationship then I won't mention it again. I promise!" 

"Fine, fine I'll talk to her," He agrees, "only because she's working for you though, and I need to make sure she's not a troublemaker."

"Of course! You should do that now then." She stands up and ushers him out of the office, and shuts the door behind him. Johnny is left standing there mouth agape as he stares at the office door. 

After coming to terms with what just happened he turns and makes his way back to the front of the bakery. He didn't go to talk to you with any romantic intentions, but it seems his mum really does know him too well. Not that he’s going to complain about it right now; not when it seems there honestly could be something romantic here. 

He ends up staying for the rest of your shift talking and helping you with the customers, and afterwards he finds himself calling Simon. Telling him all about the bonnie lass that really is perfect for them. All he needs to do is meet her to find out for himself to see that it’s true. 

If after that Simon ends up in town as well as coming to the bakery who can really say why. It's also a coincidence that the three of you are seen out at a pub together just a couple days later. 

Mrs. MacTavish is very pleased with herself when you, Johnny, and Simon are then coming to her and informing her that you are now a part of their lovely relationship. 

Taglist: @zarsghost

[angel-writes-here]

Ruin The Friendship

Daesung x AFAB! Reader Synopsis: You accidently tell your best friend how you feel and as a result, you avoid him. But can he stop you from going home? Warnings: Slight angst with a fluffy happy ending. A/N: I took on this prompt for an anon that a friend of mine had and just isn't in the best headspace. I hope that's ok with who ever requested it. 💘

The words slipped out before you could stop them. Those three little words that could change everything.

I love you.

You hadn’t meant to say it; it was the heat of the moment. He was complaining about how this girl seemed so perfect and yet his heart was in pieces.  It came flooding out of your mouth when the frustration became too much, because you knew you could treat him right. But when the words came out, his expression was unreadable and you fled the apartment before he could respond.

You hadn’t seen Daesung in days. No calls or text messages were exchanged, even though he tried reaching out to you. You couldn’t face him, it was too much. You decided it was time to go home, back to the US so life could, maybe, somehow resume as normal.

Daesung was shell shocked, he’d never gone more than a day at a time without hearing from you, without hearing your sweet infectious laughter or your stories about work or simply without your company. You guys were constantly in communication, but that didn’t matter. Not now.

“She really told you she loves you?” Jiyong and Seunghyun were sitting with him in his apartment.

“Yeah, and now she won’t even speak to me,” he sighs as Taeyang walks into the room with a drink in his hand.

“She’s probably just embarrassed, it’s no big deal.”

“It’s been a week. She never goes this long without talking to me,” his voice is laced with worry.

“I’ll try calling her,” Taeyang pulls out his phone.

“Wait, I don’t know what I’m going to say.” Daesung's face is one of worry and confusion. What does one say to a confession of love?

“Just tell her how you feel, hyung.” Seunghyun speaks up. Daesung sighs as the phone rings.

“Hey, y/n,” he says cheerfully and Daesung feels his stomach twist.

“Wait? Leaving? I thought you had at least another week left.”

“Will you at least tell me what happened?” There’s a pause in the conversation, Daesung finds himself holding his breath.

“Ok, but that doesn’t mean you have to leave,” he tries to reason with you.

“Y/n, he wants to see you.” Daesung nods his head like you can see him.

“I promise he does.” Taeyang sighs at your stubborn resolve.

“Look, just don’t leave yet, please. At least let me see you before you go.” Taeyang had been like an older brother to you, he was always kind enough to show you around, let you stay with him when you came to Korea until you found a small house to stay in, and his wife was like your best friend.

“Thank you, I’ll be over later.” He smiles into the phone before hanging up.

“You gotta tell her, tonight.”

“Tonight?” Daesung's voice moves up two octaves.

“Tonight, she’s leaving tomorrow.” Taeyang rises to his feet and claps his hands together. Daesung’s face twists in despair.

“It’s got to be perfect, romantic,” Daesung says as his mind races with what to do.

“I’ve got it,” Seunghyun shouts excitedly.

“Taeyang, you take her out for the day, the three of us will set up a romantic meal and Daesung will tell her then,” Jiyong smiles at his friends’ idea.

“That sounds perfect!”

-

Taeyang drags you all around town, claiming he just wants to spoil you and let you leave Korea feeling better despite the mishap with your words. He buys you a new outfit, lunch and even ice cream. He takes you to an arcade, where you kick his butt in Mario Kart and you almost forgot about why you wanted to leave.

Almost.

You arrive back at your place that night, giving him a hug to thank him for everything.

“Are you sure you have to leave, I know things feel awkward." You nod your head yes before he can continue.

“If I go home to America things can possibly resume as normal.”

He gives you a hug, trying to hide the giddy smile that’s on his face. He lets you walk inside the house and sends Daesung a message that you’re inside.

You start hearing soft music play from the small backyard and your heart starts to pound in your chest.

You slowly stalk your way to the glass door and gasp at the sight.

Candles are everywhere, rose petals and table set for two. You see Daesung standing behind the small round table. Your heart beat quickens even more than before. Despite your brain screaming at you to run, you shakily open the door and step out into the yard.

“What is this?” your voice is weak, a contrast to his bright strong smile.

“It’s for you,” he says simply. He walks over taking your hand and gently glides to the table.

“What’s going on?”

“We’re having dinner,” he says like it’s the most casual thing in the world.

Jiyong rounds the corner of the yard with your favorite take out food. He doesn’t say a word, just places in on the table and walks away.

You eye Daesung curiously.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” he says as he distributes the food.

“No, it’s just that,” the looks he gives you causes you to stop speaking. It’s a look that you know means, “I can see right through you”. You sheepishly look down as he begins to eat.

“You want to tell me why?” He asks after a beat of silence.

“I think you know,” you say barely above a whisper, you take a small bite of your food, your nerves keeping you from feeling too hungry. He nods.

“You didn’t even give me chance to respond.” He informs you. You nod your head, still not meeting his eyes.

“I didn’t want you to,” you shrug.

“Why?”

“Because, it was an accident, it wasn’t something you were ever meant to know. I mean, Dae we’re best friends, we’re closer than most people and romantic feelings, they complicate things and I didn’t want to hear how I ruined the friendship and how things could never be the same between us.” You vomit it all out and he stares at you for a moment.

“You are right, things can’t be the same,” your face falls and you sigh, pushing your plate back.

“See? That’s what I mean.” You blink back tears of frustration before Daesung is up out of his chair, pulling your hand to join him. The fairy lights on the fence cast a warm glow on the back yard along with the candles.

You allow him to pull you up and he starts swaying with you to the soft music.

“Dae, I’m sorry, it was an accident,” your mind is racing, heart is clamoring, and your hands shaking slightly.

“For what?” his eyes are soft, filled with a gentleness that only seems to exude from him the more you talk.

“For saying anything. I don’t want things to change between us. You’re my best friend,” Before you can continue, his lips are on yours, soft and slow, savoring your taste.

Your eyes are widened in shock, before they slowly flutter closed and you feel his grip on your waist tighten. He wraps his arms around you and pulls you just a little closer.

“It’s a shame you don’t want things to change, because I do,” he says breathlessly once the two of you part. Your too shocked to say anything, face flushed with pink as you meet his gaze.  A smirk appears on his face at your sudden shyness.

“I’ve liked you for a long time, y/n,” he whispers. Your eyes grow at his sudden confession.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Same as you, I guess. I didn’t want to ruin what we had. I love you, y/n,” he says sentimentally. Your eyes brim with happy tears and you hug him close.

“I love you too, Dae.” Your smile is wide.

“So, you’ll stay for the rest of the week?” he asks once you pull away.

“On one condition.” He quirks his brow at you.

“You and me get to spend all your free time together,” you giggle and his smile is bright.

“Absolutely.” He grins before kissing you again, your arms wrapping around his neck playing the loose hair at the nape of his neck. Your stomach flips as the realization hits that everything is about to change for the two of you.

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

A New World: part 3

Bayverse!Leonardo x reader

Part 1 Part 2 / Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

A/N: To be honest, I’ve no idea how I would react to having my favorite ninja turtle standing in my living room. I would probably think I was crazy and call my psychiatrist for another appointment.

Leo is 25, reader is 22 - 23.

Warnings: None so far💙

“What”, was the only thing Leo could say, in utter confusion. Yet it didn’t seem like the girl in the doorway registered that either. Instead she stepped back with one foot, looked at him up and down with a suspicious look and narrow eyes, eyebrows frowning even further than before, if that even was possible. Then she stepped forward again, hesitating for a moment before leaning forwards with her arm stretched, before quickly poking his arm with her pointy finger, and then just as quickly retreating back to where she was standing just a moment ago. Leo, seemingly shocked by the fact that she had poked him, also retreated backwards. He did not know what to think of the situation. Even he, a big green mutant turtle, who had fought ninja clans and aliens, did not know how to react to the human girl's behavior.

“Omg you’re in my house”, (Y/N) breathed out, seemingly still talking to herself. “You’re real and you’re in my house”.

“And you know my name”, Leo said, almost talking to himself too.

“You’re in my house”, (Y/N) said once again, as her shock turned to bewilderment. “Leonardo is in my house”, she repeated once again, as she started to sound confused. “Leonardo is in my house?”, she said to herself, almost as if it was a question, before suddenly snapping back to reality, taking yet another dubbel look at the mutant. Leo found this whole ordeal very strange. When humans meet him they would usually scream and run away, yelling something about monsters. One had even called him the devil and held a cross up in front of him. Yet Leo had never found himself being the scared one in such a situation. Usually he would just be mildly irritated, over how loud they would scream, and how it would make his ears hurt. But at that moment he was scared, in a way he hasn't been in a very long time.

“Why are you in my house?”, she finally asked.

“How do you know my name?”, he asked, matching her expression.

“Ay, you’re in my house, so you answer my questions first”, (Y/N) said, slightly irritated.

“I don’t even know how I got here”, Leo said, matching her irritation.

“Last time I checked, big mutant turtles didn’t just pop out of the blue”, she said loudly, before suddenly realizing. “Oh wait, yes they do. Especially you. That’s what ninjas do”.

Leo just nodded slowly, at this point absolutely terrorfied.

“You’re scaring me”, he just said.

(Y/N) looked at him in shock. “Really? Me scaring you? But how?! You're Leonardo. The fearless leader in blue, who does everything to get his ninjas through. Katana wielding with a strong focus and fantastic concentration. Nothing scares you!”

“Okay! You win!”, Leo finally yelled out. “I’ll do anything you say, just please stop! You’re scaring me!”

(Y/N) just stood there, staring at the blue turtle, utterly confused. She had never seen him do anything like that before. In every single version of Leonardo, the fearless leader in blue, you had never seen him scream out that he was scared. He would never show that he was scared, and if he did, he would somehow turn it into something he could use in battle. Fuel for his fighting in a way anger just wouldn’t be able to do.

(Y/N) tilted her head slightly, staring confused at the large terrapin. “How am I scaring you?”

“You’re kidding me, right?”, Leo said, just as confused as her. (Y/N) shook her head no. Leo almost laughed in disbelief. “You know my name, you know about my katanas and you know… you know a lot about me! But I’ve no idea who in the shell you are!”

“You actually say shell”, (Y/N) giggled, only to be met by a very disapproving face by Leo. “Right, sorry”.

“How do you know so much about me?”, he finally asked.

(Y/N) didn’t answer him. It took her a second to realize that Leo in fact had no idea where he was. Nothing the way the TMNT universe worked, (Y/N) was starting to have an idea of what was going on.

“You have no idea how you got here, or where you are, do you?”

Leonardo huffed, obviously irritated by her change of subject. After a moment of looking irritated in the famous Leonardo way, he decided to finally answer.

“No, I’ve no idea. In one moment I’m being flung across New York’s skyline, and in the next I’m in your living room. I know it sounds strange, but I promise it’s the truth!”

“Yeah, knowing who you are, I believe you’re telling the truth”.

“Great! Absolutely fantastic!”, Leo said in the most sarcastic tone (Y/N) had heard in a long time. Knowing it was the bayverse Leonardo standing in front of her, she was surprised to hear something that sounded so much like Rise Leo. “Now, will you please tell me how you know me?”

(Y/N) shifted from one foot to another, thinking of the best way to tell him. She ended up giving him an awkward smile while fiddling with her fingers.

“Does different dimensions say anything to you?”

Leo’s head sank a level closer to her level. “What?”

“This is going to sound really strange, and probably freak you out a little more. You know, like how Krang is from another dimension from you and your brothers”. Leo blinked, slowly nodding. “Yeah, you’re in a different dimension”.

Leo blinked at (Y/N) for a moment. “Okay? I take it that there’s more to it than that?”

“Yeah, for the next part you probably wanna sit down”.

(Y/N) grabbed the mutant by the arm, before leading him to the exact same sofa he had found himself in just a few moments ago. He sat down, just as uneasy he had been throughout his time in her apartment. Leo watched the (h/c) girl as she went to her DVD collection, stored under her TV, mindlessly fidgeting with bandages around his hands. Her wondered if he should ask her what she was doing. Maybe even tell her that now was not the time to watch a movie. But instead he kept quiet.

(Y/N) found her two Bayverse movies. She held them in her hands for a moment before sighing, remembering the tattoo on her right deltoid. Well, here goes nothing.

(Y/N) walked to Leo, handing him the two movies. Confused, he took them in his green hands, before finally taking a look at the covers. His heart almost stopped for a second. He was staring at himself and his brothers. April, Casey, even Bebop and Rocksteady. He didn’t say a word. His tongue wasn’t working and his mind had gone blank. The look of confusion in Leo’s eyes seemed to be enough. So caught up in staring at the DVDs in his hand, that he didn’t even notice (Y/N)’s hand falling from her t-shirt sleeve. It if wasn’t for the sound of (Y/N)’s voice, Leo would probably have been sitting like that for hours.

“I kid you not, on my way home I was thinking about watching them”.

Leo didn’t say a thing but continued to stare at her and the movies in her hands. At one point he finally decided to turn them over to read the back of them.

"Michael Bay!”

“Haha yeah, I knew you probably would like that”.

“So”, Leo said, thinking for a moment before continuing. “In this dimension, me and my brothers are movie actors?”

(Y/N) blinked at the turtle. “Movie actor? No, not at all”.

She went back to her DVD collection and pulled out Turtles Forever, Batman VS TMNT, and her collection of the 2003 TMNT and 1987 TMNT, before placing them on the sofa table, right in front of the perplexed terrapin. While he looked at one DVD after another, (Y/N) went to her bookshelf and took out her edition of TMNT IDW, before handing that to Leo.

“These are not the original. The first comic book was published back in 1984. That one is part of a new version of the story that has been going since 2011”, (Y/N) said as Leo started flipping through the pages. “Other than the comics, there are several TV series. The first one from 1987. That one was and is extremely popular, even being used for merchandise today. Several 90’s movies, and another TV show in 2003. That was how I heard about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the first time. A movie in 2007, then a show on Nickelodeon in 2012, and yet another in 2018. Not to forget the Michael Bay movies from 2014 and 2016. Actually while we’re speaking right now, people are waiting for Seth Rogans new TMNT movie. And those are just the ones I remember right now”.

Leo slumped further back in the sofa. At least as far back his shell would allow him to. He rubbed his tired eyes with a deep breath.

“A different dimension”, he whispered, just loud enough for (Y/N) to hear. “I’m very far from home”.

“Ah!”, (Y/N) quickly said. “That’s a Spiderman movie title. Don’t get them mixed up”.

Leo continued to stare at the girl in bewilderment. He could already tell that would be just as irritating as his brothers could be. And with that thought, he remembered his brothers. His three little brothers, left confused back in his own dimension, probably not knowing whether he was alive or dead.

(Y/N) noticed the change in Leo’s mood, before squatting down in front of him. Not that she needed to. Even if she sat down on the sofa table, he would still be taller than her. (Y/N) felt bad for him. She didn’t even have to ask to know what he was thinking about. It was written all over his face. (Y/N) knew it wouldn’t fix any of his problems, but it would maybe help him rest a little.

“Hey”, she said, putting a comforting hand on his knee. “What would you say to some pizza?”

[alexihollis]

I Love You

"What?" Mercy's voice was quiet. Shell-shocked almost, eyes wide as she stared at Swan from the bed.

Who now felt incredibly awkward, hand going up to rub at the back of her neck as she repeated, haltingly, "I love you?"

It wasn't meant to be a question. It hadn't been, the first time Swan said it, pulling on her vest, untucking her hair from its confines and looking at Mercy. Sleepy, morning-drunk Mercy, dressed in nothing but an oversized t-shirt, the blanket resting around her waist and arms curled around Swan's pillow that Mercy stole as soon as Swan rolled out of bed. The curtains on their window let in the smallest beam of light that fell over Mercy, bathing her in gold and making her hair shimmer like something precious. Swan felt like her heart might actually explode.

And the whole time, Mercy mumbled about stupid early morning meetings and that she would probably be gone to work before Swan got home, but that she hoped Swan had a good day. Reminded Swan to grab her money clip from the dresser drawer, because she always forgot, and that if Ajax told Mercy Swan didn't get lunch, Mercy would be making her bagged lunches for a week. Which was an interesting punishment choice, if Swan did say so herself.

Somewhere, in all of that, the words tumbled out.

Now, Mercy sat ramrod straight in bed, the blankets pooled around her hips. Swan's pillow landed on the floor.

Fuck. Swan fucked up. It was too soon and her heart now raced in a bad way and her skin felt clammy and her face felt way too hot.

"You love me?" Mercy repeated.

Swan's throat tightened and she could only nod.

"You love me," Mercy said, again, more to herself, the words somewhat hazy and her eyes trailing away. Like she couldn't believe it. Which started to make Swan calm down a bit and focus back, because...

What?

"You love me," Mercy said, again, but forcefully and looking at Swan, again. Swan was starting to get whiplash.

"Yes." Swan said. Because...Yes?

She loved Mercy. It was a fact about Swan as true as any other. Swan had dark hair and eyes. She was a Warrior and Cleon's number two. She lived in Coney Island and hated heights, which made the Wonder Wheel interesting. She loved Mercy.

"You said it first," and, now, Mercy's voice was simply filled with awe.

"...yes," what was Mercy expecting here, exactly?

And, then, a new fear, because those were tears welling in Mercy's eyes and rolling down her cheeks and-

Swan all but threw herself onto the bed as Mercy dissolved into tears. Except, she hesitated, hands fumbling as they could not decide whether to hold or wipe away tears or do nothing because Swan still wasn't sure what Mercy's reaction meant and now she was crying-

Mercy fixed that by tackling Swan down onto the bed. Plastering their bodies to each others in that way she did, burying her face into the junction of Swan's shoulder and neck. Her body racked with sobs as Swan held her tight, feeling the tears hitting her skin.

Swan said nothing, but held her. Rubbed circles into her back. Pressed kisses into her hair and tried to not feel like the world's biggest asshole. Telling your girlfriend you loved her had a couple outcomes, but Swan never thought complete and utter devastation would be one. Had she, she wouldn't have sprung it on Mercy when she needed to leave in fifteen fucking minutes to go on a job with Ajax, of all people, the least patient of literally anyone Swan knew. Goddamnit.

"I love you, too," Mercy mumbled into Swan's neck as her sobs lessoned. As her breathing evened and her chest stopped heaving so violently. "I love you. I love you, so much."

"Oh." Swan said. Ever the eloquent one.

Mercy snorted, a soggy, but happy sound. "No one's- No one else has said it first. Before."

Oh.

...oooh.

"Yeah, well. They are stupid," Swan said, decisively. "And don't matter. I love you."

"I love you."

...

"I still need to leave, Mercy."

"No."

Swan did, eventually, escape.

She was five minutes late, though.

Ajax did not shut up about it for the rest of the week.

----------

I wrote this. In the middle of the night. Because I cannot sleep and I am hoping this will help me sleep somehow I guess??

But also a prompt from an anon! that I hope they enjoy!!!

[kysuguru]

you REPLIED IM SO HAPPY😭😭🤞 btw the fact that suguru AND satoru are both her love interests im so HAPPY stsg for the WIN!!! i love how suguru and shoko automatically know what satoru is implying cause hes so so OBVIOUS!

i cant imagine the troubles suguru and satoru would have with reader.. shes so enduring and she allows them to do whatever because shes too sweet! ofc shes serious when the time comes down to it but i just know she takes the two lightly and cares too highly of their opinions to really say no to them. i 100% know suguru is worst when it comes to teasing her. in this universe i want to believe suguru does not deflect so he stays there w them. although reader probably does not realize the two actually is in love with her, she probably assumes they are with each other so she does not want to intrude.

what if shoko and reader were discussing about first dates and she finds out reader never had her first anything and sets her up with one? maybe rin or shin?! LOL and behold satoru and suguru being menaces and completely mean to her . the trouble they would cause to the way they would be so upset. reader actually enjoyed her first date but shes confused why stsg are so upset over her. they always teased her for not having a bf and when she does try theyre even more ruthless?? bc in reality to stsg they always thought she belonged to them and they’re actually in shock that shoko would do that knowing about their crushes on reader? (cue shoko laughing in the background)

i love these asks smmm😭 tysm for sending. and ur right!! i have chapter one and two written and posted on my ao3, but suguru doesn’t defect, i cant allow that. and yes… stsg are sooo annoying when it comes to jealousy. like they are so suffocating..

this is new, very new.

it was a brief conversation, so mundane you wouldn’t bother to remember it unless brought up. shoko asked a simple question. “you ever been on a date before?” after talking about her horrible experiences with lousy men. it was an easy answer, “no.”

and you thought it’d end there. of course it’s normal for girls your age to go on dates with other people, experience the life of romance at a young age, but it wasn’t odd to meet a girl your age who hadn’t been on a date. so you weren’t sure why shoko put you up to this.

rin sits across you with a beaming smile, the fluorescents of the cafe highlighting his freckles. you fiddle with the warm cup of coffee in front of you. you weren’t much of a coffee person, but you panicked and ordered the first thing on the menu. it was bitter, terribly so, you weren’t sure whether you’d prefer this or satoru’s cups of diabetes.

you sip on it occasionally, to make yourself look engaged. you hope your poker face has improved, you’d be humiliated if the bitterness on your tongue manifested itself onto your expression (rin noticed, but felt too awkward to speak up).

it’s weird, and you try pretending this wasn’t set up at a romantic date.

you like rin, he’s really nice, but you’d never even imagined him romantically.

he’s beaming at you, you think he’s blushing, and he looks as if he’s in a daze with his cheek resting on his palm. the look of adoration is so shell shocking you’re gazing around the cafe at other customers he might be looking at.

you chalk it up to excitement of being in such a nice place.

conversation with him is easy though, you realize.

it’s unlike satoru or suguru. suguru’s a listener, unlike satoru who’s a talker. they fit in so well with one another it makes it hard to fit in. you don’t mind that, watching from afar is enough for you. but you still yearn.

maybe that’s why shoko did this in the first place. to get your mind off of them. you suppose it wouldn’t be bad to broaden your spectrum, you needed more friends anyway. you couldn’t always hang onto shoko, suguru, and satoru forever.

hours pass, and before either of you know it, the sun sets.

rin was full of stories, he had so much to tell about kyoto, his classmates, and his missions. he was so fond of it all that you couldn’t bear to stop him. it was nice listening to someone on the same level as you. not that you disliked listening to satoru boast about his missions and how awesomely strong he was, but it was a nice change of pace to hear such things come from someone of your caliber.

you could get used to this.

your entering the school with a content face. you feel them both before you see them.

satoru drapes himself onto you, talking obnoxiously loud in your ear as suguru sends you a soft smile. your company with rin was wonderful, but you didn’t realize how much you missed your favorite people until you see their visages.

“where were you at for so long?” suguru asks calmly, though there’s a hint of something else you can’t really decipher. maybe suspicion.

“shoko set me up on a date with rin.” you say sheepishly, scratching your cheek.

they both freeze, you can feel the way satoru’s breath stutters as his hold gets loose. you look up at them both, brows raised.

…

it’s so silent. was it something you said? were they perhaps upset you didn’t say anything? did they want to tag along? you would’ve said yes immediately.

“rin from kyoto?” satoru whispers, and you think he sounds angry. you can’t fathom why, so you try and brush if off. even though there’s a seed of dread starting to grow in the pit of your stomach.

“yes... shoko said something about chemistry. whatever that means!” you chuckle nervously.

satoru let’s you go, backing away. now you’re worried.

“i-is something wrong?” you look up at suguru for assistance but he’s turned his head.

you shuffle your feet, anxious. they’re obviously upset, but you don’t know why. “did i do something?” that’s the only thing you could think of. or did they not like rin? he was a nice guy, so you wouldn’t understand why.

satoru rubs your head, startling you.

“it’s nothing, sweets,” he says.

but he’s walking off before you can speak any further, he makes a point not to let you see his face as he departs. suguru gives you a strained smile before he’s following. “night,” he mutters.

and even though satoru reassured you, that seed of dread continued to grow.

satoru and suguru are busy. satoru hasn’t asked for your notes in awhile. you wanna assume that he’s got it down until you hear him loudly bugging suguru for his notebook. your heart drops at the fact that satoru just hasn’t asked you. you don’t know why that hurts, it shouldn’t. maybe suguru just conveys the answer better, there’s nothing wrong with that.

they go out for lunch, leaving you and shoko in the empty cafeteria with your cold noodles. shoko’s great company, of course, but the lack of satoru’s loud voice and suguru’s scolding makes it feel eerily quiet.

nights in the common room have shrunk to just you and shoko. it’s been like this for a few days. only a few days. yet you feel as if these days are dragging on slower than usual. shoko notices, and rolls her eyes, muttering under her breath how pathetic boys could be.

you think she’s spoken to them, for they look at you a little more now. but they barely talk to you unless the situation calls for it, even then, they’re awkward.

but it isn’t until shoko has been in high demand after a dangerous mission that the first years came back from that you’re alone with them. you’re nervous, feeling their eyes trained on you. you don’t dare make contact.

they begin talking to each other, and you feel joy consume you at the familiarity of it. you’re looking up now, making eye contact with the both of them. satoru opens his mouth, but you intervene.

“i’m sorry!”

their eyes are wide.

“i’m sorry for whatever i did. it’s just.. you guys feel distant. if it’s because of me then—”

“i should say sorry,” your eyes flit up to suguru’s as he scratches his neck sheepishly. “i was being childish.” he speaks into his palm. “we were being childish.” he corrects himself, eyes glaring into satoru’s, who huffs and crosses his arms.

“so it was something i did?” your brows knit as a frown etched itself onto your lips.

“it’s more complicated than that,” suguru says. but you’re not convinced.

satoru mutters something under his breath, you catch nothing but rin’s name. so you ask him to repeat himself.

“i just don’t like rin, is all.”

you blink.

“d-did he do something?” you needed to know, if he hurt or insulted suguru or satoru in any way you were ready to break it off—

“no. not exactly, we just… don’t like you being alone with him,” suguru admits, flushed.

oh!

you felt relief fill your chest.

“i think i know now.” you smile, happily. they stare. they both lean slightly forward, anticipating. “if i ever go out with him again i’ll invite you both out!” you clap your hands together.

they were upset that they weren’t invited along. that makes sense. you’re relieved. satoru did eye that cafe whenever you three passed it.

they share a look, one of amusement and one of exasperation.

“such a ditz,” satoru grumbles.

“we’d like that,” suguru smiles.

you’re happy, so happy you could cry tears of relief.

“i’m glad, i thought you were both gonna hate me forever.”

suguru grabs your hand, caressing your palm, your heartbeat spikes. “that’d never happen.”

satoru scoots closer to you and drapes himself over your shoulders, the familiar action has your cheeks hurting from how big you’re smiling. he squishes his cheek against yours, rubbing softly as he speaks, “never go out alone with rin again, okay? you need at least me or suguru there, not even shoko’s enough!”

they will never forget how she betrayed them so.

“of course,” you exhale, joyful.

and yes, abt stsg ur also right! this is kinda a poly thing. stsg love each other and the reader

[o-hora-o]

oh goodness, we're on the same wavelength about einstein being an empty shell ! the vn brushed welt's death off so easily. also knowing that einstein only see her welt through joachim even in the present days (he inherited the name, but he is only the shadow of his predecessor to lieserl it seems) it tears me apart-

the 55 disater probably destroyed emma too. she lost carl, she lost erwin, nancy and welt, ein and tesla are in coma, and she now has to assume the responsability of parting from schiksal and create her own organization (powerful enough to survive the overseer himself since they are schiksal ennemies now). i recall that scene where ein vaguely mentioned that ae footstep in the wall was thanks to emma, so her loss impacted ae for the worst.

i'm curious, what do you think of einstein adopting coralie ? aside from the fact that joachim adopted a welt clone so that probably was a shock (it's fucked up tbh), but after all these years of her burying her feelings deep she adopted a child. that probably was a big surprise to everyone (also i find it hella funny that lieserl is still in denial considering her age and forbids coralie to call her mom, only big sis lmao)

Oh, I’m so glad that we’re on the same page! 

To this day, the relationship between Joachim and Ein remains something I cannot fully understand for it’s so twisted and complicated. Because, on the one hand, we have Lieserl who did not show much interest in Nokianvirtanen family? (I think the only time she did and talked to Elias was when she told him about Welt's arrival, that he needed a library card and to prank Welt with an "old geezer" test). It seems she treated Joachim as a brilliant neighbourhood boy she and Tesla had to take care of from time to time but she wasn’t that close to him, unlike Tesla. And then, with Welt’s death, it changed so that she did start to care about him  

But 

She cares about not him as a person but as some shadow of his predecessor, as you’ve precisely said. And to make the matters worse, Joachim doesn’t care about himself either, as if that little Joachim boy is long gone and now there’s only Welt Yang, the carrier of His will. So, we’re left with Tesla, the only person who sees Joachim as Joachim and who has always cared about him and always will no matter how hard he tries to kill his true self. 

On the other hand, we have Joachim who did show signs of care about Ein  

But 

He cares about every single human being and is ready to sacrifice himself for every single soul. Therefore, the question is, is his care genuine, or is it simply part of his “this is my duty, he died so that we could live, and I need to keep them safe no matter what” mindset? 

See? These two seem to be in the same depression boat but so distant and indifferent to each other at the same time.  

(Imagine how the tables would turn if Lieserl’s body wasn’t so weak, and she could inherit the core) 

But back to Ein’s situation. Not only does she care about Welt’s legacy and only about that, but she cares about every little thing that is associated with him. She kept the shattered core, the Star of Eden while Joachim was lost in the Sea of Quanta, and the book of poems. The last one is an especially interesting case as it’s stated that it’s hard to encounter someone on the base which means Ein must have been carrying that book with her for who knows how long before giving it to Fu Hua. And not only that, but she translated and read it as well. 

(She was so caring about his belongings and then Bronya single-handedly erased 300,000 souls and all their memories. Yes, I’m still very much pissed off by it and always will be, sorry)  

Btw in the same dialogue with Fu Hua she mentioned that she didn’t feel great if she didn’t work out. And that’s another interesting topic to talk about – the way she kinda contradicts her younger self. Take for example this scene and that it is stated many times across vn or events or comics or the main story that she’s an awfully lazy person, her ideal life would be lying on a sofa and tease everyone around. (The part where she used to work 3-4 hours per day and now she works 24/7 can be explained by the fact that she had to fight honkai but that is no longer the case?). Or another example, I remember she used to go to sleep quite early and in the main story she goes: 

And this one still pains me:

Yeah, you're right about Emma. Additionally, I picture that little Lieserl and Erwin were like her Pride and Joy (and then she adopted a stray cat called Tesla). Then she lost one, partially lost another and I'm afraid Emma passed away before Joachim returned (But hey, she still had Tesla-)

Oh, I forgot to mention another thing. I suppose Erwin had already received her doctorate during vn timeline, but Lieserl and Nicola were still in the process of studying? And then they...well...had no time and opportunity to finish it. What if their doctorate is as fake as is Tesla's driver's license and Welt's passport (Ada being able to print fake documents is a nice headcanon ig because how else can you explain Ein getting Welt's passport within an hour or two)

Oh, Coralie... At first, I was very negative towards her when I watched that BiliBili Part 2 stream. She seemed like a replacement for the AE or Bronya role in the story. Moreover, by that time writers totally forgot about AE characters, and I was very disappointed by the moon arc, not only by the destroying memories in the core and the soul-erasing part but by the fact that AE dedicated decades to making a plan (Planck and Edison were the origins of the plan) and successfully carrying it out (they even spoiled like half of the story in the very first chapter with the letter on Selene), and we’ve never got a scene where they realised they had won and celebrated it (I bet Ein/Tesla/Joachim thought “I wish Emma/Nancy/Welt could see this day”). But. The “The Star Which the Moon Gazes Upon” chapter completely changed my perspective on Coralie and Helia. They’re adorable and are my most favourite (and only) thing of Part 2 (ironically, writers don’t really care about them either). I remember how confused I was trying to figure out how Ein decided to adopt a child, but this explains a lot: 

Though I'm still confused how they ended up playing a guess game and the whole "let's adopt another one" idea.

But let's look at this from another perspective.

What if the original reason behind Lieserl’s obsession over Welt starts in 1952 when she wanted to find out how Carl died, then she discovered that there was only one mysterious survivor and she unconsciously took it as a sign of fate and that she could become a Сarl figure for Welt and save him as Сarl had once saved her and maybe it would help her cope with the loss of Carl.... And then the 1955 came and Lieserl...well...failed.

BUT 

 60+ years later she spontaneously won a guess game (it would be funnier if it was a card game) and adopted a girl and ended up with the same thought of “now I want to try and play Emma’s role” and she tried to do everything for Coralie that Emma once did for her? 

What I'm trying to say is that in the first case, Lieserl was initially trying to help a stranger, as if she was helping Carl. And in the second case, she enclosed the image of Emma in Coralie so that now she takes care of "Emma". Does it make sense?

Btw Coralie's black shirt kinda looks like the one Emma had...oh, right, have you ever thought that it is for certain that there should be Emma's room somewhere in the AE base...?

Wait, have Coralie ever called her "a big sis?" :0 Genuine question because I've noticed that she calls everyone senpai/uncle/teacher but Lieserl is just "Einstein". Also it's funny how Ein is considered to be her mother and Coralie does indeed have Lieserl's devilish traits but she's mostly as unhinged and chaotic as Tesla.

[ridiasfangirlings]

So imagine that after the Slate is destroyed all people who had their memories erased by the Rabbits gradually start to regain them. Of course this includes Honami. And since she's the only remaining (blood) relative of Anna she probably should (or could) get legal custody of her. I think Kusanagi and Homra won't mind this. But what if Honami didn't wanna stay in Japan where all of this happened, her brother and his wife were killed, she got her memories erased and her little niece was tortured and suffered so much. Given that she's an English teacher I could see her wanting to move to America since she knows the language. Then what would Anna do in this situation? Would she want to go with her aunt? Or would she want to remain together with Homra? I know that things aren't the same after the Slate was destroyed and the Homra members would gradually drift apart, more or less. That presents us with quite the peculiar situation. So what do you think will happen? (sorry if the ask is all over the place, I'm writing it on the go before I forget)

There was a short comic I saw right after ROK aired that had Honami remembering and immediately running to Homra to hug Anna, I like imagining that was canon (and actually Gora did say at one of their K events that Honami may remember Anna post-ROK). I think things would be kinda awkward with Honami remembering, especially since Kusanagi would presumably have to explain both why Honami forgot and why they couldn’t tell her anything afterward. Honami would probably be pretty shell-shocked in the aftermath, finding out about Kings and the Slate and Anna’s powers (they might hold off on adding that Anna is Red King, so they don’t overwhelm her), and even hearing all this I could see Honami being upset with herself that she was able to forget something so important as Anna. Honami asks Anna to come home with her and I could see Anna saying yes but it’s worded in such a way that neither Honami or Kusanagi (or even really Anna herself) knows if this is just a visit or if she’s moving in totally. 

After a couple nights together Honami sits Anna down for a talk. She thinks Anna has been through a lot and after all this maybe it would be best to put all this fighting and sadness behind them, suggesting that the two of them together move overseas. I kinda imagine this immediately sparking some tension between her and Kusanagi, Kusanagi knows that Honami wants what’s best for Anna but he also doesn’t like Anna being put in a situation where she has to choose between her two ‘families.’ I imagine him trying to talk with Honami and Honami is also upset herself, because she feels like she couldn’t protect Anna all this time and she just wants to give Anna a normal life. Kusanagi can understand that because he wants the same, but he also wants Anna to choose what she herself wants and is worried Anna will be pressured by not wanting Honami to be sad.

Ultimately I feel like this is where Honami gets the revelation that Anna is Red King. Anna goes to talk to Honami and her fire wings appear, Honami is struck speechless. She remembers what Kusanagi told her about Mikoto’s fate but Anna assures her that it isn’t a problem anymore, no one else will die because of the Slate. But the Slate is also the one who brought her all her precious people and gave her the power to protect them, and she includes Honami in that. Anna doesn’t want to lose any members of her family, not anymore, and so she will protect everyone. Honami says Anna shouldn’t have to do that, they should be protecting her, and imagine Anna just hugging her and saying that because everyone protected her she was able to reach this point. She wants to stay in Japan with Homra and she wants to stay by Honami’s side too, so she wants Honami to know that there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore. In the end I imagine Honami giving in because she does love Anna, maybe they do end up taking like a short overseas vacation together so that they can catch up and Honami can spoil Anna a little but ultimately they come back. After this Anna just goes between staying at Homra and staying with Honami and everyone’s on good terms, it’s less like two separate families and more like Anna’s family just got a bit larger.

[angelic-omega]

I’ve been overweight my entire life and I’ve been physically healthy my entire life. I didn’t get any health issues until my mid twenties and even then it was mostly genetics!

Im not guzzling beer and eating cheeseburgers every meal?! I just hold more weight than the average person and I have tried to lose it my entire life. I had an eating disorder and when you have an eating disorder and you’re overweight nobody is worried about you. Nobody cries when you don’t eat, they congratulate you for being so brave and so strong. They compliment you and give you tips on how to lose even more until you’re an empty shell of your former self.

Never was I more unhealthy than when I was thinner. Never was I weaker and unable to do what I can easily do now that I have recovered from that mindset. I had a friend who was mildly overweight in high school who randomly started losing weight too. Everyone congratulated her until they found out she had cancer. Weight ≠ health

I’ve got a 33 inch waist, that’s apparently average size last time I checked! I’m strong and have done heavy lifting from anyoung age, was a dancer, was in martial arts too. I could likely still pass a physical test if only a little out of breath depending on what type of test! Not saying I could be a marine or anything but I am saying I’ve outdone lots of skinny people. Shock of all shocks! Skinny ≠ in shape! Weight in general has barely anything to do with health! There are deeply ill skinny people and there are healthy fat people like myself. I’m not saying I’m the peak of physical conditioning I’m just saying I could probably climb about ten flights of stairs fairly easily!

I am deeply ashamed of the way I look and have fought years upon years to feel even remotely good about myself. Every hateful comment on the internet, every school bully, every backhanded remark from a relative…stuck with me. I can hear I’m beautiful or that I’m not ugly a every single day but it will never erase that hatred. That hatred for my body and the essence of who I am is deeply rooted within me. So much so I don’t even know how I can continue being active in online spaces.

I am a human being with human emotions and feelings. My fatness doesn’t dehumanize me and even if I was certifiably ugly that doesn’t make me less deserving of kindness. Let people be confident in themselves. Let people exist and be happy without judgement. What is it hurting?

Had a fat person ever tried to force you to be fat? No. Has a ugly person ever tried to sell you a cream that makes you ugly? No. However, have people who aren’t fat tried to mock, guilt, and shame every fat person they meet into losing weight? Yes. Do conventionally attractive people try to sell you creams and serums to make you look like them? Yes. We know we don’t look like everyone else, we know not everyone likes the way we look. We have fucking eyes, ears, and mirrors. Do you?

Have you ever looked at yourself that closely? Have you ever looked inside yourself to see how hurtful you can be? What if when you made a hateful comment on my page I told you I was grieving a deeply personal loss? What if when you told me I was ugly I told you about how I’m legally homeless and struggling to find just a shred of happiness? What then? Would you even care? See it comes down to caring for your fellow human beings.

I don’t care what you look like or what you believe in or don’t believe in…I don’t go out of my way to attack people. If I saw you crying on the street I wouldn’t mock you, I’d try my best to comfort you. If I came across your page and I didn’t like your content I would block you and move on. It’s that simple! Don’t like…don’t interact.

I am very tired of asking people to be nice I’m about to start biting people on the streets

[blackjackkent]

Heading west from the gnolls and away from the smell of blood, Rakha is struck by a sudden new smell - much more pungent, and just as laced with death.

Smoke.

The village up ahead is burning, echoing with shouts of pain and terror. A small herd of soldiers in silver and red armor are swarming the courtyard fumbling with buckets of water or standing shell-shocked among the dead.

Rakha questions one of the officers. There was an attack by goblins and drow here. Probably the same that Rakha killed in the temple. She remembers that those out front were celebrating a successful raid.

The devastation they left behind is considerable. The smell of smoke is mixed with blood from the corpses scattered across the square. Luckily, the hunger they might rouse in Rakha's head is muted after the recent experience with the gnolls.

At the far end of the square is by far the largest building in the village, an enormous inn suffused with smoke and flame. Rakha can hear a woman shouting from inside, and several of the armored guards are wrestling with the front door in a panic.

"Keep pushing!" one of them shouts as Rakha and the others approach. "Duke Ravengard could be inside! On count of three - one, two--"

To Rakha's surprise, Wyll goes completely still, his eyes widening. "Ravengard? He's here?!"

"Yes!" bellows the soldier over her shoulder. "Now make yourself useful. Push, damn it! PUSH!"

Something in Wyll's expression has struck Rakha with an urgency to the situation that has nothing to do with the guard's shouting. Without taking time to think, she strides forward, slams her boot into a weak spot in the jammed door, knocking it backwards with a burst of thunder magic from the sole.

The door collapses with a shuddering BANG and all the officers burst into sudden frantic movement, darting into the inn. Wyll, too, breaks into a run, knocking past Rakha's shoulder as he hurls himself into the smoke.

Instinctively, she follows.

The shouting is coming from upstairs. The air is thick with smoke, choking, blinding; she can barely breathe, can't see. She follows Wyll unsteadily to the upper floor, where the officers have come to a halt in front of one of the doors.

What are they waiting for? Another burst of thunderous magic rolls around Rakha's fingers and she blasts it past the guards, shattering the door apart and releasing the trapped woman behind.

It's only when they're back downstairs again, out of the smoke and into the light, that Rakha can take a proper look at her. She's an elf, with dark green skin, wearing robes that would likely be fine if they were not soaked in the same sweat and ash that covers her body. And, apparently, Wyll knows her, for he bursts in before Rakha can speak.

"Councilor Florrick! Are you all right?" He sounds more worried than Rakha has ever heard him, even when talking about the tadpoles.

The woman starts to nod - then does a double-take. "Wyll?" Her eyes widen and her lips part in sudden shock as she takes in his devilish appearance; her gaze lingers on the rough place where his horns meet his skull. "By the Maimed God..." she whispers, horrified. "What's become of you?"

It's subtle, but Rakha knows Wyll well enough by now that she can see the way he flinches under her gaze. But his voice is steady. "A story best left for calmer days," he says firmly. "Now breathe deeply - are you in pain?"

Florrick draws a slow breath, lets it out, then shakes her head. "A scorched throat. A few hairs singed off," she says, with a crispness that almost reminds Rakha of herself. For how close this woman came to death, she seems remarkably self-possessed. "Nothing a bit of time and fresh air can't cure."

She doesn't wait for Wyll's response, but turns sharply to the officers all hovering nearby with anxious expressions. "Gauntlet," she says to the one who seems to be their leader. "A new duty calls. Drow have taken Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard - westward, if my eyes and ears can be believed. Report to the manip and send for reinforcements. We must find the Duke."

Rakha vaguely hears the collected officers making noises of concern and obedience - but her eyes have flicked back to Wyll and stayed there, because his expression has gone slack with shock. They have already faced down many monsters, but she has never seen him look so dismayed.

Instinctively she tenses, putting one hand behind her to rest on her quarterstaff. What danger does he see?

"No..." he whispers. "It can't be. You mean, they've taken--"

"Yes, Wyll," Florrick says, and though her tone is still grave and curt, there is a note of compassion in it. "The drow have taken your father."

The sentence falls like a lead weight into the conversation. Rakha blinks, Wyll's shoulders hunch. Shadowheart lets out a soft whistle under her breath. Lae'zel curses.

Rakha's brain works furiously through these new details. Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard. A leader with a title - and loyal followers, judging by the eagerness with which these soldiers plan to find him. She has heard Wyll speak before of the city of Baldur's Gate, the largest city in the area, and of its leaders in vague terms. Grand Duke is the highest among them. This Ravengard, then - Wyll's father - is one of the most powerful people in the region.

And Wyll has said nothing of it.

"Wyll," she says slowly, questioningly, "you are the son of nobility?"

Wyll frowns - yet another new expression, this one of deep bitterness. "The circumstance of my birth is no matter of pride - for neither me, nor my father." He draws a heavy breath. "But pride is no reason to refuse help to my own flesh and blood." His eyes fix back on Florrick. "How can we help?"

Florrick looks him over appraisingly, then nods. "Rescue Ravengard from his drow captors. Baldur's Gate needs him now more than ever."

Wyll nods gravely. "Trust us to see it through, Councilor," he says.

Rakha feels tremendously thrown by this new development. They already have other plans that need attending to - Lae'zel's creche, for one. On the other hand... if Ravengard was taken by the cultists, and Halsin and the Dream Guardian were right, then he has likely gone to Moonrise Towers, which is the same place they need to go to follow the cult to its source and exact a final revenge.

And... more than that... Wyll has helped her, and now he needs help. So she nods - almost without hesitation, in spite of the turmoil in her mind. "I'll rescue Duke Ravengard," she says sharply. "You have my word."

She feels, rather than sees, Wyll relax at her side.

Florrick nods. "Thank you." She smiles very slightly in Wyll's direction. "When the Grand Duke returns to the city, he'll hail his only son a hero." The smile fades, and she is suddenly all business again, looking at Rakha. "Approach the Towers with care. The land itself has been swallowed in shadow. I will seek reinforcements and join you when I can."

A pause, and then she looks back at Wyll again, and for a moment, the businesslike air melts off her completely, and she looks at him with the sober gaze of a concerned friend. "Remember, Wyll," she says, "'Courage is found in the battle against fear, not in the defeat of it.'"

"So Father said," Wyll says gravely. "I won't soon forget."

[super-paper-swap]

Super Paper Swap: Interlude 1 (OLD)

Word Count: 3,204

Chapter Summary: Bowser wakes up in enemy territory and attempts to escape. Meanwhile, Luigi returns to Flipside with a new Pure Heart in tow.

Mimi stood before Mistress Tempo and Dimentio with the bitter taste of defeat, and sand, plaguing her mouth. The Mistress was quite surprised that one of her followers had returned not just empty-handed, but badly bruised and beaten as well. Mimi was a renowned assassin before her recruitment by Tempo alongside another one of her current team members, so the fact she was so easily felled was shocking to say the least.

"So based upon what you've told us, it didn't go well?" Dimentio asked.

"Yes, please forgive me for my failure, Mistress."

"Fear not Mimi, all is forgiven in the eyes of the chosen prophet." Tempo consoled to Mimi. "Even if you didn't retrieve him, your encounter with the Hero is enough to prove that his strength is formidable. I suppose it is to be expected, of course. Dimentio," she turned to the assistant. "I request that you consult the prophesy to determine the next location of our hero. I'd suggest an attempt to out-brawn him with Mimi's old friend."

"I will get on that immediately my Mistress." Dimentio bowed in acknowledgment of Tempo's plan.

"Excellent, I shall be in my bed chamber, catching up on my reading. Let me know when the hero is in our grasp." With that, Mistress Tempo snatched the Dark Prognosticus from its mid-air perch and teleported away.

Dimentio sighed, "Are you doing alright Mimikins?"

"My head is still ringing from from the number of bombs I was hit with, but I'll live, and don't call me Mimikins. As much as I like the nickname, the last thing I need is Nastasia thinking we're, well, you know..."

"Right, right. My apologies." He stuttered. "I just wanted to say that you should rest some before your next call into action. If you need me, I'll be scouring out some of Bowser's unassimilated supporters."

With embarrassment still bright on his face, Dimentio left in similar fashion to Tempo as a pulse of energy emitted from his original position and he left the room.

"Have fun." Mimi replied, before she, too, exited.

Bowser unfurled himself from his shell with pain jutting out from every fiber of his being; he endured the agony on all fours before rising up to his usual bipedal stature, confused about his surroundings: a dimly-lit, red-orange hallway with a number of blue, kaleidoscope-like patterns painted on the walls.

"This is probably the second or third strangest place I've ever taken a nap in, where am I right now?" The Koopa King asked to no one in particular before he remembered, "Wait. The wedding! PRINCESS?! MARIO?! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!"

"Mister Bowser?" A voice called out. Two goombas approached him. "Thank goodness, we were worried you wouldn't make it out of your honeymoon alive, but here you are."

"Gary? Gerald? It's great to see you guys!" Bowser welcomed the lesser minions in open arms. "How're you doing?"

"We're fine Mister Bowser, but we haven't had any luck finding anybody else." The second goomba replied. "We were hoping you'd like to lead the search party while Gary searches for more survivors."

"No problem Gerald. Let's skedaddle."

And like that, Bowser and Gerald made their way in search of other teammates. Said search did not last long when the only unlocked door led them to Gary helplessly trying to talk sense into some of his former comrades, whom all sported eighth note-shaped sprouts atop their heads.

The sound of footsteps halted the conversation as Dimentio appeared from behind the brainwashed group. The conversation between the goomba and jester were inaudible, with the exception of its ending, in which sounds of indescribable agony escaped from Gary as a green sprout grew on his head at the snap of Dimentio's fingers.

"GLORY TO THE ESTEEMED MISTRESS!!!" Rang through the hallway after the troops received orders from their higher-up. Bowser ran with Gerald in arm in the opposite direction upon the dispersal of the troops, fearing the possibility of losing another precious ally to the strange, cranial weed.

The duo were thwarted by the misfortune of reaching a drop-off into the Void below, forcing them with only one choice.

"We need to turn around." Bowser thought aloud. His concentration was disturbed by a snap and the sound of Gerald screaming in pain. The goomba then proceed to nip at Bowser's arm in aggression before the Koopa King dropped the fungus, who scurried to the miniature army behind Bowser, led by non other than Dimentio.

"I'm sorry King Bowser, but this is the part where I need you to surrender. You won't feel any pain if you join us willingly, I promise." The jester pleaded, clearly distraught by the situation at hand.

"What are you doing to my people anyhow? Even under Peach's control, they're composed but hesitant to attack anything." The koopa asked hesitantly, inching closer to the edge of the drop-off.

"I'm persuading them into joining our cause, your highness. It's a cruel method, yes, but it only hurts for a little while." Dimentio prepared to snap his fingers once again. "I'm not a fighter your highness, nor are you, so let's finish this dispute before it has to begin."

Bowser snarled in defense, firmly holding his ground.

"I suppose we're doing this the hard way then." He held up his hand for the snap, but something struck and took hold of him; a tiny whisper that nagged over and over indefinitely, suggesting the same thing again and again. A tiny voice that seemed so incredibly tempting to obey, for whatever reason.

"Ah...ha...ha." Dimentio laughed to himself, not realizing that he'd done so. He snapped his fingers in accordance to the voice's demands, which caused a transparent box to surround the koopa and closed in on Bowser before teleporting him elsewhere. Immediately afterwards, the assistant snapped out of his trance, confused and exhausted but the events that had transpired.

"I...what? Why did I...?" He clutched his head. "Ow ow ow. Nevermind then, If he's gone, he's gone. We'll just have to deal with it later. I should be busying myself with the Mistress' accommodations anyway." Dimentio assured himself as he made his way back inside.

He couldn't help but feel like the voice he'd heard was familiar.

I remember the day we first met, the day that everything changed.

"Ughh...Uuugh..."

"You're awake at last?"

"Where...am I? Is this...a human's home."

"Don't wiggle like that. I found you at the cliff base. You took quite a fall."

"You're a human, correct? I don't...repulse you? I am of the Tribe of Darkness."

"Why would that matter? Anyone with a heart would not ignore an injured soul!"

For a moment, there was peace. But we should have known better. We should have known how everything would spiral out of control by meeting.

From that day forward, everything was going to be different.

Emerging through the red door, Luigi and his pixl companions found themselves back in Flipside with the orange Pure Heart in arm. A small, heart shaped ruby sparkled above the door as if to confirm the Pure Heart's successful collecting as Blecky insisted on the team returning to Merlee.

The group mutually agree and made their way down the elevator to the second floor. Luigi noticed that the Pure Heart he held gave off a familiar aura as it healed his wounds; it felt like he was being visited by an old friend in its presence. He realized that he had felt a similar aura with the red Pure Heart, but with a familial feeling, like when he and Mario hung out together on off days. Both Pure Hearts, he noticed, had an air of nostalgia to them that he couldn't quite shake off, but decided it'd be best to ask about why that was when he was with Merlee.

Right next to the elevator, Merlee's sunset colored house stood out like a sore thumb, but was a welcome sight nonetheless. Luigi "saved" before he entered, sensing something important was about to happen, but halted when he spotted the grey-robed fortune teller peaking out of his house. Luigi decided to introduce himself, which alerted the elder to his presence more violently than anticipated.

"Confounded Man in Green, do you not see that I'm already frightened to my wits?!"

"No sir, I'm sorry. I just wanted to say 'Hi'."

"Why does that matter?! I'm too sleep deprived to care! I should have become a Prognosticus interpreter! These eyes were meant to read the pages of fantastic prophesies, not the palms of the impatient! I keep having the same cursed dreams of my game ending at the top of the tower in that other world, I don't have time to read into the futures of others! I should have been a Prognosticus interpreter darn it all, I'm going back inside!"

"Can I at least get your name?"

"NO! I'M GOING BACK INSIDE!" And true to his word, the fortune teller returned to his abode and abruptly proceeded to slam and lock the door behind him as he continued to ramble to himself. Luigi felt a sort of sympathy emit from the Pure Heart's light and held it closer to his chest like he was hugging it. This seemed to return the Pure Heart to to its normal glow as he made his way back to Merlee's house.

"Eh, don't worry about Nolrem. He's always paranoid. I think it comes from seeing into the future all the time." Blecky assured to Luigi before they finally entered the sunset colored house.

The interior was a spectacle of red and orange walls lined with bookshelves; the pitch black ceiling glistened with star-shaped decoration and the floor was of a fine looking wood, covered by an elegant looking rug of a variety colors.

Merlee stood in the center of the room next to a small wooden table, her attention invested in a white book with a star on the cover. A little orange cat approached the heroes from behind her, mewing excessively at Blecky, who swooped down to pet the feline.

"Merlee! Voidslayer! We return with a beacon of hope in hand!" The bat called out.

Luigi couldn't help but snort at the rather inapt name of "Voidslayer" given to Blecky's cat; the sheer ridiculousness that was his first pixl partner brought worried looks upon Laddy and Boomer's faces, but they decided it best not to call out on their friend's peculiar obsession with singlehandedly vanquishing a world consuming vortex.

Merlee pried her eyes off the book in her hands to observe the luminescent glory of the Pure Heart in Luigi's possession, which seemed to pulse in his arms with Merlee's approach, like it recognized her.

"Greetings hero, how do you do? That's certainly a Pure Heart you have you! Come now hero, do not slack, what good news have you brought back?" The enchantress requested with excitement.

"We found the Pure Heart in a desert Merlee," Blecky began. "It was given to us by your ancestor, Merloo."

"Her ancestor?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah, Bleh heh heh. Merloo not only helped write the Light Prognosticus, he was also partially responsible for constructing Flipside. Without him, we probably wouldn't be here."

Then, a knock was heard at the door. Merlee excused herself to answer it, revealing Ellie on the other side.

"Hi Miss Merlee! Papa told me to come get you because a monster fell from the sky and he told me to tell you to check if it was dangerous because it scared him and he said it LOOKED dangerous so he wanted you to make sure and-" Ellie jabbered on and on until Merlee was able to calm her down enough to make sense of the girl's message and followed the girl up to the third floor.

Fearing the possibility that the monster in question may have been one of Tempo's followers, Luigi and his pixl allies tailed behind them, where they discovered the monster in question was actually a familiar face.

"Bowser?" Luigi approached the unconscious turtle in uncertainty. As much as he wanted to believe it was one of Mimi's tricks, he couldn't shake the feeling that beast in front of him was genuinely his friend and not a doppelgänger.

"You know him?" Blecky asked.

"Yes, he's my friend, and the king that Tempo had kidnapped."

"Is that so? Hey Merlee, you getting all this?" Blecky called out to the enchantress, who was observing the turtle's condition.

"This beast is ill, his skin is chill. Hero," Merlee turned to Luigi, "fetch something for his ailment, if you will. Might I implore, Howzit from the first floor? His cooking could help I'm sure."

Luigi nodded and made his way to the first floor, the Pure Heart now in his inventory, where the majority of the population housed; he was immediately able to distinguish the town's kitchen by the hanging sign above its doors.

The chef, Howzit, was astonishingly friendly, offering to cook a bowl of Spicy Soup to warm up poor Bowser with zero hassle. The hero gladly accepted the soup and made his round back to the third floor to deliver the steamy liquid. At his return, Ellie, her father, and Merlee were waiting by the dragon-like turtle.

Luigi gently forced open Bowser's maw to allow the soup to be eaten, slowly pouring in the substance as he did so. When the bowl was empty, the nostrils of the koopa flared slightly as he stirred awake; a puff of smoke seeped from the mouth after a small coughing fit. Bowser's eyes slowly opened as a yawn escaped from him and he clumsily stood upward.

"Mm, where am I this time?" He mumbled. His eyes focused unto the blurry figure before him; his eyes brightened up at the sight of his closest friend, whom he embraced with a warm reception in return from the dear plumber.

Deciding it best to catch up the koopa on current events, Luigi, Bowser, Merlee, and the pixls made way back the the enchantress' house. The overall conversation eventually led to Bowser, filled with determination, deciding to join Luigi on his quest to rescue his followers, his kingdom, and everything else out of moral obligation. Merlee took into account the fact that the Light Prognosticus had specifically mentioned the existence of four heroes to stop the Void, and deducted Bowser's arrival as a calling to his destiny, a reason that the koopa blatantly accepted without question.

This resolve alerted Merlee to explain the Heroes' new mission, since they were now in possession of another Pure Heart; the feat itself was no different from the first time Luigi had placed a Pure Heart into a pillar. The search for the Pure Hearts was a simple cycle of placing one Heart, locating the next one in the dimension provided through a new colored door, returning to town, rinse and repeat. The next pillars, however, were not in town, they were outside of town. With this in mind, Merlee handed a small key to the heroes.

"This key is to the fence outside, inside the Next the lock does hide. Be careful in the outskirts of town, for there are holes where you could fall down. They were dug by Tempo, while you were gone. Such is she, that wretched foe."

"Wait, why was she digging holes back there?" Luigi asked her.

"An answer to that I cannot see, so please, for my sake, be weary."

"...okay then." He said, and then left without further question.

At the bordering fence, Laddie flipped the team into the Next, where a gate and lock were now visible. Using the key, they unlocked the fence gate and returned to the normal dimension.

"Please don't make me have to do that too much in the near future." Laddie pleaded in exhaustion, having never delivered a creature of Bowser's mass into the Next and back in such a short interval of time. Luigi invited the tired pixl into his inventory to rest while the rest of the group moved onward.

Without the gate to block their way, Luigi and Co. passed into the outskirts of town, where there were indeed a copious number of recently dig up holes. Luigi had pulled out the orange Pure Heart again around this time and was allowing its energies to direct him to its respected Heart Pillar.

They eventually located the Pillar on top of a somewhat tall structure that would've been impossible to reach without Luigi's Super Jump or someone with the ability to glide based on the floating platforms that led to it.

Luigi leaped to the pillar with the Pure Heart in tow. At the top, he felt the familiar resonance of the Pure Heart ready to launch itself, and let go.

The second Heart Pillar pulsed like its predecessor as the Pure Heart lifted itself into its home inside the pillar, a light show of clockwork patterns displaying and then dissipating within seconds.

Back at the bottom, the pixls has conglomerated around Bowser's head space due to him complaining about a nasty pain in his cranium.

"It could be tumor."

"Or maybe fire lice! SHHPOW!"

"It's probably just a headache guys, lemme fix it with my acupuncture skills!"

"What's going on here?" Luigi questioned as he descended from the structure.

"The Super Turtle has a headache, so I'm gonna make it better! Bleh heh heh!" Blecky answered, completely inthralled by his task of scratching around in Bowser's bushy hair to find the exact location of the koopa's pain.

"Well, you go do that I suppose. I was planning on booking us a night at the Inn so we can be rested for tomorrow."

"Why can't we just head out right now? The sooner we stop that Void, the better." Blecky concentrated on one particular location inside the fiery bushel that made Bowser mutter in pain.

"We'd be better off well rested and traveling in daylight then still exhausted from our travels in the Linelands and bumbling about at night."

"That wouldn't matter anyway." He massaged around the area of impact, causing Bowser to growl. "Last time I checked, the Yellow Pure Heart was in Gloom Valley, which is always trapped in eternal sunset, except for when its nighttime of course."

"I'm still going to book us a stay at the Inn."

"Fine by me." Blecky sign, the pressure on the area eventually pulled something out from the sensitive spot on Bowser's head after the koopa began to whimper loudly. The bat pixl pulled on the something until he was able to retrieve it, a little brown seen which he precariously handed over to Luigi for safe keeping.

With the removal of the seed, Bowser's head was at ease and the team was able to make way to the Inn, where Luigi and Company slumbered peacefully the entire night.

After many careful preparations the following morning, the team rode the elevator up to the top of Flipside Tower, where an orange door as elegantly designed as the first colored door stood to the right of the first.

With an air of excitement leading the way, the Heroes passed into the Orange door into Gloom Valley.

[locitawritingsblog]

Take The Moment and Taste It

Chapter 6

Omega and Emerie went to Hazard house first for gathering "Hello Omega, hello Emerie !" Lyana waved at them as they arrived. "Hello Lyana and good morning." Lyana chuckled "Good morning to you."

"Where's Kamari ?" Omega asked.

Lyana replied "She's getting ready. She'll be here any minute now."

As waiting, Emerie figured how tall of this mountain these people live "Aren't you not tired if you want to play at this mountain area ?"

"Well, at first, you might be easily get too tired but over time you would get used to climb up and down at the time because you would get used to walk and climb everyday." Lyana said.

Emerie nodded "I see."

Finally Kamari showed up, she worn a light orange shirt, navy blue trousers, light pink fingerless gloves and light pink vest "Okay girls, who's ready to collect seashells ?"

Omega and Lyana raised their hands as they yelling "Me !" while Emerie nodded. Kamari chuckled "Alright, let's get down." They walked to the bottom.

Arrived at the beach area, the girls immediately started to collect seashells around. "Look at this, I never found a shell like this before." Omega showed Lyana a seashell that she just found.

"Oh my, I haven't seen this shape for awhile." The seashell shape that Omega found was a star. "It would be a great necklace. I wanna looking too."

Meanwhile Kamari noticed Emerie didn't do much, she just hold a seashell that she just found "Don't you think you need more ?" "I am just curious how this thing could interest the kids."

Kamari sighed "Girl, you don't need to overthink. Just take as many as you want."

Emerie was concerned "Are you sure is this allowed ?"

"Yes, all the kids love collecting seashells here." Kamari replied.

Then Omega and Lyana showed all the seashells they took "Look how many we got !" "Those seashells are beautiful, girls." Kamari touched Lyana's face.

Omega noticed Emerie had one seashells on her hand "Are you sure that's enough for you, Emerie ?" Emerie stared at her sister "I'm not sure."

Omega took Emerie's hand "Come on, I'll help you to find." Soon after that, they found some seashells on the sand.

When Emerie was going to take it, there was a voice "Dr. Karr ?" She was shocked as looked around but no one except Omega and herself.

It was probably nothing, in her thought but the voice came back as going to grab a seashell "Dr. Karr, there is no time to waste something like this. Go back to the lab."

"Yes doctor."

Omega raised eyebrows "Doctor ?"

Emerie shook her head and sighed "I'm sorry, Omega. I thought there was someone else ordering me back to work." "It's okay, Emerie. Those are the past now, it's gonna be alright. Let me take these for you."

Emerie appreciated of Omega's willingness to help but she felt guilt to not do something simple like this.

Back to Hazard house, Kamari taught how to make necklaces and bracelets with seashells that they gathered. Once she finished making hers, she immediately put around her neck "Isn't it beautiful ?" Kamari's necklace had magenta and orange with a seashell on it.

"Really beautiful, Kamari. Hey, let's make our first friendship bracelets." Lyana suggested.

"That sounds fun ! How exactly are we gonna do ?" Omega agreed.

Lyana told her "We make each other bracelet with our favorite colors. After that, we switch our bracelets and wear it for each other."

"Sounds cool. Let's do it. Wanna make a bracelet too, Emerie ?" Emerie replied "I want to make a necklace like Kamari has." The girls nodded.

Few minutes later, Omega and Lyana finished making their bracelets "Done !" They showed two bracelets. Omega has blue-red with a star while Lyana has red-pink with a seashell.

"And now, we switch." The girls gave each other and wear it.

"Aww, those are so beautiful, girls. Good job." Kamari smiled.

Then Kamari noticed Emerie had a hard time to keep her work to stay in postion "Need a hand ?" She offered. Emerie smiled at her "Yes, it would be nice. Thank you."

Kamari sat besides Emerie and hold a rope so Emerie could finish it. Only it took few seconds, she finally done. She had a green-yellow necklace with a star on it.

"What's the results of my work ?" Emerie asked.

"It's called a handmade or most people like to call DIY."

"DIY ?" Emerie was confused, never heard that word before. "DIY is short from Do It Yourself. We made all these ourselves really well." Kamari explained.

"And I have a good teacher." Kamari was touched "Thanks but I'd prefer to perform and sing for people who loves my voice."

"I really miss you singing here. She was used to have a small performance where she's gonna sing and we all really enjoyed it. Your brothers are welcome to come so are you two. My dad probably will tell you guys when Kamari's performance begin." Lyana told.

Omega cheered "That sounds fun ! Do you wanna come, Emerie ?"

Taglist: @photogirl894 , @leosardonyx18 , @commander-tech , @cassie-fanfics , @zaya-mo , @genericficerblog , @kanerallels , @aesira-of-orion , @twinsunstars

Emerie stared at Kamari as having this feeling that their friendship would be a nice to remember "I'll be there." Kamari smiled at her new friend.

[aura-acolyte]

Off-Screen Event: Ballroom Brawl

This is an off-screen event. That means nobody is present for it but the characters mentioned.

(Music Box: Battle Scherzo from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (composed by Akira Senju))

The four combatants left in the ballroom stared at the Lucario in shock. He had Mega Evolved on his own. No trainer or keystone in sight.

“He Mega Evolved on his own? But how?” Riley asked, perplexed. 

“I have spent decades honing my Aura.” The Lucario growled. “None of you could hope to stand against me.”

Before any of them had a chance to respond, the Lucario fired an Aura Sphere at them. Luckily they were able to dodge out of the way, just barely, avoiding taking any damage. The throne behind them, on the other hand, was not so lucky.

“Well, two can play at that game!” Mare shouted.

She threw aside the sword and raised her arm, tapping the keystone embedded in her Mega Ring. Simultaneously, the keystone and the Mega Stone in Kyoshi’s armband glowed with power. Mare thrust her arm straight upwards.

“Kyoshi! Mega Evolve!” 

Much like the Unknown Lucario, Kyoshi was surrounded by a shell of hardened energy (don’t question it) emblazoned with the Mega Evolution symbol. The shell exploded apart, releasing a wave of energy that caused everyone to stumble. There were now two Mega Lucario on the battlefield.

“The power of Aura flows through me!” Kyoshi shouted.

The two rushed at each other at shocking speeds. They threw rapid punches and kicks at each other, neither letting up and neither being able to land a hit. As they fought their Auras flared up to the point where they were visible to the naked eye.

Mare looked at Riley and Mosa. “Come on, we’ve gotta help her!”

“Too risky.” Riley replied. “We could hit Kyoshi by accident.”

Mare grit her teeth. Kyoshi was doing great out there but this Lucario clearly had more experience. If nobody stepped in to help she’d tire out eventually and lose the fight.

“That Lucario thinks I’m somebody else because of my Aura.” Riley said, rubbing his chin. “If we can get him to open his eyes maybe he’ll see I’m not who he thinks I am and stop fighting.”

“How are we supposed to do that?” Mare asked. “He’s been relying on his Aura Vision this whole fight I don’t think we’ll be able to make him stop.” “We could if we rendered his Aura Vision useless.” Mosa said using the same telepathy Kyoshi and the unknown Lucario had used.

Riley nodded. “Yes, if we could overload his Aura Vision that would force him to open his eyes.”

“I reiterate: how are we supposed to do that?” Mare said.

“We need to create an Aura Field.” Riley said. “One big enough to cover this entire room.”

“A what?” Mare asked.

“An Aura Field.” Riley repeated. “It’s like Terrain moves but for fighting types.”

“Ooohhh.” Mare said, comprehending. “Wait, won’t that just power him up?”

“Yes but the downside of Aura Field is that it renders Aura Vision useless because everything is Aura.” Riley explained. “Which is fine for most fighting types cause they don’t have Aura Vision. But not so great for Lucario.”

“Sounds like we have a plan then.” Mare said.

As if on cue, Kyoshi was flung away by the unknown Lucario… straight into one of the thrones. Probably no big loss. The “royals” were rich as fuck they could replace it. And if they tried to make her do it, Mare could always borrow money from Steven again.

“And not a moment too soon.” Mosa said.

“Kyoshi!” Mare shouted to the disoriented Lucario. “No time to explain why but we need to create a massive Aura Field!”

“But I haven’t taught you how to do that yet.” Kyoshi replied.

“Well, you can teach me now.” Mare said.

All four allies quickly huddled together. They raised their hands in the air.

“Okay, now focus on spreading your Aura outwards.” Kyoshi explained.

“Gotcha.” Mare said. “Let’s do this.” They all focused. Spheres of Aura manifested above them. And then… the spheres turned into beams. They fired upwards, hitting the roof and spreading out, covering every inch of the room.

While they were occupied the unknown Lucario had been charging at them. But as soon as the room was covered, he stopped.

“What is…” He spluttered. “I can’t see… everything is Aura.”

For the first time in recent memory, the Lucario opened his eyes. As he gazed upon the four figures standing before him, he was hit with a realization.

“You are not Sir Aaron.” He said. His Mega Evolution fell away, returning him to his normal state.

[hvbris]

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎 & 𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐓 @multipleoccupancy

With Theo dragging Violet further away so they could inspect the trap together, Samantha turned to look at Sloane. "We talked, yes. He's still worried, but he cares about her a lot," she replied sincerely. Her voice was a careful whisper. "He's concerned... about Delta Green." She glanced at him. "I told him we would talk about it later. Right now we need to focus on the mission."

"Did you talk to Violet?" she then asked back, taking advantage of the fact that Theo and Violet seemed to be having their own conversation, "you both looked a little shell-shocked when we arrived, but she seems in a much better mood now."

On the other side of the trap, Violet turned to Theo, blushing at the praise. "We all worked very well together," she replied modestly, "it's probably the biggest trap I've ever made." But it was best to be careful rather than sorry. They still had no idea what the monster looked like, and what it could do.

She had not expected an apology. Now that she had settled down, she understood that the situation was complicated for everyone. But she was touched all the same. "You don't need to apologize," she assured him gently, "I know it was all probably... a big shock. I just... I didn't want you to think I lied to you. When I was in Ophir, I really thought this was the past. I missed you a lot, and I was so happy to see you again. When it looked like you didn't trust me anymore, I just..." She sighed. "You're not my dad, but I still care a lot about you. You're a Theo."

Violet wondered if he had been to the ward, too. If he had, she could understand why he was so worried about Delta Green. "I wanted to be an agent," she shared honestly, "but my dad was very opposed to it, and I didn't understand why. But now, I know that they treated him cruelly, and... I know Delta Green is capable of very terrible things. But all I want to do is protect people from monsters. What is happening to me, those travels... It's not my fault. I never asked for it."

The trap was a priority! Theo agreed and smiled as he went to get to work under Violet's orders. He was reminded of Ophir in the moment but it was hardly a hinderance. He was a much better agent now, Samantha had learned so much too and Sloane of course as always was a reliable rock if something went wrong.

Sloane took his time with the pieces he had been given, still very much stewing in his thoughts on his counterpart and occasionally looking up to check on Killian and Samantha, wondering how any version of him could turn on them in such a way. He didn't know if he should thank Violet for being so honest with him, it felt like it could have been rude to do so somehow. As if surviving his outlaw alternative self was something to say 'thank you' to. Somehow did didn't feel right.

"Did you talk with Killian? He seems much more himself again." Sloane checked with Samantha as the trap was finished, looking it over, confident that it could do the job and protect Samantha at the same time.

Killian meanwhile inspected the trap and the knots of the ropes again just to be sure, dragging Violet along with him so that two sets of eyes made better than one in case he missed anything. "This is really impressive," he told her as they went.

He hesitated for a moment, checked where Sloane and Samantha were and then whispered quietly but honestly, "I didn't mean to upset you earlier, I didn't even realise I had done it." He said softly, "I'm sorry. I've just got a lot to consider with Delta Green." Davidson in particular but he didn't voice that. "I hope you weren't too offended."

[countessofravenclaw]

Like the Red Rose blooms in the Oxford Garden: Chapter eleven

Sometimes when your heart breaks… it feels like there is no way to fix it. No matter what you try. All the memories get left behind as something unfinished… But maybe, there is to way to fix it, A second chance. Some way to finish the story you two started writing because it was never the end, but just a part of the story… even if you have to travel far to achieve it.

I'll tell you the truth but never goodbye

“What are you looking at?” Nina peeked over Gastón’s computer. He truly was an engineering student now, having his computer out even on a plane. This was still supposed to be a vacation, his job for the summer didn’t start until the next week. 

There were still few hours left until they landed back at England after two and half weeks at Buenos Aires. They had had so much fun with everyone. After the shell shock of the sudden news wore off from everyone, it had been like nothing had ever happened. Everyone had been so happy and supportive. Hanging out together had made Nina really sure about that this was how it was supposed to be…

…she surely was gonna miss everyone so much, but the plane was not going to wait for them, and it had soon enough become time to go back to Oxford. They would see everyone again. Luna had been all about how she will come and stalk the royal family until she got a selfie with the Queen an Ambar had also said that she wanted to come to see places and drag Simon along. 

“Nothing,” He closed his laptop, a little too quickly, “I should probably put this away before we land.”

“That would be in three hours,” Nina looked at him, “You know, I can tell when you are lying too. What were you looking at?”

“Okay,” Gastón seemed to be deep in thought for a moment, “I was planning on bringing this up when we were back on the ground… and settled back there.”

“Bring up what?” Nina hoped she didn’t look too alarmed, but she hadn’t though that something could be wrong. They had just had an extremely great time with their friends. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Gastón took her hand, “This is just something I have been thinking about, and I get if it’s way too soon for you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I guess I can just come out and say it,” Gastón opened his computer back up, “What do you think about of an idea that we get out of the dorms and get a place?”

“You mean—” Nina looked Gastón straight into his eyes and then back to his computer, where he had some real estate website open. That’s what he had been looking at. “—move in together?”

“In short, Yes,” Gastón nodded, “Longer version: I kind of got thinking about it when we got to spend a lot of time by ourselves at my place and then I talked with Pedro and Delfi about it, because they were looking for a place.”

“Yeah, I remember that.” Nina responded.

“I don’t want to spend any more time away from you than necessary,” Gastón continued, “We have lost so much time already. Not to say that our time hasn’t been incredible, but if we lived together, no more separate dorm rooms and dancing around everyone else's schedules. But I don’t want to pressure you, we have move pretty fast.”

“Not any faster than last time.”

 “I just wanna have this conversation. What do you think?”

“I honestly haven’t thought about it,” Nina started, “But, you are also right, living with you would be a dream come true, and the logical step forward. Plus, our roommates do probably hate us.”

“As much as I love Oliver and Jacob, I have lived with them for two years now,” Gastón remarked, “I don’t know how much more 24/7 I can truly take with them.” He trailed off for a second, and reached for Nina’s other hand, squeezing them tightly, “So, is this for real? Are we actually doing this.”

“I think we are.” Nina honestly didn’t need to think of twice. She knew, she was sure. She had dreamed of this, that was for certain. “Timing could not be better either, since I forgot to mention to you, but my scholarship only covered the accommodations for the first year. I have been putting off dealing with it.”

“Then this certainly is perfect.” Gastón smiled and leaned closer. Nina forgot for a moment that they were in an almost full plane. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Nina gave him a small kiss. She wanted to do it properly, but they were still in the plane. There would be time… hopefully the rest of their lives.

“Once we land, I’ll call Mom,” Gastón said as the seatbelt light came back on, “she certainly has contacts here. I mean we could do this the hard way, start looking at listings and whatnot, but I think it’ll be easier if we just cheat. I don’t know how close we can get a place to campus, but I think we can manage. We have car.”

“You mean, you do.” Nina pointed out, “I can’t drive.”

“You should,” Gastón turned to her, “I think it’s time for you to learn.”

“But how do I do that?”

“I am too young to get a teaching permit,” Gastón started typing on his computer, “But I think in Europe in general, it is more common to use agencies. We need to enroll you in a driving school.”

“You really think that I can do that?” Nina started getting more frightful. 

“I know you can,” Gastón smile, “Plus, my car is automatic, so that will make it easier.”

*

“Hey!!!” Ariana and Marlee attacked Nina as soon as she entered the campus coffee shop. It apparently was bit of a tradition now that they all met up at the coffee shop before the new year started. Gastón had told her that they had done it the year before. They had been bit late with Gastón, so everyone else, Jacob, Marlee, Oliver, James and Ariana were already waiting for them. 

“Where’s Gastón?” James asked as Nina sat down. “Was he such a success at Renishaw that they gave him an executive position and now he’s not coming back?”

“No,” Nina rolled her eyes, “He’s in the car. His Mom called.”

After they had gotten back from Buenos Aires, they had been making some headway with the apartment. Isla had gotten them into contact with Anna Hughes, one of her contacts who was active on the Oxford area… but apartments in campus were hard to come by. That’s why it had taken two months, but right now they a had promising lead. Without Isla, it would have been hundred times harder.

“So how was Buenos Aires?” Ariana asked, “You at least came back, so you didn’t have too good a time.”

“Yes, we came back,” Nina laughed, “But we did have fun. It was great to be home for a bit and see friends.”

“How did that work?” Jacob asked, “Did you meet his, he met yours?”

“Yes, we met… both of our friends,” Nina answered and trying not to fumble over any of her words. That was not a lie… all of their friends were mutual friends, so they were both their friends. 

“So, you met his skating crew?” Oliver questioned, some kind of mischievous gleam in his eye.

“Yes…” Nina looked at him varily, “what about it?”

“Lucky, because he refuses to talk about it.”

“Just that…” Ariana laughed, “You knew he used to do freestyle rollerskating?”

“Yes, I do know that,” Nina nodded, “He doesn’t do that anymore, almost no one does from their team.” Her team as well, but she had never explicitly told anyone of them about her own skating experiments. 

“Well, he told us that that was where the drama was at.” Ariana continued, “Lots of inter-team dating and stuff like that.”

At least Gastón had been truthful about that to the people. What Ariana was describing was pretty accurate, there surely had been drama. Ambar and Matteo, Luna and Simon, Luna and Matteo, Ambar and Simon, not to mention all that Jim and Yam had been up to. Her and Gastón also had been their own story. Nico had jetted himself off to the USA. Delfi and Jazmin and their channels… the list went on.

“Who doesn’t have that drama in high school?” James interrupted while basically signing Ariana to shut up.  

“Hold up, we’re not changing the subject,” Jacob piped up, “We’re not done with the topic. How did it go with your friends? Since Gastón isn’t here, so you can spill the tea.”

“You know what they say,” Marlee continued, “If your bestie doesn’t like the guy, axe the guy. I mean I bet they all were expecting you to bring home a cute British guy, hopefully they weren’t disappointed with a one that literally went to the same school as you.”

“Luna liked him just fine.” Nina had not expected to come under this kind of interrogation, alone nonetheless. Gastón really just had to get stuck on the phone with Isla. 

“Did you make Matteo and Luna meet up? How did that go down?”

This really had to stop. Nina was not sure how much longer she would be able to keep this up. But no way, she was going to tell anything alone. 

“Sorry about that,” finally Gastón walked in, “Mom had a lot to say.”

“We were just asking Nina about you trip back home.” James explained, “Apparently you met up with lot of people.”

“Yeah, we did that.” Nina felt Gastón tap on the shoulder, “Necesito hablar contigo.”

“Bueno. ¿Qué pasa?” Nina stood up and faced him.

“Mom said she had talked with Hughes,” Gastón explained, “The place we spoke with her about is on the private market.”

“You mean…?”

“Yeah. Mom pulled some strings to get access to it.” Gaston nodded, “If we move fast, we might be able to get it, before it goes on the public market. Anna’s gonna call me later with details. You agree with me that we’re sure this is it?” 

“Of course,” Nina nodded, “It has the perfect position for the campus and everything.”

“Speaking Spanish should be illegal.” Gastón and Nina turned around after an annoid voice. It had been Oliver—

“You two want to tell the rest of us what you are talking about so secretly?”

“You can’t even speak freely here anymore?” Gastón rolled his eyes at the others as he and Nina sat back down. 

“Maybe we should just tell them?” Nina suggested. The others would find out anyway. “Necesitamos ayuda con la mudanza.”

“Tell us what,” Marlee raised an eyebrow, “This is getting ominous…”

“Not like that, Marlee,” Gastón rolled his eyes again. “Okay, I know all of you love coming up with wild theories about us, so be probably just have to come clean. We have been looking at apartments.”

“We found something,” Nina continued, “So, we’re moving in together, hopefully really soon.”

***

“Well done, Romeo,” Oliver patted Gastón on the back as they were walking on a hallway with James and Jacob. “You now actually are abandoning us.”

“It’s not like we are never going to see each other again,” Gastón rolled his eyes, “We’ll just be off campus.”

“You truly are going full steam ahead,” Jacob laughed, “What happened to the person who refused to even look at a girl because he was so hung up on his ex?”

“He came to his senses,” Gastón answered quickly. More like: He never moved on and got given a second chance to stop being such an idiot. 

“Big time,” James laughed, “You really aren’t pulling any punches. I mean, I don’t blame you, but how did you get Nina to agree with this?”

Quite a people he had decided to be friends with. This reaction was extremely eerily similar to what Matteo had said, in a private phone call, after Gastón and Nina had told Luna and him about their plans. Truth be told, maybe it did seem bit soon, and Gastón hadn’t fully thought that Nina was going to agree either. It had been a surprise that she had. 

But to him, this just made sense. He wanted to spend his life with her. Why wait when you knew what you wanted?

“Probably the same way he got her to sleep with him in the first place,” Jacob remarked while the others laughed. Gastón just rolled his eyes, again. 

“I thought about it and then discussed it with Nina,” he finally responded. “And she agreed. There is nothing more to it. I have been thinking about it a lot during the summer, when we stayed at Buenos Aires at my place. Mom and Dad travel a lot, so we got to be there by ourselves most of the time. I also talked to some of my friends, who were looking to move into together.”

“So, in other words, you used some underhanded methods?” Oliver questioned smirking, “Where have you been hiding all of this game?”

“Say the people who have been trying to set me up with any girl you have seen walking on the hallway,” Gastón scoffed. 

“I get Oliver is saying,” Jacob continued, “How do you all the sudden have all these moves when you have spent the past two years as a selib—”

“Think very carefully if you want to finish that sentence.”

“To change the subject,” James interrupted, “you said that you are going to look at an apartment tomorrow. How did you manage that? That market is a disaster. How are you not on some kind of wait lists to even see places or in an offer war for rental agreements.”

“We didn’t exactly,” Gastón cringed, “I mean, we had help… Mom is in real estate, so she had a contact dig something up. The place is not in the public market at the moment, so there is no war.”

“We’ll never know everything about you, don’t we?” Oliver crossed his arms, “I don’t know anything about real estate, but with common sense, you can deduce that not just everybody has access to things not on the public market. Who on earth is your Mom? Or Dad to that matter, you have never told us.”

“Fine…” Gastón sighed. He was gatekeeping so much information that it was already, this was getting exhausting. “It would be way too long of a story to explain. Google if you want. They are Isla and Marco Perida.”

Gastón kept walking the hallway, but quickly noticed that everyone else had stopped. He turned around to see everyone huddled around one phone. Well, he had told them to google. 

“Uff, it’s in Spanish… I can probably put the translator on… Wow!” Gastón crossed his arms as the three heads turned to stare at him. “Is this for real?”

“Yes.”

“The why haven’t you told us this before? We obviously knew that you have money, but this…”

“Well, how would you yourself bring that up?” Gastón questioned as he walked back up to the other guys, “It is not just casual conversation starter. I have not been trying to hide it.”

“What are you doing here?” Jacob questioned, “Shouldn’t you be in finance school?”

“I’m my own person,” Gastón shook his head.

“Fair point,” James nodded, “But tell me something… Does Nina know?”

“Yes,” Gastón breathed. Obviously, she knew, had known for years about his financial situation and inheritage. Keeping that secret started really going over what it originally was supposed to do. “We stayed at my house. She even met my parents. Anyways, we’ll need help carrying boxes after we sign the rent lease… not mention all the things I need to deal with breaking the dorm residency.”

*

“The whole apartment building went through a massive remodeling a year ago—” Gastón and Nina followed Anna Hughes inside the apartment, “All the locks operate with the electrical system, which can sometimes be an annoyance in some places I have worked, but there have been no reported issues here.”

The apartment was approximately a little over 60 square meters. It had one bedroom, an open kitchen and a living room. The flat was on the top level of a quite tall building and fully refurbished.

“I grew up with a house with fingerprint scanners,” Gastón responded, “I know everything about electrical systems not working at times.”

“Well, that’s a good thing,” Anna nodded, “I have all the paperwork here.” She handed Gastón a pile of papers and Nina turned her head towards them, scanning the first page with her eyes. “I’ll give you some time, let you go over everything.”

“Thanks.”

“I didn’t realize that rent agreements includes so much paperwork,” Nina said as they were sitting down and looking over the papers.

“Yeah, I am surprised too,” Gastón said as he took the paper Nina was handing to him, “You’d think these would be digitalized, it is almost the 2020s after all.”

“Lot of these are just general information forms,” Nina was looking over another paper, “But I think this one needs signatures… Yes, this is the one.” She pulled a pen from her bag and wrote her name on the line at bottom and handed Gastón the form and the pen. He also signed on the line but couldn’t help but think how ugly his writing looked next to Nina’s. Her signature was so beautiful.

“What do you think about the layout?” Gastón asked after they finished filling out the forms. 

“Well, I am no interior designer, so I don’t really have an opinion,” Nina shrugged, “You?”

“I like this.” Gastón responded, “There is a lot of storage space. I do think that we could shuffle some things around—” He pointed some of the chests of drawers. “—to get more optimal use of the space.”

“Did you already completely memorize the floor plan?” Nina raised her eyebrow at him. 

“Not really,” Gastón shook his head, “But I do have some ideas. Like that wall over there,” he pointed to the empty wall on their left, “We could put some bookcases on there.”

“That’s a good idea,” Nina agreed, “I was never able to fit all of my books anywhere at the dorms.”

“Trip to Ikea it is then,” Gastón nodded.

“Ikea?”

“You never been to Ikea?” Gastón questioned.

“No,” Nina shook her head, “I mean, I know what it is, but never been there. When have you? You have never shopped your own furniture.”

“James dragged me there last year to find him an extra nightstand,” Gastón explained, “He prides himself in being a the self-proclaimed “master of DIY bookshelves”. Whatever that means. Are we done with these now? Because if we are, we have time to start packing the dorms up.”

“Did you figure everything out with the dorm offices?” Nina asked. 

“I still need to fill some forms,” Gastón huffed annoyed. Breaking the dorm's lease had been harder than anticipated for some reason, “Why is it so hard? You didn’t have to go through all the trouble.”

“Probably because I was on the freshmen lease,” Nina noted, “You are on the multiyear one. I just didn’t renew my lease changing it to that.”

“You freshman really have it easy,” Gastón reached to brush a lock or hair out of Nina’s face. 

“Well, I am not a freshman anymore,” Nina looked at him with playfully questioning eyes, “Sophomore starting on Monday.”

“So, is everything clear with you?” Anna walked up to them. 

“Yes,” Gastón got up and handed her the papers they had just signed. “This should be everything.”

“Well, then this is it.” Anna smiled and pulled three keys out of her pocket, “This is officially yours now. It is my time to bid farewell.”

“Thank you, Anna, for everything.”

“It was my pleasure,” Anna nodded, “Give Isla my regards, it has been splendid to work with her. I always learn so much. Although, I have to admit that I didn’t know she had a son.”

“You and the rest of the world,” Gastón grumbled.

“What was that?”

“I was just joking,” Gastón laughed, “I predate her rise to success. Don’t really know where I would have come up in a conversation about real estate.”

*

“Grab a box.” Gastón opened the ground-level door to James. Nina had left to run some errands, and James had offered to come over to help Gastón with unpacking and see what kind of apartment they had found. 

“Don’t you have a lift in this place?” James complained as they started to climb up the stairs.

“What do you need a lift for?” Gastón teased him and started climbing the stairs faster, “It is only seven levels.”

“Seven?!” James exclaimed, “It didn’t look so high from the outside. Can you slow down a little bit? I don’t have the durance of a freestyle roller-skater.”

“Maybe you should join me at the gym,” Gastón remarked as they finally made it to the right floor.

“I get enough exercise from the brain power we need to use for the courses this year. Already dreading it,” James shook his head, “I can’t believe that we’ll need to start the theses this year.”

“Well, we kind of need those if we want to finish our bachelors,” Gastón pulled the key out and opened the door, “And then, low and behold, grad school.”

“Can’t wait,” James remarked sarcastically as he walked through the door. “This is nice. Your mother really must be good at her job.”

“It is not wise to underestimate her,” Gastón nodded and pointed towards the bookcases at the end of the living room, where there were four other boxes, “Let’s put these there.”

“What are these?” James asked as they put the boxes down, “These don’t look like ones you took from your dorm.”

“Those are at the bedroom,” Gastón explained. Sorting through all their personal items like clothing had been surprisingly fast affair. He and Nina had been able to do almost all of that on Friday, “These have stuff we shipped from our houses back in Buenos Aires. Books, pictures, mementos, all the kind of stuff.”

“Did you go to Ikea without me?” James asked eyeing the shelves.

“Didn’t have time to get you,” Gastón explained, “We just got some shelves, for books.”

“Why am I not surprised?” James said while looking at the boxes. “How are you even supposed to stack these?”

“Alphabetical order,” Gastón shrugged, “It’s not that hard.”

“Did Nina teach you that?”

“No,” Gastón shook his head as he picked up a pocket knife and cut the first box open. “I have a library at my house. I have been into books before I met her.”

“Yeah, we know that,” James looked at Gastón. 

“Anyways, you go through that,” Gastón throwed the knife to James who opened another box. 

“What’s this?” James pulled a thick leather covered book from the box. 

“Looks like a photo album,” Gastón turned his head from another one of the boxes, “We have couple of those. Old fashioned, I know, but what can you do? You can put those on the shelf far right.”

“Wow, you kept these?” Gastón had been concentrating on stacking the books in the right order on the top shelf of the bookcase closest to the wall, when James’ voice shook his out of his thoughts. 

“Kept what?” he turned around, expecting to see James holding some old thing of his that he had taken… 

He was not doing that… the photo album that he had been holding before. Gastón internally panicked for a second. There had been like three albums he had taken with him. He was not sure which one of those that was. One that had some childhood pics… or current ones, which right now would hold lot of sensitive information. 

He and Nina had not yet been able to come up with any viable way to let the truth out in the open.

“These.” James turned the album around. On the spread he had been looking at, were pictures from Gastón’s graduation. There was one pic of Nina included there, but it wasn’t that inflammatory situation, since her face wasn’t showing in the picture. 

“Those are from my graduation,” Gastón walked over to James, “Why wouldn’t I have them?”

“I didn’t mean those,” James pointed to the pictures on the left, which were Gastón with his parents and with Matteo, “this one. That’s her… right?”

Gastón wanted to hit himself for not getting it right away. James was thinking that the pic was of his ex—which it actually was, but Nina wasn’t his ex, anymore. James though, didn’t know that. 

That picture of Gastón picking Nina off her feet on his graduation day, which his dad had taken, was his favorite from the day. His favorite memory of that day, if he was honest. 

“Oh yeah,” Gastón just shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant, “What about it? I didn’t go through the album when I packed it.”

“Okay,” James looked at him suspiciously for a moment before turning back to the album, “I’ll get rid of it for you—”

“No no! Don’t do that?” Gastón stopped James before he was able to pull the picture off the page. 

“Why not?” James stared at Gastón.

“Well, it’s a good picture,” Gastón scrambled some kind of explanation together, “Dad took it. It would be a shame to get rid of it. It’s not that deep.”

“Really?” James kept looking at Gastón. “Seriously? You are in a happy relationship with girl you pined over for over five months and you’re even in the point of commitment of moving in together, but you still refuse to get rid of a picture of your ex. I am just trying to help you. Let me get rid of it before Nina sees it, because that's when you better have an explanation ready.”

“She has seen it,” Gastón suddenly invented… or well, he didn’t completely make that up, Nina was in that picture, she even had a copy. “And she agrees with me. It’s a good picture, from an artistic standpoint.”

“I am going to be completely honest,” James still kept looking at him with an eyebrow raised, “thats kind of weird, but you do you, I guess then…” James turned to look at picture again. “Honestly, I can see you have a type, could have told us sooner, short brunettes…”

Before Gastón was able to stop James, he turned the page on the album and suddenly froze while staring the page. Gastón needed to strain his neck to see what he was looking at. He didn’t remember the order the pictures were in in the album. 

“James?” Gastón looked at the album. The explanation for James’ shock was right there, on the page. It was another picture from Gastón’s graduation day, with Nina, where she was fully recognizable. 

“What?” James’ eyes started moving and he flipped the pages back and forth. 

Gastón tried to think what to say. This couldn’t be just explained away by saying that the photos were in the wrong order. They were both wearing the same clothing than in the previous picture. “I can explain…”

“Would love to hear it,” James looked at him dead in the eyes, “Because… I am very lost right now. Only one who can photoshop this well is Oliver, and if this is photoshopped, that has some very disturbing implications…”

“It’s not photoshopped.” Gastón finally said. There was no getting away with this, James was really smart. Gastón needed to tell him the truth. 

“Then… That means that…” James looked back at the album, and then back to Gastón. “No way.”

“Yes, it’s true,” Gastón nodded.

“This is a lot… so in reality…” James seemed to be piecing things together, “When you met her, it was before our first lecture of the year… that’s why you were totally out of it during it!? And why you were so resistant to pursue her, even when you got along so well. It was her? This whole time?” James huffed, “And we thought you were moving on mate. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“That Nina was the same person as the girl you knew as my ex?” Gastón sighed, “It honestly is a long story. I didn’t know she was coming here, no one told me. When I saw her with Marlee, I thought I was hallucinating. When the dust had settled, I honestly just didn’t know wat to say. I definitely couldn’t ever predict that out of everyone, Nina would have ended up being Ariana and Marlee’s roommate, and you know how they are like. She was going to be integrated amongst us, wanted she it or not. I had to let you all form your own opinions of her, because she’s incredible. It was really awkward between me and Nina at the start, it would have become so much more if you all knew that was actually going on. We tried to be friends, but I couldn’t stay away from her, at that point we were just kind of too far gone on this, and it was quite difficult to even start telling you all of this. I have been in love with her since I was 17-years-old.”

“You could have told me.” James crossed his arms.

“I know, but you all wanted me to move on, for a good reason, and I kind of did the opposite. Somewhere I knew that it was always impossible.” Gastón smiled awkwardly, “All I can say at this point is that I am sorry. If it makes it better, I have been called an idiot throughoutly by Matteo.”

“He has been always aware of this, hasn’t he? No wonder he seemed weird when Nina came up, when we met.”

“I’m back!” Suddenly the door opened, and Nina walked in. “Hi James!”

“Hi, Nina.” James crossed his arms again as he and Gastón turned towards the door.

“What’s going on here?” Gastón wasn’t sure how much, if any, Nina had heard of their conversation, but she surely had picked up on the vibe. 

“Oh, we were just talking about certain pictures Gastón had in his album.” James started, with a slightly snarky tone. What Gastón was relieved about was that James didn’t really seem angry, even when he kind of would have the right to be, he just seemed annoyed.

“Pictures?” Nina furrowed her brow as she hung her bag on the closet and looked at Gastón, “¿Qué está pasando?”

“Speaking Spanish won’t get you out of this,” James rolled his eyes.

“Out what?”

“I can explain,” James started smirking, “Gastón was just explaining how you time travelled into his graduation pictures… but you know all about that, don’t you?”

Nina stared blankly at James, before turning to Gastón again? “He knows?”

“I don’t need to speak Spanish to understand that,” James continued, “I just wanted to make sure that you knew that you are the ex that he was moping over all this time, since anything can happen at this point.”

“You told him?” Nina asked Gastón as he finally made his way over to her.

“I had to,” Gastón explained, as he put his hands on her arms, “Like he said, he saw a picture from my graduation, one you were in.”

“Oh,” Nina seemed to understand, “There is no getting out of that.”

“It’s probably the time to tell everybody,” Gastón continued, “We can’t ask him to lie.”

“I am still standing here by the way!” James was leaning into a bookcase while Gastón and Nina had been talking.

***

“Oh my goodness! This is actually true?”

“How? What?”

After Gastón had been forced to tell James, he and Nina had just decided to call everyone to their apartment and just tell the whole story. Fair to say shocked faces were dominating the room at the moment. 

“Let me just rewind this a little bit,” Marlee started speaking, “The first time you saw each other, in a year, what that time? I was there! You didn’t say anything.”

“That was the first time, yes.” Gastón nodded, “And we did say things.”

“The Spanish!” Marlee huffed, “Now we actually ought to learn that language. It gives you way good of an advantage.”

“So, you really are her?” Oliver question, looking at Nina. “Don’t take this the wrong way but… what are you doing here?”

“It’s a long story,” Nina looked up for a moment. She felt Gastón tighten his grip on her hand. “If I only made good decisions in my life, I would have been here for my senior year, when Gastón started. My mother is really strict, so travelling and studying on my own has always been something I have wanted… but I am not the bravest person. It was our plan, but then I chickened out—” Gastón tried to interrupt her, but she continued, “—thats what happened. It was the wrong choice, deep inside I noticed it pretty quickly. I got a second chance when I graduated, and realized I couldn’t waste it.”

“I didn’t know she was coming here,” Gastón continued, “and we didn’t know where we stood with each other, so I didn’t say anything.”

“So let me get this straight. Do the things we do know about the ex still apply?” Jacob piped up.

“You can stop calling her that,” Gastón noted, “Not my ex anymore.”

“Okay, but like do they?” Jacob continued, turning to Nina, “Like did she, you, skate since, allegedly you two shared a friend group, which was the skating team.”

“Oh my god really?” Ariana exclaimed, “You skated too? This is just getting better.”

“I did,” Nina admitted after a deep breath, “for a short while. I’m not good. I only did couple of events during our last year. I mostly can stand and go forward and backwards. I didn’t do it professionally, like Gastón and the rest. It was Luna who got me into it.”

“Wait, so she skated too?” Marlee stared at Nina, “Why does that sound familiar…?”

“Wait.” Ariana perked up, “I have no idea why I remember this, but you once said that Luna had sent you a picture of her boyfriend wiping out on skates… Some detectives we are. We should have figured that out. How many roller-skating teams really are there in Argentina?”

“You’d be surprised,” Gastón remarked, “I haven’t counted, but enough to do regional competitions across all of Latin America. Luna was our captain.”

“I thought Matteo’s girlfriend was the captain?” Oliver questioned with a furrowed brow. 

“She is,” Nina nodded, and she and Gastón shared a look. “Luna and Matteo are together.”

“What?”

“It took three years of very turbulent courtship, but they have been together for a year now,” Gastón explained, “We don’t know what’s to come, but we’re kind of hopeful. It would have looked bit odd if we both knew a Luna Valente”

“You said Matteo’s girlfriend’s name was Sol,” Jacob stated, “You called the girl who’s called Moon, Sun. If you were going to lie, at least don’t be lazy as that.

“That’s the thing,” Gastón ran his hand on his neck, “I didn’t lie.”

“What now?”

“Luna’s adopted,” Nina explained, “Sol is her birthname.”

“So, is this all?” Ariana questioned, “No more secret things from you past that we need to be aware of? Like you two don’t have a secret child somewhere, right?”

“What?” Gastón and Nina stared at Ariana and each other, “No.”

"¿Bien?"

"¿Qué estás implicando?"

"Nada... Simplemente se me pasó por la cabeza que habría habido una ventana de tiempo para eso."

"¿Y de verdad crees que no te lo habría dicho... o que mamá no me habría matado a mí? ¿O a ti?"

"O por supuesto que no." Gastón shook his head, “The answer is no, because neither of us would be alive right now.”

“This is not how we thought the housewarming party would go down. Can we get some drinks now?”

{}

Well... the cat is out of the bag, finally. See ya in the next chapter... when certain someone might be appearing...