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spike-and-faye · 4 years

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Hello, I require your infinite wisdom please!! :O So I just finished cowboy bebop and I am so confused like who the fuck was Julia. WHAT was Faye's past. I literally never process tv shows and the bebop was not immune to my stupidity LMAO like... I guess the ending just really confused me, from what I gathered Spike and Vicious were friends? But then they weren't? And Julia dated Vicious but also Spike? And he? Went after Vicious even after Julia had died? I am Confusion. Please help. Thank u...

Oh BABEY I am so glad you asked! :) Be prepared for a long answer and I apologize in advance for how incoherent it will probably be.

ALSO Please note: this show is fucking complicated. I have watched it all the way through several times a year, every single year, for over a decade now, and I am *STILL* finding new shit every time I watch it. It's packed with symbols, motifs, allusions and underlying themes that are just so rich. It is so extraordinarily well-written that it could give a lot of classic literature a run for its money. I'm literally working on an in depth literary/film analysis my husband lovingly calls my Manifesto on the series right now. SO PLEASE don't beat yourself up about not catching everything on the first go round.

HEY BTW for anyone who hasn't finished the show, please know there will be MANY spoilers ahead!

Anyways ~

1. Spike / Julia / Vicious:

The information we get on Spike's past, including Vicious and Julia, is pretty limited considering how big of an impact they have on the story. We get our first glimpse in Session 1: Asteroid Blues, then again in Session 5: Ballad of Fallen Angels, Sessions 12 + 13: Jupiter Jazz, and Sessions 25 + 26: Real Folk Blues. I recommend reviewing these episodes for you Julia and Vicious fix.

What we know:

Spike and Vicious were both members of an organized crime syndicate called the Red Dragons, which is roughly analogous to the Yakuza or the Mafia. Their positions in the organization are not clear, but there are some images alluding to them being hitmen, and they likely rose up in the ranks as they were close acquaintances of Mao Yenrai, a Capo of the Red Dragon.

Spike and Vicious were close comrades. Spike taught Vicious everything he knew about fighting, and the two had a deep trust in each other. Which Spike fucked up ….

^^Vicious looks hot asf here

Julia was Vicious' lover/girlfriend. One night in 2068 (three years prior to the time we watch in the Bebop) Spike is injured, presumably from a syndicate-related fight and he passes out in front of her door. She takes him in and nurses him back to health and he SIMPS HARD for her. We’re all but told he's in LOVE love with her. They start an affair, and Spike tells her he's ready to abandon the whole life - the syndicate, Vicious, Mao, all of it - and they could run away together.

WELL Vicious finds out about this whole affair, and is DOUBLY betrayed because his literal best friend and girlfriend have been having an affair, and tbh I think he was just as jealous of Spike's attentions as he was of Julia's. (Whether or not it’s a sexual thing for Spike … well … I have my own headcanons about that). SO when he finds out they're going to run away together, he gives Julia an ultimatum: you can either kill him, or I'll just kill you both. Spike had written her a letter about meeting him in the graveyard to start their new life together, which she tears up to hide his location from Vicious. (This is the falling ripped up pieces of paper we see in Spike's flash back in Session 5).

^^ r/gifsyoucanhear

**NOTE: There are those who disagree with this view, (looking at you Cowboy Bebop wiki) instead suggesting Vicious and Spike were buds in the past, but then hated each other once they were both considered as potential successors to Mao. That's why Vicious wanted him dead, and he was enlisting Julia (who he didn't necessarily have a romantic connection to) to help kill Spike since he knew Spike loved her. Personally, I think there is plenty of evidence that Vicious also wanted Julia, and in fact was already with her, when Spike started seeing her. If you want me to cite my sources please send an me an ask about it :)

Spike gets the idea, whether by her just not showing up or word around the syndicate being like YO Vicious wants you dead. Despite Vicious' ultimatum to Julia, he was gunna kill Spike either way. SO he sets up an ambush, and SadBoy™ Spike walks intentionally into their trap. Somehow, he doesn't die, though the entire syndicate thinks he did. (Note Annie's reaction to seeing him alive in Session 5). It’s also implied that this is where he lost his eye.

HIS EYE - possibly the most important symbol in the show so I do have to mention it. In episode 26, he explicitly explains to Faye that one of his eyes only sees the past. (PS this isn't dissimilar to Jet's arm… we can get into that another time). Basically, he's constantly living halfway in the past and halfway in the present, and describes the past like a dream he can never wake up from. Because dysfunctional or not - the syndicate WAS his family. (Again - see his relationship with Annie, Mao, and Vicious (prior to Spike's betrayal)). It's his reminder that Julia didn't run away with him, and that he'd left behind that life for her. (He didn’t know she was being threatened until the final episode). Basically Spike is hyper-fixated on what he had and what could've been.

Not long after this, Spike starts bounty hunting because like? What else is he going to do. He doesn't care if he lives or dies but if he has to be alive, he may as well be able to eat. He joins up with Jet Black on the Bebop.

TL; DR: Spike stole Vicious' lover, Julia, so Vicious made Julia choose between her killing Spike or Vicious killing them both. She instead went into hiding and Spike thought he'd been stood up. He fake died and got the hell outta dodge.

2. What was Faye's past?

Ok let me start by saying Faye is my wife and my life. HOWEVER I hated her the first time I watched this show circa age 13 because I thought she was annoying/vain/shallow (also because #internalizedmisogyny lol am I right fam). Good news! She is all those things! But she's also very lonely and scared and an amnesiac and secretly a sweetie and she realizes she loves the crew of the Bebop like family.

SO my wife's backstory:

she was born in the 1990s (#only90skidsremember). There's some debate over her race/nationality, but due to the images of her hanging out in Merlion Park in Singapore, my bet is that she's Singaporean. She comes from a wealthy family with a big house, and we see some utterly *adorable* film of her as a child/young adolescent in Session 18: Speak Like a Child. I cry everytime </3

^^ Holla for the representation

In 2014, circa age 20, she and her parents were going into space when the shuttle they were on had some kind of malfunction/accident and it killed an unknown number of people, including her parents. At the time, the technology didn’t exist to be able to save her, so she was put into a cryogenic sleep state. Meanwhile, the Lunar Gate accident occurs, breaking up the moon and causing rock showers on Earth's surface. Most people died, moved to Mars, or settled underground.

She wakes up from her cryogenic sleep in 2068. (Also the year Spike leaves the syndicate.) She's 'woken' by the corrupt Dr. Bacchus who plans on charging her for the years and years of medical debt she's accrued. (See Session 15: My Funny Valentine.) Luckily a lawyer takes interest in her case (Whitney Haggus Matsumoto) and tries to help get rid of her debt. The two fall in love, but turns out Whitney is a Scumbag. He's actually Dr. Bacchus's nephew, and faked his death, writing Faye as the sole inheritor to his will. This means she'll take on all his debts. So baby girl has LOTS of debt at this point.

In the intervening years prior to her joining the Bebop, she gambles, cheats, gains a lot of street smarts, and adopts a very seductive character to get her way. She joins the crew on the Bebop in Session 3: Honky Tonk Women.

TL;DR: Faye is Austin powers

YIKES this is so long I am so sorry. Bitches are obsessed with this show. (I am bitches)

3. The Ending

Okay I'm going to present this in the way, in my scholarly opinion, would be correct, though there are SO many interpretations other than simply 'Spike died :/".

To understand the plot of the last couple episodes we actually have to go back to Session 5: Mao is instructed* to sign a treaty with a rival syndicate called the White Tigers. (*He's instructed by The Van (Council of identical creepy old men) who are the actual head of the dragon. I think we only see them in Session 26.) Well - Vicious is a Bastard Man and he and his fellow mutineers blow up the White Tiger guys' ship and slit Mao's throat. Before he dies, Mao is like "Gotdamnit if Spike was still here this shit wouldn't have happened." Later in the Cathedral battle, Vicious explains to Spike he killed Mao because Mao 'lost his fangs'. He planned on killing Spike for good her, IMO, so there'd be no rival to take over as Capo for the Dragons.

^^These guys are The Van btw

THEN in Session 25, the Van basically catches Vicious and is like “you killed Mao and now you have to go to Time Out.” The Van also decides to just kill everyone associated with Vicious, just 2 B safe. That's why there's a big ass shootout at the Loser Bar where Jet and Spike are chilling, drinking, (missing Faye and Ed and Ein lol) and Shin (younger brother to Lin, who's helping Vicious overthrow the Dragon) explains all this to Spike. OH and PS JULIA IS ALIVE AND HERE IS HER LOCATION :). (**Notice Spike's reaction at this point is different than his reaction in Jupiter Jazz when he hears there's a Julia on Calisto. Much less excited… hmm…).

SO THEN you know we get some flashbacks of the past as previously explained *and* Julia just happens to run into Faye. She recognizes that Faye is one of Spike's friends from the Bebop (she was keeping tabs on him it seems) and picks her up. Faye doesn't know who Julia is but is like damn bitch I'm a little gay for you. (I mean … that may just be my bi ass projecting, but Faye is REALLY struck with her. Look at how she describes her to Jet, I mean come on.)

Faye's like, 'we should team up' and Julia says 'no thanks but also tell Spike to meet me at *the place*'. Meanwhile back on the Bebop Spike and Jet are talking and Spike goes on about some dream woman who was his other half. (We assume he means Julia … I have my reasons to doubt this … I have a lot of angry DMs about my opinion here lol but I just do not give a fuck (: I can expand on this in another post or you can refer to the title of my fucking blog haha) Personally, I think Watanabe personally left this specific scene open ended, the same way he does with the ending and various other things.

more like SIMP Spiegel

ANYWAY Faye comes back to the Bebop to tell Spike about Julia, and Jet gets intel from a former cop buddy that there's some shit going down with the Dragons. (Again, the Van is hunting down everyone ever associated with Vicious, including your pal Spike). Bebop is attacked, Faye tells Spike what's up with Julia, and he heads out.

PAN TO VICIOUS chained up - about to be executed - but what's that!? It's a bird!? It's a pla- no it's just a bird. (With one glowing red eye … hm … reminds me of Spike, also the drug Red Eye. Pls let me know if you have any thoughts on this). Just a bird with a BOMB! Explosion (RIP bird c. 2065 - too soon), Vicious kills the elders, his buddies show up and are ready to go fuck shit up.

this show could not be more of an aesthetic

MMMPhhh okay RAINY CEMETERY. Spike and Julia. She draws a gun, explains why she didn't meet him that day, and then hugs him. Now Spike is not *great* at showing his emotions but he literally just stands there. Maybe it's a stoic expression of how sad he is that he never knew she still cared, when it seemed like she dumped him. Maybe he's finally getting some closure on his past. Maybe the past doesn't mean the same thing it used to. (I'll elaborate later on this).

They go to Annie's to get stocked up on stuff, she lets them know she denied knowing Spike was still alive and hey also the Van was assassinated by Vicious and his guys so. Watch out for that. Then her shop is surrounded by Vicious' guys and she dies :(. Spike and Julia escape to the roof, but she's shot and dies in Spike's arms, and says 'it's all just a dream' :(. (Refer to: Spike living in a dream of the past).

Anyway Jet SAID he wasn't gunna go after Spike but. Jet's parental instincts kick in (oh yeah he was shot in the leg earlier btw) and he goes to Sitting Bull to see if he knows where Spike is. He basically says yeah Spike's about to die somewhere. (I want to do a further analysis on all the Sitting Bull scenes.) Well conveniently Spike returns to the Bebop, eats, tells his story about a tiger-striped cat. (At one point Jet asks if he's going there for her, and Spike is like well she's dead now so whatever). THEN we get to the scene where Faye is like HEY YOU CAN'T GO OFF AND DIE ASSHOLE and he's like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I 've been living in the past so I might as well see if I'm living now. (**This will play heavily into my interpretation of the ending). Faye is pissed, shoots the ceiling and he goes off to the syndicate headquarters to fuck shit up.

He basically John Wicks his way through the building, Shin dies, he and Vicious have the big boss battle and whatnot. He kills Vicious and stumbles back out down the stairs and says "Bang!" and collapses. We pan to the sky and see a star fade away.

Well that explains the plot … now here's what I think happened!!! ALSO may I mention, anon - you picked up on something I feel like a lot of people miss out on. Why *did* Spike go back to kill Vicious if Julia was already dead??

Basically, once it became clear that anyone associated with Vicious was being killed, Spike knew they'd hunt him down, and they weren't beneath Kill-Billing their way to him, (i.e. systematically destroying this companions to get to him). And for all his apparent indifference - he really loves his new found family. Jet is literally like an older brother to him. Ed is a little sister. Ein is well … a very good boy. And Faye? Well the relationship is complicated, and I'm not going to get into the 69,420 reasons I ship them here, but I think it is beyond argument that he really does care for her, even if that just in a filial way. He didn't want the syndicates to kill them for their association to him, or in order to get to him. So he did what he had to do to protect them. *AND NO* I am not saying that he didn't love Julia. But it was clear that his desire was no longer to run away with her. I think he genuinely loved and cared about her, but at some point between Jupiter Jazz Pt 2 and now, he accepted that their time together was over. Now he had a new raison d'etre, which is the Bebop.

I think at this point Spike has 'woken up' to reality (as he implied to Faye in their final conversation in episode 26: "Look at these eyes. One of them is a fake, because I lost it in an accident. Since then, I have been seeing the past in one eye, and the present in the other. I had believed that what I saw was not all of reality...I thought I was watching a dream that I would never awaken from. Before I knew it, the dream was all over." (This is from the sub btw I'm too lazy to look up the dub transcript.) He wasn't going there to die, he's going to find out if he's really alive. This line is fucking cool and everything - but it's implications are multitude. I won't go into them all here but basically : what makes him alive now is that he's free from his past. He's alive because he has this new family and protecting them is all he really wants now. Spike was protecting Jet, Faye, Ed, (and Ein) by going and facing the entire syndicate, knowing that their lives would all be in danger.

SO - did Spike die? Well again - Watanabe has purposely and artfully left this open ended. Well, if we're following the symbolism from Sitting Bull, then yeah, the man is as dead as disco, and wouldn't that be a fitting ending? BUT at the same time, Spike always refers to having 'died' before (meaning when he was ambushed by the syndicate, and they all thought he died, and he pretty much did). Don't forget that in movie (takes places roughly between episodes 22 + 23, and yes, was made AFTER the series but whatever) he like .. DIES dies. He goes to the afterlife and everything. He wakes up to find he's chilling with Sitting Bull, who's like nah it wasn't your time to die yet. So the fact Sitting Bull confirms Spike will die in the final episode, means yeah, Spike is pretty much dead.

BUT -- okay now hear me out -- could this death in the final episode be a death to his previous life? The person he was in the syndicate? Now that he's extinguished the Red Dragons for good, is it not possible that its merely *that* life which has ended? That's the optimist in me saying that, but if it keeps me from staying up all night crying, I guess it'll have to do. Watanabe definitely wants to leave it up to the viewer, so whatever you think, I feel like there's validity to it.

WELL any anon, sorry for the fucking lecture - and believe me, I could've said MUCH, MUCH more - but I enjoyed this question. I always love talking about this show so please all you fuckers feel free to message me or send an ask about anything any time. I am really slow at replying because #life'sAbitch.

Love you all.

SY,SCB <3

#sorry for the long ass rant #i could seriously talk about this all day.#i even trimmed this down so much #cowboy bebop #fuck man this show is everything #spike spiegel #julia #faye valentine #jet black #vicious #radical ed #ein #<3 #spoilers #rant

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halloweenonthemoon · 3 years

Text

Joey Meeting Cas’s Parents.

Time is a thought pattern and measurement made up by the human mind. Sometimes we use it to keep track of important days and events in our lives. Sometimes it seems to take forever, and other days it seems to pass like one is going through a time machine. Just one hour, just 60 minutes, 60 seconds within each one of those individual minutes, is all I have to convince them. These were the thoughts that ran across Cas’s mind as he finished tying his dark ocean blue tie. The blue popped and drew one’s eye away from the rest of the swan white suit. “My Sunday best” Cas signed softly in a mocking tone before nervously picking at the loose ends in the fabric. His bright seafoam eyes darted to the grandfather clock standing in the hallway.

The clock was a gift from this great grandmother on his mother’s side. It stood at a height of 7 feet and was the tallest being in the house. It was made of dark oak wood that could be found in any fairy tale forest. The clock has a man-made touch that ruined its magic. The golden hands shined like the sun on a pleasant summer day and it had a little ticking sound that sounded like a robin’s morning cry to the world. This was what Cas’s parent’s found perfect for their home and their traditions.

If there is one thing to be known about Cas Rare’s family is that traditions are everything to them and they have kept some very old ones alive. There are always the weird ones, like knocking three things before entering the office and the kitchen, and then of course some more serious ones. For example, poor Cas knew this one too well, everyone in his family had married their high school sweetheart without fail. Some are still together though that’s not the case for most of the family. That doesn’t matter to the Rares though, as long as the action happens then to them the tradition is still kept.

Then a loud ringing broke the silence that swallowed the emotionally empty home whole. Cas jumped back towards his old light brown bed with the many shades of green plants surrounding it. “That’s just the doorbell, take a breath you’re okie. Gods, you’re such a nervous wreck don’t let them see into your eyes. Act normal.” His inner voice yelled at him hoping he would understand the importance of this. Cas shook his head to clear any emotion from his face. Even though he’s the master at faking a poker face, the one thing that usually gives him away is his eyes. There’s a saying that the eyes are the window to the soul and with Cas, that statement is most definitely true. He started his journey down the seemingly endless hallway heading to what he considered a death wish though others would just call it a set of stairs.

The old woodland stairs creaked as he made his way down, carefully counting out how many seconds it took him to get to the bottom. “Your girlfriend is late,” a cold and disapproving voice called out from the kitchen. Girlfriend, what an odd word thought Cas. This wasn’t the first time he heard that word in the romantic sense and probably wouldn’t be the last. His parents, teachers, teammates, and even some of the town folks ask him how a young man like him is still single. He’s the captain of the football team, on the student console, and the vice president. He’s a straight-A student and even helps with the school’s volunteering program. They say he’s the faithful son and a model student. They claim Cas is fulfilling the American dream.

Little do they realize that Cas has been hiding a huge secret. A secret he learned to keep from a young age and what happens when you don’t. The sad part is the town may have the occasional jerk but that’s not why Cas guards this secret with his life. How does one explain to the people who claim to love you unconditionally that you’re the thing they hate the most? That no matter what you do you can’t change it. How does one explain to a person with a strong homophobic belief that you’re part of the community?

“I’m sorry sir; she lives across town and most likely lost track of time” Cas called back to his father while straightening his back. “Hmm, that's the disappointing son. A young girl should know to respect others' time.” Mr. Rare called back, his voice holding the same emotion and tone as his words. Cas signed to himself before jogging over to the tall doorway that seems to tower over anyone with an avenger human height. He knew parents hate surprises and they're about to get a big one. Good thing they don’t have any heart issues, he joked softly in his mind.

When he opened the door, he could not believe his eyes. There stood his boyfriend in a black suit with the coat opened to show off a salmon pink shirt. His usual long, wavy light and a slight orangish-brown hair braided showing off his side cut. Of course, he was wearing his tall black boots under his suit and was holding a gift of pretty greens and sunset pink roses. “Wow, those roses do draw your eyes out dear,” Cas smiled at his boyfriend while feeling both jumpy and at peace.“Sorry for being late love!” The short man explained quickly, “I told Jackie I wanted to pick up some flowers for you, and I lost track of time.” Jackie was an older brother figure to Joey Light and had taken him in when he was twelve-thirteen years old. Now being 16 Joey had a sense of getting used to his new life and this town...for the most part at least. Sometimes he forgets about how the locals are stuck in their old ways and the dangers that hold.

“You’re ten mintu-” “Ooo, is she here now?” Mrs. Rare cut off Mr. Rare running from the kitchen to greet who she thought was going to be her future daughter-in-law.

Mrs.Rare is the president of the books for kids program, and many in the town love her for her general kindness to others. If someone needs a helping hand, usually, Mrs.Rare is there. If it wasn't for her the town’s new and improved library wouldn’t exist. Though Mrs.Rare has a darker side to her that not many had seen. She has this undercurrent of believing she was above you and a slight god complex.

“Oh,” She stated gently while her honey-dyed hair swayed from side to side. “Hello, May I ask your name child?” Mrs. Rare hummed, placing her hands on her waist, as a small power move. Joey smiled trying to come off confident stating “Hello Mrs.Rare, my name is Joey” mentally cursing himself for not sounding more “proper” before widening his smile. Joey can feel Mrs.Rare’s eyes judging him while trying to give off the “I’m like second mother” vibes.

“I’m sorry hon, but I’m afraid that Cas is busy tonight. His girlfriend is coming over to finally meet the family!” she says quickly before placing her hand onto Cas’s arm with a small pulling motion. Joey was about to speak up, but Cas conquered him. “Actually mother, Joey is supposed to be over here. I want to explain it to you and father during dinner” his right hand was grabbing his left wrist and rubbing it in circles. Mrs. Rare’s eyes were processing but stopped and went dilated for a minute. They darted from Cas to Joey a few times before saying “Please come in” while rushing to the dining room.

The air in the room seemed to disappear at that moment and Cas felt like he was in outer space. All the noises of the world were muted for the purest minute, and objects were floating. Cas nearly felt like a sleepwalker as Joey seized hold of his hand. He was the sunshine in this world and was a burning candle in this gloomy house. Smiling at his boyfriend, the two of them made their way to the dining room, mentally preparing for whatever battle faced them.

The room was massive with a huge chandelier of shades of white and baby blue hanging down from the ceiling shining all over. There was an extensive dark oak table that usually is only used for meetings and fancy gales. Tonight the table will be a battleground between two opposing sides. Joey recalled how in this situation he felt like a tiny mouse trying to hide from the humans who had enough misfortune to discover him in their kitchen. He tried not to reveal his fear though and puffed out his chest standing next to Cas.

“You’re 11 minutes late, Miss” Mr.Rare called out, entering the dining room with his wife behind him carrying drinks for the small group. Mr. Rare was a tall man with the air of being a naturally born leader. He had these honey brown eyes that always seemed to be looking down at you and a mouth that seems to be just a thin stick. The people voted him for mayor because he reminded them of an old wartime warrior. Tough and gets what needs to be completed. He was surprisingly good with people and especially those of the older generation.

Joey quickly took a step forward trying to seem confident and not like he was wanting to walk straight back out the door. Fear is something he would never let win, and he wasn’t going to start today. He raised his hand and looked Mr. Rare in the eyes. Joey may be short and a tiny guy but he has a lot of guts and attitude to make up for it. “Hello, Mr.Rare. My name is Joey Light, and I deeply apologize for being late. I thought it would be the gentleman thing to get your son some flowers.”

Cas loved and hated when Joey did this. He tried to hide the forming smile on his face while trying not to be petrified that Joey had said that while looking his father dead in the eyes. “Excuse me Father; Joey is my guest tonight, I should have told you early.” Cas quickly explained stepping slightly in between Joey and his father. His father raised one eye to the two men and nodded gently before saying “I see...why don’t we sit down and have some lovely food that your mother made for us?

Mrs. Rare quickly set down the glasses on the table and explained that she’ll be right back with some silverware. Mr. Rare took a seat at the usual spot-the head of the table while Cas took out a chair for Joey. The sitting arrangement planned out the week before was Mr.Rare at the head of the table, Mrs.Rare on the right side of him, Cas’s “girlfriend” on the left side of Mr.Rare, and Cas next to his “girlfriend.” Cas knew his father would be annoyed about him changing it up last minute, but he also wanted to keep Joey safe. Even as Mr.Rare was glaring at his son as he sat on the left side of him.

After 5 minutes Mr.Rare appeared with a huge smile on her face that was the opposite of her eyes. “Here’s the silverware” She hummed before taking a seat at her throne and poured some water into everyone’s glass. She looked like a lioness with her curly frame and long face. There was a silence that felt like forever to Cas and he knew his parents wanted an explanation. This was a power game, and he was smart enough to give in first. He made the mental note that he had 39 minutes left to convince his parents not to kick him out of the family.

Clearing his voice, Cas said “Father, Mother, I know you're expecting my girlfriend to come tonight for dinner but-” “Ah yes, I was wondering when she would be here.” his father chimed in looking at him with a confused look. Cas felt like a deer in headlights and felt his heart skip a beat. Joey quickly grabbed Cas’s hand under the table and gave it a comforting squeeze. Cas looked up to a soft smile that he knew was a rare sight.

He took a breath and continued making sure he was strong with his tone “I’m afraid she can’t come tonight because she doesn’t exist.” Cas let his eyes travel to his mother’s face which was the perfect look of surprise and to his father’s- the eyebrow raised again but there’s a fire in his eyes now. No one said anything as there was this moment of silence before Mrs.Rare looked over to Mr.Rare.

“What do you mean she doesn’t exist?” She singed gently while straightening her back. She had that same fire that Cas’s father has, though hers represent more expression. Cas jerked his head and spoke louder hoping it would aid him to sound more sure, “I mean she doesn't exist. Mother, Father, I’m a part of the lgbtq+ community- technically Bi. I would like to introduce you to my boyfriend Joey Light.” Joey smiled at his boyfriend. It was the first time he heard his boyfriend stand up for himself and he was proud. Though he retained enough knowledge to prepare for the fight that was about to go down.

Mr. Rare spat out the water he was drinking before loudly saying “You’re what?!”If it wasn’t for the situation the look on his face would have been comical. His eyes darted between the two boys processing what he just heard. The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile before he started laughing. The laugh was hollow and seemed more than just fake. It scared everyone at the table a little bit.

Mrs. Rare had a better reaction by just sitting there staring down at her food with a slight smirk on her face. Cas didn’t know which reaction was the worst. He knew this was very out of character for his parents.

“Hahaha, you tell the best jokes son” Mr.Rare laughed out before wiping away some of the tears from his eyes “You genuinely had me fooled for a minute.” Cas felt his cheeks turn a rosily pink shade before speaking up again, “I’m not joking Father…”. Now it was his mother that spoke up with that smile; looked smug before explaining to a child why they can’t have a cookie before dinner “Honey you can’t be bi, it’s just so unnatural and a choice. Besides, why would you date a man if you like women?”

“Excuse me?” Joey, who’s been quiet the whole dinner, finally spoke up with his usual amount of sass. “This is why you’re uncomfortable whenever your folks get brought up in the conversion darling?” Joey said promptly, altering his voice into a honey-like texture while turning to face Cas. Cas could merely bob his head and tried to think of a way to quickly diffuse the situation at hand.

Mr. Rare stood up and pointed a finger at Joey getting more and more angry stating “Young man, who do you think you're talking to? She has a very reasonable statement. Thank God he is only Bi, there’s still hope then.” Now he is getting up and walking behind Mrs.Rare’s chair placing his hands on her shoulders.

The room was divided down the middle between the parents and the young boys. One side was the older generation with their traditions and the newer generation with a wave of change. The two were different colors: blue and red, dark and light, the sun and moon...etc.

“Still hope? Sir with all due expectations that is a horrible thing to say. So what if Cas likes girls and guys, he’s still a great person and an amazing friend. ”Joey knew he was taking charge where he shouldn’t, but he didn’t care. The only care on his mind right now was protecting Cas.

“Great Person?” Mrs. Ruth questioned raising her drinking glass to make a toast. Humming, she stared at the young men sitting in front of her deciding her words carefully. “I know what you’re kind does. They think they’re so special and for what? You had a choice to make, and you chose to go against society. Everything could be normal if your generation just followed the guidelines in place!”

Cas looked down at the table with a look of pure rage while his hands were shaking. Emotions that he had been burying were traveling to the surface and threatening to spill over. His voice was barely above a whisper when he made his statement “Choice? Do you think we get a choice? Do you think I would choose to be afraid of telling people who I’m dating? You think it’s a choice to have to hide a part of my identity, so I don’t get jumped? You think I would choose to spend every day being judged by people like you!” His voice was growing in volume and emotions during the whole speech. In the end, Cas felt his cheeks burn from embarrassment and tears stung his eyes.

There was an air of quiet where one can feel the energy in the room through the walls. Both boys were standing by now, Cas trying not to break down and Joey comforting him while shooting dirty looks at Cas’s parents. Mr.Rare was watching with a hateful look at the young boys' interaction, and Mrs.Rare was nearly shaking her head at this display.“You’re being just like your sister. You know why we disowned her.” Mr.Rare coldly stated and started to look at this watch as bored with everything going on.

“Older sister?” Joey questioned and was caught off guard by this statement. He never realized or thought to ask if Cas even had any siblings. He solely thought he was an only child and that’s why Cas’s folks were exceedingly hard on him. Cas shook his head before adding a sign. “At least use his pronouns, he uses him/him” Cas continued looking tired, probably because he had this conservation a million times before about his brother. “What, did you kick his brother out for coming out of the closet?” Joey joked while a smirk on his face until the realization struck him.

“You disowned him? Wow, you’re undoubtedly an unpleasant person. I mean, I encountered some pathetic people but you guys take the cake.” Joey’s voice was harsh like an icy storm while he was leading closer to the parents.“I know you don’t like it, but things are changing. You can’t stop change. You either could change with it or get left in the past.”

Mr. Rare was going to reply when the grandfather could be heard clicking and ticking. He frowned and looked down at his wife who merely smiled back. “Cas we will continue this conversion later, your mother and I have a town meeting.” Mr. Rare called softly before both of the parents walked out of the room. The boys know that this is the first of many fights to come but they're not going to give up. They got each other, and they know they’ll make it just fine. Cas may have not been able to convince his parents in an hour, but it’s a step.

*this copied kinda of weird from my Google Doc, though please enjoy! Feel free to ask questions.*

#joey light #oc appreciation #cas rare #writing #old writing edited #I meant to post this sooner but school got in the way #though I’m really glad to finish #Mrs. Rare #Mr.Rare #I kinda of imagine Mrs. Rare as a mother got gel type #while Mr.Rare is more like the “strong and traditional man #pretty boy #bisexaul #short starter

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anxresi · 4 years

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Chloe’s Last Straw

Synopsis:

Chloe is guilty of many things in her life. But not this. Never this. So when her mother says something unforgivable to a person she'd usually consider an enemy, it's up to her to put things right. Grab your popcorn folks, and get ready for a roasting. Written for Blackout Tuesday.

..............................

Caline Bustier sighed in exasperation, wondering how her once promising career as an educator had stuck her with this… the most ill-disciplined, out-of-control bunch of students she’d ever had to guide since her formative years as a kindergarten coordinator.

But even those young rapscallions had some level of respect for their elders, whereas the current batch of alleged ‘maturer’ teens…

They couldn’t even raise their heads for role-call in the morning.

“Max! Stop playing with that flying toy this second ! Mylene, Ivan… you can kiss each other during recess! Return to your desks now ! Nathanael! Put down those pencils and listen to me! Lila, I know you said you suffer from ADHD, but until I see a doctor’s note, I expect you to respond immediately when I call your name! Honestly, it’s like trying to herd cats! And where on Earth are…”

“I’m here! I’m here!!” As if in answer to her request, Adrien Agreste bustled in just then, out-of-breath and apparently with a ready-made excuse to explain his absence. “Dawn fashion shoot… then piano recital… early morning practice… stop me falling behind. A-Apologies Miss Bustier… you know how it is with my father…”

“Hmm, yes… I’m afraid I do .” The frowning teacher gave an understanding nod, for Gabriel Agreste’s huge expectations for his son often led to constant late arrivals for his son. “I would say ‘try not to let it happen again’, but something tells me it’s out of my hands. Oh well, at least you haven’t missed any actual lesson time this week. Go and sit down, please. Now I wonder where…”

“ Argh ! S-Sorry Miss! Mom got sick… and usually she handles the morning deliveries… so I had to take a quick detour on my way here… and…” bang

At least, that’s the sound effect there would’ve been, if a stumbling Marinette Dupain-Cheng hadn’t been caught by Adrien on her inevitable descent to the floor. Right place, right time.

Still didn’t stop her blushing like a stoplight though.

“A-Adrien!! Gulp. H-Hi. ” The blunette gave a passable impression of a fish out of water.

“Hey there! F-Funny the places we run into each other, isn’t it?” Adrien seemed equally struck for what he wanted to say.

“ Ahem !” That was the sound of an impatient teacher, who obviously had no romance in her soul and was eager to restart the headcount. “If you two are quite finished with your impromptu act, you can save it for the talent show next month. Take your respective seats so we can get on. Wait…”

Glancing at Adrien And Marinette’s chairs had revealed something unprecedented in the recent history of this hallowed halls of education. In fact, so unbelievable was it, Miss Bustier had to rub her eyes twice just to make sure what she saw wasn’t just another product of her espresso-infused imagination.

For it would appear as though young Agreste and Dupain-Cheng, by some measure the most tardy pupils Caline Bustier had ever known, were not among the last ones to arrive that incredible day.

No, that dubious honor belonged to none other than the students the aforementioned pair shared a desk with, namely Nino Lahiffe and Alya Cesaire.

W-What the… the panicking teacher’s look of astonishment was completely forgivable, as both Marinette and Adrien made good their escape. I’ve never known anything like this to happen before. It’s most unlike them. I just hope they’re okay. Maybe, if they’re not here soon, I should ask the headmaster if…

Miss Bustier’s short soliloquy was interrupted by an unpleasant shrieking noise as a familiar pair strode in. The high-pitched noise made the hairs on her neck stand on end and shattered the formerly serene atmosphere of the classroom once and for all.

“ Dahling . You know I wouldn’t go back to New York without saying goodbye to my precious Coraline, don’t you sweetheart? I might be away for quite a while this time, even past Christmas, but you understand, right? If I’m not there to personally introduce my new range of spangly negligees to the world at Fashion Week, my competitors might steal my thunder! I might even be bumped off the front page of Vogue! And you remember what I’ve told you every day, since the blessed occasion you were born, whenever that was…”

“Yes, mother. ‘If you’re not somebody, then you’re nobody.’ I get it. But do you ‘get’: my name isn’t ‘Coraline’, it’s Chloe . Coraline is that so-called kids movie we saw years ago, the one that was so scary I nearly wet… you know what, n-never mind.”

The loud screech of Audrey Bourgeois’s voice was almost enough to give poor Miss Bustier a migraine, as if the prospect of trying to teach her disruptive daughter good manners wasn’t difficult enough. Why did this have to be the one day I forgot to bring my aspirin to class with me? Tell me, what did I do to deserve this? Did I walk under a ladder yesterday? Did I crack a mirror, or step on a gypsy’s foot by mistake? Please, if I am cursed for whatever reason, let me know how I can fix it. For the love of…

“Mrs Bourgeois! What an unple… u-unexpected pleasure!” The rapidly unraveling teacher put on her fakest, friendliest face to welcome the surprise guest. “How are you? When was the last time we met? I seem to recall it was at the salon…”

“What was that? Who is this strange person heckling me, dear?” Audrey pulled down her shades to stare closer, as Chloe whispered in her mom’s ear. “Oh yes, your public school educator. Still with the red hair I see, ugh . Yes, I remember… I told her to dye her roots blonde like me if she wanted a better job than the impossible task of instructing these degenerates. Because as we all know: ‘blondes have more fun’. Isn’t that right, Chlorine?”

Whether Chloe was still sore from Audrey getting her name wrong twice now, or just plain embarrassed by her female parent’s condescending behavior, who knows. She didn’t repeat her mother’s mantra again like last time though, and instead stood there nervously with her hands in her chino pockets, portraying quite an un-Chloe lack of confidence.

“Well anyway, if you simply must know Miss… Bustier, was it?” An uninterested Audrey inquired, proving the rumor true that her daughter’s name was the only one she regularly forgot. “I was just seeing my precious off, before catching the afternoon plane to uptown New York. It’s just wonderful there in the summer, with all the glitterati in attendance for the various functions. You really must try it, darling… oh sorry I forgot: on your meager salary, it might prove to be an impossible dream. Still, we can’t all be as ridiculously wealthy as me and my husband, can we?”

“Y-Yes, I suppose so.” Miss Bustier desperately kept her sentences as short as possible. She didn’t want the dreadful woman to stay there a second longer than absolutely necessary. “W-Well, I don’t want to keep you, if you have things you need to…”

“So, these are the local children you go to school with, dear?” Deciding she was tired with Miss Bustier’s ‘rambling’, a bored Audrey fixed a critical eye over the classroom. “Well, I must say, I’ve seen far better. A poor crop if ever there was one… why your father refused to let you be privately educated is beyond me. I suspect it’s because he wants to boost his election prospects by letting you ‘mingle with the common folk’, but is it really worth it? I hate to think the effect such distasteful surroundings must be having on your delicate young mind.”

Outraged gasps erupted from all around the room, and if Chloe could’ve jumped into a fifty-foot hole never to emerge, she likely would’ve done so with relish. Alas, this was not an option, and so once more the twitching girl was forced to deal with the consequences of her mother’s shameless arrogance and total lack of volume control.

But just as even the usually docile Miss Bustier was about to say something stronger to defend her visibly irritated students, the last two attendees emerged through the door, puffing and panting as they arrived at long last. Also noticeably, covered in what can only be described as black oil stains.

First up was Nino Lahiffe, who paused slightly to catch his breath and adjust his cap. Then came his girlfriend Alya Cesaire just behind, who despite being pretty exhausted herself, began to speak “N-Nino’s dad gave us a lift, but the car broke down. We had to help him fix it…”

Suddenly Audrey Bourgeois, obviously on a roll, glanced behind her with a pronounced sneer. Upon seeing the pair in question, her expression of disapproval grew even more pronounced…

And what she said next was truly shocking. Except, maybe not her.

“Who might these ‘people’ be, then? While I think it’s laudable you’ll let just about anyone into these types of schools Bustier, I hope you realize some individuals can’t be taught. Just look at those hopeless youths, for example. Obviously from a rough neighborhood, probably down to one parent each, deprived of everything to judge by their filthy clothing, and they can’t even be in class on time. Probably wasting their lives on the street listening to ‘wrap’ music, or whatever it’s called. As if this sort even need an education, in their future careers as minimum wage cleaners or drug-dealers. Really dear, you’d be better off kicking them out and investing in school uniforms instead…”

“ That’s enough !!”

Stunned faces all around. Jaws dropping to the floor. A few people on the verge of fainting, at the identity of the person who uttered those two screamed words.

It wasn’t Miss Bustier, who was prepared to declare her response by more physical means (a hard fist to the face of an unrepentant bigoted snob, if you must know).

Not Alya, who looked just about ready to burst into tears, being held by her apoplectic boyfriend in his arms (otherwise, he might’ve formed an unstoppable tag-team with his teacher to kick some serious a**).

The surprise shouter was none other than Chloe Bourgeois, who having finally been pushed to her absolute limit at her mother’s complete lack of respect for anyone besides her own reflection, had finally snapped.

And boy, was it something to behold.

“Mom, as I’m sure anyone who isn’t you would agree, I’ve put up with a lot over the years. The insults. The dirty looks. Long absences. Always getting my name wrong. Never telling me you love me. Raising me to think ‘sacking’ anyone who disagrees with you is permissible behavior. I can tolerate all this and more, but there is one thing where I must draw the line. You want to know what that is?”

“ Must we get into this now, dear? You know I like first pick of the best VIP seats…” There Mrs Bourgeois went again, thinking this was just another conversation where she could brush off her daughter’s genuine concerns.

Well, in this case, she was about to get ‘schooled’ (pun not intended).

“Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. It’s racism Mom, plain and simple, and I won’t stand for it! Whatever problems I might’ve had with Alya and Nino in the past, and believe me there’s been plenty, I’ve never treated them differently due to the color of their skin! How shallow can you get?! And coming from me, this is the biggest of big deals!”

It was as if someone had lit a fuse underneath Audrey’s designer shoes, as the formerly unflappable woman suddenly recoiled in shock. “W-What… well I never ! How could you say such terrible things to me, Chlorophyll? Why, if you weren’t my own flesh and blood, I’d sue you on the spot! I’ll have you know, some of my best workers are blac…”

“Yeah, ‘workers’. You just made my point for me. That’s all they are to you, aren’t they? I’ve seen the way you treat them differently to even our other staff, calling them ‘tanned’ and ‘colored’ right to their faces. They don’t say anything because they don’t want to lose their jobs, and shamefully neither do I because frankly, you scare me sometimes. Well, that ends this second . The instant you behave that way again, I’ll be on you like a ton of bricks. Also, do you wanna know something else?”

“H-Huh?” Audrey’s demeanor had abruptly switched from coolness personified to utter confusion. Being called out so blatantly in front of a bunch of ‘underprivileged ragamuffins’ by her petulant child was not on the itinerary today.

“I’ll spoil it for you again. Father hates your attitude even more than I do! Whenever you finish treating the staff like the dirt under your feet, he goes to each one in turn to apologize personally. As well as give them a few extra euros that month, as if that’ll make up for the abuse they have to suffer. But look who I’m talking to! The woman who thinks Chinese and Japanese people are practically the same! And people wonder where I got such a stupid idea from…”

‘I-I…” For the first time in her life, Mrs Bourgeois was completely lost for words. All she could do was stare dumbly and numbly at her irrepressible daughter, as the young girl finished her extended lecture with a flourish.

“Finally, I suppose I should let you know about the head cook at our hotel. You know, the one who you think makes the best meals around for Daddy and his clients at short notice? Or when you have to entertain people, and she puts on a spread that’ll put any other caterer in the city to shame? That’s Mrs Cesaire, the mother of Alya over there. How do you think she’s going to feel, when she hears you racially insulted her daughter so terribly in front of her entire class? I don’t know, but if I were you I’d check my food for signs of saliva for a while. Also, put your lawyers on stand-by, because I think it may be heading for court. And if you want to know who’s side I’ll be on, here’s a clue…”

At this juncture, Chloe put her mouth to her now trembling mother’s ear to whisper sharply:

“...It won’t be yours!”

That was all it took for Mrs Audrey Bourgeois to collapse on the floor, in such a comatose state that not even the strongest smelling salts around could revive her in the foreseeable future.

...Not that anyone really wanted to do that, of course. Even the school nurse balked at helping someone who’d been so vile to the innocent students there. So, in an unconscious heap on the floor she stayed.

In the end, she missed her flight and the free expensive champagne on offer. Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.

As for Chloe, having said her piece and blithely sauntered over to her seat next to Sabrina afterwards, she was most surprised by the deafening cheer that subsequently erupted, as well as the much better treatment she got for an entire week afterwards by everyone present (even from Marinette).

As unusual as her newfound popularity was though…

She could quite easily get used to it.

If only she could master this whole ‘being nice’ thing.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: Remember everyone, having White Privilege isn’t just about paying lip service to the concerns of minorities and posting black squares and hashtags one Tuesday to show you care…

It’s about using your advantageous platform all year round to speak up to defend those in need, whoever they are. After all. if activism was just listening to others whilst doing precisely nothing to change the world outside the confines of social media, how are we gonna change the world?

Food for thought. Hope you enjoyed the story, which (I hope) got the point across well enough. Whatever you think, let me know… and thanks for reading! :)

#chloe bourgeois #audrey bourgeois #Nino lahiffe #alya cesaire #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #adrien agreste #Miss Bustier #ladybug #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #blackout tuesday #blackouttuesday

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toujourspur13 · 4 years

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Harry Potter Asks

Hogwarts house? Speaking of pottermore quiz - I got sorted in both gryffindor and slytherin - but to be fair it’s not that difficult to understand what answers get you in the preferred house - as it’s stated in the book “it’s your choice - not the hat’s” - so it depends on what story I/m reading at the moment xDD

Favorite book? The prisoner of Azkaban and the Order of the Phoenix (I read it in a day and a half - so yeah I was very excited at that moment)

What’s your Patronus? Ragdoll Cat

What would your wand be? Laurel wood with a dragon heartstring core

Favorite member of the Golden Trio? Harry

Favorite character? -

Least favorite character? - Crabbe and Goyle - because two pureblood slytherins can’t be that idiotic - it’s just unbelievable- is it inbreeding or something else? I guess we can just file these two charactes under “It’s Harry’s POV”

Favorite Weasley? - (I’m kind of indifferent to that family at this moment... I guess I might say that I like them in general but no one in particular)

Favorite Professor? Horace Slughorn

Favorite Marauder? Sirius Black

What would be your best subject? History of magic or Potions (and to add two more to my favourite subjects - Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures)

Position on the Quidditch team? Seeker - tbh I don’t enjoy contact sport at all (the only sport in my childhood was rock climbing so if I had to choose than seeker)

Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley? Hogsmeade

Romione or Hinny? Hinny

Jily or Wolfstar? Jily

Deanmus or Nuna? What :p ?

Harry Potter OTP? Oh my...none (idk jily maybe...I’m not that intrested in canon OTPs)

Favorite quote? “Nothing has ever changed” from ...oh 🤭 Actually there are a lot of good quotes in hp books: for instance, "There is no need to call me ‘sir,’ Professor"; and "It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live" and so on.

Favorite member of the Order? hmm Tonks maybe - Actually I don’t remember the specifics about the members of the Order

Which character would be your best friend? idk (lol I’d say Sluggy and Lucretia becase sometimes I like to discuss other people’s lives - yeah I know decent people would call this gossiping - I call it social cooperation and information sharing )

Which character would you date (if any)? i dont think any of them - It’s a kids book!

Dream job in the Wizarding World? Why would I dream about getting a job in the magical world - no way - I would just travel around the world searching for ancient magical artifacts...and write some books and maybe keep one rare beast...just to show off

Thoughts on Snape? Well rounded character - very real - neither totally bad nor good. And he had someone he loved (and his redeeming quote “Always” somehow melted my heart) - so yeah - I’d say I like this character.

Thoughts on Dumbledore? I used to think about him a lot - I like to imagine him as a very dubious character tbh - not sweet old granpapa at all... a bit more complex than jkr wanted him to be (/selfish/with questionable motivation). You know, he had such enormous ambitions when he was young and had so much influence in the wizarding world that I can hardly buy into the idea of him being a good person (we don’t even discuss his “for the greater good” approach, which he didnt abandon even in the last decade of his life, and his very interesting friend). So as a character I like him very much - he is one of my fav - but considering his biography I’d undoubtedly put him into “grey ambiguous characters” category. (it’s only my opinion - I like it this way)

Which Deathly Hallow would you take? The Cloak (because other two are a little bit confusing in terms of their functionality and attendant bonuses tbh)

Thoughts on Cursed Child? Havent heard about it (or actualy...I have and didnt like what I’ve heard at all)

Thoughts on Fantastic Beasts? Those movies provide new factual information - so I guess they are ok in terms of enriching hp iniverse. Actually I even liked Leta (the first sane slytherin) and there are a lot of animals which gives those movies several more points from me. though I cant say I’m into Credence story. And Lol young Dumbledore is also ok

There’s a trip to Hogsmeade! Where do you go first? The Three Broomsticks/Hog’s Head Inn (well, I presume you can always meet interesting folk there)

Favorite spot in the castle? Dumbldore’s office and hidden passages and common rooms, I actually think it’s very cool to study in the ancient enchanted castle - that’s why i Love stories about little L&W

Favorite magical creature? All kinds of dragons and Phoenix and Augurey and Wampus Cat - (since I’m a cat person)...

#answered all at once #harry potter #harry potter asks #magical creatures #fantastic beasts #horace slughorn #Albus Dumbledore #asks

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shooter-nobunagun · 4 years

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Quarantine UST 5

//Seriously, writing for such a sustained stretch is...unprecedented...I think I haven’t done this since the beginning of my intro into this fandom. Maybe this period of time is good for something after all.

And yes, I definitely binged my way through FF7R as soon as it came out...

The days seemed to pass in a blur; yet as Sio woke up after another night of binging Netflix with Jess, it felt like nothing had changed, either. She’d adjusted to the rhythm of her new life fairly well: sleep in until 10am or so, leisurely troop downstairs for breakfast after brushing her teeth⁠—usually Adam was already up and frying some eggs, or sometimes they picked up coffee and pastries from a local cafe⁠—clean up, then she might go for a walk outside or spent some time in the yard while catching up on emails and texts from her family and Asao-san. By then, Jess and Mahesh were usually awake, and they’d all gather again for lunch (or in the other twos’ case, brunch), and afterwards Sio usually would do her training, either by herself or under Adam’s watchful guidance. Then it was free time (which usually involved another stroll outside), dinner, sometimes a group activity, and then everybody retired to their rooms for the night.

Recently, the group started venturing out a bit more; at first it was just to the local cafe for drinks and snacks, but yesterday the group’d gone for another grocery run, this time at the farmer’s market. Even with all the restrictions in place, Sio was glad to be able to spend some time outdoors again, and picking from the wide variety of fresh produce was much more fun than going to the grocery store.

Yawing, the sniper continued lounging in her bed, absentmindedly scrolling through her texts from last night. Her parents were doing okay (actually most of Japan seemed alright by comparison) though obviously they were concerned about her health and safety. Asao-san’s latest couple of messages contained the usual news and gossip, although the last one before she signed off left the sniper blushing and covering her face.

[Asao Kaoru]: By the way, how are things with Jack-san? You two seem to be getting awfully close... (ΦωΦ)~ Did you get any more peeks in during training?

“Moou, Asao-saaaan!! I-It’s not like, that!” The sniper screeched, tugging her hair. “Jeeze, why does everybody keep assuming we’re gonna...hook up or something like that...”

Admittedly, her own brain wasn’t helping matters; at this point, she’d given up on denying her attraction towards him⁠—besides her nightly little ritual, she’d already had at least one...steamy dream involving him and no clothing. “Ugh...why do I have to make things so complicated...”

‘I just want to get to know him better, not get a crush on him! Besides, knowing him, he probably has a girlfriend waiting for him back in London. Or at least, had one...unlike me...’ A cool, good-looking guy like him who was the epitome of the tall, dark and handsome type? Sio looked down at her own flat chest, unfashionable haircut and childish face, and sighed. ‘Yeah right; I’d never stand a chance. He’s probably got way more experience and prefers girls who look like Newton...’

The thought depressed her more than she expected; even though she knew her chances were slim, and that shacking up with your platoon leader probably wasn’t the best idea, the thought of not getting any closer than just friendly teammates made her heart sink straight to the ground. ‘I know I’m just a below-average high schooler, and I don’t even have anything going for me except my e-gene; but even I can still hope, right...?’

She moped about all through her morning routine, not really bothering to fix her hair or wear anything aside from putting on a pair of shorts (why bother, it wasn’t like she was cute or anything). Walking into the quiet kitchen, she pulled out a box of cereal and some milk, sullenly eating her cold breakfast.

“Good morning, Sio dear. Oh goodness, is something the matter? You’re looking awfully peaked...you don’t feel ill, do you?” Jess came down the stairs, Sio a bit surprised as it was unusual for the blonde to be up before noon. “Hmm, you don’t seem feverish...”

“Oh, good morning, Jess-san.” She heaved another sigh, not really interested in finishing the rest of her soggy bowl. “It’s, nothing...I’m not sick, I guess I just feel...”

“The quarantine blues?” The sniper nodded, and the blonde patted her shoulder sympathetically. “There there, it’s perfectly normal. Things are unprecedented, you can’t expect to keep your spirits up all the time in a situation like this.”

“Yeah, well...I guess I’m surprised I’d let it get to me. I mean, all things considered, it’s not like we’re suffering or anything. There’s a lot of people who have it way worse than us...”

‘Yeah, and here I am moping about because I have the hots for my platoon leader even though I don’t stand a chance...’

Jess nodded in sympathy. “Definitely, I can see that. But you know, that doesn’t mean you can’t feel bad, either. I can’t say the past week has been much of a vacation, despite what Mahesh likes to claim. Feeling down about everything that’s been going on is understandable, and it isn’t healthy to pretend otherwise.”

“True...thanks, Jess-san...um, I guess it does feel a little better to talk about it.” Sio stirred her cereal a bit, surprised that she was finally having a true conversation with the blonde that didn’t involve a fear of tongues and kisses (mostly).

“Of course, dear. I apologize for my earlier behaviors...but I am still serious when I say I do want to be there for you, should you ever want another ear,” the blonde smiled kindly at the younger girl. “By the way, where is Adam? Don’t tell me he’s still asleep?”

“Eh? Adam-san...uh, I dunno. He’s usually here by the time I wake up, so...” Sio shrugged. “It’s not like I checked his room, but maybe he went out for something?”

As if on cue the front door unlocked, both girls turning around as Adam walked in, bag in one hand and a tray of drinks in the other. Sio rushed out to the foyer to help him unload and disinfect the door, keys, etc.

“Speak of the devil; we were just wondering about you,” Jess commented as Adam finally took his seat at the table. “New place this time?”

“Yeh; was checking out local places online yesterday and thought this might be a nice change of pace.” He passed out the drinks; only Mahesh’s chai latte remained untouched as the trio started unwrapping pastries and other baked goods. “Ogura, you’re alright with tea, correct? They didn’t seem to have anything like sencha, but I got jasmine, if that’s okay.”

“Oh, yes please; and thank you, Adam-san. You could’ve waited for us to get up,” Sio offered as she took a sip of her beverage. “I kinda feel bad for making you go all by yourself...”

“Eh, it’s fine. Even I like taking a break from cookin’ once in a while.” Their leader shrugged as he drank his coffee (pure black, no sugar or cream). “Besides, it’s nice to get some fresh air when it’s early in the morning. Also less folks t’ dodge...swear to god, every time we go out it’s like playing a game of Frogger...”

Sio sweatdropped, but it was true; as much as she cherished her daily walks, there was a reason why she preferred running on the treadmill. Trying to avoid other passerby who were also exercising or walking their dogs and also not getting run over by traffic... It was a good thing the yard was decently sized, and the days were slowly starting to warm up. The sniper glanced out the windows, where the golden rays were starting to bathe the garden with their yellow hues.

“Actually, I’m gonna eat out in the garden. The weather’s been so pleasant lately, might be nice for a change.” She took her tea and croissant with her; to her surprise, Adam followed. “Oh? Did you...also want to eat outside?”

“Why not; like you said, today seems to be shaping up to be pretty nice...would be a shame to spend it all indoors, again,” he gave her just a the slightest hints of a smile, and Sio felt her stomach fluttering with butterflies. Maybe she wasn’t insane for thinking it would be possible? Maybe?

“U-Um, s, so, how was the rest of the city?” She was stuttering again, much to her dismay; didn’t she get over this already?

Adam didn’t seem to notice, or at least, he didn’t comment on it. “Hm, mostly the same; not that many folks about, but all the better for me. At least we can still get takeaway and drinks.” He finished the rest of his cup. “I was surprised Jess’ up so early; usually she and Mirza sleep ‘til past noon...”

“Heh, me too.” Sio grinned as she finished her croissant. “Mm, this croissant is super flakey...so good...” If it weren’t for their training and exercise, she was sure she’d have gained at least 5 pounds by now. Even in the midst of a pandemic, San Francisco’s culinary scene did not disappoint; and that wasn’t even counting their cooking nights.

“To be honest, I’m more surprised you’ve been able to stick to a decent wake-up time every morning,” Adam teased, “considering someone always had to wake you for a morning meeting back at the Logan...”

The sniper nearly spit her tea back out. “H-Hey! Well, you’re always banging on my door every other morning anyway for some thing or other...so I figured, I might as well just save us both the trouble and get up anyway,” she pouted, cheeks tinged with pink. “Besides, those meetings were way early; if there’s one thing that’s better about this, is that I can at least sleep in a little...”

Adam smirked behind his sandwich, glad the sniper couldn’t see his face. For if she could, he was sure she’d be able to notice the warm flush spreading across his features, including his ears (mercifully hidden by his hair). She was adorable, really; the innocence of a girl, yet she was surprisingly insightful and able to see a clear line from point A to B, without being bogged down by details. ‘Not to mention that wit, when she actually works up the courage to talk back,’ he noted, recalling many of their previous conversations where she’d sparred with him using nothing but words.

Cunning, intuitive, determined and sincere; it was amazing how quickly his opinion of her changed, not just since she joined but even from the beginning of this quarantine. Hardly any of her quirks seemed detrimental now; silly at most, and charming at best. Was this what poets meant by love causing you to see everything through a rose-tinted lens? Even her appearance, which most people would probably consider average at best, gave him a flurry of feelings whenever he thought about them: large, round maroons, that cute bob with uneven bangs that could probably use a trim soon, and her slender, lithe figure... Adam swallowed and tried to turn his mind away from more lustful thoughts, but it was useless. It was obvious she was probably the most flat-chested female holder next to Geronimo, but it didn’t detract his attentions at all; if anything, he felt it suited her quite well. Once he’d caught a glimpse of those salacious photos Capa had distributed, and they gave him a bit of a shock—her willowy frame saddled with two huge water balloons that seemed to defy gravity, nevermind the fake, prancing-around poses the clones took.

All-in-all, good things definitely come in small packages, he decided. In fact, the smaller the better. Sio wasn’t that short, but her slight frame made it seem so, especially compared to him. He’d never paid attention, but Adam was sure the sniper would probably be just the right size for spooning, cuddled between his arms and those petite breasts could fit just right in his palms—

‘Hoo boy, stop right there Adam; you should not be thinking of your fellow holder in such a manner...’ But even his inner consciousness sounded half-hearted, as if it were just repeating things because that’s what was expected. And maybe it was right; even now, he still quarreled with himself on whether or not he should even pursue anything beyond friendly camaraderie with the girl. Her ambiguous feelings towards him aside, what if they got in trouble? What if it ended up interfering with their duties as e-gene holders? Or worse yet, what if it didn’t work out and the subsequent fallout ended up destroying their entire platoon?

“Adam-san?” He jerked up at her voice, having been lost in his own turmoil for the past couple of minutes. “Are you okay? You seem kind of...glum.”

You’re not wrong there, he almost said, but only shook his head. “Nah; just thinking about...stuff.”

The sniper nodded. “Yeah, I get that...I’ve been, kinda thinking on a lot of stuff too...”

Now it was Adam’s turn to be surprised. “Oh? Somethin’ else botherin’ you lately?”

“Ah uh, I mean nothing really...specific,” Sio squirmed, caught off-guard by his question. There was no way she could admit her burgeoning feelings for him. “I just...guess the whole pandemic situation is kind of getting to me, even though all things considered, this isn’t that terrible. But somehow things just feel...off.”

“Yeh, I get that too, sometimes. But I mean, this isn’t exactly a normal situation; people are sick and dying, we’re stuck in this house and still have to do our best to try and maintain a ‘normal’ life—and that’s not even counting the Objects mounting another attack at any minute.” Adam cut into the remainder of his muffin with a knife. “It’s normal to feel distressed about it—hell, I think I’d be more concerned if you weren’t...”

The sniper nodded, though she didn’t seem keen on finishing the rest of her pastries now, instead fiddling around with her fork. Adam felt a bit guilty; he hadn’t meant to ruin her nice garden breakfast with something gloomy like the virus. Especially not after they’d managed to have a normal, decent conversation.

“Hey uh, squirt? Y’know, if you need some time to yourself, you can skip your training for today,” he offered, the sniper blinking in surprise.

“Oh...I-I mean, it’s fine, you don’t have to make an exception for me; it’s not like I physically feel bad or anything...”

“Don’t worry about it; I wouldn’t want you around that equipment when you’re all distracted like this, anyway. Last thing we need is an accident,” Adam muttered. To be sure, she’d definitely improved quite a bit, but sometimes he still did worry about her.

“...Are you saying you don’t trust me to handle myself?”

“...I’m just taking precautions.”

“Hnnn...” Sio didn’t say anything more, instead sullenly sipping the rest of her tea.

Adam sighed inwardly. Why were girls so fickle to deal with at times? “...By the way, not sure if you’re interested, but one of our other care packages finally arrived, and they got our request for a game console plus some of the latest games, so...”

He didn’t finish, but Adam could tell by the way her eyes gleamed the second he mentioned the word Playstation. ‘Ah, so she’s also a gamer...’ Somehow he wasn’t surprised; it seemed natural that a military otaku would also be into video games, though he was curious if she played genres other than shooters or military sims.

“...What sort of games did they send?”

“Oh, I haven’t gone through them myself yet, but I’d assume a pretty wide variety...why, was there anything in particular you’re looking forward to?” Adam replied nonchalantly, testing out the waters. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to spend some time with her in a casual setting...

“Nothing really, but I mean, if there’s something good...” Her eyes shifted a bit over the edge of her drink, meeting his for a second before they darted back down at her plate. “I’ve been hearing a lot about Apex Legends...the guys from the Fifth Platoon are always talking about it.”

“Hm; I’m not that interested in battle royale types; I was actually thinking more along the lines of action RPG or adventure...”

They surreptitiously looked at each other for a few more seconds, before Adam suddenly got up.

“...You wanna go take a look, squirt?”

“...Okay.”

The two fast-walked back into the house, rushing by Jess who looked at the two in surprise and a yawning Mahesh, whom Adam barely had time to point to his drink—“don’t blame me if it’s cold, it’s not my fault you slept in”—and straight into the living room, where the 70-inch flatscreen sat in pristine condition, having only been used as a Netflix machine thus far. The package was still unopened, Sio carefully wiping it down first as Adam sliced the box open with ease.

“Oooh, what’s this? Looks like a headset...wait, oh my god is this one of those VR things everyone’s been talking about?” Sio’s eyes glittered with excitement as she dug around. “Wow, I wanna try it out later!”

“Let’s see, here’s the PS4,” Adam carefully set the machine up, along with its cables, “and as for games...well, looks like they did include Apex Legends, so if you want to give it a shot squirt, go ahead. Other than that...Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, whatever the latest iteration of Call of Duty is, Devil May Cry 5—that might be fun—Monster Hunter: World, and...well well,” Adam let a low whistle, “what do we have here?”

Sio looked over his shoulder, eyebrow raised as she read the title. “Final Fantasy 7...wait, isn’t this game super old?”

“Look closer, squirt; it’s the remake. I don’t know how those bastards managed to pull it off with everything that’s going on, but I know what I’ll be playing tonight.” Adam tried not to sound too eager, but it was hard; Final Fantasy VII, while already dated by the time he was old enough to enjoy video games, was still considered a classic, and he’d secretly been hoping for a chance to play it as soon as it was announced.

Sio looked on in wonder as Adam diligently set the rest of the system up. He seemed much younger for a change, almost like a puppy instead of a wolf. His boyish enthusiasm was charming, and Sio felt like she was seeing a part of his true self, for once. It made her feel warm all over, but not in a horny way; rather, it was the joy of seeing him genuinely happy for once, instead of shouldering the burden of being their leader. ‘So I was right about him being a gamer...I knew that Metal Gear Rising t-shirt was more than just a coincidence.’

“Well, I guess I know what we’re playing then...” Now that everything was finally ready, she took a seat on the couch next to Adam; both sets of eyes now glued to the giant screen as the opening sequence panned over the in-game city of Midgar, the classic theme blasting from the speakers.

Though Sio didn’t know much about the Final Fantasy series (famous as it was, she preferred her games with more bullet-hell sequences and tanks), within a few minutes she could see why it was so revered, and why Adam was so excited. Movie-quality graphics aside, the action was tightly-paced and almost non-stop, Sio getting more engrossed herself as Adam deftly controlled the action on-screen. Before either of them knew it, it was past lunchtime; the only indication any time passed at all was Sio’s stomach complaining rather loudly after Adam finally got Cloud & co. past chapter 3.

“Whoa, I didn’t know it was so...cool,” Sio sat down to their late lunch (Chinese takeout), still in a bit of a daze at her mind replayed the action sequences and storyline. “No wonder it’s so popular...”

“Oh yeh; holy hell, they did a banger of a job remaking it,” Adam dug into the boxes with relish, barely paying attention to what was going into his mouth. “Shit, the graphics, characterization, soundtrack—and the overhauled ATB system is amazing—”

“I like the characters a lot! They look so realistic...well, as realistic as anime characters can get,” Sio mused, remembering the intro with one very well-rendered Cloud Strife. “So, I’m guessing you like a lot of JRPGs then...?”

Adam nodded. “I do, but I’ll play pretty much anything, honestly. I think the only genres I don’t do are racing and puzzles.” He shook his head, emptying the rest of his plate. “You? I prefer it when the action’s hot, bonus points if it’s got a great story.”

“Uh, I don’t play that many RPGs in general, but sometimes I do if it’s really good. But uh, yeah, I...prefer shooters like Ikaruga, or Biohazard—er, I think they call it Resident Evil outside of Japan? Oh, but there was that one series that came out a while ago, and I was surprised because I also liked the plot a lot...it’s called Bioshock?”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised to hear that; a military otaku like you, would be shocked if you didn’t have some type of shoot-’em-up as your top three,” Adam smirked, Sio laughing sheepishly. “Anyway, if you wanna start your own file while I’m working out, go ahead; like I said, you should take a break today, get some time in for yourself.”

“Ah—oh, uh, okay...thanks,” Sio trailed off as Adam left, presumably to change and then train. “Well...guess I’ll try playing by myself.”

The console booted up, and soon the sniper settled into a comfy pile of cushions, learning the battle system based on what Adam was doing earlier. While years of shooters—first person and otherwise—had honed her reflexes fairly well, Sio had to admit this system of ATB, materia, and character swapping was a bit of unknown territory. Luckily the game was generous with tutorials, but she still struggled a bit against her first real boss, after the beginning section was over. She groaned as the ‘game over’ screen flashed, kneading her temples.

“Man, I thought I had it! What happened...did I not use the right skills?”

“You might wanna check your materia slots, squirt. Those’ll matter a lot in the coming battles.”

A low, husky tone breathed right next to her ear, and Sio nearly jumped out of her skin. “Aaagggh! A-Adam-san, don’t do that! You scared the crap out of me...” She protested, hugging a pillow to her chest as Adam chuckled.

“Sorry squirt, but I was curious to see how you’d do. Didn’t wanna interrupt the fight, though seems like you’re gonna need to retool your party’s materia and gear first.” When he left, Adam was curious if the girl would continue playing Final Fantasy, or pop in another game. But it seemed Cloud Strife’s fabulous chocobo-locks had worked their magic, and he returned from training to find the sniper valiantly trying to defeat the motorcycle-crazy Rosche.

“Hrrm...I don’t really know what some of these descriptions mean. Magic I get, but things like MP up? Chakra?”

“Budge up a bit there, squirt, and I’ll give you some tips.” The sniper scooted to make room for the silver-haired man, as he plopped himself onto the couch and took the controller. “First off, always get HP up; more health never hurts. And then of course, healing...”

Sio nodded, but in reality she was only half paying attention. Adam was sitting right next to her, along with those chiseled muscles still glistening with sweat as his shirt clung to those washboard abs...swallowing thickly, she forced herself to listen to his advice, but even his scent was distracting; there was sweat, but it wasn’t offensive, mixed with a rather musky odor that she couldn’t quite place...

“—and this should be a pretty good setup,” Adam finished. “Uh, squirt? Ogura?” He snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Oy, snap out of it; what’s gotten into you?

“A-Ah—huh? Hai? I-I’m, fine...” Adam raised an eyebrow, but Sio snatched the controller back before anything else happened. “Th, Thanks for the advice...I think I’ll be able to get him this time...”

Adam blinked. “...Alright. Well, good luck then.”

‘Was she checking me out?’ Though he tried not to rouse suspicion as he left, he’d definitely noticed Sio staring at more than just the screen while he’d been redoing her party members. ‘And I’m pretty sure she wasn’t randomly looking around the house.’ Oh no. The sniper definitely had a long way to go if she wanted to be more discreet about her little voyeuristic habits.

The thought of their innocent little sniper actually being not-so-innocent made him hot all over again, and Adam groaned, because he knew this was the kind of heat that couldn’t be solved with simply a cold shower.

“Bloody hell...” ----- “Well, it sure seems like you two have found your quarantine activity,” Mahesh commented at dinner that night, both the sniper and the Ripper arriving long after the food arrived. “Sorry, we just went ahead and ordered some stuff we thought you’d enjoy.” He pushed their respective bentos towards the other two. “But it’s Japanese tonight, Sio, so hopefully it’s up to your standards.”

“Mmm...oh man, it’s so nice to eat Japanese food again...” Sighing with delight, Sio eagerly dug into her chicken karaage, potato salad and white rice. “A-Ah, that’s not to say the food we’ve been getting is bad or anything, it’s been really fun to try a lot of different cuisines and taste everybody’s home cooking too...”

“This is really good; I guess they weren’t kidding about San Francisco being a melting pot,” Adam nodded in approval. “Good thing DOGOO’s footin’ the bill...I wouldn’t fancy being the one having to pay for all this.”

“Just like they’re paying for all your gaming purchases?” Jess smiled knowingly at the other two, who proceeded to turn oddly pink. “What are you two playing anyway that’s got you so engrossed? It must be good, if you two are willing to skip dinner.”

“Oh, uh, it’s the latest Final Fantasy VII Remake! I’ve never played it before, but Adam has, and then I started playing it too and it’s just so good and the battles are super cool and it’s a lot of fun to play--” Sio started gesticulating wildly, chopsticks flinging rice haphazardly and Adam had to sternly remind her to not toss food everywhere.

“Oy squirt, calm down! Say it, don’t spray it.” He muttered, flicking a piece of rice off his shirt.

“And then they even sent a VR headset! Which I’m super curious about,” Sio finally finished her bento, so they could talk without the risk of food flying about. “You guys should try it out too! I-I mean, not that I’m forcing you two to play video games if you’re not interested...”

Mahesh hummed in amusement, looking at least mildly fascinated. “I’m probably a ‘casual’ gamer by yours and Adam’s standards, but I’d be willing to try out this virtual reality deal. I wonder how it compares with Capa’s illusions...”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Sio grimaced, still remembering all those inappropriate pictures Capa took (and then distributed, the nerve of him). “Pervy old man...”

“Well, certainly we won’t have to worry about that. Let’s all check it out, then; Jess, you in?”

The blonde nodded, though not without conceding that gaming wasn’t really her thing, but it might be fun to watch others.

“I’m more of an analogue girl; I don’t care that much for all those flashy explosions on screen, but bring me a set of Catan or Dixit and I’ll play any day.”

Now the entire squad was circled in the living room, the large windows open for some fresh, night air. After some rigging, Adam managed to figure out how to configure an output so those who weren’t wearing the headset could see what was going on, via his laptop.

“Alright, now who’s our first lucky contestant? Sio-chan, since you seem so excited, why don’t you go first?”

The sniper squeaked, not being used to put on the spot. “M, M-Me? U-Uh, I’ve been playing a lot of games today, s-so, why don’t you or Jess try it?” She laughed nervously, hoping they wouldn’t force her to take center stage.

“Yeh Mirza, you seem awfully eager to see how it works...why don’t you give it a whirl,” Adam goaded. Those dark eyes seem to meet his in a challenge, before the Indian resolutely put on the gear.

Everybody else watched eagerly as the screen loaded up. “Whoa; I’m not going to lie, the graphics aren’t photorealistic, but it sure feels like you’re somewhere else,” Mahesh gingerly stepped around, everyone suddenly giving him a wide berth as he set up the boundaries. “Please warn me if I’m about to run into something, or someone; I can’t exactly see anything in the real world...”

“I wonder if we’ll ever get to the point where it’ll feel even more like we’re inside a different world,” Sio said quietly to Adam, as Mahesh started playing a rhythm-action game called Beat Saber. “I don’t like Capa, but I have to admit his AU weapon is incredible. When I was doing those training exercises, it really felt like I was in a jungle, or in the middle of Shibuya...”

“Maybe; but I think we’ve got a ways to go,” Adam responded dryly, arching an eyebrow as the Indian flailed his arms all over the place. “...Definitely a ways to go.”

After a couple of tracks, Adam couldn’t take it anymore; seeing Mirza’s piss-poor coordination and timing destroyed any sense of fun or pleasure from the thumping EDM/techno tracks provided by the game. “Alright, you’ve had your fun. Let me give it a try.”

“More like Adam can’t stand Mahesh butchering those songs anymore,” Jess whispered, and Sio giggled. “He doesn’t like talking about his hobbies, but I know for a fact he’s into these music-type games. Who else do you think petitioned to get that dancing revolution machine installed in the Logan’s workout room...”

Before Sio could fully realize that statement, Adam took over. He selected a track that none of them had ever heard of before, and despite this being his first time playing, immediately notched the difficulty up to Hard. “Someone’s tryin’ to show off, eh?” Mahesh teased, but that didn’t seem to deter the silver-haired man one bit. If anything, Adam was laser-focused on the track before him, slicing through the colored blocks flying past with coordinated ease, as if he’d memorized the track beforehand.

“Whoa, he’s so good...how the heck does he know where to slice and stuff? I can barely keep up with what color they are, let alone what direction to hit,” Sio murmured, staring at the neon-colored action in awe. “There’s no way...he hasn’t played this before, has he?” She watched as Adam completed another combo streak, his multiplier at the max of 8x. “What the hell...”

Mahesh shrugged. “Who knows; I don’t think so, since VR is so new, but that’s Adam for you. Always full of hidden surprises...and probably some he hasn’t even revealed yet.” The trio watched in silence until Adam finished the track, with an impressive score of A, to their fervent applause.

“Well that was an ace performance! Especially for your first try.”

“No kidding; what, can you see the blocks before they appear or something? Sure you don’t have some hidden ability to see the future?” Jess jokingly suggested, though for some reason Adam flinched a bit at the statement.

“...Ha ha, real funny. If you must know, it helps a lot when you’re familiar with the song...”

“Eh? Adam-san, so you like this type of music, huh? Electronica?”

For some reason the sniper’s question made him blush, his cheeks turning even redder than they already were from the faux-workout. “Uh, yeh...I listen to a whole bunch of stuff, just so happens I recognized this track, and uh, decided to give it a go...”

“Now now, no need to be modest! Music or not, you really are good at this type of stuff. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, given how skilled you are on the battlefield...” Mahesh praised.

“Yeh, and it’s a good thing you’re a defender-type, not an attacker; otherwise we’d be long dead already,” Adam replied sarcastically, making a jab at the Indian’s less-than-stellar hand-eye coordination. “Anyway, I’m headin’ up; that took more out of me than I expected, and I want a quick rinse before bed. G’night.”

“Oh uh, good night, Adam-san,” Sio watched curiously as he climbed up the stairs. “I wonder if he’s upset about something...it’s not that late,” she glanced at the clock, which just hit 10:30pm. “Maybe he’s tired.”

“Or, more like someone’s just bashful. Don’t worry Sio, he’s not offended. I just don’t think he’s the type who likes being the center of attention all of a sudden,” Jess mused, as Mahesh picked up the controls again. “Ironic, considering he’s our de facto platoon leader.”

“Well, you don’t have to be outgoing to be a leader, I guess.” Sio nodded, reaffirming her thoughts. Adam was not the smoothest talker, but he had a certain charisma, especially on the battlefield. While Nobunaga’s e-gene was invaluable for strategizing, she wouldn’t deny that Adam knew how to adapt and call the shots, especially in the heat of battle. It was the same type of charisma she felt now, that inexplicably drew her towards him, despite his stoicism and sometimes abrasive words.

‘Though, he’s definitely less harsh, now. Not just his words, but the way he acts, around everybody too...’

He was a kind person, she decided. Probably just not used to letting his guard down, and Sio had a feeling that was partly due to his childhood, of being alone and having to fend for himself. ‘Kinda like me, except I’m just super awkward and terrible with talking to people in general...’

“I liked that song he played...I don’t usually listen to music without lyrics, but it’s really catchy. I kinda wanna listen to it again...” Sio pondered as the rest of the group finally decided to retire for the night.

“Why don’t you go ask him?” Sio blinked in surprise as Mahesh sidled up next to her. “He said he’d heard it before, right? Maybe he can share it with you.”

“Ah, I—uh, I don’t, wanna bother him with something trivial like that...” She laughed nervously, though Mahesh simply winked at her. She stopped short of the attic staircase right before the room, and looked up. The door was already closed, and he was probably already asleep, but Mahesh’s suggestion repeated itself in her mind.

‘Actually, maybe I will...after all, why not. I’ll ask him tomorrow...what kind of music he likes...’

If she was lucky, maybe he’d even offer to let her listen to some. Flushing hotly at the thought, Sio quickly went into her room and dove underneath the covers.

‘Ah Sio...what are you getting yourself into now...’

#documentation #//herp #//yay video game #//also beat saber lol

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paws-and-claws-au · 6 years

Text

Chapter 1: A Chance Encounter

Prologue, Ch.1, Ch.2,Ch.3, Ch.4

Summary: In a kingdom where practicing magic is outlawed and mythical creatures are being hunted, one boy is caught in the crossfire between the two sides of the fight. Only an act of pure, selfless love will lift his curse and return his life to normal…but who could ever love a monster like him?

Chapter Summary: Prince Roman stops at an inn to rest after defeating a chimera that plagued a village...and meets an unusual man with an even more unusual suggestion.

Warnings: Mentions of a battle, that’s about it for this chapter. This fic features Morally Grey Deceit.

Pairings: Royality and Analogical

Word Count: 2,389

Song for this chapter: “The Storm” by The Arcadian Wild

AU Creator: @thegremlinprince

Fic Author: @ironwoman359

Available on AO3 here

Roman rode back into the village, tired, hungry, and with more than a few bumps and bruises, but victorious nonetheless. He smiled as a crowd formed behind him, their cheers following him into the town square. Once he reached the center of town, he paused and held his hand up. He waited for their shouts to did away into murmurs, then he spoke.

“People of Riversedge! The chimera that has plagued your fair village these past weeks is now dead! You may sleep in peace again, knowing your herds and children are safe from its jaws!”

The crowd erupted into more cheers, and Roman bowed.

“Please, Your Highness,” a voice to his right spoke above the ruckus, and Roman turned to see the head of the village council staring up at him. “Allow us to repay you in some way for what you’ve done for us.”

“No, my lady,” Roman declared with another bow. “I am merely doing my duty as your prince. It would be unbecoming for me to ask for a reward.”

“I...Your Highness, it would be improper if we did not–”

“My lady,” Roman interrupted as he dismounted. “All that I ask of you is that you direct me towards a place in town where I may lay my head for the night, and a stable for my horse.”

“Oh! Of course, your highness, right this way.”

The crowd parted as Roman followed the head of the council through the streets until they reached a small inn at the edge of town.

“It is not much, but the beds are warm and the stable is dry, your highness,” the woman said with a bow.

“Thank you, my lady,” Roman replied, nodding his head in respect. “You honor me with your hospitality.”

Roman handed a gold coin and the reins of his horse to the stable boy out front then slipped into the inn before the woman could reply. Heads turned and voices paused as he entered, but he was used to this treatment and ignored it, heading instead straight for the man behind the counter who bowed low as Roman approached.

“Your Highness. We are humbled by your presence. For you, the finest room in the inn, at no charge of course...”

“That won’t be necessary, my good sir,” Roman interrupted. “I wouldn’t dream of depriving you of your well deserved revenue. How much?”

“I...Your Highness, I–”

“How much?” Roman repeated, and the innkeeper stammered out his price. Roman felt eyes watching him as he paid the man, but he was used to commoners staring whenever he brought out his coin purse, so he ignored the sensation and strode up the stairs.

He didn’t notice one pair of eyes that continued to follow him, didn’t see the owner of said eyes down the remaining contents of a steaming mug or hear the stranger mutter:

“Hmm...now that is very interesting.”

He simply found the room that was to be his, locked the door behind him, and flopped down onto the bed in what most would consider a very un-princely manner. But hey, there was nobody here to see him. What did it matter if he acted a bit undignified?

Roman sighed and began to strip away his armor, wincing in pain as the movement irritated the minor injuries he’d received in his tousle with the chimera. Honestly, he was lucky to have gotten away with only a few bumps and bruises...dodging the swipe of lion’s paws and blasts of fire breath had been no easy feat, to say nothing of dealing with the creature’s snake-tail. Roman pulled his chainmail shirt over his head...and froze.

His earlier assumption about nobody being there to see him had been inaccurate.

A bright pair of yellow eyes stared at him from the window, and Roman gripped his sword on instinct. He took a step forward, then let out a relieved sigh as he let his sword arm relax.

“Well, hello there.”

A black cat sat on the windowsill, its tail twitching back and forth as it trained unblinking eyes on the prince.

“You gave me quite a scare there,” Roman chuckled. “But you’re just a pretty little kitty, aren’t you?” He reached forward as if to pet the creature, but the cat hissed and arched its back, and Roman quickly pulled away. “Okay, okay! Goodness gracious, there’s no need for that kind of attitude.”

Roman swore the cat arched an eyebrow at him, but he dismissed it as his eyes playing tricks on his mind. It had been a very long day, after all.

“Well, I’d love to stay up and chat, pretty kitty, but a prince needs his beauty rest!” Roman bowed dramatically, then slid into bed. He blew out the candle on the side table and murky shadows engulfed the room. The cat did not move, its large yellow eyes unblinking as it watched Roman shuffle about under the blankets.

“Goodnight, pretty kitty,” Roman called sleepily before closing his eyes and letting himself be carried away into sleep.

---

The cat sat still for a moment, then it yawned, stretched, and hopped from Roman’s windowsill to the branch of a nearby tree. In a few moments it was on the ground, and it was about to slip away into the alley behind the inn when a voice called into the darkness, making it freeze.

“Well well well...this night is just full of unexpected faces.”

The cat slowly turned to see a familiar figure leaning against the wall of the inn, arms folded in front of him and one eyebrow quirked upwards.

“Now, the prince being at this inn at the same time as me? Crazy coincidence, but I can believe it. The prince and you being here at the same time? Even crazier, much harder to swallow, but not impossible, I ‘spose.”

The man leaned forward, the moonlight gleaming off the white thread embroidered into the hood of his cloak.

“But babe, I’m having trouble accepting that all three of us happened to be here on this fine summer’s eve.”

The man smirked as the cat glanced around and shifted its weight uncomfortably.

“So the question obviously is...were you following him, or were you following me?”

Silence filled the alley, and after a moment the man sighed.

“Then again, I guess now it doesn’t really matter. Go on then, run along.”

The cat’s ears twitched forward in surprise, and the man chuckled.

“What? I’m not gonna stop you. I know better than to get in his way.” The man turned to leave, but paused, glancing back over his shoulder at the cat. “Just, do me a favor and tell him this from me: just because you think you know what you’re doing doesn’t mean you aren’t being stupid.”

He winked, and with a swish of his cloak he was gone, rounding the corner to the front of the inn, and after a moment, the cat slunk away as well, leaving nothing but starlight left in the alley.

---

Roman made his entrance to the main room of the inn early the next morning, and was greeted with the smell of hot porridge cooking over an open fire.

“Your Highness!” the woman leaning over the pot cried in shock, bowing low. “I apologize, but breakfast is not ready for you! You’ve risen sooner than we’d thought you would and–”

“It is quite alright, my good lady,” Roman interrupted, raising his hand with a smile. “I can wait for a few minutes. It already smells delightful.”

The woman flushed pink before nodding in thanks and returning her attention to her work. Roman sat down, content to watch the embers glow in the fire for awhile, before he realized that he wasn’t alone in the open space. Sitting in the corner, quietly sipping from a mug of something hot, was a man wearing a long, black traveler’s cloak. The hood was lined with a fine, white embroidery, and the man had it drawn up, despite sitting indoors on a fair day.

And his eyes were trained right on Roman.

Roman gave a smile and a nod towards the man, being used to commoners staring at him in public, but what the stranger did next surprised even him. The man stood up and actually came towards Roman’s table.

“Prince Roman,” the man said, drawing his hood back as he approached and giving a small nod of respect. “I hope you won’t consider me too bold, but would you consider taking your breakfast with me? Eating alone is really such a bore”

Thoughts of what his father would say about such behavior briefly flitted through Roman’s mind, but he nodded and gestured to an empty chair across from him.

“I couldn’t agree more, sir…?”

“Remington,” the man supplied, taking his seat. “Though you can call me Remy, most folks do. Remington is such a mouthful, to be honest.”

“I suppose it is,” Roman agreed, eyeing the man curiously. While he didn’t appear to be more than ten years older than Roman himself, there was something odd about the way he carried himself...he had an air of confidence and ease that suggested youth, but his eyes, piercing and gray, seemed to hold much more wisdom and experience than one would expect from looking at the rest of him.

“Again, you will forgive my boldness,” Remy said, interrupting Roman’s thoughts. “But I simply can’t hold back my curiosity...what is the Crown Prince of Aromania and only heir to the throne doing fighting chimeras in the remote parts of the countryside?”

“You give me too much credit, sir,” Roman said, raising an eyebrow. “I am not yet the Crown Prince.”

Remy waved his hand dismissively.

“You will be within the year, if I’m remembering my dates right. Besides, Crown Prince or not, you’re still here, in Riversedge of all places, and now there’s one less chimera in the world. Forgive me for thinking so, but that’s a bit of an odd pastime for a prince.”

“Perhaps,” Roman said slowly. “But those who lived under that creature’s tyranny can now sleep a little more soundly at night. Isn’t that what the goal of a prince should be? To protect his people from whatever may wish to do them harm?”

“A prince could easily just order his soldiers to investigate chimera reports,” Remy countered.

“Ah…” Roman looked down, clasping his hands together. “Well, a prince could not easily do that...the Crown Prince could...but again, I do not yet hold that title.”

Remy folded his arms, staring at Roman pointedly.

“The statement still stands, it is odd for someone of your stature to concern yourself with what many others in your position may call too trivial, or too dangerous, to handle personally.”

“Who are you?” Roman asked, staring in disbelief at the stranger he’d found himself debating with. He talked with the wit and confidence of a nobleman, but his clothes suggested he was middle class at best.

“Just a traveler,” Remy said with another wave of his hand. “I’m in town to look for the rare herbs that grow in this part of the riverbank.” He fixed Roman with a pointed stare, and Roman swallowed. “You still have not answered. Why are you here?”

Roman clenched his hands into fists.

“It’s my duty to be a leader,” he answered eventually. “ Someday, a king. And a king who leads others where he himself would not go or gives orders that he himself would not carry out is nothing more than a coward hiding behind a crown.”

Remy’s eyes widened, and he leaned back in his chair, regarding Roman with a new expression.

“The words of King Thomas,” he said simply, and Roman nodded.

“From the speech he gave at his coronation. You’ve read it?”

“Yes…” Remy murmured, almost to himself. “I...have read it, on occasion.” He shook his head, then looked back to Roman. “He is an admirable man to have as a role model.”

“He was the best king Aromania’s ever had,” Roman stated, and Remy nodded thoughtfully.

“I may just be inclined to agree with you.”

He suddenly got to his feet, and Roman was so startled that he stood as well.

“Well, Prince Roman, I must be on my way. But if to help and protect the innocent is what you desire…”

“Yes?” Roman asked, cocking his head.

“It may serve you well to travel along the river to the east. After a day’s ride or so, you’ll come upon a small settlement, barely a village anymore. Any people who are left would tell you to steer clear of the tower on the hill. I would tell you otherwise. You may find yourself in the face of danger the likes of which you’ve never seen, but behind it all lies a lonely soul that is desperate need of help.”

“Wha-”

“It’s been many years, and not once has the right person ever been able to breach those tower walls...but if there is anyone left in Aromania who’d be able to, it may just be you.” Remy bowed then, and pulled his hood back over his head. “It was a pleasure, Your Highness.”

Then he was gone, his cloak whipping out behind him as he exited the inn. Roman stared after him, trying to figure out what exactly he’d just been told.

“Oh my...what did old Remy say now?” the woman at the cooking pot asked, and Roman turned.

“You know him? Who is he?”

“Oh, just a traveler we see here often,” she sighed, glancing down at her porridge. “He’s some kind of herbalist I think, he always comes through here and picks the plants that grow on the riverbank. But he’ll sometimes have the strangest conversations with people...on more than one occasion he’s scared a potential customer away!” She shook her head, and looked at Roman apologetically. “I’m sorry if he bothered you, Your Highness.”

“No...no bother,” Roman muttered, before he turned and bowed to the woman, making her blush. “My lady, thank you for your hospitality. It was most appreciated.”

“Oh, will you not stay for breakfast then?”

“No…” Roman said, looking towards the door. “I believe that I shall get an early start on traveling...”

“I see,” the woman nodded. “Returning to the capitol?”

“Not just yet,” Roman answered. “First...I must ride east.”

Prologue, Ch.1, Ch.2 Ch.3, Ch.4

A/N: I am getting SO excited for this next chapter...I had an idea of how this chapter was going to go, but as per usual, Roman just wanted to steal the show completely, and it turns out, Remy does the same thing, and I made the mistake of putting them in a room together, so it ended up not going exactly like I thought XD. But I like how it turned out, and am very excited for what comes next! Grim and I have been talking about lore and world building stuff more, and I’m super stoked to share more of this world with you guys! Thanks for all your support, it means the world to us! -Taylor, aka, Iron.

AU Creator: @thegremlinprince

Other fics by @ironwoman359

A REMINDER - THERE IS NO TAGLIST FOR THIS FIC. If you’d like to stay updated with this AU, follow the @paws-and-claws-au sideblog! This here is my taglist for all my writing (which you can ask me to be on at @ironwoman359)

Taylor’s Taglist: @lizethemotherlycat, @coffeestudylive, @rosepheniox, @sugarblob0, @logically-asexual, @sir-sanders, @migraine-marathon, @sirkawaiipotato, @princeyssash, @queensephonereaper, @idontevenfreakingknow22, @tree4life25, @spacevirgil, @virgiltheanxious, @thekinglovesyou, @thebaagelboy, @failureofaesthetics, @msu82, @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2, @alexthechaotic, @thesleepyraziel, @bobolovesoze, @littlemiracle05, @pattson, @pastel-patton123, @nerd-in-space, @thesides, @stay-in–place, @ravenclawunicorn1, @at-least-seven-pretty-potatoes, @michealawithana, @anotherfandomtrasher , @fandomsofrandom, @a-deliciouslyfadingcollection, @nightmarejasmine, @xxfoxit, @quoth-the-sparrow, @katatles-the-fish, @misty-the-mysterious, @alyssadashrub, @punkassplonker, @noctisvale, @i-sold-my-soul-to-thefandom, @funsizedgremlin, @vigilantvirgil, @nonamefightergirl, @thomasbemyfriend, @mockingjaysinger, @milomeepit, @justabookworm39, @shortandfantastic, @thesilentbluesparrow, @royallyanxious, 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#sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #ts fanfiction #royality #analogical #roman sanders #remy sanders #virgil sanders #paws and claws au #patton sanders #story #morally grey deceit #claw marks

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hpdabbles · 5 years

Text

The Difference Between Living and Not Dying

Draco Malfoy wakes to the sound of running train tracks and jerking seats. He picks his head off of the window glass, blinking owlishly around. He studies the little compartment in bewilderment, ignoring the other young boys who are looking over a magazine opposite of him, trying to understand why he was in Hogwarts Express when a few hours ago he was tucking himself into his bed- oh.

Oh. The ritual!

Draco could have kicked himself but honestly, this is what he gets for trying any of the spells in the Black Forrbiden Family Vault. He should have known that Potter missed something up, despite the other man insisting nothing would go wrong. If only he was strong enough to resist studying time travel, then maybe the Slytherin wouldn’t have followed Potter into that section.

He just wanted to finish his last year of Magical Uni, was that too much to ask? So what if he was able to score the only undergrad research position with the Wizarding Savior himself in order to do something that was technically blasphemy. Honestly, who in the right mind opened the family knowledge vault of an Ancient and Noble House to the public like this?

It worked out for him since Potter didn’t realize only main branch family was allowed in there (seeing as Sirius willed Potter into it he was now considered the main branch), plus the fool also let Draco into the Potter Archives.

Granger had been melting in jealousy when Draco’s name was called out as the winning essay. Potter had wanted the entries to be anonymous so the competition would be “fair” and go to the “most deserving”.

He had looked like he bite into a lemon when Draco reported on the first morning but he opens the vault and archives none the less and let the student alone to do his work. Honestly, did he just not care about any wizarding traditions? He hadn’t even restricted him from areas!

The only thing he asked was that Draco allows him to attempt one of the rituals and picked the one to less likely work. Potter had the audacity to even whine “Come on, Malfoy think about how well this will boost your thesis paper!”

Draco’s thesis paper was not worth this. He was sure. But nope, here he was, stuck in the past inside his child’s body with all of the said child’s skill set. Which was quite frankly almost nothing.

Marlin, he can’t even do the ritual in reverse. He was stuck here, wherever year this was, and all only a few months away of his last year of Uni! He was almost done for crying out loud! Now he had to do even more years of schooling!

“Draco, did you hear? Harry Potter is onboard, a first year like us.” A squeaky voice interrupts his mental swearing. He focuses on the face and almost gapes. Did Crabbe always look this squishy? He was a cute kid.

Then his mind processes the words.

“What?” A first year!? He’s a bloody first year!?

“Harry Potter!” Crabbe repeats, his adorable eyes sparkling. Draco wanted to tell him not to be so excited since Potter was going to hate him but he didn’t want to watch that sparkle in his eye die. “He’s on the train! Marlin, can you believe it? We should go look for him, maybe he will sit with us!”

Oh right, this was when the three of them, Goyle included, were small little fanboys of Potter. Wow, how time has changed them.

“No, I don’t want to waste our first ride together to Hogwarts chasing the Boy-Who-Lived. ” He tries to say casually. He watches the confusion on Crabbe face and wonders what he’s done wrong. His word choice maybe? He used to try and pepper in bigger words to seem smarter when he was young, so maybe the lack of them was strange.

“Why’s that Draco?” The young boy asks.

“I just want to spend the time with you and Goyle. You’re my best mates after all.” Draco says and he watches the eyes of both boys across of him go wide. Crabbe flushes but he looks pleased, curving around the confusion in his small tiny squishy face.

“That’s-” he clears his throat. Crabbe attempts to use his aristocratic mask to conceal his emotions. Marlin why did he ever think it was okay for a child to do this? Emotions should never be smothered. “That’s the first time you ever called us best mates. What change?”

You died. He wants to say You died by being burn alive and I wasted the friendship we could have had.

“It’s just...I got thinking. Our fathers aren’t here. We can be friends without them making us.” He looks out the window, mourning the future they will have due to the choices of their parents. Mourning what he left behind. Mourning the innocence they all lost. It’s a very visited thought but the jaded feeling never eases no matter how many times he thinks about it. “I want to be friends with you for who you are not for your family name....if you like?”

When he composes himself better he glances over the boys. Two sets of eyes are suspiciously glossy but the smiles are brighter then he’s ever seen on either face regardless of age. Draco knows this change here will be the first of his new chance and maybe...maybe he can get used to it. It hurts to think about what he lost, but honestly, he didn’t lose much. Draco has lived in a daze for years, he never feared it ending.

His life wasn’t all that grand, he was content but not really eager to see a new day. Depressed is what Pansy called him, but she spent most of her days staring at the bottom of a bottle so he didn’t count her words as true when it was obvious she was far more depressed then he.

“So let’s start anew. Let’s talk about our likes, hobbies, dreams of the future without our folks breathing down our necks. Let’s be kids” He says sitting back to get comfortable as Goyle starts to cautiously tell them about his hobby of drawing. He pushes the thought of Harry Potter out of his mind. He doesn’t need his hand of friendship to be rejected when there are two people more than willing to grasp it right here.

The train ride is the most fun he’s ever been on despite being more charmed by the tiny tots. (He always adores children. Precious little monsters). By the time they arrive Draco is smiling so hard his cheeks hurt and he feels closer to the other two boys then all seven years of friendship. Isn’t that just sad?

He isn't awed by the castle, he’s seen it much too many times but he does think it charming to see the other eleven-year-olds’ look of wonder. His class was full of tiny tots who just impressed with the simplest of things honestly.

Draco didn’t jump when the ghosts arrive, he barely paid attention when Professor McGonagall lead them into the Grand Hall, but he did notice when he ran into a child’s back. He was daydreaming again, zoning out when he should be paying attention.

“I’m terribly sorry,” He says on reflex helping the poor lad from the half stumble he took. Draco’s hand is gripping his arm to keep him from face planting. “I wasn’t looking where I was going. I was...distracted by the ceiling.”

“It’s..um it’s okay.” The boy says blinking green eyes at him. Oh, bloody hell. It’s Potter. “I meet you right? Before...”

Draco has long perfected social acting. He makes his face pull a pleasantly surprised expression with ease. “Oh yes! We meet at Madam Malkin’s. How are you?”

“How..am I?” Potter repeats slowly, almost confused. What? Did the boy not know what a conversation is? He looks so baffled by Draco’s manners.

Honestly, did he lack his own so much he didn’t know what they looked like at this age? He keeps the friendly smile on his face and is beyond grateful Professor McGonagall cuts in before Draco can answer. It would have been a sarcastic remark, the blond is sure of it.

He knows himself too well.

The sorting goes as it did last time. Until it’s Draco’s turn. He walks up to the stool in a bored strut, not thinking about someone going into his head until the thing is actually in his head.

The same one that had future knowledge ripe for the picking. He should put up some mental shields from now on. Thank the stars the Blacks were a paranoid sort and he had a practical fortress.

Too bad he pulled them up after the sorting hat walked into his mind.

Hmm, a child who was already sorted. This is very interesting! The hat says causing Draco to jump. He didn’t know the thing could hold a conversation. You have grown. Learn what it means to be truly loyal. Already choosing your bonds over your own benefit. Yes, I know the perfect house for you

“HUFFLEPUFF”

There is a moment of stun silence, where Draco is still under the hat wondering if the charmed piece of cloth actually did what he thinks it did. No. No, he’s a Malfoy! He could not be-

“Move along now Mr. Malfoy” Professor McGonagall instructs taking the sorting hat back, sounding like she’s restraining from demanding why on earth he’s a bloody Hufflepuff and nudging him into the crowd of gapping people. Only one person claps for him. It’s Potter.

Draco sends him a grateful smile and the boy stumbles in surprise. He returns it shyly though and oh no, Potter is a cute kid too. That’s not fair.

He risks a glance at Crabbe and Goyle, heart falling when both boys turn away. So much for meaningful friendships....oh well life was meaningless anyway. With a mental shrug, he trots off to the yellow and black table taking a sit.

He is barely aware of the other children shrinking away from him, far too used to it in the future. Instead, he zones out, thinking of a book he read a few days ago. He almost misses the food appearing before him, had it not been for the little wave Potter sends him from the Gryffindor table. Draco returns it on instinct while munching on his buttered toast.

Much later Draco tucks himself into bed, not speaking to the rest of the Puffs that eye him warily. He just wants to take a sleep, exhausted by the amount of talking he did. He’s forgotten how draining social interaction can be.

The next day, Draco somehow finds himself leading some first years to class. He didn’t mean to, but when he stumbled across lost children he didn't have the heart to leave them. It took a bit of convincing but soon he has a group of Ravenclaws following him like ducklings. He looks over their time tables making sure to walk them all to the door of their classes. The looks of gratitude are downright adorable.

By the time he stumbles into Potions he’s twenty minutes late and feeling lighter. His godfather surprisingly-or not- goes easy on him, only ducking five points for his tardiness. Draco wants to say seeing Snape was easy but it wasn’t. He spent almost all of the class trying not to break down in tears.

Thankfully when the bell rings he is out before the professor can stop him. Outside he finds some of his new housemates lost and offers to lead them as well. He somehow gets a group of Gryffindors on the way back, who all ask him where to go, having heard he’s been offering.

When he stumbles across Potter later, he has a herd of Firsties babbling about how scary the first night was. Draco tries his best to offer advice on how to handle it when he notices Potter staring. He politely dismisses himself from the kids, walking over to the one boy that seems oddly lonely.

Where were the Weasleys (or would they be called Weasley and Granger now?) Shouldn’t the Golden Trio be together doing....something golden?

“Are you alright?” He asks wondering why the kid looks so scared suddenly.

“Um..yes.” A nervous hand goes up to ruffle his hair, flashing that damn scar. Green eyes locked with his, briefly, then the boy looks away. Draco frowns. Something is obviously bothering the kid.

“I’m Harry Potter,” He says at last one hand held out uncertainly. My how the tables have turned.

Draco nods sticking out his own hand “Draco Malfoy.”

The boy looks relieved, taking the offered limb into a jerky shake. Suddenly in a rush of words, he blurts out “Want to sit together at dinner time!? Ron said you could.”

Draco blinks slowly “Okay”

“Okay?” A young face brightens, cheeks pink.

“Okay”

“Great! I’ll see you later..I’ll save you a spot!” Potter all but skips down the hall and Draco wonders what the heck that was about. It’s not until he’s gently wiping some tears off a terribly homesick first-year girl with his family handkerchief about thirty minutes later that he realizes what he’s become.

Why Potter looked so eager to sit together. He leaves her once she’s calm down, hands curled around some hot chocolate he asked the castle elves to make and watery smile grateful.

Draco ducks into the first male bathroom he can find and splashes his face in cold water. He stares at his reflection in the mirror with horror “You’ve become the Mum. Your love of children made you the Class Mum. How far have you fallen Malfoy? Rock bottom.”

He still sits with Potter. The kid is too cute for his own good, though he should do something about that sunburn. His poor cheeks are far too red.

#Harry Potter #draco malfoy #Depression #He just doesn't care anymore #Draco gains a rep of being the nicest guy in all of Hogworts #Little Harry has a crush #Draco wanted to be a professor.#He adores Kids.#He's just depressed #Don't do old magic kids #Hufflepuff Draco being the best Class Mum he can be

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squadron-of-damned · 5 years

Note

⭐ - for the fanfic ask

Yes okay, my pick. that’s the tough part. Hmm… I’d say I’d like to talk about Black Garb, but frankly, I think I have said everything I wanted to say there.

So instead let’s talk about The Long-Awaited Sequel. The name itself is supposed to be a tie-in with the previous work from the Basketville series, because that one is called The Last Chapter, so there is a book theme supposedly going on and also it focuses on the new life Downey and Vetinari have in Basketville, so it is “a brand new book” which everyone has been long waiting for.

Fun fact: Originally the “main hero” whose POV is followed was supposed to be Christian Agate, the renown paperback author who is definitely not the Discworld incarnation of Agatha Christie. While this idea got scratched, the book theme remained just as the concept of Basketville being “the countryside village to which old (male) literary heroes retire to have a cottage, bees and their best companion to whom they aren’t married (but only because it isn’t legal yet).”

Part of the fun with this bodyswap fic was that Vatinari and Downey know each other well enough to actually pull off they are the other person while nobody really knows them enough to notice if there is something wrong. That means that I as an author (and subsequently you as the reader) didn’t have to focus on the “comedy effect” of the bodyswap when they are “this close to being caught,” because let’s serve us clean wine: I don’t like this trope. No, what I wanted to explore was how the physical differences in a body affect the individual.

Let’s start with Downey. In the book Night Watch it is implied that he might have a problem reading long words (although it is possible Vetinari meant that as a very ugly joke) and over the time this implication evolved into a headcanon that he has dyslexia and possibly dysgraphia as well. (I know that they aren’t one and the same, but my two childhood friends have them both and when thinking about one I find it quite difficult not to connect it to the other.) And since you specifically Napoleon are asking this, you are the one who’s assigned that man synethesia as well. I believe that it isn’t addressed in this fic, but originally it was supposed to be and the only reason it isn’t there is because I didn’t figure out a simple way to make AO3 format work with colours.

There is the poem:

This is now all of my wit:to love loud turmoil of the fight,to penetrate girls’ dreams in night,to be in debt a little bit,to whistle as my mouth is shaped,to wash away worry with wine,to squander fast this life of mine,to gain nothing, same to forfeit.

It is my translation of František Gellner’s To je teď celá moudrost moje and in the fic it has scattered bolding and italicizing which is supposed to represent how it is seen through Downey’s eyes. Originally the whole text was heavily colourized, all the alike sounding parts done in the same or similar colours, so it looked like a very bad acid trip. (I was quite angry when the colours didn’t make it in because I spent about an hour colouring that damn thing for nothing.)

Here is the fun part: Why does Vetinari experience these conditions when he is in Downey’s body while he doesn’t get to deal with Downey’s short-fused temper? Because according to some very smart article which I have read and lost and can’t be bothered at the moment to find again, things like dyslexia or introversion tendencies are bound to brain. In fact this article which focused on the fact that people are born either more extroverted or introverted and they can’t do anything about it because it is a physical condition just like the solidness of your bones or blood type is what inspired this particular fic.

Do Vetinari, a known book worm, finds out that there are people who are literally physically incapable to enjoy a book without getting a horrible headache. He also finds out that there are people for whom being around other people is not energetically draining. I can’t remember if he has to deal with Downey’s absolute musical hearing. I think he doesn’t.

Downey on the other hand is mostly reliant on his people skill, on the fact that he is good at being around people and in the only moment that he is supposed to use it (the variation of the PTA gathering), it fails him because of Vetinari’s brain introversion. There is also a minor deal with haywire colourvision which I don’t think I’ve ever bothered to explain. That is a headcanon of mine which doesn’t affect anything and hasn’t got any real backing by the actual lore, but through Vetinari’s eyes Downey can see colours which he previously couldn’t see. The word itself doesn’t get actually used, but Vetinari has tetrachromatic vision instead of the human usual trichromatic one.* Yes, I am aware that the cone cell pigment genes are bound to the X chromosome, thus making tetrachromacy a thing found in the XX 23rd gene combination, but consider: tetrachromacy has actually been found in men, Discworld genetic is strange, magic can apply, no one is saying that Discworld human genes are like ours, no one is saying that Vetinari is cis, also I don’t care because this is a work of fiction not a research paper so if you have a problem with Vetinari having a trait predominately found in human females, it is a you-problem and you have to deal with it somehow (probably by not reading that fic for a start). He also has to deal with chronic pain in leg which I believe Vetinari is more or less used to, but Downey isn’t.

Speaking of chronic pains. Both of those guys have been through some serious shit. Both mentally and physically. In case you haven’t been here for my writing, Downey’s time in Ankh-Morpork during Snapcase’s regime was not a walk in a rosy garden. Or maybe it was a walk in a rosy garden but he was forced to take it through the thorny bushes. He was interrogated, he was tortured for information and there had been at least one attempt to execute him which is implied in the fic. Downey says that he loves Vetinari “Enough for a lack of eloquence to be considered of virtue” just the moment after some very old scars on Downey’s body are mentioned. I don’t know if this reads clearly for you, but it has always been clear to me (and that is why I cannot describe it better): “They tried to physically force me to tell them everything about you and I didn’t say a word.” Until today I am convinced that this particular line is one of the… strongest that I have ever written.

There is a very strong reference to Kafka in this work, namely the very hideous tattoo on Downey’s back which says VerboIncooperativus Testi (verbally uncooperative witness, although the translation is a shared effort of mine and Google Translator, though Discworld Latatin is a bastart language, so whatever). All I can say to that is this: In the Penal Colony.

That brings me to the side characters. Some of them have only a little impact on the story, such as Papermould. Some of them are long time dead like Offer Littlegood to whom I would like to dedicate a short work on his own because he is the Discworld’s constructor of the horrible tattoo-execution machine, which might or might not be clear from what is written about him and implied in other parts of the work. I have a lot of thoughts about Offer Littlegood. I am a loud about being from Czechia, so here is a linguistic joke for you: a rather archaic/fairy-tale sounding euphemism for an executioner (and torturer, stories like to pile these two jobs into one) in Czech is “mistr málodobrý” which translates to English as “mister (or master) littlegood.” That is where Littlegood’s name comes from, to me he is an executioner and torturer by name.

Then there is July Mendahorse. For a starter: I love July Mendahorse. She isn’t pretty and she is the perfect noir femme fatale and she is an important character in The Graveyard Shift. In this story there are featured three people who look a lot like Vetinari: Vetinari himself, Constantin Meserole who is his cousin and a mirror thirty years to the past (he is far mor like Vetinari in his mind than he realizes and he would hate himself a lot if he had ever learned that), and then July Mendahorse (who is actually also a lot like Vetinari, but she lacks the upbringing and education). The opening line about her section is a lowkey reference to the song The House of the Rising Sun (this gets more played on in The Graveyard Shift). When Downey and Vetinari are talking about their exes, Downey recalls briefly dating July (without naming her) who happened to look a lot like Vetinari and speak with his accent. I am not sure if I want to work with it in The Graveyard Shift or give Downey/July their own fic in the original timeline but I want to clear up one thing for you here: Downey actively conditioned July to erase a whole a lot of differences between her and Vetinari. Some of that were good things, like giving her education or taking her to see culture, some of that were… less nice. Not exactly abusive, but… Look, folks, don’t try to forge a girl you’ve found on the street into your unreachable partner of your dreams, alright?

Since we have Vetinari-alike people here, let’s give a paragraph to Constantin Meserole, shall we? If Constanting had a dollar for every time someone called him Havelock, he’d be a very rich man. He looks like Vetinari at that age. He is very actively trying to difference himself from his cousin, but he fails to realize he is doing it in the most Vetinari-like (or Constantin-like) way possible. He is more psychology oriented than Vetinari, but he is also more fed up with his situation. Vetinari’s (and Downey, Sybil and Vimes’s) generation could be compared to those people who were children and teens during the 70′s and 80′s (speaking from a country which used to be a part of the communist block at that time: fucking bloody normalization, so with the Wint/Snapcase’s regime it is twice as accurate), while Constantin (and Lus Twinkle and all their classmates) are those who are growing up right now. They don’t remember that era but they grew up with people telling stories what it was like and they see people actively trying to make history repeat itself and they are feeling like AAARGH! Oh, and Constantin and Twinkle’s relationship is a mirror to Downey and Vetinari’s relationship in the sense “Okay, whit if they weren’t absolute idiots, but only a little bit idiots?”

There are retired fictional characters: Blatantly obvious Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson except they are dwarves now (and are actually both girls), Captain Tramain who is from Wizardry 8 and I’ve always had a soft spot for him. There is aforementioned and not entirely fictional Christian Agate.

There is Helen Foxglove. I have a friend who has just writhed herself out of an abusive marriage. This fic was written before she actually made it and at the time I felt that the most I could do for her aside from coming over every here and then and helping her out was to give her a fictional happy ending. This is that happy ending where she got out with her children and her dogs, and her piece of a shit husband got a dagger through his skull. Maybe some time in the future Helen Foxglove will get together with a witch who might and might not be a version of my mum. Look, I’ve always thought that those two should get together ever since I was, like, four and knew what ‘get together’ was. I’ve always saw her son as a brother, so you know.

I like writing about Basketville but I also find it terribly difficult. Terry Pratchett said that Ankh-Morpork is a fantasy city which still functions after the story ends. In the same way, Basketville is the happy ending retirement countryside village which still functions after the story ends. Everything that happens in Basketville is an epilogue to some story, but it is important to realize that there are people whose whole lives were other people’s epilogues. That is both difficult and amazing to write.

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spookyjuicefiction · 6 years

Text

The Black Diamond - Chapter 1

MASTERLIST

A/N: Kind of a long setup, but it’ll be worth it, I promise. No smut yet! Just a little tasteful burlesque striptease.

BUCKY BARNES X READER

Brown, brown, and more brown. Bucky scowled out the back seat window at the desert which seemed to scroll by on loop like an old movie background. A cactus here, a tumbleweed there. And then again. Welcome to The Middle of Nowhere, Somewhere In America.

“We’ve got to be getting close,” Steve took his eyes from the road momentarily to Natasha, who was sitting shotgun and studying a huge map spread across the dashboard. Cell phone service had disappeared an hour ago, and GPS along with it. Not that the place they were looking for existed on Google Maps. Natasha only frowned.

“If we get stuck out in this wasteland, I’m going to kill you, Rogers,” groaned Sam, peering over Nat’s shoulder. “You said you knew where it was!”

“If the map is accurate, we should be coming up to it any minute now,” Steve replied calmly. “Let’s review the plan in the meantime. Nat?”

Although Bucky could only see the back of her head, he could tell she was rolling her eyes. “You three are escaping your wives in Phoenix for a boys’ getaway up to this club Sam heard about from his buddy at work.”

“Sam?” Steve prompted.

Sighing, Sam sat back. “We picked up Nat hitchhiking on the side of the road. Her boyfriend dumped her, she’s homeless, and she’s desperate for a job. We don’t want to leave town until we know she’s settled in.”

“Good. Buck?”

Bucky looked back out the window into the brown dustland. “Natasha will infiltrate by getting in with the staff and finding out what they know about their employer. Meanwhile, we will befriend the other patrons and locals and gather intel that way. Once we can get a good layout of the place, we search for information.”

“It’s not going to be easy,” said Steve, for the millionth time. “If this guy really is ex-Hydra, he’s not going to be leaving his old paperwork just lying around for anyone to find. Luckily, our intel says news doesn’t travel fast out here and we’re unlikely to be recognized. Hopefully we can slip in and slip out before this guy gets back.”

“How do you know he won’t be there?” Sam asked.

“I don’t,” Steve admitted. “I’m putting trust in our informant. That’s why I brought so many of you. It’s only a club; if it gets ugly, I think we can handle it. But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Great,” Sam murmured, “sure, let’s trust the anonymous informant.”

“Check it out,” Nat pointed out the windshield and Sam and Bucky leaned forward to squint. In the distance, a building began to grow out of the horizon. As the car drew closer, they could see it was a fairly large, three-story warehouse, dropped in the middle of the empty landscape on the side of the dirt road. Further down, in the distance, was what appeared to be a small town: Bucky could make out two motels, a gas station, and a shabby grocery store. He wondered where the hell the people lived that worked there, since there was nothing else around.

The building had no sign, but dozens of cars were parked haphazardly all around it and people were lingering near the door, smoking cigarettes and God knows what else. Steve maneuvered the car into an inconspicuous spot and cut the engine, turning in his seat to look at his team.

“Okay. You ready?”

Bucky, Nat, and Sam nodded at him and then one another before stepping out of the car.

Bucky sucked in a breath as the scorching hot air enveloped him the instant he opened the door. He could see the air sizzling over the dirt in the distance, and he felt a pang of longing to be back at the compound, swimming in the cool lap pool. He tried to focus as they drew near to the warehouse, making mental notes of where there were service doors or the occasional boarded window in case they needed to make a quick getaway. A bouncer by the door, nearly as tall and muscular as Steve, gave them an irritated look before gesturing them vaguely inside.

The room inside was nothing like Bucky had expected. Instead of dusty wood floors and cement walls, there was plush plum carpeting and wallpaper decorated with fleur de lis and spiral patterns. Sconces lined the hallway, dripping with crystals that caught the muted light as they twirled in the gust of hot air that followed them through the door. They approached a mahogany desk manned by an attractive young woman who bestowed a sickeningly sweet smile onto them.

“Well, well, well,” she cooed in a voice that had to be faked, “What do we have here? We don’t usually get such good looking boys around these parts.” She winked at Bucky. “Are you here for the show?”

“They are,” Nat stepped forward, pushing her chest out, leaning over the desk and adopting a southern accent, “but I’m lookin’ for work. I ain’t as pretty as you, but maybe there’s something I can do?”

The girl behind the desk frowned at her at first, and then cocked her head. “Hmm. Actually, you might just be his type. I’ll see what I can do.” She snapped her fingers suddenly and two men in black suits appeared.

“See if we can find a job for this gal,” she said to them in the sweet voice, and they obediently led Natasha out of the room. Nat threw a last glance at them over her shoulder and tapped her wrist, their sign for “I got this, don’t worry”.

“Show’s standin’ room only tonight,” chirped the girl, turning back to them. “Sold out.”

“Wow,” said Sam, raising his brows, “does it usually sell out?” Bucky was apparently not the only one to think this was odd, considering the remoteness of the club.

“It does when Bombalurina performs,” the girl cooed with another wink. “Trust me, boys, you won’t wanna miss it.”

Steve, Sam, and Bucky were ushered by another pretty girl through a set of double doors into the lounge area brimming with people. The bar in the back was packed shoulder to shoulder, while the small round tables throughout the room were so crowded, the guys could hardly scoot through the room. They found a spot along the wall at the opposite side from the door where they could see the stage, which extended into a catwalk that cut the room in half. They stood in silence, politely shooing away a girl with a drink tray while they studied the room around them. To Bucky’s surprise, it was not just creepy older men in the crowd for the show, but women too, most of whom appeared dignified and well-manicured. It was strange to see so many high-society folks at this warehouse in the middle of the desert. What exactly was going on here?

“Most of these girls aren’t eighteen, much less twenty-one,” murmured Sam as another shot girl walked by, smiling at them shyly.

“Yeah. It’s too dark in here to tell, but I’ll bet most of them look like they’ve been through some stuff. You don’t end up working out here if you’ve had an easy life,” Steve responded, sounding worried.

Just then, the room went black as the spotlights blasted the stage with light, illuminating a short, thin man with oiled back hair and a glittering tuxedo. He was wearing more makeup than nearly any woman Bucky had ever seen in his life.

“Hello and good evening to all of you freaks, geeks, chics, and sharks!” he boomed into the microphone, and was greeted with loud laughter and applause. “My name is Luxardo and I am pleased as punch to be your host for the evening! Gird your loins, clutch your pearls, and loosen your belts because you are in for a night of tantalizing beauty and sensual sexuality that will take your breath away!”

Bucky ground his teeth as Luxardo yammered on for another few moments, cracking dirty jokes that had the crowd laughing with delight and Steve blushing scarlet. When the first number came out, a troupe of scantily-clad dancing girls, Sam leaned over and whispered, “Maybe you ought to turn your back, Cap. Wouldn’t want to offend these girls’ delicate sensibilities.” Steve slugged him, and even Bucky had to chuckle a little.

Scantily clad dancing girls turned out to be the majority of the program, to no one’s surprise except perhaps Steve, and Bucky had become fidgety and restless by the time Luxardo returned to the microphone over an hour later.

“Dearly esteemed guests of The Black Diamond, we humbly thank you for supporting our little show. And as the sweetest, richest, most decadent dessert we could offer, please enjoy our final number: the Queen of Diamonds herself, Bombalurina.”

A hush fell over the crowd in such an odd way that Bucky felt himself snapping to attention. The stage went dark, and then one, single spotlight lit center stage. A sensual, jazzy tune began to play, and a woman began emerging from the floor with her back to the audience. When she was fully above the stage, the music paused dramatically. In the instant that she spun around to face the room, the music crescendoed and the stage lit up in blues and pinks, showing her in full, technicolor detail.

That was the first moment of Bucky Barnes’s life.

He was sure of it. He had never existed, never breathed, never seen a single thing, until this very moment. Until he saw her for the first time.

He forgot everything. He went deaf. All he could do was look at her, watch her as she sauntered down the stage in her glittering, sequined dress. All he ever wanted to see again was the way her red lips moved along with some music that he could no longer hear. It didn’t matter, nothing did, so long as her eyes, her hair, and her skin existed in the world. In his world.

He watched the number as if in a dream, foggy and surreal as though under water, and he could not move nor even feel his body. First she was only dancing, and then she began taking off her clothes. First gloves, then dress, then, hook by hook, the corset that held the secret of her chest from him. Somewhere, the recesses of his mind told him he should look away, but he could not bring himself to do it. She turned, swaying back to the spot where she started, and planted her feet. On one beat, she tore open corset and dropped it to the ground beside her. On the next beat, the final beat, she spun around, hitting a stunning pose with her pastied breasts exposed -- and locking her eyes with his.

The room erupted into cheers around Bucky as he stood motionless and transfixed, their eye contact intense and certain. Bombalurina stood still too, locked in her pose, and he was sure he saw her cock her brow at him before she broke the spell and turned to take her bow.

“Wow,” he heard Steve breathe beside him and turned to his friend, blinking away the dream, “she’s something, isn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Bucky agreed, feeling a little woozy and leaning against the wall subtly for support.

“I guess we know why people come out here,” observed Sam, motioning to the way the whole room was on their feet, clapping and whooping and catcalling.

“You got that right.” The guys jumped at Natasha’s voice as she emerged from a curtain next to where they stood, bearing a tray and apparently collecting empty glasses. “The men are all in love with her, and the women all want to be her.” Reading their looks of surprise, she explained, “They were busy so they hired me on the spot. I’ll catch you guys back at the hotel later and we can debrief.”

Steve nodded briskly to her and watched her disappear into the crowd before turning to Sam and Bucky.

“We’d better get out of here. I saw a few guys from the CIA that might recognize us if they sober up enough.”

“The CIA?” Bucky asked incredulously. The Black Diamond apparently had some serious reach. Before they could take two steps, however, a man in a black suit appeared in front of them. He was tall and muscular, like the bouncer had been, and was holding a rather large martini.

“The Queen would like a word with you all in her dressing room,” he said quietly.

“The Queen?” Steve asked, surprised.

“Bombalurina,” the man replied. “She won’t be kept waiting. Come.”

The man in the black suit set off, weaving through the tables, and the guys could only exchange a quick look before turning to follow. He led them through a door behind a curtain that was apparently the backstage area, scattered with glitter and feathers and lingering puffs of perfume. Bucky, Steve, and Sam followed the man through a labyrinth of purple hallways until, at length, they reached a red door with a gold star on it. Bucky took in a breath as the man knocked gently.

From within, a woman’s voice called back, “Come in.”

The man in the black suit pushed through the door, the Avengers filing in behind him.

“Ah, thank you darling,” came the woman’s voice again. Presumably, she had been handed the large martini. Bucky found that he was afraid to look at her, as if it might hurt, like looking at the sun. At last, he slowly raised his eyes.

She sat with her back to them at a large vanity table, fussing with some makeup and sipping the martini. Finally, she looked up at their reflections in the mirror, a coy smile spreading across her perfect red lips.

“Well. Captain America. Now, this is a surprise.”

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paladin-andric · 6 years

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Blackheart, Chapter 21: Second Wind

Paul stepped out into the Citadel and motioned for the pair following him to go ahead.

Andric and Fianna climbed out of the sewers and into the “Citadel” as it was called.

In truth, it was more like an encampment than anything else, with tents, lean-tos and tiny wooden shacks just big enough for someone to lie in, but the paladin could see why the survivors had taken to calling it by such a name.

In the midst of death and terror, this was a sanctuary, a home. A bastion of life, deep in enemy territory. It was a safe place, but with that happiness came fear, that it was the last one left.

What truly caught Andric’s attention however, was the massive figure in the middle of the hub. Above the hovels and tents, a great beast lay among the rest, rising high above them all through size alone.

A dragon, with rich red scales. The beast seemed to be resting, in this underground base of all places. How bizarre…

Andric had met plenty of dragons throughout his lengthy career of keeping the peace in Geralthin. This one appeared to have just only reached maturity, its life as an adult just barely having begun. He judged the dragon would be growing in size for quite some time. Someday, it would no longer be able to fit through the large hole above it...without making its own, anyway.

“Well, I’d better catch up with the rest of them. Go ahead and settle down if you want. See you around.”

Paul moved back into the sewer smoothly, scurrying off into the dark before either could object.

The paladin took off his helmet and placed it atop a large, wooden box next to a pile of bags and barrels near the entrance. He decided protection wasn’t necessary at the moment, as with a place this dark, limiting his vision at all hindered him greatly.

Andric looked over to the crowds of people going about their business, all seeming to pause and stare at him as he lead Fianna into the camp.

A few whispered as he passed, eyes locked on him. Mutterings of “human” could be heard.

Well, it made sense, in a way. Humans were a rare commodity in the city of beasts.

Fianna looked around somewhat fearfully, sticking close to Andric as the people stared at them.

Folks from the wolfmen of the far north, to the lizards from the sands of the southern island graced the camp. Andric approached the first armored figure he saw, deciding they were likely a guard or soldier before this all started. There were a few around, likely organizing this group of surviving citizens.

The one he approached was a reptilian, armored in chainmail and wearing a tabard with the crest of Palethorn on it. Andric had seen it before during his many visits to the city to check up on how Senci was doing. It was the suit of a guard, no doubt.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?” the reptilian looked as though she was getting on in years. While not as old as Andric, she was not a young woman, to be certain. The way she carried herself seemed to imply she had been a soldier at some point. The squared shoulders. The sharp eyes locking on the pair. The straightened back and professional attitude.

“Hello, I haven’t been here before, and I was wondering if you might offer refuge to my friend here? She has been through quite a lot…”

“Indeed, you haven’t been here,” the reptilian answered, “Only a few humans ever have been. Who is this?”

“Well, I’ve only just arrived, and I found her out in the streets. This is Fianna.”

“Hello,” the koutu offered shyly, still standing behind Andric.

The guard nodded. “Hmm...I see. So there are still people clinging on out there…I wish there was more we could do...but for now, I can assure you she is welcome, as are you. You’ll find a large tent at the center, near that dragon. It was set up to house any stragglers we might find on the surface...just like your friend.”

The paladin offered a polite nod. “Thank you. Say...you mentioned the dragon…”

“What’s it doing here?” the reptilian answered knowingly, a small smirk on her muzzle.

“Can’t say I’m not curious,” Andric admitted.

“Well, he’s from the mountains. Tried to clear out the city for us. Damn near got killed for his efforts. The humans brought him here. He’s been resting up ever since.”

Andric stroked his beard. “Recovering from an injury, huh…?”

“You have experience in such things?” the reptilian probed. Andric nodded in response.

“Quite. I’d like to take a look, if you don’t mind...are there any other wounded, by the way?”

The guard shrugged. “Two humans, but...not really hurt. They, uh...used up their magic, I think? They’ve been lying in bed for a long while.”

The paladin sighed. “Right, I think I can help there, too…”

“Truly? I’m glad such a...warrior-surgeon has come to fix up such issues.”

“Oh, I’m no doctor...but I do know a variety of miracles.”

“A holy healer, eh? Well, makes no difference to me. As long they’re patched up, they’re patched up.”

Andric put his hands on his hips. “Indeed, as long as it works...say, I have heard something else. I wish to help all I can, and apparently, you are harboring one touched by corruption. Might I be shown the way to them?”

The guard narrowed her eyes. Her visage changed from one of calmness to one of suspicion.

“You wouldn’t happen to be considering anything...rash, would you? The humans are working on purifying him, and if you were to compromise that…”

“That man is my friend, madam. I will tear the influence from him myself.”

Her eyes widened in response to his statement. “You know him? How? And can you prove it?”

Andric sighed, going over what he knew like a list. “His name is Vok. He is a salik from the south, having moved to Geralthin to learn the art of smithing before being brought to Palethorn. He took in...someone very important to me when he had nowhere else to go. We’ve spent many hours together, and so when I arrived, that someone I mentioned told me he was here. He made me promise I’d save him, and I fully intend to.”

The guard nodded, impressed. “Well...I can’t argue with that. Alright, I’ll lead you to him. Follow me.”

The trio began walking towards the corner of the large hub, Andric deciding to mention what his work would cause, as not to cause a panic during the ritual.

“Excuse me. I can have the corruption torn from him in a short time, but...it is very painful. He will scream as I do my work. I thought you might like to know beforehand, to avoid any confusion.”

The reptilian gave Andric a funny look. “...very well. I, uh...I think watching might be a wise decision, so I know you’re telling the truth.”

“Certainly. You might want to warn the others, though.”

“Very well. Please don’t start yet, than.”

She brought Andric to the corner of the room, near a small tent. She instructed him to wait while she spread the word.

He did as instructed. He sat beside Fianna, leaning against the stone wall while the guard gathered everyone to make an announcement. She repeated what Andric told her, and told everyone to ignore the screams for now.

After that, the crowd dispersed and she returned, nodding at Andric. “Thank you for waiting. Let’s see you at work, than.”

The paladin was silent as she opened the tent flap and gestured for him to go in. She quickly leaned her head inside.

“Hey, look alive. I’ve got...a good friend of yours here, from what I’ve heard.”

Andric passed her and went inside the tent. Within, he found what, supposedly, was his friend.

The beast was black as pitch with glassy eyes, and though his form was warped and unrecognizable, as he looked up and his jaw dropped, the paladin had little reservations believing it was truly him.

“Andric…?” he spoke, sounding in complete disbelief.

“Vok...is that really you?”

The corrupted reptilian nodded hurriedly. “Y-yes, yesss! Pleaaassse...if anyone can help me…”

“That’s why I’m here,” Andric replied matter-of-factly, “Be calm. This will all be behind you in a moment's time.”

The reptilian, lying in a bedroll, sighed. “God...I can’t believe you’re really here…this isn’t a dream, is it?”

“Oh, no, NO,” Andric spoke darkly, “Vok...this is going to hurt. A lot. That’ll wipe away any doubts as to the reality of the situation.”

The corrupted beast looked up in confusion. “What?! B-but the priests, they...it didn’t hurt at all…”

“A mere treatment to slow down the corruption,” the paladin answered, “I shall tear it from you utterly. That will be painful...but you will be yourself again.”

“Really…?” Vok stared up at the human hopefully. “You really mean it’ll be like...before all of this?”

“I promise.”

The reptilian, still lying under a blanket, slowly nodded. “All right. I trust you, Andric. If anyone else said such a thing I’d doubt them, but...I trust you, my friend.”

The man smiled and kneeled down, guiding Vok up into a sitting position. He held out outstretched arms out to the reptilian, who shivered under the blanket, still seeming afraid.

“Take my hands. I won’t start until you’re ready.”

Vok hesitated for a moment before slowly reaching out and taking the human’s hands. The creature looked up at the man. Though his eyes were blank, Andric could sense desperation coming from the fallen reptilian. His unholy gaze met the focused eyes of the paladin, and he gathered himself.

After an uncomfortably long pause, Vok finally took a deep breath and nodded.

“...I’m ready. Do it.”

Andric’s lips tightened. “Okay...here we go.”

With that, he performed the same ritual as before. Divine energy flowed from him, crossing his fingertips and pouring into Vok. Immediately, the reptilian began to scream as pain wracked his senses.

Once corruption progressed to this stage, it become a part of the person. It tied itself into its victim’s very being, warping them on both a spiritual and biological level.

To rip that new part of them out and return them to their old self, to re-rewrite the core of their being...it was incredibly taxing on the victim.

Andric knew this wouldn’t last long, though, so he continued. He ignored Vok’s screams as best he could, eyes shut and mind racing. He thought back to the all the times they had spent together. All the visits, all the gifts and conversations, the holidays and meals shared between them and Senci.

It would be worth it. Just a little longer.

Just as it sounded like the reptilian was about to pass out, it came to an end. Andric suddenly found he could sense no more corruption, the last of it destroyed by him. His magic pulsed through his friend, finding only purity within now.

Andric opened his eyes, and finally got a look at his friend for real.

The scales on his body had returned to their original deep green, and his eyes...they were full of vibrant color, having pupils once more, rather than a pure, featureless void of white.

The reptilian collapsed onto his back, in shock from the painful treatment he had received. He curled up in a ball, whimpering and quivering as the aftershocks went through his body, his mind still trying to comprehend what had just happened.

Andric kneeled, putting a hand on the man’s shoulder. He waited in silence as Vok let it all out.

Eventually, the poor lizard calmed down enough that he was merely sniffling and lying with the covers over his head.

“Vok.”

“Mmph...y-yeah?”

“Look down. Look at yourself.”

The blacksmith slowly looked to his body. He stared in silence for only a moment before he let out a short yelp.

“O-oh, my God…”

He sat up, staring down as his now pure and uncorrupted body. He ran a finger along his arm, staring in wonder at the form he once knew.

“You...you really did it…”

The reptilian looked up, disbelief written on his face.

“Andric...ya...ya really...I can’t…”

The paladin patted him on the shoulder. “Welcome back, Vok.”

The reptilian reached forward and grabbed Andric. “Come ‘ere, you!”

The lizard pulled him closer, embracing the human in a hug. Andric did not resist the gesture, calmly patting Vok on the shoulder and smiling warmly.

Vok began laughing, hugging Andric tighter as he reveled in his newfound freedom.

“It’s gone! It’s all gone! You did it! You magnificent hero, you! Oh, God I could kiss you!”

“Heheh, alright Vok, take it easy. I know how great it feels to be free of that madness. Just take a moment to gather yourself.”

“Aah, I can’t help it! Andric, you have no idea how horrible I-”

“Wrong. I do know.”

Vok frowned. “N-no, but it was REALLY awful. Indescribable, even.”

“I know.” Andric grinned. “Come now, surely you understand why someone of my station would be thoroughly familiar with corruption. I’ve been exposed to and burned away so much of it over the course of my life…”

Vok sat up straight as his expression shifted into one of shock. “O-oh, oh of COURSE! I’m sorry, ‘s just that, with all this lunacy going on, it completely slipped my mind! God, how could I forget what Senci’s been going on about for years?!”

“Heh, well it’s been a rough few months for you, I don’t take it personally.”

“God, still! ‘Oh Vok! Andric’s the greatest paladin ever!’” Vok said in high-pitched voice, clearing mimicking Senci, “‘Did you hear he beat the evil dragon Tiberioul?! He’s so strong, he could fight ten dragons at once and win! I bet they’d all be crying and saying sorry once he was through with them!’”

“Aww, leave the lad alone,” Andric replied with a laugh and roll of the eyes, “If it makes him happy, let him believe it.”

“Ooh, I see!” Vok answered, grinning wide, “You’re all about the facts until people are talking about how great you are, eh?!”

“Now you know I told him all that’s nonsense. He’ll believe what he wants to believe. I’m just glad he’s managed to stay so happy through all of this. Getting torn away from home, being on the streets of an unfamiliar city, and finally this...it’s inspiring to see him go on like this.”

Vok’s grin become more sincere. “Ah...you’re right. Good kid.”

“I just hope he’s actually well, and not simply hiding behind a false mask.”

The reptilian looked skeptical at that remark. “Why would he do that? You know the kid’s very...emotional. Wears his heart on his sleeve.”

“If there’s one thing he hates more than bottling things up, it’s letting people down,” the paladin stated, his smile fading. “He’s always wanted to be a hero to help people in need, to spread joy and happiness where he went. He’s done it before, you know. When he’s feeling down, he pretends everything is fine...so that he won’t upset anyone with his problems.”

Vok was taken aback by that. “R-really…? Aw, hell Andric...why didn’t ya tell me? You know I want the best for him. If he ever hid such feelings from me…”

“I’m sure he didn’t,” the human assured him, “He was so ecstatic when he moved in with you. The hospitality, the kindness, letting him do something he’s interested in...I assure you those were some very happy years of his life, Vok. You did an excellent job as his mentor.”

The reptilian wiped at his eyes, grinning. “Ack! You’re makin’ me go all soft, Andric! Come on, now!”

The paladin shrugged. “I only brought it up because of this. He’s never been exposed to such...horrors. Hasn’t seen a body since...well, when I found him.” the man stroked his beard as he spent a moment reliving the event.

The kobold, a young, young child, quivering on the ground and crying, begging for mercy. Surrounded by the fallen, of everyone he knew, of all those that had raised him.

It’s why Andric took him home with him.

He sighed and shook his head. “He’s a very...sensitive young lad. I just pray the corpses and destruction haven’t wounded him too deeply.”

“Well, hopefully, it’ll all be over soon, anyway.”

Andric nodded. “Right...say, speaking of which, I’d better get moving. I have work to do.”

“Of course, of course! My dear friend, bless you, and good luck! We can talk more once this is over with!”

“Certainly. This tent was a quarantine, right? You leaving now, or…?”

Vok grinned sheepishly. “Ah. W-well, I’m gonna, but…”

He gestured for Andric to get closer. The human obeyed, craning his neck and putting his ear next to the lizard’s muzzle.

“I’m naked,” he whispered, self-consciously clutching onto the blankets over him.

“Uhh...okay.”

“The...corruption, it, uh, ruined my clothes.”

“Utter tatters. I understand.”

Vok shrugged. “I mean, no use wearing rags that hide nothing, and with my body all...messed up, changing wasn’t an option. I’ll, uh...say, ask someone to bring some clothes over, yeah?”

Andric nodded and stood up. “Not a problem. I’ll catch the nearest person.”

“First my sanity, now my dignity! You’re a real lifesaver!” Vok laughed.

Andric cracked a smile. “Yeah, yeah. Well, I’ve got a busy few days ahead of me. You take care, friend.”

“You as well! And make sure Senci gets back alright!”

“You know I will.”

The paladin left the tent, noticing both the guard and Fianna watching from outside. The guard nodded, her expression one of respect.

“I’ll handle the clothes. You’ve got more important things to do. Keep doing what you’re doing.”

Andric felt a familiar warmth in his heart. The knowledge that he was responsible for making this place better, no matter how much…

THAT was why he had become a paladin, all those years ago.

“Thank you. I shall.”

Andric began to walk back to the center of the encampment, Fianna timidly following. The pair walked past a few busy citizens, eventually finding what the guard spoke of.

A tent impressively large. Unlike all the tiny and makeshift ones just big enough for one person to squeeze in, this one looked like it could house around a dozen folks.

Gesturing to the tent flap, Andric gave the birdwoman a knowing smile. “We have finally arrived to your destination, madam.”

She stepped forward quietly, taloned hand reaching out to grab the tent flap. As she did so, the koutu peeked inside, finding a large space with bedrolls all over the ground. A few citizens were sleeping at the moment, but most of the spaces were unoccupied.

Stepping inside, she let out a sigh of relief. “It’s finally over…” she muttered, pausing to turn back to Andric.

The edges of her beak curled into a loving smile. With her original form returned to her, it was no longer unsettling, but rather infectiously mirthful.

“I will never, ever forget this.” “You take it easy, Fianna. I’ll return to help with the evacuation once everything’s settled.”

“May the Shining Lord bless you, mister Andric. Be safe.”

She settled down onto one of the bedrolls as the human closed the tent flap and turned away.

Alright, just two more things. First…him. Next...the priests.

He looked up at the dragon, so close. Its eyes were closed as the beast slumbered, apparently still recovering from the injury it had sustained. In the medical tent, two holy warriors lied incapacitated. Neither of these situations were acceptable.

The paladin stepped forward, eyes locked on the towering beast. He knew what he had to do.

It was time to whip everyone here into shape.

“You. Dragon.”

Andric’s voice was enough to rouse the beast, who blinked, focusing on the approaching man and quite clearly confused.

“Another human? Who are you?”

The voice was softer than he had expected, but that didn’t matter at the moment. The only thing he cared about right now was getting this behemoth and the others well enough to start helping again.

Andric readied himself. Divine energy pulsed through his body as he approached. There was no more time to waste. He spoke calmly as he answered, hands brimming with healing energy.

“I am the one who brings you your second wind.”

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firebirdscratches · 6 years

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slightly invasive gay asks I decided to do all of them :D If you’re in the alphabet soup and you wanna play along, consider yourself tagged.

1. what’s your gender? I’m a cis woman, even though I’m also intersex. (I was raised female and identify that way.)

2. what are your pronouns? She/her. I’m fine with they/them, especially from online peeps.

3. is your family accepting? Happy to say yes, they are. They could be better on some fronts, but that’s okay. They love me and they’re trying. That’s what matters.

4. what do you wish you could tell your past self? Don’t marry him.

5. what is your sexuality? I’m pan and gray ace.

6. favorite color? Blue

7. sun gay or moon gay? Hmm...that’s a toughie. I’m probably Moon gay because I’m such an insomniac...but Sagittarius is a fire/sun sign...and I am excited about summer....hrm...maybe I’m a Twilight gay. The sun is juuuuust about to set, and in the other side of the sky, where it’s darker already, you can see the moon and a few stars. <3

8. when did you find out your sexuality? LOL buddy, when I figure it out I’ll let you know. There were signs even when I was a kid, but it took me forever to find a label I liked. I was basically questioning clear through college, and then settled on bi, and then pan, and then figured out I was ace, so...in five years who knows?! Basically, by senior year of high school I had serious suspicions that I was Not Straight™ and by sophmore year of college...yeah there no room for doubt anymore. X,D

9. how was your day? OMG thank you for asking??? It was okay. I went to work....then heated up some leftovers and watched the West Wing. Nothing to write home about, but most of them are like that, when you’re an adult. “This is water,” and all.

10. do you have any gay friends? LOL yah we tend to congregate

11. what’s your favorite hobby? I sing and act and write fanfic :D

12. who’s the best gay icon in your opinion? Janelle Monae. QUEEEEEEN.

13. which pride flags do you like the most design/color wise? The original rainbow flag has to be a fan favorite, right? And I like it with or without the pink, and I especially like the recent edit to include black/brown. As far as the aesthetic goes, I like the sapphic flag. It’s sooo pretty. The butch lesbian flag too! Also I think it’s weird and hilarious and perfectly fitting that no one can agree what the Queer flag is, there’s like, twenty different versions and that’s honestly just so queer and great. XD

14. are you openly out? Unfortunately, you can still get fucking FIRED in this day and age for being queer, which is cruel and ridiculous and makes me so furious. So I am not out at work. I am out to my friends and out to my family. (And to my partners, obviously, when I have them.) Truthfully, you’re never 100% out, no one walks around screaming their sexuality constantly so every passerby is AWARE, you can’t inform the entire planet at once...you continually come out throughout your life based on the situation in which you find yourself. I do resent that I can’t be out at work...but I think I would resent unemployment even more :/ Bitch gotta eat.

15. are you comfortable with yourself? LORD no LOL. But I’m comfortable with my queerness.

16. bottom or top? Switch. But this question overly simplifies the power flow in a sexual relationship, I find? It’s fine to get a general idea, but the answer’s always more delicious and complex.

17. femme or butch? I define my aesthetic as “Lazy femme.” It says “I like looking womanly, but do not have the money, time, or skillset to constantly tic all the boxes of Femininity.™" In other words, I don’t shave my legs and I wear jeans and clunky comfortable shoes, but I also wear dresses and dye my hair pink, and some days I go whole hog and do my make up. So...Futch? :/

18. do you bind? Nope, only for a play once. And I did it with ace bandages like a moron. Stay safe kids.

19. do you shave? Nah. I have very light/scanty hair anyway. If I didn’t, I’m not sure if I would or not.

20. if you could date anyone you wanted, who would it be? Drew Barrymore and Chris Evans. Both. Happy lil’ triad. (Maybe hook up occasionally with Aidy Bryant or Chris Pratt, just for funsies.) Oh! no wait! Mark Ruffalo. I bet he’s terrific in the sack. And I love his brain and his politics. WAIT Janelle Monae? Tessa Thompson AND Gal Godot.......okay being pan is difficult. -_-;

21. do you have a partner (s)? Alas, no. :( I had a girlfriend for a bit, but it didn’t work out.

22. describe your partner (s)? Tender lesbian, black, musician...insecure, can be kind of passive aggressive. :/ I still think she’s a really cool person and we’re trying to do the friends thing.

23. have you ever dated anyone of the same sex? Yup

24. anyone of another sex? Yup

25. pastel gay or goth gay? Goth

26. favorite dad in dream daddies? I dunno, it seemed kinda fetishistic to me, but most dating sims do?...not passing judgment on folks who like it, it’s just not really my bag. I guess I like the design of the bear Dad.

27. tell me a random fact about yourself? I am blowing on my nails right now so they dry. Indigo-for-it by Essie Treat Love Color, kind of a cornflower grayish blue. (See, I’ve got some femme rattling around in there).

28. do you own any pride flags/merch? Yes! I bought them at Target last year. And I ordered some custom T-shirts for my parents and my best friend.

29. have you ever been to a pride parade? NOOOOO AND I SO WANNA GO I think this year might be the year!

30. any advice to someone who isn’t out or who is exploring themselves? It’s okay to be questioning, you don’t need to have it all figured out yet. It’s okay to be closeted, you aren’t lying to anybody and you aren’t a bad person, some things are private. When it’s time, you’ll know. Don’t let anybody rush you, either to pick a label or to come out. Also? If you wanna say you’re [label] then go for it, there’s no registration fee, if you feel like that you are like that. And you can always change your mind later. People who say differently are called “gatekeepers” and are to be avoided. The gay experience, like all of life, is messy and complex and way too weird and wonderful to be overly simplified. You are you. Just listen to your heart, listen to your body, and trust what it’s telling you.

#pride #gay pride #pansexual #asexual #gray ace #questions #questioning #closeted #coming out #sapphic #quiz thingie #play along if you want to!

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voidwizerd-archive · 8 years

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[[ "Shall we play a game?” Kankri Vantas, hurt and resentful but still in love.

part two of Wiz/Kankri logs!! the questions game ]]

valorousimperial What's your favorite color?

wiz-texts ...purple. especially dark pink n blue are tied for second

valorousimperial Your turn.

wiz-texts you mean i ask you one?

valorousimperial Yes.

wiz-texts well there we go thats it ....kiddin

valorousimperial Shh. I laughed.

wiz-texts what bout your favorite color?? i promise i wont jus be stealin your questions but colors is a good one

valorousimperial Blue, like indigo bloods. It doesn't really fit with the theme of the crown, though. The color just seems peaceful.

wiz-texts yea!!! yea indigo blue is real pretty your turn

valorousimperial If you could go anywhere, where would you go?

wiz-texts oh gosh if....... if there was a way to just.... stand on top of everythin n watch..... all of it roll out in front of you........ i would do that maybe that sounds like some kinda crazy god fantasy but i just think itd be really beautiful but since that prolly aint a doable thing

valorousimperial Considering you're some kind of crazy god, maybe it is.

wiz-texts maybe but my alternate answer would be a garden a huge huuuuuuuuuuuuge garden, w everythin in it!!!! or near everythin i love plants so much

valorousimperial Your lilacs are still overrunning mine.

wiz-texts >:0 theyre misbehavin?!!! i better give em a talkin to they aint usually growin outta their spot so, um, if you remember your dreams.... whats your favorite thing youve ever dreamed about??? for whatever reason, ha

valorousimperial They got so big!!! Mmm... My favorite dream is the one that came true. When I was young, I dreamed of freedom.

wiz-texts n you got it?

valorousimperial I don't know if I'm free. There's a lot of binding about being the emperor.

valorousimperial But at that time, freedom meant being out of my donor's control. I *did* get that.

wiz-texts holy shit thats.... thats wonderful. im so glad you got that maybe...... hm

valorousimperial ?

wiz-texts just a thought. i... hm im scared its a hurtful one so i should prolly just.... keep it to myself for now

valorousimperial If you want.

wiz-texts fuck knows you deserve a break but not yet because uh, your turn to ask a question

valorousimperial If you could change one thing that happened to you, what would you change and how?

wiz-texts ha. loaded question

valorousimperial Doesn't have to be recent.

wiz-texts problem is i dont remember like......... a lot of things. most things i cant remember what th event wouldve been but it had to have started somewhere

wiz-texts th first time my friends ever hurt me. if i could, id change it so id never have believed it was my fault

valorousimperial That's a good thing to want to change.

valorousimperial I think your whole life would have went very differently.

wiz-texts id be different thats for sure maybe less scared i guess th important thing is that i did realize it wasnt my fault or more likely someone told me bc i..... do not come easily to realizations like that on my own

valorousimperial (It was me.)

wiz-texts ....oh thats. huh. so i guess..... i still remember things i learned from you wonder what else there is um!! whats your favorite myth? or folk tale??

valorousimperial Mmmm... That's hard. Fantasy was all I had when I was growing up, so I know a lot of things. I think that probably my favorite stories were the ones that didn't have lessons - they were just full of people doing what they wanted So, ancient mythology really caught my eye. It made the gods seem troll-like, and they just did what they wanted.

wiz-texts oooooh :0

wiz-texts i keep feelin like i oughta look more at myths because so many are bout gods n thats sorta? what i am i guess??? its nice to seem em bein regular but like. actin regular except w mighty powers i guess, ha

valorousimperial Right.

wiz-texts this question thing is sorta fun actually did we play it before??

valorousimperial I agree! No!

wiz-texts we shouldve!!!!!! its.... its a fun sorta way to get to kno each other anyway um, your turn....

valorousimperial I'm thinking...

wiz-texts think fasterrrr im kiddin. take your time

valorousimperial If you could go any*when* and change any*thing* with no horrific consequences, What would it be? It doesn't even have to be something related to you, Just. Something that you want to be different.

wiz-texts well frankly i would go back to last night n smash my goddamn phone [[<BACKSPACE! BACKSPACE!!! ]] gee um all of time is a rough one to pick from

wiz-texts if theres an event that couldve stopped th game from happenin, thats what id go for but then maybe i wouldnt exist???? idk. exchangin me n a few others to save multiple universes seems like a fair trade ....whoa thats a grim answer. oops

valorousimperial From what I've heard of the game, it's not that simple. So many universes wouldn't have been *born* then, right?

wiz-texts not really. they kill a universe and in theory you get to make one maybe..... one in several million sessions actually ends in created universe

valorousimperial I thought it was only one planet that was supposed to be destroyed?

wiz-texts nah they wreck th whole shebang ....i think most of th game is fuzzy between th violence n alcohol my turn!!!!

valorousimperial Your turn!!!

wiz-texts this is sorta silly but i keep thinkin bout it so here goes: do you ever paint your nails??? if you do or dont, what colors do you think youd like?

valorousimperial I do! Lots of trolls paint their claws.

wiz-texts (that totally aint two questions its one question in.... two parts. with a bunch of extra question marks)

valorousimperial It's seen as an accentuating thing, as claws are a vital part of troll standards of beauty.

wiz-texts ooohhhhh :0

valorousimperial My favorites are matte red and metallic gold.

valorousimperial Mm... What's your favorite sort of thing to wear?

wiz-texts mm?

valorousimperial Like, Do you have a favorite type of clothing?

wiz-texts hmm.... button-up shirts. they can be comfy or stylish and i guess accessories that go w that?? though ive only recently started experimentin like watches n bow ties n cuff links also: gold rings. fr some reason i have a bunch: i think there was a party?? i vaguely recall there bein a party

valorousimperial I've had you at a few parties. Do you know how recently it was?

wiz-texts real recent. i think th rings went w a suit?? yyyyea this red n black one

wiz-texts hm. i never really thought of red as my color

valorousimperial Auriel's party.

valorousimperial It matched my suit.

wiz-texts oh my god i promise i didnt mean to diss th color red!!!! i jus figured since i already got th pink thing goin, itd b a bit too much??? so i never wore it ...guess i changed my mind

valorousimperial You came to the party as my quadrant, so you probably decided to just match me.

wiz-texts speakin of clothes, um.... i hope this is an okay question do u wear gloves a lot or somethin???? i know i never rly do but there are a bunch of gloves in my sylladex

valorousimperial ...

wiz-texts all like, really nice material n stuff. black or white. some are gray. um. are they yours??

valorousimperial Oh. They're for my psionic. I always forget gloves, but whenever I touch other people, I feel their emotions. I guess you were preparing for me.

wiz-texts i guess so... ill um, ill keep em in th 'dex if thats alright. in case you need em n im round.....

valorousimperial Alright. ... What were you thinking earlier?

wiz-texts heck

valorousimperial Sorry.

wiz-texts thats kinda... um sorry in advance if this is upsettin?? sorry

valorousimperial I know I said I wouldn't ask, but the curiosity is killing me.

wiz-texts what you were sayin bout freedom made me wonder if.... if maybe freedom had somethin to do with why i made that choice

valorousimperial ... Free of what? Of me?

wiz-texts no!!!! no i mean th scars!! they can be....... bindin

wiz-texts in a real bad way

valorousimperial ...mm. I know about that.

wiz-texts you do???

valorousimperial Yes.

wiz-texts im kinda surprised, i thought round here scars are considered attractive n all that

valorousimperial They are.

wiz-texts (...did you tell me that?)

valorousimperial (Yes.)

wiz-texts (okay)

wiz-texts um... whose turn is it??

valorousimperial It's mine.

wiz-texts oh okay

valorousimperial Wait, No, it's yours.

wiz-texts 0o0 tbh i shoulda asked this first because Super Important what....... is........ your opinion on purrbeasts?

valorousimperial !! We went on a date to a cat cafe

valorousimperial I brought home four of them!

wiz-texts you took me to a cat cafe?? :0

valorousimperial You took ME to a cat cafe!

wiz-texts *what* no way.... where did i get that kinda initiative omfg more importantly!!! there's FOUR MORE KITTIES round here somewhere????? i gotta meet emmm

valorousimperial ?? Shouldn't you remember the cats? They love you.

wiz-texts i guess they were too close to you. i mean now that i think bout it i sorta remember???? but its fuzzy like th ball w that Auriel lady

valorousimperial Their names are Mushik, Halmim, Romila, and Vessin.

wiz-texts that sounds bout right..... yea, bout right i took you out to a cat cafe n you adopted four. wow your turrrn

valorousimperial My question WAS going to be if you DID remember the cat cafe, but that answers that. What's your favorite dessert?

wiz-texts i think it might be milkshakes!! i only tried em recently but theyre super yummy (least favorite is anythin with squash. especially pumpkin)

valorousimperial (Even pumpkin spice milkshakes?)

wiz-texts (i ate nothin but pumpkins for so long....... so so long =_="")

wiz-texts what is........... your favorite..... veggie dish

valorousimperial I really like peas...

wiz-texts omg theyre sweet!

valorousimperial But they get stuck in my teeth

wiz-texts 0-0

valorousimperial The little casings do. The same with corn.

wiz-texts that reminds me of my next question but its ur turn first

valorousimperial What should always be on a sandwich?

wiz-texts food

valorousimperial Hah.

wiz-texts but meat i guess????? though i really like tomatoes tomatoes ARE the red ones right

wiz-texts n when th leaves r all crispy!!!! they taste sweetish n refreshin somehow??? idk i jus like it im just buildin a whole sandwich at this rate

wiz-texts mmm.......

wiz-texts what kinda teeth do you have?

valorousimperial Two rows of something awfully sharklike!

[[ Several Hours In The Future, Because I Heckin Fell Asleep... ]]

wiz-texts ....fallin asleep without rememberin that you even laid down is a surreal dang feelin

valorousimperial I know, right? I passed out without realizing I'd closed my eyes...

wiz-texts yea i had..... felt like some kinda multiple row thing was goin on. otherwise that mark in my shoulder wouldnt make as much sense also because peas stuck in shark teeth is a funny mental image

valorousimperial Shoosh!!

wiz-texts ha so, your turn if um. if were still playin

valorousimperial Hmm.. What's your favorite texture?

wiz-texts dang uh...... thats actually super hard bc i love experimentin with all kinds of textures

wiz-texts i guess my favorite.... kind? of texture? that would be stuff that feels soft like kitty fur!! purrbeast i mean

valorousimperial Why do you keep saying that??

wiz-texts sayin what

valorousimperial Purrbeast You, uh. You know that cat is the normally recognized word, don't you?

wiz-texts oh!

valorousimperial I've been saying cat,

wiz-texts no ive just heard purrbeast n meowbeast used by trolls a bunch so i figured itd be considerate to switch when im talkin to trolls.....

valorousimperial Oh.

wiz-texts ive been tryin to make it a habit...... well now i just feel silly, ha

valorousimperial ' - beast' is generally lowblood vernacular Which I'm trying to phase out by providing better education. Descriptive naming is a habit that trolls without access to worthwhile education picked up so they could communicate ideas.

wiz-texts whoa. i had no idea

valorousimperial I mean, honestly, Mituna still adamantly calls the meowbeasts, so you do what you like, but We do call them cats. So if you don't want to, you don't have to correct yourself, and most trolls will still know what you mean.

wiz-texts huh. okay thanks for th lesson there

valorousimperial Happy to!

wiz-texts so..... my turn.....

valorousimperial It is!

wiz-texts do you want to meet today? it um. its okay if you dont, of course

valorousimperial Mm... We probably should.

wiz-texts so youre.... youre okay w that?

valorousimperial Yes, but Not RIGHT this second, if you don't mind...

wiz-texts oh um, right. of course so... when, then?

valorousimperial It's just that I have a guest right now So maybe not too long, maybe an hour or so.

wiz-texts oh!! oh right, okay. wouldnt wanna impose or nothin, of course

valorousimperial Hours in the future, but like one: -------------------- Okay, I'm ready.

wiz-texts me too. comin back now

valorousimperial You said that before. Except now I can't say 'the hall between my block and yours' because you'll get lost now.

wiz-texts oops

valorousimperial So, I'll just Come to yours.

wiz-texts alright. im still headin over so i guess well see who shows up first

#logs #valorousimperial #the wiz drama

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1stunseeliefaelass · 4 years

Text

Darksiders Arthurian Tales Revisited

Chapter 23: Dream in Good Faith

"That's ENOUGH!" Aries proclaimed, surprising Crom and Death.

"Who...are YOU?" Crom growled at Aries.

"I was a bystander, now I'm getting involved."

Aries then snaps his fingers and Crom ends up being sucked away. Death isn't sure what to think as he observes around him for a moment. He finds they're in that one field he dreamt of once when Morgen helped him get away from Lilith.

"Is this field...a common motif for you Dream Entities?" Death asks confused before being bumped into. He looks behind him and sees a tiny periwinkle lamb floating there.

"Sorry, the little one got restless." Lunara apologized from nearby.

Death looked her way and was admittedly a bit confused at the moth-like appearance she had. He wasn't sure if she was a Fae or another Dream Entity. "Ok somebody needs to start explaining and introducing themselves. As I am very confused now. Not that I'm ungrateful but something is far better than nothing."

"Sorry, this is my wife Lunara and I am Aries."

"Right. And you're in my head why exactly?" Death inquires.

"To introduce ourselves. We heard you've been dealing with an individual that we find to be extremely uncomforting." Aries explains vaguely.

Lunara just facepalms, "What my husband means to say is we heard through the grapevine you could help us meet our daughter. As she is seemingly with you in some way. And that the individual my husband speaks of may have brought upon desires to avoid her home entirely."

"Wait you mean Morgen? Verdak has made it pretty clear he's her Father. And Morgen made it quite clear to him she wants nothing to do with him or the realm you all live in. I highly doubt a visit from more people claiming to be her parents is going to help."

"Wait...ok explain to me exactly what Verdak did. Now." Aries demands.

"Before you make demands of me, know this. For all I know, you could be another liar. Another manipulator wanting to control her in some way. Why should I expect any better, when the Father who gave birth to her died, when her Stepfather abused her, and when the person claiming to be her Father mentally tortured us both?! Why should I?"

"For one thing Verdak is a liar. Secondly, I've been trying to find her she can be brought home safely. Thirdly, I do not appreciate being spoken to in that tone. Either fix it or else I bring back Crom. I know how you two love to keep each other company." Aries threatens him.

"ENOUGH. Both of you. I get it, Ilona is in a bad place because of Verdak. And I can understand your hostile tone if the only Entity you know of has mentally scarred you Death. But please give us a chance to right that wrong. Let us prove you wrong. And Aries, just shut up. Before you say something you'll regret. You've already threatened the man who's supposed to help us when all he did was ask a few VERY reasonable questions." Lunara says sternly to both men.

"I take it he has a very hard time controlling himself, am I correct?" Death asks sarcastically.

"To an extent. But for now let's try not insult each other anymore. All we want is to see her, I swear to you that's it." Lunara promises him.

Death sighs before saying, "I can still feel the mental link we have. I must've forgotten to take my necklace off, and Morgen must still have hers on as well. Just be prepared for some hostility from her, I doubt she's completely cooled off by now. Give me some time so I can make sure she's ok this."

"Of course." Aries replies sounding cooled down.

Death then uses the link to go see Morgen, not realizing the tiny lamb follow after him. Lunara tries to stop it but she fails and is left to hope Morgen won't be upset at seeing it. Death finds her easily within an exact copy of the field Aries conjured up in his head. Morgen is sitting within it and Death notices that maybe things aren't as exact as he thought. He sees darker colored flowers sprinkled throughout the field and wonders what this could mean. He's unable to ponder long as the lamb surprises him by floating under his kilt. It then begins to float towards Morgen excitedly, with Death now chasing it down.

"Ahhh! Come back here you little dah!" Death yells at the lamb before tripping on something.

He then tumbles down a hill and runs into Morgen, "Oh! Hey what the?"

"Sorry. Ow."

Morgen can't help but giggle a bit before helping him up, "You alright?"

"Oooww..Hurting a little bit, but I'm fine. Now where did that thing go?"

"What thing?" Morgen questions him before being suddenly surprised herself when the lamb suddenly poofs into the space inbetween them. "Oh, is this what you spoke of?"

As Morgen gently brings the lamb into her arms, Death replies, "Ugh....yes it is. Sorry I wasn't expecting it to follow me here."

"Why say that? Where did it come from anyway?" Morgen asks whilst gently giving the lamb some scritches.

"Well.....there's a Dream Entity couple in my head right now. Now I know you're not in the mood to deal with more bullshit from that place. But these two seem genuine enough. All they want is a chance to speak to you. Nothing more."

Morgen sighs and grasps at her horns again. Course the lamb bleats at Morgen before nuzzling her. Morgen then continues to scritch it before thinking a moment. Death gives her as much time as she needs. Eventually sitting down beside her as she sits herself. Gently he places a hand on her back, which gets a small smile. He then gets an idea and slyly slides his index up her spine.

"HA! Ah! Watch it there." Morgen tells him with a subtle giggle.

"Eh consider this payback for my foot the other day." Death says simply before tickling various spots on her back. He ends up finding the main one easily just on her lower back when she suddenly shrieks. Laughing he tells her, "Guess I've found your spot then."

Morgen gives him a coy look before setting the lamb down and waiting for the right moment. Finally he turns his head away and she lunges at him. However he grabs her and turns his head back.

"You cheated. I don't know how but you did."

"No I didn't. You just don't notice that your body language betrays you Morgen." Death explains with a smirk behind his mask.

Morgen snickers a bit before finally being released. Course Death is then given a hug, "Thank you. At least somebody can still treat me normally here."

"If it helps...to me, you are who you are. Spectacular. You may look like a Dream Entity, but that doesn't mean you have to live like one. It's your choice at the end of the day. Understood?" Death replies before gently caressing her face after getting out of the hug.

Morgen can't help but regain a bit of her warmth as he does this. Of course he doesn't keep his hand on her face long, but for Morgen his touch lingers even after he stops. The two begin getting closer to each other after that and come close to kissing. Course, Death then stops himself. Not just because of his mask, but because he isn't sure it's wise right now. Morgen however asks him, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm...just not sure if we should do this. At least at this moment. I mean, it's quite a bit early on. Don't you think?"

"Oh right...forgive me. After all today was....I don't think words can accurately describe it." Morgen responds a bit sullenly.

Death sighed as he noticed the warmth leave her and told her, "It's not that I don't want to. I'm just a bit unsure about it right now. I'm not opposed to doing anything else though."

Morgen seems to perk up and asks, "Such as?"

"Well uhm....I dunno. Hold hands? Nah nevermind too simple. I doubt that'd be enough."

Morgen however surprises him by grasping his hand and scooting closer to him, "I'm fine like this so long as you're comfortable. We both should be if we're going to be together after all."

"That we should. Thank you for understanding. One of these days though, I'll get past the barrier." Death responds.

Suddenly a red sheep appears between them and bleats at Death annoyed. Death can't help but notice the slight demonic look it has. The black horns, red wool and eyes, sharpened black hooves, it was a stark contrast to the tiny lamb laying down by Morgen's feet.

"What's all this about?" Morgen inquires before going to pet the sheep.

It dodges her though and aggressively pushes at Death. Then as it begins ramming into him Death shouts, "Ow what the hell?!"

The sheep only continues to bleat at him and ram into him. Morgen notices the wool's particular shade of red looks as though the sheep had been dipped into blood. Death however is more concerned about the ramming and the slightly deeper pitched bleats that sounded like it really pissed off. The distortion on it didn't help.

"Ok...that's a little creepy but stop. ramming. into me."

The sheep suddenly poofs into a more humanoid shape with armor and delivers a message in a typical warrior's voice, "WHAT'S THE ANSWER?!" Then the sheep goes back to normal and bleats one last time before floating away and poofing out of Morgen's mind.

"Uhm...answer to what?" Morgen inquires.

"Answer to the question of whether or not you want to hear these folks out." Death replies sighing. He'd hoped they'd get to have a bit more time than this.

Morgen walks up to him and responds, "I'll hear them out. But I can't promise anything."

Death nods before giving them a portal. As Aries comes through with Lunara he shouts, "FINALLY!"

"We were in the middle of something." Death groans.

"Sorry, patience really hasn't been his thing lately." Lunara tells him.

Aries groans himself before saying, "Anyway....she's ready to see us I'm guessing, so do introduce us."

"Right, so Morgen this is Aries and Lunara."

Morgen looks at them both and says, "I suppose I'm glad to meet you. But who are you exactly? Why do you want to see me so badly?"

"Ah I uh....hmm..Lunara you wanna handle this one?" Aries almost begs of her.

Lunara sighs and tells Morgen, "Aries and I are your parents. Your 'true' parents. I know this is probably the last thing you want to hear from anyone right now but..."

"Don't. Just don't. I want no excuses. I trust you already know my reasons for wanting nothing to do with the Dream Realm?" Morgen questions her.

"We do believe me. We understand Verdak did extensive damage to you and those close to you. But...if you'd just visit the realm, just once, maybe things will be different. Maybe you'll...see it's not all bad and..."

"Change my mind?" Morgen replies skeptically.

Aries then steps in, "Give your Mother the chance to speak girl. Hear what she wants to say."

Death places a hand on her shoulder a bit and Morgen sighs before continuing, "Look...I'm sorry. But all of this is just lost on me. I've heard too many words from beings that have done nothing but hurt me. I'm just done, done with all of it. I'm truly sorry, but I can't go to the realm. I just want a normal life, that's all I've ever wanted."

"Based on the accounts of this 'Nergal' your life is far from normal. And based on what I'm seeing from you now, 'normal' is not going to be a viable option." Aries tells her bluntly.

Morgen clenches her fists before lashing out, "SO IT'S MY FAULT THAT MY LIFE IS NOTHING BUT CHAOS!? I TRIED to escape from Uther on my own. MY ATTEMPTS ALL FAILED! WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?! WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I NEEDED YOU MOST?! THIS IS THE ONLY ESCAPE ATTEMPT THAT HAS WORKED FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME! AND I DIDN'T GET THE HELP I HAD FROM YOU. As for my future, you don't know as well as you think you do how normal I can get my life to be. Even if I end up in a mundane day to day life in a simple house, as long as I choose it and am happy there, then there's nothing wrong with that."

Lunara is shocked but now realizes just how hurt she really is. Like any good Mother, she attempts to hug Morgen but is denied. Morgen just moves away from her. Death then chooses to be the one holding her. He places his hand on her shoulder again to test the waters and Morgen runs into him. Her hands on his chest as he wraps his arms around her.

"You have your answer. Like I told you earlier, she may not have been in the mood for this. At all." Death tells Aries and Lunara as he keeps Morgen in his arms.

Aries has a quiet and brief growl before telling Morgen, "I wish we could help you. However, my dietary needs must be met very soon."

Morgen can't help but be a little hurt by the seemingly cold response from Aries. However Lunara sighs sadly and calls out to her softly, "Morgen.....I'm so sorry we failed you. That we weren't there when it mattered. If you're certain you won't find happiness in our home, I will respect this. I will support you from a far....do all I can to aid in your journey for happiness....like a good Mother should."

Morgen felt as though she'd been stabbed in the gut as a wave of guilt washed over her. Lunara could feel it emanating from her too, and felt just as guilty for possibly coming off as guilt tripping her. Death however remained a strong anchor for her. Keeping his hold on Morgen as silent tears began to flow.

Once Aries and Lunara made their way out, Death quietly told her, "Well done. You did beautifully there."

"Did I.....did I truly? I feel so guilty." Morgen states to him.

"Morgen, you don't have to feel guilty. It was your choice, and given current events it's possibly the right one. However I don't want you to break contact with them completely. Maybe they can come to our realm, or whatever the proper term would be. Ah, this is so confusing."

"I'm sorry." Morgen replies softly.

"Hey now, no need to apologize. I'll figure it out...somehow. Either way, I may not have all the answers but I do know one thing. Whatever you choose, I'll be right there to support you. Or at least advice you if I disagree with it. Course I won't force any choices on you." Death assures her.

"Thank you Death, thank you so much."

"You're welcome. Although...I should probably get back to my own mind. That way we can both sleep tonight."

"Of course. Goodnight Death, sleep well." Morgen whispers softly.

"Goodnight Morgen, I'll see you in the morning."

With that Death returned to his mind and Morgen was left alone with the tiny lamb still floating around. Course she was soon visited by Nergal, "Sorry but I wanted to make sure you were alright after that hot take. Luckily Aries didn't try anything bad out of anger."

"Right...forgive me Nergal, I just need to be alone. I've a lot to process right now." Morgen explains whilst letting the tiny lamb snuggle her.

"Did they leave the lamb here?"

"Yes. I imagine they're not back either because it'd be awkward...or maybe Lunara wishes for me to keep it." Morgen replies quietly.

"Well I'll let Lunara know it's with you. That and make sure you know how to summon it into the waking world with you. This process will wake you up briefly, but at least you'll know how to do it." Nergal states.

"Ok and THEN can I sleep tonight?"

"I give you my word Morgen."

"Then start your teaching."

"Based on what I've read, which is not entirely helpful but still, you're supposed to do it like this." Nergal explains.

He begins to try and fail to explain the emotional parts of the spell to her and how to do it overall but clearly is unable to grasp it. Course both of them suddenly receive some intervention from Lunara. Who sends them visions of what to do.

"Huh....well then...ok well since you already know how to do it I'll be going..." Nergal tells Morgen with complete embarrassed with being helped by anyone. Lunara especially.

Morgen simply shrugged and held the little lamb in her arms before laying down. From there she worked to cast the spell by closing her eyes and whistling. All of a sudden she's shocked and wakes up in her bed. Course she feels the lamb on her chest and realizes she succeeded. She squees quietly and places a soft chair cushion onto the floor for the lamb. Then once placing it onto the cushion, she got into a nightgown before wandering outside her room. She was wide awake unfortunately and needed to clear her head anyway. Morgen wandered the halls for a little while until she started hearing something. Soon enough it sounded like groans and grunting. Eventually she found the room it was coming from and quietly opened the door. Inside the room she found Death looking awake but twitching slightly. Morgen came closer and realized the sounds were actually just him gasping for air. She also noticed he seemed like he was paralyzed and quickly saw what was wrong. Quickly she used her magic to ease him out and eventually Death came out of it with a sudden yell. As he breathed frantically Morgen gently spoke to him, "You were having a moment of sleep paralysis I think. Don't worry, you're safe now."

His breathing calmed and he finally told her, "I saw a sheep, black." Suddenly they hear a low bleat and Death jumped before pointing at it, "SEE OVER THERE! THAT LITTLE SHIT RIGHT THERE!"

"Death calm down it's alright."

"THAT THING RAMMED INTO MY FACE AND THE NEXT THING I KNOW I'M UNABLE TO BREATHE OR MOVE!"

"Easy Death, easy." Morgen tells him softly with some strokes of his back.

The sheep bleated again and came closer. Death however scurries away, "NOPE nope nope. I'm not dealing with that thing I'm out of here."

Unfortunately the sheep is undeterred and begins to chase after him. Morgen is left chasing the sheep as a result.

"Oh come on no! GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!"

Morgen notices the sheep is actually quite fast and seems even more demonic looking than the red one. A trail of black sand seems to come off of it as it flies after Death. Morgen sees one of the girls' butterfly nets nearby and grabs it as they run past. Finally after a calculated swing, Morgen catches the sheep.

"Ah ha! I got ya!"

However the sheep turns around in the net with an offended bleat and suddenly melds through the net.

"Ehehehehe......oh shit."

The sheep then began to chase after Morgen, with Death shouting at her, "Morgen! Toss me the net!"

She does so and then keeps running. Death however waits for the right moment to swing before doing so. Only for it to bite the net and yank it from Death's hands.

"Oops..."

The sheep bleats long and angry like before all of a sudden getting tackled out of the air. Morgen notices the periwinkle color and sees what happened.

"Oh dear."

The bigger black sheep naturally got angry at the little lamb for stopping its charge and suddenly rammed it backwards. It naturally begins bleating and Morgen scoops it up, "Will you just be nice honestly?"

Death then decides he's done with the net anyway, and turns Harvester into a mallet, "If this is what it takes to get rid of you, then so be it."

He slams it down, only for Harvester to phase through the sheep as well. It bleats at him simply as Strife and Miriam come out of their room. Strife is the first to ask, "Dude...what the fuck?"

"I'm sorry......STRIFE HELP ME!." Death tells the sheep nervously before addressing Strife in a freaked out tone.

The sheep bleats as if laughing at him, leaving Strife to ask Miriam, "You know anything about these?"

"They collect dreams.....or sometimes..uuuuuuaaaaaaahh nightmares....." Miriam responds with a tiny yawn.

"So what do we do to get it to stop?"

"We can always placate it....which will take a particular snack depending on the color..." Miriam groggily explains.

"It's black, with black sand trailing off it." Strife states.

"Ok then.....then that one will want some black licorice....or other black sweets. If it's black....uhaaah..it'll like it." Miriam tells Strife whilst trying not to fall back to sleep.

Strife gets a weird look but sets her back in bed before searching around for something. Finally he finds a gumball in his inventory that's black and shouts to the sheep, "HEY WOOLYBUTT! Want a snack?"

The gumball is then chucked at the sheep, and bonks him on the head. It then turns around and opens it's mouth. Only for there be eyes inside it as it bleats a truly demented baa.

"AH! Nevermind. BRO YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN!" Strife shouts before shutting the door.

Death is actually a bit horrified looking at the thing now, and is frozen entirely. Morgen looks around frantically for anything that can help and begins throwing stuff at the sheep. It begins chasing her again and Morgen makss it to the kitchen. Seeing it's teeth are sharp despite it being a sheep, Morgen grabs a thrown out piece of meat. Hoping that it works when tossing it at the sheep. The sheep grabs it and gives it a nibble. Luckily it's rotting a little bit and it's enough for the sheep to accept it. Tendrils appear from it's mouth and pull the meat inside before it poofs into nothing inside the body. The sheep then seems to calm and plops down onto the table.

It then cocks its head at her expectantly and Morgen asks it, "What?"

It points to its mouth and Morgen realizes what it wants. Course Morgen needs Death's help. She notices he's not nearby and quickly goes to find him. When seeing him with a thousand yard stare, she realizes what's happening this time.

"Oh no. Death? Can you hear me?" Morgen gently queries.

All of a sudden the sheep comes flying back towards Death again at full speed. Morgen quickly gets in the way just as the sheep is about to hit him. The next thing she knows is that the black sand reaches her nose, and it smells of charred remains. Directly after this she passes out and the sheep actually gains an oh shit type of body language. The lamb begins bleating at Death like crazy and the black sheep hides in shame. Actually feeling bad for hitting Morgen and looking a bit scared now. As if it's about to get in big trouble. Morgen meanwhile finds herself in front of a mirror and in a lingerie set. One she recognizes all too well.

"No....No no no.....No no no no no no.... Not this...not this not this not this....not this...No please no no....No no no...please...." Morgen says frantically as she begins to panic. It only gets worse when hearing a familiar voice.

"Oh Morgana....I've missed you so much my beloved....oh I cannot wait to consummate our union...."

"C-c-c-c-consummate?" Morgen inquires in pure fear.

"Of course. Remember your promise? I'd leave everyone alone...everything would go back to normal...if you finally became truly mine...finally gave me the child I deserve..." Uther replies in a crazed tone.

Morgen wants to run away but is frozen in her terror. Unable to move or flee as Uther runs his hands along her body. All she can do is beg, "Please no....don't hurt me....don't hurt me again....somebody help me....please..."

"No one's coming Morgana. In fact...no one will ever come between us again. I've sent Mina on the run for her very life. And Barrcus, well...I tried not to break him but....eheheheh...ahahahaha...I broke him....I broke him baby girl...." Uther told her as he devolved into soft demented laughing.

Morgen began crying as Uther began to touch her again, however just as Uther was about to remove the lingerie, everything just froze.

Verdak suddenly began to speak in a strained voice, "I....am so very sorry. This wasn't meant for you....you weren't supposed to go through this....not again..."

Morgen began sobbing harder and begged to be let out, "Please....don't leave me here....don't leave me alone....please get me out of here."

A giant six fingered hand quickly grabs her and pulls her into the Nightmare side of the Dream Realm. Luckily her lingerie was now a silk black dress. She's shaking badly as Verdak is on the ground wheezing. He immediately begins to fade, having exhausted himself trying to fix this mess.

"W-w-where have you b-b-brought me?" She stutters.

"Somewhere safe.....I'll send a message to your Mother....and Nergal....has been sent...." He tells her before his head sinks down.

As he crumbles into sand again, Morgen begins wailing now. Horrified after what just happened. She has no idea how much time has passed when she finally hears Nergal's voice. Albiet deeper than usual.

"Morgen?! Morgen! Are you alright?! Please not so loud I....I know you're scared but please Morgen....they can't know I'm here..."

Morgen continues wailing but as Nergal lifts her face up she sees him as he truly is. His skin and muscle are translucent but give off a dark bluish hue. It looks like a night sky full of stars. His tattoos that are meant seal him are glowing now. It's a brighter blue against his body and seems to be causing pain. The bones look as if their made of metal like pewter or dark silver. He only has one organ on the inside, his heart. At least that's what it seems like to her, for all she knew he probably had a brain too. Course his third eye was also very much noticeable now. But beyond all those features he looks as he does normally, just with a dark blue skull where his face should be. The middle eye is red with black sclera, the sclera are the same with the other two eyes. They're blue in their color.

Morgen does at least finally stop wailing, but is still crying as she asks him, "You're.....you're.....you're a...nightmare?"

"The oldest kind. At least naturally. I didn't want you to see me like this, I'm sorry." He tells her softly as he waves his hands in front of her. She sees rainbow eyes in their palms.

Morgen shows no fear, rather he notices her concerns still lie on what just happened to her. He's about to try and comfort her but hears a voice he hoped he wouldn't.

"WIZEMAN!!!!" An angered voice booms throughout the realm. Morgen huddles into a ball, shaking even more now.

Nergal is also panicking, "Damn it damn it damn it damn it damn it...I need to get you out of here...RIGHT NOW."

He then does his best to open a portal out of there. Meanwhile they both feel massive stomps upon the ground. Earthquakes practically occur with each step Aries takes on his way over. Nergal can only panic more and more as he tries to focus on opening a way out. This when Morgen sees Aries' horns are completely golden with red stripes now. They're almost on fire with how livid he truly is. Nergal just manages to open a way as a shining red light begins to grow nearer.

"We need to go we need to go we need to go WE NEED TO GO!" Nergal shouts to Morgen in panic before quickly grabbing her and hurrying through the portal into her mind. Luckily things have calmed down in there, that is save for a panicking Death trying to find her.

He sees them enter her mind and Nergal shifts back into his metallic body. His tattoos stop glowing as well as Morgen glances to Death. She trembles there for a moment before running at him full speed. He's nearly tackled to the ground as she hugs him tightly.

"Dah! Agh ugh...you're kinda choking me here." Death tells her before having to free himself ultimately. Once he does he notices she's hysterical and naturally is worried beyond belief. "What happened? What's wrong?"

Nergal is the one to explain between breaths, "Verdak told me...all he could before vanishing....that nightmare wasn't meant for her....he wanted me to get her to safety once she was in...the Dream Realm. We were only there...for a moment..."

"Nightmare? What nightmare, what are you talking about Nergal?"

"The black sheep.....it was about to collect nutrients from your current fear at the time by causing....a nightmare unlike any other....it would've been worse than anything from Verdak.....but Morgen stepped in the sheep's way....and ended up with a dream involving Uther...."

Death's eyes widen and he finally returns the hug to Morgen. He works to keep calm despite his growing anger and tries to soothe her, "Shhhhh shhhhh....I'm here. I'm here. I've got you now. You're safe Morgen. Why did he send that thing after me?"

"So that it could survive, and keep an eye out. In fact according to Verdak, the sheep seemed quite traumatized by the event." Nergal explains, having caught his breath.

"I did notice it cowering and looking distraught when I finally snapped out of it. The lamb had been bleating at me so much that Strife got woken up again. It took him having to basically talk me down. Remind me where I was, that I was in Titania's home. Not on the fields in...'someone else's' home. I would've hurried after her if I hadn't been stuck with the flashback. I'm so sorry."

Nergal simply raises his hand, "Don't feel bad. It wasn't your fault that things went as badly as they did. And it CERTAINLY isn't your fault for being traumatized. Even though the situation was technically weirder than normal."

Morgen finally asks Death quietly, "Are you...alright?"

"I'm fine. That's a currently a question I need to be asking you."

"Can I....show you what happened...from my side?" Morgen inquires a bit timidly.

"If you need to stop showing me at any time, just let me know. You don't have to show me the whole thing if it's too much, ok?"

Morgen nods before using her magic to show him her memories of the nightmare. Death is left about to go into another flashback as he views it but shakes his head to regain himself. Muttering under his breath that he's alright. Course Morgen isn't doing any better and finally ends it whilst telling him, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."

"Morgen it's alright. I'm fine, you're fine, everything's going to be ok. Understand?"

Morgen doesn't respond, only huddling into him. So Death regains his soothing tone from a moment ago and continues to speak to her.

"Morgen, I need to look around right now. Tell me what you see."

She does so slowly but remains in his arms, "A field."

"Good. What's in the field?"

"Wildflowers, petals in the wind, hills..." Morgen says to him quietly.

"Yeah? What else is here?" Death asks her adding a hint of curiosity to his tone.

"Nergal...you...and me..."

"That's right. You're not in Uther's home. You're right here, safe and sound. Here with me and Nergal."

Morgen begins to calm down at last and Death loosens the hug to give her a little breathing room. Morgen keeps her hands attached to his arms, but he doesn't mind. Rather he's patient as Morgen looks around and begins gathering herself. Eventually she takes a deep breath and lets go of Death, "Thank you...I'm ok now."

"What are you?"

"I'm ok?" Morgen states confused.

"What are you?" Death repeats undeterred.

Morgen snickers and smiles a little, "I'm ok."

"Good. Now let's try and get some sleep again. Hopefully without the sheep causing an issue."

Morgen giggles as Death grumbles about that and Nergal speaks up, "I'll try my best to take care of them, at least for the time being. You and I possibly need to have a discussion Morgen. One I've been trying to have with you."

Morgen looks his way and sees he's shaken up himself. She then looks back at Death who nods, "Don't worry, I'll remain in your room for now. It's where I'm currently at. I'm in a chair though, not the bed."

"Right. Thank you Death. See you in a bit."

"See you soon." He tells her before leaving her head. Waking up in her room, on a chair by her bed. He remains there as promised, watching over her.

Meanwhile Morgen has come up to Nergal, "So, what do you want to talk about? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine for the most part. Just remembering why I am in my current predicament." Nergal responds a bit coldly.

Morgen sighed, "I know you're in a poor mood, but try not to be cold. Got enough of that from Aries."

"I guess it runs in the family so to speak. Then again when you're apparently the 'problem child', you find a great deal of it directed towards you."

"Problem child? Then that makes you my...brother?" Morgen queries.

"Well only partially. I don't even know if I'd count as a half brother like Arthur. Given the fact I only have one parent. That being our Father. I'm not Lunara's son by any means, despite knowing this she still treats me as if I were her child." Nergal states.

"I see. A bit confusing so I'll just refer to you as my brother."

"Just don't mention it in front of Aries. It won't end well. It didn't the last time he found out we knew each other. It's...one of the reasons why I was banished. Second one being Verdak wanted me out of his seat." Nergal explains.

"Ah. Of course. Shall I keep calling you Nergal then? Or the name that Aries used?"

"I have forsaken it, as the name no longer suits me. The name I chose for myself, it holds a meaning. An identity I've chosen, a life I lead. My only regret, is being unable to share any of this with Aspen." Nergal tells her.

"She doesn't know about you? What you are?"

"All she knows is what I chose to tell her. I looked like a Fomori to her, so I went with it. She knows I sleep for long periods of time, but I never gave an explaination as to why. I also wish I could tell her I love her, but emotions are...difficult for me at best. Nonexistent at worst. It's like this for most Nightmares. But for you, a being of Dream and Nightmare, it was always easy. Even before you were reborn, you always showed such wonder and empathy. A capacity for emotions that only the most aloof among us could dream of. When I realized this during our first meeting so long ago, I coveted that part of you. Because for once in my damn existence, someone cared, without any fear or disapproval. No disappointment or judgment. While Dreams have a hard time controlling their emotions. Zipping around giddy as always. Rarely do they keep themselves in check. They're like the Seelie while the Nightmares are the Unseelie. Huh, maybe that's why fate chose you to be a Fae instead."

"Is that all Aries has done? Shun you for doing what he doesn't understand? Disapprove of your every move? Being unable to keep himself civil around you for any reason?" Morgen inquires gently.

"Yes...AND SO. MUCH. MORE. Whilst Verdak, as monstrous as he is, at least has the capacity to care about me. Even if it's a pitiful display at best and extremely rare. And Lunara? Don't make me laugh. She just pities me, I'm sure that's her only reason for being so kind to me. HIM? He wishes that I was erased from existence. Because I represent, in his eyes, his greatest SIN. And that's all I am, that's all I'll ever be. No matter what I do, I am his SIN. Nothing more, nothing less." Nergal growls.

Morgen can't help but feel awful for him and places a hand on his shoulder. Or tries to anyway, his height doesn't make that easy. Course he denies her anyway.

"Don't comfort me, and do NOT pity me. I find it disrespectful."

Morgen backs off but tells him, "Well if it helps, whenever you have need to talk about anything, my ears are always open Nergal. I only wish I could remember the past version of me that you do. It sounds like a beautiful group of memories to have."

Nergal sighs, "And terrifying. Anyway, goodnight."

"Goodnight, brother." Morgen says.

With that she uses a spell to shock herself and wakes up with a yell.

"Ouch!"

Death instantly looks her way, "Are you alright?"

"Fine, just shocked myself a bit too hard I guess."

Death actually held back a snort and chuckled, "You literally shocked yourself to wake up? Wow."

"Shut up."

"So how'd the talk go, out of curiosity?"

"Well, for the most part." Morgen responds simply.

"What was it about?"

"Our familial ties and that I shouldn't bring it up around Aries because they are on extremely bad terms. How's that for a summary?" Morgen states.

"Oh. Ok. Well then.....I don't know where to go from there."

Morgen snickers, "Perhaps it'd be better saved for a morning discussion? That way we're both of sound mind?"

"Uh right, of course. I'll...get right on that. Will you be alright on your own?"

"Should be, but thank you for asking. Goodnight Death, sleep well."

"You as well Morgen, goodnight." Death tells her before leaving the room.

He then lays down in his own room, but is ultimately having trouble falling asleep. He envies Dust as he sleeps on his perch. Meanwhile Fuzzball hops up and gives him a snuggle. Death can't help but place a hand over him as he lays there. He looks around for more sheep, and decides to look up for once. In the bed canopy, he sees a strange fuzzy shape. He ultimately turns on a lamp and it immediately flies towards it. Death jumps out of his bed and stands up straight.

"What the hell are you?"

Fuzzball however shows no fear at all, in fact he looks mesmerized. He heads up closer and watches the flying creature as it hovers around the lamp. Course then it sees Fuzzball waving and trying to get its attention. It lands beside him finally and Death realizes it's a Limt. Only it's got an extra pair of legs, moth wings, and is about as fluffy as a poodle moth. And he has a feeling that it may be female, as Fuzzball is getting super giddy and flustered all at once.

"Fascinating. I've never seen a Limt like this before. What about you Fuzzball?"

Fuzzball only shakes his head as if to say he hasn't, he's then surprised by the female approaching and sniffing him. Fuzzball makes a squee sort of a sound and falls over backwards. Seemingly fainting. Death snickers a bit before calming down enough to get back into bed. Course he's still having trouble falling asleep, but ends up seeing a glittery dust briefly falling around him.

"Oooooooh shiiit..."

From there the little fuzzy Moth Limt snuggled Fuzzball a little before sleeping nearby. Death meanwhile simply slept, unbothered by anything in his mind. Sleeping soundly with no cares and remaining safe for the whole night. He woke up in his bed sometime later and realized it was daylight when getting sunlight reflected into his eye by a window.

"Gah....what the....I can actually respond properly. Huh.", Death then yawned before stretching out.

He then sees Fuzzball still sleeping and strokes him a little. Fuzzball of course wakes up too and stretches before yipping happily at him. Death then gets up before getting ready for the day with some exercise. Fuzzball cheers him on with barks whilst Dust watches with occasional caw or squawk.

Finally as he's finishing up, Strife comes into the room, "Ok sleepyhead how long are you gonna be...oh. You're already awake. That's a first."

"Got some good sleep for once. How's that for a first?"

"Fair enough bro. Also what's that moth looking thingy over there?" Strife inquires pointing at the Moth Limt.

"That I can only assume is a type of Limt, although I'm unsure. Breakfast ready yet?"

"Nah, was thinking of making something for Miriam. Don't know what to make though. You know anything she might like?" Strife questions.

"Hmm, I can take at the recipebook Ceise gifted to me some time back. I usually bring it with me." Death tells him.

"Great, thanks bro. Let's see what's in it."

"Hmmm, well how about some waffles with bananas and salted caramel sauce? She loves anything sweet, and enjoys bananas sometimes. Perfect mix maybe." Death says to him.

"Dude....that's a good idea! Let's do it. Can we put bacon on it?"

"NO! Trust me bacon will kill it."

"But bacon's a salty thing." Strife protests.

"No! Caramel is similar to chocolate. Last time I checked, bacon and chocolate do not mix." Death expresses.

"Wait....oh shit...now I remember...ok yeah no Let's not do that!"

With that the boys began making the food and even added a bit of ice cream, Strife's idea naturally. Strife finished a small plate for Miriam and went to deliver it to his lady. However he gave Death a final word,

"Hey bro, maybe Morgen might appreciate some breakfast in bed too?"

"Shut the fuck up."

"Hahahahah...Right sure..." Strife replies before laughing and leaving the room.

Death rolls his eyes and looks through his recipebook for anything that might resemble something from Barrcus, "Come on there's gotta be something weird, gotta be something weird..."

He finds recipes for a full english, ful medames, and an acaí bowl. Death just decides to make them all and hope for the best. Once done he puts them on a tray and heads to Morgen's room. Morgen just happens to be waking up at this time and unlocks her door just in time for a knock.

"Come in, I just unlocked it."

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ecotone99 · 4 years

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[FN] The Old Soldier

This is a followup to something I posted on writingprompts here. Some comments wanted to hear more, and after tossing some ideas around, I wound up with this. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It didn't take much digging to learn that the woman I'd met, apparently named Diressa, was in fact a proper Helsing. Seven generations back on her mother's side was a straight bloodline to the man, the myth, the legend himself. It had been almost a week since she'd been here with her strange entourage. I hadn't heard anything since they left, and honestly could have forgotten them completely. That is, until a Praetor walked through my doors. One of the boys in black, as she'd put it. I knew it was a term I'd be stuck with for life.

There wasn't any definitive thing identifying him. He wasn't wearing his armor, the sword at his hip looked fairly plain, at least from its hilt, and most importantly, he wasn't being a loud obnoxious prick. He did have an unmistakable air around him though, he carried himself as if the weight of his responsibilities was on his shoulders in that moment.

I questioned the time of his arrival. It was early. Most other Praetors should still be patrolling, training, or hassling good hard working folks.

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" His voice was low, and quiet.

"Hmm? No, sorry, lost in thought for a moment. How long have you been enlisted?" I chastised myself immediately. The first question should always be about what the customer wants.

"Hah, a long time. Long enough that I remember the Praetor title actually meaning something." I hadn't really noticed at first, but when he said that I became aware of what he looked like. He was clearly an elf. Pale skin and light hair betraying his southern lineage. His eyes were dark however, and his ears lacked the elves' telltale point, meaning he had at least one ancestor from a lesser tribe, and a human had made its way into the mix. "Am I that much of a giveaway?"

"Somewhat. I don't get many soldiers in here, so when one of you does show up, you tend to stand out."

"Mind if I ask why? The drinks don't suck do they?"

"I'd certainly hope not. I'm sure it has more to do with the rest of my clientele." He rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder, my eyes following his. I was notably busy considering the time, and the fact that it was midweek. A moment later he was looking back at me and shrugging his shoulders.

"Couldn't care less, long as they obey the laws and pay their taxes, they can eat and drink where they want."

"You're a refreshingly rare breed sir, what can I get you?"

"First off, you can cut the sir shit. I'm just another grunt like any of them right now." I nodded my agreement. "After that, something strong."

"How strong?"

"Got anything that can take the legs of this stool out from under me?"

"More than a couple."

"Any of them actually taste like anything? I want to get drunk but I do want to enjoy myself at the same time."

"I've got just the thing. Whiskey, it's gnomish, aged for decades in casks made of cherry wood-" He held his hand up to stop me.

"No disrespect, but I've never cared to know about alcohol. Save for the two rules my pa passed to me."

"And those would be?"

"There's two surefire ways to know a drink is good. First, there's one man at a bar getting absolutely shattered, and he's only drinking one thing." Instantly, a few of my regulars ran through my mind. "That, or the barkeep starts talking about it before he's even grabbed the bottle."

"Sounds like your old man made his rounds."

"That's a much nicer way to put it than I would."

"I need to warn you," I uncorked a bottle and started pouring into a glass. His eyebrows raised and a small grin crept across his face. "There is a small amount of Heris root in this."

"When I enlisted, they trained us against poisons with a small amount of Heris root too. I spent most of a week doubled over praying to the gods for death."

"Fair enough. Then, there's the tiniest possible amount in this. It numbs your tongue just long enough for the drink to fill your mouth, then the flavour hits you all at once."

"Sounds impressive, leave it to gnomes to treat a simple bottle of booze like one of their spells." He took the glass and tipped it back over his lips. He held the liquid in his mouth for a moment, clearly waiting for the reaction I told him about. A wave of surprise washed over his face as he swallowed. He turned the glass in his hand, and glanced over at the bottle. "I'll be damned. That is much more pleasant going down than I expected."

"I've, got a question for you, if you don't mind."

"Doesn't everyone these days?" He took another sip, and I was sure my curiosity wouldn't be sated. "However, I am sitting at your bar, and drinking your, admittedly delicious whiskey, so I think it would be fair to humour you at least a little."

"You mentioned a time when being a Praetor meant something, what did you mean?"

"Ah, a real question then." He finished off his glass and motioned for a refill, which I obliged. "Do you know where the word Praetor comes from?" I shook my head no. "An orcish word Prenetora."

"Sounds more druidic to me."

"That's what I said when my instructor told me. There's a strong chance that the cultures influenced each other, especially so far back." Another sip as he rolled his wrist, releasing a few cracks from the joint. "It means, loosely anyway, stalwart. It was a title given to their warriors, the men who fought, believing they would die for their clan. When the continents were unifying, the realm wanted that reputation, that inherent trust in the ones who'd be enforcing order. Several titles were up for consideration, but Praetor just sounds so damn good."

"What happened?"

"A lot." He took a deep sigh and rubbed at his eye. "When it all started, people trusted us. We made sure they had reason to. Things went wrong, we were there. Things were good, we made sure they stayed that way. Everything we did was rooted in benefiting those who couldn't fight for themselves. In turn, those people knew, they believed without doubt that whatever we did was for their best interests. Even if that included executing seven people in cold blood, in the middle of a town square, or burning down acres of crops, or..." I could see on his face the doubt he had to tell me any more. "Blowing up an entire mountain range."

"How? What? When?"

"Decades ago. There was a nomadic group of hobgoblins. Nothing special, they were a small tribe, moving their way across the western isles, stealing and hiding from civilised folk. They made camp in a mountain cave, but quickly left when they discovered a rancid odour. Some time later, they encountered some goblins playing with fire, as they're prone to do. From those goblins' bombs they smelled the same stench. The bombs in particular left a liquid flame, even on stone. Hobgoblins are smart. Disturbingly so. They showed the goblins back to the mountains. The goblins found pockets of gas to make more of their strongest explosives from."

"I can see where this is going."

"After an attack that left a village reduced to ashes, we tracked them back to the caves and ran them out. Our scholars recognised the gas, and knew it wasn't isolated in the mountains. We knew we couldn't police all that land, and we knew we couldn't leave it for more of that fire to be harnessed. It was a hard choice to make. Those mountains were industry. Mines, quarries, livelihoods. Our betters believed the danger outweighed the benefits. A months long evacuation. A few well placed bombs of our own, and in moments we removed mountains the gods likely spent years crafting." He emptied the glass for the second time and pushed it away. "The people knew. They saw that liquid fire. Saw it burn their homes, kill their friends and family. They didn't like it, but they agreed with us, supported us. Then, then the problems came. The new generation of Praetors, boys and girls dreaming of donning the same black armor as their heroes. They kept having those dreams, but now, those dreams included the wild things we had done, things we didn't want to do, things that they did. They do. Now, it's almost like they're competing. Who can be the most outlandish Praetor in the realm?"

"Sorry to make you dredge that up."

"Don't be, it's history. As long as these new upstarts want to mimic, or even outmatch it, I feel like the rest of us should try to learn from it."

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