#hm. let’s read a pk | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

heyheyloki · 4 years ago

Text

U&I

Summary: The reader begins to realize his feelings for Saiki.

Saiki x M!Reader

Word Count: 8711

1. The Best Friends

Being friends with a psychic definitely had its ups and downs. At first, you didn’t notice a thing out of the ordinary with Saiki, well, granted you were kids when the both of you met so naturally you just wanted to be friends and thought nothing more. However, he noticed something odd with you the moment you two met.

He couldn’t read your mind.

Actually forget being about to read your mind, none of his psychic abilities worked on you. He couldn’t see through you and when he touched you without his super thin transparent gloves on nothing happened. You were basically immune to him.

At first, he thought something was wrong with you, or that maybe you had some psychic powers as well. That wasn’t the case at all. In reality, you were a normal human without any powers or tricks. That stumped Saiki even more, but it also became the soul reason he wanted to be your friend as well.

For one, he didn’t have to deal with your thoughts. Two, his image of you wasn’t ruined because he can’t see under your skin. Three, your calmer personality made him relax. And of course all those other things like your kindness and stuff, but those were irrelevant the moment he knew he couldn’t read your mind.

It’s been years since he met you in the park during recess, and now here you guys were, 16 years later and still friends. Oh, there was one thing that bothered him about you.

“What to hang out today?” You asked as you slung your bag over your shoulder.

“Sure.” Saiki said. Yep. That’s right, since he can’t get in your mind, he actually has to move his mouth when he talks to you.

It was a bit weird to others that he never did it with anyone else other than you, but he didn’t care.

On the way home he couldn’t help but notice you eyeing his antennas, the things that keep his powers stable. He turned his head towards you and gave you a curiosity look.

“Do those things poke at your head at all?” You asked, moving you hand up to poke at the top of the pink ball. “Like, does it make your head ichy?”

Saiki shook his head. He knew he had to talk to you at some points, but times like these he didn’t. He enjoyed that about you too, that you don’t force him to talk all the time. You knew it was a bit weird for him to talk, he explained it to you when he told you all about his powers.

“Hm,” you hummed out. Your hands going back at your side and into your pant pockets. “It would for me, if I was you. They just look painful, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do if you don’t wanna blow up the world.”

Saiki nodded his head, his eyes continuing to linger on you. It was one days like these when he saw you thinking so hard about something that he wished he could just take a peak. At some points, he loved the silence, especially when the both of you were watching movies, but right now, especially in this moment, he’d give anything to know. It was mostly prominent when he’d stare at you during class and you’d have this far out look in your orbs, you drew him in, and perhaps that’s why he fell for you.

Though, there were other factors that won his favor. Mostly the fact that, unlike everyone else, he can’t stare right through you and just see your raw muscles and pumping organs. Instead, he was able to focus on your handsome face and not get side tracked about your racing thoughts. You were the only person in the world that make him feel somewhat normal. That was a love-hate relationship at times.

“Think I could sleep over tonight?” You suddenly asked, “we don’t have school tomorrow.”

Saiki stared at you for a moment just to relish in that fact that nothing worked on you. No telekinesis, mind control, no nothing. He was going to have to win your favor just like everyone else. To him, it wasn’t normal, but looking at you, he didn’t seem to mind the extra work.

“Sure,” Saiki said. He still had trouble talking aloud, hell, sometimes he will actually use telekinesis and wait for your response only to have pure silence. “My parents are leaving for a wedding, so the house should be free for a while.”

When the two of you got to Saiki’s house, it was a bit peaceful until his parents had to head out. You liked his mom and dad a lot, they were like your second family, so you wanted to wish them a good time. It was for one Saiki’s dad’s coworkers.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna come with us?” Saiki’s dad asked his son. “You’ve met Kirishima before, and you can bring [Name] as your plus one date.”

You knew Saiki wasn’t going to be interested in a wedding. He always told you normal happy events for others is misery for him since he can hear the jealousy and pity that the crowd is thinking. You felt sorry that he couldn’t turn it off, but you were glad that you were the only person he could catch a break with. However, when you looking over at Saiki, he seemed to entertain the thought.

It was a new side to Saiki, one that made you confused. It was always either you or no one. You could tell the way he wanted to get away from many of the people in his class that seemed to have declared themselves his friends from a small interaction. Sure, you felt their interest, but it was just a bit sad to you that Saiki could never actually enjoy friends unless they were pure. Otherwise, he could hear all the backstabbing thoughts or otherwise stupid comments that go around in their brain that was thought to be private to them.

“I’m going to have to pass,” you commented. “I don’t have a suit, besides, you two should enjoy the night. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you both go out alone.”

Saiki’s mom smiled widely at you. Her eyes clouding over with a wet film before wrapping her arms around you for a tight hug. “Ah, thank you, [Name]! What would we do without you?”

You chuckled softy at the comment before saying, “Who knows, I rather not think about that.”

When she finally let you go, you and Saiki waved the both of them off as they left. Honestly, you weren’t sure if they’d even make it back at a reasonable time. It was a wedding, after all. Oh well, as long as they make it back drunk and safe rather than drunk and not safe, you didn’t mind. You were sleeping over anyway, so right now, you just wanted to hang out with your childhood best friend.

“What do you wanna do?” You asked with a calming tone.

Saiki turned his head to you. “TV?”

“Sure,” you smiled. However, as soon as you turned to the living room, you noticed the absolute mess his parents left behind. So, out of the goodness of your heart, you said, “How about you find something and all clean up this in the meantime. Sound good?”

Saiki nodded once more. He truly thought your actions were kind, but he rather have you watching TV with him than picking up his dad’s dirty clothes. He knew his father tended to be sloppy, but this was just a mess.

As you were about to pick up a pair of jeans, all the clothes that were strewn about the floor suddenly started to float in the air and shoot into the open washing machine. The trash floated itself into the garage while everything else was moved around to make it look clean until otherwise.

You pressed your lips together as your brows furrowed in annoyance. Once you turned to Saiki and saw his innocence face, you knew you couldn’t be angry but you had to ask, “Do you really want me to watch TV with you that bad?”

“Yes,” Saiki stated.

You sighed, your lips parting as you left the oxygen leave your lungs. “Fine, but let’s both clean up a bit before than. It’ll be a nice surprise and a way to thank your parents for letting me stay the night.”

Saiki nodded. “Okay.”

It took a bit of convincing on your end to let him let you help out. You may not have powers, but you didn’t want to take advantage of his. You knew it was effortless and he made it seem like it didn’t affect him whatsoever, but you knew every time he does something it takes a toll. His powers aren’t perfect.

You both ended up cleaning the living room, Saiki’s room, and now you were in the kitchen sorting the trash. Saiki was using his powers to sort while you whipped down the countertops.

“Good grief,” Saiki said aloud, his voice drawing your eyes to him. He was crouched down with two bags in front of him and the garage floating upside down, it’s contents was either going in the first or second bag.

“What?” You asked curiosity. It wasn’t all the time that he speaks from his mouth without you talking first.

“How could anyone have let it get this dirty in here?” He asked aloud. “I mean, really it’s a wonder we don’t have bugs.”

You were going to respond. That was until he suddenly shut his mouth, a chest deep grunt leaving him as you notice him stare at something on the furniture next to him.

It was a cockroach.

Mind you, the moment you realized what it was you weren’t the least bit surprised when he suddenly teleported. Saiki hates bugs. He could read the minds of humans, as well as animals, but he couldn’t with bugs. He thought they were small minded icky things. Hell, he couldn’t even let his powers touch the thing.

You counted down the seconds before he came back. It was around ten, maybe fifteen. He also teleported right behind you.

“Welcome back,” you greeted and watched as his eyes dart towards the floor.

“Sorry, I may have overreacted.” He muttered. “I just hate them.”

“I know,” you hummed out before looking around and grabbing a cup and piece of paper. Saiki watched you as you let the roach crawl on the piece of paper before placing the cup over it so it didn’t run away. You were quick to put it outside and close the window after so Saiki didn’t worry about it coming back in.

“All gone,” you cheered with a smile. “Now, let’s watch TV, ya?”

2. Saiki’s Pushy Friends

PK Academy was a school were many different personalities and people collided. It was always fun to meet new people in this school, yet on the other side of the coin, sometimes they were more than a little odd. Not like you can speak, your best friend was a psychic. Though, he wasn’t delusional like this one guy in your class that declared himself Saiki’s friend. His name was Kaido. He thinks he has powers and has an evil organization following him around.

Then, you have Nendou. Basically, he’s stupid. Not that you minded, but sometimes being stupid isn’t the best thing in the world, especially now.

It was the sports festival at PK and Saiki and you had to participate in it. You both were on the same team since all the teams were decided by class. This also gave you a good idea of the friends Saiki has made. It was safe to say that Kaido was growing on you. You felt a little bad for the guy, what can you say.

Let’s not forget about Hairo as well. You knew him a bit more from hearsay than the others, plus he was class rep. Though, you had to say, he was a little too overly enthusiastic.

It was kind of a surprise to see Teruhashi, the most popular girl in school, try and interact with Saiki. Though, it was a bit amusing since to him, she’s nothing more than walking muscle. However, you did think he would swoon over her like all the other guys in your school if she was like you. However, you knew Saiki had no interest in romance so you don’t care either way.

Finally, Nendou. You were originally going to say that you didn’t mind the guy that much and thought maybe he would be a good thing for Saiki. However, after just watching him take out one of the antennas from Saiki’s head, you started to wonder how much of a danger his stupidity is to Saiki.

You watched that pink haired friend of yours collapse to the ground with a hard thud as soon as Nendou pull the thing out of his head. You were quick to rush over to him and sit by his side. When you flipped him over, since he fell face forward, worry grew about your body and infected your bloodstream.

You heard protests about turning him over, but at this point all the worried voices drowned before they were even audible to you. His lips were parted as drool leaked from his mouth and went down his chin, his eyes dead and without life as darkness surrounded them. It didn’t take you long to recover and swipe the antenna Nendou was holding and pop it back in its rightful place in his pink locks.

You didn’t know how long it would take for him to wake up, or if he’d wake up at all. All you knew was to sit and wait for him to wake up. To your surprise, he woke up rather quickly. Maybe a mere minute or so after you fixed him up. When his eyes opened, you felt yourself suddenly get surrounded as Saiki’s friends crowed over him to ask how he was.

You noticed him using telepathy to talk to everyone when Hairo said, “You passed out after Nendou took that think out of your head, lucky for you, [Name] put it back right away!”

“Yeah, he saved your life!” Kaido spit out next, their hands placing on my shoulder out of respect and gratitude.

Saiki’s eye then direct to you, his voice never leaving his lips for a moment before you noticed him flinch.

‘Ah,’ you thought. ‘He tried to use telepathy with me again.’

When he noticed, Saiki just nodded in your direction. You knew he was thanking you, he didn’t need to word it out to you. The look in his eyes was enough.

Lunch came immediately after Saiki ended up waking up, and it was understatement to say he didn’t want to be bother with anyone else besides you. He was quick to drag you to the roof of the school to eat.

The both of you sat against the railing, lunch in your laps. You wanted I just forget about the scare that Saiki gave you, but the after effects he was having wasn’t making that easy. He was having trouble, and it was easy to see when his hands were shaking so much that he couldn’t even pick up his food without it falling back in the box.

You side eyed him, his expression one of concentration as he tried to pick up his food again. Though, he dropped it again.

He sighed quickly after that, only looking down at his food as you saw his mind wonder off.

Once you finished chewing whatever food you had in your mouth, you placed your food to the side and moved so that you weren’t side to side, but rather across from Saiki’s body now. He didn’t register your movements until he saw a hand come into his view and pick up an item of food with his chopsticks.

When he turned to you, you had the chopsticks in your dominant hand and your other under the food so it didn’t drop to the filthy ground.

“C’mon, lemme help,” you said. It was easy for Saiki to pick up the worry in your tone, however he knew not to address it or else you’ll just either deny it or baby him. “Open up.”

He obeyed your command after a moment, opening his mouth wide enough for you to place his food in his mouth. The hand that was meant to catch the food if it fell made sure Saiki closed his mouth, his fingers placed a bit of pressure under his chin to shut his jaws before slowly trailing away. The food wasn’t nearly as satisfying as the chill that ran down his spine at your lingering touch that crawled on his skin.

“I could hurt you.” He suddenly spit out. It was pained. “Having my antenna taken out messed up my powers.”

You leaned your head to the side, your eyes never falling from his. “Yeah, I kinda figured.”

“You should go.” He stated.

“Why?”

“I just told you.”

You smiled. “Saiki, you could never hurt me.”

He looked at you like you had something stuck in your teeth. “You don’t know that, I may not be able to read your mind, but I don’t know how my other powers react to you.”

You remained quiet for a moment before shuffling your body side by side again, your head falling to rest of Saiki’s shoulder. You felt him flinch at the contact, his muscles even began to tighten just out of fear.

“Yanno,” you started out saying, your hand coming up to play the antenna that you could reach. “It’s odd to me how these things are the only thing keeping you stable.”

“Is it?”

You chuckled and nodded. “Small things like these verses your powers. The thing that gets me is that these things actually win in that fight. Though, I suppose it does complete the look you have.”

“And what look is that?” Saiki asked as he gazed down at you to see your eyes already on him. He could feel his fingers twitch as he watched you say shamelessly, “The cute, mysterious loner type.”

Saiki’s lips parted as he gazed at you. He quickly recomposed himself when he noticed you waiting patiently for him to respond. He sighed before asking, “Mysterious loner? Where’d you get that?”

You laughed before sarcastically questioning, “yep, I wonder where.”

3. Your friends are my friends

You don’t know how you got wrapped into this, but perhaps it’ll allow you to know Saiki’s friends better.

Currently, you were walking with Kaido, Nendou, and Saiki to a good ramen shop Nendou suggested. You were dragged along when Nendou remembered you from the Sports Festival and as Saiki’s friend. They never really got the chance to speak to you since you’re usually out the door as soon as the bell rings, but today they finally caught you.

At some point Teruhashi joined the group, though you feel like she kinda took over since now the boys, except for Saiki and you, were fawning over her. Saiki and you took it upon yourselves to give them all room to talk to her, so you both sorts trailed behind.

It was silent for a while, the only noise was Nendou or Kaido talking to Teruhashi. However, you caught the, “what does that even mean,” that Saiki mumbled under his breath.

“Hm?” You hummed. “What does what mean?”

It was obvious to you he didn’t realize he said that aloud. But he just seemed to be glad that only you heard that.

“Teruhashi wants me to go ‘oh wow’ or something to her.” Saiki revealed. “I don’t even know what that means.”

You kept your gaze on Saiki for a moment. “So, she likes you?”

“I guess,” he muttered. “I think it’s more that I’m the only guy that isn’t kissing her feet.”

You watched Teruhashi interact with Nendou and Kaido. You know that, normally, she wouldn’t take time to hang out with these guys. However, because of her crush on Saiki, she bares with them. In all honesty, she seems a bit perfect. Being able to deal with them just for the person she adores. It’s easy for anyone to do, and not a lot of people would even bother.

“She seems like a good fit for you.” You suddenly uttered out.

When Saiki heard that, he felt his hands twitch. He didn’t like that, not one bit. What irked him the most was that it seemed natural, like you actually meant it. And, of course, he had no way of knowing if those words were genuine or actually forced.

“No way,” Saiki stated coldly. “Never in a million years.”

“Damn, that’s cold, Saiki.” He heard you say, a teasing tone wedged in your voice.

“Why do you keep calling me Saiki, anyway? We aren’t acquaintances.”

“Hm?” You questioned. “I thought you don’t like me calling you by your first name in public?”

Saiki sighed. “Well now I’m telling you I don’t care.”

Saiki knew this way of showing that you were closer to him than anyone would ever be may have been childish on his part, but when he heard his first name come from your lips in front of his other ‘friends’, he felt more than satisfied.

4. Friendship Can Bring Romance

Being able to rest during class was one of your guilty pleasures. Even if you got called out by your teacher, you didn’t mind. It was better when it was raining outside, the patter of rain when it hit the window made you want to nap.

“Hey,” a voice called out to you. You didn’t listen though, it wasn’t important.

“Hey, [Name],” it called out again. Okay, maybe you should wake up. Then again, sleep. You could always sleep later though.

You fluttered your eyes open as you felt your body being pushed around. When your sight became focused, the blurry figure in front of you showed a blue hair kid. You knew him, but from where?

“Saiki asked me to wake you up, sorry,” he confessed.

Oh, right. That’s Kaido, Saiki’s friend.

“Hm? Where is Kusuo?” You asked in a groggy voice, your hand coming up to wipe your eyes.

“Oh, he went home.” Kaido informed you. “Something just came up, I guess.”

“Alright,” you hummed before the end of your lips pulled upward. “Thank you, Kaido.”

It wasn’t easy for Kaido to wake up the quiet kid. Kaido only met the guy once or twice, and when he was hanging with him, you only stayed close to Saiki. It was kinda odd, but Kaido understood your attachment to the pink haired man. Saiki was Kaido’s first friend, after all, so he knew how awesome the guy was.

Though, he’s never got the chance to speak to you. He knows Saiki never really goes anywhere with you, and somehow you always end up by his side. He just always seemed to miss you when it came to getting the chance to introduce himself so Kaido was pretty glad when you came along the trip to that ramen place, even if it was a dumb and he got distracted by Teruhashi.

Kaido knew you were the closest person to Saiki. He’s pretty sure that not even Nendou is as close to Saiki as you are. And those two are best friends. Kaido didn’t know the extend of how long you two have been friends, but he does know from watching that Saiki has respect for you. So, it was critical that he makes a great impression with you so that he can become closer to Saiki and maybe you as well.

“S-Sure, no problem!” He stuttered, his bandaged hand retracting from your shoulder and holding them up in the air in a surrendered notion.

“Do you live around here at all? I’ll walk you home as a thank you.” You said as you stood from your seat and began to search for your bag.

“What? You don’t have to do that, really, it isn’t necessary!” Kaido spit out quickly, his words jumping all over the place.

“It’s really no trouble at all,” you stated as you put your bag over your shoulder. “C’mon, let’s get going before the rain gets worse.”

The rain eventually stopped when both teens got closer to your house. Kaido’s was further ahead, so he thought it would be better if he just walked you home instead so you didn’t have to walk more than you have to already.

“So, you’ve been friends with Saiki since he was little, huh?” Kaido asked as you explained why Saiki trusts you so much. “That’s pretty awesome! What was he like back then?”

“Pretty much the same.” You answered. “Though he did get more handsome throughout the years, and he used to be kinda sweet. Now, not so much.”

“I see, so you guys have been through it all together.” Kaido replied.

“Basically, though, he did start to worry me a bit since I was his only friend for a really long time,” you confessed. You paused as you looked up at Kaido and gave him a smile, “But I’m glad he finally made a friend like you.”

Kaido could feel his heart beat a million miles an hour just at the words you strung together. He never heard kinder words than those, and he was even more thrilled that he succeeded in making a good impression on Saiki’s childhood friend!

“It’s, uh, n-no problem, really!” Kaido muttered out as his whole face began to fluster, his hands going everywhere.

“Oh,” you hummed out.

“Hm?” Kaido questioned. His nerves going down. “What is it?”

“Did you know you were dragging your scarf the whole time?” You asked curiosity as your hands started to real in the extra fabric.

“What?” He asked out of pure shock. Though, realizing that he doesn’t make a fool out of himself he said, “O-Of course I did! It’s a fashion choice.”

“Not the best one,” you stated as you stepped closer to the blue haired male.

Kaido’s eyes widened as he stated directly into your colored orbs, watching them dance solely for him. It was like getting attention from a loved one, but this attention make him nervous to the point where he thought his face was going to explode with red. Kaido’s lips slowly started to disappear as the scarf started to build up around his shoulders and neck.

“There you go,” you said, “much better. Now your scarf doesn’t get more dirty and you look even better.”

‘Even better? What’s that supposed to mean? Does it.. does it mean he thought I looked good before?!’ Kaido thought.

Kaido let out an awkward laugh as he played with the end of the scarf. “O-Oh, haha, thank you.”

“Sure,” you hummed. “Now let’s get going.”

5. Blessing Turned On Jealousy

What’s that saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Yeah, that’s it. See, that could apply to this yet at the same time it would go a little different.

More like, the enemy of my best friend is my friend. At least for your situation. You see, walking home with Saiki has now turned into walking home with Saiki, Nendou, and Kaido. Not that you mind, but sometimes you really do wish it was back to when Saiki and you got to spend time alone together. However, being friends with Saiki and then having his friends automatically become your friends may have some perks.

Like now. Bumping into Kaido’s mom was totally accidental. But, in the end it payed off. Why?

Because coffee jelly.

“I know it’s not easy being friends with my son because he’s so shy, but please be patient.” Kaido’s mom announced as she placed the coffee jelly down in front of Saiki and you.

“Please don’t say that mama—I mean—mother.” Kaido pleased, his voice cracking as it got higher with embarrassment.

Overall, the beginning was a very nice. Hell, it was damn near perfect. Although, you just had to snoop around. Well, it was more like exploring Kaido’s room.

Your fingertips brushed along the spines of the many books Kaido had stacked up in his bookcase. It was seriously amazing how many books he had, he even had some original copies of some famous old books.

“This is pretty awesome,” you muttered to yourself before your eyes spotted something that didn’t quite match with the others. In all honesty, you were simply curious. However, curiosity did kill the cat. In your case, more like awakened the Saiki K.

“Hey, Kaido, what is the Jet Black Wings?” You asked aloud as the group sat down eating whatever snacks were about. You would always hear either chewing or at least some conversation, but after that question left your mouth it was dead silent. You felt like you killed something, but when you looked over you noticed Kaido’s face beat red. Seriously, his entire face was as red as a blood moon.

“P-Put that back!” He stuttered out, the blue haired boy suddenly running up to you to snatch the book from your hand.

As he reached for it, you held it higher. Even if he was about the same height or maybe a inch or so taller, you just needed to make him miss his hand from grabbing it.

“Don’t be embarrassed, I’m just curious.” You calmly said. “Is it bad or something?”

“N-No! It’s nothing, uh, bad! Just give me it back!” Kaido begged this time around, his hands trying desperately to grab it from you. Okay, maybe you were being a little mean at this point, but it was kinda fun to tease him.

You began to back up as Kaido trying to nab the book in your hand. “Just explain it!”

“No! Never!” He shouted.

You couldn’t help but laugh a little, though, that was your fatal mistake. Having yourself distracted by your own humor, your mind didn’t take into account the pile of prep books scattered about until it was too late. You quickly lost your voice, as well as your balance before slamming your head hard against the wood floors.

“Woah! You guys okay?” Nendou asked out of genuine concern.

As much as you would have liked to answer him, you were too concerned with the pain pounding into your skull like a jackhammer. Seriously, this is gonna give you one massive headache.

You scrunched your nose as your finally gave effort to open your eyes, though, they permanently remained open when you noticed a face staring down at you, a body on top of yours. You guessed that during the fall Kaido tried to save you, but only got dragged along instead.

“H-Hey, um, are you okay?” He asked under his shaky breath.

You only nodded before trying to avoid his gaze in any possible way. The position you were in didn’t help whatsoever in that department. Instead, you hoped that Kaido would take the hint and get off. That plan wasn’t looking too good cause all that was running through his mind was how you looked under him. Let’s say, the thoughts he had left a distaste in Saiki’s mouth.

Originally, he was just gonna let you handle it, but after hearing Kaido’s perverted thoughts about you, that plan blew up.

Saiki stood up, leaving his coffee jelly half eaten before grabbing Kaido by the back of his shirt and yanking him off of you. Saiki gave some strength into that but not enough to launch him into the bookshelf like he wanted too. He knelt down to come to your level and help you up, your massive headache being noticeable when you held onto the back of your head.

“Damnit, that really hurt,” you muttered to yourself but Saiki heard it clear as day.

It wasn’t long after that he took you home as well as the left over coffee jelly. Saiki advised you to stay home a day just to let the pain die down a bit before going back to school, so, the pink haired boy was all alone today. And all alone to everyone else meant to bother him more than usual.

Teruhashi, Nendou, Hairo. All of them. Though, it was a bit weird that Kaido wasn’t bothering with him today. Not that he was complaining, but he couldn’t pinpoint the answer until he heard Kaido’s thoughts, ‘I need to ask Saiki for permission. They’re best friends, it would be rude if I didn’t ask permission to ask out [Name].’

Never mind. He didn’t need to know that.

It was around lunch time that Kaido walked up to Saiki for the first one, the blush that littered his cheeks made Saiki want to gag for a moment.

“So, uh, Saiki, I have to ask you something.” Kaido uttered out lowly. Clearly, this was nerve wracking for him.

“What is it?” Saiki asked telepathically.

“Well, it’s about [Name], yanno, our [Name]?”

‘What other person has that name?’ Saiki thought. ‘And don’t say our, it’s creepy.’

“You see, I, well, I think I like him and I’d like your blessing to ask him out!” Kaido shouted, his body bowing at an almost 90 degree angle.

Normally, Saiki would just say to do whatever since he could read [Name]’s thoughts and see that he doesn’t like Kaido in that way. However, the one person in the world that Saiki actually wants is immune to his powers. He knew he needed to shut this down fast.

‘No way.’ Saiki responded.

“Thank you so much, Saiki, you won’t—wait—why not?” Kaido asked aloud, his voice getting higher the more he freaked out. He thought this would be easy, he means, it was Saiki. The most chill guy ever actually gave him a hard ‘no’ to asking out his best friend. Kaido shouldn’t be surprised, even though he is.

‘Because I said so,’ Saiki strictly put. He knew it was wrong to say this, who was he to say no to something that isn’t his business. Though, the feeling of relief that he still had a chance was more satisfying in the end.

By the time Saiki got to your house it was basically as soon as school ended. He used teleportation to get here as fast as he could, as well as just appear in your room. He wasn’t expecting you to still be asleep, though, he supposed this wasn’t too bad.

The pink haired male carefully walking up to the bedside of his best friend. It was odd to see your hair going in one direction instead of all over the place like normal, and don’t even get him started on the soft snores that came from your nose. Snoring isn’t usually the most attractive thing in the world, but this light snores from you made him think of the habit as cute.

Now, he would normally wake you up. But, just allowing himself to look at you for a moment longer without any consequences never hurt anybody. Saiki sat himself down on your floor, his eyes keeping to your closed ones as they slowly began to travel down to your lips. He doesn’t know what came over him, but it seriously began to freak him out when he started think about Kaido touching his lips with yours. After the freak out, jealousy was spiraling around in the psychic. He never knew that Kaido, of all people, would actually develop romantic feelings for you. If he did, he would have never allowed the both of you to interact the way you did at his house the other day.

Saiki let out a sigh before standing up once more, his hand came up to your shoulder slowly and began to shake it. It wasn’t long after that your eyes fluttered open and gave him that soft smile that caused his heart to skip a beat.

6. School Trip

The school trip was always the most looked forward to activity in high school. This year it was a three day trip to Okinawa. While you were excited to spend some time at a gorgeous place like Okinawa, Saiki was definitely less excited.

As kids talked with their friends in a group or just at their desks, you were currently sitting on top of Saiki’s desk with the pink haired boy sitting in the chair. This wasn’t something you always do, especially since at times Saiki has pushed you off out of retaliation, but after a moment or two of still being there, you knew he didn’t mind today.

“You excited?” You asked him.

“No. I don’t get the appeal.” He spit out, his eyes closing as he moved his head down. “I could get to Okinawa in three minutes.”

“Kusuo, not everyone is like you.” You explained. “So don’t go getting moody on this trip, I’m not letting you ruin it for me.”

“I won’t, I’m just saying a fact.” He replied.

You were about to continue with things you’re excited to do during the trip before Hairo came around to the both of you with a clip board in hand. He was responsible for dividing rooms.

“Saiki, [Name], did you guys decide on your group for the class trip?” He asked politely. “You should have three boys and three girls in your group.”

Saiki didn’t say anything, instead he just rested his head against your forearm. Perhaps he wanted Hairo to think he fell asleep and leave it to you, or maybe he was actually saying that he didn’t care as long as he was with you. Either way, you smiled at the contact and said to Hairo, “Kusuo and I will be rooming, it doesn’t matter who else is in our group.”

“Okay, great!” Hairo exclaimed as he wrote it down. “Kaido and Nendou are still available so I’ll just place Kaido with your group, and then randomly place you guys with a girls group.”

“Thanks, Hairo,” you hummed out as he walked away to probably inform Kaido about the rooming.

You never minded contact with Saiki, in fact, you sort of enjoyed it. However, seeing him still like this, even with Hario now gone, you worried.

“Hey, Kusuo,” you called out.

No answer.

“Kusuo?” You asked this time. And when he didn’t answer again you unconsciously moved your hand up to his head and moved it back to where you could look him in the eyes. Saiki’s face was still without expression, though, those eyes worried you. He seemed, almost, upset.

“Kusuo?” You asked. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, signaling that nothing was wrong. You knew he was lying.

You tilted your head, some of your hair moving with gravity to expose part of your forehead. “Why are you lying to me?”

“I’m not.” He said, his voice was steady and yet, that look in his eyes still bothered you.

You knew he wasn’t going to budge but still, just because you’re going to let it go now doesn’t mean that you weren’t about to keep an eye on him.

Throughout the beginning and the first day of the trip, you kept an eye on Saiki. He seemed way more tired than usual, but that didn’t startle you. Instead, it was how he was by your side more often now when Kaido was around. You weren’t an idiot, it was pretty obvious. You didn’t mind Saiki’s attention, but you didn’t want him to think just because you were friends with Kaido that he’d be put second.

“Kusuo, can we talk?” You asked him as the two of you had the room to yourselves. The others were out and about, but the two of you decided on an early night.

“About what?” He asked as he set up his sleeping area.

“Today.” You started out. “You’ve been acting weird around Kaido. Did something happen?”

You watched Saiki carefully, so carefully that you noticed his fingers lightly curl around the blanket. You didn’t want to push him, so instead of pushing him to speak, you allowed yourself to be silent and let him take his time. You don’t remember how many minutes pasted, but you swear it felt like decades.

“Nothing happened.” He informed you. “His thoughts just aren’t for my taste at the moment.”

“His thoughts?” You questioned as you slowly approached Saiki on his blanket until you were right in front of him. “Okay, then, what’s got you all bothered? Let me guess, he’s thinking dirty things, right?”

“Sort of.” He replied.

“I bet it’s about Teruhashi,” you theorized. “Is that why you don’t like it?”

“No, it’s not about Teruhashi.”

“Really? Then who?”

Saiki went quiet once more.

You sighed. Your head moving down to get a glimpse at his face. It wasn’t until you moved your hand over by his, your finger tips brushing with his accidentally to get more stability as you leaned in did you hear him finally confess.

“It was about you.”

To say that you needed a minute to take that in was an understatement. Kaido was a good guy and all, but it was kinda startling to realize he liked guys, as well as girls, since you didn’t suspect that even for a minute with him.

“Seriously?” You asked once more.

Saiki nodded. “He asked me if he could ask you out.”

“And what did you say?”

“No.”

You couldn’t help a smile crawl upon your face with that one. You knew it was a bit hard to read Saiki, especially when it came to you, but you were just beyond happy to hear that.

“Good,” you suddenly shot out. Saiki’s head moving back up in an instant to see your happy features. “I don’t like Kaido like that anyway, saves me from breaking his heart.”

“You don’t?”

“Nope.” You hummed out. You knew this may backfire on you in more ways than one, but right now, you didn’t care. The happiness you felt told you to take a chance and throw out the bait. “I know you can’t read my mind, but I actually do have someone I like.”

Saiki aimlessly stared at you for a moment and took in the words you confessed to him. It was an odd feeling, the rapid beating of his heart, but perhaps this was finally the start of things going his way for once.

On the second day of the trip, everyone went to Emerald Beach. It was one of the many places were people could stare at others and no one would think anything of it. A perverts dream. Though, for Saiki, he just wanted to hang out with you.

“Where’s [Name]?” Kaido asked Nendou as Saiki stood behind the two.

“He said he had to go buy a swimsuit. The one he brought apparently went missing.” Nendou told the blue haired boy.

Now, that want a mistake. Sure, it may have been a dirty trick but Saiki rather die than see you in the swimsuit you brought. After all, you bought a shirt with it. He knew you didn’t take off your shirt often, even at the beach, but he was determined to see you with just a pair of shorts.

Much like how all the guys that crowded around the girls changing house waited patiently to see Teruhashi in a two piece swim suit.

It was a while after Teruhashi came out, and when everyone was in the water that you made your appearance. You had your hands wedged into your swim shirt pockets as you allowed your feet to take in the hot sand that felt magical between your toes. You gazed around for a moment before noticing pink hair sitting under an umbrella.

A devilish smirk crawled on your features as you began to slowly approach the male. This may give Saiki a heart attack, but it was worth it. As you stood over him from behind, you attacked. Your body shot down as your arms wrapped aruund his neck and pushed your chest into his bare back.

“Hey, what’s a cute guy like you doing all alone at a place like this?” You teased, allowing your voice to go on for some time so that he realized it was just you.

Saiki immediately flinched at the contact before noticing it was just you. However, when he noticed the touch of your skin against his, he could feel his entire body heat up. The sensation was new, he’s felt his face go hot before, but his entire body was a new one.

“What took you so long?” Saiki tried to play off.

You just sighed and got a tighter grip on the male, your chest pushing more into his back. “Someone stole my swimsuit. Sadly, I didn’t have enough money to replace the whole thing, so I had to go by some swim shorts.”

“Hm, as least you’re here.” Saiki stated, making sure not to comment on the ‘stolen swimsuit’.

“Yeah,” you uttered as you released Saiki from your grasp and sat down next to him. You gazed out at the beautiful ocean that was filled with laughing people with this loving look in your eyes, all the while not realizing Saiki’s held that same gaze as he stared at you.

When you did turn to him, he completely lost himself in his mind as his eyes wondered about your figure. You weren’t the most fit guy in the world, but you did have these subtle yet enchanting muscle lines along your upper body that made Saiki lose himself.

“I saw that.” You suddenly said. Saiki’s eyes now darting back to yours. “You just checked me out.”

Saiki saw no way out of this one. So, he just confessed it. “So what if I was?”

In all honesty, he just expected you to laugh and tell him that it’s only fair if he does the same. However, the twist was unexpected and, well, definitely appreciated. He watched as you gazed down, this bashful look in your eyes as you did everything to avoid his gaze. Your body language wasn’t helping either. Your fingers were tapping against the towel and the heel of your foot was moving back and forth.

Maybe this trip wasn’t totally for nothing.

7. All That Was A Secret

Spring break. It was one of those weeks that Saiki went to go visit his grandparents all the way in the middle fo nowhere. So, for the most of this break, you were home alone.

It was kind of boring. This break was definitely not one that you looked forward to, more now then before, especially after the beach during the class trip. Those words always ended up repeating in your mind, way too much then you thought they would. Then again, you shouldn’t be surprised. All those days that you’d try to subtly touch him, tease him, it was just a way to relieve yourself of the pent up emotions you’ve had for him for a few years now.

Currently, you were in your room upon your bed, hugging one of your pillows close to your chest. You never tried to dwell on if Saiki felt the same or not, but recently, it’s been clawing at you more and more. It wasn’t like you didn’t think you had a chance, but more if Saiki was more comfortable just staying friends. You would understand, even if it would hurt, you’d do it for him. You’d do anything for that guy.

You sighed before slowly lifting your body off the bed. Today wasn’t a good day for being sad, it was summer break, after all. You knew you had to get your mind off Saiki, and him being away made it a bit easier. So, you grabbed some clothes from your closet and laid them on the bed. You weren’t sure what you were going to do, but you were determined to fine something to take your mind off him.

You let your pants drop to the ground before taking the ones on your bed and letting your legs slip through each of the pant legs. Next, you stripped your shirt off and took in a deep breath. You paused for a moment before dropping the dirty shirt on the ground and grabbing the new one. In all honestly, you never really pay attention to your surroundings when changing. But, does anyone? It wasn’t until your head went through the hole on the top of the shirt did you realize that the bed in front of you was now missing and the wall you were staring at was not the wall of your bed room. When you turned your head, you locked eyes with Saiki in an unfamiliar room.

“Huh?” You uttered under your breath before your eyes widened, your face felling hotter than usual before frantically pulling your shirt all the way down. Once down, you opened your mouth and said, “You can’t do that without me knowing! What if I was in the middle of a shower or something and not just changing?”

“I would have given you some of my clothes.” He replied nonchalantly.

You bit the inside of your cheek before crossing your arms over your chest. “Why did you teleport me anyway?”

“I can’t stand it here.” Saiki confessed. Of course, you knew he didn’t exactly enjoying visiting his grandparents but he has never done this before. “Just hang out with me. I’ll send you back after.”

You sighed. You can’t exactly say no after that, so, with that Saiki and you began to watch a movie. It wasn’t one you two watched before so it was easy to get lost in it. Though, it was also easy to focus on Saiki when he suddenly placed his hand on top of yours as you guys watched. You weren’t too sure if he thought you wouldn’t notice, but there was no way you were going to pull away. After all, it’s not like he placed his fingers between yours, if he did that, you don’t know if you could handle it.

After a half an hour into the movie you finally got the plot of it, and you weren’t amused at all. It was a best friends to lovers troupe. More specifically, childhood friends that drifted apart only to be brought back together by work and now slowly are developing feelings for one another. Let’s just say now, you were a little more than nervous.

Thank god Saiki couldn’t read your mind, because now, you feel like you’d give him a headache. You couldn’t help but ask yourself if he knows and is only doing this to taunt you, or maybe this was all just a big coincident. Yeah, one massive coincident. In reality though, Saiki was just teasing you. He had no idea of your feelings but he wanted to watch the movie with you to implant the idea in his mind of the possibility.

Well, his plan was working. Maybe a little too much. Though, as you were about to spit something out, your eyes suddenly shot down to the floor in embarrassment. Yep, a make out scene. Of course, Saiki had no idea about that, but it was better than just the sappy stuff cause now it was really ingrained in your head.

Once it was over and you had somewhat of your cool back you couldn’t help it. You needed to ask. If it blew up in flames, then so be it.

“Hey, Saiki,” you uttered out lowly. Saiki caught it immediately and turned his gaze on you. “I have a.. question.”

“What?” He asked.

“Well,” your voice trailed off as you moved your eyes down to where both of your hands connected. “We’ve been best friends for a long time now but, have you ever, um, thought about doing...that?

Saiki remained quiet for a moment, his thoughts going everywhere before thinking to himself, ‘All the time, actually.’

As much as he wish he could have said that telepathically, he could never try to say that vocally. So, he just opted for a nod and watched your body flinch. The hand he touched growing warm.

“You’re hot.” Saiki suddenly spit out. This time, you brought your hand back to your body so he couldn’t tell anymore.

“S-So what?” You stuttered out.

To say that Saiki didn’t like this side of you was an understatement. He’s never never seen you so flustered before, and it was really adorable to look at.

“It’s cute.” Saiki commented, his body leaning in just to see your face closer.

You turned your head to the side, eyes darting to the tv just to look away for a moment to compose yourself. You knew that there wasn’t gonna be another perfect moment like this so, you slowly reached over to place your hand on the back of Saiki’s neck. It was warm. When he noticed what you wanted as you started to lean back and gently pull him with you, he complied quickly until he gazed at you from above. Suddenly, he was jealous at the fact that Kaido got to see this view before him.

He stared at you for a moment before watching you bite down on your bottom lip, his mind doing backflips at the want to read your mind, but also at how good you looked under him.

“Kiss me.” You whispered under your breath, just loud enough for him to hear.

“If I do,” Saiki uttered lowly. “I might not be able to stop.”

“That’s okay.”

#male reader #saiki k #kusou saiki #the disaster of psi kusuo saiki #saiki k x reader #saiki k x male reader #saiki x reader #saiki x male reader #the disastrous life of saiki k.#the disastrous life of Saiki k x reader #x reader #saiki k headcanons

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vivifrage · 3 years ago

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2, 17, 34, 38

Oooh let's see!

2. Anything that you'd like to write but feel like you're unable to?

Hm. I can think of stuff for original work, but none particularly for fanfic? There's some things I haven't gone into because of time or flagging interests. I guess the one thing that I've repeatedly tried and failed to write is my post-Synthesis ending Mass Effect fic. Very OC-focused, I liked the characters, but I could never get beyond the first couple chapters. Pretty much just people getting used to the blend of organics and machines, plus the Reaper minions no longer being minions but still connected to their hive mind, from the POV of a Turian biotic now stuck with a faulty chip giving her headaches. She lived with her mom who was turned into a Marauder, and the boy she was trying to date was incredibly traumatized about Marauders specifically.

17. Past or present tense? Why?

Past. Couldn't tell you why, I hardly notice tense when reading. But I rarely write in present tense.

Already answered 34, but thank you!

38. "This never happened" fix-it fics or "this happened but" fix-it fics?

"This happened but" most of the time. I want to see people handling the stuff they've had to deal with. Heck, my entire Archivist PK AU is about that kind of thing.

(Send me fic writer asks!)

#Thanks for the ask!!

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mrslittletall · 4 years ago

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2, 6, 9, 17, 18, 23 and 24 for the Fic Ask Game/Meme. I am greedy and curious! 😂 Maybe leave some for others?

Fanfiction Ask Meme

Holy! Let me answer this before I go brush my teeth... 2: Do you focus on attention to detail when you read fics? Are you more or less attention to detail focussed when you write fics? Depends actually. Sometimes I put a lot of attention to detail, especially when it is a multichapter and it does foreshadowing, but sometimes I just want to read and not think. I put attention to detail in my own fics. Like, my Dark Souls and Bloodborne fics? You WILL find references to my other fics in those. They are all one giant spiderweb. Storm for example? Has references to Duel Gone Wrong and Keeping it Together. 6: What are some topics you will never write about? The soulmate AU and Hanahaki disease. I just... don't really know what to do with them and I don't find this whole being soulmates or being deathly ill while in love interesting. I used to be like this also about the Coffeeshop AU, but I kinda made up a Pale Watcher coffeeshop AU, soooo? Also, PLEASE ASK ME ABOUT MY HOLLOW KNIGHT PALE WATCHER COFFEESHOP AU. I want to talk about it. 9: Are there any fics you’d love to see but don’t want to write yourself? What are they? Everything I write myself pretty much. I write them because no one else does *sigh* Ah well, I like being creative. For a fic that I always wanted to see, Laurence (Bloodborne) getting his ass destroyed. While I wrote a fic of my own about this, an author heard my plea and did a WHOLE series about him getting his ass destroyed! Yas! Oh, also, for Hollow Knight, Hollow learns that PK is dead and has to deal with it. Give me the ANGST. 17: What has been the proudest moment for you so far since you started writing? Getting a whole ass animation for my fic. 18: Do you feel like your work gets enough recognition? What kind of feedback do you like to receive? For how small my fandoms are, I think I should be fine with the recognition I get, but I wish for a few more comments. For example, 42 people are subscribed to Storm, but I mostly get three comments tops on it. 100 people are subscribed to Off Balance, but I get around 10 to 15 comments. While I cherish every single one of them, that isn't even half of subscribers who are commenting. I would love to hear all of your thoughts. Of course I won't force anyone, just... know that if you want to say something, I will cherish you. I will never be annoyed by your comment (unless you are an asshole in the comment section). I would like to know what you liked about my fic and see your theories about where it is heading. Knowing if I foreshadow right ^^ 23: What’s one piece of advice you would give to anyone who wants to start writing or posting their writing online? Don't write for a crowd, write for your audience of one. If you try to appease a crowd, you won't get anywhere, if you write for this specific person with that specific niche interest in that specific tiny fandom, then you have won. 24: Which fic of yours do you wish people would ask about more? Why? Can I say all of them? Because I barely get asks anymore, pretty much since the big tumblr crash. And while 2019 was pretty fine, in 2020 everyone got Covid depression and well, since then asks are pretty much on almost zero. I would like to receive asks mostly about my ongoing WIPs, but also about ideas I have and haven't written yet (specific AUs and stuff, please ask me about them) and hm, my one shots. Send asks about my one shots. I often have fun facts about them ^^

#ask answers #thx for the ask #about my writing

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luuxxart · 4 years ago

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So if Ness and Tracy are Ana’s kids does that also make them Ninten’s kids too? What’s Ana’s relationship with Ninten? Same goes for the kids too. Also what are your ships?

1) Yes, I do headcanon that Ness and Tracy are Ana and Ninten’s kids!

3) M1: none; M2: Nesspaula, Jefftony; M3: Lucas/Fuel bc why not lmao

The second question’s more complicated so I’ll put it under a read more!

It’s probably best to put this in a timeline

So Ninten and Ana get together after the events of M1, and eventually get married

And they’re good friends, but here’s the thing... they’ve sort fallen prey to the Avril Lavigne Theory of Love

That is to say:

He was a boy

She was a girl

So it seemed pretty obvious that they were destined to get married

I tried to think of (semi realistic) ways that Ninten/Ness’ Dad got the money to put into Ness’ bank account so I settled on the idea of Ninten being an author

At first the books were abt his adventures in M1, so he could write them from home

But then his publisher demanded he start writing about more adventures, so he had to start traveling to dangerous places, and Ana simply didn’t want to leave the little small town of Onett

After all they’d worked so hard to finally achieve peace, so she just wanted to keep it

So quite a bit of distance grows between them

And in that time Ana realizes hm. men???? are men??? actually?? What I like???

The answer is no it was CompHet the whole time

So they separate but keep it chill. Ninten eventually starts writing about Ness’ adventures bc he can sense through the power of PK some stuff just went down at Meteor Hill

This is sort of all just to service the idea that well

It’s called Mother 2

So,,, Ness,,, has 2 Mothers :)

I don’t know who the other woman would be ,, the only other female character from M1 I remember is Pippi but I feel like she was actually baby in that game so idk if that would work out 20 yrs later

Whoever the other mom is she’s definitely the one that works at the library lmao idk why but I think it’d be cute since that’s the first place I usually visit when I play bc ,,, map and all

The kids don’t hate their dad or their moms. Ness sort of feels a little bitter that he didn’t get the fatherly experience that some of his friends have had, but he wouldn’t trade his moms for the world. Tracy doesn’t really care due to being like 2 when everything went down.

The kids don’t really know Ninten though. He only comes around for birthdays and graduations. Sometimes, due to a PK sense, he might come around when something really bad or really good happens. So, he kinda ends up just being like the cool uncle, y’know.

So to summarize, Ninten and Ana are good friends who thought they’d make a good married couple, but they ended up wanting different things out of life. No one’s angry with anyone, and Ninten comes around for the important events.

sorry this was so long lmaooo like I said,, I’ve got this longass story I’m waiting to tell as soon as writer’s block lets me go. although most of this would really just be stuff that’s inferred from dialogue and small hints of exposition.

#thank you so much for asking!#really makes me want to write this sooner #I wonder how receptive ao3 would be to it #is fanfic popular in the EB fandom? I’ve read one retelling before that changed everyone’s names haha #but that was back on Fanfiction dot net #ask

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yuvon-writes-letters · 4 years ago

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[When first taking it in youe hands the envelope seems a bit heavy]

Hey again guys!

As promised I am back in business ;)

But first things first...I am confused...Did I really go through such a personality change as Jake and Max told me? If I had realised I'd probably flip out by now...But I didn't and thinking about it gives me just a nice, calm feeling. I don't think that's too bad then.

About Goldie, Max told me that he wrote something over my part of the letter just after he sent it for us. I did not know, did not see it. A little bit weird, right? But maybe Goldie just put his part after I wrote my letter?

What I am worried about, though...He said he could not read what Goldie wrote. But his writing seemed...more brownish than golden? And now you're asking if he's okay. Is it even normal that I worry about an entity? And what do you mean with red text? I also apologise for reading this part that was for Goldie...I didn't see at first that it was for him.

I'd also like to no, aMiro? Weird. I don't know why, bur I believe it could be a name...What the name is, though...I have no idea and don't believe I'd know a name with all those letters.

Now to the past letters, I think I should explain myself: As Max already said we, we are not get any of the letters. When I woke up yesterday morning it just hit me. Knowledge of letters we never got. And those were many letters. It took me some time to line up my thoughts and knowledge of what you all wrote. So no, I won't open the dirty letter. I wouldn't even if I got it, promised [a smiling face is drawn here]

It is also good to be back, I just wish you wouldn't have to worry that much. But I guess somehow all of us do; with our lifes it cannot really be different I guess. Also, yeah, I believe black ink is easier. Or bitch. But I don't think I should always insult them.

To some things of the past letters, at first to what you two, Yu, Skei, encoded:

Sa'hh oqvahu xa wxha pk pwhg hega pdeo eb jaazaz.

Uqrkj, ukq'hh bejz w swu! E gjks pdwp!

Then to Rai: I am glad he was able to sleep and got a new job. He really needs some peace.

And for the love of..God? Goldie? Gods? I don't know. I'll find something that sounds more fun. I really hope there haven't been and won't be more 'Yuvons'. Or Liskas. Or Rais. Or Matts. I don't know, no one deserves to go through hell.

Flower is interesting..I don't know what more to say about them, maybe I'll come back to it!

And hm...Oh yeah, there was one more thing I wanted to try. It seems black ink was not able to properly send the 20 bucks.

Flower otherwise could send the crayon.

We are humans, but what if we try to send something? I'll put something inside the envelope, maybe it'll work and maybe not. Who knows, but I believe it is worth a try!

And I am sorry for not letting Jake or Max add anything to this letter, but I believe both of them are still asleep. (I kinda forced Jake to get some more sleep already. At least I know he's not online, so maybe he dpes sleep or maybe he does not. And Max..He is Max.)

~ Lis🔥🐾

[At the end something falls out of the envelope. It is a small magnet in form of a fox. It has a silver shimmer until you touch it for the first time. The magnet seems rusty on the back but is otherwise pretty intact.]

Hallo, Lis :)

Yuvon is sleeping in right now, for once in her life, so I will be answering all letters until she wakes up. I'd rather not wake her, you understand. I will catch her up later, and she will likely write a letter addressing you all later.

I am unclear what, precisely, Yuvon meant by "red text" as well. I see nothing of the sort. Yuvon seemed to be under the impression that Aur was weary, or drained somehow, and I shall take her word for it.

Actually, I believe you do know a name that uses all those letters :) You mentioned once you are a fan of the Mario games, yes? I doubt very heavily that is our answer, but I thought I should point it out.

Intriguing. I would presume that is Aur's doing, then. And it is good you will not open that letter; the description of what it did to Rai and the possible implications of what else it is capable of are disturbing.

No, actually, I do believe you should insult "Black Ink" as much as possible. Then again, I am biased.

I hope there will be no more Yuvons in danger this way as well, especially knowing that she will be alone for quite a time before she accidentally draws my counterpart to her world.

I do not think, though I admit I do not know for sure, that Flower was the one to send the crayon; Flower simply tweaked it in transit. As Flower seems to be... somewhat passive, now, I hope it will not happen again. And, yes, I received the magnet :)

I quite understand letting them sleep in, as you may imagine. I imagine your Jake may not be asleep, though: Jakes, or at least I as a Jake, drink coffee and energy drinks. I unfortunately have had to substitute sleep, as of late, due to the lack of caffeine.

If you would kindly stop reading here, Lis, and transmit a quick message to your Jake for me :)

Thank you,

Jake

Jake, something silver seems to be tying itself to Lis, somehow. It seems benign as of yet, and possibly benevolent, but do be aware.

#duskwood letter game #yuvon writes letters #duskwood #duskwood game #duskwood everbyte #duskwood jake #lis

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bonnieisaway · 5 years ago

Text

i got so brave, drink in hand

sneeze i’m sorry this is so late i- i just couldn’t work on this chapter. i promise the next one will be better..

chapter 1 | chapter 2 | wattpad link

Aiura knew that red strings were common in people.

Sure, a little pointless since, as far as she knew, she was the only one who could see them, but common. The problem was out of the eternity of PK Academy she'd only seen three.

And she saw the third on the day (L/n) transferred to her class.

°·.¸.·°¯°·.¸.·°¯°·.¸.°·.¸.·°¯°·.¸.·°¯°·.¸.

Saiki and (L/n) both sigh as they set their bags next to their desks and sit down. Saiki turns to see (L/n) yawning before turning to Saiki. Bags lined the underneath of her (e/c) eyes.

"Oh...hey Saiki.." She smiles drowsily. Saiki feels his face heat up at the cute action but is eliciting to ignore it. Nope. Not happening at all. He's not sure what you're talking about.

"How late did you get home last night?" He asks.

"Around 10.." (L/n) shrugs. "I stopped at a store on my way home and then I was up doing homework for while... But it's alright! I had some...caffeine earlier.."

"I'm sorry." Saiki apologizes. He wasn't even sure why he was apologizing. For keeping her out late? For making her take care of him?

"Nah, don't apologize. It's alright." She gives a heartwarming smile and Saiki- for once- thanks god that Teruhashi has joined the two to interrupt the conversation.

"(Y/n), are you okay?" Teruhashi asks worriedly. "You seem tired."

"Yeah." (L/n) nods. "I just..got to sleep a bit late.."

"How late?" Teruhashi asks.

"Ehehehe.... 4am...?" (L/n) laughs awkwardly. Teruhashi looks unamused.

"(Y/n)..!" She begins to reprimand.

"Kokomi!" (L/n) mocks her tone. "I had a lot of homework."

Teruhashi sighs and shakes her head. "You need better time management. How much of that did you spend playing on your phone?"

"..Ehheheh.." (L/n) begins to awkwardly laugh again. The poor girl obviously needed sleep. School started at 7am, she probably barely got 2 or 3 hours of sleep.

Before anyone else can reprimand the poor, sleep deprived girl, the teacher walks in the room, settling the students as they return to their seats.

"Good morning, class." The teacher begins.

"Good morning.." The class responds. Saiki only gives partial attention as she begins her lesson. He turns and sees (L/n) with her head in her hand and eyes half lidded as she drifts off. Saiki sighs as he nudges the girl under the desks with his foot. She snaps awake confused.

"Stay awake, idiot." Saiki reprimands, but there's a small grin on his face. (L/n) squints her eyes at him.

"Fine. Because you asked so nicely, Strawberry." She mutters under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear.

"...with that, you and your partner will choose a book from PK's library to report on.." The teacher continues to speak, as she writes on the chalkboard. "..due within two weeks from now. I have assigned your partners." Saiki feels the dread in his very soul. Ever since (L/n) showed up it felt like there were a lot of fanfiction cliches showing up and he wasn't sure how to feel about it.

The teacher begins listing partner pairs. "Kuboyasu and Kaido. Teruhashi and Yumerhara." She goes down the list of convenient pairs. "Mera and Hairo. Saiki and (L/n)." Ah, there's the cliche money maker. The teacher continues listing the names of background characters. Like Takahashi and Saiko. We don't care about Saiko in this fanfiction.

Anyway, (L/n) sleepily turns to Saiki as the teacher finishes her list and lets the partner pairs discuss. "So...what book are we doing?"

Saiki shrugs. "What kind of books do you read?" He asks. He's only doing this because its a normal conversation. With a normal girl. Who he is not growing fond of what so ever. Stop jumping to conclusions, reader.

(L/n) shrugs. "Any, really.." She hums for a second. "What was that one book..."

"Hm?" Saiki hums curiously.

"I don't remember the title.." (L/n) leans her head in her hand. "But I remember a quote. It was something like.. "'I see two lovers looking over the cauldron of hell. Are they contemplating a double suicide? This means their love will end in hell." I couldn't stop laughing.'"

Saiki thinks for a moment. He'd probably heard the line before due to telepathy.

"It's Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto." Saiki responds after a minute.

"Yeah, that one!" (L/n) snaps her fingers. "Have you read it before?" She asks.

"No. I just.. I've heard of it, before." Saiki lies. No, he has not read it, he just used his powers to find the book for the poor girl.

"It's probably in the library, wanna do that book?" (L/n) asks. Saiki nods. "Cool..cool.."

𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖𝕤𝕜𝕚𝕡

The homeroom bell rang and Saiki had no chance to go anywhere else before (L/n) starts dragging him by the sleeve to the library. "Come on! Better to start this now." (L/n) weakly beckons as they walk into the library. "Now where the hell is that book."

Saiki shrugs as (L/n) walks off to look for it. He could use clairvoyance and- yep, already found the book. Saiki walks over and grabs two copies of the book- one for him and one for (L/n).

"Alright, let's go." Saiki sighs. (L/n) snaps around with a 'are you fucking kidding me' face.

"I- oh what the hell. Let's go, Strawberry." (L/n) yawns, because clearly sleeping through the entirety of mathematics class was not enough for the poor girl. Saiki can't help but feel a small grin come across his face as the shorter girl takes a copy from his hand and begins walking to the librarian.

After the very rushed library trip begins a trek home with Nendo, Kaido, and Kuboyasu trailing along. Three annoyances and one tolerable girl.

"Hey, we should go get some ramen!" Nendo offers, as he does every day.

"Nah..I'm exhausted.. plus, I don't have money on me." (L/n) smiles.

"You want to get ramen every day, Nendo. Plus, I have homework and cram school." Kaido rolls his eyes.

"I've got to go...meet with someone." Kuboyasu excuses, which is code for "something that's entirely delinquent related that the author does not want to write."

"Damn.. okay. What about you, partner?" Nendo asks. Crap, he didn't have an excuse.

"I-"

"Actually, Saiki was gonna head over to my place so we could work on that book project." (L/n) excuses him, setting a hand on his shoulder as she looks up at Nendo. Saiki looks at her with adoration for a second- thank whatever God sent this girl to be the saint she is.

"That's not due for like, two weeks." Kuboyasu points out.

"We're not going to college for another year and Shun's still got his applications filled out." (L/n) comments.

"H-Hey! You know that's cause of my mom!" Kaido argues, face bright red. Saiki found the usual bickering to be quiet boring.. he figured he should entertain himself.

Hm.. maybe..

"Yeah, I know, I know." (L/n) grins. "Still funny."

Saiki looks at Kuboyasu. With boredom he's decided to see everyone's likability for (L/n). ..Huh. Solid 54. Not bad. He turns to Nendo next.

"Haha! Tell me, what college are you going to, runt?" Nendo asks. ..Hm. 58. Not too far off. He turns to Kaido.

"Shut up!" Kaido tries to elbow Nendo yet it does absolutely nothing. As per usual. ..94. Jesus. Saiki knew the two were close by some miracle but jeez. Only person left in the group was him, and he was confident in his emotions...

"Hey, this is where Saiki and I gotta split. See you guys!" (L/n) waves as they turn a corner.

"See you around."

"See you, partner!!! See you, friend!!!"

"Bye Saiki, (Y/n)!"

Saiki turns to the girl who stares off into space as they now walk quietly. Her (e/c) eyes were half lidded with exhaustion and she was beginning to fall asleep while walking she was so tired.

"Hey, Strawberry..." (L/n) starts, dragging out his nickname.

"What is it, (L/n)?" Saiki sighs.

"I'm tired... wanna carry me..?" She grins half-assedly. Saiki rolls his eyes.

"No."

"Come oooon."

"Absolutely not." Saiki refuses. (L/n) pouts cutely and crosses her arms for a second, deep in thought. 'Well, I could just..' Oh no. (L/n) falls out of Saiki's line of vision for a second but he isn't necessarily surprised when the girl just jumps on his back without warning. He sigh heavily as he stops walking.

"Hah, can't avoid it now, Strawberry!" (L/n) grins over his shoulder.

"I could just drop you." He sighs.

"Please don't."

Saiki rolls his eyes into oblivion and continues walking with the sleepy girl on his back. She's quiet but her thoughts roll on. 'Hm..his hair is soft. And he smells like vanilla."

Saiki's face warms up. For some odd, unrelated reason. No sir, not related to that at all. Not sure what you're talking about. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a..number..?

Ah, that's right, he was using the likability to see how everyone felt about (L/n). The tracker floated in the corner of his vision, a solid "70" written on the board of it. Weird. The last person around (L/n) was only Saiki.

It must've just glitched out. Don't get happy here. His powers have just been.. wonky lately. That's it. As he continues to walk, dismissing the totally glitchy meter, the girl on his back slowly begins to drift off.

𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖𝕤𝕜𝕚𝕡

When you woke from your sleep, not even realizing how comfortably you dozed off on the poor boy, he was standing in front of your apartment building. "Will you get off now?" He asks impatiently. You giggle and slide off his back, landing hard on your feet.

"Thank you for the Uber." You grin. He gives you a less then amused look and you can't help but laugh at the unamused face t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶d̶o̶r̶e̶.̶ "Sorry, sorry. But really. Thanks for tolerating that."

Saiki thinks to himself for a second. "It's...alright. There's more annoying people I know." He sighs. You look at him for a second- did he just compliment you? Did Saiki Kusuo, the ever done-with-your-shit tsundere, just give you a backwards ass compliment?

No.

Don't lie to us, Saiki.

You smile at him after a second. "Well- I have to tend to..something. I don't know. I probably have work to do, so.. bye!" You smile, waving as you walk into the building. He waves slightly before walking away. You climb the stairs up to the second floor, and unlock your door, popping in and kicking off your shoes. You drop your bag at the door.

"OH my god FINALLY." You scream to yourself. Yes, you lived alone, parents...parents and siblings long gone. You shook the thought of them from your head as you wandered through your apartment to your kitchen as you hummed some American song from the 2000s to yourself. Opening the kitchen cabinets revealed..

..well, not much. Shit. You sigh to yourself. You hadn't gone shopping in forever, which, was a given since you'd found yourself so busy. Life seemed to become hectic since you met Saiki but that was alright. You thought he was cool. You pause as you close your cabinets.

The thought of his eyes crossed your mind. They weren't special, if anything bland, but there's nights where the purple color is all you can see in your head. You weren't necessarily sure why. His eyes were just.. pretty. You should tell him some time. You shake the thought from your head as you walk to your bedroom, choosing to change out of your school uniform.

After having chosen a comfortable outfit that fit your style, you grabbed your keys, wallet, phone and put on your shoes. It's shopping time, baby. There was a convenience store you usually went to about 20 minutes away from your apartment. So you went down the stairs, nearly falling on your face quiet a few times, and exited your apartment building and began the trek to the store.

As you walk, your thoughts begin to wander. You'd never think before that at 16 you'd be living alone in your own apartment. Thinking back to the events that lead you here...

Well, you didn't like to think of it much. The thought that truly, you were the last person in your family alive. In some fucked up way, it could remind you of that one game...What Remains of Edith Finch? You push the thought from your head, chosing to hum whatever song comes to mind first.

You didn't really like dwelling on the depressing things of it all. Of course, sometimes, it couldn't be helped, but if you had the choice..

You enter the store as you clear your thoughts, arriving at your destination finally, and hopefully avoiding the author's shitty monolouging. You walk through, grabbing the necessities, and by necessities I mean junk foods that would definitely disappoint Hairo if he saw this. But he is not here, so you are free to grab an extra package of coffee jelly and an extra box of pocky.

You check out with only a slight judgmental look from the cashier and begin your trek home. We're just speeding through this chapter! As you walk along you feel something soft brush against your leg. You look down and what do you see? A cute little cat!

The white cat has violet eyes that cant help but remind you of Saiki and a collar with the label 'Sai.' You bend down, setting down your two bags, and pick up the cat. "Why, hello there!" you smile.

Sai stared back deadpanned. "Well, you remind me of someone I know an awful lot." You snort, setting the cat back on the ground and petting its head before picking up your bags and continuing to walk. After about 5 minutes, you notice the cat is still following you. You stop to turn to it for a second as it stares back up at you.

"You're awfully persistent, huh?" You smile. "I'm sorry, kitty, my landlord doesn't allow cats." You continue walking.

..And so does this damn cat. He's persistent and every time you tried to lose him in a doorway he'd dart in seconds before the door shut and nearly scared the shit out of you every time. Which is why he is now sitting patiently on your living room couch.

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Okay, look, first of all, Saiki has a PERFECTLY good explanation. And second of all, this is not his fault. At all. He wasted his precious time to turn into a cat because Amp was bothering him once he got home. Shenanigans happened, and Amp got mad at him and he lied that he was going home, and that he didn't live at his house, so that Amp would stop bothering him. Amp would not believe him so to sell the story he just followed (L/n) home because she wouldn't kick a cat to the curb. Thankfully, she didn't but now Saiki is here.

The problem is that (L/n) won't take her eyes off him so he can't just teleport and she's not opening the door any time soon. Which is an issue because Saiki would like to get home and play his game. But no. He gets stuck in this situation. Fuck you, Author.

(rude.)

(L/n) turns and picks up Saiki, or should I say Sai, and he can't help but sigh and curse Amp for leading him into this situation. He can't move much because he can't control his strength well like this and generally it'll just end badly. So he can't.. really do much as (L/n) sets what she assumes to be a normal cat in her lap and pets him gently. All he can think right now is 'please kill me.'

"Hm.. you've gotta belong to someone. I haven't seen you around before, kitty, are you lost?" She asks, as if the fucking cat would respond. Saiki is very bitter right now. And does not want to be pet. He squirms out of her grip and winds up across the couch. "Yikes, okay, I got it."

She sighs. "God, I can't go finding some cat owner.. I've got homework and shit.." (L/n) runs a hand through her hair as she turns around. Fuck it, that's all he needs.

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You turn back around. "We- What the fuck?!" The cat was gone. You snapped your head around, he didn't even seem to be in the apartment before. What- what the actual fuck?? Were you hallucinating??

..Yeah.. We'll call it hallucinating. You sigh as you flop at your kitchen table. You had homework.. and commissions.. and you were supposed to reread Kitchen. You glance at the book tossed to the side on your table. You'd read it once but that was years ago, when you were practicing Japanese. You were, simply put, stressed and tired as hell. It'd be another late night for you and just..

You'd think that through later, you told yourself, as you pull some bullshit math worksheet from your bag, pencil tapping as your eyes scan the problems. You were stressed but life was good. It was odd...

This stretch of happiness couldn't last long.

__________________

tl;dr, go read kitchen.

#sorry #i know it's. really bad #saiki k x reader #saiki k #saiki kusuo no psi nan #i havent posted in a while #saiki kusuo #my writing

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the-house-of-the-nine · 7 years ago

Text

The Void Forge: Optimization, Part 1

] | [ Hello friends! This is the long time coming finale to our Void Forge Saga. Yes it has been awhile. Yes it has gone incomplete, but I am no longer lazy and want to finish it! The list of muses are marked respectively as follows for each specific mun. . .

Lazarius Kash’ebahl - LK

Siida- Ray Kash’ebahl - SK

Pyravari Kash’ebahl - PK

Maliscia Dawnblood - MD

Zalra Azurestar - ZA

Vanderlaine Mindweaver - VM

Please enjoy the read of this first part. Pass along, Share, Reblog, Smash the Like Button, Contact me via message! Whatever you feel floats your boat! We’re currently writing in our sixth installment “In Depths Below” and would love new faces and characters! Thank you all, and without further interuption. . . ] | [

Three Weeks After Grim Batol . . .

[ L.K ] And so it was that in the days to come. Lazarius would keep his promise to begin the preparations to transport several of the higher ranking officers to the deserts of Uldum to begin looking for the parts of the forge they were building, which were lost among the sands of a ancient desert.

Kross had been missing for quite some time, dealing with this and that. Attending to the broken and beaten Brox Sulfin who suffered a might hard beating at the hands of some of the Blackiron Clan. But, as was the duty of being the steward to the Inquisitor, it was also his responsibility to move messages back and forth. And seeing has how he was rather deft and light on his feet when it came to moving from place to place quickly, Lazarius would urge him to get several of their Tanaris outposts southward and through the large gates into Uldum.

On the third day, Lazarius had finished packing what they would need. Very little in regard to clothing, and supplies. No all of that would be attended to when they got to the base camp. He was grabbing texts and notes. Maps and things of that nature. Items that would aid them in the discovery of the reason they were there. Two matter decanters and two system recovery vessels.

These things that at one time would have been used to create Earthen, and ancient beings that inhabited the world. Now would be used to pump blood and flesh through the Forge in order to fuel it as it siphoned living matter of its void power.

Vanderlaine Mindweaver, Maliscia Dawnblood, Zalra Azurestar and his sister, Siida- Ray Kash’ebahl were all presented with letters the night after they had all met in Quel'thalas and discussed taking the once private trip between he and the Blood Magus, into a full on excursion of a large chuck of their main force.

Which honestly was not a bad thing. He rather enjoyed spending this much time with new faces and people who were eager to contribute.

As it stood, the request was simple. Pack only what you need, and prepare for a two or three week long engagement. They would be meeting in the chambers of the Inquisitor. And upon every last one of them doing so, they would bare witness to something that perhaps only half had, had the pleasure of seeing.

The mysterious gateway Lazarius kept. His double door closet was opened, and when activated, instead of seeing the inside of his wardrobe, they would see the inside of a Zeppelin already in flight it seemed as they were watching what seemed to be the lower deck, and it was facing a window. The movement outside indicated they were actually going to enter a moving zeppelin. And it was the case. When the five of them walked through the door, they would step into one of the Nines only remaining airships from the first culling.

It had been a relic of the past, but still in working order. And despite the fact that it would be pirated by a single crew that was dedicated to keeping it in working order for their trades and transports. It was a fairly fast vessel that at one time Asphodel, he and his former shade, Sydran, all hijacked.

As they looked back through the closet door of the zeppelin, they could see Lazarius' chamber. But after the door such, and perhaps one of them went to go open it again, it would be nothing more than storage. That was how quick the gateway vanished. They would remain in the lower deck. The captain greeting them, he was a goblin, go figure, but they did make excellent ship captains.

Lazarius would urge them to get comfortable. As it stood they were still currently flying over the Southern Barrens. Another eight hours at least. But as it was growing to be nightfall, they would have time for some banter, perhaps a bit of quiet conversation. And then off to bed. Where, the next day they would most certainly be in Tanaris. And by mid-day, docking in Ramkahen.

[ S.K ] Siida was beside herself...most would have possibly shown a little trepidation at the idea of going through a portal onto a moving target. Logically the magic was sound, but there was always room for horrible error...like the ship moving beyond where the portal was, but this didn't stop the youngest Kash'ebahl sibling from jumping through the closet and onto the ship. Those pale leaf green eyes took in the sights while her other senses were flooded.

The wood of the ship was warmed from it's travels over the barrens, she could hear the sound of the machines powering the zepplin...and well...she imagined something about what she heard was a delightful argument in the Goblin tongue. The moment the captain was done speaking, it was like a a force had been unleashed from a long slumber as Siida began to explore the lower decks before pausing at a window, mystified by the view.

[ V.M ] Vanderlaine would be locked away in his cabin, or a spare room away from the others, writing away... He was always writing, but he had no friends or family. Who was he writing to? The Headmaster had packed extremely light. No food, no drink, naturally--or unnaturally, only parchment, ink, quills, and a few extra robes, pants, and one pair of boots. Other small items were in his pack, but nothing worthy of note.

[ L.K ] Lazarius on the other hand, would move to the very back deck of the Zeppelin. Fully railed and safe, he would be leaning over the safety handrail as the Zeppelin chugged along at its quick little pace. Well quick for a balloon filled with a gas.

He watched the world pass him below. His black eyes trained on the setting sun on the horizon. The Southern Barrens were hot this time of year. Summer months always increased the temperatures. Even as the sun set, and the clear sky opened to expose the moonlight soon after.

[ Z.A ] It was a panic filled rush, but she managed to catch up with the others joining, though, in classic Zalra fashion, she was the last to arrive. Which elicited an embarrassed flush on her freckled cheeks. Once she stepped into Lazarius’ chambers, she watched him open his wardrobe to display a familiar gateway. She couldn’t help but smile with sudden excitement when she saw the zeppelin’s quarters through the portal.

Through the journey, Zalra remained silent. To pass the time she was mostly sitting with her nose buried in a tome the Inquisitor gave to her. She was most likely terrified to go on deck. This was the first time traveling this way as well as visiting Uldum.

[ L.K ] His eyes remained poised on that sunset, but as the silence of the group became obvious he would look back into the lower deck of the zeppelin. That quiet little area with a table, and benches. Storage for food and drink and such. A place where they could relax and talk. It was like a little mobile cabin.

Lazarius noticed Zalra sitting and reading, and called to her. "Miss Azurestar. . . why don't you join me? The view is simply wonderful. . . you can nearly see the Crossroads from here."

He was very comfortable at the height and speed they were going, so much so that his back was now facing the open air, as he sat against the railing and gripped it with a single hand.

[ Z.A ] She was so absorbed in the journal she read, that Zalra almost missed Lazarius call out to her. Everything around her was fuzzy as she focused; as if she was fading away and only paid attention to her studies. Nothing else existed.

“Hm?” she gasped, snapping out of her daze. “Er...y-yes of course, Lord Kash’ebahl.”

She murmured. She hurried up the stairs to the deck and froze when she noticed Lazarius. He was just…sitting atop the rail with confidence that did not stir well with her. Her stomach lurched, and she took a quick step forward, before hesitating before him. Was that worry she felt pounding in her chest?

Clearing her throat in embarrassment, she closed the distance still between them and stood to his side. Instead of pulling off the Inquisitor’s stunt, she just leaned against the rail and looked out to the passing lands. It was a beautiful sight, despite the barren landscape.

“You know...I’ve never been to Kalimdor let alone Uldum.” She admitted, taking in the view.

[ L.K ] “Well I can only assume since you were never privileged during the first or second wars, and then of course Arthas tearing through Quel’thalas. I would guess you were always around Stormwind. But you’ve never been here?”. He smiled at the naivety of the comment and peered back over his shoulder.

[ Z.A ] Zalra’s hands tightened against the wooden rail in response to Lazarius’ assumption. The reaction was automatic and she could not stop herself before he would have potentially noticed. Her lips pressed into a thin line while her gaze remained glued to the barren sights; though, it was clear, her mind was not entirely present.

“No,” she murmured for only the Inquisitor’s ears.

“I have only been living in Stormwind since Alleria’s intervention with Umbric and his people.” This information was missing chunks of her past and almost did not make sense without context. Did she elaborate further, though? Not exactly. The more she spoke the more holes demanded explanation.

“Before my corruption, I lived in the coastal mountains bordering northern Twilight Highlands.” She kept her words vague before turning to face Lazarius.

[ L.K ] “This is mostly it...hot, desert, more hot and more desert. A lot of desert.”. He would slowly turn to accompany her as they glanced into the horizon. Her answer was enough to leave him without much further poking, so he changed the subject.

“Ive traveled most of the planet. It will be my first time here as well, I am excited.�� he responded shortly after.

[ Z.A ] A small smile finally tugged on her lips. “Well, a new experience for the both of us then!”

[ S.K ] While some enjoyed the views and others spent time in their rooms, Siida was more curious about the ship and its crew. This curiosity landed her at a table with other goblins, who were playing an odd game of dice. It was about deception and knowing your opponent...it goes without saying that Siida was not the best at the game, but she was making friends.

[ L.K ] ”Join us down below Siida.”. Came a voice that entered into her mind softly.

It appeared that during the conversation he was having with Zalra, he was also speaking to his sister. “When you are free of course, do mingle and enjoy this, calm. You need only think back what you wish to speak, I will hear it.”

[ S.K ] At the table, Siida would look around, expecting to see Lazarius standing there...bit then she remembered the wonderful talents that he and Asphodel shared when it came to communications.

“I will be there in a moment.”

Excusing herself from the game, Siida moved down to the place that Zalra and Lazarius were. Much like with her friend, Siida's heart leapt up into her throat seeing Lazarius sitting like that...but the view won her over instantly as she moved to the railing.

"Wow!"

[ Z.A ] Suddenly, Siida was by her side. She flashed the young Kashe’bahl a polite smile and bowed her head softly.

“Enjoying yourself?” She giggled. This was a rhetorical statement more than a question, she knew she was.

She eventually did fall silent once the conversations started rolling; focusing more on listening than speaking.

[ V.M ] Vanderlaine's hand paused. He sighed softly and set his quill into its well and pushed the piece of parchment he was writing off to the side to dry. The Headmaster stood up and decided to join the others, wherever they were. He walked out of his corner to the lower deck where Lazarius and company were.

"Greetings everyone," he spoke quietly as he approached the other three from behind.

[ L.K ] “Vanderlaine.”. Lazarius acknowledged as Siida rushed past toward the railing to look out.

“I suppose it is a bit of a culture shock to jump through a temporal gateway...but you all seem to adjust to it rather well.”. Lazarius was in fact referring to the thoughts Siida had about a moving target, remember he could hear them.

“The difference between arcane portals and tears in space time...moving or not moving, the gateway is routed to that door, it’s a tear in the fourth dimensional wall. Bridging gaps. So..activate and it’s there, deactivate and the bridge closes. Quite ingenious.”. He smiled and looked back over his shoulder at that still burning sun as it set.

“I am hopeful this will be a simple retrieval.”

[ S.K ] “With such a team of minds gathered I can't imagine us failing." Siida spoke up after a moment, clearly absorbed by the beauty around her. She'd chosen to wear a dress fitting to the climate and the wind was playing with the light fabric, thankfully she'd had the sense to capture her hair back with a bit of ribbon.

"This ship is astounding...”

[ L.K ] “I claimed this from one of the men following the leader of a rival faction a few years ago.”. Lazarius would be dressed in his typical attire, a robe, chains, armor plates etc. Though his hood was drawn back in the heat.

“Z’, and his cult The Gallows of...Well we just called them The Gallows. They were planning to ambush us with this, Asphodel, myself and a shade who once served with me named Sydran, we captured and took the vessel. Killed the commander, and ever since...it has sort of been the flagship of The Nines Air Force.”. He laughed, simply because this airship WAS their air force.

”It does come in handy for transporting goods though, immensely useful for moving heavy items across lines where it would be less easy to go by caravan or boat. And Captain Gearsman... though a pain in the ass, is a fine captain, I’ve never once been disappointed with his performance and prowess behind the helm.”

[ V.M ] Vanderlaine stood behind the three, looking out past their heads at the sunset, "You have had so many adventures, haven't you Lazarius? I feel like you have lived a hundred lives before I met you. You must tell me about your misadventures sometime, Lord Inquisitor."

[ L.K ] Lazarius did smile at the comment. He would lightly pad his fingers along the wood safety rail as he nodded to the man.

“You would be correct in saying. The order has a long an extensive lineage. We’ve done quite a bit. Perhaps once this forge is complete I may take you to the altar of the men and women who once stood against us . The survivors of The Gallows were hunted down, and from their bones Asphodel and I constructed an altar to use for rituals.”. He laughed again and nodded some more.

“Misadventures or plenty.”

Lazarius silenced himself as the group continued their trip, his arms slowly raised upward and crossed against his chest as he peered from face to face.

“As far as I know this will be the first time for any of us to venture into this realm. Vanderlaine here is a scholar of Tol’virian history, it may be our best lead. Though the reason we are coming here is for Titan tech. I’ve a very good lead on some of those Schnottz force fools have what we need.”

[ Z.A ] Her attention quickly shifted to Vanderlaine, “Is that so? I’m curious to learn more about this Tol’virian...er…history.” she continued to grin brightly.

“Do you have any notes you wouldn’t mind someone reading?” she asked. Ever the curious and studious one.

[ V.M ] “I have been to Uldum several times since it was first made open to the outside world. I have traversed every inch of that sandy oasis. If these parts are there, I will find them--we will find them, and on the topic of notes. . .perhaps once we return to our home I will allow you to peek." the Felblooded professor leaned against a wall, still behind the party,

"I call it an oasis, but Uldum is a cruel and unforgiving place. Sandstorms are as common as light breezes. I hope you all have the proper attire: face covers, full body robes, goggles, would be useful. Sand burn is not pleasant.”

[ Z.A ] She nodded and passed her glance toward Lazarius once more, she tilted her head softly. “Parts for…what?”

[ L.K ] “For our forge.”. He said clearly. His eyes a flame with dark violet energy.

“Reverse engineer tech from the titans. They once used them to create life. Earthen mostly. We are going to use it in a reverse mentality...it will sap life, very specific life. Fueled by the Azerite we are currently preparing to harvest using Gallywix’s own men and our brilliant illusionist. We shall have an endless supply of power and energy to fuel it. But we are lacking vital parts...”. He would smile widely at the though.

“Think of this like a large scale rummage sale...and we’re looking for the pieces to complete our collection.”

[ Z.A ] Zalra blinked, “Oh. Right. Sap life…” she murmured. She cleared her throat, shaking off her rising thoughts of worry. Deep down, she wasn’t truly surprised of such a project transpiring.

[ S.K ] “And you'll know the pieces when you see them Professor Mindweaver, brother?" Siida had been listening even if she was taken with the view.

"Or will this be a wild goose hunt and we hope we bring back the right pieces?”

[ L.K ] “Ive made sure that once we arrive and camp is established, the local merchants are willing to trade with us. Despite the fact that they are neutral to the world, most of them do have a liking for the things of the modern world. So we have a fairly good connection there to stock up on supplies.”. Lazarius would hold his hand outward, and they would see a void construct form in his palm, about the size of a cantaloupe, there were the parts, slowly rotating, allowing them to see them.

“I do not do anything simply on a hunch. I know what they look like and the tomb is right for where they would have had a facility. According to old maps and the spies i have, they currently are excavating the entrance.”. Lazarius would hold up his other hand, and there would be an image of some Titan writing on the doors of Ulduar. Beside it, the image of the doors where they are going. Identical.

[ Z.A ] Zalra stepped closer, poising to lean in with absolute astonishment at the images that danced upon Lazarius’ palms. It took everything in her power to not “Ooo” at the display. But! She was a reserved adult and would be much too embarrassed to let the other side of her to show publicly. So, she remained silent; biting the bottom of her lip softly. And that quiet remained as she still had yet to utter a word. Usually preferring to listen, instead. Her ears, however, flicked absentmindedly and pulled her attention to the Inquisitor.

[ L.K ] “Clear the camp, and we will move in and take control and maintain it.”

[ S.K ] “How hard will it be the clear the camp?" Siida's tone was gentle, soft. It held the same air it often did when there was possible violence on the horizon. Matters of course have since changed, she had family to protect, budding friendships.

[ L.K ] “That depends on how hard they make our job, doesn’t it. If they choose to come out fighting, well. . . then we shall retaliate with a forceful response right back.” Lazarius remarked to his sister at her question.

[ V.M ] “So there will be fighting involved on this trip?" Vanderlaine sighed and shook his head, "if we must.”

[ L.K ] “If you would prefer to not get your hands dirty, Headmaster, I will gladly do as I must to ensure that the excavation site is clear for you to examine... certainly a bit of death does not prohibit someone such as yourself from moving forward?”. He said with a grin.

[ V.M ] Vanderlaine glanced at Lazarius with an amused look on his face, "I will destroy as many poor souls as you ask me, Inquisitor. I am not fond of killing, but I am quite good at it."

[ L.K ] "We've spoken at length about your. . . fond nature toward the subject, in case you don't recall. If you would prefer to be strictly a scholastic observer here and do the heavy lifting when it comes to research. . .I am quite fine with that." He would bow his head. "No disrespect, but I am rather fond of extracting life. All in the name of chaos."

[ V.M ] “As I said, I will kill if you ask me. I have no moral issues with the idea," he would smirk briefly and shake his hand at the Inquisitor, "if my stomach begins to churn thinking about all that carnage we will surely create, I will be the first to let you know, my dear Lord Inquisitor.”

[ L.K ] "Consider those that we are eliminating. . . a favor to the world, the Schnottz . .whatever they call themselves. . . are most vile and horrid, it is a great service to be ridding the world of their acts. They tend to destroy more of the worlds artifacts than save."

[ V.M ] “Well then it is settled," he pushed himself off of the wall and clapped his hands together.

"If they are destroying relics of the past, then not only will I wipe them off of this swirling world of ours because of loyalty, but now... I have a personal interest in their demise, as any creature that will willing do such a horrible and heinous act deserves no mercy," he settled back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest.

"So you need not feel any guilt about turning me into a machine of bloodshed. I know it weighs so heavy on you.”

[ Z.A ] She straightened her posture, and her expression remained neutral despite the nature of the plan. Her violet eyes flickered to Vanderlaine as a thought flitted suddenly across her mind. This man sure did babble a lot when it came to battle. Desperate to simmer his conscious maybe? Eventually, Zalra looked around to each of those who were gathered and noticed, still, she had yet to speak.

“Er…” she began, trying to fit in. “I’m quite…er…lost on most of the matter but…”

Oh, this was going so smoothly. “I’m here to help with whatever is needed, as well. Of course.”

[ V.M ] The Headmaster's darkened eyes soon fell upon Zalra, as if pulled to her presence. He always knew when someone was thinking about him... he cocked his head to one side and studied the woman carefully--silently, before inevitably speaking to her directly. "I do not believe we have ever met Surely, in such a place like Uldum, I would like to know my traveling companions personally. I am Vanderlaine Mindweaver, our little circle's Headmaster."

[ Z.A ] The Sin’dorei disguised woman kept an even gaze with the man before her. Or, at least tried. It would be a bit hard if he were taller than her astounding five foot, five inches. Regardless, she did not flinch away. Uncharacteristic of her, but her stiff reaction was due to that knowing stare Vanderlaine had toward her.

“Oh! Yes. I’m Zalra Azurestar. I am fresh to the Nine.” Her voice was still quiet when she spoke. Her tone gentle yet, clearly socially awkward.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Headmaster Mindweaver.” Her eyes finally broke from the other’s gaze as she bowed politely for a moment.

“Forgive my i-ignorance on this journey. This is not a subject or location I am familiar with. So, I apologize in advance if I…m-mess up?”

[ M.D ] Maliscia had spent the trip so far within a room, avoiding the others and focusing on her books and notes. Finally, thirst brought her from her room to seek out a bottle of wine.

During her search she stumbled upon the others lost in their conversation. Her amethyst gaze scans the group, Lazarius, Vanderlaine, Siida, and .... someone she had never met. She watched the little interaction between the Headmaster and the timid elven woman and stepped up behind her.

[ S.K ] "There is no need to apologizing when you've stepped up to help everyone without knowing the full scope of the mission...it's a little fool hardy, but what ever came from playing it safe all the time." Siida would pat Zalra lightly on the shoulder, watching Maliscia approach from behind and simply offered the woman a smile.

[ M.D ] "Do we have ourselves a stowaway?" She queried with a low tone.

[ L.K ] “Maliscia. How good of you to join us I believe this is the perfect opportunity for me to introduce Zalra, another of our eager initiates, and the one you made that disguise for.”. Lazarius inclined his head and peered down over a turned up nose, his black eyes swirling with the galactic energy within himself.

[ Z.A ] Stepped up. That wasn’t the most accurate description of her involvement, but Zalra did not find a need to correct the younger woman. Regardless of how she got here, she was ready to do what she needed to assist. Though, that embarrassed flush was permanently on her cheeks at the harmless “foolhardy” comment.

A small gasp escaped the woman as she spun to face the source of the new voice. A gorgeous elf stood before her, and Zalra found herself floundering for words to respond to the stranger. Thankfully, Lazarius spoke for her. Bless. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” She inclined her head towards Maliscia in a polite gesture. But was more or less silent as Lazarius was still speaking.

“And now, what better a perfect opportunity to debrief all of you on why and what we’re going after and can expect than now, yes?”

[ M.D ] "Charmed. . ." She hissed with a low tone.

[ L.K ] Calmly he pushed himself up from the railing. His hands would tuck against his body as he crossed his arms over his chest and peered toward the group of them. When there was a moment to speak, he would take it.

"Without these parts, we'll never be able to get the engines running. As brilliant as we are. Even with the aid out outside sources, we're going to need Titan tech to reverse engineer a way to get these things running. Thats why I brought in Whistletorque to work on the Azerite samples. If Verzatea and he can somehow break the key to using it. . .we'll need to have a way to convert it into energy."

Lazarius slowly made his way back into the main deck of the lower floor. Whether they followed or not, he was going for the large heavy bottle plugged with a cork that was sitting on the mess hall dining table. A bottle of aged port. He'd pour himself a glass and take a sip. "Could go smooth, could be a mess. . . I just want you all to be prepared for the worst."

[ M.D ] Maliscia stepped a bit away from the group finding something to lean on as she turned her focus to Lazarius as he began his little speech.

[ L.K ] So much happening, so little time to get things in order.

“Ive decided to also move our order. The last of our things are being processed as we speak. By the time we finish here, we shall be in Northrend.” Lazarius slammed down another large mouthful of the thick red liquid and sighed.

“With all that is happening right now...”. His eyes fell on Vanderlaine, then Maliscia, his sister, and finally Zalra.

“Im looking toward you all to do all that you can and some. This order needs leadership, and you’ve all demonstrated that in one way or another. I can’t do this without any of you.” His tone was rather somber, also saddened, yet thankful.

[ Z.A ] As Lazarius drank and spoke of their plans, Zalra found her former seat on the floor where the tome she was reading lay. Getting comfortable, she did not comment on the man’s words. Most of what he informed the others of, had been shared with her already.

Though, his leadership compliment threw her for a loop. She wasn’t expecting that. In fact, she was looking toward him with shock and doubt those words were meant for her. Helping? Sure. She was ready to contribute to the best of her abilities! Leading something? Absolutely not. But, why be the downer here? She gave him a bright smile, instead. Just smile and nod.

[ S.K ] Siida was pleased to see Lazarius relaxing and as he spoke of what they needed...she would listen, taking notes.

[ L.K ] “I suggest we all. . .take this time to reflect, rest and prepare. . .”

As the later hours started to get closer....

[ L.K ] . . .the goblins would begin to light small torches and candles throughout the zeppelin. They were currently over The Thousand Needles , or what was left of it, taking a less obscure route and going directly over the ridges and heading straight for Uldum. Not long now. But as the large full moon cascaded down into the galley and the cool winds flowed through the zeppelin, most of the staff had retired. Lazarius was not.

He sat at the table, a single candle and glass of bad wine beside him. He was writing in his large book, going over notes and maps beside him. Clearly he was not planning on sleeping like some of the rest of them. Much like Vanderlaine, Lazarius had no reason to sleep, the void entity inside his blood often aided him in the ability to sleep very rarely. So, he would use this time to complete his plans. Drinking his wine and enjoying the cool air.

[ Z.A ] The later hours came quicker than Zalra expected. In fact, she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings in the slightest after Lazarius’ briefing. She felt a little guilty for this as she knew the downtime in their travels would be perfect to get to know those who she traveled with better. But, she found more solace with her own company and was unsure if she would be scolded for being so reclusive. She sat upon the floor of the main room beneath the deck.

As Lazarius sipped upon his terrible drink, she continued to read. They were only across the room from each other; however Zalra was unaware that no one had joined his side at this current time. A lot of people liked sleeping at reasonable hours, she thought to herself. As the goblins who were part of the crew began illuminating the zeppelin, Zalra would notice the book's words began to blur as her eyes started to drift closed on their own accord.

Before she knew it, she was adjusting her posture to accommodate for her creeping exhaustion. Did she move to a bed? No. Of course not. Being too tired, for one, and two, she was quite comfortable despite the bare, wooden floor beneath her.

The Sin’dorei now lay on her side, resting her head upon her rucksack and continued to review her tome which she propped up in front of her. Though, it didn’t take long before she just drifted to sleep under a pool of lantern light.

[ M.D ] Maliscia had long since disappeared after Lazarius' speech, returning to her own reclusive nature in one of the rooms, occupying herself with the few tomes notes and maps she had thought to bring with her. Into the wee hours of the morning she wouldn't make a sound, save for the occasional turn of a page, and her scribbling ... when finally she let out an exasperated sigh, realizing it might do her some good to take a break, perhaps get some fresh air.

She made her way out of the room and into the area where Lazarius worked at the table and Zalra seemed to have fallen asleep. She let out a small chuckle at the sleeping girl and looked over at Lazarius, there was still a bit of awkwardness there, but she pushed it aside and made her presence known.

“That poor girl is going to have such a stiff neck when she wakes up.”

[ L.K ] He looked up, peering down the hall to see Mali, then back toward where Zalra was sleeping. He shrugged softly, his black eyes narrowed to adjust to the poor lighting. As she grew closer and became easier to speak to without having to raise his voice any louder than a whisper.

“She is hardy, and no stranger to ‘roughing’ it.”. He spoke. His hand would close his tome, and deft fingers worked to conceal his parchment papers and maps.

“You are up late...still not sleeping well these days?”. He would ask softly, patting the seat next to him.

[ M.D ] “I sleep alright when we're at the estate, thanks to you.” She stepped over and sat down next to him, still looking towards the sleeping girl. Maliscia had been helped to silence the whispers when Lazarius entered her mind. They spent several days prior to this cleaning up the damage the void had done. She was very thankful to finally be able to close her eyes without visions and voices invading her thoughts.

“I doubt I will sleep much until we return....” She paused. “When we return .... it will be to Northrend, will I still have the same protection there?” She was, of course, referring to the wards he had placed that protected her from the void whispers back at the estate.

"Speaking of that.... what about her?" She nods towards Zalra, she too was Ren'dorei, but Maliscia had not really connected with any others of her own kind... perhaps she would have to find time to invite the girl to tea.

[ L.K ] “You will be far more protected deep beneath the earth. It is impossible to even get to the Bastille now without the talismans.”. He would peer over at Maliscia and as he did so, she would find a cold hand cover the back of her own. He was happy to see her, and as his smile faded he would answer her question.

“I met Zalra not too long ago, perhaps about three weeks, maybe four. She was not as eager to remain where she was unwanted, and having sought a way to silence the void, and harness its power...she asked to be taught, and I happily opted to do so. She is a sweet girl, and I feel will aid us in time, perhaps even gravitate toward someone more ... like her.” she would feel a light grip squeeze her hand as his smiled widened into a grin.

[ M.D ] She turned her gaze from Zalra to look at the Inquisitor and return the smile. “I am glad it won't be much of a change for me since my room will be the same. Ah the comforts of home...”

She mused softly. “I'll have to get to know her ... though I really think perhaps we should see about getting her to an actual bed... she won't be of much use if it hurts to turn her neck from sleeping on the ground like that.”

[ L.K ] Lazarius narrowed his vision. Eyes, black and never showing any type of emotion when he was busy with work; would slowly scan over the small girl. "She chose that spot. . ." He said in a flat voice. "I think she prefers to be close to the action anyway...in case something happens." He would sigh and slowly pull over a map that he was looking at.

"This is the stolen map we have, taken from one of their men. . . I lost two shades going after this. Two very good shades. . . and I won't allow their lives to be lost and not turn a profitable outcome when we finish this. . . but I worry about this path here." Lazarius would move his finger to an open room.

"This shaft leads to an open room where there are quite a few protocols in place to ward off outsiders. . . I just hope we can sort through it."

[ S.K ] The gentle sway of the ship was comforting, but a sudden pitch in one direction had Siida sitting up in bed, bolt up right and gasping. In her mind she'd thought perhaps the ship was falling from the sky, but it had just been a bit of the cross breeze. She imagined as they neared the open barrens, the winds would become more intense. Slipping from the bed she poked her head out the window to spy who was still awake.

She could see Lazarius, Maliscia...and it seemed Zalra was comfortable upon the floor. Smoothing her hair, Siida moved from her room to go and get some air, to calm her frazzled nerves.

[ L.K ] ~*~ BOOM ~*~

A sound in the distance, something that sounded like cannon fire? Maybe even something from the ground. Lazarius’ ears perked up as he listened. There was a silence once again, nothing but the shaking of the zeppelin as it swayed back and forth from the heavy winds.

~*~ BOOM ~*~

Another, this time Lazarius rose from his seat, spying Siida and motioning for her to wake Zalra.

“That does not sound promising.”

Lazarius bent himself around he table and quickly marched up the stairs that were leading to the mid and upper decks.

“Hey boss! You might wanna get up here!”. Came the sound of a goblin calling down to them.

“Wake her...upstairs...hurry.” Lazarius quickly continued to climb the stairwell on his way up to the top, and when he did, a sight truly to behold was upon them.

[ S.K ] Siida's ears drooped at the sound of the cannon fire and moved to Zalra's side, kneeling down and gingerly shaking the elf.

"Zalra, come on...we're nearly there, Lazarius wants us up." She worried for a moment that they were under attack, but the booms didn't seem to be getting closer, all though a bit more frequent.

Since her brother wasn't raising the alarm she didn't resort to desperate means to wake up Zalra.

[ Z.A ] When she heard the second boom she stirred. When she heard the voice of the woman speak to her, she spun to face the stairwell, Zalra was not expecting to come face-to-face with Siida. Lazarius wants us up.

A wordless nod was tossed the younger Kashe’bahl’s way before Zalra jogged after her and rushed onto the deck.

[ L.K ] The massive sword of Sargaras looked several thousand feet in the air, the world around them was dark and ominous but the glowing sword lit the night sky like a fire burning in the distance. They were over Ungoro, not even close to cresting the hillside into Silithus, and that sword was menacing.

“How much further...and where is that cannon fire coming from?” Asked the Inquisitor as he peered around the horizon.

“Dats no cannon fire boss...dat’s dah sound of goblins blowin’ up chucks aroun’ dat sword.”. said the captain as he brought them out of the crater and onto the border of Tanaris, they were bound for Uldum.

“Gods below that sword is massive...you can feel the energy still within it...”. Lazarius placed his hands on the deck railing and gazed up at the object as they flew past, wind brushing his chestnut hair back.

[ V.M ] Vanderlaine made his way up to the top deck. Walking over to Lazarius' side, his eyes were fixed on the sword, which was... admittedly, much larger than he had thought,

"My, that is... much larger than I had thought. You say that is in Silithus?" he shook his head and paced on the deck, never looking away,

"We must get closer to it someday, to just look up at it from its base... oh, how insignificant we will look compared to it."

[ L.K ] Lazarius was marveling at it in much the same manner as Vanderlaine; my how alike the two were.. His blackened eyes never truly venturing beyond the sight of that enormous sword protruding from the ground.

“Someday after the initial shock has worn down...I too would like to venture closer, but for now...I will have faith that Loki and our goblin counterparts are farming plenty of Azerite for us to return safely to the Bastille for study.”.

Lazarius hitched a breath in his throat, slender fingers lightly tracing along the rail as he was force to crane himself forward to keep and eye on the sword as the zeppelin turned heading toward the edges of Tanaris.

“Truly a sight to behold...” he muttered.

[ Z.A ] “Sargeras.” She breathed to herself, unable to take her eyes off the sword leagues away.

“So much irreparable damage.” She whispered, still hopefully for her own ears.

Her guard dropped further when she noticed the scene was quiet. Stepping closer to the others, Zalra started to lower her weapon; still gripping it with both hands.

[ L.K ] "Marvel in it. . . and study it" He scoffed as his black eyes finally tore away from the sword. "Pure power, madness. . .an ancient dark magic that has wounded this world to the point of unstoppable chaos."

Lazarius had stepped away from the railing and motioned toward the small goblin captain to keep on coarse. "What Sargaras has done here has changed the face of this planet. . .it is as Neltharion did before, and as many others before him. . . and something our master. . . N'Zoth know all too well." He smiled and felt a strange sense of warmth cover him in the glow of the Blue Child and the dark heat from the Sword of Sargaras.

"Perhaps someday soon we too can leave our mark as the titan has. . ." Lazarius slowly peered back at the group of onlookers.

"Or maybe something greater. . .we can only hope."

[ S.K ] The massive sword was something that stole Siida's attention, the rest of the world falling away. She was boggled. Absolutely and utterly confused. How was that possible...how had that sword not snuffed the very soul and life out of Azeroth? It took a good few minutes for the woman to pull herself away from the window and return to her room. She didn't sleep, she couldn't. There was too much excitement for the adventure ahead.

Siida was restless, unable to sit still a moment longer and went back up to the ships main deck, looking up at the night sky with a smile. The stars were lovely here, you could see them so clearly.

With the rest of the crew going back to work at the order of her brother, and the remaining officers who were summoned to the deck still watching. The silence of the group would remain as the airship traveled deeper and deeper into the darkness.

ULDUM. . .

[ L.K ] The time had come, some hours later, when the quintet had finally docked the airship in the deserts of Uldum. The sand was everywhere. And it was dry, arid, and nearly void of any life save for the forms of it that could eek out a mild existence in this climate. Mostly though, it was sand. Wind and Sand. Sun and more sand. Possibly a tree here or there, but ultimately surrounded by sand.

The massive zeppelin docked against a large erected platform that was surrounded on all sides by a camp. Flags of the crested serpent, violet in color flew high along the borders of the simple wooden outposts. They were surrounded by several dozen of Pyravari's best. As well as simple laborers, excavators, look outs and magic users.

In the center of the makeshift camp was a large outpost tent. It was where Lazarius had instructed his war table be assembled. Where each on of the five of them would have their own little cropping to comfortably live for the two to three weeks they were there. As they docked, and the five of them stepped off onto the erected launch pad and tower used for getting down to the ground level. Lazarius marched off the zeppelin and felt that dry heat sap any moisture that remained from his flesh and hair. His black eyes needing to be sheltered due to the sun; hands covering them the best they could.

"Welcome to Uldum, my brothers and sisters."

[ S.K ] The heat was something that Siida hadn't been ready for, but her loose and flowing dress played about in the winds that whipped through the sands.

She was grateful for having listened to the advice of a friend and not brought sandals, she could feel the sand beneath her feet was indeed like an oven, waiting to scorch whatever it touched.

"It's amazing!"

[ L.K ] “I don't ever recall ‘amazing’ being on the list of choice words . . . ”

[ Z.A ] Zalra could feel the heat instantly. The steady increase in warmth was what stirred her from her continued sleep in the first place. She was comfortably snoozing on the floor, back to the rucksack and “hardy” behaviour, before she was slowly woken from her sleep.

Sweat already beaded on her forehead and she felt like she was being broiled in an oven. Great. Thankfully, however, the woman was quite fond of heat. And of course, sand. But void of any beaches? Now that was going to make the trip a little unappealing. She stepped off the zeppelin along with the others and inhaled the blistering air deeply.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?”

Probably not after considerably long exposures to the sun, but for now, Zalra was enjoying every bit of this Adjusting her sunhat she had dawned before joining the group, she too squinted against the blazing light. She snickered audibly at Lazarius’ comment, “Not a fan of the location already, Inquisitor?”

[ L.K ] “I am not often a fan of any locations that do not involve being underground or hidden from daylight.”. Snarled the man as he started down the stairwell toward the lower levels. As he did so he would speak to the others behind him, hoping they too chose to join him in finding the shade below.

“I will be much happier when we leave this place with our hands full of Titan artifacts and can return to the safety of the Bastille.”. At this point they were safely on the ground. Captain Gearsman already bartering with a few of the locals that had made their way into the camp, half expecting the airship to be loaded with trade goods, which as a matter of fact it was, so business could continue. It was a a good thing Lazarius did employ competent people and advisors to lead these expeditions and areas of business.

“If you two would like to go visit the Tolvarian kingdom, this is Ramkahen, by name on such it translates into something majestic, but be forewarned, do not do anything to upset the locals.”. He would in fact be speaking to Siida and Zalra, they seemed to be the most curious about the culture and landscape.

Where as Vanderlaine wouldn’t get his hands dirty until they found something interesting, much like Lazarius in that regard, to give them something to get excited for.

“I will be in the large tent where I can draft up our plans. I have two Shades coming to brief me on the current situation, Mali, Van you are both welcome to go sight see if you wish, or join me in the shelter, your choice.”. He would shield his dark eyes with his cupped hand, and peered back to the group of them.

[ S.K ] Like Zalra, Siida produced a hat to the help with the glaring of the sun. She was eager, like a child ready to run into a candy store, but she heeded her brothers warning. While they were here, they were guests, they would be on their best behavior and not upset the locals.

Siida could see all types of banners flying in the distance, it seemed the mysterious ore of Silithus was drawing more attention than she realized. The very second that Lazarius stepped from the ship, Siida bolted down the ramp to go and explore. She had a book on the local customs, fruit to sample...wares to see...and the oasis.

[ M.D ] “I think I shall go for a little walk around, call for me if you need me.” She stated and without another word would head off and away from the group, choosing to spend her time exploring the immediate area alone.

[ Z.A ] Thankfully, when his words were of encouragement or the two youngest elves to explore, her demeanor relaxed. He said the magic words it seemed, as Zalra’s eyes lit up. Oh, where would she begin?! She had an entire city to experience!

Perhaps Siida had an idea as to where to start; if she would accept Zalra’s company, that is. Her emerald gaze drifted to regard the younger Kashe’bahl, only to notice the group already beginning to disperse. A little hum of contemplation left her lips as she looked back to Lazarius for a moment. Should she join him instead? They did have a couple of weeks in the warm country, after all. Maybe explore later? Another hum sounded

“I will make sure Siida has company, then.” She finally decided aloud, walking to catch up with the young woman. Falling in step with her, Zalra smiled gently.

“Have an idea of our first stop?”

[ S.K ] Siida was overjoyed to have Zalra at her side and began to talk excitedly about wanting to see some of the locals, learn what they ate and how they cooked....to try some of the indigenous fruits of the area. There was the oasis as well, a lovely place to see some unique fish and fauna. She was talking at a mile a minute, truly a ray of sunshine that had taken elven form.

"Oh...I'm sorry....I've done nothing but gab this whole time...Miss Azurestar...what would you like to do?"

[ V.M ] Vanderlaine was the last to step off of the zeppelin. He was dressed in vastly different robes, these of a very distinct Uldum fashion. They were of a dark purple and covered his head to toe so that not even his fingers or his ankles were exposed to the sun. He had a hood up, and a face mask hung loosely around his neck, which could be easily pulled up to protect his face from the harsh sand that blasted across the wasteland.

He took in a deep breath, "Ah, Uldum," he walked forward, adjusting his backpack that was slung across his body, filled with maps, a canteen, for some reason, and other survival odds and ends. Even though they were near a city and their camp, the professor was prepared.

[ Z.A ] Zalra did not mind Siida’s insistent ramblings. She was cute, and the disguised woman was most patient; Siida would notice this, too. The calm expressions on her face and genuine giggles at the youngsters energy was proof enough. Though, she would also see Zalra’s wary gaze and how she occasionally would take her attention from Siida to review their surroundings.

A protective gesture, for sure. And, of course, this was at the same time Siida called for her attention.

“Hm?” she hummed, looking to the other woman.

“Oh! Out of all your suggestions, I would like to explore foods.” A cute bought of laughter escaped her, “My sweet tooth demands sugary goods.”

[ S.K ] "Sugary goods...I believe we can find that....if what I read was correct they are a sun worshiping people we might find something along those lines...though it might not be what we're used to." Siida let her lips paint a smile upon her face as she started to wander into the city proper and into what looked like a day market.

The blessing here was the shade offered by some of the stalls and sure enough there was delicious looking fruit, breads, some fish the likes of which Siida had never seen before. Her eyes were bright as she immediately tried to converse with a vendor who seemed more bewildered by the small elf and her quick words.

[ Z.A ] Zalra’s watchful gaze continued as the duo made their way deeper into the city. Her vigilant demeanor was simple to maintain even with so many alluring sights to behold. Thankfully, Siida had enough energy to burn for the both of them.

“Anything that’s sweet, I am open to trying.” She chuckled, “And, I am glad that one of us has at least a bit of knowledge of what we can find here.” She couldn’t have imagined how fruitless her attempts at exploring would be.

While Siida spoke with a merchant, Zalra looked t the fruit being sold. There was a stand of odd, green melons with a spiny texture labelled “Desert Melons” as well as a box of pear-shaped citrus called “Desert Limes” that caught her attention. The disguised woman tugged gently on Siida’s sleeve to motion her attention to the fruit. “Aren’t these strange?” she gasped. “We should try them!”

[ S.K ] The merchant seemed all too happy to prepare samples of whatever the elves wanted. When Zalra pointed out the melons and limes, she couldn't resist the curious bug that crawled into her mind. It needed to be sated.

"Could have two of each please?" She asked, able to communicate well enough with the vendor who motioned them to have a seat under a shaded canopy by the oasis.

The water looked so inviting, but Siida resisted and plopped down upon a pillow. Soon the fruit was laid out before them both, beautifully prepared and sliced for them to share. "Our first taste of the local culture." Siida mused, trying a bit of lime. The face she made had the merchant chuckling. It was good, the sweetness coming at the end to rescue the eater from the sour bite.

[ Z.A ] Zalra followed Siida’s lead and slowly sat upon the pillow provided. Her posture relaxed significantly as their seating accommodations mimicked those of her old home. But, her situation was due to financial hardship. And though it was familiar, this was a cultural difference; it didn’t make her feel embarrassed this time around, and she was happy this was the norm. Even the fruit was prepared and delivered to them.

Zalra was entirely unused to the level of hospitality that the locals provided them. It even caused her to hesitate in picking the beautifully sliced food. But, eventually, she went for a slice of melon. The flesh within was pale orange and softer than any fruit she had tried before.

At first, it was as sweet as a cantaloupe, though soon a vegetal bitterness followed; taste and texture similar to an avocado. “Hm…” she hummed, wondering if she truly enjoyed the flavour.

“It’s…er…alright. Definitely new.” A small chuckle left her lips afterwards before she glanced at the other elf. Zalra opened her mouth to speak, but nothing followed. She merely wanted to start a pleasant conversation with the woman, but—as per usual—she was at a loss for words.

“Er…so…do you enjoy the heat, too?” Nailed it.

TBC. . . . “The Void Forge: Optimization, Part 2″

@siidaraykashebahl

@lady-dawnblood

@zalraazurestar

@vanderlainemindweaver

mentions also

@pyravari-kashebahl

@whatadarkbitch

@daltalah

@suncrest-legacy

@thebladeitself

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seoulsborne123 · 8 years ago

Text

Haunted Houses and Ghosts

Shortly after Yasuhara takes the picture… PK ‘splosion. Chill, Naru.

Haunted Houses and Ghosts

Rating: General

Category: Parody/Humor

Words: 5954 (Oneshot)

Background Info:

A fic featuring the gang playing DnD (GH style) to parody themselves, but it isn’t crack. It’s part of my post-canon fic collection that begins 3 weeks after the events from Akumu no Sumu Ie, mainly exploring Naru’s growth as he settles in to his place with the JSPR bunch. This particular piece is set about three years after. By this point MaiRu is a thing and Naru is continuing his studies in England and comes back to visit Japan whenever he gets a break.

This was previously posted on FF.net, but I’ve made some heavy edits to it and will re-upload there when I can. For now you can read below the cut, or head on to AO3, if interested.

September 08. 9:30 pm

"The sun had set three hours ago. The equipment are finally all set up and the entire group is at base, planning the next course of action, when suddenly the entire school building experiences a black out. Thanks to the back-up generators, all the equipment are unaffected so that the small monitors end up as being the only source of light, casting off a soft bluish hue. There's something strange in the air, and all of you, to different degrees, feel that something is not right. A strange sound comes from the hallway. It's faint, but it sounds a lot like a child's laughter. All of you know that the entire school is deserted—no one else should be on campus tonight but yourselves."

Yasuhara looked up and scanned everyone's faces before finally landing his gaze on the blonde priest to his left. "Okay as the leader of this group, what would you like to do, Naru?"

"Uh-uhm... I think... I would like all of us to head outside in the hallway to check for the source of the sound. Is that okay?"

"You are the boss. If the rest of the group agrees, then you may do as you please."

John nodded. "Okay, then I look at the others and wordlessly go out the door, knowing that they will follow."

"You're good at this," Bou-san murmured in awe, making John turn a slight pink as he chuckled sheepishly to hide his embarrassment.

Yasuhara continued. "Naru is the first one out of the door, followed soon by everyone on his heels. It's pitch dark, but everyone attempts to scan the immediate vicinity anyway, though as expected, find nothing in sight. Just as soon as everyone thought everything's clear, the laughter rings out again. A little more distant this time."

"It's moving. We should follow the source, right? It sounds like it's trying to lead us somewhere," Mai interjected and looked around to gauge everyone's reaction.

"I think Jou-chan is right."

"Then, should we follow it?" When most of his team grunted in agreement, John nodded and solidified his decision. "Okay, then I tell the others, 'We'll follow and investigate the sound, but since we have no idea whether it's paranormal or not, it's better for everyone to stay together for safety.'"

"Wait, is my weird animal instinct thing going off?" Ayako asked.

Mai huffed angrily. "Ayako! It's not ‘animal instinct’! It's my intuition!"

Ayako shrugged carelessly and turned her attention to Yasuhara. "My intuition should be telling me something by now, right?"

"Indeed. Your skill is enough to detect that something isn't right, but you don't know why. You feel uneasy."

"That's useless. I need to know more information. I want to know if we should follow this sound, or what?"

Yasuhara picked up a card from his stack of notes and scanned a few lines before replying, "Alright, let's have you roll for it." He handed Ayako the dice and waited for its results. "A seven... hm. You feel that little voice inside you saying something, but for some reason it's speaking in Swahili so you can't understand a thing."

Mai scrunched up her face and blurted in astonishment, "What the heck? That's not how that works."

Yasuhara ignored her. "Anyway as usual, Mai will need Gene to spell everything out for her." Mai lightly kicked him under the table, making him yelp out in surprise but he persisted on, "Well, sorry but sadly Mai's insight skills are not enough to determine the truth at the moment."

"What score did you give my insight skill? Why did you get to create the character sheets on your own anyway, and why are you the only one allowed to see it?"

"Sorry Mai. I am trying to be as realistic as possible so I rated all your skills as objectively as I could, but I'd really rather not show you all the breakdown in fear of a backlash. Just roll with what I say, I think it's pretty fair. Besides," the young man continued flippantly, "in this case, even if your instinct did tell you to not follow, wouldn't you just write it off and think you're just being paranoid, anyway? You are a very curious kitten, after all."

Ayako laughed. "That is exactly true. Alright, then as Mai, I decide to keep my bad feeling to myself even though it most likely would have been a good idea for the entire group to know."

"Okay, Mai keeps her mouth shut and everyone decides to follow the sound. It seems to be getting louder so you know you're approaching whatever it could be, but then suddenly, all noises stop. The air stills and feels clammy, and the darkness seem to be creeping in closer, sending goosebumps on everyone's skin. Panic sets in. There is still nothing in sight."

"Does Hara-san detect anything? Oh," John caught himself and eyed the boy sitting across the table before continuing, "I turn to Hara-san and ask, 'Do you sense anything, Hara-san?'"

The boy he addressed only looked at him, but did not say a word.

"Come on, Naru-bou, say something!"

Beside him, Mai offered him an infuriatingly reassuring look and Naru felt a tick of annoyance twitching in the back of his head. How could he have been so idiotic to have allowed himself to be roped into playing some god-damned role playing game with these morons again?

-00-Earlier-00-

September 08. 9:00 am

Although he originally should have had about three more weeks in Japan until he had to leave again for England, Naru found himself frequently mentally checking off a list of things he needed to pack. It had been quite hectic the past two days, to say the least.

Martin had phoned him three days ago, letting him know that BSPR recently accepted an extremely rare case of a twelve-year-old girl exhibiting legitimate PK-ST tendencies, and mentioned that his expertise would be greatly appreciated. Naru momentarily struggled to make a decision whether to accept or not, but it was entirely short lived. It only took him the span of taking a breath before he answered, "Give me three days to sort out my things. I'll take the earliest flight out."

It was the day before his flight and he decided to go to the office to look through his notes one final time to make sure he didn't overlook anything, when the door suddenly opened and Yasuhara's energetic voice greeted him a cheery morning. He barely managed to grunt a response.

Yasuhara set his bag down at his desk and noticed the absence of the keyboard clacking from Lin's office and asked, "Is Lin-san not in today?"

"He'll come in later."

"Oh how fortuitous. I was going to ask you something about him in secret." When Naru did not give any form of response, the boy continued, "Has he always been the girly type?"

Naru raised his eyes to look at him.

"I mean does he enjoy dolls, or anything of that sort? Or wait, you know what, I'm stupid. Maybe he has a daughter. Or a niece?"

"What are you talking about?"

Finally getting what he had been fishing for, Yasuhara beamed and left his desk, inviting himself over and relaxing into the sofa across from his boss. "Yesterday I thought I saw him shopping around for a stuffed toy, contemplating between a neon pink or electric blue teddy bear." Seeing his boss' attention immediately shut off, he added, "But I think he decided to go with the typical brown type. The clothes looked kind of ugly though, to be honest. But you know, I really couldn't tell if it was him. I don't often look at his figure from the back, I'm more of a Takigawa Hoshou appraiser--" For a second, Yasuhara feared Naru would walk away, but his boss merely readjusted his position. Even so, he hastily changed the subject.

"Anyway are you all set for your flight tomorrow? You're suddenly leaving on such a short notice. It’s a shame Mori-san isn't able to come immediately to take your place. And we had just scheduled a case for next week, too. So with both the heads gone, Lin-san has to stay behind a bit this time and take care of business first until Mori-san can come take over, right?" An idea suddenly clicked in his head and his eyes widened in excitement. "Ah! Do you think Lin-san wanted to make sure you had a companion for your flight out? Now it makes sense! He probably figured you could put the teddy bear on the seat beside you on the plane so you wouldn't have to sit next to some random person. Plus it would be like he was with you in spirit."

Naru finally closed his book in exasperation, stood up, and started making his way toward his office, yet despite this, Yasuhara chuckled in amusement and crooned, "That Lin-san, always the thoughtful, practical joker. That is so him."

"Yasuhara-san. Tea."

"Oh, roger!"

Naru silently closed the door behind him with a sigh and rubbed his temples. It was too early for this...

He slumped down into his seat and rummaged through his drawers, pausing when a sharp piece of cardstock poked him. He pulled it out and spread it apart: two tickets to Tokyo Disneyland. On the left-hand-side of the ticket, the date 19xx.09.19 was in bold letters. And she had been looking so forward to it, too...

He sighed and put the tickets face down on his desk.

A few minutes later Yasuhara knocked softly and asked permission to enter his office. He looked up and watched as the boy approached, nodding his silent thanks as the Yasuhara bent over to set the cups down on his desk.

"Need any help packing?"

"No, thank you," he answered curtly.

"They must really need you there, huh? Professor Davis wouldn't have called you up to disturb your already short vacation otherwise, right?"

Naru took his cup and sipped its contents, softly drumming his fingers on the table. "Yes, and he correctly guessed I would have wanted to take part in this excellent research opportunity."

Yasuhara laughed weakly. "Yes, of course." When he noticed his boss pause for a moment, absentmindedly curling and uncurling his fist without realizing what he was doing, he decided to take a seat. "What's the matter?"

Naru blinked and looked at him. He set the cup back down and picked up the tickets on his table. "You may have these tickets. I have no need for them anymore."

"Whoa, two tickets to Tokyo Disneyland? Oh I see, it's for two weeks from now. So what was supposed to be the occasion?"

"Nothing important."

"You're just giving it to me? I can pay you, at least. I'll take it for a discount."

Naru shrugged.

"Who do you want me to give the second ticket to?"

"Whoever you go with is none of my concern."

Yasuhara smiled. "If you want me to take Mai, just say so. She'll be feeling down for a while because of you suddenly leaving, but Disneyland should cheer her up a bit. She's been wanting to go for years. Although are you sure about that? I can be quite hands-y, you know."

"I don't care who you go with," he reiterated irritably.

"Well alright if you say so," Yasuhara chirped. "This ticket is an excellent bribe to get myself a date. I'll just pocket these and buy Mai some ice cream then, or something. She's pretty easy to placate anyway."

Naru stared at him hard, but was unable to say a word. Sensing his victory, Yasuhara relented. "Alright, alright, since you ask me so nicely. I'll consider taking Mai with me, but on one condition."

"Yasuhara-san—"

"—We play a bet."

"Yasuhara-san."

"Come on, Naru-bou, it's been awhile since you've played a bet against me. I still remember the last time [1] like it was yesterday. Wasn't it exhilarating? Not knowing whether you were going to win or lose?"

"No."

"Alright, then I think I'll ask Priscilla-chan if she’d like to go. Priscilla-chan is this girl at the place I intern at. You know the type: hard to please, just like yourself, but this ticket might do."

Naru breathed out in annoyance and muttered, "Fine, let's hear it."

Yasuhara nodded. "So Lin-san and that bear. What do you think? I believe I saw Lin-san buy that teddy bear for you so you can have a travel companion and I bet you'll be receiving it sometime before you leave for tomorrow."

"Are you aware how ridiculous that sounds?"

"No, I think Lin-san is hilarious. He'll be just the person to play that prank. So what do you say?"

Naru knew to be cautious. He's had the misfortune to fall into Yasuhara's trap in the past, forcing him to take a bet that ended up with him playing some sort of ridiculous game. No doubt he had similar plans now. The boy wasn't one to make bets without knowing something to his advantage.

He sat back and contemplated the scenario. The fact that Yasuhara saw Lin purchasing a teddy bear must be true; the act itself wasn't in the realm of impossibilities. The only question to consider is in regards to his intentions. Lin would obviously never consider ever buying him a parting gift, let alone a ridiculous teddy bear, especially since they were going to end up seeing each other again in a few weeks. Therefore the only explanation is that Lin was purchasing it as a gift for someone else. Slightly more likely: it could really be meant for him, but Lin wasn't buying it on his own volition. Somebody must have coaxed a favor out of him so he was purchasing it in lieu of someone else. Either way, Yasuhara's claims would be wrong. He frowned. Was that it? Could Yasuhara be thinking that he could win just because Lin was the one who technically purchased it? If so, he was barking up the wrong tree. Naru inwardly smirked.

Or… did their top investigator have something up his sleeve? He became uncertain again. Either way, he couldn’t say he wasn’t curious…

"Fine," he said eventually.

"If I'm wrong, then I'll take Mai on a fun date for you, but honestly I think she's looking forward to going with you. Anyway if I'm right, then I take Mai anyway because I'm not heartless."

"Then what is the point of me accepting your bet, Yasuhara-san?"

"If you hadn't accepted it, I wouldn't have agreed to take her at all. It isn't right for me to take someone else's girlfriend on a romantic date, you know. But since we're cool, I'll take your feelings into consideration and make it a friendly date."

"Fine."

"Wait, I wasn't done yet. My other condition is: if I'm right, then you—"

"'—Owe me', yes I'm aware that's what you're after."

"Oh good, we understand each other then."

Naru finished up the last of his tea. Last time he had lost their bet only because Mai was a weakness he somehow found hard to resist. This time, perhaps he could trust Lin. He reiterated, "Good."

September 08. 1:00pm

Naru entered his office and froze. On top of his desk was a brown teddy bear wearing an ugly tie-dye shirt and faded jean overalls. Behind him he heard Lin exit from the restroom.

"Lin," he called out, making the taller man pause in his tracks, and unfortunately, catching the attention of a certain cheeky part-timer as well. "What is this." Both Lin and Yasuhara made their way toward him.

"That is a present, for you."

"Oh?" Yasuhara grinned and threw a conspiratorial wink towards their boss. "Well, well, how unexpected. Who bought it?"

"I bought it.”

“Ohhhh?” Yasuhara’s voice raised an octave, while Naru resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Lin stared at the two in slight confusion, but continued anyway, “Yes, although I paid with Taniyama-san's money. It is her parting gift to you, Noll. She was unable to purchase it herself as the news of your departure was too sudden and she's been busy with university, so she asked me for a favor. Is there a problem?"

Naru sighed. "Why a teddy bear?"

"As your travel companion. She had joked you can put it on the seat beside you so that you would not have to sit with strangers."

Yasuhara roared in laughter. "Ah, that's right! My mistake. Mai is the thoughtful practical joker, not Lin-san. Silly me."

Naru crossed his arms. "Laugh all you want, Yasuhara-san, but technically I won our bet."

The boy stopped mid breath. "How so?"

"Lin may have physically bought it, but he didn't do so with his own money. Gifts, as I'm told, are all about feeling and intention. And since the present wasn't from him personally, I argue the bet is null."

"Hm, I'll be glad to report to Mori-san that you're taking her lessons to heart. At any rate, you are right. Mai technically bought it for you. But still, I'm afraid you didn't win, boss."

Naru frowned.

"Recall what I said exactly. I admit I may have been technically wrong when I told you Lin-san bought that teddy bear for you, but I said that I bet you'll be receiving it sometime before you leave for tomorrow. And that teddy bear is on your desk exactly sometime before you leave for tomorrow. Wording, Naru-bou."

Naru bit the inside of his cheek and cursed before slamming his office door on their faces.

-00- Back to current time -00-

September 08. 10:00 pm

With a heavy sigh, Naru finally relented and asked in reply, "Is Hara-san's intuition high enough to detect if it's a spirit and understand what it wants?"

Once again Yasuhara checked his cards. "By this point in the story, it could be. Roll a d20 and we'll see."

Naru leaned over the table to grab the twenty-sided die Yasuhara held out for him. He shook it lightly in his hand and let it roll on the table. "Is it enough?"

"Hm, not quite, even with the addition of your skill modifier... You detect something but can't see it fully. It's kind of hazy to you, but at least you know for sure you're dealing with some kind of spirit. It certainly looks like a child, but you feel something is off, like it's tricking you. You feel animosity coming from it."

"Is there just one spirit?"

"One presence you could feel strongly, but there are many others. You just don't know how many, exactly."

Ayako clicked her tongue. "What's up with our useless psychics?"

"Pretty realistic to me," Bou-san offered.

"Hey! And Ayako, I don't think you have any right to be complaining about anyone else being useless when you yourself have countless times-"

"Shut it, Mai."

Yasuhara simply laughed and returned his attention back to his boss. "Okay, now that we've done the game mechanics aspect, you have to let the whole team know what just happened. You need to act it out. How would Hara-san explain to the others?"

Naru stared frostily at the young man, but Yasuhara seemed entirely unaffected and returned the stare evenly with his carefree, asinine grin. A few seconds ticked by. Yasuhara merely folded his hands and re-adjusted his glasses patiently until Naru sighed in annoyance. "I teeter as I walk up to Naru and foolishly, and quite dramatically, attempt to fall into his arms."

This elicited several muted snickers in the room, while Masako looked slightly offended.

"Ah, I catch her carefully and hold on to her, asking if she's alright," John, the ever kind and helpful priest, quickly interjected in fear of the make-believe Hara falling flat on her face.

The real Naru paled as the snickers turned into full blown guffaws, with Bou-san crying out between breaths, "Wow. How unbelievably chivalrous of Naru-chan!"

Immediately John realized his mistake and sent Naru an apologetic smile, but the boy made no show of acknowledging the gesture.

However, Naru figured if he was going to be playing along with this ridiculous farce anyway, then he might as well do it as realistically as possible. He recited blandly, "I mumble quietly to the sleeve of my kimono, 'There are countless spirits manifesting here. Their pain and anguish is making everything appear distorted, but there is one presence among them that stands out. I cannot tell who it is. It appears as a child, but it is unmistakably dangerous and cannot be trusted.'"

Yasuhara clapped. "Nice, nice! That sounds precisely like Hara-san, indeed! Alright, soon after Hara-san informed the group, loud banging sounds thunder along the entire hallway, progressively getting louder and louder, and even more aggressive. It seems as if all the doors in the entire school are repeatedly being opened and then closed shut and—"

"—Nau maku san manda bazaradan kan!"

"Wait,” Yasuhara hastily reached out, cupped Mai’s hands on his own and set it back down beside her, “okay Mai, you don't actually have to do the hand gestures, you know? Let’s be careful here. And I'm assuming you want to use your Mantra skill? You are aware that spell can only be used twice per day, right?"

Mai frowned in serious contemplation. "That's what Bou-san would do, so yes, let's do it. I can regain the spell back once the morning comes, right?"

Yasuhara nodded. "Alright, always with his quick-thinking, Bou-san recites his Mantra and with such conviction that all sounds suddenly stop once again—" in the background, Mai squealed in awe at how powerful she was, "—The air clears first, then the lights go back on. The heavy feeling has disappeared as the spirits seem to have gone away for now. It seems nothing further will be happening for the night. What's your plan?"

"First I thank Takigawa-san, then I tell the others, 'Let's all head back to base and consider our next move.'"

"Is everyone okay with that? Okay, so the entire party makes their way back to base. Everything appears as it was before you left. What do you want to do next?"

Masako sighed, aware that she hasn't said much for the entire night and tentatively offered, "I... wordlessly go back to the monitors and review the recent footage for any clues."

"As expected of our Lin-san," Bou-san chuckled to himself. After thinking for a few seconds, he suggested, "I think we should go over the case file again and see if we can gather some clue from it, right? Where's Shounen in this? Maybe he's got new information for us."

"Yasuhara had to skip the case because he'd just been recently promoted and was working admirably at his new law firm agency for the whole day."

"You're still an intern, Shounen. Interns don't get promoted."

"Well in this timeline Osamu is no longer just an intern. He had long graduated university and is now a working young adult. And right after his work, he went to meet up with his gorgeous girlfriend for a romantic dinner. Maybe he'll finally work up the courage to propose. You can attempt to call him now and see if he'd pick up his phone."

Mai muttered under her breath, "Someone has grand dreams."

"Alright, it's a good idea to try and contact him, then. I stand up, open up my black notebook, and begin summarizing my case notes for the entire group," John announced as he also picked up a piece of paper in front of him full with his own neat handwriting. Earlier, Yasuhara had provided everyone with a blank sheet of paper and a pen so that they can jot down anything they think might be helpful in solving the make-believe case. Everyone, except Naru and Lin, appeared to have taken meticulous notes (although the latter had a blank piece of paper only because he had his laptop with him).

John continued, "'The client is Yashima Akifuki-san, principal of Rokuroku High. He claims the entire school grounds is cursed and even brought in the latest victim with him, a young student named Tachibaki Ana-san. She disappeared for two days and was later found unresponsive by the school entrance. Some witnesses claim they saw her walking away with a strange man, but she doesn't remember much of what happened. When she came to, she was found to have no sign of any mental or physical injury, except for the appearance of an intense rash encircling...'" Here John sighed. "An intense rash encircling her entire head? Yasuhara-san, I'm still not clear on its meaning. Do you mean to say her face is entirely covered in rash?"

"No, just the top of her head."

"Oh, does Tachibaki-san not have hair?"

"Of course she does! Think of it like a hippie-headband. Do you know what I'm saying? It's a band around her forehead, but it encircles the entire top head. Is it clearer now?"

John was still unconvinced but let the matter rest. "So a rash encircling her head, and Yashima-san claims it looks like some kind of bloody wound, but gives Tachibaki-san no pain or itching. Aside from what happened with Tachibaki-san, previous activities reported were mild compared to what we experienced today. Yashima-san said that other students have reported seeing shadowy figures in the old school building, hearing disembodied voices during class, had small fires start in the locker rooms, had all furniture in the teachers' lounge get suddenly rearranged at an angle, and had volleyballs get scattered in the gym after hours after being put away. Does anyone have anything else to add?"

Bou-san rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Something isn't sitting right with me."

To everyone's surprise, Naru suddenly let out a long, aggravated sigh. They waited for him to elaborate, but after a few seconds he simply sunk back into his seat and crossed his arms without any further explanation.

"Okay... Can my intuition thing go off again? I want to use it."

Yasuhara blinked. "Oh, uhh of course you may make use of your abilities. What exactly are you suspecting, Matsuzaki-san?"

"Everything."

"You're going to have to be more specific than that."

"Him, Yashima-san, and her, Tachibaki-san. And the school. I don't know, anything. There has to be something suspicious, Hoshou is right. Something feels off and Naru is acting weird."

"Okay... roll, please."

Ayako did as she was told. "18. Plus I have that modifier so that's 20."

The dungeon master pursed his lips in thought. "Okay, Mai feels her stomach squirm. Something wasn't right, she thought. She squinted her eyes and carefully studied her beautiful, raven-haired boyfriend speaking before her for a couple of minutes until suddenly, the answer hit her. Naru's fly was undone."

The group fell over in shock and collectively groaned but it was Ayako who shouted, "I scored a 20! Surely there's something much more important than that piece of information?!"

John, completely immersed in his character, blushed deeply despite himself and cried, "Goodness, forgive me! I immediately notice so I turn around and discretely zip it up."

"Okay, let me just speak out of character here for a second and explain: there wasn't supposed to be anything suspicious by what had been said so far."

"No, but there's something definitely off--"

Yasuhara cut her off. "--Do you mean in-game, or in reality? I think you're getting confused here, Matsuzaki-san. Your intuition ability only works in-game, not in real life, so even if you yourself feel something is off, rolling a dice won't help you figure it out, you know."

"You little--"

"--Alright, let's just call Yasuhara-shounen. It seems he might have more information for us," Bou-san interjected neutrally.

"I take out my phone and use my speed dial. Ring, ring, ring! Hello, Shounen?"

Yasuhara smiled at Mai and played along. "Hello, Hoshou-kun. Have you missed me?"

"Of course! I've been so lonely without you, Osamu-kun. Don't tell Ayako."

Bou-san paled and reached over to pinch Mai's cheeks. "Jou-chan," he growled, "can you not make me out to be a creep?"

"Sorry, sorry. Alright, I put the phone on speaker so everyone can hear and I say, 'Yasuhara-shounen, were you able to gather more information about the Yashima case? We're hitting a dead end here.'"

"'Yes. I dug more records on the school property and found some interesting history behind it. Rokuroku High used to be an elementary school, but there was a serious accident that occurred fifty years ago involving an entire class of students that forced them to close it down for a year. During a field trip, the bus carrying an entire class full of fourth graders, as well as their beloved homeroom teacher, swerved off the road and fell down a cliff, then blew up before the wreckage even hit the water. None of the bodies were ever recovered.'"

Everyone covered their mouth in horror and began exclaiming:

"That's horrible!"

"Those poor children..."

"Oh dear, it must have been awful for those parents..."

Naru, seemingly the only sane one in the group, pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered silently, "It's only a game."

"Then this is clearly the work of earth-bound spirits."

At hearing this sentence so suddenly, everyone stopped to turn their heads and gaped.

Lin stared back at them unflinchingly. "What is it? It makes sense. Hara-san said earlier that there were more than one spirit, and judging by what we heard, it sounded like children. The powerful presence could be the teacher. Perhaps all of them are unable to accept their sudden, violent death."

"Wow, even Lin is getting in character. You should slam the table too, for more realism."

A tiny smile formed on Lin's lips and he gave Takigawa a slight bow, while Ayako proceeded smack her boyfriend on the back of his head.

"You should try harder too, Bou-san. Your character hasn't said a word yet," Yasuhara admonished.

"Well John isn't usually very talkative anyway. I'm just waiting to see when Naru will need me to perform some exorcism. John, you don't need to be so modest about wanting to use yourself, you know."

"Thank you, Takigawa-san, but it isn't like that. I just haven't found the need for my skills yet. At any rate, I say out loud, 'Yasuhara-san, did all the problems start occurring after this event?'"

"'Not immediately. After the school closed down, they decided to wipe their slate and turn it into a high school. Construction happened in the span of two years. There were no incidents reported during that time, and even another year into the new school's opening. It wasn't until a janitor found a thin, dirty old log washed up on the bank of the lake--"

Bou-san cut-in. "Wait, the school has a lake?"

"Yes, in the back. An underground sewer is also nearby, if you're curious. Anyway a thin, dirty old log washed up on its bank. The janitor, aware of the history of the place, believed it to be an image of the binbougami and therefore deified it in hopes that it will turn into fukunokami and grant him, and the school, good luck. However instead, a string of bad luck started occurring in the school grounds.'"

Mai raised her hand. "Okay so obviously that makeshift idol is the source of all this. Can I attempt to exorcise it? I want to use my weapon and powers."

"My vajra and the nine cuts isn't something to fool around with, Mai..."

"'Furthermore, ten years ago there was a student who caused mass panic, claiming to have telekinesis. Sekiguchi Momoaki, a third year student, was called on to do a demonstration and actually levitated a piece of chocolate in front of the school assembly.'"

Ayako scoffed. "Couldn't he have chosen a more impressive item than a sorry piece of chocolate? Why not make it at least an entire chocolate bar, for crying out loud."

Curious, Masako asked, "What type of person was this Sekiguchi-san?"

"Lin-san wouldn't ask that."

"I'm not asking as Lin-san," the medium retorted angrily. "I'm asking for myself. Or if it matters to you so much, then Naru will ask as Masako on my behalf."

"Only if Naru-bou is alright with you putting words into his character's mouth."

Naru shrugged and waved his hand dismissively. "It doesn't matter to me."

"Okay. 'Sekiguchi-san was a strange kid. As an introvert and a social outcast, he didn't have many friends except for his physics teacher and the teddy bear he constantly carried around with him.'"

Ayako laughed and scoffed again, "No wonder the kid doesn't have many friends. Who levitates a piece of chocolate to show off and has a doll as a friend, let alone decides to carry it around school with him?"

This time, Masako sighed and pushed her notes away in disdain before folding her hands on the table. Takigawa was beginning to fidget as well.

"This teddy bear. It has a name?" he asked.

"Why yes. Are you asking?"

"Fine, as John I ask out loud, 'What is the name of Sekiguchi-san's teddy bear?'"

"'The bear? His name is Winnie.'"

At hearing this, John smiled, while Bou-san finally stood up and began laughing uncontrollably, much to the confusion of Ayako and Mai.

"What? What's so funny?" Mai asked. She and Ayako shared an uncertain glance.

"Jou-chan, don't all the events remind you of something we've all experienced in the past? They're just all jumbled up into one giant mess of a case," Takigawa answered between fits of laughter. He first turned to the young man and gave him a thumbs up, then turned to Lin and Naru. "Lin, when did you figure it out?"

"Not too long after Naru sighed. I did not suspect anything prior to that."

Mai frowned. "Huh. Then when you made that comment about earth-bound spirits, you already knew? How come you didn't tell us anything, Lin-san?"

"I did not think Matsuzaki-san would have realized the truth, so as her, I feigned ignorance."

A small tick formed on Ayako's forehead as she angrily growled, "I feel like that was a very thinly veiled insult, Lin."

"I've been having that strange feeling I couldn't place, but I didn't realize what it was until Masako-chan made that face. I got too invested in the game to realize it completely. The names are very clever."

"Why thank you--"

"--Now if you're all done, go home." Naru cut in, standing up from his seat and glaring at everyone equally.

"My goodness, it's already thirty minutes past midnight! That game went on far longer than I intended. Sorry Naru-bou, will you be okay for your flight tomorrow? Your flight is in four and a half hours!"

Mai shot up as well and covered her mouth. "Oh no, no, no. There's no way I'll get up on time to see you off if I go to sleep now!"

"Well we're already up and awake anyway and already all together. Since we were all planning on seeing him off later, how about we just continue playing until it's time for Naru-san to leave?" John suggested.

The rest of the group cried out in agreement, much to Naru's annoyance. Although mildly irritated, Naru had to admit he wasn't in the least bit sleepy. Forcing himself to sleep now would only make things worse later. And so despite his urge to seek some peace and quiet, he found himself settling back into his seat between Lin and Mai, silently committing everyone's faces and voices to memory until the next time he'd meet them all again in three months’ time.

---FIN---

#ghost hunt #ghfanfic #ghfanart #soulsborne123

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