#hoping for a team-up perhaps a sneaky one...

[t-u-i-t-c]

"You know where to find me, if you change your mind."

[literallypyro]

Won't lie, I enjoyed reading your mercs headcanons

Say, are you willing to write something about Reader and Spy? Perhaps the reader surprises Spy with a short sentence in French. Like "I love you" or "You look handsome today". A simple compliment in his language.

How would he react to this? Would he chuckle or just sigh with a smile at how poor the reader pronunciation is

My readers shall get what they ask for! (◕▿◕)(´ ⌣ `ʃƪ)♡

I hope you enjoy!

Spy x reader

Des nuits d'amour à ne plus en finir

-Okay, first of all, he thinks it's sweet you want to learn french just to surprise him

-Honestly think it's adorable when you flub words and will gently correct you

-He would probably want to help teach you. Please let him teach you

-Laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, mentally kicking his feet. Is this how Americans feel when people speak French to them?

-If you would get easily embarrassed about messing up, he would be so casual when he corrects you. He probably wouldn't even look up from whatever he's doing

-Don't apologize for making mistakes

-"It's an entire language, mon cœur, not 3rd grade math. I don't expect you to get it right every time, and neither should you."

-If you make absolutely sure to have perfect pronunciation and know exactly what you're saying, he can't help the happy, excited feeling in his stomach. You know the one. The cold one that's similar to adrenaline

-If you learn french quickly, he will start having conversations with you. At first, it would be small ones to help you practice. Then it would slowly transform into casually having conversations in French. If he accidentally uses a word you haven't learned yet, he apologizes and teaches it to you

-Would absolutely talk with you in French around the team to make jokes and lighthearted insults about them

-You could totally blackmail him with it though

-If he steps too far out of line, just threaten to translate the things he said while the team was around

-"You knowing french is a blessing and a curse"

-Honestly kinda loves it though. Sneaky, smart little minx, you might just give him a run for his money

-"I'm starting to wonder if you're out for my heart or my job" he's joking, of course

[captain039]

Playing pretend

Aemond x reader

Warnings: Gore, swearing, intimacy,tension,niece/nephewcest, Targaryen incest, reader is Rhaenyras daughter, if I spell something wrong I don’t care 😂, AOB, anxiety, anxiety attacks

Did I ever think I’d write something for Aemond no no I did not I hate team green and Vhagar with a passion 😂😭

Me to me: I hate Aemond

Me to me after reading a fic: I mean-

Rhaenys will not die I swear to the gods I’ll riot about her death one day 😭

Dragon-

Aelwyn, white and gold scales daughter of Syrax. Mix between Syrax and Seasmoke.

It’s always cold at DragonStone keep. Your bed is never truely comfortable and you never sleep with both eyes closed. Your father’s gone as is your mother and as the eldest and next in line you’re struggling to keep yourself from feeding these council men to your dragon. Rhaenys is thankfully on your side majority of the time to help you calm these battle hungry mostly alpha males but you’re exhausted in need of a winters long rest or perhaps you should raid the cellar for some disgusting wine.

“That’ll be all council” Rhaenys’s voice is sharp and cuts through the bickering after she gives you a glance. They all leave and you sag against the table before instantly sitting up again when a knight comes in.

“A Raven princess’s” he says handing you the note. You thank him and he leaves and you unravel the small paper.

You know this writing, it’s the queen mother’s writing. Alicent has sent many Ravens to your mother to which she has read none but this one is addressed to you. You frown as you read your stomach dropping as you see her proposal for peace at the price of marriage. You lay the letter on the table with shaky hands, contemplate throwing yourself into the sea before rationalising that this is the way to stop the war, all the while Rhaenys has read the letter with a neutral look on her face.

“Has anyone seen my mother? My father even?” You ask the princess and she shakes her head.

“I’m afraid not” she sighs leaning back into the chair after lying the note back on the table.

“Well then” you say your heart pounding in your ears just as your brother walks in. You all but snatch the note off the table and shove it into your pockets not noticing the small chuckle Rhaenys does before she leaves.

“Brother” you greet as he sits himself opposite to where Rhaenys was.

“Is she still not back?” Your brother doesn’t look you in the eye and your heart breaks a little. He’s got too much that he puts on his shoulders.

“Not yet” you answer sagging.

You plan in privacy, pack your things inform your servants and knight guard to keep this all quiet till you can sort it out. You’re on the balcony when a knock comes and you say a ‘come in’ before Rhaenys enters.

“Princess” you greet.

“Princess” she greets back coming to join you on the balcony.

“You’re not overly sneaky I’m afraid” she says after some time and you frown tensing slightly.

“Why would I have to sneak?” You ask hoping to deflect her question but she smiles and you sigh.

“There is no other way I will agree to these terms, my mother nor my father seem to be doing anything!” Your anger rises before you force it down again.

“Apologies for yelling” you say quietly after.

“If you did not yell I’d question your Targaryen heritage” Rhaenys jokes and you smile.

“If you feel this is the right way, however I’d advise you, you are throwing yourself into a den of vipers” she leans against the stone railing eyes out to the sea.

“I’m aware” you say.

“Nor will you have allies there, and your betrothed has already killed one of your siblings” her reminder stabs you like a knife in the side and you gulp.

“You cannot kill him either” she adds.

“She said too leave in a week from the letter if I were to accept, it has been five days I shall notify the council the day I leave and if my mother or father show up I shall inform them also” you nod trying to ignore the anxiety nauseating your stomach.

Neither your father or mother show up and it breaks your heart, as you gather the council and tell them the outrage you receive is like a wasps nest being upset or an angry mother dragon whose had her eggs stolen. The one who stays silent though is your brother, the death look he gives the table makes you question his thoughts.

“Enough!” You finally snap.

“You men of the council do nothing but sit here and bitch like a bunch of ladies!” Your words stun them into utter confusing and silence and you instantly regret your words and clear your throat.

“I-“ you stutter.

“The princess is under a lot of stress as it is from this decision she does not need you to add to it” your brother finally speaks and the men finally quiet themselves.

“I leave today at lunch, my things are already packed, my ladies are in order as are my knights, they all know” you say.

“I will get peace from this war, nobody else is trying” you don’t know why you stare at the table most of the talk, but when you look up your mother is there. The room goes silent, the council leaves, as does your brother leaving you and your mother in the room. She looks as if she hasn’t slept in days, she’s covered in dirt, tear streaks down her cheeks and a rugged red cloak in her hands, Lukes cloak. Tears form in your eyes as your mother walks to you, lays the cloak on the table and rounds it before her arms are around you. You sob softly against her despite her appearance and smell, you feel her crying silently also. You stay like that for a while before she pulls apart, hands on your face as her thumbs wipe away your tears.

“If this is what you must do then so be it” she says.

“Peace doesn’t come cheaply, sometimes it may not come, I hope it does” she takes a small breath leaning your foreheads together.

“Be brave my daughter” she whispers pressing her lips to your forehead.

The ride to kings landing is daunting you’re thankful you don’t get shot down, but you see the army waiting for you by the dragon it entrance. Aelwyn grumbles on her way down as you calm her softly in high Valyrian as you land. Aelwyn despite being young is almost as large as her mother, you climb off her side down her white golden scales while a knight comes over and seizes your arm. Aelwyn growls in response.

“Calm Aelwyn” you say as the dragon keepers urge her into the dragon pit.

“So you have come” you look queen mother, adorned in a green dress.

“I have” you say and she nods relief flooding her eyes while she keeps a stoic face. You are thankful you took some scent blocking tea and purple tea. Purple tea was used to reduce one’s designation though it only lasted a couple of hours.

“Let her go” Alicent orders the guard and he lets your arm go.

“Come” she beckons you and you follow.

The castle is restless, jittery and on edge, you can hardly walk by anyone without them tensing. You wish for your things and a bed quickly, the teas are wearing off and everything is starting to overwhelm you. You head to the throne room, away from the chaos but it is too late, your heart pounds, you’re sweating, Alicent’s scent is almost as haywire as you’re feeling. You both stop but you’re unaware of the prince in front of till you breathe him in. You feel you might choke, sweet scent of an alpha filling your nose.

“Is she alright mother?” You hear distantly, you close your eyes momentarily feeling the Queen mother’s hand on your arm.

“Apologies my Queen, my prince” you curtsy but your body sways. You hadn’t noticed the prince so close till both of his hands hold your arms and a gasp leaves you. Your eyes snap open and you’re face to face with the one who killed your little brother. You reel back in your mind, blink a few times to clear it before offering a smile and nodding.

“I am not use to flying that long” you counter and the prince nods letting you go. Your arms tingle but you ignore it as you look to Alicent.

“Aegon isn’t aware of this marriage neither is the realm” she says and you nod.

“Half my family isn’t either” you say and worry flashes in her eyes.

“My mother is aware” you say and she nods.

“How shall we play this?” You ask.

Next part ->

[mychlapci]

Maggy anon here (hi it's been a while)

I saw merformers, and now I raise you TFA merformers. Didn't really think about what type of mers they'd be tho whoops

The main team (Bee, OP, Ratty and Bulk) is a ragtag group of different merformers species the biologists found injured and lost in a harbor, bringing them back to heal them and study them because they've never seen such a tight-knit group made of such a variety of mers ! Too bad the 5th mer (Prowl) seems to dislike being with them so badly - always hiding in their little caves or swimming away quickly when one of the others get too close. Never aggressive, but never really part of the group as well.

Then they get the genius idea to introduce their resident moral support mer (Jazz), who is known to soften up mers and help them get socialized. And it seems to work, as Prowl starts spending time with him then with the group as well, and softens up.

He.. softens up a lot. His sleek, thin frame is.. softening up. That's weird- oh. They eventually realise he's full of eggs, their plan worked too well. Jazz got a little too into his job and spiked Prowl secretly - these two are such sneaky mers..

OoOh, Prowl being a mysterious and apprehensive solitary mer, rarely even engaging with anyone else, not even the mis-matched group recently added to the tank that they hoped could… adopt Prowl. Prowl's behaviour is usually not a problem, but they're worried the lack of socialization might be bad for him, so they bring in Jazz, who's been in capture for a while and knows his way around making friends. Perhaps he and Prowl are a similar genotype too, so they assume familiar instinctual reponses might help the two warm up better. And it works. They start to see Prowl so much more often, following after Jazz's tail as he goes to interact with the others. 

mhmmm Prowl getting slightly bigger over time and the facility staff assumes they made a good call, since it looks like Prowl is eating more regularly now… until he starts getting too fat, most of it focused in his belly and tail, and they don't even have to catch him and take him to the vet, because it's clear that he's pregnant. They can see the little spark eggs glowing from below his stretched out scales. Jazz is so smug about it, when he notices that the researches seemed to have caught on, he makes a show out of giving Prowl's pregnant belly a rub, looking straight through the glass of the tank. 

[cyberrose2001]

Here👏🏻me👏🏻out👏🏻

Optima’s x fem Organic alien

Maybe she’s got liquid energon for blood.. small fangs and by average roughly 13 feet tall in her true form.. with slight electromagnetic psychic abilities.. but can’t use them often or for long periods of time, as she’ll pas out from exhaustion. And her species can camouflage into the main Organic Alien of whatever planet they reside in as a means to blend in.

but cannot keep up the form for long either.. she still Looks like herself, just as she would be if she were the native species of the world..

perhaps she gets rescued from being experimented on by a corrupt splinter group of the government, and just ends up Staying with the Atobots..

growing attached to them quite quickly, and even protective.. basically “mother hens” the whole lot of’em.. especially the humans in the team.. what she struggles with tho??

Her clear and obvious growing attraction to the ever serious Prime.. perhaps she questions how the whole team actually feels about her even being there to begin with.. especially with her jumping at every shadow that reminds her of her capture..

comfort, fluff & awkward Aliens feeling the feels.

TFP Optimus x alien!reader

Heya! Thanks for requesting. I had some trouble with this bc it’s a little too specific, but I’ve done a bit of a drabble for you, hope that’s ok. In future, if you’d like a longer scenario, just send in a more generalised ask :)

(and yes I saw your other ask! you can go by 🎃 as anon so I know who you are !)

Warnings: SFW/Fluff, mentions of trauma, non-human reader.

Word count: 372

- It had already taken you some time to get accustomed to Earth’s strange yet fascinatingly beautiful environment, and it had taken you even more time to learn how to blend in with the planet's indigenous population. You thought you were sneaky, blissfully unaware that a sinister organisation known as MECH had been eyeing you off.

- They had been spying on you ever since you landed and had set up a trap for you, a beacon that mimics the exact electromagnetic pulses of your species. And you, of course, being desperate and alone, fall for it.

- Luckily for you, MECH couldn’t contain you for very long, as you sent tidal waves of electricity through their security systems, rendering them useless. You had escaped, thank the deities, but not without severe trauma from ruthless experimentation. Thankfully, you ran into a group of Cybertronians infiltrating the base, investigating the sudden burst of energy.

- You were initially hesitant, receiving strange looks at your ‘not so human features’. At some point, you had revealed your proper form, and these bots instantly took you in as one of their own. You especially loved the humans, enjoying their questions and gleefully answering them. From then on, you had sworn to protect these creatures with your life, despite gaining some trust issues with the rest of their species.

- The kids weren’t the only thing you had become fascinated with. Optimus, the leader of these Autobots you’ve only heard legends of, was as stoic as he is gentle. You fell in love with him and your shared experiences with being a stranger on this alluring planet. And he, too, had begun to share the same enthusiasm for you.

- He’d talk to you about being captured and help you recover from your fears, gently holding you as if he was protecting you.

- If you ever got scared of shadows that reminded you of Silas creeping around every corner, Optimus would remove any light sources to distract you from painful memories. He’d keep you in his lap as well, reading Cybertronian poems for you. He’ll do everything he can to keep you safe until you find a way home, as much as that hurts his spark.

[goodboyaudios]

Just to feed my brain worms on this- by any chance have you thought of an AU where Zed actually JOINS Makkaro? If so, what would happen? Would he still have tiny feelings towards the Guardian?

Hmm...an AU where Zed joins Makkaro...let me think...the goals of each character don't exactly line up. Zed wants the Guardian to be freed, Makkaro wants to take over the world for his idea of love. Doesn't quite work, so we'll go the route of sneaky covert ops!

Okay, here's what I've thought up (using my canon names so don't get confused):

Let's say Gienne trusts Zed enough to be willing to tell him her secret. That she's the wife of Makkaro and only wants to put things back to the way they were. Just she and him living happily together.

Zed agrees to help, but at this stage, they've probably also got Mirrin with them considering Gienne would need time to get used to them.

Gienne would probably blackmail Mirrin into helping considering he doesn't want anyone finding out he's in Scimitaria looking for the Guardian as it might stir conflict between the Sultans and the remaining Jarls of Fusfeimyol. And if they here the princess of Manas City was involved that brings in a large portion of Manasia too.

So Mirrin agrees if it means they have a plan to get in with Makkaro.

Gienne's plan is to go back to Makkaro after being "saved" by Zed, who will also bring him news that the Jarl of Senthine is in the Scourge Lands as well.

Makkaro takes this pretty well and decides to admit Zed under his wing s an apprentice of evil, but he's not fully trusting of him and decides to block off access to high profile information to add better internal security until Zed can be trusted. This includes Raze.

As Makkaro continues plotting, making the vampires, suffering from Guardian Blood poisoning, Zed and Gienne are recording any and all information and sending it back to Mirrin, who has teamed up with the Sultan of Hilts on the front lines attacking the Tower of Ordos.

Mirrin is then using that information to get an upper hand and actually helps the Sultan defeat the undead and capture Ordos AND the Demonomicon, but the fight between Mirrin and Mahann still happens, with both parties living as Mahann escapes.

Upon hearing of the loss, Makkaro's pain expands tenfold from pure stress and paranoia. He calls in a full retreat to his castle and declares that the only way this could've happened is if they have a spy in their midst.

He interrogates each of the vampires, including Mahann who says that perhaps it might be his new young apprentice who has been behind the scenes this whole time. Or maybe even his wife.

The mere mention of Gienne being a traitor causes Makkaro to snap and permanently scar the vampire's body. He then keeps him locked up without any food, water, or blood until Makkaro is satisfied.

However, Mahann's words still echo in his head. Makkaro confronts Zed about why he wants to join and what he's wanting to achieve.

Zed simply says that he believes in Makkaro's ideals and tries to make it sound like Makkaro is actually doing a good thing by uniting everyone under one mindset.

Makkaro is taken aback by how nonviolent Zed's take is on his conquest. Believing there isn't a bad bone in his body, Makkaro decides to grant a request for Zed as a reward for being so faithful. Zed asks to see Raze, because he's always wantd to meet such a powerfully divine figure.

Makkaro agrees on the condition that he not approach her. Zed agrees and is taken to Raze. Zed has to hide his horror and worry at the sight of Raze, but Makkaro also remarks that he's never seen her in such a disgusted state.

Just then, Makkaro feels Shee Khan awaken as the castle is being attacked! Makkaro and Zed leave, but not before Zed gives a hopeful glance to the Raze as if to say, "I'm coming back for you".

The attack is an air raid led by the Sultan of Hilts and on the backs of sandrakes. Shee Khan is batting the attackers out of the sky wit it's tail and nothing is getting passed or hitting the castle.

Gienne is furious with Mirrin who went ahead and told the Sultan where Makkaro was. It wasn't part of the arrangement and Makkaro could be captured, but from what Mirrin has gathered, Makkaro is beyond any saving.

Zed rushes in and tells Gienne where Raze is and that maybe she might know how to save Makkaro. Zed has to stick with Makkaro so it's up to Gienne to get Raze out.

Gienne finds Raze, but before she finds a way to break the lock, she begs the Guardian to save her husband. She knows that she has no right to beg for such things after what she has allowed to have happen to Raze, but all the same, she just wants peace.

Raze, reluctantly, agrees. Upon releasing Raze, she uses her magic to search for Makkaro's location, uses magic to teleport over to him and takes away his necromancy. The catalyst is gone. Zed sees her and falls to the floor in shock.

As Shee Khan falls, Raze then teleports outside as Taurus bursts through the castle and joins up with Raze. Together, they cast a spell simply called, "know divinity". A spell that would let them all know that the Guardian is here to declare an immediate ceasefire.

Raze looks around. She sees all the people desperately looking at her for answers on what they should do. All she can think of is the times where she never could get through to anyone. Why would now be any different? She tells all of them to begone and never speak of what has happened here.

Once they do, Raze is alone, floating above the castle, thinking of what to do, now that she's free. Eventually, Zed calls her from down below.

She descends and Zed gives her a big hug and starts crying. Raze, taken aback, had been thinking that Zed might've betrayed her, but seeing this has made her confused and shaken.

Zed explains that this was all to get her free and that he had no choice, to which Makkaro will overhear what had transpired and immediately turn on Gienne for tricking him so horribly.

Gienne protests that she had no choice. That it was the only way to see the man she loved again. Makkaro, still grieving the loss of his entire army and the remains of his best friend, collapses from a mix of raging emotion and newly nullified power.

Gienne rushes to her husband, but not before Zed says one last goodbye as Raze teleports away with Zed in tow.

What happens then...might spoil MotH 20 so I'll leave it alone, but it would pretty much end the same way, funny enough. On a side note, I definitely think Zed would put some underhanded magic in the creation of the Vampires. Perhaps a dormant explosive enchantment to kill them should the need arise.

(wow this ended up being long lol)

[lyranova]

Chapter 14: Confessing My Crimes?

Hello everyone! I’m sorry this chapter is extremely late; I started college recently, so my muses and time have been stretched pretty thin lately! But I finally got enough time, energy, and motivation to write the next chapter for this series 🥰. This chapter was written in part by @thoughtfullyrainynightmare through a discord conversation we had a couple of years ago 😆! Also Salutaria belongs to her as well. I hope you all enjoy~!

Word Count: 3,677

Warnings: None

“ Welcome back Captain!” The Golden Dawn saluted as William and his team returned from the mission with the Black Bulls.

He gave them all a small and curt nod before walking past them to go inside the base. Klaus, Yuno, Mimosa, and Neva all exchanged a worried look between them; they had hoped maybe his time away from the Golden Dawn base would help improve his mood…

“ Langris, is the Captain any better?” Klaus asked their Vice-Captain as he began to walk past them.

When Langris let out a disappointed sigh, the quarter already knew what his answer would be.

“ He’s the same, maybe a little worse,” Langris admitted. “ He was nearly ambushed by a few of the mages we were sent to apprehend. I hate to admit it; but if Captain Yami hadn’t been there, there’s a good chance that the Captain would have gotten injured or worse out there.”

The quartet gasped softly before looking at each other; the Captain was worse then they had all originally thought. If this behavior continued, someone, maybe even the Captain himself, was going to get killed! But their gazes averted to the ground, what else could they do? They went and talked to Zera, and they tried to talk to the Captain, but neither one would listen…

“ Hopefully Zera will think about what I said,” Neva muttered under her breath as Langris walked away, Yuno turned towards her with a small frown.

“ What did you tell her?” He asked quietly so Mimosa and Klaus wouldn’t hear. Neva turned slightly towards him.

“ I told her that this break up was literally killing them,” She replied. “ And it looks like I was more right than I initially thought.”

Later That Afternoon

Langris paced slowly up and down the hall as his mind raced. How could he get him and Ms. Cassia back together? Maybe he went the sneaky route and tricked them into being in the same room at the same time? Or perhaps he could just drag Ms. Cassia back to the base and force her and the Captain to talk things out? He sighed in irritation as he ran a hand over his face.

The Captain wasn’t dumb by any means, and would probably figure out Langris’s plan well in advance…

“ Vice-Captain,” A voice called out behind him. Langris slowly turned around to see Alecdora standing there with a worried frown. “ Is everything alright?”

Langris laughed humorlessly.

“ No Alecdora, everything is not alright,” He replied as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “ The Captain’s a mess, and at this rate he's going to get himself killed on a mission all because of his break-up with Ms. Cassia. I keep thinking he’ll get better with time; but it looks like he’s only getting worse instead.”

“ What do you suggest we do then?” Alecdora asked as he crossed his arms.

“ We get them back together by any means necessary.” Langris responded firmly, but frowned when he saw the taller man look hesitant.

“ That’s…gonna be hard to do with her being in jail,” Alecdora explained hesitantly, and Langris blinked at him.

Ms. Cassia…was in jail?!

“ What are you talking about Alecdora? How is Ms. Cassia in jail?” He asked, his tone growing more and more serious.

“ When I went to drop the prisoners off at the Magic Parliament I saw Ms. Cassia heading towards Damnatio Kira’s office,” Alecdora explained. “ So I’m thinking that she probably went there to turn herself in.”

Langris stared at him in disbelief for a moment…Ms. Cassia was turning herself in? This wasn’t good…it wasn’t good at all!

If she turned herself in, and Damnatio found out that she and Captain Vangeance were engaged…he would lose everything! He would lose his squad, his nobility, and there was a good chance he would be thrown in jail too!

Even on the off chance that Damnatio didn’t know the two were engaged it would still be bad. Because if Ms. Cassia was sent to jail and Captain Vangeance could never see or associate with her again…it just might kill him. Literally.

He had to stop this!

Without a word Langris turned on his heel and ran down the hall towards his office, and after that he was going to go to the Captain’s office.

It was finally time that he told him the truth about Zera.

Despite the chaos going on outside in the hallway, William’s office was dead silent aside from the ticking of the clock on the wall.

There were no sounds of paper rustling, or of a quill tip scratching against the rough parchment. There were no heavy sighs as he tried to figure out what to put in his reports. The room was just…silent.

But William’s thoughts were loud.

“ I’m glad, and very touched that you’re trying so hard to make this work. That you’ve even gone as far as to convince yourself that you’re in love with me, but this…all of this…was really just a joke,”

“ So now…now I’m dropping the joke and am letting you go. I don’t want you to feel like you’re being forced to marry someone that you don’t truly love.”

“ I’m not worthy enough to be your wife. Our marriage won’t last. Not when you get to know the real me and all the things I’ve done, so just find someone else, someone more worthy...”

“ I’m sorry…William.”

William sighed heavily and he closed his eyes as the memories from that night appeared in his mind. He knew it wasn’t right or healthy to continue thinking about it; but, he couldn’t stop himself. He replayed the memories over and over, wondering if there was something could have said or done that would have changed the outcome of that night…

He scoffed; this was pointless. No matter how many different outcomes he created in his mind, the reality would be the same. She was gone.

“ Maybe Yami has a point; maybe I should go see her and clear things up,” William thought aloud. “ Maybe that’ll help me get over her.”

“ Or maybe it’ll only make you want her more,” His mind argued back, causing him to sigh in frustration.

He slowly opened his eyes, and they immediately focused on the engagement ring that sat on his desk.

As it sat there unmoving, William couldn’t help but feel like it was mocking him in some way. Mocking him for falling for her trick, mocking him for falling head over heels for her, and mocking him for letting her go…

Why did he let her go?

Suddenly, the door to his office burst open, and Langris walked in.

“ What is it, Langris? I thought I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed unless it was an emergency.” William muttered as his gazed moved from the ring on his desk to the young man standing in the doorway.

“ Well sir, this is an emergency,” Langris said somewhat breathlessly as he walked up to his Captain’s desk with a file in his hands. “ It’s about Ms. Cassia-.”

“ I also thought I told you that I didn’t want to talk about her?” He asked, cutting Langris off.

“ Sir, Ms. Cassia is at the Magic Parliament, and is currently being held in Damnatio Kira’s custody.” Langris said, ignoring his Captain’s words.

William’s eyes widened and he sat up straighter in his chair.

“ Zera’s in custody?” He asked, his tone and demeanor turning serious. “ What happened? How did she end up there?”

Langris looked hesitant for a moment, but eventually he handed William the file in his hand.

“ I’m sure it has to do with this,” William frowned and hesitantly took the file from his Vice-Captain.

“ What is this?” He asked as he opened the file and began to look over the pages.

“ This is…Ms. Cassia’s criminal file,” Langris began hesitantly. “ It has a list of her crimes, most of which are smuggling, and even has a potential arrest warrant.”

William’s eyes moved slowly across the pages; there wasn’t a photo, but the description of this ‘Cinnamon’ person matched Zera to a T. From how they looked, to the things they smuggled, even their alias of ‘Cinnamon’ matched Zera’s last name!

By the time he had finished reading the file everything made sense; the ‘harassment’ she was getting from the Golden Dawn members, her jokingly asking if marrying him granted her immunity, her having so many rare and exotic flowers, and her saying that he deserves someone better and more ‘worthy’ of being a Captain’s wife. It all made sense…

“ She can’t go to jail for this,” He muttered under his breath as he closed the file and stood up.

“ Sir?”

“ I won’t let Zera go to jail for something like this. Firstly, there’s more than enough reasonable doubt in this file to exonerate her. Secondly; there’s no proof that she’s still smuggling today, because if there was, we would have already arrested her by now.” William explained as he walked around his desk and began to take determined strides towards the door.

“ But sir, knowing Lord Damnatio he probably won’t care if she’s still smuggling or not,” Langris pointed out as he followed the Captain out of his office. “ He’ll still try her, and when she’s convicted he’ll throw her and her entire family in jail. Including you if he finds out about your engagement!”

William stopped walking.

“ If that happens, then…I guess I’ll just go to jail,” He told Langris simply, making the younger mans eyes widen in surprise.

“ Captain?!”

“ If we’re both being honest here; I should already be in jail for the crimes I committed against the Kingdom,” William pointed out as he glanced at the other man over his shoulder. “ but because Lord Julius stepped in and vouched for me, I was spared. But this time, I won’t allow anyone to step in, and will instead accept whatever punishment Damnatio deems appropriate.”

“ Sir, you could lose everything over this! You could lose the squad, your title, everything! Is Ms. Cassia really worth risking all of that for?” Langris asked, and when he saw the look on his Captain’s face as he slowly turned around, he knew what his answer would be.

“ She’s more than worth the risk, Langris,” William declared firmly, and without another word he turned back around and rushed down the hallway.

Langris stood there stunned as he watched his Captain disappear around the corner.

“ I can’t believe that worked,” Alecdora said in bewilderment as he stepped out from a side hallway. Langris smirked a bit as he turned to face his squadmate.

“ I can. The last time Ms. Cassia was in trouble the Captain rushed out to save her, and when they came back their relationship had improved significantly. I would even go as far as to say their relationship took a step forward after that.” Langris said as he crossed his arms, a satisfied look slowly making its way onto his face.

“ So, the reason you told the Captain about Ms. Cassia’s criminal file was in order to get them back together?” Alecdora asked, and Langris nodded. “ But why? I thought you’d be happy that she was gone since you didn’t like her.”

“ I was happy that she was gone, just like you were. But…after watching the Captain the past two weeks, I’ve realized that he needs her. So, in order to bring our old Captain back and get our squad back on track, I’m willing to put my dislike for Ms. Cassia aside.” Langris responded with a shrug. Alecdora sighed but nodded in agreement.

They would both put their dislike for Ms. Cassia aside in order for their Captain to be happy.

Meanwhile, William rushed down the halls of the Golden Dawn base looking for someone, anyone with Spatial magic. He needed to get to the Magic Parliament now, before he lost Zera for good!

The Magic Parliament

Zera’s heart pounded anxiously in her chest as she stared at the large wooden door that seemed to loom over her. Well, it wasn’t actually looming over her, but it sure felt like it!

She cleared her throat and wiped her sweaty hands on her dress. She had to do this… she had to turn herself in, atone for her crimes, and accept whatever punishment was given to her. That was the only way to make things right with William.

She took a deep breath, held her head up high, and she knocked on the door.

“ Come in,” The voice on the other side called, and she did as he said and walked into his office.

“ Good day, Damnatio sir,” Zera said politely while using her professional voice. Damnatio nodded and waved her towards the chair that sat in front of her desk.

“ Good day. My assistant said you had something to discuss with me.” He said, getting straight to the point, which Zera appreciated. But at the same time it made her just a little more anxious.

“ That’s right, I do. You see, sir, I would like too…” She paused for a moment but then continued. “ Tell you that I’ve been importing flowers, and various plants from other countries as well as ones from Clover.”

Damnatio frowned.

“ And?”

Zera opened her mouth to speak, but a sudden knock on his office door made her stop.

“ I apologize for the interruption,” Salutaria, Damnatio’s assistant, said as she walked into the office and moved towards his desk. “ But I’m here to deliver the documentation you asked for.”

Damnatio nodded as he took the documents from her.

“ You may continue,” He directed towards Zera, who cleared her throat and took another breath.

“ And I…well, there’s been an investigation on it.” She finished softly as she couldn’t help but wring her hands nervously in her lap.

“ So, you mean to tell me that you’ve been importing goods illegally?” He asked sternly, and she quickly shook her head.

“ Well no,” She told him, but added ‘not anymore’ in her head. “ I have all the proper importation documents. At least I think I do.”

“ So, the reason you’re here is because…?” He asked with a slightly confused look.

Zera paused for a moment and a frown worked its way onto her face. Shouldn’t…shouldn’t he have her warrant since it was currently active? So, why was he asking all of these questions? It was as though he didn’t know what she was talking about. Unless…

Unless he really didn’t know what she was talking about, and if that was the case then what exactly was she confessing too?

“ I’m here because…I don’t want Captain Vangeance to get wrapped up in this…mess?” She offered in confusion, which only made Damnatio quirk an eyebrow.

“ Is Captain Vangeance covering for you?” He asked seriously, but she once again shook her head.

“ No, not really. It’s actually the opposite; he and his squad are the ones investigating it. But as I said; I have all the proper documents.” She responded, and the room fell into a confused silence.

“ So…he’s been harassing you?”

“ Well…I wouldn’t say that-.”

“ Because if he has, then that means Captain Vangeance has acted against his duty, which is a crime. His crime to be exact.” Damnatio pointed out, his tone growing serious again. But Zera quickly waved her hands and shook her head.

“ No! You see that’s the whole reason I’m here; I’m the one who committed the crime, not him!”

“ And your crime is…importing plants?”

“ That’s right!” Zera said with a firm nod.

“ With the proper documentation?”

“ …Yes?”

“ And Captain Vangeance has been making sure all the paperwork is legal?” Damnatio questioned, and Zera tilted her head.

“ …Sort of? I mean, he’s seen all the documents at my shop and hasn’t said anything. So, I assume everythings in order.” She muttered in thought.

The room once again fell into a confused silence. A very confused silence.

“ Let me see if I understand this right; you’re here to confess to a crime you’ve committed so that Captain Vangeance doesn’t get caught up in it, but the crime you’ve committed is…importing plants with all the proper and legal documentation?” Damnatio asked.

The room fell silent.

“ Yes…?”

“ And Captain Vangeance himself hasn’t committed any crimes? Well, anymore crimes?” Zera nodded.

“ Yes, sir.”

“ So…based on all of this information, no one here has committed any crimes.” He said after a moment of thinking, and Zera blinked at him in surprise.

What?

“ You mean…I’m off the hook?” Zera asked in surprise, and Salutaria nodded.

“ I’m not sure you were on the hook to begin with,” Salutaria admitted with an unsure laugh.

What?

“ Also, while the two of you were talking I went and checked some of the files and warrants that the Golden Dawn has. The only importing, or well ‘smuggling’, warrant they have is over three years old by now. Which means...” She trailed off, and Damnatio nodded.

“ The Statute of Limitations on the warrant have run out. So even if you were the person who committed those crimes, there’s no way we can prosecute you for them now.” Damnatio explained.

What?!

“ So…you’re telling me the guilt I was feeling, the awful break-up I had with the man I love, and this entire dramatic confession was all for nothing?!” Zera exclaimed in bewilderment as she jumped up from her seat.

Damnatio and Salutaria looked at each other for a moment before looking back at her.

“ It would appear so,” Damnatio said slowly, and his assistant nodded in agreement.

“ So…I’m free? I’m a free woman?” Zera asked, and Salutaria nodded.

“ You are-.” She began but Zera didn’t bother hearing the rest of her sentence as she quickly rushed out of Damnatio’s office; throwing a quick ‘thank you!’ over her shoulder as she ran out the door and closed it swiftly behind her.

As she stood on the other side of the door, Zera felt all of her guilt, anxiety, and stress melt away. It was all just a silly misunderstanding…which meant now she could go back to William, talk to him, and hopefully patch things up and go back to how they were!

But then, her heart sank to her stomach and her excitement died. After how she broke up with him, and after all the things she said that night…there was a good chance that she had completely destroyed their relationship.

Even so, she was still going to talk to him! If their relationship was unrepairable; then she would at least apologize to him, give him closure, and hopefully allow them both to move on.

However, she sincerely hoped that it wasn’t too late and that their relationship could be saved…

“ Zera! Zera, are you here?!” A familiar voice shouted, and Zera frowned.

That voice…that voice belonged to-?

As soon as she turned she saw William round the corner. His face was red and he was out of breath, his hair and clothes were a bit of a mess, and his beautiful purple eyes were wide.

William felt his heart stop dead in his chest as he stared at Zera. It had been so long since he had seen her in person that he nearly forgot how beautiful she was…but he quickly shook his head and proceeded to look her up and down. She wasn’t in handcuffs, and there were no guards around to escort her to jail, so…did that mean she was no longer under arrest?

Before he could open his mouth to ask, Zera ran towards him. As soon as she was close enough she jumped right into his arms, and her arms and legs wrapped around his neck and waist tightly.

Luckily for them, William had already had one hand braced against the wall for support, so the two were able to remain standing.

“ Z-Zera?!” William stammered as his heart began to race and his face began to burn red with embarrassment. But Zera didn’t say anything, instead she just hugged him tighter, which only caused his heart to race even more!

“ What happened with Damnatio? Are you being arrested? Langris told me you came to turn yourself in.” William questioned as he set her down on the ground, but the two kept their arms around each other.

“ William Vangeance; you’re looking at a free woman!” She announced proudly with a bright smile on her face.

“ A free woman?” He repeated, causing Zera to nod. “ What do you mean?”

“ I mean; that the crimes I thought I committed, and well admittedly the crimes I did commit, are no longer valid! So I’m off the hook and I won’t be going to jail!” She explained with a small laugh.

She watched as an unknown look crossed Williams face, and it made her feel slightly nervous. She looked down, and realized that the two were still holding onto each other.

“ Ah…sorry,” Zera apologized softly, and as she went to pull away William’s grip on her tightened and he pulled her close and held her against him.

“ What a relief…I’m so relieved Zera,” William admitted softly as he buried his face into her shoulder.

“ W-William?” She stammered nervously as her heart began to race, but she didn’t try to push him away.

“ When Langris told me that you were here to turn yourself in I…I couldn’t help but fear the worst,” He admitted softly. “ I thought that maybe I had lost you forever, and just the mere thought of that…terrified me.”

“ I’m sorry for scaring you…I’m so, so sorry.” Zera apologized as she buried her face into his shoulder, she could feel some tears pricking at her eyes, but she quickly rubbed them away.

The two stayed like that for a few more moments, but William pulled away slightly to look at her.

“ You and I need to talk,” He told her softly, and she nodded in agreement.

“ We do, shall we go to the Golden Dawn base?” She asked, and he nodded in agreement before he gently took her hand and began to lead her out of the Magic Parliament.

Finally, the two of them were going to talk and clear up all of their misunderstandings.

Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you all have a good day~!

[itsblasttothepast]

I jus saw the other ask and I wanted to add my two cents to the rant.

Firstly I want to say that I think HM, CH and the others at RB didn't think Checo would last more that one or two years in the team or thought that at the end Max will broke him. But nothing of that has happened!! Because let's be real, if Max didn't want him in the team, Checo would be out in an instant. But no, they are a good team in general terms. And Checo has lernt from his last experinces; his contract must be so good!

Secondly I hate to say this but, for one part I kind of undestand (not really) the bother RB has, because they cannot promote his own talent, Checo was contracted to be an instrument to help Max (and he has done that! Le pese a quien le pese!) and then thank you next! and put a driver from their academy... but no, Checo is still there and has endure the attacks from inside and outside... We know RB will never give out Max, but they also cannot dismiss Checo easily.

People are mad because Checo and his sponsors... but all of the grid are there not only for their amazing skills! (Yes! including Lance, because his father has the money to buy a Championship but has not done it). And we know Honda is out from RB and Ford enters in 2026... I think part of the anger is that Checo went ahead of them and made the contract to be the image of the brand and be the intermediary when RB probably wanted to have a straigh relationship with Ford.

And here comes my delulu theory: Max's dream has always be to able and have a say in the desing a car, so what if Checo made Max an offer to be part of that??? Let's be real, Honda will never would allowed this... they are a tight knit company and (with a million reasons) distrust West companies.

Checo show RB he was good, but insted of recognized that, they tried to disminish him, and he went with the boss's bosses to negociated with them... and they are MAD that he learnt to navigate those waters. And the press (most english speaking ones) are still reporting his seat is not secure, and is so funny they didn't even acknowledge the interviews he has made in spanish stating he knows he has his seat secure till 2026.

You're welcome to share your thoughts anytime! It might take me a while to answer, because work is hell though, but we love ranting!

I totally agree with you; I think Marko especially thought Checo would last 2021 season only, and Horner perhaps had more faith, but no more than two years. By then, they hoped to have one of their Academy Drivers ready for the seat, or in Horner's case, maybe he thought Ricciardo would come back? Not sure about that.

They didn't predict how much of a connection (for calling it in some way) Checo would have with Max, and Checo sneakiness to mantain his contract.

Also, while I agree that RBR must feel like they are wasting their Academy Driver's talent, also Marko hasn't done very much with them; I'm totally convinced that the summer tests were a bust, because if any of the drivers (Lawson, Ricciardo, maybe even Yuki) would have done better, Checo would be out, simple as that. But the car is shit, and only Checo has somewhat tamed it, and then the Ford deal, Checo's contract and the high bosses entered the game.

The thing is that RBR never imagined Checo would be clever, and to secure his future tying their hands, which is so funny to me after making Checo the bad guy this entire season.

Oh, I do think you are onto something here! Maybe this is why Max is also defending him all this time, like they formed an alliance and they are together against RBR to get freedom to design and adjust the car in the future (Chestappen vibes here).

Things will get crazier in the month left of F1, so let's see if we can catch up with our theories.

[pure-garbage]

Battle In The Tower Of Law! A Deadly Test Of Skill!

Chapter Warnings: Violence, Injury

Lana took some heart when the hordes of marines they faced proved to be little more than an annoying obstacle between her crew and the friend they were so determined to free. Even so, she knew better than to assume the cipher pol agents would be defeated so easily.

"Catch up to Robin, uncuff her, worry about the rest when the time comes," she muttered to herself. "How do these simple plans always end up putting me in such complicated messes?"

"I've often wondered the same thing."

"Holy crap!"

Lana startled and leapt back. The voice came from the end of the hall, from a woman in a full suit. She was clearly a cp9 agent, but not one Lana remembered from Iceburg's mansion.

"My team mates always make things sound way simpler than they turn out to be, too," the woman sighed wistfully.

"How'd you hear me from all the way over there?" Lana scowled, tense as she prepared herself for battle. Part of her had hoped the others would be able to occupy all the government agents long enough for her to catch up with Robin and her captor, but it would seem there were more of these creeps than they'd anticipated. "Another devil fruit user?"

"Not yet, I still haven't decided," the woman sighed. Lana didn't understand, but she wasn't inclined to inquisite either. "These empty halls just carry sound really well. I used to talk to myself too... until I learned someone's always listening in this place."

"Cute. I'm filled with empathy for you," Lana scowled snidely. She drew two daggers, waiting for the woman to make the first move. Then again, could she afford to wait? After all, cp9's goal was to delay the straw hats. Time was not on her side.

Lana realized she needed to speed the process along.

She closed the distance between herself and the woman, who unhooked a pair of nunchucks from her belt as Lana neared.

'That's gonna hurt!'

Lana ducked, her offensive becoming a series of rapid evasions as the woman swung at her. She managed to dodge the first round of blows, even managed to connect a few strikes of her own, but iron body prevented them from drawing blood.

Lana could already tell this was going to be an uphill battle.

'She'll shave!'

Lana's intuition warned her where the woman would reappear. She lashed out before the air even stopped shuddering, satisfaction filling her as she felt her dagger sink into the flesh of the woman's shoulder.

'A clean hit! So she can't combine shave and iron body... I wonder if that's true for all of them, or if she's just not proficient enough to use the techniques together.'

The woman yelped and leapt back. Lana pursued her, but a quick shave put her opponent well out of reach.

'I need to practice throwing these things... that's a skill that would really come in handy right about now,' Lana lamented internally.

"What's this?" the woman grunted, glancing down at the hole in her suit disdainfully. "You're predicting my movements, I can tell. You did it twice. How novel."

Lana lowered her stance, ready to move with her quarry.

"Perhaps you'll prove a worthy foe after all," the woman mused. To Lana's surprise, she put her hands together and bowed. "My name's Shaura. Would you honor me with yours?"

Lana's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

'Shave again? why would she keep using it if it leaves her vulnerable? Is she testing to see if my prediction was a fluke?'

Lana's intuition didn't fail her. Shaura moved, catapulting herself to Lana's side. At once, Lana understood. This woman thought she was sneaky. She fancied herself a fox.

Lana dodged away in time, but misjudged the nunchucks reach. She cried out as the tip struck her side, the force of even such a peripheral strike knocking the wind out of her.

'She's strong!'

Shaura came on with a vicious, relentless assault forced Lana to focus on defending herself. They tore through the halls of the tower, Shaura's attacks taking chunnks out of the stone walls whenever they landed. Sweat coated Lana as she evaded desperately.

"That's a pretty neat trick you've learned there," Shaura said. Her attacks didn't falter as she spoke. "What discipline do you practice?"

'I can't afford to get distracted. She thinks she's clever. She's trying to make a crack in my concentration.'

Lana knew she couldn't dodge forever. Her endurance was high from her vain quest to keep up with Zoro, but she could feel fatigue beginning to creep into her limbs.

'I'm not gonna make it! The next attack will hit!'

Panic filled Lana as the nunchucks sailed through the air toward her face. She felt like time itself slowed for her as she unleashed a burst of speed like nothing else she'd ever accomplished in her life. She blinked and found herself nearly ten paces from Shaura, staring at the woman's back.

Shaura's surprise left her frozen for a few vital seconds. Lana raced within striking distance and lashed out with her knives, but her attacks were all met with iron body. Shaura stood still to take the barrage, eyebrows creeping up as she realized what Lana had done.

"You can use shave?!" she demanded.

'She's not adept enough to move around while using iron body, but...'

Lana's eyes widened as she realized what would happen a split-second too late to stop her own momentum. Shaura relaxed her iron body, allowing Lana's spade to sink into her side.

"Finger pistol!"

Lana twisted to avoid a strike that would have cost her an eye, only for the nunchucks to smash against her temple. The force of the blow blurred her vision and sent her flying. Shaura didn't give her the chance to recover, or even hit the ground. She slammed Lana with a merciless series of attacks that sent her tumbling down the hall, bleeding and shouting.

'I can't keep taking hits!'

Lana managed to roll away from a hit from the nunchucks, her speedy evasion allowing her just enough time to kick off the wall behind her.

'Shave!'

She managed to use the technique intentionally this time to put some distance between herself and Shaura, panting as she fought to catch her breath.

"Interesting that you can use our techniques, since you're clearly not a rokushiki master," Shaura observed.

'I'm glad she likes to talk so much,' Lana thought. 'I need all the recovery time I can manage to steal.'

"Not much of a talker, are you?" Shaura chuckled.

"I... usually prefer to focus on my fights," Lana gasped, stalling for time. Her injuries weren't as bad as she'd feared. Had the agent been holding back?

"Your iron body needs a lot of work, much more so than your shave," Shaura went on, stepping toward Lana. "Tell me, which rokushiki master do you call mentor?"

'I used... iron body? That would explain why I'm not in as much pain as I anticipated... but I've never practiced the technique. Am I using it intuitively? Did Zoro and me train for a similar tactic without realizing it?'

"Answer me!" Shaura demanded, advancing further.

'She won't attack me yet.'

Shaura's curiosity was getting the better of the cunning nature she tried to cultivate.

"My mentor's not a rokushiki master," Lana declared. "Just a swordsman. And I belong to no school or discipline."

"Hmph. Cocky little pirate, your rag-tag copycat style won't carry you as far as you hope," Shaura sneered mockingly. "True combative dominance can only be achieved with dedication and training. When one chooses and art and devotes their life to it, it will lift them high above their foes on the wings of victory!"

Lana grit her teeth, a piece of Zoro's advice sneaking to the forefront of her mind.

'Discipline is vital, but never forget that rigid things become brittle easily. Truly great warriors remain fluid.'

"Yeah, well my mentor's always saying too much talking during a fight is a sure sign of lacking conviction," Lana shot back. "You gonna keep running your mouth, or show me these wings of victory you're so sure you've got at your back?"

Lana poised her daggers and waited. Shaura advanced slowly, swinging her nunchucks with a confident smirk.

__________________________________________________

<== Previous Chapter

Next Chapter ==>

== First Chapter ==

[mire1li]

Peppy? PEPPY WHERE ARE Y- oh there you are!

Ever wondered how everything looks from the eyes of the background characters?

Arlan and Asta were busy. Due to the Legion’s invasion a while ago, the station has been in absolute chaos. Asta was sorting some official things out whilst Arlan and his team have been busy fighting the Legion off.

You held Peppy’s leash tightly, not wanting to lose him. You also, unfortunately, had some of your own work to do. 

So, you set off to your work desk, simply holding Peppy’s leash as there was nothing else you could do with it. 

You had a few papers to read through, you needed to send a few emails to colleagues and write a report about some research you were doing. 

Naturally, you started with the emails, they were the easiest. Soon, you moved on to the papers. 

Mid-reading, you noticed the Astral Express Crew had come by to visit. They probably had some business with Asta or Herta. Honestly, you wish you could be like them, travelling the galaxy, exploring new planets, meeting new people. 

Of course, you were happy to have the opportunity of being on the space station but… it felt lonely, always staying in one place. No matter. You continued reading, just moments later noticing that your hand felt… empty. 

You looked to where you had his leash, now realising it, and Peppy, was gone! 

You freaked out! Asta would not be happy about you losing her pet. You shot up out of your seat, frantically looking around the area, hoping Peppy would be somewhere in the vicinity. However, the area was so busy you couldn’t see anything!

You pushed through the small crowd shouting Peppy’s name, listening out for his barks. At one point, you thought you heard him, causing you to look around, still seeing no results. 

After a while of searching you ended up in the Supply Zone, where the Express was standing. 

You looked around, surprisingly, it was empty. Only one or two engineers, the Express Crew and Peppy. You quickly glanced back at them. Peppy? How did Peppy get here?? You ran up to them.

“Oh my Aeons!” You exclaimed, glad to finally have found Peppy. You crouched down and pet his head, sighing in relief. Perhaps Asta won’t be mad. Don’t tell her you nearly lost Peppy!

“I apologise if he got in the way!” You said, looking up at the few people in front of you. 

“Don’t worry about it!” Replied Himeko, you believed she enjoyed Peppy’s company. To be fair, he is very fun to be around. Cute but… sneaky… 

“If you don’t mind, I really must take Peppy and be on my way, I have some work to finish” you took Peppy’s lead and stood up, quickly waving at the group and leaving back to your work area. 

Once you arrived, you saw a very familiar pink-haired lady. She was at your desk, seemingly waiting for you! 

You walked up to her, slightly nervous that she found out you almost lost her puppy. 

“Oh, you’re here! Wonderful! Did you take Peppy for a walk? That’s lovely, I should entrust you with Peppy more often, you’re a good caretaker! I’ll have Arlan bring him over every once in a while.” Asta, very quickly, said crouching down to pet Peppy. 

You gave her the leash, assuming she wanted to take him back now. 

“Oh?” She questioned, looking at you confused.

“You don’t want to keep him for longer?” She almost seemed… hurt.

“As much as I’d love to, I have quite a bit of work of my own to complete, I do apologise Lady Asta” you said, sincerely… mostly. You also didn’t want to risk losing Peppy and getting in trouble this time.

“Oh I see! I suppose I’ll hand him over to Arlan then, thank you for taking care of him!” And with that… she left, probably to go find Arlan. 

The following week, Arlan came to give you Peppy 3 out of 6 days… shared custody… but hey! At least you didn’t lose Peppy anymore, this time you made time to go on walks with him! And Asta never found out about that one time… let’s hope to keep it that way…

word count: 693

[minato-division03]

Even if it was only a day after her majesty’s birthday, there was the endless flow of presents kept sending into her office to the point that she thought they could make an admirable-sized mountain.

Some of them were bouquets and some of them were accessories and even expensive jewelries, but unfortunately, no matter how beautiful or how pricey they are, she knew that they were just served for the courtesy from other agencies associated with her line of work in show business. 

…Ah, so boring

Considering that this kind of thing has long become the norm among people in the world of business, the entertainment industry was no exception either and that’s maybe why she has already felt so done with them. Besides, none of these pointless gifts held that much interest in her eyes. Maybe she should take her precious time to do something more beneficial to herself (and for the sake of her work) after all.

…That was what she thought until two receptionists suddenly burst into her office with a frightening look on their faces. One of them was holding a large bouquet consisting of snapdragons, clematis, purple lilies, and cattails, while the other of them was shaking in fear with a mysterious box in their hands.

“Please pardon us, your Majesty! Can you please take a look at these presents?! We’ve heard some ticking noise from one of it, can it be perhaps a— a bomb!?!” 

Thanks to the action of those two notorious ‘bombers’ nowadays, it was kind of understandable if this circumstance has led her innocent employees to think in that way.

Quickly assessing the situation, Queen Card took the problematic box from her employee’s hold with caution. And after taking a few analyses at it, her keen eyes behind the mask spotted a certain card hanging from the paper wrapping around the bouquet. Maybe her receptionists were so frightened they’ve never noticed it from the start. 

“Can you still remember the characteristics of the sender?” Her majesty asked in a calm manner.

“The one who gave us these was the old lady in a wheelchair! She dressed in such neat clothes and even wore gloves. She seemed to have a hunchback too. From the beginning, she had introduced herself as the messenger from one agency to deliver your majesty their birthday presents, so I think she was just an ordinary grandma and not of a threat just like the others from before. But maybe I’ve been wrong… Argh! Who know that Looks can be this deceiving!”

“Right! And just a few seconds after she left, there was the arrival of one gentleman who informed us he was the assistant from Nara Division. This mister was also coming here to give your majesty the gift from his master’s team, that was until I heard the ticking sound from the box we received from the prior guest. We perhaps looked so startled that the mister somehow noticed and asked us what happened. And after we explained what we found to him, he promised us that he will get to deal with that person as soon as possible before he promptly rushed out. However, I also heard him mutter something like ‘that sneaky cat’ and looked somewhat …irritated? by what we told him. So, in the end, all we can do is to hope that he can catch the culprit soon.”

Nodding as she listened to their stories. Queen Card untied the card and took a close look at it. Some strong scent suddenly hit her nostril. Although it was keeping close to the bouquet all the time, something she sensed wasn’t of the flowers but was that of a certain citrus. 

“Warmed me up.”

The only writing on the card suggested. There was also a picture of that one cat from a certain children book drawn underneath the statement,

And with just that, the self-proclaimed most brilliantest detective was certain of one thing.

The scared young receptionists let out a shriek when they saw their queen lit up the flame from her pocket lighter and broiled that said card over it all of sudden.  

Thus, not so long after the card touched the heat, something like the burnt trails started to get revealed on that seemingly vacant card.

“Greetings, jou-chan! Oh, this time it should be jou-sama isn’t it? My bad, my bad, how rude of me~ Well, congratulations on your birthday! My duchess was kind of wanting to give you some message too, but as for now, please accept this little thing as a bit of an appetizer before the main dish. —And in case jou-sama has already forgotten which syndicate I belong to, my lowly me suggests a lil bit of waiting. Nothing can shine without a pinch of darkness and so is your desired answer, my lady.  ‘Twas Brillig! Hope all the good things would be blessed upon you in this year”

After reading the still mysterious message, the queen seemed to ponder over something before asking her employees,

“What time is it right now, my dear?” 

“Within a minute it will be 4 P.M., my majesty.” 

Even if they were still dazed from the rush action of their majesty, they still answered her with the clearest voice they could utter.

Queen Card sighed probably at the hundredth time of the day as she told one of them to turn off all lights in the room. And at that moment by the time one of the clock’s hands has moved itself to the number of four, the ticking sound from the box somehow stopped as its lid swung open, the upbeat melodies started to play out, revealing its true nature as a music box. There was also a miniature but exquisite castle placed inside, but that wasn’t all of it.

Amidst the pitch-black darkness, the bright light was ejected from that small castle, taking its appearance as the glowing message displaying on the room wall …with some special effects of all cards’ symbols (the hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs) floating around in the same fashion.

“Happy Birthday, Queen Card.

We’re looking forward to our joint cooperation next time.

Best regards,

家高 操姫  Ietaka Misaki

President of Kairiku Production.”

“Will wonders never cease,” Queen Card murmured.

The closed the lid of the box aggressively, the loud ‘clang’ startling her receptionists.

“Um… Your Majesty…?” one of the receptionists asked, her voice soft and cautious.

Queen Card huffed and drummed her nails on the box. “Well, good news is, it is but a simple show that the people of Nara Division had put on for us and no one is injured. The two of you may be former crooks, but I must say, your reactions to a potential bomb is rather amusing.”

“A bomb is, well… a bomb,” the other receptionist said matter-of-factly but still respectfully.

“We’ve never dealt with weapons on the level of an explosive…”

Queen Card chucked as she set the music box down along with her stack of presents. “And such is why the two of you are not ready to handle hands-on projects like the rest of my team.”

The two bowed their heads in shame.

Queen Card crossed her arms. “Regardless, whether or not you are able to get into the rather hands-on practices of this line of work… You both have been upholding your end of the bargain thus far, and I intend to continue upholding mine.”

They receptionists sighed in relief.

“And on the subject of ‘bargain’…” Queen Card whispered as she ran her delicate snow-white fingers along the letters she received. “It would seem that a storm is brewing…”

She smirked.

A dull-pink tongue emerged from her lips, swiping off some of the glossy mulberry stain from her lips.

She giggled.

“And a rather fun one, it would seem…”

“You best make sure this storm you bring about will be a magnificent rain dance for your Queen.”

Thanks for the gifts!

[zapsoda]

i drew them once now im in love wit them <3

they're playing Nain Jaune / Yellow Dwarf (a card game); tally is accusing bax of cheating to which he says to get gud. roy is surprised by clam's luck while clam hopes tally won't accuse him of cheating next (didn't understand the cheating allegations was just to tease bax). and kip is just chillin

anyways blease tell us more about if they play any card or board game, what is everyone's favourite, who wins the most, whos the most sore loser ... that kind of stuff!! i'm interested in what they do while travelling the big universe

JKSJDJSH im sooo obsessed w this im in love..... <333

its funny that u ask this bc ive had this idea in my head these last few days of bax n tally coming back to the ship after carrying out one of their first missions- the WORST one so far. fucking awful.

theyre covered in dirt and blood and vomit and lugging their targets corpse back in a cooler and they step onto the ship and there everyone is. the rest of the crew. playing a nice game of cards at the table. chumming around, having the gayest of times. maybe theyre playing space poker, doing a bit of drinking.

and bax and tally are just. so fucking peeved.

this is the immediate setup for some subsequent comical interactions.

so yeah i think they do play card games i think they play really risky competitive shit. perhaps there has been an incident involving monopoly. a lot of gambling, maybe drinking games, some games popular on earth, some not. they definitely play risk, or the intergalactic equivalent, all kinds of shit along those lines.

roy and clam keep track of their wins because they are neck and neck fighitng for first place every time. theyre strategizers, they play games like fucking light and L from death note. they, naturally, love games that require a lot of thinking. they still enjoy luck games (clam particularly), but they are far less competetive about em.

tallys a sneaky bitch. very good at lying and bluffing but he has horrible luck. he also prefers strategy games because of this.

kip plays like hank schrader from breaking bad. big talker, loves to poke and jest, but an utter pussy in the end, he takes no chances. he is a little bit bitchy, but tastefully so. he just likes to have fun. he is just a tad hedonistic.

bax on the other hand, is reckless. he takes every single chance, and when it works out for him he will never let anyone forget it. he also likes most games. he can find fun almost anywhere.

he and tally keep track also, less so of their wins (far less frequent), more of just which one is generally doing better than the other. if one of them ever does win, the other will always fucking argue it. they always end up paired together in team games because no one else wants to be near that. they absolutely form illegal alliances in games like risk with the intention of backstabbing each other.

[thotsforvillainrights]

And last one for now! The puppy phase 

As kids most of us probably went through an animal phase and wanted to have a cute little puppy to care for. Tomoko is not exception, she is restless with her demands for a puppy. Please just one tiny little puppy she promises to walk it and feed it and give it all the things a puppy needs! Skeptic, of course, replies a simple No every-time, because puppies are a big responsibility (and he knows he’ll probably end up caring for it)

But then of course - of *course* his dear co-workers would - get her a puppy (you can decide who can give her it). Now Skeptic is not only having to raise a human child, he’s having to raise a puppy. It’s yappy and loud and it’s just learnt how to howl, it eats anything it can get its little jaws on (his expensive shoes are a delicacy), it’s getting dog hair on the furniture, and worst of its?? The little rat had the nerve to weasel its way into his heart 

One night Tomoko sneaks her way into his bed and sleeps with him. He of course heard her come in but instead of carrying her back to her room, he just pulls the covers over her and goes back to sleep. In the morning he wakes up to Tomoko and the furball curled up by his chest, sleeping soundly. Tomoko is cradling them like a teddy bear and the puppy’s itty bitty paws are twitching in its sleep- oh the puppy yawned, that was adorable. Why did he think that was adorable? 

Skeptic grumbles, swearing that this is the ONLY time the dog will sleep on the bed 

(The dog slept on any of the beds in the house at least three times a week)

(Oh the puppy phase is so real I swear. Skeptic strikes me as the type of dad to not want a dog but then treat it like a baby once he gets close to it)

~The New Puppy~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up

As parents, there are a few phases you two are well aware of coming on the horizon. The 'where do babies come from' phase is going to be the most dreaded one of course. The 'can I join a sports team', yet the child may not stick and end up quitting way too soon. Even more so, you expect the 'can I have a puppy' phase to come before anything else with the way Tomoko is towards animals. Surely enough, the two of you were right. Your sweet girl was ruthless at it too. She was consistent, unyielding, NOT EVEN CLOSE to giving up asking any time soon. You let Skeptic handle this one considering he was better at saying 'no' to her than you were, She's gotten up in some age and he's had plenty of time to break free from spoiling her as best he could. He's managed to say no to her successfully many times in the past few weeks, but you can see his resolve starting to fail sooner or later.

The sneaky little thing even tried to trick Curious or Trumpet into getting it for her one day, had Skeptic not stepped in to say no just in time.

He sits her down one day and sighs, opting to have a deeper conversation and hoping to reach her through it. "Puppies and dogs in general are a large responsibility kid. It's not just something cute you can hang out with or take picture of. You need to clean them, feed and water them, take them on walks, take the to the vet and groomer, train them, and so much more." He's telling her all this but knows in the back of his mind that big responsibility for her will actually be a big one for him instead. She'd pouted afterward and he was sure she'd be right back at it later in the week.

It's unfortunate for him that he ended up bringing her to work on a day that his stubborn coworker would be there. This was a woman he'd describe as having so restrictions. No matter how angry he was, this was the first worker that actually didn't cower away from him. Perhaps he was annoyed he didn't have any control over this woman any more than the other higher-ups did. Worst of all, he hated how she'd go directly against what he was trying to teach his daughter. One day he caught Tomoko with a pocket full of half eaten candy after he specifically told her to wait until dinner time before sweets. It wasn't a question as to who gave it to her. It was precisely this very same coworker that took an *ahem* early lunch break and returned from the pet store with a small yapping rat. Now unfortunately for him, he was stuck having to raise not only a kid but also this damn dog as well.

The thing stinks, it smells like a bag of dirty pennies. It never shuts the fuck up. It shits and pisses all over the house rather than on the puppy pad, and it destroys EVERYTHING (including his most expensive pair of shoes). Woe is him...While you were supposed to take his side with this, you ended up falling for the thing rather quickly. Now it was two against one and he was stuck with it. Even worse on him, he began to find himself growing slowly interested in the little thing as well. He began calling it by it's name (puddles) and actually taking some extra time out of his busy day to help his daughter care for it. He hated every bit of how easily he tended to fall for cute things. Perhaps that's why you had him wrapped around your finger when the two of you first started dating years ago?

One night Tomoko had snuck her tiny self into your shared bed and fells asleep. He woke up to some muffled feet on the carpet and obviously knew he heard her come in but instead of carrying her back to her own bed, he just pulled the blanket over her and went back to sleep. That very next morning he woke up to Tomoko and the pup curled up near his chest...sleeping soundly. His babygirl is cuddled up closely against him with the small creature, its small little paws twitching in its sleep...When exactly had his heart gotten so warm at the sight? Oh well, nonetheless this was a one time thing. That dog (no matter how cute) would have to sleep in it's own bed after tonight.

At least that's what he said a week ago. The puppy has been sleeping in beds ever since.

[multipleoccupancy]

Sloane only understood what Killian had told him about his past, the boy was guarded about a lot of it but he had thought it was just because he was such a stickler for the rules. He had learned more from him since and he always got the sense there was more yet to be revealed around the nature of his recruitment. "He's been groomed that's for certain," Sloane confirmed, pitying Killian and his view of Delta Green. "But he's safe with us, he'll learn that sometimes he has to break the rules and that no one will come for him if he does, they only care about the mission success."

He smiled as Samantha confirmed she would escape and then chuckled that he would have a sneaky plan up his sleeve. "Always have an escape plan," he said proudly, agents were precious and the two (plus one extra) were more precious than most! "She should be safe and out of reach, here's hoping she'll feel like that's enough." And that she would be safe and undetected!

"I might need your help in ensuring she sees it as the valuable job it is." Another glace at the pair, "and in persuading Killian to let her have the crossbow." He chuckled, sure their team member would listen to them on that front at least. Sloane hoped he would on keeping Violet a secret too.

Theo smiled as Violet said that it wasn't all bad, more so touched that she pointed out it was how she would see him. "Yeah," he hummed with that same smile even if part of him thought it would have been better if Violet had not crossed timelines at all. It was certainly making things more complicated in his head. He was still glad to have met her though, but he wasn't wise or thoughtful enough yet to say so out loud, turning his attention onto one of the spare pulleys for the crossbow, fidgeting with it instead.

He paused though as the truth came out. She had used a ritual. But she had been under such duress that it was that or die. He ruminated on that for a moment, wondering if he would do the same. He thought he wouldn't and was about to voice that perhaps there had been another way but he didn't blame her, when she revealed another version of himself had tricked her into learning it. His mouth shut again with a quiet and stunned clack.

"I..." he tried and looked her over, reeling from the revelation there was a cultist version of himself. One that had tricked her into learning a ritual. What could he even say to that? His eyes darted down to the pulley in his hands, still mindlessly fidgeting with it as his thoughts went blank. A white nothingness and a numb sensation. He could do rituals? He would do rituals? That wasn't him though. No, it was a different Theo, he would never.

He realised he had to say something, she had gotten so upset when he had been even slightly mistrusting of her before, she was probably freaking out but he didn't dare look up. "I'm glad you got away from them. Safe." He said, still feeling his heart in his throat at the idea of himself as a cultist. A merciless ringing in his year and his vision unable to focus on anything else but the pulley in his hands. "I didn't know." That she had to do that, that it could happen and that he could be the villain.

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎 & 𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐓 @multipleoccupancy

Samantha nodded slowly. "It was by design," she couldn't help but say, "they recruited him so young." And she knew that she wasn't that much older than him. But 18? And Davidson had threatened him when he was only 16. "They put him through college, too. He probably feels like he owes them so much." How could he see them as the bad guys? Not that Samantha thought Delta Green was bad. She just knew it was... not all that good either.

She was relieved that Sloane agreed with her. "I told him that," she admitted, "but I'm not sure he believed me. He'll listen if it comes from you, though." Slane knew more about Delta Green's practices, after all. "You're right. He would never let anyone hurt her."

"I promise I'll cut my way through if I need to," she assured him, touched but not surprised that he cared more about her safety than the mission. "I had a feeling you had a plan. You're sneaky like that." She nudged him playfully. "I think it's a great idea. She'll be out of danger, but she'll still feel involved." Samantha was rather certain that Violet would never listen if they just told her to "hide and wait."

"It wasn't all bad," Violet said, which was true. A lot of it was bad, but there were precious memories too. Being there for her dad in the ward. Meeting cowboy Theo and Andrea. "I'm glad I know about the supernatural. And my travels can be good, too. I get to see you."

Violet was quite happy that Theo had hugged her back. Relieved, even. Surely that meant things were back to normal, right? But she didn't dare ask him. The truth was, she was scared of the answer. What if he still didn't trust her? From what she had seen, he was a very unyielding young man.

And yet, she still decided to tell him the truth. "I would have been killed otherwise," she said, her eyes falling on the fake crossbow -but only so she could escape Theo's gaze. Was he going to despise her, now? "When the cultists kidnapped me, one of them said they would kill me if I didn't perform a ritual. I was all alone, and there were so many of them. I didn't know what else to do." Her dad had not blamed her for it. But maybe this Theo would. "I only knew the ritual because a very wicked man lied to me and manipulated me. He's... one of the Theos that haven't been so nice to me."

[catcreatesstuff]

A few (hundred) words about the closure of Team TripleJump

About five years ago I was playing Jackbox on a Discord call with a few friends, and we got to chatting about work. At the time I had a secure, well-paying job, but I wasn't feeling at all creatively fulfilled by it, and after a bit of a whinge, I half-jokingly asked my pal James Jenkins, who at the time was working for a favourite YouTube channel of mine, if they had any jobs going. He said they didn't at the moment, but if anything came up, he'd let me know.

Fast forward a few weeks and I get a message from him telling me the channel, TripleJump, were in the market for freelance scriptwriters, and linking me to the job description. I read through it and was filled with excitement; this was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for, and so I began plugging away at a spec script on the subject of the Batman: Arkham games.

About 500 words in though, the imposter syndrome began to creep in. I hadn't written anything aside from PowerPoints since I'd left university, what the Hell was I thinking applying for this job? There was no way anything I wrote was going to be any good, so why was I even trying? I set the script aside, and pretty much put the whole thing out of my mind.

Shortly before the submission deadline, I got another message from James asking me if I'd applied in the end, and at that point my guilt over causing someone the inconvenience of getting them to keep an eye out for a job and letting me know about it trumped my imposter syndrome, and so, over the next few hours, I knocked out what I thought was a fairly poor script and sent it to the channel.

Well, it turns out that script wasn't so bad after all, and sometime later I was offered the opportunity to write one Top 10 script per week for TripleJump. I was introduced to Philip Reed, the channel's Senior Staff Writer, and with his guidance and mentorship, I quickly settled into my new freelance role.

Alas, instead of being a creative outlet to balance the stresses of a corporate job, my time freelancing for TripleJump only made me more unhappy with my career, something which I expressed to Philip on multiple occasions. "I wish I could do this full time," I'd tell him, never actually thinking it was possible. Well, it turns out that Philip, that sneaky devil, had been relaying my wishes to the powers that be at the channel, and around nine months after I started freelancing, Adam Pacitti was on the phone offering me a full time job.

To some, leaving behind a steady, secure role to write jokes about video games in the notoriously fickle world of YouTube might have seemed insane, but it was the best thing I've ever done.

I've written literally hundreds of scripts, from serious pieces on why people still think video games are to blame for real-world violence to utterly bonkers joke videos that claim that the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner was the hunkiest video game boy of 2020. I've also gotten to write and act in a video game, attend Insomnia Festival as a member of the press, and GM a game of Dungeons & Dragons on a livestream for hundreds of viewers.

Of course, my experience working for TripleJump would have been nothing without the amazing, talented, wonderful people I got to work with day in, day out. Ben Potter, Peter Austin, Ashton Matthews, James Jenkins, Ciaran Henry, Alex Winters, and the late, great Philip Reed have been the best colleagues, friends, and mentors anyone could hope for. Their passion and creativity knows no bounds, and I feel truly blessed to have spent the past four years working alongside and learning from these brilliant people.

TripleJump as a channel might be over, but looking back at all we've achieved, I couldn't be more proud of us. What started as two blokes and a fuzzy walrus bemoaning awful video games has grown into a hugely popular channel with perhaps the greatest community in the industry, and I feel truly honoured to have been a part of it for as long as I have.

Had I known things would end up this way when I accepted the job, I still wouldn't have changed a thing. Most people go their whole lives never even liking what they do for work; I've been lucky enough to spend four years doing what I love with a group of people who inspire me to be the best I can possibly be, and I'm so excited to see what they all get up to next because I just know that whatever they do, they're all going to absolutely smash it.

So what are my take aways from all of this? Well, it turns out that I am a pretty damn good writer and I should probably have a little more faith in myself, and although taking risks, especially in your career, can be scary, they have the potential to lead to the most wonderful things.

To everyone in the TripleJump community, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your endless support over the years. And to Ben, Peter, Ashton, James, Ciaran, Alex, and Philip, I thank you for the best four years of my life.