#i definitely grew it myself and it definitely didn’t spawn out of nothing in my fruit bat cave

[silent-partner-412]

it’s george’s birthday. i have a nice silver quality pomegranate with his name on it. i deliver it straight to him, he smiles and says thank you for remembering his birthday. he IMMEDIATELY follows it up with “how can two men get married? it’s not natural! i guess i’m just old fashioned.”

that’s cold.

[0poole]

I LOVE No Straight Roads

Honestly it’s hard to keep me away from a game with great visuals and even greater character design. I knew from the INSTANT I saw these characters that I was going to love it. I just finished it because it’s (unfortunately) pretty short, and even though I cheesed the final boss through it’s very lenient death mechanics (Instant respawn at the cost of a good rank) I actually appreciated that it wasn’t a pure cake walk. I’ve yet to rematch all of the bosses, but since I had genuine trouble with the later ones I’ll hold off on that.

But who cares about gameplay, am I right? I sure as hell don’t. I would’ve bought the game no matter what the hell it was. I wanted the characters (and the music, although I realized that second) and that was it. 

First of all, I love any world that is super fantastical but cheesy in its concept, ala a city powered by music, and battles between artists using music. Ideas like this only spawn from a mind that wants to create a fun atmosphere, if nothing else, and it was sure as hell fun. I genuinely love when someone goes so far into a crazy idea and doesn’t waste your time explaining it with real world logic. Wanna know how a city can be powered by music? Shut up and look at the cute virtual mermaid. Lord knows I did. Every once in a while, it does you good to just let the player/reader/viewer just revel in the idea without having to go out of your way to make things seem realistic. It’s not about “turning your brain off” or whatever, it’s picking your battles.

Also, I can seriously love a world with great background characters to it. Any game with the right situation to insert the random nobodies you find onto the streets into the art in the credits really played into the greatness of the world’s less important characters, and that’s always a good thing. It’s technically world building. But, since I always love to pick favorites, I’d have to say my favorite background character is easily Mia, the NSR infodesk assistant. It’s funny, because you can literally search “nsr characters” into Google and she’s the third image result. I love how jumpy she is when you first interact with her, since NSR probably spread the word about B2J suggesting they’re rock thugs who’d beat up anyone, so for all she knows she could die right then and there with a guitar lodged in her skull. She’s probably just some intern trying to pay for college. She don’t want trouble.

Also, I just realized that 90% of the characters in this game have the same body structure that I always love, that being having arms/legs that sort of fan out in width into relatively large hands/feet. It’s a kind of limb structure I fall into so much because it just really hits me right for some reason. I really can’t explain why.

Anyways, I gotta talk about the big boys individually:

Mayday and Zuke are an amazing duo. I’m always a sucker for a cute and crazy girl, but honestly Zuke hit so many of the right notes too. I will say it’s weird to pair the martian Zuke with the humanly-skinned Mayday, but honestly it doesn’t even matter because he looks so cool on his own. I love his weird blocky blue dreadlocks, and his weirdly shaped shirt which bares his chest in the weirdest way... And, oh my god, Mayday’s weird Spongebob background flower eyes? It’s little tidbits like that that really make me jealous. How could I have ever thought of that? It looks so perfect, and I don’t know why. And her little booty jig she does in her idle animation? Adorable. I played as her as much as was reasonable not only because I’m a filthy button masher with little strategy but also because she’s so damn cute. I can also appreciate how she has a tough-as-nails persona while still keeping a semi-girly attitude, like with her falling for 1010 and Sayu. Characters are so much better when they’re a perfect blend of characteristics, instead of being all one-note, like how Zuke is the quiet one but gets heated against DK West, and all. 

Honestly the voice acting for every character is great, but I love when Mayday’s VA’s accent shows through. It’s a perfect twang to accent (consider this the only acknowledgement of a pun in this post) her snarkiness. 

DJ Subatomic Supernova was going to be an easy favorite since he’s all space-themed. Also, I don’t know why I always end up liking the egotistic characters. Not in the sense that I like their egotistic-ness, but in the sense that I like everything else about them and they just so happen to also be egotistic. The same applied with Empoleon (maybe like my 2nd favorite Pokemon) and Rarity from MLP, probably among others. Either way, I’ll never not love space themes. Not to mention he’s got a funky disco theme, and I’m slowly starting to realize that I am in extreme love with techno-funk styles of music. The instant I heard his music he cemented his place into my playlists. 

As for design, I still have no idea what the fuck he is. Clearly AI is at human levels in this world, but if he’s a robot why does he still have hairy legs? But, if he’s a human, is that weird orb his head? Is it just some sort of puppet which he controls from inside his giant jacket? I know I dissed explaining things realistically but I actually want to know with this guy. Even the wiki doesn’t say. Either way, he’s clearly the logical extreme of “being at the center of your own universe.” Even his jacket depicts a solar system, with his hood being the sun. Didn’t see that until I tried to draw him. I really wish this guy wasn’t so tied to his DJ stand so I could reasonably draw him without it. I don’t want to draw his hairy ass legs. It is a great touch for his design though (although I prefer his beta look with pants and long boots, another design trait I tend to gravitate to) since DJs could reasonably not wear pants, since they’re always behind a table.

Sayu is my favorite. It’s so plainly obvious. It’s weird to say that sometimes, because some characters like Sayu are so clearly engineered to be as adorable as possible, to the point where they’re basically a parody of whatever they’re supposed to be emulating, but then they do that so well that they are still likable for what they’re trying to parody. Also, even though I’ve never looked into any vocaloid superstars myself, the fact that they exist and are loved in real life is absolutely perfect to be used as a character design in a world like this. It’s so weird conceptually, but we all know it’s normal and realistic. But yeah, she’s a giga-cutie whom I’ve already drawn and I’ve listened to her theme on loop on many different occasions. Favorite character, favorite track, favorite weapon of choice (What did I say about Empoleon?), which, and I wouldn’t have noticed this myself, looks like the USB symbol you see above USB ports on computers. How crazy perfect is that?

Even apart from my unbridled love for cute monster robot(?) girls, her boss fight is probably the 2nd greatest of them all, at least conceptually. She’s just a hologram, so you can’t touch her, but you CAN disconnect the artists which control her in order to defeat her. It’s the kind of concept for a boss fight that could only work for this type of character. I’m a sucker for the cute girl that provides her voice, but I love how the animator (video editor? the yellow one) actually attacks you with a mouse and lowers the brightness of the setting once he appears. Also, the mocap guy being the deeply-voiced type but still providing the adorable movements of her body. It’s such a great combo of characters, and their little extra art in the credits makes me like them even more. I just wish we could interact with them individually.

DK West was probably one of the most interesting characters visually, especially since I knew of every other NSR member long before the game came out, but I only just heard of him closer to the release. I wasn’t sure where he was placed, but I definitely assumed his gig was the weird shadow demon we saw in the trailers. When I finally saw him in game, I was shocked to hear him speak an entirely different language most of the time, which was really cool. Also, finding out he was tied to Zuke and wasn’t strictly an NSR artist really made him more interesting. You know, if his fucking shadow clone magic didn’t make him crazy cool enough. Even though I suck at his game and am not especially fond of his raps, the visual of him rapping with this giant monster behind him and dozens of weird shadow wingmen by his side hyping him up was probably one of the coolest in the entire game. The dark way they were hyping him up too gave such a bizarre atmosphere, especially since it parallels his seemingly chill and smiley demeanor. 

I definitely hope they’ll introduce new bosses as DLC in the future, and make them sort of in the same vein as DK West, where they aren’t the biggest artists ever, but they want to pick a fight with B2J. I’d kill for any extra content this game can provide.

Yinu is obviously special since she was the subject of the demo they put out for the game. Even though I knew all her bells and whistles, she and her mom still beat me a few times in the full game. Considering she’s semi-tied to story-ish spoilers I kinda want to go more into her in a separate section. It is worth considering playing the game first since it’s not hard (with the easy going deaths) and it’s short length.

1010 seriously grew on me as I learned more about them and interacted with them. I got their shtick when I first looked at them, but after seeing that animation of them touring the city on Youtube I was kinda falling for them. Then, I learned that they’re apparently repurposed navy war robots? I mean, maybe not them specifically, but it seems to heavily point in that direction, with the warship cars and “attention!”s and all. It took me a bit to get into their music too, but once I actually fought them and put their actions to the music I fell in love with it. I swear, Neon J’s weird dancing can has some of the smoothest moves in all of gaming. I don’t know whether they mocapped out those movements or got one of the greatest animators ever, but it looks so impossibly clean his part of the song gets me like 30x more hype than it would normally. 

Also, their little art piece of them looking at fan mail in the credits is probably one of the most adorable things ever. Even if they’re just Neon J’s puppets, that piece of art really makes it seem like they love every one of their fans. I’m not gonna lie, I might swoon a bit too if they picked me out and gave me some special attention.

Oh yeah, and the fact that Mayday was super sad in her showstopper against them was adorable and hilarious at the same time. The little tweaks they made to the showstopper for each fight were great.

Eve just has to be Lady Gaga, right? Like, an even crazier Lady Gaga. DJSS is Daft Punk (or any artist with a helmet persona, you know what I’m talking about), Sayu is Hatsune Miku, DK West is Kanye West, Yinu is a generic child protege, 1010 is a KPop boyband (just pick one) and Eve is Lady Gaga. That’s just how things are. But, again, this is the kind of boss fight that only this type of character could provide. It’s not just surreal imagery, it’s ARTISTIC surreal imagery. The fight is so mesmerizing in every way, especially by how it starts off so slow and calm and progresses to insanity, as well as the increased emotional investment in the fight making you feel so much more into it than just “That’s the boy band. Let’s fight.” Not only does it get you more invested, but it makes her artistic persona go deeper than just “she looks weird.” She is genuinely conflicted about her relationship with Zuke, and naturally that leads her to literally split him and Mayday apart. That mechanic specifically was the coolest, although I do wish they made it more obvious when you needed to switch over to a different side. I was getting pulverized by her fight too, since there were so many things to pay attention to. Her fight was definitely the best one. 

Tatiana and Spoilers:

Let’s be real with ourselves, the twist was so obvious. I do also think, though, that obvious twists aren’t bad if they’re just good reveals. At some point, a person just has experienced so many stories that “only pretty good” twists are easy to spot. It doesn’t mean that the twists are bad, it just means you yourself experienced.

I feel like her transition from rock to EDM was pretty understandable, even as a non-musician. She was so caught up in what she assumed was popular that it basically consumed her. It’s easy as an artist to want to forgo what you truly want to make in favor of what makes you popular, and clearly since her transition to EDM made her the CEO of the biggest company in the city (world?) that probably made her think she truly needed to change her outlook. Then, when she saw B2J try to bring it back, she sort of coined them as being as misguided as she was and knocked them down a peg. Plus, they were kinda being jerks about it.

It’s kinda like the Trolls sequel, where everyone pegs rock music fanatics as being too stuck up in their own heads to appreciate other types of music, which honestly seems more like the case than the alternative. When I first heard of the story of the game, I was seriously hoping they did put an asterisk on B2J’s ambitions because they were a bit sketchy from the start. 

That’s kinda where I want to talk about Yinu, because she was the true turning point in what they were doing. She’s literally 9 and yet she’s getting dragged into all this BS. When she said “I hate you all” at the end of her fight, and played a somber tune on her broken piano after the fight destroyed it, you kinda got a kick in the face to realize you’re kinda being an asshole to some of them. Sure, they fight back, but they wouldn’t fight in the first place if they didn’t have to. They are just people who play music under a joint name that B2J just so happened to get in hot water with. 

Then, of course, there’s Kliff, who also reeked of surprise villain, and who’s basically the embodiment of the bad side of B2J, where he just wanted to destroy for his own sake and not for the actual greater good. Once B2J realized their mistake, they backed off, but Kliff was so hard pressed to do what he planned on in the first place he wouldn’t stop. I kinda wish he got a bigger fight to his own since he’s clearly a big enough tech genius to divert a whole satellite into one specific building. Maybe the Elliecopter chase bit was his thing, but I do kind of wish he was there to fight against them too.

Even though Tatiana did kind of reform a bit quick, It’s still not too crazy to assume she could see that B2J was just misguided and the fact that they worked to revert their wrongdoings for her sake would make a pretty strong impressions. They clearly can hold their own, so it’s not like she wouldn’t want them to join NSR too. 

Oh yeah, and her boss fight was clock/time themed. If there’s a theme under space that I love, it’s clocks/time. 

And If I am to be respected by the internet, I must provide a negative opinion to balance out my positive one. I will say that the character model physics (like Mayday’s braids, DK West’s vest thing, Neon J’s fluffy neck thing, etc) got kinda funky at times. Especially DK West’s vest, which was completely messed up for every scene he was in... Also, even though the voices are mostly great, some lines felt a bit off. Just a bit. That good enough? Good.

But yeah anyway that’s another favorite game to add to the pile. Eventually I’m gonna have to compile a true list of my all-time favorite games/movies because I do kind of want to have a solid idea of what my all-time favorites are.

[thebookwormfairy]

Captain the Retired Police and His Puppies Part 3

Sorry for not updating this story in a bit, I got distracted. I'll be starting a permit tag list for all my Daminette stories so if you would like to be add, just let me know! On with the story

Masterlist

It had been a couple of day since Tom and Sabine left back to Paris

Ace was still Captain's number one priority

So when his girl told him she was making a quick run to the fabric store for a comission for Fang's human he was a bit worried but stayed behind

He did ask that Titus try to go with her

Titus agreed and ran up to Marinette as she was about to leave

Marinette was having a day to herself

Apparently there was a big emergency at Wayne Enterprise and everybody had to go handle it

If course this was totally fine

And Marinette told them as much

She just planned to work on Jagged's comission

But she ran out of fabric and had to go get more

Marinette tried to get Alfred but couldn't find him

Figuring he went grocery shopping Marinette sent a quick text to Damian letting him know she was going to leave for 1 hour tops

As Marinette was heading to the taxi after checking in on Captain and Ace, she was about to head out when Titus came trotting up to her with his leash in his mouth

Marinette: What is it Titus?

Titus nudge Marinette's leg with the leash still in his mouth

Marinette: Would you like to come with me?

Titus gave an enthusiastic bark

Marinette giggling: Okay. It should be fine. We're just popping into a shop real quick.

Marinette put on Titus' leash and sent another quick text to Damian letting him know she was taking Titus with her

The taxi driver took them to the closest fabric store and dropped them off at the corner

The girl and dog was walking by an alley when they heard talking from inside

A woman's voice with a Brooklyn accent: Is that the girl who was able to take down Eddie.

Another woman's voice: Yeah she's dating Wayne's youngest too.

Marinette watched as Harly Quinn and Posion Ivy stepped out of the alley

Marinette took a step back a Titus stood in front of his human's mate

Harley: Aren't you the cutest? Isnt she the cutest Ivy?

Ivy: Yeah but what are you doing out here? It's not safe right now

Marinette gathering her courage: I was just going to buy some fabric

Ivy: Well you need to get off the street now. Joker is doing one of his big plans right now

Marinette: Oh I'll just leave then.

Harley: No why don't you come with us?

Marinette: Umm

Harley wrapped her arm around Marinette ignoring the dirty look Titus was giving her and started to drag Marinette to her and Ivy's apartment a couple of blocks away

Ivy following along: You sure it's a good idea to kidnap Bruce's youngest kid's girlfriend?

Harley: It's not kidnapping, it's forced temporary adoption.

Marinette remained quiet as the two older women dragged her to a secondary location (a/n: STREET SMARTS)

Marinette could sense that these two didn't mean her any harm

And if worst comes to worst she could transform

Titus followed along keeping close to Marinette ready to protect her if anything went wrong

The group made it back to the apartment on one piece

Marinette was able to see parts of the emergency Harley eas talking about

Some streets they passed were completely destroyed

Marinette wondered if she could use her Miraculous Cure to undo the damage

She'll have to ask Tikki about it later

As Marinette entered the Villians' apartment she spotted a young boy about her age sitting on their couch petting two Hyenas

Harely: Hey Edwin, we're home and we brought a temporary guest

Ivy: Don't say it like that. Edwin this is Marinette we found her close to the situation and brought her here until she can be picked up. Marinette this is Edwin-

Edwin: Edwin, but people also call me Puzzler. I believe you've met my father, the Riddler

Marinette blushing: Oh yeah, sorry about what happened at the club

Edwin grabs Marinette's hand and kisses her knuckles: Please do not apologize for such a brilliant show of cleverness. Father was never meant to go after you, rather your loud mouth classmate. Such a soft look but such a fire within, you are quite the paradox.

Titus growled at this strange biy showing too much affection to his boy's mate

Edwin laughing: Oh and is this your little dog? I thought you had a German Sheperd

Marinette: Oh no this is Ti....How did you know I have a German Sheperd?

Edwin taking a step towards Marinette: After watching your brilliance I had to know more about you so I did some research

Marinette taking a step back: Then you'll also know that this is Titus my BOYFRIEND'S dog

Edwin waving off the mention of Damian: yes yes

Ivy: Make yourself comfortable Marinette, you'll be here for a bit

Marinette sat down on a chair away from the two hyenas and the flirty teenage boy

Marinette gesturing to the hyenas: So what are their names?

Harley sitting between the two animals: Oh I'm so glad you asked. This is Lou and Bud. Their my little babies!

Harley continued to baby talk the twon hyenas as Ivy turned back to Marinette

Ivy: So Marinette you're obviously here to visit the Waynes, how are you liking your time in Gotham

Marinette: Oh it's great! Originally Damian was suppose to come visit me this summer and I was going to come back for winter break, but with Ace pregnant and my dog, Captain's the father, we decided to switch so Captain and I could be her for the birth

Harley: Ace is pregnant!! Oh you'll have to call us when she gives birth!

Marinette laughing: Sure

Marinette and Titus spent 3 hours in that apartment with Ivy, Harley, and Edwin laughing and talking. She surprisingly felt safer with them then she did her old classmates

Marinette was having so much fun she didn't realize her phone had died

But Harley let Marinette know that she sent a message to the Waynes letting them know where Marinette was as soon as they got to the apartment

That did not help the Waynes though

They finally defeated Joker after 5 hours of fighting

Damian was ready to go back to the Manor and cuddle Marinette

So imagine his distress when he couldn't find the girl anywhere in the Manor and checking his phone showed that she left somewhere with Titus 3 hours before

He worry grew when he found a worried Captain pacing in Damian's room, waiting for his girl's return

Damian ran down to the cave where is family minus Bruce who had to deal with some messages were still debriefing

Damian panic: Alfred do you know where Marinette is?

Alfred: I believe she's in her room working on a comission

Damian: She's not! She sent me a text three hours ago saying she and Titus were going to get more fabric, but there's nothing else from her since!

Jason: What?!?! What if she got caught up in the attack?

Tim taking over the computer: I'll seeif I can track her phone to find where she is

After a minute of Typing Tim came up with nothing

Damian: We got to go back out there and find her! There's no telling what type of danger she could be in!

Jason: I'm with Demon Spawn let's go!

Bruce entering the cave: Everybody calm down, I got a message from Harley. She and Ivy found Marinette close to the action and took her back to their apartment. She's completely safe and their not even asking for ransom to get her back we just have to go pick her and Titus up

Damian: Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go get Angel!

Tim: Hold up Damian we need to change out of out costumes first

Damian: You guys do that I'm grabbing the car! And going there by myself!

Bruce: Damian calm down! Marinette's safe, atleast let me get change and go with you just to be safe okay?

Damian groaning in frustration: Fine but hurry up father

They were able to get Marinette back with no problems, but Edwin calling her Paradox in a flirty way As he said goodbye to her

Harley: I'll definitely be contacting you about that outfit you drew, I must have it!

Marinette giggling: Will do Harley!

That night Damian and Captain refused to let Marinette put of their sight to afraid that she'll disappear again

Though Marinette was able to talk to Tikki and she just might be able to help Gotham and fix the damage that has been done, but as Marinette laid cuddled up to Damian with Captain laying on top of her she planned to go out tomorrow night and she what she could do

And maybe find out the truth to where her boyfriend and his family disappeared to at night

@felicityroth @northernbluetongue @mystery-5-5 @sidefrienda @tbehartoo @hypnosharkrebeldreamer @sonif50 @t-nikki10 @dawnwave16 @nach0

[starside-selfships]

Replication (Star-4 x Atraks-1)

Crypt AI: Clarity Control breached. A single unregistered Exo and a single life form of unknown biology detected in the Crypt Laboratory. Status: Disastrous. Notice: Vacate the premises immediately. This will be your only warning.

Star-4: Not today. We have a mission to finish.

Featuring cameos from the fireteams of @nevermore-selfship, @cozyships, and yours truly! Small spoilers from the DSC raid!

Our fireteam has just triggered Atraks-1's encounter within the Deep Stone Crypt and half of the Guardians were already on their way upstairs to the space station, known as Morning Star, to eliminated the Servitors blocking from using our terminals, as that was the only way we were to be able to beat Atraks and her replications upstairs and downstairs. Calling it upstairs and downstairs was easier for our fireteam and we rolled with it. As Xerna killed the specific Vandal, she became the Operator and hopped into the pod, ascending towards the Morning Star, the game was to begin. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but I was certain that I was the only Guardian on the fireteam who knew Atraks, but also knew her personally. I've introduced myself to the House of Salvation previously and have grown to love the Kell and her commanders, due to my fixation on the Eliksni that grew on me after the Red War. Unfortunately, it couldn't be all that safe and I sometimes regret fighting Eramis, seeing her become frozen in Stasis after our encounter. Maybe, in another timeline, we could've been associates. In another, I join the House. For now, a job was needed to be done. Me, Rabbit, and Xerna were on "base team" while Angel, Finn, and Enoch were on "space team". Enoch and I were the dedicated "Scanners" on space and base respectively while Xerna was "Operator" for space team. Minutes into the encounter, base team and I eliminate our set of Servitors and inform space team that we've done so, and therefore, it triggers a new voice through my comms. "Ah, the Guardian. Star-4." It was the voice of Atraks. She recognized me. She's familiar of my time spent with House Salvation. The death threats that the Kell sent my way, but fortunately, they always went into one ear and out the other. With me being one of the dedicated Scanners, I had a set task and I didn't want to be the reason that we failed to journey further into the crypt. Switching quickly to a private communication channel temporarily to speak with the Eliksni Exo, and to not mix the comms with my teammates, I continued to act relaxed, waiting by the terminal for Atraks' Extinction Protocol to begin. "Hey, Atraks. Lovely seeing you again." I replied, focusing on the Shanks and Vandals trying to fire at me. "Eramis informed me about you. Told me much about you. I won't harm you. But the others..." She said with a chitter. At first, I was relieved, but then that content feeling subsided and was replaced with fear.

After many rounds of endurance, lots of switching back and forth of communicating with my fireteam and the Eliksni Exo we were combataning, who was attempting to flirt with me and distract me from my goal, we were doing damage towards Atraks, despite my inner request to not do so, but my fireteam needed me and I didn't plan on letting them down anytime soon. "I will be seeing you soon, Star-4," she replied, activating her final Extinction Protocol, therefore, requiring everyone from base team to rush towards the pods and head towards the Morning Star as fast as possible. I passed Scanner upstairs for Enoch and yelled at Rabbit and Xerna to get to the pods ASAP. "Or should I say...Elijah?" Atraks finished with a chuckle, her replicants disappearing from downstairs. Technology after the Golden Age was definitely something else. Fear struck my body as she said my name, the title of the individual I was in my past life. The past life I knew nothing about. How did she know my name? Rushing towards Morning Star by getting into the pod, I concentrated on finishing the encounter, following my Guardian teammates and waiting for Enoch to pinpoint the correct replication of Atraks. Whipping out the Lament and impatiently waiting for him to choose the right one. There was very little time as Atraks was halfway through her protocol and upon completion, wiping the team. "On me, on me!" The five Guardians pushed onto Enoch's position and began shooting and slashing the replication, successfully eliminating Atraks, or so I thought. "Multiple hostile intruders detected within the orbital platform. Orbital confinement protocol initiating. Status: Pathway to nuclear cores obscured. You have no warnings left. Nuclear descent protocol: Initiated." The doors were open and our next job was to prevent the destruction of Europa. A fireteam of six trying to stop Europa from, simply, blowing the hell up. What could go wrong?

Me, however, I wasn't done with this room just yet. "This way!" Xerna called out, everyone following suit to the open door while I remained, watching Europa behind glass, looking down out at Europa, miles away. "How high are we?" I thought to myself, seeing how beautiful space was, the stars dancing along the sky and around Europa, followed by a Fallen Ketch or two. "Eli, you coming?" My Hunter friend, Angel, questioned, the rest of the team heading towards the next encounter, most likely to take care of Taniks. "Y'all go ahead without me, I'll catch up. Just...just give me a sec, yeah?" After convincing the rest of the fireteam to move forward, I remained and waited until the rest of the Guardians were out of the room, standing in place for a few seconds and admiring the view before finally hearing the familiar sound of Atraks-1's replication. Fear struck me once again and I turned around, spotting it, sitting in the corner of the room, a heavy feeling surging in my circuits. Making my way towards the back of the room, eyeing the replication, I began reaching towards it and hearing Atraks' voice emit from it as well. In case shit went sideways, I had ricochet bullets to hit the replication off of my head if need be. Fortunately for me, that wasn't the case. Touching the replication spawned Atraks and in front of me was the Baron of House Salvation herself, standing at an incredible 12 feet. Maybe Kells and Barons were always this tall as I recall a long time ago that Skolas, Wolf Kell, or self-proclaimed Kell of the House of Wolves, was around the same height, but to be honest, seeing one right in front of you, standing inches away from your face, not attacking but instead watching and examining you, it made my circuits' temperature rise, causing my Exo self to feel warm. I may have been Exo, just like Atraks, but I still had Human attributes. I informed my Ghost, Comet, to keep quiet as much as possible and to ignore the current interaction I was to have with Atraks because if I was trusting my instincts, I knew where this would be leading. "Elijah. We finally meet again." She greeted me, her bright pink eyes shining down on me, a soft chitter filling my ears. Weapons away, I raised my hands in an act of non-hostility, showing that I meant no harm towards the Exo Eliksni in any way, shape, or fashion. "Yeah, didn't think I would be seeing you again honestly," I replied the nervousness slowly fading away, replaced with confidence. "Your team isn't with you?" She questioned and therefore, I informed her that I would join them, needing to take care of this first. "This won't take long, right?" Atraks' chitters clouded my head. No answer. My confidence disappeared.

[desert-dyke]

Pollen

Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: M/M Fandom: Fallout New Vegas Relationships:

Craig Boone/Arcade Gannon

Craig Boone & Female Courier

Characters:

Arcade Gannon

Craig Boone

Female Courier

Additional Tags:

Sex Pollen

Anal Sex

Frotting

Blow Jobs

an assortment of fun sexual favors

Strangers to Lovers

bottom boone

Smut

lil fluff at the end

Arcade and Boone are sent to survey Vault 22 only to discover some plant life there has some interesting side effects...

Arcade’s eyes wandered across various equipment in the lab. Not as nice as what he had to work with while with the Followers, but a lot better than other factions could brag. Sloan was talking to one of the scientists. He sort of zoned out by now. She was far from the brightest crayon in the pack and sometimes it was better not to hear her “brilliant” takes. He could tell a deal was being made. An exchange of caps promised. Yeah that always caught Sloan’s attention. “How do you feel about going to Vault 22?” Sloan asked, giving him that smile that suggested she wasn’t really asking. Arcade blinked. He promised to follow her and give her support, but he did not like where this was going. He could have sworn he heard something about someone disappearing, and research needing to be reacquired. It was the former part that unsettled him. “It’s got plants! You like that sort of thing,” Sloan appealed. 

“Why can’t you go?” Arcade asked. Sloan’s sunburnt shoulders rose and fell again. 

“I’ve got other business here.” 

Arcade rolled his eyes. He had noticed the way her eyes seemingly glazed over when Corporal Betsy was talking to her. It was so characteristic of Sloan to ditch him to flirt with whatever pretty lady they encountered. He remembered losing her for nearly two days in Westside, only to find her holed up in the Thorn. Apparently her and Red Lucy got pretty close during that time. 

“I’m not going alone,” he asserted. He could protect himself just fine, but if already someone had disappeared, Arcade did not want to add himself to the body count.

“Take Boone with you,” Sloan suggested. He couldn’t believe his initial reaction then but he actually preferred Sloan to Boone. It wasn’t that he was unfriendly towards the rest of Sloan’s friends. She definitely had interesting tastes when it came to making friends. Cass was a bit rough and rowdy. Raul was a sarcastic pushover. Lily was sweet and doting on Sloan, but he was certain she could and would snap him in half. But Boone? He was just quiet. In all honesty, Arcade didn’t know what to think of Boone. Not knowing his deal made Arcade cautious of him. 

“Why Boone?” He questioned. Sloan shrugged again, but she was a terrible bluff. He could tell by the twitching corners of her mouth. She had her reasons, but she wasn’t going to tell him them.

“I’m tired of him moping around the 38,” she made the excuse. “Take him out. Show him a good time.” Her arm wrapped around Arcade’s shoulder. She was much shorter and had to pull him down to her height in order to do so. Arcade didn’t fight against it. “There’s a nuka cola quantum in it for you…”

“I could buy myself my own,” Arcade said. He rolled his eyes and shrugged his way out of Sloan’s hold. It hurt to bend like that. “Fine.”

Getting Boone to talk was like pulling teeth. On one hand, there was some peace to that. Boone was just about the only one at the Lucky 38 who didn’t try to probe Arcade for some history. He had the inkling that Boone genuinely did not care, whereas every one else only further inspired them to pry. 

The silence began to wear on him after an hour of walking in it. Boone’s sun-shaded eyes darted along the desert expanding before them, on the lookout for any sign of trouble. He accepted that silence in this case meant stealth and cover from any wasteland creature who might do them harm. Yet the sound of wind whistling across an empty desert kept making Arcade look over his shoulder, thinking he heard the sound of voices. 

Boone raised a clenched fist, his arm forming a right angle. Arcade crawled to a stop, unholstering his pistol. Boone had his rifle trained on an enemy hidden from Arcade’s view. He tried to squint his eyes, shading them from the scorching sun, but all he saw were dancing waves of heat. 

Arcade jumped as Boone’s rifle fired. A hand accidentally touched the sniper’s back and was quickly brushed off with a grunt. 

“What was it?” Arcade asked. Silence. Was he annoyed at his touch? Arcade sucked a breath in, but before he could speak, his ears rung with the sound of the rifle discharging. Boone fired twice more before standing. Arcade remained crouched for a moment longer, trying to process what happened. Boone began walking, indifferent to whether Arcade was following or not. He hustled to catch up with Boone. Finally, he saw something in the distance, coming from between the mountains. It looked overwhelmingly green. 

Something crunched beneath Arcade’s tread. He looked down with disgust at the oversized insect he stepped on, it’s insides now covering his shoes. This must have been what Boone had seen and taken out long before it would even know they were there. His finger searched for the trigger of his plasma pistol, resting just in case there were any more nearby. 

“Area’s clear,” Boone said. Whether that was meant to be reassuring was lost on Arcade. He checked the crudely drawn map he had been given, aligned it with surrounding landmarks. A red x marked the spot, in a small alcove of the mountain range, confirming what Arcade already knew. The green was where they needed to go. 

It was even more overwhelming the closer they got. Vegetation was sparse in the mojave and what did was hardy and prickly. Not soft with fanlike waxy leaves, something he’d expect to see in the jungle, not here in the desert.  

“I’m no botanist, but that doesn’t seem entirely natural,” Arcade remarked. He looked towards Boone, still silent. He lead the way, rifle in his hands. The vegetation grew denser the further they wandered into the alcove. It’s source was covered in it, so that Arcade almost didn’t recognize the entrance to vault 22. He was afraid to brush against the plants, unsure of what effects they might have. He had an antivenom on him, which could possibly work if something was poisonous, but wasn’t definite. However, if it triggered an allergic reaction, they would be plum out of luck. 

Boone sauntered ahead without the same caution. Arcade hissed in a breath watching the skin of his arm touch a plant, expecting blistering welts to rise moments later. When nothing happened and Boone continued on ahead without him, Arcade relaxed only slightly and followed him into the vault. 

Despite the lack of soil, the plants had no problem growing on the metal of the vault floors, walls, ceiling, literally anywhere he looked there was growth. Arcade jumped at the sudden metallic boom. Boone was no longer in the entrance with him. He heard another gunshot and deciphered Boone must’ve headed further inside. Arcade hustled, following the sound. Gunshots meant trouble. His feet flew down the stairwell, chasing noise, any sign of life. He halted, almost rushing into a figure rising from a cluster of flora. It was human shaped, but definitely not human. Arcade discharged his pistol into the back of the creature. It shrieked and burned as it crumpled to the ground. Boone turned around, realizing the creature had gotten dangerously close to him before Arcade shot it down. Arcade expected some hint of gratitude but Boone showed none. 

“We’re not alone,” He said, instead. As if that much were not already obvious. The stairwell split into two opposing sides. “I’ll take that way,” Boone said, before heading down the stairs before Arcade could oppose them splitting up. 

He held tight to his pistol as he ventured the other route. Boone’s gunshots echoed the metal walls. He was relieved to see they rejoined on the same floor. Boone took the liberty of surveying one of the rooms. Arcade took to the opposite, which looked to be a lab. Promising, Arcade thought.

He took out another plant-person as it rose from another cluster of flora. He wondered, with some morbidity, if these creatures were indeed once human. Maybe even the scientists working in this vault. 

A light shone on a large blossom, catching Arcade’s attention. He approached with caution, pistol pointed forward in case another creature spawned from it. The blossom opened, releasing a visible cloud of spores. Instinctively, Arcade gasped. It smelled, he was embarrassed to admit, like sex. He pressed the sleeve of his lab coat to his face, trying to avoid breathing any more of it in and promptly left the room in search of Boone. 

“We need to leave,” He told the sniper, when he encountered him loitering in one of the labs. “There’s spores in the air, and who knows what harm they could be if we breath them.” He thought of the corpse they found that looked like a human body entirely encased in flora. No doubt they would soon share a similar fate. Boone did not seem particularly riveted by Arcade’s words. Arcade felt his blood warm. Frustration. He knew he wasn’t exactly the type to give orders, but he wished Boone would at least listen to him. “We need gas masks and then we can try again. I’m sure Sloan would understand,” Arcade added, considering maybe Boone was afraid of disappointing Sloan. 

“There’s spores in here too,” Boone stated, pointing towards a similar looking blossom.

“Yeah, exactly why we need to get out of here,” Arcade reiterated. He never realized how dull Boone was. Abandoning all caution, he reached for Boone’s hand, giving it a tug. Surprisingly, the contact earned no response from the other man.

“Are you feeling feverish?” Boone asked. Arcade paused. He had been feeling a little warmer and

his heart was pounding in his chest. He assumed it was out of ire towards the sniper. He pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. It was warm. “You look flushed,” Boone commented.  

“Yeah, well something really fucked up is going on in this vault, so excuse me for being a little worked up,” Arcade replied. His heart was really pounding, as if he had just ran a lap around Freeside. Sure he was upset at Boone, but even he acknowledged that it was a bit of an exaggerated response to the situation. Unless it was the pollen he inhaled causing him to have an accelerated heart rate.

“Worked up is right,” Boone commented. He scratched his buzzed head under his beret. Arcade noticed how low Boone was looking. He followed his line of vision, noticed a small tent had formed in his pants. He could add this to the list of awkward moments he had gotten a boner. 

“I’m not going to let you die down here just because you want to be difficult,” Arcade redirected the conversation back to what was most urgent. He grabbed the collar of Boone’s shirt and pulled. Boone swatted his hand away, but it got him to start moving. 

Arcade kept his plasma pistol close in case they encountered any more of those spore creatures on the way back out. Every cluster of flora that broke through the metal floor of the vault put Arcade a little bit more at unease. He jumped upon seeing a corpse of one Boone had sniped earlier, laying among all of the plants. 

The further up they went, the warmer Arcade felt. He was coated in a fierce sweat, as if he were fighting a fever, his glasses fogged a bit from the heat radiating from his body. Arcade paused to catch his breath. Boone took note.

“Hey,” The concern in his voice was forreign to Arcade. “What’s up?” That was probably the closest Boone was going to come to saying ‘are you okay?’

“I’m not going to lie, I’m not feeling great,” Arcade confessed. He was having a difficult time placing what was wrong. He did not feel ill. Despite the high body temperature, he knew he didn’t have a fever. He just felt exceptionally wound up, like he had just did a warm up lap and was ready to do more. 

“Something’s not right,” Boone said, in agreement. Arcade looked towards him. Boone was looking flushed as well. He didn’t mean to look, but it was hard to ignore the swell tugging against cargo pants. 

Boone stepped closer, causing Arcade to take a step back. He couldn’t see behind Boone’s sniper shades, but he thought he was pissed, that he was going to hurt him. Instead, Boone clutched Arcade’s sleeve, pinching it tight inside his fist. “I need help, Doc.” 

Arcade’s heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. He felt as rough as Boone looked, as if their bodies were going to give out from stress if relief didn’t come soon. “I don’t…” Arcade stuttered. “I-I don’t know what to do.” 

“Bullshit,” Boone growled through clenched teeth. 

Sweat loosened the pomade in Arcade’s hair, so that strands dangled in his face. He brushed them back, all the while leaning on a computer mainframe for support. He did have an idea of how to treat this condition. While it wasn’t an unpleasant idea, it also wasn’t something Arcade impulsively rushed into, like Sloan might. He had secrets to keep, secrets that didn’t belong with such intimate acts. 

But he was also certain not doing so would kill them. Already the stress was taking a toll on Arcade’s body. He knew they wouldn’t make it far from the vault before one or both of them would suffer a stroke or cardiac arrest. 

“Yes. Fine,” Arcade conceded. “Are you sure this is what you want?” Neither of them had any other choice, but Arcade needed consent before performing this sort of procedure. 

Next thing Arcade knew, Boone’s hand was on the collar of his button down, pulling him down to his shorter height and mashing his lips against Arcade’s. His glasses clacked with Boone’s, knocking them askew on his face. Arcade removed his and rested it on the mainframe before returning his lips to Boone’s.

Boone’s breath was hot on his face. He kissed ravenously, like Boone had been wandering the Mojave for days and Arcade was the first drink of water. His hands grasped at Arcade with the same urgency, while constantly shifting place, as if Boone was still trying to figure out what felt right. 

Arcade stifled the question in his mind of whether Boone had ever been with a man before. He was confident Boone hadn’t engaged in sexual activities since the loss of his wife. Being close to someone now must have been weird to him, regardless of anatomy. 

He decided to offer Boone some assistance, and pulled his lab coat off before beginning to unbutton his shirt. It clung to his body, damp with sweat. Boone eyed him for a moment before doing the same with his t-shirt. 

His stocky torso shined with sweat. His skin was battered with scars all at different stages of healing, but his shape was soft and inviting. Round pectoral muscles and a slight pudge of stomach cushioning ropes of muscles beneath. Arcade would be lying if he said he never found Boone attractive previously, he just didn’t think Boone would be interested. Even now, Boone hesitated. He realized Boone was waiting for his direction. 

Arcade took his hands in his own and guided them towards his chest. Boone traced along his torso before eagerly coming in for another kiss. Their chests pressed together, he could feel the heat radiating off of Boone. Arcade was painfully erect and the slightest brush of cloth against his groin made him ache. 

He reached between their bodies to free himself from his pants. Boone mirrored him before turning around and leaning against the mainframe. Arcade was taken aback, watching as Boone waited for him. Two pale mounds that were his now exposed ass facing in his direction. Now it was Arcade’s turn to be cautious. 

Boone looked over his shoulder towards Arcade. “Please.” His voice was low, so that he almost missed it. 

Arcade held his hips between his hands. He lined himself up and then pressed in. He couldn’t help the moan that escaped from him. Boone bit down on his own hand. At first he was worried it was bad for him, then he realized Boone was trying to stifle his own noise. 

“Harder.” 

Arcade obliged. Each thrust came easier than the one before and scratched at his itch. Finally the tension building inside of him felt right instead of something that wanted to kill him. Shamefully, Arcade did not last long, nor did Boone, as the latter climaxed shortly after him. Much to Arcade’s surprise, he was still hard as he pulled out. 

“That’s...new,” He remarked. Boone turned around, his erection mirroring his own. 

Before Arcade could question if these effects were going to be permanent, Boone was on him again. His bare cock brushed against Arcade’s. Even the slightest touch made small fires light inside of him. He watched as Boone lined them up. Boone’s hands were rough with callouses, but warm as he surrounded them both. Arcade placed his slender fingers over Boone’s, squeezing their hold tighter as together they pumped. Boone leaned his head on Arcade’s shoulder. He could hear every raspy breath that shook through Boone, mixed in with a small, whispered ‘fuck.’ Arcade gasped as Boone bit his neck. It must have done something for him, because next thing he knew, he was releasing again, this time onto Boone’s stomach. Boone’s hot fluid dripped onto his fingers. 

Arcade was out of breath. Carefully, he lowered himself onto a patch of the vault’s floor that didn’t look as dirty as the rest. His chest heaves, deprived of air. His heart still thunders, but not with the same urgency as before. His member, though still firm, was beginning to wilt ever so slightly. 

Boone knelt beside him. Arcade now noticed that his beret had fallen off at some point, leaving his buzzed haircut exposed. It sparkled with flecks of sweat that dripped onto his temples. 

“I think...it’s working,” Arcade commented. He leaned his head against the mainframe, feeling like he was going to collapse from exhaustion. 

“We’re not done yet,” Boone said. He crawled closer before he laid on his belly before Arcade, his head in the researcher’s lap. Arcade gasped as he felt Boone’s hot breath against his cock, moments before he took Arcade inside of his mouth. 

At first, Arcade watched as Boone’s head bobbed, afraid to touch him, which was probably silly considering everything that had happened between them recently. He gave in and gently raked his fingers through the bristles of Boone’s cropped hair. Boone’s moan vibrated against his cock, causing Arcade’s breath to catch. This part lasted longer. Or maybe Arcade’s head was clear enough that he could finally concentrate on what was happening, rather than all his previous actions passing by in blurred emotions. Before was so desperate, like relieving pain. This...this was kind of...nice, he had to admit. 

When Arcade inevitably released, he half expected Boone to pull away in disgust. Instead, he accepted the load without complaint. Arcade reached for his canteen and downed half of it, attempting to replenish all the water his body had sweated out. He wiped excess moisture from his lips as he offered the canteen to Boone. Boone accepted. 

“What about you?” Arcade asked. His eyes drifted to the semi-erection that bounced between Boone’s legs as he shifted. Boone finished off the canteen before answering. 

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” 

He sealed the empty canteen and handed it back to Arcade, before shirking his cargo pants back up his thighs. “Yeah.” 

Arcade watched him straighten out his clothes, pushing his shades back up his nose and readjusting his beret atop his head. He didn’t seem to be changing his mind anytime soon. 

“We should leave,” he said. Arcade had to agree, before they encountered more spores. He wasn’t sure how many times his body could go through something like that before it finally quit. 

His vision cleared once his glasses returned to rest before his eyes. Arcade covered himself again while Boone stood watch, holding his rifle. If they had been attacked while lost in their frenzy of desire, they would have been goners. Arcade could count himself lucky that hadn’t been a problem. 

“Hey,” Arcade sought his attention, touching his arm lightly. He half expected Boone to flinch away from his touch, but he didn’t. His shaded eyes turned towards Arcade. Arcade brushed his lips against Boone’s. They tasted salty of sweat and his own cum. Boone’s lips moved gently in response, feeling for the briefest of moments the wetness of a tongue before it ended as abruptly as it began. 

“We can’t tell Sloan,” Boone said, after an elongated moment of silence.

“Absolutely not,” Arcade said, in agreement, before the two headed back towards the surface.

[thejolexgroupchat]

Hi! Love all the fics you guys write :) could you guys do one where Jo and Alex were together before Alex even started his intern year? Like idk they met somehow while Jo was in college & Alex was in led school and started dating. Everyone tries to hook up with Alex but he’s got this super secret girlfriend that everyone makes fun of him for. They could still have a large age gap or they could be like a year or two apart. Basically, I just want to see Alex holding out for Jo and being super proud & showing her off when she gets into the residency program.

the one where they met in med school - part one

So... we absolutely LOVED this prompt, took it and ran with it. This originally was supposed to be a one-shot, but it kind of grew out of control and became what it is now.

This fic was written by @iamtrebleclefstories (Leya), @doc-pickles (Nina), and tumblr-less Nat

                                                           ———

                                                       (July 2006)

“Hey! I miss you,” Jo smiled as she talked into the phone. “How was your first week as an intern?”

“Honestly? It sucked. But it was also amazing. I don’t know if that makes sense,” Alex replied, shrugging although he knew she couldn’t see him. “And for the record, I miss you more.”

“That’s impossible. You’re so busy you don’t even have time to miss me,” Jo chuckled. “Me on them other hand? My life revolves around school and studying. Studying isn’t as fun without you around. I miss our study dates.”

“I do too,” Alex sighed. He really did miss her. A lot. All the time. He’d only been living in Seattle for a month and it was definitely a challenge. He really didn’t know how he was going to make it through the next year without her. “But at least you have Lexie there. You’re not completely alone.”

“Yeah you’ve got a point,” Jo hummed. “But Lexie doesn’t do all the things for me that you do, if you know what I mean.”

Alex groaned, “Stop it. We’re way too far away from each other to do this. I need you so bad right now and I can’t have you and it sucks.”

“Tell me about it,” Jo agreed. She couldn’t believe how far they’d come. She and Alex had been together for about 2 ½ years now. In all that time, they’d been attached at the hip. He was her best friend and she was his. It was odd not seeing him everyday. It was unnatural to sleep without him beside her at night like he’d been doing for years. “I have a week-long break next month though and I was thinking of coming to visit. I’ve saved up a bunch of money from tutoring undergrads.”

“Would it be bad of me to just keep you locked up in my apartment the whole time you’re here, because that sounds appealing,” Alex’s words sparked a string of laughter from Jo, making him sigh down the line. “I miss hearing your laugh and that makes me feel pathetic. It feels like I’m in one of those stupid rom coms you and Lexie forced me to watch all the time.” “We didn’t force you, you readily agreed to it, Karev,” Lexie’s voice echoed faintly in the background, Jo shushing her as the two bickered quietly. 

“Am I on speaker?” 

“Um… maybe?” Jo shrugged, knowing that he couldn’t see her through the phone. “You can’t possibly be embarrassed. Lexie has seen and heard worse from you.”

“I sure have,” Lexie yelled out from her spot across the room. “Keep going! Don’t let me stop you from being all mushy and talking about how much you miss Jo.”

Alex rolled his eyes, “Keep your comments to yourself, let me enjoy my girlfriend for a little while please.”

“So, tell me. Did you make any friends yet?” Jo asked. 

“What is this? Middle school?” Alex scoffed. “I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to become a surgeon. A kickass, rich, plastic surgeon.”

“Yes I’m sure between the scut work and the enemas you have plenty of time to dream about all the money you’re gonna make,” Jo giggled down the line. 

“Oh, you just wait. When you’re an intern I’m going to have you doing all my scut,” Alex warned playfully. “You’ll be sorry for making fun of my career aspirations.”

“I just can’t see you going into plastics,” Jo confessed, a large grin on her face. “Not that you wouldn’t be good at it, but I just don’t see it. Maybe general or ortho!”

“General? Wow I didn’t realize you thought so little of me,” Alex leaned back onto the brick wall behind him as he listened to the sounds of Jo’s quiet laughter. 

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with general,” Jo insisted. She groaned as she saw the time. The worst part about Alex moving across the country was the time difference. “I wish I could talk more, but I really have to get ready for bed. I will try to call you tomorrow evening.”

“I’m on-call tomorrow,” Alex revealed sadly. “I hate this. I went from going to bed next to you every night to struggling to even find some time during the day to talk.”

“I know,” Jo sighed. “I hate it, too. Of course I wish you were here, but I am so proud of you.  You’re living the dream right now, Alex. If that means I have to miss you for a little while, so be it.”

God, he really loved this woman. Alex smiled and clutched the phone tightly, “I love you. So much.”

“I love you too,” Jo answered. It still made her heart beat quickly whenever she heard him say those words. He’d been the first person to ever say them to her and mean it. “Go kick some ass.”

“I will,” Alex chuckled. “Goodnight.” 

“Goodnight.”

Alex hung up his phone and sighed as he walked back into the bar across the street from the hospital. He walked back up to the group of his fellow interns and ordered a beer, staring at his phone for a moment before finally putting it back in his pocket. 

“What’s up with you?” Yang asked. “You look all, mopey.” 

“It’s nothing,” Alex shook his head.

“No, she’s right. You look depressed,” Grey seconded. 

“I’m fine,” Alex took a swig of his beer. “I’m just a little homesick.”

“You know what will cheer you up? Getting laid. You see that girl over there,” Yang pointed to a woman across the bar with red hair and blue eyes. “She’s been eyeing you for a while now. I’m sure if you asked she’d say yes.”

“I don’t need to get laid,” Alex narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re uptight. Isn’t he Stevens?” Yang asked the woman he’d identified as Dr. Model. 

“He is,” Stevens nodded, laying her hand on Alex’s shoulder. “I know we’ve only known each other for like a week, but this is the most disappointed and depressed that I’ve seen you. And that’s saying a lot, considering that we are surgical interns and basically slaves to the hospital.”

"I'm not depressed and I do not need to get laid," Alex grumbled, taking a swig of his beer. "If you must know, I was on the phone with my girlfriend."

"Evil Spawn has a girlfriend?" Cristina raised an eyebrow. "I didn't take you for a relationship type guy."

"Neither did I, but then I met her. So, just stop pestering and let me mope in peace."

"Wow. Karev has a heart," O'Malley chuckled and took a sip of his drink. "I didn't see that one coming."

“Oh screw you guys, why don’t you go get laid? Being so invested in someone else’s love life has gotta be a sign that you need to get some.”

                                                          ———

                                                   (August 2003)

“Hey! You’re Jo right?” 

Jo turned around to see a young woman with short brown hair and brown eyes smiling at her. Jo outstretched her hand, “Yes. I’m Jo. You’re Lexie, my lab partner right?”

“Yup!  It’s so nice to officially meet you,” Lexie shook Jo’s hand. 

She seemed like a sweet and perky person. The exact kind of person that Jo didn’t normally associate with. For the longest time, Jo didn’t have any friends or get attached to anyone. She had two friends the entirety of her undergrad and typically didn’t look to make any more. Jo supposed it would be nice to have someone, "It's nice to meet you, too."

                                              (September 2003)

"I can't believe you actually did that!" Jo exclaimed as she and Lexie walked down to the lab. "You became another one of Karev's conquests."

"Honestly, I don't even regret it," Lexie confessed, a large smile on her face. "There is a reason why Leah is so hung up on him. He knows what he's doing. You should go for it. Sleeping with him is like a right of passage or something."

"Ew, no way," Jo faked a gag. "He's an ass. I have much higher standards than Alex Karev."

They entered the lab to find the program's resident man-whore going over some samples. Jo had to admit, he was pretty hot. Alex Karev was cocky and charming and incredibly intelligent. He was always getting the highest grades and was every professor's favorite student. She was into him. But she'd never say it out loud.

"Hey, Lexie," Alex smirked as they walked over to their stations. He gave Jo a once over and looked at her with one of his signature crooked grins. "Hello Lexie's friend. You got a name?"

Jo considered staying quiet but finally decided to respond, "Jo Wilson."

"Nice, I like chicks with boys' names."

"Karev, " Lexie warned.

"What? I do. It's hot," Alex shrugged.

"Alex, stop sleeping with all the first years. It ruins them," Lexie admonished.

"I slept with you," Alex pointed out. 

"Yeah, and it's never going to happen again. Besides, Jo's my best friend," Lexie shrugged. "I'm protective of her."

                                                (October 2003)

“I told you I didn’t need you to follow me,” Jo grumbled. “I can take care of myself.”

"Calm down,  princess. There's no need to get your panties in a twist," Alex rolled his eyes at Jo who'd been yelling at him for the past few minutes. They'd been studying with a group of friends in the library when Jo decided to leave and Alex offered to walk her home. “I just don’t think you should be walking home alone with that fancy watch on your wrist that daddy probably gifted you. Can’t risk someone mugging the princess.” 

"Stop calling me princess!" Jo shouted, turning to face Alex as anger bubbled up inside of her. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself for a moment. "My mother left me at a fire station when I was two weeks old. I got bumped around foster homes until I was sixteen when I took matters into my own hands and started living out of a car. I parked it behind the gym of my high school so I could sneak in and use the showers before class. My home ec teacher--Ms. Schmidt--she’d let me do my laundry there for free. And yeah, I got into good schools because I worked my ass off. And when I walked across that stage at graduation, I didn’t have a cheering section filled with my richy-rich family. I had one person, Ms. Schmidt. That’s it. She’s the one who gave me this watch when I got into Med School. Her son works for the company.” 

Alex had the decency to look down at the ground ashamed. He walked up to the wall Jo was leaning against and stood beside her, “It is a nice watch.” 

“Thanks.” 

The next time they see each other, things are different. Understanding Jo’s background gave Alex a deeper appreciation for her work ethic. Even though they were in different years, Alex found himself seeking Jo out for projects and studying. Being around her made him want to be better. He wanted to excel in ways he hadn’t in the past. And that said a lot, considering he was already at the top of his class. 

So that’s why when he saw her sitting at the bar a couple weeks later, he decided to join her. They’d had an argument earlier in the day where some things were said. Alex walked up to the bar and grinned at the bartender, “A beer for me and another round for Hobo Jo. Let me guess… Thunderbird or is it straight paint thinner?” Alex looked back up at the bartender. “You got a little brown paper bag you can put that in?”

“Would you stop,” Jo sighed and looked at Alex. “I had no parents. I lived in my car. Yes I have trust issues, it comes with the territory.” 

“You need to stop acting like you’re the only person who ever had a crappy childhood,” Alex rolled his eyes slightly. 

“Oh yeah? How many foster homes did you get kicked out of before you moved into your car?” 

“Seventeen. And I didn’t live in my car. I went to juvie,” Alex took a sip of his drink. 

“Stop making fun of me,” Jo shook her head. 

“I’m not.” 

Jo’s face scrunched in interest, “Really?”

“And you’re actually lucky that your folks abandoned you. It means you didn’t have to watch your schizo mom go after your baby brother with a steak knife.” 

“Fine, fair,” Jo conceded. “But you never woke up in the middle of the night with junkies banging on your bedroom windshield, praying they’d get tired or bored before they put a rock through a window.”

“No, I didn’t,” Alex shook his head in response. “Because the junkie was my dad and he didn’t break windows, just fingers.” 

“Well, did you ever have foster parents that made you and nineteen other kids sleep on cots in the basement? Locking the doors, lights out, so that if you had to pee in the middle of the night, you had to use buckets they set up along the wall. Buckets you couldn’t see because if you turned the lights on, the bigger kids would hold you down and take those buckets and--” Jo’s voice cracked slightly.

Alex bowed his head in sadness, “God… no, never.” 

“Me neither,” Jo shrugged. “Saw it in a movie on cable.” 

Alex’s mouth twitched into a shocked grin as he let out a few chuckles, “How did you get cable in your car?”

“I don’t live in my car anymore, jerk,” Jo giggled lightly. 

Her story must’ve done the trick to break the ice because before they knew it, Jo and Alex were well on their way to becoming best of friends. They laughed and joked together for hours, even going as far as fake crying to get out of paying their tab. 

“You know, you’re not half bad, Karev,” Jo grinned as she and Alex walked out of the bar. She clutched the sides of Alex’s jacket which he had so kindly allowed her to borrow. “I actually had a lot of fun tonight.” 

“So did I, Wilson,” Alex smiled back at her. “What do you say we grab some tacos and eat them in the back of my truck?”

“Sounds great to me.”

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Motion Sickness: I Let You Die IV

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Of course, we argued the whole way there about which we would follow once we arrived. “You just told me you think it’s the second most dangerous Grimm you’ve ever seen.” Her eyes narrowed at me and her nose did too, and she leaned forward. Forward into her walk, not at me.

I watched her slowly speed up and pass me. “Now you want to go chase the bandits? You just told me that they won’t kill again. That makes the Grimm the clear and present danger.

I didn’t speed up to match her. That would trap me in a cycle. I had to wait here and stand my ground. For a certain definition for somebody walking, that is. Besides I couldn’t really outpace her. She’d hopefully meet me in terms of pacing and more.

“Rationally.” I clarified. “If they’re behaving rationally that is.”

“They’re bandits.” She got a little quieter, I stumbled over my own feet. She didn’t turn around, but she probably heard it easily. “What’s so rational about that?

“Not crime in general.” I resumed my walk. “I meant what they want now. Theoretically they just used the Grimm as a weapon to destroy three places. They don’t need food or water or money for a while and if they want anything from the ruins they can realistically go and get it.”

“But the Grimm could kill now.” She wasn’t deterred. Maybe I wasn’t explaining right.

“I know.” I pleaded. She slowly fell into my rhythm again. Her pace coming to match mine beside me. “But they didn’t need to destroy three.”

That made her hesitate. “What?”

“I mean one is plenty, if they just wanted those things.” I tried to explain. “If they were just looking to survive, then even destroying a single town seems excessive. In the past-before the kingdoms, I mean-awakened-horseback-archers riders viewed civilized groups as livestock.”

“Where?” She wondered.

“Uh… everywhere I suppose. The steps of Western Vacuo and Equatorial Mistral, really, though. It’s still the dominant lifestyle in some of those places.”

“Pillaging?”

“No, well, maybe now.” I tried. I knew she was getting frustrated. “But before they just milked horses because that was the only way to live.”

She gave me a curious look, a small smile. “It was on a documentary I saw.” I defended. “Anyways, that’s not the point. Now we may see a return to those kinds of mind sets and lifestyles.”

“But that’s not happening here.” She caught on. “They’re doing something else?”

“Purposelessly killing people.”

“There’s never a good reason to kill somebody, Jaune.” The steel was back.

“Please let’s not get into that,” I begged. “And using the Grimm to do it, maybe.” I confirmed for her with a nod. She released a shaky breath and relaxed her shoulders.

“So, you want to go after them first? You think they’re going to do it again?”

I nodded, glad she was seeing my perspective. “I think we should double back to GaiLong again. I want to make sure they haven’t been watching us this whole time and waiting for us to leave.” I explained, talking even faster.

Her mouth opened a little at me, eyes drifting up at me. “But the Grimm and the tracks… it’ll just get worse if we wait any longer.” She leaned in, “besides they can handle it right?”

I was already shaking my head. “I don’t trust all of the guards back there. If our enemy are just bandits, why did none of the riders get intercepted? None of this makes any sense.”

“Jaune you can think yourself in circles if you worry about every minor thing. We have to trust that Beihfing has his situation under control.” She worried her lip between two fingers, looking far away in thought.

I really wanted to kiss her…

“Do you know where the bandits or whatever are going to do now?”

“I don’t know what they want.” I blinked it away and refocused. Besides there would probably be time for that later, maybe. We were on the job but…

She was staring at me.

Focus up, moron.

“If I did, I would tell you. I can only guess at their motivations.”

Her face grew tight, “so you don’t even know either, but we do know the Grimm.” She was getting a flow to her now. “And they kill all the time. Besides you said they used it as a weapon, right?”

I wanted to get an edge in. “Ruby-“

“Right. So, once they can’t do that anymore they’ll have to do something else, we can find them then or…”

“Or let them go?” I wondered. “Ruby they’re malevolent.”

“So are the Grimm.” She was unrelenting and didn’t even look at me.

“Not with this kind of intent.”

“At Beacon the Grimm were coordinated.” Ruby pressed me more. “Even besides the ones the White Fang dropped. They moved together.” When I didn’t say anything, she looked over. “At Beacon when the Dragon showed up.” She waited for me to figure it out. “They sort of shuddered in unison. You didn’t see?”

What the fuck.

I told her as much.

She just nodded looking grossed out. “They have motive and focus. I know I sound crazy, but Cinder was talking to it. I heard her.”

She gave me this challenging look. It wasn’t some cute flirty thing, like about my sword or something. It was sharp and full of focus but more than that it was angry and a little scared. Her eyes were hard but the corners of her lips and eyebrows were turned out.

She actually seemed to want me to fight her on it, but I just raised my hands in surrender. “Ruby I believe you.”

“So, the Grimm are the enemy.”

“Its sounds like Cinder was somehow in charge to me.” I tried. Her sideways backwards glance conveyed a deep annoyance.

“You’re always so focused on Cinder you can’t see the Grimm for what they are. These bandits are just people, but the Grimm are always, always the enemy.”

I suddenly realized I was walking much faster than I had even a few moments ago, Ruby was already speeding up again.

I sighed.

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Before, the two of us had been distracted as we’d approached Shion. This time we were both wary and ready. Ruby had felt the danger even before the destroyed village came into view. She’d casually pulled her weapon in the middle of the road, not even extending the scythe.

By the time we’d seen the place even I had felt it and we both knew it would be as empty as we’d left it. The recent dead would draw Grimm here like a beacon, spawning them? Summoning them?

It hardly mattered to Ruby because as soon as we approached the gate she’d disappeared in a blur of speed. A haze that seemed to shift from building to building.

It didn’t look like anything worth spending ammunition on to her, so she didn’t. Instead she almost lazily bounced from place to place, leaving bisected Beowolves and Creeps in her wake.

For my part I drew Crocea Mors and let them rush at me. Before, in Vale, I’d been forced to nearly wrestle the wolf-caricatures behind my shield. I was stronger and faster now, and the range afforded to me by the upgrade allowed me to cut them down before they could really approach me.

I stepped aside and Ruby landed next to where I had been standing to cover me from the sides.

“Doesn’t seem like too many.” She reported, “nothing big, either.”

“Heard.”

We slowly and efficiently worked our way through the weakest Grimm, clearing a path to the foot prints. She whirled around my sides, cutting anything that came too close into ribbons. For my part I held my ground against the monsters to anchor us.

Two swings removed the head and leg of a Beowolf and I stepped on a Creeper’s head as it tried to bite me and crushed it easily.

By the time we arrived at where we knew the footprints began, the Grimm were nothing but curls of smoke.

“Jaune!”

“Hm!” I looked up quickly, trying to spot whatever it was that she wanted me to see. I glanced towards her to look where she was looking and look over there so I could look out for whatever it was she saw.

She was just staring at me, though.

“What are you doing?”

“What?” I wondered.

“How are you doing that?”

“Ruby what are you talking about?”

“You’re glowing!”

I looked down at myself. Odd bands of blue light were trailing around me. They almost looked like fire but if they were hot, I couldn’t feel it. The wisps seemed ignorant of gravity, clinging only to me and my skin in soft trails of blue and white.

Ruby walked up to me. “What is this?"

She rolled her eyes. “That must be your semblance!” She reached out and traced a hand through one of the tendrils.

“Um…” I didn’t want to sound too disappointed. She was so excited. I was kind of hoping for more than ‘glow a little.’ “Neat?”

“How does it feel?”

“The same.” I thought about it. “I don’t know. Is it doing anything?” I stepped back from Ruby as though it would give me a better look at myself for some reason and the light faded away.

“What did you do?” She wondered. “It went away.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose.”

She frowned. “Well it didn’t seem immediately obvious.”

“Was yours like that.”

“Um…” She turned an awesome rosé. “Kinda.”

She turned away to examine the hoof marks in the ground trailing away from the village.

I kept a watch, resting Crocea Mors against my arm, while Ruby peered down to get a better look at the print. It wasn’t like she was unfamiliar with it or couldn’t tell which way it was going. “I forgot how big it was… do you think the villages were just destroyed by a horde-phenomena?”

I shrugged. “It seems unlikely, the villages were in a non-linear order. It would have taken an awful coincidence for it to be just a large group of Grimm chasing the closest sadness and growing larger.”

“The bandits.” I nodded at her words. She chewed her cheek for just a moment. “Let’s go, we’re already almost a week behind it.”

It wasn’t like Ruby had really compromised my plans. Not truly, it was always really a toss up which we followed and which town would be destroyed next seemed just as random. Sure, I had some suspicions about GaiLong but Ruby dismissed it when I tried to bring up doubling back one more time.

“Jaune if they are watching us and waiting for us to go far enough away, then you won’t catch them like this and what are we going to do, we can’t stay in every place we go.”

Hopefully the two of us could track it and slay it together. Or, failing that wound it, track it, and try again. It would heal but Ren implied that its regeneration wasn’t a factor in the mid-game of a fight. Only if it actually escaped us would we regret having wasted our resources but wounding the creature and forcing it to flee wasn’t a waste, per se. It could be a tool, too. We had a lot of ground to make up. We were almost a week behind it when we left GaiLong and unlike us, it didn’t need to sleep, eat, or do anything but wander.

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It was after the fourth day of tracking that it finally rained. We’d known it was going to happen, too. After the first crack of thunder, Ruby let out a low whine.

“No,” she just pleaded. It would still be hours before the rain came and washed most our tracks away.

She was tired and wet and cold. And I really wanted to get her into the tent and into her sleeping bag.

I didn’t know what to do or say. We could both see the storm coming, feel the wind pick up and the humidity increase. I could do nothing but start to look for a good place to set up a tent.

Ruby and I had done some light training, but you really didn't push yourself or work out much when you were trying to catch up to something like this. For my sake it was time to take watch and just to top my night off I had to be especially on guard tonight.

It was unusual for me to stay focused on watch, but I had to. I could feel something. It didn't feel like a person or anyone I knew so it was probably not nothing but the equivalent. Grimm.

I waited until it got close enough that I was sure I could destroy it without letting my senses drift from where Ruby slept.

I was sitting out waiting for the creature to stop nagging at my range and actually enter. It was just pacing around my range and eventually I'd had enough.

I kept my body low and my limbs out, but stealth wasn't my strong suite. It jumped through the bracket at me rather than I at it.

I moved in a burst, sweeping the long blade between us to stop its approach. It pushed me back a step and my ankle caught something.

I tripped and it fell on me. My armor held out it's claws buts its teeth snapped at my aura. I grunted and threw it off of me.

It was an Ursa. a different bone structure for a different part of the world but that seemed to be all the difference between those here and those in Vale.

It landed but rolled towards me quickly with a snarl but as I stood, I held my ground. I already knew how to deal with these. I swept Crocea Mors downwards over my head and cut its face diagonally and deep enough that I'd opened up large sections of its ribcage.

It fell and began to dissolve. I stepped back warily. I felt nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

I listened and heard no song of Grimm. The animals had gone quiet, too. Fearing a battle between two distant predators might involve them, but it was already over.

Then distinct, in the cold night distant, the zip of the tent.

I sighed.

"Jaune! Jaune, what was that." She was in thick socks that probably didn't feel good in the wet, icy, muck.

She had Crescent Rose ready though. Her biceps and triceps stood out in her shirt. She had nothing on but her simple T and some long bottoms in the night.

I stared at her white clothes in the sleet before coming to my senses. “It was just a small Grimm.

Everything’s fine.”

She breathed hard. “You're supposed to wake me up.”

You needed sleep and it was nothing I couldn't handle.

I looked her up and down. There was brisk and then there was being in PJs, in negative ten, with a wind chill, and at ninety-five percent humidity.

I walked over and dragged her into the tent. I flicked the flap open, but the inside was frigid. Just a few moments of being open had sapped whatever warmth was inside. “You can't act like this was my fault.

“You're supposed to wake me.”

I nodded and rubbed her hands in mine. I pulled her wet socks off too. Her feet were just chilled to the absolute bone. I was considering trying to start a fire.

“Say something!”

“Huh what? You're right. I should have woken you up. Come on get some new socks on and get warm.”

“I feel like I need a can opener with you; you’re just so it's like -ugh. Aren't you frustrated?”

“No, I am.” I assured her.

“Well why aren't you showing it?” Ruby wrapped her arms around her knees under her covers. “And your semblance too, you’re not excited at all when it activates when we train.”

“It only activates when I’m losing, doesn’t last long, and doesn’t do anything but make me glow.” I shook my head and laughed a little.

It was fitting though, if I’d had this power at Beacon I would have been just as able to help Pyrrha.

She hit me hard, enough sting. I gasped, my hand going to my chest where her hand hit my side, through some gap in all my armor she’d casually exploited to jab at just one of my ribs past a strap.

“You were thinking you were useless again. Weren’t you, Jaune?”

Fuck.

“I’m sure it does more than make you look good.”

Whiplash.

I waited.

“Well.” She wondered.

“Well to what in all of that?”

“All of it!”

“I was trying to keep up the pace and find it and be on our way to Haven.”

“So, it’s because I need to get to Haven.”

“Well that is your plan.” I laughed and turned to look at her.

“Ugh.” She murmured and looked down.

Huh?

“What is it? Is it something I said?”

She didn't look impressed by that. She crossed her arms confidently and set herself sideways. “Then what's it like? I forced you out here. To come with me to Haven and trek all the way across the world with me. Even though I had no idea how far that was.”

"Ruby I did know how far it was. And I did know that if you hadn't…"

If she hadn't what, exactly? I was trying to fight but it was hard. It was a little like Weiss had rubbed off on Ruby, in some of her best ways. I'd found that confidence and authority attractive before but when it was directed at me it was hard to fight.

What could I possibly tell her? That I needed her to tell me what to do and give my life direction? She just told me how stressed she was I couldn't add to that. Couldn't have. I clicked my jaw in thought.

My teeth clacked together audibly.

She looked from my eyes to my jaw. Like I'd just bit her hard. “You shouldn't do that to yourself.”

I laughed. “That's what I mean. What would I do if I didn't have you right now? If you hadn't taken me in, I don't know where I would have gone.”

“You would have found something.”

No. My family. I stole this from them. I can't go back. And Nora and Ren they got in with like a scholarship for hunters-to-be without parents or something. They were homeless again. I think they thought I'd abandon them.

“So, when you asked me to come it was just-it was a no-brainer. What would I have done? What l alternatives would I have had. And if I hadn't gone with you, would I have found Pyrrha’s armor even? Would I know for sure what happened? It was like destiny. And this is too.”

“You really think so?” I watched her hands fidget through her hair, somehow plucking at the red ones even out of the corner of her eye. “Well no, it’s more like I need to make this the timeline where I succeed, but we can. You know?” She shook her head. “You think if we're smart and hardworking enough, it'll be enough? That's not like you.”

“Ruby this is just a setback. Even if it takes months. We have no timetable for getting to Haven. No tournament. No obvious target beyond the school and city which should be in a state of high alert.”

Supplies still got traded as far as here so we know the blackout-panic hadn't destroyed the place.

Haven was probably still there, Just waiting for her, even if it didn’t know it.

“But what about your semblance?” She pressed me. “You and me. Are we making progress there?”

“We’ll have to time figure out to use it.” If it had a use.

“Tss” I let out as I clutched a rib.

“You and me.”

“Us?” I wondered stupidly.

“What are we, Jaune.” She glanced at me. “What am I to you?”

Good question.

I thought about it. It wasn't like I could just say she was my partner because that had connotations to huntsmen. If I just blurted out, she was my new partner it would hurt everyone. Besides she had made it clear that Weiss was her best friend. Whatever that meant to her.

"You're my oldest friend for sure." I told her. I knew that much. Whom was there before Pyrrha? Family didn't count. "Things are rough for me right now but it wasn't like I didn't think about you before, too.”

“That's not fair,” she whispered. “Pyrrha was…She made it clear she liked you a lot.”

Ouch. But…

“You were so nice and sweet to me when I didn't deserve it. I could always count on you for advice and it was always good. “

“I don't know…” she trailed off. She pinched her lower lip between her index and thumb. She was listening close, her eyes intense on my every word. “Even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear. So, it sounds dumb to say something like boyfriend, but you can if you want.”

“We're a couple.” Ruby translated listening closely. “You make things so complicated.”

“The thing about that is-“

“Do you love me?”

“Uh, yeah”

She smiled flushing, but she managed to roll her eyes and look right at me. For a moment I could hear nothing but the rain against the tent.

"Jaune I need you to better than 'uh yeah.'" she smiled adorably. It took me a second to realize she was teasing me. By the time I did so, my eyes flicked down to her lips and back up to her eyes. It was too late. Her smile roared across her face.

“You really want to kiss me, don't you? You can. You know. Maybe not all the time but you can kiss me.” I did. I pushed her back against her thin mattress. I could feel her hip bone against my abdomen and the smooth curve of her sides. I put my hands around her back and pulled her in close to my and she let out a tiny sigh.

Her mouth opened in the slightest way and I couldn't help my-self. My tongue went forward at the same time I rolled us more forward, pinning her more beneath me.

She groaned into it, smiling into the kiss as I sucked on her tongue, then lip, then pulled away. Or tried to.

I drew back slightly but she had a tight grip on my shirt with her left hand. I hadn't even noticed. And her other hand became nestled in my hair.

She just… giggled at me, and, without so much as opening her eyes, dragged me down again.

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I got down off the back of the animal before Ruby. She was already waiting for me there.

She called the its name and it came when called. She didn’t even need to pull her hair back as she rode, either, she somehow looked relaxed and focused. To be honest I was just so amazed to even watch her move above me.

She slung her legs up and over it and gently held the pommel in one of her small hands. The tips of her fingers just enough to reassure. She hardly needed it for balance she was so graceful.

Her other hand was firmly in the mane of the stallion’s mane. After the night in the rain, we’d returned to Higanbana where they’d offered us horses. They’d already been made aware of our affairs and the local Dono was not to be out down by GaiLong, evidently.

I’d explained to them that an unless they had an awakened horse, they would not be able to carry me, let alone the both of us. Mei-Chi had smiled at me and I knew I would regret it.

“Who taught you how to ride?” I wondered.

“Oh, my mother showed me how when I was young. It’s easy if you know how to care for it.” Or you’re a Nisdy Princess. I watched how easily she controlled it and made it calm. Sure, it was trained but when I’d been encouraged to take the lead on the animal it had given me nothing but contempt.

“Do you know how?” She wondered. “You’ve somehow expertly dodged climbing on the back of one.” She stroked it gently with her hands. Enjoying the sensation.

“I… know the basics,” I hedged. “I have ridden before.”

“Yikes, that bad, huh.” she teased me, and I groaned. “But not in a while and with someone else.”

I shook my head, “this’ll be a first for us.”

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-WG

[thehandsomeasshole]

@starttheanarchy from X

"Then why use them for a job they are not meant for, just keep them to their original purpose and make something new that works for what you need. And because quality work will save in the long term with less repairs, replacements, and malfunctions over all. And your welcome." The wide grin could be heard in her last three words. She was raised to have some manners after all. "And DT could probably do it as long as the load weight isn't over hmmm..." She drifts off as fingers tap together, mental math being calculated. "Eight tonne? Maybe less. I'm not exactly sure on that front since I actually haven't tested his limits on that front. Hmm something to test another day." Her eyes drifted over the floating form of her robot as it stayed ever vigilant of her surroundings. She knew it could do some heavy lifting since she had used previous versions to move things in the junk yard.

Eyes roll at yet another reason on why to avoid corporations, and another as he seems to enjoy being a pest.

"Actually last thing I did was fix up several things that were in disrepair in Overlook, since too much of the population of that poor town have the skull-shivers and had no access to the medicine. Something about repair tickets being ignored or something like that. And I didn't come here for the shallow reason of becoming rich, I'm opening the vault to try and prevent a very clearly corrupt corporation from monopolization on something that might be a blessing or a curse." If she had it her way, she would keep it locked forever since no one has a full understanding of the capabilities and issues of Eridium that began to spawn after the first one opened. To many variables and yet everyone wanting to just add more into the chaos.

"Yes, yes. The definition fits, but you seem to think I am on the same level of depravity like the Fleshrippers or the Bloodshots. To which all I can say is, rude and incorrect. And princess? Really?" That got her to shoot a glare back at the space station.

"Not everyone. Yes there are people who still deserve a chance to be treated like a decent human because they are. But you seem to be hard at work for making it so those people are just as dead as the rest. And you are right, no one has used an army of robots to lay siege on a planet in the name of their own ideals. They used armies of people, and all of them were considered like a plague upon humanity in the context of history. Dictators, tyrants, oppressors, authoritarians, monsters. Wonder how will you be written down."

At the laughter, and how it grew as she talked about what started this whole hot mess off for her on planet side, it made her skin itch with irritation. Out of everything on this fucking disaster hellscape, it was Hyperion that tried to kill her first. Sure others might have had to deal with bandits at other stops, but she went from off the inter-space shuttle to the train with no issues.

It was fair to say Jack was the first person to try to actually kill her. Even when escaping Eden-5 they were aiming for capture to make her life a living hell instead of a death sentience. It was one of the reasons she was trying so damn hard to keep surviving at this point, out of spite for the asshole who tried to kill them after using some shitty signs to inform them of their supposed doom.

Hands were clenched into fists and she could feel a chill roll through her body. It was like the ice never left at times.

A deep breath as she turns her face to the sun that burns the landscape, she is fine and alive. And she isn't going to follow his script and get pissed. She isn't going to scream like everyone else on this planet. The Mechromancer is going to do what she always does, go against what is expected.

"How about you tell me something else instead. You worked with the Crimson Raiders? What happened? What is the full story, from beginning to end?" Her voice is calm and even, one that seems to hold no judgment and wanting to listen. And she does, after all there isn't much information on the group. Gaige had no plans to jump ship, but she honestly had as much trust for them as she did for most anyone on this planet that wasn't shooting at her. Eden-5 taught her that the only person she could ever trust was her father and the friends she created with her own two hands.

"No bullshit, no propaganda. Just your side of the story. I have time."

Jack did smile at the little sass she threw his way, despite himself. "Well, empty, those things weigh nearly five tonnes. So, nice try. I guess." He chose to ignore her initial comment about using the loaders for their designed purpose. There was not enough patience in Jack's body to unpack all of that right now.

"Oh, the vaults are definitely a curse. But, once you get the ball rolling around here, there's not really anything anyone can do to stop it." Jack shrugged lightly, scanning through the first four pages while he spoke, "You just… gotta do what you can before another idiot comes along and screws everything up even worse than you did."

"Nah, you're right. Princess made me feel a little icky. How about… I- I'll get back to you, I'll think of something real good." he laughed lightly, beginning to scribble down some notes on the papers before he continued. 

"You sure as hell act like 'em, you and your bandit buddies. Just exactly how many things or people have you killed since you got to Pandora? Hey, look, I'll even give wildlife a pass cause- Well, you could kill a hundred skags one day and the next day there'd be two hundred more. Let's just focus on people. Maybe you're not running around screaming about meat bicycles, and maybe it is a little rude of me, but it's also correct. You just don't wanna admit it."

"The people who are still decent in this universe are few and far, kid. In my entire life, I've only met two people who were truly selfless." One's dead and the other’s… worse. "But, you do realise that if it wasn't me up here, it'd just be someone else? Hell, Dahl and Atlas would still be plowing through planets like they're big balls of paper and slaughtering everyone in their way while going off about fighting for those planets' freedoms and peace."

"Ooh, I love tyrant! Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Always considered myself more notorious, than anything else." The sharp, almost humorous-sounding edge to his voice gave the impression he was teasing her, "Kid, it's nothin' I haven't heard before. You really think I'm gonna be kicking it anytime soon, anyway? Nah. Nope, not happening! I got way too much to do."

Jack's brows knitted together and slowly raised in a mixture of surprise and confusion. Sure, maybe she didn't care, he'd just never had a person who hated him ask for his side of the story before.

He decided not to express his shock.

"So, I'd been working on Helios since it launched, I was, uh-... A- a programming and engineering specialist for Hyperion for ten, fifteen years, maybe. I was in charge of most of the construction, getting together schematic proposals to give to my bosses, all that kinda shit."

"The first time I met Lilith and Roland was when Dahl decided they wanted to massacre all the workers on Helios and take it over. They… They didn't discriminate. If you worked for Hyperion, they'd gun you down without even batting an eye. They killed so many of the workers up here, I knew them all personally. We- we didn't even have a real military then, for God's sake! They shot workers out of the sky when they were trying to evacuate. That was the level of murderous psychopaths we were trying to deal with. We defended as best as we could, but even the freaking loaders weren't weaponised yet, I had like… Six hours to get them into a position to defend themselves, and you bet your ass I did it. I guess that actually answers your earlier question, too. I used them for a job they weren't made for out of necessity, the damn Lost Legion shot at them when they were running away, too. Assholes."

"I managed to get the vault hunter's I'd hired down to Elpis in a moonshot, think you've met a couple of them. They got to Concordia thanks to-" Shit. He hadn't actually thought about Janey in a while. He'd ask Athena how they were both doing, but she'd probably curb stop his head before he could even say hello. "-uh, this mechanic. They asked Lilith and Roland to help cause, y'know, Dahl had stuck a jamming signal somewhere on that moon and I couldn't work Helios's defences until it was shut off. They knew people on Helios were dying, and they said no."

"They only started to help when their lives were in immediate danger and Dahl got control of the moonshot laser and start firing away at Elpis. I really did trust 'em to help us, y'know? Like they promised they would."

"I guess they kinda did. We managed to get control of the laser again and… They blew it up. They nearly took the whole space station down just because they didn't want Hyperion having it. That stupid laser could've saved Pandora, you know. It could've- The blasts were so concentrated we could've wiped out an entire bandit settlement and their nice neighbours next door would've barely felt the ground tremble. I'd worked so hard on that laser. You have any idea how hard it was to make? How much progress they destroyed when they blew that damn thing up? A lot! A whole, freaking lot and-... Sorry. Off topic. Uh…"

He made a small noise, "Oh, yeah. Anyway, after that it was just a rush trying to get to the vault before anyone else did. Dahl was already there, but after what happened with those two I wouldn't have been surprised if they got to the vault first just so we couldn't."

"But, we did. My vault hunters took care of the- The Empyrean Sentinel, I think they called it. Big bastard, more human than the other vault monsters. Freaky stuff."

"So, the Sentinel was dead, and we finally got to the vault relic. It looked like… Nothing. Very underwhelming. Just a weird little floating vault symbol. I decided to touch it and-..." Jack went quiet for a while, his knuckles growing white with how tightly he was gripping the armrests of his chair, "And I saw… everything."

He felt sick even talking about it. The pit in his stomach growing deeper and he knew if he didn't stop soon he'd fall into a full blown breakdown. So, he took a shaky breath in and continued.

"Wasn't long after that when Lilith made her grand entrance. She destroyed the relic and- blasted the fuck out of my face. You ever had your face branded by some freaky eridian technology? It sucks. Real bad."

He let his head drop back, and he rubbed his eyes, "So, there's my side. Think I can quit my day job and become a professional story teller?" Though he tried to make a joke, the fire in his voice seemed to have dissipated. He just sounded… tired.

[nelvana]

In which the dungeon with fossil foes is explored

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which the land between time is explored Previous: In which the territory of others is crossed

     While their early steps into Brine Cave surrounded them in darkness, it did not take them long to reach a brighter room, the beginning of the dungeon. The walls were covered in brown rocks like those that covered the cavern outside, as well as some blue rocks that seemed to be what was providing them light here. A small pool of water was located in this room, with a trickling stream that led out further into the dungeon. The water itself, was a sea green, just like the ocean. Under their feet was a mix of sand and rocks like those outside, giving an odd texture as they walked over it.

    “Before we get too far… we’re getting to the serious dungeons now, next is Hidden Land, and then Temporal Tower. We’ll want to figure out our actual strategy here,” Nelvana announced, turning back to look at everyone else. “Would have been better to do this outside… but would have been awkward to say goodbye to Daichi and Sabi, and then just sit there and talk for awhile,” she added.

    Alex nodded, “agreed. So, how do we want to do this?”

    “W-Well, it might help if we organize by everyone’s roles in battle,” Damien spoke up hesitantly, stepping up closer with everyone else after an encouraging nod from Nelvana.

    “Everyone’s roles?” Ceebee repeated, “go on, I’m curious about what you mean by that.”

    “I mean, some of us are hard hitters that attack fast, and some of us are better suited for range, for example. It will be best to spread those people apart in our lineup,” Damien clarified.

    “That makes sense,” Tsuki agreed, nodding. “Do you already have an idea of who fits what role, or is that something we should discuss?”

    “It shouldn’t be hard to work out…” Damien responded, shrugging. “Okay, so, Nel, Alex, and Tsuki are all up close fighters, strikers, though they have a couple ranged moves each, so they can move around throughout the lineup and switch with others, but we’ll probably want one to the front, one to the middle, and one in the back.”

    “Well, previously we’ve had Nel at the front and myself at the back, and that worked out fine, so we can keep that up,” Alex told him.

    Damien nodded, “if you all agree to that, then that should work,” he replied, “and then myself, Edgar, and Ceebee are more of support, with a few attacking moves each, mostly ranged, to protect ourselves with if so needed…”

    “You should all be spaced apart as well, one to the middle, one in front, and one in the back,” Nelvana chimed back in, “since Alex will be in the back and is one of the ones with a bag… Damien, you should be set up at the front.”

    “I can be at the back!” Ceebee eagerly volunteered, “you’re okay with that, Edgar?”

    “Yup!” Edgar hummed, bobbing in the air over to Tsuki, who smiled up at him.

    “What about Dusknoir and I?” Keahi asked, “we don’t match in our battle styles, or roles.”

    “Definitely,” Nelvana chuckled, reaching over to her partner to ruffle zir feathers with a hand. “You’re mixed between ranged and up close, and Dusknoir is… he’s….”

    “Dusknoir is a wall,” Damien finished.

    “A… wall?” Dusknoir repeated, seemingly confused on whether he should be offended or not.

    “Yeah, you’ve got good defenses, can take a lot of hits,” Damien explained, “would that be right?”

    Dusknoir blinked, “yes… that would be correct. I can still attack though.”

    “Not in the same way as the strikers,” Damien responded.

    “…where did you learn about these… role titles?” Dusknoir questioned.

    “Oh, they were… uh, just common terms for trainers to use when planning how their teams would go into battle,” Damien answered, shrugging.

    Alex coughed, “and, where would that put him in the lineup, Damien?” he interrupted.

    “Right! Hm… well, either the front or the back. I’d probably say the back, just because he’s been there in most of our experience, and it’s… a bit hard to see past him,” Damien said.

    “I am fine with that,” Dusknoir agreed, and then glanced over at Alex and Ceebee. “So long as you both are okay with me being closer around you.”

    Alex rose a brow at Dusknoir’s comment, though he instinctively frowned at the ghost-type, stiffening slightly. Ceebee blinked, just as surprised as the grovyle that Dusknoir bothered checking if they would be okay or not at all.

    “Well…” Ceebee glanced over at Alex. “…yeah, we’ll be fine,” she decided.

    “We’ve lasted this long together,” Alex muttered.

    Nelvana turned over to the two of them, concern softening her eyes. Looking up to meet her gaze, Alex let out a sigh, and then gave her a thumbs up.

    “And I can be up front, to even things out!” Keahi suggested, cutting through any growing pessimistic attitude.

    Damien nodded, “that sounds good!” he agreed, “so that would make our actual lineup…”

    “Me, Keahi, you… Tsuki, Edgar… er, Dusknoir, Ceebee, then Alex; unless anyone objects,” Nelvana said.

    After waiting a few moments and receiving no disagreements to the plan, the group set out to follow their order they figured out and actually take on the dungeon, heading down the path closest to them for ease of travel.

    “It’s nice that we didn’t get attack or anything through that!” Edgar commented, “we got some good time to talk through all that.”

    “We hadn’t started moving around much before then, the spawn must not have realized we’re here yet,” Tsuki told him.

    “They will soon though,” Nelvana added, “and there are traps here too… dang, I’ll have to be careful where I lead us,” she continued in a mumble.

    “W-Wait, didn’t Daichi say that this was a mainly water dungeon?” Damien blurted out, “maybe we should have planned differently…” he mumbled.

    “Don’t worry! You can back us up with thunderbolt, right?” Keahi responded.

    “I still haven’t quite gotten it down yet…” Damien admitted quietly.

    “This is just our general lineup plan for any future dungeons, we won’t be able to adapt them all to our typing,” Nelvana told him, “I’d say you did really well getting most of this set up, and we can always switch around a bit if Keahi and I start having difficulties,” she continued.

    “Daichi also said there are only fifteen floors too, right?” Edgar added, waiting a nod of confirmation to his memory from Tsuki before he went on. “So, we’ve been through longer dungeons, this shouldn’t be too bad!”

    Assured by these words from his friends, Damien nodded and quieted down, focusing on what they had ahead.

    Despite their quiet start, by the end of their first winding corridor they had chosen, they began running into their first dungeon pokemon of Brine Cave. A seel and an omanyte, sat in the next room they ran into, and were quick to turn and attack. Nelvana was just as quick to tap her club twice on the ground before throwing it at her opponents, the bone hitting the seel and then bouncing off it to hit the omanyte before returning to the cubone. The bonemerang did enough to defeat both of the spawn, the pair disappearing in a flash of light.

    “Water-types don’t resist my ground attacks, and any of the fossils will be weak to ‘em. I just need to hit harder, first, to avoid my own weakness,” Nelvana commented, glancing back at Damien, who nodded once more.

    The next spawn to show up, a tirtouga, only confirmed Nelvana’s comment as she handled it with another whack from her club, but by the next floor, things started getting trickier. They discovered that there were pelippers in this dungeon, which would actually resist most of Nelvana and Keahi’s attacks. The first pelipper was met towards the end of a hallway, the beginnings of another room barely visible past the water-flying-type.

    Shaky, but eager to help, Damien stretched out a hand and did his best to at least start a spark of his thunderbolt attack he had learned from the TM. Quickly though, he grew more frustrated and panicky as nothing happened, ruining his focus for trying to use the attack.

    Noticing this, Nelvana glanced back to Keahi.

    “If you can give me an opening, I can use focus energy and hope for a crit with headbutt. Even if that doesn’t take this thing down, hopefully it’ll use enough time to get more of us into the room or something,” she told zim, who nodded.

    “I’ll quick attack them, so get ready to duck so I can jump over you,” Keahi responded.

    Following her partner’s instructions, Nelvana ducked down, immediately taking this time to focus herself again in preparation for her next attack. While she did this, Keahi leapt up, suddenly earning speed in the air which launched zim at the pelipper. Before it could recover, Nelvana dove in to headbutt the foe, knocking out the pelipper with the extra damage she dealt after the focus energy.

    “Great job!” Damien told them, letting out a sigh of relief. “Sorry I couldn’t help…”

    Nelvana brushed herself off, getting back up, “no worries, you’ll figure out thunderbolt eventually. It’s times like these anyway that might help you force that attack out.”

    “Getting stuck in a hallway like this in battle was unfortunate though… not everyone can contribute to the fight then,” Keahi commented.

    “This is merely the challenge of having a larger group. We’ll have to keep getting used to it,” Tsuki told them with a sigh.

    Keeping what Tsuki said in mind, they continued on. The words especially rang true when spawn came from behind the group, forcing Alex and the others at the back to take care of the danger. Fortunately, Alex’s typing was much better suited here than those who were put at the front, which meant taking care of dungeon pokemon here came with much more ease. It made them feel a bit better about making sure to prepare by putting a hard hitter at the back of the group to cover all their bases.

    They continued up another couple floors handling most of their foes either by a couple hits from Nelvana, a combo hit from her and Keahi, or, when the spawn showed up behind them, an easy leaf blade from Alex. Fortunately, pelippers seemed to be the only opponent so far that would force any sort of challenge. There were gastrodons in Brine Cave as well, but their defenses being lower than any pelipper meant they could be handled by Nelvana without any difficulty so long as she got the jump on them. Unfortunately, it would have been unlikely that they would have only ever run into a single pelipper in the entire dungeon.

    Still mildly frustrated by how he couldn’t assist against one of these water-flying-types before, Damien again began trying to figure out how to use his thunderbolt attack the very moment the group’s second pelipper of the dungeon showed up. After fruitlessly trying to conjure the electric energy on his own for a few moments, Damien turned around to try a new strategy.

    “Tsuki, I have an idea for me to use thunderbolt, but I need you, can I touch your fur?” he requested hurriedly.

    Confused, but knowing that if this was to work then she shouldn’t waste time asking questions, Tsuki nodded. Damien reached over, causing Tsuki to flinch at his cold touch at first, and rubbed his hand in her fur. After a few moments, he took his hand out, some of the fur standing up where he had touched the absol.

    “I sure hope static electricity will be good enough to get me started…” Damien muttered until his breath.

    Trying once more to conjure the needed energy for the attack, Damien snapped his fingers on the hand that he touched Tsuki with, this time earning some electric sparks flying off from his fingertips. Pointing his hand at the pelipper, he tried again. Finally, all his efforts came together as lightning leapt forward from his hand, resulting in a bolt of electricity striking the pelipper. Being slightly damaged already from Keahi beginning zir and Nelvana’s combo strategy, the pelipper was easily defeated from the super effective attack, and it disappeared in a flash of light.

    “You did it!” Edgar exclaimed, clapping his hands.

    “You said that was static electricity, right?” Tsuki commented, shaking out her fur. “That was an interesting, but effective, strategy to get your attack started. I do hope you don’t have to do it every time, though.”

    Damien laughed, “I hope so too. I just figured that if I was having trouble making electricity myself, I could borrow it from elsewhere. Creating static was the first thing I could think of.”

    “That was a good idea,” Nelvana chimed in, “and you were out here saying you aren’t good at thinking in the moment,” she teased, nudging him with her club.

    “I’m usually not!” Damien sputtered, but then laughed again. “I’m honestly surprised that actually worked. I was just tired of it… not working.”

    “Well, let’s see if you can do it again when we find another pelipper!” Keahi responded, “see, this is good practice for you!”

    With the thunderbolt attack finally learned, the group continued forward with much more ease. Though Nelvana recommended that Damien save his thunderbolt attack for opponents that were actually causing troubles to her and Keahi so he could save his energy, they found more pokemon than just the pelippers that were dangerous to the pair at the front. Reaching the eighth floor even introduced them to some dragonair, which, after commenting that now they were finally seeing these dragon-types up close, meant that sometimes Tsuki would have to use ice beam from afar to make sure the dragonair didn’t get a leg up with all their resistances.

    They arrived at the safe floor without too much trouble though, and took the moment to catch their breath and review how things were going before moving on. Fortunately, no one seemed to be having troubles with their current setup. Even Alex and Ceebee, who while they admitted to having some discomfort around Dusknoir, the two of them were able to keep themselves chatting a bit to help themselves out. And while Alex didn’t admit it at least, Dusknoir did help out when a dragonair had shown up at the back, and couldn’t simply be easily dispatched by a single leaf blade.

    Surprisingly, as they realized in the time they spent resting, they hadn’t found any sign of any traps so far. Nelvana hadn’t found any spots she guessed to hide traps, and no one had accidentally stepped on any of the horrid tiles. Accounting this to luck, but still resolving to keep their guards up for any of the traps that Daichi had warned them of, they moved on.

    Having only six floors left to go and feeling confident, the group pushed forward with determination. For the first floor after the safe room, their progress went relatively the same as before, but on the second floor, they found a new pokemon; a walrein. This at first seemed to pose more of a problem because of how the large pokemon had so much health to work through, but then the group discovered that the walrein either didn’t actually know, or preferred not to use, any water-type moves. Because of this, any walrein could be handled easily with any fighting-type move from the pair at the front, or a helpful thunderbolt from Damien, so long as Nelvana avoided any aurora beams in the time it took to wear their opponent down.

    Finally, they arrived to the sixth floor of Brine Cave. Here, it opened up into a wide tunnel, which lacked any of the glowing blue stones that had previously lit their way, which swallowing most of the room into shadows.

    “Where are the fossil pokemon…?” Keahi whispered, scanning the area. “This is the last floor, right? Wouldn’t they be here?”

    ~*They’re hiding in the shadows, be ready for a fight,*~ Ceebee’s voice informed everyone suddenly through telepathy.

    Tense, the group waited for any signs of their forewarned opponents… but nothing happened. Hesitantly, Nelvana took a step forward, and when still nothing happened, she held up her club to her face. She managed to cough out a small flame, which landed on the bone and remained there, dancing as a self-made torch to light the way. Slowly, she raised the club up, before throwing it down the tunnel.

    The torch spun as it was thrown, lighting up whatever was hidden in the darkness with the flames which continued burning on the bone. As the ceiling was revealed, so were Kabutops and their two omastar partners, hanging from the ceiling and silently glaring down at the group. The torch passed them, lighting up the walls where two cradily attached themselves to the sides, and an archeops sat perched on a stalagmite. Even further was an armaldo, again digging their claws into the ceiling to hang there. All of them stared at the group, aggression burning in their eyes.

    The bone club spun back, returning to Nelvana’s hand, which had begun shaking slightly.

    The flame went out. It was silent.

    “Look out!” Tsuki yelled, breaking the tension filled silence.

    Just as Tsuki spoke, Kabutops let out a screech, enveloping themself in water and diving at the cubone with their aqua jet attack. At the same time, Tsuki lunged forward, just barely tackling Kabutops out of the way of hitting Nelvana, shoving the fossil pokemon to the side. The two tussled for a couple seconds, before Kabutops leapt back, hissing at Tsuki, who bared her teeth and growled back, frost beginning to puff from her mouth. Kabutops dove at Tsuki, slashing with one of their scythe arms. Tsuki leapt out of the way, but still had her hind leg nicked by the blade, forcing her to adapt to more of a limping gait.

    With Kabutops having launched into battle, the rest of the tunnel roared into action. The silence of before became a distant and longing memory as the remaining fossil pokemon scrambled over to the rest of the group to attack.

    The two omastar arrived first, being the closest to the group from their earlier position on the ceiling. Alex acted swiftly, singling out one of the rock-water-types and slashing at them with a leaf blade attack. As the other omastar began crawling over to Nelvana, she accepted her opponent, whipping her club at them, hitting twice with the bonemerang before returning to her hands.

    Archeops dove ahead next, aiming for Alex during the period he would be distracted against Omastar, but Archeops’ hunt was halted as a shadow ball nailed them in the side of the head. Advancing to block Archeops from the battle going on between Omastar and Alex, Dusknoir readied another shadow ball between his hands.

    “I am your opponent,” Dusknoir rumbled, narrowing his eye at Archeops. “Face me, not him.”

    Not too picky about their foe, Archeops hissed in return, leaping to attack Dusknoir, shadows gathering at their claws and talons.

    Alex blinked, confused and momentarily distracted by Dusknoir’s action and words. Seeing the window of opportunity, Omastar opened their mouth and bit down onto the grovyle’s arm with dark energy. Hissing, Alex turned his focus to the matter at hand, retaliating by using absorb to regain some of the health he had lost in his moment of weakness.

    As the remaining three dungeon pokemon continued their advance, so did the remaining four of the traveling group. Though Keahi glanced over at Nelvana and Alex’s fights, zie knew that zie would be more of help against any of the other three foes, and thus zie continued onward. The two cradilies and the armaldo began closing in on the torchic, failing to notice Ceebee, Edgar, and Damien also joining in the fight.

    Edgar acted first, flames dancing on his robes before being launched towards Armaldo as wisps, searing their armor. Damien stretched both his hands in front of him, palms facing a cradily, which shot out a ray of energy, hitting the foe’s green body. Cradily’s head swayed, any previous focus replaced with dizziness and confusion. After seeing the effectiveness of his move, though, Damien scanned this battleground more, settling on disappearing and reappearing by Tsuki to assist her against Kabutops.

    Unlike the other two, Ceebee reacted offensively, creating the silvery image of herself and forming it as an ancient power attack, which she launched at the untouched cradily. Keahi doubled up on this, kicking the same cradily with zir rock smash attack before they could have the chance to think of recovering from what Ceebee had done to them.

    Tsuki and Kabutops were still locked in a relentless battle, the absol’s slight speed disadvantage cutting the fight a lot closer than she would like. She shot a beam of ice at her opponent, who jumped to avoid the attack. Letting out a growl of annoyance, Tsuki lunged at them, landing a hit with quick attack and following it up with a swipe from her forepaws, brooding with dark energy. Kabutops screeched again, but before they could get another hit in, they were suddenly struck by a bolt of electricity, forcing them to their knees. Tsuki took the chance to force her weight onto the foe, pinning them to the ground before they could stand again and scratching at their plate armor until they were defeated.

    “Thank you,” Tsuki told Damien in a gasp, who nodded back.

    Omastar wasted no time in attacking their ground-type opponent, shooting a powerful stream of water from their mouth at Nelvana. Knowing she had no time to dodge, Nelvana braced herself for the hit, turning to her side to shield herself. To her mild surprise, instead of being hit she heard a shatter. Blinking open her eyes that she had instinctively closed, she glimpsed a shield in front of her taking the brunt of the attack, shattering upon impact though. Distantly, it occurred to Nelvana that this had to be protect; one of the TMs everyone went ahead and learned, just in case. Piecing together what move this was also told her that it wouldn’t work at well the second time, knowing the nature of the move protect, so she swiftly closed the gap between her and Omastar, clubbing them over their shell with her weapon.

    She moved to hit them again with the same attack, but Omastar reached out their tentacles first, wrapping them around Nelvana’s arm and the bone itself. Nelvana tugged against their grip, but quickly gave up on this and opted to kick them in the face with her brick break attack instead. Omastar staggered back, removing their grip from Nelvana as they attempted to recover. Before they could get that chance though, Alex dove in, punching the omastar with an electrified fist, finally knocking them out; the omastar he had been fighting before already defeated as well.

    “Made it out of that without a scratch?” Alex commented, “maybe you didn’t need my help after all,” he joked.

    “Only because I managed to use protect,” Nelvana clarified, “I probably still could have handled it, but thanks though.”

    Dusknoir gripped Archeops by the throat. It had been no trouble for him to handle this foe; archeops by default were powerful attackers, but had poor defenses that were only worsened by their ability. His first shadow ball attack, if he were to guess, had already taken Archeops near to half their health, so it was no trouble to force their defeatist ability to kick in, rendering them easy for Dusknoir to finish off. While Archeops certainly got some hits in before Dusknoir was able to grapple them like this, it wasn’t much to him.

    “I could kill you,” Dusknoir whispered to Archeops, “you are weak compared to me, it would be easy. You were in my way,” he growled.

    Archeops valiantly struggled against Dusknoir’s grasp, swiping their claws in the air and snapping their teeth at Dusknoir’s face. Despite all their efforts, Dusknoir did not budge in the slightest. In fact, as if to prove his point, he tightened his fingers around their neck.

    It would be easy, he knew. In fact, part of him itched to just get it over with, put this pest out of his way, and anyone else’s, for good. It was how he had always handled problems, obstacles, enemies, like these. Besides, in this case, wouldn’t ending this archeops keep them from hurting anyone again? Right?

    Would it be right? Would it be the right thing to do?

    Archeops gasped for breath.

    Keahi delivered one final kick to Armaldo, finally dropping them to the ground. Beside zim, were the two cradilies. Keahi, Ceebee, and Edgar worked together to take the first one down and start damaging the second, but after Tsuki, Damien, Nelvana, and Alex all came over to help out, the fight was over much faster and much more swimmingly. Keahi exhaled with relief and triumph.

    “Is that all of them?” zie asked, glancing around.

    “I do not sense anyone newcomers to the tunnel,” Ceebee informed them, “this fight should be over now, now that we’ve knocked out all the ones here.”

    “Are they all knocked out…?” Keahi paused, turning to look at Dusknoir. “Hey, Dusknoir, you good over there?”

    “Yes, I have finished my battle,” Dusknoir answered.

    He floated over to rejoin the others, the unconscious body of Archeops laying behind him, still softly breathing.

    Keahi nodded, “okay, that’s good. How’s everyone doing then? I have to admit I’ll probably need an oran, some of those rock and ground moves got to me.”

    “I’m feeling alright, might take a closer look at this bite later though… looks fine now, but I don’t know what’s been in that omastar’s mouth,” Alex responded, eyeing the now faint mark on his arm for a moment.

    “I have a few cuts, but I should only need a single oran for them,” Tsuki spoke up, sitting herself down momentarily to gingerly lick at the largest cut, the one on her leg.

    “You sure? That cut looks bad,” Edgar commented softly, floating down to the absol.

    “Maybe take it easy on that leg for the next while… if possible,” Damien added, “is the… the Hidden Land right up ahead?”

    “Not right up ahead, but close,” Ceebee answered, “we can take some time to recover if everyone wants, but we should keep moving ahead a bit longer; we wouldn’t want any others coming in here and starting another fight,” she continued.

    “Let’s keep moving then,” Tsuki agreed, pulling herself to her feet.

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which the land between time is explored Previous: In which the territory of others is crossed

[aweebwrites]

Allies Ch7

No gore and nothing horrible here. Proceed.

“Back up! Back up!” Kai yelled as he ran out of the ice fortress carrying his frozen partner holding the shurikens of ice as he did, the angry roar of the ice dragon following them.

Nya, Cole and Jay quickly darted away from the entrance as the ice dragon’s head ended up lodged there, roaring angrily and spitting ice.

“Zane! Is he ok?!” Jay yelled as they regrouped.

“How the heck are you even carrying him?” Cole asked Kai who held Zane stuck in a block of ice over his head.

“Well-” Kai was cut off by the weight of Zane catching up to him, making him collapse into the snow and his frozen partner falling on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

“Kai!” Nya yelled as Kai wheezed under Zane, Cole lifting him off with ease.

“Could someone get me out of this ice please.” Zane says from inside the ice, his voice muffled but audible.

“Right away.” Cole says, setting him down as Nya helped Kai up.

Cole breathed out before he moved, striking the weak points of the ice with the sides of his hands, leaving the ice to fracture then break around Zane who still held the Shurikens of Ice.

“Thank you.” Zane says then looked down at the Golden Shurikens, sensing their power.

All at once all four Knights looked around, wary.

“Did you see anything?” Nya asked, on alert with their sudden tension.

“No. It’s just this is around the time they’d make a move…” Kai says with a frown, seeing no-one.

“I’m not picking anything up.” Jay says, using his electroreception.

“Me either.” Zane says, his glowing blue eyes brighter now as he scanned the area.

“We shouldn’t let our guard down though.” Cole says with a frown. “Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.” He told them with eyes narrowed at the horizon.

“We shouldn’t dally either. That dragon won’t be caged there for long.” Kai says, gesturing to the structure where the dragon was clearly clawing its way out.

“Let’s go.” Zane says, releasing the Shurikens and they vanished, awing the group.

“They’re about to move. Go get the others.” Kozu told Cryptor who nods before shifting back down the hill.

Inside the hollow of the cave Lloyd had somehow managed to fall asleep sitting up still, his dream but a memory.

“I’m a General for the Devourer’s sake. Not a babysitter.” Pythor huffed as he slithered out of Lloyd’s room, the 9 year old watching him go with wide red eyes before he grinned widely.

This was his chance! He jumped up on his feet then climbed up to the high windows, his claws a big help for that. He then unlatched it and stared out at the horizon. In that direction, was Fulgor. A place with green plains and hills, with shimmering lakes, with blue skies and amazing animals. Far better than Penumbra. There were only dark, jagged rocks, bleak red skies and pools of Dark Matter. He wanted to go there… And this was his chance! He’d be quick! He’ll be back before anyone knows it! With that, he jumped out, shifting into the emerald scaled fledgling he was, flapping his wings as fast as they could go. He had to be quick. Kozu and Cryptor will come to check up on him soon. Flying as quickly as he did for as long as he had was exhausting but he made it, to Fulgor. He shifted on the border, back to his human state so he would blend in more. Dragons weren’t common on both sides of the border after all. He walked further into Fulgor, red eyes wide as he took in the amazingly blue skies, the vivid green grass that reminded him of his scales, the birds, flowers, everything! It was all so amazing! But then the scent of something really good had led him to a small village. Jamanaki village. What he had smelled that was so amazing was something he never had before: sweets. Cotton candy to be specific. He hadn’t thought about currency then. It was something he hadn’t needed to concern himself with as a Prince. So when he had walked up to the candy stall and had taken up one of the cotton candy without paying for it, trouble was sure to follow.

He had just taken a bite out of the light, fluffy sweet tasting treat that had blown his mind- when the stall owner had noticed him.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing kid?!” He had yelled at Lloyd, startling the young boy.

He hadn’t thought, he just ran- which caused the man to chase him- which caused him to gain a whole lot of attention. Someone had grabbed him by the arm tightly and another had done the same to his other arm, hurting him and everyone was yelling and- and he just… He lashed out, digging his claws into one of the large hand gripping him and his fangs into the other. Both had let go with a yell of pain but he was surrounded, he was blocked off and prevented from leaving.

“What the hell?” The man who received the full force of his small but sharp claws said, holding out his bleeding hand, showing the slashed flesh there- and the people started really paying attention to him then.

“Why are his eyes red?”

“He has claws…”

“Are those fangs?”

“He isn’t human!”

“He must be Umberian!”

“But he doesn’t have gray skin…”

“We should take him to Emperor Wu…” That scared him.

Emperor Wu would no doubt kill him. He had to get out of here!

“L-Let me go or else my dad will come beat you all up!” He yelled out, trying to pry himself away from their hold.

“You stole my cotton candy you brat! I’ll give you a beating!” The vender yelled at him angrily, walking towards him with intent and Lloyd was terrified.

He didn’t want to get hurt! He can’t transform or else they’ll hurt him more! He’s sure!

“Y- you can’t do this to me! I’m a Prince! You better let me go before Kozu and Cryptor find me or else-”

“Two of the Penumbrian Generals!” Someone gasped and it hit the village people then.

“He’s the son of Garmadon!” Someone yelled and the people looked fearful and horrified then.

Lloyd’s mistake was that he thought he could use that to make them let him go.

“That’s right! My dad’s Emperor Garmadon so you better let me go before he gets really mad!” He yelled at them, a grin on his face.

That grin quickly fell as their expressions grew dark.

“Demon spawn!”

“His father killed my family!”

“He’ll grow up to be just like him!”

Lloyd cried out once their hold on his arms got tighter before he was lifted off his feet, the crowd yelling angrily as he was carried away.

“Let me go! Help! Help!” He yelled, trying to squirm free from their hold.

Going to that place… Was his biggest mistake yet…

“Prince Lloyd.” Lloyd blinked his eyes open before glancing over at Cryptor, pushing down the residual fear he felt from the dream, from the memory down.

“They’re moving?” He asked him and Cryptor nodded.

Lloyd stood.

“Good. Let’s go.”

________

“Jay-”

“Eeep!” Jay squeaked once Cole’s hand touched his shoulder, lightning charged in his hand and he barely dodged the bright bolt of electricity.

“Oh, Cole. You scared the heck out of me.” Jay sighed, slumping on the back of his horse.

“Clearly.” Cole says, looking back at the scorched rock nearby. “What has you on edge Bluebird?” He asked and Jay gave him a dry look.

“Oh jee. I don’t know. It couldn’t be the fact that we're on a mission to find literal god tier weapons that will either save us from this never ending war or destroy us while being chased by a four armed indestructible golem, a Nindroid with magic, an invisible snake and some kind of Umbrian on steroids or anything. Nope. Definitely not any of that.” Jay says sarcastically and Cole looked at him flatly.

“You know what I meant spark plug. Leave sarcasm to me.” The Earth Knight says as they continued towards the storm on the horizon and Jay sighed.

“Sorry but it just bothers me that they didn't show up back then. Makes me think they’ll jump out any second now.” Jay says warily, eyes darting around.

“Jay has a point for once.” Kai says, ignoring Jay’s ‘hey!’. “What’s their plan? Why only steal one weapon and not the other? Are they waiting until we gather the rest? And if so, what would be the sense in that? Surely they would know that we’ll be stronger with three of the weapons on our side. They won’t even be able to use the Scythe of Quakes.” He says, glancing across at Zane for his opinion.

“I am not sure myself.” Zane says as he looked down in thought. “The arctic region isn’t the easiest terrain to travel. Perhaps Pythor is the reason why they hadn’t attacked. He is serpentine after all and they are cold blooded.” He suggested.

“Yeah but what are the chances of them stopping for another teammate? Every soul from Penumbra only cares for themself and Garmadon’s word, and if Garmdon’s word is to bring the golden weapons, I think they’d get it done, even if it means leaving someone behind.” Nya says from her place behind Kai.

“True but perhaps they’ve noticed that you joined our numbers, putting them at a disadvantage. It would go against their aim to leave someone behind then.” Zane pointed out.

“Yeah and lets not forget Stone Soldiers and the Nindroids from Penumbra are generally heavier than the average person. They’d get slowed down by the height of the snow.” Cole added.

“What I want to know is if we have to worry about them jumping out any second now or what.” Jay spoke up, no less jittery than before.

“I think it’s safe to say that they’ve been delayed by the icy terrain.” Zane says after a moment and the freckled brunette sighed, relaxing. “But. We shouldn’t let our guards down. Those Generals have always been crafty, on and off the battlefield.” He added and Jay tensed up all over again.

“At least we don’t have to worry about Ultra Violet.” Nya added as a consolation.

“Oh definitely.”

“That would be most troubling.”

“She’s freaking crazy!”

“That General is definitely a basket case.” The Knights agreed, the idea of her being apart of the team hunting them down terrifying.

They’ve all faced her at least once on the battlefield before and knew she had crazy stamina. Injuries don't even slow her down! They just hope the poor dragon that most likely ate her didn’t get some kind of disease…

Yards back, the team of Generals and their Prince followed the Knight’s path, Lloyd’s eye focused ahead as the other throbbed with pain he ignored. It always hurt once those memories get stirred up and worse still in the cold. That day opened his eyes to the ugly truth behind the beautiful land of Fulgor. Back then, he used to reason that a place like that couldn’t be all that bad… And he was right. Fulgor was never as bad as they say. He tightened his grip on the reigns of his cougar, his eye glowing brighter with his bitterness. It was much worse. He blinked then, pulling his Cougar to a stop.

“What is it my Prince?” Cryptor asked, all three Generals on the alert.

Lloyd looked around, sensing something. Something familiar. He then snapped his head upwards to the sky, eyes narrowed there. Kozu could pick up the deep, rhythmic whooshing sound moments later and narrowed his eyes, knowing that sound well.

“That sounds like a dragon.” He says, reaching for his katana, holding onto it as the sound grew louder.

“It can’t be the Knights. They’re scouting ahead.” Pythor says with a frown, staff gripped tightly.

“Dragons are Emperor Wu’s thing. He must-”

“No.” Lloyd says as it came into view. “It’s not Wu. That dragon is corrupted by Dark Matter.” He says then narrowed his eyes further then relaxed.

“It’s Ultra Violet.” The fifth General laughed as she brought the dragon in for a landing, her Cougar trailing behind her as she gave a trilling war cry.

“Ultra Violet is back!”

________________

(Ok so we've gotten to the first piece of what happened back then and more will begin to uncover itself. I think you get the gist of what happened then... Thanks for reading!)

________________ Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6

[cabbagezonk]

im so fucking frustrated about what happened at my wedding but everybody ive talked to has tried to assure me that “it was great” but for me it fucking wasn’t!!!

my selfish fucking family ruined basically everything important at the wedding because all they fucking gave a shit about was making the decorations look nice! they went behind my back and BOUGHT extra decorations so that all the flowers could match, when i specifically didn’t want them to match!! and after all that they couldn’t even put the mic in the right place or set up refreshments for people like i wanted! my mother, who was THREE FUCKING HOURS EARLY to set up decorations, somehow couldn’t get the important stuff ready AND WAS FUCKING LATE. SHE WAS IN CHARGE OF PLAYING MUSIC BECAUSE SHE BEGGED ME TO LET HER HELP. AND SHE WAS FUCKING LATE SO SHE COULD GET READY WITH HER TRASH ASS BOYFRIEND I DIDN’T WANT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. WE WERE JUST STANDING THERE WAITING FOR HER, AND WHEN SHE GOT THERE SHE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO PLAY MUSIC OR WHAT SONG WE WANTED! WE PUT IT ON A PLAYLIST I N  O R D E R. and then her fucking mom FORCED all our guests to wait for us to arrive to eat, when we specifically didn’t want them to do that! we had a limited time at the venue but we still wanted to get pictures (the ONLY thing that turned out right) so we figured everyone would eat and hang out, we’d get there and have cake! but because everyone was forced to wait, half the guests were already gone by the time we got to cutting the cake! my best friends didn’t even get a chance to give their speeches because we were in such a rush! I didn’t even get to sit down and eat cake with my friends because we all had to take it to go! after MONTHS of my mother and her mom pestering me about the most minuscule details of the wedding, stressing me out, making me miserable, making me anxious about my own wedding, they can’t even get the most basic shit right! i worked so fucking hard to make this a special thing for me and my partner and not a single thing we wanted happened. i’ve been so upset about it that i cried basically every day of my FUCKING HONEYMOON. i tried to keep it to myself but it definitely affected me and my partner, i barely remember most of the trip at this point. and then i find out my fucking mother TRESPASSED into my house just because i didn’t leave a light on for our FUCKING CATS. who the fuck does she think she is? she’s CERTAINLY not my fucking parent!! after all the shit she put me through and CONTINUES to put me through, what authority does she think she has to tell me how to live my life or come into my fucking house without my permission? i helped BOTH her and my fucking father through their divorce, talked her down from suicide NUMEROUS times, and have put so much fucking work into trying to get her to stop hoarding and starving herself! she’s fucking incompetent and she thinks she can tell ME how to be an adult? she’s NEVER been on her own, it was always her mom or my father taking care of her, she’l literally never supported herself! whereas i’ve been on my own since 18 and i’ve already accomplished more than she ever will! i’ve had to fucking fight through all the mental health issues and damage she did to me, relearn half my education because she was too fucking lazy to teach me, and basically learn how to be a fucking person for the first time in my life. does she have ANY  idea how fucking damaging her neglect has been? forcing us to stay inside 24/7 with almost no contact with other people, much less kids our own age? being fucking isolated with nothing to do and nowhere to go? we’re pretty sure it literally stunted my mental development and i’m only now understanding the effects of that! my body hurts from never getting the chance to exercise or run or play with other kids. and now it’s too late! i can try to fix the mental damage, but any physical damage is fucking done! i’ve tried to talk to professionals about it, but nobody fucking gets how bad it was! i WISH i could make them understand, let them live my fucking memories, maybe then they’d get it. what it’s like for your entire childhood to be a blur of the same 3 rooms, no friends and nothing to do. living in a fucking hoarder house with no concept of hygiene. the fucking shame i feel now for how i used to live, but it’s not even my fucking fault! i was a child, how was i supposed to know? its unbelievably humiliating to think back on, but nobody seems to see it that way. i’m so fucking sick of feeling like this. of trying to move past what my mother fucking did to me. i didn’t know if i could before, but after this? i’m fucking done. there’s no way in HELL i’m ever letting her get away with this. i’m done pitying her, i’m done trying to fix her life. she has NO fucking right to call me her parent, all she’s ever brought me is pain. she has the fucking nerve to talk about how “she’ll always be there for me” but when has she EVER fucking done that? does she think i just don’t have as many problems as her? that i dont suffer and cry and get angry? i may have lived with the people who spawned me as a kid, but i grew up alone. she’s used me as an emotional crutch for years without me ever getting any support back. all she ever did was invade my privacy, humiliate me, and rage and cry at me. what the fuck was that supposed to teach me? i can’t remember the last time i considered telling her about how i was feeling. i remember HIDING from her everytime i was hurt or sick, even as a small kid. i can’t fucking wait to move across the country and never speak to her again. i’m done trying to be the bigger person and let all of this shit slide just because she’s too fucking unstable to handle hearing it. if i had my fucking way, she’d know nothing about me. but she lives across the fucking street from me! she knows how to get into my house! this is the third fucking time in 2 years she’s been in my house and messed with shit without permission! after everything i’ve fought through to become the person i am, or even just to become a person at all, she has no right to congratulate herself on a job well done. 

[charmingyourheart]

THE TWILIGHT SAGA- a film review

A saga that both enthralled me as a thirteen year old and left me with several questions as an adult. 

Isolation clearly sent me insane because I thought picking up the Twilight books would be a productive thing to do with my seemingly endless free time. 2008 me was obsessed, posters of the cast lined my walls, and the Edward vs Jacob debate was fierce. It was a series that taught me much - like never loaning beloved books to “friends” because you may or may not get them back in the same condition. It was a series that introduced me to Fanfic, was instrumental in my love affair with romance novels, and even inspired me to write. 

Though the series gets as much hate as it does love, I think we can all agree that the series has left a lasting legacy. The movies gave us absolute fire soundtracks, young adult movies were suddenly everywhere, and for better or worse 50 Shades was, ironically, spawned. 

I am not ashamed to say I was a massive Twi-Hard and re-reading the books really made me see why. We all know the story; the lion fell in love with the lamb etc. As far as plot goes, it’s very straight forward, predictable, and more than a little bit of a rip off of the original vampire diaries novels. As someone who was obsessed with both series, let me tell you the character similarities between the characters right down to the “vegetarianism” are just a little too on the nose for me but I digress. 

As someone who grew up to admire strong heroines, I was surprised to recall that I identified with Bella. I adored her. I wanted to be her. It’s not that I think she is a weak character, I just think she is a painfully flat character, an empty vessel we could all project ourselves into and by far the most boring character in the series. 

Am I the only one who wanted to read more about the other Cullens? Rosalie was and still remains to be my favourite character from the series.Saddled with terrible wigs in the films (sadly not unique to her character), relegated to background all while being the only voice of reason. My girl was done dirty and I wanted more. Yes, this is “Bella’s story” but the book I want to read is about an avenging vampire taking revenge in a wedding dress. It kills me that such an interesting character has to play second fiddle to Isabella “not having a personality is my personality” Swan. 

There is so much to say about the Twilight Saga as a whole that I’m not sure there is anything I can really say that hasn’t been said before. So without any further ado… 

TWILIGHT

The OG, the numero uno, the one that started it all. 

It’s not that it’s badly written. It’s that it’s so juvenile. 

Maybe age has skewed my perception and I know I am definitely not the target audience anymore yet from the first page I can’t help but feel disappointed. I know where it’s going, I’d read the books multiple times in the past, watched the film dozens more and I wanted that magic to be there.

It wasn’t. 

Vampires aside, it’s also wildly unbelievable. 

Look I’m willing to suspend disbelief as long as it’s moderately plausible. 

The most egregious example of this is the Cullen’s themselves. Is Stephanie Meyer really trying to tell me that the Cullen “children” enjoy repeating High School over and over again instead of doing literally anything else with their time? High School was and remains to be a blur of hormones, heartbreak, and Hell on earth. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to repeatedly inflict that on themselves. 

Menstruation is also ignored. You know that little thing 50% of the population does. How do the Cullen’s cope in an enclosed environment with a bunch of women on their periods? Especially when Jasper attempts to attack Bella over a paper cut... It’s things like that keep me up at night. 

I found Bella so mind numbingly boring and she just annoyed me to no end. We get it, you’re awkward, clumsy, and so painfully average. Edward is just a borderline stalker who routinely pushes boundaries (something 50 Shades doubles down on) and the dialogue is just so cheesy. Seriously, my lactose intolerance was flaring up. Lines such as; 

“About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him-and I didn’t know how potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.” 

Had me cramping worse than all those ill advised wine and cheese nights I inflict on myself. 

That aside, the book is relatively engaging and even though I found my eyes rolling so far into the back of my head I could practically see my brain, I didn’t hate it. The magic was gone. The romance was unhealthy and the plot plain. 

(New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn- below the cut)

NEW MOON

How this was my favourite book for so long is beyond me.

It’s so astronomically terrible I can’t even write about it without feeling triggered. 

A book that basically boils down nothing more than: sad girl is sad and does suicidal things in order to “see” the love of her life.

Boo you’re like eighteen. What do you know of love? Nothing. Because you are a child. And that right there is the classic sign I’ve become an adult - I’m agreeing with the adults in this world. 

There is no plot. No character development. Nothing. 

Well there are the shifters but like anything remotely interesting Meyer created it’s quickly pushed to the background. 

I just can’t with this book. I am a broken woman. 

ECLIPSE

Teenage angst is angsty. 

There’s a love triangle. 

BACKSTORY!

More angst. 

A minor sprinkling of plot. 

More angst. 

Oh look proposal. 

Honestly there isn’t actually much to say about this because like New Moon it’s just a filler book of nothing. It's just meh. 

As Jay says, it’s “best remembered as a fun experience in the cinema, with people yelling at the screen every time a character said something dumb".

BREAKING DAWN

Just no. 

It’s too soon. It will always be too soon to relive this trauma. 

I hated it as a teenager and I hated it as an adult.

Sorry. I just can’t overlook the impossible conception of Renesmee (the WORST character name in history) but am I just expecting to ignore the fact Jacob fell in love with a BABY?! 

There is just so much about this book that I can’t even find the words for. 

____

In sitting down to write this I have discovered that Twilight would have been better served as a single outing. While the first book certainly isn’t perfect the rest of the books are a steady decline into nothing and there is actually no reason for so many books. 

NOTHING ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN THESE BOOKS. 

While it is a series I once adored it just doesn’t hold up against all the other young adult offerings out there. If you want some suggestions? Hit us up. But Twilight beyond the first book, and really even that is kind of a stretch, is just not worth the pain. 

+ Stalking aside pretty inoffensive.

- Literally everything else.

Final verdict: better left in 2008. 

[superhero-boogie]

They can't know. Part 2.

(Sup, people? It's the final part. Enjoy.)

Warning; Angst, Fluff, Cursing.

Request ; None. ( Requests are open.)

The noise of your feet repeatedly hitting the floor was the only sound on the desert Batcave while you waited for Babs. You were at the edge; the anxiety making you sweat when you finally heard her motorcycle. She parked next to you taking out the helmet and fixing her hair.

- Can you please hurry? It is a kind of emergency. - You begged.

- Sure, the emergency. - She got off the bike. - The reason you can’t tell me why I need to hack Tim’s computer. And do what again?

- Erase all the camera records since last week. - you promptly answered.

She shook her head, giving a tired sigh before hugging your side.

- Okay, crazy girl. Lead the way.

You took her to Tim’s laptop and waited while she got ready.

- If you keep looking over my shoulder while I work I will kick your ass.

- I’m sorry. I won’t bother anymore.- You backed off - Do you want something to drink?

- Now we’re talking, sweetie. Can you bring a glass of water, please?

You nod, walking out of the cave through the stairs. Your heart calmed down knowing Tim couldn’t figure your relationship out anymore, and since you were vague about the records Babs didn’t know what to look for.

Grabbing your phone you called Wally.

- Hey, babe, can we talk later? - He whispered.

- Of course! Is everything okay? -

- Everything is fine, I have to go, okay?

- Okay, by...- You heard the call end.

You thought that was odd, Wally always answered your calls or leave a message about why he couldn’t talk.

Looking at the dark screen of your phone you mind raced of all the reasons he couldn’t answer your call. Maybe he was at some mission you didn’t know about, Wally could be at some meeting or somewhere phones weren’t allowed. Or, the possibility crawled inside your mind, he could be with someone. Maybe he finally grew tired of a half relationship with you and went looking for a new, fully, one.

The feeling of someone squeezing your throat came back and suddenly you couldn’t breathe anymore. Taking deep breaths you leaned against the wall and sat on one step hugging your legs, your head on your knees.

- Miss Y/N? Are you hurt?

Looking up you saw a worried Alfred.

- Nope, just got tired half of the way up. - Your voice was hoarse so the attempt of a pun didn’t work out.

Alfred sat next to you without saying nothing, and you rested your head on his shoulder.

- Alfred? - You called with a small voice.

- Yes, Miss Y/N?

- Would you be upset with me if I lied to you?

- I may assure you, Miss, nothing you could do would upset me.

You went silence again thinking about what he had said.

- And the others? Do you think they would?

Alfred seemed to think about your question.

- You have to understand, Miss, that this family has been gone through a lot, but no matter what they’re still are a family. And for best or for worse, you’re part of it.

- So... What you’re saying is... Maybe? - Your laugh a little.

- I’m saying that you should trust everything will end up fine.

-... Thanks, Alfred.

- Well, let’s go now, it’s not proper for us to sit on the floor.

With your heart lighter you continued your way.

XXX

If you were honest with yourself you knew you wouldn’t stay at the party. You never were a YJ member, so your plan was to say hi to everyone, grab Damian and watch movies. You definitely didn’t want to be a bother especially because that was a time for your brother and your boyfriend.

This without mentioning that you didn’t want to face Wally, especially after thinking those awful things about him.

You were coming back from the kitchen after grabbing some snacks, your hair still wet from your shower, hoping no one saw you as you sneak your way to your bedroom.

But, of course, you weren’t that lucky.

- Y/N! Hey, how are you, girl? - You heard Zatanna call.

- Fuck - You whispered before turning around with a smile.

- Zatanna! Hey! I’m good. - You tried to be discreet even if you felt like everyone one was staring. - Listen, I can’t talk right now. Damian is waiting and I’m not really a YJ member.

- Why don’t you just say hi then? - You got a little frightened at her continuous stare at your throat. She wouldn’t strangle you just because you didn’t say hi, right?

- Well… You see…-

- Y/N. - A different voice said.

You turned and saw Wally with his arms crossed with a suggestive look.

- Wally! - All you could think was “Crap, crap, crap.” - Hi! What’s up?

- Can I talk to you? Alone? - He looked at Zatanna. And you turned to her as well begging with your eyes to her not leave.

- Okay, I’m going, see ya. - She winked not so discreetly at you.

You watched her leave until it was just you and Wally. Seeing no runaway routes you faced him.

- So… What do you want to talk? - Your voice was cheerful.

- Why were you hiding?

- I wasn’t! - You were.

- Please, Y/N. I know you. There’s something wrong? - Wally uncrossed his arms, his hand discreetly holding yours. - You know you can talk to me, right?

Seeing him worrying about you made your heart warm and heavy from guilt.

- I’m fine, Wally, really. I... I got worried about something stupid, but Alfred helped me out. - You intertwined your fingers together. - What did you want to talk?

He corrected his posture and released your hand.

- Yeah. Right. That. I almost forgot. - His face was dead serious without the hint of humor you were used to. - Answer honestly, please.

- Always! - You were starting to freak out again.

- Why don’t you want your family to know about us? Are you ashamed of me?

- What?! Wally, no! I would never...! - You took a deep breath. - Wally. - You put your hands on his cheeks. - Is literally impossible for me to be ever ashamed of you.

He held your hands still, his eyes looking fragile.

- Then why you don’t want them to know I’m your boyfriend?

- Honestly, in the beginning, I didn’t want my family being weird around you in case it didn’t work out. Especially because of Dickie. Then it worked out, and I knew we would never have a moment of peace if they knew and… I just wanted to keep you for myself for a while, but it was a giant snowball effect and I got scared that they would hate me if they found I lied to them for so long. - You held your foreheads together. - But if you want me to tell them, I will. You’re worth it, Wally. And if that means my family being mad at me for a while then be it.

- No, Y/N, not if you don’t feel ready y…

- What the fuck is going on here?!

You jumped apart, your hand going to your heart. Your brother gazed straight to your soul, arms crossed.

- J-Jason! ... Hi, buddy! You see; Y/N here was with something in her eye and I was... - You put your hand on his chest making him stop talking.

- No, Wally. That’s not right. - Wally observed in your eyes looking for any sight of hesitation before taking your hand.

- Are you sure, Y/N? You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.

- I am. I’ve told y…

- I’m still waiting for an explanation, Y/N! - You let go of Wally turning to look at your brother.

- Jay, can you please call everyone over? I promise I’ll explain everything; I don’t want to do it more than once.

He looked like he was having a stroke.

- Please? - You cut him when you saw him opening his mouth.

- I swear to god sometimes you’re just too much. - He angrily turned on his hills.

- Phew. That was close. - Wally messed his hair.

- You don’t tell me. You’re lucky my Dad doesn’t let him carry his guns around me.

- Why?! - Worry flooded his eyes.

- Relax, It’s not what you’re thinking. I’ll tell the story later. Now let’s go face the beast.

- Which one? - You laughed pulling him in the living room direction.

XXX

You were facing a little crowd, Wally tense beside you. Jason was quick and really took your word so you were not only facing your family but the whole team too. This without counting the people of Dick’s party. Your Dad’s bat glare almost making you back off.

- What is so urgent that Todd needed to take me out of my room, Y/N?

- Yeah, Y/N, tell us why the fuck I took demon spawn out of his room? Would you?

- Guys, shut up, let her talk!

You gave a grateful look at Stephanie.

- Thanks. Look guys I will need you to let me end, okay? Can you promise me that?

You looked at each one of them strategically avoiding Dick’s questioning eyes. Everyone nodded.

- Me and Wally... - You took his hand. - Have been dating for the past months. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, I truly am, but please don’t be mad at him. It was me who wanted to keep it a secret.

Wally smiled at you and you smiled back.

- We love each other and I would really appreciate if you don’t kill him.

- Me too. - Wally quickly add. You squeezed his hand and lifted your chin.

- Okay, you can talk now.

If anyone asked you it was right there when hell went down.

- The fuck?!

- What?!

- When... How... What?!

The YJ team awkwardly stood there, slowly leaving the room. Almost everyone talked at the same time until your Dad’s calm voice spoke.

- How long have you two been dating? - You bit your lip.

- Almost ten months now, right, babe? - Wally nodded.

- Just two more weeks.

Your Dad seemed to think and intertwined his fingers.

- Ten months?! That much?!

- Who cares, Drake?! - Damian turned to you. - Why him, Y/N? I thought I had taught you better.

- Is no one going to mention the age gap?! Seriously? No one?!

- Oh, shut up, Todd. Who are you to talk? - Damian said. - I want to know why she didn’t tell us. Don’t you trust us, Y/N? - Damian’s question hit you like a punch.

- Well, you guys aren’t exactly giving her time to answer, are you? - Everyone shut up when Cass talked. You stood there frozen, trying hard not to cry.

- Thanks, Cassandra. Guys, I swear we will answer everything. Just take it easy on Y/N. - He bent to whisper on your ear. - Are you okay, babe?

- Y-Yeah... J-Just fine.

The room got silent for some minutes.

- So... this probably isn’t the best time to say I already knew.

Everyone turned to Barbara.

- Wait, what?! - Your eyes could fall off for the much you opened them.

- Do you know how you asked me to erase the records? I got curious and did a face recognition of you on them, so I kind saw you guys making out.

- Yeah, since we’re confessing I should probably say I knew too.

- You too, Tim?! How?!

- Ahn... Barbara didn’t erase the videos from my second backup, and when I saw someone erase them I looked up. Also, sorry, I told Steph; she got curious about why she needed to take me out of the mansion.

- Okay, how many people knew? Raise your hand.

Zatanna shyly raised her hand.

- You don’t even live here! How?!

- Ahn... It’s best if I don’t say anything. Just... you know... - She tried pointing discreetly at her own neck. Suddenly you remembered you took a shower and put none makeup.

You put your hand on your neck as everyone looked at you.

- Why are you with your hand on your neck, sister? It’s not what I think it is, is it?

- You’re screwing my sister, West?! She’s just a baby! - Jason got up going in Wally direction.

- Jay, stop!

Dick and Bruce stood and grabbed his arms, Jason fought for a while before giving up. You looked at Dick, his eyes normally so expressive not showing anything. It scared the hell out of you.

- Y/N, Wally, can you come with me for a second?

You followed Dick, Wally arm around your shoulder as if he was trying to protect you.

- Listen, Dick, I swear we didn’t mean to. It kinda just happened. And I know she’s way younger than me, I swear I would never disrespect her. I’m not even her first! And…

- Wally shut the fuck up! You’re making worse! - Dick raised his hand shutting you both.

- I’m just going to ask two things. - He was dead serious.

You nodded.

- Do you love her? And you love him, Y/N?

- Yes, of course.

- With all my heart, Dickie.

- Why did you feel like you’re needed to keep it a secret from me?

- I didn’t want to disappoint you, man. She’s your sister.

- You didn’t need to. I want you to know that. I’m happy for you, but I want to clarify that I’ll be watching you from now on, so keep your hands to yourself, dude.- Dick looked very scary at that moment. - And I’m kicking your butt if you hurt her, okay?

Wally gulped.

- Clear as water, man. Hands to myself.

- Fine. - He smiled at you before giving you a hug. - I’ll calm things down, you guys wait a minute before coming back.

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding and hugged Wally, your head on his chest.

- France’s looking pretty good, now, huh? - His chin on the top of your head.

- Shh. Let me just hold you a bit more.

- I’m glad we did it though.

- Strangely, me too. At least we won’t have to sneak around anymore.

- Y/N, I think we both know that’s not true. If anything, we’ll sneak around way more.

You lifted your head looking in his eyes.

- I love you, Wally West. I know we said this a lot to my family, but I need you to know.

- I love you too, Y/N Wayne.- He looked at your lips, slowly closing the space between you. His lips met yours and you melted in his arms, your own arms going up to hug his neck, your finger on his hair. You slightly opened your mouth and Wally put his tongue on your mouth, you brought him closer making a harsh moan escaping.

- What the fuck?!

You jumped, a smile on your face.

[thebluejaysworld]

My decade

Honestly I don't know if anyone will see this... Let alone care. But I want to talk about my decade.

The past ten years of my life... Holy crap... Where to start?

I can only sort of remember the beginning. I started going to a different, much bigger school. And from years prior I had been bullied a lot. And I had a tendency to get really emotional and cry... A lot... Which created a really bad cycle. So instead I became emotionless... And bottled up a /lot/ of emotions. And my now ex-everything's (more on her later) mom convinced my mom to get me therapy. This was only the beginning of my mental health journey... this was fifth/sixth grade. Eventually I started to feel better and stopped needing it (for the time being). And I really only had one friend at that time. And she was my whole world.

This continued as I moved onto middle school. I still had a lot of issues looking back now, that went largely unaddressed. But this was also when I started to really discover myself and who my supports were. I had a small, but very tight-knit group of friends who took comfort in each other because we didn't fit in anywhere else. Some I still keep in touch with, some have moved on. This was also when my mom and I began to grow closer together.

Up until this point, my mom and I never really got along. We fought almost daily. And more often than not, it ended in tears, anger, and no apologies. But one of my teachers suggested that I watch Supernatural. And, not wanting to watch it alone, mom and I watched it together. For the first time in forever, we talked, laughed, and bonded. We had something unique to us. And as I watched more things (Including, but not limited to: Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, multiple animes, ETC.) I also wanted to share them with her. And to this day, we maintain that special bond. She is my absolute best friend right now, and has been for years. She is my support, and who I go to if I need to talk about anything. And she can talk to me most times. We trust each other. And our relationship will always hold a very warm place in my heart.

This was the year that I learned about the LGBTQ+ community. Which sucks... Because it was towards the very end of 8th grade... But my good friend came out to me as being bisexual. And that opened so many doors for me.

Also! This is when I started to write/rp! I absolutely cringe to think about where I started, because even that situation was horrible... But eh, I'll look at the positives.

Then came freshman year of High school. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before... And my mental health plummeted. The only place I felt happy was at my second high school where I was studying musical theatre. (Where I met a lot of LGBTQ+ people. Including a girl I really, really liked. But I'll get to her later too...) And it also really didn't help because that was when my ex-everything and my relationship turned from toxic, to absolutely poisonous. It was so unhealthy and abusive... But I literally grew up with her... So I literally didn't know anything else. I didn't know that that wasn't how people, let alone best friends... And later on, girlfriends... Were supposed to treat me.

But... Come Valentine's day, I have fallen for her. /Hard/... Like head over heels... I just knew she was the only one for me. And eventually, through her being bicurious... She started dating me. And that's when the shit really hit the fan... I'm not going to go into details... But it screwed me up... Big time... Thankfully her demon of a mother found out that we were dating. And she marched over to my house to basically tell my father that I was the spawn of Satan, and that I would no longer be welcome. (Keep in mind, this is like... A day or two before finals...) And long story short... As devastated as I was, I was so greatful for this later on. As I came to realize how abusive and fucked up the relationship was and always had been.

Sophomore year... I crashed... And I crashed hard. Like... Nascar racing, tire spun out, crash and explode... Hard. And to make a long story short... I developed several anxiety disorders and became severely suicidal. I also started dating that girl at my other school! And again, looking back now... It really wasn't healthy... I also got admitted to the hospital psyche ward for a week just after my birthday because I was just in such bad condition... But! One good thing that came out of the year was that I started exploring my gender and joined our school's Sexuality And Gender Alliance club.

Junior year. The flames were dying... But I was still stuck in the wreak. But I was slowly working my way out. I was getting better at staying in class and dealing with my disorders, and coping with my depression. But then I slipped... And was admitted back into the hospital for a week very early on. But I managed to get back up after I got out. And I quit my second school. And suddenly, again, as much as it devastated me... I felt so much better. I still wasn't great, but I was making progress. And I had a lot of fun that year later on.

It was also the first year I was fully out as a trans guy and officially went by "Jay". And except for a few bumps, everyone was super supportive.

I also made a bunch of new friends! And by March, I felt like I could take on the world.

And in June I started dating my amazing boyfriend @anxious-and-gay .

I am now in my senior year... And I am so, so much happier, healthier, and more stable.

Given... It's definitely had some trips the past few months... (My grandfather passed, financial situations, family situations, etc...)

But I was able to have an amazing Christmas and holiday break. (Except for a panic attack in Walmart on Friday and the past two days going to the dentist...)

So I /know/ that 2020...? 2020 is going to be my year. I am going to be better, feel better, and do more.

So to anyone struggling with anything. Just hang in there. You made it this far. You've survived 100% of your absolutely worst days. And if I can get back up? I'm positive that you can too. I believe in you.

Here's to a fabulous 2020. For all of us.

[creator-zee]

151

   I woke up in a white room on a white bed with nothing else to be seen. My hand instinctively shot to my back, double-checking that I didn’t have my wings out. I allowed myself a brief sigh of relief, before sitting up properly and trying to find a way out of this room. There was a plain white door on one wall. I got out of the bed, and found that - thankfully - no one had changed my clothes, although they had confiscated my weapons and armor. I searched through all my hidden spots for daggers, and bingo. They had missed one, albeit a very small one, but it was something. It had been tucked along my side right under my arm. I slid it back into place, pulling my arm out from under my shirt. I found my boots sat by the end of the bed and quickly pulled them on.

   I grabbed my dagger again and slid into one of my boots. It would be easier to grab from there if I needed it. Hopefully, they won't try and search me again. I walked over to the door, trying to open it. Not surprisingly, it didn’t.

   I looked around the room again, for anything to use to escape. Nothing in these sterile walls. Dammit. I knew what was coming if I couldn’t escape. I had heard horror stories of the experiments they ran on my kind. I ran a hand along my back again, even though I knew I would know if I had my wings out.

   The door opened and I spun to face it, my hands darting to my legs where I normally had daggers. The grasped on empty air, as the door swung open to reveal a scientist, judging from the lab coat.

   “Good, you’re up. I’m Dr. Tapia.” She introduced.

   I sized her up. Human, young adult, not very fit looking. The door was still open.

I lunged forwards knocking her back into the hallway she stumbled and fell back to the ground. I turned and ran down the hall, passing many other white doors in this white hallway. I reached an intersection. I turned right. The alarms sounded. I continued running. One of the doors had a staircase symbol next to it. I flung the door open and began running down the stairs. I wasn’t risking a flying escape, not with these people. They couldn’t know that I had wings.

The sounds of doors slamming echoed down the stairs. Oh no. I continued running down the stairs, daring to go just a little faster, trying not to trip and fall. First floor. Perfect. I slammed open the door, entering into a blue hallway. Out of the sterile white, that had to mean something. I heard footsteps approaching from in front of me so I skidded to a halt and turned around, running through a different hallway.

Dead end. Crap.

I opened a random door, it led to another hallway. I continued running, skidding around another corner, ducking behind another when a group of guards ran past. I continued running as the guards blundered past. I ran the way they came from and saw doors.

Yes. Escape was so close.

I ran out the doors, breathing in the fresh air, well, relatively fresh air. I was in an alley. I ran down the length of the alley, but slowed to a walk when I broke out into a busy street, blending in with the crowds.

Guards began piling onto the streets. Busting through the crowds that couldn’t part quickly enough. Gray shirts, black pants, white blasters. I had suspected it, but the outfits with the insignia confirmed it, it was the NA. I couldn’t risk running, that would draw attention to myself, but I didn’t have many more options.

Someone grabbed me, their hand over my mouth and pulled me back into an ally as the guards stormed past. I struggled against their grip, but their grip was iron strong.

“Relax.” They muttered in a voice barely audible. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

I stopped struggling and they released me. I stepped away and turned to face them. They turned out to be a towering Orc with basic armor on. They had a blaster at each hip, and the handle of some electro-weapons slung across their back.

“Who are you?” I asked in a whisper, my hands yet again brushing my legs as I reached for daggers that weren’t there.

“Shel.” She replied, her voice still low.

I waited for her to say more, but she didn’t elaborate.

I hesitantly took a step towards the busy street.

“You don’t want to do that. Those guards will be sweeping the whole town looking for you.” She warned.

“How do you know?” I asked, suspicious.

She pointed to my neck. “Because of that.”

My hand slapped over my neck, and I felt that my skin was slightly raised. A tattoo, a tattoo that was used like a brand to mark me as a test subject belonging to the NA.

“Fuck.” I muttered. Anybody knew what I was on sight. I needed to get rid of it.

I knelt and grabbed my dagger from my boot. I raised it to my neck.

“Woah, hold on, what are you doing?” Shel stepped forwards and grabbed my wrist.

”Getting rid of it.” I growled.

“A massive gaping wound on the side of your neck isn’t going to do you any favors either.” She pointed out, and pulled my hood up with her other hand. “There. It’s hidden now.”

”Thanks.” I muttered while stepping back to gain some space again, easily shaking off her lax grip.

“I’m assuming you need to get out of here. I can get you out.” She said.

“For what price?” I asked, knowing full well that I had nothing and that no one did anything for free.

She smiled. “You’re a smart one.”

I didn’t like that smile one bit.

“I’ll take my chances on my own.” I told her, before turning and running deeper into the alley.

I saw an opportunity, a dumpster. I jumped on top of it and off it, grabbing onto a nearby roof and pulling myself up. From the top of the building I could see towering skyscrapers with large hologram screens switching between advertisements. And zip trains zooming by on their tracks, weaving throughout the city. The city the NA had taken me too was at the top of technological advancements. A far cry from the humble villages on the outskirts that I grew up in.

I stood up, focusing back on my task on hand. This wasn’t time for sightseeing, this was time for escaping. I ran along the buildings roof, climbing when necessary, jumping across gaps when necessary, until I saw the large walls that protected the city from the wilds. I was definitely not well-prepared to face the wilds, what with only one dagger and not even any proper armor, but it was better than staying here and being hunted down by the NA. I paused, crouching on a roof nearby the wall. Patrols guarded the top, and the exits were closely guarded. Even if the top wasn’t guarded I doubted that I could get to it, no buildings high enough were anywhere near the wall. Only houses and small stores, nothing like the towering skyscrapers not that far behind me.

I knew one way I could get across the wall, but it wasn’t an option. The NA had a large presence here. The guards on the wall wouldn’t hesitate to shoot a Cori down.

A squadron of guards passed below me. That ruled out the street access. I guess it was time to climb the unclimbable walls.

It turns out they weren’t that unclimbable. The mortar between the bricks had worn away just enough giving my easy handholds all the way up. They were tall though, and by the time I was climbing over the top my fingers and arms were aching, having down the brunt work with my feet not being able to find very good footholds. Unfortunately, I had no time to rest. The patrol was coming. I quickly darted across the top of the wall, staying low, before swinging over the other side, just as I heard the footsteps of the patrol.

I glanced down below me. That was a long fall. Long enough. I pushed off the wall, quickly slipping my shirt off and my bra, releasing my wings and diving down, pulling out of my dive just as the canopy of the trees approached. I slowed my fall just enough so that diving through the branches of the canopy didn’t hurt enough. Once on the ground, I stowed my wings, intricate tattoos appearing on my back in their place and I pulled my shirt and bra back on.

I pulled my dagger out, as I carefully crept through the thick underbrush searching for a path. I found one, although ‘path’ may have been an overstatement. It looked like a game trail, but it was something. I continued creeping along it the dull colors of my clothes allowing me to blend in. My hood hid my stark white hair - an unfornatute family trait. I kept it short, so no stray strands escaped.

I heard a twang to my right and I dropped to the ground. An arrow thudded into the tree above me. Crap. That didn’t bode well. I stayed low to the ground and crawled into the nearby underbrush, rolling into a small divot covered by bushes.I lay there, still, waiting, staying hidden, knowing I probably wouldn’t win a fight with only a small dagger.

I barely heard the footsteps and even then only when they were practically on top of me. Whoever had shot at me obviously knew how to sneak around. So, probably not city guard or NA. I suppose they could have hired someone though. But, my attacker was probably a wildling or an EG.

I heard them pull the arrow out of the tree. Then silence. I barely dared to breath.

Something sharp prodded into my back, the arrow, and I couldn’t stop from flinching, but I did manage to avoid making a noise, despite the fact the they jabbed one of my injuries.

A hand reached down and grabbed a fistful of my shirt and yanked my up. Knowing I had been found, I quickly reached down and grabbed my dagger, twisting in the strangers grip.

They immediately released their grip on me.

“Woah. Easy. Sorry, thought you were a spawn.” The stranger quickly apologized, holding their hands up in surrender.

I relaxed slightly, gauging them as a wildling. Their bow was a simple wooden one, and their arrows looked similarly simple, and they lacked the technology most EGs carried.

“What are you doing out here?” They asked, lowering their hands. “You hardly look prepared for the wilds.”

“Escaping from a stupid bunch of raiders who ambushed me and stole all my stuff.” I said, the anger in my tone was not faked. Replace raiders with the NA, and my story was true.

“Stupid raiders.” They agreed. “Well, come one. You can come back to my village. We can help you get back on your feet.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose.” I declined, not trusting.

They shook their head. “Nonsense, besides you look like you know how to fight. You can always pay us back by helping me hunt.”

There it was, the price. That price wasn’t very steep, and I didn’t exactly have many more options. Even if I managed to get to another city, they probably wouldn’t let me in, and definitely not without notifying the NA if they saw the damn tattoo. I would have to be careful to keep that hidden until I could find a better solution.

“My name’s Rolim, by the way.” They introduced. As I looked closer, I recognized them as an Elf, or at least I think they’re an Elf, they didn’t quite look like one.

“Zo.” I offered, giving them a shortened version of my name that probably couldn’t be used to identify me.

“My village isn’t far from here.” They assured me as they led me through the thick wilds.

They were telling the truth and not long later we were breaking out of the thick trees and into a clearing packed full with buildings and people of all sorts. That explained Rolim’s strange appearance, they were probably a hybrid.

“Home sweet home.” They smiled, unstringing their bow as we entered the village.

“Rolim!” One of the wildings greeted, waving at them. “Interesting catch you’ve brought back. Don’t think that’s one we can eat.”

Rolim laughed. “No, probably not. This is Zo. I found them in the woods hiding from raiders who had ambushed them.”

“Her.” I corrected automatically, but then bit my own tongue to stop myself from saying something else stupid.

“Oh, sorry. Her, I found her in the woods.” Rolim apologized without arguing.

“I’m surprised raiders managed to get a jump on someone like you.” The wildling commented. “Idaan.” He added belatedly.

Rolim raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”

“She’s a - you’re a Fae right? Fae are supposed to be pretty powerful.” Idaan explained, but lacking his previous reckless confidence.

“Sure... Fae. Let’s go with that.” I answered vaguely, deciding a little mystery couldn’t hurt, and I didn’t want them knowing that I was a Cori, for obvious reasons. I really needed to figure out a better way to hide my tattoo. I couldn’t keep my hood up forever.

Both of them seemed to brush my comment off. They were probably used to not dealing with labels in such a mixed village like this. Rolim continued leading me through the village.

“Chief Doba will want to see you first, but then we can get you situated.” Rolim explained as she led me towards the largest building in the middle of the village. We gained a few strange glances, but Rolim still received a few greetings, although no one else tried to hold a longer conversation like Idaan.

Rolim just walked right into what was presumably the Chief's house. But, once inside she did bow to the woman on the wooden throne. I did the same, not needing to offend anyone.

“Rolim, who have you brought?” The Chief asked.

“Zo, a victim of the raiders.” Rolim answered.

“Ah, a charity case. You know the rules. She stays with you. You provide for her, and as long as she doesn’t cause trouble she can stay.” The Chief answered.

“Thank you.” Rolim said, before bowing again and leading me out. They turned to me. “As you heard you’ll be staying with me until we can get you some gear so you can leave. We use a barter system here, so it might take awhile for me to get enough spare kills to buy you some new gear.”

It wasn’t like I had anywhere to be. I could spend my time doing worse things than helping Rolim hunt. They seemed nice enough. Until I could figure out how to get rid of this tattoo my life was kinda on hold. Not that I’d had much of a life to begin with. Growing up on the outskirts meant that I was hard pressed to find a job in the cities, so I had to resort to being an EG. But, without the flashy technology that some EG’s had. I barely earned enough to get supplies for the next mission.

“Thank you.” I told Rolim, realizing that I hadn’t thanked them yet.

“Of course.” They replied, as if their offer hadn’t saved me from possible deaths at the hands of the spawn. I may not fully trust them yet, but I couldn’t deny their helpfulness.

151.1 (much later)

   Rolim ran their hands up my back, pushing my shirt up as we laid in bed.

   “Wow.” They gasped under their breath. “Your tattoos are so beautiful. Why would you ever hide them?”

   I chuckled to hide my nervousness, glad she was sheltered enough to not know what my ‘tattoos’ really were.

   “I can’t just walk around shirtless all the time.” I pointed out.

They slid their hands around to my stomach, pulling themself closer. I tried not to flinch at the coldness of their hands.

“I suppose I wouldn’t want that, but you would never do that. You never even tak your hood off.” They muttered into my back. “But they do remind me of the wings of Cori.”

I tensed slightly. “Cold hands.” I muttered as an explanation.

They slid their hands out from under my shirt in response, but continued with their train of thought. “Good thing you just have the tattoos though and not the real deal.”

“Why?” I asked, trying not to let the fear and hurt creep into my voice.

“With the NA running around trying to figure out their secrets, it wouldn’t be good for me to be sheltering a Cori in my house.” They explained, having no idea how their words cut me.

“But, you’re a wildling. We’re in the wilds. They wouldn’t look here.” I pointed out, barely keeping my voice level.

“Still. They pay handsomely for anyone who can bring a test subject in. Even if that anyone is a wildling.” They said all too casually.

“So, if I had wings instead of tattoos you’d sell me to be a lab rat?” I asked, not able to keep a slight quiver out of my voice.

“What? No.” Rolim quickly dismissed, but I still had my doubts.

“Just forget I said anything, and let’s go to sleep.” They murmured as they buried their face in my back.

I silently laughed at myself. I had been stupid to think that I could actually stay here with them. They were right. No where was safe for Cori these days. Especially not an escaped Cori.

[rendiggitydog]

XXX

"Iskall- Iskall slow down, I'm out of rockets!"

Iskall disappeared in the End fog, too far to hear Xisuma's cries. The Void was open and dark, seemingly dragging X down. He struck his last rocket, but it fizzled and died without igniting.

"Come on..." There was no land. No where. Only Void. It called. Shivers crawled up X's spine. Not again. Not again not again notagainnotagain-

Xisumavoid fell out of the world

X gasped, sitting up sharply. Ex held his shoulders gently. "Are you alright?! I'm so glad I made you sleep here before leaving!"

"I'm- I'm fine." X took a shuddering breath, staring into the floorboards under his feet.

"...I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Exy."

As the two sat in silence, there was a sharp knock at the door and quick steps coming up the stairs. Mumbo burst into the loft panting, worry in his eyes. "Exy, are you alright? Your texts sounded urgent, and since I was nearby..."

Ex moved to take his hand off X's shoulder, but decided against it. "I was... worried about X, but it's fine. You can go." He mumbled, embarrassed.

Mumbo sat in a wooden chair nearby, much to Ex's dismay. "Why were you worried about Xisuma? Falling into the Void happens all the time!"

"Have you ever seen me fall in the Void though?" Even saying the name made X shiver.

"I- I suppose I haven't. Why, does this mean something?" Mumbo furrowed his brow. "Does this have to do with your... origin?" Mumbo whispered, glancing at Ex.

Ex turned to Xisuma, who simply nodded. "I suppose we'd better tell someone."

"Fine, but you tell the story, I don't wanna," Ex said shortly.

X shook his head. "Fine. Promise you won't tell anyhermit until we're ready?"

Mumbo nodded, excited but nervous to finally hear the story of Evil Xisuma.

X sighed. "Where to start... I suppose it all started when I was first alone.

I was an admin, granted full power over my world. But, my world was empty. All the other admins I had talked to had people living in their world, but I didn't.

For a long time, I liked it. It was peaceful, calm. I could do whatever I wanted! I built houses, cities, nations. I built rustic, and modern, and everything in between. I filled them with animals and villagers to give them life. I terraformed the landscape, as far as the eye could see. But, after a while, even the creature sounds weren't enough to fill the silence. Months turned into years, and the silence grew upsetting.

I went rouge.

I killed every creature I had befriended. I burned every forest I had built by hand. I tore down every building I had made over the years. I was insane. I was unstoppable. I was powerful.

The world was destroyed. It was bedrock, as far as the eye could see. My sanity was destroyed. I had nothing left to give. I decided to end it all.

I jumped.

I wasn't sure what death from the Void would feel like, but what happened definitely wasn't death. The Void almost... caught me, in a way. I was saved.

I begged and pleaded- for death, for freedom, anything. And the Void responded.

Ask for what you truly desire.

I was confused. I didn't want anything. I asked for death. But the Void said no. I asked for freedom. The Void said no. What did I want?

A friend. I asked for a friend, and the Void agreed silently.

You may have your heart's desire, if you give us what we desire in return.

Well, what do you desire?

We cannot tell the secrets of the universe. What the Void gives, the Void takes away. Do you accept?

I accepted. Anything to be free and happy again.

Next I woke up, I was back in the overworld, everything rolled back. Back before I destroyed it all. Before I had built anything. But something was different.

A figure.

A lone figure on the horizon, coming towards me.

A real, live, human person.

I introduced myself as Xisumavoid. I added the 'void' part in that moment- out of respect, I suppose. The person didn't have a name, so we came up with one.

How about Donovan?

No, that's stupid. My name was cool, he needed a cool name.

What's cooler than Xisumavoid?

Well if I go by Xisumavoid, why don't you go by Xisuma? It's only the two of us, so it shouldn't matter too much!

And so it was: Xisumavoid and Xisuma, friends till the end. However, over time, as you probably expected, things started going downhill.

Xisuma started acting super irritable. He would yell at me, some days worse than others. We could argue for hours on end. His anger was uncalled for, and he did nothing to stop himself.

I wasn't without my faults either. I found myself short of breath often, struggling to keep up with Xisuma on our adventures. I complained constantly, which I regret now.

This cycle tore a rift between us: I couldn't keep up, and he would lash out in anger. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't want things to go back how they were before.

I jumped again. This time, I knew what to expect.

I want information. What did you do to me? And what about the angry Xisuma with me?

With every action the Void takes, an action must be given. The gift of your friend came at a price. He is one and the same as you.

What are you saying?

Your Xisuma comes from your own self. His passion is from you.

I don't understand.

We have given, now you must take. Go.

And I woke up again, the world rolled back. The 'Evil' Xisuma faced me with hatred. How dare I go to the Void without his permission!

I'm my own person, unlike you! You're made of part of my soul, the Void told me so! You aren't real!

He didn't like that.

The hot-tempered Xisuma attacked me, and we fought for a long time. We were the same. He was my passion, my hatred, my anger.

And he was angry. Tears fell from his face as he screamed. He was abandoned. The Void brought him to life, and tossed him aside. The Void is heartless. And then I left him too. I left without telling him, left to the Void, his enemy. He cried and begged and I couldn't console him.

He was hurt, lonely and afraid.

I tried to comfort him and apologize, but he wouldn't accept. He ran, but I couldn't keep up, just like always. I was alone again. Just like always.

I resigned to my fate, having driven away my only friend and literal other half. In my free time I learned complicated redstone and technology. That's when I made this suit for myself! The mask helped me breathe properly, and I was finally able to explore as I pleased.

I roamed for years, not quite sure what I was looking for. The generic trees blurred together, the landscape growing flat and dull. Everything was pointless without someone to do it with. The idea of building a nation didn't excite me like it used to. Until I found him again.

He ran to me, and we hugged for a long time. We apologized. He admired my new armor, and I taught him everything I had learned. Soon, we had matching sets! Mine was green, after my connection to the world around me. His was red, after his temper and energy.

We lived happily for a long time after that. Just two good friends, adventuring and building together, just like before. Tensions were high sometimes, but we always worked it out.

And then people arrived.

They came from nowhere, yet here they were! I wanted to welcome them with open arms. I had been alone so long, I craved more human contact. Xisuma, however, disagreed. He wanted to keep them at a distance; he was afraid of being abandoned again. After much debate, I introduced myself, and Xisuma wasn't seen for a very long time after that- although I always suspected he never went too far.

Occasionally one of my new friends would ask me about loading errors and spawn rates in their farms. Even as the admin, sometimes I wasn't sure of the cause, so I blamed 'Evil Xisuma' who supposedly roamed the lands.

The joke was ongoing in our growing community, and apparently Evil Xisuma heard about it at some point. He confronted me in a fit of anger, and it ended in many, many scars- physical and mental.

After that, we split ways permanently. I suppose they say time heals all wounds, huh? Now here we are, arms around each other again!"

X hugged Ex tightly, who sighed but didn't pull away.

"Wait, hold on," Mumbo shut his eyes, running through the story again. "So X went to the Void, the Void split him into good X and bad X, and that's-?" Mumbo searched for clarification.

"You've got it! We were technically one person once!"

"And that's why you wear the mask, huh?"

"Well, I did. I don't need it much anymore, it's mostly aesthetic." X chuckled and removed his helmet, smoothing his hair.

"I never needed it for health reasons, but I feel better keeping it on..." Ex muttered.

"He's self-conscious of the cool scars I gave him," X said with a wink and a nudge.

Ex shoved him back. "Not true! I just don't like people asking about them, is all. They're still cool."

"Wow, I had no idea, I'm so sorry. Did- Did you talk to It just now?" Mumbo asked with concern, but curiosity.

X laughed. "No, I've only spoken to the Void once after these events," X grew distant in his thoughts. "Although I suppose that's another story altogether, haha!"

"Well, I'd be willing to listen if you want to tell it some day. For now, I'd probably better go. Thank you for telling me Xisuma! And it's nice to get to know you better Exy." Mumbo left with a genuine smile.

"...I can't believe you just told him..." Ex shook his head.

"He's been a friend for a long time, Exy, he deserves to know. And you deserve love."

"Blegh, don't get mushy on me now."