#i usually avoid these things but i was seeing scraps of it everywhere and went to investigate because Surely It Wasnt That Bad

[tacogoats]

.

I saw crumbs of the Gale side of things from that Larian writer interview and now that I've read it I'm just laughing. yall really had nothing of substance to say about Gale besides 'playing wizard is hard' and the bomb ending is the 'right' ending.

Sure does leave me with high hopes for Gale content in the future.

[echantedtoon]

Ocean Deep Ch8 An Unexpected Chain Of Events

(Warnings: Rengoku is in REALLY BAD shape with wounds, blood/possible blood loss, and a few giant fish hooks embedded in him. Mentioning of blood. Mentioning of attempted kidnapping. Mentions of Rengokus poisonous barbs. yn has to do CPR on Rengoku.

If you need a refresher on the mer cast-

Suma: (all blue) Halfmoon Betta Fish mer

Hinatsuru: Strawberry Peacock Cichlid mer

Makio: Golden Dragon Koi mer

Kyojuro Rengoku: Lionfish mer(you can follow the link below and see what he looks like there.)

https://www.tumblr.com/yuki2sksksk/729990049783021568/lionfish-based-merman-kyojuro-and-betta-fish-based?source=share

If I don't describe CPR accurately I apologize. I looked instructions up on YouTube to get as accurate of a scene as I could.)

Tags: @shadyd3ar @six-eyed-samurai @lavenderdrxp @jjamsbangtan

The day was beautiful this morning.

With the sunlight sinking into the room through the window. The birds singing outside. Beautiful fresh smelling air. Beautiful visions of nature right outside of you looked. A bright blue sky. Fluffy white clouds. Yellow sun. Flowers of every color. Green plants everywhere. Trees providing shade as the wind rolled by. An absolute picture perfect scene for what could very much be a good day. Nothing in the world to worry about. Nothing to do. Just peaceful quiet and nature.

That was what your normal morning would've been on your day off. When you woke up at a reasonable time and woke up at a normal time. However this wasn't your normal morning. Now was it?

The wind felt nice against your skin as you walked along the dirt road and towards the pathway where the river lied. It was pretty early in the morning too. Two maybe three o'clock. A yawn bubbled up the woman's throat and made it out as a hand instinctively went to cover her mouth. Usually you would fear going outside anytime during the night but desperate times called for desperate measures. You were running out of food. All these scraps would only go so far before someone got the idea to start charging you money for that too or by the ways things were going, soon there wouldn't even be any scraps left for you to be handed. Your only hope right now was to rely on old scraps and providing the food yourself. Under the covers of darkness to avoid any suspicion.

Your door had opened quietly and you stepped out of your house and into the quiet, barren streets. The moonlight shining down and kissing your form. A shiver running down your spine from a warm breeze ghosting over your form. It would be a good night to fish. The door closed softly as you started walking towards the woods outside the town, fishing line curled up within your right hand. The moon shown down upon the forests illuminating the night bright enough for you to see and watch as the trees swayed im the warm breezes and hear the peaceful rustling of their leaves and lullabies of the crickets. It was just so beautiful and lively. You always loved doing this. Not when it was dark and scary however. It was more beautiful in the daytime. 

The sweet smells of flowers and grass were encouraging your lungs. Combined with the warmth of the summer air warming your muscles and urging them on. Both made you feel as light as a feather on your mere feet and the ground felt soft under you. It would've been nice if you weren't constantly looking side to side at every shadow that danced in the limited moonlight thanks to the grey clouds looming overhead. Step after step. Faster and faster. You fearfully started to speed walk through the pathways and around a corner of a house as soft dirt pathways turned into grassy floors of forests as you excitedly entered the beckoning woods. The moonlight being blocked out a bit because of the swaying trees and branches and clouds but you could still see perfectly fine. The river sso many people liked to fish at during summer wasn't too far from where you entered. It was just nearly a quarter of a mile into the woods. You loved coming out during these warm months and enjoying the view but ever since the disappearances -...You kept your distance. The way you found the river was walking through a bush and having to blink when a flurry of sparkling lights glared your eyes for a second.

Blinking your eyes adjusted to the beautiful and wonderful sight of a dark beautiful river reflecting the moon on its surface and sparkling as if the reflection had its own stars and consolations within its ripples. Completely untouched and waiting for you to touch its soft silence. Soft footsteps approached the gleaming water and a carbon copy of a woman appeared in the gleaming reflections. She stared up at the original mirroring the actions of the woman above. The woman's fiddled with her line and the small contacts she brought along with her. A hook with a big, juicy worm stabbed on the end of it dangled over the woman in the dark reflection before dropping into the water and rippling the reflection woman away back into the darkness of the waters.

Shaking hands fed the line lower and lower into the blackened waters. F/c eyes darting around the area. Every creaking branch. Every swaying bush. Every tall blade of grass. They all could hide a monster ready to carry you off to be their next meal. Next Bride. Next victim. The fast paced breathing was only matched by the beating of your heart in your chest. 

This was where those three girls disappeared last year, and near where the fourth girl disappeared. 

It was a stupid, STUPID idea!! ...But were you really just going to let your friends go hungry? No. No you weren't going to let that happen. The responsibility of their survival was solely on you for the moment. With a shaky inhale the woman returned to her work. Feeding the line into the wide river's darkened waters before kneeling down to sit upon the side of the water. Trembling. Nothing but the wind and cold for company. 

Rippling, rippling water. Sparkling mirrorer of the stars and moon. Swaying lazily with the flowing currents and keeping in time with the bobbing line of life keeping it tethered to the above world. With a lazed fortune in mind for the woman, a pull tugged onto the line and it was enough for her to pull up a feast big enough for a small person for a day.

You frowned as you gazed at the small catfish wriggling on the end of the line. This wasn't as big as you hoped. It was enough for a small human like you to have for lunch but that's about it. It wouldn't fill up a mermaid for an entire day! But..you couldn't afford to throw it back. A fish was a fish. And you'd have to get more. The line was thrown back in once again sinking back into the only black abyss of the waters. You sat there gazing at the blackness around you with nothing but the flopping fish for company. Every sound was amplified as in the silence made them louder. You shouldn't be here in the woods. You should be at home in your comfy bed asleep and waking up to a good morning where you'd make yourself breakfast before cleaning a little bit and then relaxing on your day off. But no. Here you were in the same forest where four girls disappeared just last summer fishing in the middle of the night just to feed three mermaids that you never really asked for with your poor town suffering the consequences. 

You should've headed the old tales-

The sweet sunlight kisses the world good bye as the sun set on the world. Wishing it good bye to make way for the cruel night that way ahead. Bathing the world in darkness tinted in white by his sister the moon as she dawned her best war paint and climbed higher into the darkened sky to claim her rightful place as Queen of the dark realm. That readd a sign to all her dark children that tonight would be the night for mischief and mayhem. Danger and chaos.

Death and undead.

Beware the full moon that comes to rise in the sky.

Beware the monsters who lurk and live amongst the world.

Beware of those who seek out their own entertainment.

So lock your doors up tight when the full moon appears. Barricade all your windows. Block up any chimneys. Hide away in your deepest closest. Arm yourself with your finest weapons. Speak not a word and be silent. Sleep not a wink and keep alert for they will all spirit you away.

Mischievous fae. Blood thirsty vampires. Carnivorous werewolves. Fire breathing dragons. Scheming demons. And so many more.

Those who refuse to heed the warnings are fated to die to be spirited away never to be seen again. So hide away and don't make a sound. Never answer the door no matter what. And above all else be weary.

You jumped as a thunderclap in the distance overhead echoed throughout the sky. Your head looked up instinctively and stared at the still lit up sky and the dark grey storm clouds that scattered across it like some shattered jigsaw puzzle. The sight of it worried you making a frown appear on your perfectly spooked face. The chilly wind blowing over your body once again as you shivered. 

You were tired. Exhausted even as the night went on. Darkened shadows filled the skies with darkness blocking out the light as your catch slowly grew. One by one. Until you jumped as a giant crash of thunder rolled along the sky making you jump and look towards the sky of darkness. You deemed it time to go then. Quickly pulling in your line up and gathering your fish, another clash of thunder made you jump. The wind picked up hammering branches against each other. Yep. Time to go! You just threw the string of fish over your shoulder when- 

DDDDRRRAAAAAAAGGG- 

You froze when you heard it. A distant cry of the Water's surface breaking just a few feet away from you to the right as you turned your head. The sounds of something coming from the other sides of the bushes. You couldn't move. Couldn't speak. As fear gripped your neck tightly and your eyes stared at the cold wind blowing the bushes around. The mud squelches and splashing sounded..BIG. POWERFUL...But also-

COUGH! COUGH! DDDRRRRAAAAAGGGG!! COUGH!

T H U D- ! ! !

You jumped as SOMETHING BIG. Collapsed.

Collapsed. JUST. BEHIND. THE. BUSHES.

You still didn't move. Panicking internally. What were you supposed to do?! Get your neighbors?! You wanted to go back...but what if it was someone who did need help? Or what if it was a wild animal? WHAT IF IT WAS A CREATURE GETTING READY TO CARRY YOU AWAY NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN?!...Ok. maybe not. Calm down. It was just.. probably just a wild animal! Yeah! It was probably injured or something! In which case you better leave anyways. ...Buuuut if it WAS an injured animal like a deer then maybe you could just use it for food! You guessed it didn't hurt to just take a quick look. Right? Slowly you stopped and looked back towards the bush. Your bare feet touching the ground gently and quietly enough to not make yourself known.

Your breath hitched in your throat.

Quietly you stepped closer as and closer and CLOSER to the bush silently. Slowly stopping right in front of the bush. The wind blew swaying it's branches creepily and looked like thrashing arms. You grabbed a handful and silently and slowly pulled them back.

And you froze at what you saw-

The winds howled as the darkness crept across the skies. The darkness behind the bush shielded your form from the moonlight which cascaded down between the trees and clouds in the sky. The shadows danced and branches creaked as the wind blew them about. Like arms beckoning you closer to grab you away in their rough grip. Drag you into the shadows never to be seen again. You cracked an opening in the branches and looked out. The darkened sky looked out over the entire area. Tree branches swayed and night fell upon the ground. However you froze as your eyes met a sickening sight.

R E D.

The coldness of the air bit down hard on your skin, like painful bee stings pricking your skin. The terror far greater than seeing a thousand wolves sunk in. A hand flew to cover your mouth as a foul urge to vomit rose and a sickening copper smell filtered through the air.

RED!!

That was the color painted everywhere on the ground displayed before you. And there...lying face down slumped over was a man's body. A canvas for the color. Your eyes shrank in terror and your ears gained a ringing sound all on their own drowning out any noise.

A DEAD BODY.

Right there lying right in front of your face. How-...How did this happen?! Where did it come from?! You wretched yourself away from the bush in shock and leaned over slightly. The urge to vomit riding as you did everything you could to keep it down. The bush branches snapping back into place hiding the sight from you. Automatically you gave a few coughs and gulped down air in an attempt to calm yourself head spinning. There was a dead man on the riverbank! Oh gods! What if someone thought you were responsible for this!? You could be tried for murder-

Wait...

How did you know he was actually dead?

That one thought made you freeze in your tracks instantly. That's right...How did you know for certain that he was dead? You just merely saw him covered in blood with a gash on his back. Your head turned back to the bush. He...he could've been hurt and tried reaching your house for help. What if he was laying there suffering?! That thought perked you back up into going back to the bush and cautiously reaching out to slightly pull the branches again. The body was still there unmoving. It...sure LOOKED dead but you couldn't tell in the dark. If he was still alive..you had to help him. You couldn't just leave someone to bleed out. The unmoving form still remained unmoving even as you noisily pushed through the bush and stood right next to the head. It was then that you again stopped dead in your tracks both shocked and horrified as the clouds overhead parted enough to allow more moonlight to light up the area truly revealing who or more accurately WHAT was laid in front of you 

A pale torso of blood covered skin sank down into the mud. Skin slowly melted away into fiery orange and red scales smooth and polished like that of a snake..Or fish. A giant tail full of fins sank deeply into the muddy bank before disappearing under the waves of the water that lazily hugged his body. F/c eyes widened to the size of plates.

A MERMAID?!

..No. wait-

Your eyes narrowed more in the darkness. A mer-..Man???

It was definitely a man. You could tell by how Large the body was and how muscular the exposed skin was. In the limited moonlight you were able to make out long blonde hair that mostly covered his face and he laid in a position that suggested that he'd collapsed by himself instead of being washed ashore by the river currents. But the question still remained...Was he still alive?

You hesitated again ...but slowly you reached over to the face laying on its side and touched the long strands covering his eyes. It was .. surprisingly soft and silky to the touch and you slowly pulled it away from the face to examine it. The right side of a man's face greeted you. You nearly jumped back at what you saw.

"Oh my gods."

A fish hook was just mere inches from his face. One of those thick metal ones that they used to catch tuna, small sharks, and other large fish. You immediately grabbed it pulling it safely away from him. What was this doing here?! A few more centimeters and it could've handed his face if he chose to move, splayed out on the cold unforgivable ground unmoving. His right eye exposed from pulling his hair back was closed obviously either unconscious or dead, and read streaks ran down his face in water dripping patterns from a cut on his forehead. However...that wasn't the strangest bit. Your hand instead went to almost touch his lips and flinched back feeling a weak warmth across your fingertips. You reeled back in shock, hand to your chest, and jumping. His body was still warm!!

HE WAS ALIVE!!

The hook was thrown aside along with the line of fish you caught thudding into the wet ground. Hands grabbed his right shoulder and HEAVED. Barely moving an inch, but slowly the body turned, and with a thud he was collapsed onto his back. A shocked gasp escaped from your throat upon eyes seeing his front body. Oh gods...So much blood. His body was practically DRENCHED in the red color! And you found out why. A large gash across his front from his left shoulder and ending just above his right hip was exposed to you. Definitely bigger than the gash along his back. And there was a third smaller gash along his right collar bone ending near his bicep. There was so much blood..How was he even still alive!? Wha-..What happened to him?! What caused him to get like this?! Thick broken strands of what looked like broken strands of rope was laid out all over his body, curiously you grabbed a piece and pulled it off him. What used to be a net maybe? You continued pulling it all off of him the hardest part having to walk into the river a bit and slide it down his tail in order to slip it off his tail. So much for a dry dress. The ropes were thrown aside and wet squelch sounded as you pulled up the hem of your now soaked dress to go kneel by his head.

It provided you a better look despite the limited moon light. You could get a better look at his injuries noting there was more than you expected. More BLOOD than you expected. It seemed most on his head came from either his mouth or from the cut on his forehead. There was also more cuts on his tail, but thankfully none of them looked very deep or if they were they weren't bleeding which was also good. But you also noticed something else. Something else very important about him. 

He was also wearing jewelry.

A thick gold chain was around his waist like a belt almost. His ears were pierced with a few small gold earrings that you only noticed thanks to the moonlight making them shine. Some kind of golden bands were wrapped around his left forearm, and finally a few rings were on his fingers. OOOH boy. Your eyes widened when you saw them. They were studded with big diamonds and other precious jewels. Whoever this man-..merman was, it was obvious he had access to some kind of wealth. Taking a closer look..He also was very handsome under all of the dread. Briefly your panicked mind wondered if all mermaids were like this or if it was just the ones you came across.

You reached out to touch it his neck for a pulse. F/c eyes smoothed over the body still wet and warm from the turbulent journey down the river. However the water droplets dripping down the body was expected, as was the smears of crimson blood from the injuries. What was not expected was the lack of movement coming from his chest. The woman froze again upon blankly staring down at the unmoving chest as a horrible reality was finalized right then and there. 

HE WASN'T BREATHING 

The horrible realization struck her as hard and quick as lightning made out of bricks. Her breathing hit he'd as her knees dropped next to his chest. Hands raised shaking and panicked as she stared panicked at the bloody body..Quickly the woman's hands reached out to shakingly pat at his cheeks.

"Please wake up. Pl-Please wake up!"

Unresponsive. Eyes remained closed silently drifting away from the world as peacefully and slowly as a leaf flowing down the pond. The woman above only being a distant audience- Until she refused the reaper his claim that day. 

Hands pushed themselves onto the unmoving chest. Hands interlocking. Arms stiff. And then the first of many pushes down. 

"Wake up!"

Sweat beaded from your forehead as you rapidly delivered a series of pushes down until you reached to the count of thirty in your mind. Stopping abruptly and grabbing his head. Nose pinched, head tilted back slightly, and not hesitating to place your mouth on his to deliver breaths. Sweat coated your face as you continued the cycle. 

Rapid pushes.

"Come on. Come on."

More breaths.

"Fight it!"

Rapid pushes.

"LIVE DAM YOU!"

Tears helped up in your eyes. A sob nearly escaping. The darkness and distant thunder overhead mocking your attempts at what seemed to be a lost cause. Gleeful in your failing. A shaking added to the woman as she went to quickly place her mouth back onto his- and then he choked.

The movement of him against you caught you so off guard that you actually tumbled backwards out of fright, the mud making a loud splat sound as you fell into it. If the dress wasn't ruined before it certainly was now. However that was the farthest thing from your mind as the body convulsed with coughs escaping the mouth- Two hands grabbed him by the shoulder as you heaved with a loud grunt to pull him onto his side. 

"That's it. Good. Good." A hand gently rubbed his back as you held him there. A gasping choking sound like a drowning man finally getting to land. "You're doing great. Keep breathing."

HE WAS ALIVE. HE WAS BREATHING!! He was still not in good shape but he wasn't dead! Thank the gods! The gasping choking sounds continued for a little bit making you wince as you watched him. His mouth hung wide open exposing a few fangs you wearily eyed. The girls had fangs too but his were much more sharp and pointy. His eyes squeezed shut and his brows tightly furrowed as he gasped and every so while spat. Until eventually his head laid upon the ground exhausted. Chest rising and falling deeply. 

For a moment there was nothing.

The sounds of creaking branches, wind, and heavy breathing were the only things heard besides the distant sounds of thunder in the ever darkening skies. Nothing but you staring at him in this point frozen in time as a hand encouraging rubbed at his back.

Then ever so slowly his eyes opened.

You froze when you first saw the whites of those eyes. At first they were confused blinking the blurry vision away only to be greeted by the darkness. A moment of longingly staring ensued, until the eye turned to stare up at you. You froze at the unusual eyeball staring at you. It was unlike anything you've ever seen. His pupil instead of the usual black was a pure white surrounded by a ring of red that was in turn surrounded by a secondary ring of orange. It made contact with your f/c irises and stopped there before widening in surprise. Your face stained in crimson red and mud brown. There was nothing but the tense breathing for ten seconds before the entire face slowly turned to you. The wet hair cling to his face, semi stained by the blood, and mud smeared on other parts of his body that wasn't already caked in water and/or blood. He just ..Laid there. Staring up at you. Right in the eyes. As if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. His fire like eyes stared at your eyes then looked down at the lower half of your face and the crimson smear. It looked like he's seen a ghost. 

"GAH!?"

You jumped back as his arm moved, pulling your hands away from his body and leaning back. Eyes wide as the limb shook enough to be mistaken for a frightened worm. You flinched. Was he going to attack you?! Drag you down into the water?! Drown you?! You were going to die and for what?! Helping him?! Your eyes clenched shut awaiting your fate!

A shaking hand reached up and-!!! Gently touched his mouth in bewilderment. 

"....Did you ju-just k-k-kiss me?"

A GLASS SHATTERED IN YOUR MIND

Wait...What?!

You lowered your arms slowly. Even more slowly as the most hoarse man's voice you ever heard came from the merman. You stared at him wide eyed as he stared up at you. "....W-What?"

"Ma'am, I am hu-humb-b-bly flattered-" He was BARELY able to hold up a badly shaking hand. "-bu-but I am a h-..*cough cough* ha-happly mmmarried man."

You stared at him blankly for the longest time just staring. His voice sounded like he desperately needed a glass of water for a dry throat. ".......SAY WHAT?!"

"I u-understand that I happen to b-be a- about b-but I as-sure you that I am l-like..Super married. *Cough cough cough*" He coughed a few times covering his mouth as you still stared shocked.

"I-I didn't kiss you!!," you squealed out horrified. "I was admitted CPR!!"

"I-Is that W-What humans do to court?"

"Wha- NO!! YOU WEREN'T BREATHING!!", You shouted at him red creeping up onto your face. "IT'S A MEDICAL TECHNIQUE!!"

He slowly blinked at you.. before speaking. "Oh. Well t-that is more sense. *Cough cough*"

You ignored the red in your face. "Just..Who are you?"

"I-I could be ask-asking you the same thing. W-What is a hu-human girl *cough* d-doing here?"

"Night fishing. Are you feeling ok?" You hesitantly raised your hands towards his body but stopped shortly of touching him.

"Not at all! I'm in incredible pain!," he shouted in a raspy voice making you wince at the volume.

"SSSHHH!! Keep your voice down!," you whisper shouted at him looking around the darkness. Who knows who..or WHAT could hear him?! "Is there anyone nearby who can help you? O-Or maybe family?"

"Nope! But i-if you help pu-push me back into t-t-the river then I might be *cough* a-able to get back!"

"... Can't you not move with your injuries?"

"BARELY!"

You again just stared at his face..then at his body..then back to his face. Oh no. NO! Nonononono!! This could NOT be happening to you! Not now! Not again! You couldn't get further involved into this! 

"Is there anywhere you can go for help?"

"N-Not around here."

You should walk away now. You had already did your good deed. He was alive and he could take care of himself! You shouldn't be getting anymore involved. In fact you even stood up and turned making him blink from where he laid in the mud-..Mud. You turned back around. He was weakly and pathetically staring at you from the mud like a piece of junk to be discarded. Helpless. Unable to find for himself. If a wild animal like a bear or wolf didn't get to him first then someone else could find him and..Who knew what could happen to him? And that's only considering if he didn't die from his injuries first. ..He breathed heavy and turned his head upwards as two feet stopped in front of his head. You looked back down at him. A crash of thunder illuminated each other's faces.

"Just out of curiosity, do you know what a piggy back ride is?"

The house was silent. Nothing but the thunder overhead and the wind scratching against the window and the raindrops beating against the rooftop as the sun still stayed hidden for another hour or so. 

T H U D-!!

The door flew open, hitting the fair wall behind it causing a loud thud to ring out throughout the otherwise silent house. 

STEP, STEP, STEP, STEP.

You pulled yourself into the house slowly step after slow step. Into your home until you collapsed onto the floor. A series of thumps and thuds rang out as bodies and objects fell. You fell exhausted onto your side breathing in and out gasping for air like a drowning man. Her body felt somewhere between numb and in pain, especially her back. Her entire body soaked to the bone because of the pouring rain and she was still covered in mud and blood. Only now she was soaked too. Only good thing about this was that no one would be outside to see her. Seriously. Why did mermaids have to be so darn HEAVIER than they look?! A large hand reached out to gently grab your shoulder. Still gasping for air, you opened your eyes to stare at the merman collapsed onto the floor next to you. Despite his condition being much worse than yours, he still looked concerned for you.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

A crack of lightning rang out allowing you to briefly see his face better in the dark. You waved him off way plopping with a wet smack sound onto your stomach and weakly rising up to your hands and knees. You had to close the door. The rain still poured outside in the dark hours of the morning as you weakly crawled to the doorway, giving a weak but worried look around, and then closed the door before collapsing onto the wooden frame. The mermaid watched you carefully with a worried but curious.look on his face. 

"My apologies!"

You weakly waved him off again just catching your breath. Man. Your back was killing you. Even the other three weren't this heavy. Speaking of which ..How the hell were they going to react when they saw you bring a complete stranger back with you? You really were insane for doing all of this.

The merman gave a look around from where he awkwardly lay down. "..Your abode looks highly warm. But how are you supposed to raise guppies here?"

...Guppies?

"Y/N'S BACK!! Y/N'S BACK!!"

Suma's voice echoed throughout the home only drowned out by the storm and you tiredly lifted your head up. However you weren't the only one that froze when hearing the voice. The merman had frozen stone cold at the voice.

"Y/N?! Y/N, Y/N, Y/N!! YYYYYYY/NNNNN!!!", Suma continued calling when you didn't answer her right away. 

He. FLIPPED. Literally. He flipped around landing on his stomach startling you by his sudden action. Hissing, pushing himself up onto weakened shaky arms as he stared down the way towards your bathhouse. 

"S-...Suma?"

Silence rang out other than the rain and a crash of thunder shaking the windows once more.

"... Kyojuro?!," one of the girls called back however you were so shocked by what was happening you didn't register who it was.

Recognition flashes across the man's face. Shaking breath rattling his chest mouth agape in those breaths. 

"MAKIO!!"

Fwap- "Gah!?" 

You toppled over as the end of his burly tail slapped into your. Desperation. Hesitation. Adrenaline. All pumped through the veins. Come here. Go. His mind told him. Claw after desperate claw again perfectly clean wooden floors as he raced . Mind reeling with the knowing NEED to be closer to the warmth his heart was attracted to. 

"Hey! Come back! Your wounds will get worse!," you called out to him as he desperately clawed away at a pace faster than you thought possible.

Despite your screaming muscles, you forced yourself to stand up and quickly walk after him as his form disappeared down the hallway. You turned the corner and looked down said hallway just as the man was clawing the bottom of your door with hissing desperation like a wolf frustratedly digging after a rabbit hole. Eventually he got it open pushing the door aside with a grunt and just-..Stopping. staring wide eyed into the bathroom. After about five minutes you slowly began walking down the hallway while keeping close to the wall just in case. The silence continued until the man's head raised higher. Tears starting to whelp up in them- Before without even a warning he just as quickly clawed his way into the room making you again pause.. Before quickly approaching. What was going on?! What if he hurt them?!

However when you hit to the doorway, you paused. In shock of what you saw on the other side. 

"Kyo!! Kyo!!" Suma called out for him crying historically as she held out her arms to him.

It's ok! He was here! He was coming!

Desperately and desired needs to be close. The desperation was met with open arms as you watched the three desperately crying mermaids clawing desperately at him. At first you were scared that they were attacking him by the way Hinatsuru just wrapped herself around his neck and the other two grabbed his sides and PULLED. Making them all tumble back and into the water, a giant splash noise resonating throughout the room as water sloshed over the sides and droplets rained everywhere.

"Hinatsuru!"

Footsteps approached the tub as you leaned over the side. She might've been crushed under his weight..You stopped. You blinked. You stared down at the scene before your eyes. Two emotions hit you. Absolute confusion and fluster as your face went red seeing Hinatsuru and the merman in the middle of.. Passionately kissing.

The kiss was deep but passionate, like lovers who've been apart for years. He held her so close to him as she gripped his cheeks. Both had tears streaming down their faces before a long held back sob escaped the pink mermaids throat and made them break a kiss only for Makio to take her place latching onto him to kiss him over and over and over for what seemed like eternity. Suma cried loudly as she desperately cling to his back, curled up and tears smearing the mud stain on his shoulder.

"I THOUGHT YOU W-WERE *HIC* DDDDDREEEEAAADDD!! AAAHAHAAAAA!!"

"NEVER!!" He shouted. Hugging two crying warmth givers to himself. "Never, never, never again." He repeated that mantra. Their warmth satisfying a deep hole made in his chest finally being filled again. "It's been so long..I'm never  letting you go again."

A shadow fell over them all as you stared bewildered. "..Just who are you?"

"... Apologies." He didn't look up. Didn't care. "I am called Kyojuro. You may back away now."

There wasn't really an answer until Suma looked at you, blinked, and then shrieked. "Y/N'S BLEEDING!!"

Uh oh.

[silver-tongued-bby]

Discretion

Pairing: Dom!CEO!Loki x Reader

Summary: After dropping out of grad school and moving back home you expected very little of your summer. That is until you realise your neighbour, Mr. Laufeyson, has other plans. Set in the mid 90s!

Warnings: NSFW, 18+!!! This is a Dom!Loki fic - though it's not super bd/sm heavy, it explores themes of voyeurism, dub!con spanking, humiliation and degradation. Sexual acts are described including vaginal fingering, dirty talk, oral sex (f receiving) and sexual intercourse (f/m). Smoking is also described. Please read at your own discretion (hehe see what I did there?).

Words: 5,026

Author's Note: I'm excited to say that this is my first ever submission for a challenge! Specifically it's for @boxofbonesfic's Hot Girl Summer Challenge.

I chose prompt 12 (Home for the Summer) and a slightly edited version of quote 17 ("If I have to tell you again to take that off, you’re not gonna like me sweetheart darling.") then for kinks I chose voyeurism/exhibitionism and degradation though there's a sprinkling of praise kink in there too.

Not sure why when I think of summer I think of mid 90s summers but here we are. This kinda went places I didn't expect, nonetheless I hope you enjoy!

...

God you were bored.

Stretching out on the lounge chair you sighed, letting your shoulders droop with the long exhale.

“Oh honey, you can’t keep sitting out here in the sun.” Your eyes rolled behind your dark sunglasses, turning towards your stepmother as she came down the stairs from the deck of the house.

“It’ll give you wrinkles dear,” she was standing beside you now, hands on her hips as she stared down at you. She was wearing that ridiculous hat again- the one with the brim as wide as she was tall.

“Carla, darling, we can’t all hide away from life in hopes to look as good as you do.” You lazily gazed at her, sitting up to find your pack of cigarettes on the side table. Taking one out you brought it to your mouth and lit it with your gold plated zippo. You took a long inhale before exhaling right in her face, “when I tell people you’re 53 they can hardly believe it.” Her eyes widened- you’d found her drivers license months ago and held the knowledge of her true age over her since then. You continued, ”my compliments to your doctors. Oh and Botox, kudos to Botox.”

Her little hands formed fists, fake nails pressing tiny neon-pink crescents into her palm.

You laughed, lounging back in the chair as you leisurely took drags off your cigarette. Smiling to yourself as you counted- three, two, one, before Carla shrieked and turned.

“Arthur! Arthur!” She screeched, running back up the stairs to tell your father.

You were a little less bored now, but making Carla’s face turn red could only give you so much satisfaction. You knew your father could care less, they were both about to leave for the Côte D’Azur tomorrow for the rest of the summer, leaving you here alone to “consider the consequences of your actions.” Or however your father had put you dropping out of school after one year of graduate studies in Classics.

He couldn’t help himself from belittling your degree while you were studying, then once you’d decided it wasn’t for you his lectures changed to be about “never giving up” and “seeing something through.” You both knew he simply didn’t want you around- he just couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.

“Now those will definitely give you wrinkles,” you heard a smooth, silky voice coming from behind you that made your heart race. Smiling, you swung your legs over the side of your chair, taking off your sunglasses and snuffing out your cigarette.

“Mr. Laufeyson,” you started, eyeing the lithe figure as he emerged from the shadows. He held his hands in his pockets, his crisp black trousers fit perfectly to his frame. The sleeves of his black dress shirt were rolled up to his elbows, exposing the pale skin of his toned forearms. You were well aware of the small scraps of white fabric covering your body, and you enjoyed watching his eyes trace over your skin. You’d lusted after him ever since your father had moved here during your first year of college. You’d met him at one of Carla’s Christmas parties- she invited everyone from the gated community over, including your neighbour, Loki Laufeyson.

“I’m so sorry if my stepmother’s incessant shrieking ruined your afternoon,” you grimaced, taking a sip of the ice cold vodka soda beside you. “Is there anything I can do to remedy the situation?” you asked, your eyes innocently meeting his.

He chuckled. “Oh I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve already thought of something,” he said under his breath loud enough for you to just make out. He strolled towards you and took a seat on the lounge chair beside yours. “I’m actually here to see your Father. He’s asked me to check in on things here while him and Carla are away.”

You rolled your eyes- of course he did. You caught Mr. Laufeyson staring at you as you did that, his expression darkening slightly and his eyebrow raising before he continued. “I am surprised to see you here- last I’d heard you were studying in Europe. Graduate studies in Classics, right?”

“Yeah. It didn’t exactly pan out.” You looked down, cursing yourself for feeling your face grow hot. The last thing you needed was your gorgeous neighbour feeling sorry for you.

“Laufeyson you bastard, you’re late!” Your Father was coming down the stairs, jovial with his greeting.

Loki got up from his seat to meet your father. “Arthur,” he said, shaking his hand. “My apologies, I got held up at the office. It’s been insanity since the new acquisition.”

You tuned out the rest of the business jargon and settled back into your seat, facing the other way. You put your sunglasses back on, wincing once your heard Carla’s shrill voice coming from above.

“Is that Loki Laufeyson? Oh it’s been ages!” she gushed.

“I suppose it has.” You could tell she’d pulled him in for a hug and a kiss on either cheek. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself at the clear discomfort in his voice.

“So I can trust you to keep an eye on the place?” your father chimed in.

“Certainly, although it seems your daughter is perfectly capable of doing so herself.” Mr. Laufeyson rightfully pointed out. You raised an eyebrow, wishing you could see the expression on your dear dad’s face from your position. Mr. Laufeyson was probably the only person in this community that could and would tell your Father that- his annual appearance in Forbes certainly cemented the position.

“You never know with kids, Laufeyson. No matter how old they get you can’t trust them to carry through with something. Just wait until you have one of your own- then you’ll know what I’m talking about." He laughed loudly. You scoffed. Fucking asshole.

“I see. I’ll keep an eye out then.” Mr. Laufeyson said cooly.

“Right well feel free to pop by anytime, we leave tomorrow morning. Here’s the number of my cellular telephone- I always have it on me you know.” Your father was obsessed with his clunky mass of plastic- he brought it everywhere he went, mostly to brag about it to strangers or talk obnoxiously on it to avoid conversations with you or Carla.

“He really does. Even in the bedroom!” Carla giggled, causing you to shudder in disgust.

“Of course, well I should be on my way.” He stepped back over to you. “I suppose I’ll be seeing you around. Here’s my information,” he placed a thick, black and white business card onto the small table beside you. “In case of emergency.”

You pulled your sunglasses down your nose and slid your eyes up his body, biting your lip as you met his stare. “I’ll be sure to remember. See you around, Mr. Laufeyson.”

He considered you for a moment and you thought he was about to say something else before he nodded and turned, heading for the gate.

You settled back in your seat and nestled the headphones of your discman over your ears. You pressed the play button, the beat of Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” drowning out whatever Carla and your father were arguing about once their guest had left.

...

It was much later that evening that you finally slipped from your room to find some dinner. The house was dark- you knew your father and Carla had an early flight. Grabbing a wrapped plate from the fridge that the housekeeper had left you you headed to the back deck to eat. You kept the lights off as you watched the dim foamy white of the ocean’s waves hitting the rocks below, finding peace in the sound.

Finishing your meal you were about to head inside when you saw a light come on out of the corner of your eye. From where you were sitting you could see into a room on the top floor of Mr. Laufeyson’s house. Interesting- you’d never seen into this room before, the windows that faced your father’s house were usually shuttered. You laid back and lit a cigarette, choking on the inhale when you saw Mr. Laufeyson emerge, shirtless, his eyes dark and hungry. He was pulling a woman behind him, a blonde, her shirt unbuttoned to expose a lacy red bra. Once he stood at the edge of the bed he turned around to kiss her, his hands moving to the clasp of her bra. Undoing it, he pulled away to slide it down her arms before turning her around and unzipping her skirt, leaving her in just a high waisted red lace thong.

Your heart was hammering in your chest. You were transfixed by the scene unfolding in front of you. He flung her on the bed- from your position you could see it all as if it were happening in a room adjacent to yours. Climbing over her he dipped his head to capture her lips once more as he ground against her. Your legs clenched together as you continued to smoke your cigarette, the combined effect of the nicotine and the scene in front of you making your head spin.

His hand trailed down to the red lace covering her heat as he continued to kiss and grind against her. Slipping his fingers in you found you were doing the same to yourself, feeling the hot wet of your arousal. He had pulled away from her now, watching her face intently as her back arched up off of the mattress, her hands clutching his toned arms. He was saying something to her, his eyes going from her face to her heaving breasts as he continued to work his hand inside of her. A flush was blooming on her chest, her mouth open and her eyebrows drawn together. You were moving your hand in time with his, your arousal coating your fingers. His movements became faster as he continued to speak to her, smiling menacingly before her back arched fully off the bed, her hands grasping at him. Withdrawing from the dampened red lace his fingers glistened in the light, wet from her release.

He easily picked her up off the bed, carrying her to the window sill. He roughly pulled her panties down before he undid his trousers then lined himself up at her entrance. He pressed into her, her back flat against the glass and his face visible beside the back of her head, his eyes closed. You imagined how it’d feel, the cool glass against your back, his warm hand firmly gripping your thigh, his strong arms holding your legs open as he fucked you. He began to move inside of her then his eyes opened, staring straight at you in the darkness. Your heart beat faster as you felt yourself blush- surely he couldn’t see you out here, you were shrouded in the dark. You could barely see the outline of your hand as you brought it to your face for another puff. You froze- the cigarette.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you hissed, quickly removing your hand from its position and shakily putting out the cigarette on your dinner plate. Sliding your chair out quietly you chanced one last look towards the window- he was smirking in your direction as he continued to move against the blonde. Your heart felt like it was going to beat out of your chest as you backed away towards the porch door. You could swear his eyes didn’t leave you once and it sent shudders through you. You made your way back to your room and lay awake for hours, each time you closed your eyes you saw his piercing blue-green stare and filthy smirk.

You must have drifted off at some point since you eventually awoke to silence- an anomaly. You’d usually wake to Carla’s screeching laugh as she spoke on the phone to her friends, or she’d send the housekeeper Marie to wake you. You checked the clock beside you- 9AM. Carla and your father were long gone by now.

You smiled at that, stretching lazily before cranking the radio and dancing around your room as you got ready, the sunlight beaming in through your window. Making your way to the main kitchen you froze, last night coming back to you. The way Mr. Laufeyson had looked out at you as if he were expecting you to be there. Did he leave the blinds open on purpose? You shook your head, no way he’d be that forward. Sure he flirted with you every now and then, but nothing beyond that. You pushed the thought from your mind for the rest of the day.

...

A week passed quickly, you spent a lot of time with your friends, going shopping, to the beach, or local restaurants. You didn’t spend much time around the house so you hadn’t seen Mr. Laufeyson since the “incident”. On Friday you met up with some friends midday and got a ride to one of their parents’ beach houses. You spent the day there, drinking and laughing as you enjoyed the sun. Your friends dropped you back off at your place at around 7pm, you were pleasantly buzzed but looking forward to a quiet night in.

It was so hot outside you decided to take a dip in the pool. Cranking the radio in the backyard you decided to skinny dip- no one was home anyways. You sighed as your heated skin met the water, cooling instantly. You did a few laps before lazily swimming a backstroke and humming the music on the radio when you saw something coming towards you out of the corner of your eye. Standing upright you saw Mr. Laufeyson walking towards you from the door to the backyard, a smirk playing at his lips. Your heart started beating quickly as you realised the position you were in, remembering his hungry stare from last week. You swam over to the side of the pool to meet him.

“Hi,” he smiled, looking down at you.

You bit your lip and innocently looked up at him. “Hello, Mr. Laufeyson.”

“I’m sorry to intrude.”

“No worries. Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Laufeyson?” you asked, noticing his eyes taking in your body under the water. He definitely knew you were naked. Your thighs clenched together at the thought.

“I was coming to see you about something that happened last week that had me… concerned. I thought I saw someone out on the balcony, late at night. Was that you?”

You felt your cheeks grow hot, your heartbeat picking up to a mile a minute. “What day was this?”

“Last week Friday.” His face was serious as he strolled over to a pool chair, pulling it closer to the side and taking a seat.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think anyone was out there then.” The words came out a lot quicker than you’d meant. You were usually pretty good at lying but something in his voice made you want to tell him the truth, to please him.

He tsked. “I’ve seen you lie better than that. Try again darling.” He sounded bored as he reached for your pack of cigarettes on the side table. He raised an eyebrow in question as he drew out a cigarette. You nodded, nervously biting your lip as he lit it and crossed his legs, leisurely smoking while he stared you down.

“No words, little one?” he teased, smirking down at you. “Did you at least enjoy the show?”

You huffed- this was humiliating. How dare he? You found anger quickly overtaking your initial shock and embarrassment as you made your way to the pool stairs and got out. You raised an eyebrow at him and smiled when the smirk slid off his face at the sight of your naked, wet body. Two can play this game. Walking over to him you grabbed a towel off the chair and wrapped it around yourself.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to imply here,” you grabbed the cigarette from between his long, muscular fingers and took a long drag. “But I didn’t see you last Friday night. And I definitely didn’t see you fucking that blonde-” your eyes widened at your own confession.

He stood to his full height and stepped closer to you, looking down at you once more. You backed up a step, feeling the lounge chair behind you.

“Drop the towel,” he growled, the hungry look in his eyes fully directed at you this time.

“Listen-“ you started to explain yourself.

“Drop. The. Towel.” He enunciated each word with his crisp accent and perfect voice.

“I knew it- I knew you wanted to fuck me.” You smirked at him triumphantly as you took another drag.

“If I have to tell you again to take that off, you’re not gonna like me darling,” he threatened, stepping closer.

“Oh really?” You laughed, taunting him. “And what are you going to do, Mr. Laufeyson?” You blinked innocently at him, enjoying the way the muscles in his jaw clenched.

Suddenly he grabbed your jaw, firmly but not painfully as he brought his face inches from yours, your eyes locked.

“You fucking brat.” He roughly pulled the towel down, exposing your body to the warm air. He pinched the cigarette from your fingers, extinguishing it under his shoe on the concrete. “I’m going to have to teach you some manners, aren’t I?”

Before you could answer he spun you both around and sat on the lounge chair then pulled you over his lap, angling you so your top half rested on the chair, your hips over his. One hand firmly held your lower back in place, the other smoothed over the skin of your ass and you squirmed. His hand came down to spank you, hard. “First lesson- don’t fucking move until I tell you to.” You whined, your face burning.

His hand came down again in the same spot, causing you to hiss and grip the plastic of the chair in one hand and his thigh in the other. “Second lesson- always answer me.”

You were humiliated but you found yourself growing even more wet with each spank. First there was the pain, then a wave of pleasure that intensified when he smoothed his hand over the skin he’d hit.

He gave you another slap, “what did I just say?” He growled, his hand roughly gripping the skin this time.

“T-to always answer you.” Your voice was small as you stuttered, overwhelmed by the way he was making you feel.

“Good girl.” You'd felt a tiny swell of pride at that. “I’m going to spank you three more times. Count them for me.”

“Okay,” you nodded, worried if you didn’t answer he’d add more to the list. His hand came down on your other cheek, hard and fast.

“One,” you counted, taking a deep breath. Before you could forcibly relax your tense muscles his hand had struck your cheek once more, causing you to hiss.

Your finger tips were pressing into his thigh as you let out a breath, the sharp pain receding. “Two,” you licked your lips and tensed in anticipation of the third and final slap.

After a few seconds you relaxed then turned to catch his eye- he was darkly observing you with his jaw clenched. Suddenly he hit the skin once more, this time the hardest, causing you to cry out.

You composed yourself with a quick breath. “Three.”

“Well done, darling.” He was gently running over the sore skin with his large hands. You could feel his erection under you.

“I wish you could see how lovely you looked on my lap, taking your spanking so well.” He dipped his hand between your legs. You sucked in a breath when you felt his fingers brush along your wet slit causing you to writhe on his lap.

“My poor, little thing. You’re dripping,” his voice was pure sin as he brought his glistening fingers up to your face.

He shifted, his strong grip helping you off his lap so you stood before him on shaky legs. You bit your lip, face growing hot as suddenly became fascinated with your fingers, twisting them painfully.

He stood then, and brought his finger under your chin to guide your eyes to his. He wore a satisfied expression, a slight grin at his lips as he took in your naked form.

“Do you think you’ve learnt your lesson darling?” He asked, his eyes mocking yours.

You quickly nodded, feeling fully exposed in front of his fully clothed form.

He licked his lips. “Do you want to go upstairs so I can fuck you?”

Your cheeks burnt as you nodded quickly again.

“Answer me darling,” he dropped his hand from your chin.

“Yes, Mr. Laufeyson.”

A slow, filthy grin spread across his face. “Lead the way,” he motioned towards the stairs.

You bent to reach for your towel on the ground. “Ah, ah, no need for that darling.” His words stopped you. You shivered as you stood back up, another wave of heat pulsing through your core.

You tentatively walked up the steep stairs and he followed closely behind. You could feel his gaze on you with each step.

Once up on the patio you looked back at him, his eyes dark with hunger. You gave him a shy smile before leading him inside. You stopped- should you bring him to your bedroom?

Before you could finish your thought he slid up behind you, his hands coming to grip your waist. “Where shall I take you, darling?” He whispered in your ear, his breath making you shiver.

He let go of your waist to circle you, stopping before you. “Do you want me to ruin you on that god awful couch?” He looked over his shoulder to the gaudy floral couch Carla had ordered special from Italy. She wouldn’t let anyone who wasn’t company sit on it in fear of stains.

You smiled at the idea of ruining the couch with Mr. Laufeyson, knowing Carla would lose her mind- even more so if she found out how it got there. “Yes please.”

He pulled you towards it then gently guided you to sit at the edge of it, angling you so you were in one corner. His hands splayed over the skin of your legs, gently pushing them apart. The feeling of the cool air of the house on your slit gave you goosebumps.

He kept his eyes locked with yours as he knelt between your legs before he turned to press a kiss to your thigh close to your knee. He then bit the skin there, earning a sharp inhale from you before he soothed it with his warm tongue.

“Tell me, darling. Did you touch yourself? Did you play with yourself as you watched me?” His velvety voice sent an involuntary shudder through you, his eyes capturing yours.

He nipped at your thigh with his teeth, marring the skin. You yelped then swallowed. “Yes! Yes, I did.”

“Good girl.” He moved to repeat his actions further up the inside of your thigh while he gently ran his fingers up and down your other thigh.

You were trembling while you watched him, each bite a little harder than the last as he got closer to your wet core. His eyes met yours once more then he blew a stream of cold air over your slit, causing you to gasp sharply. He smirked before letting his lips barely graze over your clit, your hips moving slightly before he brought his arm down over them to hold you in place.

He ever so gently pressed a kiss to your clit before gently running his tongue over the sensitive flesh, pulling a moan from you. You could feel your wetness dripping down onto the couch below as he continued to delicately tease you.

“You taste divine, darling. Better than I’d imagined.” You whined at his words- the idea of him alone, picturing what your cunt tasted like brought you to the edge of an orgasm.

He smiled wickedly up at you. “So close already? Poor thing.” Bringing one long finger to your slit he gathered some wetness before pushing it fully within you, forcing a loud moan through your lips.

“It’s okay darling, let go. Give into me. I promise it’ll make you feel so much better,” he hummed against your clit before tenderly sucking on it. He bent his finger within you, hitting something deep that made you cry out. You quickly came, your release squirting around his finger and wetting the couch below.

He kept up his movements as you rode out your high. Once your breath returned to you he pulled away and removed his finger, licking his lips as he wiped your release off his chin.

“Third lesson- good girls always get to cum.” He winked at you with a grin before standing.

He leaned over you, caging you in on the couch before capturing your lips with his. You hummed at the taste of yourself on him, his tongue gliding against yours.

He straightened back up then pulled you up off the couch and guided you to face the other way. He led you so your knees were on the couch, your arms resting against the back of the upholstery. You heard the sound of a zipper before feeling the tip of his hard length slide against your folds. You instinctively arched your back at the feeling, pressing yourself up against him, causing him to groan.

“Such a greedy little brat,” he said, smoothing his hands over the skin of your ass. “You want me to fuck that pretty little cunt, hm?”

“Yes- yes please, Mr. Laufeyson. Please fuck me,” you begged, rubbing yourself on him once more.

With that he thrust into you, holding himself still once he was fully seated within you, giving you a chance to adjust. You’d gasped at the sensation- he was clearly well-endowed and you were thankful he gave you a moment. Willing your muscles to relax you looked back at him before grinding your hips against his.

His eyes were dark with lust, his jaw clenched in a way that made you involuntarily squeeze him as he started to move within you. You were panting as he set a pace, the angle of his thrusts hitting the same spot he’d found quickly before.

You’d turned back around and folded your forearms over the back of the couch, arching yourself against him even more. He growled and picked up his pace, his hand firmly gripping your hip. The angle had you moaning desperately, the feeling of him so deep within you making your fingers and toes numb.

“That’s it darling, take my cock within your needy little cunt. Fuck- I’ve wanted to ruin this tight little pussy for so long. I’ve wanted you for so long,” he rasped out between thrusts and your mind went blank, all you could respond with were desperate moans.

He stopped abruptly and pulled you up before sitting himself on the couch and pulling you over his lap so you were straddling him. He’d unbuttoned his shirt and your mouth went dry at the sight of the musculature under his pale skin. You slid your fingers under the fabric, gripping his firm shoulders as he positioned himself under you.

You moved your hips in a circle over him, enjoying the feel of the very tip of him swirling within you.

“You little tease,” he grinned darkly, running a hand through his hair. “Ride me, darling. Show me what you can do.”

Your cunt clenched at his words and his wicked smirk spread. You took the opportunity to bring yourself down to grind against him, wiping the smug look off his face.

You quickly set a pace as you rode him, his hands on your ass guiding your movements. You were panting as you continued your movements, the angle bringing you close to your finish.

“Are you going to cum, darling?” His voice vibrated through you, and you nodded.

“Yes- fuck, Mr. Laufeyson. You feel so good-“ he continued to guide your movements, moving his head closer to your breast. He brought his mouth around one of your nipples, gently sucking at the nub. You arched into him, moaning at the sensation.

His tongue ran against your skin in his mouth, bringing another moan from you before he sharply bit down on your nipple, pushing you over the edge into another orgasm. You moaned his name over and over as you rode out your high, your nails digging into the skin of his shoulder. As you came back to yourself you felt him twitch within you, filling you as he reached his own finish.

You watched him as he came, mesmerised with his blissful expression, his long eyelashes touching defined cheekbones. His eyes fluttered back open and he gave you a smirk- god help you he was fucking gorgeous.

He gave you a chaste kiss before helping you up, the combined fluids from your finish trickling down your thigh. You were happy to see some hit the couch as you moved off him.

You strolled to the bathroom to clean yourself up and throw on a t-shirt and panties, passing a damp cloth to him once you returned. You pulled a cigarette from the pack you had on the kitchen counter, then headed to the balcony as you lit it up.

You were leaning on the balcony, watching the now dark waves when he joined you. You smiled at him, offering him your cigarette. He took a long drag as you leant on the balcony’s edge.

“So,” you trailed off, not sure what to say.

“That was fun,” he exhaled then smiled at you, his expression mischievous.

“Yeah,” you agreed, relief filling your chest. “I’d love to do it again.”

“Of course darling, we have all summer.” He came behind you, pulling you against his chest as he ducked his head so his lips were beside your ear. ”And you have quite a bit to learn.”

End Notes: Want to read more Loki fics of mine? My masterlist is here.

[stuff-from-the-void-matron]

Laurel Wreaths & Animal Teeth (5)

(c!Technoblade x fem!Reader)

(got a decent amount of interest on chapter 4 so here’s chapter 5! hope you all enjoy! and remember, chapter 6 depends on how well this chapter does! so remember to comment and reblog! thanks y’all! <3)

————-

You’d rung the bell, the sound alerting the villagers that things were all okay again. Soon they were all outside again and a lot came over to see what was going on. You were standing by two human kids. Villagers were typically pretty neutral to humans, unless they hurt them or broke their stuff. Though they tended to avoid humans (even the small/young ones) because of how dangerous they had the potential to be. 

This was sorta reinforced by today’s little drama. But with you there the villagers weren’t worried. They trusted you to keep them safe and protect them and their homes/businesses. Plus a few of them kind of heard you scolding the two human boys and well, villagers are true gossips because word spread through the small population hilariously fast. And yes they may have snickered over the two boys getting lectured like they did. But you’d never know that.

During this Tommy and Tubbo took the time to look around at the village. They noticed there wasn’t a single piece of cobblestone anywhere, much to Tommy’s outrage and Tubbo’s amusement. Tommy made sure to loudly gripe about how the village lost all of it’s ‘cool factor’ because you took the cobblestone away. He even started to say that if cobblestone was like a woman he’d-... but he stopped when he seemed to realize that not only was he standing directly next to an ACTUAL woman but an adult one…

He started sweating nervously and shooting a glare at Tubbo when the brown haired boy snickered at his uncomfortable position, but in the end he sort of mumbled,

“Uh.. you don’t wanna know what I’d… do.. pft.” 

Tubbo couldn’t hold it in anymore and broke out into laughter, with Tommy right behind him. While you just shook your head and made a ‘tsk’ing’ noise at the goofy pair. But you didn’t bother to hide your amused smile. Once they’d calmed down you resumed your trek. 

As you walked the two boys noted the second thing that stood out to them in the village were all the identical patterned banners that were hung up. The two tone ones with the golden suns on them. Tubbo lightly tugged on your sleeve, causing you to blink and look down at him curiously, and he asked why you hung them up everywhere. Was it to show this was your village or?

“Huh? Oh no, I didn’t hang those up, the villagers did. Though I made the original ones, the ones I hung up on my home. But the villagers liked them so much they made their own,” you explained with a calm smile.

Hearing this made the boys share a confused look before Tommy bluntly said that villagers never made patterned banners, they only hung up the plain ones. He’d never heard of them making banners ever. But you just shrugged and said the day after you’d hung up yours the villagers had all started copying you. You’re not 100% sure why (though you have a suspicion it’s the worship thing… but you didn’t bring that up..), you just assumed it was because they took a liking to them.

“I just wanted some decoration for my house and made the banner to spruce the place up, and it was sweet they liked them so much,” you added with a smile.

Tommy tilted his head before looking around the village and asking which house was yours. He pointed at one that was made of wood, stone, and pink terracotta and asked if that was it because ‘you’re a girl, girls like pink right?’ which just made you laugh and shake your head. 

“Some girls like pink, sure. Though I know some boys do as well. But no that’s not my house. Mine is up there on the hill at the other end of the village, see?” You pointed towards your temple home and the two boys followed your gesture and their eyes widened at the sight of the huge white quartz temple. 

Almost instantly Tommy started shouting about how that wasn’t a house, it was some kinda mansion or something! You just laughed and asked if he’d even ever seen a mansion before. He paused for a second, mouth open like he was going to say something but nothing came out. But then he caught himself and loudly said he’d seen LOADS of mansions before! So he knew what he was talking about.

You didn’t bother questioning him, you know he didn’t sound too sure, but what harm was there in letting him pretend he knew when he didn’t? Regardless, you and the two boys continued walking through the village, but Tommy and Tubbo (thinking that made you feel crazy still) said they wanted to see your cool house. You raised an eyebrow and asked if ALL they planned to do was look.

“It took exactly two days and two nights to build it, I don’t want two troublemakers wrecking it,” you said with a suspicious tone.

Tommy was first to heave a put upon sigh as he said they weren’t gonna wreck your stuff! But it was Tubbo who cut in and said that no way did you build that huge thing in just a couple days! It would have had to take you a week at best! 

You tilted your head and said it didn’t take a ‘couple days’ only, it took two days and two nights straight. But that answer just baffled the two boys more. And Tommy said in a disbelieving voice,

“You built for 48 hours straight?” You nodded and Tommy raised an eyebrow, not seeming to believe you.

“What, did ya just eat along the way?? Fought mobs while building at night??” He asked, sounding amused. And you, entirely without thinking how WEIRD it was going to sound, just replied that you’d sort of forgotten to eat while you were building.

“Yeah I got way too focused on building and after scrapping the first three builds I tried and settled on my temple house I got too into it and forgot to eat or sleep.”

You admitted it with some shame before quickly turning to the two stunned boys and saying they shouldn’t do stuff like that, it was irresponsible and dangerous! Tommy frowned and replied that YOU just admitted to doing those very things! But you countered that you were an adult and allowed to make your own stupid choices, but as kids they should heed smart advice. 

“It’s very much a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ type situation,” you said with a wry smile.

The blond was very much going to argue against that but you all finally scaled the path leading up the hill to your temple home and Tubbo saw the chest situated outside your home to the left of the front door. Without thinking he went over and started plundering through the chest, but yelped when you smacked his hand, causing him to pull both hands out of the chest and tuck them close to his stomach.

“Don’t go through my gift chest! The villagers use this to give me thank you gifts!” you scold the brunet boy. 

They start bombarding you with questions, like why on earth do the villagers give you gifts? What kind of gifts were they? What’d you do to earn them? Are you blackmailing the villagers? If so, then can you teach them how to do that? You burst out laughing at the way the questions just got more and more absurd. 

“No! I do not blackmail anyone! Lord, what is with you two kids? No, I work to protect the village and help the villagers master their crafts. And in return they thank me with gifts they make,” you answered with an amused grin.

But it seemed the blond only focused on one part of your reply, and it was the part where you called him a kid. A split second of dumbfounded stunned silence ensued before he snapped out of it and started raging, much to your and Tubbo’s amusement.

“I ain’t no CHILD! I am a MAN! A tall and powerful man who don’t gotta take crap from nobody! TUBBO STOP LAUGHING! SHE CALLED YOU A CHILD TOO!”

Tubbo didn’t even respond, he was too busy laughing. You were laughing too but managed to calm down enough to say that there was nothing wrong with being a child, it just meant you had more learning to do and experience to gain. Tommy and Tubbo seemed to calm down at hearing this, at least until you reached out and pinches both boys’ cheeks and cooed,

“And besides, you’re both cute widdle babies~!”

Now they were both hollering about ‘not being babies!’ and kicking up a huge fuss, much to your amusement.

-0-

After that you’d gone through the day’s gifts and saw most of them were the usual stuff (but still great). Plenty of bread and fruit, potion stuff, and a fur blanket. You packed away the food in a chest, put up the potion supplies by your brewing station, and threw the nice fur blanket across the end of your bed as decoration. All in all they were lovely gifts.

But one of the gifts really stood out. A red wooden box. And when you opened it you saw it had 6 engraved gold bangles. And they had different engravings. Some were carved to have leafy vines, some had geometric shapes, others had fish scale patterns, and even some with simple swirls and dots. But they all had a hinge to open them and a thin chain to keep them from falling off should they accidentally come open.

You loved all the gifts the villagers got you, how could you not? They were the fruits of their labor and skill! But these bracelets just hit different? You’d always liked gold, it was pretty and just crisp looking. SO without hesitation you’d put the bracelets on, three on each wrist before admiring them in the waning light of the sunset.

You’d even showed the two teen boys after you put them on and they said they looked nice, though you could tell they were only being polite, most likely because they had no interest in jewelry. Though you appreciate them trying to be nice for your sake. But while you were admiring your latest gift Tubbo noticed something simmering in your cauldron by your brewing stand. 

He cautiously approached it while you were showing Tommy your enchantment table and library (tommy wanted to enchant his sword). The brown haired boy let the scent from the lightly bubbling cauldron waft across his face and he breathed it in with a pleased sigh. Whatever this was it was clearly food, but damn did it smell like utter heaven! He could see chunks of steak, cuts of potato and carrot, and some other green bits he didn’t recognize. But he did recognize the light golden sheen the stew(?) had. Just like an enchanted golden apple! 

All three of you blinked when a sudden growing gurgle sounded through the quartz temple. You and Tommy looked over at Tubbo, whose face was red with embarrassment. He laughed awkwardly and said the food smelled good, and he hadn’t eaten since breakfast as his excuse. But you just gave a laugh and went over to the cauldron, scooting him out of the way so you could check on it. 

The two watched you stir the concoction with a wooden spoon before tasting some and letting out a pleased hum. Cooking was similar to potion making so you’d started doing both lately to keep yourself busy. You’d started with the recipes you already knew from the game. Mushroom stew, beetroot soup, rabbit stew, bread, etc. But those got boring fast so you decided.. why not try something new? So you’d started just doing whatever sounded like a good idea.

You learned LOTS of new recipes (and made sure to jot them down in a book so you didn’t forget them/what they did) but you also made some truly vile foodstuff. Lots of your failed concoctions ended up in the trash. But this latest one actually tasted darn good to you. After trying it you even noticed it gave you the same effects as the enchanted golden apple. Which was cool since you’d marinated the steak you’d put in the stew in a bowl of enchanted gapple juice. 

Behind you you could hear Tubbo bugging Tommy, asking him to give him some food since he ran out and his hunger was low. But Tommy refused, saying he only had one loaf of bread left and Tubbo should have brought more food! You rolled your eyes at the bickering pair of boys before wordlessly grabbing some wooden bowls and scooping some of the enchanted beef stew into them before calling over your shoulder,

“Y’all two want some stew? It turned out really good this time I think.”

Tubbo gave a thankful, “Oh yes, please!” while Tommy gave a childish, “Yeah! Gimme!” that made you want to laugh at their silliness. But instead you just handed over the two bowls of stew. You turned back around to grab yourself one (because you might not NEED food but it still tastes good) and while your back was turned you heard them greedily slurping and munching on the stew. You’d turned back and came face to face with two boys with empty bowls held out to you to show they’d like more. You barked out a laugh and teasingly asked if it was any good. 

Tommy didn’t seem to want to wait and shook his bowl and demanded in a snarky tone to “Hurry it up woman!” which.. made you frown. You were giving him a very unamused look, which he seemed to register and realize he may have misstepped here. He sweat anxiously with a nervous smile while Tubbo’s face dropped and he held his own bowl closer to his chest, not liking the tense silence. For some reason having you upset with him made him not feel so good. Like it was a bone deep feeling that left him hugely on edge. Tubbo glanced over at his best friend and knew the same could be said for him, because Tommy looked vaguely ill. But after a harsh elbow jab from the brunet the blond seemed to snap into the present and stuttered,

“I was-uh, y’see I was only.. kidding. Yeah! Kidding! What I really meant was can I please have some more??” 

Your frown twitched before turning into a wry smile. You huffed out a chuckle that made both boys' anxieties fade. Their bodies seemed to deflate from how tense they’d been before as you handed over the full bowl in your hand to him and said while you ruffled his hay colored hair, 

“Nice save kiddo, because if you’d have been smarting off for real I’d have been pretty irked. Thankfully it was only a joke~”

Tommy gave a relieved chuckle before he shamelessly gobbled down his new bowl of stew, seemingly back to normal now that you didn’t seem upset at him anymore. You mentally shook your head, he was such a kid it was pretty funny. But then you turned your gaze to Tubbo and held your hand out for his bowl, which he happily handed over with a shy ‘thank you!’ that made you smile. Soon they were both digging in all over again. Only this time you joined them, positively delighted with how this new stew had turned out. After eating you’d even offered them some iced tea you’d made. And this had started a whole Thing with the two British boys.

They’d argued that iced tea was an abomination and hot tea was the only right way to do tea. You’d rolled your eyes and asked if they’d ever even TRIED iced tea before. That got Tubbo to sorta stutter before falling silent but Tommy, ever the hard headed one, just plowed on and said he didn’t NEED to try it to know it wasn’t good. You gave him a Look and shook your head before convincing them to just try it and if they didn’t like it then they could dump it out. After some back and forth they caved and tried it, and lo and behold they both enjoyed it. The crisp drink was perfect for warm weather, unlike hot tea. But even after begrudgingly admitting it wasn’t ‘total shit’ Tommy refused to admit he liked it better than ‘proper tea’. You took this all as a win regardless.

-0-

You’d spent the majority of the day with the two young boys, just showing them around and feeding them and goofing off. You’d forgotten how fun it was to interact with people like this. To have actual conversation that wasn’t just ‘hms’ and ‘hngs’ like with the Villagers. You still loved the villagers, they were good folks but you’d missed talking with people normally. Which is why you were understandably bummed out when you saw the sun was getting dangerously close to the horizon. But you knew being out after dark wasn’t wise for regular people. You even brought it up to the two boys, not wanting them to have to face any hostile mobs on their way home. They reassured you they’d be fine, they’ve got good gear and enchanted weapons, but you still worried.

Though instead of letting it get to you and ruining the rest of the evening you instead packed the two boys some food to go. You put the rest of the stew into bowls and served up a couple more glasses of iced tea before gifting them to them, making sure they each got an equal share. Tubbo tried to politely say you didn’t have to give them anything while Tommy just let out a ‘whoop!’ and shoved his share into his inventory with a wide grin. That helped Tubbo accept his too without any more shyness. Soon they were all packed up and ready to go home, wherever that was.

But before they headed off Tubbo asked if they could come back, with Tommy perking up at the question, clearly wanting to know your answer too. With a smile you said of course they could come back to visit you and your village. You’d be delighted to host them again! Even if your first impression of them wasn’t that nice. You chuckled when Tommy had the decency to at least look somewhat sheepish. But your smile wasn’t upset and let them know you were only teasing, and it was water under the bridge. 

“I look forward to you two coming back again! Maybe you can help me out around the village and in return I can pay you or maybe make you both more food-”

Tommy and Tubbo cut you off by almost yelling out in unison, “FOOD!” which made you laugh out loud. You held up a hand in mock surrender and agreed to make them more food the next time they stopped by. The pair looked excited and waved before picking the berries from the bushes surrounding your village (so they wouldn’t take damage from the thorns) and hurried through them. You waved goodbye in return then took some bone meal out to help the bushes grow back before heading back home. 

You had a great day, and weren’t lying when you said you couldn’t wait for the two to come back.

-0-

Tommy and Tubbo made it back to L’manburg without too much fuss, only having to kill a few zombies and skeletons along the way. Though by the time they got back it was very much after dark and everyone had settled in for the night to avoid the hostile mobs. So the two boys didn’t bother checking in with anyone since it was already late and they were tired from the journey back. But to their surprise Wilbur was waiting up for them in the kitchen, sipping some tea and working on some papers.

“Oi, you two are back late. Run into trouble or somethin’?” Wilbur asked with a wry grin. 

And that released the floodgates of the two teen boys unloading everything that’d happened that day. From finding the village to accidentally fighting an iron golem, to meeting YOU! And everything else after. Wilbur listened with wide eyes, surprised to hear them talk about meeting a new person, a stranger outside of a country/city place that they knew of. One that apparently took over a village? Weird. 

But L’manburg could always use more allies. 

Maybe he should go pay you a visit too.

-----------------

@salinesoot​ @lady-bee-fechin​ @kacchasu​ @putridjoy​ @lunawritesstories​ @galaxypankitty3030​ @paradigmax​ @zachariethememerie​ @killmewithafanfic @trinity-1002107 @hufflepuff-demigod @truthdaze @exorcisms-with-elmo @redbloodtea @heythereimhaylz @olyink @jackalopedoodles @nikkineeky @artsimatsu @hufflepuff-demigod

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Weird, “Chain Song.”

This one might be a bit cheesy, but I was feeling something feel good this morning. I hope you guys like it. 

The Commander  said it was the furthest human colony away from earth, and in fact, it was the furthest colony away from any sort of civilized society as far as anyone knew. The people who lived here had volunteered for the job and had been sent by the UN to pay of debts, prison sentences, or simply as a way to avoid homelessness. And now their job was to mine the asteroid fields for precious metals , usually by hand as spare equipment was hard to find and was rarely sent this far out in the system.

Commander Vir explained that their colony was technically outside the reach of GA control and was actually positioned in unclaimed airspace as far as anyone knew.

IN essence, these people were alone in the universe as far away from anything as anyone might be, and only receiving supplies once or twice a year.

The planet on which they lived wasn’t really a planet at all, but an exoplanet about the size of pluto, which they were steadily mining for it’s precious metals to be sent back to earth.

At that moment the Harbinger cargo bay held all the equipment these people would need to make the components to complicated mechanical devices including computers implanted electronics and projection screens for military installations.

They took a wide turn through the asteroid field, where, they could already, occasionally see small mining cycles with one or two riders floating on the back, one working to mine the metal and another working to make sure they did not float away from their post. Their ship was barely noticed as they passed by, except for when they got close enough for their shadow to fall over  the working figures.

They crested over another large asteroid, in a surprisingly tight belt and came across the small exoplanet around which much of the debris circled.  It was nothing special at first, smaller than the moon would have been back on earth, but a closer look at its rocky, dust-covered surface showed evidence of sustained human life: metal towers, footprints, vehicle tracks, and more branching outward across the entirety of the minuscule exoplanet.

On the bridge most of the crew was thinking the same thing. As the docking bay of the little planet came into view-- welded together by way of thousands of scraps of metal into an amalgamated monstrosity of a construction-- all of them shivered at the thought of living in such a desolate place. Commander Vir, while thinking the build was cool and well worthy of best-selling science fiction novel or action movie, found the place more than a little depressing to look at, as there were no stars nearby to light the dark little planet.

There was simply the space around and the human made lights which lit the docking bay surface.

Dr. krill was under the impression that the entire thing needed to be scraped and burned, so they could start over. He could not imagine how many deaths and injuries had been sustained creating this place.

Sunny had no real opinion, though her brother Cannon couldn’t help but find a strange and melancholy beauty about the place, as it was, somehow a statement of survival, and a symbol of hope to him rather than a demonstration of sadness.

The commander pulled up to gently maneuver their ship into place in the docking bay, which had slowly opened for them. Even the door to the docking bay looked as if it had been patched together like the most patchwork of quilts. On the outside of the docking bay figures in antiquated space suits: bulky and difficult to maneuver waved at them from the platform.

The door behind them closed, the sharp metal silent in space until the exact moment where the interior was pressurized. Commander Vir unbuckled his seat and ordered a small team to follow him as the dock workers secured their ship into place.

Stepping out into the musty air was a strange experience.

The docking bay echoed with voices and metal clanged constantly against itself.

The floor below them, the ceiling above them, and all around the ground and walls were made out of a patchwork of material. Rusted street signs, and caution signs were pinned up against the walls as in decoration.

Graffiti stained the metal with bright colors in pinks and faded yellow.

Small lights whirled overhead, dim and fading towards their last breath.

He was just beginning to think of how depressing it must be to live in a place like this when a figure approached them from the back their arms wide. They all blinked in surprise as the smiling figure burst into peals of delighted laughter and enfolded the commander in a full contact bear hug.

The man was at least two inches taller than the commander and had muscled arms that were about as big as the other man’s head. His teeth shone white against his dark skin and his wide, honest eyes. His dark hair was braided back into long plates that hung down to his lower back.

He pulled out of the hug and then kissed the commander on either cheek leaving him standing stunned and confused as he moved onto the rest of the party. He did the same for everyone alien or otherwise despite having no idea who he was.

Then he stepped back to stand before them.

The commander frowned in confusion, looking the other man over.

His garb was…. Rather unexpected for a place like this. His shirt was sleeveless, but the shirt he wore had been dyed a bright yellow and was drawn about with patterns and stained with dust. His pants were a bright green and tied with ribbons made in red from the top of the leg down to the lower knee. And then there was the metal, Just like the walls and floors it looked like it had been welded together using scrap pieces for parts, and he wore it like armor on his chest, and on his exposed arms like some sort of armor, though it looked more decorative than anything else.

He raised his hands out wide to either side, “I am station master Jicari and welcome, to the Paxicar mining colony.” His voice was deep and melodious resonating with a kind of accent that none of the could quite place. The smile never left the man’s face, “we are pleased to see outsiders, we don’t get many visitors.”

Looking around the room, they could see other figures going about their work. These figures too were brightly colored, and decorated in scrapped metal.

They waved enthusiastically at the newcomers.

Commander Vir scratched his head in surprise.

“Please, we will unload your cargo, and I will show you to our lovely home.”

The group glanced between each other not entirely sure if lovely was the right word for it. Krill was definitely thinking tetanus, but the captain shrugged. He liked this man already and his strange clothing.

He waved them forward with a smile that never faltered, and together they clopped over the metal flooring and up a set of stairs  where neon signs hung on the wall flickering slightly with disrepair.

They passed more men and women in the hallway all of them still dress in bright colors and decorated in metal. One woman wore a headdress that encased her ponytails in rings of metal all the way down her back. Another man wore a helmet that had delicate patterns of silver crawling down his cheek and around one eye.

And everywhere they went the people smiled at them.

Happy laughter echoed from the tunnels to their right and left.

At one point a group of children raced past the down the tunnel giggling and laughing bright rainbow colors flapping behind them in the darkness of the tunnel.

The spaces were not so cramped as they thought it might be and none of them felt claustrophobic walking down the hallway despite its low ceiling, exposed wires, and piping.

A dim blue glow emanated from the distant end of the hallway giving the metal interior a sort of atmospheric haze. 

Commander Vir thought he could hear the sound of rushing water.

“I…. Forgive me for sounding ignorant Mr. Jicari.”

“Just jicari will do.”

“Very well…. Then , lie I said, I don’t mean to sound insulting or anything but…. Your people they seem so…. Happy, and colorful. I haven't seen anything like it, not on earth, or Mars or anywhere else in the galaxy, and…. Well.”

His booming laugh echoed down the hall, “And you are wondering how a group of metal miners taken from prisons, and off the streets could find more happiness than those who still live on earth?”

He frowned a bit, “I was going to be more delicate about it, but yes.”

He continued to smile, “Because we have nothing.”

Commander vir frowned, “I’m confused.”

The man patted him on the back, “Of course you are.” The man patted him on the back, “You must understand, Adam that when we came here we had nothing, we had the clothes on our backs and the strength of our hands. Back on earth you can go and you can get rich and you can buy things. But the secret about things is that they do not make you happy. You think that getting a new car can make you happy, that going on exotic vacations can make you happy, well that is not the case because after a while you get used to that new car and soon enough exotic locations are commonplace. You will never be happy unless you find that happiness inside. Happiness is a decision we here have chosen.”

He glanced back at the small group that trailed behind him and smiled, “We are happy because we have nothing, and nothing forced us to look inwards at ourselves. The people who are not happy are not forced into it. They may do what they wish, but it is much better to be happy than it is to wallow in misery for our circumstances.”

The Commander nodded. He wasn’t entirely sure it was that simple, but he was willing to listen.

“And because we did not dwell on how miserable we could be, we made something beautiful, we tried to create with our hands, brighten our days with colors, and smiles, and laughter and stories. We created a culture of happiness.”

They continued to glance at each other, but as they were passed by in the hallways more hands waved at them and more smile were exchanged.

Jicari paused turning to look at them with his deep black eyes lined in wrinkles, “You are about to see the gem of the asteroid belt, something no outsider has ever seen before because they don’t bother to visit our “sad little mining colony.”

He stepped forward motioning them to follow.

And.they did as told stopping in their tracks eyes wide at the massive cavern that stood before them. What rose up before them was a beautiful city, not conventionally beautiful like it was made from white marble, but beautiful and strange in its construction. Gravity mats had been placed about the curvature of the inside of the exo planet allowing the city to climb the walls in a slow parabola upward. The buildings themselves were multi-leveled rising up into the darkness and lit from inside with a thousand little lights. Open cables and wires spilled down from the top of the buildings hanging downwards towards the streets.

The street itself was a walkway on two sides with a canal going down the middle. And the water there was crystal clear and lined with a strange green moss. Neon light lit the cavern with a hazy blue and pink lighting the people and their colorful garments from all sides.

The water sparkled with the pink and blue light as if it had been sprinkled with fairy dust.

Machinery melded with metal and was occasionally covered in delicate green climbing moss.

The people were not idle. Sparks flew from their hands as they worked to repair the buildings, some on the bottom floor and others high in the air. The sound of mallets and chisels rattled through the cavern.

A few people stood on metal rafts that slowly drifted down the length of the river.

And as always that purple blue haze backed everything lit form inside with that light pink, yellow and blue light.

They were walked through the city listening to the rhythmic clatter of tools, and the soft murmur of voices. The city had looked very small from the outside, but perhaps that was just their perception of how small the exo planet was. In reality the interior was quite large though it was not one hundredth of the interior.

Reaching the edge of the city, they could look upwards and see thousands of feet of open rock face being chiseled away by hand using pick axes and drills. Many of these people were held in place on wires or stood precariously on the edge of ledges without anything to hold the in place.

The group of them craned their necks back staring up at the massive walls of stone and a thousand lights that crawled across it reaching up into the darkness finally to be obscured by the blue haze.

“Its…. beautiful.” The commander was surprised at himself for saying it, but it really was true..

Jicari smiled, “it is beautiful, yes.”

He motioned them to follow, and they continued to do so winding up a few short switchbacks towards the base of the wall. Moss grew on either side of them adding a greeness to a place that shouldn’t have been green 

They were close to the wall of stone now able to see the workers and hear the clattering of their pick axes as they continually worked the stone . Sometimes they worked alone, and at other times they worked in teams of two, one person holding a chisel while the other used a mallet to beat herder into cracks within the stone.

Jicari turned to look at them and put a finger over his lips.

The group tilted their heads in surprise.

Then Jicari began to whistle.

The tune that he began had an immediate rhythm sharp and piercing enough to carry itself on echoes upwards to many of the workers at once. Krill grew woozy and had to steady himself against Cannon’s open arm as it began.

As soon as the whistling began there was a sudden dynamic change in the sound and movement of the workers. A short pause and then a clatter as all the pick axes and mallets hit at once following the beat set out by Jicari’s whistling. What had once been a clattering amalgamation of noise now turned itself into a steady pounding rhythm.

They listened in awe as the beat spread upwards as all the waiting humans latched on to the beat allowing their work to be the base for the music.

Jicari’s whistling continued, and voices followed soon after humming along with him at a steady pace to match the rhythm of their song. 

Krill was having a tough time staying awake 

The Drev and humans were having a tough time not humming along.

“Join us.” Jicari said, “Understand why we are happy here.” he motioned them forward, and the commander was the first to follow, interested.

And like humans do they began to match the song of the other humans humming along with the rhythm as Jicari lead them over to the wall.

They were met by a group of other miners who smiled openly and handed over pick axes to the newcomers still humming as they did.

“For some reason, I get the feeling you are getting free labor off us.” The commander teased quietly.”

Jicari just grinned, “Perhaps, but you might find you get something out of it too.”

The commander took the pick axe resting it against his leg as he pulled of his jacket and then his shirt. The marines followed his lead, and even the Drev were invited to join.

Krill floated next to Jicari half in and half out of consciousness. Jicar gently set him on the ground before walking over to join the newcomers.

The group of humans and Drev waited with their tools in hand for Jicari’s lead.

He lifted the pick axe and brought it down on one of the down beats, and then he began to sing. The beat was slow and steady carried by the thunder of axes against stone and the shedding of sparks. The rhythm had spread itself all the way up the wall until the entire cavern was echoing with the beat.

Each beat allowed for the worker to swing back and build up enough momentum for the next hit.

Slowly the new humans followed the example of the others, until, just like that they were following the same beat pattern. Their bodies swaying back and forth almost as if they were dancing. It took the Drev a bit longer, but soon enough they were one with the wall of humans.

Jicari’s voice was deep and powerful reverberating up the stone and down the line to the next human who took up the song with him. Her voice rung like a clear bell locking the beat into place as, one by one, other voices joined the song.

At first, it was a melancholy song about the stone and the axes, and the people who carried them, but as more voices joined in the sadness was replaced as hope took over weaving itself in through the music as an entire human population worked as one.  They sung about their home, about their families returning to a chorus of stone and hope  that didn't mind death so much, or the blackness, or the void separated from them by walls of stone.

It wasn’t long before the new humans understood the chorus and began to sing along with the workers sweat slicking their backs though they never dropped beat for a moment. Even the Drev continued to hum along, their powerful base voices lending a power behind Jicari’s words as they all continued to sing.

From where he sat half conscious Krill could see the humans as they swayed back and forth swinging the pick axes in slow under hand arches to gain the momentum they would need. And then came the powerful overhand throw that tighten the muscles of the back and sent rivulets of sweat dripping down onto stone. Muscles flexed fighting against the stone returning the force.

He couldn’t say how long they kept that up, thought it seemed longer than it should have been a somehow the song lent energy to arms that should have failed, Still when the songs finally died away some time later, they backed away from the wall panting their shoulders heaving as sweat dropped down their faces.

Commander Vir leaned against the axe wiping sweat from his hairline.

Jicari shouldered his axe, “Did you know that when humans sing their heart beats synchronize?”

“Really? I didn’t know that?”

Jicari smiled, “yes, and that is why we are so happy commander. This chain song helps us keep time while we work. It goes back to the traditions of many who came before us, laborers who worked on the trains, and slaves who worked in the fields, and builders who came before them, singing to keep in time for work but also to build hope.” 

He believed him, it was easy to see why, and that is why they stayed on the colony for a few days working alongside the people. The commander wanted them to feel what they had felt on that first day wanted to figure out how to bring it aboard the ship.

Cannon was the first to figure it out, secretly secluding himself where he could listen slowly writing with inspiration from the music.

When they were getting ready to leave he handed his work to the commander, who seemed surprised but pleased and sent the image of his work on with a message.

Jicari stood next to the commander and slide waving as the other humans slowly drifted on to the ship for departure.

Cannon began to hum.

Jicari turned in surprise, and it was the Commander’s turn to whistle, the clear tones ringing through the docking bay and into the cargo hanger. He was the first to pick up the tune followed by Ramirez and some of the other marines.

Jicari beamed wide and hummed along with them as this new song filled his docking bay, one about flying into the unknown, surrounded by dangers, into the blackest void, but being happy about it because they were those whose hearts couldn’t stay in one place too long.

As they stepped onto the ship, He could hear the echo of voices rising up, as it slowly spread through the hallways, up onto the bridge, and down into engineering, until the entire ship was connected by a chain of voices, somehow all together  despite being so far apart.

Jicari waved them off doing his best to remember the lyrics to the Harbinger’s song, so he could sing it to his people later.

And hat was how cannon became the first known Drev to compose a song. A song that took its roots from the chain songs of exhausted human laborers thousands of ears in the future, looking for hope, but secretly made with the idea of Drev training combat in mind.

The song would be used on the harbinger for both, to bolster productivity, moral, and for the Drev to keep time during training fights.

All a lesson learned from Paxicar, the happiest place in the universe. 

[violetwolfraven]

Hey :)

So, I know I just left a request already but the thing is that there's definitely not enough Blush in the Newsies Fandom, and therefore I wanted to ask for 10 ("Who are you?") for Blush in the canon era. Either some getting-to-know each other, or maybe (to make it more angsty) some kind of temporary amnesia thing or that maybe Blink's other eye slowly stops working? (At this point I'm just rambling, but I hope that's something to work with; I really like your writing)

Thank you! You’re right that we need more blush in this fandom, especially since like 80% of us see them as canon. I’m gonna go the kinda flangst route with this!

Sorry this took so long, but I struggled with and scrapped like 6 different ideas before coming up with something I felt good about. This takes place about a year before the strike.

Tw: referenced parent death, implied period-typical homophobia, referenced past child abuse.

...

Mush was woken up by a loud thud, like something hitting the floor.

He was very confused about what was going on until he looked down and saw Blink on the floor.

He was just sitting there, not quite upright, like he’d fallen out of bed and was too disoriented by getting woken up suddenly to move.

“Blink?”

He didn’t respond, and Mush was starting to wonder if he was really awake at all, or if he was... what, sleepwalking?

Honestly, Mush was starting to question if he was even awake. None of the others were, and that thud of Blink hitting the ground had been pretty loud.

Dream or not, he dropped down from his bunk, careful to land quietly next to his sweetheart.

It seemed like none of the others had been disturbed, which was probably a good thing. They all needed the rest. Jack and Crutchie were up sleeping on the roof like they always did in the summers and others all were still asleep.

“Blink?” Mush whispered.

He just kept staring at the ground, dazed, like he didn’t even hear him.

“Blink, are you okay?”

Blink flinched backward, instinctively raising his arms to shield his face, and Mush froze with his hand halfway between them.

Nightmare. It had to be.

What was it that Jack did when things like this happened?

Mush didn’t know, but he knew he had to do something. He did know something that might get Blink’s attention and snap him out of it. Something none of the others knew.

“Louis.”

Blink’s good eye snapped to attention, but not in a good way.

Mush felt a chill at how he wasn’t looking at him so much as through him.

“Who are you?”

His voice was haunted. Hollow, not even a hint of recognition there.

God, if this was what always happened when he had nightmares, Mush had no idea how Jack could ever calm him down.

He was going to try, anyway.

“It’s me,” Mush said, trying to keep his voice calm, “Mush Meyers. Your... your best friend. Ya don’t know me?”

Blink shook his head rapidly, curling in on himself like he was expecting a blow, “No. No. I’m sorry. No.”

That wasn’t good. Blink never apologized. If he was sorry for something, he let you know in more tangible ways. Actions over words.

Much needed to ground him. Now. He didn’t really know how, but... if Blink didn’t remember him, he guessed he should..?

“Do ya remember when you and me first met?” he asked, “We was 9 years old. My mom and pop had just died. I was friends with Jack, Crutchie, and Specs already, so they’d told me I could come here if anythin’ ever happened. I saw ya for the first time sitting out on the fire escape when Specs was introducin’ me to everybody. He told me not to bother ya, so we didn’t talk for a while.”

Mush paused, watching Blink’s face carefully for any sign of recognition.

He was still just staring into space, but he looked more confused than blank now, so Mush kept going.

“Everybody was upset cause Jack was in the Refuge for the first time and we was all worried, but it hit you hard cause you were alone. The others were all grouped up to support each other, but they was all avoidin’ you cause ya scared ‘em. You get defensive when you’re scared, so’s nobody can hurt ya.”

Still no real recognition, but Blink was at least looking more responsive to what he was saying.

“I offered to be your sellin’ partner after a couple days, cause I didn’t see what everybody was so scared of,” Mush recalled, “Not till you a gave me this look like you were gonna gut me in an alleyway. But I sold with ya anyway, and I kept sellin’ with ya even after Jack broke out and everythin’ got normal ‘round here. Best choice I ever made, to stick it out with you.”

Blink smiled distantly, barely, but it was there.

“Yeah, Blink, I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I hadn’t met you,” he continued, “I definitely wouldn’t know how to read people as well as I do. Remember when we were 12 and the Delanceys jumped me behind Jacobi’s? You seemed so angry while you patched me up, but I knew it was just cause you was worried.”

He was relaxing a little bit, his body language no longer wracked with fear.

Mush risked a glance around the room, just making sure that all the others were still asleep.

“You wouldn’t tell me I was your best friend until we were 11,” he said quietly, “Too damn stubborn. Ya don’t bury all your feelings like some people, but ya also never say it if you’re scared or sad or care about someone.”

Making sure it was clear what he was doing beforehand, Mush scooted a little closer to whisper to him.

“That’s why it was such a surprise when ya told me you had feelings for me last month. Asked to be a thing. You said—“

“You’re the only one what sees the good in everyone,” Blink mumbled, cutting him off, “Even people who hide it on purpose.”

He met Mush’s eyes, and it was obvious that Blink was now a lot more present in there.

“I’d be a fool to let that slip away.”

Mush hesitated, then held out an arm, knowing Blink wouldn’t take that offer if he wasn’t ready to be touched.

To his surprise, Blink went to him without hesitation, the tension leaving his body in one breath as he tucked his head against Mush’s shoulder and let himself be hugged.

He was covered in sweat, and Mush could practically feel the exhaustion radiating off him. Whatever that had been, whatever nightmare had triggered it, had clearly taken a lot out of him.

“Did I scare ya?” Blink asked quietly, after a minute of just sitting there on the floor in silence.

“No. Worried me a bit, though.”

He wasn’t lying. Mush had never been afraid of Blink. He’d been able to see why others were, with that fierce, cynical air he put up in self defense, but Mush didn’t really fear anyone, honestly, since he’d gotten good at understanding people. If you understood why someone was doing what they were doing, you didn’t have to fear even the people you hated or were angry with.

Blink, specifically, had never scared him because he’d been able to tell from pretty close to the beginning that Blink didn’t want to hurt anyone. He just acted like he did so that he wouldn’t get hurt himself.

He’d wondered why before. This was making him wonder again, but he wasn’t sure if it was okay to ask.

A part of him was scared of the answer, remembering how Blink had flinched when he tried to touch him before. He hoped he was wrong.

Blink seemed to guess where his thoughts were going and he sighed bitterly, moving up onto the bed and pulling Mush up with him.

“The nightmares are a nice little souvenir from Mom and Dad,” he admitted softly, “They’re... I don’t have them so much as I used to anymore, but... how did ya think I lost my eye?”

So Mush was right. He hated that he was, but... well, he couldn’t say he’d never guessed this before.

“That’s why ya got so weird whenever I brought up missin’ my folks way back when. You didn’t get it cause you didn’t miss yours.”

Blink nodded, “I ran away when I was 7. Wound up here. My folks came lookin’ for me a couple times, but Manhattan’s leader at the time turned ‘em away at the door. Good thing. I’d probably be dead if he’d let them take me.”

Mush didn’t want to think about a world where that happened, “Jack wouldn’ta let him.”

He smiled, “Probably not.”

That smile faded a little too quickly, but Mush didn’t know what to say to fix it.

He could barely see Blink in what moonlight was coming in through the window, but he reached over to push his hair off his face anyway, careful to come at him from the side with his working eye.

Blink leaned his face into the touch with a deep breath.

“Wish I hadn’t wasted so much time back then, assumin’ everyone was out to hurt me. I’da become friends with you a lot faster if I hadn’t.”

“I did think you was a bit of a dick when we first met,” Mush admitted, “But hey, whatever ya have to do to feel safe.”

Blink shrugged, “Well, you feel safest when you’re surrounded by people ya trust and it works out alright for you.”

Usually it did. Mush always tried to be as kind as he could afford to be, and that meant he had friends everywhere.

Blink had a tendency, almost an instinct, even today at age 15 to make people want to avoid him.

It was kind of funny how the few friends they’d told about their relationship hadn’t been surprised at all, despite how different they were. Sun and moon. Practically direct opposites.

“I’d rather you act like an asshole than end up dead. You mean a lot to me, Blink.”

“You mean a lot to me, too, Mush.”

Mush took the awkward silence that followed that as a signal to give him one last smile and climb up to his bunk, but Blink grabbed his wrist at the last second to stop him.

“Stay down here?”

He didn’t have to answer out loud for them to curl up together, cuddling on that bottom bunk.

[shiftysdogtags]

Hello, could i have some cute Speirs content ? Or something when he start realise that he's falling in Love. Thanks 🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️

Hi Lovie, here is some soft loving Speirs. I really hope you like this and it gave you the same amount of feels as it gave me. i also know nothing about a newspaper so forgive me.

All requests are open and prompts can be found here

Taglist: @hellitwasyoufirstsergeant @teenmagazines @curraheewestandalone @liebegott @vintagelavenderskies @easy-company-tradition @sydney-m @inglourious-imagines @happyveday 

All At Once

They hadn’t been dating long, a couple of months at most, but neither were sure exactly when everything became official. There was no grand gesture or in depth discussion about it, they both just knew something had changed in their relationship and it was for the better. Slowly, they spent more time together and any free time either of them had was shared together. She began to spend more time in his home than her own, and while they never really got up too much, she appreciated the effort he put in making sure she felt wanted.

Ron was deeply invested in his newspaper, something he enjoyed doing. It was his time, time to himself where he would do nothing other than relax. More often than not he took pleasure in sipping his coffee while his eyes scanned the words that littered the page and a cigarette placed between his lips .

Since Y/N came into his life, he liked to involve her in the one activity he looked forward to doing. Usually there was no talking, both of them enjoying the silence as they done their own thing. The pile of books she had brought to his house was getting bigger as the weeks passed and he made sure they were left alone and no one interfered with them. He wanted her to feel welcome in his home, and he thought that if anyone moved one of her precious books it would somehow upset her.

Y/N sat beside him on the couch, reading a random book her friend recommended. She wasn’t really paying attention, but it was something she was content with doing to pass the time, especially if it meant she got to spend time with Ron. He pulled her legs onto his lap, letting her stretch out and become more comfortable. The action was done as if he was unaware he was doing it, as if it was something he did all the time. He didn’t look up, remaining engrossed in whatever article he was reading, and rubbed absent-minded circles into her skin. Y/N learned early on that Ron wasn’t a touchy lover, any displays of affection were a rare occurrence.

The end of the paper was near, as so was their somehow intimate moment. She knew it was coming to a dreaded end as he done the same thing he always done; Ron took a smoke from its box and placed it into his mouth. He searched for his lighter, not remembering where he had placed it before he sat down. Y/N watched him, he looked so handsome as he patted his pockets repeatedly as if it was going to magically appear. The cigarette hung loosely from his lips, the lips she so desperately wanted to kiss. The lighter was hidden under a cushion and from the position where he sat she knew there was no hope of him seeing it. Lifting the cushion Y/N handed him the lighter and with the wide eyed look on his face, it was as if she had handed him the world. He mumbled a thanks with a sweet smile, a smile she knew was reserved only for her. Not many people got to see this side of him and it made her appreciate it all the more.

Ron lit his smoke, inhaling the smoke and his shoulders loosened, calming him almost instantly. Instead of returning to his paper, he focused on her. Y/N continued to read her book, picking up where she left off and intently biting her lip as she concentrated on picturing the scene being described.

She must have turned the page three times before Y/N glanced up at him, looking over the top of her book to see his mouth parted slightly. He had obviously been staring at her, a light blush dusting over her cheeks. “What are you gazing at, hm?”

The connection between them was wordless. Ron’s eyes were soft and the only way to describe the expression on his face was stunned, like he had been taken by surprise. Truth was, he had been caught off guard and in that single look, he knew. That one moment was one that would define a lifetime for Ron.

Everything he thought he knew about love was scrapped with a big red line through it. He never really believed in love, he just assumed he would meet someone he didn’t hate as much as other people. People had tried to convince him otherwise, but he was a stubborn man and ignored everything they said. The feeling in his chest was more intense than anything he was told. Y/N made him incredibly happy, happier than he ever thought possible. She made him feel safe, and after everything he had been through it was something he never thought would happen. The walls he had built to protect himself crumbled at a mere thought of her and he often found himself longing to hear her voice after a long day. Y/N was his sunshine, and the realisation of that had finally sunk in.

Ron’s eyes darted everywhere trying to avoid her look and he shook his head at her, a bit more dramatically than he would have liked. It caused his cheeks to redden, and Y/N knew something was up but she didn’t want to pry. “Nothin’”

She continued to look at him until, after shrugging her shoulders, she once again went back to her book. She was so unaware of what was going on in his head, the little ‘what’ that escaped her lips melted his heart. He was so thankful she was oblivious to the pounding he could feel in his chest, one of the rare times he was glad he hadn’t held her close to him. One touch would give everything away.

It was somewhere between the business and the sports section that Ronald Speirs realised he was in love, and there was nothing he could do about it.

[mtherhino]

One Side, Two Lives

Chapter Three

First Previous Next

Hello Brother Dearest!

Warning: mention of eating disorder, swearing, and Remus being Remus

What a wonderful morning. Not. Roman rolled out of bed, literally. He groaned as he got up from the floor and wandered around his room. It was early, maybe around four or something, he honestly couldn’t care too much. Being the ego really sucked sometimes, because if Thomas was feeling horrible and like he wasn’t worth anything, Roman might as well have caught a bad case of the flue. He had woken up with a sore throat and such a stuffy nose that he could barely breath.

“Why, just why must I be the ego?” Roman complained to no one as he messed with his already crazy hair. He sighed, guess I better go get some kind of medicine. He was so out of it that he didn’t even try to conceal his appearance to any others that might be up at that time.

He walked out of his room and lazily walked to the main room. Although the sides did have their own bathrooms and medicines, all of Roman’s was pain pills and and antidotes for different poisons. You’d be surprised what he finds on is adventures, Remus doesn’t exactly know the meaning of “harmless creatures”.

Because of this, their was a bigger medicine cabinet that was open to anyone, Logan made sure that this was put it to place a while ago when Roman came back from a a small adventure and was severely poisoned and out of medicine. To say that he gave some of the others a scare would be a bit of an understatement; though he didn’t really know any of this since he was out cold for the next three days.

When he got to the main room he was a bit surprised to see the anxious side sleeping on the couch curled up with his headphones still on. He was snoring softly and Roman, even sick, couldn’t help but smile at him. He’s like a little cat, so cute. Roman grabbed a blanket that was on one of the other seats and and carefully used it to cover the smaller side.

After that he went over to the cabinet and got the medicine labeled “ego boost”. He hated taking these, they weren’t supposed to lessen depression, they sorta just put Roman in a state of neutral at times like this, supposedly if he takes too many Thomas will think he can do literally anything, and that would be incredibly dangerous. He sighed as he took only half of the small pills, this should lessen his symptoms while still keeping his mental state the same.

After taking it he went back to his room and laid down in his bed. He needed to to get to work but he was just felt so dead right now, he could take a a little break right now right? Your so pathetic, can’t even work though a little cold?

“Shut up you asshole…” and Roman was out like a light.

He woke up a few hours later with a start when something large and stinky jumped on his bed.

“Who goes there?!” He said, a sword materializing in his hand. Not a second after two daggers met his sword.

“Hello brother dearest!” The owner of the daggers shouted. Roman squinted in his lightly dark room and made out the shape of an insane smile and green eyes. He groaned and flopped back onto his bed.

“Hello Remus.”

“What’s wrong Robro? Usually you start yelling at me already for being on your bed” Remus said in a concerned voice. Roman, who had previously had his arm draped over his head, looked up and saw that his brother had mud splattered on his shirt and pants, which was starting to get on his bed. Once again he groaned and without being able to think of a more polite way, he simply kicked his brother of his bed to stop any further damage to his sheets.

           “I’m sick Re, its not very fun” he complained to his brother. The green side was about to jump back onto the bed when Roman shot him a glare that could kill. Although he could probably get away from his brother in the state he was in, Remus decided to do the nice thing and snapped away his usual outfit leaving him in some shorts and a green tank top that had the image of a broken heart on it, after that he jumped back onto the bed and laid next to his brother.

           “Is this because of the debate from yesterday? Ego a little low bro?” Roman just gave a small nod to tell his brother he was right. He hated being sick, but he had to do something or else he would defiantly feel worse tomorrow, at least emotionally. He sighed as he sat up and walked over to his work desk, if he was a little wobbly he wouldn’t admit it.  He looked over the many projects he needed to finish but his mind could barely register any of them.

            “You know as much fun as it would be to see you fall on your face five times trying too work, I think you should sit down.” Remus said forcing his brother to sit back on his bed.

“I’m going to go grab you something to eat and if I find out you tried to work I’m hitting you in the head with my morning star. “ he said before he left his brother in his room.

He quickly rose up into the dark sides part of the mind palace and grabbed a couple of snacks. A bole of popcorn, a few juice boxes, two apples balancing on his head, and finally a stick of deodorant stuffed under his arm.

As he walked back to Roman’s room he was careful to avoid the others. He wasn’t afraid of anyone, he was creativity, one of the strongest sides, but he wanted to make a big appearance soon and he didn’t want to spoil that by one of the light sides seeing him.

Once he did get back to his brother’s room he saw Roman trying to sneak his way over to his desk to work. Not having any of this, Remus stuck out his foot and tripped him, summoning a pillow so that he wouldn’t hit his head to hard.

“I told you not to move, you’re sick and you’re not going to be good for anyone if you don’t take the time to get better.” Roman sighed in defeat and got off of the ground, though he was tempted to just lay there and fall asleep.

“Fine, you win Re, but what the hell am I supposed to do in the meantime? You know I hate doing nothing.” Roman said as he flopped on the bed.

           “Well you can start by eating,” Remus said, and just before Roman could interject he continued , “I know you haven’t eaten anything today so don’t even try to lie to me.” Roman faked offense, “I would never! I’m the heroic prince, I would never lie.” He said with a smile. Remus snorted at that.

“Yah, and I’m as strait as a ruler, we can do this all day Ro” he retorted. The siblings where used to small squabbles, it was just how they were, honestly it would be concerning if they didn’t get into some kind of argument already.

           After their little argument, they decided to have a movie day. Roman of course voted that they watch a Disney movie with a good bit of action, Remus on the other hand wanted to watch a horror movies with lots of gore. Compromising, they decided to to watch an animated DC movie of Remus’s choice that had enough people getting killed to satisfy him.

            They were having a fairly good time all in all,  but unfortunately for Roman it did not go unnoticed that he wasn’t eating much.

“I swear Roman if you don’t start eating more I will stab you in the gut, one time for every meal you missed.” Remus scolded his brother. Roman rolled his eyes saying that stabbing him wouldn’t be any better for his health, Remus said it would remind him to eat regularly.

“Look Remus, I know you worry about me and I worry about you, but I promise you I’m fine. I don’t go a day where a don’t eat something.” Roman said. It was true, after a very heated argument with his brother a few months ago Roman had made sure to eat a little something each day, even if that something was just a handful of grapes.

Remus sighed, “I know brother but with how much you go adventuring the little amount of food you eat might as well be nothing.”

“Hey, you go out adventuring as much as I do and you eat deodorant for breakfast.” And accidentally proving Roman’s point, Remus took another bite of his favorite flavor of deodorant before glaring at his brother.

“Maybe but you know I eat three meals a day even if those meals aren’t the healthiest. Come on Roman, I’m just trying to make sure you don’t accidentally hurt yourself.” Remus said with the softest look he could muster. Roman sighed in defeat, he hated making others feel bad and  being a burden on them. Maybe if he just played along he could convince his brother that he was doing better.

           “Okay ok, I promise I’ll do a better job of taking care of myself, what kind of prince would I be if I make others worry for nothing. Can we move on to a different conversation now?” Roman said starting to feel uncomfortable as they continued to talk about his flaws. Remus, sensing his twins discomfort smiled a smile that was a bit to wide and moved onto something else.

“Ok Ro, what have you been working on recently?” Remus said, he knew full well how much Roman like to tell about whatever project he was on. To his immense surprise Roman sighed heavily and flopped onto his back.

“I’ve got a few things that I’m exited to get working on, but currently I’m just feeling a bit overloaded with having to come up with whatever we’re doing in the next Sander Sides video” Roman complained. He only ever complained to his brother since he knew that Remus would figure out what was bugging him wether he told him or not.

           Remus considered this and walked over at Roman’s desk that laid on the other side of the bed. There were papers thrown everywhere on it and some of them had a small red x in the corner which he could only guess meant ‘scrap it’ considering his brother’s perfectionist mental state.

           I really need to help him work on his self esteem, the self conscious bastard. Remus thought to himself. Well, he couldn’t do much now, but maybe he could buy his brother a bit of time.

“Hey Ro!” He suddenly exclaimed, makingRoman jump a bit. “I’ve got a great news. I was planing for it to be a bit of a surprise but whatever. I’m going to introduce myself to Thomas in the next video!” That got Roman to pay attention.

“Really?! Heck yah! No offense to the others but things will be way more interesting with you around!” Roman was as exited about the idea as Remus. They always had to be careful with their meet ups because of the whole light sides and dark sides thing, but if Remus introduces himself to Thomas it would make a lot more sense if he just popped up in the lights sides area every now and then.

           “Of course things will be more interesting, its me where talking about” and just to emphasize his point, Remus plucked off his head and held it under his arms, wearing a smile the whole time. Roman gaged at the display and warned his brother about getting blood on his carpet, even though he himself had done so many a times. Once Remus screwed his head back on, literally, he sat down and explained that he was probably going to give Thomas a light  nightmare and then show up when he asks the others to appear to talk about the dream.

           Although Roman was not a fan of scaring Thomas in any way, it sounded like a fairly good plan. It would give reason for Remus to appear and Thomas was already having some trouble sleeping thinking about the missed call back and all.  

“Sound like a good plan brother, but Thomas is already having nightmares quite often so your probably going to want to make a move sooner than later before we discus the nightmare problem.” Roman said. Remus nodded a bit, understanding the reasoning.

           “Alright, he has to make some kind of video two days from now right? Ill just show up the night before so that he makes it a Sander Sides.”

“It’s going to be hard to pretend like we hate each other.” Roman said, the two have been putting up a charade of hatred for each other their entire lives, but it was a lot harder to act like you hate someone when you’re around them and just want to act like siblings.

“Yah, but it should be fine, it can’t be that hard to act like I want to kill you.” Remus said playfully, but he made a mistake in that moment, he shoved Roman in the ribs.

Roman hissed in pain and put a hand to his side. Remus pulled back, that was a really light hit, but he acted like his ribs are- Remus’s face turned into a scowl as he figured it out.

           “Roman…” Roman froze at his brother’s voice. Well, I’m screwed. He slowly turned to his brother with a nervous smile. Even though they were the same height Remus seemed to tower over him and Roman knew he was not getting out of this one. “Hey brother, something the mater?” Roman said, his voice shaking and still keeping up his smile.

“Did you get hurt and not tell me dear brother?” Remus said with one of his creepiest smiles.

            The two usually helped one another when they get hurt, so when either of them didn’t tell the other, someone got a very harsh scolding.

“Um, maybe? I just went for a walk in the imagination and got hurt a little bit”  Roman said rubbing the back of his neck.

“How badly?” Remus asked.

“Oh, not very badly, just a few broken ribs.” Roman answered looking anywhere but his brother. Remus, still smiling like a maniac, put his hands to his mouth, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath in.

“HOW IN THE WORLD ARE YOU SUCH A FREAKING IDIOTIC MORON!”  Remus yelled as he shook his brother back and forth.

“I thought I could handle it! I just fought the manticore chimera for a bit and got nocked into a wall. But after that I came right back and wrapped my ribs and got some ice so I’m fine now!” He stated as he tried to defend himself.

“That doesn’t mater you idiot! First of all, you shouldn’t have fought the manticore by yourself you asshole! Secondly you should have come to me when you got hurt! What if it hadn’t been a clean break and a piece had cut up your insides or something!”

“That’s not how humans work!”

“That’s not important right now! You should be resting for a lot longer than one day! Your sick and you have broken ribs! That is a very bad combo!”

“Look, I didn’t mean for things to go as badly as it did, I wanted to blow off some steam and I was off my game a bit.”

           Remus sighed heavily.

“Look Roman that’s not the point. How would you feel if I got seriously hurt and and didn’t tell you?” Roman thought about that for a second, he figured that he would probably scream at his brother for getting hurt for an hour of more.

“I guess I would yell at you until you couldn’t hear anymore.” Roman admitted. He thought that he could pull of the act to not make Re worried, but it looked like he failed at that as much as everything else in his life.

“Look, just, come to me when you have a problem. We both got issues and we need to deal with them. It’s better for us to put them out into the open instead of trying to hide them and us finding out later.”  Roman sighed and agreed with his brother.

“I get it, if I get hurt this badly again I’ll go to you for help” Roman said, crossing his fingers behind his back. “Can we move onto a different subject now, I could really use a break from real life for a while.”

“Not quite yet brother, you have to promise me you won’t be doing too much until your ribs are at least partially healed.”

“That’s going to take at least three weeks before they are completely healed!”

“Just get some medicine from Logan and take some of your ego pills, you’ll be good in a two weeks tops” Remus said.

“Maybe but we have to do a video before then remember, it was your plan.” Roman pointed out with an annoyed scowl on his face. Remus seemed to think that fact over a bit, then you could practically see the lightbulb appear over his head.

“What if I knock you out for most of the video?”

           Roman’s brain short circuited for a minute. “What?”

“Just listen. I could pretend to hit you in the head with my morning star and then you could just pretend to be knocked out for the rest of the video! You can get some sleep and rest while it gives me a more dramatic appearance, its perfect!” Roman did not think this was the best solution they could come up with, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to get Remus to change his mind.

“Fine, if you really think this is the best option.” Roman said. He couldn’t help but give a small smile when his brother lifted his arm in the air proclaiming victory as loudly as he could. The rest of the day the two went over the plan and Remus’s song to make sure everything went right. Roman smiled as Remus started singing  “Forbidden Fruit”, I guess having a manic for a brother isn’t so bad.

Finally! I been dying to start writing for Remus. I hope all the people with brothers or sisters could recognized the fear of getting in trouble with them. Well, that all for now humans, have a lovely day, bye!

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@lovelivingmydreams

[skzsauce01]

42nd Moon Pt 1

Description: By some stroke of luck, you get off the waitlist of your biology class. You’d never have guessed you’d find your soulmate there, let alone that he already has a girlfriend... Or that he comes from a fraternity of werewolves.

Warning: none

Word count: 1.5k

Pairing: werewolf!Jisung x fem!reader,  werewolf!Hyunjin x fem!reader

A/N: Please stay healthy during this pandemic! Wash thy handz.

Chapter List

“Is anyone sitting here?”

Jisung raises his head from the homework that he has totally done to see you gesturing to a seat in front of him.

Something about you enthralls him. He swallows down a lump in his throat before being able to answer. “Yeah, but there isn’t anyone there.” He points to the seat left of where you indicated towards.

“Thanks,” you say with a smile.

“I’m Jisung,” he introduces himself. “Just got off the waitlist?” 

“Y/N,” you return. “And yeah. I hope I‘m not too far behind.”

“Not at all,” Jisung shakes his head. “I’d show you my notes, but it’s probably better if you looked at Hyunjin’s.” He gestures to the chair you asked about earlier. “He should be here any moment.”

As if on cue, a male walks through the door and greets Jisung with a wave.

The second you lay your eyes on him, you can feel your heart stop and all the heat rush to your face. This phenomenon you have no explanation for. Sure, he is tall and very attractive, but physical traits aren’t enough for you to have this kind of reaction. As if the two of you share the same mind, he too freeze in shock upon laying eyes upon you, eyes wide and jaw dropped. 

The only thing that brings the both of you back to reality is a voice from the hall.

“Hyunjin? Are you here already?”

The one you assume is Hyunjin turns around with open arms and greets the girl who bounces through the door. She jumps into them and he wraps them around her.

“Hey, Jiyoung, what are you doing here? Don’t you have another class right now too?”

A pit gouges its way into your stomach when you see another girl latching onto your seat neighbor like that. You furrow your brows, wondering why you are feeling like this, so you shake your head and concentrate on your hands. This is ridiculous, you tell yourself. He has a girlfriend, and you don’t even know him. Still, you begin to gnaw at your cheeks, impatiently awaiting Jiyoung’s departure.

“I just wanted to see you. Here I got you this.” She reaches into her bag and takes out boba.

Hyunjin’s eyes sparkle upon seeing the drink. “Thanks, Sweetie. You’re the best.”

“Of course I am,” she grins. “Alright, I gotta go now.” She tiptoes to give Hyunjin a peck on the lips and then waves to Jisung. “Bye guys!”

Jisung waves back and waits for her to leave before teasing his friend. “Aren’t you two sweet.”

“You’re just jealous,” Hyunjin sighs with a roll of his eyes.

“Anyway,” Jisung transitions, “this is Y/N; she just got off the waitlist. Could you show her your notes?”

Hyunjin turns his head towards you with narrowed eyes. His heartbeat increases along with yours as the two of you make eye contact. 

“No,” he mutters.

Jisung blinks in surprise. “What the heck dude? It’s just your notes.” He turns to you. “Sorry, Y/N, he’s not usually like this, I swear.” And back to Hyunjin, “Come on bro. You’re the one who always says no one can read my notes; that’s why we’re asking you.”

Hyunjin grunts but digresses. He leans his head on one hand while handing you his notebook with the other while avoiding eye contact. 

“Thank you,” you say uncertainly. Your heart leaps when your fingers come into contact during the transaction.

Jisung apologizes for his friend once more and soon you are busy copying his notes. 

Jisung leans forward and whispers to his friend. “Yo, what’s wrong with you? You were totally fine when Jiyoung was here.”

“It’s nothing,” Hyunjin growls.

“Don’t turn wolf on me,” Jisung jokes. “We’re in pu--”

Jisung’s eyes widen once the gears in his brain fit together. With a gasp, he grabs Hyunjin’s wrist and pulls his sleeve up.

“What the heck?” snaps the taller of the two.

“Oh my moon,” Jisung breathes as he stares at the glowing bracelet of a tattoo on Hyunjin’s wrist. The ring of pattern is complete everywhere but a spot on the inside of the wrist, a spot he knows you have the complimenting part. “She’s your soulmate!”

“Could you say that louder?” Hyunjin hisses, pulling his sleeve back down to hide the golden glow.

“Sorry,” Jisung apologizes. “But what about Jiyoung?”

“That’s exactly why I’m being so rude!”

“But she’s your soulmate! You can’t just ignore her!”

“And Jiyoung’s my girlfriend, so what’s your point?” Hyunjin challenges.

“I’m done. Thanks, Hyunjin,” you , unaware of the conversation between the two, interrupt.

Jisung narrows his eyes at his friend while burying his nose in his forearms on the table, thinking about you and Hyunjin’s decision for the rest of the lecture.

“You’ve got to tell Chan.”

“No I don’t! We just have to get through this semester without any incident and everything will go back to normal.”

“You can’t do that; you aren’t physically capable of that!”

“Why not? You should know better than anyone that we’re just fine without our soulmates.”

Jisung bites his lip and twiddles his thumbs.

Hyunjin realizes what he said and quickly rubs his friend on the back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s okay. I mean, I see your point and Jiyoung’s really great, but I think we should still tell Chan.”

“I--”

“Tell me what?”

Jisung looks at Hyunjin. He sighs and rolls up his sleeve.

“This,” he begins. “It was glowing earlier today.”

Chan gasps. “Really? For whom?”

“A new girl in biology discussion today,” Jisung answers this time.

“Oh, I see what the problem is,” Chan frowns. “Jiyoung.”

Hyunjin nods with his head down.

“And I don’t suppose you are planning to break up with her.”

A head shake.

Chan folds his arms and looks to the sky with a soft hum. 

“We don’t have to be with our soulmates, right?” Hyunjin asks softly.

“No,” agrees Chan. “It’s just that you two are more compatible than anyone else in this universe, and she can increase your powers.”

“So what do you suggest I do?”

“Truth be told, I don’t know either,” Chan admits. “Just carry on as you were, I guess. If the universe has a plan, then it’ll be what it’ll be. Just remember--”

“I can’t mate with Jiyoung, I know,” Hyunjin finishes.

Chan gives the younger male an approving pat on the shoulder. “Don’t forget.”

“-- and he just went “uwwwaagg” and left!”

“Seriously?” you laugh.

Jisung cannot help but smile with you. “Cross my heart! Whoever designed the frat house was not thinking when they installed glass shower doors.”

“Hey guys.” 

You both turn towards the grumble to see Hyunjin trudging up the mountain. Behind him is another male who chirps a greeting. Your biology instructor has assigned you to find an owl pellet with the person sitting next to you. Jisung, with all his brilliant ideas, decides not only do his project at ungodly hours when the pellets “are the most fresh,” but also decides to drag his friend, and consequently, you, along.

Your blood rushes to your face just like it does every time you see Hyunjin, but it’s worse this time upon seeing his fluffy bed-head poking out of his oversized hoodie.

“Why didn’t you wait for me?” Hyunjin scowls while smacking his housemate behind the head. “I used to be the one who has to drag you out of bed, but now you’re early to bio stuff all the time.”

Jisung returns the gesture. “New school year, new me, you know? I just thought I should stop being late and skipping classes all the time.”

“Whatever,” Hyunjin sighs groggily. “So what’s the plan?”

“Try to find pellets, right?”

“Yep,” Jisung agrees while flicking his flashlight on and off. “It’s simple, but let’s stay with our partners, okay? It’s pretty dark right right now.”

The rest of you agree, and Jisung and his partner go west while you and Hyunjin take east.

“How are you?” you try with small talk.

“Been better, no thanks to Jisung,” Hyunjin replies curtly.

You wrack your brain for something else to say, but end up walking with him in silence until you spot a cottonwood tree.

“There!” you point. “Some owls nest in cottonwood, so we can try looking for pellets here.”

You run to the tree and slide to your knees, scrapping the leaves aside until you find what you are looking for. You hold it up to Hyunjin with a proud smile.

“Found one!”

Hyunjin’s eyes widen a tad in surprise at your intelligence and efficiency, not to mention how brightly your smile shines even in this dark forest. He shakes his head to clear such thoughts.

It’s just the soul thing, he reminds himself and tugs on his sleeve to securely hide his glowing mark.

“R-right. Good job,” he stutters and opens a bag for you to drop your find into. “Why don’t you look over there for more, and I’ll keep checking this tree for other pellets?”

You nod and turn your back away from him. The next cottonwood is a bit further away, but at least now you won’t have to keep working in awkward silence with your crush. Once you arrive at your destination, you get on your knees and begin working. After a while, you hear a foot crunch on some leaves behind you.

“Hyunjin, I don’t think this tree has anything.”

“I’m not Hyunjin. Try again!

~ ad.gold

[docmanda]

3 or maybe 34 for the Poly Pile? (Or any subset of it)

3. “I love you, I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you.”

They finally corner the ghost in a dilapidated shrine, not too unlike the one Xie Lian had at some point declared home, easily dodging the frantic attacks thrown at them, Xie Lian moving with the inherent grace of a Martial God and He Xuan simply blocking whatever came his way, the attacks too weak to do him any great harm. That was the second time this week already that some trash had interrupted one of their outings and He Xuan was getting fed up with all of it.

“I should just drown the lot of them, have my dragons rip them apart for daring to interrupt everything...”

Ever since it had become public that Crimson Rain Sought Flower and Black Water Sinking Ships had pledged themselves to a single, weak, insignificant little God challenges like this had become frequent, admittance of love being likened to weakness among the more powerful beings in the Ghost Realm after all. And so thinking that either the Devastations had grown soft and weak or, even more often than that, that it would be easy to steal their ashes from a single weakling little God and have them do their bidding they had been getting attacked from all sides.

This one, a Wrath Class ghost, old and pretty powerful even if they were a far cry from a Devastation class yet had turned out to be particularly annoying, leading him and Xie Lian on a merry chase across the country side. He was a nasty piece of work, keeping Xie Lian busy attacking every civilliain and farmer they met, forcing him to exhaust himself  keeping them safe while always just managing to slip out of He Xuan´s grasp, sneakily avoiding anything more than a puddle and continously leading them farther away from the ocean. Black Water was too strong to be weakened by that but not being able to summon his dragons did make it way more annoying then necessary.

What was even worse then that was that He Xuan couldn´t shake the feeling of knowing that particular ghost, some old memory nagging at the back of his brain but he simply could not remember, he was way too old by now to recognize every single person or ghost he had seen throughout his life. In the end it didn´t really matter. At some point he´d get a grip on him and tear him apart and then go have dinner with Xie Lian, he was -hungry-.

He is already busy thinking about where to take his A-Lian -hot pot maybe, he did like that last time, or that little fish restaurant close to his own domain that made that great sweet and sour squid- so when the dying wrath kneeling in front of him spits at him, the words dripping from his mouth like acid He Xuan is too stunned to even react

“Fucking Devastations think they´re the shit, I bet that wife of yours welcomed the knife that slit her throat!”

For a moment He Xuan is frozen, his always pale face looking even more pallid then usual with the shock, eyes wide in horror when something finally clicks into place and he recognizes the face in front of him as one of the jailors that loved to torture them back then, eating while standing in front of the bars, laughing at the starving prisoners begging him for scraps. But before he can shake himself free and tear apart the insolent piece of shit cowering before him a thin, long, black blade tears through it´s chest, bending slightly from the raw force of the thrust, an ear splitting scream the last thing they hear before the ghost shatters into a thousand pieces, ripped apart by a powerful golden blast, courtesy of the raging God behind it.

Before He Xuan can even blink the sword drops with a ´clang´ and soft warm hands, sticky with blood cup his face.

“A-Xuan? YuYu? Love, are you alright?”

The pure worry in Xie Lian´s voice finally wakes He Xuan from his stupor, making him nod while simultaneously saying “No.” much to his own confusion and before he can figure himself out he gets pulled into a tight hug, the warm body against his more familiar then even his own, the scent of incense and flowers always clinging to Xie Lian comforting like nothing else could ever be. He Xuan lets himself be held for some time until the onslaught of memories, all of them bad and painful, has subsided a bit...and then he realizes something.

“You killed him. Shattered him. Completely. You never like it when we do that.”

Xie Lian pulls back slightly, just enough to place a soft kiss on He Xuan´s mouth,worry and rage still visible in his beautiful, amber eyes.

“Of course I did.” Another soft kiss gets placed on He Xuan´s cheek and the tip of his nose,kissing away the tears that had gathered there without his consent.

“I love you, I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you.”

34. “you’re cuddly”

“You´re cuddly today. I´m supposed to practice my writing.” Hua Cheng says, sighing lightly and putting away his calligraphy brush to instead comb through the slick black hair spread all over his lap. He Xuan had been napping often these last few days, the push and pull of the Ghost Realm making him sluggish and cranky.

He Xuan snorts, curling himself tightly around Crimson Rain seated at his writing table, like a particularly clingy octopus. He knew it was just a token protest, Hua Cheng welcoming every distraction that would keep him from having to put letters on paper after all.

“No amount of practice can ever help with that abomination you call writing, honestly Crimson Rain, that stuff is a disservice to people with eyes everywhere. And I am frequently cuddly.”

“Usually not with me though, that honor belongs to A-Lian.”

But their Beloved had been gone for some hours now, attending business at his shrine, leaving He Xuan sleeping and Hua Cheng wrestling with his writing.

“Hm, just see it as a special blessing then. A-Lian always scratches my head a little, oh, yes, like that please don´t stop...”

Hua Cheng has to supress a grin as he gently drags sharp nails across He Xuan´s scalp, the other Devastations eyes closed in pure bliss, humming with pleasure.

“You are such a cat sometimes Black Water, I bet you would purr if you could.”

He Xuan blinks open one golden, lazy eye, sticking out his tongue while nearly swallowing Hua Cheng with the yawn that follows

"..meow. And don´t stop scratching.”

(there you go, hope you like them also poly pile made me laugh so hard, I LOVE IT^^)

(also google translate says that 鱼 Yú means fish in chinese, so I went with YuYu as a nickname cause it´s cute if google is wrong please tell me ^^”)

[ask-sincerely-sea]

A rundown of the Mermaid AU

Here’s a bullet list of my Mermaid AU and most of the content I have imagined for it! These are taken from three different posts on my main blog, but for simplicity, I compiled them all here! It is long, but feel free to read and get a feel for this universe!

All the Murphys are sharks, but they’re all different types of sharks.

Science doesn’t exist in my world so don’t expect genetics and aquatic ancestry to be something that is strict. Most families tend to stay within the same family and/or genus.

Connor is a Shortfin Mako Shark.

Zoe is a Blue Shark (Fun fact: Blue Sharks are a species of Requiem Sharks).

Cynthia is a Whale Shark.

Larry is an Oceanic Whitetip Shark.

Evan and Heidi are both octopus.

Evan is a Coconut Octopus.

Heidi is a Mimic Octopus.

Alana is a Pacific White Sided Dolphin.

Jared is a White Spotted Pufferfish.

Although intelligent like humans, mermaids will exhibit behaviors akin to their aquatic ancestry.

Evan being a Coconut Octopus will hide within ocean debris as a form of camouflage. This is often triggered by spikes in anxiety, but he also uses it to avoid interaction.

Jared absolutely puffs up. It’s usually caused by elevated emotion. Sometimes he’ll puff up because he’s upset, other times he’ll accidentally cause himself to puff up just from laughing too hard.

The Murphy family is a family a predators. They all have an acute and accurate sense of smell. Larry, Connor, and Zoe are active hunters, and when they are in hunting mode it’s hard to break them out of it until they are satiated.

Merpeople do form societies and interact with each other. They don’t hunt each other and unlike their aquatic ancestors, they don’t all follow migration paths. Some merfamilies will migrate.

Now I’ll give you all the cute and fun and interesting stuff…

Connor loves to explore any wreckage he can find. He’s super fascinated by human life and loves finding shipwrecks, plane wrecks, and even leftover skeletons.

He frequents the wrecks of military vessels most often and collects dog tags from fallen soldiers. He refurbishes them as much as he can because he likes to see the names of the men and women lost.

He often spies on humans who are boating as well. Be it a wedding boat, fishermen, or just vacationers, he just loves watching them from afar. However, the moment they spot him (usually only his dorsal fin on his tail), he dives away

.Hes accidentally becomes and ocean cryptid when a group of divers got a photo of him, albeit it fuzzy/blurry.

He’s obviously not aware of human cryptid culture.

Redditors think his viral photo is photoshopped.

Zoe isn’t as curious about humans. She is curious of the sky above and loves to watch birds as they fly around and feed on fish.

She goes stargazing a lot against her parents wishes. It’s dangerous at night and her parents (and most merpeople) fear poachers.

Zoe collects starfish on her tailfins. Since they are living creatures, she always communicates with them and makes sure they are okay with it.

Connor will leave jewelry and funky human artifacts he finds in Zoe’s room. She doesn’t know Connor is the one that leaves her random items and just assumes it’s Cynthia.

Cynthia is fascinated with human artifacts and frequents a lot of merpeople who are traders for human trinkets.

However, she is terrified of humans and doesn’t dare go near them. When she was younger, she got tangled up I’m a fishing net that belonged to poachers.

Larry is also fascinated with human trinkets, but not as much as Cynthia. Being an Oceanic Whitetip, he loves the tale of the USS Indianapolis.

He and Connor used to search shipwrecks together, but they’ve since grown apart and haven’t hunted or scavenged together in a long time.

I already said a bit of this in my last post, but being a Coconut Octopus, Evan uses physical objects to hide in and behind as a form of camouflage.

Though camouflage isn’t really necessary for merpeople being that they are able to fend for themselves and create/use tools, weapons, utensils, etcetera.

Evan’s camo is more of a reflex with his anxiety. If he’s nervous, anxious, or embarrassed, he’ll find the nearest Evan-sized object and fold himself up to fit. His tentacles can fold together tightly, he just has to account for his upper body not being as flexible.

Heidi is a Mimic Octopus as uses her camo as more of a fun party tricks. Mimic Octopus are able to disguise with many backgrounds, but are also able to contort and arrange their tentacles to resemble other species.

When Evan was little, they would travel to shallow banks along islands where the sun shone through the water really brightly. She’d contort her tentacles and do little shadow puppets of other species for him on the sand.

So, Jared is a pufferfish and not a porcupine fish. He has spines, but they’re very small and thin. They usually only show up when he’s inflated.

He HATES being inflated but it’s happens a lot.

Basically any elevated emotion inflates him. He’s angry? Puff! He’s playful? Puff! He’s excited? Puff! He’s sad? Puff! He’s [redacted]? PUFF!

He doesn’t care too much about human culture, but he is aware of this cursed video. He was hanging around a boat with a bunch of spring breakers and slipped a phone for a few minutes, stumbling across Youtube. Connor thinks it’s the funniest thing ever.

Oh, yeah, so merpeople don’t have any sort of electronic technology, but some of the most curious ones will snatch devices from boats. They are aware they don’t work underwater, so it’s usually like a dramatic spy scene of mermaids hanging out by boats with phones and tablets and messing around as much as they can for five to ten minutes.

Alana is super social and during vacations from school she’ll travel with merpeople and regular aquatic life and migrate around the world.

She’s traveled literally everywhere and has been doing it since she was a child. Her whole family used to go, but now it’s just her. Her parents trust her to be alone.

Alana has come across Sea World and other marine parks with Orcas and it makes her incredibly angry. There have been a few instances where animals in captivity have… Mysteriously escaped back into the wild…

She does have a super playful side and is very curious of humans despite often having a negative judgement/attitude towards them. When she just wants to have fun or relax, she goes bow riding along the wake of boats. She’s clever enough to not be seen.

Yes, there is merpeople high school because why not.

Again, science doesn’t exist and this au honestly doesn’t have rules.So just go ham and make mermaids, y'all!

I’m still deciding on how I want to portray Miguel, but right now I’m thinking Red Lionfish or Pacific Seahorse.That boy is something very colorful and proud!

So previously I mentioned there being an education system for merpeople as they do form societies.

So all the teens (minus Miguel) go to school together.

Their school, as well as most of the buildings in their particular society, is made up of scrapped parts from shipwrecks and other human debris. There are also some buildings and landmarks carved out of the landscape, but they gotta keep it fresh, keep it interesting. They’re still discovering and learning technology, but in their own unique ways.

(Okay, you probably didn’t even care about that fact but as an enthusiast for a “rebuild from the remains” aesthetic, I have to sprinkle in my little funky twists.)

The particular “town” of merpeople they live in isn’t very large and is constantly changing size and population due to some mers moving in and out.

Evan broke his arm over summer break in a coastal accident.

Seeing that merpeople don’t fully abide by the living standards of their aquatic ancestors, they tend to mix, mingle, and migrate without too much structure. Obviously certain families with stay together and there are some pockets of merpeople who live by more strict cultural rules. But for the sake of au, Evan and the gang live in a more relaxed mer civilization.

So, over the summer Evan was working with a group of mers that focus on coastal wildlife. Evan in particular focused on coral health and how it was being affected by human activity.

But our boy is depressed and lonely, so one day he strays from his usual group of coworkers and ventured toward a cluster of fishing boats. The general rule is don’t go near humans, especially when on the job.

He noticed that some of the boats were anchored, so he grabbed one of them from the seabed, hoisted it up the surface, and launched it above water for his to come crashing down with force behind it.

His arm got pinned under the anchor, thus breaking it.

Now, the rest of the AU at the moment is more freeform and doesn’t follow the plot of the musical, but I did want to included how Evan broke his arm.

Connor is not dead in this particular version of the AU, but feel free to craft multiple storylines and arcs with different outcomes!

Connor does paint his nails!

As previously mentioned, he is very fascinated by human society and like to get a little too close.

So, one day he came across some spring breakers and watched as they went about their activities sunbathing and painting their nails. As soon as they looked away, he stole several bottles.

It’s rare for him to find nail polish, especially since he ruined his first bottle by opening it up under water and losing the contents. But whenever a party boat or a boat of spring breakers rolls by, especially with a bunch of girls, he always has to check.

He quickly learned that whenever he wants to do his nails he has to make a whole thing about hauling himself up to surface and propping on a rock or a beach for some time.

He’s collected his signature black as well as a metallic purple, glittery pink, and bright turquoise. He wears the black and purple the most. He loves the other two colors, but poor baby is insecure and wearing nail polish as a mer is already enough to cause stares.

Jared also thinks that human legs are hot.

When Jared is puffed up, other mers will bop him around like a volleyball. It’s an unfortunate thing for any and all puffers.

Evan’s dad is a Barracuda mer, which for a Barracuda and an Octopus to mate is incredibly rare. It’s a wonder that Evan didn’t come out a totally wack and new sea monster.

But like I said, science doesn’t really exist here! Anything goes! Be whatever mer you wanna be! Love whatever mer you wanna love!

[hwangzi]

Unexpected: Prologue

Read previous part here Warnings: more swearing lol

The first time he met you was on the rooftop of your school. 

  "Emotionless b*tch."

He woke up from his nap in his favourite spot behind the wall and thought he had heard wrong. Is someone else here? Which little fucker intruded his sacred spot for napping and skipping classes?

The voice from before hissed again and someone laughed,

"Does she even know what an honour it is to receive a confession by the Lee Minho? And she just rejected him? What a pretentious little-"

He rolled his eyes, another one of those fake *ssholes, he thought. All he wanted was his peace and quiet and now he got disrupted by some snakes spewing gossip. Time to get outta here...

He got up, pulled the hood of his sweater over his head and made his way around the cubicle, attempting to discreetly slip out from the door behind them - when he spotted a girl blocking the doorframe, her head hanging low.

Great.

Not knowing what to do or where to go, he decided to hide around the corner and wait.

"I know right? She thinks she's so high and mighty, when all she is is just an antisocial ice princess. She’s pretty, but soo boring."

The girl in the doorframe flinched, as if someone slapped her. Anybody could put one and one together - the person those girls were talking about was her.

"Yea", the other agreed, "Never hung out with us after school. Doesn't even drink or party... what’s wrong with her?"

"I know... hey, are we allowed to be up here?"

"Nah, but I needed a place for a smoke away from those nosy-*ss teachers."

"Okay. Now let's go." The girl behind them perked up, he could see the panic in her eyes, like a deer in the headlights.

He didn't know what came over him - the next thing he knew was that he stood right in front of the two girls, leaning onto the railing.

"Hey there."

The two of them jumped in surprise, then frowned in annoyance.

"What the f-”

“Sorry to break it to you, but you’re kinda invading my personal territory here so could you please get lost.”

"Why should I care?", the other girl scoffed and threw her cigarette butt right in front of his shoes.

"Because" he chuckled and took off the hood of his sweater slowly, both of them gasped in surprise upon recognising him,

“You-!”

He chuckled and approached them, demonstratively stepping onto the cigarette end,

"Thanks to you guys' lively dialogue I've heard some very interesting information. And also," he leaned in, noticing the girls' eyes widen, "if your parents knew you smoked regularly, how delighted would they be?"

"I..I- shit-" the one who smoked cursed under her breath, her friend was already pulling her away,

"Living up to your title as the school's biggest asshole, I see? C'mon, let's go."

And with that they vanished inside the building. That’s right, run from the big bad wolf. Content, he smiled to himself and put his hood back on as it got kinda windy on the rooftop. That’s when identified a small figure peeking out from around the corner. He sighed in relief.

"Thank you... You really saved me there", she approached him, her voice was weak and quiet when she spoke. The red rims around her eyes didn’t remain unnoticed when he looked at her. How could anyone so look so... vulnerable and small?

"It's nothing. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I- I could ask you the same thing." She replied, scanning the empty place.

"Oh I'm here often, I'm not really into this whole... school thing." He frowned and she giggled - which was almost contagious to the point he had to suppress a smile.

“So.. what brought you here?”

“I followed them because I thought we could eat lunch together-”

“Them? Those gossiping bitches?” 

“They are-” she paused for a second to correct herself “...were my friends.”

Something about the way her voice cracked towards the end almost made him feel sorry for her. But why on earth should he be? She was just another one of those 376 students at this school that he barely knew.

Scrap that, all he wanted was to give her a hug right now.

“Look, uh...” he paused awkwardly, realising he didn't even know her name,

“Y/N. I’m y/n.” she chuckled and he continued,

“Look, y/n - I don’t know what went down between you, but no one deserves to be trash-talked like this. Maybe it’s better to avoid these types from now on.”

“I guess I've learned my lesson this time...” she wiped her face as she spoke, removing a tear that had previously rolled down her cheek.

“Also, you're better off without them anyway. I mean who cares about your private life, right? People post all kinds of shit on socials all the time so their gossip is kinda redundant."

A genuine laughter erupted in her chest and it struck him that this was the most pleasant sound he’s ever heard. Damn, she looks good when she smiles...

In the very second that thought crossed his mind, he knew something was different - that unfamiliar emotion caused him to suddenly turn around on his heels and mutter a quick "S-see ya" before taking rushed steps towards the exit.

"Wait! I don't even know your name yet! And I couldn't see your face properly because of your hoodie...”, he heard her call after him.

Yea, let's keep it that way, he thought, suddenly uncomfortable about being recognised by her. He didn't give a shit about his image, so why does he now? What makes her so different and why does she affect him like this?

Confused by his own reactions, he decided to act like he hasn't heard her and walked straight out of the door without another word.

---

After that incident, he kept seeing you everywhere.

In the halls, although now you were mostly on your own or with that best friend of yours. In history class, where you sat all the way up front so he could stare holes into your back until the lesson ended. During lunchtime, waiting in line to get food. In the school’s library, studying until past midnight every evening, all by yourself.

It was the latter where he met you most frequently, especially since the teachers got fed up with assigning extra homework for his misbehaviour and just sent him to the janitor to do his work instead.

If he was being honest, he started looking forward to this part of the day, only to see you in your half-asleep state, with your hair up in a messy bun, sitting on the very table he just wiped a few moments ago.

He wasn't the type to secretly trail behind a girl - he had dated before, but he's always been the straightforward kind - and he couldn't recognise himself whenever he lingered in your perimeter. Something inside him hesitated to confront you, much unlike his usual self, he felt strangely nervous, almost embarrassed to talk to you. Taking a liking to a stranger in the library wasn’t something he’d planned on in his high school years - it was unexpected, to say the least.

It took him another month or so to finally make up his mind to talk to you, in person this time.

It was also during that period when some nasty rumours began to spread about you - how you're nothing but a pretty face, how you despised socialising and practiced celibacy. The nickname ice princess also became an established term mentioned contextually with your name.

Despite all that, he still found you studying in the middle of the night, looking just as tired but no less fabulous as you did before (in his opinion, at least).

It struck him right then that he was in love with you.

So on one night, when he found you at your usual spot at the table, he decided that this is an all or nothing case.

Your hair, cascading down your back, not being tied up as it normally was, reflected the dim light of the desk lamp. He slowly approached your concentrated form - you didn't seem to notice him, your brows were furrowed as you kept focusing on your book.

He'll never get tired of how beautiful you are.

Unsure on how to start the conversation, he snaps out of his daze when one glance over your shoulder revealed the title of the novel you were reading. He smiled to himself.

 Here we go.

 Unexpected pt. 1

[benandreyship]

Chapter 4 - Threatened

Over the next couple of weeks, Rey and Ben mostly kept to themselves away from the oppressive murderous glares. They had snuggled together each night, but it had not gone beyond that…yet. Rey was reluctant to leave him alone, for fear of another attack. Ben encouraged Rey to do what was needed for the resistance, and stressed that he can take care of himself. While Rey knew this perfectly well, she didn’t want anyone to get hurt. None the less, Rey began going to resistance meetings again, and helping with a new plan to go against the first order. Ben was not welcome at these meetings, which suited him just fine. When Rey wasn’t around, he spent his time honing his lightsaber skills, meditating, reading, and exploring the jungle.

One day Rey and Ben held hands as they walked a well tread path in the jungle towards the training course. They constantly peeked at one another with grins on their faces. These past weeks their hearts had been full to bursting with happiness. They had both fully healed with the help of one another, and were building back their muscle strength. Almost daily they would run the training course together, and spar with their lightsabers in the evenings. Ben continually taught Rey in the use of the force, and new lightsaber moves. They were becoming quite formidable, both alone and together. Sometimes members of the resistance would watch them spar, and some would spar with Rey with staffs. Rey always beat them. No one ever wanted to spar with Ben.

They made their way to the training course, speaking of their favorite things. They liked to quiz each other on things they loved the most. “Favorite food?” Ben asked.

“Deep fried nuna-legs is your favorite right?” He nodded.

“And yours is that weird prickly fruit you had on Takodana?”

“Yes! It was so juicy and sweet. I mostly ate portion bread and veg meat on Jakku. Anything else tastes amazing.” She giggled. They continued talking about their favorites until they came to the training course starting point. They both started stretching their arms and legs in preparation. “Think you can beat me this time?” Ben said in jest.

“Oh yes, I think today is the day.” She smirked. They both stood at the entrance of the course, and got into a ready stance to run. “On three?” He asked.

“One…” She said.

“Two…” He said.

“THREE!” They both shouted. Both immediately took off down the path. They were neck in neck as they dodged tree branches, jumped over logs, and careened over rivers and cliffs. They used their blasters to hit moving droid targets, and used their lightsabers to deflect training shots from shooting droids.

 They climbed trees, swam through a cave, and dove to the bottom of a small lake to retrieve a training token. They were nearing the end of the course when an unfamiliar droid shot out in front of them. Ben and Rey glanced at each other with confused looks. “Where did this come from?” She asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen it before.” It was a large black, floating, circular droid. It had many red lights and ports that made it look like it had red polka dots. “Maybe one of the resistance fighters put it here for a challenge? I wonder what it’s supposed to do.” Rey said.

“I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling about this…” Ben said. Rey did too. They both took out their lightsabers and moved into a readying stance. Their connection flowed freely between them, and they were one. The droid seemed to be powering up, and was making small beeping noises and flashing red lights. A small ‘zing!’ noise came from the droid, and Rey yelped in pain. “Rey!” Said Ben. Her hand went to her cheek, and came away bloody. Ben’s brows furrowed in concern as he stepped towards her. Another ‘zing!’ issued from the droid and hit Ben’s leg. “Ouch!” He slapped his hand to his bleeding leg. Ben and Rey nodded at one another, then faced the droid once more. Suddenly, the droid started spitting out sharp pellets rapidly. Both reflected as many as they could with the force and their lightsabers, but were still yipping in pain whenever one struck true.

“One…” She said.

“Two…” He said.

“THREE!” They shouted. They both reached out their hands and channeled the force into the droid. Pellets were floating in mid-air, and the droid was shuddering. They surged the force through them and onto the droid. The droid then immediately split in half and fell to the ground. A puff of black smoke rose from the unknown machine. They both paused and took stock. The pellets seemed to have embedded into their skin, and the blood still continued to pour from their wounds. They both reached out their hands towards each other, and focused on removing the pellets from one another. The pellets floated out of them and fell to the ground. A few dozen were extracted from each of them. The blood poured even more now that the pellets had been removed. They stepped towards each other and placed a hand on one another’s abdomens. Their wounds quickly healed, and the pain ebbed away. Even though they knew they were both perfectly healthy again, it was distressing to see so much blood on their loved one. They tightly embraced one another, and took deep relieved breaths. They broke apart, and stared down at the broken droid. They stepped towards it, and knelt down to inspect it.

“Who do you think did this?” Rey asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine. “ Replied Ben. Rey began picking through the interior of the droid searching for clues in the manufacturing. She gasped. “That’s a resistance part! And there! That’s scrap metal that the resistance collected from an abandoned ship! Ben…Someone in the resistance made this.” They were both unsettled, knowing that someone back at base had tried to do them harm. “What disturbs me the most, is they know that you run this course too…Why would they want to hurt you?” Ben asked in disbelief.

“I don’t know.” She replied.

They each carried half of the droid as they headed back to base. Uncertainty and fear plagued their connection, as they both felt worried for the other. No one had attacked them again since the shower incident, and Rey had hoped that would be the end of it. Apparently not. When they arrived, they went the back way in to avoid questions, and headed for the lounge area where Poe usually was at this time. Rey led Ben to a closet. She handed him half of the droid, and slipped on a cloak to cover the blood stains. “Wait here.” She told him. Rey entered the lounge and found Poe sitting at the bar with several of his friends. Finn and Chewie were sitting on a couch in the corner with Rose and Janna. A few others were scattered around the room. Rey walked up to Poe, and he turned to her. “Hey Rey, want a pint?” He gestured towards the bar tender.

“No thank you. Poe, I need to speak with you. Will you come with me?” He furrowed his brow, but nodded. Poe followed her to the closet. When they stepped inside, she closed the door with the force and took off the cloak. Poe gasped. “Rey! Oh my god, are you okay?! What happened?” Ben then stepped forward from the dark back corner holding the droid and covered in blood. “This happened.” Ben said as he dropped the broken droid at Poe’s feet.

“What the hell is that?” Poe asked.

“It’s the droid that tried to kill us on the training course. It has resistance parts. Someone here made this, and put it out there to hurt us Poe.”

“Oh my god…” Poe ran his hand over his face. “I’m so sorry Rey, I have no idea who did this.”

“What I want to know is, who here would want to hurt Rey?” Ben asked.

“No one! Truly no one. Everyone knows that Rey is a hero, and one of us. Not a single name comes to mind of someone who would do this.” Poe said. Ben and Rey crossed their arms at the same time and peered at Poe.

“Well, what should we do about it? You’re the new general, so we came to you.” Said Rey. “We have to know that we’re safe here. If there’s someone at the base that wants to kill us, that’s going to be a problem. I mean, we could have died Poe! If we hadn’t been out there together, one of us probably would have bled to death.”

“Okay, okay, okay. I get it.” Poe put his hands on his hips and looked down. “I’ll do some investigating and see if there’s been any whispers from someone unhappy with you two. Unhappy enough to do something about it I should say. There’s plenty of people who don’t like, whatever this is.” He gestured at both of them. “Until then, maybe you two should lay low.” Rey nodded, Ben remained silent.

Ben and Rey went everywhere together from then on, afraid of leaving the other alone. Rey stopped going to resistance meetings temporarily until the attacker was caught. They still went to the training course, but always at different times and they kept a wary eye out. One evening, Rey and Ben were enjoying some dinner in Rey’s room when someone knocked on the door. They both looked up at the door warily. Rey set her food down, attached her lightsaber to her belt, and opened the door. It was Chewie. Chewie chirped at Rey, and she nodded her head. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” Chewie glanced at Ben behind her, then walked down the hall. “Chewie said Poe has called for an emergency meeting, and that he needs me there. Will you be okay for a little while?”

“Of course.” Replied Ben. Rey looked undecided, and was staring at the floor.

“You should go, I’ll be fine.” He said. She gave him a slight but worried smile, and nodded.

“Okay…But if anything happens, just call me…Alright?” He nodded. She went to him and planted a kiss on his lips. She caressed the side of his face, as he reassured her with a friendly squeeze on the arm. With a final glance back, Rey left the room and closed the door behind her. Ben finished his dinner, and layed back on the bed. He felt very sleepy all of a sudden, and closed his eyes. He was asleep within moments.

Rey stood around a hologram map in the center of the command room with the rest of the resistance leadership. Her eyes kept trying to close on her. She shook her head, and smacked her cheek to try to wake herself up. “Hey, you okay?” Asked Finn who was standing next to her.

“Yeah, just a little tired I guess.” She replied. Poe continued with the meeting.

“We have reports that there’s a small First Order fleet nearby, and that they’re close to pinning down our location.”

“Have they entered the planet’s orbit?” Asked lieutenant Connix.

“No, not yet. It seems like they’re hovering just outside the planet, like they’re waiting for something. It’s only a matter of time before they get here. We have to decide whether to leave, or defend ourselves.”

“How big is the fleet?” Asked Finn. Rey’s head came up when Finn spoke, she had almost fallen asleep again. “All we know is there’s a frigate starship, several transports, and at least a dozen Starfighters.”

“Hell, we can handle that! No problem!” Said Finn.

“Don’t be so sure. Something about this feels off. Why are they just waiting there? And why is the fleet so small if they suspect they have found our base?” Said Beaumont. No one had an answer for that. They started going over logistics, and the likelihood that more First Order were on their way, and whether they should reveal themselves and attack before a larger fleet arrived, wait until they were found, or leave. Rey was in and out of the conversation as she fought to stay awake. After about an hour had gone by, Rey’s head suddenly snapped up. She stared off in the distance with a look of horror on her face. “Ben.” She whispered. She stood and stumbled right into Finn. “Finn, I’ll be right back.” He looked askance at her, but nodded and let her go. 

Rey stumbled down the hallway, fighting an uncontrollable urge to sleep. Something was wrong. She had to get to Ben as soon as possible. She struggled to stay upright as she made her way down the various hallways. She clung to the walls, and was channeling the force to keep her awake. At last she had reached her room. The door was open, and Ben was gone. “Ben?!” Rey shouted. “BEN!” She called. She frantically looked around the bedroom for clues. The bed covers had been pulled off, and the remnants of Rey’s dinner lay sprawled on the floor. She closed her eyes, and reached out with her feelings. The connection with Ben had dimmed, and she could tell he was a great distance away. She tried to force-connect with him, but she couldn’t. Something was blocking their connection from fully manifesting. The urge to sleep grew stronger. She fell to her knees, and her hands hit the floor. She felt her cheek touching the cool metal, and her eyes closed.

[anasticklefics]

Ghost Tickles

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy

Characters: Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves

Summary: Ben walks in on Klaus trying to tickle himself, which leads to them trying to make him tangible enough so that he can tickle Klaus instead.

Warnings: mentions of Klaus’s drug addiction

Words: 1 675

Despite having had Ben’s ghost by his side for literal years, Klaus sometimes forgot about his presence until he did something so embarrassing he couldn’t even wave it off. And sure, Ben was used to taking off if Klaus was in more… intimate situations. He’d barely seen him during his time with Dave. It had been weird.

Right now, spread out on the bed with his hands on his bare skin, he really really wished his brother would’ve just left. Seriously, he only needed, like, ten minutes.

“Do I wanna know?”

Klaus glared at him as best as he could. “You really gotta learn boundaries, man.”

“How should I know what you’re thinking of doing?” Ben was standing to the side, far enough that Klaus almost couldn’t see him even if he turned his head. “Besides, you could just ask me to leave.”

“Last time I did that you were mad at me for days.”

“That was 15 years ago! I was young and vulnerable.”

“Yeah, well, I was losing my virginity.”

“I get that now.”

Klaus had to laugh. Almost hysterically so. His hands were still on his midriff, cut off mid-journey. He was desperate. Not ready to lose the contact. “Anyway, can you leave?”

“Only if you tell me what you’re actually doing.”

“Uh, no.”

“Then I’m not going anywhere.”

“I don’t know why I’m even talking to you. I can just make you leave.”

“You know you can’t.”

“Watch me.”

Ben’s mouth twitched. “Don’t strain yourself. Just tell me what you’re doing and I’ll go.”

What the hell was Klaus even supposed to say? “No.”

“Klaus.”

“Can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because-” Klaus sat up, hands still unnaturally positioned on his stomach. “contrary to popular belief, I can actually get embarrassed.”

“Are you embarrassed?”

“Surprisingly so, yes.”

“Well, now I really gotta know.”

Klaus groaned, hands finally dropping so that he could hide his face in them instead. “You’re a pain in my glorious ass, Ben.”

Ben came closer, hovering over the bed. Over him.

Klaus looked up at him. “I was trying to tickle myself, all right?”

Ben blinked. “Why?”

“Because I have no one else to do it for me.”

“Why would you- wait.” Klaus had always wondered if Ben was actually 30 even in death, or if he was still the young boy he’d been when he’d passed. He’d also wondered if his whole presence had been Klaus’ imagination this entire time, but he’d conjured him properly now, so he’d scrapped that thought.

He was pulling the same pondering face he’d used to as a child, making him look naive. Young. “You like it.” It wasn’t a question.

Klaus looked away. “Kinda? I only ever realized it with Dave. I obviously knew I didn’t mind it before, but now… well, I had a craving. One I couldn’t shake. Still haven’t.”

“And you thought trying to tickle yourself would satisfy it?”

“Well, I had to try! What else was I supposed to do? Ask someone?”

“I’d help you, if I could.”

“That’s weird.”

“Not as weird as whatever I walked in on you doing.”

Klaus snorted. He’d only gotten far enough to trace his fingertips over his lower belly before being interrupted. “Thanks for that.”

“No, seriously, I would help you.” Ben crouched down so that their faces were leveled. “But you’d have to help me first.”

Klaus had tried to make Ben tangible again. Really, he had, but he’d never quite gotten the same results as during the apocalypse. Hell, who was he kidding. He’d not even been able to get any results at all.

“You’re not trying enough,” Ben said, interpreting his silence as doubt, which it was. “You haven’t been sober for this long in years. Now’s your chance.”

“You think I’m desperate enough to be tickled that I’ll conjure you up properly?”

“Yes?”

Klaus blinked. Straightened. “Yeah, you’re right.” A pause, and, “Don’t tell the others.”

“I’m not that mean.”

If he thought he wasn’t still going through severe withdrawals, he was a fool. The urge for tickles was big, but it didn’t overpower his need for drugs, and he spent a lot of time asking Diego to tie him up. Many hours of his days being restrained, or in somebody else’s company. Trying to keep himself together.

You would think it’d be easy to conjure up dead people at this point, but to make them tangible was a whole other thing. But he only needed to do it to Ben, and Ben only needed to be able to touch him. He didn’t know if it made any difference, but it didn’t feel as daunting of a task if he put it like that.

He tried to concentrate. He didn’t even have to make all of him tangible. Just his hands.

He was already shaking.

“What is it about it that you like?” Ben asked. Normally, Klaus would’ve told him to be quiet. That he needed to concentrate. But he knew Ben was aiming for a distraction. Make him forget his fingers itched for something more.

“Not sure,” he said, pausing to breathe. Just breathe and nothing else. “It’s fun, for starters. And physical. With the right person it can lead to even more fun things.” He wiped at his brow, still shaking. “I kind of like the sensation, as weird as that sounds. It’s just so unbearable. It’s weird.”

Ben nodded, listening.

Klaus straightened, eyes never leaving Ben. “And you have to be vulnerable during it. I don’t mind being vulnerable with someone I trust. It makes me feel safe.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes.” Klaus grinned. “But I only love you as a brother, man.”

Ben barked out a laugh. “The feeling’s mutual.”

Klaus concentrated. And there Ben was, taking a step closer to him and grabbing his arm.

It had worked.

They smiled at each other like fools. Klaus did wonder how it felt to be dead and yet seem so alive. He wasn’t gonna ask. Not right now.

“I do remember you being ticklish everywhere,” Ben said, leading Klaus to the bed without him realizing it. “Let’s get you laughing.”

He was being tickled by a ghost. How wild was his life?

Ben had only been poking at him for a couple of seconds, seemingly unsure of how to even use his suddenly useful hands, but Klaus was already giggling. Yes, giggling. Had Ben not seen him in every embarrassing moment of his life, he might’ve blushed at the thought of him hearing it. But this was Ben. Not Diego. Not Allison, or the rest. Even in life he’d never judged.

Yeah, he was getting way too sappy over a one sided tickle fight. He was aware.

“Shit!”

Ben seemed to get the hang of it quickly, or maybe Klaus was just that sensitive. He was trapped between him and the headboard, his own flailing hands being pushed away by Ben’s free one, the other one dancing up his bare midriff. Dave had tickled him the first time because of his habit of “never wearing shirts that fit”, and the bare skin had just been too tempting. Now Klaus was grateful for it. Crop tops had not failed him once.

Ben pushed the shirt up even more, getting his ribs, sides, hips. Spots Klaus hadn’t considered ticklish until he’d gotten properly tickled. He would’ve felt more exposed and vulnerable, but no one ever even attempted to poke him, and so he’d kept it up for so long that it became his standard way of being. To have someone - Dave, and now Ben - take advantage of it was lovely, in a way he couldn’t properly understand.

Maybe he didn’t need to understand everything anyway.

“Does this feel good?”

Klaus was in such a state of hysterics that it took a moment for him to realize his brother wasn’t teasing him, but genuinely wanted to know if he was doing a good job.

“Yes,” he choked out, head thrown back with a hand gripping Ben’s wrist. “Yes, but I’m dying- ah, no!”

Ben had taken advantage of their hands being connected and raised his, thus raising Klaus’. He’d twisted his body to get at the exposed armpit, and Klaus instantly let go of him and slammed it down. He felt his shirt rising even more as he slid down the bed, nearly lying down now, and still giggling like a goddamn idiot.

Ben paused, letting him breathe. “This is fun,” he said. “Your reactions are funny.”

“You’re good at this,” Klaus replied, panting. “Wouldn’t it be so funny if no one could see you, but you could tickle people and confuse them.”

“Don’t give me ideas.”

He moved toward him suddenly, making Klaus recoil, arms raised and ready to defend himself.

Ben laughed. “I should do it to you.”

“You’d make people think I was still high.”

“But it’d be fun.” He poked Klaus’ palm. “What spot do you want me to do now?”

“Uh.” Of all the times Klaus had to go shy, it had to be now. “I don’t know. People don’t usually ask.”

“Well, people don’t usually ask to be tickled either.”

“As far as you’re aware.”

“Fair. So?”

Klaus averted his gaze. “Knees? If you can avoid my kicking feet.”

“I’ll take care of your kicking feet, don’t worry.”

Klaus briefly wondered if he’d conjure up the tentacles to keep him in place, but Ben merely grabbed his shin and scribbled his fingers behind his knee, pushing the leg back down each time Klaus tried to thrash.

It was torture. Beautiful ticklish torture.

And suddenly Ben’s hand went straight through him. Yeah, that wasn’t traumatic at all.

“You stopped concentrating,” Ben said easily, sitting up as Klaus calmed down.

“Dammit. How am I supposed to concentrate while I’m laughing?”

Ben’s hand was still on his knee, the fingers poking out on the other side. He wiggled them, and Klaus frowned.

“That feels weird.”

“Does it hurt?” “No. It almost feels ticklish, but I think it might be the ghost tickles.”

“Oh, ha ha.”

[seawatersavior]

Roma - Enchanted Tailor

If you were to count Roma in the order of who joined the SV Mercenaries first, she should of had the #1 spot. However she reluctantly takes the #3 spot. Roma met Titus when she was still part of her original clan, she was a noble with only one task, produce heirs to establish diplomatic relations. Her husband was stern, cold and distant. She lived the majority of her life hidden away in a silver pagoda, deep in the castle grounds, far from where anyone could reach her. She was banned from leaving and could only step out of her prison at night, when the guards weren't watching her. They weren't there to keep anyone out, just to keep her in. At night she would sit in her window looking over the palace walls into the dark forest that lay beyond. She would do this until one day, a pair of eyes would stare back.

Roma was a little stunned, she clearly noticed a pair of eyes, but she only saw them for an instant. After waiting and watching, she did not see them again. She would continue to watch every night, a little excitement would do her good, and so she never let her husband know. Winter was fast approaching, and as the trees began to loose their leaves Roma became discouraged. With no foliage she couldn't pretend like that creature was still there, the white snow made it clear that nothing was there. She sighed and went to close her window when she caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of her eye. She snapped to look but there was nothing. But she knew she saw it! She wanted to find it!

Roma wanted this more than anything, and without thinking jumped out on the edge of the window, while the pagoda stood higher up, there was a few ledges that protruded outwards. She shimmied closer to the edge, gripping the hem of her night gown in one hand and the wall with the other. And then she fell.

The ice beneath her feet had given out, try as she might she couldn't revert to dragon form to spread her wings. Her tears lingered in the air as she fell, was this it? Is this how she would die? Before she had the chance to scream, she felt a pair of hands wrap around her and they crashed onto an open room. She lay stunned on the floor, the air had been knocked out of her. She looked over at the person lying next to her, he was a mess of blue hair, rather thin and seemingly just as winded from the fall. The sound of foot steps rang out as the guards were alerted to the noise. Upon hearing their clamoring the boy shot up, he was young and lithe in appearance, his face covered in hair but unable to hide the secrets his right eye contained. That eye was dark. Dark lines spread on his face, all spreading from that point. She couldn't discern much more as he ran and jumped out the window into the snowy storm.

The guards burst in and found her laying there, instead of asking if she was alright they picked her up and tossed her over their shoulder. "She finally tried to escape!" they laughed heartily as they threw her back into her room. "Don't try that again little lady, the lord instructed us to kill you if you ever make the attempt to escape, consider this your last warning." She lay there on the floor, at least the floor was padded with many rugs, so she didn't hit it too hard. But she was certain she saw her curtains shift. She pushed herself up, arms weak and cold but the warmth of her room was beginning to thaw her. She had curtains, tapestries, quilts and throws scattered all through out her room. She walked over to her pile of blankets and gave it a poke.

A quiet, but started "ow!" rang out when she met something in there. She yanked off the top blanket to uncover the young man from before withing. He was covering his eye in pain, whoops.

"Ah I'm sorry!" she exclaimed as she sat down next to him and patted his back. "Are you OK? You're barely wearing anything and it was terribly cold out there."

The boy retreated into the pile and smiled, "Well these blankets of yours are pretty soft, so I hope you don't mind the company. I am in fact freezing," he reached out a hand in greeting and said, "my name is Titus, I've always wanted to meet you after seeing you peek from your tower."

Roma smiled sheepishly, "So I wasn't insane, I knew I saw something peeking through the canopy." The pleasant thought energized her and she stood. "Lets dress you up I can't have you freezing on me." She walked over to her closet and pulled out a trunk hidden within a mountain of linens. "I may be a useless trophy wife, but he can't stop me from sewing!"

The boy shimmied over in what can only be called a blanket burrito. When she opened the trunk a little gasp escaped his lips. "Did you make these?" There was an assortment of apparel of varying sizes and shapes, for children, for adults, for something remarkably tiny. She pulled out some varying pieces and pulled him aside. "Lets get to dressing!"

Time passed like this, Titus would come and visit her pagoda, Roma would dress him up, and he would hide whenever anyone would come for Roma. But it would seem that his presence would not go unnoticed.

Roma's guards came today strangely more polite than usual, Titus had taken his usual hiding spot in a pile of plush sheets and pillows. He could see through a small gap between the pillows, but he could not be seen. As Roma stood by the door she quickly dropped to her knees in a bow. "My Lord, how kind of you to visit this humble wife." She lifted her head with a smile on her face, "How may I be of service to you today?"

A tall figure entered the room, his presence making the air suffocating. "Where is he."

Roma was too good at playing her part, "Forgive me my Lord, but whatever do you mean. The familiar you provided for me has long withered away.

"Bull Shit." With a snap of his fingers the guards began tearing apart the room. They had no mercy, and used their swords to pierce each pile of downy material into scraps.

Roma scampered to her feet and pulled at the mans robe, "Stop! Stop! Why are you ruining my room!?" She was roughly pushed back onto the ground before she could inquire further, but she didn't need to.

The Lord stomped on her hands and pulled at her hair, "Tell me where he is or who he is or I will break these sinful hands of yours! How dare you frolic with another while I provide you everything!" He pressed down hard as she screamed in agony. "There is no one! My Lord there is no one but my thoughts to spend time with me!" Tears rolled down her cheeks, but these seemed to enrage him further as he puller harder. "My Lord I assure you, please, do not destroy the only happiness I have."

"Then how dare you defy me! There was no trace of magical prowess on you before, but now here you are before me, exuding magical essence to anger me!" He removed his foot from her hand and let her head drop to the ground when he released her hair. He grasped her bruised hand squeezed, the pain was intense, but Roma could only focus on the cyan aura radiating from her hands. Magic.

She wasn't supposed to have any, in order to keep her obedient, her powers should've been sealed as a child. She had never been able to use them, so how could she even understand when her magic began to surface? She couldn't control it.

"ANSWER ME!" he yelled as his boot rushed towards her face, but it never made contact. Dark tendrils wrapped around his leg holding it back. They glanced back to find the source and found that none of the guards were moving. Their eyes were dark, a malicious mana poured from their orifices as they began to hit the ground.

The Lord quickly took his sword and sliced through the dark tendrils, and watched as they retreated into a pile of pillows.

"What sort of monster have you been rolling around with?" the man exclaimed, but he couldn’t speak for long as a blast of water magic shot at him the pile. Titus emerged then, his markings spreading more and more, reaching out as if trying to find something to hold onto.

Suddenly Roma remembered what he had told her once, he wasn't entirely dragon, and it took a lot of his energy to keep his malice sealed in. In the midst of the chaos she had almost forgotten she had been trying to help him! And now he was trying to save her with the very magic he tried so hard to contain. She scurried over to her storage chest and began to dig while trying to avoid being blasted with magic. She had hidden something in there, something she was certain would help him! Finally her fingers felt the cool smooth surface she was looking for and pulled it out. Her eyes went wide when she finally saw its condition, the sealing mask her mother had worn and handed down, it had broken in half! She wasn't certain it would still work, but she had to try! She held the mask in one hand and looked at her other, she needed to try and use her magic! Sure enough a few sparks danced on her fingertips and she glanced at the two fighting behind her. The Lord was a light dragon , his attacks blast of light mana there was no "residue" to his spells, but Titus's water spells left puddles everywhere, that was her chance! Magic can't be so hard right? She just needs to unleash a strong concentrated surge, that should be enough.

"Titus!" she yelled, "Catch!" She threw the broken mask at him while grabbing onto the Lord's arm. Sure enough Titus was quick to catch the mask, and Roma did the only thing she could think of, she released a surge of magic from her hands, the lightning quickly took its form and coursed through the water on the ground. Titus jumped back as far as he could, avoiding the potent wave that could surely take him out. The Lord however, was being tightly gripped by Roma, his eyes white as the current ran through his body, the pain numbing his body and mind. As Roma stopped her haphazard spell she let the Lord fall, she herself had suffered no repercussions from the spell, physically at least. Mentally she was drained, her mana having been almost entirely released from her body. She staggered over to the window and stepped over any puddle, just in case. "We uh, need to go." And once again, she fell.Barely conscious she felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around her as she passed out.

When Roma awoke she was in a humble bed in a cramped room. A soft warm light came in through the windows lighting up the area. She was alone it seemed, but a plate of fruit was on the nightstand and a jug of water was there as well. She tried to stand, but her nerves were extremely sensitive, so she stayed in bed eating fruit. Night came and the door opened, waking her up from her sleep. She knew that blue hair all too well and she sat up as Titus walked in and closed the door behind him. From here Titus explained that she had been out for a few weeks, and he had taken her to a distant territory where he hoped her husband would not find her. She had depleted so much magic her body had gone into a state of shock it seems. In those weeks Titus had discovered that the mask did indeed work for him, but it had taken a lot of damage when she fell and he dropped it trying to catch her. But he came with good news! He was putting a small clan together in the hopes of trying to accomplish his goals of being a strong leader. While his current line up was currently seeking a good base of operations, he had returned to her every night to feed her his own mana. Due to her sleeping in she was now technically the third to agree to travel with him. What a shame, after all she would have been #1 had she been awake!

[mooberg]

AtS Outtakes

Good day, Virus World! This here is a little bit different from the stuff I usually post, but I wanted to give it a try. One of the things I like to do when writing is save all the little bits of substantial length (see: more than like 6 lines) that I cut from the final edit. Like outtakes, but those cool ones where they fully finish the scene because writing. I’ve been toying with sharing these outtakes for a while, so here we are! I hope you guys like this and it’s not too weird. Also, Chapter 4 coming soon…

Enjoy!

First off, it’s fun to note that the app on my phone I use to write doesn’t have any backup software on it so when I’m backing up data I just email it to myself. Janky system but I love that app anyway. The reason I bring this up is because I emailed myself these two scenes… in June 2017. Dear god. We really are in the Virus World Renaissance, fam.

~

So this is a scene that got completely scrapped in the final edit. Originally I wanted to write through Horns’ seeing each of his team’s dreams when he woke them up, like I did for Glitch and Jolly. I scrapped the idea pretty early on, but did write this scene based on that idea. For the record, I asked each host of Gamma-Psi what their virus might dream about. If it was angsty, blame them.

 ~

When the door creaked open, all eyes in the room swung to look at him. Horns stepped out, running a hand lazily across his eyes. Eyes which widened as they landed on Gamma, the memory of her dream coming back to him instantly.

 “Gamms.” He breathed with a soft smile.

 “Morning, sleepyhead.” She teased.

 Horns rushed forward, wrapping her in a tight hug. He murmured quiet enough only she heard, “Your original wings were beautiful. I'm so sorry you don't have them anymore. But I like your current ones a lot, too. They sound like windchimes, and they make me smile when I hear them. They make me calm because I know you're around.”

 “Horns.” Gamma gasped. “How did you-”

 “I saw your dream when I pulled you out of this frozen thing. You probably don't remember, but I'll never forget.”

 Gamma thought about that for a moment before a smile spread across her face and she pulled him in closer. “Thanks, Horns.”

 He gave her a kiss on the cheek before pulling away. “Okay, so who can I wake up next?"

 "Woah, hold on. You just recovered from your first bout." Glitch responded quickly. "Let us at least catch you up first."

  Idk bro but somehow get to this

(This is literally in my OG notes. Sometimes you just gotta skip to the good shiz)

  “So how'd you sleep?” Glitch asked.

 “Terribly.” Horns replied with a wry laugh.

 “Why?” Glitch narrowed her eyes knowingly. “What happened?”

 “I kept seeing... things.” Horns sighed, shaking his head. “I didn't really know what I was seeing at the time, but...”

 “What?”

 “It's stupid.” Horns said, straightening up. “It's nothing.”

 “It's not nothing.” Glitch insisted. “Spill.”

 Horns frowned. “I think they were clues. Like, visions but also clues to solving the case.”

 “Alright.” Glitch nodded encouragingly. “So what did you see?”

 ~*~

This is an alternative to what I’d been calling the ‘courtyard freakout’ scene when the team discovers the courtyard of smashed viruses. There are a few bits I left in, but when I went back to write chapter 3 a month ago, I was just really unsatisfied by it. Fun to compare what is with what was though!

 ~

“Oh my god.”

 “Jolly don't look.”

 “How could this even happen?”

 Shards. Everywhere. A jagged scattering of white littered the courtyard, lines of black running through them. Dozens of viruses, gone in an instant.

 Peony went to Jolly, trying to shield the smaller cat virus as she looked on with a hardened face. One they'd never seen on her before. Callow was frozen, the sheer capacity of what lay before him too much to take in in an instant. Equo had looked away entirely, eyes squeezed shut and head tilted in hopes that would block the tragedy from her. Glitch glanced between Psi and Gamma as they silently took count of how many victims lay before them, and Jolly, trying to decide where she was needed. Unbeknownst to all of them, Horns was backing away behind them, gaze locked on the courtyard. When he could no longer take in the scene, he turned, fleeing into the streets.

 “Horns!”

 He could hear their calls behind him, his no longer silent footfalls giving away his intent, but he didn't listen. He couldn't. On the streets, he ran right down the middle, hoping to avoid running into a virus and causing more of the devastation that he'd run from.

 He made it no more than a minute before something threw him to the ground.

  “Horns.”

 “Get off me!”

 “Horns, it's me!”

 “I know damn well it's you, Gamma, let me go!” He'd heard the tinkling of her wings the moment she tackled him to the ground.

 “No.” Gamma said. “I'm not letting you run off in the middle of this. What were you thinking?”

 She strongarmed him into rolling over while still keeping him pinned, and it was then his appearance gave her pause. “Horns...”

 “Gamma, please just let me go.” Horns pleaded, tears running down his cheeks. “I can't be here. Not now.”

 “Why? What is it?” She asked.

 “This is my fault. This is all my fault.” His despair fueled struggling against her grip slowly came to a stop. Instead, he gripped her arms hard, searching for an anchor.

 “Horns, don't go there. This isn't-”

 “I saw them.” He said. “I saw them in one of my visions. But I couldn't figure it out in time. It's my fault they're dead. If I could have been here sooner-”

 “You would have been caught right in the middle of whatever took them out.” Gamma interrupted. “Horns, as much as you wish you could, you can't fix this.”

 She nearly stopped then and there as a wretched sob escaped him.

 “You can't. But you know what this is now. You can stop this from happening again.”

 “I don't- I can't-”

 “You can. And you have to.” Gamma pulled him to his feet. “We have to.”

 Horns stared into the hope in her eyes, the kind of honest hope that was just so purely Gamma.

 “You're stronger than this, Horns.” She said. “Don't let it break you.”

 Horns' sigh was broken up by the hiccuping that always accompanied a hard cry, but it was there. He didn't say a word, but the nod he gave as he looked away was enough.

 “Come on.” She turned, heading back the way they'd come, adding over her shoulder, “we're regrouping at the dorm,” when she sensed his hesitation.

 ~

I do like that supportive Gamma bonding. Mm, good shit. This is all I have for Chapter 3 of AtS. I hope you guys enjoyed this, if you want to see more of this for future chapters let me know in the tags or however you please. Also if you want a bit more structure (like, a scene comparison, or like, a copypasta of the last few lines that came before a certain part if it’s a cut scene) let me know. We’re gonna feel this out together.