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copperlinecharacters · 10 months

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@aristobun - Names have been changed but here's a story that may have healed a rather deep wound in me. Enjoy! <3 TW: violence implied

Fun Fact: All images were created through AI text prompt.

“All you’ll ever be is a stepping stone for the men that use you and throw you away. Remember my beautiful little fool, there’s always someone out there that’s prettier, smarter, and willing to do what you won’t to keep your fella satisfied.”

Her mother’s voice flittering in and out of her head, a hellish echo from her childhood and her growing up years on a vast plot of land referred simply as the Copperline by the locals. It took her back to that rambling hodgepodge of a house with the coal stove and the root cellar built into the dig out hillside and its rooms with ceilings at odd angles and the doors that went seemingly nowhere.

“Now what’re you goin’ to do with her, Mar?”

Was what her father would have asked if he’d been sitting in the passenger seat next to her. Here she sat with the station wagon idling as she gripped the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles were turning white as her face turned red as a beet, clashing horribly with her red hair.

Worthless. Selfish. Stupid.

She could almost feel the blows landing from those long ago locked away memories of mother’s wrath. Mary could almost feel the hands gripping at her throat again and quickly blocked the thought away back into the box. Heart pounding and eyes welling up with fresh tears from past pain a knock at the window sounded. Gil Betcher, the undertaker and funeral coordinator at Palmer & Higgins Funeral Home had popped out and was holding a cordless phone. All while trying to keep his suit dry and his hairpiece in place as it flapped in the late summer wind as the storm rolled in. The sandy blonde piece of carpet resembled a dead squirrel so closely that Mary’s eyes bugged for a moment half thinking she was seeing him be attacked in the parking lot.

“It’s for you!”

Cranking down the wind hurriedly Mary gave him a look of thanks and accepted the heat plastic weight.

“Ms. Pettymore…It’s Charlene at The Whispering Pines.”

“Yes?”

It had been ages since anyone had thought Mary wasn’t married. Alas, she’d been married since she was 18. Her marriage to Bill Higgins, the one and very same whose name was on the building had been a rushed one and that was a story for another day.

“We went in to give your father his pain medication and I’m sorry, Mrs. Higgins but your father has passed away.

“How long ago?”

A quick shuffle of paper and she had her answer.

“Ten minutes ago.”

‘Ten minutes I could have had with him but I was here picking up this bitch.’

Mary thought to herself as her mouth set in a firm straight line as she cast a side long glare at the lavender hued monstrosity of an urn that held the last remains of the former Mrs. Cecelia Ann Pettymore. Or Celia as she had been known to the few that called her friend. $1600 for a Grecian style naturally occurring Roman marble finished with gold fixtures and name plate with custom engraving of her name and dates.

“Well, good news, Charlene. I’ve got Gil right here. He’ll be over to collect him very shortly.”

Passing the phone back to Gil she pulled the car into reverse and stopped quickly, tires squealing slightly. The heart clenching nausea and knots tangled in her mind slipped for a moment and Mary Pettymore-Higgins’ niceties and manners simply fell away much like her world had fallen apart. Her filter flew off and her ID took over.

“He’s gone Gilbert. He’s over at the Pines room 1802 in the blue wing. Go and pick him up, please.”

Gil Betcher straightened himself a little taller, back into business mode.

“Are you thinking of doing the complete Gold package?”

Mary was almost surprised at her ID’s straight forwardness as she watched her own hand shoot out from the driver’s side window and grab hold of the first thing she could, Gil’s crotch, and squeeze just a firmly as she did her steering wheel. This sleaze bag that worked for her husband and herself, a man she herself had cooked for every holiday since she had married into the Higgins family, had the balls to ask her if she was going to be tacking on another $845 to her own father’s funeral not ten minutes after his passing.

“Did. I. ASK you about the gold package, boy? I. TOLD you to go and pick his earthly body up for cremation. You’ll have him done tomorrow afternoon by 4PM and I WILL be picking him up at 4 on the goddamn dot.”

Each important word was punctuated by what was surely a heart stopped harder squeeze to the undertaker’s nether region. A horrified shriek squeak left the man’s mouth as he saw a definite change in the woman he knew to be as gentle as a lamb. Everyone in the town of Miller’s Ridge knew what kind of life she’d had growing up. Then she married the biggest skirt chasing Tom Catter in town. Perhaps this is what finally pushed that poor sweet woman over the edge.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Pulling her arm back she threw the car in reverse again and peeled out heading left sharply enough to cut off Irene Lumming’s silver chevy as it tried to turn in into the lot. Irene honked and called a rude name from her window just in time to be cracked in the face with a Stop N’ Sip mug thrown with surprisingly good aim by Mary as she completed the turn followed by a

“Piss off, Irene!”

“You see this shit, Gil?!”

Irene had yelled before pulling into her reserved spot on the right hand side of the car park towards the beauty salon where she worked.

“Her Daddy’s gone now too, Irene.”

“Aww hell this town don’t stand a chance now that she’s getting her feeling back. Always knew she fiery but she’s always been so sweet. Think she’s gone and cracked up?”

“Hard life n’ it’s hard to tell presently.”

Was all Gil was able to say as he tried very hard not to focus on the dull bruising ache that was throbbing below the belt. He now wondered if she’d done permanent damage. He feared that she might do worse to him if she circled back and still saw him standing here like a damn goober eating idiot.

Somewhere down Snapping Turtle Lane the Buick Electra Estate Wagon owned by Mrs. Mary Higgins was officially owning up to its horse power. The gravel kicking up behind her made her smile for a moment until she caught a glimpse of a familiar bottle blonde bouffant in her rearview. Sharp blue eyes locked onto her own as the form took better shape. The smell of Roman Sunset perfume and Tellings-Boyce cigarettes filled her car as Celia took shape once more. The she sat, perched and looking like she could back hand Mary from where she sat. Her black shift dress paired with pearls and pillbox reminded Mary of the night of her graduation night. Her mother had backhanded her for asking where her graduation cap had gone and called her an idiot of getting a black eye and losing her cap. There were still photos of her vain attempt at covering her shiner as best she could with makeup and her long red hair. Bill had still proposed to her that night to her and even told her she was pretty as a picture even with it. The following month they were married, he was working for father and she was cleaning houses for the well to do’s around Lake Mitchum.

“Where are you off to, girly? Running away?”

Slamming on the brakes for a moment she came to a screeching halt enough to find the urn onto the floorboards with a solid thunk.

“No, Cecelia. I’m not running away. I’m taking care of you once and for all.”

Turning into the familiar driveway she eased herself up to the garage and hurried in and set to work. She could have sworn she felt her mother follow her every move.

“You may as well sit down if you intend to watch this.”

Mary said as she rummaged through the hall closet for her stash. The wooden box she kept it in hadn’t change since she had discovered the plant’s wonders in her teens. Bill had been the one to get her stoned out in the rushes by the Copperline Creek. Alas, he had changed massively after they married he became, slowly, what he was now. A man that couldn’t keep his dick in his pants if the world depended on it. She knew he had girls all over the counties but right now she could care less about him and his flings, she’d deal with all that and him later.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Came a bark from the depths of her mind as she smelled that stupid perfume and heard that voice.

“I’m planning to get myself calmed down so I can deal with you, Mother.”

Cornflower blue eyes blinked at her as Mary sat herself down at the kitchen table and went about the ritual she loved deeply. The spicy sweet heavy scent of it hit her and she smirked at the scowl she imagined her mother sitting across from her at the tidy kitchen table.

“No good drugged up hippy. No wonder Bill steps out on you. Wasting his money on yourself with that awful addiction.”

Deftly picking apart the heady green bud she rolled herself quite possibly the largest joint she’d ever crafted, lit it and inhaled deeply holding as she listened to her mother’s voice before she exhaled a rather large plume of smoke in Celia’s direction, squarely hitting her mother’s face.

“Shut the hell up.”

Celia bristled at that fact that it wasn’t as request but a command.

“Why are you making another one?”

“Because you and I are going on a small trip and I’m going to need backup Which reminds me…”

Grabbing a sandwich baggie, the weed and an extra lighter she wrote out a note to Bill telling him that dinner was in the crock pot and went about taking the stash of cash she’d fond in one of his favorite hiding spots. $600 was there, she’d thought of only taking fifty of it but she’d had a change of heart as she thought back to their anniversary and how he’d spent it with Kelli Stetler two counties over hold up in a sleazy little no tell motel with a heart shaped tub and tacky red decor. She’d had a feeling and followed him there, had the photos to prove it and entrusted the key to the safe deposit box to her oldest and dearest friend, Misty Chanter, for safe keeping.

“Beer money.”

Celia almost smirked at that one but still regarded her with deep suspicion. Grabbing her purse once more she spotted the Hoover vacuum sitting in the corner where she’d left it last night after coming home and cleaning the place top to bottom. Bill, as usual, was gone ‘on business.’ A fresh bag was grabbed and it was toted out the station wagon along with an overnight bag she’d packed and kept for when this day came. Stopping by the gas station she filled her gas tank. She’d completely forgotten that she was still puffing away on her hand roll until she’d nearly burnt her lip. Snuffing it out in the ashtray she slipped the next one into her pocket and went into the Quiker Liquor cash and carry and bought herself a twelve pack of Schlitz and a bottle of Schnapps, the cherry kind that she used to love at bonfires and tailgates. She’d not realized that the second joint had migrated from her pocket to her lips as she browsed the selection of lottery tickets in the glass display in the front of the counter.

“I-I’m not sure you can smoke that in here, Mrs. Higgins.”

Came a squeaky voiced statement from the kid, Jeremy Holden, who Mary used to babysit.

“Wasn’t plannin’ on it, Jeremy. Just need this and the change and one of these…

She stopped as she grabbed a bottle opener from the display by the register.

“Oh and it’s Ms. Pettymore, actually or it will be once Burt Fleischer serves Bill at 6:45 today.”

Jeremy wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to do with that information but he could tell by her demeanor Mrs. Higgins Ms. Pettymore was certainly dealing with something big. She gave him a pretty smile and off she went smelling like some of the best home grown he’d never get the chance to try until he was at college. In his nineteen year old heart he almost felt sorry for Bill Higgins. Especially as Mary walked away with a swing in her hips. The fact that he saw her pull out of the parking spot like the hounds of hell were on her tail made him slightly envious of her driving skills.

“So…you’re planning on getting tanked, drugged up and going back to my house? Why?”

Ever the lady even in death, Celia kept her ankles and knees tightly closed together. Flicking on the radio Zeppelin filled the car. The scowl on her mother’s face deepened and made Mary thrum with a sort of joy that made her almost positive that she’d lost her mind.

“Oh. Surely you mean my house, right?”

Owl eyes and ruffled feathers from the not to friendly ghost on the backseat. In a blink Celia was shotgun and trying to grab the wheel. Even in death her fingernails resembled talons. The only difference was that they couldn’t inflict pain or damage.

“That house’ll never be yours! It’s MINE!”

“Wrong!”

Her voice rang out sharp and quick like heat lightning and it was enough to the pin the Spector of her mother to her seat in silent shock. According to family lore that dated back to the 1700s and the settling of the town itself it was to be passed to the continued line of sons blood line. Being Mary was the literal last of the settling line to be born to the final son it was bittersweet. There was also the legal state of things. Her mother left no will, her father, Herschel had had the good sense to prepare as best he could with the time given to him, all six months of it. According to the Commonwealth Mary Colleen Pettymore-Higgins was the brand spanking new owner of 445 acres of land, one rambling farmhouse and a rental property at the end of Pettymore Hollow which ensured a steady and tidy little sum each month. As of right this moment each month’s rent was being put partially towards monthly tax payments to keep up to date and partially put into savings that only Mary had access to.

“Legally, the state recognizes me as the sole heir and as executrix of Dad’s estate it’s mine, clean cut and dried. I’m leaving Bill. I’m starting over.”

“I’ll haunt you for this you spoiled little brat.”

“You haunted me while you were alive so suck it, bitch.”

“You think you have it so easy. To leave someone that doesn’t love you. Well, it’s not so simple when you have an overly dependent child clinging to the apron strings that you never wanted.”

With a puff of smoke Celia was gone, the cloying smell of magnolia flowers and menthol smoke left behind. One stop of the hardware store out on Route 9 and there was nothing stopping her from setting out what she set to do. Glancing at the clock on the dash it read 12:30. She hadn’t thought her plan was going to be put into action so quickly but here she was, ahead of time. As she took a turn around the bend that lead onto the winding private lane she sighed. That statement about Mary not being wanted had stopped hurting around the time that she had turned 13. It held no feeling anymore, it was simply a harsh fact of reality that she found herself living with and trying to put behind her as best that she could. For the most part the wound had healed but every now and then a sharp pang of grief over the type of mother Celia could have been gets to her.

“You gave me arms you frigid bitch on wheels. You gave me working arms and legs.”

That particular motto came about when Mary was about 17 or so and had stuck to this day at age 35. A silent prayer of thanks that she had found herself without children with Bill. Things were better that way it seemed. He volunteered his time teaching Driver’s Ed and coaching football that with his full time job owning the only Insurance/Travel agency in four counties and taking over the funeral home from his father that it was a miracle he was home. Well, that and the fact that he had many dalliances outside their marriage. Mary liked to think that a man like her husband had children. Just not with their wife. She was just the asshole that shared his name, gold bands and monogrammed bath towels with.

“Everything a Higgins touches turns to gold. Keep him happy and you’ll never have to worry that head of yours you beautiful little fool.”

Celia’s voice was back in her head again. The third joint joined the last two as the tank of a car wound around the snake curves of the driveway. The place had been kept up but it was now the scraggly tail end of summer. The station wagon slowly marched itself towards the oldest and newest destination in her mind. She could almost see herself running barefoot in the woods with her dog Blue long hair waving in the wind at ten years old. Around the next turn she saw herself running and panicked from Celia after she’d been drinking, around the time Mary had turned 16. It hadn't been long after that run for freedom that Cella ended up in County Home Hospital fora 'sudden breathing and heart related issue.' Shutting that one away she focused on the memory of her first best friend, Blue. A tiny terrier mix with eyes like her own, a mix of blue and hazel with a spritely shot of green through the right. Mary’s on her left. She adored that little dog and had many a year until his back leg was broken in a fall and her mother refused to have it treated promptly when asked to take him to an appointment. Mary had been away on honeymoon and had received a phone call from their frantic housekeeper, Tilly. He had been treated initially for what was supposedly a simple break in his hind leg. He had survived the initial surgery and two weeks at home with both Bill and Mary taking turns with him and trying to find the new normal for her beloved pet. He had died in her arms and she knew that that day she had lost a part of her soul. In all realities he had been the closest thing she would ever come to having a child. A sad realization to have at her age that it still pained her. Pushing that thought aside with the others to be locked away in its own box. Her car had nosed itself to the very top of the final curve of the driveway and the house was coming into view with its ancient weathervane first. Which ever family member had decided to have a wolf’s head as the animal protecting the house made her laugh. Parking off to the left of the bird bath and feeder she sat there before lighting her joint. The auxiliary was left on and the radio played an old lush sounding Velvet Underground song, the timeless ode to Sweet Jane.

“Sing it, Lou.”

Tilting the driver’s seat back she inhaled deeply taking a quick second hit and holding it down. Her eyes felt heavy and she could have sworn she was floating.

The song quickly switched to something that made her think of her father’s opinion of Bill.

“That boy’s gonna roll you like some dice, Mary.”

“It’s alright, the Deuce’s still wild, Daddy.”

A slow exhale as she sang long

“Oh you got to roll me…and man did he ever. This one’s for you, Pop.”

Taking one last hit before shutting the car off she blinked back tears at the memory of happier times, what few there were, with Bill. Snuffing the roach and grabbing her bags from the car she made her way up onto the front porch. A year’s worth of old dried out leaves crunched under her feet as she fished out her keys and juggled her things before the front door swung open. She was greeted with a great plume of dust from the front entrance.

“Welcome home indeed.”

She muttered as she mentally sorted herself out. The power was still on, she’d had the good sense to keep the power on strictly because she honestly thought her father was coming back home one last time.

I thought the same thing too, dammit.

His voice sounded from the side of her, the ‘good living room’ as her mother had called it. He was still in that room and still in that god awful chair. Tufted watered silk with swan feathers stitched into the most nauseatingly intricate pattern in cream on lavender. It had been deemed 'fit for her king' and her father had simply rolled his eyes at that. It wasn't a secret that Cecelia Ann Palmer-Pettymore had taken to stepping out on her husband. It's just was women of her status did she had rationalized on evening on a very long card ride home from the summer camp, Wiholka Lake Camp, after her Granny Pettymore passed away. Mary had been twelve and still adjusting to her maturing body.

Herschel Jean Pettymore was as alive as he’d been when Mary had left him at Whispering Pines only a few hours ago. He had been sitting up, propped by endless pillows, dressed in his most comfortable t-shirt advertising the grain silo that had their name carefully painted onto the side and lounge pants. He'd been ten deep into the Miller's Ridge Record's weekly crossword puzzle and his second cup of coffee when he'd sent her out to pick up a very specific type of rolling paper. Just as she had kissed his cheek and hugged him a nurse came in and told her that Gil Better had called saying that her mother was ready for pick up. Given that she and Bill had a night out planned her father insisted she kill two birds with one stone, pick up the papers and her mother and then head home to primp herself up a little bit. She saw him just as clearly as she had seen Celia. Instead of a mind’s eye image of a particular snapshot in time, her father was dressed much like he always had been. Heavy canvas work pants, white t-shirt and a tan pocket chambray button down over it. Hair still gleaming from the pomade and smelling of a mix of Slick Shine and Baron cologne. Quite the hell of a juxtaposition of the tacky taste her mother loved. Catalog class, as Herschel had called it. Those that didn’t have good taste naturally assumed that they could throw enough money at the problem but you couldn’t change the spots on the leopard that was matriarch of the family.

“I didn’t mean to leave you like I did. I knew you’d be ok…you’re a tough one. You never let her beat you, Mar Bear.”

In a blink he was fading as he waved to her. She wasn’t entirely sure how to take what her father had said. As in the past? It was true, Celia hadn’t broken her spirit too badly and what she had managed to chip off Mary had glued back on herself somehow. If he had meant it as a warning she’d have thought he’d have had the sense of mind to actually sound much more serious about it.

“Smoke one for me, huh kid?”

His faded completely from view as the light changed and filtered softly through a different patch of tree line that had caught her eye out the window. Her mind drifted hazily as she exhaled one last time softly. Her hands were shaking as she rummaged through the hardware store bag. Finding the screwdriver she picked the lavender monstrosity that was her mother’s urn, and supposed final resting place. In her mind back when she was living Celia may have thought she’d have pride of place a top the mantle in the formal living room that she coveted and had decorated in her signature colors of Provincial Creme Ivory and Luscious Lavender Lace. Accented in Grecian Gold. The very room thought of having to go into that room made her queasy for a moment. The knot only releasing once she opened her eyes and saw that she was indeed the only thing with a pulse in the house.

‘Tackle one thing at a time, Mary.’

She thought to herself as she picked up both the urn, a hammer and the screw driver she needed. The thought struck her to do this act of supposed desecration, if she chose to look at it that way, on Celia’s prized white oak doing table but ultimately decided against it and took herself out onto the back porch to do the deed. It had been many years since she had truly prayed for her own soul and its forgiveness. There was that one time five years ago that she’d managed to hit that squirrel but she had viewed that as a mercy killing as the damn thing had already had a broken leg as it stepped into the path of her car.

“Dear God…it’s me…Mary. Uhm…please forgive me for what I’m about to do but I can’t have this woman in my house. I’m setting her free and hoping she understands that I needed to do this to draw a line for myself. I could never stand up to her when she was alive so I’m doing it now. I know it sounds cowardly but I think it’s better this way. Amen.”

The urn itself would have been nice enough if it had been on a thrift store shelf and used for fake flowers. By an old woman named Florence who lived in a gated retirement community in Boca Raton Florida. Celia’s love of pastels and cream had been legendary from her decor, to her chosen fashions, to her desserts at the church potluck.

Probably those horrible Arum lilies that she loved so damn much.

Forcing down the urge to gag she gingerly picked up the urn and put it down on its side to inspect the sliding cover on the bottom. It had advertised as an ‘easy open’ urn for eventual scattering if the family wanted the option. The base slid easily open in her hand and revealed a thick heavy white screw plugging the hole. She knew righty tight lefty loosey but this was insane. It finally dawned on her to attempt to use the flathead screwdriver and hammer as a chisel to get the plug out.

“You’ve lost you ever lovin’ mind, girl!”

“Ahh, knew you’d be back.”

“What are you doing?! That was the Queen’s Splendor urn that took six months to come from Italy!”

Swing and a miss with the hammer and screwdriver a solid gouge was made into the back porch. Laughing hollowly Mary turned to where her mother would have chosen to stand. Looking her form up and down she found herself severely unnerved that her mother lacked feet.

“Cripes on a trike! Do me a favor and form some legs and feet, please, Mother.”

“Girl, you keep calling me Mother like that and I’m tempted to do something hateful.”

This was her third swing and a miss and her temper was flaring at the fact her own mother’s spirit, or rather her mind’s interpretation of it had taken to actually calling her the name her mother had always referred to her as. This time though instead of making a gouge in the wood of the decking the screwdriver chipped a piece of marble the size of a half dollar off and hitting Celia between the eyes.

“Call me girl one more time, Mrs. Pettymore and I’ll flush your dusty ass down the Stop N’ Sip bathroom.”

For the third time her mother greatly resembled an highly uncomfortable large mouth bass whose lips had been glued shut.

“And it won’t even be the indoor one! If you so much as think of doing something to screw me up, over or sideways ever again you’ll end up in that Rent-a-Toilet out back.”

A terrified and highly undignified frustrated squeal of rage escaped Celia’s thin birdlike lips.

“Alright…alright. I give. Wh…where are you scattering me?”

“Out by the lilac bush next to the left side of the old chicken coop.”

“I hated those birds.”

“You loved that one…Sissy. Damn thing hated me but you loved the color of the eggs she laid.”

A small smile graced Celia’s face for a moment.

“I’m glad you remembered I like lilacs.”

Another swing and a tink and piece near the rim went flying out into the yard. For a moment Mary almost felt badly about destroying the stupid urn. Bill had come over one day and he and Celia had gotten on the subject of her passing, which in all reality was a good six years off and he had gotten her to take the bait on a model he couldn’t budge. Gil had gotten skunk drunk one night and screwed up a serial number by a single digit and now Palmer-Higgins had 100 of these stupid faux Grecian urns in a rainbow of ugly shades.

“Damn things look like they belong in your Mama’s bathroom, Mary.”

“Why not see if she wants one? This had Celia’s here written all over it.”

And that had been that, Celia had been gifted one and that sparked the town’s women of a certain age with access to disposable income to flock in and order their own in their ‘signature colors’. Mary had been told that it would serve her well to adopt buttercup yellow or spring green but she kept her wardrobe rather simple with earth and jewel tones in protest. Celia never did find out that the urn itself hadn’t quite come from Rome, Italy as she’d believed. It had instead come from Rome, New York to Miller’s Ridge.

“How could I forget? You’re the only Lady Lucille cosmetics seller to actually earn the coveted lilac Lincoln.”

That damn car was etched into her memory after the fact that she’d sustained her first concussion when she was smacked in the head by the back passenger door in the parking lot of Floyd’s Department store and knocked unconscious. Celia hadn’t even bothered to take her to the local urgent care to get checked over. Just gave her some children’s Tylenol and told her not to fall asleep. The scent of the lilac air fresheners ( a Lady Lucille exclusive that came with each car service it seemed ) mingled with Roman Sunset, Speedy Spray hairspray her cigarettes combined with the bleariness of the head injury it had been a surreal experience but she had kept herself awake until her father’s mother her granny Pearl had looked at her and taken her into town to Doc Heinz.

Pay dirt! The plug gave and popped off somewhere towards the right revealing a plastic bag filled with grey dust. Tipping it out did nothing except visibly upset the ghost of the departed. Mary couldn’t even bring herself to think of her mother as dearly right now. Perhaps with time but as she sat here her legs crossed crisscross applesauce shaking the ever loving shit out of the urn of the woman that she loved but couldn’t find herself to actually like she felt an urge to chuck the damn thing and see if it bounced. Intrusive inquisitive thoughts won out and the lavender mess was heaved down the steps to see if the cremains loosened. They didn’t much to Mary’s charging and Celia’s unabashed glee.

“FUCK!”

A murder of crows took the sky at her verbal assault to the air that was clearly directed at the urn. Throwing down the hammer and screwdriver with a groan Mary rubbed her face for a moment before she noticed the baby blue paint on the covered porch ceiling was chipping terribly. Another thing to add to her to do that would quite possibly help calm her in some way.

One thing at a time, Mar. One Damn thing at a time.

“Good luck on trying to get me out of there, Mrs. Higgins.

The sneer that painted her mother’s features was audible in her voice.

“This blows…”

Blows. Vacuum. The vacuum! Scrambling up to her feet and sprinting back to the car she found the Huber vacuum, a wedding gift from Bill himself way back in the day. A fresh bag in her left hand and carefully carrying it back onto the back porch Mary smiled.

“What in the hell? What’re you going to do Huber me out of my final well deserved resting place?”

Switching out the attachment to an extended telescopic hose with narrowed tip for nooks and crannies ( usually air vents and corners) a smile graced Mary’s face.

“Hell yes..”

A quick prayer was said over the vacuum as the extension chord was plugged into the outdoor outlet and the switch was flipped. A scream filled the air the momentarily rivaled the roar of the motor as grey ash made its way down a dark tube and into an ocean scented prison. The moment the pressure changed and a chunk shot up the tube Mary startled. The weed was finally hitting her as her body loosened up. The drooping feeling tugged at her just behind the eyes. The pitch of airflow changed, signaling an empty vessel. Popping the plug back into the base and covering it with the slide cover the entire urn was buried quickly in a deep sink hole at the back most southern corner without much ceremony. The vacuum was disassembled and shoved into a contractor’s garbage bag and left for trash pick up at the end of the lane. The actual bag holding the ashes was scattered right where she promised it and nowhere else.

You’ll never know just how much I loved and cared for you. More than you ever dared to do for me but I never for a moment hated you for it. I couldn’t ever…you were the only mother I was ever given and I loved you without shame. Without the expectation of anything ever in return. Of all the things I’ve ever wanted or needed from you I hope you’ve found a place to belong and finally just be.. I hope you’re happy wherever you and if you’re not you’ll learn exactly why you’re there.

A deep inhale took her. The weed had loosened her up enough to finally let that lump go from her throat. There were so many things she had left unsaid, that they had both left unsaid, so to clear the air Mary let out a scream. She figured something primal might help the healing process before she made a few phone calls.

“THANKS FOR THE LEGS, MA!”

Inside in the kitchen the phone rang. Rolling her eyes Mary sighed and turned to go inside and stopped herself as she heard the answering machine crackle to life. The faux wood monster that took up an entire hall table whirred on. Burt Fleischer’s voice filled the room, a jovial sign that William Danforth Buell Higgins had indeed been served with divorce papers.

“Fuck me running have I been out here all this time?”

Mary said to herself as traipsed into the house, catching a look at herself she heavily resembled a lobster and winced.

“Well, this is going be a long strange trip, ain’t it?”

#copperline characters #Mary Pettymore-Higgins

4 notes · View notes

imogenkol · 10 months

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one talking to the other when they think they’re asleep - Imogen and Bix 🥺

wow this has been aging in my inbox like fine wine... Luckily I was in a sudden and desperate need of writing something totally sappy and gross so thank you so much Mari and sorry this took forever to get to! 💕

The suns had set long ago and a peaceful stillness settled upon the interior of the ship. Imogen ran her fingers through Bix’s hair as the mechanic rested her head in the bounty hunter’s lap. A bright moon shone through the windows and bathed the women in its silver light, providing enough illumination for Imogen to gaze down at her beloved with the utmost fondness. Bix’s eyes rested shut, though her breathing had not yet fully evened out. Sleep would no doubt consume them both soon, the comfort of their closeness on the cot soothing their minds and bodies.

“I’ve had a thought,” Imogen said in a low tone so as to not disrupt the mood.

“Just one?” Bix mumbled tiredly without opening her eyes.

She let out a soft breath of amusement. “Well, one I find to be quite pleasant.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“I know there hasn’t been any shortage of moments for us to share, but…” Something in Imogen’s chest seized and made it difficult to form the proper words. She had always viewed herself as a well spoken person, but suddenly her mind turned into a stumbling and disorganized place as she struggled to articulate a desire within her. “Given the, um, small reprieve as of late, I wondered… Well, there are a few systems that have not been completely ravaged by the Empire and I suppose some are even worth the effort to visit. I could take us anywhere you wish, just for a day or two. I thought you might appreciate some semblance of normalcy. W-with me. If only for a short amount of time.”

There was silence. Imogen braved a glance down and studied Bix closely for a few moments, taking note of the steady rise and fall of her chest. It seemed the mechanic had quietly drifted off against her. A small sigh of relief escaped the bounty hunter’s lungs as she realized with a flush of distaste that childish nerves were what overtook her. Imogen had very nearly made an utter fool of herself. Still, she felt a twinge of disappointment. It would have been nice to hear Bix’s response.

“I… I would very much like to share a pleasant meal with you,” Imogen whispered more to herself than to Bix at that point. She continued to caress the slumbering woman’s hair soothingly as she divulged in her own fantasy. “Somewhere by a lake or an ocean where we can watch their sun melt into the water. Where I may memorize your carefree smile.”

Imogen pictured all of the lovestruck fools she had observed on her travels, so consumed with themselves that the rest of the galaxy may as well not exist. As much as she felt disgusted by them, she often wondered what that must be like. It had always been a morbid curiosity. Until she held her mechanic in her arms.

“A place where we may forget about things such as war.” She quietly uttered that last hope as if it were the smallest spark of a match that might just as easily burn out as it could bloom into a comforting flame.

“I like the sound of that,” Bix responded in such a hushed tone that it barely reached Imogen’s ears.

A weight in the bounty hunter’s chest suddenly plummeted as her eyes snapped back down. It appeared as if Bix were still asleep at first, but then Imogen saw the smallest upturn at the corner of her mouth. “I did not think you were awake.”

“I was right on that edge,” she said as she turned herself to gaze up at Imogen. “Then I realized you were asking me to go out with you.”

Imogen sighed and rolled her eyes. “You make it sound so undignified.”

“Well, we don’t all speak as proper as a Jedi from Coruscant.”

The former Inquisitor nearly scoffed at the playful jab. “I am neither a Jedi nor am I from Coruscant. Not technically, at least.”

Bix cocked a brow. “So you weren’t technically asking me out?”

“We are together,” Imogen stated incredulously. “Why would I need to?”

“Because I love to hear it, sweetheart.”

“Don’t call me that,” Imogen complained with a smirk she could not fully dampen.

“But it’s true,” the mechanic insisted smugly. She reached up to cup the back of Imogen’s neck and pulled her down. After barely a beat of resistance, Imogen surrendered and allowed her lips to fall onto her beloved’s. Bix grinned in between their kisses as she continued to taunt her. “You are a sweetheart. And a romantic, as it turns out.”

Imogen no longer refuted. She never could when a kiss muddled her mind such as this one – and every other kiss from her mechanic – did. Imogen would be anything that Bix claimed her to be as long as she got to feel the softness of her lips caressing hers.

Her hand came to rest on her beloved’s cheek, her thumb gently brushing across flushed skin. “Cease your ridiculous teasing and agree to come away with me.”

“Do you remember the last time you asked me?”

Of course she did. Though that had been more of a plea to keep Bix safe after the disaster that Cassian caused… before the true storm struck. “I recall your refusal.”

“I should have said yes to you then.” Bix’s lips delicately passed over Imogen’s again. Less of a kiss and more of an acknowledgment of her regret. “So I’m saying yes now. It’s probably going to be the last chance we ever get to do something nice together.”

Imogen would exercise all of her efforts in order to prove those last words false. If that meant pledging herself to a rebellion she did not fully believe in, then so be it. Perhaps she did not deserve to see the end of war, but Bix did. Bix deserved more than a taste of peace and Imogen had every intention to offer her that as well as her full devotion. So, Imogen would selfishly seize every opportunity to enjoy a moment of the life they could have.

#oc insp: imogen kol #ship insp: if i had a heart #prompts: if i had a heart #local morally ambiguous woman tries to ask girlfriend out on a date and gets roasted

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james-is-here · 8 months

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✨The world was dark until you✨

Filler fic, I apologize. The others fics are coming in slow because I’ve hit a road block but i’ve started on Lee Knows and I’m coming up with fics for the others.

I swear, my first series fic will be done, I won’t be a writer who forgets their story. I’m hoping y’all enjoyed Chan’s chapter though, I am really proud of it.

Mrs. MinLee stared at her son who was face down in his pillow, refusing to get up when he has school in half an hour.

“Kai.” She said sternly. “You’re gonna be late, get up now.” She got a mumbled reply in return. “I’m good.” The woman sighs and turns when she hears her husband walk down the hall who stopped in place with wide eyes when he saw his wife’s stern face and crossed arms. “What’d i do now?”

She huffs and rolls her eyes. “Kai won’t get up.” “Ah, Schmettling, Doesn’t he have online classes?” “Aish, Gunther, you never listen. I’ve told you that his second semester is in person because he has traditional art classes.”

The younger male huffs, making his parents turn to him and he sits up. His mom sighs and her face turns into sympathy as she looks at her sons eyes. They’re still grey, almost black, almost…emotionless.

“Kai, your eyes.” His dad points out and Kai huffs out angrily. Besides the full color, his sclera was red, he’s been crying.

“Oh, son, I thought you got your colors?” “I-I thought I did to, Eomma…It went away last week…” “I knew that Thompson boy was bad.” “Appa-“ “Sorry, ehm, you need to get up and get to class.” “How can I do art classes without color? Come to think of it, no one in my classes doesn’t have their soulmate, pretty sure I’m the only one in existence to have their color taken away after a breakup…”

His mother sighed. He’s not wrong, even though you’ve lost your soulmate, you don’t loose all colors, they’re just duller and less bright till another is found but for Kai, it was rare where all his colors were taken, not just from his sight but for his eyes included. When his mom saw his eyes, she teared up a bit, excepting to see his blue eyes instead of grey.

“Well…maybe a classmate could be paired with you?” The male sighs and rubs his face. “I-I guess I could try…” “Good, your luckily Uni isn’t that far from home or you would be really late now, chop chop, let’s go.”

Kai stands in front of his classroom for a moment. He’s wearing his grey school hoodie under the school blazer he was sent before the semester started and navy pants he borrowed from a friend.

He had on sunglasses and he knew he’d have to take them off as his hand landed on the handle and pushed in. “Sorry that I’m late.” The teacher gave a soft smile and nods as Kai bows. “Actually…” The bell rang and the teacher smiled. “You’re right on time. I’m sorry, sir, but those won’t be allowed.” She said immediately and Kai sighs.

“Um, may i ask real quick what we’re doing today? I-I might need a guide…” “A guide? What do you mean?” “Uh-Um, W-Well my…my recent partner who I thought was my designated soulmate breakup with me recently…” “That shouldn’t be a problem, you’ll just see dull colors.” “W-well…” His hands shook slightly as he reached up and removed his glasses.

“Oh! How unique.” She said when she saw his eyes and the students gasped. “So…you can’t see any colors?” “Yeah…before this semester I did b-but i guess my connection to this person was…stronger so the effect was stronger…I-I don’t really know.” “Alright. Well, you can sit…” She looked around before seeing an empty spot.

“…next to my top student, Hyunjin. He can help you with colors.” Turning to the male, to Kai his hair looked white, making Kai assume he had a light hair color, his face was cute in Kai’s opinion and he held a soft expression as he waved, snapping Kai out of his zone as he walked over and sat next to him.

“Hi…” He heard a voice whisper as he was watching the teacher talk. “H-Hi…I-I’m sorry you have to help me…” “It’s okay. Gives me something to do.” “What do you mean?” He pulls out his phone under the table and taps on it before handing it over to Kai.

It was opened to a folder of artworks. Even without color, Kai found the pieces beautiful. “I paint with every free time I have, she even gives me some of the assignments ahead of time so I can do them and then turn them in.” “Wow…I need to find my new soulmate soon or I might end up failing this class…” “You’ll find them eventually.” “Wait…painting these…does that mean you have dull colors?” “Yeah…Your problem though is interesting, never heard of someone going back to no color.”

Kai sighs. “Yeah, it’s a bit strange.” The other male hums before speaking. “I-I’m sorry if this is too awkward but I hope you find someone too…only cause I think you have a nice eye color…” “Oh, your fine. Um, my mom says they’re blue.” Hyunjin looks down, what seems like shyness on his face as he answered back. “I like blue eyes…”

Kai throws the color strips away from him, it echoing in the empty studio he sat in on a stool in front of a blank canvas.

His guide in colors was going…good enough. Even if he couldn’t see them properly he still tried and the teacher actually like what he painted, but she may have curved the grade on pieces that don’t look…that good…but if she told him that who knows what would happen.

Kai puts his head in his hands and sighs, taking a moment to breath and remember what Hyunjin always told him.

“If you are ever overwhelmed, first take a breath and slow down. You won’t be able to remember things if your minds all jumbled.”

So that’s what Kai did, he took a deep breath then looked up and over the the splayed out stack of color samples. He noticed some came off the small metal rod and near the stack was the broken pin that holds the sheets in place.

Well, that’s what happens when this class has had a bunch of students but only one color sample stack.

He gets up and picks up the cards and the broken piece then looks around. He finds a box near the exit of the studio, deciding to put the cards in there so the cards are still available but the metal rod can get gotten rid of.

“Oh, hey.” He looks up and sees Hyunjin. “Hey! A-Are you okay? I-I haven’t seen you in a couple days.” “Yeah, I didn’t really tell anyone but one of my family members…passed away…I was at the service and healing of course.” “Aw, I’m so sorry.” “It’s okay, how have you been?” “Good…kind of struggling recently.” He mumbles as he looks down at the color cards again, rearranging them neatly before stepping beside Hyunjin to throw the trash away but then as he’s turning back, Hyunjin is a lot closer.

“W-What- Hyunjin?” “Oh, Sorry.” He took a small step back. “I can help you with the assignment until schools over.” “What if I…gave up?” Hyunjin immediately grabbed his elbow and pulled him back. “Excuse me?” Kai awkwardly looked down at this feet, shuffling between his left and right foot. “What if I…gave up…” “Take it back.” “Why should I?” Kai asked with furrowed brows as he lifted his head back to Hyunjin.

“I heard Mrs. Lang has been curving my grades of assignments that don’t look as good as they should be. Seeing no color is getting me pity that I don’t need.” “You’re still good.” “Am I?” “You are!” Kai pulled his arm away from Hyunjin and stepped back.

“Why were you really not here last week?” “I told you I was at a service-“ “Hyunjin, I’ve gotten to know your quirks the closer we’ve gotten, you’re lying…What were you doing?”

Hyunjin knew he was in trouble and he could see the look in Kai’s dark eyes. “Kai…” “Tell me.” “I-I…Mrs. Lee gave me permission to skip a week with no consequences…” “Why?” “To…” “To what?” “I-I can’t say-“ “Can’t say what Hyunjin! Just spit it out!!” “To make extra canvases for you!! She believes that you have potential but since you can’t see colors, you may not be able to do some of the assignments and she wants you to pass for future opportunities so I give canvases I made to Mrs. Lee so she can grade you. She must be curving them cause she knows your condition.”

“You made a deal with the principal?!” “I didn’t want to but-“ “You two don’t believe in me?? I thought principals were supposed to encourage students better? And you…my only friend this entire semester…you don’t- You don’t believe in me?” Hyunjin’s eyes widen and his mouth parts open. “No! I do!” “Then why did you do it? Why did you agree to replace my art?” He was silent, looking down at his feet. “Well?” “Cause I thought if we passed senior year together…we could go to the same college and…have a journey together…”

“A journey?” Kai asked and Hyunjin looks up again. “I-I got my color full color a week ago as well…when I got upset after dropping my fresh canvas.” Kai crossed his arms and his face softened.

Hyunjin and Kai were ‘studying’ in Mrs. Lee’s classroom, Hyunjin helping Kai with colors and Hyunjin finishing a canvas. When he was done, he got up to place it out of the way to dry when he tripped over the easel and lost his grip on the canvas.

It landed face down and normally Hyunjin doesn’t get upset over something like this but it was his most favorite piece, two figures just holding each other on a background with black, red, and a little white. He would say he doesn’t know who the two are but deep down he felt like it was him and Kai…

He started tearing up and Kai moved over to him quickly after the sound of the canvas hit the floor and he looked at the canvas then to the artist only to see him getting upset.

“Hey, Hey, Jinnie, it’s okay.” Kai said as he wrapped his arms around the male and hugged him. “It’s okay. What’s wrong? You usually brush off mistakes like this.”

Kai had pulled away and held his face in his hands and having him look into his dull eyes. Kai’s caring nature had Hyunjin feeling protected and suddenly his saturated world because brighter when he noticed…he loved his friend…

“I didn’t know how to tell you after I noticed your eyes were still dull and dark.” Now Kai was confused and shocked. Shocked because…Hyunjin liked him? and confused because he has grown to love Hyunjin too, that’s why he was so worried and more caring about the young male.

“But…I like you too…I-I still don’t have color…” Kai forgot that he was mad at Hyunjin and furrowed his brows. “What?” “I-I like you too…but I don’t know why I don’t have colors.” He looked at Hyunjin, into his eyes and waited for something to happen but nothing.

“Can…Can I try something? Maybe because I’ve already looked at someone and that relationship was really, I might need to do something…more this time.” “Y-Yeah.”

Kai stepped forward, hesitance physically visible as Hyunjin watched him with every step. “Um…Close your eyes.” “Why?” “For me? I’m slowly losing confidence.” Hyunjin nods softly and closes his eyes.

Kai now noticed how much shorter Hyunjin is, may be a couple inches but still. He places a shaky hand on the side of his face and tilts it up a little, he can feel and hear his breath hitch and he leans down the small amount before connecting his lips to Hyunjin’s.

He gasps, his hand coming up to hold Kai’s wrist as he processed what just happened before leaning in, taking a step and moving his free hand to hold Kai’s left arm as he got closer and Kai wrapped it around his waist.

After a moment, he went to pull away when Hyunjin moved his right arm around Kai’s neck and pulled him back in, his right arm going around his neck as well as Kai wrapped his other arm around Hyunjin’s waist and pulled him in a step closer.

Kai pulled back again, this time forcing Hyunjin to stay back with his arms and he laughs. “Are you going to open your eyes?” Hyunjin asked and Kai did that slowly, he didn’t expect that idea to work but when he opened his eyes slightly and saw strands of blonde hair framing his face that didn’t making it into the bun he put up and the males brown eyes which widened when Kai’s widen.

“Shit, your pretty.” Was the first thing Kai said before busting out into laughter and hiding his face in his shoulder. “Thank you, that was really sudden.” “I was taken by surprise. This is the first time I’m actually seeing you in color. If I didn’t react like that though I was gonna play dumb and say it didn’t work.” “There’s one flaw to the evil plan if you did do that.” “And what’s that?”

Hyunjin moved an arm from Kai’s shoulder and placed his hand on the side of Kai’s face, his thumb rubbing underneath the older males eye as Hyunjin smiled softly. “I would’ve noticed your eyes…damn…” “What?” Kai chuckles and opened his eyes again. “I really do like blue eyes.” He said before moving forward again to kiss Kai.

After defiance of wanting to split and the need to split, they carried on the rest of their day perfectly. They apologized to Mrs. Lee and Kai gladly made up the assignments that were ‘messed up’ as he put it so his now boyfriend didn’t feel guilty.

After the semester and the year ended, Kai’s Mom gave him permission to live in her fathers old house that was given to her after he passed where Kai immediately asked if Hyunjin wanted to live with him, he quickly said yes and talked to his own parents about it.

After moving a few boxes from each others homes, they lay on the empty living room floor, just staring at the ceiling. At some point while he was getting boxes from his house, Hyunjin hung up fairy light on the ceiling and it looked like stars.

“So…now that we graduated, what did your vision say we did next?” Hyunjin sighs softly before rolling to his side and wrapping his arms around his waist, Kai accepting it and wrapping his arms around him as Hyunjin tangled their legs. The floor was uncomfortable but they didn’t plan to get up.

“From what I remember…We applied to the same college…we also…” He stayed silently as he thought. “We got to a point where we sold our art to big names but before that we sold small prints to people who found us.” “You’re adorable.” He looks up quickly, being greeted by his sweet smile and soft eyes.

“W-What?” “You’re adorable.” Hyunjin whines before scooting up further to wrap his arms around Kai’s neck and bury his face in his shoulder. “What’s wrong?” His reply comes out mumbled and Kai has him repeat it with a smile. “I love you.” Kai squeezes his arms around the youngers waist, leaving a peck on his cheek. “I love you, too, Jinnie.”

They lay there for a moment more before Kai huffs. “The floor is starting to hurt, let’s move.” “But your bed is still at your parents house…” Hyunjin points out as he stands up.

“Shit….”

He scratches his neck and chuckles with a small smile. “Wanna meet my parents?” Hyunjin smiled, his eyes turning into crescents as he wraps his arms around Kai. “Yeah, only because we need a bed and your parents are closer to us.”

Kai smiles and they are walk out the small house.

They can’t wait to start their journey and get closer to one another.

#bleh #random #my brain is weird #straykids #hyunjin #hwang hyunjin #filler fic

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danceswithsporks · 1 year

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On the 5th day of Batchmas I have to all of yoooouuu

Snowflakes

I’ve decided to make little ficlets leading up until our boys get back from their super secret spy mission…err season 2.

Now this will take place in the universe I’ve built for my fic A Star Above the Rest! Some may be sneak peaks at future events, little glimpses into past events, or things I wanted to do but couldn’t work into the story! I hope you all enjoy them and Happy Holidays!

As this is an 18+ blog there may sometimes be adult content. DNI if you are a minor!

“Hey, what are you doing out here alone?” The crunching sound of boots in the snow filled the crisp night air of the uncharted snow planet they'd rendezvoused on. Zirena stepped next to Echo and looked at him. “Doesn’t all that metal make you cold?” She poked a pink gloves hand at his head.

“Just thinking.” He playfully nudged her back before staring back at the star filled sky. Streaks of blue, purple, pink and gold covered the sky in ribbons of Aurora Borealis.

Zirena leaned her head to the side and rested it on his shoulder. “What are you thinking about?” How long had it been since she’d had some quiet time like this with her dearest friend?

“Everything that’s led us to this. Standing on this frozen planet, you with a padawan and a fiancé. Me looking like this.” Motioning with his hand he pointed to her hand that would have the ring in it as well as himself. “It’s just mind blowing how fast everything changed once you joined us.”

Moving her head, she looked up at him. “That’s a compliment right?”

Echo nodded before pulling her back into him. “Of course. It’s just hard to believe I guess. If you hadn’t joined us then maybe I wouldn’t have been taken. Which meant I wouldn’t have joined the batch.”

“Do you regret joining them?” If he said yes then maybe he could come back to Coruscant with her?

“Mmm, I kinda did in the beginning. I missed you, missed Fives and the crew. But I found something here. I found a closer bond than I expected. I’ve had more adventures than I thought possible. Plus, I’ve been able to help you so much more.” Leaning over he kissed the top of her head.

Her eyes closed at the feeling and she hummed softly. “I have seen you a lot more lately.” At least she was seeing one of her boys frequently. “It’s still so weird to go back to the Resolute and you not be there. Fives misses you fiercely.” Surprisingly everyone missed him.

“I talked to Rex the other day. He said Fives could come train with us for a bit.” Echos hand rubbed her arm gently. The padding of her jacket moving back and forth.

Zirena chuckled at the news. “ Oh I bet Crosshair is going to love that.” Knowing the sniper, he’d start bitching two weeks prior.

“Oh he’s already cranky. But he’ll get over it.” It had taken some time, but Echo had finally learned to tune Cross out whenever he got cranky.

“I wanna know everything when that happens, pictures included please.” She elbowed him gently before looking across the pristine snow. “Hey, remember what we used to do in my room on the Resolute?”

Echo raised an eyebrow in thought. “Debate?”

Rolling her eyes, Zirena stepped away from him and held her hand out. “No silly, how we used to practice dancing.” She’d helped him update his dance moves for 79’s. Which everyone was thankful for.

How could he forget such great memories? The closest he’d ever get to holding her that close was during those sessions. She found it relaxing and fun, he found it the closest to heaven possible. “I almost forgot.” Liar.

“Well let’s see if you atleast remember some of the moves.” She led him a little farther out into the snow, holding his hand tightly.

“W-wait. Zee.” He hadnt done this with her since he’d been changed. How could he hold her the same way? Or dip her? Caramel eyes watched as she stopped and turned to look at him, snowflakes falling onto her as a light dusting began. He inhaled slowly at the sight of her, the way she smiled brightly at him and the snowflakes rested on her eyelashes.

“What’s up? Scared to dance?” She smirked at him with a giggle. “I’m sure you won’t step on me again.” She raised her boot towards him. “These heels finally get me close to your height.”

He couldn’t tell her that he was self conscious about how he looked now. They’d discuss this so many times already and every step she’d reassured him that it didn’t matter how he looked. But at the end of the day it kinda did. How could he hold her the right way when they danced? His scomp was probably freezing, what if it was too cold for her? Or worse! What if it froze to her somehow? But the way those emerald orbs stared at him filled with happiness and joy, he couldn’t say anything. “Is Omega asleep?”

Well that was out of nowhere. “Uh yeah. Her and Cal are curled up under Techs pilot seat. BD is watching them.” Or more likely sleeping as well. “Everyone’s asleep so don’t worry. They won’t notice you stepping on me.” She playfully stuck her tongue out to him before pulling him towards her. “Now come on, let’s see what you remember.”

Echo swallowed carefully as she pulled him into her and placed his hand on her waist. “Which one?”

Zirena hummed in thought as they simply swayed for a moment. “Oh! How about the one we were working on? Right before Chandrila?”

It took Echo a moment to remember before he nodded. “What about the music?”

Zirena tapped her temple before tapping his. “All we need is here.”

“Can you at least hum the beginning?”

“Of course.” Her soft hum began as the sound of their crunching boots echoed around them.

Echo held her hand carefully as they stepped away from each other then forward. The simple steps were repeated once more before Echo twirled her under his arm. He swallowed as her hair whipped through the air and she was pulled back into him. An easy foxtrot box step began and the two spun for a while in the falling snow. He knew what would come at the end of this, the dip that he adored so much. “Zee, how do I?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just do it.” She wasn’t stupid, she knew that the dip would come and with his shorter arm he may be worried about pulling it off. But she’s already planned for it.

Echo spun her out one more time before carefully bringing her back in. His scomp went under her to try and support her but he found it unnecessary. Her hand raised and she used the force to support her, a satisfied smile on her face. Snowflakes landed on her red cheeks and he watched as they melted from her warmth. He’d missed this and a part of him wondered if she’d missed it as well.

“I missed this.” Zirena smiled at him as she stood back up. “I forgot how good of a dancer you actually are. Once you figured it out of course.”

“Thank you, Zee.” The words had escaped before he could stop them.

Zirena gave him a confused look as she tried to figure out what for. “For what?”

No point in hiding it from her. “For making me feel normal again.”

What did he mean ‘normal’? “You are normal, Echo.”

“No, I’m not. I have a scomp for a hand, metal in my head and throughout my body. I’m lighter than my brothers and I don’t sleep as well as I used to.” He placed a hand on her cheek gently. “But for the first time in a long time. I feel normal.”

She wasn’t sure how many times they’d need to have this conversation, but she’d be there for him every single time. Resting her head into his hand, she sighed softly. “Anytime, Echo. Whenever you need to feel normal. Just give me a call.” Reaching up she took his hand and placed a kiss on the palm. “Now, up for another dance?”

Echo chuckled and nodded. “Yeah.”

From the window of the Marauder, Cal and Omega watched the two spin in the snow while BD recorded the two.

“Grownups are weird. Why are they dancing in the snow?” Omega tilted her head to the side as she watched Zirena giggle as Echo almost dropped her.

Cal simply shrugged. “My Master is weirder than most. But she’s fun.” He watched the smile on her face, feeling the happiness she felt through the force. It was the first time he’d felt this level of happiness from her since she came back from Kamino. “Wanna try?”

Omega turned and smiled at him. “I was hoping you’d ask.”

Zirena chuckled suddenly as she felt Cals happiness spike. “I think we have an audience.” She tilted her head towards the ramp of the ship. In the glow of the ship lights, Cal and Omega tried to copy their movements.

Echo followed her gaze and smirked. “Does Cal have a crush on her?”

“If he didn’t before, he does now.”

#clone wars echo #tbb omega #tbb echo #cal kestis #clone wars fic #clone wars oc #clone wars fanfiction #star wars fanfiction #star wars oc #12 days of bad Batchmas #star wars bad batch #merry bad batchmas #Spotify

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gleamingrednuzlocke · 2 years

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Chapter 8: Cerulean Blues

So SOO sorry for the delay! I have so many story ideas that I’ve been working on plus I’m finally working on making videos, which has been extra weight to add to my job. Speaking of my job, I did mention this in my other fanfics, but just in case you're following Gleaming Red I’m on a new work schedule so that may or may not change how active I’ll be writing and getting fics posted.

However, since I haven’t uploaded this fic in a while I’m gonna change the upload schedule to my new days off, which are Friday and Saturday.

T/W: Death and Blood. Yes to those who’ve done Nuzlockes were getting into that territory this chapter.

Also big thanks to my beta reader, @gigilefache!

Enjoy!

Neth narrowed his eyes and threw a Pokeball at a Spearow eating a berry on the ground. The flying type squawked before entering the Pokeball. After three clicks, Spearow was caught.

“Welcome to the team, Zoisite,” Neth said. Soon enough the Pokeball teleported to the PC Box.

“Did you have to capture a Pokémon right now?” Jasper asked. “We could’ve waited till morning.”

“I know,” Neth replied. “But I may not get a second chance, so it’s now or never.” Jasper rolled his eyes and the group kept on walking toward Cerulean City. Just a few steps toward the city, an Ekans was slithering towards Neth ready to attack Peridot.

“Look out!” Titan yelled. He then rammed into Ekans with Peck, who stabbed and killed the snake Pokemon.

“Wow,” Peridot said. If Titan didn’t kill the Ekans, it would’ve killed her first. “Thanks, Titan.” Her eyes widened when she saw Titan glowing and grew a bit bigger. Once the glow faded, Titan evolved into a Nidorino.

“Titan, you evolved!” Jasper exclaimed running by as he saw his teammate glowing.

Titan chuckled, proud that he looks stronger and bigger than before. “This looks awesome!” He cheered. Titan then remembered something and looked up at Neth. “Hey Neth! Think you can give me the Moon Stone now?” He asked.

Neth went through his bag and looked at the stone before looking at Titan, who was smiling proudly ready to evolve a 2nd time straight away. Neth gave a sigh and looked back at Titan as he put away the Moon Stone. “Look,” Neth started. “You just evolved Titan. I wanna wait till after our next gym battle before you evolve again.”

“Aww.” Titan sighed. He was hoping to evolve into Nidoking right then and there and be an unstoppable force that will defeat all of Neth’s enemies and challenges. Though then again being too overpowered could cause Neth a bit of trouble.

“We better hurry.” Neth spoke up, which snapped Titan out of his thoughts. “It’s starting to get late and we need to be in Cerulean City before the sun goes down.” The team nodded and continued on their way.

By the time Neth and his team made it to Cerulean City, the sun was already down, stars were already shining in the sky as well as the crescent moon glowing above. The team was happy they made it just in time as they can scurry to the Pokemon Center and get some needed rest before tomorrow.

Once inside the Pokemon Center, Neth got his team situated in the room and once they were relaxed, Neth decided to go order and pick up food for everyone and just eat in the room. “I’m gonna grab some food for us tonight, is anyone allergic or can’t eat anything?” He asked.

“Nope,” Amber replied.

“I just want something sweet or juicy,” Peridot told her trainer.

Neth nodded. “Got it! I’ll be back.” He was about to leave, but Neth came back in to remind his team of one last thing. “Oh Peridot,” the bug-type looked up. “You’re in charge!”

“What?!” Jasper yelled. “Shouldn’t Morgan be in charge? I mean he is your starter and the leader!”

Morgan was surprised. “Leader?” He asked. Not once did he ever think he was leader material.

“Well, she fully evolved plus I can trust her being in charge of everyone,” Neth explained.

Peridot smiled. “Don’t worry Neth! I’ll keep an eye on everyone.” She said, Neth smiled and left to grab dinner.

Jasper glared and crossed his arms. “I still think Morgan should be in charge.”

“It’s fine Jasper,” Morgan reassured, “I’m not the best leader anyways.”

“You will be one day,” Peridot reassured him. Morgan smiled, but he knew for a fact he wasn’t going to be a good leader.

Once Neth got back with dinner, everyone enjoyed their meal before getting some sleep. As the group slept, Morgan couldn’t sleep and stared at the moon as he thought about what Jasper said earlier about him being the leader. “Can’t sleep?” Peridot asked.

“Yeah,” Morgan replied, “just thinking about being the leader.”

“You want to be a leader?”

“N-no!” Morgan shouted, but quickly clamped his mouth shut. Luckily, no one woke up to his shout. “Well, I don’t know. I’m not really a leader type.” Morgan explained.

Peridot frowned as she started to think. The Bug-Type Pokémon smiled once she had an idea. “Well, even so, would you like to be my 2nd in command?” She asked.

Morgan tilted his head in confusion. “What’s that?” He asked.

“Basically a co-captain. Whenever I need help thinking of an idea or I get injured in battle you come in and take over.” Peridot explained.

The Ivysaur thought about it and it didn’t sound like a bad idea. “Alright, I’ll take it!” Peridot smiled and the two shook on it.

“Pleasure doing business with you!” Peridot beamed. “Now let’s get some sleep. We have a lot to do tomorrow.” Morgan nodded, letting out a yawn. He got himself comfortable before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

“MORNING!” Titan beamed.

“Gah!” Morgan yelled, his eyes snapping open. He felt like he only slept for one second, but the sun starting to rise told him he slept for about a couple of hours. “Please don’t do that.” He groaned.

“Sorry,” Titan replied.

“I agree with Morgan.” Amber groaned. Titan just chuckled in response. The team then heard Neth groan as he slowly got out of bed.

“Morning team.” Neth groaned. He let out a stretch and that got him to wake up more.

Amber smiled and went over to Neth. “Morning! Are we going to the gym today?” She asked.

“Not just yet,” Neth replied. Amber frowned, confused and disappointed as to why they were not heading to the gym just yet. “We’re gonna do some training then head to take down the gym.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Amber agreed.

“But first breakfast!”

Amber nodded as she and the team followed their trainer to the cafeteria to have breakfast. Not long after they sat down to eat the news was on talking about last night’s Pokémon Contest.

“In case you missed it, the winner of yesterday’s Cerulean’s Pokemon Contest was none other than Cassia of Pallet Town!” The news announcer explained.

The news footage saw Cassia and Shelby the Squirtle waving to the crowd before flashing to Cassia holding an Aquamarine-colored ribbon and giving a smile.

Neth smiled. “Wow! She won.”

Morgan stopped eating and looked towards the TV to see Cassia and Shelby celebrating their victory over their contest win. “So did Shelby,” Morgan added.

“Join us next time in Celadon City where our next Pokemon Contest will be! Bye!” The announcer said before the news switched over. Neth and his team continued eating breakfast before the news went into another story: This time on Team Rocket.

“For the past few months now, Team Rocket has taken over yet another Pokemon Center trying to steal Pokemon from trainers. Luckily, the police have arrested a few of the grunts and we’ll be waiting for answers on them shortly.” The male announcer explained.

Neth glared at the TV screen, seeing Team Rocket was causing trouble everywhere in Kanto, not just Mt. Moon. Peridot looked up at her trainer and floated over to Neth’s shoulder.

“Hey don’t worry. We can beat their butts next time we see them.” Peridot told her trainer.

Neth smiled, giving a soft chuckle. “Yeah.” He replied. The group finished breakfast and left the Pokemon Center to continue training before taking on the gym.

As the group went north of Cerulean a familiar person stepped in front of Neth. The latter smiled seeing it was his rival and friend. “Hey Miles!”

Miles smirked and walked closer to Neth. “What took you so long?” He asked. “I thought you’d be able to take down the 2nd gym before me?”

Neth gave a glare. “Hey, we had a bit of a delay at the start of this journey.” He replied.

Miles didn’t respond and walked closer to Neth and showed his badge case and opened it showing Neth he got three badges! THREE!

Neth's eyes widened seeing Miles had got the Cascade Badge from Cerulean City and the Thunder Badge from Vermillion City, which was just South of Cerulean City. “You got three badges already?!”

“Yep!” Miles replied putting his badge case back into his pocket. “Yep. It was pretty easy taking them down.” He explained. “So want to battle?”

Neth nodded. “I’ve been needing to do some training before taking on the gym, so why not!” He agreed to the battle.

Miles smirked as he and Neth prepared for their battle. “Alright, go!” Miles yelled as he sent out his Pidgeotto. Neth looked down at Jasper, who was ready to battle the evolved form of a Pidgey.

“Jasper, use Quick Attack!” Neth commanded.

Jasper smirked and started to dash towards Pidgeotto and ram the flying-type to the ground. The Pidgeotto fell to the ground but slowly got up.

“Stormy, use Gust!” Miles commanded.

Stormy the Pidgeotto flew right back into the air and started to use Gust attacks by flapping his wings. Jasper braced himself and glanced at Neth waiting for him to command the next move.

“Jasper! Use Hyper Fang!” Neth commanded once more.

Jasper’s fangs glowed and got bigger as he ran towards Stormy and bit on the flying type’s chest, which caused a small cut that slowly started to bleed out.

Before Stormy could get injured more, Miles quickly grabbed Stormy’s Pokeball and returned him to his Pokeball. The trainer looked at one Pokeball and quickly grabbed it, sending out an Abra.

Jasper smirked seeing Abra. “This should be easy!” He beamed.

“Okay! Jasper Quick Attack!” Neth commanded.

Jasper smirked and went to dash towards Abra, but Abra disappeared which caused Jasper to skid to a halt. The Mouse Pokemon looked around and saw that Abra went behind him, but didn’t attack.

Jasper growled. “Let me attack you!” He used Quick Attack again and again in hopes to attack the Abra, but no luck.

“Just keep using Teleport, Virgo!” Miles commanded. He had no strategy using Virgo, just to tire Jasper out before he withdrew Virgo and went on to using his other Pokémon.

The Rattata started to feel tired, and Neth had to figure out what move to use next. “Jasper, let’s use Tackle!” Neth commanded.

“Tackle?!” Jasper wondered.

“Just trust me!” Neth replied.

Jasper nodded and decided to trust his trainer. Jasper then started to dash, and Miles smirked ready to command his Abra to use Teleport. “Alright, Virgo! You ready?” Miles asked. Soon his eyes widened when he saw that Virgo was asleep. “A-are you sleeping?!”

Virgo was indeed sleeping, tired from teleporting from place to place. Soon Jasper went in with a tackle as Abra was slammed to the ground and was defeated. Miles growled and withdrew Virgo before switching to his next Pokemon, a smirk appearing on his face. “Well, let’s see how your Rattata can handle mine!” Miles threw his Pokeball and his own Rattata came out, which caused Jasper and Morgan’s eyes to widen seeing the Rattata right in front of them.

“I-It can't be,” Morgan whispered.

Miles’s Rattata chuckled seeing the two. “Hey there runt, remember me?” He asked.

“You!” Jasper growled, ready to attack. Morgan stepped back and remembered that day he and Neth’s journey almost ended because he was nearly killed by this Rattata. However, Jasper also recognized this Rattata as well; his brother.

“Y-you know him?” Morgan asked.

“He’s my brother,” Jasper growled.

Miles’s Rattata chuckled ready to fight his younger brother. Jasper was ready to battle until Amber stepped up to battle the Rattata.

“I’ll handle this one,” Amber said. Jasper gulped and went back to Neth as Amber was ready to take on Miles’s Rattata.

Miles chuckled. “Alright, Scorpio, use Bite!” He commanded. Scorpio smirked and dashed towards Amber who just stood there.

“Amber move it!” Morgan yelled.

Amber ignored Morgan’s cries and just stood there as Scorpio started to run towards Amber and was ready to pounce on her. Neth had to quickly think of a move and fast before Amber got herself hurt or worse!

“Q-Quick! Amber use Karate Chop!” Neth quickly said.

Amber chuckled as she had a gleam in her eye. Soon she used Karate Chop on Scorpio’s head and it knocked him out effectively.

Miles withdrew Scorpio and then sent out his starter, Leo the Charmander who was ready to battle. Leo glanced at Morgan who was surprised to see Leo was still a Charmander, not yet evolved.

“So, I see you evolved!” Leo said. Morgan nervously chuckled as his response. Leo smirked ready to battle Amber. “Well, this will be fun.” Leo’s tail started to burn brighter ready to battle.

“This should be easy.” Amber chuckled.

Leo chuckled then gave a smirk ready to battle. Amber smirked as well, and Neth decided to go first. “Alright, Amber, let's use Low Kick!” He commanded.

Amber ran and did a sliding kick to Leo’s chest. While the move did damage to the fire-type, Leo still stood strong. Leo smirked and turned to Miles ready to see what move he would command. “Leo, use Ember!” Miles commanded.

Leo chuckled and soon launched out two small flames at Amber. The Mankey braced herself, but the Ember hurt her skin. She shook the flames off of her, leaving her partially charred. Amber glared and was ready to battle again.

“Amber, let's use Low Kick one more time!” Neth commanded.

Amber glared and dashed towards Leo ready to land another Low Kick, but Miles was ready to command another move from Leo. “Alright Leo, use Metal Claw.” Leo smirked and missed the Low Kick before clawing Amber in the chest with Metal Claw causing blood to leak out and Amber collapsed to the ground.

Neth and Morgan’s eyes widened seeing Amber wasn’t getting up. Neth slowly grabbed Amber’s Pokeball to withdraw her, but it wasn’t working.

“N-no.” Morgan cried. “A-AMBER!”

Amber was dead, and Morgan ran to her body and cried on top of her. Neth was in disbelief and glared at Miles, who didn’t react at all that he killed his best friend’s Pokémon.

Neth growled. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!” He screamed. Miles didn’t respond, just stared at the scene in front of him.

Morgan was still crying as Jasper ran over to his friend to comfort him. Jasper glared and used Quick Attack to attack Leo. Morgan gasped seeing what his friend was about to do.

“Jasper! No!” Morgan yelled.

Jasper didn’t stop and ran into Leo, but Jasper was close enough to land another Metal Claw on the Rattata, which injured him causing Jasper to bleed now.

Morgan breathed heavily and out of anger and desperation, Morgan used a Vine Whip and slapped Leo in the face, which shocked the Charmander.

While in shock, Neth scooped Jasper and Amber and left the battle, running straight towards the Pokemon Center.

Two hours later, Neth sat in the waiting room of the Pokemon Center waiting to hear the results on Jasper. He prayed to lord Arceus above to save Jasper’s life. Morgan couldn’t stop crying as Neth and Peridot comforted their friend.

Nurse Joy came out and Neth quickly stood up, but he felt his heart drop seeing the nurse come with a solemn look on her face. “It’s hard for me to say this to any trainer, but I’m sorry.” Neth’s eyes started to widen. “Your Rattata is gone.”

Morgan heard everything and was ready to cry again. Peridot snuggled closer to her friend to comfort him as she felt tears coming from her eyes too.

“No. No.” Neth whimpered. He couldn’t lose two Pokemon like that, not from someone he considered his friend. Nurse Joy rubbed the young trainer’s shoulder to comfort him, even though it wouldn’t make him feel better it was something to comfort him.

By sundown, Neth buried Amber and Jasper outside of the Pokemon Center. Neth kneeled in front of their graves as Morgan sat beside his trainer after putting flowers in front of his fallen team members' grave. The two sat quietly for a while as footsteps came walking up behind him holding a bouquet.

“I’m guessing you're the trainer who lost their Pokemon today.” A female voice spoke up. Neth and Morgan looked up and saw a young girl with orange hair tied into a side ponytail, and viridian eyes. Her outfit consisted of a white tank top, jean shorts, and red and blue colored shoes.

Neth sniffled and wiped the tears from his face. “How did you know?” He asked.

“As a gym leader, when we hear of the death of a Pokemon we give flowers to the trainer as a way of condolence.” The girl said. She held the flowers close to Neth, who looked up at the gym leader and back at the flowers.

“T-thank you,” Neth replied as he took the flowers from the gym leader. “I’m guessing you must be Misty, the Cerulean Gym Leader.”

Misty smiled. “Correct!” She beamed. ”And you must be Nathanial, one of the gym challengers right?”

“Just call me Neth.” He corrected her in reply. “But I don’t think I’ll be challenging a gym leader at the moment.”

“I understand,” Misty replied. “Take your time battling me.”

Neth gave a small smile. “Thank you.”

Misty gave a smile in reply. Neth put the flowers down between Amber and Jasper’s graves and sat back down. Misty frowned and sat next to Neth and soon it was silent again. Misty kept glancing at Neth like she wanted to tell him something, but was worried it came off as insensitive. Morgan took notice and used his vine to tap Misty on the shoulder. Confused, she looked at the Ivysaur. She sighed and looked at Neth. “Neth, could I ask you something?” She asked. Neth turned toward the gym leader. “This may come off as insensitive, but think you could help me with something?”

Neth looked down at Morgan, who nodded. “That depends, what is it?” He replied.

“Well,” Misty started as she played with her hair. “I have this friend who lives in a Sea Cottage over on Route 25. He said he needed help with something, but his phone call with me cut off before I could ask what was going on. Think you can check up on him?”

Neth thought about it. On one hand, he’d get a small break from battling and might clear his mind about the recent loss he had today. “I guess I could check up on him, but can it wait till tomorrow?” He asked.

Misty nodded. “Of course.” She replied. Misty got up and held her hand out for Neth. He looked at it before grabbing her hand and getting up. “Well, see ya Neth.” Misty then walked back to the gym and gave a small smile to Neth. Once she was inside Neth’s small smile faded back to a frown as he walked back to the Pokemon Center to get some rest.

“Come on Morgan, let’s get some sleep,” Neth said.

“Okay,” Morgan whispered in reply. He looked back at the graves and said his goodbye to his fallen team members before heading inside the Pokemon Center.

R.I.P

Amber the Mankey LV: 2- LV. 15

Jasper the Rattata Lv. 3- LV. 15

#Pokemon Fire Red #Pokemon Nuzlocke #Pokemon Fire Red Nuzlocke #Morganite the Ivysaur #Titanite the Nidorino #Jasper the Rattata #Amber the Mankey #Peridot the Butterfree #Neth Rossi #Miles Aouli #pokemon misty

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hanajozo · 2 years

Text

"Finding Purpose" Chapter 19

Gojo Satoru x Reader Fanfic

Gojo ended up getting dragged away by Megumi, since he was apparently late to their class– no surprise there. You decided to head back to your classroom and get back to work. Well, you didn’t have much work yet so you were a bit of a loss at what to do when you sat back down.

It was odd, you felt… happy? Yet there was a feeling of unease in your chest. Nanami coming back early gave you a heart attack, to put it mildly, but now that it was over, you felt yourself coming down from the adrenaline high. You put your arms on your desk and rest your head on them, a deep sigh escaping your lips.

“What in the hell just happened?” You think to yourself, recapping the events that had just transpired moments ago. Not only did he learn of the incident, Ieiri-san outed your relationship with Gojo to Nanami– as if the incident and your joining the world of sorcery wasn’t bad enough.

You had been fearing your brother’s return because his reactions to things could truly be unpredictable. Thankfully, you knew he loved you and if you were happy, he would be okay with what had happened.

Another sigh comes from your mouth as you push yourself up from your desk, just to be greeted by Nanami opening your classroom door. You glance up at the clock and gasp, “Shit, I’d been in my thoughts for longer than I thought…”

“(y/n)... are you okay?” Nanami said as he entered the room. You give him a gentle smile and nod. He pulls up one of the chairs from the other desks and sits down facing to you. Nanami takes your hands in his, examining the scars that covered your arms. He sighs, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Ken-chan… I– yeah. I think I am.” You look down and continue talking, “To be honest, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride. I’ve felt the best and worst I've felt in my entire life, but I think… I think this is where I'm supposed to be.” You hear Nanami sigh, prompting you to look back up at him.

“May I see your injuries, (y/n)?”He asks with a grim look of concern on his face. Nanami knew best how dangerous and deadly curses can be, frankly, he’s surprised you had survived the attack after looking over the file of the incident this afternoon.

You chuckle, “Just don’t be too scared, alright?”

You start by rolling up your right pant leg to reveal the prosthetic, “Ieiri-san had this made especially for me. I may not have much cursed energy but I’m able to naturally channel into this prosthetic apparently, so I can walk like the part of my leg that had never been amputated in the first place.” Rolling your ankle around in circles and bending it as demonstration that your leg was working totally normal, you look up at him and grin, “I may not be able to fight like you, but at least I can use the little cursed energy I have for once.”

Nanami smiles, a bit of sadness still readable on his face. He always knew you were one to try and cope with humor. You roll your pant leg back down and return the half smile, you could tell he was imagining the pain you had gone through.

Your hands go up to your face and start to take off the black wrap slowly. Your face had sustained the most damage that Ieiri-san couldn’t reverse, so it still had a lot of warped skin from the burns. After you fully take off the wrap, you set it on the desk and look at Nanami. A grim expression on his face as he purses his lips together. Your face wasn’t the prettiest sight, considering what had happened.

“(y/n)... I read the file this afternoon. And… I’m sorry.”

Your eyebrows furrowed together, “Huh…?” The last thing you expect in this situation was an apology.

Nanami leans one arm on your desk, “I shouldn’t have been holding you back, (y/n). I was confident I knew what was best for you. But after seeing you here today, I couldn’t have been more wrong. You are clearly in your element here.” He gestured to the classroom you had made your own.

You blink a few times, “W-wha…? Really?” Your hand makes its way to your mouth in surprise.

He nods, “Despite everything you went through, you’re still you. I know I was vehemently against you becoming a part of this world, but I can’t help but see how much you were made to be here. You belong here, just as much as I do.”

Unbeknownst to you, tears start falling from your face and onto your lap. “K-ken-chan.. I… Thank you,” is all you can muster out of your throat. You clear your throat as you try to stop more tears from falling. You almost chuckle out of shock that your brother had finally come around. He wasn’t a monster, he wasn’t cruel, he was kind and logical. He couldn’t deny the facts that you had changed and saw that you looked like you were at home here.

You get up from your chair to hug Nanami, wrapping your arms tightly around him. “Thank you, Ken-chan…” The two of you stay in the hug for a few moments before Nanami pulls away. He pushes up his glasses as he says, “Unfortunately, I still have a report to finish up, which requires my attention for the rest of the day. You know how much I hate working overtime.”

You chuckle at his statement, he was still ever the stickler for deadlines and his distaste for working late would always remain. You push him out the door as you grab your keys from the desk on the way out and follow him out of the room, “Well then, get to it! I’m going to lock up here.” Nanami gives you a nod as he heads back to his office.

After locking up your room for the day, you decide to take a walk to the training grounds to see if any of the students were still training. To your surprise, the first and second years were all there, training together in some sort of joint exercise. You sit on the steps that lead down to the training grounds to watch, finding joy in watching the shenanigans that unfold in between sparring matches.

You were so focused on watching the students spar that you didn’t notice someone sitting down next to you.

“So when were you going to tell me you were Nanami’s little sister?”

You almost jump in surprise, “Holy shit, you scared the crap out of me!” Your hand goes to your chest to calm yourself down.

Gojo chuckles at your reaction, “So….?” Still wanting an answer to his question, he leans in closer to you. You turn your head away and look back to continue watching the students spar.

“I have no clue… when he was originally supposed to return, I guess?” You shrug, you can’t help but laugh at the situation you found yourself in. You rub the back of your neck as you apologize and turn your gaze to the ground, “I’m sorry, Satoru. There’s still quite a bit you don’t know about me yet, though this was the biggest secret. I understand if you don’t trust me after keeping something like this from you…”

You feel an arm wrap around your shoulder, “I may have been a bit shocked… but it doesn’t change my feelings about you, you know that right?” His hand gave your shoulder a squeeze.

“But what do you mean there’s more that I don’t know? I thought we were besties… that happened to be dating, of course.”

Your hands come up to cover your face, “Oh my god, it’s so embarrassing… I’m not hiding anything bad, it’s just… embarrassing…”

Gojo leans in again, “Spill the tea, princess, you have me veeeeery curious now! After all the stories we’ve exchanged, I thought I had heard it all! What could be worse than the time you tripped down the stairs in one of your lecture halls and ended up spilling coffee all over the exams on your teacher’s desk?”

You groan into your hands that had been covering your face, “Ugh… don’t remind me!”

“You know how I never had real friends right? That I always kept people at arm's length?”

Gojo nods, you had told him a lot about your past and your insecurities– just never anything that could have eluded you being Nanami Kento’s little sister.

“Well, when I first got into college, I was really trying to stretch the rules that Nanami had set in place to keep me safe. So although I never got into a relationship or had any friends… I went through a bit of a… hoe phase… I was constantly bringing people back to my apartment for one night stands and hook ups…”

Gojo’s jaw drops, “You?! (y/n)? Really??”

You shake your head, trying to forget that part of your life that you had long left behind. “Unfortunately… yes…”

Laughter erupts from Gojo, his arms holding his stomach from laughing so hard, “Holy shit, (y/n), that’s incredible. How many guys did Nanami catch you with?”

Your palms dig deeper into your face, blush flaring up on your entire face, “It wasn’t just guys…”

Gojo whistles in surprise, “Didn’t expect that from you, (y/n)! Guess we have more in common than I thought!”

You look at him finally and roll your eyes and laugh, “Yeah, I feel so shitty for judging your habits when I used to have similar ones.”

Gojo puts his arm back around you, “But here we are, two peas in a pod, hoe phases behind us, now exclusive~” His eyebrows wiggled, accentuating the last word of his sentence. You laugh and lean into him.

It seems that the students noticed the absence of their teacher amidst the training and witnessed the display of affection between you and Gojo.

Nobara is the first to come running over, “(y/n)-sensei! Don’t fall for it, he’s a slimy man!” You burst out laughing when you look up to see the teen’s face full of concern. She looked at you, confused as to why you would laugh at her genuine concern. “Ouch!” Gojo pretended to clutch his heart in pain at Nobara’s remarks. You stood up to see all the students in front of you.

“Well, now that you’re all here, I suppose it would be a good time to tell you all something.” Your sudden words sparking murmurs of confusion amongst the students.

Nobara whines and puts her hands together, “Please don’t tell me you’re dating Gojo-sensei!” You just snort at the remark and look at Gojo, who has a mischievous grin on his face and you can tell he’s wiggling his eyebrows underneath the blindfold.

You take a deep breath and look at all the students, “It seems a reintroduction is due now that I don’t have to hide it anymore. My name is Nanami (y/n). You can keep calling me (y/n)-sensei, or you can also call me Nanami-sensei. And yes, before you ask, Nanami Kento, the grade 1 sorcerer is my older brother. He was off on an overseas mission, and I didn’t want word to get around about the incident I was attacked in, so I kept it a secret until now.”

After your mini speech, you were met with blank stares with jaws dropped wide open. The shock on their faces was hilarious, even the stoic Megumi had the same look of surprise on his face. You start to chuckle, “Sorry, sorry, the look on your faces is hilarious!”

“You’re Nanamin’s sister?!?” Yuji piped up, still in shock. You nod in response and chuckle, you knew your brother had spent a decent amount of time with Yuji, so of course it would be a huge shock to him in particular.

“Wow…”

“Seriously?”

“That’s crazy…”

“I never knew he had a sister..”

“Salmon.”

“Well, I suppose I’ve interrupted your training enough, get back to it!” You try to shoo them back onto the field, along with Gojo. But before you left, you got up on your tiptoes and gave Gojo a kiss on the cheek. You heard a deep sigh and quiet noise of disgust from Maki and Nobara just made a gagging noise, making her distaste for your choice in men very clear with a classic teen groan, “Ughhhhh!”

You turned around and waved them goodbye, with a grin on your face that would rival even Gojo’s most mischievous facial expressions.

#gojo satoru #gojo #satoru #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #fanfic #ao3 #ao3fic #ao3 fanfic #ao3 author #x reader #reader insert

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soohieinhergrave · 4 months

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Oh, woe is me, the world falls apart around me, abandoned by greater society. Please, kind stranger, listen to what I have to say.

I have recently been diagnosed with double-AIDS. That’s when you get AIDS twice. I’m trying to pay the medical bills, but they are simply too much for my feeble self. I also happen to be a single mother of six children who go to sleep hungry and dream of cheeseburger and fry. How awful! How should any children be forced to go through this? In our great country of America?

That’s why I ask only one thing: Go to 600 W 26th St, Austin, Texas, take the elevator to floor 3 and enter apartment 5, and kill the man inside. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “How would killing this innocent man help your predicament?” Well, I’m glad you asked. You see, I used to be a very rich woman until I met this man. One day, all of my savings and money was suddenly gone, and he was at my doorstep. He said, “If you want to get your money back, you’re going to have to win this challenge! I’m going to be racing across the country with a debit card containing all your money inside my stomach. All you have to do is track me down, murder me, and dislodge the card from my stomach!” He then ran into the driver’s seat of a Tesla and drove off. I’ve been trying to find him for years, but now that I’ve found him, I thought it better for someone else to do the dirty work. You’ll know him when you see him. He looks a lot like former US President Barack Obama.

Now, you may be wondering how I even got my money in the first place, which is a story even more tumultuous than the last. You see, my late husband got rich from making vaccine. He’d pump up all the children in the neighborhood with his vaccine juice and they’d be on their merry way. That was until he died. Yeah, that’s right. He died. On his death bed, he whispered to me, “I’ve killed myself of vaccine overdose. All the vaccines out there are dangerous, my dear. You have to get them out of our kids’ systems.” He then died. I quickly ran out of the hospice and back home, where I cut a small hole and sucked the blood out of each of my six children to get the vaccine out of them, which ended up saving them from autism, but leaving me with double-AIDS. My kids have been living happy vaccine-free ever since, along with the crooked money my husband left me.

In another tale of mine, I was rolling down a waterfall in a barrel. I was tied down, my mouth was gagged, it was hopeless. My assailant, former US President Barack Obama, stood on the sidelines. You see, the Presidents of the United States are all in a mega-conspiracy group called the Mega Illuminati, along with every other world leader. They only have one mission: Give vaccines to as many people as possible. Since I was online trying to convince people that vaccines caused autism in children, he decided this was a fair punishment. “So long, Martha Reddenbrough!” he called to me as I plummeted from the edge.

As you can see, I am clearly struggling and need all the support you can give me. I would prefer that murder, but cash works too. Thank you for your help!

Mom I think grandma forgot to take her meds…

#HELLOO??#how long did this take you bro 😭#asks #how did you even come up with this #tbh its impressive

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pahrak-the-sinnoh-slizer · 8 months

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[Games in 2023: Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon]

Following Sonic Frontiers’ release in late 22, Sega announced a DLC roadmap consisting of three waves of content that would be released over the next year, all of them being completely free. I’ve been meaning to summarize my thoughts on them as they’ve rolled out, but uh…the third and final wave has released, so I guess I’m going to cover all of them in one post!

I’m definitely going into spoilers, so tl;dr: if you already loved Frontiers, there’s now even more to love, and if you were on the fence, know that you can now get a significantly improved and expanded experience at no extra cost. Frontiers is bigger and better than ever, and while the challenges of the newly-added Another Story can be quite frustrating, I absolutely still enjoyed the overall experience.

If you’ve been here for at least a while, you probably know that I fucking adored Sonic Frontiers. I’ve been getting back into the series over the past few years, and this was the first major new game to release since beginning that process; Frontiers was designed to be the beginning of a new era for Sonic himself, so it all seemed to line up quite well. It certainly helped that the tone of the game was highly reminiscent of the “Dark Age” titles I grew up with. The game has its problems, certainly—performance issues like pop-in and some loose seams that show Sonic Team needed a little more time than Sega was ultimately willing to give them—but for me, the positive immensely outweighs the negative. Frontiers is fun to play, ridiculously cool, and not afraid to be itself the way Sonic games of the past decade-ish have seemed to be; seams be damned, I love the story dearly, and I’m excited to see how it might be followed up on. Frontiers was the exact kind of Sonic game that I personally needed at this point in my life.

Wave 1 of the DLC introduced a variety of new features with the theme of enhancing the “sights, sounds, and speeds” of the game. One that I still haven’t messed around with much is the new photo mode—I’m glad to now have the extra freedom in setting up screenshots, but it just didn’t occur to me to use it yet. Honestly I don’t think I’ve played many games that have a photo mode, it’s not something I’m personally used to thinking about. Several gauntlets were also added, featuring both the Cyberspace stages and combat challenges. It seems odd that the Cyberspace gauntlets are separated from the Cyberspace arcade mode: if I had spent a bunch of time perfecting runs in arcade mode to then find out I had to do it all again, I imagine I’d be rather annoyed. As for combat challenges, simply providing a way to refight the Titans without going through the whole game again is enough to count as a win in my book (though being able to do so without the “warm-up” rounds would be the most ideal), and if you enjoy the combat, this is the best way to get a nice helping of it all at once. I’m told that completing these modes unlocks the ability to use Power Boost in Cyberspace stages, and an Extreme difficulty setting, but I haven’t felt a desire to push for either of those myself yet.

My favorite addition of this wave is the Jukebox. By tracking down Sound Memories scattered across every island, you unlock a few dozen songs that you can play while running around, these being pulled from various games all across Sonic’s history. Most people know Sonic music tends to be pretty good (putting it mildly). Having so much of it on-hand is a wonderfully tantalizing prospect. The Sound Memories are all on the map, just like every other collectible—this is good, because it would’ve been frustrating to find them otherwise…though, it did enable me to run around and grab all of them in one sitting, which may have been an error on my part. I’m eager to see what it’ll be like finding this as you go through a fresh game; I imagine it’ll be a very welcome additional reward for player progression. Nevertheless, it was still fun to run around the islands and figure out how best to reach each Sound Memory and discover which new song it unlocked. There are some great picks! I’m also really glad that some of the songs are found on Rhea Island—for as large as it is, there was no real reason to explore it before since it was totally devoid of life and collectibles outside of the towers you progress through one after another. But now, taking a quick stroll around its lovely locales rewards you with Open Your Heart and Stardust Speedway and Flying Battery! It’s obvious that the devs spent a lot of time building Rhea, and nice to know that more players will be able to appreciate it now.

On to wave 2, released in celebration of Sonic’s birthday. I was expecting only some small cosmetics, but it’s FAR more substantial than I was expecting! The birthday cosmetics actually change a lot in the overworld, really changing the atmosphere in a fun way. New Sound Memories were added, these being the themes that play while exploring the islands: they each have various “stages” that progress as you fill out more of the map (if I recall correctly), and every single one of them can now be unlocked for the Jukebox. There are also several new Action Chain Challenges that lead to unique Koco which, when returned to the Elder, extend Sonic’s Boost Gauge! Fantastic as this sounds, these challenges were a bit too much for me, though I’d like to think this is at least partly due to my being so rusty at the game. I’ll have to try these again sometime, because on top of more Boost, completing all of them apparently unlocks the Spin Dash, and without even searching I’ve seen some sick-looking movement you can do with that. The other big addition is New Game+, and though I haven’t used it yet, I am absolutely going to replay Frontiers at some point and this will probably be the way I do it.

It, uh, seems there’s a trend of me not actually going deep into a lot of the new stuff. It’s good stuff to be sure, just primarily groups of small things that probably are designed to be done bits at a time as you go along like the other collectibles. Since I’ve already completed the story, maxed out Sonic’s stats, and gotten the Platinum trophy, I suppose my sense of direction has been lacking. I do my best when I have a specific, overarching goal to work towards.

Which brings us to wave 3, “The Final Horizon”. Just about everything here is contained within a new episode referred to as “Another Story”, accessed through a big Warp Ring that appears on Ouranos Island; it seems like this becomes available as soon as you reach the island, but I won’t be able to verify that until my next playthrough. This mode also has its own separate save slots, which is nice…because it’s really freaking difficult and I’m glad to know I can go back to the main game if it becomes too much. But we’ll get to that. Essentially, Another Story puts you on a completely revamped Ouranos with its own platforming bits and map challenges. I didn’t see much in the way of standard enemies (maybe because I was playing on Easy?), but there are a handful of enhanced Guardians roaming about: Master Ninja+, Spider+, even more Ghosts! I accidentally ran into one and had my ass promptly handed to me—they’re not messing around—so they’re still on my To Do list. The map challenges can also be surprisingly tricky, from a ball and hoop puzzle with entirely too many hoops, to a time trial that gives you less than 10 seconds to run to the goal. Another Ouranos is tough as nails, which will either delight or frustrate you…or some combination of the two. Of note is that Sonic gets the Spin Dash for free upon starting if you haven’t already gotten it the hard way; it’s fun, but I’m not sure I’ve passed the skill floor yet lol.

But that’s not all! Another Story kicks off with Sage proposing a new plan for taking on The End: taking on a new set of towers a la Rhea Island so that Sonic can learn to not only control his cyber corruption, but actually harness it to increase his power. They’ll still need the Chaos Emeralds of course, so Sage uses her own abilities to keep Sonic’s corruption in check and brings back Amy, Knuckles, and Tails so they can cover as much ground as possible. That’s right: for the first time in *checks notes* nearly two decades, these three characters are playable in a 3D Sonic game!! Each of them get two segments of gameplay hunting down Emeralds interspersed with Sonic dealing with the towers, and after clearing the final tower you gain a method to switch characters at will. Everybody has their own unique Skill Tree with a few standard abilities (like Cyloop, Boost, Spin Dash) as well as several unique ones (including character-specific variations on Parry that inflict debuffs), and I’d say everyone feels suitably distinct without having too steep a learning curve. So, what can everyone do?

Amy is the one who surprised me the most, in that she only uses her hammer for two abilities. Everything else involves her Tarot Cards. I do like how hard they’ve been leaning into the cards in recent years, and they do predate her hammer; I imagine another concern was that a hammer-focused playstyle would be a little too similar to Knuckles, and yeah, the card-based moveset is very unique. I’ll admit to finding it a bit jarring due to how long the hammer has been Amy’s weapon of choice, but I’m sure I’ll get over it. Her Double Jump is far more substantial than Sonic’s, and if that wasn’t enough, she also gets a third jump that puts her into a hovering state, giving her enhanced aerial mobility in the same vein as Knuckles and Tails. Another move is functionally similar to the way the Homing Attack in Lost World could lock onto multiple targets, letting her zip along an entire line of enemies in a flash. If I had gripes they would probably be that she can’t wall run or Lightspeed Dash, but her insane verticality makes up for a lot of that.

Knuckles is the most in-line with expectations: he punches, he glides, and he doesn’t chuckle. In addition to climbing the same green walls as Sonic, he can also climb exclusive red walls—though, again, no Lightspeed Dash. The gliding is…let’s say contentious. You need to Double Jump before you can glide, then it plays a short animation of Knuckles getting ready to glide, and then you have to try to figure out how to steer the damn thing. It’s not ideal. While that is a bummer, you can unlock a Power Boost analogue that lets Knuckles glide infinitely without losing altitude (while he has max Rings), and that’s a lot of fun even if the glide is a bit unwieldy! He’s got a charge attack drilling strike that’s pretty cool too. I’m kinda just glad to get to play as Knuckles some more tbh.

Now Tails! Tails is interesting. You’ve probably seen the wrench throwing memes by now—what’s nice about this ability is that it and another move where he uses a blaster make Tails the best character for ranged combat/interactions. I’m a fan of them using wrenches rather than the ol’ dummy ring bomb, it’s a much better fit for the kid. But what throws me off the most about playing as Tails is that he’s the one character who doesn’t have a Homing Attack. Turns out I got real used to using the Homing Attack on springs and such, because I keep hitting the button and being confused when I start throwing wrenches at the spring instead. I wouldn’t call this an issue, honestly, and I don’t think it ever even really messed me up, I just need to learn to suppress my muscle memory. Of course, Tails can also fly! I find takeoff a bit tricky: you need to Double Jump before you can use it, and when Tails starts spinning his tails he falls a short distance before they get going and he shoots straight up. Definitely manageable, just feels a little weird. He has limited stamina as always, but it seemed to me that he could keep flying for a good long while before he started to drop, no complaints there. As for other moves, Tails uses some gadgets like a blaster and a giant pile bunker…and, also, there are abilities that let him summon the Tornado to fly around and attack enemies. I haven’t unlocked them myself yet as I had other priorities, but just seeing that pulling out an entire-ass plane is an option makes me smile.

There are several challenges around the island designed with each character in mind, as well as some “Map Koco” that are like map challenges but can only be activated by a specific character. They each have their own color-coded skill pieces too, which you mainly get by finding Koco with giant backpacks who give you a few thousand at a time. Stats need to be leveled for each character separately, but to help with this, the Starfall in Another Story fills the island with Koco and seeds instead of gems for the purple coin gacha. There are even plenty of new, optional conversations for each character, and they don’t even require certain amounts of Memories to access! I wouldn’t say the implementation of the new playable characters is perfect, but it’s clear that a LOT of effort was put into them, and I’ve been able to have a lot of fun with them too. As far as I’m concerned, this is a win.

While those three are off collecting Emeralds (and dealing with their own instances of cyber corruption), Sonic is climbing “Trial Towers”. They can get pretty intense, but it seems playing on Easy gives you some advantages here and that was appreciated. It’s irritating that there are no checkpoint pulleys like on Rhea, barring one at the top of the very last tower since the NPC there has the vital functions of both switching characters and starting the final boss battle. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves! The towers, while they can be tough, aren’t the hard part. The hard part is getting to the top of each to speak with the Koco housing the soul of one of the Titan pilots, only for them to send you into a combat trial where you’re locked to level 1 stats and have a very strict time limit. Shockingly, the easiest one for me was the trial that just had you fight a pack of Wolves! The hardest one was Snake’s Trial, where you have to beat four shielded enemies within the time limit and with most of your skills taken away. Apparently the intent is to parry the shields when they’re thrown to keep the enemy vulnerable, but I couldn’t pull that off. You can still Cyloop these enemies to knock their shield away briefly, but when I say briefly, in this case I mean extremely briefly: they seem to regenerate their shield after a mere second passes. If you time your loops and combos just right, you can barely take them all out in time this way, but yeesh, if any of the trials get nerfed I hope it’s this one. Though there’s also the fifth and final trial…a boss rush of the 3 earlier Titan fights. Doesn’t sound so bad? You’re again locked to level 1 stats, and the Parry can no longer be held indefinitely—Easy gives you some leeway, but you still need to be fairly precise. Still doesn’t sound too bad? Well, the 400 Rings you start with when you spawn in Giganto’s arena? Those have to last you the whole gauntlet. There are NO other rings Sonic can pick up. Since Super Sonic loses 1 Ring every second, assuming you don’t take any hits in the segments where you climb to the final Chaos Emerald, you have just over two minutes to wreck each Titan. With level 1 stats and a nerfed Parry. I didn’t realize just how essential Parrying was to these fights, especially Wyvern. After a single attempt, I knew I had to put the game down for the night and search for tips online. Thankfully, if you focus on Cylooping and Stomping the Titans, you can get by in decent time so long as you don’t botch too many Parries. IMO Wyvern was the toughest part and Knight was actually the easiest. But yeah, if you were wondering why people we so up in arms about the difficulty, these trials are the biggest reason of why.

Anyway. Amy, Knuckles, Tails, and Eggman gather up the Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic learns to use cyber corruption as a power-up. First, you have to go through the standard Supreme fight, but after that (and regardless of difficulty), The End descends onto the battlefield and connects itself to Supreme, causing it to grow five more arms and go absolutely feral to really drive home the Evangelion reference. The title card for Supreme comes back up, but then glitches out before changing to say “The End”—I love shit like that, really slick. After a short period where you can’t damage the boss (Supreme End, as I like to call it) or block its projectiles, Sonic unleashes the power of his cyber corruption, and transforms…into Super Sonic 2. (In-game it doesn’t really get named but apparently the files literally call it “Super Sonic 2”, and that’s hilarious and rad so I’m going with that.) I’ll go more into the form itself later—in terms of the fight, Super Sonic 2 is able to damage Supreme End and use the Perfect Parry to deflect its shots. However, this is where things get…tricky. The End is able to constantly refill Supreme’s health no matter how fast you deplete it, so you need to sever the cable connecting them. Alright, so maybe try a Cyloop? No? What about a Grand Slam, will that make it vulnerable? No, not that either? Turns out the plug is a separate target that you can only hit by targeting it specifically. In spite of the fact that the game always automatically targets the head. Well, once you figure that out you can actually deplete Supreme’s health, but you still need to get to the next phase. With no indication, you need to figure out that you can target the gun holstered in Supreme’s back, use Cyloop to pull it out, and then Cyloop the gun again. I’ll admit that staying focused on depleting Supreme’s health and ignoring the gun after getting it out was a dumb mistake on my part, but there really isn’t a lot to let you know you can Cyloop the gun out in the first place, made worse by the way the trees surrounding the arena tend to obscure the camera. Whatever—you Cyloop the gun (twice), and then a scene plays where Eggman grabs it with his own giant cable while Sage and Sonic’s friends form a barrier. At this point, Supreme End can attack the barrier, and you lose if it breaks it. I kinda lucked through this part, but if you attack the head, then dodge, you end up above the Titan, and after it flails its arms a bit you can Parry and Grand Slam to keep it from attacking while you finish whittling down its health. After some awesome QTE attacks, Sonic loads himself into the stolen gun and brings out the full power of his cyber corruption, turning cyan and black with glitch effects and fangs and crazy eyes. (Again, saving that for later.) Eggman then shoots Sonic through Supreme and The End, obliterating them both, and this time Sage gets to go home with her father without needing to sacrifice herself. Which I do like. But anyway, the boss fight? Epic scale, cool as shit…clear as mud. If you know what you’re doing it’s a real fun power trip, but it’s more difficult than it needs to be to know that. I dunno, maybe it’s just a skill issue, but I’m simultaneously frustrated and gleeful over this fight.

Not sure where else to put this, but Another Ouranos has its own set of Cyber Space stages—you can completely avoid them if you want to, but these are actually rather inventive! One has a radar that tells you if you’re close to invisible landmines; one has capsules that give you a powered up Rocket Boost; apparently there’s one that switches the Boost Gauge out for a Gear Shift mechanic. I haven’t been able to beat any of them. Yet. BUT, it’s still cool to see Sonic Team already experimenting more within this framework, with both these stages and the playstyles of the different characters. Frontiers is meant to lay the foundation for the next era, after all, and I’m excited to see where these experiments lead.

Right though, those new forms! We have to talk about the new forms! Super Sonic 2 is visually very similar to base Super Sonic, which is a bit disappointing even if it does fit the reference. Still, Super Sonic 2 does manage to be a more noticeable change than Super Saiyan 2: his eyes turn from red to blue, his body has a red outline, and he has a double aura somewhat reminiscent of the Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken. What really sells it, though, is the way Sonic acts in this form. As one last addendum to the DBZ comparison, his demeanor and movements invoke Ultra Instinct Sign to a certain degree: a casual and cold fury as he nonchalantly sidesteps and pushes aside the attacks Supreme End lobs at him. When his Cyloop expires, he adds a finisher to it where he snaps his fingers and the light constructs he summoned crush the Titan. The Grand Slam for this fight? Sonic floats in close to the charging Supreme, arms crossed, then the screen goes black with golden slashes like the fucking Raging Demon from Street Fighter, and after watching Supreme hit the ground, we get a low angle shot of Sonic, arms still crossed, glaring over his shoulder at it. Fucking sick. For the final QTEs, he does a barrage of punches and kicks that launches Supreme into the sky, floats in place and slowly raises his hand as Supreme falls, and then slams one last punch into it the instant it comes close enough. This could actually be the coolest Sonic has ever been. And then there’s the glitchy blue form he uses for the finishing blow: the game’s files call it “Super Sonic Cyber”, and while the eyes and teeth are taken straight from Fleetway Super Sonic, the full-body cyan makes me think of fucking Nazo. The Koco who gives him this power-up says that if he goes all out he’ll lose his cyber corruption power permanently, and he does revert to regular Super Sonic after going Super Sonic Cyber, so both 2 and Cyber could be one-offs seen here and never again—which would be just fine! But I see two ways they could possibly make a reappearance: firstly, maybe Master King was just wrong, and Sonic is able to retain the cyber corruption power and reawaken it in a later game (I would not be upset with this); secondly, though, the text in-game refers to Super Sonic 2 as “the hidden power of Super Sonic”, making it seem like this power or something like it already lay dormant within Sonic, and maybe there are other ways it can be brought to the surface. I dunno, if Hyper Sonic and the Storybook forms are anything to go by, the best we can hope for is 2 and Cyber units in mobile games if anything—again, I would not be upset with this. The fans, however…they’re going to have fun with this. (I request Burning Blaze 2. Please.)

This ending was definitely a happier one, though I don’t think it hit me quite as hard. The only real difference is Sage’s survival, which again, I’m a big fan of; but that being the main win we’re focused on while she also gets much less to do in the final battle feels a bit odd to me. Well, maybe that’s a nitpick. I’m not sure if it’s been stated whether or not this new ending officially replaces the old one? Either way we’ll have Sage going forward, so maybe they can skirt around the details if they want. I’m definitely interested to see what direction they take her in, and how her continued presence affects Eggman. I’m also curious to see what Amy, Knuckles, and Tails get into on their solo adventures. The main plot also raises some serious questions regarding the Master Emerald, so I’m hoping those get dealt with. Also…those meteors raining down…those are pieces of The End, right? Are those, uh, safe? Even if the moon form is gone, there’s no way that’s enough to permanently kill a godlike personification of death. Honestly, I am hoping we get to see more of The End in some form: their philosophy of equating “order” with destruction and death is a great antithesis to the power of Chaos that Sonic and his friends wield. The End, who embodies order, versus Sonic, who embodies chaos…there’s a lot of potential there. And, even if Frontiers maybe doesn’t completely stick its landing, you still have that mountain of potential it opens up waiting for you at the end of the exhilarating ride it takes you on.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic Frontiers #Games in 2023 #Game Night

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tinyartisantastemaker · 1 year

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Not you him

“pretty boy, with me!” you called, edging towards the exit. cap made to move towards you until you shook your head. “not you— peter come on!”

peter’s eyes widened, taken aback by your comment. “w—what? me pretty boy?” his cheek flushed a subtle shade of pink, stuttering around his words.

you rolled your eyes, a small smirk on your lips as he wore a bemused expression across his face. you motioned for him to come with you, impatiently. “yeah, you pretty boy,” you poked at his nervousness. it was sweet how flustered he’d gotten over a simple comment.

nat watched the encounter unfold quietly for long enough, she couldn’t hold in an amused snort of laughter. “jeez’ peter, we don’t have all day— do as the girl says— go.”

peter seemed to shake out of his daze, his eyes widening and locking on you. he nodded. “r—right, yeah— of course—” he stumbled all over the place, grabbing his mask from the desk beside him, pulling it over his head. “let’s go.”

“how does it feel having been demoted, cap'n?” tony wore an amused smirk on his lips, watching steve frown, a little embarrassed for being so presumptuous.

“you’re a pretty boy in my eyes, if that makes you feel any better, cap,” nat teased, letting out another bout of laughter. steve just rolled his eyes, grabbing his shield.

“let’s just get this mission done, ok?” he was so serious, you must’ve really embarrassed him.

you and peter turned away from the group, speed walking down the corridor towards the exit. peter was lagging behind you slightly, trying to keep up but he was still in a bit of a daze.

“you clear on our task, spidey?” you glanced back to make sure he was following. you raised an eyebrow at his vacant expression, his eyes locking with yours when you spoke.

he opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish. “w—what— sorry— i didn’t catch what—”

you abruptly stopped walking, peter crashing into you as you did. you rolled your eyes again but couldn’t disguise the look of amusement on your face. this boy was really all over the place when it came to girls.

“s—shit— sorry! i didn’t mean to— you just stopped right in front of me— not that it’s your fault! it’s my fault! my peter tingle’s been off late— i mean— not my peter tingle— my spidey senses. my aunt may calls it my peter tingle even though i’ve asked her a million—”

“oh my god, peter,” you chuckled, your eyebrows raised in surprise. this boy could talk. he stood bewildered in front of you, and very flustered. “peter, as much as i’d like to hear all about your peter tingle—” peter’s face went a deep shade of red when you said this. “we have a mission and i need you to focus.”

you thought he was the sweetest boy you’d ever met but you needed his full attention right now and the only way to get it, was to be stern. he responded to authority. he nodded hectically.

“ok,” you nodded. “let’s go—”

“wait—” he interrupted, his hand touching your shoulder before you could turn back. “j—just so i can get this out of my head— you think i’m pretty?”

you smiled at the innocence in his tone, his eyebrows furrowed trying to desperately understand how someone as beautiful and badass as you could think he was pretty.

you shrugged. “pretty cute, yeah, pete.”

“pretty cute— huh,” he blinked a few times, before letting a relaxed smile fall on his lips. “i always thought you were really pretty too, by the way.”

it was your turn to falter a bit, you weren’t expecting that from him. you just smiled in return and shook your head. “thanks— but maybe we’ll talk about this when we’ve beaten up a few bad guys and retrieved the hostages inside— sound good?”

“oh, yeah,” peter was drawn back to reality. “right, bad guys.”

you turned, peter following you again towards the building you were supposed to be infiltrating. he caught up, striding along next to you, glancing at your look of steel every now and again, completely in awe.

“do you think you’d want to go out with me? sometime?” peter kept moving. you, taken aback by the question, stumbled over your feet, catching yourself before your slammed into the floor. peter’s hands moved to your arms quickly, guiding you back up. “woah— falling for me already?” he joked, now relaxed by the whole situation. he had taken the time to process the information. he really liked you, he always had, and now he had the confirmation that you liked him too— or at least found him attractive— he felt confident enough to speak his mind.

you snapped yourself quickly out the daze you found yourself now that his face was inches from yours, his clothed hands touching your bare skin. you let out an awkward laugh, trying to brush it off.

“if you focus and smash this mission with me— i’ll go out with you,” you nodded, walking away from the boy who was now grinning like an idiot. you ignored him, you were desperately trying to focus but with him looking at you like that it was so hard.

“i can do that,” he nodded, catching up to you with a light jog. “this should be fun,” he cheesed, approaching the back door to the building. you both turned on your comms, listening as the others got themselves into position before you could go any further.

“cap and nat— are you guys in position?” tony’s voice rung through your ear piece. you held your hands up defensively, facing the door, ready to knock it down as soon as you got word. your hands glowing a red colour as you powered up.

“affirmative,” cap answered.

“peter, y/n?”

“all ready,” peter answered before you could. he slammed his wrists together, activating his web shooters. he leant in close to you, whispering in your ear. “you look pretty hot all geared up like that.”

your eyes widened, turning to face him with raised eyebrows. peter wore a cheeky smile, he could get used to teasing you like this.

“oh my go— peter— keep that to yourself next time or at least wait till the missions over,” you snorted at tony’s comment, laughing at peter as his eyes widened now. he stuttered to apologise but tony cut him off. “i don’t want to be hearing that shit— you’re kids— jesus christ.”

you wore a soft smile hearing tony tell peter off. you couldn’t stop yourself from taking it a step further, it was one of your many pleasures in life, making tony uncomfortable.

“if it makes you feel better, that suit really works for you— i mean seriously— it hugs you in all the right places—” peter wore a look of surprise but still, he smirked at your comment.

“jesus— stop that please i’m begging you,” steve huffed through the comms. you and peter stood waiting, still amused.

“alright,” nat interrupted, though you could tell she was holding in her laughter. “we’re all in position— let’s kick some ass.”

“anything to get the horny kids to focus on anything but each other,” clint muttered for the first time, causing you to snort. you couldn’t help it.

“jeez— alright, everyone move in,” tony ordered. you and peter did as he said, you grabbed the door handles with your red hot hands and yanked them clean off before kicking the doors open.

“so cool,” you heard peter mutter under his breath as he followed you inside.peter parkerpeterparkerpeter parker imaginepeter parker imaginespeter parker masterlistpeter parker one shotpeter parker fanfictionfanfictionfanfictom hollandtomhollandtom holland and y/npeter parker aupeter parker and readerpeter parker and y/ntom holland and readeravengersmarvel imaginemarvel masterlistavengers imagineavengers masterlistmarvely/nimaginesimaginemasterlistreader

515 notesFeb 5th, 2021

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owen-not-carvour · 2 years

Text

gooood morning! here’s something i thought abt last night :)

i wonder what owen actually meant by “here’s some advice, curt, it’s called Moving On”

bc like. how did he intend for curt to take that?? what did he Want him to do?

it sure as hell wasn’t shoot him in the fucking head! (he makes that clear enough w the Way he asks curt what he’s doing… ouch !!)

did he just want him to leave him alone??

possibly,, but at the same time he knows that curt won’t stop chasing chimera,, and by proximity, him.. so that’s not happening any time soon.

so what’s the deal w that, mr. carvour??

(this is just more proof that owen was so confident that he knew Everthing abt curt. he still thinks he’s one step ahead. but he doesn’t and he’s Not. bc they’re not the same as they used to be. so he uses what he Thinks he knows abt curt to try and go against him and break him,, but he just ends up being Wrong bc they’ve been apart and changing over the past 4 years,, bc owen thinks curt hasn’t moved on at all,, but he Has!!—it’s just a Very recent development— and it ends up backfiring on him and being the reason he dies… bc That’s what makes curt shoot owens gun away and Decide.. but if curt Hadn’t started moving on by then,, what would he have done instead of killing owen? what would owen wanted him to do?,, bc that’s what he’d end up listening to..)

#i’ve been on a Roll w the thoughts lately i think i may be going slightly insane lol #these guys are so complex i Love them #the whole dynamic thing !!!#and how it changes !!!!!!#literally screaming #it alllll goes back to owens little superiority complex thing he’s got going on #but fr like. owen didn’t think curt had it in him to kill him #so how would he have suggested curt move on??#(i never answered the question so please lmk if you have any Thoughts on the matter)#spies are forever #agent curt mega #owen carvour #curtwen

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kiss-inthekitchen · 3 years

Text

all that you ask of me | loki laufeyson

summary: you and Loki have a discussion about your kinks, and you learn something about him that you weren’t expecting

wc: 1.5k

warnings: smutty themes!! talk of bdsm, both reader and loki are switches and they aren't chill about it, teasing, light degradation but in a cute way, sub!loki, dom!loki, f!reader. loki has huge bisexual switch energy and i had to put it in a fic

a/n: title is kind of unrelated lol it makes more sense in the next chapter. pls let me know if you like it, i love when u guys leave comments or tags !

It’s been a few weeks since you and Loki had started dating and your sexual chemistry has been insane, which was a surprise to neither of you. You’d started out as friends, and even then, any time Loki had so much as brushed his fingers along your skin you felt something akin to electricity spike through your body. And though he was loath to admit it at first, Loki felt the same. So, once you finally gave in to your mutual feelings for each other, things only got more exciting.

Though the two of you had been having sex for weeks, you hadn’t really done anything too spicy yet, still getting used to this new aspect of your relationship. Now, though, you’d decided it would be a good idea to get it all out there, rather than try to figure it out as you went along. Besides, something about the idea of talking things out with Loki like it was nothing more than a casual conversation was thrilling to you.

You and Loki were sitting on the couch, your legs resting in his lap as he absentmindedly soothed circles into one of your calves. You smiled fondly at the way he always had to be touching some part of you. The two of you had covered a few topics already, going over safewords (you were partial to the traffic light system, and Loki agreed) and some of your hard limits, and now you were on to the fun part. Specifically, a rather exciting interest your partner had just confessed to.

“You know,” you mused, unable to keep the teasing smile off your face, “I wouldn’t have expected you to be into submission, what with your whole...thing.”

“My whole thing?” He repeated, raising his eyebrows at your choice of words. You suppressed a laugh. He probably would’ve spent more time on his faux outrage if the look on your face wasn’t so damn cute. “Yes, well. I am full of surprises, aren’t I?”

You hummed in response. “I mean, I had hoped you’d be into it. Or, I guess, fantasized, would be the better w-”

“Did you?” He cut you off, sounding all too pleased.

“Oh, for a while now,” you smirked.

“You’ve been holding out on me,” he said, the admiration in his eyes shifting to smugness as he continued, “I wouldn’t expect you to be a dom, what with your whole thing.”

You made a show of rolling your eyes at him. He wasn’t wrong, though. Compared to Loki, you were much more bubbly and warm, not that he was really so cold anymore, but he was still… him. On top of that, your style tended to lean more toward pastel colors, though lately you were known to also rock some dark green tones. You supposed that from the outside, people would assume you to be the more submissive one in the relationship. Which you definitely could be, but your tastes went both ways.

“Okay, I deserved that,” you relented. “Now come on, tell me what I want to know.”

“Okay, well. I’ve no problem with bondage, as I’m sure you know.”

“You do seem to end up in chains quite often, my love. But... not sexually?” You’d meant for it to be a statement, but then you realized you actually had no idea, your voice lilting up into a question.

He fixed you with a look that very clearly told you you’d been wrong.

Well, okay then. “Right,” you responded, a little breathier than before, trying not to let your imagination run wild just yet. Loki squeezed your ankle playfully, bringing you back before you could lose focus. “So, is there anything you’re not okay with, bondage-wise? Like, collars, ties, cuffs…?” You trailed off.

He thought for a moment. “No, it’s all fine with me. What about you?”

“Cuffs kinda freak me out, actually. I don’t have superhuman strength and all.”

“Noted. Oh, one thing I do want to mention- I’m going to have to ask that you refer to me exclusively as ‘Your Majesty’ when I’m in charge,” he said, expression unwavering.

Your mouth dropped open for a second before you asked, “Wait, seriously?”

He broke into a mischievous grin. “No. But if you’d really like to, I suppose I wouldn’t stop you,” he said the last bit thoughtfully, and you playfully hit his arm with the back of your hand in admonishment. “Ooh, harder,” he said, still with an air of mischief, though you got the sense he wasn’t entirely kidding.

“Loki!” you gasped.

“Alright,” he laughed lightly. “Great God of Mischief will work just as well.”

“I am not calling you that.”

“You’re being so difficult.”

“Will you just tell me what you like to be called already? If you carry on like this, I swear, I will call you Captain.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” he said, glaring at you, and you raised an eyebrow as if to ask, care to test that theory? “Okay, I yield. But, honestly, it depends on the scene. If you’re comfortable with it, I’ll have you call me ‘sir’ most of the time, ‘daddy’ on special occasions. You’re a smart girl. I trust that you’ll know when those occasions come about.”

You just nodded, your mouth suddenly feeling dry. Why were you having such a reaction to Loki calling you a smart girl? He’d definitely noticed.

“What would you like to be called? When you’re the dominant?” Loki asked, saving you from your thought spiral.

“Oh, um. Ma’am is fine. None of the other terms really work for me, I don’t know why, they just seem kind of… too much, I guess,” you over-explained, feeling your cheeks start to heat up.

“Ma’am is just fine?” Loki pressed.

“No, it’s- it’s good. I, um, really like it.” Your cheeks flamed even hotter now, your gaze trained on the couch cushion.

Loki reached out and lifted your chin gently with his thumb and forefinger, making you look at him. “Come now, you were doing so well. Don’t get shy on me now,” he said, voice taking on that deep timbre that made you feel like all the air had been sucked out of the room.

“Okay,” you breathed, your mind gone completely blank as you looked at him.

“Good girl,” he said softly. He didn’t miss the way your body reacted to the praise, a smug smirk plastered on his face.

Bastard. You narrowed your eyes at him, shaking your head slightly to clear it. “That’s not fair,” you countered weakly.

“Isn’t it? I’m just trying to figure out what you like,” he feigned innocence.

“Right,” you said, only a little petulantly, trying to think of what else you wanted to ask him before he’d distracted you. “How do you feel about degradation?” You blurted out. “Receiving, I mean.”

That caught him off guard, to your great enjoyment. “I- I’m not sure. No one’s ever tried it.”

You raised an eyebrow at him. “You’ve been tied up but no one’s ever called you names?”

“No,” he responded, frowning slightly. You could practically see the gears turning in his head. “I think I might be okay with it.”

“My honey, you’ve been so deprived,” you said with a pout. It was your turn to have a little fun now. “So,” you started, trailing your fingertips up his forearm, drawing his attention to your touch before you continued. “If, for example, I had you on your knees, and you were being so good for me, and I just happened to call you my obedient little slut-” he inhaled sharply, and you couldn’t help but grin, “-you would, theoretically, be okay with that?” You looked up into his eyes, seeing the flash of desire that had settled there.

“I think that would be acceptable,” he spoke, clearly putting in effort to keep his voice even.

You smiled, pleased with yourself. It was cute that he still tried to seem unaffected when you could literally feel the way his cock had stiffened against you. You shifted the position of your leg in his lap, lightly brushing against him, and he gasped.

“Pathetic,” you chide.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. As much as he may try to seem unimpressed with your teasing, he was certainly susceptible to it. “If you want us to get through the rest of the conversation, you’re going to have to stop that,” he says, but it comes out more like a plea than an order, and he’s sure that you’re going to be the death of him.

You chuckle, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. “Oh, this is gonna be so much fun.”

“It seems I’ve underestimated you, dearest,” he says, tone laced through with affection.

You bring a hand up to cup his cheek, drawing him closer to press a sweet kiss to his lips.

“Well, that’s a mistake we won’t make twice. Isn’t it, love?”

#loki x reader #loki laufeyson #loki smut #sub!loki #dom!loki #mcu loki #i had too much fun writing this lmao #it's the switching for me!!!#bisexual switch messes only in this house <3 #my fics #pls interact w this if you liked it i need validation lol

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ijustwant2write · 3 years

Text

Reconnect-Finn Shelby x Reader

(GIF credit to @peakystitches)

Masterlist

Tags: @captivatedbycillianmurphy @jenepleurepasbaby @amirahiddleston @bloodorangemoonlight @haphazardhufflepuff @mzcrazy2

Requested by anonymous: ‘Hello! May i request an either tommy or finn shelby x reader? (Whicheverr one u think suits best) for this prompt i found: character A and B have been in a longterm relationship and nothing can get in between, until one day something does and they drift away. But then they reconnect emotionally and everything feels like the first time again (first kiss, first meal together etc) 🙏🏼💜 i love ur writing thank u’

Characters: Finn Shelby x Reader, Polly Gray x Reader (platonic)

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: Swearing, arguing, finance issues, drinking, fluff

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Finn, is that you?" I called out from our bedroom as I heard the front door open. I tensed up when I didn't hear a reply, only to let out a sigh when I heard him giggling.

He was drunk again, it happened almost every week now. Tommy would have given him something important to do for the gang, and whether or not Finn succeeded with that task, he would go out and celebrate with his mates. I would sometimes tag along if I wasn't tired from the week of working, but after seeing our finances, I realised we needed to stop acting like teenagers and start saving wisely.

"Hello my gorgeous girl." he slurred out as he entered the room.

"Hello Finn." I replied as I received a sloppy kiss to my forehead.

He flopped down beside me in bed, taking the book out of my hands and throwing it to the floor. Finn wrapped his arms around me, snuggling into my lap. I took off his hat, stroking back his hair. He was cold from the brisk walk home, causing me to shiver.

“You should have come out tonight." he said.

"I got off work late."

"He kept you again?"

"No, I decided to stay."

"Why? You always say you're tired."

"I'm tired because I'm picking up extra shifts and hours so that we can start saving up for a house."

"I've told you, we don't need to worry about that. Business is good."

"Finn, we're not going to be given the money. We have to earn it."

"Tommy will help us."

"He might help but he won't give us a lot. And even if he did hand us a house, we've got to have enough money for the bills, furniture-"

"It will be fine."

"Finn, we've not even had our wedding yet!"

We had been engaged for half a year. We were wanting to be married sooner, but problems arose with the Peaky Blinders it distracted us both from it, especially since our lives were in danger. I desperately wanted to have enough money for the wedding and house, though it looked like it was going to be one or the other at this point.

"What's wrong with the flat?" Finn now sat up.

"Did you seriously ask me that question? There's only so much I can do to this dump to make it look somewhat liveable. It just doesn't feel like home."

"We'll get the money. Don't worry. Look, look," he took my hands in his,"we will get a house. I promise. And believe me, I want to marry you as soon as I can, there needs to be another ring on that finger. And I need to see my name at the end of yours."

I stupidly believed him. Those adoring eyes I once trusted had lied to me. Finn kept his promise for a week at max, soon breaking it. I didn't mind him going out with friends, we both needed to socialise, I just disagreed with the amount of times he was out and the amount of drinks he was buying each night. He would always offer to get the next round, and although he was a Shelby, the discounts didn't make much difference at the end of the night. I decided I had to go with him to ensure that our money wasn't being poured away, struggling to stay awake for those long nights, and making work even harder every day. It was impossible to keep an eye on him like that.

Usually Finn would tell me if he was going out that night so I wouldn't worry. That stopped too. My mind was never at ease. How did I know he wasn't lying in a ditch somewhere after a job gone wrong? Or what if he was trapped somewhere by a rival gang? I could only rest when he returned, which he always luckily did. I pretended to be asleep, trying to not push him away as he slipped his arms around me, cuddling me for the rest of the night. My patience began to grow thin. I was too scared to speak up about it, worried that we would just end up having an argument. However, I knew we would have to bring it up soon, because our money was only disappearing instead of increasing.

One morning when I was leaving for work, I noticed that the drawer we locked our savings away in was slightly ajar, meaning someone had unlocked it and stupidly left it open. Of course it had to be Finn, no one had broken in during the night. My eyes widened when I saw how much he had taken, enraged that he would think me so foolish. Why would he take the money without asking? What was he using it for?

As I stormed towards the shop, I heard whooping from men in a car further up the street. My face turned into a deep frown when I recognised the car, managing to catch a glimpse of the people in it. They hadn't seen me, and I had to make sure my eyes were deceiving me.

I didn't care about the looks on me as I burst through into the shop, making a beeline for Polly's office. I harshly knocked on the door, entering when she called me.

"(Y/N)? What's wrong?" she asked, a lit cigarette in hand.

"Where's Finn?"

"Off out with his brothers, why?"

"Where are they going?"

"To the races."

I scoffed, placing a hand on my head in defeat.

"Why? What's wrong with that?"

"He told me he would be in the office all day today."

"So? Things change."

"No, he specifically told me that. I never even asked about it. He made a point meaning he didn't want to risk me waltzing in. That means he's hiding something."

"(Y/N), they're only going to bet on horses today. They're mingling."

"They're betting today?!"

She stood, putting a hand on her hip."What am I missing here?"

"Pol, he's using money that we don't have! I need a car, I need to get to him."

"Look, even if my nephew is being the biggest idiot, it's a bad idea to go there."

"Why?"

Her eyes widened."Don't snap at me young lady."

"I'm sorry, I just, I just know he's going to be stupid with what little money we have at the minute."

Polly was silent for a few seconds, and I didn't know if she was just staring me out, trying to make me leave. Perhaps she didn't think it was anything to worry over. But it was to me. She surprised me when she went into one of her drawers, pulling out a set of keys.

"Come on. I'll get one of the girls to call your work, say you're sick."

I tightly clasped my hands together as Polly drove. I was furious, trying to think of what to say to Finn when I got there. He stole our money. He went behind my back, gambling away the money we worked hard to earn. I had never said it, but Finn had it much easier than I did. For one, he worked with family, and although I liked my job, the boss could sometimes be an arsehole; second, he earned a lot more than me, so he was the bigger breadwinner between us, but I worked longer hours. Yes, he was in a gang meaning he had more days where his life was under threat, but he seemed to be having a jolly good time anyway. Really, it wouldn't have mattered who worked longer or harder, or who earned more, it was still our money to spend on our house.

As soon as Polly parked up, I was straight out of the car. She quickly followed grabbing my arm and warning me to not get lost in the crowds. I couldn't make a scene, especially since there could be potential business partners or enemies about. I refrained from rolling my eyes, knowing she was right but also knowing that I would find it extremely hard to not scream at Finn.

Polly guided me to where the men would be, ignoring the shoving and shouting. I wished for her to walk quicker. We swiftly entered the posher boxes, almost stopped by a doorman until his accomplice shut him up. I even heard him whisper 'That's Polly Gray you idiot.', the one time I was glad we had a reputation. She only paused to scan the room for the boys but I spotted them first. Quickly moving past her, I couldn't stop my fists from clenching, seeing Finn joyfully drinking and laughing with his brothers only added fire to my fury.

"Finn!" I snapped, quickly catching his attention.

"(Y/N)?" he exclaimed, struggling to stand and clattering the plates and glasses on the table."W-what are you doing here?"

"Stopping you from spending our money like a fucking idiot! Where is it?"

"Oh, Finn boy is in the doghouse." John chuckled.

"Shut up!" I fiercely pointed at him.

"Where's what?" Finn brought me back.

"Our money!"

"I told you, you do this outside." Polly warned, shoving Finn in that direction, and I knew I had to follow him.

Luckily, we were left alone. Finn continued on, finding someplace we would be alone. Once we were in the clear, the distant roar of the crowds covering our conversation, I saw him sigh quietly, running a hand down his face when he realised what was coming.

"Where's the money Finn?" I asked, calmer but with a mean tone.

"Let me explain first.”

"Explain how you took our money without asking? How you just waltzed out this morning without consulting me?"

"Tommy said that there was a good chance, a very good chance that this horse would win, and I thought it would help us if we put our money on it. Imagine how much we'll have if it wins!"

"If it wins Finn, if! You're gambling our money, why would you do something like that?"

"Because you went on about not having enough money! And here I am trying to help!"

My mouth dropped open in shock."You really don’t see the problem here."

"No, actually, I don't." he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Finn, you stole money from the drawer! You then go behind my back and bet it away. Have you thought about what we'll do if that horse loses?"

"But it won't, Tommy said."

"And what if Tommy is wrong this time? Also, don't pin this on your brother, I know he hasn't even suggested this idea."

"I'm not-urgh!" Finn groaned."Why don't you trust me?"

"I can't trust a gamble Finn. I don't think you realise how many nights I've spent lying awake, worried that we'll never have enough for our own home, and thinking that you don't even care anymore."

"Of course I care. This is why I've bet the money."

"How is this not getting in your head?"

"(Y/N)," he took my hands in his, but I couldn't even look at him,"in a few minutes we will hear them announce the winner, and we will start jumping for joy when we realise how much money we're going to get back, and we're going to be so much closer to getting our home."

"Finn, I desperately want to believe that. But even if we do win, you're in deep trouble." I took my hands away from him, turning around. I couldn't even look at my own fiance.

On queue, we heard a man come over the intercom, it was muffled to me but I knew Finn was listening intensely. Glancing over my shoulder, I watched for his reaction, turning around fully when I saw his expression. We had lost. We lost all that money.

"How could you be so fucking stupid?!" I screamed at him, throwing slaps onto his chest."Why couldn't you just listen to me? I don't understand why you had to lie to me Finn!"

I broke down crying, shoving him away from me. My sobs were loud but I didn't care. Finn could watch, see how much he upset me. My heart sank at the thought of it all gone, Finn had left scarcely any money in the drawer back at the flat.

"I'm sorry (Y/N)." Finn pathetically said.

"You know how you always go on about your family never trusting you enough for the big jobs? That you never get to go out with them and help? This is why. Because you do things like this, you fuck everything up Finn. Fuck!" I wiped away my tears, even though more spilled out."You know I've always stuck beside you, but this is the last straw Finn. I can't be with someone who doesn't want to put effort into their future."

"What are you saying? (Y/N), I can fix this. I promise I'll get the money back, I'll-"

"How? That took us so long to build that up. And you were spending our money almost every night on useless drinking. I can't Finn, I can't live like that anymore."

He ducked his head, and I almost wanted him to say something. When he didn't, I knew what I had to do.

I took a deep breath before speaking."I'm going home. I suggest you stay at Polly's tonight."

"Let me take you home-"

"No!"

"What's going on?" Tommy suddenly appeared, he, his brothers and Polly approaching.

"Your nephew, your brother, just gave away almost all of our money betting on a horse. Not only that, but he took the money without telling me. That was money for a house." I angrily explained.

"Is that true Finn?"

Finn shamefully nodded.

"We can get you your money back (Y/N)."

"It's not about that Tom. He's lied to me. He promised me he wouldn't spend our money every week, yet he did. And then he takes our money without asking me about it first."

"I'll fix it (Y/N), I promise I will." Finn was begging at this point.

"Another promise that you're bound to break. I've had enough today."

"Let's get you home love." Polly said, putting a stop to this argument as she stepped forward, taking me under her arm.

Finn didn't come home that night. I didn't sleep. I was sat at the tiny dining table, staring at the ring on my finger, wondering what to do. It broke my heart to think about leaving him, but it also broke my heart thinking about how reckless he had been. Did I really want to be marrying someone who acted like this? Would he mature? My heart wanted to believe he would, but my mind kept telling me that today confirmed he wouldn't. That was one of the worst nights of my life.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I couldn't stand this job any longer. But it was the only thing keeping me alive. It was crappy work, the pay was just above minimum, enough for me to buy food, pay my rent and have the tiniest amount left over. Saving up money was hard when it was just you. Even after two years, I didn't have enough to consider looking at places of my own, or with less roommates. It was exhausting keeping up with these girls I lived with, there were 6 of us altogether. It was a big change when I moved away from Small Heath.

"You ready (Y/N)?" one of my roommates called out to me as I finished applying my lipstick.

"Just a second!" I replied, checking myself in the mirror.

It was the rare occasion that I was going out with them, the one time we could all go out together at all. I was looking forward to a few drinks, and although that sounded hypocritical, I realised that I had to have a night or two in at least a month to relieve myself of the stress I put upon myself.

We arrived at the small club we always went to, it had the cheapest drinks this side of town. We all shivered in the cold weather, walking as fast as we could to make it to the club. The warmth was very welcome, as well as the loud music that drew us further in. It was the usual routine, a few of us grab a table, the others get the drinks in, then we would all make our way to the dance floor. Hours passed, and I had to get away from the heat coming from the dancing, stepping back towards our table to get a drink. I saw my roommate stumbling in the direction of the bar, rolling my eyes as I went to help her, perhaps getting a drink whilst I was there. However, once I got closer, I stared at the man she was starting to flirt with.

"Isaiah?" I said as I got closer.

"(Y/N)!" he smiled, bringing me in for a hug.

"You two know each other?" my roommate asked, looking disappointed.

"He's an old friend. Just that, nothing else."

Isaiah let me go."How long has it been? Two years?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, two years. What are you doing here?"

"Business. Nothing dangerous though, you girls are still in for a good night. Especially you if you're good." he winked to my roommate.

"Is he...is he here?" my voice suddenly went shaky, and I felt almost completely sober.

Isaiah's playful nature dropped."Uh, he is. He's really misses you (Y/N). Hasn't even looked at another girl since you left. He's just not been the same." I wasn't sure how to reply.

"I can't not tell him I saw you. Imagine if he found out, he would be so upset with me."

"I know. I wouldn't want to hurt your friendship."

"Maybe you should see him. It might do you both some good."

"Or the opposite."

"He still loves you. Even if you don't feel the same, it could bring closure. But I know you (Y/N), I can tell what you're thinking."

"You were always annoying like that."

"He's out front, in the corridor. That's all I'm going to say."

I looked at him for a few seconds, trying to make my mind up."Well, this one is a handful, just so you know."

"I think I can handle her." Isaiah smirked.

"I was warning her about you."

I giggled at his reaction, walking away and leaving him in his natural habitat of flirting. But as soon as I turned around, my stomach dropped, nerves filling up my entire body. He was here. I hadn't seen him for two years, though I thought about him everyday. Would he look different? Did I look different? What was he going to say? What was I going to say? My brain didn't want to think of any words, maybe I was about to babble absolute nonsense to him.

Upon seeing him, my throat tightened, the cool air slapping me in the face; oh, now I was sober. He hadn't noticed yet, leaning up against a wall, hands in his pockets. Wow, he had changed. His boyish charm was still there, yet he had matured into a handsome young man. It was like I was seeing him for the first time all over again. I was just happy that he would be seeing me in my finer clothes rather than catching me after work.

Urging my feet to move, I almost sighed at how small my steps were. I really was scared. Isaiah had said reassuring things, yet I couldn't even walk up to him. It was too late to back out now, especially when he finally looked up at me. I froze on the spot, not knowing what to do. Finn seemed the same way.

"(Y/N)." he said, I only just heard it.

"Hello."

Hello? Really, that's all I could come up with?

He pushed himself off the wall, coming to stand in front of me, though not too close."I...I can't believe you're here."

"I could say the same about you."

"This is where you've been living then."

I nodded."It's not too bad. I mean, I'm on a night out."

"Who are you with?"

I knew he was wondering if I was with a man."My roommates, I live with five other girls."

"Oh, that's a lot."

"Yeah, it's the only place I could afford."

"I hope it's nice."

"I shouldn't complain. A lot better than other places."

We both knew we were making an awful attempt at small talk. I was sure he had so much to say like I did, we just didn't want to dump it on each other in case the other ran away. It was like we were teenagers again, awkwardly trying to think of something to fill the dreaded silence.

"I really want to talk about us (Y/N)." Finn said.

"You do?"

"I...I just have so much to say to you. I can't do it now, but what about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? Tomorrow, um, yes, yes tomorrow works for me. It's the weekend, so I'm not working."

He smiled slightly."OK, good. I'll come get you. Um, I need your address."

"Oh, here." I dug around in my purse, thankful there was a folded up tissue and a pen, it was good to be prepared. I wrote down my address, handing it to him.

"I'll pick you up at one. I would want it to be earlier, you just never know what time you'll be back with this sort of thing."

"I understand Finn, I did live this with you once."

I barely slept, even when we stumbled in at three in the morning. Luckily I hadn't seen Finn, Isaiah or any other Peaky Blinder that evening, no doubt settling business behind the scenes. Despite the lack of sleep, I was wide awake the next morning, up before everyone else who were nursing their hangovers, trying on multiple outfits in a desperate attempt to look nice, but not as if I put too much effort in. The clock was rolling onto one o'clock, and my heart was beating much faster than usual. I was about to make my way downstairs when something glistened on my small vanity. Should I take it? Yes, I would.

Finn knocked on the door, and I waited a few seconds before opening it. We smiled as we greeted each other, not going in for a hug or kiss on the cheek, something I was worried about. That was the first hurdle jumped over.

"How was your evening?" Finn struck up a conversation as we walked further into town.

"Much better than yours I presume?" I smirked. He chuckled."Yeah, didn't exactly get to enjoy the music. Small fight, nothing we couldn't handle."

It was strange hearing about Blinder business again."Well I'm glad you're all safe."

"I thought we could go out for lunch, saw a nice place round here."

"Oh, that would be lovely."

"We don't have to, if you don't feel comfortable."

"No, no, no, it's not that. It's just a lovely thing for you to do."

We both bashfully smiled, luckily the restaurant was just around the corner. I had expected nothing less when we walked into the fancy place, not because I thought I deserved it, but because Finn wouldn't be seen anywhere else. His clothes were even more tailored now than they had been the last I saw him, indicating that the gang had been doing well, more money was coming in. We both immediately picked up our menus as we sat, hoping someone would speak first. Our eyes glanced over the top of them, it was as if we were on our first date again, only this time in a better establishment.

"You look beautiful." he said, still hiding part of his face.

"Thank you." I blushed.

"I'll never forget what you wore when I picked you up for our first date. That blue dress you just bought, with a matching purse, and those heels that you hadn't practiced walking in. Well, you used that as an excuse to latch into my arm all night."

I smiled, placing down my menu."It was a good plan, wasn't it? And I did struggle in those heels, I just didn't want to embarrass myself."

He copied me."I liked holding your hand all night."

"What a sweet sentiment."

"I mean it. And I mean this date. That didn't sound right, but...what I'm trying to say is that I want to make it all up to you."

"You do?"

"Yes! I really didn't expect you to leave. I mean I did, but I didn't want to believe that. I didn't want to believe that I had been so selfish that I couldn't even see how much I had hurt you."

“That was the hardest decision I ever made. Most days I battle with myself whether I made the right choice. All night I kept making deals with myself. If you came back, I would hear you out, and if it was good enough for me I would stay. But then you didn’t, so I said to myself ‘Give him another hour.’. An hour went by, and I said the same thing to myself. That went on for the whole evening until I found myself angrily packing my things. Even then, I sat by door on top of my suitcase for another hour or so.”

“I thought you just got up and left. I didn’t realise how long you waited for me.” he sighed into his hands.“I’m such a fucking idiot.”

I could tell he was full of regret. Although it sounded sadistic, I was glad that he was upset when reflecting on our past relationship, it meant he realised his mistake. On the other hand, I hated seeing him sad. I took his hands away from his face, hesitantly reaching into my handbag to pull out the engagement ring I kept.

His eyes widened.“You still have that? I looked everywhere for it when you left, guessed you took it to sell.”

“I won’t lie, that was my intention at first. But it meant too much to me. It was like selling a piece of my soul. I kept it hidden, I didn’t want to risk any of the girls seeing it, they would just ask too many questions.”

I kept my eye on the beautiful ring as I spoke, slowly twirling it around to catch it twinkling in the light.

"I had such a hard time picking that out. I knew what you wanted, but I had to get it right for you. I'm so glad you kept it."

"I did try to sell it. I was stood outside of a shop for ten minutes debating with myself. It would have helped a lot for the deposit on the room, but I couldn't do it."

We were silent, both staring at the ring. We used to do that a lot actually. Finn would take my hand and hold it up as we laid in bed together, both giggling as we watched it glisten like it was in present times, before squealing at the thought of us being married to each other. I constantly fiddled with it when he was off on business, a habit which never wore off, even now; whenever I was nervous or worried, I would automatically do the same action, just without the ring.

A waiter awkwardly interrupted us, and I hurriedly put the ring back in my bag, sharing an embarrassed smile with Finn as we ordered. Once he was gone, I quietly sighed, looking out of the window. We were in such a nice part of town, so many ladies in beautiful dresses and men in smart suits strolling around.

"Are you...are you OK for money?" Finn boldly asked.

I was a little shocked by that.

"I don't mean anything by it. I just want to make sure you're OK, I would hate for you to be struggling, if you were."

"Uh, no, no I'm fine actually. It's not as generous as my old wage but it keeps me alive, I can live with the bare necessities."

I could see him itching to say something else, to keep the conversation going. I wasn't sure if we could go back to the serious topic we had before. However, I also wanted to bring it back up, it felt like we needed to talk about us.

"How's the family?" That's all I could come up with.

"They're fine. Everyone is the same. Well, they're not, they're a bit more serious nowadays."

"They weren't in the first place?"

He smiled."I suppose they were. Tension is the right word, tensions have been rising. Tommy's taking on a lot more, Polly knows all these secrets that no one else does, Ada is rebelling against anything Tommy says, Linda is still annoying, Esme and John have been popping kids out left, right and centre. Arthur is still crazy."

"Sounds like business as usual to me."

"They miss you too."

"Do they?"

"Yeah. Almost as much as me."

I cast my eyes down as butterflies rose in my stomach.

"I heard nothing else for the next few weeks after you left. They all told me what an idiot I was, that I was an extremely reckless, stupid and immature boy, and that I had let the best thing in my life get away from me. And they were right. I knew all of that already."

"I...I don't really know what to say right now."

"You don't have to say anything, let's just enjoy this meal, no more of that talk."

The nerves making my stomach flip built at that. What if we had nothing else to talk about? What if it was too weird to dive into our separate lives? I didn't want to sit across my ex-fiance, painfully and politely smiling through forced conversation.

The spark was still there.

When the waiter had returned with our drinks, we were already deep in talk about what had been happening in our personal everyday life. We were non stop, even as we ate through dinner. The waiters had trouble catching our attention each time they checked on us. I was deep in those eyes again, the ones I always dreamed of seeing. We were laughing hysterically, not at all acting how we should have in that establishment (there were a few eye rolls from other patrons). As if time had gone by in a second, the bill was slipped towards Finn, though I still reached into my purse.

"Are you mad? No, put your money away, I'm not taking it." Finn stated as he carelessly threw down some notes, surprisingly taking my hand in his and guiding me out of the restaurant.

I was tense as we walked, and I saw a flash of realisation in Finn's eyes as we made it outside. Both looking down at our interlocked fingers, Finn broke away, clearing his throat.

"Sorry, force of habit."

Hesitating, I smiled up at him, lacing our hands together again."These are new heels I'm breaking in. Need help walking in them."

He chuckled, pulling me closer as we walked down the street. We were silent, feeling like kids in love again. I couldn't deny that my feelings were still strong for Finn, I missed him dearly. At first, part of me had been wary of all this, wondering if he really had good intentions, or just thought he could get a quick shag in from an ex before he left; but the effort he went through, the things we spoke about, trying to heal old wounds, Finn had matured and he was wanting to fix this. I wanted to fix this, my heart was aching for my old life with him.

“We’re not done yet, are we?” I timidly asked.

“Not unless you want it to be.”

I instantly shook my head.“No, I’d like to stay out for longer.”

“Even though you’re struggling in your heels?”

I smirked.“I know a nice place we can sit down.”

I took him to the local park, it had a huge lake with benches dotted around, luckily it wasn’t busy, there was somehow a hint of privacy here. We sat down close to each other, hands still entwined.

“You still hungry?” I asked.

“Hm?”

I dug into my purse, producing a bag of sweets I had bought the previous day. I laughed as his eyes lit up, taking one without even asking. I took one too, reminiscing on how we used to do the same thing as kids. It seemed he was thinking about it too.

“Just like the old days.” Finn said.

“We spent way too much money on sweets back then. It’s a wonder we still have our teeth.”

“Wish I got out of that spending habit. We could be married and in our new house by now.”

“So you never wanted to move on? You didn’t give in to those girls wanting to be with a Peaky Blinder?”

“Never. I couldn’t. I couldn’t even fathom being with anyone else, it was always you (Y/N). Did you date?”

“No, I felt exactly the same. Which is why I was angry at myself for a long time. I was supposed to be upset with you, not still in love.”

His head whipped round to face me.“You still love me?”

My mouth was still open, unsure how to answer. It seemed I didn’t have to as Finn leaned in, placing on hand on my cheek as we kissed. Instinctively I kissed back, placing my hands on him where I could, hearing the bag of sweets fall to the ground and spill its contents. This kiss was needy, the type of kiss you gave your partner when you had missed them, when they had been away for a long time; and although we had our hands on each other, our touch was still gentle.

“Get the ring.” Finn breathed out, our lips still almost touching.

I carelessly got it for him, heart beating extremely fast. He took it from me, pecking me on the lips one last time before standing up. He straightened out his suit, took a deep breath and got down on one knee. I was just as emotional the first time he did it.

“(Y/N), I know I messed up everything in the past, I was careless when I should have been supportive and helped to build our future. I learnt from those mistakes, and I really, really want to go back to how we were. I need you (Y/N), I love you so much. There aren’t enough words to express how much love I have for you. Will you marry me?”

I didn’t need to think about my answer. I blurted out a yes, waiting for him to slide the ring back on my finger before throwing myself onto him. We stumbled back onto the ground, our arms around each other as we laughed and cried. I believed him this time, I truly believed him. He put in the effort to show me his changes, he wanted to fix everything. I wanted things back to the way they were with my man, and we were back to building our future and living the rest of our lives together.

#finn shelby #finn shelby imagine #finn shelby x reader #finn shelby imagines #finn shelby one shot #finn shelby fanfic #finn shelby fan fic #finn shelby fanfiction #finn shelby fan fiction #peaky blinders #peaky blinders imagine #peaky blinders imagines #peaky blinders one shot #peaky blinders x reader #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders fan fic #peaky blinders fanfiction #peaky blinders fan fiction

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chezzywezzy · 2 years

Text

Yandere Miranda Vanderbilt (2/3)

Word count ; 3.9k

“Man… can’t believe we have detention after school,” I groaned, leaning against the bathroom sink. “All we did was, ya know, burn the school down.”

Damien rolled his eyes, equally annoyed at the predicament. “Hell, who says we even gotta go? If we just skip it, what are they gonna do, give us more detention?”

I snickered playfully punching his shoulder. “I didn’t think of that. Great going. Hopefully Miranda’s dad doesn’t notice all the destruction I’ve caused. He might try and execute me again.”

Damien hummed, becoming slightly demure. “Hey what’s with fuckin’ Miranda? She follows you around like a lost fucking puppy. Shouldn’t you be the one obsessed with her, with your whole ‘I’m a serf’ thing?”

Shrugging, I answered,” No clue, but give her a break. She’s always been like that, I guess. It’s just worse now that she’s surrounded by ‘equal’s and not people who’d bend to her every whim. It’s a learning experience for my girl.”

“No clue what the fuck she’s learning. Her serfs do all the work for her, not that I actually go to classes either. Plus, she always looks like she wants to kill me.”

I snorted. “Maybe it’s just ‘cause you’re fucking annoying. Seriously though, she’s just getting… adjusted to the idea of having more than one friend.” We both went silent for a moment. “Anyway, wanna make a day trip to the human realm and fuck with them?” I suggested.

“Fuck yeah —“

“Y/n, my lovely serf! I’ve done it again.” Miranda burst into the bathroom, a beam of pride on her adorable features. She didn’t acknowledge Damien, pausing right in front of me. “With some extra incentives, I made my daddy pay the principal in order to save you from that dreadful detention! All it took was the mention of poison and it was done.”

I exchanged knowing glances with Damien. I gave her a grin and pet her head affectionately. “Thanks, babes, I needed that.”

“No you didn’t,” Damien spoke up mischievously. He wasn’t dumb enough to not know what he was doing. I sent him a fierce glare.

Miranda turned to Damien, perplexed. “What do you mean, peasant? Are you just jealous that you still have to go to detention?”

Damien snickered. “Hell nah. It’s way cooler to skip it. Seriously, Y/n was fine without you. She just would’ve… not gone —“

“Damien, no!” I exclaimed, sweat perforating from my mer-flesh. “Don’t listen to him, Miri. I definitely was gonna go to detention, so you were a big help. In fact, I’ll try to avoid getting attention again since I don’t wanna abuse your… kindness.”

Miranda’s gaze switched between the two of us, suspicion clouding her vision. With a conceding pout, she leaned her petite body against mine and wrapped her arms around my waist. I reciprocated, letting my hand fall on the small of her back. Damien was giving the girl a peculiar stare.

“That’s what I thought,” Miranda huffed, some of her pink tresses cascading her face. “Anyways, Y/n, I need your help.”

“Yeah, what is it?” I eagerly responded.

I noticed that Damien had evacuated the bathroom while Miranda wasn’t looking. Guess our plans on terrorizing humans had been canceled. Oh well. I didn’t mind spending time with Miranda - if I did, she wouldn’t be my best friend. It’s just, as of late, she’s become… whinier.

“There’s a royal coronation for one of my suitors today! Won’t you come?” Miranda pleaded, using her very anime-kawaii eyes on me.

“Of course, bestie,” I agreed instantly. “I may hate coronations, but I do love you.”

Her cheeks grew a deeper shade of pink. “W - well, good…” She seemed to get lost in thought, finally pulling out of the hug. “Ah! That’s what I was going to tell you. Polly Geist invited us to her ball next Thursday evening! We need to go. There might be some eligible suitors there.”

I grinned. No way in hell did Polly throw ‘balls.’ Guess it was time to educate Miranda on the party lifestyle. “Miranda, it’s a party, not a ball,” I began. “We gotta dress up like a hoe and throw it back while getting drunk as hell. It’ll be super fun if you let it be.”

Miranda’s eyes widened slightly. “I’m certainly open to learning about these… parties. Are there any special rules? What chariot should I travel in? What silverware sets will be used —“

“Miri, Miri,” I interrupted,” parties are for chilling. No rules, no responsibility, and shyness! You do whatever you want, whenever you want. There’s no preparation, you just do whatever the hell you want. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Miranda pursed her lips in shock. “No rules? Why? Rules are what make kingdoms, and I make the rules! What is fun about not being controlled?”

I shrugged smugly. “Guess you’ll just have to find out. We should go shopping after school. I wanna look slutty as hell at this party.”

~~~

And slutty I was. Miranda was absolutely baffled by the clothing selections I made - I was worried she didn’t know the definition of ‘slutty’ in the first place - but copied my lead. Honestly, Miranda looked cute as hell in a white crop top, short black skirt, and black stockings. And she was oh-so adorable with how withdrawn her gils were. She seemed especially demure with a permanent blush on her face.

I went ahead and ordered a limousine to take us there. Miranda was used to chariots, so she absolutely lost her mind at the idea of not-royal fancy cars. She also commented about how much space there was in comparison to the norm.

Miranda held my hand as we stepped out. She was in awe at the very raggedy house boomed with electro-pop music. The house itself was already filled to the brim and so many people were stuck vibing outdoors. I sensed Miranda’s nervousness. She always puffed up her chest when she felt threatened.

“Hell yeah. Let’s go find the kitchen, I wanna show you how to do shots,” I said eagerly, pulling her through the crowd.

Miranda held onto me even tighter. Dodging and shoving past many monsters, we eventually made it inside. The insides were decrepit - it was a haunted house, after all - but in a chic way. At one point, I could’ve sworn I spotted Polly doing a keg stand, but eventually, we arrived in the kitchen.

Several people were already passed out in the corner and there was vomit other places. A hired bartender was lining up some fireball shots. “Hey! Me and my friend wanna do this line,” I shouted over the crowd.

The bartender nodded, and I turned to Miranda. “You feeling alright?”

Miranda gulped and nodded. “It’s just so… filthy.”

“It won’t be once you get tipsy,” I insisted. “Watch this.”

I grabbed a glass and downed it. Then another, and another, and another. I was chugging them so fast I didn’t notice that I went for an empty cup. Indeed, I just shotgunned ten shots. I was pulled off the scene for an Oscar award before teleporting back to where I was. Unpausing time, I sent Miranda a woozy but proud grin.

“What did ya think?”

A blush spring to her face and she fiddled with her fingers. “How… princely! I never knew what an important skill this is… I should declare it as a royal sport!”

I grinned lazily. I was about to reply, but an arm was thrown around my shoulder and I was pulled into a strong chest. “Fuck yeah! You didn’t tell me you could hold your liquor that well, Y/n.”

I was met with Damien, adorning his usual bad-boy attire. He had a slight slur, betraying the alcohol he’d digested. “You bet your ass I can. I’ve spent many a night in the royal wine cellar.”

“So that was you…! Daddy beheaded a random serf thinking they did it!” Miranda squealed.

Damien snickered. “Indirect murder is pretty badass.”

I dramatically fluttered my eyelids. “You flatter me. Wanna dance?”

“Fuck yeah, dancing is so badass.”

Damien grabbed my arm and dragged me into the crowd. Miranda had completely slipped my mind, although I caught her furious stare before she disappeared from sight. Uh, oh. I’d be paying for this betrayal. However, I just wanted to have one hell of a night.

Damien pulled me out to the yard. The night sky was twinkling above us and the music was muffled. The party had been raging for hours by the time we’d arrived, so the front yard was far less crowded, except for horny monster couples making out in the shadows. Damien was overflowing with excitement as we paused on the grass.

Perhaps it was just the lighting, but his cheeks looked redder than usual. We maintained a steady eye contact, but that was short lasted as I smirked and boogied down. I cha-cha-ed, whip-nae-naed, flossed. And Damien followed suit.

I was completely mesmerized. I lost track of time, and he did too. Damien and I were always causing chaos, but what made me realize I was fond of him was how much fun we had now that we weren’t. We were just two shit-faced teens vibing at a stupid party.

But, like any crazy night, at some point, it had to end.

~~~

Oh man, did my head hurt. It was pounding. I rolled onto my side, hitting my mer-alarm. It finally shut up. Damn, I had to get some meds for this migraine.

I felt bubbles hitting my face. My eyes shot open, and I immediately screamed. Miranda was there, crouched in front of my plush bed, giving me a blank stare. I sat up and threw the covers off me.

“Miranda! Jesus Christ, the hell are you doing? How long have you been there?”

Miranda stood up and sat on my bed, playing with the sheets. “I’ve made an official decision,” she stated in a hushed tone. “You are royally banned from attending monster high school.”

I made an ‘uff’ noise out of bewilderment. “Where’s this coming from, girl? I’m sorry about last night, but I was way too wa-a-asted.”

Miranda shook her head, huffing. “It was silly of me to think you should go to school in the first place! You’re making all these… friends, and I hate it!”

I already started ignoring her, going over to my closet and pulling out my outfit for the day. I noticed, though, tossed on the bedroom floor, was Damien’s leather jacket. Guess I’d be fashioning some of his clothes today. I went over to the bathroom, leaving a ranting, desperate Miranda behind.

Man, I had an abyss underneath my eyes. I brushed my fangs, vaguely aware of Miranda’s presence behind me.

“Are you listening to me? You’re not going to school anymore! You’re my serf, and nobody else’s, Y/n!”

I spit out the toothpaste and washed my face. Finally finishing, I redirected my attention to the fuming mermaid. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’ll make it up to you, babes, I always do. You’re overreacting, doll.”

“No, I’m not. And it doesn’t matter what you think, I make the rules, missy! I’m the future queen and you’re just a… serf!”

“…Right. Okay, let’s talk, because we’ll be seeing each other in class no matter what, and I’d rather not have you be in a sour mood, ‘kay?” I caved, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to the bed. Miranda nodded obediently, and we sat on my bed. I clasped both of her hands in mine, staring her down gently. “You’re jealous, Miri. And you’re overreacting because of it.”

Miranda’s cheeks lit up. “N - no I’m not! Or… am I… jealous? But why would I be jealous of my serf? What is there to be jealous of?” she muttered in astonishment.

I giggled. “I’m your friend, not a serf. Friends aren’t serfs. We’re besties and I know that you’re probably annoyed that I’m making other friends, but I want you to remember: you’re always my number one. Got it?” I placed my hand on her cheek affectionately, stroking it slightly.

Her gils frilled excitedly and she leaned into my palm. All of her anger had dissipated instantly. “Really? Then why are you spending so much time with that Damien?”

“Of course you are. And it’s because we get along, too. I’ll try to spend more time with you, don’t worry.”

She pulled away, but was quick to envelope me in a warm hug, sending me back on the mattress. A laugh tore at my throat. I returned the hug, tightly grasping her hips. Miranda buried her head in the crook of her neck, and I felt her bubbling breathes against my skin. He soft hair cascaded my face and a warm fuzzy feeling simmered in my chest. I completely melted in her arms.

A few minutes later, it hit me. “Oh, shit! We gotta get to school! Not that I’ll go to class anyways, but damn do I love raiding the cafeteria!”

Miranda let out a low moan of irritation. “Aw, can’t we stay like this?”

“I wish, but prom’s coming up, and I wanna see you get an eligible date for it! I gotta start worrying about that, too…”

She sat up, straddling me. “Prom!” she gasped. “Oh my, I must be prom queen, and I need an equally royal date! Oh my, I need to get a gown and everything! Y/n, who do you think will ask to be my date? Hopefully the peasants won’t dare.”

“No clue. But it’s in two weeks, so we better start planning. And that starts with actually going to school.”

~~~

I was a total badass. And all badasses skipped class in the bathroom.

So, I was sitting on the sink, sharpie-ing doodles onto my jean shorts.

And in walked the second contender for school’s best badass, Damien LaVey. I couldn’t help but feel bashful, and I noticed his eyes were immediately glued to my - his - leather jacket. He seemed less confident than usual and his posture was slouched.

“Yo.”

I nodded in acknowledgement. “Yo.”

He stood tall in front of me, eyeing me up and down. Something was on the edge of slipping off his devil tongue, but he wasn’t quite ready to let it loose. So, I continued,” I somehow snatched your coat last night. Here, you can have it back —“

“Nah, nah, you should fuckin’ keep it,” he grumbled. “It suits you.”

I grinned, trying to lighten the mood. “Gee, thanks, man. So… you look stressed. Are your dads being all bitchy about being a fitting prince of hell again?”

He shook his head. “I had something to ask ya.”

“Well, do go on.”

There was a pregnant pause. We maintained a steady eye contact, and I saw him gradually build up confidence. I should’ve known what was coming, but my mind completely blank. Did Damien always have such pretty eyes?

“You’re gonna be my fucking date to prom.”

I chuckled, heart thudding in my chest. “Am I now? You didn’t even ask.”

His cheeks went up in flames. As in, literal flames. “Well, uh, I knew you were gonna say yes, so…”

“I like that confidence. Because you’d be right. Hell, I was probably gonna ask you,” I giggled, playfully hitting his chest.

He held his head high. “Thank fuck! I mean, I knew you were gonna. I’m just way cooler and asked first.”

I rolled my eyes, teasing in return. “But isn’t it more badass to make you get all impatient? I much prefer cutesy little shy Damien like I just saw.”

“Fuck you, I wasn’t shy!” he growled.

He stepped forward, successfully caging me against the sink. He was taller than me, so I had to crane my neck up to meet his dazzling eyes. The mood shifted into something… flirtier. My hands slipped from my lap and I allowed the marker to fall onto the ground. His gaze, half-lidded, burned into mine. I moved to hold his hands down, and I enjoyed the warmth of his red hot skin against mine.

I made the move, pressing my lips against his. Right away, it was passionate and fiery - literally - and it turned into a heated make-out session. My hands roamed his chest, grabbing at every inch of his body, and he did the same. It felt good feeling his lips. And I felt even better as we stumbled out of the bathroom to cause chaos, only us against the world.

~~~

I hummed a little tune to myself as my hands glided over various outfits. I was leaning more towards wearing a suit, since everyone looked sexy in suits, especially me. So, my main concern was matching my hot date. Miranda was in the dress section, fretting over every single one. I knew it was a good idea to bring some maids along, since she was taking every single one off the hanger and throwing it behind her in hopes one of them catches it.

Miranda had surprised me; throughout the day, several ghouls had asked her to prom, some being desert princes and others aquatic royalty. And yet, she turned each and every one of them down. When I asked her why, she shrugged and brushed it off, commenting about how they weren’t good enough for her. I stan that confidence of hers, but damn, who else was she gonna go with?

There didn’t seem to be a right time to mention that my date was Damien. I didn’t know ho she would react, but I knew it wouldn’t be positive. So, I’d held off, hoping to mention it when she was ecstatic at having a qualified date. The time had yet to come and there was only a few more dates before monster prom.

Speak of the mermaid, she came skipping over to me. “Y/n, which color suits me best? I have so many options and I don’t know which one to choose!”

I tapped my chin thoughtfully. “Blue. Light blue. It compliments your skin and it screams ‘royal’,” I answered soundly.

I heard some exhausted sighs from the serfs, and I knew it was on accident but Miranda was quick to behead one of them for ‘being ungrateful.’ I chuckled a little bit. However, Miranda was quick to realize the error of her ways.

Gasping, she exclaimed,” Oh my! Now the dresses are covered in blood! What can I do about this…?” She bit her lip. “Serfs, collect all of the light blue dresses from the pile and clean them at once!”

The serfs hopped into action, piling the remaining dresses onto one serf. There were so many, in fact, that the dresses became sentient and formed a new monster all together. However, that wasn’t important, since Miranda was still in charge. She turned to me.

“And what will you be wearing?”

I shrugged. “I was going to go for the scale suit, but I realized it might offend my croco-nile friend. And I wouldn’t want that. I need to pick something that’ll match my date, too, but we failed to coordinate on colors,” I sighed.

Miranda went blank, her expression unreadable. Oops - ! I mentioned having a date, heh heh…

“A date? Who asked you?” she asked quietly.

The jig was definitely up. “Damien, believe it or not.”

Miranda huffed, crossing her arms. “Excuse me? How dare you —!”

“Miranda, it’s fine, it’s okay,” I interrupted, placing my hands on her shoulder tightly. “You’ll be completely focused on your own date at prom, and that’s how it’s supposed to be! Besides, Damien asked me and I like him. I wasn’t just going to say no because you don’t like him.”

Miranda pouted, but didn’t retort. I was glad that I talked her out of exploding. I was surprised about how calm she was, seeing as she absolutely lost her shit last time Damien was the center of attention.

“Hey, I wanna see you try on some dresses. I bet you’ll look cute as hell,” I encouraged, taking a step back and eyeing the suits.

Miranda clasped her hands together, eyes sparkling. “Yes, you’re right! Come now, I need you to see every single one!”

Grabbing my arm, she pulled me toward the dressing room. The dress monster dissolved into a non-sentient pile, and Miranda began searching through it. She pulled out a sequin dress and went to change. I leaned against the wall patiently.

When she emerged, sure, she looked cute as hell - I was convinced she could rock anything - but it just wasn’t ‘Miranda’ enough. She twirled majestically before paying intent attention to me. “Well?”

I shook my head. “You look amazing, but it’s just not the right one yet. Next.”

She nodded in agreement, pulling out another dress. It seemed more suitable for her, but maybe just a bit too ruffled. It was still prom, after all, not a ball. She emerged once more, and it was as I anticipated. It was too royal.

“Well?” she prodded, bowing courteously.

I shook my head again. “Nope. You need to be able to move. It’s still a party, after all.”

Miranda pouted. “Well, it’s royal! And I’ll be prom queen no matter what, so I should look the part.”

“Yeah, but it’s just not the perfect fit yet,” I hummed. I began searching through the dresses myself, and I instantly felt drawn to a light blue dress. It was just above knee-length and it had off the shoulder straps. It was flattering but also fitting for a princess. “Try this one. I have a good feeling about it.”

Miranda snatched it from me and changed. The moment she came out of the dressing room, I was speechless. The gown complimented her perfectly, from the curves at the waist to the ruffles at the bottom. Her expression betrayed that she knew this was the perfect dress, too. There was a glow to her cheeks and a sparkle in her eye.

“What do you think?” she inquired with a girlish giggle, playing with the trim.

I clasped my hands together. “Perfect. That’s the one. No doubt about it, girl.”

She placed her hands on her cheeks. “You think so? I feel so… royal in this!”

“As you should! You look dazzling darling. Now, if you don’t mind, I think I know what I want to wear, too. Something red. I hope you don’t mind waiting!”

#yandere #x reader #x y/n #self insert #miranda vanderbilt #yandere monster prom #yandere monster x reader #monster princess #monster prom #yandere girl #yandere x reader #damien lavey #damien

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