#oop the bandana is on the wrong arm

[zoros-debt]

I just want to see these two share the same frame together more often.

[variousxreader]

Karma

Sick!Buggy x GN Reader

OPLA- Semi NSFW - Emetophilia - Hurt Comfort, whump (?) taking care of Sick Buggy

Length: Roughly 1,600 words according to my app.

Oops, i wrote a lot. I went more toward sudden onset nausea rather than a food poisoning/ flu type deal, i hope thats okay! I literally felt my mouth water upon getting this request. Delicious! Chefs Kiss! My Emeto kink is related to the care of the sickie, so if you want something more NSFW and really fucking filthy and gross just come back for more and tell me exactly what you want baby birds!

Again i write in Mobile so i have to do my own semi formatting via paragraph breaks / indenting so if it looks awkward thats why

~

Clown sitting duty was your favorite duty aboard The Going Merry. You had tagged along with the Trio in Shells town and had been with them since. When you first met Buggy in Orange Town with the others you were captivated by the ringmaster captain. He was gorgeous for one, Funny and charismatic; and a hell of a lot of fun to flirt with and fluster.

So when Buggy had returned to your company, in a soggy wet bag looking like the drowned puppy he was being treated as; you readily volunteered your baby sitting services. The rest of the crew had no objection. Unless you two started flirting and dirty talking each other in earshot, then they all glared and shooed you and the Clown head away. Everything had been going quite well, Buggy behaved with you, as much as the callous man could "behave" that is. He gave directions and told you about his time at sea. You'd built quite a bond with him over the days, caring for him and feeding and watering him.

Buggy was quite smitten with you, and usually in a great mood as long as he woke up in your arms in the same hammock, and fed by your caring hand. Hell he'd even let you wash and brush his hair after several attempts at biting off your fingers, even re-do his make up from where the bag incident had sullied it. So when the jester suddenly began to withdraw into himself, you grew worried. He spoke curtly and was short with you, seemingly out of the blue. You had not a damn clue what you'd done to scorn him.

"Buggy, whats wrong you're looking a little green around the gills." You hummed, cupping his stubbled cheek with a cool hand. He leaned into your touch, as much as he could that is.

"Just.. not feeling peachy Sweets, nothing for you to worry that pretty little head of yours about." Buggy spoke metered, with a focus on a singular spot on the wall.

"I'm gonna worry about you anyway Bugs, i've grown to like you quite a bit." You tucked a loose strand of hair back behind his ear.

"Ah your impeccable taste aside it's just those shit head fish men fucking with my body" He grit his teeth, huffing a breath. "I'm sure they'll get bored soon enough and leave it be... for a while." Suddenly he tenses and slams his eyes shut, bracing for what you had no clue. So you scooped him up gently and set him in your lap, undoing his bandana and combing your fingers through his sea blue locks.

"Mm..." he mutters, relaxing a fraction. "I think they're spinning my body on a carnival ride or game" Buggy's voice waived a tad, eyes still screwed shut.

"Like the knife throwing shit you had Zoro tied on?" You mused, rubbing his temples.

"Ugh Karma, a vindictive cunt isn't she?" Buggy Hissed. "Just put me on the shelf or something and let me be!"

"I'm not gonna leave you alone when you're suffering Bugs." You could tell his nausea was mounting, based on the increased swallowing you could feel from his throat.

"No seriously! Put me down j-just fuckin lean me over a bucket or ledge." He squirmed as much as he could as a stump, snapping his cute teeth at you.

"Shhh I'm gonna take care of you, whether you like it or not Mr." You did set him on the dresser of your room for a moment whilst going to fetch some water and a bucket, as well as a clean rag. Returning the angered head to your lap once you were done. Buggy, ever vicious whilst vulnerable growled and tried to protest more, but visibly calmed when you dabbed the damp cloth over his sweaty forehead and cheeks, in an attempt to cool him and soothe him.

"S'not.....gonna be pretty." Buggy was paler than you'd ever could imagine, he looked more akin to a ghost than clown. "Y-you really don't need t' see.. or hear this." He warns with less venom; his ire dying out as he became more and more miserable. He was sweating even more now, occasional belches leaving his mouth; signaling his inevitable demise at the hands of nausea.

"Buggy you could choke, you've no way to manage this safely on your own. I know it's embarrassing but it's okay, i'm here. I've got you." You cooed soothingly, rubbing the base of his skull as he didn't have a back currently. You moved to stand, holding him gently at an angle over the bucket so he indeed would not choke on his own vomit.

Buggy wanted to cry, for many reasons at the moment, but most of all your kindness toward him. You were so caring and gentle. Always eager to please him and take care of him. He never had anyone offer to take care of him when he was sick... not since Shanks. Ugh thats the last thing he wanted to think about now. His shitty former best friend turned unambitious coward. Pathetic. He regretted eating so much of the blonde's cooking last night. Stupid fucking cook and his stupid fucking food. Where ever the hell his stomach was it was lurching violently. Its contents sloshing around like the turbulent waters of The Grand Line. He was drooling like a fucking idiot, stupid fucking everything. His mind was cussing everything and anything while he spat into the bucket you'd provided. Your gentle voice and fingers on his skin a cool balm to the storm inside him. God fuck he didn't want you to see him weak and pitiful and sick.

He gagged. Loudly, his back had it been attached to him would have been arched taught and painfully. You cooed at him again spoke reassuring words as he retched. Spittle dripped from his lips as he screwed his eyes shut again, gagging again swiftly, roughly. He hacked and spit and swallowed air down greedily when he could. Head trembling already from the unpleasant feeling and exertion. "Nfgh Fuck me." Buggy moaned, before out of no where the dam burst and acrid vomit spewed from his lips, messily into the bucket. He coughed and hacked, before vomiting again, sounding like he was dying.

"Thats it baby," you cooed. "Let it all out, it's alright, i've got you." You held the poor man, rubbed the base of his skull in little circles and did your best to comfort him. By the third eruption of puke from his lips, he was gasping for air as a reprieve finally came, tears and snot and vomit staining his pretty, pretty face.

"S'okay Buggy, you're okay." You wiped his face with the damp rag and cleaned him up. Kissing the top of his head on his bandana.

He heaved ragged breaths eyes shut tight. Throat stinging from the acidity. Fucking of course he had drank with you last night. Goddamn rum, burns even worse coming up. God you were being so good to him, why the fuck was he kinda turned on? His cock should be the farthest thing from his addled mind right now; but no one had ever tended to him so lovingly before. Buggy thought he might just start weeping openly; how the fuck had he earned your kindness?! He'd tortured your crew and threatened all kinds of horrors upon them, and yet you were humming to him, kissing his temples and wiping his own fluids off his face. He's never been so confusedly horny and touched in all his life.

You gave him a sip of water once it seemed like he had recovered. He swished it around his mouth before spitting it into the desecrated bucket. Then drank in earnest from the glass you held to his lips; once he had his fill he pulled away panting yet again.

"Just rest your throat honey." You called to him, cradling him in your arms as if he were a precious babe. Buggy nodded weakly, sniffling and hiding his face in your clothes. He wasn't ready to talk. Not after that display of nasty you had to bear witness to; also he couldn't find the words to express his gratitude. Hell he had no idea what to say when someone as amazing as you dotes and mother hens a fuck up like him.

After some time had passed, you tucked him into a bundle of blankets in your hammock, pressing a kiss to his forehead. He flushed as red as his pretty nose and buried his face to hide it. A soft giggle told him he'd failed at that. Buggy heard you move to clean up the mess and he was grateful. Fuck talk about how to ruin shit with your crush in moments. He didn't have long to sulk though; as you'd returned picked him up and got into the hammock, resting him on your chest. You proceeded to undo his bandana and hair, letting his tresses fall; your nails were suddenly gently scratching at his scalp and he moaned lightly at the sensation.

"The fuck did I ever do to deserve you..?" Buggy muttered more to himself than anything; but you answered nonetheless.

"Dunno, but I'm glad you did it." You smiled petting him gently.

Buggy blushed again, and huffed indignantly. "Ya weren't supposed to hear that sweets."

"But I did. Now get some rest Bugs. You're safe with me."

There was a drawn out pause before he responded; softly, almost in reverence "I know."

~fin~

[mylifeisactuallyamess]

Sanctuary part 2

Chapter 5: Eriadu

A/N: It’s taken me ages to post another chapter. Life has been hectic but I have finally finished my last assignment until September so YAY!

Warnings: Canon events (but not that canon event), canon fighting, and the absolute glossing over of Saw and his antics. Mentions of death, injuries, feelings.

Word Count: 5.3k

Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6

Masterlist

Tech’s eyes devoured the hologram of Eriadu. Echo’s contact had come through with the ground schematics, outlining the base and surrounding area. His mind was swirling. Every possible option and outcome played like a movie in his head as he worked out the best place to land. It had to be far enough from the base so they weren’t seen, but close enough for a swift extraction. He didn’t want to admit this plan had flaws, but that was the risk, was it not? Every operation had the potential to go horribly wrong, yet the squad had always managed to pull through.

“You need to rest at some point,” Hunter spoke from the shadows of the bunk, his voice still rough from waking up.

“I find it more relaxing to familiarise myself with the planet we are about to land on, than I do in sleeping.” He thought about things his brothers didn’t, like predatory fauna or possible toxic flora. He wanted to know how many patrols there were, how often they moved, how they got about the jungle…

“Tech.” Hunter used his warning tone, the suggestion to get some sleep was actually a non-negotiable order.

“I will achieve some sleep before we begin the approach to Eriadu.” Hunter huffed in resignation, sitting up on the bunk and running a hand through his hair.

“The others?”

“Omega is asleep in her room, Echo and Wrecker are in the cockpit.” Tech heard Hunter move, applying his plates of armour and slipping the bandana back into place before standing behind Tech’s chair.

“How does it look?”

“Doable,” Tech responded quickly. “However, we should be prepared for all eventualities.”

“Are you…ready?” Tech fought the urge to sigh. He knew what Hunter was asking, his head had never been more invested in a mission before even if Crosshair was the only beneficial outcome. Because he had spent hours facing that fact.

The door to the cockpit opened and the glow of hyperspace flooded the hold followed by Echo and Wrecker. A ration box was forced into Tech’s line of sight causing him to sit back in his chair, levelling a passive glare at Wrecker.

“Not hungry?” The larger clone growled in surprise. “I’m starving.”

“Luckily we brought fresh supplies from Pabu,” Hunter said, gently patting Tech’s spaulder.

Echo scoffed and crossed his arms. “More like, we’ll be lucky to see any of it.”

“Hey! I haven’t eaten that much,” Wrecker protested loudly, awarding him a rough nudge from Echo who nodded to the closed curtain across the gunner pit. “Oops.” He whispered, wincing when they Omega yawn.

She moved the curtain across, a sleepy smile growing on her face as she looked at her brothers. “Breakfast?” She asked hopefully, noticing the food in Wrecker’s hand.

“Ah yeah. Here ya go, kid.” She stepped down, cradling Lula with one arm. Hunter stepped forward to help her onto the bunk and Wrecker sat beside her, offering the rations. They both chewed in silence, eyes automatically drawn to the screen where Tech was looking at the area around Tarkin’s compound.

Echo stood beside him, eyes tracking over the screen, a soft sigh expelling from him. “It looks simple enough. A quick covert mission in and out,” he muttered mostly to himself.

“I can’t wait to see Crosshair and Stitch again,” Omega piped up. She sounded so hopeful, it made Tech’s chest tighten in a way he wasn’t familiar with.

“They’re not there,” Hunter reminded her.

“I know. I’m just looking forward to all the good things that will come from this.”

Wrecker bumped Omega’s arm gently, a smile on his face. “Yeah, will be good to finally have everyone back together.” Tech caught Hunter swapping a look with Echo and he tried to keep his mouth sealed, he tried not to say what was on his mind but…he had to voice it.

“This endeavour might not lead us to Stitch at all,” Tech announced matter of factly from where he was sitting, making everyone spin round to face him. He turned to see he had all their attention. So he continued. “Hemlock will most likely lead us to Crosshair as he is a clone and therefore, what Hemlock is apparently after. Stitch is an untrained force user and possibly has been sent…elsewhere.” He rose, picking up his datapad. He had said it now. The exhaustion of such a realisation threatened to press on his shoulders.

“Come on, Tech,” Wrecker broke the silence. “It’s like you think this won’t be easy.”

“It will not be easy,” Tech countered quickly, fingers gripping his datapad. “There is nothing to indicate Hemlock even has Stitch.” The words felt heavy as they left his mouth, heavy and true. He looked at all of his brothers, not risking looking at Omega. Wrecker stood to his full height, Hunter adjusting his position subtly and Omega glanced worryingly between them.

“It’s like you don’t want Hemlock to have her,” Wrecker shot at Tech, who gave the barest flinch at the words. “It’s like you don’t even miss her.”

Something flushed through Tech’s body, a feeling so intense he couldn’t face it directly.

“You are correct. I do not wish for Hemlock to have her.” His voice was steady, but he was collapsing inside. He had tried not to spare a thought for what Hemlock did in his secret laboratory, choosing not tell the others what he found.

Closing off from it was the best option, detaching from such a mind altering sensation could only help him keep his head clear. His expression went blank and he blinked once, adjusting his goggles while he tried to think of something else to say that wouldn’t let that feeling in. But there was nothing. The loss of you and the realisation that someone far more powerful and dangerous, might have you instead would break everyone apart. You were so beyond his reach…

Tech felt someone come up to his side, gently taking his limp fingers in theirs. He allowed it, for a moment, before turning on his heel and closing the cockpit door firmly behind him.

Omega immediately turned to Wrecker and scowled. “You know he misses her! Just because he doesn’t voice it, doesn’t mean he’s not feeling it!”

“Ow!” Wrecker’s huge hands covered his head and his expression fell into sadness. “I know,” he mumbled. “Now I feel even worse.” Hunter clapped a comforting hand on his larger brother’s shoulder, making eye contact with Echo who nodded and headed for the cockpit. He paused, taking a breath. Tech needed time on his own but knowing they were approaching Eriadu and into an almost blind mission...

Echo opened the door and closed it behind him, fully prepared for Tech to give some scathing retort or even the silent treatment.

What he wasn’t prepared for, was seeing your face in a hologram.

Tech sat in the pilot’s chair, a scene played from the mini holo on his gauntlet. You were dancing with Omega, happy and laughing. For a moment you looked up in Tech’s direction and gave him a soft smile. Even in the hologram, Echo could see the feelings you had held for Tech then. Hell, they’d all seen it months before Tech did.

Easing himself into the copilot chair, he continued to watch the scene play out, the blue glow reflecting in Tech’s goggles. “I miss her too.” Tech didn’t respond, so Echo leaned back in the chair to face the rush of light as they cut their way through the Galaxy. “I never told her what she did for me…how she made me more accepting of myself.” He sighed, frustrated he couldn’t convey exactly what was on his mind but he so desperately wanted to talk about you.

“She was a bright light in the dark. Steadfast, hard working, knowledgeable. Selfless.” Emotion threatened to choke off Echo’s words but he forced himself to continue. “She knew what I was feeling before I knew what I was feeling. She was always there with the right thing to say, a brief touch of her hand would lessen the load, fight the weariness…she talked to our brothers like she had been raised with them.” He paused, lost in the memory of you talking with Rex and Gregor, smiling and joking like you all weren’t in the middle of hostile territory.

Even living on Coruscant for a time, right under the nose of the enemy, and you still managed to bring a sense of calm, taking such a situation in your stride and fighting like a true soldier.

“I admire her. She understands what…what haunts me in the darkest hours. To be held captive, used against your will and harmed beyond recognition.” Echo swung his gaze to Tech, finding the other clone was already looking at him. “You said she could be somewhere else because she’s a force user?”

“Yes,” Tech murmured an affirmative. “It seems logical. She is not a clone, she has nothing that would interest him. The Empire wanted her. Not Hemlock.” Echo pressed his back teeth together at the sight of Tech’s shoulders slumping. How long had his brother carried the weight of this realisation before saying it now?

“We won’t stop,” Echo promised. Tech said nothing else. He pressed a button on his vambrace and another hologram began to play. Echo let out a shaky breath, rubbing a hand over his tired eyes.

Echo had found solitude to be the worst feeling he’d ever encountered after he had been rescued. Tech had been there from the beginning, teaching him about his new limbs, enhancing them and fixing them when needed. The whole Batch had pieced Echo back together, now he resolved to try and do the same for Tech.

It wasn’t the same sort of loss, but he wasn’t going to leave his brother to suffer alone. So he settled down, hoping his presence was enough to lessen the agony Tech must be internalising.

After a while, Echo noticed Tech had fallen asleep in his chair. The hologram played on a continual loop showing your smile, your eyes, your expression softening as you looked at Tech.

Echo hoped you were safe and unbroken, wherever you were. A fierce protective loyalty rose in his chest like a brand. The idea of anyone reducing you back to that nervous woman, they found in the slavers compound, had him wanting to rip the Empire apart with more venom than he already did.

Echo eyed the scan of the Eriadu on the console. He liked to go over the details as many times as possible before a mission like this. “I have identified a suitable location to land outside their sensor range.” Tech informed him. Everyone was in the cockpit after a few hours of rest and some food. Tech had thrown himself into readying them all on the approach to the planet, ready to drop them out of hyperspace.

Hunter frowned at the image. “How are we bypassing those cruisers?”

“Using a clearance code Rex and I acquired from one of our contacts,” Echo explained.

“Good to have you back, Echo. Just like old times,” Wrecker told Omega with a smile.

The ship dropped out of hyperspace, revealing the cloudy grey surface of Eriadu and the three Venators orbiting the planet. Hunter told Wrecker to man the tail gun, refusing to leave them completely defenceless if anything went wrong.

“Transmitting clearance codes now,” Echo reported.

“If this doesn’t work,” Hunter lowered his voice and leaned on Echo’s chair. “Be ready to fly out of here.” No one said anything as the transmission sent. Tech and Echo seemed the most relaxed, which Hunter noticed. He tried to draw on that, to lean into their complete surety, but so much was riding on this moment he could barely breathe.

The com beeped and Tech’s fingers tightened on the flight controls. “Vessel 1143, you are clear for approach.”

Hunter let out a controlled breath and glanced at Omega who was smiling. Echo nodded, his trust in this contact clearly unshakable and Tech easily guided them through the atmosphere to the landing site he had already deemed appropriate.

The cloud cover was thick, jagged edges of rock stabbed upwards into the sky but Tech manoeuvred them with ease. The landing gear took the weight of the ship and Tech powered it down. First mark made.

“Let’s gear up,” Hunter ordered. They needed to move quickly and quietly. The longer they were here, the more chance they had of being discovered.

Echo left the ship first, blaster already drawn. “Let’s make this quick,” he ordered, voicing Hunter’s thoughts. “Before they realise we didn’t land at the base.”

Under the cloud cover, the air was clear. Hunter took the lead through the trees, his senses on high alert for anything out of the ordinary. Tech followed with Omega who started to talk in a hushed tone. “What sort of approach are we making?” She asked eagerly. “A side-wind breach?” Tech looked at her, his eyes crinkling in the corners to show he was smiling under his helmet. He came to a stop with Echo. “It worked on Raxus.”

“It won’t work here,” Echo countered. “The Empire’s protocols have changed since then.

Wrecker scoffed. “Thanks to us.”

“No tanks and no explosives this time, Wrecker,” he warned firmly, stalking after Hunter. The larger clone groaned, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been able to blow up something. He knew this wasn’t the mission for it, stealth and surprise were their allies right now.

They approached a clearing. Hunter ordered them silently to a stop, dropping to his knee as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. A large motion sensor hummed continuously before them and beyond that was a tall strut for the skyrail cars that whipped rapidly down the rail. Using his binocs, Hunter surveyed the mountain.

“Hmm. The compound is heavily fortified.”

“But there’s a weak point in the rail line that we can exploit,” Echo pointed out. “We’ll sneak past the sensor and hitch a ride under one of the cars.”

“You mean, hang? Over that?” Hunter tilted his head towards Omega, a slight grin she couldn’t see moved his mouth. He wanted to point out all the times he’d caught her suspended from somewhere she shouldn’t be, that she chooses to get anxious over this one. Although…he could see why. You couldn’t see the bottom of the ravine and sometimes the unknown liked to play on fears.

“Well, it’s the only way to access the compound unnoticed,” Echo told her.

Hunter knew they had to act quickly. “Tech, disable the sensor.”

“That would trigger an alert,” Tech instantly responded, having already scanned the device. “I can temporarily disrupt that feed, but I estimate only 30 seconds for us to clear the zone before it reactivates. We must be precise,” he stressed. They all turned as one to look at Wrecker crouched behind them.

“What?! I can handle it!” He spluttered. He hated heights, they made him feel queasy, his eyes swam and everything went out of focus. But he’d do this. For Crosshair, for you, for his brothers.

Echo handed Tech back his blaster after fitting the grapple mod. Hunter raised his binocs, watching the sensor cycle through. They had done this so many times no words were needed. The blood roared in Hunter’s ears. With a mission like this it was action after action, and he had the whole team to worry about.

He watched the sensor, counting the seconds as the lights filtered round the device. His hand lifted and Tech tensed beside him. Hunter held his breath…waiting…then his hand dropped. He’d never admit it out loud, but his heart was in his throat as he watched his brother hanging off that sensor. Well, he supposed Omega had to get it from somewhere. He kept watching through the binocs, making sure Tech had cleared the lip of the sensor before he offered his blaster to Echo for the grapple mod.

“Stand by.” Tech told them over the com.

An awareness skated up Hunter’s spine followed by the low rumble and whine of the skyrail. Their ride was coming in fast. “Another railcar is approaching. Are we set?” He demanded of Tech.

“Not…yet.” Hunter’s jaw flexed under his helmet. This could be too close but it was their only chance. To his relief, the tingling along his arms faded as the sensor powered down. “The sensor is down. Move in!”

He didn’t have time to check on Omega, or Wrecker, even Echo. He had to trust them, to know they were just behind him no matter what. He counted the thuds as each magnetic grapple sealed onto the speeding railcar.

One…two, three, four…then the fifth one on the other side as Tech joined them. The lines reeled them all in and Hunter left out a slightly shaky exhale as he checked on his brothers and Omega. They’d made the second mark, now it was onto the third.

They hunkered down against the hull of the railcar and the rushing wind. Raven’s Peak stood tall and proud against sky, growing closer and closer with each rushing second.

“Halfway there,” Echo announced to them all.

Wrecker chuckled. “This isn’t so bad.” Hunter spared his burly brother a glance, letting an amused smirk turn up the corner of his mouth when Wrecker looked down and groaned loudly. “Never mind.”

The railcar began to slow and Hunter had already noticed the trooper near the entrance. He didn’t think, he just acted. Dropping away from the railcar and launching himself at the white armoured soldier. The katarn knuckle plate cracked satisfyingly across the sentry’s helmet before he could even lift his blaster. Swiftly followed by a knee to the gut and an elbow jab in the face that disorientated him so much, he toppled easily over the railing.

There was no time to think about what he’d done. During the war it had been droids he dismantled, they required no mourning and did not leave heavy weights on his soul. But this was about survival and it was kill, or be killed.

A blaster bolt zipped past Hunter’s shoulder to take out the other guard further down the walkway. A well placed shot from Echo while him and Wrecker sandwiched Omega between them. Tech dropped off the back of the railcar and took the rear position. The squad pressed themselves against the wall just as the door opened and amother sentry stepped outside. Hunter shot this time, right in the chest, the momentum of the shot taking the soldier over the railing to join his comrade.

With a nod, Hunter stepped inside, covering the others as they filed in until the door sealed shut behind them.

The hangar wasn’t hard to find and troopers were unaware of their skulking around. For now, anyway. The squad gathered around Hunter, ducking down in the shadows as he surveyed the ships standing motionless in the hangar. They were all Rho-class shuttles with no discernible markings. He grimaced, gone were the days of individuality. The troopers may all be different under the helmets but the Empire went to great lengths to keep everything bland and uniform.

“Which ship is Hemlock’s?” Omega whispered.

“We need to access the hangar manifest from the control room,” Echo told her.

“Tech, Echo, with me. You two,” Hunter turned his helmet to Wrecker. “Plant the homing beacon.” He didn’t wait for confirmation, he didn’t have to. Hunter covered Tech and Echo as they took the ladder up to the next floor. A few simple turns and they were there, the door of the control slide open and Hunter stunned one of the technicians as Echo took down the second.

Echo holstered his blaster. “I’ll monitor their security channels.” Hunter heaved the stunned technician out of the way so Tech could have access to the console. He hadn’t even dropped the guys legs before Tech was relaying what he’d found.

Wrecker watched his surroundings warily. The receptors in his helmet could pick up a trooper’s footfalls or the rolling of a droid as it trundled past. He cast a quick glance at Omega, taking in the fierce look of determination on her face while she waited patiently for intel from the others.

“Found it. Hemlock’s shuttle is at docking lane four.”

“Copy that,” Omega responded quietly. Lifting her binocs to focus on the ship in lane four. “That’s Hemlock’s ship.” The pair of them watched some troopers with a hovercart for a few beats. “It’s too exposed,” she mused with a bite of frustration in her voice. “How are we supposed to get to it?”

“There’s not enough cover for me, but there is for you,” Wrecker pointed out. He didn’t want to send her out there alone…he’d blow this whole place up if he could but that wasn’t the mission. “You think you can handle it?” He could nothing but admire the way she squared up to his words. She was tiny to him, tiny and puny but powerful and robust at the same. He loved her so much, his heart would explode before anything happened to her.

“Not a problem.”

“Hmm, good. Here, take the beacon. I’ll keep an eye out.” He watched from the shadows as she expertly made her way to the floor of the hangar. Wrecker debated staying up top for a vantage point, but he couldn’t stomach being out of reach if she needed a hand. He tried to be quiet, silently cursing his wide feet when they clonked on the alloy cased floor.

Omega was swift and light on her feet, using the hovercart as cover as well as her small size. Wrecker knew he’d never have been able to do that and it would have all ended in a big beautiful explosion.

“Ok, the homing beacon is secure.”

“Wait! There’s more heading your way.” Blasted troopers. They always appeared at stupid times and Wrecker’s heart smashed into his ribs as he watched them patrol past Omega’s hiding place. He lost sight of her, craning his neck while hoping no one could see him peeking from the shadows.

The com beeped and Omega’s scared voice wavered through. “I’m pinned down!” Wrecker’s hand fisted, his fingers digging into the meat of his palm. He didn’t know where the rest were, if he caused a scene now it could leave them trapped deeper in the compound.

“Stay in position,” Echo’s calm voice filled his helmet. “I’ll divert them.” That meant they were still in the control room. Wrecker had no idea what to expect and the magnetic crane coming to life on its own wasn’t something he’d have guessed. The troopers watched as it magnetised one of the smaller ships, only to swing it round and demolish the stack of crates they had been meticulously building.

Wrecker winced at the alarm that sounded, the beeping was loud, ringing in his head but it didn’t distract him from looking for Omega. He found her at the same time as a mouse droid, crushing it beneath his foot. Oh how he missed the satisfying sound of clanker circuits fizzing out.

“Oops.” Some troopers ran past and they took that moment to run back to where they had entered. “Hunter…” Wrecker growled into his com, ducking back behind the crates with Omega as more troopers rushed past.

“We’re coming, with extras.”

“Aww. Leave some for me! Come on kid.” They followed the sounds of blaster fire. Flashes of blue and red lit up the corridor walls, mixing with the purple of Omega’s bow as soon as she activated it.

The squad nearly crashed together, Hunter sidestepping an eager Wrecker. “You got ‘em all?” He asked, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.

“Trust me, more are coming,” Tech said.

“Keep moving!” Hunter reminded them.

“We can use the railcar to get back to the ship,” Echo recited, blaster up, his helmet moving side to side.

“Excellent idea,” Tech agreed. “Shooting the grapple lines at the sensor will work, by the time they have realised we are not in the base anymore, it will be too late to capture us.”

“Let’s go then,” Hunter almost growled, feeling the vibrations of more troopers running in their direction.

More blaster shots were fired. Tech dropped to a knee, firing both his weapons with scary precision as Echo helped Omega down the ladder that would take them back outside. Wrecker chuckled while firing off a few shots, clearly enjoying himself.

They left the upper corridor, Hunter making sure everyone made it down unscathed and into the open railcar doors. He looked expectantly at Tech who stared at the control panel for a second before turning to Echo.

“We need an access code,” he blurted out breathlessly.

“I’ll override it.” Echo twisted his scomp in the socket just as Omega’s bow released a shot and took out a trooper trying to access the railcar. Thankfully none of them made it aboard, and Echo successfully started it up, sailing them away from Raven’s Peak.

They all sighed with relief, Wrecker slumped to the floor of the car while Tech stood by an opening to look outside. Hunter watched the compound shrink into the distance, his hand curling into a fist. He hoped this worked. Otherwise it would all have been for nothing.

“We are approaching our destination,” Tech told them and Echo slowed the railcar down, bringing it to a stop.

“It looks further from here,” Omega spoke quietly, eyeing the distance from the open car doors to the sensor.

“We must, once again be precise,” Tech started. “The grapple must connect to the sensor. I advise, you do not miss.” Wrecker groaned, tapping his helmet as though trying to knock out any bad thoughts he had about falling, out of it. “We have to go together.”

“And soon.” Hunter gestured to the horizon where he could make the shapes of v-wings heading their way.

“That is to be expected,” Tech cast his bright gaze to the ships. “We have less than a minute before they are within firing range.”

The squad raised their grapples. “Be sure of your aim,” Hunter told them all. Out of this entire mission, this was probably the worst moment. One they couldn’t go round. It was their only way out.

“Now!” Tech’s line released first, followed by Hunter and Echo, then Wrecker and Omega. It seemed like forever before the magnets hit their target, and they were going down this time. Hunter felt his heart leap behind his ribs, trying to not panic with the sensation of free falling before his grapple began to pull him towards the sensor. “We must be quick,” Tech stated again. “Or they will follow us to the Marauder.” He landed on the sensor, Hunter close behind him with Echo and Wrecker.

“Hunter!” Omega’s scream came through their coms, making them turn as one. Her grapple wasn’t working, the mechanism had jammed and she was falling.

He’d never felt so helpless in all his life.

He heard her little body collide with the sheer cliff rock. The sound of her pain rippled through him, choked off with a strangled sob as she tried to hide her terror from her brothers.

“Hold on, Omega!” Hunter shouted, jumping from the sensor to the ground and ignoring the complaints from his legs, rolling with the momentum. Tech reacted quickly, pulling the line with Wrecker while Echo also jumped down.

“Just hold on!” He called again, peering over to see her dangling below him. He started to pull the line as well, aware of the sensor humming behind him, the pulse sweeping over him, the sensation making him grind his teeth. His arms pulled, his legs tensed and Echo threw himself onto the ground, his arm outstretched.

“We’ve got you, kid.” The sensor let out a screeching alarm, the v-wings cut through the air towards them but he cared only about getting Omega onto solid ground.

Her tear streaked face appeared, hands paling under the strain of holding on with a death like grip. Wrecker was there, helping to pull her to safety.

“We must leave.” Hunter agreed with Tech. They were all about to be blasted into the ground if they didn’t move.

“Pick her up, let’s move!” Wrecker scooped up Omega just as the first ship started to fire, the bolts kicked up clods of earth and rock, showering the squad in debris.

But they didn’t stop. They didn’t breathe. Using the trees as cover, they ran for the Marauder. Tech opened the ramp, diving inside to get them off the ground.

“My leg,” Omega whimpered when Wrecker went to stand her up.

“Strap in!” Tech warned. “I fear our exit may be rather chaotic.”

“Strap her to the bunk,” Hunter suggested. Wrecker was as gentle as he could be but she still cried out in pain, tears dripped down her cheeks and she swiped at them.

“I—I think I broke it.” Hunter pushed his helmet off, hands searching for the med scanner as the ship lurched into the sky. Wrecker moaned, stumbling into the gunners chair to cover their escape. Hunter activated the scanner, memories of you and Tech in this very position haunted him. It was the first time he’d seen how amazing you were, what you were really capable of. You had saved Tech’s life, saved his brother without a second thought.

The laser beamed over Omega, her jaw square with tension, hands clutching the edge of the bunk as Tech spun the ship, taking a shot to the back end. Hunter planted his feet, using his other hand to hold on and steady himself while Gonky slid along the floor, legs kicking.

“Well?” Omega sighed, her eyes fluttering. “Am I right?”

Hunter frowned. “Omega?”

“She ok?” Wrecker shouted, worry lining his tone.

“Omega!” Hunter shook her shoulder and got no response.

“About to enter hyperspace!” The rushing blue and white lights should have been relief. Hyperspace meant they had escaped, it meant they were safe. All of them except Omega. “How is she?” Tech appeared at Hunter’s side, shifting his goggles nervously.

“Her leg is broken, she must have tried to soften her drop into the cliff face with her legs. I wish Stitch were here.” Hunter usually kept those thoughts to himself, but right now he would fight the entire galaxy to have you on this ship.

Tech tensed, his eyes fixed on Omega as he churned over what to do. “AZI can help. We are not so far from Ord Mantell, and Cid has shown a fondness for Omega in the past.” Hunter’s brow furrowed. It was a good idea, and it wasn’t. “We are not faced with any other choice.” He nodded. Slipping onto the bunk, careful not to jostle Omega. He swiped the bandana off, running his fingers through his hair while his chest expanded with a deep breath. He ached, his body ached and his heart ached.

They would go to Ord Mantell, it was their only option.

“Set the coordinates,” Hunter rasped. Stars, he was tired.

“I am successfully tracking Hemlock’s ship, no movement as of yet.” Tech informed him, pushing buttons on this datapad.

“Keep an eye on it. This could finally be the break we need.” Tech nodded, but didn’t smile. Hunter could read him, the brief curl of his brother’s fingers, the quick blink of his eyes, the shift of his feet…he was worried this wouldn’t lead to you. Tech had voiced that on the way here and Hunter hadn’t listened. “Tech…” their matching gazes met for a moment before Tech focused on something over Hunter’s shoulder. “We will find her.”

“Debatable,” he clipped the word out, gaze drawn back to his datapad. “But I will never give up.”

[caffeine-and-melatonin]

✨Bad Batch E10 Spoilers✨

Episode 10 thoughts:

- OK CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW WHEN OMEGA JUMPED OFF OF WRECKER'S SHOULDER, TECH, MY DARLING, HELD OUT HIS ARMS TO CATCH OMEGA IN CASE SHE STUMBLED OR SOMETHING!?!? I JUST- AGH S O F T

- Echo...bestie...why did you have to smell the space popcorn like that?

- I completely understand Hunter's concerns but the way he reacted to Wrecker saying that she seemed fine got me thinking. I feel like that the moment after hearing what Wrecker said and pushing past everyone to walk into the building gives us a bit of insight into Hunter's deeper emotional state. What I took from it was that because Hunter is not only a soldier, but also the leader, openly conveying deep forms of emotion isn't exactly something he's used to. Aside from his obvious worries regarding Omega's physical safety, I think when he said that Omega needed a break, he was trying to mask the fact that HE needed a break as well. After the showdown with Cad Bane and losing Omega, Hunter went from already level 10 dad to like level 1000 dad. The fear, panic, and shame that he felt during the time it took for them to find Omega must have been at such a jarring form of emotional intensity that he hasn't felt before and it’s clearly still bothering him a lot. Sure the team has been in stressful situations, but this is a completely different terrain. The point I'm getting at here is when we see Hunter push past everyone and go in alone before the rest of the squad, I think it pretty clearly shows that he's having a hard time processing everything that just happened and is doing everything he can to keep from feeling the way he did when Omega got separated from them as well as not wanting Omega to be that distraught again. (EEK sorry that was a lot, but what can I say? I love a good reading-between-the-lines type character analysis)

ANYWAY...

- Cid gives off great aunt energy. Not quite grandma. Not quite aunt. Great aunt. I have spoken.

- Speaking of Cid, as much as I genuinely enjoy her abrasive character, CAN EVERYONE STOP CUTTING OFF SIR GOGGLES McNERD-FACE PLEASE?! I just want to hear him talk is that too much to ask for 🥺👉👈

- BANDANA. DARK AND BROODY.

- omg hunter please just hug the child my god it's not that hard you both need a hug just do it please-

- Y'ALL ECHO'S UPSET FOR A REASON. You all saw what happened to him. Don't get me wrong, I love a good Echo and Tech sassy conversation moment, but maybe don't dismiss him so much? Can we try that pls? Thank you, loves.

- "Now are you convinced?" "Noooo" Agh someone please give Echo a hug, a nap, and some therapy please I beg of you.

- Raxus is pretty. Lovely forest. Nice architecture.

- There's something strangely calming about that droid's voice idk what it is.

- OoOoOoOo Cid got shamed for making Omega upset.

- Awwwww Dad misses his kid

- Good battle scene using only stun blasts (is that what they’re called? idk you know what I mean).

- Quick question: I will never doubt Tech's skills, but like how could he possibly fix the AT-TE using just his data pad without actually touching the walker? I think I'm reading too much into it, but I'm genuinely curious.

- PRO GAMER OMEGA

- Cid: "Try showing a little gratitude to my friend" awww even grouchy lizard great aunt likes Omega 😊

- I love the little moment at the end with Hunter and Omega playing dejarik, but lol wouldn't it be funny if the thing that finally makes Tech snap and lose his cool is Omega beating him in a strategy game.

FINAL THOUGHTS (and I'm so sorry that this was sooo long oops)

- Everyone needs a hug.

- Please let them process and TALK about their emotions. Please.

- Obvious question: Can we save Cross now? THAT MAN is most in need of a hug. Look I know he can be a bit of a bitch sometimes, but Dave...I swear to Obi-Wan "Space Jesus" Kenobi if you don't stop hurting him I will PERSONALLY set your cowboy hat on fire. 🤠🔥

That is all. It is past 4am. I can literally hear the birds tweeting outside. I need to go to sleep. Thank you for listening to my nerd rambling.

[darkdevasofdestruction]

My Clarity ~ Shikamaru x Kitsune

A little fic in which Shikamaru isn’t the only kid who gets advice from his dad through Shogi.

Honestly tho, I’m in my exam session, 9 exams, thankfully, only 2 more to go next week, and I have a burning urge to re-watch all of Naruto for some reason, and my love for this beautiful Deer boy resurfaced very VERY powerfully.

Oops.

Little fox, little fox, what are you hiding behind that sly, cheerful smile of yours?

Little fox, little fox, why are you all alone?

Little fox, little fox, what's going on through your mind?

Little fox, little fox...Do you wanna play?

---

Shikamaru always knew there was something off with the red haired girl in his class -

She just seemed too perfect. 

She was beautiful, she was smart, she was talented, she was kind, she was helpful, she was selfless..

And his parents were best friends with her parents, so they would often meet up for play dates and whatever.

No matter how much he tried to avoid her like the plague, she didn’t give up, and whenever he asked her why the hell she wanted to hang out with him so bad, she’d just say

“Because I like you, little fawn.”

That stupid nickname, that soon turned into “Deer boy” irked him big time...But in a way...

He was the only one to whom she gave nicknames, so he felt kinda special.

Actually, he was the only one with whom she actually seemed completely genuine...So maybe he should actually enjoy it?

Yeah, why not, right? 

She’s not so bad, after all, and if he gets to learn something form her, all the better!

----

“Scrub it off. Clean it off. Take it off. Claw it off. Rip it off. Saw it off. Carve it off. Rinse it off. Wash it off. Cut it off –“ the obsessive mutterings went on and on like grating. She was trembling, not even realizing her cheeks were soaked, not from the rain, but from the tears her beautiful green eyes that now resembled a rainforest, were producing.

 What was going on? This can’t be happening…This was supposed to be a simple mission with her dad and her dad’s best friend…It was just a B mission at most…How could things escalate this much?

 Being a ninja, she knew things are dangerous and would put you in impossible situations…That you can even lose your life or your friends and comrades…But…

Why now…? Why so soon…?

She’s barely 10 years old…She wanted to go on this mission to see how beautiful the world outside the Country of Fire is…But this…?

 “Scrub it off. Clean it off. Take it off. Claw it off. Rip it off. Saw it off. Carve it off. Rinse it off. Wash it off. Cut it off –“ she continued rambling, standing there, on her knees, on the wet grass, all muddy, all bloody, not having moved from there for at least a whole hour, so much that she almost thought she started growing roots into the ground.

 “Scrub it off. Clean it off. Take it off. Claw it off. Rip it off. Saw it off. Carve it off. Rinse it off. Wash it off. Cut it off –“ she went on and on and on with no stopping, with no equivalent of time and space, of self, of body, of identity. She was lost. She was not only broken, but completely shattered. She was blank.

 “Kitsune, that’s enough. Snap out of it. He’s dead. We have to get out of here before the enemies find us. We’ve been here enough.” the man who was her dad’s best friend went on his knees in front of her and grasped her wrists, pulling her hands away from her eye sight so she will stop looking at her father’s blood. “He’s not…He’s not…He can’t be…He can’t…He won’t…He wouldn’t…Leave me…No…He’s just…R-Resting…Don’t mess around with me…” instead of focusing on her hands that were painted with clotted blood, her eyes were now in the vision of the body laying in a pool of its own blood, its chest being cut to access the heart. “I know it’s impossible to accept this, but your parents wouldn’t want you to die here because you froze up. Let’s go home. We’ll get his body in a scroll and I’ll arrange for a funeral.” the man tried to reason with the child, who, in turn, moved for the first time since the incident. “HE’S NOT FUCKING DEAD! STOP LYING TO ME, SHIKAKU, HE’S NOT DEAD!!! HE CAN’T BE DEAD! HE’S NOT! I HEALED HIM! I RESTARTED HIS HEART! HE’S NOT DEAD! I DIDN’T LET HIM DIE! HE’S TOO STRONG TO DIE! HE WOULDN’T LEAVE ME AND MUM! I’M TELLING YOU, HE’LL GET UP ANY MINUTE NOW! I DID EVERYTHING BY THE BOOK! JUST AS THE MEDICAL NINS TAUGHT ME! I DID NO MISTAKE! I DID NOTHING WRONG! I’M SURE!” the red haired girl lashed out at the man, shrieking so loud that her throat felt raw, almost bleeding, her emotions pouring down harder than the rain as she shook hit the man’s chest and shoulder, but he could only look at her with pity in his dark eyes, almost imagining his own son, should that have been him on the ground. “It’s not your fault, Kitsune. You did everything you could, but sometimes, there is nothing anyone can do. Some injuries are so severe that they can’t be healed, even if you are the most skilled healer. It wasn’t your fault, it was the enemies’ fault.  I promise you.” the Nara put the ANBU captain’s corpse in a scroll and picked the girl up, running back to the village and reporting to the Hokage.

 The girl was lost, had no idea what to say, what to do, what to feel – Not when Shikaku was explaining what happened to the Hokage, not when he broke the news to her mum, hell, not even when she was staring at a beautiful picture of the three of them together, at his funeral.

 No children were allowed at the funeral, as per her request – She didn’t want any pity, and she wanted to give no explanations.

She wanted nobody involved. Things were bad enough as they were.

So the only people from the school who knew were the teachers.

Not Shikamaru, not Hinata, not Sasuke, not Shino…

Nobody.

Definitely nobody.

 Her dad wasn’t dead, after all.

She didn’t kill him.

She did everything she was taught to do.

She did the cardiac massage, she was sure she felt his heart pumping again, she definitely saw him breathing…

…Right?

She did, didn’t she?

She didn’t imagine it, right?

She didn’t try to get his heart to pump again when he was already irreversibly dead…

…Right?

  ----

The little red haired girl smiled dazzlingly at the children in her class, who were also her friends. She knew she was the most popular girl in the whole Academy, but she didn't let it bother her, or change the way she behaved with everyone - Everyone was equal in her eyes, even if they were obnoxious or annoying - And in turn, she got invited to everyone's birthday parties or hang outs, and so on.

But most of the time, she couldn't go to those hang outs because she was constantly training with her parents to become an excellent ninja, and in the future, a member of the ANBU - It wasn't only her dream, but her parents jobs too.

ANBU captains

What greater honour could there be?

While other 10 year olds were playing around, she was hanging around adults, learning how to perfect her fighting styles, ninjutsu and genjutsu, but not only -

She wanted to learn medical ninjutsu, she wanted to help people, to save them, for all the times she heard all those scary stories from her parents and their friends...How they lost people, comrades, partners, friends...Because in the Great War, there was barely any medical ninja around to save them...

She couldn't allow that to happen - Not on her watch.

"Okay, class. Today, we are going to do a team activity, and we need 2 captains. Who wants that position?" Iruka-sensei asked his class, and, as expected, most of the kids nominated Kitsune, while Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba wanted to be captains themselves, and Sakura and Ino nomitated the Uchiha. This class' dynamic was always the same, and in a way, this exhausting routine was sort of comforting for the red haired fox-like girl. "Kitsune, Sasuke, step forward. As Kitsune was nominated by the most of you, she will choose first."

"I choose Shika!" in front of the class, the girl with sparkling green eyes grinned enthusiastically as she extended her arms in front of her, as a way of cordially inviting the friend she cherished the most, despite all the gasps of shock she received.

"Sh-Shikamaru? Kitsune, why not choose me first?! I'm so much stronger than that guy who just sleeps all day and is too lazy to move!" Naruto yelled at her, but she merely sweat dropped and chuckled awkwardly.

"But Shikamaru is the smartest in this class and I believe we get along very well. When forming a team, you don't have to always get the ones who are more energetic or physically stronger, but the best strategists and those with whom you can create a perfect synergy and your abilities and skills compliment each other. Having Shika on my team means that we're definitely going to win against Sasuke's team!" the girl shrugged casually, ending her explanation with a sly, incredibly fox-like smirk - One that screamed 'Victory'.

"Uh...Thanks for picking me, I guess." Shikamaru awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, before muttering his usual catch phrase "What a drag..."

Sasuke glared at the girl, despite knowing very well there was barely anyone with any kind of potential in this class, but he got around to choosing Kiba. Then, Kitsune chose Shino, while Sasuke got Choji. Kitsune got Hinata and Sasuke could barely stop himself from facepalming, but chose Sakura. Grinning at the brunet captain, Kitsune chose Ino, so Naruto was stuck with Sasuke - It was the perfect plan.

The two groups went out in the forest, in the opposite parts, and had 15 minutes to come up with a plan to steal the Captain's bandana.

"First of all, I'd like to apologise to Shika for not being able to get Choji as well. I know that the Ino-Shika-Cho formation is incredibly powerful, and that the three of you would have had an amazing synergy, but there's that. However, I'm happy that we have Shino with us, I'm sure the insects are going to scare off both Sakura and Naruto...Which reminds me, Naruto an Sasuke are going to work against each other most of the time. With Shikamaru and I as the strategist, Hinata’s Byakugan and the maturity and knowledge of Shino and Ino, we are going to make the perfect team. Besides…Ino, if you show off how strong you are, and you beat Sakura in the process, I’m sure you’re going to impress Sasuke!” Kitsune clapped her hands together, charming all of her team mates, as per usual. “Oh, but Sakura doesn’t stand a chance! She will swoon over Sasuke-kun all the time and will be completely useless! That Naruto will screw everything up for Sasuke-kun and will be loud enough to give away their position, and I’m sure he’ll argue with everyone, especially Kiba. And Choji eats all the time, I doubt he’ll do much, especially if he sees how everyone argues among themselves and does nothing good. He’s a pacifist, y’know.” Ino grinned condescendingly as she berated almost everyone in the enemy team. “Very well, then I will tell you my plan, and when I’m done, I’d like you to tell me your insight and how to perfect it, if you have any ideas. The main idea is to distract Sasuke while Shika uses his shadow to immobilize Sasuke, so I can steal away the bandana. Ino, you have to stay away from Sakura, so you won’t bicker. I need your Mind Transfer jutsu. Hinata, your Byakugan will be detrimental in finding out everyone’s location, and I have faith in your fighting abilities. Shino, of course, apart from the fact that I’m sure your insects are going to scare away some of those guys, you are a very strong fighter and very intelligent as well.” Kitsune explained simply, and everyone seemed to nod in agreement. “Actually, I think Ino, Hinata and Shino should stay together, at least in the beginning. Ino can incapacitate one person for a short amount of time, so if she stops Sasuke, I can catch him in my shadows, and you can steal away the bandana, while Shino and Hinata fight the others. Those two are sensory types, so they can find out everyone’s positions and the bugs can guide us to them.” Shika pointed out, which made the red haired girl widen her eyes at him in shock for a few seconds, only to grin widely and almost literally glow in happiness. “You’re the best, Shika! It’s always so great hanging out with you! Come on, 15 minutes passed, let’s go and win this!” she cheered to hype the others up, and it worked well enough, and it seemed to give them a little boost of confidence.

 And so, they went to the middle of the forest while Hinata and Shino searched for the enemies – Who they easily found – And Kitsune and Shikamaru split up around Sasuke in a pincer formation. Just as planned, Naruto easily gave away his position, so Shino and Hinata went to fight or scare away Sakura and the others who went down faster than expected, considering they were all split up, not in groups.

When Sasuke was the last one standing, Ino used her Mind Transfer jutsu on him, Sasuke immobilized him and the fox girl stole away the bandana.

 However, just as they were making their escape, Sasuke got out of his immobilized state and went to attack the group – The fox girl gave shadow boy the token of victory and told him to take the team away and make their escape, while she quickly beat the Uchiha and went back to them, only to see the Nara didn’t actually go with the others, but returned to make sure she was okay.

 “Very well played, everyone. Now, the 2 captains, shake hands, and you can all go home for today.” Their teacher smiled at them, while also pointing out the obvious problems in the other team. “Hey, about about we go to the BBQ place to celebrate our win?” Ino asked, smiling triumphantly. “We can invite Sasuke too, since he tried his best, but he didn’t have a team.” Was her plan, and everyone seemed to agree – Of course, the other team wanted to join as well, so there was that, but…

“Oh, uh-uhm…S-Sorry, but I can’t come. I, uh…My parents and I are pretty busy today, haha. But I hope you have fun for me as well! Take care, guys, see ya tomorrow!” Kitsune chuckled awkwardly, rushing to go home and train with her parents.

 However, she didn’t come to school the next day. Or the one after…Or the whole week, for the matter.

She was absent for almost 2 whole weeks, for the matter.

Until she wasn’t anymore.

But when she returned, she was as radiant as always.

For those who weren’t as observant as Shikamaru, that is…

What was he supposed to do, anyway? Go and confront her? No way, that would be a drag…And besides, if she wanted to talk, she’d come to him…Or someone, right?

 The biggest shock of his life was, however, to come home one day from school and finding a certain red haired girl playing Shogi with his own father, and they seemed to be very comfortable with each other? And they were smiling?

“Hey, Shika! Welcome home! Oh, you got here just in time, I and your mum managed to finish cooking earlier! Go and eat something, you don’t want the food to get cold, right?” Kitsune waved at him, smiling sweetly, but the boy could only stare at both of them, incredibly confused, his eyebrows raised so far up that they almost got into his hairline. “Wh-What are you doing here? Dad, what’s going on? Why are you playing Shogi with Kitsune?” the poor boy asked, his head almost snapping from going back and forth. “Oh, w-well…I was pleasantly impressed with your intelligence and strategy, so I came here to praise you to your dad! Also, my mum said she always enjoyed learning and playing Shogi with him, so I thought I’d give it a shot too! You should have heard her, honestly, Shikaku beat me again at Shogi, you should have seen the new stunt he pulled today! It was completely revolutionary, we could totally use it in our next mission!” Kitsune laughed lightly, trying to calm the boy down a bit. “You have to be careful, son, she might just win against you if you slack off too much.” Shikaku teased his son, who could only groan and leave to eat. “Tsk…What a drag…Troublesome woman…” the boy muttered, leaving the place that got immediately much darker. “You can stay for dinner, Kitsune. We can call your mother as well, if you want. I doubt she’d have been up to cooking anything after what happened.” the Nara sighed deeply, crossing his arms and looking attentively at the frail girl in front of him, who may as well be close to shattering. “N-No…I-I…I couldn’t…Do this to her…I’m afraid…Something’s coming…Something incredibly bad…If I’m not there, who knows what will happen…Uhm…Thanks for today, Shikaku. I appreciate it. And he would have as well. See you tomorrow.” She got up and left the place in a hurry, going back home.

However, as soon as she opened the door, she called out to tell her mother…Who didn’t answer. Worried, the red haired girl went to the kitchen, hoping to do some cooking for her mother, who may have been still resting in her room…

But the sight in front of her shook her to the core, for the rest of her life… And since then, the last thing Shikamaru saw of her was her fox necklace that she left over to Shikaku the next day she went for a Shogi play.

He hated to admit it, but this woman…This woman, he actually missed, but no matter how much he pestered his father for an answer, he would only say  “Soon”.

What was such an enigmatic and vague answer supposed to do to reassure and inform him in any way that he will meet her ever again?

He never even had the time to play Shogi with her, or chat properly, hang out by the field to watch the clouds go by…And graduate together, maybe even get put in the same team…

He couldn’t believe this was really happening, and for a while, he actually hated the girl for just leaving like that, without even saying goodbye to him.

Oh, if only the poor boy knew the truth…

  ----

Years passed, Shikamaru was already the first Chunin from his class, they already went in enough missions as teams, and were old enough to see the world in new eyes…Yet nothing could compare to what their parents saw in the Great War, so they were still green ninjas, unaware of the true horrors of this world.

 He was already 16…He couldn’t believe 6 years passed since he last saw that little firecracker named after a cute fox that he used to call “friend” in his Academy days. Every year, when the day of her departure came by, he’d take the day off and go to the spot they would both spend time, watching the clouds – And for some reason, he would always see a fox shaped cloud.

 It was such a drag.

 However, on the 6th year, his father stopped him from going to the field, instead, asking to play Shogi, something that confused the boy greatly, but he decided he should listen to what his father had to say.

 But never, in his life, would he have expected that his father finally saw him as old enough to tell him what happened to that mysterious girl who disappeared so suddenly.

He told Shikamaru everything that happened on that mission gone wrong – The Kirigakure ninjas attacking them, Kitsune’s father saving her and dying in the process, and the little girl snapping, going on a rampage, and when returning to her father’s side, she tried to revive him for so long, that he thought he wasn’t going to be able to pry her away from his body. The shock that completely stunned her, seeing herself in the reflection of the cold water, trying to scrub away the blood from her hands – Blood that wasn’t there anymore, but she kept seeing it – She tried and tried and tried to wash it off – To even claw it off – aggressively scrubbing away with her nails, leaving trails all over her arms.

 And that day, when Shikamaru caught them playing Shogi – When she got home, she saw her mother hanging in the kitchen – She couldn’t take it anymore. Her mother loved her husband so much, that she couldn’t handle being without him anymore, nor could she handle staying in the same house with the daughter who looked so much like him.

 Her mother committed suicide.

 It was a clear sign to Kitsune that she should get the hell out of Konoha, before she would lose herself completely.

But even then, she held Shikamaru in her heart, which is why she asked Shikaku to give him her necklace before she left.

 She had no idea where she wanted to go, but she had to.

 And that day, when she played Shogi, the strategies she took, influenced by Shikaku’s aggressiveness in the game, made the both of them realize that the deer boy was too precious to her to sacrifice, as a mere Shogi piece.

So she left to get better and protect the last person she loved who was still alive.

And Shikamaru felt guilty for resenting her for 6 years.

 ---

“I wonder who’s our other team mate. Lady Tsunade didn’t say much about this person.” Ino asked, dangling her feet, bored, staying on a tree branch. “I heard it’s a girl!” Choji munched on his crisps, not really caring much. “Dad said it’s some ANBU captain or something. What a drag, that means this mission’s going to be more difficult than before…” Shikamaru groaned, slouching down. “As usual, you come up with the best strategies. It’s weirdly nice working with you again, and –“ the angelic voice of a woman was heard by the trio, who immediately perked up in curiosity, as in their field of vision, Shikamaru’s father walked by, wearing a relaxed and joking smile on his face, side by side with a much shorter individual, with long hair, kissed by fire, dressed in the usual ANBU outfit, with a fox mask covering her face, and a few weapons strapped to her back. “Is…Is this our team  mate?” Ino gasped at the beauty in front of her. “I sure hope so.” Choji chuckled, nudging Shikamaru, but the boy could only stare at her, frowning, unable to utter any word. “Here’s your team, Kitsune. I’m sure you missed being around your friends –“ but Shikaku couldn’t finish his sentence, for as soon as the girl saw the brunet boy, she got rooted to the spot for a few seconds, before squealing and throwing herself in his arms, hugging him as tight as possible. “Shika!!!”  she cried out, twirling around with him, not wanting to let him go. “I missed you so much, Shika~!” “K-Kitsune…? Is that really you…?” poor Shikamaru couldn’t even hug the girl back because of the extreme shock he was in, but his father’s chuckle snapped him back to reality. “Yes, silly, it’s me! I’m back.” The girl quickly took off her mask, putting it to her waist belt, flashing the same dazzling white smile of hers – The same one that completely stole his heart many years ago. “Remember me?” “Y-Yeah, ‘course I do, uhmm…” he tried to stumble over his words, despite the blush creeping on his face. “My…! You grew up so much! And you’re absolutely gorgeous! …Eh…~? Look at you, you’re so cute with red cheeks! And you’re even wearing my necklace! I’m so happy, Shika…! Your parents must be so proud to have the smartest and prettiest child in the whole Country of Fire, right Shikaku~?” the red haired girl giggled teasingly, making the poor deer boy so flustered that he had to fry her off and look away, while his friends and dad were laughing at him. “What a troublesome woman…! Tsk…Stop being so familiar with me, you’re annoying.” Shika tried to fend off, but the girl feigned that annoying puppy dog eyes that she always did when she was little and she wanted to spend time with him. “Th-Then…You didn’t miss me, Shika? At all? Not even a tiny bit?” she asked in the most pitiful voice, pouting and getting closer to his face, which in turn, killed him instantly. “…Fine, yeah, maybe, whatever. Let’s go on our mission.” The poor boy grumbled, walking ahead of everyone, not even bothering to say goodbye to his dad, as his friends were already teasing him and laughing. “He’s so cute~!” the girl grinned, carefree, following his lead.

 The road to the mission’s point was filled with light chatting and some catching up, but for Shikamaru, the situation was different – Every word she uttered, he analysed and scanned, as if looking for any string of white lie that sewed together a perfectly made up story.

 She wanted to learn a more diverse range of skills so she went to learn from other Ninja villages and random renowned rouge ninjas and samurais…

And, allegedly, 2 years prior, she returned and joined the ANBU, and chose only the longest missions that led farthest away from the Country of Fire.

 How dubious…

  “Shh, stop, here we are.” Kitsune stopped abruptly, crouching down on the branch carefully, squinting and watching like a hawk every one of the grouped up ninjas, almost as if she was peering at them under a microscope – Every micronic detail, she sketched in her mind and carefully created a plan to take them down, before snapping her fingers once to draw her team’s attention towards her. “See that guy with blue hair, tied up, and black eyes? That’s our guy. We capture him, and kill everyone else. Easy enough?” despite muttering in a low voice, her piercing gaze didn’t move for not even a single pico-second. “But…Kitsune…? I don’t mean to sound doubting…But there must be at least 50 ninjas out there, and they seem to be at least Chuunin level. And weren’t Kirigakure ninjas supposed to be bloodthirsty and to be using poison?” Ino asked, obviously very worried. “They aren’t Kirigakure ninjas, but yeah, you are right about those guys. These ones are in disguise, but not great ones, I’d have to say. See that guy with orange hair? His sleeve is raised up, and a brown tattoo can be seen, which indicates they are from Iwa. Very annoying and strong. Those stupid guys have an Iwakage who can eradicate everything in sight with that stupid particle-something jutsu of his…And they have an explosion department…Thank God I didn’t remain in Konoha…” Kitsune muttered, the corner of her mouth raising into a triumphant smirk that meant she was going to create a blood bath. “Explosions?! How can we protect ourselves against that?” Choji was almost comically trembling, eating crisps even more rapidly than before. “Unfortunately for you, neither has a Lightning chakra nature, so we can’t actively deactivate them…However…I trained with the best puppet master in the world, who so happens to have as a partner the most fanatic, yet talented bomb artist, so I know how to go against these guys. Shika, Ino, I want you to make sure you get the leader away from the group. Since you can get in his body, just say you need to pee or something, and that you’ll be back, which is when Shikamaru will use his shadows to get him towards us, and then three of you will protect him, while I kill this lot, got it?” she asked, finally snapping from her hawk-like self and taking out her weapons, soaking them in poison with a wet cloth. “That’s not the best strategy, I’d say. We do nothing, while you do all the work. I am more than one-man hit, y’know? I grew up and trained too. I can get at least 20 of those guys.” Shikamaru’s annoyed voice perked up, surprising the girl, who could only blink and look at him with big, almost fawn-like eyes. “I never doubted any of you for a second, and if it seemed that way, I apologise sincerely. Thing is, I’m an ANBU, and out of all of you, only you, Shikamaru, promoted to Chuunin. Now, I’m not saying that these grades matter, because they don’t, but at the same time, I’m responsible for you, and I don’t want to go home with one of you dead in my arms, and having to hold your funeral. I told Tsunade to let me do this alone, but she insisted I pair up with you. I want you all to promise you won’t get in my way and attack, unless necessary, got it? As I said, I absolutely REFUSE to get your blood on my hands, capiche?” Kitsune’s voice became very dry, dark and poisonous very fast, which made the blonde and chestnut haired ninjas gulp and nod fiercely, while the brunet only frowned in anger. “We aren’t 10 year old anymore, Kitsune, and neither are you. This ain’t the mission you went to 6 years ago, and nobody will die on your watch, got it? If you keep being afraid of taking risks, you’ll fail.” Shikamaru got closer to her face, arguing her plan. “Shikaku told you what happened, didn’t he? Well, I should have known, it was bound to happen. Nonetheless, as I said, I’m the leader of the team. You do as I say, or you go home. I will have NOBODY’S blood on my hands. Now go do your jobs and do NOT put yourselves in danger unless I say so.” Kitsune, for the last time, warned the trio, then got up, took off her konoha forehead protector and switched it to a rogue-one, then put back her fox mask and raising her arms up, she attached chakra string to each and every ninja, except the target. “Now, Ino, Shikamaru, go get him.” She commanded in such a dark and monotone voice, almost as if she suddenly transformed into the villain of the series.

 Despite disagreeing with the plan, the two did as were told, and very easily, lured their victim into the perfectly placed trap, and now, the trio were his guard.

Further, Kitsune grinne widely behind her mask, chuckling and jumping down from the tall tree, as she used her fire chakra to burn the string, and in turn, the victims they were attached to. With incredible speed and agility, she jumped in the middle of the group and started slicing left and right mercilessly, losing herself in the bloodlust that was surging through her veins, her mind completely away from reality, but in a whole new universe – Of killing strategy.

 …That is, until familiar voices – Screams, rather – Resounded through the forest, which completely snapped her away from her concentration, and in turn, getting cut and scratched in various places.

 Her eyes saw it easily – The leader escaped their grasp and ran to attempt to kill her, but Shikamaru tried to fight him, and failed, and now Ino was trying heal him. But she was crying. She wasn’t a good enough medical ninja yet. Kitsune knew that feeling all too well.

  “Scrub it off. Clean it off. Take it off. Claw it off. Rip it off. Saw it off. Carve it off. Rinse it off. Wash it off. Cut it off –“ kept going into her mind, unusually loud, almost throwing her off her game.

With a raw growl, close to animalistic, she saw red in front of her, and burnt everything in her paths, slashing, dashing, cutting and ripping apart every living being there, sans the leader, whom she managed to immobilize and knock out with the help of Choji. Without sparing any second, she ran to Shikamaru’s side and fell to her knees, roughly pushing Ino aside.

It was an impulsive rush of rage, for she snatched away her mask and forehead protector and threw them as far away as possible, before shrieking at the deer boy for being so stupid.

“Scrub it off. Clean it off. Take it off. Claw it off. Rip it off. Saw it off. Carve it off. Rinse it off. Wash it off. Cut it off –“ those words just wouldn’t stop screeching at her.

“YOU FUCKING IDIOT, SHIKAMARU, I TOLD YOU TO BE CAREFUL, DAMN IT! I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU!” she gripped so tightly at her hair that Ino thought she was going to rip it all off. “If you dare die…I will never forgive you. Never, you get it? Never. Not you. Of all people…You’re the last one alive…So you can’t. I refuse to allow you that. You don’t have the permission to leave me. Ever. Got it?” the red head growled lowly, getting one of her hands inside his chest, performing cardiac massage, and cursed herself for remembering that mission long ago, when she had to do the same thing with her father – But this time, Shikamaru was still alive, and she was sure this time around – No more lies or delusions.

  “Scrub it off. Clean it off. Take it off. Claw it off. Rip it off. Saw it off. Carve it off. Rinse it off. Wash it off. Cut it off –“ she needed bloody therapy, she knew that, otherwise those words were going to be the death of her.

With her other hand, she used her other hand to prop up his head and give him CPR, once again, cursing herself for having to do something like this, when she hoped everyone would remain safe and she would, one day, share a sweet kiss with him – Not have to save his life like that.

  “Scrub it off. Clean it off. Take it off. Claw it off. Rip it off. Saw it off. Carve it off. Rinse it off. Wash it off. Cut it off –“ they were louder and louder, causing almost a physical discomfort, as if someone was grating her brain.

Once, twice, thrice, and more, so much more – Sasori taught her healing ninjutsu well, and she was confident in her abilities, but there was always that speck of fear and PTSD that was creeping in the back of her mind, reminding her of her past failure.

But the puppet master was an excellent teacher, and she, in turn, was a hard-working and diligent student, so there was no way she was going to put the man she loved on the list of people she let die.

  “Scrub it off. Clean it off. Take it off. Claw it off. Rip it off. Saw it off. Carve it off. Rinse it off. Wash it off. Cut it off –“ SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP

“Argh…Too close…” a hand suddenly pushed her aside weakly, and a cough snapped her out of her focused mindset – And blinking away to reality, she realized that the Nara boy was sitting in front of her, breathing normally, and coughing a bit, wearing a scowl on his face.

  “Scrub it off. Clean it off. Take it off. Claw it off. Rip it off. Saw it off. Carve it off. Rinse it off. Wash it off. Cut it off –“ the threat is over now, you can stop already, he’s not dead...Like your parents.

“…Oh thank goodness…” Kitsune groaned, letting herself fall on her back, looking up at the sky, her nails digging into her arms now, trying to snap herself back to reality completely. “I won’t forgive you for the stunt you pulled.” She muttered absent-minded, not caring about anyone around her anymore. “…What a troublesome woman. She’s gonna scold me all the way back home. Great.” Shika tried to chuckle, lighting up the mood, but the red haired girl was already on her feet, tying up the target and carrying it, walking in the direction of the village, without saying another word – Her face now again, covered with her mask, showing that she didn’t want to be approached in any way. “Shikamaru, you insensitive idiot! You, jerk! Is that how you treat the woman you love?! She was just worried about you, and you throw away words like that?! Go and apologise right now!” Ino shouted at him, nagging him like she was his mum, so much that the boy could only sigh and drag his hands down his face in annoyance and resentment.

And he actually tried, for once, to reconcile properly, but the only words that she told him were “You have to rest properly when you get home.” And then she just rushed farther and farther ahead.

And that’s just what he did, as the girl guided him home, let the others go to theirs as well, while she went to the Hokage to report to the mission.

After taking a nap and resting, as advised, he left his bedroom and went to the kitchen, seeing his mother frowning, which confused him.

“What happened?” he asked, knowing something was up. “Well…Nothing, really. Your dad is playing Shogi with Kitsune…And I just remembered her mother and the good times when we were friends. Too bad the good ones always die first.” Yoshino sighed, sweeping absent-minded. “Uhm…Y-Yeah…I guess.” He muttered, not having a clue what to say in such a situation. “Won’t you be a dear and tell her to remain for dinner? Poor girl, she’s been all alone since she was 10…I can’t imagine how horrible it must have been…” but she stopped herself before saying anything more that would have upset her, so Shikamaru left the room, believing that letting her just be would have been better.

 However, instead of making his presence known, he decided to just open the door ever so slightly, enough to peep from behind and watch the interaction going –

Kitsune was sitting in front of the Shogi table, her head slightly hung, her outfit still unchanged – And she said no word, but it wasn’t clear if she was listening to his father either.

  “You can take off your mask now, Kitsune. The mission is over. You can get dressed in Shikamaru’s clothes. Why don’t you sleep over?” Shikaku tried to get a response out of her, even beginning the match, but she seemed to be in her own mind. “No.” she finally muttered after a while, yet she made her move as well, almost robotically. “Kitsune. The mission is over. You can relax now. You are allowed to. You did well and nobody got hurt. Get out of your mission-mind,  you’re home now.” The man tried again, but it was clear the aura around the girl became more and more agitated. “Shikamaru almost died.” She pointed out bitterly. “As far as I’m concerned, my son is sleeping in his room as usual. He didn’t complain about his team leader, nor of any injury or danger. If he is fine, so should you be. You can’t take anyone’s pain.” His father spoke again, and with each word, he found himself nodding in agreement. “I ALMOST KILLED YOUR FUCKING SON, SHIKAKU! ARE YOU DEAD? ARE YOU BRAIN-DEAD?! GET ANGRY! YELL AT ME! BEAT ME UP! SCOWL, CURSE ME, INSULT ME…FUCKING DO SOMETHING! YOU ALMOST HELD YOUR SON’S FUNERAL BECAUSE OF ME! I am the one who killed your 2 best friends, and now I almost killed your son too! Why aren’t you reacting in any way?!” the fire outburst of the girl scared the boy out of his wits, flinching when she slammed her fist on the Shogi  table, breaking it in two, all pieces getting propelled in different directions, as she shouted at the irritatingly-calm man in front of her. “I will do no such thing, Kitsune, because, first of all, I am not mad at you. It was not your fault, I tell you now, the same as I told you before. It wasn’t you who killed your parents, nor was it you who endangered my son. We are all ninjas, and we serve with our lives on the line. Unexpected surprises always happen, and we can’t predict everything, but we can do our best to avoid them.” Shikamaru’s heart was close to bursting with emotions and words that he wanted to let out, as he felt his fingers digging deep into the wood of the sliding door. “I. Almost. Killed. Shikamaru.” The girl hung her head down, prying away her mask and throwing it away in disgust, her long, fire-red hair completely hiding her tear-stained face. “I argued with him. I insulted him. I cursed him. I yelled at him. In the end, he almost died…Because of me. And…It was just like back then. Almost perfectly like back then. They weren’t paying attention, the enemy escaped, he tried to protect me and got hurt…And I got soaked in his blood. My hands was grasping his heart, and I was helping it pump more and more blood…I was helping him breathe…And all I could do was pray…And pray…And pray again…That he won’t end up like them…But I’m selfish, Shikaku. I didn’t think of you, nor that I almost killed your son. I was only thinking about my own self.  I’m selfish and I don’t deserve him.” Her voice become so soft, so broken, as she trembled and sobbed in her hands, not being able to stop the flow of tears and emotions from running astray. “Kitsune…Shikamaru doesn’t hate you, nor is he blaming you for what happened. Stop blaming yourself for things that were inevitable. The most important thing is that you were able to save him and bring him back home safely.” His father sighed, yet his eyes were looking with understanding at the pitiful girl – He knew very well the heartbreak of loss and he didn’t wish it upon anyone, especially such a sensitive young girl. “Scrub it off. Clean it off. Take it off. Claw it off. Rip it off. Saw it off. Carve it off. Rinse it off. Wash it off. Cut it off...That’s the only thing that kept going through my mind, over and over and over again, and I couldn’t stop it! Just like back then...I couldn’t control it. I swore I was going crazy. I was sure he was going to die, and I would remain with his blood on my hands for ages, no matter how hard I’d try to wash it off or even burn away the skin on my hands.” she was shaking so much now, digging her claw-like nails deep into her arms, dragging down and scratching her skin, almost giving herself a sort of comfort, knowing she was still alive, and so was Shikamaru. ”You have nobody’s blood on your hands, Kitsune, understand that. It wasn’t you who killed your parents, no matter how you put it. You tried to save them, but they were beyond saving from anyone. There was nothing you could have done.” Shikaku tried to remind the catatonic girl once again. “…If Shikamaru dies, all the people I ever loved won’t be on this Earth anymore…So there is no reason to live anymore…No matter what, Shikamaru, out of all the people in the world, MUST live. If he gets in danger again, I think I’ll go insane.” She gritted her teeth as her hands made her way into her hair, gripping at it painfully, until the whole world stopped – And once again, time and space were absent from this house –

“I think he feels the same about you.” Shikaku smiled, seeing his son frowning at the girl from behind the door, and motioning to him to get out of there and take the reigns properly, like a man. “What would you know?!” she sneered at him, snapping her head up, only to see the man getting up to leave, and, to her surprise, a pair of arms sneaking around her, pulling her into a tight hug from behind. It was the deer boy, nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck.

“You’re such a troublesome woman, you know that, right? When I said you were going to scold me, I was hoping you’d do that. I hoped it would help you relax and vent away your frustrations. I never imagined you’d get so upset over it. Sorry I screwed up your plan, neither of us were paying attention to our target…We were worried about you so we were looking at you…I’m sorry.” He spoke in the most sincere voice she ever heard him speaking, and she couldn’t help but start crying again, turning around and letting herself melt in his embrace, burying her face into his chest and gripping tightly at his shirt. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I screwed up everything – From 6 years ago, to even now, I’m so sorry, Shika. I should have told you everything, but I couldn’t and I screwed up everything.” She kept apologizing over and over, but the boy couldn’t understand why, so instead of saying anything, he cupped her face and placed a short, yet very soft and sweet kiss on her lips, hoping to snap her out of it. “Stop blaming yourself for nothing. I won’t die, and you won’t die, okay? We’re the smartest people around, I’m sure we can screw with everyone. Just the two of us, together. Now, come on, get up, fox girl. It’s getting late, and mum’s gonna yell at me if we don’t go eat dinner while it’s still hot. Let’s find you some comfy clothes.” He helped her get up and guided her to his room, giving her a loose white Tshirt and some comfy pants. “Well…I guess I make even leisure clothes look fashion.” She admired herself in the mirror, posing and grinning in amusement, making the boy chuckle. “Yeah, ‘course you do. But, before that…Here. It just wouldn’t be fair if I was the only one wearing one.” Saying that, Shikamaru took out a deer necklace from his pocket and put it around her slender neck, before taking his own fox necklace from under his shirt, and letting it dangle out to compliment hers. “…Haha, you kept it. How nice. I don’t know about you, but if you ask me, we can’t get more soulmate-y than that.” She chuckled, squishing his cheeks and pulling him into a deep kiss that was more playful than anything, yet still dazed him a bit, as he let himself get dragged to the kitchen where his parents were waiting for them. They smiled at each other seeing the two teenagers smiling so carefree, so happy at each other – And those symbolic animal necklaces, almost dangling towards each other, like Yin tried to get closer to Yang, and vice versa. “Tomorrow, we are SO going to go and make fun of Ino and Sakura for being obsessed over Sasuke, when we have the perfect relationship right here! Ha! They’re gonna be so jealous!” she smirked mischievously, and the boy could only shake his head, but chuckle at her nonetheless. “What did I get myself into…You troublesome woman.” He nudged her playfully, and it was one of the first times that anyone around saw him not so lazy. “Fine, fine, we can go to BBQ after with Choji, if you want. Sounds fair enough, doesn’t it? My treat.” She flashed him a charming smile, and he could only shrug in agreement. “You’ll get broke, but you said it, can’t take it back now. You clearly forgot how much Choji eats.” Shikamaru teased her, but she only smirked wider. “I lived as a bounty hunter for years before I got back, Shikamaru. I could buy a villa right now. I’m sure I can afford a meal for my friends.” She flipped her hair and winked playfully at the boy next to her.

The next day, just as promised, she dragged her new boyfriend around to brag about him and how awesome he is, and all that, all while he would just blush and grumble in the background, but at least the BBQ hang out was fun and they had a good laugh, as all friends do.

When all was over, she had him go by to her home to get a neatly wrapped, big gift from her living room, and then went back to his home, before handing him the present.

“Here, open it. It’s not the best…But I’m sorry for my outburst. It was uncalled for, and I’m really, really sorry for destroying it. This…This was my parents’ Shogi table and…You should have it. And my parents were best friends with your parents…So yeah. Please take it. And I’m sorry again.” She urged him to open it already, and inside, as she mentione, a beautiful Shogi table, on the back of it, her parents names being carved, inside a heart. “O-Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. You can have your dad shave it off, cover it, or something, I don’t mind. It’s yours now.” She awkwardly scratched the back of her head,  but the boy merely shook his head. “No, it’s perfect as it is. Come on, why don’t we go out in the forest? I’m sure you want to see the deer.” He carefully placed the Shogi table on his futon and guided her out. “And we can watch the stars in your garden tonight?” she smiled at him sweetly. “Yeah, sure, we can do that. Sounds nice.”

[gojoyogurt]

happy birthday gojo!! || chilhood friends to lovers au || short fic

pairing: gojo satoru x reader

summary: you spend the whole day together with gojo, your childhood friend. this birthday was special since you were the only one to celebrate it with him since all his other friends were overseas. on this day, it felt more like you were receiving a gift on your birthday rather than giving him a gift.

warnings: grammar and vocabulary may not be the best. also, i know gojo isnt 20 but... for the sake of this story i made him just reaching his 20s hope you guys dont mind. some spelling mistakes may not be noticed.

“hey gojo!” i screamed acrossed the road as i saw the tall, light haired man with a bandana covering his eyes leaning on the lamp post. he looked over and gave a small smile along with a wave. it was such a special day since he just turned 20, if he made my 20th birthday so memorable, i should only return the favour since the both of us have been together ( not in a romantic way ) for the longest time and we were always there for each other. “ayo happy birthday you overgrown man baby!” i jokingly congratulated him. “thanks you tiny tiger” he replies back with a smirk on his face while patting me on the head. i blushed slightly, i always had a crush on him but i never got the chance to say it to him. “should i say it today?” i thought to myself as my heart skipped a beat.

we walked down the street for a while and we stumbled across a cafe that seemed pretty quiet, the atmosphere it gave off was so simple yet it was drawing our attention to it. “hey do you-“ we both said simultaneously. “man... that single braincell energy tho amirite HAHA” i affirmed him as both of us were laughing our asses off right infront of the cafe door. after wasting our energy on cackling, we finally stepped into the cafe and ordered our drinks. “one cafe latte-“ we both said simultaneously AGAIN. “why are we so in sync today??” he questioned as we both started giggling uncontrollably at the register. “excuse me, are you guys going to order?” the staff asked us. “oops, sorry. we’ll get two cafe lattes please!” i cheerfully ordered. “two cafe lattes, anything else?” he reassured us. “nope!” i confirmed our order. “ok here’s your receipt, you guys make such a cute couple! you’re so lucky to find your soulmate that matches you perfectly!” the cashier said to us. we both just looked at each other and laughed it off.

it was nearly impossible for us to get to the table since gojos hands wouldnt stop shaking because he was giggling. luckily, we made it to the table without spilling the drinks. “here, its a small gift i made” i said as i handed over a brown wrapped package to him. the crumpling and tearing sound of the paper filled the area we were in, my heart was racing since i was worried that he wouldnt like it. “oh wow, y/n you made this??” he questioned me as if he couldn’t believe that i actually made the picture collage of the both of us. “yeah... do you not like it?” i asked quietly, scared that he actually hated it. “YO I LOVE THIS SO MUCH THANK YOU!!” he screamed in excitement. the collage was filled with memories of me and gojo from when we first met when we were 5 and uptil this day.

it felt like a heavy weight was just lifted off my shoulder. “thanks!! that took a while since i also added some pictures of us when we were still kids!” i replied back in relief. “hey! lets take a photo now so we can add it to the frame!” i suggested. i wriggled my chair over next to him and i took out my polaroid camera from my bag. we both smiled for the picture and i waited for the photo to come out.. “should i tell him now?” i reassured myself. i looked at him quietly, he was smiling while looking at the photos of our past selves, “i want to see that smile forever... ” i knew that it may seem greedy, but my heart always raced whenever i looked at him, even uptil now. “hey, y/n you ok? you seem a little flushed” he asked me with a concerned look on his face. “oh, uh, yeah just feeling a little warm...” i muttered. “lets go to my place so you can rest, ok?” you agreed to go over to his place after finishing your drinks.

during the walk back to his place, i couldnt control my heart, it was beating as if im about to go on stage and perform for millions of people. i stopped walking and i was shaking quietly in a small alleyway leading to his house. “y/n, are you ok??” he ran back after noticing that i wasnt by his side anymore. i dont know why but i suddenly started crying, it was supposed to be a happy day but... why am i like this??? am i scared? gojo hugged me and i cried into his chest while he was calming me down. / “y/n... talk to me, is there anything wrong?” he tried to ask me after i calmed down a little. “i-i- i li- like u b-buht i d-don whant to ru-ruin our fwe nd shipp” i somehow managed to get the words out in between breaths. at that point, my face looked like it was a tomato about to burst. i could hear my own heartbeat, i didnt even dare to take a glance at gojo. “man... how do i take care of you... you see, y/n, i also liked you for such a long time but i always thought that you would go off with some other man so i never confessed” he confessed while scratching the back of his head.

my heart felt like it just stopped, at that moment in time, i feel like the world was so serene and quiet. after snapping back into reality, “wh-what weally??” i sniffled as i looked up at him with my swollen eyes. “HAHAHA YOU SHOULD SEE YOUR FACE RIGHT NOW BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” he teased me as i quickly wiped my snot and tears off my face. “you’re not joking with me right?” i tried to confirm with him. he suddenly let out a huge sigh and walked towards me. my heartbeat suddenly increased as he got closer and closer with every step. he leaned closer towards me and took off his black bandana, “do i look like im lying?” he questioned me as i stared into his beautiful blue eyes. this isnt the first time im seeing it but i always can never prepare myself to see it. his eyes looked so peaceful, like a quiet ocean that has no limits. it felt like you could clearly see the sky even though we were in a dark area.

he put his bandana back on and gave me a long, tight hug. “you are the meanest person i know did you know that” i jokingly said to him. “hey is that the first thing you say to your boyfriend? ouch” he joked back. he hugged me for a little while longer before staring at me. he leaned in closer next to my ear and whispered, “thank you, for making this the best birthday present i could ever ask for” he gave me a peck on the cheek before looking back at me. my face was once again about to explode and my heart was probably on the verge of exploding. “can you not do that i have a weak heart you know???” i scolded as i jumped on him to attack him. “ouch ouch ouch!1!1!1!1! okok im sorry geez, violent much” he teased me once again. “c’mon, lets go to your house already, i look embarrassing” i pushed him so that i don’t embarrass myself in public. i clinged onto his arm and kept my head down the whole way back so that people dont see my face. this day was honestly the best day of my life, i had a huge smile on my face for the rest of the day.

and the rest is left up to your imagination...

hello people! sorry if this seemed rushed because i’ve been quite busy recently but ill still try to post whenever i can. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GOJO YAYYY. actually ive been on a hiatus off anime for a while and jujutsu kaisen is getting me back into the swing of things so im really into jujutsu kaisen atm HAHA. anywho hope you guys enjoyed this short fic and see yall in the next one byee!!!

also im so happy aot the final season came out today but since i read the manga, im really not prepared for whats going to happen... also can we talk about how the intro is just a whole gender reveal party??

[headoverhiddles]

Too Good To Be True - Tommy Devito x Reader [Smut]

Synopsis: Much to his annoyance, you teach your boyfriend the art of delayed gratification. 

Notes: Requested by anon! Hope you like it, this has been a long time coming. 

First gif belongs to vicious-thrash.

Tommy’s car radio plays softly as he pulls up in front of your house.

You’re just too good to be true  

Can’t take my eyes off of you

“It was a good night, baby,” he says, killing the gas. You smile.

“It was, wasn’t it?”  

“I had fun. Lot of fun.” His eyes shift to you, then descend. “You know what would make it even better?”

“What?” His hand falls from the steering wheel to your knee, and starts to feel up a little higher. He does this every time; there’s no sense of mystery or allure in your flirtation anymore.  “Baby, not tonight.”

“What?” he moans, “Baby—baby aw, listen—”

“Tommy, I’m tired. I gotta headache, alright?”

“A headache? Probably all the booze you drank back there.”

“Let me sleep it off, will you?”

“You at least got a kiss me? For your boyfriend?” You lean over to kiss him. He watches you leave out the window, whistling at your skirt riding up .

“Hey! Thursday night, the Pink Flamingo?!”

“I’ll call you.”

“I’m buyin’ of course!”

“Goodnight, Tommy!” His eyes narrow as he gets the engine running, and as he pulls away, Franki Valli continues to croon.

I love you, baby

And if it’s quite alright, I need you baby—

“Ah, shut up,” Tommy growls, and smacks his radio silent.

---

“And then she said—get this fellas—she said she had a headache.”

“Ooh,” Jimmy cringes. “Mmhm. The headache line.”

“What do you mean?” Henry frowns. “Karen tells me that all the time.”

“You poor bastard. I’m sure she does, I’m sure you get fed that shit all the time,” Jimmy smirks, rustling his shoulder. Tommy sighs as he tips back another shot.

“I just don’t understand it. It was going so well, too. Women don’t do that shit to me. They just don’t!”

“Yeah, cause they’re fuckin’ scared you’ll whack ‘em!” Henry laughs.

“I’d never kill a girl,” Tommy retorts, “Especially not (y/n). She’s my one, you know? Maybe she really was tired, I dunno...”

“Nah, nah nah,” Jimmy shakes his head. “Something’s fishy. There’s gotta be something going on here. Women start losing interest in sex, there’s something that needs to be addressed.”

“I mean, was she really losing interest? She was goin’ down on me like there was no fuckin’ tomorrow last week, I can’t imagine her flipping on me like this.”

“You never know with women,” Henry sighs, taking a sip of his whiskey. Jimmy jerks a thumb his way.

“Sage over here. Fuckin’ wise guy.”

Tommy bursts into laughter, and Henry goes red as he ordered more drinks. As the laughter dies down, Tommy shakes his head. “I don’t know. I don’t wanna lose her, but she seemed pretty pissed.”

“Were you pushing it on her?”

“Nah, of course not! I stopped when she said she was tired. I complained, but hey, my dick was hard, y’know?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s just the kind of thing I’ve come to expect.”

“Maybe that’s the problem.”

“What fuckin’ problem?”

“The monotony of it all.”

“The monotony of fucking me?”

“The same way, when she comes to expect it too, yeah. Variety is the spice of life,” Jimmy says, lighting up a cigarette. Tommy waves his hand.

“What am I supposed to do, offer to spank her? Geez, she’s always climbing me like a tree after I take her out.”

“A short tree,” Henry quips. Tommy slaps the drink out of the younger man’s hand, and slaps him in the face too.

“I’ll shoot your fucking kneecaps off so you can join me, how ‘bout that wise guy?”

“Ouch, fuck Tommy...” Henry laughs, “I’m just breakin’ your balls!”

“Hey. He’s just breaking your balls,” Jimmy says.

“Yeah, yeah. Fuck you both. Anyways. I don’t know what to do.”

“Give her a call, see what she says,” Jimmy tells him.

“What, do you think I’m fuckin’ stupid? She’s not gonna answer if she’s pissed.”

“Have you tried?” Henry asks.

Tommy crosses his arms.

---

“I don’t know what you see in that guy,” your childhood best friend says. You and Joni had been sharing a house for a few years now, and though you loved her dearly, she had a tendency to stick her nose into your business.

“I love him,” you say simply. She rolls the paint roller you two are painting your living room with as she gets ready for the base coat. Hair tied up in a knotted bandana, you’re painting tiny details over the base coat, little purple flowers over the cream.

“I don’t know, (y/n). He runs with the wrong circle, I seen him before, you know he—”

“I’m well aware of what he does.”

“You wanna be one of those wives?” She makes a face. “All pearls, diamond necklaces and tight dresses while their men go out and shoot each other?”

“So what if I do?” you ask playfully, dipping the paintbrush again. Joni just puts up her hands, smiling.

“No skin off my nose! I just worry about you, is all.”

“And I worry about you,” you tease, “You’re dating a banker who has sex on a schedule. What could be more boring than that?” The two of you burst into giggles, and you start to think of Tommy. It hadn’t been ideal, leaving the last date on the note you had, but you wanted Tommy to learn a lesson. Sometimes, it was more fun to wait.

Your rotary phone rings.

“I’ll get it,” you say, setting your paintbrush down and wiping your hands. Lifting up the receiver, you see who it is. “Hello?”

“Baby, it’s me.” You smile. You knew he’d call.

“Hey Tommy,” you say, twirling the chord. Your friend makes a face.

“You’re probably his one phone call from jail,” she hisses.

“What’s that frump saying about me now?”

“Hm? Oh, she just says hi.” You grin.

“Listen, (y/n). I, uhh... just wanted to check up on you after the other night. I hope I didn’t upset you. You’re my girl, you know.”

You keep the charade going-- he’d thank you eventually. “Oh, I know, Tommy. Things are fine. I’m just...”

“...What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“Nah, wanna discuss it over drinks? Milkshakes even. Hm? Lemme buy you a cute little milkshake, alright?”

“I’m painting the house,” you tell him. “Sorry, baby.”

“Aww...” He’s quiet for a minute. “You sure everything’s okay?”

“Yeah, Tommy. I gotta go, okay?”

He sighs. “Yeah. Sure.”

“Love you.”

“Sure. Love you too.”

---

Back in the bar, Tommy feels like hitting his head against the wall.

“I just don’t know what to do! I don’t know what I did wrong! She’s talkin’ to me all weird, I can’t understand it. Maybe it’s another guy. If it’s another guy, I’ll shatter his skull.”

“It’s not another guy,” Henry mutters.

“How the fuck do you know?”

“Cause (y/n) is loyal to a fault! The way she looks at you? That’s not a woman who throws her pussy around when you’re not looking. She adores you, Tommy.”

“A keeper,” Jimmy nods. Tommy sighs, taking some comfort in this.

“Yeah.”

“Flowers,” Jimmy suggests.

“Flowers?”

“Yeah. Go to her house, tell her you’re sorry, and give her some nice-smelling flowers. She’ll be in your pants in minutes.”

“Yeah...” Tommy nods, “Yeah, alright.”

---

Sherry baby

(Sherry baby)

Sherry, can you come out tonight?

(Come, come, come out tonight)

The doorbell goes. You look up from your book, turn your small radio down, and frown. Was Joni home from a night on the town this early? Sighing, you bookmark your page. It had been nice to have the house to yourself while it lasted. It was an opportunity to walk around the place half naked in the little lilac nightgown Tommy had bought you. That got you imagining what it’ll be like one day to live with Tommy, in some mansion somewhere. Joni complained about the danger of it all, but you’re sure she wouldn’t turn down a life of spontaneity like that if she had the choice.

You grin to yourself as you put on a housecoat, and walk over to the door. You open it.

“Tommy,” you say. It’s a little surprising to see your love standing there like this on your porch at 10 pm.

“Hey, baby.” He gives you a lopsided smile, and hands you some flowers. You blush, and let him in.

“Aw, look! They match the painting I’ve done on the walls. You’re sweet, you shouldn’t have.” You set them on the table, making a mental note to get a vase later.

“Nah, nah. You deserve ‘em. I wanted you to know how special you are to me... how much I don’t wanna lose you.”

You bite your lip. “Yeah?” You let one shoulder of the housecoat slide down your arm. His eyes gravitate down.

“What’ve you got on under there, baby?” He starts to smile, that lascivious grin. “Huh? What’s that?”

“Look familiar? Recognize it?” you tease, letting the rest of the housecoat drop. He shakes his head, whistling.

“Oh. God, (y/n), what you do to me.”

“Tell me?”

“Well, I—” He hesitates, looking around. “Wait. Hold the fuck on. Just, just wait. What the fuck is this?” You pout.

“What?”

“You haven’t gone out with me in a week, you act like there’s somethin’ wrong between us, and when I show up one night unannounced, you just drop your panties for me?”

“Made you want me, didn’t it?” you breathe, ghosting your lips up his neck. He scoffs, shaking his head.

“Fucking tease. I chose a real she-devil.” He moans softly as your hand comes up to cup him through his pants, and he reaches back to lock the front door.

“Joni doesn’t have a key...” you whisper.

“Good,” he groans, and takes you over to the couch. He lays you down on top of it, starts to slide the straps of your nightgown down. “Look at my pretty girl... real pretty. You know how much I love seein’ you like this?”

“Tell me,” you moan, opening your legs to him. He gets overtop of you.

“Love it a whole lot. I think about it all the time.”

“Yeah?” you ask, bringing his hand to your feel your panties, “You think about this pussy?”

“Fuck, baby,” he growls, and you can see him shift gears from the sweet man waiting at your doorstep with flowers to his real personality—salacious and dangerous. “I’m gonna fuck you so good, you’re gonna feel it next week. So fucking beautiful.”

“Tell me again, Tommy...”

“You’re so beautiful, fuck, you’re mine. Wanna be inside you.”

“Do it,” you gasp, and you shimmy his pants down. A gun falls out onto the floor.

“Oops.”

“Jesus Christ, Tommy!”

“I said ‘oops’! What do you want from me, it goes where I go.”

“It’s okay,” you say, biting your lip. “It turns me on.” He starts to grin as he sits back on his heels.

“Yeah?”

“Mhmm.” He moves your panties aside to see. You stop him, thinking of something. “Condoms?”

He groans. “Aw. Seriously? Really, this late in the game?”

“We don’t want kids.”

“I wouldn’t mind one or two running around. Get a babysitter, you know, while we go throwing cash around town, the meanest couple this side of Brooklyn, nobody’d fuck with us baby, and we’d raise a couple of real gems—”

“I still have a lot more partying to do before any of that happens,” you say, and order him off of you. “Go find them, they’re in the bedroom.” Tommy mutters to himself, cursing the whole way there and back, but does as he’s told. When he comes back out of the bedroom, he sees your fingers rubbing slow circles around your clit. Licking his lips, he gets back overtop of you, and you help him fit the condom on.

“I need you,” you moan, and he buries himself inside you, groaning as you take every inch. He grunts, picking up his pace to a rough pound as he takes what he needs.

“You’re so good... so fucking perfect, baby,” he growls, and reaches up to slowly massage your breasts as he fucks you. As he rocks his hips in and out, you arch your back, grinding up into his thrusts.

“You know what my friend would do if she knew we were fucking on this couch? This is her grandma’s antique couch.”

“Fuck the couch, and fuck her grandma,” Tommy breathes. You laugh, cutting off into a moan as he hits that perfect spot inside of you.

“Oh god, don’t stop,” you whisper.

“Yeah,” he grunts, “Yeah, yeah. That’s fucking right. That’s what I’m talking about. You love taking that, don’t you?”

“Yeah—”

“Say my name. Come on, say it.”

“Tommy... Tommy, Tommy...” Your orgasm begins to build.

“Say it,” he leans down to mark your neck, “ Who’s fucking you good?”

“You are, oh god Tommy, I’m—” He groans, and you feel his body tense up on top of you. The feeling of him pounding you through his climax pushes you over the edge as well, and you both thrust and grind together until the bliss wanes.

“Did I mention I love you?” Tommy murmurs, from where his face is buried in your chest. You gently remove his hand from between your legs. You lift his face up, and kiss him messily.

“You could keep saying it all night and I wouldn’t mind. Felt good to wait, didn’t it?”

---

You sit at the bar with Tommy, necking. You’ve got a new necklace on, one he’s been eyeing for you for a while.

“(y/n),” Jimmy says, and Henry gives you a hug as they take stools beside you two.

“Where you two been?” Tommy asks, wiping the lipstick off his face and ordering a round of drinks.

“Out taking care of a job,” Jimmy says, popping the button on his jacket and looking around.

“Without me?” Tommy asks, opening his arms.

“You were busy,” Henry shrugs, smirking at you. You smile, rubbing a hand over your boyfriend’s shoulder and down his chest.

“I’d say we both were.”

“Oh, did you like the flowers?” Jimmy asks, smiling. He touches his chest. “My idea.”

Tommy’s face scrunches up, and Henry has to hold him back so he doesn’t kill his best friend. While your boyfriend is doing what he does best—starting fights-- Henry lets him go and turns to you conspiratorially.

“So uh, (y/n), babe... what does it really mean when a lady says she’s got a headache?”

[kindahoping4forever]

I was going through my Cloud and found some stuff from... a while ago. I think these are all important.

Uhhh hello????? The hair?? His baby face?? (lmao remember when he used to cut holes in his band shirts)

Also this. 2014!Val (aka me) couldn’t get enough of this hair. (still can’t, it looked so soft🥺)

Also this????? 👁👄👁 he looks so tiny😭

I have so many pics and gifs from this mv, I was clearly having a meltdown over it.

Another one 👁👅👁 wtf is this whole look, like we have RED bandana, jean vest, ARMS... all while drumming?? yeah... I’ll take a guess and say I was definitely not okay.

I saved this for a friend👁👄👁 two things, 1. all of these shirts are super cool, 2. wtf is the third one with the pink floyd shirt🥴 boy was like 18 looking like that.

2014 was top tier soft bf Ash. (my heart went oop🫀📈)

dimples😭, eyes😭, his whole damn face😭

a puppy♥️🥺. and that semi quiff omg.

and this... what was this? I probably died that day.

hehehe photo dump I guess😇. I made myself cry tbh. # daddy but baby. (I’m assuming these are all from 2014, but correct me if I’m wrong. you’re the historian here my friend🥰)

😳😳😳😳😳😳😳 This. Is. A LOT. Like. What do I even say?? Besides goddddd this has always been and will always be my lane 😍😍😭😭

[rxsie-the-demon]

Brooklyn Baby | JJ Maybank

SERIES MASTERLIST | chapter one 

chapter summary: Nikki goes out of her comfort zone and bonds with Kie, while still remaining curious about what happened last summer. At a party, Topper gets a little too touchy, and Nikki (surprisingly) befriends Rafe and Wheezie.

warnings: drinking, smoking, HARD DRUGS, swearing (oops), HARRASSMENT (topper gets VERY touchy) so if that makes u uncomfy just skim over that, and a conversation about addiction/rehab and therapy

word count: 5029

Chapter 2: Cinnamon Girl

If I had to choose, B Days would be my least favorite. On B days, I have no classes with anyone I know, except English with Kelce at the end of the day.

And no one to sit with at lunch.

On my second day of school, when I realized I had no one to sit with, I ate in the library. You’re allowed to, so long as you clean up after yourself and stuff.

Walking into the huge cafeteria, with clean white titles and those long foldable school tables, I decided to do the same thing today; just sit in the library by myself, and maybe read or shop online, The tall walls of the cafeteria were decorated with motivational quotes and the school’s athletic accomplishments.

But when I was walking towards the lunch line, I saw Kiara sitting by herself out of the corner of my eye, head down on the table. Which made me feel really, really sad for her.

I stood in line quietly, AirPods in my ears, scrolling through Instagram when I found Kiara’s page. I didn’t want to seem like a stalker, but my curiosity got the best of me and I clicked on it.

Her page reminded me of this social activist that I follow that of a social activist I follow, the difference being that Kiara’s page was mostly environment-focused, with the occasional selfie and pics of her friends.

Clicking on one of her them, a selfie with her and her four friends on a boat during sunset, I saw a slightly sunburned brunet with his arm wrapped around one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen. She’s probably a TikToker, I thought. Sunburn had a dark blue bandana wrapped around his neck and had his shirt unbuttoned. Major surfer boy vibes. 

Next to Tiktok, was Kiara, with bright eyes and a bright smile. Completely different from the girl who sits behind me in APUSH. The boy next to Kiara had dark skin and curly hair. He was wearing a hat, like Sunburn and the other boy next to him. And judging from the way his arm was around her waist, Hat totally had a thing for Kiara.

But the last boy, holy shit, if I thought Sunburn was cute, Hot Blonde Boy was another level. He was the one taking the picture, with one arm stretched out to hold the phone and the other one, covered shiny rings, was posing with, like, the rock hand sign? I think that’s what it’s called: with his index and pink fingers up, and the rest like they’d be balled in a fist. His messy blonde hair was being held together by a red snapback, and he was shirtless except for his shark tooth necklace. His tan went well with his bright, energetic eyes and big smile but...oh my gosh. His hands. They were big, with long fingers, and his arms were a little veiny and-

I put my phone away. Nuh-uh, I’m not going to be thirsting over a random guy’s hands, especially when that guy could literally be dead, or worse, the crazy dude who tried to shoot Topper.

Not that I don’t understand why someone would want to shoot Topper.

I grabbed my tray, putting a Chicken Caesar salad bowl (yum), a bowl of grapes (double yum), and a water bottle onto my tray. Remembering that Kiara didn’t have any food with her, I grabbed a hamburger, too.

I paid for my food and walked towards the utensil holder, debating whether or not I should just go to the library or sit with Kiara. I mean, I should sit with her, she’s by herself and is going through a hard time, but then again, I hardly know her. Besides exchanging numbers with her yesterday and not even texting her, I never interacted with the girl. She’ll probably think I’m just talking to her to get tea for Topper and Scarlet.

But then again, I already bought her a hamburger.

I walked over to her table. She was wearing a similar outfit as she was yesterday, the only difference being she was wearing light blue jeans. So, yay? A bit of color?

I sat down across from her and put my tray down quietly, not wanting to scare her. “Hey.”

Her head shot up immediately. Her soft brown eyes looked so tired, her light brown skin looking ashy and dull. Her dark brown hair, with it’s nice, defined beach wave curls, was tied back in a bun in her hood. When she saw who it was, her face softened. “Oh, hi.”

“I hope it’s ok I’m sitting with you, I don’t know anyone else in this lunch and I thought it’d be good to discuss our project.” I waved my hands around a bit before opening the plastic lid of my salad.

She nodded, eyeing my food for a second.

My heart hurt. Of course, she has the money to buy food, that’s not the issue. She probably hasn’t been eating out of grief.

“So I’m Indian, duh,” I waved my hand in front of my face and she smiled softly, “and I thought this was a chicken burger, but it’s beef. And I can’t eat beef, because, ya know, Hindus don’t eat beef. So, like, could you do me a solid and eat this for me? I hate wasting food and I’d feel awful if I threw it out.” I slid the burger towards her.

She nodded, pulling it towards her and taking a small bite.

I poured my croutons into my salad and started quietly eating when I heard Kiara mumble, “Thank you.”

I glanced up at her for a second, only to look back down. “Don’t thank me. I bought that on accident.”

“I saw you staring at me in line. And...I haven’t eaten in the past two days.”

I looked back at Kiara, who was looking everywhere but me. I decided to just ask.

“It’s because of what happened to your friends, right? You’re mourning?”

She nodded, still not looking at me.

“I understand. Grief isn’t something that has, like, a definitive answer. You just gotta let it run its course,” I said, putting my hand in front of my mouth because I was chewing.

Kiara nodded again and took another bite, a bigger one this time. I mentally high-fived myself for getting her to eat. I didn’t think it’d work.

“So, what do you want to do for the project?” I asked.

Kiara shrugged. “We could do current events. Maybe something environment related?”

“Like, an advertisement? We make a video talking about pollution or something?”

“Yeah! Or maybe we could organize something and get a bunch of people to come together and, like, clean up the beach?”

“Or we could go out on boats and find trash in the ocean?”

“That too!” Kiara’s eyes were shining now, and she was smiling. Wide. Much like the girl whose Instagram I was stalking.

“Sweet. Ok, so, the environment is one thing, do we have any other ideas? Like, isn’t the Outer Banks also famous for shipwrecks or something? I heard The Royal Merchant sank here. Maybe we could do a project on that?”

Kiara stiffened up when I mentioned shipwrecks. Did I say something wrong? 

Shit. Her friends died at sea, how could I be so stupid?

“That’s...not a bad idea, actually. I happen to know a lot about The Royal Merchant. More than I want to know, actually,” She chuckled. She looked down at her hands, and then looked back up. “John B, my friend who died at sea over the summer, he and his dad were obsessed with finding it. We actually-,” she leaned closer to me. “We actually found it. But, uh, the gold isn’t there.”

My eyes went wide. I leaned forward, too. “Well, where is the gold then? Do you know?”

Kiara nodded. “In the Bahamas.”

“How the f- How did it get there, if the shipwreck happened here and no one knew where it was until you and your Pogue friends found it?”

She sighed. “Long story. I’ll tell you another day.”

“Wait-”

The lunch bell rang. I sighed as we stood up and grabbed our bags, walking towards the doors to leave for class. I really want to know how the gold ended up in the Bahamas.

“Well, thanks for lunch, Nikki!”

“Of course, Kiara, that’s what friends are for,” I smiled.

Kiara beamed. “Call me Kie.”

I was overjoyed. A friend. A real, actual friend. “Kie. Fantastic. Hey, Kie, do you know anyone named Rafe by any chance?”

Kie narrowed her eyes. “Yea, why?”

“Oh, nothing, I was just invited to his birthday party this Saturday.”

Kie rolled her eyes. “Be careful around him, ok? Talk to you later!”

“Uh, bye!”

************************************************

Yellow, or blue?

I held both dresses up to myself, looking in the mirror.

Saturday came, and it was time for Rafe’s party.

The party starts at 9 and was gonna last all night, but Topper wanted to take me out to eat, so at 7:30, I’m still deciding which dress to wear.

Both dresses are sundresses, short, flowy with shirred backs and knotted straps. They are literally the same dress, down to the little polka dots, just in different colors. I could wear either one, because I kept my makeup simple: concealer, nude eye shadow, mascara, and clear lip gloss.

I texted Kiara, asking her to choose a color, to which she responded yellow. We managed to get really close in just three days, which made me happy, because I felt that she was my only real friend at school, and, well, I was her only friend there.

I slipped the dress on and matched it with my white Birkenstocks. I went over to my dresser table (yes I have two mirrors in my room, sue me) and put on my white tassel fringe earrings. I kept my ‘Om’ necklace on.

I admired myself. My light brown skin looks good with the yellow and white, and my jet black hair, which I decided to not straighten, had slight waves, and reached my shoulders. I look like a rich, beach girl. A Kook, I suppose.

I grabbed my phone, taking a quick mirror selfie and snapping it to Topper, captioned ‘i’m readyyy’. He opened it immediately.

‘Damnn u look hot,’ he typed out. Ew.

‘aw ty,’ I typed back. ‘where r u?’

‘I’m omw. U have ur bag? The party’s on a yacht and there’ll be a pool.’

‘swim suit’s packed’

‘Fantastic. I’ll be there soon.’

I locked my phone, putting it into my purple and black NYU drawstring bag that also held my black bikini and a towel. I grabbed the bag hopped down the stairs.

Mallory and Krish, my sister-in-law and brother, were sitting on the couch, watching TV. 

“Hey losers. My friend’s gonna be here any minute to pick me up.”

Mallory turned to face me, smiling. “Aw, you look cute! Have fun, and be safe, ok?”

“If you’re gonna be coming in, like, super late,” Krish added, not taking his eyes off the TV, “try to be as quiet as possible. Diya is a really light sleeper.”

Diya, my 5-month-old niece, made baby sounds. I took a couple steps forward and saw she was spread out on the floor, in her fluffy pink blanket, chewing on her gloved hands. I waved at her.

“Don’t worry, if I wake her up, I’ll take care of her. I don’t plan on drinking or smoking or anything tonight. Well, maybe drinking, but that’s it.”

They laughed. “Ok, ok, just have fun,” Mal said.

I sat on the floor, playing with Diya, until 7:50, when the doorbell rang, revealing Topper, wearing a black button-down shirt that was rolled up to his elbows (bless), Air Force 1s, ripped jeans, and a Gucci belt.

He smiled. “Ready to go?”

I smiled back. “Yep.” I turned to face Krish and Mal. “Bye Mom, bye Dad!”

“Bye, hun!” Mallory called out. They smiled and Top, too, and waved.

I closed the door and left, and Topper grabbed my hand to lead me to the car. “Sorry, I’d have introduced you to my parents, but they were too busy, like, ogling at my baby sister,” I half lied.

Topper laughed, “No worries. I’ll have plenty of chances to meet them, I hope?”

I smiled. “Yep, I hope so too.”

A complete lie.

******************************************

Dinner with Topper was...interesting. Instead of taking me to some fancy restaurant or whatever, he took me to this cute little diner closer to the beach, but not close to The Cut, according to him. “There are a bunch of restaurants here in the Banks,” he had said. “But not a lot of people know about this one. That’s why it’s my favorite.” He winked, and I nearly vomited in my mouth.

The place was real old-timey, with the little booths and a jukebox. We had burgers and shared a plate of fries and a milkshake. And honestly? It would’ve been really romantic if I actually liked Topper like that.

Don’t get me wrong, Topper is hot. He’s sweet to me, like cotton candy sweet, and really affectionate. I love touchy boys (consensual, of course, or they get their shit rocked), but he’s always grabbing my hand and playing with my hair. Which would be fine, but I barely know him.

And ever since he admitted to drowning that John B kid, whatever potential feelings I had just...disappeared. That paired with his Holier-than-thou attitude and his blatant classism makes him everything I would hate in a person, let alone a potential boyfriend.

Besides, I know the real reason he’s flirting with me. The Kook King of High School needs a Queen, and with his ex gone, everyone wants me to step into that role. Any other time, I’d be happy to be That Girl. But something just feels wrong about this.

Lots of people have told me I remind them of Sarah, apparently because she, too, was a bit of a social activist and an environmental freak (no wonder her and Kie were friends) which just confirms the fact that I’m just a replacement.

But, besides Kie, I have no other friends at OBX High. I have no choice but to go with it.

Driving close to the dock, I could hear loud music playing from somewhere. Leaning forward, I saw the yachts, one of them in particular already pretty full of people and neon lights.

“Yeah, Rafe tends to go all out on parties,” Topper remarked, gesturing towards the boats as he parked. “But they’re always fun.”

I nodded, plastering on a smile. I grabbed his hand. “Fantastic. Lead the way.”

**********************************************

Ok, I have to hand it to OBX kids. They know how to get turnt.

At 9:30, the yacht left the dock and headed towards the sea. By 10, the party was in full form, with kids dancing, singing, swimming, smoking, drinking, everything!

It was a glorious mess.

Right now it’s 10:30, and I’d been dancing with Top when we decided to go get something to drink.

We went to the bar and I told Topper to just one of whatever he was drinking for me, so he got two Mai Tais. The bartender looked really worried, because, you know, more than half the kids at this party are underaged, so I slipped him a 50 for his troubles.

Top and I walked away, laughing at the bartender’s confused face. The familiar feeling of alcohol started to wash

We walked around and talked about life and the universe, and when we finished our drinks, we went to the deck.

I leaned onto the railing, staring into the ocean.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I asked softly. Growing up in Brooklyn Heights, I was never one for the ocean. I mean, sure, there were beaches an hour or two away from my old home that I visited often, but I was always a city girl. But this, this was something else entirely. The way the pale, white moonlight shined on the dark blue ocean, it was comforting, almost.

“Yeah,” Topper whispered back, wrapping his arm around my cold body, “really is beautiful.” I turned and saw him staring at me, smiling just a tiny bit. I shoved him lightly.

“You’re so corny,” I laughed.

“Maybe, but I made you smile, didn’t I?”

“...Shut up.”

We laughed, and he wrapped both arms around me and pulled me close to him. I stiffened a bit. Calm down, Nikki. It’s not that big a deal. But it is. I hate leading people on and I hated that he was always touching me.

I snuck my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest. I’m short, I’ll admit it, standing at a towering five foot four with my two-inch platforms. Topper, on the other hand, is six feet tall, so my head tucked in just underneath his.

We stayed like that for a bit, swaying softly to some pop song. I felt myself relaxing, but I knew it wouldn’t last long.

“Hey, Nikki?”

“Yeah?”

“I, uh, I really like you.”

I pulled back and looked at Topper, who was fidgeting with my hair, and I narrowed my eyes “Wait, actually?”.

I hope he’s joking. He’s known me for less than a week! I mean, sure, you can have an instinct attraction to someone, yadda yadda, and maybe he wants to get to know me better, or whatever. Fine. 

Maybe it’s because I don’t like him that, but I find his declaration of feelings a little ridiculous.

“Yea, I do. I know we just met, but I really want to get to know you more. No, I’m not asking you out...unless you want to date, that is, but I feel insanely attracted to you.” He brushed his hair back nervously.

I could reject Topper, and risk my popularity and social standing. It could end up well, it could end up terribly. But if I say I like him back, which is a lie, I guarantee my place as the most popular girl in the Outer Banks.

I place my right hand on his shoulder and my left hand on his cheek. Standing on my toes, I gently guide his face to mine.

As I close my eyes, I imagine that I’m not about to kiss Topper, but Hot Blonde Boy from Kie’s Instagram.

His lips are soft, really soft, and Top’s hands drop to my waist to pull me closer to him.

After we pull away, he tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear and gently kisses my forehead.

“I like you too, Top,” I lied, “but I don’t want to rush into anything. We just met, and I’ve rushed into things before, and they never ended well, and-”

“Hey, hey, I get it,” he takes his hand to my chin and lifts it up so that I’m looking at him instead of the floor. “We can go as slow as you like, all right?”

I smile and nod. Top cups my face in his hands, and right before he can kiss me, I pull away and say, “Let’s go swimming! I’m going to go change, ok?”

He nods, ruffling his hair. I turn, pulling my phone out from my duffel bag and sending a text to Kie.

‘sos i just kissed topper.’

I walk into one of the changing rooms and change into my bikini. As I’m stuffing my dress into my bag, I see I get a text back.

‘dumbass!!’

**********************************************

Apparently, when I said I wanted to go swimming, it translated to yeeting me into the pool and then jumping in after, and then us splashing each other, non-stop. I mean, I guess that is what you do at a pool party, but I have no idea. Usually, I just stand around and eat food and, you know, don’t actually go into the water.

It was fun and all, yea, but I was uncomfortable the entire time because he couldn’t- no, wouldn’t- keep his hands off of me.

After it became too much, I jumped out of the pool and sat down on one of the chairs, wrapped my towel around myself and feeling really uncomfortable. Topper climbed out after me and sat down at my feet. “Did I, uh, do something?”

Yeah, you won’t stop touching me, bro.

“No, no, it’s fine, I just got a bit claustrophobic, that’s all.” I checked the time on my phone. I had an idea. “Hey, I’m going to go find Kelce and Scarlet, ok?”

“Uh, sure, do you want me to come with you?”

Not really, no. “Uh, if you want, but I was just gonna have, like, a girl’s talk with Scarlet?”

Topper nodded and smiled. I stood up, shoved my towel into my bag, slipped my shoes on, and ran off.

I felt a little weird just walking around in a bikini, especially since I don’t know anyone here, but remembering that everyone else was just as scantily clad as I was made me feel a little better.

I went to the highest deck, where the eldest kids (and by kids I mean like seniors and 20-year-olds), hoping to find Kelce or Scarlet there because I hadn’t seen them anywhere else. But I couldn’t see them on the deck.

I walked around a bit and then decided to text Scarlet.

‘where are you?’

I got a text back immediately. ‘Top deck, near the front. I’m with the little kid.’

Little kid? I walked towards the front side of the ship and indeed saw Scarlet, wearing a dark red colored bikini, sitting in a lounging chair with a girl who looks like she’s in middle school. The kid was pale, with freckles, dark hair, and glasses. She was the only one at this point not wearing a bathing suit.

Why is there a kid here?

I sat down in the seat next to Scarlet and gave her a hug. “Hey!” I slipped my bag off my shoulders and leaned forward to face the young girl. “Hi. What’s your name?”

She smiled. “I’m Wheezie. My brother’s the birthday boy.”

“Wheezie?”

“It’s a nickname, my real name is- Oh, hey, Topper!”

I spun around. Topper was standing in front of me, arms angrily crossed over his bare chest. “Hey, Wheezie. Nikki, can I talk to you?”

“I’m enjoying the company of my new friend.” I gestured over to Wheezie.

“Yeah, well, I want to talk.” He roughly grabbed my wrist and yanked me up.

“Ok, jeez, lemme grab my bag.” I pulled myself from his grasp and turned around to grab my bag. Scarlet mouthed the words be careful, to me. I nodded.

“Bye, Nikki, it was nice to meet you!” Wheezie called out. I shouted pleasantries back. Topper grabbed my wrist again.

After dragging me halfway across the deck, he let go of me and turned around. “What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me?! What’s wrong with you?! You’re the one who, one, won’t stop touching even though we’re not dating and we barely know each other, and two, literally dragged me away from my friends when I was having a conversation with them! Are you like this with all the girls you like? Huh? Maybe that’s why your girlfriend left you for some Pogue, not because Pogues steal things, but because you-” I stepped forward and shoved Topper, “-don’t know how to treat a girl, no, a person, with respect!”

I stopped talking and realized that a lot of people had gone quiet. My face flushed with embarrassment until I heard someone shout.

“WOO! You tell him, Nikki!”

I turned and saw Scarlet and Wheezie jumping up and down and clapping. Soon, all the girls (and some of the boys) around me were clapping and cheering for me, congratulating me and telling Topper that he’s a dick.

I stepped towards Topper. “You and me, whatever thing you think we had going on, it’s done.”

I turned around and beckoned Wheezie and Scarlet to sit back down with me on the deck. The partying resumed, and I went off chatting with the two girls, but I saw out of the corner of my eye that Topper was getting all huffy and puffy.

I pointed that out to the girls. “Should I be worried?”

Wheezie wheezed laughed. “He’s probably just going to call Rafe and get him to tell you off.”

“...He’s gonna get the host of the party, who I don’t know and never met, to yell at me? Fantastic. Good thing he’s your brother.”

“Technically half brother, but yes, a good thing. Oh look, there he is right now!”

I turned around and saw Topper marching towards me with another equally tall, equally blonde boy right behind him. The difference is, this boy didn’t have as much of a hostile aura as Topper has right now.

“So, which one of you embarrassed my boy Top?”

************************************************

The boy, who introduced himself as Rafe, the host, beckoned Scarlet, Topper, and I inside of his suite. He closed the door on Wheezie, though. Bummer. I liked her.

Inside his suite were a bunch of twenty-year-olds, drinking hard liquor, dancing, and sitting around this big table. Rafe took his seat in the middle, told everyone else around him to fuck off, and had us, except Topper, sit across from him. Topper took the seat to his right.

He offered us a bag of white powder, to which Scarlet and I declined. Topper took it, though, and started setting it up to use.

“You use coke?” I asked Topper in disgust. I have nothing against most drugs, like weed or psychedelics, which can be fun to use sparingly at parties or whatever, but not hard drugs like opioids.

Topper shrugged at my question. “It’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal. What the fuck is wrong with y-?!”

“Ok, no fighting at my party, please?” Rafe sighed, rubbing his temples. “I brought you guys inside so that everyone else can enjoy the party while you guys have your little marital dispute-”

“WE’RE NOT DATING!” I shouted.

“Whatever,” Rafe sighed.

I stood up. “I’m gonna go hang with Wheezie. Scarlet, you coming?”

She was about to respond when Rafe stood up and said, “I’ll join you.”

I shot a confused look at Scarlet, who just shrugged.

I slipped my bag over my shoulder and walked towards the door, which Rafe held open for me, and we stepped outside, the air making me shiver.

Rafe pulled a pack of Dunhill cigarettes out of his pocket, put one to his mouth, and lights it. He gestured the box towards me and I take one, leaning forward a bit so that he could light it for me.

I rest my arms on the railing and close my eyes, breathing in the burning smoke and exhaling it slowly, being submerged in the light-headed haze of nicotine.

“How old are you?” Rafe’s voice interrupts my zen. I open my eyes and look at the boy, who’s very obviously checking out my bikini covered body.

I laughed and took another drag. “Sixteen,” I exhaled the smoke from my mouth.

Rafe’s eyes went wide, and he turned back to the sea. “Oh shit. My bad. Uh...how’re you liking the party?”

“It’s pretty good. Besides, you know, Topper being Topper, and you forcing me to talk to him.”

Rafe laughed. “Yea, I didn’t mean anything by it. I have a reputation of being a prick, and I’m trying to be better but, you know, not a lot of people respect you when you go from being a douche to a nice guy.”

I nodded, understanding what he meant by that. “Reputation with friends?”

He laughed. “Just,” he waved his hand free hand around, “Everyone. I wasn’t a good person. I’m trying to be better, but it’s hard when everyone already expects me to act a certain way and don’t give me a chance to change.”

I noticed the rings on his hands, like that boy from Kie’s Instagram. But unlike Hot Blondie, Rafe’s too old for me.

Which leads me to wonder…

“Did you know Sarah Cameron, by any chance?” I asked.

Rafe’s eyes went wide, and then he started coughing up smoke.

“W-Why do you ask?” He stammers, still coughing.

I gave him a weird look and just shrugged. “Curious, I guess.” I looked back at the ocean. “I’m the new girl, and everyone keeps telling me about all this stuff, but won’t tell me what actually happened, and I dunno, I’m just so confused.”

I turned to face Rafe, who was looking away, and I think I saw tears forming in his eyes. “Yea, Sarah’s my sister.”

Now it was my turn to cough up smoke. “W-”-cough cough- “Wait”-cough cough- “a minute.” I gasp for air and continue coughing. And after I finally manage to get some oxygen into my lungs, I say, “Sarah Cameron’s your sister? Shit, I’m so sorry, Topper never told me.”

Rafe shrugged, fiddling around with his rings. “It’s alright, I was just...surprised. No one asks me about Sarah or the Pogues anymore. After I came back from rehab-” He stopped, probably because he didn’t mean to say that, but he continued, “After I came back from rehab, I just...stopped beefing with the Pogues, especially JJ, Kie, and Pope. You know them?”

I nodded. “I know Kie, we’re friends. But not JJ and Pope. Never met ‘em, don’t even know what they look like, yet I’ve heard so many things about them.”

Rafe nodded. “They’re not bad kids, really. My time away made me realize how much of a prick I’ve been to them. Like, I caused them a lot of pain, and for what? For nothing. Literally just because I thought that, because they were poorer than us, they weren’t as good as us.”

I nodded. Then I turned and smiled, and stretched out my hand. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Rafe Cameron.”

He smiled and shook back.

_______________________________

chapter three

[savannahsdrabbles]

Communications (Encounters-verse)

rating: G summary:  After her run in with Splinter and the turtles, April ands up essentially becoming their penpal. Everything is going fine until the messages suddenly stop.

notes: Oops I wrote more. 2.3k words. Ao3 link here.

April found the first note jammed under her bedroom window, the edges fluttering in the breeze and almost unnoticeable. She still wondered how Splinter had made it to the fourth floor – and how he knew which bedroom was hers – but she was slowly learning to not question her new acquaintances.

           “Thank you again for the pizza last night. Michelangelo is doing well and sends his greetings. We appreciate your discretion. -S”

           April tucked the note between the worn pages of ‘The Tale of Despereaux’ and hid the book on her shelf. The last line made her feel slightly uneasy. Instinct told her to immediately reveal what had happened in the alley to her mother, but something simultaneously held her back. She could already guess her mother’s reaction – questioning her daughter’s sanity and then making a big deal out of not letting her go outside alone. On the flip side, say her mother believed her immediately. The image of flashing lights outside and soldiers showing up to haul her new friends off to laboratories made April shudder. No, for the time being, she would keep this to herself.

           She ended up leaving a paper bag full of bologna sandwiches and apple slices on the fire escape. It wasn’t as great as pizza, but Mikey’s growling stomach the night before told her that food of any variety would be a blessing for them.

           “I won’t tell anyone – and I’m glad Mikey’s doing ok. I wish I could help more. – April O’Neil”

           The note and paper bag sat out on the fire escape all day, making April wonder if perhaps Splinter’s message had been his way of ending communication. However, when she passed the window during a nighttime bathroom run, she was pleased to see that both were gone. A second note now sat in its place – a paper tube tied together with a yellow piece of fabric.

           April retrieved the bundle silently and then hurried to the bathroom where she could turn on the light without disturbing her snoring mother. Once situated on the bathroom tile, the girl pulled off the fabric and smiled. Her bandana looked almost brighter than before and smelled strongly of soap.

           “I wanted to return your scarf today – I washed it this morning, so hopefully it is ok to use again. My sons also wanted me to give you these. – S”

           Several smaller pieces of paper were rolled up within the note. April looked back towards the door, listening to make sure that her mom was still asleep, and then carefully spread the papers on the floor in front of her.

           Three crudely drawn crayon drawings looked back at her. The first consisted entirely of scribbles – childlike interpretations of flowers and smiley faces, and a round circle at the bottom of the page that had been labeled ‘cat’ in shaky letters. The names “Michelangelo” and “Raphael” were written neatly in the corner in an adult’s handwriting – clearly Splinter’s. The second drawing was similar to the first, though the page looked much busier as if more hands had been involved. A small tear in the paper told her of someone pushing too hard with the crayon and accidentally ripping the page, and based on the name scrawled underneath the hole it seemed to be “Leo’s”. The final drawing was more concise than the rest – four short green sick figures bearing matching smiles and a slightly bigger grey one with a pink line that April imagined was a tail. An orange arrow pointed to one of the green figures, labeling it as “Me”, and April grinned. That had to be Mikey.

           She turned the paper over in her hand and examined the back. Mikey had drawn almost the same drawing on the first page – probably tracing the original image through the paper – but it was a bit different. This Mikey had a red scribble on his foot casually labeled ‘blud’, and the character was holding hands with a new character. This one was about the same height as the Mikey character, but was drawn with a tan crayon and featured a black shape above her head (April couldn’t help but laugh when she saw the scribbled out word ‘fur’ floating next to the cloud, and a slightly smaller marker beneath it labeling the cloud as hair). Mikey’s name was written at the bottom of the page in wobbly handwriting, as if he had been using a lot of concentration to write it neatly.

           April’s cheeks almost hurt from grinning as she carefully folded the papers back up added them between the pages of her book.

           A third note was left taped to the fire escape, thanking Splinter for returning the scarf and promising a drawing in response if he came back the next day.

           The next few weeks consisted of more of the same – April sneaking food out of her school lunchbox and leaving it on the fire escape with a note or drawing. Splinter didn’t come every evening, but that only served to make each morning a surprise. Her mom seemed shocked at the change – April had always been a night owl, but these days it seemed like she could never wait to dive into bed. April brushed this off as just being tired from school, to which her mother responded by packing extra food in her lunches every day.

“Brain food,” the woman reasoned as she tossed in a second pack of crackers and added a few more grapes to the Ziploc baggie. “Plus you’re probably coming up on a growth spurt – I started puberty at about your age, so you’ll need extra nutrients for when you start your –”

“Sounds great!” April had interrupted, eyes wide with horror as she grabbed the lunch box and darted back towards her room. “Thanks for the advice – gotta grab my backpack – I can’t be late for school!”

           “I wish I could see you guys again– school is boring and my mom’s being a bit weird. On the plus side, I can probably leave more food out now. – April”

           “The boys have been asking to see you, too. It would be too dangerous for us to be seen on the surface, however. I have kept the boys at home since our meeting. Also please don’t worry about the food if it is inconveniencing you. We appreciate it, but I would hate to upset your mother. – S”

           “No, that’s not an issue. Like I’ve said before, I wish I could do more to help. And what do you mean by surface? I’ve been wanting to know more about how/where you guys live. I know you said before that you’re safe, but what does that mean? – April”

           The messages stopped for a few days after this. Her last note had disappeared from the fire escape as expected, but nothing was left in its place. After the third evening with no response, April began to worry that she had said something wrong.  

           “I’m sorry – should I not have asked about the surface? I know you guys have to stay hidden. I’m sorry if I pried. – April”

           “It’s been four days since I heard from you now. I hope you’re not mad at me. If you are, I’m really sorry.  - A”

           “I left a few bananas on the fire escape, but they look like they went bad from sitting out there. I’ll try to leave more out tomorrow. – April”

           “Did something happen to you guys? I can’t stop imagining the worst now. – April”

           “Just please let me know you’re ok. – A”

           “I miss hearing from you.”

           “Please be ok.”

           Two weeks ended up passing with no response, and April hated every moment of them. Her notes were steadily accumulating on the fire escape, untouched and unread. After the third one she started to tuck them all into an envelope and stuck the envelope itself to the window. School and girl scout meetings seemed to drag on. Her usual fascination with science and learning diminished measurably, landing her in after school tutorials to combat her falling grades.  At home her mom fussed over her diminished appetite and sudden lack of energy, questioning if her daughter was sick or if something had happened. April just shook her head and mumbled that it was ‘probably puberty or whatever’.

           Realistically, her mind was constantly bouncing between two theories.

           One fear was that Splinter had realized that it was dangerous communicating with a human. Maybe when April had asked about the surface, he started to fear that she would spread the information and endanger his small family. The idea that he and the turtles distrusted her so much made April’s heart clench.

           The other fear was even greater – what if someone had seen him leaving the messages for her? April had awoken screaming one night after a nightmare where the turtles had been ripped from their father’s arms, wailing as they were thrown into cages and then hauled away to be experimented on. Mikey’s terrified face kept coming back into her mind. He’d been so afraid of her, a child barely older than himself and coming to his aid. She didn’t want to imagine him being approached by grown adults wielding scalpels and–

As much as she hated it, April desperately wished that the first option was the truth.

           Her answer finally came at the end of the second week.

           A small knock on her bedroom window roused April from a restless sleep. She reached over to her nightstand and patted around for her glasses, then sat up and flipped the switch on her lamp. The sight that she saw almost made her collapse with relief.

           There was Splinter on the fire escape, one hand sheepishly waving in greeting and the other clutching her envelope.

           April nearly tripped over her own feet as she threw herself out of the bed and dashed across the room. Reaching the window, she shoved the glass open and then threw her arms around the rat. “Oh my gosh – Splinter – I’m so sorry – I don’t know what I did but I thought –”

           “I am sorry, too,” the rat gave her a fatherly embrace in return, allowing the girl to squeeze his shoulders, and then gently pulled away. Even in the darkness, April could see bags beneath the rat’s eyes. “I did not mean to frighten you, or to stop corresponding. The past two weeks have just been… a lot.”

           “Is everyone ok?”

           Splinter nodded tiredly. “They are now. Michelangelo’s foot had been healing quite well, but it developed an infection that ended up getting him quite sick. He’s alright now, of course, but it was hard to handle without access to medical supplies.” The rat shook his head in frustration. “How I wish I could have just taken him to a hospital – we caught it early on, and I’m sure that it would not have gotten as bad as it did had he been able to receive antibiotics.”

           April didn’t know what to say, so she remained silent as he continued. “As if that weren’t enough, Donatello and Leonardo both came down with what I can only assume was the flu. Raphael and I ended up having our hands full, and time just slipped away from me.” he sighed, ears drooping slightly as he waved the hand with the envelope. “Again, I am sorry that I frightened you with our silence. I was going to just leave a note tonight explaining the circumstances, but after reading your messages, I realized it would seem cruel to not speak in person.”

           “I’m just glad you’re all ok,” April sighed heavily, her mind fully relaxing for the first time in two weeks. “I was afraid I’d said something wrong or asked too much.”

           The rat nodded softly. “I appreciate your concern – it was wrong of me to put the pressure of secrecy on someone so young, but your generosity and kindness have come to mean a lot to us, Ms. O’Neil. The boys talk about you constantly, and have been asking when they could next see you. Which brings me to my decision,”

           April watched as his expression morphed into a more serious one. For all the respect and care she’d grown to have for Splinter, his tougher expression reminded her of the way he’d looked at her the first time they’d met – she was a potential threat to his family, and he would do what he needed to protect those he loved.

           “There is a lot that I have not explained about my boys’ and my existence – some of this information I have not shared with them, either. However, you have proven your trustworthiness and integrity, and I would like to extend an offer to you. I cannot thank you enough for how you have helped our family, but I would like to show you how much you mean to us. If you are willing, I would like for you to visit our home. You do not have to come, nor do you have to return if you do not want to. But my family would love the opportunity to personally honor you as our hogosha – our guardian spirit. I hope you understand that this would have to remain private-”

           “I would love to!” April blurted out, then immediately blushed at her eagerness. “I mean – I would love to get to hang out with Mikey and the others. And you, too.”

           Small crinkle lines appeared under Splinter’s tired eyes as he smiled. “Very well. In that case, I would like to invite you to dinner tomorrow evening. I will personally come and get you, and can escort you to our home. Once we are finished, I can return you here before anyone will notice your absence.”

           “Ok!” April bounced on the balls of her feet and grinned. “I can’t wait!”

           “Oh, and until then,” Splinter pulled a small pencil from the folds of his robe and scribbled something on the back of the envelope. “Donatello recently helped me to install a phone in our lair. I figured that this might me an easier method of communication than our notes.”

[vanderlindeandco]

Hey I was wondering if i could get a one shot of Marcus x reader, where the reader is super shy and really likes Marcus but is too scared too tell him and the guys (cole, Baird, and dom) end up telling Marcus how the reader feels and ends up getting mad at them but thanks them because magic feels the same.

HELL yeah brother

“All right, then you’re going to slide this piece right here.“ Marcus’s fingers, fast for their size, pressed the last piece of the transmitter into place. “Got it?”

You nodded, taking the device from his hands when he handed it to you. “Thank you.”

“Get to work, Private.” He walked away, and you felt the floor quake just a little under his steady steps.

You really liked your new squad. Dom was kind and welcoming and you already saw him as something of a big brother, even though it had only been a couple months since you’d been transferred to Delta. Cole was fearless and never failed to put a smile on your face, whether by words or conduct. Baird could be cantankerous, and it had taken you awhile to figure out his sense of humor, but once you had, you came to value his ingenuity and edginess, and even to tolerate his whining. Sam was brave and funny and snarky, and you admired her confidence and how she flourished and excelled even in such a testosterone-filled environment.

But Marcus, well… Marcus was distracting. And for being the least talkative of the lot, that made no sense, you knew. But it wasn’t intentional on his part. It was in the gravel of his voice, a sound that sent goosebumps down your spine when he whispered an order in your ear on a covert operation. It was in his confidence, how he took charge in whatever situation cropped up, and even in the way he barked orders. It was the way he looked out for his squad, protecting them and doing everything he could to ensure their well-being. It was his devotion to his cause, the idealism that you could see even through years of mistakes, loss, and wear and tear. His fierce blue eyes helped too, and you appreciated the way his armor hugged his tank-like body, and the strong arms that emerged from under the metal.

You had it bad, and you knew it would be best to forget it. Even if something were to come of it, it would essentially lock you in your current rank of private since any promotions you received would automatically be suspect - the gap between your ranks was just too big. And you hated the way you got awkward around him, how your fingers fumbled on simple tasks, and your words seemed to trip over themselves. You didn’t quite feel like yourself around him.

You were patrolling one night with Dom and Cole, making rounds of the borders of the remote base Delta had temporarily been stationed at, when Dom asked, “So. When are you going to tell him?”

“Tell who?” you said.

“You’re supposed to ask what too, if you really don’t know,” Cole said, tapping the side of his nose confidentially.

“It’s that obvious?” you said sheepishly.

“A little,” Dom said.

“Well, you go from a very competent soldier to a schoolgirl around him” Cole said.

“So this is where you tell me it’s not going to work and not to get my hopes up,” you said. “I know, believe me.”

“Actually,” Dom said, “I think we were going to tell you to go for it.” You looked at him incredulously. “Back me up, Cole.”

“Marcus knows what you’re all about,” Cole said. “You might not be the highest-ranking, but you got a rep. Trustworthy, adventurous, funny - and I know you’re a hell of a good shot.”

“So what are you saying?” you asked, not wanting to risk drawing conclusions they weren’t trying to make.

“You’re his type, genius,” Baird’s voice crackled through Cole’s radio.

“That’s on?!” you asked, your cheeks immediately growing hot.

“Oops,” Cole said.

“Hey, I’m good at girl talk too,” Baird said.

You shot a resentful glance at Cole, who shrugged apologetically. Baird was friend, but he would not have been your top pick of who to confide your feelings in. “What’s happening?” Baird asked. “Can you still hear me? Come in, Delta.” He began to sing, his voice painfully out of tune. “If you fell in love with Marcus, clap your hands,” clap clap, “If you-”

“Okay, I hear you!” you said. You had wanted to say something considerably different - something that involved quite a few more four-letter words, but you hadn’t known Baird long enough to justify cussing out someone who outranked you by that much.

“Look, I’m just saying, say he does feel the same way - that probably means it’ll be twice as hard for me to get a promotion because everyone will think it’s just because I’m involved with him,” you said.

“You think Marcus would let that stand?” Cole said. “Hell no. He’d bang heads together until it worked.”

“I guess.” His words raised your hopes, but you knew it was smartest not to get too optimistic.

“Just nut up and tell him!” Baird said. There came some muffled noise through the radio, and a faint but familiar voice, and then Baird saying “Oh, hey, Sarge. Been here long?”

“Shit,” you muttered, and the radio cut out.

“He’s, uh… not the best about keeping secrets,” Dom said.

“Yeah,” you said, a little bitterly.

“It’ll be fine,” Cole said.

“Yep.” You scanned the quiet desert.

“Don’t worry about it,” Dom said. “Baird puts his foot in his mouth all the time. He’ll take care of it.”

“Good,” you said.

It was nearly midnight, the end of the guard shift, and you took a last circuit with Dom and Cole around the base before entering again through the gates. The base was quiet at night, so you were surprised to see two soldiers crossing the open courtyard toward you, and your heart sunk when even in the dim moonlight you spotted the familiar bandana on the head of the taller of the two.

“Private,” he said, his voice resounding in the courtyard even though he wasn’t speaking loudly.

“Uh, yes sir?” your voice had come out weak. Fuck, why was it so hard to talk around him?

“Baird tells me you have something to say.”

There was no way he had told him… was there? Your tongue felt heavy and clumsy as you tried to shape words. “I, uh-” your panicked eyes darted to Baird, who had a confident smirk on his face. “I-I wanted to thank you for…” for what? You groped around your mind for something to say. “-for teaching me, uh, earlier.”

“No problem,” Marcus said. “That’s it?”

“Yes, sir.” You knew your cheeks were bright red and you were grateful for the cover of night.

Baird looked a little let down, and you scowled at him as soon as Marcus’s attention shifted to Dom. “Everything clear on the patrol?” Marcus asked.

“All good,” Dom said.

“Good,” Marcus said. “Get some rest, all of you. Good work.”

As soon as you were out of earshot of Marcus and Baird, the words you’d been holding back burst from your lips. “That son of a bitch! I sounded like a total idiot.” You mocked your own voice, “‘Thanks for teaching me.’ Fuck!”

“Yeah, he overstepped a little there,” Dom said. “But I think he just wanted to help you make a move.”

“Yeah well, that should be up to me,” you said.

“Do try and do it before you get old and die an old widow,” Cole teased.

You sighed. Maybe he had a point. “I’ll think about it.”

*****

The next morning when you came into the mess hall, you found the men of Delta huddled around the isolated end of one long table. Dom was saying something, an earnest expression on his face, but you couldn’t hear the words. You grabbed a tray, accepting the normal morning rations before approaching the squad. The conversation stopped as you neared, all four soldiers suddenly seeming a little too interested in the mostly flavorless powdered eggs that comprised the main part of the meal. “Morning,” you said as you sat down next to Dom.

“Morning!” Cole said with a sunny smile.

“Marcus?” Baird asked, but when Marcus didn’t speak, he shook his head, lamenting toward the ceiling, “Do I have to do every-fucking-thing for you two?” You didn’t have time to figure out the implication of his words before he turned to you, asking, “You got a dress or something here?”

“No, why?” you asked.

“Cause you got a date tonight.”

“A… date? What did you say?” This seemed like it was probably about to go terribly wrong. There was Baird, out of line, again, but it wasn’t just him this time. You’d give them all a talking-to later. Your eyes darted to Marcus, whose gaze was still trained on his breakfast. You couldn’t read his expression at first - it seemed closed, tense, before you realized with a shock of tenderness that he was in fact bashful.

“Damn, is it hard to breathe in here or is it just all the sexual tension?” Baird asked.

Marcus scowled at him but then he turned to you and his face softened.“You know there’s not much to do around here. I, uh, thought we could go for a drive and maybe eat off-base.”

“I don’t think the word ‘picnic’ is in his vocabulary, but that’s what he’s getting at,” Baird said. “My idea, of course. He thought you should go to the range together. Cause there’s nothing as romantic as shooting paper to shit on your first date.”

“I…” Marcus looked up at the start of your sentence, and the intensity of his gaze made you pause. “Yes.”

There was silence for a moment and then Cole cheered as Baird clapped Marcus on the back. “There we go,” Dom said.

“You can thank me later,” Baird said. “We’re out of here.” The other three members of the squad rose, leaving you alone sitting across from Marcus.

You cleared your throat. “I like your idea better.”

He chuckled, his weathered face relaxing. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He stuffed the last bite of toast in his mouth, chewing it thoroughly before rising, tray in hand. “I’ll meet you at the range at 1900 hours.”

You smiled, and for once that funny feeling you got in the pit of your stomach when you were around him wasn’t a bad one. “Yes, sir.”

***

You had martial arts training with Dom that afternoon, and when you walked into the training room with a smile on your face, he asked, “Still mad at us?”

“No,” you said, a little grudgingly.

“Anything else you want to say?” he asked, a playful smile in his eyes.

“Yeah... Thank you.”

He nodded. “He likes you. Have fun tonight. Use protection!”

You rolled your eyes, fastening the velcro on your gloves. “Get your guard up.”

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Fight for the People

A femslash fic I wrote for KH femslash month. It’s the pirate girl and black girl from the Sewer Squad. The former I named “Seraphina” as a nod to Final Fantasy? I think? Since there are often Sarahs there. And I named the latter “Skully” because it sounds like “scholarly”, and she certainly looks that way to me.

Also, the coronavirus somehow found its way into this plot. Oops.

"I... I really like you, Skully" Seraphina said. Currently, they were in her room of blue and white polka-dots, recovering from a mission and trying to do the whole “social distancing thing” on their own terms. "…And not just because you told everyone to use bandanas to fight against this outbreak."

But even though that wasn’t the main reason Seraphina fancied Skully—no, it was because of the first quests they’d shared together a few months ago—she was also glad for what Skully had done, because otherwise even more people would have died.

"I know," said Skully, as she pulled Seraphina down onto the bed with her and kissed her lips. “And I feel the same… but we have to focus on the matter at hand here. Because bandanas aren’t completely effective, but still better than nothing, and more could get sick in thinking they’re safe with them, when they’re not. Let’s try and brainstorm and see if we can’t come up with a solution for all of this.” And Seraphina didn't have to be asked twice. She thought that if they could convince the Foretellers to let a majority of wielders use light magic from the clock tower, that everyone might be healed!

And so, the girls snuck into the Foretellers’ tower—using the way their newest friend had shown them—and they were completely taken aback, when they saw that the Foretellers weren't there, but rather kids about their own age? Right away, Seraphina knew this didn’t bode well. And so, she didn’t mind at all, when Skully unintentionally dug her nails into her arm—as she held onto it for comfort—at the shock of it all.

"Have you replaced the Foretellers and commandeered their home?" Seraphina asked, in trying to sound like the pirate she dressed like... but also not fully knowing what a pirate was. "O-of course not!" answered a girl with black hair and golden eyes, who Seraphina may or may not have seen around their strongest friend in their squad. "And in any case, you two shouldn't be up here, exposing yourselves! You could get sick!" "But we think we may have an idea for a cure,” said Skully in such an uncertain way—even though she was a genius, and knew it—that one couldn’t help but to want to follow her suggestion, to prove to the poor girl that she was worth something.

And proving that sentiment entirely—was a kid who was sipping tea and reading a book, as his sharply dressed Chirithy sat upon his shoulder."And what is that cure?" the boy asked Skully, as he sent her a small smile. And if Seraphina hadn’t been certain of her place in Skully’s life now, she may have been jealous of it. Perhaps. "To have many of us stand atop this tower here, and send a Curaga spell out towards everyone,” Skully explained. And the boy from before was seemingly so proud of what Skully had just said, that he stood up and pinned some sort of medal to her shirt. But Seraphina couldn’t help feeling that it was wrong somehow… because was that darkness she was seeing being cast from it? No. It couldn’t be. "But if any of us are sick… don't we have a better chance of passing it on to others, if we're all grouped together in a confined space?" squeaked a small-looking blond boy. And Seraphina couldn’t help smiling at him, because it was somehow clear to her that the only one who really cared about her and Skully’s safety here… was him.

"You're right, Ven. But if these two want to do it by themselves, I so no reason why they can't try. It's clear they haven't infected each other, And Chirithy says there's a special power to find in lov-" said the clear leader of the group—as he entered the room with a clipboard in hand and looked at them all pleasantly, even despite the horrible situation at the moment. "Whoa there!" Skully protested the notion that she and Seraphina were in love, just as Seraphina had been about to. She sighed gravely and put her hands on her hips, as she looked at the five Dandelions in a very distrusting manner. And later, Seraphina would find out why. "I like Seraphina. Yes! But I don't know if we’ve moved even further than that yet.”

“But what we should really be focusing on here, is that you’ve at least given us the go-ahead to use your tower. We’re going to do that now, then,” Seraphina drew Skully’s back to the matter-at-hand, as she took both of her hands into her own and began leading her away. And as she did so, Seraphina didn’t think that Skully had ever looked at her with such love. And so the girls acted to save the world, as they held hands and used their Keyblades… even though neither of them knew if it was really a place worth saving, since through talking things out together as they’d cast magic after magic, they realized the Foretellers must have already died in the Keyblade War—and yes, that must have happened—and these five were trying to replace them. "What do we do, if we know that they’re lying to us?" Skully asked, as she looked at the sprawling ground beneath them. And was it Seraphina, or was Skully imagining that it looked a tempting place to try and jump to. She could only pray that her girlfriend wouldn’t try and take her own life here!

But perhaps prayers and hope in general were the answer to Skully’s question and this predicament, then. That, and love. Like that white-haired boy had spoken of earlier. "We believe in each other—and in our friends—and fight for the people."

“Fight for the people…” Skully echoed.

And when Skully ended up kissing Seraphina with much passion after saying that, she couldn’t help feeling that what the other girl was fighting for was the chance to feel their lips on each other’s. And Seraphina was much the same, and melted into this embrace and wished for the best.

[zach-the-fox]

Furiends Episode 1: A New Beginning

“Just sign your name and we will take care of the rest,” says a deer with glasses to an orange fox, male in body build, with brown eyes. The fox takes the pen and writes along the dotted lines next to the “x”. Upon finishing, the fox hands back the pen as the deer takes the clipboard of the discharge forms. “Zach the Fox. All right, you’re all set, Mr. Fox. Is anyone coming to pick you up?”

The fox sighs as his ears droop. “I wish there was…”

“Nobody at all? Well, I’m sorry to hear. Hope you have a wonderful day.”

“I doubt that I will…” The fox heads off. “Everybody hates me… Nobody wants me…” Just as he heads out the door, he is stopped by a voice.

“Mister! Hey, Mister!” The orange fox’s ears stick up before he turns around to see a beige warthog approach him. Eyelashes and long, chocolate hair, messy on top but flowing in the back nicely straight with curves at the end, shows her gender to be female. Her eyes are protected by grey glasses as she dons an orange shirt underneath a black jacket and blue jeans. She stops in front of the fox, appearing to be half his size, then raises her hoof up with a blue bandana. Her brown eyes glare at the fox as she keeps the bandana suspending. “You left this in the hospital room. I was afraid you might’ve forgotten it.”

The fox keeps his frown on. “Keep it… I don’t want it anymore… It just reminds me of the life I dreamed of having… I can’t stand the pain of remembering all that…”

“Why does this blue bandana trouble you?”

“It was given to me by an orphanage patron, who thought I was special… Special enough to be labeled and picked at, as well as a symbol for being flawed.”

“So, it’s yours, then.”

“You can have it,” he tells her. “I insist.”

“I’d rather not have something that truly belongs to someone else. Besides, it would be better if you wore it, because it shows who you are.” She holds the bandana higher to him. “Here. Wear it.”

“If it’ll make you happy…” The fox takes the bandana from her hoof and proceeds to tie it around his neck. He makes sure the triangular part is big and points down toward his belly. “Happy now?”

“You don’t seem happy yourself,” she reflects. “Is this about Team Rescuers pushing you away? Or is it about everybody seeing you as the flawed fox of Heroto?” The fox looks away with his ears drooping. “Listen, I know how you feel.” The warthog takes a step closer. “It’s never good to be picked on or singled out because of a disorder or even from being a product of an inappropriate relationship or just be bad at something. I understand how you feel. My stepfather’s a big jerk, yet my mom and I struggle to put up with him.”

“Yeah, well at least you’ve got a family… I’ve had it hard my whole life… I have no family… no friends… No one… Unloved… Hated…”

“I’ll be your friend if you’d like.” The fox’s ears straighten immediately as he pivots his head to her quickly. “I really don’t mind. In fact, I could introduce you to some other friends of mine.” The warthog grabs the fox’s paw. “Come!” Being forced to follow her, the fox catches up as she pulls him away.

 ***

 Walking along a grey-tiled foundation are three animals. One is a rottweiler, dressed with a white t-shirt underneath a steel-blue, opened vest, dark blue pants, and green sneakers. The dog is skinny in build to show a feminine gender. Beside her on her left is a blue jay with nothing but long, Persian-blue hair and black glasses, female in build as well. On the rottweiler’s right, a neon-blue wolf, male in figure with rainbow hair, walks alongside her. The three chat amongst themselves as they amble the right side of a long corridor, lined with stores.

“Did you really need that plushie?” the rottweiler asks, looking at the wolf.

“I couldn’t resist!” the wolf tells her. “He was just so cute!” He snuggles the little stuffed animal. “I didn’t want anyone else but me to have him. I love him!”

“If you love him so much, why don’t you kiss him?” utters the blue jay. She snickers.

The wolf looks at her with a mean glare. “Don’t start with me.”

“Hey guys!” The three animals turn to their front and see the warthog approach them.

“Well, look who it is!” the dog says. Her mouth bends into a small smile. “Glad you came. Was starting to think you weren’t going to make it.”

“I got held up at my appointment,” the warthog tells her. “Then, I met this fox here.” She turns to her guest behind her, letting go of his paw. “He was in the same hospital room as I, but he forgot his bandana, so I returned it to him.”

As the dog looks up at the fox, her smile reflects into a frown. “Hey, wait a minute.” She points at the fox. “You’re that fox whose been hanging around Team Rescuers, aren’t you?”

The blue wolf scans the fox up and down. “Yep, it’s the flawed fox of Heroto. However, I don’t see his friends anywhere.”

“Where are your hero friends?” asks the blue jay. “Aren’t they around?” The fox backs away a couple of steps, ears drooping with a frown.

“What’s wrong with you?” the dog asks. “Can’t you talk? Why are you backing away?”

“You’re not helping,” the warthog utters in defense. She faces the fox. “Don’t mind them. They’re not used to you.” She looks back at the other three. “Besides, he isn’t even with Team Rescuers anymore. They abandoned him a while back.”

“Oh yeah!” The rainbow-haired wolf spurts. “They booted him from the team…”

“Yeah, everybody knows that,” the fox tells him. “I always wanted to save people because I didn’t want anyone to end up like me… I was influenced by Captain Red Mask, telling me that caring and helping those is a great honor… I also wanted to prove that I wasn’t a … I failed… Not because I stopped trying, but I never got support because everyone thought I was a flawed fox; all because I’m the product of an inappropriate relationship and my disorder. That’s all everyone sees in me… Being a hero is all just a dream now…”

“Damn,” goes the blue jay. “That’s dark…”

“Nobody wants me… Nobody loves me… They all confirm that I fail because of my faults… I’m nothing! Nobody…” Tears develop in his eyes. “Why doesn’t anyone appreciate me…?”

“Hey listen,” the dog begins, taking one step forward to him and putting a paw on his shoulder. “I’m sorry about all that. I didn’t understand how rough you had it. It’s not an easy feeling to have your dreams crushed like that, and to have people view you for little things…” The fox’s ears raise but remain drooped. “I’ll tell you what, why don’t you hang out with us?”

The fox’s ears straighten as he picks his head up. His tears ceasing. “R-really? Y-you wouldn’t mind at all? What if I mess something up?”

“Don’t worry about that,” the warthog assures him. “They’re fine with everything.”

The fox looks down at the warthog, sighs, then back up at the three animals. “Well, if you insist. Sure, I’d love to hang out…”

The blue jay steps up, grabs his paw with her wing, then shakes it roughly. “It’s such a pleasure to have you with us, Flawed Fox!”

“Zach,” the fox tells her, holding onto her wing as she shakes his arm. “I’m Zach… You’re hurting me…”

The blue jay takes back her wing. “Oops, sorry.” She chuckles awkwardly. “I’m Navy.” She points to the dog. “This is Sally, and the blue wolf’s Niji.” Niji waves and says “hello”, while Sally gives him a slight smile.

“And I’m Emmy,” the warthog butts in. “We’re happy to have you with us, Zach.”

“Um, cool,” Zach says. “So, what are we doing?”

“Not sure,” replies Sally. “We were just walking around the mall before Emmy brought you along. And we also stopped at one store so Niji could get a doll…”

Niji hugs the toy against his chest, then he spots a vendor with a long menu of frozen treats. “Hey, I’m kind of in the mood for some ice cream. Can we get some?”

“Oh!” shouts Navy. “I want some ice cream, too!”

“Calm down, “children”,” Sally orders. “Don’t rush me… Jeez.” She leads everyone to the line of the vendor. “Everyone know what they’re having?” Emmy, Niji, and Navy all give her a “yes” in response. “Okay.” The dog then faces Zach. “Zach, how about you?”

“I, um…” Zach rubs his arm. “I have no money. I just won’t have any.”

“It’s all right,” Navy tells him. “I’ll pay for yours.”

Zach looks to the bird. “You don’t have to… It’s fine.”

“I want to. Don’t worry. What flavor do you want?”

“Strawberry, I guess…” The five animals are next in line at the counter. As soon as they place their orders, the vendor gets to work on the requests. The ice cream person churns out the flavors the gang had called for, accepting the money laid out on the counter. The group takes their cups of frozen treats and amble away from the vendor, sitting around an iron-wielded table about ten meters away. They dig their plastic spoons into the colored, soft mountains and begin shoveling them into their mouths.

“So, Zach,” Sally begins. “Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I know the whole town knows who you are with the whole “flawed fox” thing, but I think it’s best if we learned about you in your own words. Unless, you don’t feel like sharing.”

“No,” Zach responds. “It’s okay.” He takes a deep breath in, starting with his story. “When I was born, I was immediately put up for adoption. My parents, David and Delilah, are infamous for their inappropriate relationship, but I’m sure you all know, right?” The other four all nod their heads. “So, the orphanage is where I grew up and spent my whole life. I never made a single friend or got adopted because of that relationship and the diagnosis of my disorder. Everyone saw me as different and were afraid. I was constantly picked on and bullied by the other kids, being told how much of a burden I am.”

“Harsh, dude,” Niji comments. “Did you tell the adults?”

“They didn’t do much to solve my issues. I was kept away from everyone and put in rooms alone. Everything was horrible until I met Team Rescuers. I would hang around with them and fight alongside them against Capital Corp of Buscity. For once in my life, I was happy. That was short-lived, however. They talked negatively about me on how poor of a job I would do. I asked them if I could learn from them… They neglected my request to prove I was more of a flawed fox than a fantastic fox…”

“So, it wasn’t your fault,” Sally claims. “It was theirs… They neglected and refused to train you…”

“It gets worse… I tried to learn on my own, but I wasn’t good enough… You guys know what happens next; the end of Zach the super fox…”

“Hard,” says Emmy. “But, you still talked to them, didn’t you?”

Zach shakes his head. “They wanted nothing to do with me. For the next three years, I focused on looking for a lover and struggled to find friends… Time ran out for me, though… I was evicted from the orphanage…”

“Oh jeez, Zach,” Sally utters. “I didn’t know you had it harder than I thought… What are your intentions now? What do you plan to do now that you’re on your own?”

Zach’s ears flop down again. “I… I don’t know… I never really anticipated it… I was just released from the hospital, yet I have nowhere to go… I have no family, no friends, nobody to care about… Team Rescuers has stripped me of the only dream I had and pushed me away… I don’t know what to do…”

“You’ll figure things out.” Emmy places a hoof on his paw. “You have us to be your friends now.” The others agree. “Think of it as starting a new life. We’ve got you.”

“Thanks, Emmy. Thank you all. I appreciate it… I don’t know where to go, though… Maybe I could find shelter in an alleyway and build myself a home…”

“No,” Sally tells him. “You don’t have to do that. You can stay with me. My mother and I have plenty of room.”

Zach’s ears straighten as he looks to her. “R-really? You would take me in?” Sally nods. “You and your mother wouldn’t mind at all?”

“I’d have to explain your situation to her. But other than that, she and I will be willing to let you stay. We have a room for guests that used to belong to my sister’s, but once I’ve cleared everything to my mother, it will be yours.”

“Thank you very much, Sally. I appreciate your kindness and generosity. If there’s anything I can do to repay you, let me know.”

“It’s not necessary.”

“I insist, though.”

“Okay, okay,” Emmy spurts out. “How about we focus on finishing our ice cream?”

“I want to hit the Kidsney store next!” Niji swivels his paw around quickly, shoveling as much of his ice cream in his mouth as he can.

“Don’t eat so fast, Niji!” Sally commands. “Or else you’ll get a-”

“Gah!” Niji holds his head as his eyes clench. “Oh!”

Navy chuckles. “Brain freeze!”

“That’ll teach you to eat slower next time,” utters Emmy. The group continues to eat their frozen desserts at their own pace. 

A new beginning indeed! Here is the start of the revamped series of Furiends! Staring: @zach-the-fox @emmy-the-absolute-goof @sally-the-pack-leader​ @rainbow-strike​ @pink-unicorn-boi​ / @pink-unicorn-blood​

[blog-in-a-corner]

Mystreet TES rewritten to fit the animated music video part 2

Hey what’s up gamers here’s the second part to my fic

Warning: i’m an idiot with the sense of humor of a banana

Aaron awoke to an unfamiliar room.

“This place…... it's….” Aaron muttered weakly.

“It's a shit hole” Aaron said.

And it was a shit hole.

“Oh you're finally fucking awake you sure took your sweet ass time” an unfamiliar woman said.

“Who the fuck are you supposed to be?” Aaron said.

“Your guardian angel uwu” the woman said.

“Oh so your like,my fairy godmother or some shit?” Aaron asked.

“What? No-where did you even get that from-ugh. Nevermind. Listen kid you gotta go back or else your gf is going to die” the woman said.

“Idk the rent back home is pretty damn high so I mean-” Aaron said.

“Bitch just go back to life if you don't want to get cucked by Zane” the woman said.

“Well shit Zane is the last person I would want to get cucked by. Fine I'll go” Aaron said.

“Alright then. My work here is done” the woman said.

“But you didn't do anything!” Aaron said

“Oh,didn't I?” the woman said.

“Yeah. You didn't” Aaron said.

“Oh. Well. See you in two seasons!” the woman said.

“WAIT WHAT AM I GOING TO DIE AGAIN-” Aaron said as the room began to fade.

Aaron….was coming back to….

“If he dies I take dibs on his car,it has seat warmers” said a voice so raspy it sounds like someone shoved sandpaper down their throat.

“I take dibs on his family inheritance!” said Emmalyn,or was it?

“No fair I wanted that!” said a voice that was trying too hard to be emo.

“Shut the fuck up you’re already rich” said the voice of a BTGGF(big tiddy goth gf).

“What the fuck is all of this about dibs?” Aaron said as he snapped wide awake.

“WHATTHEFUCK”

“HOLYSHIT”

“WHATINTHEFRESHHELL”

“FUCK”

Said the rest in unison.

“I-i'm alive!” Aaron said in shock.

“Dammit” Kim said.

“That's too bad” Lucinda said.

“How in the fuck did I wind up here? Last thing I remember is falling down a huge fucking cliff” Aaron said.

“Well after we found Zane he ran away because I was going to kick his ass but then he found your half dead corpse and Lucinda teleported us here and I accidentally dropped your head on one of the steps on the way up to your room” Garroth explained.

“Oh” Aaron said.

“Wait why the fuck is part of my shirt on my eyes?” Aaron asked.

“Your eyes looked cold so I put it on your eyes” Garroth said.

“How the fuck can someone's EYES look cold????” Aaron said.

“To be fair,you were half dead sooo” Lucinda said.

“Well I don't know about you guys but all of this fucking running and worrying and dying has gotten me hungry” Kim said,as she proceeded to tear off part of Garroth's hair and eat it like cotton candy. No one was bothered by this.

“Now that you bring it up I'm hungry too. I wonder if I still have any chicken nuggets left in my pocket” Aaron said rummaging through his pocket.

“I'm sorry you keep FUCKING CHICKEN NUGGETS IN YOUR PANTS POCKETS BECAUSE?” Zane yelled.

“And you don't???” Aaron said,as he pulled out of the picture of him and Aphmau from prom.

“Wait, Aphmau…..Ein…..Fuck! Aphmau I need to save her!” Aaron said as yote(past tense of “yeet”) from his bed.

“HEY MOTHERFUCKER WAIT HOW THE FUCK DID YOU EVEN SEE THE PHOTO THROUGH YOUR BANDANA?!” Garroth yelled.

“AND WHY ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE WORRIED ABOUT APHMAU?!” Kim shouted.

“AARON YOU ASSHOLE I SPENT 30 MINUTES MAKING YOUR BED FOR YOU AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?!” Zane screeched as he ran after Aaron.

“I'm not upset but you idiots need my help because plot conveniences!” Lucinda yelled after them. She breasted boobily to the stairs,and titted downwards.

“Anyway I'm off to raid Aaron's luggage and designate his entire will to myself”

“But what about Zane and the gas money-”

“FUCK I FORGOT ABOUT THAT LITTLE SHIT BRING A NINE IRON KIM” Garroth cut Kim mid sentence as they both ran out of the shit hole of a lodge they were in.

“Sweet,free entertainment.” Kim said as they ran.

We snap back to Aaron running in the forest, like a car commercial. Fierce. Sexy. Powerful. Free. After what felt like hours(actually just 30 minutes) Aaron found Ein and Aphmau.

“Aphmau! Ein!” Aaron yelled.

“Aaron!” Ein yelled.

“EIN!” Aaron yelled.

“AARON!” Ein yelled.

“Aphmau! :^]” Aphmau said.

“........”

“........”

“........”

“Okay Aphmau you just ruined the fucking mood just kill him” Ein said.

“Hmph. Fine” Aphmau pouted.

Aphmau raised her knife and lunged at Aaron.

“It's time…...fOR MY EXTRA ULTRA SUPER SPECIAL DOUBLE TWIRL ANIME JUMP STAB!” Aphmau yelled,as she attempted to extra ultra super special double twirl anime jump stab Aaron.

Aaron grabs her wrist and accidentally twists it and shatters all of the bones in her arm.

“Oops sorry fuck” Aaron said.

Aaron noticed something off about bae.

“your eye……” Aaron muttered.

“Wait when the FUCK did she get bruised!?” Ein said.

Read the contract babe.

“Oh. Fuck” Ein said.

“EIN!” Aaron yelled as he ran as fast as a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird at top speed towards Ein.

“sHIT!” Ein screamed.

Aaron yeeted his entire body at Ein but Ein did a super Mario jump over Aaron but then Aaron used the entire force of his whole body to punch Ein into oblivion but Ein recovered and punched Aaron but broke his wrists in the process because he doesn't know how to punch then Aaron head butted Ein but he did it wrong so he hurt himself too and then Ein threw him into a tree and almost punched him again but in that moment Aaron unlocked ultra instinct and pushed him against a tree and de-evilized turned Ein into a human.

“NO NO NO NO YOU CAN'T DO THIS!” Ein screamed.

“Well my edgy anime backstory and murder eyes say I CAN” Aaron said as he left the forest.

“fUCK YOU SASUKE” Ein shouted after Aaron.

Aaron had completely left now.

“Fucking weeaboo”

“Well uh,I guess I'll go now? I was sort of expecting to die but I guess not. Plot convenience, you know how it is” Ein said as he walked away and into a Chick-fil-A.

“We've been running forever! Are we ever going to find Aaron?!” Kim said.

“Man I don't fucking know just keep running!” Lucinda said.

Finally,they had come across none other than Aphmau. Who else would it be, Brendan?

“Oh Aphmau! Why…...are you cosplaying Jasmine from Aladdin?” Zane asked.

“I AM NOT COSPLAYING JASMINE FROM ALADDIN ASSHOLE” Aphmau said in frustration.

“You and Aaron are into some weird fucking shit Aphmau” Garroth said in disgust.

“Grrrrr DIE!!!” Aphmau yelled as she attempted to extra ultra super special double twirl anime jump stab Garroth.

“Sweet! Another knife!” Garroth said as he totally ignored the fact that Aphmau was trying to kill him and grabbed the knife out of her hand.

“This is our chance!” Zane said.

Both Garroth and Zane grab Aphmau by the arms. Of course Kim and Lucinda do nothing but watch.

“ARGHHHHH I SWEAR TO FUCKING IRENE ONCE EIN GETS HERE AND FREES ME I'M GOING TO PUT YOUR HEADS SO FAR UP YOUR ASSES ALL OF YOU WILL BE SHITTING OUT YOUR MOUTH FOR WEEKS-”Aphmau’s screamed,as her voice slowly faded into the background.

“Um,a little help?!” Zane said.

“Nah we're good lol” Lucinda said.

“Ugh,useless!” Zane said.

“Don’t worry! I'm sure Aaron will be here soon” Garroth said.

“I sure fucking hope so” Zane said.

After 3 (three( whole hours because that's how long anime fights take, Aaron arrives to the scene.

“WELL YOU SURE TOOK YOUR SWEET ASS TIME” Zane yelled.

“Cut me some slack! I'm trying to make my death as sad and dramatic as possible!” Aaron said.

“Bold of you to assume your going to die permanently lmao” Lucinda said.

“Aaron,everyone knows you can't actually die. The least you can do is not make it at the inconvenience of everyone” Kim said.

“Ugh fine, release Aphmau” Aaron said.

Both Zane and Garroth release Aphmau at once. Aphmau proceeds to yeet herself at Aaron once more, picking up the knife she dropped on the ground in the process.

“WAIT YOU GUYS LEFT THE KNIFE ON THE GROUND?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Aaron yelled.

“OH CRAP MY KNIFE!!!” Garroth yelled.

Aphmau then stabs Aaron,but he pulls her closer.

“Aphmau…..” Aaron said.

“Hwo,,the fU,CK ArRE yuO,,r teEF gl,,OWI,Ng,,,” Aphmau asked.

“Nevermind that,i…..need to tell you something important……” Aaron said.

“Huh?”

”You…….”

“......smell like cheese dip”

Aaron then proceeded to take a whole hour to fall to the ground dramatically.

“AAAROOOOOON” Aphmau screams.

“Well I guess Aaron is dead :/” Lucinda said.

“Press F” Zane said.

“F”

“F”

“F”

“F”

“F”

“Anyways I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry” Kim said,as she tore yet another piece of Garroth's hair and ate it like cotton candy.

“Maybe Aaron still has some chicken nuggets left in his pockets” Garroth said.

“Let's just go to Taco Bell” Lucinda said.

“TACO I LOVE CHEESY GORDITA” Aphmau yelled in excitement.

“But,what about Aaron?” Zane asked.

“Don't worry he'll just come back to life he always does” Garroth replied.

And so our heroes went off to Taco Bell, blissfully unaware of the fact that Aaron didn't kill Ein.

“wait WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN EIN ISNT FUCKING DEAD WHAT-” Aphmau said angrily.

Sorry that's all the time we have left bye.

End uwu

[supersmashimagines-blog]

the inklings meet the koopalings, mayhem rises.

(Thank you for the submission! This one got a little long… oops! Also note: the inkling names are just a personal headcanon)

When Bowser Jr. and the other koopalings had come along withhis father for a new season of Smash, they’d received a stern talking-to upontheir initial arrival. Bowser wanted to make it clear that, even though theywere the best villains ever and there was nothing wrong with letting everyone elseknow that, there were still rules while in this realm, and if they weren’tfollowed, they’d be kicked out. At first, none of the koopalings paid muchattention to the warning; none of them were really all that interested inBowser’s warnings, as they’d never been asked to follow the rules before. Butas the first few weeks went by and each and every one of them would receivescolding after scolding from Bowser, the message finally sunk in, and thekoopalings hadn’t caused (much) trouble since.

Which was why, when Bowser Jr. was roaming the halls one dayand found bright orange paint all over the wall, he was rightfully upset.Firstly, because if HE wasn’t allowed to paint on the walls anymore, then itwasn’t fair that somebody else could. But more importantly, he didn’t wantsomeone else to find the mess and then blame him for it. Angrily, he followedthe trail along the wall until he found the culprit, one of the Inklingnewcomers. It was the orange one, but Bowser Jr. hadn’t bothered to learn anyof their names so he’d just call her Inkling.

“Hey, Inkling!” He shouted at her, puffing up his chest asif that would make him look cooler and more important than her. “You can’t dothat, clean it up right now!”

The girl stopped in her efforts of painting a crude-lookingcat on the wall. She gave him a look, and started speaking at him, but hergarbled, high-pitched voice sounded too much like it was coming from underwaterand Bowser Jr. couldn’t understand her. Whatever she’d said, however, didn’treally matter to him because once she’d said it she’d gone right back topainting on the wall, which infuriated the koopaling.

Bowser Jr. slammed his fist on the top of his clown car.“HEY! Didn’t you hear me, I said STOP that!” He reached out a hand and slid itdown the wall, smearing the girl’s paintings and causing her to let out anindignant cry.

The two were reduced to yelling at each other, each in theirown language and refusing to understand each other, until Princess Peachfound them in the hall. “What’s going on here?” She asked.

Bowser Jr. pointed a claw at Inkling and opened his mouth tosay something, but before he could get a word in, Inkling transformed into asquid and leapt into Peach’s arms, cuddling up to her and whining pathetically.

Peach was immediately smitten, and it took all of BowserJr.’s willpower not to scream, grab Inkling, and hurl her out of a window.

“Please play nice, Bowser Jr.” Peach scolded him softly.“The Inklings are still new here, you should know how hard that can besometimes. You should give them time to adjust.” With that said, she turnedaround and went back down the hall, Inkling still cuddled up in her arms.Bowser Jr. was left standing there, jaw gaping, and only able to imagine whatkind of smug look Inkling must have had.

He’d never forgive that girl, and from that point on he’dmade it his personal mission to make Inkling’s stay as miserable as he couldwithout getting caught by anyone else for foul play. And after he’d told theother koopalings what had happened, they were all too eager at both the chanceto cause a little chaos, and to redeem Bowser Jr.’s pride. Inkling wouldn’t betheir only target, either; the koopalings were more than happy to go after allthe squid kids. Larry snatched any unattended splattershots and taped them to theceilings, Iggy released a horde of pokemon in one of the living rooms andpushed the blame on Inkling, Morton hid an audio player in their room andblasted heavy metal music in the middle of the night, Roy switched theirclothes for the gaudiest rags he could find, Wendy baked them cookies that weremade with salt instead of sugar, Lemmy replaced the stuffing in their pillowswith bubblewrap, and Ludwig once covered the entire floor in their room withwater cups to turn the place into a minefield.

The other inklings, it seemed, were also capable of holdinga grudge, and instead of telling any of the other fighters about what thekoopalings were doing, they retaliated schemes of their own; Ponytaildyed Wendy’s bow blue and painted over Iggy’s glasses when they weren’tlooking, Agent snuck into their room and left ink in the clown cars to jamtheir functions, Bandana always made an effort to get in front of them in lineat dinner and take all of the good dessert, Baseball-Cap and Glasses team upand cheat against any koopalings whenever the kids played games together, Schoolgirl offered to do all of the koopalings’ homework asa “peace offering” and then wrote wrong answers on everything, and Helmet had somehow found a way to flood their bathroom.

Soon enough, it turned into a vicious, secret prank war,with the loser unofficially decided to be whoever was caught red-handed introuble-making first.

[delunesnumberonefan]

Raz made his way down through the web of ropes that made up the rigging, eventually making it down to the bottom. A familiar face was waiting for him, one hand extended for him to take. “Come on, Raz,” Tisiri prompted, her deep voice gentle as always. “You’ve done good, now let’s get you below deck before the fighting starts.” Tisiri was well over six feet in height, and was muscular and strong, with arms the size of Raz’s legs. Her face was a mix of the two different ethnic groups native to the Pale Island; the beige skinned, round featured northerners and the golden brown southerners with sharp features. She was a burnished gold color—lighter than both him and Sedira—with inquisitive dark eyes and a hooked nose above firm set lips. One of her cheeks was colored with a dark birthmark that stretched from her jaw almost to her brow. Her hair was long, dark, and wavy, held back by a red bandana that matched the one Sedira wore, exposing her frill. Many people who had some sort of beast blood had visible characteristics that proved that they weren’t entirely human. Tisiri was no different, though hers was caused by something a bit more than beast blood. Her neck had a frill stretching from behind both ears and attaching down near her chin. The frill itself usually sat flat against her neck, but when she wanted to she could flare it out for intimidation purposes. Sedira was the captain of the ship, and Tisiri was the quartermaster. She was the one who enforced the rules that Sedira set, as well as being Sedira’s equal in every decision. “Mom,” he started, but the look in her eyes made him stop. Tisiri was the opposite to Sedira in almost every way. She was the patience to Sedira’s fury, the caution to Sedira’s recklessness, the calm to Sedira’s storm. Sedira jokingly credited her with keeping them all alive and safe, which Tisiri just noted to with a knowing smile. If there was any possibility that Raz could get hurt, Tisiri’s instincts kicked in and she kept him out of harm’s way by whatever means necessary. She was strict about Raz swearing, about where he could go when they docked, along with other things along those lines.

“Who would even go after Sedira to begin with?” Sedira, Raz thought with a start. Raz looked up to the helm, to where Sedira was leaning heavily on the wheel, her chest heaving with breaths of disbelief. “Mom,” he said, looking back at Tisiri. “Can you find Vylas? I think Ma needs a break.” Tisiri’s gaze flicked up to Sedira, and she nodded. “Go up there. Keep her talking until I get Vylas.” Raz nodded and took the stairs up to the helm, to where Sedira was starting to laugh in relief.

When Raz had realized he was a boy, they had grown somewhat…Raz wasn’t sure what owed he was looking for. They had changed. Tisiri had gone through a similar change herself, so she gave him advice the best she could and listened to him when he needed. She tried her best and loved him fiercely, but she was always far too strict with him, and that had only worsened when he realized he was a boy. Raz knew she just wanted to protect him from what was out there, but sometimes she took that desire to protect him a bit too far and ended up smothering him.

“I think I fucked up,” Sedira said quietly. Raz heard footsteps approaching, then a serious and familiar voice called out, “what, did you not get as much as you wanted?” Next to Raz, Rilari bristled. “Tisiri,” Sedira protested weakly. Raz turned in his seat to see Tisiri looking beyond angry as she plopped down on the bed, the only space left to sit. Her frill was half up and her eyes were narrowed. Raz was glad that anger wasn’t directed at him, and pitied Sedira for being on the receiving end. The whole crew had heard their argument when they had come out from Sedira’s quarters soon after vanishing inside with the two strangers. Tisiri had berated Sedira for not going after a slaver ship out of sheer principle, and Sedira had replied that they couldn’t afford to risk lives for little to no reward. Everyone tried to make themselves scarce whenever they fought, which wasn’t often. When they did have a spat, though, it was usually very serious. “Oh, it’s just a slaver ship, Tisiri; they probably don’t have enough money to make it worthwhile, Tisiri; it’s not worth it, Tisiri,” she mocked, her voice pitched higher in an imitation of Sedira. Sedira looked up at Tisiri, eyes tired and face solemn. “I took them on,” she said wearily. “They’ll sail out with us tomorrow, for far less than I had originally wanted.” Sedira sighed. “That’s not what’s bothering me.” Tisiri nodded, looking at her with suspicion, but far calmer than she had been. Her ears were tilted forward in concern. “What’s wrong? You look rough.” “Did I ever tell you all about my sister?” At the nods she received, she continued. “Well, after giving birth to her first child, we had a falling out. She didn’t like my lifestyle, she didn’t like my occupation, she didn’t want any contact with me. I kept tabs on her even after our dispute, though. Just in case. A Stormblade protects their own.” She paused for a moment. “She had a ridiculous number of kids—six or seven, I think—and the youngest was named Faera. I think that Faera is the same one who just chartered my ship. And-“ “I have cousins?” Raz interrupted. “Yeah. I don’t know what happened to most of them after my sister died, but if I’m right you’ll meet one of them in the morning. Raz sat back in his chair thoughtfully. “That’s not it!” Sedira laughed. “Oh! That’s not what’s bothering me! The person with her, the lanky blond haired fellow? One of the Witch Queen’s most wanted. Kelren Silverbane.” Tisiri whistled low. “I didn’t notice that.” “The Queen has a whirlwind temper, and if she finds out we took him on?” Sedira made a slitting motion across her throat, raising her eyebrows. “I don’t want to deal with that.” “Like she even knows our ship exists,” Tisiri scoffed. “Mezzon’s mostly landlocked. The only port city is Alento, and we hardly ever dock there.” “You’re right, but I would rather not be detained for harboring a known fugitive.” “What’d they want you to do?” Rilari asked. “Intercept a slaver ship and take them to the Pale Island.” “Oh, we’re headed there anyway,” Raz said. “Yeah. If we weren’t or if they’d had a different destination, they would’ve been out of luck.” Tisiri scowled and Sedira made a point to not look at her. “I don’t run a charity ship. I am concerned about the safety of my family and my crew first and morals second.” She looked at Tisiri. “Besides. We’re going to see your mom. We can’t put that off again.” Tisiri nodded at that, but opened her mouth. “What slaver ship?” Raz asked before Tisiri said something snappy. “Lucky Lady?” Rilari guessed. Sedira shook her head. “Redwind.” Rilari made a face. “The Redwind’s a joke of a slaver ship.” “That’s the ship Faera told me about,” Sedira replied, shrugging. “It’s the only ship I know of that’s currently in port with red sails. The ship she wanted us to go after had red sails.” Tisiri pinched the bridge of her nose. “Did they ever say what they wanted off the Redwind?” “No, but I’m guessing that by the grace of the evil spirits the Redwind’s managed to capture someone. They probably want that person back.” Rilari had been silent since learning of their target, and she shook her head. “There isn’t enough to make attacking the Redwind worthwhile,” Rilari said, making both Raz and Sedira cringe. “Odds are, the only thing we’ll get are provisions and sailor’s wages.” Rilari paused. “And whatever slaves they’ve miraculously managed to capture.” There was a beat of silence; the calm before the storm, the moment before an accident, the slowed down second as danger is coming. Raz could see Tisiri fuming out of the corner of his eye and he braced himself. “That’s what I said,” Sedira replied, eyes darting to Tisiri. Ma! Raz wanted to say. Shut up! “Getting a slaver ship out of the picture isn’t worth it?” Tisiri snarled. “Preventing more people from being sucked into that market isn’t worth it? Saving families heartbreak isn’t worth it?” Rilari held up her hands in surrender. Everyone who had been onboard for five or six years or more knew where Tisiri’s hatred for slaving ships came from. Rilari was just on that cusp where she was new enough to not know all the details, but still seasoned enough to know the gist of it. It was personal for Tisiri. She had been on one of those ships when Sedira had found her and freed her. She had made it her goal in life to sink the slaving ship she was on one way or another. If she had it her way she would destroy any and all slaving ships they came across. The ship she had been on was called The Sea Witch, one of the more well known slaving ships. “You’re really taking them on, ‘Dira?” Tisiri asked, ignoring Rilari. “This isn’t some elaborate game you’re playing that in the end ‘oops, they missed the boat and we left!’” Sedira gestured to the coins the pair had presumably given her, spreading them further apart on the desk. “Forty for boarding the ship, five apiece for board and passage to the Pale Island.” “Sedira, that’s far lower than-“ “I know.” Sedira held up her hand, silencing Rilari’s train of thought. “I’m doing it because Faera’s my blood, and I’m doing it for Tisiri.” Sedira’s eyes went to Tisiri, and her gaze softened. “I’m sorry, Tizzy. I should’ve listened to you. I know how you feel about slaving ships and I ignored that in this situation. Next time something like this comes up I’ll make sure to consult you first.” Tisiri looked pleased, but she scowled. “You know I hate that nickname.” “I also know you secretly love the affection.”

Sedira paused. “Where is she, by the way?” “I don’t know, I lost her in the side streets.” Sedira laughed again. “That’s amazing. I can’t wait to give her shit—oops—uh, crap for it when she gets back.” Rilari raised her hand to shade her eyes as she looked at something behind them. “Here she comes,” she said. Raz turned so fast his neck popped to see Tisiri barreling towards him. He shrieked in an undignified manner and tried to run, but Tisiri picked him up in a bear hug. “You little rat!” Her voice was mostly joking. “I’m going to throw you over the side, I swear!”

He pushed that aside, looking now for Tisiri. She was nowhere to be seen, and his heart leapt in his throat until he realized she probably fought her way below deck. Of course, he thought. If there’s slaves on this ship that’ll be the first place she’ll go.

“Lets see what you two can do,” Tisiri said, clapping Faera on the back. Faera’s eyes widened. “Oh no, I can’t-“ People were starting to stare at her and her cheeks were starting to heat up. “Did I put you on the spot there? Sorry about that, here, let me go first.” Tisiri stepped forward and cracked her knuckles. She flicked her hands out and black flames sparked in her palms and licked up her arms, leaving her clothing intact. She snapped her left hand and the flames extinguished in that hand As Faera watched, Tisiri passed the flame from hand to hand, faster and faster until it was a continual blur of motion. She tossed the flame upwards and ignited her hands again, tossing those up and beginning to juggle her fire. From where he was lounging, Raz started clapping. Tisiri grinned at the praise and tossed the fire up, holding her hand out to keep it still. As they watched, the fire joined into one singular ball of flame. Tisiri pinched her forefinger and thumb of one hand and made a circular shape with her other hand. She drew the pinched fingers back and away, drawing the fire through the hole in her hand like one would draw a thread through the eye of a needle. She flicked her hand and immediately the fire lashed out, cracking the air like a whip before coming back to Tisiri like a trained dog. She turned to the two of them and smiled, drawing her fire to her hands and caging it in her hands. “I can’t do that,” Emira said immediately. “I had the best tutors money could buy,” Tisiri said. “I don’t expect you to have that control. What age did you learn to control your magic?”

Tisiri pursed her lips. “That’s-“ “Tisiri!” Sedira’s voice cut through the moment. “A word about our destination.” Tisiri’s head snapped up at the sound of her wife’s voice. She sighed, but she was smiling. “That woman. No sense of timing. I’ll be right back.”

Zara gave her a nod and a smile. “Excellent. Would any of you care to see a demonstration in Redirection?” Kelren’s mouth fell open and Tisiri looked so excited she might burst. Raz knew vaguely about Redirection magic. For starters, it wasn’t technically a magic at all, really a complex martial arts of sorts that—when done right—could enable its users to take what magic was aimed at them and change its course and redirect it. It was rare in the Kingdoms, considering it had originated in the Pale Island and was a closely guarded secret. Tisiri leapt up to her feet. “I’ve never seen a Redirection practitioner before,” she said, excitement evident in her voice. “I would love to see a demonstration!”