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mermaidxatxheart · 4 years

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The Queen of Wishful Thinking

Ok. So, this is the start of a new series that I’ve been working on for a couple years. This is the prelude to my teen wolf story. It’s an OFC. If you’d like to be tagged, let me know. send me an ask. I’m not stopping my other works. I’m still continuing all of my Bucky stories and the requests that I’ve received. I haven’t forgotten about them. But I’m struggling with the toxicity of the Marvel fandom at the moment. I won’t be tagging anyone from my Marvel tag lists specifically because they didn’t sign up for this genre. If you want to be on both, let me know. Here we go. Also, thank you to everyone who read this for me and encouraged me to post it. You guys have been sent by the gods. I love you so much.

Pairing: OFC X Derek Hale (future)

Word Count: 6732

Warnings: abuse, mentions of blood and violence. descriptions of pain and torture.

Summary: Aryanna was a special girl. Her parents got exactly what they wished for. But she’s the one paying the price.

My birth should have been the best thing that ever happened to my parents. They had prayed to the gods for so long to bless them with a special child.

Be careful what you wish for.

I tried to be normal.

I tried desperately to be like everyone else.

And the reality was that I wasn’t that different. I didn’t have extra arms, or a second belly button or anything weird. What made me special wasn’t visible. I don’t know what made him choose me, all I know was that it made my life miserable. Lord Apollo, the god of music, poetry, prophecies, light and truth, had picked me to bear the gift of foresight. Apparently, he was also the god of stupid decisions.

Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I was different. It was supposed to be a special gift, craved by many. I was to be the next Seer. It was a popular practice in those days, most every village had one, as long as it was large enough. The one in my village was useless. He was called Aischylos. It should have been an obvious tell to anyone who spoke to him, seeking advice and consul that he’s a liar and a fraud since his name means ‘shame’. But, as usual, people see and believe what they want to.

The very first vision I had was of my father when I was four years old. I had stayed home with my mother while she prepared her wine to sell. I was playing on the floor next to her and my sight disappeared. I blinked several times, and when it cleared, there was something strange about it. It was in front of me, but I could tell it wasn’t true. If I were to reach out and touch it, my hands would pass through air. It was rounded, and not all together clear, like I was looking at it through water. My father walked through the door with a large sack full of fish, a magnificent catch for the aging fisherman. I shook my head and my father was gone. I looked up at my mother and she smiled down at me.

“Papa did good today, Mama.” I said simply and went back to playing with my wooden centaur figure. My father returned home soon after just as I had seen it in my mind. My mother looked from my father to the little girl sitting at her feet and she smiled wide, clearly happy but I was too young to understand what it was.

I didn’t see anything for a long time after that, I was close to my fifth year, I spoke to my mother of a time of man that was far away. A time when houses and structures soared high into the sky and horses were no longer used for common travel. I had seen it in a dream and it fascinated me. I had made the mistake of telling my mother in the market place and people overheard. Word spread like wildfire through our village about what I said, and the Seer, Aischylos, realized what it meant. That I was to take over his position. He no longer would get the respect and honor and good treatment that came along with his title. It would be handed over to a little girl and he would be cast aside, forgotten and forced to return to the status of everyone else in the village. He had spent countless years forging his ability that he didn’t have to get the status he didn’t deserve. He couldn’t just allow some stupid girl to take that away from him. But he bided his time, knowing I would not be eligible until my twelfth year. He watched me carefully, finding chances to whisper lies about me. He was a master of patience and manipulation.

Living in a coastal village, there wasn’t much to do. But I was an adventurous girl, always finding places to hide and run off to. The other children would ask me questions to watch me predict the future, but I wasn’t allowed to give too much away. So, I enjoyed playing in the woods with the nymphs and satyrs, they didn’t care about using me to see the future. But they usually avoided the humans unless to tease them, so they were never much help in defending me. He would follow me, see that I was alone and go back to the village, whispering tales about witchcraft and evil. By the time I was nine, no one in my village trusted me. I was all but shunned. My mother and father were having issues at market, no one wanted to buy from them and it turned them bitter, turned them against me.

My mother raged against me. Always berated me for any task that I did. No matter how well I did it, no matter if it was perfect, she would destroy it and shout at me, hitting me. My father couldn’t stand the sight of me. He would hit me for no reason at all. He encouraged his friends, our neighbors to hit me. They made me believe that I was a mistake, and the only way to make it right, to get them to love me, was to pray to the gods, begging Zeus and Apollo to take away this curse and make me like everyone else.

Every night I would make the very long trip to Zeus’s temple, light candles and make offerings for the gods. Then I would pray with all my might that they would relieve me of this burden, so that I may be accepted. Every night, praying until I was numb with exhaustion. But I received no answer to my prayers, no matter how hard I muttered them and shouted them. No matter how many years I prayed, or food I sacrificed.

When it became obvious that the gods weren’t going to answer my prayers, my father blamed me. He would hit me senseless and tell me I wasn't praying hard enough. There was no point in trying to hide the cuts and bruises on my skin, no one cared about me enough to even ask if I was okay. The villagers would even contribute at my father’s encouragement, throwing stones and rotten fruit at me, whatever they could find.

One day, in the darkness of the early morning during my fifteenth year, I was roused out of a deep sleep. My father demanded I attend him on his boat with my mother. It had been a long time since they've wanted me on the boat, or even anywhere near them.

I had a terrible feeling as I blundered around on the deck. Nerves racked my body, a heavy pit settling in my stomach. It had been so long since I handled the nets, my fingers had forgotten what to do. My mother was staying up by my father on the helm, speaking so quietly I had no chance of hearing. I stumbled over the ropes and crates littering the deck as we sailed smoothly out further into the vast expanse of Lord Poseidon's realm. Finally, I gave up on trying to move around and sat towards the front, watching the horizon grow lighter with Apollo rising the sun. I had a knot in my stomach-fear that they were going to bring me someplace to leave me, finally to be rid of me. But that seemed to not be the case as my father called across the boat for me to cast the nets.

A few hours later we were finished, sacks of fish crowded the deck and a bloody spear was propped up against the mast. My father used it to defend the boat from the vicious sharks. We were headed back to land and I was starting to feel the knot in my chest loosen and relax. Maybe they really just needed my help. I was carrying a length of rope across the boat when it jerked suddenly. I lost my balance and fell forward just as the spear tipped towards me. It pierced my skin as easily as a knife through goat cheese and pain flared, burning my side. I cried out, flinging my hand against the mast to keep myself upright. I looked up at my parents for help, but they just stood at the wheel, watching my lifeblood pour out of my side.

"Mama! Papa! Please!" I called desperately. I tried to pull the spear out of my side, but every time I touched the wooden handle, the pain only got worse. Tears spilled down my cheeks as I watched my parents turn their gazes away from me, pretending I wasn't dying. The boat bumped against the harbor dock and I scrambled away towards the side, frantic to get away before they finished killing me.

The spear got tangled on a rope and fresh blood ran out. I clamped my jaw shut and yanked it out. The pain nearly made me pass out, I swayed slightly and pressed my chiton against my side, hoping to stop the loss of the precious red liquid. The sight of it was making me dizzy as I struggled up over the side and up the dock. I barely managed to make it to my feet as I wobbled back towards the center of the village.

I knew by now that it was useless to beg anybody to help me, I would have to do this on my own. I stumbled into my home, crashing into the walls as my vision swam. I gathered my mother's bone needle and linen threads from the loom where she crafted our clothes. I shook my head violently to clear my vision, but I only succeeded in losing my balance and falling against the door. I forced my way outside and headed for the tree line, able only to focus on managing that.

The forest floor crunched beneath my feet, pine needles breaking and the noise was deafening. Branches whipped at my face as I ran, looking for privacy to stitch myself. I had heard of soldiers doing this in battle from the men at market. I just hoped I knew what I was doing. I found a large tree and slumped against the base, exhausted. My hand was covered in red as I numbly lifted the bone needle and the thread. I tied the thread through the hole and made a knot at the other end. It took me a dozen tries, my hands shaking and my vision blurring. My fingers were losing feeling and the linen kept slipping out of my hand, but I had to do this. I refused to let this be how I die.

Somehow I managed to get the knot finished and I raised my arm, preparing myself to pierce my skin once more. The needle was thick, and long; and I had no sort of numbing agent to dull the pain.

This would not be pleasant.

I stabbed the needle through my skin, just below the wound and my vision clouded over, going black. The scream was unstoppable as burning hot pain spread across my chest. Everything in me begged me to stop, but I knew I couldn't. I needed to keep going, even though everything would be easier if I just let go. But that wasn't who I was. I didn't give up. I didn't quit even though the gods ignored me, I didn't give up on my parents - and I still wouldn't, even though they just tried to kill me. And I refused to give up on this, even though it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt before.

I dragged the large needle through my skin, pulling tight and closing the wound. My lifeblood was already slowing down, becoming stickier. I pulled the needle through one last time and let it fall against my skin. I was exhausted both mentally and physically and I just wanted to sleep. My eyes fluttered closed and the vision started.

A little boy of about three was running around a room. I couldn't see the details of the space, they were blurred, but I could hear his laughter, his tiny giggles. He ran around a table, his jet black hair blown back out of his face as he ran, his eyes green and bright. I saw myself chasing after him and I was laughing, looking truly happy. I could feel vision me, her happiness and contentedness flow into me and I felt at peace as I watched that little boy laugh. I didn't recognized the clothes on my body, they were foreign and unfamiliar but they weren't the important part. The little boy, he would be special, I could feel it in my bones.

"Perseus!" I called to the little boy. He laughed hysterically and dove under the table, hitting his head on the bottom. He began to cry and I picked him up, comforting him as he clung to me. He turned around in my arms and seemed to look right at me.

"Get up!" He said loudly and my eyes flew open.

I groaned as I realized that night had fallen. I would have to walk back in the dark. I gingerly finished with the thread and began making my way back to the village. I would not give up, if only for the sake of seeing that little boy. I was determined to be that happy and content one day. I wouldn't stay here and be miserable forever.

* * *

On the night of my eighteenth year, I was in the temple by myself, crying as I prayed. That day had been an exceptionally difficult one. I should have been Seer by then, but I wasn’t given the position because of people’s continued hatred of me. Aischylos was making a mess of everything. A little girl had gone to him with her mother for consul and he failed to warn them that the little girl would be hurt. A boy driving his father’s chariot had nearly run them down in the street, but I saw it before it happened. I pulled them out of the way and saved them, but my thanks was being screamed at that I was a monster and being pelted with stones. They hit me all over my body, cutting my skin and breaking my chest bones.

So here I sit, on the temple floor, crying my eyes out, praying for relief. I want no part of this curse anymore.

The candles had long since melted low, burning at the bitter end of their lives, and the sacrificial fire was all embers now. My head sank low on my chest with exhaustion from crying and shouting at the gods. I had run out of tears hours ago, but I had also run out of energy to make myself get up and go home. My eyes fluttered closed, blocking out the flickering light and the stone floor. The noise of the wind and sea outside dimmed remarkably as I drifted to sleep. I found that I preferred it here lately, no one to hate me here.

I don’t know how long I slept there before a massive bang woke me. I fell back with a shout of surprise as I stared up at two figures standing twenty feet tall. I screamed and scrambled for the exit, tripping slightly over my chiton. One of the figures moved so quickly that I barely had time to blink my eyes before he was between me and the way out. I slid as I tried to stop, falling to the hard ground and hurting my wrist.

“Is that any way to greet the Lord of Olympus?” The figure behind me growled. I looked between the two menacing figures and forced my pounding heart to slow.

“L-Lord Zeus?” I stammered.

“Obviously, girl. Use those eyes of yours.” He huffed. I quickly stood and bowed low. Zeus was not a figure to make angry.

“Um, Lord Zeus, what are you doing here?” I asked, glancing at him as the other figure moved back beside Zeus. I recognized him as Apollo. He was very handsome with blond hair and deep blue eyes, tanned skin and a lithe muscular build. Zeus grunted and looked at Apollo, who tilted his head and raised a shoulder.

“These mortals.” Zeus sighed. “You prayed to me, didn’t you, girl?” He snapped. I flinched back as his voice rumbled around the temple. Thunder clapped loudly outside as his anger flared. I clenched my jaw in annoyance.

“I’ve prayed to you every night since I was nine!” I snapped back. “What are you doing here now?” He raised a dark eyebrow at me. I sighed and sat down hard, crossing my legs and holding my head in my hands. My forehead still stung where rocks had hit it, reminding me just how much of a horrible day I’ve had.

“When you live for forever, girl, a few years means nothing to a god. You’ll understand what I mean.” He said, raising his hand. I snapped my head up, having to almost look straight up at him.

“What?”

“Your punishment.” Apollo said, looking down at me.

“M-my punishment?” I shrieked. “For what?”

“Your punishment.” Zeus said coldly. “You were given a gift and you want to throw it away. You think it’s a curse, well-I’m going to give you lifetimes to learn to appreciate your gift.”

“No! You don’t understand! They hate me!” I shouted, tears filling my violet eyes once more.

“They can’t hate their Seer.” Apollo said, frowning down at me.

“I’m not their Seer! I’m not anything.”

“What did you just say?” Zeus demanded, thunder clapping loudly outside.

“They refused to give me the position.” I said, the tears spilling down my flushed cheeks. “They kept the fraud.”

“That’s not possible.” Apollo said, sharing a look with his father.

“But it’s the truth. Please don’t do this to me, I’ll never survive. They torment me and abuse me day after day. My parents have already tried to kill me. I won’t make it another year!” I pleaded. Apollo shrank down to regular mortal size and moved in front of me, kneeling down to be on the same level. Not something gods usually do, but I must have looked extra pathetic so he took pity.

“What did they do?” He asked gently, putting his warm hands on my face.

“They call me a witch and throw stones at me. My parents told me I was cursed, that I should never exist.” I said, my breath coming in ragged gasps. “Please? I won’t live a day if you do this.” I whispered, choking on tears.

“My father has already made up his mind. But you’ll have other gifts to help you survive. I promise.” Apollo said softly, pressing a warm kiss to my forehead. It felt like soft sunshine on a warm summer’s day. “Close your eyes. It will be over soon.” He said, helping me stand up and hugging me against him. I hadn’t realized how cold I was until I touched his body. He radiated heat that warmed me from my head to my toes. I shivered slightly and squeezed my eyes shut, just as he said.

“Is it going to hurt?” I whispered, my face pressed against his robe.

“I don’t know.” He answered honestly. Even though my eyes were shut tight I saw a blinding flash and an intense, white hot pain racked my body. I screamed in torment, pushing away from Apollo and stumbling backwards. I felt like my skin was peeling off my body, layer by layer. The pain was too much, I was sure that nobody could take this much pain and survive. I could feel my muscles pulling apart the way a rope untwines. I could feel every fiber detaching from my bones and then separating themselves. I felt like I was burning hot, but I couldn’t make it stop. I couldn’t do anything to block the pain.

Then the worst part came. Every bone in my body was ripped apart, dislocated and shattered into a thousand pieces like broken pottery. I should be dead. There’s no way I could survive this, but here I was, feeling every single second of it. My organs melted and my brain boiled as they destroyed me. I staggered backwards, completely disoriented, my throat raw from screaming. Suddenly my feet weren’t touching the stone floor anymore, there was nothing but air under them and I was falling backwards, fifteen feet to the hard packed earth below. I stretched my hand out, searching blindly for Apollo, the closest thing to me, but came up empty.

* * *

The first thing I noticed was the sunlight warm on my face. I blinked my eyes open slowly, hoping that I had just had a dream; a really, really bad dream and I could pretend it never happened. I was lying flat on my back, looking straight up and that’s when I first noticed that something wasn’t right. Instead of the thatched roof of my sleeping room, or the cold marble of the temple, I was looking at the green leaves of trees with sunlight streaming through casting a green color on my skin. I looked around me, finally realizing that I wasn’t at my home. I was lying on the floor of a forest, and not one that I recognized. I rolled over to my hands and knees, expecting my whole body to ache.

There was no way I could have experienced that amount of pain and not feel any the next day, but I felt completely fine. Even my wrist, which I had hurt when I fell, had no pain. I stood up, brushing the fallen leaves and twigs off me and glanced around. I didn’t recognize these woods at all. It didn’t even smell the same.

I heard noises in front of me, it sounded like women talking. There must be a road close by. I took a deep breath and headed in that direction. Maybe there’s a sign telling me which way is home. I ran through the trees, tripping over fallen logs before finally reaching an empty pathway, just wide enough for a cart to get through. I saw the ladies just down the road and I hurried after them.

“Excuse me.” I said, reaching them. The three older ladies turned and looked at me expectantly. “Can you tell me which way it is to Akoluthos?” I asked politely, praying they would have heard of it. The tallest lady pointed behind me and I glanced. “Do you know how far?”

“Three days by this road.” The woman to her left said. I nodded.

“Thank you.” I turned and headed back towards my home, not looking forward to the three day walk. I took my time, not rushing my pace, keeping it slow and steady. I knew I was in big trouble for not coming home last night. My father was sure to punish me. Not to mention the fact that I will have been missing for days. This will be the worst punishment I’ve ever had.

* * *

I crested the top of the ridge that borders my village and looked out over it. I don’t know what I had been expecting, some sort of urgency that I had been missing for three days. But, probably I should have seen this coming, everything was going about as it normally would. The sun was setting low in the sky as I hurried down the slope and headed for my home. It was almost night.

I glanced around as I walked, feeling a strange sensation on the back of my neck. I saw people I recognized, people I had grown up with, but none of them looked the same. The streets smelled different and I felt like everything had been replaced by duplicates that were the same, but different.

This wasn't home anymore.

“Mama? Papa?” I called as I ran inside. My mother was in the kitchen, getting the evening meal ready. It was as if nothing was amiss.

“Where have you been, you wicked child?” She snapped, turning around with the wooden spoon already in her hand. I flinched back instinctively, but I had to answer.

“I was at the temple praying, like you told me to. Lord Zeus and Lord Apollo came to me and they said I had to be Seer. They said I was going to live forever.” I rushed, getting my story all jumbled in my anxiousness to explain. “Then,” I heard my father moving behind me and I backed into the wall with a quiet whimper, trying to make myself as small as possible.

“Girl.” My father said, his hard voice quiet.

“Papa, the gods said that I was to be Seer. That I had to be Seer. They were so angry that I didn’t want their gift, that you didn’t want me to be Seer. They said that I’m your gift.” I said, looking at him with pleading eyes. I should have known it wouldn’t have done any good.

My father’s hand flew before I ever even saw it move. It cracked hard against the side of my face, sending me sprawling into the eating table and wall. I cried out in pain, feeling a crack in my chest. After a few seconds it was gone. I looked up at him, tears filling my eyes.

“Papa,” I started to plead.

“This was not a gift, girl. You were not a gift to us. You are a curse on this land, on these good people. And I’ve had enough of it. I won’t have a monster like you terrorizing us anymore.” He growled, reaching down and grabbing a fistful of my hair. Strands ripped out painfully under his rough hand and I cried out in protest, my hand reaching up to grasp his wrist, hoping to lessen the pain. He started dragging me towards the door and kicked it open out of his way.

“Papa, please don’t! You’ll make them angry and they won’t forgive you!” I cried, kicking my legs out to get caught on anything. “Papa!”

He didn’t reply, he just marched towards the center of town, dragging me along.

“Mama!”

She was following behind, a torch in her hand. It was unlit, but ready for use. I cried and struggled against my father’s hand, but his grip was too tight. I couldn’t get free. The other townsfolk were starting to gather at the center where the home fire was burning, the hearth fire for Lady Hestia. One of my father’s friends, who greatly enjoyed beating me, was piling a few bundles of sticks and twigs around a large pole just a few feet away from the home fire. My mother’s sister was holding a few lengths of rope as my father jerked me upright and shoved me against the pole.

They already planned all this.

I tried to step away as he took the ropes from her, but he grabbed my arm and twisted it at an odd angle, making a loud snapping sound. I screamed as pain rushed through my body. He tied me to the pole, making sure I wasn’t able to escape.

“Papa, please. I’m your daughter.” I sobbed.

“My daughter is gone. She died a long time ago.” He snarled, standing back as my mother lit the pitch on the torch, using the flames from the home fire. That was against the rules. You weren’t supposed to use the home fire for anything besides making a new one in a new town and sacrificing food to the gods. My mother looked at her husband lovingly, holding out the torch towards him. I watched in terror as his hand covered hers and they lowered the torch to the pile of sticks at my feet. I struggled to get out of my bonds, but they were tied too tight and soaked with saltwater so they were swollen and unforgiving. The whole village was gathering around as the sticks took the fire, spreading around the base to surround me. I struggled harder against the ropes, but it was no use. The flames licked up the pile, flickering around my feet. I clenched my teeth, determined not to give the satisfaction. If I was going to die, I wasn’t going to die making them happy.

The base of the pole caught the fire, the heat becoming unbearable now as the flames danced around my feet burning my skin. I closed my eyes, forcing my mind to calm down, to think of something else besides the fire. I focused hard on something else, anything else. I found myself wishing, for the first time ever, to have a vision, something to see other than the faces in the crowd of my family as they watched me die.

Maybe it was because I was wishing for one to happen, or focusing so hard I made it happen, but I caught the first flicker of a face. It was handsome, tanned and a little narrow, but still square at the same time. Green eyes and dark hair with a neatly trimmed beard. He was muscular and tall. I tried to stay focused on him, trying to see more of his surroundings, more of the vision but the pain of the fire was making everything fade away. The flames were up to my thighs now, melting my skin. I gritted my teeth, but I couldn’t hold it back anymore. I screamed, struggling harder against the ropes, but I was stuck there. The fire started to travel faster up my body. I let out a continuous scream of anguish, wishing I would just die already and get it over with. I wondered how Zeus and Apollo would keep their promise that I would live forever, if my parents had just killed me.

The flames reached my neck and that was just about all my body could take. I felt myself drifting, only half feeling the pain as I slowly slipped away. The last image I had was of my parents standing in front of me, in the glow of my flames, smiling and kissing each other, so proud of themselves for getting rid of the big scary monster.

* * *

I gasped loudly as air flooded my lungs. I opened my eyes, staring up at the sky, confused as all Hades as I tried to remember what happened. I slowly sat up, looking around and seeing my village. It was full dark, the middle of the night. I stood up, starting to dust myself off as I turned towards my home, only my hand didn't touch cloth, it touched bare skin.

I was naked, my clothes were missing. I took a step towards home to get a new chiton, but then my memory came back, and I remembered what my parents did to me. I covered my mouth, feeling like I was going to be sick.

“No. They wouldn’t do that.” I gasped, falling to my knees. “Mama and Papa, they wouldn’t.” I breathed. I looked around and saw the pyre where I had been tied up when my parents set me on fire. It was burned beyond belief, still smoldering in the night air. The comforting sea breeze blew through the village, lighting some of the faded embers to a slightly brighter glow. Where my body had been was just a pile of ashes now. Nothing resembling a human remains. I covered my face in horror, feeling my hands get wet from tears I didn’t know were falling. My stomach crawled into my throat as I remembered the pain. I retched but nothing came up, my stomach was empty. Lightening flashed and I looked up at the dark sky, noticing the thunder clouds rolling in.

“What do I do?” I asked quietly. “They still don’t want me.” Thunder rumbled, low and menacing. Lightening flashed brightly across the sky and I got the warning. They were going to be punished, and I shouldn’t be here when it happens. I stood up and forced myself to move. I hurried through the houses, grabbing a chiton that was hanging out to dry. I clumsily tugged it on, fastening it as I ran. Rain started to fall, slow at first and then more heavily as I half ran and half stumbled to the ridge overlooking the village. I managed to make my way up in a reasonable amount of time as the rain became a downright deluge. I paused at the top, turning back to watch the home fire, which was visible from my location, flicker and die out. Also against the rules. The home fire was always supposed to be kept burning.

Thunder crashed loudly, angrily and the waves could now be heard crashing against the shore, sending the fishermen’s boats into the docks. I could hear the waves getting larger as they came further inland. I turned my head towards the sea, my eyes widening in horror as a massive tidal wave, taller than the gods themselves, surged up and crashed over the land, covering the entire village.

Only, it didn’t fade away, like a normal wave. It held over the village, drowning everyone down there, asleep in their homes. They didn't even have time to scream.

“No!” I cried out, taking a step towards the edge of the ridge. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I had to do something. I couldn't just let them die. Two strong arms caught me around the middle, holding me back. I fought against them, trying to pry them off me; I had to try and save them. This was all my fault. “Let me go! They’re dying!” I cried.

“So? They killed you first.” The man said. I faltered, looking up at him, seeing Apollo.

“That doesn’t mean I want them dead!” I protested.

“It’s not your decision, Aryanna. They made my father angry. This is their punishment.” He said firmly. “I suggest you get over it quickly, because they’re gone. They’re not coming back.” He moved his arms from my waist to my arms. “And honestly, you deserve better.” He said.

I shook my head. “They’re my family.” I said, my voice breaking as I looked pleadingly at him.

“I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but your family just murdered you.” He said, his mouth twitching up in an apologetic smile. “I mean, my family is nuts, but yours takes it to a whole new level. I mean, they even asked for a special kid. It doesn’t get a whole lot more special than a Seer.” I hung my head, my shoulders shaking as I cried. This was all so overwhelming. I had so many questions I didn't even know where to start. “Oh, um. Hey, it’s okay.” He said awkwardly, patting my back.

“How is this okay?” I snapped, looking up at him. He jerked his hand back as if I might bite it off.

“Oh, well,” He paused, thinking for a minute. “Because now you don’t have to be stuck with them forever. Consider yourself lucky, trust me. I’m stuck with my family forever, literally, and we actually sort of like each other. So, you’re much better off.” He said, smiling brightly and the dark receded ever so slightly.

“No disrespect, Lord Apollo, but you don't know what you're talking about.” I muttered, turning to look out over the flooded village.

"Maybe, you humans are strange things to us gods." He shrugged.

His words rang in my ears and I turned back to him, my temper flaring. "What did you do to me?" I demanded and he took a cautious step back.

"What?"

"I was just burned alive. What did you do to me?" I didn't care that he was a god and that I might be offending him.

"Zeus and Hades, they cursed you. You're forbidden from entering the Underworld when you die." He said softly.

"Why did it hurt so much?"

He flinched slightly. "You had to be unmade."

"Unmade? What does that mean?”

"You had to be pulled apart layer by layer to be rewritten the way my father wanted." He explained.

"So, I'll die but not stay dead?" I asked, feeling my horror rise again.

"I'm afraid so. And I'm sure you'll find there are some other things you'll be able to do and other things you can't."

I blew out a sigh, wiping my face dry. "What about this place? The next people who settle here?" I asked.

"Nobody will. This place will stay barren for eternity."

I glanced back as the water started to recede. "Demeter, I assume?"

"Yes."

I grunted. It seems all the gods had a hand in this. "Terrific."

“Where will you go?” He asked.

“Crete, most likely. That's where it's all happening these days. Big city, I can blend in.” I said quietly. He nodded thoughtfully.

“Good luck.”

“I’m not supposed to be anyone’s Seer anymore, am I?” I asked.

He shook his head. “You’re past the age.” He said apologetically. “That’s not to say you won’t have visions anymore. You need to keep them to yourself. Humanity isn’t supposed to know too much. It’s a punishable crime against the gods.” He said seriously. I snorted and moved to walk past him. “I’m serious, Aryanna.” He warned, grabbing my arm as I passed. I faced him and squared my shoulders, deciding then and there that I was done being afraid. I had just survived being murdered by my parents. If I could come back from that, relatively sane-I had nothing else to fear ever again.

“What else could the gods possibly do to me? I’m already cursed to live forever.” I said. “What are they going to do? Kill me?” I laughed morosely. “You’re not going to make me stop having visions because that would give me what I wanted in the first place.” I said.

“There are other things we could do.” He said, trying to sound mysterious. I started laughing even harder.

“Like take my sight? I would just heal. I was just burned alive, Apollo. I really don’t think there’s much you can do to me.”

He was quiet for a long time. “We could make you relive that moment over and over until eternity ends.” He said quietly. I froze, staring at him.

“You would actually do that to me?” I asked.

“If you need an incentive to keep what you see quiet, then yes. We would.”

I bit my lip and nodded. “Good to know. It’s not like I have anyone to tell anything to, anyways.” I said, backing away from him.

“Aryanna.” He sighed.

“You should go. Get back to your family. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble on my behalf.” I said quietly, turning and walking into the woods.

“Be careful, Aryanna.” I heard him whisper before there was a pop and he was gone. I stopped, staring straight ahead of me. I didn’t know what to do now. I have never been on my own before, I had never really even been away from home. I felt myself starting to shake from nerves and uncertainty. I took a second to look back at my home, at everything I knew.

The last of the water was receding, fading back into the ocean, leaving behind a ruined town, houses washed away. A broken reminder of what happened, to never make the gods angry. This ghost village would remain here, dead and in pain. A reminder of all the bad things, barren for the rest of eternity. It would never sustain life again, the waters would be empty, the soil ashes.

A cursed land.

I bit my lip to force back the tears. I was going to be fine. I didn’t need my parents around yelling at me. I could have my own life and be happy. I took a deep, settling breath and turned back towards the road to move on to something better.

“I can do this.” I said to myself, taking the first step towards freedom and towards my new life.

Tag List:

@everythingisoverrated @thiccbinch @wkemeup @imanuglywombat @thewolfsenate

#teen wolf #mermaidxatxheart-writes #new story #greek mythology #derek hale #derek x ofc #ofc #tragedy #series #romance #if hearts should tear

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hexusproductions · 4 years

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Lavender Heart

Summary: You visit Levi again while running from other creatures in the temple. He’s usually focused on himself, but you manage to catch his attention with something unexpected; the simple truth. Author’s Note: A story written for ‘Legal Levi’, one of the characters from the eldritch god dating sim concept created by @couldyounottalktomethanks. Written in second person with a gender neutral reader.

Running away from another one of Jezzie’s attempts to turn you into a living tarot card gave you very few options of where to go in the temple.

Levi’s study was, as always, cluttered. He had a habit of collecting things in jars, including the same tiny mushroom creatures that ran about underfoot. It was already a small room, and you had to be wary not to step on anything. Levi himself was sitting at the desk, highlighting parts of some stack of documents. You wondered if he had ever owned a chair or if he always folded up on his goat legs like a furry brown loaf.

“Hi.”

Levi jumped and swivelled his torso around, blinking glassy silver eyes at you before putting his pen down. He stood up and turned around fully, gaze never leaving yours.

“Hello.”

Your pulse was still racing a little after running from Jez. Levi’s eyes narrowed a little.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Almost died again.” You brushed yourself off, taking another step closer. Levi stepped back, hooves clicking, large hands woven together at his stomach.

“And you’re alright?” He asked. You looked down, taking note of the fact that he had upheld the distance between you, but gave him a reassuring smile.

“Yeah. Not a scratch.” Levi didn’t usually worry over you. You’d been in his company a few times since entering this messed up temple, but this was the first time he had ever openly done so. It was almost sweet.

Levi’s fingers brushed over your cheek and you tensed up out of surprise. He pulled his hand away immediately – still hovering in the air close by – and set his mouth in a firm line.

“No…not a one.” He confirmed. He took another step back and straightened, and the loss of contact made you feel more guilty than disappointed.

“Sorry. I just didn’t know you were going to do that.” You moved forward again, to the point where he couldn’t retreat any further without hitting the desk, “It’s okay if you want to check on me.” Levi stared at you, the eyeglasses doing wonders for his stony expression, before clearing his throat.

“I just wanted to make sure you were alright, so I didn’t have to, call anyone for help.” His volume lowered the longer he was talking. You caught the sight of his tail wagging for a split-second, and you smiled wide.

“Are you feeling okay?” You hoped that he was, but you also hoped that his tail meant what you thought it did. Levi shifted and cleared his throat.

“I’m completely fine.” He turned to collect the papers on his desk back into one neat pile. You nodded in understanding but kept smiling, albeit smaller and a little knowing. You joined Levi at the desk as a little mushroom waddled off at full speed with his pen.

“What are you working on?” You asked, folding your hands together like Levi had.

“Oh it’s a, case regarding whether daylight savings and weather events interfered with a deal that had until sundown to be completed.” Levi patted the paper and curled his fingers into a loose fist, no longer looking at you, “Whatever you need just put it on the pile and I’ll give it a look when I can.” He started to turn away from you, apparently prepared for the conversation to be over. You chuckled and touched his arm.

“I don’t have a lawsuit or anything.”

Levi paused, turning back to you.

“You don’t?”

“No!” You removed your arm but smiled at him, “I don’t need a contract to want to spend time with you.”

Levi stared again. His eyes, usually thin and stern, were wide and his jaw slack. He was usually so collected, but right now it looked like he wasn’t sure what to feel. Your breath caught in your throat at such an expression.

“Oh.” Levi said, and there was a long pause before he smiled, “Thank you.” It was small in size, but giant compared to his usual.

“You’re welcome.” You managed, resisting the urge to clutch your chest. Someone caring about him outside of a professional setting was enough to make him happy.

Levi tilted his head and held his hands together again as he made a three point turn, seemingly shifting in place again.

“I’m not particularly busy at the moment, so if you’d like to stay, then I would be alright with that.” He said. He was watching you intently.

“Stay in here with you?” You questioned. Levi shrugged. He seemed to hesitate, even though he wasn’t the one who was meant to answer. It didn’t make much of a difference to your response.

“I’d love to.”

Another tail wag. Levi stepped to the side to make room for you, then took a seat himself. You accepted the silent invitation and nestled up next to him. The brown fur was a little coarse, but not too unpleasant.

“You really need some affection, huh?” You teased. Levi frowned.

“Nonsense. It’s important to take breaks while you’re working.” He didn’t look at you as he said it, grabbing a book from the shelf behind him, but you decided not to push. Even if you didn’t really believe him.

“If you say so.”

Levi didn’t respond to that, flicking open the book to a dog-eared page. You settled back against his side. The silence felt a little awkward at first, what with Levi not saying a word to you as he read, but it wasn’t uncomfortable enough for you to want to leave. After being told to stay, it was unlikely that Levi had wanted the opposite. As a matter of fact, it felt like he was growing more comfortable the longer he could feel your weight against him.

Levi had one arm lowered to support the book he was reading. You looked at the arm for a moment, then reached out to hold it. Levi tensed, but almost immediately settled, making no move to stop you. You got a little more daring and looped your arm around his entirely, snuggling up to it instead. You looked up, gauging Levi’s reaction, and to your surprise his cheeks seemed to have darkened.

“Is this okay?”

“Yes.” Levi muttered. You smiled and rested against his arm. You weren’t at all interested in whatever he was reading.

You’d met a lot of weird people here. ‘People’ was a very loose term, considering none of them were human. But even if Levi did frequently argue with Jezzie and Ariana, he had never tried to kill you. He seemed to have his moments of being sweet and nice, and during those moments, you genuinely liked him.

The book snapped closed, and you blinked and looked up to see Levi watching you again.

“What?”

“Nothing. You look happy.”

“I am happy. And comfy.” You pressed against his sweater a little more. Levi smiled again, but then it shrank to a tiny frown. He scrambled to a stand without warning, almost dropping you in the process.

“What happened?” You stood up as Levi rummaged through his collected bits and bobs. A mushroom squeezed between two empty jars and waved both arms, pointing upwards. Levi patted its cap approvingly and hopped up onto his hind legs.

“What are you doing??” He seemed like he was in a hurry, whatever he was looking for, and you watched with confusion.

“One second.” Levi had enough height now to barely reach one of the topmost shelves, rolling an open jar into his large hands. He was careful – you could now hear the jar had water sloshing around inside of it – and shielded the top while he dropped back onto all fours.

You finally realised what he was doing when you saw the array of flowers contained in the jar like a vase. Some of them seemed on their way out, but Levi examined the best of the bunch before plucking his choice. A yellow wildflower, completely healthy, and he held it towards you.

“Here. Thank you for spending time with me, dear.”

You accepted the gift, holding the flower delicately between your fingers.

“Aww. Thank you.” You couldn’t tell if colour had appeared on your own face, but a faint tinge betrayed Levi’s otherwise level expression.

“You’re welcome.” If his hands hadn’t been wrapped around the jar, you might have felt tempted to hold them. But you were just as happy holding onto the flower he had picked for you.

Levi’s grip fidgeted, and he stepped away to return the jar of flowers.

“I didn’t know you collected living things too. Except, you know, those guys.” You pointed to the handful of mushroom guys that had been placed in ‘time-out’ jars. Most of the mushrooms had once been human beings, so not all of them were okay with spending day after day walking around a fae creature’s study.

“I usually collect things that I like.” Levi explained. He walked back towards you, and held his hand towards the flower still in yours.

“You deserve something beautiful.”

That wide smile returned to your face, and you took Levi’s extended hand before it could disappear.

“Thank you.” You said again. You saw Levi’s rare smile for the third time, and he slipped his hand from yours to hold it near his chest.

“Well, I, um.” He backed away to the desk again, “If you don’t need anything else, you can let yourself out whenever you’d like.” Apparently his brief show of vulnerability had ended, and he was retreating back to the safety of a cold outer shell.

“Levi.” The change was sudden, but you could understand it, and the gift he had given to you confirmed that it wasn’t from a place of dislike, “Can I come back later?”

Levi blinked and turned back around to his desk, taking his previous seat.

“Would you like to?”

“Yes.” You insisted. Levi paused, remaining still, but nodded.

“If I am not too focused on working then I suppose you could come back.”

You hummed, amused but agreeing to his terms.

“I’ll see you later then.” You started to turn, watching Levi as you did so. He didn’t move or answer you. You looked away and left through the door of the study. You kept the flower tucked safely in hand as you left the creature that had given it to you to his work.

#original character #my writing #Legal Levi #this is surprisingly long akjshdffh #whenever I get really motivated for an idea and write it on my phone it ends up being 1500+ words #the title is based on how in some dating sim games your 'points' with a character are measured by a coloured heart #also because of lavender being very strong (smelling) and the other symbolism it has

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canid-slashclaw · 4 years

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The Outliers - A Guildwars Love Story

Chapter 6

Two months had passed since the siege against the centaurs had begun in Kressex Hills. During those tenuous months, Kaleb, Brad and Cynthia would alternate duties between fighting on the front line and running much-needed supplies from the lake-port town. Kaleb's reputation as a fine cook also began to take hold. Some of his recipes became so popular that troops from other garrisons would stop by just to sample some of his cuisine. It was also during this time that he made it a point of volunteering for supply running duty to Triskell whenever the opportunity presented itself.

He enjoyed the unusual rapport he had developed with the market owner's daughter. Even though she was a charr and viewed by many of his people as the mortal enemy, he somehow found their respective differences to be intrinsically fascinating.

Today he was scheduled to pick up a fresh supply of imported cheeses from the marketplace. Along with the meats, soldiers discriminating tastes demanded an increasing array of finer foods. He was well aware that all of this was his own fault. But he simply couldn't help it - he liked to ensure that everyone enjoyed the little things in life for one never knew when all of it would suddenly end.

The morning was overcast and the plume of smoke rising from the upstairs chimney of the meat market indicated one thing. Amalthia was there, working away at whatever it was her kind liked to do. But even during subsequent visits, Kaleb could somehow never work up the nerve to ask her what she was working on.

He entered the shop and his nostrils were immediately greeted with the familiar array of scents from the spices and herbs. As always, Ludrick the big tabby patterned charr was there to greet him the moment he walked in.

"Two-thousand pounds of freshly-slaughtered bovine are ready for pickup. I hope you got some sturdy paws carrying this stuff. My ankle has been giving me fits and I'm not gonna be much use to anyone today," Ludrick grumbled as he shifted his center of gravity on his crutches.

Two months of coming to these felines' shop and I still don't know either of them on a personal level. Kaleb mused as he handed Ludrick the work order.

"Amalthia. Get down here and help this customer. He's got a meat wagon that needs to be loaded up," the old charr bellowed out towards the upstairs. "Just a minute. One last spot and I'll be finished."

Kaleb heard Amalthia's voice from upstairs. Summoning his courage, Kaleb stood in front of the big charr and quickly asked in a rushed voice. "So what has your daughter been working on?" Ludrick just shook his head and grumbled. "Ask her." He then pointed towards the staircase to where Amalthia had already been present. "Ask me what?" Kaleb swallowed as he was at a loss for words for the moment. "I was..." "It's okay, just remember your fahrar training when learning to speak. Or is it the Asuran School of Synergetics? Either way, you seem to have a hard time completing sentences whenever you are around me." Kaleb looked at Ludrick then commented. "Is your cub like this to all her customers?"

"Only to the ones who act like fools. Which, I might add, seems to include everyone." "Whathaveyoubeenworkingonupstairs? There! I asked it!" "Is that some sort of lost Orrian gibberish? Ohh... now I get it. I think you were trying to ask me a personal question. Something along the lines of what I do with my time while I'm upstairs. Am I right?" Amalthia conjugated her thoughts aloud. "Well, the acrid smell of burning coal does pique my curiosity. I can't help but to be curious." Amalthia gazed in his general direction with her amber eyes then replied. "I am not in the business of forming personal relationships with customers. If there is something business-related you or your people want to discuss with my sire, or me then by all means, do so. Otherwise don't pester me with personal questions." Human or not, Kaleb could tell that she had her defenses on high alert. Like the Seraph army he served under, he wanted to strategically break them down. "Business question." "Okay. Shoot." "How does your shop produce such a large volume of market cuts in such a short amount of time? And please don't tell me it's a trade secret, cause I know you people have commonplace technologies that our people don't even possess." Amalthia looked at her father who gave his silent nod of approval. "Did you bring anyone with you this time?" "No. Just me." "Good. Now take off those filthy shoes and socks," Amalthia said as she pointed her clawed finger towards Kaleb's boots. She led him down the stairs and into the basement cutting room. For the moment, the room was pitch black. But with the flick of her hand, a series of gaslight propane lights came to life. "Tada! Welcome to the cutting room. Or as I like to call it, the slaughter shack." The plucky charr beckoned him to tread carefully across the freshly mopped stone floor. She reached up and pulled back a chain-mail curtain revealing a row of cattle quarters dangling on a series of hooks. "The cattle are gutted just beyond that doorway over there. Once they have been dressed, sire and I bring the carcasses here to be cleaned up and ready for quartering." "What do you use to quarter them with... a tree saw?" Kaleb asked. Amalthia walked him over to a giant fearsome-looking machine that sported a giant saw blade. As he got closer, Kaleb could hear the high-pressure rushing sound of water that was coursing through the complex array of pipes. "Steam-powered quartering saw. Charr trade secret. You are to keep this mum under sever pain of a horribly gruesome death," she said laconically. "How charming. I suppose some of the meat I saw may have very well been the remains of customers who foolishly betrayed your secrets?" "Well, those and the ones who ask too many stupid personal questions. But other than that, you needn't worry. The chances of you inadvertently eating your dead uncle are practically nil," Amalthia quipped as she began adjusting the controls of the saw blade. "Amalthia! Customer with two little ones." "Great. Well that's it for now. I gotta put on the charming routine and help those pesky humans." As Kaleb and Amalthia emerged from the downstairs cutting room, a young mother and her squealing kids greeted them. "Mommy. Another charr!" The mother had a brief look of terror on her face as Amalthia kneeled down to make eye contact with the youngster. Without any sense of fear or trepidation, the little girl started to run her fingers across Amalthia's large horns. Within moments, the child was playing with her whiskers and ears, apparently being delighted by their twitching movement. "What's your name, little one? Mine is Amalthia. Can you say that?" The little girl tried to mimic Amalthia's feline muzzle phonemes as she attempted to sound out her name. "Ah.."

"..mall.."

"...thia!" Kaleb was utterly stunned. He was amazed at how patient she was with the human child. "You are really good with kids. I didn't expect that from someone like you," he said off-the-cuff. "What is that supposed to mean? 'Someone like me'?" "What I meant to say was, I didn't take you for the type to be so good around kids. I thought they would push your buttons and drive you crazy," Kaleb replied humbly. "There is a lot about me you don't know or want to know about. And for your sake as well as mine, it's for the better." Kaleb noticed the other child, a boy, clamoring over one of the displays.

"Be right back."

He gently picked up the arrant boy then promptly returned him to his mother. "There ya go fella. Just keep off of high places, yea hear? Otherwise you might fall and break something." Without Kaleb noticing, Amalthia witnessed the interaction as a wide grin came over her face that caused her ears to flatten with a sensation of happiness.

Kaleb walked back over sans the child. "I disagree. With your last statement, that is. Because I would like to get to know you better." "Do you have cubs?" Once again, Kaleb was caught off guard. But he learned to recover from the initial shock of her bold questions. "None at present. You?" "Nada." "Havarti is my favorite cheese. Okay, that one was pure randomness," Kaleb said in a relaxed tone. "Goat cheese for me. The harder ones clog me up something fierce. Randomness back at you," she chided. "More fiber will fix that issue. You've been served," Kaleb said gleefully. "Rebound - charrs don't consume fiber. Two and zero, with Amalthia in the lead." "You moved the goalpost. That's cheating!" "Accusing an Iron Legionnaire of cheating is an insult worthy of a duel... to the death!" Amalthia gnashed her teeth at Kaleb. "Match accepted. But first - may I treat you to some refreshments? You know, the kind outside this slaughterhouse?" Kaleb said with a wink. The little boy tugged on the hem of his mother's dress and pointed. "Mommy, that man and that charr are really talking weird to each other." The mother looked apprehensively at the odd bantering between the two then quickly decided it was best to pull up her spawn and leave. Ludrick planted the palm of his hand over his face as he shook his head. "You cubs are giving me a splitting headache. Would the both of you be so courteous as to take your jabber-jawing somewhere else? Preferably somewhere far out of my earshot?" "Oh crap! Where has the time gone? It looks like the dessert thing will have to wait another time. I was only supposed to be here for no more than an hour and now look at the time. I'm going to be in deep dolyak doo with my sarge if she finds out I've been goofing around," Kaleb said with a sigh of disappointment. Amalthia flicked her ears as she looked over the young soldier. "Then I wouldn't want to be the one to keep you from your appointed rounds. Meet me by the bay door and I'll help you load up your supplies." As they were working together in stocking up his cart, Amalthia couldn't help but notice Kaleb's bulging biceps as he helped her heft the large hunks of rations. But she immediately averted her gaze the moment he turned his head towards her. Once the necessary cargo had been loaded aboard the wagon, Amalthia proceeded to close and latch the receiving bay door. "That's the last of it," she said with a raised clawed thumb. "Thanks for everything. I couldn't have done this without your help. And next time, I promise there will be desserts," Kaleb replied with a smile. "Then I'll hold you to your word, Kaleb."

Her ears twitched upon saying his name. And for his part, he couldn't have felt happier when she said it too.

#gw2 fanfic #tyriaslibrary #gw2 stories #the outliers #charr

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twothumbsandnostakeincanon · 6 years

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So @stetervault reblogged my tags on that post of @thisdiscontentedwinter about Stiles having a familiar that’s a Chia Pet, and filling out that idea sounded like a better evening than yelling at the next installment of my Empathy Empathy series so that’s what I did.

Blah blah disclaimer that it’s been a long ass day and I literally just say down and pounded this out right now so obvs zero editing has been done LET’S BE REAL NONE OF YOU ARE HERE FOR PROFESSIONAL QUALITY SO WE’RE JUST GONNA ROLL

You Look Familiar

Peter watched Stiles.

It was a thing.

Not a good thing, or a bad thing, or even a particularly strange thing, given who Peter was.

It was just… a thing.

Peter watched Stiles.

No one watched Peter.

It made them too uncomfortable. He’d been resurrected without his familiar and somehow come back more sane rather than less, as was the case with every other documented case of Familiar Death. People could hardly stand to look at him at all, much less watch.

It’s wrong, they whispered. He’s only half a person. Where is his magic, if not kept with his familiar?

They were all waiting for him to snap, waiting for him to return to madness, despite proving that he still had his magic every time he shifted. There was no cure for the willfully ignorant, he supposed.

So rather than dedicating time to worrying about that, he used it to watch Stiles and his familiar, who were currently sitting on the couch in the loft. Stiles patted the small plants sprouting from the turtle shaped Chia Pet he called Aida. He would pat them down gently and watch them spring back, as if he was both petting and playing with it.

Aida sat perfectly still, as always. Never reacting, never interacting. Like it was just a regular Chia Pet.

Peter had wondered, at first, if perhaps Aida were some kind of red herring. Perhaps Stiles’ actual familiar couldn’t travel with him for some reason, so he carried around the Chia Pet to prevent awkward questions. It seemed like a Stiles thing to do.

But Peter had spent too much time with Stiles now, both in his house and everywhere else, to continue thinking that. There were no other familiars in the Stilinski household unless John was home with his ferret, Frances.

The Chia Pet was well and truly Stiles’ familiar.

Derek and Scott continued bickering in the middle of the loft as Peter continued to watch those long pale fingers lovingly brush across the green leaves and terracotta feet.

“Hey Stiles,” Isaac nodded over at Lydia’s goat familiar, “Guinevere's looking pretty hungry, maybe you should give her a snack.” He made a grab for Aida, but Stiles was well used to his jackassery by now, and pulled her away while sending a shock of electricity in Isaac’s direction like a rolled up newspaper.

Isaac yanked his hand away, rubbing the back of it with a sulk on his face. Peter didn’t know why he continued to pull that kind of shit- everyone else thought it was weird, but ignored Stiles’ oddity. Well. Everyone except Peter.

It wasn’t even that Aida wasn’t an animal; that was unusual, but not unheard of. It was just that other plant familiars always exhibited proof of sentience. Vine tendrils that curled around objects, or leaves that shook in morse code- something.

The turtle shaped Chia Pet just… sat there. Chia-ing away.

“No!” Scott yelled, breaking Peter’s concentration. “We have to talk to them, I know they’ll understand us!”

Derek was pinching the bridge of his nose between his eyes.

“I don’t know how to explain ‘zombies’ to you any better, Scott. They don’t understand anything. They’re dead. We need to find the one who’s raising them.”

“They’re not all the way dead, or they wouldn’t be moving around,” Scott said stubbornly. “We have to at least try talking to them.” He looked around the room for support, finding none. “Stiles?” he pleaded.

Stiles shrugged. “Sounds like a double headshot situation to me, dude.”

Scott set his jaw firmly, taking one last glance around the room.

“Fine. I’ll go talk to them alone then. When I come back with a treaty worked out, you’ll have to honor it.”

“Aw, Scott-” Stiles started, but was cut off by the slamming of the door. He sighed, tucking Aida in pocket of his bunny hug and standing.

“Come on, guys, come help me keep him from killing himself.”

Derek’s eyebrows said everything about how much he wanted to do that, but grudgingly got up anyway, leading the others out with him.

Peter, however, stayed right where he was on the stairs.

“I really don’t think we ought to interfere with natural selection, do you?” he said delicately.

Stiles raised an eyebrow.

“Rich words from a guy who died. Come on Zombiewolf, they’re your people! If anyone can pull off Scott’s dumbass idea to communicate, it’ll be you!” He grinned cheesily.

Peter remained unmoved.

Stiles sighed.

“Help me keep my bro alive and I’ll help with the translation of that Polish Bestiary you got last month. I know you’re only three pages in. If Scott doesn’t die, I’ll have the whole thing translated in two weeks.”

“Deal.”

He reached out to shake on it and then used the leverage to pull himself up. He leaned in to rub his cheek against Stiles’, conscious of the way Stiles allowed it- perhaps even leaned into it a little.

“You should have held out for at least another two favors,” he whispered into Stiles’ ear. “I’ve been cursing at that book all week.”

He tried to tamp down his smile at the shiver and chuckle that Stiles responded with.

Peter tugged his hand to pull them both out of the loft.

“Let’s go help the idiot squad.”

____________________

In a turn of events that surprised exactly one person, Scott was already in trouble when they arrived.

Claws out, eyes flashing, he was tearing away at the zombies as they shambled into his space, slow and unstoppable.

Everyone jumped into the fray immediately, but it was like the zombies were appearing from thin air. There were just so many. The pack could drop one, and three would take its place.

The zombies had little to no motor coordination, but they pressed with their whole body, leaning in to incapacitate while another tried to bite. Fighting while feeling so suffocated led to a panicked defense rather than a planned attack.

Even Peter and Derek were struggling; their arms couldn’t get enough movement for their claws to be truly effective. Dread clogged Peter’s throat- this couldn’t be it, he’d come back from the dead once, he wasn’t going to go out a second time by zombie-

One long arm raised above the mass of bodies, green and tan gripped in the fist held aloft. Everyone in the pack watched as the arm pulled back, flew forward, and Stiles released Aida mid-air.

The moment held, suspended, as everyone looked on in horror, expecting Stiles’ familiar to shatter against the first object she hit. Shards of terracotta, scattered bits of green and seeds- the companion of Stiles’ magic, destroyed.

But then-

Orange and black, growing larger so quickly that no one could track it with their eyes. One moment, there was a flying Chia Pet, the next, a mother fucking tiger was landing on the ground with an earth shaking roar.

Rotting bodies flew left and right, the heads being severed by huge claws and an even huger jaw. The sudden breathing room gave everyone in the pack a perfect view on the tiger absolutely shredding the hordes of zombies that had been their imminent demise just a minute ago.

The whole ordeal took less than five.

When they were surrounded by bodies, Stiles moseying along and whacking the heads off of the occasional twitcher, the tiger finally sat down and began cleaning herself. He walked right up to her and ran his fingers through her ruff.

“Thanks Aida,” he said casually. She turned her head to lick his face.

“Oh, gross, you were just using that tongue to clean zombie guts off of yourself!” he yelled, wiping his face with his sleeve.

Aida let out a deep rumbly sound that may have been the tiger equivalent of a laugh, before giving her claws one last lick. Then she turned around and leapt toward Stiles, transforming mid-air once again before landing in Stiles’ arms as a turtle Chia Pet once again.

Wait. No.

Peter peered a little more closely.

She was a sheep this time.

Stiles brought her up to his face, nuzzling into her and gently patting the tiny green plants as he usually did. Only this time, everyone watched Aida rub her little terracotta body up against his cheek affectionately.

He tucked her away in the pocket of his bunnyhug again and looked up at the pack, who were still staring.

Stiles smiled angelically.

“I thought she was a fucking Chia Pet,” Isaac burst out indignantly.

Stiles looked at him, eyebrow raised.

“She is. You just saw her turn back into one.”

“But she-”

“Anyway, I need a shower,” Stiles cut in, blatantly ignoring him as he walked away. “Peter, your apartment is closest. You can let me in with a key or I can break in, your choice.”

Peter hurried after him, knowing he wasn’t joking.

“You are absolutely not using my good towels-”

#this has the potential to expand Like Woah #this blog needs a tag for my bullshit #steter #steter fic #pre slash #familiars #magic #I need to go the fuck to bed

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harleyquilt · 6 years

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The Incompetent Demon and his Demon Whisperer (Part 1)

Summary: Touka is a young woman seeking out the aid from the shadows to avenge her parents death, only to find the demon she sold her soul to is a complete and utter idiot.

Words: 5071

Notes: I...don’t actually know how long this fic should be, but it’s a lot more lighthearted and silly compared to my other touken fics. I wrote this for the wonderful @madghoulworld for being an amazing and dear friend to me, even after I abused my power of using her as my own personal doctor and for asking her for help with some of my other works. I hope you enjoy the fic and feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thick black smoke swirled at their feet, Touka pressing her hand against her mouth to hold back her shocked gasp. A tall dark shadow looked over her, a deep laugh shaking the apartment she lived in. Two cloven feet hovered above the red painted star pentagon she had drawn earlier, several red eyes appearing all at once. A clawed hand reached out for her, grabbing her by the chin with its head leaned forward, appearing out of the dense smoke that engulfed the room.

“What a pretty bunny you are.” He grinned, showing off a cluster of razor sharp fangs with each eye blinking separately and slowly. “What reason does this mortal child want with a repulsive demon like me?”

He chuckled at her astounded silence, her eyes wide with fear and amazement. She had actually summoned the demon. She didn't think that the instructions Yoriko had told her would actually work, but there was benefits in having a witch for a friend. Even so, to see this demon right before her shaken her right down to her core, with his two curled ebony horns, claws covered with ash and goat-like legs that only added to abnormality. It was terrifying.

“Speak, tainted lamb.” The demon spoke, his eyes narrowed. “My patience is thinning and my stomachs grow hungry. Your soul will surely be delicious-”

“I want power!” Touka said, despite her cheeks being squished together. “My parents - they were murdered mercilessly by the police - and the man who killed them is-” The demon let go and she rubbed her sore cheeks, hearing him tut as his demonic shadow swirled into the form of a man, “-too powerful for me...to…w-what are you doing?”

“I get it. You want to kill the murderer, etcetera, etcetera.” He stepped towards her, the smoke parting and fading with his new form still partially hidden. “In exchange for your soul, I will give you the power you need.” He held out his hand ready to shake, a smirk tugging at the end of his new lips. “Deal?”

Touka had been prepared for this, keeping in mind the words Yoriko had told her a few days ago. A soul wasn't something that could simply be given away, knowing that there’ll be nothing but a dark void left behind and yet, even so, if she wasn't about to lose her soul now, it'll be corrupted by the time she found her parent's killer. And she won't let him, Arima Kishou, escape again, so she didn't give a damn about the price that had to be paid.

“Deal.” She shook his hand in return, grimacing at the coldness of his skin. A gust of wind blew through the room, the smoke being blown away and now Touka could see the demon's new body clear as day. His very...naked body.

“Is something wrong?” He raised a brow and his grin remained, crossing his arms. Her jaw hung open and it took her a minute before she could avert her eyes. “You seem distracted. We still have some things to talk about, you know.”

“Can you...Not be naked?” She scowled and in the corner of her eyes, she saw his wolfish grin grow with his cockiness. “It's not very appropriate.”

“Does this form not satisfy my lady?” He stepped forward and she squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head quickly.

“Don't call me that.”

She peeked back, hoping that he somehow got the message and to her relief, she saw that he was now dressed in a black shirt and pinstripe trousers. An odd choice, but better than full on nudity. With a sigh, she turned back to him, finally able to get a good look at her demon without his muscular and well endowed body distracting her.

He was a few inches taller than her and much broader too, but his eyes were round with a soft grey colour, nothing she imagined a demon to have. His hair was black and his skin pale, his shit-eating smug smile always there. He looked...handsome. Wait, no, he was probably only trying to manipulate her with these looks of his. She wouldn't let him take the advantage over her in this contract!

“Right,” she crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes, “is there any limitations and such I should know about-”

“Let's skip all that.” He was suddenly right in front of her, one of his hands coming up to brush her fringe back. “What beautiful eyes you have for a mortal.”

“Oi, I'm already giving you my soul.” She slapped his hand away, but it didn't seem to bother him. “What kind of demon are you anyhow? Shouldn't there be rules?”

“Sure, but I don't follow the rules.” He winked and Touka tried not to cringe. “I'm not like other demons.”

She raised a brow, unimpressed and she wondered if she did the ritual right after all. Maybe it won't hurt to give Yoriko a call.

“I can see that you're a little stunned by my presence, so I'll keep this short.” He pinched her cheek and she silently questioned if this was a prank. Or rather, she prayed - did she really just sell her soul to this guy? “I will give you whatever you need to find and take down these killers of yours and once that's all done with, I'll be able to eat that delicious soul of yours.”

He cupped her face in his hands, licking his lips as he looked down at Touka with a hungry look in his eyes. Despite his unbothered attitude before, he did seem very eager to obtain her soul. What was she even supposed to think of this...thing, because she wasn't really feeling threatened. Should she? Again, her thoughts wonder back to Yoriko.

“Hey, are you paying attention?” He shook her a little and she blinked hard, her attention back at the demon. “You can call me whatever you like, though the other demons call me Black Reaper.”

“Pfft,” she snorted, the ‘reaper’ scowling at her reaction. “Of course they do. I'll just call you Kaneki - saw his name in some manga.”

Before ‘Kaneki’ could respond, probably to protest against such a meaningless name, the door opened and a boy's voice called out for Touka. They both turned to see a dark haired young man walk into the room, his face holding a lot of resemblance to Touka - likely her brother. He paused and stared at Kaneki, a mixture of shock and confusion on his face.

Touka froze and looked between them, mentally beating herself up for completely forgetting that she would have to explain her new...companion to her brother. It'd be nice if he had just stayed with Hinami, but it was too late now. He opened his mouth to speak, but Touka quickly linked her arm through Kaneki's, much to his surprise, with a forced smile.

“Ayato! I'm glad you're here, I wanted to introduce you to my new boyfriend, Kaneki. Ken Kaneki.” That was the characters name, right? It’d be easier if she actually liked the character she used the name from.

“Boyfriend?” He grimaced with a sneer, already clearly disgusted as he looked at Kaneki up and down. “Did you find him in some corporate dumpster or something?”

Kaneki sighed and wrapped his arm around Touka’s waist, making her freeze up. Her lips quivered slightly as she held back the temptation to rip his arm off, but she quickly cleared her throat and kept her smile up, awkwardly leaning against Kaneki. Ayato was about to comment on her strange behaviour, but he was distracted by the sinister look this ‘boyfriend’ was giving him.

“What you looking at, you pinstriped bastard?” Ayato huffed as he headed towards the kitchen and away from this said couple.

“I think we fooled him.” Touka pressed her lips together and nodded, stepping a good ten inches away from the demon. When she looked back, he seemed a little hurt at this new distance, his eyes watering - wait, he wasn’t going to cry, was he? “We might as well keep this act up until the contract is done. I don’t want Ayato having any involvement though, got that?”

“Sure sure.” He glanced towards the kitchen, sniffling as he wiped his eyes. “Though it won’t hurt to give my new brother-in-law a friendly greeting.”

“We’re,” Touka shivered, “in a relationship, not married.”

“Ayato, my favourite brother-in-law!”

And just like that, he disappeared around the corner and into the kitchen. Touka took in a deep breath and slumped down onto the couch, rubbing her face with some frustration. The plans she had been setting up for weeks were now in motion, and yet she can’t help but feel hesitant. This demon, despite his first dramatic entrance, seemed like nothing more than some premature boy trying too hard to be something he isn’t. Even so, she had just sold her soul to him. She doesn’t know whether to feel like the dumbest mortal there was or to be somewhat relieved that he won’t have the brains enough to try and trick her into some scheme of his with this contract. Hell, he was even going to cry about the distance she took with their nonexistent ‘relationship.’ He was a demon, right?

Perhaps this was a good time to call Yoriko.

. . .

Ayato watched Kaneki stroll behind him whilst he prepared himself a coffee. He hated this sudden stranger lurking behind him. He supposed this random-ass guy came here to explain this new weird relationship he had with his sister, but he had no intention indulging this guy and as these thoughts ran through Ayato’s head, his stirring quickly grew more violent, the coffee spilling a little onto the counter. Kaneki leaned against the dining table and crossed his arms, eyes narrowed with a mischievous smirk on his lips.

“So, Ayato was it?” He noticed Ayato flinch ever so slightly, his grip tightening around the tablespoon. This should be fun. “I’m sorry to have suddenly walked into you and your sister’s life like this, but I don’t see it as any reason for us to not get along.”

“Sure, we’ll become best friends and start braiding each others hair and painting each others nails.” He mumbled sarcastically and he turned to face Kaneki, only to see him inches away from him and Ayato, startled, jumped back, yelling out as he did so. “The fuck-”

“I would love that!” He turned his head to one side with, what Ayato thought was a poor attempt of, a sweet smile. “But I’m afraid my nails have already been done.” He lifted his hand, each nail painted black with red gems on top, Kaneki filled with the look of pride. “You know, sometimes I even like dressing up as Sasako.”

“S-Sasako?” Ayato tried to reach for his mug, but Kaneki only grabbed his hand and held it between his, nodding with that same disturbing smile.

“Yes, my female counterpart from the days when I was a succubus. But if you’re interested, I can make you a woman too. In more than one-”

“What in God’s name-”

“There is no God.” Kaneki sighed and leaned back, admiring his nails. “Or heaven really, just Hell.” He looked up again, seeing Ayato pale. “And you’re living it right now.”

Ayato’s eyes bulged and he swallowed, wavering in his step with Kaneki raising a brow, waiting for a response. There was a moment of utter and intense silence and Ayato didn’t know whether he should even try to counter what was just said. He really hoped this was just some giant joke against him and he thought this as a nonbeliever. What was with this guy? His aura, his words - they were all just so wrong. Did his sister hit her head too hard? Was she just that desperate? Ayato simply couldn’t fathom why on this forsaken earth she had to choose the weirdest and creepiest guy there could possibly exist.

With eyes avoiding Kaneki’s, Ayato reached for his mug and hurried away, his legs trembling slightly. Kaneki watched him until he disappeared in his room, Touka coming into the kitchen afterwards, finishing a conversation she was having on the phone. He held in his breath, watching her pour herself some coffee before she switched her phone off and tossed it aside. The world seemed to stop around her, her looks so captivating whilst she prepared herself a coffee, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Kaneki licked his lips, his eyes still set on her as he fidgeted with his hands.

When she turned to face him, he felt his nonexisting heart flutter a little in the void inside him. If he was still an incubus, he’d visit her every night just to admire her magnificent beauty. He didn’t just see that tasteful glow of that fearsome soul within her, he saw this perfect creation of a human-

“Did you paint your nails?” Touka asked with a frown. “What exactly were you doing with my brother?”

“Nails? What nails?” He turned his back to her and turned back quickly, the nails back to normal. Touka glared at them whilst he moved towards her, taking the coffee she had just made and took a sip. “Thanks for the coffee, it’s delicious.”

“Wait, that’s min-”

“Who were you talking to?” He leaned against the counter, taking another sip. She huffed and turned her face away, her fists clenched.

“Yoriko. She’s my friend and a, uh, witch. I wanted her to come round in a short while. Can you manage to behave when she’s around?”

“She won’t even see me. Technically, no other mortal besides you won’t be able to see me unless I feel the need to.” He looked towards Ayato’s door and chuckled into the mug as he lifted it up again. “I have no interest in interacting with some little girl pretending to be a part of a coven.”

Touka would’ve easily went into the argument in how it was all due to Yoriko’s aid that Touka was able to make this mistake of a deal with him at all, but she doubt he’d listen or even have the brains to even comprehend her simple explanation. Instead, she rolled her eyes and yelled at Ayato that there’d be more company coming around, including Hinami who was giving back a book he had conveniently left there. It was unfortunate she was a little too preoccupied at the minute, since she enjoyed pointing out how he always seemed to leave something behind so she can come over once again.

Regardless, she set out more mugs ready for her guests, still watching Kaneki finish off the rest of her coffee.

. . .

“Yoriko, you came here pretty quick.”

“What the hell were you thinking?” Yoriko immediately shook Touka furiously by her shoulders, shoving her into the apartment before kicking the door closed behind her. She continued shaking her as she continued talking. “First of all, what kind of weirdo are you for actually performing this ritual? Second, it actually worked?!”

Touka was a little stunned to hear this from her good friend, Yoriko usually always being the one to believe in such ridiculous things like curses and hexes. Even now, she was clad all in black with her long black jumper that hung off her shoulders, her sheer skirt that went down to her ankles with thigh high boots, a black sunhat and lace choker - along with her black makeup and pale complexion, the only colour about her being her hair. She was the epitome of a goth-like witch. And yet, here she was now, scolding Touka for being the crazy one.

“You’re the one who told me the ritual. Are you telling me you don’t actually believe the shit you tell me?” Touka crossed her arms with a pout, Kaneki chuckling at the situation behind her.

“Well no one actually summons a demon, you know. I thought it’d give you some comfort if you tried to find a solution instead of doing something even more stupid.” She sighed with some frustration rubbing her temples. “So are you saying that you actually, and quite literally, summoned a demon?”

Touka fiddled with the edge of her shirt, biting the bottom of her lip and she glanced behind her at Kaneki, who was sitting on the armrest of the couch, flexing and admiring his biceps, and looked back at Yoriko, her eyes downcasted. Her friend had a stern look to her face, an expression Touka wasn’t used to and even though she was starting to realise that perhaps Yoriko wasn’t as big as a believer as she made out to be, she was clearly concerned, or possibly more frightened, at the possibility that Touka had really accomplished an unimaginable curse. Perhaps...it was best if she continued to keep this secret to herself, just for now.

“I’m sorry, Yoriko, I...I lied.” Touka avoided her eyes and her voice was quieter. “When I was trying to do the ritual, I left the window open and this gust of wind blew through. I overreacted and thought something had happened and I thought I did something so I called-”

“Bullshit, I know when you’re lying!” Yoriko’s firm voice startled Touka, making her more nervous than she was before. What else should she say then?

“Ugh, how dull. Just tell her already.” Kaneki came up from behind and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, Yoriko’s eyes widened at the sight of this new guest she hadn’t noticed before. “I’m Touka’s very own demon. I would shake your hand, but I don’t have much respect for pretenders.”

“You must really hate yourself then.” Touka mumbled, shoving him off. He winced, looking away as he covered his eyes, saying something under his breath along the lines of ‘she knows me so well already.’

“Woah.” Yoriko gasped with some amazement, turning her head to examine the demon before her. She didn’t seemed bothered by his comment, distracted by her curiosity before she looked back at Touka, blinking a few times. “You...You actually did it. You even summoned a handsome one. H-How-”

“I actually chose to be summoned,” Kaneki brushed his hair back, lifting his chin, “don’t be so impressed by the method you chose, I just thought I’d make a more impressive entrance.”

Touka elbowed him whilst snapping at him to shut up for once, already fed up with his cringing statements. Yoriko watched with some wonder at this relationship that has already been established - he was nothing like a demon, or at least one she had imagined, though that shouldn’t really surprise her - but it atleast explained why Touka sounded so confused over the phone. She was probably as lost as Yoriko was right now.

“Well, I guess you really did it then, Touka, but I don’t think I can tell you anymore than what I already did. Shouldn’t the demon explain what you need to know?”

“He’s useless. Anyhow, thanks for coming round anyway, it’s a comfort knowing I won’t be the only delusional one here. I’ll let you know when anything new comes about.”

“You do realise I’m standing right here.” Touka ignored Kaneki and went to hug Yoriko, leading her back to the door. “The mortals have no respect for their elders these days.”

As Yoriko and Touka bid their goodbyes, another girl, a petite looking brunette with these wide wondrous eyes, said hello to the two girls before Touka told her Ayato was moping in his room. She nodded and headed inside, looking past Kaneki and headed towards the teenage boy’s door, book in hand and a radiant smile on her face. However, as she walked past the demon, she felt a chill go through her, looking back to see nothing more than the living room. With a slight frown, she turned back and knocked on Ayato’s door.

He immediately opened his door, pulling Hinami into his room and she let out a small surprised yelp, his head sticking out to glare at Kaneki. Kaneki cheerfully waved back enthusiastically, telling Ayato not to make too much noise and a bright red blush erupted on the poor boy’s cheeks, his head disappearing back into the room as he slammed the door shut.

Touka walked back in, taking Kaneki’s breath away - if he had hypothetically had lungs in the first place - and she stood still for a moment, seemingly trying to gather her thoughts. The way her face scrunched up slightly with a frown and her hand on her chin was almost too cute to take seriously, Kaneki sighing to himself as he admired her beauty.

“You’re blushing.” Touka noted, though she didn’t seem all too flattered. “That’s, uh, odd for a demon. You are a demon, right?”

“You dare question that after seeing my demonic form whilst forming a contract with me.” He tutted and stepped towards her, leaning down until his face was merely a few inches away. Touka tensed up, trying to back away but found that she was cornered against a wall. “Even after selling your soul to me, you seem a little too comfortable in my presence. We might have to fix that.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Touka narrowed her eyes, showing no fear at the demon that towered over her. He seemed a little shocked for a moment, but his smile returned, licking his lips slowly. “Well?”

“I...Don’t know, I didn’t plan this far.” He averted his eyes and awkwardly cleared his throat, stepping back. Touka wasn’t even surprised. It had only been literally over an hour and he was already this predictable. It was just sad. “It’s pretty late and you mortal’s are always so weak, you should go to sleep so we can start this deal tomorrow morning.”

“It’s only eight-”

“Well I’m tired! Goodnight!”

She winced when he slammed the door shut, not willing to go and argue with him that demons shouldn’t need to sleep. He seemed flustered, unusually so, but she couldn’t really care less and went to check if Hinami was staying the night. Though, like she tried to tell Kaneki, it was still pretty early, Touka did feel exhausted. This whole fiasco had drained all her energy with the confusion and uncertainty of the situation. She had to face facts though; she was now in a contract with a demon, no matter how useless he appeared himself to be, and it was now time to seek out the killers of her mother and father. The price was high, but she was certain this was the path she wanted to go down and if she had a change of heart...Well, it didn’t matter now. What’s done is done and she can’t turn back.

. . .

She stirred in her sleep, tugging the covers tighter around her and Kaneki couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Despite his previous claim, he didn’t actually need to sleep and since he never actually asked anything from Touka, like he should have, he had nothing better to do than stick around and wait. He was tempted to bully Ayato whilst he slept, the permanent marker right there for the taking, but he was more eager to come up with new deep monologues as he observed the one beauty in this disgusting realm.

It was almost like he wasn’t the demon he was cursed to be but the angel he began as, her voice, her eyes, everything about her adding a new light into him that he had thought he had forgotten so long ago. It was strange, to say the least, but it wasn’t unpleasant. If anything, it only made him more eager to be around her, to continue feeling this nostalgic warmth. It was...comforting.

Kaneki finished typing up the rest of this monologue he just mentally said to himself on the typewriter that levitated in front of him, reading it through the small paragraph with a satisfied nod before adding the page into the manuscript where he kept all the other monologues he wrote. He started typing again, ready to write more about how much he loved being around the human until he felt something hit his face, pulling away his attention.

Touka leaned up against her arm, a sour look on her tired face and her hair messed up in all places. She had thrown her pillow at him, annoyed by the loud typing he was doing and she pointed straight at the door, his eyes following the direction of her finger with eyes of a kicked puppy. He pouted and got up, taking himself and the typewriter to the living room. However, as he walked through the dark apartment, he almost dropped his typewriter bumping into someone in front of him. He expected Ayato, but when he finally stepped back and examined the face in front of him, he saw it was someone not as handsome.

“Oh, it’s you, Furuta.” Kaneki grimaced and the other demon responded with a toothy grin. “What are you doing here? I’m not hunting, I have an actual contract now.”

“I know. Everyone knows. Do you want to know why everyone knows?” Furuta’s smile became strained with seriousness and anger. “Because you just majorly fucked up the whole underworld department!”

Kaneki winced and leaned back, a vicious scowl casted across Furuta’s human-disguised face. He wasn’t going to ask why the department down below was once again infuriated with Kaneki’s ways of working, especially after the stern lecture given by Satan himself (otherwise known as Ishida when in human form) but he doubt Furuta would spare him on the scolding he was about to give after going through the trouble of finding him. So instead, he placed his typewriter aside and stood there timidly as Furuta paced back and forth, angrily rubbing his head and flicking back his fringe.

“You messed up everything, I didn’t even know that was possible. First, you encounter a human simply because they did some wannabe ritual. I mean, she didn’t even use real blood and you still encountered her, unbelievable.” His voice grew louder with every word. “And then you skip the whole process of making a contract. Do you know how much paperwork we have to do because of your need to act ‘cool’? You didn’t even tell the poor girl about the insurance fee!”

He then sighed and faced Kaneki, his expression changing from anger to sheer disappointment. Oh boy, here comes the speech...

“Three months, Reaper, three months we trained you!” Kaneki was already losing interest, the words for this particular speech still fresh in his memory. But he let Furuta continue with his insistent pacing. “When you fell from heaven, crippled and crying, all the other demons told me to turn you away, but I, Furuta Nimura, took you in as my own and trained you to be the rightful fledgling demon I knew you were destined to be.” Kaneki was now off in a tangent, his eyes drifting to a bird at the windowsill. “N-Now I know you mixed with the wrong crowd and some may even have the audacity to suggest that you simply fell from a cloud instead of being banished from heaven, but even so, I saw potential!” Kaneki was mesmerised with the bird. “I would raise you to be the catalyst for us to bring the apocalypse to this world and- ey, are you listening?”

He snapped his fingers in front of Kaneki’s face, pulling him out of his trance. He shook his head as his eyes focused back on Furuta, who was even angrier than before. Kaneki gave him a poor attempt of an apologetic smile and Furuta tugged him by the ear and dragged him down the hall to Touka’s door.

“It’s because of her, isn’t it? You do realise as a demon you can’t love humans, right? Like, it’s not even physically possible.” Kaneki knew he should’ve lied and just reassured this makeshift mother of his and this wasn’t the case but he simply shrugged with downcast eyes, looking back up to see Furuta’s eyes shimmer a hellish red. “Do you remember last time when you broke the devil’s code?”

“No, please, not the slipper!” Kaneki already held up his hands up in surrender, the usual pink fluffy slipper Furuta stole from a hotel once appearing in hand. He knew he couldn’t escape now, no matter how far he ran. This was it, this was the moment of judgement, the final frontier. “I’m sorry!”

“Fucking hell, do you ever shut up?!” Touka’s door swung open and she stood there, armed with a pillow and a menacing glare. She stared at Kaneki, his hands raised over his head and he stared back, trying not to focus on how cute she looked in her nightie. He straightened and brushed his hair back, silently pleading Furuta for mercy as he stood there with an amused smirk, the slipper still in hand. “I’m trying to sleep,” Touka stepped forward, jabbing her finger at his chest, “and you can’t seem to stop crying like a little bitch.”

“But hey, at least I’m a bad bitch-”

“Don’t even try to wink.” Furuta chuckled to himself as he watched Kaneki give a pathetic apology to his new owner.

“I managed to convince the department that I’d give you a suitable punishment for all the havoc you created, but it seems your new owner is enough to set you straight.” He patted Kaneki’s shoulder in sympathetic mockery whilst Touka continued grumbling to herself, heading back to her room. “Even so, I might just stick around, you know, to check you’re not making it even harder for us office types. I’m sure I won’t mind watching you be dragged on a leash by your own weird way of admiring those mortals, especially this one.”

Kaneki couldn’t say anymore as Furuta slowly faded into dust and once he was completely gone, he laid down on the couch and hugged his knees, grateful that he at least didn’t have to go through the slipper slapping again. Sniffing quietly to himself, he sat there throughout the rest of the night mentally reciting the monologues he written that day and the new pickup lines he knew would use to sway Touka to fall for him.

He’ll show them all that he was capable...at something.

#fanfic #touken #kanetou #fluff #My writing #kaneki ken #touka kirishima #ayato kirishima #hinami fueguchi #yoriko

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dumbledearme · 6 years

Text

chapter two—a safe place

read Child of Land and Sea here

Act I — Storm At Sea

Part II — Look at this trove, treasures untold. How many wonders can one summer camp hold?

The gods existed. That's what they were trying to convince her of. The gods existed, they were out there watching over people. The gods were out there watching over people and yet none of them had lifted a finger to save Andy's mom. Sally was dead, gone, vaporized into smoke by a monster that couldn't be real. Andy's head was spinning and they just wouldn't stop talking about the damn gods!

Andy, her mother and Grover had been followed by an enormous beast, half bull half man. Sally had called it Pasiphae's son or whatever, but the only word going through Andy's mind had been Minotaur. Only they wouldn't let her say it out loud. Andy didn't know what to do, what to think. There was a mythical creature following them, trying to kill them, her best friend was a goat—okay, a satyr, as he patiently explained—and her mother seemed to find everything about that situation quite normal. Sally even admitted to have expected such an attack.

Then the bull-man grunted, pawing the ground and charged toward them. Andy could still feel the earth moving under her feet. She could still smell the rotten meat that exhaled from it. But the fear couldn't compare to the feeling of emptiness of when the monster grabbed her mother and turned her to dust.

Andy had lost her mind then. She had attacked the monster with all her might. And somehow, she had managed to destroy it.

After several days in some sort of coma, Andy woke up to find out that none of that had been a dream. It had all happened. Grover told her she was in Camp Half-Blood, a safe place, the place her father had wanted to send her to. The place Sally didn't want her to go to.

Grover took her to the Great House where Andy was introduced to none other than her former Latin teacher, Mr. Brunner, only now he was a centaur going by the name of Chiron.

As if that wasn't weird enough, Andy was forced to sit down for a game of pinochle with the camp's director, Mr. D, also known as Dionysus, son of Zeus, etc etc. Andy wanted to pass out to stop herself from hearing any more of their crazy-talk. They told her the gods existed, they kept repeating it, as if the more they said it the faster she would come to accept it. But Andy couldn't accept that, she found herself completely unable to. Too much craziness and not enough time to process it.

The god of wine apparently had been banished to care for Camp Half-Blood because of a wood nymph he hadn't been able to stay away from. Nothing new there. Boys will be (stupid) boys. His father had declared her off limits, but that wasn't enough to stop Dionysus who was now forced to stay here, forbidden to have a sip of wine.

Then they told her the gods of Olympus were now here in America. They gave her a perfectly good explanation that Andy barely heard. And after that, Chiron invited her for a tour which Andy thought was a terrible idea, since every single one of the other campers kept staring at her and whispering. Most of them were older than Andy and their satyr friends were bigger than Grover. They all wore the same orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt. Andy wasn't shy, but the way they stared made her feel extremely uncomfortable. Trying to take off the edge she was feeling, she asked Chiron about Grover.

"He has big dreams," Chiron told her. "Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."

"But he did that."

"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate... ah... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The Council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."

"But... he'll get a second chance, won't he?"

Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Andy. The Council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, seven years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."

"How old is he?"

"Oh, twenty-eight."

"Whaaaat!"

"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Andy."

"Oh, that's unfortunate."

"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyrs standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dreams. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."

"That isn't fair. What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"

Chiron looked away quickly and the matter was ended. He would not discuss it with Andy. It was none of her business.

Finally, Chiron showed Andy the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. Chiron explained that each of the cabins represented one of the twelve Olympian gods but Andy was more preoccupied in wondering why some of them looked empty. But before she could ask Chiron that, a blond boy came their way. He was tall, probably Andy's age, and very athletic looking. With his deep tan and his smooth yellow hair, he was exactly the type of guy who'd never glance at Andy twice. When he got closer, Andy saw that his eyes were gray, like storm clouds; pretty but extremely intimidating.

"This is Anthony," Chiron told Andy. "He nursed you back to health."

Andy tried to smile. "Hey."

The boy glared at her, obviously unimpressed with what he was seeing. "You drool when you sleep," he felt the need to inform her. Andy felt the need to slap him.

"Anthony," Chiron said, "I have master's archery class at noon. Would you take Andy from here?"

"Yes, sir," the boy said very politely, as if he was a fifty year old ambassador instead of a hot teenage boy. Andy shook her head.

"We'll be putting her in cabin eleven for now," added Chiron before leaving them.

Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular summer camp cabin and it was the most crowded one as well. There were boys and girls, more than there were beds, so there was sleeping bags spread all over the floor. Andy stood in the doorway, looking at the kids that stared at her in return.

"Well?" Anthony prompted. "Go on." So naturally, Andy tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of herself. Most of them laughed, but Anthony didn't seem to think it was funny at all. "Andy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."

"Regular or undetermined?" Somebody asked.

"Undetermined," he replied. Everyone groaned. A guy around Andy's age made his way through the crowd and if Andy had thought Anthony looked hot, it was nothing compared to this boy. He was much taller than everyone else, his muscles were impossible not to stare at and his short-cropped sandy hair went perfectly nicely with his charming smile. There was no other word to describe him but cool.

"Now, now, campers," he said, "that's what we're here for. Welcome, Andy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there." He stopped right beside Andy and she noticed two things about him she hadn't seen from the distance. He had a unsettling thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw—not that that made him any less hotter—and he wore a leather necklace with seven different-colored clay beads.

"This is Luke," Anthony said and this time his voice was full of pride. Andy wondered if she wasn't the only one charmed by the guy. "He's your counselor for now."

"For now?" Andy asked, disappointed.

"You're undetermined," explained Luke. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all the newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

"How long will I be here?"

"Until you're determined," he said.

"How long will that take?"

The campers laughed.

"Come on," said Anthony. "I'll show you the rest."

"Oh I'm pretty sure I've seen everything," Andy told him, wishing to stay with the other hot dude. Anthony grabbed her wrist and dragged her outside. Andy could hear the others still laughing.

"You have to do better than that," he told her, when they were outside.

"Excuse me?"

He rolled his eyes. Again, Andy's hand itched to hit him. "I can't believe I thought you were the one."

"What is your problem?" she snapped. "I just got here. I have absolutely no idea what is going on. My mother's dead and I killed this bull guy and—"

"You know how many of us wish they'd had your chance?" he interrupted. "To fight the Minotaur? That's what we train for."

Andy still wanted to hit him, but she thought of something she hadn't figured before. "If... If that thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the one in the stories..."

"Yes?"

"Then there's only one."

"Your point being?"

"He died, like, a gazillion years ago. Theseus or some other guy killed him in the labyrinth."

"Monsters don't die. They can be killed, but they don't die."

"Oh, yes. That makes perfect sense. Why didn't I see it before?"

Anthony sighed. "They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they reform."

Andy thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean, if I killed one... With a sword...?"

"The Fur—Your math teacher. Yes, she's still out there. You just made her very angry."

"How do you know about that?"

"When you're not drooling all over yourself, you talk a lot in your sleep."

Andy chose to ignore that. "You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"

"You shouldn't call them by name," he said nervously. "We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."

Andy scowled, "Is there anything we can say without it thundering? And why do I have to stay in cabin eleven? Why is everybody crowded there when there are several cabins empty?"

"You don't just choose a cabin. It depends on who your parents are. Or rather... parent."

"My mom is Sally Jackson," Andy heard herself say. "Or rather... was."

A shadow of sorrow crossed the boy's eyes. But only for a second. "I'm sorry about your mom, but that is not what I meant."

Andy shook her head. "I don't have... I never met him. I don't know who he is. He's probably dead."

"He's not dead."

"How do you know?"

"I know you. And you wouldn't be here if—"

"You don't know anything about me."

"No?" He raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. You were kicked out of most of them. Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."

Andy tried to swallow. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read. That's because your brain is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in class. That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."

"You sound like... like you went through the same thing?"

"All of us did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."

"Ambrosia and nectar?"

"What I've been feeding you. The food and drink of the gods. I would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand if you were a regular kid. Face it. You're a half-blood."

Suddenly Andy realized she had a million questions to ask. But they would have to wait for a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"

Andy looked over. A big girl, twice Andy's size, walked over to them with an evil sneer. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.

"Clarisse," said Anthony. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"

"Sure, you nerd," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

Anthony cursed her in ancient Greek. That would'd been weird enough if not for the fact that Andy understood him perfectly. "You don't stand a chance."

"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. "Now who's the little rat?"

Andy raised her head, though it made no difference, she was much shorter than the other girl.

"Andy Jackson," said Anthony, "meet Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares."

Andy blinked. "Like the war god?"

Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"

"No," Andy said, taking a step ahead. "It explains the smell."

Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, little rat. Come on, I'll show you."

"Clarisse—" Anthony tried to say.

"Stay out of it, geek." Anthony looked unsure, but he did stay out of it. Clarisse grabbed Andy by the neck and dragged her towards a cinder-block building—the bathroom.

Andy kicked and punched but the giant girl had hands like iron. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. Clarisse's friends were all laughing and Anthony stood on the corner, watching. Clarisse bent Andy over her knees and started pushing her head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked. Andy strained to keep her head up. She was decided not to go into that disgusting water. Then she felt a tug in the pit of her stomach. The plumbing rumbled, the pipes shuddered. Clarisse's grip on her hair loosened.

Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over her head, and the next thing she knew, Andy was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind her. The water hit her so hard she fell on her ass. She struggled, gasping, and ran after her friends out of there. The entire bathroom was flooded. Andy turned to find Anthony staring right at her with those stormy eyes. He seemed genuinely surprised.

Andy stood up, knees weak.

"How did you—"

"I don't know," she said, defensively.

Anthony simply stared. "I want you on my team for capture the flag," he said finally.

#andromeda #andy jackson #anthony chase #fanfic #genderbend #dfcrosas #male annabeth chase #fem percy jackson #child of land and sea #luke castellan #the little mermaid #kristen stewart #clarisse la rue

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ruthdu · 6 years

Text

This is a post about Sports

I am my Mother’s daughter and my Father’s son. I grew up doing ballet, religiously practicing the piano, and appreciating a detailed skincare regiment while playing rec soccer, going to basketball camp and watching sports. Sure, you can argue that my Chinese immigrant parents were very ambitious and “forced” me to participate in these activities when I was younger, but because of their stern suggestions, I became a dancer, I fell in love with music, I will always look like I’m 25 and I have a mild obsession with Sports.

If you’ve worked with me during basketball season, you know that I will be streaming the game on my computer in the production office or suggest going to a nearby bar to catch tip-off. If you’ve had the privilege of being a friend of mine during the Olympics, we will have never ending text message chains about the crazy triple toe-loop or how blurry Usain Bolt on television. If I’ve dated you during football season, you probably know that my very first poster that I put up in my room was of Troy Aikman. I was 5, barely understood English but I thought he was such a hearthrob.

I’m not very outspoken about my social, political and world views. My first presidential election was Obama and I didn’t quite understand the 2008 Recession until much later in life (I was 20 years old). Race was always an issue and I supported the occasional Tiger Mom articles on HuffPo, or essays about a HAPA and every once in awhile engaged in some Twitter conversations about “Yellow Fever” but it wasn’t until recently that there was truly a platform to be Chinese Born - American. That didn’t mean that I didn’t support racial justices in general, but it meant that I hid behind those big trendy topics. Of course, it wasn’t until we were in a disaster of a political situation where I even considered watching a Senate hearing nor cared about our local Congressmen / woman. With that in mind, these kind of public posts are far-in-between and very delicate for me. But after what I watched + experienced this weekend, I was compelled to share because it all coincided with Sports.

This past weekend I watched 20-year-old Naomi Osaka conquer and overtake tennis Queen Serena Williams, who I believed acted poorly against the (yes unfair) Umpire at the US Open Finals. I was severely disappointed in Serena, especially after learning so much about her journey to motherhood. I had a new found respect for Serena not only as a phenomenal athlete but also a Superwoman that overcame the most difficult time of her life. I sat there, jaws on the floor when Serena consistently bashed Carlos Ramos. I was disappointed, watching her take the argument even further with officials when all I wanted for her is to take that energy and refocus on the game. True athleticism is mental and sure, we cannot help the way we feel, ESPECIALLY when we are losing. But those athletes who can outplay and outlast, the “GOAT”s, the champions, should be able to take a few breaths and make a comeback.

I’m not saying that what Serena was fighting for wasn’t valid. YES, the umpire was probably intimidated that a strong black woman was yelling at him YES, he should have given her a warning and YES, I’m sure he’s been told many terrible things on the court without giving a penalty point but felt that he needed to keep his masculine power by ruling an unprecedented action. Even with all of that potential wrongsay, there’s a time and place to object to rules and there’s a time to suck-it-up and play the game.

I sat there and cried during the awards ceremony because Naomi Osaka apologized for winning. My tears were for her family who was so proud of her but knew there would be this heavy cloud of doubt over her for the years to come. I cried because I saw a part of my little sister in her, awkwardly holding the trophy and not sure if she was representing her country as well as she would have wanted. All I wanted is for her to feel joy, pride and strength. I cried even more when Serena told the crowd to stop booing because I knew that at that point, perhaps she felt that THIS was the repercussions of her actions. I love sports because I also love sportsmanship. Much like Serena thought that Carlos owed her an apology, I think Serena should apologize to Naomi for the bittersweet outcome of the tournament.

Naomi Osaka IS a champion. She played the best game of her life. She trained hard and she has that tunnel vision that transforms a player from great to the Best. I ask that you all take some time to learn more about Naomi Osaka. She’ll be on the tennis radar for years to come and I cannot wait to watch her play next.

This past weekend, I also witnessed the epic return of the greatest QB of all time. I claim this with extreme bias but am not alone in this statement, especially after his tremendous game on Sunday night. When Aaron Rodgers was carted off in the second quarter of the opening game vs. the (new and much improved) Chicago Bears, a little part of me died. I’ve been a Rodgers fan for years. He was the QB Hearthrob: insanely attractive, hilariously respectful and probably the best ice-cream eating companion. My adoration escalated when I started a diehard, bleeding-green Packers fan who claims he looks like a slightly petite version of Aaron. Last year’s collar-bone injury led to a sour fall season but made our relationship much stronger. There was a lot on the line this football season with Aaron’s return. When Aaron was lying on that field, grasping his left leg, it became deeply personal.

The Packers came back with a limping Aaron Rodgers and won the game 24-23. We yelled and screamed with joy. We drank tequila and celebrated. The cats (Starks and Jordy, named after former Packer players) were annoyed but we didn’t care. THIS was sports. THIS was athleticism at its best and even with the controversial hoopla of the NFL, THIS was football.

I understand why there was a boycott against the NFL. I know that Roger Goodell is a Trump supporter and I know that behind many of these massive teams are corporate millionaires who voted Red. The League made a decision this year that if players kneel during the national anthem that they would subject to fines which arguably means they are charging players fees against their freedom of speech. Yes, I do believe that this is a harsh rule, but I do believe it was a rule to take politics out of the game.

Last year was the only time I remembered watching the National Anthem in any regular season football game. It truly didn’t matter to me but it became such an issue that of course I “fell’ into the trap of curiosity. This year, I am not boycotting because I am watching football for the players. I am watching to see the unexpected comebacks, to see that crazy 75-yard run to the end zone, to see that near interception that nearly gave me a heart attack. I am watching not because I am supporting our idiot-president Trump, but because I respect the bellies of the defense linemen and the sprint of the wide receiver. I am watching because I believe in will power and strength of mind, which is how Aaron Rodgers came back ferociously, playing football with one good leg.

Remember when Kerri Strug won an Olympic Gold ‘96 even though she was severely injured? Did we protest the Olympics because there was probably some weird underage and illegal shit going on? Do we still support team USA even after the corporate probably knew the actions of their disgusting coach? The answer is YES, because we support the players. We support what they want to accomplish and what they’ve tried out their entire lives to accomplish. Yes they are millionaires and this is their “job” but I guarantee that if they had the choose between a massive paycut to play, most everyone would 100% choose the paycut. An athlete doesn’t just train their bodies 365 days a year for a big paycheck (that’s just the bonus) but talk to those former players who didn’t make the cut their third year, or the former player turned coaches of their local highschool - if they had a shot to play on the green, they would do it no question.

I will watch the NFL until the players decide not to play anymore. The game is changing and I’m happy to hear of new strict hit rules to the QB and new technology for player protection. I will yell and scream and jump in disappointed and joy and I will eventually earn that Rodgers jersey that I desperately want from my new Packer partner.

For those who actually read this post, thank you for time out of your busy day to do this. Why am I so passionate about Sports? “Ruth, you make movies! You sit in front of a computer all day long and you do budgets! And you write! Why do you care about sports?” I consider myself an athlete. I’ve been in competitive sports the majority of my life and I know what it feels like to lose. I used to rehearse 6-8 hours on weekends out in the hot sun, practically running close to 15-20 miles a day.

As a dancer, I trained like an athlete: slow push-ups, squats, abdominal conditioning, the whole damn thing. And in my now adult life, I go to challenging HIIT/ Boot Camp / Strength classes to make sure that I have the ability to survive a zombie apocalypse, or be fast enough to run to shelter during the Big One. I attribute my film career to my athletic training: play smart, play hard, follow the rules and always thank your teammates. These are skill sets that now engrained in me. So this is why I am passionate about sports: because its about survival, mind over matter and it’s about those you play the game with.

#sports #troyaikman #michellekwan #damonstoudamire #trailblazers #dallascowboys #naomiosaka #serenawilliams #usopen #tennis #nfl #NationalFootballLeague #AaronRodgers #GreenbayPackers

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azwoodbomb · 6 years

Text

What’s Your Story, or “The Myriad Merry Mugs of Mollymauk”

“So,” the pale barbarian asks in a voice that betrays no interest whatsoever, “what’s your story?”

“Well,” he says solemnly, eyes focusing on the distance, “that’s a tale as tall as time, but I’ll tell you the tail end.”

SAREN-RYE: 1 ounce apple brandy, 8 ounces pale ale, a dash of simple syrup. Great for those long, dry journeys.

Wide eyes stare from small faces as the cards dance between his hands and his jeweled horns jingle in the breeze. The kids crowd closer as he starts to speak.

“Down deep beneath the waves there’s a kingdom of crustaceans whose people find our flesh as sweet as we do theirs...”

The kids coil back in horror, then scuttle closer.

“...The next night, just as it seemed the war would continue, a great pearl washed up on the beach. And out stepped a sign from the gods, a creature neither crab nor man but a bit of both. And that creature was me.”

The kids stare, then snicker, then keel over.

RAVENS IN THE AFTERNOON: Pour one jigger of absinthe into a champagne glass. Add iced champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly.

The gap-toothed halfling walking beside him on the road grins encouragingly up at him.

“My childhood was a truly blessed time. It was just me and my parents living at their eccentric employer’s mansion. It was always warm and in the streets outside there were always people singing...”

He takes a swig from his flask.

“...And just after summoning me to this dreary plane, without so much as an explanation, the old coot clutches his heart and drops. I’ve been wandering this desolate land ever since, making people sing to remind me of home, hoping against hope I can one day return to my family in the nine hells.”

The halfling has suddenly picked up the pace.

THE DAINTY SLAAD: 1 ½ ounces gin, ½ ounce lime juice, ½ cup ginger beer, 3 drops of jungle frog poison. Sure to liven up any gathering.

He finishes his drink and signals for another.

“Our village was small but peaceful, apart from the dimwits who kept crowing that my mother was a witch...”

Eyelashes flutter sympathetically at him from across the table.

“...As I rushed out of the burning building I could still hear that infernal cackling over the roaring flames eating the village. The pain of horns tearing through my skull brought me to my knees and as just as I was passing out I looked up to see my mother flying off on a broom, a murder of crows following after.”

Arms coil around him comfortingly.

HALF’NLING: Half stout beer, half light.

He flips a coin behind him, hears it bounce off the bar and a glass before settling loudly on the counter amid a stream of profanities from the proprietor. The patrons at his table give a polite smattering of applause.

“When she was younger, my mother was a real rebel, always getting into trouble. When it finally got too boring she ran away from home to become an adventurer. She saw all sorts of different lands, civilizations foreign and unimaginable. But the last place she visited was the most impressive. It was a magical land where the sky is solid and goldfish can fly....”

The lines of their faces are starting to blur, but it rather suits them.

“...And as I lay there with my love’s still warm body in my hands I asked whatever power would deliver me vengeance to help me hunt down the undead scourge. Something answered, all right. I could feel terrible power coursing through me, but the price I paid is plain to see.”

Their heads turn slowly to one another and it feels like the room turns with them.

KORD’S FOLLY: Five shots of rum followed by a short pause and a confused war bellow, then five shots of gin. True enthusiasts may follow up with a bar brawl.

Some of the liquid seeps out of his lips and he feels like half his face has gone numb, but he whisks a handkerchief from his sleeve with a flourish, muttering something about always being ready to pay an arm and a leg for some ankheg.

“My mentor was the most respected conjurer on the whole continent of Tal’Dorei. One day the richest man in Emon, formerly its most eligible bachelor too, arrives on our doorstep and offers a king’s ransom if my master can procure for him a specific demon, an interesting creature called an incubus. For weeks we tried, to no avail, and one day he turned to me with a frustrated look...”

He magnanimously shares his drink with the hand that reaches for his flask.

“...The stilts were powerful, too powerful. Though I towered high above those who had once pitied me it came at a cost, as I couldn’t really see where I was stepping. The damage to the city was extensive, and I later learned I had trampled a guard who attempted to apprehend me. I ran off to the hills, where I met this weird hag, who offered me facial reconstruction in return for the stilts. I’ve been on the run ever since.”

His eyes focus and the table is empty.

BARD: 1 mug of the bar’s strongest liquor, no mixing involved. Guaranteed to make all music better.

The group at his table looks kind of young to be drinking, but judgement is for civil servants.

“The deserted village had been built on top of an ancient burial ground, everyone we’d met had warned us it was foolish to stop there, but we’d been on the run for so long we just had to stop...”

They lean in as his voice goes low as he struggles with the memories.

“...And finally, after many twisted nights of pleasure, my body began to change. My lady was gone and all there remained was pain. The town cleric said the contagion spreading over my body was because of the way I acted, how I had hurt everyone who loved me. But I think it just spread through bodily fluids, like most things.”

He hesitates a moment, then vigorously throws up on the table, prompting his audience to run full speed out of the bar.

MIND FLAYER: Ingredients depend on the establishment. If you have difficulty remembering your name afterwards, it qualifies.

He flips a coin behind him and is immediately rewarded with a squeak from the waitress, followed by the crashing of glass. He flips another coin at the problem and steadies himself at the table.

“I didn’t always look like this, you see. I was once a simple farm-boy, in love with a simple farm-girl. But then she came to the old abandoned farmstead up the road. My lady, bitter and tender, who came to redeem me from virtue...”

He nods along to the rhythmic beating of the half-orc trio or quintet playing the drums.

“...And shortly after her return my mother gave birth to me. She didn’t say anything to the people who threw pebbles and accused her of laying with demons. But she did tell me one day when I wouldn’t stop asking that my father was probably some sort of mystic goat-man.”

His drinking buddies notice he has stopped talking and guffaw enthusiastically.

DRAGON’S LAST BELCH: Three types of rum, lime juice, falernum, Ank’Harel bitters, Purvan anise-flavoured liquor, grenadine, a mixture of cinnamon syrup and grapefruit juice. To unleash the dragon jump to your feet, head to the dance floor and start spinning.

The bartender takes the coin and slides him another drink, with some hesitation.

“I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee. I insisted to my friends that I could keep going, but it obviously wasn’t working out. They helped me to the nearest town and left me there. Word reached me of a famous visiting blacksmith, and I gave him all my fortune, entreating him to help me walk again. What he crafted for me was like nothing anyone had ever seen...”

He hefts his face up from the table.

“...And as I came to I felt inhuman vigour coursing through my body, and staring at me slack-jawed was the rich aristocrat. It wasn’t until a few days later, when his wife came back from her trip and I had to run into the night with all the jewels I could stuff into the pants around my ankles, that I realized what exactly had happened to me. I’ve been an infernal love machine ever since.”

The old man nods confused, then grows dim and distant as gravity gives up on the world. Molly’s eyes blink slowly, the surroundings changing every time.

“So,” he hears Yasha’s muffled voice above him as he dangles over a muscular shoulder, “your story kinda sucks.”

#critical role #fanfic #mollymauk #critterfic

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saikostories · 3 years

Text

FT - A Moment With You pt3

"Lucy…"

"Momma…?"

"Lucy…."

"I'm here Momma. Momma! Where are you?"

"Lucy dear.. I'm sorry…"

"Momma?... Momma!"

Tears welled up in her closed eyes. Her heart clenched with longing for her mother. An overwhelming dread was growing in her chest.. and Lucy couldn't bear it. Her eyes shot open and she gasped for air. Tears began to stream down her face. She blinked the tears out and rubbed them away with her fingers.

Sitting up, Lucy looked around her. Sniffling, she tried to calm herself down and found that she was in her own futon. The men in theirs, placed around her in a square.

She got up gently and left the room.

Walking silently towards the hotel balcony, she brought her keys out and looked for Capricorn's key.

"Open the gate of the Goat. Capricorn!"

"Lucy-sama.." Capricorn appeared and bowed.

"Capricorn…" Lucy said weakly with her back against the spirit.

"Is everything all right?" he frowned in concern.

Lucy turned around to face him. Capricorn's eyebrows rose up. He rushed up to her and held her shoulders gently in his hands.

"Lucy-sama… why are you crying?"

"Capricorn…. I'm scared…"

Lucy looked up at Capricorn with pleading eyes.

"I… I've been feeling really weird lately.. I haven't told anyone because I thought it wasn't something to be worried about…"

"What is wrong? Did something happen?" Capricorn was getting nervous now.

"I've been getting these chest pains and my body will feel weak.. and last night.. I had a nightmare about momma.."

Capricorn flinched.. but quickly recomposed himself.

"Lucy-sama.. I am sure its just because you've just been overworking yourself. You need to take better care of your health."

"No that's not it Capricorn. I have been…"

"Lucy-sama. I assure you. You are just feeling tired from all the missions lately. Probably even more stressed with the visitors around. And about your nightmare.. I am sure it is from the alcohol from last night."

Lucy tried to recall last night's events… but couldn't remember anything.

"Ugh…" Lucy began to feel the hangover that was bound to come.

"See. Everything is fine.. You need to rest and eat healthy. I'm sure it will all be better soon."

"Okay Capricorn. Thank you."

"Then I take my leave Lucy-sama. Call if you need anything." He bowed and flashed away.

She stared into the space that Capricorn once stood. She had an odd feeling. That Capricorn was being awkward and distant. Or maybe she was overreacting. Lucy walked up to the balcony railings and put her face in her hands.

Sigh….

"Momma…Pappa… please watch over me."

In the hallway…. Gajeel stood away from sight. He had followed after Lucy when he found it safe to go undetected. The minute he smelt salt.. he had woken up from his sleep and found that Lucy was crying in her sleep. He knew that something important was definitely going to happen soon.

But after hearing her conversation with Capricorn.. he knew. He wasn't ready for this. He didn't know this side of her. Never fathomed this side to her.

He clenched his fists…

"Dammit all…"

Gritting his teeth, Gajeel walked back to their room.

After a couple hours, the team set off on foot towards Mount Goyang. The job request was simple. The mountain had an overwhelming number of cats and the mission was to find the cause of the phenomenon. The mayor of the town at the base of Mount Goyang had sent the request months ago. However all mages who took the mission were never able to complete the mission. In fact, they never returned.

"I can't believe you can't remember a thing Lucy." Gray said laughing.

"heh…..I'm so glad I don't…" Lucy turned red.

"ugh… never again! Lucy!" Natsu glared at Lucy. "YOU ARE NEVER DRINKING EVER AGAIN!"

"hai hai…" Lucy rubbed her slightly hurting head.

"Natsu… you sound like you're her dad." Laxus said with a straight stern face.

"HAHAHAHA! You might even get dad-zoned." Gray was clutching his stomach now.

Natsu and Lucy yelled out loud together.

"WHAT?! LUCE WOULD NEVER!"

"EW NATSU AS MY DAD?! NEVER!"

While everyone was having a good time and laughing, a certain dragon slayer was keeping silent. He watched Lucy carefully, observing her every movement.

As the end of the forest came, Lucy couldn't help but gasp.

It was beautiful. Green hills blanketed with flowers of all colors rolled as far as she could see. Her eyes widened and a wide-open smile lit up her face. She walked off road and into the green grass. The wind picked up her hair gently and cooled her skin.

She looked back at the men behind her and found them staring at her. She smiled warmly at them. The men spoke softly to each other for a bit and then they all smirked. Seeing their smirk, Lucy felt goosebumps and a feeling that she should run.

And that is what she did.

"LUCCCYYY!" Natsu ran after her smirking.

"WHY ARE YOU CHASING ME?! WHATEVER YOU GUYS ARE PLANNING I DON'T WANT TO BE A PART OF IT!" Lucy ran frantically.

A shadow appeared in front of her. She couldn't stop. Colliding with the shadow, the two fell over and rolled to a stop.

Opening her eyes, she found herself staring into a pair of beautiful ruby red eyes. His mask had fallen down and she could see his face clearly. His masculine jaw.. his metal piercings… his yummy looking lips… that weirdly became a smirk?

"Did you miss seeing my handsome face bunnygirl?" Gajeel smirked smugly at Lucy.

"What…NO!" Lucy blushed madly and sat up. She was too preoccupied with her embarrassment of getting caught admiring Gajeel's face that she didn't notice that she was on top of him.

Smirking smugly still, Gajeel lifted his hands and put them under his head. He lifted an eyebrow at her. Quickly, Gajeel pelvic thrusted upwards once.

To Lucy's horror… she felt herself being pushed upwards by the ground she was sitting on. She looked down hesitantly and found herself sitting at Gajeel's hip.

"KYAAAA!" Lucy quickly got off of Gajeel and crawled a few feet away.

All the while, Natsu, Gray, and Laxus had been watching. They were infuriated when Gajeel cheated in their race to Lucy by using magic. But having seen Lucy's breasts bounce from Gajeel's thrust, they were just glad to have witnessed that.

"GAJEEL! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!"

"You were the one who sat up."

"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO CHASED ME! ALL OF YOU!"

"Hey hey bunny. You ran into me. It's not my fault you don't pay attention to your surroundings." Gajeel said as he leaned up on his elbows.

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO TELL YOU WERE GOING TO BE THERE. YOU'RE TOO FAST! YOU JUMPED RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME."

Gajeel got up from his spot and walked over to Lucy. She was fuming angry and was glaring Gajeel down.

He squatted down towards her and looked straight into her eyes.

"You need to be able to sense magic better bunnygirl. You need to be more aware of your surroundings. Don't give me the excuse that your opponent is faster than you. You need to be smarter than your opponent at all times. 2 steps ahead." Gajeel stared into her eyes. He was serious.

Lucy's eyes softened and she began to feel guilty. It was true. She did not pay attention to her surroundings well. Getting kidnapped.. getting into situations like last night with Laxus… not noticing danger… like at GMG with Asuka and Flare….

Oh she knew… she knew very well. Lucy clenched her fists. It hurt to believe she was weaker than most at Fairytail… and so careless…

Seeing the change in her eyes.. sorrow.. Gajeel sighed. Ruffling his hair..

"Your training begins now."

Swish. Swoosh.

"KYAAAHH!" "concentrate!" "I'M TRYING!" "TRY HARDER!" "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

She could not see anything. Fear and anxiety running through her veins. She didn't like the situation at all… it was like she was living a terrible twisted dream. Once again, Gajeel was her opponent. But this time.. she was blind and of course a handsome Gajeel was out to get her. She was running for her life… in a different sense.

"GAJEEELLL!" "You need to try harder bunnygirl. I think you're faking it. You like this a lot don't you?" He said huskily into her ear. Causing her to stiffen and jump away.

Goosebumps grew up from her feet up to her head. She shivered. It was too much.. she wanted to stop.. yet she didn't. Gajeel was spot on when he said she was liking it. Who wouldn't.

She felt a hard chest slowly push against her back, a finger at her neck to symbolize a knife.

"you died again. 4."

And with that, Gajeel left again and disappeared.

"AAGGGHH!" Lucy screamed in frustration. "I think you're right Gajeel. I think she does like it." Laxus said huskily. "Looks fun. I want to play too." Natsu said with a smirk.

"Ohhhh no. no no no no. please don't." Lucy pleaded as she took a defensive stance. PLEASE DONT.. I CAN'T HANDLE THE FOUR OF YOU ALL AT ONCE. she thought of her daydream on the first day of their trip.. "no no no no!" Lucy thought to herself as she shook her head.

"Where are you looking at Lucy.." Gray came up to her right and spoke in a whisper to her cheek. He put his fingers up to her cheek and gave a slow soft brush. She felt the cold ice magic emitting from his body… his fingers.

"KYAAHHH!" Lucy jumped away from him and started walking backwards. She was very jittery with the quadruple threat out to get her.

She bumped into someone who put their hands on her arms, slowly sliding them down her bound arms. Causing her to stiffen up like a log.

"You're such a bad girl Luce… running into me like that. You didn't even try to feel my heat. I almost burned you."

She felt Natsu stroke softly up her arms with his fingers. Her body tingled once again, but stronger this time.

Lucy gasped and froze.

The heat disappeared.. and she was left in the dark once again. Her senses were being overwhelmed.. she was flustered and confused.. and desperately trying to maintain control.

"Come on Lucy… calm down.. concentrate…." She told herself.. she slowed down her breathing. Cleared her mind. Then she felt it.

Her hand went to her keys at her waist.

"Lucy" Loke spoke through his key. "Loke!" Lucy yelled in her thoughts. "Hime.. we can help you." Virgo spoke. "How?!" Lucy cried. "Lucy.. remember how we spirits can sense when you are in danger. Sometimes we can open our own celestial gates to ward off enemies." "Yes." "Well.. we have our own device like lacrima vision to check on you constantly." "You mean you can watch me from the Celestial Spirit Realm?!" "Yes Hime. But not exactly. We see spirits." "You can consider it as spirit sensors. The more your magical capacity increases… the better we can sense and be in tune with you." "So that's how you do it!" "Yes. And now that you've gotten stronger and so have our bonds with you… we your celestial spirits can channel the sensor vision to you, just as we can talk to you telepathically." "That's awesome!" "Are you ready hime?" "Let's do this!" Lucy cheered.

Slowly… she saw a light. It was slightly warm red and orange like a fire.

Another lit up towards the right… a slight icy blue light.

A slight purple light lit up to the left. It was coming closer.

Lucy took a step back. The light halted its advance.

She thought to herself… "three lights… where's the last one?"

A finger was felt at her tailbone. Lucy jumped up in shock. But the finger didn't stay put.. it went up her back, lining the spine. And unusually and amazingly.. she felt vibrations and a wonderful shocking feeling from the finger as it moved up her spine.

Lucy gasped, moaned softly, and felt her knees give out. She was falling.

Warm arms grabbed her before she could fall and gently lowered her to the ground. She held her breath and hid her face in the chest of the man.

"LAXUS WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Lucy heard Natsu yell.

Hands were ruffling in front of her to remove the bindings on her hands. As soon as her hands were free she shakily tried to take the blindfold off. Someone helped her take it off and with fluttering eyes… Lucy tried to adjust to the sunlight.. she saw Natsu's worried handsome face.

"Luce?"

His face looked older. Wrinkles started to appear on his forehead, probably from frowning too much. And his eyes seemed to have more depth to them… was that sorrow she saw?

"Lucy you ok?" Gray said with worried eyes staring into her. He was bending over closer to her, next to Natsu who was kneeling beside her.

"Blondie.. " the man's chest rumbled. The vibrations of his voice were felt through his chest and Lucy was currently leaning into the man's embrace. She looked up at the man. Laxus.

"Dang… I think you broke her lightning freak." Gajeel spoke. "I think you did too. What the heck did you do Laxus?" Gray frowned at the lightning mage. "oiy… I did not hurt her. I just gave her a sensual shock that's all." Laxus growled at them. "sensual shock?! You fried her! Look at her!" Natsu said yelling at Laxus.

Lucy just stared at the four of them. She was amazed.. When she blinked or closed her eyes, she saw just their spiritual light.. hovering around her. When she opened her eyes and saw them clearly.. she saw both. she saw them silhouetted with their spiritual light.

Yup… they were going to be the death of her. It was already bad enough with their older handsome looks.. but now.. they were all lit up like their hot bodies were on fire. She was too preoccupied with her new ability that she didn't even hear the men talk about her.

"Hime.. now you can use spiritual vision whenever you like." "Thank you Virgo… Loke… everyone…" Lucy said with love. "All you need to do is touch your keys.. and you'll be able to access it." Loke spoke. "I'm so happy! The dragon slayers may have their nose.. but I have my awesome spirit sensing eyes." Lucy said happily. "haha. Yes yes you do. I am glad I can bring you such happiness princess. If only this new vision could let you see my eternal love for you." Loke "Ha! Bye Loke! Virgo!" Lucy said laughing and she put her keys back on her hip.

"Luce… "

Lucy took a deep breath as his low sensual voice brought her back to reality.

"That's it Lucy.. breathe…" Natsu cajoled her. "Phew.. I thought she was a goner. Laxus you can't go shocking girls around." Gray lectured Laxus.

"Tch… I don't need a lecture from you Gray.. I don't go stripping around like you do. I'm pretty sure you give girls more brain damage than any of us here." Laxus growled back.

Gray looked down at himself. "Dannggiitt AGAIN!" he ran around looking for his clothes.

"Gihi.. nice one." Gajeel laughed.

Lucy sweatdropped.

"I'm fine guys.. I felt my legs give out from being tired. I wouldn't have gotten so tired if you guys didn't all BIND MY ARMS TOGETHER, BLINDFOLD ME, AND ALL COME AFTER ME!" Lucy yelled at them. The dragon slayers grit their teeth as her yelling hurt their ears. Gray cringed from Lucy's wrath.

"Tired.. yea right.. I know exactly why your legs gave out… I heard you moan." Laxus thought to himself and smirked. "Jeez Luce… it was to train you to notice your surroundings more." Natsu rubbed his ears.

"You need to be more alert." Laxus spoke in a low voice. She looked up at him to find him staring into her eyes. She knew what he meant… he had caught her red-handed in the fact that she really did not pay attention to her surroundings.

"Now you know that you can't be ignorant." Gajeel crossed his arms and frowned slightly at her in disapproval. Lucy looked at Gajeel's face.. and she pouted. It was true. Everything they said was true.

"Weirdo.. don't pout. You just need to work on it more. Better to start now than later right?" Natsu gave her his signature smile. Lucy looked at Natsu and blushed.. he sure knew how to cheer her up all the time...

Seeing her blush at Natsu, Laxus got annoyed. Having everyone blame him for hurting Lucy was bad enough.. but now Natsu and Lucy were having flirt time while she was still in his arms?

OH HECKS NO.

"Come on Blondie.. Time to get up." Laxus lifted her up onto her feet. Her legs still felt weak and his touch didn't help to bring strength to them either. "Can you stand?" Laxus asked her with a concerned voice.

"Yea… thanks Laxus." Lucy blushed again, causing Laxus to smirk in victory.

"huh.. I never thought I'd live to see a day where Laxus Dreyar would be so caring and worried over me. What crazy dream am I living now." Lucy thought to herself.

The tingling from Laxus' finger along her spine was still felt in residual amounts. And Lucy shivered from how good it still felt. Laxus chuckled as he noticed her shivering. He knew.

Natsu frowned at Laxus and Lucy. He marched up to Lucy and quickly lifted her up into his arms.

"NATSU! WHAT ARE YOU DDDOOOIINNGGGGG!" Natsu began to run with Lucy in his arms. She clung onto his neck and shoulder.

"KYAAAA!" Lucy's voice was getting softer and softer as Natsu ran away from them towards Mount Goyang.

"NNNNAATTSSSUUU GET BACK HERE!" Laxus thundered and ran after him. "NATSSSUUU YOU CHEATER!" Gray yelled as he struggled to put his clothes on and run after him. "YOU IDIOT OF A CANDLEHEAD!" Gajeel ran after Natsu. "AHAHAHAHA!" Natsu laughed heartily. He was so happy. SHE was grabbing tightly onto him. Lucy was finally in his arms… and he was going to keep it that way.

In a town far away… a certain ice mage and water mage were strolling the town. They were scouting around for a certain thief that they had to capture. Silently, they walked side by side. The woman was squirming and her heart palpitating with anxious love for the man. And the man was as composed as ice. But then something caught the eye of the woman.. and the man kept walking. She stopped in front of a magazine booth and picked up the latest issue of Sorcerer Magazine. Her eyes widened..

"Gray-sama!"

The man turned around and walked slowly over to the woman.

"Isn't this…?"

"Lucy!" Gray's eyes widened. He took the magazine from her and held it in his hands.

"Juvia didn't know love-rival had a boyfriend? Did Gray-sama know?"

On the front cover of the magazine.. was a picture of Lucy at a dining car of a train.. sitting across from a blonde haired man.. who he hated to admit was acknowledgeable as handsome. He didn't ever recall meeting such a man.. yet he looked so familiar. And why did Lucy look so comfortable… and so happy to be with him?

Front headlines were…

Celestial bombshell Lucy Heartfilia of Fairytail taken?

Who is this mysterious handsome man that has taken her heart?

"Gray-sama… doesn't the man look familiar?" "yea…." "Do you know him?" "No… I don't ever remember meeting him." "I wonder how love-rival knows him. Maybe they really are dating!" Juvia said overjoyed at the thought of Lucy being taken and out of the race for Gray's love. He flipped through the magazine to Lucy's article.. and what he found surprised him even more. There were even more pictures.. Lucy holding onto the man's arm.. the man and Lucy walking in a train hallway…

…. the two entering a first class sleeping car…

He clenched his fists… he pushed the magazine into Juvia's hand and walked away. Glaring at the street in front of him. The air around his body dropped in temperature. Blue magic aura seethed from his body…. He was only gone for 2 days.. 2 DAYS….and this happens?! Now he really felt the urge to finish the mission NOW. And punch a certain fire gecko in the face.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING NATSSUUUUU "

It was very eerie. A ghost town. No sound was heard but the rustling of leaves across the roads. The wind howled softly through the streets, the alleyways. Not a soul in sight. Lucy was getting scared now. There was no one in the town but them. And if there weren't any people…. Who sent the job request? She lifted her hand to her keys. Her eyes scanned the area. She saw small spiritual signatures converging up ahead. She braced herself for the unknown enemy. A hand gently took hold of her hand, startling her. She looked towards the owner… Natsu. She let go of her keys as he tugged on her hand. With her hand free, he wrapped his hand around hers, weaving his fingers in between hers. He smiled warmly at her.

"Relax Luce. I've got your back." Natsu said smiling widely.

Lucy relaxed a bit and blushed. Suddenly, his gaze was ripped away from her and was targeted towards a lone black cat sitting in the middle of the road. Gajeel walked up next to Natsu and his eyes narrowed in at the cat. Gray walked up next to Lucy and Laxus next to Gray.

"That cat.. sure looks creepy doesn't it?" Lucy took a step closer to Natsu.

The black cat had green eyes staring right back at the team.

Natsu, Gajeel, and Laxus shifted their legs.. and went into battle ready mode. Lucy's eyes widened as she saw them get serious. She knew… that if they were acting like this… that indeed was not a normal cat. Gray began emitting ice magic from his fists.. ready for an ambush. Suddenly.. cats began to appear everywhere. They lined the roofs, the alleyways, the streets. They were surrounded.

"meow." The black cat spoke. Then all the cats began to meow simultaneously. The whole town was now resonating with cat meows.

Laxus, Gajeel, and Natsu grabbed their ears. Their dragon-slayer ears were being overloaded with the strange loudness of the cats. What surprised Lucy was that they fell to their knees. And soon after, Gray fell to his knees as well… desperately covering his ears with his hands…

"GUYS! WHAT'S WRONG!" Lucy knelt down next to Gray and Natsu.. their enemy was here and she had no idea who she was dealing with.. or what she could do to help them.

"Lucy… run" Natsu said struggling.

"What no! I'm not leaving you!" Lucy screamed at Natsu.

"Please Lucy!... RUN!" Gray pleaded to Lucy.

"NO!.. LOKE!" Lucy yelled out in desperation as she put her hand to her keys.

In a flash of light, Loke appeared beside her.

"Loke help! The cats. They're doing something to them.. Loke?" Lucy looked in horror at Loke as he was desperately trying to cover his ears from the ringing meows.

"Lucy…. I.. can't" Loke fell to his knees as well.. his eyes narrowed and became slits.

Fearing for her spirit, "Sorry Loke.. forced gate closure!" but it didn't work… she couldn't open his gate!

"What… WHAT'S GOING ON!" Lucy screamed.

Silence. The cats stopped meowing and soon clicking of heals onto concrete were heard. Lucy's eyes darted around to pinpoint the location of the noise. She glanced at her guild mates and found them pale and sweating.

"Luce.. whoever he is.. he's dangerous… stay behind me." Natsu got up on his feet and walked in front of her.

A sultry voice spoke…"Meow….."

And quickly after, Lucy heard in horror her team reply back. "Meow"

Again the voice spoke louder this time "Meow."

And again… her team responded back with "Meow."

"Guys…." Lucy slowly turned her head towards Natsu and Gajeel.. then to Gray and Laxus.

They took a step forward… and began walking away from Lucy. Towards the black cat.

"Guys! Stop! Don't listen!" Lucy ran up and hugged Natsu from behind. She tried to stop him from walking away but was getting dragged along as well.

"Come.. kitties… come to me" the voice was loud and crisp. Lucy's eyes widened and she saw a woman in a tight black dress. Her eyes were black and so was her long hair. Her skin pale… she looked… creepy…

"who are you… " Lucy glared at her.

"I am the queen of this town… and you little girl… are not welcome here." The woman spoke darkly.

Natsu pried Lucy's hands off of him and the men walked over to the lady.

"Guys! Please.. stop! Fight it!" Lucy pleaded to them. But they kept their back to her.

"HAHAHAHA fool. They are MINE now." The woman took a step towards Gray and Natsu. They were standing right next to her now. She gently caressed their faces.. Natsu and Gray trembled with anger… trying to fight against the hold the woman had over them.

"Such handsome men… it is a wonder how they willingly traveled with someone as ugly as you."

"I'M NOT UGLY! LET MY FRIENDS GO!"

"Not a chance..." The woman walked up close to Gajeel.. yanked his mask off. "Ooh… look at this one here… such a manly face… to good to be hidden…" She leaned in close and licked his cheek. Gajeel was struggling to move his body. His whole body was shaking with anger.

Lucy was pissed off now. Her team was counting on her … she was their only hope. But why was she unaffected. A thought came across her mind.. She grabbed her key… "Open the Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!"

A bright light appeared..

"SAND BUSTER!"

The sand was everywhere along the street now. And Lucy stood waiting for the results she was hoping for. And like that… all the cats came down and appeared in front of Lucy.. in the sandy street. Lucy smirked. She had just made a huge sand box.. or litter box for the cats.

"Meow" The woman sang.

The cats all replied back… and even her team began to meow. Lucy watched as Scorpio was also affected by the woman's weird magic. He clenched his ears… and was slowly pulled towards the woman as well.

She realized… the woman's weakness… and that was all she needed.

Taking the opportunity.. Lucy braced herself.

"OPEN THE GATE OF THE RAM! ARIES!"

"I'm sorry…" Aries said cringingly as she attacked. "WOOL BOMB!"

Pink fluff was everywhere and the cats were going insane with it.

"you're a very clever girl…." The woman glared at Lucy… "but no matter.. what will you do… when your precious friends… become my own."

Lucy clenched her fists and was surprised by swirling seals under the feet of her team, Loke, and Scorpio. When the swirls dissipated.. she and Aries saw the men…. Turned into cats. Laxus a yellow cat. Gajeel a black cat. Gray a black and blue cat. Natsu a pink cat. Scorpio a red and white cat. And Loke a yellow cat.

The woman picked up Loke.. "How adorable they are now. They are perfect. Now… they can never leave me" She grinned menacingly. Lucy and Aries clenched their fists… Lucy knew she didn't have much magic energy left to fight the woman. There was still so much she didn't know about her opponent… all she knew was that she really wanted to punch the woman's face in and make her regret for messing with Fairytail..

"Thank you Aries… You can go back now.." Lucy spoke softly. With a bright light, Aries vanished. "Open the gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" Lucy huffed out.

Virgo appeared and bowed. "Hime."

"I need water Virgo."

"Understood Hime." Virgo disappeared into the ground.

"Hahaha…. You are such a weak girl. Is that all you can do? KITTIES!" the woman yelled and soon the cats regained their focus on Lucy. They launched at her and Lucy took out her whip. Fleuve d'étoiles was going to take too much of her already vanishing magic energy.. She whipped at the cats, making them hiss and claw at her. There were too many cats and so she was scratched terribly from everywhere. Her clothes were getting tattered and blood was running down her arms, legs, and back. But out of no where, virgo popped up out of the ground.. in the process punching some cats up into the air. She landed right next to Lucy and smiled. Virgo was soaking wet.

"Sorry Hime. It took a little while. Punishment time?"

"No punishments Virgo! Thank you! And now.." Lucy smirked. "OPEN THE GATE OF THE WATER BEARER! AQUARIUS!" A flash of light… and water burst out of the tunnel that Virgo had just popped out of. And in the water, was a very pissed of Aquarius.

"YOU ANNOYING LITTLE BRAT! YOU DARE INTERUPT MY DATE WITH SCORPIO!" She was about to wash Lucy away when…

"Aquarius! You have to save him!" Lucy yelled at her.

"I'LL KILLL…. WAIT WHAT!?"

"That woman over there turned Scorpio into a cat!" Lucy pointed at the red and white cat next to black dressed lady. Lucy trusted in Aquarius' rage. And the rage that would come after finding that her precious Scorpio was turned into a cat. If any of her spirits could beat her and her army of cats… it was Aquarius.

Aquarius face darkened.. "YOU WITCHHHHH!" a huge tsunami wave was sent roaring through the street. The cats all were washed away with the tidal wave in terror.. the huge torrent hit the horrified woman and swept her back into a building. Crashing her into the concrete wall. Aquarius didn't let go. She kept streaming the torrent of water at the pinned woman… making the torrent stronger and stronger.. the woman screamed.

"YOU DARE HURT MY BOYFRIEND! I'll DDRROOWWNNN YOUUUUU!"

After Aquarius rage was finally satisfied, the waters receded and the woman lay unconscious and drenched. The cats that were swept away stood back up shakily on their paws.. they were scattered everywhere across town… and were miserable… their fur all wet.. almost having been drowned to death… But then magic seals began to appear beneath the cats… every single one of them.. swirls of light and air surrounded them.. and in their stead…. Stood men. They all looked at their hands.. their surroundings.. each other… smiles began to form on their face… and soon shouts of joy.

"YEAAHH!"

"WE'RE BACK TO NORMAL!"

"FINALLLLYYYYYYYY!"

"YESS!"

Scorpio stood up shaking his head.. he remembered Aquarius and Lucy… and began running back to them.

Loke was holding his head as he leaned against a wall.. he smiled as he saw his own hands in front of him.. "Lucy…." And then he felt her.. her magic was dangerously low… "LUCY!" he shot up and ran towards her. Aquarius turned back to yell at Lucy again but was shocked to find her laying in the arms of Virgo. She went over to Lucy.

"Aquarius-sama… please head back with Scorpio-sama.. Lucy-sama can't hold your gates open for much longer." Aquarius looked at Lucy with a frown… she didn't notice at first that Lucy was so hurt.. she was so scratched up everywhere… blood was trailing down her wet body. Lucy's breathing was labored.

"Thanks Aquarius…. I knew you could do it." Lucy smiled.

"Tch… troublesome brat…" Aquarius said turning away. She brightened as Scorpio ran up to her.

"Lucy…" Scorpio looked shocked at Lucy's state.

"C'mon honey… we need to go…. " Aquarius gave Scorpio a look. Scorpio looked towards Virgo. She gave him a nod. And Scorpio nodded back. The two celestial spirits lit up and disappeared.

"LUCY!" Loke came running. Lucy smiled as she saw Loke running over to her. Her eyelids became heavy and began to close more and more with each blink.

"HIME!"

0 notes

modernart2012 · 7 years

Text

Toil and Trouble (Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble)

@sumigakure Halloween Event 2017

Prompt 3: Non Harry Potter Witches/Wizards

Word Count: 1274

On AO3

Sakura huffed as she looked over the list, “Shishou, are we sure this is an actual spell for seeing the future?”

Tsunade stopped measuring tiger's entrails. “Well, it’s a little unorthodox, but there’s nothing to lose by trying.”

Both Sakura and Shizune freeze. “Eh, Shishou ....” Because last time they had messed with an unknown spell they had all ended up as slugs. Very cute slugs, but still slugs, even if all the boy slugs had waved their eye stalks like whoa. Sakura shivers - that crash course in slug husbandry had been entirely unwanted and unnecessary.

Shizune glared, then huffed under her breath, “This has to be punishment for throwing out all her sake.” Still she obligingly stoked the fire, then added more poison to the entrails. Right, they should have everything they need, or at least acceptable substitutes.

As one, the trio threw on their hooded cloaks. Not actually necessary but it was cool and added a nice atmosphere. Half of being a witch was atmosphere.

Tsunade squinted at her crib sheet, “ Okay first we need three cries of a brindled cat. The closest thing we have is Tora, so here we go.” She squeezed said demon cat three times, and each time elicited a squawking meow. Then she tossed the cat out the front door. Sakura shivered, better that furry demon elsewhere than in here.

“And three whines of a hedge-pig.” Shizune lifted up Tonton, who was wreathed in hedge branches. “Come on girl,” Shizune tickled under Tonton’s chin, who begrudgingly whined three times.

Sakura’s turn. “Who even knows what a Harpier is. So, ‘Tis time. Tis time’.”

“Once round the fire, then poisoned entrails,” Tsunade read off as she completed each action. The guts of last nights dinner plopped into the second-hand caldron with a sickening squish, fizzling as it hit the boiling water. “31 day old toad, poisonous variety, in.” She checked her receipt, then announced, “Time to boil.”

Sakura pulled out her half finished lunch. Mmmm banh mi. Pots took forever to boil, okay? And she was hungry. It wasn’t fair to force her to wait when the spell said nothing about having to have fasted. Those spells were the absolute worst. Even worse than the spells that required specific astrological happenings or star alignments or specific portents to happen while you were casting. There were documented and tested workarounds for those things, but nothing for fasting.

After about half an hour, it was Shizune’s turn. “Fillet of snake, boil.” The cauldron had failed to stop boiling, so Shizune shrugged and continued. “Eye of newt, toe of frog, bat wool, dog tongue, snake tongue, lizard jaw because having a lizard bite the cauldron would be a hassle, lizard leg, owl wing. And more boiling.”

She pulls out a book, since at the end of the addition of ingredients the cauldron had gone flat - weird flat too, spewing green smoke and a nauseatingly sweet scent. Sakura really hopes this is a spell to see the future and not some hacked together love spell. That would be a trial and a half, especially after last time. Everyone wanted the quacks potions and spells because they were cheaper, and then Sakura as low-woman on the totem pole was sent out to deal with it when petitioners came to the actual witches to get the resultant mess undone. On the plus side though, those were the days she felt the most de-stressed after she had finished undoing the spell. Clouds and silver linings and all.

Next would be dragon scale, wolf tooth, the skin she had ripped off her callouses and mummified - no one said it had to be a dead witches mummified flesh, the jaw and stomach of a shark, hemlock root dug up in the middle of the night, human liver - because Jew liver was a little racist and also no one classified their livers by religion anymore, it wasn’t the 1300s- carefully chunked, goat bile - Sakura had to sacrifice a goat, did the spell writer even know how expensive goats were - that had been squeezed from their liver and gall bladder and stunk the whole cottage up, eclipse harvest yew twigs, human nose - again, why a Turk specifically, why do people note these things when there is no inherent difference between human noses beyond size and shape - and human lips - seriously what did these ingredients have to do with seeing the future? - and then the finger of a baby that was strangled as a prosititute gave birth to it in a ditch. That last one was horrifying, but since umbilical cords sometimes strangled babies as they were born (usually the fault of quack midwives and doctors, not that Sakura was salty or anything) it was easy enough to hie off to the county records office and find the appropriate gravesite and dig a little. Sakura felt bad, but spellwork. She’d made sure to send the baby’s spirit to rest with the Mother, though, since she felt bad for disturbing the grave. Finally tiger entails, and then boil it again. Why did she get the hardest ingredients to have to find, though? It was like someone had deliberately written that spell so that the lowest witch in the coven would have the hardest time. Hazing is what Sakura would suspect, but she’d had that already in trying to resuscitate a fish when she first applied for apprenticeship, not to mention the hand to hand combat training. Could she lodge a formal complaint about this “spell” when the Grand Coven convened next month? Spell reform was hard, but worthwhile -

“Sakura, the cauldron!” Tsunade snapped. Sakura startled, then hurried to dump in the ingredients in the specified order. Who knew if the damn thing even needed a specific order, but noooo the original author hadn’t noted and so they were stuck adding each in order in approximately equal amounts like plebeians instead of the High Witch's Coven.

The cauldron rapidly returned to boil, and Shizune dumped in an equal amount of baboons blood until it was cool. The trio crowded around and peered into the glassy, murky depths. Sakura had to squint, but the amount of magic lurking within the cauldron was spectacularly reactive. A touch of their magic and the surface shimmered into a mass of rushing images. Sakura felt like her brain was going to leak out of her ears, but she couldn’t move, caught in the swirling vortex of snippets of things, and knowledge, and events. Maiden’s tits. It all felt important, and connected, but she couldn’t tell how. Why would she need to know that a Demoness trapped on the Mother’s Moon was weak to naked boys? Would she need to update her antidotes and antivenoms kit sooner rather than later to save that man? And still nothing about boobs?

Finally the spell broke and they each stumbled away from the now smoking cauldron gagging, retching, or in the case of Tsunade, vomiting into the waste paper basket.

“Mother’s mercy,” Shizune whimpered and Sakura had to agree. At least the damned spell worked, thank the Crone.

Tsunade wiped her mouth and stood. “Pack your bags, ladies. We’re going to need to convene the High Witches of the Elemental Nations now rather than next month.” Right, portents of doom and war. Sakura stood firmly on her still shaky feet. Magic exhaustion and shock or no, they were the High Witch’s Coven of Hi no Kuni, and Sakura would not be the one to disappoint her forerunners by breaking faith and shirking her duty. She grabbed her travel satchel, the one she’d luckily restocked just that morning, and left without looking back.

#sumigakure halloween event 2017 #prompt 3: nonharry potter witches and wizards #macbeth!#witches!#art writes

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sonboyadam · 7 years

Text

Written for pynchweek Day 5: Northern Lights // Dreamscape // Stars

Adam wakes up to someone pressing their lips to his forehead, so gentle and caring that makes his heart stutter a bit, still not used to be treated as someone worthy of such precious gestures. Those same lips brush against his cheek, then decide to move to his nose, his jaw, and below his ear. Adam leans into the touch, letting the warmth of it soak him with the fondness it radiates.

His eyes flicker open, and he finds Ronan sitting at the edge of the bed. The light coming through the window hits him in a way that makes him look like a dream.

“Why are you up?” Adam mumbles as he closes his eyes again, curling on himself.

“I have something to show you.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

Adam groans and rolls to have his back facing Ronan, burying his face into the pillow.

Ronan doesn’t frequently wake him up so the fact that he’s doing it, makes him a little curious. But not enough to leave bed.

He sighs heavily, happy to welcome sleep one more time when Ronan starts poking at his sides repeatedly. Adam doesn’t know if to whine or bite his tongue to keep the giggles forming in the back of his throat from escaping. The last thing he wants is to have Ronan finding out how ticklish he actually is.

“Parrish. Parrish. Wake up.”

Adam allows him to keep pestering for a little while, hoping he will relent soon. But it’s Ronan Lynch he’s talking about, who fights with everything he has and doesn’t know the concept of giving up.

With a grumbling noise, he shakes the last bit of sleep he has off him and moves to pull Ronan on top of him.

“You are annoying.”

Ronan grins in response. Adam kisses him to erase that smug expression on his face—the one which Adam will never admit he secretly adores.

“So what is it?” he says after they break apart, still close enough to feel each other’s breath. Ronan joins their lips together in a short quick peck and dips his head to kiss his neck, right there where his pulse is stronger. Adam’s head goes dizzy.

When Ronan speaks again, he does it with a low voice, close to his good ear. “You remember the—”

Adam’s stomach growls, breaking into the calm and quietness of the moment. The corners of Ronan’s mouth quirk up. “Guess we’ll have breakfast first.”

Before he can protest, Ronan takes his hand to pull him out of the bed, and kisses his cheek.

Adam lets himself be led to the kitchen.

***

The chilly winter air hits him as soon as they step out of the house. He’s still wearing his pajamas under Ronan’s leather jacket, and it’s not enough to keep his face and hands from feeling cold.

He has his eyes covered by Ronan’s hands, who’s walking them both through the fields of the Barns. Like that, his other senses enhance. He can smell the fresh grass and humid wood, Ronan’s scent all around him, his expensive deodorant and the mint of the toothpaste. He can hear the chirping of the birds, the movement of the cattle, the soft howling of the wind. There’s also some vulnerability on this, on trusting someone to guide him blindly. But that feeling doesn’t make him suffocate as it usually does. Not with Ronan.

When he finally makes them stop, the creak of the entrance makes a noise, and they move some more steps forward. The place is warm and humid, and Adam can guess where Ronan has taken him in a couple of seconds.

“Okay, ready?”

“Mhm.”

“You sure?” Adam recognizes that tone of voice, which is usually accompanied by a mischievous smirk, white teeth displaying. And Adam is not so sure anymore. Because even if they are dating, Ronan is still a jerk, he’s just a soft jerk around Adam.

“Ronan, I swear, if it’s some weird prank—”

“It’s not.”

Adam’s shoulders drop. “Okay.”

He has to blink several times to focus his vision, and for a moment he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to look at, until two black bundles of fur, lying on a blue cozy blanket, let out tiny bleats, catching his attention instantly.

“Oh my god.” He twists his head to look at Ronan, eyes widening. “Ronan. Oh my god.”

Ronan’s lip curve slightly, trying not to show his own excitement, but there’s a glint in his eyes that he can’t hide.

He beckons at Adam, expectant. “Well, go ahead.”

Adam kneels, now a little hesitant, extending his hand to one of the newborn goats, the tiniest one with a white spot on its loin. When the animal does not react negatively, Adam gets closer to caress it, running his fingers dedicatedly through it. The second goat decides to inspect Adam too, walking with shaky legs around Adam, sniffing until it decides he’s not a threat and snuggles against his leg.

“When did this happen?” Adam asks, using now both of his hands to pet them.

“At night.”

“What were you doing here? You didn’t sleep?”

Ronan rolls his eyes at him. “I saw them this morning. You’re the lazy one who wakes up this late.”

Adam rolls his eyes back but doesn’t reply. He is aware he wouldn’t have noticed Ronan leaving the bed at early morning, because Adam has slept through the worst noise at Nino’s, through most of Ronan and Blue’s arguments, and obnoxious loud fights between Aglionby boys, completely undisturbed.

The goat with the spot bleats and tries to claim Adam’s lap, so he helps it by scooping it up in his arms. The sibling nuzzles its muzzle against him.

“God, they are cute. Got any names yet?”

“I was thinking Hatchet and Pike.”

Adam snorts out a laugh. “You’re hopeless.”

Ronan sits down in front of him. The smile hasn’t erased from his face since the moment they left the bed, Adam feels vain knowing that it’s the sort of smile Ronan keeps hidden from most people, but somehow, it always comes so easy for him when he’s with Adam.

Ronan moves closer, putting their foreheads together, careful not to bother the goat on Adam’s lap. “So we have hopeless and annoying. Anything else you want to add on your list?”

“Yes, actually,” Adam says, and starts punctuating each word with his lips. “Idiot.” A kiss on Ronan’s jaw. ”Asshole.” A kiss on the corner of his mouth. “Impossible,” Adam breathes out, mildly brushing his lips over Ronan’s.

Ronan cups Adam’s cheeks to keep him in place and returns the kiss, slow and lingering. They stay like that for a while, savoring each touch as if they had all the time in the world, as if there is nothing else to worry about than them. But then, Ronan’s fingers dig into his hair, deepening the kiss, pressing closer and closer.

They jump away at the sound of one of the goat’s bleat, returning them to the present time.

“Sorry, kids,” Ronan says and scratches the goat on Adam’s lap behind the ears. Ronan’s lips are swollen, eyes glowing with joy. “So, come on Parrish. Name suggestions. The one you have there is a female.”

Adam’s eyebrows shoot up. “You want me to name them?”

“Well, since my names don’t seem good enough for you.” He meets his gaze, face softening as he replies, “Yeah. One, though. Opal wants to name the buckling.”

“Oh.”

It’s not a big deal, Adam knows that, it’s just naming an animal. One of Ronan’s animals. And Ronan cares about his animals with entire dedication and incredibly fierce love.

Not a big deal, at all.

Ronan tilts his head, raising an eyebrow. “So…?”

“I—Yeah. I don’t know…” Adam averts his gaze, his heart jittery, thumping hard against his chest. The sight of Ronan Lynch—sunlight casting shadows across his face, eyelashes long and dark—is not helping either.

“I guess I want to name it Vega,” Adam speaks up after giving it some thought, gesturing at the small doeling, already sleeping soundly.

Ronan hums, slinging his arm around Adam’s waist. The other goat has already gotten up, sniffing the place, and trying to climb everything he sees.

“Is there a reason behind that?” Ronan asks.

“Not really. I mean, it’s not anything meaningful. There was this book of constellations I found when I was in elementary school at the library. Vega is one of the brightest stars you can see from Earth. And I guess—I kinda liked that, because Vega is in the Lyra constellation, you know? which is actually pretty small. And at the time it was comforting to know that despite being in a small place in space, Vega is still the fifth brightest star, one of the first ones to be photographed after the sun.” Ronan is staring at him, his gaze holding something Adam can’t decipher. He tries not to blush under it, though. It’s not usual of Adam to ramble like that. He adds, “I don’t know, I guess is kinda stupid. But I like the name. So.”

Ronan doesn’t laugh, and instead kisses his temple, holds him close. “It’s not stupid. I like it.”

Adam sighs contently. You can find the meaning of that story if you search for it, but Adam is relieved that Ronan doesn’t say more about it.

“So any plans?” Adam says.

“First of all, check frequently on the kids and the mom, make sure they are okay. Secondly, do all sort of farming shit—”

Adam scoffs.

“—And you being fucking relaxed for once in your life, without any frown lines between your brows. Finally, help you keep that smile on your face for the whole weekend.” Ronan tries for nonchalant, but the pink tinting his cheeks gives him away.

Adam stomach flutters. “Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Sounds good.”

Adam carefully removes Vega from his lap, and settles her on the blanket, where her brother comes to rest beside her.

He clutches at Ronan’s shirt as he lets his back fall against a pile of hay, pulling Ronan on top of him, dragging their mouths together for a deep kiss.

Adam may have to return to his tied up schedule on Monday. Go to work, go to school, homework, study. But for now, he just focuses on Ronan’s warmth, and Ronan’s lips.

He has never felt more at peace.

#pynch #pynchweek #pynchweek17 #adam parrish #ronan lynch #this is probably not the stars fic you're expecting but *shrugs*#my writing #this has actually been in my drafts for months lol

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hurricanerin · 7 years

Text

Show Me Ch. 4 Observe

Ch. 1 2 3

Actor Tom/OFC Explicit

Summary: That one time there was a Come to Jesus Meeting in Tom's kitchen.

Ellie woke to the sound of the shower running. Propping herself up on her elbows, she surveyed Tom’s bedroom and groaned, flopping onto her back with a dramatic sigh.

“Fuck me,” she muttered.

The bathroom door opened and a naked Tom walked out, prompting the poor girl to blush and avert her gaze.

“So shy, even after last night?”

Ellie grunted in response. She was not a morning person and was fairly certain it was obscenely early, considering how dark it was outside. She ignored his question.

“What time is it?”

She knew she should be hightailing it out of there. The longer she stayed, the more awkward this was going to get, but he’d woken her up for a second round only two hours or so ago and she was exhausted.

“Around six thirty.”

“Oh my God, after last night the least you could do is let me sleep! Jesus.”

She yanked the covers over herself and rolled on her side, tugging them up over her head. She heard a muffled chuckle and a hand slipped beneath the comforter to gently pull it away from her face. The sweet baritone of his voice was far too pleasant for her liking. She was trying to be upset.

“What time do you have class?”

“What is today?”

“Wednesday.”

She groaned.

“Eight.”

“Then it’s time to get up, little girl,” he chided.

He dropped the covers and walked to his closet. Ellie sleepily watched him go about his morning routine. He surprised her by sliding into a pair of casual dark jeans and a red, plaid button up shirt. He looked fantastic. She made a face. Of course he looked dashing at six thirty in the morning. She made a half assed effort to smooth her mussed hair and rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she begrudgingly sat back up.

“I’ll have Frank drop you at your apartment so you can get dressed. I’m not certain your dress is still functional,” he grinned.

Ellie rolled her eyes and swung her legs over the side of the bed and got to her feet. Naked, as he’d torn off her t-shirt in the middle of the night, she padded to the bathroom, making a show of locking the door behind her. Snatching up his toothbrush, she dug in the drawers for toothpaste and brushed her teeth, feeling very satisfied for having tainted something of his. She found a comb and more or less tamed her hair before stepping back out into his room, which was now empty. Several moments later Tom returned with a glass full of something green. He handed it to her.

“Drink.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a protein shake mixed with fruits and vegetables. I apologize, I’m not much of a breakfast person. It's all I have on hand.”

Ellie shook her head.

“I’ll pass.”

“You’ll drink it,” his voice bordered on a growl.

Leery, she took the glass from him and tilted it back, quickly downing half before pulling away, gasping and shuddering.

“This is disgusting.”

“Drink the other half, you need energy for school.”

Muttering about unnecessary A.M. bossiness, she complied, then handed the empty glass back.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to get creative with your apparel,” he handed her a pair of his boxers and another t-shirt. With a sigh she donned his clothes, mourning the life of her destroyed dress on the floor. She went to pick it up when he shook his head.

“Leave it. You need to go.”

She blushed, avoiding his gaze and nodding. Clearly she’d overstayed her welcome. As she briskly strode to exit his bedroom, Tom caught her arm and pulled her against him. She braced herself with her hands on his chest, raising a brow questioningly.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he murmured.

“It’s fine. It is what it is,” she muttered, struggling to free herself. Prolonging whatever this was was only going to make things weirder. She understood it was a one-night stand and she needed to get the hell out of there.

Tom knocked her hands away and slid both palms over her shoulders to keep her still, then up her neck until he cradled her face in his hands. Ellie’s breath stuttered as he pulled her lips against his. She couldn’t prevent a moan from escaping and she could feel him smiling against her mouth. Teasing her with several more short kisses, pressed his lips against her forehead and released her. She stumbled back, hand flying to her mouth in surprise. He cleared his throat.

“Frank will retrieve you after school. What time are you finished?”

Ellie scoffed and shook her head in dismay.

“He will do no such thing. I have work to do.”

“And we have a conversation that needs having. He will pick you up.”

With an exasperated sigh she grabbed her purse and heels, leaving the tattered dress for Tom to deal with.

“Fine. I’m done at one, but if he’s late, I’m gone.”

Tom chuckled and nodded.

“Frank is expecting you downstairs, he’s out front.”

He opened his door for her, acting the part of a gentleman, which was the polar opposite of the man that had debauched her last night. The smile he gave her was warm, but also flickered with promises of more to come.

Neither said anything as she walked out the door and headed for the elevator.

Walking from her last class of the day, Ellie decided that if Frank was late, she was going home for a damn nap. She so hoped he was late. Her heart both fluttered and sank when she saw Tom’s driver leaning against his black sedan. Hefting her bag over her shoulder she raised her head and tried to confidently stride forward, despite how reverse-walk-of-shame she felt.

“Hello, Miss,” the gray-haired driver greeted her with a small, but genuine, smile.

“Hi,” she mumbled, wildly uncomfortable with the title. “My name is Ellie."

This time Frank tried to hid his grin with a faux yawn, taking a moment to cover his mouth.

“He thought you’d say that.”

Ellie ignored the comment, strictly because Tom was being a smart ass, opposed to intentionally blowing off the driver. As she neared the car, he opened the back door for her.

“Thank you.”

As Frank started the car, she realized she had no idea where they were going. Curiously she gazed out the window as they passed through downtown Los Angeles, then headed west on Wilshire. As they passed the Beverly Hills Four Seasons, she grew squirmy. It had been dark when Frank drove her home and she’d been too sleepy to pay attention to scenery during the drive. When they pulled up to Tom’s apartment building, her jaw dropped. The Century boasted what looked like over 40 stories and must’ve housed over 100 units. It was huge. How did she not remember any of this from the night before? Oh, yeah. Tom’s tongue had been halfway down her throat.

Feeling incredibly underdressed in her jeans and flip-flops, Ellie reluctantly climbed out of the car when Frank held the door open. The driver broke away from Ellie to briefly confer with the security guard that manned the front door. Tom’s driver pointed to the girl and the other man nodded. Frank motioned for Ellie to join them.

“Ellie, he will guide you to Tom’s apartment. Have a lovely day.”

Still completely overwhelmed, she only managed a nod. Repositioning her bag on her shoulder, she followed the guard to the elevator.

“Mr. Hiddleston is in 2134, on the twenty first level, ma’am. He’s asked that I send you to him immediately.”

With another nod of her head she attempted to indicate that she wasn’t deaf and mute, just… dazzled. Who wouldn’t be? She failed.

After punching the button for the twenty first floor, Ellie was left alone with her thoughts on the ride up. Swallowing hard, she got off on Tom’s floor and padded to his apartment. She had a serious moment of hesitation when she raised her hand to rap on the door. She didn’t belong here. Not even a little bit. The past few days had been so surreal… It was uncomfortable to think them about now. She’d completely let herself go with someone she really didn’t know, and now she was at his place of residence for a Come to Jesus Meeting. Couldn’t they just skip this and call it a day? He could just mail her the non-disclosure agreements. She hadn’t given him reason to think she wouldn’t sign them.

Apparently she wavered for too long and the door swung open, revealing a serious Tom who swiftly ushered her inside. Apparently he had no desire to be seen with her. Fair enough.

“Where are they?”

“Where are what?”

“The non-disclosure things. Whatever it is I need to sign.”

Tom looked as if she’d asked where he kept his pygmy goat. When he spoke, he sounded irritated.

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“Don’t get mad at me, I’m just trying to make this as painless as possible. I’ll sign whatever you want and be out of your hair.”

Tom stared at her, his expression menacing enough to make Ellie take a step back from him.

“...Or whatever else you want me to do. I’m not here to cause trouble.”

He stalked towards her, backing her up against his kitchen table. He growled, which made her break out in damn goosebumps.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I don’t want anything from you,” she breathed. The table dug into her rear as she leaned back over the glass surface in an attempt to put additional space between them. “Whatever I-didn’t-sleep-with-a-movie-star paper work you need me to do. There’s no need for drama.”

Tom reached back and wound his hand in her long, blonde hair. He ground himself against her belly. Super low blow.

“But you did sleep with a movie star, didn't you, kitten? Don't you remember last night?”

A whisper was the loudest volume she could achieve.

“What do you want?”

Tom released her hair.

“To talk.”

“Tom, I have studying to do. Whatever this was, it’s been weird, but fun. But it’s over. I don’t belong here.”

“You belong where I say you belong.”

She gave a sardonic laugh and scrubbed her hands over her face.

"This has been super hot, but now the sun’s up and reality has hit. You don’t know me; I don’t know you. This is just going to turn into another media disaster for you. You don’t deserve that.”

He did that smoldering thing again. Had she been able, she’d have taken another step back. Unfortunately, she was trapped.

“What if I want to know you?”

“Then I’d say you’re looking for a rebound girl.”

Tom full-on growled this time.

“You don’t think me capable of making rational decisions for myself?”

When Ellie’s stomach growled and disrupted the peace, her cheeks flushed bright pink. Tom rolled his eyes but gave her a small smile.

“Do you not feed yourself?”

“Um, not on days when I’m kidnapped from school by a private driver.”

This time Tom laughed, shaking his head as he released her and strode to the refrigerator. He concocted something with kale and chicken and almonds, threw a little dressing over it and grabbed her a fork and a glass of water. He set them on the table. His tone left no room for argument.

“Sit. Eat.”

Reluctantly, Ellie obeyed, mostly because once he sat across from her, he stared at her and she had a feeling the only way to shake his gaze was to comply. To her pleasure, she was able to hold back the grimace at the kale leaves, despite their wickedly bitter taste. When she finished, she pushed the plate away.

“So,” she said.

“So.”

She raised a brow expectantly. She’d already So’ed. It was his turn to speak. Tom sighed and looked out the window, running his finger along his lower lip.

“You think you’re a “rebound girl?”’ He used the middle and index fingers of each hand to mimic quotes.

“I do.”

“So what if you are?”

“If I am, then you’re wasting both our time. You’re beautiful, phenomenal in bed and a ridiculously good guy, but as I keep saying, I have a life. This isn’t a game for me. If you want to fuck some no-name chick, that’s fine. Go for it. But it won’t be me. I’m not made for this.”

“Made for what, exactly?”

“The love ‘em and leave ‘em thing. You did this with… her and it ended up falling apart. I like you. A hell of a lot more than I should, but that doesn’t mean I'm participating in Media Stunt Part II.

“It wasn’t a stunt,” he grumbled.

“Well, whatever it was, it’s not for me.”

“She wasn’t cut out for this like you were,” he offered.

Ellie frowned and shook her head in confusion.

“Tom, she’s like, the highest paid entertainer in the world. She’s cut out for anything and everything.”

“No.”

“No? Just “no”?”

He hesitated, likely wary of sharing personal details, which she understood.

“I’m not digging for information, but you’ve got to give me some kind of reason to convince me to consider this, or I’m gone. Frank knows where I live, you can forward the paperwork there.”

“There’s no damn paperwork,” he hissed, rising and stalking to her. He hauled her to her feet.

“I could see it in your eyes that first morning when you glared at me.”

Ellie tried to take a step back and failed. His arms tightened around her. She didn’t trust her voice not to crack, so she whispered.

“See what?”

“You were a brat.”

Gasping in indignant surprise, she pushed at his chest and screamed. Quietly.

“Get away from me!”

Tom held her fast.

“That came out wrong.”

“No, it’s clear what you think of me. Let me go right now before I do something rash, and I promise you I will if you keep me here.”

Tom’s stern face melted and he laughed softly.

“Exactly like that. That’s what you have that she didn’t. That need to defy, a trait that’s really you begging to be put in your place.”

Ellie’s jaw dropped open. Her voice was barely a whisper.

“What?”

“You heard me, little girl. It’s just how you are,” he wrapped an arm around her waist. “You need a Daddy to set you straight. To make you listen, to make you behave. Do you remember how angry you were with me when I touched you at dinner?” His mouth was against her ear. “You were furious, but you came so hard, like such a good girl.”

A whine escaped from between Ellie’s lips and she fought to keep her eyes open as his breath puffed against her cheek. Once again, he wrapped his free hand in her hair and jerked her head back, exposing her throat.

“There are things you do naturally,” he licked a stripe along her neck to her chin, “that are a gift, Ellie.” Gently he nipped at her jaw, then ground himself against her. “Do you feel how hard your organic need to resist and deny makes me?”

“Uh huh,” she whispered, overwhelmed by his touch. Ellie tried to pull away from his grasp but he held her firmly. She attempted to take a centering breath. “I’m not playing, Tom. What I say, I mean,” she insisted.

Tom groaned, pressing a kiss against her temple.

“I know, sweet girl. That’s what makes you irresistible. Your need to rebel is so strong, but when you submit, you do so like you were born for it.”

He began fumbling for the button of her jeans.

“Tell me you don’t feel it too. Tell me you don’t want to please me,” he purred in her ear.

Ellie whimpered, her body relaxing in his arms.

“There’s a good, good girl,” he crooned.

Trembling, she tried to clear her head. She couldn’t think with his hands on her, but he wasn’t letting her free. She knew the second he got in her pants, she was done for. She couldn’t let that happen. While distracted by her thoughts, Tom wrestled her jeans down around her thighs. Immediately Ellie began thrashing, desperately trying to push him away.

“Don’t touch me there!”

“Oh, sweetling, I’m not going to. Not yet. You need something else first,” he murmured against her hair as he spun her around and pushed her against the edge of the table. She caught herself, hands clenching into angry fists and she tried to stand back up. Tom slowed her with a strong hand firmly planted on her back, but what really ceased her squirming was the slap to the rear he issued.

Ellie cried out, stumbling despite his holding her in place. She writhed, frantically wriggling her hips to get away from him. She could tell by the swelling erection he ground against her rear that she was unsuccessful escape attempts were only exacerbating the problem. He leaned over her, pressing her against the table with his weight.

“That’s it. Fight me,” he rumbled. “It only makes you come that much harder.”

Ellie attempted an enraged mule kick, but Tom was too close for her to do any damage. He managed to wrestle her arms behind her back and held them in one hand, while using the other to deliver another smack to her rear, leaving red handprints on each globe. Ellie shrieked.

“Ow!”

“I know, little one. But it’s the only way for you to learn. I know we haven’t known one another long, little Ellie, but you will be mine. I’ll make sure of it.”

Running his hand along the hot prints on her ass, he wound up and continued her spanking, rotating cheeks as he gently struck her. He didn’t stop until he could hear her pathetic little sobs. Once again, he leaned over her, pinning her in place with his body.

“Shhhh,” he cooed. “We’re almost done.”

Ellie sniffled as she heard him unzipping his pants and she gave a halfhearted grunt as she tried to jerk her hips out of his grasp once more. Suddenly his hand was running along her slit and he was groaning against her cheek.

“Fuck, Ellie,” he muttered. “It may be hard at first, but I promise you, you were made for this,” he growled as he dragged his finger up her dripping slit. This time when Ellie squirmed, she was thrusting her hips backwards in an attempt to impale herself on his fingers. She heard him chuckling and growled herself, uselessly stamping on his foot in her flip-flop.

“Patience,” he crooned as he pulled himself from his pants.

Without warning, he plunged into her, dragging cries from each of them. Still holding her arms behind her, he braced himself with one hand on the table as he lifted himself a few inches off her back. He kept both of them still for a solid minute and eventually Ellie couldn’t take it anymore.

“Please,” she begged. “Daddy,” she whispered, “Please.”

She heard Tom hiss between his teeth as he drew back, then slammed into her. Surely the fronts of her thighs would be bruised the next day from being forced against the edge of the table. Oh, well. Tom growled, rearing back only to force himself inside her even harder than the time before. She cried out softly, trying to remember to be a lady in such an upscale building, but failing miserably as Tom plowed into her. After several more pumps of his hips, Tom rose, gripping her throat to pull her back to him. Roughly he turned her head to the side, sealing his lips over hers and eliciting a wanton moan from the girl. Desperate for air, she pulled away, panting as he nuzzled against her cheek.

She clutched at his wrist as he held her neck, not to remove his hand but simply for the sake of stability as he rocked behind her. That needy, desperate burning feeling was beginning to overwhelm her and she needed to hang onto something for the sake of her sanity.

“Tom,” she whimpered.

He thrust especially hard. His voice was questioning.

“Tom?”

“Daddy,” she breathed.

“Louder, baby.”

“Daddy,” she whimpered.

“Good girl,” he groaned as he began thrusting ruthlessly. The sound of skin on skin echoed throughout his kitchen as he took her, thoroughly reminding her of her place beneath him. Each thrust tore moans and cries from the poor girl, and as her walls began to flutter as she started keening.

“That’s it,” Tom crooned in her ear, nipping at her lobe.

All it took was his voice to send her screaming over the edge. Her back arched as the coil inside her lower belly exploded, forcing her velvety walls to squeeze Tom’s cock as her body worked him to completion. With a roar, he came as well, his hips jerking against her as he flooded her cunt with come.

Eventually, Ellie released his wrist and stabilized herself with both palms on the tabletop. When he pulled out, they both sighed at the loss, and Tom kissed the top of her head and stroked her side. She whined and grumbled softly as she felt their juices sliding down her legs and gathering in her panties.

“I’m gonna need to keep some clothes here.”

He chuckled softly and hoisted her into his arms.

“That’s fine.”

Gingerly he carried her towards the shower as she slipped her arms around his neck.

#tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston fanfic #actor tom hiddleston #smut #smut and feels #FLUFF AND SMUT

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invertedfate · 7 years

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A Shift in Fate - Part 3;

Back again with some more crossover. As always, this is co-written by Voltra, creator of @ut-storyshift, and this time we have probably two of the most anticipated characters appearing. Fun stuff! Characters: IF Frisk, Sans, Papyrus, Flowey; Storyshift Chara, Asriel, Papyrus Rating: PG Summary: Upon venturing from the Ruins, Frisk stumbles upon another human! A very mysterious human with cool teleportation powers, and their adorable goat sibling. Little do they realize, they’re not alone. If you’re new to the crossover, here are part 1 and part 2 respectively!

It doesn't take long for the Caretaker to make his way to the bake sale. He's been here long enough to memorize every room. He even helped them set up way back when the Ruins were still being carved out, forming a strong friendship in the process. Along the way he glances back at his younger other.

"HOW ARE YOU HOLDING UP?"

"I'M GREAT, AS ALWAYS! THOUGH... WELL, I DO HOPE THE HUMAN WILL BE ALL RIGHT IN OUR ABSENCE." Science Pap can't help but peek over his shoulder, as if the kid will turn up at any moment. "THOUGH I SUPPOSE WITH SANS THERE, IT ISN'T AN IMMEDIATE CONCERN..." This spider bake sale. Hm! Well, he'll poke his head inside, see what the fuss is about. "COME TO THINK OF IT, I REMEMBER HEARING ABOUT A SPIDER BAKESALE IN HOTLAND AS WELL."

"IF THEY ARE ANYTHING LIKE THE SAME HUMAN I SAW EARLIER, THEN THEY WILL BE FINE." Popyrus says this pretty confidently. That human has made it to Hotland after all, they are practically almost out! "I BELIEVE THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT ANOTHER STAND BEING SET UP NEAR NEW HOME TO GET NEW CUSTOMERS." Speaking of the spiders, he pokes one of their webs gently. "EXCUSE ME, THE DOOR TO SNOWDIN WILL BE OPEN FOR A MINUTE SOON. LETTING EVERYONE KNOW SO THEY CAN BUNDLE UP."

"WAIT! I HAVE AN IDEA." And, not wasting a moment, the more scientifically inclined skeleton whips out a small glass dome... with rainbow flames burning inside. "WHILE WE EMBARK INTO SNOWDIN'S FRIGID CLIMATE, THIS FIREGLOBE WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH THE WARMTH NECESSARY TO FEND OFF UNWANTED COLD!"

The Caretaker's eye sockets widen. "DID YOU MAKE THIS? IT'S INCREDIBLE!"

A couple of spiders come down, look over the globe, shrug, then cling to it and take it up to their homes. It's odd but it looks like it will work.

"NYEH HEH HEH! WHY, THANK YOU! IT'S JUST ANOTHER ONE OF MY MANY SCIENTIFIC MARVELS, CAREFULLY CRAFTED BASED ON ADVANCED COOLCULATIONS." He winks. "WHICH, BY THE WAY, IS PATENTED BY YOURS TRULY." x.x.x Meanwhile, Frisk has opted to venture their way downstairs. Sure, they should probably wait for Pap, but curiosity's nabbed them by the chest. They, of course, left a note for the Papyruses on the main floor, just by the stairway. However, while that's perfectly sound for Frisk, it's less so for Sans.

Though for now, he follows silently as Frisk ventures down a long corridor, then another, drawing closer and closer to Snowdin's chilling wilderness. As they return outdoors, they become all the more grateful for their winter duds.

The familiar cold nips at their face. Strange how it looks like almost nothing has changed. Well, there's no paper covering the camera in the bush here. Nothing to worry about then?

Someone at the end of the hall is on high alert. A door that has never opened is now open? Maybe this time he actually...

Shortcuts are faster than feet. They have to be sure. A blur of green appears before Frisk. Neither person sees who they were expecting.

"Huh? How did you come out of the Ruins again? Or rather, how did you get in again?"

Frisk nearly jumps as the figure appears. Their eyes pop wide open, and for a moment, they stare.

* ...What?

* No.

* This is...

* They're...

A familiar voice, but the human's lips didn't move. So what's going on? What does this MEAN? Frisk doesn't mean to, but they continue staring for a few moments, until it dawns on them that a) this is probably a bit rude, and b) they probably look like an idiot.

Well. There's one way to recover from this, and so they straighten their hat, clear their throat, and crack a smile. This kid said something about the Ruins, right? They didn't pick up on the specifics, but uh...

"Because I'd be ruined without you."

Somewhere under the ground, Flowey is trying to repress a scream. Is this seriously happening? That voice. He knows that voice, but he can’t come out and see them. Too risky. What if the Trashbag followed them? Can he really risk being caught like this? But if his suspicions are true…

And of course the kid had to make a cheesy pickup to top it all off!

The hooded human snorts. Okay, that was a good one. "Well aren't you a cha-" They freeze up and their eyes widen, maybe even more so than Frisk's were before. What was supposed to be a two syllable 'charmer' is now a soft 'aaaaaa' before they give themselves a smack on the side of the mouth. THAT will need some explaining. But first things first. "Aren't you, uh, supposed to be in Hotland? I saw you on the last broadcast and you weren't wearing those nice looking snow clothes."

Oh, hey. They liked the pickup? Frisk heaves a small sigh of relief, then promptly proceeds to straighten their hat a bit. Or start to, anyway, but when Hotland comes up, their smile falters for a split-second. Boy, this is gonna happen a lot, isn't it?

"Uh, funny story. See, I'm kinda... from a parallel dimension."

Silence falls onto the pair. The hooded human seems torn between laughing and staying frozen. They glance around Frisk, as if looking for some sort of prank crew to come around and tell them they are on T.V. and just been duped. It never comes and their jaw slides back into a semi-confident smile.

"Okay. I suppose that would explain how you got all the way back here... what's your name?"

"Frisk." And it's there that a little laugh escapes them, and they rub the back of their neck. "Funny thing is, you're the first person that's asked." Which is odd. Did monsters just not care about names, or was it because they're human? A slight crease forms in their brow at that thought. There's another question at the tip of their tongue-- can this kid read minds? Are they telepathic?

Their own, weird head voice remains quiet. Eerily so.

All the while, a laugh escapes the hooded human, half out of feeling the tension lessen. "It took a while for my family to ask my name. They were busy with other stuff at the time." Like making sure they ate and were okay. But Frisk doesn't need to worry about that. They offer a red gloved hand. "Hello again, Frisk. My name is Chara."

So it's them. It's them. It really is Chara! There's a slight shifting in the soil. Very subtle. For now, Flowey remains tucked away. They don't wanna get ahead of themselves, even if a part of them most certainly does. An odd sort of paradox. However, while the name registers to one other in the vicinity, the lack of familiarity for Frisk prompts them to reach out and shake that hand without a second thought.

"Heh, well, nice to meet you... again?" And after a moment, Frisk can't help but wink. "Hope I made a good impression, even if it's not really the first." There. That's smooth. That's cool. Perfectly appropriate. Memorable. Maybe? Hopefully. Yeah.

"You did just fine." Man, that cool kid act is pretty transparent. Just like Rei. Speaking of, isn't he nearby? Yeah actually, they were touching up Chara's sentry station, aka doodling on it with some freshly fallen markers. "Come on, you can make another cool impression on my brother up ahead." Hand. Still holding hand. Well. This is nice but also a little awkward. ...maybe they can make this work. "Want to try going the fast way?"

"Yes." If that means getting to teleport? Absolutely. In fact, Frisk was gonna remove their hand until Chara brought that up. Are they supposed to keep holding on? Is there some kinda trick to it? How are they so relaxed? Why isn't FRISK relaxed? This was so much easier when they were surrounded by goofy skeletons and sassy flowers. "So, what do I gotta do?"

"Hold on." Chara pauses for a second. "Probably should close your eyes." Chara takes a step... and they are behind a cardboard wall filled with torn empty chocolate wrappers. The jolt wears off for Chara fast enough, but probably less so for their passenger.

"Welcome back, Chara! Everything okay?" chirps a voice on the other side of the wall.

"Yep, just had to pick someone up."

Bwuh. The sensation of being pulled from one place to the next leaves 'em frozen for a few seconds. It's not a huge shift from Papyrus' teleporters, but it takes a moment for their surroundings to set in, and when they do, Frisk can't help but notice the chocolate wrappings lying around. Weird. Is there more where that came from?

Well, there's no time to ask as a new voice chimes in. Perking up, Frisk tries taking a peek at this new stranger.

The snow's shifting even more fiercely than before. That voice. HIS voice. He knew this was coming. Flowey fully expected this.

That doesn't make it any easier to grasp.

A living, breathing Asriel. Chipper and cheerful and perfectly safe, totally unaware of the twisted fate his parallel double endured. Death due to his own pitiful pacifism. Revial as a soulless plant. All those RESETS, his losses and his victories… Haha. Ha. What would either of them think if they knew? Yet gain, the urge to rise from beneath the snowy soil rears its head, and yet again, Flowey represses that urge. He’ll just watch. He’ll listen. Spring up at just the right moment.

Frisk continues to remain unaware of his floral friend’s internal struggle, instead focusing on the fluffy stranger before them. If they’d met Asgore when he was younger, he might have looked like this. This monster is clearly still a kid, no horns have even grown out. Their rainbow bandanna stands out amongst the white snow with ease. It looks like they are doodling on the other side of the wall in marker right now. That stops as soon as he sees Frisk.

"Oh! It's you again! ...nice hat."

…Still, it’s a tiny Asgore. A tiny Asgore with an adorable bandanna and they're so fluffy. And those floppy ears. Maybe it's due to Frisk's soft spot for cute critters, maybe it's because this goat isn't a big, manly beefcake, but they let out an "Aw" on pure impulse.

Except...

Briefly, their face pales. A shiver races down their spine. For a moment, the little goat seems to stretch. The surroundings blur. Horns, spikes, wings, wicked laughter, and an endless sea of black. They're sinking into the snow as if it's quicksand. They can't escape, they can't—

As soon as they blink, it's gone. The image fades rapidly, a blur. Was it even there at all? Awkward laughter escapes them, and they flash a big smile.

"Thanks, but it's nowhere near as COOL as that bandanna." There. Nailed it.

The minor freak out does get an odd look from both siblings, but Asriel quickly forgets it in swelling with pride. "I-I'm glad you noticed!" He adjusts the colorful garment with a slightly forced smile. Act cool, act cool!

Chara soon cuts in. "So Asriel, this is another version of the same human we saw before."

"Pfft!" Asriel covers his muzzle in disbelief. "Nice joke, Chara."

"I'm not joking, Rei."

The goat-like monster whines. "Stop calling me that in front of the newcomer..."

Frisk has to bite their lip for a moment. Oh god, they can already SEE a pun coming, but they gotta resist. Can't do too many at once, or it might look like a gimmick. And they don't wanna be too cheap or irritating around this cool human and their adorable, goat sibling. Still, the antics bring some more genuine laughter in the aftermath of... whatever that was, and they welcome this change of focus.

"No, I'm literally from a parallel dimension where Asgore lives in the Ruins and Papyrus is a great big nerd." For a moment, they glance back toward the direction they came. "It'd be easier to prove if he was HERE, but I'm pretty sure he's still in the Ruins with his double... and Sans, I guess?"

Boy, this is gonna be a lot to explain, isn't it?

"Why would Dad be in the Ruins?"

"You know Papyrus!?" Both siblings speak at once, one clearly more shocked than the other. Asriel seems skeptical and confused, but at least not laughing at the idea.

"Do I know him? He's practically been glued to me since we met up... right here, actually." In fact, just for fun, Frisk straightens their posture, clears their throat, puffs out their chest, and does their best Pap impression. "BUT PERHAPS THAT'S A RESULT OF HIS MAGNETIC PERSONALITY!"

Oh god. Sans can't help but chuckle at that, though he at least tries to muffle it with his mitten. Gotta stay incognito for now, while Frisk carries on.

"He's... also kinda an inventor, I guess? He's made working teleporters and invisibility machines, so." They shrug. He's a bit eccentric, but that's not a bad thing.

"That sounds really cool," Asriel admits. A lot of detail for something that could be made up. Maybe it's real after all?

Chara inwardly is thankful that Frisk is focused more on Asriel right now. Shock is still written all over their face and a gloved hand has the duty of covering up a massively growing smile.

"Yep! In fact, I got a little something..." They dig through their pockets, whipping out that oh so pretty fireglobe. "Right here! Scientifically enhanced fire. Pretty sweet, right?" They hold it out for Asriel to get a closer look, but oh. Don't think they've forgotten you, Chara. The expression lights up a light bulb in their head, and they look away from Rei for a moment. "And y'know, I'd be happy to introduce you myself."

Both siblings' eyes light up. The fireglobe is definitely a factor, but the extra sparkle in Chara's eyes hints at another reason.

"Thank you." They murmur under their breath.

"No prob." Though Frisk's smile takes a turn for the sheepish. "Just, uh. As a heads up, Papyrus might try to... well. Protect you. A lot." Heh. Now, that'd be something. "But since you've got cool powers, I doubt you need too much help."

Chara smiles softly. What they don't know... "The extra help is always appreciated."

Asriel is still mesmerized by the fireglobe. He reaches out, but hesitates about touching the globe itself. "It doesn't burn, does it?"

Frisk was about to comment, but another voice cuts in before they get the chance.

"only if ya break the glass."

And it's here that Sans finally steps out from behind the trees, hands in his pockets and his lazy smile as present as ever. His eyes fall on Chara, though he makes no sudden moves, opting to watch and see how the kids take his appearance.

Asriel returns to confusion land at the sight of the unfamiliar skeleton. Chara on the other hand bows their head. "Good to see you again, your highness."

Asriel's head whips to the side so fast that his ears smack his face. "Wha- that's the King!?"

"He is in our world but I don't think he'd be so far from his castle."

Asriel turns back to Sans with a look of awe on his face. "It's nice to meet you!"

Sans can't help but snort at the comment. "wow. a king. dunno about you, but i think that'd be a ROYAL pain. i mean, who wants to put up with that much responsibility?" He shrugs shis shoulders and holds up his palms in a nonthreatening gesture. "nah, think i'm pretty cozy as guard captain number two."

Crunch, crunch, he finally steps forward. "so. another human. that's new."

"New AND cool," Frisk adds. "I mean, they've got teleportation powers." And they're kinda cute, but that goes unsaid. "...Actually, I didn't even know humans could HAVE powers." That's a lie. They have their RESETS after all.

But, well. Should they mention it to Chara? Maybe when they're alone.

'That sounds like they mean the opposite. Looks like there's another demon in town.' Chara blushes a little bit at all the lies Frisk keeps throwing out and tugs at the side of their hood.

"Chara's been here for a while actually. About three years now, right?" Asriel looks at Chara for confirmation.

"Just about, give or take a month."

"...And you're safe? Nobody's given you a hard time?" There's a hint of disbelief to Frisk's voice, and they turn to Sans, who at first stays silent. That's, uh. Interesting. Very interesting.

Ultimately, he shrugs. "different timelines, different rules. besides, if they're livin' in snowdin, i doubt there's much to worry about."

"And if there was any problems, they'd have to take it up with Mom!" Rei says with a flourish.

"She's really protective of me, for obvious reasons." Chara on the other hand seems a bit embarrassed over this fact.

"heh. that's tori for ya." There's a subdued chuckle from Sans, almost wistful. "sounds like you're in good hands, then. but, uh— what's her status? can't be queen..." So where's she fit into the picture? So much has changed that it's hard to draw any direct connections with the placements. Two siblings in Snowdin... so does that make them an analog to him and Pap? But neither kid looks like a scientist or vice captain.

Weird.

Frisk, however, can't help but note, "She'd probably get along great with Papyrus, then. But if we put 'em in the same room..." Well. That'd be some intense coddling, huh?

"eh, i'm sure we'll find out soon enough. i mean, she's probably... chilling in town, right?" Sans winks, fully aware of his bad joke but not particularly upset about it.

Asriel beats Chara to the punch on this. "Actually she's probably still patrolling in Waterfall. Has to make sure all the kids there are in school."

"Yeah," Chara gives a slightly annoyed look at being cut off. "Captain's duties."

Oh god. That comment makes Sans' smile grow by a hair. "yeah, that sounds like somethin' she'd do." If she were captain, and if she weren't so... disheartened. Though that goes unsaid. No way is he gonna be a downer at a time like this. "so your mom's out in waterfall... that mean you two are on your own?" Kinda young for that, but one of them IS a human. A human who, in another timeline, made some... questionable choices.

For now, he'll keep cool. No point in making assumptions when the kids seem... pretty normal as far as kids go.

"Man, that's some family," says Frisk, somewhat wistful. But a few dots are beginning to connect. Asgore is their dad, but he's in Hotland. Their mom is Toriel, the queen... now captain? Which means Asgore and Toriel... which means...

* Yes. * That's exactly what it means.

"Heheh..." They rub their neck, head ducked slightly. "So... What do you guys do for fun?" That seems like a good distraction from potentially confusing thoughts. This is a lot to take in, but it'd be nice to just... let loose for a while. Goof off with some kids their age.

While all this is going on, a certain scientific skeleton has just finished dashing through the house, and, "THEY'RE GONE!" Huffing, he stops, turning to his handsome double before bolting out the door and into the snow. "...I BLAME SANS." A thorough lock up of the house ensues, but it’s not long before both skeletons dash out of the Ruins and into the snow. Once they step outside, Science Pap takes a cursory look around. "HMM... YOU DON'T THINK THEY'VE ALREADY MADE IT TO TOWN, HAVE YOU? I SWEAR, IF SANS TOOK THEM TO GRILLBY'S BEHIND MY BACK..." Sighing, he looks to his double. "WELL, IT'S A GOOD THING WE'RE BOTH TALL, LONG-LEGGED, AND WITTY!" Clearly, their combined genius will solve this conundrum! "TO BE HONEST," says the older skeleton while looking back at the other side of the Ruins door. "I HAVEN'T BEEN TO SNOWDIN SINCE I FIRST CAME HERE. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE LAYOUT IS LIKE. BUT IF I HAD TO GUESS, THEY HAVE TO BE NEARBY." And perhaps... they will be here?

Further ahead, the conversation continues. "Yeah, we're on our own most of the time." Chara replies, glancing down at the ground. No kids like to be interrogated. And that's what it sure feels like.

"We play Humans and Monsters mostly. Want to join us?" Asriel looks over at Frisk with hopeful eyes. Another person to play with? Please?

Frisk briefly looks to Sans, brow raised and frowning faintly. "Maybe you should cool it with the questions." But, onto brighter news, they shoot Asriel a grin. "And, hey, I'm down for that! Truth is, I could use a break from all the, er... Well, the point is, it'd be nice to actually-"

But before they can finish, there's a loud gasp and an even louder voice. "HUMAN!!!" And in comes a certain scientific skeleton, bolting through the snow and straight toward his friend and brother... before promptly stopping because, oh. Hi. Tiny goat person and human clone? "I MEAN... HUMANS? WOWIE, I WASN'T EXPECTING THIS!"

Asriel is shocked at the newcomer, but something about that voice made him look at Chara.

That voice. Could it really be? Chara is still as a stone and filled with hope.

"HOLD ON, I'M COMING ALONG!!" There. That's him. There's no doubt about it. Chara takes off towards the voice.

The human is coming closer! Well, one of them, anyway. Granted, Frisk soon trails after, while Sans watches with caution. He can't act rash, but a Chara running this close to his bro. Bros? Well, to Papyruses, anyway... What's gonna happen? This is kinda a big deal.

The science Papyrus offers Chara a friendly wave. "GREETINGS, NEW HUMAN! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS... AS IS HE." He gestures to his double.

Chara darts past Science Papyrus. No offense, just some things have to come first.

Caretaker Pap seems surprised at the child that just clung to his legs and wobbles off balance for a moment. He looks down at the human for a few seconds before asking.

"CHARA? IS THAT YOU?" The child nods into his robes, shaking softly. He gives a big smile and kneels down, petting the sniffling child reassuringly. "I'M GLAD TO SEE YOU TOO."

Sans remains still, but his eyes are glued to Chara. He's watching, not even blinking. That's awfully close to a version of his bro. It'd be so easy to take advantage of his lowered guard. One good hit... A human could do it. Easy.

Flowey, while unseen is listening intently. Bad enough that a version of his old self is around. Bad enough that he has to hide while CHARA is there. This Chara is... strangely close to Papyrus, but why? How? What does it MEAN? Sure, Papyrus is amusing and interesting and eccentric, but why isn't it ASRIEL who's...?

Finally, Frisk moves in, not too close so not to interrupt, but. "Hey. You okay, Chara?" The crying sure comes as a surprise. "C-CHARA...?" Science Papyrus' eye sockets nearly double in size. Wasn't that the child who...? But they look so happy. So sincere! And far be it from him to cast judgment on a human he's just met. Still, squinting, he assesses them, trying to read their LOVE and EXP levels.

1 LOVE, 0 EXP. The child picked up into the Caretaker's arms hasn't hurt anyone. Said child is also clinging to the skeleton and trying their damnest to hide their face from the others.

"I-I'm fine. J-just really happy." Chara rubs their face with a glove and smiles back at Frisk with a mostly clean face. Asriel overcame his case of double takes and now steps forward with a crunch of the snow.

"...Good. Just wanted to make sure, y'know?" So, happy tears. That's definitely a good thing, though Frisk will have to ask about Papyrus later. Such a tearful greeting must carry some history behind it. Is this Papyrus to Chara what their Papyrus is to them? Well, the crunching of snow pulls their mind from such thoughts at the moment, and Frisk steps aside to give Asriel room to move closer.

Except upon spotting him, Science Papyrus lets out a tremendous gasp. "OH. MY. GOD!!!!" He points, eye sockets all buggy. "IT'S A TINY TORIEL! HELLO, YOUR... MAJESTY? HIGHNESS? I ALWAYS GET THOSE TWO MIXED UP!"

"Tor- I'm not my mommie!!" Asriel blurts out without meaning. It takes a moment for him to catch the embarrassing name and settles for covering his face in hands and ear to hide the blush.

"HELLO TO YOU TOO, ASRIEL!" Caretaker Papyrus calls out as he approaches the group.

"Hello, mister skeleton..." The blushing goat mumbles.

"AS... OH. OH!!!" If possible, the scientist Papyrus' eye's get even buggier. "THEN YOU, TINY HUMAN... BUT YOU'RE VERY MUCH ALIVE... BUT THEN, THIS *IS* ANOTHER TIMELINE. WOWIE! THIS IS BOTH CONFUSING AND CAPTIVATING AT THE SAME TIME!!!"

"eh." Sans shrugs. "infinite outcomes, y'know? but man, talk about a huge crowd..." He glances around the group, his smiling face unreadable. "so. what's the plan? personally, i could go for some burg right about now."

Asriel picks up on something very odd about what Papyrus said. Will definitely have to ask about that later. "Hey!" Chara half squeaks. No, it's not because they were crying. "How about we head into town? No point talking in the middle of the snow forever."

"IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE HOW MUCH HAS CHANGED SINCE I LEFT AS WELL," Popyrus adds.

"Sounds pretty... cool to me." Frisk cracks a grin, lifting their chin and trying to play it cool again. Please enjoy their sense of humor, cool human.

The science Papyrus' eye socket twitches a little, and he looks like he's trying to hide a smile. Sans, in the mean time, chuckles.

"so... anyone up for a shortcut?"

"Yeah, sounds great." Chara somewhat reluctantly lets themselves down out of Caretaker Pap's arms. "All the other guards should be back at Grillby's at this time."

"You can do shortcuts too Ki- Mister Sans?" It was a quick catch before Asriel corrects himself.

Frisk gulps. Other guards? That's... a little foreboding, though they try to hide their unease with a slightly twitchy smile.

And Sans responds with a nod. "yup, it's kinda my thing." And he motions for the others to come closer. Somewhat reluctantly, his brother obliges. "all right, so... sounds like at least a few of us are used to shortcuts by now. those that aren't, it might tingle a little."

'Kinda your thing, huh?' Something about that strikes Chara as odd. As does Frisk's attempt at hiding their unease about... something. Chara doesn't know what. But they do know what could help out. Chara walks over to Frisk, takes their hand, and-

They aren't there anymore.

"Wha- Chara!! You left me behind!!!" Cries out the small goat.

"HUMAN!" Papyrus tries reaching out for them, but nope. They're too fast. Curses!

"...welp." Shaking his head, Sans plods closer to the little goat and plops a hand on his shoulder. "all right, then. bro, bro, kiddo... looks like we'll be making the jump as a group."

He gives the elder Papyrus a chance to come closer-- just in case this whole thing's disorienting. Once they're all ready, he'll make the jump. To Be Continued

#undertale #storyshift #inverted fate #chara #asriel #frisk #papyrus #sans #flowey #crossover times

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