#since I would have to log out which is an annoyance

[allisonreader]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11379077/1/Life-s-Highway

@nurfhurdur guess what else I just started to reread again.

Chapter 1 of Life's Highway, where you already had me hooked and interested to see just what your humanized version would be like.

My current take away, is how while you ended up going a little bit different in route for Hard Enough Left, there's still that tie of Joe (and it not being my much beloved Joe Moore who also shows up later.) It still has such an atmosphere to it. I can't wait to get to my favourite arches again.

[otakubimbo]

BAD COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Pairing: Gojo Satoru x f!Reader

Warnings: MDNI, Smut, Profanity, Angst, Anal (f!receiving), Aggressive Sex, Verbal Fighting, Miscommunication DID NOT PROOFREAD

summary: You broke up with your boyfriend Gojo Satoru out of what he thought was no where. He hasn’t heard from you since you took all of your stuff out of his house while he was at work. But now here you were, soaking wet at his house in the middle of the night. Let’s just say, he wasn’t that happy to see your face.

Day 3: Hate Sex

A/n: I’m actually really enjoying making these so I hope y’all are liking them too <3

masterlist

You didn’t even know how you got to his door. Your feet just led you there as if they knew the way. So, here you were knocking on your ex’s door in the middle of the night. Well 1:00 am to be more specific. It was pathetic in a sort of way, especially since you were the one that broke up with him and also because you got caught in the rain. Your freshly done silk press now ruined.

“I know that fucker is awake. Answer the damn door.” You go to bang on the door again when it’s yanked open. Now you’re just standing there like a dumb ass with your fist raised. Gojo Satoru wasn’t wearing his blindfold, shades sitting on the point of his nose. When his face met yours, immediately a scowl fell upon his beautiful lips.

“What the fuck do you —“He paused taking in your appearance. You knew you looked like a drowned rat in running attire. You were even wearing the running shoes he got you for your birthday last year. He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Just come in.”

He steps out of your way and you carefully make your way past him to get inside. Immediately you remove your water logged shoes, standing with your arms around yourself now in the coolness of his apartment. He left you standing there in the cold until he came back throwing a towel in your direction. You could it, attempting to dry yourself off but you were soaked to the bone.

“I just need to charge my phone and I’ll call an Uber and be out your way.” You mumble attempting to gently squeeze some of the moisture out of your ruined hair.

“What have I told you about going on runs without charging your phone?! Especially in the middle of the night are you crazy?! I’ve told you how dangerous that is.” He scolds you and you simply roll your eyes.

He always thought he knew better.

“I would have been fine if I didn’t get caught in the rain” You spit back avoiding his eye contact trying your best not to freeze. Why the fuck was it so cold in here?

“You think that makes it better?! It’s the middle of the fucking night Y/N! Your house is 10 miles from here! Do you not understand how dangerous that is?! How many times have I told you?!”

You finally met his angry gaze, your face reflecting the same “I can take care of myself! If I didn’t get caught in the rain I wouldn’t have been here in the first place.”

Your arms are crosse in front of you, rage was starting to warm the cold out of your bones. You could tell your response pissed him off even more by the glare he had and the way he was aggressively moving toward you.

“Cut the bullshit. It started raining 40 minutes ago which gave you plenty of time to go home. And don’t even try to tell me you were going to run 20 miles in the rain on a fucking Tuesday.”

Yall are face to face at this point as he stands over your. His face is red with annoyance, he always looked so damn hot when he was mad. Yall ended up having a lot of angry sex that way. Not today though because for once you didn’t have any bite back. He was right and you had no idea why you were here. Your face still hardened as you sniffle, your nose trying to run. At that, his face softens and he sighs taking a step back. He didn’t have it in him to be mad at you when you looked like that. His broken heart breaking even more with every sniffle.

“Go take a shower before you get sick”

“I’ll be—“ You start but he cuts you off before you could finish your rebuttal.

“No you won’t, don’t argue with me and just go.”

He always thought he could tell you what to do.

You clamp your mouth shut. There was no point in arguing because you in fact did always get sick this way, then he used to have to take care of you for a week everyday reminding you of how maybe you should listen to him sometimes because he was right. With no further arguing, you made your way to the bathroom. You turn the shower on and strip while you wait for the shower to heat you. Looking at yourself in the mirror, you looked terrible. Only part of your hair had reverted, the bags under your eyes from the lack of sleep made you look ill, overall you looked dreadful.

“What the fuck are you doing here” You question your reflection. You hadn’t seen Satoru’s face since the break-up and it wasn’t a good breakup either. That was mainly your fault though, you just up and left no explanation. Yeah, you had your own place but most of all your things were at his place. You packed your shit, said nothing to him and blocked him. Even though, he only tried coming to your place once. Just once. And that confirmed to yourself that you made the right decision by breaking up with him the way you did. That didn’t stop you from missing the man you hated so much.

You sigh at your reflection before snorting, “You’re so stupid”

The shower was finally hot enough to slide yourself in. Once the hot water hit your skin, you immediately melted into the feeling. The tension from the argument melting away with the heat along with the cold in your bones. You decided to just go ahead and wet the rest of your hair, there was no saving it. Putting your head under the steaming water made you feel even better. You almost forgot that you couldn’t get too comfortable in there, so you quickly finished up your shower using his conditioner to make sure your hair didn’t get knocked putting it into two plats.

Once you step out the shower you see clothes laid out for you on the sink. He must have slipped in when your head was under the water. It was your favorite shirt of his and some shorts you guess you forgot, almost bringing a smile to your face.

You slipped out of the bathroom, closing the door gently behind you. He wasn’t in his room, thankfully, so you made your way back to the living room. His back was to you as he lounged on the couch. Oh how many times you’ve come out to this sight. The smell of ginger filled your nostrils and you noticed his favorite mug filled with a hot ginger tea, a bottle of whiskey next to it.

He doesn’t turn to you, but acknowledges your presence “That’s for you if you want it. I know you like it when you’re cold.”

It was your favorite., you gladly picked it up placing more than a shot into the warm cup.

He was only thoughtful when he felt like it.

“Thanks.” You say barley above a whisper but you knew he heard you because the room was completely silent besides your soft sniffles.

“No problem. I tried to charge your phone but there’s water in the port so it’s drying out.” He finally turns to you. His eyes always held secrets. You couldn’t tell what he was thinking as you nod at his comment going to sit on the opposite side of the couch. You tuck your legs into you to bring yourself some comfort as you sip on your hot tea.

Gojo didn’t know what to say to you. You broke his heart and blocked him. He had no clue why you were here. He had no clue why you even left him. All the sudden he came home, expecting to see the love his life except he came home to an empty cold apartment. You and all your things just up and gone. He tried going to your house but when you didn’t answer knowing that you were home, he didn’t know what to do with himself. He was now just alone, again.

You could never read him.

The silence between you hung in the air. It seemed like time was stopped and moving too fast at the same time. Gojo was the one to finally break the silence.

“Why?”

A simple question.

Your head slowly raised to meet his gaze. His eyes were sad, the blue sparkling in a way you’ve never seen before.

“Why what?” You knew what he meant but you didn’t want to just come out and say it. He should fucking know why.

“Don’t piss me off more than you already have.” He scoffs at you, unamused.

“You literally have no reason to be mad” now that really pissed him off. He pushed himself off the couch and stormed over to you, looking you into between his arms on either side of you. You try and sink further into the couch, casually taking a huge swig out of your cup as if you weren’t fazed by his behavior. His eyes looked wild, you hadn’t even noticed he didn’t have his shades on until right then.

“I have no reason to be mad? Me? You took all of your shit out the house and fucking blocked me, Y/N. And now here you are showing up at my door in the middle of the fucking night to play fucking mind games with me”

“I told you –“ You begin getting cut off yet again by him. He usually let you speak your mind but not tonight it seemed.

“I don’t give a fuck what you have to say. I fucking hate you, you broke my heart and then just show up like its not a fucking deal. Why the fuck are you here?! To torture me?!” His grip is tighter on the couch.

Your voice is small, “ I don’t know why I’m here. I just went on a run and before I knew it I was here.”

You avoid his gaze as he leans back aggressively running his fingers through his hair. He laughs almost defeatedly.

“Maybe I’m the cursed one instead of the honored one.” He says as he paces in front of you.

“Satoru” You say softly, reaching out to him, your hand moving on its own. He looks at your hand, snorting.

“No. You don’t get to do that.” He finally stopped pacing, standing in front of you. “Just tell me why you left” His voice and eyes pleaded at you. As much as you can see you broke his heart, yours was shattered as well too.

“I heard you”

“What” He says confused as to what the fuck you were talking about.

“With your parents. I heard you on the phone with your parents.” You say as you finally look up to meet his gaze. He still looks confused at you as if there’s no way he knows what’s going on. “Stop acting like youre confused.”

“Because I am confused!”

“You literally agreed when your dad said that you should break up with me! That you were too good for me!” You yell standing up, getting in his face.

You remember it like it was yesterday. You had fell asleep on the couch as you were watching a movie, but were woken up when you heard him talking quietly on the phone in the kitchen. His dad was yelling at him about how he needed to break up with you and that you were no good for him. His response: okay. You had never heard him not argue back with his father but this time? The time that it came to y’all’s relationship he was silent. He had no fight in him for you and you were crushed, you didn’t even know how you didn’t burst into tears right then. So you did what you thought was best and just left the next morning.

“You didn’t even defend me. You just said okay and that was that.” Your voice was cracking, tears threatening to spill out at any second. He looked at you as if you were a fucking idiot.

“For someone so smart you are so fucking stupid. I hate how fucking hardheaded you are.”

Before you could ask what he was talking about his lips crash into yours. Your bodies came together like missing puzzle pieces. You missed him so fucking much. His mouth moved harshly against yours, pushing your further into the couch.

“You never listen to me” He rasps as his mouth moves to your jaw trailing kisses to your ear. His tongue licks around your ear, sending shivers down your spine. You’re panting at this point, your legs immediately wrapping around his waist trying to pull him closer. He bites on your ear making your back arch into him, moaning into his shoulder.

“Fuck ‘toru.” You moan as your hands get tangled into his hair. His mouth licks and sucks on your neck, pulling the most delicious moans out of you. You can feel him growing between your legs as he presses himself into your now wet shorts. Your wetness is seeping through even his own layers of clothes which gets a deep throaty groan out of him.

“At least your pussy missed me, you heartless slut.” He scoffs, grinding more into you grabbing you by your throat. “Broke my heart for no fucking reason because you didn’t want to communicate.”

His grip tightens on your neck and you squirm under him as you feel yourself getting even more spurred on. The hand not occupied around your throat sinks straight into your shorts. His long thick fingers forcing their way into soaked cunt.

“Yeah your pussy really missed me. She wouldn’t have to be so needy for me now if you would of just fucking talked to me. I hate how you always just shut down.” He scolds as he’s aggressively finger fucking you, his thumb just as aggressively circling your clit. You could barely even register all that he was saying, his fingers were hitting the best parts within you. You moan his name over and over again. Your body was so close to reaching it’s climax, it was making you dizzy. Right before you were tipped over the edge, he yanked his fingers out. Before you could even complain about the emptiness in you, he shoves his slick coated fingers in your mouth. You suck on them greedily, loving the taste of yourself on his fingers. He looks darkly down at you as he yanks your shorts off, causing a gasp from you which makes him shove his fingers further down your throat gagging you.

“You know what I hate the most about you?” He asks pulling his dick free from his pants. It was as pretty as you remember, it wasn’t super thick but it was long and had the prettiest curve to it. “That you would think that of me. That you would think I didn’t love you.” He strokes his dick looking down at you, your eyes hooded and filled with love.

“But don’t worry, I’m about to fuck you like I hate you.” He says as he yanks you up, throwing you over the side of the couch so that your back is arched perfectly for him. Satoru doesn’t even give you time to think as he thrusts himself completely inside of you causing you to groan deeply from the sudden and harsh intrusion. He pounded into your relentlessly, hands placed firmly on your hips holding you in place. You didn’t know if you could take much more. He was so deep, ramming into your cervix with every thrust and every so often making your ass which you knew would make it hard for you to sit for days after. Your pussy was squeezing him tightly with every smack.

“Oh, you’re enjoying this huh? You didn’t have to break my fucking heart to get me to fuck you like this.” He growls smugly behind you as one of his hands moves from your hips to your front rubbing your combined juices on his fingers. With his, now wet, thumb he sticks it straight into your asshole that was puckering at him. You throw your head back at the intrusion now feeling overwhelmingly full. He matches the thrust of his fingers with the thrusts of his dick.

“Yes! Satoru! Yes fuck yes. Oh you’re going to make me cum baby.” You babble unable to control any feeling in your body anymore.

“Then come for me.”He commands, using his other hand to grab the back of your neck pulling you back. At that point, your mind was empty except for the feeling of him inside of you. After a few more thrusts, you cum, and you cum hard, harder than you ever had. Your eyes roll in the back of your head and you think they may get stuck like that with the way feel right now. The noises you made were so lewd and the death grip you pussy had on Satorus dick as he was trying to fuck you through your high had him cuming deeply in you.

Once both of your bodies stopped shaking, he let you both fall over the side of the couch, his back pressed against you panting hard. He catches his breath and gently pulls out of you, gaining a whimper from you. With a sigh, he picks you up and brings y’all to the bedroom, laying you down gently pulling the covers over your spent body. He slides in on the other side, turning your face to him.

“Are you ready to listen?”He asks gently, cupping your face. Your eyelids were heavy but you nod.

“The reason I didn’t argue with my dad was because I had planned on never talking to him again after we got off the phone, on top of the fact I thought you were sleeping.” Maybe he was more thoughtful than you gave him credit for, but you were still confused. Him and his father argued all of the time, but he wouldn’t ever just cut off contact with him.

“What happened?” You ask softly, now seeing how big you overreacted.

Satoru sighs before placing a kiss on your forehead, deciding on if he wanted to tell you or not. You reach out, stroking his cheek lovingly allowing him to open up on his own time, showing you were listening.

“I told him I wanted to marry you.” He says finally. Your movements immediately still and your eyes widen.

“Huh” You question, blinking several times to make sure you were awake and registering everything properly.

“I let him know I was thinking about proposing to you and when he gave me that reaction, I decided that there was no longer a point in talking to him. I couldn’t have anyone in my life who didn’t see how special you were.”

You felt like you couldn’t breath and you just said the first thing that came to your mind, “I’m an idiot”

You’re trying to hold back tears and he pulls you into an embrace.

“So it seems. But you’re my idiot. Yeah?” He asks rubbing circles into your back. You nod into his chest.

“Next time you think about pulling a disappearing act. Can you just talk to me first?” He asks and you nod again getting a chuckle out of him.

“Still hate you for breaking my heart but I can think of a few ways you can repay me” He says as he pulls you back, capturing your mouth once more. The rest of the night, you did your best to repay him for your lack of communication skills.

The next morning, you woke up wrapped up in your loving man, his head in your chest and your legs thrown over him. Unfortunately for you, you felt like shit. You, indeed, did get sick. Another incident you weren’t going to hear the end of until you got better.

[piratefishmama]

Finders Givers | Part 2

“STEVEN MARION HARRINGTON.”

“Not my middle name.” Although Robin had made several valiant attempts in guessing it every time she needed to burst into his office all guns blazing. Which was unfortunately… often. She still hadn’t managed to crack it.

He didn’t actually have a middle name. He wasn’t going to tell her that though, this was funnier.

She slapped a sheaf of papers down onto his desk, a brief flick of the first page told him they were call logs and transcripts “What did you DO?! Claudia’s been getting calls all morning asking about renovations?”

“Okay, so, in my defence. It was Nancy’s idea.” That was his whole defence. It was Nancy’s idea. His idea had been worse.

“Explain.”

“You know, most people in my position don’t have to explain themselves to people who work for them, their people just respect them, and do as they say without argument.” He mused, mostly to himself, but he could see the woman’s eye twitch in annoyance and so he sighed in defeat, it’d only wind up with him having those papers whapped around his head. “Remember the wallet I found?”

“The one that was bumming you out?”

“Yeah! Well, when I went out for a walk, I found the guys work address and—”

“You know we have guys who do that sort of shit for us, right? You can’t be stalking people, Dingus, what the fuck?” That sheaf of papers was dangerously close to hitting him. She’d picked them back up an everything.

“Just listen! He was at work, I didn’t talk to him or anything I’m not stupid, but... his manager made this girl cry so he just decked him, laid him out, one punch an he was down, then he just quit his job, right there, shit was spectacular.” Steve could appreciate a good bit of muscle, could appreciate a scrapper. Plus the guy was hot so, that helped. “Doesn’t look like his photo either, he’s got so much hair, Robs, it’s... wow, he’s just—”

“Ew, I don’t wanna hear about your crush on some random guy, what’s this got to do with these renovations Claudia’s being spammed over?”

“Okay so, guy lost his job.”

“Quit, quit his job.”

“Defending a ladies honour, something I thought you’d appreciate.” She raised a single unimpressed brow “but, I... I was gonna just send him rent money for a few months, y’know, cover a few bills, charity!” His heart was in the right place, his head however, his head was in space.

“That’s not charity that’s stupidity, but go on.”

“That’s what Nance said! Apparently it’d be suspicious if I were to be found sending large amounts of cash in nondescript envelopes to an apartment block notorious for drug activity, so she suggested that since I’m already buying that bar nearby, it’d look less conspicuous if I just... bought the building the guy lives in and claim I was developing it, make it seem like I have an interest in building up local problem areas.” She frowned, silent in her thoughts as she processed.

“... And what about the rent forgiveness?”

“I was gonna pay for his rent, might as well just not have him pay rent, y’know? An it’s gotta be building wide or there’ll be questions, like why is he so special, it’d put him under scrutiny. So Nance suggested putting a stop on rent as we ‘renovate’ as a sort of, we’re disrupting your life so here’s a break for you kinda deal.” Honestly Nancy really was a life saver, he really ought to give her a raise, he’d have been fucked over years ago had he not pulled her into the fold.

“So that means we’re actually going to have to renovate this block then?”

“I mean—”

“Were going to have to renovate this block, Steve. We can’t just forgive the rent forever, that’s bonkers, that would raise eyebrows, and we can’t afford eyebrows being raised at us right now. So you’re going to have to have professionals go in and survey the apartments inside for renovations.” This was now an actual thing he’d have to do.

“Ah well, gives me something to occupy my time with. Also I was thinking—”

“Never a good sign”

“Shut up, I was thinking of putting Argyle in there as a plant, like... the drugs being peddled out of that block are just trash, at least we could get a solid dealer in there and get Argyle out of the Wheelers basement.” He’d only been staying there because Joyce didn’t have a basement and Jonathan didn’t have room for him.

He was Jonathan's friend, and Jonathan came with Nancy, Steve didn’t have any reason to help him out. Now he did! And that reason was getting those poor people better weed.

“Are you not worried that the existing dealers will start shit with him for moving into their turf?”

“They touch him they deal with Hargrove, he's been particularly irritable lately, anything could set him off, pretty sure he’d be jazzed to break a few legs.” Release some of that pent up rage he seemed so good at bottling up in tiny easily burstable bottles. “One visit from that nut job and they’ll settle right down.”

He didn’t like Hargrove, but he had to admit the guy was a useful enforcer. Indebted to Steve too after Jane had taken a nail imbedded baseball bat to his old employers head in a bid to help her friend Max escape the debt her stepdad had racked up with him. Billy had also been freed, being Max’s step brother, left unmoored and in danger of a jail cell.

Steve had taken them both in after getting rid of Creels corpse. It was Hopper’s idea. Billy wouldn’t have survived in jail, too many enemies in there.

“It only takes one hit to hurt Argyle beyond repair though, maybe get rid of the dealers in there already, then give Argyle one of the apartments.”

“See you’re already on board!” And there was the whack round the head with the papers, his sharp objection going ignored.

“Fine, I’m on board, but only because it’s Nancy’s idea.” She was retreating as she spoke “Yours was a trash fire, like, not just one of those little oil barrel fires I mean like a whole dumpster fire. Argyle stays out until it’s safe though, I mean it Steve, I will get Hopper involved.” She opened the door, ready to go.

“You can’t threaten me with my own Chief of Police! That’s so mean!”

“Watch me, dingus. Also you have two people downstairs from your little block purchase wanting more information, do you wanna deal with them or should I?”

“Do you think I could actually spin a good idea to explain this that won’t get immediately reworked by either you or Nance?” She paused, a thoughtful expression on her face that answered his question more than any actual answer would have. “Exactly, you deal with it, you’re better at timelines an stuff anyway.” He was more the big idea guy.

“Yeah but you’re better at people.” It was true, Steve was more the people person out of the two of them. “Fine, I’ll deal with it, and I’ll ask Nance to find some decent contractors to do the work for us. Maybe… drop into my office in like, ten minutes? Considering you let your dick lead you to places I wouldn’t even go with a gun, you should at least make an appearance for these people whose lives you’ve interrupted.”

“Ngghhh fine. Fine. I’ll be there in ten.” And she was out with a tiny salute as her goodbye.  

Part 4

[sundew199]

Quiet

a/n: uh based on this thought I had 🤭

tags: f!reader x reiner, oral f!recieving, slight voyeurism, smut, Reiner's a freak but we already knew that. Barely any plot

3.2k words

Running a fairly successful company at your age was no small feat. After the dedication to took to earn the respect from other business moguls and prove that you weren't just another wannabe dreamer, going out of your way to prove you were capable of running a successful company. There were ups and downs, which were to be expected, but there was one person who kept you steady and focused on the end goal.

Reiner had been working at one of your competitor's companies at the time you met him, leaving a lasting impression. Your initial plan was to use him for insider information, because who doesn't do that in the business world. He gladly accepted for whatever reason you didn't know at the time, later finding out it was because he liked you and saw your potential. The friendship grew into something more when he left the competitor to come work for you, giving your company that extra kick to solidify your name in the business world. You gave him the position of vice president without a second thought, Reiner was smart and very well rounded when it came to the economy and trade values, without him it was hard to say where your company might be today.

Of course the business relationship the two of you formed didn't end there, blossomed into something more. After about a year of working together, Reiner asked you out on a date and you had no inclination to decline. That night was the beginning of your romantic relationship with him, now living together and engaged, running the company you started from the ground up, together.

Recently, you've been working from home, hosting meetings with your board and valuable employees, saving you so much time from having to drive downtown every morning. Reiner would go in more often than you would, but he had the day off today and what a stroke of luck it was that it was the same day as your monthly board meeting.

"You're not going to take all damn morning are you?"

His breath tickled your ear as he spoke, holding you to his chest in a loving squeeze, not ready for you to leave bed just yet.

"Hopefully not, but I can't make any promises." Turning to kiss his lips, running tender fingers in the back of his scalp. He hummed lowly, beginning to haul you onto his lap before you placed a gentle hand on his chest.

"I need to get ready."

"Just real quick." Palming your ass cheek while giving it a squeeze, an attempt to entice you to stay in bed and help with his morning problem. You would any other day, but you missed your first two alarms and any longer in bed could result in you being late to your own meeting,

"After." Giving a breathy laugh and sliding out from his arms and off the bed to the bathroom to look halfway decent for your employees. You could hear Reiner huffing from the bed still, dramatically expressing his annoyance with you leaving his grasp so quickly. He always played it up for fun, never doing it to be manipulative only to get a few laughs.

Since the meeting would be held over Zoom in the quietness of your home office, there wasn't really a need for you to dress up all the way, a nice shirt and some jewelry would sell the facade of you being dressed completely in business casual. You made a point to peck his lips on your way out of the bedroom, intentionally swaying your hips in the scandalous short shorts you wore to be a tease and biting back a laugh.

Grabbing a quick cup of coffee and the notepad with company docs paper clipped to the side, you sauntered to the office, deciding to leave the door open a crack. There were just about five minutes to spare to get logged in, open the portal for everyone to join and make this the quickest monthly meeting yet. You would admit the thought of Reiner having his way with you like he always did most mornings made you antsy to get this done quickly.

"Morning everyone!" Chirping as soon as the last person was seen to join the meeting, forcing yourself to be a bit more cheery today in hopes it wouldn't drag things on for too long.

Everyone greeted you back, some forcing a happy face as it wasn't exactly how they wanted to spend their mornings, while the rest seemed to be chipper or doing a better job at faking it.

All you needed to go over with them was the budget for the remainder of the year and a few upcoming projects that needed a few approvals before getting them up and running. Your lead marketing and public relations for the company took the initiative of getting you up to date on whether the marketing strategies suggested by none other than Reiner were working and playing in the company's favor. She droned on, reading directly from a report she put together before this, making it impossible to focus on what she was saying. Based just on this, the meeting unfortunately may take up a good portion of your morning, exactly what you didn't want.

All you could do after marketing wrapped up and the chief of accounting began his own spiel was scribble on the notepad next to your desktop, pretending to be writing notes. In truth you were thinking about Reiner and how badly you wanted to climb back into bed and ride his dick till he couldn't cum anymore. Fuck, that would be nice right about now, ease the ache rising between your legs the more you thought about splitting yourself on top of him.

"If we can improve sales and beat the monthly quota, there would be room and more leverage for giving the green light to these potential marketing projects, don't you agree?"

Snapping up at the question from your chief of accounting did you realize you were daydreaming, barely catching what they were discussing. Quickly you pushed aside your notepad and forced yourself to focus and come up with a believable answer.

"Yes absolutely. How are we looking for sales this month." Diverting the conversation to the head of sales, ensuring there'd be less of a chance to make a fool of yourself from the lack of attention you had at the moment. He nodded on the other side of the screen, clearing his throat and reaching for the report he had to present this month.

Letting out a small breath of relief at your save, you reluctantly brought the notepad closer again, to actually take notes. And you did, conjuring up ways to help the sales department exceed the monthly quota until you noticed your office door being pushed open. A tuff of blonde made the heat rise in your veins, personal desires pushing forward and drowning out the discussion currently being held.

He stood on the other side of your desk, behind the monitor and out of view, mouthing a question to you. Reiner asked if it was going well, briefly switching to business mode and then back to the fire simmering inside him, lips curling in a smirk. You gave him a subtle nod, one only he could make out and forced your eyes back to the screen to dial back into the discussion.

Out of the corner of your eye you saw him leave, shutting the door halfway and giving the impression he was off to do something else. But the moment he left, you wish he stay for some reason, just seeing him walk in shirtless in low hanging pajama pants had you clenching your legs together. You wanted - no needed him. Needed him down between your legs eating you out like he was starved. God he could work wonders with that fucking mouth of his, have you trembling and forcing multiple orgasms out of you without breaking a sweat.

Focus.

You needed to focus. The more you let your mind wonder, the longer this meeting could take and keep you from satisfying the hunger.

The glare from the sun peering in from the windows behind you casted onto your monitor, prompting you to pull the blinds down and dim the room a bit. Tucking one of your legs under you, adjusting in your seat, you saw the door open again, refusing to look knowing it was Reiner and listen to the conversation between your head of sales and marketing. Right, you were still discussing how to beat the monthly quota, Jesus this actually might take forever.

Without warning a hand grabbed you by the ankle, startling you and making you jolt. No one seemed to notice in the meeting, giving you a second to look down and see Reiner crawling under your desk to you. What the fuck was he doing? And why now of all times.

With one of your ankles still in his grasp, he reached to grab the other, untucking it from where you sat on it, spreading your legs apart wide. You felt incredibly hot all of a sudden, watching his face inch closer and closer to in between your spread legs. Reiner let out a small sigh, releasing one of your ankles to pull at the waistband of your shorts.

Quickly, you looked back towards the screen, gripping his wrist to stop him and to turn off your camera and mic, telling your staff to give you one moment and to carry on.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Hissing, an edge of irritation in your words.

"Nothing. Just...pretend I'm not here, and don't be too loud alright? Can't keep yourself muted and off camera for long sweetheart." Kissing your inner thigh deftly, twisting his wrist out of your hand and pulling your shorts and panties down. Thankfully you hadn't reached to turn your mic and camera back on as he did so or the expression on your face would be a dead giveaway. Reiner sighed again at the sight of your glistening folds, tucking his bottom lip into his teeth and releasing with a whisper of a chuckle. Experimentally, he rolled his tongue out, bringing it to swipe over your slit. You shuttered, gasping and hooking one of your legs over the arm of your desk chair while he held the other away.

"Get back to your meeting baby." Reiner instructed, kissing your slit and flicking his tongue over your entrance.

God you were teetering on the edge of killing him or shoving his face into your pussy, not even sure how you were going to make it the rest of the meeting with him down there. Sure the easiest solution would be to shove him away and make him wait, but he was already down there making out with your pussy in such an oddly tender way, there was no way you were going to stop him.

Reluctantly pressing the mic and camera options, you adjusted slightly in your seat and cleared your throat.

"Sorry, had to take care of something real quick." Bashfully apologizing with a white light, feeling the vibrating chuckle from Reiner on your folds.

"No problem. We came up with a plan to inexpensively bring in more sales and would like to know what you think." The head of sales spoke with a proud smile.

"Sure go ahead. After if we need to, go over what project management has and HR." Forcing out as steadily as you could, keeping the needy whine at bay as Reiner swirled the tip of his tongue over your clit, slowly.

"Great." A couple people said in unison, turning all their focus back to the head of sales. He spoke enthusiastically about the plan to you and everyone else and from what you could focus on, it all sounded great so far.

Reiner's mouth moved away from your clit, and back down to your now dripping entrance. You were good at putting on a face and you hoped in this case no one suspected anything, even though your legs were beginning to shake off camera. He hummed into your flesh, dipping his tongue around and in your entrance, lapping up your arousal with hunger. He was purposely taking his time, teasing you with light touches and slow movements, driving you to near insanity.

"Taste so good." He whispered, shoving his tongue inside, pressing his face into your cunt with the tip of his nose bumping your clit.

All you could do was chew on the inside of your cheek, strain your face to remain unfazed to stay professional. The hand not holding your leg back came into play once he had his fill of fucking you with his tongue, middle finger swiping over your slick folds, toying with the idea of shoving it in. To muffle the moan nearly slipping out, you cleared your throat, reaching down to grip his hair harshly, only for him to roll his eyes into the back of his head and quietly hiss. He knew what he was doing by showing his enjoyment and you decided that you were going to kill him once this meeting wrapped up.

"I think that plan is excellent, I say we implement it immediately after this meeting." Steadying your voice perfectly much to your surprise, smiling warmly to your staff. "Do we have anything from product management?"

"Just a few items of discussion, I won't take long, promise." The man chuckled, seeing some of the others rolling their eyes and trying to keep yours from doing the same, for one reason or another. As soon as he began to speak, Reiner slipped his middle finger into your entrance, pulling it back out to start a rhythmic pump. You clench his hair harder instead of moaning, hoping and praying the head of product management kept his promise.

Daring to sneak a glance down between your legs, you regretted it once Reiner's glazed over eyes met yours, appearing drunk and holding himself back. He slipped his finger out, dipped it into his mouth to suck it clean and only to shove it back in with his ring finger this time. Maybe instead of killing him you could fire him, or write him up. He wouldn't care, he was getting too much enjoyment out of this to worry about if you'd actually reprimand him. Deep down you knew you wouldn't, but it was tempting.

Looking back up to the screen and seeing mouths move but no words reaching your ears, you knew you were fucked. Monthly meetings were important, but not that important, not with the way Reiner's two thick fingers pumped in and out of you slowly as his tongue flattened over your clit repeatedly. You couldn't see him, though you knew he had the dirties smirk on his face right now and your emotions were at war with each other or whether to be mad or not.

The next five minutes went by painfully slow, product management continuously getting side tracked in his own words, allowing you to redirect the irritation to him instead of the man sucking on your clit. Reiner alternated between harsh sucks and gentle, keeping his fingers moving in and out with ease, using the slick arousal to his advantage. Your legs were violently trembling, a tell tale sign you were close, along with the constant chewing of your bottom lip. You wanted to cum yes, but you wanted to cum screaming Reiner's name and not swallowing it for the sake of the meeting still going on.

"You can cum if you want, I'm not stopping you." He whispered coming off your clit, meeting your eyes and catching his slick cover lips and chin, how he swiped his tongue on his bottom lip to greedily taste it.

At your breaking point with just about everything, you released the tight grip on his hair, sucking in a sharp breath.

"I'm going to have to cut this meeting short." Sternly interrupting product management. "If you have any question please email me, have a great rest of your day."

Faster than you could process, you clicked the bright red "end" button on the corner of your screen, leaving absolutely no room for anyone to say anything. If they had a problem with it, oh well, you didn't care and you owned the company entirely and could do what you want.

"Fuck, please I'm so close." Whining as soon as the you closed the last of the zoom tabs on your screen, slouching deep in your desk chair nearly to the edge.

"Mm, missed hearing you." Chuckling back and wasting no time latching back onto your clit, bending the fingers inside of you to flutter in a 'c'mere' motion, sending you arching off of the chair.

Reiner groaned right on your clit when you gripped his hair again, pushing him harder into you. He swirled and flicked his tongue behind closed lips, locking eyes with you and moving his fingers to search for that spongy spot deep inside you.

"Right there, oh my god, fuck!" Exclaiming right as he found your g-spot, having to hold onto the arms of the chair for stability as the lower half of your body raised entirely. Reiner's hand holding you back by the thigh moved to hold you down at the hips.

"That's it baby," Encouraging with a raspy satisfied voice, coming off your clit with a pop and a deep chuckle, working his fingers even fast, causing your slick arousal to stream down his palm and down to his wrist.

Everything in your body was shaking, mind going blank and vision hazy as an intense orgasm approached closer and closer. You whined and writhed in the chair like you were trying to get away, like it was all too much and not enough at the same time.

"Doin' so good, need you to cum sweetheart." Almost growling out the sentence, going back to your clit to harshly suck, tipping you over the edge right then and there.

Stars littered your vision as you came, going slack in the desk chair and feeling a hand prevent you from slipping off entirely. Reiner waited a moment before slipping his drenched fingers out for you to gain your bearing a bit, removing them slowly when you began to sit up. He swiped his tongue over both just barely before pushing your chair back to give him room to stand.

"Open." Softly instructing, dipping the two fingers coated in your arousal into your mouth to clean them off. His lower stomach tightened, the muscle there clenching noticeably as you sucked his fingers like you would his dick, giving him that dangerous doe eyed expression as you did so.

"Sorry about the meeting." Uttering softly when you popped his fingers out of your mouth.

"No you're not." Amusement dripping in your words as you reached for your abandoned shorts and panties from under the desk, smacking them to his chest.

"You're right I'm not." Wrapping an arm around your waist and hoisting you up to lock your legs around his midsection, carrying you out of the office. "In fact I was trying to find a way to fuck you during that meeting, but couldn't think of how"

"Reiner!" Feigning the disapproval in your tone and laughing as did he, heading for the bedroom to fuck the absolute life out of you, but that didn't need to be said to know.

[ilygetou]

WEEK TWO DAY ONE | NON CON + DEGRADING. FT. ARMIN ARLERT.

PAIRING: armin alert x fem! reader.

C/W: non consensual, creampie, degrading, slight brat-taming, mean! armin, cursing, kinda of ooc cause armin is very sweet & nice but he's very mean here, MINORS DNI!!

N0TE: bro this is kinda rushed + i'm slowly starting to lose motivation for kinktober since my posts aren't appearing in the tags.

P.S: not much degrading, since i forgot this was supposed to have so much degrading in it, sorry for the girlies that have a degrading kink and have been waiting for this, i failed you </3

armin was tired of it. he was tired of you using him. he was so tired of you talking to him just for work.

notes? armin. homework? armin. classwork? armin. projects and assignments? armin.

“armin, homework?” you would always ask to copy form him and he always answers you with a grin on his face, his eyes soft as he hands you the work. even though, deep down, armin was filled with hatred and loathe.

armin is disgusted by you, armin hates you.

but always late at night, armin would find himself fisting his cock to the thought of you, getting off to the thought of you sucking his cock.

armin was more disgusted by himself than you, how can he get aroused by a girl like you? a girl that doesn‘t care about her friends or anyone‘s feelings – a girl who only cares about herself and doen‘t even know what’s happening around her, a girl who uses others to benefit for herself.

but still, everyday, every single fucking day, armin would be stroking his cock while he scrolls through your instagram and zooms on pictures of you with your cleavage out, your ass, zooms on your panties when you have your legs slight apart or when you’re wearing a short skirt revealing your panties to anyone who prays attention to the photo. armins least favorite part was the comment section, opening the comments just to find a bunch of men thirsting over you, along with his friends too.

he would always grip his phone with anger, and immediately log out of his account.

today, as soon as armin finished masturbating a sudden text from you popped up in his notifications.

“todays notes? pretty please :(”

armin huffs in annoyance, all of his hatred towards you comes running straight back. but armin still obliges, sending you an “ok :)” and then sending you the notes right after, without any hesitation.

but after days passed, armin started actually getting sick of you. why don’t you ask someone else for the notes? why don’t you pay attention in class? he was tired of it.

armin started ignoring you, his phone was blowing up with message from you and armin thanked god that you guys got a week off otherwise he probably won’t handle your whining and complaining.

this led you to showing up to armins doorstep, banging on his apartment door. “armin! s’ me!” and he would immediately recognize your voice, armin would let out a scoff as he gets up from his desk to unlock the door. And as soon as he does, you were met with a exhausted looking armin, eye bags under his eyes indicting that he has been studying the whole week with no rest at all.

without wasting a second, you invited yourself into his apartment, “what? do you need anything?” armin said, nonchalantly. a quick fake pout covered your face, “whaat? are you not happy to see me?” you whined to which armin clicked his tongue at.

you quickly brushed it off and went straight to the reason on why you’re here; “why haven’t you been answering my messages?” you said with your phone in your hand, shaking it in your hand while having the chat between you and armin open – showing him how much you’ve been spamming.

“m’ busy,” armin quickly said to which you frowned at, “busy doing what?” to which armin quickly response with; “studying.” you let out a scoff, “yeah right, for a whole week?” armin shrugged to which you clenched your fists at, “busy studying y/n, i don’t have time unlike you” you felt anger boil up inside you by armins words, “i’m busy too!” armin let’s out a chuckle, “busy doing what? busy partying? busy sleeping with a new man every day?” your eyes widened, “what the fuck, armin?”

armin walked back to his desk – he seated himself on his chair, and held his pen in-between his fingers, “do you need anything, y/n?” you almost wanted to say no but who else would send you the notes other than armin? “yeah, need you send me all the notes from last week,” a small smirked formed on the corner of armins lips he placed his hand on his chin before he started speaking.

“sure, i’ll send you the notes” a smile of victory covered your face before armin started speaking again, “but, only if you let me have s-sex with you” armin stuttered – his shy personality still there. your smile immediately dropped when you heard armin, “with you? you’re probably a virgin” you chuckled before armin got up from his place and cornered you between the wall.

“i am?” it was armins turn to laugh, his hands roamed your body, “do you want the notes or not?” armins hand slowly made their way under your shirt – making contact with your breasts. “i-i do!” your breathe hitched, your eyes widened. the armin right now, is a different armin.

armin tucked down your shirt, your tits bouncing from the impact, “no bra?” armin snickered before he started toying with them, pinching and twisting your nipples, enjoying your reactions. as you squirm underneath him.

his hand making their way downwards, toying with the end of your underwear. his pointer finger rubbing your cunt from above the fabric, creating a wet damp on your panties. “oh? you’re enjoying this? what a slut.”

you shook your head, “no, not a slut” you managed to let out – armin gripped your hair, forcing you to maintain eye contact with him. “don’t lie y/n, don’t even try to deny it. i see you throwing yourself at a new guy every day, pressing your breasts against him as you ask for help with your homework later at your place just for it to end up with you stuffed full of his cock, am i right?” for armin, that was just guess. everything he said was a guess. but he knew he was right when he saw how your eyes widened at his words.

“seems like i’m right” he whispered into your ears, you were slightly trying to break free from armins grip on you – but he was way too far stronger than you. “don’t even try,” armin was staring at you from above, his eyes full of hatred.

armin carried you and then seated you on his desk, pushing his books and papers aside. armin forcefully spread your legs apart, “s-stop..” armin shushed you – a wide evil smirk on the corner of his lips, armin pulled your panties before he let’s go of them, watching as they snap back to your aching cunt “this thing is in my way,” armin spoke – referring to your white panties that was keeping armin away from your slicked cunt.

without any hesitation, armin ripped your panties, causing you to let out a gasp — “what the fuck! n-no!” armin let out a light chuckle at your reaction, his blonde hair covering his eyes as he laughed at your weak state.

your dripping cunt was on full display for armin, your wet folds and your tight hole fully exposed for armin to see. armin’s cock throbbed in his pants as he stared at your pussy, he licked his lips before he tugged down his pants, his cock sprung out, causing you to slowly back away.

“want you to help me” armin slurred, you shook your head, repeating “no” as armin got closer to you. “you can’t say no, no isn’t an option.” tears started to swell up at the corner of your eyes and armin could almost feel bad, but the memory of you using him encourages him to continue his vile acts.

armin gave his cock a few strokes before lining it up your entrance, teasing your cunt by pushing his length in and slowly slipping it out — his tip nudging your clit which made you cover your mouth to stop any sounds from slipping. armin then forcefully shoves his cock deep within your pussy, a groan follow right after. “pussy so warm” armin said as he slowly starts thrusting into you.

armin dick was dragging along your velvet colored walls, his thrusts slow and gentle, not breaking his rhythm. “already so obsessed with this slutty pussy, so tight & warm, fuck.” armin uttered. armins thrusts slowly turned into rough-fast thrusts, his hips bucking into you aggressively.

you finally decided to give up and let your moans fall from your lips as armin continued to ruin & abuse your pussy with his mean, rough thrusts. “you like this, don’t you? always having different men use this pussy of yours, s’ finally my turn” armin spat. slight groans left armin as your cunt fluttered around his dick, deliciously.

while armin was whispering degrading words into your ears, he was getting closer & closer to his climax. “oh fuck, getting close, shit.” his dick was hitting your deepest spot, that spongy spot that made you feel so good and made you moan out loudly.

your cries mixed with your moans had armins cock twitch inside your cunt, “ah — fuck!” armin hisses, his thrusts not losing their rhythm, despite turning messy and sloppy.

“g’nna cum, fuckfuck!” armin let out a loud muffled moan as he emptied his balls, deep inside your pussy. his hot spurts making you feel so full.

armins breath hitched, letting out low pants. as soon as armin settled down from his high orgasm, he pulled out of your cunt, slowly. his semen dripping from your entrance and ruining the desk.

armin hummed in satisfaction, a smile of victory on plastered on his face. your messy cunt, your crying face, that was all caused by armin.

armin was proud of himself.

“maybe, you’re g’nna have to do this everytime you want something from me, how about that?” armin questioned in delight. you couldn’t respond, just sobbing silently.

“will take this as a yes, now go on & get yourself cleaned — don’t wanna have you staying here for too long.” armin was ready to leave before he adds on; “ah, also, will send you the notes later, thank you for entertaining me for a bit.” you watched as armin left to clean himself in the bathroom, causing you to cry much harder.

no matter how much you cry though, armin was certain that you will be coming back here, crawling. begging him to send you all the work.

[pandoramyst]

what wasn’t there before III ✩ Jake sully

contents. g!reader, dbf!jake, cute names, fluff, adult behavior, age gap

summary. Jake was your father’s best friend but to him, he was like his brother. When you entered puberty, you started to feel foreign feelings about him that certainly, you shouldn’t have been having. When you got a bit older, you grew closer to him and you noticed that he acted the same way toward you.

notes. motivation quite low right now :/ Tsu’tey is alive here :> not proofread :< I know said I was gonna post this on friday but ive been tired as hell, im srry bebes :(

Your loincloth hit your thighs as you leaped over the log that had fallen on the dirty ground. Behind you, Jake was walking next to your dad who had an arm wrapped around your mother’s shoulder. You had taken initiative and led the pack to the ceremony, making sure to be far enough ahead where you could avoid Jake.

As you lifted the flower vines at the entrance, you were greeted with the scent of lavender. If you blurred your eyes, you were sure that all you could see was blue. Their clothes, hair decorations, lights hanging from the trees even the food. People were seriously committed to this and now you were starting to feel grateful that you came.

Your parents got distracted by family friends bringing them into a conversation that surely would last longer than necessary. Jake had gotten the attention of a group of na’vi women, close to his age. Their backs were so arched that it hurt you physically while looking at them. They had pulled their shirts down so that their cleavage was protruding out of the hem.

You scoffed in annoyance and made your way toward the dining table. The variety of foods and sweets brightened you up and your sweet tooth felt already satisfied. You placed an episoth seed pastry into your mouth and hummed at the flavor.

“Welcome, yuey” (beautiful) Neïtan walked from behind you and placed his hand on your lower back. You welcomed his touch and turned your head around shooting him a sweet smile.

“Hi, Neïtan” You placed your hands around his neck and hugged him, pressing your bodies together. Neïtan was Tsu’tey’s son and he had been part of your life since you were young. You were aware of his crush on you and although you didn’t mind his flirty comments at times, you tried to be more distant so as to not lead him on.

“Haven’t seen you in a while, how you’ve been?” he smiled and took a piece of the pastry that you had bitten into.

“Past few weeks have been slow but it’s been nice,” You said and took a sip from your drink. 

“Yeah, it’s getting warmer outside. My little sister went out to play on the tree swing and when she came back in she was also sunburnt,” Your chuckles mixed with his as you pictured his little sister’s face.

Your attention was all on Neïtan and you did not notice Jake, biting down his teeth and death staring at you both. Neither did Neïtan apparently which is why it was such a surprise when you heard his voice.

“Yeah my-” 

“Are the pastries good?” Jake interrupted you and reached in between Neïtan and you to grab dessert. Neïtan looked at the man and his eyebrows furrowed, as he recognized him. 

“Jake Sully,” He put emphasis on the “u” and you struggled to contain your smile as his pronunciation was ridiculous.

“Who are you?” Jake’s voice remained stern.

“Neïtan te Rongloa Ateyitan,” He crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Tsu’tey’s son,” Jake nodded and ate the pastry. He looked down at you and you could see anger in his eyes. 

“Well, Neïtan if I am not mistaken you are supposed to look over the people here, supposed to be their protector.” Jake placed his hand on Neïtan’s shoulder.

“How would your father feel if he found out you weren’t doing your duty?” Jake furrowed his eyebrows and nodded at Neïtan as he could see the boy getting nervous.

“I should go. Txon, syulang” (night, flower) He walked away and Jake took his place in front of you. A smirk appeared on his face as he threw a grape in his mouth and watched Neïtan walk away. 

Then he looked down at you,

“What?” He asked

“Fuck you, Jake,” You pushed him away and followed Neïtan to where he was going. Avoiding any trouble with his father, the man walked toward Tsu’tey with his head down, rushing to interpret the situation and why he had left. Before he could enter his father’s sight, you intertwined your hand with his pulling him towards your direction.

“Syulang. What’s up?” He laughed at your silliness and you shushed him by forcefully pulling his hand to walk with you. When you had gotten deep enough into the forest so that the music from the festival wasn’t audible anymore, you pulled him down to sit under a tree next to you.

The silent went on forever until he finally broke it, “Jake seemed pissed,

You looked at him ashamed, “I am sure Neïtan..he had no right to speak to you that way,”

“Syulang, don’t apologize. It was my fault for intruding in your relationship,” You rose from where you were laying down on the ground and looked at him, eyes open.

“You stuttered, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m not blind, y/n. The way he reacted...I could tell he was jealous,” He gave you a sad smile as he came to the realization that you were already taken. His hopes of mating with you were now non-existent.

“I don’t know what to say Neïtan,” What could you say? You felt as if you had led him on this entire time and now you were carelessly crushing his heart. Any insecurity you had about yourself, increased at that very moment.

“You shouldn't say anything, syulang. It was my fault for pushing it when it wasn’t going to happen. I just want you to be happy,” His eyes softened as your eyes teared up. To say you were sad was an understatement.

“C’mere” You wrapped your arms around his neck, squeezing him into suffocation.

“You wanna choke me to death so that I forget this, is that it?” He laughed earning a flick to the forehead from you. He put his hand on the skin, acting as if he was hurt.

-

It took you about an hour to get back to your hub and Neïtan gave you a hug before running off to who knows where. When you pulled open the flap, you were welcomed by laughter and loud cheers. The hub was filled with people, some playing games, others enjoying each other’s company.

Your parents were sitting on the couch outside on the balcony, chatting with friends and cracking jokes. Your eyes scanned the room for the man you had interrupted your evening for. Your excitement quickly faded and was replaced with disappointment when you saw him leaning over the counter, making a pretty girl giggle. 

Not that he had to say anything funny to make her giggle, as you’ve noticed that his mere presence made girls' knees weak. Your eyebrows furrowed and you bit the inside of your cheek, jealousy had caught you. She held onto his arm and he sipped on his drink.

As if he could sense his eyes on him, he whipped his head around and looked at you. His eyes had gotten dark and he lifted his arm out of the girl’s grasp. He took one last sip from his cup and set it down heavily on the counter. He quickly rose from his seat, ignoring the girl’s confusion, and speedily walked towards you. He walked past you, grabbing your hand in the process without stepping to look at you.

He huffed as he stomped towards an unknown location. When you arrived at a secluded spot in the forest, he aggressively pulled you in front of him.

“What is wrong with you?”

Offended you said, “Excuse me? You let her rub herself all over you and I am the problem,”

“Yeah, and who knows what you did with Neïtan in the forest. God y/n, you’re so difficult” He threw his hands up and then let them rest on his hips.

“I’m difficult? What was I supposed to do, wait patiently in the corner until you were done being petted and undressed by all the women that were drooling over you? Wait like a stupid servant until you finally remembered me and stopped drowning in your own ego?” Your head leaned closer to him as you ranted in his face.

“How can you be so stupid? You’re pissed because of the slightest bit of attention I gave to the bystanders? Because I entertained them for a little? How do expect me to feel about you sneaking off into the forest with a guy who’s been in love with you for years?”

Your mouth remained open until you swallowed harshly to allow yourself to speak, “Nothing is happening between me and Neïtan. He knows about us,”

Jake threw his head up, turning his back to you. His body remained still and he just shook his head. Your head fell as you could sense his disappointment in you all the way from where you were. You stared at the ground and played with your fingers.

When he finally turned around, he slowly walked towards you but not coming closer than 3 feet to you. His hands were still on his hips, and he looked down at you.

“I waited for so long to get you to open up, and you let him in so quickly...I don’t care that you sneaked off with him, it doesn't matter. I just don’t understand why it took you so long with me.”

“I didn't let him in!” You yelled at him and let your tears fall on your cheeks. “We didn’t even have the chance to converse about anything else before he told me that he knew about us. He had figured it out. The worst part is that he apologized for pushing his feelings on me. He apologized. After all these years of not giving him a clear answer, he’s the one that feels sorry, and I am an awful person for making him feel that way.” 

You breathed harshly before continuing, “I cannot get anything right with anyone. I have never allowed anyone to get so close to me besides you. Never. That is why it took so long. Because I don’t know how to control my feelings and because I’m scared. Now you’re mad at me, Neïtan is mad at me, who knows how my dad will react when he finds out about this,” You pointed between you two and you lowered your voice down to a whisper.

Jake fell down on his knees and wrapped his arms around your torso. Your arms were still crossed in front of your chest and you leaned your cheek on the side of his head. Your cries were reduced to sniffles. He backed up, his hands on your hips and he was looking up at you.

“You got everything right with me, bunny. There is nothing wrong with not understanding your feelings, nobody does. It’s not your place to understand how love works. It is my duty to show you, and I apologize for not being diligent enough with you,” You raised your hand up and grabbed a strand that had fallen loose from his braids. You played with it as you nodded at his words.

“I don’t like this. Us fighting,” Jake smiled at you and got up, pulling you up with him.

“Neither do I, bunny,” He leaned down and rubbed his nose with yours. He paused for a moment, embracing the silence before interrupting it.

“I see you,” He spoke softly but you were so close you heard him loud and clear. You smiled at his words and reiterated, “I see you, Jake” He leaned in and kissed your lips. He placed his hands at the back of your head, pulling you closer to him. You moved your lips with his, caressing the sides of his neck. 

When you backed up, you looked at him and frowned, 

“What’s wrong, bun?” He held your hands in his and looked into your eyes.

“Do you think there is still food at the party?” You asked and as if your stomach was in sync with your words, it rumbled.

Jake laughed loudly and said, “Yeah, cmon!” You both walked towards the hub, hand in hand and luckily for you, the snack bar was still plentiful.

-

taglist <3 - tell me if you wanna be added

@calums-betch @alana69s @jake-sullys-whore @stvrligghtt @loonatistic @ellabellabus07 @coldbabyheroin @reidsrealbitch @sweetllamaparadise @littlexscarletxwitch @crazy4books1 @who-is-ej @loquatious-josephi-krakousky @myheartfollower @mqcherie

[confusedkittensposts]

Adventures of Meowley (part 3)

so I have been holding this back beacuse @vaicomcas was on a break and also beacue I an not ready to let go. I left pockets in the story that I can fill on later.

Part 1 and 2

POV Castiel

Castiel watched the hellhounds play wrestle each other, mostly lost in his own thoughts.

It had been a week since Rowena turned Crowley into a cat. After the witch revealed that the spell couldn’t be reversed, they had gone back to the graveyard. 

While things were quiet for all of them, there still were beings who would be delighted to know the King of Hell was under a spell.

The demon had access to most of his powers but being a cat did make certain things difficult.

Castiel found himself moving into a cabin on the edge of the forest near a small town of northern Ireland, with a cat shaped King and his hellhounds. 

Though Crowley had told the seraph he could check in from time to time instead of staying. 

But he enjoyed spending time with Crowley and the hounds,  he also knew the reasons he wanted to be there ran slightly deeper than good company, it was enough of an excuse.

Castiel had fallen in love with the log cabin as soon as he landed near it. It was slightly elevated from the ground, with three stairs leading to a deck. There was a fairly large window beside the door. They spent half cleaning, warding and decorating the cabin according to their taste; which as it turned out was not always similar. 

A dark brown sofa was placed against the wall opposite to the door, two quilts draped over its back; the wooden floor was covered with a soft, cream coloured carpet. The curtains were eggshell white and sea green. There was a coffee table and two wing chairs. They almost forgot to add lights, as neither needed them to see in the dark. 

The second floor was a small single room, with a low bed and stacks of books under the triangular glass framed roof.

He had to take a little trip to a blood bank, some sigils were made stronger by angel blood, but some were rendered useless if drawn in anything but human blood.

Crowley was slowly getting over his annoyance at being a cat and starting to treat the whole thing as a vacation. He joined the hounds in their pile to soak sunlight and participated in their little games.. The seraph had seen him lunge at an unassuming bird for fun. He also learned that the demon had met cats from town in the few hours he had disappeared two days ago, from a very talkative Robin.

Oh and Castiel did get to sink his fingers in the silky dark fur, petting Crowley is not something he ever thought he would love so much. 

The hounds kept an eye on the workings of hell and brought in news everyday. Till now it was running smoothly.

“You coming?''He was pulled out of his head by Crowley. The cat was sitting on the railing of the deck surrounding the cabin, his tail curled neatly around the little feet. The early morning sun made all the shades of brown in his dark fur.

Castiel smiled, “of course.” He scooped the demon without a second thought, making his way towards the town. 

As days passed, the place turned into their little bubble of peace.

They explored the forest and the town, mostly keeping themselves invisible to the residents.

Castiel used the time to read to his heart's content, bringing books from all over the world and spending hours cozying up on the bed upstairs, often joined by Crowley. He started strolls in the forest, sometimes alone, but mostly with either the demon or with one or more hounds, Charlotte was his most frequent companion. He befriended animals, listened to their stories for hours. 

The seraph even met a water spirit near a well hidden creek, they were old and polite and he honored their wish of being left alone. 

He collected unusually shaped leaves and small, colourful flowers. Hid some of them among the pages of the books he liked the most.

Crowley befriended local cats, it was endearing and, as he later found out, dangerous. At least the Baker or anyone else in the town won't think of poisoning the strays again.

He and Crowley talked, shared stories, which turned out to be a mistake because now the demon thinks he isn’t just an idiot but also slightly insane. Maybe he is. 

After all, he was debating the messiest way to kill someone quickly with a cat shaped King of hell and three hellhounds. 

The amount of time he spent with hounds increased with each day. He got to know quirks and opinions of every hound, not just Juliet and Charlotte. He realized he had heard about most of them from Crowley at some point or the other, but it was still fun.

He stopped retreating to the second floor for reading, instead curling up on one of the chairs downstairs or even leaning against the pile of hellhounds and the cat demon on the carpet, sometimes reading out loud. 

Castiel learned, much to his delight, that Crowley purred if caught off guard. And that scratching him beneath his chin is a quick and sure way to get him to shut up. The seraph briefly wonders if that would work when the demon turns back, maybe he could try it when he is feeling more suicidal than usual.

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

It happened on the second day of the third week, by then Castiel could see the spell around the demon wearing away, and that should have been a warning.

The seraph was returning from a walk in the forest with Imogen. She was the oldest of Crowley’s pack and they got along really well. She was also the only hound who walked in silence. 

As they neared the cabin, he felt a wave of magic from it. Castiel flew the rest of the way, throwing open the cabin door.

Dark brown and not amber eyes met his, from a much higher point. 

The King of hell stood in the middle of the room, a very human shaped king, with two legs, two arms, all ten fingers, a scowl on his face and…

Castiel bit his lip, on the demon’s head were two furry cat ears, twitching from time to time. A long black tail whipped in the air behind him.

The Seraph moved towards Crowley, his fingers carefully grazed the ears, trailing down the side of his face. The demon, clad only in black pants and an untucked black shirt, raised a brow, but Castiel had no explanation for his actions, not one he wanted to look too closely in that moment anyway. He pulled his hand back, resisting the urge to fly away.  

“Sorry”, he whispered, and cleared his throat, “I- uh”

Crowley’s lips curved into a half smile, “Not something I thought you would like”

Castiel shook his head and let his wings carry him away.

It's foolish, he knows it's foolish and selfish and just unfair. He should never have stayed, not with selfish interests. Crowley had called him so he could help and here he was thinking about himself.

The sound of yapping and barks threw him out of his spiral. He was on the second floor of the cabin, he didn’t actually want to get away just to bring his emotions under control.

Castiel walked to the glass wall, and lowered himself against it.  

Crowley was standing in middle of his Hounds, his tail warped around one of his legs, showering them with affection. 

He let his head fall on the glass, the familiar sight loosening his chest. It was good to have Crowley back.

He just hadn’t realised how used to the weight of the cat he was, until he learned he would never hold him again and how much he had missed the demon even though he was right there.

Castiel opened the box with all his affection for Crowley, allowing himself to wonder what the demon would feel like in his arms.

The seraph had taken his time before coming down. Letting the hounds have some time with their Papa and calming himself. 

Crowley brushed off his apology, pulling his metaphorical tail, and Castiel pulled the demon’s literal one. 

He may not always accept it, but the Seraph did get hit by Crowley’s tail, multiple times. And for the record the one he had as a human hurt more.

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

Castiel watched the last of sunlight fade, and stars adorn the darkened sky, mostly lost in his thoughts.

It had been some three hours since Crowley and the hounds went back to Hell. The spell took two more days to disappear completely, and the Seraph spent them happier than he thought he would be. 

He returned the rest of the books he had laying around. And let the first and its inhabitants, like the little upset robin, know that even if they did leave, they could always come back and visit.  

Crowley paid a visit to the town cats, they didn’t seem thrilled about his human form but got used to it quickly.

They took a walk on the day before Crowley left, walking mostly in silence, and letting their hands brush against each other the whole time.

The seraph closed his eyes, enjoying the gentle breeze playing around him. He was sitting on the steps of the cabin, it had a beautiful view of the stars. 

Castiel remembers the first time he had created one, he had been so excited, he almost killed his first star. 

The Seraph didn’t open his eyes when he felt a demonic presence behind him. Or when he sat beside him, their sides pressed against each other. 

The demon placed his head on Castiel’s shoulder, and the angel relaxed making the position more comfortable for him. 

“Hello feathers”

“Hello Crowley”

And if you have the misfortune of irritating the King of Hell, you will find he is prone to hissing at times. 

[afreakingdork]

As Luck Would Have It

RotTMNT Donatello x GN!Reader One-Shot

Warnings/Tags: Aged-up Turtles, Death of Past Life, Soulmates, Reincarnation, Violence, Happy Ending

Synopsis:  A glimpse into another lifetime leads to a wish being made that spans the ages. When Donnie happens to activate said parameters, he is sent on a quest to find someone that he's been waiting his whole existence for.

Also avaliable on Ao3

Hopefully not too long coming, but here she is: the fic requested by my one-shot giveaway winner @anxious-cyanide !!!! 🎉🎉🎉

Also huge shout-out to the illustrious and incomparable @unknownfanartist for supplying a cover image to go along with the fic! I seriously can't thank her or anyone else who participated in the giveaway enough for all the kindness and generosity you all have shown me! My life is filled with so much love I can't stand it, but I'm sure you aren't here to listen to me go all mushy; please enjoy!

“Which means loser Shion has to get water.” From atop a fallen log, a man balanced his odachi on two fingers.

“That hardly seems fair.” Shion scoffed, folding his arms.

Below the first, another man wrinkled his brow as he attempted to fall back into his zazen. “We all agreed to the bet.”

“There were extenuating circumstances!” Shion snapped and turned his head away bitterly.

“Shi’s right!” The third man chimed in from where he was reclined on his back. “It’s not like it’s his fault he lost his weapon!” One of his hands raised up and with an expert flick, a kendama ball landed on its spike.

“That is the definition of his fault.” The first man responded flatly. In one fluid movement, he rose from a sitting position and threw the odachi into the air before catching it by the hilt. “You look like a baby  playing with those kid's toys.”

“And you look like a show-off.” The second man huffed as he squeezed his fingertips together more tightly.

“Yes, let's continue to pass judgement on one another since we all accounted for that kama actually being a kusarigama!” Shion’s voice dripped with venom.

The first man stuttered. He reached unconsciously up and rubbed at the bare, bandaged shoulder that was exposed. He twisted, his blue patterned hakama pooling at his elbows.

“Ok, ok!” The third man groaned before bending backwards and snapping into a kip-up. The motion caused the ball to spin wildly on its string. With only minor adjustments it landed on its spike as he his feet. “Aoi is just grumpy he got injured and can’t play with this sweet baby himself.” The man made a show of flicking the ball off the spike and then onto the two cups in three rapid clacks. “Hisato, weren’t we gonna train some more with those sweet weapons we got in Ryukyu? Why are you meditating?” Not waiting for an answer and taking several leaping strides, he hopped over to Shion. “Will you get the water just ‘cause I asked nicely instead?”

The wreckage of the statements caused a palpable shift. Aoi pulled half his hakama up and puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. Hisato dropped out of his stance and lolled his head. Shion’s shoulders tightened as he scrutinized the question.  

“I swear the toys are all part of the act, Toju.” Shion relented, leaning back. “Somehow the youngest and most formidable.”

Toju chuckled breezily, but there was an unmistakable air of malcontent.

“You wanna spar, let’s spar.” Hisato rose up, his aura flaring as he readied for a fight.

“Bring it!” Toju twirled around Shion’s back and brought his fists up around him.

“I am not a human shield!!” Shion shrieked as Hisato ran full tilt towards him with a prepared punch. Trapped, Shion winced until no impact came.

“Gotcha, bro.” Histao lightly tapped Shion’s nose.

Shion tried to bite his brother’s finger, but he pulled back too fast.

“Aoi, want to watch?” Toju giggled, placing his hands on Shion’s shoulders and rocking him side to side to prevent further nipping.

“We should make camp.” Aoi grumbled, his mood ever souring.

“Upset you can’t spar too?” Hisato craned his neck to see Aoi. “Aw, don’t be like that. You’ll be back up to it in a few days!”

“Let him stew. My question is why aren’t we staying in town? We have the money.” Shion dropped down low out of his youngest brother’s grip and rounded Hisato.

“We’d have to travel after dark, remember?” Hisato murmured, instantly on edge.

“This again?” Shion sighed. “We aren’t deep enough in the mountains to see bears yet.”

“I-I wasn’t worried!”

“We’re fine here. We can stay in a town tomorrow.” There was a finality to Aoi’s voice as he dropped down from the log.

Shion sneered.

“We’ll get pretty thirsty…” Toju mused, holding out his kendama to Hisato.

“That’s two.” Shion rolled his eyes to where Hisato took the toy and tested the string. “What about you?”

“It would be a big help. I’ll set everything else up while you’re gone.” Hisato beamed Shion a reassuring grin before attempting to flick the ball onto the spike. It missed completely and whacked him in the sternum.

“Fine! Use the crafty one to do menial labor! See how disorganized everything gets when Hisa’s big clumsy mits toss everything about without a single care!” Shion threw his hands up and took a few slow steps into the tree line. He listened for one of his brothers to stop him after his poignant fact drop, but he was irritated to find they just resumed their weapons talk. Grumbling to himself, Shion stormed towards the river they had passed earlier.

His path carved straight through forest they’d been strolling through. Little branches picked at the dark purple of his hakama and he tugged at the fabric harshly to free it. With spring nearly at full bloom, the foliage vibrated in a way that meant his struggle was nearly useless. It brought his knees up in retaliation as he took stomping steps to cross the green underfoot. The buzzing vocals of bugs and birds slowly fell to the backdrop static of the rushing water. Clomping on the ever moistening soil, Shion broke free from the thicket and moved his eye along the rolling bank that lead to the water’s edge.

With twilight ever approaching, the sun threw off colorful shades of sky off the river’s flowing surface. Twisting tall lengths of needle thin greenery at the shore reached high to garner as much sunlight in competition with their brethren. This towering wall scaled its way down the water in both directions. Scowl ever deepening, Shion continue to storm forward as he arbitrarily chose to head right along the river’s edge. The clinical regions of his mind reminded him that if he had instead wound the path back that he and his brothers had taken earlier than there was a clear designated bank where the water could be accessed. Shoving the thought away, he watched his steps as rocks and undergrowth dappled the rarely trodden trail. The soothing running of water begged to soothe his agitation, but Shion steeled his brow instead. As the river curved, so did he and just down the way he spied several lengths of cattails crushed to the mossy ground.

If they had curved inward toward the river he would not have been given pause. Instead, they were pressed flat heading in the direction of the trees. Dropping his stance, Shion reflexively palmed at the air to his side before his scowl shifted to a bitter sneer. He’d lost his weapon in a skirmish earlier that day. If that were simply the case than it would be one thing. With their reputation and ever constant stream of offers, the brothers had more than enough funds to replace their weaponry when necessary. Instead, he already had an alternative in the form of the bō he’d picked up in Ryukyu. He’d become rapidly attached to the expertly crafted thing which made it all the more frustrating that he had simply neglected to grab it. It was the type of fatal mistake that a sought after samurai would never make.

Resisting the urge to grumble, he continued to creep towards the foreign outlet. As mad as he was at himself, there was no way he’d trudge back to camp empty handed. His pride and brother’s chiding simply wouldn’t allow it. The river filled the sound void where his footsteps no longer echoed. Drawing close, he followed the line from where the trampled grasses lead to broken branches. Whatever had done said damage appeared to have burst from the water itself and plowed directly into the forest. It made no sense. Finally reaching the downed blades, Shion dropped all the way down to hand and knee. There was a chance that said position were vulnerable, but he had confidence in his hand to hand combat capabilities. Head barely peeking out from the brush, Shion froze as he saw the green expanse of a back.

Or rather, the jumbled network of scutes of a green turtle shell.

Head marginally shifting in surprise, he craned his neck further and watched the human sized carapace rocked gently as its huddled shape fiddled with something out of sight. A memory of a warrior who had made his armor out of turtles came to mind. Wondering if he may have stumbled upon such a being, Shion crawled forward until he could plant his feet on the ground once again. Stowing a flattened rock against the heel of his palm, he rose up incrementally. As he did so, a shock of wet matted hair appeared just beyond the shell’s top edge. Refusing to give credence to the errant thought that this was the creature that had burst from the water, he steeled himself.

“You.” Shion’s voice sliced through the ever present run of water. “Identify yourself.”

The shell jolted and froze so still that for a moment Shion wasn’t sure if he had ever seen it move.

He usually wasn’t one to doubt his own brilliance.

“I said identify yourself.” Shion repeated, authority taking reign of his vocal cords.

The body dipped slightly and Shion’s muscles flexed as he considered that the person could simply dive out of his grasp. Instead, he watched as the shell hunched forward slowly and turned.

His breath hitched as being turned to face him.

The dark green of the carapace gave way to a skin in lighter shades of moss that ran acros the visible body's expanse. Fear laden golden eyes matched the hue of the plastron that encircled the humanoid’s torso. Gangly limbs seemed to sprout from it and between webbed phalanges was the half eaten body of a very small fish.

“A yokai.” His lips moved without his permission. He had, of course, heard tale of such creatures, but only his brothers ever entertained mysticism. Reason and rationale ruled Shion’s mind which made being faced with exactly such a creature grind his gears to a halt.

“H-human!” The being stuttered before rising up to match the voice.

Shion took a tentative step back.

The creature shined with a moment of unbridled pride before resuming a cocky air. “You l-look quite plump! Give me your rations and I will spare you.”

Shion dropped his lids and gave a bored stare. In the time he’d adjusted his stance, he’d cataloged a hundred little ticks and notes about his opposite. From the way they still clung to the little fish carcass to their weak stance, it read as an obvious conclusion. “If you’re so powerful than why are you starving?”

The yokai's arrogant air falted and they stumbled back water's edge. A webbed foot dipped into the water causing the creature to shudder.

Staring down at the appendage with light curiosity, Shion brought his bored stare back up to those large eyes. “You’re aquatic, right?”

“Y-yeah?” The yokai stammered.

Making a little noise of interest, Shion shoved down any debate and stepped forward. In exchange, the creature stepped back until their heels were almost touching the water. Watching for a sign of attack and only seeing anxiety in response, Shion reached out to snatch one of the yokai’s elbows.

“H-hey! What are you doing, mortal f-fool!?” The creature all but squawked out of its pointed beak.

The beings protests were far too easy to circumvent. Lip quirked in study, Shion found the creature's arms reduced to near sinew. Grabbing a green wrist with his other hand, he used it to bring up hand up for similar examination. He found dulled claws with distinct ridging that often attributed to poor nutrition. He had seen it many times before, but preferred not to look on too long at such people. “I have a game I’d like to play.”

“What?” Finally finding enough energy to pull free, the yokai took a step to the side. “I am not here to amuse you!”

“Exactly, if you’ll indulge me I think I know why you’re here.” Shion watched the creature move carefully. Almost every tale about yokai spoke of their power and yet before him stood a thing that looked as if it would blow away in a light breeze. It bred a thousand questions. Though the stories were told far and wide there was no concrete evidence about these beings. The precipice of discovering stretching out ahead of him was so tantalizing his mouth could almost water.

“You know nothing!” The creature continued to shuffle away incrementally.

Shion squared his shoulders in an imposing manner. “I have an ongoing bet with my brother about analyzing an opponent.”

The move worked and the yokai seemed to realize that chances of escape were low. Shion watched as the creature came to terms with this and then searched his person rapidly. He failed to conceal the rock in hand before the being caught sight of it. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it already. I’m not going to entertain you until then!”

“What a waste that would be.” Shion gave a frustrated sigh.

“Waste?” The creature shook its head in confusion.

“Look.” Shion dropped his stance in a show of amity. “There’s a lot of fearmongering between yokai and humans and I don’t know what your transgressions are, but I’m not interested in senseless violence.”

Those huge golden eyes surveyed with him wary curiosity.

“Allow me to guess your situation and answer some of my questions and I’ll give you my rations. A more even trade then whatever empty threats you were throwing around before.”

The yokai gave a distinct snort of indignity before their eye turned away. Shion watched as the being blatantly debated his offer. A hungry gaze won out before it returned their attention to him. “It better not be rotten or anything.”

“It’s rice and dried fish.” Shion clarified with a dry tone.

“Koi!?” The yokai surged forward and Shion reflexively brought up a hand to block. Instead the creature grabbed his appendage and their eyes nearly sparkled at this range.

“No. What? Why would we eat koi!?” Shion twisted his head up in disgust.

“Because you’re rich?” The yokai asked with a confused expression that said that should have been obvious.

“Nobles don’t eat koi, they keep them as pets.” Finally remembering he was being held, Shion wrenched his arm free.

“Pets!?” The yokai reeled with surprise. “You’re joking!? Those fat things!?”

“I’m not!” He couldn’t figure out when he had lost control of the conversation. “I am the one who is supposed to be questioning you!”

“I haven’t agreed to the deal yet. I want to make sure it’s worth my time.”

Shion made a indignant face. This creature’s pride was off the charts. The demonic facsimile of Aoi appeared in his mind and joked about how only his own was larger. Scowling to dissipate the thought, Shion narrowed his gaze. “I told you what you’ll get. It isn’t spoiled. It was meant to be my meal tonight. Now do you agree or not? I’ll leave otherwise.”

At the mention of losing food the yokai went rigid.

Shion folded his arms as a show of how serious he was.

“O-ok! Fine! That’s fine! I accept! Ask your questions!” The being scrambled.

It took quite a bit of effort to keep the satisfied smile off of his face. “Excellent.”

“You said it was some game?” The yokai mumbled, resentment dripping from their words.

Though the creature had conceded, Shion took in the tone carefully. He had to filter it through a mental apparition of Toju, but once it came out the other side he seemingly realized the issue with the statement. “Ah, I see, allow me to rephrase.”

The being tilted their head.

“I don’t see you as a notch to be garnered in some contest. Rather it would be for my own self satisfaction to see if my guess was correct.”

The yokai’s head continued to further loll, unconvinced.

Refusing to give in to the nervous prickles in the back of his neck, Shion straightened. “Fine, how many humans have you conversed with?”

“Ones that lived?” A little wicked smile grew on their lips.

Shion’s lids came down in an unimpressed fashion.

The yokai held strong for several moments before rolling their eyes. “Not many if I can help it. Usually kids or a particularly desperate villager giving an offering.”

Shion perked up at that note and logged it away into his ever evolving list. “And I, who have traveled across this great land, have never once actually come in contact with a being such as yourself.”

“Ok?” The creature took a bored bite of their fish.

“Cultural exchange!” Shion clarified, his hands coming up in excitement.

“Huh?” The yokai squinted.

“That is what I am after. I’m far more interested in a factual record on yokai.”

“Y-you’re going to tell others?” The being twisted into themselves and Shion was once again reminded that they could flee into the water at any moment.

“Wait!” Shion lunged and caught the creature’s wrist. “I’m no fool! If I were to try to share what I learn here with no evidence than I would be no better than the mindless geezers that pedal their yokai folktales as if they were truths.”

Not realizing the implication of his words, the being surged in his grasp. “Let go!”

Noting the sudden spike in fear, a mental version of Hisato shook his head. “Oh. Oh.” Shion made a slow show of bringing up his free hand before carefully releasing his grasp.

The sudden change caused the yokai to slow, but their feet were still positioned in a way that prepared for escape.

“I have no intention of capturing or hurting you.”

“How can I believe that?!” Taking a small wary step back, the yokai’s hands squeezed into fists. “That you won’t go get that supposed dinner and bring your brother back with weapons!? You’ve said exactly what you want! Just like all those humans! All you do is take for your own gain!!”   

In spite of himself, Shino’s lips parted momentarily before he pressed them into a thin line.

“Well!?”

“I have no way to convince you.”

The yokai jolted at his quiet tone. The river continued to drone on through the long held pause before the being moved to break it. “You aren’t going to defend yourself…? Make up a lie even?”

“No.” Shion took his own step back, his hands still held up in accord. “It would make no difference. All I can give you is my word.”

“What’s the point of your ‘cultural exchange’ if you can’t tell anyone?”

Breaking eye contact, Shion searched the crushed greenery for a long moment. “It’s hard to say. Usually, proving others wrong is what I live for.”

The yokai made a sharp snorting noise.

“Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing I find sweeter than tearing someone’s moronic false ideas to shreds, but…”

Again, the water filled the void.

“I don’t know!” Shion growled, voice suddenly spiking. When he brought his gaze back to the yokai, he found them watching him curiously. “You’re unprecedented! A truly unique specimen and for the time being all I am interested in is gathering information about you.”

It was the being’s turn to look away. Through the waning light, there was a rosy quality to the green skin of their cheeks. “Fine, but I want to change the deal.”

“Again?” Shion sighed. “What now?”

“While I’m still not sure about the concept, doesn’t exchange go both ways?”

“Yes, it does. I’d also be happy to explain the concept and length if you-”

“We will each ask a question.” The yokai cut him off with a fold of their arms.

Shion sneered, but when the creature didn’t relent he gave an even headier sigh. “Fine, I suppose I was the one to use the terminology.”

“Great, go ahead then.”

“I wanted to begin with a ventured guess about your status.”

“That’s not really a question.” The yokai shook their head.

“Not yet.” Shion smirked and brought his chin up high. “From studying this scene you’ve left-” He made a show to pointing along the crush reeds up to the broken limbs in the treeline. “-In addition to your sorry state and resistance to initially fleeing…”

The yokai’s beak parted as if they were going to protest, but nothing came out.

“Along with the scant information you’ve mentioned, I believe I can make a credible hypothesis on your standing.” Without waiting, Shion lowered his gaze which sparkled with excitement. “I postulate that you were ousted from your home which I presume was a body of water you presided over as a local kami down south. You’ve traveled the waters up north, but the chilly overnight temperatures make it so you cannot stay in the water. The trip alone probably drained any resources you took with you, leaving you near destitute and unquestionably starving. As for my question, I’m asking if I was correct?”

Eyes somehow growing even larger, the creature gawked. Their beak opened and closed a few more times before they settled for falling out of their crossed armed stance to sulk. “Is it that obvious?”

To keep a lid on his surge of satisfaction at being right, Shion settled for shuffling his shoulders side to side. “I’m not interested in speaking for most people.”

The yokai huffed.

“I’ll count that as your question, moving on!”

“H-hey! That’s not fair!”

“Be more careful with your wording in the future!” Shion tutted with an air of amusement. “Could you tell me about your domain in length?”

The being shook their head hopelessly before making a show of taking a seat. Shion followed suit onto his knees and listened in rapt attention as the yokai described their lake in Funai. Nodding furiously at the information, he then supplied the creature with more information about his occupation. Breaching the culture in this regard seemed difficult as yokai hierarchy was left as broken as the warring states. Once he thoroughly translated the concept of samurai, Shion moved on to ask about their journey. Moonlight glistened off the water and made for just enough light as the creature went through a laundry list of hardships. Having lived a life of not quite luxury, but without exceeding want, Shion tried not to let pity cloud his account. The yokai seemed to catch on to this and was just asking about his human status when a snapping twig seemed to reverberate through the whole forest. Shion immediately took to his feet and his hand again went reflexively to his hip. This time he couldn’t keep the curse off his lips at his lack of weapon. Beside him, the yokai curled up, pressing into the cattails and blending in well with the shaded greens.

“I’d recognize that big forehead anywhere!”

For a split second, Shion relaxed at the sound of his brother’s voice before fear brought his muscles tense once again. Setting his jaw, Shion cast his eyes down to the creature and found them staring back at him with horrified expression. Shion mouthed for them to stay put and stepped in close, using his body as barrier as Aoi’s form approached. “You only see the signifier of my genius every single day.”

“Mhm, sure, sure.” Shion watched as Aoi came in, his brother’s eye taking in all the same detail that he had. “Forget something?”

For a moment, Shion scrambled mentally.

Aoi caught on immediately and brought rope with several carved bottles hanging off of it.

“The water.” Shion balked.

“Find something?” Aoi craned his neck curiously, following the environmental story telling.

Shion waffled and prayed for one of the few times in his life that his terrible lies would for once persuade someone. “I came across this strange display and got caught up in studying… what kind of creature had done this.”

Aoi swept his gaze up from the reeds to his brother’s face.

Shion thanked the moon for being behind him as it hopefully hid any sweat forming on his brow.

“You fell in didn’t you.”

“What?!” Shion shrieked.

“You didn’t want to come back all wet!” Aoi burst out laughing and the move caused the strung gourds to clatter along with his barks.

“I certainly did not!!” Shion hissed. It took some stretching, but he was just able to shove his brother without moving from his spot.

Aoi languidly walked off the move before circling back. “I can’t wait to tell Hisa and Juju!”

“You’ll tell them nothing!” Shion tried to make a swipe for the bottles, but Aoi outmaneuvered him.

“Nothing better than when you’re off you’re game.” Aoi continued to chuckle. “We’ll get the water together and then we can get you all toasty by the fire.”

“I-It’s fine! I’ll finish my assignment while you get back!” Shion internally screamed when the chirpy quality to his voice suddenly brought his brother’s curious brow up.

Before he could dodge, Aoi shot forward and fisted a bunch of Shion’s sleeve.

“W-wait-!”

“Bone dry.” Aoi frowned and leaned in close to his brother. “What have you been doing all this time?”

“Studying the scene!” Shion’s pupils rapidly scanned the close proximity before breaking away. “Yeah, that’s what I said earlier.”

“Are you telling me or yourself?” Aoi’s voice dropped its usual levity.

“You.” Shion set his features along with his will.

As Aoi’s gaze narrowed and Shion wasn’t going to be circumvented a third time. Both brothers moved in tandem. Aoi twisted to look behind Shion but before he could do so Shion intercepted by trying to catch his sibling in a headlock. The two then grappled with lightning fast reflexes before the engagement shifted Shion’s stance. Kicking out his brother’s feet, Aoi wrapped an arm around Shion’s waist to keep him from falling while also getting a look at what was behind him. “AH-ha…!”

Shion squirmed from where he was caught around the waist. “If you would let me-!”

“Seriously?!” Aoi huffed and let go.

Shion fell to the ground harshly, but snapped onto to his hands and knees. A dozen excuses formed on his tongue only to dissipate when he found nothing amongst the reeds he was once blocking. “What…?”

“You’re such a nerd.” Aoi griped, swinging the string of bottles into Shion’s face. “Fine, fill them up by yourself if that’s what you want!” Shion weakly reached up to take the rope. As soon as it left his hands, Aoi, turned and started walking away. “I can’t believe you actually got so distracted just looking at some smushed grass! Hurry up already or I’m gonna let Hisa eat your portion.”

“Alright!” Shion gripped with learned snark. Hobbling, but keeping to the ground, he twisted around searching for the yokai. Not finding them, Shion listened until his brother’s steps had retreated. “Are you…?” He bit down on the question as he wondered if his brother was somehow still listening. Caught between thoughts, Shion crawled forward until he was at the water’s edge. He then dragged up the string of bottles with a frown and started to fill them. As his finger’s dipped into the cool water, the tension of the surface bubbled several feet away. Freezing, he retracted the gourd in time as the shape rose up.

Instead of bursting out, the yokai’s head breeched the water in near silence. “That your brother?”

“Yes.” Shion clipped. He could feel how wide his eyes were, but was helpless to stop it.  

“I see why you play that game with him.”

Shion made a noise of affirmation and lowered the bottle to keep continue filing it. “How’d you get away?”

“Wasn’t it my turn?” The yokai gave a bobbing giggle.

Shion let out a single dry chuckle of his own and moved to fill the next gourd. “I don’t believe I have enough time to accurately answer your question.”

“Then I’ll say ‘it’s kinda my thing.’” The yokai’s hand broke the surface next and expertly squirted a spurt of water at Shion that landed just shy of his person.

“Aquatic.” Shion responded knowingly, shaking his head.

“So I’ll never get my answer?”

“As if you were the only one with more to ask.” Shion hummed, moving to fill the penultimate bottle. “I won’t penalize you for it. I’ll be sure to bring your food as soon as everyone’s asleep.”

“Can we continue then?” The yokai floated forward, but gave breadth for Shion’s work.

“I wouldn’t risk it…” Shion mused, bringing up the gourd prematurely with a loud popping bubble. “You. I wouldn’t risk you.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the yokai dip slightly below the surface for a moment.

Slipping the gourd back into the river, Shion racked his brain. Trying to subdue the part of his mind that spiraled anxiously about missing his chance, he tried to sort out reasonable solutions. He’d barely scratched the surface of this cultural exchange and wasn’t about to let it slip through his fingers. Corking the third bottle and moving to fill the last, Shion felt every droplet that cycled in as if it were counting down time. The movement of which, thankfully, sparked an idea. “Was this your destination?”

“I don’t have a specific place in mind, though, like you said, the north is too cold.”

“It will continue to warm with spring here. Would you consider making an exception?” Keeping his eyes on task, Shion silently pleaded.

“Why do you ask?”

The bottle filled and he brought it up along with his gaze. “Keep following along the river; it’s the same route my brothers and I are taking to collect our payment. I’ll keep supplying you with food and we can continue to meet.”

The yokai bobbed up enough that Shion could see the owlish surprise in their golden orbs.

“Aren’t you cold?” Corking the bottle, Shion’s brow came down around the question. He wasn’t sure where it had come from.

“A little.”

Picking up the rope, Shion retreated backwards and watched in awe as the yokai’s head floated toward the bank. The being then seemed to walk straight out of the water which was undisturbed by the loss of its tenant. With the moon pouring light around the sparkling droplets on the yokai’s skin, Shion breathed deeply from where he hadn’t realized he’d stopped.

“I guess if you actually drop the food off tonight, then I can trust you’ll continue to hold up your end of the deal…”

There was a tentative surge of joy in Shion’s chest. He stamped it down. “I swear it.”

The yokai blinked widely and then through their beak gave a little smile. “I look forward to a steady meal.”

“Is that all?” Shion feigned a huff, the strange feeling still lingering in his chest.

“Of course, why else would I bother with such a stuffy human?” The yokai approached him.

He stiffened and they brought their hands up in amity as he had done to them earlier.

“Quick learner.” Shion grumbled more to himself.

The yokai either didn’t hear him or chose to ignore the comment. “You’ll have to come to me at the river.” The being held out a webbed hand.

“Unless you want my brothers to see you…” Confused but curious, Shion looked between glowing eyes and the appendage several times before carefully offering his limb.

The yokai took it and turned it over so his palm was facing up. They then brought their other hand up with a single dull claw and dropped it to his skin. “To call me, just dip your finger into the water two times, then pause, then three times.” The being demonstrated barely scratching at his palm in the process. “I’ll know it’s you and the coast is clear.”

Shion nodded dumbly and watched as the yokai released him.

“You alright?”

“Yes.” He came back to himself and shook off the lingering buzzing in his hand by clenching it into a fist. “Yes.” He repeated more firmly. “From now on it will always be after my family is asleep.”

“Alright.” The yokai nodded with a bob.

It was the first time he’d seen an amicable air from them. Something about it made his chest surge with what Shion identified as pride. “I need to get back.” He pulled up the rope with the bottles.

The being hummed in agreement.

Shion took a stiff step back. “I’ll be back.”

“You said that.” The yokai gave that beaky smile again.

Several more bow legged steps were made.

“Bye.” The being gave a genial wave.

Shion dipped around it and finally made the turn towards where he had come. He made it approximately half a foot before something occurred to him. “I didn’t get your name!”

“Doremi.” The yokai nodded. “And what shall I call you, human?”

Resisting the urge to stare, Shion tried to swallow the ever pertinent odd feeling. “Shion.”

“Hurry up then, Shion-human. The sooner you return the sooner I can eat.”

“Sleep doesn’t work like that.” He called back before forcing himself to trudge forward. He cursed his idiotic parting and heard a small crop of laughter from the yokai he left by the riverside.

Back at camp, the evening banter with his brothers seemed to both fly by whilst drag on at a snail’s pace. The dying embers lingered longer than the even snores of his family. Though they didn’t know of the Doremi’s existence, part of Shion’s mind wondered how they could sleep knowing such a unique creature lay a short walk away. The moon had made it’s less noticeable trek across the sky by the time Shion was able to sneak away once again. This time he made sure footing through the underbrush and revealed his rations from the sleeve of his hakama. He left them at the water’s edge where the reeds were trampled and dipped his finger in the water as instructed. Against his better judgment, he refused to linger and hurried back to camp. With his brothers still collapsed on their rolls, Shion settled in and spent a sleepless night reviewing what he had learned again and again.

When morning’s light came, Toju found his rinsed container at the edge of camp. Shion babbled a line of excuses, but it was Aoi who laid down the agreed upon defense of late night snacking. It was a minor indignity, but nothing Shion couldn’t handle. After packing up, it was another day of traveling amongst his closest companions. There was both a learned air of family to their connection, but an unmistakable fondness that Shion wouldn’t trade for the world. Though they quarreled, he would pick no other occupation or persons to share his life with. Meeting with Doremi the first night was what he akinned to the rare spice in the pot. When it came to food, Toju did his best with dishes on the road and for the most part Shion couldn’t care less about the finished product. As long as a meal was palatable and gave enough nutrients, eating had always been more a necessity than a pleasure.

Doremi shifted his view on that as well. Watching the yokai partake in meals was an experience. They relished flavors they had never tasted before and regaled him in what humans usually offered. If the dish was good, then Doremi’s eyes would light up with enough sheen that it pushed Shion to make his first requests to the chef. It ended up being a win-win as Toju was over the moon that his brother had finally shown interest. It eased any guilt about Shion's ever mounting lies while the trope and yokai moved further north and into the mountains.

The nights spent in towns were the easiest to slip away from his brethren, but the hardest to easily gain access to the river. For whatever hurdles lay for Shion, they were always double that for Doremi. The yokai not only had to dodge humanity's vigilant eye, but they also had to navigate between multiple water ways while also keeping pace with a party they couldn’t see. The resilience wasn’t lost on Shion and neither were the changes in Doremi. Having a consistent and more balanced diet meant the yokai was rapidly on the mend. Though it wasn’t an overnight change, Shion’s studious eye noted every minute advance. From the enhanced green luster to fuller limbs, even Doremi’s claws seemed to sharpen themselves with good nutrition. Less to protect himself and more for his own comfort, he showed Doremi his new blade and bō. Shion was delighted to find no fear in place and instead curiosity at human construction. To say the cultural exchange was going well was by far an understatement.

When the brothers reached their destination to pick up payment, they were tipped off to their next job down south. The constant treks across the country had become commonplace and the group rarely complained about the backtracking. A night of celebration with overflowing wallets gave way to Shion’s first missed meeting. Carrying the veritable basket of apology confections and rations, Shion was surprised when he was met with blatant concern instead of anger. It twisted up that feeling that never seemed to leave him with Doremi was near. The scolding was light as he passed chewy delights to the yokai. Gushing about the flavor, Shion found the way the moonlight played off Doremi’s now glossy locks to be an image he wished he could immortalize in paint. It was one amongst a growing list.

Shion found he didn’t need and excuse to breach the topic of their next destination and his chest swelled when Doremi instead asked where they were going. His mind was quick to remind him that the noun could also include his brothers, but a hopeful part of his mind told him that Doremi instead considered themselves an unofficial member of the group. The sticky humidity of summer reared its head and the yokai was thriving in the weather. It wasn’t just the warmth of the sun that tingled in Shion’s cheeks at the thought of an extension to their partnership. Within a few days, the brothers and yokai departed.

As time stretched on, a rhythm was established. Shion knew with each meeting that he should be more wary that his brother’s would discover what he was doing, but in inverse occurred. Though he kept the same care in escape, he allowed his worries to wane. As they spent all their time together, it was inevitable that the group would need time apart. It wasn’t unusual to wake up and find someone had wandered off. Toju could often be found smearing berries on trees and Hisato’s faraway destructive punches could sometimes be heard on the wind if it blew in just the right way. It was Aoi that Shion feared the most. His twin’s perception and familial priorities were leagues ahead of the others. If Aoi did know, he thankfully had decided that it wasn’t worth his time to interrupt. Even if it was just his imagination, Shion was thankful.

In a similar vein, there was naturally a shift in the so-called cultural exchange that made the title less accurate. The countless hours spent discussing customs waned as the topics were stretched to their limits. From there informality grew and they moved on to discussing their personal lives. Though he’d gotten a taste for it, Shion never tired of Doremi’s attentive nature. They talked a haughty game, but had taken their responsibility as caretaker of their lake very seriously. The humans they had exposed themselves to were all done so in a means to help. From saving a drowning child to comforting a woman who lost her husband, Doremi even had been known to give back their own offerings if it meant a hungry mouth could be fed. Shion had long made adjustments so his own nutrition wasn’t at risk, but Doremi staunchly still tried to share every meal with him.

He’d indulged the yokai’s emphasis on food at first with an eye roll and eventually as a heady reminder. Though he never considered himself rich and there had always been times when a decent meal was scarce on the road. True hunger, however, wasn’t something Shion thought of. It revealed to him the deficits in society he tried to turn a blind eye to. It had taken some time, but guilt cropped up; not over their different statuses, though that was a given, but instead that she held a certain level of burden having to also explain them to him. It was a grounding he hadn’t realized he’d been missing. All that being said, he couldn’t help but still laugh at Doremi’s obsession with koi. Beyond eating it, if he happened to pass through a town that had some, endless questions were abound. He’d made sure to get a wooden carving, much to the confusion of his brothers. Overnight a necklace was woven out of reeds with the trinket dangling right at the upper edge of the yokai’s plastron. It brought Shion a satisfaction he couldn’t at first place. He began to jokingly refer to Doremi as such. He wasn’t sure if the yokai knew how selfish that thought was or the double meaning it entailed, but just their shiny locks were excuse enough to remind him of the ornate fish's fins. The nickname heralded a tidal shift that moved far beyond conversation alone.

The pair took to strolling through whatever path was afforded them near the rivers. Thousands of steps were matched as dreams were shared amongst them and the fireflies of summer. In time, an arm was offered and hips grazed with nearly every thought bubbling off tongues. It was on one particular night, when the cicadas screamed their loudest, that they found a forgotten boat docked on still waters of a connecting lake. Doremi pushed the boat out and Shion took helm on steering. When the yokai had turned, overjoyed at the ride and happiness sparkling in honeyed orbs, Shion finally pinned the feeling that had been ever growing. It left him awestruck and he nearly capsized at the identification. Doremi fretted and sent him to bed worrying about his health. The next morning his distracted state left his brothers in a similar fuss.

How could he tell them he wasn’t sick, but in love?

It was the culmination of a thousand tiny things he could both list in an instant and never in a lifetime. It crushed him within an inch of his life. It felt like he was the luckist man alive. He wanted to deny the feeling. He labeled it selfish. He despised how his heart had betrayed him. They were completely different species. He had no way to take his earnings and settle down. Their lives, Doremi’s life, would always be in danger. It already was, but adding his existence to the mix made it more so. Humans had only fear for yokai, as yokai feared them in turn. Years of bloodshed, confusion, and hate weren’t something that would change overnight no matter how many facts Shion would plaster even the whiff of a naysayer with. It had taken him months to see and he had an open mind. He had little hope for the stupidity of the masses. It left him hopelessly happy and disheartened. It didn’t matter if Doremi felt the same. He couldn’t put that on her.

Lost in these ever swirling thoughts, a billow of black smoke shot up into the otherwise unmarred blue sky.

“That’s a big fire…” Toju murmured to Shion’s left.

“We just passed the charred remains of a village, what? Two days ago?” Hisato added over his shoulder.

“Sounds like we’re going on a detour, eh guys?” Aoi shifted his stance toward the plume.

“From the wreckage and timing, I’d say we’re in for a group of at least seven bandits.” Shion tapped his arm absentmindedly as he did the mental math.

“Don’t’cya just hate when we can’t split them up evenly!?” Aoi huffed. In a few bounding leaps, he shot in front of Hisato.

“Do you wish there were more or less?” Shion sneered.

Aoi spun around and made a show of whipping both his odachi out to his sides. “It’s a 50/50 for one guess!” He then winked and turned into a run. The brothers pulled out their own blades and quickly fell into formation. As the village grew on the horizon, a villager stumbled towards them on the path.

In several bounds, Toju broke away to intercept. As soon as he got close, the youngest brother halted so quickly that the dust from the path kicked up around him.

The brothers readied themselves.

As the dust cleared, they watched in stunned silence as the man turned, covered in blood. The left side of his face hung off and he routinely choked on the steady stream of his life fluids draining from the wound.

“Aoi!?” Toju squeaked, reaching for the man. “Sir?”

“There’s nothing we can do for him… I don’t know how the poor bastard's on his feet…” Aoi’s voice dropped low, circling.

“T-they…” The man choked, his form teetering more and more.

“How many?” Shion pressed, pulling away from Hisato.

“The men…” Strangled by something in his windpipe, the brothers each took their own step back as the man dropped to his knees and then the ground, silent.

“No more jokes.” Hisato decreed. “These people need help.”

The others nodded and shot straight to the village. Within seconds the screams poured from the flaming shacks. Bodies littered the ground and mud was formed from the amount of viscera spilled. Hoofbeats soared above the chaos and an armored man on hoseback appeared. Aoi leaped forward and bounded off Hisato’s shoulders to made a clean cut through the man’s neck.

Shion rounded the fallen figure and snatched the banner from the fleeing steed. “It’s a clan army…”

“What do they want with this small place?!” Hisato shot to the right and stabbed through a man coming around the corner.

Toju who had dropped down to check one of the bodies, rose up with an orange cloth fisted in his hands.

It was a marker they only implemented in battle.

Aoi stared at the younger sibling for a moment before setting his brow. “Let’s go!”

The brothers tied colored wraps up around their forehads and dove into the smoke. A cacophony of blades, shouts, arrows, and thudding hooves rose from every direction. Between the distinct flashes of his brother’s colors, Shion fell into the numbing rhythm of falling any other being that crossed his path. As his count soared above the double digits, the brothers broke free of the smoldering shacks and out onto a field bordering the village. There, nearly a hundred men sat idly with various stages of weaponry and horseback.  

“What the hell are you doing!?” Aoi roared, flicking blood from his odachi.

“Ah.” A man on an ornately decorated horse strode free from the line. Shion identified him as the general. “Well this is a surprise.”

“Not what I would call it.” Aoi all but hissed.

“Blue.” The general chuckled.

Aoi bared his teeth.

“Purple.”

Shion spun away from a downed foe and held his blade to his side.

“Red.”

Hisato knocked two men back and glared down the line.

“Orange.”

Toju slit a man’s throat and let him down with a teetering thud.

“I’ve heard of your little samurai family group. Your father was quite revered and he seems to have trained you well.”

“You haven’t answered my question.” Aoi seethed, taking a single step forward.

The general’s horse threw its head at the move and the man pulled at the reigns to stop it. “Oh this? We asked the villagers kindly to share their harvest as we head out to our little… rendezvous. They were gracious enough with food, but were lacking in the entertainment department…”

Shion squeezed his blade and could hear the thundering steps as Hisato approached.

“Under stimulated men get too zealous in battle so I’m letting the ones that are pent up release their energy.”

Aoi glanced back as a shack collapsed under a raging fire.

“Who hired you? I’ll double the pay to have you all scurry off.”

Aoi’s return rotation to the general oozed malice. “You could say we’re between jobs at the moment.”

“Then why are you bothering my men?” The general scoffed, looking bored of the conversation. “Here.” He reached into a pouch hanging from his horse’s saddle and pulled out a bag. He then tossed it straight across the field. It landed out Aoi’s feet and rolled over, spilling coin into the blood stained dirt. “Take this and leave.”

“Aoi…” Hisato’s voice was thick.

Aoi bent forward and took a hold of the mouth of the bag.

“Shion…” Toju murmured, exchanging glances.

Aoi smiled. “I see…”

Shion nodded.

“Well? It’s more than enough considering I lost how many men?” Leaving the question rhetorical, the general pulled at his reigns to rejoin the ranks.

“The price of man…” Aoi said.

“Let’s regroup. Did we get everything?” The general addressed his men.

Hisato sighed.

“I think you owe us one more thing!” Aoi shouted, an unhinged buoyancy to his stance.

“Huh?” Before the general could fully turn, an odachi stabbed right through his neck. It seemed as if even the flames went silent as the man gurgled around his own blood before falling off his horse into a heap.

“Now we’re square.” Aoi hummed, twirling his remaining Odachi in hand.

“SELFISH INGRATES!” The man next to the general screamed and gave the signal. The full army surged to life and stormed right at the brothers as they fell in line with one another. If the earlier chaos in the village was a cacophony, then this was completely deafening. The sounds engulfed Shion’s ears until they were ringing and everything dropped to a cottoned muffle. Every single movement had to be precise. They were outnumbered in a way they had never been before. Twisting and pushing his body beyond its limits, he struck again and again. A blade behind him clipped his shoulder and he kicked off one man and slammed into a horse. The neighing broke through the fuzz and the horse kicked a series of screaming men. Twisting his sword out, another blade hooked his hand along with the hilt. The ensuing pull sprayed blood and took his weapon away.

Dropping down to avoid the next strike, Shion pulled the bō from his back. Its lethality was less, but his range grew to make up for it. With a swift spin, he carved himself out a radius where he could take a single breath before men and hooves were upon him again. From the ground, someone he thought was dead stabbing into the plump part of his calf. Hissing, he jut the staff back and heard the sickening squelch of it entering the man’s head. If he had time he would have gagged.

“Hisato!!!” Toju’s voice screeched through the battle.

Shion spun around with the sound and let his weapon lead the way. Grunts echoed where the bō moved and he tried to carve that radial path once again. No matter how hard he spun, he couldn’t achive the arch without both his legs firmly planted. The torn muscle refused to cooperate so Shion shuck the weapon back to stabilize a forward shot instead. A blade swung back just as he took off and it was a flash of blue that kept him from being inadvertently decapitated.

“Pay attention!!” Aoi seethed, his own face painted red which dripped down making Shion’s color around his collar.

“Hisato!” Shion protested as they instinctually went back to back.

“We’re no good to him if we’re dead!” Aoi growled before shooting forward again.

Shion twisted in learned synchronization and, in time with Aoi, finally carved a path. The two dove deeper into the skirmish, each swinging in tandem with the other. It might have been exhilarating had a sword not plunged right through Aoi’s right arm. Shion watched in seeming slow motion as the strike shot through his brother. The grimace on his sibling’s face twisted along with the blade as it then cleaved most of the flesh off in a single swipe. Screaming at the top of his lungs, Shion lunged at the attacker. Aoi choked on something beside him as Shion put all his force into a forward jut of his bō. His shoulders screamed in protest as the wood punctured the man’s wind pipe.

Spinning around to catch his brother, Shion found Aoi nowhere in sight. Twisting his staff around, he prepared his lungs for another shout when his heart seemingly skipped a beat. His blood pressure plummeted as his head lolled down. Right through the left side of his chest, a shiny red blade stuck out several inches. Blinking slowly, he felt a sting in his left arm. Unable to lift his bō any longer, Shion rolled his head in that direction to find another blade cleaving his arm in a similar way it had Aoi’s. It was a weird cosmic symmetricality that they had always shared. When he moved to jerk away from the strike, his arm came mostly free from him. The weight distribution suddenly shifted, Shion watched as the ground rapidly soared towards his vision. In another bit of cruel irony, it was upon falling on the ground that the sword in his chest was finally dislodged.

Shion had no idea how long he lay on the ground, but it was long enough that the battle came to an end.

At least, that’s what the silence indicated.

Through a slow blink, he opened his eyes from where he hadn’t known he closed them. Around him, there wasn’t a single sign that a skirmish had taken place. On two wobbly stems, Shion propped himself up and stared across the field. It lay with the summer’s growth of a crop he suddenly couldn’t identify. He was usually so good with plants too. With some difficultly, Shion looked back to where the village should be. In its place there was nothing but continuous rolling fields. He watched as the thin green blades flicked with wind that didn’t seem to be reaching his person. Curious, a numb hand reached up to touch his face. He wasn’t sure contact was even made because none could be felt.

Opening his mouth, Shion tried to force out a call for his brothers but no air escaped him. He pushed and pushed, but it was as if there were no lungs in his body to move the sound. Terror gripped him and he spun around in a crazed semicircle. Miles and miles of empty land surrounded him on all sides. Unable to decide, Shion took off in the direction his pivot landed on. He tore through the grasses, but with every step that should have trampled them, they seemed unwieldy underfoot. It caused him to slow once more. Unsure, he racked his brain for the immense knowledge he had collected throughout his lifetime. No explanation of this supernatural occurrence came to mind, but the mysticism of it tore a single image from him: Doremi.

Renewed, he again tried to scream. No sound came out and his face screwed up as he put all his force into it. Though he didn’t seem to have any oxygen, the move made him light headed and brought him to the ground once again. In a horrible slideshow he watched a simultaneous projection of all the times he had spent with the yokai amidst all the times he hoped would come. When the reel ended, he was struck by how little there was. There hadn’t been enough time. He needed more time. Abandoning his voice, he clawed at the earth, but found he couldn’t make a dent. He felt tears that didn’t exist prick at his retinas and he did the only thing left, the one thing he’d all but abandoned; he prayed.

He’d dismissed the ideas of some overseeing being around the age of nine. Between his training and what he watched his father go through, Shion swore there was no way some magical entity could allow such indignities on his creations. Shion himself was often cited as cruel, but the machinations of this world far exceeding anything he could stomach.

Still be pleaded. He begged the force and made no apologies for the time he spent not believing. He instead argued for his due.

For his brothers.

For Doremi.

For Doremi.

For what seemed like an eternity, he kneeled. His mantra repeating in his brain at such a severe rate he might never have another thought other than that again.

No night came.

The sun continued to shine on a cloudless sky.

The grass continued to gentle jostle with a summer’s breeze.

His brothers.

Doremi.

He never even got to show her a real koi fish.

“You should have passed on by now.”

Shion jerked, the mantra still ringing in his ears.

“Why do you linger?”

Shooting to his feet, Shion spun around and was once again met with only rolling fields.

“A stubborn one.”

The plea continued to repeat as an earworm, but Shion was able to manage a single alternate thought. A question.

“Who am I?”

Shion blinked before opening and closing his mouth. There was still no sound.

“I can hear you just fine. No need to waste your time.”

Then why haven’t you answered my prayers?!

“Prayers?” The voice sounded genuinely confused.

Imaging a drum being played with exahsutive ferocity, Shion mentally turned up the mantra.

“Oh, that! You’ve been going on about that for so long that I’d gotten used to it!”

HOW DARE YOU-!

“Enough.”

…

“I meant more that you have already been granted one of those things.”

What do you mean?

“Your brothers. You are intrinsically tied to them. In fact, they are waiting for you now, but you need to move on.”

Shion spun around, searching the grasses once more.

“Not here, little one. You need to move to the next plane.”

Doremi!

“Doremi?” The voice again seemed genuinely surprised.

Doremi! Doremi! Green skin! Shell! Golden eyes! Hair like-

“Silence, allow me to see.”

Shion furrowed his brow. If this was some type of god, why didn’t they just already know? Why was he trapped in his inane conversation?

“It is not for you to comprehend.”

Spoken like someone who also has no idea.

“Aren’t you something.”

Far be it for a puny human to ask questions.

“I would call it amusing, but we don’t have to agree.”

Don’t we?

“We don’t. Tell me, what is it that you want with the kappa?”

Kappa?

“You didn’t even know what kind of yokai Doremi was? I see why you requested more time.”

Then you already know what I want!

“I didn’t say that. Your thoughts were too simplistic. You simply wished for your brothers and the yokai, but how? You already have one of those things. Why should I give you more?”

More?!

Shion turned, his chest aching painfully.

I barely got any time.

In quick repeat, he played the reel of his time with Doremi over.

Again, it ended in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

You can see, right?! You saw!?

“I saw.”

Then you know!

A long stretch of silence played out. Shion continued the mantra in a failed attempt to soothe himself.

“Do you want to know how many lifetimes it’s been since you found your soulmate?”

Soulmate?

“73.”

What do you mean soulmate!?

“It’s astounding in a way. It’s not like the system is rigged for you to not meet them. There’s free will to contend with, but the chance occurs in every lifetime.”

Answer me!

“Maybe it’s because you get coddled by your brothers in every existence…”

Don’t… Don’t you dare-!!!

“That’s not mine to undo. Do not fret.”

Not yours?! What does that mean!?

“It is a pity though.”

Hey!

“How about a compromise?”

…

“I can’t give you another gift. As I’ve said, you’re already tied to three beings, but I can grant you something else.”

Why?

“I find 73 lifetimes without true love to be a bit despairing. I guess I’m a romantic in that sense.”

Great. My life is in the hands of an being that doesn’t use reason.

“If I were then we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

…

“The opportunity will occur in your next lifetime. If you make contact with your soulmate then I will allow you to glimpse a moment; a little gift so you may not let them slip through your clutches again.”

And what if I don’t? I’ve apparently failed 73 other times…

“Then you will be born again. My gift will be of one time use, but it will continue on until the meeting occurs.”

This is stupid.

A sharp ring of laughter echoed from the skies above.

It was so loud Shion’s knees buckled.

”You truly are something! I haven’t had a laugh in eons!”

Scoff.

“As much resentment as you hold, I can tell you're ready to move on.”

Something about the way it was said sent an icy cold shot of fear through Shion’s veins. He looked down to find his body rapidly becoming translucent.

Wait! I haven’t-!

“There will never be enough time. Just remember this moment-”

Shion winced as the image of Doremi eating a confectionery was forced into his mind.

“-and live your life to its fullest.”

Watching his hand, Shion found he could barely see his outline.

One! One final question!!!

“Hurry.”

Does that mean Doremi was-?!

“Good luck finding them in your next life.”

The breeze continued to roll through the unchanging empty landscape.

-

Cleaved by the earth in a continental divide.

Over and over in a gambit long tried.

A butterflies wings.

The sweep of tree's shade.

Castle doors open to mist.

Whilst the sun bathed you in a gentle kiss. 

The eternal dance of you and I.

Unable to seek.

Unwilling to hide.

-

“I just wanted a gazpacho burrito!” Leo whined as he rolled out of the way of a tenderizing mallet.

“What is wrong with you!?” Mikey turned up his nose in disgust.

“Honestly!” Rupert Swaggart huffed as he lifted his mallet again. “Food trucks are an affront to the culinary world!”

“No!” Mikey wrapped a chain around a light pole and swung around to kick Meat Sweats in the side of the head. The force launched the pig mutant across the park. “I am not agreeing with you on that! Food trucks have been instrumental in fusion shifts!”

“Perfect, I’d had enough of the banter.” Donnie clapped as his bō telescoped in hand. “I’d rather we get to lunch as soon as possible.”

“See! Donnie wants a burrito too!” Leo jumped excitedly to point.

“Eugh, no!” Donnie scrunched up his face in disgust.

“Et tu!?” Leo hissed.

“Ok, ok!” Raph scrubbed his face. “Isn’t that why we’re here?! ‘Cause no one could decide on one type of food!”

The others all paused to give it some thought.

“Huh, I guess so.” Leo shrugged. “Hey, how is there still a line!?”

“There can’t possibly be. There’s a mutant attack and-” Donnie looked as Leo gestured with an angry grimace. “Oh, wow, there actually is.”

Raph approached the slew of New Yorkers who were huddled down in fear but still queued at the various food trucks. “Uh, you guys ok?”

“I-I waited t-two hours.” A shaky voice rose up from the line. “I-I’m n-not going a-anywhere!”

“For the, and let me emphasize this, gazpacho burrito!?” Pinching the air to accentuate his point, Mikey dropped down onto Raph’s shoulder to loom over the person.

“Y-yeah?” The civilian choked.

“No taste.” Mikey sighed, crawling down from his perch. “So did Rupert just bail or…?”

“Maybe ya knocked him out?” Raph hummed in thought.

“That is a distinct possibility.” Donnie noted, tapping his staff to the ground.

Leo watched his brothers for a moment and then looked down the line from the trucks. “Uh… guys?”

“Huh? I can’t hear someone who no taste buds!” Mikey mimed a hand up to his ear and rolled his gaze skyward.

“Har har.” Leo retorted dryly. “Where do these trucks get their power?”

“Either from the truck itself or usually a generator.” Donnie walked over to one said square and gestured to it. “The output on this model is poor though. A few tweaks and…”

“No.” Raph stomped over and swatted Donnie’s flexing fingertips. “You gotta stop upgrading stuff without people’s consent!”

Leo started to walk down the queue. “But not like tapping into the city?”

Donnie rubbed his hand indignantly. “I believe that would invoke some kind of violation.”

“You’re basically stealing power.” Mikey nodded, slyly watching Leo out of the corner of his eye.

Leo reached down and picked up a thick orange cord. “Uh huh…”

“What is that?” Donnie slipped around Raph’s form and towards Leo.

Mikey seemed to catch sight of it too, but turned the other way. “It looks like there’s one going to every food truck…”

“One going to…?” Donnie spun around.

“Alas there’s bound to be causalities in the cutthroat world of cuisine!” Rupert’s voice rose up from above and the brothers turned to see the pig mutant perched on a nearby building with the end of the orange cord in hand.

“Donnie! Raph! Civilians! Mikey, on me!” Leo sliced open a portal as Mikey’s chains soared out towards Rupert.

Meat Sweats grinned manically and plugged in the cord.

“On it!” Raph shouted, turning back to the crowd. “Lunch times over! Y’all gotta-!”

A deep rumbling seemed to bubble up from somewhere other than the ground.

“Raph…” Donnie warned, wildly looking for the source.

“EVERYONE MOVE NOW!” Raph roared, his formed rapidly expanding with his ninpo. The line finally relented in an attempt to escape when the tires of the row of food trucks started to sway.

Donnie balked as the rumbling noise soared in pitch. He brought his staff up just as the metal roof of each truck burst open. Boiling oil shot straight into the sky and immediately hit an arch point where it curved to rain back down. Scrambling, Donnie activated his own ninpo and a giant purple umbrella formed out of the top of his staff. He bolted towards the civilians that had yet to escape and covered them as the oil rain down with a steaming sizzle.

“Hot, hot hot!!” Raph hissed as droplets dripped down through his projection.

Donnie planted his feet and increased the size of the umbrella. “Unless you want to be the ones deep fried, I suggest you move, people!” 

Raph’s form winced as he ducked under the umbrella and urged the masses along. “Alright, no shoving…”

The crowd shuffled around Donnie, bumping him as he tried to keep the umbrella steady. "Honestly-!” He was cut off when someone shouldered him with enough force that one hand came free from his bō. Hissing, the throng of people rushed across his arm and Donnie had difficulty reigning the limb back in while still holding the oversized object steady. With a sharp tug he retracted the appendage and his vision whited out.

“Well?” Shion watched carefully as Doremi went in to take a bite.

“Don’t rush me!” The yokai giggled with a shake of their head.

“As slow as a lazy koi.” Shion smiled fondly as Doremi’s beak cut right through the chewy mochi.

From where the yokai’s eyes had fallen in satisfaction, they popped open as they went on to gush about the flavor. Time stopped as moonlight played off Doremi’s glossy locks.

A sizzling sound hissed in his ears and the image seemed to burn away as if it were on an old film reel.

“Donnie!?” Raph’s voice reached his ears.

Donnie croaked and felt small bits of oil sting his legs. Blinking free, he found that he was on the ground with his big brother hunkered over him in an attempt to protect him from most of the boiling substance.

“What happened?!” Donnie shouted, hand wildly searching for his staff.

“I don’t know!? You kinda just passed out!” Raph’s face contorted in pain.

Finally grazing titanium, Donnie reestablished the umbrella. “Are you ok? Was anyone else hurt?”

“Heh.” Raph’s shoulders dropped, unable to cover his wounds. “Don’t worry about ole Raph. I got everyone out. I’m more worried about you and why the others haven’t unplugged the dang… whatever it is yet!”

“I…I’m fine.” Donnie twisted around to look at the rooftop where Rupert had been. “They’re gone.”

“Fights moved so we should too!” Raph straightened and shook himself off. Donnie reigned the size of the umbrella in and together the two brothers left the splash zone. Once free, purple pixels flittered down and shifted to form a safety barrier in a radius around the gushing oil. Raph gave Donnie an assuring nod before the two moved to scale the building. Unplugging the cord and watch the oil slowly taper off, the pair were about to dart off when a portal appeared beside him.

“We gotta unplug the-! Oh, it’s done!” Leo stepped through with Mikey following close behind.

“Where’s Meat Sweats?” Raph wondered, rubbing a blister on his bicep.

“We knocked him down into Hidden City jail. Maybe ruining a prison kitchen we’ll keep him busy for a bit.” Leo shook his head.

“Oh, to be a prisoner…” Mikey sang wistfully.

“No.” Leo said simply before bonking his younger brother with the hilt of his odachi.

“I swear, Michael, you are one step away from a life of crime at any moment.” Donnie mused with a wry smile.

“I think you’re mixing us up dear bro-there!” Mikey hummed and stuck his tongue out.

“You ok, big guy?” Leo took several slinking steps forward and around Raph.

“Just a little burn…” Raph responded with a rolling shoulder.

“I thought D had you covered?” Leo looked back at Donnie who was staring at the oil pooling on the concrete.

“That… Well…” Raph tried and failed.

“Something happened?” Mikey filled in.

“I passed out.” Donnie said flatly and felt all eyes land on him. “I had a vision, I think.”

“That’s…” Leo started and stopped to think. “What? Like a new power?”

“Casey’s never mentioned one like that before!” Mikey jumped excitedly at Donnie and snatched his arm to study it.

“No.” Donnie tugged his limb free and eyed Leo. “Not like that. I’m not sure. I feel fine now. I need to do some research…”

“But…!” Leo teased, leaning into Donnie face before moving downward to poke the plastron covering his stomach. “Lunch, right? Coulda just been a hunger induced fainting spell.”

“Ah!” Donnie telescoped his tech-bō to a handheld size. “I’m all for ruling out easy maladies. Yes, let us gather sustenance!”

“So, I was thinking Spanish?” Leo chided, looking beyond Donnie to Mikey.

“You heathen! You are not making that monstrosity at the table!” Mikey prickled.

“Let’s just hit a food hall…” Raph sighed, shaking his head.

-

Leaning back, Donnie looked down the blurry pen balanced on his snout. This act was far more Leo’s speed, but he had reached a point where channeling his other brothers’ energies was the next best thing. Beyond him, many tabs sat up on his enormous monitor. They culminated in countless hours of online research that had been proceeded by at least a dozen medical and mystic analyses. The tests yielded a slew of normal data while the internet had thin estimations at best. Giving a sigh, he wrinkled his nose and allowed the pen to fall. In a flash, he caught the writing utensil and lurched forward in the process. He brought the pen down to an errant piece of paper and made a scribble before discarding the object all together.

A frustrating query with no apparent result was the bane of his existence.

Swiveling around, he walked out of his chair within the rotation and prepared to hit the library again. Though he’d already spent an unknown amount of time there, none of the literature on visions seemed of much help. There were at least a dozen scenarios that seemingly applied, but something about all of them felt inherently wrong. The inexplicable emotions attached to the seemingly nonsensical sight had been another annoying factor. It had brought him on a detour to Draxum’s apartment the last time he was out and there he found little more than tepid curiosity from the yokai.

Fiddling with other abandoned projects, Donnie grimaced as he caught sight at a digital readout that noted the date. It had been almost five useless wheel spinning days since the food truck debacle. It hadn’t been a constant, he had the years of experience to know that nonstop research rarely amounted to much, but good night’s sleeps and meals hadn’t brought their usual fresh clarity. Flicking a lose wire, Donnie pulled a half constructed surveillance bot out from under scattered blueprints. He had unconscious timetables for things of this nature. They had a neat little file folder that sat in the back of his mind, labeled for future reference. Whatever he had seen in the park was simply something he didn’t have the current tools to crack. He didn’t consider it a loss, but instead a project to be explored at a later date. His ever expanding intellect acted as a means. He’d eventually create some new technology that would inevitably solve his dilemma.

Satisfied, Donnie reached across the table to grab a screwdriver. The instrument was almost underhand when a wash of green swaying grass appeared where a workbench had been. Recoiling on instinct, he took a few steps back and found himself in his lab just as he had been. Blinking rapidly in an attempt to check his eyesight, Donnie hunkered down. He became very keenly aware of the hum of the overhead lights and the multiple running processors. Not ready to brush the hallucination off, he turned and reached across the short expanses to his computer’s keyboard. A few swapped windows found he had only been awake nine hours with an average amount of sleep achieved prior to that. There was no cause to question his sanity, but still he frowned.

“Hello?”

There was always a chance it was a joke or even some villain’s ploy, but all of his trained senses said he was certainly alone. Giving a long moment for anyone to reveal themselves, Donnie gave himself a little shake to get his blood flowing before deciding to return to his bot once again. Turning back to the workbench, he stiffened as his lifted foot came down on a lush field. This time when he drew back, the greenery didn’t disappear. Spinning rapidly, he found the landscape stretched on endlessly in all directions. His blood pressure bottoming out, Donnie tossed his head up and squinted directly at the gently beaming sun overhead. It warmed his skin and he brought an arm up to chase the sensation. Everything about this felt real, but so did Hypno’s more ridiculous spells.

“You forgot the brainwashing part!” Donnie gripped, slowly rotating to find any sign of a culprit. Reaching onto his person, he cursed as he found that while his wraps were still in place, both his battleshell and tech-bō were left charging on ports that seemingly no longer existed. Feeling very exposed, he readied his stance and waited as only a shallow breeze caressed his cheek.

It took what felt like several long minutes before he dropped his shoulders with irritation. “So, just nothing? Seriously?”

Only the rustling of grasses responded.

Bored, Donnie took several strides forward before looking back to find any plants he crushed underfoot seemed unaffected. The scientist in him reared its head as he purposely stomped. Each step would press down on the greenery, but as soon as he lifted off, they sprang back up in time. It was like a video game with little finesse. Crouching down, he made an attempt to pull the plants from the ground. A faint ring of laughter echoed from the skies above. Donnie jolted to his feet from where he had just wrapped his hands around a fistful of grass. Scanning wildly, he spied the figure of a black haired man in the far distance toward where he had just come. Staring, he reminded himself that he had definitely looked there previously and found nothing. A tingling sensation tickled the back of his neck. Craning an arm to rub at the spot, Donnie slowly started to approach the man.

“Hey!” Calling out, the man didn’t react and instead was staring at the sky above. At a distance where he couldn’t make out any facial features, he watched as the man swayed as if he were locked in some intense conversation. Shouting again, Donnie felt the tickling spread down his arms. It sent a fear response through his spine so he picked up the pace. Eyes locked on the figure, he narrowed his gaze as he didn’t seem to be getting any closer. With each passing stride, his limbs felt both heavier and lighter. He dropped his center of gravity to make a jump, but found that pushing off barely sent him more than a foot off the ground.

Knowing he had far more power than that, Donnie scowled as when he was about to search his person for the cause, he noticed the man slowly lose his opacity. Flexing his fingers, he felt a longing pull to gaze at his hand. Refusing to look away, he could sense his brain sending signals to his legs to keep running, but it didn’t feel like the action was being carried out. The man still loomed on the horizon, now looking down at his limbs as Donnie had just felt the call to. It felt like déjà vu and so much more.

Pushing so hard, Donnie could feel the veins in his neck grow taunt, he felt a whiplash sensation as all the ground he never covered suddenly rushed around him. Eyes unable to focus at the intense speed, he soared until his limp form was brought right up to the man; only the faintest traces of him could be seen. Only able to see the man's back, Donnie watched as his own hand came into view as he reached out to the now phantom. The figure disappeared just as a green hand had made contact with it and overhead buzz of lab lighting rushed into his ears.

“You aren’t going to give up are you? You finally almost had your chance.”

Gasping, Donnie jolted upright and found he was laying on the floor. Resisting the urge to scream, he scrambled to his feet. “Analysis! Scan the lab for intruders and playback the last 15 minutes!” Donnie rounded on his monitor and watched himself walk up to his workbench. After a few moments, he ran through pulling out the surveillance bot and recoiling at nothing. Grimacing until his lip pulled away from his teeth, he felt a cold chill as he watched tangible proof that there hadn’t been anything there. Dread reared its head as he watched as past him decided to table the issue and return to work. The footage changed from his memory as he watched himself collapse to the floor of the lab instead. Leaning in close to study the image for signs of seizure, he instead found his past self’s expression twist as he presumably ran through the dream-like state.

As the footage caught up to the present, Donnie swapped screens for the scan. There was no one else present. Brow coming down, he restarted the recording and watched as inevitably his past self mouthed the questions to the lab. The silence of the footage caught him and he quickly turned the volume up on his computer where he had at some point muted it. Starting the footage over once more, he stared numbly as he listened to himself question the empty air. He heard the thump of a crumpled body smacking onto concrete and then, just as his past self awoke, he heard a garbled statement. His head nearly bobbed as he rolled the footage back just a few seconds to hear the sound again. It was useless crunchy audio so he brought up a program to isolate it. Passing it through filter after adjustment, he could just barely make out a question about giving up and a chance.

Chewing on his lower lip, Donnie collapsed in his chair and set the still barely understandable audio on loop. It’s distorted sound had an odd rhythm to it that brought his lids down. Donnie let it echo as he recalled the only close up image he had gotten of the man in the field. Trying to recall as much detail he could about the person, a flash of a beak biting down into mochi appeared.

“Koi.” The syllable hit Donnie’s ears and took several moments before he was able to acknowledge it was his own. As registration occurred, he shot forward. His fingers flew across his keyboard and the measured  hammering filled the air.

-

“Help me explain to the others that I need to find a single person in a city of almost 9 million people!”

From where Mikey was balanced on one toe atop a precarious several foot tall stack of knickknacks, the younger brother opened a single eye. “What?”

“Look-” Donnie shuffled in from the doorway of Mikey’s room, trailing continuous stationary with hundreds of lines of little black print on it. “I don’t know how to explain this. I guess it’s a mystic thing, so you would understand best! I need to find someone and I need to explain to the others because I need help.”

Shifting his weight, Mikey hopped off the stack and landed beside his brother only to have the pile crash to the ground as soon as he came up. “Dang…”

“I’ll help you rebuild it.” Donnie offered the sentiment along with a sheet of paper.

Mikey took it and read over the list of names. “Is this what you’ve been working on?”

“No. Yes. It’s not important.”

“Donnie…” Mikey warned, letting the page loosen in his hands.

“None of this mystic stuff ever makes sense!” Donnie reeled, trying to pull up the rest of the pages up and finally realizing he had been leaving a breadcrumb trail of them behind.

“I would say mysterious ways, but I don’t think that’s gonna be much help now.” Mikey rounded his older brother and started to collect the paper. “Maybe take a breath and try telling me what happened?”

Donnie groaned loudly before relenting. By the time Mikey had stacked all the paper back up neatly, Donnie had just mentioned the ominous carp phrase that had come off his lips. “-so I pulled surveillance from the area the day of Meat Sweats' attack and this is the culmination of identified persons who were waiting in line at the food trucks.”

“This many!?” Mikey ran a thumb through the pages.

“I was able to narrow it down to about 1000 people hence why I need-”

“The help.” Mikey winced.

“Interrupting, but correct.” Donnie sighed.

“Who do you think the mystery person is?”

“I have no idea, but they chose the wrong person to reach out to. Everyone should know apathy is my specialty.” Tilting his head to one side, Donnie put on his carefully curated aloof visage.

“Maybe it’s because they knew you’d have the tech to find them?” Mikey stared down at the first page with a furrowed brow.

“That’s as good a guess as any at this point.” Donnie shrugged and reached out.

Mikey catching wind of what was happening and handed over the top half of the stack. “Are they in danger? Cause this is uh… gonna take awhile?”

Shaking his head, Donnie looked down from the pages in hand to where they were still connected to the ones in Mikey’s.

Coming up to view the younger, Donnie watched as something occurred to Mikey and he set his portion on the floor. He then cascaded around his room in a sorting flurry with craft supplies flying around his wake. When he returned he had a slew of highlighters and plopped down cross-legged in front of his stack and started marking. “Let’s color coordinate by the boroughs!”

Donnie sat down as well and took an offered green highlighter from Mikey.

“That’ll be Manhattan.”

Nodding, the two flipped through the pages with only the soft scrap of pen to paper sounding in the room. After making substantial progress, Mikey blinked up to spy on his brother.

“Feeling a little calmer?”

“I knew what you were doing.” Donnie smirked and didn't look away from his work.

“You’re gonna have to pull the ‘trust me on this’ card.”

“Ugh, can’t you play into your skills? Say something like you found someone’s personal effect and you are in dire need of returning it!”

“Donnie.”

Donnie chewed the inside of his cheek and flipped over to a new line of names.

“You said there was a recording?”

Perking up only slightly, Donnie brought his cuff up and played the audio.

Mikey closed his eyes and leaned in close with a turned ear to the sound. Donnie replayed it several times before the younger brother’s eyes flew open. “Fate.”

“What?” Donnie soured, turning the sound bite off.

“’You finally almost had your chance!’”

Eyes blinking wide, Donnie slammed a finger to play the clip one more time. “You understood it?!”

“Only that last part.” Mikey hummed before taking a deep breath. “Oh man, why didn’t I think of it sooner?! You have fate stink all over you!”

“I most assuredly do not!” Donnie hissed, retrieving his highlight as a mock sword.

“A fated chance!”Mikey crooned, his excitement taking him to his feet. “You missed them before, but when?” Switching gears from romanticized cheer to curiosity, the younger brought an uncapped red highlighter dangerously close to his chin in thought.

“Only 20 years to sift through.” Donnie made a show of rolling his eyes and marking another name.

“Only…” Mikey mouthed before tapping the pen nib to his cheek. “Or more...”

“More, sure.” Not dismissing with a barb, but instead out of distraction, Donnie reached out and grabbed a discarded purple highlighter to continue working.

“A vision… A otherworldly voice… a destined meeting….” Taking counting steps, Mikey’s footfalls echoed loudly. “Uh duh!!!”

The sound brought Donnie’s head up and he watched his younger brother scrub his hands over his face.

“It’s gotta be your soulmate!!!”

Donnie dropped his jaw in disgust at both the sentence and the red lines that now smeared across Mikey’s face.

“Don’t give me that look! You were just trying to get me to act out some kinda romcom trope to trick our brothers!” Mikey turned and pointed the highlighter right at his brother.

Affronted, Donnie looked away nervously.

“Ha! Got you! Which movie was it?” Mikey chirped, dropping down to his knees in his original spot.  

Before Donnie could open his mouth, a different voice floated in.

“We watching a movie?” Leo leaned languidly in the door frame before busting out laughing. “You look like if I went through a wash cycle and you know I’m dry clean only!!”

“Who? Donnie?” Mikey pondered, rapidly looking between the pair.

Donnie rolled his eyes. “We are not watching a movie, Mikey is helping me with some important work-”

“We’re narrowing down the list for Donnie’s soulmate!” Mikey nearly sang.

Leo who had almost recovered from his first bout of laughter broke down again.

“Mikey!” Donnie seethed, squeezing his two highlighters with bareful force.

The sounds of the blue brother wheezing seemed to summon Raph, who looked over each part of the scene curiously.

“What? You wanted my help and honesty is the best policy!” Mikey folded his arms, streaking red across his left bicep in the process.

“The cap!” Donnie screeched, grabbing said red hunk of plastic and throwing it right into Mikey’s forehead. “And you-!” Spinning around, Donnie launched the blue highlighter at Leo’s hacking form.

“Guys, we ain’t 10 anymore. Don’t throw art supplies…” Raph sighed, sidestepping Leo who only laughed harder at the implement thrown at him. “What’s going on?”

“Do-” Leo gapsed for air.

“Wait, did I get marker on me?” Finally capping the pen, Mikey examined his right arm carefully.

“Don-” Leo crawled forward.

“The other one.” Raph offered before looking around.

Donnie took a deep breath. “Glossing over the fact that I specifically asked you to help me ‘convince them’ and not just ‘tell them outright,’ you think you could have, I don’t know, called a meeting or something!?”

“We always have each other’s backs!” Mikey protested, still examining the wrong arm. 

“Scoff doesn’t even begin to label my response to that!” Donnie reeled with annoyance.

Locating a box of tissues, Raph walked it over to Mikey. “Right arm and your whole face.”

“Oh!!!” Mikey crooned as if it were an epiphany. He then snatched a tissue and buried his nose into it.

“Donnie!” Leo finally managed both a word and to reach said brother.

“What?” Donnie responded flatly, hands ready to push him away at any moment.

“Did...” Leo sucked down another gulp of oxygen before laying himself out as if he were the picture of poise. “…you print out your online dating matches off some nerd website? Connect with local eggheads in your area?”

Raph moved first, but he wasn’t close enough as Donnie wrapped his hands around Leo’s throat. The three scuffled and Mikey stood up in an unhurried fashion. The youngest then took the orange highlighter and flicked the cap off with one hand. He smeared war paint on each of his cheeks and then tossed the marker aside. Planting his feet, he then flexed at his knees a few times and then breathed deeply.

“HOLD IT!!!”

The other three froze mid-fight with Donnie on Raph’s back clawing at Leo who was being held out by his arm pits at Raph’s front.

They watched as Mikey momentarily scrambled away, only to return wearing an orange helmet. “Sit!”

With a honed exchange of vicious glances, the other three brothers took to a line on the floor.

“As the resident mystic master, this is my domain. Now Donnie has been mystically chosen to find someone. I will not admit to jumping the gun because I do think it’s his soulmate, but I guess we don’t know that for sure.” Mikey shot Donnie a quick wink and then resumed his authoritative demonstration. “We are gonna help our dear brother out and-” He threw out a finger to the forgotten stack of pages. “-Narrow down this list because that’s what fate wants!”

Silence held for a moment before Raph looked to Donnie and then Leo flanking him on either side. Donnie pouted and sulked into himself while Leo looked on with growing confusion. Bringing his gaze back to Mikey, Raph raised his hand.

“Yes!” Mikey swooped his digit to point at the eldest.

“What the heck are we talking about?”

“Well, you see-” Donnie started, scotching forward at the chance to drop an explanation.

“Wait, I wanna tell it this time!” Mikey hopped forward a few eager steps.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense if I-” Donnie made out before Mikey came in close enough to press that same outstretched finger to his brother’s lips.

“It all started the day of the food truck meet up…!” Mikey threw out his other hand as if painting a picture.

-

“So…” Leo drew out the syllable in a manner that mimicked the last three days.

Perched in various trees, the brothers overlooked a gentleman sitting on a park bench. After an agonizing afternoon of back and forths over the purpose of the visions, Donnie was at his wit’s end. When he thought they finally understood at least that much, he’d let it slip how long he’d been studying the query which then triggered the annoyed protests of a week leaving them out of the loop. Disorganization followed before a plan was set. In a bit of cosmic cruelty, their first outing ended in them not able to locate a single person on their first list. The city that never sleeps earned its reputation as the four learned the hard way that an address does not always mean someone is home. The others had also annoyingly stopped him from activating a tracking network on all potential suspects. Invasion of privacy extended only to what was available in a phone book even though his argument that he’d already hacked surveillance cameras was more than sturdy enough. Still, he needed the help so he agreed. He just might go ahead and stumble upon more data if this night were to end in another failure.

“That’s him…” Mikey hummed checking his phone. “Number 23!”

Nerves oddly waning, Donnie gazed at the man through his goggles. A slew of tagging data appeared along with a telltale checkmark. “Correct.”

“That’s obvious, hermano. Didn’t you hear me before?” Leo huffed.

“We can always hear you, Leo.” Raph gave his brother a cheeky smile.

Leo played up his offense at the statement before smiling out of it. “I meant more what do we do now? Should he like glow or something when he comes in contact with D?”

Hearing the approximation of his name, Donnie flicked his head so his goggles snapped into their upright position. He frowned slightly and stared down at the man who seemed fatigued. The distance between them felt like miles of desert. “I’m not sure.”

“It’s ok to be worried…” Mikey dropped both his voice and body to Donnie’s branch. “It’s the first one.”

“Just think of him as some guy!” Leo added, kicking his legs. “The mystic connection thing will happen or not.”

“If it’s like our powers, it’s something we need to activate though.” Raph brought a corner of his mouth up in thought.

“Good point.” Leo closed his eyes in mock thought.

“Might as well talk to him in the meantime.” Mikey urged.

“We’re still mutant turtles. Am I going to just expose myself to 1000 people?” Donnie looked at Mikey’s out stretched hand with ever chasmed worry.  He wasn’t sure if he said that because it was a good point or because his brain was scrambling at the prospects of this grossly uncharted territory.

“Ehhh…” Leo hissed through clenched teeth.

“Well…” Raph started and stopped. “They already saw us.”

“Yeah?” Mikey rolled on the branch causing Donnie to clutch on for dear life.

“These are all people from the food truck thing, right? They saw us save them.” Raph pointed downward to Mikey.

“Yeah!” Mikey tittered, shaking the branch more.

Leaves sprinkled down and Donnie wished he wasn’t already on thin mental ice. “That doesn’t mean they’ll be friendly. The amount of people who have watched us save their actual lives and still mix up which mutant side we were on has been astonishing.”

Leo stood up on his branch and walked toward the base. The other brothers stopped to watch his movements. “Well… you know how this goes…”

Donnie felt his stomach bottom out. Fight or flight kicked in and he slammed a hand to the tree in a desperate attempt to get to his feet. He watched as Mikey, already well balanced, shot away and a flash of a blade cut the limb free from its wooden attachment. Donnie stifled a yelp as he careened down and just barely managed to land on his feet before the downed branch bumped him. His momentum toppled and he landed in a bush with a resounding thud. Groaning off the fall, Donnie popped up to yell at his brother only to hear a timid voice instead.

“Uh… Y-you ok?”

Staring at the man who looked back at him with a similar owlish expression, Donnie glanced in the trees to find all his brothers now missing. Bringing his gaze back to the stranger, Donnie gave a fake grin and forced an awkward foot forward out of the shrubbery. “Yes, I’m fine. I apologize for…” He cursed himself as he’d already mostly walked into the Leo-level joke. “…dropping in on you like this.”

The man’s wide eyes dropped slightly.

“You see I was just-”

“I’ve seen you!” The man animated, the surprise taking him out of his seat.

“Yes-”

“You saved me from getting burned!” The man shot forward and Donnie barely resisted the urge to step back. Before the mutant could register what was happening, his hand was taken and being shook at a furious level. “Thank you so much!”

“You’re… welcome…?” Donnie staggered, the whole exchange leaving him empty. He watched as the man’s hand retracted from his own and there was a ghostly cold left in its wake. There was no scientific basis for it, but every one of his senses was telling him that this wasn’t the right person. All the ever-present dread evaporated as his usual sureness flooded in.

“Is there anything I can do for you? Did something happen? Do you need me to ID the guy!? He was a pig!” The man seemed to get progressively more excited.

“Not at all.” Donnie raised a hand to stop him and the gesture seemed to work. “I am simply… conducting a survey. How would you rate my heroic experience? ‘Very satisfied, very, very satisfied, extremely satisfied?’”

The man thought on this very hard before looking up. “Just very. It was fine, but the aftermath sucked because I never got any food.”

Donnie grimaced. “And how is that my fault?”

The man rebuffed the indignity with one of his own. “I don’t know. You’re the hero! Sure, you saved me, but you could stick around for clean up more!”           

“That’s-” Donnie sneered. “We’re vigilantes! It’s illegal!”

“Nobody asked you to act outside the law.” The man shrugged, stepping back.

“You would literally be a battered if it weren’t for me!” Donnie seethed.

“I think I could have managed.” The man shrugged.

“Alright, alright!” Leo dropped down on the other side of the man. “We got his… response or whatever, time to go!”

The man gaped at Leo openly and then pointed. “You…”

“Yes, go on! More thank yous are in order?” Leo flicked his mask tails and waited for his praise.

“You’re the one that ran away with that other useless orange one!” The man gawked.

“Ran-!?” Leo seized up.

“Useless!?” Mikey’s voice echoed somewhere in the distance.

“Enough!” Raph dropped down behind Leo long enough to wrap an arm around him before shooting forward to snatch Donnie. “Thank you for your time, sir. Have an… ok day and maybe be less rude next time!” He parted the man with a final wave before soaring off back into the trees.

“Can you believe the nerve!?” Leo stewed as trunks flew around them.

“Let’s just-” Raph started as Mikey came into view and he dropped down beside him, depositing the other brothers. “He’s a jerk; people can be jerks!”

“Ungrateful!” Leo barked, storming in a small circle.

“Ingrate.” Donnie corrected, shaking his head free of the situation.

“Tell me he’s not your person?!” Leo looked to Donnie with pleading eyes before sweeping them to the left and talking out the side of his mouth. “Though he does match your personality.”

Donnie seized up for a moment before forcing the irritation out in one quick tensing of muscles. “No, he’s not my person.” Even with the exercise in restraint, the phrase still came out from beneath clenched teeth.

“Was there like a sign?” Mikey wondered, stepping forward to examine Donnie.

Donnie evaluated the youngest evenly for a moment before watching over the reel of the interaction again. He looked down at his hand and almost thought he saw an apparition of a translucent one over it. Turning the green appendage over, he seemed to remember his brother’s presence and looked up. “I think… I need to touch them?”

“That helps. So we got something to go off of!” Raph nodded, staring down at Donnie’s hand.

“You could probably get away with a little New York bump here and there instead of having to chat each person up.” Mikey bobbed with excitement.

“It’ll be a little touch and go for awhile, but at least we’ll be able to knock out the list!” Leo leaned forward with a bright smile.

The other brothers stood caught for a second before Donnie dispelled it. “Alright then, gentlemen! Shall we continue?” Tapping his cuff, he brought up a digital display of the list and the others crouched in close to see.

-

He had fulfilled his touch quota for a lifetime.

Donnie assumed he looked the definition of haggard, but couldn’t find the strength to glimpse himself in a mirror, front facing camera, or any of the like.

The past month had been an agonizing exercise in trials and tribulations. If he ever had so much of an inkling to take the most inane sample audience and test them against one of the most unknown variables of all time again, he now knew for a fact that he would take dip in a vat of slugs instead. Dragging a hand over his worn face, Donnie tried to force himself upright. The table he collapsed against wasn’t inviting in the slightest, but his plastron didn’t seem to care. Sighing, he relented and keeled over until his face pressed against the surface as well. There was a faint trace of stickiness that made his skin crawl, but even then he couldn’t bring himself to adjust. Instead he laid his arm cuff in front of his eyes and pressed the display on with his nose. It slowly ran a calculated cycle through the hundreds of red checkmarks that signified each and every failure. It was the digital count of exactly 1037 New Yorkers that were not this fabled person.

Groaning until the screen went to sleep, Donnie gave a slow blink. He could see the cycling of the different categories of people he had been forced to interact with. There was a good portion that fell under the header that Leo had frustratingly been able to make stick as the ‘touch and gos.’ They were the cleanest bunch data-wise by far in that he’d been able to tap them in passing and move on. Donnie had almost refined his technique to the point that he considered himself the candidate for a great life in pickpocketing were that something he’d want to cultivate. It had also helped, for once, that his brothers had made it into a game. They silently bet on whether or not a target would take notice as they were tapped in passing on the street. It was a nice little bolster to Donnie’s ego, not that he’d admit it.

From there, were the slew of typical New York talk-backs. They’d feel the touch and gripe loudly about it in a stereotypical confrontational manner. Donnie’s reactions depended on his mood. Either way he’d end up exercising a gross misuse of his skills whether it was to disappear without a trace or let off a little steam in a quick show of strength. His brother’s opinions on those interactions broke apart in a lazy divide.

After that came those who had to be creatively handled. They were a subset of persons that rarely allowed themselves open interaction on the street. It had been a fun utilization of Donnie’s costumed wardrobe that he rarely got to pedal out. In a play of sorts, he’d assumed the role of everything from bodega clerk to a businessman. There had been another split amongst the peanut gallery, but this time it was more for Donnie’s performance and less about the morality of his actions. The acting portion had been more of a distraction to the task at hand, but as time had worn on, it was almost necessary.

Though his brother’s would deny it until their last breath, Donnie saw that they were exhausted with the mystery. They vehemently stayed by his side out of a obligation he understood; if it was any of them that were cursed to find some person who was mystically calling out, he’d want to be right there whenever the exchange finally occurred. They had been through too much together to not worry about what could be any of a million outcomes.  Still, filtering through a thousand people while also still maintaining their protectors of New York status stole away almost all their free time. When they’d checked the final person off in the wee hours of this same morning and found it to be another failure, the drop in morale had been palpable. Donnie loved them unquestionably, but watching the mixture of reactions from Raph’s weary pity to Mikey’s near tears was something he wished he could have shooed them off from. It was Leo’s look especially that still haunted Donnie; that let down of what should have been something of a Holmesian fallacy, but there was just a shred in Leo’s eyes that doubted the whole thing. If Donnie were in his brother’s place, he knew he’d feel the same. This intangible haunting occurring was something he’d love to write off too. Unfortunately, in addition to the ghostly reminder, there was this  inexplicable ache in his chest that he had yet to solve.

In the end, Leo had called for a temporary parting to give Donnie his space. It had stung in its own way even if he had been about to ask for it. They all had heavy bags darkening their eyes and the weight of the supposedly loss was excruciating. All the time sunk with no apparent cost in sight. In another slow blink, he saw flickers of how he assumed they were. Mikey was presumably conked out after making breakfast for the others. Raph was either mediatating or in bed himself and Donnie just knew Leo was doing his own research. It had been something he’d caught an inkling of about halfway through the list. Leo seemed to know a little more about the target then the manifest noted. Donnie could almost laugh at the double standard. Leo was surely breaking some kind of law to get his information. Frowning, it was another similarity between the two had the shoe been on the other foot.

Bringing his lids up, the futility of the whole thing hung around Donnie’s neck like a noose. He wondered if he tried to file the problem away again if that mysterious entity would fling him back to that strange field. He’d idly tried to place it one sleepless morning, but they were indistinct grasses native to so many Asian regions that it left him with an exhaustive search area. It didn’t quite feel ethereal either and he didn’t want to begin to count the options if mystic realms were involved. Donnie debated the lesser of two evils between ignoring the headings of a mystic entity or asking Leo for help when between blinks a to-go coffee cup appeared between his face and his arm. The generic cup’s pale appearance was just jarring enough that it brought his head up.

“Sorry, um…!”

Giving the cup one last linger glance, he dragged his eye line up to the source of the voice.

You jolted as eye contact was established. “…How do I say this?”

He arched a brow.

“You looked like you needed a pick me up!” Your body bobbed as you brought your fists up in weak assurance.

You weren’t wrong. Donnie looked back down to the drink. He had almost forgotten he had wandered into a coffee shop in his defeated stupor earlier. It was surprising no one had thrown him out sooner. He had basically been darkening this corner spot for what felt like hours without purchasing anything.

“It’s just drip, but if you don’t like that I can get you something else.”

What an attentive stranger. Swinging his gaze back up, he evaluated you closely. You didn’t seem to work here, so you weren’t taking pity on him in that sense. Instead you looked a sort of put together version of someone who rolled out of bed. It was early, there were any number of possibilities for your attendance. “What roast?”

That probably wasn’t the kindest thing to say to someone who just bought you a drink.

“House…?” You straightened your back and tried to hide the way you looked out of the corner of your eye to catch a glimpse of the menu board.

Donnie chuckled. “That should be fine. Thank you.”

Turning and confirming to himself that the interaction was saved, Donnie palmed the coffee. Through the sleeve, the warmth tickled at his palm. He almost smiled as he brought it to his lips and took a sip. It was just a touch burnt, but it went down smooth enough that his shoulders relaxed. Staring out the window at those passing by, he noted that his emotional bar had ticked a little bit closer to neutral. That was as much as he could ask for with the looming preparations for a whole new set of search criteria. Who was he if he gave up against insurmountable odds? That was just every other day for him. Eyes drifting shut, he thought on how much a few sips of caffeine had affected him and how food would surely compound the effect.  

“Of course, you’re busy… or tired…”

You were still here; that was odd. Against his lids protest, Donnie opened his eyes again. Though blurry, he instantly made out a hand reaching towards his cup. His nerves tried to seize up, but it was too late. He really was off his game.

“I just wanted to thank you. Have a good day.”

He watched as your hand finally made it through the motions and gave the back of his the slightest brush with your fingertips.

Donnie wasn’t even sure he blinked when he felt the oddly familiar rush.

“Something this good should be savored!” Doremi threw up their chin, moonlight gleaming ethereal as their hair flittered around the motion.

“So it was good?” Shion looked down at his threaded hands to keep from staring any longer. He smiled to himself as the image had indeed burned itself into his mind.

“Of course, I mean, you got it for me!”

Coming out of the vision, Donnie spun out of his stool so fast his knees harshly slammed into the underside of the table. The sound was loud enough that several people looked on curiously as he watched you push open the café door. “Wait!!!”

You slowed, one foot still lifted.

Against stinging limbs, Donnie freed himself from his seat and staggered over. “It’s you!”

“Yeah?” You wondered, your brows traveling as far north as possible.

“You! I found you! Well you found me, but-” The feeling was overwhelming; he felt a thousand fireworks go off in his chest and it translated down his appendages. The radiating excitement converted into kinetic energy and before he could register what he was doing he scooped you up. You squealed at the motion and he sort of registered something falling to the floor as he spun you around.

“Stop! What!?” He could feel your protesting and finally the action caught up with his mind.

“Oh.” He set you down and surveyed the damage. It was your coffee that had been knocked to the ground and it’s leaking contents soaked through the pastry bag lying in its wake. Coming up with a sheepish bob of his shoulders, he noted the confused fear scrunched up in your features and body language.

That was certainly the right reaction to what just happened.

“I know how this looks…” He began.

“You-” You choked on the sound as an employee headed towards you.

Donnie watched you catch sight of them and then the unmistakable glance you then made to the door.

You weren’t on the list.

You were about to leave.

“Please.” He resisted the urge to step further into your space and trigger any more discomfort. “I know that was erratic and uncalled for, but there’s…” He trailed off realizing that he had no way of trying to explain to what was presumably a regular New Yorker something he barely understood himself. He shook the thought off and pleaded with his gaze. “I can’t explain it, but if you wouldn’t mind sparing some of your time. I’ll buy you another coffee and whatever else it is that I accidentally ruined… Just… If you could?”

Still curled in a defensive position you scanned his gaze for a long moment then took in his body language.

The employee appeared with a miniature mop cart. “Hey, you two alright?”  

Donnie swallowed hard in an attempt to keep himself from taking control of the situation. He’d already crossed a line and, though it pained him to no end, he needed you to decide.

Your brows came together as you debated and you knealt down to pick up the cup. “Sorry about this.”

Donnie could feel his chest tightening as the employee clearly took note that their question was dodged.

“It’s alright. We have spills all the time.” The employee ducked down near you and though they dropped their voice, his ears still picked up what was said next. “Are you ok? I can stall him if you need to leave.”

The part of indignity it served him was harshly undercut but how much he deserved that. Stepping back to give the two more breadth, Donnie glanced at his forgotten coffee.

“I’m… alright actually. Thanks for your help.”

That vibrating excitement returned, but this time Donnie shoved it all the way down to his feet. He kept his chin stiffly set in its turn so as not to alert you that he was listening in. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw you rise up and give him a look that said you knew regardless.

“If you need anything else, I’ll be at the counter when I finish up here. How about  a replacement?”  The employee discarded the trash and moved to prepare the mop with a placed sign.

“That’s alright. He’s got it.” You tipped your head, pointedly staring at Donnie.

“Yes.” He hoped the excitement in his voice was kept to a decent level. “Order whatever you want.”

You moved back to the counter and he followed behind making sure to maintain a safety bubble of distance. You ordered and with a sly look added on a breakfast sandwich that could not have fit in the bag he saw. He could appreciate that you took advantage of the situation.

“You should get something to eat too.” You noted, giving him a flicking once over.

“Can we saw low blood sugar is to blame?” He bobbed his head at you before turning to the cashier. “I’ll have one of the same.”

“Not a chance.” You hummed and watched as he paid. You both traveled back to where he had been sitting at the window and slipped onto the stools facing one another.

Palming his lukewarm coffee, Donnie chose to drink the liquid with only a minor sneer.

“So… Did you mistake me for someone else or…?” You craned an elbow to the table and rested your cheek against your hand in lazy wait.

He forced the kickback burn of his drink down and chased it with a gulp of oxygen. “Something like that?”  He followed it up with a wincing smile.

You seemed less than enthused.

“I want to explain, trust me, but it is…” He looked between the cup and you before setting it down. “You can trust me when I say it’s a complicated ordeal.”

You softened up a bit. “I guess that comes with the mutant hero territory?”

“Very much so.” He nodded approvingly.

You gave your own nod and the silence laid over the moment like a blanket.

With part of his mind still trying to find a suitable explanation for the mystic events, Donnie set a little processing power to some of the other unknowns from this chance meeting. “You said you wanted to thank me?”

“Oh… Yeah…” You tightened up in your stool and your arm fell from your face. “I was… uh…”

“At the food truck event?” He offered, using a sip from the cup as a means to hide his curiosity.

You snapped to attention. “Do you remember me from there?”

“Sadly, no.”

“But you-?”

“Order up!”

You both moved to get it, but you raised your hand. “Let me.”

Donnie nodded and watched as you slipped off your stool. You grappled slightly with the multitude of bags and to-go cup, but managed the handful and brought it back over. As if laying out a bounty, he smiled as you lined everything up and then slid his wrapped sandwich over like it was a payment for some misdeed.

“There were a lot of people there that day.” Donnie remarked as he picked at a sticker sealing the wrapping.

“It was crazy.” You huffed, taking a swig from your cup. “All that oil!”

“Which truck were you trying to order from?” Finally freeing his sandwich, he surveyed it before taking a handful. How you had fallen through the cracks of his pristine list making reared its head as an assaulting high priority.

“None of them!” You chuckled, mimicking his move with your food.

He froze, mouth still open from the bite he was about to take. “Then how?”

“How…?” You lead, watching him out of the corner of your eye as you kept your attention on your sandwich.

His lips made a thin line. “How were you there? Where were you?”

“Where was the event held?”

Your sudden airy attitude irked him. “In a plaza by the park.”

You nodded and took your first bite.

He watched you chew and then lolled his head back as he realized. “You were in the park.”

“Bingo.” You pointed at him with one finger that popped up from the bread.

“Where Meat Sweats was tossed into.” Donnie grumbled, vexation growing. “The park! Why didn’t I add that to my calculations!? It’s so obvious!”

He could feel amusement pouring off of you as you continued your meal.

Remembering his own, Donnie took a bitter bite of his sandwich. He paused as the flavors hit his tongue and with each subsequent chew his anger slowly dissipated. His earlier food assessment had been correct at least. He needed a little win.

“Calculations, ‘I found you,’ ‘sadly, no.’” You listed off before taking a sip of coffee.

Donnie stiffened as he realized where you were going.

“Think of a way to explain it yet?” You turned to him finally. “Why you were looking for me?”

He absolutely did not.

“You won’t believe me.” He left the last half of his sandwich and turned to you in show of opening up. “I still don’t quite understand.”

“You know…” You trailed off and gave a lingering glance to the window. “I have the day off. I think I have time for a crazy story.” You turned back to him with a bright smile.

For a moment, Donnie swore he saw gigantic golden eyes. It immediately disappeared, but spurned him to sink down in his stool. “If you insist…”

He went on to explain the past month leaving out very little detail as the story went on because the treading emotions crested as he recounted them. He had heard tale of how easy it could be to share a secret with a strange and while that rung true to a point, part of him intrinsically felt like he knew you. He also couldn’t shake the unmistakable flicker of joy in watching you. It stemmed from some deep recess of his psyche in a way that almost felt foreign. An never-ending line of people came and went with their orders. At some point you broke out a muffin and nibbled on it. Cups were drained and new ones were ordered by the time he caught up to the present.

Setting down your second cup, you had a haggard look on your eye. “That…”

“Yeah.” Donnie commiserated, sipping a fresh coffee.

“It’s a lot…” You swallowed hard.

“Yeah.” Setting his cup down, his eye chased it.

He wouldn’t blame you if you left now. At least he had gotten his chance.

In his periphery he watched you shake your head before bringing an arm up. It raked through your hair and stayed atop your head as you weighed the hefty connotations. The stretch pulled at your t-shirt and he caught a glimpse of a bit of color.

That little flicker exploded into a full blown flame.

“What’s that?” He pointed, glad he’d had freed his hands up.

“What’s what?” You murmured beside your arm. You followed his eye line and strained to see from your awkward angle. “Oh!” Finally bringing the limb down, you turned it towards him and rolled up your sleeve. “It’s my tattoo!”

His tongue went dry.

Skirting along your shoulder, a orange and white koi fish swam freely from somewhere behind your back and down your arm. Little droplets of water punctuated it’s lazy trek and shimmering scales reflecting in fine needlework.

A single chuckle escaped his lips.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always liked koi. I don’t know what it is, you know?”

Another single chortle.

“Woah! You ok?”

A few more dribbled bits of laughter came off his lips before the wetness chased them. Bringing a hand up, he touched the tears and could feel they weren’t his. As that recessed emotions gained form, he could feel someone else. They were both him and not at the same time. Their joy was so overwhelming. The crashing sensation brought forth more laughter to him. He wrapped his hands around his plastron to keep himself together. It wasn’t that he thought he was splitting, but it felt like there was too much inside for one body to contain. Outright sobbing and uncontrollably cackling, Donnie felt his consciousness pulled deep inside. In a dark space, his body seemed to free float and he watched that translucent man from the field appeared with a smile and tears on his own face. It was the first time Donnie had seen him so clearly, but at the same time he felt as though he'd always known. He gave Donnie a single nod before reality crashed back around him.

Donnie looked up through bleary eyes to find you had one hand on his shoulder and the other at his cheek.

He leaned your palm and tapered off the giggles until they formed a bright smile.

Mikey was right.

He’d have to tell him that later.

He’d have to tell them all about their fates later.

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah…?” You seemed pale and confused.

In this reality that made sense.

You couldn’t know.

At least, that wasn’t part of the deal.

Right?

“Can I ask you something that’s going to sound ridiculous?”

“I… guess?” Your voice peaked with frazzled worry.

“Have you ever wanted to eat koi?”

Your first reaction was to shake your head into a rollback of confusion.

Then there was a spark.

A blink and he would have missed it moment where something seemed to click; a hue of gold appeared to spin in your iris before disappeared. A single tear ran down your cheek and he watched as an odd calm seemed to wash over you. The hand on his shoulder left him before you brought it to touch the droplet in a similar manner as he had just done. Looking at it curiously, there was none of the similarly overwhelming follow-up that he had endured, but he didn’t want that for you.

“N-no.” You choked out, your voice thick. “I don’t think I have…”

He nodded and reached up to gently remove your hand from his cheek. He held it in his palm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“What just happened?” You sounded breathless.

“Something a long time coming.”

It was slow, but through your conjoined hands, he felt you shake. He looked up in time to watch stifled laughter bubble up in you. He watched fondly as you shook what was certainly the exhausting length of emotions off before looking at him with lingering snickers. “What luck!”

If you liked this, there will be a whole list of behind the scenes notes posted on the membership tier of my ko-fi!

[fashionteahouse]

The Other Woman - Paul x reader

It was Friday night, but you didn’t have any plans. Your boyfriend, Paul, had a late shift, leaving you listening to music in your headphones and doodling to past time.

You feel your phone buzz and read the new message you received from Leah.

Lee💜: “wyd”

You: “staring into the void”

Lee💜: “My dad is making me come to this bonfire. Please crash🙂‍↕️”

You actually consider, since you’ve never been to a bonfire before. You only heard about them and seen them on television, they looked and sounded fun.

You: “sureee 🫡”

You both make plans to meet at the beach. She’s there waiting for you and you two embrace. You see Seth helping their mother carry , Sue, a couple of dishes for the event.

“Y/N! I..wasn’t expecting you to be here!” Harry Clearwater says, trying his best to mask his feeling of being caught off guard by the sight of you. You almost miss it but you’re not sure why he would be surprised to see you and Leah together, since you two were close.

“Hi, Harry! Leah invited me.” You chuckle in response.

His eyes narrow with a slight glare at his daughter, but his tone don’t match the stoic look on his face, “Oh did she? Well, hope you enjoy the stories we are going to tell.”

You like stories, so you reward him with a polite smile. You and Leah banter as you two make your way to the fire. But your heart leap in your chest.

You see Paul having a in-depth talk with Sam away from the crowd’s earshot, too focused to notice your arrival, but reassure yourself that he must’ve gotten off work early.

“why wouldn’t he tell me though?”

You thought to yourself. It itches your brain but did everything you could to suppress this such thought. You and Paul were good. You were sure of it. 6 months in, he was your best friend; joined at the hip ever since he asked you out on a starry night.

You decided to stall and not let him know that you’re there, so you can surprise him. You join Leah in scaring Seth with a worm, while it lies on a stick, oblivious to the boy running and warning both you.

Seth bumps into a dark long haired woman, who whips around in annoyance since she almost stumbled to the ground. “Geez Seth, calm down will you?” she says to him.

“Sorry Rach! Okay fun times over and Leah just wait I’ll get you back when we get home!”

Leah just snickers, not taking the threat from her little brother seriously, sticking out her tongue in a playful manner. She shifts her attention to the girl before her, her face unfamiliar to you.

“Hey girl, since when did you get into town?” Leah asks and slings her arm around the girl’s shoulder.

“About a day ago. Had to settle in. I see nothing’s changed since I left.” she rolls her eyes while giggling. You two lock eyes.

“Who’s this?” Rachel asked.

“Oh! This is Y/N. She’s cool peoples. Just moved into town a year ago. This is Rachel, Jacob’s older sister.” Leah confirms.

You sport a friendly smile and extend your hand, “Nice to meet you!”. Rachel pretends like she doesn’t see your hand and opts for a friendly hug.

You didn’t know she was so nice.

You three walk to get some food until Jacob calls Rachel over which makes her groan dramatically, and sees what her brother wants.

Them two talk while you and Leah go for the food that you two know for a fact Sue brought. As you were going to the cooler to look for a drink to go with your paper plate of baked ziti, you look up to ask Leah if she wants a drink, only to find Rachel and Paul now conversing.

You couldn’t help but notice the pair’s distance being closer than you would like them to be. You known Paul to be protective, even his possessive said secretly turned you on. This was all new.

Rachel’s blushing couldn’t be helped, Paul was a handsome man. He knew the right words to say, his smile was worth millions.

Leah snapped you out of your observation by pointing which log to sit; her father waiting patiently for everyone to finally get situated.

Rachel and Paul were the last to join. But when he finally realized your presence, instead of giving you your favorite smile he gives every time he sees you, his expression looked as if he’s seen a ghost. Rachel puts a lock of hair behind her ear and claims the seat next to you, with Leah on the other side telling Quil how his jokes aren’t funny.

Billy Black, Jacob’s dad, starts off the stories with Harry following up with a tale of soulmates. Imprinting is what they called it.

The stories were long. And to be honest, you barely paid attention. You mind can’t stop thinking about the site you saw earlier. Paul was your boyfriend but it felt like you were intruding on something you weren’t supposed to.

With the fire dying down and everyone relaxed from the stories, people start to clean up and wrap up their night. Some making plans for what to do next, since it was a weekend.

Your plan was to go home and pretend that this night has never happened.

“Hey! Let me get your number.” Rachel says, with her eyes filled to the brim with kindness.

You quickly give it to her and gun straight for your car.

You felt a warm hand touch your arm, at the same time you touch your car door.

“Don’t go.” His voice says to you.

You close your eyes in defeat. “I’ll see you tomorrow” you tell him.

“No. I mean- I have to talk to you. About something.”

“Paul I really just want to go-“

“Y/N please.”

The persistence in his voice makes you reconsider. It makes you want to listen to what he has to say.

“Someone covered my shift..I was going to tell you but.. we weren’t allowed outsiders in this bonfire.”

You scoffed, “Since when was I an outsider?”

“I don’t mean it like that. The legends..I mean the stories, they’re sacred to the tribe. This one was supposed to be small and intimate, I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you I swear.”

“I got to meet Rachel.” You went straight to the point.

“Yeah. She just got back into town. Jared’s having a little after thing at his place. I was gonna bring you to that. Wanna come?”

You shake your head. “I’m good. I’ll text you tomorrow.”

He was going to press on but you already opened the car door and sat in the driver’s seat.

He reached in to give you a peck but you duck your head and pretended like turning the key in the ignition was the most interesting thing in the world. You avoided looking at him because you knew it only took one look to give into him.

The next day, your feelings were hurt. You thought sleep would take it away but it was the one thing that your mind always went back to.

Paul came by in the afternoon. Your parents were at the grocery store, and you two sat on the porch swing.

“Y/N.” he says and you look at him.

“I have something to tell you.” he announces.

“Has this have anything to do with Rachel?” you ask with insecurity getting the best of you.

He shakes his head and clenches his jaw and hesitates to say this next thing.

“We have to break up.”

You stand up but he’s in front of you. Too fast. “I’m not seeing someone else. I can’t date you anymore.”

“Why-“ you choke out.

He stares at the ground, hurt is in his voice as well, “Because..I’m fucked up. If I could take this back I swear I would. It’s not even you. It’s ME.” he finishes.

“Yea, like I’m supposed to believe that. You waste my time! You know what? You are right! You are FUCKED UP and you MAKE ME SICK.” You push pass him and slam the front door.

Paul stares at the door. The thing that’s distancing from you two. There’s just no way he could’ve told you he was a werewolf, shapeshifter, or whatever the fuck this was.

Little did you know, this was the moment he had been avoiding. With Sam on his hills and now finding out that Rachel was his soulmate, he knew he couldn’t hold onto you any longer.

He would do anything to go back to how things USED to be. When you two would banter about which class subject was easier, english or math. He wanted to go back to picking you up and detouring to get breakfast before school, both of you not caring if you were late. He wanted to go back to the cheesy dates and the phone calls that lasted until both of you fell asleep.

But he knew that door solidified the ending of you two.

He turns from the door in shame and descends into the woods and has no choice but to let his new life succumb

[syn4k]

Two Idiots, One Body | Start • Previous • Ao3 Link • Next (Coming Soon!)

Iskall woke up with a yawn and a tired grumble into the blankets still tucked up to his chin, eyes still shut as she rubbed them into functioning. Today there was important work to be done- the gathering of enchanted books, the formation of farms, and, most importantly, the annoying of Beef, assuming he was online at all. 

Opening his sleepy eyes to get them acclimated to the early morning light, Iskall shut them temporarily a moment more before suddenly sitting upright and looking around wildly. 

"This is Beef's house," she said out loud, getting out of bed as quickly as his legs would allow without collapsing under her torso. "This- what? Dude. What?"

Confused as fuck, Iskall wandered around Beef's house, absently taking note of how nice it was. The kitchen was well-planned and well-cleaned, there was a little hallway up to the stairs, and the living room was tastefully decorated and thoughtfully arranged, if not exactly to Iskall's taste. 

The main question here, obviously, was how the fuck he'd gotten here, because unless she'd gotten blackout drunk or something, Iskall definitely had not gone anywhere near Beef's house yesterday except for to sneakily replace a block or two in the floor. Which was concerning. 

Come to think of it, thought Iskall now, making the split second decision to borrow one of Beef's glasses and a little of his milk to sip as he took a seat at the dining table, she didn't remember anything of yesterday. Or at least he was pretty sure it was yesterday. Yeah, the server had started yesterday on Monday. Today was Tuesday, right? 

He pulled out his phone to check the date. It was Wednesday. 

Well, shit. 

Several people had also messaged her to let him know that Beef had been online yesterday and she had completely missed it. 

Well, shit! 

<Iskall85> stress  <Iskall85> did i get really stupidly drunk yesterday and do something that i'm going to regret once i remember what it is  <Stressmonster101> idk did u? <Iskall85> IM BEING SERIOUS  <Mumbo> Mate you weren't even online yesterday  <Mumbo> are you ok  <Iskall85> i think i might need to see a doctor for memory issues  <Docm77> what kind of doctor lol  <Iskall85> NOT YOU  <PearlescentMoon> wow 

With a sigh, Iskall stood up and walked out of the door. There was only one person he could think of who could help her solve this mystery. 

-- 

"Nope," said Xisuma, eyes unreadable behind his helmet as he scrolled back through several days' worth of server logs. "No teleportation commands have been used on either you or Beef since you joined. I have no idea how you ended up in his house." 

"Well, that's just great," sighed Iskall, one hand placed on his hip in habitual annoyance. "I can't even ask him what's going on because he's not online right now!" 

"Hm," said X, tone indicating that his mind was drifting elsewhere at the moment. "You said you'd only visited once?"

"Yes, yesterday," said Iskall. "To fix his house. The whole thing is really weird, man. I woke up in his bed." 

X glanced over at her, and Iskall realized too late that he might have said too much. "You woke up in his bed without realizing how you got there," he said, deadpan. 

Iskall had to fight to maintain eye contact. "Yes," she said. "I swear it's not what it looks like. Come on," he added, finally breaking composure and snickering into one hand, "we hate each other, dude." 

Xisuma sighed. "I'm not calling you a liar, Iskall," he said. "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on here. Whatever you two have going on is," he waved one gloved hand vaguely in the air beside him, "none of my business." 

Iskall groaned in sudden realization. "Wait. Oh no. Now everybody's going to think we're together! X. I-sooma. You need to do me a favor." 

"I need to do you a favor?" asked Xisuma, raising one eyebrow. 

"Yes," said Iskall, leaning forwards desperately. "If anyone, ANYONE asks about me and Beef, please tell them that we have nothing to do with each other. We are not together. We haven't even been online at the same time. Please. Grian would never shut up about it." 

X blinked twice, assuming the exact air of a lizard who had just walked outside into the middle of a hurricane expecting its natural habitat of the desert. "Ok." 

Iskall clapped her hands and rubbed them together, standing up. "Okay. Great. Thanks a million, man. I need to get home before my cookies burn. Bye!" 

"Good luck," X called after him as she ran out of the door, sighing as it closed behind him with a slam. Sometimes he really wondered how he ended up in this situation. 

"Would've been nice to be an admin for a normal Minecraft server, you know," he grumbled to nobody in particular as he leaned back in his chair and took a second glazed look at the admin console that was still pulled up in front of him. "If those even exist." 

-- 

Iskall hummed to herself as he hammered a sign directly into Beef's nice shiny hardwood floors, the surface of it still shining with fresh black paint. She figured that if he was going to not even bother to be on at the same time as him, she may as well leave a message while he was at it. 

Noticing a typo, Iskall quickly painted over it in red paint, then stepped back to admire his work. Hallo Beef, the sign read. Where are you? We keep logging on at different times. We should coordinate something. Your loving neighbour, Iskall. 

With a stretch and a yawn, she walked out of the house, not bothering to shut the door behind him. Beef would be online to shut it tomorrow, if present trends persisted. Besides, her head was starting to go all foggy. Iskall figured it was time for a quick afternoon nap. He just hoped she didn't miss anything.

[audioaujom]

Demetrius v. Robin

Stardew Hub, < prev, next >

Proud member of the Demetrius hate club!! Lmao jk, he has just always kinda rubbed me the wrong way and I don't like the way he interacts with Sebastian in canon. Guess it just makes me wonder, and when I wonder bad things usually happen lmao

Word Count: 1464

Chapter TWs: Abusive language/behavior

--

“Hey Maru, what do you think of my snow goons?” Stepping back from the carefully shaped lumps of snow and jagged sticks, Sebastian grinned as he called out for his half-sister across the yard.

“Don't mean you snowmen—” Maru started to correct, cutting herself off as she turned and saw the monstrous creations in front of him. “Oh. No, yeah, those are snow goons.”

“Do you like them?” 

“No, they're ugly.” She laughed, rolling her eyes and going back to carefully arranging the stones to make a smile on her much more traditional-looking snowman.

“C’mon, they're not that bad!” Sebastian whined, approaching her to stand and watch over one of her shoulders. “It’s all a part of their charm.”

“I bet they have very nice personalities.” Maru commented carefully, watching as Sebastian’s jaw dropped in feigned angry shock from the insult.

“This is beginning to border on slander, which I did not ask for.” 

Maru turned around to look at him, head cocked to the side with a small smirk. “But you did ask for it.”

Sebastian frowned, brows furrowed. “That’s it.” 

Maru opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a face full of snow, looking to see Sebastian bent down and packing together another snowball to throw at her with a grin. She smiled as well, immediately reaching for the nearest patch of snow to return fire.

Robin was kneeling on the floor in the main room when Demetrius came in, holding a fire poker in one hand and a freshly cut log of firewood in the other. The fire in the fireplace was no more than a few flickering flames, her sighing in frustration as it didn't seem to be catching.

“Hey, I'm gonna head outside and check on the kids.” Demetrius informed with a smile, leaning down to give Robin a light peck on the cheek as she worked. “To see when they want dinner.”

“Thanks.” Robin smiled gratefully, stoking at the slowly dying fire. “You’re the best.”

Grabbing his puffy jacket from where it was hanging on the coat rack by the door, Demetrius stepped outside into the winter chill to see where his daughter and step-son had run off to since they ran outside to… play? He wasn't sure what they were doing, actually.

He never really knew what Sebastian was up to at any time, anyway.

The scene outside to a normal observer would have been rather domestic and cute, the half-siblings engaged in a wild snowball fight—snow sticking to their faces and hair as they laughed and ran around the yard like children.

But for Demetrius—

“What's going on out here?” His yell interrupted the two siblings, them both turning to look at him with matching startled expressions.

“Not much, I'm just absolutely owning Maru in this snowball fight.” Sebastian shrugged lightly, turning his attention back to the snowball in his hand that he then launched at Maru without any warning.

“No way! You're so cheating!” Maru complained, barely ducking out of the way before throwing her own held snowball back at him—which he dodged easily.

Demetrius sighed at their childish behavior, placing his hands on his hips as he tiredly asked, “Why are you two fighting, anyway?”

“She said my snow goons were ugly.” Sebastian crossed his arms, huffing as Maru puffed up in annoyance.

“Because they are ugly!” 

“I agree, and I think you should take those down before your mother sees.” Demetrius shook his head disapprovingly, gesturing at the set of snow goons as he said, “We wouldn't want anyone coming by the house and seeing… that.”

Maru’s expression dropped, the playful mood killed in an instant. “Wait, what?” 

“I'm not taking them down.” Sebastian frowned, levelly holding Demetrius’ gaze. “I made them for fun; what's the big deal?”

“The big deal is your attitude.” Demetrius’ gaze hardened into a glare, him stepping over to the nearest mound of snow with a confident, “If you won’t take them down, I’ll do it myself.”

“What— Hey!” Sebastian ran over as Demetrius kicked one of the creations over, his work boots splattering the carefully molded snow back into the yard.

“Don’t try and stop me, young man.” Demetrius warned as Sebastian got between him and the other snow goons, pissed.

“You’re being unreasonable!” 

“Who’s really the unreasonable one here?” Demetrius asked with a sigh, punching the bridge of his nose exasperatedly. “The one concerned about our family or the one mouthing off?”

“You’re such an asshole!” Any further complaint from Sebastian was cut off as Demetrius swung a backhanded slap at his face, sending him crashing to the ground of the front yard with a startled yelp.

“Dad!” Mary chastised, worry for her brother sending her running inside to find her mom. The other two didn't pay her any mind, too focused on each other to notice she left.

“You don’t get to talk to me that way!” Livid, Demetrius wound back for another hit only to be cut off by the front door opening and two figures running out to interrupt.

“Demetrius? What’s— Sebastian!” Robin immediately focused in on the fact her son was holding his face from where he was crumpled on the snow-covered lawn, running over and dropping to her knees to get a better look. “What happened, Sebby? Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Sebastian answered sourly, letting go of his face so his mom could see the bright red impact on his cheek. “Your shithead husband hit me for making snowmen.”

“Excuse me?” Torn between her bubbling worry and wanting to scold him for his language, she finally turned to Demetrius to ask, “Demetrius, is that true?”

“It was his fault for talking back!” Demetrius defended hotly. “I was simply concerned about our family's image—”

“Bullshit.” Sebastian growled from the ground, carefully standing back up to his feet to accuse, “You've always had it out for me!”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have had to ‘have it out for you’ if you didn't deserve it!” Demetrius fired back, Sebastian ready to continue the argument until he saw his mom stand up beside him and dust the snow off her jeans.

“How dare you speak to my son like that!” She yelled, stepping between the two men without missing a beat. “This type of behavior is not welcome in my house!”

“Don't be unreasonable, honey.” Demetrius’ anger instantly disappeared from his face as he stared at Robin, hands out as he tried to placate, “If he apologizes and offers to change his attitude, I'll—”

“There will be no such thing!” Robin didn't even let him finish, the two half-siblings sharing a glance of surprise as they'd never heard their mom this angry before. “You can find somewhere else to stay until I'm willing to talk to you about this!” She glared, before whirling around and hugging Sebastian over the shoulders worriedly. “Let's get you inside, Sebby. You too, Maru.”

Reeling from the shock of being kicked out so easily, all Demetrius could do was dumbly stutter out, “Why wouldn't she come with me?” 

“Cause I don't want to.” Maru answered immediately, gluing herself to Sebastian's other side as Robin guided them back into the house. “You’re acting crazy, dad. I'd rather stay with mom and Sebastian.”

Demetrius reached for his retreating family with one hand, the back of it tingling as none of them turned to look and disappeared inside.

“Maru, can you go grab your brother some ice?” Robin asked as she helped Sebastian out of his wet jacket and set him by the fire she’d barely managed to get roaring.

“I'm fine, mom.” Sebastian tried to protest, but the tame glare she sent his way had him swallowing the words back. “Nevermind.”

“Sorry, I'm not mad.” She apologized, sitting down next to him to put her head into her hands. “Well, I'm not mad at you.”

Sebastian chewed awkwardly on his bottom lip for a moment. “I'm sorry. It's my fault all of this started, if I'd just—”

“Nope. I won't hear it.” Robin cut him off with a firm shake of the head, gently reaching out to cup his uninjured cheek with one hand and giving him a soft smile. “We’ll figure this out, okay? But he is not allowed to treat you like that.”

At that moment Maru popped her head into the main room, one hand holding an ice pack from the freezer as the other gestured back over her shoulder towards the kitchen. “I brought some ice. I also put a pot of coffee on, it should be done soon.”

“Thanks.” Sebastian smiled up at her, taking the ice pack as Maru took a seat on his other side and the three slowly let themselves be warmed up by the steadily growing fire—and each other’s company.

[fardell24b]

Spider Quinn 11 The Huntsmans Part 1

11 The Huntsmans

“Good Morning, Students! I’m proud to announce that the annual La-awndale High Spelling Bee will be held this Friday!”

Quinn knew she was going to do well at the spelling bee. However, she didn’t expect that Sandi would sign up too. “What?”

“I can spell!” Sandi said.

“I know that,” Quinn said..

“But that’s not the reason why I’m signing up. That is because you’re doing it!”

“Really?”

“Yes!” Sandi said.

“That’s not a good reason!” Quinn objected.

Sandi turned away in a huff.

“I’ll show her!” Quinn declared as she headed towards the library.

Meanwhile Daria and Jane met up on the roof.

“Trent said you called last night,” Jane said.

“Yes,” Daria said. “It’s that I realised that we haven’t been meeting up outside of school for the past month and half.”

“That’s untrue,” Jane said.

“It is, since that Jenna visited you have been busy. First with your mother, which is reasonable, but now this project whatever it is, is taking up all your time.”

“I’m still working on it. It will probably go on indefinitely,” Jane said. “And don’t say you’re not busy. I know you helped Joey and Robert with their business plan.”

“But that doesn’t take up all my time.” Daria said with annoyance. “This is taking up all of yours.”

“Not all of my time,” Jane said.

“But a lot of it. Do you have anything to show for it.”

“I do, Morgendorffer. You can come over this afternoon, and I will show you something.”

“I’ll hold you to it,” Daria said. There was then some awkward silence.

‘What is going on with Jane?’ Daria wondered as she headed to her next class. She wasn’t sure. ‘I’m still grieving Dad. Not as much as Quinn, but…’ She looked at some of the other students as she passed them in the hall. ‘I’m sure most of them wouldn’t be like Jane was,’ she thought. She saw the girl, Anna, whom Quinn was mentoring, talking to the hypochondriac next to a couple of lockers. ‘Not them.’

“Quinn?”

Quinn turned from the dictionary she had been looking at. “Brittany?”

“I heard that Sandi had signed up for the spelling bee,” Brittany said.

“Yes. She’s being her spiteful self.”

“I can help.”

“Stacy and Tori will be here shortly,” Quinn responded.

“Oh, I’ll stay anyway.”

“Sure.”

“I also heard something on the radio about a cheerleading team going missing in Oakwood,” Brittany said.

“You can tell me more about it later.”

“Of course.”

Stacy and Tori found Quinn pouring over a dictionary.

“A A R D V A R K Aardvark.”

“What is this, Arthur?” Tori asked.

“The thought did pass my mind,” Quinn quipped.

“So, you want us to help you with the longer words?” Stacy asked.

“Yes,” Quinn answered.

“We can do that,” Tori said.

There was then a sound as Brittany fell, “Oops!”

“Brittany?” Tori asked.

“Sorry, I was looking for something high up,” Brittany answered.

“Oh,” Stacy said.

Half an hour later, SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon both left the school and headed towards the Creek.

“So, what is this about a cheerleading team that’s gone missing?” SpiderGirl asked, once they had arrived.

“The Honeybees, that is the North Oakwood High team were scheduled to arrive in Middlebury last night, but they didn’t show.”

“So, you want to investigate?”

“Yes,” Ninja Talon answered.

“It’s going to be difficult.”

“I know that there is wide countryside around Lawndale.”

“Yes,” SpiderGirl said.

“Maybe I could to suggest to Ms. Li that the Squad visit Middlebury High?”

“That’s an idea.”

“I’ll do it first thing tomorrow,” Ninja Talon said.

“In the meantime, I’ll see what I can find out online.”

Ninja Talon headed off home quickly, whilst SpiderGirl headed to the closest cybercafe.

Quinn couldn’t find much more than what she had been told. ‘Then I hope Brittany would be able to get to Middlebury tomorrow,’ she thought. She then accessed a forum she had frequented before her father’s passing.

Lawndale Local Web Forum

‘But which subforum?’ she wondered after she had logged in.

Latest News

‘That would work.’

There wasn’t anything. ‘Of course not! There hasn’t been enough time.’ But there were other forums she could check.

Oakwood Web Forum

She looked through the news section and found that there wasn’t much more than what Ninja Talon had said. ‘Right,’ she said as she sighed off.

SpiderGirl patrolled for an hour before heading home.

While she was doing that, Daria arrived at Casa Lane.

“Hey, Daria,” Trent said as she came in. “Janie is waiting in her room.”

“Thanks Trent.”

Daria entered Jane’s room.

“Hey, Daria.”

“So, what is this project that is taking up your time?” Daria asked.

“I have some of it right here,” Jane said. She then drew Daria’s attention to her easel. Where there was a map of Lawndale with various markers on it.

“So, all of Lawndale?”

“Yes, the streetscape of Lawndale, Jane Lane style!”

“I see,” Daria said. She looked at the map. There wasn’t any real pattern to the markers. “Looks rather random.”

“I have to start somewhere. I have done some sketches,” Jane said. She grabbed them from a drawer and gave them to Daria.

As Jane switched on Sick Sad World, Daria started going through the sketches. They were of the points marked out on the markers. She looked at the map again. ‘Here in Howard Drive.’ She thought. She saw that the corresponding sketch was of the thicket across the road where they had seen the flashing lights that week that Mr. DeMartino was mistakenly arrested. ‘Does she still think that was a UFO?’ She wasn’t sure. ‘Next one.’

It was right outside the school, looking east towards the Creek. Both had the usual Jane Lane flare. ‘No difference there.’ She continued through the various sketches.

“Still no pattern,” Daria murmured.

“What was that?” Jane asked.

“There doesn’t seem to be a pattern.”

“It’s art, there doesn’t have to be.”

“So, you’re just picking places in Lawndale at random?” Daria asked.

“I guess so,” Jane said in a strange tone.

‘She’s hiding something,’ Daria thought, but she didn’t really want to press. ‘I will find out at some point.’

“Mostly points of interest.”

“I can see how the woods across the road can be.”

“I haven’t seen any flashing lights there again,” Jane said.

“That’s good,” Daria commented. “So, there were other unusual happenings at these other places?”

“Yes,” Jane answered. “Inexplicable, hard to understand things.”

“Sounds more like a Spiral lyric.”

“I’ll be sure to tell Trent that.”

“But what are these things?” Daria asked.

“Various things. Sometimes it’s just places SpiderGirl was seen at. One time she was carrying a girl from Lawndale High,” Jane said. She took out a newspaper cutting and handed it to Daria.

It wasn’t anything she didn’t already know. ‘Wait! This is the girl Quinn’s tutoring, Anna, I’m sure it is.’ She wasn’t sure what to make of that. “So, this is what is taking up your time?” she asked.

“More or less,” Jane answered.

‘There’s still something she isn’t saying,’ Daria thought. But she still didn’t want to press, so they continued watching that episode of Sick Sad World in an awkward silence.

Quinn arrived home and turned on the TV in the loungeroom. Some game show was on, but she knew that the local news would be on after it.

However, the phone rang. “Hello?”

“Quinn! Is any one there?” Brittany asked.

“Mom’s not home and I don’t think Daria is either,” Quinn answered. “What is it?”

“More information about the missing team came on the radio,” Brittany added. “They were on their bus. It left Oakwood, but it didn’t arrive in Middlebury. The state police didn’t find any evidence that there was a crash on the interstate or other roads nearby.”

‘Sounds like she’s quoting the newscaster verbatum,’ Quinn thought. “So, the bus just disappeared.”

“Yes. They’re looking into the driver’s history, but…”

“That might be a red herring. It could be anything.”

“I’ll still see if the squad can go to Middelbury tomorrow,” Brittany said.

“Good, and I’ll try to get in touch with my LDPD contact tonight.”

“You have a contact in the Lawndale police?”

‘I bet she was twirling her hair as she does,’ Quinn thought. “More like an acquaintance,” she clarified.

“Ooh!” Brittany said. “Oh! Ashley-Amber’s here. See you tomorrow!”

Daria left Casa Lane shortly before five. She still wasn’t sure what was going on. All she knew was something to do with that project was taking up Jane’s time. ‘I hope that’s all it is,’ she thought.

“Something up, Janie?” Trent asked when Jane entered the kitchen and turned up the radio.

“I think Daria is suspicious,” Jane answered.

“In what way?”

“I’m not sure in what way! But she was looking at the map and the sketches. I told her the cover. But she wants to know more, I’m sure of it.”

“I don’t know. Maybe you should tell her,” Trent said.

“No! ‘Hey Daria, I have started going out into the night to protect people in Lawndale as a vigilante.’ She would think I was crazy.”

“If you put it that way.”

“I’m not going to tell her,” Jane said.

“News at Five. A cheerleading team from Oakwood is still missing despite police searches of the roads between Oakwood and Middlebury.”

“Missing cheerleading team?” Jane asked curiously.

“They are continuing their search throughout the county, and especially closer to Lawndale.”

“I have to find out more,” Jane said.

“Of course. But you can’t go out of Lawndale by yourself. ‘The Shadow’ hasn’t a vehicle.”

“I suppose we could find a way to disguise your car or the Tank.”

“Maybe, but that would take time,” Trent pointed out.

“Of course.”

Half an hour after dinner, SpiderGirl went on patrol, hoping to find Officer Peterson. She stopped at the courthouse clocktower. ‘But there hasn’t been any real pattern to our meetings,’ she thought. She looked around the various shops that surrounded the grounds of the courthouse. Most of them were closed for the night. One of the downtown pubs was doing frisk business. ‘Maybe if something happens, she would come,’ she wondered.

She didn’t have to wait long. She heard sirens to the east, over the Creek in Lawndale Flats. “Of course,” she groused, as she swung off in that direction.

Peterson saw SpiderGirl arrive at the scene. “Sorry SpiderGirl, it’s too late.”

“What happened?” the vigilante asked.

“There was a domestic dispute…” She answered, trailing off when she saw in her body language that the other knew what she meant.

“Right…” the other commented.

“So, the survivor is taken into custody and there are no minor’s present. There’s nothing else to do.”

The superhero was quiet for half a minute.

“SpiderGirl?”

“Anyway, I was wondering if you know more about that missing Cheerleading team than has been on the news.”

“I’m afraid not,” Peterson answered.

“I will investigate, but it will take some time.”

“The more people on the case, the better.”

SpiderGirl headed back across the Creek, to where she would usually meet Ninja Talon.

Trent entered Jane’s room to find that she had moved the map of Lawndale to her bed and was sketching a car on the easel. He could see that it was meant to be his Plymouth Satellite. “You’re designing a disguise?” he asked.

“Yes. I figured that your car would easier than the Tank.”

Trent laughed and coughed.

“And I’m sure it runs better too,” Jane added.

“One that is easy to apply and remove?”

“Of course.”

“Good,” Trent said.

“I don’t think this will be ready tomorrow. This is more long term.”

“Of course.”

SpiderGirl had waited for half an hour when Ninja Talon arrived. “I knew you would be here,” the latter said.

“My source said that they have no further information.”

“So, It’ll be up to me tomorrow?”

“Yes, unless the Shadow somehow knows,” SpiderGirl responded.

“Sure.”

They talked for a short while longer before going their separate ways again.

Lawndale Sun-Herald

Tuesday January 23, 2001

Cheerleaders From Oakwood Missing. Large Search in Progress

SpiderGirl put aside the paper. There still wasn’t anything else in the article compared to the news reports from the previous evening. ‘But maybe something will happen today.’ She then left the café and continued to school.

“Ms. Taylor?” Ms. Li asked upon seeing Brittany outside her office.

“I was wondering if the squad could go over to Middlebury in place of the missing team?” Brittany asked.

“I’ll have to think about it,” the Principal answered. She didn’t want to refuse right away without investigating the situation with the competition first.

“That’s OK.”

“I’ll let you know sometime in the day.”

Brittany nodded and left. “See you later. Ms. Li!”

Brittany ran into Quinn after Homeroom. “Ms. Li said that she would think about it.”

“That’s good,” Quinn responded.

“I’ll probably hear back from her by the end of the day.”

“I’ll be in the Library with Angie.”

“Of course,” Brittany said.

“Class, we’re going to engage in a journalism exercise over the next few days,” O’Neill said.

‘That doesn’t sound good,’ Daria thought.

“You will pair off and prepare for an interview in class on Friday, along with a report on the other person and their family.”

‘Still doesn’t sound good,’ Daria thought.

“I have prepared this box with all the names of the students in this class.”

‘That’ still not good.’

‘I will shake it up then draw out two names at once.”

[novantinuum]

wip ask meme: "taste of ordinary" chapter 3, "white noise," and also you know i've gotta ask about the ford in hyrule fic LMAO 💜

Thank you friends! Piling all these asks in here since many of you are curious about White Noise, ahah. Which is lucky, because that's one I am actively working to finish right now and finally got a proper title!

Aight lemme dust off my wips...

_

Taste of Ordinary Chapter 3:

Okay, so this one is like. Gosh. Portions of it are SUPER old, and that's why it's been taking me forever to finish it, but this story is overtly the first bit of SU fic I ever started to write, predating even Crack the Paragon. But the gist here for the final chapter is that- while Steven goes to spend the weekend with Connie in the hope of enjoying some Gem incident free time away from home- he's sorta hit with the realization that he'll never really be able to completely separate himself from this reality of his life. From the reality of all the consequences that his mother's war left for him.

I have a fun Steven and Connie solo (no CGs to help!) fight sequence planned for this chapter, because... well...

“Aww come on,” he whines, “another corrupted Gem now? Haven’t we bubbled like, a thousand billion of you already?” She shoots to her feet, already taking the offensive. “Um? Shouldn’t we—?” His lips press into a flat line. Deep inside, the months and months of repressed annoyance and stress and frustration coursing through his veins boil over. He extends his free arm and summons a large bubble to envelop the pair of them. Thoroughly satisfied, he situates himself on the log again and stubbornly crosses his legs. “Y’know, after all the days you corrupted Gems have interrupted my quality time, I’ve decided you can hold your horses!” he says with resolve, pausing to lick at his treat. “I’m finishing my ice cream first.” At his side, Connie pales. “What? Steven?!” The corruption howls, slamming her claws against the pink translucent barrier. “Oh, double-fudge rocky road,” he whispers, gently caressing the side of his waffle cone as he purposely tries to ignore the unholy racket outside his bubble. “You’re my only light in a world full of darkness…”

White Noise:

So, I don't want to give away TOO much of the actual body of this one, because it's not going to be a particularly long fic, but this is a sort of coda to the SUF episode In Dreams. I've had much of the dialogue sketched out since the night that episode aired, but just haven't gotten around to fleshing it out until now.

I think it also acts as a bit of a companion to my fic titled Second Skin, the one that explores Steven's growing understanding of his "pink mode" across the epilogue. There was once a time where I considered outright putting it in that fic, but I ended up scraping that idea because I wanted to maintain the (mostly) steady downward spiral of Steven's own mental state in that one, and this particular story ends on a rather sweet note. It just felt like it wouldn't fit, and deserved to be expanded into its own thing.

I will share a few snippits of dialogue. Some of it is already fleshed out, some of it is still just notes.

"So, have you always glowed pink in your sleep like that?"

“I don’t need to be fixed!” he insists, almost feeling sick to his stomach as that damned glowing pallor rises under his cheeks again anyways, a rote betrayal of all his futile claims. “Didn’t we just decide that’s the whole point of us hanging out now? That we don’t have to fix anything anymore?”

(Surprise hug.) “Steven? It’s okay if you’re not okay.” (She says it in such an understanding manner.) “Sometimes… I’m not okay either."

Ford In Hyrule:

I'd still like to do something with this at some point, because I feel like Ford getting hurled into Hyrule would be PRIME material.

But basically, this is an excuse to have a completely external to all the chaos character commentate on the wild Bullshit Hyrule is dealing with and be a nerd. I think Ford would totally geek out over guardians and ancient tech and do THE most dangerous shit to get his hands on ancient cores for his weapon design. With this crossover in mind, I have the silly thought that a giant ancient core actually ends up as the power source for his quantum destabilizer.

Here, have a bit of one of his journal entries:

Journal entry #8539 Day 2 At first glance, this world is a vessel of stark contrasts. A barren land, strewn with ruins of a civilization long past… and yet irrevocably alive. The wide bounty of wildlife, so similar to the creatures of my own dimension in form, are no doubt the true rulers of this place. Thick young-growth forests blanket these rolling hills all the way to the horizon, practically bursting at the seams with deer, wild boar, foxes, squirrels, and wolves. A diverse variety of avian species populate the vast skies. If I’m honest, such unfettered freedom amidst the local fauna is not a sight I often see in a lot of the more technologically advanced dimensions I frequent, and that saddens me. There’s just something so ephemeral and intimate about observing the daily routines of critters in their natural habitats. (And it’s a large reason why I began my cryptozoologic research in the first place.) Of course, as I mentioned briefly in my last entry, the crumbling remains of former houses, barracks, and marketplaces (among countless other facilities I cannot even begin to guess the purpose of) exist as gaping scars amidst this otherwise pristine wilderness. While the broad grasslands I currently traverse certainly seem peaceful on the surface, all the lingering rubble and rust paints a dire picture of this realm’s history. Dented, tarnished swords lay long-abandoned in the dirt. Scattered humanoid remains pepper the edges of settlements like garish confetti. Certain structures are now housed by small troops of tribal, flat-nosed creatures the likes of which I have never seen, a species which must be unique to this dimension. Since these were the first tool-wielding creatures I had encountered in this world, I briefly considered making contact to learn more about their customs and capacity for communication, but after observing their nature from afar for quite some time, I determined it unwise to approach. While seeming endlessly loyal to each other, this species quickly proved to be intensely territorial upon the approach of those who were not a part of their tribe. I watched them all take arms against a lizard-like creature who made the mistake of hunting too close. Suffice it to say, that lizard was not long for the world. I shan’t be making the same mistake.

[bedlamsbard]

Number 7 for the chose violence ask game?

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

This is an immediate and unhesitating Star Wars answer: Ahsoka.

so these days a lot of my annoyance is about the canon, but go back in time to 2015 when the Rebels S1 finale came out. at this point Ahsoka had not appeared in (real time) Star Wars canon since the first TCW series finale (this show has had three for various reasons), which aired in March 2013, which is actually not that long. (She showed up briefly in Yoda's vision when Lost Missions aired in 2014, the second TCW series finale.) From a 2023 perspective, two years is not that long, but it was 2015, okay. TFA had not yet come out. Rebels S1 had just aired. The decanonization of Legends wasn't even a year old yet; the amount of new (Disney) canon Star Wars was in the single digits. This was years before Disney+ or TCW S7 (the third TCW series finale) and live action Star Wars television was an oft-shotdown rumor (Star Wars Underworld, we remember you kindly).

Back in 2014 when they first announced Rebels, there was a lot of bitterness about it -- did they cancel TCW for this, why aren't any of these characters Ahsoka, could Sabine maybe be Ahsoka? (They first introduced her helmeted.) You can probably find some of this on my Tumblr if you go back far enough because I was also very wary at the time. All through when Rebels S1 was airing there was a lot of conversation about when or if Ahsoka was going to show up in a way you really wouldn't get today, because these days we're used to cameos and crossovers. When Fulcrum made their debut with the masked voice in Out of Darkness, people reverse-engineered that voice and did digital...stuff...to try and figure out if it was Ashley Eckstein voicing the character, because back then people immediately did assume that Fulcrum was Ahsoka. And then Fire Across the Galaxy came out, and Ahsoka actually did appear, and then the animated side of Star Wars fandom lost its fucking mind.

so you have to understand that a lot of TCW fans did not go over to Rebels when it first aired. many did, I was one of them, but a lot didn't because they were very angry about TCW being cancelled, about Ahsoka not being a main character, about Rebels' art style -- gods, that one had (and still has!) people furious. and then Ahsoka appeared in Rebels with her new design and people just LOST IT.

(not my edit)

people were FURIOUS she didn't like her TCW vision version -- like, you think the reaction to her live action appearance was bad? please, we were all dead inside by that point and inured to Star Wars' nonsense. I have seen some shit in the Star Wars fandom and the reaction to Ahsoka's Rebels redesign is way up at the top of the list. The shape of her lekku and montrals. The tiger striping on her lekku. The shape of her face. The way her facial markings changed. Her skin color. The one that always sticks in my head are the people who argued that because she was wearing a different headband Filoni and Co. had stripped her of her cultural identity as a Togruta. The list goes on. I swear to gods however bad you think it was from what I'm saying it was worse. No, worse than that.

That's just the aesthetic elements. What also happened as soon as she had appeared was people going "well, Ahsoka's here, so Kanan is obviously going to die," and this went on for ALL of the hiatus summer between S1 and S2, and ALL of S2. As many SW fen who follow me know, Kanan is my favorite, so I was logging on every day to find people discussing how Kanan was extraneous and marked for death because why would you have Kanan when you could have AHSOKA. I got very bitter about it. (Not helped by canon completely fumbling Kanan every time Ahsoka was onscreen, I am still EXTREMELY angry about the hot mess that was The Future of the Force.)

Two years later canon quite literally did swap Kanan out for Ahsoka, and I've never really gotten over it, but when World Between Worlds aired that was the first thing that I thought of. It was just...extremely bad.

And then in general people get extremely weird about Ahsoka in the way that people always get about their faves (depth? flaws? we've never heard of them), in a way that's just been getting much worse over the years since Rebels S4 (which I hate) and TCW S7 (which I hate) and the live action appearance (which I hate) and the upcoming show (which I refuse to acknowledge). Even as a fic writer, it got to the point where I'd really hesitate to put Ahsoka into a story or a chapter because I knew that if I did, I'd get a large number of comments (large being relative here) that ONLY talked about Ahsoka and not about anything else going on in that chapter. And then when I didn't put her into a chapter (you can see this in the last few chapters of Crown that I posted earlier this year), I'd get people going BUT WHERE'S AHSOKA? As a cast of thousands writer it was a combination guaranteed to drive me crazy, even if I hadn't been, at that point, pretty neutral about the character. And I started as a fan, you know? I didn't come into TCW until S4 was airing, so the show had to sell me on her, but it worked, and I was a fan. It just...went wrong in every possible way.

(The Marvel equivalent for me is Peggy Carter, and I am doing a lot of work on my end to not end up as bitter about Peggy as I am about Ahsoka, because I know it's a danger for related but not identical reasons, and I'd really rather not have that response to two characters. And mostly I have been successful, because I'm pretty careful about where I go in the fandom and I'm not picking up rabid Peggy fans the way my Rebels fic picked up rabid Ahsoka fans, since it's a much larger fandom and people who are very aggressive about Peggy are not reading a clearly labeled SteveNat fic. It's helped by the fact that these are very different canons and very different fandoms, and that I came in well after Endgame, because I know if I'd come in before I'd be way less clear-headed about it; there's a reason I avoid all the Captain Carter stuff, which makes me rabid for various reasons.) (That said I know I'm blocked by at least one Peggy fan.)

[justasmallbloginabigklainefandom]

@sohereswhatyoumissedlastweek ugh yeah I find it despicable. Obviously, there was a reason for this shit but UGH ramblings under cut

Like I haven't been shy on this webbed site about my sister's ex boyfriend and how absolutely horrid he was and I haven't even published everything, but recently I was talking with someone about how this surveillance of my sister just goes against my values. The tracking app, the financial control, checking phone logs etc. etc. etc. and when the abuse was actually happening, I hated that it was justified. We would freak the fuck out if we didn't know where she was, cause we had no idea where this ass would take her. This dude would suck her dry financially so if my parents hadn't put a cap on her spending, she'd have nothing. She would lie and tell us she dumped him, only for my mum to see that they've called on a daily basis. I think the biggest reason I was okay with it for the time being was for the fact that my sister knew of it and she consented to it. At first, my mum wanted to put a tracker on her phone without her knowledge and I put a fucking end to that, cause I told her that my sister is a much better tech savvy so she'd find out and whatever trust that was left between my mum and sister (cause hey that dude would also isolate the fuck out of her and villify us) would be fucking shattered (and he would then have an opportunity to use that to isolate her even more). I do think she felt pressure to consent to it, same as the kids of your reply, but SHE KNEW.

So I hate it. I have always hated it. I am a huge advocate of my sister's independence BUT ALSO it was a WEIRD FUCKING TIME

But luckily (LUCKILY) we have survived that. He's gone. After the third time the police had to intervene, he fucked off. And I know my mum is kinda scared, still. I am too. My mum and I actually discussed this recently, how we're in a way traumatised by this as well. I still freak the fuck out when we can't reach her. I feel panic when I hear her on the phone and I can't fully figure out what she's saying. BUT ALSO we need to give her the space to continue her life as well. So my dad and I also tell my mum to let it go. She is 22, she has a new partner who treats her well, she lives on her own, she don't owe my parents shit. But my mum still gets mad at her when she doesn't tell her her location and at this point, I am angry at that. I find my mother's annoyance unreasonable.

BUT YEAH, even without abuse, this tracking shit has been normalised. I remember when we just got the tracking app and my aunt immediately forced my cousins to install it too. They were 12 and 9 back then, but they're turning 16 and 14 and honestly I think they're at the age that they should not be under constant surveillance for the reasons mentioned in those tumblr posts. But I also think parents see nothing wrong with this? My mum was also gushing over this app to a friend of hers, and this friend immediately shut her down as well, citing her kids' privacy etc. etc. and my mum kept trying to convince her of how amazing it is that parents can now do this, but this friend didn't budge and countered that they didn't have this when they were kids and that it also stumps kids' development. And I liked that this friend shut her down, cause yeah, this friend's kids were adults back then (same as me and my sister) and it demolishes my mum's argument of "you don't understand, cause you don't have kids", which she says to me all the time.

And maybe I don't, not fully. And I can concede that tracking apps can give parents some peace of mind, but I still think the cons heavily outweigh the pros, especially since my sister is a goddamn adult, not a 9 year old child, so TL;DR: what the FUCK

[annwayne]

The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 16

Chapter 16: Disembark

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 3235

Fic Summary:

There are benefits to owning a clone bar. Underworld lords don’t threaten you to pay for protection. Clones are great company. And the drinks taste great. However, there are also risks to owning a clone bar. Like, for example, becoming the fuck buddy of a special clone task force member so your life gets threatened when a Separatist puts out a bounty for your capture in order to use you as blackmail. Also your sleep schedule gets wrecked. But Anya Tougt is a little more capable than an average bar owner.

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

I am thrilled to get this chapter out. I've written all but the final chapter of this fic and I'm just so excited to see what everyone following this story thinks of the progression. :> Also some nice little self indulgent moments because why not >:3c

25 BBY. Master Tali’s words linger in my mind. Jedi have always enforced peace throughout the galaxy–what difference was this? Our presence alone changes other’s behaviors. Few dare upset a Jedi. But those few are growing, from the sound of it.

I laid on my stiff bed wearing only a towel and covered my eyes from the bright white lights of the room with my arms. Everything felt sore, which meant everything would feel worse tomorrow morning. My body was paying for those years without exercise. Luckily tonight marked the last night aboard the Negotiator. One more night in a stiff bed and thin sheets. Just one more night till I was home.

With a groan, I sat up. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the light, then landed on the chrono sitting across from me. Another sigh and I stood. It was nearly tomorrow, so if I wanted any sleep I needed to get moving. I threw the towel onto a piece of metal that jutted out just slightly more than the rest of the wall then turned to my duffle for pjs. As I pulled on a pair of underwear, knocking came from my door.

“Annie, it’s Tech, may I come in?”

“Just a-”

Despite my response, the door swished open and Tech stepped through the threshold, though he was looking behind himself and did not immediately see my half-naked state. “We need to talk-” He froze, finally looking up to see my exposed body.

“No please Tech, come in.” I muttered as I quickly threw on a nightshirt.

As soon as he realized his blunder, the clone turned his head away from me and tensed his shoulders. “I apologize, I did not want anyone to see me enter your quarters.” The tips of his ears had turned a shade redder than the rest of his face.

As awkward I felt with the interaction, Tech didn’t strike me as the kind of clone to try and sneak a look–something I had learned how to spot in the men that made up the GAR. I sighed, waving it off. “It’s fine, just don’t do it again.” Tech slowly raised his head, eyes darting side to side before landing on me once again. “Besides, I’ve been wanting to talk to you as well.”

“You have?” Tech stepped forward, all previous hesitation now forgotten.

I nodded my head as I sat down. “We haven’t had a chance to talk alone since the escape pod.” Tech sat on the edge of the bed across from me as I spoke. “And considering you volunteered me to be Clone Force 99’s resident force user, well I have some thoughts.” Our eyes met, both stern and stubborn.

“While I may have been… enthusiastic,” Tech’s eyes fell, shifting like he was choosing words from a catalog. “My prediction was correct. You chose to become a civilian consultant, I simply prepared.”

“Yes Tech, you were right.” I rubbed my eyes, trying to hold back the annoyance in my voice. “But what would have happened if you were wrong? If I went back to my bar on Coruscant and never went on another mission with the Bad Batch? Never touched my lightsabers or Jedi robes again?”

Across from me, the clone stared down at his hands with furrowed brows. “I understand your concern, Annie, however I knew that wouldn’t happen.”

There was a twitch in my jaw at his absolute confidence. “How? I didn’t even know if I was going to fill out those forms.” A moment passed, Tech still watching his hands while I watched him. Long enough passed that I opened my mouth, ready to continue without Tech’s input.

“Crosshair.”

Tech spoke just before I could, leaving me with an open mouth and missing words. A crease grew between my brows as I closed my mouth, then opened it again like a resetting console. “What do you mean Crosshair?”

Tech raised his head, meeting my eye once again. “I mean Crosshair is how I knew what you would decide.” After no change from the look I gave him, he continued. “You’ve now seen what we face, and knowing that your presence on this mission saved mine and Wrecker’s lives, you could not forgive yourself if something happened to Crosshair after you refused to come on missions with us.”

I stared back at him, dumbfounded and feeling more vulnerable than when he walked in on me changing. Of course I was worried about Crosshair, I had always been worried about him but this didn’t change that.

“And for that reason, I cannot allow you to continue to lie to Crosshair, or anyone else in my squad.”

“Wait, Tech, what?”

“This is what I wanted to speak to you about, Annie.” Tech stood pacing the short width of my quarters. “Not only are you putting the cohesion of this team at risk, but you will also hurt my brothers. They will see your keeping this secret an issue of trusting them, rather than your own insecurity.”

A crack of a laugh escaped my lips. “Insecurity? Tech, any insecurities I have, they aren’t related to this.”

“Aren’t they?” Tech adjusted his goggles, the light’s reflection obscuring his eyes from view for a moment. “Why were you so adamant about keeping your identity as a Jedi secret from clones? From my brother?”

“Because that’s not me anymore. No one needs to know about it.” My words spilled like sand.

“You fear others knowing about this aspect of you Anya, this is directly related to your insecurity.” Tech’s words landed like boulders.

“Get out.”

Tech remained where he stood. “Not until I know you will stop this, that you will tell Crosshair.”

I stepped off the bed, standing at its side and pointed towards the door. “Don’t make me do it for you.”

A dark eyebrow raised slowly, debating the likelihood I wasn’t bluffing perhaps. “If you do not tell him, I will.”

Neither of us moved. We stood across from each other in a tiny CO’s room, Tech puffed up and determined, myself glaring and doubting. Doubting his resolve. Doubting my guts. The chrono’s red light bled pink as it touched the brilliant white ceiling lights. Only the humm of Hyperspace and occasional creaks of the ship spoke for us.

“Not tonight.”

The Negotiator groaned as it descended through the atmosphere. Three days passed in what felt like a manner of minutes. Obi-Wan stood at the helm, arms crossed with a focused crease between his brows. Beside him stood Admiral Yularenal, a man I had only seen maybe two times this whole trip. Cody stood beside some control panels, watching clones input directions at his command. Flying a ship this huge took way more people than running a bar, but the latter was much more interesting so I left for my quarters.

In my room I began packing. Not that there was much to pack. But it was something to do that distracted me.

Distracted me.

”You aren’t made for war.”

His words were ghosts, and I was their decaying house. Obi-Wan and I had not spoken since our interaction in his quarters. A fact that only made the impending council meeting more dreadful. What would he say? My chest pounded as I stuffed blacks and some spare armor into my duffel. I hissed at the thoughts. “No one’s made for war!”

“We are.”

I jumped, turning to see Crosshair stepping into the room, with Tech’s scowl close behind.

Before I could get a word in, Tech hesitantly stepped through the door’s threshold, eyes darting across the room as he did so. “No wait, Crosshair you shouldn’t! Annie.” His quick change from scolding to greeting gave me whiplash. “We knocked.” Tech gave an anxious look as he stood beside his brother.

“You didn’t seem to hear us. So I tried the door.” Crosshair explained. His previous words went without further notice, even with my helmet locked on him. Then, to make a crowded room packed, Hunter and Wrecker joined us.

“Which is a breach of privacy, Crosshair.” Tech frowned at the sniper, who barely shrugged. My head turned to look at each clone, spending a second longer on Tech, studying the limited face I could see under his goggles. Our last conversation crawled up my neck.

“There’s a lock if she wants privacy.”

Tech huffed, but did not push the issue further.

“What are you all doing here?” I asked, taking advantage of the lull between the brothers. Then threw my duffle over my shoulder.

“We came to take you to the general, and also,” Wrecker rubbed the back of his head. “Well we wanted to say goodbye.”

Wrecker’s shyness broke the wall Tech’s conversation built last night. “And does everyone who works with you get a farewell like this, or am I just special?” The grin on my face audible through my voice.

Wrecker laughed. “It’s not everyday a Jedi gets assigned to us!”

“Partially,” Tech corrected his brother, only for creases to appear around the bridge of his goggles. “A better description would be ‘on loan.’” Brown eyes flicked up to my bucket.

I folded my arms. “Well, I appreciate the enthusiasm. I look forward to future missions with this squad.” Tech’s chin lifted at my words.

“You’ll never be bored with us, that’s for sure!” Wrecker beamed, patting Tech’s back hard enough the clone temporarily lost balance. This started a loud conversation between the two about spines.

Hunter took the distraction as an opportunity to step forward. “Annie, Thanks.” He spoke softly. “Regs rarely try to get along with us and Jedi mostly ignore us. It was nice working with someone who…” His dark eyes searched for the correct words.

“Respects us.” Crosshair finished Hunter’s sentence.

A feeling I couldn’t name puffed up my chest. “You’re brilliant soldiers.” Tech and Wrecker quieted down. “I should be thanking you. Without your help, there’d still be a bounty on my head.”

The clones beamed at the compliments, each of them expressing their pride at a mission well done. Something I felt they rarely shared with outsiders.

“We should get going, the ship’s just landed.” Hunter turned, gesturing for the other clones to follow him. Crosshair and Wrecker did. Tech moved towards me.

“Annie, before you go.” Tech pulled out his datapad. “I’ve added my information to your contacts list so we may communicate through less official means.” He showed me his profile which featured a blurry photo of him and what I thought was a tiny Wrecker in front of a giant explosion. He lingered, holding the data pad to his chest. Finally he spoke, “Also… I wish to apologize.” He said in a lower voice. “I upset you. That was not my goal.”

A long breath escaped me. “Just give me some time, Tech.”

“Promise me that you will tell him before our next mission together.”

“Tech I-”

The look he gave me under his goggles stopped my protests. Instead I rolled my head, like the words needed to fall out of my mouth. “Promise.” Needles grew in my chest.

Satisfied, Tech nodded his head once in confirmation and then left me alone to finish packing. I took a final look around the quarters. This place served me well for a few days. But now, I looked forward to going home.

Clone Force 99 and I made our way down the star destroyer to the loading bay. Tech peeled away from our group early on to fly the Marauder out of the Negotiator. Clones bustled about performing various duties to keep the ship running smoothly.

As we exited the massive ramp to Coruscant ground, several different ships flew in and out of the destroyer. Tech beat us to the ground, and stood by the now parked Marauder with a satisfied grin. With a final wave goodbye, I headed towards the lone Jedi watching various supplies and clones come and go from his ship.

“Kenobi.” I gave him a curt greeting.

The general nodded at me. “Annie, I trust you are ready for our report?”

What bantha crap.

“Ready as ever.”

“Obi-Wan, Anya, good to see you both back in one piece.” Mace Windu greeted us within the confines of the Jedi council room. Today, unlike the last time I stood in this room, only Mace and Yoda were present. Apparently this debriefing didn’t need the whole of the Jedi council.

“Yes, it is good to be back.” Obi-Wan answered. His voice was steady, but I could feel an air of weariness surrounding the Jedi master.

Yoda looked to me, likely expecting a reply. Or maybe he was just feeling out my emotions. “Clone armor, you wear?” He finally spoke, lifting his wooden cane to my helmet.

I straightened up. The armor had become a second skin, I completely forgot I still had it on. That must have been interesting to see. “Yes.”

“The bounty hunters assumed Anya was on Coruscant since she was last seen here.” Kenobi chimed in, adding to my minimalist explanation. “Keeping her face covered ensured we did not run into bounty hunters while searching for her bounty’s sponsor.”

Yoda and Windu nodded their heads.

“And why did you go investigating Obi-Wan? Why did you take Anya with you when you understood the potential danger?” Mace asked.

This felt less like a debriefing and more like an interrogation.

“I believed that if the mystery behind Anya’s bounty was to be solved, she needed to be involved. Only Anya could understand things from her own life, after all.”

“Solve the mystery, did you?”

“Yes.”

Here it goes. How would the council react to a former Jedi having relations with a clone? Let alone this clone? My gut twisted.

“It was me. I was the reason that Anya was targeted.”

I couldn’t help but quickly glance towards Obi-Wan at the fib.

He continued. “Miyaeli Vekek discovered information that connected Anya and myself. Our missions together back when she was Tali’s padawan, for example.” I kept my chin up as thoughts of our last interaction filled my mind. Such an argument, and yet, he was still covering for me. “Because of this Vekek thought she could use Anya to blackmail me into spying for the Separatists. For obvious reasons, she was the only separatist commander to think this way.” Either Kenobi knew the order would not react well to the truth, or he didn’t know and didn’t want to find out.

Mace exchanged glances with Yoda, but they said nothing while Obi-Wan recounted a very different story than the one we lived. There was no mention of my relationship with Crosshair, of my desire to keep my identity a secret from the clones, and especially nothing about my life draining ability we had discovered on that ruined moon. Eventually we got to the part when he stayed on the Negotiator and I stayed with The Bad Batch.

“I asked to stay with the clones.” It was my turn to tell a story, though this one was more familiar. “Considering the stakes I wanted to be involved. While I may be a little rusty, I was still trained in the ways of the Jedi and had been in combat before.” Yoda nodded his head–something he was doing a lot. Mace stayed quiet, with a hand on his chin.

“So we parted ways and I completed our mission with Clone Force 99.”

“And you killed Vekek?” Mace held his arms, and used the one previously holding his chin to gesture towards me.

My jaw tensed. “Yes. An explosion separated myself, Tech, and Vekek from the others. Vekek got free, likely from the impact damaging her binders, and was strangling Tech when I came to. I was severely injured and my thinking was limited.” Windu furrowed his brows. “So I did what I needed to do.”

“Kill Vekek?” Yoda tilted his head.

Irritation boiled beneath my stomach. If they thought they were clever, that I wouldn’t notice their suspicions–of course not. This was Yoda and Mace Windu. They knew exactly what they were doing and wanted a reaction from me. I was the fool for thinking anything within the order had changed.

“Save Tech.” Finally, I answered, the edge in my voice not lost on the Jedi masters standing around me.

Yoda and Mace exchanged glances before turning their attention back to me. I took the opportunity to glance at Obi-Wan. His expression was stone.

“One last question, we have. Then go, you may.” Yoda broke the silence.

“As we understand it, Anya, you applied to be a civilian soldier to work alongside Clone Force 99?”

That was an interesting choice of words. “Yes.”

“Why?” Yoda asked the final question.

For once in my life, standing in the center of that cursed room, I stood tall and lifted my head in response. “I’m not a Jedi, not any more, but I have strength and power that could help the galaxy. Offering my assistance to a squad of clones that the Republic sends on death missions seems like a good fit for what I can do.” Not to mention my possible death would do nothing to the war effort. But no one would acknowledge that outloud. “If they want it, I’m ready to help them with the full extent of my abilities.”

Once I finished a sense of certainty fell over me. I would use my lightsaber and robes again. I would go on missions with Clone Force 99. I would be a soldier in this terrible war.

Robes shifted beside me, but Yoda and Mace seemed satisfied. They dismissed us, giving me a farewell. The restraint in their goodbye’s told me they did not think this was the last time they would see me–in what circumstances, I could not tell. As we stepped out of the council room and entered the lift, I looked at Obi-Wan.

“You…” No. “That was unexpected.”

He glanced at me. “Do you think so little of me, Annie?”

After a long pause I answered. “What I think of you changes with every interaction, Obi-Wan.”

Blue eyes fell. “We share more similarities than you think.”

I almost laughed, but this wasn’t the time. “That’s hard to believe.” Coruscant’s surface grew closer as the lift plummeted. “You’re a Jedi Master and have a seat on the council. That’s as different from me as you can get.”

“I’m not talking about our status.” His voice was calm, but heavy. “We might have made different choices, but our hearts have something in common.”

My mind rushed back to the Marauder, after our first mission when Kenobi agreed to let me stay with the clones and find my bounty’s sponsor. “You don’t mean Satine?” He only gave in when he figured out Crosshair was my… whatever Crosshair is.

He answered by meeting my helmet’s visor. “Like I said, we made different choices.”

She wasn’t just another fling? The lift came to a stop, but I was glued in place. The Jedi beside me also stood still. Coruscant’s loud symphony called to us through the open lift doors. There was more to say, but neither of us could muster the strength to say it.

“Good luck, Anya.” Kenobi broke the silence and stepped out.

“You too, Obi-Wan.”

Authors end chapter notes:

Well well well, isn't this an interesting development.. Anya's only context for any of Obi-Wan's romantic and/or sexual relationships in the past had all been flings... But now Obi-Wan's alluding that Satine was more. Crosshair is endgame, but do any of you ship her with Tech? They certainly have some good moments together.

Dividers by Djarrex   

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