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teshamerkel · 3 years

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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 6] (10 Pages)

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Tobias needs to form a Seeker team, and he won’t take no for an answer. Even if that means disobeying his guild leader.

“Give me one good reason why I can’t form a solo team,” Tobias growls, trying to sound respectful even as embers flutter from his mouth with each breath.

August sighs, the rillaboom looking less like a majestic leader and more like an exasperated parent. “Tobias, you cannot be a solo team, as the word ‘team’ itself implies more than one member.”

Verene bites back a smile at the cheeky response, and Tobias sends the lurantis a glare.

“That’s not the point,” he grumbles.

“The point,” August says. “Is that Seekers work in teams of two or more as a matter of safety. If you were to enter a dangerous situation alone and be injured, there would be no Pokémon there to help you.”

“We have rescue badges!”

“That have the possibility of malfunctioning and can’t be activated at all if you’re unconscious,” August counters, red eyes sharp.

Tobias takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, blowing it out as a cloud of smoke through his nose. “I made it out of the forest dungeon just fine.”

“Nia was with you,” August points out.

“But she didn’t do anything! I did all the fighting and I didn’t even get hurt!”

“And what if next time you aren’t so lucky?” August asks. “I’m not trying to downplay your skills, Tobias, but escaping one low level dungeon does not make a Seeker.”

“Tobias,” Verene cuts in, tone carefully neutral. “What is this really about? You know we can’t grant you Seeker status on your own. Why not join an existing team? There are plenty of teams in the guild with only two or three members.”

Tobias doesn’t meet her eyes, feeling shame and anger bubble together in his stomach. There’s a moment of silence, and then August takes mercy on him, voice unbearably soft. “Why don’t you see if you can make amends with some of the Pokémon in the guild, Tobias? Maybe in time one of them will welcome you into their team.”

Tobias swallows back a sharp retort, feeling tears sting his eyes. He nods once, curtly. “Yes, sir.”

“Then you are dismissed,” Verene says, voice uncertain. Right, she’s only been here for about a year. She wouldn’t know quite how “troubled” he is yet. Well, he’s sure August will catch her up.

Feeling a thousand times worse than he had when he’d stepped into the guildmaster’s quarters, Tobias leaves and stalks down the hallway. He sniffs back tears, swiping angrily at his eyes.

Stupid rules. So what if he wants to risk his own safety on a solo team? He’s an adult. It’s his life, he can decide that for himself. It’s not like he’d be hurting anyone else. If he could just show them that he could take care of himself, that he doesn’t need a partner to accomplish a mission or navigate a dungeon—

Tobias stops in his tracks, eyes growing wide. Of course. He...he could prove that he could handle missions on his own. If he completes enough missions alone, unofficially, then there’s no way anyone could stop him from creating a Seeker team! Technically August could, but at least then Tobias would have an actual argument. The charmander’s heartrate picks up, and his walk speeds up too, then transitions into a run. He knows this is reckless, that he might just get into more trouble than before without even getting a pass. He probably will, in fact.

He doesn’t care. He’s desperate, and he knows it. Tobias needs to become a Seeker. He has no other option.

Tobias hops down the stairs, careful not to trip, and catalogues what he could take with him. He can’t risk going to the medical ward in case he bumps into Maggie, and since he’s not an official Seeker he can’t pick up items from the storage floor without someone getting suspicious…

Looks like he’s doing this without items. Or teammates. He’s going solo with just his own moves, and he has no rescue badge in case things go awry. Great. Fine. He’s got this. He’s not afraid—he’ll be fine—and he’s not imagining the fear on Maggie’s face if she discovers him gone first, if he doesn’t make it back—

“Stop it,” he growls to himself. “You were fine last time. You’ll be fine this time.”

He finally arrives at the bottom floor, and pauses at the stairwell entrance to peek inside the giant space of the departure floor. There are only a few Pokémon milling about, moving from board to board and talking amongst themselves about the missions posted there.

Tobias tries to look casual as he walks over to the E-rank board, scanning the available missions. Delivering items to Pokémon in the forest, helping elderly Pokémon clean up fallen branches, taking a bidoof on a tour of the guild...

None of these will make him look capable. Luca could handle these tasks! Tobias casts another wary glance around, then slips over to the D-rank board, fingers crossed that these listings will be a bit more respectable. Sparring practice, looking for a lost item—ah!

Tobias reaches out and snags the paper off the board, eagerly scanning through it. A roselia and their friend, a teddiursa, stumbled into the same mystery dungeon that Tobias and Nia got stuck in. The two Pokemon were separated, and while the roselia found their way out, the teddiursa has yet to return.

Perfect.

Tobias goes to fold up the paper and take it along, but hesitates. Usually, when Seekers take a job, they just input the code on the job listing into their badge to note that they’re taking the mission, and leave the posting up so other teams can also take the job in case of failure. He doesn’t doubt himself (he doesn’t), but he also doesn’t want to be the cause of an innocent Pokemon remaining trapped in a dangerous mystery dungeon.

The charmander crinkles the paper in thought, but then sighs and pins the page back up. He’ll just have to get the client’s name so they can vouch for his success when he’s done. He turns to go, feeling excitement begin to replace his nerves, but jumps back with a startled sound, slamming into the board.

Nia jumps too. “S-Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!”

Tobias clutches his heart, glaring at the riolu. Then he registers that she’s here, and his gut turns to ice water. How long has she been here?

“What’re you doing down here?” He asks, wary.

“Oh! I, uh, wanted to talk to you, actually.”

Tobias’ eyes flick past the riolu, looking around to make sure no one’s paying them any attention. Did she see him looking at the message board? She does look nervous, but she always looks nervous, so that’s not saying much. Either way, he’s relieved that she didn’t catch him holding the job listing.

“Talk about what?” He asks.

“W-Well, uh...Can we go somewhere more private?”

“Why?”

Nia shifts uncomfortably. “I-I, um…I wanted to ask you something, b-but I think we need to talk first, and I’d rather there not be so many other people around, so...”

Okay, Tobias has no clue what Nia is looking to talk to him about that’s so weirdly secretive, but he doesn’t have time for it. He has a mission to accomplish.

“Look, I’m kind of busy, so it’ll have to wait.” He shoulders past the timid riolu, expecting her to just leave him be as he walks away. Instead, she hurries to catch up to him, and he sees her glancing between him and the board they just left.

“W-Where are you going?” She asks. Tobias can’t tell if he’s imagining the suspicion in her tone or not.

“I’m just gathering some herbs, okay? Alone.”

The riolu takes the hint and slows to a stop. Tobias thinks he can feel her eyes on his back as he takes the nearest tunnel into the forest, and he really hopes that she won’t mention him leaving to Maggie.

If he remembers correctly, this route doesn’t have a guard this time of day, thanks to how well the entrance is hidden, and he doesn’t need a ground type to guide him through solid earth either. It’s one of the better exits for sneaking away undetected. He travels quickly through the dimly lit underground, remembering Nia’s comment and grudgingly admitting that the crystals are rather pretty. It takes him maybe ten minutes to make the trek, and when he emerges in the forest, climbing out from a crack in a hollow tree, he takes a moment to recall which direction to take to the mystery dungeon. Then he sets off, eyes peeled for any useful berries or herbs he may find on the way.

The forest is peaceful today, with sunny warmth dappling the undergrowth and the distant calls of Pokémon giving the environment a quaint feeling. Still, Tobias feels himself slowly grow more and more on edge as he travels, knowing what he’s willingly walking into. Sure, he fought his way through the exact same dungeon not even a week ago, but he’s not so stupid as to underestimate the chaotic nature of mystery dungeons completely. He’s heard enough stories to know that the same dungeon can be a quaint stroll one day and a death trap the next. The tides can turn in an instant.

Sooner than he would like, and with only a single apple to his name, Tobias recognizes his arrival to the mystery dungeon. There’s no flashing sign or obvious entrance; the forest ahead of him looks nearly identical to the trees he’d just passed through. But he knows this is it. The air feels...thick. Heavy. Almost tingly on his skin. And every time he blinks, the path ahead of him seems to shift and change, ever so slightly. He thinks he can hear a wild snarl come from deeper within the brush.

Tobias takes a deep breath to steel his nerves, holds his apple closer, and steps into the mystery dungeon. Immediately, the environment feels...off. Just like last time, the plant life seems almost sentient, shifting and changing in subtle ways to box him into a maze of foliage, weaving itself into shapes like walls and rooms. He already hears Pokémon moving about through the undergrowth, and can’t deny the tension in his shoulders as he moves forward.

Focus, Tobias. Stairs, you’re looking for the stairs. According to the job posting, Teddiursa should be somewhere on the 5th floor, near the end of the dungeon, so he needs to focus on moving forward. He rounds a corner of dense tree trunks and foliage, and stops, surprised to see a familiar set of crumbling stone stairs. Well, that was fast. Tobias shakes his head and climbs the stairs, still unused to the way the world shifts around him and as he reaches the top step. Predictably, the second floor looks nearly identical to the first. Tobias only takes a moment to look around before quickly moving on down a hallway.

In the next room, a lithe purple Pokémon dives out of the undergrowth in front of him. A purrloin. The Pokémon swings around to watch him with crazed, blank white eyes, baring its teeth in a snarl. Tobias takes an uneasy step back. Even though he’d fought some Pokemon last time he was in the dungeon, seeing a feral up close is still more unsettling than he’d like to admit.

The purrloin hisses and launches at him with outstretched claws. Tobias makes a sloppy dodge to the side, then lunges and manages to scratch it with a metal claw attack. The purrloin brushes off the damage and darts forward to try and bite. Tobias stumbles back, feeling a jab of panic as he struggles to keep up with the speedy Pokemon and keep away from its attacks. He needs to distance it! Tobias takes a deep breath and spits a flurry of embers at its face. The purrloin shrieks and finally bounds away into the undergrowth.

Tobias stares at the spot it disappeared, fighting off a shiver of unease. He’s been practicing his fighting for years now, but it’s so different fighting actual Pokemon instead of cloth dummies. Last time he was in this dungeon he’d only had to fight three Pokemon, two of which were weak to fire type moves, but it’s only the second floor and already he has ran into a feral strong enough to need his flames. How many Pokemon can he fight off before he’s too tired to use his moves?

Tobias huffs a breath of smoke and shakes his head. He can’t turn back now, even if he wanted to.

Tobias forges on, managing to find the next set of stairs without another fight, but he doesn’t realize until it’s too late that he’d dropped his apple in the scuffle with the purrloin. As he carefully navigates the third floor, picking up an oran berry he finds on the way, he runs into two more feral Pokémon. The first is a wurmple who falls unconscious after an ember attack and a whack from Tobias’ tail. The second is a lotad who clips his arm with a bubble attack that leaves the skin stinging and singed. He manages to send the little grass and water type packing with a few swipes of his claws, but even he recognizes his exhaustion by time he reaches the stairs that lead to the fourth floor.

Tobias takes a moment to rest, sitting down and leaning against the side of the stone steps. He didn’t think this would be so...difficult. Last time had been tiring, but not this bad. So far he’s only been hit hard once, but some part of Tobias sneers that this was an incredibly stupid idea. Which he knew already, but still. He has...what? Two more floors until he even finds the teddiursa?

He looks down at the oran berry in his claws, rolling it around thoughtfully. The bubble wound on his arm stings, but...maybe he should save the berry in case he really needs it. He nods and stands back up. Onwards, then. He can’t stop here.

Tobias takes the steps and is warped to the next floor. Twisted, maze-like greenery and shifting sunlight sprawls in every direction. It would be beautiful if he didn’t feel the danger breathing down his neck like a houndoom.

He decides to head left, and immediately regrets it as a feral pidgey screeches and dives at his head, pecking gouges into his scales. Tobias snarls, trying to bat the feathery annoyance away, and finally resorts to shooting a cloud of embers straight up. They drift down like a fiery rain, and the pidgey flutters back to avoid getting burned. Tobias takes his chance to lock on to the bird and leap up, managing to snag it out of the air with his claws and slam it to the ground. Before it can fight back, Tobias spews another breath of embers directly onto it, stepping back when he’s sure it’s unconscious.

He stands up, panting, and winces as he prods at the cuts on his head and arms. Where did he put that oran berry? The charmander groans as he spots it, sitting in the grass and charred from his little ember move earlier. Great. He eats it anyways, but has a feeling it doesn’t heal him as much as it should. Still, his cuts seal up and stop bleeding, and his bubble burn dies down to an ache. Tobias moves on, trying to tell himself that the roar of blood in his ears is just from adrenaline and not fear. He’s fine, he’s doing fine. He’ll just try to avoid any more Pokémon if he can.

He makes it to the room with the staircase, nearly sprinting to the stone steps, when something snags his feet. He faceplants into the grass hard enough to knock the air from his lungs. What in the..? He looks down at his feet to see a sticky cord of white wrapped around his ankles. String shot?

The charmander looks up in time to see a weedle charging at him, stinger raised. Any other time, he would laugh at the idea of a weedle of all things challenging him to a battle. But here and now, he feels a jolt of panic. If he gets poisoned, he’s done for. He tries to stand, but the string shot is surprisingly strong, hardly even stretching as he tries to tear it away. The weedle lunges for him, and he rolls out of the way, immediately looking back to his bindings. Maybe his fire would work.

He blows a plume of embers onto the string, relief ballooning in his chest as they melt. Tobias springs to his feet just in time to punt the weedle away from him, watching it tumble into the undergrowth. The gooey remains of the string shot are still stuck to his feet, but he takes his chance, bolting for the stairs and racing up them.

There! This should be the fifth floor, right? He sure hopes so. The teddiursa should be around here somewhere. He can grab them, find the last staircase, and then head home! Tobias takes a moment to breathe, then wanders down a hallway to the right.

When he steps into the next room, he’s surprised to see something bright orange sitting in the middle of it. Some sort of item? The charmander looks around warily, then steps closer to investigate. Just as he crouches to pick the item up—a scarf?—something beneath his foot shifts and clicks. Tobias freezes as pink smoke hisses out of the grass. It quickly cuts off any visibility, before dissipating just as fast. When it does, Tobias’ heart drops to his toes.

Four or five Pokémon surround him, all feral. They immediately lunge at him with a terrifying jumble of cries. Tobias curses and rolls out of the way, still getting grazed on the side by something sharp before trying to make a run for the hallway.

Something wraps around his arms, yanking him backwards. He falls hard onto his back, struggling as two vines reel him back into the room across grass and dirt. He shoots a cloud of embers over his shoulder, and the vines hurry to release him. He scrambles to his feet and turns, and he has just a heartbeat to recognize the Pokémon he’s facing: an aipom, an electrike, a starly, a snivy and a wurmple. Then, the electrike and the starly are darting forward, the flying type flickering out of view and slamming into his chest with a quick attack.

Tobias cries out as he’s sent tumbling back. He hardly has time to catch his breath and squint an eye open before the electrike crashes into him with an electricity-charged spark. Tobias slams into the room’s wall, wheezing and struggling to push himself up onto his arms. He...he has to move, has to get up. Run. He can’t get knocked out here. No one knows where he is, no one even knows he’s gone, they’ll never find him in time!

He can’t die. Maggie would be heartbroken. He still has to catch the outlaw trio, and he...he has so much to do. The charmander feels his arms give out, and tears blur his vision.

He’s such an idiot. August was right.

The snivy hisses, and Tobias squeezes his eyes shut, trying one more time to move to his feet, with no luck. He hopes he blacks out quickly.

“Tobias!

He knows that voice, but he’s never heard it like that, so loud and sharp. Tobias blinks open his eyes, just in time to see a familiar blue and black shape step in front of him. Over her shoulder, worried ruby eyes glance down at him before moving back to the ferals. Tobias blinks, again and again, but she’s still there. Her fur is ruffled and scraped up, and even from his position on the ground he can see that she’s shaking, with fear or exhaustion or both. But she’s there.

“Nia?” He rasps.

#pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #charmander #pmd seekers of soul #tesha writes #tesha draws

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mochegato · 3 years

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Capturing a Dream

Chapter 6 – Nobody Wins in a No-Win Situation

Chapter 1 Chapter 5

“The most likely place for the hostages is on the mothership. We need to get in there to free them.” Robin stated in a detached, authoritative voice. “We’ll take a zeta tube nearby then have Superboy distract them so the rest of us can sneak on. We find the victims and use Chimera’s portal to free them and KF’s speed to get them out. Chimera can cast an illusion to cover us getting out as well. We need to save her powers for then. We’ll need you to cover us while we free the victims, Superboy.” The rest of the Team nodded at him, understanding their roles. “Now, you need to grab something to eat and rest. We leave in an hour.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice to eat.” Kid Flash gave him an excited smile. He jumped bumping into Superboy excitedly and throwing his arm over his shoulder as they made their way out of the room. “We’re going to rescue her, all of them.” Superboy smiled back at him before turning to Chimera. She smiled but motioned with her head for him to go ahead. She moved over to the console Robin was studying to finalize his plans. As soon as the door closed, leaving only them in the room, she quietly asked, “Are you ready for this?”

He hesitated for a moment but continued examining the images of the mothership. “Since I was nine.” He answered solemnly.

A wry smile spread on her face, “Well, you’ve got me beat. Eleven for me.”

They stood in silence for a few moments, pretending to focus on the mothership. “Are you ready?” He asked her.

She nodded, eyes still directed toward the screens. “I just need to wish Conner good luck.”

Robin looked down and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

Chimera looked over to him with a strained smile. “It’s what our lives were always leading to, isn’t it? What we’ve been preparing for since we were little kids? One way or another it was always going to end like this.” They looked at each other for a few moments before Chimera reached over to hug him. “But, I’m glad I got to meet you.”

Robin hugged her back tightly, “Me too.” She patted his back and pulled away, moving to the door to follow the others. “Wally doesn’t know.” He spoke up suddenly. “Should I… should I tell him?”

She turned her head in his direction without fully facing him. “Neither does Conner. And they can’t know. We can’t tell them. Nothing we say will change what has to happen. They can be happier longer if we don’t.” Robin nodded to the confirmation of his thoughts and turned back to the screen.

Superboy was just finishing his sandwich when Chimera walked in. She smiled as soon as he saw her and walked immediately over to him. He hugged her tight, grounding himself by holding her. “I’m worried about you doing this.” She whispered.

“I have to do it. It’s what Superman would do.” He brushed her bangs behind her ear and cupped her face. “I’ll be okay. I have too much to live for.” He reassured her.

She smiled at him and leaned into his hand. “You don’t have to do what Superman would do. You’re just as good, better to me.”

He preened at her praise, but he couldn’t give in. He had to do this for them, for her. He had to do everything he could to protect them and give them the chance to save the hostages. And even if he didn’t survive, at least he would have saved her. Because that’s what you do for the people you love. “But I do have to do this.”

She pushed up to kiss him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Their lips slid against each other’s in a magical sensation that electrified his body. After a few minutes she pulled away slightly, pressing her forehead to his. “When this is all over, I want to show you who I am.” She whispered.

He pulled away with a look of surprise. “Are you sure?”

She nodded, looking up at him with her big, beautiful, blue eyes under her lashes. “I don’t want any more secrets. I want us to be able to be completely open with each other.”

Superboy smiled brightly at her and hugged her even tighter. “I have even more to live for then. I can’t wait to fully meet you.”

“Am I included in this? I’d like to fully meet you too.” Kid Flash grinned at them as he leaned against the counter, drinking from his mug.

Superboy threw a dish towel at him that Kid Flash dodged with a laugh. “Get out of here, Wally.” He growled at him.

“We all need to get out of here.” Robin interrupted. “It’s time to go.”

“It hasn’t been an hour,” Kid Flash whined.

“The sooner we get moving, the sooner we rescue the hostages and the fewer hostages there are to rescue.” Robin reminded him.

“Right.” Kid Flash agreed, sobering quickly. “Let’s go get our girl and our friends.”

<><><><><>

Superboy peeked around the corner of the building they were hiding in, taking note of the guard ships and turrets. He turned back to his teammates with a grim look of determination. “Everyone ready?”

Robin and Kid Flash looked at each other before turning to Superboy with mirrored looked of determination and nodded. Chimera pushed up to give him a quick peck on the lips. “I’ll see you on the other side.” She whispered quietly.

Superboy cupped her face. “Yes you will. We’re not done yet.” He smiled and kissed her again. He took a deep breath and jumped onto the mothership, destroying the first turret. He dodged a shot and jumped to the next turret, ripping it from the ship and throwing it at the third turret, destroying it in the process as well. He dodged a volley of incoming shots and jumped to the final turret. He pushed it to fire on one of the ships approaching him. The ship exploded in a mass of fire and light.

While Superboy was causing a destructive distraction, Kid Flash carried Robin and Chimera into the ship. Just as Robin had expected, his speed was affected with the extra weight but only slightly, not enough for the aliens to discover them. Luckily for Kid Flash, Chimera felt as light as a feather to him. Kid Flash stopped and dropped them behind a support beam, using it as cover while Robin scanned the ship, searching for the survivors and gaining a schematic for it. Kid Flash and Chimera kept watch for aliens. They spotted a ship heading toward them and pulled Robin further behind the beam in the hopes the ship would miss them. They braced themselves for the worst before feeling the blowback from the ship exploding.

Kid Flash and Chimera looked up and saw Superboy standing next to the turret and looking down at them with concern. Chimera smiled appreciatively and yelled “Focus.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he yelled back with a grin, turning back toward the aliens. But he turned back a moment too late. Kid Flash and Chimera watched as Superboy’s body disintegrated in front of their eyes.

“Superboy!” Chimera screamed out.

Kid Flash grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against the wall before any alien ships could see them. “It’s okay. We’ll rescue him when we rescue the rest of them.” He reassured her confidently.

Chimera looked him in the eyes and nodded resolutely. “Right. Let’s go get our boy.”

As soon as they made it back to Robin, he checked over Chimera. “You okay?��

Chimera straightened up and nodded. “I’m totally whelmed. Let’s finish this.” She pushed past them moving toward the core of the ship.

“Wait, do you know where the hostages are?” Kid Flash asked uncertain, following behind her.

“I’m not getting any readings of any humans on this ship,” Robin reported gravely. “They weren’t taken hostage, they were killed. The only thing left is to destroy the ship. We need to get to the core of the ship and set off the bombs.”

Kid Flash looked at him in shock. “You knew,” he whispered hoarsely. “This was your plan all along.” He turned to Chimera. “And you? Did you know?”

She looked away from his eyes and paused as if unsure what to say. “There was always a chance. We need to move now before they find us again.”

Kid Flash’s eyes hardened. “We are going to talk about this when we get out of here.” He growled at them before storming ahead, down the hallway. Robin looked over to Chimera giving her a dark look that she returned.

They finally found their way to the core and looked around in awe. “Where do we start?” Kid Flash asked, eyes wide from taking in the massive expanse before them. There were multiple levels with platforms reaching out part of the way into the space and no apparent connection between the platforms and no rails along the edges.

Robin examined the scans again and pointed to a platform above them. Before they could start formulating a plan to get to the platform, there was a blinding light, disorienting them. When the light disappeared, the floor under them started tilting like there had been an explosion nearby. The platform tilted and they started sliding toward the edge. Kid Flash grabbed Robin’s outstretched hand and tried to grab Chimera’s but missed her. Robin shot his grappling hook, trying to find leverage on something but all the edges were too smooth and couldn’t catch on anything.

Robin and Kid Flash looked around as they fell trying to formulate any plan they could with the available resources, which were none. Suddenly, there was another bright flash of light and they found themselves on the platform they needed to be on. They both shook their heads trying to shake the momentary confusion that had struck them both. “Chi must have portaled us here,” Kid Flash offered uncertainly. They looked around frantically, searching for Chimera. Kid Flash ran to the edge of the platform, looking for where Chimera landed but didn’t see her or her body anywhere.

“Let’s get these set.” Robin said calmly, pulling the explosives off his bandolier.

“She’s… she’s dead.” Kid Flash breathed out disbelievingly.

“Let’s set these before more people join her.” Robin responded without looking up.

Kid Flash set his mouth in a determined line and nodded to him helping set up the bombs. When they were in place and the timer set, they looked at each other with a resolved look and turned to look out at the ship’s core again, not bothering to search for a way out. Kid Flash had finally come to the same realization Robin had come to before the missions started. They weren’t making it out of this.

Robin closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable and jumped when he felt something hit him. But the blow wasn’t followed by pain or heat of an explosion. Curious, he opened his eyes to see a portal in front of him. He turned to Kid Flash with a confused look. They closed their eyes and walked through.

When Robin opened his eyes again, he saw the very much intact ceiling of the Cave. He looked around confused about where he was. He was laying down. Why was he laying down? He sat up and looked around to find Kaldur, Wally, and Conner also sitting up with confused expressions on their faces.

“Conner! Wally! Kaldur! Robin! You guys are okay!” Chimera yelled gratefully. She was crying grateful tears as she moved from one to the other, checking their eyes and reassuring herself they were okay. She checked Robin over twice before she moved onto Conner, who she examined a bit longer than the rest, her hands lingered on his shoulders. Conner stared at her unsure how to respond, confused by the change of reality.

Robin looked a bit further and saw Batman supporting a weak looking Martian Manhunter. Standing next to them, Artemis looking at them with a concerned frown. “How are you guys feeling?”

Robin grabbed his head trying to still the whirling thoughts and dual realities struggling for dominance, wiping away the sweat that was dripping from his forehead. “What happened?”

“The exercise… it all went wrong.” Martian Manhunter answered, holding his head.

“Exercise?” Robin asked uncertainly.

Batman stepped forward. “Try to remember. What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked the five of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this going in. What you didn’t know was it was a train for failure exercise.” Chimera gasped and pulled back from her position in front of Conner, a look of horror in her eyes. “No matter what the Team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still you were aware nothing was real. Including the deaths of the entire Justice League.”

“How… how bad did it get?” Chimera asked tentatively.

“Apocalypse,” Kaldur whispered out, his eyes glazed over from the memory. “It was an apocalyptic event. Billions dead. We… we couldn’t stop them.” Chimera’s heart clenched and she pulled away even further.

“But you were supposed to know it was an exercise. And at first, you did. That is why you hardly grieved, even when Wolf and Artemis were disintegrated in front of your eyes.” Martian Manhunter added. “But all that changed when…”

“It was my fault.” Chimera interrupted, looking down and refusing to meet any of their eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself. The guilt of what she can only imagine she put them through was eating at her. It was a no-win scenario. Everything they did was destined to fail. No matter how hard they tried, no matter how outside of the box they thought, no matter whether they asked for help or didn’t, they were going to fail. Going into it, they would have been able to take the loss in stride, ego bruised, nothing more, but…

“My…” she hesitated searching for the right way to explain what happened without exposing too much. “… powers got bored and noticed the illusion Martian Manhunter was casting. H… They…It wanted to help and make it more realistic and…” she shook her head. “I wasn’t watching them. I should have watched them. I shouldn’t have lost control. I’m so sorry.” She finished miserably. She had already lived through a real life no-win scenario. She still hadn’t fully recovered from it. If her team had gone through anything like that because of her...

Conner jumped up to pull her into a hug. He burrowed his face into her hair. “It’s not your fault. The exercise must have seemed real to you and you reacted. Part of being involved is that you lose some control. It isn’t your fault.”

Chimera pulled away from him shaking her head desperately. “I wasn’t though. I wasn’t part of the exercise for exactly that reason. I can’t lose control and I did anyway.”

Conner dropped his arms from around her waist. “You… you weren’t in the exercise?”

“But, we saw you there. You were in it.” Kaldur stated still trying to make sense of what happened.

“It wasn’t her. It was a construction of her you created. You noticed your teammate was not there and hadn’t been among those who died, so you added her to the illusion.” Martian Manhunter supplemented.

“It wasn’t you.” Conner repeated breathlessly. His eyes unfocused and his heartrate picked up. It wasn’t her. It wasn’t her he had been kissing. It wasn’t her that admitted to wanting to be with him. It wasn’t her that said she didn’t want any more secrets between them.

Chimera shook her head and looked at him with wide, terrified eyes. “Did I… did I do something bad in the illusion?”

“No,” Kid Flash answered quickly. “No, you were very helpful. That explains why you used the word ‘whelmed’ though. That must have been when Robin was controlling illusion you.” He tried to joke to lighten the mood.

Robin looked through her, facing her but not seeing her, reconsidering their interactions. Finally he nodded, a look of muted horror in his eyes. “You told us what we wanted to hear, what we needed to hear to keep going… to do what we thought we needed to do. But that was just us. We made ourselves to what we did.” He looked away, guilt melding with the horror in his eyes. Chimera stared at him letting what he said settle in her head… ‘What they needed to do’… what had they ‘needed’ to do?

Chimera examined Conner, noting that he refused to look at her and recoiled from her touch. She pulled away further, almost fully against the wall. Her breathing picked up as the weight of what they must have gone through and the guilt for what she let happen started taking over. Artemis rushed over to her. “It wasn’t your fault. You did everything you could as soon as you found out and we didn’t know what kind of exercise it was. We did everything we could.”

“You should have stopped the exercise.” Wally added angrily, turning on Martian Manhunter.

“I tried, but I couldn’t overpower Chimera’s power. Her power made the illusion feel real to you and to me and gave you the power to take over most of the elements of the simulation. You should have woken up after you died, like Artemis did. But you all believed you had died so you slipped into a coma.”

“You thought you were dead?” Chimera gasped horrified.

“Not all of us,” Robin said quietly.

Instead of calming her, it made Chimera more frantic, knowing she had caused them to believe that. She looked at each of them one at a time, figuring out who had died from their refusal to look at her and choked back a sob. “I’m so sorry guys. I’m so, so sorry. I… I’ll… I can make something for you to eat! Some comfort food… or I can grab some blankets… Oh! Movie night! I can… we can have a movie night.” She rambled, frantically searching for some way to comfort them. “I’ll start on some food.”

She backed away from them and rushed to the kitchen to make… she didn’t know what, but she needed to do something. Something to help her Team. Something to make it up to them. Something to keep them from spiraling into anger and frustration and resentment. Something to keep them from doubting themselves and each other, from focusing on the guilt from what they had ‘needed to do’. She had been down this road. She had seen what experiencing that kind of absolute desolation could do, the extremes it could push someone to.

The first time she’d seen it, it destroyed the world and her brother. The last time she’d seen it, she saw what she could do if she ever let go of her control, if she ever let herself go there, if she ever believed there were no options left. She shuddered at the thought, another wave of guilt rolling over her. She had been able to reverse all the damage, erase all evidence it had ever happened, but she couldn’t erase the effects on herself.

Going through something like that, even if you reverse the damage, even if you find out it wasn’t real, knowing what you are capable of and what you’re not, never really leaves you. She still hadn’t recovered. It was why she was here. It was why Batman wanted her here. She wasn’t going to just sit by and watch her Team go through that alone.

She spotted the cupcakes she and Conner had baked earlier that morning and decided to make the frosting to finish it. Maybe she could make some cookies too. Those would be easy to pop into their mouths without thinking. Maybe some pain au chocolat? She quickly pulled out the ingredients and started up the mixer. She kept herself busy so she wouldn’t be able to think. She didn’t want to think and baking was something she could do without thinking. Time could pass in the blink of an eye when she was baking.

Before she knew it, she was pulling another tray of cookies out of the oven and replacing it with the last tray. She looked around the kitchen in a bit of a panic. She couldn’t be done already. There had to be more. She spotted the naked cupcakes and remembered she still had to frost them. She grabbed the bowl of frosting she had made earlier and started stirring it to soften it again. She leaned against the counter as she stirred. She stared absentmindedly, forgetting to block her thoughts.

She stared at the Cave wall opposite her. The stark, lifeless, desolate wall. No indication of life existing but bearing the marks of fires and explosions that had reached it when the Reds attacked. More explosions and fire flashed in her mind, screaming, shouting, begging so loud she couldn’t hear anything else. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. That wasn’t real, it wasn’t happening. She heard whimpering and her heart started pounding, her breath became ragged. “No, no, no,” she mumbled to herself, her tears falling freely.

She heard an alarm ring next to her and she let out a yelp in surprise and dropped the bowl she was holding. She looked around frantically, realizing she was alone and safe in the Cave. The alarm sounded again and she recognized it as the oven timer. She hastily wiped her tears and grabbed the cookies out of the oven.

She took a steadying breath, trying to calm her rapid breathing. She knelt down to pick up the pieces of broken bowl, reaching out for the pieces with shaking hands. She felt a pressure on her shoulder and lashed out to punch the attacker. Conner deflected her blow, laying his hand on her arm gently. He knelt next to her and reached out to her but hesitated and pulled his hand back. He didn’t know if his comfort would be wanted. That was a lie. He knew it wasn’t welcome. The Chimera whispering sweet words to him, pulling him in for kisses, and seeking comfort from him was an illusion. Those was his desires, not hers. But he couldn’t just sit back and watch her cry without doing something. He still had to try to help. “I heard the bowl break. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said cautiously, trying to respect her boundaries.

She watched him pull back from the corner of her eye and that made it all feel so much worse. He was now flinching away from her. He must blame her for what happened, even if he didn’t do it consciously, he must associate her with the exercise and the pain it caused. The tears fell harder. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t…” She looked up at him and tried to wipe away the concern and guilt dripping from her eyes. “How are you? Are you okay?”

He stared at her for a few seconds unsure how to respond. He wasn’t sure how he felt, he just knew he wasn’t happy and that definitely wasn’t what she needed to hear. He hadn’t processed everything that happened and didn’t want to. He just wanted to forget the whole miserable, euphoric, fictional experience. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t get the images out of his head or the feelings. He had felt needed. He had felt important and now he was back to who he was before, nobody special, especially not to her. “I’m fine,” he growled out instead. “How are you?”

She winced at his tone and pulled away from him, feeling his anger and believing it was aimed toward her. She looked away from him, focusing on the ground between them. “I’m fine,” she said quietly.

Conner stared at her incredulously. She clearly wasn’t fine. Normally, when she had a problem she would open up to him, eventually tell him what she was feeling. He didn’t have to say anything, just letting her talk was enough, which was good because he never knew what to say. Comforting words were her thing. Action was his. Talking it out seemed to help her, but she was holding back now. Why was she holding back? He couldn’t help her if she held back. “You’re not,” he was close to yelling at her.

“Well, neither are you,” she yelled back at him.

He scrunched up his face in anger and frustration. He wanted to comfort her and comfort himself by holding her and burying his head in her neck. Ground himself in her embrace, let her scent relax him. But he couldn’t touch her anymore, not like he did in the exercise. He couldn’t hug her and he definitely couldn’t kiss her anymore. He didn’t know how to comfort her without touching her. He didn’t know how to calm himself without feeling her touch. He clenched his fists, focusing on not yelling at her again. “I’m going to bed.” He ground out between clenched teeth as he turned around quickly and left her alone.

Chimera collapsed back against the lower cabinets with her knees pulled up to her chin. She dropped her head onto her knees and started crying harder. She felt a pressure against her knees and a very familiar whining sound next to her. She looked up and saw Wolf nudging her to let him lay his head in her lap. She huffed out a bitter laugh and patted him a few times before pulling her knees closer to her chest.

<><><><><>

Sleep was not a good idea for him tonight. Every time Conner closed his eyes he saw aliens or Chimera smiling at him before his mind reminded him that neither of those were real. He tossed and turned for hours. Wolf should have been by his side by now trying to cuddle with him to comfort him. Well into the night, closer to sunrise than sunset, he grunted and finally got up to see where Wolf had wandered off to… and maybe grab a few of the cookies Chimera had made. His chest tightened at the reminder of seeing her while making them. He lost his breath remembering how he had reacted to her. He could never seem to find the right words for her.

He finally found Wolf outside Chimera’s door. “Wolf!” he chastised him in a whispered shout. “Leave her door alone. We’re not allowed in there.” Wolf whined at him and turned back to the door scratching at it. Conner let out a long sigh and moved to pull him away. He put his hand on her door, pretending she could feel it, wishing she could feel his contrition. He started to turn away before he heard muffled cries coming from her room. His heartrate skyrocketed in a matter of seconds. “Chi!” He pounded on the door. “Chi! Are you okay?”

The sounds went away and there was nothing but silence again. He was beginning to believe he imagined the whole thing but Wolf was still nosing at the crack between the door and the doorjamb with a whine. He hadn’t imagined it. Something was going on. “Chi?” He pounded on the door again.

He raised his fist to pound again when the door opened. Chimera was standing in front of him rubbing her sleepy, red, puffy eyes. “Hey, Conner. What’s going on?”

He looked at her with an overwhelming sense of concern and grabbed her pulling her to him in a tight hug before he could overthink it and talk himself out of it. He buried his head in her hair and felt the tension leave his body as her body relaxed and hugged him back, holding onto him like a lifeline. They only pulled away from each other when Wolf started whining and nosing between them to be included. Chimera smiled down at him and started petting him.

“I didn’t want to interrupt, I know you like to keep your room off limits, but Wolf was scratching at the door and when I came to get him I heard screams.” Conner said cautiously, keeping his arm around her waist.

Chimera kept her focus on Wolf. “Oh,” she said quietly. “It’s nothing.” She looked up at him with a fake smile. “How about you? Couldn’t sleep? I can make you some hot chocolate or calming tea.”

He looked at her skeptically, but didn’t want to push her. “Sure,” he nodded cautiously.

“Right,” she agreed quietly, curling into his side as they walked to the kitchen. “So, hot chocolate or tea?” she asked pulling away to start grabbing ingredients.

“Hot chocolate,” he answered evenly, observing her as she moved. She worked in silent, jittery movements, refusing to look at him.

Once the hot chocolate was made and they had both been sitting for a few minutes in silence, Conner decided to finally broach the subject. “So… you going to tell me what that was about?” Conner asked staring at his hot chocolate.

Chimera jumped at the sudden conversation, almost spilling her hot chocolate. She glanced up at him for a second noting his rigid posture, his tense eyes, his pursed lips. She glanced away quickly and curled in on herself again. “It was nothing. I’m fine.”

Conner groaned and shoved away from the counter rounding on her. “Stop lying. You’re not fine,” he yelled.

“I’m better than whatever you had to go through and I’m not going to sit here and complain to you about how the experience you had to go through, affected me.” She yelled back at him. “And stop yelling at me, you big, lumbering oaf!”

He huffed and turned back to his cup. “Sorry,” he grumbled into his cup. After a few more sips he spoke up again. “I wasn’t that affected by it. I’m fine.”

Chimera scoffed at him. “Stop lying. You’re not fine,” she parroted back to him.

He glared at her for a few moments before turning away. “I don’t know how I feel and I didn’t want to make it worse for you,” he grumbled.

“Oh no, getting screamed at was much better,” she snorted. She looked down at her hands for a few moments and when she finally spoke up again her voice was timid and shaky. “I didn’t know it was a train for failure exercise. I didn’t know that’s what you were going through until Batman said it. I… I could have done more. I should have done more to pull you out sooner. I tried.” She looked over to him, her eyes pleading for him to understand. “I did try, but right after the first time, something happened to Kaldur and… and I was worried about what the strain would do to you guys. I thought letting it play out would lessen the damage. And I thought it was just a regular exercise so I… I didn’t know the toll it was taking on you. After the same thing happened to you that happened to Kaldur even without my intervention, I figured it was the simulation, not my intervention and I was finally able to stop it after a few tries.” She wiped away the tears that started falling. “I should have tried harder sooner. I’m sorry.”

Conner sighed and pulled her into a hug, because they were friends damn it. They hugged before the simulation and they would keep doing it. It just wouldn’t mean what it had in the simulation. It wouldn’t mean what he wanted it to mean. He would just have to learn to stuff that electric feeling he felt whenever he touched her, deep down and lock it away. “You made the best choices you could with the information you had. And, it didn’t affect me that badly.”

Chimera pulled away from him to look him in the eyes again, a frantic look in her eyes. “You thought you died!” she cried out.

“And I was okay with that,” he cried out just as loudly. He sighed and looked out across the common area. “And I was okay with that because it meant I helped. It meant I sacrificed myself to save you… all of you. It was something only I could do. I was needed. Not like now.”

“You’re already needed, Conner. We all need you. The Team can’t function without you. We never would have survived Yellowstone or Bwunda without you.” She looked at him sincerely. “And I need you to know how important you are to me. How much of a difference you make to me. I…” she looked around for she didn’t know what, inspiration maybe. Conner looked at her with hopeful eyes. Her eyes settled back on him. “I… I’ve been through a lot… a lot. And having someone around to support me, to understand me, to call me out on things, that’s what I need to recover.”

Conner deflated at the words. “That’s nothing special. Anyone could do that.”

“It is special and no they can’t. It wasn’t something I was getting before I came here. It isn’t something Superman could do. I need people I can trust to be there for me, people I understand and I know understand me. Superman doesn’t and couldn’t. My parents don’t. My friends don’t… well one kind of can, but he’s going through so much himself…” she looked away at the memory before turning back to him with pleading eyes. “But you do. You talk to me, you interact with me in a way that hits me, that gets through all the anxiety, fear, and doubt. Not everyone can do that, almost nobody. I need you… and our other teammates,” she added on quickly, blushing slightly at the words she was saying. “You, all of you, are special to me and more important to me than the Justice League. You’re my Team, not just because we were assigned to each other, but because we fit together.”

Conner stared at her speechlessly, breathlessly. She needed him. She had said it. He helped her in a way nobody else could. But in the same breath reminded him she was a teammate. And as she had said time and time again, she doesn’t date teammates. But she needed him. She needed her teammate and if he was being honest with himself, he needed her too. It wasn’t the way he wanted to be needed, but he was needed. He pulled her into a hug, and rested his head on hers and sighed. “Found family, right?” He swallowed down the bitter taste the words left on his tongue.

She smiled and hugged him tighter, slowing down her rapidly beating heart. “Right. Found Family.” She wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince herself or him.

He nodded and flicked his eyes over to the television. “How about that movie night?”

She pulled away and gave him a small smile. “That sounds good.”

Chapter 7

Tags:

@mickylikesstuff @mystery-5-5 @roguishredaxion @vroomtaka @laurcad123 @just-an-observer-ignore-me @emimar7 @moonlightstar64 @maribat-writing-and-prompts @aespades @yokomisaki @glastwime859 @mysticknown @glastwime859 @fan-written @stackofrandomstuff @jalaluvsu @ultimatetornshipper @charme-de-malchan @lozzybowe @deathwishy @too0bsessedformyowngood @kokotaru @ichigorose @nathleigh

#capturing a dream #maribat #connette #connernette #connor x marinette #conner x marinette

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anathtsurugi · 3 years

Text

So, Star Wars buddies, y’all remember how I wrote that soulmate AU a couple years back...

Well, When You Pry it From My Cold, Dead Chest is finally getting a continuation. The new story will be posted in about a month as part of @kalluzebminibang‘s mini bang event, but the first chapter is available right now on my Patreon. So if you still remember my odd little story, if it touched your life in some way and you’ve maaaaaybe got a few spare dollars lying around for a rainy day, you can hop on over and be one of the first to see the start of the new fic.

But for now, if you haven’t got the spare change but are still excited for the new story, here’s a little sneak peek at the upcoming You Can Take My heart, You Can Take My Breath.

~*~

Ever since returning from Mandalore, Kanan had been working with him to try and figure out a way to regain his soulmark. Nothing they'd tried had come anywhere close to succeeding. Zeb still possessed amber in his field of vision, and would occasionally report other flashes of color flickering in and out. So it seemed the problem lay not with him, but with Kallus himself.

These last few days, he had gone out early in the morning to meet with the Jedi, before he had to be on shift and before Kanan would meet up with Ezra for their own regular training. But this was even earlier than he normally woke. He doubted Kanan would even be awake yet. Even so, he would head out, maybe take a little extra time to get into the necessary head space...

"I know you're not goin' out at this un-Ashla hour," Zeb grumbled from the bunk just as he finished dressing. "Y'should come back to bed."

Kallus gave a fond sigh as he crossed the few steps back to the bed, dropping to one knee beside it. "I will do no one any good lying here unable to sleep," he said, leaning down to press a kiss to his partner's lips. "Go back to sleep, my love. I'll return in an hour or so."

"Mm, there's other things we can do if you can't sleep, y'know," Zeb mumbled, voice thick with sleep.

"Be reasonable, Garazeb," he started with a small laugh. "We can't have sex every time I can't sleep."

"We could. It's an option. You're just choosing not to."

Again Alex laughed, placating his lover with one last kiss. "Maybe so, but you at least require sleep, and if you're a good boy and get enough rest, I promise you can kriff me up against the wall when I get back."

"Promise?" the Lasat grumbled peevishly as he rolled away from him.

"Promise."

"Fine. But I'm holdin' you to that. I don't care how late we are for morning shift."

"Fair enough," Kallus conceded as he got back to his feet.

"L'ashkerrir an," Zeb mumbled, barely awake.

Kallus stopped in the doorway at the sound of those words, feeling that same flutter of unbound joy in his heart as he had the very first time Zeb had spoken them. He hoped it never stopped.

"And I you...my dearest Zeb," he said softly, adoringly, before allowing the door to slide closed behind him.

Kallus took no weapons with him when he departed the Ghost, despite every instinct he had always begging him to. The very first time they'd gone out into the jungle, Kanan had insisted he wouldn't need any weapons.

"Are you crazy?" he'd asked, certain the knight hadn't yet been informed about the local fauna. "Do you have any idea what's out there?"

Kanan had simply given him a shit-eating grin and offered up cryptically, "Only what you take with you."

Whatever that meant. Still, Kallus had obeyed, and he had not found cause to doubt Kanan yet. This particular morning was no different, if not a touch earlier than even he rose. The sky had barely begun to lighten as he moved through the dense jungle. He'd likely have had trouble finding his way if he didn't already know where he was going. However, much to his surprise, their usual clearing was not deserted when he arrived.

"Couldn't sleep?" Kanan asked as Kallus stepped into the circle, clearly having been sitting in meditation for some time already. As had been the case on all the mornings prior, he was not wearing his typical mask.

"I don't know that I've slept properly since Atollon," he admitted, tired of his own stoic front. He had learned quickly that the knight could read him like a holobook. "Though neither, it seems, could you."

"Call it a hunch," the Jedi said, nodding to indicate he ought to sit down beside him. "Feel up to contemplating your innermost self this fine morning?"

"As much as one ever is 'up' for such a task," he conceded as he came to sit beside the man he had previously hunted. "Though Zeb did try to argue that it isn't even properly morning yet."

"And he was right. Unfortunately for those of us with normal biorhythms, the Force says 'jump' when and where it wants to, so we mortals must abide. Let me see your arm," he said, holding out his hand.

"See, Kanan?" he joked half-heartedly as he rolled up the sleeve of his jacket, resting his forearm in the Jedi's outstretched hand.

"I can see better than you can right now," Kanan returned in a similar tone, caught somewhere between joking and serious. Exhaling, he brought his other hand up to run his fingers over the skin where the soulmark had once been, and when he winced at whatever it was he was feeling, Kallus was once again grateful not to be able to feel it.

"Close your eyes," the Jedi told him.

Kallus did as he was bid, easily quieting the skeptical voice in his mind that had grown smaller and smaller since he'd watched the inquisitor burn away a piece of his soul.

"Quiet your mind," Kanan coached him.

Kallus knew the Jedi had not found it easy to convince him to let go of the tight patterns of control Imperial conditioning had worked him into. He still didn't find it easy to just...let go. To give up control of his mind and his thoughts and allow himself to just...be. The closest he came was his state of mind when engaged in a particularly fierce fight ― the sort where he had gone beyond gauging his opponent and plotting his own moves and had simply become lost in the rhythm of the moment...the dance of it. He couldn't say how much time had passed when he became aware of Kanan's voice again.

"When you first realized Zeb was your soulmate...what did you feel?"

"Relief," he answered without having to think about it. "Even though I had tried- to give it up...I had feared that my partner had died soon after Lasan. There was something...freeing...in finally hearing those words spoken aloud."

"But...?"

"That relief was immediately followed by anger."

"Because he was your enemy?"

"Because I was his."

"What do you mean?"

"I think I had always known...from the moment I was able to understand the words on my arm...that there would be enmity between my partner and I. The older I became, the more I was prepared to hate myself...for all of it. When the moment finally came...all I had left was anger...hatred...for him, myself...for the galaxy and everyone in it. I tried to tell myself I'd done the only thing I could do..."

"But you knew different."

"Deep down...I suppose...yes. I didn't begin to consider the implications of any of it until after Bahryn...and then everything was happening so quickly...and Zeb was forgiving me everything...even if he shouldn't have done. I loved him...so fiercely in those days. I clung to it when I was weak...in my darkest moments..."

"And then you were captured."

Kallus gasped, any response he might've had slipping away from him as the memories pierced his awareness, sharp and unforgiving.

Thrawn's red eyes...his cruel sneer...

The inquisitor's chilling voice...her molten, scorching touch as she-

"NO!" he cries out in anguish, struggling to pull back, to turn away from the horror of it.

"No. Don't run from this. Stand your ground, Fulcrum," the Jedi's voice comes to him again, firm but not unkind, guiding him in the darkness. "We're so close now."

So Alex let the memory play out, trembling, but not looking away as he relived his worst moment.

"It- broke me...when that bond was cut," he recounted, his voice unsteady. "I had bled for it...killed for it...in a way, I had died for it...and they took it from me. As easy as peeling off a glove...they stole a part of my heart from me...the part that was good...that was true and worth saving...the part that Zeb loved. They stole it from me," he hissed, feeling the sting of tears as they pushed their way through his closed eyelids.

"Do you really believe that?" he heard Kanan asking him. "That the part of you that's worth saving is lost?"

"Yes," he answered, voice still unsteady, but certain. "I don't- doubt his love...but why should someone as wonderful as Garazeb Orrelios...be bound to such a broken creature as this?" He had taken comfort in Zeb's promises...after Atollon...but did he believe himself worthy of them?

No.

"That's it, then."

Inhaling sharply, Kallus suddenly found himself blinking his eyes open in the grey pre-dawn light to find Kanan now sitting in front of him, unseeing eyes gazing rather pointedly into his. Kallus had to resist the urge to pull back from him.

"I...what?"

"That's why you haven't been able to regain your soulmark. It's because you aren't certain you deserve to have it...that you don't want Zeb to be tied to you when, in your view, he has the chance to be free."

"It- would seem so. Yes," he said quietly, achingly, as he let his gaze drop to the small patch of dirt that separated them.

"Then there isn't anything I can do to help you," Kanan told him, reaching a hand up to grip his shoulder. "Until you know what it is that the two of you share, that bond won't return."

Kallus inhaled slowly before giving a long sigh and looking up at the Jedi. "I understand. Thank you for everything you've done."

"Don't give it up for lost yet, Kallus," Kanan scolded him mildly as he climbed to his feet. "Zeb's a stubborn one. He'll help you scrub out that Imperial mindset. You just need to give him a chance to prove himself. Go back to him. You two can probably get in a little extra time before the day gets going."

"Right. I'll...catch up with you," he said, voice still little more than a whisper. Not watching Kanan go, the only indication he had that the younger man had done so was the quiet sound of his footfalls.

~*~

Interested yet? Wanna see some more? Come check out the full chapter over on Patreon.

#Star Wars #SWR #Kalluzeb #soulmate au #My writing

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lemonandhugs · 3 years

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Stars Align: Chapter 12 SNEAK PEEK - TO BE CONTINUED

With an inquisitive smile, Cait did as he asked and sat on his bed. Sam bit his bottom lip and stroked her cheek softly. Cait briefly let her eyes close at his soothing touch. He then turned around and walked to his dresser. He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a discrete, deep breath. He opened the top drawer of his dresser and dug around. Cait leant to the side, trying to see what he was doing. She had come to realise that Sam rubbing the back of his neck was something he did when he was nervous, so what he was about to do intrigued her that much more. Sam pulled out an object and quickly whipped back around to face her, and just as quickly hid the object behind his back. Sam locked his eyes onto Cait’s and slowly walked back over to her. Cait had a small smile playing about her lips, as she patiently waited. Sam bent down onto his knees before her, letting out another deep breath as he did so, causing a minty breeze over Cait’s face. She reached out and brushed back a stray red curl that dangled against his eyebrow. Sam peeked up to meet her eyes shyly, hands still clutched behind his back.

“Um…Cait…I…I hope this doesn’t go against what we agreed upon before…when this all began…you and I. But…I’m quite scared that it does…and I’m scared that…” Sam stammered, then suddenly took a deep breath in, shook his head then continued, “I just…I really care about you. This isn’t me trying to put pressure on you…I mean on us…what we are.”

Sam nervously pulled the long, thin, blue box from behind his back and placed it in her hands that were rested on her lap. He held on to her knees, staring at the box, then peered up to see her expression.

Cait was also staring down at the box, then she brought it up closer to her face and opened it slowly. She recognised that they were plane tickets, immediately. Her eyes lit up. She scooped them out and placed the box to the side of her. Inspecting the tickets closer, she saw the word “Paris”. She lowered the tickets, to look at him and breathed in a deep gasp as a smile spread across her face.

“Paris?!” Cait asked excitedly.

“Yes,” Sam nodded and lowered his gaze, “uh…it’s for a 3-day weekend, the day after block one finishes…for…for you and me. But–,” Sam tried to continue.

He was cut off by Cait’s mouth on his, in a kiss that was eager. So eager that he felt like the amount of suction was going to take his lips right off. Right before he felt like his lips were going to stretch too far, she broke the kiss, leant down, and wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzling her face into his neck, giggling lightly. Sam took a couple of seconds to register her reaction, a reaction he hadn’t even really considered, and reached up to hold her back, a little breathless from the kiss.

Cait let go of him and leant back, an adoring look on her face as she looked deep into his questioning eyes.

“Sam,” she began, smiling down at their plane tickets in her hands, “I would love to go to Paris with you.”

Sam raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes a little more, “really?”

“Yes!” she responded with forceful nodding, “I…I know we said we weren’t going to put pressure on…what we are. I don’t think we have. I think we’ve gone slow and have let things progress naturally. And…that progression has led me to really caring about you too,” she put her hand on his face, stroking his stubble with her thumb.

Sam’s face lit up and his face broke into a big smile, showing his white, shiny teeth. Cait bent down and leant her forehead against his and closed her eyes. Sam put his hands on the sides of her shoulders and moved his face to the side to capture her lips. Their mouths folded together and Cait wrapped her arms around him again, to get him as close as possible, in that position. Sam parted her legs and pulled them to wrap around his waist, then scooped his hands underneath her arse and lifted her up off the bed, as he got to his feet. He bounced her upward to get a better hold on her, and she locked her ankles around his back. After breaking the kiss, she laid her head against his shoulder and he carried her through the dividing door, into her room. He walked over to her bed, turned around and sat down on the end of it, then leant backwards so he was laying down. Cait took the opportunity to cover his neck in kisses and bites, moving down his chest. Just then she stopped and let out a long and loud yawn. She went to continue her line of kisses down his body, but Sam held her arms and inched her back up toward him.

“Sleep,” he said softly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Cait hesitated for a moment, then nodded. She bent down once more and pecked him on the lips, before climbing off him to get under the blankets. He turned the lights off and crawled into bed next to her. She faced him, lifted her head up so he could thread his arm underneath her neck and slung her leg over his hip. He held her body and pulled her as close to him as he could. With her head in the crook of his shoulder, and his hands on her shoulder and lower back, hugging her to him, sleep was fast approaching.

‘One more week of work, then Paris,’ was Cait’s last thought, and she smiled into Sam’s neck before drifting off to sleep.

The next few days at work felt slower than normal, as Cait was counting down the days until Paris. She kept herself as busy as possible, focusing on lines when she wasn’t tangled in a bundle of Sam in the trailer, or in the makeup chair, or in new costume fittings.

It came to the Thursday before the Saturday they left for Paris. Cait had gotten back to the trailer first, exhausted, and collapsed on her bed. She wasn’t ready for it, but the nerves hit her hard. Up until that point, she had felt nothing but excitement for Paris, but as it crept closer, the more nervous she became. She knew that in Paris was where her and Sam were going to be completely intimate. They were going to sleep together, in Paris, the most romantic city in the world, and she was nervous. She didn’t expect to feel nervous at all, and it made her really think about what was going to happen.

‘Fuck…I need to get some lingerie! He hasn’t seen me in any lingerie yet, it would be a nice surprise for him. He’s made sure it’s going to be special, and so will I. But when am I going to have the chance to leave without him noticing, and come back without him seeing…?’ Cait thought nervously, staring up at the ceiling and chewing on her lip.

Then her phone vibrated on her bedside table. She pushed herself up, reached over and grabbed it before laying back down. It was a text from Sam.

- Looks like it’s going to be a late one for me, they can’t get the lighting right in this damn night shoot.

- Oh no, how frustrating! How late do you think?

- At least a few more hours, I think…don’t wait up, okay? I know how exhausted you get after work. I’ll pick up something for dinner and I’ll be next to you in bed as quick as I can 😉

- 😊 are you sure?

- Yeah, you sleep.

- Okay, I hope you’re alright. Hurry back 😊

- Will do 😉

Cait smiled to herself, then checked the time. 6:18pm.

‘I guess it’s now or never…’ Cait decided.

She quickly found the number of her driver, called, and asked how far away the nearest town was.

“20 minutes, ma’am,” was Cait’s driver’s response.

Within ten minutes, her driver was outside of her trailer, she hopped in and was on her way to the nearest town, hoping there would be a decent lingerie store.

Upon arrival, Cait’s driver asked, “should I come back, ma’am, or wait for you here?”

“Uh…” Cait paused, looking up and down the long street of stores, “I shouldn’t be too long. Would you be able to wait here?”

“Of course, ma’am,” said her driver.

“Thank you so much,” Cait grinned, then shut the door.

She set off on her quest, power walking down the street, hoping to come across some store that sold women’s underwear. After fifteen minutes of walking, she spotted a lingerie store across the street. With a breath of relief, she ran across the road and into the store. They had many options, but the one that caught her eye and was love at first sight was a wine red, lacy bra and high cut G-string set. It also came with a garter belt and suspenders, in which she was going to pair with black thigh high stockings, and black stilettos. She luckily already had the stilettos. Very happy with her purchases, an excited shiver came over her as she walked out of the store. She couldn’t wait for Sam to see her in it. This helped ease her nerves and brought back the excitement.

She looked at the time, only 7:20pm. Plenty of time to go back to the trailer and start packing her Paris bag, so she could hide her lingerie and heels at the bottom. She would have that done and eat dinner, all well before Sam would get back. Cait got back into the car and let out a satisfied sigh of relief.

By 9:10pm, Cait was showered and tucked cosily in bed, scrolling on her phone. It felt weird going to bed on her own. She suddenly felt very lonely, and looked towards the door, hoping Sam would come through it at any moment. She missed him and was determined to stay awake until he got back. By 9:45pm and still no Sam, a very tired Cait had fallen asleep, phone still in hand.

By 10:15pm, Sam had finally gotten back, quietly coming through the trailer door with a chicken wing in his mouth. He dropped his coat onto the closest dining chair, and his script and key onto the table. After devouring the last of the chicken off the bone, he put it in the bin and licked his lips and fingers. He knew he had to see her before having a shower, so he crept into her room and knelt on the floor beside her. Careful to not get his greasy fingers on her or her bed, he leant in, planning to place a very careful, light kiss on her mouth. The smell of the chicken must have woken her up, as her eyes slowly opened when Sam’s mouth was an inch away. She quickly closed the gap between their mouths and gave him a deep kiss to show him just how much she missed him today. She tasted the chicken on his lips and on his tongue.

“Mm,” she playfully moaned, and sucked his lips into her mouth, enjoying the taste.

He smiled against her mouth, “sorry I woke you,” he breathed into her mouth.

“Don’t be,” she pulled his mouth onto hers again, then sat up all the way.

She broke the kiss and licked her lips, then moved her mouth across his cheek and to his ear.

“Touch me,” she seductively whispered into his ear before nipping at his earlobe and licking down his neck.

Sam’s eyes rolled back, and he could feel his cock twitch and become hard.

“I would love to,” he whispered breathlessly, “but my fingers are greasy.”

She leant back to look at him, “oh?” she questioned.

She reached down and took his left hand and brought it up to her mouth. Starting with his index finger, she enveloped it with her mouth, mimicking the same actions with her tongue that she would on his cock. She did the same with every one of his fingers. By the time she was finished, Sam’s breathing was noticeably heavier. He had that desirous look in his eye, then pounced on top of her. She giggled and untangled her legs from the blanket so she could wrap them around his waist. Their tongues stroked and danced together until they had to come up for air.

“I have to shower,” Sam stated while gasping.

Cait leant in once more with a protesting moan against his lips before she blithely pushed him off with a cheeky smile.

“I won’t be long,” Sam promised, then made a couple of kissing noises before leaving the room.

Saturday morning came. Cait didn’t sleep much, she was full of nerves and excitement. Sam and Cait both strategically mentioned to Ron and their other co-stars where they would be going over the Christmas break, as for it to not be suspicious if they were both seen leaving at the same time. They still had to take separate cars to the airport. Their flight was an early one, so they were, once again, shivering outside their trailer.

Sam heard Cait’s teeth chattering, then pulled her close, held her face and seductively purred, “let me warm those lips up.”

Cait wrapped her arms around his waist and stood up on her tiptoes. They could see every breath they took when they broke each kiss, standing in that frosty morning together.

Their lips became warm just when they heard their cars pulling up. They quickly broke apart from one another, and Sam reached for her hand, placed a sweet kiss on top of her fingers, then took an inconspicuous step away from her.

Sam and Cait both made a point to mention to their drivers where they were heading for their Christmas break; different locations but flight times close to each other. They were doing everything they could think of to not get caught, or cause anyone to be suspicious.

Their flight was at 6:30am, and it was only an hour and a half flight. They had a cabin seat, in first class. It was a much different experience together than it was last time. There were also less people on the plane this time.

They found their cabin and revelled in the fact that they were so secluded and had no annoying armrest between them. As soon as Sam sat down, Cait climbed into his lap. Sam took a quick look to see that there weren’t any flight attendants around, before running his hand from Cait’s knee, all the way up her thigh, stroking a very sensitive area. She had to conceal her squeal and breathed heavily into his ear. Sam kissed the side of her neck then idly played with a strand of her hair. They heard the flight attendant’s food trolley coming up the aisle, so Sam lifted Cait up off his lap and put her down on the seat beside him. She kept her hand on his leg, then cuddled his arm and leant her head against her shoulder. Sam leant his heard against hers.

“Where would you like to go, when we get there?” Sam asked.

There was no answer. Sam took his head off hers, leant forward and saw that she was fast asleep. He smiled, kissed the top of her head, and leant his head back onto hers, also closing his eyes.

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breaniebree · 2 years

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BREANIE!

This is the second time I had to read a chapter at work and I had to fight all the urges of showing my emotions and reacting verbally!

You got me with including Theobas on the couple list but there are no chapters yet so we’ll done!

This chapter I had to read it like 5 times to make sure I didn’t miss any details and just take it all in cause I now have so many questions. Mostly about Theo and Bas, especially now that we’ve gotten a little preview of his past. Like who is Kenneth and Clark, his impatience when he knows that Theo is at the Ministry, seriously Tonks in this chapter as a chefs kiss. How is Theo going to react the next time he sees Bas, and how much longer is he going to be in FREAKING denial!! You precious bean but I want to knock your beautiful head against something!

Seriously so so in love with ASC, I can’t wait for the sneak peek and the next chapter.

-She Who Must Not Be Named

Hi, She Who Must Not Be Named!

Thank you!!!

Theobas is coming soon and yes, I will not update the couples list until they finally kiss!

I’m honoured you read at work to begin with. I take that to mean you are too excited to wait so thank you!

Yes, we will eventually learn more about Kenneth and Clark and yes, Theo now knows that Sebastian had a boyfriend which does confuse him. Needless to say, he is going to be a bit anxious and on edge the next time to he sees Sebastian.

I will post a sneak peek later tonight when I get home.

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steamberrystudio · 4 years

Photo

Hey everyone! Sorry I forgot the update over the weekend. It’s been a bit stressful lately and I’m basically always tired and sleepy. So that makes me forgetful. LoL

But here is the update for the last week! It’s not super exciting since I mostly was just writing and writing and writing. But you can find out more below!

Summary:

Finished Jack chapter

Started new chapter

Worked on some sprite expressions

One new BG

Two new BG sketches

Worked on some new transitions

The Ramble:

This was primarily a writing week. I had a few other little things I worked on, but writing was the focus (and will be for a while yet!). Jack's route is a little over half complete now.

And we've gotten our total percentage done (for the first six LIs) back above 60%. I don't remember if I mentioned it or not but I ended up increasing my total word count goal (something I resisted for a long time) to reflect the size the routes are actually ending up. So this basically reduced our progress bar, of course.

But now we've passed that 60% mark for the overall writing amount again!

Total word count is sloooowly edging up to 460,000 words.

I also worked on a few other things this week - like coding some new transitions into the game which I think I did...last weekend? I don't remember.

So when I say "transition", what I'm referring to is the effect applied to the screen during scene switches. Sometimes I just use a simple dissolve between BGs because there's no need for a big transition. If I want to indicate some time has actually passed, I usually use the "blinds" or "fade" transition. Blinds replaces the old scene with a vertical, well...blinds...effect. Fade causes a fade to black before bringing the new BG into view.

I found a set of transitions, some of which actually look a little art deco-y and some of which look sort of futuristic. I thought it would be fun to play around with something a little more interesting than the default transitions renpy comes with. So I've been playing around with those to see which ones I like and how I want to use them.

I'm still playing around with them - there were around 10 I felt were usable for GS so I'm looking forward to finding ways to integrate them. Some of them are really cool. I love that there was one I could use for teleporting moments to transition between BGs in a more interesting way.

I'm also working on setting one up that I can use for moments when Morgan is waking up or losing consciousness since that does happen a bit in the game as well.

That's probably not terribly exciting to talk about it, but I feel like it does add a nice bit of overall polish to the game!

Anyway, this is kind of a short ramble because this week was really more writing oriented and I expect my weekend is going to mostly be focusing on writing as well. I may take some time out to work on the Caleb wallpaper I owe patrons too though! OwO Mwa ha ha!

Sneak Peeks and Previews:

We also got some new BGs and BG sketches! This is a cave area in the Twilight Wastes

(Sorry there aren't many previews this week!

Upcoming Week:

W R I T I N G.

Basically. LoL

That’s all for now. See you next time!

#upcoming game #otome #gilded shadows #romance #indie games #updates

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whenihaveyouromione · 3 years

Text

When I Have You - Chapter 15

Read on Fanfiction.net or ao3 if you’d prefer!

If you’d like to see fanart for this story and sneak peeks, follow this story’s Instagram account whenihaveyou.romione!

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Chapter 15

"Mr Weasley, you may have been invited here today, and you also may be considered a lifetime honorary member of this school; however, that does not give you the right to use such language in my office."

Ron flushed, glaring at the umbrella stand he had just tripped over in the headmistress' office, sparking a tirade of language that his mother would have severely scolded him for. As she wasn't there, it seemed that Professor McGonagall had taken on that role.

"Er, sorry, Professor," he said, glancing at her sheepishly.

Harry, who had more elegantly emerged from the fireplace, smirked.

McGonagall's lips curled into a thin smile as she beckoned them further into the spacious office. "That's quite alright."

It was the first weekend of November, and Hermione and Ginny had organised with the Headmistress for them to not only visit Hogsmeade for the day, but for them to also spend the day at Hogwarts as well.

When Ron had first received the owl, he'd been hesitant about returning to the place that now seemed like a past life to him. Harry had had his concerns too, but as the weeks wore on, and the more they discussed it, the more the idea had grown on them.

"It'll be good to see how it's turned out since the repairs, won't it?"

So here they were, landing via the Floo Network in Professor McGonagall's office, being greeted warmly by her (minus the scolding Ron had just received).

Ron had only ever been in this office a few times, but it looked very different to how he remembered Dumbledore keeping it. McGonagall was definitely a lot cleaner, and she had far less extravagant objects. More useful ones, too.

He and Harry both sat down in two armchairs McGonagall had just conjured for them.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron asked, looking around.

"Having breakfast in the Great Hall, I’d imagine," McGonagall said with an air of amusement. "With your sister as well, whom I'm sure you're just as excited to see?" she added with a raised eyebrow.

Harry snorted beside him, and Ron flushed again.

"Yes, her too."

“So, I hear the two of you are doing well in your training with the Ministry?” McGonagall said, smiling between them. “Top of the class, so I should think.”

“Along with Neville,” Harry said cheerfully. “Yeah.”

“Ah, I am pleased to hear about Longbottom,” McGonagall said fondly, now staring somewhere off in the distance. “I always knew he had it in him…” She turned her attention back to Ron and Harry. “You’ll make fantastic Aurors. First hand experience, which is what the department has been lacking for many, many years.”

Ron beamed at the compliment. He could remember his meeting with McGonagall back in fifth year, and how he’d uncertainly expressed his desire to become an Auror to her, and the surprised look she’d given him. Then she’d handed him many alternative brochures, encouraging him to look carefully into them and to consider his options. He’d left deflated that day, almost giving up on the idea of ever becoming an Auror.

And now… now she believed he would be good at it.

His smile widened.

“Er, how’s things here, Professor?” Harry asked. “How’s —”

“Everything is as well as could be,” McGonagall answered. “I must say, though, the older years have thinned, but the first years numbers are as large as ever. I wasn’t expecting it, but it seems that parents still wish for their children to receive a magical education here. I’ve no doubt that within a few years, the school will be at capacity again.”

Harry nodded, followed by a silence.

McGonagall jumped to her feet a moment later. “So, I suppose you’re both keen to see Miss Granger and Miss Weasley?”

Ron clambered to his feet eagerly. He’d not seen Hermione in over two months, his only correspondence with her twice a week via owl. He was desperate to just lay eyes on her again.

McGonagall smiled knowingly as Ron regained himself and walked to the door, feigning near disinterest.

They walked in silence through the corridors. The castle looked just as it had before it had been destroyed, despite some new portraits hanging around. There were no cracks, no places that showed where the walls had been blown to bits only a few months prior.

And yet, Ron still knew he had made the right decision by choosing not to come back. It felt good to visit, but training as an Auror, living in his own place — well, Harry’s place — was where he needed to be.

Ron’s stomach lurched into his chest as they drew nearer to the Great Hall. He didn’t know why he felt so nervous — he’d been nothing but overjoyed when he’d seen Hermione after she’d gotten back from Australia — but this time had been even longer. He’d not so much as held her hand in two whole months, and part of him had become used to her absence. Not in a way that meant he was happier without her being there — he certainly wasn’t — but he’d realised how dependent he’d become on her. He’d become used to seeing her every day, having her there when he needed her or when she needed him. It had taken a week or so, but that dependency had disappeared when they were apart, and now he worried that it meant that they wouldn’t be as close as they had been.

The Great Hall was packed with students, all dressed and excitedly talking about the first Hogsmeade visit of the year. It took Ron all of three seconds to scan the crowd and spot Hermione, Ginny and Luna all huddled at the Gryffindor table, talking amongst themselves. None of them had seen Harry, Ron and McGonagall enter.

“Well, enjoy your breakfast, boys,” McGonagall said, and she marched on ahead towards the teachers’ table at the front.

“Come on,” Harry said, grinning, and he too moved forward.

All three of them were so engrossed in their conversation and their food, that Ron and Harry were able to slide onto the bench beside Hermione and Ginny respectively without them noticing.

Ron kissed Hermione’s cheek, causing her to jump and flinging some egg into the air, which landed on some poor, unsuspecting first year at the Hufflepuff table. The boy whirled around, caught sight of Harry, paled, and looked determinedly back at his food.

“Hey!” Ron said, beaming at Hermione, and the concern he’d felt only moments ago vanished with the smile she returned. His heart pounded in his chest at just seeing her, that intense feeling of love he always felt when he laid eyes on her, was there, as strong as ever — stronger, even, with their two months apart.

“Hey!” Hermione replied, throwing her arms around his neck. “I didn’t realise you had arrived yet.”

Ron cast his eyes across the table to where Ginny had caught Harry in some embrace that had some girls casting alarmed looks around them. He turned back to Hermione quickly and said, “I haven’t missed that. But I’ve definitely missed you.”

She laughed, sliding her hand under the bench and squeezing his. “I’ve missed you too.”

“How’s it been, being back?” Ron asked, relieved that Ginny had finally let Harry up for some air. “Weird?”

“Of course,” Hermione said. “I mean, it’s quieter, especially in the Common Room, but it’s been good. NEWTs are… interesting, though.”

“Interesting!” Ginny scoffed. “You would have thought, you know, after what happened last year, the teachers would have eased up a little. But nope, it’s work, work, work. Apparently with the desperate need for jobs now, with half the Ministry, er… gone, they need to make us even more ready. Should have taken a leap from your book and started a career without finishing school.”

“It’s not that bad, is it?” Harry said. “I mean…”

“No… it’s pretty bad,” Hermione said. “I’m struggling to keep up, actually…”

“You’re struggling?” Ron asked, staring at Hermione with amusement. “Then I’m very glad I’m not here.”

Ron helped himself to all the food he could reach and piled it onto the clean plate that had appeared in front of him. “I missed Hogwarts meals,” he groaned. “Nice to have someone cook for you for once.” He cast a nervous glance towards Hermione, but she only smiled at him.

“House-elves are being paid now,” she said brightly.

“Oh, good,” Ron said, shovelling food into his mouth.

“Once you two are done pigging out,” Ginny said, eyeing Harry’s heaped plate with a raised eyebrow, “we should probably get going. Beat the crowd, you know? First Hogsmeade trip in over a year — it’s going to be packed.”

Ginny was right. Fifteen minutes later, the four of them plus Luna were exiting the Great Hall and making their way out of Hogwarts and towards the all-wizard village. It was a cold November day, so they were all rugged up well.

As they walked, Ron slipped his hand into Hermione’s and bent to whisper in her ear. “You know, once we reach the village, we could give the others the slip, sneak into an alley and —”

“Ron!” Hermione said, loud enough for the others to turn to them curiously.

“Are you whispering disgusting things to her?” Ginny asked.

“None of your business,” Ron said. He then said only to Hermione, “I was only joking, though if you wanted to, I’m not going to argue.” He grinned, causing her to roll her eyes.

“And what a sight that would be, if we’re caught,” Hermione said. “Imagine that, me being expelled, because I was found in a side street of Hogsmeade with you…”

“A sacrifice I’d be willing to make,” Ron said, nodding seriously. “It would mean you could come home again!”

Hermione seemed to not know whether to laugh or tell him off, but settled for a smile in between.

As the others walked ahead, Ginny and Luna filling Harry in about the seventh year classes, Ron stopped and spun Hermione towards him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her closer. There, he kissed her — the first damn kiss in two months — and it felt amazing.

“Merlin, I missed you,” he said when they broke away. “I missed that.”

Hermione smiled, gazing up at him, her arms around him. Ron kissed her again, wishing for nothing more than to stay there forever and not let her go.

They stood like that for a while, ignoring the disgusted looks from other students who passed them on their way to the village. It was Ginny’s voice that broke them out of… whatever it was.

“Well, we’re off to do something that doesn’t involve waiting for you,” she said, sounding annoyed. “Once you two can manage to get your hands off one another, we’ll see you in the Three Broomsticks around midday, alright?” And she grabbed Harry’s hand, pulling him up the path. Vaguely, Ron heard her muttering something along the lines of, “Revolting, honestly.”

Luna followed hastily behind them.

Ron laughed, following his sister, Harry and Luna up the path with his eyes. Once they were out of sight, he said, “I was wanting to do that before, but McGonagall was there… I think she’s onto us, you know?”

“And does that matter if she is?” Hermione asked.

“Er, well, no, I guess not,” Ron said, feeling slightly embarrassed now. He was an adult — he was perfectly entitled to have a girlfriend, and he was also entitled to kiss her — when and wherever he wished.

“Come on, you idiot,” Hermione said, taking his hand and pulling him after her. “It looks like we’ve been abandoned. Where would you like to go?”

“My offer from before still stands,” Ron said.

“And my answer still stands,” Hermione retorted. “Not happening.”

“Fine. How about Honeydukes then?”

“Honeydukes it is,” Hermione said, beaming, and she continued to pull him along the snow-covered track.

They had to be the last ones to enter the village despite being some of the first to leave, because every so often, Ron stopped walking just so he could kiss her. By the time they reached the sweet store, it was packed with excited students all greedily filling bags with as much as they could.

“Maybe we should go somewhere else?” Hermione suggested, looking warily around.

“Just let me get some stuff,” Ron said, digging into his pockets for some Galleons. “Our place needs some sweets, you know? And all those times Harry got stuff for me over the years… I’ll stock up.”

“If you say so,” Hermione said, and she followed him to a corner of Jelly Slugs and Every Flavour Beans.

It took a good amount of time for Ron to select and pay for them, stuffing his pockets with as much as he could. By the time they left the shop, it was half an hour until midday, which was when Ginny had suggested they meet in the Three Broomsticks.

“Where to now?” Hermione asked as they made their way past students again, all whispering excitedly to one another.

“Honestly, Hermione, if you said you wanted to spend the rest of the day in that dingy cave Sirius stayed in all those years ago, I’d agree, because it would be with you.” Ron slipped his hand into hers once more as they continued walking. “Though, I wouldn’t mind checking out the new Quidditch shop that opened here.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Hermione said brightly. “They have that new broom, don’t they? The Firebolt Three.”

Ron looked at her incredulously.

Hermione shrugged. “I spend most of my time with Ginny these days. I’ve heard her mention it a few times.”

They came to stop out the front of a shop that had, for a long time, been abandoned. Now, it had a fresh coat of paint and in the large glass window was the fastest broom in the world. Ron groaned with longing.

“One day,” he murmured, pushing through the crowd of students, “one day, I hope to earn enough to be able to buy myself one.”

“You will,” Hermione said. “Aurors earn good money.”

“Not trainee Aurors,” Ron said. “I’ll have to wait three years. Then there’ll probably be a more expensive, better one out that I’ll have to save for all over again.”

“And then you can buy that one,” Hermione said gently. “Is there anything in there you want to buy, or do you want to head to the Three Broomsticks now?”

Ron took another longing look at the broomstick before turning around and heading back up the street again. He couldn’t help but feel slightly miserable at knowing he probably would never be able to afford the best broom, whatever it was.

Even though they were early, they found Harry and Ginny already waiting at a table in the corner, Butterbeers in front of them. Ginny waved them over.

“You two finally came up for air, I see,” she said as they slid into two seats opposite her and Harry.

“Says you,” Ron scolded. “If I remember correctly, you and Harry were in the Great Hall —”

“Where’s Luna?” Hermione asked, looking around the busy pub.

“Well, I’m not sure,” Ginny said. “She said she had to meet someone and went off.” She shrugged.

“Butterbeer?” Hermione asked, looking at Ron.

“I dunno. If I’m not a student, am I allowed Firewhisky?”

“Probably, but as I am a student, I can’t get you one,” Hermione said.

“Er, alright,” Ron said. “Butterbeer is fine.”

Hermione went over to the bar to order their drinks. When she came back, Ron and Harry were filling Ginny in about everything happening at home.

“That reminds me,” Ron said, taking a sip of the Butterbeer, “Mum insisted we come over tonight for dinner. Me and Harry. She said Percy is bringing someone — his Muggle girlfriend, I assume. The one none of us have met — and said something about it being really important we’re there for it.”

“Wait, you’re going to get to meet this Audrey?” Ginny asked. “That’s not fair!”

Ron and Harry shrugged.

“But I guess that means he’s told her about us, then. About who he is. Will be a shock if she shows up to the Burrow and doesn’t know anything.”

They spent the next half an hour speculating about what Audrey would be like, eventually reaching the conclusion that she had to be almost like Percy, otherwise he probably wouldn’t be taking the relationship seriously.

“I bet she got top of all her classes in her Muggle school,” Ginny said. “They’ll be a perfect match.” She then looked at Ron determinedly. “Write to me about her straight after. I want to know everything. Take a picture if you can.”

“I’m not going to take a picture of someone I just met!” Ron told her, raising an eyebrow. “What has gotten into you?”

Ginny flushed slightly, averting her gaze. “I’m just interested, that’s all. She’s a Muggle. I mean, wouldn’t it be interesting if we had a Muggle in the family.”

Ron watched his sister with amusement. “You and Dad should talk more,” he said.

“Well, just write to me, alright? At least tell me a bit about her.”

“Yeah, alright,” Ron said, resisting the urge to sigh.

They stayed in the Three Broomsticks for the remainder of the afternoon. The pub began to thin out, leaving just them, a few other students, and now bringing in the general wizarding population. Some were looking a little shady to Ron the later it got.

“Er, we should probably go,” he said. “You know, get ready for this all-important dinner.” He jumped to his feet, the others following suit.

“I really wish you didn’t have to go,” Hermione said, slipping her hand back into Ron’s as they made their way back to Hogwarts. “I wish we could spend more days like this together.”

“Well, when you’re done with school, we can,” Ron said. “Every weekend, every day off… though, training is going to get more intense after Christmas, I reckon. That’s what we were told anyway.”

They walked in silence for the remainder of the way, Hermione only speaking when they reached the entrance doors. She turned to face him, staring up at him with a sad smile. “There’s usually a visit around Valentine’s Day. I’ll let you know —”

“You’re coming for Christmas, aren’t you?” Ron asked, desperation laced in his voice.

Hermione continued to look at him, her smile fading completely. “Ron, it’s just… NEWTs are… they’re hard. There’s a lot of work…”

“But —” There was a sinking feeling in his chest that hadn’t been there a moment ago, overriding the elation of finally spending a day with Hermione. He stared at her. “You have to come home for Christmas. I’ve… I thought you would!”

“I want to,” Hermione said, taking his hands in hers. He pulled them away. “I really do. But — Ron, please understand…”

“I’ve got to go, or I’ll be late,” Ron said miserably, trying to step past her. “I love you.”

“Ron.”

He turned around to face her again. Her smile had returned. “I’ll see what I can do, okay? I’ll… well, I suppose a day or two away from here won’t hurt, will it?”

The disappointment in Ron lifted. “You’ll come home?” he asked.

She nodded, continuing to smile. “Even if it’s just for a few days.”

Ron gathered her in his arms, lifting her off of her feet. He kissed her hard on the mouth. “Good!” he said. “Because I wanted us to spend our first Christmas together. I had plans.”

“Plans?” Hermione asked curiously. “What kind of plans?”

“You’ll see!” Ron beamed. “Just, please promise me you’ll come home. Please.”

“I will, Ron,” Hermione said, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him. “I promise.”

Hermione walked him all the way up to McGonagall’s office, opening the door just as Ginny said, “... they’re probably suffocating each other again. Honestly, I don’t know what — oh, hi, guys!” She grinned.

“I thought we agreed that you would be leaving at three o’clock, Mr Weasley,” McGonagall said with a small smile. “It’s a little after that.”

Ron chose not to answer, instead, letting go of Hermione’s hand, kissing her lightly (because it just didn’t feel right grabbing her in his old teacher’s office) and then went to stand beside Harry by the fireplace.

They landed back at Grimmauld Place, this time Ron stepping more carefully out so as not to trip over anything, and waited for Harry to step out a moment later.

“I’m exhausted,” Harry said. “I forgot what it was like…”

“Yeah, well, you can’t be too exhausted,” Ron said. “We’ve still got Mum’s dinner.”

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obeymeprompts · 4 years

Note

Hello! I was wondering how the boys would react on having MC falling asleep on their shoulder/lap all of a sudden? I need me some good fluff

t.Oh! I need some fluff myself too!

Lucifer

You fell asleep on the Avatar of Pride’s shoulder while helping him organize the Student Council yearly documents. You had been separating the papers in different piles since lunchtime and the room’s natural lighting was no longer enough, but neither of you two had decided to turn on the lights yet. The ambience in the common room of the House of Lamentation was perfectly comforting and dreamlike so you decided to pause the task just a bit to appreciate it.

...That was when you started napping with your head on Lucifer’s cloaked shoulder. Upon noticing that, he didn’t wake you up-- but didn’t cuddle to you either. Focused on whatever task he had at hand like always, Lucifer could only silently enjoy the moment while pretending he didn’t notice you sleep.

Bonus: you woke up to nearly all the work done, but Lucifer was no longer there. He didn’t need to tell you, but it felt like it was your responsability to sort out the last few papers for sleeping in such an inappropriate time!

Mammon

Know that one casino Mammon said humans shouldn’t be wandering around in? Well, when you became closer friends, he actually changed idea and brought you there as a lucky charm. Truth be told, Mammon is a good player and you had a fair share of fun and wins while sneaking out that day -- but you are still a human and while the Avatar of Greed’s thirst for money kept him up, your lids started to feel heavy from so much drinking and partying.

Last thing you remembered was “just closing your eyes a bit” from so much lights in the casino while he played another round of 21. Luckily enough, your sleeping body felt against Mammon’s and not backwards. At first, he tought of waking you up, but such an adorable vision could end up being a rare one so after finishing the round, he sloppily carried you to a couch somewhere else.

Bonus: you woke up to a mumbling, blushed Mammon saying something about “fragile humans”. Upon noticing you were no longer asleep, he quickly moved away from you and suggested going home, just because he is ‘bored already’.

Belphegor

You had something to talk over with the Avatar of Sloth, so you went up to his room and talked for what seemed like five minutes until it felt like his own room had an enveloping haze of sleepiness to itself.

“What is it, (M/C)? You’re feeling unwell?”, Belphegor was nice enough to ask before yawning. Oh, he yawned-- and that made you yawn too-- and caused a cycle of nonstopping more until you were sitting on his bed, then leaning into the mountain of impossibly fluffy pillows until the most delightful sloth took over every single muscle of yours.

“Beel should have told you not to come here around this time--”, he warned in a carefree tone while sprawling his body over the gigantic mattress. You had time and most of your tasks were done, so why not? Sometime in the night you ended up entangled in eachother -- a very messy yet comfortable cuddling that was only possible due to Belphegor’s huge amount of pillows.

Bonus: waking up to Belphegor’s sloth nap was haaaaard, like you hadn’t slept in ages! Maybe it was some aura enveloping the demon, but after leaving you felt completely restored.

Beelzebub

After what happened with Belphegor, you decided to find out what exactly Beel should have told you. The Avatar of Gluttony was having a specially large cup of custard in the common room when you found him.

“Yes. You shouldn’t visit Belphegor around 3PM or the 3AM, or you will---” -- and just then, he started yawning as well, just like Belphegor did yesterday. Sensing that same nonstop cycle of yawns would happen, you forced yourself to not give in as much as you could, at least for some time so you could get an answer from him!

“You-- You visited him. I’m getting sleepy from you--” was literally all Beel could say while intercalating his wide open mouth yawns with custard eating. Fearing he might end up choking while doing that, you only came closer to take the spoon from him and both of you felt asleep, dropping the custard cup all over the couch.

Leviathan

You were side by side, sitting in the Avatar of Envy’s couch and surrounded by enough snacks and drinks for a whole night, no lights on except for the TV. It was anime binge night for Leviathan and he invited you to join. The anime plot surrounded something about a young boy who was supposed to pilot a giant mech but got quarrels with his dad and while Levi reassured you it was one of the best anime in the century -- no, in ALL CENTURIES, you had a very hard day working with your tasks and the first episode was just so slow...

Next thing you knew, you woke up in Leviathan’s lap. The anime was paused in a giant robot’s face and Levi had joined you in your slumber, the TV controller still in hand. You tought he’d get angry if you ever napped during one of your binges, but it ends up Levi was also exhausted from the finals.

Bonus: next day, the Avatar of Envy would blush whenever around you and say it was nothing when asked about. Eventually, he would end up scolding you for napping in order to get away from more questions!

Satan

Once you and Satan became closer friends, he started allowing you into his room so you could read and browse books together. In one of these days, you found a very interesting book about human history from the demons point of view and decided to take a peek.

The Avatar of Wrath beckoned you to come closer so he could explain over the chapters instead of having you read it all. You spent some good time shoulder to shoulder, Satan’s whispering voice guiding you in an unique manner over all the eons that crossed both demon and human’s magical history before the relaxation took you over.

Satan didn’t mind it at all. He knew humans, specially modern ones, could handle reading much less than him and so he carefully poised you over his shoulder as he moved to another book of his own interest. Every now and then he would carefully stroke your hair as of he would do to one of a stray cat.

Bonus: “Ah! (M/C), are you feeling restored now? Should we continue from where we stopped?” -- was what he nonchalantly had to say when you woke up, blushed and warm.

Asmodeus

After having you put face cream on his already perfect skin, the Avatar of Lust decided to share some of it with you -- and of course, show your beautiful face some face massage it deserved! Treating you like a doll, he places your head over his thighs, untangles your hair, then proceeds to do the same thing you did to him.

He is specially skilled with his fingers and the cold cream soon makes your whole skin feel both supple and light. You can’t help but close your eyes in pleasure and Asmodeus smiles to himself, proud of his amazing job! However, he must have done a really good job because after some time, you’re no longer responding to his compliments. Noticing you’re asleep, Asmo does the only thing he could right now.

“How selfish of you, (M/C). Starting the beauty sleep without me.”--which is, of course, to set aside two sleeping masks for you two. It’s a day off and he doesn’t want to be bothered by witches, so after setting his phone to flight mode and properly prepping you both, he lays by your side and allows himself to also nap, hand in hand with you.

Bonus: Diavolo!

Diavolo had invited not only Lucifer, but you too for a tea! He wished to get to know the exchanged student better, but why today, when you were completely exhausted?

For as exciting as metting Lord Diavolo could be, you couldn’t stop thinking about your bed. It was already late and the prince had asked Barbatos for more tea and also kept inquiring you about your stay in the Devildom. Had you made any friends? How was the House of Lamentation?

Lucifer, sitting across from you two, couldn’t help but notice your somnolence. He politely suggested Diavolo to let you go home, but the lord replied with something along the lines of “are you jealous?” before laughing radiantly, unwavered. It was no surprise for him when you gave him for a minute, falling asleep on the future ruler of Devildom’s shoulder. Upon noticing this, Diavolo’s eyes widened with fascination as he gestured to you, showing Lucifer the fragile human in its slumber!

“I told you to let them go, it’s not like they don’t have R.A.D. to attend tomorrow”, was what Lucifer said, gladly rescuing you from sleeping at Diavolo’s presence for more than a few minutes. After that, Lord Diavolo allowed you to go back to House of Lamentation, but he spent weeks bothering Lucifer about how adorable humans could be! Just like you were a little pet.

#obey me! lucifer #obey me!#obey me masters #obey me asmodeus #obey me satan #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me mammon

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pansexualseaanimals · 3 years

Text

Chapter 9 Sneak Peeks ‘Cause You Deserve It

Hey guess what? I’m still alive! I haven’t been writing for a while because these past few chapters have kind of been making me face things about my own life that I hadn’t given due time to address and manage (especially Pyxis and Rory’s thoughts on how parents can “love you but not want you”, and stuff said by multiple people in chapter 9, the one I’m still writing) so I kinda just dealt with those thoughts and came to conclusions and stuff in my own mind while I endlessly binged anime and video games. Not that I don’t normally do that, mind you, but I did it a lot more and not much else.

Luckily, I live in a wonderful gorgeous apartment in my favorite town I’ve ever lived in (the only town I’ve ever called home, in fact! At least, in this world!) and it’s super comfortable and I live with my best friend who is way too good of a roommate if I must be frank - I’d rather be Columbia, honestly - and life has been relatively super good, so like. Don’t worry! I’m so happy in my life the way it is! I’m back home in the Midwest, surrounded by beauty and friends who’ve helped me out more than I could ever ask (but I did, let’s not lie lol) and... I still have depression and I’m working on that and planning on getting a doctor soon, but... I’m starting new good habits, getting into things I’ve been wanting to try, and yeah... I’m rambling at this point so I’ll make the rest quick.

I wanted to give sneak peeks because it’s been SO LONG and I don’t know how many people really actually read this thing? Like, “I’m excited that there’s a new chapter” kind of peeps? But no matter how few there are, you guys all deserve something nice, and this was all I could think of. Instead of just posting one scene, I’ll post a few clips from a bunch of scenes. Everything is subject to change as I keep writing, so it might not match the finished product, but... That just means you guys are extra-special! Heehee! ^__^

Excerpts are below the read-more cut. Hope it’s enjoyable!

\/\/\/\/\/

"Oh, I've got twenty-five coins for the sea show clanking in the backseat, whoa-oh. I've got thirty-two seashells lined up in a row..." Caurel happily sang as she covered the turquoise side in pink, pausing and hiding in a corner when she noticed Zebra rising out of the spawn pool. The younger Inkling, hesitant, flung her brush wildly to cover the pink ink and swam forward, repeating the process every few feet. When she dropped down to the valley, she triggered another Ink Mine, this time getting away just quickly enough.

"Not falling for that again," they sighed... right before Caurel popped out of her corner and slashed her brush at her, sending her floating right back to the spawn point. Unable to keep from giggling, Caurel re-inked the entrance ramp and climbed up to the higher level, brushing quickly down the alley as Zebra respawned again.

"And I'll swim, swim, swim, to my darling Martha... And let her lay me down in the bay where the warm winds blow~"

"Are we singing the same song?" Penny shouted from the audience, loud enough to be heard over the stage music.

"'Martha's Bay' by the Seagulls?" Caurel shouted back for confirmation.

"I knew it! Ahhh, I love you!"

"I love you, too, Butterfly!"

"Boooo!" Rocky shouted as he took out Thresher. "Get a room!"

"But their love for each other is like our love," Ankyr said with a wink.

"You really are a sea turtle."

"Hey, only Pyxis can call me-" SPLASH! Ankyr fell prey to Bonnet's Heavy Splatling.

"FOR ANKYR!" Rocky jumped up and flung his roller down before rolling toward Bonnet - and getting caught in a freshly thrown Splash Wall.

"I love it when he does that," Tiger squeaked.

\/\/\/\/\/

"What took you so long? Why did you trade Ankyr for these randos?"

"Rocky," Caurel sighed. "They're the friends we were supposed to meet today, remember?"

"Oh..."

"Guys, this is Rocky, our squad's leader," Pyxis laughed.

"Nice to meet you," Carina said, stepping forward to shake Rocky's hand. "Don't worry, my 'boyfriend' will be back soon."

"'BOYFRIEND'?" The entire crowd turned their attention to the charismatic newcomer.

"It's just an inside joke," Pyxis hastily assured them. "You'd just have to be there."

"Yeah, he kind of saved me a lot of hassle," Carina shrugged.

"My Sunshine has inside jokes with people I don't know," Moises thought out loud. "Not sure how I feel about this..."

"Well, you know us now," Hans piped up. "She's Carina, I'm Hans, this here is Shera, and the rude guy is Cygnus."

"I haven't said anything rude yet!"

"We all know you will," Shera said as she scooched over to Abbey. "So, what's your name?"

"I'm aromantic," Abbey said between sips of coffee. Their friends howled with laughter in the background.

"Aw, that's too bad... Are you... asexual, too?"

"They're not sex-repulsed, if that's what you mean," Pyxis jumped in. "That's not what asexual means, though."

"Sweet little Pyxis," Cygnus chuckled, patting his friend on the head. "Always here to educate her friends."

"...You mean their friends," Rocky corrected.

"What? No. You too? Are all Squids okay with the whole fluid-gender thing?"

"You didn't even last five minutes," Hans sighed, covering his face with his palm.

"Look, she was born with lady-parts, am I wrong or am I right?"

"Here's what I know," Rocky began slowly, stepping closer to the Octoling and staring him in the eye. "This particular group of friends respects what people choose to call themselves. When you're with us, you refer to Pyxis as they/them. If you can't handle that, you can swim back home."

"ROCKY!" Caurel grabbed her brother's arm and yanked him down to sit beside her. "They're our guests!"

"And Pyxis is family," he bit back. "Which is more important to you?"

"Wow, they really worship you around here," Cygnus laughed, turning to leave. "Do they even really know you? Your history? What have you been telling them?"

"Cygnus, get back here and act your age," Carina commanded.

"No thanks, Your Majesty."

The crowd was hushed for some time, the noises of the audience around them and the battle down below, permeating their silent space.

"Sorry about that," Carina finally spoke up. "I told him to behave himself. But he's... how do you say... stuck in his ways."

"He's only twenty-two," Shera rolled her eyes. "He's just a stubborn pufferfish."

"You okay, honey?" Hans asked Pyxis, who was too busy processing their own thoughts to realize they should answer.

"...I'm family?"

\/\/\/\/\/

And now, here’s Shera going goo-goo over more Inklings

---

“Vanilla? Is that a brand, or...?"

"Oh no, I just mean, the original one."

"So... Vanilla means original?"

"The basic form of something, yes. Regular. It's just slang."

"Who's the person with the gatling?"

"Ah, that's Pixie with the Zink Mini Splatling. Disruptor and Bubbler."

"Pixie..." Shera turned to where Pyxis was seated. "PIXIE!"

"Yes?"

"I can never call you Pixie again! That's the name of my new future wife!" Ecto and Thresher couldn't help but laugh.

"...Glad to hear it?"

"She's actually dating Ty right now," Tandy pointed out. "Sorry, you'll have to look elsewhere."

"Darn."

"Great Overseer," Carina sighed. "Why are you so thirsty today?"

"I dunno, Queenie," Shera shrugged and shook her head. "Look. I had no idea Squidlings could be so attractive, okay?"

"I mean, she's not wrong," Hans laughed. "The first time I saw Ankyr..."

"YOU CAN DO IT, GUYS!" Pyxis suddenly stood up and cheered as loud as they could.

\/\/\/\/\/

And now for some good parents! Specifically, Ecto’s dads. Well, one of them. The other is busy playing Pokémon with Caurel and co. in the living room at this moment. They haven’t been mentioned much so far, but they’re great friends with the Waters (Waters’? Waterss?) ever since all the families met, and Rocky and Caurel hang out with them a lot.

---

"That's because you can look back on the past, apply your knowledge of the present, and cook up a better future for yourself. A new happiness. Again, one that won't last forever. And maybe it's not perfect. Maybe you burn your tongue. Maybe you let it go cold without realizing. But there'll always be more soup."

"You just have an answer for everything, don't you?" Rocky scoffed, throwing more tomatoes into the pot.

"Not quite. There's one thing I've always wondered."

"The secret of life?"

"Nah, figured that out in college."

"What? No. Shut up." The two shared a laugh. Mister Plasma reduced the burner's heat and placed a lid on the pot, before turning to Rocky.

"Back when you were in Coral Reef's boat... Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well..." Rocky took a moment to continue. "Figured there wasn't any point, I guess. Can't help it if the person you have a crush on is gay. Like, if Pop was het, you wouldn't have the love of your life."

"Well I'm glad that's not the case," he said with a short laugh, before frowning and patting Rocky on the head. "Sorry, hon."

"It's fine. That's one of those 'just move on' parts in life. So I did."

"Ah..."

"Happened with Ankyr, too. But that was back when we were super tiny. Like.. That's a different kind of love. Baby love, I guess. But then again, we thought Ankyr was a girl back then. That was easier to move on from."

"You just can't catch a break," Dad laughed. "Anyone on your mind these days?" Rocky thought a while before answering.

"I... Not really. I don't know, Oji. Guess I'm kind of giving up for now. I just wanna cook and take care of the ocean. Those are my loves. Well, I'll never get tired of Turf War either. I guess... that's it."

"And that's A-okay," the adult Inkling nodded, before yelling "COME AND GET IT!" There was a multitude of shuffling sounds from the living room as the young adults made their way to the kitchen. "Come see us any time," he said again. "We'll always be here for you."

\/\/\/\/\/

And that’s all I have for you here today, I wanna stop myself before I give away more than I might have given away... But yeah, working on that slowly but surely now. I was already about halfway-ish done with the chapter before I fell off, I think? Depends if I think of adding any more scenes than what’s already planned. So, look forward to that soon! Catch you on the flip side~

P.S.: As a reminder, this is the second-to-last chapter I’m writing; after 10 is over, we’ll be moving on to the second book in the series, which will hopefully have much better pacing and will definitely be a lot different, but still be about the lives of Pyxis, Ankyr, and their loved ones - that will never change. Some of your favorite characters might not be around as much in book 2, some might get a spotlight where they hadn’t before, and of course we’ll meet lots of new friends, and you’ll just have to decide what you think of each of them. :3 But I hope you have fun. Regardless of anything, thanks for reading. If you’ve read any of Look Alive, Sunshine, you have my Heart Containers, and my eternal gratitude. Please let me know what you think, if you’ve got the time. Love & hugs!

#Splatoon #fanfic #excerpts #sneak peek #Look Alive Sunshine #mine #Pyxis Arcturus #Ankyr Moreta #True Lives #Turf War #Inkling #Octoling #writing talk

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orime-stories · 3 years

Note

Writing process ask: 1-5 and 11-15!

Thank you so much for the asks, as well as for making this great list of questions! I’ll only answer the ones I’ve not already done so far here, but people can find the answers to the rest of them here, here and here. Asks here.

1. Do you write outlines? How closely do you find yourself sticking to them?

I write piles of isolated scenes as the mood takes me, and then when I have enough of them I figure out what order they come in and what gaps need filled, or which of them have interesting themes or moments that I’d like to follow up on or build up to in parts that are yet to be written. I almost never have anything as structured and organised as an outline, especially not in the beginning. Just vague ideas that grow over time and entangle around each other. I might jot down some notes on what’s still needed when we get to the filling in the last blanks part though.

3. What’s your process like for worldbuilding? Do you have a clear definition of the world before starting or do you make it up as you need things?

The idea of worldbuilding intimidates the hell out of me. :p I only write about characters I make for video games and tabletop games, and they handily come with worlds that are already built for me. I enjoy poking at someone else’s toolkit and seeing what I can build from it, but I’ve never been motivated to build my own tools from scratch. Don’t feel the need to reinvent my own version of the wheel when there’s already so many pretty ones out there to take for a spin.

11. Do you know how your story will end when you start writing? Have you ever started out thinking it will end one way and have it end differently?

I almost never know how the story will end when I begin because I’ll start jotting down character ideas, moments from their background and their reactions to in-game events while I’m still in the middle of playing their stories for the first time. But I find that really exciting! I really like collaborative storytelling, where I get to build the beginnings of something and interact with the parts of the story that most interest me but other agents (whether that’s other people or the still unfolding canon story) can surprise me and take things on turns I never would have expected. I don’t know what kind of story I’m telling and what the themes are going to be until the game is done. And even then it often takes me a long time to settle on what I consider their after-game epilogue to look like, if I settle on one at all.

12. Do you have beta readers? Sensitivity readers? Editors? What’s the most you’ve changed your story due to feedback?

I’ve never really had anything like that because I’m not really bothered about improving my writing skills or making things that are “good”, I’m just splashing around in stuff for my own enjoyment in my own time. But I do often give people sneak peaks of upcoming stuff because I just love sharing and gibbering about what I’m working on. (So if anyone reading this fancies a peek behind the curtain - let me know! A handful of tumblr people have already had various tours.) Sometimes those behind the scenes back and forths with people will help spawn new ideas or motivate me to tweak a bit that’s causing some confusion, but just whatever comes up organically.

13. Do you immediately post something when you finish it?

My concept of ‘finished’ is a very flexible one, so if there is a concrete finish point in my process I don’t know where it is. Once I have a chapter I’m pretty pleased with I’ll usually keep it on hold another couple of days to have another couple of passes over it, then I upload it to AO3 by retyping the entire thing because I find it easier to catch lingering things I don’t like about the flow that way. So the process of posting usually ends up becoming one more redrafting in and of itself. Then when I’m re-reading my posted stuff I still often tweak little bits here and there, adding and removing commas or changing individual words or what have you. If something ever becomes so finished that I don’t feel the need to tinker with it at all anymore, I think that would genuinely make me a little sad.

15. How many stories have you started and never finished? Are they abandoned or do you want to get back to them eventually?

As explained above, none of my stories are really finished, even the finished ones. And that’s the way I like it.

#asks and tags #response #writing process asks #personal

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junewild · 3 years

Text

tags masterpost

a couple of people have complimented me on my new tag system and a couple of people have asked me what tags go to what sort of content, so i thought i’d write up a little masterpost of what the tags mean, where they came from, and why they’re important to me! you’ll even get a sneak peek at a few tags that are very rare or have yet to be used 👀. this will be linked in my carrd when i get around to it. i’ve even tried to alphabetize them 😅 thanks for expressing interest, it’s very lovely of you all xoxo

#and i am close behind — home tag

a continuation of “the wild geese are heading home again” which is my nature tag. just for everything that makes me feel like i am coming home.

#and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart — quotes and words tag

from a poem by e.e. cummings. “and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart / i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)”. words are just hearts speaking to each other, after all.

#and i was like *screams* — space tag

from the jenny slate drunk history nasa episode, because she somehow manages to sum up fully 80% of my feelings about the universe in that one sentence

#angstposting — disordered thoughts tag

literally just stream-of-consciousness breakdown-posting. probably block this tag. i go back and clean it out after every breakdown.

#but they are all good stories — media analysis/literature critique tag

hilary mantel (whose work i have never read) wrote that “some of these things are true and some of them lies. but they are all good stories.” anyway, that’s how i feel about taking apart stories and narratives and looking at them from the outside.

#can you not hear the ocean in me — mental health and disorders tag

the non-breakdown version. from this poem, which i can’t find anyone but i think is a deleted inkskinned or caitlyn siehl one:

“i am alive;

can you not hear the ocean in me;

are you not aware of the war i am fighting ;

i am alive ;

you cannot take that from me”

#checkmate nihilism — crafts tag

higgsboshark wrote a lovely post about how knitting is a great treatment for existential dread & now that’s all i think about every time i’m crafting. checkmate, nihilism. look at this thing that i am making with my hands. it exists and it will change someone’s life.

#dumbposting — misc tag

for tag games and dumb comments and things that don’t fit in anywhere else.

#fashion is instant language — fashion/body art tag

okay. IS this a cliche prada quote? yes. but also, one of my first classes in college was about art & society & the first thing that we learned was that the human body is the first & most primal canvas. what you do with your body is a statement, a language you are sharing with the people around you. i get very emotional about it.

#felt rather than seen — poetry tag

YES i am a BASIC WHITE GIRL, thank you. the first half of the da vinci quote. “poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen / “

#fill your arms with the pink and white flowers — spring aesthetic tag

from one of mary oliver’s slightly less well known poems.

“do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden, and softly

exclaiming of their dearness,

fill your arms with

the pink and white flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling, their eagerness

to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are nothing

forever”

#get in good trouble — activism/politics tag

are you really living if you aren’t making trouble for someone? write more letters. leave more voicemails. go to protests. join a mutual aid group. donate. there’s something you can do, even if it’s small.

#i am building a world that is worth living for — moral living tag

slightly different from the activism tag bc this is more about what you/i can do in everyday life to make the world a better place. these are my own words, reminding me that to stay alive i have to build my own life and live in it.

#i care to look on the outside like i do on the inside — gender/ sexuality tag

maggie stiefvater is a poet.

#i have a magpie mind — happy tag

laurie graham’s version of the quote goes “i have a magpie mind, by which i mean i see and hear little things - photos, fragments of conversation - and store them away for future use,” and that’s what this tag is. just a lot of lovely things that i want to look back on.

#i think i was a selkie in a past life — ocean/beach/selkie myth tag

someday i’m going to walk into the ocean and never come out again. j promised he would take me to a warm ocean where i can stand in chest-deep waves until i can’t stand any longer and i’ve never looked forward to anything so much in my life.

#i wrote my own deliverance — creation/writing tag

this is not an admission of guilt. hamilton has a lot of words in it and these happen to be very nice.

#it would be a merrier world — food tag

because tolkien was right.

#laughter for no cause — humor tag

funny things. half of a quote by louise glück.

#let the wilderness engulf us again — discourse tag

i believe this is by christa wolf. anyway this is how i feel when i read Discourse. let’s all just get swallowed by the wilderness. who needs civilization anyway.

#loveposting — affection tag

look, i’m just really gay and happy and i love my followers and my mutuals. let’s move on

#nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it — memory/emotion tag

yes, i have read everything ever written by l m montgomery, why do you ask?

#offspring of heaven firstborn — light tag

constantly debating about whether i should change this one. i just have too many quotes about light. and too many posts about light. and too much love for light. this one is by milton, from the third book of paradise lost, and i memorized the entire chapter as a teenager because my “history” “class” believed in memorization as a form of education.

#our bodies are meant to hold other bodies — sex/eros tag

from that little comic by grendelmenz (?). i KNOW it’s about cannibalism i DON’T care don’t @ me to love is to consume

#seen rather than felt — painting/visual art tag

and here’s the other half of the da vinci quote.

#she stood in desperate music wound — music and playlists tag

from “a crazed girl” by yeats. tbh i usually lie upside down in my bed in desperate music wound but this poem kept me going as a teenager

#simply because the world is beautiful — misc tag

i just think the world is lovely and i am glad to be alive in it. this is where the rest of the assorted content goes.

#someday you will be old enough to read fairytales again — fantasy/gaming/scifi tag

cs lewis got one thing right.

#stardust will turn into kindness — joy tag

okay. okay i am still weeping about this man and his chickens. this tag is for every small creature who brings me delight. https://everychickdeservesamother.com/2019/08/17/all-the-good-there-is/

#thank god for the months after may — summer aesthetic tag

i haven’t listened to ben rector since i was seventeen but this is a good quote anyway and summer flowers are the thing that keep me going through the winter.

#the first sign of civilization is a healed femur — civilization/altruism/kindness tag

paraphrase of the famous (possibly apocryphal) margaret meade quote. i saw a criticism of it by the green brothers, who were like “but lots of people/animals show altruism without any connection to civilization (eg buildings and cities and record keeping systems)” and i deeply disagree with them. civilization doesn’t require monuments, only people coming together to build (metaphorically) something bigger than they could have done as individuals. humans aren’t the only ones on that path, just the ones who’ve gotten the furthest down it.

#the great sweeping wind — autumn aesthetic

yes i am a shameless l m montgomery stan. anne of green gables is my kindred spirit.

#the quick and the dead — fungi tag

from the bible. you know. we all sin, we’re all alive or dead or both. fungi don’t care.

#the race that knows joseph — kindred spirit tag

haven’t gotten to use this one yet. looking forward to when i do.

#the wild geese are heading home again — nature tag

shortened version of mary oliver’s poem.

#there is a history in all men’s lives — history/natural history/anthropology tag

shakespeare knew how to use words. everything is history and i am excited about ALL of it. when will someone admit me into a grad school???

#we are the children of an indifferent universe — community/fandom tag

but, like colin meloy says, we are also the inheritors of a wonderful world. i think it’s amazing how we look at the universe around us and build communities and find meaning out of sheer spite. also i have got to refine this tag set better i can’t just shove ALL fandom content into one tag. stay tuned

#we don’t love this world without reason — awe/joy tag

from catadromously’s comic. this is for things that make me go “oh.” when i see them.

#we shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us — architecture/interior design tag

churchill can have one right. architecture is one of my favorite art forms & interior design is something i love looking at and doing. someday i’ll even be able to afford it.

#we will be better than we were — recovery tag

from (yet another) caitlyn siehl poem that reads:

“love is quiet love whispers “it is okay, we will be better than we were” and we are. we are.”

and we are.

#within me; an invincible summer — winter aesthetic tag

albert camus wrote that: “in the midst of winter, i found there was, within me, an invincible summer. and that makes me happy. for it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” winters are hard for me, but i hang on anyway.

#you have no idea the joy that is coming — love tag

guess who this quote is by? if you guessed caitlyn siehl, you are correct.

#you pull out the wild in me - feral aesthetic

not feral, just… wild. i don’t know. i don’t think i made this quote up but i can’t find it anywhere else so maybe i did. i’m guessing it’s now-deleted inkskinned or bonemeadows.

#you’ve got to be kind — misc humans tag

kurt vonnegut. because yeah. we’ve got to be kind. that’s the only rule. we’re just humans and we have to be kind.

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