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writer-ishh · 2 months

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My Dungeon Meshi Modern AU Thoughts Instead of Writing My Economics Research Paper lmao

Ughhhh,,,, okay have been thinking about them all day and if one person manages to make it through the void and hear me out and talk about them with me then I’ll be happy lol.

WARNING: this is stupidly long, like I spent an absurd time writing every single little detail down. With that being said here we go:

cw//mentions and minor graphic descriptions of death, bullying, discrimination, injury, abuse, trauma, mental health issues, and abandonment

• Laios

- currently 26 and living with his sister Falin

- studying zoology part-time at the local college

- mostly does night classes since he works 1-2 jobs during the day to help pay for his and Falin’s tuition and apartment

- he and Fallin took their dog Muimui when they moved out, they also feed the local stray cats

- lived on a farm with his sister and parents when he was a kid, and is where his love of animals comes from

- however did not have the best of childhoods, as he was a frequent target for bullying due to having undiagnosed autism, and his father was very much a “nothing is wrong with you, toughen up the world isn’t going to coddle you” kind of person

- this was further cemented when he cried going hunting with his dad for the first time and refused to eat any of the deer or rabbit they had caught

- his mom had her own mental health problems that she was never diagnosed for, so often she fell into the same mindset as her husband when it came to Laios’ and Fallin’s behaviour, only she was more erratic due to her fear of one or both of her kids becoming like her

- never forgave his father after he sent Fallin off to a private middle/high school far away from their home, little did he know it was because the severe bullying Fallin was receiving was too much for her, and he wanted to send her away before she got hurt or worse

- nearly tried to run away at 16, however was caught by the police almost immediately and returned home

- completed his high school diploma and took off with Muimui without even saying goodbye to his parents, Fallin nearly joined him in the city but since she was still under guardianship of her parents, she couldn’t leave until she became an adult

- once graduated, she reunited with Laios in his apartment where they now live

- works nearly full-time at Senshi’s restaurant and works part-time as a janitor at their local zoo (he wants to be close to the animals lol)

- very busy but he makes it work, Marcille and Kabru have no idea how he does it without any meds or caffeine

- either has a worn out picture of him and Falin with their old dogs, or has a hand-made drawing of his theoretical strongest monster in his pocket that he looks at whenever he needs inspiration

- both him and Falin live wayyy out of the city center since rent is fucking abysmal downtown

- insists on taking the bus or walking everywhere since taxis and buying a bike costs too much, even if the commute is like 2 hours with 3 transfers

- despite this, he still has a drivers license

- the kind of guy you would expect to be eating leafy green tofu bowls from your local hipster vegan bistro, but is actually the kind of guy who eats the dubious $4 ground beef chubs and off-brand deli ham from walmart

- socks and slides with free college club t-shirts and cargo pants from the gap that come with like 50 pockets so he can carry all his stuff (the stuff mostly being dog treats and loose bird feed) bro has no drip aside from one outfit put together by Marcille

- uses the same highlighter blue and yellow adidas backpack he’s had since middle school, carries literally everything in there

- doesn’t listen to music, but if he does it’s rain/nature sounds with the $2 headphones you get from the dollarstore

- not much of a gym freak and usually just goes casually, prefers sports to working out (will have a protein shake but does not invest in creatine or other pre-workout supplements)

- either uses the same recyclable water bottle with the label torn off from a pack of 50 he got 3 years ago, or just uses one of his protein shake bottles I can’t decide

- hangs out with Marcille and Falin the most often (since Marcille constantly makes excuses to study with Falin at their apartment), sometimes gets smoothies or juice with Kabru if they run into each other

- hangs out with Senshi and Chilchuck less often, their time spent together is usually limited to having a beer after closing the restaurant or meeting together with everyone else to have dinner every couple months

- goal is to become a wildlife biologist when he graduates

- more to add if I think of it

• Fallin

- currently 23 and lives with Laios

- in her second year of studying veterinary medicine at their city’s main university

- grew up with Laios and her parents on their farm, also developed a deep love and appreciation for animals early on, but while Laios was more interested in the study of their behaviour, she was more interested in healing them

- also has undiagnosed autism like her brother, only when it came to her behaviours, she stood out a lot more and was subsequently bullied heavily for stimming, having major sensitivities to light and sound, self-isolating, talking to inanimate objects or “ghosts”, having a special interest in things like bugs or plants, and having a very specific schedule that adults had to help her with

- never really understood why adults or other children treated her differently, as she thought it was normal for everyone, however was still affected by having no friends aside from her brother during her younger years

- the bullying got so bad that kids began physically tormenting her, and since she never told Laios (who was in middle school and couldn’t always be with her), there was essentially no one to defend her

- very sadly culminates in an incident where she was intentionally locked in a graveyard overnight, and although she didn’t sustain any injuries she was fairly traumatized by the event, it was the final straw for her father to send her away to a private school at 12 years old to finish her education

- moved to a different city the next year where she stayed in dormitories, had her own room due to enrolling late

- also initially had a hard time making friends, and often cried since she couldn’t be with Laios, however no one bullied her for her autism and most often ignored her or gossiped

- had Marcille as a “buddy” to help her get acclimated to school life, however their relationship was quite awkward initially as Marcille thought she was unnerving and frankly a little stupid, however was completely shocked at Fallin’s nearly perfect grades

- school policy at that time stipulated that students had to return to the main hall for dinner at a certain time, however when Fallin doesn’t show up, Marcille has to look for her

- she finds Fallin at her secret hangout spot, similar to her dungeon in the anime, a corner with a group of trees and thick bushes that opened up into a grassy nook and a little pond, there they talk about what she does there and why she skips

- also similar to the anime, a fox (rather than a slime) catches them by surprise, but as Marcille tries to get it to run away by throwing rocks at it, Fallin stops her and explains it never comes closer than the tree line, she then points out that hurting while it’s already injured (has a slight limp) will cause it to die, allowing for the prey animals like squirrels and rabbits to eat away at most of the fauna surrounding the school, basically emphasizing the importance of all animals in an ecosystem and how it’s wrong to try and shift the ecosystem solely for our comfort or benefit (cheesy I know but it’s for the plot)

- she then offers Marcille the raspberries that grow on some of the bushes, and soon after Marcille asks if she would like to be friends

- they remain as friends in school only for another year, as Marcille graduates early and leaves Fallin behind much to her heartbreak, however does promise that she’ll visit and reunite with her soon

- by the time she graduates, she moves in with Laios and begins attending the same university as Marcille, there their friendship is reaffirmed, and they both start to develop feelings for one another

- full-time student but does work a few shifts at one of her university’s coffee shops whenever she can (tends to feel guilty about Laios helping her out with tuition on top of taking care of everything at home)

- in the honours program, and although she gets good grades her commitment is often questioned due to her habit of skipping

- reason for skipping is because she often does volunteer work at a nearby veterinary clinic

- unlike Laios, Fallin likes to bike to and from her classes

- it’s her main source of exercise, though she also does go to the gym if she has time, girl is absolutely built and is much stronger than she appears

- lives off of daily sweet treats and fried bologna sandwiches or tomato soup made by Laios

- frequently raids the raspberry bush growing outside hers and Laios’ apartment building, as well as the crabapple tree that technically belongs to the house next door but has its branches growing over the fence separating them

- also does not rely on excessive caffeine, but she does enjoy tea and coffee unlike Laios

- has a fjällräven backpack that Marcille gifted her for her birthday, mostly full of her textbooks but she does use it to carry rocks or sticks she finds interesting

- water bottle is a very dented bright pink hydro flask (also gifted to her by Marcille)

- has the jean shorts, tucked in t-shirt, and long cardigan look on lockdown, also wears hiking boots or converse, rarely is she seen in flipflops

- no make-up either, Marcille had to practically beg her to at least start using a clear lipgloss

- isn’t picky about music and usually just listens to whatever Marcille or Laios plays, sometimes she indulges in some lofi hiphop beats if she’s studying

- obviously best friends with Marcille but does not know she has a crush on Marcille, and thinks that her intense feelings of love and happiness are just normal girl friendship feelings (oh you poor thing)

- only vaguely knows of Senshi through the leftover food Laios sometimes brings home after his shifts, with Chilchuck she is more familiar since she sometimes visits him with Marcille on the weekends

- favourite thing is when her, Laios, Marcille, Izutsumi, Chilchuck, and Senshi all gather to get dinner together

- when it comes to her parents, she still maintains contact unlike Laios, though her messages tend to be generalized or cordial (not necessarily her intention it’s just she isn’t sure what to talk about in regards to her life beyond school)

- goal is to become a travelling wildlife vet

- more to add when I think of it

• Marcille

- is currently 26 and lives by herself (due to it being a modern au I’m imagining all races have the same lifespan of around 70-80 years)

- had probably the most normal upbringing and early adulthood out of all of the characters, both of her parents were very loving and attentive, always encouraging her and supporting her keen intellect through her hobbies

- however, they weren’t always around due to being very busy as government lawyers and often working late, she has very distinct memories of winning math and science awards as a child, looking out towards the crowd only to see her parents weren’t there

- was generally quite lonely during her childhood since she had no siblings or cousins to play with, a similar situation at school where most kids considered her stuck up or bossy when in reality she was just smart and was blunt about telling people when they were wrong about something

- is very close with Chilchuck, having known him and his family since she was little, although them all getting together was fairly rare, some of her fondest memories have been when they’d go on family trips together and she would get to play with Chilchuck’s daughters

- lost touch with him from ages 9-15 but reunited with him at 16 while he crashed at their place after his work injury and during his divorce, became very close with him during this time and developed a deep familial fondness for him despite all his teasing

- at 19 years old, she suffered a great deal of mental anguish as Chilchuck began to lose contact with her, Fallin was considering moving to a different city for university, and her father died due to a very sudden and unexpected stroke, she felt as though everyone in her life was slipping through her grasp and as a result, developed severe depression that would last until she completed her masters

- luckily, she had a good support system during that time and she was able to make it through the worst of it, however she still does struggle with motivation over simple tasks such as doing her hair or brushing her teeth

- her mood and outlook is much better though, having mostly returned to the same bubbly and dramatic personality that she once had

- is best friends with Fallin, and met her while at private school, mostly explained above, but her initial reaction of Fallin was quite negative before switching around after she realized that her way of thinking isn’t always the right one, even if the facts are right, her perspective and way of interpreting them isn’t always going to be sound

- this new perspective is what caused Marcille to become so enamoured with Fallin, eventually becoming a stupid crush that sticks with her to this day

- has her own studio apartment downtown, brand new building and everything (both parents are government lawyers so you can imagine the kind of money she has lmao)

- has a fawn floppy-eared bunny named Ambrosia

- despite her wealth, she doesn’t look down on her friends whatsoever, if anything she buys them expensive gifts as an act of kindness rather than an act of arrogance or condescension

- in the middle of attaining her phd in microbiology while doing independent research specializing in the study of telomere function

- attends the same university as Fallin

- graduated from high school at 16 and was done with her undergraduate by 19 and her masters by 21, a lot of people tend to think she’s full of herself but she often disregards them as people who don’t try hard enough

- born to carry her baby blue apple ecosystem in a cute tote bag, forced to haul her 7 biology textbooks in an ugly ass dark purple swissgear backpack she picked out when she was 12

- she has an unhealthy addiction to coffee and diet coke, literally cannot function without at least one per day

- cannot cook to save her life, lives exclusively off of pre-made grocery store meals or the sandwiches her university’s grab-n-go store sells, the kitchen aid mixer in her kitchen is practically a decoration at this point

- is actually the kind of person to be eating the leafy green tofu bowl from the local hipster vegan bistro

- has her own car and license, but lives close enough to her university to walk, Laios cannot fathom why she pays insurance every month for it but hardly uses or let anyone else use it

- I personally think she likes to rollerblade too

- jogging is her main form of exercise, but will also do yoga or calisthenics occasionally, probably the type of person to fall for a juice cleanse scam until Laios or Chilchuck scolds her for not eating enough

- I feel like she would be an intense swiftie (sorry :3) other than that, she likes the typical pop radio stuff that is played constantly

- at least she’s not a Stanley cup girl, she will use her scuffed gallon water bottle with the printed times of day until she dies

- very fashionable and loves to wear makeup, like wide leg pants or pleated skirts with penny loafers and cutesy blouses, a firm believer that any Korean makeup brand is far superior than anything Sephora could offer

- practically attached to the hip with Fallin, girl will find any excuse to study with her (the most pathetic sapphic ever someone put her out of her misery)

- otherwise, she’s buddy-buddy with Laios and Kabru but that’s about the extent of it, she’s known Chilchuck since she was little so he’s like an uncle to her

- she is quite friendly with Senshi and enjoys his cooking but hasn’t known him for a long time like the others, Izutsumi she treats like a little sister/niece and is always buying her things

- more to add when I think of it

• Chilchuck (you can tell he’s my fav because he has one of longest backstories lmao)

- currently 49 and living with Senshi and Izutsumi

- owns a two bedroom bungalow outside of downtown but still within the city, saved up for it after his divorce

- used to live in the suburbs with his ex-wife and daughters, but before that it was a shitty apartment close to where Laios lives now

- teen father, had Mayjack when he and his wife were 17 and had to graduate early so they could move out, they had Fullertom soon after and then Puckpatty by the time they were both 20, they got married at 22

- since neither could afford university at the time, Chilchuck went straight into a locksmithing trades program so he could have a decent income, his father had instilled a deep sense of responsibility and honour towards being a provider so he threw himself into his work which caused his and his wife’s initial frustration with one another

- when he was done apprenticing and when the kids were old enough to go to school, his wife went to university to begin studying teaching so she could become a professor, despite having to be home more often, Chilchuck still remained somewhat emotionally detached from his family

- by the time his daughters entered middle school, they had bought a house in the suburbs and his wife became qualified to teach

- feeling pressured by the mortgage, debt, and having to save for his daughter’s college, he began drinking more and taking a lot more hours at work, if he wasn’t working he was at the bar with his coworkers, he often didn’t come home until it was very late

- the final straw for his wife was when he showed up to work severely hungover and exhausted, then proceeded to nearly die in a home renovation project (passed out standing up and fell of a 20ft scaffolding, broke his hip and pelvis pretty badly as well as his humerus and quite a few of his ribs, also had a life-threatening brain bleed due to a skull fracture)

- at that point, all three of his daughters were already in university or trade school so his wife moved out and sold their house while Chilchuck was recovering in the hospital, she moved into a townhouse closer to the city’s main university where she still lives now with Fullertom

- having basically nothing in his savings, he crashed at Marcille’s parent’s place until he could save up a bit and get an apartment or townhouse (he and Marcille’s dad were friends in high school), essentially lived on their couch for about two years

- during this time, he became known as “Uncle Chil” by 16 year old Marcille and he developed a close uncle/niece relationship with her

- teased her as much as any uncle would, but also took her out shopping every couple of months, could never afford the stuff she wanted but he always got her lunch

- eventually, he saved up enough for the down payment of the two bedroom bungalow he lives in now and moved in, initially lost touch with Marcille but started being there for her more after her dad died, even began getting in touch with his daughters again at Marcille’s suggestion

- from then on, he took his work life more easily and tried to make time for himself in between shifts so that he didn’t feel he needs to drink himself stupid every time he came home, tried to pick up multiple hobbies and eventually settled on pottery making and brewing his own alcohol (that he sells…. mostly lol)

- meets Senshi at 42 when he is called in to install the locks and security system of the new restaurant Senshi is building, initially they had not been super friendly with each other, as Chilchuck found it infuriating how Senshi kept on wanting changes to be made to his security system, and how he was basically a walking construction accident waiting to happen

- once everything was finished however, Senshi offered Chilchuck a free dinner at his place as an apology for being stubborn, and unable to say no to free food (and alcohol) Chilchuck agrees

- they become friends after the dinner, however proceed to dance around each other for another 4 years until Marcille threatens to tell Senshi about Chilchuck’s feelings if he doesn’t confess himself

- Chilchuck does eventually confess (during a very charged “guy’s trip” to a resort in Mexico) and they start dating, after the trip, Senshi and Izutsumi move into Chilchuck’s place where they still currently live

- thanks to living with Senshi, Chilchuck adopts a more healthy lifestyle where he stops smoking, eats more, and drinks less, in return, he helps Senshi manage Izutsumi during her teen years as well as help out around his restaurant when he has time

- is generally living comfortably now, with a nice salary and more free time to commit to his hobbies, despite this he still deeply cares about his work and is a union man at heart who is always willing to rally behind his coworkers and organize when something happens

- mostly listens to 80s dad rock and some 90s grunge, is very proud of his CD collection

- dresses similar to Laios, however ditches the college club t-shirt and cargo shorts for polos shirts and chino shorts or dress shirts and casual slacks, also wears tacky boomer sandals for his feet or his construction boots

- drives a land rover defender that he bought in high school, cares for it deeply but isn’t a car guy by any means, he does the bare minimum maintenance to keep it safe and functional

- carries his minimal stuff in a sling bag and lunch cooler, but he also has a survival backpack in the back of his land rover for emergencies

- is a Stanley cup owner, has two, one from the 70s that his dad gave to him, and another white modern one from Marcille, his older one is covered in princess stickers from when his daughters were young

- pretentious black coffee drinker, makes fun of Izutsumi all the time for the amount of simple syrup and cream she puts into her iced coffee

- is okay at cooking, but is definitely more of a grill master, never ask him to deep fry anything though

- is also surprisingly handy thanks to the skills his dad passed onto him, speaking of his family, he isn’t very close to his mother and siblings since they all moved back to their home continent after Chilchuck graduated, he still sometimes travels alone on special holidays or on the anniversary of his father’s death but only if he can afford it

- is now a supervisor of his own crew, initially he wanted to own his own locksmith company, but he also wants to retire soon so he needs to save up as much as he can

- has two main friend groups, one he refers to as “the freaks” which includes Laios, Marcille, Fallin, Kabru, Izutsumi, and Senshi, and the other he refers to as “work” which includes Namari, Mickbell, Kuro, and Dandan

- is closest to Senshi and Marcille, seeing them as his family, however is a bit more distant with Izutsumi since he doesn’t want to automatically take on a “step-dad” role in her life, the reasoning mainly stems from his respect of her and her decisions on who she gets to let in her life, but is also because he wants to avoid things becoming awkward between them

- is, if not begrudgingly, friendly with Laios and Fallin, deep down he cares about them more than he lets on, is mostly cordial with Kabru

- is surprisingly close to Namari, however they keep their relationship strictly within their workplace and the bar they sometimes hit up afterwards

- is closer to his ex-wife and daughters now, having dinner once a month at his ex-wife’s house, they still haven’t really reconciled but they’ve allowed each other to move on

- more to add when I think of it

• Senshi (also super long please forgive me)

- is currently 52 and living with Chilchuck and his adopted daughter Izutsumi

- lives in Chilchuck’s house, but used to own a condo near the restaurant he used to work for

- when he was a child, he lived on an entirely separate continent in the remote far north, the village he grew up in was known for its mining industry, most of the community including his parents were miners, however an accident killed his father and cancer killed his mother when he was a baby, so his father’s friend Gillin took Senshi in when he was 2

- due to the mining culture surrounding the village, it was expected that Senshi also become a miner when he grew up, this coupled with the hyper-masculine ideas of honouring his late father and carrying on the bloodline, made Senshi not really put in much effort into school since he believed it had no use for him, a decision that would later hinder his career and degree options greatly

- once graduated from high school, Gillin immediately had Senshi take his safety courses and get his certification so he could get a job as soon as possible, with some references from Gillin himself, Senshi was able to land a beginner’s position within the company Gillin was in

- worked 7 years mining coal until the mine ran dry and he had to look for work elsewhere, jumped positions between 3-4 companies over another 8 years mining iron and copper until he landed a 2 year contract at a remote but booming silver mine

- was put into a 6 man team composed of himself, Gillin, Brigan, Invar, Totan, and Noor, where they would descend into a highly unregulated and dangerous mountain mine and extract the massive veins of silver, they all were paid well, but the conditions were next to abysmal

- 1 year and 9 months into the contract, a rockslide on the south side of the mountain caused a cheap tunnel support to collapse over the only exit leading out of the stope they were mining in, effectively trapping them indefinitely

- luckily they had a ventilation shaft, but none of them could fit inside and escape or yell for attention since they were trapped over 200ft deep and 500ft in the mountain, so their only option was to ration their food and wait for help to arrive

- they do try to escape in other ways, such as mining through the collapsed support, however this only leads to injury among the group, and as much as Senshi wanted to help, he was under strict instruction by Gillin not to over-exert himself, even though he wasn’t a kid anymore, he still had the most strength and wits among them all, this also results in him receiving the most food much to Brigan’s rage

- in an attempt to be useful, Senshi started drawing up the maps of the mine to see if there was a tunnel close by they could mine into

- as more time passes and they realized no one would be coming to help them, their escape attempts become much more desperate, one attempt to blow up the collapsed tunnel entrance with their remaining explosives leads to the death of Totan, another attempt to start mining over the collapsed tunnel entrance leads to the death of Noor, one last attempt to remove the panelling lining the ventilation shaft so they could be able to fit through leads to the death of Invar, leaving only Brigan, Gillin, and Senshi left

- after six weeks of being trapped under ground, Brigan mentally snaps and tries to cannibalize Senshi so they could eat his flesh, this leads to a physical altercation between Gillin and Brigan which ends in an unstable overhang of rock to collapse and crush Brigan and for Gillin to succumb to his wounds and exhaustion

- alone and starving, Senshi realizes he is now skinny enough to fit through the ventilation shafts and crawl his way out, he uses a combination of ropes and support spikes to help aid him, but soon quickly realizes he mostly has to navigate in the dark

- for two more weeks, Senshi follows the map he memorized and the feeling of airflow to make his way out, only surviving off of his remaining water, in the end he managed to crawl out of a shaft just outside the mining camp

- relived and also deeply saddened, Senshi remains near the shaft until some workers doing a perimeter check find him in the morning, he is promptly taken into the hospital to treat his injuries

- after explaining the situation to the police and his boss, his boss offers him a $30,000 payout to keep quiet and say nothing, the officers say it is possible to take his boss and the company to court, however it would likely put him into massive debt trying to find a good lawyer, in the end Senshi takes the money and leaves the camp for his village

- what’s left to him by Gillin is another $50,000 in savings and property assets, the rest is given to his remaining family, the first thing Senshi buys with the money is his adamantine pot and mythril knife, using both to make a soup Gillin would often feed him, and leaving five bowls of it outside of the collapsed silver mine before moving out of his village for good at aged 35

- he moves to the continent and city where all the other characters are currently living, buying his condo and deciding to enter into 4 year culinary school program

- during these 4 years, Senshi comes to realize that cooking is his true passion, finding it immensely rewarding and fulfilling, and even though he didn’t make many friends due to his unorthodox taste and recipes, it was still the most happy he’s ever been

- about 1 year after graduating and getting a job as the main line cook for a high end restaurant, Senshi meets and adopts 5 year old Izutsumi

- he initially sees her wandering around the green belt outside and behind the restaurant, kicking rocks and occasionally running and hiding in trees, he was always worried she was homeless, however would always see she was gone by the time he was done his shifts

- around five months of this, Izutsumi notices and begins to approach Senshi, as if she had wanted food, Senshi would usually offer some of his packed lunches or leftovers and she would always accept and sit next to him while they ate

- Izutsumi usually never spoke but was always ravenous, Senshi often worried that she was being abused, but whenever he would ask she would always say no, and since she was a healthy weight and never had any bruises or welts, Senshi reluctantly believed her, after that though he began packing more food

- eventually, a woman (Maizuru) approaches Senshi after one of his shifts and bluntly asked if he would like to take care of Izutsumi from then on, baffled he asked who she was and why she knew he was feeding Izutsumi, and she explained that she is her caretaker

- she also explained that since Izutsumi seemed to trust and respect Senshi the most, that he would be the best person to give her a chance at a normal life and raise her into an adjusted adult, due to the fact that she has no regard or interest or respect in her or the rest of her foster family, she then conceded that her question was rather sudden, but still implored Senshi to take her into his care or otherwise she would be forced into an orphanage

- thinking of Gillin, and with the wound of his crew’s death still in his mind Senshi, perhaps impulsively, agrees to take Izutsumi in, much to Maizuru’s delight and thankfulness

- the next day, she returns with Izutsumi and her things and tells Senshi that she will handle most of the legal paperwork aside from the few forms that he will have to sign

- from that point onward, he took care of Izutsumi and made sure she got through school, although she wasn’t completely responsive and obedient, he was still very patient and understanding with her, except for the first few times she would keep on running away from school to join him for his lunch breaks

- they have a very trusting relationship with one another, and Senshi is the only one Izutsumi will open up to, Senshi often encouraged her talent of athleticism by signing her up for various sports, he was and still is very attentive towards her needs and is always feeding her the things she likes (and dislikes)

- Senshi works at the restaurant for another 9 years, simultaneously saving up for his own restaurant and saving for Izutsumi’s college, at age 45 he meets Chilchuck during the construction of his restaurant and they form a close friendship

- subsequently, he is introduced to Marcille, Fallin, Laios, and even Kabru, but still mostly interacts with Chilchuck and Itsuzumi

- however he is quite close with Laios since he works as a server at his restaurant and is very enthusiastic about his cooking technique, flavour pallet, and types of dishes he serves

- at age 49, he officially opens his restaurant and starts dating Chilchuck, the three of them all move in together and become a household unit

- is now very happy with where he is at in life, works and manages his restaurant while still making time for Izutsumi and her hobbies, is very close with Chilchuck and becomes the first person he opens up to about his past and what he went through, generally the grossest and most sappiest old couple you will ever meet

- made a Senshi-sized hole deep into the fabric of Chilchuck’s home, converting his backyard into a full vegetable and flower garden that he maintains, is super proud about it and often leaves the prettiest flowers on Chilchuck’s side of the bed or in a vase on Izutsumi’s bedside table

- head-chef and owner of his restaurant, his favourite part is being able to cook what he wants for a very specific audience (people like Laios)

- his food is not super high-end but also not like a family diner either, a healthy mix of both, like kid friendly while still being classy and opulent enough to take someone out on a date there

- drives his beloved suzuki carry to and from work every day, does a good job maintaining it on his own despite it being boring according to him

- I honestly don’t really know what Senshi would listen to, I feel like the most in character for him would be folk music from his home country or bossa nova i can’t really decide

- coffee with lots of sugar but no cream or milk, prefers drinking black tea with milk and honey if he has a choice

- bag is a basic backpack with minimal items like wallet, keys, lipbalm, mints, etc… always has a change of clothes in case his gets dirty at work, also has extra hair and beard nets, some stuff for Izutsumi is in there too

- water bottle is also a vintage stanley cup, but his is wayyy more dented than Chilchuck’s and older (from like the 50s) refuses to buy anything else until it is unusable, has had the same piece of duct tape sealing a leak near the bottom for the past 20 years

- also can’t decide if he’s a t-shirt or Hawaiian shirt kind of guy, probably a healthy mix of both, also mostly wears shorts or a kilt-like garment native to his home country, lives exclusively in sandals you will never find him in close-toed shoes unless he’s working

- funny story deriving from this fact, the first impression Chilchuck ever had of Senshi (aside from “damn he’s kinda hot”) was “oh my god how the fuck is this guy not dead” due to the fact that Senshi showed up to the construction sight with flip flops, no safety helmet, and no safety vest on whatsoever

- more to add when I think of it

• Izutsumi (still a cat-girl in this universe)

- currently 17 and living with Senshi and Chilchuck

- used to live with the Nakamoto’s as a foster child, however hated living there due to the unfamiliarity and attempts at sweeping her past trauma under the rug and refusing to treat her for it

- life before the Nakamoto’s is fuzzy, it’s implied by her councillor and confirmed by Maizuru later on that she was raised by her mother until she died or abandoned her at 3 years old, was then placed into the care of another foster home who physically and verbally abused her, keeping her chained up in the basement most of the day and hardly feeding her, if not forgetting about her all together

- she was taken in by the Nakamoto’s at aged 4, and had a very hard time managing her due to her stunted social skills, anger issues, and delayed language development manifesting itself in avoidance behaviours such as running away and lashing out violently

- had frequent nightmares during this time, resulting in her becoming very clingy during the night

- would often run away to the green belt close to her house, the same green belt that was connected to Senshi’s restaurant

- initially only approached him because of the smell of food, her prior abuse and malnutrition resulted in an early form of binge eating, so she often sought any sight, smell, or taste food as a way of safety and comfort

- unlike all her previous caretakers, she found Senshi to not be malicious or uncaring towards her, especially after he started sharing and bringing food for her, her ease around him didn’t go unnoticed by Maizuru who then offered Senshi the deal to take care of her

- initially hated living in Senshi’s condo since the small space reminded her of the basement she was kept in, but soon found it to be much more comfortable if she could smell the food Senshi would make

- Received counselling for her trauma and slowly began to get better, however she would still frequently act out or skip school as a coping mechanism, however, Senshi helped her regulate her energy and emotions through signing her up for various sports, she did volleyball, hockey, wrestling, swimming, etc… until she settled on gymnastics and Muay Thai

- has somewhat of a complex towards love and attachment, in that she doesn’t fully believe an individual cares for her or loves her so will often do whatever she likes both because she doesn’t think it affects the other person that much and because it will prevent people from wanting to get close to her and have a meaningful relationship, a complex that stems from her past abuse

- is now in a much better headspace than she was in, as she has two caretakers who are patient and understanding with her, but are also willing to discipline her and prepare her for the outside world, she also has a good external support system and even a friend at school whom she often hangs out with

- she is currently in her junior year of high school, with decent grades, but only because Senshi and Chilchuck want her to do well so she has more options for university

- her best subjects are science, phsy ed., english, has a hard time with social studies and math

- her one friend her age is Tade as they both are frequently sent to the after-school homework program to help improve their grades, Izutsumi is usually good at shouldering off her homework to her in exchange for ice cream or food, but she’s usually caught and forced to do double the work

- Tade is also a foster kid of the Nakamoto’s, in fact she was the one Izutsumi would usually go to sleep with if she had a nightmare, so they never hang out at her house and either stay at Izutsumi’s house or hang out at the local park/mall

- is very talented athletically, and has won multiple awards at gymnastics and Muay Thai competitions

- still a ravenous eater, but with a crazy fast metabolism so she gains almost no weight, still picky with vegetables and mushrooms but will still eat them as long as their hidden in her food well enough

- coffee flavoured milk drinker, if there’s even a hint of bitterness in her coffee she’s throwing it out

- is into most old alternative or indie rock, appreciates Chilchuck’s taste in music immensely, she’s been learning how to play the bass recently

- has been learning basic recipes from Senshi and can manage a few dishes on her own, is much better at baking overall, never leave her alone with the blowtorch or barbecue though

- aside from sports, she enjoys playing video games and sleeping, she likes mostly storytelling or competitive console games like Skyrim, God of War, and Call of Duty

- bag is a simple black backpack that has all of her papers and textbooks haphazardly shoved in with no regard for neatness or organization, on a good day a pencil will be in there too

- water bottle is non-existent, she uses drinks from the school water fountain as an excuse to get out of class and wander around for a bit

- is old enough to drive and has her license, but doesn’t have her own car yet and still has to catch the bus, if she does drive it’s Senshi’s suzuki, Chilchuck let her drive his land rover once and she backed into a pole

- lives in crop tops and shorts, is actually quite fashionable but doesn’t have the energy or motivation to pull anything off, either wears converse, slides, crocs, or doc martens as footwear, most would describe her style as grunge-ish

- makeup is hit or miss, sometimes she can muster some concealer and eyeliner, but for the most part she just washes her face and nothing else, she is big into jewelry though and likes to wear lots of accessories

- has been allowed to pierce her ears quite extensively, as well as her nose, however both Senshi and Chilchuck have drawn the line at any other face piercings until she’s an adult, much to her dismay

- outside of Senshi, Chilchuck, and Tade, she is probably the most friendly with Marcille and Fallin as they frequently visit and interact with her, Marcille especially loves to spoil Izutsumi with treats and gifts since she never had a little cousin growing up

- Izutsumi likes Fallin for her quietness and ability to keep out of her business, however saw first hand how weird she can be when she held up a massive rhinoceros beetle without even flinching, also when she kept on excusing herself to their backyard to go snack on their strawberry plants

- Laios and Kabru she knows of, also finds Laios to be very weird but is less friendly about it than she is with Fallin, his lack of understanding of social cues also confuses her

- more to add when I think of it

AND THATS IT!!! This was stupidly long, I hope I didn’t bore you to death lol. I’ll probably do another one of these so I can include Chilchuck’s daughters, Kabru, Namari, etc… maybe with some additions to the main cast, but yeah that’s about the extend of it, hope you enjoyed :3

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #laios touden #falin touden #chilchuck tims #senshi of izganda #izutsumi #marcille donato #modern au #farcille #chilshi #labru if you squint #dungeon meshi minor characters #this took me forever I am so exhausted #I kinda wanna make a fic out of this but I have no idea what plot line or what character I should even focus on lmaooo #hooray for hyper-specific character interpretations!!

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johaerys-writes · 6 months

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Ch. 19: Moves

Read on AO3 | Read from the beginning

Patroclus swings by Dei’s house after work. He has been meticulously thinking of how he was going to do this for at least a week, ever since Achilles had announced it to him: Dei is going to have her birthday party at the Pulse after all, and he is invited.

It is just going to be Dei, us, and a few friends, Achilles had assured him, a small thing.

A small thing, at one of the busiest clubs in town. Patroclus doesn’t really see it.

He isn’t technically a friend, and he’s still not sure why she wanted him there in the first place, but he has been invited all the same and it would be rude to decline. And Achilles asked it of him, oh so sweetly, and who is Patroclus to say no?

He has never had to buy a gift for any other girl other than Briseis, so that proved a bit of a problem. He spent a good few days being baffled about it until Briseis herself came to the rescue. They spent an entire afternoon browsing the makeup stalls of her favourite cosmetics store until she chose a few things that are ‘must haves,’ as she put it: a lipstick, a face mask, another mysterious tube that Patroclus has no idea what it's for. He’s sure Dei will be able to figure out what they are without much help from him—he just hopes she’ll accept the gift without asking him anything about it.

He spends a several minutes in the work bathroom changing into the clothes he bought for the occasion—he has no idea what one wears at big city clubs, let alone gay clubs, but a pair of jeans and simple white button-down should do, he thinks— and then even longer to try to fix his hair into place before giving up, and then he’s off to catch the 9 o’clock bus. His heart pounds in anticipation all the way to Kolonaki, where Dei’s place is; a posh fifth floor flat in a posh apartment building, in one of the poshest areas in town. Patroclus passes by several fancy restaurants and bars on his way there, as well as high-fashion stores where a pair of shoes costs his entire monthly salary three times over before he finds the name on the doorbell —Deidamia Lycomedou, in elegant cursive.

He takes a big, big breath before pressing the button.

“Patroclus, you’re here!” Rhea exclaims happily as soon as he walks through the door. “Everyone, Patroclus is here!”

“Hi Patroclus!” comes a chorus of voices from the inner rooms.

“Hi,” Patroclus says shyly, accepting Rhea’s big smile and the glass she presses into his hand. He sniffs it cautiously: it’s rum, from what he can tell, mixed with a little bit of cola and ice.

There’s loud music and merry conversation drifting down the hall. Patroclus thinks he can hear Achilles’ voice amidst the chatter, but he doesn’t dare walk in. It would be improper, surely, for him to walk in on the girls getting ready. He stays where Rhea left him, hovering between the hall and the living room, sipping on his drink. There are some crackers and salted peanuts left in a bowl on the living room table; he had been too jittery to eat much during his break earlier at work, so he snacks on some of them as he waits, flipping through a fashion magazine he found on the side table.

Dei comes out first, in a short and tight blue dress and her sleek black falling over one shoulder. Her makeup is far heavier than the last time he saw her, a smokey eye and bright pink lipstick; a combination Patroclus hasn’t really seen before, but it suits her.

“Oh, Pat, you shouldn’t have!” she says when Patroclus hands her the gift. She even pulls him in a hug and kisses his cheek. “You’re such a dear. We’re going to have so much fun tonight.”

Patroclus chuckles awkwardly when she releases him. As friendly as everyone is, he feels so out of place here, and the night hasn’t even started yet. His drink is almost gone without him even realising it. He sets it aside, hoping his half-empty stomach won’t get him drunk on pre-drinks alone.

“Is Achilles ready?” Phoebe asks. “The cab should be here any minute.

Just as she says it, Achilles walks out. He’s wearing a black mesh top and black slacks, with his black combat boots to complete the outfit. He has let his hair down tonight; it’s grown long again, almost reaching the middle of his back in a mass of lazy, windswept curls. There is glitter on his eyelids and diamonds on his cheekbones, and his lush rosy lips are touched with the lightest sheen of gloss.

Patroclus’ breath catches, lodging in his throat.

“I knew you’d come,” Achilles says softly as the girls put on their shoes and their jackets, but the way that he says it tells Patroclus that he didn’t know at all.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Patroclus says with a smile.

Achilles beams at him. “Are those jeans new? You look great.”

Patroclus blushes just a bit; he’s thankful for the dim light of the hallway. “It’s nothing, just a couple things I found on sale last week,” he murmurs awkwardly, and Achilles laughs.

“Well, you look great either way,” he says, bumping his shoulder to his as they walk together to the elevator.

It’s a bit crammed in the cab, but Patroclus doesn’t mind very much because Achilles decides to sit on his lap to rectify that. The cab leaves them right outside the club, where there is already a crowd of people at the doors. Thankfully, Dei having booked a table, as well as knowing the bouncers and one the hosts, means that they don’t have to wait in the queue very long. Dei’s friend, Antilochus—a tall guy with curly honey brown hair, with the whitest teeth and darkest tan Patroclus has probably ever seen, who smiles way too warmly at Achilles for Patroclus' liking— escorts them to their table, where there is already a vodka bottle waiting for them.

Read the rest on AO3

#patrochilles #achilles #patroclus #the song of achilles #tsoa #hades game #achilles x patroclus #patroclus x achilles #homer's iliad #modern au #johaerys writes

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csmeanerr · 6 months

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Mod Shit, I get it if you don’t post this one for reasons that are about to be obvious, but re the $900 Fooling. (I agree it’s superior to the 20K Grem and most Chams, but with a single colored winged dog with a halo, that’s not saying much. At least Lu is going to do extra art due to the high price, more than what a lot of CS owners would do…)

When it comes to high-cost CS, I often hear shit like, “support artists!” and “they gotta eat, too”, “get that coin!”. Or whatever excuse. Mother fuckers spend shittons on CS designs. You aren’t supporting shit. You’re buying into clout and manipulative FOMO tactics. OK, yeah, someone’s making rent or whatever, but admit it: if that $900 Fooling (or whatever) wasn’t a CS, you’d be cackling at the person who bought it.

CRICKETS when artists who don’t use manipulative FOMO tactics put out comms or adopts. Sometimes even relatively popular artists struggle. So much for supporting artists, right?

I want to use this opportunity to show you what $900 can get you in art if you’re so inclined to kick clout-chasing to the curb, but still want to shake dollars at artists. The artists I’ve selected are random faves of mine and I’m not affiliated with them. They’re chosen to give you an idea of what you could get for $900 instead of a fucking dog.

sariyaart on Carrd: $900 is almost certainly going to get you a painted full body. PAINTED. As in, fully-rendered, in a mostly-realistic style.

Aspeneyes on Weebly: $900 will get you a full illustration since these start around $400

Nebquerna on Carrd: $900 could get you two or three concept sheets or custom designs

BlindCoyote: $900 is about enough for a full illustration, and definitely enough for a shaded colored sketch

Godbirdart: $900 will get you a full illustration

I know we often compare prices of stuff other than art to demonstrate what a rip off CS is. I think it’s even more demonstrative to compare prices (and quality!) to what other artists do. The artists I’ve listed above are professional freelancers, by the way, either part time or full time.

I remember someone once joking that the 20K thing was all Caravan’s fault because no artist could be expected to produce work good enough to justify that amount of money. Aside from the fact that the artist shouldn’t fucking take that money, then, and show some integrity, I guarantee you any one of those artists above would produce something spectacular. Hell, at that price, they’d probably agree to some sort of commercial rights.

But yeah, $900 for a dog with wings and a halo is totally at the same level of these other artists.

post related

a note to add to this is that cs often artificially inflate value with traits and artificial scarcity while also actively undervaluing other artist’s. they’re even aware that the artificial scarcity is the highest reason people buy since it’s developed this toxic mindset that no one else can have the same idea. if people can make the same thing then they won’t buy theirs, not because people might buy from the merit of their work but because they slapped on so many labels such as ‘official’ and ‘rare traits’

have the gall to cry about having to make so many adopts on a base while people who buy them draw entire fullbody drawings with backgrounds for 5 pieces of artificial currency

most cs are so deathly afraid of making things easy to get because it’s hyped up by the artificial scarcity. would cypherus grems be as tempting if people could just make one? would a cow girl oc perk your interest as much if it wasn’t followed by ‘biia-made mal’accilin’? these artists are genuinely skilled and talented and DO deserve a high degree of respect skill-wise to get where they are, but they grow themselves higher by pushing others down and that’s just not right

#submission #general #help

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izzy-b-hands · 1 year

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Day One: Negotiations or Swords

It's Ed's birthday, the first one with Stede and Izzy working together to buy him gifts.

SFW, fairly short, and silly lol

---

"You can't just buy him a sword," Stede scoffs. "He has plenty!"

"No reason to not have another," Izzy sets aside what has to be the fiftieth sword he's looked at in the shop. "Not this one though. Besides, is that not a sword in your hands now?"

"It's a letter opener!"

"For what size of letter would you ever need a letter opener that big?"

"Maybe another shop could service you both better," the shopkeeper says.

"Oh no," Stede chuckles. "You're the last one in the port that we haven't been to yet! It has to be here, or nothing at all!"

"You've answered your own question then," she says brightly, and suddenly they're both being tugged to and tossed out the door.

She yanks the letter opener from Stede's hands, and just like that, neither of them has anything for Ed's birthday.

"Do you think the shop with sweets is still open?" Stede ponders as they watch the sun begin to set.

"An hour ago, yes," Izzy replies. "I'm not going back without something. I've never missed a birthday gift for him yet, and I'm not starting now."

"Surely you've had one slip up!"

"Yeah, and that night I spent escaping the local jail," Izzy mutters. "Ed loved the key to the cells that I gave him though."

"Fuck off, that's clever."

"Clever is a generous word for it. Was all I had on me."

"Well, what have you got on you now?"

Izzy pats down his pockets. "Bit of glass from the beach. You?"

Stede grins and pulls something from his jacket pocket. "Bit of interesting metal I nearly stabbed into my hand when I tripped near one of the smithing shops. I've had an idea."

Fifteen minutes and an alarming amount of combined money and begging to one of the smiths later, and they have it:

A tiny, delicate sword, with a blade made of Stede's scrap metal and a hilt of Izzy's sea glass.

"The only way we could have improved on this is to have cleaned out the sweets shop too," Stede says as they make their way back to the beach. "When did you pick up that glass, by the way? I don't recall seeing you looking for any when we left everyone."

"Might have gone ashore early, looking for myself," Izzy makes the most hesitant eye contact with him. "What of it?"

"I'm glad you did."

"Oh."

Izzy's hand slips into Stede's the closer they get to the bonfire on the beach, and to the rest of the crew.

"Roach!" Ed calls as he motions them over to him. "You can start serving now; everyone's back!"

"What took so long?" Roach asks. "It's been hours, and the rest of us-"

"I'm sure they had a good reason," Ed interrupts. "No one in the village is dead, right?"

"No, nothing like that," Stede gently nudges Izzy. "I can't wait; let him have it!"

Izzy pulls the tiny sword from his vest pocket. "You'll never guess how much that cost based on how it looks."

Any nerves they had about his reaction disappear as Ed's eyes light up.

"Look at you," he coos to the sword. "So teeny! Absolutely miniscule! Where on earth did you two find this?"

"Stumbled upon it," Stede replies quickly, ignoring the giggle Izzy barely chokes back. "More or less."

"This is almost better than Buttons' gift," Ed smiles. "Thank you; I love it."

"What did Buttons get you?" Stede frowns. "I haven't even seen him since this morning."

"Wrangled a squid so I could swim with it for a bit!"

Stede gives Izzy's hand a gentle reassuring squeeze. There's no way they could have beaten that.

"And the squid and Buttons are now..." Izzy leans back to peer past everyone to the waves.

Ed's eyes go wide. "Probably fine."

"Should we ask Roach to keep the food warm while we-"

Ed nods, and then he's off to the waves rolling onto the sand, calling for Jim and Olu and everyone to sound off if they've seen Buttons, please let them have seen Buttons recently-

But not before he kisses them both, and gently tucks his new sword into one of his jacket pockets, leaving them smiling like idiots while they help search the shore.

#text post #steddyhands #steddyhandslongweekend #Buttons is fine btw he's just busy making sweet love with the sea #the squid has left to give him something resembling privacy

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gobusto · 10 months

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a fun fact about me is that our house didn't have a PC until i was about 14 -- and even then, it was shared by the whole family, and didn't have internet access for a while. my dad eventually signed up for AOL around 2001, at which point we were able to surf the web™ via a 56k dial-up connection.

however, we did have internet access prior to that… via our TV:

source: https://web.archive.org/web/20190407175637/https://www.digitalspy.com/tech/cable/a3171/ntl-cr2-interactive/

this gave us a (single, shared) email address, and access to an extremely limited number of websites, such as leisuredistrict or everyoneswelcome.

(as an aside: you could unlock "full" web access by paying an extra £5 per month, which we eventually did… but not before discovering that if someone emailed us a clickable link, we could access that site without going through the "proper" menu option!)

anyway, to compose emails, enter your leisuredistrict password, or write an everyoneswelcome post, you had to use the remote control:

source: https://web.archive.org/web/20190407173228/https://www.digitalspy.com/tech/cable/a3231/ntlhome-digital-interactive-tv/

as you can imagine this was slow and awkward. however, as the image above indicates, you could buy a special keyboard to make things easier. since my dad used to play chess via email (using a physical chess set next to the television), he ended up getting one:

source: https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/hm5pfa/these_ntl_keyboards_i_think_im_on_an_ntl/

as you might have noticed, it has a somewhat strange layout, and doesn't have a wire coming out of the back. that's because this keyboard is actually just a really big remote control; you put 4 AA batteries in the back, and it communicates with the set top box via infrared signals, just like the standard remote control would.

of course, our set top box eventually outlived its usefulness, and all of this stuff went into a storage cupboard, whereupon it was promptly forgotten about… until a few months ago, when i rediscovered the keyboard whilst my dad was clearing out some old things. as you might expect, i saved it from being sent to silicon heaven (where all the calculators go) because i am a goblin who hoards old technology.

i put it to one side for a while, but a few days ago i decided to see if it was still working. it turns out that regular webcams can pick up infrared light, so i put some batteries in it and -- success! -- several white-ish lights were visible in my laptop's webcam app whenever i pressed a key.

as such, i think it would be cool to somehow get this thing working as an actual PC keyboard. i might need to write a custom program to do this, though it seems that it might Just Work.

of course, i'd need some kind of infrared receiver device to do that, and those can be surprisingly tricky to find:

there are plenty of "infrared extender" cables online, but their USB connector is only used to draw power; they don't actually show up as a "device" on your PC.

you can apparently get infrared-receiver-to-headphone jack cables, which you're supposed to plug into a special socket on certain set top boxes… though in theory you could plug them into the microphone input port of a PC and "manually" decode the data signal via software trickery. (disclaimer: i am not an expert on Hardware, so this might be A Bad Idea, but i think that the 5V output by the microphone port would be enough to power the IR receiver…?)

the thing i actually want (an IR-to-USB device) might as well not exist because it is no longer 2005 and no-one on the planet except me gives even half a shit about connecting an IR device to a PC. well, that's not entirely true -- but the things i did find cost £30-£50, which is way above what i'd want to spend on something like this.

eventually, though, i discovered that the magic phrase to search for is "Media Center IR receiver" (or, more simply, "MCE receiver"), whereupon i found someone selling an Acer MCEIR-210 on ebay for just over £10. its due to arrive here within the next few days, so hopefully i can make this somewhat-unusual device function again.

#infrared #old tech #keyboard #old web #please read this post like its a Cathode Ray Dude video for maximum effect

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thegodthief · 2 years

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Old Lammas 2022: Keri Has A Jar

Having seen all of y'all Old Lammas 2022 posts, I feel like Netherworld Post's teeny bat holding up a tiny skull in offering to the grand and enormous moon. "I hope this is enough. I hope I am enough."

So the call went out and the theme was honey, local preferred. How serendipitous then, than I received an offer for quality honey drawn from bee colonies local to my state and even some from my area! A bit pricey, but the company has proven their quality time and time again, and hey, it's for something special, so why not?

I figured I was going to be in for a ride when the honey shipped with a target date of 10 business days for arrival but it arrived on Day 3.

Yay! I have honey! Now what?

Hmm. No. Really. Now what? This is a Christian holiday after all, and I'm still working through some baggage from my experiences. Is this even a holiday I can jump into?

It's no secret that I've been siting with Christian elements again. Heh, that's a polite way to say I've been pushing my luck with certain folks from the Christian pantheon. (I'mma blame Saint Cyprian cuz he's smug af about it.) But I always worry about taking things too far.

(The fact that I exist is a step too far, but this is not the venue for that villain origin story monologue.)

So I did as some Christians are wont to do, and laid it at the feet of the Virgin Mary [VM]. I know how easy it is for me to get caught up in having the Perfect™ preparations which means having the Perfect™ material which means doing everything Perfectly Right And Good™ which we all know is impossible is this universe if not all possible others.

It was VM's prodding that made me pay attention to graveyarddirt's Lammas posts in the first place. And VM's (warm and generous) approval of the honey as acceptable even though it was purchased and jacque shitte was gathered by me. And VM's (soft and merciful) patience pointing out that there was a seat at that metaphorical table for abused and feral creatures like me. So... okay.

I have honey.

That honey was not cheap.

I am not spending another dime on this, [Mother]. If this is so important that I am compelled to participate one way or another, then reveal to me how I'm supposed to join in without wrecking my budget yet again.

That was Monday prior to Old Lammas weekend.

Tuesday, a coworker showed me flyers from a local craft fair with wheat woven corn dollies. "Isn't this neat! They're having a workshop where you can make your own! I'm sure you could do better like the over achiever you are!" I declined.

Wednesday, the restaurant near where I work ran out of honey for a special later in the week and lamented that there wasn't any at hand good enough to use. "All I need is just one cup of good artisan honey! I can stretch that flavor across the entire batch but there's nothing in the stores here and I can't justify the cost of shipping! Hey, you're good at finding last second things! You wouldn't happen to have some artisan honey at home that I can buy off you, would you?" Sorry, no, everything I have is spoken for, but have you considered a run to [specific store 60 min drive away] that I know stocks artisan varieties in pint bottles? (They immediately went out to that store and came back with a dozen bottles for less than the cost of two plus shipping.)

Thursday, I started to despair. I needed to have something ready by Friday evening, and all I have is a pint of precious honey. For whatever reason that still escapes me, I felt that I needed three things for Old Lammas weekend. Honey, plus two others. I had a pint mason jar in my cabinet already clean and set aside. But I had no idea what to do next. I made peace with the idea that I was chasing someone else's ideals again and declared that if Old Lammas arrived with nothing for me to do for it, that I would sell off the honey and never bother with the Virgin Mary again.

Thursday night, I couldn't sleep. I went to the kitchen and took stock of everything in the cabinets. By this time, I had seen so many Old Lammas preparation posts and I was very disheartened to see so many pretty tables and clothes and arrangements and I know better than to compare myself with them, but... fuck.

I am an insignificant bat in the middle of a shadow-smothered night. A scarred mongrel at the back gate. There is nothing here of worth to see, or to show.

Eventually, I did fall asleep. And because I was so exhausted, I dreamt of sleeping deeper still! I remember I was lying on an old cloak that had been softened by time and wear. It was comfortable to rest against. No bedding of thousand-thread cotton sheets would ever be as comfortable as this old cloth that smelled of soothing comfort. The scent even had a color to it: Blue.

Wait.

I opened my eyes and looked at the cloth I was lying on. Marian Blue.

Behind me, half covered by the cloth I was lying on, was a thick shrub in full bloom. Now that I was "awake", I realized the exposed flowers were covered by bees going to and fro. Half of the shade on me was from the shrub and half was from the cloud of bees busy at work. Their hum reminded me of the absent-minded humming of a mother rocking her child.

The wind shifted and instead of blowing away my discomfort, it now drew the scent of the shrub over me. Rosemary. I was snuggled up against a hedge of rosemary.

There was no one to be seen. Blowing dust raced around the sheltering hedge obscuring any sight of what lay beyond. But here, in this pocket of calm, I was safe under the rosemary and the bees. I resolved to untangle the symbolism when I fully woke up, and placed myself in the care of the old cloak, falling into a deeper sleep.

Friday morning, Old Lammas Eve, I'm driving to work and pondering the symbolism that I had literally slept through. That the bees were a reference to honey was blatant. The cloak was her cloak, but why was it snuggled under a hedge of rosemary? Oh, duh, what is it called again? The Rose of Mary! That's her herb! And I do have dried rosemary in the kitchen... but what else? I need three things and I only have two.

"Medicine."

I heard the word between my ears but no voice spoke it. I demanded an explanation but none was given. I continued the commute to work in silence, pondering what the hell could be in my pantry that could fit the category of medicine?

Honey is a carrier and a preservative (of sorts, don't sic any agencies on me, this is not medical advice you pedantic nerds) while rosemary is a blessing and a curative. My stock of individual spices is as thin as the time I have available for cooking.

At work, just as the despair begins to set in again, a conversation with a foodie coworker turns to flavoring honey jars. I express my concern about "an experimental jar" using dried herbs steeped in honey and how to balance flavors in it.

"Oh! Are you making a Medicine Jar?" I could hear the capitals as they asked. "My grandma made one every summer so it would be ready in the winter for flu season! She would take raw honey, and put dried ginger and rosemary and mint in it to steep for months! And come winter, all the dried stuff would be soft enough to chew on if you had to, though the honey would have all the flavor, and she would put a spoon of honey in a cup of hot water or tea. And let me tell you, that ginger taste! If the taste alone didn't cure you then the honey would at least make your throat feel better! She didn't always have dried mint, but she always had ginger one way or the other."

Ginger.

I have that.

I have a BIG bag of dried ginger. Probably a lifetime supply as potent as those pieces are.

The rest of the work day came and went as I considered how I use ginger already. I have a big bag of candied ginger that I use for general upset stomach and to chew on because it's yummy. I snap off pieces of dried ginger to put in my tea in the winter as a general cold medicine and because I like the taste of it. It's something that has been in plain sight all this time and was overlooked because of how common it is to me.

Okay. I have three things to put into the jar: Honey, rosemary, and ginger.

Don't ask me why I waited for sunset before beginning the actual work of putting everything together. It just felt right to wait for darkness to catch up outside. That's what happens when you're so used to being alone, I suppose. But wait I did.

Nothing fancy about what happened next, to be honest. I took pictures each step of the way, but now that I'm sitting here (two weeks later) and looking over them choosing what to post and what to leave out, I don't have anything to show off.

But, here, have some progress pics anyway. Such as this one of a pint mason jar with a whole bunch of shredded (as best as one can shred dried ginger anyway) dried ginger pieces inside and one piece that I was compelled to set aside and not break up.

I didn't measure shitte. It was all a matter of feelings, fears, compulsions, and restraints. I tore apart dried ginger for the jar until it felt right to stop.

And then I started shaking out the dried rosemary on top of that.

Again, I didn't measure anything. I just kept going until it felt right to stop.

And then, the honey. Twelve ounces of it, to answer a question that no one asked.

Throughout all of this, I was praying. I had started the endeavor with Pater Noster, Ave Maria, and Gloria Patri after assembling the containers but before opening any jars for actual use. From then to this point, it was a continual muttering stream of appeals to the Virgin Mary that I was actually doing something useful and not just religious theater. That this Medicinal Jar would be a salve not only to my throat later in the year, but to my spirit that was feeling everything except spiritual.

Feeling inadequate is a bitch, ya know, and seeing so many people having their shit put together enough that they didn't have to wait to receive their blessing chapped my ass. It seems I'm always playing catch-up, I'm always last to know and last to do. I'm always one foot at the back gate, ready to run away before I'm thrown out.

And all these feelings came out in assembling this jar. But with it, came a soothing solace. That some wounds take time to heal, and some medicines take time to create, and while that I don't have a house or a nación or a community to belong to, I am still Myself foremost and always.

And I am loved.

Even when I don't understand it.

Especially when I don't understand it.

It look longer to get the pictures together than it did to assemble everything. The only thing left to do that Friday night, was to offer a prayer from José Leitão's translation of the Precious Apothecary. Specifically, the blessing of new fruit (pg 311) because of the honey and how it was collected.

And so I did.

The jar immediately went to sit at a certain spot where it was prayed over and tumbled each night until Sunday. That Sunday, it was opened and stirred while praying the Rosary. The rosemary had already softened but the ginger was being very resistant to any change. The honey had hints of rosemary and ginger in the taste, but it was clear to me that this jar had a long way to go before being ready for anything other than show.

I suppose there is a life lesson there, but I'll be damned if I see it. (Pun possibly intended.)

There will be no new pictures of the jar. Once the jar was seated in its spot, it became Precious™.

I have the feeling that while I may open the jar to give it a good stirring from time to time, it is not ready as Medicine™ until some point in December. As I know almost nothing of Catholic Holidays and/or Liturgy (I'm one of those depraved magicians, remember), I'm just going to have to keep an eye on the calendars of others and note which ones ring a bell for me.

I apologize that for all my words that I have so little to show. I know some that would say that the fact that I showed up is important in itself, and on the one hand, I would agree with them. But on the other hand, the night is so large and dark and I am so small and pitiful.

I hope it is enough.

I hope I am enough.

#Old Lammas 2022 #Hagging Out #Hagging Out 2022

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morningstar-warriors · 7 months

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Game Eleven

Thoughts and Development

I started recording the sessions, we all play online so I figured, why not! It'd be easy to show folks what they missed if they couldn't make it, or look back on mechanical moments that felt flawed. Plus it's very easy to now find direct quotes from players which is cool!

Aside from this another large development is a new player, Button. He is playing a cat called Ashwind, and plans on making occasional appearances here and there. Button is helping me develop a new kind of Stoneteller, he's into playing Warlocks in D&D so he got me to thinking on how we could make a cat warlock that would make sense in the Warriors world. Right now we're going with a necromancer vibe for his cat, and I'm excited to update the Stoneteller post with our more fleshed out concept.

Present issues that I plan on tackling --

Ability Scores

These guys are kinda... Just there. I honestly don't know what to do with them, they feel irrelevant to how the game works at this time. I may go about adding them to dice rolls for skill checks, or scrapping them all together. In the original game, ability scores were actually meant to represent how much chips you had, but Bug and I didn't like this, it didn't feel very customizable when it came to knacks.

Skills and Dice

So there are 5 points you can have in each skill. I've been playing this in a way where, you add that to your dice roll. Which the standard role in my game is, a 2d6. So if you have 4 points in a skill, it's 2d6+4. Another test player group recommended to me that this could instead be a die pool, so it physically feels like you have more. Visual progression. Aside from dice, I realize game wise, I need to have a better grasp of the skills. Sometimes I feel like some things are... Missing from them? I still can't quite place it though. Like there are some things my dnd brain wishes there were rolls for, but I feel like if I keep refreshing my understanding of the skills that part of me would melt away. I don't think it's necessary to have a million skills, and its important in a cat game to feel like... A cat. An animal. So I think these skills are very important as is for now.

The Knack Problem

There are so so so many knacks. I'm not even sure if knacks are the route I'd like to go anymore. Or at the very least they need a lot of restructuring. I was suggested knacks that cost more chips should be higher level. Since at level 1, you dont have many chips to spare. I think thats wise. Alternatively I could give knacks the "At higher level" treatment, and state that certain actions you could take through the knack cost more/are more effective with the use of more chips. For now I don't know, I can also see the concept of knacks disappearing and becoming something else. I like the physicality of the chips though.

Misc Chips... BOOOOO

So these are dead to me. Way too confusing HAHA! I'm thinking so far everything starts off as a point buy. So you just get 5 chips, put them anywhere its up to you. but no holding onto empty chips, I feel like that just confuses people. My second test player group didnt get it at all and my first one is struggling with it as well. Third group I chose to ignore the idea aaaand that went way smoother lol.

Damage and Health

So I'm debating switching from a number based HP to concepts like Apocalypse or Monster of the Week, where you just have points of "Hurt" rather than a number that slowly dwindles. This would lead to a large restructure of many things I think, so I'm kinda nervous to tackle this right now, but considering my issues around ability scores and knacks, I think this is a necessary path to take. I'll start researching these games further and probably start making the changes once I feel satisfied with the remaining parts of V. 1 that need finishing. Which is Leveling, and the Leader Code.

Beginner and Child Friendliness

So a few times in here I mentioned some math. Adding the ability scores, dice pooling. These things were fun suggestions, but my test player groups also mentioned that the less math, the more player friendly. I know as a kid the idea of a game like D&D sounded fun, but making a character was a dreadfully boring behemoth. I know not all children are opposed to complex ideas and some adding and subtraction, but I do know that most people play role-playing games for the role-play. That's something I want to prioritize in my development. I will say I'm proud of how easy it seems for my test groups to make characters, and learn how to play. I'm glad my writing and guidance is competent.

#games #warrior cats adventure game

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cherryliqueurkinks · 8 months

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with your tail between your legs

Veronica wants to go out on Halloween night, but Daddy knows best. (aka: Veronica as Little Red Riding Hood and Hiram as the Big Bad "Wolf")

Countdown to Halloween - 5 Days Until Halloween!

pairing: veronica lodge/hiram lodge

READ ON AO3

How Cheryl could take the theme of slutty costumes and make them even sluttier is beyond Veronica, but that's exactly what she does when she turns her costume party into a slumber party. The Vixens have been sharing their ideas in their group text all week, and it seems that their costumes are little more than lingerie with an accessory or two to pass as a character of sorts.

It's ridiculous, but in true Veronica Lodge fashion, she refuses to dress in anything less than her best.

She buys a black bra that costs far too much, and a black and red pair of lace panties that costs even more, along with a new pair of Louboutin pumps and a custom red cloak from one of her favorite boutique stores in New York. With tights on and her cloak drawn closed, the hem falling a few inches above her knees, her costume might even be considered tasteful, especially when she digs up her favorite shade of Yves Saint Laurent from her vanity and slicks a bright red layer on her lips. Cheryl might have something to say about stealing her signature red lips, but Veronica is willing to risk the tantrum.

Her parents were supposed to be out to a party of their own, which is why Veronica hadn't bothered throwing a dress on in an attempt at modesty, but she finds herself freezing at the end of the hallway when she sees her father perched on the couch in front of the roaring fireplace, his laptop perched on his knee and a tumbler of something dark in his hand.

He glances up at the sound of her heels, eyes flickering over her, but his smile never slips. "Where are you heading, mija?"

"To Cheryl's," she answers, resisting the urge to pull her cloak tighter. "You know how she loves to go big for her parties."

Hiram chuckles. "She's as tactless as her parents, that's for sure," he muses, setting his laptop aside as Veronica walks over, and he tilts his cheek up for her to kiss. She leaves an imprint of her lipstick against his skin, but before she can move to wipe it off, Hiram does so himself with a swipe of his thumb. "Is that wise?"

"The color?" Veronica smirks, rolling her lips together with a small shrug. "Cheryl will have to get over it."

"Not that, princesa," he retorts, and Veronica catches the glint in his eyes a second too late, because then he's reaching past her cloak and grasping her elbow, tugging her until she's stumbling in her heels and onto his lap before she can catch herself. Instinctively, she moves to pull her cloak back into place, but Hiram tightens his grip on her elbow as his holds her stare, licking the corner of his lips before they hitch into a smirk. "Is it wise to go out when I could smell your heat all the way from your room?"

As if response, Veronica feels a throb between her legs. Still, she shakes her head in protest. "I'm fine, Daddy," she insists, but her voice sounds breathless even to her own ears. She'd taken twice the dosage of her suppressants, knowing that, around any of the boys from their school, it would be more than enough to keep her heat from flaring.

But that was before she knew her daddy would be home. Before she got a hint of his scent in her nose and felt the heat of his skin against hers, even though the material of his clothes, fraying the thin strings of her control. She can already feel her cheeks flushing, her nipples tightening, and she practically scrambles off of his lap as if putting enough distance back between them will halt the arousal in its place.

Undeterred, Hiram tsks, snatching the collar she hadn't noticed sitting on the end table as he stands and stalks toward her. "You know better than to lie to me, mija," Hiram chides, and Veronica hadn't realized she'd begun to retreat until she feels her legs hit the back of the coffee table. She stumbles in surprise, and Hiram takes the opportunity to maneuver her onto her knees on the plush, fur carpet in front of the fireplace, hooking the black leather collar in place around her neck.

"Daddy," Veronica begins to protest, but he presses two fingers into her mouth and it's instinctive, the way she closes her lips around them and sucks. Her core throbs harder, the saltiness of his skin on her tongue and the headiness of his scent in her head quickly dissolving whatever control her suppressants had given her. She'd known her heat would be starting in a matter of days, but with her daddy in New York for the rest of the week, Veronica thought she could buy herself enough time before she was in the thick of it.

As if hearing her thoughts, Hiram presses his fingers deeper, practically fucking her face with them. "I taught you better than to be ungrateful, mija," he says. "I cut my own business trip short and came all the way here because my baby girl needed me, and here you are, trying to go out when you're in no state to."

He yanks his fingers out, curls the leash around his fist and tugs until she's kneeling upright, grasping onto the material of his slacks to steady herself. Her face is practically buried into the bulge of his cock and he grips the leash tighter, holding her in place as his other hand works his cock free from his slacks.

The moment it springs free, thick and long and only inches from her lips, she gets a true inhale of his scent and feels those frayed strings of her control finally snapping. Veronica whines, tongue lashing out to lick at the underside of his length, the haze of arousal thickening in her head as her heat flares higher and hotter within her. Everything feels heightened, the fur of the carpet tickling her skin, the cups of her bra creating an unbearable friction against her nipples, and even the silkiness of her cloak feels as if it's setting her skin on fire.

"See?" Hiram says, his lips threatening to curve into another smirk as Veronica moans against his swelling sack, mouthing at him as one of her delicate hands grasps at his cock to rub her thumb against his wet tip. "You're in no state to go anywhere, especially not when you'll only draw every boy in Riverdale with that sweet scent of yours, making them think they can have a taste of Daddy's little slut."

Veronica wants to argue that she would've been fine, that none of this would've happened if he hadn't come home, but she's so caught in his scent that she doesn't dare pull her mouth from him until he's using the leash to tug her off with a whine.

He grabs the fur blanket that'd been beside her on the couch, tossing it in a pile on the floor, then uses her collar to guide her onto it until she's practically burrowing herself into its plush softness, filling her senses even further with her daddy's heady scent. The warmth of the fireplace with the white-hot flames of her heat roaring low in her stomach makes her feel as if she's being smothered, her skin breaking out in a light sheen, her lips parting with a whimper, and only the gentle stroke of her daddy's hand over her hair is enough to soothe her, if only for a moment.

"Don't worry, princesa," Hiram coos, hitching her hips up until she's on her knees once more, face pressed into the blanket and her ass in the air. "You'll get Daddy's knot soon enough."

He pushes her cloak up and fists her tights in his hands, ripping the flimsy material with ease before tearing the crotch of her panties open, slapping her slick cunt the moment it's bared to him. Veronica whimpers as he spanks her once, twice, three more times, and then her whimpers dissolve into a wanton moan as he glides two fingers through her slick folds, finding her throbbing clit and swirling in tight circles.

"You're always so ready for me," Hiram groans, smearing her slickness off of his fingers along the inside of her thigh before leaning forward and sinking his teeth into the globe of her ass. Veronica jolts, fingers twisting into the fur blanket as she keens out, and he licks the indent of his teeth before fisting the material of her cloak and tugging it off. "You think you like playing with those boys at school, but your body knows who it belongs to." He curves his body over hers, nibbling at her shoulder and along the curve of her neck to where her pulse is fluttering in her throat. "You can tease them all you want, mija," he murmurs, finally, finally sinking his cock into her oh so slowly, smirking against her skin as her pussy clenches eagerly around him as he fills her inch by agonizing inch. "You can even let them fuck you, because when you go into head, you know who'll be knotting you all week long."

Then he winds his arms around her, tucking her flush against his chest as he sinks his teeth into her pulse, and starts rutting into her fast and hard and deep.

"O-ohhh! Oh! Ahh!"

Veronica's cries echo through the air along with the slaps of flesh as her daddy fucks her with abandon, his pace bruising, practically pushing the air from her chest as she stutters out a moan. His hands slide up to grasp at her bra, tearing it off with two more tugs before he's tossing it aside, and then he's palming her bouncing tits as he practically fucks her into the floor. He finds her nipples, tweaking and rolling them as he sucks along her shoulder, leading a path of his teeth marks across her perfect complexion.

It's too much, too fast, the pain from his fingers and his teeth mixing with the delicious friction of his cock rutting into her, and then she gasps as she feels him beginning to swell, eyes rolling back as he starts to stretch and stretch her. No matter how many times he's knotted her, Veronica doesn't think she can take it and how big it gets and how it feels to be lodged onto it, but she always does, her daddy's fingers finding her clit and stroking it until she feels her entire body loosen and her cunt flutter around his growing thickness.

"Daddy," she pants out, squirming as she dangles on the very precipice of her orgasm. She knows she's about to come, but she knows she'll be knotted for hours the moment she does, that everything will feel torturously heightened, that she'll be made to come again and again and again and filled with his come until her daddy decides she's had enough.

"Don't fight it, mija," Hiram coos, pinching her clit between his fingers and rolling it until she's whining. "This body belongs to me and my knot, and I want to be deep inside of you for the rest of the night."

And, with one more swirl of his fingers, Veronica does exactly that, her orgasm bursting through her with a cry as she shudders through the waves of white-hot sensation. Coming while in heat, while being knotted, is almost painful with how much pleasure floods through her all at once. He grasps the leash where it's connected to her collar and tugs her upright, keeping her flushed against his chest as he settles her into his lap, bringing her further down onto his knot, and Veronica's eyes nearly cross as she feels it shift inside of her, feeling impossibly wider from this angle.

"That's my good girl," he murmurs against her jaw, dragging his knuckles down her stomach before splaying his hand flat against her pelvis. "Let's see how much of Daddy's cum you can take this time."

#veronica lodge x hiram lodge #hiram lodge x veronica lodge #fic

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honeystwiggypeach · 2 years

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First of many dates!

Single mom!Chrissy x Fem!Reader

Single mom!Chrissy masterlist!!(coming soon!)

Well…I definitely did not start working on this fic when I said I was going to😭I may rewrite this for my own sake because it feels everywheres😭but I do like the idea that I had!!!!

Tw~ Unplanned pregnancy, single parent(financial struggles that come with that and being a young parent!),rain, being kicked out, Jason is implied to be a bad dad(probably will involve him in later chapters who knows!)let me know if I missed anything!!!

You’d taken the same bus route since you were seven, it was a common one that went throughout the city and normally you’d gaze out the window the whole time occasionally bring a book with you to read.

So maybe that was why you noticed when Chrissy began to join the route…or maybe it was the fact that out of the whole bus she chose to sit next to you with her adorable little girl.

Chrissy has never had to ride a bus before, after she moved out of Hawkins to escape her toxic family and her ex-boyfriend Jason, she realized that if she was going to afford living expenses she might as well buy an annual pass, with Edith being so little the passes were cheaper anyways. Maybe that was why Chrissy left Hawkins? An unplanned pregnancy, her parents couldn’t have that, of course she glorified her reasoning for leaving when you’d asked telling you she wanted a change of scenery and better for little Edith which was true, she wasn’t really lying because she could have stayed in Hawkins but she wanted better for her daughter than what she was raised with growing up, so yeah she wasn’t lying to you!

Of course you thought that Chrissy and Edith were just the most precious people I mean Chrissy would probably give you the clothes off her back if you’d ask for them and little Edith was just the happiest little baby ever always going a little bashful as she turns to hide her face in her moms chest when you coo at her. You and Chrissy would always let out a little giggle at the way Edith would slowly turn her head to see if you two were still looking at her and when she’d be met with two pairs of eyes she’d let out a giggle as she rubbed her face on the familiar fabric of Chrissy’s sweater.

Today however, Chrissy had to trade in the worn sweater for a button down, she’d told you on the bus about how she had applied for a new job at a company nearby since she wanted to afford to a house instead of the apartment she was staying in where rent seemed to just gobble up her check along with the cost of utilities in the building.

But aside from the fact that she was going to an interview, she didn’t want to soak up any rain as it practically poured down outside.

The rain was a bit lighter when she had gotten down to drop Edith off at daycare, it was still earlier enough that there wasn’t a rush to get back on the bus so she’d managed to spend a few extra minutes with her little girl before she’d head off for the day.

The interview had gone well and Chrissy was pleasantly surprised to get a call back before she’d even made it home.

When she got in the bus you were already there, her shirt had clung to her arms and you could see the way her curls were heavy with water and you gave her an awkward smile moving over so she could sit beside you.

“I forgot my umbrella” she whispers and you watch as she ties her hair up into a tight little knot before clipping it to the back of her head in hopes that by the time you’d reached the daycare it would be dry.

Normally Chrissy would just get down at the daycare and hurry back home without the bus but as she peers out the door she fears that she’s going to be sopping wet when she gets back. She knows that Edith is going to try and cuddle up to her as soon as she picks her up and Chrissy hates that she’s not going to be able to indulge her little girl in her wants all because she forgot her umbrella.

You rummage through your purse for a moment before pulling your umbrella out, “here” you give her a little smile and Chrissys brows furrowed, normally you stop off here to she can’t just let you walk in the rain.

“You won’t take it will you? Fine we’ll both go than” you mutter a bit noticing the bud driver give Chrissy a confused look.

You’re practically dragging her alongside you as she protests, “Chrissy, you’ll get sick if you walk in the rain”

“But you will to?” She’s a bit confused as Edith perks up clapping her hands excitedly as you shut the umbrella.

“I might” you shrug, “but I don’t have a baby, and a new job” Chrissy smiles.

“Why don’t we wait out the rain at the little cafe?” She was pretty sure she got paid today so she could spend her money and cover rent.

“Only if you let me pay” You watch the way Chrissy playfully rolls her eyes, but she agrees.

And maybe that was your first date, or maybe it was the little movie night with Edith she invited you to that was your first date, or the dinner she invited you to that was your first date whoever knows it was probably the first date of many more.

Anywho! I think I’ll write a part two soon…definitely not tonight though, maybe tomorrow!!

#reader insert #x reader #chrissy cunningham #chrissy cunningham x female reader #Chrissy Cunningham x reader #chrissy x reader #Mom!Chrissy Cunningham #Single mom!Chrissy Cunningham #Single mom!Chrissy Cunningham x reader #Mom!Chrissy Cunningham x reader #Chrissy x fem reader #st4

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pokeexehasstoppedworking · 1 year

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A Champion Time For The Heart Ch10 Battle Gym Leader Nessa

(Will have a reference to Pokemon Twilight Wings Series.)

You slept well that night. The hotel wasn't too far from the Hulbury stadium so it wasn't a very long walk from where you four left the light house and stationed yourselves for the night. Not before dishing out the rations between the four of you. You were a lot lower on food than you thought and surprised you hadn't noticed earlier. A month's walk drained almost all of the food you had aside from a few packets of dried fruits. Thank goodness for restocking. The next morning wasn't anything too different. Gloria and Hop of course wanted to stop by the stadium and get one of them that spot to battle Nessa before another trainer took it. Huh. You wonder how the battle between her and Bede went the other day? Victor mentioned wanting to go back towards the Hulbury Aquarium and offered for you to come with them but you had other plans for the day.

"Hey, Y/n. Since its gonna be a bit 'fore I have my turn at Nessa, would you like to come with me to the aquarium?", Victor offered after the two of you had dug through your rations for breakfast. Your Sobble tiredly yawning on your shoulder rubbing at his eyes.

You shook your head. "No thanks. I actually wanted to check out that market down by the docks. I heard they sell all kinds of trinkets and stuff and it's been a while since I was able to go somewhere by myself and have some me time."

He nodded in understanding before smiling. "Alright then. You guys know where I'll be if you change your minds."

The two of you parted ways outside the hotel before you headed back up the road towards the docks. Already in the morning the place was all a buzz with ship horns blaring off in the distance and a few people walking around. It was a nice day with the salty smell of the ocean, the gently breeze, not being too hot but nice and warm, etc. It was a very nice day that filled your tired body with a happy feeling as you inhaled deeply. The small market place was past the restaurant and just across the docks past the convenience store you had visited the other day for supplies. It wasn't really big. There was only about five stalls set up alongside a concrete wall with one or two picnic tables a little bit a ways from them. A few people were already there looking at the stalls or sitting at the tables to eat or just to sit. Walking over you strolled up to the first stall that sold a few random things like flowers, dishes, and a couple clothes hanging up. The man handling it was talking up some of the flower pots but you weren't too interested in those so shortly after moved on. The other four were a fruit stand, someone selling records, another one selling random objects, but the last one had you notice something. Sweet smells of perfumes and spices wafted from it the closer you gotten to it. And it didn't take too long for you to find out why. A young lady was there surrounded by a bunch of incense. She smiled as you stopped to admire all the sweet smells and gave a greeting.

"Get a whiff of that fragrance! Doesn't it smell sweet?," she asked holding out some sweet smelling sticks that smelt of lilacs, "How about some incense for you, Girl? Good for meditation, yoga, relaxing, or just making a room smell nice. And it all natural so it's safe for pokemon too and helps them destress....As long as they don't eat it. Non edible."

"Destress huh?,'' you pondered looking at your sobble who seemed more interested in staring at the food stand with hungry eyes despite just eating breakfast a while ago. Considering how spooked this lil guy could be, it might be a good idea. "....What scents to you have exactly?"

You ended up using the twenty dollar bill you had saved forever now to buy some of the sea and rose scented incense and then later one or two apples at the fruit stand since your sobble kept jumping on your shoulder and chirping in it's directed until you finally did so. All of it costing almost half your money leaving you from twenty dollars to twelve dollars and some change. You found yourself wondering over until you sat down at one of the picnic tables so your sobble could sit and eat and give your poor shoulders a break from carrying it all the time. Granted Sobble wasn't really that heavy, about half the weight of a small cat, but it was nice to be able to stretch your shoulders and neck out without worrying about accidentally knocking him off. Lazily you watched it make happy noises as it greedily ate as if you didn't already give it a big breakfast about an hour ago. It was still pretty early in the morning so it you really hadn't anything to do other than just sit here and watch your sobble. But it was refreshing. With a sigh you closed your eyes and slowly put your head down on the table. The only problem with having a bunch of free time is that your brain slowly fills itself with thoughts you might not want. Like now. You had been gone for what must've been a little over a month now. How worried was your mom? She must've been worrying herself sick if you were gone for this long without any notice or clues or anything. And(tho you were HIGHLY doubtful now-) if this all IS some kind of dream universe it was certainly the longest one you ever experienced. Not only that, but you were SURELY not going to be able to start college just like you wanted. You'd have to wait another year just to start it and that's only if considering you'd be able to go home after this whole journey has finished. It was the only way you could think of that you could go back, once this is over. If it'll ever be-

"I can NOT believe this!," an angry woman's voice piped up. Startled you jumped up and blinked light rushing back into your vision.

"Calm down, Ness. Don't make a big scene in public." ....That voice sounded familiar.

"I AM calm. I'm just restocking my incense before I head back!" Now that you think about it, that angry voice sounded familiar too.

Blinking you turned around to look behind you, and your eyes widened at what you saw. Two ladies were at the incense stand with their backs towards you, one with bright orange hair and a coat you recognized and the other wore a black cap and shirt.

"First he said I should stop modeling and now he's breathing down my neck because I just happened to lose to his endorsed challenger!,'' Cap Lady growled out as she waved her hand. "I mean yeah, usually I'm busy so I cut back to one challenger a day! That doesn't mean I lost my touch as a gym leader!" She paused as the lady manning the stall held out a small paper bag of incense to her similar to the one you had. "Oh..Thank you. It just drives me up a wall just thinking about it!"

"Then don't think about it," Orange hair replied patting her friend on the back, "It'll only stress you out before your other gym match today."

Cap Lady sighed. "You're right, Sonia...As usual. It just ticks me off knowing he's in town just to see you too no less and buddy up with the crowd!! It makes me angry!"

"Sonia?"

The orange haired woman turned to you immediately as you stared back, her friend turning too and that's when you recognized the other woman too. She smiled. "Hey, Y/n! Fancy meeting you here! Haven't seen you in a while." She fully turned to you now and walked over her friend following.

You casually waved where you sat and gave a tired smile. "Yeah. Honestly wasn't expecting to see you here either. What are you doing here?"

She gestured to none other than Nessa next to her. "I was chatting with an old friend before she needed to go. Since you're here I assume Gloria can only be here as well."

You nodded. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure she's at the stadium right now." Your gaze slowly shifted over to nessa as you spoke and you waved again. "Hello again. Nice weather you guys have here."

Nessa smiled. "Yeah. It's usually warm and sunny here all year round being the coast and all. You should visit the beach if you ever get the chance."

You shrugged. "I might. I mean I guess my sobble could use the chance to swim."

"Well, that all depends. Is your sobble a freshwater or saltwater sobble?"

"There's a difference?"

"Hey wait a minute!" Both of you turned to Sonia who was looking between the two of you with a confused look on her face. "You two know each other?"

"Sort of. She helped me out with some stuff yesterday, I didn't even know she was the gym leader until someone told me," you explained with a shrug, "I just appreciate anyone who helps carry groceries."

"Oh. I see. What are you doing here if Gloria is I assume at the stadium?," she asked.

You gestured to your sobble as it spat out an apple seed. "Someone wanted more food. I'm telling you he's worse than a kid hyped up on sugar once he sees the stuff." Both of you jumped at a ....snort? Blinking you looked at Nessa and noticed her holding her mouth and chuckling.

"I-I'm so sorry," she giggled out, "That's just the funniest thing that I've heard all day while stressing out. U-U-Usually people don't say that about s-s-sobble care."

You blinked. "Oh yeah?"

Sonia nodded as Nessa's giggles slowly fizzled out. "Usually sobbles are....how do you say it?...Massive cry babies that'll cry at the tiniest things like a baby would. It happened ALL the time when my Granny gave a trainer their first pokemon." She groaned closing her eyes as if the memory gave her instant annoyance and headaches. "They don't get an extra snack? BOOM! Crying! They trip the littlest, I mean tiniest bit. Crying! You're too busy to pet them? Crying! Forget playtime? CRYING! And don't get me started on the amount of times I had to buy Sobble Eye Drops for all the stinging and headaches. It's like walking on eggshells until they evolve into a drizzile! It's why a bunch of trainers rather chose scorbunny or grookey than a sobble." She pointed towards yours who had finished eating and began crawling it's way over to you. "In fact, the sobble Granny gave Leon for the trainers he endorsed was the pokemon who stayed in our care the longest. She must've had it for at least since it hatched and was given to her. It was such a little wimp clinging to her all the time...I never really had mush patience for them."

You jolted when something tugged on your arm, calming yourself once you noticed it was just your pokemon. "...Really?"

With a frown Nessa sighed. "She's right. Sobbles are much better suited for older more patient people. They aren't exactly really popular pokemon among starting trainers who are eager to start their journey. Most end up for adoption to pokemon centers or abandoned to the wild because the person decides it's not worth it to have their eyes burning after every battle or basically raise what could essentially be a child in their eyes." Her eyes suddenly narrowed. "I remember once Raihan came all the way to Hulbury just to give me a sobble someone carelessly discarded at his gym after they lost. The poor thing was so confused and scared. It was a miracle I found someone who loved it. Much more than the thoughtless trainer who never gave it a second thought. Pokemon aren't just toys you can give away or leave lying around after you decided you outgrew them."

"THAT'S AWFUL!!,'' you shouted feeling an anger grow in you as one hand instinctly came up to grab your sobble who chirped in confusion at your actions, both women giving you looks of surprise at your shout. How could anyone DO such a horrible thing!? That's like the equivilant of someone getting a brand new puppy and then not wanting to deal with the work and attention that goes into it and then straight up abandoning it to the streets in your world!! "How could anyone do such a thing?! That's like...So not ok!"

"Well....That is very true. Its not ok. But it seems to be you and your sobble have a very special connection," Nessa said gesturing towards your sobble making Sonia take a double take at you as well.

"Huh. Now that you mention it he does looked rather relaxed. He usually never looked so comfortable before Granny gave him to Leon."

"Really?,'' you asked, "He seemed pretty ok so far. Cried like...only one time but that might be cuz he was pushed over by these rockstar wannabes."

To that the ladies seemed lightly surprised. "Really now? Well then you must have lots of patience then. Sobbles usually tend to work better with people who have lots of patience or a motherly personality."

"And considering you mentioned never having a pokemon before I'm kinda impressed too. You must be a natural babysitter!," Sonia joked. You huffed and rolled your eyes at her joke. Yeah. You sure felt like one sometimes during your journey so far.

"Oh, Scales!" You blinked backed towards Nessa as she now held up her phone to her face with a frown before looking back towards you and Sonia. "Hey. Sorry but I have to bounce. I have to stop by home then head to the gym really quick if I'm going to make it to that match on time." Turning with a smile she waved. "I'll see you later Sonia. It was nice seeing you again too, Miss. good luck with that sobble of yours."

As she walked away, the both of you waved as you watched her go before Sonia turned back to you. "Hey. If you're not really busy, would you like to come to the docks with me?" She held up a small clear plastic bag with, what looked like to you at least, dog kibble with a smile. "There's always a small school of chinchou everyone likes to feed there. I always like to visit whenever I come to Hulbury."

You paused considering her words for a moment. It would be nice to have more time with another person around your age before you had to go back for a bit and they wouldn't be expecting you for a while. So it should be fine. With a shrug you stood up. "Sure! I don't think I've ever seen a chinchou anyways."

Smiling she gestured for you to follow. "C'mon. We're pretty close anyways. I think you'd really like them."

She was right. The small market area was right across from the docks anyways, so it took less than five minutes to reach the docks. You followed her onto the pathways on the water and looked over the edge. The crystal blue water acting like a mirror letting you see your reflection and your sobble's as it blinked big innocent eyes at the water. You nearly bumped into her when she stopped and already had the bag open with her hand inside rummaging around until she pulled out a small handful of the kibble. With a toss they all went into the clear water sending small ripples as they floated and bobbed on the mirror water. That was until almost instantly bubbles appeared from under them and in a flurry of lightbulb antennas and blue skin tons of tiny little creatures swam to the surface and the floating kibble was devoured by the pokemon. You blinked as you watched them swim around. There must've been around ten of them all swimming about here. You blinked as the bag was suddenly held out to you with a smile from Sonia.

"Do you wanna feed them a little? This pokemon food is specifically made for water type pokemons' tastes," she offered.

"Yeah! Thanks!" You happily took some from her and a small blue hand tried to reach out for it too as you pulled away and gave your sobble a look. It stared at you for a moment before chirping and grabbing your nose. "*sigh* Fine." With a sigh and roll of your eyes, you silently held one piece of the kibble up to him and watched as he grabbed it from you and popped it into his mouth. Before tossing more kibble at the peeping lanturn fish like pokemon still swimming around. As before they began devouring it. "They sure are hungry huh?"

"Always are," Sonia replied tossing some more kibble to them. "It's a really popular thing to do around here if you aren't visiting the stadium or Aquarium or eating at the famous cafe up the road. Since there's a battle later today with Nessa I suspect that's why it's so vacant."

You smiled. "Yeah. I just hope everything goes well for them later today. Hop and her seemed pretty excited to go battling Nessa."

Sonia nodded. "I can't blame them. When Leon and I were they're age we were excited over battling the gym leaders too." She smiled at some distant long memory. "In fact, it seemed like it was just yesterday I was right here feeding some Chinchou and then Leon came out of no where and fell in the water! S-Said he d-d-didn't even know how he got there looking for the stadium." She giggled and you couldn't help but smile back.

"Oh. Is that anything like the time I heard he somehow ended up on top of a barn?" Sonia snorted. "Or the time he went out to catch a train and somehow ended up back in front of his house?"

"That happened?"

You nodded. "Oh yeah. He ended up waiting for me to thank me for the two's Slumbering Weild field trip after it happened. I have no idea how."

She chuckled. "Neither do I. Lee's always had a bad sense of direction just like his Da-" She froze. The once smile and cheery attitude replaced by a look of mild panic before she coughed and tossed some more kibble towards the chinchou. "Hey. Look at how cute they are today. They look like such healthy wild chinchou. Don't you think?"

It was her attempting to deflect away from what she already said. You knew that and personally you wouldn't really bother looking into it as 1. It was really none of your business and you hated budding into someone else's business and 2. you didn't feel up to making Sonia more uncomfortable than she already looked...But you couldn't help yourself since this was the second time this has happened. ...That's right. She did a similar thing at the Opening Ceremony when she asked you not to mention what she said to anyone. By now you had completely forgotten about that moment with everything that's been going on and at the time just brushed it off having more important things to worry about. But now....You looked at her and by the look in her eyes she knew what you were about to ask.

"That's right. I spent a few days between their houses and I saw their families. And I met their mothers. And Hop's grandparents." You fully turned to her with a raised brow. "And Hop's older brother. And Gloria's brother. But not have I ever once seen any of their dads nor had they even mentioned them. So that's begging the question of where's the missing link then isn't it?"

There was a pregnant silence between the two of you as you stared at her expectantly and Sonia stared back down at the water, seemingly trying to process the situation she found herself in. The only sounds was the boat horns from the docks, and the splashing around and noises of the chinchou as they still begged for more of the kibble Sonia held. And after more silence your expression softened and a guilty feeling bubbled up. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to ask. Even if you were traveling with them it was none of your business really. So you went to apologize.

With a sigh, Sonia finally seemed to find her words and turned to you with a sad but serious look. "I...understand if you're concerned or curious. I'd be too all things considering. But I really CANT tell you anything since it's not my place to say....By now you obviously noticed they just..aren't there and let's leave it as that."

You nodded. "Hey. I'm..I-I'm sorry. I know it's none of my business. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

She shook her head. "No. To be honest you wouldn't be the first one to ask that question to Leon or anyone else and you probably won't be the last. But if you could do us both a solid and not tell anyone about this it'd be great."

"Believe me, I was about to ask you the same thing." You smiled. "Trust me. I won't tell us a soul."

"Thank you, Y/n. I'm glad you understand."

"Hey. Of course!"

So.....No fathers in the picture huh? A strange feeling settled into your guts that was something akin to feeling extremely guilty. And a....strange feeling of familiarity of it all for your own reasons...Then the reality hit you. In a memory of what happened back at the inn back in Motostoke. In the very slip up Sonia had made before that you had passed off until now-

"And thanks for taggin' along with the kids this far. I know we're practically strangers but there's just....I don't know....really good aura about you. I'm sure Lee appreciates it too. He's always so worried about Hop. He practically raised him after all-" All of a sudden it was like a switch flipped off in her mind and her happy smile went to a sudden shocked face. "Oh no. I didn't mean to mention that. Please forget I even said that."

You had pretty much pieced it together right after remembering that. For some reason, in one way or another, Hop and the twins had no fathers and Leon as Sonia said must've practically filled the role in which a father figure would fill. This would sum up a lot of the things you've bared witness too. Hop and Gloria's infatuation with Leon(especially on Hop's end), they're desire to climb their way up the ranks and make him proud-..Heck. Leon's behavior know that you think about it could've been summed up as brotherly...or fatherly. Sponsoring two (although it was VERY clear he was full on ready to just endorse Victor as well no questions asked if he hadn't made the choice of not competing in the Gym Challenge) kids for the challenge which as you came to know wasn't typical of a Galar Champion, buying you and them all those supplies and stuff, and with what Sonia said just set that fact in concrete. And....While that did make you feel guilty and sad for them...At the end of the day it really was none of your business. Any moment or day now you could wake up back home and none of this would have mattered, and you shouldn't really butt in between their business. Especially since you weren't planning on staying in the long run. Plus...you were trying NOT to uproot the game's progress as much as possible or no more than you might've already had done if at all with your actions. You might've not remembered how the game went entirely but you knew you were on the right track. For now at least. You continued to make small talk with Sonia about how her research was going and your trip over before deciding it was best to part ways there and bid her farewell before heading back towards the stadium. Nessa mentioned leaving to make sure she arrived on time. You wondered if Gloria was battling her right now?...Well you soon found out the answer to that question.

when you were just making your way up to the restaurant your stomach grumbled. Making you wince a bit. Huh. Guess you were out for longer than you thought if you got hungry. Glancing up to the cafe you wondered how much a simple meal would cost? It was supposed to be famous for their food after all. With a shrug you decided on entering and seeing if they had anything your measly twelve dollars could buy. Fancy was the first word that came to mind when you entered through the double doors and a bell rung off. A woman at a front desk was the first thing to greet you along with some kind of pokemon you didn't recognize. It seemed the theme of the whole place was blue and white, giant tables lined the area with table setting and napkins fancily folded into boat like shapes, a MASSIVE window looking over the stadium, and a bar like area near the far right walls with another pair of double doors you assumed lead to the kitchen. The only other people there besides you and the lady was a man behind the bar counter who was talking on the phone with someone.

The woman smiled at you. "Greetings and welcome to the Hulbury Seafood Restaurant!" She greeted with a bow. "Do you happen to have a reservation or would like to make one?"

"Uh-..." You shook your head. Oh man. Was this one of those places where you HAD to make a reservation in order to eat? "Not exactly. I just heard your food was pretty good."

The woman still smiled. "Oh. Well then I'd be more than happy to seat you by the-"

"AHH!" Both of you jumped when a thud rang out which turned out to be the man in the chef hat slamming down the phone he was previously talking to.

"Chef, what on earth is the matter?," the woman asked.

The chef pointed to the phone scowl on his face. "My delivery boy just called. Apparently he's caught a cold and can't make it today! Out of all the days I need him most." The old man grabbed at his grey hair. "I have all these orders and no one to take them. The Chairman could show up any minute for his reservation but instead he's going to be present with angry customers calling for their orders and our reputation as Hulbury's greatest restaurant will be tarnished!!"

"Well...I could run out and deliver a few," the woman suggested.

"And leave your post!? OH no no no! That'd look even more bad if no one was here to greet them in while I cook!" He slumped forward. "This is an utter disaster! What am I to do?"

You looked between the two of them before slowly holding up your hand. "Um...If you'd like, I'd like to help."

Immediately the chef snapped his head up and blinked at you. Before a suspicious look came over his face as he looked you over. "You, Young Lady? You would please help us deliver some food?"

You nodded. "I mean..Yeah. It looks like you guys are pretty.." You gave a glance at the empty place. "-busy at the moment and I'd like to help."

After looking you up and down a few more moments the chef sighed before shrugging. "Why not? I have nothing else to lose in this moment anyhow." He reached under a counter and beckoned you to come over to which you complied before placing a small take out box onto the counter. "Thank you. I truly appreciate it. Tell you what. If you manage to deliver all the take out orders then I'll prepare you my famous 'Lucky Egg' dish as thanks. How does that sound?"

You mouth watered just thinking about free food. This just might be your lucky day after all. You nodded with a smile and took the box from him. "Sure! Sounds fair enough. Where do I deliver this one?"

He paused for a moment...before he rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh uh. Well as for where to deliver the food.....Sorry. We've been so stressed out for the Chairman's visit I forgot to ask for an address." You stared at him. .....WHAT!? "B-But I heard a clickity clack sound from the phone when I took the first order. Maybe that's a clue as to where to go?"

..........You sighed. "Yeah..Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out somehow."

"That's the spirit! Come back as soon as you're done delivering that one! And hurry please. Oh! And here. Take this notepad with you. They'll have to sign off on it so I can send the bill."

You had no idea what you had gotten yourself into this time. With a groan you exited the restaurant and spotted a peculiar sight to behold. There was Gloria standing just outside the restaurant as you approached with her back to you and you soon saw what she was staring at. A little ways from her standing in the middle of the road was HIM. Mareep Head-..Er. I mean Bede who looked bored and in front of him was....It was her. The same woman from your dream and the Opening Ceremony as well. And in front of her was...No. It COULDN'T be!! In front of them was a group of about six to eight people, but with that group was none other than the CHAIRMAN himself!!...Tho he looked a little different than the other times you've seen him. You didn't expect to see Nessa outside of her gym leader suit, but you hadn't been caught too much off guard. The chairman however was a different story. Instead of that professional slim fitting suit he wore a baseball cap, slip on white shoes, sunglasses, .....a sweater that showed how chubby he was actually under his suit, and blue shorts with white polka dots to top it all off. You could only star at the man...Was this-....This COULDN'T have been the same professional high standing man that ran the whole Galar Region! He looked like someone's Dad on a lazy day. ...You chuckled which startled Gloria into giving a yelp and whipping around to see you and the box you held.

"Holy Magikarp, Y/n! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry....Hey. What are you doing all the way over here? I thought you were having a battle today. And where's Victor?"

She sighed. "Vic decided ta go fishin' at the docks. Said somethin' 'bout wanting to catch some more water types. We got hungry just waiting for Nessa so Hop suggested I go grab us something while he holds our place. What are you doing?" She noticed the box you held and pointed at it. "And what's that?"

"Long story short is that I agreed to be the fill in delivery boy for a bit." You nodded past her towards the group. "Hey uh...Gloria, is that who I think it is?"

She turned around and with a huff she crossed her arms and frowned. "Yeah. The Cottonee so full of himself he needs a garden hose to wash the ego from his brain!"

".....Uh..Actually I was talking about the chairman over there, but I guess Bede's here too yes."

"Oh...Well yeah. It's weird just walking around the corner and seeing him right that. Like..what the bloody heck are those shorts?"

"Y'know I was thinking the same thing." You two continued to watch in bewilderment as the chairman smiled and spoke with the small group of people, before the woman suddenly stepped in front of him as he was about to shake another person's hand.

She held up a hand. "Our sincerest apologies," she spoke with a calm and professional tone, "The chairman is quite busy at the moment. Everyone please disperse. Please leave now."

The crowd murmured but eventually slowly parted ways, one woman saying. "Ok. See you later, Chairman."

"Oh h-hey! No need to rush off! I can still do autographs!," the chairman called after them raising a hand, "I'll even give you my pokemon league card!" To your surprise no one really paid attention and kept walking besides you and Gloria...And you rose a brow. With a sigh he turned back to the woman. "we need the support of our fans to keep doing what we're doing. Chasing them off like that. Aren't you being a little too harsh, Oleana?"

"Fans are very important of course," the woman, who must've been Oleana explained, "That's why you need to keep doing your work for their sake."

"I promise to do everything in my power to assist you too, Chairman!," Bede butted in proud of himself. Huh. Maybe Gloria had a point.

The chairman gave him a look for a moment before raising a brow. "Oh. And you were?"

Maybe it was just your imagination most likely, but you could've sworn you saw Bede frown for a moment before he answered, "Bede, Sir."

"AH! That's right! Bede! I daresay I'm impressed how fair you've come since I gave you that pokemon all those years ago. Will you be the one to win the Gym Challenge? Or perhaps it will be one of the Trainers endorsed by the Champion."

"I will prove your faith in me was well placed, Chairman," Bede assured, "I won't lose to anyone. Anyway speaking of which, I'll be on my way now." He turned and began walking away, but completely froze upon seeing you and Gloria..Well more Gloria than you as the two of them made eye contact...And he suddenly pointed. "YOU!?"

"Hey Mareep Head. How's your Hatenna?"

"WHY YOU-....YOU- ..LITTLE-"

"AH! You!" Bede practically jumped out of his skin as the chairman was quick to push past him and walk up to Gloria with a smile, Oleana right behind him. Gloria practically just stood and stared as he approached and you rose an eye brow. "Your name was...." He thought for a moment before pointing to her. "Gloria right? We were just talking about you!" Your brow rose more. That was a complete and utter lie. They were standing right there entire time in front of you but you shrugged it off as an awkward ice breaker.

.....Gloria exchanged a look with you before pointing at herself. "....Me?"

he nodded. "Yes! I admit I'm curious about Leon's reasons for endorsing you. Ah! I just had a good idea, as I tend to do!" Brag much? "You're going to face Gym Leader Nessa soon, yes?"

"Um...Y-Yeah. I was on my way back to the stadium actually-"

"Well if you get a gym badge from her I'll hold a celebration! I'd like to get to know you a little better after all." He smiled and you felt ....odd about it all.

"Um..Y-Yeah..I guess so??"

"Chairman, we should really be going if you want to keep that dinner reservation," Oleana stated.

The chairman nodded to her before turning back to Gloria. "Alright. Please do your best, for the sake of Galar's future."

"I Uh...Y-YES SIR!!" Gloria gave her best smile under the situation.

With a smile and nod he turned and walked past her and you not sparing you a glance and you followed him with your gaze brow raised...You weren't sure, but you had a funny feeling about him and it wasn't a good funny. When you turned back around you nearly jumped the box in surprise. The woman-!! Oleana was standing right in front of Gloria so close her shadow was literally blocking the sunlight from her. The poor girl frozen under the woman's studying gaze.

"The Chairman will be heading to this town's seafood restaurant." She stated monotonely, "Win the gym badge and join him there at once. Do not keep him waiting. Am I clear, Young Lady?" Gloria didn't say anything..and you looked at her. Eyes shooting to the size of plates. She was more frozen than a glacier. ...All that came out of her was a small squeak noise making the woman's eyes narrow. "Perhaps I wasn't clear. Do not keep the chairman waiting. Head to the seafood restaurant. The Captain's Table. Do you need me to repeat myself once more, Child? Or do you understand-"

"Too skinny."

Gloria jumped having probably completely forgotten you were there for a moment as she snapped to you and Oleana followed her piercing gaze to meet your glare. ....She slowly blinked. "I beg your pardon, Miss?"

"I said you're too skinny for that," you explained as they both stared at her.

Her brow flicked up as she studied you. "And I happen to be too thin for what purpose, Ma'am?"

"Well you're certainly not fat enough to be throwing your weight around not to notice you're being a jerk," you explained raising a brow back, "Obviously she heard you with how close you are. Maybe she'd answer if you weren't so close making her feel uncomfortable like that."

They both stared at you stunned. Gloria jaw dropped and Oleana had the same face but her eyes much more widened as she stared at you. It was so quiet you could've heard a pin drop as you joined this little three way stare down. HECK. It felt like an entire hour just staring at her before her face slowly contorted back to her original bored/professional looking one and she took a step back, spooking Gloria in process as the poor girl blinked.

"Do you happen to know who I am, Miss?," she asked like you should already know this.

"Somebody who's heels makes them so tall their head's in the clouds obviously."

This time her brows furrowed, her mouth frowned, and you noticed the way her hands gripped each other. As if she was physically holding back her anger. But before she could reply a chuckle seemed to interrupt you. Blinking you turned around only to find that the Chairman guy was looking right at you. Raising a brow and humming. You rose a brow and frowned right back.

....He waved a hand off. "Oleana, you're right. We'll be late for that reservation. Give the young trainer my League card and let's be on our way."

It's amazing how fast her aura and face changed at a moment's dime. "Of course. So you will not forget the Chairman's face, I will give you one of his League Cards." She suddenly held something out to Gloria who blinked but after a moment took it. "Chairman Rose is the kind of man who gets downhearted if he doesn't take care of things he needs to right away. Go to the seafood restaurant as soon as possible so as to not keep the chairman waiting." She glanced back to you and your eyes narrowed more. "...Good luck in your battle." With that she stepped around Gloria who followed her as she went and so did you with your frown. And after the Chairman gave another look to you, also turned and walked away.

....You sighed and turned back to Gloria, only to blink when she was staring right back at you. "....Uh...H-Hey. Are you ok there? You looked spooked." Shaking. Your eyes widened noticing her hands shaking. "WHOA! Hey! Are you ok!? She didn't scare you too bad did she?"

"Y-Y-Y/n..," She stuttered. Her hands slowly clenched into fists. "T-T-That..was..." Her face snapped up to you in a smile. "AWESOME!! SERIOUSLY!! Like! Yeah she gave off major scare vibes I swear she's worse than a gengar in the darkest room! My heart was pounding so fast! Then you were all well slayin' 'ere like a beast!!...Omg." She looked down for a moment realization settling in. "....My traveling partner talked BACK to the Chairman's right hand!! What's he going to think when I show up!? I mean it was amazing to watch don't get me wrong. But STILL!!''

"Hey, hey, hey!!" You caught her attention by grabbing her shoulder making her blink at your face. "Hey. Look at me." Once you knew you had her full attention you smiled. "That woman was making you feel scared, and that's not ok. So I did what I had to do. If anything I'll get in trouble. Besides, Im a girl standing on the sidewalk holding a delivery box. They'd probably think I was just a stranger going to delivery a pizza or something. Right now you should just worry about your gym battle."

It was like a record scratch went off in her mind as she suddenly paused, face going blank for a moment before her hands suddenly snatched the top of her head. "AH!! MY GYM BATTLE!! I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THAT!! BUT THE CHAIRMAN SAID IF I WIN TO SEE HIM!! IF!! IF!! WHAT IF I DON'T WIN!? OMG!! CAN I STILL MEET WITH HIM IF I DON'T-"

You shook her with the hand still on her shoulder. "Gloria! Get a grip on yourself! Of course you're going to win!'' You smiled. "If you could beat Milo you can beat Nessa too! And if you lose it's fine. I'm sure he'll understand, you can't let all of that overthinking stop you ok? Be more confident in yourself, and if you lose..." You shrugged. "Then it's ok. You can always try again tomorrow or any other day. You are going to be ok....Ok?"

She stared at you for a long moment before taking a deep breath and sighing. A determined look now plastered on her face. "You're right! I'm just overthinking this! I just need to remain calm and everything's going to be fine!"

You smiled. "That's the spirit...Hey. Isn't it gonna start like..right now?"

"GAH! Y-You're right! I gotta go!" With a wave she quickly turned on her heel and ran off towards the stadium. "Thanks, Y/n! You're the best!"

You sighed before shaking your head watching her go. Well...glad that went well at least, she was a brave girl so she should be ok..But then why did you still feel eyes on you? As you turned your f/c eyes met purple ones and Bede jumped having noticed you spotted him. With a jerk of his head the other way, he quickly sped walked away from you in the opposite direction leaving you lightly confused. But you shrugged it off. Right now you had bigger fish to fry like getting this fish you were currently holding to the person who ordered it. Who ever it was. That was the thing you had to figure out as you stood there in the middle of the sidewalk staring at the box in your hands like someone staring off into space. Good gosh the guy couldn't think to ask for an address? What were you supposed to do with a click clack sound? That could mean anything....Well what kind of click clack sounds were loud enough to be heard over a phone. ....Your head turned towards the train station back towards the stadium. Didn't trains usually make a noise like that? A train would certainly be loud enough to hear over a phone. With a shrug you started off down towards the train station and right up to the first house right by it since there was two. Knocked and waited patiently as footsteps approached.

The first one was answered by a middle aged looking man and you smiled. "Hey! Uh...Did you order seafood?"

"No. I don't like fish."

"Oh..Sorry about tha-" You flinched as the door was slammed back shut in front of your face..before you frowned. "Well he was pretty rude wasn't he?" Your sobble chirped in agreement. "Couldn't have said it better myself," you mumbled as you turned away from the door and away from the first house to go to the second. The Stadium not too far away roaring alive now with cheers. Must be Hop or Gloria having a battle with Nessa. Shame you couldn't attend but you were a bit busy right now. Walking up to the second home, you knocked on the door and waited. After a moment footsteps approached and a sweet elderly woman answered. You smiled. "Hey! Good afternoon! Did someone here order some seafood?"

To your delight, she smiled. "Oh, are you the one delivering my food?" She happily reached out and took the box from you. "Thank you for your trouble! This restaurant's dishes are full of seafood and it's so delicious if I say so myself. They are pretty well known after all."

"Your welcome! ..Oh wait!" You reached into your pocket to quickly pull out your notebook. "I need you to-''

"Oh of course! Your tip. "

"Actually I-" You blinked when a small bag of what looked like small jaw breakers was placed into your hand tied off by a cute little red ribbon.

"I've already paid the restaurant over the phone, so I'll give you candy as a tip. There's nothing like sweets to go along with a beautiful day. You have a nice day now."

You blinked looking at the small bag. "Hey wait! I need you-" The door closed leaving you staring at it. "..to sign this. *sigh*" You held up the overly cute bag and your sobble gave it a curious look over. "Well, it's not money but it's better than nothing I guess. Wouldn't you say?"

Your trip back to the restaurant wasn't anything unusual, still faintly hearing the cheers from the gym on your way there. The only thing that was a little strange was a small group of three or four people standing outside the place trying to peep into the windows. Your brow rose but you shrugged it off and just stepped inside seeing the same woman as before.

"Sorry. We're closed at the mome-..OH! It's you young lady,'' she greeted.

"Back again?!" You looked over towards the chef and he smiled seeing you. "Excellent! I wanted to ask you to deliver some food again. Is that ok? I suspect that the package was delivered?"

....You held up the bag of candy. "Yeah. Sorry I couldn't get her to sign it. But she tipped me in candy."

"Oh. That must've been Mrs. Wesley. Don't worry about her, she has a habit of doing that." Again he reached under the counter and brought up another box. "But right now I need you to deliver this next one as soon as possible!'' You walked over and he held it out to you before slightly nodding over towards the right. You glanced over and your eyes widened seeing the chairman and Oleana looking out of the window over the stadium, not seeming to notice you thankfully. "Since the Chairman's here we're doing our best to try and not upset the atmosphere. Since you're taking care of this for us it's really taking one less thing off our shoulders to worry about."

You sighed with a smile before taking the second box from him. The fresh smell of fish and chips wafting from it making your mouth water. "Hey. It's no problem. Where do I take this one?"

He paused. "Well....I uh...Haha. D-Didn't quite get the address for this one either?" You stared. "...B-but I don't know if this helps, but I think I heard a pokemon cry over the phone this time. Like....Swiirl...Or something like that."

"....I'll...figure it out I'm sure."

Figure it out indeed! How in the HECK were you just supposed to deliver a dang food order based off a pokemon's cry?? Whelp! There was only one way to solve this! ...Visit all the houses here until you came across the right one. So that's exactly what you did. You already delivered to the lady up by the train station and the guy next to her rudely stated he didn't so that was two houses you could cross off your list. So there you went starting from one end of the long, LONG street of houses one after another smiling and asking if they ordered a take out. Every. Single. One. Said. No. Or just didn't answer at all, and to be honest you were feeling justifiably annoyed at this point. What was the POINT of having someone deliver food if you didn't know where to send them!? It must've taken you at least fifthteen minutes of walking and asking until you FINALLY caught a break coming to the very last house on the block before the road split off between the train station and stadium. You knocked and waited patiently as footsteps approached, and you smiled when a blonde man who looked to be in his early thirties opened the door.

"Hey. Sorry to bother you, but did you order some seafood takeout?"

"Oh, I can smell the ocean. You're from the restaurant aren't you?" You nodded and held the box up to him as he took it with a hum. "Ah! I'm starving! I've been drooling while waiting for the food! Than you for delivering the food!"

"Oh hey. Before you go." You held up the notepad. "Could you please sign for this?"

"Oh sure thing. Wait right here." He turned and walked back inside leaving you standing there able to see the inside of the home as the man handed off the food to two little girls who looked so much alike that they must've been twins. A pink pokemon looking like cotton candy swirling around them. "Stacy, Lacy. Food's here. And this time don't let Pinkie eat my share of it." You stood there awkwardly until he finally came back grabbing the note pad. "Sorry about that. You know how kids can be."

"Heh. Yeah. Sorry if it took so long. Had to go the long way around to get here."

"Well you get energy from food. If you need energy you should eat balanced meals." He handed you back the notepad with a smile. "Thanks again!''

With a sigh you turned on your heel and began trudging off back towards the restaurant. Your stomach rumbled again and by this point you were seriously wondering if this was even worth any free food for? If you had half a mind you would've just quite, returned the notepad, and then just go back to the hotel to just eat some of your rations or order the cheapest thing on the room service menu. But then again, you already promised to help and free food does sound better than spending your remanding money. Plus their food was supposed to be really good. So..You made the choice to go back to the very cafe you came from and waltzed back through the doors and up to the counter this time. The chef seemed very pleased to have you back as he had already placed the last box on the counter he explained. Only one more? Oh THANK goodness. You weren't sure how much of this mumbo jumbo you could handle. You took the last box from him not sparing a glance over your shoulder in the chairman's way.

"As for the address-"

"Let me guess. You forgot?"

"Actually. No. I remembered to ask." Your eyes widened. Was this finally gonna be easy? "Unfortunately I have no idea where it is.".....WHAT?! "The customer told me to look for a green roof, but I wonder if there is such a house in Hulbury. I've certainly never seen a house like this before but Im sure you're smart enough to figure it out like the other two!"

".......Right."

Of course it wasn't going to be that easy. It never was going to be easy for you was it? It seemed simple enough tho. Just look for a house with a green roof and that should be it right? Except..none of the houses you had asked previously had ordered anything and the ones that did couldn't have possibly ordered a second time in such short notice right after getting the first. Oh well. Green roof. That's all you had to go on......and the amount of time you had spent walking up and down these streets looking for any building with a green roof was exhausting. NONE of the homes here had green roofs and when you checked the few buildings around here that weren't homes (like the light house and pokemon center-) discovered surprise, surprise. No green roof either. Oh you hoped whoever ordered this didn't live outside Hulbury. Not having any luck where you currently were, you decided to go ahead and go back down to the docks where you first went that morning. You didn't remember seeing any buildings there but it wouldn't hurt to cover all bases before giving up. Your body ended up wondering back to the market place you were once in...And you were about ready to give up. There wasn't anything around here with a green-

"HEY! Young Lady with the sobble on your shoulder!," a male voice shouted. Blinking, you turned around to one of the stalls. the one with the green and white top. A man with brown hair waved at you. "You're delivering food?" You nodded. "Well hey! I'm the one who ordered it!" He was!?...You glanced towards the striped roof of his stall.....Oh. A green roof. Whelp! Might as well get this over with. he smiled wider as you approached. "You got here earlier than I expected! It was easy to spot the green roof wasn't it?"

No. Not really. In fact it would've been a LOT easier if he just said he was in a stall in this marketplace but instead you forced a smile and handed him the box and notepad. "Please sign here."

He gladly signed it. "The tail curry of this restaurant has a unique flavor. I love it! Say hi to the manager for me!"

You quickly grabbed the notebook. "Have a nice day!" And then you quickly retreated. A groan leaving your tired body as you dragged yourself back the way you came for a second time that day. By the time you had gotten back close to the restaurant you were sore, tired, but most of all you were hungry! OH! The food had better be worth it or else you were going straight back to the hotel to-

"Y/N!!" Hey. You knew that voice! Sure enough Gloria was waving her arm at you with a smile as you proceeded to walk towards her. Despite wanting time to yourself today you were absolutely glad to see her. "What are you doing by the docks?"

"Finishing my role as a replacement delivery boy," you answered when you got close enough and pointed at her white uniform. "Why are you still wearing your gym challenge uniform?"

"Oh uh.." She sheepishly smiled with a chuckle. "It's a long story. On the bright side I managed to defeat Nessa! LOOK!" A flash of bronze went in your face and you blinked before leaning back. A badge with some kind of blue water pattern shown before you. No doubt the water gum badge. "Feast yer eyes! I thought I was a gonna when I lost the second round, but I managed to pull a turn around and win enough rounds to pass! Ain't it great?!"

You smiled. "Hey! That is great! I'm so happy for you! But where's Hop and Victor? I thought he was with you and shouldn't Victor be done fishing by now?" You hadn't seen him by the docks when you passed

"He stayed behind to set up his own battle with Nessa tomorrow while Vic has a go at 'er. Don't worry. He already knows where I am. Said he'll meet back up with us when we're done having dinner with the Chairman."

"...We?"

"Oh.." She slowly lowered her had back down to her side. "I just...thought you'd be coming too since you were there with me when he invited me.I-...I just thought since y'know...B-But that's fine! I won't force ya to come with me. Yer probably tired from running around all day anyways."

You paused. Yes, you were tired but you were heading back inside the restaurant anyways. And if Oleana was there...You smiled. "Hey! I'd love to come!"

Her eyes lit up. "REALLY!?"

"Yeah. I gotta go in to let 'em know I'm done delivering all these confusing orders anyways." You turned and nodded towards the doors. "C'mon. Let's go eat and see what he wants. Ok?"

With a smile of relief she nodded and the two of you went up towards the doors and went inside. The woman from before was there and upon seeing the both of you greeted you both with a smile. "Welcome to the Hulbury Seafood Restaurant. Unfortunately we're not accepting any reservations or walk ins today but if you'd like to schedule one for a later date or order take out you're more than welcome-....Oh! It's you again, Young Lady."

"Uh. Yeah." You held out the notepad. "Actually I was promised free food if I delivered everything and we were both invited to eat with the Chairman over there."

"Oh." She glanced to Gloria who looked nervous, seeming to realize she was a trainer. "Yes. I recall he said something about an extra guest trainer with his party today. Chairman Rose comes here incognito, but the word always gets out when he's here." She grabbed the notepad from you. "You both may go ahead to the Captain's Table in the back. I'll notify the chef you completed your tasks."

With a thanks you both took off towards the back where you saw the Chairman, Oleana, and..HEY! It was Sonia. Relief flooding in seeing another familiar face. This might be more tolerable then...Maybe you should take this time to apologize? You glanced to Gloria who still looked nervous. If this was someone very high up and important it wouldn't hurt to swallow your pride and just apologize, if nothing else but to keep the peace and show you're willing to be the bigger person. After all you don't want to cause trouble. The first to notice you two was the chairman himself as he turned his head from Sonia to you two and smiled.

"Ah! If it isn't the young trainer I met earlier today," he greeted with a smile and raised brow, "If you're here then I suppose it's safe to say you won against Nessa?"

You didn't miss her gulp before forcing a smile. "Uh..Y-Yeah. Piece of cake!"

He nodded. "I'm so glad! Gloria, come. Let's celebrate your recent victory! On me!" ...You felt eyes on you and you turned from the Chairman's face to Oleana's who was staring right at you. ...You frowned back at her- "And I believe I've seen you before as well, Young Lady." You blinked back to the Chairman's face as he was looking at you too now with a raised brow. ...AH CRAP!! "You were the lady back there who gave my assistant quite a 'roasting' as the young kinds call it nowadays."

...You blinked. Forcing up a smile. Here we go. "Uh. hehe. Yeah. Actually I wanted to apologize to you.." You gave Oleana a glance. "-and her for that. I just thought things were getting a bit scary back there."

To your surprise he chuckled it off with a wave. "Not at all. In all honestly Oleana can be quite intimidating to others. It's one of the reasons she's so good at her job. But there's no hard feelings. Right Oleana?"

The woman next to him inhaled before breathing it back out. "Of course, Sir. Apologies accepted and all's forgiven."

"Excellent! I don't suppose you know Sonia here? She's a wonderful person to have on the research team."

"Yeah. We do actually. Hi, Sonia."

"Oh. Were you invited too?," she asked surprised.

Before you could reply the chairman interrupted you. "You two know each other? That's great! Come now." He gestured to the table directly behind him. "Please be seated." And the three of you followed him and did so after you and Gloria exchanged a glance. She still looked nervous. The order of which you sat was Gloria sat across from the Chairman, Sonia next to Gloria, and you next to the Chairman. Naturally you would've preferred to sit next to either one of the other girls but you weren't about to let Gloria sit right next to a guy you had a funny feeling over. Strangely enough Oleana didn't seem like she was eating with you four and instead opted to stand silently next to the Chairman. How odd. You watched as he oh so casually picked the napkin off his own plate. Hmm...Guess he's been here more than once. "Now that we're all together. Gloria was it? Tell us how did your battle go?"

She shrugged. "Oh. Um. I-It was pretty good. Very thrilling. It was really nice to get ta meet Nessa. She's very nice." Sonia smiled at her.

"That's all very good. If you're as talented as Leon mentioned you then you should have no problem defeating the other gym leaders."

"Well I wouldn't say that. I-It was really hard to beat her. She's a tough gym leader."

"Hey. What were you talking about with Sonia?," you asked successfully steering the topic off Gloria for the moment as the Chairman smiled.

"Oh nothing really worth talking about. How her trip was so far studying around with the legends and the Geoglph in Turffield. The theory is that the two are somehow connected but I digress. AH! Our food has arrived." You looked over to what he was gesturing at and perked up at the lady from before who greeted you carrying two plates. One obviously being some kind of fish as it was placed before the chairman who happily accepted. "Ah! My usual. You always remember." And you were surprised when the other plate was sat in front of you. It was curry, smelt sweet, and had an egg smack dab in the middle of it. "Oh. It looks like you're a regular here too I presume."

"The chef asked me to give you his 'Lucky Egg' dish as a token of his appreciation, Miss," she explained, "I hope you're ok with sweet boiled egg curry. Are the rest of you ready to order?"

"Go ahead ladies. It's on me today."

"Mm. Just a salad. I'm not very hungry today."

"...I mean. The tropical curry sounds good," Gloria guessed.

You were too busy studying the dish in front of you to notice the lady leave. Instead staring at the massive egg just sitting in the middle of the darn plate. ...You weren't up to eating something that might've been a pokemon egg no matter how much your stomach rumbled at the sight and your mouth watered at the smell. Luckily it seemed like you had a back up plan because your sobble was crawling down your arm already on his way towards your food. You extended your hand to allow the small pokemon to sit on the table next to you and without really thinking grabbed the egg off your plate and held it out to it. He smiled and happily accepted your gift with a loud chirp before grabbing it and you watched as it bit it nearly in half with one bite. Goodness. Guess you weren't the only one hungry.

"Hulbury is a seafood town. Naturally if one is going to eat here the obvious choice is the local cuisine," the chairman said already digging in, "Everything on the menu is delicious. Oh, Sonia. By the way how is Professor Magnolia getting on? I'm quite indebted to her you know. She was the one who figured out how to unleash the power of Wishing Stars and use that power to dynamax pokemon. We would never have been able to create dynamax bands without her."

Sonia sighed. "*sigh* She was saying that there's still so much we don't know about dynamaxing. It's causing her some worry. She even made me take a power spot detector with me when I started traveling."

"A power spot detector?," he asked interested, "That's the device that allowed me to discover power spots. Locations that emit Galar particles and allow pokemon to dynamax. I don't like hearing that Professor Magnolia is worried though. If only there was something I could do." You glanced at him again out the corner of your eye and rose a brow. Why were you getting a weird feeling in your gut from this guy?

Sonia shrugged. "Unless you can suddenly provide more intel on the phenomenon then I'm afraid there isn't much, Sir."

He hummed.".....Sonia. It may be good for you to visit the vault in Hammerlocke. I believe the key to unlocking the secrets of the dynamax phenomenon lies in the history preserved there."

Sonia blinked. "Oh. You really think so?"

"We usually study history based on what was left on it from the past. Although mostly legends at this point you know they always say that every legend has truth to it. Who knows? It might even help tie in with the legend you've been studying currently. Oleana can arrange a meeting I'm sure. Can't you?"

"Understood, Sir," Oleana replied monotonly, "I will arrange a meeting with Ms. Sonia."

"Very good. See? Nothing to worry yourself over about. Now shall we dig in?"

The rest of that dinner get together was a blur. Honestly you were too busy stuffing your face to talk but you didn't mind. You only watched and listened to the small talk. Gloria and Sonia's food arrived a short while after and by this point they were mostly done eating as well. His other questions didn't seem too out of the ordinary. Asking how their day was? How they were enjoying the challenge so far? Talking about some of his recent appointments involving some kind of arrangement with a Prince from the Pasio Region?? You weren't sure. But the sun was starting to set soon.

"So then I figured the best way to solve the matter was to set up individual warnings for the two of them and move one to a different department under Oleana. *sigh* Both are hard workers so it'd be a shame to just fire one or both. Don't you agree Oleana?"

"Yes, Sir. However I believe it is about time we get going, Chairman."

"Hm?" He looked at her. "But I've hardly had a chance to speak with Gloria." You rose a brow. You had literally been sitting her an entire hour.

"With all do respect, Sir. It's getting rather late. I'm sure the young lady is quite tired from her day."

...He sighed. "It's regrettable but I guess it can't be helped. If something needs to get done there's no time like the present after all!" He slowly stood from his seat as the three of you watched and smiled. "Truly though I'm glad to have had a chance to speak with you ladies today. So sorry if we couldn't have spent more time together. In any case I bid you farewell."

"OH! Uh..G-Good bye, M-Mr. Chairman. Sir."

You remained silent as the two left. Narrowed eyes watching as they went...Something about those two just felt...Off. Like it didn't sit right in your gut, but you had no idea why? Was there some kind of plot in the game with those two you couldn't remember?...Hm. In any case you were glad they were gone now so you and Gloria could rela- Your head perked up with at a sigh as Sonia rubbed her face.

"Hey. You good there?"

"Does he think he's doing me a favor? He's right that the vault would be a good place to look for the legends but..." She paused suddenly looking up and noticing the two of you staring at her confused. "UH!...Nevermind! You got the water badge right? Defeating Nessa is no easy feat!"

"Uh..Yeah. What are-"

"Nessa's a good friend! Perhaps I should drop in on her!," her chair screeched as she stood up all of a sudden giving a nervous smile, "Ahaha! Yes! She'll be so happy to see me! Until next time, Gym Challenger! Nice seeing you again, Y/n!"

Both of you stared as Sonia quickly sped walked away from you two and then out of the restaurant as if she was escaping something...

Gloria blinked. "What the world just happened?"

"Believe me I have learnt in this point of my life to just go with things. C'mon. It's free food. Let's finish eating and meet the others back at the hotel."

#pokemon reader #pokemon shield #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon sword #Pokemon Leon #Pokemon Leon x Reader #Pokemon reader x Leon #Leon #reader #Reader x Leon #Leon x reader

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farfromstrange · 1 year

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Foreigner's God | m.m

Previous chapter ° Series Masterlist

Chapter Forty-Three: She Knows

Summary: Life is good, life is normal. All pieces have fallen into place. A routine night of patrol leads Matt and Eliza into the arms of one of Hell's Kitchen's notorious gangs who seem to have stolen alien technology. Chaos ensues, revelations are made and things go a little... out of control.

Warnings: Angst, Smut (fingering, this is relatively tame), attempt at humor, Canon typical violence, Season 3 spoilers (heavy on that), Avengers 1 spoilers, Infinity War spoilers, use of mutant powers, blood, hurt/comfort, mentions of suicide (briefly), fluff, declarations of love

A/n: I have worked long and hard on this. I spent a good ten hours, if you put them all together, just writing this chapter. Another ten the day before to plan out the way I want to change some things about how I'm going to portray Season 2 in this story, and some of the plot points I have added with my Original Characters to make it possible to put them all together to make it make sense (and erase some of the plot holes). I have written-down and solid plans until chapter forty-seven, and from there on they're just ideas that haven't been written out yet. But I think I just built a storyline that is somehow canon yet not canon at all and it might just keep you at the edge of your seats throughout the journey. I hope so, at least.

The days in New York kept getting hotter. It was a different kind of heatwave. Even though Eliza evened out the firm’s bills, the AC broke right when they needed it most, and looking at their budget — the one she had meticulously calculated — she realized they couldn’t afford to call someone to fix it, so they were stuck with two ventilators that were barely working, and the iced drinks their clients served them with.

She still had a significant amount of money left. It was enough to buy a car, but in a city like New York, cars were overrated.

She put some money aside in case her and Matt’s living arrangement would somehow be at risk if he, once again, failed to pay his rent on time, or the electricity bill got more expensive. The monthly bill had already changed from plausible to other-worldly — having her live with him meant the lights were on when it got dark; they had never been on before, except for the rare occasions Foggy stayed over. Therefore, the electricity bill grew in size significantly compared to his usually tame living costs, thanks to the discount and his blindness.

Not only was the buzzing something Matt had to get used to but having someone with working eyes living with him meant she usually left a lot of stuff lying out, or she would move the jars on his spice rack a little to the left without noticing, and once he was the one cooking in the kitchen, he touched the shelf like a lost puppy until he found what he was looking for. And she continuously switched the places.

At first, he didn’t say anything, but it eventually got too much when he couldn’t find the salt. “Babe, that’s sugar,” he heard her say behind him.

“If you’d put the jars where they were, I wouldn’t have that problem—“ he broke off, grunting in search for the tag that read salt. He found it where the basil usually was. “There it is. Where did you put the basil?”

“Lower shelf, ‘cause I couldn’t reach it.” She sounded so innocent then, eating her yogurt and watching him through hooded eyes. Eyes of guilt. “I’m sorry if, I’d known–“

Matt sighed. “It’s not that, baby. I’m just so used to everything being in the same spot, I get confused when it isn’t there, and then I have to read all of the tags to find what I’m looking for,” he explained, and it slowly dawned on her.

“Did I just completely disregard your disability because I only kept thinking about your super senses?”

“You didn’t disregard it, you just– you’re being you,” he said, “and I love that you’re you but I usually take a little longer to adapt to change for, uh, obvious reasons.”

“Don’t defend me. I totally disregarded it,” she got up, “and I am so sorry I did. Tell me what you need me to change and I will. For you, I will. I’m going to learn how to adjust to you so you won’t have to adjust to me.”

He chuckled softly. She stepped up to him, her arms snaking around his neck and he kissed her. “That’s not how this is supposed to be,” he told her.

“Yes, it is.”

“It’s not. You live here too, so you get to make this place your home the same way I did. You don’t have to adjust everything because I’m blind.”

“I want to help you,” said Eliza.

“And you are,” Matt caressed her face again, “you’re helping by being here.”

“What else can I do though to make this easier for you?”

He frowned. Usually, people didn’t ask. He was so used to living alone in his apartment that he almost forgot he wasn’t anymore, and their relationship was a two-way street, as everything else in their lives.

His head twitched toward the spice rack. “Put everything where it used to be, that would be a start,” he said.

“Okay, I can do that.” She tried to break free to do as she was told, but he held her back.

He wasn’t done. With his hands on her hips, he made sure she looked into his eyes.

“Everything except for the things you use the most,” he said, “because I need to adjust to your needs to and if you can’t use the sugar because you can’t reach it, we’ll move it to the lower shelf.”

“With the same positioning?” she questioned.

“Please.”

After a couple of days, his spices stopped wandering and he sighed a breath of relief. She was willing to learn and she adapted, something only Foggy had done while they were in college, and even then their dorm lacked of some accessibility.

Eliza put in an effort to make life easier for him. She made sure everything was where he left it, and she stopped leafing her stuff lying out because the first time he almost tripped was enough for her to change her mind about being a little messy.

When it came to the electricity bill though, she wasn’t sure what to do. Matt assured her it was fine, but she considered learning how to walk in the dark when she saw the number at the bottom. He told her he would take care of it but the man could barely afford his own coffee mix, and because of her he stopped buying his disgusting German beer (she told him he didn’t have to, but when did Matt Murdock ever listen to her?), so he lost more of his freedom than he gained when she moved in. She felt guilty, to say the least.

Thankfully, work days weren’t so boring anymore. Eliza gave up on trying to convince Matt to take paying clients. The number of people willing to pay for their services was, well… zero. Nonexistent. At least they got baked goods as a generous ‘thank you’, but cake didn’t pay the bills. It left them satisfied and with lunch for days, but food couldn’t cover the cost of living or the cost of running a law firm in the heart of Hell’s Kitchen.

“Thank you, Mrs. Ingram, we’ll take a look at those complaints and get back to you.” As an introvert, talking to strangers wasn’t an easy task, but she had a way with people that often amazed Matt.

The middle-aged woman bowed slightly, thanking her again in a tongue he didn’t recognize. The door closed, he heard the sound loud and clear, and the office finally went quiet. With the air so thick, he could barely breathe, the heat causing sweat to break out on his forehead and soak through his dress shirt. He had already pushed up the sleeves past his forearms and it bunched around his bicep, the one protruding vein now more visible than ever. He wanted to tear his clothes off but not even that would have sufficed to get rid of the heat under his skin.

Foggy stood at the door to his office, holding a water bottle to his sweaty face. “She speaks Arabic,” he said. “Matt, your girlfriend speaks Arabic. Why does she speak Arabic?”

“Because she’s smarter than you,” Eliza retorted.

Matt chuckled. “Let me state for the record that she said it, not me.”

“No seriously,” he pushed himself off the doorframe, “how many languages have you spoken today?”

“Three,” Karen cut in. She peeked down at the files scattered on her desk. “Uh, we had an elderly Chinese lady, Mrs. Rodriguez who only speaks Portuguese, and then Mrs. Ingram who speaks Arabic.”

“Yes, that. What’s wrong with you?”

Meanwhile, she had wandered off into the kitchen, taking one of the few mugs they kept in the cupboard and pouring the now cold coffee into it. “I told you, it’s an intelligence thing, you wouldn’t understand.”

It was slowly starting to dawn outside, the sun setting behind the many high rises around them. She hoped it would cool down soon. Having ditched her shirt, she was left in a burgundy top with quite a suggestive cleavage that Matt noticed instantly when the first pair of eyes of a client flicked to her breasts and he only grew more possessive with every passing male client.

“I’ll have you know,” said Foggy, “That I’m actually the smartest out of my family! I mean, I went to law school. Call me the golden child.” A proud, dorky smile grew on his face that caused his dimples to stand out.

She tried hard to hide her own smile behind a mocking smirk. “That’s kind of like being the tallest dwarf,” Eliza said.

He lifted his finger, eyebrows crinkling in a state of offense, but he quickly shook his head and put his finger back then. “Actually, that- that’s true.”

Reaching into the Tupperware that stood on the counter, she took one of the Brownies. She sniffed; it smelled like sugar and cocoa. She couldn’t remember who brought them, though she suspected it to have been one of the elderly women that came to them with their small legal troubles. It was the cinnamon that gave it away. A feeling of Christmas in the middle of summer, and it cooled down her skin when she thought about the snow that would come in December if they were lucky, and ice skating at the rink around Rockefeller Tree. Christmas in New York was magical and she looked forward to the holiday every year.

Although this year, her Christmas would look different from what it used to before; Clint wasn’t there to invite her to his family home anymore, and she wouldn’t be able to spend time with his children under the tree. Her life changed drastically, but she wasn’t alone. She had friends and she had Matt — it would be their first Christmas together. She was excited about that.

At the beginning of the year, she figured she would be lonely on Christmas, but even that had changed and now she couldn’t wait for the magical time of the year that gave her an excuse to buy him several gifts that he couldn’t turn down. But no gift could be better than the one he gave her by taking her back.

It was still summer though and the temperature melted her skin into the ground.

On a Sunday, Matt believed it was, he woke up to the scent of cinnamon in the air. He reached beside him, but the mattress next to him was cold. He frowned, listening more intently to the sounds coming from the kitchen. Through the fog of his sleepy senses, he could make out her heartbeat. He relaxed. A sigh slipped past his lips as he heaved himself out of bed.

“You’re baking,” he stated, standing in the doorframe to the living room.

Eliza looked up from where she stood in the kitchen. “Good morning to you too,” she chirped.

He pouted. “Why are you baking? Are you okay?”

“What? Oh. Oh, no,” it dawned on her, “this is not stress-baking. This is- well, I guess you can call it cheerful Sunday baking,” she said, “but I’m actually just doing it because Sister Maggie asked if I could help out with the summer fest the orphanage is doing today.”

“Thank God,” he murmured.

Matt appeared behind her, his hands snaking around her waist. He buried his face in her shoulder. She smelled of the cinnamon she used and flour — some of it got stuck in her eyebrows from where she had rubbed her sweaty forehead before, and some flour even collected at the tip of her nose. He chuckled when he realized. “You’ve got a little something there,” he brushed his finger over her nose.

She scrunched. “Didn’t notice.”

“I know. There’s some flour in your brows, too. Here,” he repeated the same motion over the soft hairs above her eyes, “All done.”

“Thanks.”

He once again wrapped his arms around her waist, continuing to breathe all of her in. She leaned back into him, one hand coming to rest in his hair while the other stirred the dough before her. Wandering lips trailed over her pulse point, leaving a wet trail behind. Eliza sighed, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to be baking a whole batch of brownies for hungry and traumatized children. His hands squeezing her hips and his lips exploring what was bare of her shoulders distracted her from the task at hand completely, and she found herself slowly caving into his touch.

“You know, you have to stop back-hugging me when I’m baking,” she said. “You’re distracting me. I might burn these brownies.”

Matt chuckled against her neck. “How,” his lips brushed her ear as he asked, “They’re not even in the oven yet.”

“Precisely. That’s where they should be.”

“Then why don’t you put them in?”

“Because you’re distracting me from finishing them.”

“Huh, that sucks ‘cause I don’t intend on stopping–” he slipped his hand past the waistband of her panties, “anytime soon.”

“Ohhh-kay.” She grabbed the edge of the counter tightly, her knuckles turning bright white. Her hips bucked into his hand while at the same time pushing against his pelvis from behind.

His chuckle fanned across her cheek now before he turned her chin with his index finger and captured her lips in a bruising kiss.

“That is absolutely not–“ he started drawing slow circles over her clit with as many fingers as he could, “distracting— Oh God!” He kicked her feet apart, his middle finger already halfway buried in her cunt.

“Not distracting, huh?” he hummed into her ear. “Is that why you’re so fucking wet right now?”

Oh, how she hated him. She clenched around his finger at the gentle mockery, meeting the now rough palm of his hand as it bumped against the nerves that craved him the most.

“That’s it… good girl.”

The orgasm washed over her with surprising intensity. It hadn’t even been a full five minutes until her walls fluttered and she was coming undone around his finger, and he soaked up every last whimper she let out, her head now resting back against his shoulder while he gently rubbed her clit to draw the orgasm out but not to overstimulate her.

He gently pulled out. “Good morning,” Matt smirked proudly to himself.

“Oh, good morning indeed.”

His lips chased her movements as she turned around in his arms, leaning up to press her lips to his. It was a silent ‘good morning’, the first display of love that wasn’t connected to anything sexual. In the background, the soft tune of a song filled the room with a light atmosphere. She felt like a feather floating through the air, the air that was often filled with pain and the thick scent of tears shed. Sometimes, it smelled like his blood, other times it smelled like hers, and on extremely bad days, they were both bleeding. Physically and mentally they were often bleeding in each other’s arms, their souls scarred from all the suffering, and their hearts often tired of beating, but now it beat for each other. The only reason they were alive lay in each other’s arms, and they promised to continue breathing for each other, even when one of them got tired and the other had to catch them. Their arms were wide open at the bottom of the cliff, always ready to carry what the other was too weak to hold up on their shoulders.

The pair stepped into Saint Agnes orphanage sometime around noon when the brownies were finished baking and the sun was less strong in the way it burned down on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen.

Matt sniffed the air; it was hot, humid even, and thick with the sweat and different perfumes of the people passing by them as they walked toward the place he grew up in. Through the fog of the different sensations blurring together, he could make out a slightly tangy scent that lay thick and even a little sour in the air, but it was mostly salt and a cold breeze that brushed past his nose. It was going to rain soon, he was sure of that. The air shifted and it got a bit colder, offering some relief on their heated skin, but the temperature still felt inhuman.

Maggie greeted them at the door, “Thank you so much for coming,” she engulfed Eliza in a tight hug, “And thank you for offering to bake.”

“I’m glad to help,” said Eliza, handing the Tupperware that held the brownies over to the nun. She looked different from the last time they met; she wore a black dress that was the usual attire for the sisters at the church and the black-and-white headscarf that covered her brown hair.

“Oh,” she grabbed Matt’s bicep to push him further into Maggie’s line of sight, “This is Matthew, by the way. The, uh, boyfriend I was telling you about.”

Her brain seemed to short-circuit. She blinked, looking the man up and down, then back at her. Her mouth opened, but no sounds would come out. She tried again, fidgeting with her fingers as she tried to find words that would make sense, words that wouldn’t give her away.

Eliza was curious. Something wasn’t right and her suspicions overshadowed the excitement she had felt before. She needed to know why the nun was acting like that, and she needed to know now.

Matt smiled awkwardly and Maggie returned his expression. The smile is familiar. Why is it familiar? She wondered to herself. She was probably seeing ghosts and her hands were tingling for no reason. The rational center of her brain was screaming unnecessarily, her suspicions stemmed from a place of curiosity and there was no reason to worry. There was no reason to be on edge or determined to reveal a gigantic lie that probably wasn’t real anyway, she was just paranoid. After everything that happened, everything seemed to have a deeper meaning, a meaning that often turned out to be false. Maggie was a good person and so was Matt; he grew up in the orphanage, of course, he took some of what he learned and observed with him, and it manifested over the years. He was still a broken child at heart.

Still fidgeting with her fingers, Maggie chuckled. “I remember you,” she said. “You, uh, changed a lot since you were last here.”

“Uh, yeah,” Matt exhaled, “I was a kid.”

She straightened her shoulders. “Well, I’m glad that you’re here.”

“Me too, sister, although it feels weird being back here,” he said.

Maggie waved for them to follow her. He held onto Eliza’s arm on their way down the long corridor toward what he remembered to be the door to the garden behind the orphanage and the church. It was far away from the cemetery, but he had escaped once while all children were playing outside and visited his dad’s grave. He never told the nuns how he found his way there, he simply stated that he wanted to get out and then got lost. His abilities would have been hard to explain, only Stick understood what he was going through, but even he left him. They all eventually did. Being at his father’s grave had filled him with dread and it still did whenever he set foot into the church, knowing Jack was dead and he was alone. He didn’t even know his mother.

“You grew up here, it’s always going to be weird to visit your childhood home. Not to speak of the perhaps bad memories you connect with this place. Even a religious boy like you gets to have his reservations about God,” Maggie led them through the backdoor, “But destiny works in funny ways, doesn’t it?” she said. “That your girlfriend and I met and now you’re here.”

“Are you sure you can call it destiny?” Matt questioned.

“What else would you call it?”

“I don’t know, coincidence, maybe? I’ve been coming to this church for years, and have spoken to Father Lantom ever since I can remember, he’s taken my confession many times and I’ve seen Sunday Mass more times than I can count. That my girlfriend ran into you one night while she was desperate wouldn’t count as destiny, just a very surprising coincidence.”

She chuckled weakly, her eyes stuck on her face, and something resembling adoration flashed across her eyes. Her brows furrowed slightly, it was a look of worry now, one of guilt and regret, and she turned away again.

“Coincidence,” she repeated, “Yes, that might just be it.”

“I’m a man of God, I believe in what God wants. Anything else seems far-fetched, don’t you think, sister? God gives us all a purpose, so you could call it destiny, but as God’s disciples there really is nothing else but the role he cast us in.”

“Doesn’t that mean there are no coincidences, either? And call me Maggie, please. I insist.”

He tilted his head. Her statement worked through his brain and he contemplated. “You have a point,” he said.

“I’m glad you came.” Her voice cracked at the end. Matt played it off; voices crack sometimes. Eliza, however, wasn’t convinced that it was a random crack in her voice when the look she had on her face spoke more than opening a Bible and reading every last verse ever could.

Maggie was an expressive person. Her emotions displayed in her eyes, and whenever she was upset, her lips tilted down in a pout. Her brown eyes had green tints in them, but they were a darker brown, perhaps chestnut, matching her hair perfectly. Naturally curly hair.

Oh.

Fuck.

Eliza didn’t want to connect the trains of thought that clashed, drawing and setting up an invisible string between them.

“Brownies,” she blurted, her heart racing in her chest, and there was no doubt in her mind Matt could tell that she was shocked at something that neither he nor she could see because it happened in her brain and slapped her across the face. “Where should I put the brownies?” she asked.

“You don’t have to put them anywhere,” Maggie insisted, “I’ll take care of it.”

“I should take care of it though.”

“If that’s what you want–“ she handed the Tupperware back to her. “Put it on the table over there,” she told her. “With the rest of the food.”

Eliza peeked over at the mentioned table that stood aside from the commotion of children and nuns that played in the garden. Willing investors were standing around, ready to donate money to keep the orphanage up and working, and others were simply there for the free food. Mostly those who couldn’t afford it by themselves, but that was the point of the summer fest. It was meant to bring people together.

She nodded, “I’ll be right back.”

The table offered her some space to breathe away from now deep conversations between Matt and… Maggie. It all made sense now and she hated the knowledge she put on herself. There was no solid proof, but her gut hardly ever betrayed her.

“Eliza,” Father Lantom appeared behind her. He smiled when he saw her. “So nice of you to join us,” he said.

Her fists clenched. “Did you know?”

“Sorry?”

“Did you know?” she asked. Her eyes switched to the pair at the other end of the backyard. “Did you know that she’s his mother?”

She had been betrayed before, told that her parents were dead, and withheld information on the whereabouts of her biological father, so she knew how bad it could hurt to find out the truth.

The priest stuttered. His eyes were wide and he looked over to where Matt was standing with Maggie, still talking. It seemed he didn’t hear any of what Eliza said because he simply wasn’t paying attention and his senses didn’t quite work that way. If he didn’t consciously fan them out and focused on something else, he would tune the rest of the world out, and then a statement such as the one Eliza made would go over his head.

He leaned into her. “How?” he asked.

“Answer my question,” she shot back through gritted teeth.

She already knew that Father Lantom did know and that he didn’t say anything to Matt, not even once in the time he went to church, prayed, and asked for guidance. He had been lost to the point he tried to kill himself when he was merely a child and everyone lied to him. Maggie was there to raise him after his father died. She worked at the orphanage, took care of him, and she knew who the lost blind boy she was supposed to take care of was. She knew and she never said anything.

“Yes,” Father Lantom lowered his head, “I knew.”

“Great. That’s just… fucking great!”

But then Eliza realized something else. If Matt found out the truth now, it would shatter him. It would shatter him to know the lengths his own mother was willing to go to so he wouldn’t find out who she was, and the man he confided in lied to him too. It would shatter him. It would absolutely destroy him the same way it destroyed her when she revealed the truth.

“Listen, I can explain,” he said.

What explanation could there be? It was the same thing she had to go through all those weeks ago. She searched for answers for years and found them in the lies her friends told her, the people she thought she could trust, the people who loved her the most, and who she trusted with her life. It was the same fucking situation.

She shook her head. “He doesn’t deserve this,” her voice sounded low, “He doesn’t deserve any of this.”

The priest sighed in exasperation, pulling her further aside. “There’s a reason we kept the truth from him.”

“What reason could there possibly be to lie to him about his own mother? She’s right there.” Her glowing eyes resembled those of a snake, a venomous being born from fury. “She’s right there and he doesn’t know.”

Eliza remembered her telling her that she was a mother but didn’t have any children. She had done things she wasn’t proud of, committed sins she had to repent for, and found her way back from the dark void despair drove her into. Maggie used to lead support group meetings for lost children, for those who had nothing left and wanted to be better for whatever reason. She was a good person but she lied. She lied to Eliza and she lied to her own son, the man that she was now talking to as if they were long-lost friends, but she never once told him. They spent years together and she never found the guts to lay the truth out for him.

She didn’t want to hate her, she was a good person after all, but it was hard not to get angry at her. And Father Lantom played a huge role in it as well. She trusted him with her secrets. She misjudged him. She thought he was a righteous man, but he was nothing but a liar.

“He’s not supposed to find out, and you weren’t either, Eliza. This is a secret we’ve kept for decades—“

“That’s even worse!” she snapped.

He pressed a finger to his lips, “Not so loud.”

“I’m gonna be as loud as I fucking want because I’m gonna tell him.”

“No,” the Father stopped her by grabbing her arm and he said, “Please, don’t.” Was he begging or telling her not to?

“You can’t keep this from him,” she said, “it’s not fair.”

“I know, but there’s a reason Maggie hasn’t found him sooner, a reason we didn’t tell him. It was never my choice to make, it was hers, and I swore to protect her as well as make sure he was okay. If he finds out now…” he trailed off, looking at the chatting pair. “He’s gonna be devastated, you know that. You’re the closest person to him, you’re the only one who understands him. Tell me, would he be able to survive to hear the truth?”

She hated the answer. She hated that the truth was that no, he wouldn’t survive. She hated that she now knew something so crucial and she hated that Father Lantom was right. He would be devastated and he would suffer. He would question everything he ever believed to be true and he would drown. She could try to catch him, but he would fall faster than she could run to his rescue. All of this for what?

“The people in my life lied to me about my father too,” she said.

“I’m sure they had the same intention in mind.”

“They told me it was to protect me but I lost myself too. It broke me. I deserved to know and they took that right away from me until I found out the truth some other way. I would have understood if they told me themselves, but they were so adamant about lying I had to find out myself and that completely destroyed me. He deserves for the people who care about him to not lie to him,” she swallowed, “and if the truth breaks him, so be it. He deserves to know and he’d hate me for keeping this from him. I can’t live with this burden. I wish I never connected the dots, but I did, and this information is more than I can carry right now, so I have to tell him.”

“Eliza please,” Father Lantom begged. His hand was still on her arm. She broke free, glaring holes into his head. She hoped he could feel the hell she wished upon him.

She stood her ground, “No.”

“If you tell him now, his world is going to end.”

“It’s not. He caught me and I’ll catch him. I know I will. I can.”

“You can’t know that and I think you know that you can’t.”

She hated him and his words and God for putting her in such a position. She hated her curiosity and how easily she could make connections even when she wasn’t trying. But most of all, Eliza hated herself for the decision she made. She was no better than the people who lied to her.

“I have to tell him,” she whispered.

“No, you don’t.”

“I have to, but I won’t,” her voice dropped an octave and her eyes turned a terrifying color of maroon, “because if he does find out, he’s going to be devastated and he’s been through enough pain already. I’m doing this because I love him, not because of you. If you know what’s good for you, you stay away from me.”

“Eliza, wait-”

“Matt,” she walked up to him, the smile on her lips fake, but she managed to convince him. “Are you ready to go?”

“Sure, yeah,” he said. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she assured him.

“Okay then. It was nice meeting you again.”

The nun nodded with a curt smile. “It was nice seeing you, Matthew,” said Maggie. “I hope we’ll catch up more soon.”

I hope the fuck not, Eliza cursed her inner monologue. But it was right. The more time they spent together, the guiltier she would feel, but by God, if she told him now he would break into a million pieces and their life was just starting to get better again. She didn’t want to steal the sparkle from his eyes. Matt didn’t deserve that. He also didn’t deserve to be lied to, but she loved him too much to break his heart. If he ever found out, he would hate her, but it was a small price to pay to keep his heart safe. He had lost enough for a lifetime.

The thought kept her caught in the moral conflict that wrapped its hand around her soul and squeezed, its claws dragging her down into an abyss of endless guilt and shame. If she wasn’t careful, it would consume her whole soon and there would be no going back. She loved him so much, but was the sacrifice worth it? Was risking their relationship worth it just to protect his soul from breaking? It was wrong. She knew how much it hurt when the Avengers did the same, but carrying this knowledge with her now, she realized why they kept the secret of her true parentage from her. She understood the purpose of protecting the people you love by omitting now better than she ever did, but she still cursed herself to hell and back for not opening her mouth. She should have, but time had passed by since they were at the fest and she was already too deep into the lie to pull out now. She had to walk to the edge of the grave she dug and hope she wouldn’t fall in.

The cool night air blew through her hair as she walked next to Matt over the dark rooftop. He had picked up on a commotion in the distance, gang activity, he had told her. They were partly responsible for the rising drug numbers in Hell’s Kitchen and Daredevil wasn’t pleased with what his city was turning into. He had to salvage what was left. Eliza tagged along, of course. She always did. Ever since he got her the suit, she felt more comfortable in her skin and her fighting abilities. She didn’t care much about her powers when she was around him because he told her every time, focus on your fighting skills not what’s going on in your mind. Channel your anger into something else. And she did. She channeled her feelings into her fists as she beat the criminals into a puddle.

That night though, she was so stuck in her mind, her entire body was vibrating with the energy that she pushed down so many times before. She refused to study them further, but the need to let them out was growing with each passing day, and the more she thought about it, the more scared she got about what she would do once the stone decided it had enough of being pushed down. With the empathy gone, she thought she could catch a break, but her fingers always tingled and her soul craved the power. Her body craved to rise to its full potential, whatever that was.

“How about Chinese?” Matt asked.

Eliza shook her head. “No, we had that yesterday. I can still taste that fucking awful sushi on my tongue,” she said. “I feel like it was purposely made to not taste good because how the fuck can you screw up Sushi?”

“I think they might have put too much salt in the rice.”

“And used moldy cucumber.”

“If they did, you would be having serious stomach problems right now.”

She shrugged. “Maybe I am.”

“You’re not,” he said.

“Well okay, we’re not doing Chinese. How about Indian instead?” she asked.

Matt contemplated before scrunching his nose in a disapproving frown. “We had that the day before that, and honestly if I have to taste Kurkuma one more time, I’m gonna puke. I love Indian food, but we’ve been eating too much of that lately.”

“Okay, I get that. We’ve been spending a lot of money on Indian food. How about pizza? Italian, maybe even pasta and some breadsticks. There’s a nice place around the corner from your apartment. And they got Uber Eats.”

“Yeah, let’s do pizza. But only if it has—“

“Cheese crust.”

“Exactly.”

“And I’m craving garlic bread,” she said.

He hummed. “Oh, yeah, garlic bread.”

“And if we both eat it, we can still kiss.”

“That is a good argument, Miss Bennet,” Matt said, “I think you might have won this discussion.”

“Pizza it is then,” she decided.

Was it wrong to talk about dinner choices while walking into the arms of one of Hell’s Kitchen's many gangs? Possibly, but they had long stopped caring about what happened before or after. The fight became their life’s purpose. They couldn’t see themselves doing anything else. Eliza was a hero, she craved to be one, and Matt craved to help his city out in any way he could. He still believed it was his god-given purpose to be Daredevil, and he stuck to his principles.

Sister Maggie is Matt Murdock’s mother. She bit her cheek. If the thought kept pushing against her head, she would burst. She had to and she said she wouldn’t, but fuck! Father Lantom wasn’t the boss of her and she knew better than let him tell her what to do. She knew better than to break Matt’s heart by lying to him and risking what they had because she didn’t want him to hate her, ever. She didn’t want to break his trust. She promised not to lie to him, and she was physically incapable of doing so, anyway.

“Matt,” she caught his wrist and he stopped, giving her a puzzled look that she could read even behind the Devil’s mask, “I have to tell you something,” she said.

Now or never. Fuck Father Lantom and Maggie for their lies. She had to be better than them. She was better than them. She wouldn’t make the same mistake Tony made because, in the end, he was more sorry than she had been safer.

“What’s up?” he asked, his lip tilted down in a confused and worrying frown. “Are you okay?”

It was sweet how he suspected it was something about her rather than something that would tear his entire worldview down.

She opened her mouth, putting aside all reservations. Eliza was going to tell him the truth about his mother right then and there and then wait for the music to come. He was going to implode but fuck, she couldn’t keep the secret any longer, it was eating away at her insides and it was driving her guilt to an all-time high that she seemed to be tumbling off any second now. It suffocated her, knowing the truth about him and keeping him in the dark. She wasn’t going to do that to him, not again. She made so many promises, she had to keep them. She promised she would keep them.

“I-”

The blast that sounded in the distance cut her off.

They flinched at the same time, ducking behind the ledge of the roof. “You hear that?” he asked.

She nodded, “Loud and clear.”

Something strange lay in the atmosphere. It was a familiar feeling, a tingle that shot up her spine and caused the hairs on her arms to stand up.

Looking down at the layer they were supposed to stake out, she caught the blue glow through the dirty windows. The smoke from the blast clouded the inside. She tilted her head. It couldn’t be—

“You have to stay here,” she said. Her breath hitched. “You can’t go down there.”

Matt chuckled, the confusion written on his face as he asked her, “Why?”

“I’m not kidding,” and her serious expression told him as much, “You’re not going down there.”

“Angel, calm down. What is going on? Why do you-”

“It’s Chitauri tech,” she stated. The blue glow mixed with the almost radioactive-looking smoke told her everything she needed to know. Her hair bent in the direction of the alien force and her fingers tingled; this could only mean one thing - the Battle of New York had left a significant number of weapons and alien remains behind, and many people had stolen parts and taken them with them, and the weapons that came out of playing with such technology would always be life-threatening to any human being.

“Chitauri as in–“

“The Battle of New York, yes.”

“Are you sure? How do they- how would they even get their hands on the technology? I thought Stark cleaned up all of it when his foundation paid for the reconstruction of downtown. That was four years ago, Eliza. Are you sure that blast wasn’t just a manipulated machine gun?”

“The glow, Matthew. You can’t see it, but you might feel the energy in the air. I do, I can feel it creeping up my spine and toying with my brain. It’s alien, definitely. I felt the same when I stood in the ruins of this city and had aliens jumping on the buildings around me, shooting their funny little guns at us.”

It was true, he felt the static change in the air, but he thought nothing about it. Explosions often manipulated the way air would graze his skin. She seemed convinced though and her heartbeat showed no signs of doubt. This was her arena. This was what she was best at. He had nothing on her ability to sniff out what he couldn’t see. She felt deeper than he did, she was more susceptible to the atmosphere and reality spoke to her in ways he couldn’t comprehend. When she told him it was alien technology they were dealing with, he had to believe her.

“That day, death and destruction rained from the sky,” he said. “It wasn’t just a random incident. The world almost ended, New York City was destroyed, people died… why would humans want to acquire the tech that almost got them killed?”

“Why do humans hurt each other in dark alleyways in the middle of the night?” Eliza challenged. “Why do humans resort to violence when they can’t get their way? We’re animals, Matt,” she said, “we’re predators, we want to be better than any other species, so that’s why some humans don’t even fear God when it comes to ruining other people’s lives.”

“Well, then we need to stop them.” He made a move to get out of the crouching position, ready to reach for his Billy Clubs.

She put her hand atop his. “Don’t,” she said.

“They could seriously hurt a lot of people. If we don’t do anything—“

“I need to stop them, not you.”

“Did you miss the part where we decided we would fight together because we always have each other’s backs?”

“This is alien tech. You’re only human. You’re not indestructible. You don’t even have a shield. If they hit you, you’re dead.”

He only scoffed. “I’d like to see them try.”

Usually, she found his confidence more than alluring, but at that moment she wanted to hit him. He wasn’t invincible, but he seemed to forget that from time to time. If she was right with her suspicions, he would be dead the second they stepped through the door. She could never forgive herself if that happened, which was the precise reason why she tried her hardest to stop him, even if she had to tie him to the roof. She would do it.

“No,” Eliza insisted, “stop.”

“What are you so afraid of?”

“I don’t want to lose you,” her voice cracked.

He hung his head low, exhaling a heavy breath through pursed lips, then turned his head up enough for her to meet his red eyes. His hand reached for her cheek, cupping the rosy skin and caressing her cheekbone with his gloved thumb. He sighed again, this time louder. Her eyes fluttered closed.

“You’re not going to lose me,” he said. “Hey, look at me—“ She opened her eyes. Tears glistened in them, tears that came from a dark place of fear deep within her heart. It tore her apart to think about what could possibly happen to him. “You’re not going to lose me,” he said. “I promised I’m in it for the long run and I intend to keep that promise. We go in there together and we both come out alive. I love you, okay? Alone because of that, I would show death the finger.”

She dropped her forehead against his. “Promise?” she breathed the word into his mouth.

He pressed his lips to hers ever so gently, barely brushing them, breathing her in as if she was the last thing keeping him alive. “Promise,” he said.

“I love you too.”

“I know.” He kissed her forehead. “Trust me, I know.”

“Promise you’ll stay behind me until I tell you otherwise?”

He crossed his heart. “Promise.”

She prayed to God he would keep his promise.

The inside of the garage was quiet. Occasionally, metal would scrape against metal and the whirring of a saw cut through the sound barrier. Sparks flew, lighting up the room, but as soon as it was over, the room fell silent again. Every person seemed to have their work cut out for them.

They entered through the back, inching their way behind one of the shelves that protected them from the careful eyes of the men in leather jackets and their guns. It was a cliche, the way they looked, but gang members had their ways of fitting into cliches even when they weren’t trying.

She eyed the structure of the building, the workbench, and the several weapons that were scattered all over the room. She couldn’t make out the source of the blast. The glow had disappeared. The saw whirred again, longer this time and metal thunked to the floor. Eliza craned her neck to get a closer look; she saw the blue core before she saw the man behind it tightening the screws on the gun.

Nodding toward the front, Eliza patted Matt’s shoulder. He got the message. Using the furniture that adorned the garage as cover, he made his way forward. She stayed behind, making sure he landed safely where she wanted him, and when he stopped behind another shelf soon after, she exhaled. She calmed her heart and focused.

“Now,” she breathed only loud enough for him to hear — and he did. She could have moved her lips and he still would have heard.

He tossed one of his Billy Clubs into the room. It managed to hit the first man over the head. He tried his best to be subtle about it, but the metal hit the ground loudly and with how quiet it was, the sound resembled a gunshot in a silent neighborhood.

She was about to warn him that they would start shooting, but the words died on her tongue when the first bullets started to fly in the direction they suspected the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen to be. Her target was the man at the workbench, his fingers wrapping around the gun he was working on. He never got around to using it.

The blade graced his jaw. “Drop it,” she hissed into his ear.

He lifted his arms and put the gun down, swallowing against the dagger that hovered dangerously close over his neck. Satisfied, she lowered the blade and instead, pushed him forward until his head collided with the wood of the table. His brow burst open at the impact, painting the brown surface red with his blood.

She flipped the knife. That had been fairly easy. The tip of the blade collided with the blue Chitauri core of the weapon, breaking the glass and shutting off the only power source there was — the core itself. The gun could no longer shoot and with the first weapon out of service, she could move on to the next.

The men that came at her underestimated what she was capable of. She dodged the first one’s punch, ramming her knee between his legs, and she buried her entire fist in his face. His nose cracked under her knuckles.

Her knife flew across the room and hit her target’s shoulder while she flipped another man over her shoulder. She knocked his head into the floor, spilling blood in the process. The man holding her dagger headed for her, but she gracefully ducked under his arm, slinging her arm around his neck and single-handedly flipping him onto his back on the ground. The last thing he saw was her towering over him before her fist knocked him into oblivion. Wiping his blood on her suit, she hummed. This was going better than she expected.

Eliza searched for Matt in the mess. Her eyes caught on him as he fought one of the larger guys. He looked graceful, pushing him back and further until he stumbled over his own feet and hit the ground. At the sound of a gun cocking, she turned her head to see one of the members he must have knocked out before rising to his feet and pointing his gun at the back of his head.

She sprinted toward him. He saw her coming from the corner of her eye, now pointing the gun at her. It was a normal glock. With so many men, it was hard to tell who carried what weapon. She still hadn’t seen the source of the gigantic blast — the gun she disarmed couldn’t have caused it, as it was way too small — but she was sure she would find it soon enough. For now, though, her brain stopped functioning and she simply stormed toward the man with the gun, and she stared right down the barrel as she had back when Ivan rose from the ashes of the White Room and buried three bullets inside her chest cavity.

She fell to her knees, much to the man’s surprise, and she slid her knife over his kneecap. The gun dropped to the ground. He toppled over, holding the pulsating wound with both of his hands. Jumping to her feet, she pushed her boot into his back, forcing him to his knees. Matt was safe, for now.

Her eyes switched to him only for a second, but a second was enough for the man to pull the hidden knife from his boot, turn around and jab the blade into her side. Eliza cried out, the intrusion sending sparks of fire through her abdomen, a feeling too familiar. He definitely cut through many nerves and it went deep, too deep. Her flesh squished and she caught onto her attacker’s wrist, staring into his eyes. He grinned. She tore the knife out of her side together with his hand, punching him straight across the face, and as pissed as she was at him for stabbing her, she lifted her knee to knock his teeth out. He dropped to the floor. She kicked him again just to make sure he would stay down, then finally pressed a hand to her bleeding side.

If the wound didn’t kill her, Matt sure as hell would. He would call her reckless and berate her. He would tell her that she was the one worried about him for no reason and that she should have taken better care of herself because she got hurt, but he didn’t. He would say a lot of things, but for that, they had to make it out alive, which suddenly seemed highly unlikely with her side throbbing as if she was losing pints of blood (she wasn’t).

The Chitauri weapon was gigantic. It looked like a grenade thrower only two times bigger and the glow was already visible through the barrel she found herself staring into when she looked up.

“Woah,” she called out when the stranger pointed the weapon at Matt. She lifted her hand, diverting the attention toward herself.

She suspected them to pull out the big guns, but this was exactly what she tried to prevent — having Matt in the crosshairs.

“Listen, I know you’re probably not planning an uprising or some other gang-related shit, but the weapon you’re holding in your hand right now is definitely not made for men like you,” she said.

He laughed. “Men like me?” he said. “Who gave you the right to judge that? You and your little friend here came into our home—” he looked around himself, his men moaning and groaning on the ground, blood spilled and bones were broken, “and you think I’m just gonna let you get away with it?”

“I saw the blast.”

“The gun over there malfunctioned. The one you destroyed. Thanks for that.” His smile was bitter.

Matt, the idiot that he was, stepped forward and she was about to yell at him for being so reckless, but he couldn’t be stopped.

“We came here to get answers on the heroin that’s being sold on the streets right now. The laced heroin, the one currently killing dozens of kids and addicts alike,” he said. “We didn’t come here to be shot at or start a war. We just want answers and then we’ll go. You just have to put the gun down first.”

The weapon swung back over at him.

“Daredevil,” the man stated, “I figured you’d come one day.”

“I’m not here to shed any unnecessary blood, but if you keep being a dick, maybe I will.”

“You already shed unnecessary blood. In fact, a lot of unnecessary blood has been shed lately. Instead of blaming every New York gang for selling drugs, maybe you should look into the murders that have been happening around you. ‘Cause, my people are dying and no one seems to care about that, not even the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Tell me,” he said, “Are you really that heartless?”

The pair shared a look. “What are you talking about?” asked Eliza.

“Someone shot up the Dogs of Hell a couple of days ago. Each had about twenty rows in ‘em. Then, last night, someone shot up the Skulls’ layer up the street. Figured we are next, so we loaded up.” He pointed down at the gun. “We had the tech stashed away for emergencies, and since someone is slaughtering gangs here in Hell’s Kitchen — hell, they’re slaughtering gangs all over goddamn New York City, I thought it was necessary to get the big guns out. For our protection. Don’t tell me you didn’t know.”

“We didn’t,” Matt said. He sounded just as confused as she was, and perhaps he felt a little guilty for not realizing what was going on. He was so focused on a problem New York has been having for decades he lost focus on what else was happening around him.

“Someone’s shooting up gangs? Are you guys trying to start a war or something?” Her voice drew the attention back to her. “Because that’s what it sounds like to me. Is it because of drugs? I used to be an addict, I know how strong heroin is, but the stuff you’re cooking up is killing innocent children in a way I have never seen before.”

He scowled, “We didn’t shoot up anyone. We’re not that stupid. And especially not because of some stupid drug trade. Not every fucking gang is involved in that. We’re family, if that even matters to you brainless fuckheads.”

“Then who else would be shooting up gangs here in New York if not a rival gang looking for more power?”

“Woman, don’t you think I figured that? But it’s not us.”

“Okay, first of all, don’t call me a woman as if it’s a bad thing,” she said, “and second of all, if not you, who is?”

“I don’t know!” he cried out. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you guys but you seem so adamant about blaming us. So tell me why I shouldn’t shoot you on the spot for what you just did to my guys, huh? Tell me, woman.”

“‘Cause you don’t want to risk pissing me off,” Matt cut in. His teeth bared, giving the man a good sense of the darkness that lurked behind the mask he put on. The Devil came out to play. “And you don’t want to risk pissing her off either,” he said, pointing his finger at Eliza who simply smirked. “I’m not kidding, right now she’s holding back because of me but when I tell her to raise hell, you’re done for, and you really don’t want that.”

“He’s got a point. You don’t want that.”

“Don’t underestimate the power of a woman scorned, and she’s got plenty of rage where what she did to your men just came from. I will let her, trust me.”

He made her sound like a guard dog on a leash, but perhaps she was just that when they fought — his dog on a leash. It shouldn’t have been as exciting as it was.

“I don’t give a shit. You trespassed on our territory,” the man charged his weapon, she felt the sizzling in the air getting stronger and her hair tilting further in the direction of the alien power source. His body craved a taste, just a small one. She wanted to see beyond the blue core. It was almost as if a completely different being possessed her, her eyes wide as she stared into the barrel, but she wasn’t scared. She was far from it. She was intrigued.

“Do you even know what you’re holding?” she wondered. “The kind of power you’re trying to wield without the necessary knowledge?”

“Oh, and you do?” he challenged.

“You have no idea.”

Her hands started to glow bright red. The maroon in her eyes faded into black, stars of scarlet dancing in her irises, and her lip remained curled in a smirk. The red rushing through her veins was natural, a familiar feeling that consumed her.

The man’s face fell. “Fuck.”

She wanted him to surrender, it was all she planned to do, but she underestimated the lengths he was willing to go to prevent getting caught in the crossfire of a possible gang war or going to jail. He pointed the gun back at Matt, her weak spot, and he fired.

How it happened, Eliza wasn’t sure. She only faintly remembered reaching her hands out toward the blast, redirecting it toward herself. As it hit her, her palms faced forward, a red wall of smoke and pure energy building between her and the alien force. Both clashed in the middle, red meeting blue, fire meeting water, energy bursting into energy, and foreign particles soaring through the air and setting the atmosphere on fire. The universe seemed to explode, her reality clashing with that of an entirely different world, a universe beyond theirs. Both forces crashed together like two cars driving at high speed over the highway. As soon as they drove head-first into each other, the force caused a chemical explosion.

It was a blow-out of epic proportions and the force pushed her back. In the air, she was weightless, but pride goes before the fall and when she crashed into the shelves at the back of the room, her head hit the metal. She slid back over the floor, landing right in front of the wall. The back of her head collided with the brick wall. The energy compressed her lungs, a fire burning bright above her head, but she must have hallucinated. It couldn’t have been real. The fire slowly turned into dots of blackness, silence overtaking her, and her ears fell into silence as she fell victim to the compelling darkness.

She, however, did not stop falling once her vision turned black. She fell through the dark void and barely caught herself on her feet when the ground came in sight. It was the red ground covered in sand and smoke; she could barely see her feet. She was still wearing the suit and otherwise, she seemed more than alive, but she had been tricked once. The wasteland was a familiar land in her mind. Something that she had once felt comfortable in only caused a numb thudding in her chest. It was so strange, so foreign now.

The darkness around her fell into scarlet so dark it turned maroon and it twisted and turned in circles until it formed six individual stones formed like a rhombus floating around her being, the glow turning different colors wherever she looked. Six stones, six different elements, six broken pieces of the universe’s core.

In the distance, she could make out the faintest of purple resting on the skin of a gigantic stranger, but he didn’t have a face. She stared at his back, unmoving, and when she tried to see more, he moved further into the distance. The stones kept her trapped in their circle and she bit her lip, trying to get closer.

The red one called for her, but so did the blue one, and the others joined in. They were silent screams of her name, a pull, unlike anything she had felt before. Several threads connected her to each rhombus, a two-way street of invisible strings. She called for them as they called for her. Her body craved to be whole, and it would only be whole with all stones close to her, it seemed. So she stepped forward and reached out for the glowing red stone that seemed to scream her name the loudest.

Where she was, her mind seemed to be malfunctioning. There was no voice of thought or reason in her head. It was just her, the stones, and the purple stranger in the distance, trapped in the maroon her mind called home. At least it had once been when she could still sort emotions, now it was void of anything important. It was just red now, as was the stone she reached to touch.

She realized too late that it was probably a mistake. The middle of her forehead started to glow the closer she got, and when she finally touched it, the world around her exploded again. The stones broke, crystals soaring around her head as the floor opened up beneath her, fading into smoke, and the walls around her broke open to reveal a vast space of different colors - blue, purple, red, and golden, stars dancing across the endless sky and the glass of mirrors broken around her.

She was falling again. Eliza tried to catch herself on the red stone, but the gem was gone like all the others, her head glowing, her hands glowing and somehow her soul was on fire. She could see the universe from the outside, could see the world, could see the reality behind a red screen, susceptible. Reality was open to being controlled and even manipulated. Not everyone had the power, but the stone had called for her and she had the power to manipulate reality. It felt strange like reality was an object she could hold in her hands, but it was invisible to the eye.

Pictures flashed across the screen, faces dancing in the galaxy, planets passing by and she could have sworn she remembered some of the places she saw. Her face was there, Matt was there, the Avengers were there - she saw Tony and everyone she ever loved dead on a battlefield, but on the opposite side the world was prospering with life. She saw death and destruction, and happiness and hope. She saw the world end at one point and start anew at another. It was strange and not everything seemed to be in her grasp - it wasn’t her reality. Those she couldn’t touch, couldn’t feel, weren’t in her control. Time and space blurred together, she saw the blue line drawn across the universe, and the streaks that suddenly broke out of the line formed a new web of glittery roads across the galaxy. Green, it was definitely green. Space was blue. The pictures she saw were both red and orange, and she herself seemed to be floating in a yellow bubble. The pull she felt was the strongest and it made the world around her explode in a burst of pure energy; it was purple. Everything was suddenly purple. Those weren’t the colors of the emotional color wheel, they were much different and with every passing color she could feel a different aspect of the invisible ball of reality she held in her bare hands.

Her back shattered through a mirror below her, glass splattering everywhere, the sharp pain cutting her skin open and bleeding into the vastness of space. She hit the glass and at the same time, she hit the ground. Her head thudded, her side burned with the wound of the blade that had cut her, and the darkness replaced the beautiful colors she saw. She woke up with a gasp, shooting up from her position on the floor. She reached out, panicking, and latching onto the leather next to her. The suit felt oddly familiar, and once her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized she was in Matt’s lap.

He had removed his mask, leaning over her as if to protect her from the world. Tears glistened in his eyes. She wondered how long she had been out. The alarm bells in her head were still ringing, but the dull gray of the room they were in gently brought her back from the edge she had been standing on. She was no longer falling, she was safe in his arms.

Her vision was working, but her lungs still struggled for breath. She pulled at his suit, not sure whether to push him away or pull him closer. She was oh so scared, and it showed in the way her heart raced against an invisible clock.

“Hey,” his voice pushed through the cotton in her ears, “Hey, you’re okay. You’re okay!” he said. “Look at me. Look at me! There you go.”

Looking into his soft eyes, her heartbeat started to slow and so did her breathing. Her lungs deflated, then filled with air and she coughed. The action alone caused another sharp pain to rip through the back of her head, following all the way down to her side where she could feel the blood pooling out of the cut still.

Matt smiled, his tears fading, but the redness of the hint of them was still there. “There you are. Hi.” He brushed the hair out of her face. “You’re okay, I’ve got you.”

Her hand shot up to her head. “Fuck,” Eliza cursed to herself.

“Don’t ever do that to me again,” he said, his hand still running through her hair. “I thought I–“ He refused to finish the sentence.

She weakly touched his cheek with her blood-stained hand. “I’m okay,” she said. Bittersweet Deja Vu, the blood stains on his suit.

“You’re bleeding,” he was referring to the wound on the back of her head, which he touched with gentle fingers, but the amount of blood he could smell didn’t match up to what he could feel.

He listened closely to her skin, the way it shifted over the bone as she breathed raggedly, and he followed the coppery scent of her blood, a scent that reminded him of a trauma he long tried his best to bury.

She hissed when his hand found the hole in her suit, the knife had gone straight through the spot that was not made out of bulletproof material. The hot liquid coated his fingers, the cut deep and the fabric around the wound soaked already.

“What happened?” Matt ground his teeth. “Which one of them did this to you?”

“It’s just a cut, I’ll be fine. My head-” she groaned, “hurts like a bitch.”

“You probably have a low-grade concussion and one hell of a head wound, but the one on your side… Sweetheart, this is bad. We need to get you out of here.”

“I’m ok-ah!” He lifted her up into a standing position, but the stretch helped neither her throbbing head nor the stabbing pain in her side. “Okay, maybe I’m not,” she grunted before she toppled over, hand pressed to her side in an attempt to stop the new gush of blood that came out.

She felt a little dizzy and her muscles hurt. But most of all, the dream she’d had while she was unconscious kept her wondering about what she saw. It had been so much at once and still nothing at all.

Matt caught her. His arm wrapped around her waist, hand applying pressure to where hers already laid over the wound. “Okay,” he murmured, “I’ve got you. Hold onto me.”

Her nails dug into his hip, a vice grip to keep herself from passing out.

“You good?”

Eliza nodded through gritted teeth, “Just get me home.” She wasn’t sure how much longer she would be able to stand.

He had never walked home that fast. With her in his arms, it was harder than without, but they eventually managed to stumble into the apartment. He set her down on the couch, her lips parting in a silent cry at how much the skin around the cut moved. Her nails clawed into the leather of the backrest, head resting against it. A thin layer of sweat covered her forehead, but it wasn’t the heat that caused her pores to open up.

He knelt beside her then, she didn’t hear him coming, and he splayed out the first aid supplies on the living room table as well as a bottle of water and some rubbing alcohol. The thought alone pained her and he hadn’t even started yet.

“Can you remove your top?” Matt asked her. His coordination was off, he couldn’t find the zipper.

She nodded again weakly, somehow managing to slip out of the top half of her suit and dropping the soaked fabric next to the couch. She was left in her sports bra, the cold air of the room sending a shiver down her spine.

Tipping the cotton swab into the alcohol, he pressed the other hand to her abdomen. “This is gonna hurt,” he said.

She knew it would. The disinfectant burned on the fresh wound. It felt as if her skin was being seared off and skinned alive. She cried out, “Ugh- fuck!” Her nails dug deeper into the leather.

“I’m so sorry, but it’s only gonna get worse from here on.”

The needle pierced her skin and once again, she cried out. Her eyes rolled back, the tears at the corner of her eyes spilling over. She was used to getting stitches, but something about the wound felt different than usual, and it hurt.

Matt stopped, his eyes faced downward guiltily, almost.

She assured him with a hand on his head, “Keep going, it’s okay.”

“It’s not okay, you’re in pain,” he said.

“I know, but you can’t change it. Just do it as fast as you can, okay? Please.”

He sighed, squeezing her flesh again and forcing the needle and the thread through. Her cries continued muffled through the back of her hand that she bit down on, the tears mixing with the sweat of blood loss and the aftershocks of the concussion. She forgot about the headache, the sharp pain in her side seemingly doing its best at burning her entire body on a stake.

His work was thorough, but he rushed anyway because he could no longer hear her cries whenever he had to pierce her skin, and her pain projected onto him. He hated hurting her, he hated that she got hurt because of him and that they had almost been at the same point they were a month ago. He didn’t want to lose her, not again.

Eliza finally relaxed into the cushions when he cleaned the wound with some water, put salve on it, and bandaged her up. An ice pack on her head eased the ache, too. The wound wasn’t deep so he decided to forgo the stitches and instead put a bandaid on it. The fight took it out of her.

He listened to her slowing heartbeat. “For a moment there I thought–” he began, not sure where he was going with the vulnerable confession, “I thought I’d lost you again, and I- I felt hollow,” he said. “So fucking hollow, I thought- I really thought I’d have to hold you again, I’d have to hear the breath leave your lungs and your, uh, heart stop again.” A tear slid down his cheek and soaked into his suit. “I thought I’d lost you, Liz, and I realized- I don’t ever want to feel this way again.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. She couldn’t separate reality from dreams anymore. Surely she had seen the same picture as she was falling, and it didn’t end well for either of them.

She sat up straighter, as much as she could with her injuries. “Are you–“ her breath shuddered and the tears reappeared, though this time the pain was entirely mental, and the fear paralyzing, “Are you breaking up with me, over a stupid gang fight?”

He was taken aback by her question. Matt blinked, licking his lips and reaching out to grab her hands. He caressed them, squeezing them in reassurance as he made sure not to terrify her further with his terrible choice of words. “No, no of course not!” he said. “I would never. God, don’t think that. I wasn’t- I phrased it wrong. This was not what I wanted to say, at all.”

She relaxed. “Oh.”

“What I was trying to say was, I don’t ever want to lose you. Never. I love you too much for that. You are- okay, I don’t know how- my feelings, they’re complicated. I don’t know how to phrase them or- or understand them. I–“ he grunted in the back of his throat, frustrated to the point he considered not trying to find the words to say what he felt, but he was already too deep in to pull out now. “I think…” he fidgeted with her fingers instead of his own now, “You are, by far, the best person I have ever met and you make me so fucking happy, but also so fucking scared something might happen to you. I might be traumatized after what happened, and I’m sorry if I scared you by being scared, I just don’t ever want to feel so empty again.”

Her heartbeat was still racing out of her chest.

“I’m in love with you, Eliza,” he said, “I’m so in love with you, it hurts. And I just realized that you — insufferable, reckless you — might just be the only one for me. You are… you are the love of my life, and I don’t say that lightly because well, I have no fucking idea what’s going on inside of me, I just know that you are all I feel and it scares the crap out of me.”

The tears were streaming down her cheeks at this point and he didn’t have time to comprehend before her lips were on his. He held the back of her head, cradled her cheek, and drowned in the love she poured into a single kiss.

“I thought you were breaking up with me,” she said.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t–“

“I’ve never been in love before, so I don’t know much about it, but I do know one thing,” Eliza held his face in her hands as she admitted what had been on her chest for so long, “You are my first and I want you to be my last, which means that you’re the love of my life too and you’re not getting rid of me, no matter how many knives to the stomach or- or alien blasts I have to take for you.”

He breathed a broken chuckle. “I’m so fucking happy to hear that,” he said. “But please, for the love of God, don’t ever take a knife or an alien blast for me again.”

“I can promise you a lot, but I can’t promise you that.”

“I know.”

She placed her head in the crook of his neck. “Take me to bed?” she said.

He lifted her into his arms, carrying her to the bedroom where he placed her down softly enough so her stitches wouldn’t get disturbed, and he began to strip her of the suit. She was too tired to protest. He helped her into one of his shirts, soon enough returning with his own suit shed in the bathroom and nothing but his boxers and a white shirt on his body.

As Matt settled into bed next to her, her mind began to reel again. The vulnerable love confession was real. She was the love of his life and he was hers. That much she could tell wasn’t a fever dream. They were real, they were made for each other.

What she didn’t know where to sort were the pictures she saw, the infinity stones, or the creature she saw hiding in the distance. The stones screamed her name and the red one seemed to have screamed the loudest, almost like a warning. She saw the galaxy when she fell, and she places and people she recognized but were never the same. And the lines of glitter she saw, the splitting roads at the core of the universe seemed like they had a deeper meaning too, but she couldn’t sort them all, she couldn’t even sort the different colors or where they belonged. They were just there. They existed. It was real, but perhaps not in her reality and another instead.

“Matt,” she broke the silence. His eyes were closed, but he was still awake. He hummed, telling her he was listening. “Do you believe that there is a multiverse?” the question came out of nowhere, surprising both herself and him.

She had thought about it, but she never thought she would be asking a devoted catholic such a question.

“A what now?” he asked. He frowned and paired with the small smile he gave her he looked way too adorable to be real. She traced her finger over his nose just in case. He shivered. He was real.

“Multiverse,” she said. “Multiple universes existing simultaneously to ours, with different versions of ourselves and a different reality that is under someone else’s control.”

“Like in physics?”

“Yeah, like in physics.”

“Are you asking me if I believe in the string theory, physics, or the possibility of multiple universes in my personal opinion?”

He was just toying with her now, not taking her words too seriously. Considering how tired he was, she couldn’t blame him, and her question sounded too absurd to come out of her rather educated mouth. He blamed it on the concussion, surely, which was why he entertained her thought with amusement. She was serious though and she wanted to know because she was slowly losing her mind, it seemed. She needed to stop herself from splitting in two.

“Can’t you just answer with what you think?” Eliza looked at him intently, her gaze burning through his closed lids.

He shrugged. “I don’t know, why?”

“Curiosity. Reality is subjective, after all, and can easily be manipulated. You know what I can do, so I was wondering if you think a multiverse is a possibility that we, as a civilization, should eventually concern ourselves with. It happened with aliens,” she said. “It might happen with the string theory too. It might be proven right. We don’t know.”

“You just answered the question yourself. We don’t know. I guess we’ll find out eventually the same way we found out about life beyond our world. What else do you need?”

“A thought.”

“Do I get a penny?” Matt mused.

She sighed, “Sure.”

“I believe in God, which means there is only our solar system, our planet earth, and our galaxy. There is no other universe but the one we live in,” he told her, “because there is only one God, and how would a civilization in another universe even exist without a God? Now, I know about biology, but evolution is essentially part of the Bible. God can’t be copied, so he wouldn’t be real outside of this world, and a godless universe seems wrong to me. So no, I don’t think we have more than one universe. We’re just fine with the one we’re living in, don’t you think?”

The statement itself deserved more argumentation, but she was too tired to argue and Matt seemed less interested in the topic than she was, anyway.

“So,” he raised his eyebrows, “Answer enough for you?”

Eliza, too tired to protest, pecked his lips. “Yes,” she said.

“Okay then. If philosophical questions are what it takes to keep your concussed brain awake, keep ‘em coming.”

But she didn’t want to talk about it. She wanted to sleep.

“Sleep is off the table,” he read her mind, “It’s too risky.”

“I fell asleep the last time. That was after we had sex, remember? People with concussions shouldn’t have sex either and I am so tired, Matty,” she pouted, “So please, let me sleep.”

He sighed. “Alright,” at the sound of her voice, he could only cave, “but you have to be okay with me waking you every ten minutes to make sure you’re still alive.”

Placing her head on his chest, Eliza inhaled his scent and felt his heart under her fingers. Real. Everything was real.

“That’s okay,” she was already yawning, half asleep.

Placing her head on his chest, Eliza inhaled his scent and felt his heart under her fingers. Real. Everything was real.

His soft 'I love you' was all she heard before she fell asleep.

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