#the problem is is that it’s so much smaller than the prev book so I can finish it faster

[mycological-mariner]

Wow I’m three chapters into H.M.S Surprise and I am already Stressed Out

[perpetualexistence]

Sea Monster AU: Poor Unfortunate Soul (2/2)

(Why this cover in particular? Mainly because the thumbnail is cool. Also, annapatsu's covers always slap without fail.)

So! It's been a while! Partially because this chapter ended up longer than anticipated. Partially because I got distracted with other AUs because the ADHD mind takes me where it wants to take me. I think it's just going to be safer to not have a set schedule for when these come out because that's apparently just not how my brain wants to work. But I could never forget about this AU! Bit by bit, it will get done, as you can see here!

But here we are! Welcome back to Noah making drastic life choices because Alejandro is a toxic manipulative bastard. Drastic enough to warrant more content warnings.

Content warnings: Murder, cannibalism, toxic relationship, body horror

Once more, the asterisks return for the most gruesome bits. I've got a safer summary of what happens in the asterisks at the bottom.

If you ever think I need more content warnings, please do let me know and I'll add them immediately.

Without further ado, time to dive into Noah's further exploration into magic!

<- Prev | First | Next (Soon) ->

With gills, Noah can now begin with proper magic. There's the spell that would make Alejandro smaller that he still needs to find in his book. There's also the problem of needing a back up plan. If he fails to shrink Alejandro, then Alejandro will kill him. He won't be able to talk his way out of it. He'll need the ability to fight back.

The book can sense his desire to defend himself. It flips to a page that promises a ritual that will grant his body the ability to do just that. It will even make magic easier to perform. Perfect. His only problem is the lack of details on the outcome. Try as he might, the book always flips back to how to cast the spell, and away from what happens after. Considering what happened the last time he tried to force something out of the book, he decides settling for this spell will be easier. The book throws him a bone with mention that this won't be as permanent as the gills, so that's something.

Noah's reading through the list of things he needs for the ritual. Rune knife, check. A bunch of salt, weird, but whatever. Flesh. At least a whole body's worth. The closer the attachment, the better the results. And to finish it off?

Consume the heart.

Noah's frantically looking at the alternative for flesh. He'd essentially need to alchemically recreate a human being. How many more ships would he have to sacrifice to make that happen? Countless, probably. People are already noticing the disappearances. There's no way he'd get all of this before he and Alejandro get caught. If Alejandro gets caught, people are going to go after him. Innocent people, sailing to their deaths because they have no idea about how Noah's been fighting to keep them off the menu.

So flesh it is. Time to kill a person. It's not like this is anything new. He already killed Chris. Even if that one was in complete self defense. And this one would very much be calculated. It'd be easier if he could just sneak away a corpse from one of Alejandro's feeding frenzies. But Alejandro's his ride there and back. There's no hiding a corpse from him.

So he's going to have to kill this one all on his own. In cold-blood. With his twig arms. At least he semi-knows how to defend himself.

Before he got Chef killed, Chef had insisted on teaching him self defense. Said his scrawny ass would have to worry about people just as much as monsters. Forced him to carry stuff with him. Noah did start noticing a difference, however small. Chef was gruff about it, but he did acknowledge it. All in all, Chef was pretty decent. He wasn't completely unreasonable. Not like Chris. Maybe-

No. Noah can't afford to go down that line of thinking. Chef loved Chris. He'd do anything for that man. Maybe Chef did know the true plan, and was still helping Chris. Even if he didn't, he never would have rested if he was allowed to live. Noah couldn't risk revenge killing. Chef had his uses, and now it'll make this job a bit easier.

He needs to kill someone on land. It has to be someone who deserves it. The closer, the better. Thanks to recent events, there's one person who comes to mind. The loan shark who has been hassling his family for years. He's back in town now, and Noah doubts anyone will miss him. He could use his hacking abilities to try to narrow down his exact location. Still, can't walk into a lion's den. He'll be really lucky to take the loan shark down. More than that? Absolutely not. Noah needs to isolate the loan shark, and have him come to Noah. That's going to require tact Noah doesn't have.

But he knows the perfect teacher.

Alejandro is incredibly pleased when Noah tells him that he wants to learn more about hunting. It seems that any concern about what he had been doing with Chef and Chris get quashed when Noah leans into murder. He has to lie about how it felt to kill Chris. Not as much as he thought he would. Chris had it coming. Noah just has to pretend the anger comes less from how he would have sacrificed the town and more from how he would have brainwashed Alejandro.

It's not like he's really lying about it per se. He would have felt bad to completely steal someone's autonomy away. Even if it had been Alejandro. Still, that doesn't dispel the worm of guilt as he swears he recognizes appreciation and fondness in Alejandro's eyes.

There's a part of him that wants to reciprocate. There is. It's the part of him that remembers that Alejandro is the first person he ever got close to and vulnerable with. That recognizes that their relationship has to be more than that of convenience. Why else would Alejandro insist on learning everything about Noah and hanging out even when not hunting? He gushes over romance novels and is jealous of Noah's dog, for fuck's sake. Neither of those things would obviously make him more endearing to Noah if that was Alejandro's goal. It's why they are so endearing.

Yet here Alejandro is. Gushing over his newfound appreciation for the craft of killing. How the yacht incident is forgiven. Forgiven? Like Noah was the one in the wrong for saying no to Alejandro one time? For having a nice night out with people that weren't Alejandro? My god, it wasn't even about the no, was it? It was that Noah could have a positive interaction with anyone except Alejandro. Enough to prioritize himself over pleasing Alejandro. The eel is possessive, and he got jealous, and innocent people had to die for that.

Noah is an object to Alejandro. A pet, if he's feeling generous. He's made that very clear. Alejandro will accept nothing less. So Noah can't give him that choice. He'll shrink Alejandro, and make him the pet instead.

It's the only way he anyone feel be safe.

So he plays up the monstrous version of himself that Alejandro wants. It's easier than it should be. Good. That makes it more believable. He uses the fact that his relationship with the loan shark is personal to excuse wanting to do the kill and take care of the body himself. He never outright says it, but he implies Alejandro as an inspiration for his change in tune.

He takes solace in the fact that all of this is still a lie. It has to be.

He gets in touch with the loan shark through nicking his mother's phone. Not one of his prouder moments, but that ship has sailed, sunk, and rotted away long ago. With the added guile he's learned from Alejandro, he's able to trick the loan shark into coming to a place near Chris's beach house. He's going to pay off the rest of the debt in person to make sure they don't have to do this ever again.

Noah is going to bring a suitcase full of cash that he's saved up from selling off his stolen goods. He needs a reason for the man to get close enough so Noah can stab him with his ritual knife.

Noah would love it if he could just put a bullet in the man's brain without having to get close to him. There are multiple problems with this. One, Noah would need a gun. Two, knowing how finnicky magic is, Noah would have to make a gun. Three, Noah would have to learn how to use the gun. Four, Noah might be searched for weapons. It's a lot of time and effort that Noah's not willing to spend.

The nice thing about magic ritual knives is that, once attuned, they can be summoned at will. So no worry about being caught with a weapon. So, time for the actual stabbing. It's not too hard to find the motivation. He remembers the time he called his oldest sister 'mom'. He was only about four or five at the time. He only knew his mother existed in theory. She just used home as a place to sleep in between jobs. The eldest siblings had been forced to pick up the slack of parenting by necessity. He didn't understand why his sister had sobbed and run to their mother. He could hear the words they shared. But he wouldn't process a child mourning the loss of their childhood until years later.

He knew their father was the one truly to blame for leaving them all to this situation. Noah would twist the knife into his father's back if he could. He'll settle for doing the same to the leech that took advantage of their situation and was still attempting to suck them dry.

***

He's more present for this murder than he was for Chris's. It feels like he's watching someone else in his body, but he's aware enough that he is controlling his own body and remembers this. He wants to remember this one.

Once the loan shark gets close enough, it's a knee to the groin. Noah's fighting to win. A summoned knife to slash him across the neck. Noah misses. The shark didn't fall as fast as he thought he would. The shark uses two hands to grabs him by the wrist and attempts to pull the knife away. Not good, Noah can already feel himself losing that battle.

With a flick of his wrist, the knife glows. It switches from his right hand to his left. He goes for a stab into the side. With luck, he can puncture a lung. He's not used to using his off hand. He doesn't hit a lung, but he does get him in the side. He pulls the knife out quick. Blood pours out from the wound Noah just made. The shark is bleeding now. Not enough for Noah's liking. Noah notices his knife glow, and sees that the blood is being sucked into the runes. That's concerning. But Noah doesn't have time to process that.

Not when the shark takes advantage of his self-made distraction to tackle Noah. Noah goes down quick. He drops the knife in the tackle. The shark is strangling him while he still has the strength to do so. Made even worse by the fact that the shark's fingers are digging into Noah's gills, too. He's gagging, and choking, and he needs to end this now.

He tries to wrestle the shark's hands away from his throat. It does nothing. His strength was never going to be a match for the shark's. He can feel the shark's nails dig into his gills. Now he's choking both on air and his own blood. Spots are dancing in his vision. They're broken by a soft glow. The knife. The knife!

Noah stops trying to stop the choking. Instead, he summons his knife to his hand once more. This wasn't how Noah wanted the bastard to get close, but it'll do. He's right on top of him. The shark is so focused on Noah's throat that he left Noah's arms free. He uses both his hands to make the knife pierces the shark right through his neck. The shark slumps over Noah. Shock? Death? Noah's not sure. He isn't taking chances.

He wriggles out from underneath and stabs him in the throat again. He swore he saw a twitch. Again. The breath of life attempting to work its way through the hole in his throat. Again. Glassy eyes reflect a face Noah can't recognize as his own. Again. Noah's throat feels raw. Was it the choking or is it his screaming? Again. Laughing, or crying? Again. It doesn't matter. Again. It must be done. Again.

His arms tire. The deed is done.

Clean up feels like it takes forever. Still, for all this work he's put into this, he can't afford to be sloppy now. He drags the corpse back. It was a risk hunting his prey so close to his beach house. But the farther he has to take it, the more he'd risk being spotted. So close it is.

Some tension leaves his shoulders once he's inside. But it's not over yet. He drags the corpse all the way to his cove. He dumps the sack of flesh into the water. He dives in after it.

The cool water soothes his aching gills. Right, he'd forgotten about that. He takes a moment to run his hands gently across his gills. At least his scarf will hide the bruises. He cleans the blood off. He hopes that'll be enough because that's the extent to his knowledge on how magic gills work.

Now for the ritual proper. The water is salted, the circle set, incantations spoken. Now, for the body. It's in the center of the circle, but that's not enough. He has to commit one more vile act to see this through.

No time for holding back. He's doing this so no one else has to. At least the earlier cut makes it easier to cut through and reach the heart. He cuts it out and holds it in his trembling hand. There's no going back after this. Then again, there never was.

He closes his eyes and bites into the heart. It feels softer than he expected. Leftover blood bursts onto his tongue. The iron taste makes him gag. He rips away the bite. He chews. He goes for another. His teeth are sore. This one feels easier. His teeth are sharper. The iron loses its sour tang and becomes sweeter. He'd be lying if he said he was never curious about why Alejandro always insisted on eating Noah's kind. He thinks he gets it now.

Oh god. He thinks he gets it now.

He consumes it as quickly as he can manage, before the rest of his thoughts catch up with him. Everything glows, and his body is racked with pain. He passes out in shock.

***

When he comes to, the circle is empty. His body feels heavier. He kicks his feet to try to get back to the surface to gather himself...but he can't. He looks down to see eight tentacles, amber with rings of blue and black, where his legs should be.

On instinct he tries to swim away, but he's not used to wielding eight lower limbs rather than two. Most of them smack at each other in an attempt to replicate legs to swim. Noah's fucked up. He's fucked up so bad. 'Won't be permanent' was a lie that he fell for and now he's given up the humanity he was struggling so hard to keep and why can't he just have his own fucking legs back-

And suddenly he's looking at his legs again. He blinks as he processes the new yet familiar sight. Okay? Okay. This is, maybe that was some kind of stress and magic induced hallucination? They had looked so real though-

And the tentacles are back. Of course he wouldn't be so lucky. At least the 'won't be permanent' thing wasn't a complete lie. He just has to learn how to control the changes. And control the tentacles. Just like the gills. And just settle into his new life as a half-octopus. Cecaelia? Merfolk.

Like Alejandro.

Oh. A body to defend himself.

Well.

He can work with this.

[Noah fights against the loan shark. He wins, and drags what remains back to the beach house he 'inherited' from Chris. He performs the ritual successfully and passes out due to shock.]

[just-horrible-things]

Caution for: referenced non-con Credit to co-author @whump-sprite

AU: Healer And Handler - Supervisor [First | Prev | Next]

On Friday afternoon, Ariadne has her first meeting with her new supervisor. He’s running late, and she has to wait almost fifteen minutes outside his office for him to finish up with the guy before her.

Calder is a short man with narrow features and greying hair. The lines on his face speak to much scowling and little laughter. His desk is small, perhaps in an effort to avoid making Calder himself seem any smaller than he is, and it’s cluttered with books and papers.

“Milonas,” he greets her, “sit down. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you properly.” Nothing in his dry tone suggests pleasure. Ariadne sits down. “Good afternoon, sir.”

“Let’s see,” he hums, shuffling through the files in front of him. “Alex Morgen. I see congratulations are in order. You got him working again.” “Yes, sir. Thank you.” “You came from Interrogations, is that right? So, what did it take to make him heal for you?” “Just a little patience.” She lets a note of irritation creep into her tone. “He’s compliant enough, but Frazier went and fucked up his hands. They can’t do magic if their hands are broken.” “Yes, well.” Calder gathers a stack of papers together in his hands and taps their edges on the desk to straighten them up. “I’ve had a number of complaints against Frazier. There’s a reason he’s not on the roster any more.”

“Did you know he was fucking his healer?” Ariadne demands. “That was one of the allegations that led to the reassignment, yes. There’s no evidence, however --” “Bullshit,” says Ariadne. “Morgen’s covered in really fucking suspect bruises --” “Milonas,” Calder interrupts her sharply, and she shuts her mouth. “Language.” “Sorry, sir.” “As I was saying : there is no concrete evidence, which means there isn’t a great deal I can do. Frazier has been separated from the warlock, and he won’t be assigned another.” “You’re not going to punish him?” “That’s not your concern, Milonas. I’ll thank you to leave it in my hands.” Grudgingly, she nods.

“Now, I see that you’ve only seen five patients so far. Morgen used to be capable of more, do you think you’ll have him up to quota soon?” “I think so,” Ariadne nods. “Frazier damn near killed him with the whip and he’s still recovering. I’m having some trouble keeping his body temperature up.” Calder’s pen scratches across the page as he makes notes. “I also took the liberty of spending some of his magic on his hands to get them working again. I won’t need to do that going forward. Give me until the end of next week and I think we’ll be making quota.” “I’m glad to hear it,” Calder nods. “It’s your opinion that we can’t expect much performance this weekend then?” “Yeah,” she says. “The rota says it’ll be Carlos Mederos working with him?”

There is silence while Calder searches through a stack for the rota. Ariadne regrets asking rather than just telling him that it’s so.

“That’s correct,” he says eventually. “Thank you, sir. I’ll catch up with Mederos before I go home and ask him to go easy on Morgen.” Calder sniffs. “If you think it’s necessary,” he allows with disdain. “I just don’t think more beatings are going to help at this point,” she explains. “He doesn’t have a behavioural problem, whatever Frazier said, and his body needs time to recuperate.” “As I said,” his tone is pointed, “do what you think necessary.” “Yes, sir.”

They speak briefly about timesheets and break rooms and security protocol. All things that Ariadne has already picked up in a week of work. She refrains from saying as much.

“One last thing,” Calder says at length. “I hope I can trust you not to make a scene regarding Frazier’s indiscretions. It doesn’t reflect well on us, you understand. The matter has been handled, and nothing will be gained by discussing it with everyone.” “I understand, sir,” Ariadne agrees, uneasy. “I don’t want to hear anything more about it, especially not from anyone but you.” “I understand,” she repeats. “Good.” He favours her with a brief, chilly smile. “That is all, then. You are dismissed.”

[Next]

[scandeniall]

dive deep //ch.2

pairing:  Akaashi Keiji x Reader

Chapter 2: Editor? Found | prev | next | masterlist

wc: 1116

-----

Akaashi, hummed lightly to the music playing softly through his phone. His eyes filtered back and forth between the email plastered on his screen, and the project he had been working on. A first-time writer approached him about a year ago, wanting to finally get out there and heard about not only Akaashi’s talent at editing, but that he did a lot of freelance work for a discounted price. Sure, Akaashi had been known around several bug publishing firms, and sure he could make more money if he became a permanent editor at one of those places, he loved what he did. He got to meet a lot of talented people, known and unknown and give them a chance.

The sound of his phone disrupted the man as he glanced at his phone. Of course, it was Bokuto. Despite playing for the big leagues, his friend always found the time to call, even if it were a bit much at times. 

 “Akaashi are you busy,” His friend’s voice boomed over the phone/ He almost considered saying yes but decided against it. He had been at this for about three hours now and could use a break. No”

“Awesome! Dude how’s that project going.” Looks like this was just going to be another regular check in with his friend. “I’m about finished. Almost time to send it off for publishing. I should be done by the end of next week. I was thinking of-”

“Great. So, a friend of a friend needs a favor. It's another job. For a writer at HatchWorks and-”

“Bokuto you know how I feel about the big companies. I like helping the independent writers,” The editor raised his eyebrows. Who did Bokuto know at an agency like that anyways? A loud pleading ‘kashiiiiiii’ filled his ears and he sighed. Pulling his phone from his ear, Akaashi took a quick look at his emails, and then calendar to see if he had any larger long-term projects lined up after his current one. None. Just two smaller projects. Two chapbooks, neither requiring him to travel either. He could easily take on a third project. 

“Fine Bokuto,” Akaashi had interrupted his friend’s pleading, “What writer do you know from there anyways.” Akaashi had switched his phone to speaker, preparing himself to type out the details of who is apparently his next writer. 

“It’s (Y/N), I can’t remember her last name, but she wrote that one book like 2 years ago. You keep up with books, you know her, right? Anyways she's Kuroo’s friend and…” Akaashi tuned his friend out after that. Of course, he knew who she was. A prodigy when it came to writing, garnering attention from local competitions even back in high school. The top row of his bookshelf was reserved for his favorite books, yours laying on there. The pages had been worn down, through multiple rereads and Akaashi had been eagerly waiting for another book. Now the opportunity to be a part of a masterpiece had fallen into his lap by sheer luck. Or because of the connections from his high school friends. “I’ll do it” Akaashi had cut off Bokuto who was still going on. He managed to pick up that you two lived in the same city, and that Kuroo would text him some more details, after confirming with the writer. 

-----

Three days had passed since Kuroo had proclaimed that he was the greatest friend ever, and then went ghost. After vaguely saying that he may know someone, he aided his friend in the cleanup of her apartment, forcing her to take out the trash and get rid of the writing “failures.” After that, he forced her to rid the empty bottles of wine and to change her sheets. By the time the two had gotten ready to make the living room at least presentable to guests, Kenma had come back bearing food. Both dinner for the three, and a few groceries for the writer. A quick glance in the empty refrigerator told him all he needed to know about his friend’s eating habits as of late. The woman hated to admit it but seeing the two men had helped. She was at least back to getting out of bed, and moping. Actually, bothering to eat food instead of sleeping. However, the problem still remained. She needed an editor and needed one soon.

“Kuroo’s on his way over.” Kenma spoke over the sound of his game. He had redirected her focus from the words in front of your paper to him. He’d invited her over, just to get her out of her own apartment but the two primarily sat in silence. He had been streaming and working, while she attempted to get her own work done. None of the words staring back just seemed right.

“Haven’t heard from him in days. The bastard went dark on me,” the writer mumbled knuckles cracking after releasing the pen from the death grip she held on it. The sound of the game came to a halt as Kenma turned to face his friend. “He said he has good news.” Had he not paused his game; his voice would have seemed uncaring. “I hate mopey you. It's even more annoying than persuasive Kuroo.” The writer cracked a quick smile, knowing just what Kenma had been talking about. Whenever the friend would try to get anyone in on his plans, he’d resort to listing all the great things he’d done as a friend. Those were all reasons why either her or Kenma should join him. If that didn’t work, he would not hesitate to disrupt anyone from what they were doing, even going to their home if time allowed. 

The rattle of Kenma’s front door caused them both to focus their attention towards it, their friend parading in with not only a bag of takeout, but a knowing smirk directed at the writer. “Kenma. (Y/N). The best friend in the world has arrived.” Kuroo ignored the scoff from the writer and an unamused look from the gamer. 

“You still have your lab coat on-”

“Best friend my ass-” 

The two spoke simultaneously, eyeing their friend whose reaction went from confused, realizing he did indeed still have his lab coat on, to amused feigning hurt. “Is that any way to talk to the friend who found you an editor.” That caught the writer’s attention as she eyed the man suspiciously. Her other friend moved so that he could take the food bag to allow Kuroo to remove his shoes and coat. “Kuroo don’t be annoying.”

“He’s always annoying,” the writer chimed in joining the two towards the kitchen. 

 “Who is it?”

“Its Akaashi Keiji.”

A/N: is this gonna end up as me attempting to write slow burn for the first time? who knows???? I’m like 70% winging this. I will say that you're going to notice that in this like /most/ of my writing i do focus a lot on relationships so the friendships in this are gonna be very crucial to forwarding whatever plot i settle on yes yes. Comment or inbox if u wanna be on the taglist

taglist: @alloverbutterflies

[lettersofwrittencollective]

The Pull (17/?)

Summary: The Ragnulf’s are one of the oldest lines of werewolves known. A gift from ancient times was given to the line. Though not all of the line will experience it. There are some who will experience a Pull. This Pull leads them to their true mate, a soulmate. The problem is, just because the wolf finds their true mate does not mean that they are the same for that person.

Author: @lettersofwrittencollective​ 

Pairing: Stiles x Hale!Cousin OC (Reader)

Word Count: 2407

A/N: So I  would clarify, when I envision this character- I very much envision this character to be more on the athletic side, a bit lean and muscled, because they are a predator. They are on the shorter side (about 5 ft) which has to do with the fact that research indicates that female wolves tend to be smaller than male wolves.  I have tried to create a character that is Latin with Nordic ancestry (please see part 14) which is why there is some Spanish that gets occasionally thrown in and why Odin plays such a huge role in this. I try to stay away from blatant descriptors but this is so you know that, when they’re there that’s what I am envisioning.

A/N: As always, please let me know what you thought. Any comments, questions, or concerns. I LOVE hearing/ reading your thoughts!!

<<Prev || Masterlist || Next>>

Laying in bed that night, Stiles was having a hard time falling asleep. After dropping off Lydia, he had made his way towards Derek's loft to drop off Natasha. He’d been a little surprised that she was a bit snappy at Rafael seeing as how he’s not really seen her snip at any authority figure. Though, he has to admit that he likes that she wasn’t willing to just back down.  He had, however, been very worried about what had happened before the medics and police had gotten to the substation.

“Natasha?” he had asked and at her hmmm of acknowledgment he’d asked if she was okay.

When she had responded in the affirmative, the confusion had been so evident in her voice that he’d slammed on Roscoes breaks. He’d heard her grunt and watched a grimace cross her features. “That right there!!”  he’d exclaimed as he motioned at her. “Not to mention that you just had a whole damn substations electrical current smack you like a ton of bricks. That has to have done some kind of damage! Or are you actually Wonder Woman?” While Stiles had continued to rant, she had very calmly and very casually just reached over and took his hand. He’d been so surprised at her trying to comfort him that he’d stopped his raving.

“Stiles I promise you, I am absolutely fine. It wasn’t the whole substation or I would be very much dead. Seeing how that’s not the case, it was probably just a couple volts that had jumped off. Sure it hurt a ton in the moment but, now, it’s just the same as every other day. Nothing I’m not used to.”

But those words... Sitting up in bed Stiles thought back to some of the things that he had noticed about the girl. The way that she would wince sometimes like she was in actual pain but there had been nothing around that could have been painful. Or the way that she would stretch, and when asked would just say that she was sore. Also, the way that he had overheard Scott ask Isaac if she was still in pain.

He pulled out the notebook he had started on her. There was his research on Themis,  Xolotl, and Odin specifically. Though there was a lot more on the Norse god and mythology than on the other two. He was curious about something that he had noted before-  Stories told of a family of wolves that had walked with Odin. He was trying to figure out if that had anything to do with her caring so much about the god. As he read it, he realized that a lot of it looked like gibberish and he was. well, he was sure that had to do with the fact that he hardly slept.

That was actually one of the reasons that the two of them had started to hang out as often as they did. Sure, her trusting him to not get her leg snapped in half by a bear trap was psych 101 for the friendship but, as they hung out more and more he realized that the girl was actually quite warm, inquisitive and sharp. He had however noticed that she was very hesitant to be affectionate while awake. For the most part, she was only really affectionate with Isaac and, occasionally, Allison. When she was asleep though, she seemed to be much more affectionate. The day that she’d fallen asleep while studying, she had curled up into his side and when he’d tried to leave, she’d searched for body heat and when he’d carried her upstairs earlier, she had nuzzled his neck. He had been hard-pressed not to drop her at that moment as his heart had practically stopped in his chest.

It made him wonder if she was naturally a very affectionate person but just hid it from the group. Not that he could entirely blame her, she still didn’t know him, Scott or Lydia all that well.

He’d noted how her eyes were usually purple or blue. The purple seemed to look almost natural though he knew they weren’t. He’d seen them flash brightly the night Ethan and Aiden beat Scott. The blue, though, was a bright color.

Sighing, he put the notebook away and then laid back in bed. He felt bad that he still had the notebook. Maybe he would get rid of it. But, there were a lot of things he had in there that he had noticed about her. Like the way she bit her lower lip, or how she would get very defensive of both Peter and Derek. Or how her nose scrunched up when she actually laughed. Figuring he’d decide what to actually do with the notebook later he tried to go to sleep.

“I take it you didn’t sleep last night?” you asked Stiles as you hopped in Roscoe. He gave you a confused look and you shook your head, “You look like crap Stiles.”

He acts offended and you chuckle at him. The two of you head to school and you tell him that both Peter and Derek are back. He asks where they were and you just shrug, “Derek had questions for Talia and so they got her claws.”

“Why her claws?”

“Come on Stiles, it’s the supernatural, claws are… well, the best way I can think to describe it is to just say that an evolved wolf’s claws can be used to access them even after death.”

He merely makes a sound that sounds like he’s surprised at what you said. You roll your eyes before realizing that you didn’t see your backpack, “Stiles? Did you by any chance grab my back from your house this morning?”

“Nope, left it sitting on the sofa.”

“Stiles! I need-” his laugh cuts you off and you realize that he’s joking. Huffing at him, you stick out your tongue.

“It’s in the backseat.”

Looking In the back, you see that it is in fact sitting right there. You reach over and pull a notebook  and a pen from it and you start to write down the things you remember from yesterday’s weird vision, or whatever it was.

“What you writing there?” Stiles asks and you tell him about the crazy vision you had had, though you make it out to have been a dream instead. You tell him about the spider and the eagle and the spear but you don’t say anything about him. Instead, you just say that you heard someone calling your voice and that when you found them, they were surrounded by fireflies and a valkyrie.

“I don’t know Stiles it was just weird.. Figured I should write it down though - might be something important later, ya know?”

“Makes sense.” he nods his head and the two of you spend the rest of the way to the school with only the radio making any real sound between you.

When you’re at school, you go with Stiles to his locker. Once the locker is open, he sets his keys inside and begins to get the books that he’s going to need for your first class.

Coach is talking into a bullhorn, “Class starts in five minutes!! Just because there’s no power don’t expect there to be no school.”

“Hey that’s a triple negative.” Stiles points out as he pulls back from rummaging through his locker. “Good job coach.”

“Copy that.”

You look down at your notebook and start to re-read what you had written on the way here. You’re distracted when, a moment later, Stiles is pulling Scott towards him. Truthfully, the only reason you even notice that is because Stiles is saying no and telling Scott to stop.Scott, for his part, is saying that he needs to talk to someone and you’re confused until you follow his eyes and see that he’s staring after Kira’s retreating form.

“No, you need to remember someone left a coded message telling Barrow to kill her.”

“Which is why I need to talk to her.” Scott rebuttals against his friend.

Shaking your head, you point out “Or, you could just talk to her because someone did leave a coded message for Barrow to kill her and she was kidnapped which is a pretty stressful situation for anyone to be in. Scott, you’ve talked to her a couple times. Stiles- we helped save her. I, for one, will be trying to check on her later today. I don’t think bombarding her currently will do any good.”

Stiles looked at you then Scott. “Scott, Natasha,” he began with a serious tone to his voice. “No, until we figure out if she’s just another psychotic monster that’s going to start murdering everybody, I vote against any and all interaction.”

“What if she’s like us?” Scott asks, motioning between you and him.

“That girl walked through 1.21 gigawatts of electricity. She’s not like either of you.”

“But Natasha did the same thing and you’re ok, right?”

Shaking your head, you rub your right hand over your left arm before bringing the hand to the back of your neck. ‘Scott, I didn’t walk through anything. A small bit of electricity had to have gotten out and it knocked me out. I don’t know how much a wolf can take and I don’t particularly care to find out. But there is no way that it would be even half a gigawatt.n That would have killed me.”

Scott looked torn for a moment before nodding his head and heading, presumably, towards the class. You were going to join him when you looked over and saw Stiles staring at a key on his keyring as if he were confused as to why it was there. Something occurred to you at that moment and glancing around you quickly, you made sure that no one you knew with supernatural hearing was in the area.

By the time you turned to look back at Stiles, he was looking at you with a raised eyebrow. You smirk at him, he was the one that had given you the perfect set up to ask anyways, “So…  I take it you don’t think I’m a - what were the word” you stopped for a moment to try and remember what he’d said. “Ah yes, another psychotic monster that’s going to start murdering everybody?”

“Absolutely not,” Stiles says without hesitation as he puts an arm around you and you two walk to History.  You chuckle softly and allow him to pull you along.

Realizing something, you ask Stiles “Have you heard from Allison or Isaac today?”

“No. But I’m sure Scott told Allison what happened so she would’ve told Isaac.”

You merely hum a sound of skeptical acceptance and pull your phone out. Sending Isaac a text, you ask if he’s at school today.

Isaac: Nah me and Allison are taking the day off.

You: Everything ok?

Isaac: Ya

Isaac: just wanted to spend some time together without - ya know?

You: Alright, well stay out of trouble.

You: And give Alli my love

You: 😘💜💜💜💜

Isaac: What about me?

You: 😈😈💩💩

Putting your phone away, you sit in your seat. Scott and Stiles are deep in conversation with each other and Kira is stuck in her paperwork. It actually looks like she may be doodling, considering how quickly her pens moving across the page.

Leaning forward, you tap her on the shoulder. She stiffens for a moment before turning to you. Squeezing her shoulder in, what you hope is, a reassuring gesture she shakes her head at you, “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

You nod your head at her, “We don’t have to. Just know that if you find yourself needing anything, I’m here for you. Pretty sure that Scott would be to…” out of the corner of your eye, you see Scott glance at the two of you very quickly, “Actually I know he would.” you tell her before leaning back in your own seat.

Your phone buzzes in your pocket and you try to ignore it but it goes off a couple more times. You pull it out and look down at the screen.

Stiles: What was that?

Stiles: Natasha… she could be dangerous

Stiles: Do you want to get eaten?!

Stiles: Seriously!

The little bubble that indicates he’s still writing is going off and you shake your head before typing out a quick response,

You: Trust me... Please?

You hear him sigh and the bubble disappears for a moment before it appears again. A second later, you see his response

Stiles: 😑

Stiles: Okay.

Sending him an appreciative smile, you feel your phone vibrate again, looking at it you see a text from Ro in a group chat.

Ro: Ok, so since Ylfa, knows that we’re all talking, I am reviving the group chat and you can all suck it 😜

As you go to respond,  you hear Mr. Yukimura say, “Ms. Ragnulf,” and you know you’ve been caught on your phone. Making a face, you turn to look at him. “Since you seem so preoccupied with your phone, perhaps you already know the answer then?” At your blank look, he repeated the question he had asked the rest of the class. “What happened in the United States after the bombing of Pearl Harbor?”

It took you a moment to recall your reading but you finally did, “President Roosevelt called December 7, 1941 ‘A day that will forever live in infamy.’ Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan and we are officially seeking vengeance against the Japanese. The following year, Japanese-Americans are thrown in internment camps throughout the United States. The U.S. sends troops to aid the Allied Powers in Europe and fights on the Pacific Theatre. Men end up slaughtered in the capturing Iwo Jima and Okinawa as the Japanese took longer to surrender than expected. Many of the leaders of the Japanese military were required to perform Seppuku because of the shame they had brought upon -”

“Well,” Mr. Yukimura cut you off, “It seems that someone actually did their reading. Good job Ms. Ragnulf.”

Mr. Yukimura then turns back to the front of the class and continues he lecture on World War II.

-

-

-

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Do not copy and paste my writing anywhere without my consent. This work is the property of lettersofwrittencollective . Associated characters belong to MTV and are being borrowed for this work, all OC’s are the property of lettersofwrittencollective. These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

Posted 12 April 2019

[nautiscarader]

marco/harem 22

() (Ao3) (next>>)

As a psychologist, Marco Diaz wasn’t exactly used to making home visits, but in the recent months, he had to end his work an hour earlier to make sure he’d be able to make all the stops along the way. And he had quite a few of them…

The canvas of reality was set aflame and torn apart when Marco used his dimensional scissors, stepping into the familiar, stone chambers of Mewni’s royal castle. He looked around the seemingly empty bedroom, until a raised voice attracted his attention.

- Marco! - Star shrieked, as she stepped outside her screen - I thought you were gonna be later, I’m-I’m not ready… - Well, I managed to sneak out earlier. - he smiled and opened her arms, welcoming his partially clothed girlfriend.

Their lips met in a long, ravenous kiss, and their arms automatically gravitated towards their backs; Marco had to make just a few moves to undo the last pieces of her royal attire, while Star pressed her hands against his bottom and used her magic to puff the clothes away. She let out a giggling purr when her naked body met with his, and she was able to smell the familiar cologne and enjoy the muscles on his chest.

- How was the day for you? - Marco asked, kneeling down, peppering breasts of the Mewnian princess. - Oh, nothing unusual. - she toyed with his hair - Just some problems with monsters and Mewmans, but nothing serious. - They still don’t like it? - Some don’t… - Star sighed, and Marco at once closed his lips around her nipple, hoping to ease some of the problems of his magical friend.

It’s been good ten years since Queen Eclipsa brought peace between the monsters and Mewmans, with the help of Star, Moon, and the rest of their entourage, and while Mewni could claim was mostly at peace, there were a lot of smaller problems that cannot be solved even with magic. And as Star was instrumental in bringing down Mina, she was usually the unconventional diplomat to to the job.

But now, she was just a woman moaning under Marco’s caresses that slowly ventured down. And nothing encapsulated Star’s ability to be the bridge between two worlds than her enlarged belly that Marco was worshipping right now. tired of standing up, the two hopped onto her spacious bed, giving Marco chance to cover the entirety of her baby bump with kisses, naturally gravitating to the most delicate and arousing part of her body that attracted Marco with its enticing smell the moment Star spread her legs.

- And… and how was the magical… high… commission… session? - Marco asked, sneaking a kiss between words that made Star shiver with anticipation. - Have you…. seen… Hekapoo? - Why don’t you… ask.. ask herself?

Marco rose from between Star’s legs, and he didn’t have to look back to feel the fiery presence behind him, when Hekapoo cupped his face and tilted his head back.

- Hey, there, Muscles. - Hey, there, H-Poo. - he replied, placing a kiss on her hot lips.

Star scooted aside, leaving place for the third visitor that soon got rid of her clothes with a quick fire spell and lay beside Star, giving her swollen breasts a quick massage to accompany Marco’s efforts.

- I thought I was gonna visit each of you separately. - Marco raised his brow and continued licking Star’s puffy pussy, keeping a tight grip on her quivering legs. - Like the usual? - Yeah, but where’s fun in that?

A third voice reached Marco’s ears when Jackie and Janna walked out of the bathroom, their robes being the only barrier between him and their naked bodies. Star, though her mind was quickly becoming a bliss, touched her bed that grew in width, giving the two human girls place to rest their tired bodies.

- Is Kelly gonna visit too? - Marco asked, trying to divide his attention between Star and Jackie now, sneaking his hand between her legs. - It wouldn’t be a complete set without me!

Kelly replied with a slightly croaked voice, arriving through another portal. She waved her wolf Jorby goodbye, and let the portal close behind herself. Compared to the other four, she was the oddest one, clad in a suit of armour that disappeared when her vast hair covered her body and sheathed anything that could prevented access to her naked body.

- Don’t tell me you forgot, Diaz… - Jackie gave Kelly a hand and made the green-haired girl comfortable right next to Marco, already salivating at the sight of his muscles. - Forgot? - Marco asked, emerging from between Hekapoo’s breasts. - It’s been exactly four months… - Kelly answered, stroking her equally swollen belly. - …since we got here, in this very room… - Janna continued, placing delicate butterfly kisses across Jackie’s belly. - …and we got very, very horny… - Star added, taking his hand to put it on Janna’s stomach. - …and then you bred us.

Hekapoo finished, in a low, and smoky voice, before she pushed his face against her enlarged tummy, eagerly waiting for his caresses. Marco blinked, watching sly smiles on his five girlfriends, and he couldn’t believe that it has been nearly half a year already. Many things have happened ever since that fateful night when Marco Diaz engaged in a marathon of love-making that would have been near-perfect night of indulgence if not for a tiny detail that Star forgot to cast her protective spell on herself and the others, ensuring that the seed Marco has flooded them with will find a very fertile ground.

It wasn’t easy coming to realisation that he will be a father five times over, but if there was something Marco could be sure of was that with enough help they would be able to overcome any problem. He worked five times harder, but each of his girlfriends offered a supportive hand towards the others, sometimes quite literally crossing boundaries of their dimensions. Marco couldn’t choose one of the women he loved, and so each day he made his trips, making sure each of the mother of his children had everything they needed. and of course, in many cases, what the needed the most, was Marco himself, proven by their ravenous stares and handsy gestures.

Kelly was the first to grab Marco’s cock; she fixed her glasses and began licking him, tasting first drops of salty, raw cum. Jackie and Janna followed their friend, and soon three mouths and six hands caressed Marco’s tool, while his hands and most importantly, lips, were had to be split between Star and Hekapoo. For once, Star didn’t have to feel inferior to the other gals, as her blessed state made her breasts a bit more prominent, though compared to Hekapoo she was still smaller. But for Marco size didn’t matter, as he happily kissed, licked and nuzzled their very sensitive racks. With each hand between their thighs, Marco synchronised moves of his fingers, trying to give the lady on each of his side the same treatment, and judging by the amount of juices flowing from their pussies, he was on the right way.

With their pregnant bellies, Kelly, Jackie and Janna found it a bit more difficult to maneuver around, opting to just lay next to each other and pass Marco’s cock between the three, letting each hungry woman get a taste of their lover, only occasionally meeting in between and giving him the triple presentation. Marco’s moan,s coming from between Star’s and Hekapoo’s bodies only slowed their roulette, as they knew the reward was going to feel much better if they let their man suffer just a bit longer.

Marco Diaz was more than busy, however. Once his fingers proved to be not enough, his face was occupied by Star, who unceremoniously pushed herself against his lips, bringing her wet sex to his mouth. Fortunately, she didn’t have to rely on help of others or strength of her legs to hover above him; she became coated in yellow light and soon afterwards, she was simply flying above him, feeling nothing of the extra weight she was carrying, giving Marco even better access to her pussy.

From his position Marco had the chance to observe her big, sensitive belly, and each touch of his invoked a deep and primal, almost religious feeling of ecstasy and pride. Even though he knew about it for the last five months, remembering that it was his child that grew in his girlfriends’ bellies, made him double his efforts each time. He licked, he sucked, he nibbled, and soon he was tasting Star Butterfly’s magic she was cumming with, and each lick of the thick, glittering juice tasted deliciously. But the butterfly was soon pushed over, and her delicate legs were replaced by heated thighs of Hekapoo that demanded very much the same from the lover that made the unthinkable and got her pregnant.

But before he had the chance to satisfy her, Marco had to let urges escape his body. Marco’s legs writhed and quaked, while the other three girls continued their triple blowjob. They could all feel the tension in his balls they caressed, and each tasted his cock for just a split of a second, wondering which one of them would be granted with his explosive orgasm. As he pressed his lips against Hekapoo’s pussy, Marco Diaz lost it, and his hips jerked, sending a fountain of cum into the air that soon found its way to coat one very lucky girl.

- K-Kelly? - Marco Diaz asked, breathing heavily and looked from behind Hekapoo’s body.

Just as he suspected, her hair were now only partially green, split with a hefty streak of white in between. Kelly smiled, took off her glasses and licked one end of the long, thick rope of cum, swallowing each and every single drop.

- Alright, Diaz, go on. - Hekapoo nagged him,and with that attitude in mind, he continued.

As the night went by, he made sure that reach of his girlfriends would be satisfied that way. After he brought Hekapoo to her orgasm, Jackie took over, while Janna climbed onto him and let his cock slide inside her. In the past months Marco read a metric ton of books, both from his and other worlds, about pregnancy and about risks making love to a pregnant lady can be. But given the fact that Kelly has juct came back from her training, and Hekapoo was still riding a dragoncycle, he concluded there could be very little wrong his cock can do to them.

The other ladies took care of each other; Hekapoo and Star were engaged in a heated 69, while Kelly sneaked herself behind Janna, supplying Marco’s cock and her pussy extra tongue work neither of them expected. Hekapoo preferred to be taken from behind, taking her by the horns giving her the memories of the night during which Marco has pumped her full of his virile seed, and she was more than glad to cheer Marco with her dirty mouth, telling him to fill her again and again. Star took Marco into the air, her six hands providing enough security to his adult, bulky body that allowed him to buckle him inside her, as if he was lying on her comfy bed. The others had to catch the two, though when Star was torn by her orgasm and her wings gave up. She as just a foot above their bed, though. Jackie liked doggy-style too, but insisted Marco would keep his hands on her belly, holding not one, but two future Diazes, and Marco was more than happy to grant her her wish, kissing her throughout their slow love-making. Janna and Kelly came up with a plan to be taken at the same time, and even though Marco had only once cock, they found a way to achieve their goal, closing their puffy sexes tightly around his stiff mast, and letting Marco’s hips do all the work, pushing up and down between them. This technique proved more than satisfying as Star quickly added her hands to they mix, caressing the cock’s head that showed up from between them, and with her help, their pregnant bellies were soon covered by the same sticky substance they were once full of and changed them forever.

Each of the women had their turn, enjoying Marco Diaz the way they wanted, and Marco gladly let them, though with each climax he lived through and each portion of his seed he filled their pussies with he got more and more tired, even by his standards. And so, by the end of the night he was merely supplying his girlfriends with hugs, kisses and body warmth, while his body rested from being torn by orgasm after orgasm. As Marco Diaz looked around, he oly saw content, happy faces of his ladies, all either chatting, or exchanging soft kisses with each other, leaking copious amount of his seed.

He crawled from one of them to another, placing a single kiss on their swollen bellies, receiving often equally tender caresses back. Janna spilled the beans that she has found quite a nice piece of dimension with enough time and space to build a house there, and the five talked, imagining how life under one roof could have looked like, giving Marco Diaz a breather. Their discussion was abruptly cut by a loud snore from Marco Diaz that found himself a nice spot to fall sleep, spread against Jackie’s body, using her breasts as a pillow.

He dreamt about life with the women he loved and their children he loved even more. He knew he still had around five months until they’d arrive, and he could be sure two things: that he’ll make their lives as good as possible, and that night like this one certainly won’t be the last.

[teonjae]

[11:56 am] “uhh, good morning-“

“hey, chan! my name’s jennie. i’m afraid we haven’t met yet,” jennie sticks her hand out. chan shakes her hand. “you’re the,” he makes hand gesture, “leader around here...right?”. “yes, that’s me,” she giggles.

“chan, who’s at the door?,” you step into the scene and see a familiar face. “hello, y/n! i’m jennie. i saw you at the party last night. you looked amazing!”.

“o-oh, thank you,” you blushed at the sudden comment, “uhh, come in.”. you opened the door wider for jennie, discovering that chan left his spot. “you guys decorated the house well,” she goes to the small drawers by the wall as you excuse yourself to get some drinks. she picks up a pile of pictures that haven’t been placed in frames yet, pictures you took when you were still in the city. “how is it in the city?”

you settle the tray of drinks on the coffee table and wipe your hands on your jeans, “it’s fine. there’s a lot of stress but you’ll get used to it.”. “ahh,” she nods, still looking at the pictures, “how ‘bout here? do you like it so far?”

“i do. it’s quiet around here,” jennie places the pictures down and gets a drink, settling for the couch in front of you. “if i were you, don’t get too much comfortable,” she says before taking a sip of lemon-water, “it can get real crazy here sometimes.”. her advice made you visibly tense, causing jennie to chuckle inside, “oh?”

“yeah. robberies, shoplifting, murder. you name it,” she chuckles like it’s nothing. your silence makes her continue, “i bet you don’t hear much of those from where you came from, city girl. cause the police’s there. heck, we don’t even have a clinic,” she scoffs. “but don’t worry. you have a big man to protect you right?,” she licks her lips and points her glass to you as she says this and you give a small nod. you swear you saw her eyes gleam a little red when she said “big man”, but you paid no attention to it, dismissing it as your paranoia playing with you.

“i heard you’re looking for something to do from soojin. there’s a boutique here near the entrance of the district. jisoo could always use a helping hand,” she sets her glass down and smiles, “you could also get some frames there for your pictures too.”

“ah, thank you.”

“no problem. i’m just doing my job.”

[1:47 pm] the bell in the store jingles as you enter. you see old clothes displayed on manequins, old jewelry hanged in the corner, and books piled on a table in the middle of the store.

“oh you must be y/n!,” a voice surprising you says. “i’m jisoo,” she hugs you and smells like old books and flowery perfume. “we really don’t get visitors often but we’re moving stuff around. you’ll be a big help,” she lets go of you and rubs your shoulder. she walks over to a box and carries it, “you can start with replacing the clothes on the manequins. the new ones are in the box over there.”. you nod in her direction and let out a quiet okay. “call me if you need anything,” the older calls out as she goes to the back of the store. you walk over and pick up the box, placing it near the first manequin you’re starting with. you take off its dusty pink dress and replace it with a new one.

[1:55 pm] the boys laugh at chan’s story while lisa coughs on her drink. “you alright?,” chan asks while still laughing. “i’m fine,” lisa chokes, “jennie’s here!”

“hey guys!,” a cheery jennie says, “what are you guys doing?”. she sits close to chan causing lisa, changbin, and minho to subtly share a look. “chan was just sharing stories from the city,” lisa pipes up. “oh?,” jennie turns to chan and giggles, “i’d love to hear your stories from the city.”

[4:01 pm] you let out a breath from having to move the old couches from the back to the center. “are you okay? i can give you easier jobs if you’d like?,” jisoo hands a glass of cold water and a towel. you take a gulp from the glass and wipe your face with the towel, “thank you.”. “there’s boxes of papers in the back. you could sort those out.”

you finish the glass of water and jisoo takes it from you. “it’s this way,” she leads you to the back.

[4:27 pm] “i never saw it ever since,” chan says. “it must’ve been stolen!”

“lisa, he lived in a condo,” minho deadpans. “you never know,” she shrugs.

“maybe, but then again we’ll never know. good thing i haven’t lost anything since we got here,” chan leans back, sighing.

“i’ll give you a heads up, channie,” jennie looks him in the eyes, “everyone here looses something, whether you like it or not. but let me tell you, you’re definitely not gonna like the way how you’re going to lose it.”

[5:24 pm] you’re sorting the third box now, throwing the receipts in a smaller one and placing the more important files back in the original box.

you stop sorting for a while, a newspaper catching your attention. it contained an image of a girl in a car, her throat slit and eyes still open. your goosebumps rose when you looked at the date, june 6 — the same date as today. you study the article, taking in as much as you can.

“what are you doing?,” a voice startles you from behind. “holy sh-“ you stop yourself from cursing when you see a boy, not much younger than you are, behind you. he stares you down while he waits for you to answer. “i-i’m just sorting out some papers,” you stutter.

“seungmin, you’re back! y/n, this is my younger brother, seungmin,” jisoo wraps her arm around seungmin and smiles at you, while her brother shows you no signs of enlightenment. you give a smile in his direction before he walks away to the back of the store. “he’s been through a lot, forgive him,” jisoo looks at you with apologetic eyes. “no worries,” you were about to sort papers again when the bell jingles, a lady in a neon pink dress walking in, “jisoo?”

you divert your attention from her as jisoo greets the visitor. “these are for you,” you hear her say. “ah, thank you. seungmin would love these.”

“is he okay?”

“yeah. he’s just getting nightmares about it but he’s fine. oh, and this is y/n,” you look up and smile at the mention of your name. “y/n, this is sana. she used to work a lot in here before she got a girlfriend,” you and sana laugh as jisoo rolls her eyes. “well, i’ve got a date and momo’s waiting in the car. i better go now.”

“it was nice seeing you again. come by when you’re free again, okay?”

“i will. see you again, y/n!,” sana waves at you. “have fun on your date!,” you say. you go back to sorting papers while jisoo accompanies sana out.

half a minute has not even passed and you hear a high pitched scream, making you rush outside. the scene in front of the store causes you to hold your breathe.

sana crying and screaming as jisoo holds her. you take one look at the car and it makes you want to vomit.

there it was, a girl with her throat slit and her eyes still open. exactly like the picture from the newspaper.

masterlist | prev / next

[tryagainmv]

spark up! (part 29 of 30)

prev ❧ next

➷ y/n is jaemin’s childhood friend, but when she moves back to her hometown all different types of sparks fly.

“hello?” you picked up, with a rough, sour voice. “what do you want?”

“y/n,” jeno said, voice sombre and tinged with something akin to regret. “i just called to —“

“called to do what? yell at me? call me a slut or not your equal?” you spat out, your foggy head blurring all your thoughts together. the only emotion you could distinguish was anger.

“i actually called to say that i heard about your — your grandpa, and i’m sorry. no one deserves to go through that,” he whispered.

“you what?”

“word travels fast, i guess… but yeah, i heard last night and wanted to give you time because i know you really don’t like me and probably didn’t want to talk to anyone last night, but i just wanted to say that i know how it feels to lose someone important. and that i was sorry, for your grandfather. i’m sorry.”

you took a deep breath and turned the phone onto speaker, laying back down into your messy bed that you hadn’t left since you had woken up four hours ago.

“thanks, jeno,” you said simply.

“and i’m —“ you heard him take a deep breath. “i’m sorry for treating you like shit. i know i was so hard on you and i was so selfish and calculating and i tried to get you high with us which was a really, really shitty thing to do. i had no idea about your dad, and i wouldn’t have pushed that far if i had known. you seriously make jaemin happy, and i know i’ve said this before but i don’t think i meant this until now. when i had punched him, you had cried. you were more scared for him than you were of me, that’s when it really sunk in. i haven’t really felt anything for him in a long time, to be honest. whatever we had, it had run its course by the time you had come around again, and i was a dick and wanted to hold onto it because i think i felt intimidated? scared of losing my routine, because after my brother had died, my entire life had been shaken to the core and i guess i didn’t want to lose anything again. i was selfish and greedy and violent, and i really hurt you and i didn’t know just how much i was. so i’m sorry for that too.”

“thanks, jeno. i’m really glad we talked this through, actually, it makes me feel a lot better. is this all genuine now?”

“one hundred percent, y/n. i wouldn’t beat you while you were down. i don’t expect to be friends, because i was a real asshat. but i don’t want us to hate each other. is that — would that be — uh, okay?”

“yeah, jeno, it would. thanks for calling, but i think my grandma’s getting up and i have to go talk with her for a bit. thank you,” you said, voice softer as you got up out of bed and walked out of your room in your disheveled pyjamas.

“no problem. bye,” he said, and you pressed the end button and slid your phone into the pocket of your plaid flannel pyjama bottoms that were too hot for the weather.

a weight slid off of your chest, but 20 more were added on as you walked down the staircase to the first floor and into the kitchen.

“good morning,” your grandma croaked out, her voice weak. she looked so much older, so much weaker. “honey, we need to talk.”

“about where i’m going to live?” you warbled.

“about where you’re going to live. honey, they want me in the home in two or three days. they say that with my recent health combined with the stress of your grandpa… they say that i’m a serious risk and you’re not old enough to take care of me alone. i can’t work, i can’t provide for you, and if anything ever happened —“ she said, voice shaking. “i couldn’t leave you alone. honey, i’m sending you home to your mom. i booked a flight for you, it’s tomorrow morning… i don’t want you around for all of this, the funeral and the selling of the house and the auctions.”

your heart sunk.

you don’t know what you had expected.

you’d stay with jaemin forever? you’d live with him and it would be a perfect, broke fairytale? you’d wake up every morning in his arms and you’d cook up breakfast and kiss over eggs and juice? you’d end up with more hickeys than you could handle? you’d learn how to skateboard with him and drive up to the beach every weekend, lighting up sparklers and making playlists? you’d split a milkshake and a large fry at that old truck stop on the highway 25 minutes from the beach and share coy looks over the linoleum countertops?

what had you really expected?

that you’d actually have it easy?

she noticed the pale pallor of your face, the look of the shattering heartbreak you felt in your chest unwillingly spreading to your face.

“isn’t this what you were thinking? what you wanted? you didn’t want to be in a foster home, and we don’t have anyone to be your guardian… honey, this is what you chose,” she said quietly, reaching out a shaky hand to stroke your white knuckles.

your throat was so dry.

because she was right.

“yeah, i know. it’s just setting in,” you mumbled, getting up from your chair. “i guess i’m going to start packing, then.”

“you don’t need to do that right away. just sit with me for a bit. please, dear,” she pleaded.

you obliged, and you just sat, her sipping her green tea and you tracing the wooden tabletop, devoid of the knife marks that the one in your old home had possessed. this one only had tiny smiley faces your grandpa had drawn in with the tine of his fork to make you giggle. he would always shush you, saying that “grandma couldn’t know, she’d throw a fit!”. you smiled to yourself.

after her tea had drained, you had both stood up. you looked into her eyes, and were met with tears and a small, nostalgic smile.

“i just lost him. now i have to lose you, too.”

you pulled her smaller figure into your arms, holding her shaky figure for a quick second before pressing kisses to her cheeks and forehead like you had always seen grandpa do.

she stroked your chin and did the same, then let you go.

as you walked up to your room, you unlocked your phone and opened your texts.

you didn’t have the heart to tell him yet.

so you locked your phone, set it on the charger, and begun to pack up your entire life, shirt by shirt. you even tucked jaemin’s hoodie into your suitcase, maybe holding onto it for a second too long to be considered normal.

you were going back.

how could you tell jaemin?

[starsword-library]

Just as Vinessa had told us before, there was already a room prepared for my stay, and Mr. Sidereal gave me the number and keycard during our meeting. So Chrys guided me out of the main building and to the dorms, on the tall cyan building I’d seen when we landed.

“So I guess it all turned out fine huh?” Chrys said, stretching out in the seats of the transportation we were taking. “I’ll be honest, it’s the first time I’ve ever talked to that boss without Verona, was kinda afraid they’d ask stuff I wouldn’t know, but it was all okay. And by the way that talk about Dr. Maya, I can help you with sign language if you don’t know much.” To prove their point, they gestured something with their hands, but with my current ignorance I don’t know what it meant. “I mean, with hands like yours there’s gotta be some difference I guess, but hey, interplanetary stuff is like that sometimes, I’m sure there’s a way to get past that.”

“Um, yes. Thank you for the help,” I answered, still a bit distracted from looking at my phone. Dr. Rain hadn’t sent any more messages, and I wanted to talk to Chrys about the things she said, but I decided not to. Dr. Rain looked like a harsh person, and I did not want Chrys to get discouraged again. And Chrys was evasive about a lot of things, so I didn’t feel asking them about a serious accident was going to lead me anywhere. No wonder why Dr. Rain told me to ask Verona instead.

I am already thinking outlandish theories with the current situation, so I better clear things up with a straightforward person soon.

“So here we are,” Chrys announced when we finally got to my new room, in the building’s third floor. “And here’s the fun thing I haven’t said yet,” they added, pointing to the room in the other side, “We’re neighbors. So come by anytime if you need something. I can give you a tour around later too, though I guess you’ll want some time to rest now that we got here.”

“Oh yes, I was planning on getting some sleep after getting the room in order.” I then remembered a detail I had overlooked so far, “ah, although my baggage is still in the ship…”

Chrys’ froze for a moment.

“Ahaha, yeah we did forget about it huh?” they said sheepishly, averting their eyes to the ground. “Sorry about that, Mag, I’ll ask Verona to bring them here once she wakes up. Which… might take a while sooooo,” they looked at me again with a grin, “please wait for your package in 2-7 business loops?”

“Oh, okay.”

“…Mag, that was a joke,” they stopped grinning, “I’ll get it here for you next loop for sure. If Verona is too tired to help me carry it I’ll just get someone else’s help.”

“Oh, I see. I can help carrying it, I didn’t bring much stuff anyway.”

“Yeah, I thought you’d be the minimalist kind of person.”

“I’ve been called that before, yes. Because I don’t have many interests besides research, Professor Wiz used to say my room looked more like an office than anything else. Though when it comes to books, there’s plenty. I kept most textbooks from school, even the ones from when I was a kid, so those chests are full to the brim already…”

I had no idea why I was telling them all that, but they just laughed. “Guess you don’t have an inventory account to put them, then.”

“My inventory is linked to my hands, it’s kind of tradition among cubits. So books don’t fit in. I use it only for smaller stuff, like when we picked up all those healing items, and also supplies like erasers.”

I saw in the ship that their inventory warp was through that little bag in their waist, so they likely have had the same problem at some point, really.

“Fair, I guess if my hands were chests I’d do that too,” they laughed. “Well,” they waved at me, turning to their room, “I’ll let you rest them and we solve everything else later. I’ll probably take a lil’ nap too.”

“You are probably more tired than me from the journey,” I scowled at them, remembering how exhausted they were after testing their new spell on Verona. “Get a healthy, restoring, full night of sleep!”

“So those exist, huh.” they said in a bored tone, they turned to me grinning again, “But is it really night right now?”

“Oh, you’re, you’re right, but, but space terminology notwithstanding we should get the correct amount of sleep nonetheless!”

“Whoa that’s a lot of big words!” they burst into laughter again. “Sorry Mag, but no space newbie can not be teased about this. In the end you can call night or day whatever you want, we’ll all be poking fun on each other later no matter what. Have a good sleep either way,” and they left for their own room.

“Okay…” I was tired of not getting Chrys’ jokes at that point, I barely had anything left to say.

Unfortunately that was not the end of the loop yet.

When I entered my room, someone else was already there.

<prev   next> read from the start

[zora-moyashi]

First

<---Prev   Next--->

Core

"Their names are Faith and Kira, ok?" Cross said, "as for my mate....he got in a fight and well, you get the idea."

ZM

"i see, i'm sorry." crosses her arms behind her back.

Core

After a good while, they arrived at a small entrance to a cave.

ZM

chara hops over to it and peers in

Core

Cross had teleported inside, she had made a nest of sorts of any soft material she could find, and inside were two tiny kits, (Kits grow very fast in order to survive, I actually made like a book on star anatomy and such, but anyway, they are born rather small because it makes them easier to hide, and means the mother isn't vulnerable from her pregnancy for a longer time.)

ZM

(ooo fancy~ yeah i can tell you've put a lot of thought into them) she goes in and kneels by the kits.

Core

They were smaller than her palm, their eyes still closed as they were all cozy in the fluff that Cross had found. "They're 3 days old." Cross said.

ZM

she whistles "that's young." she looks at her "how fast do they grow?"

ZM

she goes in to poke one gently just to see what it feels like.

Core

when she touched it, it chirped then the other one chirped as well. "When they are 12, they'll be on their own." Cross said, sighing as she knew the kits were probably hungry. (breastfeeding, don't think I need to explain that.)

ZM

'so strange' she thinks. "cuties," she grins and rubs one's head with her finger. "so what kind of help would you like?" she sits back and crosses her legs on the floor.

Core

"Well, mainly just someone to keep an eye on them, they can be easy prey for just about anything." Cross says as she allows the kits to eat.

ZM

"ah. well that's simple~" she hums "i was thinking it'd be something ridiculous. shatter never explained much about your kind. and what she did just went right over my head"

Core

cross rolled her eyes, "we aren't that complicated."

ZM

"so you say."

ZM

"you know what you guys remind me of?"

"eevee's cause they almost never have female kits, you're just the opposite."

Core

"Look, it's like this, we either kill or get killed, we figure, 'hey if we work in groups we are less likely to get killed' so we work in groups, we spar with each other to see who is in charge and what the pecking order is, and every few years, the moon turns red, and we hold a bit of a celebration, in which we see who is the strongest out of all of us and test the kits that are old enough." Cross explained. "See? not complicated."

"Well, males just kill each other more, and females work together more."

ZM

"far, but about your culture. ya'll don't NEED to fight, i mean i'm one to talk being a human and all. but i was also told that kits are sometimes born 'evil' and that is just so completely foreign to me." "not to mention your guys's powers."

Core

"Well, technically there are three subspecies of stars, the first, like me and Night and them, are carnivores, so we hunt, food gets limited, so we will stock up. Others will only eat plant matter, like Dream, Ink and blue, they don't fight nearly as much, but still do. And then there are some that can eat just about anything, rocks, metal, anything, like Shatter, Omega and Geno." Cross explained, setting the kits back into the nest. "Sure, a carnivore can try to only eat plants, but will get sick and weak, then will be killed by one more true to their nature, and eaten. It's a loss cause to try and change, but one can."

Core

"as for our powers, a kit can develop powers similar to that of the parents, and maybe some new ones, but it's all just random."

ZM

"wait" she puts a hand up. "you know shatter?"

Core

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Cross asked

ZM

she scoffs at that "why WOULD you?"

"all stars know each other?"

Core

"Because she has to be one of the strongest stars, only one who got close to killing her was Ink." Cross said, "and no, but one learns quickly."

ZM

"hmm." she thinks about ink and wonders what she's like seeing she didn't spend long with vanta in the first place. she lays on the floor stomach down looking at the kits while kicking her feet. she snickers. "wow life sucks." she shakes her head. she glances at cross. "all i can say is good luck with all of this, cross."

Core

"Well, I was in a confused state for a while too." She said, checking to make sure nothing was near by.

ZM

chara yawns and rubs her eye. her stomach aches but she really doesn't know where or what she would eat. her pole is set by the entrance. she wants to complain to cross about LJ but knows that wouldn't do anything for anyone. she doesn't even have anything to complain about. she closes her eyes.

Core

Cross kept watch overnight, in the morning she had found some fruit, and set it by Chara for when she woke up.

ZM

in the morning chara wakes up to the kits still sleeping and the fruit. she looks around for cross while stretching her arms.

Core

Cross had gone to be with the others, meaning Chara's little plan was going perfectly. One of the kits, the smaller of the two, had black triangle-like markings on her neck and the other had purple markings on her hands

ZM

still sitting by the kits she looks at them wondering if she'll even be able to keep one alive if she takes it at this age. i mean they are on milk still. and she can't portal anywhere without someone likely seeing the kit. she mulls it over in her mind. she would take them to shatter or something. saying she found it but that wouldn't fly she's sure.

this was making her upset so she eats some of the fruit and stands at the edge of the cave. wondering what to do.

Core

The kit with the purple markings started to chirp

ZM

she heads back over. "hey little thing." she crouches. "do you need anything?" she moves her hands to see the marking better

Core

The kit was slowly trying to squirm and crawl, chirping. the markings looked like swirls that went from her upper arms to her back and chest.

ZM

"hm," she pokes the one with black triangles wanting it to do something.

Core

She chirped before yawning and curling up, not as active as her sister.

ZM

"seems like you're the one purple." she says. "i'm sure you'll be plenty strong" looking at the black one. "but i have a feeling our personalities wouldn't mesh well."

ZM

"so, purple. I don't even know your name, but would you like to come with me? your mama wouldn't miss you."

"why am i talking to myself" she sighs.

Core

The purple kit continued to chirp, needy for attention. Though it was her way of talking for now.

ZM

she inhales through her teeth. "well. i can't leave you guys here. i have no clue what's out there. oh here's a thought." she puts a green bubble around the nest sense it's small it's quite strong. she flicks the bubble then punches it, it works fine. "i mean," she shrugs "it works?? i guess." she's at a bit of a loss of what to do. she sighs "i'll stay for now. if i win cross's trust then it will be just as simple taking the kit then as it is now." "what more can i really do." she decides to sit around the cave and watch the kits. time passes and she wonders when cross will get back.

Core

Cross did soon come back, with some more fruit for Chara and a dead bird for herself. "Thanks again for watching them.

ZM

"oh yeah~ it's no problem. thanks for the food."

Core

"It's the least I could do." Cross said, letting the kits nurse before she ate.

ZM

chara rubs her head stressed she keeps telling herself if she gets in this group on the blood moon then it'll be just a simple waiting game for the kit. no one will figure out what she's trying to do... right?

"well see ya around cross, I gotta find LJ"

she grabs her pipe.

Core

"LJ hangs by the abandoned town, you'll find her there." Cross said.

ZM

"thanks man" she waves on her way out. she runs back over to the town and just screams. "HEY LJ"

Core

"Night said we couldn't fight. But Night doesn't come out in daylight." She heard LJ's rhymes before she saw her.

ZM

"why must you rhyme"

she looks at her irritatedly

Core

"Makes me feel nice. So others have to suffice."

ZM

"that one's not as good." she waves the pipe around. "so here's the deal LJ we fight until one of us is beaten to a bloody pulp or you apologize." she drags the pipe in the dirt "i can't kill you or it'd mess up all of my plans."

Core

"Apologize for what? Or would you like me to keep my trap shut?"

ZM

"duh. apologize for telling me i should be in the dirt,"

Core

"Oh, Did my comment hurt? I apologize for saying that you should be dirt. From my home I was just trying to get you to divert." LJ said, with as much sincerity one could expect

ZM

chara sneers "uh-huh." with a defensive posture "don't say anything remotely like it again or i'm picking up where we left off."

Core

"I will promise that if you will never roam. Anywhere near my once home.

ZM

she motions widely "WHATEVER. keep your dumb village." she keeps going the way she was headed last night.

Core

She noticed a stash of books hidden under some rocks

ZM

she looks back to see if LJ's looking

Core

LJ was back on her clocktower

ZM

she tips towards the rocks and pushes them away grabbing all the books she could carry replacing the rock afterward. she sticks her tongue out in LJ's direction for good measure before booking it out of there (heh, get it, book ;aoifja;oeing;arig)

Core

(Lol, that's good) Little did she know the books weren't LJ's.

ZM

(well crap! I wonder who's they are) she gets far enough away that she feels comfortable and sits by a boulder getting shade from it and laying out the books. she takes the first one and reads the cover.

Core

The books were on space, and were completely in brail.....

(I had mentioned it earlier, but don't think you noticed. Killer is blind)

ZM

chara makes a big fuss about it and shoves them all away from her. ( yee i remember) she throws her hands up and lays on the rocks. "now i have to put them back or give them to killer and be like. HEY I TOOK THESE" she sighs before siting back up "why does it have to be like this." she picks them all back up and sets them on the boulder. '

Core

"I already heard you take them." Killer said, she had warped near Chara

ZM

"and how's that miss special?"

Core

"Since I can't see, I use my hearing more, so I heard the rocks move, they're shale so they are louder than any other rocks around here."

ZM

"psh well here you can take them. i just wanted to know what was up with that town. sorry about that."

Core

"Sure, no biggie."

Core

Killer said, "though if you have questions, I can try to answer them."

ZM

"oh yeah? yuma you're way too nice you know that?"

"what happened to the rest of the people that lived there?"

Core

"Eh, I am more patient than most, don't think 'nice' is the right word." She shrugged, 'And as for the town, well, Nightmare used to use it as her main hunting spot, but the villagers tried to revolt after a while. They tried to attack Night, and we wiped them out, well almost all of them." Yuma/Killer explained

ZM

"uh-huh. why'd stupid LJ live?"

Core

"Well, for one, she was able to outmaneuver Horror and I, and could dodge Moku's gun. And Night is somewhat attached to LJ." Killed said

ZM

"did she know her before she was forced to eat the apple or something?" "not to mention dream, you said night's sister would be angry if i entered the castle, that's dream right? why would she be around this waste land

Core

"You sure do ask a lot of nosey sh*t." Killer sighed, "look, sometimes a pacifist star goes 'rouge' and becomes a genocide star, an there is a rouge version of Dream. And Night didn't know LJ before she ate the fruit, it's not an apple." Yuma said, before rereading the book for the hundredth time

Core

(I posted so much art yesterday, did u see it?)

ZM

chara sticks her tounge out and flips her off knowing she can't see it irritated by her reply. "you're the one who offered to answer my questions."

Core

"Then you shouldn't stick your tongue out." She said.

ZM

(yeeyee they cute i love the gang)

Core

(They are such dorks, lol I'm sure you see how much Yuma looks like Shatter)

ZM

she lets out a groan "and whyyyy do you think i was doing that?"

Core

"I could hear the sound of saliva on your teeth, which happens when one sticks out their tongue."

ZM

"well you're wrong," she folds her arms

Core

"Do you have any more questions?" Yuma asked, putting the book away.

ZM

"gee i dunno" she says sarcastically "i could keep you here all night asking you stuff and still not get all i want. honestly if we're being strait to the point all i want is LJ to die, and get the power that i want so i can be left alone to do as i please. neither of those are happening anytime soon. but hey," she sits on the boulder. "if you want to tell me about you or something i'm all ears."

Core

"Well, if you want power, Ink has two kits, though she keeps them well protected."

ZM

"what does that have to do with anything"

she starts internally panicking that someone already found out.

Core

"Well, Ink is one of the strongest stars, though she is hard to control, but if someone else were to try and raise her kits, they would have that power under their fingertips." Killer said, before seemingly able to notice Chara's panicking "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

ZM

chara can't understand killer at all. she stares at her a while after she's done talking. "so you heard me talking in the cave?" she stands on the boulder. "why should i trust you to not tell anyone? i hardly know you let alone your friends out number me 10 to one." she growls. she's quite irritated at the latest turns of events and just wants it all to be a little easier. she know's that's not going to happen. 'maybe i should have just stayed with shatter...' she thinks.

Core

"Yes I heard you,and you can trust me, I still haven't broken a single promise I have ever made." Shatter said

ZM

(do you mean killer hahah)

(or is shatter actually killer cause they look a like and allll)

Core

(oops, and Killer is a different version of Shatter, one that went 'rouge'

ZM

( (¬u¬) i see. that's so funny cause the whole time i was thinking to myself 'killer acts a lot like shatter' ) she's not convinced. "i'll have to trust you, there's nothing i can do about it." she sighs. "be that as it may, you want me to take one of ink's kits so that i don't touch cross's?

Core

"Nah, It's just that Cross isn't a 'pure bred' if that's an acceptable term."

ZM

"very strange." "why the hell are you helping me?"

Core

"Call it an old habit if you will." She smiled softly.

ZM

chara relaxes a bit feeling a calm wash over her with the way she said that. she sits on the boulder again. she makes a sound of acknowledgment and rubs her left eye that's been bothering her ever sense blood took control of her that one time. "do you want something in return? "

Core

"nah, you're confusion and antics are the best entertainment I've had in years." She said.

ZM

"i'm so glad i can entertain you with my struggles" she rolls her eyes. "but thank you either way."

Core

"No problem." Yuma said, before leaning on a nearby tree

ZM

she lets a small smile cross her face before slipping down and grabbing her pole. "i'm going to the castle, see ya around." she swings it over her shoulder.

Core

"Good luck." Yuma said.

ZM

"i'll need it!" she says walking away. she makes it close to the castle and starts trying to find night's sister or anyone who might attack. she disliked the flat land before but now it's nothing but comforting.

Next--->

[tardis-ghost-blog]

The Master’s Game (3 - Shoot!)

<< Prev - Next >>

Adjacent to the office room was another, way smaller one, that probably once had been some kind of storage. There also was a door leading to a tiny bathroom.

Roka was allowed to sleep here and she was glad to get at least some privacy. The room was odd, mostly empty, except for some bookshelves and an old, dusty sofa in one corner, that reminded Roka of how tired she was. Although she wasn't sure if it was actually safe to sleep at all. Not that there was much of a choice to make. Humans could only go for so long without.

Instead she took a look at the shelves. They probably had been here before the Master had occupied the building. Or maybe not, since some of them clearly didn't originate from earth. Roka recognized some titles that didn't resemble any human language and without the TARDIS she sadly couldn't read them.

Some were familiar though and she picked one up, lying down with it. Nothing better than a good story to keep one's mind busy. Not that she could concentrate on it all too much. Her thoughts circled around the Doctor and his odd behavior since they had left the Ood planet. He clearly had awaited to find the Master somewhere. But the other Time Lord had been a step ahead. What were his plans with the Doctor? And with earth?

It didn't really matter. Roka just had to stay awake long enough and would be forgotten. Then she could sneak outside, search for the keys and then they could leave this place.

Not for a second longer than necessary did she want to be around the Master. Like that first time she had seen him, he creped her out. It wasn't fear... just... she couldn't even put it into words, but simply thinking of the stories the Doctor had told her about him...

She shook her head and buried her nose in the book again, not wanting to think about this too much. 

  A shadow leaned down and a small weight got lifted from her chest, making her eyes fling open. It took Roka some seconds to remember where she was.

"Don't sleep with them," the Master grumbled, but his voice didn't sound angry.

She yawned and rubbed her eyes, blinking perplex at the strange man in front of her. Only slowly did her mind pick up on the whole situation, and a frown etched itself deeper and deeper onto her face at the memory. She sighed and swung her legs from the sofa.

"Sorry. Wasn't planning to do so." She looked up and cursed herself for having fallen asleep.

"Six hours should be enough for your meager brain to recover." He turned the book in his hands, smiling when he read the title. "Not my fault, when you spend that time with anything else." The book found its old spot again and got placed there much more carefully than Roka would have expected. Not like a random object.

At least he seemed to value books, she thought a bit amused. But something about his words bothered her, something her still tired mind couldn't quite grasp.

"I want to test what you're capable of." The Master turned around, grinning down to her. "You won't ask any questions and just do as I say."

Roka yawned once more and nodded. Everything was better than being bored.

"Is there a coffee or two involved? I don't function properly without."

"Only a poisoned one." The mean grin got wider.

She huffed and couldn't prevent a smile. "Fine with me."

  Roka spent the whole day building seemingly random devices. Some of them were easy, others were really tiny and delicate. But with her fine motor skills none of it was much of a problem. The Master didn't tell her what the objects were for and not even what they were supposed to do, so she wasn't able to alter their functionality. At least she was allowed to use the tiny kitchen next door - no knifes were in there - to get as much coffee as she wanted, earning her more than one amused look.

When the Master came to inspect her work Roka couldn't tell what he was thinking while looking at everything very carefully. It was fun to watch his face though, his forehead an nose wrinkling here and there, his eyebrows wandering up and down. His mouth moving from one side to the other, sometimes curving into a smile, sometimes into a grin.

Who are you? That thought wandered through Roka's mind over and over again. To her he was like some kind of boogey man, a creature born from tales told in the dark. But also a former friend of the Doctor. Had he always been like that? Or had something made him the way he was today? And if the later was the case, what could happen to a person to become an initiant of wars and genocides, and all the other things.

"That's really something." The Master sat down the last object, turning towards her. "Fine, I'm impressed. A tiny little bit." He squeezed his fingers together.

Roka couldn't keep herself from having a grim smile on her face.

"Don't think too high of yourself. It's only good for a human."

"Still sounds like a compliment." Her stomach growled. She hadn't eaten anything since the last day. "Are you going to pay me for all that work? Ugh... I would kill for some pizza."

A mean grin appeared on the Master's face. Roka didn't like it.

"You're sure about that?"

"Ahh.... some toast would do it too... I guess."

"Get up." He said in such a cold tone that Roka simply did it, watching him coming closer. Way too close for her taste. "Let's have some fun, eh?" His hand vanished inside his jacket and when he pulled it out again he held a gun in it that he shoved into Roka's hands. "Shoot that guard." He nodded towards the man that guarded the door.

"What?! No!" Roka's eyes widened as she stared at the weapon in her hand.

"I even pay for the pizza, if you do." He trod beside her, and leaned down. "He's under my control. He'll even like it."

"I won't. You're mad!" Never before had she held a gun. It was heavy and cold.

"Yeah, I know." The grin on his lips was an all too proud one.

"I can't shoot anyway," Roka tried to talk her way out. Her heart was racing by now and memories flooded her mind. Ones she had tried to banish from herself, but now they all came back, making her shiver.

"Nah, that's not hard." The Master moved behind her and gripped her hand. "See, just move it up. Hold on tightly or you'll hit yourself with the recoil." Roka couldn't move. Every muscle in her body seemed to be paralyzed and her heart beat so fast it almost made her dizzy. "Now, just pull your finger back, slowly...." His voice became almost a whisper. "I hold your hand. No need to aim. Just... pull."

This wasn't happening... he couldn't make her do that. Her eyes closed on their own, she didn't want to see this. She also didn't want to hear the shot, didn't want to feel the cold metal in her hand, nor the other hand that gripped her so tightly, nor... the calm doubled heartbeat at her back. He was so close and... real. Not a boogey man, not a nightmare. Just a person.

"You're boring," he sneered disappointed and let her go all of a sudden.

Roka's hand fell down, shaking. I'm not following his orders, she thought. Over and over again. He was just a guy. A Time Lord maybe, but even they had weak spots. If she could just... Breathe, she thought to herself. Breathe and get calm. Stop shaking.

"Well, no food then... at least for you."

Roka spun around and held up the gun. He was so close there was no need to aim. She just pressed the muzzle against his chest. His eyes got wide and the grin faded away.

"I had really lots of time to read about Time Lord physiology," she said slowly. "And I know at least three spots to shoot you without triggering your regeneration. Including this one."

Just a person. Just a living, breathing person. I don't know anything about you, it raced through her mind. But you make me do this...

"Aaaaw, come on. Me you would kill, but not him? That's not nice." A faint smile came back to his face. "Do it." And as she didn't react he came even a step closer, pressing the gun further against him. "You can't, right?" He leaned down to her, glaring directly into her eyes, only inches away from her face. "It's easy. Just a little bow of your finger and you and your Doctor are free."

Roka stared back. Hear heart pounded so fast in her chest it hurt. It would happen... again... But he wasn't any better than that other ones. Let me forget that you're alive, her mind begged. Be nothing more than a tale once again, for it is your own fault. Her finger moved backwards. There was the point. Just a little bit further and...

*click*

A second like an eternity passed, time stopped for a moment and only returned to normal when Roka gasped for air. Confused her gaze wandered back and forth between the gun and the Master.

Nothing had happened.

"Oh, did I forget to mention?" A very happy smile spread on his lips. "There are no bullets in it." He took the gun from her now shaking hands and put it back into his jacket. For a few moments he just coldly observed her, his gaze wandering up and down as if searching for something specific. Then he chuckled to himself. "Seems I was right. You are an interesting one..." His look was almost acknowledging for a second. "Guess I owe you pizza now. Anything specific in mind? No pineapple though, that's disgusting."