#they’d pop it then immediately start moving or start casting another spell

[automatayaoi]

Absolutely shaking please for the love of god don’t do end game content if you don’t understand your class

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV Write Entry #1: Delayed Gratification

Prompt: foster || Master Post || On AO3

IT BEGINS.

The Jewels and Java cafe is the brilliant brainchild of my friend @catpella and was used with permission. :3

--

“Again, I am so sorry,” Synnove hissed, mortified, as they walked down one of the many hallways of the Arcanists’ Guild.

“It’s perfectly all right, my love,” said Aymeric fondly, squeezing her hand. “If we miss the ferry, we can simply teleport.”

His lady sighed heavily and muttered, “But I like the ferry ride…”

He laughed and raised her hand to kiss her knuckles, and satisfaction purred in his chest at the way Synnove’s golden cheeks rosed with pleasure. Galette, in her usual position draped around her mama’s neck, didn’t bat an eye. Ivar, behind them, made a disgusted noise, followed soon after by Tyr’s annoyed elder brother huff; he ignored them, well used to Synnove’s sons’ idiosyncrasies.

It was not the first time one of their getaways had been temporarily delayed by a work-related emergency; their friends and colleagues were normally keen on ensuring the pair of them got to take vacations, but sometimes matters arose that absolutely could not be handled by anyone else. This one, thankfully, had occurred while they were still in the city and easy to reach. Very easy; they’d been merely around in the corner from Mealvann’s Gate in the Jewel and Java café, enjoying sweet treats before they planned to wander over to the ferry quay for the journey to Bloodshore and the cabin, when Thubyrgeim’s emerald carbuncle, Din, scurried in with a note from the Guildmistress.

“Oh, she’s playing dirty,” Synnove had muttered as she read the note. Din had twitched an ear in her direction, but he had clearly been in the midst of gossiping with Galette and Tyr, their noses and ears and tails moving in the way of creatures who didn’t need sound to communicate.

(Aymeric had, not for the first time, suspected that Synnove’s carbuncles’ aetheric harmonic matching capabilities were nowhere near as common as his lady implied they were. Certainly, he’d never ‘heard’ any other carbuncles speak, but he also knew Synnove’s quintet limited their direct communication to Synnove’s immediate social circle, and it would not be out of the realm of possibility that other carbuncles had similar preferences…)

Aymeric had peered over his shoulder, setting down his fork with its piece of rolanberry shortcake on his plate, and shook his head in amused exasperation at the sight of the Guildmistress’s shorthand, which was as atrocious as Synnove’s. “What seems to be the problem?”

“One of the fourth-years needs final approval for her thesis project’s spell changes,” she had said, refolding the paper, then pinching and dragging her nails along the crease to sharpen it. A chip of her bronze nail lacquer ended up left behind. “Yamomo—” the chair of the aetherophysics department, he had recognized the name immediately, “—had to ‘port out to the Range. It’s either an unscheduled detonation or one of the Squadrons fired on a part of the island they’re not supposed to, Thubyr’s writing got a bit sloppy there.”

A bit sloppy?

Pointedly ignoring his look, his lady had continued, “Solkthota’s presenting her thesis project at the next conference, and guess where that is?” Her voice had turned as dry as the Sagolii.

Aymeric had giggled even as he had fished Roksana out of her bowl of melting ice cream and absently began cleaning her face with a napkin as the white carbunclet had purred. “Does it start with ‘Radz’ and end with ‘Han,’ by chance?” he said.

“Oh, you’re good,” Synnove had said with a rueful laugh, and waved down one of the café’s waitresses to get their desserts packed to go.

Now, they approached one of the warded workrooms in the Guild’s north wing. As they did, Synnove carefully smoothed out her expression from huffy and annoyed to professional interest. For all that she did want to be vacation right now, enjoying the lazy trip around the southern coast of La Noscea to sightsee or nap or cuddle, she would never take out that frustration on one of her students.

She dropped his hand—reluctantly, though she quickly skimmed her thumb over his knuckles first—and opened the door to the workroom, stepping inside, with Aymeric following just at her heels.

The workroom was large and well-lit, the early afternoon sun streaming in through the many windows. The part they immediately walked into was a small observation area, with a setup of desks similar to a small amphitheater leading down to the main floor; this must be one of the practical demonstration workrooms, then. Two students were off to the side, a dark-skinned Highlander lad and a tiny grey elezen girl who had yet to hit her growth spurt and could have been anywhere between sixteen and twenty-one summers old. At the front of the workroom, pacing nervously, was a gangly Sea Wolf young woman, skin the color of storm clouds and hair such a shocking shade of daffodil yellow he would have thought it was dye if her eyebrows hadn’t been the same color.

All three students’ head whipped up and around when Synnove entered, and Aymeric saw the two sitting ones’ jaws drop as he took a seat at one of the other desks, Ivar and Tyr jumping into seats next to him as the twins tumbled down his arms to the desktop. The presumed Solkthota paled and stammered out, “Professor Greywolfe! You’re supposed to be on vacation—”

Synnove waved a hand and closed the short door on the partition between the observation area and the presentation area. (Briefly, as the latch on the door clicked into place, he felt the faint snap of a ward activating.) “Hadn’t left yet, Solk, and an emergency means Professor Yamo has to put the fear of the Twelve into someone,” she said absently. Her voice had gone from her usual faintly Ala Mhigan and Lominsan accented lilt into the crisp tones of a Gate arcanist on duty. “Remind me of what your thesis was covering? Professor Yamo hasn’t given me a copy yet.”

The young Sea Wolf took a deep breath and launched into a technical diatribe that almost immediately had Aymeric’s eyes glazing over. He recognized a few words and phrases—Shotamian manifold, harmonic oscillation—and knew just enough from listening to Synnove’s explanations over the years that this project didn’t seem to be carbuncle focused, but otherwise it was all Allagan to him. Instead, he made sure Amandina and Roksana hadn’t taken a page out of Galette’s playbook and hadn’t gotten into the bag of treats sitting beneath the desk at his feet, and leaned back in his seat to observe. Faintly, he could hear the other two students murmuring to one another, but about what, he was too far away to tell.

(They weren’t looking at him as they did, at least, so if he was the subject of their conversation, they at least had better manners about it than most Ishgardian nobles.)

Solkthota finished quickly, nerves clear as day on her face, and Synnove nodded, reaching up to pet Galette’s tails. “All right, no time like the present to test this.” She gestured towards one of the person-shaped targets at the end of the room. “Let’s see what this modified Ruin can do.”

The student took another breath as she unhooked her grimoire from her belt, opening it and quickly turning pages to the correct one. Solkthota removed her channeling stylus from the strap on the grimoire’s back and held it up in the air, the tip pointed towards the target, and began to cast.

The bolt of power had barely left the stylus before Synnove was roaring “DOWN!” and tackling the Sea Wolf to the floor. Aymeric grabbed the twins just as the word began to leave Synnove’s lips, and was on the floor beneath the heavy ironwood desk, the shrieking carbunclets tucked close to his chest, just as the echo of it was overtaken by the roar of an explosion. Tyr was on top of him and his little sisters as a bright light blinded him, blocking it out, but having an enormous topaz carbuncle atop him did nothing to muffle the sound or the feel of the room trying to shake apart.

The silence in the aftermath was nearly as deafening as the explosion had been.

Tyr rolled off his head, shoving past Ivar, who hung from the desk, chittering in excitement because big boom and, of course, he had watched. Aymeric crawled out after Tyr, and as he stood, the girls immediately pulled themselves up onto his shoulders and tucked into his neck, shivering. He absently stroked first Roksana, then Amandina, and hurried to the other end of the observation area to where the other students had been. As he walked, he noted that the ward on the partition was flickering oddly, like cracked glass, but the spell still held—barely.

The Highlander boy had covered his elezen classmate’s head with his torso, and she was shoving at him now, her voice muffled by his bulk, saying, “Tyon, gerroff, you’re heavy!”

Aymeric bent over to help Tyon keep his balance as he pushed himself up and crawled out from the desk. “Are you all right, you two?” he said.

Tyon rubbed at one ear, and accepted his proffered hand to get to his feet. “Ears’re ringing,” he said while also blinking rapidly. His tiny classmate popped up next to him, patting her dark blue hair back into place and scowling faintly.

Synnove, meanwhile, was lowering her arm; the right one, upon which she wore the ring denoting her as a master arcanist. The glimmer of a shield fell away as she did, and then she was standing upright and helping Solkthota to her feet. Galette’s ears were pinned back and her nose was twitching, but otherwise she seemed utterly unperturbed.

“I am so, so sorry,” the Sea Wolf was saying, her whole body shaking and her eyes wide with mixed shock and horror. “I know I did the math right, I know I did—”

“Honey, take a deep breath,” Synnove interrupted, hands on Solkthota’s shoulders and her voice firm as she looked up at the young woman. “In for seven, and hold, hold, hold, little more, and now out for seven. That’s it. And again…”

As Synnove calmed her student, Aymeric and the other two began righting chairs and wiping plaster dust from the tops of the desk. Tyr came over to headbutt Tyon’s thigh, and the Highlander gave his head a firm rub; as he did, an emerald carbuncle that appeared more vulpine than the standard manifested, yipped what was likely a hello, and then went to sit on the elezen girl’s foot. She immediately bent down and scooped the creature into her arms, tickling under its chin.

Soon enough, Solkthota’s breathing was under control, and Synnove gave her a grin. “There we are. Now, what’s the first rule of science?”

Solkthota’s answering grin was shy and watery. “It’s not science until you write it down.”

“Very good,” said Synnove, her green eyes glittering. “So let’s do that first. Next, we’re going to go through your arrays page by page; your working theory is sound, but the math fell through at some point.” She suddenly pointed towards the young elezen, without looking. “And no helping her, Atreanne!”

“Oh, come on, Professor G!” Atreanne said in a high, nasally whine. Her carbuncle added its own whine as emphasis. “I’m the best at it!”

“And Solkthota will learn better if you don’t feed her the answers,” Synnove said, her voice wry in the way of someone who had. “But you and Tyon are welcome to stay and observe, both of your physics work could do with some polishing.”

Tyon and Atreanne exchanged looks, wide-eyed, and then bolted for the partition.

“I’m glad now it wasn’t Professor Y today,” Aymeric heard Atreanne whisper to Tyon. “Professor G’s way more patient with screw-ups.”

“Professor G likes screw-ups,” Tyon whispered back. “They’re more fun, she says.”

“They are more fun, now hop to it, kids!”

Solkthota was dragging over the desk that had been pushed up against a wall, and Tyon and Atreanne grabbed chairs from the observation to bring over and sit with their classmate and teacher. Synnove, meanwhile, looked at Aymeric as she walked backwards towards the slate chalkboard.

“Can you get me some fresh chalk?” she said, a rueful grin on her face.

Aymeric laughed and gave her a sweeping bow, the twins peeping excitedly as they held on. He righted them as he straightened, and turned to head to where he knew one of the storage rooms were.

It was a good thing he had remembered to pack a few books to read.

[roberttchase]

Fluffy - comfort for brettsey 🥰

This...got away from me a bit. I didn't mean for it to get long, but I'm a big comfort fan. This is set late season 8, when the pining was intense. Enjoy 2k of sick, soft Matt and overly worried Sylvie.

“Has anyone seen Casey?”

Herrmann shakes his head from where he’s talking to Mouch about an idea for Molly’s. When Sylvie gets a head shake from both Ritter and Gallo, she sighs, not sure what else to do. She’s looked everywhere- his office, Severide’s office, the locker room, his rig, the common room. He’s nowhere to be found. Grabbing water from the fridge, the paramedic huffs and heads back to the bunk room, when she collides with Stella in the doorway.

“Woah! What’s up?”

Looking up, the blonde meets her best friend's eyes. “Have you seen Matt anywhere?”

Stella cocks an eyebrow and tilts her head a bit, a smug look overtaking her features.

“What?”

“Nothin’ just...I may have seen Matt somewhere,” her tone is teasing, and Sylvie wrinkles her nose at how foreign it sounds for the firefighter to say the mans first name.

“If you have something you want to say…” Sylvie inclines her head towards the other woman, who smirks.

“Nope,” Stella pops the end of the word, then rolls her eyes. “Last I saw, Casey was heading towards the turnout room to see what jackets needed to be ordered.”

“Thank you.” Sylvie turns before she can get another word in about her and Matt, and heads out to the apparatus floor. Moving past the squad table, she half heads Tony and Capp talking about some movie, but her head is mostly focused on finding the Captain, wanting to tell him about the good phone call she’d had with Amelia and Scott the night prior. Taking a left into the turnout room, she pauses when she sees the person she’s been searching for.

Matt’s leaning against the wall, clipboard loosely in his hand, head tilted back, eyes shut. He looks tired, like he’s purposely chosen this room to be in so the chaos of the rest of the firehouse can’t touch him. She debates on turning and leaving, letting him have some time alone that he clearly needs, but then she’s brought back from her thoughts when Matt makes a noise.

“Hey, sorry. Got lost in thought. Fancy meeting you here.” Though he smiles, it doesn’t reach his eyes like usual, and Sylvie’s already letting her eyes sweep over him, checking to make sure he hasn’t hurt himself.

“It’s okay, I can go and let you have some alone time.” She says it lightly, as if to be joking, but she’s serious. She doesn’t want to keep him if he needs to decompress- they’ve all been there- even if she hasn’t heard of any bad calls for truck today.

“No, it’s fine, like I said, lost in thought,” he clears his throat and stands up straighter. Sylvie swears she can almost physically see him put on his Captain persona. She hates it, hates that he can’t just be himself, even if she does understand it. She’s the paramedic in charge, which means she’s responsible for her and Foster. Matt’s responsible for the whole house.

Taking a breath in, Sylvie’s about to start telling him how her phone call went,  but she’s cut off when Matt coughs. The firefighter ducks his head away and into his arm, letting the coughs come as quietly as it sounds he can manage, finally straightening back up and clearing his throat again.

“I’m sorry.” He’s blushing, Sylvie notices, which is kind of adorable.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You know you can talk to me Matt.” She reaches her hand out and puts it on his shoulder, their eyes meeting. She tries again. “What’s going on?”

Matt hesitates, swallowing, and then rubs at the back of his neck, avoiding her gaze, eyes snapping down. “I’m just….I don’t….” She gives him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder as he tries to explain. “I didn’t really sleep well last night. Guess it’s just catching up to me is all. Don’t feel all that great. But it’s fine.”

Oh. Without thinking, she moves closer, her hand moving from his shoulder upwards, palm gently connecting with his forehead. It’s warmer than it should be. Frowning, she notices his eyes have shut at the contact, and he looks younger. Matt’s eyes flutter back open when she moves her hand.

“Come on…” Sylvie jerks her head towards the door, walking through it, knowing Matt will follow. Sure enough, he does, even if he looks confused as he trails after her and into the ambo when she opens the back doors. “Sit.”

She almost laughs when he sits on the bench to the side immediately. Turning, the paramedic rummages through one drawer, and then another until she finds the small, white, plastic instrument. “Put this under your tongue.”

“Bossy...Sylvie, this is silly, I’m f-“

“If you say you’re fine, Matt Casey…” she trails off and lowers her stare at him. Slowly, he takes the thermometer she’s holding out of him, a little plastic cover on the tip, and guides it under his tongue. As they wait, Sylvie’s struck with how young and vulnerable he looks. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen him sick before, or if she has, it’s been when he’s hiding it.

After another fourteen quiet seconds, the shrill repetitive beep sounds, and Matt takes it out, glancing at it. His shoulders sag and he lets out a breath, and it’s all the confirmation she needs to know he’s got a fever. Taking it, she looks at the little screen that’s lit up red, the numbers ‘100.5’ flashing.

“Matt.” She knows he must feel bad. Keeping her voice low, she hesitantly reaches out and brushes some hair away from his forehead. The atmosphere around them is suddenly, intensely intimate. She finds that she doesn’t mind, that it doesn’t bother her. “I’ll tell Bo-“

“No! No, I’m...I can do my job just fine Sylvie. It’s barely anything, really. I’ll be alright.”

The look Matt’s giving her makes her nod, but then she levels him with her own. “Fine. But I’m checking your temp every hour. If it hits 101 I’m telling him. That’s putting yourself and your team at risk.” She knows he wants to argue, so she goes for the low blow. Her hand is resting on his arm now, but she has no intention of moving it. If she’s honest, she has no intention of ever breaking this spell cast around them, but, as if the universe wants to tease her, the alarm goes off for ambo and squad. Of course.

“Be safe out there,” Matt says with a genuine smile this time, getting out of the rig slower than usual, as if his body aches. She’s sure it does, even if he won’t admit to it. She moves to the front, and just barely catches the look Foster gives the Captain as she jumps in. Watching the rear view mirror, she sees Matt slip into the firehouse, unnoticed with all the commotion. Maybe he’ll get some rest.

Sylvie fully intends to bring Matt back a smoothie, but while they’re on the way to the coffee shop that has the best ones in Chicago, they’re called to another company's scene to help transport another victim. By the time they’re leaving Med it’s close to ten at night, both she and Foster are tired, and the idea to bring back a smoothie isn’t even in her mind anymore.

They get back to an empty firehouse. Sylvie wonders how long they’ve been out, and after checking with one of the temps in the bullpen, it sounds like they’ve been gone a while. She hopes it’s not a bad fire, though she’s sure if it was they’d have heard about it by now over the radio or from main. Starving, the paramedic goes to root around in the fridge, but when she opens the door, she sees two covered plates with a little sticky note on top.

Saved for Brett and Foster. DO NOT TOUCH.

It’s written in Matt’s neat but scribbled handwriting, and it makes her body feel warm. Even when he’s not feeling well he’s looking out for her. As she heats the plates up, Sylvie hears the apparatus bay doors slide up, and the missing rigs park back in place. Minutes later everyone is bustling in looking exhausted.

“Bad?” Emily asks as Stella drops herself into a chair next to them at the table. When the firefighter only grunts, they both wince sympathetically.

“Not bad, but we had two back to back calls. Even if they weren’t bad, it was just…a lot.”

Matt walks in and heads straight for the bunk room, not acknowledging anyone. Sylvie watches him go, playing with her watch anxiously. Stella shrugs when they make eye contact, as if to say she doesn’t know what’s going on either. Deciding to take action, she excuses herself and grabs her plate, ignoring the looks from her friends. The paramedic follows the same path the man had, but when she gets to his quarters, she sees the door is shut, and the blinds are drawn. Worry pools in her stomach.

Quietly, Sylvie knocks, knuckles hitting glass. When she’s been standing there for almost fifteen seconds, the blonde starts to turn to leave when the door opens, revealing a disheveled Matthew Casey. His skin is just slightly paler than normal, dark circles under his eyes becoming more visible. What stands out to her is the way he’s got his right hand’s fingers pressed gingerly against where she knows his lymph node would be on his neck.

“Hi...you can come in, sorry. I just don’t have the mental capacity to deal with Severide right now.” His voice is just shy of raspy, though that could be from having to call the shots at the scenes.

Stepping inside, Sylvie sits on the mans bunk, then pats the small open area next to her, hoping to coax him onto it, and eventually get him to lay down and rest. “How’re you feeling?”

Matt freezes, then shrugs. “Like I have some silly little bug that you’re getting too worried over,” he decides, looking at her pointedly. Setting her plate in her lap, she mirrors the same gesture she had done earlier, hand going to the firefighters forehead again.

“You feel warmer. Why don’t you get some rest. You can do paperwork later, you need to get some energy back up if there’s another call,” Sylvie tries to reason with him. It’s a testament to how he must be feeling that Matt just nods. She’s about to move when he puts a hand out on her knee.

“Will you stay? Just for a little while.”

Her first instinct is to pull him into a hug and hold him close. Instead, she nods and smiles. “Mind if I eat while I’m here?”

“Of course not…” Matt shifts so that he’s lying on the bed instead of sitting. The space makes Sylvie move too, sitting next to Matt, propped against the back wall. Eating with her right hand, she reaches out her left and plays with Matt’s hair hesitantly. She pauses when he looks at her.

“No, no...you can keep...it feels nice.” The pink on his cheeks increases tenfold, and Sylvie wishes she could take a photo. Instead of responding, she merely continues the motion, and soon Matt’s asleep head falling to her shoulder.

Looking down, she tries to memorize how he looks, so young and at ease, sleep allowing him to get away from the heaviness of being a Captain. The urge to kiss his hairline is strong, but instead she continues to play with his hair, mind wandering and imagining what it would be like to get to take care of him every day, call him hers. There are worse ways to spend shift.

[fallingfor-fics]

Teachers Pet-chapter 23: patronus

All chapters

Chapter 22

a/n comment yalls thoughts on the story so far and what you think about the choice of patronus! My patronus is a boar and I hate it lol! Let me know what yalls patronuses are!

I began to turn around to head back, there was no way I'd go in there, it's called forbidden for a reason. I looked down at the map as I began to walk away and it started to disintegrate in my hands and crumpled up into ash. "What!? Come on!" I said as it blew out of my hand. "Ughhhh!" I said slapping my forehead, this is bullshit. I looked back at the forest and walked up to the edge of it again.

 I squinted looking into it, "Lumos" I said, raising my wand and holding it up. I looked in trying to see as far as possible into it, but it was almost pitch black. I looked behind me at the castle and back to the forest, tapping my leg thinking about what to do, I mean what if someone's in trouble and they need my help. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked back once more, when I turned to look in the forest again I noticed a green footprint on the ground. I walked up closer to it and another illuminated after it, "No I shouldn't this is crazy '' I said looking at the footprint, the only sound I could hear was the wind in the trees. I walked a step closer and another set appeared after that. I mean if the person really didn't care if I came they wouldn't have done all this right? I cautiously stepped forward, now entering into the forest. I'd been in here before for Care of Magical Creatures, but it was daytime, and I was with a class and a teacher. I slowly began to follow the footprints holding up my wand and looking around in all directions for anything that may come at me. The footprints led me for a while taking turns and going over hills. I could barely see where I came in at this point and was growing more afraid by the minute. I looked around and didn't see anything except the trees and branches. I stopped for a moment and the footprints stopped as well, and noticed they would disappear behind me, I couldn't see the entrance anymore and started feeling very paranoid, my heart was beating faster and I started taking deep breaths to try and calm my nerves. I decided this was stupid and turned back to head out but heard a faint voice, I stopped for a moment and decided I'd seen too many scary movies, and continued walking. "Y/n" I stopped in my tracks and stiffened, I turned to where I'd just decided not to go and looked in the direction trying to figure out if I was just going crazy. I tucked my hair away from my face and slowly walked towards the voice, thinking maybe it was a teacher or friend trying to get my attention, I knew this probably wasn't the best choice, but I did it anyway. I walked back to where the footprints had been and they continued again. I looked at my watch. "How could it be almost two o'clock already?" I said as I tightened the grip on my wand and gingerly kept walking. I followed the footsteps for another fifteen minutes or so and eventually they stopped. I looked around to where I was, but I wasn't anywhere, it was just in a random spot of the forest, it looked the same as everywhere else. I tried to refrain from shaking, but it was cold, and I was terrified at this point, but i'd gone too far to not figure out why I was here. "Y/n" I looked in the direction I heard my name once more and stayed still for a moment. The voice was light, like a girls, and it seemed familiar but I wasn't sure if I'd heard it before. I looked in the direction still, debating what my next move was. "Y/n come here" my eyes grew wide as I realized, maybe I was dreaming? Or this was a weird trick the forest could do. "Connie?" I whispered as slowly walked towards where her voice was coming from. "Y/n come on follow me" I walked slower looking around me for any signs of immediate danger, my wand ready if I needed to protect myself. This was totally freaky, it had to be an illusion or something, but why would it happen out here? "Where are you?" I asked hoping she'd respond and give me a sense of where and why she was here. The twigs and leaves crunched under me as I continued forward, swallowing the lump in my throat and taking deep breaths.

   "Here look isn't it amazing" she said a little bit closer to where I was. "What Connie? What is it?" I said afraid, I knew this wasn't her, but something in me was too afraid to doubt the voice. I saw a faint glowing green light and cautiously walked towards it, I walked up the slight hill and I looked down at a clearing, a bright green light glowing from the middle. I rest my hand on a tree for balance looking at the light. I looked around it and gasped when I saw her. It was my sister, she was a ghostly looking figure, fused of blue matter that was glowing, almost sparkling. I held my breath as I lowered my arm, I pinched myself as I stayed frozen, hoping maybe it was just a dream, but I knew this was happening. "Connie what are you doing here?" I said , voice shaking, not moving from my spot. "It's gorgeous isn't it?" She said not looking at me and just staring intently at the glowing light. I slowly walked down the hill closer to the scene. "Yeah, Connie how are you here?" I said, holding my wand tightly and eyeing her intently. "I can't seem to take my eyes off it." she said, still not looking at me. I looked down at the light, approaching it more and standing in front of it, the light standing in between us. "Constance." I said trying to get her attention, but her eyes didn't leave the light. I looked back down at it. What is this thing? I looked around us not seeing anyone or anything. "I could almost touch it" she said, bending down and slowly reaching her hand out. "No Connie don't!" I said not knowing what this thing would do. I grew afraid and stepped back as her fingers grew nearer and touched the strange glowing light. As soon as she did her figure slowly dissolved and broke into a million tiny glowing blue specs and flew away in the wind, I gasped and cupped my mouth watching everything happen. I looked at the light and it began to do the same, only when all the green lights floated away, it revealed a small singular black lotus flower, the center of it faintly glowing green. I looked around me and gripped my wand together, my knuckles growing white. I was holding back any tears, I couldn't be crying in a situation like this. I squatted down in front of the flower, observing it closely. I looked into the center and got drawn into it. I couldn't seem to look away. I raised my hand but tried to stop myself, I mean after what it did to her this couldn't be a safe little ordinary flower. I thought about how this had to be why I was led here though, I mean someone wanted me to find this little flower.

   I tried to pull away but the force in me was stronger and pulled my hand towards it. I stared into it, its glow reflecting in my eyes. My fingers grew nearer and I touched the glowing light that came from the center, immediately the light left the flower and almost absorbed into my fingertips, I felt a shock run through my body as I watched it run up my arm and across my entire body, I shivered as it made its way through and closed my eyes as it washed through me, I stumbled and fell to the side on my back as the green light traveled along my skin and disappeared. I stayed laying on the ground, trying to get up, but could barely move. I looked at the flower, noticing it was no longer glowing and reached my arm out, I pulled it from the ground and held it in my hand. I didn't know what to do as I layed there, I thought about all the books I'd read and all the spells I'd learned. None seemed to be helpful in this moment and I thought for a second I may die from a stupid decision id made. I could barely turn my head or move my arms and legs, they felt tired and sore, stiff but limp. Like if I tried to stand they'd just give out. I layed there looking up at the stars, "Come on universe, what do I do?" I spoke out softly. I saw the constellation delphinus. The dolphin, I recalled the time my sister was learning the patronus spell and found out hers was a dolphin. I always thought of her when this constellation was out. That's it, my patronus! I had never fully successfully cast it out before, I never learned what mine was, but if I had any hope of getting out anytime soon, and not being eaten by wolves this was my chance. I set my wand down for a second and tucked the flower into my cardigan sleeve. I tried to muster up some energy and bent my leg up "Ohh fuck!" I shouted quietly as I heard it pop and I used it to push myself over to a tree that was next to me, I used my arm and slowly tried to push myself up to sit against it. "Shit shit shit" I said as I squeezed my eyes shut in pain and leaned my head back once I finally sat up. I let out a couple breaths from all the effort it took and grabbed my wand.

   Ok you can do this, it's very simple, and you've seen many people do it before. I took a couple breaths and relaxed myself, trying to relax my mind and nerves as well. Connie and I had discussed what we thought my patronus might be. It wasn't a shock hers was a dolphin, she was sociable and friendly, she always thought mine might be a unicorn since she always thought I was special, but id just laugh and disagree, I was only special to her, she thought I was the best person ever im sure, she was very positive, so if anything hers would be a unicorn not mine, I always pictured mine as a cockroach, or something stupid, I could never imagine anything worthy enough for me. I was a bitch to put it simply, I was snarky to those I didn't like, and I was sarcastic and truthful to those I did like. I always pictured mine to be a panther maybe, or a fox. I guess there was only one way to find out. I looked down at my watch, it was almost 4 o'clock. I held my wand tight and winced as I lifted my arm. I relaxed my shoulders and thought about everything she had taught me. I set my intent, pointed my wand up and began to swirl my wand in a circle slowly I could see a little spurt of blue coming, but it looked like a firework that wasn't going to go off, I kept trying, closing my eyes and thinking about anything I could to encourage it. "Come on please" I said opening my eyes, the blue grew more and more consistent and I squeezed my wand tighter, I moved it faster and got ready, extracting more and more power through it. "Expecto Patronum" I yelled, it shot out some blue lights, but nothing happened. "No come one please you have to work" I lifted my wand again and pointed it to the sky. I swirled it around the blue light being stronger and I could feel the power of the spell increasing, I closed my eyes and thought of my sister, her smile when hers showed up, when her dolphin swam around us in her room, I then un intentionally thought of Severus, our lessons, his kind words, his smell, his eyes. I opened mine and yelled once more, "Expecto Patronum!" I screamed it out and out from the tip of my wand shot a bright blue light, I stared intently and a smile grew on my face, my eyes lighting up from the light, and light tears falling from my eyes, swooping down and around the trees was a beautiful magical creature, it wasn't a unicorn, but it was an Abraxan, it was a breed of winged horses, and it was beautiful, it swopped and landed down in front of me, the dirt on the ground kicking up into blue fog, I looked down at me and I looked in its eyes, it was my patronus, so it knew exactly what to do, with a strong gust of wind it flew up into the sky and over the trees out of sight. I laughed to myself so glad I was able to do it, and hoping it would get the help I needed. I relaxed against the tree and felt all my limbs go tired and numb, I was exhausted from using all that energy and felt myself drift off into sleep.

[shadowsfascination]

Shadamy Swordland ch 6 |

Rouge brushed the dust from her clothes after scolding Shadow about his reckless move, whose attitude remained as indifferent as ever.

“Guys?-” Amy said, trying to get their attention.

  “I knew what I was doing!”

  “Sure didn’t look the part.”

  “Guys, look!” The pink hedgehog shouted. “A floating city…?!”

  Shadow and Rouge finally paid attention to her, turning their heads to look at her. Amy walked towards the end of a cliff and bent over to the edge to overlook the place they ended up on. Multiple sandstone paths winded across the skies along floating, vine-clad buildings with spiralling paths around them, leading to the top. Shadow joined her, hooking a finger behind her belt to keep her from a potential fall into the depths he couldn’t see the end of.

“It’s so beautiful… We should have a date here sometime.” Amy dreamily glanced at Shadow.

Rouge whistled, impressed by their discovery. She flew to the closest floating pathway across from the others and created a connecting road between them, closing the gap so they could cross. Amy ran forward to the path and yanked Shadow along with her, who had forgotten he was still hooked on her belt. The male tumbled onto her, his weight pressing on her, making her falter. He quickly unhooked his finger from her belt and curled his arm behind her back to catch her.

  “Gotcha. You need to start watching your back more if you still want that date, Rose.”

 _____________________________

 Meanwhile elsewhere on a floating island above the sky-high ruin befallen floating city the three had set foot on, an echidna picked up the slightest of vibes of a familiar energy. He rested against the stone stairway that led to an altar, his eyes closed as he concentrated on the waves of energy that unexpectedly drifted among the upward winds. He rose and walked towards the bridge that connected the floating island to the city below.

  ‘Knuckles’, the guardian’s name, attempted to seize some shards of green energy that whirled up to the island, but couldn’t get a hold of it. They flew off in different directions, escaping the grasp of his hands. He doubted for a second.

  “No, I’m sure of it. This has to be Chaos Energy!”

  The quizzical expression however didn’t leave his face for the gemstones he was guarding were right here with him. They were the only thing he’d ever seen that could produce this type of energy waves. He was more than familiar with the stories of special Mobians possessing a strange power that could either use or produce Chaos Energy, but never saw one before.

“Guess it’s time for me to test out that sacred art skill.”

 Every new-born member of the designated guardian family inherited a sacred art skill called ‘vision’ when they’d been given a name. After the naming ceremony, which would secure the bond between the Master Emerald and the future guardian, the skill would develop along with them as they grew up.

  The ‘vision’ allowed them to sense Chaos Energy up to a 15 mile radius around them. It also gave them the ability to ‘jump’ into an image, zooming in on it like a telescope. The most important thing about it though was that the guardians could make the entire island temporarily invisible to hide it from outsiders.

  Knuckles rapidly blinked three times in a row, activating the skill and zoomed in on the source of the Chaos energy. Taking in three Mobians he saw walking on the floating paths of the Sky Sanctuary he gasped with unease. The black one made him recall something like he recognized him.

 “He looks like…-”

 He ran back to the altar and quickly scanned the murals on it, his eyes widening at the shocking resemblance of the images and the Mobian strolling on the floating pathways below him. He looked at the black male again.

 “It is him! But why? What’s he doing here? I’d better keep an eye on them.”

 The guardian decided to track them from the island and casted a spell to turn the island invisible, not letting his curiosity getting the best of him.

 ___________________________

  “So, what will you do when you’ve obtained the emerald, Rouge?” Shadow asked.

  “I’ll take it to the man who’s willing to help me, like I told you.”

  “What does he plan to do with it?”

  ‘He’s getting a little too interested in this. I’d better distract him.’ Rouge thought.

  “Don’t you know it’s rude to ask so many questions?”

  The bat acted overly insulted only to bump into Amy next when she wasn’t paying attention of what was ahead of her. The pink hedgehog had stopped walking without warning and the others immediately understood why. Unmistakably present was the amount of Chaos spores in the air ahead of them, leading upwards. Amy took a step forward.

  “Amy!”

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Rouge yelled.

  “What?! I’m going up there! To that floating island.” Amy pointed upward.

  “Floating island?” Shadow questioned.

  “Sweetie, I don’t see anything up there. Maybe we should call it a day.”

  “How- how can you NOT see it?! It’s right there! Look!”

  Seeing the other’s puzzled expressions Amy finally believed they really didn’t see what she in fact saw: a bridge leading to a floating island. That’s where all the chaos energy’s concentrated. How could they not see it? Especially with their sacred arts levels higher than hers.

  “It’s really there! I’m telling you it’s real. I’m not crazy, okay!”

  Shadow and Rouge first glanced at each other with a kind of concern before shifting their gaze at Amy.

  “I don’t rule out that there’s something up there, okay? But let’s call it a day and go back here another time. “ Rouge said.

  “Agreed.” Shadow added.

  “Fine. I’ll show you when we get back here.”

 _______________________________________

  After Amy and Shadow parted from Rouge they walked back to the academy in the dark. It had started snowing again and a bleak breeze flared up, dusting up the snow in tiny, cold whirlwinds of powdery snow. Before Shadow waved his student goodbye and paced on to his home, he told her to get a good night of sleep before the sword fight tournament tomorrow. He hoped she wouldn’t be too tired from today’s events. Bending over to the flower pot next to the front door to pick up his keys from underneath it, he suddenly felt someone’s hands on his shoulders.

  “You and I need to talk!”

  His fellow knight hissed at him while dragging him into the shadows of the alley next to the hedgehog’s house. Blaze yanked Shadow towards her, their metal breastplates clanking at their touch. The cat pulled him up by the little chest-fur that managed to pop out from under his armour, poking a finger in his muzzle. Her eyes fiercely glanced at his own crimson ones.

  “Why are you still hanging out with her? On your day-off that is. Don’t you understand how this will add to the already existing rumours?”

  He pushed her away and stepped back. “What’s your problem?! It’s dark and no one’s even here.”

  “I am. I caught onto it. Someone else might as well.”

  “We have been training in the woods today in preparation of the tournament tomorrow. I have nothing to hide apart from my trainee’s excellent swordfight skills, that is.”

  “It doesn’t look like that, Shadow! You return in the dark after spending the day together. You’re constantly looking over your shoulder and scanning the place the entire way you’ve been walking with her as if to make sure no one catches onto you two.”

  “We’re just trying to avoid causing more rumours. I’m not even the least bit interested in her like that. I don’t care about romance, Blaze.”

  “Well, you’re clearly getting along with her. Even if what you say is true, it looks suspicious.”

  “See what you wanna see. I don’t care.”

  The lavender coloured cat grabbed his shoulders, genuine concern glistering in her eyes.

  “Care about it a little more, will you?! As a member of the high order of knights you have a reputation to uphold! We all do. Your actions might affect all of us.”

  “No need to remind me. Now stop sticking your nose in my business and worry about your own student. That hyper-annoying blue hedgehog is a real troublemaker.”

  Blaze’s face showed a variety of changing expressions at Shadow’s statement. Sonic was an adventurous spirit with an impulsive nature and when he felt it was needed, he turned out to be a true rebel at heart. It often lead Blaze to the board’s office to apologize on behalf of him when Sonic refused to. Her cheeks coloured a bright pink, all much to Shadow’s amusement.

  “That’s… beside the point right now! I propose the idea that you two will only train inside the training facilities and domes for a while, so you’d be in si-“.

  “Rejected. It’ll disadvantage her in battle. Amy has as much right to develop her fighting style in secret as anyone else.”

  “If you truly have nothing to hide, this shouldn’t be a problem.”

  He shrugged himself free of her hold.

  “This conversation’s over. Good night, Blaze.”

 ___________________________

 “Hey Ames!”

  Sonic excitedly waved at his pink friend when spotting her entering the Ruby Dome’s dressing room. He walked up to her, tossing her towel to her. Amy caught it with ease and wiped the sweat from her forehead while gulping down a glass of water.

  “Ah, thanks! I needed that. Are you up next?”

  “Sure am. How did your matches go?”

  “I’ve won every single one of them.” Amy smiled like a victor.

  The blue hedgehog gave her a thumb’s up while holding the door open for her to enter the main battlefield in the dome. Shadow and Blaze greeted their students and Amy proudly told her friend and trainer how she’d won all of her matches today. The cat expressed her gleeful surprise about Shadow and Amy’s secluded training session the other day, only to display the suspicion in her jade eyes.

  “That’s me! Wish me luck, will you?”

  “Good luck, Sonic!”

  As Amy watched Sonic enter the battlefield, she saw Shadow enter after him. She’d completely forgotten Shadow competed against the seniors today. Amy knew very well that both Sonic and Shadow were crazily fast and both had outstanding sword and dodging skills. It was still likely for Shadow to win, but every spectator today knew this match ought to be very interesting.

  Both hedgehogs had that peculiar look on their faces with a certain grin curling their lips and a certain seriousness in their eyes. Amy couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy. She took a seat next to Blaze whom she felt had a similar nervousness over her. Amy said a little prayer in her thoughts that Blaze wouldn’t start questioning her about Shadow. She felt guilty enough already as it was for lying to her.

  “Good luck Sonic, you’ll need it” Shadow challenged him.

  “Heh, we’ll see about that.”

  Sonic’s grin widened and he scratched his nose. They nodded once at the referee, readying themselves at his countdown. The way the hedgehogs’ body language showed the energy inside them made it more than obvious both had long anticipated a match like this. At the sound of the ringing bell the two dashed forward, racing towards their opponent, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

  Confidently preparing for the incoming impact of their swords clashing against one another, Shadow neared his opponent, effortlessly matching his speed. Searching for an open spot to strike, the two hedgehogs closed in on each other. Sonic’s eyes fixed on Shadow’s sword to block his upcoming strike.

  Within the last two or three steps away from him, he felt his heart jolt inside his chest, his eyes drawn to their swords. The spectators screamed enthusiastically behind them. The small piece of emerald on the handgrip of Shadow’s sword flared with light as he dashed forward. The air filled with thousands of tiny turquoise fireflies, which Amy now knew were actually Chaos spores.

  “Oh boy… “ Amy squeaked, holding her breath.

  “You’ve seen this stuff before?” Blaze asked.

  “Errr, yes! It’s some sort of energy.”

  The metal swords clanked against each other with tremendous impact when Sonic blocked his opponent’s strike. His sword suddenly blazed like Shadow’s after their touch, creating a large bolt of nasty bright light. Like he had hit the break at once everything just stopped around them, totally frozen in time. He was only able to move his eyes and shifted his gaze from his sword to Shadow. The black hedgehog looked back at him, clearly experiencing the same thing.

  In the blink of an eye a small emerald was laid in the handgrip of his sword, blazing as fiercely as Shadow’s. It sent a powerful rush through his body before the frozen world came back alive again. The bolt of light swung them high into the air, smashing them down on the opposite sides of the battlefield with a loud crash. Neither of them moved. Clouds of dust formed above the place the hedgehogs crashed into the ground while the crowd gasped in shock in the stands behind them.

________________________________

END NOTES

Pfff this took me long enough. I’m actually not at all satisfied with this chaper. I feel like it’s a little stiff. Bleh. I just don’t know how to write it differently.  This always happens though. Somewhere along the process of writing a story I start to dislike what I write because it lacks decent quality imo...  AAAAHH! 

Anyway here it is! I still hope the ppl who do read it enjoy it. As always: annoying drammar mishaps/typos or tips and thoughts are welcome. Be friendly though :) Just message me.

I’m also working on a couple of oneshots and drawings. In between now and June I’ll be busy making a portrait of my grandpa who passed away in november (he had covid). I promised my grandma I’ll make her a painting of him for her birthday in june. 

@shadamyheadcanons 

[chamomilekat]

akekita week day 1: Halloween

word count: 1800~

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

He’d only stopped by to get a cup of coffee and maybe to ask Akira if they were going to explore the palace soon. But he’d stepped inside, took one look at the orange and black decorations, the surprise on Futuba’s and Akira’s faces and realized he’d...interrupted. A party. The beginnings of one anyways. One he wasn’t wanted at nor one that he wanted to be at. So Akechi had smiled and brushed it off, said the coffee could wait, so sorry to interrupt and...and then Akira had forced him to stay. That damned cat had even chimed in.

The others had left to get snacks, they’d be back soon Futuba had muttered. And then Akira had shoved a cup of punch into his hands and told him to taste. There was no escaping after that. Akechi barely managed to slink behind the counter and hide himself by the fridge. It...worked. For the most part. The others had returned, glanced at him and then proceeded to ignore him as best they could. Dressed in costumes, laughing and happy and...Akechi stuck to his corner and drank his fill of punch.

He would stay until he could leave.

Akechi did not want to be here.

They didn’t want him here.

Then Futuba said something about starting the show and held up her laptop. Everyone had been dragged up stairs for a scary movie marathon. Akechi had /tried/ to beg it off- he had work, it was getting late, homework- but Akira had insisted and...that had been that. He was the last one up.

Someone- Akira or Ann, Akechi had narrowed it to those two- had dropped a witch’s hat on his head as he’d stepped up the last corner of the stairs. Akechi /thought/ about dropping it, tossing it to the side in a noticeably annoyed manner so they knew exactly what he thought of this whole thing but…well it helped him blend in a little. Everyone else was wearing full costumes, the least he could do was wear the stupid hat.

Everyone continued ignoring him. They pulled from the pile of blankets and pillows on the small ‘couch’ and spread out in a semi-circle around the laptop on the ground. Akechi settled with a single pillow, dropping on top of it as far back as he could get. He had expected the others to let him continue to stay separate. But...that hadn’t been the case. Ann took one look and told him to get closer and so he’d shuffled up and sat far closer than he liked or expected. She shot him a smile and then turned back to the front.

At least there was candy. Within arm-reach of Ann and right in front of Akechi was a big bowl of...well...what looked like half a convenience store’s worth of candy. Like they couldn’t decide what to get and so went with everything. So...there was that. There was a loud shushing noise, the lights dimmed, everyone kept talking literally a second later and the movie started. On a...single laptop propped up on a box, speakers loud as they could go. Akechi could barely see it.

It was fine though. Akechi wasn’t here to watch the movie. He was here to bide his time until he could leave. Restraining the urge to sigh he grabbed a piece of candy and kept one eye on the film. And for the first few minutes it was fine. Up until the person next to him nudged his arm. Akechi managed not to flinch back- he would need to work on that, the high-fives were bad enough. He glanced over and Yusuke met his gaze and then flicked it pointedly to the candy. Easy enough to solve. Akechi flashed a smile and pulled the bowl further back so it rested between the two of them.

The delighted look Yusuke gave was...charming. An eager look as he began pawing through the choices. The artist had quite the presence so long as he didn’t open his mouth. And...admittedly sometimes when he did. Better interesting than whatever it was the others were. Akechi leaned back a little and turned his gaze back to the movie. It was...bad. Like... really fucking bad. Akechi felt his attention waning the longer it went on. The others in front began growing louder in their ‘critiques’ and laughing. It was obviously on purpose. Which was...it was...fine. Some of their opinions were...kind of funny.

His opinions weren’t wanted though, so he kept silent.

Boring. Annoying. Why was he here?

Akechi let himself fall all the way back, grabbing a second pillow from the side and getting comfortable. Once this shit was over, he could leave. There was no way Akira could keep him here. No way any of the others would keep him around either. Twisting his angle just a little, Akechi kept one eye on the screen and one eye on the candy bowl as he went through piece by piece, picking through for anything edible.

The exercise he’d get in the palace would make it okay if he had a few pieces, right? Dropping his choices on his stomach Akechi managed five before freezing as Yusuke dropped back as well. He blinked and Yusuke pointed as his own head- his...headband?

“Someone gave you Makoto’s hat.”

Oh.

Conversation, talking. He could do that.

“Yes,” Akechi flicked his gaze to the front, no one noticed them speaking yet, “I...believe it was Ann or Akira,” he offered, keeping his voice low.

“I see,” Yusuke had a pile of candy with him, “It suits you.”

Oh?

He tried offering a questioning noise, Yusuke ate a piece of candy. Maybe he hadn’t heard? Or...well...this was Yusuke, direct was best in any approach with him. “Why do you say that?” he asked.

There was a long stretch of silence, Yusuke chewing through another two pieces. Somewhere in the movie someone screamed and gurgled, dying. It...was it a difficult question? Or perhaps Akechi hadn’t been meant to ask further. Or maybe it was something cruel- witches, what did Akechi know about witches? They were burned at stakes weren’t they? That was certainly relevant to his current public image. Had he meant that? Should- ”Well...” Yusuke began carefully, stilling Akechi’s thoughts quickly.

“Thinking on it a certain way you have a magic about you. Using just your voice and charm you cast a spell upon every person you meet, directing and misdirecting as needed,” Yusuke talked with his hands, even laying on the floor his limbs attempted grandiose gestures smacking into the floor instead of waving about as he wanted, “the way you manage to make everyone think what you wish is a skill few posses. Fewer still have curated it to the degree you have. Why just-”

“Yusuke, quiet down!” someone hissed up front- Morgana it sounded like.

The barest of winces and Yusuke fell silent. Futuba said something that had everyone up front giggling. Akechi waited two minutes before speaking, “I must be a fairly poor spell caster if it’s so easily shrugged off,” he could play along.

“Not so,” Yusuke said after beat, “There’s more to it than that. Besides,” he looked thoughtful and was silent for...a long minute, “I’m...fairly certain you have Akira under your spell.”

Did he now? Akechi tugged the hat down, hiding his face. Something uneasy churning in his gut- guilt, anger, happiness, annoyance- who was Yusuke to say something like that. What did he know? If anyone was under any spell it was Akechi- no...a curse. Still...he breathed and let the feelings fade, focus on the here. He had a role to play. Had- oh, he could...

Akechi let the brim pop back up, smiling as coyly as he could, “Is that so? Does this mean I could cast a spell on you?” putting as much charisma as he could in it.

Yusuke was silent.

Staring and silent. For...too long, he wasn’t saying anything and this was...the noises of the others hadn’t stopped. Akechi’s smile dropped and he kept still, as the uncomfortable quiet ticked on. Had...had he overstepped? Fuck. Of course he had. The one time he tried to- what? Prove something? And if he’d messed this up over some- had it been a joke? No. Yes? He could pass it off as something if he just said literally anything. Just...open his mouth and- no what if - “Ghost.”

Akechi blinked, Yusuke was looking at the ceiling. “I- magic...doesn’t work on ghosts.”

Oh! His costume. Good, yes, they were still- this was- “Oh too bad,” Akechi smiled, and hoped the dark kept the edge of nervousness from showing, “I was curious to see what it’d do.”

Stupid- the words left his mouth and it was the same thing as before, too strong for...for what?

“Her color is...all wrong.”

Huh?

Yusuke cleared his throat, his cheeks were...that was a definite blush. He gestured to the laptop with his head, “Her...the way her character is...the...color is wrong,” he trailed into a muttering commentary of something.

Akechi looked at the movie. There was a pair of characters talking, one a woman the other a man and...well...certainly she didn’t have the best fashion sense. Why...had Yusuke brought it up? Up front Ryuji leaned over and said something to Futuba- she burst into snickers and nudged his arm. Oh. OH! Akechi covered his laugh as quickly as he could- how cute.

“Yes I see what you mean,” Akechi shot him a quick smile.

The joke, if it could be called that, had landed. Perhaps...Akechi let his tone turn conspiratorial, “Do you think she got tips from the teacher?”

Yusuke brightened immediately, head bobbing and he moved a little closer. Akechi allowed it. He was a little curious to see what Yusuke could come up with when he wasn’t trying to quickly and awkwardly change the subject. And as it turned out, quite a bit. Some of it going over his head- incredibly artsy references- and others Akechi just didn’t find funny. But...some of it landed. Akechi imagined his own comments went over similar but the ones that /did/ land were...it was...nice.

It was fun.

Akechi barely noticed until the movies credits began rolling. Until disappointed surged and he realized he was going to have to leave and- “Okay! Next movie! It’s a threesome~” Futuba cheered, sliding up quickly to swap films.

“That’s not what that’s called,” Makoto argued weakly.

“You leaving Akechi?”

He blinked, turned to where Akira was looking at him curiously over Ann. Akechi glanced over to Yusuke who smirked back at him, ‘spell’ he mouthed - Akechi snorted, covering it quickly, “Ah- no, I...one more won’t hurt,” he offered.

“Hush! Films starting! The opening’s actually good.”

“Doubtful,” Akechi muttered to Yusuke who hummed in agreement.

After this movie.

After this one he’d leave. For now Akechi would stay.

[inspirationdivine]

And Cut! || Lydia, Simon, Winston

Timing: Thursday afternoon

Parties: @inspirationdivine, @inconvenientsimonstrocity, @danetobelieve

Summary: Winston has a possible solution to Lydia and Simon’s sticky problem

Lydia paced backwards and forwards in the living room, her heels clicking on the wooden forward. She’d started when Winston had messaged them, and had barely even spoken to Simon in the interim time, except to tell him that they were going to solve this, tonight. She could hardly wait. The doorbell rang, and Lydia jumped, looking to Simon with an inconsiderate eagerness. “They’re here. “ She barely waited for him to begin moving with her before she darted to the front door excitedly. The door swung open so fast it rattled on its hinges. Lydia clasped her hands. “Come in, come in. What have you found?”

Winston was glad that they had taken Natalia’s offer on working at Castillo’s Crafts. It gave them access to resources that they would’ve previously never dreamed of and more importantly it gave them the ability to act when they needed to. “Oh hi Lydia, nice to see you too, yes I did come with a solution to your problem,” Winston raised an eyebrow and shook their head in exasperation, “do you want me to just tell you or should I tell the person you’re also bound to, that seems pretty fair.” The stress of the whole third eye situation had proven pretty overwhelming and it was nice to have a distraction of some kind. The air between the two of them was filled with an unnecessary tension as Lydia and Simon waited for Winston to arrive; suffice to say, she was a lot more high-strung about this than he was as she paced around. He attributed it to his being a calmer person altogether. When the doorbell rang and she looked to him expectantly, he got to his feet in a manner he hoped was quick enough for her and she virtually pulled him to the door in her excitement. Fortunately, it seemed Lydia had the conversation under control though he easily remembered Winston from their incident in the Morgue and he gave a small wave with an equally-small smile.

Lydia pursed her lips, nonplussed. She was hardly apologetic for skipping right past the small talk. Stepping aside to let them through, she looked back at Simon with a small shrug. “I am not so interested in you telling us as I am in you doing it. Do you need a work surface? We can use my work stations, my kitchen counter, or we could go outside if you prefer it.” 

Spotting Simon, Winston couldn’t help their bemused smile and wave in their direction. “It’s Simon?” they asked somewhat surprised. Quite the unlikely duo. Looking around, Winston frowned and nodded. “I need to assemble a few things and then we can cast the shape of the scissors, fortunately we won’t have to melt anything.” Luce wasn’t here to be a human furnace this time. “Do you have like a garage or somewhere you don’t mind us making a bit of a mess in?” Adjusting their glasses, Winston shrugged the bag into a more comfortable position and looked at Simon. “So, how did this happen?” Though he was literally strung along for the ride, Simon felt the need to speak up at Winston’s request. “Uh, sorry for… asking but--” He cleared his throat and scratched his neck. “Oh, um… We walked past each other then we suddenly couldn’t.” He felt like he should’ve gone into greater detail but that was exactly how it happened how he recalled it and there wasn’t anything else TO mention. “We’d only ever talked once before, and it was online.” He looked at Winston as he explained, hoping they would be able to tell that he wasn’t withholding any information from them.

“Yes, the pottery room,” Lydia said, leading them both to another side of the house that she hadn’t taken Simon to before, this time on the ground floor. It was a converted garage, effectively, with carefully crafted ventilation system to accommodate the huge kiln. “It’s rather frustrating. It was like we were lassoed together by something, like we stepped onto a trap or something.”

“The pottery room?” Winston couldn’t judge too hard, Ricky had set up a workshop that was essentially his own personal sculpting studio. “Oh, so, that’s kind of weird, usually these things don’t happen spontaneously, I didn’t find a bunch of info on that but I guess it would be worth a second look if you want to know how this all happened, guess it doesn’t change anything”. Following Lydia through to the pottery room, they nodded and began unpacking their bags. Pulling out a large vial of a silvery liquid, a mould for scissors, a number of powders and other such similar items that you’d expect to see in your standard fantasy kit. “Okay, I need water and I need like a hook or something because these are going to literally be invisible and although I’ve got something in mind to help, probably a good idea we keep it on one thing.” Simon was good at definitely good at keeping up with Lydia at this point though he had to admit, it was a little unusual for her to be so quick about her movements this time. He understood, of course but he still found himself curious when she took them to yet another room he hadn’t seen before… it was like one big surprise box sometimes. He paid attention to everything Winston said though he couldn’t keep his eyes from wandering and he took small steps here and there to observe the area, glancing over at Lydia when they asked for the few things they needed - he hadn’t been there before, obviously, so he didn’t know where anything was or what he was allowed to touch.

“I certainly hope that doesn’t change whether the scissors work or not,” Lydia replied, raising a sharp eye brow. Although she knew Winston didn’t immediately know the answer for that. Lydia watched him unpack anxiously, bouncing her knee until Winston asked for things. Lydia picked up a nearby bucket and handed it to Simon. “The sink’s over there, if you don’t mind. There’s a hook in this cupboard, I’ll grab it.” Just about nine feet apart. Perfect. 

“I’m not exactly an expert, so I guess we’ll just have to try and hope for the best.” Winston didn’t really see any alternative and it wasn’t as if this could end them up with any additional body parts that they may or may not have full time. “Simon, grab me the water please, I’ve got to start mixing this stuff together.” Their hands were already unscrewing caps, popping corks and mixing together various ingredients. They crushed some brightly coloured minerals into a fine powder, adding it to the silver liquid which was actually mercury. This was apparently a recipe for quicksilver which they would then enchant. “Lydia can you please measure out three tablespoons of sulphur, two teaspoons of salt peter and 100 ml of the mercury.” Winston nodded towards a small ring of kitchen measuring spoons. They’d changed everything to cooking weights, it was easier. 

Once he had the bucket and was told what to do, Simon acted accordingly, making sure not to pull on their bond too much to reach for the faucet to retrieve the bucket of water - there was a little bit of stretching involved. As the water filled the bucket, he listened to the ingredients Winston was naming off and he found himself more curious, forcing himself to ask questions as the room filled with unpleasant noises and scents; was magic something that you had to have proficiency for? Could you learn through hard work and patience? When were the scissors going to turn invisible? Was that part the magic part? He kept his questions to himself and took the now-full bucket of water over to the intern, offering it out to them in such a manner that they could take it whenever they were ready for it.

Setting the hook in front of Winston, Lydia watched them beginning to arrange their ingredients. Pots scraped against the stained work surface, sending shivers down her spine. The popped bottles had a pungent aroma and Lydia’s lip curled when Winston asked her to handle Sulfur. She worked carefully and diligently, scraping the heaped teaspoons of salt Peter perfectly flat, before leaving the ingredients for Winston to handle it. “What else can I do?”

“So, now we just mix everything together, Simon will add the water, you can add the mercury and I’ll add the dry ingredients. We’ve just got to pour slowly and stir it all together and then we set it.” Winston was glad that there wasn’t an extensive and gruelling forging process here. Winston set about pouring the ingredients together and the mixture. Once everything was ready they poured it into the pre-prepared mould and looked at them. “I need to enchant this obviously, but it’s going to be draining, with your consent, I’d like to use your energy as well to do it properly, I don’t want to make a mistake.” Like passing out. He wasn’t about to say ‘sounds simple enough’ but Simon continued to do what he was told, waiting for the correct prompts before adding the water. He did, however, feel his eyebrow raise at the mention of ‘using energy’ and though part of him thought he should’ve kept quiet as he had been the entirety of this exchange so far, he felt the need to ask. “Sorry, dumb question but… what’s this about ‘using your energy”?” He wasn’t particularly worried about the concept - he’d be happy to help in whatever way he could - but he was curious about how that was going to go. Was Winston talking about HIS energy? BOTH their energy? Lydia knew magic… her energy specifically?

All at once, Lydia’s eagerness dropped like a brick to the floor, scowling. Impetuous little human. Always asking for more, like all humans She grit her teeth together, her eyes meeting Simon’s searchingly. “You wouldn’t take more than you needed, would you?” She asked Winston, but she was still looking at Simon. Perhaps properly for the first time since Winston had arrived. “Spellcaster bodies don’t always have the strength to tame the magic they use.” They are only human, after all. “I would also like to know precisely what you mean, though.”

“Magic takes up energy, if I cast a spell that lifts something that’s a hundred kilos then I’d feel it, it would take a toll on me. It burns calories, leaves you feeling exhausted and tired.” Winston shrugged. “I wouldn’t have anywhere to put the energy if I did take more then the spell required, you don’t need to worry about it.” Winston looked at them. “We’re going to place an enchantment on the scissors, that requires a fair amount of energy, I’ll be the focus and actually cast the spell, but you’ll assist.”

Perhaps Simon was just being dumb that day or perhaps somethng else was weighing on his mind more but he wasn’t quite grasping the concepts that were being laid out in front of him. So Winston could just… siphon energy from them? He wanted to ask but instead, he just gave a small shake of his head accompanied with a shrug. “Do what you have to do,” He responded. “I have energy to spare.” He wasn’t lying - even though the moon was new, he realised he was still a reservoir of adrenaline just waiting to kickstart.

“Whatever it takes.” If this worked, after all, Lydia had living, breathing energy stores of her own walking around upstairs. She stepped to stand beside Winston. Her wings shifted under her glamour, briefly causing the gentlest breeze around them. Whatever it would take to be free again.

“Give me your hands,” Winston instructed as they reached out and gestured for them to take their hands in their own. Stretching out for them, Winston began the ritual enchantment. Latin words spilled forth and they could feel the energy siphon from themselves and the others as they offered it forth. Winston watched as the mould shimmered and the liquid inside began to gradually fade away. Sweat beaded their brow as they completed their work. “Should be ready now, if you want to carefully pick it up. But don’t drop it because finding it again will be beyond difficult.” Simon offered his hand obediently, a flash of doubt crossing his mind that they were about to do something illegal - he’d only seen magic used once before and he was still finding remnants of that fight while he cleaned the morgue, it seemed like. The latin wasn’t entirely helping but he held still, deciding to keep his eyes on the tool that was being enchanted before them, remaining vigilant even after the scissors turned invisible. He exhaled when Winston finished, almost feeling as though he had run up a flight of stairs. “That’s it?” He asked, not out of dismissal but affirmation.

Lydia nearly dropped to her knees when the drain came. The strangest thing - it was something she’d felt before, in a dozen different people. It wasn’t through a hand but a kiss, fed side by side with the creative burst. She’d felt this a thousand times in the hearts of the humans she kept, and the way they’d sagged in her arms after. The thought churned her stomach, for all the wrong reasons. 

 Lydia looked at Simon, then Winston, and carefully reached into the scissor mould. Her fingers touched cool metal, drawing a gasp of air out of her. “They’re here!” She gasped, and picked them up. It was strange to see her flesh contort to squeeze around thin air, but Lydia would rather feel them tightly in her than drop them and risk losing them forever. She walked backwards, until the bond tightened around her belly. No point getting excited yet, she thought, looking Simon in the eyes as she held up the invisible scissors and snipped them in the air between them. 

Nothing changed. The tension was still taut around her belly. “No, come on,” Lydia whined, snipping it again, and again, her lips curling down in disappointment as nothing changed. Nothing changed! Lydia was almost at the point of throwing the scissors in contempt when something snagged. It pulled her forwards, just for a second, and then the tension vanished.  Lydia stumbled back, her mouth gaping right open. 

Bemused, Winston watched their handiwork. Watching Lydia apparently snip at the open air was something to say the least, but the way that she held the scissors was more then enough to convince Winston that they were doing what they were meant to. She seemed frustrated and then she cut through something and Winston exhaled. “So it worked?” The werewolf watched carefully as Lydia collected the scissors, invisible though they were and Simon opted to stand as still and sturdily as he could while she tried to cut the line, which didn’t seem to work at first until it did and he felt as though a belt had fallen from around his waist. He glanced down, then at the distance between himself and Lydia… then took a generous, slow step backwards, finding that he was able to do so. Nora was right; invisible scissors worked and the bond had been successfully severed. “I believe it did,” He remarked mildly before giving a single clap. “Splendid job, Winston! Brilliantly done.”

“That’s absurd,” Lydia breathed, watching Simon step away from her. It had been what, nearly ten days? Ten days where they couldn’t even stand that far apart. Twelve feet now, and when Lydia took another step, it was one the same size as Simon’s. Thirteen feet. There was barely space in the room to contain her excitement, as she walked back to the table and carefully set the scissors back in the mold. Or she tried to - these things were far from simple. “Human magic makes no sense whatsoever. I am incredibly grateful, Winston. If you give me your bank information I will repay you as you deserve.” Lydia bounced her leg, looking from one to the other, wondering how quickly she could push the both of them out of her home. 

Raising an eyebrow, Winston shrugged. “Magic is … magic I guess.” They reached out their bandaged hand (after all they didn’t want people to see the weird eyelid on it) and carefully scooped up the scissors, placing it on the hook before attaching the hook to a string and beginning to carefully place it into a cloth bag. “I’m going to keep this if that’s cool, unless one of you want it.” Winston wasn’t sure what they would need invisible scissors for but just in case right. “But, you don’t have to … should I be getting people to pay me for this?” Winston frowned, they’d never really thought about it. “Maybe you could just owe me one? I’m not sure what the going rate is...” Winston shrugged. “Cool, Simon, you want a lift somewhere or you gonna stick around for a bit?” Though he could virtually sense the excitement radiating off of Lydia as the latter stepped further and further away, Simon felt decidedly… different. He glanced between Lydia to Winston and gave a noncommittal shrug, acting almost as if he hadn’t been tethered to the woman in the first place. “You know what they say about being good at something and not doing it for free,” He mentioned, turning to give Lydia an unintentionally decisive look. “N-no, I’m… yeah, I could use a lift,” He spoke to Winston as he looked at the Fae, long, almost longingly but covering it with kindness before it lingered too long. “Thank you for your patience throughout this ordeal,” He gave her a small nod accompanied with a vague smile. “I’ll, uh… get out of your space now.” And that was it; he backed away slowly towards the door, turning his head to face Winston now as he waited for them to depart with him.

“By all means, please do keep it,” Lydia said. “I have little use for something I can’t see, normally.” She looked to Winston, and nodded. “You should be repaid justly for your work.” That, and Lydia would rather not owe another human a favour. Her eyes drifted to their bandaged hand, and back to them. “I will pay you significantly above whatever the going rate is. Money is not a concern.” At Winston’s question, Lydia felt a chill run down her spine, looking to Simon expectantly. The last thing she wanted was for him to linger, and that was as clear on her face as the longing was on his. “I would be very grateful if you could. It has been lovely getting to know you, but if I saw you again within the week it would be too soon.”

Nodding gently, Winston quickly gathered their things up, packing everything away as efficiently as they possibly could. “Okay, I’ll send you my details when I get home and you can decide the price.” Winston had never really thought that this was something that they could just do and get paid for. Maybe they would have to start looking at doing more of this, a little more money wouldn’t hurt and it had kept them from worrying about the nightmare visions. “I’ll let you name a price or we can discuss it later,” they turned to Simon as they shouldered their rucksack and headed towards the door, calling over their shoulder to Lydia. “Let me know if you get tied to someone else in the future, I’ll see if I can help again.” As they stepped into the sunlight, they turned to Simon. “Where do you want to go dude?” Simon saw Lydia’s expression out of his peripheral vision and he blinked after a pause, shaking his head and focusing on Winston. “Uh, just-- home’s fine. I’ll tell you how to get there.” He put his hands in his pockets, his own expression plaintive as he looked to the ground in submission once more. Home… it might be nice, maybe.

[queertazsecretsanta]

A gift for @tobytrashoftrash, created by @primatechnosynthpop!

Some Kravitz/Taako/Magnus for you! Enjoy!

~~

The sun was sinking low in the horizon, casting a dazzling array of soft pinks and purples and oranges across the sky. Down on the ground, a fresh dusting of snow coated the landscape. Although the view of the outdoors was obscured by frost on the classroom windows, it was clear that it was shaping up to be a beautiful evening. Taako's students squirmed in their seats as he ran through the final magic lesson of the semester, and he had to admit that he was getting pretty antsy as well. The sooner he wrapped things up and sent everyone home, the sooner he could finally finish his long-overdue Candlenights shopping.

"…And so you move your casting implement like this," he addressed the crowd of fidgety students, swishing the prop wand he used for class demonstrations. "And just like that, you can whip yourself up a tasty holiday treat! This spell can be a real lifesaver sometimes--like when Susan promised to bring desserts to your Candlenights party and then flaked out at the last moment, just as an example."

He cast a glance at the clock mounted on the wall behind him. The hour hand was gradually approaching the 3, although the minute hand was lagging behind between the 8 and the 9. Eh, what the hell, he thought. Close enough.

"Okay, it's time to head home," he said, clapping his hands together and putting on a big theatrical grin. "Remember what I've taught you and, uh, don't party too hard? Nah, scratch that, party as hard as you want. See you on the flipside!"

At that, he heard a faint whoop from toward the back of the classroom, although he wasn't sure which one of his students it was. With a bemused smile, he tucked his prop wand into his purse, which he slung over his shoulder while his students gathered up their own supplies and jumped out of their seats. He hung back for a moment, giving his students the chance to file out first, but didn't lag behind for too long. He had places to go too, after all.

Immediately upon stepping outside, Taako was caught off guard by just how low the temperature had already dropped. It had been hovering around zero degrees celsius earlier that day, but judging by the way the wind nipped at his ears, that number had significantly dropped since then. Fighting back a shiver, he zipped up the winter coat which Kravitz had insisted he wear despite how dorky it looked and stuffed his hands in the pockets. The hood was a little cumbersome to fit around his ears, but he put it up nonetheless. He then scurried down the walkway away from his school as fast as possible. Kravitz was still at work, which of course meant that Lup and Barry were still working as well, and Magnus was probably out doing some shopping of his own, so this would have to be a solo mission. It was more convenient that way, really; shopping alone meant that nobody could peek at what Taako was buying for them.

A few metres down the sidewalk, his stone of farspeech crackled to life in his purse, broadcasting a loud but muffled voice. Without slowing down his brisk pace, Taako took the stone out and held it up to his ear to hear better.

"Hey, Taako," Magnus's projected voice greeted him. "I've finished carving Kravitz's present, so if you wanted to come home and put some enchantments on it or whatever, this would be a good time."

"Sorry, Mags, it'll have to wait," Taako replied. "Making friends was a mistake, because I've got a billion fucking people to get gifts for and today is the last day before all the shops are gonna be closed for the holidays. I'll get home as soon as I can, though," he added. "Love you, bye."

He turned the stone off and tucked it back into his purse just as he approached the store that would be his first place of interest: HMV (the store name, of course, stood for "Handy Magic Valuables"). Inside, the shelves were looking pretty bare as a crowd of shoppers milled around, filling the shop with a dull rabble that thankfully drowned out the chipper holiday tunes playing over the intercom. He made a beeline for the Kenny Chesney records and selected one he was pretty sure Merle didn't already own, then perused the selection of kid's movies, scanning the shelves for the flick Angus had mentioned wanting to own. The kids' section in particular was already pretty thoroughly picked clean, and for a moment he was afraid that the item he was after was already sold out, but upon glancing one aisle over his eyes landed on a copy of Detective Pikachu haphazardly tucked in amongst a bunch of remastered classic horror movies. While he was looking at that particular selection, he picked out the cheesiest-looking one he could find (something about a ghost shark that looked like it had been made on the budget of two cents and some pocket lint) as a gift for Barry. In the checkout line, he picked out some novelty socks with a rude saying on them for Lup.

After leaving HMV, he headed over to Fantasy Home Depot to pick up some stuff for Hurley and Sloane. On the way, he got another stone of farspeech call, this time from Kravitz.

"Hello?"

"Hi, babe, it's me," Kravitz said--he insisted on introducing himself that way no matter how much Taako made fun of him for it. "The Raven Queen is letting us off work early for the holiday, so I'm calling to let you know I'm coming home a bit early."

"Can she do that?" Taako asked.

"Well, she is a goddess, so she can do whatever she pleases."

"Yeah, I guess that tracks. So," he said in his least suspicious tone possible, "Are you home yet, or…?"

"Not just yet, but I'm about to head home." Kravitz paused, and when he spoke up again, there was a teasing note to his voice. "Why, are you and Magnus planning something you don't want me to know about?"

Taako bit back a string of curses, instead setting for grinding his teeth even though everybody and their goldfish told him it was an unhealthy habit. Yes, in fact, Magnus had set aside a half-hour every day for over a month to carve Kravitz a brand-new piano. Taako, meanwhile, had been scoping out all the local pet stores, planning to surprise Kravitz with a new cat and Magnus with a new dog (in addition to the Candlenights feast he cooked for both his boyfriends every year). Sure, it was a pretty big investment, but Taako's financial situation was better than his younger self could ever have dreamed--and besides, even if that wasn't the case, it would still be worth it to see the looks on his boyfriends' faces. He had no idea what if anything Kravitz was planning for Magnus, and what either of them were planning to do for him; his boyfriends were surprisingly adept at keeping secrets from him, probably because they knew him better than the average person.

"Um, no, we're not planning anything in particular," he lied. "But I'm actually out doing some shopping, so if you want to come rendezvous with me at Fantasy Home Depot, maybe we can pick out some gifts together. How's that sound?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he bit back another even louder string of curses. Shit, no, he can't be with me when I head over to the pet store!

"Um, scratch that," he added before Kravitz could say anything in response. "I actually just remembered that I left my, er, my scarf at the school. So if you could pop over there and see if you can find it, that would be great. Okay, love you, bye!"

He cut the call off in a hurry as he headed into Fantasy Home Depot. On previous years, this had been his destination when it came to shopping for Magnus, and for Kravitz he had usually gotten some sort of novelty item shaped like a skull. It was amazing how the same goof landed every year; he almost wondered if Kravitz would be disappointed not to receive a skull-shaped drinking glass or lawn ornament or whatever this year.

He had already bought a new compass for Davenport and a glitzy novelty ornament for Lucretia, and Ren had insisted that she didn't need any gifts (although he still planned to prepare a special tray of sweets as a gift for her, that still meant he didn't have to buy anything for her aside from maybe a couple of baking ingredients). Once he had picked up the power tool and canister of engine oil that the battlewagon racers had requested, the only shopping he had left came in the form of two fuzzy little companions for the men he loved.

~~

When Magnus had taken it upon himself in mid November to start carving a grand piano from scratch, he had been pretty sure he wouldn't get it done in time for Candlenights. Two weeks into the project, when it had just been a big old block of wood hidden away in his workshop with what barely seemed like an indent in it, he had made a secretive late-night trip up to the Fantasy Bargain Shop and bought a skull-shaped lamp as a backup gift in case things fell through. Now, though, as he stepped back to admire the product of his work--a flawlessly carved grand piano, varnished and freshly painted black--his chest swelled with the pride of a job well done. Now all he had to do was check on Taako's gift to make sure everything was in order, and they'd be good to go.

Just as Magnus turned to leave his workshop, he heard the distinctive ripple noise of one of Kravitz's portals opening upstairs. He scrambled for a sheet big enough to cover the piano and hastily tugged it into place, making sure the gift was sufficiently hidden before heading upstairs to greet him.

"Hey, Krav! How was work today?" he asked, running up to Kravitz and giving him a clap on the back. "Taako is out doing some shopping right now, so he probably won't be home for a while."

"Yes, so he told me," Kravitz said, a note of something like irritation in his voice. "He also told me that he had accidentally left his scarf at his magic school, but I looked all over the place and didn't see any such thing. And wouldn't you know it…" He swiveled his head towards the dining room; Magnus followed his gaze to see Taako's scarf draped over the back of a chair. "Do you suppose he was trying to delay my coming home for some reason?"

"Could be," Magnus said with a shrug. It was only after he had spoken that he realized that was definitely Taako's motivation, probably to prevent Kravitz from seeing the piano. He repeated his shrug with a little more emphasis, then laid a hand on Kravitz's shoulder and gently guided his line of sight towards the fridge. "So, I was wondering if those liquor candies Merle gave us were any good," he said. "Why don't we get into them and see for ourselves?"

"Your restraint truly knows no bounds," Kravitz said, flashing him a teasing smile. "But I really would like to know why Taako wanted me out of the house so badly."

"Um, could be that he was embarrassed by how dirty it is," Magnus said. "We haven't had time to do much cleaning, you know. So we're gonna be real busy tomorrow if we want to have anyone over."

Even as he spoke he internally winced at how unconvincing a lie it was--if only Taako himself was there to think of a good cover. (Or he could just tell him the truth, he supposed, but that would ruin the effect and he really did want the piano to be a surprise.) Sure enough, Kravitz didn't exactly seem convinced; he crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow at Magnus.

"I live here, darling. You think our boyfriend would lock us out for such a reason? Back when I first met him and he was more guarded, maybe, but even then--"

"Or it could be a different reason," Magnus interjected, blurting the words out a bit more loudly than necessary. "We just don't know! But, for real," he added, "Don't worry about it. I promise you, it is nothing to worry about. On a completely unrelated note, welcome home, but please don't look in my workshop."

"Why, what's in the workshop?" Kravitz asked. "Other than that piano you've been carving, of course. Tell me, is it a gift for someone? Of course you know that I don't play piano, only the violin and the occasional woodwind instrument, but…"

He kept talking, but his words didn't reach Magnus's ears; his brain completely shut down for several seconds upon hearing the piano mentioned in such casual terms. When all of what Kravitz was saying caught up with him, his blood froze over. Shit. Fuck. Goddamn it. He knew about his surprise gift? Had known about it basically the whole time? And what's more, he didn't even want it as a gift--wouldn't have any use for it! Even beyond the matter of Magnus's hard work potentially going to waste, what was he going to get for Kravitz now? (He still had no clue what Taako was planning to get for either of them, so even if he did run out and get something now, it may well end up being the same thing Taako had bought for him and he really didn't want to repeat the fiasco of two years ago, when he and Kravitz had both bought Taako the exact same brand of confectioners' sugar.)

"Um, if you'll excuse me," he interjected, grabbing his stone of farspeech off the coffee table in a swift and hopefully not too obvious motion. "I need to go check the mailbox."

With that, he darted outside into the cold winter air, slamming the door shut behind him before Kravitz could respond. His back pressed against the door, he bent over to catch his breath. The cool air stung at his throat as he panted, and his exhales curled up in front of him in little puffs of white, the same colour as the snow. Once his heart had settled back down into its proper spot in his ribcage, he dialed Taako's number on his stone. Luckily, Taako picked up almost immediately, answering with a casual "Yeah?"

"Oh, Taako, this is bad," Magnus hissed, glancing through the window to make sure Kravitz wasn't listening in. "Kravitz knows about the piano I carved for him, and he says he doesn't want it as a gift! Well, he didn't directly say that, but he told me he doesn't play the piano, so he couldn't use it even if we did give it to him. What should I do? Are you almost home?"

"Oh, shit, that's tough," Taako said, letting out a low whistle. Magnus could picture him wincing and adjusting his hat, if he was wearing it--although a glance inside through the window revealed his signature wizard hat hung up on a hook next to his cloak of the manta ray, so perhaps he was going hatless that day. "Um, I'm still not gonna be home for a few minutes, so hang in there 'till I get back, okay?"

"Wait, babe, don't hang up yet," Magnus pleaded. "He's your boyfriend too, remember? Don't you want him to be happy with the gift he gets?"

"Course I do," Taako replied. "That's why I'm out picking up something for him right now. And listen, Maggie, I'm sure Krav won't hold it against you if you just end up giving him a hairbrush with a skull decal on it."

"You know, that's funny; I was just about to ask if I should give him the skull lamp," Magnus said.

Then he paused, listening to the background noise on Taako's side of the call. It sounded like he was in a pretty busy shop--of course, all the shops would be busy right about then--but the weird part was that he could hear what he swore was barking. Quite a lot of barking. And maybe some meowing and other noises too? Brows furrowing, Magnus pressed the stone directly against his ear so he could hear better.

"Hey, you're not at a pet store or anything, are you?" he asked.

"Just here to admire the exotic birds," Taako said. "Listen, though, I've really got to stop lollygagging around here at this pet store that I'm not buying anything from, and head on into the other store next door, which sells other non-pet stuff that I'm gonna buy. Catch you later."

Although Magnus grumbled to himself, initially discouraged when Taako ended the call, his boyfriend's words quickly gave him an idea. Tucking his stone away in his pocket, he stepped off the back porch out into the yard, where Taako and Kravitz had hung up several birdfeeders (he had carved some of said birdfeeders himself, and yet the storebought ones always seemed to be the most popular, which plagued him with irritation). It was too cold out for the yard to exactly be bustling--for once there wasn't a squirrel to be seen--but a few ravens were hopping around at the bases of the birdfeeders. Locking his eyes onto one of the birds, Magnus dropped into a crouching position. It was time to put some of his rogue training to use.

~~

By the time Taako finally got home, Kravitz was anxious enough that he jumped at the sound of the doorbell. From downstairs, he heard Magnus yell "I'll get it!" followed by the sound of his footsteps thundering upstairs. In that time, Kravitz had already come to the door; he held it open for Taako as he walked inside without even stopping to kick the snow off his boots first. Taako carried two shopping bags in each hand, and he was balancing a large box with holes in them under each arm. Kravitz regarded his boyfriend with mild concern as he staggered inside and set down first the boxes, with an unexpected gentleness, and then the shopping bags. Stooped over all his purchased goods, Taako's torso heaved with the weight of exhausted breaths.

"Are you alright, love?" Kravitz asked, unsure whether to chuckle or be worried. "It looks like you've done a lot of shopping."

"Yeah, no shit," Taako wheezed. Then, straightening up and wiping sweat off his brow: "So, have you got everybody checked off your list yet? Cause judging by how the shops were looking, you've got about ten minutes before the whole city is completely sold out."

"No, I've already got all my holiday shopping taken care of," Kravitz said (he had given his fellow reapers their gifts at a holiday party the week before, and the presents he planned to give his boyfriends weren't exactly the kind of things you could find at a store). "Do you need help putting these away?"

He cautiously bent down, reaching for one of the shopping bags. Taako made no move to prevent him from grabbing it, so he took it as a sign that the contents of the bag (a large drill tool and a vinyl record) weren't for him. He set about putting the items away while Taako caught his breath. Nothing in the bags was particularly heavy, so he guessed that the heavy things must have been the boxes. He circled back to try to grab one of them, but Taako's gaze snapped up at that and he moved to stand between Kravitz and the boxes.

"Sorry, Krav, this stuff's off-limits right now," he said. Then, glancing over his shoulder at the two boxes: "Although… hmm, how would you and Maggie feel about opening your gifts right now? That's probably make a few things easier."

"Oh, that's a great idea!"

Magnus's exclamation from behind them made Kravitz jump; he hadn't realized he had come upstairs. Turning to look at him, he appeared to be hiding something behind his back, and was hopping from foot to foot with a big nervous grin.

"I mean, only if you guys want to, of course," he added quickly.

An odd noise almost like a squeak sounded from somewhere in the room, although Kravitz couldn't tell where it was coming from--behind Magnus's back? From inside one of the boxes? Maybe even… no, surely not both. Kneeling between the two boxes, Taako glanced between them, making a soft anxious clicking sound. Kravitz raised his eyebrows but didn't comment. He had a building suspicious as to what at least one of the gifts Taako and Magnus had was, but he hoped he was wrong considering what his own gifts to then were. It would make it rather redundant, and more pertinently, they simply couldn't afford to support that many…

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan," Taako said, interrupting his train of thought. "What do you say, Krav?"

"Er, yes, that's fine," Kravitz said, flashing Taako a smile. "Let's get right to it, then."

"I've actually got my gifts for you two right here," Magnus said--yep, definitely hiding something behind his back, and there was an odd strain to his motion as he stepped forward that suggested he was having trouble holding onto it. "I was originally going to give Kravitz something else, but that didn't work out, so I kind of had to improvise, but considering your whole grim reaper deal I think you'll like it."

"Didja get him some skull trinket?" Taako asked. "Cause, hey, that's my job!"

"Huh? No, this is something different," Magnus replied. Neither of them seemed bothered by the fact that this exchange was transpiring directly in front of Kravitz himself. "Anyway, um… on three?"

"Hold on," Kravitz interjected. "I need to open a portal to the astral plane first."

Ignoring the others' bewildered reactions, he summoned his scythe into his hand and swished it through the air in a broad but purposeful stroke. A rippling hole in the fabric of space-time opened up before him, through which he could see the vast expanse of the world beyond. Bending down, he patted his knee and whistled into the opening. Somewhere amidst the inky blackness, two undead being perked up their heads and scampered over towards him. It hadn't been easy talking the Raven Queen into letting Kravitz give his boyfriends undead creatures for Candlenights, but he was certain that the payoff would all be worth it once he showed them the skeletal pets.

"There, now," Kravitz cooed to the skeletal dog and cat standing before him. He gently scooped them up into his arms, then closed the rift so as not to let anything else in or out. "Alright, on three, you said? Three, two, one--"

He turned around, skeletons in hand, to see Taako opening the boxes and Magnus revealing what he'd been keeping behind his back.

There was a beat as the three men stared at each other, their initial expectant grins at each other quickly fading. In Taako's corner, a greyhound puppy waddled out of the box on the left, and a sleek tuxedo cat stepped out of the box on the right. Magnus, meanwhile, held a raven in one hand and what looked like some kind of a strange weasel in the other. He and Magnus both slowly lowered their acquisitions to the floor, where the skeletal animals and the living ones all scampered toward each other and began sniffing each other--aside from the raven, which hopped over to Kravitz without wasting any time. He recognized it as one of the ravens who frequented their backyard; those corvids always had taken as interest in him, and the feeling had been mutual even before Kravitz had begun serving under the Raven Queen. The flesh cat trotted over towards him as well, while the skeletal one gravitated towards Taako and hopped up onto his lap. The weasel-like creature (maybe it was a mongoose?) followed it, albeit with a bit more caution. Both dogs practically charged towards Magnus, and he let out a delighted laugh as they jumped up at him. He fell back, allowing himself to be bowled over; Taako looked up from scratching the skeleton cat behind its spectral ears to give him a fond smile.

"Well," he sighed, "I guess we should've checked with each other first."

"Indeed, this is certainly… well, it's a lot," Kravitz agreed. The cat headbutted his leg as if to agree, or maybe to argue. "Although I must say, I do appreciate the thought."

They looked over at Magnus, who was rolling on his back with laughter and letting the dogs clamber on top of him and slobber all over his face. Taako grimaced at all the dog saliva, and the mongoose (which had now hopped up onto his lap) chittered with disapproval.

"Gonna be hard to look after them all," Taako went on as the mongoose scurried up his arm and onto his shoulder, and the skeleton cat curled up into a ball in his lap and started purring. "I mean, I bought food and supplies for the flesh boys, natch--" He nodded toward the cat at Kravitz's side and the greyhound pup, which was now sitting down directly on top of Magnus and licking him on the nose. "--And I dunno if these bone babies of yours are gonna need much upkeep… but still, it just seems like a lot, right?"

"It is a lot, is the thing," Magnus agreed from his position underneath the dogs. His hands didn't falter from petting them for even a second. "Probably impractical to keep them all, right?"

"Not to mention how dirty the house will get," Kravitz agreed. "Cleaning will be a nightmare with six animals running around…"

He looked down at the raven perched on his leg, and was met with a pang of surprise at the discovery that he was stroking its head. A glance to his side revealed that he was stroking the cat as well, and it seemed to be thoroughly appreciating the gesture; it repeatedly rubbed its head against his leg, purring.

"Yeah. Mm-hmm. Right. For sure," said Taako, in the distinctive tone he slipped into when he got distracted. "We really shouldn't… I mean, we messed up, good goof and all, but…"

He trailed off, and they lapsed into silence save for the purring of the cats, the sound of the dogs licking Magnus's face, and the soft shuffle of the mongoose making itself comfortable in the crook of Taako's shoulder. None of them stopped petting the animals even for a second--Kravitz wasn't sure he could bring himself to pull his hands away even if he wanted to. Finally, after what felt like simultaneously the most relaxing and the most stressful two minutes of his afterlife, Taako let out a heavy sigh and broke the silence.

"We're keeping them, aren't we?"

"Yep," Magnus replied without a moment's hesitation.

"Oh, we absolutely are," Kravitz agreed, breaking into a grin at the confirmation that the others were on the same page as him.

Taako grinned too, and although Magnus's position in relation to the dogs blocked the view of his face, he laughed again--less giddy now, but with just as much joy. Moving carefully so as not to disturb the pets, Kravitz scooted forward and laid his hand atop Taako's. Then, holding his gaze with an affectionate smile, he brushed back Taako's hair and leaned forward to kiss him.

"Joyous Candlenights, love," he murmured.

"Aw, geez, Krav," Taako mumbled, lowering his face as a furious blush spread over his cheeks. "No need to get so sappy…" He darted forward to kiss him back, then pulled back with a grin, still blushing even though they had kissed a thousand times before. "But, yeah, same to you, babe."

"Hey, what about me?" Magnus asked in mock offense. He gently lifted the dogs off of himself and sat up, edging over toward Taako.

"Sorry, dear, no kisses for you until you wipe all that fucking dog slobber off," Taako told him, giving an exaggerated shudder. Despite his words, though, he raised himself up off the ground to give Magnus a kiss on the top of his head. "And happy Candlenights to you, too. To both of you."

A great warmth swelled within Kravitz as Taako sat back down between him and Magnus. He looped an arm around each of their waists and drew them in close, smiling far brighter than he normally let any of his emotions shine through. Outside, the wind was still blowing as cold as ever, and dark clouds covered the moon, carrying the promise of a heavy overnight snowfall. Here and now, though, the three of them were warm and safe and happy--or rather, the nine of them. Yikes, that really was a lot of pets, wasn't it? Still, looking between his companions and the animals, Kravitz decided they could handle it. In any case, no matter how things turned out in the long run, this was a night that they were sure to remember for a long time to come.

[thefightingbull]

Well... That Was Unexpected (Teaser)

Thanksgiving. It didn’t seem like much, but since Jason had made amends with the family, it had become the single most important holiday of the year. Spending time at the manor and eating a home cooked meal that Steph and Alfred would likely spend hours working on the day before and the day after was a requirement. Or maybe they’d just cater it this year… He thought he’d heard something about that.

The only problem Jason foresaw with the upcoming event was that he was without a date. The year prior only Tim had a date in Steph. Bruce, Dick, Alfred, and Barbara were all single. Unfortunately for him, Barbara and Roy were dating, Bruce insisted that Selina show up, Alfred and Dr. Thompkins were an item and Dick was officially official with Kori again. Hell, even Damian was “dating” some girl from school and of course all of them would be at the dinner.

He scrolled through his contact list and sighed. He did not want to be the only solo act in the manor. It was hard enough being the undead Robin. Harder being the only one who’d been an enemy to his family at one point. The one who’d nearly killed some of them… He shook off the thought.

He was over the past. So was his family. He just didn’t want to be reminded of yet another way he didn’t fit in. He had to find someone, anyone to date. But who?

With a sigh he pocketed his phone and walked into the diner. He needed to get his head in the game. Some asshat was running around casting spells and causing all sorts of havoc. He’d gotten an alert from Deathstroke earlier that morning asking that they meet up. Apparently, the magician was one of the assassin’s contracts.

He really, really didn’t want to be bait. Magicians, wizards, witches? They all sucked. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d been royally screwed playing bait for a magician. He’d been turned into animals, de-aged, shrunk, aged, and once he’d even been turned into a freaking action figure. Yeah, magic wasn’t anything he liked messing with.

Still, if Deathstroke asked, he would do it. Mostly because he owed the cyclops a massive favor. Nextly, because he actually liked working with him. If Dick had half the brain he claimed to have, he would have watched, listened and learned. He would have come out of the engagements stronger, smarter, and more capable.

Jason was seated in the back of the restaurant in a corner booth, his back to the wall so that he could see the men and women coming inside. He ordered himself a coffee, black. Ever since he’d watched Dick dump diabetes type 2 inducing amounts of sugar in his, Jason had avoided the sweet substance. He didn’t even let people put fake sweeteners in his caffeine.

His eyes glanced upward as a few people came into the restaurant. A few guys and a girl. He looked back down at his coffee and took a sip as a very attractive man approached him. He was taller than most with blonde hair and the brightest blue eyes he’d seen in a long time. His shaggy blond hair and grimace did look a touch familiar but it was the way the man moved that really caught Jason’s attention. He approached with purpose and took a seat at his booth.

“Uh, beach is that way, dude,” he snarked as he pointed toward the coast.

“Shut up, Jason,” the man hissed.

He blinked in surprise as he scowled at the blond before him. “Who…?” He shook his head as he looked over the stranger. Blond hair, like platinum blond hair. The guy had stood at least six foot four and he was built like a fucking terminator, or rather, built like The Terminator. “Holy shit!”

“Took care of a witch a few days ago,” he snapped. “Seems he had a few allies that took offense.”

Jason couldn’t do anything but stare at the man. Did Slade realize how gorgeous he was? Truth be told he’d always had a crush on the older man, but he’d seemed untouchable before. Now, all Jason wanted to do was touch. He tried to refocus on the conversation, but it was difficult.

“What’s your problem?” Slade snapped at him.

“Nothing,” he answered immediately. “Just a little taken back, that’s all.”

Slade sneered. “Yeah, that’s why I need your help.”

“Gotta kiss a real boy to turn back into an old frog?” He couldn’t help but tease the old man.

Those sky-blue eyes rolled as Jason was grabbed roughly by the collar. The speed and the skill warned that despite being a good two or three decades younger than he should be and forced to see out of two eyes, Slade was still very much a dangerous man who didn’t always appreciate the lip.

“Your fairy tales are crossed,” Slade growled low. “I don’t know what the fuck I need, but I do believe the spell will resolve itself eventually.”

As soon as Jason was released, he nodded. “How soon?”

“Couple weeks at least, couple months at the most.” Slade frowned.

“So… What did you need me for?”

“I need to lie low,” he answered quietly. “You’re one of the few capes that owes me a favor and one that won’t drag me to Arkham or Blackgate.”

Jason nodded, but then paused. Wait, did that mean? “Slade,” he whispered as he leaned forward to make sure no one else could hear. “Are your enhancements… you know?”

“Gone?” Slade huffed. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so terrifying. “It’s not something I’m willing to explain.”

“But it leaves you vulnerable,” he reasoned and when he saw the glare added quickly; “Or well, as vulnerable as someone like you can be.”

Slade nodded. “You gonna help me or not?”

He leaned back and nodded. “I’ve got a few places you can hide out, not all of them are dumps,” he explained softly. He noticed a few women were staring at Slade as they passed by, especially the waitress who looked like she was trying to hype herself up. “Do you see the effect you are having on people?”

To Jason’s further surprise, Slade blushed! Like actually blushed. His cheeks turned red and he didn’t even scowl or growl at Jason. Yeah, he was a master of self-control with his enhancements, but it seemed he didn’t have the molecular level of control over his body at the moment.  He wondered if Slade was even aware of the way his cheeks turned red.

He was about to ask when the waitress finally sidled over. “Anything I can get you, handsome?” She grinned.

Slade jaw ticked as his fists clenched on the table. “He’ll have coffee, black and a Denver omelet. I’ll have the biscuits and gravy.”

The woman pouted a little, but made off to get their order put in. “Thanks,” Slade grumbled.

“This is really throwing you off your game, isn’t it?” Jason didn’t smile. He absolutely bit back the temptation to continue pestering the man about his predicament and be an adult about it.

Slade didn’t answer, obviously working on trying to control himself. Whatever he tried; it didn’t work. If looks could kill, Jason would be a dead man. The narrowed eyes, the unholy sneer on his lips? It was intense and not something Slade had been prone to in the past unless he wanted to strike fear into the hearts of any surrounding him.

“Jason,” Slade started, but was interrupted by the shout of another.

“Jay!”

Slade turned and Jason looked toward the front where Dick and his partner Devon Peterson had just entered. His brother was all smiles as he and the other cop approached them. He looked down at Slade and Jason almost wondered if Slade’s non-existent cover had already been blown. To be fair, Dick had the most familiarity with the assassin. They’d been enemies, reluctant allies, and had briefly shared a partnership in which Slade had tried to be something of a mentor.

If anyone had known what Slade looked like as a young man, Dick would make the most sense.

“Who is this?” Dick smiled as he looked down at the younger version of his former antagonist.

Slade looked like he was going to tease Dick as he was so used to doing, so Jason kicked him beneath the table. “Hey Dick, this is,” he glanced at Slade to be sure there would be no retaliation and to try and think. “This is uh… Well, he’s…” Shit. Maybe he should have allowed Slade to speak.

The only problem was that Jason had never trusted Devon. He’d been Dick’s partner for a year and seemed shifty as fuck. He frowned and looked to Slade, trying to impress upon him the knowledge or paranoia he had about the other cop. Not that Slade was a fan of cops anyhow. They usually made his life a touch more difficult than necessary.

“Fuck, you know what,” he stalled as he formed a really half-assed plan. “This is my boyfriend.”

Devon’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re gay?”

“Wow, Jay, really?” Dick smiled. “How long?”

“C-couple of months. I just… you know how I am with relationships… I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure. You know what vultures the media can be.”

Dick nodded; the poor guy knew better than most, he really did. Jason almost felt bad for the oldest of Bruce’s kids. He’d been under a microscope the moment he turned eighteen. Tabloids ran a story on anyone they thought he might be dating and definitely anytime he’d broken up with them. Hell, there’d even been an article devoted to all of Dick’s one-nightstands a few months back.

“You gonna introduce me to your boyfriend?” Dick smiled, he and his partner still standing beside their table. Devon looked bored and a little irritated, but Dick was practically glowing.

“This is… Lance,” He almost cringed but frowned when he saw the furious expression on Slade’s face.

He couldn’t help it though. Slade looked like some kind of New Kid on the Backstreet or something. He was absolutely gorgeous and the first name that popped into his head was Lance. He was so fucking dead. Slade Wilson, who already had a porn star’s name, was now Lance.

“Hi, Lance, I’m Jason’s brother, Dick,” he offered his hand to Slade.  

Lance hid the rage from his eyes as he looked up at and took the offered hand. “That’s not my name. Your asshole brother just insists on calling me that because he thinks I look like a boyband loser,” Slade sneered. “My name is Liam, Liam Kelly.”

Dick laughed and nodded. “Yeah, Jason’s always been a bit of an ass,” he nudged Jason’s shoulder as he spoke. “Well, we’re just grabbing our breakfast to go, but it was a pleasure meeting you, Liam. I hope we see you at dinner this Sunday.”

“I doubt I’ll be in town,” Slade started.

“He’ll be there,” Jason insisted. “Now get outta here before your partner strangles you or something.”

Devon rolled his eyes before turning from them and walked back to the front of the diner without Dick. Jason really, really hated the guy. He wondered how corrupt the officer was. If he was just an asshole or if he was dirty, or maybe even a mole for someone.

“Sounds great!” Dick grinned to Liam. “Catch you later, Jay!”

As soon as he was out of range, Slade had him by the collar again. “What the Hell do you think you’re doing, Jason?”  

“Protecting you and doing myself a favor at the same time,” Jason explained. “Look, the family is always on me about not taking anything seriously. If they think I have a real boyfriend instead of some throwaway lover, they’ll stay off my ass for a bit. You dump me in front of them, like at Thanksgiving dinner at the end of the month? Dude, they’ll leave me alone for the rest of the season at the very least!”

“So, this will be your payment for allowing me to lie low? Putting my new persona in danger just so that you can have a date to some holiday functions coming up over the next four weeks?” Slade definitely looked against it. Still, Jason could only nod. “Fine, but you embarrass me or fuck me over in any way, and I swear I’ll gut you.”

[notcanoncompliant]

A Coast That’s Unclear - Ch. 2

Chapter Links: Ch. 1  // Ch. 3

Explicit, 18+ // TW: dubious consent (not in this chapter, and not between Tony & Peter)

Pairings: WinterIronSpider

Tag List: @thatmarvelstan, @pixelizedgenocide, @what-the-ever-lovingfuck

DISCLAIMER:

The ‘Underage’ warning is for a brief scene in Chapter 1 while Peter is 17, which is the legal age in NY. The rest of the explicit action happens after Peter is 18. It is going to get explicit. There is Daddy kink. Heed the tags, please. If you have an issue with it, don’t read this fic. Don’t bother with ship-shaming, I will delete your comments.

If y'all are good with this, keep going, and I hope you enjoy <3

_______________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 2: Beachfront of Bad Blood

Steve's pissed. 

He's frozen in the doorway, white-knuckling the strap of his laptop bag and staring into the dining room at what has to be a strange tableau; Bucky standing with his prosthetic extended, Peter Parker on one side of the arm, holding it and staring up with a deer-in-headlights expression from where he's been studying the metallic plating, and Tony Stark on the other, looking less startled, but slightly wary.

"Hey, Buck...what's going on?" Steve asks slowly. His voice is even, but tense.

Silently and profusely thanking whatever's out there that Steve's too polite to just launch himself at Stark, Bucky clears his throat and drops his arm.

"Peter, Mr. Stark, this is Steve. Steve, they're our tenants; got the room for the month." He doesn't bother with much more of an introduction because it's pretty obvious Steve recognizes the pair.

As Steve's jaw tightens and his eyes go stormy, Bucky steps forward and then turns back to face his guests, pastes on an easy smile.

"The room's upstairs, first door on the right--there's a sign hanging, can't miss it. Get settled in; if you need anything, I'll be down here."

Stark looks like he's going to say something, but Peter moves in close and nudges him sharply before giving Bucky a shy smile.

"Thanks, Bucky," the teen says, and then both guests grab their bags and disappear up the stairs. Bucky watches them leave, nerves sparking in his gut.

Steve brushes past Bucky to the arch beside the stairs.

"Kitchen. Now."

Bucky closes his eyes and runs a hand down his face before following.

Steve's on him soon as he walks into kitchen.

"What the hell, Buck! When were you gonna tell me you were planning on harboring Tony Stark and his kid in our house?"

"He's not a fugitive, Stevie," Bucky says. He needs something to do with his hands, a reason to not look at his fiance, so he crosses to the sink and starts washing the few dishes.

"He's running from the consequences of his actions," Steve fumes, "He's lucky I'm not reporting him to the police, or--or calling the press--"

"The kid's eighteen," Bucky says, scrubbing a little harder.

"Stark's had him since he was fifteen. Do you really believe nothing happened before he was legal?"

Bucky's gut twists, and he sets down the plate to face Steve.

"Stark Industries is one of the biggest companies in the world, Steve; you think Stark woulda had a press conference if this was about another pedophile in power? Peter'd be buried, not on fuckin' vacation with the guy. Stark's not hiding from what he did; they just don't wanna be eaten alive by the press--."

"You didn't even tell me!" Steve cries, throwing his hands in the air, "You didn't even give me a chance to--fuck, Bucky, that's awful." He sounds hurt, and Bucky's jaw tightens.

Didn't give you the chance to say 'no'. He slumps back against the counter.

"I couldn't, Stevie. I got the call, and I had to help 'em. At least--couldn't you at least be okay with this for the kid? You know he doesn't deserve any of the shit they're sayin' about him, and no one out here's gonna give 'em any grief."

Steve just stares at him.

"You're not even sorry, are you?"

Bucky doesn't say anything. After a long, tense moment, Steve's expression hardens.

"Fine," he snaps, "I'm going to bed." He grabs his laptop and walks out, his feet thudding pointedly upstairs.

Bucky exhales, turning back to the sink. Through the window above it, he can see the sky just barely beginning to turn purple with the sunset.

He's not sorry.

Of course he knows Steve's at least partially right about Stark and the kid; Bucky's not naive enough to discount it entirely. But he likes to think he's a pretty good judge of character, and after actually meeting the two of them...he's willing to hear them out.

Especially Peter. The kid had been on Bucky the moment he and Stark stepped into the house, rushing through a greeting and then asking to look at Bucky's arm.

His expectant stare had been all big brown eyes and lightly flushed cheeks, and god, he's pretty had run through Bucky's head before he could squash the thought. He'd smiled and said "Go for it", and Peter had immediately put his hands on the prosthetic, turning the arm this way and that, leaning in close to look, all the while spewing questions and exchanging all kinds of tech babble with Stark that Bucky couldn't hope to keep up with.

A minute or so in, Stark had come to stand across from Peter, watching the teen with indulgence and undeniable pride. Bucky's pulse had picked up when the billionaire had glanced at him and arched a brow--Cool, right?--and Bucky had smirked in acknowledgement...

And then Steve had walked in.

Bucky knows his initial impressions don't necessarily negate the more disturbing possibilities, but...Peter's clearly confident, intelligent. And Tony hadn't come across as possessive or hovering or censoring; he'd just stood back and watched the kid go, a soft smile on his ridiculously handsome face.

Tony Stark...God. Bucky swallows.

He's seen pictures, but up close, the guy's something else.

Both of them are.

Bucky's only human. A human in a months' long dry spell--of course he's going to notice. It doesn't mean anything.

He rings the sponge out with a little more force than necessary.

*

When the sky's dark, he goes up to the bedroom.

Steve's deeply asleep, snoring softly on his side of the bed. Bucky sits down at the edge on the other side. He watches his fiance for a long moment. He can't remember the last time they went to bed together. Even just to fall asleep in each other's arms.

After a few minutes, he pulls himself up and leaves the room, closing the door softly.

A beer. A beer sounds good.

A few feet from the stairs, he sees a sliver of gold light across the wood floor. Tony and Peter must still be awake. It's a little surprising; fresh off hours of driving, they'd both looked understandably beat when they'd showed up, despite the enthusiastic examination of Bucky's prosthetic.

He slows and tries to keep his footsteps quiet, padding across the hardwood and carefully avoiding any creaky boards. When he's about cross the thin spill of light, though, a soft noise comes through the open door, followed by a dark chuckle.

Bucky freezes.

"No, no," he can hear the smirk in the man's voice, "you don't get to be shy now, sweetheart."

There's another sound, the sharp drag of a body over sheets, and a shocked gasp. And then slick, wet sounds that Bucky's willing to bet are from Stark's lips and tongue.

"Tony--"

Oh. Oh God. He needs to walk away. Now.

"You look so gorgeous like this, baby," Tony says.

The quick, sharp smack and Peter's short cry of pained pleasure jolt Bucky, send uneasy electricity skittering through his gut. He really needs to leave, and he...really can't.

"Please--"

Peter sounds wrecked, and suddenly all Bucky can see is the way the eighteen year old had looked up at him, the spread of pink across his cheeks, the banked excitement at the prospect of getting the chance to put his hands on Bucky--

On Bucky's arm. The arm.

He can still feel all the places those fingers had pressed on the metal plating.

There's the plastic pop of a cap, and then more filthy-wet sounds as Peter makes another wordless plea.

Tony speaks again.

"You looked so pretty earlier, too. Blushing for him like that. Do you want him to see you like this?"

The response is mumbled, quiet, Bucky has to strain to hear it.

"...yes."

"Yes what, baby?"

There's no immediate response, and then Peter gives an almost pained whine.

"Yes, please--I--I want him to see me--"

"You're going to tell him 'thank you', baby. For letting you put your hands on him."

"Y-yes, Daddy--"

Tony hums in approval. "Good boy."

A rhythmic shifting starts, the building slap of skin on skin as Peter moans brokenly.

"You're so perfect, Peter, so good for me..."

Tony practically purrs the words, and Bucky's going to hell. He's going straight down into the pit of fire with a cock so hard it hurts, and it's with that resignation that he lets himself cast a quick glance at the gap in the door as he finally goes to walk past.

It's fine, he's not really looking; he probably won't see anything anyway--

--But that's bullshit; Bucky knows the layout of the room like the back of his hand, knows exactly where the bed is positioned in relation to the doorway, and--Oh God.

Peter is laying bent over the side of the bed, facing forward in Bucky's line of sight. His eyes are squeezed shut and his mouth is slack, his hands twisted in the blankets. Tony's upright behind him, one hand on the back of the teen's neck, the other at Peter's hip, keeping him pressed into the mattress as older man's hips roll in a sensual, controlled surge and retreat. If the billionaire were to look up, it's almost a sure thing that he'd be able to see Bucky at the door.

Bucky's pulse is pounding in his ears--god this is so wrong shouldn't be watching this what the fuck am I doing--and he finally moves past, carefully making his way down the stairs.

In the kitchen, he takes a Heineken from the fridge and pops the cap with his prosthetic hand, stands at the counter and chugs half the bottle in one go.

*

Maybe an hour later, Bucky re-enters his and Steve's bedroom. He stretches out next to his fiance, leaving a broad distance between their bodies.

He's wide awake.

He can't stop thinking about the cut of Stark's hips, the hungry but loving look on his face as he stared down at his boyfriend?--lover?--and Peter, face screwed up with pleasure, clutching desperately at the comforter.

The door was shut when he came back down the hall.

Bucky drags a hand down his face, exhaling heavily.

You're so perfect, Peter, so good for me...

Fuck.

***

The next morning starts...poorly.

Steve's side of the bed is empty and cold when Bucky wakes up. He drags himself out of bed and through a shower before he makes his way downstairs.

He feels a wash of shame as he passes by the guest room; the door's closed, no sounds filtering through the wood.

In the dining room, there's a fresh pot of coffee on the table, an empty mug beside it. Steve's parked at the nearby table going over some paperwork, a sour expression on his face.

"Hey, Stevie," Bucky tries. His fiance looks up, sighs, and goes back to his paperwork.

Alright then. "How'd you sleep?"

"Shut it, Buck. We're still fighting."

"Good to know you've decided that for the both of us." Bucky goes to fill his mug as the sound of a palm hitting the table top rings through the room.

"Damn it, why can't you take this seriously," Steve snaps. "He adopted the kid! He's supposed to be his father!"

Bucky nearly chokes on his coffee.

"And--and you welcomed him with open arms--brought him into our home. Why?"

Before Bucky can answer, he turns in time to see Steve's expression tighten, become concerned and slightly condescending, and Bucky's hackles rise.

"Bucky, babe," Steve says, a cross between placating and pleading.

"Don't," Bucky warns.

But Steve does. "You don't owe him anything--"

"It's not about the arm, Steve, fuck. I know I don't owe him anything!"

"Then why, Buck?" His fiance's glare is cutting, back to angry disbelief.

Groaning, Bucky tilts his head back and covers his face with both hands.

"Why?" Steve asks again, quietly.

Bucky sighs, his hands dropping to his sides as he returns Steve's gaze. It's too early for this garbage, too early to deal with Steve's righteousness, it's just...too much.

"The kid's eighteen," he says flatly, "It's no one's business but theirs. I got a chance to help someone who needs it, and I did. You've always said I'm a good judge of character, and I trust Stark, okay? He's not hurting Peter."

Not in any way he doesn't want, Bucky thinks, and he tries to ignore the trickle of heat down his spine.

"Just drop it, Steve," he says and walks away.

***

Bucky sees Peter and Tony in passing throughout the next few days.

He wonders if they heard he and Steve arguing.

He wonders if they heard him outside their door that first night.

He knows this is messed up, that even though Tony made him an arm--gave Bucky his life back--Tony and Peter are strangers. Steve's his fiance and his childhood best friend; he should be backing Steve, being part of the team Steve tells him they are.

But Tony and Peter are...exciting, in a guilty way, in a fantasy way that Steve isn't. Every night, he lays in bed, not touching (not that Steve's reaching for him, either), and while his fiance snores quietly, Bucky thinks about sneaking back down the hall to the guest room door, but he doesn't.

He just spends the days living for the small moments of contact; Peter's quick smiles and small waves in passing, the occasional "Hey, Mr. Barnes" or "Hi, Bucky".

(the kid has quite the blush; it makes Bucky think too much about that first night, and he does his best not to react too much in those brief encounters beyond a casual "Hey, Pete," in case he gives some sign, lets them in on the secret he's trying to keep for himself.

And he keeps waiting for a 'thank you'. Feels guilty for expecting it, and then guiltier for being disappointed every time it doesn't come.)

Tony has to know. Bucky's almost sure. The billionaire doesn't say anything, doesn't ask for anything, but whenever he and Peter pass by he stares at Bucky a little longer than is casual, eyes shuttered and searching.

And Steve...Well, Steve hasn't been speaking to him, but Bucky can't find it in him to care. The total distance is...kind of a relief, if he's being honest with himself.

***

On the fourth morning, Bucky's had enough of the tension. He's up and showered by 7 a.m., standing outside the closed door of their only tenants, ready with an olive branch.

He's barely knocked when the door cracks open.

Peter smiles up at him, says "Morning." He looks sleep-warm, doe-eyed and soft, like he isn't quite awake, yet. He's lovely.

Bucky realizes he hasn't said anything back when Peter begins to look faintly amused.

"Hey, Pete," Bucky says, finally, smiling back. He feels like he might be blushing, which is completely ludicrous, since the kid's just standing there...in nothing but an oversized Stark Industries t-shirt that brushes mid-thigh...

Fuck.

"...Did you need something?" Peter asks, and Bucky wonders if he might be projecting his own desires, because the words come out soft and promising, Peter's big brown eyes seeming to heat as Bucky watches, and suddenly he very much wants to know what Peter looks like when he--

Bucky clears his throat. "Yeah, actually; I was gonna go out to the beach today and figured I'd see if you and Tony wanna come?" Word choice, Buck, Christ.

Peter's face lights up instantly, chasing away the sleep and whatever else Bucky thought he'd seen.

"What?! Yeah! Definitely!" he says, twisting around and bounding out of sight. "Tony, wake up!"

There's a squeak of springs as the kid presumably lands on the mattress, and Bucky has to resist the urge to peek around the still partially opened door. He hears a mumbled response, and then Peter's voice again.

"It is important; Bucky wants to take us to the beach!"

A groan and more mumbling, and then Peter returns to the door, grinning.

"Tony's still waking up, but he said he's down! Let me get him in the shower and dressed and we can go!"

He disappears back into the room, leaving the door open a crack.

Feeling lighter than he has in days (maybe even months), Bucky goes down to wait on the porch.

*

It's late November, so there's a layer of fog over everything and the beach is empty; even in the spring and summer, the town's too small for excessive tourism, and during this time of year there's hardly a soul. Bucky loves it; it allows for peace in a way nowhere else does, and he feels good about bringing Peter and Tony out with him, hopes they find some of that peace for themselves..

It also feels like a good way to start making up for his...indiscretion.

Everything's quiet, muffled by the fog; the waves and the cries of seagulls sound far away. They walk down the cement path that runs from the parking lot along the stretch of the beach, and Bucky's relieved that Peter's not put off by how not 'California' the beach is.

The group wanders far enough down that the parking lot is no longer visible, and Peter leaves the path to explore closer to the water. He picks through the rocks and wanders down to walk near the tide, about twenty feet down from the walkway, as Bucky and Tony continue a short ways.

They end up parked on a driftwood bench, hands in their pockets, relaxing to the hush of waves and the snatches of laughter and indistinct conversation from Peter, who's busy making friends with a local, and the local's dogs, that have wandered over from one of the nearby private beaches.

Bucky sneaks a glance at his companion.

There are plenty of photos of Tony Stark floating around, ranging from professional magazine covers to scandalous, blurry paparazzi shots. None of them compare to the man in the flesh.

The billionaire's reclining against the backrest, watching his lover, an affectionate half-smile on his face. The lines at the corners of his eyes are crinkled just a little, and the light smattering of grey through his dark hair and goatee make him look distinguished, masculine. He looks...lived in, comfortable in his skin. The arrogance of youth and genius has been tempered by life experience; now he radiates the confidence of the busy but well-lived, and he wears it well.

Bucky allows his eyes to drift along the cut of Tony's jaw and then down his chest and stomach. That expensive wool jacket is open, the dark red shirt Tony's got on is tight enough to hint at the musculature underneath. Bucky's seen it all, the olive-toned skin and soft muscle, wants to see it again.

He suddenly recalls Steve's angry comment --he's supposed to be his father!-- and feels a hot, dirty rush. His eyes travel back up to the other man's face to find it angled towards him, a knowing smirk curving Tony's lips.

Bucky clears his throat and looks back out at the water.

A little distance away and to the side, Peter's standing, breathing hard from running around with the dogs and smiling while he talks to the dogs' owner about God knows what. Bucky can feel Tony's eyes on him, hot on the side of his face.

"Has Peter said anything to you the last couple days?"

Bucky swallows, looking back at the billionaire.

"Like what?"

Tony smirks at him. He's about to say something, and then he breaks eye contact to look past Bucky. The amusement stays, but warmth floods in, and Bucky's pulse jumps.

Peter steps onto the path and drops onto the bench between them. He's grinning, color high on his cheeks, and Bucky's brain helpfully supplies the last time he'd seen Peter looking so flushed.

"Hey, Pete," Tony says, smiling.

The teen returns the greeting and starts leaning toward his boyfriend, and then stops abruptly, starts to sit back.

"You can kiss him in front of me," Bucky blurts. Jesus.

He genuinely means it as a reassurance; he wants them to feel comfortable behaving like a couple. Bucky's seen the strain between them in the house the past few days, the way they avoid unnecessary contact outside their room, especially if Steve's nearby. But he knows how it sounds, and Tony suddenly looks a lot more amused where Bucky can see him just past Peter's shoulder.

"I mean you're allowed to be cute with each other, that's all," Bucky says, kicking himself internally while giving Peter what he hopes is an encouraging smile.

And Peter...Peter's looking at him kind of like he wants to crawl into Bucky's lap.

"Thank you, Bucky," he says warmly and purposefully, and when a little more color blooms under the kid's skin, Bucky feels heat rise under his own.

When the kid doesn't immediately turn to kiss Tony, Bucky feels the insane urge to lean in himself--and then Tony's hand comes up to cup Peter's chin and turn the boy's face to his.

"That was nice of you," he hears Tony murmur.

Bucky's expecting something filthy to happen next to him at this point, and he's not sure how he's going to handle it. But the kiss is quick, and then Peter's sitting upright and talking about the person he just met and the dogs he just played with, and Bucky feels a little like he's going crazy.

**

They don't stay at the beach for long; the wind starts picking up and the clouds are beginning to look darker, like they might spill soon.

On the drive back, Peter leans up between the front seats so he can alternate between resting his chin on Tony's shoulder, fiddling with the radio, and eventually--after shyly asking Bucky to take off his jacket--inspecting Bucky's prosthetic again. The 'inspection' this time around is mostly Peter tracing fingertips along the fine lines of the plating, and Bucky tries very hard not to react too obviously.

By the time they get back to the house, Bucky's rock hard in his jeans, and even though he's pretty sure he manages to get out and get his jacket on and zipped without anyone seeing it, the too-innocent look on Peter's face makes Bucky think he's underestimated Peter Parker a little.

"I'm gonna run upstairs real quick," Bucky says as soon as they're inside. "Coffee pot's over there; figure I don't need to give the geniuses any instructions. I'll be right back down."

"You're not gonna hang your coat?" Peter asks, gazing up at him guilelessly.

The expression cracks when Tony walks behind the kid, and judging by Tony's smirk and the sudden blushy indignation and tiny smile on Peter's part, Bucky's willing to bet he just pinched the kid's ass.

Bucky makes his escape up the stairs, trying to move like he doesn't have an erection, a semi-hysterical laugh bubbling behind his ribs.

"Ugh, Tony--Bucky! Wait! Do you have any hot chocola--Oh, hi, Steve..."

Shit. Bucky nearly runs right back down the stairs, wants to put a physical barrier between Peter and his fiance, but he knows better than that. Instead, he scowls down the hallway and keeps going towards his room.

*

He's hanging his jacket in the bedroom closet when the door creaks open.

"Buck?"

Bucky takes a deep breath.

"Yeah, Stevie?" He pulls a thick sweater on over his t-shirt and turns around.

"Where'd you guys go?"

Steve's standing in the doorway, hands in his pockets, trying too hard to be casual. The thin veneer is obvious as hell, and Bucky really doesn't want to have this argument.

"The beach," Bucky says shortly. "I figured they might wanna see more than the inside of our house for the next month."

"You didn't wake me up."

Bucky holds back a sigh, moves to the bed and starts straightening the pillows.

"You never wanna go to the beach. And I didn't think you'd be into hangin' out with Stark." And I didn't want you to go.

"I'm into hanging out with you," Steve says, the words ringing hollow, and Bucky almost laughs as old, faded pain echos deep in the back of his mind.

Pulling the blankets into place, he runs his hands across the fabric to flatten the wrinkles and straightens to face Steve.

"Stevie, don't--I get why you're angry about Tony, but don't act like--"

"So it's 'Tony', now--"

"Don't act like you've been tryin' so hard to make time for me, because it's been months, Steve," he says, "Since the arm. Since before the arm."

He feels sick from adrenaline, and Steve's looking at him like he can't believe Bucky would say something like that, and Bucky just can't be in this room anymore.

"I'm gonna make breakfast. Just--just don't do this shit in front of company."

Bucky gives Steve a wide berth as he goes to leave the room.

He's just turned the corner from the stairway when Steve comes thundering down after.

"I'm going to the library," he says as he yanks open the front door, "so I don't 'do this shit in front of company'."

Peter comes out of the kitchen archway and freezes, a mug in his hand, and Steve whirls on him.

"Have fun with my fiance," he snaps, "since apparently your own father isn't enough."

"Steve--" Bucky snarls, but the door slams shut. He starts to follow--

"Bucky, don't! Just--let him go," Peter says, his voice strained.

Bucky turns, and Tony's standing behind Peter, now, his mouth drawn tight in a thin line, and noticeably not touching the younger at all. Peter looks drawn, shaky, hands gripping his mug like a lifeline.

Pressing his palms into his eyes so hard he sees patterns and colors behind his lids, Bucky curses thickly. He drops his hands, and there's a stilted silence that just drags.

After a moment, Bucky exhales and rubs at his mouth. He knows the smile he gives Peter is strained, but he's trying.

"You wanna help make breakfast?" When Peter nods, a little of the weight comes off Bucky's chest.

"Okay...Okay. Fuckin'--" Bucky waves his hand in a vague gesture at Peter, "--hug your damn boyfriend, Tony," he says to the billionaire, "He's shakin' like a leaf. Kid's gonna be droppin' eggs all over the place."

It's nonsense, and he feels his face heat a little bit, but as he skirts around them to go into the kitchen, he's relieved to see Tony gather Peter tightly to him and press a long kiss to the kid's hair. Peter buries his face in the crook of Tony's neck.

Bucky doesn't stick around to watch any longer, goes into the kitchen to start pulling out what he needs to make french toast and bacon and eggs, and then he has to stop and grip the counter, because his hands are shaking.

When a palm lands on his shoulder, he jumps a little. He'd missed the approaching footsteps.

The hand stays, squeezes gently for a moment, and slides off.

"I'm not great at cooking, but I'm great at paying other people to do it for me," Tony says.

Bucky snorts. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Let's do the small town thing. There's got to be a diner around here that serves more grease than food."

Tony's smirking at him, and Bucky huffs a laugh and lets go of the counter.

"Yeah, alright."

_______________________________________

This is available to read on Ao3 as well <3 But I’m going to post the rest of the chapters I have so far (up to ch. 6) on here, too.

[frizz22]

Protective Zelda is my favourite Zelda, could you write something where she puts herself in danger to protect Hilda?

Thanks for the idea! Read on ao3

Her sister didn’t quite have a knack for demonology. Ask her about potions, herbology or healing spells and she’d never shut up. But demonology and all that came with it? Not exactly her sister’s strong suit.

But it was part of the required curriculum at the academy; to be able to summon and then banish a demon safely. So, she’d been helping Hilda practice.

She told her friends it was because she couldn’t allow Hilda to embarrass the Spellman name when it came time for her practical exam. But, truthfully, she didn’t want Hilda taking on the attempts alone and something going wrong. They’d already lost their parents; Zelda couldn’t stomach even the thought of losing Hilda as well. 

Recently, her sister had accomplished the summoning, completing that aspect with consistent results. The banishing, however, well, Hilda continued to struggle with it. Because once the demon appeared Hilda got flustered, lost concentration and the demon would almost always get loose—Zelda having to wrangle it each time.

There were only a few days left until Hilda’s practical exam, and her sister wanted to spend the Saturday practicing again. Zelda told her they could work on the spells that afternoon, she had to assist Edward and Faustus with preparing the church for an inter-coven event.

They ran late. Edward and Faustus were bickering over the smallest details and Zelda had decided she had enough. Rolling her eyes, she teleported home around 4:00pm and made for the kitchen to grab a late lunch/early dinner before finding Hilda. There was still plenty of time to practice.

As she perused the fridge, though, a tremendous crash sounded from above her, a scream immediately followed. Sprinting upstairs, Zelda burst into her and Hilda’s bedroom to find her sister cowering from a demon, having been cornered by the beast.

Without a thought, Zelda launched herself at the demon, landing on its back. Grasping at its horns, Zelda manage to wrench its head back. Only, only she didn’t account for the sudden weight shift and suddenly she was on the floor with the beast on top of her. It somehow manage to wrest its head free and flipped over so it could claw at her, gnashing its teeth and it was all Zelda could do to hold it far enough away that its teeth doesn’t sink in, though it’s claws did enough damage.

She and the beast were both growling and shouting. By some unholy miracle, Zelda was able to bend her knee enough to plant her foot on the creature’s stomach and launch it off her. The reprieve was brief the thing gripped her ankle and yanked, its nails slicing into her leg. But her hands were now free to blast the demon back, which she did readily.

Before Zelda could collect herself completely, the beast burst into dust.

Breathing heavily, Zelda rolled to her side and pushed her hair out of her face to see Hilda standing with her hands up, trembling and tears streaming down her cheeks. Grinning, Zelda looked between her sister and what was left of the demon. “Hildegard! You did it!” She crowed, flopping back down to catch her breath. Then she realized Hilda wasn’t moving, but remained frozen in place, her hands still in front of her.

Brow furrowing, Zelda leveraged herself off the ground with a wince and limped to her sister. “Hildie?” She breathed, carefully lowering her sister’s hands and guiding her to the bed to sit. When Hilda still didn’t move, Zelda took a step closer to stand in front of her and cupped the younger witch’s cheeks. “Hildie,” she patted her cheek lightly and her sister finally broke from her trance. “What happened?” Zelda probed softly, looking Hilda over for injuries while trying to ignore her own.

“I,” Hilda swallowed and dropped her eyes to her lap. “I wanted to try it by myself. You won’t always be here, and I have to learn how to do these things if I’m to be a proper witch.”

A smile tugged Zelda’s lips and she tipped her sister’s chin up to meet her gaze. “I’ll always be here to protect you, sister. And you’re already a proper witch. Being able to banish a demon is just another notch on your broomstick, you already have the broomstick. But adding notches can take time, practice... safety.” She winked and a small smile formed on Hilda’s face. Turning serious, Zelda looked at her sister imploringly. “Promise me you won’t be so reckless again.”

Tears welled once more in Hilda’s eyes and she nodded. “I promise.” Her chin wobbled and Zelda exhaled in relief and pulled her into a hug, Hilda wrapping her arms tightly around Zelda’s waist and burying her face against her collar bone.

Resting her cheek on top of Hilda’s head, Zelda gently rocked her side to side, shushing her sister’s muffled sobs as she stroked her hair. It was all Zelda could do not to cry as well.

She almost hadn’t been there to protect Hilda.

What would she have found? Had she been even five more minutes in getting home? What would have been left of her baby sister? Zelda shuddered at the very thought and tightened her hold on Hilda, pushing away the thoughts and focusing on her very real, very much alive sister. She hadn’t lost her. She hadn’t failed in protecting her. She hadn't.  

After several long minutes, Hilda sniffled and pulled away, wiping her eyes on the cuff of her cardigan. A sheepish smile graced her lips until she got a good look at Zelda. Then her eyes widened. “Satan, you’re hurt! How could I ignore…” Hilda didn’t bother finishing her sentence, just popped off the bed and, despite Zelda’s protests, forced her to sit so Hilda could tend to her injuries.

“Honestly, Hilda, it’s only a few bruises and some cuts—”

Shaking her head, Hilda snatched her first aid kit from the trunk at the foot of her bed. “Gashes more like, and those are from demon claws, Zelds, those get infected easily. Please, just let me heal them.” Hilda looked at her earnestly and Zelda sighed in exaggerated exasperation and nodded.

Practically sagging with relief, Hilda started to apply potion enhanced creams and whisper spells to heal her wounds; apologies falling from her lips the entire time.

Zelda took her sister’s hands and squeezed them when they were finally empty. “Hildie, stop apologizing. If I’d known being attacked by a demon was all you needed to motivate you to successfully banish one, I’d have done it ages ago.” She remarked, a teasing smile on her lips.

Huffing, Hilda shook her head. “I never wanted that kind of motivation.” She muttered, turning away and packing up her kit.

“Well, no one really does,” Zelda acknowledged, carefully standing up and smiling when there was almost no pain thanks to Hilda’s attention. “But, Hilda, you banished a demon! By yourself, turned the thing to dust. Quite impressive,” she observed, lifting a brow.

Hilda blushed and peeked at her. “I did, didn’t I?”

Happy to see the incident hadn’t scarred her sister, Zelda nodded and looped her arm through Hilda’s. “Indeed, you did. And that, dear sister, warrants a reward.” Zelda flicked her free hand to restore order to the room and clean the floor before leading Hilda downstairs. “What do you say to a shopping trip?”

Eyes lighting up, Hilda nodded and went to grab her purse.

Zelda smiled after her sister and cast a quick spell to fix and clean her clothes. Though she was a bit stiff, she didn’t regret what she’d done.

It’d been a bit thoughtless, in hindsight; she should have hit the creature with magic first, not her own body. But her baby sister had been at risk and she hadn’t thought of anything beyond getting the demon away from Hilda. Watching as Hilda practically bounced back towards her, coat on and chatting about where she wanted to go, Zelda couldn’t help but smile widely and think that she’d take on an entire hoard of demons if it meant keeping her sister safe and with that sweet smile on her face—not that she’d ever admit as much.

Notes:        

I'm going to 'close' down my inbox here and on ao3 for a bit. I love you all for the ideas and for trusting me with them. But I have 40+ right now between ao3 and tumblr and no matter how quickly I write these that number magically increases and never decreases. The sheer number is getting a little overwhelming.

So if you sent me a prompt before 10/23/19, it is on that list of 40+ and I will eventually get to it. Once I make a sizeable dent in the list (hopefully once I get to the teens or even single digits--which I can't even imagine right now) I'll take more prompts.

Thank you all again for the ideas and support!

[sparrellow]

it’s a long way home

It's a long way home when your childhood friend is haunting you from the passenger seat of your car.

rating: T+ genre: supernatural/angst ships: one-sided!rin/len, mostly platonic TW: self-harm, suicide

i saw you in a dream

then it came to an end

i wonder if you’ll come and visit me again

you’re taking your time to reappear

i’m starting to believe that when i call your name—

.

Rin sipped her coffee; her eyelids heavy, but her heart even heavier.

A week ago, she wouldn’t have thought she would be making this drive so soon, so suddenly. But a phone call came from her mother, and in her soft voice, she told her something that made the world shatter around her.

Len was her neighbour, her childhood friend. 

They’d grown up together, went to school together, graduated together. They had made so many memories together. Of course, they went their separate ways when it came to university, but it was never a bitter goodbye. Rather, it was one filled with hope and anticipation that they’d see each other again.

Of course, this wasn’t her idea of a reunion.

She gripped the steering wheel tight, her knuckles showing white. The years had gone by so fast, and with him in Osaka, and her in Tokyo, the chance that she’d hoped for never came.

Then, it was too late.

Instead, she’d be bidding her farewell to him at a funeral. Did her 18 year old self ever imagine this was how she’d be saying her last goodbye to her old friend?

A lonely ache spread through Rin’s chest. She didn’t know the fine details of how he died, but she knew enough that it made her stomach churn.

Len had been a bright, somewhat happy boy in their childhood; popular and social and active. He always dreamed big and laughed so carelessly. He was the last person for her to imagine dying so young.

Who would’ve seen this coming?

She sure didn’t.

Rin reached up to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand, smudging her makeup across her cheeks. It wasn’t ideal to be driving at this time of night, in this kind of state, but she had no choice with work only granting her one day off to attend the funeral. Although rural Saitama wasn’t that far, the drive seemed longer at this hour, and she was exhausted after a long day of work.

She wondered why on earth they chose to have the funeral at such an ungodly hour of the morning, but it couldn’t be helped, and she didn’t want that to be the reason why she didn’t go.

Of course, Len deserved better.

Her eyelids began to betray her again, so this time, she opted for the radio, turning it up louder in an attempt to wake up her brain. As she did so, for some reason, she sensed another presence with her in the car.

Of course, there was no one, she knew there was no one, but to ease her paranoid mind, she glanced up at the rear view mirror.

A pair of pale eyes stared back at her.

Rin stomped on the brake and jerked her car off the road. The car behind her laid on their horn, spelling the words fuck you with their beeps.

She immediately unbuckled her seat, jerking around to face—

A ghost.

She screamed.

.

Rin was not one to believe the paranormal. No, no. She’d always thought, growing up, that once people died, they like, died -died, as in, never ever coming back died.

Maybe that was a little dark and dreary for a child to believe, but that was what kept her, well, sane . It comforted her. It saved her from all those nights in the dark believing the shadows on the walls were monsters or banshees or demons.

So, after screaming for a bit, she calmed down and began to think more rationally: No, maybe it isn’t a ghost. Maybe I’m just hallucinating. I’m tired, I’m caffeinated, and I’m probably going through shock. I’m probably—definitely—hallucinating.

Rin shook her head, closed her eyes, sat back in her seat. Okay. Okay. Let’s just breathe.

While counting herself through what was probably an oncoming anxiety attack, the feeling of someone else being there in the car did not ease. She had never hallucinated before, so she wasn’t even sure if this was normal or if she really was experiencing some strange, life-changing event.

A part of her was begging for it to just be a hallucination. It just had to be, because there, sitting in her back seat, was Len.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she popped open her eyes and slowly turned to look back over her shoulder.

She did not get there, though.

Because.

Because— Len was now sitting in the front seat.

Staring at her.

Rin didn’t know if she wanted to run for her life, scream, or just pass out. This was too much. This was too much for this entire week.

She leant forward, resting her forehead on the steering wheel, trying to steady her breathing.

“It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real,” she muttered to herself.

And yet, when she lifted her head, he was still there. It wasn’t working.

She went to put her head down again, but he then spoke, to her utter horror. “Rin.”

Rin screamed and went to open her door, but it was jammed. It wouldn’t open. Had she fallen asleep at the wheel, and this was some crazy dream before crashing to her death? God, if it was, please wake up (or die) so it would end .

“Rin,” Len repeated, leaning towards her so that their faces were only a breath apart.

She froze, avoiding meeting his gaze. “He’s not real. He’s not real. He’s not real,” she whispered to herself, desperate to keep her sanity.

“You don’t have to believe I’m real,” he said. “You don’t have to. But please look at me.”

She began to cry. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was so terrified, or because it really felt like Len was there with her, in the car. 

“Rin,” he repeated, his voice soft. His hand drifted up, pale and translucent, and his fingers grazed the side of her face. It was like cold water trickling down her cheek. “You can look at me. I won’t hurt you.”

Finally, Rin obeyed. She wrenched her gaze away from the steering wheel to meet his eyes.

Len smiled. Her chest tightened, and her gaze began to wander over his ghostly figure. It wasn’t as lanky as she remembered. He was wearing a button up shirt and pants, like he’d just come from work. Her eyes immediately dropped to his left arm, where his sleeve was rolled up.

She couldn’t help but notice the deep gashes in his wrist, looking as if they were freshly made, although no blood was seeping from them.

Tears stung her eyes again. What a horrible hallucination.

Len noticed the direction of her gaze and covered his arm with his other hand. His expression went sad. “It doesn’t go away,” he explained, as if reading her mind. “It doesn’t go away, even after death.”

Rin sobbed hideously. She wanted this to be over and done with. She wanted out of this nightmare.

Of course she wanted to meet Len again.

But not like this. Not like this.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry this is how it is.”

Rin shook her head. “Even if you were real,” she said, “I could never be happy with this— ”

“I know.” He looked away. “I know that, Rin. I’m sorry.”

She slammed her palm against the wheel. “Are you sorry? Are you really sorry? This isn’t just something you can apologise for. You can’t just appear, expect anything but my tears, because you’re dead and you’re not coming back and I never even had the chance to say goodbye.”

Len was silent.

Rin refused to look at his face. She knew how he looked. With that guilty expression, the sort of face he would pull when they’d have stupid arguments back in junior high. His eyebrows would meet and his bottom lip would pucker out like a kid who was refused candy.

She crossed her arms over the steering wheel, rested her cheek against them, feeling her wet tears as they smudged black eyeliner across her skin.

Her parents were going to shit themselves when she got to their house. If she got to their house.

“I don’t regret it,” Len then said.

She sighed to show she was listening.

He continued, “I don’t regret it at all because I didn’t want to live anymore.”

“Are you happy now?” she asked him.

“Not even dying made me happy,” he said. “Nothing would, Rin. I knew that.”

“So why? Why? ”

There was a long silence. Rin thought he had disappeared, but then he answered, “I just wanted to be free from it all.”

It hurt to know how much pain he was in. She wished so desperately she knew earlier. She wished so desperately she’d been a better friend and kept in touch more. She wished so desperately she could turn back time.

But time travel was just as unrealistic as a ghost.

She stared out her window, watching the occasional car drive past on the highway. Their headlights would illuminate everything in front of them, before they’d flash past, and all would go pitch black again.

“Rin,” Len said. His voice was closer. “It’s a long way home. You should get moving before it gets too late.”

You’re right , she wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t form in her mouth. She lifted herself up, not casting a glance in his direction, and indicated to merge back onto the road.

It was silent again for about ten or so minutes. Len was still there, in the corner of her eye, watching the road. Eventually, he said, “Hey, you remember in high school, when I came late to school with a bandage on my arm?”

Rin thought for a moment. She could remember that day vaguely. “Yeah.”

“I know I said that it was a burn from ironing my uniform—” For obvious reasons, she knew what was coming. “—but that was a lie. I tried to cut myself open the night before. I tried to die.”

Her eyes stung with tears. The road started to blur. She blinked hard several times, trying to clear her vision. Something wet trickled down her cheek.

“So why didn’t you?” she croaked, when he didn’t continue.

“I don’t know. I guess—for a moment, I thought of you. You were my best friend. Perhaps no one else would care much if I died, but you, I was scared of knowing if you would care too much, or not care at all. I stopped myself before it got too deep. Told my mum I slipped and sliced myself on the bed frame. I don’t think she believed me, but she didn’t question it.”

Rin hated it. You were my best friend.  

Her fingers tightened around the steering wheel, a wave of anger shaking her. “That’s not true,” she spat. Was she really having an argument with a hallucination right now? Perhaps it was time for therapy. “Everyone loved you Len. Everyone loved you so much. Everyone would have been so devastated to have lost you. Even now—I’m sure they are, or will be.”

The corners of Len’s lips twitched upwards. “That’s the thing. My brain just couldn’t comprehend it. Even if everyone did love me—”

  I just couldn’t believe it at all.

For a moment, Rin was standing in an empty classroom with Len. It was four in the afternoon. He was hunched over his desk, a bad mood. And his words, they settled like rocks in the pit of her stomach.

“I can’t help but think like that, you know?” he was saying, with a haunting grin on his face. It looked so out of place. “No matter the truth, I just can’t believe it. I don’t think anyone needs me around.”

Rin nudged his desk with her foot. “I need you,” she said, her fingers brushing the skin of his arm; a simple, secret gesture that no one but her could read.

Len lifted his head to meet her eyes.

“I need you.”

  Rin sniffed, wiping at her eyes. The tears wouldn’t stop. They just kept overflowing, overflowing, overflowing.

“Rin,” Len said, from the passenger seat. “Don’t cry.”

“Shut up, stupid,” she snapped, her voice wobbling. She was angry, she was sad. This hallucination was getting out of hand.

He stared at her, nothing to say.

“I cared about you so much it hurt,” she continued. “And whenever you insisted I didn’t, that drove the knife in even deeper. I loved you, Len, but you held me at arm’s length. I felt that if I said that—how I really felt—you would just deny it, and that, that would break my heart.”

“I know,” he whispered. “I wish I didn’t do that. I wish I let you in.”

Rin inhaled. “But somehow, I could forgive you for that anyway. And I still love you, somewhat, even if it’s not quite the same, pure love that was.”

Len reached over, placing his cold hand over hers on the gear stick. It was rotting, melting, skeletal. Not human at all. “It was never meant to be, anyway.”

She looked over at him, and he looked at her. “Yeah, well, my hopes were already dashed years ago.”

He smiled, looking sad. “I’m sorry to do that to you, Rin.”

“It’s too late to apologise for anything now, Len,” she said. “It is what it is.”

The familiar lights of their hometown began to pass by as they reached the outskirts of their small city. It was a sight of nostalgia, and a sight of pain. How many times Rin would make this drive before it would be her last, she didn’t know. Perhaps this would be the last.

Perhaps she would never have to come here again.

One could only wish.

Len was gone. She could no longer feel the cool breath of his palm against the back of her hand, nor the piercing gaze of his lifeless eyes striking the side of her face.

She wiped her face again, turning off the ignition. She fixed herself as much as possible in the mirror, before gathering her last remaining courage to meet her parents.

Like in the past, she knew this pain, this wound, would heal with time.

And life would go on.

.

—you just don’t hear me anymore

and i know that i shouldn’t even try

it’s a waste of time

[thewritewolf]

Nino’s Quest Chapter 6: Out of the Woods

The true struggle of DnD - getting the party together for a session. Not at all helped by magic terrorism attacks.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3.  My ko-fi.

--- October 15th ---

Lord DM: Hey dudes, we still on for today? Since its been like two hours I’ll guess that was a no then

Adrien Regreste: sorry dude. Got roped into a last minute photoshoot :(

Marinoodles: same Wait no I mean- last minute bakery stuff Sorry to bail like this! D:

Alya’ll Beware: Don’t worry about it girl I was chasing that akuma that was running around It kept giving lb n cn the slip Got some good footage tho

Lord DM: Bummer dudes Guess thats one of the perks of living in paris We can try again next week, k?

--- October 18 ---

Direct Message From Alya

Alya: These akumas have been crazy, babe. Rain check on dates? At least until hawkbutt tires himself out

Nino: :( Can’t you take a break or two? You don’t have to be on the frontlines of EVERY akuma attack

Alya: …

Nino: [crying emojis, broken hearts, butterflies with red X’s over them]

Alya: alright, alright But just two, okay? People count on me for the latest news

Nino: totally, babe Just hope lb+cn won’t need rr+cara Cuz… you know That’d be rough

Alya: [eye rolling emoji] Yeah yeah I feel bad for them tho Their social life must be wack at this point

---October 22nd---

Lord DM: Hey, bro, we still meeting at your place or what? ??? Come on, dude! Not again! :(

Adrien Regreste: Sorry dude [sobbing emoji]

Alya’ll Beware: Akuma, babe. Can’t miss three in one week!

Lord DM: Yeah… guess so. Let’s just not miss the next sess, okay? I dont want this campaign to end

Alya’ll Beware: We’ve only missed two weeks so far. That’s not too bad We got pretty lucky with getting five in a row Esp considering how busy we usually are

Lord DM: Fair enough Next week sound good?

Alya’ll Beware: Should for me

---October 31st---

Lord DM: Im scared to ask but… DnD today?

Adrien Regreste: [thumbs up] I’ll be going on 4 hours of sleep But I can do it!

Marinoodles: Same here Lack of sleep and all

Alya’ll Beware: Yeah We good

Adrien Regreste: !!! Wait its actually happening Awesome! ...I should probably clean my room.

Marinoodles: XD Probably! :P

Adrien Regreste: :3

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

An hour later and Nino had made the trip over to Adrien’s house, Alya and Marinette in tow. Their chatting had been less energetic than usual, no doubt because there wasn’t a single person among them who didn’t feel exhausted. A fact that wasn’t at all helped by the late hours that they were arriving at. It may have only been nineteen hundred hours, but when you’d only had a few hours of sleep each night for the past week, it made all the difference in the world.

Despite all that, they were determined. The very thought that they were willing to go through all this just to go further in his campaign was thrilling for Nino, and he didn’t want to let them down.

A wicked grin, looking out of place on him, stretched across his face. With the events he had planned for tonight’s session, he was sure they’d be awake in no time.

They entered Adrien’s room and saw the bounty of sugary treats and caffeine that their host had prepared. After some brief chit-chat, Nino got set up quickly and rolled right into the session. The longer he delayed the more likely it was that his players would fall asleep.

“The forest at last thins as you crest the top of a hill. From your vantage point, you can see the capital city on the horizon.” There were sighs of relief around the room.

“Finally! My character could definitely go for a proper bed after a week of roughing it,” Marinette said after taking a drink of pop.

“You’ll have to hurry, then. The sun is going to start sinking below the horizon. Unless you want to be stuck outside the city until morning, you’d better get moving.”

“My bard starts one last travel song as we rush over.” Adrien opened his phone, no doubt to a lyrics site and cleared his throat.

Alya quickly covered his mouth. “I do not have the time or patience to listen to another of your renditions of Take Me Home, Country Roads, Sunshine. Let’s just get to the city, alright?” Adrien’s eyes darted to Nino in a silent plea, but he simply shrugged.

“Sorry, dude. Babe has a point.”

Pouting, he closed his phone. Beside him, Marinette giggled and patted his back consolingly.

“You reach the city gates without any issue - no bandit or monster is stupid enough to get within stones throw of the capital, not with all the guards on patrol. They were a little suspicious to see you guys so late at night, but… two noble sigils, a bardic license, and my holy symbol put those dudes right at ease. There are still a few rooms open at the inn - how are you guys going to divvy up?”

A trio of blank stares looked back at him. He sighed.

“Each room costs money to rent. You don’t have a lot, so while you could get a private room for each of you, it’s probably better to room with someone else. So who is spending the night with who?”

“Dibs on the cleric!” Alya cried. She tapped her chin theatrically, “I guess that leaves you two together, right?”

“I- I guess so?” Adrien blinked, surprised at Alya’s sudden outburst. Marinette paled a little but nodded.

“Since you guys arrived so late, most of the rooms were already filled up and you had to make do with what you can get. When you finally find your rooms, they are across the inn from each other… and there is only one bed in each room.”

A slight blush, but neither Adrien nor Marinette were freaked out. Alya slumped in defeat - there wasn’t any roleplaying involved in sleeping after all. Unless they decided to do some method acting and have a sleepover.

“The four of us drift off to sleep, which was a totally great change of pace from the creepy woods that you’ve been sleeping in for a week now.” Nino punctuated his words with a yawn that proved contagious. “It was way late at night when suddenly… M, Adrien. Roll for perception.”

Adrien, naturally, rolled a one. Just when Nino was scared he’d accidentally killed them off, Marinette pulled through with a high roll. He breathed a sigh of relief.

“With your keen elven hearing, the creaking of the wooden floor boards was enough to jolt you from sleep. There is a glint of metal above you, and you feel a presence in the darkness. You have just a few seconds to react - what do you do?”

“I roll over!” Marinette blurts out, her eyes wide.

Nino nods. “Right, that puts you right on top of Adrien, who is now totally awake too. It was a good move, though - a knife plunges into the mattress, right where your neck had just been.”

All business now, Marinette asks, “What can I see?”

“Not much. Loose cloaks with hoods pulled up. Knives. Two people. The other person has stumbled back, probs spooked by your sudden movement.”

She taps her chin before her eyes widen again. “Wait, what about the others?! We have to go get them! Or at least get their help.” She shuffles through her character sheet. “Okay, um… I whisper to Adrien in Elvish ‘close your eyes’ and then I toss a flash flare thing at the guy.”

Nino rolls some saves - without the warnings, neither of them stood a chance. He looks up to see Marinette watching him with hopeful eyes. “You got ‘em, M. Now what?”

“I roll off the bed and try to take the guy’s knife.”

“You’ve got it and your turn ends there. The dudes are blinded, but it won’t be long before they’ve recovered. Adrien?”

“Can I cast a spell?”

“Not without your lyre, bro.”

“Fine, fine. I grab it off the bedside table.”

“And why do you think it’d be there?”

“...I’m a bard. Gotta be ready to play, first thing in the morning.” Adrien smirked.

Chuckling, Nino replied. “Alright, fair. What do you cast?”

Adrien stuck out a tongue as he thumbed through his spell list. His eyes lit up as he looked at Nino. “I cast summon monster one, and I summon the Good Boy.”

“Right,” Nino said as the others giggled. “So you’ve got your celestial dog next to you. I figure you want it to attack one of the dudes?”

To his surprise, Adrien shook his head. “No, I command him to go wake up the other two. Probably to go sit by their door and bark in a commanding angelic voice.”

The fight didn’t last long from there - the two of them probably would have been enough to deal with the assassins after they lost the element of surprise. But four against two made it a landslide victory.

“Even though you try your hardest, you weren’t able to catch either alive. One got stabbed and bled out and the other, well… hopefully the innkeeper will understand that it wasn’t your fault that the window got broken.”

“Do they have anything on them?” Alya crossed her arms. “I get the feeling someone is after us.”

“You’re immediately proven right when you find a note in the dead guy’s pocket that reads, ‘Information about the Necromancer cannot reach the king. Dispose of the adventurers before they get their audience.’”

The party exchanged looks.

“Spooky,” Adrien said flatly. The others nodded in agreement.

“Do I recognize the handwriting or anything?” Marinette leaned forward, the gears in her head turning. “Remember, I am a court brat.”

“Nope. Looks like it was written deliberately poorly. You don’t know if you’d recognize it normally.”

“Time for the king?” Adrien perked up.

“Yup, it’s time for-” Nino was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door.

Adrien gulped. “Um… hello?”

Nathalie stepped into the room and narrowed her eyes at the dice and character sheets. Belatedly Nino remembered that Adrien usually claimed they were working on a project or homework during these sessions. “It is late. Your friends need to leave.”

Without a choice in the matter, they packed up and had the door shut behind them.

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

Nino’s fears were confirmed later that night during a discord chat.

Adrien Regreste: Sorry guys. Looks like we won’t be able to play at my house again Not for a while at least. :(

Lord DM: Don’t worry about it bro Had to happen eventually

Marinoodles: I’m so sorry! :( I hope you didn’t get in trouble because of us

Adrien Regreste: Nothing more than usual They aren’t threatening to keep me locked up at home So, you know Better than usual

Alya’ll Beware: That’s something at least R they going to let u hang out again?

Adrien Regreste: *shrugs* Probably. Anyway… Sorry to be a bummer. Night, everybody!

Marinoodles: Sweet dreams!

Alya’ll Beware: Night, kiddos.

Lord DM: Don’t let the assassins bite! ;) [Three thumbs down, one angry emoji]

[mastrmiscellaneous]

Writing Colab: Time Turner Mishaps; Part 3

Summary: a continuation of the colab I did with @son-of-aurlius-piscius let’s see what is in the vault...

the final part will be up on his blog in the next few days.

part 1 part 2 

so, here we go...

“You can’t. I don’t know how dangerous this is gonna be, I’m not letting you risk your life.” Thomas looked sturn, shifting his welcoming and kind personality and look into an intimidating and harsh one. This made both Merula and Charli shudder slightly, intimidated by the tall, broad young man’s harsh tone.

“Is that so? Tell me Donner, how many times have gone in search on the vaults and worked together?” Merula walked up to him placing a finger on his chest. “Don’t expect me to miss out on this because of your saying of  “no”, am I clear?”

“Well that,” Jason couldn’t help but start laughing but started to get teary eyed. “Excuse me for a moment.” Jason walked to the other end of boat house and hid behind one of its corners. He knew that this wasn’t his Merula but the feeling was slowly driving him mad to the point of crying softly. He hoped they’d solve this soon so he could see “his” Merula.

“What’s with that one?” Merula looked confused then back at Thomas irritated. “I’m helping Donner.”

“Fine. you can help.” Thomas hugged Merula’s shoulders as he looked over at Jason, confused. Charli had walked over to him and appeared to be checking on him, a small, comforting smile on her face. “You ok over there?”

Charli held her hand up, giving him a thumbs up, then a ‘1 second’. She placed her hand on Jason’s shoulders and forced him to face her, muttering something to him, before running her hand through her short hair and pulling Jason back to Merula and Thomas.

“You ok to go in?” Thomas asked Jason, looking concerned.

“Yeah, I’m just um…” Jason wiped his tears. “Sorry, um let’s get to it. We got a job to do, right?”

Thomas grabbed Jason’s shoulder and nodded. A weird whooshing noise sounded in the girls’ ears, as the air around the boys twisted, popping them away somewhere. Merula looked at Charli and forced an awkward smile, but Charli avoided looking at her.

“What’s up with you?” Merula asked, leaning forward, forcing Charli to look at her.

Charli stuttered and blushed as she spoke. “Umm… I… I don’t…” she sighed and looked off to the side, biting her lower lip to stop herself from crying. “In my universe, I accidently got you killed. It’s hard to look at you.”

Merula’s eyes widened, remembering the last year she had at Hogwarts. Specifically where she accompanied Thomas to the vault, and almost died from the guarding spell. In another universe, that killed her? If it was that, why did Charli say she did it? She hummed, sadly, and attempted to smile a comforting smile at Charli, but the girl didn’t look up.

Just as Merula was about to say something, the door to the shed opened quickly, makin the two jump. Thomas’ face appeared and he nodded for them to come in. “Come on, we have to go. Grab the brooms.”

Charli picked up the brooms and trapsed into the shed, Merula quickly following. Charli handed a broom to Jason as Merula and Thomas climbed into a boat. Jason untied the rope holding the boat in place and handed it to Thomas, who stuffed it under the seat. Jason and Charli climbed onto their brooms and kicked off, nodding at each other, saying they were steady.

“How are we doing this, then?” Charli asked, quietly.

“Did you three idiots forget these boats move themself?” Merula questioned, making the three stare at each other, looking embarrassed and ashamed.

“Yes, Merula. Yes we did.” Thomas finally said, his, tone making everyone laugh slightly.

“You idiot.”

“Why you love me.”

The two leaned forward and shared a small kiss, immediately sitting back down, both blushing slightly.

“You two love birds gonna shut up?” Charli was leaning on her broom, looking impatient. “We need to go.”

“Alrighty, let’s be off” Jason pushed the boat out with Charli as they guided through the lake. The sky was clear and filled with stars as the lights of Hogwarts gleamed of the water surface. Jason did feel slightly jealous seeing Thomas kiss Merula but he did his best to ignore that feeling. “Once, we are there we’ll need to head down into the water. Fancy as swim Tommy boy?”

“Don’t call me Tommy boy. It’s Thomas. And yes, I’m ready.”

“Fabulous.” Charli said. “Because we’re here.”

She flew to the side of the boat and took off her robe, throwing it into the boat along with her tie and shoes.

“What are you doing?” Thomas said, confused. “Why are you  taking off your shoes?”

“You ever tried swimming with shoes on? It’s nearly impossible.” Charli  slipped off the broom into the water, submerging for a few seconds, then bobbed back up, pushing her fringe back. “You coming or what?”

The rest of the group disrobed and took off their shoes, sliding into the water, and bobbing for a second, getting used to the temperature. They casted the bubble-head charm and lit up their wands, ducking under the water and swimming down. Charli, despite loving the water and her look of bravery, was terrified. She hated the dark, feared it even, and she could only see a few feet in  front of her. There were occasional movements in the darkness, making Charli’s heart race at an unnatural pace. She tried to suppress her panic, knowing she couldn’t stop now. The four students swan down for several minutes, until they finally spotted the large form of an underwater, temple-like building. 

Jason motioned them toward the main sunken building of the the temple. He looked around before he plunged himself in. The temple inner structure was marked with carving of merpeople and what looked to be a story illustrating what appeared to be their history. This would be fascinating to Rowan he thought and it probably didn’t matter what universe. Jason scanned his surrounds carefully as he directed the rest of the group to a door which appeared to be made of iron and was marked with a trident. He then motioned Thomas to the door so he could then unlock it. But at that moment a school of Grindylows swarmed the students claw and latching on to them. 

As the group struggled to release their limbs from the creatures, Charli had an idea. She managed to yank her left hand away from the Grindylow and reached for her wand, that had been knocked out of her hand. She swished it in a large circle and thought of the spell she needed to cast. God, she hated using this spell, but a Rowe never falters to save those helpless. She pushed her wand hand upwards, a giant stream of red and yellow light erupted from the tip of her wand and separated, targeting the creatures. Once the streams hit them, the creatures shuddered violently, releasing their grips on the others, and tried to swim away. Their faces scarred in pain, releasing terrible screeches into the dark abyss. The shudders turned more violent, and suddenly, they all went limp, lifeless looks on their faces.

Charli gestured towards the door, which had opened, revealing a dim light from inside. They swam to the entrance and planted their feet on the ground and walking through the veil, separating the water and room. Charli collapsed to the floor in exhaustion and sadness. She hated that spell with a burning passion. She started to cry, quietly, as memories rushed back to her.

Jason landed right next to her and gently pulling her into a hug stroking her. “It’s okay Charli, you saved us.” He smiled softly at her doing his best to console her nerves. Jason was covered in quite a few bite and claw marks that seemed to fall on his scarred body. Scars were nothing new but he knew the weight of having to bare his own pain on the inside. Visible or not. “You did great.”

Thomas and Merula looked at Charli with concern after healing themselves. “What was that spell?” Thomas asked, after Charli had calmed down a little.

She took a shaky breath, still shaking on the ground. “I horrible spell. My father created it. A rip off of the cruciatus curse. Worse. It stretches and twists the muscles of the victims until the pain is too much. Depending on the size of the victim, it kills.”

She ran her hands around her wrists and shed another tear. “It’s the worst feeling in the world, that spell. Having both watched and felt it, I never want to use it. I hate myself for using it.”

“It’s understandable,” Jason looked at her concerned. “Some spells aren’t meant to be created and therefore used. But we can’t control what others do or make.” Jason himself had his flashbacks for a moment, thinking of stepping in between his father and mothers fights. The fights his father would have with Jacob and this disciple that came with it. No father should have to harm their own child to that extreme. No matter who they are. “Charli, you used it for something good today. I won’t say you should use it as you understand the feeling. But today, I’d say you’re a hero and thankful you saved us.” He stroked her hair like Jacob did whenever he needed it a positive reinforcement. “Thank you Charli.”

“Thanks, Jason.” Charli smiled at him. A genuine, grateful smile, unlike the forced and sarcastic smiled she had presented all day. Jason stood to his feet and held out his hand for Charli to take. She did, and Jason pulled her up.

Merula stared at Charli with a saddened look. She understood the feeling of parents using curses like that on her. She got it all the time as a kid. “Charli, please tell me you don’t live with him anymore.”

Charli shook her head and forced a wide smile. “Yeah, they kicked me out during the Christmas just gone. Living with the Weasleys now.”

Merula smiled. “Good, they’re good people.”

The group nodded at each other, all remembering the acts of kindness their friends’ family had done for them.

“Let’s finish this, okay?” Jason helped Charli to her feet. “We got a vault to crack. Dammit, my shirt is ruined.” He unbutton his shirt revealing a well toned torso and his scars. The group stared at him for a moment confused as to why he took his shirt off. “What? Did I say something funny?”

“Why did you take off your shirt?” Charli asked, after looking at Thomas and Merula, who were both staring at Jason with a deep blush on their faces, and rolling her eyes. “I think you broke them.”

“Sorry, my shirt was bugging me. I get agitated with things are a little taterted. Please excuse um my bareness.” Jason blushed nervously. “This is just temporary. I just had to get it off me. I’m sorry.” He looked away scratching the back of his head.  

“Don’t worry, mate, I get that. I hate my hands being dirty.” Charli shrugged, and snapped her fingers in front of Merula and Thomas’ faces, making them snap back into reality. “Just cast reparo on it, so these two can have their wits about them.”

As Jason pulled out his wand and started casting the spell on the tattered parts of his shirt, Thomas and Merula looked at each other and frowned. Merula spoke first.

“Why did you stare?”

“What do you mean? So were you!”

“Don’t make such good and valid points!”

“Oi! Shut it!” Charli scolded, looking fierce. “Bicker later, me and Mr abs over there need to get home, and you need to break this vault.”

Merula and Thomas looked at each other, shrugged, then looked forward at Charli. “You’re right, let’s get this over with.” Thomas said, shrugging and walking forward, lighting his wand so they could see better, and looking around at the walls.

“Sorry if I caused a problem, social skill aren’t so strong. And Mr Abs?” Jason started buttoning his shirt up to the midway point, while Charli shrugged, shooting him a goofy smile. He looked at the walls curiously. “You ever thinking this is the English equivalent to Atlantis?”

“Interesting take. You know, Atlantis is a real popular story in the muggle world. Countless people have written about it. There’s even a movie about it.” Charli chuckled to herself, remembering the good parts of the muggle world. “They’ve also started looking for it. I watched a documentary about it a few years ago.”

“Interesting, I personally prefer the muggle movies from the Asian. This one actor, Bruce Lee if I remember.” Jason looked at the rest of them with smile. “Kung fu movies are amazing. Muggles do know how to make something entertaining. Anywho, see anything Thomas?” He asked as he brushed his wet hair back.

Merula had to turn away for a moment. What was this guys deal? He acted so innocent but was almost like an Adonis of somesort. “Yeah, have you seen anything Donner?”

“Yup, right there.” He stopped in his tracks, and stared forward, looking up slightly. In front of them was a giant stone door, with waves, merpeople, sea plants, and boats etched into it. It sounds sweet, and quaint, but it was quite the opposite. The merpeople had scowls and bared fangs, brandishing tridents, spears, and nets threateningly. The boats were damages and sinking, and on closer inspection, you could see the people in the water, flat on the top, or sinking slowly to the depths below. The plants were pretty normal, but though the gaps, you could see a set of giant, staring eyes peering through, staring into the group’s souls.

“Well, that is utterly terrifying.” Charli said, bluntly, earning a sigh from Merula.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Psychologists have been asking that same question for years, my friend.” Charli shrugged, stepping towards the door. She ran her fingers across the the wavy lines representing the rapid tide. “Amazing. This isn’t magically, done. Someone carved this by hand! Wow, the vaults are so great, so filled with history! I wish i knew more about them.”

“Stop being a nerd, and let’s figure this out.” Thomas said, getting annoyed by the Gryffindor’s lack of severity and concentration. 

“No, I think this has something to do with it!” Charli exclaimed, staring at Thomas. “Have you not been keeping track of the look of the vault doors? They’re all magically carved and designed, except this one! Muggles must be the key!”

“Why?” Merula quizzed, pulling an unamused face. “The vaults are magic, not muggle.”

“I guess they want the vaults to be broken by someone who wont limit themselves to one world.” Charli’s stare sent a shiver down the others’ spines. She looked so calm and friendly, but her eyes told a very different story.

“Do you have anything muggle?” Thomas asked, breaking the tension. “You’re the only one that has any relation to muggles.”

Charli sighed, looking sad. She reached down her shirt and pulled out a necklace, letting it hang around her neck, free and in sight. “My necklace, made from an arrowhead. Jacob made it for me when I was eight. Just before he was expelled. Six months later, he disappeared. But it’s made out of muggle products, by hand, no magic involved. I just don’t know how it could open a vault…”

“I think I have an idea. Get your Turners out and Charli bring your necklace to the door.” Jason walked over and pulled his Time Turner from his pocket. “I think with what you have could counter the vaults magic might resonate near these piece of magic. Does that make sense?”

“Quite theory but seems very possible. Well have at it you three,” Merula motioned Thomas to the door. “I don’t expect you to keep me waiting while I freeze here.”

Thomas rolled his eyes and took out the pouch containing the time turners, opening it and handing out the contents. Charli took off her necklace and held the arrow in her hand, on top of her time turner. Thomas and Jason held out their time turners and touched the edges to each other, then held them up to the door. 

After a few seconds, a blinding, reddish greenlight erupted from the cracks in the door. The group shielded their eyes, squinting at the door. It opened up, slightly, with a deafening creak, leaving enough room for them to slide into the chamber.

Thomas lead the way, lipping in between the gap, and into the brightly lit room. He scanned the area, looking for something to attack them, but nothing came.

“This is strange… isn’t there usually a fight?” Thomas looked at the trio behind him. 

“Normally-” jus then Jason was sent flying into a wall by a spell. “AH!” he looked up wincing in pain seeing his father. “Padre?!”

The group looked at Jason, pinned against the wall by nothing, their worried voices could not be heard by Jason. Whatever was going on was very strong magic. Strong, deadly magic. 

“You are nothing but a failure. You ruined this family just like your brother. Stained our name.” Jason’s father spectre floated and grabbed him by the neck. Choking the air out of his lungs. “You will know pain greater than you’d possibly can imagine, mio figlio.”

Jason was gasping for air while grabbing at nothing. “You ruined it padre!” He struggled and snarled at the spectre. “You hurt mom. Jacob. Me! You dishonor the family!”

The image of Jason’s father dissolved in front of his eyes, the sound of his companion’s voices slowly elevated. He collapsed to the floor in exhaustion and breathed heavily. Charli started to surge forward, to check if he was ok, but a sudden, excruciating pain shot through her whole body, causing her to cry out in agony and fall to the floor. Her arms twisted in unnatural directions, her skin shifting with the movement of her muscles. He screams got more and more intense as the seconds went on. Floods of tears fell from her eyes as she fell to her stomach once the pain had stopped. There was no sound. Well, except for a familiar, deep, terrifying voice.

“That is what you get for disrespecting your mother.” Charli looked up, and saw the towering figure of her father peering down at her. The man crouched down and lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. “You know better than this Charli. This is why we made you leave.”

“Dad… please…” she muttered, painfully.

“Hush.” the man snapped. “You’re a disgrace to the family of Rowe. it’s a pity your brother disappeared. You could have learnt a thing or two from him.”

“Don't… compare… me… to… Jacob.”  Charli managed to say, each word paining her, each breath filling her with a fiery pain. “He… was… a terrible… man… he… did everything… wrong… I’ve done good… I'm glad… i got… away from you…”

The image of her father disappeared, and all sound rose back up into her ears. However, it was only for a second, as she passed out immediately, the pain off the family curse finally taking its toll.

The three stared in awe, Merula shaking in fear and concern. The look of Charli’s body contorting in those ways was a sight worse than many of the things she saw growing up. Thomas’ mouth had dropped, and he was holding Merula tighter than he ever had, fearing what would happen next. Jason, a feeling of concern and compassion for Charli growing in him, rushed over to her and cradled her head, checking her for life.

“Charli! Are you okay?!” He leaned in close to hear mouth listening for signs of air. He sighed in relief and held her close. “She’s breathing, thankfully. Thomas, do you have anything in your bag to help? Something strong that’ll snap her awake?”

Thomas rummaged through his bag with a purpose, determination on his face. When he found a potion bottle, his eyes lit up for a moment, but then sighed again when he read the label. “All I have is a simple healing potion. It’s stronger than usual, but still probably not enough to wake her.” 

“It’ll have to do. Let’s give it to her.” Jason looked down at Charli and brushed her hair from her face. “Any tubes? A straw? I don’t think she’ll be able to drink it on her own and I don’t want to get punched if we have to give her mouth-to-mouth.”

“Weirdly enough, yes I do.” Thomas pulled out a long tube and handed it to Jason, who slid it in her mouth and held the other end, they propped her up slightly so the potion could slip down her throat, and Jason poured it down, the contents disappearing quickly. 

After a minute, Charli’s eyes blinked open. She looked exhausted, and battered, sweat pouring from her head, and her breaths slow and pained. The group smiled and sighed in relief, Jason pulling her closer into his chest. 

“Hey.” she coughed, smiling, trying to hide her pain. She didn’t attempt to stand, or even move. She was in a bad shape, but she was awake, and that’s the main thing they needed.

“The curse is one of some of our deepest pains. You got to face whatever comes your way. Don’t let it consume you.” Jason looked down at Charli with a soft smile. “You did good. Thomas. Merula. You have to embrace it as it’s a part of you.” Jason helped Charli to the closest wall and had her lean against it. 

Thomas and Merula closed their eyes and thought about their deepest pains, waiting for something  to happen.

[imaginedanganronpa]

How would the V3 girls react to making up a really BS lie to get out trouble and only to discover not a minute later their said lie comes true? It’s played for comedy.

This was super fun! It was a bit challenging coming up with scenarios for each of them, but I hope you like it!

Also: I know some people get uncomfortable or Triggered by it so Pregnancy-Mention Warning in Kirumi’s part!

The V3 Girls Lying To Get Out Of Trouble & Then Their Lie Comes True!

Kaede Akamatsu

She was beginning to feel increasingly frustrated anddiscouraged because none of her pieces seemed to land recently; none of them had been sounding right and she was hitting a writer’s block.

Piano was her passion but she was feeling incredibly flustered. Kaede was goingthrough a spell where she just wasn’t happy with anything she wrote or produced.

She’d been cooped up in the Music Room all day, working on an elaborate piecefor one of her classes; but it just wasn’t working in her favor and she was over it.

She slammed her fists down onto the keys in a fit of anger, causing the pianoto falter. A few of the keys where her fist landed popped up and broke off of the instrument.

Kaede had just broken the precious piano - she didn’t even mean to hit it that hard! Nor did she realize what she had done until it was too late.

Apparently, the crash was louder than she anticipated because a passingadministrator – Juzo Sakakura – had overheard her frustration and poked his headinto the room.

Her face turned red and began to twitch, cursing to herself in her head.

“Ms. Akamatsu… what is going on in here?”

Kaede was a perfect student, she couldn’t afford to get in trouble forsomething like this! She’d never gotten in trouble before! Giving a bit of a shy, awkward smile, she scratched herhead and innocently batted her eyes at the man.

“You see, a… cat! Yeah, that’s it! A cat got loose and… jumped on the piano… and broke it.”

Juzo furrowed his brows, not impressed with her obvious lie. Before he could interrogate her further, the unthinkable happened.

A black cat hopped up on the keys and started to walk back and forth on the piano; Kaede had never seen it before in her life, it was a complete lie and she didn’t know there was actually a cat in the Music Room!

Nonetheless, Juzo stared at it with a perplexed expression and proceeded to shoo it off of the piano. “Oh well, I guess that Ultimate Animal Breeder kid brought another one of his pets to school, I could’ve sworn you broke it but then again, you wouldn’t do something like that, Ms. Akamatsu.”

She awkwardly laughed and nodded her head, the redness around her cheeks becoming brighter. “Yeah! Never…”

Juzo wished Kaede well and walked out of the Music Room by her side with the black cat in his arms, insisting that they’d repair her beloved instrument soon. 

All she could do was wipe the sweat from her brow as her heart-rate declined. 

Maki Harukawa

When it comes to sports, Maki isn’t the most athletic person– she dislikes watching them but allowed Kaito to drag her to some stupidbaseball game that he insisted they go to. How could she say no?

She already had a bad attitude since she didn’t want to be here, scowling at the men on the field and wishing she was anywhere else.

They’d been sitting close to the field and more than once, she had to duck outof the way of flying baseballs; that really didn’t help her sour mood.

The middle-aged woman sitting in the row in front of them suddenly stood and lost control of her drink, which spilled all over the front of Maki’s shirt.

In a heated moment of irrational irritability, she stood and screamed at stranger. “The Hell, do you want to die?!” 

Kaito tried to console her and get her to calm down butMaki wasn’t having it. After successfully getting her to sit down, she realizedwhat she’d done and a sinking feeling formed in the pit of her stomach.

The lady apparently complained to one of the venue’s staff, who approached Makiand Kaito with security… taking her comment as an actual threat. Not wanting to ruin Kaito’s day, Maki franticallythought of an excuse.

“Uh, well, I was just angry because a… baseball hit me and gave me a really badheadache, I’m sorry.”

They clearly weren’t buying it, preparing to escort the pair out of the stadium; when all of a sudden, a rogue baseball flew towards the stand and right at them.

She didn’t even see it - the ball was moving so fast that a blink of an eye would miss it. 

As Maki stood and got ready to go with the men, it clocked her in the side of her head, right in the temple. Her knees began to shake and she stumbled backwards into Kaito.

The lady she had screamed at let out a soft giggle, in which Maki gave her a terribly wicked look. She figured that was karma coming back to bite her.

The security stood there, baffled and unsure of what to do. 

Kaito jumped in, trying to play along with her obvious lie; “Those damn baseballs just keep hitting you, huh?”

That was all it took to get them to leave her alone. The two sat back down, and now Maki was in an even worse mood. She buried her chin in her palm and stared forward blankly, rubbing circles in her temple with her other hand.

Kaito gave her an encouraging pat on the back, thankful that they got away with it. “Yeah, I just wish I didn’t have to actually get hit to do so.” She muttered under her breath.

From that point on, she vowed to never go to another baseball game.

Himiko Yumeno

Himiko had been practicing her magic on school-grounds forhours now, purposefully skipping class in order to so. She thought she was being discreet, in an ‘undisclosed’ location.

She had an upcoming show!… I mean, mage exam, that she had to practice for; it was a big deal.

Although, skipping class was an immediate detention sentence and mages can’t afford to get detention! Himiko had never gotten in trouble in her life, and she blamed it on her charm and ‘magic’ when in reality she’s just never gotten caught.

Two burly teachers approached her, catching a glimpse of the small girl standing beneath a cluster of trees. She was located on the edge of school-grounds and yet, was still discovered.

Concerned as to why she was skipping class, they called out to her from a distance. Himiko became flustered, ready to cast a magic spell on them to make them forget they ever saw her.

When that didn’t work, she went with her backup plan - to use her deception magic and get away with it… in other words, she was going to lie.

“Oh! Uh… I’m not skipping, my doves got loose and flew out the window while I was in class. I’mjust… recollecting them! A mage can’t lose her trusted animal-helpers, you know.” Himiko hadn’t even stepped foot in class all day.

They look quite puzzled, their eyes moving upwards in search of the ‘missing’white birds that didn’t exist.

A small, unconvincing smile spread across Himiko’s lips as she really tried to sell the boldface lie.

As if on cue, two of her doves flew out from the loose cage hidden under herjacket and towards a nearby tree. 

“Oh, no!” She exclaims, “I mean, ohyes! There they are!” Her legs started moving before she realized it as she bolted towards the tree.

Her acting skills really aren’t the best, so she over-dramatically screamed at the doves from up-above. Himiko commanded that they come down from there immediately but to no avail.

The teachers watched the strange act, eventually shrugging it off and leaving the magician to do… whatever it was that she was up to. They really didn’t have time to deal with Himiko’s shenanigans.

As they walked away, she pats herself on the back. “I knew my magic could fool them!” She thought to herself as she praises her doves for helping her.

Tenko Chabashira

Tenko and Himiko had been walking through campus freely,with Tenko’s arm wrapped around her smaller friend in a defensive manner. 

The two girls had hardly been paying attention, when all of a sudden a man approached them, without saying a word.

He was simply brushing past them, walking in the opposite direction. 

Apparently, Tenko took that in the completely wrong direction and assumed he was making moves on them, and she wouldn’t let some male disrespect them like that!

She’d barely caught him out of the corner of her eye, and her reflexes greatly surpassed his own. Tenko grabbed him by the arm, flipping his body and tossing him over her shoulder. 

The man landed on the cold concrete with a thud, the wind was knocked out of him and he stares at the girl in shock. Himiko seemed to take the words right out of his mouth, “Tenko! What was that for?!”

Within seconds of flipping the man, two campus security guards rushed over to the situation and confronted Tenko. “Ma’am, you can’t assault fellow students like that!”

She realized she was in too deep very quickly and retracted, unsure as to how she was supposed to defend herself. She became fearful and nervous, blurting out the first excuse that came to mind.

“I-I was just protecting my friend!” Tenko grabs Himiko’s arm and pulls her closer to her side; the magician stares at the taller girl, confused as to where this was heading.

The security guards looked unimpressed and tend to the man still laying on the ground. 

“U-uh, that man was hitting on her and she was really uncomfortable so… it was self defense! H-he wouldn’t leave us alone.” Tenko stutters, continuing with the act. She nudges Himiko with her elbow to try to get her to play along. “Oh, yeah…”

As she says this, a second man pulls his car over to the sidewalk and rolls his window down. Partially leaning out of it; he looks the two girls up and down with a smirk.

“What are you two ladies up to tonight?” His smug expression sends chills down Tenko’s spine and makes her feel sick to her stomach.

The security directs their attention to the man in the car, telling him to drive away before they give him a ticket and adding that, “Harassing those girls was completely uncalled for.”

Looking disappointed, the man frowns and rolls his window back up, disappearing around the corner. 

Tenko may not be able to stand men like that, but in this moment she was thankful that he showed up. She grabs Himiko’s wrist and jogs away from the scene before the security guards can return to the original man she’d injured so that they could still get away while the opportunity was there.

Miu Iruma

Miu was minding her own business, unusually quiet this morning. She was walking through campus, completely zoning out whilst on her way to class.

As she treads down the sidewalk, the cold air caused goosebumps to rise along her skin. It was especially windy during this time of year and Miu wasn’t a fan if that.

Out of nowhere, a button on her top popped loose which caused part of her chest to become exposed, but she was too zoned-out to realize. 

Just as this happened, her classmate Gonta Gokuhara passed her and his face turned bright red, eyes wide. The much larger man stopped dead in his tracks and became increasingly flustered. 

“What the hell are you staring at?” She snaps at him, confused as to why he was giving her such a weird look.

Once she finally realized what happened, it was too late. She covered herself with her arms as one of the nearby teachers approached her cautiously. 

“Miss, indecent exposure isn’t allowed in public, especially not on school-grounds!” They scowl at her and Miu is feeling incredibly embarrassed.

Compulsively, the Inventor tried saving her skin. “It was the wind, I swear!” She exclaims as she attempts to re-button her top.

“The wind blew your top open?” The teacher replies, obviously not believing her lie. Miu frantically nods, not wanting to get in trouble since it would look bad on her record.

Plus, if she got in trouble for indecent exposure, her class - especially Ouma Kokichi - would never let her hear the end of it.

Don’t get her wrong, she knows her body looked good but… that’s something she wants to avoid.

Just before they can write her up, a strong gust of wind forms and blows her skirt up, flashing anyone who was in her vicinity.

Miu was so busy with buttoning her top that nothing was covering her lower-half, and that, too, was exposed for all to see.

A small scream escapes her throat and she embarrassingly pulls her skirt down once more.

Now, both the teacher and Gonta were staring at her in disbelief. Poor Gonta didn’t want to see any of that! He frantically averts his gaze, his entire face now red, and storms away from Miu.

The teacher, on the other hand, blinks a few times to process what was seen; Miu shyly and impishly grins at them.

Apparently it worked, because all they could do was nod, turn, and walk away without another word.

Miu cursed at mother nature. “Just because that’s what I fuckin’ said didn’t mean I wanted it to happen!”

Angie Yonaga

She draws inspiration from the most peculiar places. A lot of her paintings stem from dreams she’s had.

For some reason, Angie feels a sense of deja-vu over the painting she’d been working on currently.

It was a topless woman holding a small dog, resembling an old Renaissance painting; she was someone Angie has seen in her dreams before and finally mustered up the courage to paint - maybe if it became a reality through her art then the odd dreams would stop. 

Angie is convinced that the woman is from a vision she’s had, but she isn’t quite sure why. 

Sitting on a bench under a shaded tree, she wasn’t concerned with anyone seeing her painting since it was modern-day art. She certainly didn’t have a problem with it.

One of the staff-members on campus pokes her head over Angie’s shoulder to see what she was up to, and becomes increasingly disturbed by the artwork she was creating. 

“What… can’t you be a little more discreet?” 

Angie turns her attention to the flabbergasted woman behind her. With a small grin, she shakes her head. “Oh, no… is something wrong?” She’d seen this lady around before and believed she was new to the building.

“I don’t think anyone wants to see that, it’s nudity! Do you want me to write you up?” Her booming voice was somewhat intimidating.

Drawing her eyebrows together, Angie juts her lip out. “But… I’ve seen this woman before. I’m only recreating what I’ve seen,” she hesitates, “don’t have an issue with me, have an issue with her.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie… but she was leaving out some key details here. Obviously, the staff-member wasn’t listening and whipped out a detention slip, furiously scribbling on the paper.

As she begins to hand Angie the slip and command that she head straight to detention, the two women were caught off guard by a stranger.

It was another woman, holding a small dog whilst wearing a white top… which was wet, and she clearly wasn’t wearing a bra.

She was asking for directions somewhere, and the staff-member stares at the stranger, completely shocked. “See!” Angie exclaims cheerfully.

The woman crumples up the detention slip and completely forgets about the Artist directly to her left, blowing up at the woman in front of her and telling her that she has to cover up because, “There’s children around!”

The woman didn’t even seem to realize or care that she was blatantly exposed in broad daylight. 

It was so specific that Angie just assumed it was the doing of a higher-power looking out for her, not wanting her to get in trouble for simply creatively expressing herself.

Looking up at the sky, she whispers, “Thank you, Atua!” before resuming back to her now-realistic painting.

Kirumi Tojo

Kirumi was house-sitting for a client; she was a lot morehands-on and developed closer relationships with her clients than most Maidsdo.

The woman she was helping house-sit was currently nine months pregnant and liable togo into labor at any given time, which is something Kirumi felt ready for.

The two women drove to a nearby grocery store so they could pick some things upfor the house, under the client’s request.

Kirumi, impatient and tired of waiting for the red-light, did something shewould never do under normal circumstances and ran the red-light. It was all done without thinking since she was in a rush, but she quickly grew to regret this decision.

Sirens and flashing lights appeared in her rear-view mirror and she quickly realized thatan undercover police-officer must have been in the car directly behind them and she didn’trealize it.

Kirumi looks at her client who is giving her the same wide-eyed, worriedexpression. Fumbling at the steering wheel, an idea pops in her head.

Now… Kirumi wouldn’t normally lie, but getting a ticket whilst on duty would look really bad to future clients and she couldn’t afford losing her title as an Ultimate.

As the officer approaches, he bends down and looks in the car at Kirumi’snervous face. 

The Maid immediately spits out the first lie that comes to mind, somewhat throwing her client under the bus. 

“He-Hello Officer… I can explain. You see, my friend here is going into labor and we’re trying to make it to thehospital.” Her voice was mixed, both calm and desperate simultaneously.

She gives him a half-assed smile and shrug, trying her best to woo him into believing her. Kirumi was an awful liar and didn’t want to deceive authority, but she thought her client would understand.

Her body language seemed to give her away, and the Officer doesn’t look very impressed at first, sighing and whipping out his clipboard to give the Maid a ticket.

As she said that, the woman in the passenger seat felt a sudden, intense pressure in her abdomen and wetness pool around her thighs. She screams in pain and Kirumi turns, completely horrified.

This wasn’t just good acting… had she just spoken this into reality?! Now she was actually starting to panic and the police officer grew pale.

The two women went into a frenzy as her client started screaming for Kirumi to drive her to the hospital promptly.

Maybe getting pulled over wasn’t such a bad thing since now, they had a police escort guiding them.

 Tsumugi Shirogane

Tsumugi had been standing around Comic-Con forseveral hours now, simply observing the numerous cosplayers and becoming excitedwhenever she saw a character she particularly enjoyed. She loves the atmosphere herself and found pleasure in being surrounded by anime and manga characters.

She was out of cosplay herself, of course, since she rarely ever wears the costumesshe creates. To anyone else, she’d just look like a plain, normal person, but seemed a bit out of place in the sea of characters.

Tsumugi was loitering, which in itself isn’t a major crime but some of thesecurity was concerned that she was making the other attendees uncomfortable.

After all, she was just staring at them which is… a little odd.

They approached the blue-haired woman in a cluster. “Miss… why are you just standingaround here?”

Tsumugi scowls at them, unsure as to what she could’ve done wrong, a bitoblivious. A part of her was going to tell the truth but for somereason, a compulsive lie just happened to slip out instead.

“I’m waiting for a friend,” she hesitates and the security guards stare at her unconvinced,“…who’s in a… Misaki Mei cosplay…” The questioning tone in her voice should have given awaythat it was a lie – Tsumugi is an awful liar.

She shyly stares at them, trying her best to appear confident.

Exchanging glances, they were seconds away from escorting her out of theproperty for loitering.

All of a sudden, an actual Misaki Mei cosplayer walks past Tsumugi, a smallgirl whom she’s never seen before, and hardly glances in her direction – probably moreinterested in the security than in Tsumugi herself.

She bolts past the guards in a desperate attempt to convince them that she wasbeing truthful, even though it was a boldface lie, and embraces the young woman. The Mei cosplayer looks frightened and confused, awkwardly returning theembrace. “See, look!” Tsumugi exclaims.

The security can’t really refute it and walk away silently, even though the girl clearly didn’t know Tsumugi.

It was dumb luck that a girl dressed as the character she lied about just happened to walk by. Tsumugi, realizing that she’s still hugging the complete stranger, jumps back and laughs awkwardly.

Thank you for reading! Side-note, if any of you all know who Misaki Mei is, you’re an OG. She was just the first character to come to mind lol.

- Mod Rantaro

[hovercraft79]

Winter Song

Ch 16 Lil Snowman

Chapters: 16/31 Word Count: 2,456 Fandom: The Worst Witch (TV 2017) Rating: Teen Warnings:  None Summary: Exams are over and Mildred is itching for something to do. When she convinces Enid and Maud to build snowmen the Ordinary way, they get some help from a very unexpected source.

Notes: This story is part of the B-Sides: Stories from the world of Hecate’s Summer Playlist series. It is a prequel to Hecate’s Summer Playlist.

Lil Snowman… yet another holiday song I’d never heard of…by Mariah Carey

Thanks again to Sparky. She’s getting more familiar than she ever expected to be with The Worst Witch.

All you sharp-eyed readers who notice when I make an error in continuity, it will not hurt my feelings at all if you let me know. I’d love for this to actually be coherent when all the parts have been added (and fit with the rest of this universe).

“That’s it then,” Enid said as she slammed the door behind her. “I guess I’ll be applying to Wormwood’s Academy next term.” She flopped dramatically onto Mildred’s bed. Maud barely managed to snatch her Witchory book out of the way.

“Enid! You’ll tear a page!�� Maud clutched the book to her chest. Mildred looked up from her sketchbook and rolled her eyes.

“I don’t even know why you still have it out,” Enid pouted, rolling on to her side. “You finished your last exam an hour ago. Are you revising just for fun now?”

“I wanted to see if I got that last question right.” Maud pushed her glasses further up on her nose. “Don’t you want to know how you did on the test?”

“Why would I want to do that? Miss Bat will tell us soon enough.” She bounced up onto her knees. “So what are we going to do now? I’m bored.”

“Bored? You’ve been finished for all of fifteen minutes!” Maud tucked her textbook back into her bag. “All of the exams aren’t even over yet.”

“I know…that’s why we’re still under quiet hours and there’s nothing fun to do…” Enid tossed a pillow at Mildred. “Aren’t you bored? You’ve been finished longest of all.”

“Nope. Not at all bored. I’ve been finishing my mum’s Christmas present.” She turned her sketchbook around and showed her friends. Mildred’s mother danced a traditional witch’s dance across the paper, accompanied by Miss Drill and a handful of other students.

“Oooh, Millie…that’s nice…” Maud leaned closer and studied the girls in the picture. “Why aren’t you in it?”

“Thanks. I’m not in it because I was standing against the wall talking to HB.” Mildred closed her sketchbook and set it on her desk. “Is it just me, or is it feeling colder.” She moved to the window and looked out. “When did it start snowing? Look!” The three of them jostled for position as they peered through the swirling snow outside. “I know what we could do for fun.”

“I don’t think I like that tone,” Maud said, peering cautiously into the courtyard, trying to see through the flurries just outside the window. “We’re in quiet hours due to testing, Millie. You know that.”

“Inside the castle, Maud. The quiet hours are only inside the castle. We can go out and build a snowman. And now that my Spell Science Fair project works, we can bring it inside.”

“Oh! We could do that,” Maud exclaimed. “My Dad taught me a spell that makes the most perfect snowmen!”

“Not with magic, Maud. Have you ever built one with your hands? Without magic? This new snow over the old snow is perfect for snowmen.”

“Why wouldn’t you use magic?” Enid asked, scrunching up her nose. “Isn’t it cold?”

“Because it’s fun, silly.” Mildred rushed to her cupboard and started pulling out her warmest clothes. “It isn’t cold if you keep moving. C’mon…it’ll be fun.”

Maud and Enid exchanged worried looks. “No magic?”

“Yep. We’ll make them with our own two hands.  Unless you’re a scaredy bat?”

Enid’s face shifted into a determined frown. “I’m not scared of a little cold and snow. Are you Maud?”

“Really? You’re going to be manipulated that easily?” Maud crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared back. She lasted only until Enid arched an eyebrow at her. “Fine. But we get hot chocolate when we come back inside. I know your parents put some in your last tuck box, Enid.”

“Deal.” Mildred began wrapping her scarf around her neck. “You’ll love it.” She headed into the hallway. “Let’s go get your cloaks.”

Maud and Enid followed in varying degrees of enthusiasm. Enid muttered to herself as they went, “I don’t see why Mildred gets to give away the hot chocolate from my tuck box.”

**** 

“Where are you going?” Bea asked, stopping short and causing Clarice and Sybil to run into her. “Why are you wearing all of those clothes?

“We’re gonna make snowmen outside. We’re tired of being cooped up in the castle,” Mildred answered.

“That sounds fun. My mum taught me a spell to build a snow fort—”

“No magic, Bea. That’s the rule.” Maud cast a scathing glance at Mildred, who simply rolled her eyes. “Millie insists it will be fun.”

“You mean make snowmen like the Ordinaries do?” Sybil clapped her hands together. “Oh, please, can we come too? It’ll be just like in that movie Frozen.” She looked at the blank faces of her other two First Years. “You haven’t seen Frozen?”

“Why would I watch that?” Clarice asked, serious eyes glancing around her. “I know what happens to water when the temperature drops. I’d also think that you four, of all people, wouldn’t want to go anywhere near anything frozen.”

“This is different, Clarice.” Sybil twirled herself around the narrow hallway, singing “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”

“Not particularly, but Millie’s making us,” Maud snorted.

“You don’t have to come, you know.” Mildred said, finally exasperated. “You can stay in the castle where it’s freezing anyway and not have a good time with your friends.”

“Come on, Bea…Come on, Clarice…let’s go with them. We’ve finished all of our tests!” After a bit more cajoling, Sybil managed to persuade them to join in. In a rush of excitement, Sybil and Bea managed to drag Clarice along to get their heavy cloaks.

“We’ll see you outside, then!” Mildred called after them, before Maud shushed her for violating Quiet Hours.  “Come on, then, last one outside is a frozen glob of toad spittle!”

They raced through the corridor, stifling their giggles until they reached the outside. Or until they almost did. Rounding the last corner, they ran straight into Miss Cackle and Miss Bat.

“Girls! Where on earth are going in such a rush! You know we don’t run in the corridors.”

“Sorry, Miss Cackle, we were just…” Mildred looked back and forth between Maud and Enid, suddenly unsure if this was a good idea. “Well. You see. We were just…”

“Mildred is making us go outside to make snowmen – without magic!” Maud finished, in a tone that left no doubt that she expected Miss Cackle to put an immediate stop to this foolishness. She should have known better.

“Oh, that sounds like great fun, doesn’t it, Miss Bat?” Miss Cackle stepped away from the door. “Everyone is well practiced in their warming spells, right girls?”

“Yes, Miss Cackle,” they chorused.

“Then have a lovely time – I’ll pop out in a bit to see what you’ve made.” Ada winked a blue eye at them. “Maybe I’ll even build a snowwitch or two myself.” She turned to Gwen. “I’ll bet some nice hot cocoa would be just the thing for when these girls come inside, what do you think?”

“Oh, I think that would be lovely,” Gwen answered, their voices disappearing down the corridor.

The girls exchanged one last set of looks before rushing outside into the snow, whooping like banshees once they’d left the castle. In a few minutes, Clarice, Bea, and Sybil joined them with Ethel, Felicity and Grace in tow.

****

Enid stole another sidelong glance at the looming snow-Cackle’s Ethel was making on the other side of the courtyard. “You have to admit that it’s pretty good.”

Mildred put the finishing touches on Mr. Rowan-Webb’s snow beard. “Of course, it looks good, Enid, they used magic. Missed the whole point, didn’t they?” She stared at the castle. “Felicity and Grace don’t seem to be having much fun, do they?”

“They certainly do not!” Miss Cackle said from behind them. “Now what do we have here, girls? That one looks suspiciously like Mr. Rowan-Webb…”

“Miss Cackle!” The girls scrambled around to the front of their snowwitches.

“Well…you see…” Maud stammered, pushing her glasses up with one gloved hand.

“Since they made Cackle’s, we made the teachers,” Clarice deadpanned. “Seemed the right thing to do.”

“I see… so it is Mr. Rowan-Webb then.” Ada appraised the sculpture. “And let me guess…Miss Bat is next to him?” The snowwitch looked vaguely like Miss Bat…but it also looked vaguely like the next two sculptures in the line - one of which she knew had to be her and one had to be Miss Drill. She knew better than to try and guess which snowwitch was which.  “And this must be Miss Hardbroom?” That, at least, she was fairly sure about – tall, a hat sculpted on top of her head…the girls had used thinner snow ovals instead of snow balls to make it. They’d even positioned the twig arms so they hung directly down its sides. “Fine job on her, girls. Fine job.”

“You don’t know who the others are, though, do you Miss Cackle?” Sybil looked up from the one Ada guessed was Miss Bat.

“Well…snow is a tricky medium, wouldn’t you say, Mildred?” She clapped her hands together. “I know just what these need. Let me just fetch a few things; meanwhile, I think you need to add a bit more around the middle of mine.” That way I can at least know which one it is, she thought as she transferred away.

“I told you not to do the teachers,” Ethel said, appearing next to Maud as if out of nowhere. “You’ll be in detention for sure.”

“We will not…”

“Here we are, girls” Ada said as she popped back into the courtyard, now wearing a heavier cloak and carrying an armful of supplies. “Well met, Ethel. I see your group decided to forego doing things the Ordinary way?”

“Why would we want to be like…” she shot a nasty glance Mildred’s way, “Ordinaries?”

“Because they often are much better at having fun than we are. It doesn’t do to assume that Ordinary people have nothing to offer, Ethel.” Ada stared at the girl over her glasses. “After all, where would we all be if not for Mildred’s mother?”

Ethel scuffed her boot through the scrubby snow. “We’d still be frozen, Miss Cackle.”

“Quite likely, Ethel. Mildred’s mother – an Ordinary – saved all of us.” She turned back to the snowwitches, momentarily taken aback by the…amount… of snow they’d added to her middle. “All right girls, let’s accessorize, shall we?” She set her bundle in the snow.  “Here you go, for Miss Bat…” She handed Maud a slim wooden baton. “Tuck that up into her hair, Maud. That will be lovely.”

“Yes, Miss Cackle.”

“Mildred, I believe you know what to do with these,” she said, handing the girl her old glasses. “Now then, Miss Nightshade, let’s get Miss Drill’s accessory attached. Hold that ball right there and I’ll step around behind and build up the snow to hold it in place.”

Mildred was carefully pushing the earpieces into the snowwitch’s head when a dark shadow fell across them.

“Whhh-at do you think you are doing, Mil-dred Hub-ble? Where did you get those eyeglasses?” Hecate’s eyes scoured the snow sculptures. “This is completely…”

“Delightful, don’t you think, Miss Hardbroom?” Ada finished, leaning around Miss Drill’s doppleganger. “They’ve done an outstanding job capturing our likenesses, don’t you think?”

Hecate took a quick step back. “M-Miss Cackle?” Her eyes darted from Ada to the girls, brows nearly disappearing into her hairline.

“Will you help us finish, Miss Hardbroom?” Mildred asked. “It’s hard to reach the top of your hat.”

“We’ve been having a lovely time, Hecate. No magic.” Ada smirked up at her, eyes shining with mirth.

“I… no…” A pained expression crossed her face before she gave in. “I’d be delighted, Miss Cackle.” She stepped over to the Hecate snowwitch. She had to admit that they hadn’t been…cruel or mocking when they sculpted it. They’d even recreated her watch from a stone from the pond. Sighing, she cast a warming spell on her hands and scooped up some snow. It melted almost immediately. Without thinking, she tried again. Again, the snow melted right away. She heard Mildred giggling behind. “What is so funny?”

“You can’t use a warming spell on snow, Miss Hardbroom.”

Hecate opened her mouth to reply before snapping her jaw closed. Spots of color appeared on her cheeks. She hoped Ada and the girls would assume it was from the cold. “Certainly not, Mildred,” she said, just to have some sort of response.

“Here Miss Hardbroom, I have two pairs of gloves on. You can borrow a pair of mine.” Mildred pulled her outer gloves off and held them out to Miss Hardbroom.

Hecate could have simply summoned her own gloves. She knew that. But…Mildred was showing her a kindness – she knew that as well. Mildred Hubble, who’d offered up her family’s magic again to save them. The life that she had, that she cherished, existed today because this girl had been willing to make that sacrifice. Smiling slightly, Hecate reached out and took the gloves. “Thank you, Mildred.” She took the gloves, already warmed from Mildred’s hands, and slipped them on. “The top of the hat, you say?”

Hecate leaned over to scoop up more snow. Suddenly, a snowball exploded against her backside. Whipping upright she turned to Mildred, but the girl was just staring at her, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. She turned to the rest of the girls. All stood stiff and staring.

All save one. One, sixty-something, guilty-looking girl who couldn’t keep the smirk off her face.

“I see. Ada. That’s how it’s going to be.” She held up a hand, still bundled in Mildred’s glove, and muttered under her breath. Snow began swirling around her, condensing into a tiny snow tornado.

“Now, Hecate…it was just one little snowball…” Ada tried to edge behind Enid. “The children…”

“Uh-oh,” Enid murmured. “They’re using first names again…that’s still a bad sign.” She dodged the flying snow, leaving it to hit Miss Cackle head on.

Before they knew it, the air was filled with snow and Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom were transferring from one side of the courtyard to the other, trying to bury the other in snow each time she appeared.

Later, in the Great Hall, where red-faced girls warmed up with hot chocolate, Miss Hardbroom appeared, bun loose and cheeks pink. “Thank you for the use of your gloves, Miss Hubble.”

“Did you win your snowball fight with Miss Cackle?” Mildred asked as she took the gloves.

Hecate rocked her head back and forth, pretending to think about it for a moment. “I’m quite sure I don’t know what you’re referring to… but if I were to participate in something as foolish as a snowball fight with Miss Cackle…” She winked at Mildred. “I assure you I would win.” With that she raised a hand and transferred away.