#to wear masks i just found no point in going through the hassle of making lipstick work with masks + i dont like matte liquid lippies...

[xx-justsomeguy-xx]

thinking abt how much my makeup collection has minimized and shrunk down through the years bc for some reason youtube decided to show me some old t*ti w*stbrook videos while on autoplay

[koszmarnybudyn]

Giving you an excuse to info dump about the magical girl au all you want bc I think it’s so cool and wanna hear ur inspiration for the designs

Okay here is the info dump I promise. Also thank you for all the tags they were all very nice, and they really push me to create more :)

Normal: As I always say with his design its winx and cheerleader inspired, I already dweled on the first one in a previous post so I'm gonna skip that.

I really wanted to incorporate a star motive in his costume (thus the star top which I adore but was a pain to choose colors for), because I just think it fits him very well, he does lose some of the teenie memorabilia (without the SD for san dimas and the T's in his design) because I thought it is reminicent of his departure from the costume, yet it comes after his "trying not to be himself" phase (the third outfit) so it does bring back the previous colors.

He has teal as his main color because I really like the idea of the Oaks being green, but because ge doesn't quite fit (and because he is the new generation pc) he gets mix of blue and green which is teal (also because blue and white are the schools colors but i only found that out later).

His "trying not to be himself" costume brings in elements of the others costumes, with the chunky shoes and wings from Normal, he is trying to his friends yet pieces of himself still poje through. It has red and blue for Taylor, purple for Scary and yellow and white from Link.

I imagine this look comes after his confrontation with his dad (I want him to try to not be a magical girl for a while, like with the dance arc, and when he tries to transform after his outfit glitches and his powers malfunction, later it turns into this when fightning before he has his realization and it goes to the powerup version).

The last outfit is just his everyday (I considered drawing the teenie suit but It didn't fit on the page unfortunetly lol), I imagine he wears a lot off school merch because he still misses teenie (and yes it still very much stinks).

I think he looks the most like the classic magical girl, I really enjoy the poofy skirt because I didn't draw a lot of skirts here (it either defies logic or has shorts underneath because a skirt is not practical)

Scary: again I think I talked about the first outfit previously, I did tweak the colors and design a little bit (I struggled with the hair color a bit) but nothing very major changed.

She has purple and red (classic villian colors because she is cool and edgy). I think I started this before the betrayl but the second powerup outfit definitly happens after the reveal.

She has a lot of punk and rock influance in her outfit (and yes the platforms are impractical but they do add to the vibe). She gets cool chains but no wings. Also the prop is the Kellog knife.

Her everyday outfit is one I designed a while ago yet really like (I actually made a Scary doll and She wears the same one).

Taylor: god this was such a hassle for color choices it was terrible, just hard to draw in general and I did the Hermie powerup too many details abomination.

He gets flaiming hair like his dad, its also blue like his dad. Its definitly sailor moon inspired (I'm debating whenether Hero hates super gero Taylor or likes him, either way she does point out the sailor moon similarities either as an insult for being unoriginal or as an admiration thing because she does like sailor moon) (I just realized if I make Hero a superhero she gets the tuxedo mask inspired design for sure).

There was samurai inspiration in this (thanks Usagi chronicles you have ridden my mind) and his second outfit has a very faint flower pattent which I really like.

I think apart from power up link he has the most armor. He does get wings but they are tiny and don't really work at first but then do in his power up. Which he might get after going to hell. He does get a tail which I forgot to draw and his ears get pointer (he does also have fangs which Scary is jealous of).

He gets a staff in classical magical girl fashion (and because of his sword staff) and a katana which he does summon and do cool anime stuff with, and it does catch in flames. I really enjoy the Taylor is disabled headcanon thus the staff and i do think he has compressors in his costume.

Hermie: my boy changes designs way too aften, there is his everyday pre magic (he does get the joker stuff still).

He is a magical girl that kinda just joins the gang and is kinda a trickster, Taylor and Normal don't realize he is actually Hermie for a while (Normal doesn't know the longest) while Link and Scary know very quickly (Link is annoyed at Normal for not realizing it and it becomes a gag).

There is his 1 magical girl outfit (its practiclly the same to my previous drawings of him as nothing really changed), then there is his accident outfit (he gets it after the cheese accident), his two-face arc (also talked and shown this one previously), his after the accident everyday and then his power up.

God does it have many details, there is joker, poison ivy and two-face as inspiration in it (his hat has leaves for ivy and coins for two-face). He gets two eyes in his mask and more trickstery look in ode to his father scam. I was really inspied by court jesters and harlequins. I like how he ends up looking like a fea. Oh also question marks for riddler.

He is a silly little guy and I adore him but drawing that again will be a pain.

Link: finally my boy, after Normal he was the second finished drawing. I had a slight problem with his colors, finally picking almost white, yellow and really light green.

His norma outfit is the most practical and soccer players inspired. He gets cool lightning and angel imagery (I really enjoy his contrast with Scary with her purple and black and his yellow and white). He gets cool glowing eyes because I am a sucker for inhuman traits.

His second outfit is very palladin-y, I think the lightning kinda looks like corruption which I really enjoy, he also probablly gets it after Scary's betrayl.

There is gold and copper in his design as accents. The wing shoes were hermies inspired. He gets a glowing sword. I really enjoy some of the biblical imaginery he looks connected to.

Like I said I might honestly make more refrence sheets (I am working on kiddads designs and some other charakters, escpecially villains, but that is a bit harder for me to design so we'll see). Anyway hope this wasn't too ranty and feel free to ask anything or add ideas.

Also thank you @rooolt for giving me an excuse to infodump I am a sucker for charakter design and analysis so its very nice to rant about my choices.

[callsign-bunnie]

A Dance of Hearts - Chapter 2 - Regency AU

As Horangi had expected, when they went to the village, Koenig was all but ignored. He did get a few glances, but everyone saw the way Horangi was guiding his faery chain, and they immediately would just look away. 

As such, Horangi had watched Koenig relax, completely, as Horangi bought a few things. He was wearing the mask and hood that Horangi had promised him. The hood was attached to a short black cloak. Correction, it went to Horangi’s knees, but it barely went to Koenig’s waist. 

--

“Kätzchen,” Koenig started and Horangi threw him a look, but Koenig simply continued, “the hilt of your blade appears worn.”

“If you are suggesting it needs to be replaced, I am well aware. However, I am quite used to this blade and getting another would be too much of a hassle.” Horangi answered, looking over a collection of cloaks from a merchant. They were plain and… none of them would be large enough. 

Koenig raised an eyebrow. “And if it breaks during battle?”

Horangi shrugged. “I am willing to take that gamble.”

“Why gamble at all?” Koenig shook his head. 

Horangi frowned, supposing Koenig had a point. Why take the risk? He considered… Well, he supposed it was almost exhilarating to run that risk every fight, but Koenig was right. If his blade broke, he’d have a hell of a time trying to get through the rest of his battle. “I suppose you have a point. I will… talk to the blacksmith, today.”

Koenig nodded. “That is good.”

Horangi simply rolled his eyes at Koenig and continued to look over the cloaks. He went to the merchant. “How much to have one specially made?”

“30 gold.” The merchant replied.

Horangi stared at him. “But the regular cloaks barely cost 5!”

The merchant chuckled. “You are small. You can fit those cloaks. That one cannot. I assume it would be him who it needs to be made for.”

Horangi bristled, slightly. “You would be correct…” He muttered. He could not afford 30 gold for a fucking cloak. So, he turned away from the merchant and went back to the cloaks. He found the longest one he could and took it back to the merchant, paying for it and having Koenig carry it. Might as well make him useful for something. 

Horangi then continued on to the tailor, though he had considerably less confidence that he would be able to afford anything for the alpha. “What did your parents feed you when you were a child?” He asked Koenig, already quite frustrated. 

Koenig chuckled. “I grew up on a diet which was mostly meat.”

“So did I.” Horangi muttered. “You need to become smaller. You are expensive.”

“You could just leave me in these rags.” 

Horangi just laughed, opening the door and going into the tailor’s shop. “Miriam! “ He called. “I have a challenge for you.”

The older alpha female came out of the back of the shop, raising an eyebrow. Then, her eyes moved from Horangi to Koenig and she just sighed, shaking her head. “Fantastic. Come on.” She gestured to Koenig, who looked surprised. “Up, onto the pedestal.”

Koenig seemed hesitant as Horangi took off the faerie chain and then he went to the pedestal, seeming to test its tensile stretch. “It’s reinforced with magic. It will not break.” Miriam explained. “Go, Horangi. Come back in a few hours.”

Horangi shrugged, ignoring the way Koenig seemed to almost beg him not to leave with his eyes. “I will return. I’m going to go talk to the blacksmith.” He told Koenig, who huffed at him. He bowed and then left. 

As promised, he went to the blacksmith, allowing him to look over his blade before saying he could probably make something for him. “It won’t be very intricate.”

“I don’t need it to be. Just… make something that will save my life.” Horangi shrugged. “Beauty is a fool’s gamble.”

“Well spoken.” The blacksmith chuckled and nodded. “You will have a blade.”

“Thank you.” Horangi bowed his head, slightly. When he was done, he went around getting a few more things for Koenig that he could get without trouble, however he was realizing that he’d likely have to also take Koenig to the cobbler. This was really racking up his pockets. This was frustrating! King Alejandro had just dropped this alpha on him with no warning, no reason- 

Horangi paused. Why… him specifically?? Did King Alejandro know Horangi was an omega?? No, he couldn’t! Besides, even if he did, he had to know what a danger that was! It was fortunate Koenig seemed to be mildly pathetic. 

Unless this was some weird punishment from King Alejandro. He found out Horangi was an omega and so gave him an alpha who would likely brutalize him… No. Horangi wasn’t sure if King Alejandro would do that, but he didn’t think Queen Rodolfo would allow him. He didn’t know much about the Queen, but he knew he wouldn’t allow that. 

So.. why? Horangi likely would never know. He didn’t like not knowing. He just shook his head and turned to the tailor’s shop, going that way so he could pick Koenig back up. Then it would be to the cobbler and… He groaned. 

Look, Horangi was no stranger to losing all of his money. He had a bit of a gambling problem that he was working on, but… This just felt unnecessary. He didn’t even want the damn alpha. 

Okay, maybe… a small part of Horangi wanted the alpha. He was an omega after all. But he didn’t want to be in charge of his well being and he didn’t want to have to drag him around. Oh well… He was stuck with him for now…

Where would the alpha even go? Anyone else in the barracks would likely take enjoyment in tormenting him and… Horangi couldn’t stomach that. Koenig didn’t deserve to be tortured. 

When he made it back to the tailor’s shop, he opened the door and went inside, seeing Koenig was now sitting. Miriam was cutting fabric while a sewing machine was sewing the garments together. “You bring me a big alpha, I make him big clothes. This will cost you, Horangi.”

“Yeah, I know.” Horangi muttered. “I’m not exactly thrilled about it.”

Miriam sighed. “He’s dangerous to have around. You look less like an alpha around him.”

“Announce it to the whole town!” Horangi snarked, even more irritated. “Yeah, I’m aware!” 

Miriam had found out while making clothes for him. She’d claimed alphas weren’t built like him and then told him she’d put some kind of magic in the clothing to hide him. “Anyway, I’ll have the clothes in a few days. For now, I managed to whip something up. And I found some very old boots. They might be a little tight, but they look nicer than what he’s wearing now.”

Horangi relaxed. “Thank you.” He got out his gold, but she just snorted and waved him off. “But you said-”

“I never said money.” Miriam sighed. “I need a favor.”

Horangi glanced at Koenig, who seemed intrigued. “I’m listening.”

“I’m smuggling something in. I… I need you to play my nephew. But… You won’t be an alpha.” Miriam sighed. “You and this very large alpha will have to play mates.”

“No way.” Horangi immediately said. “Absolutely not! I’m not risking everything-”

“I’ve made disguises!” Miriam quickly said and shook her head. “No one will recognize you. You’ll simply travel with me for a few days and both of you will guard me while I smuggle this item.”

Horangi furrowed his brows. “What’s the item?” He asked, giving in.

Miriam grinned. “You’ll see. Just… come back in a few days to pick up the clothes.”

Horangi sighed and looked at Koenig. “Are you fine with this?”

Koenig blinked. “This is mercenary work.”

“Yeah, sort of.” Miriam laughed. “But, Horangi needs something and… well, I’m willing to provide.”

Horangi nodded. “Fine. We’ll be there.” He turned back to her. “Will the disguises cover my face?”

“Yes.” Miriam nodded. “Both of your faces.”

“Good. Alright.” Horangi nodded. He took the outfit she gave him, noting that it was all black, and turned to Koenig, nudging his head toward the door.

Koenig gave a polite goodbye and then headed towards the door. Miriam stopped Horangi before he could fully leave. “Take a knot, Horangi. You may loosen up.”

“Oh, get fucked.”

-

Horangi laid on his back, staring at the ceiling. His mind was turning Miriam’s words over and over in his head. Take a knot. Fuck her. He didn’t need to… loosen up.

He turned his head, seeing the alpha was still awake. No. Just roll over and go to sleep. Don’t open that can of worms. Koenig was just an alpha. Yeah, he was mildly attractive, but tall blonde alphas were more common than shoes and Horangi had seen many. 

But… something about Koenig had caught Horangi’s interest. Maybe it was their situation. Maybe it was that Koenig was so contradictory. He was large and imposing and terrifying and yet he had tried to kill himself to avoid going to a village. 

With a frustrated grr, he got up and went to the alpha, dropping down to his knees beside him. “I know you’re awake.” He could tell by the uneven way the alpha was breathing, though his head was turned away from him.

Koenig’s head slowly turned and those frightening blue eyes met his. “I wasn’t pretending to sleep, Kätzchen.” 

“I just wanted to inform you.” Horangi shrugged. He hesitated before reaching forward and touching Koenig’s face, watching him tense slightly. “Tell me if you want me to go back to bed. I’ll listen. I’ll get up and I’ll go back to bed and we’ll ignore this.”

Koenig furrowed his brows and then he sat up. Even with Horangi on his knees, even with Koenig just sitting up, he still slightly towered over Horangi and Horangi found a certain thrill in being so small compared to the alpha. It was a reminder that he could pretend all he wanted, he was still an omega.

Horangi had never been pretending out of some want to be an alpha. He was pretending because he needed to survive. Maybe for one night… He wanted to be reminded that he was an omega. However, he kept his expression neutral as he looked up at Koenig. “I need you to answer.”

Koenig shook his head. “I don’t want you to go back to bed, Kätzchen.” He reached and then his hands were wrapping around Horangi’s waist, lifting him up. Horangi helped by arranging himself when Koenig moved him so he was straddling him. “I meant it when I called you pretty.”

“You’re wrong.” Horangi shook his head. “You hide your face so no one notices you… I hide mine so no one sees me.”

“Can I see you?” Koenig reached up and touched the mask covering Horangi’s face. Horangi found himself tensing slightly, his mind racing back and forth between letting him and smacking his hand away. 

But, he clenched his hands into fists, closing his eyes and nodding. He wasn’t insecure… but he hated his own skin. He hated what they’d done to him. He felt the mask fall off his face and then he heard Koenig suck in a breath. “You were right. I was wrong.”

Anger flared in Horangi’s chest and his eyes flashed open. How dare Koenig so openly say that? Horangi had expected his mind to change, but for him to say as such was a special kind of cruel! “How da-”

He was cut off by lips pressing against his. Koenig’s lips were rough against his own, slightly chapped. Even still, Horangi relaxed into the kiss, his mind now confused. He wanted to be angry, but… Koenig’s arms moved around his waist and pulled him close, and Horangi hadn’t felt such affection… ever. 

“Du bist schön…” Koenig whispered when he pulled away and his fingers reached up to touch the scaring on Horangi’s face. It looked like the stripes of a tiger, another thing that contributed to Horangi’s name. 

Horangi frowned at his words. “I don’t-”

“You are beautiful.” Koenig translated, chuckling softly. “The scarring… suits you, I think. You’re a scary omega.”

Horangi frowned. He’d never been told that. Sure, he’d been called scary but… well, he’d never let anyone see the scars, to begin with. “They make me intimidating?”

“Immensely.” Koenig nodded. “I like them.”

Horangi relaxed. He didn’t feel offended by Koenig’s like for the scars, Koenig didn’t understand how he’d gotten them. Horangi felt cursed by his often too rational thinking. It didn’t help him gamble, but… it cursed him in moments like these, when he wanted to let his mind go. 

Koenig’s fingers moved to trace over Horangi’s lips and he found them parting slightly. “Why did you come to me, Kätzchen?”

“You know why I came to you.” Horangi answered, meeting his eyes again.

“I need you to answer.” Koenig chuckled, echoing his previous words. “If I’m going to give you what you want, that is…”

“I want you to fuck me, if that’s what your asking.” Horangi shrugged, puffing out his chest, slightly. 

Koenig’s face turned a dark red and he looked shocked for the briefest moment before shaking his head. “You are so bold.”

“I’ve had to learn to be.” Horangi shrugged. “It’s been a while since I’ve had sex. A long while.”

“I worry I might break you, then.” Koenig frowned, looking over him. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I can only hope you will.” 

Koenig rolled his eyes, though his skin had gone an even darker shade of red. “You are too bold.”

“I think you like it.” Horangi laughed. 

Koenig seemed to consider. “Maybe. You are an intriguing omega. You can do whatever you want to me and yet you clothe me and then asked me to touch you. Not told me.”

Horangi was silent. He wasn’t ready to reveal that much of himself, yet. “Well… now I’m telling you. Touch me.” 

Koenig’s eyes seemed to darken, slightly. “Yes, my lady.” His tone wasn’t teasing, despite his words. It was reverent. 

Horangi found himself shivering, liking the power behind the statement. He felt important and he liked that. “I think you can be more creative than that.”

Koenig’s eyes darkened further. “Mistress?”

Horangi liked that. He wished Koenig spoke his language, having no doubt he’d find a word in that which was even better. “Touch me.” He commanded. 

“Yes, mistress.” Koenig responded before his hands found Horangi’s waist again, sliding over them and then up and under the loose tunic he wore to bed. 

“Undress me.” Horangi murmured, his own hand finding Koenig’s hair and slotting his fingers in it, tugging his head back lightly. 

Koenig blew out a breath and then he worked quickly, pulling Horangi’s shirt off of him and then pushing down his pants. Horangi moved so he could get them off, before standing and backing up. 

“Now undress yourself.” He nodded, smiling when Koenig did as told almost immediately. He barely managed to keep himself from reacting too much at the size of Koenig’s cock. It was proportionate. For a 6’10 alpha. 

Koenig was likely only average. For a 6’10 alpha. That meant for the average non-6’10 alpha, he was huge. 

Oh well, Horangi had never backed down from a challenge before. He moved and dropped back down to straddle Koenig again, taking Koenig’s hand and guiding it between his legs. 

Almost eagerly, Koenig pushed a finger up into him and Horangi let himself moan softly, putting his head back slightly. He rocked his hips down onto Koenig’s finger, feeling his own slick drip down his thighs. “Feel that, sweet boy? Feel what you’ve done to me?”

Koenig was staring at him the way a wild animal might and Horangi thought it was adorable, resting his hands on Koenig’s shoulders, close to his neck, and using his thumbs to push Koenig’s head back slightly. Koenig complied with the action, so Horangi pushed his head back all the way and leaned forward, biting into him. Koenig growled and then he was pushing two fingers inside Horangi.

Horangi gasped and his hips jerked. He chuckled and pulled away, tsking. “I’ll forgive that, but take it easy.”

“I’m sorry, mistress.” Koenig answered, shaking his head. He looked genuinely apologetic, so Horangi forgave him, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. He reached up and undid the faery chain before pushing Koenig’s hand away, standing and going to the bed.

Koenig followed him without needing any prompt and Horangi laid back as Koenig moved over him, closing his eyes and moaning as his fingers returned inside him. Koenig started to diligently work him open and Horangi guided him through it, though Koenig barely needed it.

For all his lack of confidence, he was clearly skilled, and Horangi appreciated it, melting into the sweet and simple pleasure. Koenig was so gentle with Horangi’s body, treating him like he was precious. Valuable. Horangi thought it was darling. 

“You can push in now.” Horangi told Koenig, when he got slightly impatient. 

Koenig frowned. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I can take it, come on.” Horangi opened his legs wider and then wrapped them around Koenig’s waist, pulling him close. 

Koenig seemed unsure but he nodded and lifted Horangi’s hips and then he was pushing in and- Horangi realized he’d made a particularly risky gamble, but he wasn’t backing out. He took slow and even breaths, letting Koenig bottom out. 

When Koenig had, Horangi tapped him to stop him, laying back and taking deep breaths. Koenig nuzzled over him and then he scented Horangi and Horangi was just drowning in the scent, melting into the bed as the pain subsided slightly. Lemons and… sugar, which was odd for an alpha, since most alphas didn’t tend to be sweet. 

Horangi liked the scent. He, himself, was a bit more on the sweet side, smelling like a spiced vanilla, according to… He shook his head and focused back on Koenig, looking up into his eyes. He found himself more and more used to the unsettling blue, characterizing them more as striking. He reached up and touched his bottom lip. “No omega at home that I should be feeling guilty for spiting, correct?” Horangi asked, the question having just occurred to him to ask. 

Koenig furrowed his brows. “No. Never found anyone interested.”

Horangi was not quite sure he believed that. Even still, he just ignored him. “Don’t worry about me popping out a pup, either.” As long as he had no heats, he’d never have to worry about a baby. 

Koenig frowned. “Okay.” He nodded. Horangi looked at him for a moment, mostly just noting concern in his face. He shook his head and pulled Koenig down, kissing him softly. Koenig almost seemed to just melt and his arms moved around Horangi’s waist. “Please can I fuck you… Please let me make you feel good…” He murmured, pulling back softly. His accent had thickened again, so Horangi almost had trouble making it out.

Horangi had adjusted enough so he nodded, relaxing back into the bed. Koenig almost immediately started to move and the sensation had Horangi grasping for Koenig, digging his nails into his back.

Koenig moaned and put his forehead on Horangi’s shoulder, his body contorting to make the position. “Ah… tight…”

Horangi made a pleased, proud sound. “Come on, sweet boy… You wanted to fuck me, so do it.”

Koenig grred and then he harshly thrust into Horangi, making Horangi have to slam his hand over his mouth to keep from screaming too loud. He did not need that to be the way the rest of the barracks discovered he was an omega. 

Koenig didn’t stop, starting to fuck in and out of Horangi at an almost punishing pace. He pulled back and his eyes seemed to watch Horangi, slightly changing with every move Horangi made.

Most of the moves were just arching his back, but he had a few others. He dug his right nails into Koenig as he thrust, the other hand staying firmly over his mouth because occasionally Koenig would thrust in almost too deep and Horangi would have to fight not to scream again. 

It felt amazing, but it was almost too amazing. But, Horangi still wasn’t backing down. Koenig’s hand moved to Horangi’s cock and started to stroke and that led to Horangi orgasming entirely without warning. He bit into his hand, whiting out from the pleasure. 

Koenig, thankfully, slowed to a stop and he pulled out, kissing all over Horangi’s shoulders. Horangi panted and closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around Koenig’s shoulders and petting his hair. “Go ahead and finish yourself, sweet boy…”

“I- Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Horangi nodded, not wanting to neglect the alpha. He’d done pretty well and so he wouldn’t be cruel. 

Koenig had turned a dark shade of red again but Horangi only smiled softly at him, continuing to pet his hair. He liked how shaggy it was, giving him plenty to lightly tug as he ran his fingers through it. 

Koenig pushed his face into Horangi’s chest and then Horangi felt his hand swipe up some of his slick before his arm was moving, likely from him wrapping his hand around his cock and starting to jerk off. 

“Good boy…” Horangi murmured and leaned his head, a little, kissing his hair. “Aegiya, you’re doing so well…”

Koenig moaned and seemed to almost hide in his chest. Affection and warmth bloomed in Horangi’s chest and he marveled in the new sensation. He liked this odd feeling of control through taking care of someone. “Remember how it felt inside me? Imagine that…”

He watched the alpha’s movements jerk slightly and then his arm sped up. Horangi continued to pet his hair, closing his eyes and murmuring soft assurances to the alpha. Then, something warm and sticky hit the inside of Horangi’s thigh and Koenig was finally collapsing into him, his movement stopping. “Sweet boy… How do you feel?”

Koenig didn’t answer, just nodded, but Horangi decided that was enough. “What does Aegiya mean?” Koenig asked after a moment, looking up at Horangi with hooded eyes. 

“It’s fairly close to sweetheart…” Horangi explained.

Koenig’s brain seemed to take a moment to work through that before he nodded. “Liebchen… I like Kätzchen better.”

“I think it’s growing on me.” Horangi agreed. “Though I like mistress, most.”

“Herrin…” Koenig murmured, closing his eyes. “You are more adept in the common tongue…”

“I’ve had to speak it for so long, I may as well be.” Horangi shrugged. “You are fairly adept. Sometimes your accent is hard to understand, but I work through it. I do not know if you can fit in my bed. You are rather large.”

“I will sleep on my pallet…”

“Nonsense. Come. No one will see.” Horangi moved and got up, ignoring the way his legs wobbled. He had Koenig climb into the bed, first, seeing that he just barely fit. Then, Horangi climbed up into the bed and settled on top of him, yawning. “Sleep, sweet boy…”

“I will, Kätzchen…” Koenig yawned and hugged Horangi before Horangi felt his chest slow. 

Oh, this alpha was deeply, deeply dangerous…

--

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[fukurodaze]

some days

pairing: post-timeskip! oikawa tooru x fem!reader genre: angst wc: 2.4k warnings: cursing, stress, anxiety, homesickness, insecurity requested by @dasighosamu​ <3: “oikawa video chatting regularly with his girlfriend that somehow convinced him they’re okay [...]”

a/n: i.. am.. so so so sorry this took so long... many of the negative feelings here are taken from my own personal experiences as well, so i’m very sorry if this seems a bit impersonal for some people, but i tried to make it feel as y/n-able as possible! enjoy!

special thanks to nat @natszoo​ for beta reading! love u :(

LISTEN TO: blue - taeyeon; through the night - iu

you feel it in your bones. you feel it rumble and twist and turn. some days you feel it more. some days you feel it less. you know what it is today. 

it’s so empty, you think, movements like a crack of sound in silence. you had woken up in the afternoon today, the room still dark yet covers already warm. oh, you feel disgusting.

the least you do is open the curtains, hoping to squeeze in some sunlight for the day you had almost missed. you remember, though, to wake up for today, because it’s saturday. you look forward to saturdays, actually, because it has in store one constant that you hold onto - facetiming your boyfriend, oikawa tooru, at 7pm.

it used to be everyday that you facetimed him, until careers advanced and work took up more and more space in lives. still, you would always watch his matches when they were televised (it was a hassle sometimes, though, to get through to argentinian television channels, but it was worth it) and he would text you good morning and goodnight in your timezone most days (it slips his mind sometimes, but you could never blame him; you like the texts anyways). and it’s okay, really, it’s okay that you don’t get to see him that often. it’s just that work gets a bit harsh sometimes and you live alone and most of your friends live quite a bit far from you and you feel like you’ve cried to them about tooru way too many times and-

okay, you are not okay. but you hold on. you try to hold on.

you get yourself an instant meal in the fridge, feeling well into the shitty weekend when you see the stack of dirty dishes in the sink. you wash them anyways, thinking that it might be a way for you to feel a little bit better. you don’t want to be irritable when you’re with tooru, because then he’ll just worry. he already worries enough about himself - the least you could do is smile. right?

it’s what you tell yourself as you slap on some skincare, hoping that the various products containing tea tree essence and papaya are enough to mask the layer of sleepless nights and early mornings on your face. it’s not like you’re afraid of him seeing you in your dejected state; it’s more like you wouldn’t want the only time you spend with him this week be a negative memory.

now, you settle on the carpeted floor of the living room, laptop placed on the coffee table between the couch and the tv you never really use anymore. you remember when tooru had bought you this apartment right before an off-season with promises of him visiting in the summer. he even insisted on that nice tv screen for netflix nights. 

but alone, you prefer a laptop; so you’re thinking of selling it, yet you don’t want to pass up on the chance that tooru might come back one summer.

eventually, the facetime on your laptop sounds its ringtone, and a smile grows on your face as quickly as you pick up the video call. 

"wait- can- can you hear me well?”

you purse your lips, your tired eyes seemingly so much more eager to stay open. you say, “yeah, i can hear you well. can you?”

he hums, and there’s a loving silence that ensues. you don’t really know what to do with your insides feeling all warm again, so you fold your legs to your chest and let out a light laugh. it’s him.

“wow,” you mumble through chuckles, “hi, tooru.”

“i missed you, pretty girl,” he coos. you see how tooru has his back against his headboard, one arm folded behind his head and the other holding his phone up. it’s seven in the morning there, you reckon, and he looks like he’d just showered. 

“i missed you too. just showered?”

your boyfriend nods, “woke up later than usual today, but it’s, like, hot outside even at six in the morning. or maybe i just sweat too much.”

you giggle, “here, it’s so cold already. i can’t even go anywhere without a sweater - i even sleep with socks these days.”

“are you sure your heater’s doing fine?”

“my heater’s almost on its highest setting. i’ve just been getting so cold lately? maybe i just hate winter...” you trail off as you hear your own stomach grumble. still hungry...? you mutter to yourself, standing up to get a little snack for yourself, “tooru, i’m getting a snack. just keep talking, though, i can hear you.”

tooru’s smile falters a bit when he hears of you getting cold. he knows you’ve never really minded winter, using the season as an opportunity to stack up on cozy clothing and coats. hell, he had heard you say once, during one autumn, that you were so excited for winter because “you could finally wear the hoodies and sweaters since you felt too warm for them even during autumn and spring.” back then, tooru had told you that you were just too warm of a person. 

but maybe he’s just thinking too much into it. he hasn’t been to japan in a long time, anyways. maybe it really is that cold.

you come back with some toast and a glass of water. a crisp, warm bite into the food makes you feel relieved. you tuck your hair behind your ears, putting your focus back on tooru. “so, how’s everything?”

“everything... is... a lot.” tooru makes his way off of the bed, telling you, “seeing you eat just makes me hungry, too. lemme get some food.” he brings his phone with him to the kitchen, propping it against a vase on his dining table, giving you a perfect view of the kitchen. 

“welcome to my cooking show!” he exclaims as he lets go of the phone. it falls immediately, of course, but he takes care in propping it against some more items. it works somehow.

“i just recently perfected my egg poaching technique,” tooru smirks as he takes two eggs from the fridge, “it’s kind of flawless, not gonna lie.”

“can i see?” 

he sets the eggs down on the countertop, making his way to his phone before pausing, “erm, due to camera placement issues and a shortage of hands, i am unable to give you a full view of my absolute skill. is that okay, baby?”

you nod, your lip protruding slightly in a quiet pout. tooru’s pointed it out before, but it seems like every time he calls you baby your body automatically responds with a little pout. he looks at you with calm eyes, “cute.”

as he makes his eggs, you let him go on about the people around his neighbourhood, the results of the ca san juan tryouts from last week, his new team members, and one restaurant he’s found around town. he tells you, “their food is just so good. i’ll take you there someday.”

your cheeks raise slightly at his last statement, “really? tell me more about it.”

“well, it’s a bit expensive, but so worth it. they sell japanese stuff, actually, and i seriously kid you not, it tastes exactly like food from home.”

home, huh? 

“maybe when i visit one day i can bring you some food from home, too.”

somehow, the mention of home stings a little bit tonight.

 it’s an off-day, off-night, off-week, you’ve told yourself, and now that the week is ending with a call from your boyfriend, you were positive that it was going to end on a high. here, you stand corrected, with your throat getting all tied up threatening hot tears from the corners of your eyes. you’ve made it this far in the week, why must you cry in front of tooru, of all people? 

you take a long gulp from your glass of water in an attempt to blink back your tears. you’re glad that tooru’s back is facing the camera as he takes out a plate to put his eggs on. 

you quiet down intensely, afraid that any word out of your mouth will come out as a choked sob. of course, tooru notices, whipping his head around with a faltering smile.

“y/n, are you alright-”

“um, tooru, i think my laptop’s running out of battery, so i’ll reconnect the call from my phone instead, yeah?”

tooru nods, and you hastily stand up, clicking blindly at what you thought was the red hang-up button. your legs carry you to the kitchen, a place where tooru can still hear you even after the both of you thought you had hung up, to get another glass of water. 

but your arms don’t go so far as to reach for the tap, and instead, they only hold onto the edge of the countertop, trembling lightly against the cold marble. 

“shit,” you curse, head hanging as tears flow down your cheeks in warm waterfalls with your breath unsteady, your neck heating up. you see how some teardrops make little puddles on the shiny countertop, and some are swept away when your hand flies over to rid them, swiping in quick motions, angry that your body betrayed you by crying.

“stop crying, goddamnit.” you mutter, “it’s going to be so obvious, and tooru’s just going to worry, and he’ll just find it a hassle to stay with you, and-” you can’t even continue your spoken train of thought when you choke on your own words, your legs not even enough to support you up. 

“what a shitty week...” you slide down to the floor, trying to steady your breath. you tell yourself to hurry up with this damned cry, as you told him you were going to call him again on your phone. maybe you could say it was the wifi. 

you look up, wondering why, why do i feel like this?

is it because you just miss him? is work just getting hectic? should you be going out more? but it’s cold... nothing’s been working out lately. it’s just become doubts on top of doubts and you don’t know where to stop.

on the other hand, tooru’s freezing up. he can still hear your sniffles from afar, and as he stares at the warm plate of poached eggs on toast, he wonders if it would be okay to call out to you. 

it’s not like this is the first time he’s ever seen you cry, because you two have seen each other in more ways than one. still, tooru feels his heart crumble at the fact that he had had absolutely no clue as to what you had been feeling all this time, whether it be just a week, a few days, or a few hours. he wants to call out to you, hug you tight, wipe your tears, do something to make you feel better. 

but tooru doesn’t really know how to make his way through this, seeing as the distance is too far for any physical comfort. he’s learned he’s not as good with comforting words as he is with flirting, but now that he doesn’t flirt with anyone other than you, he doesn’t know if he even is good with words at all. he thinks, if you were to be okay with him reaching out to you, why were you choking back your tears? why were you so quick to hide what you felt? why do you not want him to worry about you the same way you worry about him?

tooru likes to think things through, especially when he’s never felt so unprepared with you before, as he’d been used to resorting to physical comfort in the past. but in this moment, through all the doubts and negative thoughts, his mouth moves faster than his brain.

“y/n, i’m still here.”

in this moment, your breath hitches and you make the dreaded way back to your laptop, your eyes swollen and cheeks glossy. 

“y-you heard everything?” 

your boyfriend nods, “do... do you want to talk about it?”

you shrug, swallowing slowly. “i don’t know how to talk about it, really,” a shallow laugh falls from your lips, “some days- this week- it’s just not... it’s been low, for me.”

tooru’s chin leans patiently against his forearms, eyes focused on you. 

“oh god. i haven’t cried in months,” you exhale, “and it just happened to be in front of you. i probably look ugly, or something.”

your boyfriend shakes his head, “you and ugly are words that simply do not go together.”

“you can keep crying, if you want. i’ll be here for you.” he affirms, “we take care of each other at our lows, remember? no matter the distance.”

you sniffle a bit more, your sweater sleeve damp from your tears. his words are new, but it makes you feel much less alone. 

the call fades into you attempting to steady your breathing once more, and tooru reassuring you left and right. maybe it does feel nice, you begin to think, to have someone there with you. to know that they’ll care for you as much as you’ll care for them.

in the midst of your thoughts, tooru calls out, “y/n?”

you hum in response, and he continues, “i wasn’t supposed to tell you this, since it’s not final, but there’s a possibility that i’ve been selected to play for the argentinian national team in the olympics next year. in tokyo.”

you do a double take at him. “wait, you... in japan...?”

he loves seeing you smile like that. “i was called in a meeting yesterday. they were pretty positive about me being a starting setter, but, again, it’s not final.”

your shoulders drop a bit, “but there’s always a chance, right?”

“well, ‘not final’ is just their way of saying ‘don’t tell anyone yet’. and how could i not tell you?”

you giggle a little, “maybe if you come over i might have some use for this big ass tv you bought for me.”

tooru laughs, “i’m coming home, y/n.”

here comes your second wave of tears.

[moonlit-imagines]

The “Perfect” Couple

Natasha Romanoff x reader

warnings: alcohol, guns

a/n: i feel a lil gay in this chilis tonight

prompt: natasha and you were history, but still worked together. fury just paired you up for another mission, what could go wrong? or right?

You and Nat tried to keep things professional, but you also tried to keep a distance. After the two of you split, there were still some hard feelings. But you two do what spies do best, you lie and hide what could get in the way of a mission. The current mission was...to mask your true feelings about the breakup.

“Agent Romanoff, Agent l/n, I have a mission for you.” Fury called the pair of you over to debrief you, but this was already a bit worrisome. You and Nat? What was he thinking?

“A mission for the both of us?” You asked as you approached the director together.

“I’m glad to know you can hear, Agent.” He sarcastically and you held your tongue as Nat gave a sly smirk. “You two are going to be attending a gala hosted by a high-profile threat. As a couple.” You held your breath and waited for Natasha to comment.

“All due respect, sir, but why us?” She and you exchanged glances. “Me and y/n, we...” She paused and cleared her throat. “we’re not exactly on great terms right now.”

“Well, Romanoff, you two are my best agents, so you better learn how to get along on this mission.” He turned away and left you both a bit speechless. “And do not. Blow. Your cover. Agent Hill will be detailing the rest of the mission for you, I just needed to break the ice.” You noticed a little curve in his lips and heated up in the face, he could be so mean sometimes. But there was no getting out of this one, time to get professional. Next, pair of you would head to Maria for debriefing.

—————

Natasha was stunning in the deep red and black dress she chose to wear, you could just barely keep your eyes off of her and you knew she noticed. There was no doubt she was sneaking looks at you, too. God, you missed this, being such a power couple. Whatever room you walked into together, it was all about you and her.

You led Natasha through the crowd of fancy rich people who could all be tagged as criminals, but there was a special one you were there for. Nat and you had locked your arms together, but she used her opposite hand to clasp onto your arm, nails starting to dig into your skin.

“Is there a problem, ‘Natalie?’” You looked over to see a genuine looking smile on your face, but as a fellow spy, you could tell when she was faking it.

“No. No problem here, my dear.” She answered through clenched teeth before the two of you found your seats and felt a sense of relief from finally separating by just a foot or so. “Could I get some champagne?” Natasha asked the waiter and he quickly complied. “Thank you so much, you’re wonderful.” She took the glass and quickly began drinking.

“Are you done or do you need another? Because he have a job to do.” You rolled your eyes at her tendencies and waited for her to finish.

“If you want me to look like I’m enjoying myself tonight, you’ll let me drink, got it?” She set the glass down and took a quick glance around the room to see if there was any suspicious activity to check out. “Out of all the agents at SHIELD, Fury just had to stick me with you.” Your ex-girlfriend commented under her breath.

“Hey, Nat, I don’t like this any more than you do, but we agreed we would keep things professional and that’s what I plan to do.” You snapped at her while she gave you a tired expression, as if she didn’t care one bit for what you had to say. “We have a job and the sooner we get it done, the sooner we can go on with our lives.” Your disagreement seemed to be causing a small scene, a few pairs of eyes were on you. So Natasha leaned forward and pulled your face in for a passionate kiss, you hadn’t tasted her lips in such a long time.

“You were gonna blow our cover.” She swatted your leg as she pulled away. There was nothing fun about this mission, but that kiss sure brought back some memories. You could barely remember why the two of you broke up in the first place. You sat there staring at Natasha for just a moment more while she smiled at you, probably thinking you were pathetic for getting bit flustered from that. “‘Mx. Rushman,’” She started, “would you care to dance?”

“Sure thing, Natalie.” You took a deep breath and offered your hand to take her to the dance floor, a slower song was being played by the live band. “Remember how we used to dance in my living room?”

“How could I forget?” Nat placed her hands in the appropriate position and looked over your shoulder, if anything where to happen, you were literally watching each other’s backs. “You always stepped on my feet.” She switched her gaze back to your eyes and smiled.

“Oh, well, I’m sorry I’m not a perfect ballerina.” You scoffed and turned your head as you shook it. Her little chuckle took you back, as well. This night sucked because it made you feel like you were missing out, you wondered how Natasha felt. “Four o’clock.” You whispered and Nat inconspicuously took a chance to see what you were looking at. The target.

“Keep and eye on him, we’ll finish this song and then go after him.” She instructed, leaving you to accept that before you realized something was wrong.

“Wait, what?” You whispered. “You don’t want to go after him now? While we have him?” You asked your ex in disbelief, this wasn’t very typical of her, the mission always came first.

“I’m having fun dancing.” She admitted as her red lips curved up. Was she serious? “Don’t get too flattered, y/n...We’ll find him in a few more minutes.” Nat closed the gap in between the two of you and leaned her head on your shoulder as each of you swayed back and forth along with the music. “This mission could be worse, I guess.” You heard her mutter into your ear and you gave a little exhale out of your nose in place of a chuckle.

“Oh, I’m sure.” You remarked ask the song officially came to an end. “Wanna wrap this up now?” You asked as your felt a warm kiss on your cheek. “Natalie” grabbed your hand and led you to your target, this wouldn’t take long if you chose the right timing.

“Wait for him to enter that room right there, It’s empty for now, we’ll be able to get him without much of a hassle.” She told you over the comms as you separated. You watched from afar as your target entered said room and decided this was it, time to make your move. “Now.” She headed towards the door and you followed a couple moments behind. In she went to confront the wanted criminal, who quickly had his men come in...with guns.

“I thought Fury said this would be hard.” You shook your head in disappointment and equipped your own guns, pointing them at the wealthy mister that was about to go down. “If anyone moves, I shoot twice, you hear?” Natasha watched proudly with her own weapons out. You never went down without a fight, she admired that.

“Anyone feel like getting their asses kicked today? The party’s been a little dull, so we’re bored.” She paced the room, training her weapons on the goons she passed, it’s almost as if she smelled fear. “Yes, no, maybe..? Okay.” Your (ex) partner spun and kicked a goon right in the kneecap with the tip of her heel, making him tumble to the ground instantly. All hell broke loose from there as you fired your warning shot and charged for some hand-to-hand combat with the boys who wouldn’t last out here.

“Give it up, guys, we can do this all night.” You shouted as you fired a shot into another guy’s leg, causing him to fall instantly with a thud. “Did that hurt?” You asked when you passed him, going directly to tackle the target while Nat finished up her four-course beating. You restrained the crook as she gracefully walked over and kneeled down next to you.

“Huh, guess we still make a pretty good team.” Nat winked and helped you pull this guy up, then contacting SHIELD to come on in and take him away.

“Still hate my guts?” You cocked your eyebrow and saw her shining a grin that was as real as could be, seems the two of you had gotten over your differences on this fateful mission. Nick Fury was a clever SOB.

“I wish I could say ‘yes,’ but you’re just so hard to hate.” She wrapped her arms around your neck and brought you in for an amazing kiss that you knew was meant for you from Natasha, not from your alter-egos. Reconciliation, something you thought would never happen between yourself and Nat. “Can we get dinner tomorrow night? Call it a date?” She suggested as she pulled away, still keeping her face close.

“I think that could work.” You bit your lip to hide the giant smile fighting to show. “I have to say, we did some good work today.”

“No kidding, and we looked great while doing it, too.”

taglist: @alwaysananglophile // @rorybutnotgilmore // @locke-writes // @sweetheartliz07 // @queen-destenie // @natasha-danvers // @allthecreativeonesaretaken // @frostedgiant // @emygirl // @lotsoffandomrecs // @johnmurphyisbisexual // @teenwaywardasgardian // @pappydaddy // @captainshazamerica // @freya-xo // @ravenmoore14 // @purpleskiesstorm //

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and Dating Joey Donner

(Not my gif)(Requested by anonymous)

- It was a little known fact that nearly every girl in your school wanted to date or at least screw Joey Donner. You were no exception but at least you could tell he was a total ass and didn’t actually try to get with him.

- You acted uninterested, convinced yourself at times that you were uninterested yet deep down you knew you secretly were attracted to him even if it was just the surface you were attracted to.

- But you’re disinterest is what drew Joeys attention to you in the first place. As everyone else swooned you completely ignored him and talked to “losers” instead, hiding away from attention and for the most part wearing clothes which left nearly everything to the imagination. Though to be fair, you woke up at five in the morning and stayed in school till two; frankly you just weren’t in the mood for heels.

- He wasn’t entirely compelled just by that. No, his real interest towards you started when a friend of yours decided to give you a makeover and plead with you to try it out for a week just to see what would happen. Since you were equally curious you gave it a try, even though you knew it was going to be a hassle.

- Thats why early one morning you arrived at school dressed in a v-neck top, a tight skirt, heels, hair perfectly done and more makeup than usual. To say he was enticed would be an understatement.

- “Had you always been so hot?” Was a common question among your peers but most didn’t even realize it was you until halfway through the day. Even Cameron and Michael; your friends, were having trouble not staring at your cleavage. Boys were swarming you to say the least.

- It was kind of fucked up to have the same people who made fun of you throughout middle school and high school now open doors and pull out chairs for you.

- You and Joey were lab partners so to an extent you were forced to interact for at least a good ten minutes a day. A lot of girls were jealous of you for this exact reason but you didn’t pay them any mind.

- It was when you were sat at your desk pulling on gloves to cut open frogs that Joey actually got his first look at you, well, the new you. He genuinely thought you were transferred and a new girl was sitting in your place. Sure he thought you were good looking before but every girl looks a bit better with makeup and some tight clothes, at least to guys like him.

- He slowly sat down next to you, eyes trained on your face and body as he went. You paid him no mind as you wrote down your notes and got to work. He sat there staring at you for a few moments before shaking his head and getting a hold of himself. He couldn’t actually get with a “loser” like you; it would ruin his reputation.

- He was bewildered when he found himself actually starting to like you. You, the girl who was a nobody, the girl that half the school didn’t know existed and the girl that, regardless of all that, still didn’t like him. You were weirdly endearing for it; hot even. He actually had to work to gain your attention.

- Joey doesn’t really know how to go after girls that he doesn’t have leverage on. Like if a girl likes him it’s easy to score with her but what does he do if they seem to hate his guts?

- He tried flirting, complimenting you and being sweet before he asked you out for the first time. You rejected him, quite brutally might he add and so he had to take a different plan of action. His second plan was to annoy the hell out of you, getting you riled up so that you’d give him the attention he wanted from you, even if it was given to him with a glare.

- After an especially rough week with him borderline bullying you he made the mistake of asking you out again. That’s how you and him got into an insult match in an empty hallway of the school after classes ended.

- A moment of stillness came over the two of you after a particularly heated exchange of words. When all of a sudden his hands were cupping your cheeks and your lips were smashing together.

- It was rough, passionate, heated. You didn’t exactly know why it was happening but to hell if you weren’t enjoying it. So long story short you ended up making out with the cocky most popular guy in the school who only moments before you were calling a pompous ass.

- When you came to your senses you realized he had you pinned against the wall and was thoroughly enjoying himself. The two of you pulled apart to catch your breath and were silent for a while, still close in proximity. Both of you leaned in and shared a much tamer kiss before he spoke.

“I’m an asshole, I get it, but that was great and you can’t deny it, alright? There’s something between us and you know it so why don’t we see how this plays out. Let me take you out and make everyone in this town jealous that I have you.”

- Well maybe it was worth a shot, right? You pulled him into another kiss which he smiled into like a giddy fool even if he wouldn’t ever admit it.

- So that’s how you became the hottest couple in school and started living out the dreams of all your classmates.

- He has a major soft spot for you.

- He’s really cuddly when you’re alone. He’s like a totally different person.

- Lots of gifts and dates people your age shouldn’t be able to afford.

- Being backstage at his modeling and commercial jobs.

- He’s jealous as hell, he hates boys looking at you but at the same time loves it because he’s a smug asshole. It makes him proud that people want what only he has.

- He’s lowkey possessive.

- You have to wear his jacket in classes you don’t have with him.

- Hickeys and constant pda.

- When he’s bored he tends to write his name on your skin. At some point he’ll get you a necklace with his name on it and a ring for himself that has yours engraved on it. He probably wouldn’t even tell you about his ring, you’d just notice it for yourself one day and get a little misty eyed.

- He’ll randomly grab a part of your body and start drawing on it. He reserves dicks for other people though.

- Once you’re in his car he’s eating your face. His lips are on yours and they aren’t letting up until they get their fill.

- He likes to grab your face and pull you into kisses.

- His arm is constantly wrapped around your shoulders or waist.

- You’re on his lap like 90% of the time.

- Even though he’s got a big ego, he actually gets pretty flustered when you compliment him on things other than his looks. He doesn’t know how to react at first but he tries his best to play it off and act cool.

- Someway, somehow, you’re incorporated into his workouts whether it be you sitting on his back or underneath him during pushups or you being used as a bench press. It makes things more entertaining for him and lets him show off.

- I feel like his household was the kind where money substituted actual relationships so this boy is probably hella attention starved. The first time you showed him innocent affection he was kinda confused.

“What are you doing?”

“Loving you.”

“...alright.”

- He’s an asshole but it’s somehow endearing?

- Anyone who comes close to bothering you is getting his ass kicked either by him or someone he’s paid to do so.

- He’s a pretty demanding person, he wants your attention, affection, anything you can give him. You’re basically inseparable.

- Hugs from behind with his head resting on your shoulder.

- He’s a sexual guy and proud of it so undoubtedly sex will be a part of your relationship.

- It gets him all hot and bothered when you wear his clothes.

- Him “accidentally” touching your boobs and butt. Just blatant groping yet he’ll probably apologize like it was a mistake.

- Wearing one of his rings, most likely on a chain around your neck.

- Flowers and cute but ‘macho’ notes.

- Fighting usually ends up being his fault because he’s a cocky bastard and won’t ever admit he’s wrong. It also doesn’t help that he thinks he can do whatever he wants.

- You tend to give him the cold shoulder. It annoys the everloving fuck out of him because he’s only just now gotten used to and started to rely on your affection. When you’re not giving it to him there’s a lot of tension and stress in his life. People in school suffer since he takes out all his annoyance on them.

- After a little while he’ll man up and apologize, holding out his arms for a hug once he’s finished. He both smugly smile and melts like butter when you wrap your arms around him.

- If you massage his scalp he’ll turn to putty in your hands.

- Skincare with him. Masks, creams, etc; he probably pampers himself more than you do.

- Likes laying his head in your lap and having you read to him.

- Your teachers love you since you tame him in the classes you share with each other.

- Getting him to stop picking on people.

- Helping him with schoolwork. He’s not dumb he just lacks the motivation and focus to actually go through with and finish his assignments.

- He tries his best to calm down with his drinking and partying because he knows you hate when he’s drunk.

- He likes randomly picking you up and throwing you over his shoulder.

- Pestering you is a game he’s good at and one he enjoys.

- His parents probably like you fine enough but your parents probably don’t like him. Not many parents would unless perhaps you just show your mother a picture of him.

- He’s definitely attempted to bribe your teachers into putting you guys in the same classes, teams, and lab groups.

- When he’s alone and actually tries to do well he can be pretty good at drawing.

- If you mention that you like a certain kind of shirt on him he’ll magically own like a dozen more over night.

- He really likes when you gush over and compliment him. It gives him the confidence that he really didn’t need but greatly appreciates. Or maybe it’s just a boost to his already inflated ego.

- Whenever you’re cold all you have to do is snuggle into him, he’s like a human heater and is all smiles when you randomly bury yourself into his chest.

- No one is allowed to interrupt the two of you at lunch without a proper reason unless they want to be made a fool of in front of everybody.

- He has a hard time saying he loves you because he wants to keep up his tough guy reputation but his heart swells everytime you say it. Deep down you know he does.

- You’re the power couple of the school.

[silverdragon-imagines-blog]

Counter Clockwise - Chapter 5 - Final Hours

[Here’s the final chapter of “Counter Clockwise” the second fic in my “Threatening Darkness” series. A friendly reminder to check the tags and warnings before you read this, just in case. And feel free to let me know if I tag something incorrectly so I can fix my mistake. I hope you enjoyed this fic, and I hope to start editing the third fic in the series soon. ^u^]

Warning(s): Character death

Read it on AO3

Fear rushed through Time's veins spurring him to run faster than he had in a long time, his old joints aching as he rushed through the front door of the Inn and heading straight for the room he and the boys had rented. The door practically slammed against the wall as he entered, startling the room’s occupants and abruptly getting their attention as he stood, panting heavily as the adrenaline wore off.

"We need to leave. Now."

"Time, what's going on?" Twilight asked, but Time didn't answer, only shaking his head.

“Old Man,” Time turned to see Legend and the rest of the group making their way toward him, out of breath and slightly concerned, “Why did you start running? What’s going on?”

“Just trust me, get your things together, we need to hurry.”

Four and Wild looked to each other, then moved to gather their bags and items. Wind soon joined them from where he had been laying down before Time arrived, rubbing at his eyes with his bag in hand. As they were leaving the room, dropping the key off at the desk, Time found himself looking at Anju, and the words left his lips before he could stop them.

“What day is today?”

“Hm?” she questioned, taking in the appearance of the group, gaze settling on Time, “Link? Oh, you must not remember, though it has been quite a while since your last visit.”

She smiled, slightly leaning over the counter.

“It’s the day of the Carnival. The Carnival of Time.”

And Time felt his stomach drop.

The group left the Inn just in time to witness Legend race through the entrance, a panting Hyrule and Sky at his heels, and Warriors looking concerned as he spotted Time with the rest of the group.

"What the hell is your deal, Time?" Legend yelled, only to stop his tirade when he saw the terrified look on the other's face.

"We need to get out of here." Time could practically feel the words shake as he spoke, pointing at the looming Moon, "That thing is gonna drop in only a couple of hours."

"But all these people..." Wind spoke up, worrying the hem of his tunic, "we need to warn them."

“It won’t work, they never listened-”

“What do you mean won’t work? We have to at least try!”

“You seriously expect us to just leave these people to die?!”

“What the hell Time!”

“Hey, quiet for a second will ya?!” the heroes grew silent, Twilight glaring at all of them before standing at Time’s side.

Time felt a hand slide into his grasp, Twilight standing next to him with a confident and determined expression, "You said you've done this before, right? Just tell us what you did last time. We'll follow your lead."

“There is a way to stop this, right?”

Time smiled slightly, turning to Hyrule and Sky, taking in their nervous expressions.

“Remember when I said I fought the Moon?”

“Oh Hylia, you were serious,” Sky’s genuine astonishment broke the tension, startling laughter out of the group. Time even breathed easier, the constricting anxiousness loosening its hold as a more genuine smile settled on his face.

When the moment passed, Time motioned for the group to follow, crossing under the entryway to the Clock Tower in the center of the town. It was strange though, no matter how much Time looked around, the town’s inhabitants barely paid the Moon any attention, ignoring it, unlike the terror they had before. People were wandering around, stalls with food and trinkets were set up around the square selling their wares. It was such a stark change that Time was almost convinced that nothing was wrong.

“We won’t be able to get up to the top of the tower until the gate lowers at midnight.”

“What do you expect us to do until then?”

Time looked over the group, knowing that they wanted this to be over as much as he did. There was no other way up to the top, and so they were forced to wait.

“Make sure you’re prepared. Stock up on potions and items. If this is anything like my previous quest, we’re going to need everything we can get.”

They nodded, dispersing and heading off to buy the necessary items. Time stood by the Clocktower, leaning against it as he watched the familiar faces of people he had helped save so long ago pass by. They seemed to be happy, carrying out their lives as though nothing was wrong, unaware that history may as well be repeating itself. He could feel the side of his face twinge from the familiar memory of crazed laughter and power that was not his own. The hours seemed to slow to a crawl, the heroes returning one by one as the sky darkened, stars leaving pinpricks of light in the void left behind.

As midnight drew nearer, the bell began to toll. The platform in front of the gate was low enough that climbing up was much less of a hassle and Time was able to help the rest on top as well.

It was a tense few minutes, waiting for the entryway to open. The sound of nervous fidgeting was almost deafening in the near silence.  Fireworks began to get launched into the air, startling a few of the heroes slightly, earning a few curses. When the gate finally lowered, Time practically ran up the stairway, the rest scrambling up after him.

From their new vantage point, they could see the town and the far-off locations that made up the land of Termina. Time, however, was not looking at the scenery, instead searching for the person who had been torturing the group for the last three days. There was no skull kid in a mask this time, and yet, he wasn't sure how else they could find a way to stop whatever nightmare this was. Finding and killing Dark Link, at least, was a step in the right direction.

Glaring up at the Moon above them, Time could see shadows collecting in the air casting the top of the clocktower into darkness. Time gripped the hilt of his sword, waiting for the moment he could end this once and for all. A distorted child's laugh could be heard, Time flinching at the familiar sound as Dark Link hovered over them all taking the form of a Skull Kid. The mask that he wore was much too real to have been an illusion, and it was that thought that made Time grip his sword more firmly.

"Welcome, heroes," he spoke, voice distorted with that of Skull Kid's, but Dark's much deeper voice overlaid it, "I'd like to welcome you all to the Final Hours."

"What do you want with us, Dark Link?!" Wild shouted, a spear materializing in his hands, the blade pointed straight at the figure looming above them.

"Why, hero of the Wilds, you should know by now," he chuckled, removing the mask from his face to throw it in the air and catch it, "It's just so entertaining. Your desires, your lives, promising you those things only to watch as you suffer the consequences. What could be more entertaining than watching as you all desperately cling to whatever safety you find, only for you to be swept up into my game once again."

He cackled, clutching his sides and holding on tightly to the mask with one hand, his voice distorting more and more the longer it went on. The heroes all began to draw their blades, readying themselves for a fight. However, Dark just seemed to laugh more at the display, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Oh heroes, who said it would be me that you would be fighting?" With a snap, the light returned, the Clock Tower they were standing on once again visible as Dark stood before them.

A pitch-black portal opened up beside him as he smiled gleefully, his form mirroring that of Four. The smith sucked in a shaky breath, taking a step forward as Dark’s smile widened, growing sharper, with red eyes gleaming brighter.

Four's eyes widened as a dark figure emerged from the portal, purple hair familiar-looking with a black tunic, a mirror image of his own. He felt his chest constrict as their blue eyes opened, confused as they took in the sight of eight unfamiliar heroes until they locked eyes with Four, expression turning to shock and then fear.

"V-Vio?" he spoke, and Four lunged forwards, Time gripping his arm tightly before he could get too close.

"Shadow, move away from there!" Four called out, but Dark Link just smiled wider as he stepped in front of the disoriented Shadow, facing the other with an almost deranged grin.

In a split second, the mask was no longer in his hands, now slammed onto Shadow's face. With a scream of pain and surprise, the boy crumpled to his knees, and Four screamed along with him. Time could only look on in horror as the mirror of Four succumbed to Majora.

Dark laughed, and as he did so, Shadow began to stand. The deranged magic of Majora ran through him, his skin pulsing with purple light as he rose into the air. Raising his hands, the Moon opened its mouth, and the heroes were sucked into it.

=

They were in a field, a small hill with a giant tree in the very center, and Time could just make out eight mask-wearing children running around it. Wild pushed on, making his way forward and motioning for the others to join him, but Time stood back, unsure of the change from before.

Wild reached the hill first, watching as a small child stopped following the rest and turned to face him, the Sheikah crest on the mask almost shimmering in the false sun. The child approached him, and as they got closer, a chill ran down his spine leaving goosebumps in its wake, the need to grab at his sword grew until the child was only a few steps away.

“Those memories… are they really that important?” the child spoke, voice a near whisper yet loud in Wild’s ears, “What do you think… the others would say… if they knew what you did?”

Wild took a step back, the words the child spoke ringing in his ears and causing his skin to prickle. The child vanished with a flash of blue light, not unlike the teleportation of the Sheikah Slate. Wild stood there, holding himself as he breathed, trying to ignore the dread that began to settle in his mind.

==

Warriors walked past Wild, sparing a look of concern, yet not stopping to check on him. The tree in the center was his goal if only to satiate his curiosity. The seven children running around made an unconscious smile spread over his face, but he brushed off the feeling long enough to get to the very top of the hill, where another masked child sat huddled near the roots of the tree, wearing the mask that Dark Link had forced upon what looked like a Dark version of the Smithy. He didn’t get far, however, as a tug on his scarf had him halting to see a child wearing a hooded mask grip the bright blue fabric.

“Did you need something, little one?” he asked, facing them and bending down slightly, what he hoped was a kind smile gracing his face.

“Your friends…” they whispered, though Warriors could almost hear them echo in his skull, “I wonder… do you trust them? … do they trust you?”

“What?”

The child never responded, their body changing to a shadowy black, the eyes that were visible on the mask changing to a glowing red for a second before the child simply vanished. Warriors looked confused for a moment until the words began to sink in. His hand unconsciously reached for the small bag around his waist and he let out a shaky breath.

“It’s nothing… You’re overreacting.”

But even as he told himself that, he could feel his hands shaking as he watched the other heroes making their way toward the hill.

===

Sky kept his gaze on the children, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling as he watched them pass by. Something about them felt… unnatural, but he couldn’t place the feeling. His hands still ached somewhat from the burns that still marred them, but he still kept his sword arm ready to draw Fi if necessary. The area was just too calm.

One of the children slowed down as he got near the bottom of the hill, bending over as though winded. The opalescent mask they wore never left their face as they recovered, then turned to walk toward Sky. He flinched as they approached, hand reaching for the hilt of his blade as he expected an attack, but the child never got more than a few feet away.

“Your friends… do they know… the real you?” the child asked, Sky could feel his heart pounding in his ears, “If they knew the truth… would they still be your friends?”

Sky could only stare, the question echoing as the child tilted their head to the side. They stood still until white light began to envelop them, and they vanished as though never there to begin with. Sky looked around, relieved when he realized that no one else had heard or seen the child in front of him. He forced himself to let go of his sword and continue making his way up the hill.

====

Four had to admit he was curious about the area they had appeared in, but he refused to stop and admire it. Shadow was in trouble, and the fear that he was too late to save him kept him moving, ignoring the few questioning glances he saw from the other heroes. There wasn’t time to explain, and frankly, he didn’t want to explain anything. Not when there was something more pressing going on.

He paid no mind to the children running around, focused solely on the small figure he could see huddled under the roots of the tree. That had to be where they were supposed to go, there was nothing else that he could see that was important. A child wearing a leaf mask began walking next to him, and he refused to acknowledge them, at least until they stood in front of him.

“I don’t have time for this,” he mumbled and began to walk past them until a cold hand grabbed onto his hand.

“I wonder…” the child spoke, Four whipping around to face them, “what would they think… f they knew your secrets… are they really worth… that much to keep them hidden?”

The smith tore his hand out of the hold, the child shattering in front of them like glass. He took a moment, closing his eyes to fight the panic that began to set in. It was fine. He was fine. No matter the question they asked or how they departed... He needed to keep going.

=====

Wind had stayed with Time until the older hero started walking towards the center of the field. A few of the heroes had already gotten to the tree, waiting under it for the rest of the group. Wind wanted to run ahead, but the way that Time walked, all tense and focused made him think that there was more here than what he could see. Something dangerous, most likely.

The group of children had stopped running and just watched as the remaining heroes approached. He hesitated, goosebumps running up and down his arms as the children stood still. One of them seemed to spot him and began to come closer. Wind could see Time walking away, not noticing what he had, but the Sailor could admit that he was curious about these children. The fact that one of them was approaching-- even if it was creepy-- made him wait. The child had an odd yellow mask on, almost reminding him of a strange fox, and the quiet and careful way they walked made him think of one as well. They stood at a distance, close but not too close.

“Is it true?” they asked, and Wind tilted his head to the side, confused, “Are you a hero? Or are you lying… to everyone… including yourself?”

“Wh- I am a hero!”

The child laughed, a distorted sickly-sweet sound that sent shivers down his spine as they turned translucent and fell to the ground as a splash of water. Wind flinched, looking to make sure that no one had seen, and breathed a sigh of relief when no one was around. The sailor unconsciously rubbed at the faded mark on his left hand, trying to tune out the echoing of the child’s voice as he approached the rest of the group.

======

The Veteran refused to dwell on what had happened, what he had seen back in that wasteland of a boss room, despite the way his hands itched to move, to do something. He could picture the illusion perfectly because that was all that was, an illusion. A dream. But he knew that wasn’t quite the case. He shook his head, attempting to rid the fog that threatened to cloud his mind with memories and doubts that didn’t belong there right now. There were more important things to worry about.

The hill wasn’t particularly steep, which he was grateful for though not necessarily for himself. Sky was already under the tree, sitting down with his eyes closed, and he was secretly glad that he didn’t struggle to get up the damn thing. He glanced back to see the rancher and traveler keeping pace, the former watching the trio of masked children as they approached them.

He wasn’t planning on stopping, the kids were unsettling for one thing, but of course, he was curious. Time had ignored them completely when he walked past, but maybe it was because this wasn’t new to him. Still, it was new to him, much different than the masked people of the Dark World. Maybe that was why when a child wearing a black metal cage on their face stood in front of him, he stopped walking.

“Do you think… you can protect them?” they asked, Legend flinching at the question, “... Or is this another illusion… yet another dream… will you wake up this time?”

“That’s none of your concern, brat,” he responded, his hands feeling as though they were burning as he spoke.

The child laughed, high and airy as their body dissolved, drifting on a breeze that didn’t exist. The Veteran scowled, rubbing his hands on his tunic as though it would take away the feeling. He looked behind him, seeing the traveler looking back, the child that had been approaching him no longer there, leaving Hyrule looking at the others nervously. Legend looked away, cursing Dark Link under his breath as he fought the guilt threatening to choke him.

=======

Twilight liked to think that he knew the Old Man the best out of everyone, but as he followed him at a distance, he began to realize just how little he knows. This place was strange, a stark contrast to the world outside, and the way that Time simply marched onward was strange as well. He didn’t think he had ever seen him look so tense, though it was true that the rest of the group was in much the same state.

It really proved how little he knew about all of them, and in a way, that scared him. Everyone had secrets, that much was true, and he couldn’t judge them, but he liked to think that he was there for all of them when they needed him. He was almost positive that they’d do the same for him.

He could see a child with a gibdo mask stalking towards him, the image of a wolf settling itself into his mind. The child stood near him, watching him, and he could feel the unease growing the longer the silence lasted.

“What makes them… worth leaping into danger?... Why put your life in danger… for theirs?... Do they know?... Would they appreciate it?”

The voice was unnatural, distorted, and wrong for a child to have, but the words they spoke lingered in his mind. What did this… thing know that he didn’t? Of course, the child didn’t stick around, black particles starting from their feet spreading over them and taking them away in what looked like Twili Magic. It was unsettling but looking up toward the group and the veteran and traveler making their way toward the rest, he figured it wasn’t important. Not now at least.

========

The magic here was nearly stifling, a wave of darkness despite how bright the false sun above was. It felt wrong, but that was why they were here. To put a stop to whatever this was. It was strange though because outside of the heroes, there was another magic signature that wasn’t quite so dark. It had to have been the boy from earlier, that was the only guess he had. He found himself glancing at the veteran hero often, wondering if he could feel the magic as well, but besides that, he couldn’t help but wonder if he remembered what happened earlier…

He almost crashed into another person, pulling himself out of his thoughts long enough to stop just in front of a child, wearing a stone-colored mask and wringing their hands in front of them.

“Was what you gave up… worth the price?... Would it make… your friends happy… if they knew… how selfish you are?”

The traveler felt his breath stop, the child unmoving as their words settled and his thoughts spiraled. What did they know? Did anyone else know? Questions of his own repeated as the child faded away, as though never there to begin with. It did little to quell the guilt and fear of the others finding out, and as he looked up at Legend, he silently hoped that he, at least, understood. That he didn’t judge him.

=========

Time stood before Majora, hearing the rest of the group approach him. The scene was familiar, the child sitting before him with knees drawn up to their chest, Majora’s Mask sitting on their face with eyes staring straight into his soul. It was time to end this.

“So, we meet again…” the child spoke, getting to their feet and gazing up at Time, “We both know how this is supposed to end. But I wonder if you’ll be able to finish this. Good guys against bad guys… do you think you’ll be able to kill me this time?”

“I plan to.”

Majora laughed, the field changing into a room pulsing with colored light. The child was no more and standing before them was the boy Dark Link had forced the mask on, the wooden eyes glowing as it clenched and unclenched its fist. Time unsheathed his blade, watching the being in front of him carefully, waiting for it to make a move.

“Hm, this body seems to be much better than the one before,” it spoke in a voice that sounded much too similar to Four’s despite Majora’s distortion of it, “This second chance may be exactly what I need.”

Majora turned to face them, the mask glowing brighter as the wood fused to the boy’s skin. Its arms became longer, whip-like in appearance as the boy’s skin turned red, veins pulsing with dark magic. Its legs grew longer, muscular and the boy’s torso changed similarly. Time could hear as the other heroes changed into a fighting stance; swords poised to attack at the first opening. Majora’s Wrath stood before them, and the battle began.

“Move!”

Time yelled, pushing the nearest hero out of the way of one of the whip-like appendages. The others scattered to the corners of the room; shields raised in defense as Majora began its onslaught. Sky ran towards them, rolling into a dodge when a whip cracked where his head had been. The boys were pinned, stuck in the corners of the room, unable to move or risk the monster’s flailing limbs striking them down.

“You’ve fought this thing, what do we do?!”

The Chosen Hero blocked one of the whips aiming for Time, slashing out at it with his sword. The attack did little to damage it, Majora laughing at the attempt. Time could see Wild lining up an arrow across the room, Warriors covering him as he let it fly. Majora ignored the attack, the arrow flying through its head, yet leaving no wound behind.

“I think I may have an idea,” Time spoke, reaching into his bag for the accursed mask. A hand on his arm stopped him from withdrawing it, and he turned to look in Four’s direction.

“Please,” he begged, eyes flickering wildly, “Don’t kill him. This—this isn’t his fault.”

“I know it isn’t his fault, smithy, and… I’m sorry but I can’t make a promise I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep.”

Time tore his arm out of the other’s grasp, the Fierce Deity mask in hand. His markings burned as the mask came into view but watching his group—his boys—struggling to avoid blasts of dark magic and lightning-fast strikes decided for him.

“Sky,” he spoke, the hero snapping to attention, “make sure the others stay away from the middle of the room. Let me take care of this.”

Time didn’t wait for a response, letting the power of the mask run through his body. With the Deity’s blade in his grasp, he rushed forward, the demon the only one his vision focused on. He slashed once, Majora screeching in pain as its arm hit the ground. It retaliated, its other whip-like appendage wrapping around his leg, knocking him down and pulling him closer. The Deity slashed upwards, blade cutting through its chest and releasing its hold. The demon fell to its knees, and the Deity smiled. He rushed forward again and stabbed the beast through the heart.

He could barely hear the cry of the smith over the power he felt.

“Any last words, demon?”

Majora laughed, choking on its blood.

"You act as though this is over, old friend. No,” Majora stared into his eyes, "Your suffering, and that of those around you is only just beginning."

He laughed a moment longer, but with a single twist of the blade, he was silenced. Time pulled off the mask and watched as the corrupted magic of Majora left the boy in front of him, watched as he fell forward onto the floor.

He was pushed away, Four crashing to the ground and gathering the body into his arms. The smith pressed at the wound in his chest, as though stopping the blood would save his life. The rest of the heroes gathered near him, some looking at him with distrust while others watched the smallest hero crouched in front of them.

“Hyrule please,” he looked back at them, tears gathered in multi-colored eyes, “heal him. Please save him.”

The traveler made his way over, kneeling next to him with hands outstretched as though to start the Life spell, only to hesitate. He laid a hand on Four’s shoulder, tears gathering in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry.”

Four held the boy closer, tears streaking down his face as he shook his head.

“No, someone has to have a fairy! Anything, please!”

“Smithy…”

Time reached out to him, only for Four to flinch and move away. He held the boy close to him, protecting him from the man who had slain him, fear and anger twisting his face.

“Stay away from us!”

Time took a step back, his companions watching him with uncertainty. He could feel their gazes on him, Majora’s final words echoing in his mind.

This wasn’t the end. Everything was just beginning.

“Hey, there’s a portal,” Warriors broke the silence, drawing the group’s attention away from him. For a moment, no one moved. Warriors looked back at the smithy and traveler with pity, then to Time before leading the way through to the next Era.

Most of the group followed him, leaving Time, Hyrule, and Four behind. The portal stayed standing, the dark magic swirling inside almost mockingly. Time stood near it, watching as Hyrule comforted Four. The sobs tore into him, and his guilt only grew. This was his fault and truly he deserved whatever resentment the young hero held for him now.

He waited for them, waited until Four gently laid the boy’s body down and stood. Hyrule held his hand as they walked away, towards the portal with no emotion. And if Four lingered a moment longer at the entrance to the portal, looking back to the body of his friend, Time said nothing. Only walked forward, hoping that they could leave this land of painful memories behind them.

[lovely-necromancy]

A Cure for Insomnia CH.12

It's late Friday night or very early Saturday morning depending on how you want to look at it. You're just laying on your couch playing Stardew Valley when your phone goes off. Without looking you answer it.

“Why are you even up?” comes Kirby's exhausted voice from across the line.

“Medical condition, wbu?” you place the phone in between you ear and shoulder but don't really change your position as you continue with your game.

“Jesus fucking Christ you did not just pronounce 'wbu' like 'wah-bah-u'.” he's ranting a bit and you know from experience this is the tired slap happy ranting where he sets himself off every five minutes on new topics. So, you wait it out and continue your quest in learning the wizard's secrets.

Kirby finally calms down after a few moments to get to the point of why he called. To remind you that Saturday Night Dead was canceled tonight due to the Pride Picnic tomorrow.

“I know.” you said plainly barely paying attention to the ginger on the line.

“You're a little shit.”

“I know that too.” a smirk graces your lips and you pause your game.

You listen to Kirby's rant for three minutes before asking if anyone else still “needed” a reminder. And when he said 'no' you sent him off to bed and said you'd see him Sunday morning. With a cranky man toddler dealt with you went back to your game.

Contrary to what you had originally thought, this week had been pretty chill. Everything had been going great, no drama in the town, no set backs with the picnic, your stalker had been keeping a low profile, and sure you were on day three of no sleep but that's just a you issue really. You didn't even have a foreboding feeling about the picnic. Everything was going great...at least it would be had Jo not   specifically requested you wear something red, to her recital in a few weeks.

It's going to be so hard to thrift something school appropriate, red, and in your size. You thankfully have three weeks but unfortunately you're limited to weekend trips since you work during the week and wouldn't be able to go a few hours out to larger thrift stores to drive a few hours back home.

Your do nothing day is turning into a do something day. And you definitely can't get any sleep tonight because now you know you have something to do at five AM and you just wouldn't be able to rest peacefully at all. Scared that you'd fuck up the shopping trip you had planned. God you hate executive dysfunction and the anxiety it gives you, even for something like sleeping.

Thursday evening you spent all night googling the towns within a five hour radius and their second hand shops, after Jo had made her request to you. Your big ticket shops were two closer to the border of Pennsylvania. They were in pretty medium to high income neighborhoods so were the most likely to have formal wear on hand. Your plan was to drive there and get to the closer one by eight maybe get some breakfast while you waited for the shop to open. Then go to the second, and if you still hadn't met the requirements for an outfit you'd go to the town an hour away from there. Just to rinse and repeat until you went to all eight locations on your list. Making one big circle back to Kepler.

You really hoped you find something to wear at the first two. Seriously you don't want to be out shopping all day but you'd rather have a buffer of looking for things now than rushing the night before her recital.

Checking the time you see it's just a little after one in the morning. You've been playing Stardew for a few hours and are starting to get bored. Maybe you should switch games? Exiting out you ruin any progress you've made for the day, but you couldn't remember so it probably wasn't important progress. And you are now scrolling through your games looking for something to play.

Spiritfarer? No you don't feel like crying right now. Undertale? No you really don't feel like crying right now. Onion Boy Commits  Tax Evasion? Hmm, possible...but it's a quick game and you'd be done and back here in thirty minutes. Sally Face? Yea! You've been meaning to replay it for a while now and this seems as good a time as any.

Loading the game you settle deeper into the couch to become a teenage ghost detective. And you stay like that for the rest of the night until your alarm goes off mid way through chapter two. You'd been so focused on trying to get secrets that you hardly noticed the time going by. Okay, you were looking at Gizmo and taking pictures of the silly furball.

Stretching you get up and make your way to your room to grab a change of clothes, neck snapping to the side as you went. When you enter your room you're met with a white face with blocks of black for the eyes and black lipstick as its only facial features looking at you from the corner just feet away from the door. Even though your heart jumps into your throat at the sight you notice the figure doesn't get closer to you. Noting that and its immobility you figure it's a really weird and specific hallucination.

'Fucking weird?' you think as you ignore the hallucination and start rummaging through your closet.

It wouldn't be the first time a source of media has either triggered or inspired one of your hallucinations. But the face isn't exactly Sal's mask but it is mask like. Maybe Sal mixed with a panda. That's a fun thought. But overall nothing you need to worry about. Just have to get sleep tonight so you could enjoy the picnic tomorrow without any issues.

When you turn back around with your clothes in hand the hallucination is gone. You shrug before going to your bathroom to change. In a blink you are out the door and on the road by five after five. You hope you pass a Dunkin' in an hour or so, you'll need a little energy boost to get your day started. But pushing that thought aside you turn up your radio and turn off your thoughts.

Just vibes for right now, just you and the empty road.

Making it to the first thrift shop you are pleasantly surprised to see a string of old ladies shopping today. Wonderful, they'll look at knick knacks and you'll look at clothes. Looks like there won't be a need to guard clothing with your life. However when you get into the store it becomes incredibly apparent that the only thing to look at here are in fact the knick knacks.

Sighing you figure it'll at least be worth it to comb through skirts and shoes. Skirts are very limited to paisley prints that give you middle school dance flash backs, and long khakis. Neither are really what you're looking for right now so you leave them be. They'll find their homes with some home schooled kid eventually. Shoes are a bit more promising as you find a pair of red kitten pumps in your size immediately, they're a little worn but nothing a little shoe polish and leather paint can't fix.

That is until you think you see something grab at your wrist.

When you jerk back a shoe drops from your hand and the heel pops off. Again a very easy fix, plus this may get you a discount. Dropping to your knees you try to grab the heel from under the rack and when you do you notice a pair of boots that look like they've been hidden behind several pair of knee high riding boots. You grab them, they're reddish brown suede heeled boots. They're in pretty good condition and the price tag says thirteen, not bad. And they're in your size! Best find of the day, calling it now. You quickly collect your shoes and make your way to the register. While you may not wear the kitten pumps often you for sure have just found your new favorite boots.

Getting back in the car with one of three pieces for your outfit and one store down you make your way to the next town over for its store. The second store had a much wider selection of clothing however you didn't find much of anything this time. But there was a cute mini pencil skirt that had a tiny orange heart on the left side hem. You couldn't resist it when it was only two dollars.

Third times a charm or so they say. But as you're looking through the racks of dresses and skirts you start hearing whispers. Briefly looking up to see if anyone was actually around to where you'd be able to hear them you see no one. It's weird that you'd get auditory hallucinations without a visible one or without being asleep. That puts you on edge but you ignore the feeling to continue your shopping.

You've just turned to go have a look at the blazers when a voice pops into your head.

'He's here.' there's an edge of static following the words and the buzzing is enough to cloud your own thoughts.

Neck snapping to the side twice before cracking on the third time, “There we go” you say as you look around  only see families with kids in the store with you. No one is on their own or even looking your way.

'That you can see.'

Your heart is pounding harshly against your chest and while every fiber of your being is saying run. You can't it'd be obvious or it'd make you look like a whack job. So with a sharp intake of air you steady yourself and being to walk calmly to your car.

It's broad daylight and you would definitely be making a scene if your stalker tried anything. If anyone even came near you right now you'd probably scream in self preservation.

But it turns out you didn't need to worry as you got into your car, locking the doors without hassle. You didn't bother turning your radio on as you drove to the forth store. There wouldn't be a point not like you could focus with your nerves so frazzled. And that frazzled feeling doesn't go away as you arrive at the store.

Staying in the car a moment you wait to see if any other car near by seems familiar. Or any persons exiting seem familiar, like you've seen their faces in passing. No one does, and while that puts you at ease you'll still be vigilant of your surroundings.

The store's much smaller than the previous three and you decide to start with the blazer section this time. It seems like a good choice, even though it looked like a sea of black ¾ sleeve blazers and jackets you caught a glimpse of red from inside one coat. Pulling the hanger off you notice it isn't a richly colored lining but that someone shoved a red Chinese inspired silk skirt into the blazer. You aren't sure if they were judging the compatibility of the items as an outfit or if they were trying to hide it, but either way it's ended up in your hands. It's beautifully decorated in golden swirls and a dragon pattern embroidery. Putting it up to you it curls around your waist. Could mean it'd be a bit big for you, but nothing a little sewing couldn't fix.

You're pretty sure you had a black turtleneck tank top that would look great with this, and still be appropriate for hot late July weather. But maybe an additional red blazer or shawl would be a good idea. Looking at the sea of black before you you think it'd be best to continue this hunt another week.

Right now your nerves are fried and the sun is already starting to set. With thoughts of getting caught alone in the dark with your stalker you can't help but want to get home as soon as possible or at least get to a town where people would know you if your body showed up in a ditch.

Checking out with your skirt you once again find yourself in your car driving along the highway.

You get back to Kepler a little after nine, gas tank near empty so you drive on to the mini mart rather than stopping at home. You notice another car, which isn't strange for a gas station but very rare that more than two customers are here at the same time. Getting in to pay for gas you're stopped by Ronnie's pissed off voice.

“Leave Dave or I'll ban you from the shop!” she seems to seethe at the man in front of her.

“You don't have that kind of power Veronica.” gross it's David.

Whatever feeling of uncertainty you had before vanishes instantly at seeing the slime ball try to “flirt” with Ronnie. He continues to pester her and the two don't even register your entrance. Unfortunately for Ronnie she really can't do anything to stop these advances without getting in trouble. Fortunately for you, you have no such qualms.

“She said fuck off.” you push past the man shoulder checking him as you get to the counter to start talking with Ronnie.

David stumbles away not expecting the rough push. He glares down at you and you ignore him now that you're in a setting with another person. A person who has access to a silent emergency police button if things go sideways. You have back up this time and an escape plan, there's no way David can harm you right now.

“Hey, I'm gonna need thirty on pump four.” you said hoping you could just ignore the man and stall by talking about useless merchandise in the store to get him to leave. But that was before you're interrupted.

“Oh did someone grow a back bone while I was away?” you roll your eyes and pause before you lie.

“...anyway is Tim on break yet?” hoping she caught the look in your eyes to play along.

Tim was a new hire that David probably didn't know since he just got back into town. Easiest one to lie about and make excuses for why there wasn't a fourth car in the lot. The boys only seemed to have the RV and the sedan so perfectly reasonable that he got dropped off because one of his roommates needed the car.

The way Ronnie's eyes widen at you aren't out of relief but more out of realization. She shakes her head slightly, and you want to smack her for being an idiot and ruining your attempt to scare David off when she turns and yells towards the back.

“Hey Tim! You have a visitor!” you jump a bit at her volume and notice that David tenses by your side as well.

'...is she bluffing...' if she is this is the dumbest fucking bluff in the world and so easy to catch on to. You'll have to get her acquainted with true crime podcasts and shows so she can be better prepared in the future.

It isn't until you hear muffled swears and the sound of thudding from the back room of the store. It isn't long before the door to the back opens and you hear Tim's hushed voice speaking to Marigold for a second, “can you please not walk in front of me.”, and you see Tim walk through the door.

Tim's brown eyes scan the store clearly trying to find either Brian or Toby. His gaze barely passes over David but when it settles on your form leaning away from said creep and Ronnie shifting from one foot to the other the situation seems to click.

It was such a subtle change in his eyes, something you're sure that had you not been trying to catch his gaze to get your message across you would have missed. The way the highlight died before picking back up. It was probably just a trick of the over head lights, maybe he shifted a bit and it caused the light to hit differently. Something you could brush off...something you would have brushed off had you not heard a different voice speak when he opened his mouth.

“YN hey, did'ya need somethin'?” it was a notch lower than normal and somehow the tone was smoother than his usual rumble. For a moment you think he put on a voice for bravado.

Something inside tells you that's not Tim. But right now you need someone who looks like Tim. Someone who despite their “short” stature has an obvious muscle mass to them. One that confidently says “authority” to scare off the creep next to you.

You wrack your brain for something anything to say that would seem normal in this situation while you could try to assert the discomfort of Ronnie and yourself in your current situation. Just as you go to speak David begins to talk over you as he greets the man in the room.

“Hey there, name's David. Nice to see a new face in this place, how long you been here?”

Tim slides his eyes away from you and back over to David. He seems to straighten out his posture and looks over you and Ronnie before staring back at David.

“A while, is there a problem up here?”

“Oh no 's nothing like that!” David says jovially as he wraps an arm around your shoulders. You jerk from the contact. “Just talking to these nice ladies.”

'Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting' plays over and over as you squirm out of his arm.

There's an emotion you can't quite place running through you as you heart rate picks up. You feel sick as if you can feel the bile rising to your throat. Are you having a panic attack? No that's not it you're too conscious and your thoughts aren't a jumbled mess. You're probably just over stimulated. You want to calm down.

'Do you' the whispered voice is back, 'Do you really?'

It's mocking you and the strange emotion from before spikes. Is this...is this rage? Are you so upset at being touched that you're experiencing genuine rage? One with such a burning passion that you can feel your body grow warm all over.

But what did the voice ask 'do you?' do you what? Do you want to calm down?

….no....

No you didn't you can feel it in your veins, in your bones, in your entire being. You didn't want to calm down you wanted to hurt David. You want to tear him to pieces. You wanted him to give you  a reason...any reason at all. Any reason to fucking destroy him.

You aren't entirely sure where these thoughts are coming from. Maybe you're just overstimulated, your  nerves fried from the weird feeling at the thrift shop today and then paired with someone you hated very much, touching you out of no where seemed to be your ultimate breaking point.

It's Tim who brings you out of your thoughts.

When did he get so close to you?

“I think you should leave. I know for a fact YN's boyfriend won't take kindly to you upsetting them like this.” he stresses the 'them' and it seems you've missed a few key points...like when the hell you got a boyfriend?

“Oh right, what's that scrawny kid gonna do twitch at me.” when did David start taking that tone with Tim and why was he talking about Toby? What did Toby have to do with this? How did David even know about Toby?

Seems David's taunt and knowledge of Toby unsettled Tim as well, if the hand on your shoulder gripping tightly had anything to say. Has that been there this whole time? When did he put it there?

“Trust me the kid's bite 's lot worse than his bark.” there's humor in Tim's voice as he says that but it's like an old joke no one else has context for.

'Fuckin' dick...is that suppose to be a joke about his mutilated mouth?' it really does sound like it. Maybe you're reading the clues wrong...maybe you heard Tim wrong.

Thankfully whatever the fuck is building up comes to an end when Pigeon walks through the doors. Oh she's on duty, Deputy Pigeon. She looks at the four of you and your positions. And although she has a pretty good idea what's happened from Ronnie's texts she can't help but ask.

“Al'ight, what's going on here?” it's clearly been a long day for her.

“Harassment. We've asked him to leave the store but he's refused and keeps bothering our customer and us.” Tim's fast response had you and Ronnie stumped.

Did a white cis male actually come to the aid of two decidedly not male people...instead of the other white cis male? Has Hell frozen over?

It's like he knew just what to say to the officer. And he didn't try to tiptoe around it to save the other man. Tim clearly didn't want this dragging out any longer than it already has. Even David himself seems a bit taken aback by Tim's, accurate, claims. Meanwhile Pigeon looks around the room and sighs. While she knows her younger sister wouldn't have texted if this wasn't serious she was the only one on duty tonight and would only be able to take the other three's statements.

“Al'ight I'll grab y'all's statements starting with you Nychn c'mon.” the tired looking woman took David outside so he could tell his side of the story. But even with two against one he'll probably end up getting a ban from the store. Especially since he did harass a customer and not just an employee.

After getting his statement and watching him drive off from the establishment Pigeon returned back inside.

“I swear tha' boy's head has never been on right.” shaking her head.

Pigeon asked for both your and Tim's sides of the story taking you a little ways away from each other  to “prevent compromising the other's story”.

“So... looks like I've got everything, I'll have the station call Monty in the mornin' and let 'im know that he's got a new ban.”

“What about Ronnie's statement?” Tim asks as Pigeon put away her pocket pal.

“Oh Tim, Pigeon's my sister.” it's the first time Ronnie's said something since calling for Tim.

At least you think it is after all you did have a little spell after being touched.

Tim nods and Pigeon heads off after warning the three of you to stay out of trouble. Now with just the three of you in the shop you turn to Tim.

“Thanks for the save Tim.” He just nods again.

“No problem, but you really should'a said somethin' sooner.”

“I don't know what happened I like blanked and forgot you went on break before he came in.” Ronnie pipes up looking flustered.

Weird. You've noticed that does tend to happen when David's around. Maybe you should look into memory stealers. Might be why David's vibes are all off. That or he's a fucking serial killer and your instincts are trying to warn you but there are so many red flags your brain glitches instead. Whatever the reason may be you'll have to keep your guard up when he's around. It's super sketchy he left when Bambi went missing and it's a strange time to come back to town after “helping” your sister after her divorce. Two months isn't enough time to find a new routine or settle court battles.

Tim leaves to clock in and continue his break for another twenty minutes. You aren't sure that's right but Ronnie doesn't seem to complain and you've got to admit he did save you guys from that creep unpaid so he kinda deserves it. You go to pay Ronnie for gas and for some of the frozen taquitos that they normally have on the rotation cooker. But she puts thirty dollars on your pump and then just hands you a pack of the taquitos.

“Thanks for...y'know.” she might be a bitch but Ronnie can be nice if the situation calls for it.

Plus you can see by the expiration date that she'd have to just toss these out at the end of the night anyway. Who are you to turn down free food?

You head home and take your clothes and taquitos inside. You toss the clothes in an arm chair in your living room. And fall asleep on your couch shortly after eating. You are thoroughly exhausted and you had actually been tired last night. Had it not been for errands you'd have slept last night. Now you definitely have to sleep early to wake up early to finish cooking for the picnic.

[neokids]

Fortune's Fool: Act XII

Masterlist (read previous and future ones here!)

Act XII

Tw: Lots of blood, character death, violence, murder, guns, knives, weapons, foul language, self-inflicted wounds, suicide, overall graphic content

When night fell in Seoul, it remained as bright as it was during the day. Yes it was a bit more quiet, but still the glowing neon signs from the shops and other bars made up for sunlight. The only things that could be heard in the city would be the distant sound of music and the buzzing of wires. In the eyes of a foreigner, one would say Seoul is peaceful. They do not know the danger slowly eating the city alive. They do not know that beneath the mask of calm and peace, remained a city run by violence. This time violence, but madness would soon start its reign.

In the clamor, a dancer who had just finished her night shift exited a club. She hugged her faux fur jacket close to her figure, feeling the cold wind wind of Seoul brush through her. She shook her head to free her hair from her ribbons that have been tied there all day, the sudden release calming her down. Her ribbons were a bright royal purple in color, signifying her alliance with the Viper Gang. She wore the ribbons on her wrist to keep her safe as she walked through the deep alleys where Viper gangsters remained, a sign that she is on their side and would not cause any hassle.

The dancer shivered as she continued to walk, quite certain no one was following her. She looked behind her to see no one there, she was at ease. Nevertheless, she felt someone watching every move she took. With that feeling creating an unsettling emotion bubble in her stomach, she started to quicken her pace.

A few moments passed, and the dancer completely halted in her steps. Leaving the dull buzzing of the electrical wires fill her sense of hearing. She thought she had heard panting near her, but she saw no one. The more she listened, the more she heard the droplets of water hitting the ground. Droplets of water that weren’t there before.

The more she focused, the more her sense of hearing widened. She felt the presence of someone with her.

But the thing is, it wasn’t someone. It was something.

It revealed itself from the shadows, its thorns shining in the dark. It looked like someone had placed ten daggers all along its back. It raised its head to make eye contact with the poor dancer, a pair of opaque silver eyes stared back.

The dancer flees, panic overcoming her entire body. She ran as fast as she could in her heels, ultimately causing her to trip and stumble to a fisherman who wore the wrong colors.

The Neo caught sight of her and her purple ribbon tied to her wrist, he was ready to fight.

“You!” He bellows, “Are you lost?”

He mistook the dancer’s shocked silence as confusion, the dancer thought he would help her. As soon as he approached her, he whipped his gun out.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I wasn’t watching out on our boundaries,” the dancer explained as she reached for her gun strapped on her thigh, “Bloody Vipers,” he spat through grit teeth, “You think you can stroll here anytime you want, don’t you?”

He aims the pistol at her, the dancer shaking while holding her own gun. “Y-you don’t understand, something is back there and it’s coming–”

A sudden splash broke their tension. The dancer felt droplets of water hit her exposed leg and when she looked down, the water was tar black.

She sprints to her right, ducking at the alleyway. The fisherman mistook her fast pace as a sign of war and so gunshots were fired. When she had got away to shield herself from the Han river, her whole body was already shaking.

Then something erupted from the Han River

Soon enough, screams resonated all throughout the night.

The dancer had sat in her hiding place, muttering all the prayers she knew. Eyes closed tight as her knees were brought to her chest, whole body shaking. The only thing that had caused her to stop, was when she heard nothing at all. The screams were now dead silent, the only thing that could be heard was the constant buzzing of the electrical wires. The dancer willed herself to get up and go back to the scene, only for something horrible to unravel in front of her.

The fisherman, along with several other people, had dropped dead on the floor. Throats scratched until blood was seeping to the floors.

Along with that, she found several insects skittling and bumping towards each other before jumping to the Han river.

. . .

Yeji smoothed the fabric of her dress down, her chauffeur taking her to the address Karina provided her. She was on her way to Secretary-General Jinyoung Park’s office, hopefully able to find something before she would return home. She always wore a beaded flapper dress, similar to the ones Western girls wore when she was in America. In order to blend-in, she had to look like everyone else. She had to wear her roaring 20s hanbok and finger curl her hair.

Jinyoung Park was a very secretive person. He was the chief editor of a newspaper called The Korea Press, and their address was supposed to be public information. Yeji had expected a somewhat formal corporate office, people in suits and formal attire. She did not expect a bunch of workers running around the tight office with typewriters clutched in their hands as they frantically screamed and demanded about the latest update being pressed.

As she walked in the building, she held her chin high. Yeji couldn’t help wrinkle her nose as she eyed the mess that is this office. She didn’t bother stopping by the front desk, they were Rovers weren’t they? Surely they would let her wander around until she stumbles upon Jinyoung Park’s office right?

Yeji smiled to herself.

As she weaved through the chaotic establishment, she snagged a random notebook and pen in attempts of making herself look busy. She made her way to the basement, the sudden brightness suddenly starting to fade. The whole basement level was darker than the floors above it, they didn’t bother putting in more artificial illumination. The whole level was made out of solid cement, from the floors all the way to the ceiling. It wouldn’t surprise Yeji if she found out that this establishment was used as a prison before turning it into this.

She continued striding forward, her heels clacking loudly in the process. She examined and took a look at all the nooks and crannies of the prison-like office. Everyone and everything was so chaotic that they did not mind her presence at all, it was like she wasn’t there in the first place. All the workers were busy writing, making phone calls, or scribbling down notes. As Yeji scanned the desks she passed by, one desk caught her attention. There seemed to be one desk that was unoccupied, she was even more intrigued when she saw a note pasted on the clipboard: MEMO FOR JINYOUNG PARK

She quickly ducked under the desk, searching for all files she deemed useful. She found nothing but old newspapers and drafts for new ones. Why was this desk empty? Yeji thought. Surely this desk did not belong to Jinyoung Park who had his own space, she found her hands wandering to a certain opened drawer. She found drawings.

When she saw the first one, she broke out in a cold sweat. It was a drawing of wide, snake-like eyes. The other drawing was of claws and claw marks, impossible made by an animal on earth. She felt the tiny hairs on her neck spike up.

“Goemul,” Yeji breathed, a monster.

Before she could think over her actions, she quickly snatched one of the drawings, the one where it showed its enitery, and folded it as she tucked it in her pocket. It joined the masquerade invitation she had forgotten about, causing her to feel annoyed again. She stood up after glancing around the room, making sure no one was watching her. She wiped the sweat from her palms as she marched out the basement floor.

Yeji paused suddenly, hearing and seeing the door behind her shuddering.

Suddenly, all Yeji could think about was the drawing folded in her pocket. She reached for the doorknob hesitantly, fear almost clouding her vision. “Hello?” She said quite hoarsely, “Is someone–”

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

She leaped away from the door, the door stopped shuddering. She quickly turned around.

“Oh, me?”

The man wore a strange hat, his suit being more Western than the rest of the people here. Judging by the way he carried himself, and his arrogant stare, he was of high ranks. Possibly along the ranks of Jinyoung Park, he was definitely not a mere assistant.

“I came to talk to your chief-editor,” Yeji continued, “I got a bit lost.”

“The exit is that way,” The man said, pointing to his left. It was something about the way he said it, he was treating Yeji like a lost child who got separated from her parents in a theme park. Yeji did not like anything about it.

Her blank face immediately morphed into a cold, wide smile.

“Official Viper business,” She said, chin held high. “My father, Lord Hwang, sent me here.”

There was a moment of silence, the man digesting her words. You could see the man’s expression suddenly turn into discomfort. Still, he smiled and gestured for her to follow him.

The man did not bother hiding his impatience, he ascended the staircase three steps at a time. Yeji, however, took her sweet time as she looked around the establishment. The contrast between the prison-like basement and the prestigious first floor levels was abrupt. The Rovers only cared what the common people saw, which were the first floor levels. They wanted to come across as established, known, accomplished.

Yeji eyed all the designer clothing that the workers on this floor adorned, they were much different than the workers who looked underpaid in the basement. When Yeji brought her attention back to the man, the man was already waving her impatiently towards him. With a huff, she followed suit.

The both took a turn around the corner as the man led her towards a spacious waiting room. The waiting room had two parallel rows of waiting chairs, placed directly on the opposite sides of the walls. Yeji finally understood his impatience, seeing as there was already another person there.

Jeno cocked his head forward.

“What are you doing here?!” They both demanded in unison.

As soon the man felt the tense air of the place, he removed himself from the situation quietly. As soon as the man was nowhere to be seen, Jeno jumped from his seat and grabbed Yeji’s arm. She was so offended that he even dared to touch her that she stood grounded to her place, rage bubbling in her stomach. Jeno had already moved them to the corner of the waiting room, making the cold wall hit Yeji’s back. Only then was Yeji able to react.

“Let. Go. Of. Me.” She hissed, trying to shake her arm away from his grip. Jeno must have heard the same things, causing him to gather information for himself as well.

Yeji bit back a curse. If the Neos found answers first, the whole of the Viper gang was doomed. If the Neos knew more than they did, people would start putting their trust more in them. People would start fleeing to their side, leaving the Neos to prosper while the Vipers to suffer.

“Listen,” Jeno snapped, “you have to leave.”

Yeji couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “I have to leave?”

“Yes,” Jeno muttered as he reached up to examine Yeji’s dangling pearl earring. He made eye contact with her fiery eyes, flicking the dangling pearl in the process. The pearl had hit her jaw, causing her to fight back the breath threatening to her throat, she wanted to scream at his face so hard right now, but she knew better.

“I was here first,” Jeno said as he placed his palm on the side of her head, “Go play dress-up somewhere else.”

Dress-up? Was this all Yeji was to him? When she wasn’t in her usual clothing? Just a dress-up? But she did not care.

“This is Viper territory.”

“These people are Rovers, you hold no bearing nor power over them whatsoever.”

Yeji grit her teeth hard, he was right. The only thing she found comforting was that Jeno didn’t look too confident either. If she had no bearing over them, that meant he didn’t either. The man Yeji met earlier immediately shut up as soon as he discovered Yeji’s identity, the neutrality was a good thing in this situation.

“Our relationship with the Rovers is, and will always be, none of your business.” Yeji refuted, “No if you would excuse me, please get out of my face.”

Jeno only narrowed his eyes at her, taking it as a threat.

“I am not going anywhere.”

God, the audacity of this man. Yeji straightened to her full height, holding her head up high. She was in heels, their height difference wasn't much. “I won’t say this again,” Yeji breathed, toxicity lacing her voice. “Get out of my face. Now.”

Jeno held her stare a second longer. Slowly, he backed away from her. As he stepped back, he scrubbed his hands to his eyes. Yeji glared at him while making the act, but she realized it was an act of exhaustion. The shadow underneath Jeno’s eyes a bit more prominent, eyes a little red.

“Have you not been getting sleep lately?” Yeji finds herself suddenly asking, her question startled both her and the man in front of her. With Jeno striding a few steps away, she found herself wanting to kill him less.

“I’ll have you know,” Jeno turned back to her, his hands finding its way to his pockets. “That I am very much well, thank you.”

“I wasn’t asking about your well-being.”

“Oh just give it a rest, Yeji.”

Yeji folded her arms, not quite believing his words. She had heard of the news last night of the dancer and the fishermen, a number of deaths on the side of the Neos suddenly spiking up. It meant that Jeno wasn’t gonna leave because Yeji had told him off, he needed an answer just as she did. Death was already on its way to his door.

“Is that his office?” Yeji asked as she nodded towards the door in front of them, she didn’t need to explain some more as she saw Jeno nod in the corner of her eyes. “Jinyoung Park is disciplined, he won’t take any line-jumpers. Don’t even try.”

Try what? She wanted to ask nastily, she couldn’t possibly engage in a gunfight with Jeno right now. She needed an answer so they really needed to be civil, at least for this time being.

Yeji hastily stomped down towards a chair and sat down. She lifted her gaze towards the ceiling, looking at the cracks and chipped paint of the poor paint job. She made sure to look at anything else. She dug her hand into her pockets, feeling the folded drawing crease in her hands. The drawing didn’t confirm what the role of the Rovers was, but it was something. From the drawing’s blurry and harsh lines, she knew it was near the docks of the Han river.

Meanwhile, Jeno returned to his seat opposite the row where Yeji sat. He kept her gaze pinpointed on her, focusing on her whole-being. Much to Yeji’s annoyance, she could feel his burning stare directed towards her. She felt like she was being inspected, each sweep of his eyes, she felt like being torn apart piece by piece. The longer he stared at her, the more Yeji could feel the sudden rush creeping up her neck, coloring her neck and ears with discomfort and rage.

She wanted to skin herself alive, anything to make his attention turn elsewhere. He was just looking for heaven’s sake, people look all the time. Yeji decided that she would just have to wait until Jinyoung Park could finally meet her and–

“What?” Yeji snapped, unable to take his stare any longer. He did not say anything, he just looked at her again. Finally, she tore her gaze away from him.

Jeno let out an amused noise, as he turned his attention towards the door. “What’s got you so worked up?”

“For the last time, it is, and alway will be, none of your business.”

“If it has something to do with the madness then–”

“Bold of you to assure that it had something to do with with the–”

Jeno roared, “Will you let me finish my goddamn sen–”

The door then slammed open, revealing a very stressed assistant as she gestured for Jeno to come inside. Before joining Jinyoung Park, he gave Yeji a huff. This isn’t over.

Yeji had to wait an antagonizing wait. She tapped her foot impatiently and aggressively, her fingers playing with each other. She cracked her knuckles every few minutes as she played with the hem of her skirt now and then. As she felt like a thousand years, the door cracked open.

It was clear, Jeno’s blue head of hair hung low as his shoulders slouched, that he wasn’t able to get the intel he needed. He was met with Yeji’s knowing stare. She mocked him, pitied him. Jeno’s ways of persuasion had no limits, he was a liar through and through. Stopping at nothing until he got what he wanted.

“Don’t look so smug,” Jeno hissed, causing Yeji to chuckle.

“That’s just my face.” She replied as she stood up, chin held high as she entered Jinyoung Park’s office.

“Well if it isn’t my lucky day.” Jinyoung Park said once Yeji sat in front of him. He quickly put aside his letter and pen as he eyed Yeji, and then the door. “First it was the prince of the Neos, now we have the proud heiress of the Vipers. What can I do for you, Miss Hwang?”

Yeji briefly took in his plain office. She saw a few framed pictures of him and guessing his wife on the shelves behind the Rover. The office didn’t look old, nor did it look new. It was just as plain as any regular office, nothing special. Yeji turned her gaze back to Jinyoung Park, letting out a relaxed smile.

“You know how rumors travel nowadays, right Mr. Park?” She asked as she squinted, looking at her fingernails. “You won’t ever guess what I heard the other day,”

Jinyoung Park leaned forward, mildly curious and entertained. “Do tell, Miss Hwang.”

“They say–” Yeji leaned forward as well, like a classmate telling another classmate a secret, “that you know what caused this madness.”

Jinyoung Park didn’t say anything, he remained silent after a beat had passed. He looked at Yeji, blinking rapidly this time. “I have no clue what you–they are talking about.”

Yeji raised her brows, an innocently shocked expression graced her features. “You don’t?” She asked lightly. “You didn’t come up with this madness to kill all the gangsters? So that no one would be left to rule the city? So that the people of Seoul would be under your control and command?”

She took in his astonishment, guessing that Jeno didn’t directly confront Jinyoung Park about the madness. He must have tiptoed on thin ice, not really bothering to press nor aggravate the man in question. That was very unlikely of him.

“Miss Hwang,” Jinyoung Park began, “that is–that is preposterous.”

Yeji wasn’t going anywhere at this rate, she straightened up in her seat as she crossed her legs. The typical meek flapper girl long gone, seated in front of him was the heiress of the most brutal gangs in all of Seoul.

“The truth will be revealed sooner or later,” Yeji said sternly, “I would save both of our time if you could just speak right now or else I will skin you using my–”

“Miss Hwang, it is safe to say that I could save both of our time right now,” Mr. Park interrupted, “I have no clue what you are talking about so please leave. I am working and I won’t allow your silly accusations to disturb my line of work.”

Yeji carefully thought about her next actions, it didn’t sound like Mr. Park was saying anything false, but he sounded uneasy. He kept glancing at the door as his foot tapped the floor repeatedly. Was it because of her presence? Or did he know something she did not? If he didn’t cause this madness, then what was his role?

Yeji relaxed as she leaned back in her seat, “What if I have questions regarding your political party?”

“You are welcome to stop by any of our meetings anytime, Miss Hwang.” He answered stiffly, “Otherwise, please leave.”

Yeji took her sweet time stretching and fixing the fabric of her expensive dress. With an exaggerated bow and smile, she fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Thank you for your patience and time.”

She left the office as she rolled her eyes, what now?

“Woah–” Yeji immediately staggered back as she collided with someone. The moment she looked up to see who the hell was in her way, the only thing she could see was red.

Jeno had caught her wrist before Yeji had the chance to slap him, he held her wrist as he bore into her eyes.

“Careful,” He said warningly, his tone too soft and feathery to be a threat. It was a trick, it was his way to lure Yeji’s attention to his lips in attempts of calming her down. It was working, Yeji wanted to strangle him alive for that.

“We wouldn’t want to cause a scene in a Rover establishment, right?” He asked as he gave a mocking smile.

Yeji tried to jerk her arm away from his grip, but he held her wrist in place. If Jeno did not let go in three seconds she was drawing her gun.

Jeno let go.

She quickly tugged her wrist back, smoothing the area of skin where Jeno had gripped. When Jeno still remained in his place, she demanded, “Why are you still standing in front of me?”

Innocently, Jeno pointed to the chairs. “I left my hat,”

“You weren’t even wearing a–” True enough, there indeed was a hat. He simply shrugged as he went to pick it up, tipping it to Yeji as he hid his blue hair. She hurriedly made her way to the exit as she was finally able to breathe the air of the outside. She tugged her coat closer to herself as her hands found warmth in her pockets, she froze.

“He better not have…” Yeji fished the paper from her pockets, she only had one paper left. To her fortune, she was greeted with a pair of monster eyes staring back at her, she let out a breath of relief.

Yeji scoffed, Jeno had gotten the masquerade ball invitation.

“Fool,” she muttered before finally walking away.

[kakatenzo]

kkyam royalty au 1

okay I have two fic ideas that are centred around a royalty au and i wanted to post both on here and see which ones ppl preferred!

here’s royalty au 1 i’ll post the second one tomorrow

(ps this is un beta’d and it is 2:40am so i have not looked over it at all. just typed and hit send)

“You come here often?” Kakashi ask sleazily.

             It’s a cheap shot. He knows that, he’s sure he’s had better one liners at the tavern after one too many drinks but Kakashi can’t bring himself to care. The entire night has been occupied by stuck up nobility and empty conversations that carried across the ballroom. He’s just surprised he has managed to survive the entire night despite not coming from a royal lineage himself, it seems that all that condescending behaviour blocks all common sense and Kakashi tries not to be too smug about it. It’s a good thing he’s an excellent liar and charming if he really put his mind to it, and now he’s putting all his effort into trying to swoon this doe-eyed brunette. Kakashi hasn’t seen him before unlike the other parties of the monarchy who often were presented during ceremonies and announcements, so he assumes he is visiting from another kingdom. It’s perfect, Kakashi thinks, he’ll bag a noble for one night and never see them again.

             “Yes actually,” the brunette answers frowning and it catches Kakashi by surprise. “Konoha’s been my home since I was born. I suppose you are visiting?”

             Well, that’s one idea out the window so Kakashi replies dumbfoundedly, “Uh, yes.”

             It seems to jerk the brunette awake. “I apologise for I have misplaced my manners, good sir.” he says before straightening his shoulders and giving a bow. “I am Yamato, nobleman of Konoha.”

             Kakashi quickly dips into a bow. “Kakashi, crown prince of the Hatake kingdom.”

             Yamato raises a brow. “I don’t recall the Hatake family mentioning a visit to the kingdom.”

             The crown prince disguise had worked well the whole evening and if Kakashi is going to be honest with himself, it also gave his ego a small nudge but now his ego is deflating because it seems like he decided to try to court one of the only smart people in this ballroom.

             “It was all very last minute, so I apologise for the short notice.”

             The back of Kakashi’s neck prickles with heat and he resists the urge to ease the collar from his throat. The tavern is going to have a ball when they find out he got kicked out from the ball because he found a guy attractive.

             A small, almost bashful smile encompasses Yamato’s face instead and he amicably says. “I apologise I did not mean to doubt your presence. How are you finding the ball?”

             “Eh,” Kakashi says loosening up and his shoulders return to their usual hunched position. “Everyone here is on their high horse.”

             For a moment, Yamato looks horrified but then he laughs. Gentle and warm, and it invites Kakashi to relax further. “You’re very honest, do they allow the crown prince of your kingdom such brash honesty?”

             Kakashi returns a laugh because he is the opposite of honest. He is conning this poor man with his endless spindle of lies from the moment he had opened his mouth. “I’m only honest to people that I like,” he winks, “but I’m sure there are more honest people than me.”

             Yamato shakes his head. “I’ve been attending these royal balls since I was a child. Everybody treats you like you’re below them and make you feel small over the silliest things.”

             “Why do you keep attending them?” Kakashi asks and tries to ignore the sincerity that pools in his chest. “Can you not decline the invitation? It would save you from a lot of misery and hassle.”

             “I seldom do,” Yamato’s eyes slide to the side and breaks their eye contact. “My aunt she—she’s very high up and it’s pertinent I attend these events to create connections with other kingdoms.”

             Kakashi squashes the warmth of sincerity and replaces it with the hot rush of want. “Do you want to make a connection with me?” he offers haughtily and Yamato rewards him with a scandalised expression and a wonderful flush that disappears under his collar.

             His smile is timid but Yamato’s voice is firm when he says, “I’m not opposed to the idea of making connections with you.”

             “Let’s go make our connection somewhere less crowded.” Kakashi says and offers his arm.

             Yamato quietly latches onto the crook of Kakashi’s elbows and Kakashi escorts him out to the courtyard. They are greeted by the cool air of the evening and the luminescent glow of the moon who casts a soft spotlight on the shrubbery below her. The roses sleep gently under the calm glow of the moon, they rest because they are tired after dancing with the sun all morning. The rest of the greenery follows suit, all the branches hang low, the leaves don’t dance as they sleep to the orchestra of chirping crickets. The courtyard is large and paves a quarter of the unending garden, its stones are smooth and even unlike the rough cobbled pavements in the centre of town. The courtyard is fenced off by a low stone wall which Kakashi hops onto and pats the space next to him, offering Yamato to do the same.

             They’re both facing away from the large doors of the ballroom and Yamato tilts his head back as if he’s drinking in the light of the moon. “This is my favourite place in the palace.” He says quietly like a confession.

             “I can see why. It’s peaceful out here.” Kakashi says in agreement. “What do you like to do for fun, Yamato?”

             “What do you mean?” Yamato answers. His head snaps down to look at Kakashi and he almost looks baffled.

             Kakashi quirks a brow. “You know, when you’re not doing these parties or your duties? What do you do in your spare time?”

             Yamato bites his lip drawing Kakashi’s attention. “I like to tend this garden.” He decides after a moment.

             “Is that all?” Kakashi presses. He’s not a royal but he’s sure Yamato has at least some hobbies that don’t involve standing around and looking pretty all day.

             Even under the moonlight Kakashi can see the deep blush that spreads on Yamato’s face. “Well,” he starts. “I like sword fighting and I used to practice with the knights until they found—well, let’s just say nobody really liked to challenge me. The knights were all frightened they’d accidentally hurt me and then would get executed.”

             Kakashi can’t help the laugh that escapes his mouth. “Really?” he says gleefully. “I never expected you to be invested in combat.”

             Yamato looks away then. “I was interested in a lot of different things, but I had to whittle it down because it didn’t seem right, for someone like me to do them.”

             Someone like Yamato? “I thought noblemen could do whatever they wanted as long as it didn’t betray the kingdom.” Kakashi frowns. He’s sure he had seen the duke wandering around doing activities that Kakashi wouldn’t crown ‘duke-ly’.

             “I guess they just have high expectations,” Yamato shrugs. “Enough about me, you’re the crown prince! I’m sure you have much more exciting things to share than me.”

             “Where do I start?” Kakashi says coolly as he rapidly searches through all his memories. How the hell was he going to fabricate a royal story? He had many in the town and in the countryside, but they all consisted of him working or training and neither seemed princely. He then forces himself to remember all those conversations he had with those prudish Lords and Ladies in hopes of bringing up a hobby that was vaguely plausible.

             “If you don’t mind,” Yamato breaks his rapid-fire train of thought. “Can I ask how you received your scar?”

             Kakashi’s fingers find the line that staggers under his eye before it disappears into his mask. “It was from an attack,” he answers honestly for the first time that evening. “My friend and I were out where we weren’t meant to be, and we had been ambushed. This was from a knife.”

             He brushes his hair from his brow and slowly follows the ridge of his brow, over the curve of his eyelid and then over the soft fabric of the mask. Yamato’s eyes follow the path carefully, his eyes bright under the moonlight and his mouth slightly open in awe. “Is that why you wear the mask? For your safety?”

             Kakashi nods quickly in agreement.

             “You’re lucky to have survived, Prince Kakashi.” Yamato quips and hearing his name in Yamato’s mouth makes his heart jump.

             “It was a fair fight.” Kakashi says easily. “I won in the end anyway.”

             Yamato’s eyes widen and he sits up eagerly. “Do you get to train at your palace?”

             Kakashi thinks of the field. It is by no means a training room nor the mighty barracks that housed the knights. During winter, when the ground froze over, was when he would accumulate the most bruises after a spar and during summer, the soil would be so dry that it would kick up everywhere. It ended in his eyes, his hair, under his nails and he always came home dirty. He thinks of his makeshift targets and dummy, the way they’ve been branded with marks since he was a child and how they’re worn and yellowed with age. He wonders if Yamato had managed to brandish a shiny sword at all and practice his footing on even ground.

             “Yes, all the time.” Kakashi answers and he can’t look into Yamato’s eyes. “I begged my father so I could protect myself and it proved worthy.”

             Suddenly his hands are engulfed with Yamato’s own warm ones. “Could you teach me something?” he asks earnestly.

             Yamato is smiling so widely and Kakashi realises that Yamato may be the only genuine face he has encountered tonight. “Sure,” Kakashi says and leaps to his feet with Yamato following suit. “We have no swords, so we’ll focus on hand to hand combat.”

             Kakashi begins with stances, he notes the importance of the stance and how to make sure there are no openings that make Yamato vulnerable. He then moved onto basic attacks, how to disarm your opponent and the weakest points of the human body.

             “You’re a quick learner,” Kakashi comments nonchalantly and gently fixes Yamato’s arms by raising his elbow slightly.

             “Can I fight now?” Yamato asks with a glint in his eyes.

             Kakashi splutters. “I’m not going to fight you, Yamato.”

             The nobleman drops his stance. “How am I going to learn if I don’t fight someone?”

             “Your practice stances will kick in.” Kakashi lies. He had always made his students fight him.

             “Don’t lie to me. The knights spar all the time!” Yamato protests and Kakashi bites back on a grin.

             “I’ll go easy on you,” Kakashi offers. “I wouldn’t want to hurt your pretty face.”

             The deep flush invites itself again on Yamato’s face as he enters his first stance. They both move shift around in a circle, waiting for the other to make a move, arms and hands close to their face and chests, and their eyes locked onto each other intensely. Kakashi throws the first attack to which Yamato quickly parries and it leaves his neck exposed. Kakashi hooks his arm over the crook of Yamato’s neck but Yamato grabs his arm with both hands and throws Kakashi off. He stumbles back and Yamato follows with two quick punches, Kakashi ducks and before Yamato can throw a jab, he rises quickly, years of agility drilled into him and knocks Yamato back onto the grass.

             He lands with a soft ooft and leans back on his hands, he looks up at Kakashi with bright eyes, a ruddy face and a wide grin. His hair is ruffled but his shoulders are much more relaxed. “You’re very skilled, Kakashi.” Yamato compliments catching his breath.

             Kakashi stretches his arm out to offer a hand and pulls Yamato up. He jumps to his feet and ends up nearer to Kakashi than he had anticipated. “You’re a quick learner,” Kakashi parrots from earlier. He’s distracted by their vicinity. “You did well.”

             Their hands are still conjoined and Kakashi’s eyes drop to their clasped hands before dragging his eyes back up to Yamato’s dark gaze. Something snaps in the heavy silence between them, and Kakashi finds himself leaning in but Yamato stops him with a gentle press of his free hand to Kakashi��s chest.

             “Kakashi,” he says warily but his brows furrow with determination. “I have something to tell you.”

             Before either of them can get a word in the doors to the ballroom burst open and they both break apart from each other as if they’d been shocked. Queen Tsunade steps onto the courtyard and they both bow to greet her. Kakashi’s head swims as he straightens back up because Queen Tsunade is not a force to be reckoned with. He’s sure she’s caught him, she knows that he’s not a royal at all and has been parading around as a fraud all evening, and the mere thought of her punishment sends an awful bout of guttural anxiety.

             “Ah, there you are Tenzo!” Queen Tsunade bellows across the courtyard and approaches the duo. “I thought you had disappeared before the ceremony and I was getting worried. Come along now, you know we can’t start it without you and the people are waiting.”

             The relief that Queen Tsunade isn’t here for Kakashi doesn’t take the edge off his nerves. She’s even more powerful in person and this is the closest Kakashi has gotten to her. She’s shorter than he had expected, but her stoic glare and booming voice has commanded many rooms. Her blonde hair is loose over her shoulders, they fall gracefully frown the crown atop her head, and she places her hands on her hips, crinkling the jade green dress she’s often seen in. Kakashi is glad he no longer has Yamato’s hand in his grasp because he’s sure his hand would slip out with how much his palms are sweating.

             Yamato shoots him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry I’m afraid I have to go. Where can I find you later?”

             “Let’s meet here.” Kakashi says with the intention to bid Yamato goodbye before he returns to his regular civilian life. He had told enough lies tonight to last a lifetime.

             “I look forward to it.” Yamato says sweetly before turning to follow Queen Tsunade back inside.

             Kakashi lets out a sigh of relief and steals one long glance around the garden that Yamato had tended himself. He cranes his head to the moon, she had been the only audience to their dance, if you could call it such and turns on his heel to return to the ballroom.

             Gai is easy to find in the crowded ballroom because he is impressing a small crowd with handstands. Kakashi joins the crowd in watching Gai perform and remembers when he had challenged Kakashi to see who could hold a handstand for the longest. Unfortunately, it had been winter and the ground was damp with rain that left their hands muddy, cold and unmoveable.

             Towards the centre of the room, a servant calls for the audience’s attention so Kakashi steps forward. “I’m so sorry to interrupt the entertainment, but I believe there is a royal announcement.”

             Gai fixes himself back onto his feet with unyielding control and the small crowd reward him with a short round of applause before they all usher each other to the centre of the room.

             “Kakashi!” Gai booms. “It has been the most wonderful evening!”

             “I’m glad you’ve been enjoying it,” Kakashi says while Gai swings an arm around his shoulders. “Would you like to watch the ceremony?”

             “Why, of course!” Gai exclaims. “It would be of our best interest to make the most of our stay.”

             Truth be told, Kakashi really could not care for the ceremony because all he can think of is Yamato’s ruddy grinning face under the moonlight. How his eyes glittered even in the dark shawl of the night sky. (How dark his gaze had been when they were all but pressed close to each other with the moon as their only witness.)

             Although they are on the outskirts of the crowd, Queen Tsunade’s voice doesn’t fail to reach them from across the room. “Foremost, I would like to thank those who have attended today. It is always a pleasant sight to see, the unity of the kingdoms and our people, especially for an occasion such as this.” She pauses and the room waits with bated breath. “I am here tonight to proudly announce my heir and who will be next in line to the throne.”

             Her speech sends the room to a stifled but frenzied whisper. Heir? Queen Tsunade had no children. Her husband passed away before she could bear any heirs. Who is this heir? Has she passed the lineage of Konoha to a neighbouring kingdom’s prince? How are we to trust this new heir to rule Konoha?

             Queen Tsunade continues resiliently. “I apologise for hiding him from his people, he was too young to be exposed to the masses but I assure you he has been in this kingdom the entire time and I am confident that he will serve you, our people, very well. That’s why he is here today, because he has come of age and has grown into a splendid young man.” She smiles softly, pride shines in her eyes and she steps aside. “I would like to introduce my dear nephew, Prince Tenzo Senju, as your next ruler.”

             The room bursts into a cacophony of applause as Tenzo emerges and joins his aunt, Queen Tsunade, at the front of the crowd. He gives an obligatory bow, back straight as if he’s rehearsed it a lifetime and just like the one he gave Kakashi earlier that night. Except it’s not exact because his hair is ruffled from their short spar. Gai is clapping wildly next to him but it seems as if Kakashi can’t move his arms. The noise is far too loud—no, it is far too quiet and Kakashi drowns in the rushing noise of his thoughts filling his head. Realisation sinks in, like the first chill of winter that sinks deep into your bones, but you’ve not prepared a coat and you’re left shivering in the early rays of the sun.

             Then Tenzo turns and catches his eyes. He spares Kakashi a tight lipped smile, empty of the mirth from earlier that evening. No wonder why the knights didn’t allow Yamato to train, because they would have been fighting the crown prince of Konoha. He had little hobbies to do because he’s spent his entire life preparing to be the next ruler. With each piece that clicks into place the sinking feeling in his stomach only tightens.

             “—Kakashi,” Gai says and it shakes Kakashi out of his trance. There is a firm but grounding grip on his shoulder. “What’s the matter?”

             “Nothing. I’m just looking forward to meeting someone in the courtyard later tonight.”

[kristahliaweek]

The Perfect Crime

Baron Whitney. That man had been allowed to live for far too long, considering how absolutely atrocious of a neighbor he was. His disgusting lawn had been the subject of much ire across the neighborhood, since the residents generally prided themselves on their dignity and the overgrown wilderness festering at his front door was a blight on their image, but nobody had the guts to just kill him already. All over the neighborhood website Dahlia had seen people publicly complaining that Whitney’s front lawn needed to be raided by the Homeowner’s Association effective immediately, but nothing ever came of their empty threats. Since nobody ever confronted the man, he neglected to clean up his act.

Why did Dalia have to do everything herself? Although, she supposed she wasn’t completely alone this time… she did have a co-conspirator after all.

The night was quiet enough that a gunshot would be heard almost immediately, but since base weapons such as those weren’t really Dahlia or Kristoph’s style anyway she supposed it didn’t matter. Poison was much more attractive, but even the combined power of both their maniacal brains couldn’t think of a way to poison Whitney without having to socially interact with him. Ranged weapons would be most suitable for the crime since the criminals didn’t want to step foot in the pig pen that man called a house, but neither of them knew nearly enough about bows to get reliable results. Kristoph insisted that he would make an excellent archer, but Dahlia knew he wouldn’t have the physical strength to draw the string back.

Eventually the diabolical duo settled on throwing sharp objects at him through his window, which was always open so that birds and bugs were entering Whitney’s house at all times. Whenever Dahlia looked across the street she could see the slob in his living room, asleep in his rocking chair while the television blaring at full volume. No matter where you were in the neighborhood, it was a guarantee you could hear the distant voices of soap operas characters.

The second obstacle in the assassination was transportation. In order to get Whitney in range they would have to push through the wasteland of trash and overgrown wildlife all without making a sound. Dahlia had mapped out the most convenient route after a few minutes of diligent tactical analysis, eventually deducing that the safest and most sanitary way would be to sidle along the gate before slowly creeping through the puddle of ambiguous liquid towards the porch. It wasn’t ideal, but it was what had to be done when the rest of the lawn was covered with towers of trash that could topple at the slightest disturbance, alerting the neighbors and ruining the pair’s outfits all at once.

Once they had arrived at the porch, the trouble became a matter of aiming over the piles of garbage that fortified the house both inside and out. There was a wall of trash that almost completely covered the window so that there was only a small opening for a weapon to fly through, and once it had traveled inside it would require an even greater precision not to skewer it on one of the many magazine stacks that stood between the target and the blade. Even if the weapon did manage to pierce Whitney there was no guarantee that the first injury would be fatal, so they had to be prepared to overcome all those obstacles again to land another blow. There was no way to know how many shots they were going to need, so Kristoph came prepared with his entire steak knife collection, discreetly stored inside his briefcase.

That being said, Dahlia only anticipated she would end up needing five knives at most. She and Kristoph had a dartboard in their room with a picture of Phoenix right on the bull’s-eye, and every night before bed they would both throw a dart each to see who would get the closest to his throat. In their nearly 3 years of living together, Dahlia was leading 881 to 103, and the amount of times she hit the mark exactly was around 20% compared to Kristoph’s measly 7%. Of the two of them, she was undoubtedly the more qualified for the job.

She felt every inch of the hilt as Kristoph slid a knife into her hand, “Let’s see how well you do this time.” His words were a whisper, and the same sadistic and condescending smile he always wore twisting across his face like a snake, “Remember to aim for the neck.”

Dahlia gripped the handle tightly and took aim, although finding a suitable angle was difficult when there was a narrow opening composed of stinking trash blocking her. Kristoph seemed to notice her disgust and reached inside his pocket, pulling out a small glass bottle not unlike the one Dahlia used to wear around her neck. Suddenly, an overpowering cloud of perfume had engulfed her. The flowery aroma was enough to nearly mask the repugnant odor, so she made sure to hiss back at Kristoph to show her appreciation before throwing her first knife.

The blade sliced through the air so quickly even Dahlia herself could hardly process it. She watched as it flew through the air and impaled a stack of papers right beside the sleeping old man, causing the tower to collapse directly on top of him. She heard a yelp as the man woke up and found himself buried by the avalanche of magazines, but she didn’t have time to celebrate just yet. Now that he was protected by layers and layers of pages, piercing his skin was going to be even more of a chore then it already was.

She could already feel the second knife being forcefully placed into her grip by her partner, so she took aim again while the man was still preoccupied with preventing himself from being buried alive. The weapon cut straight through the magazine pages and Dahlia soon noticed red staining a cluster of papers where his nose would be, but she couldn’t be sure the wound was fatal when he was still screaming. She kept her gaze trained on her victim and held out her hand to Kristoph, beckoning for him to supply her with another weapon, but after a few slow-motion seconds of not receiving one she was forced to briefly take her eyes off the prize and see what the delay was about.

Kristoph was preparing to throw a knife of his own. Of course that bastard would try to steal her kill! Before she had a chance to vocalize her betrayal, Whitney had burst out from under a sea of papers, wheezing as the blood flowing from his mouth stained the pages below him. Kristoph didn’t hesitate for a moment, immediately throwing the weapon with a frightening force. As always, his aim was just slightly off the mark and ended up burying itself into the drywall directly behind Whitney, but the blade still managed to tangentially slice the side of the man’s head during its travels. The wound cut deeply enough that blood began to begin dripping from his temple instantaneously, and after a shrill scream Whitney finally dropped to the ground.

“It seems I have won this round, Hawthorne.” Kristoph didn’t give Dahlia a moment to celebrate their accomplishment or to scold him for interfering, “Personally, I believe that should count as 5 points.”

Dahlia’s face twisted in anger, “You didn’t even hit the target! If this was the game you wouldn’t be getting any credit, much less five whole points! Who do you think I am?”

“If you had been paying attention, you might have noticed I did indeed hit the target.” Kristoph smirked, “How else do you explain the blood?”

“You get credit for fatal injuries!” Dahlia was struggling to keep her volume under control, “That was nothing but a flesh wound!”

Kristoph laughed a little too loudly, “Why do you think he went limp as soon as I wounded him? Surely you aren’t going to suggest it’s a coincidence. Clearly it was I who dealt the fatal blow.”

“All your little scratch did was hurry the process along!” Dahlia insisted, “I was the one who killed him! I dealt the killing blow, it just took a moment for him to actually die from it!”

“Can you prove that?” Kristoph’s smugness was reaching critical levels, “We didn’t even see the impact.”

“You would never have been able to hit him if I hadn’t trapped him under those magazines in the first place!” Dahlia could feel herself losing control of her temper, “At least give me credit for that! You know you’re a terrible shot compared to me. You can barely hit a piece of paper on a dartboard, there is no way you would have been able to even touch Whitney if I hadn’t restrained him!”

“So when I miss I’m disqualified, but when you miss it’s suddenly some sort of accomplishment?” Dahlia could see his mouth twitching, “Not that I did miss. But you must admit, your first attack even draw blood.”

“This isn’t about my first shot! All that matters is who killed Whitney!” Kristoph’s eyes were no longer visible behind his glasses, “We may not have seen the knife enter the body, but we did see the blood! If I had missed, he wouldn’t have been bleeding! Not to mention that he must have been bleeding buckets for us to have seen it under all that paper. Clearly I was the one who killed him!”

Before Kristoph could respond, a small and unfamiliar voice echoed from across the yard. The criminals whipped their heads away from each other and saw a short man standing at the front of the gate, eyes wide with terror and whimpering at what he had just witnessed. When Dahlia and Kristoph‘s murderous gaze met his, he was petrified for a moment before letting out a deafening scream and running as fast as he could in the other direction.

How inconvenient. Witnesses were always such a hassle. Dahlia supposed her argument with Kristoph must wait until they got home. She looked over to her partner and saw that he was thinking the same thing.

“We will resolve this later. Right now, we must focus on getting rid of the witness.”

[taco-night-frenzy]

June Journal

It’s time for me to just RAMBLE away again! Good luck!

Gender Time

I had some trans cake today that I found from the grocery store. It was with rainbow cake and they’re labeled “carnival cake” and not pride I guess, which is kind of annoying, but I KNOW the area I live in has a lot of pockets of old white republican people, so I’m SURE they would have complained.

Speaking of, been feeling off and on about being a trans girl. Today’s a bit of an off day. I want to be a girl but I don’t want to do any of the work to ‘pass’ really. I think I’m not too bad at least, but again, I’ve been seeing these republican/trump people around where I live and just... it makes me uncomfortable. 

I don’t even want to post a picture of it, but today we had a truck parked in front of our home covered in all the most stupid bumper stickers like “I’m TRYIN’ to drive this way to PISS you off” and like Fox News stickers and all that typical stuff you see from those people, and I just thought like... These are the type of people that might hassle me. I can’t deal with that. I don’t want these kinds of people here, where I have to worry about what I look like in my own home.

Speaking of my area... here’s a couple of the kind of masks my gf @likes-words-and-shrimp and I like to wear

Masks are coming off

California got rid of our mask mandate everywhere here a little less than a week ago, and EVERYONE is taking them off everywhere and SO quickly. It’s really frustrating. I really like wearing a mask outside. They make me feel comfortable, they hide the hair on my face, some masculine parts of my face, etc. I’m already starting to feel like the odd-one out for wearing a mask and like... they just make me feel comfortable in my gender. I hope I’ll be able to keep wearing them without feeling judged.

Oh yeah it was my birthday

Some stuff I got from girlfriend again. I might have showed it earlier but who cares??

I had Fish Grill which is like my favorite. I just eat Alaskan Salmon and rice and beans and I feel like I could eat it for my whole life.

I’m 31 now and it doesn’t feel like much is different except my back hurts more often...

Had to call my family for it of course, which was stressful. I didn’t call them till like a week later even though they called me on the day. I just didn’t want to talk to them. They don’t know I’m trans and I don’t know if I’ll ever tell them or want to deal with it. When I finally did call, it was... all right. Nothing too bad. They misgender me which sucks, but I’ve never told them, so its not exactly their fault (yet)

my mom complained about people my age as per usual at some point. Like millennials have any money or power to do anything. After the call was over, I felt just off and weird and judged throughout the day and it reminded me why I don’t like calling my family.

PILLS here!

Right, last time I talked about anti-depressants. I got new ones recently and they make me feel a decent bit better. I’ve been taking half a dosage which was OK’d by my psychiatrist if I didn’t like how full made me feel. I think a full dosage actually DOES make me feel emotionally better and less stressed all around!

BUT! I think it also makes my back hurt? Just constant back pain?? I don’t know if this is true or not, it feels like I’m making this up, but when I go back to taking just half a pill again, it seems like my back doesn’t hurt as much?? And half a pill still has good effects on me overall and makes me a lot less anxious I think.

CREATIVE time??

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this a million times, but I’m STILL working on Hotel Wario (the big sequel to my Detective Luigi series) and I’ve only VERY recently starting finally writing it again. I’ll give you a little snippet, AND! I will show you a little surprise I got for it. A preview of a commission I got from @artpghero​

The commission IS done and I look at it almost every day and feel energized into writing more of it! But I don’t want to show the full thing until this longfic is DONE.

Anyways, we’re still sitting at about 74k words here. I’m expecting the finished product to be around 90k, maybe even 100k? Probably not that long, but who knows. I’m really happy with how my creative works are going.

VIDEO GAAAAAAAAMES!

I have been playing video games as you all well know because those are what keep me going. I have a LOT I’ve played and I have feelings for them.

I played and beat Rabi Ribi and I really really liked it! This was a metroidvania that’s MUCH more open for exploring than actual Metroid or Castlevania and its got a cast of EXCLUSIVELY girls. The entire WORLD is cute/sexy anime girls and they are all CANONICALLY gay with each other, so you can be sure this will be one of my favorite games I played this year.

Played a game called Genesis Noir on Game Pass. Pretty neat artsy little point and click. Almost no dialogue. Over in a few hours. Was a cool experience where you just go through trippy and pretty art and try to understand WTF is going on. (The picture is probably gonna look terrible on tumblr, idc)

In the middle of playing Ghost of a Tale on Game Pass right now, and this game has been a GEM for me. I did not know anything about it or what I was getting into, but I really like it. You basically just play as a lil mouse friend and you go exploring this really interesting fantasy world and learning about the lore and characters. It feels like a fantasy book that you get to just sort of meander around in. Not much gameplay to speak of, a bit tedious but I just love the writing and feel of the world and that’s clearly what’s most important in this game. We’ll see how much I keep liking it as time goes on!

OTHER media??

I’m still reading Gideon the Ninth. It’s still cool! I like it. I can’t say anything new about it other than its still gay, its still necromancery, and its still got really cool environments and is still fairly funny. 

As for anime, I’m mostly just watching Slayers now, and I ADORE Slayers. We’re on Slayers Try now, and I just... I love everyone. It’s a good show, it’s good nostalgia, it is just good.

AND UH....

I think that’s good enough for now. I probably talked overly much here, but that’s about the gist of things. Yeah, my life is kind of just going to the grocery store and playing video games and hoping I will write. But it’s been okay. The day itself today has been pretty meh, but like 90% of my days are good and I’m content, and I know for a fact I’ll be feeling better very soon so I’m not too bothered. Thank you pills. Let’s hope they keep working and I keep gettin em.

BYEEEEEEEEEE

[unproduciblesmackdown]

last few prompts

April 28th: If you could give advice to someone who just found out that they are autistic, what advice would you give?

idk that i have any Advice really but more just a Perspective lol, which is along the lines of like, that it's inherently good and helpful to have this language and lens for understanding this aspect of yourself, where it hardly has to necessarily be like "oh if autistic people have this information they can learn how to essentially Be More Allistic" but it's like, maybe prior to realizing you're autistic the most apparent General Pattern re: the situation is these seemingly negative "well what's wrong with Me" ones where other people don't seem to vibe with / Get / like you, and you might be having these difficult experiences that other people don't understand and might react badly to the way you're trying to move through it, or you have these traits / behaviors / tendencies / whatever that again other people dislike or consider Inconvenient or unsympathetic but you can't exactly shake them, And Such, basically like, you'll have Been autistic the whole time but what's most noticeable might be ways other people react negatively to you and/or how you might be having these negative experiences but seemingly the best thing to do is try to make them invisible to other people b/c you Can't expect help/support but Can expect people to react to this as you just being Weird / Difficult / Unreasonable, where basically the Negative Experience of allistic people's reaction to / treatment of you has to be compounded into another Negative Experience when the only way you can really understand that situation is "i guess something's wrong with me and the only way this can improve is if i manage to Act Right / Be Normal or whatever," which of course you can't, even when people can mask hard / a lot. and The Point here kind of is that having this different understanding of what's going on, even if it's hardly guaranteed to somehow be the key to navigating the world in an Ideal Way without any of the negative experiences of allistic people being what's "normal" and what situations you have to deal with because of it, you don't then have to have that Compounding of those less than ideal experiences where you don't really have any option but blame yourself or any "solution" but to try to Be Normal, which doesn't work, but you know. just knowing like "oh okay, i'm autistic, and now here's all this information / discussion of that experience via other people who share it" which can lead to that whole shift in your relationship with yourself and your understanding of what's even going on in your experiences and relationship with Other People in general that doesn't have to be that dead end of like, the only way to understand what's going on is one where you beat yourself up further over whatever experience involved other people (or situations engineered for/around other people) beating you up. 

saw a quote from an autistic person the other day (about being both autistic and trans) along the lines of like, "if everyone hates me already, i may as well be happier with myself" re: having that better relationship with / understanding of yourself regardless of how it affects your relationship with Everyone Else really. and personally i'd sure like, be thinking at times like, i guess it's on me to figure out how to Be Likable / connect with others better or whatever, and you know, not like everyone doesn't always have to think about How they interact with others in whatever way, and that awareness / possible conscious efforts/changes in that regard are sure hardly bad, but when it's about stuff like trying to be allistic when you're not, cishet when you're not, and such, that's not going to actually lead to anything better. and realizing i'm autistic and how i've been able to learn about that (including plenty of "oh of course i already Knew About this sort of experience, but never heard it discussed at all / from this perspective" ways) sure has been a Positive Factor which yknow. hasn't led to me like oh nice finally i have all these friends and connect with / am understood by people / have The Normal Experience now or whatever, and yknow, trying to be "likable" and Connect Normally or whatever pretty much is just an unhappy experience, whereas it's always solidly positive to simply be like, oh epic, yeah i'm recognizing yet another aspect of my life that before was only just like, well i'm hearing about what's supposedly Normal for Everyone but that's not really how it is for me, and there's nothing more to work with than that, so it's seemingly just another point of alienation / isolation / something that's an obstacle to being treated normally or whatever. while also that, yknow, in Not trying to be Likable / Personable / Accepted / Etc Whatever the Normal Way, that also meant just like, yeah it sucks being isolated no matter what but sometimes that's how it is and you can at least have that improved relationship with yourself and a way of moving through the world / your life that doesn't put more of this unnecessary strain / effort / drain on you for no reward, and like, you don't have to talk yourself into whatever connection with anyone who seems willing to talk to you, or have it be this whole Performance where you can't be yourself anyways, or write off your own boundaries or whatever helps you be comfortable as simply unreasonable or counterproductive or whatever, so that's also good, namely, Less Bad.....the real distillation being that, regardless of whether understanding yourself better as an autistic person improves Interpersonal/Social Situations for you, it's automatically better to have this improved perspective on your own experiences and improved relationship with yourself

April 29th: How do you feel about shoes? Are they good sensory? Bad sensory? Are there certain types of shoes that you find more or less comfortable? Do you struggle with replacing shoes when they’re worn out?

it kind of depends, but i think generally i always find closed toed shoes to be kind of a hassle and less comfortable than like, sandals that are most just the soles strapped to your feet in whatever way, although i'll yknow, use closed toed shoes for whatever Practical Advantage they might afford, and usually like, if they're comfortable enough i might not be super bothered, but between the potential they feel too tight or whatever and like, socks not always being all that comfortable, it feels kind of similar to other potential Clothes Issues i have where a lot of the discomfort can just come from like, i don't like the awareness of whatever right against your skin, like, just more sensitive to that Pressure as well as Texture i guess, so while those elements can be like hell yeah an enjoyable stim experience, other times it's like, this shirt collar is too small / close to the neck, this Texture isn't soft enough, i gotta push up long sleeves to not be against the wrists / sliding down the forearms / getting in the way of bending my elbows, i don't want any shirt to be like, great news, this is gonna bunch up under your armpits / at the elbows, i prefer short sleeves to long, or sleeveless even, or shorts to longer pants, or sandals to sneakers........but beyond that i've never been too particular about shoes, like, have generally been kind of limited in options like. what shoes are here even in my size, and from there it's sort of like yeah i'm looking for comfort here but for me it hasn't had to be a huge deal, but that's also in part just b/c i never really replaced shoes too frequently and yeah it was like "well if it works i'll just wear these shoes until they don't fit / they're worn out" or whatever

April 30th: What would you like your overall message for autism acceptance month to be?

idk things that other people are saying already & better, but you know, that idk if you know you're autistic, genuine congratulations, and that knowledge doesn't have to be "ideally" treated like it's beside the point or best ignored or whatever, i.e. even if it's like "well i haven't really paid attention to that potential lens on my life / identity and i've been making it through so far," that's no reason to Not learn about whatever or connect with other people, even though it's like, the seeming message is always like "wow the more Not autistic people can be, the better" where it might apparently be extrapolated that, if you're autistic, the less relevant you regard it the better. which kind of leads into you know, the Acceptance part of things, accepting that autistic people always exist, it's nothing inherently bad, it's not a disease (where people need to be "cured" and they aren't autistic, they just Have autism and it can and should be separated from them, we can and should make people less autistic, there can and should be less autistic people, ideally none), it doesn't make anyone less human / reduce their humanity / worse as a person or anything like that, there's inherent value and joy in every individual's existence, and re: whatever seems to be a negative about being autistic it's like, actually examining and interrogating that, What does that negative effect stem from, how are people regarding and treating autistic people, what kind of support are autistic people getting or not getting. and you know, re: allistic people, just a great basic step to stop listening to allistic people talking about being autistic over what autistic people are saying, and like, even if you consider like "yeah okay i think autistic people should get to exist and possibly also that being autistic isn't inherently bad" like, also to think about how Supporting this perspective could actually play out in theory / in practice. 

just as a p.s. to everything like well naturally didn't keep pace with these prompts Day To Day lmao but i enjoyed it, as time goes on i learn And talk more about being autistic pretty steadily lol, including just during this month, feels relevant to that first prompt in this post lmao like This Particular Exercise just mostly talking to myself with the highfives from a couple ppl i've already interacted more with, and it's always helpful to have it broken down into more particular questions vs it just being like "well gosh where to even start" or, you know, that i wouldn't've posted any of this stuff Unprompted, which, god forbid lmao but like i said i've enjoyed it at least and it's helpful to even casually try to kinda shake things out and put it into words, even though i will do so v verbosely and not too coherently, we don't have all day or an editor where this stuff can be honed down for no particular reason.......anyways yeah glad to talk about things. shoutout to autistic pride day eventually on june 18th

[flipomatic]

Internship Chapter 4: Day 1 - Amity

Author Note: The first Amity chapter is here. As a note this fic will have lumity in it, but lumity is not the primary focus of Amity’s story.

First Chapter Previous Chapter

___________________________________________________________

Amity was enjoying the sunny Monday afternoon as she walked home from school. Hexside had been quite quiet with the absence of the two oldest grades, but that just meant it was easier to walk through the crowded halls. Her siblings’ absence also meant far less pranks being committed. Amity had recently gotten cast removed from her ankle, so she could go to school full time again.

The biggest topic at school was the new internship program that had pulled the upperclassmen away. Amity had discussed it with Luz that morning, how Em was going to the Illusion Coven while Ed was going to the Emperor’s Coven. They both wondered what was happening in the Emperor’s Coven now that Lilith was no longer the coven leader, and what kind of impact that would have on the coven moving forward.

Hopefully Ed would still have a good internship with them, though he was not excited about it. In fact, he had complained loudly all weekend about having to go, and had left the house very slowly that morning. Em hadn’t expressed much excitement either, but she didn’t seem to dread the upcoming experience like Ed did.

Amity tried to put those worries out of her mind as she arrived home and entered the Blight manor. She wondered if either of her siblings were home yet. They could be pretty loud, or silent depending what they were doing, but she didn’t hear anything upon entering the house.

When she walked through the house, towards the stairs, she could hear her mother and father talking in the study. They talked in sharp tones as usual, though their words were too muffled by the walls to hear. Amity moved past without stopping to speak with them.

When she reached the stairs, Amity glanced briefly out the window. She turned to walk up the steps, but had to stop and look back again at the view outside. She had spotted an unusual flash of green out in the grass, a lighter shade than the surrounding area. On longer inspection, it appeared to be Em laying in the sun.

Amity smiled, happy to see Em already home for the day. Em had been more optimistic than Ed about the internship, though her current posture implied that it hadn’t gone well. Amity changed course, turning to head towards the back door.

When she made it outside, Amity walked over to where Em laid in the grass. She was lying face up, eyes closed with arms and legs spread to catch more sun. When Amity was close her shadow covered Em’s face, prompting her to open her eyes.

“Oh hey, how was school?” Em asked without moving, only her eyes following Amity.

Amity sat down in the grass next to her. “Pretty uneventful.” She answered, stretching her legs out in the grass in front of her. The sun did feel nice on them, even over her leggings.

Em turned her head towards her. “The school didn’t implode without us?”

“Not yet.” Amity chuckled, remembering how calm things had been. “Any day now though.”

Em laughed as she sat up, pausing to brush grass off her back and arms. “How’s your ankle holding up with walking to school?” That had been a concern when she got the cast off, that the distance to Hexside was too far to be walking on it.

“It hasn’t been hurting.” Amity reported, glancing down at the leg in question. She was lucky that it healed as cleanly as it did.

“Great.” Em smiled, though she still looked tired.

Amity changed the subject away from herself. “How was your first day at the coven?” She was curious; she didn’t know much about the illusion coven.

Em’s expression immediately fell, a frown taking over her face. “It started ok, but then it was absolutely terrible.” She scoffed. “They’re not taking me seriously at all.”

“What do you mean?” Amity scrunched her brow as she asked.

“I just followed the coven leader around all day and watched him work. It was super boring, even worse than school.” Em waved her arms for emphasis, complaining loudly. “If I wanted to watch half baked illusion magic, I’d go to a show, not work at the coven.” She ended with a huff.

It must’ve been really bad if she thought it was worse than school. “That’s surprising.” Amity replied with a frown. “Hopefully they’ll give you some real work.”

“I hope so too.” Em sighed, crossing her arms. “Or it’ll be a very long month.”

The two sisters talked for a while longer, about the coven leader and the exact degree of boredom Em reached that day. So far, it sounded like her internship was going poorly. If all she could do was watch, she wouldn’t have a chance to hone her magic. Ironically, if it were Ed in that situation he would’ve been thrilled.

After a few more minutes, Amity stood to go inside. “I’ve got homework to do.” Amity said as she brushed the grass from her pants.

“I’ll just lay here; it’s working well for me.” Emira collapsed back onto the ground, returning to the position Amity found her in. She closed her eyes before Amity turned away to return to the house.

When Amity reached the door, she double checked that there were no bits of grass or dirt stuck to her clothes. She would be scolded if she tracked dirt into the house, and it just wasn’t worth the hassle. She didn’t find any, so she re-entered her home.

Then Amity went back on her path from before, moving to climb the stairs. She passed by Ed’s room, but the door was open and it looked like he wasn’t home yet. She wanted to hear how his day went too, but for a totally different reason than with Em.

When Amity reached her room she went inside and closed the door, ready to work on her homework. She had a couple assignments to work on, which would take a couple hours. She sat down at her desk and took out the first assignment, putting thoughts of internships aside for the time being.

For the next half hour, Amity focused on her work. She was writing about the different compositions of abominations and how changing the ingredients could give them different abilities. It was an interesting topic, but one she hadn’t dabbled much in.

Amity had just finished her third paragraph when she heard a loud thud, the sound echoing through the house. It sounded like it came from upstairs, not too far from her room. Was Ed home?

Putting down her pen, Amity stood to go check. When she reached the hallway, she saw that she was correct. Ed’s door, which had been open before, was now closed. He had likely slammed it shut when he arrived, which wasn’t a great sign.

Amity should’ve just gone back to her homework, since she still had a lot to finish, but she was too curious about how his day went. She hoped to join the Emperor’s Coven someday, and Ed was spending four whole weeks there.

There was also the question of who was running the coven now, since Lilith was gone. Amity was dying to know that too.

Unable to resist, Amity walked down the hall to his door. She knocked on it twice, and waited for a response.

About thirty seconds later, Ed pulled the door open. He was dressed in the black and grey uniform of the Emperor’s Coven, but wasn’t wearing the cloak or mask. His light green hair was more disheveled than usual, probably from wearing the hood all day. Other than that, he looked unharmed but tired.

“Hey, what’s up?” He asked, leaning against the door frame.

“How was it? Did you catch any criminals?” Amity asked the two questions rapidly, her excitement getting away from her. She mentally pulled herself back, reminded herself to be cool.

Ed’s expression immediately soured. “It was the worst, and no, I didn’t.” He stepped back from the door, waving for her to come into the room.

Amity entered, closing the door behind her. Their parents had good ears. “What did they have you doing?” She asked, still more eager sounding than she intended.

“Just following a patrol in this awful uniform for literally hours. My feet will never forgive me.” Ed scowled, pointing down at his feet dramatically. Amity quite liked the Emperor’s Coven uniform, but now wasn’t the time to mention that. “How were things at school?”

It was funny, since Em had asked a similar question. “Quiet without you.” Amity replied.

“I would rather be there tomorrow than back on patrol.” Ed grumbled, walking over to his desk. The coven mask was placed there, along with the cloak. “I don’t know how they run around in these masks all the time, honestly.”

Oh, Amity knew something about that. “I heard they use a spell to make it easier to see.” She had seen that in a pamphlet for the coven once.

This drew Ed’s eyes back to her, finally with a spark of interest. “What spell do they use?”

Amity shook her head. “I don’t know, you should ask them tomorrow.”

“Guess I’ll have to.” Ed chuckled lowly, a forced sound. “Or I’ll trip over my own feet on the chase. It would be funny though, if it happened.”

Amity smiled at the mental image that provided. “Did you meet the new coven leader?” She asked, bringing the topic to something else she very much wanted to know.

Unfortunately, Ed shook his head no. “I met Kikimora and a few patrol witches, but didn’t see a coven leader.”

“I guess they wouldn’t visit the jail branch regularly.” Amity mused, bringing one hand up to her chin. “Or they haven’t promoted someone yet.”

“I think it’s the second one.” Ed chimed in. He turned back towards the desk, and then reached forward and batted the mask off the side of the table, causing it to fall to the floor with a light thunk. As expected, it was undamaged. “After the internship, I’m burying this in the yard.”

That drew a laugh from Amity. “Only if you don’t get caught.” Their mother would be so angry if she saw him doing that. Both because of what he was burying and where he was trying to bury it.

“With Em’s help, we can do it.” Ed said as he turned back to her with a straight face, deadly serious. Amity believed him; the two of them were extremely skilled in illusion magic. Their parents often couldn’t see through their tricks, which had been quite frustrating for Amity in the past.

“Good luck with that.” Amity chuckled. “I should get back to my room, lots of homework to do still.” She opened the door, getting ready to leave.

“That’s one perk I guess. I don’t miss homework, not one bit.” Ed said, picking his mask up off the floor. “Later then.”

Amity waved once, then left the room. She shut the door behind her and walked back down the hallway to her room. When she went inside, her abomination assignment was waiting right where she left it.

Unfortunately, it was hard to get refocused on it. She couldn’t stop thinking about the covens her siblings were interning at, the experiences they had on their first day.

Amity had always been excited about someday joining the Emperor’s Coven, but with Em not making the internship that meant Amity might not make it too. She knew there was always a chance of that, but honestly thought she would make it in if she worked hard. Em didn’t work hard, but she was one of the most skilled witches Amity knew. She had better focus than Ed and could make some amazing layered spells. Not that Amity had told her that; she had trouble expressing those kinds of things.

Ed wasn’t bad at magic of course, the opposite was true. He was quite skilled, but lacked the patience and persistence to truly shine.

If Em didn’t make it, what were her odds? Yes, Amity worked very hard to improve her magic, but she wasn’t nearly as naturally skilled as her siblings. This was just an internship for now, but it could turn into coven membership offers later. It was a big deal and was freaking Amity out.

She hadn’t even written another sentence on her assignment, instead she was just sitting there thinking.

Another train of thought was that both of her siblings hated their first day on the job. Amity had read all of the pamphlets about the Emperor’s Coven, but she didn’t know much about the workings of the rest. Even the abomination coven, which was run by her mother and was also her track in school, she knew minimum details. At the covention, she didn’t spend time looking at other covens. She was always so focused on the grand prize, she never dug into her second option.

It was certainly something to think about over the next few weeks.

Next Chapter

[lanaisnotwool]

397 Financial Collapse from Scarcity

Visit:

http://moneyripples.com/2020/06/11/397-financial-collapse-from-scarcity/

Listen to our Podcast:

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/moneyripples/2020/05/07/397--what-is-causing-a-financial-collapse

Hello, my fellow Ripplers! This is Chris Miles. Your Cash flow Expert and Anti-financial Advisor. Welcome you out for another show. It's for you and about you. Those who work so hard for your money, and if you're ready for your money, start working harder for you now. You want that freedom. That cash flow. That prosperity today. Not 30 or 40 years from now, but right now. So you work because you want to. So you can do what you love. With those you love whenever you want to. But it's more than just your own fun and comfort and convenience and becoming rich and things like that. We're not talking about driving extravagant cars and yachts and airplanes and things like that. We're talking about having a life that really has meaning. A life of freedom and prosperity for yourself and your family that creates a legacy beyond you. A legacy of abundance and prosperity, not of scarcity.But even more so, it creates a ripple effect through the community and the lives of those that you touch. That you're allowed to bless more lives because you are a Rippler. Out there creating a ripple effect by doing good in the world. You guys, we need more of you than ever. And I'm so excited to be on this bandwagon with you guys, be able to join it on this cause. To be a ripple or to create a ripple effect through you. And I can't tell you how grateful I am that you guys have been a part of this movement. Again, not just because you guys are listening to the show. And I see that the show is growing every week, but on top of that, it's actually incredible to see and hearing the stories you guys come out with.You know, like when I hear people say, Hey, just listen to your show. I found 2000 a month. Or, Hey Chris, like, Hey, I'm starting to do some of these things right now. And I'm now creating a ripple effect. Or, I'm teaching my kids and, and that kind of stuff lights me up guys, because all the pain and the hassle that I went through for years, right? Especially during the last recession. You know, all that time. I remember thinking, man, all this pain I'm going through being over a million dollars in debt, you know, learning how to retire twice. They do it a second time to make it work again. Make sure that these principles are proven to be true. And I remember thinking, if I could just help one person because of the things I'm going through, that would be worth it. And guys, you guys are into the thousands and tens of thousands. And I know this ripple effects gone way beyond that too. And so I'm grateful to be a part of this. Thank you so much.Hey, as quick reminder, check out our website, MoneyRipples.com. There's good stuff on there. Check it out.Okay. Today guys, like I know I just kinda went on a little gratitude rant and I hope you don't mind because I am grateful for you guys. But I want to talk about things that have been on my mind lately, especially with everything going on. Right? You know, the thing I see that there's so many, so much speculation, so many people are like, they want like, you know, a prophet to come out and say, here's what's going to happen. Right? Here's what's going to happen with this or with that or whatever, and sure I've got some things right. Like things that I've been saying that come true. Even when I've talked about before I said, Hey guys, get those lines of credit open and get the cash out now.Wells Fargo just last week announced they're shutting down lines of credit, like including home equity lines of credit. Bank of America said the same thing. The bigger banks already doing it and guaranteed the smaller banks will file a suit. Right? Those are things that I've said. But I want to go deeper. I want to go into, what's really the danger here because everybody's talking about a stupid virus, you know, and they're talking about this and that. And yeah, I get it. It's rough and it's not nice. You know, it's not pleasant, especially for some people, you know, I'll tell you though, prosperity can never be lived in fear. You cannot expect to live in fear and prosper and be abundant. You can't be an abundant when you have feared scarcity in your life. Fear and scarcity and doubt, and all these things only drives money away from you. Drives prosperity away for you.You want to talk about prosperity guys. I'm not just talking about making a lot of money. I'm mostly talking about happiness, joy, meaningful relationships in your life with your family or loved ones, you know, mental health, right? All of these things are part of the same whole. These are true principles. Whether you want them to work or not, they work. So even if you say, Hey, I don't believe in them. It doesn't matter. They're going to work anyways, or they're going to work against you either way. And so there's something that I fear a lot more than a virus right now. In fact, honestly the virus to me is not that scary. You know, I know some of you guys will be ticked by me saying that, I'm sorry. You know, I'll come out and say it. I don't wear masks because I don't feel the need to. Plus there's nobody really around me anyways.So, other than my family, my 5 million kids. Right. But the truth is I'm not going out in public that much anyways. But you know what? I choose not to live in that fear. Now, that doesn't mean I don't respect. And I want people to be kept safe. Especially if they're older, they're immune to compromise. I get that. But here's the thing guys, is that when it comes to prosperity, you cannot live a life hiding. You cannot live your life. Just hunkered down in a hole. I have friends in Spain right now. Guys. I got friends in Spain right now that have been quarantined for months. For over a month and a half now. And guess what? The numbers are barely started to decrease. It didn't take two weeks. Remember, we're suppose to be two weeks in quarantine and then we're supposed to be fine, right? It didn't take that much time, but now there's more fear going on.Now. Finally, they're actually able to go on little walks without a dog. They can go more than 10 meters away from their house now, but only for a few hours, like for an hour or two a day, you know, that's it. And that's going to get better. But guys, the thing that's in a danger or country is not a virus. It's not about whether or not you're going outside with a mask or not. That's not what's in trouble right now. The true thing that's the trouble is SCARCITY. As I said, scarcity drives away money. It drives away resource. It drives away happiness, joy. It drives away people. That scarcity is a disease. That is a virus that keeps coming back. And it has been since the beginning of time. That is something that's destroying much, much more. It's destroying governments. It's destroying jobs. It's destroying people.People are giving into scarcity. There's more people dying here in the state of Utah from suicides. Of the increased number of suicides and our deaths from a virus, right? There's way more deaths from that. From drug overdoses and things of that nature. Guys, the real thing that kills us, the real scare here is OUR MINDS. You know, and I'll tell you, there's two primary things with scarcity that I'm worried about. One is a concept called learned helplessness. Now I remember taking my psychology classes in college and maybe you guys did too, is that they did a study. They said, all right, we're going to take a dog. Right. And this is back before, before we had PETA, right? This is back before those days when they protected animals, but they took a dog and they had a floor and there was a little separation between the two floors, right?So one side they could have electrified. So they had like a little kind of cage that they could electrify the floor. On the other side of this little mini wall, is this like a short little wall that you could hop over. There's another side of that electrocute as well. So of course they won't, just like with Pavlov's experiment with ringing the bell, they said, Hey, let's see what happens if we shocked the floor. So they shock floor in the dog. And naturally the dog jumps over to the other side to get relief. It wants to avoid the pain. They said, all right, we'll shock. The other side. He was shocked the other side and jumped right back over. They said, look at this, we're manipulating a dog. Look, what a bunch of chipped bullies.So anyways, they started doing this and then they said, Hey, let's test this out. What would happen if we shock both sides at the same time? So kind of the "Dang if you do, Dang if you don't" that scenario. Right? So they shocked both sides. The dog hops over realized that shocked over. It hops back over again, hops back, back and forth a few times. And after realizes that no matter where it goes, it's going to be shocked. It went to a corner and it started penal over itself. It got to a point where it said, why should I keep jumping? And so it stopped. And it just sat there shivering, right? Obviously this is really cruel treatment. It makes you feel for the dog obviously, or the dogs. They probably I'm sure they did some more than one. So anyways, that concept that came out of that was called learned helplessness, which comes from the whole "Dang if you do, Dang if you don't" right? I'm editing this to keep this PG.But that's true. What it truly is, is it's trying to say that many cases, we think if there's no hope, right? There's no way out, many guys might feel this way about your own money. Anyways, some of you guys might be thinking, Hey, I just started going ahead. And then all this crap hits the fan and now I'm right back in a struggle. Right? And I get that, you know, some of you thinking like, Oh, I was just about to retire and then bam! There went my stocks, you know, they're on my mutual funds. Right? And all that kind of stuff.That's the kind of thing we're talking about with learned helplessness is that when people start to believe that no matter what they do, when no matter what choice they make, they're doomed. That they're doomed to a life of misery or the doom to a life of lack. You know, lack of money, lack of joy, lack of time, whatever that might be. That is what I mean by learn helplessness. That right there guys, there's a lot of that happening right now. People think, Oh, we just came out of recession, you know, over a decade ago, now we're going into another one, possibly even a depression. What's the use, right? And when people get depressed, they start doing crazy things. We've already seen this, right. We've already seen some craziness happen. I mean, you know, you're hearing stories about people clapping for their balconies when people get arrested on the streets because they want out, you know, we get that. I get why you'd feel that way, you know? But we start to realize that, you know, when you get into a weird place, especially when it's a place of scarcity, when you're feel like there's a scarce amount of freedom, right? There's a scarce amount of time or scarce amount of resources or whatever it might be. Scarce amount of air to breathe, right? Whatever that might be like, that's where you start to have issues. And that's when you start to make really bad decisions.Guys, I was this way, even just in the last recession, I was thinking like, man, no matter what I'm doing, it used to be. I thought, whatever I touched turned to gold. But then when I got humbled. By the other circumstances, I started thinking, man, no matter what I do, it seems like I'm failing. And that's a bad, deep, dark place to be in. Like, I remember just being in that place thinking, Oh my goodness, how am I going to get out of this mess? Right. And that's a hard place to be. So be aware of that. The other one I would be aware of now is also entitlement.Entitlement is very much a scarcity driven type of emotion and belief even, right? We're already seeing this right now. Like there's a family member that recently absolutely despises government money. And so he got a stimulus check, right? You know, I wasn't fortunate to get a stimulus check, but that's fine. You know, but he got a stimulus check and he's like, Oh! I hate that. They sent me this check. And then when he was asked, are you going to give it back to the government? He's like, Oh no, no, I'm going to spend it. And there's a lot of people thinking that somehow the government should bill them out. Like they are somehow responsible for the freedom or have even the key to their freedom. And so they start thinking they're entitled to it. Hey, you know what? I'm entitled that somebody should pay my rent for me because I didn't do this.This isn't my fault. Guys, life happens. You're not entitled to squat. You don't deserve anything. The only thing you deserve is to align yourself with principles, follow them and then accept the consequence. Good or bad. So for example, you know, like I know that if I create value for people inevitably prosperity follows, you know, and it's not just money, you know, sometimes it's appreciation sometimes it's love, you know, other times it's just, you know, the fact that the joy that I have, that I know I'm blessing lives, that personal fulfillment, right? There's lots of ways you can get paid from creating value. That is true principle. And always has been, always, will be since the beginning of time and will be till the end of time, right? Those kinds of things are true. I'm not entitled to anything. I just create as much karma as I can in my favor.And then I let the principals govern and the consequences follow. That's all it is guys. It's purely just about that. It's how we let those consequences follow, doing good, doing, you know, following your line, yourselves, the principles. When I violate principles, especially if it's consistent, I will get a result. The results usually not prosperity. It's usually in becoming impoverished. You know, that's the thing. And that's why you always got to check yourself with the emotions and the belief that you have. Guys. You're not entitled to give them money. In fact, the one thing I'm worried about is that when people start becoming entitled to that money, then they believe that somehow people got bailed them out and they stop producing. They stop being creators. They start becoming consumers and creators are what drives this economy. You want anything to be resolved? If you want true prosperity for a whole society, we've got to go from a place of consumerism, to a place of being a creator. We gotta be in a creative mindset. Otherwise it doesn't work.So guys, that's my thing. I want you guys to really take this in depth. Avoid the entitlement, avoid feeling helpless because there always is hope. I am telling you guys there's many of us prospering right now. Not because we're just got lucky, but because we follow and align ourselves with principles. You do that. You become a master and a student of those principles. And many of these episodes in the show talk about many of them. If you do that prosperity will inevitably follow, one way or the other. And I remember it happened to me in 2009, August, 2009. I remember I released myself. I said, God, I submit myself to you. I know that I've been going through this for the last year and a half the struggle. Right? Really. It felt like the last two years I was going through that struggle of scarcity.And I finally just said, listen, I know these principles work. They're from you. I'll just follow them. I don't care if it takes 20 years, I will keep following these principles so that I know they have to work. And you know what happened, guys? It was after I got to that place of submission, that place where I was able to just say, you know what, I'm okay. I'm going to keep doing what I know is right. And let the consequence follow. That is exactly when by October, just two months later, that's when everything turned around for me and I started to pull myself out of that hole. Guys, these things work get to a place of hope, get to a place of abundance and prosperity and watch what will happen. Your life will be drastically different than the lives of those out there. And around you in the world today, if the world could just hold onto this and truly grasp this. Guys, most of these problems that are in the media right now, the media wouldn't have that much to report. They would just come up with crap, which they already do anyways. But guys give them something new to report on. Do and be something better. That is my challenge for you guys today. I hope we make it a wonderful and prosperous week. We'll see you later.

[unikornu]

Page 10, Roughed up 

Gage barely slept deeply and as oppose to Lucy who struggled with hangover from too much moonshine and spinning around last night he knew when to stop to first, avoid a bigass headache and two, not end up doing something he would regret although temptation was so strong he was still smiling a bit under his nose while setting up a terrarium for his new future puppet. Even if still just an egg he was very dedicated to create a safe space for it, carefully taking each pebble and piece of moss he gathered around, with small steel tongs, sticking his tongue out, concentrating like he was about to disharm a nuclear bomb. The early morning silence was disturbed by a sound of something or someone hitting the floor. 

It was Lucy, reaching the edge of bed while rolling on the other side.  

-Morning, Boss…hope ya ready for another bloody walk into the park. She crawled out and pulled herself up slowly, her hair all messed up, realizing she is wearing just underwear only after she walked down to the bar. 

-So early? Huh..wait shit, did we…last night…? She mumbled, looking in a hurry across the room for her clothes and armor, grabbing a bottle of water on a way and drinking it all in one go, almost choking. 

-Fuck? No no…Boss..it was pretty close..but you didn’t stop at that one shot and u were the one actually embarassing yourself after, on the bar, trying to do some crazy strip show knocking everything over and then you slipped and knocked yourself out. He was grinning, almost laughing thinking back and seeing her eyes widen up as he was catching her up with the last night.  

-Oooookay….lets just…get to work, ugh. She coughed and dressed herself up in a rush. -What is our next target? Buffalos, gunners, ants, cmon, surprise me. She approached him curiously, sitting at the desk setting up the tiniest of tiny sticks in the terrarium, cheweing up on fancy snack she snatched from the counter. 

-Well…nothing fancy Boss, ghouls but the place is pretty dangerous even without them…fucking radiation. He put down the tools and started preparing himself. 

-I see…well our latest find might help us there. It’s finally repaired and powered up too. Her eyes turned to a red suit of power armor. 

-About damn time, Boss. Raider grabbed himself a gas mask and stuffed his pockets with Rad-x. 

-Ready up your sweet ass Boss, it’s your turn with the armor.

-----

They entered the park , Kiddie Kingdom, only the heavy echo of her steps could be heard throughout the green radiated air. 

-Can’t say i dislike it…not at all. She looked down at him and gave him a strong pat on the back that pushed him a whole step forward. 

-Ough, keep it on Boss and before we reach the castle i’m gonna pull that fusion core out of you myself, jezz. He looked at her shaking his head and reloaded his rifle. Oswald was keeping them on their toes as they reached the deeper parts of the park. Ghouls were swarming from under every pile of garbage and they were no ordinary ghouls, stronger, faster and more ridiciolously looking with all that paint splattered over them. So far there were proving only a small annoyance along with all the gas clouds obscuring their view. 

-Hey, Gage! Wanna have some fun? I’m sure you could use some since last night. And i bet we can find this green fucker there too. Lucy pointed at the building “Fun House” not so far and punched a ghoul that was sneaking behind raider’s back. 

-Ye sure…i really didn’t have enough of it as it is, crap… let’s go. The place proved to be more of a creation jester’s death trap with all crazy labirynth’s and spinning illusions. Gage wasn’t fond of it, his face almost stoned and Lucy couldn’t handle the spinning too wheel, almost puking in the power armor. They arrived to the last room, spinning this time, filled with ghouls. They both agreed on the best course of action in this case. Bunch of grenades flew through the small opening of the door and with all the room movement they bounced and spreaded out in all directions causing a total mayhem of flying guts and body parts. When the smoke went down they entered with confidence that was all of it but they forgot one last thing. The room was still spinning and so they did with it. Lucy struggled to keep the weight of her armor in balance and slowly moved towards the door that hopefully were leading to the ghoulish leader. 

-Not bad but i have more tricks for you ha ha, we shall see if you survive them you morons. As the voice went off the speakers the room abruptly stopped it movement, causing a chain reaction and impact that sent Lucy forward pushing Gage to the wall, almost flattening him into a pastry. 

-Fuck! Gage you okay? He remained stunned for a few seconds but pulled himself together right away swearing under his nose about all the fun he had so far and how he’s gonna stuck Lucy’s fusion core into Oswald’s ass. They headed up to scour the terminal room and walked outside. Next destination was the castle itself but they figured out that the best route would lead through the worker’s tunnels to avoid more hastle with gas and other obstacles.

------

The trail route towards the tunnels wasn’t proving to be as easy as they expected, with cars approaching them at high speed it could damage her man or worse…throw him into the air like a puppet so she focused on keeping an eye on those while Gage was taking down any remaining ghouls with his rifle. After smashing him to the wall not so long ago she felt a bit guilty and took a more serious approach and concentrated on the task. As they arrived to the entrance a charred bulky ghoul sneaked up from behind the pillar and brutally pushed itself on Gage, landing with him back on trails path. Two cars were approaching immediatly at the lighting speed. 

-Shit, Gage watch out!. Lucy put herself in front of him, smashing the ghoul’s head with the heavy metalic foot and threw the raider to the side. She turned back to the cars, her face expression under the helmet saddened knowing what’s coming in a brief moment. 

-Well..shit. There was no time for anything else. She put her both hands on car’s bonnet and pushed her legs into the ground as strong as she could to not get thrown off by the impact. She slided backwards roughly, her metal foot parts leaving the sparks behind from brushing off the trails. As she reached out the end of tunnel she pushed herself to the side, landing hardly on the ground and rolling over. Gage looked from behind the wall eyeballing the tunnels end and shouted her name. -I’m….okay!, I’m coming, oh man….. She raised her hand to check if all the functions remained, some parts got damaged but it was still at almost half power running up. She gathered herself togther and joined up with Gage. 

-And just when i thought you couldn’t get more badass eh? She shrugged but he finally softened his face expression by an inch. They headed down the stairs and sneaked up on the Oswald, discussing another steps of his plan and dissapering shortly after. The source of all the gas was finally found and stopped. Gage still decided to keep his mask on since any remains of radiation still remained in air and were evaporeting from the corpses. 

-I will go first Gage, we don’t know what else he can still throw at us. Upon approaching the castle main gate two rockets exploded right in front of her, sending another scraps of her armor flying. One of them flew right past his head but he didn’t move a milimetr remaining calm as always.  

-Would be great if you wouldn’t arrive naked up there. Last push Boss, let’s get this shit over with.

------

After the short hassle with Oswald and his friends at the theatre they entered the elevator. Last checks on rifle, grenades, power armor holding up to the last twenty procent but enough to beat the guy to a plum in return. Upon arriving to the tower and short conversation with the irridated ghoul Lucy knew she couldn’t let him live. Rachel, the Oswald beloved was dead, cure didn’t exist and she wouldn’t dare to see all the ghouls in Nuka World to be revived again and swarm the Town. It was their last stand, right there on the highest tower in the castle.

  -It is our home and we gonna defend it! Oswald released a green shiny wave spreading from him outwards and his companions began to swarm the place one by one. Lucy turned and approached him, pushing the blade into ghoul’s chest but he dissapered into a cloud smoke right when she thought it would be that easy. Gage was covering her with bullet rain from any other rotten ghouls trying to reach her from the cover. Oswald reappeared shortly behind her, the rough egde of his sword piercing through the chest of her armor. It was no ordinary sword, she could feel the teeth of it ripping her skin under the ribs. She hissed, biting her lips to the blood but managed to block the next incoming thrusts, the metalic structrure cracking at impact. As the Oswald was getting weaker with ongoing fight the amount of his companions was becoming bigger. She kicked their leader back, snatching the sword from his hand at last. Before he could use his trick one more time the fountian of blood flew from his throat. The wide swing of the sword almost took his whole head off but it was enough to take him down at last. 

-Sorry, but you could be too dangerous for our plans. I hope you find some peace on the other side. Oswald managed to catch her words before letting the last breath out and smiled at the thought that maybe he can finally rest, with someone precious to him, on the other side. The ghouls raged on their leader death, they all turned on Lucy and jumped on her, swarming her like angry ants and ripping the armor slowly down. Gage did what he could but the anger was making them harder to be put down, almost rabid. The armor signaled a warning about last ten procent of energy remaining. 

-Fuck! It’s too many of them…even for him, shit. Her eyes turned to the broken wall on the outside and she started dragging herself with all the ghouls towards it, taunting them to keep their focus on her only. 

-Boss, what the hell are you trying to do?! Stop, this is too fucking risky. Gage was protesting and reloding as fast as he could, barely holding himself to break his cover. 

-Sure i ain’t lettin them to get your unprotected ass so shut up and let me finish this shit!. She hell knew the impact from the fall will kill them all, she wasn’t sure if her armor could handle this but she couldn’t see any better choice as the ghouls were working fast on getting into her flesh and taking them one by one would take too long for the power source to hold up putting them both at risk. She reached the edge and without hesitation threw herself down along with all the ghouls on her. Gage ran immediately to the edge scanning the area if anything remained of her and rushed down. He couldn’t belive she would put herself at such a risk, it was foolish and crazy. The hole after impact was bloody and stinky, green smoke was raising from the splattered corpses. 

-We….did it, holy fuck. She lost her consciousness shortly due to impact. The power armor bipped and opened upon reaching the last procent. Lucy was alive but pretty broken, could barely move at the moment and blood was running from the sword wound under her ribs. Gage picked her up carefully and rushed to the closest room near tower. It was Rachel’s quarters, safe and warm enough to let the boss recover and patch her up. 

----- Lucy finally woke up, opening her eyes slowly the vision was a bit blurry. She groaned as she lifted her up to a sitting position on the mattress.

-You are fucking insane, ya know it right?. Gage was sitting next, with his arms crossed and forehead wrinkled by anger. 

-Maybe…yeh but i saved our asses, so what’s the deal? The park is ours. She standed up slowly trying to keep her balance and watched him, approaching, with his fists to the sides, feeling almost like he wanted to punch something. 

-You could have killed yourself if you wouldn’t be that lucky and it was stupid. And don’t ya tell me there wasn’t any other option. Gage raised his voice and grabbed her shoulder stopping her from backing up any more. She dropped her head, avoiding looking in his eye. 

-Why does it matter so much if i’m okay at the end? We went through similar dangerous crap before,  what changed Gage?! Lucy snapped back at him, no longer being able to stand the tension stretching in the air. 

-I fucking care about you, that’s what changed Lucy! It was first time he used her name like that, the real name. She raised her head, speachless, letting out just the silence of her slightly opened mouth. He was dead serious looking staight and sharp at her.

-I’m…sorry. There was nothing else she could say and slowly looked away, sad, but his fingers touching gently her chin stopped her. 

-You don’t have to prove anymore to me or anyone that you can be badass or some shiet, okay? You already proved something two parks ago so how bout you take it easy from now on eh?. He softened the grip on her and steamed off his nerves. As he was about to turn away she placed her hands on his shoulders and strechted up towards him, pulling him down for a soft kiss. It surprised him but he didn’t protest and leaned lower to let the touch of their lips last just a bit longer. She looked back at him as he pulled off, relieved, didn’t say anything more, walking slowly away, letting the tough raider process his thoughts on what just happened. Was it foolish, impulsive? Maybe but sure she didn’t regret that move nor anything she did so far.