#yeah the cocoa thing was a glitch

[aquarius-cookie-jar]

Some old screenshots I found about my cookies being silly.

[anonymousewrites]

Portal to My Heart (Book 3) Chapter Eleven

Loki x Reader

Chapter Eleven: Into the Light

Summary: (Y/N) tries to fix the Loom, but Miss Minutes and Renslayer cause problems.

            (Y/N) held the Throughput Multiplier steady as Timely placed his device within it. Casey and Ouroboros looked on anxiously as they waited to see if it fit. It went in perfectly and whirred to life. The group grinned.

            “Spectacular,” said Timely.

            “Hell yeah,” said (Y/N).

            Mobius wandered into the room with a cup of hot chocolate from the dispenser outside. (Y/N) furrowed her brow. He looked melancholy and stuck in thought. Before she could speak up, though, Timely spoke.

            “What is that?” he asked, staring at the cup.

            “This? A little Mobius pick-me-up, courtesy of the hot cocoa machine,” said Mobius.

            “Did you say hot cocoa machine?” Timely blinked. He had never heard of such a thing.

            “Yeah,” said Mobius, smiling.

            “Mobius, we need your Tempad,” said Ouroboros.

            Mobius handed it over while Timely continued, “You have a machine for that?”

            “Yeah. You’re interested in this machine,” observed Mobius.

            “Weird, this Tempad isn’t connecting well, either,” muttered (Y/N) in frustration. Between the glitches and her head pounding, she was not having a good day.

            “About this hot cocoa machine…could I take a look?” asked Timely.

            “Can you sit tight for just a second?” said Mobius, noticing (Y/N)’s irritation. “What do you mean?”

            “I can take him,” said Hunter D-90, who had been helping them track Dox when she first left the TVA.

            “Can you? Okay, Professor, he’ll take you,” said Mobius.

            Timely brightened and eagerly followed D-90 out of the room and down the hall to learn about the marvelous hot cocoa machine.

            “So, what’s the matter?” asked Mobius.

            “OB and Casey’s Tempads weren’t connecting to the system correctly, so we thought maybe it was because of being in R and A and so far down for so long, but then we tried yours, and it’s having the same issue,” said (Y/N). “So OB’s running diagnostics.”

            “So strange,” said Ouroboros. “All your files are being corrupted in real time. Did you download unauthorized games again?”

            “No,” Mobius defended himself. “I’m not gonna make that mistake twice.”

            (Y/N) snorted unceremoniously before focusing. “Well, if it’s not that, it means that something is messing with your Tempad.”

            The moment after she spoke, a small animation of Miss Minutes popped up on the screen and said, “Uh-uh-uh.” She was blocking access to the Tempad and the systems.

            “Shit,” said (Y/N). “It’s Miss Minutes.”

            “She’s taken control of the systems,” said Ouroboros.

            “That would explain why the Tempads weren’t working,” said (Y/N).

            “Grab the multiplier and let’s get Timely!” said Mobius urgently.

            Ouroboros picked up the multiplier and followed with Casey out after Mobius and (Y/N). They turned the corner to the hot cocoa machine, but Timely wasn’t there. There was just a cup with hot cocoa spilled over the floor. Sylvie and Loki walked down the corridor at the same time and frowned upon seeing them.

            “What’s wrong?” asked Loki.

            “Timely’s gone,” said Mobius.

            “And Miss Minutes is taking control of the TVA’s systems,” said (Y/N).

            The elevator dinged, and B-15 walked out with a despondent face. “Dox and her team are dead.”

            “What?” Everyone’s heads snapped to her.

            She nodded sadly. “Yes.”

            “It’s got to be Renslayer,” muttered Sylvie. “I should have just killed her.”

            The TVA rumbled as the Loom strained, and (Y/N) winced as her headache surged to life with each flicker of the lights.

            “Is the multiplier ready?” asked B-15.

            “Theoretically. We haven’t had time to test it, but without Timely, it doesn’t matter,” said Ouroboros “Without his aura, I can’t open the blast doors. We’re locked in.”

            “Okay, well, we gotta find out who took him back to the timeline,” said Mobius. “Where else would they have taken him?”

            Loki knelt and picked up D-90’s Timestick. “No. Renslayer doesn’t want him. She wants the TVA. They’re still here.”

            (Y/N) nodded. “This is where she can take control again. She’s not leaving. This is her attack on the TVA.”

            “Find them,” said Mobius. “We’ll make sure we’re ready for the Loom.” He ran one way in the corridor to clear the way, and (Y/N), Loki, and Mobius headed to the elevators on the other side. B-15 protected Ouroboros and Casey on their way to the Loom monitoring station in case Mobius came across Renslayer or anyone else and needed backup.

            A boom echoed through the TVA as the Loom began to break down, and (Y/N) stumbled as the pressure in her head grew.

            “Are you alright?” asked Loki and Sylvie simultaneously.

            “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” said (Y/N), gritting her teeth. “I just need to focus.”

            Sylvie and Loki exchanged a look. They had no idea why (Y/N)’s head kept hurting so much, but it was concerning, and they worried that it had to do with the Loom and the TVA. If it did, that meant she was in danger of being injured in some way. They wouldn’t stand for that. So, Loki and Sylvie ran forward even faster beside (Y/N), determined to find Timely and put a stop to the Loom’s deterioration.

            On the way to the elevator, another fallen Timestick lay as a remnant of a hunter’s death. (Y/N) narrowed her eyes. Renslayer’s plans were getting more and more people killed already. She grabbed it as she ran, determined to take on Renslayer and stop further pain and suffering just because of her desire for power.

            Loki pressed the button to call the elevator furiously as the PA system reported that it was time to go to the nearest evacuation point. (Y/N) frowned. She recognized those words, but she had no time to think about that.

            The doors opened slowly, and (Y/N) and Loki sighed in frustration while Sylvie forced them open and stepped in. Above them, a security camera swiveled to watch them.

            (Y/N) and Loki backed up towards the elevator, but the doors slammed before they could get in.

            “Loki! (Y/N)!” shouted Sylvie in alarm, slamming the button to open the doors.

            “Access denied,” said Miss Minutes’s sing-song voice.

            “Sylvie, you okay?” called (Y/N).

            “Yeah. I just hate that clock,” snapped Sylvie.

            “She’s trying to slow us down,” said Loki.

            “Take the stairs,” said Sylvie. “I’ll meet you up there!”

            “Stay safe!” called (Y/N) as she and Loki turned and ran for the stairs.

            “Warning, total Loom failure imminent,” said the PA system.

            “Yeah, yeah, got it,” muttered (Y/N) as her headache grew.

            The pair kicked the door of the stairs open and raced upwards. They burst out on the next floor. The hall was familiar, and as they slowed in front of the corridor of the elevator, a phone rang. They froze. (Y/N) reached out and touched Loki’s arm in surprise.

            In front of them were another (Y/N) and Loki, not wearing the TVA jackets, looking harried and worried. The other Loki had a familiar timer in his hand, and they stood faced a ringing telephone and the elevator.

            It was them from when they’d been trying to correct their time-slipping. This was the future they’d traveled to. That’s why there had been so much confusion and chaos and worry in the TVA. It was because of the Loom still breaking down.

            The elevator doors cracked open, and Sylvie’s face appeared just like it had to them when they time-slipped (and how it was currently to their time-slipping versions. Past-selves. Other selves? (Y/N) already had a headache, so she decided not to think more).

            (Y/N) and Loki looked at each other and down to their pruning sticks. They knew what they had to do. They ignited their Timesticks and walked forward quietly.

            Sylvie forced the doors open and looked out. “There you are,” she said in relief.

            “Sy—” began (Y/N)’s past self.

            (Y/N) and Loki pressed their Timesticks into their past selves’ backs, and they were pruned. Their old selves groaned, and the other (Y/N) tried to turn to see who was behind her, but the moment she caught a glimpse of the figures—her future self—she was pruned and disappeared.

            Sylvie’s face morphed to one of confusion upon seeing another pair of (Y/N) and Lokis.

            “We told you we saw you when we were time-slipping,” said (Y/N).

            Sylvie’s eyes widened as she realized what she had claimed was ridiculous was true. (Y/N) extended a hand and helped Sylvie climb out of the elevator while the phone continued to ring.

            This time, Loki got to answer. “Hello?” he said.

            “About time, what’s taking you guys so long?” said Ouroboros.

            (Y/N) and Sylvie leaned in so they could hear everything, and (Y/N) huffed.

            “OB?” said Loki, still surprised that this had been what was happening when they time-slipped to the future in their past (what a sentence to think made sense, and yet that was his life).

            “Hurry,” said Mobius as a particularly loud rumble shook the TVA, and (Y/N) winced and massaged her temple.

            “Miss Minutes is sabotaging everything,” said (Y/N) in frustration. “It’s slowing us down.”

            “What?” said Mobius.

            “I could take her offline and reboot the whole system,” suggested Ouroboros.

            “Yeah, yeah, yeah, reboot the whole system!” urged Mobius.

            “But we’ll lose the entire safety system,” said Ouroboros.

            “So what?” said Mobius. “What are we gonna lose at this point?”

            “The security protocols will go down,” said Ouroboros.

            “Like what?” said Mobius.

            “Like the dampeners that prevent people from using magic at the TVA,” said Ouroboros.

            (Y/N), Loki, and Sylvie’s heads snapped up to look at each other.

            “We would have to turn that off, too,” said Ouroboros.

            “Turn it off!” shouted (Y/N), Loki, and Sylvie.

            Ouroboros slammed his hand down on the button, and the lights of the TVA flashed violently. The system shut off, and the emergency lights flickered on, barely there as the Loom surged power through the building.

            (Y/N), Loki, and Sylvie raised their hands. Green light collected in Sylvie and Loki’s hands, and (Y/N)’s veins and eyes glowed a faint blue. She smirked.

            “Great news. I’m angry enough to make a portal,” she said.

            Loki grinned. “We’ve got Renslayer.”

            They heard footsteps in the dark, and they retreated to the shadows. It was Brad, holding a Timestick. The coward had joined Renslayer while Dox and her people died deciding to do the right thing.

            “It’s all you guys,” whispered (Y/N).

            Loki grinned spoke, his words coming from every shadow in the hall. “What do you say, Brad? Fancy a rematch?”

            Brad froze. Recovering quickly, he flipped his Timestick around and prepared to use it. Sylvie stepped out behind him, put her hands on his head, and finished him. Green light filtered into his head, and his mind was hers.

            “Renslayer and Timely are in the War Room,” said Sylvie. Brad stood at attention beside her. “We’ve got our distraction.”

            “We’ll go in one minute,” said (Y/N), holding up her hand.

            “Let’s go,” said Loki, smirking.

l

            Renslayer watched Brad reenter the War Room after she had sent him to check out the situation. “X-5, what’s going on?” she demanded. At the table next to her, Timely held his satchel tightly.

            Brad (controlled by Sylvie) walked in and spun the Timestick around. “This is cozy,” said Enchanted Brad. “Come here for a second.” He took Renslayer’s hand and pulled her away from Timely. “Come here. Come here. Come here.” She looked at him in confusion.

            Behind Timely, a blue portal opened up. (Y/N) grinned and waved to Renslayer. “Hi,” she chirped.

            “No!” Renslayer lunged towards the portal, but Enchanted Brad grabbed her sharply and pulled her back.

            “Victor, come on, time to go!” said Loki, running in through the door and grabbing Timely. He urged the man towards the portal as (Y/N) held it open. Timely jumped through, and Renslayer fought against Enchanted Brad.

            “This time, you’re not coming back to cause trouble,” said Enchanted Brad, turning on the pruning stick. He pressed it onto Renslayer as the portal closed, and she disappeared from the TVA as her chance at power disappeared simultaneously.

            Sylvie ended the enchantment, and she, Loki, and (Y/N) pushed Timely down the corridor.

            “Which way, wizard?” asked Timely.

            “This way. Elevator!” shouted Sylvie.

            “You saved my life!” cried Timely.

            “Of course,” said (Y/N) as they ran. “Time for you to return the favor!”

            She nearly shoved him into the elevator and slammed her hand down on the button to get them back down to the R and A floor.

            “He’s here!” shouted (Y/N), dragging Timely into the Loom monitoring room.

            “Come on, hurry, right here,” said Ouroboros, pulling out the aura reader.

            “Victor, this way,” said Loki. He looked at Casey. “What do we need to do?”

            “The Throughput Multiplier is waiting in the airlock,” said Casey. “But first, we need Mr. Timely’s aura screened so we can get the blast doors open.”

            “Just put your head in the scanner,” said (Y/N).

            Timely coughed. “Is that safe?”

            “It’s alright,” said Loki. He looked at Timely intensely. “You’ll be fine.”

            Timely nodded stiffly and took his glasses off.

            “Here, let me hold those,” said Mobius.

            “Sir,” acknowledged Timely. He took a deep breath and pushed his head into the aura scanner.

            It whirred, and an automated voice said, “Welcome, He Who Remains.”

            The blast doors rose to reveal the Loom sparking with energy as it strained against the infinitely growing branches of timelines. The pressure in (Y/N)’s head sparked, and she winced and held onto the table behind her. It was growing unbearable, and the energy from outside pricked at her skin.

            “It’s worse than I thought,” said Ouroboros. “We have to move fast. Who’s it gonna be?”

            “I’ll do it. I’ll put the suit on,” said Loki. He was willing to sacrifice himself for his friends.

            “No, I’ll do it,” said (Y/N).

            “Absolutely not,” said Loki.

            “No, no way,” said Sylvie.

            “Come on, we have to go,” said B-15.

            “It should be me.” Timely cut through the chaos.

            “No, you don’t have to do this,” said (Y/N).

            “But I do,” said Timely. “Something wrong could happen, and I know how the Throughput Multiplier works.”

            “Okay,” said (Y/N), and the others nodded.

            “Okay, okay, let’s go.” Ouroboros grabbed Timely and pulled him towards the antechamber. “No time to argue. Hurry. Follow me. Listen. Get in, get suited up. When those doors open, get down the gangway as fast as you can. Load the Multiplier, launch it, and get back. Got it?”

            “Got it,” said Timely.

            “Okay,” said Ouroboros.

            “Okay,” said Timely. He smiled at Loki and (Y/N). “Time to be brave.”

            “Good luck,” said (Y/N).

            Timely nodded and descended to the antechamber. Everyone stood by solemnly and gazed out the windows at the gangway and the Loom as it rumbled with energy.

            “How long will he have?” asked Sylvie.

            “Not long,” said Ouroboros.

            “He’ll make it,” said Loki, though he was doubtful.

            “Yeah, I don’t know about these radiation levels,” murmured Mobius. “It’s worse than when I was out there.”

            “He’ll make it,” said (Y/N), hoping her certainty was enough even if she had no control over it.

            “Ready.” Timely’s voice appeared over the radio.

            “Come on, let’s go, let’s go!” called Mobius.

            “Here we go,” said Timely, and the doors to the gangway opened. He ran out, everyone held their breath, and the radiation swept over him.

            His scream was cut short as he turned to spaghetti in an instant.

            The watchers froze, and (Y/N) covered her mouth in horror. Timely was dead. She looked at Loki, and he could only look back in realization of what was about to happen. The TVA was going to be destroyed. And everything else…was doomed.

            “What happened?” questioned Mobius. “What-Where is he? What happened?”

            “It’s over,” said Sylvie despondently.

            “Is he dead?” murmured B-15.

            “The Temporal Radiation is just too high,” said Ouroboros.

            “What happened?” asked Mobius.

            “I don’t know. It wasn’t me,” said Casey.

            Behind Loki and (Y/N), a chaotic discussion of what went wrong raged, but it meant nothing. None of them could fix what had happened, and the Loom was still breaking apart.

            (Y/N)’s headache intensified as the Loom strained against the onslaught of timelines.

            Boom!

            The Loom exploded in a single moment, and a wave of bright temporal energy flew outwards. The golden light bore down upon them in a storm of destruction.

            (Y/N)’s head pounded, and she reached for Loki’s hand. She held it tightly and turned to him. Black spots appeared in her vision as her head split open in pain. Loki sucked in a breath as he gazed at her. The light was nearly blinding, but he could still see that her eyes and veins were blazing gold like the timelines.

            “Loki, I think I need to—”

            “You don’t, you don’t,” said Loki. He didn’t want to hear something that meant goodbye, not after everything they’d been through.

            “I love you.” (Y/N) pulled him close and kissed him.

            Loki’s eyes widened before closing, and he passionately kissed her back.

            And then the light rolled over them, and everything ceased to exist.

Taglist:

@alexpangender

@technikerin23

@kikster606

@neenieweenie

@h-l-vlovesvintage

@chronicallybubbly

[condiscum]

!!!!! All the white shades for Lierik pls!!!!! 💜

God this is literally a year late im so sorry, but i finally finished it so here we gooooo!

White - Do you consider yourself a good person? What’s the best thing you’ve ever done for somebody?

“I mean, yeah. But doesn’t everybody?” he asks plainly, crossing his arms. “I work hard, look after my own. Almost everything I create impacts somebody besides me. I’m not gonna sit here and tally deeds or some shit. It’s a stupid thing to try to prove to somebody.”

Snow - Have you ever seen snow? Do you like it? What do you like to do in the snow?

“Absolutely!” he says, grinning. “I have to travel out to Hoelbrak from time to time— y’know, standard conferences with my northern marketing team ‘n stuff— and that shit’s gorgeous. Have you ever seen the way the sun glints off of the snow in the early morning? Or taken a good look at all of the intricate crystalline structures of the frozen water when you see a large flake intact? It’s great. Sign me the fuck up.”

Frost - What do you like to wear in cold weather?

“Well, first of all, Rata Sum’s in the Maguuma. We don’t get a whole lot of cold weather down there in the tropics, as you might imagine.” he quips. “But when I do have reason to venture outside of the mundane, muggy, incalescence, I bundle appropriately. Hypothermia and frostbite are for dipshits.”

Bone - When was the first time you ever witnessed death? How did it impact you?

“Hard pass.” he says with immediate finality. “Next?”

Author’s Note: Lierik’s parents died in a lab accident in their home when he was still young. It was pretty awful and really traumatizing, and he doesn’t talk about it.

Cotton - What do you like to wear for pajamas?

“Okay, so hear me out.” he says with a grin. “You know those full-body onesie type things progeny wear? Well, those things are comfortable as hell except for one problem. Your feet get cold, right? So— I wish this was one of my own brilliant innovations, but I’m not a fuckin tailor, so I’ve gotta give credit where it’s due: the humans came up with this shit.” 

He sticks his leg out, gesturing at his own feet. 

 “There’s like. Socks attached to these things. But they’re non-slip on the bottom and stuff so you can just wander around in them in the middle of the night. I had some modified for the superior three-digit anatomy and voila! Instant coziness. You should try them sometime.”

Cream - Do you prefer Tea, Coffee, or Cocoa? (If your world has those things. If not, what sort of hot drinks do you have?)

“Well, nothing beats a good hot-chocolate when you’re cold. All sweet and delicious. Buuuuut, trouble is it’s not… energizing enough, y’know?” he says. “Plus, it only has a single static state of being if you want to enjoy it. You can’t throw it on ice. So, coffee is the obvious choice, here.” 

He starts up again, counting each of his reasons on a finger as he does. 

“It’s good hot, sends you right on into the project zone, picks your ass up off the floor at 4:30 in the fucking morning when your incompetent staff can’t problem-solve— and when you get back from that 4:30am problem solving? And your coffee is all tepid and gross? You can just throw it right in an ice cube tray and chuck it in the coolerator. It’s truly one of the best multitools of the engineering world.”

Coconut - What would be your ideal vacation?

He hums, pausing a moment to think more seriously. 

“I guess anywhere less hectic. Somewhere out with my buds. I’ve never been one to keep still for very long, but its always a relief to get away from the hustle and bustle for a while. Just enjoy some time living simpler, wherever that might be.”

Pearl - What do you look for in a romantic partner?

“I’m flattered.” he jokes. “But she’d have to be Asura, for starters. Sorry, mysterious likely-human interviewer, you must be this tall—” he says, gesturing a bit above him “—or under to ride this ride. 

“Past that, though, we’ve just gotta jive. Sure, looks are a plus, but that’s not what it’s about for me.” 

He crosses his arms and leans to one side, smirking. 

“What really drives me wild, though? Smarts. I want a woman who can run circles around me— a tall order, I know, so I’m not in a rush.”

Parchment - Do you like to read or write?

“Reading’s fine.” he says. “Generally, if I’m learning something new, books will hold my attention. New theses from time to time, articles.” 

He shrugs.  

“It’s a little passive for me though. I’d rather be working with something than reading about it any day. It’s hard to improve on a concept without having it in front of you, whether its a drawing on paper or something more three-dimensional. And, frankly, the most writing I’ve done since graduation has been in bullet-points.”

Lace - What would you name your child if you were to have one?

“Oh man,” he manages, “glitch, I don’t know… it sounds like a lot of pressure to name a real, live person. But, progeny are not in my near future anyway, I can tell you that. If it happens, I guess we’ll figure it out then.”

Porcelain - Do you consider yourself a delicate person? Do you fall apart easily?

“Hell no.” he says, rolling his eyes. “Where do you even get these things?”

Salt - Would you consider yourself a mean person? What is it like to fight with you?

“I’ve got a temper, sometimes, I’ll admit.” he says, scratching his head. “But, I’d like to think it’s hard to push my buttons to that point. I’ll tolerate a lot, and I don’t get purposely pointed, but past a certain line, I make no promises of being ‘nice’.”

Ghost- Are you easily scared? What scares you the most?

“I’d like to think I’m pretty fearless.” he says, crossing his arms. “But that’s not to say I don’t have a sense of self-preservation either. Just because I graduated from Dynamics doesn’t mean I’m not well aware of how much precaution has to go into innovation if you don’t want to wind up letting your prototypes take you down with them.” 

He pauses to crack his knuckles before adding “You want something really scary, though? Wasted potential.”

Ivory - Do you play any musical instruments? If so, which ones and how well?

“Eeeehhh—” he starts, waving a hand side to side. “Nothing classical or anything boring like that. But if you’re into some sweet electronica? I’m killer with a drum machine. Gotta have something to put under my sick rhymes.”

Chiffon - Do you prefer a larger and cleaner environment, or a smaller and cozier one?

“Large and clean, for sure.” he says. “I’ve been spoiled for choice for a long while, but the straight fact is that if you want to be able to do anything wherever you are, you need room to do it. A crowded room is stress. An empty room is inspiration.”

Alabaster - What is the most recognizable thing about you? What are people most likely to notice about you when they first meet you?

“Other than my dashing good looks and cutting edge sense of fashion?” he teases. “Well, I do try to keep one statement piece on me at all times: what’s style without a pair of good old fashioned aviators?”

Egg-nog - Do you celebrate Christmas Wintersday? If so, what traditions do you have? Which are your favorite?

“Everybody celebrates Wintersday! Well, everybody who likes fun, I guess. I haven’t been able to go every year, but I try to make it to Tixx’s Infinirarium at least once a year for the Toypocalypse. The mayhem! The adrenaline! The toy carnage!” 

He sighs wistfully. 

“There’s just never a safe chance to cause that much ruckus otherwise. Reminds me of a couple’a friends I had in college…”

Ecru - Do you have curly, wavy, or straight hair?

He grabs a fistful of the thick curly locks on his head and tugs. “Gee, I dunno. Pretty straight, I’d say.”

[sgtcalhouns]

Under the Mistletoe

Felix is excited to share his holiday traditions with Tamora, but he finds himself disappointed when she doesn’t seem to be interested.

No matter how he tried, Felix just couldn’t wrap his head around it.

Out of everything that excited him about the Christmas season, nothing made him happier than the fact that, this year, he would be celebrating with Tamora. They had been going steady for a couple of weeks now, and every day he felt more certain that she was the one. The thought of sharing his Christmas celebrations with her made him giddy, and he was especially looking forward to having a special someone to kiss under the mistletoe this year. While Tamora wasn’t always the most open with her feelings, she was quite affectionate, so this was one Christmas tradition that seemed to be right up her alley.

But so far, all his attempts had fallen flat. No matter what he did, how carefully he placed the mistletoe to ensure that it was in her line of sight, he had yet to receive a kiss in return. He had stood poised in the perfect spot more times than he could count, patiently awaiting her arrival, anticipating the moment she would swoop in and press her lips to his, only to be met with disappointment each time. He had even presented his cheek to her with an upward tilt of his head, just in case she decided to kiss him there instead--he wasn’t picky about placement. As Christmas drew near, he began to worry that she didn’t want to kiss him after all. What had he done wrong?

“I don’t understand it, Ralph,” Felix lamented. “I thought things were going well, but it seems like she doesn’t want to kiss me.”

The pair were seated on the couch in the penthouse as the annual Niceland Christmas party took place around them.

“Are you sure she’s seen the mistletoe?” Ralph suggested. “Maybe she’s just been missing it.”

“I’ve been so careful to put it up high enough that she can see it,” Felix replied. “I don’t see how she could’ve missed it every time.”

“I don’t know, buddy,” Ralph said. “I’m sorry.”

Their conversation was interrupted as Vanellope glitched up onto Ralph’s shoulder and requested his assistance making a mug of hot chocolate. With an apologetic shrug, his large companion disappeared into the kitchen. Felix sighed and retreated to the corner of the room. As he watched the party go on without him, he didn’t notice Tamora entering the kitchen for her own mug of cocoa.

“Hey, sarge, you made it,” Ralph greeted her.

“It’s not usually my scene, but you know how excited Felix gets about this stuff,” she replied.

“Yeah, he’s been really excited about spending Christmas with you, that’s for sure,” he said. “I gotta tell you, though, he seems pretty disappointed that you’re not into the mistletoe thing.”

“Mistletoe?” she asked. “What’s that?”

“You mean you don’t know?”

“No,” she answered. “We don’t celebrate Christmas in Hero’s Duty. The only reason I even know it exists is because of Felix.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” Ralph said. “Come on, we need to talk.”

A short while later Felix was taken by surprise when he found himself eclipsed in Tamora’s shadow as she approached him from across the room.

“Hey, short stack,” she said with a hand on her hip. “Looks like you’re standing under the mistletoe.”

He looked up was met with the familiar sight of green leaves and white berries on the ceiling above him.

“I suppose I am,” he said, attempting a smile through his dejected demeanor.

Before he knew what was happening, she grabbed him by the collar, hauled him up to her, and crushed their lips together in a fervent kiss. He melted at the affection, going slack within her grip. When she finally released him, a thick blush coated his cheeks and nose and he looked up at her with a dreamy expression.

“It’s come to my attention that I owe you a backlog of those kisses,” she said with a smirk.

“You don’t owe me anything,” he said. “You didn’t want to kiss me before, and that’s alright.”

“You know, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying to figure out why all these tiny plants keep popping up all over the place,” she said, giving the mistletoe above them a gentle flick. “I thought maybe you were trying to spruce things up around here.”

“What?” Felix asked as she set him back down. “You mean you—you didn’t know—”

“We don’t have Christmas in my game,” she said as she knelt down in front of him. “There’s a few fuzzy memories in my backstory, but nothing specific. I didn’t know about any holiday traditions until you told me about them.”

“Oh, Tammy,” he said with a sigh, reaching out to take her hand in his. “All this time I’ve been mopin’ around thinking you just weren’t interested in kissing me. I never even thought to ask you about it.”

“I had a feeling something was up when I got here and didn’t see you out on the dance floor,” she said. “Then Wreck-It clued me in and it all made sense.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I feel so foolish. I just got so excited thinkin’ about finally having someone to kiss under the mistletoe, I guess I got a little ahead of myself.”

“I suppose I can forgive you,” she teased, “if you teach me what this whole mistletoe thing is all about.”

“Well, around Christmas folks’ll put mistletoe up around the house. If you meet someone under the mistletoe, you’re supposed to share a kiss,” he explained. “I may have gone a little overboard with it trying to catch your attention. I just think it’s so romantic, and I’ve always wanted to have that special moment with someone. I thought maybe...we could have that special moment.”

“That’s very sweet of you, Felix,” she said. “I’m sorry I didn’t follow along sooner. I would’ve knocked your socks off by now.”

“It’s not your fault,” he said. “I’m just glad we got to have one mistletoe kiss before the season ends.”

“So that was your first, huh?” she asked, a gleam of interest in her eye.

He nodded, looking bashfully toward the floor as his cheeks began to glow.

“Well, how’d I do?” she asked.

“It was perfect,” he said, unable to stop the grin that stretched his cheeks. “Just like I always imagined.”

“Well, there’s more where that came from,” she smirked. “What do you say we go somewhere more private?”

Felix was certain his cheeks had never been such a vibrant red, but he couldn’t hide his enthusiasm as he nodded in response. She stood up straight and took his hand before reaching up and pulling the sprig of mistletoe off the ceiling.

“I think I need a little more instruction,” she said with a wink, “but this may turn out to be my favorite holiday tradition yet.”

[hoodie-lover]

My Multiverse Part 13

Ink and Dream were exhausted. And it was the good kind of exhausted, after such a fun time, they both wanted nothing more than to rest and sleep. But they had plans, important plans. 

“So we need to get to Classic, Geno, and Sci. They are the main alternate classic timelines on our side. Everyone else is either on Nightmare’s side or not involved.” Ink recapped, shaking Dream the list. 

Both the guardians were in their pajamas, or what was left of them after last night, and were chilling in bed with hot cocoa. 

“And it’s best if we keep the number of alternate Classic timelines to a minimum, keep the number of people we need to actively deceive as low as possible.” Dream said, taking a long marshmallow filled sip from his large mug. 

They decided to send Dream to Aftertale to get Geno before the Dark Sanses, plus Blue. As they had seen that Blue and Error has escaped while they were getting ready. Dream had scolded Ink for his carelessness but it really didn’t concern him at the moment. They could easily say that Blue had gone crazy while he was glitching out and with being so close to Error and it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to say the Dark Sanses tricked him. 

Ink would go to the original universe to talk to Classic. He thought that if things went south, he would be the best equipped for a kidnapping mission. Though he did tell Dream he may decide to kidnap him anyway. If they could find a way to control Classic, they would be unstoppable. 

The two of them got out of their pajamas and out in their regular clothes. Though Dream did think about a wardrobe change later down the line, as he wasn’t the same Dream that he was when he wore these clothes. He wasn’t the same Dream that had lost Nightmare even before he was given his new ability by Ink. Though he put his crown on and shifted his cape as he made way to Aftertale. 

Ink sighed and prepared for a visit from Classic. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with him. Though Classic was always overjoyed by Ink’s visits, on account of being his introduction to the Multiverse as a concept, Ink dreaded them. He was looking at his worst enemy and biggest threat, and they didn’t even know it! It was infuriating having to keep up appearances when it came to Classic. Though Geno and Sci were also bad, they weren’t nearly as so, with the migraines Ink could give allowing him to relax.

The save screen was dark and dull. Dream remembered why he rarely visited Geno. He was glad it was only a short visit. 

“Dream, what’re you doing here?” Geno asked, surprised upon seeing the guardian in his realm.

“I have bad news Geno. Blue, he’s been kidnapped by the Dark Sanses.” Dream lies, shedding a few crocodile tears and weakening his aura for added effect.

“What? How?!” Geno asked, running up to Dream. 

“I don’t know. Ink got a ransom note and Stretch reported him missing.” Dream explained, shaking.

“What did it say? What do they want?” Geno questioned, placing a hand to his skull in disbelief. 

“Our complete and total surrender.” Dream said, sighing. “We’re gathering everyone to gather to decide what to do.” Dream elaborated, looking Geno in his non-melted eye. 

“I’ll be there, just need to make sure I won’t have a genocide run on my hands when I get back.” Geno said as he checked the screens that lead to the Original timeline, and upon seeing Ink he asked one more question. 

“Why aren’t you telling Classic? I assume Ink’s telling Classic because he’s there, but it’d be a lot easier for you to tell Classic right? Unless I’m missing something.” Geno said, narrowing his eye ever so slightly at the guardian. 

“We’ve been running around like chickens with our heads cut off and I hounded Ink about this scheduling thing, but we had to get ready as soon as possible.” Dream told Geno, waving as he opened a portal and jumped in. 

Ink looked around Snowdin and breathed in the cold air. It made him feel relaxed, at home. He always liked the cold, it reminded him of himself. Cold, yet in certain situations something fun, but dangerous if let to sit for too long. 

“Heya Ink. What brings you here this fine morning?” Classic asked, winking at the guardian. 

Ink was caught off guard by Classic’s voice, having not noticed him coming across the sentry station with the conveniently shaped lamp. 

“Blue had been kidnapped. And we need all the help we can get.” Ink said, straight to the point and eye lights flashing red. 

“What? Who?” Classic asked, shocked. 

“The Dark Sanses. They want us to surrender and we’re getting everyone together to form a game plan to save Blue!” Ink announced and Classic was sold, though he noticed Ink was stiff and anxious. 

“I can tell you’ve been worried sick. You’re stiff.” He said, eyeing Ink. 

“Y-yeah I haven’t been sleeping a lot lately, so I’m stiff.” Ink said, sweating slightly. 

He begged and begged that Classic would just accept his excuse and let him go. And luckily for him, his prayers were answered. 

“Ok. Do you need me to come right now or can I get my alibi ready?” Classic asked, winking as he got up. 

“What alibi? You have quite a lot.” Ink said, handing Classic a spiked ketchup bottle he had made before coming. 

“A-45. And thanks, I’ve been needing this.” Classic said, taking a big gulp. 

Ink smiled as Classic downed the entire bottle and put it on his sentry station. 

“Thankssss Innk...” Classic slurred, the sleeping potion already taking effect. 

“You don’t look so good Classic. Maybe you can take a quick nap? That way you’ll be able to have energy for the meeting.” Ink suggested and Classic’s eyes opened widened. 

“What did you do…?” Classic said as he began to sway and lose his balance. 

“Sleep Classic. You know you want to~.” Ink said as he, standing on his tiptoes, placed a hand on Classic’s head and pat him. 

“I…” Classic forced out as he passed out cold. Pun intended.

Ink picked up Classic’s limp body and left the universe. Unaware a peeping Tom, in this Geno, was looking in.

“What the heck?” Geno asked himself, playing the scene back a few times. 

His head began to spin as he tried to make sense of what he’d seen. But then a chilling realization crept up his spine. Ink and Dream work together, Ink kidnapped Classic, what if they kidnapped Blue, for whatever reason, and blamed it on the Dark Sanses? Would they be willing to do that? What motive could there be? Is he in danger? 

Questions circled in his head as he fell to the cold save screen floor. And on the save screen floor he laid for a few minutes. Geno eventually got up and decided that he would play along and try to figure out what was going on. 

“Dream! I’m ready!” Geno called out, wandering for a while until Dream came back. 

“You called?” Dream asked, smiling a creepy smile. 

“I’m ready to go.” Geno said as he followed the guardian of positivity to a place where he hoped he’d leave.

Characters belong to their respective owners

Next

First

[krystal-twi]

Errordream Week: Day 3

Together

Day one, day two, day four   day five

ao3 link

Summary:Lately, Dream couldn’t think of a better way to spend his days off than with Error and drinking some hot cocoa. 

Dream learned quickly that Error was like a stray puppy. Once you invite Error Into your home and give him chocolate, he never leaves. Not that Dream minded. It was nice having company. Especially when they had some understanding of the pressure Dream was going through

Dream never thought he would come to like Error’s growing presence in his life. A year ago, if someone told Dream he would be drinking hot cocoa with Error and laughing, he would have assumed they lost it and gone to Ink.

Now, Dream couldn’t think of a better way to spend his days off. Just talking to Error seemed to ease his nerves in a way that use to be reserved for Nightmare. It was different, it was a good different.

Currently, Dream had his legs thrown over Error’s lap. It had taken a few weeks before Error was okay for Dream to do this. Even then, Dream’s legs thrown over his lap was about as much of a touch he could take.

The glitches that sped across the area they touch should hurt, but they were soothing for Dream in a weird way. Just the knowledge it was Error, kept the discomfort at bay. Was that weird? Dream didn’t know for sure. All he knew was that Error’s company made him feel lighter, happier than constant happiness that resided in his soul. Dream didn’t want to lose the real emotions.  

They both sat at Dream’s kitchen table. Morning light shining through the window. The warmth of the sun and Errors voice made this all feel like, well, a dream. Both had some cocoa and Error had an extra bar of chocolate.

Error had his own legs propped up on a kitchen chair. Trying to open a chocolate wrapper. A glare on his face as he pulled on the paper keeping him from his prize. Dream was leaning against his fist, smiling as he watched Error.

“You need help?” Dream asked, getting a twitch in Error’s eye socket. Error gave Dream a side way snare. A half-hearted one that made Dream giggle. “Error?”

Error shook his head, yanking on the wrapper harder. “I got it,” Dream prayed silently that Error didn’t yank too hard, accidentally hitting Dream in the process.

“You’re gonna hit me,” Dream said, slouching in his chair to get farther away from Error without moving.

Error scoffed. “Of course, I won’t,” Error almost looked insulted by the very idea.

“Error-”

“I got it!”

“Glitchy, let me-”

“Mmf !”

“Error,” Dream’s laughing was getting worse. Error now resorted to trying to open the chocolate with his teeth. “You’re going to break your-”

The package ripped open the chocolate fell onto Dream’s kitchen table. A few chunks breaking off. The pure happiness on Error’s face when the chocolate was finally free from its confides was something that Dream wanted to take a picture of.

Dream grabbed one of the lone pieces of scattered chocolate and popped it into his mouth. Not missing the utter look of betrayal that splattered across Error’s face. Dream gave Error a cheeky grin as he chewed on the chocolate.

“Thief!” Error cried out, pointing an accusing finger at Dream. Dream stuck his tongue out at his friend. Stars, Dream was beginning to hate that word.

“I bought the chocolate,” Dream reminded, wiggling in his seat. Error gave a pout and took a bite from his chocolate bar. Why was his pout so adorable? It really shouldn’t be that cute on him. It wasn’t fair!

“And you gave it to me…” Error grumbled out, taking a piece and dunking it into his cocoa. Dream giggled, leaning in slightly closer to the other. Relishing in the wave of Error’s aura’s echoing to him.

Getting his cup and taking a sip of his hot cocoa. "So how is, fixing the balance going on your end?" Dream was still off when it came to asking about that, but he found a way to word it. Dream didn't miss how Error froze, a frown on his face. Dream did miss how Error flinched.

“Ink seems to think it is working.” Error stated, hand holding onto Dream’s leg. Giving it a soft rub unconsciously. “He even offered to make some larger au's to help place many of the copies into .” Error winced, cracking his head to the side in thought. “Could work, but he seems hesitant to even try creating anything.”

Dream had to do a double take. Swallowing his cocoa, a dark feeling poking at his soul. Error had spoken to Ink? Since when...

“You’re talking to Ink?” Dream asked slowly, staring at the forced destroyer as he munched on the chocolate bar. Something hot and possessive poked at his soul. Dream calmly took a drink of his hot cocoa. The burning liquid did nothing for him.

Error shrugged, pulling the candy sent from heaven back. “Whether anyone, me definitely included, likes it or not,” Error placed the chocolate down and looked up at Dream. “ Ink and I are tied to each other. We are both the balance and needed.”

“Maybe Inky and I can finally come to a conclusion on how to run things.” Error shrugged his shoulders. “ As much as I would like to avoid the rainbow asshole, I can’t. Besides...” Error eyelights downcasted. Error broke off a piece of the chocolate and threw it in his mouth. “ Everyone is turning their back on Ink. No one, including Ink, should feel that way...I know that feeling all too well,”

Dream breathed out of his nose. Eyesockets closing as the burning emotion was replaced and his soul was anchored down with guilt. Dream tried his best to be there for Ink, but with all the changes it had been hard to even find a day to himself.

If it wasn’t for Error keeping him sane, Dream didn’t know what he would do. He really needed to become a better friend and guardian. “I should see him more,” Dream admitted. “How has he been?”

“Ink is fine from what I can tell.” Error waved off Dream’s concerns. “Remember, he is emotionless.”

Dream rolled his eyelights. “Not completely.” Error shrugged, not caring much for the topic at hand. Dream picked at his sleeves. Dream bit his tongue and looked away. “Do you…” Dream cleared his throat and averted his eyes from the destroyer. “Do you see him a lot?”

Error shrugged his shoulders again. Looking confused. “I don’t have a good perspective of time. I see him when I can,”

Error looked around him “I’ve been here for a few days right?” Error joked, his eyelights sparkling with humor.

Dream snorted. Shaking his head. “Nope, a few years. Please, leave.” Dream clasped his hands together. Giving the other a fake plead despite the small smile on his skull that said otherwise.

Error laughed. A real, perfect, laugh. Eyesockets clenching shut as his body shook with each laugh. “Yeah, right. You would be lost if I left,” He joked, holding onto his non-existent stomach.

Dream agreed. He would be lost if it wasn’t for Error’s company and help. Dream doesn’t know what he would be doing if it wasn’t for Error. Panicking and having a breakdown over everything. Feeling like the world was breaking down. Error kept him steady and safe. Made him feel happy and stable.

Dream wandered if Error felt the same. “I would be,” Dream’s voice was softer than it probably should have been when regarding a friend. But he couldn’t help it. Dream raised his foot up and gave Error’s chin a slight kick. Error’s nose scrunched up and pushed Dream’s foot away.

When he did so, he yawned. Dream was so tempted to stick his foot in Error’s mouth, but that would be rude. “Tired?” Dream asked.

“Yeah, been working more lately and I haven’t been able to sleep as much,” He confessed, flicking at Dream’s feet. Dream kicked at Error’s feet. Taking a sip from his cocoa.

“Yeah, I bet Nightmare’s place isn’t all too quiet.” Dream joked, thinking of all the dark sanses causing mischief and chaos all hours of the day. Dream wishes his brother was okay with his presences enough to visit. It seemed like fun, but too much at a certain point.

Error leaned back in his chair, his hand tapping at the table. “I rarely stay at Nightmare’s.” Error admitted with a neutral look on his face.

“Oh, where do you stay?” Dream questioned, tilting his head to the side. Dream felt a little hope blossoming in his soul. If Error didn’t stay with Nightmare, maybe Dream could visit him. They could possibly spend more time together. Though, that hope wilted when Error just shrugged.

“Error,” Dream started slowly. Removing his feet from Error’s lap, not missing the way Error twitched to bring them back into his lap. “Don’t you have a place to live?” Dream asked Error. Shock and sympathy echoed in Dream.

Error just shrugged his shoulders, not looking bothered by Dream’s shock. “I got the anti-void.”

Dream shook his head. “That’s not exactly...a place to live,” Dream said. Dream stared at Error, hand twitching to grab ahold of Error’s hand. He wanted to intertwine his fingers with Error’s. However, he knew the boundaries set in stone. Boundaries he needed to respect.

But, there was something…

“Error, what if you lived here?” Dream asked, scooting his chair closer to his friend. “You are already here a lot. I got an extra room and it would be better than the anti-void?”

Error froze. His eyelights disappearing from his eyesockets and glitched exploded across his body. Dream frowned, flinching. “You don’t have too!”

“You trust me enough to live here?” Error’s eyelights were still gone. The static in his voice getting worse. Dream tilted his head to the side. Did he trust the former enemy to live with him? No, not former enemy, Error. Did Dream trust Error enough to live with him?

Dream slowly nodded his head, giving Error a reassuring smile. “Of course! You’re my friend!” The word ‘friend’ felt like poison on Dream’s tongue. A stab in his soul as he tried to not let it show.

When Error didn’t reply, Dream smirked and leaned in closer. “There will be more hot cocoa…” If there was a purr in his tone, Dream didn’t notice. Error’s eyelights appeared in their sockets, Dream almost expected to hear a sound effect with how fast they came back.

“Fine, but only for the cocoa.”

Dream giggled, covering his mouth. Happiness flooding his soul and for once, Dream couldn’t tell if it was from Error or himself. As long as they were together, Dream doesn’t think he could feel anything but happy.

[abalonetea]

1, 17, and 19 for The Business, Groundhog Day, /and/ How The West Was Lost !! :D

HELLO ELLE THANK YOU

The Business

1:  Summarize your WIP in 10 words or less. 

three animals learn the strength of love, devotion, and loss.

17:  Does your WIP have any themes or motifs? 

i’m not sure in the strictest sense, but the main theme and lesson of The Business is finding love in a dark place, and finding acceptance for who you are. while the story itself is billed as a gritty mafia adventure (and it is!) the heart of the matter is this: it’s a love story between three broken boys, and a way to show that, no matter what issues you might have, no matter how your life plays out, you can still find something stable in it.

making a home for yourself, finding love, and most importantly learning to love yourself.

“I don’t want to mess things up.” 

“You’ve never disappointed me.”

“He took a chance on me. And I’ve spent the last three years trying to find the man he saw that day. I think you’ve helped me realize I didn’t have to find anything.”

love yourself, no matter what trials you face, no matter how long it takes, no matter how many times you have to remind yourself that you’re worth it. you are the goodness that others see; they aren’t wrong, they just realized how brightly you shined long before you did.

19:  Post a picture or gif that describes your WIP. 

Groundhog Day

1:  Summarize your WIP in 10 words or less. 

a glitched kingdom finds hope and safety in two knights.

17:  Does your WIP have any themes or motifs? 

oh, man, yeah. Groundhog Day is all about finding a home for yourself, and learning that you aren’t past redemption. no matter what happened, no matter where you’ve been or what you’ve been forced into doing, there is still hope. there is still a chance for you to be happy, to learn to live again. you are never too far gone. there is always time for you to find a happy ending. your safety is important. you matter.

motifs for this wip include bees, honey, tea, flannel blankets, and cocoa! is that right? is that what a motif is?

19:  Post a picture or gif that describes your WIP. 

How The West Was Lost

1:  Summarize your WIP in 10 words or less. 

perfection is a lie, and two bandits hold the truth.

17:  Does your WIP have any themes or motifs? 

sometimes, the person you think is helping you isn’t. sometimes, the law is corrupt. sometimes, good people get pulled into bad situations. and sometimes you need to ask someone else for help. this story deals with finding happiness in bad help, learning to let others in, and looking past what others have told you - just because people say someone is bad doesn’t mean it’s true. 

motif wise, i’d say that the image of a butterfly is pretty important, and so are dust storms and false medicine!

19:  Post a picture or gif that describes your WIP. 

[lycorogue]

Meet My OCs: Willow (Part 5 – Stories)

You still with me? You are friggen awesome!

Just two more to go! This post and the next one, which will be a post showcasing some fun wrestling entrances I created for my husband’s WWE13 game.

Before we really get into this post, though, how about a quick recap of this series thus far?

Part 1: Introduction to the series, as well as explanations of the real-world influences that helped me create my two story worlds of Gyateara and Glitches. Part 2: Explaining the inspirations that birthed each of my four main Gyateara characters. Part 3a: Same, but for my four main teenage Glitches characters. Part 3b: How I reworked 6 canonical X-Men characters into the Glitches main supportive cast of six adult characters.

Meet Willow mini-series:

Part 1: Willow’s background, personally overview, and powers. Part 2: Willow’s main relationships. Part 3: Willow’s history on the X-Future game, and how it will translate to Glitches Part 4: Willow visuals; fanart, commissioned art, and fashion design games

Now you get a bit more into Willow’s head via 5 writing samples. Two are adaptations of the play-by-post game itself, and three others are side-story narratives. Check below to read them.

The Set-up: An example of the Willow/Devon dynamic before Devon left to join The Brotherhood, leaving Willow feeling betrayed.

Word Count: 1174

 - Mutual Teasing - 

Labored breaths fell in rhythm with pounding footfalls. The humidity of the summer day settled on the thick lawn that was a few days past needing a mow. Broken blades of grass stuck to two sets of sneakers. Their path was already visible behind them with the wet greenery staying crushed under their tread.

"There!" Willow panted as her fingers brushed Devon's shoulder. "Finally caught your ass." She gargled some sticky saliva and spat it to her side. She braced herself with her hands on her knees as she took a long breath. Moving her hands to her waist, she exhaled and arched backwards before flopping onto the grass. The budding dew cooled her bare legs.

Devon allowed one foot to slide out on the grass and landed beside Willow. He thumbed his nose and coughed the burn out of his lungs.

"Worn out already?" he laughed. "I thought you do street running or fast running or Perk-ore or whatever."

Willow leaned back on her elbows, tossed her short silver hair out of her face, and focused on Devon out of the corners of her aquamarine eyes. She clicked her tongue against her teeth before huffing a sarcastic laugh.

"First: you're an ass. Second: how the hell did you grow up in Brooklyn and not know what Free-running is? Also, it's pronounced Parkour."

"Eh, whatever. You knew what I meant."

Willow let her arms give out beneath her and stretched across the grass. She closed her eyes and flicked Devon in the wrist as her fingers brushed his skin.

"Hey!" Devon pulled away before smirking and skirting around to her head. Kneeling at her shoulders, he pinned her arms. "How am I the ass when you're the athlete who can't handle a quick game of tag?"

The fifteen-year-old opened her eyes again, only to squint them as if she were trying to stare at the sun. It kept her a couple of seconds to adjust to Devon's exotic brown eyes only being a couple inches away. The flecks of color embedded in the cocoa of his irises flickered a rainbow of reds, golds, greens, and oranges as if Devon's eyes were kaleidoscopes.

Abruptly, Willow killed the silence by blowing on Devon's nose. Instinctively, the seventeen-year-old pulled a hand away to rub the itch she caused. With Devon distracted for a couple of seconds, Willow easily slid her other arm free, twisted into a sitting position, and flicked him in the forehead all as one fluid motion.

"You're an ass because your 'quick game' lasted over an hour with barely any breaks. Plus, your mild healing power increases your endurance. No lung or muscle burn means running is easier. Simple science confirms your assness. Boom." She motioned her hand like she was dropping something, and the image of a three-inch atomic bomb appeared, complete with a mushroom cloud explosion when the bomb disappeared into the grass.

"Bah, you're just a sore loser." Devon tilted to his side and rolled onto his back. "So, whaja wanna do now?"

"Sun's down. We should probably start heading back." Willow stood and brushed the moisture off herself.

"Sun's down," Willow's voice parroted back to her, "We should probably start heading back."

Willow turned to see herself lying in the grass, one leg hooked over a bent knee, kicking slightly.

"I hate when you do that." The real Willow tucked her hair back to make sure Devon saw her full glare.

Imitation Willow laughed in Devon's baritone. Her long, slender legs shimmered as they became quickly covered in heavy denim jeans. Her petite chest broadened and her pale skin darkened to an olive-tone. Finally, her heart-shaped face, framed by an asymmetrical bob, shifted into Devon's chiseled jaw with spiky brown locks; his nondescript features returned, again suggesting that he was somehow all races at once.

"Come on," Devon said once he was back to his normal form, "you secretly love having a twin."

Three Willows formed out of the air behind the original. In unison, all four replied, "I could be however many I want. All you do is simple mockery."

One of the false three walked over to Devon and knelt beside him. She rubbed his chest and stroked his jaw with a silky smile across her face. The original Willow stepped to the side of the other two in order to give Devon an unobscured view.

"I can do more than mimicry though," the real Willow cooed.

The two illusions that stayed behind turned to each other and moved in for an embrace and kiss. Before their lips met, they transformed into Devon sloppily making out with himself.

The seductive Willow illusion still stroking Devon's chest burst into laughter. The real Willow joined suit. With a flick of her wrist, the illusionary Devons were only in matching white boxers with hearts on them. One Devon grabbed the other's ass.

"There we go," Willow snorted, "much better. Don't you think? Oh, and a goosing too. You frisky devil."

Devon smirked. "I think I'm damn handsome actually, and would gladly make out with myself given the chance. I also think you secretly want to see me in those." He gestured towards the boxers and winked at the real Willow. He then tapped the illusion Willow on her nose to disperse her; breaking Willow's spell.

Willow huffed as she waved her hand as if erasing the illusion of the making-out Devons. They too vanished, leaving only the original Willow and Devon alone in the field.

"Well, I think you have too high of an opinion of yourself." Willow crossed her arms in front of her and pouted; her fun ruined. "Like I'd want anything to do with you and your boxers."

Devon stood up and chuckled. "Say what you want. Your illusion showed me all I needed to know."

"Shut up! I was trying to mess with you."

"Would have worked if you got some details right." Devon dramatically shrugged with his arms out to his sides. "For starters, you clearly don't know how make-out sessions work."

"Y-yes I do!" She blushed. "I was purposely making it bad to imply that you're a bad kisser."

Devon shoved his hands deep in his pockets before walking over to Willow and leaning in close. "Want me to show you how well I kiss?" He wagged his eyebrows at her.

Willow's face flushed. "No! Gross! I'd probably have to teach you anyway." She stepped back and hugged herself. Her face scrunched up like she smelled a used diaper.

"You also got the boxers wrong. I go commando. Makes the morphing easier with less clothing. In fact, who's to say if I'm wearing any actual clothing right now?"

"Ewww!" Willow shoved him further away from her and started running back to the dorms.

"But I would totally sport only those white boxers with the hearts if that's what you're into," Devon teased, chasing after her. "And when should I expect those make-out lessons?"

"Hate you, Devon!" She playfully called back.

"You love me," he laughed.

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

The Set-up: 

Devon returned to the X-Men after spending two years with The Brotherhood of Mutants. Until the X-Men can decide if they can trust him, Devon is in a holding cell hidden under the Xavier Institute. Willow, feeling conflicted on the return of her former best friend and crush, decided to visit Devon to get some answers of her own. The answer she got was that he wasn't part of the attack on the Xavier Institute; he didn't even know about it until months later, and he grieved the presumed loss of his friends. He had every intention of simply infiltrating The Brotherhood and coming back to the X-Men as a spy to prove his worth to the X-Men. This is a sample from the larger story “Please, Let Me Explain” co-authored by me and Devon's creator Ronoxym.

Word Count: 843

- Can't You Be The Bad Guy? -

She peeked over her shoulder and back at Devon before turning fully around. "I saw what you did in the Danger Room. I was so intrigued by the idea of your first DR run that I made sure to set up shop in the observation deck. I watched the whole thing: wandering the desert, saving Penny, getting knocked out, waking up in what you thought was the infirmary before being convinced that you were going on an actual mission, going up against The Brotherhood again, and taking out Lookout once Pyro offered you info on your parents. It was a mean trick, but it seemed to seal your coffin well enough."

"I really wish you hadn't seen that." He shied away, ashamed at his behavior, but also growing angry at the reminder of the cruel misdirection. That session had ruined his life.

"Yeah, well, I did. I was so mad. I hadn't known you for long, but I thought I knew you pretty well. Even after the thing with Marge in the DR, I tried to come up with an explanation. But then you flee before the place blows? You had betrayed us to The Brotherhood and clearly didn't care about us any longer. My life for the past two years was hating you to no end. Vowing that I'd avenge Hedge. That I'd get payback for the other three lives you took. So, tell me, Devon, if you are as innocent as you claim, how doesn't that make the last two years of my life worse?"

Devon looked bewildered by her question. He had figured that being innocent would always make things better, not worse. Willow didn't miss a beat in informing him otherwise.

"Don't you get it? I just spent the past two years of my life hating you! Despising you! Having nightmares about you! I had a sickening sense of betrayal whenever I thought about you - even the few good times we had. I had emotional breakdowns and loathed my best friend for the past two years over a misunderstanding? That's supposed to cheer me up? I blamed you for four deaths you had nothing to do with? That's supposed to lift my spirits? Do you realize how much I put myself through because I thought I was the one who drove you to it? I mean, I was the one who convinced you to try out the DR in the first place! If I hadn't suggested it to Wolverine then maybe you wouldn't have left. Now knowing that I just might be right about that fact is supposed to perk me up?"

She started screaming at him as she wept. "The amount of time I wasted hating my best friend. The amount of energy I dedicated to hardening my heart to you. The days of self-loathing because I thought I put you up to it, or because - to this day – I'm still pissed off at Cyclops for tricking you like that! You were the enemy! Cyclops was right about you, and he was justified in testing you in the DR instead of letting you betray us in the field. Yet I still hated him for such a horrible ploy. Then I felt guilty for siding with a foe instead of a professor."

She hung her head and her hair spilled from behind her ears, hiding her right eye. It was manic whenever Trish's hair fell into her face, but it was sweet and a bit heart-wrenching when Willow's silvery-white locks drifted into hers. Devon just wanted to brush them away from her eyes, and help dry her tears. It pained him to the core that he caused her such grief.

Her voice cracked as she breathed out the next sentence. "It's just easier on me if you really were the bad guy. So, just- can you just give me that?"

Devon had no clue how to respond. They stood in silence for a few minutes - Devon staring at Willow as she focused on her own feet - before she finally ran out of the room. Mirroring Devon when he left the institute two years prior, Willow didn't bother to look back or say goodbye.

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

The Set-up: Nyssa, Devon, and Zeke just defected to the X-Men from The Brotherhood. Willow has not taken kindly to the trio, and is particularly harsh with Devon. Nyssa, Devon's unofficial girlfriend, decides to take it upon herself to get Willow to chill. This story is a companion piece to X-Future.

Word Count: 1613

 - It Is So On! -

Willow sighed and flopped on to her bed. "What do ya want, Nys?"

The blonde slammed the door closed behind her. "We need to talk about Devon."

Willow squeezed her eyes closed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, we don't. We really, really don't."

"Yes, we do." Nys' voice was firm, like a scolding school teacher. "Or at the very least you're going to hear what I have to say."

Willow opened one eye to glance over at Nys. The girl had a stubborn determination. Willow could already tell that she was in a losing battle. She closed her eyes and waved Nys on.

"You need to lay off him," Nys demanded.

Willow loudly drew in a hissy breath. On the loud exhale she rebutted, "How about nope?" She then rolled off her bed and walked over to her desk. "Well, that was fun. Buh-bye now."

Nys bit the inside of her cheeks and folded her arms. "Are you this hostile to everyone?"

Willow swung out her leg as she pivoted on her opposite heel, and then gracefully landed in her chair. "Only potential threats," she said matter-of-factly. "Ya know, like former members of an organization that already blew up this school once."

Nys stormed over to the desk. "That's not fair! First of all, none of us had anything to do with that! We weren't even members back then. Secondly, The Brotherhood had lied to us and kept us in the dark the entire time we were with them. None of us are actually bad people."

Willow cocked an eyebrow. She carefully watched as Nys took a few steps back and sank on to the bed. The blonde's harshness melted as she slumped on the soft surface.

"Look." For the first time Nys' voice was soft and a bit defeated as she studied her woven fingers. "Zeke is a bit simple minded, but he's really just a huge teddy bear. He's devoted and loyal as long as you treat him well, and he really just wants to be a good person. He's actually pretty devastated that he was part of a terrorist group. Well, we all are, honestly. Anyway, Zeke doesn't deserve you or anyone else here harassing him about his past."

"Yeah, okay, don't pick on the humanoid St. Bernard. Whatever." Willow made a display of yawning before she checked her desk clock. "Weren't you invading my room in order to talk to me about the Traitor Supreme?"

Nys vaulted off Willow's bed and got up in the younger girl's face. "Never ever refer to him like that!" she snarled.

Willow leaned back and shot her finger up at Nys. "Ah, there we are. Full circle back to rage. Fascinating how that works." She crossed her legs, and again casually waved for Nys to continue. "Well, if I have to hear this, can you at least move it along?"

"Move it along? Move it along! Are you kidding me right now?" Nys slammed her hand on the desk beside Willow. "Listen up, bitch, and listen carefully. You want this short? I'll make it simple for you then. Leave. Us. Alone. Easy enough for you?"

Willow scoffed and pivoted her chair so she had space to stand up. Nys caught the armrest and swung the chair back to center Willow on her. Holding firmly to each side of the chair, Nys leaned in close. "Don't mess with me, skank."

"Excuse me?" Willow knitted her eyebrows in disbelief and shifted her weight to one side, ready to sweep kick Nys away from her if need be.

"Don't pick on Zeke," Nys continued completely undeterred. "And certainly do not harass Devon. Don't be mean to him. Don't treat him harshly. Don't call him names. And never call him a traitor again! You would be lucky to have a loyal friend like him!"

"Loyal?" Willow's voice cracked as it was torn between yelling and laughing. Her face hardened. In a quick movement she simultaneously shoved Nys away from her and stood up fast enough to kick the chair behind her. "Now listen up here, sweetheart." She spat out the last word as if it were a curse. "I already had Devon as a friend, and let me tell you, it was far from lucky. Plus, he was about as loyal as a pet tiger. So it's time for you to sit down and listen to Teacher."

Nys rolled her shoulders and took a step back so her nose wasn't practically brushing Willow's. The silver-haired girl clenched her jaw as she growled through her teeth. "That jerk caused nothing but chaos when he left. And I certainly didn't feel his loyalty, or feel lucky to have been his friend. You want to know what I did feel? I felt lost. Betrayed. Hatred. So, you can keep him as a friend. 'Cuz I certainly don't want it."

The blonde shifted, gently tilting her head and calculating. "You liked him," she finally guessed after a few heartbeats.

"What?" Willow stiffened her back and glowered.

Nys struggled to keep the smile from tugging on her lips. "You did, didn't you?" She scanned her adversary as she softened her stance. "That's why you're so hard on him. He broke your heart when he left."

The belly laugh filled the room. Hugging her stomach, Willow snorted before she was able to recompose herself. She held up her hand apologetically as she took deep breaths to calm the giggles. "I'm sorry, but Devon? Devon St. James? That punk kid? Break my heart?" She guffawed and quickly muffled it with a hand. "Yeah, alright, ya got me. He intrigued me a little, and I may have thought he was kinda cute. That's it." She fought against smiling and it was killing her cheeks. "Broke my heart. You're so cute. Look, I was with someone then, and I'm with someone now. I wouldn't want Devon St. James ever. Hate to break it to ya." Willow winked at Nys and giggled a bit more.

"Oh, right, dating someone." Nys stared at a patch of wall just past Willow's shoulder. Her voice was distant as she tried to grab at a passing memory. "That Chayse guy, right?"

Half of Willow's face pulled up in a smile as she cocked a hip. "Yeah. Chayse. Someone way better than that runaway douchebag. Yet another reason your little Don Juan scenario would never happen."

Nys' eyes bore down on Willow for yet again disrespecting Devon. Taking a couple long breaths, she calmed herself. Something about the younger girl seemed a bit off balance since it was suggested that she had a crush on Devon; maybe even loved him. Nys decided to take a stab in the dark: that the images Lia had seen during their battle were at least based on truth. "This oh-so-fantastic Chayse guy, he was with that Lia girl before, am I right?"

Willow's chuckles quickly died. She scowled and again stiffened her back. "Watch it."

"Yeah, I think I heard that the two of them were actually a cute couple for a while. Then you stole him away from her with your slutty feminine wiles." Nys smirked and her eyes twinkled.

"Listen here, Tinkerbell," Willow shot forward to get right in Nys' face. She poked the girl in the shoulder to accentuate her point. "Don't go around talking about shit you know nothing about."

Nys casually gave a sideways glance at Willow's poking. As if swatting a fly, she brushed the younger girl's hand away. "I also heard something about you creating unnecessary chaos between that Irish couple."

Willow gave Nys a shove. "I told you to stop."

Nys stumbled back and landed on Willow's bed. She quickly crossed her legs and leaned back as if she had intended to sit down anyway. "Seems to me you enjoy causing needless drama among happy couples."

The slap echoed throughout the room. Nys gripped the side of her face, knowing a handprint would show up in due time. Willow remained in the follow through of her swing. Her breaths were slow but heavy. "I said," Willow growled, "stop it."

Nys pushed Willow out of the way so she could stand up. The two stared each other down for a good minute. Nys was the one who finally broke the silence. "Listen, bitch, I don't care if you despise Devon or love him. He's mine and you're not going to cause drama between us. Try all you want, but keep in mind that I have my own way of getting into someone's head." Glaring, Nys released some of her pheromones and Willow became lightheaded.

After a little wobbling, Willow allowed herself to collapse on to her bed. Nys smirked and let up on her powers. "Just a little taste. You'll be fine in a minute or two. Open the window to help that along." She walked over to the door and stopped with it half open. "Trust me, mess with Devon anymore and I'll make it ten times worse for you."

Nys slammed the door behind her when she left. Right on cue, Willow's eyes refocused. She stared down her bedroom door and imagined the blonde that just left. Her fingers still tingled from slapping the girl. Willow studied them before clenching her hand in to a fist. "Challenge accepted, Nys. Challenge accepted."

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

The Set-Up: The villain Agony managed to force Willow onto a weird sub-set of the Astral Plane in order for the two of them to battle. After a few scuffles, Agony drops some blood onto the “ground” of their battle field, and “crew” three copies of herself. Willow, using her illusion ability, did the same: creating 3 copies of herself. During the four-on-four battle, Agony circled the Willows, who are grouped together with their backs to each other. The Agonies formed scythes in each of their hands, meanwhile, Willow had her and her copies form daggers and shields. This is an adaptation of an actual X-Future role play scene

Word Count: 1358

 - I am a Badass -

Boy, did I screw myself over by not keeping one hand free. I couldn't vault myself like I normally would as Agony and her copies each swiped at us with their scythes. The best I could do was an aerial spin.

I jumped up, pulled in as tight as I could with the dagger and shield, and spun a bit so I was above the high blade. I came down just as Agony's clone's scythe finished it's swing. I managed to land on the blade and push it down to the ground. My illusionary selves mimicked me as we all land on the scythes and pin them to the ground. Unfortunately, I don't know if it was my clones or Agony's that were out of sync, but the duplicate behind me had her left shin badly sliced on her landing. Her balance off, she missed pinning the scythe of her Agony, and she nearly took out the Willow to my right.

My focus shifted for a half-second as I watched the girls tumble into each other. I made a mental note to watch my back for the free scythe. Lowering my weight to make sure the scythe I was standing on was pinned, I smirked at the Agony in front of me, my dagger out towards her throat.

“Your move, Kaiba.” I mocked.

Agony grinned and took a step forward, driving my dagger through her neck. Before I could register that she was obviously one of Agony's illusionary duplicates, blue “blood” sprayed out of the woman's neck; coating me. I guarded my face with the shield, and took an instinctive step back.

I wasn't pinning her scythe any longer, but it doesn't seem to matter as the injured Agony dropped to the ground and 'died.' The other two illusionary Agonys vanished as well, leaving my copies dazed as their fighting partners disappeared. Regaining our bearings, my illusionary clones and I all turn to the real Agony.

She didn't seem to care about her scythe any longer, dropping it to the ground, and letting the psy energy dissolve back into the atmosphere. Instead, Agony threw back her head and laughed.

Even with the shield, the spray had come at me too fast to block it all. I still had some of it on my face and shoulders. I kept my eyes on Agony as I tried to wipe the blood off me. The second I touched the blue goop it started to glow. Its pulsating felt like my own heartbeat pushing through my skin.

“What the hell!?” I chanced looking away from Agony for a moment as I inspected the damage. The pulsating blue blood glowed brighter. Startled, I tossed my shield to the side, and frantically attempted to brush the liquid off at all. I only managed to spread it onto my clean hand, and then down my unsoiled arms. No matter what, the blood won't clean off; like it was attached to me now. My hurried swipes became noticeably slower, and my head grew heavy, as if I were tranquilized. I dropped to my knees, and my head swayed and bobbled as I struggled to stay alert. My only thought was Seriously? This is how I'm going out?

“You. Bitch.” I coughed out; dropping onto my hands as well.

"Soon you will be fully paralyzed, then I'll have you at my mercy." Agony smirked as she folded her arms across her chest, waiting for the inevitable.

My three duplicates stared at me as I collapsed, completely baffled. Morons. That's when I figured that maybe them being dumbfounded was actually in my favor. Agony doesn't seem to be paying much attention to them anymore.

Go! I mentally whispered to them. Move! Help!

I was frozen; pinned to the floor. My body wouldn't move.

Agony took a step towards me, and held out her hand. The weird blue blood finally peeled off of me like liquid metal being pulled by a magnet in Agony's hand. As it pooled on her palm, it solidified into a crystalline dagger.

Help, I plead once more to my illusions. They had to be listening to me, right? Agony kneeled down in front of me, pulled her arm back, and as she swung her arm down to plunge the dagger into my back, my clones finally leapt at her.

“What the hell?” Agony bellowed as my illusionary duplicates pinned her in place, pulling back on the hand with the dagger. “How are your petty illusions moving on their own?” She struggled for a few seconds before smiling down at me. “No matter. This won't hold me for long.” She closed her eyes, relaxed her struggle slightly, and concentrated on her breathing.

Moving on their own? It didn't make sense to me that she'd be so confused by that fact. Oh, right! Her illusions moved completely in unison with her! They could only mirror. She can't create autonomous clones!

I made a mental note to use that fact against her, assuming I survived long enough for that knowledge to prove useful.

“They're not real!” Agony's voice squeaked with a twinge of pain as she started struggling harder against my duplicates again. “They are not real!” She screamed.

Oh, shit! That was it. Agony knew my weakness. Disbelieving in my illusions dispelled them. The only things literally holding her back from killing me would be gone any second now. I was doomed. I clenched my eyes closed and focused on getting my body to move.

Move! Move! Damn it, move your big toe! It worked for Uma Thurman in Kill Bill! Now do it!

“They are not real!” Agony yelled again. Her eyes flew open and stared down her attackers. “You are not real! What is going on? Why are you still here?”

Opening my eyes, I struggled to arch my neck to see. All three illusions truly were still fighting back against Agony as she frantically squirmed against them. I was clueless as to how that was possible. Was there some part of her brain that sincerely believed the clones were there? Was that why she couldn't dispel them?

That was when my eye caught the shin of the copy that was hit by the scythe earlier. Blood was trickling down her leg.

Holy shit! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. They're real? They're really real? Oh. Em. Gee! I'm so friggen hard core!

The blood trickling down my illusion's shin had a purple hint to it. Same as the shading of the actual Astral Plane. That's when I truly realized what happened. The damn things were more psi-weapons! Just in human form! You can't dispel psi-weapons!

I made another mental note: when I'm on the astral plane, any illusion I create is a friggen psi-weapon!

My humanoid psi-friggen-weapons pulled harder back on Agony.

“Get off me! You're not real! You're not supposed to be here anymore! How are you still here?” Agony twisted more against the clones, panic starting to draw onto her face.

The copy that had Agony's wrist yanked harder on her hand to make Agony's grip loosen. My copy leaned in close to Agony's ear.

“We're all still here-” the clone said.

“-because I am-” continued the clone yanking on Agony's shoulders to bend her arms back away from me.

“-a mother-effing badass!” the injured duplicate finished, then sucker-punched Agony in the gut.

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

The Set-Up: Willow unintentionally finds Lia hiding in the community bathroom. Lia blames herself for Annika/Judgment's possible death, as well as Devon's death (although technically, he's still alive), and Liam's. This is an adaptation of an actual X-Future role play scene.

Word Count: 1390

 - Check the Ego - 

“Oh, hun, no.” Willow dropped to her knees in front of Lia, who was curled up on the floor, hugging her legs. Willow placed her hands on Lia's to try to get her attention. “No, none of that is your fault. None of it! Do you hear me? You were fifteen when Annika left. What could you have possibly done? As for a last week? She was trying to kill you! You did what you had to in order to survive. If she is dead, it's her fault, not yours!” Willow moved her hands to Lia's face, and pulled her head up so Lia was looking in Willow's eyes.

“And both times Devon left were his own fault. He was the one that didn't want to include us. How could you possibly think you were responsible for that moron's actions? As for Liam? From what I gathered, you weren't anywhere near him. Know who was? That asshole Roscoe. Ya know, the guy who pretended to be Liam's BFF only to literally stab him in the back? Why? Why do you take all of this on? It's not your fault!”

Lia choked down tears in a sobbing hiccup. With the heel of her hand, she blotted away the few drops that pooled in her eyes. Despite Willow still holding her face, Lia refused to look in her friend's eyes, looking down to her arms instead.

“I-I dunno. I dunno why I feel guilty. Why do I feel guilty? What's wrong with me? I- I just can't help but feel like I failed, like I could have done something, like I could have done more. If only I could have gotten through to them. If I were better at understanding people. If I were better at my own powers. But I just keep failing. I keep proving to the world that it got left behind an inferior model. And-” Lia's eyes shoot up to meet Willow's. Her hands whipped to cover her mouth, a loud gasp attempting to suck up the next sentence back into her throat.

Willow's eyes slowly widened as realization washed over her. Abruptly, she ripped her hands away from Lia's face as Willow sprung up to tower over her.

“You're not your mom!” Willow shouted, wildly gesturing, uncaring that Lia's father was waiting for her just outside the bathroom door. He needed to hear this ridiculousness too. “Christ, girl, lower your ego a bit, huh? Is that really what this is all about?”

Lia gasped again at Willow's harsh words, glaring a little at her supposed friend. Willow didn't care, she hoped she was pissing Lia off; make up for how pissed off Lia just made her. “Seriously. Everyone looks at poor, little, emo Lia whining about how useless she is, and we all think 'Why does she have such low self esteem?' I should have known better. I should have known this whole thing was actually because your ego is way too big!”

Lia shifted awkwardly on the bathroom floor tiles, but Willow stepped closer so Lia had no room to rise; to move away from hearing this truth.

“Lia, you have no control over the world. You're not that powerful; you'll never be that powerful, so dial it down, 'kay? The world doesn't revolve around you. These bad things aren't some weird karma directed at you. The world isn't mad at you for not being your mom. Christ, not even your mom was that important to the world. So, come on, get over yourself. You are you. You are as good as you can be; you train hard for that. Learn from your downfalls and improve. Don't mope. Don't cry in your emo corner. No one else cares. No one else blames you. So stop inflating your ego thinking that everyone depends on you. You're not anyone's mom here, you're not even your own mom. So knock it off!”

Willow bent down to grab Lia's hand, and pulled her to her feet. Before Lia could catch her bearings, Willow had her in a tight embrace.

In a softer tone, Willow muttered one last thought in Lia's ear. “So, you gonna go back out in the world and learn? Or are you gonna stay in here and hide some more? Because I still need a shower, and Chayse is probably wondering were the hell I am.” Willow leaned away from Lia and gave her a gentle smile. Patting Lia on the cheek, Willow gathered up her supplies and headed towards the shower stalls.

Lia sniffled, her head hung. Tears spilled over this time, and she didn't bother attempting to wipe them away. “What's the point? You said it yourself, no one depends on me. Probably because they can't trust that I can do any good. What's the point of staying here to learn any more? I'm no hero. I can't help anyone here.”

The tiles squeaked as Willow skidded to a halt. Rage filled her face as she whipped around and stormed back over to Lia.

“Seriously?” Willow screamed in Lia's face, mere inches from her roommate's nose. She then leaned back and crossed her arms, her hip cocked as Willow stared Lia down. “Seriously. Alright. Fine. We're doing this then. Whatever. Sure. Sure, you're useless. You haven't saved anyone. Sure. Ignore the fact that it was because of you that Devon, Nyssa, and Zeke joined the team in the first place. But nope. You don't reach anyone.” Willow smacked her lips to resist smacking Lia. “Ignore the fact that, for the limited time Lincoln was here, he seemed the most calm and at peace whenever he was around you. Nope. You're useless. Right.” Willow took a step away from Lia, rolled her shoulders, and gave up trying to keep her voice low. “We'll also forget that we were able to capture Lighter in the first place because you stopped her single-handedly from turning all of us into fried chicken.” She was waving her arms wildly now, pacing in front of Lia like a lioness cutting off a gazelle's retreat. “Chayse tries to be better not because his parents berate him, but because you do. Ripley found an anchor here - excuse the pun - and rejoined society because of you.” Willow roughly poked Lia in the shoulder before throwing up her hands over her head. “But, nope. Nope. You are useless. No one needs you here. You're just wasting everyone's time. Sure. Sounds about right.”

Willow shook her head and stomped over to the bathroom door. She held it open and motioned to Lia's father standing guard in the hallway.

“Your dad's right here. Do you want to tell him that you want to move back to your old home, or should I? Because I sure would hate for my time to be further wasted by you,” she snapped out sarcastically.

Concerned, Jamie timidly poked his head through the community bathroom door, and glanced over at his daughter. “Lia? Baby, you okay? What's going on between you two?”

“Oh, nothing much, Mr. Madrox,” Willow spat out as she glared over her shoulder at Lia, “just your daughter whining again because she's not a 'hero,' which apparently everyone else in this school is. Cuz, ya know, I've stopped tons of arch villains myself. Same with Crystal, and Tyler, and Colette, and Alister, and Sasha, and dozens more. Yup. We're all big bad superheroes ready to join up with SHIELD and the Avengers; leaving her behind.” She fully turned and screamed back into the bathroom. “Right, Lia? So, what's the point in staying here? Lord, it's all or nothing with your ego, isn't it?” Willow shook her head, and shoved the bathroom door as open as it would go before storming out.

“Ya know what,” Willow muttered over her shoulder, “Screw the shower. It could never clean this grime off me anyway. Such bullshit.” A few stomps down the corridor, Willow pivoted and shouted back to the bathroom. “Just let me know where I'm shipping your shit!” Spinning on her heel, Willow stormed back to her bedroom.

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

WOW! There... was... a lot of Devon in there... >_> Hubby doesn’t really write anything terribly in-depth, so most of the Willow/Chayse role play is “off-screen”, things like “They go on a trip to Japan for a couple of weeks” or “They nurse each other back to health after a tough battle” or “He takes her to a secluded place for a picnic of Cajun food he made himself.”

Ronoxym, on the other hand, did a LOT of dialog-focused role play with Willow, and he was the one who came up with the concept for “Please, Let Me Explain” so I guess it makes sense that most of my Willow examples center around Devon....

Anyway, one last post to go! Who’s ready to see some fun wrestling entrance videos?

[ozma914]

Halloween Was More Fun In The Dangerous Days

 Unless you’re one of those people of questionable sanity who likes cold weather, October has little to offer Hoosiers except autumn colors and Halloween. By the end of the month the leaves have started to fall and the days are criminally short. This gives me a feeling of bleakness and dread that …

Come to think of it, bleakness and dread are very Halloweenie. But no matter how you feel about the weather (it stinks), Halloween is the beginning of snack season. Through Thanksgiving and Christmas and on to Valentine’s Day, we get to pack on a nice layer of fat against the cold. It doesn’t really help. But what the heck, any excuse for chocolate.

These days I’m expected to turn on my porch light and give candy to other people, but I’d rather hide in the dark and let the dog scare off anyone who approaches. There’s a cocoa shortage, people—chocolate charity begins at home. But when I was younger, Halloween was one of the highlights of the year. In elementary school we’d spend October making decorations of ghosts, witches, and of course pumpkins with scary faces. I wonder if that’s allowed, these days? They’ve probably banned that kind of stuff from public schools, along with cardboard pilgrims and anything Christmas. I liked the pilgrims, although even then I knew they’d be toast without Squanto and his corn crop. Not that they had any toast.

I'm not saying Emily and I haven't occasionally had fun with Halloween. Or was this taken at the end of our last camping trip?

Where was I? Oh yeah—candy. My family didn’t exactly hand out candy like candy. Back then treats were, well, a treat. But on one glorious night we could collect enough to keep us going until Thanksgiving. It wasn’t seen as a dangerous holiday, at the time. (This would be in the 70s. No, wait. Let’s change that to the 80s. Yeah, the 80s.) On the contrary, this was the night when it was quite literally okay to take candy from strangers. Our dad would load us into the back of his El Camino for a trip to the store, where we would find highly flammable costumes and masks that rendered us mostly blind, then— Oh, the El Camino? Well, it’s kind of a half car, half pickup truck. We didn’t worry about belting into the too-small front, because there were no seat belts.

Anyway, we waited until it got pitch dark and then hit the streets, methodically knocking on every door. Sometimes we’d get apples, which was not exactly a jump for joy moment. Packaged candy was okay, but the really nice people would make things from scratch, like those wonderful popcorn balls or caramel apples—which beat plain apples hands down. The only glitch I remember is when we reached the home of a deaf old fellow who had no idea it was Halloween. He was probably the guy who later invented the idea of only trick or treating at homes with porch lights on. Or, maybe he was hoarding his chocolate.

Wait ... I'm now the old guy.

Just as our parents passed out the last of their candy, we got home with more candy. It was important to eat the homemade stuff, like caramel apples and popcorn balls, first. If you weren’t too much of a glutton, you could string the rest along for weeks. The times were so much less dangerous.

Some of you might be horrified by this. Some might smile at the exaggeration, then be horrified to discover it wasn’t an exaggeration: That’s the way it happened for some of us in the small towns of the mid-70s—I mean, 80s. This was a time when, if we did something stupid like walk in the middle of the street, our parents would get three phone calls and be standing at the front door by the time we made it home. When everyone knows everyone else, it’s not as dangerous as it sounds on paper. We did know about the dangers, as shown in the very first short story I ever had published, in the late … 80s. It was about a hungry vampire who drinks his own blood after biting down on a razor blade inside a Halloween apple. If anyone still has that old copy of the Central Noble High School Cat Tracks, you’ll find the story to be very, very bad. Just the same, the worst thing we ever experienced was a tummy ache.

Remember: Every time you buy a book, a ghost gets his wings rest.

http://markrhunter.com/ https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

[lonelypond]

Santa Cutie and The Christmas Cookie Queen, Ch. 6

Love Live, NicoMaki, 10K, 6/6

North Pole (Nishikino) Invasion

Nico had a plan. Well, two plans. One was the well scripted plan to razzle dazzle the execs watching her audition, the other, well, the ingredients for the other were safely stashed in her dad’s military duffle, underneath layers of clothes, her makeup kit and a few essential tools. The target of that plan was sitting in the driver’s seat of Umi’s sedan, merrily humming Christmas tunes as she vroomed along 20 miles an hour over the speed limit. Between them, Kotori and Nico had managed to distract Umi for the length of the trip. So they were making good time, had a solid script and there had been no incidents of road trip grumpy. So far, so good. Nico glanced at Kotori who was showing Umi pics from Honoko’s date prep. Kotori nodded and flashed the ok sign.

Maki half turned her head and smiled, “We’re almost there. It’s not really an exit, there’s an access road we use.”

Nico frowned, “So no toll? That’s legal?”

Maki shrugged. Of course, Nico asked questions, Nico was a reporter. Rin had texted that Eli had found out about the reporter thing and that was adding to her freakout, which was making extra problems for Nozomi. Rin was worried.

“Nico.” Maki hesitated, “Could I ask you a favor?”

“Sure, if Nico can help you, I will.” Nico was curious, Maki’s mood having gone from festive to furtive.

“Don’t ask too many questions.” Immediately, Maki regretted her phrasing. It made it sound like she had something to hide, which she kind of did, but only because of Eli and tradition, not because Maki didn’t trust Nico. Maki stumbled out another attempt, “I mean, can we just focus on your video. It’s a really busy time and…”

Nico sounded a little subdued, “Nico appreciates your using your family resources to help.”

“I want to help,” Maki and the car leapt forward, “It’s not that I don’t tr...it’s just…” Maki frowned, “Eli.”

“Who is Eli?” Nico asked.

Head Elf was not a title Maki could offer her current listeners so she went with the best analogy she could think of “Eli’s North Pole Nishikino’s Chief Operating Officer. She’s very involved in day to day operations, especially this time of year.”

Nico’s laugh brayed, “You’re sneaking Nico in…”

Maki coughed and yes, the car might have swerved slightly, so now Maki could feel Umi paying close attention as well, “Not exactly…”

Nico poked Maki on the arm, “Will you or will you not get in trouble if you get caught showing Nico around the place.”

Maki didn’t want to take her hand off the wheel, partly because she couldn’t decide whether to rub the spot where Nico poked her or fidget with her hair.

Umi leaned as far forward as her seatbelt allowed, “Is this true, Maki? Is helping Nico breaking any rules?”

Maki floored the gas and Umi paled, “It’s my company, I can do what I want, Eli is NOT the boss of me.”

Nico swallowed back a snigger at Maki’s borderline adult disclaimer.

Maki expelled a loud breath. “Please let me deal with that.” Lavender eyes flashed briefly at Nico, “It’s not a problem, Nico, really. Trust me.”

Nico’s answer was instant, “Of course, Nico trusts you.”

 Having said that she trusted Maki, Nico could think of nothing else to compare the ongoing discussion to than a heist film. They had pulled off onto the access road, made a couple of quick turns on a suddenly foggy road and parked outside a cosy chic diner. The staff just waved at Maki as she made her way into a horseshoe shaped booth in the back, where two women were sitting. One was almost as tiny as Nico, ginger haired, and as busy as a hummingbird’s wings. The other was taller, sedate, with long, dark, purple tinted hair and a knowing smirk.

“MAKI!” the slim ginger rushed Maki, hugging her so hard Nico heard all the redhead’s breath whoosh out.

“Rin.” Maki’s voice hit a whine of complaint even as she tolerated Rin hugging her. Then Rin dodged around Maki, who whirled suspiciously as Rin approached Nico, hand out.

“Hi, Nico! I’m Rin, Maki’s best friend. Nozomi showed me your catching on fire video.” The dark haired woman waved at Nico.

Maki grabbed Rin’s collar and threw her back toward the booth, “Ignore them.” Maki slid into the booth, “Where’s Hanayo?”

“She’s meeting us in a half an hour.” Rin said, checking her phone. “She didn’t want to leave the reindeer waiting. They get restless.”

Maki nodded, as the confusion of the three visitors increased. Nico slid in next to Maki, Umi and Kotori across the table, next to Nozomi. Rin bounced happily in the middle.

“We’d better order lunch.” Maki handed menus around, “Once we get inside, faster is better.”

  Nico wandered through the trees, glad she’d listened to Maki and dressed for outdoor travel. Cocoa’s snow sneakers fit well enough. The air wasn’t that cold, but there was an extra wintry chill and sparkle to it, Nico almost felt like she was walking on the set of a Modern Holiday Classic™. Bells tinkling in the distance, then nearing as hooves could be heard clomping through the snow only added to the effect. Maki was talking to Rin, hands drawing plans in the air. She paused to wink at Nico once. A sleigh drawn by two antlered reindeer appeared, a small, smiling woman at the reins, fair hair covered by a flap eared knitted cap.

“Kayo-chin!” Rin ran up to the driver, pushing herself up on the sleigh and kissing her cheek. Rin then came forward to pet the reindeer. “Hi, Hyuna, Hi, Hyeri” Then she pointed at the crowd behind Maki. ”This is Nico and Umi and Kotori, Kayo-chin.” Rin announced.

Hanayo waved, one hand still on the reins. Maki realized they’d be jammed in the sleigh, but it should work. “We’ll load up here, and then head to the Studio’s loading entrance.”

“I’ll run back and open the back doors.” Rin sprinted off with a wave.

The driver twisted around to yell, “Be careful, Rin!” but Rin was already out of sight.

Maki waved Nico forward, “Nico, this is Hanayo, Rin’s fiancee and one of my oldest friends. She takes care of the reindeer herd.”

“Nice to meet you.” Nico smiled.

Hanayo acknowledged the response with a quick nod, but she was already thinking about other matters, “If you just hand Nico in, Maki, I think we can fit everyone.”

“Yeah, and Nozomi should have had enough of a headstart.” Maki stepped closer to Nico, hands reaching out, “May I?”

Nico murmured agreement as Maki’s hands settled on her waist and boosted Nico high enough that she could climb into the sleigh. Hanayo clucked at the reindeer, encouraging and steadying them. Umi stepped forward with Kotori, first handing the luggage to Nico, then following Maki’s motions, then jumping in to sit next to Kotori. Maki slid in next to Hanayo and the driver gave the reindeer the go ahead. Nico enjoyed the ride, trees seemed to bounce past them, sunlight sparkling through snow and ice crystals, bells in the air, music in the distance...she watched as Maki leaned forward, relaxed, a huge grin on her face as the sleigh continued deeper into the woods. From every angle, her pose read “Home.” Nico had never seen the redhead so calm. Maybe it was the trees. Or the cool. She remembered @SantaChan’s anti air conditioned cool rants in July and August. Maybe being in the mountains kept things cooler year round...made sense. Nico made a mental note to ask Maki on the drive back to Tudor.

 Nozomi considered, biting her lip and staring at her reflection in the mirror. The wrap dress clung attractively in all the right places, but if Eli was already in a bad mood, Nozomi dialing up the flirty would only freeze the atmosphere between them. But the NorthPole Nishikino branded cardigan, though warm, made Nozomi feel frumpy. She shook herself, this was for Maki. Plus, Eli always smiled when she saw Nozomi sporting the company logo. Frumpy feel goods for Nozomi’s maybe more than friend, while Maki did a HUGE favor for hers. That would have to do. Red wasn’t Nozomi’s best color either, not even top 3, but this was for a good cause. Nozomi put her arms in the cardigan, buttoned the middle button and prepared to brave Eli’s office with her crisis.

Now, Nozomi cared too much about her job and the people she worked with to CREATE a crisis, however, she had developed a habit of postponing resolving a crisis that involved paperwork in case Eli needed a break from people management. Yesterday, handily, the payroll system had glitched, not acknowledging shift differentials and completely losing track of overtime hours, which at this time of year would not only mess with pay, but have a serious impact on bonuses. So real, not manufactured crisis, and while Nozomi was better at fixing face to face problems, no one could keep up with Eli when she trained those laser blues on an administrative problem. This one was knotty enough that it should give Maki and Rin the time they needed to get Nico in and out, if Nico was any good at her job, and everything Nozomi had found out indicated she was.

Nozomi gave herself one last check in the mirror, reluctantly leaving the mistletoe pin out of the ensemble. Eli was starting to get a twitch whenever she saw anything green and Nozomi was starting to regret that particular directive.

 The sleigh pulled up in back of a huge building as Rin was sliding a wall open. Maki jumped down, grabbing Nico’s duffle and box of tools and dumping them into Rin’s arms. Then she offered a hand to Nico, who let Maki assist her in stepping down. Kotori and Umi followed.

Hanayo turned the sleigh in a careful circle around everyone. “I have to settle Hyuna and Hyeri, Maki, then I can help.”

“That’s fine, Hanayo.” Maki waved.

“See you soon, Kayo-chin.” Rin shouted over her shoulder as she bowed under the weight. Maki grabbed Nico’s duffle and bounded into the studio. Nico, Umi and Kotori stopped at the entrance, awed by the size and the tech neatly arranged around a pristine kitchen, decorated for Christmas with miniature tinsel tossed trees and snowmen.

“I hope you were planning on a Christmas theme; it’s kinda all we do around here.” Maki waved an arm, “Welcome to North Pole Nishikino. Let me know what you need.”

”But hurry.” Rin muttered, Maki shoved her, shushing, as she watched Nico wander onto the expansive set, eyes wide.

“Nico thought you were going to be impressed with our studio. Silly Nico.” Nico glanced at Umi, who was torn between sadness at Honoka missing this opportunity and relief that she wouldn’t have to monitor Honoka’s behavior with equipment this expensive.

Maki paused as she carried Nico’s duffle to the island, to whisper in Nico’s ear, “I was impressed with you.”

Nico almost blushed, but immediately started to bustle before she could get off track. “Rin, can you take Kotori somewhere I can change so she can lay out my outfit and makeup.”

Rin took Kotori and the duffle bag off, Kotori shepherding carefully the garment bag that held Nico’s change of clothes.

“Nico will set up here. Did Rin get the ingredients I needed?” Nico began to unpack her kitchen box.

“Yeah, she said everything’s in the cabinets under the island, unless it’s refrigerated.” Maki pointed.

“Thanks, Maki. Can you show Umi the control booth while Nico sets up. And who’s going to run the cameras?”

Umi suddenly tensed, “Kotori can, I guess. Two cameras would be great though, if there’s a hand held.” Umi looked to Maki who nodded. ‘Closeups would be helpful.”

“We can position a camera to focus solely on the cooking, if that helps. And RIn and Hanayo can run cameras. W....they made a lot of goofy videos as kids.”

“They…?” Nico asked.

Maki kicked her boot, “Um...”

Nico laughed, “Thanks, Maki. This is amazing. I need a half an hour for prep, Umi, then I’ll get changed and we can get started.”

Umi nodded approval, “That sounds like a good plan. Maki can help me familiarize myself with the equipment while you get ready.”

“Maki is the best host.” Nico blew a kiss at Maki, missing the raging blush when she ducked under the counter to start pulling out ingredients.

 “Eli.” Nozomi let herself stagger a little, eyes wide, breath rapid. Eli patted the shoulder of the elf she was in conversation with and turned her attention to the interruption.

“Did something happen? Are you okay?” Eli smiled, hand reaching toward Nozomi’s back. Eli actually seemed in a fairly good mood. Nozomi hesitated, but only briefly. Maki was no good at improvising. Nozomi would have to see this through.

“Payroll.” Nozomi kept her voice even and efficient. “The system’s screwed up. It’s not reflecting shift differentials and two weeks worth of overtime has disappeared. If we can’t find a way to restore the information, we’ll have to go through the schedule and time cards and walk Aditha in IT through what we need.”

“Don’t worry, Nozomi, this happened last month. Once we figure out who’s affected, it’s an easy fix. I had Aditha code a workaround if it ever happened again.” Eli hugged Nozomi with one arm. Nozomi started to wonder why Eli was taking this so well.

“Ummm...Eli.” Nozomi leaned her head on Eli’s shoulder, “you seem in a good mood…”

Eli grinned, “Maki decided to come back.”

Nozomi stopped, choosing her words carefully, “You saw her?”

Eli shook her head, eyes glittering, ease in her walk, “No, but now that she’s back, we can get over all this motorcycle-reporter-overspending nonsense and lock in on a successful Christmas Eve.”

“Eli.” Nozomi’s voice rang in the hall.

“Yes?”

“How do you know Maki’s back?”

“After the accident, I activated the Santa Tracker.” Eli stated. “It can track anyone who’s using the NPP app. Maki’s been mostly testing the Santa Sack™. I look forward to hearing her evaluation.”

“Eli, you can’t do that.” Nozomi found herself shouting, hands in front of her, trying not to shake Eli. “She’s not a lost 2 year old.”

“What if she had another accident? We’d be glad to know where she was then.” Eli shrugged off Nozomi’s ire.

“Did you inform her that you took this action?” Nozomi was calmer, not less angry, but quieter anger.

Another shrug, “Let’s go fix your problem, Nozomi. Then maybe we can sit down to dinner?”

“Oh, Eli. My problem is nothing compared to the one you have.” Nozomi turned away, “You’ll have to do the payroll fix on your own. I have an errand to run.”

 Maki printed out a copy of the script Nico and Umi had worked so hard on during the ride here. As she read through it, Maki could see Nico winking and smiling. She half spun her seat and started playing something on her mini midi keyboard. She followed the music scrolling across the screen, watching the time as she listened through the headphones loose around her ears. One quick replay, a click at 15.7 seconds, a change in chords and she handed the headphones to Umi. “Think Nico will like this? I recorded an intro.”

Umi listened, one hand cupped around an earpad, eyes closed. A finger roll indicated Maki should repeat the loop. Then Umi opened her eyes, “That’s perfect. Nico will love it.” Umi handed the headphones back. “Thank you, Maki.”

Maki grunted and went back to her keyboard, “Do you want one piece for transitions or multiple?”

Umi remembered courting Kotori, searching all over Baltimore for a specific fabric that Kotori needed to complete an outfit, patiently running errands during the long nights Kotori spent working on her first costume design job for a short film, driving 10 minutes out of her way to bring Kotori her favorite coffee and pastry the week before filming. Practical romance. Being helpful while distracting yourself from the sensations being near the woman you wanted engendered.

“I think one, but we should ask Nico.”

Maki nodded, glancing to where Nico was explaining to Rin how she wanted the shots to look. Nico hands flew over the countertop as she demonstrated. Maki thought it was probably a relief that Rin did everything nearly as fast as Nico. Anyone else might have been lost. But both Umi and Kotori seemed to exist in a lower gear and they kept up. Maki wouldn’t want Nico to slow down at all for her, Nico’s vibrancy promised adventures Maki wanted to share.

Umi had a different thought, “Nico, remember, slow down a bit for the audience. They won’t be able to follow along at full speed.”

“Thanks, Umi.”

Nico hadn’t changed yet. Maki was getting restless, curious about what Nico would wear, if her lips would have a blizzard of snow or be dusted with gold. Underneath the restlessness was concern about Eli finding out about this and lecturing Maki about misuse of corporate resources IN FRONT of Nico. Maki cringed in advance embarrassment at that image, hitting a wrong note and drawing Umi’s attention.

Nico shouted, “Don’t let anyone touch anything. I’m going to go get dressed.”

Umi flashed a thumbs up. Maki put her headphones on, knocking out three quick, merry pieces while thinking about what Nico and peppermint and biting into crispy Snickerdoodles would sound like. A woodwind, with a quick piano chord and a snappy snare for the crunchy flavor. Or maybe cinnamon was more of a sax?

 Nico was a blur around the set, doing a dry run before she worked with the actual ingredients. Maki took out her phone and snapped a quick picture from where she was sitting behind her laptop tweaking tempos based on Nico’s pace, which was at least three times as fast as Maki could do anything without the added boost of an engine. She considered posting it on TWIG, which reminded her she’d never gotten a reply from @StormCookie. A check showed no response still and no new posts from @StormCookie. Maki saved the Nico photo and snapped a quick shot of the music on her laptop captioned with “Setting a Christmas mood for a surprise project.” Usually, @StormCookie responded within a day, but it was her business blog so maybe she was taking the weekend off. Maybe she was talking to her cute girl again. Maki smiled and leaned forward, chin propped on her hands as Nico did a twirl, singing a chorus of “Jingle Bells.” Just being in the same room with Nico was enough to get a buzz, Maki thought. Nico had enough energy to fill even this space. Maki wondered if she’d ever attempted to break into a bigger market than Tudor. It might have been hard for Nico to leave her family. Cocoa and Cotaro had told Maki how Nico had taken care of them even when she was attending to college.

“Hey, Maki!” Nico called out and Maki jumped back from her meandering train of thought to see the dark haired beauty waving to her, “Play that intro bit again, Nico wants to work on a dance.”

Maki nodded and swept the cursor to that part of the music. Nico’s foot tapped along, head nodding to the beat.

Suddenly Nico was heading toward Maki, arms out, “Maki’s amazing. This’ll help prove Nico is the consummate professional. I can’t thank you enough.” Nico’s lips were a deep red with small flecks of silver and Maki was breathless, heart rate thrumming like a mambo beat, watching them come closer. Then Nico was hugging her, another kiss on the cheek, but Nico’s lips lingered as she whispered, “I can’t thank you enough, Maki.”

When Nico pulled back, Maki’s hands were clasped in her lap so she didn’t rub her cheek or twist her hair. The redhead had a slight blush and was looking past her laptop, “Hey, Nico?”

“What is it?” Nico leaned into Maki, enjoyed the proximity, resisting the temptation to play with Maki’s hair and almost paying attention to the music.

“If you get the job, where would you go?” Maki tapped a few keys but as far as Nico could tell, it was just random motion.

“Oh, the network HQ is located in Brooklyn, but Nico would only have to fly in for meetings. The pitch is for Nico to produce things remotely at first...we’d find someplace in Tudor to rent, you don’t have to worry about that. Nico wouldn’t be needing to bother you again.” Nico glanced around, “This place is amazing though. What do you film here?”

Maki shifted and Nico let her hand drop to her side as Maki moved swiveled her stool, amethyst eyes not as bright as they’d been, “Safety videos, news updates, we have a half hour morning and midnight show that covers local and corporate stories.”

“That sounds fun.”

“Nozomi says it’s good for morale. She interviews people, takes lots of video footage. She and Rin go to toy conventions and things like that.”

“That’s one of the things Nico likes best about the job, interacting with people, getting them to tell Nico their stories.” Nico’s eyes gleamed as she tapped out a rhythm on Maki’s shoulders, “When Nico has her own show, so many people will clamor to spend some one on one time with the number one interviewer on the air.”

Maki tensed, half closing her laptop and standing abruptly, “I’d better check on Umi.”

“She’ll be fine.” Nico was puzzled by the disruption in the friendly mood she’d been building, “She’s still riding the relief at not having to herd Honoka through all this expensive equipment.”

Maki chuckled, her momentary begrudging of Nico’s popularity dissipated, “It’s been Rin proofed, Honoka would have been fine.”

Nico shook her head, “You weren’t there when she took out the power for 58% of the lower Susquehanna Valley while trying to get in the air video at a hot air balloon event. We had a private ambulance on call for awhile after that. Umi still almost screams if she sees a kid with a balloon.”

“Ha.” Maki flicked Nico’s shoulder, “That’s nothing to the Christmas Eve Rin let the reindeer loose and all of our European deliveries ended up 6 hours behind schedule...everyone was wrangling reindeer and no one could find Rin and Hanayo nearly split in two with worry. Papa said...” Maki froze when she saw the off look in Nico’s eye, curiosity wrestling with suspicion….”um” Maki flailed, physically and verbally, suddenly seeing Eli’s icy glare if Nico started asking questions about Christmas “....we were like 5 and I didn’t really understand what was going on...or what day it was…or...”

“What’s up?” Rin bumped Maki’s side. “I’m ready. Umi’s REALLY cool and Kotori says we should add a darker green to the delivery uniform. Where’s Kayo-chin?”

Nico turned, watching Rin closely as she spoke, “Maki was just telling me about letting all the reindeer out and the delivery delays…”

Maki was behind Nico making frantic “no” signals, crossing her forearms, frowning, and willing understanding into Rin. A puzzled Rin shrugged, “Yeah, no biggy, things are really crazy around here every year before S...:”

Maki practically bowled Rin over with Nico when she pushed the smaller woman toward the set, “Let’s get started. We promised Nozomi we’d be fast.”

“Yeah, we did.” Rin ran back to her camera.

“All right.” Nico frowned, which Maki couldn’t look away from, “Nico is not here to ask questions, Nico is here to catapult to the next level, with the kind assistance of the wonderful Maki.” Nico blew a kiss to Maki, who didn’t notice as she was too focused on whispering to Rin.

“Just forget I mentioned the reindeer thing. We don’t want Nico finding out too much.” Maki felt her heart drop as she said that. Why couldn’t she share everything with Nico? Nico was at least a friend....Maki glanced at Nico, who was making sure the placement of everything was exactly where they’d put spike tape, maybe more when this craziness was over and Maki had a minute to talk to her. But for now it was best to stay focused on helping Nico get her video segment done for tomorrow, and figure out anything else later. Maki shoved her hands deep in her pockets, standing a little apart from Rin, trying to get lost enough in Nico’s smile and snappy patter to forget the urge to pull Nico aside, outside, away from everyone, deep in the pine trees, and just…her imagination stopped there, with Nico brushing a kiss on her cheek, one hand on her forearm. Wait, why did it have to stop there. Wait, Nico was calling her name, why, how long had she zoned out for?

“Maki?” Nico had paused. “Did you hear me?”

“Sorry, what do you need?”

“Can you play the intro for Nico.”

“Sure.” Maki rushed back to her laptop, made sure the speakers were connected and started the music.

Nico held up a hand, “Let Nico countdown from 5. Please.”

“Yeah, Maki. Do your job.” Rin stuck out her tongue.

“Sorry.” Maki hung her head, reminding herself of important things: Take a deep breath. Do things in the right order. Listen to Nico. Don’t get distracted. If Rin starts sniggering, ignore her.

Nico glanced up to where Umi was sitting behind a bank of consoles, “I think the local talent is good to go, Umi. Are you ready?”

Umi’s voice came over the sound system. “We’re good to go whenever you are, Nico. Kotori’s got the sound levels all set. We’ll adjust if anything spikes.”

“All right. Let’s get started.” Nico shook herself, then looked straight into the fixed camera. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1....”

Maki hit play. Nico twirled and came out of it right as the music faded. “Want to impress a girl? Polish your cookie making game? Nothing like ginger spice to put a little snap in your dating life.” Nico stopped. “Hey, Umi, could we drop in a gif of Ginger Spice there or would that be too much?”

Umi sounded like a stormy goddess, hailing hesitation from above. “I don’t think we have the time to find and edit in gifs, Nico.” Some static, then a break in the clouds, “I could do a pop up video type of thing pretty quickly, just to give the idea of what we might do with a longer deadline.”

“Good idea.” Nico hummed, “I’ll take it from the top.” There she was flying three times faster than everyone as she returned to her starting place. “Ready, Maki?”

“Ready.”

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”

Maki had almost forgotten to swipe back to the start, but Nico’s countdown gave her enough time to recover from that near blooper. Maki would be glad to go back to working on something linear after this. Nico’s back and forth, switching near instantly from onstage charisma to off stage competence was making Maki dizzy.

After a few more false starts, they were finally in a flow. Nico had the wet ingredients mixed and was about to measure out the flour when two doors flew open simultaneously, the sliding door clanging in the back of the studio and the double door whooshing open in the front. Rin had obviously forgotten to tell Umi where the “LIVE” switch that activated the red warning lights was. A gust of wind blew in with Hanayo and suddenly Nico was blustering and covered in very fine white flour. Hanayo screamed, Maki’s mouth fell open and Rin nearly fell to the floor laughing. Nico was in a bright red dress with a bold white stripe that suddenly became a snow covered clothingscape. Then there was a bellow. Eli’s voice. Damn.

“What the hell is going on here, Rin? Maki? Who authorized this?” Eli’s rush to the scene had also caught her in the flour shower, but she brushed it off her white suit jacket. Her voice drilled through the surprised incoherencies of Umi and Nico.

“Hi, Eli.” Maki waved.

“Maki.” Eli was nose to nose with Maki, the minuscule height advantage somehow magnified by her rising indignation.

Nico was suddenly in between them, “Maki’s helping me.”

Eli looked down her nose at Nico, but somehow, it wasn’t nearly as effective as Eli intended it to be, “You shouldn’t even be here, Yazawa.”

How do you know…” Nico spun to face Maki, “Did you tell her about me on your date? I saw you downtown…”

“DATE!?!?!??!?!?!?!!!!” Maki and Eli tried to outshout each other; Rin actually did fall onto the floor and started rolling back and forth, laughing hysterically until she bumped Maki, who kicked her to the side, there was a chair being shoved back into the wall sound over the speaker, followed by a “What’s going on? Kotori, stop recording,” and Hanayo stood blinking apologetically in the middle of the open wall.

Maki stuttered, not even sure where to start, totally ignoring Eli to focus on a Nico, who in a less serious mood would be looking like a ridiculous and adorable sugar dusted cookie but right now, seemed actually to be mainlining manic murderous snow person, red eyes dangerously lit. “N...Nico...I...I wasn’t...no one is...nobody’s...Eli…”

“No,” Rin was practically choking, “you don’t mean nobody, Maki, you mean No...zomi.”

“Well, hello everybody.” Nozomi’s voice trilled from the door, “I see Eli beat me here.”

Eli’s turn to spin, confronting a Nozomi who’d ditched the company cardigan, “You knew about this?”

“Of course I did, Eli. People trust me.” Nozomi smirked at Maki and shook her head at Rin. Hanayo crouched next to Rin, who was now on her back, staring at the ceiling, still vibrating with laughter.

“People trust me.” Eli countered.

“People trust you to do your job, Eli, not consider their feelings.” Nozomi sighed, petting Eli on the arm, “Because you don’t. You don’t even consider your feelings.”

“My feelings are” Eli pulled back, sounding choked up, “that no one cares about the things I work so hard to protect.”

“Elichi is cheating.” Nozomi blew out a thin stream of air, too aware of how Eli’s eyes were pleading for support.

Maki wasn’t that polite, bulldozing into their moment. “I care. I just know I can trust Nico.”

Nico was about to say something, but Maki’s raw honesty derailed her as she watched the redhead march right up to the glam blonde she WASN’T dating, fists clenched. Nico decided to just wait and see what happened next. Rin sat up, helped by Hanayo, and Umi appeared suddenly, moving to join Nico.

Eli closed her eyes, then turned, looking past Maki to Nico, who was somehow, dusted with a fine coat of flour, a stern Umi standing by, managing to still pull off a professional demeanor. “She signs a NDA.” Eli’s hands waved wildly. “If any of this ends up anywhere, we sue.”

Maki shifted so she was blocking Nico from Eli’s glare, “No, what happens is you go back to your job and I finish helping Nico.”

Umi glanced at Nico, who was taking a moment to rub her cheek and see how much flour she could scrape off. Umi couldn’t tell if Nico had made any difference. There would definitely need to be a reshoot.

Nozomi had stepped forward, next to Eli, hand reaching out to her, “Eli?”

Maki and Eli had blocked out anything but their intensifying staring battle. When Maki’s arms swung back, Nico decided she did not need to be in the middle of a battle for corporate dominance. Nico had an important audition to ace on a very short deadline and a very long list of things she’d rather see Maki doing.

Time to solve this. Nico strode forward, white dust a fog as she moved. “This is ridiculous. Eli, right?” Nico’s tone demanded a response from Eli, who nodded curtly. Now that Nico had the problem's attention, she could settle this and could get back to work. “I don’t need to sign a NDA. I wouldn’t without consulting my lawyer at length. We’ll be done in a couple of hours and then you never need to see Nico again.” Maki grunted. Nico rolled her eyes but the redhead couldn’t see it. This wasn’t about Maki right now, this was about getting this disturbed, tyrannical distraction out of Nico’s space, even if it was only borrowed space.

“Elichi, why don’t we go deal with the payroll glitch and then later, you can tell Maki exactly how you knew she was back.” Nozomi hummed, quirking an eyebrow at Maki, who was suddenly very attentive as Eli squirmed at the threat underlying Nozomi’s cheery chirps.

“What do you mean? Didn’t someone just see me?” Maki asked.

Eli mumbled something as Nozomi slipped an arm through hers, dragging the fading Head Elf away from the agitated Nishikino heir. Nico blew out a relieved breath, causing flour to fly up and tickle Maki into nearly sneezing. Rin had almost recovered her feet, thanks to Hanayo, but the room was silent as worried lavender eyes searched Nico’s for a clue to her mood. Nico clapped her arms together, flour flying everywhere, Maki coughing in confusion.

“Guess it’s time for Nico to fix this.” Nico announced, crimson eyes as frisky as her tone.

Umi, knowing her friend very well, realized Nico must have had some kind of inspiration, “Do you need to change, Nico? Perhaps there’s a laundr…”

Nico chuckled, “Nope. Nico is a genius. We can still do this. No changes necessary. Are you ready, Rin?”

Rin nodded. Hanayo had been attempting to apologize since Rin got to her feet, but that had turned into a series of background squeaks as conversations escalated around her.

Maki fell back, watching as Nico and Umi had a quick discussion, Nico’s hands leaving flour trails everywhere as she pointed out various items on the set and toggled her fingers back and forth between two of the cameras. Umi started out frowning, but as Nico continued, her eyes brightened and she began making her own suggestions. There was a brief lull, Nico searching the cabinets for something, Umi considering camera options and Maki spoke up.

“Nico?”

“Hmmmm.” Nico was tapping her fingers down the counter, considering.

“Can I help?” Maki had retreated back to her laptop, fidgeting with tabs.

“Just keep looking cute and playing your awesome loops for Nico.”

Rin giggled; Maki gave Rin the side eye.

“Kotori can you get set to record?” Umi asked, glancing back toward the console booth.

Kotori’s voice lilted over the speakers, “Of course, Umi.”

“Get ready for Nico to razzle dazzle.” Nico turned her back on everyone, head dropped, hands to the side, clutching something in her right hand. Umi subtly shifted the closest camera, nodding at Rin.

“Everything’s live, Nico. It’s all yours.” Kotori’s voice squeaked with excitement. Hanayo, her eyes on Nico, had drifted behind Maki.

“Okay, Maki, give me an intro in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…”

Maki hit play, tension bringing her forward, curious about what Nico would do next. The tiny, sable haired spitfire spun with a smile bright enough, even through the flour obscuring her features, to make it seem like the lights in the room had just dimmed. Then with a quick swipe of her towel, she cleaned off her face, pale skin reddish, sprinkles of white still marring lipstick and snowy mascara.

“Hello, fellow lovers of the cute girl, Nico Ni is here to help you with that holiday date. Completely screwed up your kitchen like Nico did? Well, good news, now you’ve got a funny story for your hot date. But we don’t want her to think we’re a slob, right? So Nico will teach you 5 easy cleaning tips to get your kitchen in shape while you wait for the takeout to be delivered.”

Nico paused, pulling out a cleaning sponge and her smartphone, “Nico suggests ordering pizza, but not such a good pizza that she pays no attention to you. And make sure you know if she’s a wine, beer, soda or water drinker. Nico suggests sparkling water, with a splash of lime to start.” Nico put the phone down. “But before we get to that, if you don’t have any kind of cleaning product, make sure you keep baking soda around.” Nico produced a yellow box, poured chunky white powder on the sponge and then wet it, “It’ll also help deodorize, which is important.”

Nico proceeded to give a master class in cleaning a kitchen in 3 minutes, 45 seconds flat, which left 1 minute, 15 seconds to hop up on the counter, pour herself out some sparkling water, cut a twist of lime for it and sing 30 seconds of “How Little We Know,” kicking her feet back and forth and looking casual and relaxed and perfect in her probably ruined dress.

“How little we know How much to discover What chemical forces flow From lover to lover

How little we understand - what touches off that tingle That sudden explosion when two tingles intermingle Who cares to define what chemistry this is?”

Nico raised her glass, “Know more with Nico.”

Hanayo burst into spontaneous applause; Rin whistled. Umi relaxed for the first time all day. Maki, after the initial startle of Hanayo going off like a cheerleading bomb behind her, kept staring as Nico kept sparkling. It wasn’t just lighting, it was charm, charisma, attraction, explosive...Maki’s brain looped Nico’s vocals...tingles...the song continued in her head, a much more personal performance, Nico leaning in, a piano instead of her laptop, not candlelight, too easy to knock off, but maybe moonlight, ‘who cares with your lips on mine, how ignorant bliss is. So long as you kiss me and the world around me...”

Shatters. “Maki?” Nico’s voice broke into the excitement rising around Maki and the musician jumped guiltily. Nico appeared bemused, not annoyed, and she slid next to Maki’s laptop, still giving off puffs of flour, offering Maki the other crystal glass. Maki took it, her hand trembling slightly, and sipped slowly, not meeting Nico’s eyes. “Did you like Nico’s brilliant improvisation?”

Maki nodded, swallowed, then put the glass down, willing Rin to just shut up in advance, but Hanayo was a very thoughtful friend and Maki could see her whispering to Rin, leading her to the back of the studio. Umi had headed back to the booth, “S...suits you much better than the news.”

“Exactly.” Nico gleamed, Maki could feel it. “Nico’s been saying that for years. Maybe someone will finally listen.”

Maki drummed up enough bravery to look directly at Nico, “I’m sure they will.”

“I have something to tell you.” Nico stood, taking Maki’s hand and pulling her back toward the dressing room. Maki’s stomach flipped.

 “Okay.”

“I may have to borrow your shower again.” Nico sat Maki on the couch, grabbed a pile of clothes and disappeared into the bathroom, pausing for a quick ruffle of Maki’s hair. Maki couldn’t just sit. A brief look in the mirror. Nico had left some of her hair standing straight up, which looked ridiculous so Maki quickly smoothed it out, then started fidgeting with how the neck of her gray merino sweater fell, twisting around when it suddenly felt scratchy against the back of her neck. Nico shuffled back into the room, oversized sweater and jeans back on, fuzzy red and white candy cane striped socks sliding across the floor to where she’d left her duffle.

Rather than just stand and wait for Nico to say or do something, Maki picked up the conversation. “If you need to use my shower, there’s guest townhouses.”

“Oh, Maki doesn’t want Nico to see where she lives? Need a ‘Know More With Nico’ with 5 easy steps to cleaning your living room to impress a cute girl.”

Once again, somehow it was so easy for Nico to charm when saying something outrageous like that, which Maki would stumble over, even if she were describing someone else, someone Nico.

“No.” Maki couldn’t help it, the embarrassment made her sound sullen.

“Roommate? Don’t tell me you live with El…” Nico snorted as Maki got increasingly red.

“No. My parents.” Maki watched Nico carefully but there was no recoil, “I travel so much, I never really needed a place of my own.”

“Right. Maki’s off somewhere new every six months or so…” Now Nico’s voice was the one full of minor notes.

Maki rushed into the gathering doldrums, “Only because I want to…”

Nico didn’t believe in lingering in down moods and she’d found what she wanted. One beaten up green Thermos, one box carefully wrapped in candy cane colored paper and a bright red ribbon. She put them down in front of the mirror, arranged as artfully as two objects could be and snapped a quick pic, typing and swiping even more rapidly. Maki picked up the Thermos. Looked familiar, but she couldn’t place it.

“It goes with the present.” Nico nudged, obviously pleased with herself. “And check your notifications.”

Why would Nico know her phone was vibrating in her pocket? Had she sent a text? Maki pulled out her phone, TWIG notification, @StormCookie had sent her a message.

Maki opened the app. @StormCookie’s had sent her Nico’s pic with the caption: So, @SantaChan, Step 5 in StormCookie’s Easy Steps To Romance and Sexcess™ is tell the Cute Girl you like her. For real impact, give her something she loves. Check in the box, SantaClueless.”

Maki stared at Nico for a long moment, thoughts racing, if Nico was @StormCookie, she’d been having all those late night conversations with Nico, wanting room service to deliver Nico to her room...which had happened when...when had Nico known, Maki’s knees shook, a nervous tremor, and Nico was right there, hands on her waist, guiding Maki to the chair, then dropping the gift into her lap, “C’mon, Red and Ravishing,” Maki’s head snapped around as Nico’s voice smoothly rolled out mischief coated compliments, “don’t make Nico wait.”

“When did you…” Maki’s hands reached for the box, but her brain was still desperately working out the clues and stumbling over the memory of the awful, sandy cookie taste in her mouth after she’d snuck cookies on Nico’s set. Maybe Rin was right and she should just buy a cookie factory. But Storm...Nico knew so much about cooking…and Nico had found her a piano...and ever since Maki’d met her, she couldn’t stop seeing Nico’s face, features lovely and lively and curious, whenever she closed her own eyes.

“When I saw the Santa hat bunny in your bathroom.” Nico admitted, pouring milk out of the thermos.

“But those cookies…”

“What cookies?” Nico was starting to recognize some of Maki’s moods and this one was confusion. Which was infecting Nico.

Maki frowned at the memory. “On the set. When I visited the station. They were terrible.”

“You really are only interested in food.” Nico snorted, grabbing the box back and ripping off the now wasted A-list level wrapping paper job.

“Please don’t talk to Rin again. Ever.” Maki suddenly had a window open into a view of endless, future teasing.

Nico’s hand was under Maki’s nose and there was a darkly sweet smell, a gingery invitation.“Open up.”

Maki’s mouth opened automatically, the aroma a driving temptation.

Nico shoved something in, “Chew.”

Maki bit down and shards of crystal ginger heat crackled between her teeth as she savored the molasses filling her mouth, crispiness melting into mouthwateringly soft caramel sweetness with just a kick of cloves. Lavender eyes wide, Maki chewed slowly, tastebuds relishing every zesty crumb.

“Nico didn’t bake those cookies you had. Nico told you not to eat them. Jill the PA baked them. Nico is paid for her on camera work, not her cooking. Nico is the best AND cutest cook you will ever meet. Jill is a poisoner in training. Never eat anything Jill hands you.”

Maki grabbed the cookies back and took Nico’s hand, her voice, matter of fact; glowing eyes full of awe, “Marry me, Nico.”

“How about dating first?” Nico’s fingers caressed Maki’s cheek, crimson eyes finally able to unabashedly glory in every gorgeous detail. Maki’s eyes never left Nico’s, even as the redhead popped another cookie in her mouth, chewing with thoughtful consideration. Then with a nod, she put the cookies aside, her hand on Nico’s waist, “Nope. These are too good. Has to be marriage.”

“KISS THE COOKIE GIRL!” Rin’s shout announced her boisterous fall through the not completely closed door she’d been eavesdropping behind, Hanayo following.

Maki grinned, flicking a finger in her best friend’s direction, “That too.” Suddenly Nico was in Maki’s lap and her lips were on Nico’s, a gentle touch, warm spices tingling as much as Maki’s tongue did, licking the scattered crumbs mashed between their mouths, pushing forward, lips opening, Nico trying to control a swirl of sensations as her hands slid through Maki’s hair and she angled for the next kiss.

“We’ll see you later, Maki.” Hanayo could barely be heard over the sound of her dragging a protesting Rin out of the room and solidly closing the door.

“Your friends are silly.” Nico whispered.

“Your lips are delicious.” Maki nipped forward.

“I think those are the crumbs from yours.” Nico bopped Maki’s nose with hers, “You may have a problem.”

Maki shrugged, taking the time for a lingering caress of Nico’s ear. “Rin says cookiesexuals don’t exist. She looked it up.”

Nico had to force back a giggle. Here was Maki, glorious lavender eyes full of fresh wonder and yet, the word “cookiesexual” had just come out of the most sensuously luscious red lips Nico had ever seen. She wanted to know every crack of them. Nico raised a finger and slowly traced their center, watching Maki’s eyes as something primal poured quickly into their artless depths, “Less talking.”

Maki pouted, but Nico’s mouth followed her finger and Maki suddenly had trouble remembering her own name, let alone...and when Nico heard the whisper of a moan vibrate under her searching mouth, she knew conversation was over and those lush, dream building lips were hers.

 CHRISTMAS EVE, VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Nozomi, in blue polar bear pajama pants, a white North Pole Nishikino t-shirt and fuzzy tanuki slippers, came sprinting down the central hall. Eli’s call had sounded urgent. Everything had been wrapped and packed, everyone was out on their runs, what could have possibly happened? Eli stood outside the door of her office, pacing nervously, dressed in a short blue and white dress Nozomi had never seen before.

“What happened, Eli? What’s wrong.” Nozomi grabbed Eli by the arms, pulling her close, “Did something happen to Maki again?”

Eli coughed, her smile embarrassed, “You’re going to have to write me up, Nozomi.”

“Why? What happened?”Anxiety wasn’t helping Nozomi catch her breath, nor was the way Eli’s eyes were lingering on the logo on her t-shirt. “Eli!”

“I violated protocol.” Eli admitted, with a slight blush.

“Are you tracking Maki again. This is ridiculous.” Nozomi was usually mild of temper, but the non PG-13 romance she’d been watching had just hit its first climax and instead of being warm with a bowl full of popcorn, here she was panting in a hall with an Eli on overdose levels of attractive and annoying.

“I hacked your Christmas list.”

“I didn’t write one.” Nozomi started to pull out her hair. Eli was infrequently infuriating but when she was...

Eli took her hand, interrupting a growl. “I hacked Santa’s Christmas master list and looked you up.” The door to Eli’s office opened and Nozomi glanced inside. Eli’s desk and multiple screens had disappeared, replaced by a small table, lace tablecloth, two chairs, candles, instrumental music and an array of what smelled like Nozomi’s favorite dishes, “Merry Christmas, Nozomi. I’m sorry for adding to your workload.”

Nozomi stepped back, agitated. “I’m not dressed. I’m in the middle of a movie. You…” Nozomi looked Eli up and down, no matter how hard Eli worked, she never skipped her morning ballet exercises and the dress was floofy and form fitting enough that Eli could have stepped right into performing as the Sugar Plum Fairy, “look amazing.”

Eli still had Nozomi’s hand and yanked her forward, pointing up to a small clump of green with white berries, “I also finally complied with your mistletoe directive. Shouldn’t you encourage that kind of behavior?” Eli’s eyes were so soft and so kind with an iceberg of lovely under the sharp blue tip. “You look beautiful, Nozomi, you always do. I’m going to pay more attention.”

What the hell, Nozomi thought, if she’d fallen asleep in front of her screen, she might as well enjoy this flight of her imagination’s fancy. But when Eli’s lips brushed hers, they were cold enough to be real and warm enough that Nozomi almost cried, “Elichi.”

“I love the way you say my name.” Eli whispered, stealing another kiss with a smile.

Nozomi followed Eli’s graceful curves into the room now full of her favorite things. Merry Christmas indeed, she thought.

Tsubasa, dressed in a borrowed Washington Spirit hoodie and her take out the garbage jeans, wondered again why she was clambering up a precariously balanced 20 foot ladder. Then Honoka turned back to check she was keeping up, her incandescent grin replacing the sun, and Tsubasa doubled her speed, damn the wind cutting through her gloves. Honoka hopped onto the roof, then offered a hand to pull Tsubasa up.

“Why are we here again, Honoka?” Tsubasa possibly should have taken the bring a jacket advice Umi had given her when they’d split off into their separate evenings after a joint Christmas Eve dinner.

“Yukiho always gave me grief about Santa not visiting cause I was on the naughty list when we were kids, so I thought a good scare to get even would be just the ticket.” Honoka stomped playfully across the roof at a speed that made Tsubasa calculate slopes and rates of fall, and then she had a vision involving the precarious ladder before Honoka called out again. “Do I sound like a reindeer?” Honoka jumped, soundly thumping the roof and falling into the chimney with a belly laugh, “ho hO HO!”

Practical was down on the ground in a parka, Tsubasa realized, and what had climbed up here on the roof with a ladder that was going to fall and crush Practical in another three jumps, was joy and excitement. Honoka threw her knitted hat up in the air, opened her mouth to catch a snowflake Tsubasa could barely spot, bounced 10 feet forward on all fours and rolled over to point at the sky, “See all those stars?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Honoka sounded worried.

“Because I’m looking at you.” Tsubasa knelt, ignoring the cold, so very easy to do as the brightness of Honoka Kosaka eclipsed everything else about this night.

 Umi was nervous and kept twisting the ring in her pocket, afraid a gap would suddenly open and the ring would fall down her pants, into her shoe, dig into her foot and she’d draw up her knee, knocking Kotori sideways into the tree, starting a fire on the throw rug.

“Umi, is everything all right?” Kotori’s head was resting on Umi’s shoulder as they sat, illuminated by twinkling lights, music playing quietly in the background.

Claude Thornhill’s "Snowfall" started its beautiful, rolling melody and Umi knew it was now or never. She’d been ashamed catching the ring on Nico’s finger this past week and knowing that for ten years now, since they started dating in high school, Kotori had not had the acknowledgement of the seriousness of Umi’s feelings that she deserved. Now or never, Umi told herself, and stood, offering a hand to Kotori, “May I have this dance.”

Kotori stood, her slender, strong hand fitting Umi’s perfectly as they started to move together. Her hair brushed Umi’s cheek as she whispered. “I love this song.”

“I know.” Umi brought them closer together. If she didn’t have to meet Kotori’s eyes, she could get through this. “I know so many things about you, Kotori Minami, and I always find something new to love, every day.” Umi paused. Kotori seemed to have stopped breathing, but the music continued and so did Umi. “That’s what I want to do. Every day. Find out something new to love about you. I love you, Kotori. M...marry me.”

“Umi.” Kotori stopped, hand tilting up Umi’s chin, golden eyes the only light in the world for Umi. Kissing Kotori had always been an out of body experience for Umi, daring her to be a braver person than she’d ever thought she could, but this kiss, this wasn’t a call to bravery, this was Kotori’s gentle stamp, approving and accepting every one of Umi’s hesitations, every day of doubt, every hidden fear. One whispered word embraced and purified them all. “Yes.”

Umi soared.

 “Hey, Kayo-chin, you forgot your dinner.” Rin ran into the stable, carrying a large sack. Hanayo was preparing blankets for the next round of reindeer to return. “Did Maki get back from Australia yet?”

“Yeah, she took Hyeri to Tudor.” Hanayo smiled, glad the young reindeer would get some flight experience. She was too skittish to work in a team.

“You do such a good job, Kayo-chin.” Rin hugged her fiancée.

“Thanks, Rin.”

Rin released Hanayo, spreading a blanket in the back of the stable, taking two bentos out of the sack, “Sit down for a minute, I brought your favorite curry. And rice.” Rin held up one of the bentos, “You must be tired and hungry.”

Hanayo nodded, adding one last blanket to the stack and then joining Rin, who pulled her close, keeping her in a loose hug as Hanayo opened the bento full of rice with a smile, “Thanks, Rin.”

“Anything for my Kayochin.”

Hanayo took a bite of rice, then laid her head on Rin’s shoulder, “I'm glad you're here. Tomorrow, we stay cozy in bed all day, right?”

Rin chuckled, thinking she might need a quick run on the indoor track to tire herself out while Hanayo finished her chores. “Only for you. I love you, Kayochin.”

“I love you too, Rin.” Hanayo muttered around a mouthful of rice and curry.

 Nico had fallen asleep on her mother’s couch, afghan pulled over her cutest pajamas, white gold ring with 60 diamonds formed into a snowflake sparkling on her left hand. A newly baked batch of molasses crisps waited on a plain white plate, with a tall glass of milk next to it. The milk was holding down a note that said “Don’t forget to kiss the cook ; P Love, Nico.”

There was a shimmer next to the haphazardly decorated Christmas tree, mostly handmade ornaments, and Maki appeared, Santa Hat™ askew on her head, arms full of presents. She stashed them under the tree, happy at the thought of Nico’s siblings waking up to even more holiday cheer. Then, ever so quietly, she moved to the small table set up for her and took the top cookie off the pile.

“I knew you’d go for the cookies first. Nico is shattered.” Maki finished her treat before sliding in next to her fiancée, as Nico continued her complaint, “I almost made oatmeal cookies for your Papa, but I couldn’t bear the look of disappointment on your face.”

“I left Jill a book on food photography. Maybe she’ll switch hobbies.” Maki leaned back, stretching, one arm falling behind Nico in that tried and true teenage maneuver. Cliches were surprisingly fun to indulge in. “Nico is marrying into a family of reverse burglars.” Nico yawned and let her head fall back into Maki’s bicep, inhaling, “You smell like a musky pine tree.”

Maki turned to kiss Nico on the cheek, “It’s not so bad is it?”

“It’s you, so it’s perfect.” Nico flipped, meeting Maki’s lips with an exaggerated smack, “You’re really staying in town for a few days?”

Maki nodded, “Yeah, after Christmas everybody collapses until New Year’s. This week’s been crazy, but we all survived, even Eli. I think Rin might have run off a few pounds trying to get people not to exhaust themselves.”

“She doesn’t have anything to spare.” Nico wrapped the throw around her shoulders, lost in the luminous lavender that was now her favorite color, as long as she didn’t have to wear it.

“I know. You’ll have to make me some cookies to take back for her.” Maki’s eyes twinkled.

“Now, that, SantaSelfish, is a blatant attempt to get more than the allotment of cookies due you as Nico’s fiancée.”

Maki pulled Nico in for a long kiss, “Can you blame me?”

“No, actually Nico is quite flattered, but you can’t steal Rin’s cookies. What’s your least favorite kind?”

“Not made by Nico.” Another kiss, then Maki murmuring into Nico’s hair. “Love you. I missed you. How was your week?”

“Nico is flying to New York next Thursday for a meeting.”

“Good. Want to borrow a reindeer?” Maki was purring her way around Nico’s ear.

“Not even Nico’s stylist could fix the frizz from you flying me back to Tudor last Monday.” Nico chided.

Maki’s grin was adorable and impish, as she played with the loose ends of Nico’s hair, “You looked great. Let me mess it up some more.”

“Oooh, Mama, Maki’s here!” Cocoa dashed into the room as Maki jumped back and Nico collapsed giggling, “Can we open our presents now?”

“It’s 3 o’clock in the morning,” Maki looked at Nico in a panic as Cocoa nearly vaulted over the couch.

“Come here you.” Nico pulled her sister over the back of the couch and crushed two of her favorite people into the biggest hug she could, “Merry Christmas, Maki. Welcome to the Yazawas.”

Rin was wrong. Maki had trusted cookies and cookies had led her to Nico. This Christmas Eve had just the right flavor. From now on, Maki was going to enjoy every second and every peppermint candy cane spiced, knock the Santa Hat™ off her head kiss from Nico she could.

In between bites of the best cookies ever ; )

A/N: If you've read this far, I adore you and I hope you enjoyed this.

[seraphm00n]

Some Kind of Christmas

Surprise! This is a secret gift I've been working on for @chynanigans! Hope you enjoy it! since you love Blank a loooottt lol 

Blank wasn't entirely sure why he was here of all places, even though he was invited by none other than Anti. The Septic Egos headquarters...was something. Especially during Christmas. He couldn't really deny coming over, though. It was either this or spending a weird evening with Mad Mike and him making weird drug/ice cream concoctions and the very disturbing raccoon version of Ethan. So, honestly, Blank could say he was having a good time here despite just hanging out in the corner, wondering why the hell Anti invited him.

Blank and Anti weren't exactly friends, but weren't exactly enemies either. They had their battles, maybe not as much as Anti and Dark, but more than anything, they spent their time ruining the other egos days through pranks and other mischievous ideas that come into their heads. Blank wouldn't say Anti was anything more than some psycho he spends his time with by either fighting or sabotaging Wilford's show again.

But here he was, witnessing the Septic Egos having a Christmas party. He was surprised when they let him in so willingly, with Marvin offering some hot chocolate or eggnog, Blank confused since he never had either of those things before, gaining a shocked reaction from Schneep and being encouraged to try some. Since Blank wasn't exactly human, he didn't need to consume food or fluids to sustain him, but went ahead and tried some. He wouldn't admit it, but he enjoyed the hot chocolate greatly.

He managed to steal Jackie's cup of hot cocoa without being seen, watching as Robbie and Jackie hang ornaments on the tree, Jackie having to stop Robbie a few times from eating the ornaments. He still hadn't seen any sign of Anti, even though Anti was the one who invited him. Blank didn't feel like asking either, sure that even if he asked, no one would really understand him that well. He mumbled too quietly, his words getting mashed into some weird gibberish. Weirdly enough, Anti was the only one who seemed to understand what he was saying. Even thought it was insults at Anti most of the time. If anything, Blank felt a bit okay with the fact Anti could understand him. "You haven't seen Anti yet, have you?", Blank was startled as Marvin walked up to him, almost spilling the hot chocolate in his hands. He shook his head quickly, Marvin sighing. "I was hoping you had, I'm afraid he's up to some prank bullshit again, and I rather not deal with that now. If you see him, try to stop him, if you can", Marvin said, walking off to help Schneep in the kitchen. Blank was now super curious as to where Anti was, trying to sense the glitch's energy anywhere. It took him a bit, but he was able to sense something...stranger than normal upstairs with Anti's energy. Almost panicky? 'Weird...', Blank thought, before heading upstairs. The sound of shuffling feet and boxes could be heard, along with a string of curses coming out of Anti's mouth. Blank walked over to the room Anti was in, peeking his head in to see what's going on.

Anti had extra Christmas lights strewn on the floor along with some leftover decorations, grumbling to himself and glitching now and then. "Don't say a fucking word or I'll cut you...or something", Anti said, not even looking in the direction of Blank. Blank shrugged and walked on, carefully stepping over the lights.

"I wasn't going to say anything, I was wondering what the hell you're doing...What the hell are you doing?" Anti sighed, stepping back from the box he was searching. "It's...a long story and I rather not say all of it, but..." Anti mumbled the last part, turning back to the box. "What was that? Didn't catch the last part. I'm the one who mumbles, dumbass, not you", Blank tilted his head, wondering what was making Anti act like this, since he was normally...you know.

Anti groaned, giving Blank a look before setting another string of lights on the floor. "I...want to surprise the others...And do somethin' nice for them, okay? I know they think I'm planning some stupid prank to ruin the party but I'm not, I really want to do something this time to surprise them...is that so bad?", he look at Blank, the saddest look on his face. Blank almost felt pity for Anti since he was always pinned as a bad guy, but...he almost felt pity. "That's not a bad thing, it's surprisingly nice coming from someone like you"

"Shut up Blank, I'm trying to be the nicer pain in the ass unlike you", Anti snickered while Blank rolled his eyes. "Alright, Anti, fine. Need any help—"

"I do, actually. That's the reason I invited you, so you can help me do this"

"Gee, and I thought you were inviting me to be friendly"

"Look, I knew you were going to be bored and stuck in a weird hell hole so maybe I wanted to get you out of that for a day, okay? Stop laughing!" Anti almost hissed as Blank was chuckling, grumbling as he picked some lights up. "Just come help or go deal with witnessing Robbie eating another ornament while Schneep gets drunk off his ass."

It took a while for things to get set up, especially while it's snowing outside and Anti having to explain what they were doing, but they got it done. Without interference from the other egos as well, with Anti and Blank taking turns to go inside to delude any suspicions the others may have about what they're doing outside. They panicked at one point from Robbie wondering outside from seeing the snow and being curious, Anti watching over him for a bit just so Robbie can play with the snow before taking him back inside to eat some gingerbread. As they admired their finished work, Blank glanced over at Anti, who was smiling until it suddenly turned into a frown. "What's wrong? Not satisfied with it completely? I don't think we can make the lights glitch—"

"What if they don't like it?", Anti muttered, his voice shaky. Blank hasn't exactly seem Anti worried over something, since Anti was more likely to not care what people thought about with what he did. "I just...I wanted to do something different. Something nice, y'know? I'm just thinking that maybe they don't take it seriously or think that something else is going to happen that's bad...Like the lights exploding or catching on fire or some shit like that..." Anti kicked some snow around with his foot, sighing. "I usually don't seem to think about things like this, right? But I do, all the time. Yeah, I don't give a fuck about what people say about me sometimes, but sometimes...It really does get to me. I want to do something nice sometimes, but get scared away from how I know it'll be taken another way that's bad".

Blank placed a hand on his shoulder, bringing Anti's attention to him. "I'm pretty sure they don't think you're all bad, Anti. I don't think you're all bad. Hell, we've done some pretty fun stuff together that isn't 'bad' as people would think, like the time we managed to get Dark's suit to become completely bright pink and blue? That was genius!" Blank smiled, receiving a light chuckle from Anti. "Yeah, that was pretty hilarious seeing how mad and embarrassed the edgelord was...Let's go get the others and surprise them, yeah? Make your first Christmas Eve go out with a bang".

"HEY LOSERS! GET OUT HERE I HAVE SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU!", Blank held back laughter as Anti yelled, the other egos coming out of the home with confused looks except Robbie, who looked excited to be out in the snow again. "Vhat are you up to now, Anti?" Schneep asked, taking a sip of the (possibly spiked) eggnog in his hand. "It's a bit concerning with how you've been suspicious with Blank all evening...", Jackie said, crossing his arms as he looked at the house as Blank plugged something in. "What the—?!"

On the house across the front of it, were strings of lights in the form of letters. They spelled "Merry Christmas Schneep, Marvin, Jackie, Robbie, Chase, from your local glitch boys, Anti and Blank" in bright colors and flashes. The egos were all shocked, even Anti and Blank with how well it looked. They grinned at each other before looking at the others, laughing at their stunned reactions. Schneep and Chase were crying from how sweet it was, Marvin was in absolute shock, Jackie was making sure Robbie didn't go try to eat the lights. But...they all seemed happy about it. Schneep awarded Anti and Blank for the wonderful surprise with plenty of cookies he made with Marvin's help. Anti loved how Robbie was fascinated with the lights and how Jackie kept saying it was a great job. Blank, well, he actually felt happy, if that's what you call the warm feeling inside. Even though he ended the night with tying Anti up in lights and hanging him from the ceiling, saying Anti was a better decoration than anything, receiving death threats among other things from the very lit up Anti. Overall, Blank could say he did have a very Merry Christmas after all.

[glitchinthesystemspiderbyte]

[20] Glitch in the System - One Shot

By E. Baguettes happen.  _

“I want to go to Paris,” Sombra said, laying on her stomach as Widowmaker ran her hands down the hacker’s back, half massage, half excuse to stay in bed longer. It felt nice, after a full week of heavy lifting, moving furniture, painting, and other invigorating physical activity. Her muscles were screaming.

“Paris?” she asked, the gentle pressure of her touch pausing after each rib as she worked her way up Sombra’s body with the methodical patience she employed in most avenues of her affections. “Porquoi?”

Sombra shrugged, wiggling her shoulders for attention when Widowmaker stopped touching her for half a second. “I’ve never seen the Eiffel Tower.”

“Vraiment?”

“Not physically at least. Plenty of pictures. Looks pretty.”

Widowmaker gave the hacker’s back a final press and laid down next to her, running a finger along the warm skin of her neck. “It is nothing special,” she said, looking at Sombra as she stretched out beside her.

“I still wouldn’t mind seeing it. As much as I am loving our time here, it might be nice to take a break from working.”

Widowmaker smirked. “Yes, this work has been strenuous.”

Sombra grinned, propping herself up on her elbow and leaning forward to give the sniper a long kiss. “What do you say? Show me the city? Rack up more charges on Akande’s business account?”

“Well when you put it like that,” she replied, a laugh hiding behind her words. “I’ll charter us a plane for tomorrow morning.”

“Yessss,” Sombra hissed in victory, flopping over onto her back as Widowmaker reluctantly got out of bed, retrieved her phone, and made good on her promise.

When they arrived early the next morning, they stopped briefly at the hotel - a small, cozy, privately-owned establishment where their room had been prepared without question. They unpacked quickly, prepared for one, maybe two days should they find reason to stay longer, but otherwise not requiring much time to settle in.

“Damn,” Sombra cursed, frowning as she haphazardly unpacked her supplies.

“What?” Widowmaker asked, looking up from the two identical sweaters she’d brought along, folding them neatly and placing them on the dresser.

“Forgot Oso.”

“Who?” “My bear.”

“Your teddy bear?” Widowmaker asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sombra shrugged, grinning. “I’ll survive.”

“You named your bear ‘bear’?” Widow asked, eyes narrowed at the hacker.

“Yeah, what about it?”

Widowmaker just shook her head, grabbed a jacket, and slung it over her shoulder. “Shall we?” she asked, holding out her arm for the hacker to take.

“Let’s,” Sombra complied, following her out the door and into the chilly Parisian streets.

At Sombra’s insistence, their first stop was a local boulangerie for breakfast. The bread was still warm when they arrived, and the line not so long as either of them had feared.

“Not as crowded as I’d thought,” Sombra commented, taking her baguette from the serveuse and nodding her thanks. They turned from the counter, passing two sleepy-looking Parisians waiting for their breakfast.

“The chill keeps most residents at home and most tourists away,” Widowmaker said, daintily plucking a chunk of bread from the top of her baguette and chewing it slowly.

Sombra took a giant bite of hers, speaking through a full mouth. “It’s not that cold.”

Widowmaker rolled her eyes. “I can feel you shivering,” she said, wrapping an arm around the hacker’s waist and pulling her closer.

“I’ll be fine,” Sombra said, swallowing the painfully large bite and ignoring the uncomfortable way it slid down her throat. She stood on her toes and kissed the spider. “I don’t even feel it.”

Widowmaker smiled.

They walked down the street, arm in arm, a picture of normalcy that was a poor reflection of their reality. Sombra felt strangely on the spot as the day wore on, their casual companionship suddenly on display outside the safety of the chateau’s thick old walls. Out here, with no stone or pretenses to hide behind, the small flame they’d nurtured into a warm fire felt fragile; threatened. Sombra hadn’t prepared for what might be lurking around ready to blow it out.

Down the street huddled a small crowd of people in the middle of what appeared to be some sort of winter fair. There were a handful of vendors lining the cobbled streets, from food hawkers to those selling fine goods like jewelry, art, or clothing. It appeared to be less catered toward locals and more designed to draw in tourists. There was even a smattering of small games geared toward children with prizes lining the backs of the stalls.

“What’s that?” Sombra asked, immediately drawn to the electricity of the scene. She shoved the final bite of baguette into her mouth and grabbed Widowmaker’s hand, pulling her reluctantly towards it. “I want to see what it is.”

Widowmaker stumbled along behind her, still only halfway through her baguette as they started down the aisle of vendors.

“How positively American,” the sniper commented upon reaching the games. There were only a few, and they were crude in design: a tic-tac-toe board you threw bean bags into, a rickety-looking bowling game, some card games set up on tables, and a sharpshooter challenge with BB guns and plastic bottles.

“Bet you’d wreck the sharpshooter challenge,” Sombra said, grinning as she pressed against the sniper. She was, in fact, rather chilly, despite her assertions to the contrary.

“Perhaps,” Widow replied, eating another bit of baguette.

“You want to play?” Sombra asked, fishing for a few credits in her pocket.

Widowmaker raised an eyebrow incredulously down at the hacker. “Me?” “I don’t see any other tall, attractive, blue assassin standing nearby that I’d part with my ill-gotten money for,” was Sombra’s response.

“You’re kidding.” “Ah, nope,” she said, disengaging her arm from the sniper’s to scratch awkwardly at the base of her shaved skull. “Not kidding. Just suggesting enjoying some of the local offerings while we’re out and able to enjoy them.”

“Why don’t you?” Widow suggested, her signature look of disinterest taking its place on a day that didn’t deserve it. “You enjoy games.”

“I enjoy rigging them, spider.” She gestured at the folks sitting at a table playing blackjack. “I can’t hack a deck of cards.”

“I don’t play games,” was the spider’s response, dispassioned and final.

Sombra sighed, giving up. It wasn’t a big deal, really, but it bothered her that Widow was still letting her programming dictate stupid things like what she did in her spare time. “Sure, you don’t,” she said, shrugging. “But you could.”

“What do you mean?” “What I mean is that there’s nothing telling you you can’t do something you normally wouldn’t. There’s no magic barrier between you and the rest of the world, Widow.” She hugged her arms around her body, feeling grumpy, and not wanting to be on such a nice day. “The only thing stopping you is you.”

Widowmaker stared at her, face impassive in the way the hacker couldn’t read.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” she said, turning and walking off in the direction of the nearest restroom, leaving a sullen Widowmaker by herself next to the unassuming crowd of laughing Parisians.

On her way back, she felt bad for being so cross with the spider, her discomfort with being away from the chateau giving her frustration the upper hand over her patience. She passed a small cafe on her way, pausing as she walked by before doubling back to pick up cocoa for the two of them.

“Avec cannelle?” the woman behind the counter asked, and Sombra smiled back.

“Oui,” she replied, watching as the serveuse nodded and tapped a spoonful of cinnamon into each one. Funny, she thought, how such small details came to hold such importance. It was too nice a day to be upset. Especially with the spider. Widow could be deeply vexing on a consistent basis, but Sombra didn’t like being annoyed with her. She just wished she could embrace spontaneity at times. She wondered if she’d been like this before or if this stubborn reluctance to branch out from her self-imposed comfort zone was Talon’s doing.

At this point she supposed it didn’t much matter. It was a small frustration in the grand scheme of their interactions, and Sombra would not let it be her breath that snuffed out the candle they’d lit together.

Holding the hot beverages in her hands, she made her way back to the street faire, prepared to apologize and suggest they do something decidedly not exciting, like visit a museum, or take a slow stroll along the Seine. When she returned, however, Widowmaker was standing by the game booth looking both uncomfortable and deeply pleased with herself, a collection of tourists and natives gathering awkwardly to the side as they stared at her.

“What happened?” she asked, watching the throng of people murmuring to the side, the game runner looking both antsy as well as excited. “Hell, Widow, please tell me you didn’t kill anyone,” she groaned nervously under her breath.

“I won the game,” Widowmaker said, nodding at the sharpshooter booth. “I won it ten times.”

“Mademoiselle est magnifique,” he said, gesturing at the array of wide-eyed stuffed animals behind him. “Faites votre choix.”

Sombra looked back at the sniper, feeling something unfamiliar creeping inside her. It was something like pride, but not for herself.

“You pick,” Widow said, taking one of the cocoa cups from her to free up the hacker’s hands. “You left your bear in Venice.”

Sombra had no control over her grin at that point, filled in equal parts with deep amusement, surprise, and that soft, warm glow the spider kept stoking within her.

“La,” she said, pointing at a blue and black stuffed spider with big, dumb eyes and a smile incongruous with the animal it was supposed to represent. The man nodded and handed it to her, shooing them away once the trade was complete.

“Please do not name it Araña,” Widow said as Sombra tucked the spider under her arm.

“Deal.” Sombra looked up at Widowmaker, the woman pointedly not looking back as she tried in vain to hide her own slow smile. Sombra pressed herself against her arm as they turned to leave, and the sniper wrapped it around her shoulders, walking side by side as they sipped their cocoa.

“Elle est magnifique, indeed,” Sombra murmured into her cup, thinking that the day was off to a very nice start after all.

*Read from the beginning or check out our intro post! All stories tagged under #glitchfic

[fearofaherobrine]

Roleplay Server Log #247

“Desert Village, Homecoming, Hearts Surgery”

[Doc] How are you feeling?

[Deer] - A bit better, that's for certain.  It's still weird to be able to see and hear the mobs but not feel them

[Doc] I'm rather glad you can't at the moment since Firebird and Snake set a zombie on fire last night and Buff is currently using his fists on some outside.

[Deer] - Buff is the new NOTCH, right?

[Doc] BuffNOTCH yes. He seems friendly and he's been helpful so far.  He also seems rather more aware of what he is then the damaged NOTCH Ai's on the sub-seed.

[Deer] - Maybe it would be good for him to visit them?

[Doc] Maybe? Honestly, they might be afraid of him just because he's so huge.

[Deer] - We won't know till we try

[Doc] Nods - I guess we might as well get up...

[Deer] - And wake our precious child?

[Doc] Casts a loving glance at Yaunfen, hir fingers curling into Deerheart's - You two make me so happy.

[Deer] - I'm glad we do

[Yaunfen] Mumbles- Purple poppies

[Doc] Purple poppies? Sounds like a decent idea for Lie. As long as they taste like something.

[Deer] - We should wake the others

[Doc] Leans way over the side of the bed and pokes Snake- There, I helped.

[Deer] Gives Doc a look-

[Doc] Huge grin-

[snake] -curls around the place doc booped-

[Buff] Comes back in smelling of sweat and a bit of blood- That was a great workout! -He's rather loud

[snake] -is unaffected by the noise-

[Doc] You are so loud...

[Buff] Pokes Mix and Firebird- Wake up! It's a lovely morning!

[Doc] Gamely pokes Snake on the nose-

[Deer] Stands up and goes over to Yaunfen- Time to wake up sweet heart

[snake] -curls around flopping around cover his nose- my snoot what happened

[Doc] Time to get moving again.

[Deer] - The sooner we get to them, the sooner we can get them home

[snake] -gets up- okay then lets go

[Buff] Puts Firebird onto Mix gently and scoops them both up in his arms- Sleepyheads!

[Yaunfen] Slowly waking up- Mama awake now

[Deer] - Yes I am, and you need to wake up to so we can go

[Doc] Time to go hunt for Cp some more Yaunfen, we're 'it'.

[Yaunfen] - Okay!

[Doc] Can you walk Deerheart? I can carry you again if not.

[Deer] - For awhile I should be able to

[snake] -boops yaunfen's leg-

[Yaunfen] - Mada carry me?

[Doc] It looks like you may get a ride later when your mom gets tired sweetie. For now, just change back to your normal shape if you don't want to walk two-legged.

[Yaunfen] - Okay...- They change back into their dragon form

[snake] I still need to be on a shoulder or in a pocket I am too tiny

[Doc] Picks Snake up gently. - You can have my pocket for now. We'll renegotiate when I have to change again.

[snake] pocket ride -claps his tiny hands-

[Doc] Puts Snake in one of hir coat's exterior pockets and knocks out the doors so it's eaiser for Yaunfen to get out. -

[Yaunfen] Sleepily trots outside- More chocolate?

[Notch] Is on his phone in hearing range of Flux and pacing back and forth- so what's the story with the new protocols Jeb? And don't fucking lie to me. We deleted a NOTCH that was an absolute psycho and suddenly we get another one?!

[Jeb] You did what?! How???!! Wait.... I'm betting either the crazy doctor or that dick-punching asshole you call a son was involved. I don't want to know! Look... it's just some minor tweaks because of a couple of super aggressive NOTCHs. One in particular has been hunting not just Herobrines but deleting mobs and other NOTCHs too. They tagged him with a name so they could monitor him more easily and study his behavior. They call him the Harvestman.

[Notch] Is he scheduled for deletion?

[Jeb] No, they just don't want another one like him to be generated. The internal directives and self awareness for our AIs has been increased too so their behavior isn't so random.  They're learning how to program more responsive AIs by monitoring the brines and peeking at their codes when they crop up. We're getting quick glimpses of their internal makeup as they spawn now.

[Notch] Do we know what's making them spawn in the first place yet?

[Jeb] Nope, still a mystery. But at least we're in a better position for the nicer AIs to pose as parents for new brines and be a good influence.

[Notch] That's... Surprisingly thoughtful...

[Jeb] It's safer for the players.

[Notch] I should have guessed. Also, I saw the code as the new AI was generated. Clean up your lines Jeb. That was sloppy work at best.

[Jeb] Yeah well..! It's harder when you have to write it from the outside!

[Flux] Is listening calmly from where she's sitting-

[CN] Comes outside, still sad but doing the chores Notch assigned him for while Lie's gone-

[Jeb] Sooo are you going to help me pick out a new computer?

[Notch] NO. I AM NOT YOUR PERSONAL TECH SUPPORT.

-something breaking on the other end of the phone-

[Jeb] What the fuck?! How did you just break a sculpture on the other side of my office?!

[Notch] firmly- By the raw power of my aggravation with you! And I hope it was that hideous anime thing you brought home from your last convention trip. Your wife would likely thank me! -firmly hangs up the phone. He stares at it angrily and then gives a frustrated yell right at it, before huffily putting it away.

[Flux] - He can't hear you now

[Notch] I know. That last one was just for me. It felt good even if he couldn't hear it.

[Flux] - It... Makes you feel better?

[Notch] Well... Yeah. Sometimes being noisy is a pretty good way to release stress.

[Flux] - Better then what we do?

[Notch] no! Not even close! What we do together is so much more effective.

[Flux] Smiles a little-

[Yaunfen] Has acquired several more cocoa pods as they traverse the jungle-

[Doc] Hey Yaunfen? Let me see your tail for a moment.- holds out hir hand

[Yaunfen] Trustingly holds out hir tail-

[AVulpix] Is running and playing around the group-

[Doc] Runs hir fingers over the hard knot of bone on the end that resembles a candy corn- try and give my hand a little swat. Whip- crack it like Celine does with hers.

[Yaunfen] Tries and accidentally hits a tree instead of Docs hand- Ow!

[Doc] Be careful! That might take some practice. Here- holds up a pod- try again. Hit it right on this line that looks like a seam, not too hard.

[Yaunfen] Tries and hits Docs hand this time-

[Doc] YOW! Close, but not quite! -Xe winces at the purple bruise that's likely forming under hir glove.

[Yaunfen] Ducks head a bit- Sorry Mada...

[Doc] No! Don't be sorry! I wanted to see if you could hit hard enough to break the pod. And you can, you just need practice.

[Yaunfen] - Okay!- Stomach rumbles a little

[Doc] Holds the pod by it's ends and low enough for an easy strike- One more time.

[Yaunfen] Tries and nicks the bottom of it-

[Doc] Wiggles hir thumb into the nick and widens it a bit- Try to hit the same spot.

[Yaunfen] Sticks tongue out and tries again, missing by quite a bit-

[Doc] Ah, well... that's enough for now. We'll work on it. - Xe uses the little hole to pull the shell apart and it falls into two halves, both full of chocolate bits- Here you go. Good effort.

[Yaunfen] Quickly starts eating the chocolate-

[Deer] Leans against Doc a little- Don't worry, it's something new, it will take them some practice

[Doc] I know. But I think it would be a good idea if they had a small means of defense at least, that point is hard and it could certainly crack a bone if applied in the right place.

[Deer] - We'll teach them to only use it as a last resort

[Doc] Of course. Or for stranger danger, obviously.

[Deer] Laughs- What strangers?  Doc, we're friends with everyone!

[Doc] You never know. Not all of the creepypastas are friendly. I still don't trust Jeff.

[Deer] - Alright, alright

[Buff] Creepy-pastas?

[Deer] - A group of people, both digital, real, and I suppose mythic.  All of them have been possessed by an entity named Insanity.  We've slowly been removing her.  CP is a Creepy Pasta who has had his Insanity removed

[Doc] We've got several of the purged ones on the server. I think Splenderman you'll like especially, he's also huge and friendly.

[Buff] Sounds good. Why creepy?

[Deer] - They're killers

[Doc] Some of them look a bit monstrous too.

[Buff] Looks at Doc- Are you sure you don't need me for bodyguard duty?

[Doc] I'll get back to you....

[snake] ben is pretty friendly

[Deer] - They can get rather violent at times

[Doc] BEN I'm proud of. He's come around quite nicely.

[Buff] What's the deal? They're just easy to make angry?

[Deer] - It's more like an addiction.  They are addicted to killing and sometimes they just can't control it

[Buff] Thoughtful look - I'll be sure to watch out for them then. I'm pretty good at subduing people. - Does a flex and his arm muscles look like several dogs fighting in a bag.

[Deer] - You'd be surprised

[Doc] Looks at biome loading in - looks like desert. Well at least we'll be able to spot anyone coming.

[Buff] Puts Mix and Firebird down for a moment to roll his shirt so it's barely covering his upper chest and shoulders and then picks them up again before continuing. - Nothing wrong with a bit of honest sweat!

[snake] it is for gem because if she is sweating that means it's to hot

[Deer] - Lie is the opposite, she'd probably be perfectly happy living in a desert

[Buff] What about... Cp? Is it?

[Doc] He keeps an office in the Nether. He's a fire brine.

[Deer] - At least they can always agree on temperature

[Doc] Desert is okay for me. I like the sand. Lots of space to build.

[Yaunfen] Darts ahead and jumps into the sand-

[Doc] Kicks up sand as xe walks - xe's typing in chat- Hey Flux? How are you holding up? Have someone else type for you if you can't do it in your head.

[Flux] - I am fine for now, this physical connection is rather different than what I'm used to

[Doc] How so?

[Flux] - It's because Deer and I are based on different properties, she is based on the physical properties of the seed, while I'm based on magic

[Deer] - Flux, are you sure everything's okay?  I know the Nether still occasionally glitches, so if you need help...

[Flux] - Everything is fine Deer, I've been around a very long time, I can handle this for now

[Doc] You just relax and heal.

-The sun bakes the sand under their feet but the wind keeps it from being to uncomfortable. There's a bit of noise up ahead as a village spawns in and a few Testificates peek nervously out at them-

[Yaunfen] - Testies!  Testies!

[Doc] That's not a good way to abbreviate that Yaunfen....

[Buff] Snickers - it is funny though...

-A Fem Testificate steps out- Who are you travelers?

[snake] -is just giving a questioning glance to yaunfen for what they said-

[Deer] - We're just passing through, we mean no harm

[Doc] We're looking for a man and a woman who've gone missing. Two Herobrines.

[FemTestificate] - Herobrines?  We've heard of no such thing

-woken firebird noises -

[Doc] They have no pupils, their eyes are just a glowy white.

[FemTestificate] - No, we have seen no such beings.

[Doc] Ah, well we won't trouble you then. Unless you have anything interesting to trade?

[FemTestificate] - If you have food, then we have wares to trade

[Doc] Do you want anything specific?

[FemTestificate] - Any food will do, we are a desert village, so food is more difficult to produce

[Doc] Can we go someplace out of the sun a bit first?

[FemTestificate] - Certainly, we have a market in the center of town which is mostly covered stalls, so there is plenty of shade

[Yaunfen] - Mada?  I get small now?

[Buff] I could punch out a pond if you can fill it up? Then they could fish.

[Doc] Not a bad idea on either count. Do you want an oasis?

[FemTestificate] - There is an oasis by the village to the south, we trade with them for fish.  It's a part of our economy.  All the nearby villages produce certain things and every village can trade with any other for what they need.  Unfortunately food is the most difficult for us because all of the nearby villages are either in dry locations, or the hassle is to much to transport it

[Doc] Okay. Xe opens the menu and starts pulling out meat and vegetables and laying it down on some wood blocks.

[FemTestificate] - Yes, this is all good, you'll certainly be able to get some good items in the market for all of this

[Doc] Grins- You guys fan out and see what you can find. I'm buying. - Lifts Snake out - You want to go with Deerheart for a while?

[Deer] - Come on Yaunfen, why don't you stay with Mama

[Yaunfen] Takes their human form and motions for Deer to pick them up, still not steady at walking and the ground is hot-

[snake] sure as long as I don't get left behind

[Buff] Pokes Mix- You guys want to look around, or you just gonna sleep all day?

[Deer] Picks up Yaunfen and holds out a hand for Snake-

[snake] -hops on to deer's hand-

[Deer] - Should we meet back up in about half an hour?

[Doc] Sounds good to me, I'm going to have a chat with the town librarian.

[FemTestificate] - You'll find Misia over in the small building that way- Points away from the market- She lives on the edge because she prefers the quiet

[Mix] - still snoozing because lazy bones -

[Firebird] - Bird noise and look around -

[Buff] Is moving awkwardly through the crowd-

[Deer] Takes Yaunfen towards a stall that has a lot of sugar cane-

[Doc] Knocks on the librarians door-

-The Vulpix's are shadowing Doc-

[Misia] Opens the door a crack- Yes?

[Doc] Hello. I was wondering if you had anything to trade. I've lots of food and binding materials too.

[Firebird] - nose at things they  pass-

[Misia] - Perhaps, most people aren't interested in my wares...

[Doc] Then they're just silly. Books are so important.

[Misia] Opens the door completely- Please, no pets inside

[Doc] What? Oh! They belong to a friend. Can you guys wait for me out here please?

-The stalls are filled mostly with things mined from beneath the ground.  There's a few stalls set up from other villages which carry things like wool and carpets, and one even has banners.  Another is filled with dyes and flowers, while yet another has simple red stone contraptions-

[RVulpix] Worried noise, the sand reminding it of the past-

[Doc] I won't be long. Honestly.

[RVulpix] Shrinks down small and AVulpix tries to comfort it-

[Doc] Are you sure they can't come in? They're as smart as small children and won't cause any trouble.

[Misia] Hesitates- Why is it so important?  Are they some sort of therapy animal?

[Doc] More like one of them needs therapy. The brown one has had some very bad experiences associated with the desert.

[Misia] - ...  If they must...

[Doc] Thank you. - Ducks inside and holds the door for the little pokemon.

[RVulpix] Darts inside with AVulpix trotting afterwards-

[Doc] I take it your village has no contact with Konohakagure? It's east of here, several chunks.

[Misia] - No, that name is not familiar to me

[Doc] Ah, well they're a thriving town with lots to trade and there's a huge librairy nearby as well.

[Misia] Glances at her tiny collection of books- A large library?

[Doc] Looks at the small collection. - Miss, I'm about to make you the most popular person in town. How do you feel about... adult books?

[Misia] - Adult books?

[Doc] Eyebrow waggle- sex and romance.

[Misia] - Oh dear...

[Deer] Has traded for several bundles of sugar cane and checks the position of the sun in the sky- It's almost time to meet up

[snake] -is looking around-

[Doc] Is heading back with a few enchanted books under hir arm and the vulpix's at hir heels-

[RVulpix] Is mostly sticking to the edges of buildings-

[Buff] Is deadlifting some Testificate children and carrying them around to make them laugh.

[Doc] Glances down- I'd offer you guys a pokeball but I don't have one on me at the moment. Sorry.

[AVulpix] Keeps urging the RVulpix a bit-

[Doc] Do you want me to carry you? - Puts the books away and opens hir arms-

[RVulpix] Shrinks away, it's being a bit overwhelmed by all the new faces, it really only trusts Lie to pick it up-

[Deer] - Maybe we should get out of the desert...

[Doc] Soon enough. I want to distribute most of this food, but not make it look like I'm being condescending, you know?

[Deer] - I'm sure you can pull it off excellently

[Doc] Casts around for someone with more detailed wares. -

[Buff] Pokes Doc - Do you have any of the chocolate left? There are quite a few kids here.

[Doc] Oh! Sure! - Xe copies the pods and gives the NOTCH a bunch to hand out-

-There's a stall that has some crude jewelry run by a mal-

[Doc] Good enough - Xe chooses some small pieces and gives the vendor a generous bounty for them. They whisper some words to the blacksmith and get a lot of nodding in return, before passing him more food and extracting a promise that he'll distribute most of it to the most in need.

-The testificates are bustling about as another group of travelers arrive from another village-

[Doc] Sidles over to see if they have a leader-

-The group seems friendly with the villagers and are quick to strike up conversations.  A majority of what they have are basic cloths-

[Doc] is feeling them out as well, they're not sure if the seeds native Testificates  have any weird taboos they should know about.

-The group seems to give a small and quick motion in greeting when they speak to each other-

[Doc] Makes a note of it and thinks immediately of Steve's brothers.

-Negotiations move quickly as things are quickly passed around, showing that they've done this dance many times-

[Buff] Has quit playing with the children and moved to stand near Deerheart- it's well organized isn't it? Happy AIs living their rural lives.

[Deer] - Yes, they are very happy here.  If I were my normal self I'd be able to feel it so much more acutely, but there's a sensation I can't describe from just watching them...

[Doc] Caught the tail end of what they were saying - have you ever just sat and watched TLOTs touchies fly around their hives, I think it's like that.

[Deer] - They have their own dance, their own ways

[Buff] Even in such a harsh climate, their way of life has its own appeal.

[Doc] Ah, but it's never that simple, is it? Their lives can be peaceful because this server is defended by so many people they'll probably never even meet.

[Deer] - Such a small part of me, and yet it has such significance to all of them

[Buff] You're the first server I've ever met. It's pretty neat. I didn't even know servers could manifest.

[Deer] - The purple lady you saw before?  She is also a server, a much older one.  Formed in response to the oldest NOTCHAI that we know of

[Buff] Oooh. I want to talk to her when we get back then!

[Deer] Laughs- You'll have to get her away from Notch first

[Yaunfen] - Mama we go now?  We have to find them!

[Doc] Yeah, I think we've done enough socializing. And I think we might see some of these folks show up in our village in the coming weeks as well.

[Deer] - Then let's go...  How much farther did CP teleport to?

[Doc] Uses hir pinpoint to scout around. - Geeze... lots of chunks. How about I carry everyone for a bit?

[Yaunfen] - Yay ride!

[Buff] We get to ride dragonback? Woo!

[Deer] - Let's step away from the village first

[Doc] Well yeah, I don't want to scare them. Come on, let's go- Xe leads the party farther into the desert and shifts behind a sandhill. - All aboard. Somebody grab the vulpix's please.

-AVulpix is eager to climb on, RVulpix not so much-

[Buff] Pushes Mix and Firebird up and then plunks down behind them.

[Doc] Sways a little in the middle - damn you're big.... Everyone hold on tight!

[Deer] Puts Yaunfen on and then sneaks up on the RVUlpix, quickly picking it up and climbing on-

[RVulpix] Is making many scared noises-

[Doc] Hunkers down and charges out into the upper air, the ground shoots away as the dragon janks back and forth like an old rollercoaster. The chunks fly by underneath them, loading a bit slower  then Doc's movement and showing them glimpses of the moon moving under the unfinished ground.

[Deer] - Is it just me or is the air getting colder?

[RVulpix] Is paralyzed with fear-

[Doc] It's not just you. We must be near a cold biome!

[Buff] squeezes Doc with his legs to unroll his shirt and sleeves back down-

[Doc] Is squeezed- Whoof!

[Buff] Sorry!

[Deer] - That's weird...  A cold biome shouldn't be this close to a desert...

[Doc] The seed was loaded a long time ago. If someone came out here and set the terrain, the loading mistake might have remained?

[Deer] - Good point, and Lie has had some long distance teleports

[Doc] Turns hir head a little to look down with one eye.

-There is ice surprisingly close-

[Doc] Whoah! - Xe pulls up a bit- That looks rather uninviting!

[Buff] Huh, rare biome. Look there's one of the new polar bears!

[Firebird] -startled peep at the word polar bear-

[AVulpix] Eagerly looks over the side of Doc to look at the snow-

[Deer] - Do you think CP chose someplace cold intentionally?  To keep Lie from going to far?

[Doc] I would hope there wasn't that much thought put into it. I forgive him for running if he just panicked. But bailing with purpose annoys me.

[Deer] - I guess we'll find out...

[Yaunfen] - Mada I's cold!

[Mix] -Shiver shiver-

[Doc] Both of you - Cuddle up in my mane, just wrap around my neck if you have too. But don't squeeze, okay?

[Deer] - Oh, is that what I'm feeling?  I've never actually been cold before...

-Just, increase temperature a bit by toasty nervous bird getting slightly warmer and nosing up to Mix-

[Doc] I'll go a bit faster, this is nasty terrain. My toes are freezing.

[Deer] - Yes please

-The view shifts to spruce trees and there's a bit of howling from a few wolves chasing a sheep below-

[Yaunfen] - Doggies!

[Doc] Wild doggies! You be careful of any you see without collars!

[Yaunfen] - Okay Mada!

[Deer] - How much farther?

[Doc] They should be right about... what the fuck? - Xe spirals down to the hill marking where the signatures are coming from. - Here?

[Deer] - Um, Love?  There's nothing here...

[Doc] Sniffs the air - They're here. I know they are.

[Deer] Thinks for a moment- You know...   Lie said that when CP first brought her in, her shelter was in the side of a hill...

[RVulpix] Has raced a small ways away from the group, nearly catatonic with fear, AVulpix goes over to try and comfort it-

[Doc] Then maybe we should look under it. Everyone scout around for a hidden entrance.

[Firebird] -Chirp before swooshing into the air to fly around in search-

[Doc] Snuffles around in the bushes-

[Yaunfen] - Mama I'm hungry

[Deer] - Okay, we'll eat some sugar cane while the others look

[Buff] Hey, I found a door! - He reaches for the inset iron door in the hillside and pulls it off it's hinges-

[Doc] Buff be careful with that!

-A scorching hot blast of fire comes out of the doorway engulfing Buff.  When the flame dies away it reveals a dark hallway and two very bright eyes at the end-

[Buff] Loses most of his shirt and now has a rather suprised expression - Ow.

[CP] Growls and there's a dull glow as he pulls out his sword.  He undoes the scarf from around it and lets the faintly glowing item fall to the ground-

[Buf] Um... - He backs off from the opening. - I think we found him-

[Deer] - Is there growling and a weapon?

[Buff] Yes.

[Doc] That would be Cp-

[CP] Sends another blast of fire at Buff-

[Buff] Just puts his arms up and tanks the blast- Hey!

[Doc] Cut it out Cp!

[CP] Lunges towards the opening, ready to impale anyone in his way-

[Doc] Jumps on top of the hill and holds a stone block out at head height in the doorway-

[CP] Spots it and halts his route, slowly backing up a little and spawning his pick to smash the block-

[Doc] Just drops the block on the ground- Cp! Snap out of it!

[CP] - Go away!

[Doc] We came to get you, dumb ass!

[CP] Flips Doc off and retreats farther down the hall-

[Doc] Jumps down and starts digging into the hillside like a dog- Cp come back here!

[CP] Vanishes from sight, going towards his mate, planning on teleporting again-

[Doc] Lie! I'm here! Catify him if you can!

-There is soon an angry yowl-

[Doc] Lie?

[Lie] Sleepily- I'm here

[Doc] Keeps digging into the hill- We came to rescue you!

[Lie] Laughs- I'm not sure how much rescuing I needed, it was more CP being panicked

[Doc] And continuing to be panicked I see. - Xe stops to pick up the scarf-

[Lie] Walks into view carrying CP who has his claws ready- Yeah...  I hope he didn't scorch you too badly?

[Doc] I'm not the one that got hit actually...

[Lie] - Who did?  Do I need to spawn any healing flowers?

[Buff] Strides up to her. He's shirtless and his skin is a bit red and irritated from the fire.   - I could use a new shirt, but it's not urgent.

-The Vulpix's come running in as well and crowd around Lie's feet-

[Lie] Is surprised by Buff's appearance- Well that probably didn't help...

[CP] Is adamantly hissing at Buff-

[Doc] I got lucky. This is my new NOTCH. Meet Buff.

[Lie] - Hello Buff, my name is Lie and the ball of hisses in my arms is my husband, CP

[Buff] I heard a bit about him on the way. He's a real fireball in person. Nice to meet you.

[Lie] - I see you took the brunt of my husbands fire, do you need any healing?

[Buff] Not sure.

[Doc] I've got some paste that works on burns, but it will probably make you colder.

[Buff] Eh, I'll live.

[Lie] - Alright.  Doc?  How far did my husband take us?

[Doc] Quite a ways. But I do have an idea to get us back quicker. A little shortcut.

[Lie] - What is it?

[Doc] We'll go through the subseed. It's a bit more difficult from out here, but I can do it.

[snake] -lazily and softly kazooing-

[Lie] - I'm guessing the one with the other NOTCH's?

[Firebird] -Drifts down, chorp chorping-

[Doc] We could use the other, but I don't want Buff to freak out TLOT's Testificates.

[Lie] - Good point, especially since the ones at home haven't met our Notch yet...

[Doc] Well they know about him at least - Xe pulls out a command block and logs into the other seed before making a hole. The turf is warm and green on the other side and the heat melts the snow all around the floating hole.

[Lie] - Anyone else come with you?

[Doc] Well yes. Come on guys, let's go.

[Buff] Shrugs and walks through the hole.

[Lie] Carries CP through-

[Deer] - There's the lost couple

[CP] Immediately tries to run away-

[Doc] Ushers Mix and Firebird through -

[Deer] Carries Yaunfen through-

[Lie] - CP!

[CP] Gets out of his wife's grasp and runs farther into the hole-

[Doc] Nabs Cp like a mouse and takes him into the portal before closing it. - Ah. Nice and warm.

[CP] Claws at Doc-

[Lie] Picked up her Vulpix's- Come on CP

[Doc] Ow, ow, ow.

[Buff] He is mad about something...

[Lie] - He's scared.  We almost lost him and Deer removing DN triggered his rare fear response

[Doc] Cp... Deerheart would never hurt you. What she did for me almost cost her her own existence. Flux saved her.

[CP] Bites Doc-

[Doc] OW!

[Buff] Notices the village- That's an odd looking Testificate village...

[Deer] - Because it's not Testificates

[Tsunami] Flies by overhead-

[Buff] Tracks the dragon with his eyes - Woooow. Wait, who are they then?

[Firebird] -Flaps around curiously-

[Mix] -Sleepily trudge along with group-

[Lie] - NOTCH's, like you

[Buff] NOTCH's like multiple?! How many Herobrine's are on this seed?!

[Deer] - None

[Buff] They're not violent, are they?

[Doc] They're refugees that fled their charges.

[Buff] Oh...

-There's a rustling and one of the AI's dart towards the village-

[Lie] - Many of them were seriously injured by their brines or other NOTCH's

[Buff] That's sad.

[Doc] It's why they're here. This place is a dragon sanctuary too.

[Yaunfen] - Crim come from here!

[Doc] Yep! We took a lot of abandoned eggs and cared for them until they hatched and released the babies here. The big dragon that just flew by is one of our surrogate parents that watch over them.

[NOTCHAI] Is coming towards them from the village-

[Doc] Hello! I'd wave but I'm trying to hold this cat down.

[NOTCHAI] - That is fine, have you brought us another refuge?

[Doc] No, this is Buff. He's my NOTCH. Just assigned a few days ago.

[Buff] a bit loudly and enthusiastic - HELLO!

[NOTCHAI] - Greetings, I'm the lead NOTCH here after our previous leader...  Disintegrated...

[CP] His ears flatten a little-

[Buff] He what?

[Doc] His code fell apart.... he'd been gravely injured and bed-ridden for some time.

[Firebird] *drift in lazy circles above them

[Lie] - He was also CP's father

[Buff] Oh... My condolences Cp. But I thought the Notch with the black hair was your father?

[Doc] Markus adopted him and Stevie.

[Lie] - Much to my husbands dismay at times

[Doc] Is petting Cp a little, trying to calm him.

[NOTCHAI] - Since we are on the subject, has he been able to read his father's journal?

[Doc] I don't know, I know he had it, so I presume so.

[CP] Sensing Doc is a bit distracted, tries biting again-

[Doc] OW! Stop it Cp! Do I need to make a carrier?

[Lie] - I'd carry him but the RVulpix is stressed...

[Doc] I know. I'm gonna carry you by your scruff if you don't stop it. So unless you want to be drooled on, chill out.

[CP] Hisses-

[Yaunfen] Rubs eyes sleepily-

[Doc] At the NOTCHAI - we were just cutting through to get from a far part of our seed. But do you need anything while we're here?

[NOTCHAI] - I do not think so.  the dragons have been respective of our space...  There are some large chunks of rock that we've been trying to figure out how to move, but other than that life has been peaceful

[Buff] Oh! I can help! Just show me where!

[NOTCHAI] Hesitates but does lead Buff over to where some large chunks of rock are- We want to build some storage sheds over here

[Buff] Eagarly starts grabbing the huge rocks and moving them as if they didn't weight anything-

[NOTCHAI] Is surprised by the display of strength-

[Doc] That's very helpful. Especially since my paws are full. Heh.

[Buff] No problem! - He's still shirtless and now has a fine sheen of sweat over his well developed chest.

[NOTCHAI] - Thank you, it is much appreciated

[Buff] Anytime!

[Doc] Okay, let's go home then. I can punt us out near the spawn from here.- Xe makes a hole with hir tail and watches as the others file through before standing on hir hind legs and easing through with Cp in hir paws, and closing it behind them-

-The portal drops them out near Doc's back doorstep-

[Doc] Much better-

[Firebird] -Swoosh around before zooming toward home-

[Deer] - Where should we put Snake?

[snake] gem is comeing

[Yaunfen] - We go bed now?

[gem] -flies over head the lands- hello

[Buff] Watches Gem interestedly. -Hello again!

[Doc] Soon Yaunfen.

[Lie] Puts the Vulpix's down- Here Doc, give CP to me

[snake] -hold his tinny arms of for gem to take him which she does-

[Doc] Are you sure? He's being rather squirmy.

[Lie] - Yes, I'll take him and work on calming him

[Doc] Just go inside and have some tea or something. Relax. Deerheart? You can put Yaunfen to bed if you want. They seem sleepy. I'll join you soon enough.

[gem] oh doc I have the drawing for the dragon form

[Deer] Picks up Yaunfen and carries them inside with Lie following-

[Doc] You're adamant huh? Okay.... it's gonna take me a while cause I'll have to build from scratch. Let's see what you drew.

[gem] -gives doc the drawing it's a little messy because she was working with dye blobs-

[Doc] Shrinks down to hir normal shape and looks over the details - okay... How big does this need to be? I mean it has to be a bit larger then you, but that's all.

[gem] yea I don't need it to big

[Doc] I'll get on it.

[Buff] Looks over hir shoulder - Neat dragon.

[Doc] I'm making it for her. She wants to have a dragon shape too.

[Buff] You can just do that?

[Lie] By the next morning she had managed to calm her husband enough for him to be human shaped. The two were laying in one of the spare beds in the castle, nestled close to each other-

[CP] - Lie... I'm sorry...

[Lie] - It's okay, you were scared, I understand

[CP] - Still, I let my fear get the better off me...

[CP] - I thought I could control it better...

[Lie] - CP, nobody blames you

[Lie] Nuzzles into her husband- Don't worry, I'm right here

[CP] - I know, and I probably wouldn't be if you weren't

[Lie] - But you are, and so am I, do please, stop worrying about it...

[CP] Huffs a little- I will try, for you

[Lie] - Thank you

-The vulpix's are tightly curled up next to Lie-

[Doc] Has saved food from breakfast and brings it to them, tapping lightly on the door.

[Lie] - Come in

[Doc] Comes in with the food  and sets it down - ah, you're human again, that's good. Good morning Lie, I'm glad you decided to stay over. It looks rather stormy out there anyway.

[Lie] - Yeah, I hope my animals are alright...

[Doc] Oh, don't worry about them. Markus and Stevie and even Cn have been tending to them.

[Lie] - Good, how's Deer?

[Doc] Getting her colors back thankfully. But Flux is still holding control of the server. She'll let go when Deerheart is fully recovered. Apparently deleting someone goes against her programming, so it was a really dangerous move on her part.

[Lie] - I see, makes me all the more glad that we convinced Flux to come with us.  So did we miss anything other than Buff arriving when CP decided to whisk me away?

[CP] Has been glaring at Doc this whole time-

[Doc] Same. I owe her so much... But just a lot of walking and flying to go get you. Cn is in a deep blue funk and Flux is stuck in your yard until she reliquishes control, but Markus built a little house around her to keep the rain off and everyone else is doing okay.

[Lie] - I wonder what we can do to help CN...

[CP] - Kick him out

[Lie] - No

[Doc] He's just a kid Cp. And he'll get over it eventully. He doesn't realize that Dn didn't care about him. He was just desperate for a friend.

[Lie] - I just wish he'd hang out with the kids in the village more

[Doc] Give it time. He's just clingy because he spent so much time out in the nothing between seeds. Who knows, he might bond with Markus or even Stevie a bit with them being more present the last few days.

[Lie] - True, I'm surprised he didn't try to follow you guys

[Doc] Markus told him to stay here and help. We had a big enough rescue party without him.

[Lie] - Well then I'm glad for that.  Actually CP and I should probably head back soon and check on everything

[Doc] Have some some food first at least.

[Lie] - Thank you- She grabs the plates with pancakes, sausage, and bacon

[Doc] Turns to Cp- What's the nasty glare for?

[CP] - Fuck off

[Doc] Oh, come on. Were you really intending to just hide in the tundra forever?

[CP] - Will it get us the fuck away from you?

[Doc] What did I do? Heck, I should be mad at you anyway. You ran away when I really needed you.

[CP] Growls a little-

[Lie] - CP stop it, you were being so calm and quiet just a little while ago...

[CP] Quietly- Shut up

[Doc] Look, I understand you got scared and wanted to protect Lie. That's why I'm not mad.

[CP] Growls-

[Doc] Tiny joking grr right back- Buff isn't mad that you fireballed him either. He'd probably like to hang out with you if you give him a chance.

[CP] - Fuck.  No.

[Doc] He's really nice. Helpful too.

[CP] - No

[Doc] Sigh- Well, Lie if you ever need help moving anything, let him know. I saw him pick up a rock the size of a small house and just walk away with it like it was nothing.

[Lie] Muffled words because mouth is full of food-

[Doc] I think his counter to me must be that he could pick me up as a dragon and probably throw me. It's weird.

[Lie] Swallows the food- Wow, that would be strong, I wonder if he could move Endrea at full size...

[Doc] That could be rather funny actually. I'm sure he's be up for the challenge. I showed him my little gym and his eyes just lit up like it was the best present ever.

[Lie] - And his thoughts on the punching bag?

[Doc] I think he'd like it just as much if it didn't bleed. He seems more interested in the weights.

[CP] - Probably using the wimpy ones

[Doc] Laughs- Why would you even say that? He's ridiculiously strong. And those were some rather bitter words Cp. You shouldn't feel like you need to show off for your wife.

[Lie] Leans back against CP- It's alright, he's still on edge

[Doc] I think someone needs a calming blossom... Wait! I have an idea! Lie can I have a blossom?

[Lie] - Sure- She spawns one and hands it to Doc

[Doc] Starts dumping things out of the creative and sets up a brewing stand before crumbling the flower into the funnel. It makes a slight perking noise as it bubbles and the smell of herbal tea fills the room.

[Lie] Sniffs the air- Mmmm, smells good

[CP] Leans away from the concoction

[Doc] Adds some sugar and pops the three bottles off the stand. Xe tips one to hir lips - Meh. It tastes okay. I prefer black tea to herbal but it does make me feel calm. - Has a placid expression.

[CP] - Keep that the fuck away from me

[Doc] But it smells good and technically your wife made it, so you know it's safe. Besides, it's not a tranquilzer or anything.

[Lie] Takes one and sips it- Not too bad

[Doc] Fans hirs so the scent goes towards Cp before taking another drink-

[CP] Is calming a little just from the smell alone-

-Outside the rain is pattering on the walls and there's a bit of happy whinnying and soft noises from the horses downstairs-

[Doc] Just know that everything is being taken care of, and you two are free to relax as much as you want. My home is yours too, as usual.

[Lie] - We know, thank you Doc

-After eating Lie and CP are making their way  home.  They are almost at the village when a very large shadow goes over them.  Endrea, at full size and very angry slams down in front of them-

[Endrea] - WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?

[CP] - Somewhere...

[Endrea] - WINSTON HAS BEEN HERE NEARLY DAILY TRYING TO GET TO YOU!

[Doc] Hears the noise from the spawn and slinks over to investigate.

[CP] - Why has he been coming?

[Endrea] - BECAUSE MOBS ARE STILL BEING ATTACKED!

[Doc] Accidently vocalizing - Oh shit!

[Lie] - Endrea, what do we need to do?

[Endrea] - One of you will need to go to the server, depending on if we want the NOTCH to know if the Master is still alive or not...

[CP] - No, Lie will not be putting herself in such danger

[Doc] Waves a hand to get her attention - My offer is still good if you guys are game. I don't want to see you lose all your mobs that trust you.

[CP] - Shit shit shit...  Endrea, do you know when Winston will be back?

[Endrea] - Soon

[CP] Darts off towards his and Lie's home-

[Lie] - CP...  Doc I don't think he really heard you...  When he gets focused...  Well, that's all he can focus on

[Doc] Well I don't want him going! Or you either! - runs after Cp - CP!

[Endrea] Offers Lie a lift and they end up getting there at about the same time as CP-

[CP] Slams open the side door to the workshop and rushes inside-

[Doc] Darts in as well and grabs his shirttail - CP STOP!

[CP] Shoves Doc away, waiting for the portal to open- I'm not going anywhere right now!  I'm waiting for Winston to arrive!

[Doc] Oh. Okay. - Stands near him.

[Lie] Enters- CP...

-There's a crackling as Winston opens the portal and steps through- Master, there you are

[CP] - Winston, what did you need me for.  Endrea said more mobs were being attacked?

[Winston] - Not just mobs...  Sir, we've lost Zacharia

[Doc] I'm so sorry Winston... how many are left?

[Winston] - The rest of the generals, but they need you Master, well, you or the Mistress

[Doc] Need him to what? You guys don't stand a chance against this NOTCH. We need to evacuate whoever is left before they get deleted!

[CP] - No, a sudden movement of the mobs to another seed would raise his suspicions and cause him to search for them...  And that's far to close to this seed for my comfort

[Doc] He can't come in Cp. I told you. Do you still not trust me?

[CP] - I will not put my wife's home in danger!  You've seen how he was capable of deleting all my code, what makes you think he couldn't do something to the firewall?

[Doc] Because I have his unique identifier blocked? You can thank Jeb and Markus for that. Apparently what he's done to you and doing your mobs got their attention. They call him Harvestman and they are watching him closely. It's serious enough that they changed some of the NOTCH generation protocols because of it. Buff is far more aware of what he really is then any NOTCH AI we've encountered yet.

[CP] His fists clench tightly- I won't risk it

[Doc] I can evacuate them somewhere else? There probably aren't that many left Cp. I can take some spawn eggs and replace them so it's not so obvious too.

[CP] Is pacing nervously- That won't work...

[Lie] - CP, what do we do?

[CP] - I'll have to go over there, give more precise orders...  Draw his attention away from them

[Lie] - You will not!

[Doc] Don't do it Cp.... please.

[Lie] - I hate to say it, but it's probably safer for me to go.  I don't think Harvestman has noticed me yet...

[Doc] It's not safer Lie. You stick out. And there's no way to regrow you if he...

[Lie] - It would be quick, just to get things in motion.  I'd also have Endrea with me

[Doc] Then I'm going with you.

[CP] - No, more than one brine would draw too much attention

[Doc] What are you going to tell them?! They're already hiding! They're dying out there because you won't let me help you!

[CP] - My mobs are used to killing, I cannot guarantee the safety of anyone here if they were to be here!

[Doc] Yeah, but we're on respawn! I won't stand by and watch them be picked off like silverfish because you won't help them!

[CP] Scowls and storms off-

[Lie] - Winston, how much time do we have?

[Winston] - Before our numbers are critical?  A few weeks at the most...  We no longer have control of the zombies since Zacharia was taken out

[Doc] Control is not an issue. Mobs are mobs! The ones here run wild and kill too. It's no different.

[Lie] - Yes but I think CP prides himself on having control of his mobs

[Doc] That's not the point, I don't expect him to be able to guarntee anyone's safety! Having his mobs here would be no different then the wild ones we already have. He acts like this is a peaceful seed. It's not. Hell, ask Steffan if you don't believe me!

[Lie] - Doc, he doesn't want to put me in a state of panick remembering what his mobs did to me...  To the other humans!

[Doc] If that was the case, it would have happened already Lie. There is no shortage of mobs here.

[Lie] Sighs- Winston, please try to organize the mobs into a safe position where they can best defend themselves.  As soon as CP or I come up with a plan we'll get to you

[Winston] - Yes Mistress

[Doc] I hate this plan.

[Lie] - I know...  But right now we need to get another pixel from CP

[Doc] Narrows hir eyes at Cp- I want a heart this time.

[CP] - What?

[Winston] Retreats and closes the portal-

[Doc] You heard me. A bigger piece would mean less time regrowing.

[CP] - Fuck no, one pixel is fucking enough!

[Doc] Do you want to be a kitten again when Lie might be in danger and need you?

[CP] - You know damn well I will not allow harm to come to her!

[Doc] You wouldn't have a choice, it took you a full four days to get your memory and adult form back. That would be more then enough time for Lie to be captured and killed.

[CP] - She won't be anywhere near him when we fight him!

[Doc] Gives Cp a hard stare. - I'm not letting this go.

[CP] - Well too fucking bad because this conversation is over!

[Doc] Leaps at him with a determined scowl, transforming in the small space and knocking him over with hir paws. Xe roars Endrea's name-

[Endrea] Sticks head near door- Yes?

[Doc] I need you to hold Cp down.

[Endrea] - He'll have to come outside, and even then I'm not certain I could

[Doc] sighs- Nevermind then... Cp.... you understand I'm trying to help, don't you?

[CP] - Fuck off you fucking asshole!

[Doc] I see.... This is going to hurt. I'm sorry.

[CP] - Don't you fucking dare!

[Doc] Curls around him tightly and lays hir head over half of his body so hir chin is at his waist and arms are pinned at his sides-

[CP] Sets himself on fire-

[Doc] Ignores the flames- It will hurt more if I can't see what I'm doing.

[CP] - FUCK YOU GET OFF!

[Doc] Puts a paw over his heart cluster and lets hir claws phase into his chest.

[CP] Tries to squirm away-

[Doc] Hir claws brush the redstone heart as xe chooses one at the edge of the cluster and carefully nips it away, melting the connections so he doesn't bleed. The heart slips into hir inventory as xe withdraws.

[CP] Jerks as the pain goes through him and starts curling up from the residual pain-

[Lie] - CP...

[Doc] Is murmuring gentle words and tosses a healing potion up a little to let it splash onto him-

[CP] - I fucking hate you...

[Doc] But I don't hate you. Lucky for you I'd say.

[CP] Growls-

[Lie] - Doc, if you move away then I'll tend to him

[Doc] If I let go he'll attack me...

[Lie] - He won't, I promise

[Doc] If you say so... - Doc transforms and steps back quickly- Can I have that locket Lie?

[Lie] Passes the locket over as she kneels next to CP and puts a gentle hand on his head-

[Doc] Thank you. - Xe kneels down nearby as well and pulls the precious heart from hir inventory.

[Lie] Is keeping CP calm-

[CP] His breathing is a bit labored-

[Doc] Fits the heart into the locket and slips it over Lie's head. - He'll be okay. I intentionally didn't make a hole to take it out so he'd heal quicker.

[Lie] - Thank you

[Doc] Sorry Cp. If it makes you feel any better I've done the same to myself more then once before. I know it hurts.

[CP] Barely manages to flip Doc off-

[Doc] fondly - Ah, he's recovering already.

[Lie] Can't stop a small laugh-

[Doc] Pat's Cp's head-

[Mb] Sticks his head in the back door and Celine runs awkwardly in with a bit of squeaking - Is Cp back to normal yet..? Aw fuck...

[Lie] - Hello MB

[Mb] Dammit Cp! I want to fight! You're always sick lately. Fucker.

[CP] - FUCK YOU!  I JUST HAD FORCED REMOVAL OF ORGANS!

[Celine] Scampers onto Cp's lap and wags her tail-

[Mb] Suuure.

[Lie] - He did, he just had a heart removed

[Mb] Looks around for enemies and only spots Doc. His eyes narrow suspiciously.

[Doc] It was nessesary-

[Mb] Fucker.

[Lie] - MB I promise you, you'll be able to fight in a few days

[Celine] Licks Lie's fingers in hopes of a treat-

[Mb] Snorts - I hope so.

[Lie] Rubs Celines head and pulls out a bit of dragonwort-

[Celine] Nibbles on it and makes a face- Pfft! - She loses her grip a little bit and accidently squeezes Cp's thigh with her claws.

[Mb] Saunters in -She likes meat, duh. That hooked beak isn't for eating grass.

[coneygoil]

“Hostile Takeover”, part 7

Fandom: Wreck-It Ralph

Summary: The world is a dangerous place. With his power to control cy-bugs, King Candy reigns supreme, and his biggest target is capturing Vanellope. Her only hope is a small group of rebels hidden in the wastelands of Hero’s Duty that are aiming to take out the tyrant king.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Writer’s note: I had a first for me in this part: I wrote Sour Bill! He’s a hard character to write (at least for me), but hopefully his cameo turned out okay. Onward to the fic!

The world became awfully quiet, and Felix blindly reached for a hold on anything before he lost his ability to stay upright. The regret of letting Tamora leave the common room alone sunk heavy in his stomach. If he would have accompanied her, saw the note with her, then maybe Tamora wouldn’t have dashed off to save the day by herself; the guns-blazing-take-no-prisoners singular army she thought she was.

A finger tapped him on the shoulder, bringing Felix back to life. “Felix,” Ralph called in concern, “don’t freak out, buddy. We’ll get Sarge back.”

Felix shook his head, his hands moving frantically about. “It’s not just Tammy that maniac has. It’s our baby too!”

Ralph held up a hand. “Whoa, hold on a sec. You’re saying Calhoun is…” He gestured awkwardly to his stomach.

“She’s with child,” Felix finished, his head drooped, the bill of his hat hiding his distress, “our baby.”

A moment of silence fell between them as his companions processed the news. “That’s why Calhoun hasn’t been feeling well lately,” Ralph pointed out.

“I had a hunch that this was the reason,” Kohut interjected.

“Why didn’t you two tell us?” Vanellope asked, exasperatedly.

“You know how it is. We never expected to have a baby, but here we are.” Felix crossed arms over his ribcage, the worry inside threatening to engulf him. “No telling what that mad man will do to her.”

“If she’s still alive,” Kohut muttered.

Ralph glared at him. “Would it hurt to be a little more sensitive, Reg?”

A small hand wrapped around his, and Felix looked up at Vanellope’s sad eyes. “I’m sorry, Felix. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t run off to Sugar Rush, Sarge would be okay.”

Felix pulled her into a hug to comfort her, but also to get some comfort himself. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Vanellope was just a little kid.

“We need a plan-“ Felix heard Ralph say to Kohut, and the two men began discussing their next move. Felix couldn’t wait around while they figured things out. He needed to take action, even if it meant blindly going into battle. He would do what any good husband would do.

Felix gently withdrew from Vanellope’s hold, his decision set in stone. “Kohut,” he interrupted the planning going on, “is your pistol charged?”

“Yeah.” Kohut tossed him a suspicious look. “Why? You need it, pint-size?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” His respond was eerily calm as he held out his hand. He and Kohut exchanged a look, and the soldier knew exactly what he was doing. “You’re gonna get yourself killed.”

“I can’t sit here and wait for a plan to be cooked up while King Candy does unspeakable things to Tammy.”

Ralph looked at him like he was crazy. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy. You’re not going out there!”

“When you thought Pauline was in danger, did you dilly-dally around, Ralph?” The wrecker frowned at him, and Felix knew he’d won the argument already.

Ralph pointed a blocky finger at the ground. “Then you’re not going out there alone.”

Felix nodded, not bothering to protest. Ralph had his back, and Felix wouldn’t stop him from that place of loyalty they’d built up over the years.

“I’m going too!” The three men looked at Vanellope standing in the center of their circle, her features set in determination.

“Don’t think so, kid,” Ralph reacted quickly.

“Hey!” Vanellope clinched her tiny fists. “I’m the reason why Sarge got caught. My glitching powers could be used to get her back. I need to go!” She glanced from Ralph to Felix, making eye contact with them both. “You two dorks are my family just like Sarge. Family sticks to together no matter how bad it gets.”

Try together or die together was the reality they lived in; the argument finished in an unspoken resolve. Vanellope clapped her hands together. “I know a backdoor we can use.”

The gang expected to find guards posted at the secret porthole of Sugar Rush, but what they found was the tiny form of Sour Bill meandering about.

“We meet again, cough drop.”

The little green ball hummed in response, turning to face them. His eyes widened at the menacing sight of Ralph and a cloud of cocoa dust spun up as he attempted to flee.

“Not so fast!” Vanellope glitched into his path, causing Sour Bill to bump into her legs. His expression was pure fear as he stared up at his former president.

Sour Bill yelped as he was lifted off his hovering dot-shaped feet. Ralph brought him to eye level, glaring at the green candy in malice.

“Where’s Sergeant Calhoun?”

“Locked away in the fungeon,” Bill spilled without hesitation.

“Is my wife okay?” Felix rushed to question, Bill trembling as he glanced down at him.

“As far as I know, but she won’t be for long. King Candy wishes to make an example of her in Station Square soon.”

The color drained from Felix’s face. They knew what happened to the ones who King Candy proclaimed as criminals, but hearing it made the assumption far too real.

“You got what you wanted,” if candy could cry, Bill was about to, “Please, can I go?”

“Hate to break it to you, Bill,” Vanellope informed, glitching onto Ralph’s shoulder, “but we’re here to play 20 questions and you’re the unlucky contestant.”

Bill’s frightened eyes darted back and forth from Ralph to Vanellope. Felix almost felt sorry for the scared little guy – almost. But there wasn’t much empathy left in him for King Candy’s main henchman; not when his wife and unborn child’s lives were at stake.

“Why does King Candy want to get rid of Vanellope so bad?” Ralph continued the interrogation, “What kind of threat is she to him?”

Bill frowned. “I don’t know.”

Ralph lifted an eyebrow. “Are we gonna have a déjà vu moment here?”

Bill crossed his little dot arms. “It’d be far worse to betray King Candy.”

“Are you sure? ‘Cause I have no shame in doing this.” Ralph opened his mouth to pop Bill inside.

Bill’s eyes popped open even bigger. They’d played this game before, and Bill obviously knew he wouldn’t win. “No, no, no!”

Ralph moved him back from his mouth. “Ready to spill?”

Bill’s arms dropped in defeat. “There’s one way to disable King Candy.”

“We’re listening, chump,” Vanellope ensured.

Bill looked at Vanellope. “You must sit on the throne as an acceptance of your royal duties. Only then will King Candy’s code be separated from Sugar Rush and he will return to default mode.”

“So, you’re saying, just because I never sat on that silly throne and played the princess, that’s why King Candy is still around?”

“It was the strongest link that he couldn’t rip from the code.”

“Looks like you’re gonna have to princess-up and take on your royal duties, kid.” Ralph caught Vanellope out of the corner of his eye covering her mouth in a muffled snort. “You still find that funny?”

Vanellope shrugged. “Can’t argue with a classic.”

“Ey-ya-yi.”

“Can I go now?”

Ralph grinned, thumbing toward a lollipop tree. “You know the drill, Bill.”

[sandersgrey]

Do you make headcanons? If so, can you write some more for QPR Errorink?

*at full volume* I AM ALWAYS A SLUT FOR QPR!ERRORINK(Okay, so let me explain what is QPR for who don’t know what it is: QPR is queer platonic relationship. The two or more in the relationship see each other like partners for life, but don’t have romantic feelings for each other, what is the ideal for Errorink because… Well, Ink is aroace.)A lot of Undernovela. Like, really. Error became really addicted to it when he stopped destroying AUs and then Ink started to watch too. Ink draw fanarts of that AU. So many fanarts.They don't really touch each other so much (because, yeah, Error's haphephobia) but sometimes, when Error is lonely, he wrappes Ink in a blanket and hugs him. It's easier when there is not direct contact. (Ink gets really annoyed with being contained but he let Error do it anyway because it's great to be hugged even this way).So many ink. Everywhere. Yes, even in Error's clothes. They don't even touch, so how-?!Once Ink lost his inks and got... really blank. Error panicked. He wrapped Ink in blankets and gave him hot cocoa and choco (stole from Underfell, of course). The voices wouldn't stop blaming him. It lasted days until the colors returned to Ink. Ink tried to break up with Error after this, saying that the glitch deserved someone who could care for him without inks. Error said "shut the fuck up" and it was the first time he genuinely got angry at Ink since they started being together.Ink likes to prank Error. Error likes to tie him down and "ground" him when it happens. But he gets really flustered and annoyed when does it and Ink says things like "bondage isn't so cool when you aren't going to touch me" to tease him.Sorry for any mistakes, my English is even more trash than I am.

[abalonetea]

Hot Cocoa Blues

i did it guys, i finished it! i’m not sure i like it, but i’m gonna post it anyways cause i finished it!

it’s half past two in the morning and Red is pretty sure that Locke’s not going to be thrilled with the startling lack of cocoa that he’s going to come across once the sun is finally up.

or maybe he won’t care?

The guy is funny like that. has his priorities all screwed up like everyone else here but – it’s not a bad thing, for something like this. For most things that involve Bolte, actually.

Like.

This.

This?

Yeah, this is some kind of thing.

There’s already a pot back on the stove, heating up water. It’s the fourth pot in half that many hours. The charred flower tin is almost empty. Bolte is curled forward, half hunkered over the chipped mug like it’s something great and Red wants to go in but –

That’s not how this works.

That’s not how any of this works.

Bolte doesn’t need to be pulled back together because he doesn’t fall apart and don’t think about that one time the kettle is whistling anyway. Bolte unfurls from the table like a puppet being jerked along on strings. It is an ingrained habit, grabbing the pot and bringing it back but – he doesn’t slam it onto the table like he would back home, making Terrible Tea with Captain.

He sits it down. He adds three scoops of powder to his mug. He adds the water.

He sits down.

He drinks the cocoa.

Red’s fingers twitch. When the third stair from the top creaks, he nearly jumps out of his skin. A hand flies up, tugging his mask into place.

Blue gives him a sheepish smile. “Hey. Didn’t wanna…creak ya out.”

Red jerks his hand up, gesturing for silence.

Eyebrows raise in response. Blue tilts his head, makes a gesture with his hands that looks like it should mean something.

Red stares at him. He hopes the dismissal comes across through the mask. It usually does.

But – Blue just rolls his eyes and keeps walking. The legs of his pajamas are too long. It would be a safety hazard, if there was anything here that you needed to be safe from.

Except there’s not.

It’s quiet. The nights here are always quiet.

Red meets Blue halfway, tries to block the view of the open kitchen door. “Go back ta bed, pal.”

“S’my house, remember?” Blue folds his arms over his chest, but there’s nothing stiff about his posture. He looks as unphased about this as he is everything else. “M’gettin’ a drink.”

“Not tonight ya ain’t.” Red takes a step forward, but Blue doesn’t back up and, okay, yeah, he can see why Bolte likes messing with the guy. It’s just that tonight isn’t a good night to mess with Bolte. “It’s a whole thing, buddy. Trust me. Gonna be way easier on all’a us if ya jus’ go back t’bed.”

The kettle clatters in the kitchen. Water running signals another refill of it. Blue blinks, like he genuinely didn’t realize anyone but Red was down there. Suddenly, he seems a whole lot more interested in what’s going on.

Mouth cutting up into the start of a grin, Blue asks, “what, are you guys havin’ a party without me?”

Red steps into his line of view. He’s only a few inches taller, but he can still take up a lot of space when he wants too. “Focus, buddy. C’mon. Go back upstairs. Don’t make me get mean.”

And – Blue has the audacity to snort at that. He pats Red cheerfully on the shoulder. “You, get mean? I’ll believe that when I see it.” And then, like it’s an afterthought, “he feel bad or something?”

“Boss feels fine,” says Red, and the words are habit, at this point, are something that must always, always be spoken into reality.

except for that one time

“Yeah? That why he’s down here at fuck all in the morning?”

“Creampuff doesn’t want ya cursin’, buddy. And yer down here at the same time, so get off yer high horse why don’t’cha?”

“I had a nightmare,” says Blue, simply. He shrugs one shoulder, like he didn’t just give away a precious secret. “Couldn’t get back t’sleep. Usually I just sit up there with Locke but since he’s not home…”

Oh.

That – makes more sense than Red would like to admit. He’s no stranger to nightmares but the liquor helps and, honestly, they don’t happen as often these days. It might be that his head is all fucked up about other things, or a glitch, or something else entirely, but Red’s not one to look a gift horse in the mouth before you see the gun.

“Kitchen’s full,” says Red, but he can’t quite make the words sound as sharp. “Boss is, uh, yanno.”

Blue stares at him, looking entirely unimpressed. “Did’ja just miss the part about it being my kitchen?”

“Asshole – “

“Language.”

“Commonish,” sneers Red, and that time it is mean. He takes a sudden step forward, nearly cracks their foreheads together. “Look, Blue, I get it. Ya spent a couple’a months with’im ‘nd now ya think ya know all kinds’a shit. But ya don’t. So why don’t ya go on back t’bed like I suggested, n’let me handle things?”

Blue’s face twists, eyes narrowing.  There’s no crackle of magic but Red can still sort of feel the shift in intent. If they were back in Fara Falls, there might already be a knife heading for his throat but –

They aren’t.

And Blue just snorts, steps cleanly around Red. “How’s about ya quit forgettin’ that it’s my kitchen, and move? I’m gonna get a drink, and then I’m going back to bed.”

Red grabs Blue by the back of his shirt, hauling him backwards. A snarl bites at the back of his teeth. “I said – “

The scrape of a chair over linoleum. They both go very still, and very quiet.

Bolte steps out into the hallway. He looks sick and tired and a little bit lost. There’s a moment where he turns and looks at them both and white numbers flash over his chest, this curving strip of code that shouldn’t exist but does; the glow highlighting the dark shadows under his eyes, the bruise still healing on his jaw and –

Red wants to CHECK him.

Wants to CHECK him so badly that it hurts, but Bolte hates that.

“I’m going out,” says Bolte, like it’s not two in the morning, like everything’s fine. He makes a vague gesture with one hand, and it’s only through old habit that Red knows it’s directed at him and not both of them. “Find me if something happens.”

“Will do, boss.” Red gives him a quick two fingered salute. Pauses, just for a beat, and then asks, “want some company?”

The warning bells don’t really start ringing until Bolte hesitates, like he’s actually debating the matter.

Bolte never wants company.

That’s just – routine.

Seconds become minutes. Spring becomes summer. Red offers up company and Bolte tells him to fuck off.

But Bolte hesitates, and the white numbers fritz out of existence. He scrubs at his face with one hand, a rare admission of exhaustion, looks from Red to the door and back again.

“I don’t care what you do,” says Bolte, finally. There’s something impossibly sad about the way he says it. “Just make sure you stay out of my way.”

“W-will do, boss.” Bewildered, Red lets go of Blue’s shirt. “Lemme jus, uh, ya know what? S’okay, I’m good. Right behind ya.”

Bolte hums, doesn’t say anything. Turns and starts out of the house, though, still dressed from earlier in the day. He doesn’t close the door behind him and, okay, so this is a Big Thing, then, this is a red alert level issue.

Red’s mind is already spinning, trying to figure out how to diffuse a situation that he knows nothing about. He’s quick to scurry after the knight.

“Hey.” Blue follows Red over to the door, catches him by the wrist.

Red snarls. “Does it look like I have the time for this?”

But Blue isn’t looking at Red. His gaze is firmly on Bolte’s retreating back, as the knight heads for the side gate. “Keep an eye on him.”

“The Hell do ya think I’m doing?”

“No, I mean – “ Blue gestures to his own chest. “That. Just…don’t let him get too cold out there, alright?”

HEART twisting itself in knots, Red wrenches his arm away. He gnashes his fangs  together, already turning and pushing his way outside. The snow is cold against his bare feet. “Go back to bed, Blue. This don’t involve you. I’ve got him.”

And, stars, Red hopes that’s true.

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