#also every time I try to add the link to ao3 tumblr crashes | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sitabethel · 5 years

Text

Don't have a lot of energy rn, but I had to write at least one prompt for @deathshippingweek so I picked the AU. Fluff below, but you can find the extended, spicy version on AO3 (ch60 in the Lemonade Stand)

******

Amir’s eyes rounded in delight and his mouth fell open as he stepped into the room where they created their set designs and props. Severed limbs heaped on top of the tables. Bones stuck out of each foot and hand, splintered and jagged as if split with a cleaver not sharp enough for bone. Buckets of blood sat near the tables, entrails slopping over the sides. Chains, shackles, and hooks rusted over with dry blood hung from the ceiling. They clinked as Amir walked past. A shiver shot through him. One table boasted an entire torso, ribcage exposed to the air and maggots stuffed between the bones. Amir leaned over, swearing he could see the grubs squirm.

“Don’t. Touch. Anything. I’ve hardly slept all week to prepare for this.” A voice warned from behind, adding as an afterthought, “Please.”

Amir spun and saw Ryou standing behind him. His long hair was twisted into a sloppy bun, and shadows clung around his eyes. He held a cup of coffee in one hand and a bloodied hacksaw in the other.

“It’s gorgeous,” Amir blurted out.

Ryou raised an eyebrow. Amir’s face burned, and he started again—this time attempting to stay coherent. He gestured to the gore around them. “The props. I can almost smell the rot.”

“It’s possible you do. I’d created a demon heart for the final act by sewing together some chicken livers and pork belly, but the smell got a little rank, so they forced me to toss it.” Ryou sighed.

“Did you get a picture before it had to go?” Amir asked.

With a slight grin, Ryou pulled out his cellphone. Amir leaned close, catching the faint, spicy scent of old cologne clining to Ryou’s clothes as Ryou pulled up several photos.

“Swipe right for gore.” Ryou laughed.

“Oh my god. Dude, that’s sick.” Amir stared at the six-chambered demon heart. “Can you make a fake one?”

“Yeah. I’m waiting until the end, though. It set me back on my schedule.”

“Do you need any help? You know I’m not squeamish.”

“Is that why you’re sneaking around?” Ryou smiled. “You wanted to get blood on your hands?”

“Of course.” Amir grinned. “And get a sneak peak before the dress rehearsal.”

“I saw your costume. You’ll make quite the horrifying killer.”

Amir licked his lips and winked at Ryou. He normally didn’t hang around the theater nerds, but when Ryou told him they were doing a horror production for Halloween, the temptation was too luscious for him to resist, and he’d been cast as the killer the day after his audition. Ryou always designed the props for the plays, but this time he hadn’t shown up for game nights the past two weeks, so Amir decided to seek him out.

“Actually, if you really want to help, I was about to add some clear coat to this crate of organs. They need multiple coats each so they look wet when the stage lights hit them.”

“I am at your service.” Amir bowed.

“Oh no, you’re starting to act like an actor,” Ryou teased.

“Nah. The theater nerds are way more dramatic than I am.” Amir laughed.

He pulled a chair up beside Ryou and grabbed a brush. They used a small fan to pull the fumes away and covered their mouths with paper masks. After painting one coat onto the organs, they splattered blood on a pile of old clothes. Then they added a second coat to the kidneys, hearts, and spleens before Ryou wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed.

“I think I’m done for the night. What time is it?”

“1 AM.”

“Oh no. I’ve kept you up more than half the night.”

“I wanted to help.”

“Well...I appreciate it.” Ryou’s cheeks tinted pink. They turned off the lights and walked out of the prop room together.

“Meet back here tomorrow after classes?” Amir grinned.

“I don’t want to take up all your free time.” Ryou shook his head.

“Are you kidding me? This is my idea of a dream date.”

“Oh? Was this a date?” Ryou twisted a loose strand of hair as he dug his toe into the linoleum of the hallway.

Amir’s palms grew clammy, but his mouth was dry. Hiding his nervousness behind a grin, Amir leaned close and lidded his eyes. “Do you want it to be?”

“Hmmm...tempting. I mean, not many guys would help me splatter blood all over clothing for a first date. You might be a keeper.”

“I also give amazing shoulder massages.”

“Is that an offer?” Ryou placed both hands on Amir’s chest, tilting his face and parting his lips.

“Yes.” He leaned in and brushed their lips together. A sigh escaped him because of how sweet Ryou’s mouth felt against his own.

“Then let’s stop and grab a bite to eat.” Ryou play-nipped the bottom of Amir’s lip. “And then we can finish this date by me inviting you into my dorm room for coffee—and shoulder rubs.”

They laced their fingers together and walked hand-in-hand toward the campus food court.

#deathshipping #deathshipping week #can't put it under the cut b/c I'm on my phone #also every time I try to add the link to ao3 tumblr crashes #fuuuuuuck uuuuuu tumblr #long post #fake gore

29 notes · View notes

revenant-dumpster-fire · 3 years

Text

Blog Update

(Ignore if not interested, but I’m looking for input so... I would be happy if you wanted to add to the conversation.)

TL;DR:

Blog Update: I will catch up on asks ASAP, fiction writing is done for 5 weeks (yay!).

Blog Question: Should I take art requests during my free time (or just vibe)?

Blog Question: Should I take short writing requests during my free time (or just vibe)?

Fanfic Question: Is the name “The Lost Files” good for the miscellaneous chapters, or do you have a better idea for a name?

Fanfic Question: Tumblr sometimes cramps my writing style, do you all prefer reading on here or AO3 and why (if you don’t mind expanding upon that)?

Blog Updates:

All the writing stuff is updated, ready to go, and is queued up for the next five weeks. That means I can focus on other things for a while!

For the main chunk of the blog, I would like to do the following:

Get the sitting asks done ASAP with art (if possible)

Get back to making Revenant art because I need to get my mojo back

On this note, I would like to try taking art requests (as long as they’re not too complicated). I know my art isn’t the greatest possible thing in the world, but the more I practice the better I’ll get, and... I really want to get better.

Would officially opening art requests be a decent idea? Or is this a prime way to exhaust myself during my five weeks off my main project? I’m not exactly sure how many people would get in on it, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do in order to expand my horizons a bit. At the same time I wouldn’t want to drown myself in requests and feel guilty for being unable to complete them all in a timely manner.

Also I wanted to do short writing request too for fun, just Revenant stuff with more flexibility than my main project. Would anyone be interested in writing requests? I dunno I figured it could be fun and really help me brainstorm a bit.

Fanfic Updates:

Oh hey, so if you’re here you probably saw the most recent part was posted. That’s the second to last chapter, and after that I have three more lost chapters lined up, meaning every Wednesday for the next five weeks [including this week] (bar me getting hit by a bus) I will have something to post. Yay!

Also, Just a Volunteer (Book #1) has been completely proofread, fixed, updated, and the final version is available on AO3 with all edits/fixes! Yay!

So... that wraps up the first book. It ends with lots of questions, pretty open ended, but it would be wrapped up enough that if someone wanted to find a break to read something else, it’s a good place to break.

After that’s done, the “The Lost Files” as I’m calling it (for now, may change the name to be more fun than that, feel free to leave suggestions) will drop one at a time. These differ from the main story in multiple ways:

They focus on different/new characters I’m adding to the fray

They are not in 2nd person POV (you/your)

They are in 3rd person POV (he/her/they)

They mostly avoid the Reader or Y/N character and focus on events she could not or did not see

They fill in the gaps and set up the insanity I want to write for book #2

I am not shooting for a 10K word per chapter ideal, it’s just however long it is.

I am very excited for these because I really just had fun with them. To give you an idea of what’s coming up:

Character piece and setting up an “oh fuck” moment for later

R e v e n a n t

An “oh fuck” moment

There will be more than those, but for now those are all written already.

As for Book #2, I am feeling like migrating completely over to AO3 for posting it (obviously including links on Tumblr as well)... I wanted people’s opinion:

Is there any reason you prefer to read on Tumblr rather than AO3?

You may wonder why I’d want to migrate off of Tumblr. On my side, it’s limiting to have to constrain myself to 250 paragraphs and messes with my formatting at times. I have also had people point out that the mobile app crashes and makes them lose their place or lose my blog entirely (if they hadn’t followed it), so... ack. Should I keep trying to post to Tumblr? Or if it exceeds 250 paragraphs just post a link?

But yeah, also if you didn’t read above, I’m considering doing short form writing requests. I’m guessing my fic readers would be the most interested in that, so what do you all think of that?

#q&a schedule #q&a #q&a fanfic

8 notes · View notes

srprincess · 4 years

Text

Guess what!?! It’s Fictober time again! So – new prompts, but I’m still out here (making an attempt at) finishing my same old fic.

Prompt 1 – “No, come back!” // fandom – omgcp // fic rating – T for language reasons

Notes: This is actually chapter 19 of the Spookydoo AU I started last fictober. I can’t believe it’s been an entire year. I guess months worth of pandemic related block and a cross country move will tend to slow these sorts of things down, but, yeah – a year. Wow. Back at the start I had thought this was going to be a quick month long project, but here we are! If you’re still following me from way back then, here’s the long promised update. If you’re new this will make NO SENSE without the rest of the story - and honestly only minimal sense after - so I’ll drop a link to the rest of the story on Ao3 in the replies (since tumblr hates links)

---

“Are you sure I don't need to head back and get them?” Will asked, for the third time.

“Nah, they’re resourceful. Quit worrying,” Nursey told him, also for the third time. At least. Maybe he had asked a few too many times.

He, Nursey, Shitty and Lardo were gathered back around the table in his kitchen, while Sammy sat at the edge of the doorway leading into the mudroom, happily chewing on a length of rope that Will had knotted up for her. He didn't have much to offer in the way of snacks while they waited, but he’d managed to scrounge up a bag of not quite stale pretzels and some cold sodas. Not the best spread, but good enough he didn't think his mom’s memory would judge him too harshly under the circumstances. Said circumstances being that these particular guests and their friends had basically wiped out his pantry over the course of their previous visits.

They were waiting, with varying levels of patience, for Holster and Ransom to show up with their lunches, and - maybe more importantly, it depended on who you asked - to tell them what they'd found out about Lou’s place. Or rather the house that she had been...haunting? It was still hard for Will to think about it that way, about his longtime friend being a ghost, but, well, could he deny it anymore? Honestly? It was strange, but if she was a ghost - which she was - and had been staying in and around the house - which she had - what else could you call it other than a haunting? At any rate, finding out the property had been sitting vacant might have explained how it could have had a ghost-in-residence for so long without attracting too much attention, but it opened up a whole other set of questions. Who would leave a house on the water empty for years? Sure, it needed some upkeep, but still, it was a nice enough place in a great spot. Where were the owners? Why hadn’t they been trying harder to sell it? Or failing that, using the property themselves? He also wanted to know more about how Lou had ended up connected to the property, but that was going to have to come from her and not a simple property search. Unfortunately, she hadn't seemed any too eager to talk about her final days when he and Nursey had talked to her earlier.

After his stomach grumbled, Nursey checked the time, again, and sighed.

“I said I could head back in for them,” Will pointed out. “It’s not an issue-”

“Might be a while, but I’m sure they're on the way,” Shitty assured him. “I think they were looking for an excuse to rent that bike, and a ride’ll take them a minute.”

“Not the tandem!” Lardo shook her head, “I thought we talked them out of that.”

“Yes, the tandem, and you tried to talk them out of it. I, on the other hand, might have offered to pay the fee as long as they took pictures.”

“They'll never make it here in one piece on that thing.”

“Oh, ye of little stature and faith, they are perfectly synced. They'll make it fine.”

“Whatever. Then why did you want pictures, hmmm? A 20 says they'll crash and burn at least once.”

“Hopefully they don’t fall on my sandwich,” Nursey muttered under his breath.

“Because Jack can't be the only one with pictures of these trips, that’s why. So, deal?”

“Deal.” Shitty and Lardo were just shaking on the bet when the sound of tires on the rocks outside was followed by a knock at the door. They all turned to look at Will, who looked blankly back before it clicked -

“Oh. Yeah. My house. My door. Best be getting that.” He rushed to the answer, more to hide his blush than out of a hurry to let the two in.

He opened the door to the double whirlwind that was Ransom and Holster pushing through, arms loaded with bags.

Shitty took one look at them before holding his hand out to Lardo. “All in one piece. Well, two pieces. As expected. Pay up.”

“Not so fast,” she told him, attempting to shove his hand away before turning to them. “How did you manage to carry all of that on a bike?”

“No bike,” Ransom told her.

“It was already rented,” Holster added.

“Ha!” She slapped Shitty’s hand down. “No payday for you.”

“You neither,” he pointed out.

“Hmmm. I still say you owe me ten,” Lardo argued.

“The hell I do,” Shitty scoffed back.

“But if they would have ridden the bike they would have fallen, and you know it.”

“Says you. Wrongly.”

“My. What an excellent defense. I can see why you're the high-powered attorney here.” Lardo pulled a face at him before stating her case, “If they had tried to ride that bike they likely would have fallen. If they tried to ride it while holding all those bags, they for sure would have. I see no possible way that they would have made it here safely, and so I still deserve half the original bet winnings.”

“Incorrect,” Shitty took a final sip of his drink and a deep breath before standing. Full attorney mode. “First, both these fine individuals have a history of athletic excellence in a sport known for quick moves requiring great balance skills, coordination and teamwork,” he counted off each point in his hands. “Second, they've been known to safely carry much more than a few bags of food, over unfamiliar terrain, in the dark-”

“Well, I did fall on Rans that one time we-”

Shitty hushed Holster before continuing, “Shhh - You aren't helping the case.”

“Why are we even on trial?” Ransom asked, confused. “Anyways, I remember that. Kind of. You only almost fell, bro, and we were hella fucked up that night.”

“You,” Shitty pointed to Ransom, “are helping. Thank you. As I had said - teamwork. While, errr, shall we say inebriated? They were able to use teamwork to accomplish their goals. Mostly safely. Sober, and in the clear light of day, making it here safely would have been no problem. Thirdly, if the bet had been that they `likely’ would have fallen off the bike with their arms full, I allow that you might have won. Unfortunately, for you, it wasn’t and so you didn’t. In closing, your point is dismissed for being unprovable. Case closed. The End.” He, smugly, picked his cup back up to drain the drink.

“You can't just close the case yourself-” Lardo argued.

“And yet, I have,” Shitty shrugged.

She growled under her breath, “this isn't over,” Lardo pointed at him before asking Ransom and Holster, “So, no bike? How did you get here?”

Will, who had been watching like the exchange like it was the most interesting show he’d seen in years, and, let’s be real, with television as spotty as it was out there it kind of was, turned to them, curious himself to hear the answer.

Nursey, who had been enjoying watching Will watch the others, said, “Probably an Uber.”

“No Uber round these parts.”

“Fine, Lyft, whatever.”

“Nope, don’t have those either,” Will told him. “We do have a Martha, but there’s no way that’s how they got here.”

“What’s a Martha?” Nursey asked.

“She calls herself a taxi service, but truthfully she’s just a busybody who got herself a fair reliable rig and a business license. Let’s her keep up on who’s new around, see what they're about and then give them a mandatory tour of her favorite places. Takes her forever to get anywhere. Guaranteed it would have taken them at least another hour to get out here with her.”

“An hour!? How is this town even big enough to take that long?”

“Well, if you drop her a ’tip’ she's sure to add your place on the route, yeah? Bunch of shops do every year. That's a lot of side roads and loops. Now me? I throw her some money every season to miss The Light entirely. She would have tried stalling and distracting them as long as possible before heading this way.”

“So, don’t take ’a Martha’, noted for future.” Ransom cut in.

“We didn't need to anyway,” Holster told the group. “Did you know, if you order food for delivery, you can get yourself delivered along with it?”

“That's not a-” Nursey started to argue before looking to Will for confirmation. “Is that a thing?”

“No. Definitely not a thing.”

Holster gestured at the bags and then at himself and Ransom, “I do believe it is.”

Will frowned, confused, “You know what...I don’t even think they do delivery at all. Outside of town, leastways.”

“You’d be amazed how far friendliness and a smile can get you,” Holster said, flashing a near alarming display of teeth.

“Maybe you should try that sometime, Poindexter,” Nursey joked.

“Ha fucking ha,” Will said, flashing a smile that veered more towards frightening than not.

“Hope you tipped well,” Shitty told Holster, ignoring the shoulder shoving across the table.

“Pfft, of course dude.”

“Good, then. Now, important business, where’s my sammie?”

A whine came from the doorway.

“Sorry, I meant my sandwich, not you Sammy,” Shitty turned to tell the dog. She sniffed in their direction, clearly looking for attention in the form of food of her own but not wanting to leave her new rope unattended. “But, yeah, her food, where’s it at? Guys?”

But he’d lost the attention of Ransom and Holster. With a nudge and a head tilt to where Nursey’s ankle was practically hooked around Will’s, Ransom smirked at Holster, who in turn sighed and pulled some money out of his pocket to hand it over.

Nursery watched the exchange before he narrowed his eyes. “And what’s this about?”

“What?”

“The money?”

“That? He owed me for the, umm, dog dishes.”

“Yeah, sure he did.”

“Right, Holtzy?”

“Absolutely, the dishes. We were going halfsies. Because, uh, gift?”

Ransom scrunched his face up before he mouthed ’gift, really?’ back at him, but Holster just gave a small shrug.

Nursey still looked doubtful and Shitty, who had given up waiting and was rooting through the bags for himself, distracted them when he asked “Well, where are they?

“Where are what?” Ransom asked.

“The. Dog. Dishes.” he answered slowly and deliberately.

“Shit. Fuck. Damn. I, uh, forgot them?”

“Uh-huh,” Nursey shook his head. “You forgot to bring the dishes. That you just bought. As a gift. Suuuure.”

“Don’t worry about it. So long as you brought the food, I can find something to put it in.” Will got up and dug through a cupboard by the sink that was little more than a jumble of used butter tubs and came up with two bowls.

One bowl he filled with water and set in front of the dog. The other he handed them to Lardo who filled it with some of the food Shitty had found in the bags, leading to a very happy Sammy, who flopped on top of the rope before digging in with enthusiastic messiness.

“Isn’t that uncomfortable? And look at that-” Nursey pointed out the puddles and food pieces spread all around the dog.

“It’s fine,” Will waved him off.

“What about your precious floor? All I did was drip on it the other night and-”

“Oh, let her be. Unlike people, she can’t help it if she makes a silly little mess.” Will ruffled the fur on top of her head. “Besides, she’s a good girl, aren't you Sammy,” Sammy wiggled at the good girl comment and went back to happily working to empty her bowl. Dog mess was fine, Will told himself, nothing he couldn’t clean up later. He wondered if maybe he should consider a dog of his own. The company might be nice. He shrugged off the thought for later and went to wash his hands before grabbing a stack of plates to take to the table.

All business of bets and money exchanges temporarily forgotten, the gang worked as one to pass around the lunches.

A giant sub was split between Lardo and Shitty. She flicked an olive that had stayed to her half at him, which he easily caught with his mouth before flicking a pepper back towards her. When he went to grab a drink, she swiped another pepper and one of his tomato slices too. Ransom passed her his pickle spears, and she gave him half her lettuce. Holster split his bag of BBQ chips and the salt and vinegar ones in front of Ransom between them 50-50. Okay, maybe 60-40. But neither complained. Instead of being split up, a large bag of fries was just torn open and left for each to pick from as they wanted. Ketchup squeezed out onto one of the wrappers that had previously held a wrap. All the exchanges spoke to the habits of friends who’d shared a meal many times over. Will eyed the onions that Nursey picked off his sandwich, wanting them. Even though no one else had made a move for them, he wasn’t quite brave enough to push his way into their rituals. No matter, because as soon as the look was noticed, he found them deposited on the side of his own plate. Happily piling them on his own sandwich he spared a slice of bacon back, but just one. He wasn’t that generous.

Will had originally thought they had brought back too much food not realizing some of the others had gone, but the reason for the pile of random extra sandwiches dropped in the middle of the table became clear as each was picked apart and passed around until everyone was full.

As the last scraps of their meal were being cleared away Ransom spoke up, “So, I got in touch with that realtor,” he told them. “The property is up for sale. Technically. Has been for a while.”

“What do you mean, technically? Then why isn't it listed anywhere? Being shown?” Will asked.

“Well, that's the thing. Apparently, they tried? But the seller wasn’t very motivated and only interest at the price was for a package deal.”

“A package-” Will paused and frowned. “Wait. What was the realtor’s name again?”

When Ransom told him, Will’s face clouded over and a hint of rage built up at the set of his jaw.

“So, I take it you do know him. He said you'd, hmmm, spoken? Before.” Ransom filled in the others, “There’d been a big deal in the works with a developer, but they wanted this whole area or no deal.”

“Yeah. Those assholes. Not likely to forget them. Wanted to turn this place into some ridiculous restaurant.”

“Waterfront restaurants can be nice,” Holster tried to play devil’s advocate, “a good draw for the area.”

Will was having none of it. “My grandfather and father both would roll over in their graves if they knew I sold this place. After all the work they put in on the updates? Especially to some stiff from away. All so someone could open a restaurant we probably wouldn't even be able to afford to eat in? No way. No how. I think not.”

Shitty agreed, “I get it, yeah. People like that’ll suck the soul out of a place to make a buck. Fuck ’em.”

They’d only met recently, and it was hard for Will to tell if Shitty was motivated to agree with him in an attempt to stay on his good side, because he actually did agree or just because he couldn't resist joining in on a potential argument. In any case, fueled by the agreement, Will’s knew he was headed into full ’soapbox mode’ but couldn't help himself. “It’s the developers ruining towns like this all up and down the coast,” his voice rose and his arms flailed as he got more worked up. “For years we’ve helped our own. Didn't need anything from anyone other than basic neighborliness. Share and share alike, and everyone makes it just fine. Then some upstart comes in with his fancy ideas and a pile of money and, and, we’re supposed to sell up and then what? Go where? Do what-”

Holster, who seemed to have finally realized what can of worms he opened up, tried to back it up, “I didn't mean- not your place. Just, like, in general? Attractions, well, attract. But you're here, using the place. There's open land out there and they shouldn’t-”

Will steamrolled on, “-always say they want the authentic experience getaway but that’s not what they're really after. What they really mean is some bland cookie cutter experience that’ll get copied at every seaside town. So they can do the same things and share the same photos as everyone else. Nothing is genuine anymore. Where’s the originality of that? If they have their way every place will be the same as the next. Whatever happened to-”

Ransom held up a hand before interrupting, “Dex is right about that. It does seem to be what they were after here.”

Will grumbled out an “Obviously” but other than that let the other man continue speaking.

“This particular buyer wanted everything from the lane out to the water. All the lots. They’d had plans to turn this place into a restaurant, private outdoor seating at the top. The couple houses as you’re coming out this way redone and connected by a huge kitchen in the middle to make a big bed and breakfast or inn type situation. And then uh,” Ransom paused, “well, your friend's house? That was going to be turned into a gift shop. Upscale souvenirs they told him. But, without adding the rest, there wouldn't have been the traffic to support a shop. So - all or nothing.”

“There was, and is, no way I'm selling up and moving out,” Will shoved himself back from the table angrily.

“Hey, I’m not saying you should,” Ransom held up his hands. “Just passing on what he said. Pretty sure he knows that now.”

“Why do ya say that? I mean, good, but why?”

“He described you as - now keep in mind this is coming from him, and not me. I think you're great, and so don’t-”

“Spit it out.”

“he-called-you-the-lighthouse-lunatic,” came the quickly murmured answer.

“He what?!” Will yelled.

“Come on man, don't make me say it again,” Ransom said with a wince.

“He called me - Well that's - that’s rude is what it is. Imagine invading a man’s home, after he’s - then you're going to call him names? Rude. Even more glad I didn't sell. Lunatic,” Will huffed.

“I wouldn't call you a lunatic,” Holster said, as the others added their agreement. “You do get...excited, but no.”

“At the risk of getting you all, you know,” Nursey gestured vaguely at Will before scooting himself back to a safe distance and continuing, “I’m just saying, coming from a person you tried to forcibly eject days ago, is it completely inaccurate?”

“Yes!”

“Is it though?”

“I will throw you back into the ocean with my bare hands. Right now. Let’s go.”

Nursey offered back a weak smile to show he was kidding, mostly, and the rest started to throw out other words in Will’s defense.

“Not lunatic.”

“No, of course not.”

“Excitable?”

“Touchy, edgy?”

“Nah, opinionated?”

“And, fiercely determined”

“Oh, good one.”

“And hermit like?”

“That’s territorial.”

A woman’s voice from the other side of the room said, “he’s enthusiastically defensive.”

Nursey snaps his fingers. “Exactly!”

“Enthusiastically defensive,” Will repeated before turning and nodding in the direction of Lou, who had appeared over by the sink. “I can accept that.”

She smiled before disappearing again.

“Okay, so, big picture-” Nursey tried to take control of the conversation, “it boils down to, without Dexy’s place here, the whole deal was off the table.”

“And other than that offer there wasn't any real interest,” Holster, who had listened in on Ransom’s call with the realtor, finished. “With no package deal, and the other house owners not willing to take the low offers coming in, he decided it wasn't worth coming all this way to show it to people who are never going to buy anyway. Without the potential sellers pushing him, he stopped promoting it. He’d almost forgotten about the listing himself because no one has ever checked up with him in the last few years. Said it was like the owners themselves had even forgotten about it.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, what he said, zombie property. But now back to THAT.” Ransom frantically waved his arms. “What the? Who the? Tell me you all heard that.”

“Uhhh well-” Will stalled.

Ransom looked around at the rest of them, who were visibly trying not to react.

“Is no one going to mention the fucking ghost in the room?!” He shrieked. In a manly way. If you asked him, he would have called it a shout. A very high-pitched shout. That he made while pushing himself as close into the corner, behind the table, as he could.

“Oh, that’s - Lou?”

“Yes, Derek?” she answered from over his shoulder.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to call you, I was just telling him - but since you’re here-”

“Your friends seem a little troubled.”

Will snorted.

Most of them were only staring, quiet, and more than a bit shocked, but remarkable not freaking out. At least not externally. But Ransom - well, his face was doing its best fish impression and - try as he might - he couldn't manage to force another word out.

Holster tried to help by giving him a slap on the back and he managed to eke out the words `girl’ and `ghost’ before slipping under the table.

“Is he...okay?” she asked.

“Eh-” Lardo said, tilting her hand side to side.

“Not really.” Holster reached under the table and gave a supportive shoulder squeeze.

“Hi,” was all Shitty got out.

“Maybe I should go,” Lou said, slowly fading.

“Hi?” Shitty asked.

Will thought it was weird to see her fading, when he’d already found himself getting used to her quickly blipping in and out. Then he realized how weird it was he found himself getting used to anything at all to do with this situation.

“No, come back!” they all yelled. Well, all minus Ransom. He whimpered unintelligibly from his hiding place.

Lou faded back in, “are you sure?”

“Hi.” Shitty repeated, prompting a choked back laugh from Lardo.

“I think he means yes,” Will told her. “Stay a while.”

#fictober20 #omgcp #nurseydex #spookydoo au #near year same bullshit #i swear i will finish this one day #I've been adding a few hundred words here and there for ages #and this seemed like the perfect time to update it #even if I wish I had gotten a little further in the writing... ah well #little writer who could etc etc etc #does tumblr still hate links?#or just me?#because this time my header pic kept me from showing up #ah well deleted that now too

15 notes · View notes

ripley95 · 4 years

Text

Echoes of Old Embers

Chapter 11

Pairing: F!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko

Rating: T

Chapter length: 3.3K

Story Synopsis:

After surviving the war, one of Shepard’s biggest regrets was rejecting Kaidan at Apollo’s. Fate has a way of bringing Jane and Kaidan back into each other’s lives. A misunderstanding with his family makes Kaidan and Shepard relive old history and question where they stand.

Link to Chapter 1 on AO3

Chapter Synopsis:

The day of Libby’s wedding has finally arrived. The misunderstandings about her supposed relationship with Kaidan is really getting to her. She questions if they’re starting to get to Kaidan too.

Read to Chapter 11 on AO3

Tumblr Links:

Read the chapter here below the cut:

The morning of the wedding was finally here. Luckily, Shepard had a much more restful sleep than the previous night. She made matters so much worse in pretty much every way that she could, that she had almost expected to have another sleepless night being tormented by the memories of it. She figured the exhaustion from not getting any sleep the night before probably helped on that front at least, and she was grateful for it now. It would be a long day going through all of the celebration, and she didn’t particularly want to feel like she needed a nap in the middle of it all.

She didn’t have much of a chance to see Kaidan since their breakfast the previous day. Both of them were busy with their individual tasks to help prepare everything. Kaidan had mowed the lawn and cleaned up the most visible part of the orchard. When he had finished with that, Ada got him to hang lights along the treeline and in the barn where the reception would be. Meanwhile, Ada had kept Shepard busy preparing more food for the events today. Part of which, she was glad to have Matt’s help with so she could apologise for pulling one over on him. It was a pleasant day, but busy. They barely had enough time to eat dinner before crashing to bed. At least it made their night routine a little less awkward, both exhausted enough to fall asleep almost immediately.

They already had a quick breakfast with the entire family this morning. Libby shared the news that Derek landed safely at his friend’s house the previous night. He was opting to uphold the tradition of not seeing each other on the day of the wedding. Everyone had rushed through their breakfasts to help with last-minute tasks. Everything had come together nicely and it was finally that time in the day that everyone was meant to be getting dressed up and ready.

Shepard was generally the type to go without makeup or stick to the basics in her everyday life, but as per Maisie and Raiya’s advice, today she was going all out. She borrowed a nice dress from Raiya. Luckily they were the same size, because she foolishly realised that she hadn’t brought anything to wear. Not that it would have mattered if she had remembered, since everything she owned was Alliance or N7 provision. Nothing tasteful for a wedding other than a dress that advertised her N7 status, which wouldn’t have been helpful with her trying to blend in. So, she was grateful that one of Kaidan’s sisters was the same size as her and that Raiya was willing to let her borrow something. Ada had let her borrow a necklace and some earrings that went well with the dress. She also put on the most tasteful makeup that she knew how to do. As she was putting on the final touches, she realised that she was pretty pleased with the outcome. She really didn’t look like herself. At least not to her. It was a rather uncharacteristic look on her to be so dressed up, but she figured it served its purpose well. She didn’t think anyone would recognize her like this. Not easily anyway, which was precisely what she wanted.

This whole time, she was getting ready in Kaidan’s bathroom. She was thankful for it, not having to worry about intruding on his sisters using all of the other ones to prepare, but it meant that Kaidan was also getting ready just beyond the door. She could picture him putting on a nice suit and tying up a tie. She had never seen him in formal attire other than his blues and she already knew how nicely he filled those out. It made her wish she could be the one tying his tie. She wished they were both giving their opinions on clothes as they picked them out together as they got ready in the same room.

She huffed out a sigh of frustration. This trip was getting to her. She gave herself one last look in the mirror, pleased with how she looked, before walking to the door. She hesitated to open it, scared to potentially be walking in on Kaidan in the middle of getting dressed. She knocked lightly to make sure it was okay. It felt strange doing so. You don’t typically knock from the inside of a bathroom. Still, she’d rather do that than cause even more awkward situations between the two of them.

“It’s okay, you can come out, Jane,” she heard him say from the other side.

She walked out cautiously nonetheless, and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, already waiting for her for some time by the look of it. He stood up to greet her in a very gentleman-like manner and eyed her from head to toe, tastefully. It felt like he was doing it more out of curiosity and wonder at how different she looked, rather than revelling in her new appearance. She couldn’t help herself from doing the same, admiring how nice he looked in a suit. His blues made him look so distinguished, but his suit had the added nicety of this being casual. Like they were just enjoying their lives like ordinary people. Wishful thinking.

She lost focus with her eyes on his lapels, imagining that if things were different, she would have gone over there and grabbed him by them and gently pulled him into a soft kiss. She would have straightened out his tie, just for a chance to be closer to him for even a moment, because he’s done a perfect job of it all by himself. They would have smiled at each other, looking forward to a day full of celebration. She supposed there was no reason she couldn’t still do that last one. The thought of it finally let her notice that she was staring, lost in thought at what could have been, so she did just that and smiled at him.

“You clean up nicely,” she said.

He let out a chuckle. “You’re not so bad, yourself,” he said with a sincere smile.

“Thanks,” she muttered, with a forced smile. She was never good at accepting compliments. “So, did you get a chance to talk to Libby yesterday?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “You were right. She wasn’t mad, but I think she appreciated me apologising all the same. It was a good heart-to-heart, and I think it helped her feel better. It was good for us.”

“Sounds like it,” Shepard said with a genuine smile.

“She uh… She even asked me to walk her down the aisle. Well, me and mom. I wasn’t really expecting that. I love her, but we weren’t the closest, growing up. I wasn’t even sure she wanted anyone to do it. She said she had been questioning it for a long time, but she hadn’t even gotten the chance to ask dad. She didn’t want to be thinking about missed opportunities and lost chances the whole time she’s actually walking down the aisle. It meant a lot to me that she asked.”

Shepard offered a solemn smile, knowing that as lovely as that was, it was at the expense of Kaidan taking his father’s place. She was glad that he’d get to be doing that for her and that they had each other while trying to navigate this new life without him. She figured this must be very bittersweet for him, remembering their conversation the previous. This was just more of that void that Kaidan was now filling for the rest of his family, taking the place of someone else. Of course Kaidan would love having an offer like that and would do anything to make his sister feel loved on her wedding day, but she imagined this must have hurt him a bit too.

“That’s really sweet, Kaidan. How do you feel about it?”

“Uh, better than I thought I would, actually.” He said it with a kind of hesitance, knowing that those words meant he was finally addressing his grief which was a big step, but also with a genuine and soft smile. “I don’t know that I could have said that if you hadn’t been here,” he admitted quietly.

“Then I’m glad I came,” she said, matching his smile.

Kaidan nodded at that appreciatively. “But anyway, I think things will be getting under way soon. We should probably go down. I think Derek’s here now, so I can introduce you. He’s probably been waiting to meet you. We can mingle a bit before the ceremony starts and then I can show you where you can sit since I’ll have to come back here and wait with Libby.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Shepard said.

Kaidan nodded, prompting them to leave the room and make their way out to the orchard where guests had already started gathering. In lieu of a band, they had a drone at the back of the seating area playing soft music that reminded her of Glyph. A beautiful arch was set up right in front of the trees in the orchard, and the mountains were visible beyond them, creating a spectacular view for the guests. It was a lovely setup. Once again, Shepard marvelled at how perfect it all was. A fantastic view with sentimental meaning. She couldn’t think of a better place for them to be declaring their love for each other.

As they made their way through the crowd, a few people stopped Kaidan here and there. All of them said some variation of “Finally brought someone home, eh?” Or “There’s going to be a lot of disappointed people out on the dancefloor this evening.” It did nothing to quell her feelings of regret about the confusion. If she didn’t know any better, Kaidan even seemed a little phased by it. She knew he wasn’t about to be challenging anyone on their misconceptions today, though. He didn’t want to add drama or make today about him, so he just smiled and nodded before moving on to other people, but she couldn’t help but notice a solemness about him now that wasn’t there before.

Finally, they got up closer to the seating area and a man in a tuxedo excitedly came up to them.

“Hey, Derek,” Kaidan said, shaking the man’s hand. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Oh, hey, same to you,” he said enthusiastically, pulling Kaidan in for a hug.

As Kaidan and Derek relinquished their hold, Shepard gave Derek a smile, happy to finally meet the man of the hour.

“Hi, Derek. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Shepard said, offering her hand to shake with a genuine smile.

Derek had already given her a quick examination as he was walking over, but he seemed to be a bit starstruck as she spoke to him. He was staring at her wide-eyed, and mouth slightly agape.

“Pleasure to finally meet me? Are you kidding? Pleasure to meet you, Commander,” he said, giving a salute, prompting Shepard to take her hand back, and look around the crowd. Luckily no one really seemed to notice or think much of it.

“Hey, you might want to keep your voice down there, Derek. We’re kind of trying to keep her identity under wraps so there isn’t pandemonium during your wedding,” Kaidan said.

“Right, right,” he muttered out, and ended the salute without a return from Shepard. “Libby warned me and everything. I don’t know what came over me. I mean, Commander Shepard,” he said her name and title in a whisper this time, “here. At my wedding. I can just hardly believe it, you know? You were on the recruitment posters when I finally ended up joining the Alliance. We heard about you all the time throughout the war. About everything you were doing for us.”

Shepard smiled at that, already well aware of the effects she had on people, not really blaming Derek for his reaction. “You know Kaidan was there, too. It’s not like I worked alone.”

“Oh yeah, of course. I guess I just think of Kaidan as family already, so it’s not quite as shocking. Sorry if I’m coming off too strong or anything, it’s just that you’re a bit larger than life. It’s hard to imagine that you’re really here.”

“It’s okay, I get it,” she said, compassionately enough, understanding that he was thrown for a loop and probably already nervous for the day’s events. “But hey, seriously, feel free to call me Jane from now on unless I end up seeing you in some kind of official capacity at work. While we’re here, though, don’t think of me as a superior officer or anything.”

“Right, yeah,” he said nodding, almost apologetically. “Well, it’s nice to get to know the real you,” he said, extending his hand for a slightly more personal greeting after finally calming down.

“You too,” she said with a smile, accepting his hand to shake it. “And congratulations, Derek.”

“Thanks. That really means a lot to me,” he said with a smile. “And hey! Maybe I’ll be getting to call you family soon too, eh?” he said, elbowing Kaidan with a devilish grin. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

It seems as though Libby probably bought into the misunderstanding now too, if Derek’s reaction was anything to go by. Perfect. They both just smiled at him without saying anything on the matter.

“But anyway, the ceremony should start soon, and there are other people I want to greet before that. I’m so glad you could both make it,” he said, genuinely beaming as he left to go talk to other people.

Kaidan smirked and let out a ‘hrmph,’ which made Shepard look at him. “He’s a great guy, but a little overexcitable.”

Shepard nodded kindly, not judging him for it. “Nothing wrong with a little enthusiasm,” she said with a faint curve to her lips. “Not a quality that a lot of soldiers have anymore. I’m glad that’s not something that was taken away from him throughout the war. I hope he never loses it.”

Kaidan nodded, understanding the sentiment well. “Yeah, me too. He’s a good guy. He really loves Libby. I think he’s good for her too. She’s too serious.”

“Too serious?” Shepard said coyly, with an entertained smile, noticing a general similarity between most of the Alenkos. Maisie was perhaps the only exception she could see so far.

Kaidan looked at her and let out a chuckle. “Yeah, yeah. I know I can be serious too, but we’re not talking about me here,” he said with a smile. “I think he lightens her up a bit, and I think that’s exactly what she needs. Not that I’m criticising her now or anything, it’s just that I think Derek provides something for her that she’s been missing all her life. The way they look when they’re together,” Kaidan said, shaking his head fondly. “I’ve never seen her so happy. Like all of her burdens have been lifted off of her shoulders or something.”

Shepard looked somewhat dejectedly towards the ground, knowing precisely the feeling that he was referring to, because there was a time that Kaidan had provided exactly that for her. Not even just on the SR-1 when they were actually together, but also during the Reaper War, too. Even though they weren’t together then, he still provided that for her. He was good at making her feel less alone, having someone else to confide in who understood the things she was dealing with. It was one of the things she really missed about just being around him.

“Yeah,” she huffed out. “It’s not easy to find something like that,” she said quietly.

“No. It’s not,” he said. Shepard couldn’t help but hear a hint of sadness behind his words. She didn’t have it in her to look at him for any kind of confirmation.

Before they knew it, Derek came bouncing back through the crowd and tapped Kaidan on the shoulder. “All right, it’s almost showtime!” he said, with one of the widest grins Shepard had ever seen.

“You ready for this?” Kaidan asked.

“I can’t wait,” he said genuinely. His joy was palpable, bringing Kaidan in for another hug.

“Welcome to the family, Derek.”

“Well, she hasn’t said yes yet,” Derek said, releasing them both from the hug, still with a massive grin on his face.

“She will,” Kaidan said with a smile.

“I know. Thanks, man,” he said before he walked down the aisle with his parents who gave him their own hug before taking his place by the altar.

The officiant announced everyone to take their seats as the ceremony was about to begin.

“I guess that’s my cue to go back to the house for Libby. You can take any seat in the front row,” he said, pointing to Libby’s side of the seating arrangements.

“Okay,” she said with a nod. “See you in a minute, then.”

He nodded at her and turned to walk back to the house. Shepard stood there awkwardly, not entirely sure what she was feeling. She didn’t like the sight of him walking away. She knew she was being dramatic. All he was doing was going to get Libby, but the more time went on, she realised the closer she was getting to actually saying goodbye to him. Maybe it wasn’t the worst thing. It’s practically what she kept telling herself she wanted after all. But it hurt. The reality of him potentially not being in her life anymore was starting to sink in, and she didn’t like the feeling. Not wanting to be awkward about standing in the aisle, she finally turned to take a seat, making sure to leave space for Kaidan and his mother.

After everyone settled, the drone began playing the wedding march. The bridesmaids and groomsmen started coming out. First, she noticed a couple of Libby’s friends that she hadn’t had the chance to meet, followed by Maisie and Raiya. Shepard offered each of them a smile, happy to be able to watch the celebration, even with her own sad and confused feelings muddying how she felt on the inside.

Immediately after that, Libby started walking down the aisle, Ada on one side of her and Kaidan on the other, looking incredibly proud and happy. Kaidan and Ada both gave her a hug before they came to sit down next to Shepard.

Jane and Kaidan shared a glance and a smile with each other before they turned towards the ceremony.

It went by in a blur. Libby and Derek said their vows and made their commitment to each other, and Shepard was sad once again. Marriage had never necessarily been important to her, but the one person who had ever gotten her wondering whether she might be up in a place like that someday was Kaidan. The man sitting right beside her, yet somehow never felt more beyond her grasp, knowing she would be saying goodbye to him soon enough.

As they finished off with a kiss and were declared husband and wife, walking back down the aisle, it all felt very bittersweet to Shepard. She smiled and clapped, but it was all a farce.

Everything surrounding Kaidan was making it difficult for her to be in the moment and be happy for Libby. She couldn’t imagine Kaidan not being a part of her life in some capacity, but it was becoming too painful to contemplate going on like this anymore. Everything here just served as a reminder to what she couldn’t have.

There would be alcohol at the party. Maybe that would make her feel better. And if not, ‘it would all be over soon.’

#f!Shenko #f!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko #f!Shepard #kaidan alenko #Mass Effect #fanfiction #mass effect fanfiction #mini slow burn #friends to lovers #angst #my writing #my fic on tumblr

16 notes · View notes

neo-shitty · 3 years

Text

if you’re not interested in reading a long-ass post, here’s a summary of everything you need to know about me aka my carrd.

✧･ﾟ: * ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴍᴇ *:･ﾟ✧

hi, my name’s toffee!

it’s not my real name, but it’s the one i go by on all of my social media accounts related to k-pop. it’s from a NCT fan fic on wattpad named dating hotline and i loved it so much that i stole MC’s nickname (kidding, i messaged the author on twt and she let me use it #flex)

since most of you judge people by their signs, i’m a taurus sun, scorpio moon and libra rising. i’m not sure if i phrased that right but i hope you get something out of that information because i read my natal chart thingy and most (but not all, of course) were accurate.

i’m 18, i talk with mostly no restraint on my blog. i express rage in the form of cussing whether necessary or not so if you’re uncomfortable with that, please do let me know. or don’t follow me at all.

oh, before i forget, @toffeerecs is my library/recommendations blog.

and my networks are: kpopscape, kwritersworld, stayhavens, k-diner, ateez inc., neo-the-stars, stayracha, angstyskz club, and neowritingsnet

✧･ﾟ: * ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴍʏ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ *:･ﾟ✧

this blog was originally my personal blog until i got back into kpop in 2020 and discovered the writing communities for kpop fandoms here. i know, there are fic-specific sites like wattpad and ao3 but i liked the tumblr fics more because of the mood boards and aesthetics.

so i revamped this and started writing my own fics. first for ateez, then for stray kids and then nct. i’m still debating whether i’d continue writing for ateez or not since i’m growing quite distant from them.

to get this out of the way, i do not take requests. although i would love to, i’ve discovered—in the past few months that i’ve run this blog—that it doesn’t work for me. though i think most people who make requests are nice, i put a lot of unnecessary pressure on myself when it comes to writing for others.

i always think that only the best fics deserve to be up on this blog, which is also why most of my fics are stuck in my google docs. my own standards for my own fics are already high and i don’t need other people to add on to it. i hope you understand.

next, angst comes naturally to me while fluff comes in the form of daydreams and scenarios that would never happen to me in real life. i fancy writing other-worldly things and those that are out of what i consider ordinary. thriller books > thriller movies.

lastly, here’s a link to my masterlist.

✧･ﾟ: * ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀᴄᴛɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ *:･ﾟ✧

to be honest, trying to contact me here is hopeless. mainly because i’m barely on the app since it crashes a lot and i usually open it just to drop a fic and go. though i pop up every now and then to answer to dms and organize it and scroll a bit before it eventually crashes again.

i want to try that thing with the asks though and i would love anons too. but i barely get any asks which is alright to me too. i think you have better chances of getting answered if you send an ask rather than a dm. so you do that if you wanna chat.

i’m fairly good at conversing. the only problem is i take my sweet ass time to respond. i get anxious when i get notifications and i only reply when i have enough energy to talk and share (like today, which i utilized so i could at least organize this blog).

please don’t mistake my taking a while to reply as me ignoring you. i like to converse when i’m i have enough headspace to keep a conversation going. though that doesn’t happen often, though (and i think that’s the problem).

all i’m saying is out of all the social media platforms, you have the least chances to contact me here. but i’m on these other ones where i’m a lot more active:

instagram : neoshiitty twitter : neoshiitty

or you could send me a dm and ask for my discord if you really want to chat but i’m not even sure if you read this far.

#toffee.about-me #toffee.navigation #blog under construction :3

3 notes · View notes

w-k-smith · 4 years

Photo

Once again, tumblr has hidden the version of this post that has links. (Clearly, weird fan fic where ghosts eat candy bars is just *too radical* for this website.) This story is also available on AO3, under the username w_k_smith.

Chapter Two is here of “Don’t Go to the Netherworld!”

In this chapter, Beetlejuice and Lydia make their way through Saturn, but are waylaid by Zagnuts, a boy band, and all the obstacles the desert otherworld has to offer.

Chapter One: “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife” (6/19/20) Chapter Two: “Worm Welcome” (07/03/20) Chapter Three: “Ghost to Ghost” (upcoming) Chapter Four: “To Beetle or not to Beetle?” (upcoming)

Warning: This story contains depictions of, references to, and discussion of topics like suicide, untimely death, abuse, and body horror - you know, like the musical does (though this probably has more). Know your boundaries, and stay safe.

New chapter under keep reading!

“I don’t understand,” Lydia said, as they crossed from the midnight of the administrative area, toward the hot afternoon of Saturn, through the twilight in between. “What’s Saturn? Are we going to the planet…somehow?”

“Nope. Totally unrelated, and don’t ask me who named it. Saturn is the part of the Netherworld that acts as a trap for ghosts who get out of line, like if you try to leave the house you’re haunting, or jump the line in processing like someone I could mention. Going through processing would only take a couple steps, but Saturn is an anti-shortcut from the feverish nightmares of M.C. Escher. It’s a giant desert, and it’s full of sandworms. Those are snake monsters that eat ghosts. Foreshadowing?” he muttered to himself.

“This is so weird,” Lydia muttered. “I love it.”

She didn’t seem like she was being sarcastic. Maybe hanging around her wasn’t going to be too terrible.

Unfortunately, he saw trouble ahead.

“Keep your head down,” he whispered to Lydia. “Look dead. Deader than that. And don’t sneeze! Dead people never sneeze!”

“What?”

“Hello, Beetlejuice,” said five tenor voices in unison. A cluster of expressionless young white men was drifting through the shadows toward him and Lydia. The boys had died in their late teens and very early twenties, long enough ago that two of them sported frosted tips. They were dressed just differently enough to be distinguishable from one another, in dated pants and t-shirts with no personality.

“Hey, Boy Inferno,” he grunted.

“What are you doing out here?” they asked. They all floated six inches off the ground, in a formation reminiscent of migrating ducks.

He rolled his eyes. “Just running an errand for Juno. Miss Argentina find that living intruder yet?”

“Not that we’ve heard. Who’s your friend?”

“New hire. Juno wants her on border patrol. Her name’s Lydia, and she’s boring. Kids these days, you know, they think eyeliner and TikTok counts as personality. But them’s the rules: if you add to the work, you have to help out.”

“Do you want to hear the introduction song, Lydia?”

Geez, they didn’t back off easy. “Save that for people who’ve committed genocide or worse.”

“We were talking to Lydia.”

At his elbow, Lydia scratched the end of her nose. Boy Inferno caught the gesture, and as one, cocked their heads.

“What did you die of…?” they asked her.

“Um, I don’t want to talk about it,” Lydia said, which was the wrong thing. All newlydeads ever wanted to do was blather on about how they’d bitten it.

“OK, you got me!” He stepped between Lydia and the boys. “This isn’t an approved mission to Saturn. We were actually trying to, ah, hide out from Juno for a while. She is in a mood today, I tell ya. Just impossible. She wants me to take a statement from all the recently deceased who were in line when the alarm went off, and then pinch each of them really, really hard to see if they still have nerve endings. I’d rather swallow my own toenails. Remember that time Juno made me swallow my own toenails? You were there for that, weren’t you? So be a hive-minded pal and help me stay on the DL. This one already threatened to tattle if I didn’t show her my good hiding spot.” He jerked his head at Lydia.

Boy Inferno blinked.

“Alright, then,” they said, and each voice sounded suspicious. But they drifted back toward the administrative area.

Lydia stared as they went. “Who are those guys?”

“Boy Inferno is a dead boy band. They didn’t have enough brains or personality to be individuals when they were a living boy band, and when their tour bus crashed, the situation got worse.”

“Yikes. And speaking of yikes, what were you saying about sandworms? Are they going to eat us?”

He waggled one hand back and forth, and started walking. “Eh. It’s probably OK. You’re alive, so they’ll leave you alone. I’m half-ghost, half-demon, which confuses them more than anything. We’ll be fine if we don’t run into a sandworm that’s pissed off or starving.” They were crossing into Saturn proper. The terrain changed from dark gravel to rolling sand dunes dotted with twisted rock formations. Wooden doors hovered here and there, from three feet off the ground to 20 stories high. There was the light and warmth of a yellow sun, but if you turned in every direction, you would never see a sun or any other stars in the royal blue sky.

“Huh. Now I kind of want to meet a sandworm...” Lydia said, looking around like one was going to pop out from behind a dune.

“Yup. That’s definitely foreshadowing.”

“So…what’s it like? Being half-demon? How does that, um, happen?”

He waved his hands to turn them into sock puppets – one red and bearing a vague resemblance to Juno, the other a grey blob and as good a representation as he’d ever had of his father. “Hello, children!” he said in a screechy voice. “Let’s talk about the occult birds and bees. When a demon woman tolerates a living human male very much…”

She shoved him. “I know that, gross! I’m ace, but not completely ignorant. I just wondered if you were ever alive.”

He put his hands back to normal. “Uh-huh. I was alive. Looooong time ago, though. Long enough that we didn’t pay much attention to what year it was, and only bathed twice a lifetime, and drank beer instead of water. Hm. Or maybe that was all just me. Anyway, Juno only had me to see what would happen if you mixed demon magic with ghost abilities. Turns out, you get yours truly. She hated the result, and I never got any little siblings to chase around. But it’s fine with the just the two of us; my mom has this sweet thing she says to me every day: ‘I wish you had never been born.’ I think it’s a Swedish pet name.”

“How did you die?” Lydia asked.

“I asked a bunch of annoying questions that weren’t any of my business and someone stabbed me.”

“Ha ha,” she deadpanned. “How far is it, anyway?” she asked, shading her eyes. “I don’t see anything…”

“Distance doesn’t really work like that here, and we could move way, way faster if we were both dead. But it’s pretty damn far.”

She sighed.

He had to give Lydia Deetz this: she was a trooper. She was wearing a dress, and boots that were very much not made for walking, but she kept moving, eyes forward, not a single complaint. When her stomach growled like an angry guard dog, she held her head high and acted like she didn’t notice.

“OK, time for a break!” he said.

“No!” she said. “We have to keep going.”

“If you keep going like this, you’re going to collapse, and then you’ll die, and a sandworm will eat you, and that’s my whole day gone. Sit down.”

“I don’t need to.”

She was going to give him grey hairs, she really was. He shook one hand like he was shooing a fly, and she stumbled backwards until she sat on the closest rock.

Lydia’s eyes bugged. “What am I – what are you –?”

“You’ve never been possessed before?”

She stood back up. He waved his hand again, and she sat.

“No, keep it up,” he said. “This is fun.”

He flicked his fingers, and her expression brightened.

“Beetlejuice, you’re my role model!” she said, in a tone much more chipper than any that had ever come out of her mouth, he was sure. He released her.

Lydia’s face soured like old milk mixed with lemon juice, and she made the fingers-down-the-throat gesture. “I’ll sit for five minutes. Don’t do that again.”

“I always knew I’d make a great babysitter!” He settled on the other side of the rock. He folded his hands over his stomach, figuring he’d take a nap if she stayed quiet.

She didn’t. “My mom would love all this,” Lydia said. “Her favorite holiday was Halloween. We’d make our own haunted houses in the garage – but in the summer, when no one in the neighborhood was expecting it. She liked the weird stuff in the world. Or – she likes the weird stuff in the world. She doesn’t just avoid it, like most people do. Like my dad does. I think she’ll like you, even.”

He wanted to make a face at the idea of a well-adjusted person liking him (though it was a nice feeling, deep in his black heart), but Lydia couldn’t see him, so it would be wasted effort.

She was quiet for a while, and he thought he was free to drift off to sleep.

“Um…do you have any food?” she asked.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a handful of Zagnuts. He tossed the kid two. “Here ya go.”

“Why so many Zagnuts?” Lydia asked. “They’re good, but I didn’t think people ate these anymore.”

“It’s the only candy in the vending machines in the Netherworld.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because everything around here is at a baseline of low-grade crappiness. Haven’t you noticed?”

“Are you really supposed to spend eternity here when you die?” she asked, in a muffled way that told him she’d bitten off half a candy bar at once. “It seems like it should either be a whole lot better or a whole lot worse.”

“You aren’t supposed to spend eternity here; that’s the point,” he said. He popped a Zagnut into his mouth, and swallowed it wrapper and all. “You have to move on, eventually.”

“To what?”

“Do I look like a priest? Or a philosopher? Or a TV psychic?”

“The last one, a little. A bad one. The kind who gets tricked by reporters to help contact their dead kid, but it turns out the kid is really alive and just in the next booth over in the Denny’s.”

“Touché. The point is, nobody around here knows. You hang around the administrative area until you’re ready to go into the miserable nothingness of the Abyss, and then you swirl around in the Abyss until…I dunno, something else happens. Maybe you just stay in the Abyss forever. I don’t plan on finding out anytime soon.”

“Is that where my mom is?”

“Yup. If she didn’t come running when you first came through the door, she’s definitely gone through security. Don’t worry, though. You poke your head into the Abyss and shout her name a few times, and she’ll come right out.”

He lied easily. He always had.

“I’m just surprised she hasn’t tried to contact us,” Lydia said. “I guess she must be confused, because we moved and everything. My dad dragged me out to Connecticut, away from New York and all our friends and family, to work on this stupid gated community project he has in mind. And he took my annoying life coach with us. She’s friendly and positive, and keeps trying to make me fill out a star chart. I don’t know why he thinks she’s helping me. It’s not like there aren’t actual therapists in Connecticut. I don’t get it.”

He chewed another Zagnut for a beat, waiting to see if she was making a joke. Then he broke the news. “Your dad is boinking the life coach.”

“What?!” she said. She whirled around the rock to sit right next to him. “How can you know that?”

“Um, because I’m an adult with a brain.” He grabbed the top of his head and lifted his skull to show his grey matter.

“He isn’t…Dad’s not…” She slumped. “He’s totally sleeping with her.”

“Totally,” he agreed.

“How could he do that? Mom’s only been dead a few months. Well…when he sees Mom – if he just talks to her again – he’ll understand what an ass he’s been.”

“Uh-huh,” he said, non-committedly.

“How much farther do we have?” she asked.

“Long enough to aaaaaaalmost make you give up and collapse in despair.”

She groaned.

For a second, he thought her groan was superhumanly long and loud, and he prepared to be impressed. Then he noticed the ground was shaking.

“Looks like it’s our unlucky day!” he said. “Run!”

They both got to their feet, and made it about five steps before the sand exploded to their left. A sandworm rose from the earth, its black-and-white stripes blurring into grey. At the peak of its jump, its inner head came out of its mouth, eyes glaring, jaw snapping.

It dove back down toward them.

He dodged one way, and Lydia dodged the other. The spray of sand blocked out everything, and when it all cleared, the sandworm had risen from the ground again, undulating in and out of the dunes. Lydia stood in place, looking all around. But it was hard to know where to run when you were being attacked by a sandworm.

The sandworm’s chomping heads came out of the ground an arm’s length from Lydia. She yelled, and punched it in the closest eye.

The heads hissed and thrashed, knocking Lydia down. The sandworm dove down, and the sand around them whirled and roiled, until he felt like he was standing in boiling dirt.

When the sandworm rose again, it accidentally scooped up Lydia. She showed a little more survival instinct than she had before, and clung to the sandworm’s back.

“Knock it off!” he heard her say. She nudged the sandworm with her left boot, and the sandworm turned to the right. But it had had enough of its passenger, and whipped its body to throw Lydia like a beanbag.

She shrieked as she fell through the air. He stretched his legs, about 20 feet, and caught her.

As he dragged her back to the ground, he braced himself for another attack by the sandworm. Maybe if he transformed into something big and scary, showed some lionfish spines or extra limbs, the worm would leave them alone. Getting swallowed would be no good. Not only did he usually try to avoid getting eaten, but sandworms’ digested prey just wound up back in processing…after a wait of at least a decade or so.

The sandworm jumped over their heads, dove into the ground, and kept going. Its writhing body upset every dune it plowed through, but it didn’t double back.

He wasn’t going to look a gift worm in the mouth.

“And don’t come back!” he yelled. “G’on, git! Git!”

Lydia jumped out of his arms. “That was awesome! I thought I was going to die, but it was awesome.”

He was more tired than he’d been in a while. He was tired like Juno had been screaming at him for hours. Also, there was a lot of sand in his shoes. “You did OK But why the hell did you try to punch it in the face?”

She didn’t look ashamed in the slightest. “I thought it would be like avoiding a shark attack. That’s what the Discovery guy said during Shark Week: punch the shark hard in the eye so it leaves you alone.”

“Since when has punching something made it leave you alone?” he asked. “That has never worked when I’ve tried it with people.”

“Because then the shark – or the sandworm – thinks you’re too much of a threat and it ignores you. I made it go away, didn’t I?’

“I seriously doubt you’re what made it leave, Karate Kid. If a sandworm had its multiple hearts set on eating us, it would take more than your mechanical bull riding skills to dissuade it. I don’t know – I’m not so sure it was all that interested in us.”

“If it wasn’t going for us, why did it come over here?”

“I said I don’t know! I’m not a sandworm scientist.”

“Your hair is changing color,” she said, pointing at his head.

“Can you blame me? I’m pretty pissed off right now.”

She brightened. “It changes color with your mood?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I touch it?”

He grunted, and tilted his head. She patted some strands on the right side of his head, which were dark green at the tips, but probably working their way to red. The cocoon the caterpillar had made behind his ear popped open, and a death’s-head hawkmoth shot into the air and planted itself on Lydia’s nose.

“Augh!” she yelped, and fell right on her ass. He doubled over laughing while she tried to get back up with dignity.

“You’ve taken things too far this time, Beetlejuice!”

Once, just once, he’d like to go 48 hours without hearing those words shouted at him.

He turned to see Miss Argentina stomping up a sand dune, clipboard in hand, sash askew, which meant she was really really really upset.

“What have I done this time?” he asked, resigned.

“What have you done this time?” Miss Argentina pointed at Lydia. “Let’s start with child endangerment! And the fact that your disappearance has about given Juno apoplexy.”

“Ah, she loves me.”

“No! She just knows that if she hasn’t heard from you in twelve hours, it means you’re up to something! And that means the rest of us suffer! I’m just glad she gave me clearance to go to Saturn to look for your sorry, sagging ass, so at least I was able shoo a sandworm away from some newlydeads. I have a sneaking suspicion you bear some responsibility for that, too?”

“OK, that is both not fair and completely true,” he said. “And I’ll have you know I’m doing a good deed. I’m guiding this one around the Netherworld.” He jerked his head at Lydia.

“And why, in the name of all that is sacred, would you consider that a good idea?”

“Um…” He faltered. He may have been able to fudge a few details with Lydia, but Miss Argentina had been around long enough to know how the Abyss worked.

“Newlydeads…” Lydia said. “That must have been what attracted the sandworm. It wasn’t coming for us after all.”

“Why did you drag newlydeads with you?” he asked, happy to change the subject. “What, did you need help shouting at me? Anger backup singers?”

“Of course not.” Miss Argentina frowned. “But – that’s a good idea.” She clicked her pen, and scribbled on her clipboard. “I am actually writing that down. If Boy Inferno is free…”

“Excuse me!” came a woman’s voice from the bottom on the dune. “I’m so sorry – could you wait just a minute?”

“It’s very hard to walk on sand!” came a sexy, nasal male voice from the same direction.

“These newlydeads have a problem, you see,” said Miss Argentina, her voice icy. But something was wrong – she wasn’t looking at him. Her gaze was fixed on Lydia. “Apparently, a living person used their Handbook without permission.”

Lydia became interested in the horizon. “Huh. That’s weird.”

Miss Argentina jabbed a finger in Lydia’s face. “Oh, don’t even try that on me, living girl. I am not in the mood today.”

“Whoof! We made it.” The newlydead couple crested the dune…and he was smitten.

The woman was white, a pretty blonde, in a green wrap dress and suburban-mom-at-the-nice-grocery-store boots. Her companion was a beautiful Desi man, with light brown skin and a lock of black hair hanging over his forehead that he immediately wanted to run his fingers through.

“Oooooh…” he said. “Hello, sexy…”

Lydia looked at him with a scientific expression. “Which one?”

“The Trader Joe’s guardian angels over here. Not that Miss A isn’t pretty easy on the eyes herself, but she’s a friend of Ellen, know what I mean? A patron of U-Haul. An adopter of shelter cats. Wrong tree, is what I’m saying. But she loves me platonically.”

“She doesn’t,” Miss Argentina said.

The couple pushed past him and bent over Lydia.

“Oh, thank goodness!” the woman said.

“Lydia!” said the man. “I’m so glad we found you. We were worried sick!”

“Adam, Barbara?” Lydia said. “What…what are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to go to the Netherworld.”

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice fanfiction #beetlejuice the musical #lydia deetz #fan fiction

7 notes · View notes

sandersfander1820 · 5 years

Text

I’m Here: Part Thirteen

Summary: This is Roman’s last chance to get this right, but he’s still struggling. He can handle it though, right?

Words: 1,815

Author’s Note: God, I am so sorry this took so long to get done and finished. I didn’t want it to wait so freaking long, honestly. But sometimes things happen. This chapter is actually pretty significantly shorter than previous chapters, so sorry about that, but I felt it was okay to end where it did. Also, this hasn’t been fully proof read, and I’m sorry about any typos there are in there. Anyway, I really hope you like this chapter and I hope it was worth the wait.

I will not be putting the taglist on this right now because it’s late and I want it posted. I will put it on in the next few days maybe.

(I’m not sure if Tumblr is still doing that thing where posts with outside links don’t show up in search results, so I won’t link the Ao3 file, but it’s ‘I’m Here’ by SandersFander1820 (RobinPlaysTrumpet15).)

He’d read through the script at least three times already throughout the day, and not because he didn’t have anything to do. Honestly, Roman had so many things to do that he might have lost time by rereading a script he was completely and totally familiar with.

But something about it just wasn’t sitting right.

He couldn’t pin down the feeling until about halfway through practice that afternoon.

Dr. Allen had them start over from the beginning and go through every scene leading up to the confession. Smaller scenes that didn’t have Roman and Sera in them together were skipped in favor of getting to the “important” bits. Not to say the scenes without them were unimportant, Dr. Allen specified, but everyone knew the of issues they’d been having.

Almost three quarters of the way through the scene and it finally hit him what felt all wrong.

“Alright, stop! Stop, stop, stop,” Dr. Allen called. She waved her hands through the air in a cutting motion, getting all the attention on her. The woman sighed, squeezing her eyes shut and pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Roman…” she huffed on a hard breath. “What is the issue? What did I tell you do to yesterday?”

Roman winced, stepping away from Sera and facing their director.

“I- I know, Dr. Allen, but-”

“So what is the issue?”

“Well, I had a thought-”

“You know what I said, Roman.”

“I know-”

“If you don’t get this scene down by this evening, you won’t be in opening night.”

“I know that, ma’am-”

“Roman Prince.” Dr. Allen’s tone took on a deadly blunt edge. “What does everyone in this theater know about calling me ma’am?”

Roman took a deep breath. “That we are not to call you that, ever, under any circumstances.”

Dr. Allen nodded. “Exactly. That’s right. Now,” she turned and looked him directly in the eye, “what have you been trying to say?”

Deep breath. Swallow. “Prince Edward’s reaction to finding out Ginger is his soulmate doesn’t make sense.”

She paused in her pacing, cocking a skeptical eyebrow up at him, challenging. “Oh really? Enlighten me.”

“Okay,” Roman said, taking as calming a breath as he could. “Well, for starters, this scene is written as if Edward and Ginger had just met for the first time. But actually, they’re already friends. They already love each other. This scene is huge and over the top, which, yes, is usually right up my alley, but it doesn’t fit into the dynamic that the rest of the play has built so far.”

Dr. Allen’s eyebrows furrowed as her gaze dropped. Then she was picking up her discarded script and flipping through it, reading lines and then flipping more pages and reading a few lines. After a few moments in which Roman started to sweat out of pure unadulterated nervousness, she looked back at him with a contemplative look. She motioned for him to continue.

Roman swallowed, glancing around the theater, his eyes drawn up movement up in the balcony. There he saw Logan rushing in through the door to put his bag down as if he was late. He watched for a second in which Logan leaned over to exchange hushed words with Jordon. Then Roman felt Logan’s deep brown eyes focus on him.

Roman took a split second, closed his eyes and sucked in a slow, deep breath, then opened them again and focused on Dr. Allen.

“Ginger herself had already had her suspicions up to this point about Edward being her soulmate, so her own reaction would be a lot calmer than it’s portrayed. And as for Edward and his over the top proclamations of undying love for her, those don’t fit either. Because they’ve already become friends and grown close. Ginger and Edward already love each other, and they know they love each other…” Roman trailed off, his eyes wandering back up to the balcony and settling on Logan again. A feeling that was soft and fuzzy red swelled in the middle of Roman’s chest, right where his lungs were. It felt just a little harder to breathe, but in a good way. He felt a smile grow on his face. “It’s really just a matter of knowing for sure that they’re ‘meant to be’, and that’s cool and all but… it’s doesn’t change their feelings. Crazy, out-there, excessive pronouncements of love just don’t fit in here because they aren’t needed.”

Roman almost hadn’t realized when he’d stopped talking. He just smiled up at Logan, watching him smile back, blissfully unaware of the silence and growing number of eyes on him for the moment.

Until Dr. Allen brought him crashing back down to earth rather forcefully.

“Well, Roman,” she said, seeming loud in the silence, “That was very good insight. I appreciate it. And beyond that, you clearly learned something last night, and I believe you are now a better actor for it.”

“Thank you, Dr. Allen-”

“And as valid as your points are, and as right as you are, unfortunately we cannot change the play now. I am impressed and pleased that you noticed, though.” She smiled at him, closing her script and tossing it gently back onto the seat at her side. “Now, can we take this scene from the top, please, everyone?”

Dr. Allen clapped her hands at them, a teasing, bright smile firmly on her face. Roman smiled back at her, turning back to Sera and his other cast mates with a pep in his step.

He could do this. He could make this happen.

It took another half run before Roman fulling found his groove again. But by the end of rehearsal that day, he was feeling confident and sure and everyone was smiling and laughing and joking around. They were going to be so ready for opening night, they’d knock the audience’s socks off.

And only one thing changed.

In Roman’s mind, the scene was no longer Prince Edward proclaiming love for poor little Ginger Baker. It was just Roman, telling just Logan all the things he’d ever thought and felt and practiced in his head. Glancing up and finding one of his fated loves watching with rapt attention, and imagining him in his arms instead.

No offense to Sera, but still. It worked.

Roman kept his eyes on the balcony a little more than was truly warranted, but he didn’t want to miss this. He didn’t want to miss his chance to actually meet his soulmate. He butchered the first time, so the second time was going to be perfect.

Well, maybe not perfect, but that was okay. Roman could live with okay.

As he changed out of his costume backstage, his phone buzzed from its place atop his pile of clothes. He let it wait until he was finished undressing and redressing, then checked it. He had a message from Logan.

Pocket Protector @ 8:18 | Would you mind very much if I asked you to join me for a cup of soothing tea on our way back to our dorms?

Roman barked a laugh suddenly and loudly.

Queen Bee @ 8:27 | How long did it take you to write that?

Roman tucked his phone away in his pocket for a moment while he grabbed the rest of his items. As he turned for the door to leave, he heard a knock on the doorframe of the dressing room.

“Too long,” a familiar voice admitted.

Roman couldn’t help the way the air left his lungs in a tiny, high pitched gasp. It was a familiar voice with a familiar timbre that Roman could recognize in his sleep. Except that this time, there was no distortion, no static, no electronic, metallic, clangy sort of fuzz to it.

When he turned fully around and came face to face with Logan, he nearly threw caution to the wind and scooped him up right then and there.

But he didn’t. Because Roman knew and remembered that Logan didn’t like a whole lot of physical contact. He might not appreciate a sudden, impromptu hug from him. So Roman forced himself to stay his ground, bounce a little on his toes and squeal a bit in the back of his throat. He couldn’t stop smiling.

And it seemed, neither could Logan.

This was so, so much. First Virgil yesterday, now Logan (for real) today. It was all so, so, so so perfect. And Roman had no idea where to go from here.

After a second where the air started to turn clammy with an air of awkwardness, Logan cleared his throat, his cheeks flushing an embarrassed pink. His eyes dropped to the floor and he fidgeted in place nervously.

“So… tea?” Logan offered, peaking back up at Roman.

It was just too fucking cute.

Roman’s smile brightened (if that was at all possible) and he nodded. Suddenly his princely charm and calm, collected demeanor was back. Blushing and cute. Roman knew exactly what to do with bushing and cute.

“Sure, cutie,” he agreed with a fake teasing wink. He closed the distance between them in a few steps, invading Logan’s personal space just a little bit so he could add in a whisper, “I know a little place that’s open twenty four seven. The tea’s not five-star, but I hear the company is pretty outstanding.”

Roman wiggled his eyebrows a little bit for good measure.

Logan almost snorted, rolling his eyes and giving his soulmate a fond look.

“Oh, yeah?” he challenged, something mischievous glinting in his eyes. “I guess I’ll have to decide that for myself, Prince Charming.”

Logan? Flirting?

That was something Roman never thought he’d see in a million years. But he supposed there was a first time for everything. Perhaps Virgil and Patton coached him or gave him lessons in their spare time in the past few weeks.

Not that Roman was sure either of them could flirt either.

Either way, Roman was not going to pass this opportunity up.

“So where is this hole in the wall?” Logan teased as Roman finally stepped out into the hallway and closed the dressing room behind him.

“Oh, not far. But be prepared,” he warned, “you might leave covered in glitter.”

Logan’s clearly carefully crafted outer persona faltered a little. “Why?”

Roman shrugged, relaxing back from his flirting. “Because I like it, and it gets on literally everything. It’s the herpes of the craft world, they say.”

Logan shook his head, adjusting his glasses. His casual, neutral expression returned, a look Roman was far more accustomed to.

“Just as long as it’s not in my tea,” he commented.

Roman smiled softly as they exited the building together.

A hand brushed against his cautiously. His brushed it in return.

Carefully, Logan slid his hand into Roman’s.

“I promise,” Roman said quietly, almost too softly. “No glitter in the tea.”

A squeeze to his fingers.

“Thanks.”

296 notes · View notes

deliriousabsol · 5 years

Text

More Things Than You Ever Cared To Know About My Writing

This was originally posted by ‘vorchagirl’, reblogged by someone I follow. And I thought it would be fun to just outright answer these in a questionnaire type way, rather than as asks. So here we go =)

Feel free to do this yourselves if you like it. Just please remember to add the original poster.

Fanfiction Questions

Fandom Questions

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

Properly? Probably Pokemon. I’ve been writing fanfiction for it for years.

2. What is your latest fandom?

Funnily enough, Sonic, despite being a fan since I was like seven years old. I’ve just never seriously got into it since then until now.

3. What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in?

The Pokemon fandom. I’ve made some awesome friends in it.

4. Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms?

You hear things, but I’ve not really come across any toxicity besides the reaction to the Sonic Movie.

5. Which fandoms have your written fanfiction for?

A good few, but the only ones you’ll find are Pokemon, Sonic and Zootopia.

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Zootopia - Judy/Nick

Sonic - Shadow/Rouge, Silver/Blaze

Pokemon - I don’t usually ship in Pokemon, but Jessie/James because reasons

7. List your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in.

Sonic/Amy. Sorry. Some art is cute, but it’s not my jam.

Shadow/Maria. I don’t ship animals with humans.

I also don’t ship yaoi/yuri pairings.

I do not poop on any ship. If it’s one I’m not fond of, I just scroll on and leave it be. Shipping can be pretty toxic sometimes, and I just don’t get it at all.

8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

I was writing Mask Behind the Monster and my husband’s aunt suggested I join a specific Sonic forum to post it in. So I joined the Amino and posted it, all nervous. The reception blew me away, and I met some awesome people, so I stuck around.

9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

The friends I’ve made.

10. Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

Probably. Can’t think of any off the top of my head.

Ship Questions for your Current Fandom

11. Who is your current OTP?

Shadow/Rouge. Also Infinite/Amy. This is because of my current writing projects.

12. Who is your current OT3?

None.

13. Any NoTPs?

We’ve been over this *looks up*

14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

Sonic/Tails =3

15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

Infinite/Amy. I didn’t initially. But if it’s done right, and there are reasons for them to be together in that setting, then it works.

16. Are their any popular ships in your fandom which you dislike?

Sonic/Shadow, Infinite/Gadget

I’m also not a fan of most Pokemon anime ships.

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

Knuckles/Amy. I still have a soft spot for it.

18. What ship have you written the most about?

Amy/Espio. I went through a phase... Read a couple of ‘fics and thought ‘Why not? Sounds like fun.’ XD

19. Is there a ship which you wished you could get behind, but you just don’t feel them?

Not really. As much as I like shipping, because I’m a fluff-junkie, I have to just like it.

20. Any ships which you surprised yourself by liking?

Again. Inf/Amy. This one took me by surprise.

Author Questions

21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

Erm... if I remember right, Some cringy self-insert Pokemon ‘fic when I was like 14/15.

22. Is there anything you regret writing?

Everything I regret writing has been deleted.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

The End and Mask Behind the Monster. I can’t choose one over the other. They were both written with a lot of meaning and emotion behind them, and I have a soft spot for both.

24. What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

I keep thinking about re-writing The End, but I worry it will lose its fire if I do...

25. What’s your most popular fanfic?

I think... THINK... it’s Mask Behind the Monster.

26. How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

To Title is hard. System:Reboot was a suggestion off a friend who I have lost touch with. Its working title is ‘Hacked’. A lot of my stories have preliminary working titles until I come up with something. The End was named after a song. Confectionary Conundrum was originally called ‘Sugar Snow’ which is the name of the sweet shop in that story. The Mainframe Saga’s Scrivener file is still called ‘Datastream’. Its separate books have been renamed as I’ve been ‘planning’ them out (as much as I plan).

27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?

Probably summaries, because FFNet leaves very little space to do so.

28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

I have actually had fanart, so this is hard to say. A lot of people like drawing my cyberpunk Infinite redesign which has surprised me.

29. Do you have a beta reader? Why/Why not?

My husband proof-reads my stuff, and then I question him on it. I don’t have a beta. I’ve thought about it, but I stick to a strict time-frame when it comes to uploads where I strictly give myself very little leniency. So if it wasn’t beta’d in time, I’d get a little frustrated and I do not like to pester people. I also worry I’ll be told to edit and cut a LOT, and I don’t like to butcher my ‘fics. I do that enough while I’m writing 8D

30. What inspires you to write?

My faith. That is a BIG one. You will find references and metaphors to my faith throughout my stories. Particularly in The End and The Mask Behind the Monster. Music is another huge inspiration drive. I’ve come up with entire scenes and even plots or sub-plots listening to music. I was just on a walk listening to some cyberpunk tracks when I got the spark for The Mainframe Saga.

31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

Oh boy. Where do I start? I think I was especially moved when someone told me they read The Mask Behind the Monster to their sisters.

32. Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you? If so, which band or genre of music does it for you?

Yes. A lot. I listen to a variety of stuff from Christian rock and EDM to cyberpunk instrumental tracks. Main bands are Thousand Foot Krutch, Family Force Five, Cruxshadows, Holon, Misanthropix, Scandroid and Celldweller.

33. Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics or huuuuuge epics?

It really varies. I lean towards epics. Even Glitched ended up being longer than planned, if memory serves, although it’s not epic length. The Mainframe Saga is made up of chaptered ‘fics, ficlets and one-shots.

34. What’s the word count on your longest fic?

I couldn’t tell you, because Scrivener crashes when I try to get the word count for System:Reboot XD

35. Do you write drabbles? If so, what do you normally write them about?

I don’t, but I have thought about it.

36. What’s your favourite genre to write?

Sci-Fi. Hands down.

37. First person or third person - what do you write in and why?

I prefer third person, particularly restricted third person, because it is easier to write about different characters. That way the reader knows what’s going on when the main cast do not. I was very surprised I enjoyed writing first person so much in Mask Behind the Monster, though. But I did leap into third person a couple of times to give a wider perspective.

38. Do you use established canon characters or do you create OCs?

I love creating OCs. But I will use canon characters in the Sonic fandom.

39. What is you greatest strength as a writer?

From what I’ve been told, character development.

40. What do you struggle the most with in your writing?

Violence. And tragic back stories. I have legit questioned my sanity when coming up with scenes that include this.

Also... when I write fluff... I kind of grind to a halt and struggle through it. Often interspersed with gazing from the window and thinking well further ahead than where I’m currently at. This often results in forgetting dialogue I think up during my garden gazing.

Fanfiction Questions

41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading:

I won’t post links because it is much too fiddly. But Guiding Light by Ambyssin, Heart Song by Suetonicsonic, Fall From Power by Lordius Dannius.

Hands of Creation by Namohysip, and The Curious and the Shiny by Nebula Dreams. Both of which I seriously need to pick up again.

I believe you can find all of them on FFNet.

42. List and link to 5 fanfiction authors who are amazing:

Same applies as above. Ambyssin, Suetonicsonic, Namohysip, Chibi Pika and Nebula Dreams.

43. Is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

Ambyssin has provided some amazing constructive criticism on System:Reboot which has resulted in me making a terrifying antagonist out of Gadget the Wolf. I strongly hope no other antagonists will develop what I have nicknamed ‘Socket Syndrome’. His drive and commitment to his writing has been pretty inspirational, too.

But in all fairness, I think most, if not all, of my writing friends have been inspirational and very supportive. I offer digital high-fives to each and every one of you.

44. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

I can’t think of any. People should write what they like. And I believe if you want to read it, and it doesn’t exist, then you should write it yourself if you can.

45. What is your all time favourite fanfic?

Guiding Light by Ambyssin. It’s not often I fall in love with a fanfic.

Fall From Power by Lordius Dannius is another.

46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

The End or The Mask Behind the Monster, because they’re pretty special to me.

47. Archive Of Our Own, Fanfiction.net or Tumblr - where do you prefer to post and why?

FFNet. I’ve been posting there for years. I’m iffy on AO3. I’ve considered posting to Tumblr, but my solution to that is to post links and artwork instead.

48. Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why/Why not?

If I feel I have something to say, I’ll post a review. I like to make sure I do so, though, and I have been known to make notes on my computer and post reviews in bulk to works posted on Serebii.

49. Do you care if people comment/reblog your writing? Why/why not?

I love comments, and I will try to respond to each one. Reblogs are totally welcome!

50. How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction?

I’ve been writing for many, many years. Since before I was ten years old. Pokemon likely got me into fanfiction. I can’t remember writing it for anything else prior to that cringy ‘fic I mentioned earlier (which we will never, ever talk about. Ever.)

51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

I love the creativity behind it, especially OCs. Pokemon OCs are my favourites, particularly in PMD or Pokecentric settings. Both Sonic and Pokemon offer a lot of inspiration to create OCs as the worlds are both pretty vast. AUs and canon settings both offer massive scope for creativity. It’s seeing peoples’ headcanons and takes on the franchises that I really enjoy. Yes, I do like shipping, but a story does NOT need it to be a good story. It’s the way people tell it that matters more to me.

I know this says ‘one thing’. But I just want to make it clear, the one part of fanfiction I don’t like, is M-rated stuff. And I will not read it. It... bugs me when a ‘fic I’ve been enjoying suddenly changes its rating XD

(I do not own any of the fandoms or characters mentioned in this post) <- Nervous Nelly moment?

#fanfiction #sonic the hedgehog #pokemon #zootopia #writing #this took me a while but it was fun #I hope you enjoy #everyone should do this #we do not ever talk about the cringy pokemon 'fic

5 notes · View notes

tonystarkbingo · 5 years

Photo

Week 6 Roundup! We’ve got some awesome content in this week’s roundup, come see what everyone has done!

Title: feeling so high, but too far away to hold me Collaborator: cutebutpsyco Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1 - Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow Ship: IronStrangeWidow Rating: Teen Major Tags: Captain Marvel spoilers Summary: When Tony came back from space, though, he saw it. He saw how Nat was barely keeping it together, and he helped her. They shared a lot, both of them wanting to keep their downfalls secret, they got to know each other more, something that never happened, not for real, before. Word Count: 724

Title: Love Shack Collaborator: buying_the_space_farm Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 - snowed in Ship: FrostIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: female Tony and Loki, explicit sexual content Summary: Toni didn't know what she'd expected when she'd come to the ski resort in Jotunheim, Norway, but it hadn't been three feet of snow in one night. Word Count: 2966

Title: Something Broken About This Collaborator: JacarandaBanyan Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1- A Day In The Life Ship: IronWidow Rating: Teen Major Tags: unhealthy relationships, angst with a happy ending Summary: Every day Tony and Natasha lie to each other, and it's dragging down their relationship. Can they open up to each other and bring a little honesty into their day-to-day lives, or have they both become too comfortable with lying and hiding to really let another person in? Word Count: 5184

Title: Turnabout is Fair Play Collaborator: Politzania Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - Kink: Anal Sex Ship: Pepperony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, pegging, Summary: Tony misses bottoming in bed; Pepper is willing to oblige. Word Count: 1874

Title: Chapter 2: All's Fair in Love and War Collaborator: buying_the_space_farm Link: AO3 Square Filled: A3 - free space Ship: FrostIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Fem Tony Stark, not Steve Rogers Friendly Summary: loki beats up steve for trying to get toni to go out with him again when she is literally right there. wlw for the win, man Word Count: 1915

Title: The Joys Of Having Children Collaborator: MagicaDraconia16 Link: AO3 Square Filled: S4 - cock-blocking 'bots Ship: IronStrange Rating: Gen Major Tags: humor, pre-slash Summary: The list of cons against dating Tony Stark was already long. It was just a shame no-one thought to add his 'children' (even if they were mechanical) to it. Word Count: 1642

Title: Accept Yourself Collaborator: mortenavida Link: AO3 Square Filled: R3 - Animal Transformation Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: non traditional ABO, internal racism Summary: It was Tony's biggest secret, one he didn't tell anyone (not even Pepper). His father made it clear it made him abnormal and unworthy of the name Stark, so he hid it. He ignored it. And then he met Bucky. Word Count: 1734

Title: Sleep in Peace Collaborator: only_more_love Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 - voice Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Major Character Death, angst Summary: Sheriff Rogers' final thoughts in 1872. Word Count: 676

Title: Anything Goes (And Usually Does) Collaborator: tisfan Link: AO3 Square Filled: S2 - Carnival Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, homophobia, public sex Summary: A night at the fair, anything and everything goes... Word Count: 2665

Title: King Tony Collaborator: monobuu Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K5 - royalty Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: all the cute, art Summary: All hail King Tony! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° The cutest smol bean in all the land!

Title: I Needed Someone to Bleed Collaborator: chase_acow Link: AO3 Square Filled: T4 - Secret Relationship Ship: IronFalcon Rating: Mature Major Tags: secret relationship Summary: "Penance, mostly, but also hot sex," Tony said, keeping his back to Sam while he pulled his jeans up. His voice was still rough, caught in the moment before when he begged Sam to go harder, faster. Word Count: 1636

Title: oh, mother (can you keep them in the dark for life) Collaborator: rainbowshoes Link: AO3 Square Filled: Chapter One - K5: Alcoholism, Chapter Two - A4: Old Ghosts, Chapter Three - T5: Whump Ship: no pairing Rating: Explicit Major Tags: alcohol abuse/alcoholism, no happy ending Summary: depressed after the civil war and having lost everything, tony turns to alcohol to comfort himself, and he builds something - a new AI he dubs MOTHER. he gives her a body. and she makes him happy. so very, very happy. Word Count: 3346

Title: Frozen Together - Chapter 2: A5- Huddling for Warmth Collaborator: thudworm Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 - huddling for warmth Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: UST Summary: Thwarting Loki's latest attempt at world domination leaves two Avengers stranded in a frozen wasteland. Word Count: 3050

Title: secret dreams we whisper in the dark Collaborator: Areiton Link: AO3 Square Filled: S2 - secret relationship Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Teen Major Tags: Don't Ask, Don't Tell, proposal, domestic fluff Summary: They never wore them. They sat in his bedside table, with the lube and handcuffs, a dream they never spoke of. Word Count: 858

Title: Oh Lord I'm Stuck in Progress Again Collaborator: Faustess Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - Western AU Ship: Tony Stark/Dean Winchester Rating: Teen Major Tags: crossover/fandom fusion, sex tapes, dreamscape Summary: Tony Stark wakes up to find himself in distinctly unfamiliar surroundings... like some kind of Old West reenactment village.... Tony's sleep is not a natural sleep, though... so who are the Avengers gonna call? The Winchesters, obviously. Word Count: 1946

Title: Crash, but No Burn Collaborator: mortenavida Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1 - voice Ship: Stony Rating: Mature Major Tags: language, hospitalization Summary: Tony and Nebula found a way to Earth and it wasn't the... best landing. But Tony got to wake up to Steve's face, so it wasn't that bad. Word Count: 989

Title: If I Should Lose You Now Collaborator: martianwahtney Link: AO3 Square Filled: A3 - free space Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Gen Major Tags: AU, Tony-centric Summary: “You’re in an alternate universe,” Magic Man said calmly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. The faceplate flipped up. “I’m in a what,” “Alternate Universe,” Tony blinked a few times, considering what Magic Man had said. Logically it made sense. No Steve Rogers, he only recognized half of the Avengers, they knew Frank Castle as the Punisher, JARVIS wasn’t responding to him, and they had no idea who he was. “How do I get back?” -- Tony Stark lives in a universe without James Rhodes. James Rhodes lives in a universe without Tony Stark. A white mist forces Tony into Rhodey's universe and then rips him away all too soon, and Tony will do whatever it takes to get back to the universe where Rhodey is. Word Count: 1035

Title: Bucket List Collaborator: 27dragons Link: AO3 Square Filled: T3 - canon: Avengers Academy Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: pining, bittersweet Summary: Avengers Academy is closing its doors, but before it does, Tony has a whole list of things to do and people to say goodbye to. But somehow, he can’t seem to cross the most important item off the list. Word Count: 1785

Collaborator: monobuu Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T4 - seeing red Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: fluff Summary: I took this prompt literally. I just love when he fights in his cute red glasses and his little tom ford suit with his gauntlet watch. Guess who he just spotted!

#tonystarkbingo #tonystarkbingo2019 #weekly roundup #week 6 round up

2 notes · View notes

tundrainafrica · 6 years

Text

Somewhere Between Life and Death (Chapter 7)

Summary: Dia de los Muertos isn’t the only day the dead can visit the living. Miguel is reunited with Hector, Imelda and his other relatives from the other side but in one of the worst ways possible and he finds himself caught in a struggle between life and death.

Note: Reposted from ao3 and fanfic, same name, same author. I just needed to post some coco content I made on my own on Tumblr because I will definitely not be able to contribute in the arts side.Post canon, sickfic, expect hurt comfort, loads of angst, kidnappings. Miguel has a very long and very fatal near death experience basically.

You can follow this fic on tumblr under the tag TundrainAfrica

Link to: Chapter 1- Chapter 2- Chapter 3-Chapter 4-Chapter 5-Chapter 6

Chapter 7: Crossings

Maybe it was because of the shock. Maybe it was because of the pain. Maybe it was because of the disappointment.

He couldn't tell exactly why but as he listened to Hector and Imelda stories about their everyday life in the Land of the Dead, he knew he wasn't feeling as excited or interested as he had expected to be when he did finally meet them again.

He had dreamt of seeing Hector, Imelda, Mama Coco and everyone else for a long time and silently scolded himself for not being genuinely interested when Imelda told him about how everyone requested Hector played Remember Me during that years sunrise spectacular, how they had stolen to some private space and Hector played it for his daughter Coco instead. He felt guilty for not feeling relieved when they told him that Mama Coco was doing fine and she was actually very happy being able to once again dance after having spent years in a wheelchair and more years, hiding the urge to dance from her family.

Maybe if he was a bit more into the conversation he would have asked questions like why Mama Coco wasn't there as well or what they were doing there in the first place. His replies to their many stories though felt and sounded automatic. The laugh he made when Imelda told Miguel about when they performed together in the plaza was robotic, even when she told him about Tia Victoria who had tried to dance along but having grown up with no music and sense of rhythm had spectacularly failed or about the crash course on dancing Mama Coco had given Tia Victoria during the Sunrise Spectacular.

Imelda and Hector had noticed that he wasn't as excited to see them and Miguel knew that. He wasn't asking the questions he himself thought he would have asked if he saw them again. They had asked him about his life, how was the family, how was everyone coping with the lifting of the music ban, more importantly, how was everyone after Mama Coco died. He had tried his best to sound enthusiastic but in the end, his replies were one worded and half hearted. They had tried to ask follow up questions but his lack of enthusiasm had become infectious.

His ancestors had subdued their gestures and tones. There was a point where Hector was talking about how he had given Coco the biggest hug when she finally arrived in the land of the dead. Miguel had expected him to hold his hands outstretched but he had limited himself to moving his hands in tune with his words. What made him feel a little worse was the gradual yet apparent loss of enthusiasm in his voice. Imelda as well had refrained from holding Miguel and the latter could see it in the way that every now and then she would put her hands in front of him as if she wanted to place them on his shoulders or his head only to pull back as if she sensed the discomfort and the tension and realized it.

Miguel had noticed those small movements and knew he had to brush away his discomfort, ask questions, cherish this time he had with them but how he felt wasn't something he could easily brush away, it felt like an elephant in the room that has been there from the start, impossible to kick out.

There was one way though. It took Miguel a few minutes and some more time half heartedly listening to Hector's stories to realize that there was one question that he wanted to ask. It may kick the elephant out but it felt risky.

Why can't you take me now? He really wanted to ask. It sounded inappropriate though. He remembered the week after Mama Coco had just died. He had wanted to ask Mama Elena what they were going to do with her rocking chair or her things but it sounded insensitive. That time, there was no reason to be insensitive, no one was mourning, no one was dying yet but that one question felt almost taboo.

“Miguel, you’ve been quiet.” Imelda commented. The wording may have been wrong but the timing was definitely wrong. Miguel was in the middle of ransacking his brain for the right words and dealing with the guilt of not feeling happy to see them. When Imelda had finally commented on his discomfort, the feelings he had denied since a while ago became real and Miguel felt like he was at fault, he was a bad person for not being happy to see them.

It felt like she was blaming him. It was almost instinct how his mind had decided to play victim. Hector and Imelda were selfish. They wanted him to stay, even when his life wouldn't amount to anything, when he could live his whole life only half the human he was. They wanted to deprive them of that painless nirvana in the land of the dead and were only mocking him through the stories they were telling him. You're going to have to go through hell before you get to join us.

“Hey, are you okay?” Hector asked, stopping his story midway. “I thought you’d be happy to see us.” He joked, a horrible attempt to mask his worry.

“No. I'm not.” He managed to say. For some reason, admitting just that felt even just a bit liberating but what else could he say after that?

“I know what happened is a bit stressful for you. This in between dimension is scary but this isn’t how…”Imelda had tried to put her arm around Miguel. That only helped to agitate the boy a little more.

This isn’t how it's supposed to go? This isn’t how I'm supposed to die? What was supposed to happen then? You won't help me get out of this?

Imelda’s tone was comforting, consoling. It was as if he was helpless as if there was nothing else she could do to help him. Or she didn't want to. They didn't want to.

“Do you even want to help me?” Miguel violently brushed his great great grandmother's comforting hand away from his shoulder. “All you two have been talking about since a while ago is how good you've been having it in the Land of the Dead. No progress. No help. You haven't even tried to get me out of this.”

“Believe me Miguel. We’re trying. It’s not as easy as---” She pressed.

“Take me back to the land of the dead. I don't wanna go back to Santa Cecilia… I want to die.”

Imelda instinctively widened her eyes surprised then narrowed her eyes soon after. In most cases, he would have cowered at seeing his great great grandmother narrow her eyes like that. With his whole body shaking in anger, all it was doing was making him more angry. She looked accusing as if it was his fault he didn't want to go back. She looked like she was going to disagree with him, maybe even gang up on him with Hector. “Do you understand what you're saying?”

“Hey hey… Mijo… what are you thinking? You said it during Dia de los Muertos that you wanted to be a musician and perform in many places. You can't do it dead.” Hector said, straining to keep his tone lively. He handed the guitar to Miguel.

“I can be a musician in the land of the dead. I don't have to do it in Santa Cecilia. No body to limit me, I won't be tired, I won't need to sleep, go to the bathroom. I'll just be playing music.” Miguel explained as he grabbed the guitar and played a few random tabs for emphasis.

Hector flinched and Miguel realized that he had plucked the strings on the guitar too hard.

“Miguel… Dying and being in the land of the dead isn't just playing music all the day long. You lose things when you cross. When you go there, there's no turning back.” Hector explained patiently. “There are people you'll leave behind, opportunities you could have had. Also It's not like this is a once in a lifetime choice. Eventually you're all going to end up in the land of the dead anyway. You should enjoy your life on earth for what it is first.”

“How can you enjoy life stuck in a body that needs to eat, sleep. That gets sick, feels pain…” Miguel argued. “When you're in the land of the dead, you never get sick… when you fall, you can get back together within seconds.

“Because life isn’t all about that mijo, there are experienced, challenges, there are people to meet, a family to live for. Your parents must be worried about you. Baby Coco is going to need her big brother.” Imelda added. She put her hands on Miguel's shoulders.

I survived without a big brother. Miguel thought to himself as he twisted away from Imelda’s grip. Coco had Prima Abel, prima Rosa, Benny and Manny. She had a mother and a father. What would one less brother do?. “Mama and papa can always make another child if they're feeling lonely. It's not too hard.” Miguel echoed Rodrigo’s words. He looked at Mama Imelda as he said it. He watched as her jaws dropped. She looked like she was just punched in the face.

Hector was the one who went in between them with that comment. “I can't believe I'm hearing this from you. Only a few months ago, you wrote a song about how much you love your family and now you're comparing having a child to working some sort of factory job?”

“What do you know?” Don't tell me you believed that when you're the one who left your family just like that. He wanted to add but he stopped himself at the last minute.

“Making and raising a child is not at all like making another pair of shoes!” He said without stopping to acknowledge Miguel's question.Hector had bent over as if he wanted to listen closely to whatever explanation, Miguel had about how he felt that way. Miguel did not see good intentions though. At that moment, the bending of his body and the fact that he had slowed his speech down, felt almost demeaning and Miguel's anger only grew. They're thinking I'm stupid. They wouldn't listen to me because to them, I'm a kid, I don't know better. It wasn't anything new. Prima Abel and Prima Rosa were the same when he was growing up. They always made fun of him for being slow when they played in the forest. When they started working in the shoe shop, they thought they were better and smarter, demeaning him for being too young to work in the workshop. As he thought about it, he realized that his cousins were only the tip of the iceberg. His parents had kept him out of many conversations because they were having “adult talks.” For a long time, his family had scolded him for hanging out in the mariachi plaza or even just listening to simple music maybe because they were smarter, naturally better people and according to them, he didn't know better. The worst though was the way his parents had stood in silence, no, his whole family had stood in silence as he was shamed by his abuelita and she had destroyed the guitar that he spent months putting together. Things had gotten better since the music ban but his heart still ached as he recalled that last scene and it only fed the anger inside him. Why would he want to go back to a family like that, a family who destroyed things he worked hard to create, a family who watched silently as he was tormented? He almost felt stupid for writing a love song for a family like that, what was he thinking. Papa Hector was no better or he may have even been worse. He was getting mad at Miguel for treating his family like that yet, long ago he had the gall to leave his own family. The hypocrisy of it all only fueled the anger inside him.

That one comment which he had stopped himself from saying was at the tip of his tongue and before he could stop himself, he had blurted it out.“What do you know about raising children? You didn't even raise your own!”

“Miguel!” Imelda’s voice rang out and Miguel jumped in surprise. That was the first time he had heard her voice like that, a distinct mix of hurt, stress, anger and surprise.

Miguel was trembling in anger. He watched Hector's face change from one for anger to shame. If he wasn't a skeleton, Miguel could have sworn he would have seen tears in his eyes.

“You’re right, I don't know anything about raising children. Coco was very young when I left, I didn't see her grow up, wasn't with her when she turned 15, when she got married.I tried to go home but ended up trapped in the land of the dead against my will. I was alone. I missed my wife, I missed my daughter. I was wandering while my family must have thought I abandoned them. You know , compared to me, you have a choice. A choice I was never given. You have a choice not to wander through the streets in the land of the dead like I did, a choice to be with your family, the people you love and you're taking it for granted because you don't want to live within the limits of a life and a body. When I first died. The last thing I was thinking about was how good it felt to not get sick. That's nothing Miguel. I can't even describe how much I regretted even leaving in the first place, how lonely I felt. How the regret, sadness---”Hector stopped, as if he ran out of words. I don't know how it feels to raise a child but I know how painful it is to abandon and to be abandoned by your family… That’s why, I may not know how it feels to raise a child and for the longest time, I may have known how it felt to have a family but I’ve experienced enough to know what you’re thinking is wrong. Hate me if you want Miguel but I won’t take you back.” Hector looked like he wanted to say more but stopped himself. “I need some time to think.” He walked out of the room, dragging his legs as if they were weights

Imelda followed him silently with her gaze before looking back at Miguel, her face a mixture of hurt and anger. “Say what you want, I won’t take you back either. You have no idea what you’re asking for mijo.”

“He’s right. You guys are selfish. You don’t know how it feels to be lying there in a hospital bed, not being able to breathe, to move. I haven’t felt this good in so long and you want to take that away from me?” As he imagined what he said, he couldn’t help but feel more adamant about returning to his body. He felt good, he could move freely, play the guitar, talk without running out of breath, without feeling a pounding pain but it’s going to all change if he goes back. He’s going to be in pain. Why would anyone make a decision to hurt themselves? It just wasn’t natural.

“Because they want someone else to be happy. Humans do this for the people they love all the time mijo.”

Miguel looked up in surprise when he realized he had accidentally said his thoughts out loud.

“Why do you think mothers give birth? Why do you think I gave up music?” Why do---”

As his family started to gang up on him though, he knew he had to be strong for himself “Well when you banned music, it didn’t just hurt yourself. You hurt me and Mama Coco too. How can you say you did it for love, when your decision just hurt us anyway?”

Miguel had looked away even before he finished his sentence. There was a part of him screaming at the back of his mind as he fought with his great great grandparents, telling him to apologize, to listen and then and there that part was taking over. He didn’t think it was possible but he felt a quiver in his lips, a sign of vulnerability and that wasn’t something he wanted to show. That might even spell the difference between them forcing him back into his body or not. He ran out of the room.

Rodrigo, wherever you are, please help me. I don’t wanna go back. He had said that last part with so much conviction. Maybe, he was trying to convince himself that he did not want to go back. He brushed that thought away and focused on the task at hand. He had to find Rodrigo. He remembered that Hector had left and might still be around. He still found himself running carelessly in the hallways, a part of him hoping Hector would run into him and talk him out of it. He didn’t run into him. He didn’t even remember his Mama Imelda calling out to him as he ran out of the room. Those two things he noted, only gave him motivation to run faster. Maybe it was out of spite. Maybe it was determination to still run into Hector.

He continued running, the hospital doors started to go by faster and faster. He went down a few stairs and up a few. How do I cross? Miguel was utterly lost. The word echoed inside his head and that reminded him. He had ran too fast that it was only after running countless corridors and staircases did he realize he had lost his guitar too. He must have dropped it somewhere.

He slowed down, ready to retrace his steps only to be pulled into one of the many rooms by something or someone.

“I was worried about you.”

It wasn’t Hector’s voice.

“You just disappeared and I woke up…” Miguel said, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.

He could make out the familiar shape of the Rodrigo’s head and the tiny movement of its contours as he shook his head.

“Thank god you’re safe though. I thought you would have fallen for an illusion.”

“Illusion?” Miguel frowned. The only notable thing he had seen was Papa Hector and Mama Imelda. Meeting those two had looked real. The music Hector played sounded real. The guitar he had plucked had felt real.

“I didn’t mean to leave you alone but I ended up caught in my own illusion as well. This dimension between life and death is dangerous.”

“Wait, how is it dangerous?” Miguel asked. He had imagined monsters and rogue alebrijes when Rodrigo said the word dangerous. As he recalled his whole experience though, he knew he didn’t see any.

Rodrigo shook his head. “You know, the most dangerous things are the ones that don’t even look dangerous. I don’t want you falling for anything so I’ll tell you now. There are people who embrace death and there are people who embrace life. The unlucky souls who want to go back to their body and continuing living their life, even when their body is to sick, reject death’s invitation. They become angry spirits, go insane from trying to hold on to their body, to their life. They get jealous of those who can still go back to their body and those who can still cross after missing their own chance and create illusions to keep them here in this in between because you know, misery loves company. Unless they’ve been here for a long time like me, people tend to fall for these many illusions.”

That’s what it was… Miguel thought to himself. They had wanted him to stay, made him feel guilty for wanting to leave and for a while it had worked. He shivered as he remembered how realistic that illusion was and silently thanked his own pride and convictions for giving himself the courage to reject it. Of course, the real Mama Imelda and Papa Hector would have gladly welcomed me to the Land of the Dead.

“Don’t worry, usually someone from the land of the dead is sent here to guide the lost spirits.”

“Like an alebrije?” Miguel remembered Dante and only then did he realized how much he missed Dante and how much he needed him then and there.

“Alebrijes can’t enter this in between, but you can say they’re something like that… In America, they’re called the Grim reaper. In Mexico, they’re called Santa Muerte. Universally, they’re called Death. It’s the same job, they’re assigned to an area where lost spirits usually sprout up, war zones, car pile ups, hospitals and make sure the souls are able to cross safely. Funny though, the one here disappeared a few days ago. We got along well, he wasn’t authorized to let me cross but he said he’d keep me company until I can.”

“Wait, so how can we cross without him? ”

“The truth is, I knew how to cross. I just needed to find the right companion.” He held Miguel’s hands in between his. “Close your eyes. Are you ready?”

“Wait, what do you mean right companion?” Miguel asked. If he knew death, he must have met many other people who could have crossed with him. Why did he need Miguel in particular?

“I’ll explain everything once we cross. Trust me Miguel. I just want what’s best for you. I mean, what’s better than the painless embrace of death?”

Anything could sound good with the right tone. Even something as ominous as death could sound good with the a combination of the right choice of words and tones. With how Rodrigo said it, his former notions about death, the commitment, the loss, the goodbye was completely gone and all he could see was the painlessness, the embrace and the liberation.

“I’ll ask you again. Are you ready to cross?”

Crossing meant he won’t end up a lost soul. Crossing meant no more pain, Crossing meant understanding everything.

Crossing was good.

“I'm ready.”

#pixar coco #coco fandom #coco fanfiction #dia de los muertos coco #coco fanfic #hector rivera #imelda rivera #miguel rivera #rivera family #tundrainafrica #fanfic

14 notes · View notes

fourangers · 7 years

Text

Rite of passage - ch 2

Rating: M

Summary: Every day, he faced the same rhythm, the same pace that lulled his body to join all that dull reality in this life. In a sudden drastic decision, Sasuke decided to travel, meeting someone that would change his life.

AO3 link | FFnet link

Tumblr masterpost

–.–

Chapter 01

–.–

Itinerary 2

"Are you fucking crazy?! Slow the fuck down!"Sasuke gripped tightly the car rail to hold onto his dear life.

"You know I can't! I have to increase the speed or we won't get out of this mud road!" Naruto shouted, trying to rear the car in control.

"You have to go slower or we'll end up crashing on some sugar cane plantation, stop right now!" Sasuke growled, his hand reaching on the steering wheel, attempting to turn right.

"Hey! Get your hands offa here, you're going to cause an accident!" Naruto slapped the pale hand away.

"If you continue to drive like a maniac, I'm sure you are going to cause an accident you dumbass!" His blood ran cold when the car suddenly jumped till Sasuke felt his backside floating above his seat for long seconds before crashing back again.

"Will you quit being so melodramatic asshole?! Everything will be fine, just trust me!"Naruto roared.

"No, stop it. Stop it! Dumbass, stop it right now!" Sasuke shouted alarmed as they were getting closer and closer to some wooden fence. He propelled his body forward with zealous determination to stop this nonsense at once.

"Hey! You're blocking my visio─!" An insistent noise of car wheeling halted their skirmish as they widened their eyes.

Their car got stuck in the mud.

Naruto closed his eyes, turning it off. Then he twisted the key again as he dug on the accelerator pedal without any avail. He tried to shift the car left and right as he resumed step on the pedal as far as he could, but nothing happened aside the car careening a little from the spot.

He threw his hands on the air. "Oh great! We're stuck!" He turned to make an disbelieving frown towards Sasuke, but the dark haired man merely ran his hand on his face, pensive.

"Congratulations Naruto. For a few seconds, you almost made me wish believing in God once again." He deadpanned.

"Oh shut up. Let's see what happened." Naruto went outside the car, as did Sasuke, both men appraised the current predicament, from the wheels were completely lathered with mud, the once silver colored car was now painted with brown to the obvious fact that the whole vehicle had sunk down and it wasn't going to move any time soon.

They stared in silence before Naruto smacked his lips, rubbing the back of his neck. "Let's try again?"

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke went back to the car, waiting patiently as Naruto did the same.

When Naruto turned on the key, with a deep intake of air, Sasuke held onto the car rail.

"…will you quit squinting your eyes. It's not like you're going to die soon."Naruto grumbled.

"Could have fooled me."

Observing the blond man rolling his eyes, Sasuke almost began reconsidering the moment he offered to travel alongside Naruto.

–.–

(3 days ago…)

"Uh…exploring? Sure, I guess…I think." Naruto mumbled, caught off-guard from this sudden proposal.

Sasuke nodded, munching an apple.

"Let me think about it and then we'll talk?" Naruto said.

"Sure." Sasuke finished his breakfast, picking up some clothes.

"And where exactly you're planning to go afterwards?" Naruto questioned, waiting as Sasuke went to the bathroom to change. "Rio de Janeiro?"

"Not Rio." Was the muffled answer from behind the door.

"Uh…São Paulo then? Salvador?"

"Neither of these, at least not for now." Sasuke emerged from the bathroom with a towel in his hands. "I don't want to go any typical tourist attraction people would go whenever they visit a country. I don't want to be part of anything regular, that everybody had gone. I want to find any place undiscovered, unique that makes it worthwhile the experience."

Sasuke stared confused when he only met an inquisitive silence in return. Nevertheless, he eyed back evenly, lifting his chin.

Naruto chuckled. "Alright, I'm in."

"What?"

"Yeah, I'm in. I'm joining your merry entourage or whatever you name it." Naruto widened his arms with a dramatic flair.

Taking few more seconds to let those words sink in, Sasuke blurted out. "Already? I hope I'm not creating any misunderstanding but I'm not pressuring you, you can consider my idea for as long as you'd like."

"Nah, I made up my mind, I'm in." Naruto grinned. "I was actually dreading that you wanted to go to some typical touristic places that well…I already went before but I feel like you're off for some great adventures. It's gonna be great!"

"I didn't plan anything, so I don't know if whatever we do will really be on par with your expectations." Sasuke warned.

"It's ok, as long as you're open to new things and so far you don't seem to have any problem with it." Naruto replied. "So, how are you going to decide where to go next?"

Thinning his lips, black eyes stared back before flickering towards the bedroom door. Naruto cocked his head to one side, following behind.

Sasuke muttered. "Let's decide where we should go today and we'll come up with some plan for whatever is later afterwards."

Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto shrugged. "Sure. We can finish exploring Ouro Preto and maybe try touring a neighbor town called Mariana. There's another option though, go to a town called Tiradentes but it'll take roughly 3 hours by car. It's worthwhile though."

It's still 6 hours being wasted though; Sasuke mulled, shaking his head. "Ouro Preto is fine. Maybe we can try going to the other town tomorrow if it's en route."

Thus, they spent the rest of the day visiting museums and admiring handcrafts. As dark eyes were perusing some souvenirs in the street vendors, Naruto came to the realization how easy Sasuke was to tag along. He appeared to be in top physical condition, being able to walk all day, up and down everywhere without any complaint. He was not an exceedingly picky person, trying out new things and different spices. And even though Sasuke preferred a certain level of cleanliness and hygiene, under dire circumstances he wouldn't mind going to a dirtier bathroom or even to a hidden shrub to do his business. After meeting many people that were too naggy or too immature, overall too bothersome that almost made Naruto put off with traveling with anyone, this time he was looking forward to have Sasuke as his travel companion.

And ok, he's not going to lie, it didn't hurt the fact that Sasuke was nice on the eyes. Tall lean body, a striking contrast between pale skin with black hair and obsidian eyes, Naruto had to sometimes police himself to avoid staring him for too long.

"Can you wait for me a little, I'm going to buy a map of Brazil." Sasuke declared when they passed through a newstand.

Bewildered, Naruto obeyed, and later on they went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Sasuke actually ordered another shot of cachaça, downing in a single gulp despite all protests coming from the blond man.

"I'm not going to carry you all the way back again when you pass out bastard." Naruto shook his head, a smile playing on his lips.

Sasuke answered with a snort, ordering another shot and placing it in front of Naruto. Undaunted by the silent challenge, he also finished the drink quickly, earning a raise of eyebrow coming from the brunet.

Hours passed fleeting by as their bantering resonated throughout the dinner, their conversation went on even after they had paid the bill, walking back to the hostel. Naruto still had an eye on the rolled paper being held securely on Sasuke's hand, curious unbeknownst himself about why he'd want to have a printed map of Brazil.

Once they were in the hostel's living room, Sasuke picked all the objects on the table and set aside, opening his map and grabbed a coin from his wallet.

"Let's let the fate decide our destiny."

"Huh?" Naruto slackened his jaw.

"I'm going to flip the coin and whatever state it'll drop on, is going to be our next destination. What do you think?"

Naruto studied Sasuke's expression for a while and muttered. "Hm, call me crazy if I'm wrong, but for some reason I never saw you as a person who would let any decision being taken out of your control." When he noticed the thin lips being pursed, Naruto hastened to add. "But hey, I like this idea. Let's do it, it's gonna be fun."

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke trained his vision back to the single coin laying on his palm. He closed to a fist, shutting his pale eyelids and flipped the coin, ascending and quickly descending on the wooden table. It twirled for a while, circling around the big map as blue and black eyes watched in trepidation, speed slowing within each spin until took a halt.

Sasuke squinted his eyes. "Mato…Grosso."

"Mato Grosso." Naruto reconfirmed.

"Ever went there?"

Naruto shook his head. "Any idea where to go first?"

"No…what about you?"

"We could search for ideas…" Naruto muttered. "I'm gonna grab my laptop and will be right back."

Sasuke acknowledged with a grunt, also following behind to pick his iPad. "You know Portuguese right?" He asked while they were turning on their devices.

With a raised eyebrow, Naruto answered with a nod. "Yeah, why?"

"Feel like native people will have more interesting spots to go considering they know their country better than us, so it's interesting to read their suggestions. You can look in Portuguese while I search in the tripadvisor or something like that."

"Ok, sounds fair." Naruto began typing and soon enough there was an excited shout. "Hey hey Sasuke, look at this!"

The other young man approached with narrowed eyes not before he raised his eyebrows impressed by the pretty photos.

As Naruto was scrolling down the website, he said. "Looks like Mato Grosso has a lot of waterfalls. Maybe we should choose one?"

"Well…maybe we should search the one who has a great varieties of activities to do. It'll get boring if we only go to waterfalls and nothing else right."

"Hm…" A silence fell in between as their eyes were focused on the screen, punctuated with noises of clicking and typing. "It says here that the most famous sightseeing in this state are Chapada dos Guimarães, Pantanal and Nobres. Chapada dos Guimarães above all. It's a national park."

"Hn."

"They have waterfalls, caves and whoa." Naruto clicked more. "There's even an archeological site. That doesn't sound bad."

"Agreed. But how far is this place from here?" Sasuke clicked on the google maps and typed the aforementioned places.

"HOLY FUCK, 21 hours by car!" Naruto dropped his jaw.

Sasuke thinned his lips, wordlessly agreeing to this outburst. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to back down. "We are passing through two states after all. Anywhere else it's nearer?"

"Hmmmm…" Naruto began clicking every link possible, comparing their distances but unfortunately, it kept broadening even further. 22 hours, 24 hours…there was even one that would demand 27 hours of driving.

Sasuke huffed. "Feels like it's a waste of time, maybe we should decide this Chapada already since it's the best choice. I guess we have to face the fact that we'll use roughly this many hours to go there. Maybe we can rest in one city in the middle of the road and sightsee there while we're there."

"I'll see if there's something interesting in Goiás then." Naruto scratched his head. "Brasília, capital of Brazil, what about it?" Naruto grinned, staring the way the dark eyes narrowed back. "No? Not at all?"

"Not interested." Sasuke muttered nonchalantly."Anywhere else?"

"Well guess what. They have another Chapada, named Chapada dos Veadeiros."

"Pass."

"Uuuuuuuh…Caldas Novas, considered to be the largest hydro-thermal in the world."

"Hn." Sasuke checked and thankfully it was more or less within the path they wanted. "I'll see whatever hostel is available. You're ok if we share the room right?"

Naruto blinked. "Yeah sure, whatever. I mean, we've been sharing a room for two days and so far 's been good right? We should split all fares too." Naruto let his index finger scratch his jaw, embarrassed. "I'm not good with numbers though."

Sasuke lifted a crooked smirk. "Alright, I'll do it. You have to give me all the bills to me though. Like car rental, gasoline, highway tolls and all that."

Naruto sighed in relief. "Great! I'll be in your care then hah."

They began deciding which places they should visit, as Sasuke began preparing his luggage, knowing they would need to wake up really early.

Naruto suddenly exclaimed. "Oh oh oh! I found an awesome video! Look at this!"

Approaching, Sasuke stared and then glared. "That sounds like a terrible idea."

Naruto ignored the jab, his smile widening as the men in the video were jumping on a waterfall. "And it's only four hours by car from Chapada dos Guimarães."

"Only?" Sasuke did not bother to refrain his sarcasm.

"Well, we're going to travel almost 21 hours to get there so yeah. It's only 4 hours in comparison to that." Naruto grumbled.

"…we'll think about that."Sasuke muttered, noticing that despite the low quality of the video, the distance between the tip of the waterfall to the lake was rather far. He glowered from the victorious grin coming from the blond man, and returned to fold his clothes.

Even despite the possible difficulties lying ahead, his heart quickened with anticipation. It's going to be an exciting adventure for sure.

─.─.─.─.

(Now back to…yep)

"…"

"We're not moving." Naruto grumbled.

"I see that."

"We're fucking stuck."

"I also see that." Sasuke drawled out.

Naruto gave him a dry look. "I don't think I need your sarcasm right now."

A black eyebrow was raised back.

The blond man sighed. "Alright, take the wheel."

"…why?" Sasuke muttered.

"Well, drive while I'll try to push the car forward. I guess it's the only way out." Naruto opened the door and went outside.

"You’re going to get all your clothes dirty, are you sure?"

Naruto shrugged. "'s not like we have any other choice right?" Sasuke turned his head to look as the blond man positioned behind the car, hands placing at the back of the trunk. "Ready?"

With a swift nod, Sasuke turned the car on, ready to put the foot down on the accelerator until he heard a warning scream.

"Wait!"

Sasuke stopped at once, opening the car door. "What happened?"

Naruto was waving his arms energetically and said. "I think that guy wants to talk with us!"

Sasuke stared right ahead, noticing now an old man waving them back while he was driving a tractor. Before he could voice anything, Naruto went there and began chatting with that stranger, as Sasuke went back to his seat observing the unfolding situation, with a tinge of envy and admiration. Naruto had an ease with talking to anyone at any moment, letting their guards down with his bubbly personality. He, on the other hand, would always struggle to initiate any kind of communication, partially for his own reservations.

Therefore, Sasuke opted to observe how they were gesticulating wildly, the old man patted Naruto's back and went back to his tractor. Naruto approached grinning as he said. "Hey, that guy said he's gonna help us out. 'm gonna chain our car to his tractor."

Their car soon got dragged out of the mud much to their relief, as Naruto and Sasuke went to thank him once it was over. Naruto did most of the talking since he spoke the native language, with Sasuke standing next to him.

Suddenly, the stranger said something that made Naruto blush to the tip of his hair, spluttering a reply. The old man just laughed and patted his arm, Naruto held Sasuke's arm to drag him few steps away.

"What happened?" Sasuke craned his head backwards as emphasis to the question.

"Huh? Nothing!" Naruto answered way too quicker to his tastes. "Hey, that guy is called Fernando and he invited us to spend a day in his farm with his family. You wanna go?"

Sasuke frowned, studying the old man. He didn't appear to be anyone suspicious nor dangerous but still…The brunet attempted a more diplomatic approach. "I thought we were first going to that archeological site since it was on the way?"

"Yeah, I told him so, but he said it's ok whatever day we choose."

"And you don't mind? Going to a completely stranger's house?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Uuuuuh…I guess I always have the habit of trusting people pretty easily. And well, I've been traveling for so long that I kind of have an intuition which is fine which is not. We can ask later the landlady of the hostel we're going if they are really ok. I mean, if you're interested."

Sasuke grunted. In regular situations, there was no way he was going to accept this idea, but the whole idea of this trip was to do something he wouldn't do on regular days. "Sounds like a plan. I think I won't mind going if it's safe."

He also tried to tamp down the fluffy feeling squirming in his heart when he received a grateful smile coming from Naruto. He went to talk with the old man as they exchanged phone numbers and parted ways.

The road was full of holes and sinuous curves, it was a wonder Sasuke didn't have any motion sickness. They both sighed in relief once they arrived at the destination, noticing a good number of native aborigines living there, the cavern had a historical and mystical significance for them.

Unfortunately before the cavern was protected by the government, many had degraded the place with graffiti. Sasuke huffed seeing remaining scribbles, whilst admiring primitive drawings. "Don't you wonder sometimes, did they draw these expecting the next generation would study them or they simply drew for no specific reason?" Those words were uttered without much of a thought.

Sasuke glanced backwards to see if any shock or confusion within that pair of blue eyes, but Naruto merely stared back impressed. He shrugged. "Yeah, that's a good question right? I mean, we don't know how advanced were our brains and that time they were still living in rudimental conditions. The fact that drawings still exist after thousands of years is still pretty impressive anyways." He took a photograph from a particular drawing and said. "It's crazy how far we have gone though. I mean, even this is eons old, you can still pretty much understand that they were drawing something about how they were hunting an animal. It's a fucking comic book."

"From drawing on caverns to draw in an iPad. Humanity can be really impressive sometimes. As well as destructive." Sasuke muttered, staring at some badly drawn graffiti below the ancient drawings.

The sun was beginning to set in the horizon when they bid their farewell and hurried to drive to their hostel. They settled with a quick snack at the nearest gas station, while rechecking the directions, arriving at the hostel at last at night.

It was getting increasingly more comfortable to share a room with Naruto as they didn't need to ask for permission for any little thing, tiptoeing around to avoid invading the other one's personal space. That also meant that Naruto was so carefree around him that he simply began changing his clothes while Sasuke was on the same room. Sasuke had to recheck himself not to ogle that attractive torso for too long.

"Oh yeah Sasuke!"

Sasuke blinked, definitely not focused in staring that defined sun-kissed biceps. "Hn, what?"

"You know something that Fernando told me while he was helping us getting our car out of the mud? That there is a waterfall in Chapada dos Guimarães that you can jump to dive just like the video we saw few days ago!" Naruto beamed, putting his t-shirt on.

"You still haven't given up about that waterfall?"Sasuke said in mild exasperation.

"Of course not! Just you wait, you're gonna love it. The waterfall he told me is so cool that only people who live in the town know about it. It's in the national park so it's even closer and we won't need to travel those four hours to get there. Also…" He approached Sasuke with a conspiratory smirk and declared. "It's taller than the other waterfall."

Sasuke shook his head. "I feel like we better go or you'll nag me this entire trip."

"I'll take this as a yes. I'll even drive and prepare some snacks on the way. We better wake up early tomorrow!" Naruto chirped.

─.─.─.─.─

AN: So I made the huge mistake of forgetting that the event that occurred last chapter happens around April and Sasuke's birthday is in July. Let's forget for a second this small detail mmkay?

--.--

Chapter 03

#SasuNaru #drabble #snstext

11 notes · View notes