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britishassistant · 7 months

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The Villainous Paranoiac is Suing for Character Defamation

Vil’s agent is a competent woman.

There’s no way she would have kept her position if she wasn’t. A minor he may’ve been, but even when he was starting out, Vil Schoenheit knew better than to allow someone slothful or greedy to manage his talent and performances.

His father helped him weed out those burdened by these vices, even trusting his son’s judgement on those who tried to play on the long relationships his father had built with them, until Vil’s current agent was the last one left standing.

She was a protege of Vil’s father’s manager, one who already had experience managing older talent, but also a rather scrupulous set of morals concerning children.

Vil has always suspected this may have something to do with all the younger siblings and cousins she sometimes mentions. He’s not going to risk their professional relationship to confirm it though.

She calls him every morning to give him the rundown on his projects for the day, as well as any news that could be pertinent to him.

This morning, like many other mornings before it, she says, “You’re being scouted for several roles by a number of notable studios. Warui Bros. and Reynard Studios are still keeping the roles of the rival open—“

“Pass.” Vil states as he finishes daubing on his primer. “As I’ve said the last two times.”

“Well,” There’s the sound of nails tap-tap-tapping away on her tablet. “Akareiju Studios has a role they’ve requested you specifically for a new movie—!“

“With everything I’ve got on my plate?” He says dismissively. “Hardly. Send my—“

“You’d be the male lead.” She says.

Vil pauses for a moment, sponge hovering over his skin.

“It’s a movie adaptation of a light novel that’s been popular online lately,” She rattles off with her usual efficiency. “Lost Princess: Entangled with my Graceful Family. The premise is simple—Karatsumori Megami, a middle schooler mourning the death of her mother, discovers she is actually the kidnapped youngest daughter of a powerful family, and is whisked away to a life of luxury. Along the way she must adapt to the pressures of her new lifestyle, open up the hearts of her long lost siblings, befriend others at her new elite school, and thwart the bullying of her twisted, cruel stepsister, proving that she is worthy of her place in the family. The author of the novel has agreed to personally work on the screenplay alongside the producers.”

Vil is careful not to pull a face as he sweeps the foundation brush over his cheeks. Trite, as plots went, but that was what audiences enjoyed. Something uncomplicated for them to leave feeling satisfied as though the accomplishments of the fictional characters were their own.

“The role of the male lead in this film is filled by the female lead’s eldest brother.” She continues. “Gracey Enji, heir to the Gracey Corporation. Described as a princely, serious high schooler, burdened with the expectations of inheriting his father’s role as CEO and pushing aside his feelings to better protect the interests of his younger siblings from afar. He’s the one with the most faith in the female lead and does his best to help her out overtly and covertly, but doesn’t actually let his guard down until she recognizes his efforts and vows to support him.”

Vil tilts his head to the side, considering his own face.

Not this look, certainly, it’s too glamorous, too Vil Schoenheit.

But some more subdued makeup colors, while still tinted to enhance his natural features, a severe, almost-too-finely-tailored cut to his clothes, maybe a pair of glasses to emphasize the image of a hard-working professional…

Yes, he could see himself donning the mantle of “Gracey Enji” well.

But there’s still one quibble that needs to be dealt with before he can get too invested.

“Who else will be part of the cast?” His attempts to make the question sound light and careless fall slightly flat. “Anyone I know?”

She hems and haws, the clicking of her fingers flying over her tablet screen audible through the phone.

“Neige LeBlanche has been approached,” His agent says. “For a brief cameo during the funeral scene as the heroine’s childhood friend.”

A slow smirk spreads over Vil’s face.

“Send me the script. I’ll have a read-through.”

***

Idia’s been over the hype about LoPri since before it even got off the ground.

He heard about it through one of the threads he frequents on Dreddit, a recommendation from a well-known user whose opinion he’s kind wishy-washy on.

He tried it, found the writing bland, the characterization muddy yet restrictive, and really couldn’t vibe with the undertones of “nuclear family by blood is the best and only real family, any kids born outside of a conventional marriage are inherently thieving irredeemable scumbags”.

What kind of message is that in this day and age?? Even the gods had more liberated family relations than that. Idia will be the first to burn the world down for Ortho, but this depiction of siblings kind of pisses him off, a tiny bit.

Unfortunately, even though he’s written it off as barely-above-garbage-tier, all the normies online have jumped on the hype train to sing its praises.

He’d usually just avoid the fandom, block and move on, but it’s like a fungus. It keeps popping up, even in places that should be safe! Places that should be sacred!

MrLeotaGracey: how can you not read LoPri

MrLeotaGracey: were you born in a barn???

cLoThO115: ???

MrLeotaGracey: smh

MrLeotaGracey: leota-chan and megami-chan are the most beautiful in existence

littollethegurl: no one was talking about lopri tho??

MrLeotaGracey: literally actual goddesses

MrLeotaGracey: if premo has any brains theyll do a tribute for LoPri

MrLeotaGracey: its just common sense for a dying idol group like this lol

PreMo5Evrr: dude wtf

Places like the message board for Precipice Moirai!!

Idia sighs despondently.

What is the world coming to, that stans like this can come into a nice chat like this and begin trash talking like they own the place? True, this guy is more virulent than the average fan, but the fact that he can’t read the atmosphere is just depressing.

And some users are getting triggered, which will lead to them getting banned unless someone does something.

Gloomurai: lol imagine god defending a ln thats the embodiment of mid

Gloomurai: imo cant relate

MrLeotaGracey: kys

MrLeotaGracey: fucking virgin whore

MrLeotaGracey: cringe loser cunts who cant understand how amazing LoPri is dont deserve rights

And any second now…

*MrLeotaGracey was banned by Mod Rougelike105*

“Another thread saved. Thank you for your services, Mod-sshi.” Sure they won’t be able to see the little salute he’s giving them, but he’s in his room! There’s no one to judge him here.

Idia stretches with a sigh. It’s not much, but whacking LoPri trolls is honest work.

Ah, Muscle Red’s signed on!

Idia eagerly turns his mind to much more welcome matters, like smashing mobs, defeating bosses, and collecting loot with his best friend online.

***

Bella DeNiâmerée is a tolerable enough writer, though her penchant for constant similes leaves something to be desired.

Vil’s just glad the other screenwriters have toned down the worst of her literary foibles.

The rest of the cast and crew are pleasant, professional, and enjoyable to work with. There are a few roles that haven’t been filled yet—the kind elder sister, one or two of the heroine’s quirky friends, the villainess—but overall read-throughs have been productive and helped him gain a better understanding of the role he is to play.

And he is the male lead. Someone who will stand in the spotlight all the way to the end, a proud protector of this happy little family.

Great Seven, what an intoxicating feeling it is.

He’s read source material a few times by now, to understand the odd, tech-punk world that the story is based in.

It seems like it’s almost a carbon copy of Twisted Wonderland, but without the magic. Some of the terminology, like “Instagram”, “Siri”, or “motorcycle” is a little confusing, but overall it’s easy to understand his character’s motivations.

Maybe it’s because of however many times he’s been made to take up the role himself, but Vil seems incapable of not feeling…something for the villainess.

And yes, more often than not that something is exasperation or disappointment, but the point still stands.

A bastard child singled out from the others for her resemblance to her mother, the kidnapper who’d been raising the heroine as her own. Constantly striving to be recognized, to outdo the legitimate children through any means, returning their ire with blunt, cutting barbs.

And with the arrival of the heroine, the villainess seeks to oust the one aiming to usurp her place with a tenacity that is almost reminiscent of the Beautiful Queen’s own.

And yet she resorts to such ugly means to accomplish her end—bullying, cheating, even arranging for the heroine to be kidnapped! Of course, all this results in is her getting exposed at the heroine’s middle school graduation, rejecting her forgiveness and stomping off to disownment in defeat.

Vil despairs of her choices, even as he privately sympathizes with her motives.

Really, if Gracey “Yuu” Fuyuhime has just focused on proving her suitability over her uncultured sister rather than trying to drag her down out of fear, she would still be an uncontested member of the family. The levels she let herself sink to, those were her downfall.

Vil himself certainly would never fall to those depths.

Still, the new school year will start soon. Vil’s third year at Night Raven College, his last year as dorm head.

He’s going to do his upmost to ensure it’s one that everybody will remember and recognize him for.

***

There’s some commotion going on at the entrance ceremony.

Idia watches the feed from his tablet with some vague interest. One of the firsties has been outed by the mirror as having no magic in their soul, and now the familiar they brought along has set Kalim-sshi on fire.

Boy, is he glad he’s not there in person. Fs in chat for Kalim-sshi.

Still, he thinks as his fingers fly over his keyboard, his tablet taking a picture of the trouble-making first year and setting up an image search. It’d be troublesome if some magicless scrub tried to wrangle a monster to sneak in to orientation, hoping they could coast by to get in to NRC.

Still, a background check and confirmation of their status emailed to the headmaster should clean the situation up.

Though, isn’t it too much that he has to do all this for the headmaster? He really needs some kind of compensation. Perhaps an exemption from all of Vargus’ classes? Extra budget for Ignihyde? Maybe even some new specs for Ortho—!

A jingle erupts from Idia’s speakers. A match!

He chuckles to himself as he taps on the link his search has brought up. Honestly, if someone was going to break in to NRC, they should know better than to leave traces of themself all over the net, like some cheesy villain—

The image that has popped up is an illustration from a light novel. The closeup of a face filled with resentment and distrust, the kind of expression to send shivers down anyone’s spine. Overgrown bangs casting the eyes in shadow for that extra bit of menace.

The header at the top of the screen proclaims this image to be page 39 of Lost Princess. The introduction of the villainess.

Eh?

Eh??

***

The first year with the out of control familiar is shouting at Crowley.

“—and, as I’ve been trying to tell you, I do not want to be here. I don’t know who you are. I don’t know where I am. And honestly?! I’ve half a mind to press charges against you and your sham of an institution for abduction of a minor!!”

Crowley squawks some insulted response as Vil rolls his eyes. Honestly, who did this magicless potato think they were?

Even if they did have a vaguely familiar face, it’s disappointing to see they’re ignorant of the best school in Twisted Wonderland. Though, maybe this dearth of knowledge is why they thought bringing a familiar they couldn’t control to Night Raven College was a good idea.

“Pomefiore, this way.” He calls. “Rook, if you could take the lead?”

He needs to keep an eye on that poison apple who’s now going to be under his care. Make sure he doesn’t do anything foolish, like try to escape.

As he glances behind him, he can see the headmaster and the magicless potato asking something else of the Dark Mirror. The potato is growing more and more agitated.

Oh well. It’s hardly his concern. He turns to follow—

“Kyoto? Tokyo?! Japan?! Do those mean nothing to you?!”

Vil feels himself stop despite his every intention.

He stares at the teenager who’s thrown their hood back, desperation in every inch of their frame.

The teenager who is the spitting image of the villainess in the light novel he’s the lead in the movie of.

Who has just name dropped the fantasy land said light novel takes place in.

What the fuck.

#twisted wonderland #twst #vil schoenheit #idia shroud #twisted wonderland yuu #twst yuu #villainous paranoiac yuu #vil & idia in reverse isekai land #gracey fuyuhime #gracey leota #gracey enji #gracey megami #karatsumori megami

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sinner-sunflower · 26 days

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P.2 HH Lucifer-centric AU 13/?

STORY 1, PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 10, PART 11, PART 12, PART 14, PART 14.5, PART 15, PART 16, PART 17, PART 18, PART 19, PART 20, PART 21, PART 22

Luci is the older sib among the Sins but he's the youngest among the Archangels.

I guess technically, he's the suffering middle child.

If y'all see a mention baby bro or little brother in the Prequel, pretend like you didn't see it ;laksldakl;

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

Perhaps Lucifer should've requested a 1 visitor per visit rule just like he should've expected that he's going to get tackled and suffocated in physical affection by the Sins and Charlie as soon as Belphegor opened the door.

Not that he doesn't like the hugs but he's just one tiny guy and he's pretty sure he's about to be buried alive under these giants.

Thank fuck for Belphegor for prying them off of him before he actually suffocated.

Belphegor: What did I say?! What did I just say?! What are you all? Children?!

A gasp and a coughing fit later, he finally calmed down enough to get his breathing steady. He thanks Alastor for the water, taking huge sips to fix his throat.

'Not to self: don't get buried alive. It's not a fun experience.'

He looks over at the now kneeling Charlie and Sins, head bowed as the Sin of Sloth relentlessly scolds them.

Belphegor: -powers in Hell and you can't follow one simple rule? May I remind you all what happens if I'm disobeyed while I'm treating someone?

All: Visiting rights will be stripped off.

Belphegor: That's right. And I am not above putting a ward on any of you to make it stay that way.

Never mess with Dr. Belphegor. As much as Lucifer is amused, he takes pity on his kids (his kids!) and speaks up to save them from the doctor's wrath.

Lucifer: I think they get it, Bel.

The kneeling demons cower as Belphegor sends them one last glare before huffing and went to typing something in her tablet again.

Beelzebub: Sorry for getting carried away, babe. We just got scared.

Asmodeus: Charlie's call really scared us. Did something happen in Heaven?

Satan: Tell me if that bastard Michael did this, I'll go to Heaven myself and beat his ass! In fact, I'm going over there right now. Open a portal.

Leviathan: Christ, Satan. Can you do one minute without thinking of doing something impulsive?

Satan: Don't say that name here! And fuck you! You're one to talk. Which one of us almost obliterated their ring in anger earlier, huh??

Lucifer: Wha- Levi??

Leviathan: I have no idea what you're talking about.

Mammon: Wait, is that why the elevator took so fuckin long to work? I thought I was gonna be stuck there foreva!

Charlie: At least you're all here now!

Charlie's wholesome sentiment made her aunts and uncles coo, wholeheartedly agreeing with her.

Lucifer: My duckie is right. Even though I said I was fine, you all still came for me. I'm starting to feel bad about making you all rush here every time I get hurt.

Satan: Don't you dare. No one is forcing us to be here.

Beelzebub: Right! Plus you always did the same for us.

He remembers those moments. When the rings formed and the Sins grew enough to move and handle them on their own, he was pretty lonely. Sure, he had Lilith, but children brought a different kind of joy with their company.

Plus, he loved indulging in others and all the children wanted was his attention, which he was always so happy to give.

The last person he would've thought to call him for help first was, believe it or not, Leviathan.

Levi had always presented himself as independent, acting like he's not as young as he was. Lucifer saw the aquatic demon's admiration for him, often mimicking how he talks, walks, and even dresses.

Lilith says it's envy (Because what else could it be, Luci? Isn't he the Sin of Envy?) but Lucifer knows better. He knows that Leviathan only looks at him in admiration. He looks at him like he hung the stars. Like Lucifer means something. Like he deserves to be looked at that way.

He doesn't but he's not going to tell young Leviathan that.

Anyway, Levi couldn't get the raging storms of Envy under control despite trying so hard. He was crying, begging Lucifer to believe that he did everything he could but nothing was working.

So he did what every good sibling/pseudo-father wouldo.

He drops everything and headed straight to Envy. In fact, he ran so fast he forgot to tell Lilith he was leaving.

Instead of fixing the situation himself, Lucifer chose that moment to teach Leviathan. He stayed in Envy until the other got it and not once did he berate Levi for not knowing something that wasn't even taught. It was his fault after all that Levi couldn't control it as he should've known that it doesn't come to everyone that easily.

The little scolding he got from Lilith when he came home super late was worth seeing a proud face on little Levi.

Lucifer: And I always will.

When it doesn't look like they're leaving him anytime soon, he figures he could just tell them now. He sat up a little straighter and internally braces himself for the expected uproar.

Lucifer: Heaven is on the verge of a civil war.

He winces. 'Way to rip off the bandaid, Lucifer.'

The room halted. They stared at him as they try to comprehend what he said just said. Then all at once, everyone bursts into screaming and panic, asking questions at him, at each other, at no one, at everyone. It was chaos and Lucifer can feel something rumble inside him. He figures Roo is enjoying all this unfold.

To be fair, he should've thought better than to say something like that out of the blue.

Lucifer: Sorry from dropping a bomb like that suddenly.

Satan: A bomb???

Mammon: Mate, that's a fuckin' nuclear one if I know one! The fuck you mean a war??

Lucifer: A civil war.

Charlie: What? How are we roped in it?? It's not because of the last extermination right?

Belphegor: You couldn't have told us this the moment you arrived?

Satan: Are we involved? Is that why Michael shot a freakin' laser through the sky??

Lucifer: No but-

Beelzebub: Oh god.

Lucifer: Guys, if you just-

Leviathan: Ozzie, how is our forces? Do you think we have enough manpower?

Lucifer: Guys-

Asmodeus: If it's only our fighting forces, then no. I'm sure a lot of demons would be willing to fight. Plus we have the firepower.

Lucifer: I-

Belphegor: Do we even know if angelic weapons would harm a higher ranked angel?

Oh for fucks-

Lucifer: Ê̵̡̟͔͉̱͓͓̪̝̫͙͇̞͛̓͐͒͒̎͒̋͘Ǹ̶̛͙̲̮͓͈̳̗̟̣̊̍͋́̇̀̋̐́̚̕͜O̷͇͔̒̇͋́͋́̓́͂́͆͋̅͘U̴̡̙̫͕̞̩̓̐̊̚��̭̤̤͙̠͜G̵͖͇̘̘̩̟̗̠̬̐̈́͛́̾̈́̾̍́̈́̏͠͝H̶̢̬͉̯̞͇̯͈͙̜̬͚̟͙̊̈́͋͂̂̾̒̅̈́̆͊͗͂̚͝.̷̧͇͔͖̜̳̲̪̤͇̇͊͑̋͛̾̓͜͜

The room rattles from his voice. He stop his horns and halo from coming out. Lucifer can't see it but everyone else is staring at him in abject horror as his skin turned into a dark, glitchy mess.

He calms himself by taking in deep breathes until the fire in his mouth extinguishes.

Lucifer: Can I speak now?

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imintoomanyfandomscuzihaveadhd · 1 year

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Alright so pulling this right out of my ass but spider as a child or a toddler spider knowing him he would ran in a room that's off limits but he stole one of the scientist card running from recom and from quaritch in there base since spider is a 16 year old so he is a little trouble maker when spider is running he ran right beside a scientist grabbing there card running in the lab swaps the card running in locking it spider this poor boy the old theme we all know and somewhat love curiosity killed the cat he sees a bottle of blueish with white in it so he grab it and drink it when he put it down he heard the door open in the lab Finley hearing quaritch cussing up a storm walking inside with Lyle spider immediately hide under a table keeping him unseen until he slowly close his eyes the darkness he falling as he thought no he was turned into a toddler quaritch on the right still cussing without a filter Lyle looking around calling for spider until he felt something touch his leg he looked down to see a toddler he and for some reason I can imagine spider calling Lyle like "papa" because he sees Lyle first he would pick up the little spider and walked to miles telling him how he or how spider find him and spider god bless his tiny little soul he calls miles "Dada" what would they do with a toddler spider what if it can't be fix?

Recoms Raising Spider Headcanons

AHHHHHH 🥰🥰🥰 I love this

A/N: Ok just for plot convince let’s say the effects of the mysterious potion only last 16 days. 1 day=1 year so it takes about 2 weeks for spider to get back to normal. Also we’re just gonna pretend that it reset his hair so no dreads(It still gets long as hell tho)

774 Words

Warnings: fluff, Cussing

@hyperfixatedfandomer @naavispider

Look at his instincts finding his dad’s 😭. It’s like that one episode in spongebob where him and Patrick have the baby clam (Lyle is the mom✨)

Quaritchs emotions are through the roof😭

1.he’s pissed spider ran off in the first place and on top of that causing more problems by turning into a toddler

2.he’s stressed ASF. Demanding everygod damn scientist in that lab to tell him what’s going on and to fix his boy(they were testing the shit that comes from the tulkans)

3.He’s also kinda emotional tho because he didn’t get to see spider grow up into a teenager and now he has that opportunity.

I like to think spider looked ALOT like quaritch when he was little but as he got older started to look like Paz.

TODDLER STAGE(1-3)

The worst stage

None of the recoms sleep during these days

Spiders sleep schedule is so fucked up from living in the lab

He’s one of those nocturnal toddlers

Sleeps all throughout the day and is up all night

He’s a fast little fucker

Quaritch now understands how he got the name spider

He’ll will look away for one minute and all of the sudden spiders on top of a 8ft recom dresser

They obviously don’t have toddler clothes so he’s just wearing the smallest adult shirt they could find and it’s still huge

I can see them gushing over his curls

He definitely got those from paz

Spiders a bad ass toddler, I’m talking getting in stuff he’s not supposed to, biting, hitting, kicking, spitting, running

At one point Lyle says fuck it and makes a child leash

Despite being a literal demon he’s really clingy

Attached to Lyle and quaritch at the hip

Like quaritch had to go a patrol outside so he left spider with the medbay folks, it broke his heart when he shut the door and heard spiders little feet running to the door crying for dada to come back

He almost called the whole mission off

He definitely holds the recoms tails when following the around

EARLY CHILDHOOD STAGE(4-5)

Probably the easiest stage the recoms had to deal with

I mean spider was still a hell spawn but he was more reserved

The recoms were so drained from toddler spider they just shoved a tablet in his face

It worked though

Still really clingy (and quaritch loves it)

Still looks a lot like a mini quaritch

Not as active as they’re used to him being

MID CHILDHOOD STAGE(6-9)

This I were his ADHD Shines

Quaritch has never seen a kid this hyperactive in both his lifetimes

Like they look up and this boy is 50ft in the air using the pipes on the ceiling as monkey bars

Quaritch nearly dies from many heart attacks during this stage

Spiders finally big enough to fit into the exopacks and go with the recoms on patrol

Y’all remember Trazan 2 where Tazan is a kid yea that’s just spider

Lyle also teachs him to shoot (yk with the guns he can lift)

Spider has absolutely no patience

Annoys the hell out of EVERYONE, nobody’s safe

The tablet technique doesn’t work in this stage because his attention span is to small to focus

Quaritch notices he’s starting to look and act like Paz more

Like spiders hair is starting to get darker and his mother’s attitude is starting to show

PRE-TEEN STAGE(10-12)

Speaking of attitude it gets 10x worse in this stage

The second worst stage

This is the stage quaritch has been dreading since the toddler stage

He’s starting to turn into the spider they kno and love

His hair has now reached his shoulders

Z-dog starts putting Viking braids in his hair

He gets really attached to Z-dog in this stage

They’re the bitchy attitude duo

Literally doesn’t want to cooperate with anyone

Him and quaritch are at each other’s throats

Spiders always hungry and eats ungodly amounts of food

I mean he’s a growing boy

His Navi instincts are coming back to him

Like he disappears for like 15 minutes, all the recoms are panicking, and then spider shows up covered in war paint and mud with like 6 fish on his homemade spear

TEEN STAGE (13-16)

Finally

Spiders basically back

When that last day come he barley remembers anything that happened

It’s all like a blur to him

He wakes up pissed on that last day storms into recom meeting “WTF HAPPENED TO MY HAIR!” Cuz yk his dreads are gone

He honestly doesn’t remember most of it but loves listening to the recoms talk about the past 2 weeks

#avatar #fandom #avatarfanfic #avatarwayofthewater #spider socorro #avatar way of water #miles quaritch #avatar 2 #lyle wainfleet #recoms #miles socorro #miles spider socorro #headcanon

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sequinsmile-x · 11 months

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Invasion - Part 1

She hears footsteps, the clear sound of someone trying, and failing, to be quiet.

There was someone downstairs.

Emily is home on maternity leave, and Aaron is away on a case, when someone breaks into their house.

Part 1/2

-x-

Hi friends!

So, @hancydrewfan left a comment on a fic of mine saying I should do a home invasion/hostage situation in their own home. My brain took it and ran with it and this is what we ended up with.

Part 2 will be up tomorrow!

-x-

Words: 3k

Warning: Canon typical violence

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

Aaron yawns as he sits down, running his hand through his hair as he watches the team take down everything on the boards they’d set up. The case had been a relatively quick one, something they had solved in three days, and in Baltimore, mercifully close to home.

“I bet you’re looking forward to getting home,” Dave says, taking a seat next to Aaron and smiling when he looks up at him, “At least we aren’t that far away for your first case back.”

Aaron hums, a smile spreading across his face as he thinks about home, about his family waiting there for him. Emily was on maternity leave, her absence at work sharply felt by no one more than him. This had been his first case back since their daughter was born, entering the world dramatically and suddenly by c-section only three weeks ago, and he missed the gentle chaos of their life the last few weeks.

He missed being woken up every couple of hours by their grisly newborn, Mia, who only ever seemed to find comfort in the arms of one of her parents. He missed sleeping next to his wife, to the way she allowed him to help her, well aware that even she couldn’t pretend recovering from abdominal surgery was easy. He missed spending him with his son, those long, but fleeting, weeks without work interrupting them the most time they’d had together since the aftermath of Haley’s death.

He knew Emily had missed him too. She’d called him every night, her voice full of exhaustion and joy in equal measure, speaking quietly as Mia slept on her chest or in the bassinet next to her side of the bed. She swore that the heaviest lifting she had done was their tiny newborn, and he could picture how she would have raised her eyebrow at him as she explained that Penelope had come over to help with cleaning and cooking, something he knew he’d be in trouble for organising.

“I forgot how tiring it is having a newborn,” he says, chuckling when Dave laughs at him, “The only thing Mia hates more than sleep is being put down.”

Dave smirks, “It probably doesn’t help you’re a lot older than you were the last time you did this.”

He nods, knowing his friend is right, that it was absolutely a factor. His phone rings on the tablet in front of him, Penelope’s name flashing on the screen, and he picks it up, speaking to Dave before he answers.

“You’re right, but just know if you say anything about age to Emily I won’t be able to protect you,” he quips before answering the call, “Please don’t tell me you have another case, Garcia, I’d quite like to get home to my family.”

“No, sir, it’s not…it’s not that.”

The catch in her throat, the way her voice shakes makes his blood run cold, his spin tingle, and he sits up straight in his chair, “What’s wrong?”

Penelope sighs down the line, “I have an alert set up for all of our addresses so I can be aware if something happens or if 911 is called. I’ve had it since I was shot, but it’s never really been needed-”

“Penelope,” he says, cutting her off, his nerves fraying as she spirals, “Tell me what is wrong.”

There’s a beat of silence, a moment of quiet that seems louder than her rambling, but then he hears her suck in a breath.

“Your neighbours called 911,” she says, her voice shaking again, “They heard a disturbance and a gunshot. It’s a suspected home invasion.”

His world collapses in on him, his past colliding with his future, leaving him in a tailspin he isn’t sure will ever stop.

___

Earlier That Night

Emily groans as she wakes up, sure she’d only just closed her eyes, her exhaustion nothing short of bone deep. She looks over to the bassinet just a few feet from the bed and sees that Mia is still fast asleep. She smiles at the slackness of her little face, at how she looks exactly like Aaron when she's sleeping, although he’d say she looked like her.

The three weeks that had passed since she was born had been a blur. The edges of them hazy with love, joy and exhaustion. She missed the little bubble they’d lived in for the last few weeks, just her, Aaron, Mia and Jack. The four of them learning what their family looked like now it was bigger.

Aaron was originally only going to take two weeks off, but he’d taken another week once Emily’s labour had become very scary very quickly. She knew he’d wanted to take more, that if it was up to him he’d have been off for the whole time she was, but she’d encouraged him to go back, well aware that she also had to learn how to do this herself.

Even if he did send their friends around to check on her a couple of times a day. He’d been gone for three days, and their fridge and freezer were stuffed full of casseroles and their pantry was full of baked goods from Jessica and Penelope. Even Will had popped around with Henry yesterday, armed with toys to distract Jack, homemade beignets and the offer to hold Mia whilst Emily took a shower.

She knew that they all meant well, her husband included. She knew that it took a village, but she was starting to feel coddled. She had spent her whole life looking after herself, defending and protecting herself when no one else would, and even after over two years of being with Aaron, and one year of that as his wife, she was still adjusting to being loved the way he loved her.

Especially now her body was swimming with post-partum hormones and a lack of sleep.

She yawns and wonders for a moment what’s woken her up if Mia is still asleep, but then she hears the whisper from the end of the bed.

“Emily?”

She looks over and sees Jack standing there, the 7-year-olds hair a mess and his eyes wide with panic. It wasn’t a rare sight in their home. Jack had always been prone to nightmares, to sneaking into their room in the middle of the night to seek out their comfort. He’d sleep right in between them, able to relax once he knew he was safe, that his monster was dead and gone. They’d started to get better before Mia was born, time and distance from what had happened to him and his mother enough to ensure his nightmares were few and far between.

The change in routine, and the lack of sleep throughout the Hotchner house, meant that the nightmares had come back a little. Something that she knows frustrated the little boy more than he could put into words.

She sits up in bed, wincing slightly as she feels a now familiar pull in her gut, the pain from her c-section getting better each day but still ever-present, lingering in the corners of her subconscious until it made itself known.

“Are you ok sweetie?” She asks, whispering so she doesn’t wake up Mia, well aware that the baby would likely want feeding soon anyway.

He shakes his head and steps towards her side of the bed, “I got up to go to the bathroom, and I heard a noise downstairs,” he says, swallowing so thickly she can see the panic lodged in his throat, “I think someone is down there.”

She sighs softly and smiles at him, “Jack, did you have a nightmare? You can sleep in here-”

“No, I really heard something,” he says, stepping towards her again, “Someone is down there.”

It was something that often featured in his nightmares. Memories from when he’d hidden in Aaron’s old office and could hear everything that had happened downstairs twisting into his current reality. The monster that haunted him had a name and a face, and even with therapy, it was hard to move past. To learn how to live around.

“Sweetheart-”

She’s cut off by a crash downstairs, a loud noise as something falls off of a counter and hits the ground. For a second she convinces herself it’s the cat. Sergio was known for skulking around downstairs in the night and he’d knocked things over before. But she looks at Aaron’s pillow and sees the cat fast asleep, his black fur standing out against the white pillow even in the low light of the room. Curled up and not aware of anything going on around him, and she feels her heart seize in her chest.

Then she hears footsteps, the clear sound of someone trying, and failing, to be quiet.

There was someone downstairs.

She knows it’s not Aaron. For a start, he’d text her when he was on the way home for this exact reason. There had been a moment when they were freshly together, and she’d just given him a key to her place, and he’d snuck in to surprise her one night after Jack had asked to stay at Jessica’s. Emily had woken up, her ability to sleep deeply still affected by everything that had happened with Doyle at the time, and assumed someone had broken in.

It had taken weeks for Aaron’s broken nose to heal, and the team still made fun of him for it even now. She’d felt awful the moment she realised it was him, guilt colouring her cheeks and flooding her body as she drove him to the hospital to get it fixed.

Ever since, if they were going home separately for whatever reason, he’d text when he was on the way so she knew it was him.

I’ll be home soon, please don’t punch me in the face.

Plus, she’d recognise his footsteps anywhere. A comforting and familiar sound, especially in the last few weeks as he paced with their baby girl in his arms and the complete opposite of this.

She grabbles for her phone on the nightstand just to double-check she hadn’t missed something, and she closes her eyes, giving herself a moment to centre herself when she sees nothing.

“Emily?”

She swallows thickly and puts her phone on silent before she stands up, clenching her teeth to hide a wince from Jack as she does so. She slips the phone into the pocket of the pyjama pants she was wearing, an old pair of Aaron’s, and she smiles at Jack, hoping it’s reassuring.

“I need you to do exactly what I say, ok, sweetheart?” she says, waiting for him to nod before she picks up Mia, cradling the newborn in her arms, feeling nothing short of grateful when the baby doesn’t wake up. “Good boy, now follow me.”

She walks into the closet, happier than ever that she’d managed to convince Aaron to go for the house with the giant walk-in. She checks Jack is still with her and she leads him to the farthest corner, hidden from the entrance by Aaron’s suit jackets and shirts.

“Sit down for me honey, ok?” She says, still whispering and Jack does as he’s asked. He looks impossibly small in amongst his father’s clothes and it makes her heart ache. She smiles at him and hands him Mia, her smile shaking slightly as he automatically puts his arms in the position they’d taught him in the hospital room when he came to see his sister for the first time, “Make sure you support her head. You’ve got her?”

“I’ve got her.”

Emily nods, “You stay here. No matter what. You stay here and stay quiet until I come to get you.”

Jack nods fiercely, tightening his hold on his little sister, “Love you, Emily.”

She leans forward and presses a kiss to his forehead before she does the same with Mia, taking a second to stroke her fingers over the baby’s dark hair.

“I love you too, both of you,” she replies, “Now-”

“Stay quiet and stay here,” he says, repeating her words back to her, and she nods, running her fingers through his messy hair before she stands back up, not able to feel the pull in her lower abdomen that she knows is there.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can be,” she assures him, knowing that it’s a promise.

That it’s an absolute certainty that she won’t let anything happen to her children.

___

Dave insists on driving him home.

He wrestles the car keys from his hands, showing strength Aaron didn’t think his friend had. Before insisting that he would take him home. That Emily would kill them both if Aaron got hurt crashing his car because he was too distracted to drive safely.

Dave doesn’t drive anywhere near as fast as Aaron wants him to, but he does put on the blue lights, the drive that should have taken over an hour taking a little less than 40 minutes door to door. Aaron doesn’t speak the whole way, barely acknowledging Dave’s attempts to tell him everything would be fine with nothing more than a grunt and a tightening of his fists in his lap.

He wants to believe him. He wants to believe that he would get home to find it was all over, that Emily and the kids were fine, or, even better, that it had been a misunderstanding. That somehow the neighbours had heard a car backfiring and thought it was a gunshot, and that the disturbance they’d reported was another house.

He wants to believe him, but he can’t. He’d never been that lucky. Every place he’d lived had been stained with violence. It had lived in the walls of his childhood home, growing on everything like mould, leading him to a career where he sought it out. A strange sense of comfort in the familiarity of it. His home with Haley had been mercifully free of it until she was killed there. Foyet’s final victory over him was the fact he’d taken away one of the few places he’d ever felt safe. He’d also attacked him in his apartment, the blood that had marked the carpet still visible to Aaron even years after it had been cleaned up. Something he had been able to see right up until he handed the keys over to the new tenant when he, Jack and a pregnant Emily moved out into the home they now lived in.

A part of him had been waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the violence and pain to catch up with him as it always had, lingering in the shadows of everything he’d ever done.

He just hoped that Emily and the kids hadn’t been caught up in it too. He’d tried calling her more than once but she hadn’t answered, the phone ringing through to voice mail every time.

He knows Emily is more than capable. That she’s more highly trained than him, that she used to be a literal spy. But she was recovering still from surgery. She could barely stand up without wincing and she was still walking slowly to prevent pain from lancing through her body. He’d wanted to stay at home for at least another week but she’d convinced him not to. He’d listened, aware that she wanted to spend time alone with Mia, and that he was bordering on annoying his wife with how he was hovering.

His hopes of coming home and being chastised by her for organising their friends to come to bring her and the kids both food and company, all while she had a glint in her eye that let him know she actually appreciated it but would never say it, are long gone. Left behind in the precinct of a town whose name he won’t remember a month from now.

All he wants now is to see them. To hug his wife and his children, and to come to terms with the fact his house, another place he had considered his sanctuary, had been tainted.

Aaron barely waits for Dave to stop the car before he’s out of it, running towards the cops who are standing on his porch, crime scene tape wrapped around his front door in a way that makes his stomach flip and bile rush up his throat. He swallows thickly, and already has his badge in hand as he approaches the cops, their eyebrows raised as they look at him.

“They got the Feds doing B&E’s now?” One of them asks, exchanging a smile with his partner, and Aaron knows the only reason he doesn’t push the guy against the wall by his throat is that Dave makes it to his side, his hand firmly on Aaron’s shoulder.

“This is my house,” Aaron grits out, his voice strained, “My wife and kids…they were here alone. Where are they?”

“Oh,” the cops says, flashing Aaron an apologetic smile, “They were taken to the hospital, along with the guy who broke in.”

He feels his heart drop into his stomach, the world slowing down around him as he struggles to draw in a breath. He should have been here. He should have insisted he took more time off.

He never should have left them.

“The hospital? Why what’s wrong?”

“We don’t know, Sir. We got here after they left, but apparently, the EMTs insisted that your wife went. The ambulance left a little while ago, we’re here until the crime scene is cleared by the detectives.”

Aaron nods, his home being referred to as a crime scene making the scars on his chest burn. The phantom blade of Foyet’s knife takes his breath away and he presses his hand to where the thickest one laid underneath his shirt. He barely takes any more information in as Dave asks what hospital Emily and the kids had been taken to, his hand tight on Aaron’s shoulder.

He walks towards the car as a ghost of himself, his jaw tight as worst-case scenarios paint vivid pictures in his mind, each one more bright and terrible than the last.

-x-

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#hotchniss #emily prentiss #aaron hotchner fanfiction #emily prentiss fanfiction #hotchniss fan fic #aaron x emily #aaron hotchner #hotchniss fanfic #aaron hotchner x emily prentiss #hotchniss fanfiction

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theyanderespecialist · 1 year

Text

Henry's Nightguard (Headcanons/Scenario) Henry Emily X Nightguard Reader (FNAF/Five Nights At Freddy’s

#FNAF #Yandere #HenryEmily #FiveNightsAtFreddys #Reader #Scenario #Headcanons #YandereFNAF #YandereHenryEmily #HenryEmilyXReader #Nightguard

[Hello My Sexy Muffins, This is something I had a while to do, I will also be making this in a youtube video. This was a request from Tumblr and is long overdue. So Please Enjoy!]

-These will be the headcanons and scenario of Henry Emily with a Female Night Guard Reader/Listener-

(Disclaimer: Henry Emily is not yandere in canon, this is just for fun and not to be taken seriously at all. Simping for fictional yanderes and fictional characters is fine as long as you separate fiction from reality and do not be gross about it. Yanderes are not ideal partners to have in real life.)

-Headcanons With Henry Emily X Female Nightguard Reader-

.He had brought you in on his plan for William.

.Using you to spy on William and do what needed to be done.

.The thing he did not think of happening was falling in love with you.

.You were so so stunning he just could not let it go.

.So he would be the type to start to talk to you more and get to know you more.

.The more he got to know you the more he fell into obsessive love with you.

.You are a beautiful woman though he is older than you.

.At the very least old enough to be your older brother or at most for you to be a daughter!

.He was not a creepy old man.

.He had to remind himself of that.

.Though he would spend nights with you and it was driving him mad.

.He decides what is the worse thing that can happen.

.He can confess his feelings to you and give it a shot.

.He is the type to keep you by his side.

.He deals with rivals by making you work longer shifts with him.

.That way you are spending time with him and he is also making you tired so you will NOT want to spend time with anyone else.

.He knows his days with you are the best.

.Maybe he could even grow old with you.

.He would confess to you on one of those long shifts.

.If you said yes he would be happy and you would spend that night very much doing other stuff.

.If you said no he lets that sink in and he is plotting and planning on how he can make you his.

.Without hurting you of course.

.With you his darling nightguard he trusts you a lot.

.Also he worries about it constantly.

.He also would isolate you so you would only work with him.

.That way he would be the only one to see you for more than 12 hours a day.

.There is no way you would not get feelings for him, it is all a matter of time.

.Also he would stalk you, following you home and making sure you got enough sleep.

.Bringing extra food with him on night shifts to make sure you eat.

.Always encouraging you and making sure you are confident in yourself.

.Is a supportive yandere and also very self sacrificing type.

-Now Onto the Scenario with you and Henry please Enjoy-

(Yes this will be in Henry's POV so as I say I it is as Henry)

(Henry's POV)

I looked at her as we sit in the office, she is so beautiful. I longed to be able to be with her. Not just watch over her as we sit here. I know I am kind of creepy to her. I am almost old enough to be her father for christ's sake. I looked at her again and watch her as she reads her book and eat (fav/meal) that I made for her. She thinks I just had extra but I had made it with her in mine as I knew it was her favorite.

She looks up at me. "You are doing it again." She tells me.

"What?" I ask.

"Staring at me and getting lost in thought you do it a lot." She says.

I blush and clear my throat. "Sorry."

"It is okay, just wondering what you think about when you do that. Are you thinking about her?"

She is referring to my daughter, Charlie. I look away. "No I am not." I say and pick up the tablet to flick through the cameras."

When I worked here with her the animatronics did not seem as interested in us. When she worked here alone, she had some trouble, but not as much as Michael. Michael is the spitting image of his father. So They assume that Michael is the man that killed them and try to attack him.

"Henry?" She asks. "Why did you hire me?"

"Because I needed a new night guard," I tell her, which was true, she was also very beautiful.

"Yeah, but Michael told me you normally only keep them for about a week." She states. "Though you told me what is really going on, then showed me the proof, I did not leave and now we are here. So why tell me and keep me."

"I have grown to care for you." I tell which was partly true.

"Ok." She says and then hits the button as Bonnie had wandered back here. "I feel bad for them, so much pain. So this Remnant thing, what if the soul leaves but the pain stays."

We got to talking about that and soon it was the morning. She gave a face-cracking yawn. "Looks like it is time for me to hit the sack." She says. "See you tonight Henry."

"(Name) wait!" I say and she turns to me. "I have feelings for you, would you like to grab dinner before our shift?"

I blurted it out without thinking and she laughs I felt my heart sink.

"It is about time you asked." She laughed.

Wait...

"I know the way you look at me Henry, pick me up at eight."

I watched her walk away and my heart raced and a grin comes to my face. I told her! I told her how I felt and she said yes! She is one step closer to being mine! Mine! All MINE!

Everything is getting better and soon Charlie will be at peace and she will be MINE Forever.

[YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS another chapter done, I hope you all enjoyed and yes I will do a different William one at a different time, please enjoy and stay sexy!]

#yandere #yandere henry emily #yandere fnaf #yandere five nights at freddys #yandere headcanons #yandere scenario #scenario #headcanons #five nights at freddy's #fnaf #fnaf henry emily #henry emily #henry emily x reader #reader #female reader #female night guard #nightguard reader

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akiiireix · 4 months

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Killed for Sport (Tsukishima Assassin AU)

"Should I ask you why you have a knife strapped to your leg?"

"It's a dagger actually. And no, you shouldn't." The blonde female glared at the blond male while answering. "And don't act so surprised Kei, you have a gun on yourself ." She continued.

Smirking, the boy reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun. "Well, would you look at that? Are you by any chance psychic Tsukishima?"

No sooner did he say those words than he felt the tip of the dagger against his neck. "Call me that again and I will not hesitate to slit your neck. It's (Y/N)." she snarled. "Just because your father decided to fuck around with my mom doesn't mean we're related."

Her actions didn't make him flinch — not one bit.

Pushing her hand away he dusted his suit and walked past her like it was nothing, "Oh darling sister, that fucking around is the reason you were born in the first place."

He wasn't wrong, clearly he knew it and she knew it too which is what ticked her off. Gripping the dagger in anger, she slowly put it back on her leg and walked behind him.

"Just don't interfere with my work or you might accidentally get hurt, big brother." She ended with a tight-lipped smile and narrow eyes, leaving before he could even respond.

Of course none of that had an effect on him either. He simply chuckled in amusement. "I don't need to do much to get on her nerves."

Kei. Kei Tsukishima was one of the top assassins in Tokyo. After all, he did come from the Tsukishima family and they were all raised to be trained assassins. It was more like a family business for them. Naturally, his half sister (Y/N) Tsukishima was also trained and made to do jobs. She was a year younger than him but stood at 5'9 which really ticked him off sometimes, seeing as how she might reach him soon enough.

At the age of 18, he had already made his way to the top, being the best at what he does. The only other person who came close to him in getting the job done was (Y/N) and so he made it his life's mission to be the perfect thorn in her side.

Isn't that what older brothers are supposed to do?

"Tsukki, that wasn't playing nice." A voice called out from behind him. Not turning to look at the person, he simply replies emotionless.

"I never agreed to play nice Yamaguchi."

"Nevermind her, what's our job this time?" He asks the boy swiftly.

Tadashi Yamaguchi wasn't an assassin like his best friend, rather he worked on the sidelines as his assistant — his eyes and ears on all jobs.

He shook his head in disappointment at the change in subject "Our target this time is Mahiru Kurota" he turns the tablet in Tsukishima's direction and shows him the picture of the guy before continuing. "And he's been accused of doping athletes in exchange for money—"

"Doping is common and normal. Why exactly am I being sent to kill this guy?" He broke in, interrupting Yamaguchi. "Tsukki if you let me finish you'd know." He answered in annoyance.

Rolling his eyes, Tsukishima motions him to continue what he was saying earlier. "Soon after their payments, these same athletes are found dead. They're made to look like accidents but....."

"But that might not be the case." Tsukishima ends after listening to him. Yamaguchi nods in affirmation. "So this guy is taking the money and then killing them off. Ahh what a pain, I couldn't care less about those athletes you know. But a job is a job and since I'm being paid—

"500,000 Yen" Yamaguchi inputs.

"Right, so let's get the job done." He went quiet for a second before he continued. "Is there anything else I should know or do?" He asks.

Yamaguchi goes through his the job details before he lifts up his head and answers. "You've been asked to use you status as Volleyball Player in Karasuno to get close to him."

"Fine." He answers simply.

"That about sums it up. He's hosting a party right now, here's your invitation." He hands him an envelope. "And I'll be monitoring you but they're having a body check at the entrance so we cannot put any electronics on you for communication."

Nodding in response Tsukishima makes his way over to the entrance. "Oh and about (Y/N)—" he tries to call out.

"I don't want to listen to anything about her right now. I'm on a job." and with that he starts walking. Stopping short, he takes out the gun he had had in his coat and throws it towards Yamaguchi.

"Don't think I'll be allowed in with that." He said and walks out of view

"Don't tell me later that I didn't try to warn you." Yamaguchi mumbled as he walked back to the parked van he came in.

At the door, a guard asked for his invitation. "You're Kei Tsukishima?" He asks in suspicion. "Isn't that what's written on the invitation?" Tsukishima lowers his eyes at the guard. "Do the work you're assigned to before I have a chat with your boss about these issues."

Taken aback, the guard apologized profusely as he let Tsukishima enter the party. "The boss is in the back room." He added, hoping that this information would let his past mistake slide.

Clicking his tongue, Tsukishima enters, passing all the drunk and euphoric teens before going through the mentioned door.

"— and the girls team might not be as good as the boys team but this year we're sure to win. After all I am trained by the best middle blocker in the school."

A familiar voice was heard talking as soon as he entered. To his horror he saw (Y/N) sitting across Mahiru and having a chat with him. So this was what Yamaguchi had probably been trying to tell me.

When the two of them noticed him standing at he door, Mahiru got up from his seat, "Kei Tsukishima, I presume. So nice to finally meet you in person." He offers his hand for a handshake.

Tsukishima instead ignores him and nods. "Ahem... So right take a seat please and we can work on the contract." He sits beside (Y/N) who's grinning at him evily.

She had probably figured out the fact that he hadn't known she would be here too. "Hello brother, we were just talking about you." she added slyly.

Returning her smile he retorted sweetly, "Yeah, I heard the part where you called me the best middle blocker." Watching the grin wipe off her face gave him satisfaction like no other.

If Mahiru sensed any tension in the conversation between the two of them, he didn't say anything, probably dismissing it as normal sibling banter. "Here's the contract."

He presents two of the same set of papers, passing one over to them and keeping the other one. His hand hovers over the papers he passed to them, "I hope it's alright that the contract for both of you is made together since you're siblings."

"Actually n—" Tsukishima starts to say but she pinched his side which shuts him up but also earns her a glare. "Oh don't worry it's alright." She add sweetly.

The three of them talk about the details— mostly (Y/N), while Tsukishima takes note of their surroundings and commits them to memory. "—and that is all. Please give your signatures if you agree to these terms."

Oh finally we're done with this facade. When (Y/N) kicked him, he focuses back to them and signs the papers. "If that is all then I'll be taking your leave." Tsukishima replied and walked out.

After he left the room was silent for a while before Mahiru turned to her, "Is he always like that?"

"Yeah, perks of being famous and all." She replies waving him off. "Would you like to join me for drinks (Y/N)?" He asks after a pause.

Keeping the disgust off her face, she turns back and smile at him. "Maybe another time, after all I have practice early tomorrow. Can't win without practice now can I?" she chuckles.

"That's why you came to me didn't you?" He asks curiously.

"Well yes, but I still need to put in my effort. Now then, I shall take your leave too."

The next afternoon (Y/N) was working on the laptop when there came a knock on the door. Without warning, Tsukishima entered, followed by Yamaguchi who was telling him that he should've waited for permission before entering.

"Oh look Yamaguchi, I think she's angry." He said dryly.

"I wonder what gave it away?"

"Well you see you can know her mood by her hands. Like right now, she's holding a gun. I don't think that means she's happy to see us." He stated matter of factly.

She obviously couldn't shoot him. "Not us. You." She added as she put the gun down. "So speak. Why exactly are you interrupting my precious time?"

"Don't talk as if you were doing anything important." He rolled his eyes, "we need to work on this together— I'm not happy either, but we do so just do what I say and we'll get this over with."

She looked at him in disbelief. "Keep your male dominance to yourself. We're doing it my way."

Obviously they would get nowhere with this fight so he decided to humour her for the time being. "How exactly did you enter with that knife?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Dagger." She corrected, "and Yachi took it from me when she gave me the invitation and news that I had to work with an imbecile like you."

"Ahhh—" Yamaguchi interrupted their arguments.

"Mahiru got back with the day you have to pay and collect the drugs. It's a month from now, right before prefectuals actually. So figure out a plan peacefully before then or the two of you will be in big trouble."

Work peacefully with her?

Work peacefully with him?

Having no other choice she decides on her plan of action. Tsukishima takes out some licorice candy and chews on it while she works.

"Put that away will you it's annoying." She muttered angrily. "Would your highness like it if I threw it in the trash?" Surprised at how easily he listened to her, she nods.

The moment she looks back at her laptop she felt the candy hit her face, "oops guess the trash didn't want it." He smirked.

At this point she was practically seething. Of course he wouldn't be so nice as to actually comply with her requests.

"If you do that again I will throw you out that fucking window you— what are you doing?" She asks as she noticed him get off the chair and look out the window.

"Checking how high the drop is, see if it's worth it." He answered cheekily. She was officially enraged. Sitting back down she decided to ignore him until it was needed.

"Poison" she suddenly spoke after hours of silence.

"Car malfunction." Came his swift reply.

After arguing for a few more hours and getting consultations from both Yachi and Yamaguchi they settled on car malfunction much to (Y/N)'s disappointment.

Tsukishima smirked at her victoriously, glad that his idea made more sense for this job.

A month later.

"Don't mess up the plan you trainwreck or we're screwed." He whispers. "Oh shut it you overgrown baby. The only one capable of messing up is YOU." She retorts.

They work in silence, placing the job above their petty fights. After they finish making the changes to Mahiru's car the two of them slip out and go to the destination where they're supposed to meet him.

It wasn't long before they saw his car roll up. "Let's get down to business shall we?" (Y/N) asked in all seriousness when Mahiru entered the room.

"Right." Mahiru pulls out his briefcase and opens it, turning it in their direction. "I assume this is enough?"

Obviously, Tsukishima had to sell his act since he knew he had not been enthusiastic during their last conversation. He looks through the contents in the bag before nodding.

"I'm glad that Karasuno's shield is doing business with me. This will take us places." Mahiru then turned to (Y/N), "and Karasuno's Angel."

Who calls her that?

Who calls me that?

"Well, it was a pleasure doing business with you. Honestly didn't think you'd pull through with this deal but I'm glad you did." She replied putting on a charming smile.

"I'm hurt that you would think that sweetheart." Before she had a chance to reply he continued, "and about the payment?"

"Right. Here you go. That's everything we agreed on." Tsukishima says while handing him a briefcase.

"That concludes our deal then. I hope we can work together again." Mahiru smiles at them and then turns to leave.

Mahiru surprisingly had come alone, seeming to trust them. Dismissing the whirring sound that came from his car when he entered, he proceeded to start the ignition when.....

..... His car blew up. Tsukishima and (Y/N) walked up to car after the blast to see him lying on the floor covered in glass. Somehow still alive, but not for long.

"Please— save me! I'll do—do anything— for you." He cried in pain while holding his hand out to the two of you.

"Then Perish." Tsukishima told him and turned away. (Y/N) offered him a little flying kiss and a goodbye and followed behind Tsukishima, leaving before the bystanders and cops arrive.

Sending their condolences, they walked away, triumphant smiles at a job well done. After a week, when nothing suspicious was recovered from his accident, they were assured that their assassination would never come to light.

It was and always would be considered a tragic accident.

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thevaudevilledemon · 2 months

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When I was a kid, I had a dream of a movie trailer for Night at the Museum 3

To be clear, this was not the Night at the Museum 3 we ended up getting, this was for a very different night at the museum 3 that I think would have been a lot cooler.

The dream was just of the movie trailer, and all it was, was Larry following an old giant panda that was mumbling about something (Honestly it was almost like he was speaking in slow motion with a couple effects on his voice), and then he stopped in front of a hew large doors, the camera zoomed or faded out to reveal a theatre marquee that flickered on and said "Night at the Museum 3" and then faded to black.

Remember in Night at the Museum 2 where they went through the room with paintings and photographs and each of them was moving, and they could even enter them? I think even my young child brain was thinking about expanding on that concept and every now and again, I'll just remember that I had a weird dream of a movie trailer for a Night at the Museum 3 that would never happen.

But what if it did... What if, for whatever reason, I was lucky enough to voice an idea for the third NATM movie? Well, I've done some thinking, and here are some points I've thought about recently about what this third movie could be like.

First off, of course it's set in a movie theatre, some local theatre wants to borrow the tablet for a big Egypt or mummy themed movie premier or rerelease and the museum lent the tablet over for the week.

Of course, Larry would be super worried about this because, remember that whole picture thing at the Smithsonian? Now imagine that with movies, so he tries to argue that the tablet should not go the movie theatre. In doing so, he blurts out that the tablet brings all the wax figures to life at night.

This is where it's revealed that Dr. McPhee knew all along that everything came to life at night, that he figured after the Neanderthals set themselves on fire, Larry wasn't suited for this job, but he managed to convince him otherwise. He wanted to fire Larry after he let the entire museum run out and almost turn to dust, but the publicity made him reconsider.

He would also toss in a throw away line about there originally being five Neanderthals or something.

He convinces Larry to go to the theatre to protect the tablet and hires some temporary night watchmen, who could be Dick van Dyke because, let's be real those cameos in the actual third movie were really nice.

The giant panda would have been an old theatre statue used for a much older movie, dusty and shoved in a corner to make room for other things, like a giant ape hanging from the ceiling, large metal bugs hanging over one of the aisles, mannequins with replica costumes, basically a lot of things that can go wrong tonight.

As night falls, Larry immediately looses control of everything, and all the theatre statues or mannequins are set loose, not outside, but within the film strips, all except for the old Panda.

Why a panda? Because Panda's are my favourite animal, so I'm going to work one into this pitch damn it!

The panda is... old, grumpy, but also sympathetic and does let Larry talk him into helping him track down everyone else.

Things go... about as well as you would expect, Larry and a Giant Panda trying to coax a giant ape, mannequins dressed like famous cinema characters, and some kind of super-hero to leave the film strips is... hilarious sounding.

After some failure, Larry gets a call of someone at the museum, maybe McPhee, maybe Cecil, and while Larry wants to say everything is under control, the Panda gives him a stare and Larry admits that things are a bit out of his control, and he could use some help, which they anticipated and have sent a truck over. This truck of course containing, Teddy, Sacagawea, Attila, Jed and Octavius, Akhmenrah, and of course, Dexter.

They arrive, manage to get some order restored, but then a lot of the film characters realize that they can pop out of the film, just like Larry and the others can, so that's exactly what they do. Now it's absolute chaos, and it's not just film characters either, cartoon characters pop out as well.

Now it's a race to get all the film characters back into their proper movies, some easier than others.

Teddy gets into a fight with Popeye, because I love these kinds of referential jokes.

Larry calls McPhee or Cecil for some more assistance, and he is slightly hesitant, but does go over. When he (whoever answers) arrives, the Giant Panda recognizes him, and it's revealed that the Panda had some other animal friends, but they all got turned into dust. This almost cost the museum a lot of money, but the theatre managers were able to be convinced it was a robbery of some sort.

Lots of apologies, coaxing and comedic hijinks later, everyone is back in their proper films. Save for one, one lone cartoon character who exits the washroom. I know this would have absolutely never happened, but I could just imagine Bugs Bunny just nonchalantly making the comments about how everyone managed to quell the chaos, without his help this time (He's a chaos god remember, he could have dealt with all of this in like... five minutes? Ten at most.) and just walks back into his film.

The giant Panda returns to his corner, the sun rises and everything is as it should be. The movie ends with Larry being suggested to train some potentially new night watchmen, and because I want to tie everything in together, Amy Adams is one of the potential recruits.

Of course, none of this makes a lot of logical sense, and... frankly probably would have been dumb, but damn it, I wanted to see a Night at the Museum movie that was set in a theatre, even though it's Night at the Museum, shut up.

I dunno, I had fun with thinking all of this, and I got to talk about one of my childhood favourite movies, and a weird dream I remember, so... win-win?

#night at the museum #movie pitch #does this count as an au?#yes jed and octavious would continue there bromantical escapades

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cross-armageddon · 10 months

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I got too silly (again)

Before I say anything though, I must add something offtopic - this will not be a daily thing

I've uploaded the PJO AU sorta daily until now, because I had thoughts already - the rest of the characters' powers will require more thinking on my part. Also, I'm going to London for a few days soon, which means I won't have access to my tablet.

I MIGHT make an update for Prima Vista though, so when you're lacking in content from me, just head to AO3 to catch up with my prsk OCs

You can also send me asks with ideas for the PJO AU or questions to both the AU and Prima Vista during my vacations (Wednesday till Sunday) and I will reply to all of them as soon as I will have a break from sightseeing and have wifi (I'm silly like that).

Well then.

Leo/need (1/2)

(if you're disappointed it's not niigo or vbs, im disappointed in myself too)

The Honami Hephaestus is honestly a really cool idea in general, I'm very confident it fits her the most.

You wouldn't expect her to be a fire wielder after how Leo was in the series, but yet - that's exactly what she is to me. She has way more control over it, as she has to focus really hard and be extremely calm to get a spark, so exactly the opposite of Leo, that can straight up blow up if he gets too angry or excited.

As a Hephaestus daughter, she's naturally good with electronics and machinery. Everyone just kinda assumed she learned how everything worked while homekeeping, but in reality she doesn't actually know any theoretical stuff. She just moves something or hits it and the thing is fixed.

Also, I'm spreading Honami buff agenda. Her training at the camp gave her some muscles and yeah

yeah

Usually it's not noticeable, so people get shocked if she doesn't cover her arms or stomach, because "wtf where the fuck did she get those??"

Also, I feel like Honami would become a huntress of Artemis. Whether or not the rest of Leo/need would follow her is purely up to interpretation. On one hand I feel like they would, but then again - Saki would get extremely close to pararelling with Thalia and. I d

I don't think Tsukasa wants to follow Jason's footsteps actually.

On another note

Why is Ichika unclaimed?

I could make so many fucking excuses as to why she's unclaimed, but I will actually stay silent about it. Yall can give ideas and your reasoning for certain godparents tho 👀

hmu in my askbox

Anyways, since Ichika is unclaimed, she sometimes gets some weird looks and is a part of the "weirdos" from her Cohort.

(You WILL get dragged into my OC content, because I cannot shut up about them)

Ichika is a demigod, she has the same ADHD and dyslexia and she can see monsters. It's just that she doesn't know what potential she has, since she doesn't have a godparent. Her story is about finding out which god will claim her and what will make her godparent proud of her.

(Ichika is Kaii's older cousin in the Prima Vista canon, Kaii's mom is one of her parents' older sister. Which one? I dunno, the one that looks more like Ichika.)

Because Ichika doesn't know her powers, she spends a lot of time fighting, because what else could she focus on?

I must admit, her weapon idea is so fucking badass tho.

Percy had a pen that could transform into his sword and Ichika has something similar, but I kind of went crazy with it

The hook snaps very easily off her neck and after it snaps, the guitar pick transforms into her longsword. The handle on said longsword has the hook and loop still in tact, for whenever she doesn't need it anymore - it goes back to being a normal guitar pick necklace and she can wear it without unhooking it.

She plays the guitar with it too and finds no issues with it, actually amazing weapon, I'm very in love with that design.

Awawawa that's all I had for now, I'm going to have to actually start thinking of more powers now oh no

I might have to research the gods (aka refresh my memory from 7 years ago) again for inspiration and hope for the best.

Also, I think I should've done it earlier, but this is the list that like, 5 people maybe, worked on

If you see anything you like and any ideas for their powers, yeah go ahead and hit up the askbox 👀

I'm very interested to keep this AU semi-open - I allow people to engage in it! If you wish to make your own content with my ideas or add something of your own too, you can! If you're still unsure about things, you can also ask for my permission (if that makes you feel better).

#project sekai #prsk fa #prsk oc #pjsk #prsk x pjo #pjo au #ichika hoshino #honami mochizuki #minori hanasato #kaii kotebiki #hayato edogawa

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wachi-delectrico · 8 months

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We have a couple old tablets around the house and yesterday I tried to get them working for my own Funny Means (wanna use one as a secondary mini pc monitor). I managed to charge the batteries of two of them: an Amazon Fire and a random android tablet

The Fire is SO fucking annoying, it comes bloated with amazon apps that you CANNOT uninstall NOR deactivate, making the system slow as shit. It also has ads hidden in the SYSTEM SETTINGS. I accidentally pressed a button that took me to Amazon to buy an Sd Card while looking around the storage settings. There is no Amazon in Argentina, so I had to wait for the slow as molasses system to show me the pop-up about how, in fact, there is no Argentine Amazon before I could close it. The only valuable thing in that is the kindle app, which I think some of my family members used to reads pdfs, however I did get a notification talking about how one of the system apps "is going to become unavailable by march 2022", so I don't know when was the last time anyone used this thing. It has a proprietary app store that I think is supposed to mimick the Apple app store to some extent (understandable, the tablet runs android and the market I imagine this is for - the USA - is more familiarised with iOS), which also only hosts Amazon apps and an incomprehensibly small handful of other miscellaneous apps. If nobody's using it anymore, I'll try and make it less Amazon and more "normal" just out of spite.

The random tablet, though? The random tablet feels like a GODSEND. The viewing angles on the display suck (I'm not gonna be an ass about that, iirc this tablet is from somewhere between 2011-2014) but the image is pretty crisp, it's running Android 4.4, and though it has Google Services the only Google things it has are the Play Store, Gmail, and Google Play Music (which, iirc, is discontinued now). What really makes it a godsend, though, is that IT HAS AN HDMI PORT. I'm not a Tablet Guy so I had no idea tablets could have those. It's hard to find a manual for it online, but I think I found one and I think it says the hdmi can be used as both video in/out?? My pc's GPU only has one HDMI port (and three DisplayPorts...) so I'm gonna have to buy an adapter, but I'm hopeful! I'd have to figure power out, as an older tablet of a random company idk how comfortable I feel with leaving it plugged in 24/7

Go go random tablet

#rambling #Tenemos un cable hdmi en La Caja de Cables #Es un puerto hdmi más chikito (no me acuerdo si mini hdmi o micro hdmi) así que necesita un adaptadorcito para el enchufe #Estaría genial que pudiera encontrar uno mini hdmi a displayport pero no encontré en ningún lado #No pasa na #Qué le hace a uno tener más socotrocos #Mi idea es comprar el adaptador mini hdmi(o viceversa) a hdmi #Enchufarle el hdmi #Y a la gráfica ponerle un displayport a hdmi #Al final no sería muy caro #Y si no funciona no pasa nada xq igual hace tiempo quería conseguir un adaptador de hdmi a displayport porque #de nuevo. la gráfica sólo tiene UN mísero puerto hdmi xD

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amazing-spiderling · 4 months

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Hello, fandom pal! I’m here to talk shop! :3 I’d like to know how you decide when/where to use those screentone textures you put in your art sometimes.

Oh HMM! I wish I could say I had it down to a science. I guess when I'm doing ask blog art I do try to keep my methodology similar for some semblance of consistency, but when I do other pieces (like the "From the Start" panel redraws) I mix it up.

The ask blog was probably the first time I tried using them at all, and I didn't really do a lot of research into how to use them, it was just a lot of trial and error. But I was SO EXCITED to play with the effects because I remember being a tween/teen and looking at old phonebook manga and being so enamored with the look of comictones and thinking that was one of those things that made your manga art "real", haha. Back then, they were like, sheets of plastic you had to cut and transfer onto your page! Now you just swish on your tablet! Crazy!

My first crack at them probably just followed the general vibe of like, cell shading, but also a little bit of old school western comic coloring, just because that's the sort of point of reference I had in mind. I made a few mental notes regarding thing like the frequncy/size (Foggy's hair end eyes always come in at a 20%, Matt's hair and sweater were typically a 40%) but there are some tiny little nuances that are just for me (Foggy and the rest of the setting are colored with circles, Matt is done with ninja stars- which I don't think makes much of a difference at the scale i'm doing it, but **I** know.)

I spent some time going back and looking at manga to see how tones were actually used by the professionals, especially in older comics, and came to realize that they aren't really shading every little thing, so much as the general "vibe" of a thing, be it a room, large object or person. LIke imagining that a person's face is a ball and just giving it one large curve of shadow versus getting under every wrinkle. This makes a lot of sense thinking about the "cut and transfer" work they used to have to do! I tried to do more of that with the "From the Start" comic, and since it was like, ten panels long, I got a lot of practice haha!

#thank you for the ask!#this was a good one

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jasmariswonderland · 2 years

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Shining Hearts Chapter 5 ~ The White Swan’s Secrets

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

Chapter Summary: Rehearsals for Swans of Seven begin in earnest and Vil deals with unchecked emotions when Danica receives some unwanted attention related to his RSA rival.

Word Count: 9680

Warnings For This Chapter: Vil being mean. 🙃

A/N: The YA novel Crisanta mentions is supposed to be an in-universe version of the Folk of the Air series of books by Holly Black. I been reading The Cruel Prince over the last few months and can really see Vil playing the title role if it were to be made into a film.

~~~

Ramshackle Dorm ~ Reception Hall

Danica wasn’t used to being the one to give instructions, in her case, things were usually the other way around. To start, she gave the girls a simple warmup to do, based on how she always began her own dance rehearsals, taking several chairs from the corner of the room to use as makeshift barres.

The stage is set, let’s begin! #NRC #dancepractice #VDCPrep #SwansOfSeven

She pointed the phone she was using towards her, taking a selfie for Magicam. Vil had often expressed to her the importance of maintaining her social media presence. Especially as her popularity was beginning to rise. Though she lurked on Magicam daily, her posting was often sporadic and random, something she was trying to improve. Danica looked at the picture she’d taken and silently approved and posted it. Moments later she saw likes and comments coming in, along with a fawning comment from a user under the moniker of “R”. She assumed it was Rook and light blush came to her face.

“Take flight, Swans of Seven! You will be tres glorieux!”

If only she could have as much confidence in herself as Rook seemed to have. Danica shook her head to erase the negative thoughts coming and decided to focus her mind back to her teammates. As she watched them, she took mental notes of how each of her teammates took to their warmups and quickly surmised that Taima and Iman would be the strongest dancers with Crisanta being a close second.

Vidaria seemed to struggle with her flexibility but not as badly as Ione, who was painfully stiff. She would likely require the most work to get up to everyone else’s level. But at least her vocal skills would make up for what her dancing lacked, if her audition was anything to go on. Same with Vidaria and Sidonie.

“One more round of barre and then everyone come to the center of the room,” she said, walking over to her bag on a chair in the corner of the room. She put her phone away and then pulled out a tablet, scrolling through it to where she kept her music recordings. “You guys can sit if you like.”

“On THIS floor?!” Iman gaped. “No thank you!”

“Suit yourself, but either way, we won’t begin work on our dance just yet. I’m going to show you all examples of what I have in mind. After I play our song for the VDC, we’ll try a simple combination, just so I can see where everyone is dance-wise.”

“You don’t need to worry about me!” Iman replied.

“Hmph, I know I won’t, Iman.” Danica couldn’t help but smirk under her tablet. “But not everyone here is as advanced as you and Taima. And on that note, your vocals aren’t as advanced as, say, Ione or Sidonie’s. Which is why…”

“HUH?!” Iman’s eyes widened at what she perceived as an insult and Ione quietly tittered. “You might be our leader, but I’ll have you know…”

“WHICH IS WHY,” deliberately ignoring the older girls’ indignation. “I’d like to see how you all look and sound together, before we determine who needs to work on what.”

“Hopefully we’ll be able to keep up with you,” Crisanta smiled.

“I…well… I don’t think it’s useful to compare my skills to others who might not have the same teaching.” Danica shook her head. “Even so, I hope we, the Swans of Seven, can come together in the time we have and create a stunning performance that will earn every last vote of those watching us, leading to victory.”

“Swans of Seven,” Sidonie smiled. “I like that name.”

“So do I,” Danica replied. And then quietly, under her breath, added, “It’s one of the few things I can say I genuinely like so far.”

“Danica, is the song we’re performing something new and original?” asked Vidaria.

“It is!” Taima grinned. “Something we worked on together over winter break! Wait till you hear it! It’s so awesome and fun! Right, Dani?”

Ohhhh, Taima, I hope you still feel that way when you hear it and realize what song Vil picked for us…

Danica shifted nervously, hiding half of her face with her tablet as she suddenly found herself struggling to find the song file. Even after she found it, she stared at the play button for several long minutes, as if she were temporarily blind to it. Taima noticed her hesitation.

“Dani? Something wrong with the track?”

“Oh, no. I was just thinking about something, but it’s not important. Let me play this.” She took a deep breath before finally pressing play. “This song is called ‘Our Happily Ever After ’, something I actually wrote two years ago. Vil-san cleaned up the instrumentals and mixing to give a more contemporary sound.”

Of course, Sidonie had already heard this song and while she liked it, was somewhat confused. Secretly hoping that Danica would try and press Vil for the song she actually wanted to perform. The other girls listened but the only ones who seemed to enjoy it were Ione and Crisanta, evident by the smiles on their faces.

“Ermmm, not exactly what I was expecting, if I’m being truly honest.” Sidonie tried to smile. “But I still like it, if this is what you’ve decided on, dear.”

“I remember a song like this one that the group Premo came out with a while back, it was a hit!” Crisanta grinned, “I like it too! It’s adorable!”

“Well…it’s a little too adorable, and kinda reminds me of the opening to a magical girl anime.” Ione said, quickly adding, “Oh! But those are not exactly bad things. I think we could make it work.”

“Of course you think so,” Iman sneered under her breath, but not quietly enough for Ione not to hear.

“What’s THAT supposed to mean?” she glared.

“Nothing, nothing!” the older girl smiled. “It’s a cute song, if we’re just gonna play it safe like a bunch of sugary grade schoolers!”

“Indeed, I remember liking a similar song back when I was much, much younger,” said Vidaria. “But if we’re taking in consideration what’s currently popular with girl groups, I kind of thought our performance would have more…more…” She placed her hand on her cheek in thought. “Hmmm, more, more…”

“Fun!” Iman answered her! “Something sexy and fun!”

“Yes, that’s what I meant! Sexy and fun!”

“And just a little bit sultry!” Iman giggled, dancing around in a circle. “But Happily Ever After, or whatever this is called, sounds very out of place for us. Maybe if we were younger…”

“Well unfortunately, the decision on our song is already set!”

This was exactly what Danica feared, that the other girls would be just as reluctant about this song as she was. Even with Vil’s reworking, she still couldn’t help but think about Guilty Kiss, the song she initially wanted to perform. But at the same time, Vil had gone through the trouble to make this song more appealing to her, and with her promise to him, it pained her that she still felt this way.

It was her hope that if the other girls were more on board with Our Happily Ever After, that would alleviate some of her anxiety and make her forget about Guilty Kiss in time. Clearly that would not be how things worked out.

“Vil personally picked this song out for us,” she went on. “And this was decided on some weeks ago before we even began auditions so the decision is pretty set in stone. I’m sorry you guys seem to have mixed opinions on it, but at the same time…”

“Wait, Dani, you said Vil picked this out for us?” Taima asked. “Of the three songs you, me and Sis worked on, this was his prime pick? Even after…”

“Yes, Tai-chan!” Danica replied, somewhat shortly as she felt her patience beginning to leave her. As well as a rising fear that further questioning might bring up other things she thought were better not being known. “Vil-san seemed to really respond well to this song and told me that…”

“But Dani, does Vil know that you and Lili wrote that song right after we saw…”

“TAIMA!”

Danica gave the back of her tablet a rough tap, indicating she really didn’t want her friend to say anything else. Unfortunately, Taima had said just enough that everyone’s curiosity was suddenly piqued.

“What? After you guys saw what?” Sidonie asked. “Now I’m curious.”

“I’ll tell you later, after we’re done…”

“Ohhh, nooooo,” Iman jumped in. “Now I wanna know too! Cause if Vil picked out this sugary crap for us, I’d really like to know his logic!”

“Ummm, I’d like to know as well,” Ione spoke up.

“Especially since it’s so different from ‘Piece Of My World’ , our audition song,” Vidaria added.

“Exactly! Why did Vil…”

“VIL KNOWS NOTHING!” snapped Danica, raising her tablet back to her face as she felt a hot burning blush come to her face. “Vil knows nothing and I’d like to keep it that way! He only picked this song because he was worried about us being too sexy on stage!”

“Too sexy?” Ione laughed, “How sexy can we be if none of us are adults yet?”

“You’d be surprised!” Iman smirked, “But I doubt you’d know anything about that, Wallflower. Anyway, back to you, Danica, what doesn’t Vil know? Hmmmm?”

“Come now, don’t tease her, Sister,” Vidaria tried to genuinely come to Danica’s defense, but ended up making things worse. “If Danica doesn’t want to tell us, she shouldn’t be forced to. For all we know, she might have written this song as a secret love letter to…”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”

“A love letter? To Vil-san?” Crisanta piped in. “Now that I think of it, two years ago, that’s when that one film came out, based on that really popular YA novel, The Twisted Prince . Vil was playing the title role! I saw it too!”

“WHAT?! Are you serious?! You mean Danica fell in love with Vil’s twisted prince and wrote this song!” Iman’s golden eyes widened and then lit up as she burst out into laughter. “Am I right? AM I RIGHT?!”

“Shut up, Iman!” Taima snapped. “That’s NOT why she wrote it!”

“Don’t go trying to defend your bestie now, Missy!” Iman replied, still laughing. “You should have kept your mouth shut if you don’t want this known!” She turned to Danica with a sly little grin. “So is it true? No need being coy about it now that we all know your little secret!”

“That seems to be the only possibility,” nodded Vidaria. “It was a decent film, even with all it got wrong about fae culture. But I digress.”

“So the song we’re performing is Danica’s secret confession of love to Vil-san?” Ione shook her head. “Though I like the song, I feel like…”

“That’s NOT what we’re performing!”

Now Danica’s patience was truly on its last legs. All that they were saying was in fact true, but that was far from the point. Her reluctance to perform this song once again returned and she pressed her tablet further to her face. Not just to hide her blushing, but the coming influx of frustrated tears.

“I mean, YES we are performing this song but I did NOT write it thinking about The Twisted Prince!” she bit back a sob. “You have it all wrong!”

“Then why are you hiding your face?” Vidaria asked.

“Cause she can’t lie to us with a straight face that’s why!” giggled Iman.

“Stop it!” Sidonie shouted, standing in front of Danica. “Can’t you guys see you’re making her uncomfortable?! Iman, Vidaria, I’d expect this sort of nonsense from you two, but Crisanta, how could you…”

“I didn’t mean any harm, honest! The math just added up and I was curious!” Crisanta sighed. “I’m sorry, Danica, truly I am. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Perhaps Taima shouldn’t have said anything either!” Iman retorted. “And don’t you act all high and mighty either, Sidonie cause you said you were curious too! You too, Wallflower!”

“Shut up!” snapped Sidonie. “I was more than content to let Danica tell me this later if she wanted, it was everyone else pushing the subject after she made it clear…”

“Crisanta was the one who put the pieces together!” Ione turned to Crisanta. “Sorry to drag you under the bus, dear, but…”

“Ehhh, no offense taken. We were all wrong for prodding Danica so we’re all to blame.”

“Hey, I just wanna know what we’re dealing with here!” said Iman. “Really, if that’s the case, I kind of don’t mind the song much. It’s kind of sweet in a way. Danica’s admiration for her dorm leader put into song,” Iman attempted to smile at Danica, though it came off as more saccharine than genuine. “But what kind of dancing can we really do to this?”

“I’ll take that inquiry as sign we’re finally getting back on topic!”

Danica took several breaths before finally lowering her tablet to reveal her face. The scarlet tint on her cheeks had faded, but her eyes were blurry from crying she had repressed. This was truly not what she had in mind and she now internally cringed at the idea of performing Our Happily Ever After, with the secret of the song now revealed.

It was true that Danica and Lilianne had written it together after becoming taken with Vil’s performance in The Twisted Prince. But since then, two years had passed and Danica now had day to day interactions with Vil, not as an actor or model, but as a person, her dorm leader, as a mentor. She was starstruck at first and she’d be lying if she said his intense, domineering personality didn’t sometimes frighten her. But in the months she had known Vil, she had come to truly respect him and genuinely longed for him to see how much she wanted to take his examples to heart and be the best she could be, even under the occasional pressure he put upon her.

Our Happily Ever After was written from the point of view of a young and fawning fan of Vil Schoenheit with all the girlish fantasies of what she thought it would mean to be close to a guy like him. Now that she knew him, her admiration and her feelings had matured. At this point in her life, Danica really didn’t see Vil as she had as a fourteen year old girl. He was no longer the Vil Schoenheit, to her, he was simply Vil. Someone she admired and cared about. If she had written this song today, the lyrics would surely reflect that, and all that was genuine and true about what she was beginning to feel for him.

Vil was not aware of any of this. To his mind, Our Happily Ever After was merely a saccharine sweet song about an innocent crush that would endear the world to Danica and maintain the perfect white swan image he needed of her. Perhaps with that in mind, if he knew the truth, his desire that Danica keep this song for the VDC would only rise. Considering his own feelings and completely disregarding her own, even as they deepened further. If Danica had her way, however, Vil would never know this secret but now that her teammates did, her desire to perform something else returned. She thought about talking to Vil once again, after he and the boys came back for the evening. As much as she wished to keep her promise to him, she was unsure how she could continue to do so now.

Maybe if we perform well this evening, and he sees how hard we’re working, then he’ll have a change of heart. And then maybe…no, we can’t change our performance now…not after I promised him! But still…no, all that matters now is creating a performance that he will approve of. Whatever my own feelings. I must remember that, I must…

“Listen, I’m not going to give anyone the satisfaction of confirming or denying why I originally wrote this song,” she said, with some sternness. “But know this, Vil and the headmage are counting on us to bring victory to our school. Now I’m gonna be quite frank with you all, Sidonie already knows this but I have my own feelings about our song but I’m gonna be a big girl and swallow them for the good of victory at the VDC. I expect the same from you all. Now, we’ve wasted enough time so if you dislike our song that much, you’re more than welcome to leave!”

Danica could have quite a stern voice, even if she rarely used it. It was surprising, even to her, how sharp her tone had become. But her words seemed to have the effect she desired. Everyone went quiet after she finished speaking. When she was sure she had their attention as well, her face softened and she went back to her tablet, hitting replay on the music.

“Now that I’ve said this, I expect everyone to be on board. Let’s begin. Watch my movements closely because after I’m done, I’d like you guys to repeat them as best as you can.”

By some miracle, Danica was able to push her feelings back to the furthest part of her brain, and dance as if nothing had happened. Her movements were honestly very simple, mostly consisting of elaborate hand and arm choreography that was popular with younger idol groups. They were movements that she felt herself grown out of, but at least they would be easy for everyone to mimic.

“The most important thing in dances like this is for all of us to be in sync with each other,” she said. “I remember, back in the idol club Taima and I were in, her mom actually bought us all tap shoes for practicing, that way we would know if one of us was off. But this time, I think I just want each of you to come up to me and try the dance by my side. Who wants to go first?”

Naturally, Iman wanted to be first and Danica, not wanting further strife, humored her. Despite her annoyance with her, Danica had to admit that her dancing was on point and she couldn’t help but smile, impressed with how easily Iman perfected her choreography.

“This is all pretty simple,” she said. “I feel I could do these moves in grade school.”

So could I, now if only your attitude was just as lovely.

Taima was next, having seen her dance countless times, Danica didn’t feel the need to make any comments or corrections. Knowing that her friend was probably already aware of any errors she made and would fix them accordingly. Next came Crisanta. Her footwork was slightly off, but she displayed nice enthusiasm and most of her hand movements were correct. Danica smiled again.

It doesn’t seem like she will need many corrections either. And she’s agreeable to boot.

“Not bad, the one thing I’d say is that I think you’re thinking a little too much about what you’re doing with your arms that your footwork is getting mixed up. But after everyone has a turn, we’ll try again.”

“That’s fine, I’ll try to take your words to heart and then…” Crisanta’s eyes casually glanced over to Danica’s tablet. She gasped when she saw the time. “Oh crap! Dani, is your clock correct?!”

“Ummm, yes. As far as I’m concerned, half past three. Why?”

“I was afraid that was the case!” She rushed towards the door, bowing apologetically. “I’m soooo sorry, but I must excuse myself now!”

“Right now? But we still have a good three and a half hours before the boys return! And Vil wants us to show what we’ve been working on when they get back!”

“I think I have a good grip on today’s lesson, but I have to get to an art club meeting. And today’s meeting is related to our presentation for the festival so I can’t skip it.”

“But we’ll be learning more choreography soon, you’ll miss that if you leave now.”

“Crisanta, don’t they know you’ll be performing in the VDC?” Ione asked “You didn’t tell them?”

“They know, this meeting is just to discuss what pieces we’ll be displaying at our gallery for the festival.”

“Crisanta, you were aware from the start that you would have to devote a lot of time to being in the VDC,” Danica tried not to seem too annoyed, but found that difficult. “I really want to be flexable, but do you think you’ll be able to juggle both art club and VDC prep without trouble? Is your leaving now an indication of things to come?”

“I understand, I promise this will just be a one time thing.”

“But what about the gallery?”

“They will have to figure out how to manage without me. In fact, I’ll set up everything today so that they can manage on their own from this point on.”

“I certainly hope so, since I would truly hate for the Swans of Seven to be reduced to six.”

“So would I!” Ione spoke up. “You can’t leave us, Crisanta!”

“I will do my best, but I promise I won’t leave you guys! Just this afternoon, this one time.”

And with that, Crisanta left the hall, the girls heard her go upstairs for a few moments before returning downstairs and then leave out the door. An unsettling feeling sat with Danica that she tried to ignore, and in her mind, she silently prayed that Crisanta would indeed be able to juggle both. Particularly because she had proven to be one of the more skilled and amiable on her team and her presence had a positive effect on Ione, two things she would hate to lose.

With Crisanta’s departure, Danica was reluctant to further their rehearsal for that day and decided that they would continue with what they went over and then only learn two more new combinations. With the hope Crisanta would be able to quickly catch up and they could learn more the following day.

The last to practice with Danica was Ione, who had purposely allowed everyone else to go before her. She seemed to have an okay grip on the dance, but was nowhere near as polished as the others. Even Vidaria seemed to be doing better after another hour of repeating Danica’s moves over and over. Her biggest struggle was how she frequently looked down at her feet, to the point she wasn’t moving her arms with the music and missing counts.

At one point, Danica slowed down her movements, breaking down each segment for Ione to see. This seemed to work at first, until Danica started the music again and Ione found herself stumped once more. It was all she could do to hold back tears of frustration and embarrassment. Taima tried to encourage her.

“I know it’s hard not to look at your feet,” she said. “But try to let your legs move with you and focus on getting the arm movements right.”

“How can I not look at my feet if my feet keep screwing up?!” Ione snapped.

“That’s the thing, you have to trust yourself, trust that your feet will do the right thing.”

“I don’t understand!”

“It’s alright, with more practice, you will.” Danica smiled a little.

“Orrrr not,” Iman whispered to Vidaria.

“Ohhhh, don’t be so mean, Sister,” Vidaria bit the inside of her lip to keep from giggling. “It’s like watching a young filly take her first steps, and at least Ione is more graceful than that.”

“That’s not saying a lot.”

“Shut up, you two!” hissed Sidonie.

Thankfully, Ione did not hear their titters but sat back down feeling humiliated all the same. She knew her dancing wasn’t the best and that Danica and Vil had selected her more for her vocal skills. Somehow she had hoped that this would give her a much needed confidence boost. But like most things that day, her hopes and reality seemed to be working against each other.

I have to get better. She thought to herself. Ugh! I’m sure I’m the weakest dancer here, but I can’t stay weak forever!

“Okay guys, that wraps up our dance lesson for today.” Danica clapped her hands, addressing the five other girls with her. “I won’t be giving you more to learn until tomorrow. So for the time we have left, we’re going to practice what we’ve gone over today and then memorize the song. Be ready to show what you’ve learned to Vil-san when the boys get back.”

~~~

Yuulan and the NRC Tribe returned to Ramshackle not too long after this. Whatever difficulties had occurred with the girls, the boys didn’t have it much easier. Vil had put them through their paces, leaving them looking (and feeling) exhausted and worn. Vil himself was somewhat out of sorts, though Rook maintained his usual jovial attitude.

“Aaahhh, a splendid first day of training!” He beamed. Wouldn’t you all agree, NRC Tribe?”

“Maaaannnnnn, I’m beat!” Said Ace, collapsing on one of the couches and groaning loudly. Deuce was not far behind him.

“Somehow learning those steps was even harder than learning the stuff for the audition!”

“And it’s only day one!” Epel sighed.

“I wasn’t even dancin’ and I was tired watching you guys!” Grim added.

“Don’t plant roots in the couches just yet, Spudlings!” Vil snapped. “We’ll be going over the lyrics right before dinner. As soon as I review the progress of the Swans of Seven.”

~~~

Ramshackle Dorm ~ Reception Hall

The girls were still in the reception hall, practicing up until the possible last minute and trying to make up for the absence of one among them. When Vil walked in, his irritation briefly faded at what he saw.

They didn’t realize he was there at first and he made no indication of his presence, deciding to silently watch them for a few moments. He did notice Crisanta’s absence and that they would all need substantial work. But he also saw that Danica led the girls adequately with no indication of her dissatisfaction with the song playing.

“Guys, guys, stop a moment. Sidonie-san, you got that part wrong again.”

“Wait, no I didn’t. Did I?”

“You got the turn right but your arms were mixed up. Since we have no mirrors in this room, it’s understandable but try to be aware of where you’re placing them.”

He bit back a smile, but that same tender warmth from before stirred within him. She lacked the same command that he possessed but that would be something she would learn over the weeks to come. It was almost enough for Vil to forget that he had returned initially feeling annoyed and not in the best of moods. Almost.

“Final pose guys, one, two, three, better! That was a little better!” Danica moved out of position to tap the music off. “Of course, there are mirrors in the Pomefiore ballroom. So once we’re given the green light to rehearse there, memorizing how this is supposed to look won’t be as hard. And hopefully, Sidonie, you’ll stop making that one mistake.”

“I wonder if the RSA team is working as hard as we are.” Taima thought aloud.

“I don’t think that matters now,” replied Danica. “Even if they are, it’s all the more reason we must work even harder to defeat them!”

This forced the smile to break free upon Vil’s lips. But what occurred next brought his ire back to the forefront.

“Actually, I know Crisanta isn’t here,” Danica went on. “But since we’ve been practicing movements for the first half of the song all day, I think the last thing we’ll do is begin choreography for the second half.”

“Oh, wonderful, cause I was beginning to get bored doing the same thing over and over again!” Iman grinned.

“First, let me pull up a video of what I had in mind. This is actually from a Premo dance practice but we can tailor it to fit our song.” Danica scrolled through magicam, tapping on the video she was looking for. The other girls gathered around her to have a better look. “Okay, after this ad plays the video will start and then…oh…!” She gasped. “Oh…oh dear!”

As it happened, the ad was from Ledelle Cosmetics, the very same commercial Danica had shot with Neige Leblanche during winter break. Danica had never seen the finished product until now and was more than a little embarrassed to see it, doubly so with her teammates surrounding her.

In an enchanted forest, Neige followed a single white swan as she transformed to into a lovely maiden. As they met face to face, Danica blew a handful of white feathers toward him. The feathers landed in his palm and transformed into a crystal jar studded with pearls. Neige thanked her but asked for her name. Danica said nothing, but placed her finger to her lips, as if concealing a secret of her own from the boy. Even so, the two of them shared a smile.

“Just in time for the holidays, coat your skin in a cream that will give you the softness of a snow white swan. All-day moisture, with just a hint of magic. Enchanted Veil Moisturizer from Ledelle Cosmetics.”

Danica tapped her tablet several times, but unfortunately, the ad was unskippable and her face became a hot, scarlet red. From his place in the doorway, Vil could hear the ad and felt an angry and intense sensation burning in his gut. But Danica’s teammates were intrigued.

“Hey! That’s Neige Leblanche!” said Ione.

“Hehe, and such a pretty young lady next to him,” Sidonie teased. “I wonder who she is.”

“If we didn’t know better, we’d say Neige is the one meant to be your prince!” Taima added.

“Does Vil-san know about that commercial?” Iman asked. “I wonder what he thought of it.”

“Okay, okay, guys! Enough about the ad!” Danica tried to refocus everyone’s attention while trying to ignore her own embarrassment. But the girls didn’t seem as interested in that as they were discussing Neige Leblanche. “Watch the video!”

“My my, Danica,” Vidaria grinned, “Getting a little too close to one of our school rivals there, weren’t we?”

“I heard from Cater-san that Neige Leblanche himself will be leading the boys' team for the VDC,” Ione said. “If that’s the case, it might be awkward when he and Danica see each other again.”

“My my, the plot thickens then!” giggled Vidaria.

“FOCUS YOU GUYS!” Danica snapped, becoming annoyed once again.

“We are focusing!” Iman retorted, “These moves are still pretty simple, come on, let us gossip just a little!”

“There isn’t much to say really,” Danica replied cooly. “Neige might be one of our rivals for the VDC, but he doesn’t hold a candle to Vil in the slightest!”

“I should ask my sis at RSA to see what he’s planning for the VDC…” grinned Taima. “That way at least we’ll know…”

“Ara ara, and here I thought this was a dance rehearsal, not a gossip hour!” Vil had heard quite enough and finally decide to make his presence known. The girls immediately stopped chatting and Danica quickly put on a sweet face.

“Welcome back, Vil-san,” she smiled. “I hope your…”

“Cut the formalities!” He snapped, now fully annoyed at the mention of his rival. “I see one among you is missing, care to explain why Danica?”

“Ohhh! I…I’m sorry, Vil-san,” she replied, nervous heat washing over her face. “Crisanta left early due to prior art club obligations. She knows not to make a habit of it so I let it slide this one time.”

“Hmph, that’s still not good. VDC performers are expected to attend every rehearsal, no exceptions!” He went on. “Considering what I just saw, perhaps it would make more sense to simply remove Crisanta from the team if her priorities lay elsewhere?”

“Huh? N…no!”

“It was just this one time!” Ione surprised herself, and those around her, by cutting in to speak up for her friend. “You’d really pull her out for missing half of one class?! Not even a whole class? That’s crazy!”

Danica knew the look coming into her dorm leader’s eyes. It was the same look he often gave Epel whenever he ran off or accidentally spoke in his local dialect. And it was the same look he’d given her when she agreed to model with Neige against his explicit wishes. She turned to Ione and gave her a look that was one part sympathy, two parts annoyance, and five parts fear knowing well the verbal thrashing she was about to endure.

“Oh? What is this? Perhaps I wasn’t clear with you potatoes when I first laid out rules for this training camp!” Vil placed his hand on his chin, pretending to ponder something.

“Hmmm, now, what was it I said? Ah yes, I recall now. I specifically recall saying that performers had to remain in the training camp until the very end and could NOT skip any rehearsals! Crisanta has known this for weeks, knew the terms when you two auditioned and still joined accepting these terms! Breaking the terms of an agreement, do you not grasp the tactlessness of such?! Both of you and Crisanta should consider yourself lucky, if this were an actual idol group, training for their debut, she would be removed on the spot!”

With this, what little courage Ione had conjured quickly dissipated and she stepped back. Lowering her head and knowing she couldn’t respond to what was actually quite reasonable in spite of the harshness. Even Iman couldn’t help but feel a small ounce of sympathy. The tension in the room remained unsettling for a few moments before it was quickly broken by someone running in.

Crisanta appeared at the door, to everyone’s surprise.

“I left as soon as I could!” Crisanta held onto one of the doors as she struggled to catch her breath. Having run all the way from the main school building back to Ramshackle, far from a short distance. “Sorry again for leaving but it couldn’t be skipped. I…”

“Oh, thank goodness you made it!” Ione’s face lit back up, bright with relief. “You made it just in time!”

“Ah, how kind of you to join us, Crisanta,” said Vil, refusing to hide his sarcasm. “We were just discussing you.”

“Oh! Oh, Vil-san! Did I miss…”

“You didn’t miss anything, Crisanta,” Sidonie assured her. “We haven’t started our evaluation so…”

“Yes, yes, in fact, we were just discussing whether or not you should remain on the team. What could have been so important that…”

“I swear it won’t happen again!” Crisanta pleaded. “And I have memorized the song. Danica, did we learn any new steps while I was gone.”

“Only a little more, but nothing you can’t pick up quickly.” Danica gave the girls a look that told them to get into the position she had formed for them. “Hurry up, show Vil-san what you have learned and why you should stay.”

Vil merely nodded, he wanted to be fair after all. They began with an acapella performance of Our Happily Ever After, displaying their grasp on the lyrics. Many words were flubbed but their harmony was passable and Vil was pleased.

“Adequate, but I want to hear the second verse again. This time, only Sidonie and Vidaria.” They gave each other a look but did as Vil requested. He nodded. “Hmmm, Sidonie messed up the same lyrics again, but beyond that…”

“No I didn’t!”

“You did,” Vidaria said. “When you sang ‘a tenderness I long for’, it was supposed to be ‘yearn for’ .”

“Hmph well, I don’t remember asking…”

“Thank you Vidaria for not pointing that out mid-song,” Danica spoke up, preventing the ensuing spat.

“And as I was saying,” Vil went on. “Beyond that, from what I’ve heard, you two clearly have the strongest vocals after Danica. So you three will be the lead vocalists. Ione, Iman, Taima and Crisanta will be backup chorus and should focus more on the dancing.”

An oddly sharp feeling prickled at Ione’s chest with this announcement that she didn’t fully understand. That she wouldn’t be front in center should have relieved her. Instead, she felt strangely uneasy. At least Crisanta would be with her.

“Congratulations, Sidonie-san!” Danica smiled.

“Ohhhh, wow! Way to go Vidi!” Iman clapped her hands, too excited for her best friend to be vexed at not being selected. “You definitely deserve that!”

“Thank you, Vil-san, I will do my best to meet your expectations,” replied Vidaria. “But, Sister, I still expect you to bring the heat with your stellar dance skills. Don’t let me down!”

“Yes, and that goes for each member of the chorus,” Vil said. “It looks like you all have a passable grip on the song. Let’s see if the same can be said for your choreography.”

Danica bit the inside of her lip, inwardly fighting back a sudden bout of extreme anxiety. The girls all had varying levels of dance skills and while perfection was not yet required, she hoped to the Great Seven their lack of polish wouldn’t be too obvious. After all, what could Vil possibly expect from only a day of training?

Apparently, he could expect a lot. She tried not to notice the disapproving looks he was giving them but Danica could still see that he was not impressed. And even without mirrors, she could also see every point where someone either misstepped, was off-count or swayed left when they were supposed to sway right.

There was something about now performing for an audience compared to rehearsing alone that resulted in imperfect harmony and it was all Danica could do not to become frustrated. The lack of coordination with her teammates and her personal embarrassment at singing this song in front of the one who inspired it only frustrated her further to the point she was actually relieved when the music finally stopped.

She and Vil immediately locked glances, his glare silently confirming all she already knew.

“Well clearly, the same can NOT be said about your choreography!” He said. “Several of you were severely out of sync and I can see where Crisanta left off before cutting rehearsal. And Ione! You’re still looking down at your feet! Tell me, will your feet be watching you during the VDC?”

“N…no, Sir.”

“If that’s the case, why do you keep your eyes on them?!” Ione hesitated, but thought it probably wouldn’t be the wisest thing to respond to him. Vil went on, “Needless to say, I am not impressed. And Danica, as leader of Swans of Seven, the lack of progress is wholly your responsibility,” shaking his head. “I really expect better of you.”

Danica sighed, nodding slowly and saying nothing despite the many things in her mind that she wished she could say. It was true that they were still very unpolished, that Crisanta only knew half of the current choreography, that Sidonie was rhythmically challenged, that Ione still moved with great insecurity and everyone had mixed feelings on their song, which was likely affecting everyone’s performance. But none of that could be reasonably remedied in a few hours.

They would surely improve, but it would take time. She was certain Vil understood this and wondered if there was something else he was displeased with, working up the courage to ask such. Against better judgement.

“Danica, were you not listening to me at all?!” he snapped. “I just laid out everything that’s wrong, did you just wake from a coma?!”

“I...I w-was listening, Vil-san,” she replied, a little taken aback at his sudden harshness. “W-what I want to know is if there’s more we need to improve?”

“The only other thing you need to know is until Swans of Seven improves in the choreography department, I will not permit you to rehearse in the Pomefiore ballroom.”

“HUH?! But we need the space!” digging her heel into the floor and subtly biting back more frustrated tears. “We need the space and we need the mirrors! We’ll improve a lot faster if we…”

“We are literally still in day one!” Iman spoke up. “You aren’t being fair and you know it!”

“You can’t expect us to be on Danica’s level in only a few hours,” added Crisanta. “Even if we could, we won’t be stage-ready for weeks!”

“Exactly! And can you honestly say the NRC tribe is currently much better off than us?” Sidonie asked, slyly adding, “Is the same pressure you’re putting on Dani being equally implemented or are you just…”

“THAT'S ENOUGH! You really feel you should be rewarded for such minimal efforts?! Such nonsense!”

His angry, booming voice was enough to silence them and Danica gave everyone a look that told them to argue no further. That it would be futile to do so in any case. Though he was often unimpressed, Vil rarely ever got angry. And while he was used to Sidonie talking back to him, he was in no mood for other dissenting voices.

The room remained silent for several painful minutes before Vil slowly make his way to the door, looking over at Danica.

“You have two days,” he said. “If your spudlings make noticeable improvements in that time, I’ll allow your next rehearsal to be in the ballroom.”

And with that, Vil left them, the sound of his clicking heels echoing through the hall and providing the only sound as the girls stood in anxious, defeated silence. A million thoughts whirled through Danica’s mind and none of them good. A few weeks ago, she had been on cloud nine, trying on her beautiful costume and preparing for certain VDC victory. From that moment onward, however, very little had gone right, and that only continued on into today.

There wasn’t a moment throughout the whole afternoon where Danica’s teammates were in harmony with each other and it seemed to only reflect the lack of harmony she currently had with Vil. Beyond that, she knew she was not as firm with them as she could be. Even if being a leader was a new experience, was it one she was really cut out for? Danica contemplated these things and was so deep in her thoughts that she didn’t realize right away that her teammates had returned to arguing.

“You know, Iman, for all your bragging, you really need to learn to actually listen before you think you can lead!” Taima said, “Dani really shouldn’t have to always be talking over you when she’s giving instructions!”

“I don’t think you should focus your ire at me, sweetheart! After all,” Iman turned to Crisanta. “If SOMEONE didn’t skip out on half of class we wouldn’t be in this situation!”

“I’m not even going to argue with you on that one, Iman. I know I’m a big reason Vil is mad at us, but that doesn’t mean…”

“No! Crisanta did her best!” Ione snapped, putting herself in front of her friend. “So sorry we all can’t be like you!”

“Oh trust me, I already know that.”

“If only you’re personality was as nice as you think your dancing is!” snapped Sidonie.

“That’s rich coming from someone who messed up the lyrics twice but somehow still got a leading vocal role!” Vidaria scoffed. “I think it’s clear who’s going to end up holding us back.”

“Holding us back?! We had to delay rehearsal because of you and your Diasomnia lackeys! If Lilia has such an issue with you here then why even are you?”

“I don’t need to explain anything to a child like you!”

“Vidaria, what are you doing?!”

Crisanta’s alarmed voice brought Danica back to reality and from the corner of her eye, she saw Vidaria reaching for her magipen. No, it was time to end this.

“And I won’t allow some Pomefiore toff to speak ill of Diasomnia in my presence!”

“Is that how you feel?” Sidonie began pulling out her pen as well, “Trust me, Vidaria, you don’t want this, I’ll…”

“SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! PUT YOUR PENS DOWN AND SHUT UP!”

Whatever they were yelling about, it all vanished and they looked over at Danica, who was clearly moments away from breaking down. Danica herself seemed surprised at just how overwhelmed she was feeling and simply stared at her teammates with glittering eyes. Taima went over to her, hesitantly placing her hand on her back.

“Dani-chan, none of this is your fault,” she murmured. “Please don’t feel bad. You’re doing great.”

“No…No I’m not…” it was all too much and several tears fell down her cheeks in rapid succession. She hung her head low with shame and Taima began gently stroking her back. “I’m trying my best, I just…don’t know what to do…”

“You don’t need to do anything, sweetie. We’ll show Vil-san that we can improve in two days! Sidonie-san will learn the lyrics, Iman will watch her attitude,” Iman was about to say something but Vidaria subtly pulled at her arm. “And we’ll all dance better!”

“N-no, that’s not what I meant,” Danica sniffed.

“Then what did you mean?”

“I…I just…I don’t know,” she choked out a loud sob. “I don’t know what he wants from me!”

Danica ran out of the reception hall and none of them tried to stop her. For the briefest moment, they all looked at each other, realizing the hand they all had in their leaders’ distress. Yuulan walked in.

“Guys, what’s wrong with Dani?” she asked. “I just saw her running up the stairs with tears in her eyes. What happened?”

“A lot happened,” Taima replied. “But worry not, Yuu-chan. We got this! Okay, guys!” turning to the others. “From this point on, I am officially Danica’s right-hand girl, the vice-leader of Swans of Seven!”

“And who or what has decided that?” asked Iman, with more amusement than annoyance.

“The fact that I’ve known Dani the longest and have performed with her countless times has! Now, one of the things I hate more than anything in the world is seeing Danica cry! None of you are right for this! We got two days to un-fuck this situation and I expect everyone to be on board starting tomorrow! Crisanta, you gotta catch up. Ione, you gotta gain some guts. Sidonie, Iman, and Vidaria, I don’t know what is going on between you three but squash it now! Dismissed!”

~~~

Ramshackle Dorm ~ Danica’s Temporary Room

“Madmoiselle Chanteusse, are you alright?”

Rook gently tapped on the door to Danica’s room. It was now much later in the evening. Danica had not left her room once since the end of rehearsal, not even to eat with the other trainees. Yuulan had left a tray by her door but it remained untouched. Instead, she lay in her bed, unable to sleep or do anything beyond thinking about everything that had happened. The tapping on the door momentarily pulled her from her anxiety and reminded her that whatever her thoughts, this was still only day one.

“May I come in?”

The inquiry set off a spark in her chest that fully brought her back to reality. With a soft groan, she pulled herself up into a sitting position, pulling her hair out of face and behind her shoulders. She checked her reflection in the camera of her phone and wiped away the remainder of her tears. There was a notification from magicam that she noticed for only a second, but was certain she had read it wrong. She told herself that she’d properly read it in a moment.

“You can come in, Rook-san.” The sight of his kind green gaze and soft smile was enough to briefly set her heart at ease and she smiled back in spite of herself. Though she felt slightly uneasy when he began to close her door. “Keep it cracked, in…case one of the girls needs me.”

“Very well, cherie,” he sat at the far end of the bed. “You did not grace us with your presence at dinner. Are you not feeling well?”

“I guess you can say that. A very stressful first day I guess. I hope the NRC Tribe didn’t have much trouble today.”

“Ahh, they all have much to learn. Especially Monsieur Crabapple. But I am confident.”

“I envy the confidence you have in them, I wish I could have the same for my team.”

“Hmm?” Rook moved a little closer to her. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I…” Danica noticed how close Rook now was, but pretended not to. “…I…it’s just…students can have a lot of potential, but if they don’t have the right teacher, that potential will never shine through. Even if he’s a student too, I’ve learned a lot from Vil-san and I think he is just the right kind of person to lead the NRC Tribe. But…” lowering her head. “I don’t think the same can be said for me and Swans of Seven.”

“Oh? But you just said Vil is a good leader.”

“He is, what does that have to do with…”

“Then why do you question him?” he grinned teasingly “Do you think a good leader would pick someone poorly suited for the role you find yourself in?”

“N-no, I don’t think so.”

“Vil selected you to lead the girls' team because he sees your potential. He sees the gifts you have to offer to the world and believes you are capable of reaching for the brightest of stars.”

“Senpai…” a light blush came to her cheeks and she directed her gaze away from his. “Are you…sure those thoughts are Vil’s and not your own?”

“Haha, mon petit cynge, comme tu est mignon,” he laughed, reaching out to touch her hand. “We both believe this. From the moment I set my eyes on you, I knew you were one worthy of notice.”

“R-Rook…san…”

“And when Vil first heard you sing, ahhh, if you could only see the look on his face, cherie! Of the likes I had never seen in him before! So you see, we both believe in your potential. Yet it doesn’t seem you believe it yourself, which is quite the shame.”

“I just wish whatever Vil has, I can have it too so I can lead the girls better.”

“Non, non, you shouldn’t wish for that,” shaking his head. “You shouldn’t expect for yourself what another has.”

“Why not?”

“It would be far more productive to find your own way of leadership that works for you,” Rook smiled. “Just as Vil’s works for him.”

Danica went silent for a few moments, pondering what Rook had said to her. She definitely did not have the same authoritative manner Vil possessed and even when she was able to get her point across, it was more so her losing her temper rather than her ability to lead. Was it even possible to have leadership skills while her personality remained so passive? Something she decided to ask him.

“Ahh, but you won’t always be so passive, cherie. Very soon, you are beginning to develop your own strength and soon, you will be ready to take flight like the perfect white swan that you are.”

He moved even closer, to the point she could no longer ignore and she forced herself to look up at him. A big mistake, she thought, as his sharp green eyes held her in place, his hand slipping under her chin for good measure and setting her face ablaze.

“But you must believe you’re capable of flying, Danica.”

She wanted to move away but found she couldn’t. It soon became too much and her eyes began to wander around the room, frantically looking for a place to keep her gaze. Anywhere but in the eyes of the one currently setting her heart into overdrive. This was made even worse by his next question, lowly whispering into her ear.”

“Have you given further thought to what we…discussed over winter break?”

“What?!” This was enough for her to finally pull away from him, making him chuckle. “Rook-san! W-why would you ask that of me right now?!”

“Should I close the door?”

“Yes! I mean, no! NO! Not now, not right now,” she stretched her legs on the bed, moving away further. “I know I said I would answer you soon, and that’s a promise I intend to keep. But I need more time. Please, a decision like…that…it can’t be rushed!”

It didn’t occur to Rook to be upset or even disappointed by her response, it was sudden of him to ask and the timing was definitely off. But considering how little time they had alone, it made sense to him at that moment. Still, he smiled.

“I understand, cherie. Forgive me if I’ve made you uncomfortable.”

“No! You didn’t. I…just can’t answer you now. I have so much on my mind preparing for the VDC and Vil-san said he’s going to be evaluating us again in soon. So, I’m sorry but…aa…ah!”

She was surprised by a sweet kiss on her hand.

“No need to apologize. What I ask is not something to be taken lightly,” her hand remained in his a few moments longer, his thumb softly stroking the inside of her palm before pressing it again to his lips. “Continue to consider it, as you are preparing to spread your wings. And with that, I bid you bonne nuit.”

Danica didn’t even register Rook’s departure at first, still too flustered by his words to think of anything else. Something like an electric current pulsed through her hand, up her arm and to her chest and she was certain she could hear her own heart. When she realized he had left, she threw herself face first into her pillows, screaming loudly and completely forgetting the open door.

“What’s wrong?!” Crisanta pushed through the door, rushing in. “I thought I heard screaming.”

“Oh! Shit!” Danica looked up at the blonde girl, her face awash with scarlet embarrassment. “I forgot the door was open. Uh…no, no. Nothings wrong. I was screaming but nothing is wrong. Sorry, I probably shouldn’t do that.”

“Haha, don’t sweat it! Sometimes it’s good to get your emotions out like that!” Crisanta grinned. “And Sevens know you have a lot on your plate. Scream as much as you need, sweetie! You deserve it!”

Ah, if only you knew why I was screaming. She thought. But said aloud, “I’m also sorry for running off like that earlier. It was extremely childish of me.”

“No, in the one who should say sorry. Twice today I’ve upset you and I didn’t mean to.”

“Twice?”

“When I brought up Vil in The Twisted Prince and when I left midway through rehearsal. I feel like a good deal of the responsibility of today ending like it did is mine.”

“I’m not one to overly lay blame on people,” Danica replied, sitting back up. “You know what you’ve done wrong, what’s most important is that you not miss any more rehearsals. I want to be lenient but Vil-san is anything but.”

“I understand. I will do my best to juggle both obligations because I really want to remain a part of Swans of Seven.”

“I do too,” the brunette smiled. “You’re dancing is solid and you have an adorable voice.”

“Thankies, but there is another reason I really want to stay,” Crisanta didn’t complete her sentence but Danica already understood.

“Because of Ione.”

“You’ve heard her sing. She’s amazing! But her confidence…”

“Yes I know, really it was Ione’s voice that is why Vil selected her. He’s really unimpressed with everything else she’s currently bringing. Between you and me, I think that’s why Vil selected Sidonie-san to be a lead vocalist. Her voice is incredible too but Ione’s range is slightly stronger. If her confidence was as strong she would have passed Sidone for sure.”

“She just needs time! You’ll see! She can do it and I want to be by her side while she does!”

“How lucky Ione is, to have a friend like you,” Danica smiled. “In that case, you know what you have to do. Please don’t let me down, and please don’t let Ione down either.”

“I promise!”

Crisanta made sure to close the door as she left and by the time Danica found herself finally alone, her mood was beginning to shift for the better. That’s when she remembered the notification on her phone. She finally looked at it, and gaped when she realized she had not been seeing things.

neige.leblanche liked your photo

neige.leblanche commented on your photo: “Dani-chan! You’re performing too? How wonderful! Can’t wait to see you and Vil-kun again!! ❤❤❤”

His comment alone had gained over 20k likes in only a few short hours. But this brought Danica’s anxiety back to the forefront. If Neige had seen her post, no doubt Vil had as well and would have certainly seen Neige’s comment. It all made sense now.

Vil was sure to be unimpressed with their progress today, but this perceived interaction with his rival was what truly had brought out his anger. It even occurred to Danica that Vil might have seen her and the girls watching her commercial with Neige, angering him further still. She clenched her teeth, how was she to know Neige would do that? And why did it have to matter anyway? After all, she didn’t think much of Neige to begin with beyond being generally nice. But not nice enough for her to wish to become better acquainted with him.

We took a few photos together for my family, that’s it! We aren’t friends and we go to rival schools! And now you’ve made Vil upset with me! What’s your deal?!

Danica let out a huff and for a moment, considered deleting the comment and blocking Neige. But thought better at the last moment, thinking it would seem even more suspicious if so many people had already seen it. She would just have to be more careful about what she posted on magicam, for the time being.

I hate this! First my costume and now this! Why does it seem I must always tailor my behavior based on the stupidity of others?

And as she thought of this, turning off the lamp and pulling the blanket over her head, the sound of shouts echoed from down the hall and through the doorway. She didn’t have to listen for her to know it was Sidonie and Vidaria arguing once again.

“WHY WAS YOUR VICE DORM LEADER IN OUR ROOM?! Looking through MY things?!”

“Calm yourself Vidaria! You’ll wake up the entire house!”

“I will NOT calm myself until this is explained! Rook had no reason to be in here!”

Danica groaned, not even her curiosity was enough to pique her interest. Even less to calm her own irritation. But soon enough, she managed to fall asleep; with all her confusion and frustrations beginning to internalize

~~~

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland oc #twst oc #twst fic #shining hearts ~ melodies and melancholy #things i write

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alparlaboratories · 1 year

Text

My OCs Masterlist

I got tired of having to look through my mess of a computer to find drawings and other stuff about old OCs and characters I might wanna use in the future, and I’m bored right now so I figured I’d make a list with all of my important OCs, or at least the ones that mean the most to me.

These are not ALL of my OCs, just the main ones for their respective stories/campaigns. But there’s still a lot, lol. Also I’m not counting Niss for this list, even if she’s an OC in my heart. You can learn more about her in my pinned post anyway.

(Note: Art is either made by me, my partner @pastlight or has been commissioned by various artists)

Metchi

You know how parents say they don’t have a favorite child? Well I do and it’s Metchi. ‘What if someone decided they wanted to do good purely out of spite and had pretty much everything stacked against them?’ I asked myself. ‘What if she was also a grungy trans girl who has no fucking clue what she’s doing and is constantly bickering with the deity inside her head?’ was the next question. And from that, Metchi was born. The willpower to burn a hole through Mt. Coronet yet the resources and energy of someone who considers cigarettes the most effective breakfast.

Nico

He’s my PC from our current (in hiatus) Pokemon tabletop campaign. A Lumiosian street artist and Sky Trainer who enjoys throwing himself off of high places and being completely fucking incomprehensible to all who meet him. The only neurons in his brains are dedicated to serving looks, calling the wind to his command and delivering the most unhinged takes on the nature of human happiness he can think of.

Tulip

‘I would like to make a tragic character whose obsession with the truth will inevitably lead her to ruin’ I thought. ‘Oh, fuck’ Tulip replied. Out of all my stories, hers is currently my favorite from a writing perspective, and I owe a lot of that to Tulip herself, always willing to push and push until something pushes back, because it’s what she thinks she owes to the people who were just as unfortunate as her. And I love her for it.

Hope and Hunter

These two come in a package deal. ‘Small town life-long friendship’ is something I’ve been meaning to try my hand at writing for a while, and though their story is at the very beginning, I like them quite a lot already. A lot of my personal history with friendships and growing up into your twenties is imbued into them, though they are cooler and dumber and more than willing to take those things to their natural extremes.

Ska

Protagonist of my yet in-progress, unnamed visual novel I’m working on. She’s a sheltered Fae changeling with a death sentence hanging over her head, and a desperate desire to do as much stupid shit as possible before something ends up killing her. She has a bat and absolutely sucks at using it, and she’s hopelessly in love with both of her best friends. I love her deeply, and I hope I can share her with everyone soon.

Shadi

Absolute trash human being, possibly the worst woman in Sinnoh, lover of drama and shadow magic and also Dark Souls. What if an older sister was allowed to be as evil as her little heart desired? Well, that’s Shadi. Obviously there’s more to her, but I like making fun of her. I think she’s a funny character on her own right, except when she’s doing horrible shit to my other OCs, which is often. In any case, she’s one of my favorites to write for a reason.

Eatos

Eatos is... weird. They don’t have a set story, they kinda bounce around a few of my works being mysterious and off-putting and tricking people with smoke/illusion magic. They exist in the same universe as Ska, and in that world at least they’re a human with the power of a Fae artifact. I’ll get more of a chance to develop them someday.

8) (Really old drawing, I didn’t even have a tablet back then lol)

Shadi... 2!

Yeah I have a few characters named Shadi, I just really like the name. Anyway this particular Shadi may be my first actual OC, back when I was... fuck, I dunno, fourteen? I don’t know how relatable this is, but she’s the OC that made me think ‘I’m gonna write her story and become a famous fantasy author and write a bunch of books and-’ and you know the drill. That didn’t quite end up happening, but I don’t regret it much. I did write a book, but my creative goals right now are very different from back then, and I’m happy with that. One step at a time. Still, I care a lot about Shadi for basically getting me into writing fiction, and someday I hope I can write a story that’ll serve as thanks for her.

Cole

PC for another Pokemon tabletop campaign that unfortunately never progressed much. Which is a shame, because I like this guy, even if he’s so hard to relate to sometimes that I have trouble writing him. He’s nn ex League/army man who now lives peacefully in Pacifidlog alongside his Electrode called Maradona. He loves dogs to a comical degree (the only part about him I understand) and spends most of his time drinking beer, wishing he could drive fast vehicles and helping out Darya, his neighbor and aspiring contest star.

10)

Machi

Uh... yeah, we’re getting into the really old ones. I don’t remember much about Machi other than she was a hired killer and lived with a guy who did all her murder planning for her because the pay was good and he hated his job that much. It was from her story that Eatos came forth, so it’s a shame that they ended up being so much more interesting to me than Machi. I still like her, though.

11)

Tala

Listen, we all gotta have an edgy OC with a sword, and Tala was mine. Another PC for an even older Pokemon tabletop, maybe even THE oldest. I went around from loving him when I created him, to despising him a few years after and now kinda liking him again, just because he’s so ridiculous in his drama queen ways. He almost rivals Niss in that regard. But yeah, cool sword, tragic backstory, crabby personality, the works. What do you want from me? I loved that shit when I was a dumb kid.

Anyway... there are more of them, but these are the main ones I remember. Of course there’s also Reiko and Percy and characters like that, but they’re different kinds of OCs, and I already posted about them before.

No point to this post other than to have them on here for future reference.

#ocs #ocs masterlist #pokemon #child of thorns #art

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fallenfurther · 2 years

Text

Homecoming - An unexpected visitor

Chapters 1 , 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Chapter 10 is here, finally, after my muse deserted me yet again. I hope you enjoy how I've introduced this character back in. I'm mixing all the different Thunderbird worlds lore to create a version that fits in with this story.

**********

Leaving the island on Sunday was heartbreaking. He had spent the day with Gordon, who had helped him with a little physiotherapy in the pool. In the morning the rest of his boys had returned, including John, but they had all needed to sleep. Jeff had watched their return from the gantry. Their movements had been slow as if each blue boot had lead in the sole. Alan could barely keep his eyes open, and the eyes of the older boys were hollow and struggled to focus on anything. It had been a very long rescue and with weak waves from the boys, Jeff made sure they all headed straight to bed. So many lives had been saved because of his boys' courage and skill, but the cost to themselves was clear. The calendar contained few social events and some of those had become no shows thanks to a call out. The changing rooms in the facility were apparently bypassed in favour of their rooms and personal bathrooms, leaving Mum to turn on the robot cleaner to mop up the dirty footprints that now trailed through their home.

His sons had slept long into the afternoon, waking only to say goodbye. Hastily donned clothes and yawns accompanied the farewell hugs he received. He swore Alan almost fell asleep in his arms, making it harder to let go of the teenager. Jeff had missed so much. Mum flew him to the facility and handed him over to the staff after sharing another hug. At least it wouldn't be long until he was back on the island again. His mother would return to take care of the boys, as she had done for so long, though Gordon had helped him leave an array of food in the kitchen for his brothers to find once awake. He smiled knowing he'd helped them even in such a small way, but he had wished they'd been able to spend time as a family.

"Next weekend. You'll see."

Jeff hugged his mother as tightly as he could in the reception of the facility. He could wait five day. He'd already waited longer.

*******

Jeff placed his tablet down at the sharp knock on his door. Nurse Mary poked her head through the crack with an apologetic smile on her face. She was a patient nurse, who had been very kind to Jeff over the months. He gave her a warm smile.

"Sorry to disturb you, Mr Tracy, but there is a gentleman at reception here to see you. He's not on your visitor list. He says his name is Kyrano. Do you know the man?"

"I do know him. Please, let him in. I'd like to see him."

"I'll go get him for you."

Jeff was a little surprised, having not heard anything from his old friend since he'd been back. There was no way that the man wasn't keeping an eye on International Rescue, but it had thrown Jeff when he wasn't there upon his return. Even Brains had braved the unknown and flown to the Oort cloud, but Kyrano had been absent from the island for years according to his sons. The man had left his teenage daughter in the care of Mum and Scott and disappeared within months of them calling off the search. Kyrano was a tough man, had been through a few horrendous things himself, yet had still fought for a better world. It was his knowledge that had kept the island and International Rescue a secret. His knowledge of communication and governments had allowed them to stay under the radar. Jeff had trusted him completely and relied on him just as much as he had Lee Taylor. Kyrano had watched the first launch of the TV21 and been there as Jeff set off for his first rescue in Thunderbird One. He'd worked closely with Brains on the original automatic camera detector, though his sons had decided that technology was now obsolete. It had been a shock to see images of the Thunderbirds online. Apparently it was harder than expected to keep the craft offline with everyone having 4K cameras in their pockets, and the logs confirmed they often did rescues in more populated areas than Jeff and Lee ever had. Apparently EOS monitored the publicity and images available on the web, removing some when required. The world knew a lot more about International Rescue than ever, even the GDF knew where the Island was. Times had changed, and it appeared his friend had as well. The man had left the Island not long after Jeff's accident. He'd left everything on the shoulders of his grieving boys. It was something that he'd never expected. He retired, as Kyrano had called it, though it looked more like abandonment to Jeff.

Mary returned with a smile and let in the mysterious man. Jeff stood up as his eyes took in every detail of his old friend. The grey in the man's hair was evident, with grand streaks of silver sweeping through the styled strands like it was a choice that it was there. He'd aged well, the wrinkles around his eyes and temples were still fine. The man still stood with the same air of silent authority that made everyone listen to him. The man had the biggest heart beneath his serious demeanour, hence why his departure from International Rescue had surprised Jeff. Mary left the two of them alone.

"There's no need to stand for me, Mr Tracy."

"I'm perfectly able to stand, Kyrano, and I've always stood for you."

"Despite my insistence."

"Mum would have my hide if she knew I'd disregarded my manners."

"Dr Tracy is a fierce woman."

"You can say that again."

Jeff sat back in his chair and waved at the empty one beside him. Kyrano stood a little longer before heading over and gently taking the offered seat, the man's movements still as quiet as ever.

"You are quite the man, Jeff." There was a slight softening in the man's features, though he was still alert. "No one should have been able to survive that long in deep space."

"I've always been a record breaker."

"Indeed."

Jeff scrutinised his companion, deciding to skip the small talk, which was something Kyrano did to hide his real agenda, and cut to the important stuff.

"What do you think of the International Rescue my boys have created? Have they done it justice? Do you think they went too far with the social media aspect of it?"

Kyrano's eyes sparkled and a smile came to his face. That was the man Jeff remembered. The observant cunning man who would always know the right time to step in.

"They've done well, considering the circumstances. They have made mistakes, many of which they have learnt from. However, some of them have significant character flaws that they fall for time and time again. I believe they were right to start using social media when they did. The world needed reminding that there were people behind the machines, and they had managed to keep out of the limelight, to the best of their ability, until that point. I believe their AI has been extremely helpful in monitoring and controlling sensitive material."

"I'm glad you've been keeping an eye on them."

"Of course I did, they are like sons to me and my own flesh and blood was with them. Considering it was my half-brother who was threatening their lives it was my duty to keep them as safe as possible."

"Yet you left the Island."

Kyrano had the courtesy to close his eyes. It was his way of preparing himself, thinking through every word to ensure the correct meaning was portrayed. Jeff suspected he was about to hear something very personal to Kyrano, something he may have never spoken to another human being. Those emerald eyes opened and stared into his deep blue ones.

"I couldn't live with the guilt. I watched your boys search for you. They refused to give up, the anguish in their faces haunted my dreams. The way they went out and returned despondent. We had been trying to convince the GDF about Belah, that he was operating as The Hood, and that he was dangerous. Only after they saw the footage from inside the Zero-X did they actually believe some of what I had told them, but it was too late. You were gone. I had intel, Jeff. I hadn't been certain, but there had been a minor security breach at the compound. It had the markings of his work, his techniques, but I hadn't acted on it. If I had, we might have been able to search the Zero-X before take off. We might have been able to stop him, and you might not have gotten stranded."

"You know as well as I that there would have been no guarantee of that. That they would have probably ignored us, just as they had before. Nothing you could have done would have changed the outcome of that day. If anything, it could have made it worse."

"Oh, but the guilt, Jeff. I couldn't live and watch your boys suffer. Every day I was reminded of my failure. I was the Chief of Security. It was my job to manage the information network and analyse possible threats, and yet you were still killed. Your boys held on to hope, while all I could see every time they replayed the footage was how I killed you. How my brother had taken away a great man, a father and a friend. I struggled to do my job, forever on edge, doubting, double checking everything and chasing so many obvious false leads. That's why I resigned. I left quietly knowing Dr Tracy would make sure Tenusha was well looked after. That her education would continue and she would be relatively safe with your boys."

Jeff's mind could see how the events may have caused such feelings in Kyrano, but his heart couldn't get around the fact that he left. How could he leave Tenusha?

"But those boys never blamed you. They needed you to support them, to guide them through their grief and help them continue. Instead you left them to figure most of it out on their own. I never expected you would do something like that, Kyrano."

Jeff couldn't keep the hurt from his voice. A man he'd trusted, who had the skills and knowledge to guide them, has just left them.

"I never stopped watching over them, Jeff. I kept an eye on security threats from afar while they took over. They had others, Dr Tracy and Mr Taylor, who were perfectly suited to help them through."

The man paused to fetch two glasses of water, one of which he offered to Jeff. Jeff took a sip before placing it on the table.

"I had resolved to track down and locate my brother. I needed to stop him from hurting your boys again. His vendetta against you was driving him, and even though you were gone I knew it wouldn't fizzle out, not with the boys continuing International Rescue. I tracked Belah for the first year and a half, interfering with his plans and frustrating him, but I couldn't catch him. I finally managed to trace his finances and wipe them out. With no funds he disappeared off the face of the planet. He hunkered down and I had no idea where. By the time I had finished chasing every lead, every dead end, just over two years had passed since I'd left. They had all moved on, built International Rescue up again without me. John had been performing most of the security duties from Thunderbird Five, but was starting the handover to Tenusha. My daughter was taking my place. I watched over the next months as she settled into the role, with the help of John and Miss Creighton-Ward, she found her feet. She's very good at what she does, so I let her take my place. With my brother in hiding, I headed to my parent's land and started on the upkeep of my childhood home. All the while I had my toe in the water, my contacts still feeding me information. I knew my brother would come back at some point, stronger and more vengeful than ever. Each year, International Rescue grew, responding to more rescues and perfecting their techniques. They were all safe. They didn't require me anymore."

"So you have been watching them the entire time? Just from a distance."

"Yes, until they got the AI. Since she settled into Thunderbird Five, she closed off all my access loops into the network. She secured it tight. I have relied on my contacts since."

"So you didn't know I was alive?"

"Not until the world did."

There was regret in the man's eyes. The realisation that things could have been different. He'd done what he had thought was best and it'd left him alone and away from family.

"So, what do you do to keep yourself occupied?"

A smile crossed his friend's face.

"I should be asking you that. You were the one trapped so far away from everything."

"I mined asteroids for ice, grew algae and kept the oxygen flowing. Nothing too interesting, how about you?"

"Gardening, cooking for my elderly neighbours, training and keeping up to date on current affairs."

Kyrano stood up, his glass of water finished. Just like that, his visit ended. A hand was offered to Jeff, which he shook.

"May I visit again?"

"You may, though I'm hoping to become an outpatient soon."

Kyrano nodded solemnly.

"You could approach Tenusha. Reach out and start mending that bridge. There might still be a place for us old guys on the Island."

"I'll consider it."

"I believe she would welcome seeing you."

Kyrano left with just a light click from the door. His footsteps were still eerily quiet. The man could slip past most people, a useful skill when it came to retrieving stolen files and keeping International Rescue's secrets. He and Parker had been an unstoppable team in those early years. A smile crossed his face at the memories. The ball where he had escorted Lady Penelope for Sir Hugh Creighton-Ward, which had ended in dogs chasing Parker across the lawn while Kyrano slipped into the shadows. Those early days when Jeff's bones didn't ache and he could run around the island with ease. Gravity, and time, could be so cruel.

Forcing himself out of the chair, Jeff headed into the little garden. The wind brushed against his cheek and he closed his eyes. His mind drifted to times gone by. The wind took him back to his Air Force days, where he had stood beside the runway with his comrades, wind trying to destroy his neatly styled hair and dirty his pristine uniform, as the plane before them taxied to a stop. He smiled as it changed direction, blowing straight into his face and taking him back further. Back to his first flights in Mum's precious old biplane, goggles tight over his eyes as the wind stole his whoops of delight. The air stilled for a moment, before becoming gentle, barely moving Jeff's gelled hair. At that moment, he was standing in the rough rocky outcrop, eyes scouting the horizon beyond Mateo Island. That had been the beginning of it all, Kyrano standing behind him with Brains as Jeff gave them a tour of the island he wanted to buy. He'd turned around to see the cogs of Brains' mind turning and Kyrano steadfast. Jeff had spread his arms wide and asked their opinion. Brains had confirmed it was plausible, and the location had many advantages for a rescue organisation. Kyrano had given him a smile and a nod before confirming it would be a good secret base, easy to conceal with very few neighbours to annoy. Opening his eyes to the deep blue cloudless sky, Jeff wondered what he was to do next. International Rescue was running well, Tracy Industries was still an industry leader and yet his sons were isolated and tired. That had never been part of his plan. Sighing, he pottered over to his bench and sat down with a feeling he had much to mull over.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #homecoming #jeff tracy #kyrano #unexpected visitor #the visitor #do you want him back?

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