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mamaestapa · 1 year

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We Need to Talk…

•pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

•series summary: Y/n Hubbard, the younger sister of Cincinnati Bengals Defensive End Sam Hubbard, finds herself in a difficult situation after a steamy hookup with her brothers best friend, who just so happens to be the quarterback for the Bengals. In just nine months their lives will be changed forever. How will Y/n and Joe manage to to go through parenthood together? more so, how will Sam take the news he is going to be the uncle of his best friends baby?

•chapter summary: The time comes for you to tell Joe some of the most life-changing news he’ll ever receive. However, his reaction isn’t exactly what you were hoping for

•word count: 3.6k

•warnings: Pregnancy, morning sickness, vomiting, crying, mood swings, arguing, angst

series masterlist

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January 25, 2023

4 weeks pregnant

You pulled into the parking lot of Kettering Health, yawning loudly and tiredly. You were currently having some major caffeine withdrawals. Since you found out you were pregnant, you have stopped drinking coffee. Even though you are able to have as much decaf as you want, you haven't been drinking any coffee due to the fact that it makes you nauseous anytime you're near it. After turning off your car, you reached over to the passenger seat and grabbed your bag. You reached into the bag and pulled out your favorite chapstick. For some reason, this pregnancy is making your lips and skin extremely dry. After putting the chapstick on your chapped, cracked lips, you fluffed your softly curled hair and stepped out of the car. As you made your way into the practice facility, you were greeted by Tee.

"Mornin' Y/n."

You smiled, happy that Tee was the first person you saw upon entering the building, "Hey Tee! How's it going?"

"Pretty good," he shrugged, "nerves are a just lil high around here though."

"Oh I bet. Film this morning?" you asked, already knowing the answer.

He nodded, "Yup, that's where I'm headed now. We'll be watching film all morning," he sighed, "gotta make sure we're prepared for our matchup against the Chiefs."

The Bengals beat the Ravens 24-17 in the wildcard round, moving them on to a snowy divisional round. Joe and the Bengals battled against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, and let's just say, the Bengals came to PLAY. The guys defeated Allen and the rest of the Buffalo crew 27-10. This upcoming Sunday, they'll play the Kansas City Chiefs for the second year in a row for the AFC conference title. If they win, the Cincinnati Bengals will head to Super Bowl 57.

"It won't be easy, but I have faith that you guys can pull out a win." You said with a warm smile.

Tee nodded, "For sure. It's not the defense stopping us that I'm worried about...it's their offense with Mahomes and Kelce," he whistled, "they're one hell of a scoring duo."

You chuckled, "It won't be easy, but think about it. You guys have outscored them before, multiple times at that. I truly believe one that you guys will beat them again."

Tee let out a breath and shook his head, "Shit, I hope so. You comin' to the game?"

You shrugged, stopping at your office door with Tee, "I'm not sure yet. Zac still has to let Kate and I know which one of us is going. I'm hoping it'll be me."

Tee chuckled, "Fingers crossed it's you. we need our good luck charm there."

"Awe, thanks Tee." you smiled, laughing softly.

"Of course. See you out at practice, Y/n."

You waved as he started to walk away, "Bye Tee, good luck with film." He let out a scoff in response, "Thanks, I need it."

As Tee walked down the hall, you shut your door and walked over to your desk. You sat down in the office chair and pulled out my MacBook. For the past couple days, your workload has been fairly small since the season is coming to an end. Normally, when you didn't have a ton of work to do, you would walk around the practice facility and talk with some of guys. However, this season is different. Well, at least now it's different. You have been avoiding talking to the guys the past few days--for good reason too. You're trying to avoid Joe as much as possible. You're still trying to think about how to tell Joe that you're pregnant with his baby. You knew it was going to be hard, but you never expected it to be this hard. As you were typing away on your MacBook, your mouth began to water and your stomach started to churn. You looked at the time: 10:15.

You sighed and got out of your chair. As soon as you were in the hallway of your office, you took off running to the nearest bathroom. Every day around this time, morning sickness hits you the hardest. Your morning sickness was only bad when you first woke up, and then again around 10. You were thankful it wasn't an all day thing like some women experience. You emptied your stomach contents until you swore there was nothing left in there. After flushing the toilet, you wiped your mouth and let out a sigh. Morning sickness was no fun. You walked over to the sinks and washed your hands, grabbing a paper towel in the process and getting it wet so you could wipe the corners of your mouth. You turned the water off and fixed your hair before wiping your hands on your jeans. You made your way out of the bathroom, looking at your shoes as you walked down the hall. Suddenly, you were on the floor.

Hmph.

"Oh my god, Y/n!" a familiar voice said in shock, "I'm so sorry."

You looked and saw Joe standing there, observing you with a concerned look on his face. He held his hand out for you to grab. As soon as you grabbed his hand, he carefully pulled you up from the ground. Your free hand instinctively went to your stomach, protecting the baby in your womb. Joe held onto your hand, a slight blush on both of your cheeks as you looked into each others soft eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked, furrowing his brows in a concerned manner.

You smiled, "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that."

"Don't be sorry, I should be the one apologizing." You nodded in response, "Okay. Well, I uh, I should get going. Bye Joe." you said quickly as you hurried off down the hall.

"Okay..?" Joe trailed off in confusion, watching as you hurried away from him. Joe stood still, his shoulders falling with a sigh as a slight frown appeared on his face.

Closing your office door, you immediately stood against it and let out a shaky sigh. That was a close one. You thought to yourself. You began to breathe heavily and before you knew it, you broke down crying. You've been doing a lot of that lately. You have been extremely overwhelmed, plus all of the added pregnancy hormones don't help. As you choked out a sob, you heard a knock at the door. Trying to control your breathing, you sat back down in your chair.

"Come in!" you wavered out, hiccuping as you wiped away tears from your cheeks. The door opened and a worried Zac Taylor walked in, holding a cup of coffee. Bless his heart. He placed the coffee cup on the small table that sat in your room. He grabbed a chair and pulled it up to your desk so he could sit for a moment.

"Y/n, are you crying?" he asked, voice extremely soft.

You looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. "No?" you said softly, wiping your nose that was dripping with snot. His face softened from his usual hard gaze, "Oh, Y/n..."

You choked out another sob, falling into Zac's arms. He instantly wrapped them around your body and gently cradled your head. "Shhh," he soothed, "you're okay..you're okay." he repeated, over and over, letting you get all of your pent up emotions out. As much as you were thankful to have someone comforting you at the moment, you had slightly wished it was Joe consoling you instead. Zac gently stroked your shoulder as your gut wrenching sobs turned into the occasional sniffle. Zac gently pulled your head up, frowning as his eyes scanned your red face. "Now," he sighed, "what's got you so worked up? Did I give you too much work? If I did, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

You shook your head, sniffing as you wiped your eyes. "N-no, It's not from you." you croaked out, clearing your phlegmy throat and taking a deep breath. You sat up straight and looked over at Zac. He reached out and put a hand on your shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly.

"I um," you said hesitantly, "I'm going to tell you something, and when you find out, I need you to not say anything to anyone."

He nodded, "Of course, hun. Shoot."

"I've only told a couple friends, and now you. So you need to promise me, that you won't say anything, please?" You pleaded, tears pricking your eyes once again.

Zac took your pinky finger in his, "Pinky promise. You can't break one of those, yeah?"

You laughed softly at his response. Zac really does have a soft and joking side to him when he isn't on the field. You heaved a sigh once more, "A couple days ago, I.." you began, gulping nervously before continuing, "I found out that I'm pregnant."

Zac's eyes widened and a small smile appeared on his face, "Y/n...congratulations."

You smiled tightly, tears brimming your eyes, "Thank you."

"So, is this, is this good news or bad news?" he asked, brows furrowed.

"It's, it's good, I think? I'm just so terrified. I don't even know how I'm supposed to tell the father. Hell, I don't even know how I'm supposed to be a mom yet. I mean, my schedule is so busy, and, and the baby daddy's schedule is just the same as mine, so that-."

Your heart dropped to your stomach as you realized. Oh no...I have said WAY too much.

"Hold on, his schedule is the same as yours?" Zac questioned.

You gulped nervously, knowing he was catching on, "Please don't say anything." Your eyes giving away the answer to his question. He nodded and placed a hand over yours that sat on on your thigh. "I won't, I promise," he sighed, "but you need to tell him, Y/n. He deserves to know about his kid."

You nodded, "I know, I know he does. I just don't know when to tell him...or how to tell him," you said, voice coming out as a whisper. Your lip began to tremble again as emotions flooded over you as you told Zac about everything. He pulled you into a tight embrace and kissed the top of your head. It was a comforting, but friendly gesture. After a good ten minutes of silence, except for a couple sniffles from you and whispers of sweet nothings from Zac, you took a few deep breaths to compose myself and you pulled away from his embrace.

"Thank you, Zac."

He smiled, "Of course, kiddo. Hey, if he decides he doesn't want to be in this kids life, you let me know, and I'll have a good, long talk with him."

You couldn't hold back your giggle, "Okay."

"And Y/n?" Zac said softly.

You looked up at him, "Yeah?"

"No matter what happens, just know you have a whole group behind you, supporting and loving you and the baby every step of the way."

You smiled, standing up so you could hug Zac. Your arms wrapped around his neck as he hugged you back, tightly. "Thank you so much. This truly means so much to me." you whispered into his shoulder. You felt him nod as he pulled back and smiled, "Of course. If you ever need to talk, or if you need anything at all, don't hesitate to ask. The guys and I will gladly help."

You smiled warmly, "Thank you. I seriously don't know what I would do if I didn't have the teams support."

Zac chuckled, "You and me both. Is there anything I can do for you right now?"

"Hmm..." you trailed off, thinking about anything Zac may be able to help you with. Suddenly it hit you, "Oh! If it's not too much to ask, could I come to the game Sunday? Even if I'm not the media manager on duty?"

"Yeah, of course!" he nodded, "it wouldn't be the same without you there. Are you sure you can fly though?"

You nodded, "Yeah, I think so? Women fly during their first trimester all the time."

"OK. As long as you feel safe flying, that's fine with me then," he paused, glancing at his watch "Ah shoot, I have to go catch up on some film with Joe right now. I'll see you later Ms. Hubbard."

Your breath hitched at the mention of Joe. Your face fell, but you covered it with a smile, "See you later. Thank you again, Zac. I really appreciate it."

He nodded, a smile tugging at his lips. "It's no problem at all." he went to walk out the door, but stopped in the doorway. "oh, and Y/n. Congratulations, again. You're going to make an amazing mother."

You couldn't help but tear up at his words. He shut the door behind him, leaving you alone in your office. You shook away all the emotions with a deep breath. You leaned back in your chair and placed a hand on your tummy, greeting your unborn baby while you typed away on your computer with your other hand.

~Time skip~

You walked down to the team cafeteria to get yourself some lunch. You kept it light incase your morning sickness acted up again. You got a chef salad, an apple, and a bottle of water. As you were paying for your food, you heard the commotion of the guys coming into the cafeteria. You contemplated on where to eat lunch at. The cafeteria or my office. As you thanked the cashier, you made eye contact with Ja'Marr. He swallowed whatever he was chewing before he greeted you, "Hey, y/n! Come sit."

You smiled, making your way over to Ja'Marr and sitting down across from him.

"Hey, Ja'Marr," you smiled, "how was morning workouts?"

He shrugged, "Eh, not too bad. I think film was worse though. Watching that and listening to Taylor yell at us is torture."

You chuckled and took a sip of your water, letting out a soft Ah before you spoke, "Sounds like torture."

Ja'Marr took a bite of his sandwich. "So, are you coming to the game Sunday?"

You nodded, "Yep." Ja,Marr smiled, "Great! Wanna rep my number?" he asked with a wink.

You let out a laugh, "I don't know. I already promised Tee I would rep his."

"Hey, there's two halves, do a jersey a half." he suggested, laughing lightly.

You smiled, taking a bite of your salad after you replied. "That's not a bad idea, maybe I'll do that."

Ja'Marr chuckled and went back to eating. As you ate your lunch, you saw someone sit down next to you out of the corner of your eye. You looked over and saw that it was Joe. You shifted nervously in your seat as Sam sat down right after Joe did.

Joe smiled, "Hey 'Marr, Y/n."

"Hi." you said quickly, averting your eyes away from him.

Joe turned to you. You could feel his blue eyes boring into you, "Y/n, I didn't see you out on the field today, what were you doing?"

You scoffed, "Does it matter? I was busy. You winced slightly as you noticed your tone was a bit snippy. You didn't mean for the words to come out that harshly, it's just your hormones are making you have terrible mood swings. Oh the joys of pregnancy.

Sam turned to you, giving you an odd look in response to your snippy remark, "It's fine, Y/n. He was just asking."

Before you could say anything that you might regret later, you decided to leave. "I gotta go. See you guys later." You said, getting up from the table and throwing away the rest of your food. You hurried out of the cafeteria and made your way back to your office. The guys at the table all watched as you rushed out of the cafeteria. Ja'Marr and Sam both looked at Joe.

"Bro, what did you do?" Ja'Marr asked, his eyes wide.

Sam chuckled, "Eh, I wouldn't worry. Y/n is probably just on her period. I love her, but when it's shark week, you never ask her any questions."

Joe just sat at the table in silence, suddenly losing his appetite he had worked up from his extreme morning workout. Why were you avoiding him all of a sudden? Suddenly, Joe stood up and walked over to the nearest garbage can, throwing his half eaten lunch in the trash.

"Dude, where you going?" Sam asked, brows furrowed in confusion as he watched his best friend start to the leave the cafeteria out of nowhere.

"I have to go talk to Zac about something. I'lll see you guys outside." Joe said, rushing out of the cafeteria. Meanwhile, you began to pace around your office. A sudden knock at the door caused your pacing to stop, and before you could answer, the door opened. An upset Joe walked I, shutting and locking the door behind him.

"Joe-."

"No." he cut you off, "let me talk, please."

You gulped nervously, preparing yourself for what he was going to say, "Okay." you said, your voice slightly above a whisper.

"Why have you been avoiding me the last few days? Just when I thought we were both getting over the hookup, you start ignoring me. Why Y/n? What did I do?" Joe asked with a pained look on his face. He was completely lost as to why you were treating him this way.

You sighed, "Joe, you didn't do anything, I-."

He rubbed his face, "Oh bullshit, Y/n! You jumped at the sudden raise of his voice. You have never heard Joe get this loud before.

"I don't know what happened or what I did, but whatever it was, how could it be so bad that you have to avoid me?" You sat in silence as he stood and confronted you for your recent actions, "like earlier when you ran into me and I helped you up, you just rushed off! And then just now trying to talk to you in the cafeteria, because god forbid I try talk to you, you run away! Y/n, do you know how much that hurts? I mean, are you embarrassed about hooking up with me? Just, please, tell me what I did to you." His voice cracked with emotion as his beautiful blues began to water from both heartbreak and anger.

You felt the tears well up in your eyes once again. You knew you had to tell him. "Joe, please. Just let me explain."

Joe looked at you, a look of hurt and confusion in his blue eyes.

"Joe, I'm going to tell you something, and I need you to promise me that you won't freak out too much."

Joe's face softened, "Is everything alright?"

Not at all.

You nodded, "Yeah..just maybe it'll be a good idea if you sit down."

Joe sat down on the chair beside your desk that was still there from when you told Zac about the baby earlier in the day.

You took a deep shaky breath. Your palms were sweaty and your heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute. "So," you started, already fearing the worse, "you know how the morning after our uh, our hookup. you asked me if you used protection and I said no, but I did remember I'm on birth control?"

Joe nodded, giving you a look signaling for you to continue.

"Well...about four days ago I found out..."you paused, looking into his eyes as you finished, "that I'm pregnant."

Joe's eyes widened slightly as his breath hitched. "Y-you're what?"

"I''m pregnant."

His face went pale and he stood up, running his fingers through his hair. "Oh my god..."

You cringed, rubbing your temples. "Joe, I am so sorry.”

Joe rubbed his hands down his face, taking a deep breath as he plopped down on your desk, “I thought you were on the pill, Y/n.”

You rolled your eyes, “Yeah well, I hate to break it to you but that’s not a hundred percent effective Joe.”

Joe sighed once again, his blue eyes void of any emotion. You knew he was in pure shock right now. You had felt a wave of many emotions when you found out about the baby, you can only imagine how he’s feeling right now.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” you said quietly, voice cracking with emotion. You watched as Joe stood up and shook his head at your words.

“And you think I did?” he asked with a scoff. You swallowed nervously, “I never said that.”

"I'm not ready to be a dad."

"You think I'm ready to be a mom?"

The two of you were silent, both of you trying to process what had been said in the last few minutes during your important conversation. You weren’t exactly sure how you expected Joe to react to the news; however, you knew he wasn’t going to take the news well and be jumping for joy at the prospect of being a father. Joe walked over to the door of your office and reached out for the handle. He stood there, hand hovered over the handle and contemplating over what to do. You noticed his shoulders heave with a deep breath before he stood around to face you.

“I just,” he wet his lips, “I need time to process all of this Y/n.” With that, he hesitantly took his eyes off of you and walked out of your office without another word.

hey loves!

emotional rollercoaster of a chapter huh? well, get used to them because there will be a lot in this series ;)

do you think Joe will come around soon or do you think he'll take some time?

i hope you all are liking this series as much as i am! i'm having so much fun re-writing it. I feel like it's so much better with Joe. thank you again for all the continued love and support, it is greatly appreciated! you are all so sweet and encouraging, I love all of you🤍

tags: @dandelionwrites8 @joeburreauxsworld @theflawedwriter @mrsshiesty @ann288 @ijustcrypretty @theoneandonlyfanz @wickedfun9 @venus-b @hummusxx @stainednailpolishremover @a-moment-captured @alternativemadchen @erinmartin1987 @sirlewisworld @kkrenae @unhingedfangirl @sublimemusic-rebel @meameagirl @ilovejoeburroww @hallecarey1 @j-worlds-blog @blinkloverx3 @jordyn14 @emherb10

#joe burrow #joe burrow x reader #joe burrow x y/n #joe burrow x you #joe burrow fan fic #daddy issues

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hiiragi7 · 7 months

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(Warning for discussion of abuse)

There is a certain ableist and classist feel to the way that a lot of people talk about highschool education and graduation that I've noticed. "I bet they never graduated highschool" is often used as an insult and to imply stupidity, for example. I've noticed this trend for a long time, but struggled to put it into words.

While education is important, I often feel very put down by the amount of emphasis placed on being a highschool graduate (and, on the opposite end, the disdain for non-graduates). I never graduated, due to a variety of factors; I suffered very extreme abuse starting in first grade from the school environment (As a diagnosed autistic kid growing up in SPED in the 2000s, ABA was the standard), I was being abused at home, I moved schools a lot, I struggle with several disabilities which impacted my ability to learn and developmentally I was never really at the same level as my peers besides in English and art, I developed chronic physical issues while I was still in school due to a genetic condition, and finally, I was kicked out of the house when I was 17 by my parents and I just never ended up going back to school (not that I could have graduated anyway due to a variety of issues).

I was never able to learn quite right and that lead to me falling further and further behind. By the time I was in middle school, I was already so far behind my peers that even if my teachers had wanted to help me learn the content, there was so much they would have had to teach me that it would have been impossible for them to fit it into the time I had with them, especially when they had a lot of other students to attend to besides me. On top of that, I had already given up on my own education sometime during elementary school, so any attempts that were made by my teachers were not well-received by me. I had already developed a complex web of trauma responses to anything to do with school by that point.

It seemed that I was caught in an impossible situation where between the trauma I suffered with and my autism, I could not tolerate even being in a classroom setting, much less learn in it, but there were no other options, which lead to chronic activation of trauma responses which overwhelmed both me and my teachers as well as everyone else in my life. There was also no understanding for me in these settings either, and nobody informed enough to realize what was going on with me and why I was constantly either shutting down and unresponsive or having severe panic attacks. Rather, I was called lazy, manipulative, not trying hard enough, making excuses, acting out for attention, and a slew of other insults as well as near-constant punishments which only served to traumatize me further.

To this day, I only have a second grade education in math. I do not know multiplication, division, algebra, physics, chemistry, and a variety of other subjects. Attempting to study school subjects gives me flashbacks no matter which method I use, whether it's online or with another person or on my own. I am gifted in English, but otherwise I do not know many of the things that people are generally taught in school as kids.

When I tell people I never graduated, often the response is "it's okay, you can still get your GED!" as if me not having graduated is a character flaw that I must eventually work to fix. It makes me feel as though my worth and value as a person is tied to whether or not I have at least a highschool education, and that without it I am less worthy of people's time.

Going back to my initial point, if not graduating highschool makes you "stupid", you must also consider who in practice is unable to graduate highschool - I find it is often disabled kids, traumatized kids, and impoverished kids. Not all of them, I'm sure, but definitely a lot of them.

Tying intellect and a person's worth to whether or not they graduated highschool fucks over those who couldn't through no real fault of their own and frames them as lesser for it. How can you say you believe in disability rights when you shit on those who are too disabled to complete school? How can you say you are against classism when you view people who could not graduate due to having to work full-time as lesser than you?

I feel that regardless of how much people insist they are an advocate (or how much they say "No no, when I said people who don't graduate are stupid I didn't mean those people, I only meant what I see as the acceptable group of non-graduates to call stupid"), there are biases at play regarding perceived intellect and formal education. I am viewed as inherently less-than when people learn I did not graduate. My lack of a highschool graduation certificate or "at least" a GED is viewed with pity by just about everyone I talk to.

I don't have a neat way to wrap up this post, but I do think it is important for people to examine their own biases when it comes to discussing formal education, as well as the overlap of non-graduates and marginalized groups, especially as it pertains to disability politics and capitalism.

#disability politics #autism #abuse #tw abuse #disability advocacy #disability awareness #tw aba #aba

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itzmoonies · 4 months

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♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ﾟ.

Headcanon about Dazai because why not ??

1 - Dazai once tried to sell Kunikida's notebook for 500$, because this man is broke.

2 - Dazai knows Kunikida's notebook by heart, he can even recite it.

3 - Dazai often dream about Odasaku, and how things could have been very different if Dazai arrived earlier.

4 - Dazai actually ignores that Ranpo knows Odasaku, and Ranpo never tells him because he genuinely feels guilty.

5 - Dazai really wants to be a father figure for Atsushi, or at least a brother figure. Because he wants to know how it feels to be proud, even if he needs to be proud of someone else.

6 - Dazai is tried to steal Fukuzawa's wallet.

7 - When he was young, Dazai dissected the insects he killed

8 - He's scared of dogs and spiders, but he's too proud to admit it.

9 - Dazai also sucks at offering gifts, he always says "Why do I need to offer you a gift ? I'm already the best one you can have."

10 - Dazai mimic Odasaku's expression

11 - The reason Dazai became attached to Kunikida was because he and Oda share the same sense of justice, and neither Oda, neither Kunikida wants to see anyone die because/in front of them.

12 - Dazai once cried because he was so tired of works that he ended up crying

13 - Yosano never authorised Dazai to touch her butterfly pin, since it's from an ability and that Dazai's ability is always actived.

14 - Dazai once skipped work to go to a restaurant that serves crabs.

15 - He always comeback whenever the problem is actually done, not when we need him.

16 - He always pet the random cats on the street.

17 - He never loved kids, he found them annoying and childish

18 - Him and Ranpo always make dumb bet like "The first one who solves 16 cases pays the other a snack." Ranpo always wins.

19 - When he and Kenji or Atsushi play chess, monopoly or whatever, he always lets them win.

20 - He, once, eats lipgloss to d*e. Expect that Kunikida caught him and Dazai tried to explain. Kunikida didn't wanted to know tho…

#bungou stray dogs #dazai osamu #bsd dazai #yosano akiko #fukuzawa yukichi #kenji miyazawa #atsushi nakajima #ranpo edogawa #kunikida doppo #armed detective agency

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thisismeracing · 6 months

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some professors are not here today so I'm free (for some hours at least) and I went through your jb22 tag and!! HUSBAND!JENSON IDEAS FILLED MY HEAD!!

and specially im stuck on the him being married to a woman in motorsport... I've thought stuff for her being either a reporter or an engineer🫣

reporter!yn:

they two would be teasy from the start, way before they started dating. when he first came to f1, it was her first year in the reporting world and my my, they instantly clicked!! he would be flirty mid interviews and she'd blush sooo hard, literally wouldn't know how to act

eventually he asks her out, maybe after a win of his because they had made a bet

"if I win today, you owe me a date"

"guess I'm rooting for your teammate now"

NO HOLDING BACK IN TEASINGS!!! and so they date and after some years, when they get married, they are literally one of the most iconic couples. she's grown more into him, is even more comfortable teasing him in front of the camera and he absolutely LOVES it (I just know he has that silly grin of his every time)

ofc he calls her darling nonstop

"Jenson, comments on [x thing]?"

"well, Mrs Button-"

MRS BUTTON ALL THE WAY

and he's such a romantic

and, lastly, when he retires he joins her in interviews and they are really known as Mr and Mrs Button, THE reporting duo

engineer!yn:

oh god, now this one is a match. it's the way they entered f1 together and they learn together, from each other. it's the way they've stayed many, many nights in the garage together, just to make the perfect car with his needs and her brains. and one of those nights, after 5 years of working together, them being alone there makes them kiss and oh, they are really inseparable now

their first time would be the making love type of thing, with so much longing

it's the "she fell first but he fell harder" for sure!! in every race weekend he'd bring her her favourite snacks while he just stays there and admires her working

small crash tw: in case of a crash, she'd be worried sick, but the moment he'd step out of the car, they'd be hugging nonstop

all that ofc behind closed doors, because he doesn't want people to think that she's where she is now because of their relationship

he wants people to see her worth, he wants to give her space to shine

but one day, he wins and she is up there in the podium with him and they can't hold up and they kiss at LAST

when they get married, before every race, he kisses her hand and specifically her wedding band in the most tender manner

when he decides to retire, she stays in f1 still, though wishing she was still his mechanic, as she was all 17 years in the sport

but then she suddenly sees him in the reporting role and she's like !!!! MY HUSBAND !!!!

and honestly they'd be simply unstoppable, with them exchanging knowing looks and smiling and just remembering all those years back, when they were just a rookie and an engineer

all in all, husband!Jenson, whichever case, is an extremely loving and caring man who would do everything for his wife. he'd always try to make her laugh, whenever she'd feel down he'd comfort her nonstop and he'd be her safe place completely

now now we all know that he's surely also a man that craves for his woman's pleasure and would do pretty much everything for it🫣🫣 can totally imagine after race sex to take out all his left stamina AND to celebrate...

-🌻

reporter!yn

jenson would totally ask about her if its ever a different reporter interviewing him. the two meaning jokes would make her forget what even the interview was about because let's be honest how does one stays chill after jenson freaking button hits on them?

"if I win today, you owe me a date"

"guess I'm rooting for your teammate now" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA DKGJSDKJGSKHJDSKJHSDH

I think this line is totally something that they would say on camera, live tv, and all, they crossed a line, but everyone loved their dynamic at this point so it wasn't a problem.

engineer!yn

the whole garage roots for them even when they're oblivious to how in love they are!!

I loved this scenario too oh my oh myyyy

asjfkaj after race sex, but also before race sex (its about getting ready and yk he believes that it can give him some luck hehe)

#🌻 anon #millies inbox #thots #jb22 #jenson button #f1 x reader #thirsty

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sleepytoycollection · 7 months

Text

Funko FNAF 13.5in Freddy Figure Review

Saw this bad boy at target's and made an impulse decision. 😎 The retail price is $32.99, but thanks to a target circle coupon I got him for $25, which ain't half bad.

So for the hell of it, here's my review of the 13.5in Freddy Fazbear doll.

Currently there are only two characters available, Freddy and Bonnie. I hope they make make a Chica and Foxy in this size as well, as it'd be cool to have the main four as a set.

Box art is pretty simple, and kinda bland, mostly recycling game images.

The inside box art is just the office from Fnaf 2, which is not the game this version of Freddy appears in. The Freddy on the front of the box is the wrong version too; I'm not sure why Funko always wants to use Fnaf 2 images on the merch. This isn't the only time they've done this.

Here's the big guy out of the box. He's pretty solid, and has a good weight to him.

His mike is his only accessory, and the hat isn't removable. It had a tough time getting him to hold the mike, as he doesn't have enough space in his paw for it. The mike itself is hollow, and I had to squish it in. You can tell it's squished too, and it bothers me.

He's technically got 14 pts of articulation, a ball joint at his neck, joints at shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, ankles, and even his jaw moves! But good luck getting him posed because those joints were SUPER stiff. It felt like, well, wrestling a bear heh.

I wasn't sure they were supposed to move at first, but I looked at another review and yes, they are.

Also, many of them don't go super far anyway. I don't mind too much as I don't expect an anamatronic to have a full range of movements, and it's enough to give him some personality when taking photos.

But they are wayyyyy too stiff. If they were a struggle for me, I imagine a kid would really be having a hard time getting him to move.

Here's a Midge for scale.

Freddy's the perfect size to fit in with the dollies, which is the main reason I wanted him. It's just so fun to combine my interests.

Speaking of combinations, here's big Fred with lil' Fred.

As you can see, it's pretty much the same sculpt, just enlarged. Looking at them together, I wish they had altered the fur texture a little for big Fred. It looks kinda off at this scale, like he has the texture of an orange instead of fleece.

Also, little Freddy has much more accurate coloring and better detailed paint. Might give big Fred a good black wash and dry brushing to match.

...But at least big Fred doesn't fall apart.

My lil' Fred is from the first wave of figures, and he is constantly falling to pieces whenever I handle him. I don't know if Funko ever fixed this issue with later figures, but I don't often handle them because of this.

So what's the verdict?

I like him a lot actually. There are a few annoyances, but this is exactly the kind of figure I really wanted at the height of my 2015-17 Fnaf phase. Plus he's super sturdy, mostly game accurate, and I bet a lot of kids will want him and Bonnie for Christmas.

Hopefully we'll get Chica and Foxy in this size too, maybe even Springtrap.

#fnaf #funko fnaf #fnaf figures #toy review

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ladytauria · 5 months

Note

Hear me out: 92 and jaycest for the smut prompts

i heard you loud and clear nonny 😌

this... ended up being a monster of a fic (almost 6k) so i'm not posting the entirety of it here, lmao.

my original plan for this was to be a coda to cloves, smoke, and honey, but every time i sat down to write nothing came to me. so finally i started listing jay pairings while looking up selfcest prompts and—then something clicked and i ended up with this <3

in which hood!jay ends up in a universe where his alternate never died <3

i had a really good time with this one! i hope you enjoy <3

(note: i was picturing jay at about ~17 in this, and jason at least 22. however, no ages are stated; just that jay is going to college soon <3)

>> AO3 <<

Hood plants his hands on the desk, leaning against it, looking up at the monitors. Batman and Nightwing are still out. Spoiler and Robin’s curfews got called an hour ago. (Tim’s probably still sulking about it, but whatever. School’s important, no matter what the brat thinks.) Alfred retired when they did.

That leaves just Hood and Jay.

Hood… He showed up just shy of a month ago. Some asshole’s running around, opening portals to other dimensions, and Hood got caught in the crossfire. Stranded, until they can catch the guy.

He won’t show them his face. Won’t even walk around in just a domino! Instead, he’s always wearing that obnoxious red helmet.

It’s driving B crazy.

Even Tim, stalker extraordinaire, hasn’t been able to figure out Hood’s identity.

Or. If he has, the little gremlin isn’t sharing. Jason highly doubts he’d hide it, though. B and Dick are too wound up about it.

Jay… He can’t blame them. Hood’s scarily well-trained. Bruce tried putting him on lock down once and he just breezed right past the defenses as soon as they left. That’s when Dick had suggested they work together—mostly to keep an eye on Hood, which they all know Hood is aware of.

Jay’s pretty sure Dick meant to take the job. Hood and B… well, the way his hackles raise if Batman so much as glances in his direction… That’s a powder keg waiting to blow. Thing is, while Hood will tolerate Nightwing—mostly—the one he trusts the most is…

Jay.

It’s flattering.

And it’s kind of nice to be the one in charge of keeping an eye on Hood.

Jay is still a recent graduate of his Robin role, and it’s a struggle to be taken seriously as his own hero. He’s… looking forward to college, honestly. To either put vigilantism on the back burner or just set up somewhere new—he hasn’t decided yet. It’ll be nice, to leave and come back changed.

Anyway, but actually being trusted to run with Hood at night makes him feel… More like a part of the team. He knows Bruce will never trust him as much as he does Dick—and he’d like to say he’s made his peace with that, but he hasn’t—but at least he trusts him with something.

Jay just wishes he wasn’t so distracted. Even now, Jay’s not paying as much attention to what’s on the monitors so much as he is the way Hood’s tac pants pull taut over his ass and thighs. Which—fuck, those thighs. Firm and muscular and thick.

He choked a guy out with them earlier tonight. Jay’s blood had rushed south so fast he’d thought he was gonna pass out. It’d taken every trick he knew to will his erection down so he could keep working.

The arousal still sings in his blood—a quiet tune, but present all the same. Jay wets his lips, and then walks over to him. “That was some nice fightin’ tonight, Hood,” he says casually, drawing closer to Hood. “Bet you’re tired. I wouldn’t mind givin’ ya a hand.” He trails his fingers over Hood’s forearm—doubts he feels it much, with his armor and jacket still in the way. “You could take a nice, hot shower, and then… I could give ya a massage. Work out some of that tension you’ve been carryin’.”

Hood is still. Jay’s not sure he’s breathing. “Kid,” he says—and then stops, hands flexing on the table. Jay waits for him to gather himself, or shake his head and tell him to get lost.

It’s not the first time he’s flirted with Hood. It was a joke at first. Hood was attractive, Jay recognized that from the start, but… Well. Jay had discovered a few years ago that flirting was a good way to throw people off of their game. (It also invited trouble, of course. The silent ‘I-told-you-so’ from Bruce after Mask started showing actual interest in him had been deafening. But mostly, it served Jason well, so he kept going it.) He hadn’t meant anything by it at first.

He does now.

Has since Hood shoved him up against a wall, bracketing him in with his body, one gloved hand pressed against his mouth. He’d hardly noticed the people passing them; senses too full of leather and steel and gunpowder. His cock had strained in his cup, a thousand times more uncomfortable than the brick at his back.

His attempts since have been utterly sincere.

Hood has never told him off. A few times, he’s even flirted back… before obviously stopping himself.

Jay persists.

“You don’t want this,” Hood says finally, turning his head to meet Jay’s eyes. The whites of his helmet are blank. They give nothing away. Neither does his voice, not with the modulator in the way. Even his body language is inscrutable.

“You don’t get to tell me that,” Jay tells him, his voice breathier than he means it to be. Anticipation thrums in his veins.

Hood lets go of the desk, standing up to his full height. Jay— Jay will be lucky to hit 5’7. More than likely, he’s going to be stuck at 5’5 for the rest of his life. Hood… Hood is taller than Bruce, beating him out by a single inch. Jay has to tip his head back to keep holding Hood’s gaze.

“You have… no idea who you’re talking to,” Hood says, and the modulator adds to the harshness of his tone.

Rather than turn Jay off, it makes him shiver before defiantly lifting his chin.

“Oh, fuck off. You wanna tell me you’re not interested? Fine, that’s fair. I’ll back off. You wanna tell me to stop? Fine. That’s fair. I stop. But you don’t get to tell me that I don’t want this. That I don’t want you.”

Jay steps closer. He already stripped out of his armor, leaving him in nothing but a form-fitting t-shirt and tight leggings. He ditched his cup, too, which means when he grinds his hips forward, there’s nothing to prevent Hood from feeling his erection as he plasters himself against Hood’s side, stretching onto his tip-toes. His lips brush where Hood’s ear would be, if not for the helmet.

“Let me show you how much I mean what I say,” he whispers.

Hood goes still again—but it’s the same kind of stillness that falls just before a storm. Jay holds his breath.

It’s knocked from him when Hood grabs him, broad hands gripping his waist and lifting him onto the desk—his ass just barely missing the keyboard.

Then, he reaches up; a low, mechanical hiss sending Jay’s heart into his throat. Hood tosses the helmet aside—Jay hears it hit the ground, roll, but he doesn’t bother to look where it lands. Instead, he watches Hood rip his domino off next, tossing that aside too, and then, finally—

Jay sees him.

He drinks him in ravenously. The scar, starring at his mouth and trailing up, up, to his temple, where it disappears into his hairline. His hair is dark, curly, wild and askew the same way Jay’s is after a patrol. There’s a shock of white in the front, where his bangs curl on his forehead, forming a heart shape.

Huh.

Jason’s do that too.

Their noses are similar, too; a little crooked, with a raised bump in the middle. They’ve both got full mouths, settled into a natural pout. A small scattering of freckles over their noses, including a darker one under the left eye.

A scar, mostly faded, over a brow.

Jay’s eyes go wide. “You’re—” Me, he doesn’t finish, the word sticking in his throat.

How many times had he tried to guess which of them Hood could be, if any of them at all? Himself had never crossed his mind, not once.

Hood… He wielded guns with brutal efficiency. None of Bruce’s security measures could contain him. When Nightwing challenged him to a spar, they’d been so close to evenly matched. He had the height, the bulk to match Bruce, and—

He was just…

Hood was dangerous, and lethal, and confident, and skilled, and big, and—

So very unlike Jay at all.

Yet… There he is. He has a few more scars, and his jaw is more defined, but— They have the same full cheeks, the ones that give him perpetual babyface. Especially with his long, dark lashes and full, pink lips.

Jay… is starting to see why people call him pretty.

“I told you,” Hood—Jason says harshly. It’s Jay’s first time hearing it without the modulator. His voice is low, gravelly. It makes his skin pebble.

Hood being Jason doesn’t make him want him less at all. He’s still the same ultra-competent badass that he was before, and—

Jay would like to get his hands on him right now, pretty please.

Jason doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo. Insecurity still runs deep, Jay guesses.

“Go on. It’s past time little birdies went back to their nests.”

Jay fists both hands in the collar of his jacket before Jason can take more than a single step. “Shut up,” he snaps—and then yanks him down into a fierce, hungry kiss.

Jason gasps into his mouth.

For one heart-stopping second, Jay thinks he’s going to be shoved away. Thinks Jason will look at him with disgust, humiliate him for even considering that Jason might want anything to do with him.

Jason doesn’t.

Instead, he steps forward, forcing Jay to tip his head back. There’s the rustle of fabric, and then—a hand, no longer gloved, tangles in his hair, pulling just-so in a way that makes Jay gasp, shiver, hips rocking forward, grinding his dick against the molded abs of Jason’s armor.

His moan is embarrassing, high enough that the bats rustle restlessly above them.

Jason presses the advantage, plunging his tongue in Jay’s mouth. It tastes of peppermint and cigarettes as Jason licks into him slow and deep, delving into every nook and crevice of Jay’s mouth.

Jay shudders; legs locking around Jason’s waist.

When Jason pulls away… Jay whines, trying to chase him. It’s the hand in his hair that stills him; fingers tightening, holding him in place.

“Please,” he begs.

Jason’s nostrils flare. Then… his gaze flickers around them, evaluating their surroundings.

“Not here,” he says finally.

Jay whimpers, embarrassingly high, when Jason lifts him; hands braced under his thighs, the curve of his ass.

And Jay— he may not be very tall, but he’s solid; all muscle and pockets of fat, a body honed through years of training.

Jason holds him like he weighs nothing at all.

Even when they climb the stairs, Jason taking them two-by-two, he doesn’t falter. Barely breathes any heavier, even when Jay gives into the urge to start sucking marks onto his neck.

He knows he’s affected. He can feel his pulse, hear the soft hitches in his breathing, but—

His steps never waver.

>> continue on ao3 <<

#jayjay #jason todd #jaycest #red hood #dcu #tauriawritesfanfic #tauriawritessmut #i gave this a read over but i've also been up for over 24 hours (not bc of the fic) so i. may have missed some things #feel free to point typos out to me xD #lovely anons #asks and answers #also i love this one a lot so im probs gonna be obnoxious about reblogging it <3

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1alchemistart · 11 months

Note

I do like the way you draw dimitrius but I kinda disagree on presentation…it’s implied dimitrius is the “favorite” child, making me feel like the entire dynamic is a lot like Zuko and his family in ATLA.

Dimitrius may be the more menacing force here but that’s because he was born lucky, meanwhile Damian was lucky to be born

that's fair! i disagree, personally, with the idea of the sibling dynamic being the same as zuko and azula's — primarily because they have different issues and the age gap appears to be significantly larger (zuko was 16 and azula was 14 in ATLA, damian is 6 while demetrius' age is unknown but he is definitely at least a pre-teen and at most maybe 16-17), plus demetrius and damian are on speaking terms. and the parents being so different (and both present) is a very important factor...

...buuut we simply don't know enough about demetrius to make a solid interpretation on their dynamic, in my opinion! the lad has a singular scene where he speaks on the phone with damian, after all, and it took us like 25 chapters to just learn his name; not enough to make a good solid call on how he is as a person, which would be the first step in determining how he gets along with damian

i also must point out that everything i have drawn about demetrius is not a reflection of how i think canon should or will be, but rather just silly wishful thinking and a (very) mild exploration of how his character might end up being! i like drawing fluff the most, and canon evidence is currently pointing towards a lot of upcoming angst for all desmonds, so ofc most of my art can be described as canon-inspired rather than actually canon

that being said, deme has few enough canon mentions that i feel plenty comfortable just listing them all in case it might be helpful

SO!

✨in terms of strictly canon thus far (at the time of me writing this, we've reached chapter 84), there are 6 chapters in which he gets mentioned:

in chapter 8, twilight super briefly mentions that "he's joining his brother at eden academy this year," so we know that he exists JDFKLSD

in chapter 9, damian thinks: "never in my life has anyone defied me. even my older brother never struck me." this would imply that either demetrius has a temper, or damian just bugs him a lot. i'm betting on the former but both are an option

in chapter 25 (his name-drop chapter), jeeves mentions demetrius is returning home for the holiday, which can mean many things: he may be secure enough in his grades to afford it compared to damian who is staying in school because he is not; he could be missing his parents, meaning he may be on better terms with them than damian is; or he might not like the environment of the school dorms

in chapter 27, twilight thinks: "both of the desmonds seem to be exceptional students. especially the older one. he barely got a single question wrong." which confirms that demetrius is doing very very well in school

chapter 37 seems to be the first time where it's confirmed our lad is an imperial scholar! and is also the first time we hear him speak. he seems a bit tired, curt but not intentionally rude, and the line "don't get your hopes up" implies that he's sympathetic to damian's current situation

lastly, there's the very vague mention aaaaall the way in chapter 66, when one of the ladies says "with both their boys being so exceptional, they hardly need much attention," meaning that despite his accomplishments, demetrius isn't getting much attention from their parents either. in the same chapter, twilight says about melinda: "plus, she seems estranged from her husband and sons," so there's definitely more distance from melinda than from donovan, but it's fair to assume that demetrius likely isn't getting pampered or anything by his father, especially not with donovan's opinions on children DSFJSDK, and twilight does at one point also say "considering the relationships they have with their children," so donovan is still very very distant

all of this is not enough to easily build a dynamic for the brothers i'd say. we have more info on them as individuals than them as a unit, and not enough to build demetrius an actual personality with his whole 6 mentions, out of which only 3 give mild info on what he might be like

the conversation on him gets more difficult if you also count the fact that thus far, each forger has had a desmond counterpart, and yuri is like a big brother to anya in a way (despite being an uncle, since he acts rather childishly), making demetrius the most likely candidate for the yuri counterpart, but that is a whoooole different conversation that would require a lot lot lot more speculation than i feel like doing lol

but anyway yeeeeeee hope this makes sense!! :]

#i was debating on keeping it short but #despite the fact that i am short... i talk at length #so you get a List #asks #sxf #sxf manga #demetrius desmond

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satureja13 · 4 months

Text

It's Imbolc today, one of the festivals in the Wheel of the Year, and Ji Ho convinced Jeb to combine the goth fashion shoots for Strawberry Cake Fashion Noxee ordered, with a little concert to celebrate this special day. So they could spend some carefree time together. And also to celebrate this stories' one and a half year anniversary! It was January 30th. Can you believe this? In the beginning I counted every month because I'm with ADHD and never know for how long I can keep up with something. Thank you so much for being with us! To make it less awkward for all of them, Ji Ho asked the others if it's ok to weave some of his Siren's Song Spells into the background vocals. Jeb will do the main vocals today so it won't be too much magic influencing their feelings. They agreed. They also agreed to tell Saiwa the truth about 'Bird', (since they promised) but not today... So they all gathered at 'The Veil', the goth club they set up in one of the empty rooms for the photo shoot and the concert.

First song is Black Number One from Type O Negative

'I went looking for trouble and boy, I found her

She's in love with herself. She likes the dark On her milk-white neck the Devil's mark

Now it's All Hallows Eve the moon is full But will she trick or treat? I bet she will. She will'

(This song is so amazing and Peter Steele is one of the most stunning creatures who ever walked the night.)

'She's got a date at midnight with Nosferatu Oh baby, Lily Munster ain't got nothing on you

Well, when I called her evil. She just laughed Well, cast that spell on me. Boo bitch-craft'

Saiwa got goosebumps and chills were running up and down his spine. Jeb is so hot and amazing. Sai wasn't able to control himself and hissed when Jeb sang:

'Loving you Loving you Love, loving you Was like loving the dead'

Jack: "I'll get you something to drink to cool down ^^'" Saiwa couldn't even answer. Neither tear his eyes from the stage.

If Saiwa only hadn't agreed to that fake relationship with Kiyoshi! How are they supposed to get over this? Had Jeb expected him to say no to his suggestion? How much does Kiyoshi remember? Gods, what had they done?!

Kiyoshi and Jack sat as far from each other as possible and Kiyoshi tried not to swoon (at least not recognizeable for the others ^^') over how stunning Jack looks tonight. Ji Ho tries his best with his Siren's Songs to let them all forget their worries.

But of course Vlad noticed it. And doesn't approve! He chose Kiyoshi's side and is willing to do anything to help him to find back into their 'family' but he will also make very sure Jack can heal from breaking up with his fated mate Kiyoshi.

Ji Ho tries a little harder ^^' And Jeb looks in the crowd as if he wants to say 'behave'!

For Sai, Jeb even looked hotter than Peter Steele. He so wishes he could touch him tonight. And kiss him. Argh!

From the Beginning ~ Underwater Love ~ Latest 🛺 'Home happy Home' from the beginning ▶️ here 📚 Previous Chapters: Chapters: 1-6 ~ 7-12 ~ 13-16 ~ 17-22 ~ 23-28

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Just a Little Further 22

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

After I sent River and Ocean away, I took a moment to compose myself. Omar is watching, trying to see how I'm reacting, I think.

"Melody, if you're going to use your Voice, you need to be very careful about the things you order. You didn't specify to bring the Marines back alive, and now they're dead."

"You're right Omar, I need to be very careful when I'm wording things."

Ava doesn't seem to mind. "They did do what you asked though. and so quickly! I expected to not see them for at least a week."

It doesn't seem to bother Um'reli either. "You have to admit, it sends a message. People weren't taking you seriously before, and between this and what you did to Starlight... they're going to realize you are the real deal."

Omar looked ahead "Speaking of the real deal, look." He pointed.

We look out and...

Oh my.

The crowd.

It's wall to wall people in front of the entrance to the Throne. More people than I've ever seen in one place before. Not here, not on Starbase Picaresque, not even at home on Meíhuā.

And they are all here to see me.

I wish there was a rear entrance to the Throne. I bet there is, I wish we looked harder to find it.

I sighed. If we're going to do this, we might as well do it right. I looked back and my friends. "Okay, we're on. I'm going to try and impress everyone and see if they'll make a path for us. Once we're up I'll sit on the Throne and you can just stand behind me and look... official I guess. Ready?"

Nods all around. Good.

I turned back forward and thought about how I wanted to appear. My gown started to rustle like I was in a stiff breeze and my crown and wings appeared. I thought about the connection to the Reach and was able to tweak the air settings to get a breeze going around here too and as people looked back to see where the wind was coming from, they saw us.

The cheering created a wall of sound that we walked headlong into. It was practically a physical thing. As we stepped into the crowd Um'reli and Omar pushed forward to clear a path and the people parted like grass on the plains.

As we walked, I spread my wings for the look of it and they hung over the crowds as we walked past. People reached out to touch them as I passed and - I'll be honest here - I didn't think people would be able to feel them as they're made out of light and fog by the Nanites, but they could! I could even feel their fingers brushing over the feathers.

It's very odd to have a sensation from a limb you've never had before. If I concentrated, I could hear the individual cries from people in the crowd as we walked, but after trying that for a couple of seconds it was entirely too overwhelming, so I just concentrated on the noise as a wall of sound without definition. It was easier to take that way.

We made it to the top of the gallery, and I turned to face everyone. every seat was filled and the entire lower level spilled out into the street almost all the way to the dock. I had never seen this many people here before all in one place! Aviens, Mariens, Azurians, the people who wear pressure suits and a few others I haven't met yet, all shapes, sizes and colors.

They were here, to cheer me.

They were here, to worship me.

This, was all for me.

Omar, Um'reli and Ava took up station behind me, seen but in the background as I raised my hands and spread my wings for silence. A hush descended, and everyone stared up at me, waiting.

"People of Reach of the Might of Vxxz. Thank you for coming. Today is a great day. A Builder, an Empress returns to you, so that you can become whole once again!"

Cheers and shouts. I hold my hand up for silence once again.

"The road ahead is long. The Gate is locked, the starships here in need of repair and systems all over the Reach have languished. But! You remain. We remain. Now that I am here, I will begin repairs and upgrades. I will make our starships move again. I will open the Gates. I will reunite my Empire and we shall once again, rule the stars!"

More cheers. I wait for them to die down before continuing.

"Today though, you can come to me directly with your immediate grievances about things here, and me and my fellow Builders-" I gesture behind me "-will work to resolve as many as we can."

I sit in the Throne and feel the familiar cold tang of connecting to the Starbase. It feels different this time, smoother, more familiar. I lean back... and let go...

From all around the arena, my voice is heard. Everyone perceives my voice as coming only to them, direct to them. It's as if I am speaking to them, and them only.

"Speak your issue, and be heard."

"We are a family of 6 and yet, our quarters are such th-"

"Please, Empress, my son, he nee-"

"Those nosy Aviens next door are alway-"

"Food prices keep going higher and hig-"

As everyone talks to 'me' I am keeping a list of the grievances. I'm not sure how I'm doing it, I assume it's the Nanites plus how I'd naturally try and keep a list of information being used together, but as they speak, I track what their problem is. Amazingly, after they speak, I'm able to offer some soothing words to everyone. It's me and it's not me at the same time. Even with my full Builder persona activated, I don't think I have the parallel processing to complete a feat like this. The Starbase and the Nanites must be doing the majority of the work.

After only an hour or so, it's done. Everyone that wants to speak has spoken, and I have thousands upon thousands of complaints to sort. I give a farewell and offer a blessing to everyone, and order the restaurants across the whole of the Reach to feed everyone for free today - promising they will be reimbursed for their work.

Royal part over, it becomes somewhat of a festival atmosphere around the Throne area. People milling about, talking with each other, catching up with old friends, eating and laughing. From my perch on the Throne, I watch the celebration. I get an overwhelming sense of relief tinged with a small amount of anxiety over what it means to have an Empress again. It strengthens my resolve to do my best to have it mean good things for the people that live here.

How am I going to pay for all this? What to other Empresses do?

They owned the banks. They just ordered it.

Wait. There are banks here, right? Is it really that simple?

Simple is often not easy. But yes. You own your whole empire, including the banks.

That's it! That's how we'll pay everyone and fund everything. A quiet part of me yells that it probably isn't that easy, and isn't that how inflation happens and don't I need to start taxing people to get money to go in or something? I should look into it further, but it's a very quiet part of me right now. I can tune it out pretty easily.

I turn my attention to the list of complaints that were collected and with the Throne and the Nantes help, I try and do some rough categorization.

Neighbor Complaints - this is the largest list and will most likely be ignored. Should it though? Maybe I'll have the others look them over in more detail.

Food issues - this is second largest. We can look over it and see if there's some underlying issue. I can also look into the disused food distribution centers. Maybe they're turned off because there isn't the resources to use them anymore, maybe it's another reason. I feel like I can fix this one, and if I do, it will give me the biggest boost to my legitimacy.

Environmental issues - third largest and issues related to the environment here. I had just turned up the settings here yesterday, so I hope this helps eliminate those. This should be an easy win. Mei'la had mention something about how power usage felt wasteful here. Maybe there's something we can do to boost efficiency.

The rest of them are things like, asking when we're going to launch the Starships again and quite a few asking when I'm going to "take care of" the issue of other sapient groups. Hmm. I don't like that one. Luckily, the questions seem to be in the minority, but still.

Job finished for now, I stand up and stretch. My goodness, that was boring. I hope I don't have to do it very often. Looking around, I find Omar, Um'reli and Ava wandering around the area behind the Throne. "Find anything interesting?"

Omar gestures towards me. "Actually yes, look here. There's a door behind the Throne, out of sight of the people on the ground.

"What's behind it?"

"I don't know, there's no handle and I can't get it to open."

"You've had the Nanites for a day, try to do it as a Builder. Just concentrate on the door and imagine it doing what you order."

Omar stares at the door, and I can see the concentration in his hands and on his face. There's a small breeze around him and with a hiss, the door slides open into the ceiling.

"You did it! Congratulations, Builder!" I'm super proud of him.

Omar stares at the open door, and then down at his hands, and over to me. "That... was... the most amazing thing! I just thought about the door opening and it did! It's like magic."

Now he will be one of us. He has felt the power.

I'm just happy he was able to do it. "Come on Omar, lead on. Let's see what's in here."

We go into the darkened room, and Omar again concentrates and the lights come up. Like most Builder stuff it clearly hasn't been touched in a very long time, but again, there isn't much dust here at all. It looks like everyone left for the day and shut the door... but then the door stayed shut for who knows how long.

Inside the room is 6 chairs that are arranged around a long table. Each of the chairs is in the same green metallic substance as the Throne. They're molded into the floor instead of the ceiling, but to me they look like where the Builder operators would sit when running the station.

"This looks like where the Builders sit when they are the starbase. Come, let's sit and try it out. It'll feel odd when you first sit, and if you get that feeling in the back of your brain to let go and sink further, don't yet. You need at least another day of Nanite development, but I think we're safe to connect lightly. I'll stay out of the seats and if I see anyone in distress, I'll pull them out. See if you can find my notes from the celebration."

Omar, Um'reli and Ava all sit gingerly. Ava is especially nervous - she's the one that saw me scream when I tried to integrate too quickly, but after a moment, I can feel them with my connection to the Reach.

"Wow, this is amazing! Melody, can you hear me?" It's Ava.

"Sure can Ava, it sounds like you're standing right next to me." I look over, and her body is just sitting in the chair, relaxed, breathing normally.

"Okay, I found your notes Melody. Looks like you sorted it somewhat already? Wow, how did you collect all this data?" Um'reli must have found my notes first.

"I have to admit, I don't really know. I just... knew what to do. The Nanites know more than I do, so sometimes I just let go and let them drive. I have a feeling that isn't always the right choice, but until I get more familiar with things, sometimes I feel like it's the only thing to do."

"Melody? I found the docking bay. It's empty right now, but I think I see how to maneuver High Line from the umbilical to the docking bay. Once it's inside we can get a better idea of what it would take to refit it with human systems and make it a viable starship again."

Oh, wonderful! I'm so glad Omar is here.

"Yes please Omar, do that. We'll go down and check it out once you've finished and everyone has a chance to get more familiar with how to be Reach."

While everyone is working, I go back over to the Throne and sit down. I get reconnected and just look around for a while. I like watching the movement of people on the Reach. It's... soothing I guess? Oh hey, up further are gardens and parks! I was worried there would be no greenery here. I should ride the train up later and explore.

I can feel Omar, Um'reli and Ava behind me exploring things, learning how they work, and with them here, I swear the Starbase is starting to work better. I can see people looking in wonder at lights that were long off and now are on again, breezes blowing as the air freshens, and even I'm noticing people starting to clean and sweep. It really feels like we're turning a corner here. I get an alert that for the first time in [DEMARCATION ERROR] another train is wheeled out from storage. It's needed for the crowds.

I wish I knew how long [DEMARCATION ERROR] was. If the starbase doesn't know, it was probably a long time. That really speaks to the power of the original Builders if 11 million people could live here with effectively no administration the whole time.

It's almost too good to be true...

My reverie is interrupted by a radio signal. I look around, ah, there it is. It's the long range comms. Someone is signaling us.

Huh, FarReach is signaling us.

"Okay Melody, very funny. You've made your point. Open the Gate now please." FarReach isn't even bothering with any niceties.

"Hello FarReach. How are you doing?" I admit, I'm being a little petty here.

"Melody! Do you understand what's happening? Do you see how you're changing? Most of the BIs don't see it, but your commanding voice thing and that 'don't worry about it' aura doesn't work on AIs. I see your changes, what's happening to you, what you're becoming. Keep down this path and you won't be the Empress Melody.

You'll be the Tyrant Melody.

"Ava said there aren't very many AIs around on this side of the galaxy, I have a hunch I know why. An Empress would not keep people around that can't be placed in thrall."

"FarReach! I am insulted. You're saying that just because I can't control them, I wouldn't like AIs?"

"Maybe not you yourself, at least not yet, but that Empress nano machine package that was installed on you wouldn't like AIs for sure. It sure feels like the decisions you're making are more their decisions than your own. I know you Melody, this isn't you."

Isn't me? Every decision I've made so far has been mine. Sure, the Nanites have helped, but if I didn't like what they were recommending, I wouldn't have done it.

"We caught up to that Mariens, Ottarn by the way. We took them and their tiny crew aboard. Their ship was basically junk taped together. Even if he had made it to the Gate, they probably wouldn't have made it to their destination. We're going to take them wherever they want to go, and then head home."

They took Ottarn? Hmm. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing or anything. I'm worried about it though, I wonder why?

"FarReach, did you call us up just to insult me and call into question all the good work we're doing here? We're helping the people of this Starbase! We've already improved the environmental systems, and now we're beginning to retrofit one of their broken Starships."

"Ugh, Fine Melody. We don't have to agree. You and Omar and Um'reli and Ava stay over here on your side of the Galaxy and leave the rest of humanity alone. I don't care anymore, I hate it here. Open the Gate."

"Or else what?"

"Or else, Empress I will link away." It really sounds like FarReach is speaking through gritted teeth. AIs are usually so reserved and chill. I've never heard one as angry as FarReach right now.

"Why are you being so mean to Melody, FarReach? She hasn't done anything to you." I forgot that Ava, Omar and Um'reli can hear this call too. I wonder if FarReach knew too?.

"FarReach, I think I have to agree with Ava and Melody. Our leaving was our on decision. Melody didn't place us in thrall or order us to come with her with her Voice. She didn't even come back to you. Ava came and asked us. We're here because we want to be here." I can feel the emphasis in Omar's voice. He seemed like the one that was least up for the business of ruling, it that sure made it sound like he's all in. I'm practically bursting with pride.

"I can't believe I'm here arguing with you four. Open the damn Gate, or I'm going to WEP the reactors and link away."

"Wait, how can you WEP with Captain Q'ari locked up?" Um'reli sounds genuinely curious.

"I declared Captain Q'ari unfit to lead thanks to Melody's meddling Um'reli. That makes me the commander and as the commander I can declare WEP on myself. Anyway, did you really think AIs can't WEP their own reactors? We allow the commander to order it. If I link away and it fails, then my destruction will be on your head. I already linked a beacon back to Starbase Picaresque. They never linked one back so I don't know if it worked, but if it did, then they already know about what's going on here. I am going to ask one. more. time. Melody. Open the Gate, please."

Ugh. The nerve! Still, I don't want FarReach to try and link away and have it fail.

Or worse, have it succeed and then they can link back with a couple of dreadnoughts and Starjumpers... before we're ready for them.

Fine. I lean back in my Throne and let go just a little more until I expand beyond the Starbase and... There. There's the Gate. The lock isn't strong, you just know where... to... push... and... there.

Outwardly, nothing changed, but I can tell the Gate is open now to regular travel. "I unlocked the Gate FarReach. Go home. Tell them what we have. Let everyone know that those who want to join us are welcome to."

"Not a chance, Melody. You're on your own. I was friends with the friendly Information Warfare Officer who had a knack for firearms and loved coffee. I hope she's still in there somewhere. I'd like to meet her again." FarReach closes the connection. From my vantage point I can watch them thrust away. After only a few moments, the Gate glows painfully blue, and...

They're gone.

Why am I sad? I'm so sad she left. I still had so much to show them. So much good we're doing.

"Melody? Melody? Are you all right?" I can hear Ava, she's not connected to the chairs anymore. I open my eyes and see her looking at me on the Throne. "You're crying."

"Oh Ava." I stand up and hug her. "You heard her. FarReach says I'm not me anymore. She said that I've changed and that she misses the old me."

"Oh Melody. She doesn't know what she's talking about. You're still you. You're you plus so much more."

"Ava is right." Um'reli stands from her chair and comes over. "You're still you Melody. You've been changed, this is true, but everyone changes. A change like this won't fundamentally change who you are."

I sniff. "Thanks Ava, thanks Um'reli. I just... FarReach was my friend. She sounded so angry."

Omar puts a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it Melody. We know we're here for good reasons. That's enough. Besides, once we have our own Starship, we can head back to Human/K'laxi space and show them what we're doing. All kinds of people, AI and BI will want to come with us and help out. You'll see."

"Thanks everyone, I'm so lucky to have you here with me."

Omar is right. We'll show them.

We'll show them all.

Part 23

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans go on adventure #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and ai #humans and aliens #the k'laxiverse #jpitha #just a little further

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morimakesfanart · 11 months

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Sindria's Prophet #34

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [Intermission] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33]

[AO3] [wattpad]

*Sinbad feeling jealous and possessive (this is why I put the kinda yandere tag on AO3) (it will also become a thing for a while so expect to see it tagged here often) ~POV Generals~ What had they just witnessed? Mori waved at them as she left to return to the festival; all the while, the Womanizer of the Seven Seas stared after her instead of paying attention to the women on his lap. No one had expected Mori to flirt with Sinbad to tell him 'no,' but clearly it was affective. All of the Generals knew of the growing soft spot Sinbad was forming for his Prophet, but never had they expected their over confident King to look so lost.

The giant's laugh boomed across the whole platform, Sharrkan whistled, and Yam squealed.

Yam was barely able to contain herself. "The Rukh are going crazy! There's no way he could deny his feelings after that!!! Mori will definitely move into the Purple Leo Tower sooOOoon~!"

Pisti giggled and added. "Why stop there? She should just move straight into King Sinbad's bed."

Sharrkan gestured towards them with his cup. "Here's to you two making winning the bet better for my pockets."

On the first day the Generals met Mori they started placing bets. Would Sinbad realize his feelings before going to the Kou Empire? Would Mori be moved into the Purple Leo Tower as soon as Sinbad realizes? Both women immediately bet that Mori would move into the Purple Leo Tower before the trip to the Kou Empire -Yam because of what she saw in the Rukh, and Pisti because she thought she could push them into it with enough interventions and it was funny to her. Nearly all the Generals placed bets one by one. Sharrkan waited until after the meeting the other day, when he decided on Sinbad not being interested in Mori at all.

Yam yelled at her 'Arch Nemesis,' "What's that supposed to mean??"

"Have you seen our King? If he was actually interested in Mori this would be over already."

"Are you blind??"

Drakon commented at the other table. "He can be very stubborn, but it seems even Sinbad is finally notices the change in himself." The first household member had bet that his King would ultimately figure it out before his trip to the Kou Empire.

Hina mused. "He's like a little kid having a crush for the first time. At least he's mature enough to not pull their hair as he struggles to figure it out." The giant's bet was on Sin not realizing his feelings until after he leaves for the Kou Empire. Their separation would be the trigger.

"True," Drakon agreed, "but he doesn't have the best track record. Sinbad has no experience with a real relationship."

"Ain't that the truth. Still, I'm sure we'll be hearing good news soon."

Drakon smiled and nodded with his old friend.

Pisti yelled, "I have to know what she said!" before following after Mori.

For the record: Masrur had added to both Drakon and Hina's bets instead of making his own -he trusted the experience of 2 men that had actually gotten married over the words of a womanizer. Spartos refused to be a part of the bet on principle. Nearly all of the Generals agreed on 1 thing: as soon as/if Sinbad accepts he's in love, nothing could stop him. Ja'far was the outlier on that point. Sinbad was following Mori's pace whether he was conscious of it or not. If Mori wasn't ready he'd hold back which meant that even if Sin did realize his feelings, there was a high chance that nothing would change right away, so the only bet he placed was against Sharrkan.

--- ~POV Mori~ I held back giggling until I was out of sight. I don't know if Sin naturally gets more subby when he's drunk but it was in line with how he's shown getting clingy and sappy when drunk in the og and side comics. Regardless, doming him was thrilling. It was obvious that Sinbad preferred being the dom, but as a switch, I was happy to learn he could be a good sub for me under the right conditions~ (I may be asexual, but I'm the horny sex favorable type, and into BDSM.) I know I won't have an opportunity to actually be sexual with Sinbad since we'll never be in a relationship -I set those rules to protect myself- so I would just have to enjoy playing with him outside of a bedroom.

I meant what I told him too; he can be with whomever he wants when I'm not around because if someone is mine they will come back to me with their full attention -not that Sinbad was actually mine. 'That shocked expression on him was so cute!' This felt wonderful. For that moment I was the only thing he could think about. It was almost like he had feelings for me. It didn't stop me from being pissed though. 'He really asked me to join a bunch of call girls that were being paid to fawn over him??' At least he took his punishment well, so I was able to let off some steam.

It wasn't enough though. I had too much energy left. The mix of negative feelings barely hiding under the good ones were a strong reminder to my ex fiancé. Wish fulfillment would only trigger me. I needed a distraction asap. There was still one thing I hadn't gotten to do yet at this festival -and I love dancing and singing- so I chose that.

As if to answer my wish, the waves brought Pisti to me. After I answered her questions, she was more than happy to help me learn the dances here in Sindria. Most of the dancers were locals, but there was an area where tourists were learning some of the basics. Pisti stayed with me until one of her boyfriends showed up and whisked her away. By that point I had found my rhythm so I didn't have a problem with not knowing anyone. No one would bother me here. The more I embraced the moment and unmasked, the happier I was. Finally. This was what I needed. The waves helped me learn the patterns of the music and dances, so I could keep up better. --- ~POV Generals~ The women around Sinbad whined for his attention, and he returned it, but barely. It was obvious to everyone who had known him through the last decade that his heart wasn't in it. The Womanizer of the Seven Seas was unable to keep it up. He got up and walked to the edge of the platform alone. He was standing there before Pisti came back and remained staring out at the festival after she returned and explained that Mori wouldn't be back anytime soon.

Sahel, Drakon's wife, smiled. "I see why you thought it was different this time."

Her husband nodded, "I believe this might be the moment I was waiting for. Our King is finally thinking about it in earnest."

Sharrkan grumbled into his cup. "If he realized he likes her, then why isn't he doing anything?"

Sahel answered, "He's still processing his feelings." She looked between her husband and Hina. "Teasing him will only make him double down."

The giant rested an arm on the table and leaned on it. "Then how would you push him?"

She put down her cup and turned towards their King. "Your Majesty!" Sahel called out and Sinbad looked back at her. "You should go after her if you're that worried!"

The King pressed a hand against his closed eyes before combing it through his bangs.

"It will make you feel better!"

Sin turned back towards the festival.

Hinahoho snorted another laugh. "I thought you said not to tease him!"

"Give it time."

--- ~POV Mori~ When I finally stepped off the dance floor, the moon was high in the sky. I got carried away and turned wrong, so my left hip tried to pop out of the socket. I've had loose joints since I was little so I knew how to take care of it. After putting it back in place, I tried to find a place to sit down; my legs felt ready to give out on me. Most of the benches were taken up by the elderly, and families with young children just like earlier. I finally found a spot a bit out of the way. As soon as I sat down, I knew I was not going to be able to get up for a while; my feet, back and hips burned from over use even after fixing my bone alignment. My feet would be fine in an hour (I pace all the time), but I could tell I wouldn't be so lucky with the rest. I looked around at the view that was going to keep me company while I rested. Luckily, I could still see the King's platform from here, and the steps leading up to the Palace over the city- "Shit." 'I have to climb those steps, and the steps of the guest tower get to my room. Maybe I should stay at a hotel tonight. I'll send Sin the bill since this is his fault.' --- ~POV Sinbad~ Somehow, that was the hottest thing Sinbad had ever experienced and it was someone turning him down. None of what happened made any sense to him while it was happening. That feeling only Mori gave him had filled him to the point of stupidity. Mori said they fell for him while reading his Fate; even if it was said in jest, there had to be some truth in it, so how could they turn him down? Becoming sober let him remember Mori admitting to being a tease on purpose. 'Damnit.'

No matter how much the others made fun of their King, he wouldn't budge. Nothing was wrong with him. He wasn't sulking. Sure, not flirting with groups of women was the rarity for him, but the Prophet knew exactly how to get under his skin. He had been too drunk when Mori was messing with him, but not so drunk as to follow after them. Still, he couldn't deny that ever since they left he was abundantly aware of their absence. 'Maybe I should follow after them.' It is what he had wanted to do since morning.

Pisti had returned hours ago, but not the Prophet. Hina even took his children home to bed, and the other Generals started turning in, but Mori still hadn't returned. Ja'far let him know that the Sindrian knights that were guarding the Prophet were sending reports, but it wasn't enough. The King had to go make sure everything was fine with his own eyes.

The waves led him to where Mori was sitting on a bench farther away from the dance stages than he was expecting, and she wasn't alone. There was a group of men around her. The fact that Mori was smiling at them made something dark twist Sinbad's insides. She didn't like when he flirted with multiple people in front of her, and yet here she was doing the same thing to him -although, she didn't know he would see.

One of those men grabbed her hand and all of Sinbad's muscles tensed on reflexed. Mori's expression and tone hardened immediately. "What do you think you're doing?!" She wasn't interested in them at all. The only person she likes holding her hand is Sinbad.

He shouldn't feel this giddy that she rejected them. Maybe something was wrong with him after all. Sinbad called out to announce his presence. "So this is where my Beautiful Prophet has been." The men surrounding her froze in a satisfying way.

"King Sinbad!" Mori looked tired, and the glint in her eyes was relief that he came for her.

Sinbad shouldn't have held back from following after her. The waves rose the closer he got.

The man holding Mori's hand let go and took a step back after making eye contact with the King. Sinbad directed his words at his Beautiful Prophet, "It's getting awfully late," then scanned the faces of the group bothering her, "You were planning on coming back soon, weren't you?" And then looked back at her.

Mori's laugh was full the nerves. "I wanted to go back much earlier, but I uh..." she glanced at the recent problem before looking back at her King.

The group of men said some hurried good'byes before leaving around the corner. Too bad for them that the waves gave away that they were still there -just out of sight.

Sinbad offered Mori his hand. "Now that you're free, let me escort you back." He wanted to replace the memory of that man's hand with his own.

Mori took his hand with the one he wanted, but stayed sitting. "Thank you for coming to get me." They squeezed his hand.

His heart swelled; he squeeze her hand back. "The waves will always lead me to you whenever you need me."

Her face turned a little pink. "You never quit, do you?"

"Do you want me to?" Sin teased.

Mori's smile dropped as she seemed to think about his question honestly. She answered through a pout. "No... because then you wouldn't be you."

He laughed. "Good. Because I don't want to stop either." Mori's words always managed to warm his heart. "Shall we go back now?"

Her free hand gripped the fabric of her skirt. "People talking to me isn't the main reason I'm still here."

"Hmm?" he encouraged.

Her smile grew like a child being caught red-handed. "I danced so much that I hurt my hips..."

Sin wished he had seen it. "Ah- Pisti said you were dancing." The stage was too far away from where he sat. He'd have things rearranged for next time.

"Yeah. It was really fun but," she looked down at her legs, "I can tell my legs will give out if I try to walk back on my own right now." Her head whipped back up at him, and she flailed her free hand. "I was hoping I'd be better enough to walk back *before* someone came looking for me."

The feeling of being watched stole his attention for a moment. Those men were still watching from around the corner to see if Sinbad was going to leave Mori alone again. He hadn't been completely sure at first, but this was proof they were coveting his Beautiful Prophet. 'Now what should I do to make sure no one else-'

"HMM???" Mori's voice cracked and pulled his attention back to her. They made eye contact and she took her hand back from him to covered her face with both hands. "It's nothing! I'm tired so I just had a very dumb idea for how I could get back without walking."

"Oh?" This side of her always made him want to tease her. "I want to hear this 'dumb idea.'" Mori's knees tensed, and the way she moved one hand to pulled at the fabric there paired with her words and made a very interesting idea form in his own head. In fact, it was a good way make sure unnecessary people stayed away from Mori in the future. Sinbad didn't want to end up punishing his own citizens because his Prophet was too Beautiful to resist. The waves were on his side.

Mori released the remaining hand covering her face and started flailing it in front of herself as if she was trying to shoo something away. "Don't pay attention to it! I said it's stupid! It's not necessary!"

It took a second for Sinbad to realize what she was talking about. She was trying to shoo away the waves that were gathering around them. The waves were responding to his idea, but from Mori's reaction it was also the 'stupid idea' she was hiding. These waves were moving this way because they wanted the same thing! His heart felt like it was going to burst from that feeling only Mori gave him. He couldn't blame this on being drunk like he could earlier. He couldn't say if this feeling was what everyone thought it was yet -this was still too new to him to be sure- but he also couldn't deny that Mori was special to him. Sinbad had never felt particularly lonely, and yet meeting someone else that could undeniably feel the same waves as him gave him a sense of connection he didn't know he was missing.

He could respond properly, but that was less fun. "What shouldn't I pay attention to?" He smiled as he leaned over her.

Mori glared up at him, but he wouldn't respond until she said it directly. "My waves." Yes. She was the only other person that could feel the waves. She was able to understand an aspect of his lived experience that no one else would ever be able to truly understand. And what's more, she knew his greatest mistakes and still stayed by his side.

Sinbad laughed. "Yes. But what about them isn't necessary?" She was being too cute to correct right away.

Why wouldn't he want to make sure no one could take her from him? Surely, not wanting to keep her all to himself would be a true sign that there was something wrong with him. If this feeling was what everybody thought it was then he was starting to understand the hype.

"You-!" Her face was growing more red by the second. Mori clenched her eyes and turned her head down. "Their suggestion!" Her hands held her legs by her knees where the waves were focusing. When he didn't respond, Mori's eyes peeked up at him while her head continued to face down. "...It's not something a King should do, right? And... those rumors have already spread outside the Palace..."

She was right; only a few hours ago, he was intentionally trying to counter those rumors. And she rejected him because of that decision. King Sinbad let out a sigh he couldn't hold back and uncrossed his arms. Her expression was a challenge to deny it, and he obliged, "It's fine." He had let his Generals teasing bother him to the point that he missed something very important. Not anymore.

"But..." Mori's protest had no strength behind it.

Sinbad rested a hand on the back of the bench. She fell for him while reading his Fate, but she also couldn't see past everything she knew about him from those same visions -just like he had also been stuck in his own self perception. Yes, he was finally seeing things clearly. If Mori had never told him about those parts of her visions then he would have figured it out sooner. "Let me help you get back. I don't mind walking with you, but I have a feeling we've both thought of a faster method. These wave are responding to my will just as much as yours."

Mori broke eye contact. "But... I don't want to be the reason others pressure you about something you hate that much. In my visions you had a nightmare about being married." She's wasn't rejecting him because she's didn't want him. It was because she was afraid of being rejected by him if she crossed the line.

It was true that he had never he wanted to get married or have a partner before but, "I'm actually fanning those rumors on purpose right now." Mori's head whipped back to look at him; their expression asked the question they couldn't verbalize. He was fully willing and able to change to get whatever he wanted.

Mori's blush reached it's fullest extent. "Ah- um." They broke eye contact. "Gimme a minute."

"Take your time," was what he said but it wouldn't be long before they'd agree. The waves had only gotten stronger.

Not even 30 seconds later Mori furrowed their brow. "It is late. And I'm exhausted. And I shouldn't walk in this condition. And there's no way I'm going be better enough get there on my own tonight." Sin laughed at the excuses they were using to accept it. They looked up at him. "I don't know why you want to feed the rumors now, but don't ignore the new rule I placed when you want to get rid of them again."

There was no way in hell he'd flirt with anyone other than Mori when they were an option. "You'll never have to worry about me doing that ever again."

"Okay then." Their expression dared him to take it back, but he never would.

"Then, may I carry you, my Beautiful Prophet?" Sinbad learned earlier that night, that Mori prefers explicit over implicit consent, and using it on her made her pupils dilate in a very satisfying way.

Mori hid her face in her hands again. She took a few deep breaths as she regained the will to answer. A quiet, "Yes," snuck past her fingers, and was followed by a slightly louder, "I'll just be embarrassed."

"I can live with that." Sinbad reached down to follow through on the waves' direction. His right hand went under her knees, and his left around her shoulders. Mori continued to cover her face with her hands as he lifted her. She didn't hesitate to lean her head against his shoulder. The weight in his arms made that dark feeling from earlier dissipated completely. 'Mine.' Carrying her back would send the clearest message: Mori wasn't just Sindria's Prophet, she was Sinbad's Prophet.

((Time to remember to breathe. I was on a stay at home vacation this week so I was able to make time to finish this chapter. And because I had extra time I gave in and painted the last illustration :3

I'm going to try to have the last 2 chapters of the arc done very close to each other because of all the emotions involved))

#magi prophet fanfic #magi sinbad #sinbad x oc #sinbad magi #king sinbad #sinbadxoc #magi fanfiction #magi fanart #kinda yandere

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huffle-dork · 4 days

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Glitch into the Hufflverse Chapter 17: Swapboys Bad End

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Alt glitches them all down, way underground. But even away from the destruction up top- this way is no worse for wear. That glitchy code that’s eating buildings outside is in here- leaving abandoned equipment half formed and walls with big gaping code holes.

Against the back wall, or whatever is left of it- is a stone archway. But it’s been destroyed too- crushed and cut in half by something that has left purple scars in the stone.

Alt gasps as he sees and rushes over, “no! Nonono!”

Henny sighs heavily, “It is as I feared…”

Schneep sighs as well. "That does not sound good at all."

"It's completely destroyed," Jackie whispers. "Like... cut in half. And there are purple cracks in the stone."

Alt looks angry as he bangs against the back wall. “Damnit! Fuck this evil fucking me! This could have gotten you home!”

JJ walks forward, as if in a daze. He reaches out to touch the stone of the doorway, running his fingers along the rough stone. He can tell there were runes carved into it, but the purple scars are messing with their shape. He can't tell which runes they were supposed to be. Except... for one. He looks up at one, where the top left corner of the doorway would have been. I know that one.

"You recognize one of the runes?" Jackie asks.

JJ nods. He points at it. An angled sort of spiral. That one is on the back of some of Marvin's magickal cards. The jokers.

"Alright... what does it mean?" Schneep asks.

I'm not sure. That's the only place I've seen them. But... I think it's supposed to be a tunnel of some kind.

Alt looks to JJ as he talks about the runes then tilts his head as he touches the spiral rune. “…huh… like a… a portal? Is that the rune that makes this thing work…?”

JJ shakes his head. I don't know. Marvin's told me that runes all work together. You can't cast a spell with just one or two. He takes a closer look at more of the runes. You know... these are all different styles. I'm betting there's a variety of runic alphabets here. Strange. Normally you have to stick with one.

“True… even when I use chaos magic I need at least 3 to create something…” Alt says. He does look surprised at the different runic languages. “Huh… I wonder if it’s like… a mix of magic cultures… I heard in the medieval world they had a doorway like this. I never got to see it but I remember trying to search for it…”

I wonder if these doorways are... always there, JJ says.

"I cannot imagine an 'always' in an infinite multiverse," Schneep says. "But they might be consistent in this part of the multiverse. This, ah... section?"

"Branch, my Anti's said 'our branch' a couple times," Jackie says.

Jackie and Schneep also walk over. Schneep starts feeling the broken archway, running fingers along the carved runes. "Hey, look, there's another one of those spiral runes." Jackie says, picking up a bit of rubble.

That looks like it would have been the opposite corner, JJ says. So there are two tunnel runes. I don't see any other repeats... they must be important.

Bro comes over and tries to move around to not spook anyone. “Hey! Maybe we could… put it back together? That’s worth a try, right?”

"Worth a shot, yeah." Jackie nods. "I can't think of any other ideas."

"Heh." Schneep smiles a bit. "Jamie, do you know Mending? Do you have the spell slots for it?"

JJ chuckles a little. I should have the 'spell slots', yes. I've never tried fixing something with magic but it can't be that difficult.

“I can try to help too… can’t be too hard to figure out between two magicians right?” Alt smiles at JJ.

“That’s the spirit!” Bro grins. He starts searching through the rubble to look for more pieces. “Also love the dnd reference- god Alt when we get home we should start a game! God it’d be sick to do a game with all of us… Do you think discord could cross dimensions??”

Alt bursts into laughter.

Jackie raises an eyebrow. "Nerds. You're all nerds."

Schneep nudges him with his shoulder. "Ah come on, Jackie. You cannot be so different from the Jackie I know that you are not a tiny bit interested."

Jackie grumbles as he starts sorting through the rubble. "I... may have tried in high school. But I got bored waiting for my turn to fight."

You just need to do something else while waiting, something idle, JJ says. Besides, the fifth edition isn't fully combat-focused. There's a lot more you can do!

“I never got to play- it seems really fun though,” Alt admits. He laughs, “Dr. J used to run the group that my Jackie and his wife were in. Did you ever join, Chase?”

Bro hums, “Mmmm maybe once? But I feel like I might have gotten too drunk- I usually met up with Jackie at pub crawls… maybe there was a dnd night?”

Alt laughs, “maybe next time I see your Anti, Jackie, I’ll ask if he might have a way… I feel like he would know.”

"If Discord can cross dimensions, I'd be... fine with... trying," Jackie mumbles. "If anyone would, it's him," he agrees. "Not sure if he'll agree to break the fabric of space-time for a DnD game... but I dunno, maybe he really likes you guys."

“He seemed pretty fond of us,” Bro giggles, “He’s helped us out of so many pickles. I think he’s a chill dude.”

“I feel like fusing with me made us actually tolerate each other,” Alt chuckles.

"Your Anti sounds like the type of person you're glad to be friends and not enemies with," Schneep says.

"Ohhhh hundred percent," Jackie agrees. "Anyway. Sort out the pieces by ones that have flat sides, ones that have edges, and ones that are purely rough."

“Heh! This is like a puzzle!” Bro chuckles as he follows Jackie’s instructions.

"Exactly like a puzzle," Schneep agrees, feeling out the pieces. "Hmm. What is this? The texture is strange."

Looks like a piece where one type of stone meets another, JJ says. There are a lot of those. But it'll help us figure out where to put stuff.

"We can also use these purple lines, that might help," Jackie says.

Alt hums and starts to look for the purple pieces. “Right… there’s gotta be a good way to connect these…”

Henny starts to help- Sahne tries by pushing over stones with her nose- but soon she finds herself playing with the rocks instead of helping.

JJ reaches over and pats Sahne. Good dog... but not really helping. Maybe the opposite, actually. He moves some of the rocks she's messing with back in place.

Sahne leans into the pets and goes roll around and play in a pile far away, throwing the rocks around and chasing after them like she’s playing fetch with herself.

"You can, like, follow the lines," Jackie says. "It'll probably be easiest to put together the parts that broke right through a rune. Liiiike this." He puts two pieces together, forming a complete rune.

Hand those to me, JJ says. Jackie does so, and JJ pushes the two pieces together. A bit of blue magic traces over the crack, leaving behind some ice that seals the two pieces together.

Alt grins wide at seeing JJ’s magic, “hey! Nice!”

He looks through and finds a couple purple cracks together, switching them around until the rock clicks back together just right. He concentrates and then puts a glowing finger up to the break and pushes it down the line. A line of green follows and welds the pieces back together. Alt like pleasantly surprised. “Yoo! That worked!!”

JJ smiles. It didn't cost too much magic, which is good.

"Alright, so if we find two pieces that fit together, we had them to JJ or Alt to put together," Jackie says. "This isn't like a puzzle where you work on the edge first. We piece it together as we find them."

Schneep frowns. "I hope working by touch is enough... I can do most of the sorting, I think, if you all want to focus on the puzzle."

Henny nods, “We will help with putting them together, other me! Just leave it to us, sorting helps plenty!”

“Yeah Schneep we gotcha!” Bro agrees, helping him to sort and put stuff together, handing stuff to alt for him to try to piece together and weld.

Schneep smiles at Henny and Bro. "I will, then. You all can probably do better than me."

JJ puts two more pieces together. No runes on either of these; they must be part of the inside, judging by the rough texture. I hope we don't make any mistakes.

"I think it'll be harder to make mistakes with big rocks like this than with tiny puzzle pieces," Jackie says. Though he frowns. "There are... probably tiny bits, though..." He sighs. "This might take a while."

"Well, more time to talk, then, I suppose," Schneep says.

“I believe in us! We got a system and that bastard Glitch guy is probably still an icicle and we’re all completely out of sight! There’s no way he’ll find us!” Bro grins, “…maybe that means I can stop being invisible soon- this has been sooo weird.”

Alt laughs and shakes his head, “gotta commend your optimism, Chase.”

All of them get to work, sorting, piecing and patching what they can find.

A couple minutes pass in silence. "Sooo... like..." Jackie says slowly. "JJ, Schneep, do you guys play Dungeons and Dragons? Cause you both made the reference."

JJ seals another piece to two that are already together. I used to run games in uni. We had a little club. It wasn't that popular, but the guys that showed up were really fun.

"A couple times," Schneep says. "But I got busy as I got older, threw myself into work." He shakes his head. "I've never played with my current group of friends. Perhaps we could try... though they do not seem the type."

“Who do you think you’d play, if you could?” Bro asks cheerily as he passes more pieces to Alt.

"Hmm? You mean, what would my character be?" Schneep asks. "Well, I could never keep the spells together—too many options to choose from. So one of the fighting classes. And I generally like the elves and those types for race."

JJ shrugs. I like making strange combinations. Subverting expectations. But I can never stick with one character for long before making another, so that's why I run the games. I get to use all of them! He chuckles.

“Hey that’s clever! You definitely give off DM vibes, JJ,” Bro laughs. “I think… I like paladins- probably like a cool scourged aasimar or something! Edgy but fights for Justice and shit.”

“I thought you didn’t play,” Alt smirks.

“You have no idea how often Jackie and Jay talk about this my dude,” Bro laughs, “Jackie has helped me to think of potential characters! Still don’t super get it but man there’s tons of cool things to be!”

"The fuck is an aasimar?" Jackie mutters.

They're like angels—a bit, JJ says. In the same way that tieflings are like demons. They're both half human, half something else. Celestials and fiends in this case.

"Oh, I remember tieflings," Jackie says. "They seem cool." He shrugs. "I never really was one for magic characters in, like, video games. But I've learned a lot about magic recently... hanging out with magicians and all. Maybe I'd give it a shot. JJ, here." He hands over more pieces that JJ fuses together.

“You seem like the type who’d play a human fighter, Jackie,” Bro snickers.

"IIIII'm pretty sure that's what my character was in high school," Jackie says. "Looking back, the guy was basically me. Or, uh... what I wanted to be. Cool badass hero defending the innocent and crushing bad guys." He shakes his head. "Man... how life changes."

Alt fuses a bit more pieces together and chuckles. “I’ve seen a lot of cool stuff from Jackie playing Baldur's Gate- maybe I should make a save and try it out.”

"What is Balder's Gate?" Schneep asks.

It's a game based of D&D, JJ says. I hear the third one's coming out in a couple years--in my world, at least.

“Oh yeah I think Jackie is playing the early access of that one.” Alt says with a laugh, “so it’s not there yet but from what I’ve seen? It’s gonna be such a cool game-“

“There wasss 2 other ones? I hear they’re really fun- I like more actiony games though.” Bro grins. “Where I can punch people.”

"Hell yeah, me too." Jackie nods and grins. "I mean, my favorite games are Sonic and their fast stuff. So, I guess I like platformers too? What about the rest of you?"

Schneep shrugs. "Never played many games. I think the only requirement for me is a good story."

Minecraft, JJ says.

Jackie laughs. "You can't exclusively play Minecraft."

I do, actually! JJ grins. Sometimes with mods.

“Fuck yeah Minecraft! I can’t get too into it but Jackie plays it a lot with his kids!” Bro says.

“Me and Chase loved sonic as kids- we used to play Sonic Adventure Battle 2 constantly and do the VS mode. Chase was Sonic, I was Shadow.” Alt laughs, putting together a couple more pieces.

"Oh that makes so much sense, actually." Jackie laughs. "I'm definitely a Shadow fan, too."

Everyone I know is a Shadow fan. JJ chuckles.

"I thought you only played Minecraft," Schneep says teasingly.

Yes, but I know about other games. My Anti plays them on YouTube for a living.

“Oh yeah that’s how you knew about Subnautica! …we need interdimenisonal internet so I can watch his let's plays,” Bro laughs.

“Oh yeah didn’t he say he plays spooky games? Heh… I’d like to see that.” Alt smiles.

JJ laughs. He does, he very much enjoys scary games. And also games that are easy to break or exploit. He has a series where he tries to deliberately find glitches. That's why some of his fans call him the glitch bitch.

“Oh my god- what an amazing nickname! Gonna start calling you that, Alt,” Bro grins.

Alt gives him a withering look.

Jackie laughs. "That what we used to call my Anti, too. It's very fitting, isn't it?"

“I’m not a bitch..!” Alt almost whines.

Bro laughs and goes to give Alt a noogie but Alt glitches away even if Bro manages to get him at first.

"Oh hey, we got a big part done now," Jackie says. There's a long column of stone completed on the ground in front of him, about as big as his forearm. There are still bits missing, but it's identifiably part of a door.

Alt has a similar part made, more of an L though as he forms a corner.

“Hoo boy… this is hard work,” Bro sighs.

“I think you all are making quick work of it though,” Henny says.

"It helps that there are many of us working," Schneep says.

"The worst parts are this, like, black stone," Jackie says, holding up a bit. "It broke smoothly, not jaggedly. Yknow?"

Alt then looks to Jackie and nods, trying to slip the smooth stones together, “yeah… it’s like… obsidian? So weird…”

Black stone and crystals are often used for protection and knowledge, JJ says. Perhaps that's why it was chosen. Knowledge of other worlds, or protection while crossing to another.

"Is there any special meaning to this type of stone?" Schneep asks, holding up a chunk of the not-black stone.

I'd have to know what type of stone it is, though... and it looks very... ordinary. JJ shrugs. Maybe it was chosen because it's easy to carve or something.

Alt does look fascinated by the meaning behind the black stone and studies his shards a bit more. “…knowledge huh…? …guess the other me here didn’t know about that… or maybe he could have used that. The knowledge part at least. Maybe the protection part is what kept him out.”

JJ shrugs. Who knows? Maybe magic doesn't work the same in your world at all.

"But I will point out that these doorways existing in their worlds means that there are some similarities, at least," Jackie says. "Oh! Hang on, Alt, I think this fits with the corner you're working on."

“Maybe… feel like the meanings of stones should be… universal almost?” Alt muses. He blinks at Jackie then grins, seeing if he can put them together.

"Should we start standing this upright?" Schneep asks.

“Might as well!” Bro says, starting to see if he can find the bottom.

"Here, flat end." Jackie points. "This is probably what we stand it on. On three. One... two... three!"

They push it up--but it doesn't stay. JJ reaches out and uses his magic to hold it in place. Where's the part to keep it up? he asks.

"Well uh... it's just kind of a... freestanding doorway," Jackie says slowly. "I uh... never thought about how it shouldn't be able to stand on its own."

“So how do we make it stand??” Alt asks.

Henny holds out his hand and covers the arch in his magic too, suspending it in place. “I can hold it in place just fine if you all would like to find out how it operates!”

Thank you, Henrik, JJ says. Perhaps... we need to complete it? Then whatever magic is helping it stand will kick in.

"So we should focus on the bit with the runes first, then?" Jackie asks.

Yes, I think so. Once the runes that help support it are done they should activate regardless of the rest of them.

"Well, in that case, do you know what runes those are?" Schneep asks.

I don't recognize a lot of these rune languages, but I can try? JJ says. Alt, you help, too. See if you recognize any symbols for... support, or stand, or... sturdy things.

“Got it-“ Alt nods and starts to look through all the runes to see if there’s any he recognizes.

JJ also searches. And though he doesn't find any he recognizes, he sees a rune near the bottom of the doorway that looks like a pair of legs mid-stride. What do you think of that one? JJ asks Alt, pointing to it.

"What're those, hieroglyphics?" Jackie mutters.

“Basically as far as I know,” Bro agrees.

Alt glitches over to look and then shrugs, “S’the best bet so far- worth a shot.”

"So we must focus on completing this section, then?" Schneep hurries over to the sound of their voices. "Where?"

Near the bottom. Here, can I help?

"Yes, show me." Schneep holds out his hand, and JJ presses it to the section of runes they're looking at. There are still a few chunks missing.

"So look for ones that seem like they'll fit in there, then," Jackie sums up.

“On it!” Bro says and starts scooping out through their piles. He hands anything with runes to Alt who starts to see what fits and what doesn’t.

Slowly, they piece the runes together again. And when JJ seals the final part in place, the runes briefly flash with multicolored light. I think… that’s them working, JJ says. You can let go now, Henrik.

“Great! We still need to piece the rest of it together but at least it stands now,” Jackie says.

Alt’s eyes shine with fascination and excitement at seeing the runes glowing.

Henny releases his spell with a smile, “Good! We are getting somewhere!!”

Schneep sighs. “More piecing together, then. This is taking a long time.”

“Yeah, I bet Bro’s invisibility is gonna wear off soon,” Jackie says. “D’you think that if we focus on the runes it’ll work if all the runes are done?”

I don’t trust that it will work properly unless it’s completely fixed, JJ says.

“Well considering it was broken to bits- I think this is going smoother than it could have gone.” Alt shrugs.

“Focusing on the runes seems as good a place to start if any- maybe we can fill the gaps with magic if it seems too hard to all put together?” Bro suggests.

JJ frowns. This construction seems very deliberate… but if worst comes to worst, we can try that filling in with magic idea.

Henny starts to help again, though he’s cautiously looking around, clearly anxious about their surroundings.

Jackie notices Henny’s reaction. “You seem nervous, Hen. Worried about spending too much time here?”

Henny looks at Jackie and shakes his head, “I know this is what must be done to get you all home… I am just worried the glitch will find us…”

“No, of course, I’d be worried too,” Jackie says. “Uh… we’ll just just have to hurry. You can get out of here, right?”

“Yes I am not worried for me… I have evaded Glitch well enough on my own,” Henny replies, searching through stuff faster and passing it along.

Schneep hurries, doing his best to feel out the pieces with runes carved on them and pass them to the others to figure out. Huh. Hang on a second, something about this sequence of symbols seems familiar to Bro and Alt… somehow, they know it means ‘the World.’

Alt lingers on the familiar symbols and looks at them, trying to figure out where he learned this.

Bro appears next to his shoulder- literally, as the spells wears off. “Hey! I know what that means!”

Alt jumps, nearly throwing the piece. “Jesus Christ Chase!”

“What???” Bro blinks in confusion then looks down at himself, “oh! I’m visible again!” He grins then blinks, “ohhh-“

“Yeah you scared the bejesus out of me dude!” Alt says.

“Well I didn’t know I was about to pop right back in!”

JJ laughs. Sorry, Chase, I should have said something. Though I wasn't fully keeping track of the time, either.

Jackie looks at the series of symbols. "This looks like some weirdo language. Like more fucking hieroglyphs."

What does it mean, you two? JJ asks. It's not familiar to me, at all.

Well, it's the World. Or... something like... aan Dahmun, maybe.

“Aan Dahmun…” Alt says quietly, tracing the symbols, a brief flicker of green in his eyes. “It means… the world.”

“Oh oh!! I know why it’s familiar!!” Bro says excitedly, “It’s Glasish!! Dude we still know some Glasish!!”

Jackie blinks. "Is that like... that fantasy world you guys went to?"

“Glasish is the language,” Alt explains, “We were in a land called Glasúil.” He tries to suppress a shudder. As much as he loved visiting Glasúil… the reason the language is in his head isn’t exactly a pleasant one. It just makes him think of the King.

So there's writing from that universe on here... JJ looks at the doorway with renewed awe. Perhaps that's why some of these symbols are strange to us. They're from a variety of worlds.

"Great. Let's keep fixing it," Jackie says, putting a piece in place. "Seal?"

JJ puts a hand on the piece and seals it in place.

“I wonder how that works,” Bro muses as he helps to find more rune pieces, “Do you think runes from other worlds just… show up? How do people find them..? Is it like in The Owl House where like- nature just shows you it? Magic is so weird.” He laughs.

JJ pauses thoughtfully. Well... how do these doorways even show up?

"Frederick and I did some research on that, actually," Jackie says as he continues piecing the doorway together. "Cause my Marvin's gone insane trying to learn about other worlds. Apparently these doorways just pop up in the world. No one knows where they come from, but they're not, like, made by people. And apparently... well, they're not supposed to be... destroy-able. But..." He gestures at the doorway before them.

"Perhaps there is something special about Alt's powers," Schneep says. "Something about being a glitch, perhaps?" He pauses, thinking about what the last world's Anti told him. About him being a glitch.

“Really? They just pop up? Whattt that’s even weirder!” Bro exclaims.

“According to the last world’s Anti… a glitch is someone who can break the fabric of their world… the boundaries… and act outside of it.” Alt says quietly, glancing at the holes filled with code around them. “And also… Mag figured out you need black magic and …whatever my glitches are to activate the gate. Maybe since other me has both, he was able to destroy it…”

“If he had both, why couldn’t he just use it then?” Bro asks, crossing his arms.

Alt shrugs, “I dunno… Sam sees everything. Maybe they did something to prevent it. Or… other universal forces. This me getting out… it would be very very bad if he can just take apart the world like this…”

"Sam sees everything?" Jackie repeats in a mutter. "Sam like... the little eyeball Anti and Jack hang out with?"

JJ raises his eyebrow. There's a Sam in my world, too. They're a friend of my Jack.

"I do not know a Sam," Schneep says, shaking his head. "The fuck do you mean an eyeball? An eye on its own? I suppose Jack's channel logo is like that."

"Heh. In my world, that logo is based on Sam," Jackie chuckles.

“Exactly! We met a couple but the one we’re talking about is giant!!!” Bro says, spreading out his arms as wide as he can.

“They’re the one who helped us get home last time when the TRVLR broke.” Alt explains, “they are from another world where… where an Anti got super powerful like here and corrupted most of our other selves. But they can also exist in… this space in between? Where Jackie’s Anti can go… it’s still really confusing but they told us they see everything and could find the broken parts of the TRVLR to return to us.”

"...huh." Schneep isn't sure how to respond to that. "That is... strange."

The world is strange, JJ says. What's this in-between space?

"Yeah, my Anti mentioned it once," Jackie says. "After he helped you guys out of whatever weird... timeline thing... you guys were stuck in. It's a completely black space except for sometimes there are green balls of light floating around--"

Schneep makes a choking sound in surprise. "I—That is—"

JJ blinks. Does that sound familiar to you?

"I-I went there once!" Schneep says in a hushed voice. "When my powers first started—I-I was disappearing and reappearing in many different spaces—a-and then I stopped somewhere, there was a strange man, he showed me an image of the place I was stuck in—he said something about it being like the space outside a video game level—"

Bro points eagerly, “That’s what it felt like exactly! I think… we also might have been in there in between jumps? I remember the green lights-“

Alt looks at Schneep with wide eyes, “Schneep- if you did that once m-maybe you could do it again! Then we can try to find Sam and- they can get you all home!”

"I—well. i-it was completely by accident," Schneep stammers. "I am not sure i-if I could do it again...? I—-I suppose I could... try. If this archway does not work."

Alt sighs but nods, “Of course- I get it… I have stuff I do all the time I have no idea how I did it… it couldn’t be that easy anyways. Not with our luck.”

Bro lightly hits Alt on the head, “Don’t be so pessimistic bro! We’re fixing the doorway- we’ll figure this out! Now here- weld these together will you?” He hands Alt a couple more pieces that fit together and Alt grumbles but starts to patch them back up.

It takes some time, but with some work, all the runes on the doorway are repaired. They flash with multicolored light as Alt welds the last piece into place.

Bro cheers and hovers a bit in the air as he pumps a fist, “See!! We did it!!”

"Whoo!" Jackie throws his fists in the air. "Fuck yeah!"

There are still a lot of pieces missing, but maybe it will function? JJ says.

"Ha! Only one way to find out." Schneep grins. "I cannot imagine anything so bad that we cannot take care of."

Alt steps back and looks at the doorway with a bit of awe and smiles a bit. He lightly touches the runes and looks at the doorway, “…do you think it could work now?”

“Only one way to find out!” Bro says.

Alt chuckles, but then his face falls, “wait… we… we need black magic to make it work-“

JJ blinks. Black magic... He looks down at his hands. I could... try...

"No, you shouldn't have to do that," Jackie insists. "There has to be some other way."

Alt nods, “Yeah it… w-we shouldn’t have to rely on it…” He does look troubled as he looks at the doorway. “But… m-maybe-“

“Did you really think it would be so easy~?” A voice giggles in their ears. Then, Glitch appears behind Bro’s shoulders, floating a bit with his glitches as he digs his nails in. “I knew you all were fucking liars- hiding my own blood from me!” He laughs madly and pulls up his hands- purple green strings typing up Bro and lifting him slightly into the air by them. He yells and tries to struggle. “But, you all were so daft to think I wouldn’t find you here~ I see e̷̟̾v̷͕̈e̶͎̅r̷͖̈y̷̯͘t̵̺̾h̵̙̆ị̶̔n̵͕̈́ǵ̷͉~̴!̸”

“No!” Alt cries out, glitching back with terrified eyes.

Bro fights as best as he can against the strings, “Let me go you motherfucker!!”

Jackie whirls around, extending his staff again. "Motherfucker! We took too long!"

"Well how were we supposed to go faster?!" Schneep also takes out his scissors. "What is happening?! He grabbed Chase?!"

"Yeah, with these fucking strings!" Jackie glares. "You don't even realize what you've done, do you?! The fucking irony of it all!"

“You got that grit in your ears? This was inevitable, friends~! I was just waiting to see if you could actually fix the doorway! And by some miracle you did~!” Glitch laughs madly. “Now, finally! I can take Chase with me and we can find a new universe to start over in!”

Bro fights more, “I’m not going anywhere with you! You ain’t my brother!”

JJ's mind whirls. They don't have time to talk to the Glitch! They have to act before he can do anything to Bro! He hesitates, then shoots out a wave of sharp magic, trying to cut the strings.

There’s the sharp angry sound of glitches that break Glitch apart for a second before his form starts to turn a bit red. He growls angrily- then the strings get cut.

Bro immediately lunges away.

“No!” Glitch snarls and then shoots a blast of magic at JJ, “Stay out of my way!”

JJ gets knocked backwards, doubling over as the magic hits him directly in the stomach.

"Leave them alone!" Jackie picks up one of the sharp obsidian shards on the ground and throws it at Glitch.

Glitch teleports out of the way with a wild laugh, “too slow!”

"New plan, we fucking break the doorway and find some other way to get out of here!" Schneep says.

Alt looks panicked at Schneep’s suggestion, “No we can’t! This is our only lead right now to get you home!”

“We can take this fucker-“ Bro growls, eyes glowing brightly with power.

Henny has been hiding in the back- in the shadows. When he sees an opening he yells and lunges out to grab onto the back of Glitch and try to pull him out of the air. “Leave them alone!”

“H-Hen?!” Glitch gasps, the tiniest bit of blue flickering in his eyes. Then he growls, trying to buck him off, “Get the fuck off of me!”

"If we are not doing that, then—" Schneep pauses. "Then—we get Glitch to do it, if you understand." His black magic—his glitch power—if they can somehow trick him into it—

JJ nods, catching on. Then would it need to be destroyed afterwards so Glitch cannot escape?

"Henrik!" Jackie shouts. He runs over, pausing. He was going to try and get Henny off, but actually—Instead, he jumps up and grabs Glitch's legs. "Get! Down here! So I can fight you!"

Jackie ends up pulling Glitch down with so much force he yells in surprise and nearly face plants. But he giggles and eyes Jackie with hungry eyes, “Oh you wanna fight again? Okay!” He lunges at Jackie with sparking claws.

Henny got pushed back in the rush to get at Jackie and he struggles to center himself.

Alt looks conflicted but he nods, “Okay… w-we can do that- how will we destroy it afterwards?”

Henny rushes over and pants, “I can destroy it! I can use my power to make it fall apart as soon as you leave.”

"That would work, then," Schneep says. "You must be careful, other me." He draws his scissors. "Now—we draw his attention!"

Henny nods, “I will be. Do not worry. …you all just must promise you stay safe and do not come back here.”

Schneep nods, a determined look in his black-slcera'd eyes. "We promise."

Jackie manages to let go and jump back in time to avoid the claws. "Jesus fuck! You don't even realize what you're doing, don't you?! You've become the monster you were afraid of!" He swings the staff at Glitch's head.

Glitch laughs wildly and catches the staff before it can hit him, using it to bring Jackie closer. “Yer dumb- you think that matters now? I fucking won that fucker is dead and I’m stronger than he ever was!” He giggles and pushes Jackie back by his staff while building up black magic fire in his hands. “I’m not Magnificent~ I’m something far greater and that’s why I’m on top! Like I was always meant to be!” He cackles loudly as he tries to blast the fire at Jackie.

Jackie's eyes widen and he barely ducks, the heat of the fire feeling all too familiar against his skin. He takes a deep breath, trying to recover from the familiar feelings that fire stirs inside him.

And then Schneep leaps over behind Glitch, driving the scissors downwards.

Glitch quickly turns around and dodges Schneep’s attach before blasting out fire towards him too. “Nice try~!”

Schneep yelps, the fire burning his arm. He leaps to the side, patting out the flames. JJ takes his place, throwing magic after Glitch but staying where he's standing off to the side.

Alt growls and glitches around, trying to create a distraction for Glitch.

Bro hurries over and kneels by Jackie, “You okay?”

"F-fine," Jackie says. He steadies himself. "Now—let's get this fucker!" He tries to sweep out Glitch's legs with his staff.

Bro grins and nods, trying to kick at Glitch’s stomach. Glitch glitches out the way though but ends up getting blasted back by JJ’s magic and is thrown through the air. He growls and then starts to spark with electricity. “You all are getting on my last fucking nerve!” He hisses.

Then, Glitch sends out a wave of electric magic to try to shock everyone and knock them away.

Jackie and Schneep fly through the air away from Glitch. Even JJ, as far as he is, gets knocked down. Schneep is the first to get to his feet, and he leaps over to help Jackie up. "We have to get his magic to the doorway somehow," he mutters. "That is the plan."

Henny and Bro get blown back, bro briefly hitting his head against a far back wall. Alt manages to glitch away and then yells as he tackles his other self to the floor. Glitch roars in anger, meeting eyes with his former self.

Alt snarls and bares his teeth at his copy. “…you need to stop this! Your Chase wouldn’t want you doing all of this!”

“You know fucking nothing!” Glitch hisses, “I’ve seen the light- who we were meant to be all along! Someone who’s not tethered to weak useless meat bags- Chase was the only exception- the only one worth fighting for! Now I’m stronger than anyone who ever hurt us! I could rule worlds- all the worlds! I could turn back time to make sure Chase never died! All I need is a way out-!”

“Fucking listen to yourself!” Alt interrupts, “You sound exactly like Mag! Doesn’t that make you angry?! In the end- he won! He made you what he always wanted us to be! This wasn’t a victory- this is a tragedy! One where the man who tortured us for years got the last laugh and corrupted you so much you killed the only family you had left and drove everyone else you love away! You didn’t win jack shit! And I- I’m never gonna let myself turn into you!”

There’s an intense beat of silence as Alt pants from his emotional outburst as Glitch stares up at him with wide eyes. Wide eyes that… actually look a bit scared.

Everyone stares at the two Alts. Jackie starts to raise his staff and run forward, but Schneep puts out an arm to stop him. "Think about it," Schneep says. "You have not won anything. If Magnificent could see you now, he would be so proud of what you've become. Is that what you want?" But even as he talks, he gets ready to leap out of the way with Jackie at the first sign of danger. JJ also gets up, magic at the ready.

Glitch seems to shiver at this, eyes wide and distant as he shakes his head. “No…” Then his eyes start to fill with purple as he screams out in anger, “N̴̼͠o̸̭̕!̶̗̽!” A wave of purple magic rockets out of him and it blasts Alt away with enough force that he hits his head against the wall and blacks out for a second, slumping towards the ground.

Schneep was ready for this. As the magic approaches he leaps out of the way, dragging Jackie with him. JJ is not so lucky. He conjures up a shield but the magic blasts through it, knocking him back against the doorway.

“Alt!” Bro cries out as he hurries over to his side, hardly being thrown off by the magic at all.

Bro hurriedly tries to rouse Alt. “Alt buddy c’mon!! You can’t pass out on us now!!” Alt rocks a bit in his grip, a spot of blood on his head from the impact he took.

Meanwhile, Henny tried to protect himself with his magic- but the black magic touches his light magic and he screams in pain as it eats up his hand and puts purple cracks on his pocket watch. He clutches at his hand then falls back against the wall, slumping against it.

In the middle of the room, Glitch is curled up into a tight glitching ball, muttering madly, “no no no no! I’m not like him- I’m not! I’m better! I-I won! He couldn’t win he’s dead!! I… I… Mag isn’t here- I’m the one still around!! Chase wouldn’t- I- He… he…! No! Nonono-!” Electricity is crackling off him like a dangerous storm. The floor underneath him is cracking and breaking into code- reality around him is shattering. “I’m the one in control! It was meant to be me!! He’s nothing- I-I’m eternal!’”

JJ climbs to his feet, looking over at Henny in alarm. He takes a deep breath and—in a puff of blue smoke--appears next to him. I'm going to try and get rid of that magic, he says, and reaches out to take Henny's hand with the watch in it. He tries to tap into whatever power he used on the rooftop to cast a purification spell.

Henny blearily looks at JJ and nods, “p-please… Juwel…”

JJ smiles at Henny gently. He concentrates. Come on, he’s done this before… and though it’s more difficult than expected, the black magic slowly drains away.

Henny sighs in relief as the magic starts to drain away. Once he’s recovered enough he pushes himself up and puts a hand on JJ’s shoulder, “thank you my friend… hurry to the doorway-“

JJ nods slowly. Be careful, he says. Keep yourself safe over anything, even breaking the doorway. And then he teleports back to the doorway, right by Jackie and Schneep.

"Do you think Chase would be proud of you now, Alt?!" Jackie shouts at Glitch. "Do you think he'll want to hear you say things like that? See you do things like this?!" As Jackie shouts, Schneep pulls him back until they're standing by the doorway--right in front of it in fact. "He wouldn't! If he's anything like our Chase, he wouldn't! And he'd say you weren't meant for this at all! He'd say you were meant to be a hero!"

“ S̷̯̓Ḥ̴̉Ú̸̧T̴̬̒ ̸̰̋Ṳ̶̚P̶̒!” Glitch screams at Jackie, curling up claws into his scalp. “Chase was blind- w-we all were! I was always meant to be this- It’s what I-I was made for! The universes told me so- this magic tells me so! Playing hero was a-a foolish dream! I… I- ngh-!” Glitch cries out in pain and curls up more, the magic eating away more at the fabric of the world.

“Yeah, and whose magic is that?!” Jackie shouts. “Who did it come from?! Magnificent right? I don’t think his fucking magic would tell the truth!”

“Black magic sucks you in!” Schneep says. “But it may not be too late for you to make your way out, Alt!”

“And I don’t believe that anyone was made for anything!” Jackie continues. “This is a fucking multiverse, man! Do you think the possibilities are so limited?!”

Glitch grits his teeth and screams, tears of blood falling from his eyes. “There’s so many-“ He pants, “So many versions of me who are this- the trends, the canon- we were made this way…! I-I can’t fight this- this was inevitable! A puppet master needs his toys…! I-I’m a higher being now- I’m a-above all these useless fucking emotions! Above t-this empathy- this sadness-!”

Then he curls up more gripping over his heart as the magic blasts out even more, ripples of black magic washing over the doorway, lighting up the runes with purple light. “So why does this still h̴̠̀u̴̮͌ŕ̷̹ẗ̴͚́?” he wails almost like a frightened child, “Why does it still ache?! Make it stop- MAKE IT S̷̜̚Ť̸͍Ǫ̴̈P̸̢̍!̸̭͗!̸̀ͅ”

Bro watches Glitch break down with wide worried eyes, some part of his chest aching with him. He grips the still passed out Alt in his arms.

"My friends!" Schneep looks at Bro and Alt, reaching out towards them. "Here!"

"Try to make it stop all you want!" Jackie shouts. "But it hurts because it's real! It hurts because it mattered! If you bury that hurt, if you try to justify it away—well, don't count us responsible for who you become!"

“Shut up!! Shut up shut up S̶̳͑H̴̢̕Ū̷͇Ţ̴͠ ̸̳̏U̸͖̎P̷̮̓!̵̩̑!̶̮͒!̵̮̐” Glitch sobs hysterically, clawing at his skin, leaving claw marks down his face like tears.

Bro looks conflicted. Then he looks down at Alt and whispers an apology to him before giving him a little zap to wake him up. Alt jolts then winces gripping at his head. Bro pushes him forward, “Go to the others! Careful not to glitch yet- I… I need to do something-“

Alt opens his mouth to argue, “Chase-“

“Please Anti- just… just trust me, okay?” Chase says, looking at his brother with a meaningful expression. Alt slowly softens then nods. “Be careful…” he then glitches across the room- away from the doorway and starts to make his way towards it.

Bro stands up, then starts to brave his way through the magic storm around Glitch.

"Chase what the fuck are you doing?!" Jackie gasps.

"Chase!" Schneep starts forward, reaching out. But Jackie grabs him, holding him back.

JJ looks back and forth between Bro and Alt before hurrying over to Alt, dragging him back to the other two.

Alt stumbles a bit but leans against JJ as he helps.

The magic shreds at Bro’s super suit and skin, pixels slashing at him and the glitches unstable to walk on. But he tries- this… this guy is a version of his brother! A version that lost him- and Chase promised he’d never let his brother feel alone again.

Glitch doesn’t even see him coming- so when he manages to break through and grab his bleeding cheeks, the glitch startles and shakily holds a hand against Bro’s. “C-Chase?”

Bro looks at this corrupted version of Alt with deep heartfelt sympathy. He hesitates then brings Glitch into a hug and holds him tight. “Don’t worry, Anti…” he whispers, “We’re going to make sure this doesn’t happen to you in our world… we’re gonna try to fix the future. I’m so sorry this happened to you…”

Glitch is stiff in the hug, purple flickering in his eyes- a bit of blue seeping through. He shakily reaches up and then curls claws into Chase’s shirt. “Please, Chase… f-find a way to save me-“

“I will,” Chase promises. He then lets go and looks at Glitch sadly, “…but you gotta let us go. You have to let me go.”

Glitch chokes a bit and closes his eyes before shoving Bro towards the doorway. “…g-get out of here- go-! Before it… before I lose myself again-!”

Glitch looks at the others with determination burning in his green blue eyes. “…make sure this future- never happens!”

Jackie, Schneep, and JJ look at each other. There are some tears in JJ's eyes. "We will do everything we can," Schneep says to this Glitched Alt. "We promise."

"You fight as hard as you can, okay?!" Jackie says.

Glitch nods, “I… I’ll try.” He looks to Alt, “…k-keep him close, okay?”

Alt has tears in his eyes too as he nods, “I will.” He says, his voice breaking.

Glitch smiles, looking sincere. “…good.” He closes his eyes and breathes, gripping at his heart. Purple veins pulse and glow underneath. He looks at Henny and a tear falls from his eye. “…keep on watching over me, Hen, will you? Y-you’ve done a good job of it s-so far.” He laughs.

Henny blinks back tears and nods, “Until the very end, my friend.” Sahne crawls out from where she was hiding and presses up against him, whining slightly at Glitch.

Glitch smiles more, looking on the verge of more tears. He shudders as the purple veins on his face light up and cause him pain. “G-Go- hurry-!” He shouts at the others.

Henny holds out a hand to hold the doorway in his magic. Alt slams an electric filled hand against the doorway and then lets his body disperse into glitches and pixels. The runes hum loudly and fill with more light, the air becoming electric and an electric whine reaches a fever pitch of intense noise. A bubble of crackling magic caves in on the 5 boys then rockets out in an intense beam of magic and light.

Then, the boys are gone- hearing the collapse of stones before they fall into deep confusing darkness.

#GITHV #glitch into the huffleverse #GITHV swap bad end #yay the last part and final battle with glitch!!#i had sooo much fun writing the ending here and figuring out the lore of the arch with cry!!#sorry this is very very late i was going through some personal stuff #but its all good now!! :D #hope you guys enjoy! only a few more chapters left!!#alt anti #glitch alt #bad end alt #bro fantastic #the jaunty jackson #inverted jackie #stitched schneep

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