#ignore that i gave him anime girl lookin eyes | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

astaroth1357 · 4 years

Text

Brothers React to the MC Looking at Them Lovingly

This is a personal experiment. This is the very first time I've written one of these with a goal in mind, "Make them fall in love all over again." It's a tall order. I hope I succeeded. 🙏 Special thanks to @a-chaotic-dumbass for picking the mood for this one!

Intro:

We all know that look. The one where one person stares at another like they just realized they're the only thing in the universe and they're in fucking awe of it. The kind of look that tells you they're utterly enthralled by that other person and just can't get enough of their presence. That look. Yeah, the brothers just got that look out of the MC.

Let's warm some cold hearts, everybody.

Lucifer

Lucifer was always beautiful. Always has been, as an angel or a demon.

A morning star is one that outshines all the rest. It stands out when the other stars have dimmed, holding onto its luster in defiance of the sun.

There couldn't be a truer title for Lucifer to have. Not the horrors of war nor the fires of Hell could tarnish his radiance in any way…

But there were moments, like right then, where the MC caught a glimpse of a different sort of Lucifer.

His brothers would often only see the uptight Lucifer, the practiced visage of perfection that he tried so hard to keep up…

But after a long day, when he thinks he's alone, he retires to his room to listen to his music and the difference is astonishing.

There's something so entrancingly calm about him… How the light of the fireplace flickers and dances across his alabaster skin to the subtle slouch of his posture. His face no longer marred by creases of stress and frustration…

And his expression is so pure… So tranquil and at peace… Beauty without effort. A shine that can't be ignored. A morning star, in the truest sense of the word…

It took awhile for Lucifer to see the MC leaning against his doorframe.

They were staring at him with the oddest look… Smiling like they were enraptured by something, but he didn't have a clue why. He was just sitting there…

So, naturally, he turned to suspicion.

"Am I really that amusing…?"

Frankly, he wasn’t prepared for the little laugh they let out in response.

"Mm? No, no... I'm just always so amazed by you, is all. I'll leave you to your music..."

Having thoroughly ruined the mood, the MC then turned to leave. But Lucifer was already upon them before they could step away, wrapping his arms around their waist and letting contented hum escape his chest.

"Going so soon…?"

Apparently he appreciated the compliment.

Mammon

He didn't have to do it.

When Belphie bumped into one of the House's vases, shattering it against the tile, he didn’t have to take the fall for it.

It wasn’t connected to him at all. He could have stayed quiet and no one would have pointed a finger at him for once.

But he did.

When Mammon set his phone down on the table, MC knew instantly that he had lied in the chat.

He was with them the entire day, he didn't have the time to accidentally break a vase. He hadn't even gone down that hallway all day...

But he said something anyway.

And he didn't even look fazed. He didn't turn towards them seeking approval nor did he look irritated that Belphie didn't speak up. He didn't curse at himself for doing something so self-sacrificing either...

When Mammon leaned back into the cushion of his couch, the MC saw something truly remarkable on his face… A smile. A small one, sure, but relaxed…

Assured in his own actions. Confident in his choice and accepting the consequences… undeserved, and likely thankless, they may be.

A genuine, serene smile…

Mammon wasn't sure what he expected to see when he turned to the MC. Probably confusion or disbelief that he, the Great Mammon, could be so selfless.

Definitely not the awed, lovestruck look he got...

"G-gah!" He panicked slightly and pressed himself back against the armrest of the couch in shock. "Wh-... What'cha lookin at me like that for??"

When the MC didn't answer after a few seconds and just kept staring, he honestly didn't know what to do. Were they broken or something??

"Oi, MC! I asked ya wh-Hey wait a minute!!"

He made a noise between a yelp and a shout when the MC leapt forward and latched their arms onto him. What had gotten into them??

"U-uh… MC? MC?? Damnit MC, answer me already!! Or at least stop squeezin so tight!!... MC!!!"

Leviathan

To anyone else, it was just Levi being Levi.

He had finished a new episode of his latest animated obsession and he had to share it with someone. Anyone would do, but the MC was always willing to lend an ear.

Something about Levi really changes when he talks about his passions… It's like he comes alive in a whole new way.

He speaks at a mile-a-minute, but that's because he's so excited the words fly from his mouth.

Some part of him is always bouncing, be it his leg or body. Sometimes even his tail will swish and curl behind him like an ecstatic puppy. And his eyes…

Citrine pools that glimmer and dilate from the exhilaration of it all. It's his little world and anyone can see he's thrilled to be sharing it.

You'd never know he was shy. You'd never think he'd look down himself. You'd never guess that he hid himself away… Why would someone so full of passion and life ever want to? Some things are just too beautiful to keep hidden...

Levi had only gotten six minutes into his latest rant before he finally registered how the MC was staring at him…

This man has seen enough shoujo to know what that look means and it shut him up sooo quick. If anyone else were in the room they would have seen a beet-red Levi desperately trying to hide his face.

"M-MC…! S-top staring at me like that…!!"

"Like what~?"

He didn't have to look at them to hear the teasing lilt in their voice.

"MC…" He peeked out from behind his fingers to see them still staring and covered himself up more vigorously. "Stoooop…!!!"

But secretly? He wished they'd never stop. His cheeks may have been red from embarrassment, but his heart was trying to hammer its way out of his chest to hug them itself. Hell, he'd have happily given it over to them if they'd asked…

Please just let those loving eyes be for him and him alone...

Satan

Soft isn't exactly a word anybody would use to describe Satan, least of all himself.

His anger was quick to spark, his strength was nothing to scoff at, and even his smiles were nothing but plastic for nearly all of his existence…

Nearly.

The MC learned surprisingly quick that there was one thing that could bypass all of the hidden ferocity to Satan's personality. Something that could make him melt like butter in the summer sun…

Satan had always looked a little cute when he was reading. He was easily at his most expressive when engrossed in a thrilling story or deeply intrigued by something he found between the pages of a book…

But watching Satan read about cats, as he was right then, was really something else entirely.

Maybe it was the way his emerald eyes would sparkle or the lopsided grin he just couldn't hide as he would scan the pages about the playful habits of Bengals or the relaxed nature of Ragdolls…

Maybe it was the sheer impassioned dedication he took the subject, pouring countless hours into collecting and memorizing every fact he could from their diets to coat maintenance.

Or maybe it was the sheer fact that anytime he saw a picture of kitty in-print he looked like a besotted schoolgirl drawing hearts around her crush in a teen magazine.

Really, who's to say? But to the MC, it was proof that under all that anger, there was a tender, loving center even for the smallest, softest creatures…

Satan automatically snapped his book closed when he saw MC watching him from behind a bookshelves. Caught red-handed…

He knows exactly how he looks when he's doing his research internally squealing over cat pictures so he tries to do so in private...

He was about to sputter out a defensive explanation but then he registered their face…

He'd seen that look described in stories, romance novels mostly, but he'd rarely seen it in action… and never once leveled at him with such intensity…

Not to be cliche, but frankly his heart skipped a beat.

Satan forgot about his book briefly and got up to close the distance between them, tilting their chin up to keep their eyes on him.

"Like something that you see, Kitten?"

"You could say that…"

He laughed at their attempt to play coy, but let it slide just this once… Easy to do with them looking at him so amorously.

Asmodeus

Asmo is a very popular demon. Someone so free ought to know quite a lot of people, after all.

And, of course, he had plenty of fans. He made DevilTube videos, hosted radio shows, fashion designed, and even modeled.

So it wasn't very surprising when a young demoness stopped him while he and the MC were out shopping. It wasn’t the first time he had been asked to sign autographs, but this meeting… it was different.

It was clear to them both that this girl was shy. Though she held out the paper, her eyes stayed firmly on the ground and she stumbled on her question… She likely a fan from afar, but everything about her seemed meek… unassuming.

Most people would have just gave the autograph then went on with their day. The interaction could have taken five seconds at most… but not Asmo.

He asked her name… where she was from, how she was feeling, her favorite foods, outfits, makeup, you name it. All with investment.

It was amazing to watch the shy young woman slowly open up, getting more bright and cheerful with each passing question until it evolved into a healthy conversation.

When their little meeting finally wrapped up, he gave her back the paper (now signed) but also fished out a bottle of perfume from among the mountains of bags he was carrying. He gave it to her and wouldn't hear anything to the contrary, he could always buy another.

None of his brothers ever gave Asmo enough credit for his giving nature… even if he had his own way of going about it. Though he cared so much about image and his ability to shine, he never hesitated to make sure that the people around him shined too...

Asmo waved to the fan as she scampered away and was about to apologize to the MC when he saw their face…

The man knows this look well. He's seen it a billion times, though it was particularly cute coming from them.

"Awww MC! Taken by my beauty are you~?"

He was about ready to kiss their cheek when they responded.

"No, not your looks, Asmo… with you."

… Oh.

It was very rare to see Asmo speechless, but for a few seconds his mind seemed to take in their words… letting them fully sink in before his heart utterly melting.

Oh MC… His sweet MC!!

Asmo ended up dropping the rest of his bags just so he could properly litter his human in nuzzles and kisses, the both of them humming and giggling in delight despite their shameless PDA.

Of course it would be his MC to see that part in himself… Who else would take the time?

Beelzebub

Food is a precious resource to Beel. For him, it's a lifeline. A good meal could save him from the brink of starvation…

But that still doesn't make him incapable of sharing from time to time.

He and the MC were walking back to the House after getting takeout from Hell's Kitchen. Beel hadn't even waited until they left the restaurant to start eating his share, spilling the smell of fresh food into the air around them…

Things were going fine on their route back until they heard whimpering behind them…

A hellhound puppy, not quite old enough to bear its fangs, seemingly followed them as they were walking… It looked like it had been out for some time and eyed their food with hungry eyes, but weak posture. Who knows when it last had a meal?

The MC was about to tug at Beel's sleeve and say something, but their demon was ahead of them this time.

A casual observer might have gawked at the sight of Gluttony kneeling down to offer such a lowly creature a sandwich. But the MC knew better. When you spend your whole life hungry, nobody more than you understands that kind of pain in someone else.

This reaction wasn't out of character for Beel, it was elementary.

And when the puppy finished its meal and covered Beel's cheeks with appreciative licks, he just laughed and scratched behind its ears. Amethyst eyes looking more relieved at its health than disappointed he lost some of his lunch...

Food was Beel's lifeline, but kindness is what made him who he was…

When the pup finally scampered off, Beel looked over at the MC to tell them it'd be alright and saw their face…

He wasn't really sure what they were staring at… Did he have something between his teeth again?

"MC? Are you okay...?"

They laughed at him for some reason but pulled him in for a hug so they must have meant well.

"You're so sweet, Beel…"

Beel's never one to refuse a compliment so he just hugged them back, beaming.

"Thank you, MC…"

Belphegor

To say that Belphegor tended to be on the melancholic side would be an understatement… It wasn’t that he was incapable of expressing joy, it was just harder for him to do than most. Not helped, of course, by his tendency to keep his true feelings vague and hard to pinpoint.

But on those rare occasions where he was overjoyed… Belphie could really be something special…

The MC and Belphie were attending one of Beel's games and it was a tight one… Both teams had spent most of it tied and Beel's team was running out of time to overtake that slim margin.

Belphie had always been a supporter of his twin's athletics, but this time it was tense even for him. He kept on the edge of his seat and didn't even nod off during the breaks like he normally would… The MC could just tell how nervous he was for Beel…

But right as the time was about to run out, Beel made a last minute score and sure, the whole field erupted, but Belphie? Belphie hollered.

The normally sleepy and mellow demon was on his feet in an instant and practically shredding his vocal chords in excitement. If his tail had been out, it would have been beating against the bleachers like a war-drum. And his expression?

Belphie's smile is said to stop hearts for a reason. When he puts his all into a grin it's almost like he ascends to Heaven once more, as pure as an angel's choir and as warm as a summer's breeze… Nothing in his eyes but pride and adoration for his beloved twin brother.

Truly, a heartwarming sight to behold…

Belphie didn't calm down until the rest of the crowd settled and was about to point out Beel's skill to the MC when he noticed their face.

… oh no… Why do they look so sappy…?

"You really love your brother, don't you?"

Belphie quickly hid his thoughts behind an irritated frown and plopped back down in his seat… but that didn't shield them from seeing his pink cheeks.

"Of course I do. What kind of question is that?"

He debated just joining Beel on the field to hide his embarrassment when he heard them snicker back.

"Yeah, you're right… Don't mind me."

Oh he minded. He minded a lot that he let his carefully veiled image slip like that. But thinking back to that smile on their face…?

Maybe being a little open wasn't so bad after all...

#obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me headcanons #obey me hc #obey me scenarios

5K notes · View notes

slutfor-fictionalmen · 3 years

Note

hi hi! I hope this message isn’t too late or anything, since I only just seen the one you send me this morning! Also I accidentally deleted your messages while trying to reply 🤦‍♀️

But if it’s still alright, may I request an Armin Arlert x slightly thicker/chubby reader? just something soft and simple! maybe he’s noticed that the reader doesn’t eat very much anymore, and is skipping meals, and he confronts her about it, because he doesn’t want her getting sick or something happening. She obviously gets a little upset about it, and like, tells him she’s been having a hard week and has been super insecure lately. She just doesn’t like the way she looks, and Armin comforts her and stuff! All the love and cuddles! 🥰 I’m in need for this rn honestly 😭

I hope i did it right!! Things are more internalized due to my own self indulgence, i hope you like it!!

Tw: self harm(starving)

Another day passed, and you hated being in the corps more and more, with the men objectifying you and the women with their fake smiles and judgemental looks, aside from Mikasa that is. You felt her hand on your shoulder, staring right back at them as you passed.

She was the only girl-friend you’ve ever had, which makes your bond with each other especially strong, she called you her therapy stuffed animal( in a good way) with how loving and kind you were when she came home to eren’s house. You were always there, you gave her her first jacket, you bear-hugged her when she was at her worst and missed her parents, you stood by her and never faltered. Even going as far as telling off Eren for being tactless to her feelings, poor boy has no social cues.

Eren loved you for how truly different you really are, despite being an only child, you were his sister, as much as a pain in the ass you are. But this called for you being apart of his and Mika’s friend group with no doubt. Being part of erens tight knit group of friends means you were automatically loved by eren, mika…. And armin.

You always had a fondness for the shy blonde, his all bark and no bite nature stole your heart. You met at a young age but only connected through Eren, he always tells you to thank him for that introduction despite your efforts to play off your crush being in vain. You loved how… pure he looked, how in a world full of death and violence, he could always bring light into your day with a smile or a story. No matter what you could count on his smile,you could count on him.

That’s why you hated today with a passion.

“We have extra food, which one of you dumbasses didn’t eat all your shit?” You sighed, walking away from the situation you caused. It wasn’t a good day, their comments bugged you today for some reason, and Armin wasn’t there to perk up the atmosphere of this gloomy day. Making it unreasonably difficult for you to focus on your own health today, this isn’t even the first time this has happened. It’s been a week of irregular meals, constant moving, and titan stress. It wasn’t like you were trying to starve, you just didn’t have the time.

And you didn’t notice till today.

“Lookin’ thinner, bunny… are you eating well?” You ignore eren’s concerned comment, pressing forward with the group in disturbed silence. This was the fifth comment today about your looks that you’ve gotten. You weren’t a small person, you had extra meat, and you had curves, paired with your adorable tiger stripes, but you know for a fact that starving this little would not affect your appearance that much. It irritated you, and you vowed to tell off the next person who said anything.

“Y/n can-“ “Oh my GOD, are you SERIOUS? I’ve been eating! I havent lost that much weight and i don’t want to hear your Perverted FUCKING Mouth say anything! It’s idiotic for you to continue to act like a jealous schoolgirl and make your ‘sly’ comments! So just Shut up!”

You finally open your eyes from your rant, regretful as your irises meet two bright blue eyes on a horrified face. “I was just going to ask if you can slow down and walk with me-“ Guilt floods your mind as you ear him squeak out his words. You lower your gaze and nod, moving to the back of the group with the boy. It didn’t matter how long this would be, you knew Levi would make you set up for camp soon.

“ ‘m sorry armin, you didn’t deserve that, I’m just-“ “Don’t apologize, you didn’t mean it to me but it was still valid. But never mind that, are you ok? Yes you haven’t been eating but you’ve been…. Cold lately..” You wanted to tell him, just say, ‘ I’m so in love with you that even a few days without your voice makes me angry as shit’ but you knew it wasn’t the right time…. And besides, would he even accept a girl like you?

“I’m fine, just stressed, tired, and overwhelmed…. It’s a lot you know?” Armin nods walking closer to you and letting your answer settle before your group sets up for camp and your pace continues to slow.

“You’re beautiful no matter what, I’ve read articles that said starving is actually terrible for your body, unintentional or not, it won’t end up good. If i have to,” He flushes, continuing to look ahead,” I’ll stay with you all day to make sure you’re eating and drinking water.” You freeze, feeling flushed as you watch him walk away and realize that he just offered to be around you all day just for you to be healthy.

You shake it off, keeping his words at the forefront of your mind before you get ready to retire for the night. You find a note on your blanket, asking you to meet armin at his tent with water and a blanket. Curious as to what it means you do as the note says, waiting at armin’s tent before he opens the zipper with a happy smile, welcoming you inside.

“You got the water?” You lift up the container, making him nod and turn away to a covered pile in his room. He takes the cover off, revealing the food he gathered for you two. “You didn’t eat again, so I didn’t either. And before you say anything, i got some of everything so you have to eat SOMETHING! I told you all day didn’t I?” You look at him with teary eyes, your emotions of the week spilling out at his gesture.

Sobs wrack your body before he pulls you into his form, engulfing you in a warm hug. You feel him draw soothing circles on your back, rocking you and letting out slow shushes in attempts to calm your mind. You feel him kiss the top of your head and rubbing your back more before he pulls away and guides you to the setup of food.

He grabs you a plate of everything, making you sit and eat with him. You nibble at your food, uninterested in grossing out the guy you like by eating in front of him. But that only made him take your fork and feed you himself, he was determined for you to take care of yourself and love yourself as he loves you. You notice him watch you eat with admiration, happy to see you finally giving yourself some nourishment. You hear him sigh and hesitate, but you leave it untouched before he breaks the silence.

“You know…. I’ve loved you for years, ever since you punched out that kid who threatened me for speaking up, and how you always listened to me talk about the books I’ve read and things I’ve heard-“ “i know, i love you too armin.” “No not like that, I’m IN love with you, like i want to hold your hands, kiss you everywhere, curl into you at night, i want to love you.” You stop mid chew, maintaining eye contact as you swallow and stare at him.

“Are you serious?” “Yes.” “Like you’re not-“ “Y/n L/n I am completely and utterly in love with you.” You push the food aside, crawling between his legs and curling up onto his chest and wrapping your arms around his torso. “I love you so much it hurts armin. It hurt me so badly when you wouldn’t talk to me, i don’t know what i did but i was so mad that i pushed you away.”

Armin tilted your chin up, pressing a quick kiss to your lips before he grabbed onto your soft form with a passion. “I’ll never do that again, I’m so sorry beautiful.” You hold onto him tighter pressing your ear to his chest to hear his heartbeat. “You really think I’m beautiful?”

He pulls away, reaching over you to grab your blanket…. Man he really plans things out, before he wraps it around you both and presses a kiss to your temple. He lets his hands sink into your skin, loving how your soft skin feels on his fingertips. His lips pepper kisses on your neck, pulling slightly back to press a kiss onto your hairline. You loved how gentle he was with you, you already knew the answer to to your question before he even opened his mouth.

“More then you can ever know, my love.”

#tw: self doubt #armin x you #armin x chubby reader #attack on titan #armin #chubby!reader #plus sized reader #fluff #aot fluff #aot angst #angst #angst with a happy ending #poc!reader #sorry it’s so bad

175 notes · View notes

travellingarmy · 3 years

Text

║Diluc║Adopted

Requested from Wattpad.

Child, male reader. Completely platonic.

Fluff.

Word count: 2.2k

---

You don't know where you came from and neither did he, but that question doesn't linger on for too long, allowing yourselves to enjoy in each other's presence.

He wasn't one to have an interest in taking care of children, but ever since he found you in a woven basket in Wolvendom, he made you the centre of his life.

"Diluc, I want to train today!" Barging into his office, you greet him an enthusiastic- yet loud- morning, slamming the door wide open to create a booming sound that Diluc no longer gets a fright out of. "Can we go outside today? Please, please, please?"

He looks up from his paper to eye your person before returning his attention to the paper. "We can go out today, but it will be to the tavern. I have something to do."

You pout and slumped onto a nearby chair, your ears slightly drooping down like the hybrid dog you are. There were few people who had an animal appearance like you and perhaps that might have had been the reason he was drawn to you.

"I said I want to train, not follow you on your errands!" head snapping up as you whined. Diluc slowly closes his eyes and sighs, quite tired from the work yesterday and the added work today. However, he knows how persistent you were and how you would get annoying by the day that even Adelinde starts to get a headache. With that knowledge, he stood up shortly and looks towards your petite frame.

Your eyes sparkled and a child-like smile forms on your face, knowing what he'll say next. "Did you have breakfast already?" Diluc asks, although it was nearly afternoon, and you nod almost immediately. "Then we'll go out and quickly visit the tavern. Afterwards, we can practise your archery." If he was going to shut you up while doing his work, this method was always effective.

You hop off the couch and rushed towards the red-head, grabbing his hand and allow him to lead the way.

Although he adopted you, he did not put himself as your father on the paper and asked of you to call him by his name only, but that didn't matter to you.

You bid Adelinde goodbye and outside, you took big leaps, excited to get on with archery. "(Y/N), slow down. You'll trip and then we'll fall," Diluc points out, slightly bending as he chases after you, trying to keep up in the light of your steps.

You slowed down, walking at a more comfortable pace. For you, stamina was everything but since Diluc wasn't a child, he couldn't go as fast as you wanted. "Sorry, Diluc."

However, throughout that walk, you did stray from time to time, sometimes letting go of his hand to peek what could have been hiding in rustling bushes. "(Y/N), come back here," he would say, gaining your attention back to his side.

Upon entering the gates, a particular someone just had to show up. "Oho~ Fancy meeting you here, Master Diluc," the all too familiar Cavalry Captain greets, souring Diluc's day. Kaeya's smirk stretched a bit, looking quite smug as his eyes move from him and to your petite stature.

"And good morning, (Y/N). Are you here to run errands with Master Diluc?" He asks with a close-eyed smile, ignoring the murderous aura coming from his brother as he leans down to your level, hands on his thighs.

You nod. "I want to learn how to charge my arrow like Fish lady!" you say with a gleam. Kaeya stares dumbfoundedly at you before finally realizing that you were referring to Fischl from the Adventurer's Guild. "Oh, I see That's some intense training, but I'm sure that you can pull it off." He ruffles your hair and chuckles.

"Sir Kaeya, as a captain, you have an awful lot of time to waltz around lazily," Diluc comments, his grip on your hand tightening, but not too hard that it would hurt. This comment's venom flies by over the aforementioned male as he chuckles, shrugging. "What can I say? I'm sure you're well aware that Grand Master Varka has taken all of my knights. Who am I supposed to captain?"

You mused at the two brothers' bickering silently and see that Diluc's eyebrows were twitching-- most likely from the annoyance his brother is giving him. "But as a knight, you should have at least something to do."

"I do, and that's speaking to (Y/N)," he says. "It is a knight's duty to make sure the people are safe and so, I am speaking with him to make sure he isn't being forced into training by you. You know how wrong that is, don't you, Master Diluc?"

"Tch. I'm well aware. And on that note, I believe you're more capable of doing that than I," Diluc crosses his arms as he spoke. It was getting to the point that your feet were starting to annoy you. Standing still was not something you like doing. "Diluc, can we go now?" You tug on the hem of his coat with your free hand and pouted slightly.

This got both of the brothers' attention and they looked at each other. "Apologies, but we have to go now. You know how children are," Diluc says, feeling quite happy.

"Aw, (Y/N), doesn't want to stay with me?" Kaeya pouts. You shook your head and smiled. "I want to train!" you voiced. Kaeya hums in acknowledgement. "Hm, I see. Then, I won't keep little (Y/N) too long. But promise me you'll play with me next time." He offers his pinky finger and you took it, lacing your smaller pinky. "I promise!"

After that, Diluc tugs you along lightly, not wanting to stay anywhere near the captain, heading towards the tavern to speak with a waited person. "(Y/N), you sit here, okay? Don't stray away." Diluc says and helps you up on one of the chairs outside. You nod, swinging your legs that dangle off of the chair. Diluc stares at you and shows a small smile, ruffling your hair, and then walking off.

You were left alone, but not truly alone as you see Diluc not too far from you, talking to a man who looked wealthy themselves. It was probably a business negotiation of some sort, but you were too young to be bothered by trivial matters that did not involve you.

"Hey, hey, look at him." Whispers. To an average person, they wouldn't be able to hear it, but you weren't, and so, you heard children whispering behind you. It was also evident that they were talking about you as you heard another whisper, "He has doggy ears. I want one."

You thought they would just talk like every other person, but that thought was dismissed when you hear light footsteps coming your way. You turned your head to look down at the other children. There were two boys and a girl. The girl was most likely younger than you and the boys were older-- older than yourself. They look like trouble, you thought to yourself.

"Hey, you!" The first one to speak was one of the two boys. He has jet-black hair and wore thick glasses. You hopped off of your seat and stare at them silently, waiting for them to continue. "Is that thing on your head real?"

"Uh, yeah, it is," you answered, getting off from the chair to have a proper conversation with them. It was a common question asked to you that you lost count of how many times someone came up to you and ask.

"I don't believe it," he voiced, crossing his arms and lookin smug. "Yeah, let us touch it," the second one spoke. Your brows slightly furrows. Who were these kids and why were they suddenly asking to touch your ears? Yeah, sure it was strange and not human-like, but who gave these kids courage to spew words like that?

"Sorry, but they're really sensitive.." you state, your brows slightly furrowing. "Oh, please. I bet you're just saying that because it's actually fake!" Without warning, he reached for your ears and tug it harshly and you yelped at the pain. "Woaaah! Did you glue it onto your head? You're so weird."

"Please, let go." You knew how much stronger you were compared to average children, seeing as you had a vision and was trained to combat and so, you didn't dare use force to get him to pull away, wrapping both of your tiny hands on the wrist outstretched to you. Diluc always reminded you to never harm others. "Please, let go!" you repeated, slightly louder than before. Water started to form on the corner of your eyes the more he pulled on your ears.

In response to your distress, your vision glowed and sent a tiny shock of electro from your hands that held onto his. It wasn't harmful, but just enough to make the kid hiss and stumble back. "H, hey, what did you do to him?" The girl reached for her friend, looking at the hand that had a slight purple to it from you.

And to make matters worst, an older woman came running towards you four, seemingly to be one of their mother. "What's going on here?" the lady asks. "Mommy, look what he did to me!" the boy showed his wrist with tears on his face.

With one look at it, the lady turns towards you. "Excuse me, do you have any idea what you just did?" "I asked him if his ears were real and he suddenly attacked me!" Liar. He was lying, but you had no one to back your claims.

She huffs. "How dare you! How would you like it if someone were to do that to you." She reached her long, slender arms for your wrist. "Where are your parents? I'll have them know how naughty you are." Grabbing your wrist, she tries and drags you from your spot.

"That won't be necessary." Just in time, Diluc came back with the same, glaring-like expression on his face. The woman's eyes widened and with a gasp, let's go of your wrist. "Master Diluc?" she calls.

Diluc looks at the woman and to the children, inspecting the wrist that had been bruised. He had heard the conversation from where he stood and sped up his meeting with the person.

"Tell me what happened?" he asks, eyes returning their attention to the woman. "Well, this brat here injured my child and I was about to look for his parents."

"Oh, really? (Y/N), don't tell me you've forgotten what I told you about using your vision?" Although when he asks this, he already knows the answer. You shook your head. "I didn't mean to hurt them, I promise! They were pulling in my ears and.." Your voice grew weaker into silence, drooping your head down, thinking that he wouldn't buy your excuses.

Diluc sees this and immediately kneels down to your level, putting a hand on your shoulders and gain your attention. "Hey, look up. If you know that you are in the right, there is nothing you should shy away from," his voice was low and spoke softly to you.

Your eyes brightened up a bit and Diluc smiled-- not showing it though. He lifts you off of the ground, putting and arm under you for support as the other went on your back.

The lady was confused but most importantly, scared. "If you're looking for his guardian, you're speaking to them," Diluc spoke, eyes glued on you whilst the words directed to her. "But before you do that, demand the truth from your son." With that, he walked away, leaving the mother to ask what really happened while he comforted you.

You wrapped your arms around his neck and bury your face on his shoulders, trying hard not to let a single tear slip. You idolized Diluc for his skills in combat and his ability to never cry and so, you didn't like crying. It made you feel weak and nowhere near to become like Diluc.

"Hey, it's alright." He rubs your back, noticing your shaking body trying hard not to cry. "It's okay to cry, but don't cry for foolish people. You'll just give them what they want." In moments like these, you see Diluc as a father with his comforting words and life lectures.

You hummed and became silent. Yes, you can't cry for those types of people, you comfort yourself. Taking a deep breath, you peel yourself from his shoulders and showed him the smile that he would never admit he loves to see. A smile that gives others strength with the look of fire in your eyes.

"Alright, do you want to train now?" he asks, slightly smiling. You nod, but stopped yourself. "Wait, don't you still have other things to do?" you ask, to which Diluc ruffles your hair with his free hand. "Those can wait tomorrow. I could use some rest right now."

---

#diluc fluff #diluc x reader #diluc #diluc ragnvindr x reader #genshin impact #genshin #genshin impact oneshots #male reader #kaeya #kaeya alberich #diluc oneshot #fluff #fischl #genshin fischl

226 notes · View notes

writing-of-a-british-bitch · 3 years

Text

Blame Me - Chapter 1

Fandom: The Walking Dead

Specified gender: Female

Word Count: 4.3K

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x reader,

TW: canon typical violence, canon divergence, gore, mention of past major character death, zombies, a lot of time skips

Genre: Horror ig?

Series: Blame Me

Requests: CLOSED

Masterlist

A/N: (Y/N) isn’t in this chapter much but she will be soon! This is my first time writing for the walking dead, so I know Daryl is probably out of character. Constructive criticism is always appreciated :) Send me a DM or an ask if you want to be tagged! Enjoy!

When Daryl found out about what they'd done to Merle on that rooftop - left him for dead- he was livid. Merle was no angel, that was for damn sure, but that was still his brother, and they just left him there. And when they got there, and Merle was gone, with nothing left but a hand he'd had to hack off himself? It felt like his world was crashing around him. He couldn't do this. Not again. Then this new sheriff asshole had the nerve to tell him to calm down. Fuck that. He couldn't lose his brother, not him too. But Daryl couldn't seem to catch a break, and suddenly they'd lost half their camp, taken a failed trip to the CDC (that almost cost them their lives - again), and Sophia had gone missing. He was sick and fucking tired of losing people. Maybe that's why he was so hellbent on finding a little girl that wasn't even his. They'd set up a little camp on the edge of some old guy called Hershel's farm, but Daryl didn't want to get too close. He had this awful feeling creeping up his spine, something was gonna go wrong. Someone was gonna die. He couldn't take the blame again. So he stayed away. Set up his own tent, his own fire, Merle's bike parked up against a tree, animals on a line. Just like the old hunting trips he used to take with his brother. Sometimes she'd come, but it wasn't her thing. She'd been keeping him company so far. Even if she wasn't really here. Daryl was so focused on skinning a squirrel that he didn't even hear Carol creeping over. She still had remnants of tears tracked down her face, but they'd been long dried.

"Daryl?" Carol's meek voice broke through the silence, and Daryl looked up briefly a grunt of recognition leaving his throat. She sat down next to him on the log he was perched on "Thank you for everything you've done for Sophia. Her own daddy would have never done the same."

She'd thanked him twice already. He found her doll, not Sophia. As much as he wishes he had. Damn near died for it too, since the throbbing pain in his side liked to remind him

"Only found her doll," He mumbled, glancing over quickly. Carol nodded and gave him a small smile.

"Well, that's just one step closer isn't it?" She replied but she got no response except the famous Dixon stare. He wasn't much of a talker. He was just glad she understood that. They sat there for a few minutes, watching the fire, surrounded by the comfortable silence until Carol looked over to watch as Daryl skinned another squirrel, and a little glimmer on his hand caught her eye. "Hey, what's that?"

"What're you talkin' 'bout?" He huffed out, putting the squirrel to one side, and stabbing the knife into the log beside him, finally giving her the proper response she'd been asking for. Carol reached out and took Daryl's hand, examining it, ignoring the blood on his hands. He'd be surprised if she wasn't used to it by now. But she was right. On his ring finger was a silver band. Just plain and simple. Very Daryl. He snatched his hand back the second he realised what she was talking about. Carol was grinning at him, a tender look in her eyes. God damn that woman for being so observant. Though truly, they'd been in the same group for months and none of them ever noticed, so how observant could she really be? "Shut up."

"You're married?" Carol still had that grin on her face, and though her look was tender, there was a hint of sadness in her eyes. His girl wasn't with him. And while he hadn't fully accepted the fact she could be dead, he had accepted the fact that his chances of ever seeing her again were slim. Especially since it'd been so long.

"Worn ma ring whole time and you ain't never noticed?" Daryl shot back, more defensive than he'd like to have been. He didn't like being snappy with Carol, but, as anyone would have assumed, the topic was a touchy one.

"You and Merle were always off somewhere, or sitting miles away from us. Can't blame me for that," She replied, and to be fair, she wasn't exactly wrong. There was a pregnant pause, where Carol was trying to figure out what she should say. Could he even tell her? He didn't want no pity, but damn, talking about his girl, the memories? Talking to someone who wasn't Merle about her. Maybe it'd be nice. Or maybe not. "What happened to her?"

There was that silence again. The pause weighed heavy on both of them. Daryl took a deep breath and looked over at her. Fuck it. If there was anyone he could tell, anyone he could trust, it was Carol.

"Weren't nothin' bad. Didn't feel it then. Merle and me, we was goin' on 'nother huntin' trip. Ma girl only came sometimes. Weren't her thing. She was goin' to visit her ma, gave me this damn thang," He picked up a battery-powered video recorder from by his foot that Carol hadn't even seen. Yeah, maybe he was wrong about the whole observant thing. The corner of his lips twitched upwards as he opened it. "Said, 'just so you don't forget me'. I told her we'd only be gone two weeks," his fingers fiddled with the buttons, and he grew quiet, clicking onto one of the videos, but not playing yet. "Dead started risin' a week later. The ring and these dumb videos are all I have left right now."

Carol watched him as he talked, seeing the blank expression on his face warp into sadness, as he played with the video recorder, the way his eyes flickered over to his ring every now and again. He didn't think he'd been this vulnerable since he'd last seen his girl.

"She must have been really special to put up with someone like you," She teased, trying to make him a little more comfortable, nudging his shoulder. He smirked, finally looking away from the recorder.

"Yeah, she was," Daryl stated simply, before pressing play on the video.

"The hell you doin', woman?" Daryl's gruff voice sounded from behind the camera, as it spun around to reveal Daryl and a girl, maybe a year younger than him, with (H/C) loose and wild, as she danced around a kitchen. There was loud laughter behind the camera, Merle had been a dick when he found the recorder and kept filming them (he knew Daryl hated it). Lord knows he was thanking that asshole for filming it now. Merle said something in his southern drawl that Carol couldn't quite understand, but by the scowl that appeared on Daryl's face in the video, he clearly heard it. The girl beside him let out a chuckle and suddenly launched at Daryl, clinging to his arm as she bounced on her toes. Daryl lowered his glare to her, but Carol saw his eyes soften slightly. Merle spun the camera around to face him and made some raucous comment about christening the new house while he was away before the camera spun back around. It ended a second later, with Daryl swearing at Merle and using his hand to block the camera, and the girl let out a loud laugh.

Carol was smiling at the camera until she looked over at Daryl and saw a hardened look on his face. Damn those emotions of his.

"What was her name?" She whispered, scared if she spoke too loud, he'd crack.

"(Y/N)" were Daryl's final words, before he picked up the recorder, crossbow, his knife and his half skinned squirrel and moved into his tent, zipping it behind it.

His girl always knew what to do. Knew how to help. She was a leader, even if she liked to deny it. She'd know exactly what to do. Shane was a damn idiot, and Daryl knew she would have dealt with him already, rather than fucking about as Rick had. When Shane threw the barn doors open, letting all them damn walkers out, despite the whole groups' protests, he knew right there that his girl would have dealt with him. And when Sophia came trailing out, pale and cold, white-eyed, dirty with a bloody chunk missing from her shoulder, she would have known exactly what to do. But instead, he was the one catching Carol and watching as Rick put a bullet between her eyes. Daryl's girl would have known exactly what to do. But she wasn't there. As much as he wished she was. He was the one who comforted Carol and tried to help. But, equally, he was also the one who threw blame in her face and screamed at her. She didn't deserve that. No way in hell. But, he didn't know what to do. His girl would've.

"There ain't nothing out here but mosquitoes and ants," They'd only left Rick, Glenn and Maggie two hours ago, but Daryl was already starting to question his decision. He forgot how much his brother liked to run his mouth, and his hunger didn't help calm the situation much either.

"Patience, little brother. Sooner or later, a squirrel is bound to scurry across your path," Merle responded, stood over by the tree to have a piss.

"Even so, that ain't much food," Daryl kept his eyes trained on his surroundings. There'd been more than a few walkers sneaking up on them recently, and he was starting to get paranoid that it was the beginning of a herd.

"More than nothing," That asshole really have to choose now to go all quiet? All his damn brother did was talk.

"I'd have better luck going through one of them houses we passed back on the turnoff," Daryl observed, looking over in the direction of the turnoff as Merle zipped himself up and walked over. He had that shit-eating, condescending look on his face. Great.

"Is that what your new friends taught you? Hmm? How to loot for booty? You gotten real quiet since y'all left me on that dead infested rooftop in Atlanta. Them prison pussies soften you up?" Merle teased, looking over at his little brother with an amused look in his eyes. Daryl just snarled slightly, looking back in the direction of the street. "Oh, cmon now, can't be givin' ol' Merle the cold shoulder after all the shit we just went through."

"Man, fuck off," Daryl hissed back, glaring up at his brother. His side was throbbing with what he suspected was a broken rib, or at the very least bruised, after Merle's kicking and punching back in the arena. Merle narrowed his eyes in response, walking over and giving Daryl a light shove.

"What? Ya forget about how I took care of ya? Now ya spent some time with Officer Friendly and you're suddenly too good for ya brother?" He snapped, raising his eyebrows. Daryl huffed and straightened his back.

"Just lay off, Merle. There are walkers crawlin' 'round and ya runnin' ya mouth like a damn fool," he shot back, making a point to keep his voice low. Merle only let out one of his loud raucous laughs, causing Daryl to advance quickly.

"Easy, little brother. Ya lookin' like ya might pop a vein if ya keep gettin' pissed like that," Daryl didn't say anything, just stared back at him, the famous Dixon glare returning. "It's the Dixon's back together again, ain't it a good thang?"

"Not all the Dixons," The younger Dixon grumbled, pulling his crossbow up as a familiar growling filled the air, and a walker stumbled out from behind a tree. A quick pull of the trigger and the damn thing was on the floor, bolt between his eyes. Merle watched him for a second, watched the flash of anger and sadness in his eyes.

"Ya ever find 'er?" He asked quietly, as his brother walked over and pulled the bolt from the fuckers head. Daryl glanced up at him, holding his gaze for a minute before starting to walk again.

"Man, we've been at it for hours. Why don't we find a stream, try to look for some fish?"

"I think you're just trying to lead me back to the road, man. Get me over to that prison," Merle scoffed. Damn it. He knew his brother'd put up a fight but he didn't think he'd pick it up so quickly. Then again, his brother was an idiot, but he wasn't stupid.

"They got shelter. Food. A pot to piss in. Might not be a bad idea," Yeah, and the rest of his family. And his video recorder.

"If ya gonna try and lead me back to that prison, you could at least answer my damn question, baby brother," Merle stated, noticing how Daryl's shoulders tensed slightly. There was silence, apart from the occasional rustling of trees, which made the brothers look around, never letting their guard down despite the conversation.

"Naw. She was up in South Carolina before these bastards starting comin'. Knew I weren't gonna find her here. Doubt she came back," Was his response, but apparently, that was enough for Merle. For now at least.

"C'mon let's go hook some fish," And with that Merle was steaming ahead, leaving Daryl in place. He let out a sigh and spat on the ground before trailing after the elder Dixon.

But of course, they had to save someone else's asses, nearly getting themselves killed in the process. And of course, Merle wanted to rob this poor family. They had a baby for Christ's sake! "The shit you doing, pointing that thing at me?" Merle raged, once they got a good distance from the group they'd just rescued.

"They were scared, man," Daryl reasoned, narrowing his eyes for what felt like the millionth time.

"They were rude is what they were. Rude and they owed us a token of gratitude," God, if his girl were here, she would have knocked his teeth out by now. She loved Merle and cared about him, but they clashed heads more than he and Daryl did. And damn that was a high number.

"They didn't owe us nothing," he shot back, looking back in that direction, even though the red car the group had been in were long gone

"You helpin' people out of the goodness of your heart? Even though you might die doing it? Is that something your Sheriff Rick taught you?" Merle said with a cold laugh, interrupted halfway through with Daryl's comment of "There was a baby!". Merle couldn't help but think that his brother had gone soft. "Oh, otherwise you would have just left them to the biters, then"

"Man, I went back for you. You weren't there. I didn't cut off your hand, neither. You did that. Way before they locked you up on that roof. You asked for it!"

"You know-- you know what's funny to me? You and Sheriff Rick are like this now. Right?" Merle crossed his fingers in front of Daryl's face, only aggravating the hunter further. " I bet you a penny and a fiddle of gold that you never told him that we were planning on robbing that camp blind. I told you that that woman had made you soft. Hell, ya got married just ta make her happy. Dixons don't need no one but each other!"

"Ya leave ma girl out of this, ya hear? Besides, it didn't happen," Daryl growled, voice dangerously low to the point that even Merle knew he truly should drop his sister-in-law out of the discussion.

"Yeah, it didn't 'cause I wasn't there to help you."

"What, like when we were kids, huh? Who left who then?" Daryl hadn't really meant to say it. He hadn't. But once it was out, the air set on fire, and both brothers were seeing red.

"What? Huh? Is that why I lost my hand?"Merle retaliated, pointing and getting right into Daryl's face, knowing how much it got under his skin.

"You lost your hand 'cause you're a simpleminded piece of shit!" Daryl turned his back, moving to pick up his backpack from the floor when Merle lunged forward, gripping the fabric off his shoulders.

"Yeah? You don't know-!" A sharp tug, and a loud rip and Merle's words caught in his throat. Silence filled the air, as the raised and discoloured markings down Daryl's back presented themselves to the world. Some of them were from hunts, or from accidents in the apocalypse, but some, Merle recognised them too damn well from his own time spent with their daddy. Once Daryl had fully clocked what had just happened, he pulled the shirt back up as much as he could and slung his bag over the top. That was it. He'd had enough. " I- I didn't know he was-"

"Yeah, he did. He did the same to you. That's why ya left first," Daryl answered sharply, not turning back to look at him. Merle just shook his head.

"I had to, man. I would have killed him otherwise," Daryl only chuckled humourlessly, and set off in the opposite direction, only turning back when Merle added, "Where you going?"

"Back where I belong," Was Daryl's reply, not even noticing he'd started to spin his ring with his thumb at his side. Old habits.

"I can't go with you. I tried to kill that black bitch. Damn near killed the Chinese kid," Merle tried to reason, but Daryl could only scoff in response. Classic Merle.

"He's Korean," He stated simply.

"Whatever. Doesn't matter, man. I just can't go with you, "Merle pulled a face, and for a split second, Daryl felt guilty. But he was an asshole. If he decided to come, then so be it, but if he decided to stay behind, good riddance.

"You know, I may be the one walking away... but you're the one that's leaving- again."

"What's goin' on that brain baby brother?" Merle asked, leaning in the doorway to the cellblock, slightly alarmed to be sat quietly at the top of the stairway, where his sleeping bag was, spaced out. Normally, he'd be pacing or cleaning that stupid crossbow for the thousandth time. But no, he was dead still. Dead quiet. The others were out and about. Most of them were in the yard, clearing out the walkers that Axel had stupidly let in when he opened the gate. Michonne, Rick and Carl had gone out on a run to their home town for weapons against the governor fucker. And Daryl, Merle and Little Asskicker (who Daryl had found out had been named Judith, but Little Asskicker seemed more appropriate) had been left alone in the cellblock. Rick trusted Daryl enough to keep her safe from Merle.

"Ya really think she made me soft?" Daryl pondered out loud, holding Little Asskicker close to him, as he started rocking her slightly. Merle laughed, waving his metal attachment around dramatically.

"This place's 'bout to go crashin' to the ground, and you're thinkin' about your lady?"Merle wasn't a man of affection, Daryl knew that pretty well, but he also knew when he was deflecting. Merle talked about (Y/N) sure, but only briefly. Since the brothers and his girl got separated in the beginning, they both steered clear of long conversations about her. Daryl just stared Merle down, until he let out a huff, and took a few slow steps into the cellblock. "She made ya soft, ain't gonna lie ta ya. Even you can't deny that, little brother. Never said it was an entirely bad thing."

"She made me better. Never really know what she saw in me, but whatever it was, I'm glad she did," Daryl's lips twitched upwards, as he looked down at Little Asskicker. His girl would love her. She'd love Carl too. Hell, she would love everyone. She would've kept things calm.

"Look, I'm an old redneck asshole, but that girl o' yours is the best damn thing that ever happened to ya. Ya ever find her again, you don't let her go, hear me?" He didn't miss the commanding tone in Merle's voice and part of him wanted to laugh at it. Been a long time since he'd heard that tone. Daryl just nodded. "Ya still got that video recorder witcha?"

Daryl nodded, before jerking his head towards the little pile of stuff besides his sleeping bag. Merle climbed past him, careful not to knock the baby, and picked it up. He sat next to his brother, and for a second it was awkward. They hadn't been this close in years. Not like this. But when Merle opened up the camera and clicked on one of the videos, the awkwardness dissipated.

It took a second for the camera to come into focus, as the blazing Georgia sun reflected off the lens. Once it came into focus, Merle was once again filming the couple. Daryl and (Y/N) were stood in a little lake and both of them were just washing dirt and dried animal blood from their arms and legs, chatting too quietly for the camera to pick up. Merle mumbled something behind the camera about "being too fuckin' absorbed in their own world", when suddenly a laughter-filled scream tore through the peace, as Daryl sent a massive splash in (Y/N)'s direction. She was giggling but giving him a playful glare, the famous Dixon glare. He let out a loud laugh as she tried to push him into the water with little success, until he stepped back and lost his footing, pulling them both under the water. The camera shook as Merle let out a roar of a laugh, stumbling forward towards the water, as the pair came up, both sat on their asses in the shallow water. (Y/N) looked over to Merle, beaming with that smile that made Daryl's heartache, but flipped him the bird when she realised he was filming, shouting "asshole" at him. Daryl just chuckled and pulled her into him, no longer giving a shit about the camera, and kissed her, which they were both smiling into. Merle then said something childish like "horny kids" or something before the video ended, with Daryl and (Y/N)'s foreheads pressed together.

"She's something special ain't she?" Daryl said, through a voice that was thicker than he wished it to be, looking down at Little Asskicker with a sad smile.

"Hell yeah, she was."

Daryl didn't know how much more he could take. The prison had fallen, and they'd taken Beth. He swore he'd protect her. Swore to himself, swore to the memory of Hershel, swore to Maggie. And he still lost her. And when the group of assholes found him sat in the middle of the street, practically walker bait, he was starting to get desperate. He'd do almost anything at this point, he was so lost. His brother was gone now too. He couldn't even rely on that asshole. The one and only thing he'd been able to grab to remember his family was that fucking video recorder. But he'd found Rick, Carl, Michonne. And while he wished he could've found everyone, he was more than happy to have found the kid most of all. Though, he couldn't deny the anguish that filled him when he saw no sign of Little Asskicker and a sombre look on their faces when he asked I think it was safe to say that Rick was going off the deep end again. The man ripped a guys jugular out with his fucking teeth! After everything, Daryl honestly couldn't blame him, but last time Carl nearly lost who he was because of it. That couldn't happen again. Despite it all, they kept walking, and walking and walking, along the train tracks to this place Terminus. 'Sanctuary for all'. Somehow he found that hard to believe. But maybe he would be surprised. Maybe it would be a sanctuary. Maybe they could take a break for once. Yeah. As far as Daryl was concerned, it wasn't damn likely.

TAGS: OPEN

Tags (for this series):

Tags(Daryl Dixon):

90 notes · View notes

mybrothershands · 3 years

Text

MBH/Dumpling Crossover

featuring @diddlesanddoodles lovely characters and edited by @thundering-sussurus

"No," Cairo said blatantly before Ka had a chance.

Farris eyed Cairo with a deadpan expression.

“Luckily, we ain’t so desperate a condition as to be needin’ yer services,” Farris replied, but there was a single vein along his temple that pulsed in repressed irritation. His eyes moved back up to Ka and he asked, “Ye always let that one talk fer ye?”

The man clamped his hand over Cairo's mouth. A lump had formed in Ka's throat, and he swallowed. "Ah... I, that is." He took a deep breath and steadied himself. Something about the man made him anxious, and he could not help but shuffle in place a bit. "No, I thank you very much for... for letting me work."

He glanced over at the men working the enormous pumpkins. It was so odd to see so many halfling giants in one place. They were a far cry from being human, and yet their weathered hands seemed small and delicate as they worked. Somehow they had cultivated larger foodstuffs, and Ka found himself a bit jealous. They did not look as lumbering or stupid as he must. There were so few foods that were to-scale for his kind, and yet these people seemed to have every luxury and more, even if some of the animals were a bit... unorthodox.

He quickly looked away, realizing he must have been staring. Ka's eyes moved to Nenani, still sitting comfortably in Farris's arm. It was then he realized this must be the man who watched her while she was sick. The giant cocked his head ever so slightly. Maybe there was more to this man.

Ka picked his head up, meeting the little giant's eyes for the first time. They were a piercing pale green, and he felt as if they might bore right through him. He cleared his throat, trying not to look away. "Is there anything I can do in the meantime? Anything at all. Decorations hung, moving tables..." he cringed before offering the next suggestion, thinking of what he might be asked to do to those poor birds, "...unloading the wagon?"

Farris did not miss the heavy reluctance in his voice.

“I know a tenderfoot when I see one. So stop lookin’ like a panicked scullery maid,” Farris admonished.

Scullery maid? Still, Ka nodded at the instructions, more than happy to listen in silence. "Yessir, thank you," he said when Farris was done, then eyed Avery. He was not sure how he felt about being called a beanpole, but, in any case, he seemed to have gotten over his shock well enough. Past that, he did not seem as hard as Farris. None of them did.

Cairo, however, was getting testy at constantly having his mouth shut by giant fingers. "You're gonna suffocate me," the human grumbled when he was finally free. His companion ignored him and listened for instructions.

“Avery and Bart will handle the birds. Yer with Saen on pumpkin duty. They need broken down, cut up, and fried so my bakers can get them into the pies and into the ovens for luncheon service.” He turned around to call out towards the black-haired cook sitting among the piles of pumpkins. “Avery. Come and start in on these birds. I want the first batches roastin’ within the hour.”

Avery stood, looking utterly relieved to be taken off pumpkin duty, and marched towards them. His step faltered, however, as he got his first real look at Ka. But he squared his shoulders and continued towards the cart, trying to play off his momentary hesitation.

“Fuckin’ hell,” he said, glancing him up and down as he fished two of the birds from the back of the cart. He held one under each of his burly arms. “Who’s the bean pole?”

“Ka’s helpin’ out today,” Farris replied dismissively. “Now shut yer gob and get to it. The spice mixture is in the green jar on the counter. Should be enough fer all of ‘em, so don’t be too heavy handed.” He turned towards Ka and jerked his head in a clear indication for him to follow. “We move fast down here, understand? Ye have a question? Ask it. And I ain’t no babysitter either. Only child down here is the lil’un.”

Farris led him over to the fire pit. A table had been placed nearby, and on it sat a few knives, a long handled wooden spoon, and two large crocks: one of butter and the other of honey. Farris eyed the knives and then said, “I’ll get a more size appropriate knife fer ye. In the meantime, sit down and Yale will be back with yer breakfast.”

"Thank you," Ka said as he approached the pit. He nodded politely to the one called Saen and noticed how the little giant's hair stuck up in the front. At first glance, he looked a bit puckish, though that was yet to be determined. Ka found and palmed the pumpkin Avery had left behind. There was a patch of the orange skin the skin already shaved off, he noted. Taking a moment to study it, Ka sat down near the table and took one of the small knives, despite Farris's offer.

After a few attempts to work with the little knife that felt like a kid's toy in his hand, he seemed to remember something. "Oh, I actually have... my own." He pulled on the strap of his satchel, then flipped the top open, producing a six-foot blade that was definitely not a kitchen knife. It was blunted and had several nicks in it, however, apparently unloved. He reached out, arm easily closing the distance, and held it into the flames for a moment to burn off any filth.

"I am Ka, by the way," he said, eyeing the man who looked about his age. "He told me your name, but... I'm afraid I've already forgotten."

Putting down his own knife, Saen extended a welcoming hand to Ka.

“I’m Saen,” replied the cook with a wide friendly smile. Ka at first reached out with his left hand to shake, but then realized his error and switched the pumpkin to his other hand and shook with his right. It did not feel too small, as he thought it might have. It was more like shaking a boy's hand, though calloused and firm.

"Saen," he repeated.

“And don’t mind Avery none," Sean continued. "He’s got all the tact of a mule and as much sense as a rusted penny.”

“I heard that!” Avery called as he came back up the steps from having delivered the first two birds to Bart.

“Maybe ye were meant to!” Saen retorted with a cheeky grin. Avery threw up a rude gesture as he went to the cart to collect two more birds. Saen just laughed and said, “Ye should be grateful this one came to rescue from prep work. Yer right shit at peeling.”

Yale appeared then at the top of the steps with the two meat pies, bundled up in a clean tea towel. He stopped to talk to Farris for a moment before continuing on towards Ka and Saen.

Nenani pulled at the kitchen master’s shirt to ask a question. “Fine. Just keep outta the way now and don’t be a pest, eh?” Farris warned before crouching down and releasing Nenani onto the ground.

“I won’t,” she promised and scampered along after Yale. Farris eyed the courtyard and the workers within before turning and taking the steps down into the kitchen.

Careful not to touch the still-hot blade, Ka made quick work of the gourd, peeling the skin away in long, thin ribbons. Both Yale and Saen watched with no small amount of awe at how Ka made such fast work of the gourd. With a wide grin, Saen turned to Yale. “Can we keep him?”

The pumpkin fit like a large potato in his hand, so the task really was not that difficult for him. Still, he bit back a smile and pretended to be too focused on his work to notice. Then two sets of feet approached, one big and one small, and he picked up his head. "Hello again," he greeted Yale. Finding Nenani on the ground, he thought it might be safe to release Cairo and set the pumpkin on the table. He double-tapped his chest as a warning before fishing the man out of his pocket.

Cairo grumbled a bit, but stretched as soon as his feet were on the grass. "Stiff as a board," he groaned, then reached his hand in his britches and scratched his rear.

Meanwhile, Nenani walked up to Cairo but stopped a few feet short. She bounced on her heels, a little bashful and said, “Hello.”

The man frowned, eyeing her with a squint. He looked the girl up and down, then squinted further. He turned his head and spit on the ground. "Can I help you?" he growled.

There weren’t many humans in the castle, and Nenani had wanted to ask the man questions about his life with Ka. But any questions she had died on her tongue as she stared down at the floor where Cairo had spit. She made a face and, looking back up, met his gaze with a disapproving frown. “That’s gross.”

He raised a brow. "So it is," Cairo said, a bit bored. He jerked his thumb back towards the kitchen where Farris had disappeared. "That one there, little man, he take care of you?"

She nodded. “Yeah. Everyone in the kitchen kind of does, but Farris is my actual guardian. See?” She reached into the top of her dress to pull out her marker. It was nothing but a simple leather strap with a struck metal medallion, and she held it up to him, showing off the side with Farris’s seal.

Cairo furrowed his brow and gave a simple grunt. "Collared you, then," he said. Still, it was rare he met one who did not fear the giants. Even Ka she had been kind to. Crossing his arms, he studied the piece, but did not move to touch. "Why?"

“It’s not a collar,” Nenani insisted with a mild glare. “It’s supposed to let everyone know I’m allowed to be here and to leave me alone. Because if you don’t have a marker, you might be trespassing. And not everyone here likes humans and might try to hurt you.”

The man regarded her for a moment. That did not bode well for him; then again, he had not planned to leave Ka's side, either. He thought for a moment longer, then spoke slowly. "We don't have anything like that," Cairo began, "but Ka does have a pocket that lets the regular folk know he's safe."

He had detested the idea of the marker at first, but on second thought, it might be quite nice to silently say that one was protected by a giant. A bit of a trophy in his mind. He then looked back and realized something else. "With protection comes..." He paused, trying to think of the correct word, and then realized what a stupid thought he had had. "I don't think it would be proper for me to wear one. It's my job to keep him safe, not the other way around."

She regarded him with confusion at first, looking back towards Ka and all his towering height and substantial bulk and then back at the much smaller Cairo. She smiled knowingly. “That’s what Jae says about Barnaby and Maevis. That Barnaby is more Maevis’s guardian than he is his.” She tucked her marker back inside her dress. “But don’t be worried about not having a marker of your own. Farris’s permission is good enough. No one will bother you while you’re here in the kitchens. I’ve only had one giant try and hurt me since I came here. I threw a pepperseed in his eye.”

Cairo raised his brow. "Good girl," he lauded. "And what did little man do when he found out?"

“Bart told Keral first,” she replied.

“What’s this about Keral?” Yale asked, having heard only the tail end of their conversation. He had moved to the fire pit and the large flat pan that had been placed atop a thin metal rack of sorts to hold it above the fire.

“I was telling him about Thrist trying to eat me that one time,” Nenani answered matter of factly.

Yale growled darkly at that. “Yeah, that swine-faced fucker ain’t gonna be tryin’ that again. He’s lucky Farris wasn’t around or he’d have had his arse fer curtains, and Keral would be down a scout.”

Cairo made an awkward snort before wiping his nose on his shirt. Eat her? What kind of hellish nightmare was this place?

"Do I put the pieces in there?" Ka asked, indicating the pan. He had finished skinning the pumpkin and rolled up his sleeves before uncorking the gourd. In truth, he had heard the conversation as well, but he was already squeamish at the idea and did not think he wanted to hear the rest of the tale.

"Down a scout?" Cairo asked, oblivious to Ka's discomfort. "You mean he ain't dead?"

“Aye, but first slice ‘em thin-like. They’ll cook faster that way,” Saen told Ka. He looked to Yale. “Lil’ man has a point though. Never did figure out how Keral managed to keep Thrist’s neck out of a noose.”

Yale shrugged, lips pinched into a frown. “I suppose bein’ the king’s favorite has it’s perks. So long he keeps him far away from the lass, I’m content with whatever hell trek Keral sent him on.”

Saen turned to Cairo. “Ye see, Thrist is a blue coat ranger. Ye might ‘a spotted one or two of ‘em here and abouts, but mostly they’re out in the provinces and the wilds, keepin’ an eye on things and reportin’ back to Keral who then reports to the King. He’s the captain of the Blue Rangers. Back when the Blood King was still alive, they were a bunch of murdering thugs. But since Keral took over, he’s been tryin’ to bring the order back to its original purpose.”

“He’s also Farris’s brother,” Nenani added.

"Brother," Ka muttered under his breath. There was a wafer-thin sneer on his face that faded as he shook his head. He hollowed out the pumpkin with a finger, holding the orange guts in his palm for a moment before holding them out. "You keep the seeds?" he spoke up in a kinder tone.

"And Farris would have wrent him limb from limb," Cairo said slowly, watching Yale's face as he said it.

“I’m sure he has his reasons, but I can’t say I wouldn’t have paid good coin to see that,” Yale replied. He sighed in resignation. “But Keral isn’t a bad sort, even if his men are pieces of walking rubbish. Probably the most cheerful man in the whole castle. Until ye make him mad and then he looks a lot more like Farris.”

“And his whiskey is top shelf. Got a bottle of it fer my nameday a few years back. But careful," Saen added. He gave Cairo a wink. "It’s got one hell of a kick.”

Ka adjusted his seat, still unsure what to do with the pumpkin guts in his hand. Finding no better place to put them, he tossed the glob into the fire and went to slicing up the pumpkin on the table.

Meanwhile, Cairo put a hand to his heart. "What! You take me for a drunkard? No, no, no no no," he waved both hands before himself. "Lost my uncle to the devil juice," he declared.

“Apologies,” Saen replied, shamefaced, and he raised his hands to placate the human. “Meant no offense. Sorry fer yer loss there, lad.”

Ka promptly knocked the man over with a knuckle. "Dirty liar."

"Hey!" he spat, brushing the dirt from his person as he got up.

The giant turned to meet Sean's eyes. "He likes mead. Had to carry him home half the time-- hey! Don't kick me! Old fart."

"You didn't let me finish," the human growled, glaring up at him. "I had him right where I wanted, too."

"Saen is nice, you shouldn't do that to him," Ka said plainly. This earned him another kick in the shin.

Saen recovered from his surprise quickly, looking to Yale with a haughty grin. “Ye hear that, Yale? I’m nice.”

Yale had grabbed up some of the sliced pumpkins and tossed them onto the pan with a knob of butter, and they began to sizzle. He waved the wooden spoon at his fellow and retorted, “Only ‘cause he’s never seen ye lose at the pebble toss. Or yer tantrum afterwards.”

“Ah, I don’t lose that often,” Saen replied, suddenly defensive.

“Well, the three shillings I won off ye last month say otherwise,” Yale replied as he turned his attention back to the frying pumpkin. He abruptly turned back to Saen as a memory suddenly resurfaced. “And then there was the time ye bit Kol.

“Oi. He stole my sausage,” Saen replied with a frown. “Fair punishment fer the crime.”

“Well, I think you’re nice,” Nenani said and Saen turned to smile at her.

“Why thank you,” he said.

“Even if you bite people,” she added with a grin.

Saen’s smile drooped and he held his arms out in exasperation. “It was one time, and I was drunk off my arse!”

Had Ka been wrong? Maybe his first impression had been right. They were not being rude, at least not to him, but it reminded him how little he knew. He was just an outsider, after all, so decided to keep his mouth shut for a little while. Since Yale had deemed his sliced pumpkin worthy of the frying pan, he regarded the small pile of gourds and wondered just how many pies they planned on making. He shrugged, taking another pumpkin and tossed end over end a up a couple times before setting to peeling again.

Cairo, however, had no such convictions. "You," he said, hammering a finger at Saen, "I like you." He crossed the lawn towards him, much to Ka's dismay. "So what's this about the king's whiskey," he paused, recollecting, "and what the ripe devil is a nameday, for that matter?"

Saen began slicing up more pumpkins but paused at Cairo’s question, regarding the human with a look of horror.

“Ye mean ye don’t have namedays where yer from?” Saen asked. “To celebrate ye bein’ a year older?”

The human squinted up at him. "It's a birth-day, you fool. Because it was the day you were...?" He shrugged. "Unless you hatched from an egg. I suppose you do look a bit like a lizard, then."

Saen slid his knife through the flesh of the pumpkin and paused, staring off into space as he realized the silly mistake he had made. “Oh. Birthdays...huh. Yeah, those.”

Off to the side, Nenani laughed. Saen sent a brief glare her way, but it left soon as it came and he moved on. “As fer the whiskey, it’s ain’t the king’s. Keral’s a bit famous fer his whiskey round here. He doles it out to those he deems worthy of it every once in a while. Farris may still have a bottle. Ask ‘im nice like and he may give ye a nip.”

“Best wait till end of day though,” Yale advised in good humor. “We ain’t bluffin’ about it havin’ a right kick. And we don’t need ya wanderin’ ‘round only fer ye to lose yer footin’ and fall arse end into the fire.”

Saen snickered. “Yeah, just ask Jae."

"Mmh," Cairo grumbled, waving his hand. "Never been one to ask nicely myself." He knocked twice on Saen's shin.

At the motion, Ka watched the man with round eyes and slowly shook his head back and forth. Still, Cairo did not seem to care, and repeated the motion.

Saen looked down curiously and titled his head. “May I be of assistance?”

By now, Ka was visibly shaking his head, openly nervous. The human either did not notice or simply ignored him. "Up, I said," Cairo laughed. He eyed the orange stains on his hand. "Wipe your grubby hands off first, mind you. I don't want to smell like rotten fruit in an hour."

“Oh. Alright then,” said the cook, pleasantly surprised. He sat his knife down and roughly wiped his hands onto his apron before bending down. There was a moment’s hesitation as Saen tried to think of the best way of picking the man up. Unlike Nenani, Cairo was an adult and therefore taller and with considerably more heft to him. In the end, he used the same technique he employed with the little girl, which was to shove his hands under the human’s arms and lift him up. Perhaps it was simply that he was more accustomed to the weight of a small human child, but Saen was a little taken aback by just how much heavier Cairo was. Though really he shouldn’t have been. He did his best to not let it show on his face as he lifted the man onto a clean spot on the table.

Cairo winced a bit as the giant pinched the old wound in his ribs. Once set down, he let out a puff of air and brushed himself off. "Boy you got little girly hands, don't you?"

"Cairo..." Ka warned, though this time did not bother to look up. His stomach rumbled again, and it was then he remembered the pies Yale had brought. He hurried to finish skinning the pumpkin.

Saen tucked his hands under his armpits and pouted. “...don’t have girly hands...”

From the fire pit, Yale started to laugh.

The human took a bow. "My apologies, Princess. Would you like me to kiss your ring?"

With a sudden devilish smirk, Saen grabbed a piece of sliced pumpkin and pushed his ring finger through it and then shoved it in Cairo’s face. “Go on then.”

Yale turned to Ka. “Sorry about that one. I’d say he’s normally not like this...but I’d be lying.”

The big man shrugged. "Don't apologise to me yet. Mine may do worse," he said as he chopped up the pumpkin on the table. Just as he said it, Cairo pricked up as though offended.

"What!" he growled, scrunching up his face at the slimy vegetable.

The human's mood seemed to change then, and he put on a mask of haughtiness. "Your grace, I was only jesting! I wouldn't dare touch thine ring. Tis too great an honor for a lowlife such as myself... but if you insist--" He then took not the ring finger, but Saen's middle finger, and bowed before it. Cairo then proceeded to stick his tongue out and lick the knuckle.

“Oi now!” Saen snapped loudly, pulling back his hand in disgust, but the force of the movement caused his pumpkin ring to fly off of his hand and up into the air. And when it came back down again, it landed on top of Ka’s head.

The little man roared with laughter, while his giant friend was left with a sticky bit of pumpkin in his hair. Ka sat there a moment, eyes distant and unmoving. At last he drew a deep breath, let it out slow, and deadpanned, "Your highness, I think you have lost your ring."

Nenani covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a giggle, looking back and forth between them. Saen drew a breath to make a retort when a bellow sounded from the archway.

“I’M HEARIN’ A LOT ‘A TALKIN’ AND NOT A LOT ‘A WORKIN!”

Both Saen and Yale, more than accustomed to Farris’s hollering, turned their focus to their work. Nenani, still growing use to the sheer volume her guardian voice could achieve, was startled badly and jumped.

Ka gasped and hunched his shoulders at the sound. "Sorry!" he squeaked, though he knew the man could not hear him. He took the pumpkin from his head and pitched it into the fire. It had been a fairly solid piece, but his hair was still sticky in places from the stuff. Cairo, he noticed, had not budged other than to turn in the direction of the voice and square his shoulders as if to fight.

The giant then caught sight of Nenani still pulling herself together. "Are you okay, little one?" Ka murmured.

She blinked up at him and then nodded with a small sheepish smile. “Yeah. I’m still getting used to how loud Farris gets sometimes.”

“Bit of a wonder we ain’t all deaf,” Yale murmured to Ka with a suppressed grin.

“Do you ever yell like that?” Nenani asked Ka. The question came more from a curiosity about Ka’s height. Farris was one of the taller giants she had met and Ka towered over him. If Ka were to get as angry, she wondered if he was that loud.

Ka glanced from Nenani to Yale and then back again. He shook his head as he reached for one of the pies. He hesitated, remembering Farris's call, and chose to grab another pumpkin instead. "I haven't raised my voice since I was a boy," he admitted. "People get nervous when I use my normal voice, so I try to be quiet."

"Y'ain't that bad," Cairo growled.

Yale gave Ka a strange look. “Nervous? Why would they be nervous? I agree with yer brother. That’s plain stupid. What’s other people’s business if yer voice is a tad loud?” Yale gave Ka an appraising look. “Fer as tall as ye are, ye don’t seem to care fer the attention.”

“I always thought it would be really inconvenient to be really tall,” Nenani mused. She had found a small rock on the ground and had picked it up and was idly passing it between her hands.

Saen laughed and replied, “We could say the same fer ya small folk being so short. Ye get winded just climbin’ the damn stairs.”

Ka shrugged at Yale's question, but found the words strengthened him a bit. Even if the man was a giant in his own respect, it felt good to hear some encouragement on the subject. "You are... much more confident than I," he decided.

The giant shook his head as he peeled. His voice got quiet and apprehensive. "I've scared people before. Humans, mostly. I don't like it." He forced a laugh. "Maybe I worry too much."

Cairo picked his teeth. Upon finding something, he pulled it out on his fingernail, then stuck it back in his mouth. "Sure do," he grumbled. He turned to Sean and curled his lip. "I don't have to climb your stairs, midgey boy."

Saen grinned and poked the human’s middle. “Maybe ye should start,” he quipped.

Near the pit, Yale was considering Ka with a little more of a critical eye. He took the sight of him in and his words and pieced more of the puzzle together. He understood easily the apprehension that came with interacting with humans, though he and the rest of the staff and Farris all made jokes and snarky remarks about popping them into stews and pies. It was all a balm against the festering wounds left behind by the war. It was easy to joke to and make light of it all. It was their morbid way to reconcile with the very real evils they had done. That Farris had done for them. To save them. But Yale held himself just as responsible as Farris. No matter what the kitchen master told him. He too remembered those faces...

He looked to Nenani then, who was watching them with an open curiosity. Innocent. She knew only bits and pieces, and even then, he wasn’t sure she knew anything of the whole truth. If she did, she never let on.

He took the slices of cooked pumpkin and dropped them into a shallow earthenware dish. Staring at the other slices still sizzling along the hot metal pan, he spoke to Ka.

“Didn’t use to be. Confident I mean,” Yale admitted to him. “When I was younger. Durin’ the war and all. Scared a lot of humans in my life. And I'm talkin' real terror. Wasn’t my choice to do it, but I did.”

Ka was silent for a moment, trying to think over Cairo's angry exchange with Saen. The humans here had been foolish enough to wage war with the giants? Behind that, what had they done to deserve their wrath? He shook his head and decided to ignore it. "I... haven't had to kill anyone, fortunately. There was that one, erm, accident with a dragon rider, but..." Ka shrugged as he rolled the pumpkin over in his palm, unsure how to finish his sentence.

He then glanced over to where Nenani stood and recalled how protective Yale had been of her. If so much had happened to him, how had he recovered so well? He himself had been a mess the time he had hurt Cairo. Then again... "I suppose there are bad humans just as there are bad giants," he finished.

Yale nodded with grim understanding at Ka’s words. There was no need for him to say anything else as his meaning was plain as well as his regret. It only served to confirm in Yale’s mind the kind of man he was and it brought forth a feeling of smug contentment. He wasn’t always as good a judge of character as Farris, but he wasn’t bad either. He felt pride in knowing his initial assessment of Ka had been right.

#crossover with doobdles

21 notes · View notes

profangirllu · 4 years

Text

How Do You Sleep?

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: You know Peter is lying to you about something, and when he refuses to tell you, you assume the worst. Based loosely off the song “How Do You Sleep?” by Sam Smith.

Warnings: angst

A/N: this was written in the span of half an hour so please forgive me for any errors I didn’t proofread. There will be a part two to this!!

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

I'm done hatin' myself for feelin'

I'm done cryin' myself awake

I've gotta leave and start the healin'

But when you move like that, I just want to stay…

Another tear rolled down your cheek as you stared down at your phone.

Eleven messages. That’s how many you had sent to Peter just within the last few minutes. That didn’t even scratch the surface of the numerous panicked texts and worried phonecalls you had been sending him over the past few weeks. You didn’t know why you even tried, because you always got the same response.

“Read.”

You threw your phone onto the clothes piled up in the corner of your room, collapsing onto your bed with a soft thud. Fresh tears leaked from your eyes as your mind began racing with all of the possibilities as to why he could be ignoring you. None of them were good.

What if he’s seeing someone else?

What if I’m too clingy?

What if he’s waiting to break up with me?

What if I’m not enough?

The pain in your chest grew with every thought that pushed its way forward through your mind, negativity wrapping your mind in a thick dark smoke. And you absolutely hated it.

You hated feeling this vulnerable and hurt. You hated being ignored by the boy who had seemed to love you so much a few weeks ago. You hated feeling anything for him at all.

When you felt a salty tear hit your lips, a gear switched in your mind.

No, you thought. I shouldn’t feel like this. I shouldn’t allow him to make me feel this way.

You crawled off your bed and shuffled to your closet, pulling out a storage box full of old stuffed animals and dumping them on the floor before searching through your hangers. Your eyes landed on one of Peter’s hoodies and you practically ripped it off the hanger and shoved it into the box, repeating the action with anything and everything that reminded you of him. T-shirts and pictures, chemistry notes from the year before and toys he had won for you at Coney Island. Everything went into the box.

He wouldn’t make you feel like this anymore. You wouldn’t let him.

————

What have I become?

Lookin' through your phone now, oh, now

Love to you is just a game

Look what I've done

Dialing up the numbers on you

I don't want my heart to break

Lunch seemed pretty normal until Peter got there. You, Ned, and MJ had been talking about how much of a jerk your English teacher was for assigning another paper on top of the project that was due. Ned made some joke about him before you all laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Peter asked, smiling. He sat down next to MJ, but not in the spot in front of you. No, instead he sat on her other side so he could be in front of Ned. You’d be lying if you said it didn’t sting, especially since you two were still dating, but you shrugged it off as best you could. MJ gave you a look and you returned one that made it clear you didn’t know what was up with him.

A noticeable tension had settled on the group when Peter’s eyes widened.

“Crap, I forgot I had to take the Physics test I missed on Monday.” He rushed to put his things in his bag. “I'll see you guys later,” was all he got out before he hurried away, unaware that he had left his phone next to his lunch tray.

You stared at it. All of the answers to the burning questions you had were probably hidden in there somewhere. You shook your head. Going through his phone would be a complete violation of the trust that you had built your relationship on.

But then again, what trust was left?

“Hey Ned,” you said softly. He looked at you, eyes innocent and happy. You swallowed. “Could you, um… could you go through Peter’s messages for me? He hasn’t been answering mine and I just wanna make sure they’re going through.”

Ned’s happy demeanor changed instantaneously. He stiffened, wringing his hands out and shaking his head lightly. “I-I don’t think that’s a good idea, (Y/N). I mean, Peter and I… we’re-we’re best friends and I don’t feel comf-”

Before he could finish, MJ groaned and grabbed Peter’s phone, unlocking it and going to the texts.

“You’re texts are here, so they’re definitely going through,” she said. Her face scrunched in confusion. “Hey, you might want to take a look at this.”

She slid you the phone. On the screen were messages between Peter and an unknown number, the latest one from last night.

Unknown: Can you be there in 10?

Me: I can be there in 5 if you need me to be.

Unknown: Perfect.

Your heart sunk and MJ took the phone back, shutting it off before anything else could happen. “I’m sorry…”

Ned had seen it too, and the sweat on his brow had grown more noticeable. “Hey, it’s probably not what you think. He-he probably just had to go somewhere for something with someone none of us know and-”

You squeezed your eyes shut and stood from the table, Ned’s ramblings only making everything worse. You sucked in a breath before heading for the door. The messages weren’t much evidence to go on, but your feelings were enough to confirm that you needed to protect yourself.

And you would have to do something really hard in order to do so.

------

Baby, how do you sleep when you lie to me?

All that shame and all that danger

I'm hopin' that my love will keep you up tonight

Baby, how do you sleep when you lie to me?

All that fear and all that pressure

I'm hopin' that my love will keep you up tonight

The hallway was still empty when Peter sauntered out of the Physics lab, a content look on his face, completely opposite to the face you wore. Peter saw you and made his way over, opening his arms for a hug, the standard greeting you two had. You put your hand up and stopped him, a coldness taking over you.

Peters brows furrowed, dark eyes concerned as he looked at you. You gathered enough courage to look him in the eyes.

“When were you going to tell me?” you asked, your voice quiet.

Peter became even more confused, though a small fear blossomed in his chest that you knew his secret and were angry at him for not telling you. “Tell you what?”

You scoffed. “Oh come on, don’t act dumb.”

“I’m not acting right now. What are you talking about?” His voice was full of puzzlement.

You crossed your arms over your chest. “You’re really going to make me say it?” Your heart broke even more when he nodded. “Fine. When were you going to tell me you’re cheating on me?” The newfound volume in your voice wasn’t the only thing that took Peter by surprise.

“(Y/N) what are you talking about? I would never-”

“Are you serious right now?” Anger flared in your body. “Maybe I’m mistaken, but you haven’t talked to me in weeks and then I see that some unknown number is asking you to be somewhere?”

“Wait, did you go through my phone?” he asked, suddenly defensive. A small amount of anger started in his chest too at the thought of you breaking his chest, but it dissipated when he looked at you again.

“What choice did I have, Peter?” Your voice was still elevated, but it was beginning to crack. “You’ve barely talked to me in weeks, you haven’t answered my texts or calls at all and all I get that a sign you’re alive is a read receipt. Hell, how do you sleep knowing that you haven’t answered the girl you love when all I do is worry because of how much I love you?” Tears were falling down your face again as you continued to express your feelings and Peter tried to reach out and wipe them away. He winced when you smacked his hand away.

“(Y/N), please just let me explain-”

“No, Peter,” you said firmly. “I’m done letting you make me feel this way. I’m done feeling insecure in a relationship that used to make me feel safe. I’m done with us.”

With those final words, you turned and walked away, leaving Peter to pick up the pieces as his world came crashing down.

What did he do?

432 notes · View notes

inkribbon796 · 3 years

Text

The Marvelous Misadventures of One: S. Marvin Argentum Ch. 3: In the Pit

Summary: Marvin realizes he’s in a bit too deep as the time continues to tick on.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4

Techno seemed to notice Thompson was in the club and instantly raced from the club and up the stairs, almost shouldering past people to get to the Sheriff.

“Sherman! Sherman!”

“Tech,” the huge burly man grumbled, crossing his arms in front of him. “I thought I saw yeh[1] slipping inta[2] town. What brings yah[1] over here?”

“I found a legate and it was awful!” Techno lamented, basically ignoring him, the two of them basically the same towering height.

Sherman rolled his eyes, “Let me guess, the fight lasted five seconds?”

“There wasn’t even a fight,” Techno complained. “I mean, bruhhh, he barely could defend himself. A dead leaf would have been a more satisfying fight.”

“So he’s dead?” Thompson asked.

“No, it would have been like killing a newborn puppy,” Techno huffed. “Come on, get in the pit so I can have a good fight.”

“Nah, I’m good,” Thompson scoffed and pushed Ghostbur towards the front. “Just bringin’ yer brother to yeh.”[3]

Techno looked annoyed, “Ghostbur, what are you doing here?”

“I’m helping my friends,” Ghostbur smiled.

“I’ve seen what your “help” does,” Techno rolled his eyes. “You here for Phil then?”

Ghostbur looked nervous, “I . . . uh . . . I would like to see him but I don’t know.”

“Did you bring some of the heroes with you?” Techno was looking at Marvin.

“Yah[1] know, we’ll go, we just caught yeh[1] at a bad moment,” Marvin tried to intervene.

“What are you three even doin’[4] here?” Techno leaned against the balcony railing, another fight starting up in absence of Techno.

“We were gonna[5] pick a fight with the Legionnaires’ Guildmaster, but Ghostbur here took us ta[6] see the Sheriff o’er[7] here. So we’ll just go.” Marvin jabbed his thumb at the exit.

“Taking ‘em[8] on, huh? ‘Bout[9] time someone did.” Techno hummed. Then he looked at Ghostbur and nudged him towards the other side of the balcony where the VIP area was. “Hey Ghostbur, why don’t you go say hi to Phil. He’s probably seen you already, so just head on over.”

“Wait a second,” Marvin moved to follow Ghostbur who was already moving to the VIP area.

Techno summoned and axe and moved in-between Ghostbur and Marvin.

“Look, you two make one wrong move against Phil and I’ll take your heads off,” Techno threatened.

“Not lookin’ fer a fight, I want ta get out ‘a here with Ghostbur an’ take care ‘a the hunters up north,”[10] Marvin told him firmly.

Techno braced his axe on his shoulder, “Just watch yourself.”

Ghostbur rushed over to the door and Marvin followed him, Techno opened the door for them.

“Phil!” Techno called out over the loud music. “We got company.”

Philza reached for the remote and turned the music down to a low whisper.

“Techno!” the little girl called out.

“Hey sis,” Techno smiled, walking over to her and kneeling down so the two of them could bump foreheads. “Enjoy the show?”

“You murdered them dead!” She screamed. “Blood for the Blood God!”

“That’s right, good job kid,” Techno smiled.

“Hey Ghostbur,” Philza greeted tensely. “Where’s Tommy?”

“Oh, he’s still in Brighton,” Ghostbur smiled. “He and Tubbo are having so much fun.”

“Right,” Phil kicked his feet up and stood. “Good fer[11] them.”

“You might wanna[12] know, Quackity’s here,” Techno told Philza, “I saw him when I was in the pit.”

“Okay,” Phil remarked as if he really didn’t care either way.

“I think I saw Fundy and that one slime guy with him,” Techno added.

Phil’s good wing puffed up, “Shit! Shit!”

Ghostbur gasped, clearly ecstatic, “What? Fundy? He’s here?”

Phil raced across the room and hit the intercom button, “Fundy! You furball, get yer[13] ass up here this instant! I wanna[12] know where you are!”

“Oh, Marv, have you met Fundy?” Ghostbur was floating a bit off the ground. “You have to meet him. He’s my son.”

“I think I have,” Marvin answered, more than a little surprised by that information.

Techno loudly cleared his throat. “So while we’re waiting for Fundy and probably Quackity to show up, you mind tell me what brings you to Arizona? Last I checked, Egoton was in Chicago, or something like that.”

“We were gonna[5] deal with the Legionnaires, but Ghostbur said he knew someone so we took a detour,” Marvin explained. “Really we should’a[14] stopped at the station, but we’ll go.”

“You needed allies, you two are alone,” Phil said in a way that made Marvin feel like the avian was staring through his very soul. “Why go fer[11] ‘em[15] now? The hunters have been bigger problems before?”

Marvin weighed his options. “Cause they’re workin’ with the CIA an’ Dark’s nemesis. An’ they’re gonna crash a weddin’.”[16]

Techno started bouncing on the balls of his feet, looking like a small child that had been gifted a full sized robot suit for Christmas.

Phil, however, let out an indignant, insulted huff, “Oi![17] Did that fooker[18] replace me an’[19] Tech with some other bastard? How dare he‽”

“Man, is there anyone Dark hasn’t pissed off?” Marvin chuckled.

“Seems ta[6] be a much shorter list ‘a[20] who he hasn’t,” Phil smiled. “Phantom taught him really well in that regard.”

“Huh,” Marvin commented. He realized that for being two demons of roughly the same age, supposedly, and being the same type of demon that Philza and Dark were kinda opposites. “So yeh[1] on the same hatin’[21] human trend as he is, never met a demon that was particularly nice.”

“Nah,” Phil smiled. “I love humans, they make the best things like anime, an’[19] memes, an’[19] the word: “fuck”. So I love humans.”

“How old are you?” Taylor asked.

The avian demon shrugged, “I don’t count keep anymore. 350? Almost 400? I don’t know.”

At that moment the door opened and Marvin stepped out of the line of fire as Fundy walked in, Quackity and Slime right behind him.

Quackity stiffened nervously when he locked eyes with Techno,

“Fundy,” Ghostbur smiled as he started to advance. “My little champion. How are you?”

Fundy hissed, all the hair on his head and ears standing on edge. “You touch me, and I bite you.”

“Hey, chill out fer[11] five seconds will yeh[1]?” Marvin snapped back. “He hasn’t done anythin’ ta yeh.”[22]

“Oh, he’s done more than enough,” Fundy snapped.

Techno spoke up, “Where’s Tubbo? This gonna[5] be a butcher’s army 2.0?”

“No, I just came here ta[6] catch up with some contacts, didn’t even know you two were in town,” Quackity denied, taking a step back as he glanced at Techno.

“Sides we’d need Ranboo for that,” Fundy muttered a bit too loud.

“Oi![17] You watch yerself,[23] Ranboo can do no wrong!” Phil shouted at his grandson.

“Are you kidding me?” Fundy shouted back, devolving into a series of frustrated, incoherent grumbling noises.

“Looks like a pretty important meeting up here?” Quackity smiled, looking around. “You all having fun?”

“Bruhh, these two wanna[12] take on the Legionnaires and the government,” Techno declared. “And I’m helping.”

“Wait what?” Marvin demanded before his brain could tell him that looking a gift horse in the mouth was a bad idea. “Since when have yeh[1] been in on this?”

“Since you told me that you were taking on the CIA,” Technoblade grinned. “That type of stuff is literally all I do.”

The hunter spoke up, they’d been mostly quiet up until now, mostly watching the situation fly wildly out of control, but now they interjected, “I’m going to duel the Guildmaster, take over the Guild and take them back on track to what our Guild was meant to be, protecting people and not making deals with people who are literally worse than demons.”

“So you’re saying that if you’re in control you’ll go against the government?” Technoblade said.

“If that means protecting people like we’re supposed to be doing from the start, then yes,” Taylor told him.

“Now that’s the type of thing I like to hear,” Techno grinned. “But if you back out on that, I will take care of you.”

“Right,” the hunter didn’t break eye contact.

“So, yer[24] gonna[5] help us fight them then?” Marvin asked.

“Heh,” Techno grinned. “Taking down the self-entitled discount Spanish Inquisition, and the government? You’d have to fight me not to come.”

“Get rid of the Legionnaires?” Quackity smiled. “Count me in, wish I had brought Sam and Sap, they would’a[25] made this a breeze.”

Then the casino owner turned to his two companions, “Fundy, Slime, if you two aren’t up for it, yeh[1] can go back to the hotel.”

Fundy seemed to have a fire burning in his eyes, “I can do it, I want in.”

Slime gave a huge, lopsided grin, “I will also come with Quackity from Las Nevadas.”

“You wanna[12] stay on your retirement couch, Ol’[26] Man?” Techno prodded, smiling at Phil.

“Shut!” Philza snapped, rolling his eyes when Techno laughed at him.

“I wanna[12] come with,” Techno’s little sister told them.

“No!” Thompson and Techno both told her. She pouted and deflated a little bit.

“I’ll take her back an’[19] meet you all there,” Thompson told them.

“So, kitty, you got a plan?” Quackity gave him a sharp grin.

Marvin paused for a second, “Yeah, I think I got one.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accessibility Translations:

1. you

2. into

3. Just bringing your brother to you.

4. doing

5. going to

6. to

7. over

8. them

9. About

10. Not looking for a fight, I want to get out of here with Ghostbur and take care of the hunters up north

11. for

12. want to

13. your

14. should have

15. them

16. Because they’re working with the CIA and Dark’s nemesis. And they’re going to crash a wedding.

17. Hey! (or: Wait a second!)

18. fucker

19. and

20. of

21. hating

22. He hasn’t done anything to you.

23. yourself

24. you’re

25. would have

26. Old

3 notes · View notes

leviathans-watching · 4 years

Text

Sticks & Stones Chapter 6

Newcomers, may I direct you to the masterlist, where cool info, like what this series is about is?

The next morning no one seemed surprised you and Mammon had made up, not even acknowledging it when the two of you walked into breakfast together.

"MC, want to test out a new game I got tonight?" Levi asked, and Asmo cut in before you could answer.

"Boring! What a waste of a Friday night! MC, you should be doing something exciting, like with me!"

You took your seat, leveling Asmo with a look. "Asmo, I'm going out with you tomorrow, so chill." Turning to Levi, you smiled. "Sure, text me whenever."

Levi spoke over Mammon, who was complaining over you "going out with Asmo" to say "Hah, Asmo just got turned down by MC, ROFL!"

Rolling your eyes, you just got your breakfast, sharing a look with Lucifer over the table.

When it was time for you to get to RAD, you dropped your dishes in the sink, yelling at Mammon to hurry up.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'!" He called, meeting you by the door, and the two of you walked a little bit behind Asmo and Satan.

It was getting warmer, and you wondered what Spring was like in the Devildom. You hoped there was a nice park or forest somewhere you could go on a picnic, but knowing demons, it was probably cursed or something.

Next to you, Mammon was humming to himself, looking into the distance. You observed his languid form, wondering if he'd like to go on a picnic with you.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" Mammon barked, turning to you with a confused look.

You shrugged, imagining all of the disasters that would accompany the two of you if you were to go.

"Nothing. Let's keep walking." You linked your arm with his, pulling him forward.

Ignoring his cries of "don't damage the merchandise!" you sped around Satan and Asmo, the latter blowing you a kiss as you did so.

"We're gonna be late," You whined, and Mammon laughed, dragging his feet.

"No, we're not! And since when are ya in such a hurry to get to RAD anyway?" Mammon squawked.

You could only offer him another shrug in response, chuckling as you pulled him forward again.

* * *

Leviathan < MC: Wanna come play now?

MC < Leviathan: omw!

Leviathan < MC: *excited devilmogi*

* * *

You knocked on Levi's door and were told to come in, so you pushed the door open, greeted with the familiar sight of his room.

Out of all of the demon brother's rooms, you probably spent the most time in Levi's, so you knew to step over the stuff on the floor and make your way directly to his gaming console.

"Hey, MC!" Levi greeted warmly, and you smiled at him, taking a seat on the pillow he provided.

"Hey!"

Levi handed you a controller and the two of you jumped into the game, making it through the first few levels easily. You played for a while before growing bored and putting your controller down.

"Let's do something else."

Levi looked over at you and nodded. "Alright. Want to watch something?"

You shrugged, standing. "You pick and I'll get snacks?"

Levi nodded so you made your way to the kitchen, grabbing some stuff you knew he liked than some stuff you liked, as well as some water bottles.

Returning to his room, you dumped the stuff between the two of you and looked at him expectantly.

"Want to watch Average schoolboy meets prodigy musician girl and they fall in love but it turns out the girl is sick and it's really sad?" Levi asked.

"Sure, sounds interesting," You opened a bag of, well, you weren't sure what they were but Solomon had assured you they were safe to eat and good.

Levi pressed play, and the two of you sat in companionable silence, just chilling.

You noticed Levi shooting you looks every once in a while, but brushed it off, figuring he was probably just being weird.

But he kept doing it.

Eventually, it was too hard to focus on the anime he put on so you turned to him, fixing him with a flat look. "What?"

Levi paused the show. "Huh?"

"Why do you keep looking at me?"

At this, Levi blushed, ducking his head. "Sorry."

You waved it off. "Nah, it's fine."

Crinkling the bag of chips on your hands, you waited.

"Ok, ok, so I do have something to say," Levi broke, and you smirked at him, victorious.

"I knew it!"

"Whatever!" Levi whacked your leg with his tail. "It's just when Mammon told us, you know, that, I was really taken aback. You always seem so confident and self-assured, not like a loser at all."

You opened your mouth, but Levi held up his hand.

"And I know this might not mean a lot coming from someone like me, but MC, you're one of the coolest people I know. You're super nice and you always have time for me and never make me feel bad, which I don't know, that means a lot to me."

Levi was blushing, and dammit if you weren't too.

"Levi," You started. "Somehow you know exactly what to say. Thank you."

The outburst from him had surprised you. Usually, Levi would withdraw into himself or mock someone else rather than give out genuine compliments, so you knew it really came from the heart.

"Look at us, sitting like losers in a dark room, LMAO," Levi crowed, seemingly slightly uncomfortable with the silence, so you laughed with him and the two of you went back to playing games and watching anime.

"Hey guys, whatcha up to?" Mammon poked his head in a while later, followed by Asmo, Belphie, and Beel.

"Nothing much," You answered, looking over at Levi, who rolled his eyes at the interruption.

They made themselves comfortable, much to Levi's dismay, but you couldn't say you minded much.

Asmo crowded to your side, hugging your waist.

"I'm so excited for tomorrow! We're going to have so much fun!" He whispered to you, and you nodded, tilting your head to the side to catch his eyes.

He did look excited, which made you a little worried, but overall, you trusted him and knew he wouldn't put you in any too uncomfortable or dangerous situations. Embarrassing, on the other hand? You weren't sure.

When his hand started to trail towards your navel you grabbed it, but gave it a reassuring squeeze, holding it against your side.

"MC, can we watch somethin' other than this?" Mammon groaned from behind you and you chuckled, looking at Levi with an amused expression.

"Sorry, Mammon, Levi's room, Levi's rules." Shrugging, you turned to check on Beel and Belphie, who had sat themselves behind you as well.

Belphie gave you a lazy smile, already half asleep it seemed, and Beel looked up from where he was digging through your and Levi's snacks to beam at you.

Satan joined you in Levi's room sometimes, and Lucifer had never once in your stay at the Devildom, which made you a little sad.

Usually, it was you, Levi, and Mammon, the latter stubbornly sticking around, much to Levi's dismay, but when the other's joined, it was nice, and the fact that Lucifer never participated in gaming or watching a show disappointed you, as you'd like to share that experience with him.

It was just a really good way to chill and bond with the boys, but you knew Lucifer wouldn't allow himself to relax enough to participate.

Satan, you didn't mind as much because he came once in a while if something you were playing or watching interested him, but Lucifer just wouldn't let himself join in.

Asmo started rubbing little circles into your shoulder that felt heavenly; honestly was it really a surprise that he was good at massages, and sometimes without you registering it Mammon had scooted up, putting his knees against your back, so it was natural to lean into them as it got later.

Eventually, you let your eyes slide shut and fall asleep, the sounds of the show, occasional commentary from the boys, and crinkle from Beel becoming the soundtrack to your dreams.

Tags: @nimeryaa @crispyarttravelhumanoid

Masterlist

Chapter one

Chapter seven

#obey me shall we date #obey me game #lucifer obey me #mammon avatar of greed #obey me leviathan #mc #asmodeus obey me #satan obey me #beelzebub obey me #shall we date belphegor #leviswriting #sticks&stones

149 notes · View notes

norafike · 3 years

Text

Despite all this, I still love you 21

I would like to thank my dear friends @journal-of-an-outlaw and @bucketofcowboys for taking the time to beta read this for me. Please be sure to go check them and out and give them a follow, some of the loveliest people I have met here.

“Easy now.” His voice was gentle and calming. Nora rested comfortably in his arms and while it still hurt for someone to touch her flesh he did it so softly she almost did not notice.

“Arthur?” She croaked, her voice sore and the male nodded slowly.

“Albert, don't suppose you could help me get her up onto the back of my horse there.”

She couldn't hear what the two men spoke about and she startled when this stranger moved her. Unlike Arthur, he was not gentle in his actions and she almost cried out from the pain that shot throughout her body at his harshness. Arthur scolded Albert on it once and while he was more careful in what he was doing, there was no drastic difference.

“You hold on, Nora.” Arthur told her, but the words fell upon deaf ears and she almost fell off the back of his horse when he spurred her into movement.

They rode at a gentle pace and even though they barely moved along the trail she still held on for dear life, fearing that a fall from the horse would injure herself further after all that had gone on.

She wasn't sure how many cuts or bruises she had left from Colm and was afraid to look and see. She was grateful to not be bleeding as much, but hell, did everything hurt.

“What happened to you, Nora?” Arthur demanded to know, the stress obvious in his voice as he nearly shouted

She was too weak to talk at length but she managed to let his name slip in a gasp. “Colm.”

Arthur's eyebrows furrowed when he caught the name and turned quickly to face his original companion. Albert looked just as concerned as Arthur was despite having no idea on the severity of the situation with the O'Driscoll's being involved.

“Mr. Mason!”

“Yes?”

“You head on back to wherever you were stayin', I need to take my friend here back home.. keep an eye on the roads and if any nasty lookin' people jump out, shoot them.”

Albert seemed displeased with the instruction but nodded reluctantly in agreement regardless. He shot Arthur a quick look, the worry apparent in his eyes at the almost lifeless Nora. “Farewell, Mr. Morgan.”

...

Lem paced back and forth in the campgrounds, the mud under him worn down so the ground was no longer level. He didn't listen to anything said by either his own Aunt Maggie or Cripps. No matter how hard they tried to calm him down from his worry he paid them no mind and continued to fear the worse for Nora.Even Marcel who wasn't particularly fond of the Fike boy had spoken with him a couple of times before giving up and passing over a bowl of stew that was left uneaten.

His pacing wore on Maggie's nerves and eventually she aimed her cane just behind him and shot into the tree, splintering the trunk. Lem jumped back, looking at his aunt in dismay.

“What the hell?” He cried out but she only gave him a stern look in warning.

“Pacing isn't going to do anythin', Lem. You're only getting on our nerves.”

Lem was bewildered at the harshness in her tone, choosing to ignore his Aunt and not argue back to her.

He left the camp to sit on an old rock near the roads, wearing a brave face no matter how much he wanted to break down and cry.

Cripps got up to speak with him but Maggie held her cane out to stop him, instead choosing to steer him towards the table to sit down. She slowly lowered herself into the seat opposite and leaned forward to speak quietly that nobody else could pick up on her words.

“If she's dead make sure to ease him into it. Tellin' him bluntly ain't gonna help.”

“She ain't dead, Maggie.” Cripps sighed. “How could you say that?”

“JB she's been gone for days and the only thing any of you found was a gun and a horse, she's unarmed out there and you know what she gets like. You don't know if she's dead or not.”

“And you don't know, Nora. That woman's been caught in an explosion because of your nephew and got out fine.”

Maggie's expression didn't falter; she held that same harsh gaze. “Just don't go giving him false hope.” She left the table soon after and, using her hand, waved for Marcel to come back with her to the moonshine shack.

Even though It was the simplest conversation it left him mad. Cripps got up from the table and ignored his former admirer's warning, approaching Lem as he sat sulking. “She'll be fine.”

The sound of twigs snapping brought Lem and Cripp’s attention and both men turned to look over at the tree line, in time to see one angry face marching towards them.

“Shit.” Lem whispered under his breath as he stood up.

“Hello, Morgan.” He greeted, although rather reluctantly, but she shot him one mean glare and he bit back on his tongue.

“You gonna tell me what happened to Nora?” She bitterly asked, crossing her arms and standing firmly before him. He ignored the question and turned back towards Cripps, pointing a finger towards her.

“This is a friend of Nora's, Morgan Canaday.”

“I'll be leavin' you two to talk.” Cripps said as he began to slowly back away, uninterested in getting involved with this new trouble Lem had been found in.

“So, where's Nora?” Morgan asked again but this time she spoke a lot more slowly.

“We're l-lookin' out for her.”

“Like shit you are, if anyone was really puttin' in the effort then she'd have been found already.” Morgan growled slightly at the eye roll he gave her and leaned forward, intimidating him enough so that he backed away from her.

“Listen, you better pray for your sake that Nora is fine, Fike.” She sneered. Any words Lem had were caught in his throat and he could only manage a small squeak to reply. Morgan nodded slowly but the tough exterior never faltered.

“You know where I'll be if you need anythin', but you make sure she gets home safely, understand?”

“Y-Yes.”

“Good.”

Morgan disappeared amongst the trees again and when she was far enough gone Lem was finally able to let out a long breath. “Fuck.” He mumbled so nobody could hear before returning back to the camp where everyone else waited.

...

The journey was a lot longer than anticipated but it was what should have been expected given the slow pace Arthut travelled at. Eventually, they returned to Shady Belle with Nora still breathing.

“Abigail!” The man called for as he dismounted. Nora swayed back and forth, ready to fall but Arthur reached forward to lift her off of the animal. Abigail came marching around the corner and gasped the minute her eyes set on Nora as he carried her towards the plantation house. , She turned back towards John who had been following and whispered something incoherent that Arthur couldn't hear.

“What the hell happened?” She asked, but Arthur simply shook his head as he didn't know.

“Found her this way, Abigail. Said it was Colm.”

“You're kidding, right?”

“Afraid not.” He sighed. “I had to take her here if the O’Driscolls were involved.”

Abigail nodded and waved Arthur to follow her indoors. John had already set up a bedroll near the fireplace and the piano. Hosea stood waiting for them with Miss Grimshaw, an equal look of worry on both their faces.

“Arthur, you leave the women and come talk with me about what happened, John- take Charles and try and find Nora's posse...tell them she's with us.”

“Yes, Hosea.” Marston left the building and Hosea took Arthur upstairs to talk in private, not wanting to disturb Susan and Abigail.

“Want to tell me what happened?” Hosea jumped straight into the questioning as soon as they entered Arthur's room and he had to raise his hands defensively to show that he wasn't the one in the wrong here.

“I found her out on the track like that- she mentioned Colm and that was all she could say.”

“So Colm's going after Nora now, I mean, he and those bastards go after anyone they can get their hands on but she seems… bad.”

Arthur nodded. “If it was a robbery, she'd be dead.”

“Or lucky. Knowing that girl, she's lucky.”

There was a subtle chuckle that escaped from Arthur's lips but he quickly silenced it out of respect. The door to his room swung open and stood there was Molly O'Shea, her hair dishevelled and barely kept like it usually was. She looked worried and Arthur quickly prepared himself for a long speech about how much she loved Dutch and how he began ignoring her again but instead the Irishwoman gazed up at Mr. Morgan, sharing an equal amount of worry as him.

“Will Nora be okay?” Her concern confused him as Molly had never spoken about Nora before and for her to be talking about someone that wasn't Dutch was surprising. Sure, they had chatted briefly but he figured Molly was too much ‘high society’ for the likes of Nora.

“I don't know, why don't you go downstairs and-”

“And deal with Abigail and Susan?” She cut in. “No thank you, they'll look down on me and shoo me away without hearing what I have to ask.”

“I'll go down and check for you, Miss O'Shea.” Hosea, not wanting to be involved, suggested and she nodded in thanks as he disappeared down the stairs. Molly sharply turned back towards Arthur and he felt an unfamiliar sense of dread wash over him.

“She's a sweet girl, Arthur.” Molly said quietly.

“I weren't aware that you thought so fondly of her, Miss O'Shea.” Molly's jaw fell open in offence at his words but she quickly closed it, biting back an angry remark and his thoughtlessness.

“I think highly of most.” Molly gave him a gentle nod before pushing away from the doorway. He listened closely until he couldn't hear her footsteps anymore and decided that now would be as good as time as any to return back downstairs to check over Nora, see how she was doing. He didn't get too far before Susan placed a cold palm flat against the man's chest, stopping him dead in his tracks.

“I just wanted to see how she is doing, Miss Grimshaw.” He said.

“She's fine, but you can't come in here.. none of you men can if I can help it.”

“How bad was she?”

Grimshaw let out a low sigh as she waved Mary-Beth over, silently telling her to tend to Nora while she conversed with the man. “It's similar to how you were.”

“When?”

“When Colm sent his men after you, too.” She finished. Arthur let out a hiss and the memory, even though he didn't like to dwell back on it.

“She'll live right?”

“Always with the question. I don't know if she'll survive, Morgan. Ain't nothing infected but… time will tell. Us folk ain't lucky.”

“Keep her alive, Susan.” He warned, exiting the old house through the back door so he wouldn't have to cut through the same room where Nora rested. Susan's lips pressed into a thin line and she shook her head gently before returning to Nora's care.

...

“And Lem?” Arthur knew she would ask about him soon enough. Other than saying she felt significantly better it was practically the first thing she had said; she loved that man.

“What about him?”

Nora slowly pushed herself up, groaning as pain flaredin her sides. She grabbed it gently, thinking the pressure would help ease the ache, but there was only so much a hang could do.

“Do you know where he is? Or how he is?”

“I don't know. As soon as I found you I took you here.”

Nora nodded gently. “I gotta go back, see him.” She tried to stand but barely made it off the floor.

“You’ve gotta rest some more, Nora.” He said kindly but she knew it was more of a command. She pouted slightly but wasn't feeling stubborn enough to argue further, reluctantly agreeing with Arthur who chuckled lowly at her.

“Charles and Marston have been sent out to look for your group. I'm sure Lem will come back with them.”

“He's definitely going too.”

“I'll leave you to get some rest, Miss. Take care.” Nora looked up at Arthur with a gentle smile as she watched him walk out of the room. From beyond the window she noticed how he talked with someone, whispering in their ear and pointing back towards her.

...

“Where is she?”

Molly was surprised to see Lem and she gently pointed over towards the house where Nora rested, knowing it could only be her that drew him to Shady Belle. He nodded curtly and hurried inside the derelict building.

He didn't need to go far. She was right by the fire with her back towards him. Nora didn't notice the door opening, her focus solely on the flickering flames in front of her.

“How are you feeling?” At the sound she jumped. She turned around quickly with wide eyes, surprised and yet happy to finally see him again after so long.

“I'm just happy to see you again, Fike.” She chuckled.

“I'm happy to see you again, too.” He sank down to the floor with her, sitting just a few feet away. “God I was w-worried about you.”

Nora let out a quiet sigh, averting her gaze over towards the wall so he couldn't see her cry. He heard the sobs regardless and shuffled closer, placing a palm on her shoulder. She still didn't look over at him but could feel Lem's gaze burning into her.

“I really should have listened to you, Lem.”

“You had no idea what was g-gonna happen.” He squeezed her shoulder gently. “I don't care about that. I'm just happy you're alive.”

“You're too good to me.”

He shrugged. “You saved me.”

She finally looked over and when their eyes met she offered him a kind smile. He leaned forward and gave her a small kiss on the cheek, a gentle peck and it was over no sooner than it started but Nora still flushed a bright red after it, flustered by the kind action. She often found herself unsure of what to say after any show of affection but this time she managed to splutter a small “thank you.”

#rdr2 #red dead 2 #rdo #red dead online #rdr2 fanfic #lem fike #lemuel fike #arthur morgan #lem fike x oc #original female characters #original characters #molly o'shea #hosea matthews #susan grimshaw #mary beth gaskill #abigail marston #I love Lem and Nora sm

8 notes · View notes

may8344 · 4 years

Text

The Journey of a Forgotten Soldier (Levi x OC)

Relationships:

Alana Frey (OC)Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/Original Female Character(s)Levi Ackerman/Alana FreyFurlan Church/Original Character(s)Furlan Church/Alana Frey

Characters:

Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)Furlan ChurchIsabel MagnoliaAlana Frey (OC) - CharacterErwin SmithHange ZoëPetra RalGunther SchultzEld JinnOluo BozadoKeith ShadisSpecial Operations Squad | Squad Levi

Additional Tags:

Graphic Description of CorpsesBlood and InjuryViolenceMurder

Summary:

Alana Frey, a girl born in the Underground City, longed to see the true sunlight every morning that she would wake up. Alongside her comrades: Furlan Church, Isabel Magnolia, and Levi, Alana’s life as a thug continued with no way around it; until the sudden day she and her companions were offered the deal of a lifetime.

“Once you complete this job, not only will you be generously compensated for your work,

but you will also earn the right to live above ground.”

Word Count: 2k

---

Chapter 8: Beyond the Walls

Several months later in the southern Shiganshina District, the whole army of Scouts were positioned in front of a large gate on their horses. On each of the three Walls, there are four towns on the periphery known as “districts”. Each southern district had a gate leading outside of the main Wall. The gate had a stone silhouette carving of a different female face with a crown on top of her head.

This was Wall Maria’s gate; the gate that separated humanity from the outside world.

The large, steel bell above rang out, alerting the expedition was about to commence. Surrounding the lines of soldiers, the citizens of Shiganshina stood to wave them off. Some cried, some jumped up and down in excitement, and others watched in disgust and disapproval.

In the front centre of the group, Commander Shadis lifted his head to the Garrison soldiers that ran the walls and gates. Raising his voice, he commanded loudly, “Open the gate!”

The head Garrison soldiers yelled out commands to their subordinates and scurried along the walls. Soon enough, the large concrete gate began to rise, shaking the ground beneath. Every soldier watched in anticipation, some even tearing up in fear. After all, this—like every other expedition—could be leading them to their deaths.

Levi, Furlan, Isabel, and Alana sat on their horses behind Flagon and Sairam. Each of them gave a glance to each other, nodding unison.

“Today, we take one step forward!” Shadis yelled. “Show me what you’ve learned in training! Teach them the power of the human race!” Once the gate had reached its maximum height, he riled up his horse as he kicked the animal’s side. “We will now begin our twenty-third reconnaissance mission! All troops! Advance!” Immediately, he rushed forwards with great speed. The clomping of horse hooves followed behind their leader as everyone began to move.

“Hey, now would be a great time… Someone… Someone tell me this isn’t happening,” Furlan shuddered as he watched their comrades in front of them begin to move. He was confident in his strategy, but now he was beginning to regret the idea.

“Well, it’s certainly hard to believe-” Levi agreed as he urged his horse forwards. “-that humans from the Underground could set foot outside the walls.”

Following their Squad Leader, the quartet rode underneath the wide, gated area and the wall. Before they knew it, the sunlight past the walls peered down on each of them as the vast outside world spread across the lands. The ground went on for miles and miles without a wall in sight. Clear air surrounded everyone and the birds overhead flew without a care in the world.

“Incredible!” Isabel yelled with a large smile as she stared up into the endless blue sky, making out the shapes of the soft, white clouds. Her eyes glistened with hope and happiness. Both Alana and Furlan were speechless at the sight. They were finally on the surface and past the walls.

“Yeah,” Levi said while being in awe himself. His silver orbs shinned in the sun, almost appearing more of a light blue color. “Not bad.”

Just as quickly as Alana’s excitement had come, it was gone like the wind. While the outside world was breathtaking, she remembered what laid in store for her and her comrades up ahead. Anxiety was visible on her face as she looked down and gripped her reins tighter.

Noticing this with his sharp, observant eyes, Levi turned his head back towards her and frowned. “Don’t worry. I’ll do something about the Titans.”

“But Levi!” She argued, “These are Titans, not humans!”

“Don’t you trust me?”

That made her quiet almost immediately. Instead, Furlan spoke up, “It’s not that we don’t trust you. It’s just that…”

Isabel gave off a teasing laugh. “Hah, Furlan, you’re tremblin’ ain’tcha?”

“Hey! Speak for yourself!”

“Sure! Leave it to me, Furlan!” The confident redhead gave him a thumbs up. “I’ll take care of those Titans lickety-split!”

“You little…”

“Stop the chatter!” A voice yelled behind them. Making their way closer, the soldier happened to be Sairam, the only other member of their squad. “The Titans aren’t as soft as you think! How many elite soldiers do you think have been eaten by TItans?! You think a few punks from the Underground have a chance against them!?”

“Hey,” Isabel cut him off with a calm, but determined face. “You say that, but if I end up beating the Titans, then doesn’t that make all them elites lower than punks?”

And just as the redhead had hoped, that had made Sairam even more angry. “Wh— How dare you!? You little—” However, he was cut off by Levi guiding his horse in between the arguing pair. His slanted silver eyes sent off a death-glare to Sairam, a gesture to stop them. “What are you lookin’ at!?”

“Sairam, cut it out!” Flagon demanded as he made his way to his quarreling squad.

“But, Squad Leader!”

“Calm down! We have to prepare to drill the new formation! Titans could show up at any time! Don’t disrupt the ranks!” Flagon’s eyes drifted to Levi’s as he directed his next comment to the cocky ravenette. “Real battle’s not like training.”

“Titan spotted! At 10 o’clock! One fifteen-meter class in the forest! It’s coming this way!”

Everyone flinched as they heard the alarm from a nearby squad.

Shadis, at the front of the formation by Erwin, frowned. “It’s too close. We can’t just slip by. There’s no choice but to engage!” He turned his body around to face the soldiers behind him. With his bellering voice, he commanded, “Vanguard with me! The rest of the force, keep advancing to the supply point! Don’t let it out of the forest! Switch to maneuvering!” He guided his horse towards the Titan on the left with Erwin following close behind as they covered their supply wagons.

“There was a second one in hiding!” Another soldier screamed as he saw a twenty-meter Titan emerging from the forest. “We’ll draw it away! Rear guard! Increase speed, and shake it off!” Two soldiers broke off formation and started to turn towards the trees to lead it away. “Lead it into the forest!”

“Hey! Over here you big half-wit!” The other yelled, trying to grab it’s attention.

But it didn’t stop. Instead, it kept going straight towards the large formation of soldiers who were still on the run.

“What’s wrong!? It’s not following!”

Flagon, who’s squad was only one squad away from the Titan, took notice of the strange behavior. “Oh no. This one’s…” His eyes widened in fear as he remembered. “It’s an Abnormal going your way!”

“No good! The column’s too long! The wagon’s are wide open! Flagon’s Squad, close the distance and fight to the death!” The squad in front of them yelled as they took charge towards the Abnormal Titan. Four pairs of wires launched towards the beast as they attempted to fight.

Without knowing how to react, Flagon turned towards his squad with fear evident in his eyes. “Don’t let the Titan’s near the wagons!” His eyes glued back on the fighting group to his left.

Each of them launched around the being and sliced to the best of their abilities. Despite their strength, one of them was too reckless as he found himself held in the Titan’s strong grip. Slowly getting lifted to the beast’s gigantic mouth, the poor soldier screamed for help. He squirmed and fought in its hand, but to no avail. The Titan had crunched down on the helpless soldier, eating him with no hesitance.

While the Abnormal was distracted with eating, two of the remaining fighters launched themselves towards the nape of the monster’s neck. However, just as the name ‘Abnormal’ insists, it’s behavior did not mirror the mindless Titans. It began to move its body around in order to shake the grappling hooks off.

As one soldier was swung in front of the Abnormal’s mouth, the Titan took no time to bite him out of midair. Blood spilt everywhere. The two remaining Scouts were knocked out on the ground. Once it was done, it began sprinting towards the formation once again.

Flagon was taken completely aback but the massacre of the squad. “Damn, it started running again!” He clicked his tongue in anger. Thoughts ran through the Squad Leader’s mind, but he made a decision quickly. “Sairam, follow me!” He screamed as he rode his horse on the right side of the sprinting Titan.”

“Yes sir!”

Although the leader was focused, he was taken aback by another horse following closely to Sairam’s. On top of it was Levi, face as hard as steel. “You little punk! What are you doing!?”

“You said I shouldn’t underestimate the Titans, right?” Levi asked in a completely calm voice. “Then why use these half-assed tactics to fight them?” With that, he took off ahead of his shocked leader. Isabel, Furlan, and Alana followed closely behind. “Isabel! Lana! Furlan! Let’s go!”

“Shit! If I’d known that this was gonna happen, I’d still be back there drinking sewer water!” Furlan whined as he followed, afraid of what was to come.

“Furlan, shut up and get ready!” Isabel called back.

“W-Wait, you’re still rookies!” Flagon screamed at the rushing three. Unfortunate for him, he was completely ignored.

“The way he swung his arms around? That’s going to be a pain. But while he’s doing it, his legs shouldn’t be moving!” Levi analyzed and explained to the group.

“How you keep a level head during this is beyond me,” Alana mumbled at Levi, uneasiness still written all over her face.

“Damn, he’s big,” Isabel looked up at the Titan with a determined smile.

“Yeah, there’s no way in hell we can beat him. Even so…” Furlan’s face slowly showed relief as he watched Levi who rode in front of him. The ravenette’s cape flew behind him, and it almost looked like a scene from a movie. The blond couldn’t help but admit that he truly looked up to the strong, silver-eyed man.

Levi turned his head and stole a glance at each one of his friends. “Lana, cling to the Titan and draw its attention. Furlan, Isabel, take out its knees and immobilize it. Got it?”

“Easy as pie!” Isabel agreed, determined to take it down.

“Yeah, sure…” Furlan replied with a half-assed smile.

Alana nodded and propped herself to a standing position on her galloping horse’s saddle. She took in a deep breath and launched her ODM Gear to hook onto the Titan’s lower back. Shooting herself towards it, she landed on her feet on the back of the monster while being held up by her wires. She plunged her swords into its skin in order to hold herself on.

With a swift reaction, the Abnormal began twisting his body, trying to shake off the ravenette.

“Now, go!” Levi yelled at the remaining two. He himself shot out his hooks, grasping onto the Titan’s shoulder, propelling himself up even higher with his acceleration. Soon enough, he was about twenty meters above the Abnormal’s head.

“Here we go, Furlan!”

“Oh, god! Fine!”

Both of them launched their wires simultaneously on the back of the Titan’s legs. They swung around to the front side and hurled towards its kneecaps. With a large slice, the Titan’s balance was thrown off as it began to fall forwards.

That’s all that Levi had needed. Shooting himself downwards towards the nape of the neck, he regripped his swords to his liking; one forwards and the other backwards. Spinning sideways in order to gain acceleration, he cleanly cut out the chunk of skin on the neck and jumped off onto the ground. Alana also pushed herself off of the large being before it fell. The limp body of the Titan began steaming from the massive heat of its body temperature.

“No fucking way…” Flagon watched in awe from the sidelines with Sairam.

The four regrouped on the ground, each grinning from ear-to-ear.

“Oh, man! That was awesome, Levi!” Isabel yelled, jumping up and down in excitement.

“You three did well, too.” He responded, ruffling the redhead's hair.

Erwin, who had also finished off a titan, witnessed the teamwork between the quartet. Instead of staring with amazement, he wore a large, open-mouthed smile.

“So your wings really are the real deal, Levi.”

---

(A/N) In all honesty, this chapter was a very difficult one to write at first. Earlier on (I believe chapter three?) I explained to my previous editor that action was not a strong suit of mine, and it still isn't. Even so, it is still one of my favorite (non-fluff) chapters I have written, so I hope that was able to convey to the readers. This expedition is definitely a huge one for the quartet and the story line.

Although I still have a couple more chapters pre-written, I am losing my creativity and will to write at the moment. There may be an upcoming hiatus, but I'm not sure about it yet. Thank you all for reading and have a lovely day!

Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13

#shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #levi #levi ackerman #fanfic #levi x oc #oc #attack on titan fanfiction #levi ackerman x oc #furlan church #isabel magnolia #alana frey

7 notes · View notes

elizacornwall · 3 years

Text

Vengeance is an Idiot’s Game - Chapter 20 - Of Sheep and Wolves

Read all the published chapters here.

-------------------------------------------------- Camp was quiet over the next couple days. With Javier gone there was no more guitar play, only the rare tunes of a banjo played by Uncle. He was an old, fat man, not unkind, but Eliza couldn’t really see why Dutch kept him around, lazing about all day. But then again so did the Reverend, and she had never questioned him either. Rising before everyone else had become somewhat of a habit to her, brewing the first pot of coffee and sitting by the drop, staring over the landscape. She enjoyed the peacefulness and solitude of the early mornings, filled with birdsong and often the bark of coyotes nearby. The canines had scared her at first, but after Arthur had lent her some binoculars to watch a pack at play, she decided they were more like dogs than wolves and grew to like them. He had sometimes sat with her in these early mornings, in quiet companionship, admiring the valley until Dutch or some other person called for him to send him off on some task. His company was much preferred to Dutch’s, Eliza wasn’t much of a talker this early in the day and that man could do her head in with his endless stream of words. This morning was no different, she sat cross legged with the hot brew in her hands taking in the scenery, the sun rising slowly behind her. She wondered how long the boys would be out. Hosea had mentioned it was only supposed to be a short mission, but what did she know about how much time ‘short’ typically meant. She surprised herself by realising she was worried. Not so much about Charles maybe, he was always good to her and of course she would be concerned about his safety, but about Arthur and Javier. Laughing quietly to herself, she supposed their good traits outweighed them kidnapping her. Turning at the sound of footsteps, she saw Tilly heading towards her, her hair dishevelled, rubbing the sleep out of her dark brown eyes.

“Miss Grimshaw is up early today, she says we need some supplies from town. You comin’ with us?” Yawning, she stopped next to Eliza, peering down to the river. “I’ll never understand why you’re about so early, starin’ out there. The view’s really the same every day”, she said, a bored tone in her voice. Eliza chuckled. “Well, there’s different animals about every day, but I see your point.” She got to her feet, finishing the rest of her coffee. A trip to town got her excited, she hadn’t been there yet herself. “Valentine, is it? Let me just change into something fitting to present myself to the outside world.” She was only wearing a light cardigan over her night gown, while that wouldn’t draw any looks here in camp, she highly doubted that would be the same with strangers. “Are we riding there?” “Heavens, no! We’ll take the carriage, much easier to load up on supplies. Sadie’s comin’ too, she said she had some errands to run.” The two girls walked back into camp where they parted. Back at her cot Eliza chose a light blue skirt and a simple white shirt, looking decent but not too flamboyant. She had her fill of fancy clothes in her life and preferred the simple elegance. That was, when she wasn’t wearing trousers. Now that she had her own pair, scavenged out of the delivery Arthur and her had stolen, she had altered them to fit nicely. Growing ever more used to wearing them, she enjoyed the freedom they provided. She met up with the other girls at the wagon, missing Molly and Abigail as it was custom by now. Sadie had already been preparing the horses when Eliza changed into her town getup, and waved at her now as she approached. She had her repeater strapped to her back and a revolver on either side of her hips, carrying them with such casual ease, Eliza couldn’t help but admire it. Mary-Beth was talking to Miss Grimshaw and going through the list of items to get with her whilst Karen and Tilly sat on the back of the wagon, both looking equally tired and disgruntled at this early start of their day. Sadie checked in with the old woman, reassuring her she’d take good care of her girls before hopping onto the driver’s seat, patting the bench next to her and looking at Eliza invitingly. “You gonna join me up here or you wanna ride with the kids in the back?” She joked, ignoring Karen’s grumbled retort, and smiled wide as the younger woman lifted herself up to take the shotgun seat. The horses were trodding on the narrow path through the trees and Mary-Beth was going through the list in her hand again, organising who would get what. She was very practically inclined and Eliza liked the rational approach she had to her chores, always trying to be as efficient as possible. “I’ll head to the doctor’s office to get the medicinal supplies, Karen and Tilly, would you mind getting the general store items? We need a ton of food and one pair of hands ain’t gonna be enough to load it onto the wagon. Eliza, Miss Adler, could you head to the gunsmith to pick up the ammunition on here?” She had carefully torn the list into three pieces, handing them out to the respective groups. Eliza glanced at hers with a light frown. Sadie steered the horse to the left as she drove out of the woods under an arch formed by a collapsed tree. “Don’t you worry Mary-Beth, we’ll get you all of them things. Just make sure ya ain’t gonna get into trouble, I don’t want to cause a ruckus if I ain’t have to!” Sadie’s tone was cheery, but she shot a warning look over her shoulder. Eliza thought it was especially directed at Karen, but wasn’t sure. The blonde girl sneered. “Oh sure, we ain’t gonna cause no trouble. Can’t promise trouble won’t find us though, usually does.” Sadie gave an exasperated sigh. “Better hope it don’t this time”, she murmured, but didn’t press the matter any further. Soon the first buildings came into view and the putrid smell of cattle filled their noses. Sadie noticed Eliza half choking, and grinned. “Yeah, it smells like a field of flowers, don’t it! It’s a livestock town, ain’t gonna get any better as we get close.” She

had slowed the horses down to a trot approaching the railroad by the station, and got them to a walk. Eliza was eyeing up the sheep perched in their pens, there must be at least a few dozen. There were people around, throwing the odd curious glance at their little troop, but apart from a few “Good mornin’”s, there wasn’t much reaction from the locals. It was all so exciting for her, after having spent the better part of the last few weeks amidst the same twenty people, barely leaving the clearing on the cliff. The wagon headed up a gentle slope between some wooden houses and turned left down the main street. It was early and there wasn’t much activity to be seen, but Eliza didn’t mind and stared at the buildings with wide eyes. Sadie halted the horses in front of the general store and dismounted from her seat. Eliza followed her but pulled her mouth into a grimace as her feet sank a good inch into the mud, dirtying her shoes and the hem of her skirt. The three girls in the wagon got up and clambered down, Tilly groaning about the bumpy ride. “Alright then ladies, let’s get this over with. We wanna make this quick so we don’t keep old Grimshaw waitin’”, Sadie announced. Karen and Tilly headed into the store, whilst Mary-Beth, Sadie and herself walked up the street where they came from, parting at the end. The two women entered the gunsmith to their right. The man behind the counter looked up from the rifle he was polishing, his eyebrows raised. “Can I help you ladies?” His eyes trailed down Sadie, lingering on the revolvers at her hip and on her trousers. “We’re here to get some cartridges”, Eliza said quickly, walking up to the counter and placing the list in front of him. Sadie wasn’t looking too impressed with his blatant staring, and she wanted to avoid an argument. “Could you get all of this for us?” His eyes fixated on her now, narrowing slightly. After a pause, he nodded. “Sure, just one moment.” He took the piece of paper and turned, carefully selecting cardboard boxes of bullets in various different sizes and shapes from the drawers in the closets. Eliza’s eyes fell on the big cat at the right end of the room, mounted motionless and looking very real. She shuddered. The man stacked up the boxes on the counter, doublechecking the list and nodding to himself. “Here, that’s all of them. Anything else she I can help you with today?” She began to shake her head, when Sadie spoke up. “Actually, there is somethin’. Have you got a revolver and gunbelt for my friend here? She needs somethin’ to protect herself.” Eliza’s eyes widened, she stared at Sadie in shock. “Sadie, I- I don’t have the money to pay for this!” The blonde met her eyes, and only shook her head, a corner of her lips lifted into a sly smile. “Take it as payback for my... Uuuh... Improved accommodations.” The store owner just looked between them, his eyes narrowing even further as Sadie winked at him. He sighed. “Of course, give me one moment. I might have something in the back.” He headed out of the room and Sadie pulled up a stack of dollar bills, looking over the interior. Eliza’s gaze still rested on her. “What?” She said, her smile widening, but she didn’t take her eyes off the rifles behind the counter. She tried to find the right words, wanting to explain that she never owned a gun and probably couldn’t even shoot it, but decided against it. It would mean she had to show weakness again. “I… Thanks, Sadie.” Eliza sighed, defeated. “My pleasure. Did ya see that big ugly cougar there in the corner?” She pointed at the cat she was looking at a moment ago. “Nasty beasts. Don’t know why anyone would wanna keep one of them lookin’ as if it’s gonna jump at ya.” She shook her head and Eliza giggled in agreement. The man reemerged from the back room, a dark leather belt and holster in one, a small revolver in the other hand. “I got a Smith & Wesson here, they’re small and easy to use. That any good?” He was looking at Eliza, and she looked at Sadie in turn. “As long as it’s shootin’ bullets, I don’t care what you give ‘er. We’ll take

it.” The clerk was adding up the numbers on his abacus and Sadie counted the dollar bills, handing him the right amount. He nodded and packed up the items in newspaper. The two women took their leave, carrying the supplies out of his shop. They arrived at the wagon where Mary-Beth was just carefully stowing away the crate of tonics and tinctures she had gotten from the doctor’s office and smiled at them, as they approached. “I’ll go help Karen and Tilly, they’re almost done in there.” Sadie placed the ammunition on the wagon and stowed the wrapped means of self defence away safely. An idea sprung to Eliza’s mind. “Would it be too much to ask for some change? I’d like to buy a paper, a boy was selling them next to the gunsmith”, she remembered. Sadie turned, confused. “The paper? Hosea run out of books for you to read?” She shook her head in disbelief but handed her some coins anyway. “I’ll come with ya, makin’ sure no one ain’t up to no good ‘round you.” The two headed back up the road, Sadie hung back in front of the gunsmith, while Eliza purchased The New Hanover Gazette, startling the poor boy with her polite conversation. She tucked it into a pocket of her skirt and was on her way back to join up with Sadie as one of the men on the porch next to her stood up and approached, slowly eyeing up the taller woman. “Oy, lady. Don’t I know you from somewhere?” Eliza froze in her spot. Sadie turned her head to look at the man that had spoken, and her hand twitched towards her hip. Her voice sounded casual, but it was different than usual, Eliza noted. “Pretty sure we ain’t met before.” Nervously, her eyes darted between Sadie and the dark haired man, he was scanning her face and attire with suspicion. He seemed to be with two friends, who now moved to stand next to him, observing her in their turn and nodding slowly to themselves. “Yeah, I know you. You’re that outlaw woman, from the posters!” Shit. Sadie laughed, seemingly unfazed. “Outlaw? I sure as hell would be stupid to wander ‘round town if I had a price on my head, don’t you think?” She turned sideways, only looking at Eliza for a split second, but the gesture of her hand she made whilst her eyes connected was clear as day. Go. She was unable to move however, as if her feet had grown roots, and watched Sadie with a thunderstruck expression as she started to walk away from the men, taking a first step down the road. “You ain’t foolin’ us woman! Now stay where you are and we ain’t gonna hurt ya!” The men moved quickly, ropes being pulled off their belts and one of them hovered his hand over his gun as they followed. It all seemed to happen so fast, but Eliza just stood and watched as if time was slowed down. The first foot of the bounty hunters dropped to the step below the porch. Sadie spun around, her blonde braid swinging behind her, suddenly wielding both revolvers in her hands, pointing them straight at the men in front of her. The few people on the street stopped what they were doing and looked onto this scene, eyes wide open. “You boys ain’t gonna hurt no one, least of all me. Now get lost ya dirty bastards”, Sadie snarled, her guns aimed without so much as a jitter at the three men. A second foot fell onto the stairs. Sadie pulled both triggers, snapping two of the guys heads backwards, making them collapse on the spot. Screaming ensued, and the people on the street scattered, and Eliza, finally ripped out of her stupor, threw herself beneath the gunsmith’s deck, peering over the wooden stairs at the scene with her heart pounding hard. Sadie and the single man left alive were stood at gunpoint, neither one willing to give in. “Give it up woman, whole town’s gonna be out in a bit, you ain’t getting out of this. Better lower your gun and come with me peacefully.” There were faces peering out of the windows all around them, he was right. How incredibly thoughtless this whole plan was, taking a wanted woman into a bustling town? Reminding herself that Sadie was the one that had come up with this, Eliza tried to make out the wagon with the rest of

the girls. It was still stood at the same spot, but there was no sign of Karen, Tilly and Mary-Beth. They were probably hiding in the store, she prayed to the heavens no one would have noticed Sadie driving in with them, they’d all be in much bigger trouble as they already were. “Peacefully my ass, I ain’t gonna come with ya at all. I disposed of plenty guys just like you, thinkin’ I ain’t much of a threat just ‘cause I’m a woman.” Sadie started to back away, slowly. Her guns were both still pointed at the man’s head. “You think we’re alone? There’s more hunters here in town.” As if to prove his word, the door to the hotel further down the road was thrown open, and a handful of men spilled out onto the street, guns in their hands. Sadie muttered a bitter “Fuck” before she pulled the trigger and twirled around to face the group opposing her, before his body hit the ground. Eliza’s breath faltered when they opened fire, and Sadie dove into cover behind a wagon. The gunfire ceased and the men shouted out to her to come up with her hands raised. “You think you gonna get me this easy, you’re more stupid than you look!” She taunted, laughing. Was she enjoying this? Her eyes flicked to Eliza’s spot and she could almost see the groan escaping Sadie as she saw her. It then occurred to her that this position was less than ideal, and the woman would feel responsible for her safety. Eliza let herself fall to the floor and crawled to the side of the house, out of the line of any stray bullets. Her heart pounded hard in her chest, the familiar sensation of anxiety spread through her limbs. The newspaper boy was cowering a few feet away from her, and she realised she was still clutching the newest issue of the Gazette in her pocket. More doors slammed open and shouting reached her ear. The gunfire opened again, and there were more screams. Within it all, she thought she heard Sadie laughing. Wondering which one of them two had gone insane, she resisted the urge to peer around the corner, afraid of getting hit in the crossfire. The yelling got louder, bullets was hitting the fence at the top end of the street, and yes, that was Sadie’s rough, raspy voice, laughing between it all. She came into view in the corner of her eye, running towards a spooked horse that was tethered beside the sheriff’s office, just when the man himself came running out the door, star on his vest gleaming in the sunlight, with open breeches and wielding a gun. The gunslinger woman didn’t take any notice and jumped onto the back of the horse, momentarily shielded by the building, then her eyes locked onto Eliza. She flicked her head at her, gesturing to get going down the street. She shot up, just as Sadie started the horse into a full gallop, closing the distance between them in a second, her hand outstretched to reach down for her. Eliza took it, and she got swung onto the back of the horse, helped by the momentum. Sadie passed her one of her revolvers. “Cock the hammer and shoot, girl! Keep ‘em off us!” She yelled, and Eliza desperately tried to cling onto her, fumbling her thumb over the little metal piece to ready the revolver to shoot. Her hand shook and she clamped down on it, desperately trying not to let go, while the first gunshots were fired into her direction. Sadie sped past a barn, and she finally managed to click the hammer into place when the men came galloping around the corner towards them. She held out the gun in their direction, giving up trying to aim after a second of being shaken about, and shot. She missed and the bullet buried itself somewhere in the ground behind them. Cursing, Eliza cocked the hammer again, letting off another projectile in their direction. One of the pursuers cried out but she didn’t have the time to look who it was, in that moment Sadie yanked the horse around a tight corner and she had to grip onto her with both hands as the horses hooves risked to slip on the muddy ground. The train station whirled past in a blur and they made their way over a small hill, the ground dropping at the other side. Eliza’s

stomach lurched at the sensation and Sadie crossed a couple paths, then took a left as the men came back into view. She lifted the gun again, firing another shot in their direction, and another. Two bullets left, but there was four of them, more would be very likely coming after them soon. The horse galloped in full speed along a cliff to their right, dangerously close to the drop. “Hold on!” Sadie shouted, not a moment too early. Eliza just about wrapped her arms tightly around her when they leaned into yet another sharp right bend, thundering down a steep slope towards the riverbed. A scream, like nothing she’d ever heard before sounded from behind them, turning her head slightly she saw the massive body of a horse struggling at the bottom of the cliff. That poor thing must have been pushed into the curve too early by its rider, she felt anger flaring up inside. The path was steady enough again to turn around, firing the last two rounds, aiming more carefully now. At least one of them had hit, the rider dropping out of his saddle, before Sadie swung around herself with her repeater propped against her shoulder, and with three quick shots, she took care of the rest of them. They rode in the same hard pace until the river came in sight, crossing right over it and only slowing down when the horse struggled up a small hill covered in pines at the other side, breath going heavily. They crossed another road and the woman halted the stallion next to a wall of heavy boulders. Eliza slid off, almost falling to the ground, her legs shaking. On her hands and knees she wretched and spilled the coffee she had earlier onto the gravel beneath her. Sadie dismounted and crouched down next to the girl, her eyes scanning through the young trees surrounding them. “I don’t think there are more followin’ right now”, she hushed, her voice quiet. “You alright?” Wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt, Eliza raised her chest until she sat upright, her hind resting on her heels. “B-been better”, she managed, hoarse. Her stomach was still writhing, threatening to force more liquid out of her gut. Shaking all over she stared at the woman next to her who was patting her shoulder with such a sympathetic look, it bordered on pity. “What in the world was that?” “Ya survived your first chase”, the blonde woman laughed, “Congratulations. It get’s easier as you do more of ‘em.” “Don’t think I’m too keen on repeating that experience, thank you”, she mumbled weakly, shaking her head. “We could have been killed! I could have killed someone! That poor horse, it-it…” Her voice broke and faltered. Sadie looked at her, considering for a moment, her eyes stern. “This is the life I chose, and so did you. It ain’t all sugarplum fairies and rainbows ya know. I told you, remember?” She sighed, straightening up to scan the river. “If you’re not up for it, ya better leave ‘fore it’s too late.” Her words stung. Eliza knew she wasn’t as hard as the rest of them, and the feeling of being useless spread itself again inside her. Sadie was right, what was she doing? Playing at being a gunslinger, not even knowing how to shoot a gun proper? The gang was dangerous, living a dangerous life and for the first time she had experienced the harsh reality herself today. “I hope the rest of them girls are alright”, Sadie murmured, “Grimshaw’s gonna bite my head off for this.” She sighed. “Come on, don’t look like there’s more of ‘em that made it this far. Let’s head back to camp.” Offering her a hand she looked at the younger girl, expectantly. Eliza grabbed her forearm and let her help pulling her to her feet. Patting down her skirt, she tried to take a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. Sadie sat up into the saddle again and helped her swing up behind her. The skirt rose up her lower thighs, but she couldn’t care less about being decent right now, she didn’t trust herself sitting sideways being as shaky as she was. “We’re gonna stay on this side of the river for a bit, just in case. Keep your eyes out.” Sadie kicked the horse into a slow walk and followed the

road down river. The trees opened up after a short while, and she pointed up a cliff on the opposite side of the valley. “We ain’t far from Horseshoe, see the smoke up there, above that cliff? That’s where you’re sittin’ every mornin’.” Eliza followed her outstretched arm with her eyes and hummed in recognition. Apart from a thin trail of smoke, nothing would have given away that there was an outlaw group hiding up there. Her insides twisted at the thought of that. Outlaws. “S-Sadie, I… I’m sorry.” The blonde woman turned her head and she could feel her eyes on her, but kept her gaze down, staring at the back of the saddle. “I know I’m not much use, and I can’t even keep my head in a chase like we had. I’m just a… A liability.” “Stop, you ain’t that. You think I didn’t throw up after getting’ shot at the first time? Only difference was I couldn’t shoot back, the fellers did it for me!”, she exhaled in amusement. “You took that gun and emptied six rounds into them sons of bitches, I say ya did well.” Murmuring about not having another choice Eliza lifted her head a bit, the praise didn’t cut through the self-disdain entirely, but it made it sting less. Sadie returned her head to face the road and chuckled. “I know you must be feelin’ mighty shaky right now. Trust me, it gets better.” Eliza gave a huff, half laugh, half sob. “That’s what Arthur told me, when we robbed that wagon. Not so sure about that.” “Well, are you lookin’ at it every day when she go to sleep, thinkin’ how you shouldn’t have done it?” This question startled her. She hadn’t thought twice about that, not after it had been made into her own sleeping space. Did she really have that little of a conscience? Sadie laughed at her silence, guessing what was going on in her mind. “See, it does get better. Gettin’ shot at and shootin’ back will too.”

#rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 fanfic #red dead redemption 2 fanfic #mywriting #eliza cornwall #arthur morgan #vengeance is an idiot's game #arthur morgan x original female character

1 note · View note

bluepenguinstories · 3 years

Text

Remoras Full Chapter XIX: Sunspots

We were all gathered by a campfire late in the evening, far off from where any landmarks were, let alone the diner. Up above was a blanket of thousands of stars in what illuminated an otherwise blackened sky. If not for the fire, we may not seen one another very well. As a whole, it was a pleasant scene of roasted marshmallows on a stick and friendly laughter. Well, most of us roasted marshmallows. It was a point of contention for one spunky little green-haired scholar.

“No way!” She shook her head. “Those things have gelatin in them! Gelatin’s made from animal bones and junk!” She protested, all while having her arms crossed.

Seated next to Demetria was the reluctant center of attention, Remora, who for some reason had changed up her hair (yet again) to a short, light blue wig. When asked about it, she said something like, “I was feeling nostalgic.”

For the record, that was the most romantic answer she could have given me, as all too often I’m nostalgic about little things like that as well. Like how sometimes when I would see an arctic fox, I would be reminded of the red pandas I saw during my expedition to Nepal a few years back. Or when I would open up my dresser drawer, see a pair of hooped earrings, and remember those drunken nights when Ray and I would dress up in each other’s clothes.

As for those two, I was rather surprised at how close they were to each other. Yes, they were at each end of the log they sat on, with some space in-between for Tigershark to squeeze in, but just the fact that they were near each other at all came as a shock.

Remora reached behind her and pulled out a couple of packages from her bag.

“I figured that would be the case,” she replied to Demetria, with regards to the marshmallow refusal, “so I packed some mochi. You can roast those by the fire, I’m sure it’s like the same thing.”

Demetria’s eyes grew wide, as well as her mouth, and she reached out her hands.

“Gimme! Gimme!” She chanted.

“You know,” Ray informed Remora with a devilish smile on his face, who appeared to be in much higher spirits than he was just a week ago. Then again, it could have been an act, but the effort was appreciated all the same. “You could have gotten marshmallows without the gelatin. They do sell those.”

“Well, then,” Remora crossed her arms. If it weren’t for the smile (even if it was accompanied by her signature shiver, and the smile itself was made with quivering lips) I would have found her response pretty typical. “I learned something new.”

I spied Demetria try to stick a piece of mochi onto her stick. Meanwhile, Tigershark had her marshmallow in for too long and the thing caught fire. She started to wave her arms around, the stick going all over the place, which put Demetria in a panic as well, as she flinched and backed away.

“Aaa –! Aaa –! It’s getting all burnt!” Tigershark wailed. For all her strength and experience, she was still a kid, after all.

Remora kept calm and leaned forward, then blew on the marshmallow. Soon, the fire went out, and Tigershark took a big bite. Oh, and then she spit it right out.

“Ack! Hot!” She stuck her tongue out.

All the rest of us laughed, which did not amuse Tigershark in the slightest. She put her hands on her hips and frowned.

“I was scared, guys! What if I got set on fire? Huh?” She demanded, and I had to bite my lip just to keep from letting out another chuckle.

“You know I wouldn’t let any harm come to you,” Remora’s voice softened, almost a smoothing whisper.

“Aren’t you the one who would let her run from your place all the way to the diner all by herself?” Ray asked.

Remora looked away, as if to avoid any blame. Though rather uncharacteristic of her, since she was usually the one to tout how honest she was.

“Correction: Ray won’t let me let any harm come to you,” she turned to face Tigershark once again and told her. Tigershark ran over to Remora and jumped into her lap, where she curled up and lay.

“Hey! Not fair!” Demetria protested. In response, Remora smiled.

“You can be next, if you want,” she offered. I really felt like speaking out then and there, asking what might have prompted this sudden friendliness between the two. It wasn’t like I was against it, but...I found it odd, OK? However, I decided to let things be and not say anything.

“Wait, really?!” Demetria sounded as surprised as I was.

“Mhm, if you’re tired enough. Though once you’re ready to rest, it would probably be best to go rest in your tent.”

Meanwhile, Ray reached behind him and pulled out some graham crackers and a bar of chocolate.

“Let it be known that I’ve also come prepared,” he tore open the packaging and handed me a cracker. “Hun?”

“Hell yeah!” I pumped my fist, ready to make the sexiest s’mores ever.

When Ray and I would roast marshmallows, we had a delicate touch, and kept it by the fire just long enough for the marshmallow to turn bright orange. Sometimes, however, I would get a little out of control and stack three or more on the same stick and once they were all burnt to a crisp, I’d shove them in my mouth, then take a handful of marshmallows from the bag. That warm, gooey taste, mixed with the soft, pillowy taste...I couldn’t get enough. In all seriousness, marshmallows was one of my favorite tastes. I wasn’t satisfied until I could feel that gooey substance run down my mouth.

On the other end of delicate, Ray had much more restraint. He’d sit, leaned over with the stick right above his knee and turn it each way, in a slow and careful manner. He’d smile and after a few seconds, would lift up the stick and place it between the graham crackers. Every motion he made seemed to be with a purpose, with nary a sound to be heard from him. When I watched him, I got the sense that, like many things, it had to be just right to him, and it was as if he spent many a night mastering the art of marshmallow roasting.

For this particular night, I had indeed stacked four marshmallows onto the stick and roasted them at once, though they all ended up in varying degrees of burnt. I put those stacked marshmallows in between my graham crackers, and broke the chocolate into two halves, one at the bottom, and one at the top. After the completion of such a s’mores tower, I passed it over to Ray, and he passed his to me, and we each took a bite out of each others’ creation.

“Hey!” I snapped my fingers and a fierce grin sprouted across my face. “I’ve got an idea! We’re camping, right? How about we tell each other scary stories?”

Both Remora and Demetria shook their heads. Ray turned to me.

“It doesn’t have to be a scary story, does it? We could talk about anything.”

“Oh, you’re right!” I thought over what I’d like to talk about, then got a brilliant idea. “What if I told you guys how Ray and I met?” I looked around. That didn’t get much of a reaction from anyone.

“Don’t you know the rule, dear? If you tell a joke three times, it stops being funny,” he sounded cautious, even with that smile of his.

“I don’t care about funny! I just wanna give it a try!”

He shrugged, “go right ahead.”

I cleared my throat.

“So picture the scene,” I began. “It was an empty street in the middle of New Orleans, I was just a lone vagabond trying to find my way. Some folks here and there gave me some coin, and like the young fool I was, I took that money and headed into the nearest bar. Now, back in those days, good looks could get you far, and believe it or not, I was quite a looker –”

“Still are!” Someone yelled, but I wasn’t sure who, as I was lost in the tale I was weaving.

“So I sat at the bar, all these guys vying for my attention. Some girls, too. I ignored them all, because all I wanted was to get drunk enough to fall into a daydream. I told the bartender just that, I said, ‘hey bartender! Give me something that’ll knock me into a daydream!’”

“As I sat and wondered what drink I would be served, I glanced over to my right and lo and behold was a guy in a blue suede suit, or maybe it was black satin. I couldn’t really remember, I must’ve drank the whole bar. That bit’s not important, though. Rather, it was the fact that he looked down and tilted his glass with a pensive look in his eyes. Seeing as he was one of the few not to go for one of the regular ‘lemme buy you a drink, sugar’ and ‘I just came back from the dentist and I’m ready to tango’, I decided to strike up a conversation with him.”

“I said, I said something like, ‘what’s a guy like you doing in a place like this?’ And he looked over and said plain as day, ‘just lookin’ for my next hustle.’ I continued to try to chip away at his fortified heart, as I could tell there was more going on. So I said to him, ‘your eyes tell me you’re a tortured soul.’”

Ray, the one next to me in the present, by the fire, stopped me before I could continue.

“Dear, while I’d love to know what happens next, the structure of these ‘how we met’ stories has to adhere to a simple formula: make it just believable enough to be true, but include little fictional bits here and there. It must both be outlandish and down to earth throughout.”

“Hey! I was gonna include some weird bits!” I crossed my arms. “I just wasn’t done yet.”

“I’ve got one!” Tigershark got up and scooted over between Remora and Demetria. “Then while you guys are talking, a dinosaur shows up and destroys the bar, and you two have to fight the dinosaur to save the day! Everyone cheers and you get married!”

I blinked, and I was pretty sure Ray did as well. We both stared at Tigershark who brimmed with excitement until we couldn’t help ourselves and laughed. She grinned and shot her arm in the air once more as if she were a student in a classroom begging to be called on.

“Can I just say that’s how you two met? Yeah?”

I don’t think it would have been very fair to deny her request, so I just smiled and nodded.

“Sure. It’s a lovely thought,” the words that slipped from my mouth were as warm as the fire itself.

Tigershark, seeming satisfied, yawned.

“I think I’m getting sleepy,” she announced through her yawn.

“Get plenty of rest, little one. Remember to stay warm,” Remora bid Tigershark well and the tyke shimmied away just behind and into the confines of the tent, where a thick and layered sleeping bag would welcome her. According to Remora, the tents themselves were well insulated and would keep us all warm, which she told us all that, “warmth is the most important thing.” Maybe she just said that because it was the one thing she was unable to feel.

At times, I wished we could all have a “Freaky Friday” moment so that her and I could swap bodies and I could figure out whether or not cold was the only thing she knew, or whether it would matter whose body she was in.

I turned my attention to Ray, who had one hand on his cheek, his attention turned to Remora.

“I think I know what it is about you that’s changed: you’re more comfortable around us than you used to be. Could it be that you’ve come enjoy our company?” He asked, with the inquisitive look that was so easy to get lost in.

“You know, I’m not really sure. Rather, I think this is how things should have been since the beginning: a relaxed atmosphere, with all of us working off of each others’ strengths and balancing out our weaknesses. It doesn’t have to be us getting along, but I admit in the beginning I was apprehensive, standoffish, even. I must’ve come off real angry much of the time, when in reality, I just wasn’t used to the company.”

“Well, it’s not like you didn’t have a good reason to be in the beginning,” my observational beloved replied. “You were somewhat of a hermit and a hunter, and there I showed up, out of the blue and under false pretenses of you being someone else.”

“Indeed. But it wasn’t as if I didn’t know said person, so you lucked out in a way.”

He raised his arm and looked down on it, then commented, “in other ways, not so much…”

“Whose fault was that? Hm?”

I sensed an argument brewing.

“Gee, I wonder,” he shot back. “Seeing as you’re the one who shot me.”

Demetria gasped. Did she really never know that? Well...she did now.

“It was a warning shot. At the time, you seemed suspicious, and I have a right to defend myself, no? If anything, you’re lucky you survived at all.”

“C’mon, you two, what happened to ‘I’d like for us all to get along?’” I snickered, while I stacked a few more marshmallows onto my stick.

Remora sighed. “Yes, you’re right. Thank you, somehow the party animal is also the voice of reason,” it appeared I too was hit in the crossfire of passive-aggressive jabs. Her attention then turned back to Ray. “Now that you mention it, what were the events that led to us meeting under those pretenses of yours?”

“Ah,” he looked up at the night sky; I couldn’t help but wonder if among all those stars, Astraea was in there somewhere. “Well, you know I’ve had some pretty weird people come through my diner, yes? Folks claiming to be time-travelers each with their own unbelievable stories to tell. I’d hear chatter about this woman named Rhea Flection. How she was this dangerous killer who had an icy cold stare and was this unstoppable, but quiet force. Then rumors started to float that she was around here, even though others commented about how she had died not too long ago. Even though some were relieved, others weren’t convinced. Some were scared, some were hoping the rumors were true, so they could kill her themselves out of revenge for something, or just to say that they could.”

“As for me, I rather enjoyed all the things I heard. I’ve met professional killers before, so I figured I’d have pretty good chances of working out some business deal with her. Of course, I did my research beforehand. I’d like to believe I came prepared, and I suspected there was a chance I’d get shot, though I wasn’t looking to die that day, so I had a chip implanted which would protect me from the special bullet she used. I figured she’d aim for the heart, though the chip must’ve dulled my sense of reason just a tad, because I forgot to bring any protection for the head.”

“And your hand,” Remora added.

“Yes, well, who would’ve thought?” He looked down at his hand. Ever since returning home, there would be occasional moments where he would complain that he could feel a stinging sensation. “Of course, it was probably for the best that it was the hand, as the way her bullets were said to work were that they would split upon contact and function as explosives, instead. So a blow to the shoulder, for instance, may not be such a guaranteed death sentence in other cases, but with one of those bullets, half of your body would have been blown to bits. So what the chip did was keep the bullet from splitting, and that way it could just zip past. However, I still should have gotten my hand treated, but that’s old news at this point.”

“He’d tell me about all the stories he heard about her, too!” I chimed in. “I thought it would be pretty cool to meet someone like that, even if I thought the chances of such a thing working out were slim. Like, hey, I thought, ‘maybe we’d hit it off and we could wrestle or something’, I dunno.”

“Oh sure, you hear rumors about a contract killer and your first thought is, ‘gee, I wanna go at it with her’?” Demetria scoffed. “Dunno ‘bout you, but that sounds ridiculous.” Irony sure could be delicious.

“So yeah,” Ray summed up. “I thought I could work my charisma and convince her, if that person really was her, to fulfill those little requests that Sunny and I would do, so that I could focus on the restaurant. That, and I figured that under my watch, she’d be safer from those trying to kill her.”

Remora had a dull glare on her face, as if she had parsed through everything that was said and was at a loss for words. Which wasn’t unusual for her, but even still, it seemed worth mentioning.

“To sum it up, you approach me expecting to be this other person, and your whole intention was to exploit me for your business? Yeah, I think even if I was that person, I’d have been just a tad bit miffed. Of course, you told me your intentions at the time, so it’s not like much of this is news.”

“Yeah, and I recall you refused the first time,” Ray reminded her. “I just want to let you know that if you decided to be with us because you felt obligated after I helped Tigershark recover, you should dispel such a thought. If at any point you feel like leaving, you are welcome to. You owe Sunny and I nothing.”

Remora hung her head low and smiled as she shook it.

“Whatever the case may be, I’m glad we’re all together in this moment. From here on out, I’d like to be more open, so feel free to ask me anything.”

That was quite a leap to make, a leap I wasn’t sure she was so ready to take. But it was at least admirable to make an attempt. As I released my marshmallows from their fiery prison, I tried to think up questions. There were all sorts of things I could have asked, things that could have meant little to nothing. That’s the problem, isn’t it? Now that there was the freedom to say anything, it was hard to think of anything to say.

Ray must have felt the same, and he looked down, hand on chin, lost in thought. It was Demetria who opened up the dialogue.

“While we’re on the subject, you said you knew Rhea. Well, knew of. I remember you saying you never actually saw her, but how much did you know about her? Besides the merciless killer stuff. Like, did you ever hear what her mannerisms were like? Or how she was outside of killing?” She began drilling Remora as she looked at the calm and shivery tall lady with a serious expression, all the while kicking her feet back and forth against the log and her tone, rather than the way the question was phrased, seemed to suggest that she wasn’t so much interested in Rhea as much as she wanted to paint a clearer picture of her.

Each of those things seemed to stand in contradiction to each other, yet I couldn’t help but be reminded of my talk with her during out trip to the temple. How I tried to get her to want to know more about Remora outside of the narrow image in her head. I wondered if Demetria was fond of that memory as well.

“I was hoping to avoid such questions,” Remora sighed. Well, it wasn’t so much a sigh so much as a profound, stretched out groan. “Gee, how do I answer this…”

“Sorry, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Demetria backpedaled. I wanted to be like “no, go on. Answer,” but that didn’t seem right.

“No, I will...hmm…” She thought her words over, then continued. “I think the thing is with the job those people had, always being on the move, target after target, cleaning up messes others left behind, it can get really blur together. They’d stay in cheap motels, or find spaces to take shelter in, but never really had what could be considered a ‘home’. Not to say that was the case with everyone, I’m sure some had places they went back to in-between jobs. It wasn’t too wise, because in such a line of work, it was all too easy to make enemies. Of course, there was also the headquarters we’d all meet up on occasion, and there were rooms for each person to rest in, much like the guest rooms at the diner.”

“I see,” Demetria replied. “How does this relate to her specifically?”

“Well, I imagine she didn’t have such a place, nor did she like to hang around the headquarters. Rather, she was the busybody type, never not on a mission. Little time to relax and if she was swift and merciless, it was only because she must have thought ‘let’s get this over with and move onto the next one’. The way people talked about her, I don’t think she was the angry type, just someone who wanted to get the job done. But that kind of life, not having a home, the only interaction being a violent one, it can get lonely.” As a sort of an afterthought, Remora added, “Not to say that I was lonely, though.”

Demetria nodded.

“Right, because you’re a different person.”

“But yeah, that kind of person, defining your life by your work...makes for a boring person, don’t you think?” Remora asked in a rather rhetorical manner.

“Perhaps,” Demetria looked down and sounded kinda wistful. “But if such a person was so boring, why are there people still interested?”

“I ask myself the same thing sometimes,” Remora replied. “I’m sure you were expecting me to tell you about her interests, or how she acted, and really, I’ve got next to nothing. I know people liked to joke about her, and say she talked like a robot, but I don’t really know. I might have heard at one point that she liked the Frozen movies, though I’m sure she only wished the lyrics to ‘Let it Go’ could apply to her.”

“I don’t get it.”

“There’s nothing to get. Not to say that the past should stay dead, but she’s dead and I find it’s easier to focus on who’s still alive.”

It was Ray’s turn now. After all that listening, he voiced his question:

“Do you have words you live by?”

“Sure,” she shrugged. “I believe that life is what you make of it.”

“Is that really what you believe? Or are you just saying that because Tigershark might be awake and you want her to feel good?” He pressed.

“Indeed, it’s just as you say. In truth, life doesn’t work that way at all. Sometimes there’s a shitty situation, something downright awful, that you can neither control nor change. No matter how you try to spin it, it won’t help you. Sometimes you just need to accept you’re in a shitty situation and one shouldn’t be blamed for reacting accordingly. Some pain heals, yes, but if you’re in the moment of receiving such pain, I don’t think you should be expected to grin and bear it. If you need to cry and scream, then do so. It’s not pessimistic to be aware of how bad things are and life isn’t going to care about your attitude toward it.”

“Interesting,” Ray nodded. “Whether I agree or disagree is irrelevant, but I can see why you would have such a point of view.”

“Some holes can’t be dug out of,” Remora added. “And it wouldn’t be fair to expect someone to dig themselves out when they don’t have a shovel.”

“Still, I think the whole ‘what you make of it’ just means that life is open to interpretation,” Ray replied, which I couldn’t have agreed more with. My life has been full of happiness, but also hardships. For what it was worth, it was the present moment I felt best about, but there had to be a series of events that lead to this moment as well. Moments themselves were such a limited setting.

None of us could see far past our current surrounding, yet we all knew too well the dangers that could lurk. Being out in the dark, our only source of light being a flame, carried a risk. Likewise, my thoughts must have carried over into the environment as a sudden and brisk wind pushed past us.

“S-So cold!” Demetria breathed out the words through her teeth as she rubbed her hands together and shivered.

“That’s how it is for me all the time,” Remora looked over. In response, Demetria shot up and pounded her chest.

“Oh yeah? If you can handle it, then so can I!” She announced, so proud, though the gusts almost pushed her off from where she sat.

“You shouldn’t have to handle it if you don’t have to. It’s also not something that I’m used to; only that I have no choice, as I live with it.”

Just as soon as it came, the breeze died down, and although the temperature had not gone up, it was one less thing for us to worry about. There was a great lull between the four of us, as if any topic we could have found to speak of had died out. In its place was a maddening silence where not even the crackle of the fire could be heard.

Remora was the one to break the silence, just as she had done more talking over the course of the night than she did since I met her.

“You’re probably thinking the same thing as me right now, aren’t you?” She glanced Demetria’s way, and in turn, Demetria nodded.

“Indeed, but I don’t think it’s such a good idea with other people watching,” she spoke with such a seriousness for something that was in most likelihood not what Remora was thinking.

“No, not that,” Remora shook her head.

Looks like I was right on the money with that one. Still, what could she be thinking about?

“Oh. Right. The other thing,” Demetria replied, then looked around. “It’s unusually quiet right now.”

I blinked. That’s what it was? A case of “it’s quiet. Too quiet”?

“It is?” I asked, rather dumbfounded. “I mean, we can hear each other talk right now, can’t we? And if there was any danger, I’m sure we’d hear it.”

“That’s the thing – It’s not us we can’t hear. It’s the environment. There should at least be something, right? An animal moving, the trees rustling, anything. Even the fire I can’t really hear. It’s just us, and I don’t know about you, but it’s pretty creepy,” Demetria remarked.

Remora nodded.

“It may not mean anything, but it comes off as a bad omen, nonetheless. We should get some rest soon, but let’s be on our guard.”

Then, the seriousness wore down and Demetria hung her head low.

“Sorry about the other thought,” she apologized.

“Don’t worry about it,” Remora reassured her, then let slip a chuckle. “Mainly it’s impractical.”

“Wait, what were YOU thinking about?!” Demetria balked.

That prompted Remora to break into a hearty laugh, and she concluded by saying. “Never mind it.”

“Okay, seriously,” I couldn’t keep it held in any more. “Did something happen between you two?”

Demetria looked up and tried to do a whistle, but it was clear she never learned to whistle, as it came out as just an exaggerated blowing noise.

“We had a private moment in my room, but I won’t say any more on the matter,” she folded her arms and looked away in defiance.

“Basically we just talked,” Remora then went on to explain. “And yeah, I’d rather not discuss the contents, but when I said I wanted to get along with everyone, I meant everyone.”

I opened my mouth, as I still had questions, but Ray stopped me.

“It’s getting late, and some mysteries are better left unsolved, wouldn’t you say, dear?”

“You’re right,” I relented. Damn it, I was too curious to let it go, but I knew I needed the rest. “Goodnight, you two.”

It was just the day after Ray returned from the hospital that preparations were underway. He had told me the plan that he and Remora discussed while in the hospital, though much like the talk she had with Demetria, I felt it best not to disclose any details. In fact, I suspected that part of the ‘talk’ Remora had pertained to the mission at hand.

In any case, more details were out in the open the very next morning, when Ray looked through the stack of papers with requests and came across one about an abandoned mine. He read it aloud, then muttered, “what’s this?”

Remora then gathered us all together and announced that she had been the one to make the request.

“I’m willing to give you guys all the money I have if you investigate this mine with me,” she stated, and I placed my hand over my mouth as I tried to act surprised.

“Just for that? What for?” I did my best forced gasp I could come up with.

“Simple: I know for a fact that mine wasn’t there before, yet somehow it exists now, and acts as if it had been there this whole time. As if it has a history here. Sound familiar?”

“Don’t remind me,” Demetria growled, something I found atypical for her, but she must have had that mansion incident in mind.

“When I first came across it, it was in disrepair,” Remora elaborated. “I could see little caverns and pathways inside. There’s no telling how it is now, but there’s something not right about it.”

“So we go together, investigate, and if anything comes up, that’s it, we’re done?” I tried to sum it up.

“More or less. But I also suspect that those monsters we saw, no, have been seeing, has something to do with this. If possible, I would like to put an end to this.”

“Well what are we waiting for?!” I raised my fists in the air. “I’m all pumped and rarin’ to go! This is right up my alley!”

She shook her head.

“It’s right up everyone’s alley, and if my suspicion is correct, then no person alone, me included, would be equipped to go. However, it’s a fact that we all have varying degrees of experience and some of us are more fragile than others. With that in mind, I want to make sure we’re all prepared before we set off. I’ll give you all until the end of the week. Does that sound fair?”

We all agreed to it, although I wasn’t really sure a week would have been long enough. That said, I didn’t know how much time would be needed to prepare us all.

Throughout the week, I caught glimpses of Demetria practicing acrobatics: rolling around outside, climbing the sides of the house, jumps from side to side. Little things like that. At one point she had gotten on the roof, and before I could yell at her to come down, she had jumped off, and landed in a slide. Needless to say, she still fell, but the damage was little more than scratches. Owe it to the soft ground, I suppose.

Tigershark and I practiced in the basement, where I set up some punching bags for us. When the weather was nice enough, I’d grab a baseball from the attic and I’d tell her to try to hit it as hard as she could without the hammer, and not to worry if it missed, just to keep trying to hit as hard as she could. I didn’t think she understood the purpose, but I could tell she still had fun.

Also from the attic, I grabbed my old lasso. Yes, was it really such a surprise at this point? The comparisons to Indiana Jones were already overwhelming enough, and that wasn’t even the reason I got into the thing. It was just that when I was a kid, I liked to pretend I was a cowboy and wrangle up anything around the house. Many ceramic and glass vases were broken. Then, when I was about Demetria’s age, I would go around urban exploring. Things kinda escalated from there…Anyway, for the finishing touch, I fitted myself with some elbow pads.

Then there was Ray. I asked him what he had been up to, which he stated that his role was more minimal than the rest of us. He wouldn’t elaborate, and I was fine with that. Some things didn’t need an explanation.

Once the day finally came, we all met in front of the diner. Each of us had some kind of weapon, Ray included. He held an old rifle, and Remora, surprised, asked about it.

“You know, I’m something of a sniper, myself,” he replied with a smirk on his face.

“Oh really?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a soda can, then tossed it into the air. Just as he did that, he aimed the rifle toward the can and squinted, then shot it.

“It’s all about accuracy,” he stated with a shrug, then fastened the rifle on his back. “Anyway, I don’t expect too much from me.”

Before we even made it a few paces past the door, Remora stopped us.

“I should warn you all right now, this will probably be more than a day’s trip. I’ve packed multiple tents and sleeping bags which should keep us all plenty warm, but if any of you aren’t ready to make the trek, I suggest you stay home now.”

Demetria raised her hand.

“Yes? You want to stay home?” Remora inquired.

“Not that. I just want to know, where are these so-called tents?”

Now that was a question I didn’t think to ask, but in hindsight, probably should have.

Remora pulled out a couple of cubes from her pocket.

“Think of these things like pokeballs. Inside one of them are four compressed tents. The other holds five sleeping bags. When I press and release this button, they will spring forth.”

“I don’t understand, but at this point, I can’t say I’m surprised,” Demetria responded. After that, we got a move on. What followed was a long walk which seemed to go nowhere, and we remained undisturbed throughout. Every now and then I noticed some wolves, or foxes, but they didn’t disturb us, and ran off after taking a look at us. Tigershark couldn’t stand walking very far, so after a while, she’d ride on Remora’s shoulders. Then my shoulders. Then Ray’s. I think she was just being passed around like a hot potato.

Once the sun started to set, we set up camp out in a spot that looked way too convenient: two logs right next to each other, and fallen branches all over. Remora and I pushed the logs apart from each other, Tigershark and Ray gathered sticks to throw in a pile, and Demetria lit the fire. After we had a light supper, Remora released the tents and sleeping bags from the cubes, and just as she said, they appeared, fully formed and everything, before us.

Now that the night had come to an end and all of us were in our tents after marshmallow roasting and various conversations, I couldn’t help but feel just a little on edge. Funny, huh? Such a relaxed atmosphere and I really enjoyed us all getting along, but at the same time, it just felt wrong.

I turned to Ray.

“Are you sure we can trust Remora?” I asked in a near whisper.

“It’s not a good idea to trust anyone,” he mumbled, half-asleep. To his credit, he managed to add, “you’re cool, though.”

“Thanks, but I ate the last bagel the other day,” I admitted. Through sheer force of will, I got back on topic. “OK, but why did you agree to this if you aren’t sure of her intentions?”

“Mostly just to see if I could still find any enjoyment out of things like this. What about you?”

“I thought it would be fun. It’s not really you or I that I’m worried about. It just starts to get complicated when there’s more people involved.”

“That it does,” he agreed.

I didn’t know what bothered me exactly. Maybe it had been silence earlier. Or a general sense of uneasiness. But it was the journey, not the destination, after all, and where was the fun in being certain of everything?

However, she seems like the type to abhor uncertainty.

I let that thought simmer before it faded away, as I drifted off to sleep.

In the morning we continued onward. All of our stuff was packed away, we shared a light breakfast, and stretched before making our move.

It must have taken about an hour with little resistance from the weather when we finally approached a cave off the side of a cliff. At the entrance was a door all boarded up with the words written “turn back now – none may enter.”

Really, a simple “private property” would have been enough, not that any of us would have listened.

“Well, you read the sign, let’s go back home,” Demetria’s words rushed out in a fearful flurry, accompanied by swift gestures for us to go the other way.

“If you want to, by all means,” Remora joked.

“Oh no! Nu-uh! No way! I’m not saying I want to, I’m saying we all should go, I mean, the sign even says so!”

Despite her protests, the rest of us pulled the boards apart and Tigershark pounded her hammer at the door until finally, it broke open. From the new opening came a cloud of dust which prompted us all to cover our mouths.

Once the dust faded, we all walked in, though Demetria was reluctant.

“Will you do it for a Scooby Snack?” Remora joked.

“Not funny,” she groaned back.

“Aw, I thought it was funny,” Remora shot back.

At last she followed us in, and I heard her mutter, “you already know what snack I’d do it for.”

Throughout the mine shaft, there was a faint, blue glow that kept us from being in total darkness. We all looked around at every moment and listened for even the faintest of sounds. No signs around me pointed to the place being used as an action mine; no tracks, incomplete or otherwise. No carts. No pickaxes or other left behind equipment. The only sure sign was the boards overhead, with deep enough cracks to signify that the place could collapse at any moment.

Then the growls came. Faint at first, but in varying pitches. Yet so far, there was still no movement other than ourselves. Now Remora was more cautious as well, and her shivering seemed to grow more intense. She turned to Demetria through stilted motions.

“Keep Tigershark safe,” she told her.

“You can count on me,” Demetria nodded and assured.

“I know I can,” were the last words spoken before three beasts, similar to the ones we’ve faced before rushed in from three different directions; one entered from the right, another the left, and the third straight ahead of us. We prepared ourselves right away, with Ray and Remora both backed behind a pillar on each side of the wall, I stood with the lasso, swung it around, then flung it forward as it wrapped itself around the neck of the beast in the middle. I tugged at the lasso and watched as the beast fell and slid against the cave floor.

Both of the beasts on the sides were shot at the same time in the heads, and they too fell. Tigershark was about to rush in to whack the beast that I had lassoed when its head lifted up and opened its mouth wide to bite into Tigershark. Demetria grabbed the hood of Tigershark’s parka and pulled her back.

“See, this is what I was afraid of,” Demetria let loose a heavy sigh.

It pushed itself back up to its feet and reeled its head back to yank away at the lasso. I held on, and tried to tug back at it, but its strength proved to be too much.

“Damn it, and here I thought things were going to be easy,” I winced. Seeing as my weapon was now taken from me, I saw no other option: I cracked my knuckles and gave off a grin. “Looks like it’s time to bring out the ol’ fisticuffs!”

All three of them stood once more and let out an unearthly roar. While the others were blown by the force, I charged through and gave the beast with my lasso around its neck a good uppercut, which knocked the creature back. One of the other ones tried to swipe at me, but I held up my arms and the elbow pads blocked any such damage the creature would have inflicted.

Tigershark and Demetria worked together to fend off the one which had taken my lasso. Likewise, Ray continued to take shots at the creature to the left, which did little more than slow its movements. Meanwhile, Remora rushed into the creature and pulled out a pair of metallic claws and strapped them onto her hands. She rammed her weight into the creature and dug the claws into its side, which made it let out a shriek which sounded like numerous animals (primates, dogs and cats alike, lions and birds) in pain, but not any one animal that beast resembled.

I kept my attention on the beast which continued to swipe away as I saw no opening to fight back. Then, a blast erupted which tore off the creature’s head from the rest of it, and chunks of its body flew out. She stood near me, with her own rifle in hand, and had shot its neck. I was lucky not to have suffered any damages, myself, but the resulting blast knocked me down.

As I got back up, I noticed the shrunken eye of the remaining creature’s skeletal head look Remora’s way, and upon noticing that the others had fallen, it ceased fending off the two little ones, which I never did get to assess the damage they made, and fled.

“No,” Remora growled. “Not this time.”

She chased after the fleeing creature, and the rest of us followed behind.

“There might be more where those came from,” Ray cautioned. “Let’s continue to watch out for each other.”

“Oh, I’m sure at this point, we can take ‘em!” I boasted, rather proud of what little I managed to get in, even if I didn’t land the finishing blow.

But, to our relief or disappointment, the path ahead was linear. No other creature appeared and there seemed to be no pathways on either side of us for any to enter from, which raised the question as to how two of them managed to appear from the sides.

Out of breath, we managed to catch up to Remora, and we all stood in a wide clearing in the cave. No other opening seemed to exist, and all around us were stone columns connected from the floor to the ceiling and stalactites overhead.

“It’s a dead end…” I muttered.

Which means the mystery continues to remain unsolved, with even more questions remaining. We haven’t yet figured it out, and the only answer I saw was “this isn’t it”.

“Come on, let’s go,” I urged Remora. “There’s nothing here.”

Not even a treasure of some sort. At least a clue as to anywhere else to go would’ve been nice, but nope. No such thing.

“No. I refuse to believe that. There’s no way that thing just disappeared. I won’t accept that,” Remora said at last, her voice taken on a dejected tone.

I felt the need to urge her more, something I never thought I’d have to do.

“Look, this trip has been fun and I know you wanted to bring an end to this, but there’s always another trip. We can figure this out together,” I did my best to sound encouraging, but it really seemed like at that point, not a word would budge her.

“This has to end,” her voice raised just a little. She sounded more resolute than before. “Now.”

I was torn. To her the destination must have been the most important thing, but I didn’t know how else to get around the fact that there was nothing left to see. It wasn’t like we could leave her there, either, not when she had the tents, and the trip back would also take more than a day.

We were at a literal standstill, and it wasn’t until she spoke up once more that it seemed like we were finally ready to head back.

“I really am glad you all are gathered here,” her icy and dispassionate voice spoke otherwise.

I nodded. So was I, and with any hope, everyone else was glad to share such a trip together as well, even if the end proved to be fruitless.

#writing #slice of life #camping trip #adventure #relaxing #action #mystery #remoras full #fiction

2 notes · View notes

xonxsm · 4 years

Text

pastel || bnha x male! reader

---》three《---

where [m/n] and friends battle against buff ugly lookin doods, and [m/n] finds a (possible) new power.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[m/n] sighed contently as he sat back into his seat comfortably, making sure to keep a distance from the ice prince sitting next to him. he turned the brightness of his phone darker as he tuned out the voices of his classmates, searching up collar designs.

i want it, i get it. ooh, this one looks nice- nevermind. weird having the 'thot' word printed on my collar-

wow, how did i end up with bdsm pics when i searched for dog collars? damn people be putting weird things on the internet-

meanwhile, todoroki was sweating, lightly blushing and nervously shuffling in his seat after seeing the nudes and collars on [m/n]'s phone. didn't know he was into that shi- kinky though, maybe we can hookup or somethin-

and they had a one night stand. the end.

jk, todoroki saw nothing.

[m/n] came across an [f/c] collar that claimed to be both fireproof and waterproof, and not easily breakable. it was plain, but it came with accessories and some decorating kit. eh, i'll probably be too lazy to alter anything about it-

he pressed the add to cart button anyways. no harm, hehe- i can always buy another one if i don't like it-

quickly paying for the collar, he shut his phone off as he quietly listened in to his classmates' conversation.

"in terms of flashy quirks- i'd say bakugou's and todoroki's, no?"

toedowroeki? bakoogoe? who?

"but with bakugou's personality i don't think he will be that popular, if you know what i mean." a girl said with a finger on her mouth.

oh- bakugo = boomboom boy! can't believe i forgot. (-w-) bakuboom boom yes. but who is this toedoroekie guy?

"bitch, you wanna fight?" bakuboom stood up quickly with an irk mark, clenching his fists.

"see?"

（o。o）he's gonna blow up the whole bus and we're all gon die if he gets any angrier- looking over to the bi-coloured haired boy he deadpanned. how is he sleeping through all this shouting and such-

"we've barely known each other for a week but we can already tell your personality is worse than trash drenched in dog shit. that says something, no?" just as bakugou was about to throw another insult back at kaminari aizawa shushed them, informing that they were about to arrive.

getting off the bus they were greeted by thirteen, another pro hero. [m/n] looked around confused to where all might was, but shrugged it off as he listened to thirteen's speech about usj and the importance of rescue. they followed thirteen inside, with an excited kirishima marvelling about the huge place and thirteen proudly saying about how they had every rescue situation they could think of.

the lights flickered and the exit door shut once thirteen stopped talking. [m/n] quickly hid behind a certain buff dude with a bunch of arms, his tail and ears slightly shaking. confused muttering filled the small group. flashes of some dark void thingy had chills run up [m/n]'s spine. a dark mist started forming and that triggered [m/n]'s animal instincts- he got on all fours as [h/c] hair started growing on his arms, his hands mutating to form paws and claws. weird looking people started emerging from the mist and he slightly growled, feeling a little self-conscious of the weird glances his classmates gave him.

what? c'mon, don't tell me you haven't seen or heard a dog growl before in your whole life-

"students, stay back. thirteen, protect everyone!" aizawa ordered. [m/n] was itching to run up there and start slashing but for the sake of his teacher he stepped back, sitting on the floor. like a normal person.

"we've come to finally defeat all might." a man with blue hair and creepy red eyes stated quietly as he scratched at his nape.

forcing himself to run with his classmates he didn't dare look behind to the creepy look and aura the light blue-haired man gave off; and suddenly there was darkness.

then light. [m/n] opened his eyes to see a white room, with a grey desk and bookshelf; along with a few dying flowers scattered around. he felt sad looking at the flowers, and was about to pick one up before a voice interrupted. "lmaoz wat." getting on all fours again he was about to growl, but instead let out a burp.

"E-" lunging himself at the weird voice he scratched at the dude's face while trying to bite his neck. successfully doing that he latched himself on there as he analysed the weird man. emo haircut. wow, this dude do kinda look like a pig tho- with those nostrils-

pig-man ripped [m/n] off from his neck, with his teeth pulling a chunk with him as he slammed onto the ground, spitting out the disgusting raw neck meat. the man pulled out a gun, randomly firing at [m/n] as the hybrid dodged, jumping around, his ears picking up on the man's footsteps and the bullet's location as he tried to find an exit. finally locating an open window he jumped out of there, clearly not thinking of his actions. quickly regretting as he saw how fast he was falling from such a height.

"ZCREEEENSDNFKSDNFSKDN-" somehow, his tail latched onto a random pole and he flung himself forward, also smacking his face into a random dude's crotch while doing so. "OWIE!" he landed on his butt with a thud, holding his nose in pain as the dude knelt in pain, holding his crotch. another thud was heard, accompanied by a small "wheeeey."

he looked behind, spotting a two girls- one with long earlobes and the other with a revealing outfit, while a blonde was on the ground making weird "weee" noises. [m/n] let out a nervous chuckle as he felt himself being picked up by the ears, scratching around, hating the feeling of being held in the air. his ears hurt- it felt like they were being ripped from his head. he hissed waving his tail and claws around. he heard the man groan as his tail smacked him in the face.

a knife was pressed to his neck and he froze, his eyes wide. i regret my life. i regret applying to yuuei. IM GON' DIE RIGHT AAA-

"you move, this kid is going down." villain guy said calmly. if [m/n] moved forwards, his neck will be sliced. but if he moved backwards-

but then my ears might not be able to handle all the pressure... [m/n] whimpered, his scalp starting to bleed. ah, fuck it. i'm gonna die anyways, either from my ears or the knife.

he harshly yanked his head backwards, his head knocking onto the villain's nose harshly. with a gasp his ears was released and [m/n] dropped to the floor, his hands automatically reaching up to touch his ears; hissing when a sharp pain travelled through his body as he touched the tip of them.

he was quickly shoved out of the way as kaminari rushed up to the villain, releasing more electricity as he screeched, the villain getting singed. they all zoomed out of there, [m/n] throwing all of them onto his back as he morphed himself into a wolf, carrying them back near where the exit was.

<<>><<>><<>>

he collapsed onto the ground, his head aching after the three got off his back. a weird bird like creature was slamming aizawa's head onto the ground. he could faintly make out the outline of someone reaching for a girl in the waters but his vision was too blurry for him to see who. "you really are cool... eraserhead." [m/n] watched as the head of his teacher was slammed back onto the ground again, his vision clearing up. and being the guard dog he is-

he got up, speed-ran to the bird creature and head-butted right into its stomach. full speed. the nomu was knocked off aizawa but besides that no damage was dealt. he was picked up the second time by his ears- and thrown off into the distance.

wincing he got back up, ignoring his teacher's calls for him to back up and "sit the fuck down and rest" as he rammed right into the nomu again, this time higher into his chest. he somehow managed to land a hit near where the nomu's brain is with his tail before he was slammed onto the ground near where aizawa was. he laid still as the nomu went up to where shigaraki was and began attacking the other students.

aizawa was fading in and out of consciousness- as [m/n] could tell from his decayed arm and the blood on his face. he wasn't doing any better, but aizawa looked as if he was more hurt than [m/n] ever will be.

lol, i mean i wasn't the one to get my skin ripped off my arm with it decaying and my head slammed full force into the ground that it would cause a huge dent- looking back to where he laid, a huge dent was formed under him. never frikkin mind.

i wonder if there's any way i could transfer sensei's pain to myself. that's part of moma's quirk, right? my quirk and hers is quite similar, except that she's a full wolf instead of being part bunny and wolf like i am. [m/n] sighed, thinking about his family. they probably wouldn't even care if i died, lmao.

remembering his mother telling his brother about her quirk he copied what she had said- lifting a finger to touch aizawa's skin and focusing on the image of what he envisions the "pain" as coming out of aizawa's body and into his. he could hear his teacher grumble out questions on why his student was poking his hand and he removed his hand, sighing and realising it probably didn't work until a sudden pain in his head caused a static-like noise filled his head and he passed out from the pain, his ears and tail falling limp by his side.

aizawa could feel the pain from his head lessen. he had questions, but frankly, his jaw was too hurt for him to even move it. he looked down slightly, seeing the passed out new kid and he sighed, his sight darkening as he felt himself getting picked up and carried.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

word count: 1780

this part was probably the hardest to write and the plot probably makes no sense lmao-

i already forgot like most of the usj parts and i had to rewatch the whole thing like thirty times more to write this chapter and now my eyes hurt from sitting in front of the computer for so long.

yeet i have decided that i will write a chapter every two or three days- ya know to keep my memory of the storyline in check and at the same time letting myself rest for a day.

see y'alls next time :>

#bnha #mha #yaoi #bxb #anime #manga #kaminari #midoriya #bakugo #todoroki #kirishima #aizawa #quirk

12 notes · View notes

xxgoblin-dumplingxx · 4 years

Text

Off Day: Seventeen

Bucky stared at his phone and felt a little light-headed from the speed at which blood had poured into his erection when he opened your message. It was a picture, one that he had asked for on his “To-Do List” that he made.

He knew you liked to torment him, however sweetly. You’d embraced flirting with him quickly and had just as quickly embraced sending him flirty pictures. This one though. It was filthy. One of the things he had put on there that would take you some prep time if you decided to take it for him. A way for you to stay distracted if you got overwhelmed. Or sad. Or any of the other feelings that tended to exacerbate your symptoms.

It made his mouth go dry and his fingers trembled as he tried to type a response. It was a pin-up photo. Artful but undeniably sexy. You were kneeling in front of a mirror in the middle of putting makeup on. Nude but for a pair of heels and the choker he’d bought you. The one with the blue jewel set in gold on a piece of black velvet ribbon. You’d fallen in love with it and protested him buying it. But, it was worth it. You’d changed the jewelry in your nipple piercings to match it. Your thighs were slightly parted and he could just barely see the pink of your folds. But the thing that made him throb was when his eye was drawn down to your plush bottom. He could see the wink of a jewel. Of a toy he’d told you to use. It was beautiful. It made him feel like he was standing behind you, waiting for you to get ready. Watching you. Admiring you from afar.

“Barnes,” Clint said snatching his phone, “Quit lookin’ at porn. You’ll be home tomorrow.”

Clint glanced down at his phone and recoiled, “Oh shit,” he tossed the phone back at Bucky like he’d been shocked, “God. What? Fuck. How do you get a girl to do that?”

“Ask nicely,” Bucky said blushing a little.

“Do you think Nat would do that for me?” Clint asked

“Do what? Nat asked sitting across from them.

“Take dirty pictures and send them to me,” Clint said.

Nat shot Bucky a look, “Bucky!”

“I didn’t show him,” Bucky protested, “Clint took my fucking phone.”

“Was it at least pretty?” Nat asked clint, smirking.

“Very artistic. She put some effort in. I mean. In another life she woulda made a good alt model.” he said, cheeks coloring a little.

Bucky can’t look at either one of them right now. He feels a little like he might have betrayed your trust by Clint getting a peek at you. He promised they’d only be for him.

“I’m not tellin’ her I saw shit though,” Clint said, “I just thought Bucky was watching porn hub. I didn’t know he was doing some freaky shit with his girl.”

Nat snorted, “Oh,” she said, “So you did make a list.”

Bucky nodded, smiling a little, “Yeah,” he said, “thanks for putting that idea in her head.”

Nat grinned, “You’re welcome... We were talking about her doing makeup to distract herself... I was kinda kidding when I suggested dirty pictures but it worked. She likes making you happy. Or teasing you. I’m not sure which.”

“Yes,” Bucky answered nodding. Still blushing. But, it was nice knowing that you and Nat did girl things. Nat didn’t spend much time around women. They irritated her. At least. Most of the women in the bar did. They were pretend tough girls. Bitches. They might ride bikes and drink but they were really boring to her. She liked women that were smart and individual. Not mean girls. She had enough of those in High School.

Nat snorted, “Nice,” she said, “I knew she was a keeper.”

Bucky picked up his phone to message you back, saving the picture for later in the secret file on his phone

He lavishes praise on you. You’re beautiful and perfect. That picture is hot. It’s so sexy he doesn’t know how he’s gonna sleep tonight looking at it. And thank you so much for showing him.

_______

Bucky is glad to be home. It’s chilly outside but it’s warm inside the clubhouse. He’s missed you and he wanted to go straight to White Rabbit to see you but you made him promise not to. You had something you were working on for him, apparently in a back room and didn’t want him to see it. He was itching to see you. It had been three days and he hadn’t slept well the whole time. He’d not realized how used to you he’d gotten. How much better he slept next to you. He sipped his beer and watched the clock, counting seconds until you’d wander through the door.

You were always welcome, even when Bucky wasn’t there just by virtue of being a sweetheart who always paid her tab in full. And by being friendly to Nat and generally patient when waiting for a drink. They all liked you. Even the ones that didn’t remember you from school. If only because you did what they couldn’t do and got Bucky out of a bad relationship. He finished his beer and ordered his second, going to join Steve and Sam at the pool table, trying to kill time until you would be there. It worked. He’d hardly looked at the clock.

He was honestly surprised when you burst through the door, wearing a green pleated skirt and white blouse. Hair up in a bun behind your head and pretty red lips. Knee socks and cute little heeled oxfords. You look like a librarian. Out of place in the bar. Still, when you bolt into his arms and wrap your legs around his waist easily, he chuckles against your lips as you tangle your hands in his hair. He can’t stop you and he doesn’t want to. He hefts you up and ignores the jeers and whoops. There’s nothing but you. Your perfume. The feel of your eager, hungry lips against his. When you come up for air he grins, “Miss me?” he asked, teasing.

“So much,” you say smiling, a little breathless.

“Is this outfit for me?” he asks, kissing your nose.

“Do you like it? I did some shopping when I was up in Red Key.” you look uncertain and he smiles. You have an aesthetic. One you never had enough money to dress for. He really likes watching you build your dream closet a little at a time. Even if he has to threaten to punish you if you don’t buy whatever you’re drooling over occasionally. You deserve it and he likes knowing you feel pretty. He also likes wrapping his leather jacket around you when you’re chilly. He likes how big it is on you and the way it clashes with your neat, pretty style.

“I love it,” he rumbles, “You look real good baby girl. I’m a lucky man, coming home to such a beautiful girl.”

You flush at the praise and he kisses your nose again, “Did you buy yourself anything else?”

“Some pretties and I got my nails done,” you tell him.

He whistles softly and smiles, “Good to know the money I gave you to run around with went to good use, Princess,” he praised. You hadn’t asked but he’d made sure to give you a little something just to entertain yourself with. He’d left it on your dresser in the jar you kept to save up for this or that.

You tilt your head, “Oh no. I used that to get you something,” you say smiling, kissing his cheek. “I had a ton of money in my Princess fund so I used what you left me for something else.”

“Y/N,” he scolded, “You were supposed to use that on something for you.”

“I did. It made me happy buying you something,” you murmur, cheeks coloring.

He swatted your backside affectionately, “Why’re you so sweet, huh?”

“I dunno,” you answer, wiggling to be put down.

“Nuh-uh,” he said, shifting you onto his shoulder and carrying you over to the bar to sit with you on his lap, “Have a glass of wine with me?” he asked.

You sigh, “Not today,,” you say shaking your head. Bucky kisses your head and signals to Nat to put it on his tab as she pours a coke for you. She kept a four-pack of Mini bottles and one wine glass. You were the only one that drank wine, when you did drink and it tickled her.

“Thank you,” you tell her, smiling and raising your glass in toast. “I still don’t understand how the fuck you walked into a biker bar and ordered wine,” she teased.

“Well, you stock it now don’t you?” you answer.

“Only because it’s you and we feel bad making fun of you.”

You shrug, “Much like the sloth, my plan for survival seems to be being as pathetic as possible so that bigger badder people leave me alone.”

Natasha snorted. She could appreciate that you were yourself. You didn’t like beer and wouldn’t pretend to fit in. You’d sip your glass of wine and crack quiet jokes.

“Pathetic?” Sam gasped scandalized, teaching across the bar to grab another bottle, “You’ve successfully whipped the most unrepentant man whore I have ever met AND you get to talk back to Natasha and live.”

“He wasn’t a man whore,” you say leaning against Bucky’s side, “He just didn’t know better.”

“And I’m pretty sure she’s the one that’s whipped,” Steve snickered.

Your cheeks burn and Natasha winces sympathetically, “Steve,” she says, spraying him with seltzer, “You’re fucking Stark so you should probably let the two of them just have their French vanilla sex and enjoy it.”

Bucky tilts your chin up and kisses you softly, cuddling you close and casually flipping off the guys that are D’aww-ing loudly. He’s never understood why guys act like assholes to their girls in public. You deserved soft all the time. You deserved to be able to look to him to feel safe whether or not his friends could see him.

“Shut up, ya animals,” Nat sighed.

______________________

Bucky walked into the house and set his bag down by the door then set you down on the table, standing between your legs and putting his chilled hands on your thighs, rubbing tenderly to warm them up. You shiver and he chuckles, “I missed you, Princess,” he murmurs, kissing your nose.

“I missed you too, daddy,” you answer, hiding your face in his abs.

“You were a handful while I was gone,” he chuckles, “I loved all the pretty pictures you sent me.”

“You did?”

“I did,” he praised, “Lost a lot of sleep wishing I was here to admire how perfect you are in person.”

You beam up at him and he takes the pins out of your hair carefully, letting it fall down to your shoulders. “You’re so perfect,” he hummed, kissing your nose.

Your cheeks color and you nuzzle his abs again, “Can I give you your present now?”

He chucks you under the chin, “You mean the present I told you not to buy?”

“But-” Your face falls and he tickles your side, making you giggle.

“No, no being sad,” he tuts, “Of course you can Princess.” He helps you off the table and listens to your shoes hit the floor outside the door and then listens to you scamper up the stairs. You’re excited. Thrilled about whatever this is and Bucky braces himself. Even if he hates whatever it is, he’s not gonna tell you. Not ever. You’re too sweet and he knows that whatever it is you saw it and thought it was perfect for him. That’s enough.

He helps himself to a beer and waits, listening to the rustling coming from upstairs. He shakes his head and settles into a kitchen chair waiting. When you come back downstairs with a black gift bag in your hand he smirks. You always tried so hard not to make things too feminine for him. He appreciated it but honestly, he wasn’t phased. He’d carry your purse and not even blink. He was a big scary biker. Ain’t no one saying shit.

“What’s this, huh?” he said pulling you onto his knee and taking tissue paper out of the bag and tossing it aside.

You’re practically vibrating with excitement and he pulls the gift out of the bag. It’s a leather jacket. A tiny leather jacket. Like baby-sized. Bucky stops and looks at you. Your hands are over your mouth and you’re watching him waiting on his reaction. “Princess,” he said, not quite able to breathe, “I don’t think this is my size.”

He definitely can’t breathe. He can’t think. If you’re telling him what he thinks you’re saying he has to protect you. He has to keep you safe.

“Bucky I-” you start and he can hear the anxiety in your voice and that hurts. He forces himself to smile and wipes a stray happy tear off your cheek.

“I thought you were on birth control,” he said, feeling like his lips are numb.

“And they put me on antibiotics for my sinus infection- I- I’m sorry. I didn’t- I’m sorry.” You’re starting to cry in earnest now, springing off of his lap and covering your face with your hands.

“Sweetheart,” he soothed, holding his hands out for you to take, “I just- I’m surprised. I think- I think I might have gone into shock for a second.” It’s breaking his heart to see you cry. He hates it. He can’t. It makes him think about all the times you cried and he wasn’t there to dry your tears. “Please, baby girl,” he coaxes, “Please don’t cry. Not like this. I’m sorry. I’m happy I promise.”

“No, you��re not,” you sniffle, wiping your eyes on the back of your hand and wrapping your arms around yourself.

He crosses the floor to you and passes you a clean handkerchief from the inside pocket of his jacket. You take it and he kisses your head while you bow your head and try to rein in all your emotions. Something Bucky still appreciates about your crying. It’s always real. He gives you the time you need before he starts talking again. Taking just a second to decide what to say. And rein in his own panic. His own irrational fear. His dad left. He didn’t know how to be a dad. He could barely take care of himself. How would he teach his son? And oh god, what if it was a girl? What would he do?

When you look up at him though, he can’t think about that. All he knows is he has to fix this for you. You’re his. This baby is his. And this isn’t about him. Not really. You’re trusting him. Giving him this. You could have had an abortion and not told him and he’d never know. You’re looking up at him, uncertain and scared and he realizes with a jolt that he wasn’t the only one that was scared, you’d just had some time to adjust to it. Some time to decide you could do this. With him.

“You’re right,” he says softly, “I’m not happy. I’m terrified.” He kneels in front of you and nuzzles your belly, kissing gently. You pet his hair, waiting. “I don’t- I don’t really know what to do with kids ya know? My dad left- a bunch of times. I don’t really know how to be a dad. I mean. Until recently I was drunk every night and fucking a bunch of different girls.” He looks up at you and smiles a little, “But if I can do this with anyone, Y/N, I can do it with you.”

“Really?” you whimper, tucking hair behind his ear.

“Really.”

“Promise?” you hold out your pinky and he links his pinky through yours, pressing his lips to your thumb and pressing his thumb against it to lock it.

“I promise, Princess,” he said getting to his feet slowly and wrapping his arms around you, “I only get one chance. I’m not gonna fuck this up. Not now that I fooled you into thinking I’m a nice guy.”

You roll your eyes but giggle, making him swat your bottom affectionately. “When did you find out?” he asks softly, setting you on the counter and taking a cool cloth to your face gently.

“About 15 minutes before the girls showed up with pizza for our sleepover,” you murmur.

He kisses your nose, “Have you seen a doctor?”

“Not yet but. Three tests on three different days seemed pretty definitive... I wanted to tell you first before I did anything.”

“We need to get you an appointment, Princess,” he murmured, kissing you softly, “We just got you healthy. I wanna keep you that way. Both of you.” He swipes at your nose gently with the cloth and you smile.

“You’re gonna keep me?”

“Of course I am,” he murmured, “You’re my Princess, and this is for both of us to handle, okay? Just give me some time to process it all. I promise. I’m okay. It was just a shock, baby.”

“Can we have a cuddle?” you ask, needing some comfort.

Bucky nods and helps you gently off the counter, “And snacks. I’m hungry.”

You nod and bucky Listens to your little white socked feet on the wood floors as he glances towards the tiny jacket on the table, “Ma is gonna kill me,” he murmurs rubbing the back of his neck.

Tags: @lancsnerd @etherealwaifgoddess @stevieang @blameitonthecauseway @wellfucksorrymum

#Bucky Barnes #soft bucky #PTSD implied #anxiety attack #fluff #angst if you squint #domestic bucky #biker!bucky #biker!au #steve rogers #natasha romanoff #sam wilson #clint barton #voyerurism #dirty pictures #mild daddy kink

75 notes · View notes