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noladyme · 4 years

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Chess. Chapter 6

Y/N never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it. She only took what she needed, or what she felt others needed. She’d stayed out of sight for a long time, avoiding anything that could get her in to too much trouble. But for some reason Rick Flag shows up in her life, and in an instant, everything changes.

TW: Violence, language, sexual themes, blood

(This story is obviously non-canon, i.e. Diablo and GQ, but I hope you’ll enjoy it either way. Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list.)

“St. Roch, Louisiana. We’re staying in our own backyard”. Flag was reading from a tablet; as we were taken through a long hallway, leading from the cellblock, to what seemed to be a large garage.

I had a guards pistol aimed at me, as it’s owner followed my every move, with cold eyes.

I had spent the rest the day before, trying to wrap my mind around my new situation.

I was officially a prisoner at Belle Reve – a high security penitentiary, in the sweatiest asscrack of the Louisiana swamps. I was there for the kidnapping and assault of judge Jeremiah Kelper.

The assault and maiming had been of such a horrible nature, that I was committed to this facility, without trial. My conviction was a formality, as I apparently confessed to the guards of Belle Reve, the night of my arrival.

I was to serve life, without parole.

There was no mention of the incident in Wayne Tower in my file.

Unofficially, I was the newest member of Task Force X, a top-secret group of meta-humans, and people with exceptional skills, required to complete missions of a classified nature.

These individuals also happened to all be convicted felons, and the scum of the earth.

There was Floyd Lawton; a.k.a. Deadshot. The man who never missed a shot. During dinner – sloppy joes, yum… – he’d shown me a picture of a cute 8 year old girl, who had his eyes.

“She’s a bit older now, writes me every day. She just got an A on her biology report!”, he’d exclaimed proudly. It was clear Floyd loved his daughter, more than anything.

Killer Croc – Waylon Jones. He was huge, terrifying; and made me feel safer than I had in weeks, just by his presence. Croc – as he insisted on being called – had won me over, by calling me cher’.

I’d talked to him about Sammy, and recounted some of the trucker stories he’d told me.

After Croc’d told me he’d once eaten a truckdriver, he said: “I’m glad it wasn’t your boss. He seems like a decent guy”.

I’d been surprised by the gentle and kind demeanor of Chato Santana; or, Diablo, as they called him. I’d seen a videoclip on the news once, of him torching a group of inmates at a prison he was held at. I thought he’d be a hothead – pun intended – but he turned out to be calm and remorseful about his violent past.

Harley. Now, she was a different story. She was about as calm as a puppy on poppers. She also seemed to have no remorse for anything she’d done, as the sidekick and girlfriend of the Joker. I was equal parts terrified and enthralled by her person.

She’d spent most of the rest of the day, singing lullabies to a picture of a hyena, and doing her nails. Once, she’d disappeared for about an hour, before returning to her former activities, with a satisfied smile plastered over her pretty face.

We soon discovered what Harley had been doing, when the napping Digger Harkness – Captain Boomerang, the australian – suddenly screamed; jumping up and down, scratching at his body.

“Ants! Bloody fire ants!”, he’d yelped with a shrill voice; running towards the bathroom.

He’d returned a while later, shaking his coat, and sending the giggling Harley a deadly look. His arms and neck were covered in tiny and angry red welts; that he’d scratched at for the rest of the day.

This was my new family. I was very aware that none of us had chosen to be here, but it seemed that we were all determined to make the best of it, until such an opportunity arose, that we’d be able to leave.

Apparently, Harley had tried to run multiple times – even having made it back to the Clown; and stayed of the grid for a few months, before arriving back at Belle Reve, with a pair of roller skates, and a taxidermized beaver.

I didn’t know when or if I’d be able to escape; so for now, I decided to settle in.

---

In the middle of the large garage stood a helicopter the size of a tank. In front of it stood six crates; each of our names written on the side of one of them.

The rest of the squad seemed to know the procedure. They opened their crates, and dug through them. Flag paced back and forth in front of us, carrying a machinegun.

“You know the deal”, he hollered. “Three weapons. Two ranged, one for close combat. Croc and Diablo, you are both the exceptions”. No weapons for them, I guessed.

“Oy, colonel”, Digger called.

“No, Digger”, Flag answered, before the aussie had a chance to ask. “Boomerangs do not count as close range, though they can be used as such. You bring two. No more”. Digger cursed under his breath.

They’d all been through this before. I couldn’t help but feel like it was the first day of school, and that I’d forgotten my backpack at home.

“You alright?”, Floyd asked from behind me.

“Yeah”, I answered. “It’s just…new. How do you do this? How do you work for these people, who treat you like shit, and then demand that you risk your lives for them?”. I bent to open my crate, and started going through the equipment in it.

“Look”, said Floyd. “Ain’t none of us here who wants to be here. Except for maybe Harley”, he smiled, and looked at the person in question.

She was swinging an oversized fairground hammer, almost knocking over a soldier who was busy checking out her ass.

“We do this, because we have to, for one reason or another”. He looked at me seriously. “I’m here for my little girl. Every time I finish one of these missions, I’m one step closer to seeing her again; and to show her that her daddy’s not a monster”.

I pulled out my jacket, stood up, and looked at it.

“You find whatever reason you need to do this, but make sure it’s important enough, not just to survive for, but to live for”, Floyd finished, patted my shoulder, and walked away.

I sighed and returned to my crate. I had no idea what in my life was important enough to live for at this point.

I didn’t have a family to protect or impress. That had all ended after Hatter had entered my life.

Sammy… he was a friend, but he’d be better of if I didn’t return. Ever.

That left my cats. But they were fine where they were.

So what?

I was interrupted in my train of thought by Flag, who suddenly appeared next to me.

“Hey. You need to get ready. Liftoff in 10”.

“Sir, yes, sir”, I retorted, and rolled my eyes.

I went behind a tall crate to change into my outfit. Leggings, top, boots, jacket; and finally, my claws. I tested the knives once, against the crate in front of me, carving through the thin metal easily.

Retracting the claws, I went to join the others.

Flag stopped me before I had a chance to enter the chopper with the rest of the crew.

“One last thing, Chess”, he said, and pulled out a strange looking harness, made out of some synthetic material and wires.

“What’s that?”, I asked, skeptically.

“This is an armed device, that will explode, should you decide to… smile, without being ordered to do so, by myself”.

I looked him, dumbfounded. “You’re gonna blow me up if I go invisible?”, I guffawed.

“No”, he answered. “I’ll blow that nano-bomb in your neck if you try to run away. This device will explode on it’s own, whenever its sensors recognize that you are using your powers”.

I shook my head, confused.

“If I’m not here to do that, then why am I here?”.

Flag used a strange key to unlock the harness.

“After what happened yesterday…” he started. I interrupted him.

“You mean when I didn’t run away?”, I spat.

He was unmoved by my exclamation.

“After what happened yesterday”, he repeated, “Waller seems to think it would be better if I take control of when you should… do your thing. You’ll be able to make things you touch invisible, as usual; but you cannot disappear yourself”.

He held up the newest addition to my outfit, to let me put it on.

“From now on, you will be wearing this whenever you are not in your cell. I can disarm the device at any time, for as long as I deem necessary”.

I stepped back, shaking my head.

“No”.

Flag frowned.

“Put it on”, he said, a slight edge to his voice.

“No”, I repeated, and crossed my arms in front of me.

Flag exhaled through his nose.

“Put it on, or I’ll put it on you myself”, he growled. I tilted my head, and raised my eyebrows at him.

“Is that a promise?”, I asked.

He raised his chin, and looked down at me.

“I can have one of GQs men do it”.

I ripped the harness from his hands, and begun to put it on; trying to figure out where each strap was supposed to go.

There were two straps, one going over each shoulder. One strap went around my torso, from my back to my front. Holding it all together, was one last strap, starting from my back, going down between my legs, and connecting with the others, on the middle of my chest.

Flag grabbed the straps in front of me, connecting them to a round disc, with a small red light in the middle. He tightened the harness as much as he could, making me bump against him; and locked the disc with the key.

“You go invisible; you die. You try to take it off; you die. You even think of trying to steal the key, guess what…”.

“I die?”, I jestered.

“You die”, he answered.

I tried to move around in the strange contraption.

“How am I supposed to pee in this?”, I asked angrily.

“We’ll climb that mountain when we get to it”, he answered, and turned his back to me, walking away.

“Old Fashioned”, I called after him. He turned around.

“What?”, he asked.

“If you’re gonna ride me this hard, it’s only polite to buy me a drink”, I said; turned my back to him, and walked away to join the squad.

---

Landing in St. Roch, our first destination was an old gas station just outside of town. It was abandoned by its owners; probably due to the explosions going off less than a mile away.

“You have your orders”, Flag called. “We go in discretely, locate our target, and take them out”.

“It’s probably going to be more complicated than that”, Diablo muttered next to me. Croc growled in agreement.

“You know, Flag, we’d probably be even more discrete, if you didn’t have Y/N here tied up like a Christmas ham”, Floyd smirked at him.

Flag frowned.

“This is Chess’ first mission. Let her find her legs before we throw her into it”, he said. “Let’s head out!”.

“Someone’s got a crush”, Harley said in a singsong voice, skipping past me.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”, I asked.

Digger chuckled, and followed her.

“She means, he wants a gander at your map of Tassie”, he winked back at me, and took a swig of the can of beer he’d taken from one of the fridges in the small store.

I shook my head, and feeling a machinegun between my shoulders – I was just thrilled that the Tweedles had joined us on this little fieldtrip – I followed the rest of the group.

Sneaking past a checkpoint – Floyd taking out the inhabitants from afar – we made our way downtown.

I heard crying from behind a dumpster, and stopped to see what it was. A young woman was hiding behind it; shaking in fear.

“Are you ok?”, I asked, reaching a hand towards her.

“Chess!”, Flag called, from a few yards away. “Get your ass over here”.

“She might need help”, I said, and stepped towards the crying woman.

She recoiled from my touch.

“No! Please leave me alone!”, she cried.

Floyd came up behind me.

“She’s afraid of us, Chess”, he said. “Just leave her alone”. He went back to the group, who continued down the street, leaving me alone with Flag and the terrified woman.

I backed away from her, a lump in my throat. Turning around, I walked up to Flag, trying desperately to hold back tears. Behind me, I heard the woman get up, and run down the street, away from us.

I looked up at Flag.

“I wasn’t going to hurt her”, I said quietly.

“I know”, he said shortly. “But she doesn’t”. He made to touch my shoulder; but changed his mind, straightened his back, and turned around.

“Let’s go, kitten”.

We joined the others.

“That was quick”, Harley smiled. “It’s ok, colonel. It happens to all men”.

“Lady, I will rip your pigtails off with my bare hands”, he growled at her, stomping to the front of the group.

“Never happened to me”, Croc winked at Harley, who beamed back at him.

Another checkpoint. Digger took care of this one.

Huddling up behind a couple of cars, we finally saw our target. A lieutenant of Ra’s Al Ghul, who had been stirring up trouble, laying the groundwork for a new stronghold for his master. They had chosen to set up shop in the town square; having tied up a group of around 10 hostages to a statue in the middle.

Flag started barking orders in a hushed voice.

“Alright. Floyd, you got the roofs. Keep in radio contact”. It was clear he trusted Floyd more than the rest of the group.

“Croc, see that van? Make sure anyone in it, and in the immediate vicinity of it, don’t have the chance to warn the target”. Croc went down on all fours, and disappeared into a nearby shrubbery.

“Diablo and Digger. I want you on each side of that building. If they do spot us; I want you to bottleneck them into that alley”, he said, pointing in the direction he meant. “GQ, you and your men join them. One on the flame, two on boomer”. Digger scoffed at the nickname.

“Harley; I want you… actually you just do whatever it is you do, without giving the rest of us away”, he sighed at her.

“Sure thing, boss”, she mock-saluted him. “Go team!”.

“You got your orders. Go!”, he finished; and the group scattered, each to their assigned positions.

“What am I supposed to do?”, I asked, feeling slightly left over.

“You stay on me”, he answered, and looked through his binoculars.

A few minutes went by. Hearing a growl from the direction of Crocs assigned post, I saw blood spatter on the inside of the windows of the van.

I heard Harleys voice yelling; “Batter up!”, followed by a clank and a loud scream.

Some of the lieutenants soldiers began scrambling.

“Goddamnit, Quinn!”, Flag cussed. “You! Stay here!”, he growled at me, and ran in the direction of Harleys voice, leaving behind his binoculars. I picked them up, and looked through them.

In the square, the soldiers were rigging up chains and wires around the hostages. Connected to the wires were multiple red sticks I recognized from movies I’d seen. Dynamite.

I looked in the direction Flag had gone. He and Harley were arguing quietly behind a bus.

I looked back at the town square. Our target was walking back and forth in front of the hostages, ranting about something I couldn’t make out.

I tried zooming in with the binoculars. Military tech for the win, I thought, and looked through them again.

In his hand, the lieutenant was holding what seemed to be a tablet. Large numbers read 5:00. The bastard walked up to a teenage boy, who had a stick of dynamite strapped to his chest. He put his hand on his cheek, and said something to him, that made the boy break down in tears. He then pressed a button on the screen. The numbers began to count down.

4:59.

4:58.

4:57…

Fuck!, I thought, and threw the binoculars on the ground.

Reminded of my harness, I rolled my eyes. Ok. So I couldn’t smile. But I did know how to move quietly and quickly. I pulled up my hood, and closed my jacket.

I snuck forward. I heard a gunshot and a grunt behind me, and looked back; seeing an enemy soldier on the ground, a bullet hole right between his eyes. Thanks, Floyd, I smiled up at the roof of a nearby building, seeing Deadshots white hood disappear back into the darkness.

I moved forward again, hiding behind a truck. A stone landed on the ground next to me; and looking in the direction of the thrower, I saw Flag waving at me.

“Get back!”, he mouthed at me angrily. I shook my head, and looked towards the hostages. Continuing forward, I suddenly heard a beep. Looking down, I saw the light on the disc on my chest turn from red to green.

Looking back at Flag – his wrist raised, pushing some buttons on what looked like a watch – I smirked, and nodded at him. Thanks, I thought.

A purr moving through my body; I smiled.

Readying my claws, I ran towards the square. A soldier looked in my direction, having heard my movement, but unable to see me. Oops. Quietly now, I thought, and scaled a car next to him, making as little sound as I could.

I saw Digger and the Tweedles running towards a group of soldiers exiting a building. They finished them of quickly, but not before having drawn enough attention to make the lieutenant aware of their presence.

He yelled something I couldn’t I understand, and dropped the tablet he had been holding.

Gunfire sounded, and I ran faster, making my way to the group of hostages.

I reappeared, startling a few of the hostages who screamed at me.

Picking up the tablet from the ground, I desperately began pushing the screen, trying to make the countdown stop.

2:35.

2:34.

2:33…

There was no way I could stop the detonation.

I spun around, ran to the statue, and began pulling at the wires.

“You’ll make it go off!”, the teenage boy from before shouted at me.

I ran to the back of the statue, finding a simple lock, holding together the two ends of the chain intertwined with the wires.

This I can handle, I smiled, and got out my kit.

I managed to break two of the lockpicks, my hands shaking from the stress of the situation. I looked at the tablet on the ground.

1:01.

1:00.

0:59…

Taking a deep breath, I gave it one more try. Please, please, please!.

The lock opened.

I grabbed one end of the chain, and ran with it around the statue, releasing the hostages. The teenage boy carefully pulled at the tape that held the stick of dynamite to his chest, and put the red stick gingerly on the ground.

“Thanks!”, he smiled at me, and ran. I smiled after him.

An elderly woman was having trouble keeping up with the others.

0:37.

0:36.

0:35…

“Just go on”, she yelled at me.

“No!”, I answered, and ran to put her arm around my neck. Stumbling a few steps forward, the woman was suddenly lifted from the ground, screaming, as Croc – with a smile plastered across his gruesome face – ran to safety, the old woman hanging over his shoulder.

We did it!, I thought, and went to run after him.

Someone grabbed my leg, holding me in place. Looking down, I saw the lieutenant – a gash across his face, and a gunshot to his chest – laughing up at me. His strong hands were holding on to my leg, making it impossible for me to move.

I looked towards the group waiting for me at a safe distance. The hostages were continuing down the street, running towards sirens and blinking lights.

0:15.

0:14.

0:13…

Flag screamed something at me, Edwards and his soldiers holding him back.

I yanked at my leg, desperately trying to get the dying man to let me go.

0:09.

0:08.

0:07…

I lifted my fist and screamed; cutting through my captors arm. He let go with a yelp; and I ran.

0:03.

0.02.

0:01…

0:00.....

Tag list:

@gloriousgam3r

@hyp-oh-critical

#rick flag #rick flag x reader #rick flag fic #rick flag imagine #suicide squad fic #suicide squad imagine #deadshot #harley quinn

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fandomlife-giver · 4 years

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Bedewed Maid - 1

Summary: My young master’s soul emites a heady aroma. A scent that intoxicated demons, drives them mad, impels them to battle. Music shall play, captivating all...And secrets shall be revealed.

Next time, “Bedewed Maid”

Surely I can resolve a prickly situation without Sebastian in 5 minutes, master. Otherwise, what kind of maid would I be?

Pairings: Sebastian X Demon!Reader X Claude

@wintersdoll @naniky @danabuggxd @redryderdesigns @inumorph

Word Count: 2572

Warnings: Mild language, Implications of sexual themes

“An archangel…”

Your words breathed out in disbelief. Although still in your attack position, you were caught off guard at what you had heard.

Your eyes narrowed at his carefree smile. “Why are you here? You have no reason to be mingling with demonkind.”

He sheepishly shrugged. “Well, actually, I originally came here many centuries ago to rid of the rogue angel, as I was ordered to. But then...something came up.”

He locked eyes with you. “A certain half-breed of a demon was spotted by the angel I was hunting. And at that point, my mission was changed.”

He didn’t notice when you gulped at the memory.

“See, Abigail, as cliché as this sounds, I was assigned to be a watcher over you, you know?”

When he took a step closer, you raised your hand, your pointer finger signaling him to stop at his own risk.

You licked your lips as you straightened up and lowered your hands. “Let me get this straight...you’re saying that you are supposed to be my ‘guardian angel’?”

A grin broke out on his face as he suppressed a laugh. “Oh, no. Nothing like that.” He crossed his arms behind his back. “Just a watcher. I was only allowed to ensure you stayed out of trouble and where you belonged.”

The laugh you let out made him pucker his lips. You side-eyed him and the smile you momentarily had dropped.

“You’re my warden.”

He tilted his head back and forth and raised his eyebrows, confirming what you knew. “I guess you could say that.”

You sighed and outstretched your arms in a questioning manner. “If that’s true then why were you working with my king? Why did you come to me on the boat? Why should I even believe you?”

He rolled his eyes, growing annoyed with your many questions. “Look, I’m sure you want to know a lot of things. But for now, I think we have bigger problems to deal with. Trancy.”

You jerked your head back and scoffed. “We? Did you really expect to earn my trust just by telling me the truth? What we are up against is purely an enemy of my master, no one else.”

He loudly groaned and walked up to you. “Okay, you know what? You are way too suspicious for your own good. We need to hurry up and I told you the truth because I need your help!”

As he brushed by you, you suddenly grabbed his arm. He looked back at you and his eyebrows drew together.

Your eyes suddenly felt heavy, your skin feeling as if it was on fire. You began to gag as the familiar sensation of your blood boiling came over you.

“Abigail?”

When you glanced down at where you felt it originating, you spotted a small arrow in your shin. Hurriedly, you reached down and pulled it out. When you sniffed the end, your heart dropped.

“Dead man’s blood…”

His eyes widened when you collapsed, but he still managed to catch you.

“Abigail? Abigail!”

Your vision grew blurry as you managed to make out a person behind him. Within a few seconds, he was kicked to the ground and you thought you saw a woman standing over him, placing what looked like handcuffs on him.

And then the ringing in your ears drowned out everything else, and your eyelids slowly closed to blackness.

●●●

“Abigail! Wake up!”

The moment the sound of his whispered voice hit your ears, your eyes snapped open. He sat beside you, chains around his ankles as a pair of cuffs were around his wrists. They had strange markings on them, in a language you had never seen before.

Your face was cold to the touch due to it being against a steel metal beam connecting the roof and the floor. Your entire body was still on fire but you could tell the blood wasn’t gonna keep you weakened for much longer.

He sighed when he saw your eyes met his. “Well, glad you could join us finally. Did you have a nice nap?”

You narrowed your eyes, choosing to ignore his sarcasm. “Us?”

An amused smile spread on his face as he nodded his head in your direction, his eyes landing on something behind you.

You twisted your neck to look and when you saw the image of the prisoner you had identified not too long ago, still wearing the bag over her head, you seethed through your teeth.

“Oh, how perfect. She’s here.”

But after a few seconds of looking at her, a thought crossed your mind. “Hold on, they said they were taking her to the room the device was in. If she’s here, then where is it?”

He puckered his lips and glanced around. As he did, you focused your attention on the very heavy chains keeping you in place.

You were bound differently from them, for you had a leg chain so long that it was wound all around your body, and two rings on your neck, one attached to the chain, the other to what you believe they call a "keep-friend" or "friend's foot," from which hung two irons reaching to your waist with two manacles fixed to them in which your hands were secured by a big padlock so that you could neither raise your hands to your mouth nor lower your head to your hands.

“This seems a bit excessive…”

You eyed his own restraints and scoffed. “You can’t seriously tell me those handcuffs are keeping you in place?”

He exhaled through his nose and looked back at you. “Not only do they hold me here, but they drain my super impressive archangel powers as well.”

Your nose scrunched up. “How troublesome. What is that written on them? I’m not familiar with it.”

He forced a smile as he raised his hands. “Enochian. They’re specifically designed to keep archangel’s locked tight. I had heard Trancy got a hold of them somehow and that is the only reason I’m even here. Our deal was he’d give them to me so I could add it to my collection if I handed over my instrument.”

You have a short chuckle. “Well, I guess this means your deal is off then?”

He dropped his hands as he clenched his jaw. “I guess so…”

“You’re very chatty, aren’t you?”

The two of you immediately moved your attention to the woman that had entered, wearing a revealing black gown. You tilted your head in confusion. She looked extremely familiar, but you couldn’t put your finger on it.

“My master ordered me to subdue the two of you. He wasn’t very pleased with you talking to our enemy, I’m afraid.”

Uriel rolled his eyes at her. But the more she talked, it finally clicked who she was. The maid. “That’s strange...I thought I saw you bump into me earlier...your outfit is hardly appropriate for your position.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You are certainly one to talk.”

You glanced down, remembering you were still in Lau’s ridiculous monstrosity of an outfit. “Oh. Right.”

Your head shot up at her when she turned towards the back of the room. “Hold on, you’re the only maid in this estate. If that wasn’t you earlier than who…”

Slowly, your eyes enlarged. “Oh no...Ciel!”

●●●

”Good show, you’re all exceptionally skilled.”

Sebastian mockingly smiled down at the three identical servants that had attempted to decapitate him just moments ago. They stared up at him, jaws dropped when he jumped down from the tree he had been in, and ran passed them.

Ciel, who was in Sebastian’s arms, was holding on for dear life as Sebastian charged full speed ahead toward where Claude and Alois stood not too far away. One of the servants swung a blade at his head, which he easily avoided.

As he continued to run, he stared down at Ciel. He muttered to himself as he thought back to a few weeks before when you and he escaped the Trancy manor with Ciel’s body in a briefcase.

“It was like carrying a doll...running virtually unburdened.”

Ciel’s head moved up at Sebastian, as he caught what he had said. “Did you say something?”

Sebastian only smiled and looked away from him as he ran, a hint of laughter coming through his words. “Only that it would be far, far easier to carry you if you were in some sort of container, like a trunk, I’d say.”

Ciel’s eyebrows furrowed. “Is this any time to be joking?”

His laughter ceased instantly. “My apologies, master.”

His eyes locked onto Alois and Claude, who stood with his arm out in front of his master, protecting him. Alois watched in absolute joy as Sebastian spun around in front of them, his foot kicking the bangs in front of Claude’s face before he did a backflip over them, landing on the other side and continuing to run.

Ciel noticed the smirk of triumph on Sebastian’s face as he ran. “Sebastian, we need to get the guests out of there. What Trancy said has me worried. We must hurry and get to them.”

Sebastian only chuckled at him. “I wouldn’t worry much, sir. The servants are capable enough to handle whatever is thrown at them.”

He didn’t really believe that, though. He was truly only thinking about you as he said it.

Ciel only glanced down as his grip on Sebastian’s coat tightened.

“It’s not those three that I’m worried about...we need to get both Elizabeth and Isabella out of there, they aren’t skilled enough to handle this. Their safety is the top priority.”

Sebastian glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “Isabella? She’s only a servant, master. I’m not sure that she’s worth your worry.”

Ciel nearly slapped him with his glare. “You may not understand it, but she is important. A human to you, but family to me.”

Sebastian began to slow down, his eyes narrowing at Ciel.

“If you say so, master.”

●●●

Uriel sighed as he watched you attempt to stand up, only resulting in you falling on your side for the 50th time.

“Honestly Abigail, this is getting old. You aren’t going anywhere whether you like it or not.”

You growled at him as you managed to sit up. “Well, it would be nice if you’d help out a bit. And stop calling me that damn name!”

Your sight landing on the maid as she walked over to the nun with the bag over her head. She smirked at you before removing the bag.

The moment the girl’s eyes adjusted to the poorly lit room, her eyes landed on you. She froze in an instant, her eyes growing bigger. And not even a few seconds later, she let out a blood-curdling scream and scooted her feet to back away from your direction. Only, it was muffled by the rag in her mouth.

Your eyes never left her figure, only making her more afraid as tears pricked her eyes. The maid reached over and removed the gag from her mouth, but not before giving her a slap across the face, silently warning her to not make another sound.

Her lips quivered as she never let you leave her sight. “You...you’re the monster that tried to kill me!”

Your lips pursed together, making a duck face. “Actually, I’m a demon. Kind of. I don’t even know anymore to be honest. But you don’t gotta be so loud about it.”

She pointed a finger at you, her face in pure shock. “You are...a d...demon? They exist?”

You waved your bound hand back and forth. “Unfortunately, yeah.”

Her eyes moved on Uriel, who had been intently watching your back and forth. “Then are you one as well?!”

He raised his cuffed hands, shrugging. “Angel, actually. Or archangel to be exact.”

Her eyes widened in admiration. “An archangel? Oh my...it is an honor to grace your presence, soldier of the Lord.”

He made a face of exasperation. “Yes, yes. You’re welcome. I know, I’m amazing.”

He yelped when you kicked him with your feet before shooting you a glare. You focused back on the girl.

“Oh, and I hate to break it to you, but the man that, uh, massaged you, he’s a demon too. And my mate. So keep that in mind if you ever think about him again. Cause It’ll probably be the last thing you ever think. Cause then I’ll kill you. Just warning you now.”

She loudly gasped and sat up on her knees. “He is?! So you’re saying I...I laid with a demon?!”

You rested your forehead against the metal beam again. “Well, technically, I guess. If that’s what you call massaging you, then yeah.”

She cocked her head, a deep blush coming on her cheeks. “Massage? That wasn’t like any massage I’d ever had then…”

Your eyes slowly moved to her, your head coming off the beam as you leaned in her direction. “Watch what you say. You’re lucky you got even as much as a massage before I killed you.”

She gulped, holding her hands up in defense. “I didn’t mean any ill intent, your demon-ness. It’s just that he didn’t ‘just’ massage me…”

Your back straightened up as your words spat with venom. “What are you on about, slut? Spit it out, I know you wanna say something.”

She looked at you in fear as well as curiosity. “I don’t know why you’re so into it, but…”

“He didn’t just massage me. We fornicated. He penetrated me.”

Uriel’s eyebrows shot up, a grimace coming onto his face. “Oh boy. This isn’t gonna go well.”

Her heart began to beat faster as she caught your stare. Your eyes had completely darkened over, all light draining from them.

You felt your body begin to shake uncontrollably with anger, tears pricking your eyes at what you had just heard.

Uriel looked at you, growing fearful of what you might do. “Abigail?”

Your jaw tightened as tears finally spilled over, falling down your cheek.

“He...cheated on me?”

Your nostrils flared as your eyes changed color to their terrifying blackish-blue.

“And he lied to me about it?”

Uriel sighed at the frightened face of the nun and scooted closer to you. “Hey. You need to get a hold of yourself. We have more important things to worry about.”

“Are you all done with your melodramatic moment?”

Your inhuman eyes snapped to the maid, who was still in the room, watching all of you. You immediately sat up once you noticed another person beside her, his body encased in a black bag.

Uriel noticed it as well. “Oh, great. Another hostage? Aren’t you getting a little overboard with it?”

She only smiled at him as she tossed the bag on the ground in front of you. It let out a whimper as it hit the ground.

Its head moved around a bit until a small hole broke out through the material. It thrashed around until it completely turned around and you saw a head poke out. It was a man.

The man completely ripped the bag apart and his full body emerged from it. And it made the nun’s face heat up. Because the man was naked.

At this point, your tears had dried up and your eyes returned to normal. Your eyebrows drew together in confusion.

“Pluto?”

#black butler #kuroshitsuji #demon!reader #sebastian michaelis #sebastian michaelis x reader

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atamascolily · 3 years

Text

Unicorn Chronicles, Book 3: “Dark Whispers,” by Bruce Coville

Whenever people grumble about how long it's been since their favorite fanfic updated, I can't help but smile a little in sympathy. As someone who's read a lot of CLAMP manga, I've grown used to the stutter-stop of hiatuses and discontinued stories that will never be finished. To quote the Princess Bride, "Get used to disappointment". It's just an occupational hazard.

I know people who only read completed stories, but I would have missed out on a lot of great material and works that really matter to me if I followed their example. It also meant that I got really good at imagining what happens next.

So it was a delight to discover that Bruce Coville had actually finished the Unicorn Chronicles when I was busy with other stuff (i.e., life) and there were two more volumes. Coville specifically thanks readers for nagging him about finishing, which is simultaneously #hilarious and #relatable.

Song of the Wanderer came out in 1999, right on the cusp of the Harry Potter boom that shook up the juvenile fantasy genre. (Both series are published by Scholastic.) Dark Whispers came out in 2008, and you can see how much the genre has shifted in the cover art alone:

This is gorgeous art by Petar Mesedlzija, but it only tangentially fits the descriptions in the books: Cara doesn't really wear anything like this outfit, and the story emphasizes she keeps braiding her hair to keep it from tangling. She has a sword, but she doesn’t really ever use it?

Furthermore, the layout, design, and chapter headings of Dark Whispers are clearly meant to capitalize on Harry Potter: Grimmwold has a looping signature reminiscent of Dumbeldore's in the opening prologue, for instance. It's a very different feel from the way the first two volumes were presented, and tbh, I miss the old way that has gone the way of the dinosaurs now.

Inevitably, with such a long gap between volumes, Dark Whispers ended up with a very different style and tone than its predecessors. The most obvious difference is that it's REALLY LONG--464 pages in hardcover. Some of this increase in length is attributable to Harry Potter proving that giant fantasy tomes can sell like hotcakes, and some of it is the fact that the storyline is now really big, with a lot of different players moving in different directions.

Inevitably, this means that instead of following Cara's POV for the entire book, as we did in the first two volumes, we are constantly shifting narrators. It's completely understandable, but as a reader, I find it really annoying--like I am suddenly reading an entirely different series with overlapping plot and characters. It's not that this new series is bad, per se, it's just... not what I imagined when I was making up the ending in my head in the early 2000s. I do not know if this disjunct would be so obvious or unsettling to someone who was reading all four volumes together for the first time.

Anyway, so since it's been literally a decade, Coville makes the sensible decision to open with a recap from Grimmwold, in his role as the keeper of the Unicorn Chronicles: unicorns and human hunters are at war; the latter are lead by an immortal woman named Beloved with a personal grudge against the unicorns, and she just got an amulet so she can invade Luster.

In Cara's plotline, she is still coming to terms with the fact that her grandmother, Ivy Morris, was a unicorn in disguise, and is now Queen Amalia Flickerfoot. Her grandfather Jaques is super depressed (because literary references, yo) and also because this is super-weird for him, too. As they prepare for Beloved's assault on Luster, Grimmwold reveals that pages from the Unicorn Chronicles are missing, and that others reveal an unsettling prophecy about unicorns confronting their own darkness and a mysterious figure called the Whisperer.

Another human, Alma Leonetti, comes forth and suggests that the centaurs might know more details. The Queen sends Cara and her friends to investigate, while Jaques and Thomas the Tinker go on separate missions. Thomas does give her a watch that marks the days and also explodes, so you know right away she's gonna need both on her trip. M'Gama the geomancer is trying to determine where and when the Hunters will invade: the date is the forthcoming Blood Moon, but she's still working out the details on the place.

Grimmwold tells the group a story about Alma Leonetti, and how she tracked down the wizard Bellenmore, who opened the gate to Luster for the unicorns. Bellenmore has a snarky talking lizard and great tastes in decorating:

On the mantel above the fireplace stood a row of earthenware mugs with hideous faces. One of them winked at me; another leered and rolled its eyes; a third stuck out its tongue and made a rude noise. Then they began to sing a bawdy song until Bellenmore waved a hand to silence them.

Alma bluffs her way to Luster and eventually persuades the unicorns to keep one of their kind on Earth so humans don't forget true beauty and goodness and the spark is kept alive. The hunters keep trying to kill the Guardian, but they always replace the fallen with a new one and the cycle repeats.

We also learn that Ivy summoned Moonheart to heal Cara as a child, which is what alerted Beloved to her presence, forcing her to kidnap Cara and flee because Beloved wanted the child, too. Ian Hunter was a first grade teacher who had no idea about any of this until Cara disappeared and he was radicalized by Beloved and went through an intensive training camp she's built up for her army.

Meanwhile, Ian is in India, tracking down the Rainbow Prison where Beloved has imprisoned his wife. He makes a deal with a mysterious entity, the Blind Man, trading occasional use of his sight for the knowledge he needs. Beloved's men attack Ian, but he is saved by a street urchin named Rajiv who is eager for adventure, and the mysterious Fallon, who is trying to find a doorway to Luster. The three of them team up and head for the Himalayas to find the doorway to the Rainbow Prison while Beloved's forces pursue them. We learn that Fallon is super-hot and also seeking his best bro Elihu, in a relationship that I'm pretty sure was sexual although it's never stated directly.

There's also a plotline involving the delvers - the evil dwarves we mostly forgot about in Book 2. The King keeps talking to the Whisperer, and sending his subjects to do Evil Things as the alliance with Beloved continues. (The delvers do not love humans, but they hate unicorns and so the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" at least temporarily).

The plotlines converge when the delvers attack M'Gama the earthmancer's house and steal a macguffin and kill Flensa, M'Gama's servant. Cara's party splits up, with Finder and Belle hunting the macguffin while Cara and Lightfoot continue on. Finder is killed (sob) and Belle regrets being a jerk to him. Cara's group is attacked by delvers and she is captured and taken underground. (The delvers either don't know Beloved has an amulet already/don't care/want one for their own purposes.) Cara tosses the amulet into an abyss when it fails to transport her to earth, and she is imprisoned in the dungeons with a delver dissident who has had his name ritually stripped from him for defiance.

Cara renames the delver "Rocky" and the Squijum shows up with the amulet and steals the key. They meet up with Grimmwold, and escape. They also encounter the gryphon Medafil, who is lost below ground, only to wake a monster known as the schwartz, a Terminator-like blind dragon that never gives up pursuit. Cara defeats it using the expanding light sphere from Medafil's nest, and they emerge in the centaur's valley, where Belle is waiting for them with the news of Finder's death.

The centaurs are standoffish, but eventually Cara persuades their leader Chiron to spill the beans: after the war with Beloved began, the unicorns decided to expunge all the darkness from their souls with the aid of a magician named Elihu (hi!), which gained sentience and has been egging Beloved on ever since. It's also corrupted the delvers,which is why they hate unicorns so much. In exchange for the info, Cara agrees to mercy-kill Chiron, which none of the centaurs can do for personal reasons. Cara reports this story to the unicorns, who are all :shrug emoji: about it.

Meanwhile Ian and company are stuck in the Rainbow Prison, the Dimblethum is being tormented by the Whisperer, and ends up taking the macguffin the delvers stole and placing it at the Axis Mundi, the world-tree of Luster, so that Beloved and her forces can enter there. Lightfoot tries to stop the Dimblethum but isn't in time. And the book ends on the seriously metal note of Beloved opening the portal beneath the blood moon and invading Luster with her army. *cue 'Bad Moon Rising'*

[Which, I may note, is pretty much where the LAST BOOK also ended.]

SO. That was a lot.

Once again, the core group of characters from Book One gets broken up. Thomas the Tinker gets sidetracked pretty quickly and isn't seen again; the Dimblethum gets a few brief sequences, but doesn't do much until the end. Lightfoot and Cara are separated fairly early on and don't have much time together, though their musings about their sudden familial connections at the beginning are nice, even though Cara also keeps shipping Belle with Lightfoot. Lightfoot himself doesn't get to do much, Finder dies, and Belle is likewise sidelined by the narrative for a decent chunk of the story. Coville also keeps emphasizing that Lightfoot is a Prince, which just grates on me, too.

I would also like to see more of Cara? She has plenty of scenes, but after two books of focusing solely on her, it's so strange to suddenly be jerked in different directions and it makes me grumpy.

It's great to see Medafil again, but I found the whole delvers/underground plot to drag on too long for my tastes. I'm glad Coville brings back that one delver from the first book who let Cara go because he thinks (rightly) his king is batshit crazy.

I like Alma Leonetti's story, but it feels unrelated to the plot, so I'm not entirely sure why it's there. I think it was originally a stand-alone short story, and I think it's better suited as one, because I can't figure out what its narrative purpose is. Or is it just that Grimmwold is contractually obligated to tell at least one story per book?? Or maybe this is something that will pay off in Book 4.

Ian Hunter's story basically bores me, and I found that whole subplot extremely tedious. He's been more or less retconned to be sympathetic and a victim, and I just don't know how I feel about that.

I HAVE SUCH MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT THE BIG REVEAL. On the one hand, it's a great twist to see the psychological shadow as the literal villain; on the other hand, it takes away some of the delvers' and Beloved's agency as villains in their own right because they're now Pawns of a Bigger Bad. It also just seems like such a weird thing for the unicorns to do--and maybe that's a way of making them more alien, but I don't know.

Coville explicitly uses the word 'hubris,' so it also feels weirdly victim-blaming to me because the unicorns are doing it to themselves (and this isn't just a war, but genocide we're talking about here!). For better or worse, this twist muddies the black and white/good vs. evil paradigm into shades of gray: the unicorns are beautiful and good but also arrogant assholes; Beloved is homicidal but also in terrible pain; the delvers are misunderstood and need to be embraced rather than ignored.

Alma Leonetti consistently delivers the best lines - I guess she's taken over the role Ivy Morris used to play, since Ivy is now a unicorn:

"Perhaps the unicorns need to try to recover some of what they have lost?... You face a dedicated enemy who has shown no mercy, one who will stop at nothing to destroy you. And what have you done? Gathered together, which is good. Prepared to defend yourselves, which is good, too. But is it enough? How fiercely are you willing to fight to save your lives? How strong can unicorns be? ... Maybe you need to take in some of that darkness you once released."

I remember feeling oddly disappointed on my first reading, which unfortunately persists on re-read. This story has now moved in a very different direction from the one I expected, and while that's not necessarily bad, it is unsettling and strange. As I mentioned earlier, some of that might just be that the final result doesn't match the story I made up in my head; or it could just be the inevitable result of such a long gap between books and the changes in the fantasy market post-Harry Potter. I don't know.

(I wish I had written down my thoughts about an ending--aka fanfic--because while I could write one now, it’d be reacting to canon, rather than creating it.)

Either way, major kudos to Coville for writing this book, because I had assumed the series was dead and would never be completed, and he fucking did it. That’s such an inspiration, honestly.

#book reviews #unicorn chronicles #dark whispers #childhood influences

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ivedonestranger · 4 years

Link

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Teen Titans (Animated Series) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jinx/Raven (DCU) Characters: Raven (DCU), Jinx (DCU), Gizmo (DCU), Baran Flinders Additional Tags: Fluff, Light Bondage, I Will Go Down With This Ship Summary:

Raven's plan to grab some coffee goes awry when she winds up kidnapped and a certain someone has questions!

---

Raven stared in disbelief and the predicament that she was in and how easily she had fallen for it. All she wanted to do was grab a coffee at the Queen Coffee in downtown Jump City, then wound up being snuck up on, grabbed with a bag over her head and carted off to parts unknown. Worse part was these...stupid...cuffs!

The mystic Titan growled to herself as she heaved all her strength against the delicate cuffs emblazoned with runes that were fastened around her wrists. Of course, there was no breaking demon bracelets, but it felt good to release the anger.

Having only dressed in baggy pants and a gray hoodie, most people would not have recognized her except maybe for her violet hair cut in a short bob. She tried to reach for her pocket on one side to get her communicator but realized they had lifted that from her too.

'This is humiliating,' she groused to herself as she looked about the room again.

It was some sort of basement with stuff stacked all about covered with dusts from years of abandonment. It actually looked familiar. It was at that moment the light bulb came on. She knew exactly where she was.

As if there was some sort of cue, the metal door banged open peeling it's metal sound through the room and in strode one confident, pink haired troublemaker.

"Jinx."

The grin of the Pinkette's face grew wider as her cat like-eyes focused on her prey in the middle of the room. She wore her usual black dress, choker, and trademark leggings. The purple and black stripes climbing up some rather gorgeous legs before disappearing underneath the skirt.

"Seriously, I can't believe you let me capture you so easily. I mean, I really didn't have to cast any power to obscure myself. You were so focused on that coffee...or was it that absolutely stunning brunette that was serving it to you."

Raven's gray cheeks flushed ever so slightly and Jinx giggled. "You were! I can't believe you. Raven of the Teen Titans, checking out the ladies!"

"I can't believe you're doing this now," Raven said, turning her body to keep the pernicious witch in view.

"Surprise." The words came with a giggle.

Raven held up her bound wrists. "So now what? Are you going to demand the true identities of my friends? The access codes to the towers?"

"Oh," Jinx said with another giggle. "I have some more important questions for you. Sit."

The word was simple and Raven wanted to ignore it, she felt the uncontrollable pressure to obey as the cuffs forced her to obey their owners. Raven went to her knees before she could even try to will herself to stay standing.

"Didn't think you were one for torture," Raven said dryly.

"You know me. Full of surprises. As you can see, I got some little demon bracelets from the black market and was desperate to try them. Aren't they nifty?"

"They're swell," Raven intoned with little interest.

"Awww, you don't like them? I bet you'll like them. They can compel you to do whatever I want and to tell me whatever I want."

"Sure. Whatever."

Deep inside Raven was not happy that she had been placed in such a position but honestly, she knew it could be much worse.

"Oh? Okay. Let's try them out. Is the Titans Tower undergoing upgrades next week?"

"Yes." The words escaped before she could even stop herself.

"Gizmo will be happy to hear that. He's been wanting to try some new firmware that he's written."

Raven narrowed her eyes.

"I don't like this, Jinx."

"Good point," Jinx said with a nod. "You're not a fan of talking about others. Let's talk about you then."

'Oh, no.'

"Have you read any of those erotica books I sent you?"

Raven squirmed trying to keep the words in but her body refused to obey.

"Yes."

"Oh ho! So you do like them."

"Yes." Damn it!

"What did you think of that scene in the book Hallowed Ground when the young groundskeeper sneaks the preacher's daughter away? Hot, wasn't it?"

"Fine. Yes. It was a rather...interesting scene."

The pressure let up since she wasn't resisting. Raven had already admitted it so why keep fighting?

"So….what else can I ask you? Hmmmm." Jinx stood again and began to pace.

"What do you think of my outfit?" Jinx asked, giving a small spin.

"It is very cute," Raven said letting her mouth talk. It was a safe question but they kept coming. "It accents your figure nicely."

"Awww, you say the nicest things, Rae Rae!"

"Don't call me that! I hate it when Beast Boy does."

The pinkette's eyes glimmered and she giggled.

"Then what is your favorite nickname?"

Oh, azar did Raven squirm trying to keep the words from escaping but no matter how hard she tried they came out in a gasp. "Lollipop."

Jinx plopped down in front of her with a squeal of triumph.

"Well, what do you know. You do have a favorite pet name."

Raven glared at her.

"Do you think I'm hot?"

"Yes."

"You like sex?"

"Yes."

"What's your favorite position?"

"Missionary."

"Aww. Really? I would have thought you were more adventurous. You like my legs?"

Raven's voice faltered slightly but the words still came out.

"Yes."

"Do you...like...wanna know if I'm wearing panties?"

"Y...ye..yes."

Jinx leaned very closely and the smell of her blueberry perfume filled her nostrils. Raven felt her breath starting to catch in her throat and her eyes focused on the kissable lips in front of her. The pinkette's voice was low, sultry and only for her to hear.

"I'm not wearing any."

Raven tried to swallow but found that task somehow difficult. Jinx ran her fingers up Raven's arm leaving a trail of tingles the entire way.

"Come on, Jinx," Raven allowed a whine to escape.

"Kiss me."

The order vibrated through her cuffs and Raven found herself leaning in and planting her own mouth against the one who had kept her prisoner. Oh, god she tasted too good and there was nothing the mystic Titan could do to stop herself.

Jinx leaned forward pushing Raven over on to her back without any resistance, her dress bunching up around her waist. Raven felt the desperate urge to try and get her hands free but Jinx had them pinned to her chest.

"Oh, I have plans for you, Lollipop."

A pitiful whimper was all that escape from Raven as she was again smothered by Jinx's lips. It was at that moment that the metal door clanged open and both snapped their heads to look.

Gizmo strode in with Mammoth right behind with the dwarf studying his computer.

"Jinx, I'm gonna need to head into town and get some more computer parts. If we're going to get the connection working we're going to-"

He stopped as she looked up seeing the two tangled on the floor.

"What are you-Oh, god, cover yourself, Jinx."

Jinx sat up quickly pulling her dress back down with a big grin on her face and touch of red in her cheeks. Raven still lay on her back trying to breath and looking confused, angry, and horny all at the same time.

"Really?" Gizmo griped, throwing his hands up in the air. "Is that why you had Mumbo buy them? Can't you like mess around with your girlfriend at the tower? I really hate when you do these roleplays. Poor Mammoth and I always have to stumble in on them."

"I don't mind." Mammoth grinned.

"Pervert," Jinx shot back with a laugh.

Gizmo rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. I'm gonna leave if you're gonna be using the storeroom. For crying out loud, that's what bedrooms are for."

Gizmo turned to leave and then back to Raven.

"You need me to call Robin and let him know you're here? I'd hate for him to start worrying like last time."

"If you don't mind," Raven said with a bemused expression trying to ignore the fact that she was still on her back and Jinx was half on top of her.

"Fine. Mammoth, go find something to do. Maybe Beast Boy wants to do some training. If I'm gonna help Cyborg upgrade the tower, I need to not have you two fucking in random places in the base. Got it?"

"No promises," Jinx said.

With an exasperated noise, Gizmo left with both Mammoth and Jinx exchanging a wink and thumbs up.

When the door clanged closed, Jinx turned back to her girlfriend who was smiling.

"Well, that was kind of embarrassing?"

"Kind of?" Raven asked sitting up. "I'm not the one that had my ass on display."

"Pfft," Jinx said. "They've caught me doing worse."

Jinx broke into one of her grins again. "So, you do like the nickname I gave you?"

"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer."

"I can make you."

Jinx reached down to grab the bracelets but to her surprise, they were not on Raven's wrists. They were actually on her own. Shock reverberated through the pinkette at the sudden reversal.

"How did-"

"They aren't demon bracelets," Raven said with a grin. "I realized it when you came closer and I didn't have the connection with you they normally would have. Easy to override after that."

"Shit, Mumbo sold me junk?"

"Nope. They're compulsion bracelets. Meaning they don't just work on me…"

Jinx's eyes went wide. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yes. You have some penance to perform. I mean, I got my nickname for a reason."

Jinx giggled.

----

if you like the story, consider leaving a review on your favorite fanfic site?

AO3: https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/27664540

FF.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13751657/1/Just-a-Few-Questions

#teen titans #teen titans raven #teen titans jinx #jinx #raven #gizmo #mammoth #fanfic #ao3 #fanfiction #story

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fic-for-fic-sake · 4 years

Text

Project Infinity

Pairing: eventual steve x reader

Warning: none, Steve is kind of a jerk but just because he’s on the run

Link to intro and chapter 1

Chapter 2:

You boarded the quinjet, taking stock of everything they had on board, which wasn’t a lot.

“Wow, you guys really take a low profile a little too seriously.” You commented, looking at the older control panel and seating. It was a few years older than the ones you normally flew in, the last one being the one that dropped you off in Poland in the first place.

“Well, it’s the best we could do considering.” Natasha quipped back as she came up from the brig where the prisoners were.

“Yeah, considering the Avengers are toast.” You replied, strapping yourself in the co-pilot seat and flipping switches, getting ready for take off.

“Uh, hi. I’m guessing you’re new here. I’m Sam, and I’m normally the co-pilot.” Sam said, breaking up the powwow. Nat chuckled under her breath at Sam’s comment.

“Not today you’re not sweetheart.” You said, with a small condescending tone. Still flipping switches and checking the numbers as if nothing had happened. Which it hadn’t, yet.

“Sweetheart? So it’s gonna be like that is it?” Sam teased, moving a little closer to where you sat.

“Sam I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Natasha warned.

“Oh yeah, what’s gonna hap-” Sam stopped mid-sentence as you turned towards him, just enough so he could see the glow of your violet irises. “What the hell?” He whispered, under his breath.

“Maybe next time.” You winked at him, turning your full attention back to the dash.

There were some jokes thrown around between Sam and Natasha until Steve walked onto the jet, the boots of his uniform hitting the metal were enough to silence the both of them. He walked over to the pilot’s chair when he saw you sitting in the seat opposite him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He questioned, crossing his arms over his broad chest. Appearing every bit the Captain he was. But you weren’t blind, you knew he was different. He apparently didn’t shave anymore and didn’t bother to cut his hair, you guessed for the same reason Nat went blonde, for cover. His once overly bright stars and stripes outfit was replaced with a black kevlar suit with a single star cutout across his chest.

“I’m helping you fly.” You responded casually, “I know it’s your ship your rules, but all I want is a hand on the wheel.”

“Very funny, but I don’t trust you, I trust Sam. Get up you’re not flying.” Steve replied sternly.

“And I’m just supposed to trust you blindly?” You scoffed in protest, feeling yourself getting angrier by the minute, “You take the people I was dealing with, tell me to come with you if I want to question my own people, and now you won’t even let me have the tiniest amount of control over this?”

“Yeah, because we’re the good guys, now get up, that’s an order.” Steve commanded, reaching for your arm to pull you from the chair if need be. Natasha sucked air through her teeth as a warning, only it was a moment too late. The second Steve’s hand connected with your arm, a network of purple hairline fractures maneuvered their way over your skin, making your body glow a deep purple.

“Don’t touch me.” You yelled as your eyes shone a glorious lilac. Steve’s face paled as he jerked his hand away from your arm, moving quickly to the other side of the ship, far away from you.

“Y/N are you good?” Nat asked as she ran to your aid. She gently rested her hands on your shoulders as the two of you took deep breaths. After a few seconds, the web of lines on your skin faded away and your eyes returned to their normal purple hue.

“I’m gonna need some answers.” Steve said, flatly as he walked towards Natasha but she held out a hand, stopping him in his tracks.

“Why doesn’t everyone just try to calm down? Y/N and I will fly us to where we need to go and when we get there we’ll have a nice little chat. Sound good?” She questioned, more to herself than anyone else.

Steve nodded slowly as he made his way to sit next to Sam, who wore a similar look of concern and fear on his face. They strapped in as the two women led them to their temporary hide out.

Taglist: @fairchild21, @moli1497

#project infinity #steve rogers x reader #steve x reader #mcu fanfic #reader insert #mcu reader insert #avengers fanfic

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pansyaparkinson · 4 years

Photo

Under the cut is a formatted version of Pansy’s application, since Tumblr has decided to be mean (once again):

OOC

Name: Karli

Age: 29

Pronouns: She/Her

Timezone: CST

Writing Sample: Please provide a link to some writing. This does not have to be from a roleplay specifically, though it is preferred.

Ships: Pansy/Chemistry is ultimately the most important thing to me. I have this weird soft spot for Pansy/Goyle after some chemistry I had with a Goyle when I played Pansy in another rpg and I’ve shipped them ever since! But it’s not something I would need to have. Mostly, I’m excited to play her coming back to Britain and reconnecting with all the folks from her past!

Anything else?: Pansy’s favorite color is red (despite the - ugh - Gryffindor colors!) and she often sports a crisp, pristine red lip that almost looks like blood.

IC - Overview

Full name: Pansy Auria Parkinson (Delvaux) - Pansy managed to keep her surname under the pretenses of her career, having been known within her line as a Parkinson. She uses Parkinson for her professional and personal life - but will call herself a Delvaux if it helps her get ahead or in polite French company.

Age: 40 (31 December 1979) - Yes, she throws the most extravagant New Year’s Eve parties in celebration of her birthday.

Gender: Cis-female (she/her)

Sexuality: Heterosexual. Pansy will be the first one to tell you that she likes cock. But only when that cock does whatever she wants. She’s not necessarily homophobic in the “normal” sense where she really cares who is fucking who - but she definitely makes homophobic jokes sometimes and, even if she loves you (looking at you, Draco!), you can’t escape her rolling her eyes a bit whenever the topic of sexuality comes up. She’s definitely going to hit you where it hurts if she’s angry.

Blood status: Pureblood

Former Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Occupation: Designer for Twilfitt and Tatting's

The shoppe, Twilfiit and Tatting’s, has been owned by the Parkinsons for generations. The oldest son, Malcolm, Pansy’s father, had inherited the business from his father. Malcolm, however, had plans far greater than his father could have dreamed. While Twilfitt and Tatting’s location in Diagon Alley brought enough money in to sustain the family fortune, Malcolm wanted to expand.

Throughout Pansy’s childhood, he was in constant discussion with other businessmen to open new locations throughout various places in Europe. It took a lot of time away from his family, but tripled their income and made Twilfitt and Tatting’s the place to get high end robes, clothing, and accessories.

Pansy started scribbling designs for new outfits when she was young, but her father would not take them seriously until after graduation, when he finally allowed her visions to become a reality. The Auria line (named for Pansy’s middle name) became the fastest-selling line Twilfitt had ever seen.

But it wasn’t enough. While her father was never a Death Eater - much too busy being successful to follow a man with no fashion sense at all! - he did a lot of his business with people who were. As those wizards and witches were caught and sent to Azkaban for Voldemort-supporting acts after the war, Malcolm’s businesses began to fail.

The Parkinson’s were losing money fast at that time - something they’d mainly been able to keep from the public eye - and Pansy had to step up and find a rich man to marry in order to help the business stay afloat. Pansy’s mother, Cordelia, did not want to fall from grace like those Malfoy’s, after all.

Pansy did manage to do just that - find a man, save the company, and is now the leading designer within the multiple Twilfitt establishments. Her line is sleek and expensive, mainly geared towards fashionable and rich witches. (Link to some of the clothing will be posted below within the “extra” section). She’s very happy with her career… but it came at what costs?

Marital Status: Widowed.

Pansy met Armand Delvaux when she was just twenty-three years old on a trip to the shoppe in Paris, which had been doing rather well until the fall of Voldemort. On their last bit of finances, the ability to keep the fact that the Parkinsons were actually broke was becoming harder and harder to manage. Meeting Armand had been a gift from Merlin itself, it seemed. Rich he was, though not so handsome, he was forty-two years Pansy’s senior and had lost his original wife in an unfortunate potions accident when the woman was rather young.

Pansy had gotten to work quickly, making herself known as available (though not too available) and Armand had fallen for her even before her knees hit the ground. Honestly, those Gryffindors complaining about torture under the Carrows know nothing until they’ve stuck a wrinkly penis in their mouth to save the family.

They were married within just four months of meeting one another, something his grown children (there are three of them, two daughters and a son - the middle one the same age as Pansy herself) were very vocal about not being in agreement with. While Pansy lived her life with her husband without loving him, she did love what he had to offer her. The funding for Twilfitt went back up - the Paris shoppe suddenly bloomed - and they were able to expand farther than even her father had expected.

The shoppe is now the leading brand for expensive, designer clothing with Pansy at its helm. When Armand died two years ago - rather young for wizards, but Armand had always been known to experiment with the tobacco he put in that pipe of his and his poor heart suffered - she inherited 85% of his money (despite more protests from her stepchildren, really they’ve been such a pain!). With that money, she purchased a rather loftily flat in England with a direct connection via floo to her estate in Paris. The last two years, she’s split her time between the two, but the excitement of France has recently died down and she’s been spending much more time with old friends in England.

Faceclaim: Katie McGrath (1st choice), Eva Green (2nd choice), Lucy Hale (younger) - I would prefer the Katie/Lucy match, as I feel like they have more similarities and also Katie’s supergirl resources and a few others are TOTALLY Pansy-esque

Summary: A lot of Pansy’s life shortly after the war had been defined by that one moment in the Great Hall - and, really, how unfair was that! She’d only wanted to have her school stay undestroyed and her friends kept safe, after all. The Parkinsons had never chosen a side in the war, safe from any harm regardless of what happened given their pureblooded status. Pansy herself hardly thought about the war at all - and yet, she was being punished publicly for it. While there was no trial or prison for her - the backlash her old classmates gave her for trying to give Potter up to the Dark Lord was enough to make her bristle. That, combined with the Parkinson fortune dwindling, made Pansy run away to Paris to find a rich husband and start a new life. She settled with a man forty-two years older named Armand Delvaux and the failing business her family owned - Twilfitt and Tatting’s - began to thrive again with his money. Pansy herself found passion in fashion designing and her Auria brand is known as one of the leading brands in high-fashion clothing sales. While she spent most of her life after school travelling between Paris and London, she has decided to plant herself anew in the country of old friends and enemies again, now that her dear old husband has died. Many still think of her as that bitch from school and they aren’t wrong… but, cut her some slack, she’s grown up… a little bit.

IC - In Depth

Discussion

I included a lot of this discussion above in places I felt they made most sense, but below is a discussion of various things I have yet to add:

-Pansy is not ashamed of what she did during the war because, quite honestly, she hardly did a thing. She was no Death Eater - there was no Azkaban for her. As far as anyone knows, Pansy is the same person as she always was… but maybe just a bit nicer. Of course, that’s a laugh! She’s playing nice because it’s what this new wobbly feelings world wants her to be. She’s still not going to hold hands with Weasley or tell Granger she’s pretty or something insane like that! She’s got standards. She just might not spike your drink with laxative potion for a laugh anymore… well, not much potion anyway. Potter can miss one day of work for her entertainment.

-Pansy is ambitious. She’s a Slytherin for a reason, after all. She’s a designer (not a shoppe keeper, to anyone who may ask, thank you very much!) and values her work. She spends hours working on new pieces for her Auria line and won’t stop until it’s perfected. Some people think fashion is silly - but Pansy knows the truth. It’s an art form. Some wizards have just yet to discover it.

-Pansy is not nice. While she can play at it with a smile when she has to, she’s not above backhanded compliments and manipulation. She’s such a gossip and shouldn’t be trusted with any secret. Who’s dating who (or who’s fucking who, more like it) will be spread like Fiendfyre… whoops, don’t mention that word in front of poor Draco and Gregory… they get a bit sensitive. Pansy “forgot.”

-Perhaps the most curious thing about Pansy is that she both cares and doesn’t care about what other people think about her. It’s why she’s so mean - it’s easier to be the one on top putting everyone else down than have it possibly happen to her. When someone brings up her betrayal of Potter before the final battle, Pansy pretends to easily shrug it off with a perfectly presented insult and a roll of the eyes. But, the truth is, there’s a reason she uses make up potions and wears nice clothes and keeps all the flyaways out of her hair… the better she looks, the less fodder everyone else has for the fire.

-While there was no actual punishment for Pansy after the war, given she never fought for any side, the way those old classmates of hers viewed her after the stunt in the Great Hall was punishment enough. They looked down on her, something that brought up a whole lot of insecurity for her in a way she hated. It was enough to push her to France, agreeing to look after the shoppe there, and allowed her to settle into security with a husband she didn’t love.

-In fact, she did not love Armand at all - even for a second. While Armand was kind to her in some respects, he also very much underestimated her. Kept her out of the discussions when Twilfitt went into business with the Delvaux Company. She could play at her “little designs”, but could not truly take over the business, despite the fact that her line made the business the most money out of anything else they sold. In Armand’s mind, business was no place for a woman, something Pansy was unabashedly in disagreement with.

-Pureblood families - particularly families from higher society - have always stressed reproduction. While marriages are ideally full of love and children, creating an heir has always been the higher standard within the society that Pansy grew up in. She was supposed to get pregnant - supposed to have children and carry on the bloodline, despite any children she may have had not taking on the name Parkinson. That didn’t happen. In the end, it was discovered after trips to several different healers that Pansy could not, in fact, have biological children. Armand was alright with it, as he had three other children to carry on his name, including a son. Pansy could’ve considered adoption - she could’ve considered surrogacy. Instead, she decided that her life would be devoted to her career. She never truly liked children, anyway - just thought becoming a mother was what was expected of a young woman like her. In the end, she has found she feels very fulfilled. She’s usually very happy with her choice, but that doesn’t stop from the occasional pang of resentment and sadness whenever she sees old friends and acquaintances with their growing families.

-Despite what many believe, Pansy does love her friends. Draco is an actual treasure! Even if she is mortified by the way she threw herself at a gay man once upon a time. She very much values his friendship and has spent many visits to England with him. Daphne, too, is practically her soulmate. Pansy adores the woman who has been friends with her since Hogwarts. While Daphne’s status from Spindrift Lane meant she was more easily manipulated, Pansy loves that in a friend. She’s always been Queen Bee, after all.

-But just because she loves you doesn’t mean you’re safe. She’s mean whenever she wants to be - nice whenever it serves her. She might order her friends around sometimes and give backhanded compliments (Oh, your skin finally doesn’t look washed out today in that outfit!), but if anyone else tried to do that to someone she cared for, they’d be in for a rude awakening. Just because she can be a bitch doesn’t mean just anyone can talk to her friends like that! Even her own attitude has died down in recent years, as she grew older and things didn’t matter nearly as much. But she’ll still pull out the claws whenever she has to.

-Pansy is mostly in disagreement with Hermione’s Cerberus program. While she agrees that magical people shouldn’t be just going off with Muggles and therefore the Statute of Secrecy is important, she definitely doesn’t like the idea of people trying to watch her all the time. In her eyes, it’s a very prejudiced program. Who are considered the “suspicious ones?” The Slytherins from the war. Even though Pansy herself did not fight in the battle or even pick a side, she knows how people view her. Just because she was a Slytherin doesn’t mean that she’s off experimenting with Dark Magic and absolutely despises how this program will make her and others like her look.

- Pansy isn’t surprised more shit has arrived on that doorstep, but just like in the last war - she has no interest in playing a part (yet).

Plots

-Pansy is back in England now, almost permanently. While she does still visit France periodically, this is the first time she’s been in her home country more often than the other since she was twenty three. Yes, she’s stayed in close contact with her friends… but how will everyone else handle the Ice Bitch being back? She may have grown a bit throughout her time, but would they know it?

-Party on NYE? Pansy’ll throw it, so long as you bring her a gift!

-We have a plethora of Gryffindors and Weasleys and other do-gooders from the war (I play one of them, after all!) on the dash and I wanted to bring in someone who is opposite of Harry and who will give me The fog hardly interests her. Where there’s Hogwarts, there’s trouble. Where there are Weasleys and Potters and all the Gryffindors, there’s trouble.various plots. I’m not against the tension and definitely don’t expect people to just be happy with Pansy, who is rather mean about 70% of the time. I’m all for those interpersonal tension-filled plots.

-While I say Pansy doesn’t want to be part of the war, what I mean is that she’s not ready for it. If this fog business becomes worse - what happens then? She’s an adult now and likely can’t just hide behind not choosing a side. I would love it if she gets sucked into helping, rather than hurting, and is forced to work alongside all these people who probably hate her. If the Order is reestablished, perhaps she can join and be an actual asset. She’s got money - but she also has intel. Just because her husband thought business was no place for a woman didn’t mean Pansy abided by it. She knows more about the people her dad used to do business with than anyone thinks she does. She can be useful to the Order. She doesn’t want Lord Voldemort to come back, after all. He really fucked things up last time!

Extras

The link to Pansy’ pinterest is located below. It includes pictures of the faceclaims and her designs for Twilfitt.

https://www.pinterest.ca/karliandtaylor/pansy-parkinson/

#application #about

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crvelsovls · 4 years

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delphine laurent has been seen walking around town. hazelgrove is familiar of the twenty-nine year old demon as she is against restoring the town’s glamour spell. the people of hazelgrove can agree that the dancer can be poised yet still be destructive. let’s just hope something can be settled before the town is turned upside town. + rose gold highlighter shimmering along the height of prominent cheekbones, black satin dresses draped over a svelte frame and blood-red roses in a vase on the window sill.

why, hellooo there !! i’m chrissie and i’m super duper excited to be here !! this here is the first of my gals ; delphine aka my sassy lil demon child fkhfjh she’s kinda a newish muse so pls bear with me while i navigate this chaotic hellcat lmao anywaysss i’m utter plot trash so feel free to slap a lil heart on this and i’ll come pester you for plots n all that good stuff !! : )

FUNDAMENTALS.

full name. delphine athena laurent.

nicknames. del, & della.

physical age. twenty-nine.

actual age. three hundred and fifty seven.

birthday. unknown.

gender. cisgender female.

pronouns. she / her.

species. demon.

nationality. unknown.

religion. agnostic.

birthplace. unknown.

current residence. hazelgrove, me.

sexual orientation. pansexual.

romantic orientation. aromantic.

education. psychology degree.

occupation. dancer at purgatory.

CONNECTIONS.

birth mother. unknown.

birth father. abraxas.

full blood siblings. unknown.

significant other. n/a.

children. n/a.

pets. n/a.

PROFICIENCIES.

spoken languages. english, spanish, french, italian, german, & russian.

negative traits. brusque, obstinate, destructive, deceptive, & promiscuous.

positive traits. elegant, headstrong, observant, independent, & confident.

strengths. etiquette, resourcefulness, knowledgeable, quick-thinker, original, brainstorming, charismatic, & energetic.

weaknesses. argumentative, insensitive, intolerant, finds it difficult to focus, & dislikes practical matters.

skills. skilled with blades and various knives, skilled with firearms, hand-to-hand combat, memory recall, physical stamina, able to use initiative, & excellent problem-solving abilities.

talents. violin, dancing, & photographic memory.

APPEARANCE.

eye colour. green.

hair colour. dark brown.

height. five feet, five inches.

weight. 61 kg.

build. she is considered average height for a female and is both slender and toned.

scars. a rather noticeable one across her clavicle and a few others in less visible places.

tattoos. n/a.

piercings. earlobes.

glasses. n/a.

MISCELLANEOUS.

zodiac. unknown.

element. fire.

house. slytherin.

myers briggs type. entp-a.

alignment. chaotic neutral.

enneagram. type eight.

temperament. choleric

intelligence type. intra-personal.

character label. the vixen.

diseases. n/a.

past mental disorders. post-traumatic stress disorder, & acute stress disorder.

current mental disorders. undiagnosed.

addictions. tobacco, cocaine, & alcohol.

vices. lust, greed, & wrath.

virtues. temperance, diligence, & humility.

allergies. n/a.

diet. carnivore.

dominant hand. ambidextrous.

accent. american.

blood type. o negative.

felonies. petty theft charge when she was fifteen. she also has a history of both kleptomania, & pyromania when she was a teenager.

vehicle. red 1966 shelby 427 cobra.

BACKGROUND.

trigger warning(s). mention of death, mention of imprisonment, & mention of murder.

although the region of her birth remains a mystery to delphine, she knows for certain that her parentage is a complex story. the by-product of a human mother and a demonic father, delphine entered this world destined for a life of chaos and disarray. though she never knew her mother, her father had been thrilled by the sheer idea of having a child he could mould and shape into the pitch-black soul he desired her to be, minus the influence of a mortal. indeed, the demon abraxas had big plans for his little girl, plans she grew to work against despite her father’s best efforts to rein her in.

the instant little delphine began to display her powers, make use of her abilities and disobey daddy dearest, the girl was locked in her room. a room that contained every possible thing that a child could want. for the first few years of her life, delphine was homeschooled by a demon under her father's command. while her father made sure she had wanted for nothing, the older she grew the deeper she desired to explore the world and her capabilities. one fateful night, the girl managed to escape her father's abode; used her enhanced speed and endurance to run far into the dark night. of course, it wasn't long until her father's demonic henchmen were on her tail, dragging her back to her prison. delphine knew her father gave her the best life possible but she also knew that there were ulterior motives behind his kindness.

eventually, delphine proved to defy her father to breaking point resulting in him having her shipped off to an all-girls boarding school. during her schooling years there, her father sparsely visited or, instead, often sent one of his subservient demons to check in with his daughter in his place. then, after a long period of time, the visitations ceased; the last thing delphine heard was that her father had wound up entangled with a couple of hunters.

delphine deemed this both a blessing and a curse. a curse as all she'd known was her father's rule. a blessing as she was finally free to lead her own life; make her own choices and follow her own path. she wasted no time in graduating from the academy before deciding to move to new york city where she found herself enrolled in new york university, undertaking a psychology degree.

still, with no word from her father or his servants, a small element of delphine continued to look over her shoulder in fear that they would creep back into her life. perhaps her father’s involvement with the hunters had ended in disaster. or perhaps he’d simply given up on his daughter fulfilling the prophecy he placed upon her. though the latter seemed unlikely to her, delphine wasn’t entirely sure if she truly cared enough to give any of it a second thought.

after her graduation, she was cornered by a demon who claimed to work for her father. it soon became apparent that her father had vanished, seemingly having fell off the face of the earth altogether, and that this demon had stepped in to fill his shoes. naturally, the demon was trying to recruit delphine into the fold once more but refusing to take no for an answer had deadly consequences for this other demon.

having killed the new ruler of her father’s faction, delphine made her way across various states until she would up in hazelgrove where she laid low for the first year. after a while, she began working in purgatory as a bartender until she decided she wanted to be front and centre stage, ending up becoming a dancer.

while delphine isn’t fond of the idea of serving demons, she isn’t utterly opposed to working alongside them nor using her demonic powers. delphine can be a ruthless, callous creature who most definitely doesn’t exist to serve anybody or bend to the will of anyone.

PERSONALITY.

the semblance of delphine can only be accurately encapsulated by ribbed turtlenecks and skin-tight jeans with red-bottomed heels. the air of her seemingly callous persona epitomised by the ease of narcissism and offhand sardonic quips accompanied by a playful grin. delphine is the perfect balance of an elegant, self-assured woman and an intelligent, artful creature; effortlessly displaying only a rare sum of her persona, the elements of her she wishes others to see while concealing all the other elements of herself she deems less than favourable. one’s initial opinion of delphine might be that she appears cold, the kind of person who wouldn’t blink while grasping any opportunity to cut you down only to build herself up. delphine couldn’t be farther removed from her childhood self. every inch, every last detail of the once bright-eyed young girl has been broken down and reshaped into the icy-glared creature who lives today. life strengthened her, shaped her into a careless adaption of who she once was; a woman who stands her ground and speaks up for herself and what she believes in, never fearing the consequences of her actions.

QUICK FACTS.

owns waaay too many pairs of heels.

her signature look is her blood-red lips.

often wears suits and totally rocks them.

extremely skilled with knives and blades. always carries one on her person at all times.

has never been in love or had her heart broken.

although she wears a lot of red, black is actually her favourite colour. she feels her most powerful in an all-black outfit.

her most prized possession is her brushed chrome zippo. it has her initials engraved on it and where she got it or from who is something she’ll never tell.

always seen with a cigarette in hand. she seriously chain smokes. always says she needs to quit but never does and probably never will either.

is very soft underneath and a lot more sensitive than she lets on but she’d rather die than expose this about herself.

has a history of both kleptomania and pyromania when she was a teenager.

has a felony of petty theft when she was fifteen.

has a psychology degree from nyu but never tells people about this.

drives way too fast but loves the thrill of it.

is aromantic. believes she doesn’t have the capacity to love.

can speak quite a few different languages though she never usually makes use of this.

she can be pretty deadly if you piss her off enough.

thrives on chaos.

a tad theatrical.

is truly an independent woman who don’t need no man.

her drink of choice is vodka tonic.

WANTED PLOTS.

for wanted connections and potential plots, i’m open to anything and everything. seriously, throw any idea at me and if it has angst, i’m a million per cent there !! however, some connections i’d love to see delphine have are :

a confidant / friendship.

a best pal.

an unlikely supernatural creature who turns out to be her friend.

of course, fellow demons.

a potential love interest.

past or present flings / hookups / fwb / one night stands.

frenemies or plain ole enemies.

clashing personalities.

somebody she often spends time with, most likely drinking with.

#mystichq:intro #death /#imprisonment /#murder /#hi hey hello.#this is my first child.#pls come plot w me jfksfh.

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thefaithie · 5 years

Text

WC, Chapter 5

Wrong Conclusions Chapter five: Them? A date!?

It ended up being a hard week for the Titans. Johnny Rancid had escaped from prison and had gallivanted around town with a monster truck, one that had been much more 'monster' than 'truck'. And although, naturally, by the week's end, Johnny ended up back in jail, he had not been the only surprise; to everyone's amazement, Starfire had continued her rigorous training program, and what was more amazing, Beast Boy had begun to train alongside her. Robin, Raven, and Cyborg had stayed quiet on the matter, assuming the two Titans were still rather traumatized by the whole Trigon attack, and no one wanted to push them while they seemed to be in a strange but, overall, stable state.

But now it was a Saturday, and Robin was severely relieved that there were no signs of any villains attacking. It meant his plan was a-go.

He had planned everything the night before; he would walk up to Starfire and casually ask if she wanted to go see the aquarium, since she was still rather amazed with Earth's aquatic life. If she refused, he would just convince her to come, saying it was important to know to get along with the Atlantians. Once there, he would talk to her a little about the fish, and then nonchalantly bring up the topic of her training, until he was finally sure as to what had brought the sudden change upon her. It was the perfect plan! Besides, it also gave him the opportunity to be alone with Starfire for a while. It seemed like ages since the two of them had had any alone time together. In fact, it seemed almost as though Starfire had been avoiding him to a certain extent, recently...

Robin was not the only one being avoided, either. Though Raven wasn't prepared to admit it, she was beginning to miss most of Beast Boy's horrid jokes and odd ways of showing affection. All week, he had been going silent the moment she entered a room. At first, Raven had welcomed this, but now...now, it simply seemed wrong. After all their days of being Titans together, this was the first time Beast Boy had given up attempting to make her smile, and though she didn't appreciate the way he generally went about it, she DID appreciate that fact that he at least TRIED to do it. Now that he had stopped, it wasn't nearly as...well, entertaining around the Tower, anymore.

Though she usually reveled in the silence, there was something very cold about the silence ensued from Beast Boy. And because of this, Raven decided to prepare herself for a serious talk with him that night. She had had a few of them with him before: one after she had accidentally lost control of her powers, a second after the chemicals had unleashed a beast within him, another after Malchior had betrayed her, and the final two that had caused Raven the most pain - the ones that came after Terra's betrayal and subsequent loss.

Raven sat up in her bed that morning, going over all of those conversation in her mind. The first three had ended up as usual; with a laugh or a joke, which had reminded her why she normally didn't attempt serious discussions with him. But the one after Terra's loss...That time, Beast Boy had been unable to find anything funny to say. In fact, it had been all he could do not to snap at Raven in a blind rage.

Raven looked down at the folds in her blanket, remembering some of the last conversation that had caused her so much pain.

"'Loss'? 'LOSS'?" the memory of Beast Boy's voice rang clearly in her head. "Raven, the ONE PERSON who was willing to understand and accept me is GONE! I know you're used to living life as an outcast, too, but as least you LOOK relatively human! It's not exactly easy having green skin and pointy ears, y'know?! All you have to worry about is having paler skin than usual and a jewel in your forehead! Other than that, you're perfect! Perfect! If you wanted to, you could get along with anyone you wanted! But not me... No one's willing to accept someone with this freaky a shade of skin color and fangs and pointy ears. The Doom Patrol did, but I was kicked out of that. The Titans did, but what do any of you really KNOW about me!? Oh, that I can change into animals, that I like to tell jokes? That isn't exactly much, Rae..."

Raven's nails groped at her blankets, remembering what she had said to that long monologue of Beast Boy's welt-up feelings. She wasn't proud of it. "I would think you'd be used to it by now, Beast Boy. I am." She had glared as well. At the time, she had believed that Beast Boy had merely been making a drama queen of himself.

"Raven..." Beast Boy's voice had gone so cold, clearly taken aback that she could have said such a thing. "You were BORN that way. You have no idea how much I wish I was... How I wish I had never tasted being normal and liked by everyone. Having that ripped away from you... you have no idea how painful it is. I doubt you ever will. Until you find someone who understands you the way Terra understood me, and is willing to accept you with all of your faults and weird ways, please Raven, don't compare yourself to me on this. Seriously." With that, Beast Boy had slid his door closed in Raven's face and hidden in his room.

Raven let out a small sigh, standing up from her bed. That memory wasn't one of her favorites, but she treasured it, nonetheless. After all, it was when she had learned that there was so much more to Beast Boy than she had ever seen before. The only other genuinely serious conversation the two had, had been because of Malchior. Raven knew, then, what it was like to have one's heart ripped out. True, that conversation wasn't quite as 'serious' as the one before, but it had also been the first time she had hugged Beast Boy. Part of her regretted ever doing so, for after that point, he became much more open when it came to touching her.

"Today," she told herself as she floated in front of her gothic mirror. She pulled out her blue cloak threw it over her shoulders, pulling the hood over her head after she did so. Today was the day she was going to have another serious conversation with Beast Boy, and find out where all that negative energy had been coming from.

She floated out of her room and into the kitchen to find Cyborg frying bacon. Before she could say anything, the other bird of the Tower made himself known.

"Morning, Cyborg, Raven," Robin said casually to his two friends, though he had somewhat of a lack of breath to his voice, as though he had been running around. "Have either of you two seen Starfire? I looked everywhere, and it's like she's vanished. Her communicator signal seems jammed, too."

"Well-" Cyborg began, but he was cut off by Raven.

"I haven't heard or seen her all day. I can't really feel her energy around the Tower either, now that I noticed...Beast Boy's either," she paused for a moment, her heart involuntarily increasing it speed as she remembered the previous time Beast Boy vanished last week. "Do you think they're in trouble?"

"Actually-" Cyborg attempted again, but was cut off by the Boy Wonder this time.

"They would have at least tried to make a connection with us through the communicator."

"Beast Boy didn't bother last week," Raven reminded him. Robin's eyebrows furrowed in worry at that fact.

"Neither's been active for a while. And - oh, man - Beast Boy's signal is jammed, too-"

"They're on a date!" Cyborg suddenly shouted, causing both Raven's and Robin's eyes to widen in surprise. Robin's eye then twitched slightly, almost breaking his Communicator as the grip on it suddenly tightened considerably.

"That isn't funny, Cyborg."

"Who's joking?" Cyborg rolled his one human eye, lifting his shoulders in disbelief. "You saw the way the two were actin' 'round each other all week! I saw Star with somethin' other than her uniform on this morning, and same for BB, and BB said they were, and I quote -- "Going out." It looked like a date to me – when they left, they were even holdin' hands-"

Quite suddenly, there were two different shattering sounds. The first was the sound of Robin crushing his Communicator in his fist, and the glass screen breaking. The second was in the kitchen, the sound of a sugar bowl being blown into many small pieces. The jewel in Raven's forehead was glowing the same black color as the small porcelain shards left behind from the blast.

"You-...You probably got it wrong. They're probably going to get lunch or something," Robin said with a small, forced laugh, and an even more strained smile.

"Naw, man," Cyborg said with a large sigh and second eye-roll, clearly tired of being accused of lying. "Both of 'em dressed up. I seriously don't think they'd bother to do that if it were just the normal stuff, ya' know? It was definitely date outfits. BB was even gettin' all nervous about it. Is that so hard to believe after they spent all week talkin' to each other like they did? Man...What's the big deal with you two anyway?" He lifted an eyebrow, looking from one to the other. Raven looked as though she were about to vomit, and Robin was twitching visibly behind his mask, using his hand to readjust it in hopes it hid his involuntary twitch.

Robin swallowed nervously, thinking quietly as he was beginning to hyperventilate. A second later, he suddenly turned around, muttering something about needing to fix his communicator.

Cyborg blinked in confusion and looked down at Raven for an answer, instead. "I don't see why he's freakin' out so much. I mean, since you two are together, it shouldn't be a problem-"

"Wait. Together? 'Together' together?" Another explosion was heard in another part of the Tower. This time, it was the toaster that had to be sacrificed amidst Raven's sudden rage at hearing this second comment. "Why would you think that Robin and I would be 'together'?"

"...You're not?" Cyborg asked with real, genuine surprise. He was so earnest Raven's rage wound down, albeit only slightly. "Man, after the Trigon thing, I was sure you two were...y'know. Ya' ran right to him an' everything. I mean, we may have been knocked down, but we all saw how you walked right past me, Star, and BB to get to Robin."

Raven went silent, thinking over what had been said. She hadn't even realized before...But it was true. Robin had been the one she had run to, but that was because he was the leader! He had always been the one who defeated the villains, and at that moment, she needed the most powerful leader she knew. Her father had just been too powerful.

"Raven?" Cyborg repeated, rather gently, but got nothing but a swishing of a cloak and a small 'I need to talk to Robin' in response before Raven walked off.

Once she was gone, Cyborg sighed and turned around to head into the kitchen begin fixing the toaster, muttering rather insulting things about 'those damn teens' and their 'stupid hormones', as he tried to clean up the mess. This was why he usually stayed out of it. He regretted not listening to his own advice.

After Raven walked off, she calmly walked towards Robin's door, getting ready to talk to him about this. If he was the one who started the rumor, she wanted to get things straight with him. She was no one's girlfriend -- that would hurt their team dynamic and only cause problems, and she didn't want to deal with any of that. Besides, she didn't feel that way about Robin in the first place. Right...?

For some reason, a memory of Beast Boy saying 'C'mon, Rae! Smile! For me?' flashed across Raven's mind. She blinked for a moment in confusion, and then shook her head to rid herself of it. That was odd, to say the least.

"Robin," Raven said in her monotone voice as she slid his door open, to see that he already had one foot out of his window. He looked back at her with a desperate expression filled with guilt and attempted to pull his foot back, but merely ended up tripping over his own table.

"Were you... were you trying to go out to spy on Starfire and Beast Boy?" Raven asked, fighting back the urge to smile at the sight of the Boy Wonder with a desk-full of junk toppling across his body. But she quickly managed to pull the urge back once she realized that it WAS, in fact, what Robin had been preparing to do. "That's an invasion of their privacy, and though I usually wouldn't say anything about Beast Boy, Starfire can make her own decisions."

"I...I just have a bad feeling!" Robin claimed, standing up and brushing some paper-clips from his spiky hair. "With their Communicators off and mine out of commission I can't help but worry, okay? Besides, what if someone attacks the city?"

"We can handle them ourselves. Cyborg and I are more than enough in most cases."

"What if Silkie starts burping up, then? Only Starfire and Beast Boy know how to keep that thing under control."

"Silkie's been asleep all day. I doubt he's about to wake up now."

"Then...Then..." Robin stammered, looking for some form of reasoning to explain his own behavior. Not just to Raven, but himself, too.

Raven rolled her eyes and let out a small sigh. "Fine. Just admit that you're jealous, and I'll go with you. My Communicator still works so if something DOES happen, Cyborg can contact us."

"Jealous?" Robin's voice cracked as his face burned a bright red. "Why would I be jealous? I'm not jealous!"

"Fine, if you won't admit it..." Raven trailed off, beginning to turn and leave the room, but Robin caught her by the arm before she could do so.

"Raven, I DO have a bad feeling. Let's just...Let's just see what's going on, okay? And then we can leave them alone. I last got a signal around that park I brought Starfire to... Around the aquarium."

Raven lifted an eyebrow and looked Robin's face over. She knew him better than most because of the time she had spent in his head, and let out a sigh of defeat. If she DIDN'T go, he'd probably do something all of the team would regret, anyway.

"Fine." She seceded with annoyance.

With that, the two birds left the Titan Tower in search of Beast Boy and Starfire.

Disclaimers:

Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Robin, Cyborg, Silkie, and pretty much everything but the plot at hand belongs to © D. C. Comics/Cartoon Network/Kids WB

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theladyactress · 5 years

Photo

Anna Cora Mowatt and the Rumor Mill

It is more usual to think of historians as searching for verifiable facts about historical figures and events. Because this research project is focused on scandal and reputation, I am in the unusual position of being engaged in a search for verifiable rumors and documented innuendo.

I have seen traces many Ogden, Ritchie, and Mowatt descendants in my travels on the internet. If you make a stop here, be assured that I am not casting aspersions on your illustrious ancestor. Anna Cora was ruined financially and devastated emotionally by Walter Watts’ crime. Her effort to rebound from this scandal – further complicated by the timing of James Mowatt’s death -- was nothing short of astounding. I am merely plumbing the depths of the pit into which she suddenly found herself plunged without friend or comfort.

To anyone joining us for the first time, here’s a brief rundown of the Watts scandal: After Mowatt’s very successful Broadway debut in 1847 as first a playwright then as an actress, she was encouraged by friends, critics, and colleagues to try her luck on the London stage as many American performers had before her to varying degrees of success. Arriving there, she immediately drew the attention of Walter Watts, the manager of the Olympic and Marylebone theaters. Despite the fact that she was a mere novice, he signed her to a lucrative long-term contract (Even stars players were usually hired only for one show at a time). Watts publicly presented her with expensive gifts and had a deluxe dressing room outfitted for her where he hosted champagne dinners attended by London’s literary and social elite. This jealousy-inspiring treatment came to an abrupt and shocking end in March of 1850 when Watts was arrested for fraud. Watts’ arrest brought to light the fact that he was a clerk for the Globe Insurance Company who had been financing a millionaire lifestyle for over a decade by systematically embezzling from his company. Four months later, Watts hung himself in Newgate prison.

(If you’d like to read more about the scandal and Mowatt’s entanglement in it, this webpage goes into more depth: Touch of Scandal)

The double difficulty in my research into this scandal is that I’m trying to sort out not only what really happened, but what people thought happened. Because of her personal rhetorical approach and the general standards of the times, Mowatt did not directly address the rumors connecting her to Watts. After a certain point in her autobiography, she even ceases to refer to him by name. Her biographers use phrases like, “everyone in London thought” when talking about the scandal, but it now seems like few of those people documented their beliefs. Therefore more than a century later, I am trying to pick up the echoes of a very damaging whisper campaign.

A tidbit I discovered in one of my recent research “finds” is a perfect illustration of the sort of damaging innuendo that may have been being spread tying Mowatt to Watts at the time of his arrest in a manner that did harm to her reputation in England.

The article, entitled “The Forgeries of Walter Watts” appears at the bottom of page 3 in a New Zealand newspaper on November 5, 1892. Walter Watts and James Mowatt had been dead for forty-two years when the article was published. Anna Cora herself had passed away twenty-two years before. Still, this “true crime” story from half the globe away was deemed by the publishers of the paper entertaining enough to devote two columns to -- wedged in between a chapter from a Robert Lewis Stevenson story and a testimonial for the Society for the Cruelty to Animals. This account followed along the general lines of the narrative that I first saw recorded by David Morier Evans in Facts, Failures, and Frauds: Revelations, Financial, Mercantile, Criminal in 1859. The narrative mentions all of what I have come to consider the “major” rumors tying Mowatt to Watts; such as the silver urn, the dressing room, the locket, and the silk scarf. We will devote much time in future blogs dissecting each of these elements at length as they appear in this and other accounts. However among the colorful details this story adds that I have not seen in other accounts, I want to focus here on the following: “(Watts) sent the lady’s husband on a voyage to Trinidad…”

Nothing in my research indicates that Watts funded James Mowatt’s trip to Trinidad or that it was the manager’s idea in any way. According to Mowatt’s autobiography, her husband set sail for the West Indies in October of 1849 on the advice of more than one doctor after a re-occurrence of an unnamed neurological disorder or perhaps a growing tumor that rendered him blind in one eye and would kill him before the end of 1850. She says that the doctors thought the warmer climate and the long sea voyage would be good for him.

I have to enter into the record here that this is the point in Mowatt’s autobiography where she has stopped referring to Watts by name. She wrote her account of the decision for James Mowatt to set sail for the West Indies using a lot of passive voice and vague constructions like “doctors were consulted” and “it was decided.” In the spring and summer of 1849, Watts was presumably still the Mowatts’ friend and great benefactor. She was giving speeches in public talking about how wonderful Watts was and writing glowing dedications to him in the published versions of her plays. Watts was Anna Cora’s employer and had access to much more money than the Mowatts did. If he generously offered help fund a medically-ordered trip to Trinidad for the critically ill James and insisted that Anna Cora stay in London to fulfill her contractual obligations, then how could they refuse?

Also, to look at the scenario from the other side, if I was Walter Watts – embezzler and con man, leading a double life, -- who had convinced James Mowatt, -- ailing, middle-aged, controlling, ex-lawyer husband of my little American princess star actress -- to invest his wife’s life savings in the Olympic theater that I probably had burned down in the spring so I could rebuild with money I was stealing four and five hundred dollars at a time from the insurance company I was secretly working for... You know, I think I could think of a thousand good reasons why I might want him in Trinidad soaking in the sun and slowly dying instead of at a hospital in Germany or Switzerland that specialized in neurological disorders or cancer treatments while I had champagne dinners with his young beautiful wife in her fancy dressing room in London.

Thus you can see that the “(Watts) sent the lady’s husband on a voyage to Trinidad…” statement starts with the firmest foundation of a good rumor. It is plausible. All the characters are behaving in the manner that we imagine that they might—even when we imagine them to be behaving very, very badly.

[In a future blog, I plan to discuss the the aspect of rumor in which the spread of scandal is aided by prior negative perceptions of certain classes of individuals and how being an American actress in London fueled the harm caused to Mowatt by the Watts incident. However, we’ll leave that for now.]

In addition to being plausible, another aspect giving additional power to the Trinidad rumor is the truth of this information is knowable. Unfortunately, I’m not saying that I think that I will ever know the truth of the matter, but it is plausible that there were individuals at that time who knew the truth of about whether or not Walter Watts paid to send James Mowatt to Trinidad. When James left, Anna Cora moved in with her acting partner, E.L. Davenport and his pregnant wife, Fanny. They probably knew. Their children could have known. Members of the theatrical company may have known. Friends of Watts could have known. This anonymous account is written from the perspective of a young man of who Watts befriended.

Thus the “Trinidad” tidbit is succinctly is capable of confirming a willing listener’s most negative suspicions about Watts’ predatory behavior in the Mowatt marriage and Anna Cora’s either passive or active participation in that interference – depending on how negative one’s pre-existing view of her is. Although anonymous and even only ambiguously non- fictional, the narrator gives himself just barely enough credibility to serve as a plausible source for this information.

And so, my friends, forty-two years after the principals are dead, a strong rumor takes a deep, nourishing breath of fresh air.

The presentation chosen for this account leaves me with several questions that I’d like to share with you, dear readers. How seriously am I meant to take this “Page 3” story? It shares many characteristics with Sydney Horler’s “true crime” version of Watts’ story in his 1931 book Black Souls (A million thanks to Christi Saindon for helping me track down this hard to find volume!). Unlike Horler, though, the anonymous narrator claims to have first-hand insight to Watts’ actions and does not identify their version of the manager’s thoughts or words as fictionalizations. Do any of you know anything about New Zealand newspaper publishing conventions circa 1890? Was this section of the paper reserved for light entertainment? Reprints from English papers? Excerpts from books or magazines?

Also, my knowledge of Victorian medical science is thin. Do any of you have more expertise? How valid was the West Indies as a destination for the dying James Mowatt in 1849? I know that neurology was in its infancy and that “the rest cure” was being proscribed for a wide range of psychological and physical disorders of the brain that would be treated with medicine or surgery only twenty or thirty years later, but wouldn’t there be better places in England or Europe to treat someone with something that was exerting so much pressure it was making them lose sight in one eye?

I look forward to your input! Next week – more scandal!

#theater history #victoriantheater #victorian times #annacoramowatt

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necrokittytales · 5 years

Text

Necrokitty Tales: Trouble in Inkwell Isle (Chapter 28)

Authors’ note: Necrida’s writing will be in italics and SPKC’s writing with be regular font. If you have no idea what this roleplaying thing is, you can start from the beginning here. NSFW here!

———————————————————————————

Hilda woke up to the loud sound of machinery, making her entire house shake. Her first thought was that the actual dragon came back to finish what it started. She leapt out of bed and ran to the observatory, already started to transform into one of the constellations. But she stopped abruptly when she recognised the giant robot from Dr Kahl standing outside her observatory.

“Mowrning Miss Berg!” The man, and the robot, saluted her with a happy grin on their faces before seeing her outfit. "Hoho! You might vant to cover a little! I can tell you’re cold!” He chuckled, noticing Hilda’s breasts through the thin nightgown.

The woman immediately crossed her arms and frowned at the man. “You could have called before starting!” She shouted up to him.

“Calling is offerrated! Hologram or nothing,” Werner shouted, walking past Dr. Kahl with a scientific little doohickey . “You’re not blanning on sdaying inzide totay, are you? Ve may need to sbray zings zat do not like zee human skin,” he mentioned, eyeing Hilda.

Hilda raised an eyebrow at Werner. “Eh… actually I’m planning on seeing Cags today.” She looked at the two men working with their machinery. For every piece of debris they picked up, another two fell from another place. It felt like they were destroying more than what they were clearing up.

The woman sighed and tried to comfort herself with the thought of a free telescope and a 50% reduction on the cost. “I see you guys have everything under control… just… please don’t destroy my house…”

“Ja, ja. Ve are professional!” Werner turned just in time to duck as one of Kahl’s inventions nearly sliced him in half. “Vatch vere you’re svinging zat zing, you idiot!”

“Hello, Hilda!” The woman turn to see a familiar large carrot hopping her way with a friendly greeting. He paused as he got a bit closer to the observatory and then whistled. “When did you decide to start renovating?”

“Oh! Hy Psy! Well, I wasn’t really planning for it. Ya see, what happened was…."

The woman explained what happened to the observatory, excluding the details of her evening with Cagney. Psy nodded his head, making the appropriate facial expressions at the various points of her story.

”..and now, Dr Kahl and Werner are clearing all so I can start building up again. IF I can get the funding for it, that is!“ She sighed, a bit sad. "Anyway, you need something? I was about to head to Cagney’s.”

Psycarrot brightened up. “Well, I just decided to pop by after hearing all that noise. It’s awfully convenient for you to be heading that way as well. I got to give him back the key to his shed if he’s home. Do you mind if I join you?”

Hilda thought for a moment, and came to the conclusion that it would be less awkward if somebody else was present. Plus, it would be a good test to see if they were really back to normal or if there was still some tension left. “Eh, sure, let’s go.” With a wave of her hands, she cast a cloud big enough for both of them. “Hop on!”

Psy hopped onto the cloud and away they flew toward Cagney’s field. “I haven’t seen him in a few days so it’d be nice to touch base with him about some of those honey suckles he’s been growing. Figure out what type of mulch he’s been using to get them as bright as they are.” As the cloud cleared the forest and Cagney’s field came into view, the carrot peered inside. Psy groaned. “Darn, still not here.”

Hilda squinted her eyes and saw a figure in Cagney’s favorite tree. “Hey! Somebody IS down there!” She immediately approached the tree to find Carlos lying on the branch with his face covered by his hat. “Hey! I know you!” She yelled, waking up the cat and nearly sending him falling from the tree. “What the heck are you doing here?”

“Señorita Luna! Oh, por favor! Don’t hurt me!” Carlos held on to the branch with claws. “Petal’s said he wasn’t gonna be here for a few days, I’m just keeping his spot warm.” He smiled nervously.

Psycarrot glanced at Hilda slightly suspicious. “You haven’t been scaring guys again, have you Hilda?” He teased.

She looked at Psy confidently. “M-me? Naaah. I just had a very civilised conversation with him when he trespassed in my home the other day.” She looked at the cat and his multiple wounds and bruises, and shrugged, feeling slightly guilty for coming down so hard on him.

Carlos looked at the woman with wide eyes. “Well, if that was civilised, I don’t want to see what’ you think is barbaric!”

“Yeah, you don’t. Now get down from there before I make you get down,” she threatened the cat.

“Fine, fine!.” He climbed down. “But I don’t see why I can’t stay. I’m not bothering anybody, I have a place to sleep and I’m keeping an eye on his property. It’s a win-win!”

Psycarrot brightened up. “Say! You don’t know where that grumpy weed is, do you? He was all hush hush about it with us! I think he was going to another isle.”

Carlos and Hilda chuckled at Psy’s pun.

“Maybe something happened to him on the way?” Hilda said, worried. “It’s a long way for him…”

“Hmm…I remember he was in a hurry. He needed to take care of something really serious.”

Psy flexed and cracked his fingers. “I see that my vast psychic skills are necessary to see more than what this simple minded feline realizes he can provide us! Step this way, my good fellow and allow me into your mind!”

Carlos raised an eyebrow. “Read my mind?” He got closer to Psycarrot and crossed his arms. “Are you one of those charlatans at the circus?” He said not convinced of the carrot’s habilities.

“No, the real deal, my feline fellow!” Psycarrot had the cat stand in front of him and he began to massage his own head. “You…originally thought he was a girl. A very angry girl…your mind is telling me about a different flower in New York that you…oh. OH! Oh, eh, well looks can be deceiving I suppose!” Psy managed, seeing an image he would have rather not seen, or at least not in public.

Carlos paled and stepped away from the carrot. “I-I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Hilda laughed. “You looked a little too far, Psy, hahaha!”

Psy nodded, wiping his brow. “Ye-yeah.” He had to admit he wasn’t quite sure what he would do if he ever saw the flower from the cat’s memories but he doubted he could keep a straight face. So he concentrated on the day Cagney left. “Cagney said he was going to…well either fix things or fuck things,” Psy admitted sheepishly. “Sorry, just wow, uh…”

“Fix things?.” Hilda started to have an idea of her best friend’s plan. “Shit! I think I know what that dumb dandelion is up to…”

____

Cagney woke with a clanging and a yelling outside of his prison. He blearily blinked and looked up to see bee guards storming through, smacking their batons along the bars of the cages as they walked through. “Rise and shine, sweethearts!” one guard yelled.

“What’s going on?” Cagney grumbled, wiping his eyes. He didn’t know how long he was asleep or if the sun was up or not and the yelling was certainly not helping his mood. Granted, he did feel a lot less pent up than he had the last few days, but the circumstances leading up to and following that point were a bit…stressful to say the least.

The old bee shook worriedly. “They’ve come to take us to the Reprogramming camps!”

“What are you talking about, old timer?” he asked, as the bees walked toward the cat’s cage first.

“The Camps. It’s where they take problem bees and turn them into mindless drones, or "model citizens” as our Queen puts it. It wasn’t so bad at first. First, they were just taking the real bad riff raff, the ones that were stealing and have repeated violence and stuff. But lately, it’s been anyone who’s so much as hiccuped in front of her.“

"Huh, then why are you in here?”

“I stole and sold royal jelly,” the old bee admitted.

“And you haven’t been to the camps before, because…?”

“Oh I’ve been! But I’ve got a metal plate in me head from the last war, so it hasn’t been so successful! But I hear now that they got some even stronger force that could change that!”

Cagney did not like the sound of that but shrugged. “Well, I’m not a bee, so I’ll be just fine.”

“Don’t be so quick to think that!” The old bee warned, “I’ve seen fellas with twice as much spitfire and sass as you come back as tame as a kitten.”

Despite the seriousness of the threat, the carnation couldn’t help but grin at that last part. He tapped on the wall connecting his and Amber’s cage. “Ya hear that, ya dumb feline? They’re going to turn you into a kitten….hello?” There was no reply and the carnation scratched his head as the guard bees stared into her cage.

“The feline prisoner is missing, sir,” one of the guards spoke up.

“What?” Another guard fluttered over and quickly unlocked the cell before stepping in. The carnation had to take a peek as well. Sure enough, Amber was nowhere to be found.

The guards flipped over all the furniture and blankets in the room yet there was no cat. The one with the key pushed the other one. “We have to find her!”

“What about the other two? Should we bring them down?”

“And risk Rumor finding out we lost one of the prisoners?! Are you mad?!? Quick, I think I smell something furry this way!” The bees took down the hallway, leaving the two occupants still locked up.

Cagney grumbled. “Least she could have done was take me with her,” he lamented.

“Weren’t you two at each other’s throats yesterday?” The old bee asked.

“Yeah, your point?” He groaned. “How did she even get out of the cell to begin with?”

“I didn’t.”

The two men turned to see one of the walls shifting until the little orange cat dug her way out, covered in dried honeycomb wall debris. She flicked the stuff off of her fur and pushed open the unlocked cell door. She stood in front of them, beaming.

Cagney gaped at her. “How the hell did you do that?”

Amber stuck out her tongue. “Trade secrets. Now, if I unlock your cage, are you going to try to kill me again?”

“Ooh, I’d really like to,” the flower admitted, much to the bee’s chagrin.

“Fine, then you can rot in there.”

“No, no! Wait. Ugh fine!” The carnation scowled, crossing his arms. “Fine, I won’t try to kill you.”

“Great, I accept your apology and also feel bad for what happened due to your actions,” Amber responded smugly, extending out a nail and starting to lock pick Cagney’s door. After a few rotations, the satisfying sound of a click echoed through the hallway and Amber was soon pulling open the second door.

“Wait, wait, you whippersnappers (young people) have to take me?” The old bee protested.

“What? Why? You actually have a reason for being here…I think

"Well, if you don’t let me out, I’m going to raise the alarm,” the old bee threatened.

Cagney nudged Amber. “Be a good girl and go unlock his cage.”

____

The three escaped convicts started to quickly travel down the length of the passage, looking for an exit. They couldn’t stick around here. It was only a matter of time before they were caught by some patrolling guards. It didn’t take long for them to get hopelessly lost.

“Cagney, really think, you don’t remember where they brought you or how we got in?” Amber asked as they rounded another corner in the hive.

The flower shook his head. “I didn’t. Thought we would be just lead out the way we came. Wasn’t expecting Rumor to be completely psycho.“

“And yet, you still had whoopie with her,” Amber grumbled, “didn’t your parents ever teach you not to stick it in goofy?”

“Considering my parents have split up, they didn’t,” the flower grimaced, “I honestly didn’t think Rumor was carrying a torch for me.”

Amber nodded. “The thought of anyone having feelings for you is hard to believe.“

“Bees are naturally attracted to flowers and vice versa, so if you two are done squabbling, we really need to keep moving!” The old bee hollered at the two.

The group stopped as the sound of buzzing drew closer. “Quick, through here!” Amber squeaked, scampering down another hallway.

The three came to a door and the old bee immediately panicked. “Oh! No, this is the worst place we could be!” The old bee cried.

“What? Why?”

“This is Rumor’s office!” the bee exclaimed, pointing at the royal insignia on the door.

Cagney hesitated. “Shit, he’s right.” He had just been here 24 hours ago, negotiating with the queen bee. And this is one of the last places he wanted to end back up at.

Amber’s eyes lit up. “Think there could be some treasure in there?” She asked hopefully.

“Is that all you think about?” The flower grumbled.

“Well, no, sometimes I think about cream and a warm fireplace.“

The bee shook his head. “There’s no way I’m going in there!”

“Well, there’s no way back that way!” Amber hissed, pointing from whence they came. She glanced around. “The only other way is toward some place called the waste dump and considering honey is like bee throw up, I don’t even want to know what’s considered waste to them!”

“Anything’s better than the office!” The bee flew down the hallway before either Cagney or Amber could stop him.

The buzzing grew louder and the two exchanged nervous looks. “Office?” Amber suggested

“Office.”

They turned around and quickly entered Rumor’s office, shutting the door behind them. Cagney looked around some more. “Looks like Rumor’s not here.“

“Shh!” Amber shushed, putting a paw over his mouth, peeking through the keyhole. The Carnation leaned down and peeked through other one.

In the corridor, a couple of bees walked by, pushing a cleaning cart. The fugitives recognised one of the bees as the young fellow they met back in the cells, before he was taken to the reprogramming camp.

”…I’m telling you, I’ve never felt better! You should totally go!“

"I don’t know… I heard spooky stuff happens in there,” the other bee answered, cleaning some dust from the corridor decorations. "You don’t come back the same bee.”

“All lies! It was like a day at the spa! All I did was talk and enjoy massages! And I’m telling ya! Those ants really know what they’re doing”

“Ants? What are ants doing in here?”

“Oh! No no no! It’s cool! They made like a treaty or something with our beloved queen. Oh! And at the end of the day, after I let aaaall my stress and concerns out, they give you this lovely bracelet!” Cagney and Amber saw the young bee show his wrist to his friend.

“..WWRD?” He read. “What’s WWRD?”

“What Would Rumor Do! Isn’t it neat? Now, whenever I get too tense, I just look at this and think about our magnificent queen and all that she does for us, and I feel like I can do better! It encourages me!” He said, excited while leaving the corridor.

Amber heard some movement behind the royal chamber’s door in the office. The cat turned toward the door. Her fur stood on end as the door knob jiggled. “Hide!” She whispered, jumping under Rumor’s desk.

Cagney blanched. “Where the hell would I hide?!” He hissed back. The carnation wasn’t fast enough and braced himself as the door to Rumor’s bedroom opened.

“Thank you for seeing me, Queen Narween,” Rumor said to a slim winged ant, smaller than the bee, as they came out of the room. Rumor looked like she had been crying, her eyes were glassy. “You’re really a good~.” The bee opened her eyes widely at the view of Cagney. “friend?”

The ant noticed the surprise on the bee’s face. “Intruder!” She yelled, pointing at the flower. A couple of huge ants with massive jaws came out behind the royalty and threatened the carnation with their teeth.

“NO! No! Wait!” Rumor yelled, stopping the ant guards. “Its…um…my appointment. Just a pollen gardener!” She tried to calmly say. “I’ve been expecting him.”

Narween looked at Rumor skeptically but ordered her guards to stop with a gesture of her hand. "Oh… my sweet dear.” She caressed Rumor’s cheek softly. “Friends don’t lie to each other. Who is this?” She gestured to Cagney with an open hand.

Rumor’s eyes brighten at the touch of the ant. “He-he’s Cagney…"

A creepy smile appeared on the ant’s face and she took a couple of steps towards the flower. The ant guards remained defensive. "I’ve heard so much about you…Cagney.” She pronounced his name with disgust. “You’ve really hurt my sweet Rumor. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Cagney had a very bad feeling about all of this, especially with how Rumor almost responded passionately to the other woman’s touch. Was this her girlfriend or something? He hoped not, otherwise, there would be some explaining about the events from yesterday. He almost glanced toward Amber’s hiding spot but stopped himself. The ant appeared very perceptive and no doubt might pick up on the fact that he wasn’t alone.

He puffed up his chest and gave the ant an intimidating glare. “What do I have to say for myself? I have quite a lot to say for myself. Like, who the hell are you? And what the hell is going on here?” He turned to Rumor. “Because right now, it’s looking more like a loony bin than a hive, Rumor.”

Amber could have slapped herself. Her many, many brushes with possible injury and impairment had made her hyper aware of potentially deadly situations and this just screamed ‘Danger!’ to her. Cagney had no idea what he was getting into but he was smart enough not to look her way. She had crawled into a tight crevice of the desk and watched the scene anxiously through a slit in the wood.

Narween looked at Rumor to see what she was going to do about the flower’s insolence. The bee frowned at Cagney angrily.

“Looney? YOU want to talk about looney? What about yesterday? Uh? Sleeping with me to get what you want for that fucking witch!?” She took a deep breath to cool down and looked at her desk. “You know what.? I’m tired of this.” She took out her scepter. Cagney noticed something different in it, it looked as if it had loosened his golden brightness and was a bit cracked, like a branch.

Rumor waved the scepter muttering a chant and in her hand appeared a dark red silk cloth. “There!” She wrapped it up in a ball and threw it at the flower’s feet. “This bandana will allow to see the solution to every problem! You’ll be able to help her on your own.” She said sadly. “You simply have to wear it whenever you need to think clearly”

Narween ordered her guards to stand back to leave some space for the flower to pick up the fabric, and looked curious at the carnation.

“Take it and get out of my hive, Cagney.” Rumor said, crossing her arms and turning her back to him. She had to do an effort not to cry.

Amber looked at the piece of fabric fearfully. “Don’t touch the cloth, don’t touch the cloth, don’t touch the cloth,” she silently prayed to herself.

Cagney resisted the urge to snarl at the bee. “You wanna blame me for this? Really?!” He knelt down and scooped up the bandana, clenching it in his fist as he drew closer. “I’m not the one who asked for sex, Rumor. That was YOU, asking me to give you the 'greatest orgasm of your life.’ And not to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty damn sure I did just that!”

Cagney threw his arms in the air. “Yeah. I’m just as responsible for what happened next, I’ll give you that! And if I had known what I knew now, I would have had a hell of a lot more questions before I’d have done that with you!”

His head drooped and he looked away. “I came here to ask for your help, Rumor! And I was willing to work for it, sure! You could have told me no or to buzz off. You were my friend, I would have listened!” He looked back up at her, daggers in his eyes. “But you saw an opportunity and you took it. So here we are. Congratu-fuckulations!”

He didn’t dwell on Rumor’s hurt expression, instead dangling the piece of cloth in front of her. “You want me to put this on?”

“Please don’t put it on, please don’t put it on, please don’t put it on,” Amber desperately begged to herself.

“Fine! I’ll put this on!” Cagney snapped, tying the bandana around his neck. “You think it’ll help me think clearly? Because I haven’t been thinking straight for the last week and if a piece of fabric is going to suddenly change things, I’d like to see it try!”

Rumor felt worse at each word the carnation yelled at her, turning red in embarrassment for her moment of weakness. She turned slightly to see the flower putting on the fabric and she looked at him wondering if she had done right.

Seconds later, Cagney started to feel a bit light headed. His angry thoughts started to fade away at the view of Rumor’s glassy eyes. Had he just been saying horrible things to the friend who was willing to give him what he needed to help Hilda? Hilda… that name made him feel slightly angry for some reason.

Narween seemed very pleased to see what she was witnessing, the guard ants still at the defensive.

“Cagney?” Rumor asked worried. “Y-you ok?”

Cagney blinked unsteadily. “What were we talking about just now?” He asked.

Amber gaped at the scene. The carnation had been outright yelling one minute and the next, acting like someone had just kicked him in the head.

The bee looked at Narween worried but the ant reassured her with a nod.

“You-you were yelling at me for trying to help you with…Hilda.” She despised the witch so much, she could barely say her name. She looked Cagney into his eyes, trying to identify any sign of change in him.

Cagney shook his head. “Yelling at you? Why would I be yelling at you? About Hilda? Why the heck would we be arguing about her?” He asked, the very name eliciting a bad taste in his mouth.

Rumor’s expression lightened and she looked back at Narween. The ant smiled back at her. “Well, I see you have everything under control here.” She walked towards the door, accompanied by her guards. “I leave you with your…meeting.” She left the office, closing the door behind her.

Rumor turned back to Cagney. “Eh… d-do you remember anything from yesterday?” She needed to see if her magic erased everything prior of being worn, or simply it distorted the memories, but she knew it might be a little too soon to really know. Some magic artifacts required some time to fully act.

Cagney struggled to make sense out of yesterday. It seemed like a muddled mess but gradually pieces started to fall into place. “Well, uh, I remember coming here cause I had to ask you for a favor.”

The flower scrunched up his face. “Hilda’s dome was broken. I accidentally broke it, and she said I had to fix it. I had to come bother you to try to fix it, I think.” He made a face. “Why the hell would she have made me bother you? You’re really busy! If she wanted it fixed, she should have come here herself, right?”

“Right!” Rumor said, happy to see Cagney realizing that. He just needed a little push. “Uh… d-do you, do you remember what we… 'talked’ about… in my chambers?” she asked, blushing slightly, remembering their love making session and how abruptly it ended.

“You were offering to help but the more we talked, the more I realized how right you were about everything. And we got to flirting and we…did, holy shit” Cagney turned red in the face as he recalled their coital session.

The bumblebee underneath him, squirming and squealing in pleasure. He couldn’t even remember how long he was waiting to hear her make those sounds.

Rumor smiled shyly as she noticed his redness. “Yeah. That was… pretty amazing, actually… w-was it good for you?”

Cagney tried to play it cool. Rumor was asking him if he enjoyed their magical night together. “Y-yeahh!” He stammered before clearing his throat, “I mean you’d have to have honey for brains to not see how much I enjoyed myself.”

Rumor’s heart beat so fast. Her spell seemed to be working perfectly. Cagney now realized she was the one for him, and not that filthy human. She looked at her feet. She needed to be certain of the efficiency of the magical cloth. “Eh, and…do you remember how it ended?”

The flower concentrated. “The end?” For how muddy the rest of the memories were, for some reason the end was still fairly vibrant in his mind. Perhaps it was because it was such an emotionally fueled moment that it didn’t melt away with the rest of the memories?

He brightened as he remembered he had imagined he was making love to Hilda in that moment. “Oh, yeah I said Hil-!” His voice was cut off mid-speech as the bandanna constricted against his neck.

He tumbled down, knocking some items off of Rumor’s desk before he collapsed to his knees. The thought of Hilda moaning in sublime ecstasy within his grasp turned painful and he couldn’t breath.

Amber had been bracing herself to hear some really disgusting sex stuff about this Carnation that she really didn’t want to hear, but watching him fall to the ground almost made her leap from her hiding place. What the hell was going on?

“Cagney!” The queen yelled and she reached for him. “Cagney, look at me!” She forced him to face her. “Focus on me! Please, Cagney! Look into my eyes and breath slowly!”

After struggling a bit, Cagney finally focused on Rumor. He felt how the silk cloth relaxed around his neck, allowing air to finally pass into his lungs.

He rubbed his neck, continuing to breathe carefully, lest that happen again. “Christ, Rumor, you’d think they’d make this bandanna a little softer,” he grumbled. He softened at her worried expression. “Hey, hey, no, I’m okay, don’t freak out, dork,” he chided. He leaned in to her touch. “This feels nice though, you can keep doing this.”

The queen worried expression turned into a blushing smile, even though she didn’t appreciate being called a dork, she kept caressing his cheek.

If only thinking about Hilda almost made him choke… what would happen if he actually saw her? She would have to work fast to erase every memory of the witch before that happened…not that Hilda would show up in her hive. 'That’s it!’ She thought to herself, 'I’ll keep him in my hive until he forgets all about that blimp!’

Rumor cleared her throat. “ I’ve been thinking… Since we’re doing business together maybe-maybe you would like to work in my Royal Gardens? That way you won’t have to walk all the way here every time. You will have your own room, of course! As well as a team of gardeners. Everything you need will be take care of!” She said with bright eyes, hoping he would accept.

“That, that would be amazing! I mean, I have to get my old garden taken care of, but that shouldn’t be too hard.” Cagney eyed her sideways with a smirk. “You’re being awfully nice to me, what’s the catch?”

“Catch? Well, I guess you’ll technically be working for me. Does that bother you?”

“I think I could get used to the idea of having you on top,” he chuckled.

Rumor blushed heavily, laughed and pushed him slightly. “Oh! You! You better watch your tongue in front of my workers!” She was really liking this. It felt so right!

He stuck his tongue out and waggled it at her. “Just let me know how you’d like to see it when the workers aren’t around.”

Amber was wondering what the hell was happening.

He glanced toward the direction of where the ant went. “Unless your girlfriend has an issue?”

“Girlfriend?” She took a second to understand what he was referring to. “Oh! Narween? She’s just a friend. A very good one. And to think we used to be rivals! She bought other small hives to make honey but my high quality has always beat hers in the market.” She helped the flower to stand back up. “And then one day, she came in peace. We had a looong talk and now we’re partners and best friends!” She said, a little too excited, as if she was over acting it.

Cagney pulled a petal. “Huh. Yeah, I don’t even remember seeing the honey she makes in the village store. Best friends, huh? Well at least you’re not lonely,” he teased

Rumor frowned at him but kept her smile. “You know… I’ll be less lonely if you accept the job.” She held her hands on her back and gave him a hungry look. “I could show you where your room would be right now….” This felt incredible for the queen, to speak freely, to the point, with naughty overtones. Is this how he felt with Hilda? No! She shouldn’t waste her thoughts on that witch. If everything worked out, in a few days Cagney wouldn’t even need the bandana anymore. He would be completely free and, hopefully, they would finally be together.

Cagney nodded. “If you got the time… And the energy,” he hinted, the allure of the bee once again stimulating his interest, “I’d love to see it.”

She bit her lip and walked to the door. She stopped in front of it and took a deep breath, stood straight, changed her expression to her typical noble stare and opened the door. She had to make sure nobody would get any ideas about them. Gossip literally flew in this hive.

They both left the room, leaving the little cat burglar alone in the office. The door was closed after they got out with the sound of a few locks.

Amber popped her head up and looked around. “What the hell is going on around here?!” She exclaimed. She looked around the room for something. Magic mirror? Evil puppet? Hypnotic ant monster?

The bandana. Cagney was all ready to brawl until he put it on and then suddenly he and the crazy queen were flirting and oh man was she glad they didn’t start anything on the desk.

And the staff that the bee have been holding; it made the bandana come out! “The staff has got to be the source of this,” she realized, “I have to get out of here!”

She started to make a beeline in the opposite direction of Rumor and Cagney only to stop. That scepter was dangerous. Really dangerous. And from what she had just seen, it wasn’t restricted to bees. Anyone could suddenly find themselves wearing a bandana or a bracelet and their brains turned to mush. Plus, she really couldn’t leave Cagney to his fate. She groaned and plopped herself down on her butt. “I hate being the hero,” she grumbled.

She had to get that scepter out of the bee’s hands.

But how? Amber wasn’t good at magic, having none of her own, and so there was no way she could just confront Rumor head on. She couldn’t take on a bee and her really unsettling ant friend. And if Cagney was really zonked, he might attack her too!

She had to play to her strengths. And her strengths were being sneaky and stealthy. Amber glanced around the room, already planning out her route to follow the two bosses.

____

Cagney followed Rumor to what he assumed was his room. For the most part, the workers did not give him a second glance. Word did travel fast in a hive. No doubt they heard that he had accepted the gardening position and realized he didn’t need to be arrested.

But the cat he was with. Amber. She was still around. He really should have mentioned to Rumor that she was in the room, but something deep in his gut had prevented him from doing that. Oh well, maybe he could help her look for the cat later. After she showed him the bedroom.

She finally came to a door and opened it up, revealing a very similar set up to her own chamber with access to ground and water. Even in the privacy of the room, Rumor still remained calm and regal like. He wondered if he could get her to drop the act now that they were alone.

Or so he thought.

Amber clung to the beams holding up the ceiling of honeycomb. It was fortunate that they had some form of structure for her to even grab onto, much less hide behind. Honeycombs were strong and all but a place of this size and capacity probably needed a bit of help to stay intact. She had been following Rumor and Cagney, hoping the queen might hand off her scepter to someone less capable but no such luck. She squeezed through a gap in the rafters to get into the room only to freeze as she saw the way the flower eyed the bee.

Oh, she definitely did NOT want to see this. She turned and tried to hightail it out of there only to remain stuck. She looked to see her tail tangle on some of the nails. She tried to pull it out quickly only to stifle a pained gasp. She had to go slow otherwise they would hear her. She regrettably go to work on freeing her tail as quickly as she could.

Cagney planted his roots into the moist soil, enjoying the feeling of dirt again on his feet. When this was all over, he was going to go home and stay burrowed in his garden for a week. He paused. But he wasn’t going to go home. Not yet at least. This was his home now, right? There was a reason he wanted to go back to the isle but he couldn’t quite figure it out.

The line of thinking distressed him and he chose instead to play with Rumor. He placed his leafy hands around Rumor from behind, fiddling with top of her breasts. “Ready for round two?” He asked.

Rumor bit her lip, wanting very much to have a Round Two but stopped herself from just submitting once more. Yesterday’s events were still very much in her mind, especially how Cagney blurted out Hilda’s name at the end of what was supposed to be very stress relieving coitus. “Cagney, I don’t think I have the time at the moment.“

Cagney nuzzled against her. “You’re the queen, ain’t ya? You’re saying you don’t want to mess around just a little bit?”

She was the queen, wasn’t she? She could allow herself to indulge in this again. Besides, the bandana looked like it was already doing its job. Cagney had barely mentioned Hilda ever since he put it on. “I suppose there’s some time,” Rumor admitted, sitting down on the bed and beckoning him closer.

The flower approached her but paused. “Ya gonna hit me again?”

“Depends on how good you are,” she smirked.

“Great.”

Keeping his position in the dirt, Cagney leaned over in front of Rumor and pressed a surprisingly gentle kiss to her lips.

The bee was caught off guard, expecting the roughness from yesterday. She quickly responded in kind, taking her hands and softly stroking along the sides of his face, rubbing the sensitive spots on his petals that her bee vision could see. The flower shivered at the contact, his tongue slipping out and begging for entrance to Rumor’s. She granted entry and met his tongue with her own, enjoying the sweetness of his nectar.

His fingers crept alongside her shoulders and pulled away the royal garments she wore, exposing her black and yellow skin. She shivered at the contact with air and she reached out to pull his stem against her. She enjoyed how warm the plant felt. She started to rub down his rough stem to shamelessly try to coax out his piece already.

Cagney squeaked in surprise at the bold gesture. He pulled away from the kiss and smugly eyed her. “Guess you really don’t have a lot of time if you’re already wanting the big finish.“

Rumor blushed at being called out. “It’s just, well after yesterday…”

“Yesterday?” He asked, “didn’t we have some fun yesterday?”

‘Yes, and you screamed out another woman’s name during sex,’ Rumor wanted to remind him but stopped herself. Ugh, Hilda wasn’t even here and she was already putting a damper on this ardent affair. “Never mind yourself,” she replied sharply, “just hey!”

In his absent-mindedness, Cagney had torn a little bit of one of the garments. He looked at the piece of cloth in his large hand. “Oops.”

“Oops? That’s silk, how did you rip silk? You better fix it after this!” She gasped, trying not to let on to the fact that the thought of the Carnation ripping her clothes off was actually kind of hot.

Cagney nodded. “Don’t worry. I’m going to fix this…” there was an odd feeling inside of him as he said those words. Like he had said them before.

Rumor rolled her eyes. “I’ll just have the Royal tailor fix it, don’t concern yourself further…“

Why had he said those words? He remembered clutching someone tightly to his breast, repeating those words. Hoping he could make them true.

“Cagney?”

The flower looked back in her. “Huh?”

“Is everything alright?” Rumor asked, trying not to look too worried.

“Yeah, yeah everything’s fine,” he said, even as he swore he could feel someone small in his arms.

Rumor eyed the flower a bit worried before gently pulling him towards her lips. She focused on the moment and try to keep the thought of the meteorologist out of her her mind. 'Better keep her away from his thoughts as well…’ she said to herself, raising the intensity of her kiss and stimulating him. "On second thought, maybe you could give more work to my tailor,” the queen said, sensually looking at her torn up clothes.

Cagney returned the kiss, trying to match the intensity of it while trying to ignore the weird feeling that festered within his chest.

He ground himself into her touch and pressed kiss after kiss along her cheeks and her neck. His fingers tugged at the garments, trying to pull them off, but now shying away from outright ripping them. He already had so much to try to do, he didn’t need to add more to it.

What did he come here to do? He was here to work for Rumor, right? He came here to try to fix something but the more he tried to focus on what it was, the more it slipped away, agitating him further.

He could feel his stem starting to thicken as he continued to paw at her breasts and her hips

Rumor let some soft moans escape from her throat, rubbing her body impatiently against his. She caressed his sensitive spots behind the petals slowly leaning on him. “Take me,” she moaned between playful tongue kisses. “Take me now!” She ordered, stealing a really heated kiss from the flower.

The order reverbated deep within him and he couldn’t help but growl at the authority behind her words. He resisted the urge to just forget and submit. He grabbed Rumor and pulled her fully into him, his tongue darting out and caressing the insides of her mouth. He could feel a heat growing within him as his stem continued to thicken and his petals turn ragged with her touches. The frustration of it all, wanting to screw Rumor into oblivion yet still remember what he had come here for was proving too much for his regular form to take and he felt himself gradually transform.

The queen abandoned herself to the flower’s needy and gradually rougher touches. This was surreal for her. Two days ago their relationship was purely business, and now, here she was, quivering and almost dripping from their still covered crotch.

She rubbed herself against the thicker part of his stem looking at him with preying eyes, not paying attention to the slightly changes that started to appear in his body.

He flipped her around so her back rested against his chest and removed the garments around her pelvis, exposing her sex. His fingers dipped down and spread her vaginal folds, fingering the sensitive tissues to prepare her for penetration.

He felt so pent up. He wanted nothing more than to pollinate the queen bee, make her scream, hoping that her shrieks of pleasure would shake him from whatever lingering thoughts kept him from accepting this was what he wanted.

“Are you ready?” He groaned, rubbing his penis against the outside of her vulva, silently begging for her to let him in.

She gasped in surprise and spread her legs to allow Cagney to reach better. Her body was burning with desire. “Hhnng… yes! Don’t make me wait any longer!” she cried, caressing his neck and moving her hips to the touches.

He slipped it in easily as her entrance was already slick with desire. He lingered inside her without moving, enjoying the feeling of her warm walls wrapped snugly around his cock.

This felt even better than yesterday! He ran his hands along her body pausing as he felt the bareness of her wrists. There was supposed to be something there. He grit his teeth, growing increasingly frustrated by how his mind refused to remember. He knew there was supposed to be something there. So why couldn’t he remember?

He should start soft. She asked him to…right? But Rumor didn’t ask for that. Someone asked for that. But it wasn’t Rumor. He thrusted into her slowly at first but quickened his speed as she wiggled impatiently.

He felt like he was losing his mind. His teeth elongated and sharpened as he warped his shape. His petals looked bedraggled and his stem had thickened and fleshed out. She felt increasingly tight on his growing member as he continued to rut into her, his lustful groans turned into a growls

Rumor moaned at the slow friction and turned around when she noticed the tightness in her womanhood. “Cagney, what are you~CAGNEY!?” She yelled, surprised to see the monstrous figure of the flower thrusting and growling. The queen tried to pull him out and release herself from of his grip. “What’s going on!?”

Rumor’s desperate wriggling to escape only led to Cagney tightly grasping her, pinning her arms to her sides, and jerking her back down roughly on his enlarged penis.

He hadn’t been in this form for a while, not since he broke the dome. And he was supposed to be fixing it. But he wasn’t. He was here, abusing this sexy bee. The more he touched her, the less he started to care about anything else. Except for screwing the honey out of her.

The carnation’s capacity of speech in this form wasn’t the best but he managed another snarl, “What’s wrong, Rumor? Can’t handle me like this?”

“Handle you!?” She moaned. “Since when you can turn like this?” She was more surprised than worried. The thick member of the flower pounding her wet vagina, sending waves of pleasure all over her body, making her shiver and groan loudly.

She started to love this feeling of being trapped like a fly between Cagney’s strong vines. It didn’t take long for the bee to accompany the carnation’s rough love making with her hips.

He didn’t answer the bee, instead choosing to nip and bite at her neck. He could feel himself close to climaxing as her walls started to spasm around him, indicating she was also near her edge. He continued to keep her pinned, his vines rubbing and stroking the front of her clitoris as he erratically rammed into her.

A final thrust of his hips sent him shooting his load deep inside her, coating her with the sweet, sticky nectar. He let out a rather monstrous growl, unable to call out an unknown name. He kept Rumor planted firmly as she started riding out her own orgasm.

Rumor screamed Cagney’s name as her orgasm exploded like a bomb through her shivering and wet body. That was the best orgasm she ever had, including the one from yesterday.

“My queen! Everything o~OH GOD!” The cleaning bees from before opened the door and saw the weird scene in a flash before shutting the door again. “W-we’re so sorry my queen!!!”

“P-please don’t kill us!”

Rumor’s reaction was slow, she was still panting, lost in the afterglow of her exquisite orgasm when she tried to speak and sound like her usual self.

“Hhh… you’re…hhh… you’re dead, if hhh you say anything… hhh.” She could only think about Cagney and how much she wanted to be with him, even in this monstrous form. She wondered if the silk cloth was responsible of his transformation.

“Of course, my Queen!”

“We won’t say anything my queen”

“We heard and saw nothing!”

The cleaning bees kept reassuring the queen as they walked away from the door.

Their problems continued even into the hallway. A large female bee guard stopped the smaller workers, startling them. “Why aren’t you cleaning?” She demanded.

“AH! Oh! Eh… uuuhh… we … we thought we heard something but.. eh…~!”

“Turns out was just a bird smashing into the window….” They replied nervously.

The guard narrowed her eyes. “Get back to work,” she said in a severe tone. The little bees nodded and continued their cleaning routine.

The guard eyed the door they were standing by and paid attention to any sound. They were still looking for the fugitives and it would be horrible if their Queen found out they managed to reach this level in the hive.

____

Amber knew what sex was. She had had it a couple of times. She liked it, usually. She had actually been wanting some sex for a while now and it was getting to the point where she was seriously considering offering herself to anyone as long as she got a screw. There was only so much self loving could do for her. The point being, despite how long it had been since she had sex, she was fairly certain she could recognize it when it was happening.

This was not sex.

Amber had watched the entire thing with the expression of someone who was watching two trains not only crash but also start screwing each other like spring fueled rabbit. She had freaked out once or twice but thankfully her voice was drowned out by the vocalizations of the bee and flower. She was incredibly heated and knew she could probably pass for a furry strawberry with how red she was.

She held her freed tail in her paws, frozen to her spot until the door slammed open, jarring her back to reality. She fled the way she came, wondering how long it would take for her to forget the image of Cagney screwing the bee into oblivion that was burned into her mind.

____

After a while without hearing the bees, Rumor pulled Cagney out of her dripping sex of his big load. She tightened her thighs together, enjoying the warm fuzzy feeling inside her, and turn slowly towards Cagney, still in his last stage. He seemed a bit confused, still panting from the effort and releasing soft growls.

The queen wanted to comfort him, she extended her hand and reached for his cheek. “You ok, Cagney?”

Cagney blinked unsuredly and growled at the hand before realizing it belonged to Rumor. He allowed it to make contact with his head briefly before wrapping a vine around it and growling quietly. He was still very much coming down from his high, unsure if he enjoyed the touch or not..

Rumor didn’t dare to move and looked at the carnation worried. Did she turned him into this? Maybe she did the spell wrong…

At the sound of the growling the guard from outside stepped in, pointing a gun at the couple. “HOLD IT TheoooOOOOHMYGOD!” She saw the flower holding onto a naked Rumor who didn’t seem very comfortable with the situation. The carnation must be assaulting her beloved queen! “LET HER GO! NOW!” She yelled, pointing the gun at Cagney.

Cagney turned at the shout, still somewhat confused. When he saw the gun being aimed at him, he bared his sharp teeth. He released Rumor and advanced upon the bee. “I’m going to break you like a ceramic pot,” he snarled.

The guard shot a few rounds, planting a couple of bullets in his stem, but it only seemed to make the monstrous plant angrier.

“STOP SHOOTING!” Rumor covered herself with her clothes and shouted at the guard who obeyed immediately lifting his hands.

“B-but… my Queen?.” The large bee said confused.

Getting shot did not feel good. So Cagney was fairly sure he was about to make the large guard bee feel worse than him. Before the guard could lower his hands, Cagney backhanded him through the door with a vine. “Ha! Hahahaha!” He cackled. “Bet that didn’t feel good!”

“CAGNEY!” She quickly put on her dress, picked up her scepter and turned the dirt into salted water.

The result was instantaneous. One second, Cagney was raring to knock out the next guard. The next second, he had collapsed, the saltwater stinging his roots. Without the dirt to support his greater form, he quickly shriveled back into his second form.

He wasn’t shrinking in pain persay, but he definitely wasn’t being quiet about it either. “What the hell? What the hell is going on?! Ow, ow, ow!” He hissed, trying to get out of the water.

“I haven’t hurt this much since Tauros landed that lucky shot the last time Hilda and I went at it!” He groaned, just the memory of it making his stem sting even more.

Rumor growled, angry at the sound of the sky witch’s name. She clenched her fists and got to the door. “I hope you enjoy your new home.” She got out and slammed the door behind her. A series of clacking noises came out of the door suggesting it was being locked.

Rumor stood for a while in front of the door looking down. She was feeling horribly guilty. This was the second time her passionate time with her beloved flower had ended with him blurting out Hilda’s name and being locked up. She was seriously starting to believe their relationship wasn’t meant to be.

“My Queen!” The large bee approached Rumor worried. “You ok, your Majesty?”

“..I’m fine”

“I’m sorry I didn’t react sooner, my Queen. I will execute him inmediate~”

“No,” Rumor interrupted. “You will NEVER speak of this. You saw NOTHING.” She threatened the female guard. “And the two cleaners who were here earlier. Send them to my office.” She walked towards her room. “Cagney is the new royal gardener. Make sure everybody knows”

The guard looked at her unbelieving, but nodded softly. “As you wish, my Queen”

____

Cagney tried to follow her but couldn’t open the door. Had she really locked it?! He didn’t have the strength to break it down. And without the soil, he was stuck like this.

“UGHHHH!” He growled and proceeded to punch the bed, trying to figure out what had gone wrong once more.

____

“Ugh. Here he comes again,” one of the bee guards at the entrance of the Honeybottom building said to his colleague, when he saw a familiar reptilian silhouette, approaching fast and dripping with water.

Sullivan was livid. He had spent an entire day explaining the incident to his superiors and authorities, and no-one cared about the individuals the bees arrested. He stomped up to the guards. “Let her out!” Sullivan yelled. “Or I’ll get her out myself!”

“C'mon, pal! don’t make me throw you over the bridge again!” The bee replied.

“Go ahead! I’m an amphibian! I’ll just swim back out again! At least let me see her, you brutes!”

At that moment Hilda approached on her cloud accompanied by Carlos, who was clutching desperately to the cloud. “Oh great, more weirdos,” the other guard murmured, watching the woman land softly in front of them.

Hilda heard the salamander yelling and quickly approached the entrance of the hive. “Wow. What’s going on here?”

“Hey! Mi amigo! How are you doing?” Carlos said, happy to see the amphibian. After the fiasco at the docks, Amori ordered him to keep an eye on Sullivan and to find the masked cat he claimed was the cause of his failure.

The sailor turned to the familiar voice. “Carlos? What are you~Miss Berg? H-hi!” He said, surprised to see the meteorologist.

“Eh, hey there…you.” Hilda completely blanked. She knew the amphibian had something to do with boats, and he often came asking for detailed weather reports, but she never managed to remember his name.

“Sullivan.” The sailor said, noticing the doubt in the woman’s face.

“Suuullivaaan! Yes! Of course! I knew it! Just…you know…my head is always in the clouds,” she chuckled awkwardly.

"Oh! You know each other? What a small island.” Carlos smiled. “What are you doing here? Anything I can help you with, my friend?”

“Ugh, not really. Unless you know how to get in there and out. Alive.” The bees looked at them listening carefully. The group noticed their dirty looks and stepped away.

Sullivan explained what happened at the docks and how Amber and Cagney got arrested by Rumor’s guards and never got out.

“..and now, I’m trying to at least see Rumor and talk some sense to her! She’s not the queen of the world! She can’t just arrest people as she wishes!” Sullivan finished talking, pacing in circles angrily.

“Ugh, dumb weed! He must think all cats are burglars now!” Hilda said, a bit pissed herself. “I’ll go in Sebastian”

“Sullivan.”

“Sullivan.” She corrected, and walked towards the guards.

“Hi there, I want to talk with Cagney,” Hilda said to the guards at the door. The bees looked at each other and back at the woman.

“No visitors, miss,” one of them finally answered.

“Look, I know Cagney. He must have said something stupid and made things worse. I want to talk to him so I can make sense of what actually happened and clear this whole thing up with Rumor.” The bees were starting to lose their patience.

“Only bees allowed inside miss. Please, go away!” Hilda was about to yell at the bees when a hand pulled her roughly away from the bees.

“Señorita Luna, mire!” Carlos pointed at a large group of tourists getting inside from another large gate. The bees took a look at their yellow and black stripes badges and let them in without paying any more attention to them.

Hilda smiled maliciously. “That’s a great idea, kitty cat! We’ll CRASH the bus into the door! No-bee is gonna be able to STOP US!”

“Qué dices loca? No! The tourist group! We can get in as a tourist group, you psycho,” Carlos said, surprised to her enthusiasm to crush the vehicle.

“But that was the last tour for today! We’re going to wait for tomorrow! And who knows what horrible things they might be doing to my poor Amber!”

The woman sighed, tired. “Fine, but I like my plan better…” .

____

Amber tiredly plodded down the halls. This place was a giant maze and her normally acute sense of direction was horribly messed up by all the sweet smelling honey. She figured it had to be night by this point, right? She would need to sleep soon since she didn’t have an opportunity to take a cat nap during the day.

However, she was very wary of where she could sleep. The hive was swarming with bees and she constantly had to be on the lookout for the next patrol or cleaning crew. She had to find a safe place and there were very few places that the bees did not barge into.

Well, there was one.

The Queen had made Cagney’s room practically off limits to anyone other than herself. Amber grit her teeth. Cagney had been acting real goofy ever since he put on that dumb bandana. And he wasn’t exactly fond of her before either.

The sound of wheels clattering indicated that one of the cleaning crews was returning, and she scampered back up near the ceiling. She had to think of some way she could get in there without the large Carnation murdering her on sight. She watched the cleaning crew as they swept and dusted the hallway.

Geez, didn’t the cleaning crews ever stop? She’d imagine a hive could get very messy really quick without them, but seriously it felt like they were here every. As one of them pulled out of cloth to polish something, Amber’s eyes lit up. “Hey, that could work.”

____

Cagney grumbled to himself as he observed his stem. The wound had pretty much healed at this point, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t sore to the touch. He was glad? Yeah, glad, he’s supposed, that he got shot in his third form and not the second. There could have been a lasting injury with the second form.

He heard the door knob rattle and glanced over to it curiously. The doorknob stopped rattling and he shrugged. “Must have just been someone trying the wrong door,” he figured. He paused again, this time he swore he could hear scratching above him. A small figure landed near him and he turned on it.

It was Amber. “Heya, Cagney!” She greeted cheerfully, taking a step forward.

There was suddenly no more ground underneath her paws as the flower scruffed and dangled her in the air. “Rumor’s been looking for you,” he evilly grinned, “kind of a dumb move for you to come here, don’t you think? Maybe I oughta dunk you in the salt water before I call the guards.”

Amber’s fur raised at the sight of the water but quickly waved her paws at him. “No, no no! Rumor already found me! See?” Her little paws gestured to her neck. Tied around it was a bright yellow bandana. “We’re on the same team now! Go bees! So no need to dunk the kitty!”

“…You’re lying. I’m going to call the guards.”

Amber shrugged. “Oh, sure, sure, go ahead and call them, I guess. And I’m sure they’ll come take me away, but man, the Queen is going to be super mad about it when she finds out you woke her up to turn in her secret agent.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

The cat batted her eyes at him. “How do you think I was walking around all day in the hive? You think I’ve been hiding this entire time? No, sir. Rumor made me one of her Secret guards. And only she knows about it.”

The carnation stared at her. “I thought I was the only one to get one of those bandanas,” he mumbled, putting her down.

Amber raised an eyebrow. “Really? You’re unhappy because you think you’re not the only one to get mind controlled by a bandana?”

“What was that?”

“Oh, eh, I mean. You’re still special. Mine’s slightly different from yours. I’m here to guard you.”

He chuckled. “Guard ME? Really? That’s hysterical.”

“I don’t know, you look a little bit beaten up. And no offense, I don’t think it’s from the sex.”

His eyes widened. “How the hell do you know about that?!”

Amber smiled. “Secret guard, remember?”

Cagney groaned. “Just, whatever, fine guard me.”

“Awesome! I’ll start by checking out that bed!” The cat crawled onto the small bed and began to knead the blankets.

The carnation walked over to her and stared down at her. “Hold on, aren’t you supposed to guard me?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, wake me up if someone comes in and I’ll -yawn- defend your honor or whatever,” Amber yawned, curling into a small ball.

Cagney rolled his eyes and sat down next to her. “Well…this sucks.”

Amber flicked an ear at him. “You know what helps make things suck less?”

“What?”

“Petting a fluffy animal.”

The carnation scoffed, crossed his arms and looked away. “Yeah, right.” Amber hummed and remained lying down. There were a few quiet seconds that passed before Cagney glanced at her. “Really?”

“Mmhmm.”

He uncrossed his arms and extended a hand out to her. “So, I just, pet you?”

“Yes. But only one direction. And not my belly unless I say so.”

“Sounds complicated.”

“Only if you’re a moron.”

He scowled but very cautiously placed a hand on her and began to carefully pet her. He raised an eyebrow. “Huh. This isn’t hard.” He froze as she started to vibrate. “What is that?!”

“I’m purring,” Amber explained, not opening her eyes.

“Is that good?”

“It’s good, it feels nice. That’s my way of saying this feels good and I like it.”

“Why don’t you just say that then?” He snorted, continuing to pet her.

“I think purring gets the point across better, don’t you?”

The cat had a point, carnation could feel himself relaxing the more he petted the small asshole, her vibrations making him feel unnaturally calm. His thorns started to recede and he could feel his leaves start to perk up. He sighed. “I wish I could figure out what’s going on with me and Rumor. Like, everything’s going well and then suddenly she’s kicking me out or turning my soil into ocean water. Something feels wrong.”

Amber grunted. “Maybe you guys aren’t as close as you think.”

The flower did not like her questioning his relationship with the bee. “What are you trying to say? Rumor’s the whole reason I came here!”

Amber sighed. “Yeah, I hear you.”

He eyed her belly curiously. “What happens if I pet your belly?”

Amber opened one eye. “…Do it and die,” she warned. The flower smirked.

“I’d really like to see you attempt that.” He reached down and stroke to rub her belly…only for Amber to clamp down on him like a bear trap and bite his hand. His eyes widened and he pried her off. “Dammit! That hurt more than Berg’s sewing needles!” He swore. He stopped midswear, still cradling his hand.

Amber licked herself. “Good, I warned you.” She squeaked when he grabbed her.

“Do it again.”

“Do what again?” She asked.

“Bite me again.” He looked completely serious.

“Are you serious?” Amber gaped at him.

“Yeah, because -AH!” Amber bit him on the hand once more, this time breaking the skin. The flower had to resist the urge to fling her off. He grasped the bed and whined. “You didn’t want to listen to why?!”

Amber giggled, leaving the carnation to swear. “Things start to get clearer when it hurts!” He growled, “And I-I didn’t come here just for Rumor! I came here to help Hilda!”

The cat released him. “Yes! Yes! And what else?” She asked excitedly. Cagney opened his mouth only for his hands to claw at his throat as the bandanna. He coughed and choked and Amber could only rub up against him. “Hey, hey! You okay?” She asked.

The carnation swallowed hard. “I, uh, really wish I had some water. Some unsalted water,” he coughed, rubbing at his throat. “You think Rumor will bring some tomorrow?” He asked hopefully, “Could give me a chance to apologize to her too!”

Amber sank onto the bed. “I’m sure she’ll do SOMETHING,” she resigned herself. She wasn’t going to try biting the carnation again. If he actually choked and perished, lord knows she would feel intensely guilty about it all.

She curled back up only to perk up once more as she felt a hand on her. She looked to see Cagney petting her again. He looked embarrassed. “I’m still kinda stressed,” he admitted.

Amber sighed. “You may pet the belly. But only for a few seconds.” She rolled onto her back, exposing her tummy to the confused carnation.

He gently touched the area, wincing although he couldn’t quite remember why. He broke into a silly grin. “This is so soft!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Amber grumbled, “Softest part of the cat.”

“Like the feathers on baby birds!”

The cat batted his hand away. “Okay, no more belly rubs!”

“Fine, fine. Man, that was really soft though.” The carnation resolved himself to petting the cat who started to yawn again. “Think things will make more sense tomorrow?” He asked.

“Hopefully,” Amber purred, nuzzling into his hand.

“You sure?” He was greeted with only the sound of snores and he turned to see Amber had fallen into a deep sleep. He exhaled. “Well, shit, it better start making sense soon. I feel like I’m going crazy here.” The carnation passed out next to her shortly thereafter, his hand still midscratch on her ear.

———————————————————————————

CHAPTER 01, CHAPTER 02, CHAPTER 03, CHAPTER 04, CHAPTER 05, CHAPTER 06, CHAPTER 07, CHAPTER 08, CHAPTER 09, CHAPTER 10; CHAPTER 11; CHAPTER 12 ; CHAPTER 13 ; CHAPTER 14 ; CHAPTER 15; CHAPTER 16 ; (nsfw) CHAPTER 17 ; CHAPTER 18 ; CHAPTER 19 (nsfw) ; CHAPTER 20 ; CHAPTER 21 ; CHAPTER 22 ; CHAPTER 23 ; CHAPTER 24 ; CHAPTER 25 (nsfw) ; CHAPTER 26 (nsfw) ; CHAPTER 27 ; CHAPTER 28 (nsfw)

#cuphead #fan fiction #necrida #smallpersiankitten #smallpersiankittencuphead #hilda berg #dr kahl #werner werman #psycarrot #carlos buenaventura #rumor honeybottoms #cagney carnation #amber alleycat #submission

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gunterfan1992 · 6 years

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Bubblegum and Marceline in the “Come Along with Me” Intro?

As many of you know, I’m now a firm believer that Marceline and Princess Bubblegum are alive in the Ooo 1000+ world. (You can read my elaborate explanations here.)

However, over the last few days, I’ve become interested in the idea that not only are they alive, but that they are actually in the finale’s intro. Let’s take a look...

If you freeze the intro at about 0:02, you’ll see a humanoid wearing a parka staring through what looks like a collapsible telescope. There are several things interesting about this shot.

First, the critter that the person is riding on is the duck-rock that appeared for the first (and last) time in season one’s “Evicted!” You know who else first appeared in that episode? Marceline. It is extremely odd that this minor, minor character makes a call-back in the finale’s intro of all things, especially considering that with only a few exceptions (e.g. Gibbon, the two-headed duck), none of the other creatures showcased here were featured in the original series timeline. What is more, when the duck-rock first appears in “Evicted!” it’s in during montage that plays over the “House Hunting Song” (the tune that notably features the chorus, “Oh Marceline!/Why are you so mean?”). Now, what’s important to note is that when the duck-rock is on screen, its during a very particular portion of the song that goes as such:

You know you should have stayed And fought that sexy vampire lady. But Jake was feeling terrified, He was super scared of her vampire bite. Which is understandable 'Cuz vampires are really powerful. They're unreasonable And burnt out on dealing with mortals. [emphasis added]

Why does this matter? Because it’s the portion of the song that transitions from the first half of the track (focusing entirely on Finn and Jake trying to find a new house, with nary a mention of Marceline), to the second half, which focuses almost entirely on Marceline. This fact, given the above, suggests that the duck-rock’s inclusion was intended to cause the viewer to think of the last time that they saw the critter, and in doing so think of Marceline.

Second, if you freeze the intro at about 0:025 (seriously, you have to be quick), you’ll see that the telescope the person is using is engraved with two letters: an “M” on top of an “A”. I’ve seen a few people online argue that this is an inverted version of Adam Muto’s signature (e.g.), but that seems like a rather nonsensical thing to put in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot (why would he have inverted the letters?), especially when you consider a) Steve Wolfhard, not Muto, boarded the intro, b) just how many lore-based easter eggs are crammed into this intro, and c) Adam doesn’t like it when people put him in the show. No, I think the letters must have a deeper meaning (UPDATE, see footnote 1). Now, who do we happen to know who could conceivably be around in this world and whose initials are “M” and “A”? That’s right, the immortal Marceline Abadeer (in fact, I can’t seem to find any other character with those initials) (2):

(Marceline marking her property with initials is not out of character—in fact, it is exactly how Marceline marked her territory in “Evicted!”, although “Evicted!” featured only the M. This is almost certainly due to the episode airing before Marceline’s last name was even considered. Still, the fact that we’re getting what seems to be a second allusion to “Evicted!” is telling.)

Notice also that the person is covered from head to toe by a baggy coat, snow pants, and mittens. As Reddit user thadwdavis notes, “This person is fully covered which, if I remember correctly, has only been true of two characters: Gunter when Orgalorg was leaking out, and Marceline in the sun.” The character, indeed, is out in the daylight, and the sun in frozen regions can be brutal to humans (and thus vampires). Also, the person is wearing bright red boots, which—not to play too much into sexist stereotypes—definitely look feminine, given that they have pronounced heals. You know who else loves to wear vibrant, red lady boots with distinct heals in many of her episodes including her debut episode? That’s right—Marceline (3). Finally, I think it’s important to note that this individual resembles a human; the Ooo 1000+ world seems to be populated with decidedly un-humanoid individuals (e.g. the pups, Shermy, Beth); in fact, if you watch the intro, you won’t see anyone else who even vaguely resembles the duck-rock rider. The same is true for “Graybles 1000+” and “Lemonhope II”. Of course, this is not the most convincing piece of evidence, but I’d argue it’s just one more clue that this is Marceline.

Now let’s talk about Bubblegum. Her appearance is intertwined with the presence of the elementals in the intro. If you pause the intro at 0:00, you can see Patience St. Pim’s ice sphere that she froze herself in at the conclusion of Elements, meaning she is (likely) still in ice-stasis:

A few seconds later, just before we enter into Shermy and Beth’s cave, you can clearly see what the new flame elemental firing a tank round at the new slime elemental, the latter of whom is holed up in the ground:

You know which elemental seems to be missing? Candy.

Or wait? Is it? Check out this frame, around the 0:01 mark (immediately after St-Pim’s sphere):

Pink hands! As Uncivilized Elk points out in his dissection of the intro, “Pink in Adventure Time should of course make one think of gum.” While he postulates that the individual might be Aunt Lolly, I would wager that this is Princess Bubblegum. On Tumblr, Wolfhard explicitly stated that all the elementals are in the intro. Given the obviousness of Fire, Slime, and Ice, the fact that the candy elemental is for the most part hidden suggests that it is Bubblegum. How so? Well, if that wasn’t Bubblegum in the prison, Wolfhard would have likely redesigned the elemental to keep us in the loop, like he did with the others.

It’s also thematically fitting that in the future, when the Ice Thing has gone banana-nuts (presumably after all his loved ones, e.g. Turtle Princess, have died or moved on), that Bubblegum might have been kidnapped by the flying menace, just like Ice King used to do. Everything stays, amirite?

If that’s the case, then is that mysterious figure on the duck-rock actually Marceline trudging through the Ice Thingdom, searching for Bonnie? That would explain why she is in the Ice Thingdom with the telescope; she is literally surveying the land, trying to find her boo. If this is true, it’s kind of a bummer that this is the last we see of them. But as Reddit user JohnEnderle puts it, “[It’s evidence that] they're probably still in love and still having adventures a thousand years later.”

That makes me smile!

Footnotes

(1) This is further supported by the fact that the only text snippets appearing in the intro are these two letters, the letter “G” emblazoned on Gibbon’s Pup Kingdom, the strange tombstone/statue marker reading Fin[n?] ... Jer[maine?]”, and PB’s “World’s Greatest Uncle” mug. These all have pretty clear meanings: "M.A.” must mean something, too. UPDATE: Steve Wolfhard posted a pic of “Pawn Swan”, who has the same symbol as a tattoo! While this might be evidence against the idea that these are Marceline’s initials (awww), it still doesn’t really explain what the heck they mean. Maybe Pawn Swan really digs the Scream Queens?

(2) Some people have noted that a very similar symbol appears at about 1:10 during the “Come Along with Me” montage (video here). This is true, although the symbols are noticeably different: that rune, seen on the upper-right, is upside down, its bar is bent (not straight), and it has a dot underneath it. It is also a bit wider (comparison). Are they connected? While it is possible, I should note that intro has a lot of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that directly hint at the show’s lore. Given this, as well as the fact that the two symbols are not identical, I’m more inclined to believe that we should take what we find in this intro at face value. My two cents.

(3) The figure’s outfit is also somewhat similar to what Marceline wore in “Everything Stays”, during the scene in which Simon leaves her. It is not identical, though. Also, I swear I remember her wearing mittens at some point in the past, but I can’t seem to verify this mental image.

#adventure time #atimers #season 10 #season 9 #finale #come along with me #marceline #marceline the vampire queen #bubblegum #princess bubblegum #bubbline #idle speculation

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sleepyfan-blog · 5 years

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This is a discord request fill!

Chained To A Wall

Fandom: Fashion Disaster Multiverse, Undertale AU

Characters: Void, Mercury

Warnings: kidnapping, imprisonment

Word count: 1,029

Summary: Mercury wakes up in a dark cell. Her day gets worse from there.

A low, rich chuckle that would have been pleasant to hear, had Mercury not woken up in pitch black darkness, hands pinned above her, the connection she has between with them being impeded by some sort of barrier spell. “Well, well. It seems as if you have finally woken up, my lovely guest.” A dark voice purrs.

“Who the fuck are you and why did you bring me here?” Mercury hissed, struggling in the magical chains. It was really dark in the… Wherever the hell she was but there was a single spot of faint cyan light.

A tall figure steps in, something shifting behind them in a… Frankly disconcerting way, and with a flash of magic, the cell that she had woken up in was lit by cyan light. A… Something leans against the door. Their body is black and dripping (rather a lot like an amalgamate, but not quite). They’re smirking at her, their… Arms? Folded across their chest, the perfect picture of smug confidence. “Welcome to my home. It’s unfortunate that you’ve chosen to associate with such a wretched creature, but you and I will be getting to know one another quite well, my dear.”

"I don't know who you think is a shitty person, but you're the only who's ever chained me to a fucking wall, you asshole." Mercury hissed, her eye lights flashing with rage. Her legs were pinned by what looked like magical chains. She really wished she knew how to teleport - then she might be able to get away from this mysterious asshole.

"I am speaking of that Error, I believes he calls himself Melon. Believe me, I have done you a favor from taking you away from his sphere of influence. He is dangerous, unstable and cruel, despite his saccharine pretense around you. Then again, he has killed in front of you, has he not?" The Mysterious Asshole pointed out, his voice an annoyingly pleasant rumble to listen to. "Ah, forgive me, I haven't introduced myself."

"Great. Another jerk who thinks that Melon is a dangerous lunatic. Look, I'm guessing that you think that I should be grateful or whatever that you kidnapped me from my home, but I had a date planned with my boyfriend, and I would really like to get to it. He's going to be worried. He's got his rough edges, but so do I! And why the fuck would I want your name, anyways?" Mercury challenged, refusing to be intimidated by the other. She could sense his magic - he was... Quite possibly the most powerful monster she had ever met - including the King and Queen of Monsters, who she had seen a couple of times in a crowd, addressing the entire underground, shortly after the human ambassador (then a child) had freed them all from their prison. "Yes, I know he's dangerous. Yes, I know that he kills sometimes. No, that doesn't scare me. Can I go home now?"

The gooey stranger lifted a browbone at her in surprise as he walked further into the cell, his tentacles shifting ever so slightly behind him. "No. I had thought about turning you into a puppet... But it's been such a long time since a mortal has reacted to me like this. Perhaps that's why Melon is so taken with you... You're interesting. I bet you're going to be a fascinating little puzzle to solve." He really did look like something out someone's worst nightmares.

But she couldn't take him seriously, as he was wearing a pirate outfit for Asgore's sake! He looked ridiculous. Which was helping her stay calm, despite the overwhelming and oppressive feel of his magic. "Gee, thanks." She responded sarcastically, huffing and rolling her eye lights, trying to project an air of bravado... Melon would find her, if she couldn't annoy this stranger into letting her go... Right? Then something he said registered and a chill ran through her. Was... Was she dealing with a boss monster? Fuck everything why did the weirdest crap happen to her? What did she ever do? "... What do you mean by mortal? Wh... Who are you?"

"Oh? I thought that you didn't want to know anything about me." Tentacled Goop monster responded with an irritatingly smug smirk. "But I'll answer your questions, if you ask them correctly. You are my guest after all."

Mercury squints at the other, wondering silently what might happen if she lets out the colorful tirade bubbling from the depths of her soul. She is completely done with this jackass, and... Completely at his mercy. Stars damn him. And he knew it, which is why he's been so infuriatingly calm. She's tried to summon her magic, but the chains around her legs sap her energy before she can muster up enough to try to do anything. "... May I, oh mysterious and handsome gooplord, be graced with your name?" There. That was only mildly sarcastic and... Fuck. She'd given him a compliment. She hadn't wanted to do that.

The gooplord laughed, a surprisingly... Pleasant... Sound to listen to, despite the fact that his magic still grated against her in the worst ways that Mercury had ever felt before. "My name is Void, I am the king of darkness and the guardian of Negativity."

Oh. Fuck. Melon hadn't told her much about the powers that be in the multiverse, but he had told her to run as far as possible if she ever heard this monster's name being spoken. He was apparently the dark ruler of large sections of the multiverse and damn near unstoppable. He also hated Melon, for reasons that her boyfriend couldn't... Or wouldn't... Tell her. "O-Oh... I... I've heard of you... Uhm.. I-I really don't want to g-get involved in whatever f-fights you have and would just like to get home."

"Hmm... Unfortunately, you are already involved. Melon likes you, and I am curious as to just why? Then again, your reactions are quite amusing." Void purred, his visible cyan eye light brightening. He raised a hand to cup the underside of her chin, almost but not quite touching her "You and I will be getting to know one another very well."

#kidnapping tw #imprisonment tw #bad things happen bingo #FDSMV #void #mercury

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warp-space-archive · 6 years

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In a Hallow’d Hall

The Halloween special crossover no one knew they needed! Enjoy!

Link to the fic HERE!

Rian had just finished adjusting his costume when Toshinori walked in, grinning. He looked his boyfriend over with eyes full of love.

“Hmm… I’m not gonna lie, you look good in that.”

The brunette blushed brightly, pulling the hood up on his All Might onesie and covering his face. He, of course, was being All Might for Halloween. Toshi, clad in grey cargo pants, a black T-shirt, and a galaxy-print scarf, was going as Warp Space.

“Y-you look better as me than I probably do as you.”

The blonde snorted, stepping closer and lifting Rian’s chin. “Nonsense…” He murmured as he gave the shorter man a quick kiss. “You’re adorable… Though I have to admit, I can’t wait to take that off of you later.”

Rian grumbled, patting the taller man’s cheek. “Sure, sure…” Then, with a smile, he said, “You look good in casual clothes, To-san.”

Toshinori chuckled, ghosting a kiss over the brunette’s hand. “So, where did you say we were going? To meet another ‘you’, right?”

The younger man blushed, then grinned. “Yep…” His expression then turned comically serious. “On this night, the veil between worlds is thin, and easily crossed by those with the knowledge and skills to do so. Tonight I shall pull back the curtain and-”

“You’re being very dramatic.” Toshinori said, snickering.

“Pull back the curtain and allow us to reach another realm.” Rian finished, a huge grin threatening to break out on his face. “In all seriousness though, this is the only night our 'timelines’ intersect without fail. It’s a lot harder to cross our powers on other days. Lemme grab the gifts and…”

The older man smiled, watching his counterpart grab his things. The blonde still wasn’t entirely sure this wasn’t a prank, but it was interesting non-the-less. The thought of meeting another ‘Rian’, one similar, but also astonishingly different, had implications he wasn’t sure he wanted to fully consider yet. Although he did have a particular question.

“If this other you also has the same quirk as you, would I also be with him? I mean, would another me be with him?”

Rian hesitated, thinking as he picked up a duffel bag. “Well… Maybe? That ‘me’ is… well, his life’s been a lot different than mine. His world is a lot… darker. He isn’t very talkative, but I know he’s a bit of a… government experiment. That’s why I’m bringing him this food and stuff. He usually needs some cheering up. The stuff they do to him isn’t very nice.”

Toshinori didn’t have any words.

Rian finished double checking the bag’s contents, then smiled. “Alrighty! Ready to go?”

This is normal for him. The retired hero suddenly realized. He’s known about this version of him for so long, that he isn’t fazed by the concept. The fact that he could have been the one being treated horribly… he doesn’t let it register. He doesn’t want to think about himself as being the lucky one.

The blonde forced a broad smile. “Sure, let’s go, love.” He watched as Rian grinned, starting to shoulder the bag, but Toshi quickly stole it from him. “Nope, you just concentrate on getting us there. Keep your eyes on the road!”

The brunette snorted and rolled his eyes. “If you insist…” He held out his hand and closed his eyes for a moment. A feeling of prickly static filled the air, and a thick, out-of-focus portal started to form. It didn’t shimmer like Rian’s usual doorways, and instead seemed to be made of… something. It almost hurt to look at, as whatever made it up seemed to writhe and change. “Don’t stare too hard, you’ll get a headache.”

Toshinori shook his head, then smiled at Rian. “Caught me. Is it supposed to be like that, or…?”

Rian kissed him. “I think so. Since I’m connecting points that are… very, very, very, very far apart. My quirk has a lot to…” He took a step, correcting his balance, and grinned. “It’s a lot of ground to cover.”

“But you are okay?”

“Yeah, Just takes a bit out of me. Ready?”

Rian offered his hand, Toshinori took it, and they stepped through.

“Now, sometimes he doesn’t come right away, and he’s a bit nervous, so don’t worry if he… if he…”

Rian’s words teetered off as he, then Toshinori, stared ahead. Down the corridor, which the blonde could only assume was the ‘form’ this room took, as it bridged the gap between two realities, was a very unlikely sight.

)O(

Across the hall, the other duo watched as some familiar faces walked in.

“That’s them?” asked the hulking form of a… very sinister All Might, nearly doubled over to keep his voice near his partner’s ear. “That small one certainly looks like you, but the stick man next to him is…“ he squinted, continuing to speak quietly. “That almost looks like me over there…“

The younger man, significantly smaller than the ‘Rian’ that just entered the hall, but definitely his body double otherwise, gave a gentle and affirming squeeze on All Smite’s gigantic forearm. That was definitely the person the small young man was expecting.

“Well, he must have… had the same idea you did, my pet. Shall I call them over, or…?”

Rian looked at his escort. The tall, muscular Villain that stood beside him wore his usual, threatening work clothes, with the addition of a green headband adorned with giant googly eyes that threatened to fall off as he bent to speak to the young brunette. Rian then looked down at himself, eyes critical. He’d decided to wear a gag gift his ‘employer’ had gotten for him- a french maid outfit, complete with blue and black striped tights and a set of blue, sparkly cat ears. He decided he was the less scary looking of the two, and lifted his hand to wave at the other Rian.

After a short few seconds of hesitation, that Rian, dressed oddly in what looked like a pair of onesie pajamas, waved back and started walking.

Rian grinned up at Mister Smite, who gave some semblance of a smile back. “Go on, then. I’m right behind you, my pet.”

As the two Rians made their way towards the middle and hugged each other, the villainous All Might and Toshi locked eyes, sizing one another up.

What the hell happened to me over there? I look like a fucking skeleton. The villain thought, red eyes squinting into blue. He came along because he thought meeting another version of his Rian would be interesting, maybe even educational. He didn’t expect that another him would have the same idea.

He was surprised when, after a visible sigh, his frail counterpart began making his way towards the two Rians. Speaking quietly with the other Rian, he left them with the duffel bag he held and made his way towards the more massive man. He straightened as he moved, regaining some of his height, and a more commanding air, until the two men stood feet apart and eye to eye. They glared at one another for what seemed like forever, when a happy sort of yelp filled the room. Startled, they both looked.

The smaller Rian had opened the bag and was gleefully holding a bag of candy, practically vibrating from happy energy. It was a bag of KitKats.

The villain glanced at his counterpart, who had broken eye contact to watch, and was now smiling.

Maybe this would be a safe way to get him talking and get information from him.

“KitKats are my pet’s favorite. Are they your pet’s favorite as well?”

Startled, Toshinori turned his attention back to the larger man. “Pet?”

“Yes. That’s one of the nicknames I call my Rian. I also call him KitKat, and little one… are you and that one merely friends?” He said, snorting at the odd look on the other’s face.

“No, we’re happily dating. Ri-kun actually seems to prefer Reese’s cups…” He said, looking All Might up and down. “You’re… not what I expected.”

“And you aren’t what I expected.“

“What in the world happened to you?”

The bigger blonde sneered. “Are you actually asking me that? You look like a twig. Did you get hit by some sort of quirk that sucked all the muscle from you?”

“No. This is how I always look now.”

The villain stared. “You… You lost One for All?”

“Gave it away, more like. And suffered some bad injuries to boot…” He shrugged. “But I don’t think I’d change a thing. The world’s in good hands, and I have a lot to be grateful for…” He now gave his counterpart a critical look. “You’re a villain, aren’t you?”

A snort. “What gave me away?”

“That’s very similar to an outfit I wore a few times while playing the part of a villain for a class I’m teaching. Well, aside from…” He trailed off, glancing at the headband.

“You’re a teacher?“

“Did I stutter?”

“At least I don’t lose my attitude if I end up looking like you. Yes, I’m a villain.“

“Then Rian is…?”

“Only by proxy, don’t worry your bleeding heart over it. though he’d definitely be wanted by the government regardless of being near me. He is technically a runaway prisoner, a very wanted criminal.“

“What for?”

“…You don’t know? I would have thought yours would have mentioned something. I was told he very nearly went through a similar experience.“

Toshinori glanced over at the two Rians, squaring his shoulders. He’d have to talk to his about this later. But for now…

“Tell me.”

)O(

Meanwhile, the two young brunettes were sitting by the bag, eating candy and gushing about everything that’s happened since their last meaning.

“You mean you’re dating your Mister Smite?“ The other Rian asked almost silently, voice full of awe.

Rian blushed, nodding. “Y-yeah. I just… I mean… Yeah! We’re boyfriends. You mean you and the big guy aren’t…?”

The smaller Rian smiled softly, blushing, his hand on his cheek. “Well… In a way, we might be. But not in so many words…“

“And the outfit, is uh…?”

A soft chuckle. “He got it as a joke, since I clean and cook for him a lot… I didn’t want it to go to waste.”

Rian nodded sagely. Being wasteful is no good, that’s for sure.

“Are you dressed like your boyfriend right now?“

Rian nodded, smiling fondly. “Yeah. For Halloween, we decided to go as one another’s Hero Personas.”

“That’s so cute, Rian!“

“Heheh… thanks, Rian.” The brunettes smiled at each other, then the pajama clad Rian blushed a bit. “Well uh… not to change the subject, but… uhm… I noticed you got your surgery and stuff… are you on hormones too?”

The smaller man nodded. “Mhm. Mister Smite knows people, and he helped. I really do owe him a lot…”

“Is he… I mean, does he treat you okay? You… You don’t call him by name.”

He nodded enthusiastically. “He’s wonderful! He can be so gentle when he wants to, and he’s so supportive, and protecting, and…” he blushed brightly, seeming to think better of something he was about to say, and continued. “He hasn’t told me to call him by name yet. I don’t think he’s ready… He worries a lot, I think, about putting me in danger. So I’m staying patient.”

“He really is a villain, then…?”

A grin. “Maybe to the rest of the world… but to me, he’s a hero. I… I love him, Rian. I’d watch the world burn with him… he saved me, and he believes in me. Maybe that makes me bad, but… I-I mean… He can’t be all bad if he does so much for me, right?”

Rian thought about it a moment, then smiled, stealing a glance at his own lover, who seemed to be in a quiet discussion with his own counterpart. “I definitely don’t think you’re wrong.”

)O(

The two blondes had just finished talking when the smaller Rian trotted up, proudly carrying the duffel bag. The villain smirked as he eyed his pet, while the retired hero seemed to mull something over. He only barely glanced at his boyfriend as he watched his own Rian follow.

“Well, someone seems satisfied. I assume this means it’s time to go?“

The small brunette nodded, smiling, though he also sent a curious glance at Toshi.

“It’s nothing for you to concern yourself over little one… now, shall I carry the candy?“

A suspecting quirk of an eyebrow.

“You doubt my intentions? Well then…“ The villain quickly lunged, grabbing a happily squeaking young brunette, lifting him and the duffel bag up to sit on his shoulder. “Then I’ll just carry you too.“

The other Rian’s mouth twitched up into a smile. He gently squeezed his boyfriend’s hand, and after a moment’s hesitation, he felt Toshi squeeze back.

Before Rian could question it, a massive hand was suddenly in front of him.

“You go by Warp Space, right? Perhaps we’ll meet again some time.“

Rian grinned, shaking the hand, and only a little surprised that the grip wasn’t overwhelming. “Sure. We can try again on another holiday. Christmas is also a pretty easy time for us to cross over like this.”

“Hmm… Noted. Shall we go then, little pet?“

The two Rian’s waved at each other, and then the odd couple was gone, leaving Toshi and Rian alone in the corridor. Rian smiled, turning to talk to his lover, only to find hurt in the piercing blue eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were nearly… that you were hurt like him?”

Confused, Rian blinked, then realized what the blonde was referring to. “You… You mean the experiments?”

“When you said you were able to accomplish things by pulling in some favors when you were younger, you didn’t say anything about… the Americans experimented on you too?”

“To-san, it wasn’t nearly as bad as-”

“’As bad as what he went through’?” Toshinori, for all the hurt and worry in his features, was gentle as he cupped Rian’s face in his hands. “Ri-kun… Rian… any amount is bad. You shouldn’t compare yourself and the things that happen to you to other people. You’re important, too. And you’re loved. Okay…?”

Rian blushed, nodding slightly. “O-okay… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you’d be… upset.”

Toshinori shook his head, pulling Rian in for a hug. “No, I’m sorry. And I’m not upset at you, I promise. I’m upset for you. And have a few choice words for those… people you used to work for. I’m just glad you’re here, with me, safe. Lilly too.”

The brunette smiled, kissing the older man’s cheek. “I love being with you. And I’m pretty sure the squirt does too. Thanks Toshi. I mean, you know. For caring enough to be upset.”

The blonde kissed Rian’s forehead and smiled. “I wouldn’t want things any other way. Now let’s go home… I want to help you take off that outfit.”

The younger man blushed, grumbling, and gave Toshi a gentle shove. “Nope. Let go of me. We were having a moment and you ruined it. Don’t even look at me, Yagi.”

Toshinori laughed, pulling Rian closer and kissing him deeply. “I think I know you well enough by now to undress you without looking.”

“Oh my god.” Rian grumbled, opening a portal so they could get home. Toshinori just laughed, loving every moment of teasing his favorite person in the world, who was, unashamedly, starting to laugh just as hard.

#mightspace #smitespace #halloween special #halloween crossover #f/o #mha fanfic #oneshot #the space between us all #tsbua #Toshinori Yagi/Self Insert #All Might/Self Insert #all smite/self insert

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