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mizumech · 1 month

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Day 4: Divine/Infernal

It’s mizumech! I had this written a little in advance, so here it is. Presenting “rises the moon” a demon hunter AU clocking in at 1743 words.

I reserve all rights to editing and putting it up on ao3, and happy reading! :]

TW: guns, swearing, injury

—

Martyn’s hands twitch on his rifle. The day is almost gone and he can make out the faintest shape of the moon in the sky.

Tonight will be the night he hunts a demon.

The church altar roars with noise as the pastor rouses the people and their pitchforks, and Martyn’s stomach seems to do a flip.

He clutches at the lapis talisman under his coat; because something deep down is telling him that this hunt will be one of his biggest mistakes for a reason he can’t fathom.

He’s not scared of the chase and he’s not scared to kill. He doesn’t believe in their god and he doesn’t believe in demons.

So why does his heart still protest this one like his life depends on it?

Martyn remembers his first kill. A great stag on a full moon, with antlers that pronged towards the sky.

Ren hadn’t been there to see it, but he had congratulated him on it when he came back to town, so that was that.

Speaking of which, where is he?

Well, any excuse to be away from that frenzied mob. Any excuse to be where he actually belongs.

Back at the house, Ren…isn’t there either.

The pantry’s also bare, which is strange since Martyn clearly remembers going to the market to buy pumpkins, potatoes, and steak with Ren just yesterday.

To be fair, Ren’s always a little absent during full moons, and the week after often consists of Martyn helping to patch up wounds that he knows Ren will never explain, but tonight is important to the safety of their home, and Ren wouldn’t just run, right?

Right?

But his coat and his axe are gone.

Where could he be?

Ren watches as Martyn leaves the altar with worry twisting his features.

In that moment where the moonlight slips through the rooftops and catches his features, Ren thinks he might be looking at a god.

His hair looks like someone spun gold and took the care to sew it into a doll and his eyes are like if someone could have a Heart of the Sea for eyes.

God to a mortal.

Unbeliever to a demon.

A shout from the rabble startles him out of his trance.

The moon is rising, and his simpage must cease, for the sake of both his safety and Martyn’s sanity.

Goodbye, sweet Dogwarts, he thinks.

If Ren can help it, he will never see Dogwarts again.

No one has seen him.

Neither that nice librarian who’s dedicated their life to Mending books nor that farmer who’s spent theirs in the sun hoeing and threshing grain.

Martyn can’t tell if he’s buying himself time or running out of time.

However, Martyn has suspicions.

One last spot to check before giving up, he decides, just one more.

As he reaches the forest, Martyn decides enough is enough. He’s quickly gotten sidetracked by a shady figure who he knows he can't let go and he still hasn’t found Ren.

He forcefully loads his rifle, letting his normally practiced movements be heard.

The hooded figure stops in its tracks and slowly turns around.

Martyn trains his gun on them, not willing to make another sound until they do, cacophony of hard breathing and pumping blood rushing in his ears; thoughts of Ren all gone.

Who-you, they sign in Dogwarts Sign Language, Why-here?

Martyn’s thought flow stutters to a halt.

“I—I’m not going to put down my gun. I—Maybe you’re mute or maybe you’re deaf but I don’t know what your intentions are, or whether you’re a threat to us…”

He lets out a shaky exhale, almost too shaky for his liking, the adrenaline leaving, leaving Martyn working on empty but surprisingly clear-headed.

His fingers twitch on the trigger.

“Show me you don’t mean any harm.”

The hooded figure fumbles, patting themself down for any talismans or tokens, presumably.

Martyn has no problems with that, but then the hooded figure’s hands start retreating towards the pocket area, and that’s what raises his hackles.

It could be a knife or it could be a bribe or it could be a—

He shoots. Better safe than sorry.

The sound reverberates, bullet arching upwards, straight and true in some twisted arithmetic question; gun recoil hitting his cheekbone, just as the hooded figure reaches out a hand; either to stop him or to show him something and shouts his name.

“Martyn!”

Fuck.

He’s just alerted basically the whole village to their location with his gunshot, for it to be nothing.

Martyn slowly lowers his gun from its position, from pointing towards the sky to strapped across his shoulder.

He doesn’t even need to look at what they were trying to show him, because he’d know that voice anywhere.

“Ren.”

“Hey.”

Martyn sighs. Out of petulance, he turns to reloading and cleaning his rifle; very purposefully not meeting Ren’s gaze.

“Well, if you’ve got anything to say, at all,” he sneers as the bullet case is ejected, “Now’s the time to do it. You know how much time you have.”

“I’m sorry, my dude.”

“You’re always sorry, Ren. Every month you’re sorry, and from the moment I met you when you were bleeding in the woods you were sorry. Doesn’t that remind you of someone?”

The image of flaxen hair and void-dark eyes seems to telepathically manifest between them.

“That’s not fair, to compare me to him.”

Fair?

“What? Because he’s the one who’s bandaging his landlord’s wounds? Because he’s never left Scar?” Martyn snarls, all his previously bubbling annoyance suddenly rising to the top; rifle now aimed back at Ren, “What do you take me for?”

“Martyn—“

“All you ever do is leave,” Martyn grits out, between the roiling turmoil that threatens to make him shed tears because gods above, Ren is someone who he has always cared too damn much about, “You leave and you come back right as I think you’re gone forever and then you leave again and you leave me to pick up the pieces—“

“You don’t understand, Martyn! I’m leaving for a reason that is bigger than you and me. I can’t tell you or show you because—“

Martyn slowly lowers his rifle again.

“—because you don’t trust me?”

Ren sighs, adjusting his robes while he fidgets.

“…yeah, I guess. I—I—take a walk with me?”

“Don’t be a coward about this. No more running, no more running away, okay?”

“I’m not,” Ren says, and Martyn can hear his voice crack, “I’m not running. That’s not the difficult part.”

“Then stop walking away. Stop fucking—leaving all the time. If you’re going to leave, don’t keep coming back just to do it again. What is so much bigger than me that I can’t understand it? Am I just not enough?”

“You’re always gonna be enough, Martyn.”

It would be so easy for Martyn to leave it on that; something that will keep him going in hard times. But all his problems in his life have been because of his big fucking mouth, and it seems that he’ll never be able to let go of that habit of betting on losing dogs.

“If it’s so damn easy for you to leave, why do you even bother coming back at all?”

“Because leaving ISN’T THE EASY PART, MARTYN!” Ren shouts, maybe sobs out, “It's loving you, that’s the easiest goddamn thing in the world! That’s why it’s so difficult to come back! I come back every month and I see you worried! I see you holding your questions and I know you want answers that I can’t give you!”

In the emotional scuffle, Ren’s hood falls.

The moonlight that’s cast on his face starts to distort his features, much to Martyn’s horror and shock as his eyes go crimson and grey starts to seep into his normally brown hair; the colour of wolf fur. His skin starts to mottle with scales and his figure starts to tower, with horns spiralling and leathery wings ripping out of his back like a leviathan might cut through the sea and into the open air.

Martyn clutches his rifle, frame seemingly cutting into his hands like an ill-made axe, as he whispers with uselessly trembling hands, as he shrinks away from him, “Ren, your hood’s off, Ren——”

The air suddenly feels dryer, now like the air wasn’t made for someone human like Martyn himself to breathe.

“Who’s the coward now, Martyn? Who’s running?”

That word jolts him out of the trance.

Why is he running? From Ren, of all people?

“That’s…fair.”

Ren turns away from him.

“I can hear them coming. Do what you have to do. You know how much time you have.”

“I’m…sorry. For all of this. I just wasn’t expecting it to be you.”

There’s a rueful laugh from Ren.

“You were also sorry from the moment we met, weren’t you? You’re also sorry every month when you make me drink that—glistering melon juice.”

“That’s just…us now, I guess. Losing dogs who can’t stop regretting.”

“And who’ll be left to bet on us?”

They both share a melancholy chuckle. A good last inside joke to ease the parting pains.

Finally, the pitchforks come and the shouts of the rabble grow ever louder as they approach.

Ren turns back to him, eyes conveying some sort of look Martyn can’t ever hope to decipher in this lifetime.

There’s so much he wants to say. So much he wants to leave unsaid.

And for once in his life, his big mouth (doesn’t) fail(s) him.

Ren’s height forces Martyn to look up to stare into those strangely pink pupils; pink like a peony in a snake’s skull; up like a child looking upon a god.

As Ren seems to ascend with the beats of those powerful wings, one of the elders shouts for Martyn.

“Shoot, boy, shoot!”

Instinct suddenly kicks in again.

He raises his rifle.

Shoots a missing shot, just skimming Ren’s ear and reloads.

The bullet case falls beside a lapis talisman that matches his.

It’s Ren’s.

That’s enough to send a tear streaking down Martyn’s face as he takes aim again because he could have killed him—

He closes his eyes, and lets fate take his next shot. Maybe he won’t even shoot.

“All you do is leave,” Martyn whispers bitterly against the butt of his gun; maybe a bit of a justification to himself, and maybe a bit of an angry mourning, “All you've ever done is leave.”

Martyn’s hands twitch on his rifle. The day is almost gone and he can make out the faintest shape of the moon in the sky.

Tonight will be the night he hunts a demon.

The church altar roars with noise as the pastor rouses the people and their pitchforks, and Martyn’s stomach seems to do a flip.

He clutches at the lapis talisman under his coat; because something deep down is telling him that this hunt will be one of his biggest mistakes for a reason he can’t fathom.

He’s not scared of the chase and he’s not scared to kill. He doesn’t believe in their god and he doesn’t believe in demons.

So why does his heart still protest this one like his life depends on it?

Martyn remembers his first kill. A great stag on a full moon, with antlers that pronged towards the sky.

Ren hadn’t been there to see it, but he had congratulated him on it when he came back to town, so that was that.

Speaking of which, where is he?

Well, any excuse to be away from that frenzied mob. Any excuse to be where he actually belongs.

Back at the house, Ren…isn’t there either.

The pantry’s also bare, which is strange since Martyn clearly remembers going to the market to buy pumpkins, potatoes, and steak with Ren just yesterday.

Right?

But his coat and his axe are gone.

Where could he be?

Ren watches as Martyn leaves the altar with worry twisting his features.

In that moment where the moonlight slips through the rooftops and catches his features, Ren thinks he might be looking at a god.

His hair looks like someone spun gold and took the care to sew it into a doll and his eyes are like if someone could have a Heart of the Sea for eyes.

God to a mortal.

Unbeliever to a demon.

A shout from the rabble startles him out of his trance.

The moon is rising, and his simpage must cease, for the sake of both his safety and Martyn’s sanity.

Goodbye, sweet Dogwarts, he thinks.

If Ren can help it, he will never see Dogwarts again.

No one has seen him.

Neither that nice librarian who’s dedicated their life to Mending books nor that farmer who’s spent theirs in the sun hoeing and threshing grain.

Martyn can’t tell if he’s buying himself time or running out of time.

However, Martyn has suspicions.

One last spot to check before giving up, he decides, just one more.

As he reaches the forest, Martyn decides enough is enough. He’s quickly gotten sidetracked by a shady figure who he knows he can't let go and he still hasn’t found Ren.

He forcefully loads his rifle, letting his normally practiced movements be heard.

The hooded figure stops in its tracks and slowly turns around.

Martyn trains his gun on them, not willing to make another sound until they do, cacophony of hard breathing and pumping blood rushing in his ears; thoughts of Ren all gone.

Who-you, they sign in Dogwarts Sign Language, Why-here?

Martyn’s thought flow stutters to a halt.

“I—I’m not going to put down my gun. I—Maybe you’re mute or maybe you’re deaf but I don’t know what your intentions are, or whether you’re a threat to us…”

He lets out a shaky exhale, almost too shaky for his liking, the adrenaline leaving, leaving Martyn working on empty but surprisingly clear-headed.

His fingers twitch on the trigger.

“Show me you don’t mean any harm.”

The hooded figure fumbles, patting themself down for any talismans or tokens, presumably.

Martyn has no problems with that, but then the hooded figure’s hands start retreating towards the pocket area, and that’s what raises his hackles.

It could be a knife or it could be a bribe or it could be a—

He shoots. Better safe than sorry.

“Martyn!”

Fuck.

He’s just alerted basically the whole village to their location with his gunshot, for it to be nothing.

Martyn slowly lowers his gun from its position, from pointing towards the sky to strapped across his shoulder.

He doesn’t even need to look at what they were trying to show him, because he’d know that voice anywhere.

“Ren.”

“Hey.”

Martyn sighs. Out of petulance, he turns to reloading and cleaning his rifle; very purposefully not meeting Ren’s gaze.

“Well, if you’ve got anything to say, at all,” he sneers as the bullet case is ejected, “Now’s the time to do it. You know how much time you have.”

“I’m sorry, my dude.”

“You’re always sorry, Ren. Every month you’re sorry, and from the moment I met you when you were bleeding in the woods you were sorry. Doesn’t that remind you of someone?”

The image of flaxen hair and void-dark eyes seems to telepathically manifest between them.

“That’s not fair, to compare me to him.”

Fair?

“Martyn—“

“You don’t understand, Martyn! I’m leaving for a reason that is bigger than you and me. I can’t tell you or show you because—“

Martyn slowly lowers his rifle again.

“—because you don’t trust me?”

Ren sighs, adjusting his robes while he fidgets.

“…yeah, I guess. I—I—take a walk with me?”

“Don’t be a coward about this. No more running, no more running away, okay?”

“I’m not,” Ren says, and Martyn can hear his voice crack, “I’m not running. That’s not the difficult part.”

“You’re always gonna be enough, Martyn.”

“If it’s so damn easy for you to leave, why do you even bother coming back at all?”

In the emotional scuffle, Ren’s hood falls.

The air suddenly feels dryer, now like the air wasn’t made for someone human like Martyn himself to breathe.

“Who’s the coward now, Martyn? Who’s running?”

That word jolts him out of the trance.

Why is he running? From Ren, of all people?

“That’s…fair.”

Ren turns away from him.

“I can hear them coming. Do what you have to do. You know how much time you have.”

“I’m…sorry. For all of this. I just wasn’t expecting it to be you.”

There’s a rueful laugh from Ren.

“You were also sorry from the moment we met, weren’t you? You’re also sorry every month when you make me drink that—glistering melon juice.”

“That’s just…us now, I guess. Losing dogs who can’t stop regretting.”

“And who’ll be left to bet on us?”

They both share a melancholy chuckle. A good last inside joke to ease the parting pains.

Finally, the pitchforks come and the shouts of the rabble grow ever louder as they approach.

Ren turns back to him, eyes conveying some sort of look Martyn can’t ever hope to decipher in this lifetime.

There’s so much he wants to say. So much he wants to leave unsaid.

And for once in his life, his big mouth (doesn’t) fail(s) him.

Ren’s height forces Martyn to look up to stare into those strangely pink pupils; pink like a peony in a snake’s skull; up like a child looking upon a god.

As Ren seems to ascend with the beats of those powerful wings, one of the elders shouts for Martyn.

“Shoot, boy, shoot!”

Instinct suddenly kicks in again.

He raises his rifle.

Shoots a missing shot, just skimming Ren’s ear and reloads.

The bullet case falls beside a lapis talisman that matches his.

It’s Ren’s.

That’s enough to send a tear streaking down Martyn’s face as he takes aim again because he could have killed him—

He closes his eyes, and lets fate take his next shot. Maybe he won’t even shoot.

“All you do is leave,” Martyn whispers bitterly against the butt of his gun; maybe a bit of a justification to himself, and maybe a bit of an angry mourning, “All you've ever done is leave.”

@treebarkweek

#treebarkweek #treebarkweek2024 #rendog #martyn inthelittlewood #trafficshipping #treebark #trafficblr #(am i allowed to tag trafficblr here)

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pbandjesse · 8 months

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Today was a lot of fun but also absolutely exhausting and full of way to many people. Also my mouse isn't doing well and it makes me really sad. But I am trying to keep him comfortable. It's the least I can do if he's going to go soon.

It just sucks because he seemed fine and fluffy this morning. I slept weird. Getting woken up by the smoke detector battery dying at 3am. And then waking up at 730 to Jess texting me she was running late and wasn't sure when she would get to the fair. And I was fine with that I just wanted her to let me know her ETA and we would change accordingly.

James came in the bedroom around 8 and I let them know we would leave later then planned. So they had time to take a bike ride to the museum and get some baked goods and come back. I was able to just lay in bed and doze for a while. Getting up when Jess was leaving.

I got ready and was having my pretzel from the market yesterday for breakfast when James came back. They got ready too. And made themselves a bagel. We left a few minutes later then I wanted but it actually all worked out.

We made sure that my mouse baby was good. He was fed and fluffy. And sweetp was missed on and secure. And when we got outside Mr Will was there. It was nice to see him!! Hugs all around and then we were off.

It was a pretty solid ride. I made James listen to 100gecs to loud. They said their ears were ringing. So we switched to something not as intense. And had a nice ride out to Crownville, which is the actual name of the town where the Ren fair is. Hilarious.

We got there just as Jess was texting me she was parking. And we ended up parking only a few cars away! What amazing timing.

After we parked me and James finished putting our accessories on. James was in charge of the backpack today which was a huge help. And I felt really cute. But mostly I just loved looking at my husband who looked so handsome today I couldn't barely stand it. Just looking like a prince and I was so happy to be with them.

Honestly all of our outfits looked great today. I felt very cool. Temperature wise we were like perfect for the first couple hours but then I did the sun came out we were s bit overheated which was a little tough. But we were still having fun.

I loved looking around and people watching. I'll admit I was a little overwhelmed. We were committed to seeing the first joust. But beyond that there wasn't much of a plan. Which is fine but a little stressful.

We saw a building with miniatures in it and so we paid out little admission and went in and it was so worth it. Journey to Venice. The man we bought the tickets from was very nice and him and the other woman there complimented Jess's nails. Which were jelly red with bones on them super cool.

And the display was incredible. The mirror room was great. I loved seeing all the candles going back into space. Then in the main room was all these tiny building like you were in Venice and you open the doors and lights come on and sometimes you were looking at yourself in a costume in a scene and sometimes you were looking into a shop and sometimes it was just. Mirrors. Peppers ghost. They even had a true mirror! Which James very much didn't like but it just felt familiar to me. I have seen myself from so many angle. Looked into my own eyes. But I get why they might be uncomfy.

We would make most of the full loop of the fair after that and it was decided we would get a snack for the joust. We were going to get potato wedges but then they were sold out. So instead me and Jess would save us front row seats for the joust and James would go get us french fries. We appreciated James greatly today for standing in food lines for us.

The women next to us at the joust loved my bat bag, Lewis. Multiple women today would also me about him and compliment him and it was exciting and validating to tell people I made him. Jess said she likes that I say I msde him even though the stuffie part was bought and she needs to be able to use that same logic, because she agrees I made lewis, I transformed him into a bag and that's making. She just feels weird saying she made things out of things that already exist and I think because I have been an advocate for found object art for so long I barely see the distinction but I also understand her worry about being a liar. I made Lewis, I helped actualize his new form. And I loved being able to tell people that.

The joust was fun. It was fun cheering even if we didn't sit in Keegan, my favorite jouster's, section. Sir William was funny and fun too. People in Keegan's section had signs and tshirts which was hilarious. Jess asked James if this is what watching sports is like, the excitement, and James was like. This is a sport, it's Maryland's state sport!

The joust itself was short but the show was kind of long. I liked the new rider they had that was supposed to be Mongolian. We actually saw a handful of people dressed in Asian medieval wear. Which was awesome. I loved seeing that. We were talking about the PA Ren fair and comparing a lot today and this one for sure feels more real. Like more lived in and more like a village. The PA one feels more like a town with shops. Both are great but it's fun to compare and contrast.

After the joust we would continue our walk. Going in and out of shops. Jess wanted to get he chair braided. Apparently she's always wanted to try that but it sounded like a nightmare to me. Keeping s tight braid. Paying for it?? No thank you. But she had talked about it and wanted to try it. When we first got to the fair we had checked in and there was a long wait so we would come back after the joust and only had to wait a few minutes. She brushed her hair out and then the girl did the crown braid. But it sort of stuck out on the side and I asked them to fix it and they did a which Jess said thanks for speaking up for her. And it was pretty but I think would have looked nicer with bangs or farther back? I liked the little flowers they put in it. She said she probably won't do it again but was glad she tried. But step for her! I think the pictures of her getting it done look really pretty so if nothing else there is that.

Next was figuring out what to eat. This is always an ordeal and specifically then when it was legit lunch time.We decided based on a short line. And got a ride bowl for Jess and two egg rolls for me. Jess gave me some of the rice. James was trying to get our waters filled but we were struggling. I snapped at James a little and felt bad.i had walked us really far away with our food to try to find somewhere to sit and eat. Eventually fining some rocks next to a bush that were flat. Jess and me would eat while James continued to look for water. Eventually finding it at the first aid station.

I apologized to James when they got back. Jess told me I was being unreasonable when I told her why I was upset and she was correct. I can't expect James to just fix everything. That's not a fair standard. But I was also just a little overheated and overwhelmed. Still no excuse.

I felt better with some water. And it turned out we were standing next to a lady selling lemon sticks. So Jess bought me a lemon stick. Thank you Jess. James ran into a DND friend and that was cool. Was nice to see him. We would also run into Jessica Leibowitz and her friends later in the day. It was cool to see people we knew.

I was struggling with how busy it was though. I would have liked to take more pictures but I was just a little overwhelmed by the amount of people so setting up my phone was to difficult. I tried my best to capture what I could. And I was enjoying looking at stuff in the shops but I also felt like I was constantly in the way. That would be my biggest complain for today. Just to many people. But I still had fun.

Me and Jess were really getting tired though. So we found and open bench to people watch at, while James went to get their own lunch and bring us back a frozen lemonade.

Me and Jess just talked and enjoyed people watching. Even if the sun was to hot. We were both struggling with that today and just being tired. I was having fun but I was frustrated with myself for having such low energy.

James would get a little lost coming back. So in trying to find them we lost our bench. Thankfully found another quick and we sat while James inhaled their sandwich. We told them we weren't in a rush but they felt like they were making us wait. Which was silly. We were both tired and sitting was not a problem.

We would keep walking after that. To a few shops we had missed. To refill our waters at the first aid station. We decided to start walking to the exit. Checking out everything by the front we had missed. We got to try different honey, the mango flower was my favorite. And it was just a lot of fun.

But the day was drawing to an end for us. We were beat. I was excited to take my shoes off in the car.

We walked Jess to her car and I helped her get out of her dress so she didn't have to drive in a corset for 2 hours. And then we went to our car and took all of our stuff off too. I was very happy to take my leggings off. I felt a lot less hot. The day was surprisingly warm in the end.

We ended up driving behind Jess for a few miles. Only losing her when we stopped for gas. She would get home about an hour after us. Safe and sound but extremely tired and sore.

Our drive was much shorter but I was very uncomfortable by the end and just desperately wanted to be home.

When we got back here I found that baby mouse was sitting in the water tray I have for him in there (it's just a jam jar lid) freezing cold. I dried him up as best I could but he was squeaking every time I touched him. About an hour later was when I realized his legs were moving. I don't know what happened. If I did something or what but I feel horrible that he's hurting. He even bit me! To small to break the skin but clearly telling me he was in pain. I fed him and tried to keep him warm. But I am not sure he'll be here tomorrow and it breaks my heart. I just hate to think he's in pain right now. I hope he's at least comfortable in there right now. And he'll pass in his sleep.

I have been resting since we got home. Getting up to take a shower was a struggle. I am just so tired. But at least I am clean now. I have been resting with James for a long time. They had gone out briefly to get milk at the store. But they are home and we are getting ready to sleep.

Tomorrow I hope to have a cozy morning and then my class at awah. I hope that one is fun. I hope it's a very good day. I hope you all have a great night. Send good vibes to baby mouse. That he is peaceful and pain free. I love you all. Goodnight

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votederpycausemufins · 3 years

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I give you the final chapter of Summoning Family. It’s been a fun story, and while I have more ideas for it, there are other things I want to write. I mean, i got 114,984 words out of this thing! (so says ao3) I hope you enjoy, and read to the very end for something extra.

@petrichormeraki @helleborusangel

Grian smacked his alarm as it started to ring, making it shut up. He had been up late the night before getting everything ready. About a minute later, the alarm went off again and Grian groaned before shutting it off. The third time he sat up angrily and stared the clock down as he turned the alarm off. Why had past him set such an early alarm? They had done everything yesterday. Except get the cake. And decorate. And- okay they still had a lot to do.

Grian dragged himself out of bed and poured a bucket of water over his head to wake himself up. He then regretted that as he needed to dry his wings afterwards, but then he flew over to Mumbo’s base and barged into his bedroom.

“WAKE UP SLEEPYHEAD!” Grian shouted at the top of his lungs to wake Mumbo up, but was surprised when nothing happened. “Mumbo!” Grian then stomped over to the bed, only to find it empty. Confused, the avian started looking through the base, eventually finding the redstoner feeding it. “What are you already doing awake?”

Mumbo jumped a little before looking over. “I could ask you the same thing. At least for me I rigged up some redstone to make sure I got up at the right time. I’ve already gathered up some supplies and in making sure I’ve got everything ready, I actually remembered to feed this place.”

“Good for you. Do you need me to get anything else? I was going to pick up the cake. Do you think Tommy remembered the message on top when ordering it. Oh no, what if he didn’t and it doesn’t-”

“Calm down Grian. I’m barely keeping myself together as it is. If it doesn’t work out, I’m sure store bought will be fine as an emergency.”

“But this is his first birthday! And it wouldn’t be fair if he got a standard one while Jrum would get a fancy cake!”

“Grian, they can’t even eat cake.”

“You’re right! Why did I even bother wanting to get them a cake?!”

“For the guests who can eat cake.” Mumbo quickly answered before continuing. “Although there is the possibility of a mineral cake. If I get some lava I could theoretically- hang on.” And he put down a shulker box and started going through it. “Of course a diamond on top since it will probably just be a cupcake or something, though we don’t want to leave Jrum out. And I think I’ve still got a chisel in my ender chest.”

“Well, It looks like you’ve got something to do.” Grian responded, feeling much calmer now that it looked like they had a good plan in place. “So even if this cake doesn’t work out, we’ll still have something good. But I’m still going to see if I can pick up the one we ordered so I’m going to run and grab that.” Mumbo half nodded, giving a slight wave, too busy planning on a mineral cake for Grum.

Grian chuckled before making a portal and heading to the SMP. When he got to the other side, he pulled out a piece of paper. “Okay. Coordinates, coordinates… Ah, okay so the bakery is that way.” He turned in the direction of the coordinates and for a moment considered flying, but he remembered how close everything was and if he flew, he would probably pass it quickly.

It didn’t take long to actually reach the building, though Grian still double checked, even with the various signs of it being a bakery. Finally, he walked inside and went up to the counter, a bell ringing overhead as he opened the door. “I’ll be with you in a minute.” A voice from further in the building called and Grian just waited.

After about a minute and a half, a woman walked out and greeted Grian. “Hello there. Hoping to buy something or order?”

“Neither actually, I’m picking up an order. It should be under the name Tommy Innit but I’m the one picking it up.”

“Ah, yes! Tommy’s cake! I made sure to take special care of it!” The woman smiled and Grian narrowed his eyes slightly as it was a smile he was very familiar with, having used it plenty himself.

“Right, well did he remember to ask for a message to be written on top?” Grian asked, the woman shaking her head. “Right, I was worried about that. I hope it won’t be too much of a hassle to add that. I can pay extra if need be.”

“Hmm, yeah I can do that. What’s the message?”

“Well it’s… Here let me write it down just to be sure, I don’t want it wrong on such a special day.” The avian said before pulling a pen out and writing on his paper.

“Special… day?” The woman asked and Grian could hear the nervousness in her voice.

“Oh yes.” Grian couldn’t help but give a slight sly smile of his own. It looked like he’d have to get a store bought cake after all, but he wanted to see how this would go as he put the paper down. “It’s my kid’s first birthday. He’s… sort of adopted so while he’s not an infant, it’s still the first birthday he’s gotten to have so I’m making sure it’s perfect. So a simple

Happy Birthday Grum’ will do.”

The woman stared at the piece of paper like it had just shown up and killed her family as she watched. “Right… birthday party for a child. Hmm. I think I got the design a bit wrong. Let me get you a second one. I can always comp the other person for the delay.” And she went into the back again, leaving Grian smiling. This was probably another person who had it out for Tommy, so messing with her was proving to be fun.

Listening carefully, he could pick up the woman panickedly whispering to someone else. “Jack we fucked up, Tommy’s not eating the cake, he ordered it for someone else!”

“What? Who? Ranboo or Tubbo?”

“No! I don’t even know the person out there but apparently the cake is for the birthday of a previously orphaned child!”

“Oh shit!”

“Yeah! So now we need to find a way to quickly make a non-poisoned cake before this guy gets suspicious.”

“You passed that point a while ago.” Grian called out into the shop. “I’ve done my fair share of schemes and recognize a scheming smile when I see it.”

Grian couldn’t help but smile as there was complete silence before the woman slowly came back out of the shop. “Right, so I guess, I don’t really have a cake for you.”

“No it’s fine. You said it’s poisoned? Did you use poison as a substitute for milk?”

“Well…”

“So you put both in there. That’s going to make this much easier. It always depends on the person, but milk normally stops any poisons, so a cake like that will just make someone sick for a bit but not actually poison them. Maybe just cause some nausea. It’s an easy enough fix!”

“You’ve… poisoned cakes before?” The woman asked.

“I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of… but poison cakes are not one of them, that was hilarious. Just not when it’s people I care about, which is why I even know how to fix it. Essentially we just need some milk and some netherwart. I’m guessing you have that somewhere?”

“Uh, let me check.” She turned to yell behind her. “Jack do we have any netherwart?!”

“No, but I can grab some!”

“Hurry up!”

“Yeah I know!”

The woman turned back to Grian. “So… it might take a little bit.”

Grian just leaned on the counter. “Oh I’ve got time since I don’t need to pick up a new cake. How about you start with that message and we can talk. What’s your name?”

“Uh, Niki.” The woman nervously answered as she grabbed the poisoned cake.

“Well Niki, seems like you didn’t like my brother much. I’d like to know why that is if you don’t mind.”

“Alright team, let’s get this place built.” Scar said as he rubbed his hands together. “We’ve technically only got fifteen minutes, so let’s make it count. Plus I managed to get a good sale out of thi-”

“Can we just start building already man?” Ren spoke up, and Scar jokingly glared.

“Oh alright. Start building!” And Scar used some vex magic to set up a little bit of localized time displacement for some super fast build mode. Though he wanted to help out as well, someone needed to stop the spell if any certain robots wandered over. And of course the only one currently around to do that was Scar, so he had to stay outside of it. Having never actually been on the outside of the spell, he got distracted for a bit watching everything happen, which was perfectly fine. Neither of the bots made their way to Aqua Town, and even if they had, Jellie was keeping an eye on things.

As things were still being built, Mumbo arrived and set down shulker boxes. “Sorry I’m late. I was up early of course, and so was Grian, but we got talking and realized there was something we forgot, so then I got busy doing that.”

“Well don’t worry about that Mumbolio, the place isn’t completely built yet, so decorating is still yet to come. The kids are still with Tommy?”

“As far as I’m aware, yes. Hopefully if they’re awake, they’re not causing too much trouble. Do you think they’re upset about not being with us for breakfast?”

Scar thought it over. “Maybe they’re a little disappointed, but I’m sure they’re happy about knowing that you’re setting something up for Grum, even if they don’t know exactly what it is.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Yeah! Though could you also check with Tommy? I want to make sure I probably don’t have to worry about stopping the bubble and possibly also put up something for cloaking.”

“Right! Yes let me do that.” And Mumbo fumbled just a little bit before getting his comm to message Tommy. He sent a message off and waited for a bit for Tommy to respond. When one didn’t immediately come in, he got a bit nervous, but a few more minutes calmed him. “Well, they’re either still asleep or busy, so that’s probably good.”

“Good to know! Unless something changes in the next, I want to say five or so minutes, we should be good.” Scar responded, Jellie giving and approving meow as she groomed herself at Scar’s side.

“Well then I’ll keep watching for a message.”

“Got it. So, what did you get for decorations?” Scar asked, peeking into a shulker box.

“Well, his favorite colors are red and light blue, so there’s a lot of streamers and balloons and what not in those colors. Also got it in a music theme since I wasn’t sure how to make a party theme out of building.”

“Oh, that sounds nice. And got any plans for Grum?”

“Fantasy themed since he’s always going out to your village to play plus he seems to really like stories with that theme.”

“Alright, I’ll start drawing up plans for that tonight.”

“That sounds alright. Grian already sent an order in to The Boomers so this plot can be cleared again.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Keep it up. Better to keep the history around.I can sell another plot of land for the next party.”

“Well that’s very kind of you.” Mumbo started. “But again, it’s already been paid for. Though I’m sure they would be willing to listen to the change of plans.”

“Well, I normally wouldn’t suggest it, but you might buy a plot of land from Bdubs and get it cheap but using what would have gone to The Boomers.”

“Hmm, I’ll discuss that with Grian when he gets back.” Mumbo glanced down at his communicator. “Ah, they’re awake now. Tommy gave them the old reliable of a bowl or redstone though Grum got his with quartz.”

“Oh yeah, we’ll definitely finish building before they show up.”

“Then I’ll start prepping the decorations.”

Grian waved to Niki and Jack beforing picking up the cake box. “Thanks for the cake! And if you want to try killing Tommy again, you’ll need to try something sneakier to get past me!” Grian smiled at the pair, who gave nervous ones back. As he left, they retreated further into the bakery. To do what, Grian didn’t care since he had other things to pick up. Or rather, he had people to pick up.

Grian flew up into the air and looked around before spotting a snowy town to the north. That was probably Snowchester, which was where he was trying to go anyway. From there, flying to the town was easy, but actually knowing which house to go to was a bit more difficult. He didn’t immediately see any signs saying who lived where, so Grian’s first idea was to just knock on every door. That is, until he saw a certain ziglin looking out the window of one of the houses.

When the child saw him, he immediately started bouncing and ran off further into the house. Grian walked over to the house and knocked on the door, waiting as he heard movement inside. A few moments later, the door opened. Ranboo stood there, Michael now clinging to his leg and looking up at Grian. “Hey! I’m here to start picking people up and to be honest, this is the only place I knew to find people right now.”

“Well, I sort of know where some people are, but I can check if Tubbo is awake enough to help out with that.”

“Sounds good to me.” Grian agreed, then followed Ranboo into the house. As he waited for Ranboo to get Tubbo, the avian watched as Michael showed off some of his toys. Grian smiled and set the cake down to look at what was being shared with him. He was especially happy at the plush chicken, parroting a few clucks which made Michael squeal in delight.

Before long, Ranboo returned with Tubbo, who still looked a little tired, but was still awake and dressed. “Hey, sorry. Guess I slept in a bit.”

“No, it’s perfectly fine. I nearly did the same after being so busy the other day. We’re not supposed to start until a bit after lunch, so I’m early anyway, but Tommy’s back home and I only really knew about this place since Grum remembered it. No clue where everyone else lives.”

“Well, who all are you after again?”

“Fundy, Puffy, Wilbur, Techno and my dad.” Grian answered. “To be honest, just messaging them all would probably work if you could do that. My comm is a mess right now.”

“What happened to it?”

“I have never. Ever. In my life. Hated a chicken like the one I apparently own now.”

Tubbo and Ranboo glanced at each other. “Do we want to know.”

Grian sighed. “Probably not. It’s a long story. All I know is it messed with some ribbons, and when I tried to stop it, it broke my comm.”

“Well, I’ll message Fundy and Puffy. Ranboo, can you message Phil? I’m sure he’ll be near Techno or Wilbur, so that should get two birds with one stone.”

“Um, I’m the only other avian, thank you very much.” Grian said jokingly before he laughed. “But yeah, that sounds good to me.”

Tubbo nodded and sent some messages, Ranboo doing the same. Before long, they had responses from everyone and the only person who needed to be picked up was Techno, who was still living out in the middle of nowhere. Grian begrudgingly picked him up, dropping him on the landing absolutely completely on accident.

“Alright, I’ve got the cake, I’ve got all of you, you guys got presents or cards if you wanted to bring them?” Grian asked, looking at everyone, glaring at Techno to try and will him to not say he forgot something. Fortunately, Ranboo was the only one to have forgotten anything, and even then, Tubbo had remembered it for him. “Okay, good.”

Grian opened up a portal and gestured to it. “Alright, this should take you right in front of town hall, I’ll be the last through and lead you once I’m on the other side with you. Got it? Good! Let’s go.”

One by one, everyone made their way through the portal, the one exception being Ranboo and Michael who went through at the same time. Grian double checked everyone successfully got through before picking up the cake and- jumping as a chicken showed up, poking its head through the portal.

“Oh come on. Go back through!” Grian tried shooing the chicken with a foot, his hands full with the cake. Instead of listening, it just hissed at him, coming all the way through and pecking at his feet. “Ow! Hey! If you don’t go through, I’m going to close the portal behind me and leave you stuck here!”

The chicken hissed again before jumping back through the portal, Grian following behind. He handed the cake off before closing the portal and taking it back.

“So, I’m guessing that’s the chicken you talked about before?” Tubbo piped up, making Grian nod.

“Yep. Now let’s just head to the building. Follow me.” And Grian started walking, doing his best to dodge the chicken that kept following him and almost tripping him. “Please, how did you even get here from the mansion?”

The chicken of course didn’t answer, but it did move closer to where Michael was, the child enamored by the bird, especially as it currently donned a shiny ribbon around its neck. Michael wriggled to be put down, but after Grian’s reaction to the chicken, Ranboo was hesitant to let the ziglin leave his arms.

It fortunately didn’t take too long to reach the newly built building, a number of hermits on scaffolding around the place hanging up decorations. “Wait, what are you all doing? This wasn’t part of the plan.”

Etho slid down a bit of scaffolding to get down to Grian. “Yeah, well it’s a special occasion. At least it’s not another war right? But where are we putting the presents? I’ve got mine ready.”

Grian just sighed as Etho held up ribbons floating in the shape of a box. “I thought I paid for that.”

“Yeah, you did. But the kids didn’t.” Etho said, and Grian could hear the smirk from behind the mask.

“Alright fine, but there better not be any walls around.” Grian rolled his eyes and started walking towards the door.

“Wait actually there’s-” And Grian crashed into a wall of glass in front of the entrance. Etho grabbed the cake away just in time that it didn’t get destroyed, and Grian just laid on the ground.

“There’s a wall.”

“Yeah there’s a wall.”

“I hate glass sometimes.”

No one was able to stop Phil before he did the same thing as Grian and walked face first into the wall of glass he couldn’t see.

“Ace of spades.” Jrum said as he set down the card. To his left, Tommy smiled and put down a card of his own.

“As if that would work.” He set down an uno card. “Plus four.”

“Hey! That’s not fair!”

Tommy shrugged. “Too bad, I had it in my hand.”

“Yeah, I think it’s a great choice.” Grum nodded. “Jolteon, I choose you.”

At the same time Tommy and Jrum groaned at the card. “What the fuck Grum, I thought you were out of evolution cards!”

“Because you always forget there are branch ones.” Grum said smugly. “So that makes it your turn Jrum.”

“Okay fine! I’ve got garudamon. That’s a third stage card which stops your jolteon.”

“No it doesn’t, you used queen of hearts to get Philomena in there, so it only counts as a stage two.”

“Dammit! I forgot!” Jrum groaned, but then gestured to Tommy to take his turn.

“I play vertical half fire, half gold!”

“You added a seven dragons card to your deck?!” Jrum stomped his foot. “Where did you even get one?”

“Someone on the SMP had it for some reason. Cost a whole diamond for it.”

“Yeah, because you suck at bluffing.” Grum spoke up as he stared at his hand of cards.

“I do not!” Tommy retorted, crossing his arms.

“Yes you do. Mini outrage crowbar.” Grum put down a card which would normally be about the fourth the size of normal cards, but all of the cards were in sleeves so their backs couldn’t be seen, making it a level playing field.

“Ugh, I guess I’m down a point.” Tommy rested his head in his hand. “Fine, what do you have Jrum?”

“Battle!” He slapped down a very generic looking card. “Rock paper scissors!” Tommy threw rock while both the bots did paper. “Aww, no one did scissors!”

“Oh thank fuck. I need to draw anyway.” And instead of playing a card, he drew two instead.

“Well then that means I can play Legacy. The Revere ring means I won’t lose points the next time someone tries to take them!”

“Then I get to win!” Jrum smiled, making Grum and Tommy both look at him in shock. “I’ve got the two and a half of hearts! Steal double points if they would be protected!”

“Noooooo!” Grum groaned. “My points!”

From there, everyone dissolved into laughter and then put their cards away. “Alright, well I guess while we were playing your dad messaged me. Sounds like it’s birthday time.”

From there, Grum and Jrum stopped smiling to look at each other for a moment. “Are you sure? I mean, technically it’s my birthday, but at the same time, it’s also past then.”

“Because of the whole time thing? I mean, I guess, but did you guys actually celebrate or anything?” Tommy asked, the bots shaking their heads. “Then yeah, it’s your birthday. Don’t fight it. Even if you want to argue, pretend you don’t because you’re just going to get free shit out of it.”

“Hmm… I do like free shit.” Grum nodded. “Alright, I’m in. Let’s go.”

Tommy smiled at how he had rubbed off on the bot before leading them towards Aquoo town. Before they even landed, they spotted the new building and headed straight there, landing in front of it. Jrum and Tommy were both excited, but Grum still looked a bit nervous about it all. “What if something happens?”

Tommy turned around and went back to Grum’s side. “Hey, nothing bad’s gonna happen. Everyone’s in one place, only death that might happen is from minigames, but I think everyone made sure to not make those. I mean, there’s even a regen beacon set up just in case. Iskall and Stress said they’re going to try and stay away just to be safe, so they’ve probably already dropped off presents.”

“Why? I messed up with making it so they couldn’t come.”

“Hey Grum, remember my beach party? How I was freaking out thinking people wouldn’t show up like with my first one?”

“Yeah.” Grum nodded.

“And how I had no reason to be? This is kinda like this. There’s no reason to freak out, it’s safe and everyone’s trying to make you happy. And it’s not like you’re the only one getting this treatment, or are you forgetting my birthday.”

Both of the bots giggled at their memories of that. “Okay, I guess you’re right.”

“Does this mean we can go inside now? I wanna sca- I mean, see who’s here!” Jrum said, bouncing a bit.

“Yeah, let’s go in.”

The party was extremely eventful. A number of minigames kept everyone occupied and everyone was sharing stories. A few motes of interest came up during the stories, such as the wars Hermitcraft had had as well as the fact that L’Manberg started because of a drug van more or less.

When it came time for cake, the one Niki had made was presented for the whole singing of happy birthday. They had a little trouble as Jellie decided she wanted to try and eat some of the cake while the candles were still lit, but Scar managed to pull her away.

With a bit of help from a piece of paper being used as a fan, Grum blew the candles out. As everyone was given slices of the cake, Mumbo set a special cupcake in front of Grum that he could eat. The redstoner was about to give another one which wasn’t quite as extravagant to Jrum, but in the bot’s few moments of thinking he was left out, he stole a piece of cake and tried smashing it against his screen, only for it to disappear. “Huh… I think we can eat actual food now.”

No one was too upset about Grum getting a slice of actual cake, mainly as they were too busy trying to wrap their heads around what happened. Though it was also since Grum was the guest of honor. Before long, all the cake was eaten, no one showing any signs of being poisoned. From there, a whole cart of presents was pulled over, Grum wide eyed at the amount there was stacked there.

Grum looked at all of them, trying to decide which to grab. His eyes caught Etho’s gift and he pulled it closer and undid the ribbon. “Oh yay. Glass. How thoughtful.” Grum thanked, everyone giving Etho a few eye rolls or glares. Following that, everyone watched as the bot stared Etho dead in the eyes and ate it, Grian Mumbo and Jrum being the only ones that knew he could do that. “I eat quartz, redstone and diamonds. Why is this such a surprise?”

“Well, I guess let’s do real presents now.” Tommy said, handing an actually wrapped present to Grum. “That’s mine. I think you’ll know what to do with it.”

Grum was confused for a second before opening the present, eyes lighting up at the contents. “A stylophone! Yes I know exactly what to do with this!” Grum turned the small instrument on and tested the scale before just a few notes. “Okay, I think we want… eight ten eight ten ten eight, seven nine seven six.” He tested out the keys, glad that it sounded right, then he inhaled loudly before quickly playing the notes.

As soon as he finished playing the notes, he, Tommy, Jrum, Tubbo and even Grian all shouted at the same time. “LET’S GO!” And the room was filled with an extremely bass boosted song for a few seconds. Fortunately, since Grian had known what was about to happen, he quickly used some Watcher magic to save the ears of everyone with advanced hearing, something that Ren was grateful for since he had already gone through this once before.

When Grum went for the next present, everything shifted a bit and out popped the head of a certain chicken from the middle of the pile of presents. “Wh- how did you get in there?!” Grian asked, trying to pull the chicken out. It just hissed and pecked at him when he tried, leaving him to pull away.

Grum tried next and it gave no resistance, so he patted the chicken. “Were you trying to be one of my birthday presents?” The chicken gave a single cluck. “Well then, I guess Kokatori is my chicken now.”

“It’s named what?” Phil asked.

“Apparently it’s name is Kokatori.” Grian answered. “That’s what I was told when he was given to me.”

“Huh. Good to know.”

Grum’s next present was from his brother, it being a number of various cards and a new set of card sleeves. After that was from Wilbur, which was a guitar perfect for Grum’s size. Techno had found some sort of journal to give as a present. Scar gave him a diamond statue, which was also packaged together with Bdubs’ gift of lots of bedsheets, which he said were for pillow forts and not just because he had plenty of spares. Beef’s was a voucher for a piano, mainly because he couldn’t wrap it.

There were plenty of presents after that, but once they were all unwrapped, Grian and Mumbo pulled out one more. “Alright, currently it’s just covered by blankets because we didn’t have wrapping paper to cover something this big.”

“What is it?” Grum asked, walking over to the giant present.

“Well, when building you two, there were some things we had to leave out, so this is a recreation of something we had to leave out of you.” Mumbo explained.

Grum grabbed the blanket covering the thing and pulled it off, revealing a redstone machine that he soon recognized. “My music making system! I can finally make the thing that’s been stuck in my head!”

Before anyone could stop him, Grum started messing with the machine, and before long, a music disc popped out. Tommy always had a jukebox on him in some form, so he put it down and they played the disc. “So, what’s it for?”

“Well, Dad said he wanted to make a minigame for the barge.” Grum started to explain.

“It’s a shopping experience. Not a minigame.” Grian complained, getting a few laughs.

“Yeah, anyway, he needed music for it, and I had an idea, and, well, now he’s got something for it!”

“Well thanks for that.” Grian said, taking the disc out again. “Uh, we can make copies, right?” Grum nodded. “Alright. Well, the next question is if you want to keep this here and we can change this place into a music studio for you, or if you want it at the mansion or the ruin.”

“Hmm, here works, but maybe keep it out of the way ‘cause I want to play more games with people!”

“Yeah, I’m sure everyone’s down with that.”

The presents were put aside and people either went back to games, or excused themselves if they had somewhere to be. Grian had to take Puffy back as well as Wilbur, and then Fundy left to go see Iskall, Grum being understanding that he wanted to be with someone who wasn’t there and he knew longer.

Though he didn’t officially leave, Phil still stepped outside to get away from the noise of the party. When it was quiet enough, he pulled out a communicator and flipped through the contacts, finally reaching one he hadn’t touched in a long time. He pressed the call button and held the comm to his ear, waiting as it rang.

“Yeah, hello?”

“Hey, it’s Phil.”

“Phil? Hey, haven’t heard from you in, what, how many years?”

“Who knows. Just, A lot has happened recently and-”

“Hey while I’d love to talk, I’m sort of running out of battery and I’m currently the prisoner to some pirates who hurt my dragon and got them to fly off. I can call you back when I can, but for now it’s got to be quick.”

“Finally found Xelqua, I’ve got grandkids, looks like there’s a spy here.”

“Haven’t killed the spy yet?”

“Yeah that’s an issue because one of the grandkids likes it and has it as a pet now.”

“Oh wonderful. Whose kid by the way?”

“Xel’s.”

“Huh, thought he’d still be in jail. I didn’t think he had any sort of bail.”

“Wait, what are you talking about? You knew where he was this whole time?!”

“I sent you letters. I mean, before I moved to Minecrack, I was still doing my tv series. I’m actually back to doing it, which is where I am right now.”

“So one of your letters actually said you knew where he was? Now I wish I had read them all. Why couldn’t you just text or call for something important?”

“Because you never know what a spy can get into with all those digital things. The one you’ve got could-”

“Could what? Hello? Paul? Are you there?” Phil sighed and put his comm away. “Right, guess the batter died. Guess that’s something I’ll have to look into.”

The sun wasn’t quite setting when the party officially ended, but it was getting late. Everyone headed home left, Though Ranboo and Tubbo stayed behind to let Michael and the bots have a sleepover. Grum was especially excited about it when Grian came back from taking everyone home and seeming a bit out of it.

“Does this mean we can have a cuddle pile?” Grum asked, getting a nod from Grian.

“Oh hell no. I’m too manly for cuddling.” Tommy tried to argue, but GRum went over to him and gave him big puppy eyes.

“Please? It’s still my birthday.”

“...Fuck you.” Tommy replied, failing to the eyes with a sigh. “Alright fine, but the couples better not get too lovey dovey and shit.”

“No promises.” Grian said, tiredly. “But speaking of, where’s Mumbo?”

“Daddy said he was putting all the presents in some shulker boxes.” Jrum answered. “Amd I gonna get as many presents as Grum did on my birthday?”

“Yup.” Grian answered. “Welp, now that we know where he is, time to go to the mansion.”

Instead of flying them there, Grian just used a bit of magic to teleport them to his nest platform, flopping down on the hay a moment later. Tommy went and got blankets since he knew where they were while Tubbo and Ranboo watched over the bots and Michael as they played. Kokatori had also been brought along and played with the kids, though any time Ranboo or Tubbo got too close to it, it hissed at them.

Eventually Tommy returned with blankets as well as Mumbo, who had returned and helped Tommy with the blankets. Before long, everyone was curled up in blankets or wings or arms. Tommy was the last to fall asleep, thinking about how it all started when he and Grian were hanging out here. Now, here they were, a few weeks later with more friends and closer together.

Tommy shifted a little to pull one of Grian’s wings over him as a blanket, then finally fell asleep, and everyone was quiet.

Except…

With everyone asleep, Kokatori carefully got out of Grum’s arms and hopped out of the nest. It opened its wings and let a communicator fall to the floor. Opening it up, it saw the most recent use: a phone call in the middle of the party. Just what they were after.

oh whoops, I’ve got a sequel planned.

45 notes · View notes

taags-old-account · 2 years

Note

So about that batshit fic idea

Our story begins in a relatively generic and sleepy small town where two people meet and the world slowly begins to change and shapeshift through a litany of AUs in episodic format until reaching the beginning of the main canon. The main characters don't notice and just assume it's all normal ("Wait, wasn't yesterday Wednesday too?" "No, yesterday was Tuesday. You probably just forgot." "But I could have sworn... oh well.") but the reader sure does *insert evil laughter*

Current AUs the world throws at this cast as determined by my brain:

-musical episode inspired by cole porter (alternatively, screenplay episode)

-Modern With Magic

-vaguely star trek inspired scifi episode

-20s noir maybe

if you have any other just. zany aus that would absolutely not work in ordinary circumstances. hit me

OOOO I LIKE THIS!!!!

Some AU's could be:

- Ren Faire/Ancient Medieval Times/Stereotypical Fantasy World

- Another Stereotypic World. But it's superhero styled.

- MURDER MYSTERY

- Coming Of Age Sports Story

- Pioneers (like 1800's style)

- TIME LOOP (actual normal day but it keeps looping)

- Omg Furry Episode

- Guys is this Anime?

- Slasher Horror Movie Style

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wu-sisyphus-gang · 3 years

Text

Motion Sickness Chapter 3 Snippet

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

I struggled to consider what I was doing right now my first date. Especially with the context that recollections of some of Pyrrha’s and I’s ‘outings’ provided.

Fuck.

Not dwelling on that.

By any other measure, a stroll through some town market with a guy and a girl who were now a thing was a date, right? Even though it was a patrol and we did basically the same thing yesterday, now it was different. Now we were ‘together.’

Ruby didn’t seem to mind at all, though, she flowed from place to place with her typical energy. It was as though she’d never been through these streets and past these stalls. She could just walk up to some person and talk to them.

I… I really liked that about her.

Fuck.

She called me over from some RV that seemed to be a permanent feature in the square. Some short-term-long-term food-truck-restaurant? I wasn’t sure, but when she spun and called to me with a wave, I felt my jaw and was struck by the realization that I wasn’t sure just how long I’d been holding my teeth clenched together.

My face ached but she made me smile anyways as I paced over to her.

She smiled right up at me and I had to look away. I really wasn’t sure how I was even supposed to look at her. I almost meant that literally. Could I just, like, look at her now? Whenever I wanted?

I was trying not to be stressed about her of all things right now. Still, though…

“What’s up?”

“They’re moving people in from around the area.” She explained. I cocked my head. Beihfing and I had both been united about a panic. “They started a few weeks ago. I guess after the tower fell, a lot of people moved to bigger places, weird.”

Oh, maybe they hadn’t all died. Huh. “It's not that weird,” I disagreed, I eyed the woman Ruby had been talking to. She was twenty-five--thirty with blonde hair which made her stand out a little here, but her skin tone made her a match for some of the locals in terms of origin. “You had to run?”

“Well we couldn’t order dust or anything and it was pretty scary being mostly alone.” She shrugged, her casual ease with her emotions struck me. I was a total fucking stranger to her. Well, I was also a huntsman, so I didn’t analyze it and just nodded. “It was a good thing too, what with the other villages.”

I figured it was an open secret in GaiLong at this point, but I wasn’t sure. That kind of news would travel fast until everybody knew it at which point, why bother pretending? It was common knowledge.

“What’d you need.” I asked the two.

It was Ruby who lured me in. “They wanted to pull the motor and alternator out of it and use it as a winch for other stuff. They’ve already pulled out all the bolts, but they don’t - well, if they already had a winch then they wouldn’t do this.

“So?”

She rolled her eyes, “so nobody but you can lift it.”

The woman looked down at Ruby. “I’m telling you it weighs, like, four hundred pounds, easy.” I walked around and looked down into the hood. It was some dust-based thing with Atlas stamps, all smooth edges. It wasn’t designed to be repurposed. It was designed, perhaps, to not be able to be repurposed. Some technology was like that.

I reached down with one hand and, with a heave and a grunt, I lifted it and set it down. Ruby absolutely could have lifted it.

The woman blinked at me. “Oh uh.” Her eyes flicked to Ruby and back to me. “Could you set it over here? Then? If it’s not too much trouble?”

“Uh, no.” I returned.

She glanced at Ruby again. “No?”

“No, it’s not any trouble.” I clarified or tried to. “I didn’t mean… Not ‘no’…” I sighed. “Where do you want it?”

Ruby was laughing at me. I could see it as I passed her, following the woman to some cinder blocks. Our reward was something which I was assured was not ice-cream but was some kind of frozen custard-yogurt-stuff with sugar in it.

To me it was good, for the time that I had it, that is. When we returned to the inn I still hadn’t showered after Ren and I trained that morning. Then I made the mistake of entrusting my teat to Ruby who had already nearly finished hers.

When I got out of the shower there were only a few bites left of mine. “Ruby-“

“I left you some!” She pouted at me. I watched her take the last bite of hers from where she sat on her bed and set it daintily on the nightstand. Then she looked up and her smile never changed but she leaned forward onto her hands and stared at me.

I abruptly felt like covering myself, the towel and shorts I had on still showed off most of what I looked like. “Are you just going to stare at me?”

She blinked like I was alien. “Yeah.” Fair enough. I started putting on clothes anyways as she rolled around the bed. “I mean you stare at me, too, right.” I did. I had more than usual today, too, I didn’t want to hide what I felt from her. She continued, though. “I mean maybe not. Maybe, you like to look at girls like Sahov more?”

“Who?” I wondered.

She tossed a pillow to my face. “The girl we were just talking to!”

“Um…” I trailed off.

She slumped down into the covers. “Forget it.”

“Ruby,” I started. I pulled a shirt over my head and began walking over to the bed.

“I said forget it!”

I sat down. “Rubes you know you’re incredibly good looking right?”

“What?” She sat up from under the covers. “Yang’s the pretty one, I’m the cute one.”

“Ruby if I didn’t know you and you came up to me on the street and started talking to me, I would assume I was being pranked somehow.”

“Ugh.” She let me know her disgust, but she wasn’t under the covers anymore and she was giving me this much sort of… sly smile.

I’d never seen that one before and it wasn’t something I usually associated with her. She crawled onto my lap and turned to face me, burying herself in the crook of my neck. I hesitated for a moment but let my arms rest around her slightly.

“You really don’t think I’m cute.” She blushed. “I mean…”

“Oh yeah I just can’t stand to look at you,” I kissed her. Her bottom lip fit between my two and my ego was fed when I felt her relax in my arms. I chuckled as I pulled away.

She hit me and she was as red as I’d ever seen her. “Butt.”

When I started laughing, she shut me down by kissing me again.

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

-WG

#rwby #jaune arc #ruby rose #lancaster #ruby rose x jaune arc #motion sickness

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knights-of-onyx · 5 years

Text

Weiss’ Dilemma

This is just a quick oneshot that happens the night before the Heist near the end of RWBY vol 6. I guess you could consider this a “sequel” to my previous oneshot Blake’s Return. Enjoy.

“We’re going to steal an Atlesian airship!” His words continue to ring in her ears like a broken record. She is completely convinced that he has lost his mind. But what other options did they have? They needed to get to Atlas by yesterday, and Cordovin was not even listening to them. Weiss was convinced that there was probably a better option, but considering all she knows now about Salem, the maidens, relics, Gods, magic. This is a race against the clock, to prevent calamity. Weiss rolls her eyes; she’s already escaped house arrest, and fled a nation under martial law, might as well add “Stealing from a Military Force” to her rap sheet, what else is there to lose?

Sighing, Weiss gets up off the couch after watching Ruby and Yang play with Adrien, and makes her way to the kitchen. She has a plan in mind, as collateral in case things go to hell in a hand basket. Get things off her chest, so to speak. Why not start with the man who saved her life a couple weeks ago? Entering the kitchen, she notices Saphron cleaning up the remnants of dinner, while Terra finds some drywall compound to fix the hole in the living room wall made from her brother-in-law. “Excuse me Saphron,” asked Weiss, “Have you seen Jaune anywhere?”

Saphron merely shrugs, while Terra interjected. “I overheard him say that he was getting some air. If all of you weren’t about to do the stupidest thing in your lives, I’d give him a piece of my mind. He should be fixing this damn hole in my house!”

Weiss rubs the back of her neck awkwardly. “I apologize for that, now if you excuse me.” Weiss walks out of the kitchen and into the backyard expecting to see Jaune training, but instead runs into Ren and Nora. “Hey guys, do you know where Jaune is?”

“Well he isn’t out here, and we didn’t see him leave either,” said Nora.

“I do have an idea where he might be,” said Ren. “He will be a block or so up the street, at the memorial park across from a coffee shop.”

“Memorial?” questioned Weiss.

“You will see,” said Ren. “Just let Jaune be if he needs it.”

Confused, Weiss walked out the back gate and around the side of the house to the street. She saw the sign of a coffee shop up the road and started making her way towards it. Argus is a beautiful place she thought, it was cozy and warming to experience. It was the combination of a comfortable environment like that of a small town, but with modern protection and amenities akin to that of a kingdom. She wouldn’t mind living here if she had a choice, it was better than being at the palace that was the Schnee manor. She shuddered at the thought; even if Jaune’s plan tomorrow went flawlessly, she would still have to deal with the ramifications of her actions. She hoped that Winter was understanding, sure she will be strict and crass, but Winter was the only one with her name that she could ultimately trust; her, and Klein. With her team and all of her friends at her side, perhaps she will finally feel somewhat safe around her father.

Arriving at the coffee shop, she turned to face across the street to where, as Ren had said, a memorial park had been. Weiss, being observant as always, noticed that the memorial was rather new, which peaked her curiosity. Walking across the street and down the park’s pathways answered her question. A bronze statue of her friend, Pyrrha Nikos, lay at the centre of the park, standing proud, yet humbly sad. The sight itself took Weiss’ breath away, and she had to hold back a sob. An amazing warrior, one of the best in the world, gone too soon and in a way no one expected. She died a warrior, and a hero. Perhaps a martyr for her friends, a reason to keep moving forward; do not let her death be in vein. While the rest of world might have seen her death as a tragedy, a select few knew the truth; that she was killed in battle, in a nameless war unheard of by the masses; one that has been going on for an eternity. Weiss hated Salem and Cinder for what they have done, and Ozpin wasn’t exactly innocent in this either. At least Cinder was dead, or so was believed when Yang returned from the Vault that housed Jinn. Raven was gone, and Cinder was nowhere to be found. At this point, even a minor victory is a victory nonetheless.

Weiss choked down another sob and looked around. True to Ren’s word, the humble swordsman sat on a nearby bench hunched over with his head in his hands. He was grieving, that much she could tell. This was some alone time for him, Weiss thought. We know where he is, he will come back home eventually. This was not a place for Weiss to be right now. She thought of a quick eulogy to Pyrrha in her head and turned to walk away.

“Weiss?” she heard him say. Shit, he knows she’s there. And his voice was hoarse, probably from crying. Could she really blame him? He lost his partner forever. What did everyone else lose at the Fall of Beacon? Yang lost her arm granted, but she is still here. She might not be 100 percent, but she is still making an effort to join the fight. Blake got injured and ran away, but she’s back. All of them might have lost Pyrrha, but only Jaune lost the one person who had always believed in him. Weiss couldn’t imagine the amount of guilt and sadness that was coursing through his entire body. Weiss stopped and turned to face him, his eyes were swollen and red; yep, definitely crying.

“Jaune, I’m sorry,” said Weiss hastily. “I just wanted to know where you were. Um, take your time, and we will see you back at th-”

“Weiss,” he said again. “It’s okay, I should probably head back. It’s a big day tomorrow right?” He stood up and looked up at the statue. He whispered something that Weiss couldn’t hear, and then walked towards her. “Shall we?”

“Jaune, can we talk?”

“Uhh, okay? Ask me along the way.”

“Can we just stay here? It will only be a couple minutes.”

Jaune hesitated, but nodded in understanding. He motioned towards the bench he was sitting on before. “What’s on your mind?”

Weiss sat down and Jaune sat next to her. “I... I just....” She paused.

“You just?” prodded Jaune.

Weiss sighed. “I just want to thank you for saving me back at Mistral. I honestly don’t know what would have happened had you not been there.”

Jaune looks down and fiddles with his fingers in his lap. “I don’t want to even think about ‘What if’ Weiss; you scared all of us there. I’m just happy that we’re all still here.” He looked towards her. “I-,” he paused and looked away. “You’re welcome.”

“And hey, you unlocked your semblance. That’s exciting,” she said, giving him a polite shove.

“True, I just wished it would have happened under… less life threatening experiences.”

“Jaune, I am alive and well because of you. It’s as you said, we’re all still here.”

“Yeah, well most of us are here anyway,” he said as he looked up at the statue.

Sensing his mood shift, Weiss scooted over closer to him. “Jaune, Pyrrha would be proud to see you where you are right now, what you have accomplished.” She puts her hand on his shoulder. “You should know that you can talk to any of us when it comes to, well, anything. We’re a team, dare I say a family.”

“Thanks Weiss,” smiled Jaune weakly.

“You know, when we first arrived at beacon, I wanted Pyrrha to be on my team so badly,” said Weiss.

Jaune scoffed. “I’m fairly certain everyone wanted her on their team.”

“You did too if I recall,” said Weiss. “Only for a different reason than everyone else. I mean, you didn’t even know who she was. You are the only dolt I know that religiously ate the cereal that had her face plastered on the box and on billboards, and you still didn’t recognize her,” laughed Weiss.

“To be fair, that’s the reason why she wanted to be my partner in the first place,” laughed Jaune. Good, he’s smiling, she thought.

“I was confused at first as to why Pyrrha freaking Nikos, of all people, fell in love with you, especially with you trying to flirt with me all the time,” said Weiss.

“Yeah, that wasn’t my shining moment in life,” muttered Jaune.

“But I began to understand how caring and selfless you are, and I admire it. I initially thought you were trying to get with me for fame and fortune because of the Schnee name. But I don’t see you now as that type of person, and I don’t think that you ever were,” said Weiss. “I guess what I am trying to say is that you are a good friend Jaune, and that I can always trust on you to do the right thing. So I hope that tomorrow goes off without a hitch.”

“I can trust you too Weiss, thank you. That means a lot.”

Weiss reaches down and grabs his hands. “Jaune, I heard what you said to Cinder back at Haven. I get that you’re hurting, I do. But next time please, for all of your friends’ sake, don’t rush a power hungry sadistic magical warlord in battle okay? That hurts more than you can imagine.”

Jaune gently closes his hands around Weiss’. “I’m sorry Weiss, I just got… overwhelmed with emotion.”

“I understand. I just don’t want to see my friend be killed, okay?”

“Okay,” said Jaune. Weiss and Jaune let go of each other’s hands and turn back towards the statue. Weiss’ thoughts turn sour at tomorrow’s outlook.

Weiss grabs her own hands tightly. “Jaune, I’m… I’m afraid.”

“Afraid?” asked Jaune.

“Assuming all goes well tomorrow, that means that I, we, will be heading Atlas. Back to the general, back to… my father.”

Jaune hears the pain in her voice. “Weiss, you will not be alone. Our friends will be at your side.”

“You don’t get it Jaune, my father is powerful man. He always gets what he wants, who knows how many people he has under his thumb to acquire power. He’s done horrible things to me, to Winter, to anyone that stands up to him. I’m afraid of what he will do to me when we get back. Even now, I am a Schnee in name only. I have no worth in my father’s world, or in the company.

Jaune clenches his jaw. “It’s as you say Weiss, we are a family. More of a family to you than your father ever was to you. When worse comes to worse, I’ll dethrone that man who considers himself king. Even if means my death, I’m willing to make that sacrifice.”

“I appreciate that, but I hope it doesn’t come to your death.”

“Good.” Jaune and Weiss sit in silence for a moment, looking up at the statue, or at the night sky. Contemplating life, and every truth they have come to know over the last few days.

“Jaune, shall we go back?” asked Weiss.

“Yeah, we should before everyone starts to worry. You know what Ruby is like,” said Jaune.

“You’re telling me,” retorted Weiss.

“Good point.” The pair got up and started walking back towards the house, but not before giving one more silent farewell to their fallen friend.

“So Jaune, I am curious. How exactly did you come up with the plan for tomorrow?” asked Weiss.

“Well I was here earlier, and I looked up past Pyrrha and I saw an airship flying overhead.”

“And you’re saying that gave you the idea to steal from the Atlesian Military?” asked Weiss incredulously.

“Uh yeah, pretty much.”

“…..”

“Weiss?”

“You dolt”

#rwby #rwby oneshot #Jaune Arc #weiss schnee #rwby whiteknight #platonic whiteknight #drabble #fanfiction #My writing #white knight #whiteknight #Jaune x weiss #rwby volume 6 spoilers #rwby6 spoilers #RWBY volume 6 #rwby6

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notbang · 5 years

Text

funny when you wager how you feel

nathaniel & heather, during 4x17. inspired by heather’s affiliations in the 4x16 betting pool. also on ao3.

“Dude, I was rooting for you. You owe me five hundred dollars.”

“Excuse me?”

He wants to ask how she even know where he lives, but Heather pushes right on past him into the apartment, not bothering to acknowledge the question or wait for a formal invitation. She makes it over to his bookcase before she spins on her heel to look at him.

“The betting pool? The dates? I emptied both of my piggy banks for you. That was my hot tub savings. You basically owe me a hot tub.”

As she stops to properly survey her surroundings for the first time, Nathaniel feels an embarrassed flush prickle up the back of his neck at the state of his living room. Since Rebecca left he hasn’t exactly been expecting company, but things aren’t anywhere near up to his usually impeccable personal standards, either.

“Wo-ow. So, I can’t believe this is your apartment. Aren’t you supposed to be, like, a fancy senior partner at a law firm, or something? And this is how you live? Is this what you think of yourself?”

He rolls his eyes, swinging the door shut when it becomes apparent she isn’t planning on leaving any time soon. “Ha ha. I suppose I deserve that.”

“It’s just that, I don’t know—people that respect themselves usually don’t usually throw their fast food wrappers on the ground when they’re done with them. Or, like, when they’ve had a single mouthful and remembered they don’t eat bread or cheese,” she amends, nudging the abandoned burger gingerly with her toe. When she glances back up at him her face softens unexpectedly into a sympathetic grimace. “You’re like, really bummed, huh? I’ve seen you throw fries on the floor once before.”

He hand waves the disaster zone. “I started to deal with my very messy, human, Rebecca-related emotions the only way I usually know how. And then I decided I don’t want to do that anymore.”

“Okay,” Heather says, humming, eyes narrowed in playful suspicion. “Then what are you gonna do? Because not to be insensitive, but there may or may not still be stakes riding on the fallout of this whole giant mess, and I’d really rather not wait around until you’re sixty five to find out.”

“Huh?”

“Ugh, don’t worry about it,” she’s quick to dismiss with a long-suffering sigh. “I don’t want to get forced into a forfeit for interference. But for what it’s worth, I lived with Rebecca for two years. I’m not sure I understand the hype, personally. She never empties the dishwasher and she flushes her tampons. I think you dodged a bullet.”

She throws herself down on the couch so forcefully she bounces with the momentum of it, leaning deep into the cushions as if to test them and stretching her long, muscular arms out across the backrest.

“By all means,” Nathaniel says. “Make yourself at home.”

“Oh, I will.” She swings her feet up onto the coffee table, glancing pointedly at the pizza box they’re resting on when he opens his mouth to protest. “Seriously though. Are you okay? I feel like maybe I should ask if you’re okay, since you’re like this brand new person with all these emotions and stuff.”

“Honestly?” he asks, and she gestures in the affirmative. “I don’t know. I’m not really sleeping well. I can’t focus on my work. I thought it was all the indecision, and that it would go away once I got an answer, but…” He massages his forehead. “I don’t think it’s because of Rebecca. At least, not entirely. I don’t know how else to describe it other than I feel… restless.”

“Maybe you should get out of town while this whole thing blows over and people go back to minding their own business. Book a vacation, or something. It kind of seemed like you were always trying to run off to Rome or Hawaii or wherever else it is they have hotels I can’t afford to, like, breathe the lobby air of.”

He shakes his head. “I didn’t actually want to go to Rome, or Hawaii. I’ve seen all those places before. I just wanted to be with Rebecca—I wanted to spend time with her.”

“Okay, well, that admittedly very sweet option is sort of off the table now, but there must be someplace you would like to go, or that you haven’t been.” Her eyes widen and her mouth forms an ‘o’ shape that he thinks must be her version of excited. “Do you want to throw darts at a map of the world? I totally have darts.”

Almost as quickly as her interest flared, her attention is back on his bookcase again, and Nathaniel sighs as she pushes up onto her knees, the eyelets of her boots scraping the leather as she leans across the arm rest to reach for a spine that’s caught her eye. She flips disinterestedly through one of his law books before discarding it beside her and replacing it with an expensive pictorial on Cuban architecture.

“When White Josh broke up with Darryl he went to Mexico to, like, hammer out all his feelings,” she says, smoothing out the dust jacket. “And then he came back with a dog. Maybe you should do the same.”

“Well, I do hablo español,” he concedes.

Heather raises her eyebrows. “Enhorabeuna. I also attended high school. Most of the time.”

He shakes his head. “No, I’m… reasonably fluent, actually. A little rusty, probably, but more than enough to get by.”

“Well, that’s a start. And since you clearly don’t have much experience with flights of fancy, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Google.”

“Google?” he echoes, dubious. “I’m not convinced that’s a secret.”

“I’m serious. You gotta start Googling.”

“Googling what, exactly?”

“Whatever pops into your head. Like, after I watched The Hunger Games, I thought about J-Law looking all fine in her post-apocalyptic outfit, or whatever, and I said to myself—I could work a bow. So I opened my laptop and Googled ‘how do I become a champion level bowman in the short period of time before the Ren Faire arrives?’ which led me to discovering the archery unit at my community college, and here we are. It’s kind of like rapid-fire association, but you have to fully commit to going down the rabbit hole. And then you just keep clicking, and searching, and researching things obsessively until suddenly it’s three days later and you have seventy two tabs open and a new Pinterest account because you forgot the password to the last one. It’s Wilbur,” she adds. “The password is always Wilbur.”

“Sounds chaotic,” Nathaniel quips.

“It is, but it’s also very therapeutic.” Heather stretches, catlike, and pushes back up onto her feet. “I want to give you some secondhand advice here, but I don’t want to mention the name of the person it originally came from, because your face is going to start doing the drippy thing again, so I’m just gonna call them… Hebecca.”

Nathaniel raises his eyebrows. “Darryl’s daughter gave you advice?” he asks dryly. “Wow. I wasn’t aware she was forming sentences yet.”

“Uh-huh—she’s super advanced for a baby, and I’m giving my womb all the credit for her infinite wisdom.” She pats her stomach, and he can’t help it—he huffs out a laugh as she carries on. “When Paula was feeling dissatisfied with how things were going down at her fancy new job, Hebecca told her she should ask for more. That she should bet on herself.” Heather’s mouth twists. “You should bet on yourself.”

“I did bet on myself,” he points out. “Both of us did, remember? And we both lost. Hundreds of dollars. Thousands, even.”

She tilts her head at him. “Okay, so I’ll admit that probably wasn’t the best phrasing to use, in retrospect. But I don’t mean, like, literally bet on yourself. I mean, you have to decide you deserve the things you want. But not in a gross, rich, white privilege way—in a way that means you have look inside yourself and make some tough decisions about what you want your life to look like, whether certain people are in it or not. You can’t control what choices other people make. But you’re the one that has to live with yours.”

He glances over at the couch she just vacated, where Rebecca had sat across from him only yesterday, quietly apologetic but simultaneously so self-assured. He remembers the way he’d felt at peace with it before she’d even started speaking. How strangely calming it had been, seeing her settled and suddenly sure of herself, in the midst of all this pervasive indecision.

“That is… a solid assessment, actually. You only get one life, right?”

“For the record, I charge by the half hour and accept payment in the form of hot tubs.” Heather considers him for a moment longer, then crosses her arms over her chest. “Do you want to get out of here? I could take you for a spin in my new Honda Civic. You’re basically its honorary godparent, or something.”

“Like a date?” he asks wearily.

“Ugh, dude—gross, no. I’m married,” she says, flashing her ring finger at him. “You were there.”

He rolls his eyes. “I was being facetious. But no thanks—I’m good. I need to clean up in here. Open some windows.”

“That,” Heather says, eyes sweeping the room, “is probably a wise decision, because it smells like the Home Base back room in here and not in a good way.”

“Is there a good way?”

“Well, yeah. I’m surprisingly still partial to when they’re cooking chilli fries.” She leans over, extending her arms in their entirety and keeping her body as far away from his as possible while allowing her palms to rest on his shoulders. “You are valid, kiddo,” she says, squeezing him awkwardly and thumbing his nose in a way that makes him scrunch up his whole face and flinch. “For things other than your bank account and strong jawline. Just in case nobody’s ever told you that. But also, I will be expecting reimbursement for your romantic shortcomings, so the bank account is a definite plus.”

Once Heather is gone he thinks about the person that never told him that in so many words but certainly made him feel it, and after flicking it open and closed a few times he shuts the ring box, rubs his thumb along the velvety seam one last time and pushes it away.

He pauses with his fingers over the keys, then hesitantly types in animals AND law AND spanish into the text box; just because he’s being self-indulgent doesn’t mean he has to completely abandon Boolean operators.

The returns are fairly broad so after a moment's consideration he amends the search to zoo AND law AND spanish speaking countries.

He hovers the cursor over the link to the San Diego Zoo’s donation page before his gaze catches a couple of results down on a site for zoology and wildlife internships, and suddenly, for the first time in awhile, finally something clicks.

#crazy ex girlfriend #nathaniel plimpton #heather davis #nathaniel + heather #brotp: what are you doing in my house?#my fic #i started this after 4x16 and it was supposed to be more heather dragging nathaniel #but after the finale it went elsewhere #i've totally been avoiding fic lately in favour of art in some weird version of denial :/

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revengeworld · 6 years

Text

The Flowergirl VII

Soulmate AU

Kylo Ren x Reader

Words: +2.700

Warnings: Angst, Suicide attempt.

A/N: We are getting in the dark Parts of this fic! So please read at your own caution. And we only have two more chapters to go! I still have a Kylo Series that I could be writing after this or would you guys like another story with another Character? Let me know!

MY MASTERLIST

[Kylos Thoughts] /Y/Ns Thoughts/

The Courtroom was already full to the brim, the only ones they were waiting for were the judge and the accused.

Everyone was whispering to the persons next to them, nervous and curious until the door behind the podium opened and an old broad men entered the room and it suddenly got very quiet.

The man sat down in the big chair, before four other people followed and sat down next to him, two on each site.

“Bring in the accused!” his deep voice echoed through the Courtroom and one guard next to the entrance left the room for a moment, before coming back with a figure completely clothed in black.

Every citizen gasped at the sight of the prisoner, some started to whisper quietly to their seated neighbour, while the person in cuffs was lead in front of the podium.

“You stand accused of treason. How do you answer these charges, Y/N?”

Looking up to the Chiefs face she only scoffed. “Fuck your charges.”

She didn´t know how long she was sitting in the rain, crying over the loss she was feeling, the pain in her chest and the aching in her body from the cold.

Looking around she couldn´t tell if it was already getting brighter again or of her eyes just had adjusted to the dark of the woods.

Y/N had completely lost her orientation.

This part of the forest was almost untouched, even the hunters left this place for mother nature itself. The flowers and herbs that were growing high and wild and there were probably a lot more animals around.

Hearing a loud howl nearby, Y/N snapped out of her daze and looked around. She needed to think, but her head was in a state of panic and grieve and she just couldn´t get a straight thought.

What should she do? Run? But in which direction?

She was praying to the heavens that suddenly Kylos voice would appear again, guide her in some way but it staid quiet in her head.

Tightening the grip on his dirty red cloak, Y/N pushed herself of the ground and stood on her shaking legs, while the howling came closer and closer.

Slightly whimpering at the though, what would happen to her of the wolves were going to get her she shuddered and her legs almost started to move on their own.

Quietly stalking through the grass, careful not to make too much noise she tried to sneak away when she heard a branch snap behind her and a low growling sound was coming from behind a bush.

As quickly as she could, she ruffled up her skirt and run in the only directions she could have gone when she suddenly caught a red glimmer in the corner of her eyes.

Changing directions, Y/N quickly jumped behind a tree and run towards the red blinking light, when she finally could see that it was Kylos ship.

The loud footsteps behind her made her feets almost fly over the ground before she run up the metal ramp, before hectic punching onto the red blinking button which, thankfully, lifted the ramp.

Seeing the wolfs stop in front of it, Y/Ns legs gave out under her while she tried to catch her breath but she only started to cry again. Maybe because she was relieved that she wouldn´t be eaten or the painful reminder that the resistance had taken Kylo away from her.

Looking around in this, what seemed to be a metal prison for her, she soon found his bed and a small closet were she pulled out something dry that she could wear, until she noticed a small package with her name on it.

Pulling off the cover, inside was a black long lace dress with a handwritten note. -You need something dark in your closet as well-

Y/N shook her head a little with a smile before she brushed away the new tear that were running down her face.

After she found the bathroom, Y/N dried herself and cuddled up in his big but comfortable clothes before she climbed into his bed and pulled the blanket completely over her.

Just what should she do without him now? Why couldn´t she hear him any more, her head was so quiet without his thoughts.

And deep in her heart, the only thing that could be the answer was... that they had executed him. Why else wouldn´t she be able to hear him any more? He was gone and he would never be back again...

When she woke up again, she could hear faint calls. Slowly opening her eyes, Y/N needed a moment to realise where she was again, until she realised someone was calling for her. For just a second, she thought it might be Kylo who really came back for her, but soon she noticed that it was the voice of her father.

Jumping from the bed, she quickly pressed the red button from yesterday and soon saw her parents ran towards her.

“Mum! Dad!” Y/N stumbled into their open arms. “They just … they just took him...” she sobbed loudly and her Mother pressed her daughter closer to her chest.

“I know baby ...Shh.” calmly brushing over her hair, Y/N slowly stopped crying.

“We need to get you out of here sweetheart.” her Father explained and kneeled down next to her.

“They are looking for us already...”

“Us?” shaking her head she looked at her parents and shook her head.

“No just me. Tell them that you didn´t know that he was here! It was just me!” getting back on her feet, Y/N rushed inside Kylos ship to get herself dressed in the black dress that he had gotten her, shouldered her bow and tying the quiver around her hip, she soon grabbed her bag.

“Well it will make two of us.” Nil suddenly jumped through the bushes.

“They are already planning to send soldiers to your house. He informed them, a big backpack over his shoulder.”

“You should go...” Y/N pleaded to her parents. “I won´t let you get in trouble because of me.” hugging them tightly she wished they wouldn´t need to say goodbye.

“Why are you still here?” she asked Nil, after watching her parents quickly vanish into the vibrant greens of the forest.

“I´m wanted too, for disobeying. So here we are. Two Outlaws.” he scoffed and watched Y/N return inside the ship for a moment.

“Come on, we don´t have much time….” Nil plead, nervously looking around.

Looking down at her old dirty and wet clothes on the floor, she grabbed the black cape from Kylos closet and threw it over her shoulders before closing the latched in front.

Pressing on the red button one last time, she quickly jumped out while the ship was closing itself.

“W...where should we go?” pulling the long black cape around her body they wandered away from the ship.

“The Mountains, if we can make them loose our trail we should be good...” Nil mumbled and it sounded like a good plan at first. Until they arrived at the big river they needed to cross, where the soldiers were already waiting for them. They had no chance, it was hopeless.

Now they were standing together in the courtroom, being stared at by everyone. Loud mumbling was echoing through the room because of Y/Ns answer.

“I hope I misheard myself.” the judge, who was of course also the chief and Nils Father, said quiet sternly.

“No, you heard correctly.” she answered again loud and clear. “Then we didn´t committed any crimes.”

“You endangered every villager in this town with your recklessness of hiding this man!” Nils Father raised his voice a little.

“He never endangered anybody! Kylo never hurt anyone here and didn´t intend to!!” she tried to defend him, but was cut off immediately.

“Enough! I don´t know what lies he told you but...”

“He didn´t tell me any lies!!” now Y/Ns voice was getting louder. “You don´t even know him! Kylo is nice and caring in his own way. He changed since he is hear and regrets his actions! He never would have intended to hurt anyone or bring them in danger in any way. He liked it here.”

Suddenly hearing someone raise their voice, she could see the old lady from the Tailor shop stand up.

“I must confirm this, Chief. When Y/N came to visit me in my shoop with the stranger, he was quiet but very polite and helpful.” she nodded, remembering the day.

Others started to rise from their chairs to tell the teach they pleasant experience with Kylo.

Y/N almost couldn´t believe it but the village stood behind her. Looking over to Nil he only grinned.

But in the End it wasn´t the villagers opinion that counted, it was the Chi9efs and he didn´t seem cooperative at all.

“Enough of this nonsense! It doesn´t matter! The only thing that matters right now is that you and your accomplice-” he looked to his son. “Were hiding this dangerous man who tries to overthrow the whole galaxy under his command.”

Looking down at them from his podium he only shook his head.

“You were such a nice young girl Y/N and now look at you. Endangering of your own people...”

“I think the only thing endangered here is your Ego.” Nil almost burst out into laughter, even though it was against his own father, but Y/N was right.

Even in the crowd they could hear small snickers and chuckles.

“I see you have no remorse for your actions against this village.” the Chief spoke with a dangerously low voice.

“Do you show any remorse for what you did to your son?! Beating him whenever he isn´t obeying your orders?!” she spat and held her head up high.

“One month in Exile should help you remember were your Loyalty should stand with.” slamming his hand onto the desk, he seemed to signal that this was his final word on the matter.

“Certainly not with you!” this time it was Nil who had spoken up. “All of this here is bullshit! You just want to look good in front of the village while trying to fix something that wasn´t even a problem! This isn´t fair!”

“Then I take this as your confession. One month for you in Exile should help your rebellious thinking.” slamming his hand on the desk again, but not only did Y/N speak up again, the villagers exchanged worried looks. No body had ever thought about that the Chief would do something so horrific to his own son.

Every time Y/N or Nil tried to defend their actions the chief expanded their punishment.

“ENOUGH! 1 YEAR! These are my last words! You have time until dawn to pack your belongings.”

Normally when the chief left, the villagers would go shortly after, but this time everyone was to shocked to even move.

Y/N was in accompaniment with a soldier when she arrived at her home. Her parents already prepared a big bag for her, then in exile the outcast was only allowed to take with him what he could carry.

“Take your bow to good use until we get you out of there!” her Father mumbled and pulled her into a tight hug.

“Don´t worry about me. It doesn´t matter where I am.” she whispered and let her fingers run over the bracelet around her wrist. She didn´t want to give up hope and if Kylo maybe still alive he would find her, right? But at this moment, nothing seemed to matter any more. She just could feel the emptiness inside her that was slowly eating away at her.

Fresh at Dawn they started their endless walk. It took hours until they arrived at a cliff, one single wooden hut standing on the edge of it while a small trail lead to the grey sanded beach. It was cold and the hut that would be their shelter was damp and dark.

The soldiers that brought them here removed their restrains.

“We are not allowed to tell you this but ...” one of them spoke and the other continued.

“You should be able to get fish from the sea. West from here about 5 miles, there is a small forest were you can hunt. Be safe you two.”

Turning to the hut, Y/N and Nil slowly opened the creaky door. It was basically just a big room with a fireplace, one bed, something they might be able to call a kitchen and a very small bathroom.

“You can have the bed.” Nil immediately told her and let his stuff fall into the other corner next to the fireplace. It was the first time that he spoke this day and Y/N only sighed before letting her things fall onto the bed.

“Sorry I just need a moment...” she mumbled before she left the hut again with quick steps. Stumbling towards the cliff she stopped at the edge, taking deep breaths while her chest painfully tightened around her lungs. Laying a hand on her chest, she closed her eyes for a moment before her body could calm down again.

She just felt so helpless and alone.

Feeling Nil hand around her upper Arm, he gently pulled her back from the edge of the cliff.

“Maybe you should come inside, it´s dangerous out here.” he said sternly and she just now noticed how close she was actually to the edge, small pebbles crunching under her feet and falling down into the dark water.

Nodding, Y/N let him lead her back inside were a small fire was lit for them to warm themselves.

How many days had passed already? At some point it all washed into one big mess of an eternal day that never seemed to end.

According to Nil, who seemed to keep track of the days, informed her that they almost had made it to 6 month.

But what did it even matter now. Since month she hadn´t heard Kylos voice or his breathing or his heartbeat, not felt any others emotions then herself which where slowly driving her insane. He was gone, dead. There was no other way.

The grieve, the sadness, the frustration, everything piled up and felt like a heavy burden on her chest.

Looking down at her feet, she felt the cold water around her ankles. Since when was she standing here? Didn´t she just woke up in her bed a few seconds ago? When did she walk all the way down here?

With every thought her legs seemed to move on their own, soon she could feel the stinging old around her thighs then her hips and soon her it almost reached her neck. Every fibre of her being screamed for her to go back to not go a step further, but it was as if her body was moving on his own.

She just wanted to not feel anything any more.

Seeing the next wave coming closer, she slowly closed her eyes, waiting to be pulled down in the dark and cold abyss.

[Y/N !!!]

Snapping out of her daze, she quickly tried to swim back to the beach but before she could reach it the heavy wave pressed her underwater.

Pressing her hands over her mouth and nose, she tried to not breath in any of the salty water before she suddenly felt something around her waist and got pulled to the surface.

Getting dragged out of the water, Nil and her broke down on the beach trying to catch their breaths.

“NEVER do that again!!” he yelled but quickly helped her to sit. “Are your hurt or anything?” Nil asked now, taking a closer look at her.

Y/N only shook her head with tears in her eyes.

“I just want it all to stop...” she whimpered, before Nil pulled her into his arms.

“Come on I bring you inside...”

Inside, Nil sat Y/N down on a chair before stirring up the fire and throwing a blanket around her shoulders.

Starring into the warm flames, her mind went back to the moment before the wave hit her, did she really hear his voice again or did she just imagined it?

Playing with the bracelet around her wrist, she just wanted him back. Was that to much to ask?

Tags: @joebob24 @ayatimascd @el-eldritch @weirdothepuppet @suzumebailey @secretlygrantaire @germansarechill @bitchy-ginger-1 @dangerous-but-fun @m4shtyx @wintersire @kayyyllluh @green-nightlight @lucille-lovely @supermarvelousmia @little-miss-mischief1 @blogcrystalizedbodies @attorneyl

#kylo ren #kylo ren au #kylo ren imagine #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren fanfic #kylo ren soulmate au #kylo #kylo au #kylo imagine #kylo fanfic #kylo x reader #kylo x you #kylo ren x you #soulmate au #star wars au #kylo soulmate au

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roseforthethorns · 6 years

Text

Renaissance Faire AU

Miscellaneous Prompt Table (009)

Word Count: 1633

Full bunny under the cut

James has been working the same Ren Faire for fifteen years as the resident blacksmith. In the off season he sells his wares online (thanks to his best friend and flatmate Tanner for helping him run his website) and he also works with horses from several different stables. When he was a child in the Scottish Highlands, his parents’ farrier noticed his interest and began teaching him what he knew. James insisted on attending a vocational school to train as a blacksmith, and after completing his training there, he apprenticed himself and continued his studies. Five years later saw him working the Skyfall Faire for the first time.

The year James turns forty-one, he notices a new addition to the cast of the Faire. He’d heard they were looking to hire new members but had forgotten until the first time the royal retinue passes by. James looks up from where he’s finishing the shaping on a new helm to see a slender young man with dark curly hair walking down the path. Several knights and a few other courtiers are with him, and as he approaches the stalls, everyone stops what they are doing to bow or curtsey.

The man is very energetic and is enthusiastic in his greeting of different stall keepers and patrons of the faire. James can hear him loudly complaining about having to mingle with the commoners, but even he can hear there is no heat in the man’s words. As he draws closer, James notes the brocade on his doublet and the gold circle set in the man’s hair. This must be the new prince hired for the year. James smirks; he is definitely attractive, and James is comfortable enough in his bisexuality to allow himself a long ogle.

Finally, the young man reaches James’ stall, and James, wiping his hands on his apron, bows to the “prince” with a heated smirk. “My liege? I’m afraid I’m not acquainted with your name. I’m sure it’s every bit as musical as you are handsome.”

“Prince Q, son of King Mallory and heir to the throne of Skyfall.”

“That’s quite a mouthful,” James replies with a pointed look at Q’s crotch. “I wonder if the package matches the name.”

“You ought to be more careful with your words, Blacksmith. I could have you thrown in the stocks.”

“But you won’t. You’d miss out on my clever tongue. It’s every bit as hot as my irons, and I know how to use it.”

“Is that a fact? An expert in more than one trade?”

“Give me time and I can master every trade.”

The Prince smirks back and leaves James’s forge; that smirk gets James through the next three days and features in every single daydream.

He sees Q again a few days later while on his lunch break. He is walking down one of the paths of shops to find a small booth filled with gorgeously designed metal and wirework creations with the very man he is thinking about behind the counter. Q sees him and blushes, clearly fighting the urge to hide. James slows down and ends up moving forward as if he might spook him, much the way he does when shoeing a nervous horse.

I’m James- I run the blacksmith forge just up the path. I saw you yesterday. You play the prince?”

Q nods and briefly meets James’ eye. “Q. Yes. The part is only a few days a week, and I can sell my inventions on the other days.”

“May I take a look?”

Q nods and watches closely as James examines the trinkets. They’re gorgeously crafted, little soldiers that have moving arms and dragons with wings that flap. Minute hinges attach moving pieces, and many of the creations are welded metal or wrapped wire.

“These are really well made- you must have quite the knack for close work.”

Q blushes and nods at the praise, and James has an idea.

“I’m on my lunch break- would you like to join me? We can sit on that stump and eat. If you want some company.”

To his delight, Q agrees. They sit on the stump while James eats, Q sipping something from a thermos covered in wrapped wire. James asks gentle, informal questions to get to know the young man better, and by the end of the hour, Q is starting to ask his own questions. He seems a very bright, intelligent young man, a design and theatre major in Uni who now works as an artist and inventor who does some community theatre on the side. If anything, James is even more intrigued, and he asks if Q would like to swap schedules so they could have lunch again. Q smiles at him and actually looks excited at the prospect, and they swap their timetables.

James sees him in character the next afternoon, doing another round of the shops and bantering with the patrons. Several children are eagerly waiting to speak to the prince, and for all of Q’s proud blustering, he instantly crouches when speaking to the children so he can look them in the eye. James seeks him out later on their shared break and brings him a large ice cold water. It is far too easy to get dehydrated working at the faire, and Q is quite grateful for the refreshment.

It goes on like this for several weeks. In sharing their matching lunches and breaks, James and Q swap stories, and Q warms up to him more and more. Q is rather shy and reserved, introverted when left to his own devices, but he lights up with all the energy in the world when he is acting. “It used to baffle my best friend Eve in Uni. She called me a changeling.” Q shrugs and eats a small piece of the turkey leg James has brought to share. “I can inhabit a character, but in real life I like my quiet.”

James nods at this. “My best mate is my business partner. Alec is all fire and energy, and I love him like a brother, but he can be a lot.” He smiles warmly at Q. “I like a good bit of silence too. Especially when I can share it.”

A week after that conversation, James is bringing lunch to share when he sees Q sitting on their stump with a child next to him. The kid cannot be more than ten, and he is completely engaged in wrapping wire around a stick. “Like this?”

Q beams at him. “Very good! Now you want to work on keeping the coils tight and even.” He demonstrates with his own stick. “Just like this.”

James watches for several more minutes and only approaches when the kid’s mum collects him and buys several of Q’s figures. They share their lunch in silence that day, but Q is smiling more than he often does, and James, looking back at that summer later, realizes that seeing how Q is with kids is the moment he falls in love with him.

Two weeks before the end of the faire, James finally asks Q out for a proper meal and drinks, which Q accepts. They spend the evening sharing a large helping of fish and chips and several pints in a back booth at a local pub. Q relaxes a little and even leans against James a few times, and afterwards, James walks Q back to the flat where he’s staying during the faire.

“I enjoyed this. You’re a marvel, Q.”

Q blushes and smiles at James. “You’re very kind, and you’re the first person in a long time I’ve met who knows how to listen as well as he tells stories.”

“Well, I do aim to please.”

Still blushing and smiling, Q leans in and kisses James. It’s chaste and a little bit drunk, but it is perfect. “Good night, James.”

Lunches are a little closer now, food shared a little more. Q does not regret the kiss (neither does James), and they work together to feel out how things are working. With three days to go before the closing events, James hands Q one of his business cards with his mobile number scribbled on the back. “I don’t want this to end with the summer. I want to keep seeing you.”

Q bites his lip as he looks at the card, an unconscious act while he’s thinking that makes James want to kiss him all over again. Q does the same and hands James one of his cards with his mobile number on it. “I do too, James.”

Their schedules are tight the next few days, but on the final night, Q the prince slips away from the festivities and James the blacksmith finishes dousing his forge and they meet at their stump and share several passionate kisses beneath the night sky.

Six months later, Q moves in.

Two years later, James proposes. When they marry, he and Q work together to make their wedding rings.

They adopt two children a few years later, a boy, Arthur, and a girl, Brienne. James is Dad and Q is Papa. They live in the country where Q and James have their shops in town,. Eve is now a full partner with Q, bringing her own talents in fabric design and metalworking to add to his designs, and she helps run the shop when Q is home with the kids.

They still go to the faire every summer and share their lunches on the tree stump. On their tenth anniversary, they bring the kids to show them where Dad and Papa met and where they fell in love. And where, after James proposed, they carved their names into the tree stump that saw so much of their courtship.

#007 fest #roseforthethorns writes #00Q #tooth rotting fluff #so much fluff #ren faire AU #miscellaneous prompt table #Blacksmith James #Actor and artist Q #courtship #teamdoubleoh

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canaryatlaw · 6 years

Text

okay. well today was pretty good. I had no reason to get up at any specific time, so I just slept for a while and eventually woke up at like 12:36, and then kinda laid in bed and pet NICKZANO for a while before actually getting up. I spent a bit of time on my computer getting some stuff done while also messaging this guy from this silly dating app I’m on who wanted to go out tonight and I was like okay sure, so we made plans to meet up at 5 at this restaurant that’s like a bar and pizza place, with like, individual pizzas, not slices. After I got some stuff done I got dressed and stuck my old sodastream in my cart to go to the UPS store. I think I neglected to tell you the story of what happened yesterday. Basically about two weeks ago, my sodastream somehow lost the ability to hold the bottle up like it’s supposed to do, so I called their support and they said well it’s probably defective so we’ll send you a new one, just send the old one back when you get it. Okay fine, the new one got here yesterday and I’m setting it up and go to stick the bottle in....and I have the same problem....so it’s the bottle that’s the problem, not the machine. At this point I remembered that when we were at the ren faire two weekends ago we had left our water bottles in the car and they got super hot, and I remarked afterwards that it felt like the plastic at the top of the bottle had been warped in some way when I was putting the cap on. So I tried the new machine with a different bottle and it worked, and I tried the old machine with a different bottle, and it also worked. WELL FUCK. I still had to return one of them to them, with a slip of paper saying it was defective, so I’m hoping they’re not going to like, follow up to make sure it was defective in the exact way I told them it was, and to be fair I called their support and described the problem and this is the answer they gave me, so it’s not really my fault. Just another example of my complete lack of common sense to figure really obvious things out. Sigh. But anyway, I stuck the old one in my cart and went down to the UPS store. I didn’t have a box that could fit it and they didn’t want you to use the one they just sent you the new one in because it’s all marked up from being in the mail system already. So I got there and told them what was going on, they weighed it and got a box, and I gave them the shipping label, then just paid for the box and we were good to go, so I’m glad that’s done. I came back home and chilled for a bit watching 30 Rock before getting ready for tonight around 3:30. I did fairly basic make up, and caught the bus around 4 so I’d have plenty of time to get there, which was a good choice because that bus route goes directly through Wrigleyville and the Cubs had a game tonight, meaning it was swamped with traffic and people, so it took forever to get through there. I eventually got there at like 5:15, but he wasn’t there yet either so I didn’t feel bad about it. He showed up a few minutes later and we got a table, one of the high ones with chairs that have no backs which is like, my two least favorite set up at a restaurant, but I don’t really care that much. We get drinks, he gets a beer after I assure him I couldn’t care less if people drink in my presence despite me not being able to have alcohol. we decide to order a mozzarella breadstick appetizer, which I originally just expected to be normal mozzarella sticks (yay for reading comprehension, right?) but was actually just breadsticks topped with cheese, which is also a good option so I didn’t really care. They somehow turned out to be like, super filling, to the point where I was like I don’t even wanna get a pizza at this point lol. Conversation was going pretty well, we talked about a bunch of different stuff as these things tend to go, we touched on politics and what a shitshow it is, a bit about our families (he’s from India and the rest of his family is still there), and then some commentary about the college football playing on the giant tv screens on the wall in front of us, and how we both prefer soccer to football lol. The work I want to do did come up and I described my current job predicament, and ended up getting into a mini-rant about the issues in the foster care system, but I kept it pretty limited as far as these things go lol, I could’ve gone on a lot longer. But yeah, I enjoyed talking to him, it was nice. We ended up just ordering dessert, which was a funnel cake, which we only ended up eating like half of because we were both full lol. He paid, I didn’t protest, just said thank you. Once we left he wanted to walk me back to the bus stop I was taking home, even though his place was a few blocks back. I’m gonna be out of town next weekend, but since it’s a long weekend I said I’d let him know if I ended up being free on Monday, but that I may end up having plans. When we were saying goodbye he asked if he could kiss me and I was like ah what the hell so I said yes, so we shared a brief kiss. I have a lot of feelings I’m trying to work through with all this (and other shit I’m not sharing on here for certain reasons) and I’m just trying to figure shit out with all of this, so I had kinda mixed feelings about the night overall. I got on the bus, which took me pretty close to home, unfortunately about 5 minutes before my stop it started downpouring, which makes this the second time in the past week where I’ve had to walk home in the downpouring rain, so that’s always fun. I had my umbrella thankfully, but that doesn’t do too much good with the water gathered at the sides of the roads are like, 4 inches deep and it’s took big to get around it, you’re just going to end up getting soaked up to your ankles. Thankfully I was wearing sandals, which are much less annoying than having to do so in like, socks and sneakers. I made it home without getting too drenched, just had to dry off my legs and feet a bit. Once I did that I went through a few packages I got today, one of which being a certain shirt I found online for a certain cosplay for HVFF NJ next weekend which I’m currently keeping a secret because y’all are gonna lose your shit when you see how great it is, lol. So that was cool. I then went to the couch and watched a few episodes of 30 Rock before starting to get ready for bed and here we are. It’s a bit past midnight and I do have to get up for church in the morning, so I think I’ll end this here. Goodnight my friends. Hope you had an awesome Saturday and will have an even better Sunday.

#daily journal #September 2018

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icewraiths · 7 years

Text

Shadow

Part 3 of the kelpie fic. Sorry about the wait, I took my sweet time writing/posting this. -__-

Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here.

The kelpie mare snapped at the rack of ribs, opening her mouth to reveal actual canines in the place of wolf teeth. It was just as Renata had seen in her vision--she knew, then, that the mare would have killed her yesterday had she not foreseen it and made an offering instead.

The girl's heart nearly leapt out of her chest when the mare's head darted forward; the apprehension followed by sudden movement had caused her to flinch visibly.

The brook horse did not seem to mind. She lifted the entire slab of meat with her teeth and pranced away, dropping it on the gravel nearby before she set into devouring it properly.

Ren watched the mare as she tore meat and sinew off the bone with ravenous enthusiasm. She saw the hollowness of the fae's flanks and understood--the creature needed meat to survive, and she was only barely getting enough to scrape by.

She pondered this; the reports of missing people and animals had been a fairly recent happening. There was a good chance that the kelpie was originally from somewhere else, and that external causes had forced her into this lake in the lowlands to hunt. Given all the recent Pandoric activity, along with environmental changes thanks to GED's meddling, Ren could hardly blame the mare for having to move closer to people out of necessity.

She ventured a question.

"Kelpie, mare, you aren't from here, are you? Or did you always live here, in this lake?"

At Renata's words, the gray looked up from her meal. She fixed the girl with another of her icy stares--and yet, there was a twinge of sorrow behind her eyes this time. The mare turned her muzzle pointedly northward, pricking her ears as she did so, and seemed to direct Ren's gaze up towards the northern range. The headwaters of the lake welled forth among those peaks; the mare seemed to be implying that she'd originated from one of those remote streams much farther out.

The kelpie turned back to Ren, making eye contact again, and flattened her ears. Even as foreign and equine as she was, Ren could still read the pained expression on the mare's face. Humans did this to me, she seemed to be saying.

Her ears flopped forward again, and she resumed picking bites off of the chunk of meat.

"Humans chased you out of your home, huh?" Renata ventured. "So you eat them. Out of revenge."

The mare swished her tail in complacent affirmation. Ren sighed.

"Fair enough. We should probably work on that, though."

Once the hunk of ribs was picked down to the bone, the mare submerged her muzzle in the shallows and resumed grazing on water reeds. The girl continued to watch her quietly; she wondered what kind of life the brook horse had left behind when she fled to the lowlands. Were there more of her kind, still hiding in undiscovered wilderness?

It was well into the afternoon, by then. Renata dusted herself off, frowning at the bloodstains on her jacket, and decided she should head back soon if she wanted to return before nightfall. She paced back over to the discarded burlap, peeling off her jacket and tossing it in the bag. She could wash it later, she figured--it would definitely be easier to hide it for now. The locals would be suspicious if she wandered back into town at dusk with sleeves covered in red stains.

Ren heard a sound behind her. It was soft--a barely audible scuff of hoof against fine gravel--but it was enough to make her turn.

The kelpie mare stood just behind her, eerie and silent as death. Renata nearly jumped out of her skin for what felt like the tenth time that day.

"Damn it! P-please don't sneak up on me like that. Aideen's sake." The girl cursed under her breath, knowing the mare could hear her anyway. She looked back down at the bag containing her jacket and the remnants of the meat wrappings. "There's no more left in here. I'm sorry."

The fae seemed to understand this already. Her pale eyes were fixed on Renata, not the bag.

"What? You going to eat me?" Ren didn't know what else she wanted.

Stretching her neck down, the gray sneezed into the gravel dismissively. The girl realized that, if the kelpie had wanted to eat her, she'd have done so already. After all, she was able to walk right up behind her without notice.

"You want me to bring you more food? Ugh, I'm going to have to start mucking stalls for pay again in order to afford that. I can be back tomorrow, around the same time. After that, I don't know. This can't be an every-day trip."

Renata waited for the mare to take the hint and return to the water, but the brook horse stood still. Shrugging, the girl turned back up the trail, figuring she should check on the Swedish mare she rode in on.

When she reached the meadow where the rental mare was grazing, Ren hesitated. The stout black draft looked up in alarm as soon as the girl set foot in the grass. Puzzled, she turned to look behind her again, knowing that the draft didn't startle easily.

Sure enough, the kelpie stood a few paces away, having followed the young woman up the trail.

Ren sighed.

"You can't eat the horse I rode in on, either."

Again, the gray seemed to have acknowledged this. She tilted her head to gaze at Ren with one eye as if waiting for her to realize something.

Exasperated and more than a little unnerved, Renata turned back towards the draft, packing up the burlap bag and re-bridling her. The kelpie would just have to wait until the next day for more food. She hopped back into the saddle, kicking the rental horse up into a canter and brushing past the kelpie.

The pair of them loped back up the trail and onto the road. As expected, Ren heard the light scrape of unshod hooves against the paved stone behind them. She kept her mare in a canter, sat deep, and turned to glance over her shoulder.

The brook horse was keeping pace with them effortlessly. When the girl turned to look at her, she lengthened her stride, running abreast of the draft mare.

Ren felt her face pale; it seemed she wasn't going to be able to shake her new friend. She had no idea what else the fae wanted from her. Perhaps she was just lonely, but even still, that was probably wishful thinking.

The kelpie stayed apace with them for the entire remainder of the journey. When they neared civilization, the silver mare seemed to hesitate.

"I doubt you can come back into town with me, mare. It's full of people. You know, like the ones that ruined your home?"

Renata's words seemed to strike a nerve, and the fae shivered. Like a startled foal, she shouldered up against the draft mount, crossing her neck over withers and pressing her head to Ren's torso. The draft mare tried to sidle away, but her rider calmed her, understanding the kelpie all at once.

The girl dropped the reins and hugged the gray's face. The poor thing was frightened--wherever she'd come from before, she'd probably been part of a herd, and now she was slowly starving, alone, in unfamiliar lands.

It was a very mortal fear to have, Ren surmised, but it appeared the fae was not completely exempt from the hard rules of this reality. She was a magical, unusual specimen, but she was not invincible.

The kelpie relaxed a little after a moment, and the girl continued patting her muzzle reassuringly.

"I won't let you die. It'll be all right, mare. But you probably should lie low for a bit, at least until I figure out how to pass you off as my horse. Otherwise, it'll just look like I stole you, or something."

The fae's eyes softened, and she stepped away from the draft mare again.

Renata looked around, trying to get her bearings on her surroundings.

"Let's see... If the town is that way, then I think if you follow the road south for a bit and turn off onto the deer trail with all the ferns, it'll take you to a secluded little stream. Just try to stay off the roads and out of view, okay? I'll come find you there tomorrow."

The brook horse trembled, her shoulders twitching, but she seemed to understand. She gave Ren one final, doleful look, and then shuffled off into the forest at a steady trot.

The draft mount sighed and lowered her head once the kelpie was out of sight--it was clear that she understood the fae was a predator to be feared. Renata patted her mane.

"I know, I know. It's been a long day, but you're safe now. Come on. Back into town we go," she said, nudging the draft into a trot.

When Ren dismounted back at the stable block, she loosened the Swedish mare's girth, and was met at the barn doors by the same lass from earlier that morning. The barn hand took the mare's reins from Renata, noting that the draft seemed ill at ease.

"Did you run into any trouble out there? This gal hardly ever spooks at anything," she said, patting the mare's dark muzzle.

"She must've nosed wolves, I think." The lie came easily to Ren. "I could have sworn I saw some tracks on the way back, near the road that heads south."

"Really? We rarely have problems with wolves this close to town." The stable girl frowned. She ran the stirrups up on the saddle, and began helping untack.

"Yes. The prints looked too big to belong to foxes, or even dogs. You should probably tell other riders to avoid that area for a bit." Ren waited until the stable hand was occupied with unbridling the mare, and then she quickly pulled the burlap containing her bloodied jacket out of the saddlebags as discretely as possible. She shuffled the mess into her backpack, making as if she were digging around for loose shillings.

By the time the stable hand had turned back towards her, Renata had fetched a small amount as a tip.

"Here," Ren said, offering the girl the money. "Thanks for the help."

The barn girl smiled at her, her expression tired but genuine.

"Aw, thank you!" She accepted the tip, and Ren bid her a hasty but polite farewell before scurrying out of the stable yard.

The young woman headed away towards the inn for the evening. Her stomach hungered for a decent meal, and she knew she'd have to figure out how to wash her jacket without suspicion, but overall she considered the day a success.

Renata hesitated, turning to look back towards the city gates. The sun was setting, darkening the treeline in a way that seemed almost ominous. She nodded in the direction of the wilderness; under her breath, she reassured the kelpie that she'd return to her with another meal in due time.

(Part 4 is here.)

#SSO #Star Stable Online #SSO fic #Renata Winterdawn #tbh ive been headcanoning that this entire interaction takes place in firfall-mistfall so i was stoked to see the news update

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frogsandfries · 6 years

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Chiweenie

I’m in loooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeee!!! 😍😍😍

I popped into a local, kind of hodge-podge petstore today, after my dad got me from a friend’s--he’s looking for a dog, but so am I. Also, I’ve been doing some research and chihuahuas have come up on my radar.

I wouldn’t say no to a chihuahua, if I came across one.

But today, I was eyeballing a chiweenie. And the petstore people, being the salespeople they are, let me spend time with her. And it was delightful. I was watching her in the display, with the other puppy and she would not leave it alone; it was kind of cute. I spent some seeeerrriioous time in the visitor box, really getting a feel for the puppy. She was more interested in the toy to begin, but then she decided she loved the color of the slippers I was wearing (honestly, I dressed for the afternoon; I did not anticipate that I would get stuck in town overnight; but it’s fine, at this point I can pretty well sleep anywhere and also, I trust the person I was technically being hosted by).

She didn’t seem to want to interact with me much, but she also hated when I would stand up or sit on the bench away from her. She kept crawling on my ankles and between my knees. Then she started chewing playfully on my fingers, the second baby to do that today. The biggest reason I ended the play session was that she kept stopping to like, cough/gag/wheeze???? And I was like, okay, time for a nap.

But oh my good goodness, $2400??? Most of the puppies at the other place, purebreds, at least the ones I asked about were like half that; plus, a quick google reveals that the dogs seem to average about a quarter of that!! I would say, if litters are small AND infrequent, or maybe if the sire is hard to get ahold of (???), then maaaayyyyyybbbbeeeeee this is a fair price. But idk it’s not like designer dogs are the novelty that they were several years ago (not in my realm), so I can’t particularly going to say you’re going to talk me into just dropping more than a thousand dollars for a puppy.

The other baby to chew on my fingers today was my friend’s husband’s nephew’s cat/kitten, since she’s only a few months old. But unlike the last kitten I hung out with who bit like she meant it, this kitten didn’t have to be told, like, owie, that hurts.

Like I said, I got semi-unexpectedly stuck in town with my friend, which is tooooottaallly fine with me. As long as it was okay with everyone else, I really don’t care. I needed time away, plus by eight o’clock yesterday evening, I’d been up about twenty-two hours, except for a brief nap in my van, while my dad worked on it. For me, that’s a long time to be awake. Most of the way I get through my life (working third shift) is naps. Two hours here, four hours there. But they had me getting ready to go at eleven, even though they didn’t end up getting there till one. We went to the ren-faire at like three, drank from like five till eight, when my friend’s cousin and husband took the baby home.

I semi-drunk messaged a friend telling him for like the millionth time how bad I want a baby. I wanna have a kid for a ton of reasons: I want to be a great parent. Intrinsically, I just need to be a better mother than my own mother (I know, not a high bar), but also without saying anything, I just want to feel like I’m raising a smarter, more creative, and more socially outgoing child than my friends, my sister, and myself. I want to raise a child who is a better person than I am.

Yes, I’m all about women loving each other and raising each other up. I want to support the people in my life who are mothers, as I would like to be supported as a mother. But I’m just kind of competitive at the back of my mind. Of course, I’m only competitive when I feel like I’m being a shitty human being. Then I’m competitive about being a better maker or more honest with myself or whatever.

Like, my friend was telling me, she noticed her kid would shut down when they yelled at her. So they stopped doing that. Then she started asking the kid why they behaved badly, and waiting for her kid to think about it, really think about it. That’s fucking beautiful, you guys. It’s so intelligent. We’re all so smart in our own way, but I get so wrapped up in my head, I forget like, not everyone has an expansive vocabulary and not everyone makes like there’s no tomorrow. Not everyone is as freaked out about making their mark like I am. Most people are literally taking life one day at a time.

Which is funny. Like, their gramma (pfft I have no idea who’s mother she is and who are actually the grandchildren, because the adults AND the children were calling her grandma) kept offering me, like, you wanna eat this, help yourself to food, you wanna watch my show with me, you wanna use the TV, and I’m just like........wow. People actually watch TV anymore? I literally turn the TV on and either start writing or sewing or sculpting. I never just sit in front of the TV. I can’t; never could.

I got up at like, six and went to the kitchen which got the best light and tried to embroider my tarot card quietly till everyone just got up. My system is aaaaaalllll fucked up from third shift (I know, I know, I keep saying that), so I know I sleep all weird, and I just generally personally don’t like when people bother me while I sleep, so I don’t bother people while they sleep). Unfortunately, I’m allergic to everything (just normal house dust, pollen, pet dander, normal household people dander; any kind of dust;everything), so I promptly started sneezing like crazy and blowing my nose. The big dude woke up and was like, how long you been up, you ready to go back. Since six, whenever you are. I’m....lol idk like, I just am this chill. There are a few things that get me going--school, anything to do with school and learning and education; dolls/anatomy--but for the most part, I might be okay having someone else make at least half of the minor decisions, what’s for dinner, where you gonna sleep, when do you wanna leave? Or if people are dithering, I’ll blurt out a decision on reflex, because you know if it’s the wrong decision, they’ll promptly disagree with you and make the right decision.

So a little later, I went to the bathroom again (pizza; only had one slice to be polite and tide me over) and when I came out, gramma was making breakfast. I thought she noticed me coming back from the bathroom, but when she turned around, it was as if I’d appeared out of nowhere. Can you imagine being a Mexican lady and knowing there’s only one white girl in your home and suddenly a second one appears out of nowhere? But I really thought she saw me. Assume nothing first thing in the morning, no matter how awake someone looks.

She fed me, and it was delicious n.n

Then later, I got tacos with Mexican steak n.n💖

Guys, I love home-cooked food. I miiiiisssssssss cooking for myself. That’s why I started working on the kitchen first. Today, I bought foam glue, so I’ll glue those pieces tomorrow while I shred the floor filling insulation strips. Help me remember that it takes two layers to fill the corrugation on my floor. I have to cut double what I think I’ll need, to fill the space.

Gramma kept saying, do you want this or that to eat, do you want something to drink. I always feel, like super-honored but also incredibly awkward when someone offers me food when I’m a guest. I get how expensive food can be and all that, and also, I kind of look like an eater. Really, I have such a hard time like, feeding myself, to be honest. I’m always either busy or distracted. I never really want to cook when I’m hungry, and I mean, so far, I’ve never really had the refrigerator space to keep all the food I Just Feel Like making, which I don’t want to eat right now.

(I mean, okay, is that weird, that there are just times when I get up and I’m like, I’m not even remotely hungry, I just feel like making this food. I’m not hungry now, but I know I will be; I’ll just eat this then. Then I eat like, a couple bites hours after I put it in the fridge and it’s cold.)

Yesterday, the big dude’s older kid told his dad “I’m not gonna have a kid as a teen cuz I know how to keep it in my pants!” which, I totally got a kick out of. At the same time, I secretly wanna give this kid like a thousand bucks if he reaches twenty and doesn’t have a kid. I wanna tell him he can totally do it, I believe in him.

But it was funny to listen to him complain about his dad trying to cuddle with him this morning. I get it; he’s a teen. He doesn’t need his weird dad glomming on him. I thought it was hilarious, like even if his dad is just making mischief (I think eventually his dad started trying to give him deadleg or something like that), at least his dad cares enough.

It was also funny; my phone died about eight, so I think about nine, the big dude (he’s a big dude; he kept acknowledging it, saying like, I don’t fit and stuff like that) dithered and finally said, well, why doesn’t she take a nap and I’ll take her when she gets up. I was like, as long as it’s okay, whatever, I’m cool. I’m too tired to fuss and even if I wasn’t, I still wouldn’t care; I just need sleep. I even said, like, I’ll sleep in the grass, I’ll sleep in the trampoline box, wherever, cuz I’ve spent the last seven months sleeping on the floor. It was honestly SO WEEEIIIIRRRRRDDD to sleep in a bed, and weirder because it was one of the kids’ bed, I think the younger. But it was in the room where people wouldn’t be playing video games and drinking till three in the morning.

I said to my friend, something along the lines of “how did I get to a place where sleeping on a bed is an occasion”.

I don’t think anyone I know is actually where they think they should be in their life, let alone where they dreamed they’d be. None of the people I know have parents who own where they live. Obviously, as a consequence, none of our parents (as far as I know) paid for college, or if they did, it wasn’t a natural “of course” thing. Which, for those of us who went, means the debt falls on us entirely. Of course, if you’re like me and having trouble finishing your degree in the first place, and then having additional trouble even establishing a residence and even more trouble establishing yourself in a job that you’re okay with because you don’t have your goals on straight, pffffffft, life just goes allll sorts of shitsideways.

But she’s right, you just have to hold your head up, and trust that things will get better. Believe it, then get off your ass and make it happen.

So I passed up what could’ve been my initial pot experience this weekend with my eyes on making shit happen tomorrow. There’s a ninety percent chance that we’ll have to do a urine test, which I always feel weird about doing with this one agency, since the first one I ever did for a job was Super Official (they sent me to do it at the hospital and the hospital had like, a special toilet just for drug testing where the water was blue and the water got turned off just by a switch the nurses flipped).

Anyway, the other thing is that I just bought my second solar panel for the van, but I still haven’t acquired my batteries. Which is tooooooottttaaaallllllllllllllllllyyyy fiiiiiiiiine. I still haven’t even finished the floor. And now, I’m dithering about HOW to finish the floor.

Obviously, step one: Cut the foam so that it will fit into the corrugation on the floor.

Step two: Cover with sheets of foam, providing a barrier between the metal and my living space.

Step three: Do I add the sheathing? Or just skip to the laminate? Do I skip the laminate and use veneer and some kind of polymer coating???? Bar resin???? PU?????

So here are my thoughts: I’m torn between using and skipping the sheathing as an extra stabilizer between the foam and the flooring.

But I wonder if using two layers of veneer wouldn’t serve the purpose? Like, one horizontal and one vertical?

Then, if it doesn’t work, maybe just lay down a layer of sheathing then? Or should I use the sheathing first, in case the veneer doesn’t work and I want to use the flooring? The veneer, with or without the sheathing will obviously be a whole lot lighter than the laminate.....And where I can cut weight means I could add a different kind of weight, or just not pay for unnecessary weight.

I need to go back for that baby.

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vgckwb · 3 years

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P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 44: A Match Maid in Heaven

The next day at school, Ren was walking around when she overheard Ryuji. “Yo! Mishima!” Ryuji walked up to Mishima as Mishima turned around. Ren snuck up to watch. “So, uh, listen….” Ryuji seemed a little hesitant. He grabbed a flyer out of his pocket. “I, uh, found this, and I wanted to give it a try, but like, you're the only person I can sort of trust with this, OK?”

Ren was confused. Morgana, who had popped out to see what was going on, was also confused. Neither were more confused than Mishima though. He grabbed the flyer. “‘Maid servi-’”

“Shhhhhh” Ryuji hushed. “Not so loud, OK?” Mishima indeed. “So, like, yeah. Maybe we could use their services, ya know?”

Mishima looked at the flyer again. “I dunno.” He paused. “Hold on. ‘Will do anything you ask’? I need to investigate if that’s true. I’m in.”

“Alright! Now that’s what I’m talking about” Ryuji said.

“Please” Mishima said, trying to uphold his pride, but fooling no one. “I’m doing this for justice.”

“Suuuuuuure” Ryuji taunted. “So, meet me at my place, tonight.”

“Um, I don’t know where you live,” Mishima responded.

“Oh, right, uh, just meet on Central Street then” Ryuji countered.

“Um, why are you asking me?” Mishima said. “I don’t think we know each other all too well…”

“Well, uhhhh” Ryuji stammered. The truth was rather complicated. Ryuji didn’t have the track team as friends anymore. And out of the men in the Phantom Thieves, one was a cat, one was a child, and one seemed disinterested in this sort of thing, and was still basically trapped with their abuser, even if they were slowly having their heart changed.

He did have a lady friend who might be interested in Ryuji’s endgame, but he wasn’t about to out his friend to some random maid. So, instead of explaining all of that, Ryuji answered “I think this would be a good chance to get to know each other. Since you know my secret and all.”

Mishima’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Is this a mission for… well, ya know…”

“I guess you could say that...” Ryuji said, rubbing his back. He was still sort of sore from stealing Madarame’s treasure yesterday, so at the very least he was hoping for a massage.

“ALRIGHT!” Mishima said. “Let's go! Tonight it is!”

“Uhh, yeah…” Ryuji said, surprised by Mishima’s mood swing. Mishima nodded and walked off. Ryuji walked off in a different direction.

“Well, that was something,” Ren said.

“Maybe we should tail them…” Morgana suggested. “Just in case.”

“Oh please, what could go wrong?” Ren said. Morgana gave her a look. “Yeah, you’re right, we should follow them.” She continued on her way

After one of her jobs, she headed down to Central Street to see if Ryuji and Mishima had the courage of their convictions. Sure enough, they did. “Alright” Mishima cheered. “For JUSTICE!”

“...You can drop the act…” Ryuji said, annoyed.

“What act? I’m here to prove the justice of this maid service” Mishima pushed back.

Ryuji decided not to fight it. Ren, from a distance, couldn’t help but snicker. “Anyways, follow me,” Ryuji said. He and Mishima started walking, with Ren following them while keeping her distance. They made it to an apartment building.

“So, what’s the game plan here?” Mishima asked.

“Well, my neighbor is out of town,” Ryuji began, “and they asked me to bring in their mail and feed their fish, so I was thinking we could use that place.”

“Oh, I get it,” Mishima said. “It’s to hide our identity.”

“Uh, yeah” Ryuji said. In reality, his mom was also home, and he didn’t wish to disturb her. Ryuji unlocked the door, and they went in.

Ren decided to stick outside, but with a view of the door. “I’ll give it about an hour, and if nothing happens, I think we’re good.”

“Sounds fair,” Morgana said. The two waited patiently.

About a half hour later, they heard a knock. They peered around the corner. The maid had showed up. “Hello?” they said. “You request me?”

Ren’s heart was racing. What was Ryuji and Mishima’s plan here? Were they actually going to go all the way with this maid? Ryuji…

Instead, the opposite happened. The maid stood outside the door for about five minutes with no answer. Ren was relieved, but the maid was annoyed. She sighed. “Figures. I knew it had to be a prank.”

The maid was leaving when a thought occurred to Ren. Wait, I know that annoyed tone anywhere. Against her better judgment, she called out “Ms. Kawakami?”

The maid turned around to see her student, the one with a record no less, as a maid. “What, no,” Kawakami said. “I’m, I’m Becky! Meow!” Both of them were embarrassed, and neither of them were buying it. Kawakami groaned. “Why me?”

“So, what’s all this?” Ren asked. Kawakami groaned some more. “Um, if that’s alright with you.”

Kawakami looked up. “First, I’d like to know why you’re calling a maid service.”

“Well, I didn’t…” Ren said, slightly nervously. Wow, she goes into teacher mode on a dime. “I overheard Ryuji and Mishima saying they were, and I decided to follow them to make sure nothing too off-kilter happened.”

Kawakami looked at her. “Yeah, that tracks,” she said. “So, I’m assuming they’re in there.”

“Yeah,” Ren said.

Kawakami sighed. “I guess you get something out of me then. I do this stuff part time, and no one, I repeat, NO ONE at school knows about this. So please. Not a word to anyone.” Ren nodded. “Good.” She sighed again, “Of course something like this would happen.” She walked out. Ren followed a minute or two after that.

Soon after Ren left, Ryuji and Mishima opened the door. “...Is the maid gone yet?” Ryuji asked.

They investigated. “All clear,” Mishima said.

Ryuji sighed. “Man, there were SO many things I didn’t think of…”

The next day, after school, Ren was wandering the halls. “I wonder why Ms. Kawakami does that sort of thing” Morgana wondered.

“Well, it’s not really our place to judge,” Ren answered.

“True,” Morgana said. “I guess people have their reasons.” They overheard something. “What’s that?” Morgana asked.

Ren shushed him with her finger and went to investigate. Another teacher was scolding Ms. Kawakami on her abilities as a teacher, and why she kept missing meetings and stuff. Ren, being Ren, had to jump in. “Um, Ms. Kawakami? I have a question about some of the assignments.”

The teachers looked at Ren. “‘Question’?”

“Uh, yeah” Kawakami said, not missing a beat. “Amamiya has been asking me questions practically every day non-stop. She did transfer here you know, so it’s a new experience for both of us. I never imagined having such an involved student, with such in-depth questions.”

“Huh,” the other teacher said. “You know, I take back what I said. You are a good teacher.” They walked off.

Kawakami sighed. “That was too close.” She looked at Ren. “You know, I gotta thank you. Usually, it takes a while before Ms. Chouno finishes chewing me out… Although I suppose you only came to my aid because of...well…” Ren couldn’t deny that wasn’t it. Although it probably wouldn’t seem odd without that context. “Ugh…”

Ren tried to comfort her. “It’s OK…”

Kawakami looked at her student. She sighed. “Listen, you seem like an OK kid. So, I’m willing to help you,” Ren looked up, “IF you help me.” Kawakami fished out a business card. “That’s my number for my…’associate’ Becky. If you utilize the services, then I’ll help you out by letting you slack off a little in class.” Ren was confused for a second, but nodded. “Oh, and don’t go using your cell phone to call. You’re still in high school. If you get caught repeatedly using these services, it will not look good.”

“I understand,” Ren said.

Kawakami looked at her. She wanted to believe her, but still had a few preconceived notions about her and her arrest record. “You better.” They nodded at each other, and headed off.

“Boy that was a lot,” Morgana said.

“You know, if she sees me talking to you, that might give her more cause for concern” Ren sniped.

“Well… I mean, at least she’s willing to trust you on this” Morgana added.

“True” Ren nodded. She hurried off to a part-time job, still a bit anxious about this whole thing.

Later that evening, she entered back into Leblanc. Sojiro had gone home already. Ren looked at the payphone that was there for whatever reason. “I guess this could work.” She took out the card, picked up the phone and dialed the number.

“Hello?” said the voice on the other side.

Probably some manager. “Um, I’m looking for Becky?”

“Hang on,” they said.

A moment later, Kawakami answered. “Hello~ This is Becky~ Meow~”

“Meow~” Ren answered.

Kawakami sighed. “I should have known it was you. ...But thanks. I’ll be right over! Well, as soon as I get some directions.” Ren gave her the address, and Kawakami came over.

Once Kawakami arrived, she looked around. “You live in a restaurant?”

“Well, I live upstairs,” Ren explained. “Although I’ve been told it’s not much better.”

“Well, no matter where you live, I can help~” Kawakami said. She sighed again. They headed upstairs. Kawakami took a look around. “Well, I’ll say it's better than I expected… but it could use some touching up. That’s why I’m here!” Kawakami cleaned up for a bit.

After some cleaning, Kawaki sat down. Ren sat next to her. “You wanna drink or something?”

Kawakami looked at her. “Water would be nice.” Ren nodded. She went downstairs to get the both of them a glass of water. After a few sips, Kawaki said “AH! That hit the spot.”

Ren looked at her room. She smiled. “Thanks for cleaning up a bit.”

“Well, I’ve gotta admit, you keep this place looking alright, so I didn’t need to do much,” Kawakami said. She sighed.

Ren turned her full attention to her. “Are you OK?” she asked.

“Well…” Kawakami began. “It’s hard to say. It’s nice that I’m getting this gig, but it came about through, shall we say, less than ideal circumstances.” Ren rolled her eyes at that understatement. “However, it’s nice to have someone request me. Usually I’m sidelined due to my age. However, I still think I’ve got it! Do you?”

Ren looked her over. “Do you really think you should be asking a student that?”

“Yeah, that...yeah,” Kawakami floundered.

Ren changed the subject. “So, did Ryuji ask for you last night?”

Kawakami shook her head. “He just asked for ‘anyone’ and I fell under that.”

“I see…” Ren said. Kawakami sighed. “If there’s any other way I can help…”

“No, this is fine,” Kawakami said. “I just hate dragging my students into my messes.”

“Well, we had a deal, right?” Ren reminded her. “I’ll call upon your services, and you allow me time to slack off in class.”

Kawakami smiled. “Right.”

“But, why IS that my end of the bargain?” Ren asked.

“Well…” Kawakami said. “Due to your circumstances, and the whole Kamoshida thing, I figured you could just use some breathing room.”

“I see,” Ren said.

“If there’s anything else you want…” Kawakami bgan.

Ren smiled. “No, I’ll accept that.” Kawakami was relieved. “But I do have another question.” Kawakami was a bit worried. “Did you know? About Mr. Kamoshida?”

Kawakami averted her glance. “Well, sort of… Bits and pieces anyway When I went to the principal with what I knew, he said everything was under control.”

“I see…” Ren said.

“And, well,” Kawakami continued, shocking Ren, “if I’m being completely honest, part of me didn’t want to believe it.” Ren was shocked further. “Before all of that came out, he and I actually had a really good rapport. And, well, I sort of had a thing for him.”

“Oh” Ren said, trying to process what that was.

“Between that, and the principal saying it was alright, and other things on my plate, I kind of felt like it was fine,” Kawakami explained. “Ugh, I feel awful that I let that happen to my students. I must be the worst teacher ever.”

Ren placed her arm around her. “We both know that’s not true. The worst teacher ever got arrested last month.”

Kawakami cheered up a little. “I guess that’s true.” She sighed some more. “Ya know, before he confessed, he reminded me a lot of my high school boyfriend. That's part of the reason I liked him.”

Ren thought now would be a good time to lighten the mood a little. “But then he became very much unlike your high school boyfriend?”

“No,” Kawakami answered. “He became too much like him.”

“Oh” Ren said, horrified.

“God, why do all the men I like turn out to be so awful?” Kawakami lamented.

Ren wanted to cheer her up. “I’m sure you’ll find someone.”

Kawakami looked at her sternly. “Easy for you to say, I bet none of the boys you like are as bad as Kamoshida.”

“Well, technically you’re correct…” Ren said, nervously.

Kawakami sighed once more. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

“It’s fine,” Ren said.

Kawakami chuckled. “You know, this was a lot better than I thought it would be. I might enjoy it when you give me a call. Which, you will, right?”

“Of course,” Ren said. “I had fun too.”

“Hm,” Kawakami said. She stood up, gave a courtesy, and said “Thank you for using our services~ ...Sorry. They make us do that.”

Ren chuckled. “It’s fine.”

“Well then, until next time, thank you,” Kawakami said.

I am thou... Thou art I… Thou hast acquired a new vow...

It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Temperance Persona I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.

Temperance-Sadayo Kawakami: Rank 1

Kawakami left, and Ren and Morgana soon went to bed.

#persona 5 #persona fanfiction #persona 5 royal #p5r #p5 femc #p5r rework #p5 rework #p5 #FeMC #female ren #ren amamiya #morgana #Ryuji Sakamoto #mishima #sadayo kawakami

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icewraiths · 7 years

Text

Offering

(Part 2 of this.)

Renata's eyes opened, and she bolted awake long before her alarm was due to sound. Her room at the inn was still dark with the bluish cast of pre-dawn. She checked the time on her phone--it was half till five in the morning. Squinting around from the contrast of her phone's screen, she cast the blankets off herself and padded out of bed.

Her body was sore and her sleep had been restless; her dreams had been stirred with images of fanged horses and shape-changing beings made of water. The events of the previous day came back to her in a rush--she hurried to dress and ready herself so she could stop by the local butcher as soon as the doors opened.

Ren purchased a hearty breakfast on her way out of the inn and wolfed it down with haste. She shouldered her belongings, ever thankful that she always traveled light, and made for the town's butcher.

The shop was blessedly open as early as five in the summer, likely so customers could stop by in the mornings to avoid the heat of the day.

She was the only visitor in the shop at this hour. The man working the counter gave her an odd look when she ordered an entire rack of prime rib to herself, but fulfilled her order nonetheless. Ren left the shop about seven kilograms heavier with meat, albeit with sufficiently fewer shillings.

Afterwards, she lugged her haul over to the stables to pick out another mount to rent. She was greeted by one of the same barn hands from the previous day. The tired-eyed lass took one look at the packs Ren was carrying and suggested she ride one of their North Swedish horses.

Renata took the girl's advice--she would need a sturdier mount to pack everything out for the day. She stood around in the center aisleway, recognizing the bay Standardbred from yesterday and giving his nose a pat as she waited for the girl to fetch one of the North Swedes. The lass eventually brought forth a stout looking mare with a hide darker than a moonless night, and Renata voiced her approval.

Today, Ren allowed the stable hand to help her tack up and secure her packs. She made light conversation this time, but still remained vague about exactly where she was headed. She also remembered to request a spare halter, stating that she'd like to tie the horse to graze since she planned to eat lunch while out on the trail. The girl nodded, lending her a halter and lead and layering it on under the bridle as she tacked the mare up.

Thankfully, it was still early morning when Ren led the mare out to the blocks. This horse, while sturdier, would travel at a slower pace, and Renata wanted to reach the kelpie's lake well before dark. She mounted up, double checking the security of her saddlebags, and then cued the mare into a steady walk.

They left town just as the sun was beginning to rise; the morning chill stung at Renata's skin, and steam curled from the mare's muzzle.

The roads seemed longer at the Swedish mare's slower pace, but the horse was dependable and well-trained, so Ren felt she couldn't complain. Still, they reached the trailhead to the lake at roughly the same time as the day prior.

The girl opted to leave her horse tethered somewhere well away from the banks this time, rather than riding all the way down to the lakeside as she'd done with the bay. She found a small meadow, just off the trail and a decent distance uphill from the water itself. Dismounting, Ren removed the dark mare's bridle, noting that the halter underneath was one of the cleverly designed breakaway types.

Good, she thought. That meant the mare could pull free to escape if needed, and Ren figured such a contingency should be planned for in case the kelpie rejected her offering.

The mare reached her head down to graze almost immediately, stubbornly chomping up mouthfuls of grass at a time. Ren simply looped the lead around the branches of a nearby shrub--the mare seemed content to snack here, and she wasn't too terribly worried about her wandering far from such an abundant source of food.

Fetching the packaged rack of meat from its secured spot behind the saddle, Ren started off down the trail alone towards the lake.

The cut had been sealed securely in typical fashion to prevent blood from leaking, and then bundled neatly in a thick burlap sack. Ren removed it, discarding the packaging into the burlap and noting that this was a particularly bloody cut of meat. Some of it stained the sleeves of her jacket; she cringed, knowing that the stains would be difficult to explain to the people back in town when she returned.

If she ever returned, that was.

Renata pondered her morbid fascination with the occult as she made her way down to the water. It had predated her discovering the gift of visions, although it had certainly grown stronger since. Last Hallow's Eve, she had camped out with a group of girls her age in the Hollow Woods trying to spot a glimpse of the infamous Galloper Thompson. All of the others had been there on a dare; they chattered nervously amongst each other, and some were plainly skeptical. Ren had been there of her own volition, and eventually, she broke away from the rest to hide among the twisted roots of a great tree. While she actually did encounter the headless specter on his hellish mount, she kept the sighting to herself, since she knew no one would ever believe her.

It was likely that nobody would believe her if she tried to explain the source of these local disappearances, as well. She was more than content to keep the secret of the kelpie all to herself.

She looked up from her thoughts, having reached the area where the trail met the banks of the lake. The smothering fog that had permeated the vicinity yesterday was long gone, and visibility was blessedly clear. This immediately made Renata feel more at ease.

She left the burlap bag and the discarded wrappings near the edge of the trail. Scanning the shoreline, she didn't immediately spot the kelpie, but when she did, she stopped walking. Her feet felt leaden; she was unable to move.

The fae was grazing, her face nearly submerged to her eyes, on some kind of aquatic plant a fair distance away from where Ren had seen her last. Sunlight shone on the silver of her hide; it seemed to ripple like the water itself when the kelpie moved.

Ren looked down at the bloody hunk of meat in her arms and willed herself to walk forward again. This was surely enough of an offering to pacify the brook horse, right?

Even though she was yet a long distance away, the kelpie spotted Renata making towards the water, and her head went up. Her ears pricked, and she whinnied again--it was still that same high, haunting key, and it made Ren shudder.

The fae leapt into a gallop. Despite being almost to her knee in water, she seemed to move through it effortlessly, slicing through it like a sportfish on the open sea. She crossed a vast amount of space in eerily little time; Ren had barely made it five paces, and the kelpie was already almost to her. She trotted up out of the water with springy steps, stopping just before the girl and staring at her, head canted, with a pale bluish eye.

Renata offered the ribs to her. Her hands shook violently, and inwardly, she prayed to Aideen that her fear would not offend the brook mare.

The kelpie stretched her neck out, just barely touching her muzzle to the butchered meat.

Renata held perfectly still for a long moment, smelling blood and hearing the ebb of the lake and watching water seep from the kelpie’s mane in endless rivulets.

The girl considered placing the meat on the ground--her arms were growing tired from carrying the weight, after all--but then, the brook horse lunged, and Renata barely stifled a scream.

(Part 3 is here.)

#SSO #Star Stable Online #SSO fic #Renata Winterdawn #sorry about the sort-of cliffhanger #rest in rip Ren

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