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siriannatan · 1 year

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A random thing

I was going through my files and found a couple of very similar fics so I mashed them together and finished that and here is the result...

AO3

(I might be considering posting the whole thing at once...)

In the past several hundred years he's lived Scott has never regretted something as much as going on a two years long self-imposed exile leaving Rivendell to his recently no longer possessed by evil demon older brother. It just made sense, Xornoth was the older one and Scott ruled for so long and needed to practice his ice magic now that it got a lot stronger with gods blessings and all that... Apparently, Xornoth hated ruling enough to just run away leaving the place to the council. The council saw fit to not tell anyone about there being no king on the elven throne. They actively hid that little piece of information.

And they had the audacity to try and kill him when he arrived to check up on things and maybe offer some advice. Being tired of them even before he left he did the most logical thing and froze them and left the resulting statues in his front garden. A little warning if anyone annoyed him. His decision was shockingly popular among the elven populace. Or maybe they were just happy to have stability?

Eh. Not that anyone could complain seeing that the Lord Emperor's crown was currently fWhip's and he was known for hanging his councils. And creepy head displays his dragon brain apparently craved. Scott was not too shocked the damned crown moved from Katherine to fWhip. Just that there wasn't a big war about it, just a simple duel. At least according to what he heard from Katherine herself when making rounds to re-establish himself as a ruler. Leaving fWhip for the last visit just... because of preferences. And history.

What shocked him much more was finding the Cod Empire deserted. Logically he went to see if maybe Lizzie knew where he could find Jimmy. She had no idea. Jimmy just one day said he and his empire would be hiding for a bit in the deepest caves under the swamp, with passages too narrow and complicated for any of the Ocean Empire's merfolk. She grumbled something about cod gods being weird and Scott was on his way to visit the last person he ever wanted to see - Lord Emperor, Count of Grimlands, fWhip.

Grimlands has not changed at all in the past two years. Dark roofs and walls. Citizens were too busy with whatever it was they were doing to pay much attention to a winged elf dressed in blue white and gold. He luckily found a guard that somewhat reluctantly led him to fWhip's town office. And even more, reluctantly left him alone with the count when ordered to leave with a snappy command from behind the door. With a heavy sigh, Scott walked in.

fWhip didn't change much. The Lord's crown was awkwardly askew on his head due to his horns. His wings grew a bit since they spontaneously sprouted out after the ender dragon was defeated. His jacket was carelessly tossed over a couch in a corner. And the redhead himself was pouring over a thick stack of papers. Luckily for Scott, he seemed too busy to keep Scott for all that long. He looked quite tired when he looked up at Scott.

He could not miss fWhip's famous crossbow mounted over the fireplace and the thin layer of dust on it. Or a table of half-finished contraptions and weirdly orderly organised tools. He remembered from visiting fWhip's workshop it was not an organised space. More of an organised mess where no one but fWhip knew what was where. Why did he even have his tinkering stuff in the office if he had a workshop?

"Oh... You're back... Is your brother still in charge or are..." fWhip asked flipping through some of the piles of paper on his desk. Scott guessed he did his best to not show how glad he was to have a break from all the papers.

"I am, since Xor ran away to Joey's and left the council in charge, they kept that a secret, of course," Scott explained the situation. "I froze them since they tried to kill me."

fWhip nodded, briefly glancing at the pile of papers. "I'm going to assume it was longer than at most two days ago?" he asked and Scott nodded. "I... I apologise I was rather busy lately. Being Lord Emperor comes with..."

"I know, I wore that crown once," Scott stopped him. A bit colder than he intended but he did just find out his best ally - friend if he dares to say - was hiding in a cavern for some Cod-Cult reasons. And he did wear the thing some two hundred years ago. And never wanted to repeat that... "I hope you heard about the Cod Empire pretty much vanishing?"

"Yes. Jimmy sent me a letter. Something about tradition and religion," fWhip sighed. It was clear that Lizzie already bothered him about it, and a lot too. "I'm sure he'll be back eventually, maybe even soon, he has been gone almost as long as you were, after all," he added as if it wasn't big news. He probably assumed Scott already knew.

It took all of Scott's self-control to not ask more questions. Worry and almost fear washed over him all at once. Did Jimmy do something dumb because he left? Maybe it was just some cod tradition and had nothing to do with Scott? Maybe Jimmy didn't want to worry him? Could he have been hoping to be done before Scott was back? Could be...

"I'll be going home now, I took enough of your time, Lord Emperor," Scott would be the first to say it was a bit stiff but his relationship with fWhip was nothing if not stiff, cold and awkward.

fWhip did not even try to keep him and soon Scott was on his way back home. He skipped visiting Joey and Xornoth for now. He was tired and had a country to run. A country his brother all but abandoned for a second time and Scott needed to get back in order after nearly two years of advisors and council members backstabbing each other and everyone else.

It was weird to be in Rivendell Castle and not have the council and advisors nagging him. It also meant he had to do some more work on his own. He slightly regretted sending maids to gather all the paperwork from his advisors and councilmen while he was out. It meant, once he had his afternoon tea and dainty cakes, Katherine was nice enough to invite him in for lunch, and he had no excuse to not start working. At least a lot of it was just looking over paperwork and deciding what he needed to keep and what could be used to warm his castle.

Big chunk was just back-and-forth letters between the now garden statues. Some would need him to talk to other rulers and people in town. Yet others were nonsense ideas he could just toss away and burn. There was still a big chunk that needed his seal and signature to be ratified or cancelled and brought to how it used to be. Some just put away n proper spots in the archive. In short, he was faced with several piles of documents, letters and other paperwork he needed to look through. He was never this glad to fully control the new levels of ice magic Aeor blessed/ cursed him with than when the maids kept warm tea and snacks coming and tended the fire.

It was several hours into the night and only two out of five paper stacks later that he decided it was not worth losing sleep over and requested for a bath and his bed to be readied. He'd at least get the bed himself but he was tired from the trip back, and all the visits he had to make. It was just not an option today. And he still had to preen his wings even if he could hide them with magic, only perk of being a god's chosen champion and having boosted magic. He really wished Jimmy wasn't in some damp cave at the moment. Scott would not mind getting Jimmy's help with preening... Maybe fWhip... No. He was damn busy with even more stuff than Scott ever was as Lord Emperor.

The next morning gave Scott a lot more energy to work. Having couple of years of a break in being a ruler, for the first time in the five hundred years he's lived. Even a pile of fresh mail did not deter him from looking forward to having a productive day. At least until he started opening it while waiting for breakfast. The maids forbade him from cooking.

His enthusiasm dropped as he looked through the letters. He had a week, only one week, not even a full week, just five days until the rulers meeting at Grimlands. Then there was a whole bunch inquiries about trade routes he already looked through or was about to today. And... The mage's tower said that through the past two years since Demon Xornoth was defeated and by extension Exor, elves started showing signs of magic. Apparently, the advisors and council ignored that fact. Scott wondered if it was because of the Cliffs. Gem would not like him having a magic school. Even if elven magic was very different from other races.

It used to be all elves had magic. Until about a hundred years before Scott was born that is. No one knew why but Scott, and the few remaining elven mages in the tower, theorised it was because of Exor. Not all elves were talented mages of great powers but still could use simple spells. Gem would hate it so much but Scott needed his citizens to be safe with this new power and would not send them to Gem. She had no idea, with all due respect, how elven magic works.

"Maybe I can get to fWhip before she finds out?" he wondered as breakfast was served for him. "I could explain it..."

"Sir? Your brother and Emperor Joey came for a visit?" a guard broke him from his thoughts over a jam-filled puff pastry. Scott was the Elven King and could have dessert for breakfast if he so desired.

Scott sighed. Of course, they already found out he was back. "Let them in," he shrugged. He might have been a bit cross with his brother but he'd not just send him away. He was still his brother no matter how upset Scott was. And he gave him a proper pretext to freeze his council and advisors.

"Just got back and already redecorating?"

Scott barely looked up from his letters and food as he heard his brother's voice. "That's the council and advisors, they tried killing me," he said as if he was talking about the weather. Which, speaking of it was nice and pleasant day, perfect for another flight to the Grimlands. "Sorry I didn't visit yesterday, they left a big mess behind," he sighed just realising something. "Mia?" he called one of the maids.

"Oh... Sorry about that..." Xornoth muttered hiding behind Joey. "They kind of freaked me out and... I'm not a good ruler..."

"Obviously," Scott nodded as a maid came in with a polite 'yes sir?' "I'll be visiting lord emperor to talk about one thing, I'd like the last two years brought from the archives for review. And if there is a time I'd appreciate if all of those and the other remaining paperwork could be segregated by type and date, I think it might make dealing with it easier. And maybe any old laws about magic and anything that was added after it vanished? But that's low priority," he listed out all the things he could think of to make his life easier. "Get as many hands as you can, we need all the papers in order before the meeting," he waved the letter with fWhip's seal.

"We'll get to it as soon as we can," the maid bowed and left to inform fWhip he'd be having a guest.

"Back not even a day and already working so hard?" Joey cringed with a sigh.

"As I said, the advisors made a big mess, the faster I have it under control the better," Scott shrugged.

Joey and Xornoth didn't stay long, they stopped on their way to discuss something with Sausage and Scott was glad for that. It gave him some time to get presentable to visit fWhip and gather all the thoughts on the matter he needed to talk about. He just hoped fWhip would listen to him. And that no one else was visiting him this early into the day. Like his sister for example...

Once he has eaten and was presentable enough Scott flew off towards Grimlands taking in the freedom of not having to have to tell any councils or advisors where he was going, why, and for how long. It felt nice. Maybe he wouldn't need a break as badly as he did if it was always like that. fWhip had a good idea of getting rid of his council.

All the relaxation from the flight was gone as soon as he landed. He wasn't here for fun but to talk about important things. And this time guards were a lot less hostile, almost instantly leading him to fWhip's office. The power of sending a warning letter? Or... Gem already knew and bothered fWhip about it? That could be bad... All his worries got pushed back a bit when he saw fWhip. The count looked very tired, with even messier hair and clothes more crinkled than the last day. Yawning widely as he drank something Scott doubted was tea. "Hello Scott, you got here fast..."

"I... I think I might have missed your message," Scott chuckled awkwardly as he took a seat. Gem certainly already noticed something. "I was coming over anyway to talk about an important thing happening at Rivendell."

"How about you go first? In case it's the same thing?" fWhip offered leaning back. Scott caught a slight glance towards a clock above the door. The tinkering table was, as far as Scott could tell, just as dusty as it was yesterday. If he was honest... it seemed like fWhip himself didn't really leave his chair.

"Well... In the past six hundred years no elf was born with magic and now all the elves in Rivendell are slowly getting magic. Both I and the few mages we still have, think it had to do with Exor being defeated and all that," Scott had no reason to hide anything. "The thing about elves and magic is," he continued as fWhip remained silent. "It's different than with humans. Most elves have very little magic, just enough for some lights and sparkles, not all elves have a lot of talent... I'm worried how Gem might react."

"Elves won't be too eager to train at the Cliffs, not that they can fit every elf ever..." fWhip muttered.

"And elven magic is different from human magic as we saw with Gem trying to train me," Scott quickly added. It would seem that fWhip was leaning toward his side. "We have few mages still alive, elves live a long time, they can teach the populace how to control it and pick out anyone with a talent and help them further...."

"But Gem won't like you basically having a magic school..." fWhip sighed. "I must say, your idea is much better... Especially since... When do even young elves develop magic?"

"Some as young as barely two are already showing signs and my mages are secretly teaching their parents how to cope. The council was sweeping it all under a rug... Why I had to go to Gem with my magic problems, they would not allow me to meet the mages. Law stuff to keep them safe," Scott said, pulling out a copy of the mages report. "All we know is here. And I'm willing to modify any laws to do with magic..."

"That's good. And if we mention children, as much as I hate doing that, we might have Katherine and maybe even Pearl on our side, this will need a discussion at the meeting, Gem will not have it any other way," fWhip nodded, noting something furiously. "Honestly, this is great, Lizzie and Gem have been fighting about mages for ages..." he sighed. "You just might have given me a solution," he gave Scott a tired grin.

"Sure, it's important for me too so..." Scott fumbled a bit. He was used to fWhip's mischievous smirks, not tired smiles. "I... I should probably go back to cleaning up the mess I came to... let you rest a bit."

fWhip chuckled a bit sadly. "Yeah, rest, sure, will do that," he nodded but instantly came back to work.

Scott hated to just leave while fWhip was overworking himself but he himself was guilty of doing exactly the same, for like three hundred years too. So he'd be a hypocrite if he did. He wasn't Jimmy, he was no good at helping others or even caring for himself, not without maids... Or Jimmy... He missed him a lot more than he thought...

The flight back and cool, mountain air helped him calm down before he dove back into the even bigger now mountain of papers. There were so many he had to move to what used to be the council meeting room to have it all there and available. While working on all that he also started quiet preparations for 'magic school'. Nothing Gem would notice but enough to not waste time and fWhip was apparently taking his side.

It took him pretty much all the time he still had to finish with all the paperwork, and there was nothing new from fWhip, but he managed to have an early evening the night before the rulers meet. He was slightly sad there was still no news on Cod Empire or Jimmy. Well... at least Scott was immortal meaning he had all the time in the world to wait...

#my stuff #my stories #fanfiction #empires smp #empiresshipping #empires fwhip #empires scott #empires jimmy

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roxyandelsewhere · 8 months

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hi hello!

i saw the tags you put in the post abt small Earth-centric moments that u reblogged from me. you must have seen my tags abt mice! thank u for reading those, i find small enjoyment in the fact that some people seem to read my lil brain rambles.

i then found a pdf of john berger’s why look at animals online and read it. dude…. Dude……. that’s some impactful stuff. thank you so much for bringing that to my life. my god, it will be stamped on my brain forever. (also, knowing that Descartes was part of that separating humans from animals gives me one more reason to add to the pile in my brain labeled “reasons why i’d like to time travel and kick Descartes squarely in the balls”)

here’s an extra lil thought morsel: i went to college in the US for a total of three years (during which i transferred twice for a total of three universities) before quitting mid-pandemic to work full time. i never figured out what i wanted to “do” with my life (ie: which job i would actually like to do forever). i worked in the food industry, the veterinary industry, and commercial retail™️ for two and a half years following that. and then… i snapped. thankfully, through some crazy random stroke of cosmic luck, i also found my partner on a dating app during that period who will probably be with me for life. through him, i had the financial support to just *quit.* i walked out of my commercial retail job sobbing with a limp from a still-not-healed ankle that i sprained at that job two months prior, feeling stunned but 20x lighter.

I now work part time for a lovely small business in my city that’s owned by a woman who is very mental-health conscious and works with me to keep me “okay” and now— ONLY now— have i started to realize how damaging capitalism and “”the grind”” lifestyle were to my spirit and body. i still have to wrap that damaged ankle and rest it a lot. but now i sit outside for hours at a time and try to remember what it feels like to be part of something. and every time i’m in traffic or in a big-box retail store and i see the weariness and irritability of people around me i remind myself of the spirits in them and lives they live outside me. when you spend every hour of your waking day working in (usually pointless) hope that maybe you’ll have enough money this week to stow some away after your rent and bills and food and soap that you need to survive that month so that you can maybe stop doing this and rest, it’s not just animals and native vegetation that fade to noise in the background. it’s everyone else but you.

i’m incredibly grateful that i have the privilege to slow down now. i highly recommend, if you are able to do this, to find time in the day when the sun is still out to sit outdoors and watch. eventually, animals start scurrying around after they realize you’re not going to move around in their habitats and hunting grounds— even in the limited grassy spaces of the decrepit apartment complex i could afford, this is true. sometimes a stray cat even prowls out! and internet individual, lemme tell you, there are few better feelings than locking eyes with a scraggly cat and knowing it’s your equal in ways neither of you will ever really understand, and knowing it will walk past you and into the brush to have things happen to it, to encounter perhaps more people and animals that day. maybe it’ll bump into the same pair of doves who come to peck at the sunflower seeds you leave out on your balcony (i sure hope not. they seem like nice doves). maybe it’ll even find a sun spot that’s safe enough to bask in for a bit and take a nice nap.

i don’t know if i really have a point here beyond an attempt to reach out and know i’m sharing that feeling of crying over the horrors of mouse traps. because sometimes, you tell another person how you spontaneously cried over mousetraps— over the feeling of being scared, of just wanting food for that day or maybe bringing home something to your family who are so hungry too— and finding yourself trapped in a box or hurt or *much* worse. sometimes you tell a person about this and how much pain it brings to you that we as humans just DO that to mice, thoughtlessly, all the time, and they scoff. to them they’re just mice and the separation is never bridged.

this was real sappy. i’m a real sap. hopefully, you appreciate sappiness. if not you can delete this. I hope you’re doing alright either way.

sincerely,

abs

hello. this is such a beautiful message, thank you for taking the time to send it <33 I'm so glad to hear you did read Why look at animals? and that you liked it, and honestly when I read the rest of this part of me was thinking "hell yeah that's the john berger effect". I'm so happy to hear you're in a better place in your life now and you're so right. capitalism is a prison and in some way or another we all have to live in it [that one ursula k le guin quote playing in the distance] but The Grind is antithetical to what you could call human nature in the sense of observation and appreciation of the world around us and you realize so much about life once you look outside the very narrow idea of existence the grindset bubble provides. your message did have a point, you reached out and I'm reaching back and we're all here reaching for the same thing. it's sappy, yes, but sappiness is part of it <3 I hope you're having a good day today

#this is so nice and sweet thank you for reaching out after reading that!!!#on all levels except physical we're holding hands and looking out the window #carolina got mail #crowbiotic #also sorry it took be a while to reply i wasn't ignoring this!!!#i feel like my reply doesn't do justice to all that you said but you kind of said it all

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wiltingdecay · 2 years

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For uncommon asks: 32, and B from the creator questions!

uncommon questions for ocs and their creators

32. Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke?

Post-resurrection/during the events of the game, not really. Obviously during this time, Rowan doesn't exactly have much life experience to draw stories from, and they're generally not a very good conversationalist. They usually rely on others to start and keep a conversation going, as they don't feel like they have much to add, plus they genuinely really enjoy listening to other people talk. That's not to say they have nothing, though; if they're comfortable enough they can usually fill small talk with retail horror stories, talk of how their apprenticeship is going, and/or a spiel about that cute dog/cat/cool bird/rodent/horse they saw earlier.

Pre-death or after their memories start coming back, though? Absolutely. There's all those times they accidentally set something on fire, or blew something up, or spontaneously combusted, among other repressed magical chaos, as a child. Or when they almost set the boat on fire on the journey to Vesuvia after they were boarded by pirates. Shenanigans they got up to with Asra and reluctantly Muriel as (pre)teens, such as the time they stole Rowan's familiar Sammi from an animal fighting ring when he was a baby, or the time that Rowan stole a bottle of poitín from his mam's bag and they all got extremely drunk on the beach. Honestly there's a lot of stories about Rowan being an absolute menace to society between the ages of 0 to 17. Around the ages of 18-19 his life suddenly became a lot more depressing and kinda kept going downhill up until he died (Muriel being forced into the Coliseum, Rowan's Auntie Gráinne dying of the Plague, their falling out with Asra, etc). He's a lot less likely to share stories from this time, unless he's feeling reflective or self-depracating.

Or drunk, if this is plague-era Rowan we're talking about.

B) What inspired you to create them?

honestly? being annoyed by julian.

it took julian a while to obtain blorbo status for me. he was actually my least favourite of the m6 after the prologue, believe it or not. even after playing his route and my generally negative opinion of him changed to become much more positive, i still kind of wanted to kick him in the shins. so when i started planning out who my julian route oc would be, my first thoughts were that it needed to be somebody who could wrangle this infuriating man and slap some sense into him when the need arose. and then rowan was born.

ironically though, rowan isn't really like that anymore, at least not much. he used to be meaner, snarkier, and a lot more passive-aggressive (sometimes just plain aggressive). there's some old drafted dialogue bits i still have of rowan just being an absolute bitch (mostly towards julian) that i still cringe at, because like... that's not my skrunkly. that is an imposter. a few weeks went by of him just being flatly That, then i drew up a conceptual design, and was told by mostly everyone that he actually looked really friendly. this was kinda the point where i realised that being bitchy didn't really suit him, or his relationship with julian (plus, as i grew more and more attached to julian, the less i liked the idea of having my oc be mean to him). so i started to rework his character, and slowly but surely the awkward, silly, sweet, stubborn fucker i have today started to form. about a month or two after initially creating him, i had the "what if he were autistic" lightbulb moment, and everything else just kinda clicked into place.

he's still a work in progress tbh (i will continue to work on and develop his character until i stop rotating him around in my brain, which i doubt will be anytime soon because i genuinely get so much joy just from thinking about him), but i'm really proud of how much he's grown from what he started as.

#thank you!!#hope that didnt get rambly lol! rowan doesnt have a big story behind his creation. he only became my brain blorbo after much development #asks #vissentasenadz #rowan aisling

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nashibirne · 3 years

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Gimme Shelter - 7

Here it is, the last chapter of Gimme Shelter. It took me a while to write it, I kinda had a hard time to let Kat and Henry go... I'm going to miss them. I hope you like the ending I chose for these two. If so, please let me know by leaving a comment, reblog or like. Feedback is much appreciated. 💜

Pairing: Henry Cavill x OFC (Kat Spencer)

Words: ~ 4.5 k

Summary: Henry has to deal with a personal crisis and he finds shelter with his old rugby mate Sam and his sister Kat. She used to be Henry’s best friend a very long time ago. Will they be able to become friends again or maybe even more? Chapter 7: An important conversation, a celebration and lots of love.

You can find the previous chapters and my other fics on my masterlist!

Warnings: RPF, mention of mental health issues, smut, sex (p in v), vanilla, unprotected sex, nsfw, 18+, fluff

UNBETA'ED! English is not my mother tongue, so expect bad grammar, wrong spelling, chaotic punctuation and clumsy language. All mistakes are mine…

I got a little help with a certain paragraph, thank you so much @sillyrabbit81 for your advice and your support. Love ya 💕

Credits: Pics for the moodboard from Pinterest. Face claims: Kat = Jennifer Connelly

Disclaimer: I don’t know the real Henry Cavill or anyone who's related to him in any way, this is pure fiction and a lot of wishful thinking.

Tag list (let me know if you want to be added or removed)

@lunedelorient @inlovewithhisblueeyes @willkatfanfromasia @hell1129-blog @mis-lil-red @agniavateira @kebabgirl67 @omgkatinka @legendarywizarddetective @summersong69 @taebfada @xxxkatxo @artandotherdelights @notabronte @littlefreya @luclittlepond @eldarwen333 @meowpurrbooks @marantha @liliumdream @enchantedbytomandhenry @greensleeves888 @witcherfan @margauxmargaux07 @radaofrivia @m07belzen @a-little-counter-esperanto @starstruckkittyangel @mary-ann84 @sillyrabbit81 @emelinelovesjc @wheretheriversrunintothesea @lam0ureuxq @kingliam2019

Let the grand finale begin....

***********

"There's no need to be nervous, Kat."

Henry gave her a smile before taking a sip of his coffee.

They were sitting at their gate, waiting to board the plane that was going to fly them to Jersey.

"I know", Kat sighed, shaking her head slowly, "but I still am. I haven't seen your family in years, there will be so many people I don't know…"

"And they will love you. Look, Kitty, today is gonna be relaxed. You'll meet my parents, my brothers and their families and that's it. Just a casual dinner. Tomorrow there will be the celebration and I promise you it's gonna be great. My folks know how to party," he winked at her with a grin, "and on Sunday everyone except for my parents will be gone and we have a whole week to relax and just enjoy the island and our time together. Okay?"

"Okay," she smiled at him and took a bite of the muffin she had bought at one of the airport cafes, "I'll try to relax. Just distract me, tell me something... anything."

"That's the text for Instagram. The open letter to my fans and followers."

"Well, actually there's really something I want to talk to you about", Henry said reluctantly. He grabbed his phone and opened his google docs. "I need your opinion on this." He gave her his mobile.

Kat saw that the display showed a long text. "What's that?"

"I see," Kat chewed on her lip, looking him in the eyes, "and you want me to proofread it?"

"I want to know what you think about it."

"Alright. Let's see."

She stared at the words on the screen with a beating heart. Henry had been working on this statement quite a while now and she knew it would include his plans for the future. They had talked about different scenarios but she didn't know what he'd finally decided to do with his life and his work. She was curious but at the same time she was scared because many of these scenarios meant that he was going to leave St. Ives and her life. She took a deep breath and started to read.

The statement was deep and of unabashed openness. The way Henry described what he had gone through in the past year was very touching and she had to fight back tears several times. Relief flooded her when she read that he was asking his fans to give him a little more time to reorientate and that he intended to remain in the background for a little longer, stating that he was very happy at the sanctuary he had found and that good friends had given him shelter. What left her completely amazed was the last paragraph.

"Kal is going to take over your Instagram?"

Henry grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah. For a while. I think it's a good solution. I'm going to post pictures of him with captions that let people know what I'm doing without giving up my privacy until I'm ready to return and face the public again. It's my way of letting my fans be a part of my life although I'm not really present. I want to share what I'm up to but not the way I used to do it. I want to do more than promotion and I want to be more than a thirst trap, Kitty."

"You're much more than that, Hen", she took his hands in hers, looking at him with a frown, "so much more."

He gave her a grateful smile.

"I know that but many people don't and that's my own fault. The way I've presented myself on social media was very one-sided in the last year and it will be interesting to find out how many of my 17 Mio followers still like me when all they'll get to see in the next weeks is my dog. The ones that remain are the ones that count and in the future I want them to see who I am and what's important to me. I have picked three topics I want to concentrate on. First: conversation and protection of species in cooperation with Durrell. Second: mental health, focusing on problems men often face. I want to found a charitable trust that helps and supports men with mental health issues and that raises awareness of that topic. Thirdly: Fitness, because it's such an important part of my life. I want to show how good moving can make you feel but I also want to show the risks of overdoing it and that even very fit people can still have body issues and how I deal with these issues myself."

"First of all I think the statement you want to post is great. It's so sincere and you open up so much... It's a risk because you expose yourself but I think people will appreciate your honesty and I'm sure many can identify with what you've been through. And your plans sound fantastic, Henry. I know how important these topics are to you and you're going to be a great ambassador for all of this because it's authentic. This is you, people will notice and appreciate that." She couldn't help but give him a spontaneous hug. "God, Henry, I'm so happy for you."

Henry let out a sigh and shrugged, looking at Kat with an expression full of doubt and insecurity.

"What do you think?"

He hugged her back, pulling her into a tight embrace. "That's such a relief, Kat. I was worried it might sound stupid."

"Not a bit! It sounds perfect. But what about work? Do you already know where to go with your job?"

He took a deep breath.

"Yes. I want to return to filming but I want to leave my comfort zone a bit and try to get different kinds of roles. I'll have to talk to my agent and hope that he can find some interesting projects for me. I also thought about going on the stage again. Back to the roots, maybe I will find a theater that is willing to give me a chance. But that's just an idea, I'm open to anything. I just know for sure that I love my job. I want to be an actor and I'm ready to work again."

"And you will work again. I'm sure. Are you going to tell your family about your plans?"

"Sure. It will be a great relief for them to see that I'm back on track."

"Of course. It's a relief for me too."

"I know…"

They were interrupted by the announcement that boarding was about to start and so they got on the plane, heading to Jersey with a pretty good feeling.

****

36 hours later Kat was still feeling pretty good. The garden party was in full swing and she really enjoyed the jolly atmosphere, the food, the drinks and most of all Henry's company. His family had given her a very warm welcome and so she had a very good time. The garden was beautifully decorated and lit by countless torches, candles and chinese lanterns. A local band was playing cover songs on a little stage and a clown was entertaining the children.

It was almost midnight when Henry turned to her with a smile.

"Time for the big surprise."

"Can't wait. You've been such a mystery-monger lately."

"I know, but you'll soon know why."

"Well, you want to surprise your mum. Isn't that the reason?" Kat was visibly confused and Henry gave her one of his perfectly imperfect winks.

"My mum and...you. Maybe?"

He went away with a grin and left Kat with a beating heart. What kind of surprise could he possibly have for her? On his mother's birthday? She smoothened out her plain black dress with a nervous gesture before she followed Henry with her eyes, her arms resting on the cocktail table right in front of the stage. When he grabbed the microphone, Kat assumed he wanted to hold a speech, maybe telling his family and friends about his future plans but when he turned to the band leader for a whispered exchange she knew there was more to it. Henry nodded at each of the band members and Kat could tell he was nervous by his body language.

"Hello everyone," his deep voice echoed through the speakers, "I'm sorry to interrupt, I know everyone is having a great time and don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with a speech, but I still have prepared a little something. A surprise."

He flashed a bright smile at his mother, ignoring the teasing cheers and whistles coming from his brothers.

"Mum, I racked my brain over a special present for weeks. What would make you happy? What would surprise you? Eventually I had this idea I knew you'd love but that really got me out of my comfort zone. I worked hard on it and I hope you and everybody else will like the result." Henry cleared his throat with a sheepish smile.

"Come on man, spill it." That was Henry's younger brother Charlie and Kat couldn't help but chuckle when his older brother Simon joined in.

"Yeah, Hen, the suspense is killing us."

Henry shook his head, laughing and Marianne Cavill shushed her sons with an amused smile.

"Okay, well... I'm going to sing for you."

"Oh please, spare us. You can't sing." Charlie again, he'd always been a cheeky guy and obviously he hadn't changed a bit. Henry laughed out loud, pointing his finger at Charles.

"Right, brother, that's why I took lessons. I spent many, many hours at our neighbour's who is a vocal coach. Kat is my witness."

All eyes turned on her now and she couldn't give them much more than a shrug, a nod and a smile to confirm his words. She wasn't able to say anything, but her mind was racing. He had been taking singing lessons with Mel, who had been a music teacher and vocal coach before her marriage. The revelation hit her hard and unexpected, flooding her with relief and a hint of shame. She had been so suspicious all this time without a reason. Nothing had been going on between Hen and Mel, nothing inappropriate, nothing intimate. He had been telling the truth.

Henry's voice interrupted her thoughts and she took a deep breath, turning her attention to what was happening on stage.

The band started to play and Kat immediately recognized the song, Green, Green Grass of Home, and when Henry began to sing she was completely captivated by his full, warm and dark voice. He did great up there and it didn't take people long to pull out lighters and smartphones to wave them in the air to the slow rhythm of the song, creating a sea of lights that illuminated the garden.

"Well...I better get started before I chicken out and change my mind." He nodded at the band with a grateful smile.

"We only had the chance to rehearse two times so please be lenient with me. Thanks guys for playing along and allowing me to take over... Anyway, I've prepared three songs. Enjoy."

Kat looked at Mrs Cavill, no, at Marianne -it still felt strange to call her by her first name- and she was beaming, tears of pride and joy sparkling in her eyes. Kat was incredibly happy and proud too, it just felt so good to see Henry perform, completely at ease with himself, confident and charming as ever.

The next song seemed to be some kind of family hymn. After only a few lines of Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline everybody was singing along, even the kids, and Kat joined in, soaking up the jolly atmosphere and the good mood that was so infectious. Henry obviously had a great time too. He was smiling all over his face and it made Kat glad to see him so relaxed and happy. Before he began singing the last song, he spoke softly into the microphone.

"The next one is for everyone who's in love. Grab your loved ones and get on the dancefloor, it's time for slow-dancing", and after a little pause he added, "this one's for you, Kat."

I know that you've been hurt before

He looked her straight in the eyes and his words sent shivers down her spine. She noticed the curious glances people gave her and she knew she was blushing but she did her best to pretend to be cool, calm and collected, taking a sip of her red wine. When the music set in, Kat easily recognized the song. It was a slow version -Henry's version- of a Curtis Stigers song and she already loved it after the first few words. She knew the lyrics by heart and thinking about them awoke the butterflies in her belly.

Happy couples filled the dancefloor looking lovingly at each other, dancing slowly to the music. Henry's full voice was perfect for the song and he kept looking at Kat. Their eyes were locked and to her it felt like no one else was around, like Henry was singing just for her.

But that won't happen anymore, no no

Just give your heart to me

And I'll guard it with my life

I don't know what I'd do

Baby, without you

His words found their way right into her heart and for the first time in 22 years she felt ready to finally let go of the past, to completely trust him again, to believe him and to forgive him.

You're all that matters to me

The ground that you walk

The air that you breathe

Someday you'll discover

I don't want no other, believe me

You're all that matters, baby

All that matters to me

She realized that a teardrop was rolling down her cheek and she wiped it away hastily. Concern was showing in Henry's eyes when he saw that she was crying but the smile she gave him showed him it was a tear of joy and relief flooded him. He couldn't wait to finish the song now, couldn't wait to dance with Kat, to hold her in his arms.

Loud applause followed his performance, accompanied by calls for an encore that he declined politely with a shy smile. Henry made sure to tell the band to continue with some ballads and after receiving some very tight hugs and kisses from his extremely happy and proud mother he finally joined Kat at their table.

"Fancy a dance?" He offered her his hand with a charming smirk.

She nodded and took his hand, following him to the dance floor where he pulled her close. They swayed slowly to "You Are The Sunshine of my life" for a while without saying anything, content with just looking at each other, before Kat broke the silence.

"You were great up there."

"You liked it?"

"I loved it, Hen. You have a wonderful voice. Mel seems to be a good coach." Kat gave him a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, she is. Once she'd realized that I wasn't interested in more than singing lessons she was very professional and pretty strict."

Henry grinned at her, gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise and I wanted you to trust me." He shrugged, giving her a tender smile.

"And I didn't. I let you down. I was such an idiot, Henry. I should have believed you, I am so sor…"

"No, Kitty, please... don't apologize, okay?" He looked at her with a frown, seriousness showing in his eyes. "You had every right to be mistrustful, I understand that. Just tell me that you think you will be able to trust me again some day."

"I already do. I…"

They bumped into another couple and it wasn't the first time. The dance floor was crowded and everyone was keen on congratulating Henry on his performance. It felt like every single party guest was watching them.

"Wanna leave?"

"Yes," Kat nodded with a smile.

****

"It's so peaceful, isn't it?"

"It is. It's beautiful." Kat squeezed Henry's hand before resting her head against his shoulder. They were walking down the beach along the dark shore, that was romantically enlightened by a bright full moon hand, in hand. The sea was calm, just giving off its soothing sounds and a cool breeze that made Kat shiver. Henry took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Thanks", Kat said with a smile, "not only for the jacket but for bringing me here and for this wonderful night."

"Did you enjoy the party?"

"Of course, it was so much fun and I loved your performance. Especially the third song."

Henry stopped walking and turned to her, taking both of her hands in his, looking her deep in the eyes.

"Every single word was true, Kat. I meant it. I'd never hurt you again. You're really all that matters to me. I know you find it hard to believe me, but…"

"I believe you," Kat cut in, "I felt it. I feel it now."

Henry stared at her. "You do?"

"Fuck, yes, I do!" Kat threw her head back, laughing out loud, feeling incredibly happy and light-hearted all of the sudden. "And I feel the same, Hen. Exactly the same."

She cupped his face with her hands and did what she had been longing to do for so long. She kissed him. It was a gentle kiss, almost shy and when Henry felt her mouth on his, her soft lips united with his, skin on skin, no tongue, just tenderness and love, he was beyond happy and savoured every single second.

When Kat pulled away reluctantly he rested his forehead against hers taking a deep breath.

"I feel like 17 again", he whispered.

Kat laughed softly at his words. "So do I. It feels great."

The next kiss started off just like the previous one, innocent and sweet, but when Henry pulled Kat close to deepen the kiss all the bottled-up sexual tension and energy, all the suppressed passion and desire of more than 20 years erupted and they started to make out hungrily, starving for love and intimacy. After a while things really heated up and Henry was the one to put the brakes on when Kat started to fumble with his fly.

"If you don't want me to take you right here we better take it to the bedroom, Kitty", Henry sighed, his voice thick with arousal and desire.

"Well, I've never done it on the beach…", Kat smirked, biting her lower lip.

"Seriously? Here?" Henry took a look around checking if the coast was clear.

"I was joking, Hen. I hate having sand in every pore." Kat nudged him with a grin. "Just take me home."

They made it to the cottage in record time and started to undress each other right in the little hallway, kissing and fumbling like teenagers. While Kat was unzipping Henry's trousers, he was unsuccessfully trying to open her bra.

"Front clasp, Hen", Kat explained to him breathlessly.

"Fuck", Henry chuckled, "I swear I'm not gonna be that clueless once I'll have you naked."

"Good," she answered with a lewd smile, stripping off her bra when he'd finally managed to open it, standing in front of him in just her panties.

"God, you're beautiful, Kitty." Henry let his eyes wander all over her body while stepping out of his pants. He took off his socks and now he was facing her naked too, except for his briefs.

"You don't look so bad yourself, pop."

She grabbed him by the hem of his underwear, pulling him close for another kiss. Kat gasped when he lifted her up effortlessly, wrapping her legs around his waist, feeling his hard-on pressing against her wet panties. She moaned into his mouth when he moved his hips, dry humping her teasingly. Henry carried Kat to his bedroom and laid her down on the bed. He stripped off her pants before he did the same with his and when they finally were both naked he climbed on top of her, looking her deep in the eyes, before kissing her again. It was a long, slow kiss and Kat let her fingers run over his back till they reached his butt. She squeezed his ass and pulled him close, sighing with lust when Henry started to kiss her tits and to suck her nipples. She reached between her legs and grabbed his dick that was pretty impressive, giving it a few strokes that made him moan loudly.

"Fuck, Kat...I need you…I need to feel you...now."

She brought the tip of his cock to her entrance, bucking her hips, inviting him in.

"Take me. I'm yours, Henry."

"Are you on birth control?"

"I am, don't worry. Just go for it. Please."

Her words weren't more than a hoarse whisper but Henry heard them crystal clear. He moaned again when he realized that it was finally going to happen. He was about to make love to Kat and it was like a dream come true. A hot, sexy, wet dream and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. He penetrated Kat slowly, gently, enjoying the moment that marked the beginning of their first time.

"God, Hen…", Kat moaned softly as he stretched her pussy, kneading his ass and lifting her hips to meet him halfway, "you feel great."

"I love you, Henry," she whispered before she came with a loud moan. She arched her back and Henry felt the shiver that ran through her body and the contraction of her pussy that tightened around his cock. The feelings that flooded him were more than Henry could take and he cried her name out loud when he got off, releasing an enormous amount of cum and the thought of filling her up like this made him thrust into her cunt hard and deep one last time. "Fuck...Kitty." He collapsed on top of her, gasping and panting, holding her tight, pressing a kiss on her lips. Henry looked her in the eyes with a loving smile.

He started to move slowly once he filled her completely, looking her in the eyes. It was impossible to turn back time. He wasn't her first, she wasn't his first but he still intended to make their first time together feel special, he didn't want to fuck her mindless, he wanted to make tender love to her. He thrusted a little faster and deeper now and Kat followed his rhythm, her gaze resting on his face. They shared another sensual kiss, moving in sync for a wonderful long time, prolonging the intimate moment as much as possible, enjoying the sensation of closeness, their bodies and souls connected.

Henry's moans got louder, turning into raspy grunts which was a great turn on for Kat, who was a panting mess. Breathing heavily she was getting closer to cumming with every thrust that hit her cervix, with every stroke, brushing against her g-spot, with his lower body pressing and rubbing against her clit. She watched Henry, who had his head bent back now, eyes half closed, his upper body propped up on his elbows that were placed left and right of her torso. She wrapped her legs around him, making him go even deeper before she grabbed his head and pulled him in for a sweet kiss. They locked eyes and his gaze was full of tenderness, his pupils tinted black and filled with lust.

"I love you too, Kat."

A few minutes later they were lying side by side, holding hands, their faces turned to each other.

"We should have done that 22 years ago."

Henry grinned at Kat, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"I doubt it would have been so good. Teenage Kat was very self-conscious and a little prude and I guess teenage Henry wasn't a pro at handling this weapon right from the start." Kat touched his dick and gave him a teasing wink that made Henry chuckle.

"Right. We've come a long way. It just feels like we've wasted so much time...all these years."

"We can't change that, Hen", Kat said, "but we can make the most of the time that's still to come. Let's just be happy together from now on. Let's spend as much time together as possible, let's have lots and lots of fucking great sex, let's have fun, let's share our joys and sorrows, let's share our lives."

****

Epilogue

Two years later.

Kat sat at her desk in her office with a happy smile on her face. Mr. Darcy was sleeping on her lap and she held a letter in her hands. Bringing it close to her nose she took a deep breath, smelling Henry's scent, his tangy, musky cologne. It was a habit they had established in the last years. Whenever Henry and Kat were separated for more than a few days they sent each other love letters. Handwritten in ink, the exclusive, handmade writing paper perfumed with their odours, the lines filled with their love. The letters usually weren't long, most of the time they shared just short poems or simply a few sentences about how their days had been without each other. It was their old fashioned way of showing their affection and of staying in touch in addition to their conversations via phone or facetime.

"A letter from daddy", Kat whispered, stroking her round belly tenderly. Eight weeks to go until they would welcome their first child and a little more than half a year until their wedding. "Let's see what it's saying."

Kat opened the letter carefully and pulled out the thick paper to unfold it.

"My darling Kitty,

Only three days to go until I finally can take you in my arms again. I can't wait to kiss your lips and your belly to greet you and our little bean. I don't have much time, you know how tight my schedule is, but I needed to write down this poem for you. It would make a great wedding vow, don't you think? Just read it and let me know how you feel about it when I'm back.

"Mouthful Of Forevers

I am not the first person you loved. You are not the first person I looked at with a mouthful of forevers. We have both known loss like the sharp edges of a knife. We have both lived with lips more scar tissue than skin.

Our love came unannounced in the middle of the night. Our love came when we’d given up on asking love to come. I think that has to be part of its miracle. This is how we heal.

I will kiss you like forgiveness. You will hold me like I’m hope. Our arms will bandage and we will press promises between us like flowers in a book.

I will write sonnets to the salt of sweat on your skin. I will write novels to the scar of your nose. I will write a dictionary of all the words I have used trying to describe the way it feels to have finally, finally found you.

And I will not be afraid of your scars. I know sometimes it’s still hard to let me see you in all your cracked perfection, but please know: whether it’s the days you burn more brilliant than the sun or the nights you collapse into my lap your body broken into a thousand questions, you are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

I will love you when you are a still day. I will love you when you are a hurricane."

Isn't it perfect for us?

by Clementine von Radics

I love you!

Forever yours,

Henry"

***********

The End

#henry cavill #cavillry #henry cavill fandom #henry cavill rpf #henry cavill x ofc #henry cavill smut #friends to lovers #slow burn #Spotify

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harlowdoylepi · 2 years

Text

AYYY the last part of the TA-418 Saga!

Thank y'all very much for the likes, comments, and reblogs! :) It means a lot. It's been quite a while since I started this, so thanks for putting up with it.

There's an epilogue, and I'll post it tomorrow.

Now that that's out of the way, please enjoy Part 14 of the TA-418 Saga: Triumphant.

The next morning was bright and clear. Birds sang sweetly outside, and the early morning sun shone in through the kitchen window. Jason walked in through the side door, back from dropping Morrie and Suzu off for school. Whit was in the kitchen drinking coffee, and reading the newspaper. At that moment, Richard clomped down the stairs, looking exhausted.

“Good morning, Richard.” Whit said pleasantly.

“Morning.” Richard answered, barely containing a yawn.

“Coffee is over by the stove.” He said, setting down his newspaper. “And scrambled eggs, if you want anything to eat.”

“You read my mind.”

“Long night?” Jason asked, putting his keys away.

Richard gave a half smile. “Not in the three hours I slept.”

“And I thought I had a short night. Find any breakthroughs?”

“Nope. Not really.” Maxwell poured coffee into a mug.

Jason cringed, “That’s rough.”

“I have a few more aces up my sleeve yet. I’ll be working on that today.”

Whit put his mug in the sink. “The construction workers will be at Whit’s End. Since there isn’t much we can do there now, I gave Connie the day off. I have a call I need to make, so if anyone needs me, I’ll be in my office.”

“Hey, what about Eugene?” Jason questioned.

Richard perked up, “Yeah, now that I think about it, I haven’t seen Eugene for a couple days.”

It looked like a lightbulb went on in Whit’s head. “Of course! I knew I was forgetting something this morning. I need to tell you about it.”

Jason frowned. “Tell us what?”

“You two better sit down.”

Jason and Richard sat down tentatively.

“What is it?” Asked Maxwell.

Whit folded his hands and looked down, deep in thought. “It happened last night. About half past ten, or so. I got a visitor. He had information about Eugene, Katrina and their whereabouts.”

Jason gave him his full attention, thoroughly intrigued. “Really? Who was it, do we know him?”

“Do you remember Arthur Dent?”

“No way!” he exclaimed. Richard nodded slowly. “I think I heard about him. British accent, went crazy after Novacom did some testing on him, right?”

“That's the short version, yes.” Whit replied sadly. “But he told me that he told Eugene, Katrina, and Buck-” he took a deep breath, “-left after he told them the Chairman was after them.”

“WHAT?!” This time it was Jason’s turn to jump in surprise. “How did he know?”

“He said that he was being interrogated by some Agents about a company called Revolution Enterprises. Apparently, they mentioned that he was the owner of Andromeda, and that he was back and they were trying to catch him before he put his plan into action."

"Revolution Enterprises!” Richard slammed his hand on the table. “Now I remember where I heard that name! It’s a company that is based in Chicago, it's several miles from where I used to work." He explained. “I’ve been racking my brain trying to remember where I had heard that ever since I saw it mentioned on Blair’s casefiles.”

"So, he went to Eugene and Katrina...and?" Jason cocked his head, returning back to the original subject.

"He told them about the Chairman and that he suspected he was after them, '' Whit explained.

Richard frowned. "Did he have reasonable suspicion for that?"

"That's what I'm not sure about," Whit said,

"I don't want to jump to conclusions, but it would make sense, considering all that has happened. Dent said he also notified Agent Bourland and Mitch that they were on the run."

Jason crossed his arms. "So what happened to Eugene and Katrina?"

"They apparently believed him, since they've disappeared. They wouldn't leave on a spontaneous trip without telling us. Not unless it was this serious."

Jason shook his head. "Just when I thought this couldn't get more confusing."

Whit smiled understandingly. "It's becoming quite tangled isn't it? Hopefully, in time the truth will be revealed," he stood up, "I need to call Monte and tell him. Connie told me yesterday that he was looking for them."

“I knew this was all a part of one scheme, it was just a matter of seeing how they all fit together.” Richard said thoughtfully.

“Yup.” Jason said, stretching out, “It still doesn’t make sense though.”

“Well, all the pieces haven’t fit together yet. Even then, it still might not make sense.” *This is the writer talking through the characters.*

A few minutes later, Monte and Agent Sharp arrived at the door.

Whit hugged him. “Hello, Monte.”

“Hey, Grandpa.”

Jason came up and embraced him as well.

“Hey Uncle Jason.” Monte looked around the house. The place was nearly unchanged since his days as a 12-year-old boy visiting at Christmas time.

Agent Sharp shook hands with both of them. “A pleasure to meet you both.”

“So, where are Eugene and Katrina?” Monte said, remembering why they were there in the first place.

The group sat down on the couch in the living room. "You interrogated Arthur Dent, right?" Whit questioned.

“Yes. He later disappeared, so we came here once we found out that The Chairman was coming to Odyssey. We heard he was going to enact revenge on Eugene and Katrina because of their involvement with the downfall of Novacom, so we came to get them out of here.”

Agent Sharp spoke up. “Only they weren’t there when we got there. We thought the bad guys had gotten to them before we did.”

“Well, in a way someone did. Arthur Dent escaped and came here. He met with me and we notified Agent Bourland, who is with the FBI. Eugene and Katrina are safe.”

“Wait, there are FBI agents here working on the same case?” exclaimed Monte.

Jason nodded. “Yeah. They’ve been here all week.”

“I didn’t know that.”

Jason tried to keep himself from rolling his eyes. “You know, I wish you government agencies would learn to talk to each other.”

“I know.” Monte and Agent Sharp answered at the same time.

Whit chuckled. “It’s an age-old problem. I’ll call them, if you want. I have a feeling that you both have information that would be helpful to each other.”

Sharp said, “That’s a good idea,”

After Whit made the call to Agent Bourland, he picked up the phone once more. “I’ll get on a conference call with Detective Polehaus.”

---

“Thanks for the update, Whit. Me and the boys at the Odyssey PD have been stretched to the max. I’ve got my men all over the place looking for the various members of Vance’s gang. They’ve been laying low in the day, and sneaking around at night, so it’s harder to keep track of them. That’s how they got the supplies out of the building. The test for the coffee came back positive, so there has been a statewide search for Officer Henderson, but for all I know, he’s already out of the country. That is, if he’s smart. There’s no telling what all he’s been doing under the ruse of being an officer.”

“I’ll get agents looking around the area. We need to find their new operation central, where they’re meeting.” Agent Bourland answered. “We have the search warrants. We’re still waiting on the subpoenas, though.”

Monte rubbed his chin. “I think if we could find this Jellyfish’s laptop, if it hasn’t been destroyed, then that would help us figure it out. It would also incriminate a lot of the people working with the Chairman.”

Mitch nodded thoughtfully. “We need to track down the location of his computer.”

Richard raised his hand. “I have a program that can do that. I’ll get started on it once we’re done with this meeting.”

“Perfect!”

“I need to have a meeting with Tasha. She has a flash drive that contains the Applesauce program.” Jason said.

“Once you have that in your possession, notify us. Keep it in a secure place if I’m not available.” Commanded Bourland.

“Understood, sir.” Jason answered.

“Alright. We know what to do now. Let’s call in the cavalry.” Bourland clapped his hands as he stood up, “Mitch, let’s get to work.”

Mitch rose and handed Richard a slip of paper. “This is my number, if you get the location of the laptop, call me immediately.”

“I will. Thanks.”

“Okay boys,” Polehaus’ sarcastic, but no less benevolent, voice came over the speaker. “Be safe, and don’t do anything stupid.”

“Will do, Detective.” said Jason. He got up from the couch. “I need to go and open the shop, but as soon as I am needed, I’ll have Jillian watch it.”

Richard was sitting back at the computer. His fingers flew over the keyboard. He was running a tracking program to find the location of Jellyfish's laptop. Hopefully this will provide the breakthrough we need. The program wouldn't be complete for a couple of hours at least, so he would have to wait. He shut his computer. It would do the work for him while he was waiting, no reason to have it open. His phone started vibrating, notifying him that someone was calling him. He picked it up and pressed the receive button. “Hello?”

“Hi Richard.” It was Blair.

Richard sat back in his chair and smiled. “Hey Blair. What’s up?”

“Uh, look, this might sound kind of weird, but I’ve noticed some really suspicious people lurking around the complex. They’ve been parked next to my car for almost two hours, and have been watching my room. There’s about three of them, I don’t have a good way of defending myself, and I can’t drive. I was wondering - if you could come and pick me up?”

Richard stood up and got the car keys off the rack that hung by the door. “Of course. I’ll be there shortly.”

“Thanks. Sorry if I sound paranoid,” Blair said sheepishly.

“Don’t apologize, I understand completely.” He reassured her. He walked out the door and headed to the car. “I’m getting in the car now, if anything happens give me a call.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.” he hung up.

A few minutes later, Richard walked up the stairs and knocked on the door of Blair’s apartment. A few seconds passed and she opened the door. She wore a short sleeve shirt, exposing her cast. Her hair was down, letting her curly waves frame her face. It was hard to style hair with one arm. She wore blue jeans and sneakers, as always. “Hey Richard, thanks for dropping by.”

“It’s my pleasure. Are they still here?”

“Yes. I think they’re watching us right now.” she cocked her head in their general direction. Richard didn’t look over. “Understood,” he nodded.

They began walking down the stairs. The same stairs he had caught her the day before yesterday. It made Richard's pulse race every time he thought of it.

“Well,” he said, feeling rather awkward, “anywhere you want to go?”

Blair shrugged as they made their way to the car. “I don’t care. What were you doing before?”

“I was doing some work at Whit’s house. We could go there.” Richard suggested.

“Do you think he’d mind?” Blair asked timidly. “I don’t want to intrude. And I don’t want to be a distraction if you have work to do.”

She’s so considerate. He shook his head. “Nah, Whit loves having people at his house. And I’d appreciate the company.” he smiled at her kindly.

Blair gave a small smile in return. “Alright then.” She opened the car door. Richard got in the driver’s side and started the car.

“Did you hear about what happened last night?” He said, turning to her.

“No. What?”

“I got shot six times.”

Blair gave him an inquisitive look. “Do tell.”

Richard proceeded to recap the events of the night before. Jellyfish’s capture, the computer, the EduLink.

“That’s incredible! This EduLink sounds like an amazing device.”

“It is,” He agreed.

“That sounds so exciting. I kind of wish I was there to see it.”

They were both silent for a moment.

Blair glanced down. “Richard, I… don’t know if I ever properly thanked you for finding me at the building.”

Maxwell waved it off. “It was nothing.”

“No, it wasn’t nothing. And especially after I treated you pretty coldly, after our, well, argument, and…” she ran her fingers along the groove in the cast.

“No, that was my fault, if anything. I should have given you the benefit of the doubt. You had every reason not to tell me.”

They spoke at the same time.

“Blair-”

“Richard-” Blair looked at him. “Go ahead.”

Richard took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel tightly. “I- I probably don’t deserve to ask you this, but- will you go out with me sometime?”

Blair paused, taken aback by his question. A thousand different thoughts flooded into her mind all at once. You should have seen this coming, Connie told you he felt this way. How did I not see this earlier? Wait, was that why he was telling me that I was amazing the way I was yesterday? I thought he was just being nice! She nodded slowly, as the words spilled out of her, “I... yeah. I think I would like that.” The answer came quicker than she expected, but she wouldn’t take it back for anything.

Richard smiled, and his eyes lit up like they hadn’t in a while. “Thanks. We’ll figure out a time soon. I know things are crazy right now.”

“I’m in no rush.”

They pulled in at Whit’s house.

About half an hour later, Richard was working on the computer, and Blair was sitting on the couch in the living room, reading a book she had picked up off the shelf. It was a little difficult trying to turn the pages and keep the book open with one hand, but she managed.

A knock came at the door. Blair dog-eared the page she was on and stood up. “I’ll get it.”

She opened the door. A woman stood there. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail. She wore a grey shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers.

“Hello.” Blair greeted her. There weren’t any identifying marks or brand icons on her clothes, she noted. She wondered if that was on purpose..

“Hello, is this the Whitaker household? I’m here to meet someone, and I was given this address.” The woman held a small piece of paper in her hands.

“Yes, it is.” Blair paused, “Uh, come on in.” Good grief, you don’t have much social graces with strangers, do you, Blair Cadence?” She inwardly scolded herself.

“Thank you.” The woman walked in, and looked around like she was expecting someone to be there.

Blair’s mind raced for something to say. “I’m Blair Duncan.”

“Tasha Forbes.” the woman smiled politely. “I’ve heard about you.”

Blair’s forehead creased. “Uh, you have?” She asked warily.

“Yes, Jason told me about your, well, escapade at an old building to break up this gang the police have been after. From what I’ve heard you’re quite an innovator.” Tasha lauded her.

The other woman blushed, as she always did when she received compliments. “I don’t know about that, but thank you.”

“Who do you work with?” Tasha asked, as they both took a seat on the couch, “What government agency, I mean?”

“No, I wasn’t working with anyone on this. Though, perhaps I should have.” She remarked, recalling the conversation she’d had with Alex.

Tasha was even more impressed, “Have you ever considered joining?”

“I almost did, after I got my bachelor’s, me and my twin brother were asked to join by a friend of ours, Peter Bourland. My brother joined, but on the strong recommendation of my Mother, I declined.”

“That’s too bad. You’d strike me as someone who’d be pretty good at it.” Tasha had worked at the agency long enough to see potential agents in people.

Blair shrugged. “I think it worked out alright though. I started an online computer consulting business. It makes good money, and it goes with me literally anywhere.”

Tasha smiled, “Well, that’s good. It’s good for a woman to know how to provide for herself.”

Blair nodded. “Exactly. And what do you do for a living?”

“Well, I worked for the National Security Agency for years, that’s where I met Jason, and I’ve also done work as a secretary for the U.S. Embassy in Japan. But my degree is in microbiology.”

“Amazing! I got my bachelors in political science, but biology has always been an interest of mine.” she smiled, “I have a lot of interests.” Blair said, internally marvelling at how easily this conversation was going. It didn’t usually come this naturally to her unless she just hit it off with somebody for some reason.

“I’ve always had a few niche circles in life that I wanted to learn how to do very well. Microbiology is one of them.” Tasha also felt curious. She wasn’t usually the type to sit down and enjoy unnecessary chit-chat, especially when she had a mission. Maybe she and Blair were just kindred spirits.

Richard walked in from the kitchen. “Alright, the program is almost done.” he saw the newcomer sitting by Blair. “Hello.”

Tasha nodded. “Hello.” she tipped her head to the side a bit. “You’re Jason’s assistant, aren’t you?”

Richard smirked. “Kind of."

"Richard, right?"

"Yes, that's me. And you are…”

“Tasha Forbes.”

An alarm sounded in Richard’s head. She has Applesauce. She was the one who created it. He had to wonder if she knew he was once recruited to steal it when he was working for Blagaard. He decided that what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. This was already a sensitive situation, no reason to jeopardize it because of his past.

“Is Jason here? I have something I need to drop off with him.” She stood up, remembering why she had come there in the first place.

“No. He had to open the shop this morning.” he replied.

“Oh, okay, thank you. In that case, I need to get there soon.” Tasha started for the door. She opened the door and turned before she went out. “It was a pleasure to meet you both.”

Blair smiled. “You too.”

Tasha gave a curt smile and nod, and headed out the door.

As Tasha walked down the main street of Odyssey, she wondered how in the world Rolland happened to find out that she had recreated Applesauce. Did she want it for herself, or was she working for someone else? Who had found out first? Did she put it out on the criminal underworld and promise to work for the highest bidder? Tasha had a sneaky feeling that Rolland had offered more than just money. She had seen it happen more times than she could count. Another possibility was that somebody found out and recruited Rolland and she didn’t fully understand what was inside this flash drive. But these were just theories. Tasha had more questions than answers. All she knew was that she had to keep the flash drive safe at all costs.

She was beginning to regret restoring the program. It had caused her nothing but trouble since she had created it. Was it really worth it? Were the lives and all that had been lost because of it just a collateral effect? Or was it really something that was more dangerous than even she realized? There was incredible potential that came with it, and Tasha felt ashamed to admit that she had considered using that power for her own purposes. It was almost frightening at how tempting it was for her. Even the most resolute were not immune to the alluring promises of power. How did Whit do it? He had it in his shop for years and from what I can tell the thought never entered his mind.

She walked down to one of Odyssey’s sub-main streets, and darted down an alleyway, weaving her way around the various crates and trash cans. She continued down behind a store, then down another alley. A car pulled into the exit that led out to the street. Weird place to park. Tasha thought to herself. She quickly darted across the way before the person in the car saw her. She had a feeling in her gut that this person in the car wasn’t friendly. Years of work at the agency had taught her not to ignore it when she felt this way. Ducking around a corner, and hiding behind a trash can, Tasha held her breath, listening intently. She wished she could quiet the intense beating of her heart.

No sound. She cautiously stood up.

Before Tasha could get out of there, Rolland seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Tasha maintained a poker face. “Rolland. Nice to see you again.” she answered coldly, her eyes boring holes into her.

“Hm,” The right corner of Rolland's mouth curled, like she had eaten something sour.“Not for long.” Quicker than thought, Rolland pulled out a taser and tried to stab it into Tasha’s collarbone. She jerked back, but was pinned against a wall and couldn’t go far. She grabbed the double agent’s wrist and tried to hold her back while trying to get room to make a safe escape, but Rolland soon overpowered her and the taser made contact with her shoulder.

An excruciating, shooting, pain coursed through Tasha’s body. Then, everything went black as she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Rolland gave a thin-lipped smile and glanced up at the red brick walls. In orange graffiti above Tasha, the word trapped was scrawled across the wall. Trapped.

“Appropriate.” she said dryly.

The black car pulled up. Two men got out and came up behind her. “Got her?” The first one asked.

Rolland continued staring down at Tasha’s lifeless form. “Yes. The boss wants her immediately. Get her in the car.” she commanded.

“Right away.” The second one responded.

They picked her up and put Tasha no-so-carefully in the backseat. She barely stirred. The black suv pulled away. Rolland had Tasha, and the Applesauce program was now in the Chairman’s grasp.

Richard’s computer pinged. He raced over to the breakfast table. “The program’s finished! Let’s see what results come back.”

Blair came over, as intrigued as he was. “What does it say?”

“I’m checking right now.” He rapidly typed in the password. The computer beeped accordingly.

“Ah ha! The computer was not destroyed, and it’s located…” He scanned the coordinates, “I’ll put that into the search engine.” He opened a new tab and typed them in. He picked up his phone. “I should call Mitch.”

Mitch picked up the phone after the first ring. “This is Robert Mitchell.”

“Hey, Mitch. This is Richard. I found the coordinates!”

“Perfect. I’ve got a pen and paper, I’ll write them down.”

“Okay, the coordinates are: 38.6703° North, 89.9845° West.”

“Got it! Thanks Richard, this is going to be a huge help. Guys! Richard just got the coordinates!”

“No prob.” Maxwell could hear Jason shout “YES!” in the background. “Oh, by the way, did Jason get the flash drive from Tasha yet?”

“Just a sec, I’ll give him the phone.” Mitch handed the phone to Jason. “Hello?”

“Jason, has Tasha stopped by yet?”

“No, she hasn’t.”

“That’s weird.”

“Why, have you seen her?” Jason queried.

“She came over about an hour ago, and she headed straight for the antique shop after she found out you weren’t here.”

“That’s weird...thanks for letting me know, Richard, I’m going to go and check on something.”

“Alright. Do you need us to come there?”

“You can if you want.”

“Where are you at?”

“We’re at Triple J’s right now.”

“We’ll be there.” Richard picked up the keys off the table, “You want to go to Triple J’s, Blair?”

“Sure. Let’s go.” She stood up and followed him out the door.

---

The twosome walked into the shop. The usual quiet and pleasant atmosphere of the antiques market was replaced by the hustle and bustle matching that of a corporate office. Mitch was sitting at a table working on his computer, Agent Bourland was giving out orders to agents over the phone, and Jason was nervously pacing the floor, his phone cradled to his ear, waiting for Tasha to pick up on the other end.

Blair observed the scene around her. “Wow, this is chaotic.”

“Organized chaos.” Bourland quipped, hanging up the phone. “You've been staying out of trouble, Blair?”

“I’ve done my best.”

“You’ve come to the wrong place if you’re not looking for it.” Mitch remarked, not looking up from his work.

“Come on, Tasha, answer the phone.” Jason said exasperatedly as he placed the phone down on the counter, “I’m beginning to get worried.” He walked over to his computer case and started it up.

Mitch spoke up once more. “By the way, I found the location of the coordinates of our special laptop. It’s in Odyssey, near the Trickle Lake area, from what I can tell.”

“Well, that narrows down our search.” Bourland rubbed his hands together.

“I’m going to find a map of the Trickle Lake, and see if we can narrow it down even more.”

“That’s going to be difficult. These guys could be hiding it under a log for all we know.”

Richard walked over behind where Jason was sitting at his laptop. “What’re you doing?”

“I’m going to find out where Tasha is.”

“How are you going to do that?”

Jason opened a new tab. “When I gave her the flash drive, I put a tracking device on it. A little insurance in case things went wrong. I’m glad I remembered it.”

Richard nodded. “Very cool. Can I ask how you got your hands on a tracker?”

“Nope.”

“Oh.”

“It’ll take a minute before I can see where she is. In the meantime, I need to check on Jillian.”

“I’m right here!” An annoyingly familiar voice immediately spoke up behind them.

Jason and Richard jumped. “Jillian! What are you doing?”

“I was trying to hear what you were talking about.”

“Eavesdropping.” Richard said flatly.

“I finished my work anyway.”

Mitch looked up from his computer. “You don’t think that they’re using the cabins, do you?” He asked no one in particular.

“Oh they definitely are.” said Jillian. “And that’s for sure where they're keeping whoever you’re looking for.”

Jason raised one eyebrow. “How are you so sure of yourself?”

“Well, that bald-guy-bad-guy for one! He said it was operation central, and it was about a fifteen minute drive. The place I was being kept was a bedroom.” She tried to think of more evidence, “And there was a sign on the wall that said “welcome to the lake”.”

“Those are strong indicators.” Mitch admitted.

“If Tasha has the flash drive, then that would make sense…” Jason's computer whirred. “Ah! I found Tasha’s location!”

“Where is she?” It seemed as though everyone in the shop asked this at the same time.

“She is at 3948, on Gold Camp Road, at Trickle Lake!” Jason exclaimed.

Agent Bourland jumped to his feet. “Let’s get moving!” He spoke into his walkie talkie. “Anderson, get me the squadron! Meet us at J and J antiques, pronto!”

Mitch picked up the phone and called Monte and Agent Sharp. “We have a solid lead! Where are you at?”

He could hear car doors shut and an engine rumble to a start on the other end. “We were at the police station, but we’re on our way!” Agent Sharp said excitedly.

“Good.” Mitch hung up.

“Mitchell! Get those search warrants together!” His boss barked.

“Yes sir!”

A chos-filled minute later, a car braked hard out in front of the shop. “That would be the special reinforcements. Let's move, people!” Bourland started heading for the door. Mitch, Blair, Jason and Richard followed behind him.

Jason turned around before he went out. “Jillian, watch the shop while we go and check this out.”

"Why can't I go?"

"Because you're too valuable of a witness." Jason answered with a hint of sarcasm. He knew he was making this answer up, and he marveled that at one point, he only needed to do this with little kids. He didn't think he'd need to do this with a grown adult, his employee, no less.

“Fine.” Jillian pouted.

“We’ll tell you all about it later,” He reassured her. He shut the door behind him, leaving the shop looking and sounding like it was nearly deserted.

Tasha shook her head, looking around. She was sitting in an uncomfortable wooden chair in an office. The room was grandiose, but small. She shifted in her chair, trying to get into a better position. Ropes dug into her wrists. Her head was spinning and throbbing with pain. She glanced down, where it felt like a live wire was inside her shoulder. There was a patch of blood where the needles stuck by her collar bone. The blood was still fresh in the middle but had dried and turned to a reddish brown at the edge.

“Good to see you awake.” Agent Sierra Rolland was standing there with a grim, smug, expression on her face.

Her voice sounded like a gong directly next to Tasha’s ear. “Not as good as this next part is about to get, I’m sure.” She answered.

“You catch on quick.”

The door opened. A lanky man with thinning black hair walked in. He sat down without a word. Tasha noticed that even the impossible-to-intimidate Rolland stood to attention. He pulled out a paper from a file and looked at it. “Tasha Forbes." His voice was icy, and clear. It gave Tasha and Rolland shivers. "Microbiologist, One of the NSA’s finest agents, secretary of Japan’s U.S. Embassy, and -” he closed the file, “- primary creator of Applesauce. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” lines creased around the corners of his mouth.

Tasha's eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”

“Some call me The Chairman.” He said. “Really, I must thank you for creating the Applesauce program. You did the mental heavy lifting for us. It was only a matter of getting it out of your hands.”

“Now we’ve succeeded.” Rolland spoke up.

The Chairman gave her a quiet-this-is-my-moment look. Her eyes darted to the floor.

“Before I tell you ‘your welcome’, what do you plan to do with it?” Tasha asked.

The man stood up and began pacing the room. His glossy black shoes clicked on the wooden floor. “I had heard about this program. I knew of its power. It had potential for revenge, money, political power, everything I could possibly hope for. Now it is finally within my grasp, no one can stop me now. I’ll have all the free nations of the world at my mercy. All their secrets will be at my fingertips.” he stopped, and looked at her, smiling condescendingly. “You thought you had this plan all together, didn’t you?”

I thought. Tasha admitted in her head.

The Chairman held the flash drive up for her to see. “I hope this isn’t a fake one like last time.” He purred.

Tasha did not speak. She remained stoic on the outside, but inside, it seemed like everything was falling to pieces. She felt horror and panic mounting inside of her, continuing to build up. She wanted to scream, kick, something - to let it all out. But she was frozen.

"Shall we see what this program can do, sir?" Rolland asked.

“Not yet. Before we start, we need to get rid of her. We can’t have her around here to witness anything.” He nodded at Rolland. “Agent Rolland, will you do the honors?” He pulled out a gun out of the desk drawer and handed it to her.

She took it and fingered it, her long, red, nails caressing the barrell. “With pleasure. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, Forbes.” She took three steps forward and held the gun to Tasha’s head.

Tasha bowed her head and pursed her lips tightly. She hoped death would be quick. Her life seemed to flash in her mind. Every decision she had made, every word she spoke. The gun cocked loudly. This is it. I didn’t think this is how it would end.

Before Rolland could place her finger on the trigger, the window shattered, an object the size of a large rock landed on the floor with a heavy thunk. Tasha’s eyes widened. It was a grenade. Rolland turned, “What in the-” BANG! The grenade went off. It flashed white hot light, multiple times, resounding bangs went off with each flash, and filled the room with white smoke. Rolland and the Chairman got down on the floor. Suddenly, the door gave out with a CRACK. Dozens of men in black swarmed into the room. “Put your hands up! You're under arrest!” There was cacophony, more smoke, and absolute chaos. The sensory overload was too much for Tasha’s aching head to handle. She slipped away into a dead faint.

“Tasha? Tasha, can you hear me?” A desperate voice broke through the fog in her mind. “God, please, let her be okay.” The voice sounded like Jason’s.

The next thing Tasha knew, she saw several figures standing over her. Their faces were obscured by the bright, warm, light shining behind them.

“She’s coming to!” She recognized that voice as...Richard?

“Oh, thank God.” Spoke up a kindly voice that she’d know anywhere.

“I’ll go get her some water.” A female figure disappeared from her blurry line of sight.

She squinted as the light became more and more bright. Her vision began to clear. They were kneeling beside her outside on the grass. The late afternoon sun shone through the trees, leaving dappled shadows on the ground around them. Despite all that had happened, the world still continued on. Some things never changed. There were some things that the darkness couldn’t touch.

Tasha looked dazedly around. It didn’t look like the room she remembered. What had happened? “Am I - dead?”

“Do we look like angels?” Richard said jokingly.

“Angels in bulletproof vests.” She remarked.

“Yeah, not exactly the kind of attire you see angels in the Bible wearing, huh?” Jason said with a smile.

“But - there was a grenade, and-”

“It was a flash bang, not a real one.” Answered Jason.

Tasha groaned. Her head still hurt, but not as bad as it had earlier. “I thought I was a goner. Rolland-” she gasped, “Where is Rolland?” She sat up and looked around frantically.

Jason eased her back. “Hey now, relax. It’s alright. Agent Rolland and the Chairman are in custody.”

Tasha looked around, more at ease. There were police cars, unmarked cars, and many different people milling about, some were escorting the punks from Vance’s gang into the cop cars, some were taking photos of the surrounding area. She could see Rolland sitting in another vehicle, with a hard scowl on her face.

“Jason…” she asked weakly, “What happened to Applesauce?”

The three men exchanged looks. “I took care of it.” Whit said simply. Tasha sighed with relief. She could finally rest. Applesauce was gone. The world was safe. For now.

Blair came back with a water bottle. She also wore a bulletproof vest. How she got it on over her cast, Tasha had no idea. She handed her the water bottle. Tasha took it and drank gratefully. The water seemed to help clear her head. Everything was becoming clearer now, in more ways than one.

An ambulance pulled up. “That would be for you.” Jason gestured to it.

“I don’t think I’ll need an ambulance, Jason. I just fainted.”

“Well, Bourland insisted that you at least get checked up.”

Tasha felt too tired and relieved to argue. “Okay.”

Once Tasha was in the ambulance, Bourland walked up to them. “We have everyone in custody now. They’re all either blaming each other, or they’re making a plea bargain.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s going to take a week to sort all this out.”

“It’s confusing alright.”

“Mr. Bourland, sir! You’ll never believe what we found!” A man came out of the building. He had light brown skin that stood out against his black protective outfit.

He saw Blair standing there and started. “Blair? How did you end up here?”

She shook her head. “It’s a long story.”

She turned to the two men who were standing there with a puzzled expression, “Richard, Jason this is a friend of mine, Agent Myron Abernathy. Brad’s old partner.”

“A pleasure.” They both nodded.

Agent Bourland jumped back into the conversation. “What did you find?”

Agent Abernathy pulled out a computer from a case. “We found this. Is this the one the Odyssey police were looking for?”

“I think it is. Where did you find it?”

“In a backboard behind the bookshelf in the office. It was pretty well concealed, we didn’t see it until we looked for the third time.”

At that moment, an Agent came carrying out a box of stuff and set it down on the front porch. Richard curiously walked over and inspected the box. There was a binder on the top of the stack. He picked it up and bagan reading it. The first page took his breath away. “Jason...I think we have quite a few of our questions answered.”

“What is it?” Jason walked over beside him. Richard handed it to him. His eyes widened. “Oh my… Memoirs from Dr. Regis Blagaard.” He whispered.

Richard smirked and started skimming through it. “I want to see if he said anything about me.”

“That explains how he knew about all of this. One thing doesn’t make sense though. Blagaard doesn’t seem like a man who would do this.” He gestured to the binder.

“It could have been Bovril. Or Glossman, granted he’s not in jail still.”

“I don’t think it’ll help to speculate at this point,” said Jason.

Richard tossed the binder back into the box. “You’re right. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Abernathy and another one followed him out, carrying several more boxes. Blair studied them for a moment. “Those look familiar.” She walked over to them, and looked at them carefully. “I think these are the boxes from the old building.” She lifted the cardboard flaps. “Oh..” she breathed.

Inside the box were test tubes filled with...dirt? There were labels on top of them. Most of them were labeled Whit’s End Tunnel. She looked around. Where was Mr. Whitaker?

Richard came over and crouched beside her. “What’d you find, Blair?”

“Does Whit’s End have a tunnel?”

“Yeah. It was used in the civil war to help runaway slaves.”

She pointed with her free hand to the test tubes filled with dirt. “Somebody got dirt from the tunnel there, apparently. Unless there’s another Whit’s End I don’t know about.”

“He was even closer than we could have guessed, then!” Richard exclaimed.

Blair looked at him quizzically. “Huh?”

“Well, to make a long story short, Mr. Whitaker helped create the program the Chairman was after. Inside this program was a formula for a deadly virus. It was part of a U.S. defense program, I think. The only problem was that the virus was very unstable, and if it was exposed to air, it would die instantly. However, in the tunnel of Whit’s End there is a mineral in the soil that would make this virus unstoppable.”

“Whoa.”

“I don’t even know the full story, that’s just what Jason told me.” He stood back up, and so did Blair. “I’m not sure if anyone knows the full story. Except for Whit, probably.”

“Okay, the doctors took Tasha to the hospital.” Jason walked over, hearing Richard’s last line. “Speaking of which, where is Dad?"

Some of the agents started stretching crime scene tape around the area. Agent Abernathy approached the trio. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you all to leave at this time. Please go past the tape.”

“Yes sir.”

“Understood.”

Blair ducked under the tape. “I’ll see you around, Myron.”

He smiled gratefully. “Thank you for all of y'all’s help. We’ll make sure you can all get a ride home safe and sound.”

“Thank you sir.” Jason shook hands with him.

They began undoing and taking off their bulletproof vests. As they were, a car pulled up and the driver tapped the horn lightly. He rolled down the passenger window. “Anyone need a ride home?” It was Mr. Whitaker.

They all smiled broadly. “Yes!” They chorused together.

The ride home was more quiet than a tomb. All of them were looking out the window, or lost in thought, recalling the tumultuous day’s events. The sun was starting to set over the lake as they drove down Gold Camp Road. The sun’s golden rays danced over the water.

After dropping Blair off at her apartment, Richard, Jason and Whit pulled into the house. They walked inside the house, which seemed too quiet now. Morrie and Suzu looked up. They were sitting in the living room, working on homework. Morrie broke the silence. “Hey guys. Where were you?” Morrie questioned.

“Long story.” Richard answered.

“Of course.” The young boy rolled his eyes.

“Who brought you home?” Jason asked.

“That would be me.” Whit answered.

Everything was silent again. Nobody could come up with sufficient words to describe what they felt. Relief? Exhaustion? Sadness?

Jason collapsed onto the couch and stared at the ceiling. “Man, it’s insane, I mean - what just happened?”

Whit looked at him softly, with a sad look in his eyes. “We were triumphant.”

This has been the TA-418 saga. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Any of the characters or places mentioned in this series are owned by Focus on the Family and Adventures in Odyssey. (except for Blair, Agent Rolland, Agent Sharp, and Officer Henderson)

This story is only fanfiction and unfortunately, not canon. Yet. Any characters or situations related to real events past or present, or real people living or dead….just might be on purpose.

Special thanks to my parents, but especially my Mom, for putting up with me while I’ve been working on the writing process for the last six months. To my brothers, who enthusiastically read each chapter when I finished them, and whose constant stream of ideas were useful, amusing, concerning, or all three.

Thank you to Teddie L, who upon finding out that I was writing this series, straight up VOLUNTEERED to proofread and edit for me. You’re amazing.

Special thanks to Hannah and Ellissa B, @aiorevelations Sarah G, Michael L, Allie B, Shiyanne S, Kyrie J, Phoebe M, Marrissa, Naomi W, Hadlee A, Brett L, Rylan S, Taylor K, and others who read my work and provided feedback. It means the world.

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i-cant-sing · 3 years

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Okay, Moon anon was able to contact me and I'm gonna post their chapters 3-6 here.

Daniel and YN 3 🌗🌗

Rainy days are crazy. Some of YN’s best and worst memories were on a rainy day. It was a rainy day when Daniel was born. His parents overjoyed when he decided to join the world early. The Sunny morning turned rainy when they saw something was wrong. The sky was so dark when the doctored explained that their baby didn’t get enough oxygen in the womb or when he came out. That his brain was impacted by the trauma. It took four years for Daniel’s mother to stop blaming herself, four years for her to understand that she couldn’t have known that something was wrong in her womb. Four years when they had their second child. It was a rainy day when YN and Daniel got lost. Holding each other’s hand, tightly they wandered the Kamino Ward. Hoping that their parents would be right down an alley or around the corner. That was a terrible 6th birthday for YN. The steps Daniel left in the dirt started to get deeper and more burnt. The boy slightly started to tremble. “Daniel.. it’s gonna be ok. Momma and Pop are going to find us we just have to-“ “Are you two lost?” A very tall man in a black suit asked. YN couldn’t remember his face, but his voice was eerily calm and smoothe. His head had snow white hair on it. A look at him would’ve left even the hero All Might scared. “ye…Yes. My brother and I can’t find our parents..” “Oh dear. Well I can help you. They couldn’t have gotten far.” He held his hand to Daniel. And he almost took it had YN not stepped in. “We’re not supposed to touch strangers.” “Oh yes, that’s a very good rule. Well my name is.. Shigaraki. Now what are yours?” “…yn.. and daniel..” “Now we aren’t strangers. Let’s get you two somewhere safe. Your brother’s quirk might level the neighborho-“ “YN! DANIEL!” The relieved voice of their father shouted out. And the two quickly turned away, toward his calls and open arms. Tears running down their faces, swearing to never wander off again. The day was saved. When YN went to turn to Mr Shigaraki to tell him it was fine, he had disappeared into the crowd. But one question lingered in her head. How did he know Daniel’s quirk could be dangerous? It was a sunny day at first when YN and Daniel went out to the park for their Day out. YN had already planned to tell her parents that she wanted to come back here for her 12th birthday in a few months. Daniel kept over-stimulating himself with every single thing that caught his eyes. The anthill, the trees, the way the wind carried the leaves, when he and YN jumped around over the hopscotch drawings. When the rain came down they didn’t want to leave. They wanted to splash in the wetness like a couple of ducks. But Momma was insistent it was time to go back to the apartment. Inside the car YN immediately put on her headphones to listen to nightcore covers of popular songs. It wasn’t until she noticed her mom’s terrified expression and felt her dad’s fear did she take them off. “-I DONT KNOW ITS NOT BREAKING!” “WE’RE GOING RIGHT INTO TRAFFIC! DO SOMETHING!” “..momma?..” “DANIEL! YN GET DOWN!” That was the last thing her mother said to her. The rain hit the car harder. Daniel was quick to cover his little sister as the car swerved towards a large truck. YN felt her brother shield over their bodies. The last thing she heard from her father was a yell. Before they crashed into the truck. Before YN and Daniel were flung out into the side of the road. Scratches beginning to litter their arms and cheeks. YN felt the rain on her face as she tried looking up. Tried finding her parents. It was a rainy day when the last image of her parents was the crushed front end of the car. 🌗🌗

Daniel and YN 4 🌗🌗

The incident at the cafe left a bigger mess then was intended. Of course the waitress didn’t say a word about who caused the mess, still terrified of the threat, but the manager still called the police. At the moment it was being investigated as a break in. It wasn’t until they started to bag the broken vases as evidence did they think to call a hero as they believed this was a terrorist villain trying to strike more fear. When the first cop touch the broken vases he immediately fell over and started seizing. Like someone had sent hundreds of volts up through his gloved fingers and into his blood stream. The second cop tried picking up the glass with prongs so that she wouldn’t get the same effect. But she still felt some pain and volts. Even the glass windows were giving off static. When they were examined no one could find a point of impact. It was almost like they spontaneously exploded. Worse and more confusing yet was the fact that the material seemed to give off radiation spikes. From a computer screen image, it was like a red glow was emanated from the glass. When the police tried to check the cameras, all the footage was either ruined, too melted to gather anything. It left them in a stump. So they had to make a plea to the hero society to get fresh eyes and help on the case. Not expecting any big response. Some heroes wanted to solve the mystery because it stumped them as well. This quirk residue was something unseen before. Calls and emails were left. All saying they would look into it. And it seemed like this would just be a mysterious case left forgotten. That is until the All Might showed up in the station one morning. Along with his protege Deku. They said they wanted to solve the case because if this person left such a dangerous residue after using their quirk, then they were a danger to themselves and others. No on saw the real intentions in their eyes. When they asked about the only other patron in the cafe the police said that they tried tracking them down, but they were gone into the wind. The only other patron at the cafe made their way into a compound. Holding treats meant for a little girl. But first he had to make a stop at his boss’s office. “Hey.. Kai. You won’t believe what Just saw.” Meanwhile in the station two separate rats made calls to two separate people. “Put me through to Shigaraki…. Hello. I have something interesting to tell you. Something that might please you and your Sensei.” “Oh hey there Aizawa. Detective Tsukauchi here. Look I you know about that cafe destruction a week ago? Yea well I think you outta here about this.” Indeed the cafe incident left a bigger mess than intended. 🌗🌗

Daniel and YN part 5 🌗🌗

They’d been gone for at least two months. YN’s feet hurt and Daniel missed his own bed. But they had to keep going, with no intended final destination but a goal to keep away from the previous home they ran from. After the morning at the cafe, YN and Daniel had kept to the shadows for the rest of the day. But they couldn’t keep going like this. They needed to eat today but not at a restaurant. There was only one dreaded… dreaded option. The grocery store. So after they checked in at the latest motel with kitchens in the rooms, the siblings ventured off to the store.YN couldn’t leave Daniel alone yet. He’d panic and probably have a fit. The store was minimally packed. Since it was still early in the day it seemed like they would zip in and out with relative ease. After grabbing the bare essentials, and what she could pack in a backpack without much drag, it was time to go to the candy aisle. It was a long journey thus far, a journey deserving of some sour candies. But of course there had to be another person there. Invading space and looking right at her favorites. She wanted to just grab and go. But her hand and the stranger's hand touched as they reached for the same one. “Sorry. I should’ve watched where I was going heh..” The tall redhead said. A small blush on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s fine. Lemme just grab and go here.” She looked back for Daniel, luckily he was close by staring at the varieties of pocky they had. Turning back she noticed his uniform. UA, that might prove to be a complication. But YN was desperate for some kind words and a brief moment to talk to someone her own age. “So you go to UA? Are you a general student or a hero course student?” “Oh hero course definitely! I even have my hero name chosen!” “Wow that’s great. I hope in a few years I get to be saved by…?” “Red Riot!” “Like Crimson Riot?” “Exactly! I really admire him and I hope I live up to his-“ “OI SH**TY HAIR! WE’RE GONNA BE LATE! GRAB YOUR CRAP AND LET’S GO!” A blonde kid shouted down the aisle, also wearing a UA outfit. YN couldn’t place why but she felt like she’d known him before. That volume felt very familiar, but it startled her brother who jumped in fear causing the pocky he saw to fall off the shelving. Time to go now. “I should go anyway. It was nice meeting you.” “Wait, we could walk you and your brother to your school if you guys want?” “We have to go.” The blonde got closer and she could tell something was perpetually up his ass. “Bye.” “Wait! My name’s Eijiro Kirishima. What’s yours?” “YN. Just YN. That’s my brother Daniel.” And before he or his companion could ask anything else the two siblings fast walked toward the checkout and were out the door before they got another chance to talk to them. “YN… huh she was pretty cool right bakubro!” “What ever. Let’s get going before we show up after Deku.” But that name was familiar to him. The girl had long since faded from his mind, but how could anyone forget the day when a quirkless kid tried bashing your head into the dirt. He planned on apologizing the next day for his comments but she was gone. Gone and almost forgotten. It could be possible that this was just someone who shared the same name. But maybe.. possibly.. the universe was giving him the chance to apologize. “YN.” 🌗🌗

Daniel and YN part 6 🌗🌗

YN never really liked her neighbors. She never outright loathed them, but she was uncomfortable with how Inko kept trying to be her mother, and how Izuku had this strange obsessive stare when he looked at her. As long as they stayed in their apartment and never bothered them it would all be fine. But their parents couldn’t watch them all the time. So on days when momma and pop went out Miss Midoryia would graciously watch them. YN never liked pity. So when Miss Midoryia tried to pity and feel sorry about YN’s quirkless status, that just made her dig her heels in longer. She didn’t need people to fuss over her like she was a glass doll. At least with Izuku she could’ve had a companion. She did try to get along with him. But he was so weird. Just because they both were quirkless didn’t mean they’d would be close. “So why are you homeschooled?” “I get into fights.” “Why?” “Because people are mean and they think they’ll have no consequences to their words. I proved them wrong.” “Were they mean because you’re quirkless or because Daniel is… different?” Now obviously he didn’t mean any harm by that. But an emotional 10 year old girl is not someone to mess with. So with a sharp glare to his face the conversation quickly died. In the dining room, Daniel would usually be coloring. Or playing with his legos. Something to stim and distract his mind. Sometimes he’d just pull out a old painting his dad got him, and he’d spend hours looking at the strokes and would mentally add a new feature. Twirling the hair on his head whilst sucking/biting his thumb. “Daniel? Would you like some water?” “No miss. I want momma.” “I know sweetie but she won’t be gone forever. And you call me Inko” Though she’d prefer him to call her something more affectionate. Throughout the night Inko kept trying to mother them. She hovered over YN’s neck and tried petting her head which resulted in a swipe from the little girl. By the time YN’s parents got back, she was relieved and spent the rest of the night complaining to her mom about how she didn’t want to go over to the neighbors anymore and how she felt uncomfortable. Across the hall the two greenettes were enamored with the two kids. Inko adored how sweet Daniel was, how shy he looked to her. Izuku was star struck at this girl without a quirk who was so quick to fight against the norms put in place by a society against them. They'd soon make it a habit to try to talk to the family in the hall, or bump into them on the street. One day, after the family had been gone for a couple weeks, they saw the two with several police officers and a social worker packing away all their belongings. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something terrible had happened. When Inko offered to watch them, the social worker confirmed the worst and took the children away. Three weeks later, as her son was at school Inko kept trying to find the legal way for her to gain custody of the kids when her door was knocked. Her husband, AFO, on the other side. She tried telling him to go away. Tried saying that he had no part in Izuku’s life anymore. But he had a bigger role than known. “How can you be so cruel my love? Especially now that I’ve opened the door for you to gain what you want?” “What do you mean?” “I’ll help you gain custody of the two children you are craving. I happen to have a fascination with them as well.” “I can’t ever guarantee that we’ll be a whole family ever again.” “Of course not. I wouldn’t expect you to. But let’s try something for now.” So Inko made a deal with the devil, to gain two angels. 🌗🌗

Now that AFO is in the story, I'm like so excited! Great work, Moon anon!

#moon anon

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nikkoliferous · 3 years

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Phase One: Avengers (Part One)

With everything being about the LOKI series right now and me dreading it, I figured I'd distract myself by finally posting my thoughts on the Phase One: Avengers novel, which I seem to recall somehow being way worse than the Thor novel? I'm not completely convinced this thing wasn't ghostwritten by Taika Waititi; that's all I'm saying. Anyways, here we go.

(Quick note: please be aware that this overview is significantly Thor-critical. If that sort of thing bothers you, I do not recommend proceeding. You've been warned. Lol)

Let's start off with a friendly reminder that SHIELD had four hours to evacuate before Loki showed up, shall we?

Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago,” Coulson was saying.

“I didn’t approve going to testing,” Fury said.

Coulson nodded. “He wasn’t testing it. He wasn’t even in the room. Spontaneous event.”

So either they're grossly incompetent or grossly negligent, but either way those deaths are on them at least as much as they're on Loki. If not more so.

“It just turned itself on?” Hill sounded skeptical. Fury, as usual, was less interested in how they’d gotten there than in what they were going to do next.

[...]

Selvig acknowledged him briefly and then returned his attention to the monitoring equipment. “Director, the Tesseract is misbehaving.”

“Is that supposed to be funny?”

“No, it’s not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she’s… behaving.”

Fury didn’t comment on the doctor characterizing the Tesseract as female. He also wasn’t interested in Selvig’s notions about its personality. It didn’t have a personality. It was a cube containing energy, and all Nick Fury wanted was to know how to control that energy. “I assume you pulled the plug.”

Fury having no intellectual curiosity explains a lot, tbh. Like how he thinks Loki "kills because it's fun", even though nothing about their prior interaction indicates that. Like, at all. Loki killed only the agents who were attacking him. Because he felt threatened. If he indeed killed for the fun of it, he would have taken them all out and been done with it. Doing so would have both entertained him and made for a much smoother getaway.

“She’s an energy source. We turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level—”

“We prepared for this, Doctor. Harnessing energy from space.”

“We’re not ready. My calculations are far from complete. And she’s throwing off interference radiation.”

Fury watched the Tesseract in its circular containment shell. Eight separate energy sensors built into a frame supporting that shell were designed to measure and conduct that energy. Those sensors in turn rested on stainless-steel support scaffolding. The whole setup sprouted cables and conduits. These were there to supply energy to the Tesseract in a controlled fashion so Dr. Selvig could analyze its reactions. Now they were all shut down, as Dr. Selvig had said, but even so, the Tesseract glowed with a fierce blue energy. It was starting to spill onto the sensors, arcing like electricity. But it wasn’t electricity. It was something much more exotic.

I also find it curious/amusing/something that Fury later accuses Loki of "stealing a force [he] can't hope to control". YOU'RE DESCRIBING YOURSELF, NICK. YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CAN'T CONTROL IT AND HAS BEEN ARROGANTLY PRETENDING YOU CAN.

The man looked up at them and smiled as he stood. He was not a large man, not remarkable in any particular way. He had long black hair and wore black leather clothing, similar to what Fury was wearing. However, he wasn’t a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Fury didn’t know where he had come from.

I beg to fucking differ lmao

Fury had the Tesseract in a steel carrying case and was taking a step toward the door when the stranger turned to him and said, “Please don’t. I still need that.”

Kudos to Loki for not forgetting his princely manners even while completely off his rocker. Lol

“This doesn’t have to get any messier,” Fury said. He glanced quickly around, trying to figure the fastest way out.

“Of course it does,” the stranger said. “I’ve come too far for anything else.”

TELL US WHAT YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH, LOKI. INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW.

“Loki?” Dr. Selvig said. He stood up from helping one of his fellow doctors, who was barely conscious. “Brother of Thor?”

“We have no quarrel with your people,” Fury said.

Loki acknowledged Selvig and then returned his attention to Fury.

By "acknowledged", the author means he rolled his eyes so hard he saw his own brain lmao

“I come with glad tidings,” Loki said. “Of a world made free.”

“Free from what?” Fury asked.

Turning back to him, Loki said simply, “Freedom. Freedom is life’s great lie. Once you accept that in your heart…” As he spoke the word “heart,” he turned and touched Selvig’s chest with the tip of his scepter, just as he had with Hawkeye. Selvig gasped, and the same change came over his face that Fury had seen in Hawkeye’s. “You will know peace.”

He's not simply deranged, you know. For Loki, this is actually true. He has never been free in his entire life, and won't be at any point after this either. Yes, there was also the torture and the mind control at play, but even underneath all that, is it any wonder he was vulnerable to the Thanos cult's brainwashing?

Hawkeye had been looking around the complex. Now he stepped up to Loki. “Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us.”

Loki looked back at Fury, who said, “Like the pharaohs of old.”

“He’s right, the portal is collapsing in on itself!” Selvig called out from the monitors. “We’ve got maybe two minutes before this goes critical.”

Friendly reminder, once again, that Loki wasn't even aware the PEGASUS facility was on the verge of collapsing—let alone the cause of it.

“Well then,” Loki said. He glanced over at Hawkeye.

Without a word, Hawkeye drew his gun and shot Nick Fury once, dead center in the chest.

Two things:

1) Every time I see this scene in gifs, all I can think of is, "Pull the lever, Kronk." 🤣

2) So how does the direct mind control of the sceptre work anyway? Because Loki never actually gives Barton a command here. So does he sometimes communicate with his minions telepathically (sort of like The Other does with him), or does Barton just intuit his intent here, or what?

Maria Hill saw Hawkeye come out of the lab into the garage with Selvig, a liaison officer, and a stranger carrying a spear. He looked more like one of the people they’d been recruiting into the Avengers Initiative than an ordinary technician or S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. “Who's that?” she asked.

*sigh* In a just MCU, this would have been foreshadowing.

She jumped into a jeep and headed after them. Other S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles followed, filled with agents. They roared along the underground access road that led up to the surface in the New Mexico desert. She was gaining on them and firing as she drove. Sooner or later, she’d be close enough to have a good shot at the stranger.

He had other ideas, though. When he saw the pursuing convoy get too close, he pointed his scepter at them. The tip of it flared bright blue, and a bolt of energy lashed out from it, striking the vehicle in front of Hill and shattering the right side of its passenger compartment. The vehicle slewed around and flipped, rolling and landing sideways across the road. They were blocked.

Interesting of Loki to go for the passenger compartment instead of the driver. Was anyone even sitting there? Just one more example in a long string of Loki being inexplicably merciful to his enemies, I guess. 🤷

They got around ahead of the truck, and Fury leaned out of the helicopter’s side door. He fired, emptying his clip. He could tell from the sparks that some of the bullets had hit, but he was too far away to see if they’d done any damage.

His real target was Loki, but he was protected by the cab of the truck. Fury couldn’t get a good shot at him.

Did Fury already forget that Loki is bulletproof, or...? I mean, I guess that's fair. Earlier, Hawkeye goes to draw his sidearm only minutes after the narration points out that the bullets already fired at Loki had bounced away harmlessly.

Leaning over the truck’s roof and keeping low, however, Loki could get a good shot at the helicopter. A blue bolt lanced out and struck the helicopter’s rotor assembly. All the control mechanisms went haywire, and the helicopter spiraled down out of the sky. The truck drove underneath them as they were about to crash, close enough that Fury could see the gloating expression on Loki’s face.

Haha, good for him.

“Coulson, you know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me,” she said.

“Oh, I’ve got Stark,” Coulson said. “You’ve got the big guy.”

Oh, Natasha thought. That big guy. She said something in Russian. It wasn’t polite.

This has nothing to do with Loki. It just made me laugh.

Nick Fury had called an emergency meeting of the World Security Council. They needed to know what had happened with the Tesseract, and they needed to know what he planned to do about it. He brought up holographic images of all the WSC members, with their faces and locations hidden. He did not know who they were, but S.H.I.E.L.D. reported to them.

Well, that doesn't sound problematic at all, does it?

“The Avengers Initiative was shut down.”

“This isn’t about the Avengers.” That wasn’t strictly true, but Nick Fury was no idiot. He wasn’t going to show all his cards to the World Security Council when he didn’t even know who they were.

I'm glad he at least recognizes the stupidity of working for people he doesn't know, but uh... debatable, otherwise. Lol

“This isn’t about personality profiles anymore,” Coulson said. He wasn’t giving up, and that irritated Tony even more than the fact he’d showed up right when the celebration of Stark Tower was supposed to be starting.

*cough*DIVA*cough*

Loki watched Dr. Erik Selvig work, preparing the Tesseract for the next phase of his plan. Technicians and soldiers scurried about on various errands. Loki did not know the details and did not care. They were beneath him. He had his eye solely on the greater prize. It was time to consult with the Chitauri and begin the next phase of the preparations.

Really? You expect me to believe that Loki, the master tactician with "a cunning mind far exceeding Thor and Odin’s", couldn't be bothered to know the details of his own plan? Um, how about no?

Deep space and a field of stars surrounded this rocky world. Pale blue lights glowed where the Chitauri had built their fortress. They gleamed in a set of stairs that climbed to the topmost tower. That was where Loki had made his bargain with the Chitauri: They would be his army and he would open a path to Earth for them. Once Earth was his, and Asgard as well, he would turn the Tesseract over to them.

At least that was what he had promised.

1) Who said anything about Asgard...?

2) Indicator that Loki never planned on actually turning over the Tesseract? I don't know why you'd include this line otherwise.

“Let them gird themselves,” he said. “I will lead them in glorious battle.”

“Battle?” the Chitauri warrior snorted. “Against the meager might of Earth?”

“Glorious,” Loki repeated. “Not lengthy. If your force is as formidable as you claim.”

He had intended to anger the Chitauri, and he had succeeded.

Personally, I saw this less as intending to anger and more as "Loki has no self-preservation instinct and literally cannot help himself". What's to be gained by intentionally pissing off The Other here?

“You don’t have the Tesseract yet.” The Chitauri leader rushed at Loki and stopped just short of him, claws raised. Loki did not move.

“I don’t threaten,” he said, though he was doing exactly that.

LOL

The Chitauri leader backed down but only a step. “You will have your war, Asgardian,” he growled. Then he too decided to make a threat. “If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he cannot find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain.”

Loki flashed back into his awareness of Earth. He took a deep breath. The Chitauri did not frighten him… but he would have been a fool if he had not possessed a healthy respect for their leader, the mad Titan known as Thanos. For it was Thanos who had given Loki the scepter, and Thanos who had rallied the Chitauri to Loki’s cause… and Thanos who wished to possess the Tesseract for his own monstrous ends. One did not bargain lightly with Thanos—and one certainly did not fail to meet the terms of such a bargain.

Love how this book just repeatedly glosses over the obvious fact that Loki was tortured. In the first chapter, it makes zero mention of his stumbling or other signs of being weakened. Here, it completely omits the pain WE ALL SAW The Other inflict on him. Fuck this narrator, seriously.

Steve had a moment to look around. The commanding officer appeared to be a woman with short dark hair reeling off orders from near the center of the bridge. “S.H.I.E.L.D. Emergency Protocol 193.6 in effect,” she was saying after a series of status orders and acknowledgments. Steve didn’t know what protocol that was. At the moment, all he knew was that he was on a flying aircraft carrier… and wasn’t that enough? Amazing.

[....]

The Helicarrier disappeared from view. From the inside, it didn’t look any different, but Steve saw monitors from satellite feeds, and on those, the Helicarrier had simply become invisible. He corrected himself: He wasn’t just on a flying aircraft carrier. He was on an invisible flying aircraft carrier. The future was pretty… cool, was the word everyone used now.

I'm not the biggest Steve fan, but I will admit to finding his childlike awe over the Helicarrier slightly adorable. Lol

Side note: is someone on this thing coordinating with Air Traffic Control? I... really hope so.

“What did it show you, Agent Barton?”

Barton turned to look at Loki. “My next target,” he said.

Loki nodded. “Tell me what you need.”

Barton took one his bows out of a case and snapped it into shape with a flick of his arm. “I need a distraction,” he said. “And a biometric ID.”

Why the change from "eyeball", I wonder? Seems random. Lol

Inside, Loki had been mingling with the crowd, taking on the appearance of an ordinary man with a walking stick. But as the president of the museum, one Doktor Heinrich Schäfer, began his welcoming speech, Loki decided it was time to make a dramatic entrance. He tapped the walking stick on the floor and it became his scepter. Immediately, to get the crowd’s attention, he aimed it at the nearest museum security guard and fired.

This... didn't happen?? At all??

Loki strode the rest of the way down the stairs and manhandled Schäfer over to a stone altar that was one of the museum’s prized ancient Norse relics. He slammed Schäfer onto his back, forcing a machine over his face. Schäfer cried out in pain and surprise as the machine shone blinding light into his face, holding his eyes open.

On the one hand, confirmation that Loki did not actually shred this dude's eye and he's probably fine. On the other hand, the author completely made up what just happened literally two sentences ago, so their credibility is a little suspect at the moment. Lol

A police car, alerted by the commotion, raced toward him. He blasted it with his scepter, and it spun out of control and crashed.

ACAB!

The crowd froze. Slowly the crowd knelt, and Loki reveled in their submission. “There,” he said. “Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.”

He's talking about himself here. We all get that, right?

An old man in the middle of the crowd stood. Loki paused in his speech to regard this individual. Around him, all the copies of himself also looked at this old man.

“Not to men like you,” the old man said.

“There are no men like me,” Loki said.

No lies detected.

But Loki was tougher than he looked. He struck back with the scepter, forcing Captain America to parry until Loki found an opening and slammed the butt of the scepter into Captain America’s midsection, knocking him down. Captain America threw the shield again, but this time Loki was ready. He knocked it aside. It fell ringing to the stones of the plaza, and Loki had the tip of the scepter against the back of Captain America’s neck before the soldier could get back to his feet.

Correction: If he'd actually been trying to win, he would have used the tip. (Narrator: he was not trying to win).

A sudden storm rose around the Quinjet. Natasha looked at the instrument panel. There’d been no warning of heavy weather. “Where’s this coming from?” she wondered out loud.

At first, she thought that Loki was responsible. But that didn’t appear to be the case. He looked more nervous than anyone else on the jet.

Loki has Thor-induced PTSD. Understandable, tbh.

Thor let Loki fall well before they got to the ground.

Because Thor is an asshole.

So hey, as long as we're here, let's review how each member of Loki's family responds to the realisation that he's survived his suicide attempt.

Thor- manhandles him, angrily demands to know where the Tesseract is

Odin- refuses to even use his name, implies he should have either slaughtered him as an infant or left him to die

Frigga- tells him not to make things worse (fucking rich coming from the woman who exacerbated his trauma immeasurably by thrusting the throne upon him when he was at his most vulnerable)

Wild, man. I wonder why Loki's convinced his family doesn't give a shit about him. They seem like such loving people to me.

“I remember a shadow,” Loki said bitterly. “Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I who was and should be king!”

Because you would have destroyed Asgard, Thor thought. Just to impress our father, you would have annihilated all the Nine Realms. “So you took the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights? No. The Earth is under my protection, Loki.”

1) Actually, he was trying to save Asgard... from a war that YOU started, numbnuts. He went about it all wrong because he was having a fucking mental breakdown, but at no stage did he even really endanger Asgard, let alone come close to destroying it.

2) Um, what? Where the fuck in Loki's plan was annihilating anything other than Jötunheim? I see Thor shares his friends' impressive conclusion-jumping skills. Not surprising.

3) Thor, I mean this truly and without reservation: go fuck yourself.

Loki chuckled. “And you’re doing a marvelous job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly fret. I mean to rule them, and why should I not?”

He... has a point.

“You think yourself above them?”

“Well, yes.”

At least Loki is honest about his condescension, Thor. You should try it sometime.

Suddenly furious, Loki raged at Thor. “I’ve seen worlds you’ve never known about! I have grown, Odinson, in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it—”

“Who showed you this power?” Thor interrupted. “Who controls the would-be king?”

And he will never bring this up again. Ever.

Stepping right up to his brother, Thor shouted back. “Not here! You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream!” Then he softened. “You come home.”

“I don’t have it,” Loki said. Furious, Thor brought Mjolnir to his hand, ready for battle.

Thor's sort of a one-solution kind of guy, huh? Somebody help me out here, because he's "changed" but his first instinct when he's not getting his way is still to react with intimidation and violence. Funny how that works.

Tony braked and skidded to a halt as the Asgardian rolled away from him, tearing up trees and brush as he went. He got to his feet and extended a warning hand. “Do not touch me again,” he said.

Oh, what's the matter, Thor? Do you not like being manhandled? That's weird because you sure do seem to enjoy doing the manhandling. 😕

“If he gives up the cube, he’s all yours. Until then…” Tony’s faceplate clamped back down. “Stay out of the way.”

He turned to walk back to a place where he could make a clean takeoff. “Tourist,” he muttered.

That was the last straw, apparently, because the next thing Tony knew, the Asgardian’s hammer had hit him about as hard as he’d ever been hit in his life. The force of the blow carried him through the trunk of a tree and laid him out flat in the dirt.

Please note that Thor was not being attacked. He once again used offensive violence against someone who hurt his feelbads. "Changed", my rear.

“Then prove it,” Cap said. “Put that hammer down.”

“Uh, no, bad call,” Iron Man said. “He loves his hammer—”

The Asgardian interrupted Tony by smashing him out of the way with a backhand swing. “You want me to put the hammer down?” he roared, and leaped high into the air, bringing his hammer down toward Captain America.

And again—not in any immediate danger, simply reacting with violence to something that made him angry.

“Oh, I’ve heard. A mindless beast. Makes play he’s still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?”

“How desperate am I?” Fury echoed. He walked slowly over the catwalk to stand in front of Loki. “You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can’t hope to control. You talk about peace, but you kill because it’s fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”

This is called 'projection', kids. Projection, and making up stories about your enemies so they're easier to hate. Fury needs to show his work.

Loki knew he had been heard throughout the ship. He could hear the echoes of the speakers, and even if he had not, he always knew when people were listening to him. That was part of his power, to make them listen… and to make each of them hear something just a little different. Just what he wanted them to hear.

This doesn’t mean anything, does it??

Perhaps he was in a cage right now, but he had been in cages before. Not once had one been able to hold him for long.

This... has to be a reference to his time with the Black Order, right? There's certainly no basis for such a statement pre-2011.

Or the author is just on crack. That's very possible.

Thor took a step toward Bruce. “Have a care how you speak,” he warned. “Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard… and he is my brother.”

“He killed eighty people in two days,” Natasha pointed out.

Citation needed, please.

“Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension, no surprises…” As he spoke, Tony walked behind Bruce and gave him a little zap with an electrical instrument.

“Ow!” Bruce said.

Tony looked closely at him. “Nothing?” He’d been testing Bruce to see how well he controlled the Hulk. The little shock hadn’t provoked any kind of unusual reaction, which Tony seemed to find a little disappointing.

Ok, but what exactly was Tony's plan if Bruce had Hulked out here? lmao

“Steve,” Bruce said, “tell me none of this smells a little funky to you.”

Cap looked back and forth between the two scientists. Bruce could tell he was struggling with something… but he also wasn’t going to share it. He was too much of a good soldier for that.

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

“Yeah. I’ll read all about it.”

“Or you’ll be suiting up with the rest of us.”

Bruce shook his head with a regretful smile. “No, see, I don’t get a suit of armor. I’m exposed. Like a nerve. It’s a nightmare.”

Bruce has BPD. Lol

No, you guys don't understand. That's literally what it feels like.

Thor watched over Coulson’s shoulder as the agent showed him S.H.I.E.L.D.’s current files on Jane Foster. When he had learned that Loki had captured Erik Selvig, his first thought had been of Jane. Thor had destroyed the Bifrost to save the Nine Realms, but he had also cut himself off from her… or so he had thought. It was a terrible decision to make, sacrificing love for duty—yet Thor had done it. If necessary, he would do it again. He hoped it would not be necessary, though, and that was one reason why he had asked Coulson about Jane.

Oh my god, Thor. You spent like, three days with her, max. And people call Loki the dramatic one...

Thor looked out into the sky, gathering his thoughts. “When I first came to Earth,” he went on, “Loki’s rage followed me here, and your people paid the price. Now, again. In my youth, I courted war.”

“War hasn’t started yet,” Fury said.

1) Correction: when your daddy threw you to Earth like a sack of trash down a cosmic garbage chute. You were not here on vacation, bro.

2) No, Loki's rage followed your treasonous friends.

3) LAST YEAR. YOUR 'YOUTH' WAS LAST YEAR.

4) *committed mass murder over an insult

“You think you could make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?”

This possibility hadn’t occurred to Thor. “I do not know,” he said. “Loki’s mind is far afield. It’s not just power he craves. It’s vengeance, upon me. There’s no pain that would pry that need from him.”

1) Opposing Thor = being crazy. Noted.

2) Not everything is about you, buddy. At the risk of repeating myself, this is the guy I'm supposed to believe learned humility? Really? Where?

3) Please note that Thor does not object to torturing Loki because it's immoral or because the thought of hurting Loki pains him. He objects because he doesn't believe it will work.

Thor held Fury’s gaze. It was not the first time he had looked at a one-eyed man who posed him a difficult question. “What are you asking me to do?” he asked, wanting Fury to be clear and to own his words.

“I’m asking what you are prepared to do,” Fury said quietly.

“Loki is a prisoner,” Thor said. He thought Fury was testing him, seeing if he would violate his ideals to find out something they all needed to know. But Thor would not.

"I'm okay with physically assaulting prisoners if they make me mad, but I suddenly draw the line at torture. Even though my 'ideals' didn't appear to be a concern two sentences ago."

If I feel like being generous to Thor, maybe he initially hoped Fury would back off if he just said torture wouldn't work, and then Thor wouldn't have to risk appearing... soft? Weak? I don't know.

“But you figured I’d come,” she said.

“After,” Loki said. “After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate.” It was a typical approach. Cause misery, and then let someone appear as a friendly face. The miserable person would say anything to keep this friend. Loki had seen strong men break this way, many times.

I'm not sure why the author felt the need to depersonalize this by talking about other men. Loki knows this experience intimately. It's what he's endured his entire life at the hands of his "loving" family. The torture just wasn't physical then as far as we know.

An interesting story, Loki thought. She has much to atone for. He could hear some of her memories, from before her first encounter with Barton. Little girl, he thought, you’ve done some very bad things. And now you think you owe Clint Barton your life… but there is more to it. Loki could tell there was something in her mind that he was not quite uncovering. He pushed a little more.

Is... is this text implying that Loki can read people's minds/memories even without touching them?

“Can you?” he asked. “Can you wipe out that much red?” He listed for her some of the things he knew she had done. “Dreykov’s daughter… São Paulo… the hospital fire? Barton told me everything.” This was a lie. Barton had told Loki certain things about Romanoff, but he was also guessing some others.

He... guessed the details of these very specific incidents? What? lmao

He pushed ahead. Now that he understood her, he could break her. “Your ledger is dripping, it’s gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? Pathetic. You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors, but they are part of you and they will never go away.”

He's talking about himself again. 🥺

For some reason, this book skips right over the part where Loki threatens both Barton's and Natasha's lives. Not sure why; the author clearly has no problem depicting Loki as an unhinged psychopath most of the time. Oh well, whatevs.

Loki couldn’t understand how she had gathered her composure so quickly—and then he did understand. She was a superb actress! Or not even an actress, for he could see through a conscious performance. She was something else. She had been broken down and remade so many times, with so many identities, that she could put them on and take them off at will. And Loki had gotten lost in those emotional costume changes.

He had been outwitted by a mortal. Unthinkable.

Yeah, phew, it's a good thing Natasha figured it out in time. Otherwise, something terrible might have happened—like Bruce Hulking out and rampaging through the Helicarrier. Oh, wait...

“I was wrong, Director,” Cap said. “The world hasn’t changed a bit.” He looked angry and disappointed. Captain America was a big believer in shooting straight and telling the truth. He didn’t like spies and he didn’t like lies, and now he saw he was knee-deep in both.

This novel's hero worship of Steve Rogers is going to kill me. 🙄

“I’d like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction,” Bruce finished.

“Because of him,” Fury said, pointing at Thor.

“Me?”

“Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town,” Fury said. “We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.”

Has anyone figured out yet how this line doesn't conflict with Captain Marvel? Is Fury lying to hide her existence for some reason? Or is this just one of those things that we're supposed to shrug and pretend wasn't retconned?

“A nuclear deterrent,” Tony said. “Because that always calms everything right down.”

“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark,” Fury said coldly.

On the one hand, yes, good point. But on the other hand, he... stopped making them? So clearly, he no longer thinks they are a good thing?

And also, not to gloss over his past sins, but wasn't Tony born rich? Lol

“I thought humans were more evolved than this,” Thor commented.

Tony turned on Thor. “Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?”

Didn't Fury say this in the movie? Why did the author give the line to Tony instead? There are all these... weird changes in the story that are so minor I have no idea why the author made them. Very confusing.

Just like that, all of them were arguing. Cap and Tony were nose to nose, while Bruce and Natasha fired remarks back and forth. Thor stood off to the side, contempt plain on his face.

'Cause he also thinks he's superior to humans. 🙃

Tony and Cap squared off over an argument that they couldn’t even remember starting. Tony was still mad about the last thing Cap had said to him… whatever it was.

In case there was any doubt about the sceptre being the reason everyone starts losing their shit with one another.

Cap stood his ground. “Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?”

Tony had an answer ready for this one. “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”

Hey Steve? You know he invented the suit, right? Like. The suit is literally him.

“Put on the suit,” Cap said. “Let’s go a few rounds.”

Steve putting out big Joe Biden, "listen, fat..." energy here lmao

Thor laughed. “You people are so petty… and tiny.”

Thor, my dude. You literally started a war over being emasculated in front of your friends. I don't think you get to judge other people for being petty.

Fury could see things were spiraling out of control. He started trying to get them all back on track. “Agent Romanoff,” he said, “would you escort Dr. Banner back to—”

“Where?” Bruce interrupted. “My room? You rented my room.”

Nobody had said it out loud, but they all knew the cell currently holding Loki was designed for the Hulk.

What was their plan for containing the Hulk if necessary after sticking Loki in his cage, anyway? Did they even have one?

“Dr. Banner,” Cap said. “Put down the scepter.”

Bruce looked down. He hadn’t even known he’d picked it up.

Why does that sound familiar...?

Even though he could see what was going on, the hostility in the air was still thick enough that Bruce didn’t know whether he could back everyone down… or whether he could back himself down. He could feel tension rising inside him. He could feel the monster trying to get loose.

And yet none of them so much as considers the idea that the sceptre might be having a similar effect on Loki? Ok then.

But even though he was now refocused on the mission, the others still bickered. Loki had gotten into their heads, sowing discord and setting them against each other.

lmao I'd just like to note that Loki didn't actually do anything. This was all them and the effects of just being near the sceptre. #ThanksLoki

“The Tesseract belongs to Asgard,” Thor said.

Why, though?

“I’ll go after it,” Tony said.

“No you don’t,” Cap said, stepping into his way. He wasn’t ready to forget the way Tony had insulted him.

Ok, first of all, you started it. But also, seriously, Steve, that's your number one priority right now? Earth's mightiest heroes, ladies and gentlemen... lol

I have apparently managed to hit the paragraph limit, so we'll return after this short break, I guess. 🙈

↪️ On to Part Two

#there is a lot of salt here please remember to drink plenty of water #loki meta #loki #thor #tony stark #steve rogers #bruce banner #natasha romanoff #clint barton #nick fury #avengers assemble #mcu #phase one: avengers #thor critical

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julemmaes · 3 years

Note

“If I go on a date with you, will you bring the dog from your profile picture?” for Rowaelin or Elorcan maybe? 🙂

Puppies - October 15th

Elide Lochan x Lorcan Salvaterre

A/N: I think I’m running a fever and I’m pissed cause it’s not the ideal right now, don’t you all think? But still, I wanted to post this and PP chapter 6, but I cannot for the love of god try and translate that too, so I hope I can do it for tomorrow, in the meantime enjoy this fluffy/cute thing since I’m always giving you just angst.

Enjoy:)

Oh and I think I’m gonna write a part two to this, just like for the Rowaelin one when I get the time and I finish every prompt. Also, again, I’m sorry if this is taking so fucking long, I do understand it’s December and this thing is called October Something so yeah

Word count: 3,883

Lorcan could not get over the fact that a beautiful girl like Elide had agreed to go out with him. Or rather, he could not understand how a beautiful girl like her had asked him out on a date.

A hint of panic crept into his mind, causing his smile to waver when he remembered his best friend's mocking words. "She didn't ask you out, she just wants to see your dogs." Rowan had joked when he had explained why he was taking the dogs for a walk dressed so elegantly.

Lorcan had eyed his black skinny and his beige sweater with an arched eyebrow, feeling sorry for Aelin if Rowan thought that outfit was elegant. He told him he had to meet a girl and his friend demanded to see some photos and Lorcan knew he would never let him out until he pulled out her tinder profile.

Rowan had opened his eyes wide in front of Elide's black-haired, pearly-skinned beauty, then burst out laughing, slamming his hand on his back and telling him he didn't stand a chance with someone like that.

Now, as he walked with Opal by his side with Maya pulling them both way too excitedly, he felt the anxiety grow with every step.

They had exchanged numbers almost immediately and talked for a week, sending pictures of what they were doing and eating, and when Elide had sent him a picture of a meat plate with rice, he had asked her where she was. She had gone out with some friends to her favorite restaurant in town and from there a conversation about their favorite places had started and Lorcan had mentioned that he should try the dish she had ordered, because it was as if he could smell it through the phone. At that point Elide had told him that she would gladly accompany him and Lorcan, like the idiot he was, had asked her if she was serious and she had sent him a message: "If I go on a date with you, will you bring the dogs from your profile picture?"

He had grinned like an idiot, happy to know that she didn't think they were vicious beasts. His two little dogs, two sisters, had entered his life when they were only a few weeks old and now he couldn't imagine his life without them, but sometimes it was difficult to convince other people, especially strangers, that they weren't aggressive and wouldn't tear them to pieces.

They had decided to meet at the Gardens of Orynth so that his two pitbulls could run a little bit free, instead of having to walk around the city with muzzles all the time and Elide had sent him a short video of her jumping happily at the idea of meeting him.

He was looking around for the girl, when he heard someone calling for him and his head snapped in the direction of the Turtle Fountain.

He opened his eyes wide, chuckling in dismay when he realized that Elide was dressed almost exactly like him. A beige sweater tucked on the front of her black pants, torn at the knees, which did absolutely no justice to the legs he had seen her show on her tinder profile. Even the shoes were the same, simple black lumberjack ankle boots, years old in appearance. The only thing differentiating them was the religiously black jacket she wore, which enveloped her figure perfectly.

That moment of distraction in which he admired her cost him the grip on Maya's leash, which with a sudden snap managed to pull him forward and free herself. The pitch black dog ran up to the girl and Elide smiled widely, crouching on the ground and opening her arms. The little dog immediately started to welcome her, licking her face and getting up on her hind paws, scratching her legs with those in front.

Lorcan cursed loudly and ran towards them, Opal looked up at him for a moment, starting to toddle next to him a second later, to keep up.

"Hello you beautiful," Elide was saying, rubbing her hand on the dark fur, "you must be Maya." When the dog started whining, wagging her tail even more, she giggled, "Yes, it's you."

Lorcan was sincerely surprised by the scene, but when Elide looked up, smiling at him with bright eyes, he remembered that he should speak. "I'm so sorry, normally I can hold her." He apologized, scratching the back of his neck.

She shrugged, "Don't worry about it." Then she went back to the dogs, extending her hand to Opal, who seemed just as excited as Maya, but sat next to him. When she sniffed Elide's hand without approaching, she stood up and Lorcan saw with horror that she had mud marks on her pants. He felt himself blush, "Fuck, I'm sorry," and then she handed him Maya's leash, shaking her head. He touched her hand and his brain short-circuited.

"Don't worry," she said smiling and showing her teeth, "really." she repeated when Lorcan glared at the dog. Then she tilted her head to the side, "Hi."

Lorcan smiled in turn, looking at her. God, she was so beautiful.

"Hi."

She leaned towards him, leaving a light kiss on his cheek and immediately returning to her place, adjusting her bag on her shoulder, "I like the way you are dressed, excellent choice."

He was dumbfounded for a moment by her spontaneous gesture. Not that no girl had ever kissed his cheek, but her lips had been so soft and warm against his skin and at the same time so confident and solid. He quickly recovered, pointing to her clothes, "Yes, I must say that your taste is impeccable too."

She smiled at him, shifting her gaze to the dogs for a few seconds, then those black puddles locked on him, "So, how's your day going so far?"

Maya kept circling around her and Opal seemed less and less uncomfortable, her ears now low and her tail moving slightly behind her. The most excitement she would show for a stranger, Lorcan knew. But he was still happy that she was not hiding behind his legs.

He grinned at her, "Very well, I was looking forward to going out with a certain girl," he joked.

Elide snickered, looking him in the eye, "Yes, I was quite excited to meet this new friend of mine too." Then she turned to the dog pen - a huge section of the park reserved for animals, so that people wouldn't bother them while they too were running free. "Shall we go there?" she asked, pointing with one hand.

Lorcan nodded, urging the puppies to walk.

The second he released the leash to both of them, the dogs snapped forward, starting to run in the area. The two of them sat down on a bench just right by the fence and when he turned towards her, Elide was giving him a bright smile.

"What?" he asked her, arching an eyebrow.

She shrugged, "Nothing," she muttered, "I just thought you'd be a lot more chatty, you know."

Lorcan felt himself blush again. It was true, by message and the few times they had called each other, Lorcan had talked a lot and there had never been a second he hadn't had his line ready, but now it was almost as if he no longer had the ability to have a normal conversation. He gave her a frustrated look, "Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," she giggled and Lorcan felt his chest tighten to that sound. She turned to the dogs when she heard Opal barking and he was breathless when her smile widened even further, seeing the silvery dog running in their direction, "What did you do this morning that was so important that you couldn't answer me?"

He forced his body to relax under her inquisitive eyes, "I had to convince my roommate that calling a plumber to fix the toilet was a much better idea than trying to solve the problem on our own and-". Lorcan puffed, passing a hand through his hair, "Sometimes he can be difficult."

Elide became pensive, "Are you talking about Rowan?"

He nodded, surprised that she remembered the name of his best friend.

"If it's any consolation, my roommates are headstrong too," she said as she opened her eyes wide, "and most of the time it's just as hard as childbirth to have someone else help us around the house," she sighed, "Asterin drives me crazy, too, for other reasons."

Lorcan raised an eyebrow, asking tentatively, "How come?"

He had heard about her roommates, Asterin and Manon, only a couple of times and Elide hardly ever answered his messages when the two girls were present, she always found an excuse to end the conversation.

Initially, Lorcan had thought that Elide simply wanted to spend time with them, but the more days passed the more she avoided him when they were home. He started to think that she didn't want them to know that she was talking to a loser like him, which hurt him more than it should. He was used to people avoiding him on the street and judging him too soon because of his grumpy attitude and the grimace always present on his face, but Elide had found out more about him than any other person had ever done in twice the time and he believed there was a connection between the two of them.

Perhaps it was not the same for her.

When she took a while to respond, he looked closely at her, seeing that she was biting her lip. Maybe he shouldn't have asked. He should have left it alone.

Before he could tell her that they didn't need to talk about it, she said, "She always brings new people home and" she made a noise that sounded more like a grunt than a laugh, "I have absolutely nothing against having a different partner every night," she said.

Lorcan stiffened beside her and saw her eyes open wide. Now that he thought about it, she was hardly ever free in the evening to call him or to stay on face time.

She carried her hand to her mouth, snorting, "Oh God, I didn't mean it that way -" she stopped, "I don't do- I never- Shit." She cursed out loud and took a deep breath, "I meant Asterin is big and vaccinated and can do whatever she wants, I'd just rather she was less noisy." she concluded sighing and carrying a hand to her chest.

Lorcan looked at her gently, "You know," he offered to comfort her, "there would be nothing wrong with it if you had a-" he choked on his words and coughed, "a different partner every night."

The idea disturbed him more than expected. Not because he saw such a thing as distasteful - he, too, had had his golden days when he was younger by Rowan's side - but because the idea of someone else touching Elide as he had only once dared to dream about, gave him chills.

She looked at him carefully, frowning, and he had to shift his gaze to the dogs because he couldn't stand the emotion on her face. He could not decipher it.

He spoke in a low voice when he said, "But I'm not looking for something temporary or a fling, Elide." he gave her a thoughtful look, letting her see the sincerity in his eyes, "I'm quite tired of the occasional stories I find myself in every time."

His mind went straight to Maeve and a shiver ran down his spine.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and when he turned around, she was smiling, "I've never dated anyone, Lorcan," she whispered, as if she was afraid of his reaction. Her hand slipped away from his body and he missed that touch immediately, "I'm serious." Then she grimaced, "I've never even had a boyfriend, but that's a story for another date. Definitely not for our first time out."

Lorcan studied her carefully as Opal approached them and let herself be pampered by Elide. Maya somewhere playing with the other dogs.

She seemed upset and if the deep frown between her eyebrows was not enough to let him realize it, her bouncing leg confirmed his doubts.

Whatever they would talk about that night, neither of them would bring up the subject of relationships, and he felt relieved, if only slightly.

"I didn't want to meddle in your affairs, I just wanted to make it clear that I don't want anything casual." he bent forward, resting his elbows on his knees and crossing his fingers.

He was surprised when she murmured, "Neither do I."

He threw a stunned smile over his shoulder and she took a deep breath. Then she chuckled, scratching behind the dog's ears and making her mumble, "And not to mention Manon." She closed her eyes and dropped her head backwards, without letting go of her grip on Opal's snout, "That girl will be the end of me."

This time he remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

"She's been dating a guy for years and it seems like their fucking honeymoon phase never ends." she grunted, "Between the two of them I don't know which one makes me feel worse about my non-existent sex life."

Lorcan laughed, covering his face with his hands. He liked how comfortable she was talking about such things with him. All the girls he had dated up to that point had been uneasy just because he used bad words in his daily life, but Elide seemed to use them in turn, so she certainly wouldn't dump him and tell him she couldn't be with a longshoreman.

He leaned against the backrest, extending an arm behind her and maybe it was his imagination or maybe not, but it seemed to him that Elide moved closer to him. "I feel you, Rowan and Aelin, his girlfriend, are the loudest couple I know and it's so agonizing sometimes that I have to go to sleep at our neighbors' house. And even there I can still hear them, but at least I can fall asleep." she looked at him amused and shocked at the same time, "They have been our friends for years too," he explained quickly.

Elide nodded, "I have no neighbor to seek shelter from."

He caressed her shoulder lightly, "You can always camp in my living room, they tell me that the sofa is very comfortable."

She laughed, "Thank you," then looked at him, licking her lower lip, "I will consider your offer the next time Dorian or the stranger number two thousand will be our guest."

They didn't notice Maya running towards them until a big heavy black hairy ball threw itself between the two of them and Elide let go a noisy breath, laughing, when the dog gave her a muzzle against her chest with all her strength.

"Maya!" Lorcan scolded her, gasping. The dog wagged his tail on their legs, hitting them both in the face as she turned to lick his face first and then hers. Lorcan tried several times to push her away to prevent her from ruining Elide's light makeup, but the girl didn't seem to care at all and when Opal got on the bench, laying her snout on her leg, Lorcan gave up completely.

They played for more than half an hour with the dogs, even getting up at a certain point to throw sticks and balls and when the sun began to set, Elide turned towards him, short of breath for the various races made to chase the dogs, "What do you say if we head towards the restaurant?"

Lorcan sniffed, trying to catch his breath, "I'd love to."

Putting the leashes back on Maya and Opal, Elide asked him if she could carry one. He didn't even think as he passed her Opal's. Surely if he had let her carry Maya, it would have ended badly and she would have fallen over and he didn't feel like finishing the night in the emergency room at all.

They were walking along the perimeter of the park and Maya was pulling as usual, dictating the pace and Lorcan tried as much as possible to pull her back so they wouldn't have to run, but it seemed impossible. He tried to slow down every time Elide started talking and by the sixth time she had to stop mid-sentence to catch her breath, Lorcan wondered if everything was alright.

At one point, she had taken his hand and now, while they were talking about this and that, he was trying not to squeeze her fingers too hard every time he had to squeeze the leash. The gesture was a spontaneous reaction of his body.

When Maya made them speed up one more time, Elide whimpered and stopped talking, stumbling slightly in her footsteps. Opal turned around in a flash towards her, stopping a few steps in front of them.

Lorcan halted, taking his hand away from Elide's and turning completely towards her. Her breath was wheezing and her forehead was sweating and he could see she was suffering. Panic poured into his stomach.

"El," he murmured that nickname silently, opening his eyes wide in front of her pained expression, "what is it?"

He, too, had been out of breath, but it was already twenty minutes they were walking along quietly, and even though Maya seemed to want to give them a slimming workout, she shouldn't have been so tired.

She closed her eyes, shifting her weight to her left leg and jerked, grunting, "It's nothing." she breathed, looking at him with blurred eyes, "Don't worry," she smiled slightly.

Nothing-

"I shouldn't worry?" he put his hand on her arm, pushing her gently toward a bench nearby, "It looks like you're about to die." the fear was clear in his voice. Elide held back another groan, but Lorcan heard her gasp under his grasp. "Are you having an asthma attack?"

He said the first thing that came to his mind and was surprised to hear Elide giggling beside him.

The second she sat down, her expression changed completely and she seemed to relax. She stretched her right leg forward and his eyes fell on her ankle. Only then, with her pants pulled up slightly and her shoe shifted, did he see the scars that marked her skin. He held his breath.

When he met Elide's gaze again, she had a guilty grimace on her face.

"I'm sorry," she murmured to him.

Lorcan shook his head, closing his eyes, "Sorry, mh, why are you apologizing?"

Elide sighed, passing her hand over her face, "Normally I can walk on it for more than an hour without any problem, but with running before and Maya pulling now, I think I strained it too much and it's really hurting me." In the meantime she had leaned forward, her hands stretched out on her leg while she was massaging her calf going further and further down towards her ankle.

He sat down next to her, making sure that both dogs were sitting on the opposite side of her, so as not to risk worsening her already difficult situation.

He didn't know what to say, too many questions were going through his head.

"Why didn't you tell me? We could have taken a cab or we could have met directly at the restaurant," he told her, putting his hand on her back when, touching the swollen part of her ankle, she whined.

Elide looked at him from under her eyelashes, "Because guys normally don't want to go out with cripples. Or a girl with a cane." Then she turned down again, "And I really wanted to go out with you tonight."

It warmed Lorcan's heart, but he was still annoyed that he made her think he was that kind of person and that she didn't trust him enough to tell him the truth - or hide it from him. Then he felt sick at the thought of how many more times Elide had had to face that conversation and who knows how many more times someone had told her that they were no longer interested after finding out the truth.

He swallowed, choosing his next words wisely, "I don't care if you have scars or if you have difficulty walking without support, Elide." He told her sincerely, "I understand why you didn't tell me, but I'd rather you didn't hide these things from me from now on."

He would not ask her questions about how or why her leg was damaged in such a way.

Elide sat up, covering her face with her hands, "Do you think you could slow Maya down a little bit?" the sound muffled by her fingers, "The restaurant is right on that street." she pointed out a road only a hundred meters ahead. Then she looked at him and her eyes were shiny and Lorcan's throat tightened.

"Are you alright?"

He immediately regretted the question. It was obvious she wasn't.

It didn't seem to bother Elide in the slightest. She nodded, then moved her foot in a circular pattern, biting her lower lip so hard that Lorcan thought she was going to tear it off. "Yes, I'm fine," she said with wheezing breath.

Lorcan looked at her with worried eyes, "You don't look well though."

Elide stared at him taking deep breaths, "Because the bones in my ankle are rubbing against each other and I have no water behind me to take painkillers," she said honestly, "But I can make it to the restaurant and on the way back I'll take a cab or call Manon or Asterin to pick me up."

Lorcan looked at her and then the restaurant, then her again, "Are you sure you can make it?"

"What other options do I have?" she smiled at him.

He nodded, "You're right."

She sighed and put her forehead over his shoulder. It seemed so familiar to Lorcan that he risked tearing the skin off his face so quickly he smiled.

"Can we rest for five minutes?" she asked him in a tired voice.

Lorcan put his arm around her shoulders and held her closer, feeling brave and kissing her temple, "We can rest all night as far as I am concerned."

Elide made a verse of approval and when Lorcan looked at her, he noticed that her eyes were closed and although she still had a sweaty forehead and a grieving expression, she was smiling.

They sat down for more than five minutes and only when Elide was able to take more than five steps without flinching, Lorcan decided that they could go to the restaurant. An arm tied around her hips to support her and the two leashes tightened in his free hand.

He did not know for what grace of God, but even Maya seemed to have realized the situation, and had slowed down her pace drastically, trotting alongside Opal undisturbed.

Inay, the owner of the place, had made them sit inside, near the large window overlooking the river, and there, Elide and Lorcan enjoyed the first of a thousand other dinners they would share.

tog taglist (if you wanna be added or removed dm me or send me an ask)

@maastrash @ireallyshouldsleeprn @sleeping-and-books @ladywitchling @thegoddessofyou @ghostlyrose2 @claralady @queenestarcheron

#elorcan #elide lochan #lorcan salvaterre #lorcan x elide #fluff #elorcan fic #tog fic #throne of glass fic #ff

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harryhighkey · 4 years

Text

reassurance

hi! it’s been a really long time since i posted a one shot! i don’t really have a good excuse besides that life has just been really busy. but i genuinely do miss writing these. here’s just a little something to get me back into it

______________________

It was late, and normally by this time you would be in bed with Harry and finding yourselves somewhere in between either a deep coversation, making love, laughing at silly things or even seeing a viral parkour video and asking him if he thought you could do it to which he would say,

“Baby, you can’t even walk up the hallway without tripping over.”

But currently, you were kind of avoiding going up to your bedroom. Harry had been off for the later part of the night. You couldn’t figure out why either and it was putting you in a weird mood, also. Usually you were so tuned in with him that you would notice even the slightest shift in his demeanour, as he would with you too.

However, whatever mindset he was in tonight really seemed to appear out of no where. You couldn’t pick where it came from at all. There was no argument, no significance with what day it was, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Hell, you hadn’t even been secretly binging TV shows you were meant to watch together behind his back just because you couldn’t wait after he got upset about it last time. You couldn’t even really tell if Harry’s mood was more mad, sad or anything else in between and you were dwelling over it. You couldn’t find any kind of clue and your brain was caught in a whirl of over thinking.

You sighed as your phone died, you’d been killing time by scrolling through Tiktok. It was the only thing that was keeping your brain distracted. This time, you had to finally make your way to your room where you knew Harry was. You couldn’t help but become a little anxious with each step. You were a big believer in being honest with feelings - and thought everyone else should be too - so when you couldn’t pick what was going on because something wasn’t being said, you felt so out of your element.

You couldn’t help but to think you shouldn’t have to be feeling like this, it had been such a good afternoon and night. Your best friend had come over spontaneously, but that was nothing new. She did that about once a week, and her and Harry got on well. At first the three of you were hanging out, you’d had an early dinner and then Harry left you two, to allow you to have friend time. He was good like that, he knew how important friendship was to you. But that was never something that bothered him before.

You’d noticed his mood change when you went to ask him if he wanted a tea when you were making some for you and (Y/F/N). And the way he answered you was so strange, immediately you noticed and asked if he was okay and once again, his reply was not like his usual self. If you didn’t have a friend over you probably would have questioned him further, but you figured it could wait until it was just the two of you.

Which happened to be right now. And fuck, you wished it had been sorted out earlier so you weren’t overthinking how this was going to go.

You cracked open the bedroom door and stuck your head in, as if you were a guest in someone else's home and trying to find the right room. However, this was more your apartment, Harry had been living here ever since he got back from tour a couple of months ago, though.

He looked up and saw you peering in, “What are you doing?” He initiated the conversation, but it wasn’t said with any humour, you picked up on that. Things were still not completely okay.

You took the opportunity to come into the room fully, taking the few steps it took to reach your bed in your not so big bedroom. “Phone died.” You answered him while sitting on the side of the bed and reaching for your charger.

“That’s the only reason you came up?”

Shit, things were touchy with him then.

“What? No.” You answered him instantly, twisting to face him and bending one of your legs up on the bed. “I just got caught in a Tiktok scroll after (Y/F/N) left.”

“Told ya’ not to go on that before bed.” His tone was lighter and you smiled, unconsciously shifting more onto the bed and closer to him. He smelt so good, and his hair was damp. He’d showered already. “Keeps you up for hours. Good thing it died.”

“It’s not my fault I find the dumbest shit funny.”

“That definitely is your fault, that’s your sense of humour!” Harry laughed then, too.

“Oh my god, like yours is any better.” Harry was definitely no where near into social media as you were, but he would always come see what had you laughing at your screen. And sometimes he’d find himself laughing too, but it mostly made him smile to see you laughing. “I didn’t even get to do a twitter scroll yet.”

He frowned at that and looked away. The weird mood was back as quick as that brief moment of normal had appeared. Why? You hadn’t said anything to upset him, he knew you also enjoyed scrolling through twitter to see silly things to laugh at there, too.

“Hey,” He looked back at you as you got his attention. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He was being stubborn and you really had to fight against an eye roll. You hated when he was like this, it wasn’t all the time but enough to frustrate you when he wouldn’t be forthright with his feelings.

“Harry.”

“(Y/N).”

“Please tell me what’s going on. We had such a good night, I’m really not understanding this right now.” You were always very forthright with your feelings, sometimes that contrast between you two worked wonders and other times, it was challenging. Tonight seemed to be the latter.

He let out a deep breath and had a very deep in thought look on his face as he stared at his own feet stretched out to the end of the bed. God, even there propped up against the headboard he looked perfect. If your phone wasn’t dead, you would have picked it up and taken a photo.

“Why are you smiling?” He caught you staring with that fond look upon your face.

“You just look really good right now.”

“You sure about that?”

What?

“What?” The word appeared loud in your head and also exited your lips in surprise. That was not the typical reaction you received from Harry after complimenting him. You couldn’t help but to begin to think that whatever he was feeling off about was something not so major, in fact, something petty or he wouldn’t be acting so immaturely otherwise. “Tell me what’s going on, you’re being silly right now.”

Stubbornly he looked away.

“Harry, c’mon. You know this is gonna’ get to me if you don’t tell me.”

“Something you said got to me.”

“What did I say?” Your reply was a little defensive, you didn’t want it to be but you couldn’t help it. You knew something was off with him, but you didn’t expect it to be specifically something you done or said to him, because you truly thought tonight had been such a good and chilled out night.

“When you were talking about Zac Efron.” He finally admitted what was stirring in him and the conversation with your friend from earlier played in your mind.

“Dude, what?!” You displayed genuine surprise at what your friend had just told you. “There’s no fucking way, you’re lying.” After reminiscing over a funny memory that had happened when you and your friends had gone to see High School Musical Three at the cinemas, you’d been informed by your friend that Zac Efron was in a relationship with a girl he’d met at a cafe while she was waitressing.

“I’m not! Check twitter, it’s all over it.” She prompted you.

You picked up your phone then. “Oh my fucking god.” You exclaimed after typing Zac Efron into your twitter search bar. “This is like... real fanfiction shit.”

“I know!”

“She is living the literal dream, imagine dating the actual Troy Bolton. Her life couldn’t get better.”

“Personally, I’m more into a 17 again Zac Efron.”

“Or how truly beautiful he looked in Charlie St. Cloud. What a man.”

It was such a silly conversation with your friend, one that in all honestly, really had no significance. You, like many other people, were a big fan of the High School Musical movies and - once again - like many other people had a celebrity crush on Zac Efron at the time.

“Harry, you can’t be serious right now.” You couldn’t help but to let out a laugh, all of this fretting you had been doing over something so minor.

“Don’t laugh.”

“I’m sorry, but you have to know this is really dumb.”

“Didn’t you hear how you talked about him? Saying how his girlfriend has got the best life and shit like that.”

“Oh my god, you do not need to be this jealous right now.”

“It wasn’t very nice to hear, (Y/N).” You didn’t even realise Harry had heard you two talk about this, he must have gone to the bathroom or something and overheard as he walked past you two on the couch. But after his latest response you started to realise that all he heard was you two talking about Zac Efron, his current reaction probably meant he had missed when you talked about your own life with Harry.

“Did you stay around to listen to what I said after that?”

“No, I had enough.”

“Oh, baby, you really missed out on the good part.”

“What did you say?”

“I don’t know if I should tell you.” You know you shouldn’t be teasing him right now, but you really couldn’t help but to make fun of him. It wasn’t often that Harry got caught up in something more on the pettier side and you weren’t one to shy away from teasing in the first place.

“Don’t.” Along with his one worded reply, he scooted his body down to lay flat on the bed before rolling onto his side and groaning into the pillow. He knew this was one of the more trivial things he had gotten annoyed at you with, but he couldn’t help but to allow his jealousy to seek through. Not when it came to his dream girl.

Mirroring his movements, you too manoeuvred to be laying down on your side and once you were comfortable, you brought a hand up to run it through his hair. “Well, if you had stuck around to hear the rest of that conversation you would’ve heard me say,” He turned his head to face you then, genuine curiosity painted on his features and it truly took your breath away how beautiful he was this close up. “that I was living in the best fanfiction of all.” He started to smile then, he could notice the blush beginning to appear in your cheeks. You typically weren’t one for a sappy moment, so when you were this way he loved every second of it.

“Tell me more.”

“Well, I said to (Y/F/N), it’s kind of weird because Zac Efron is this celebrity crush, you know? Like a, never gonna happen but woah, that man-”

“I meant tell me more about me, not him.” He cut you off and there was a little anger in his voice, but it was at least mixed with a little humour this time.

“I’m getting there.” You laughed at him again. “Anyway, but, so were you once upon a time for me.”

“Hm?”

“Harry, you know this already, don’t make me say it.” Now you rolled over, except onto your back to look at the ceiling.

“If you want to make it up to me, I gotta hear it.” He wasn’t being serious, you knew he had already moved past the jealousy from before, but it was rare to catch you in a more romantic spiel and he wanted to milk it some more.

You let out a sigh before continuing. “Well, you know I was a One Direction fan.”

“I’ll never forget the night you told me.” You laughed at that reply from him and so did he, it came out when you were very drunk and made for lots of embarrassing moments the next day.

“Anyway, what I was saying to (Y/F/N) was kind of along the lines of, if I could tell a younger version of myself walking out of her first One Direction concert that she’d be where I am right now, she’d... I don’t know, die or cry or something.” You turned your head to look over at him then and he was smiling in that way that made his dimple so prominent and the beat of your heart harder. “Like, yes, I have celebrity crushes from when I was younger, but, I’m so happy with you, Harry.” You rolled back onto your side, you wanted him to know you meant this. “This life with you is better than any fanfiction or daydream I could think ever up. You don’t need to be jealous, I have everything I want with you.” You didn’t intend for the mood to shift but tears of complete happiness had welled in your eyes.

Harry noticed and he brought his arm around you to pull you closer in towards him until your bodies were against one another. “I love you so much, baby.”

“I love you, too.”

#harry styles #harry styles imagine #harry styles fanfic #harry styles one shot #one direction #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles angst #harry styles x #harry styles x reader #harry styles x you #harry styles x y/n #harry styles concepts #harry styles writing #writings #my writing #writing #my writings #reassurance

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rina-writes · 4 years

Text

Tattoo

Summary: You have been thinking of getting a tattoo for sometime and inspiration strikes on a spontaneous date with your boyfriend Ethan, who supports with your tattoo from design to after care.

Warnings: The Fluffiest of Fluff

A/N: Figured it was a good time to post fluffy!E before the vid tomorrow. <3

You always went back and forth on getting a tattoo. When you were much younger, it wasn’t your thing. Why would you mark you body with something permanent? You changed your clothes 15 times before going out because your shirts didn’t look right with your boobs. How would you decide on a tattoo?

As you got older, you realized that tattoo’s shouldn’t only be viewed as something you wanted to represent you for the rest of your life. They could be moments, like remembering a first road trip or the album art of the band of the first concert you attended. Tattoos could be used to mark the story of your life.

Ethan, your boyfriend, was part of your inspiration to get tattoos. You started dating around his first couple tattoos, back when you were still unsure about them. Seeing his leg sleeve grow, especially the tattoos that represented memories you both shared, made you want to do something special. You especially enjoyed tracing his tattoos with your fingers and laying soft kisses on them during your intimate moments. He would often play with your hair absentmindedly, enjoying the attention. You wanted to share this interaction in reverse as well.

After months of research, you couldn’t find a tattoo that spoke to you. Ethan always urged you that sometimes you just need inspiration from the world, not from Instagram or Pinterest. You took it with a grain of salt eyeing some of the sillier tattoos on his leg. The fears of younger self came rushing back to you about making a mistake.

Then, one night, Ethan had this wild idea to go camping.

Uh huh, Ethan Dolan, camping, outside, willingly, without his twin brother. You kept checking his temperature the entire drive to the campsite. Ethan laughed, holding your wrist firmly, but not too tight as to hurt you. He looked at you, allowing the Tesla to take over the drive and leaned in to peck your lips.

“Trust me, when we get there, you’ll understand.” He said to you.

“I dunno...” You said, hesitantly, smiling as you pulled your wrist from his grasp to hold his hand. Your fingers interlocked and he brought the back of your hand up to kiss the back of it. He didn’t break eye contact and you chuckled.

“Now you’re just showing off.” You said, gesturing to the auto pilot with your free hand.

Ethan shrugged smugly, giving your hand another squeeze before fiddling with music playing the car.

By the time you arrived, the sun was about to set in a couple hours. You recognized the area from pictures Ethan had showed you from a video where he and Grayson went camping without technology. Unlike Grayson, Ethan had no intention of roughing which was easy to tell thanks to his glamping setup. Your tent was luxurious, way too big for two people and Ethan had brought enough blankets and pillows that they could be a fort all on it’s own. For dinner, he had made vegan meatballs with spaghetti and tomato sauce. He also made pancakes that he tried to pass of as crepes for dessert.

“It’s all I can make...” Ethan confessed, looking away embarrassed as he placed the pot of sauce on the logs of the campfire, next to the meatballs wrapped in aluminum fall.

“Thankfully, it’s my favorite.” You said, sitting in the spot next to him, checking on the meatballs to make sure they didn’t burn.

It was so quiet and spacious. After eating and chatting, you took a break before dessert to explore. Ethan led you up and down a few paths, holding your hand at the steepest points. You watched the sunset from a high point, your breath taken away. After taking a few nature shots and photos of each other, Ethan leaned in for kiss. His hand rested on the back of your neck and you deepened the kiss by getting close enough to sit in his lap. Your arms wrapped around his shoulders as your lips massaged his, gradually getting more rough. His tongue tapped at your lips and you parted them to grant him access, both of you now breathing deeply to keep from breaking the kiss. While it only seemed to seconds, you could see the sky was starting to lose it’s orange hue.

“We should head down,” You said breathlessly, breaking the kiss.

Ethan pulled back only slightly, your foreheads still chuckling, his hazel eyes looking chocolate brown in the dark as he stared deeply at you.

“You’re right.” He smiled, “We can do plenty more of that later.”

You giggled and he extended his hand to help you stand up with him. The descend was a lot scarier with less light. You were clinging on to him, but you were also aware he was scared and clinging out to you. It was the blind leading the blind with a chorus of “What was that?” “Where are you?” “I’m scared.” and just pure screaming. By the time you reached the bottom, following the light and smell for the weakening fire at your campsite, you were both laughing with relief.

You enjoyed your “crepes” with fruits that Ethan had packed in a cooler along with the cold beverages you had to drink. While you were chatting, you noticed, Ethan look up at the sky. You were about to follow suit when he grabbed your chin. He turned you to look at him and your breath caught in your throat. Every now and then, your mind was catapulted back to when you first started dating. When your brain was still processing all of his handsome features, his cut jaw, his full brows, his large expressive eyes, his pink lips, his shinning smile, his soft, brown locks...everything that made him breathtaking. With the campfire light shining his face, it all seemed to look brand new again and you loved it.

“Don’t look yet, I want to show you something.” He said, and you nodded.

He could have said anything to you at that moment and you would have nodded. Ethan chuckled.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” He asked, biting his lip softly.

“No reason...” You smiled, pecking his lips. “So, what do you want to show me?”

“Let’s clean up first.” Ethan said, gesturing to the stuff around you both.

You both divided and conquered cleaning up the campsite. The final step was to put on the fire. You decided to take on the task while Ethan got the flashlight ready to go back to your tent. You turned off the flashlights to not attract bugs as you entered. Despite the tent being large enough that you could stand, you both somehow managed to trip over each other. With lots of laughs and fake bickering, you finally closed the tent and turned the flashlight on.

“No turn it off.” Ethan said, not wanting to ruin the surprise.

“Oh okay...” You said hesitantly, laying back on one of the larger cushions. You turned off the flashlight. “Come here and cuddle me.”

“I will, I promise.” Ethan said, his voice at a distance that told you he was still standing up. You heard him unzipping something and you saw that he was moving the top of the tent. There was a plastic covering on top, similar to a sun roof on a car. From your position, you swear you could see the whole galaxy. The rich deep purple and blues of the sky speckled with diamonds filled you. It felt like your heart was going to burst. Ethan crouched down and gently patted the cushioned floor for you. He finally found your arm and laid down next to you pulling you closer to him. As your eyes adjusted to the darkness, Ethan studied your face as you stared incessantly at the sky like a kid watching cartoons.

“Are you crying?” His voice had a teasing tone, but he was whispering like he does when you cuddle at home.

“A little...” You admitted, snuggling into him. “This is so beautiful. Thank you.”

“I thought this would be a great way to show you how I feel when I look at you every day.” Ethan said, unable to make direct eye contact.

“God, E that was so corny.” You teased, but still inching closer for a kiss.

“Yeah...I know.” He agreed before closing the space between you to continue you where you left off on the mountain.

A couple of weeks later and you were at the tattoo parlor. You had decided on your tattoo based on your camping night together. You couldn’t stop thinking about those stars, and how they looked from that little sky roof. You wanted to get a similar view, but add to it, with some trees lining the area around the sky. After a few consultations with the tattoo artist, you decided a rectangle shaped “frame” on the side of your ribs designed to show a starry night in a pine tree forest. The coloring was going to be black and white, so it had a spooky element that Ethan really liked as well. Now, was the moment of truth.

As you signed the waiver, Taylor, your tattoo artist, smiled at you. They looked exactly how you wanted your first tattoo artist to look, friendly, edgy, and have really cool rainbow hair and even more rainbow tattoos.

“Are you sure about this?” They teased. “I mean...this is a pretty intense tattoo for your first.”

Ethan, who’s leg was bouncing up and down next to you, perked up at the words. “Taylor, is right, Y/N. The ribs really hurt. You should go for somewhere with more cushion.”

“I want the ribs.” You said, standing up with more confidence than you actually had.

“Alrighty,” Taylor said, “Come over when you’re ready. I’ll show you one final stencil and we will get this party going.”

Ethan stood up, giving your butt a light squeeze. Your eyes widened and you looked around to make sure no one saw.

“What do you think you’re doing, mister?” You asked, turning to wrap your arms around Ethan’s neck.

“Checking which places have the nicest cushion for this tattoo.” He grinned before kissing your forehead. “Jokes aside, I’ll be here when you need me.”

“I’ll be fine.” You assured him.

You were not fine. You were so close to crying, but your dignity wouldn’t let you. There were certain spots that hurt more than others, and your jagged breathing always revealed which ones the tattoo gun had just hit. Ethan was beside you the entire time. He was constantly giving you water, wiping your forehead, holding your head, kissing the top of your head and coaching you through it.

“It looks so sick, babe.” Ethan said, as he walked over to see how the tattoo was coming along. “You’re gonna love it. I’m actually pretty jealous.”

You let out a hum, which you had been doing for awhile now.

“You alright, hun?” Taylor asked, looking at you. “If you want, we can stop and finish another time.”

You shook your head quickly. “I...wanna...finish.” You huffed out.

“She’s a tough one, Tay.” Ethan grinned, making Taylor smile as well.

“I can tell.” Taylor said, before focusing back on their work.

Ethan sat down on your other side, dipping his head to look at you since your head was bent down. He rested his forehead gently on yours and you moved your head closer to him, taking in his scent.

“It really looks amazing, Y/N. Reminds me of that night.” Ethan said, his voice soft and full of nostalgia. “But, it’s also so you. I’m so proud of you, baby. Your first tat.”

You hummed again, trying to smile. He continued to pat your head and speak to you softly. Soon, Taylor announced you were done. They helped you stand up, Ethan steadying you from behind. You turned in the mirror and your eyes started to water. It was everything you hoped for. It looked great with your skin tone, even with the redness for the fresh tattoo.

“I’d hug you, but you know...” You laughed softly.

“We can hip bump on the other side.” Taylor suggested and you left as you turned to hip bump them.

Taylor wrapped you up and Ethan helped you to adjust your clothes. He practically carried you to the car. He didn’t want to hurt you, so he was very careful with you the entire time. He convinced you to spend the first half of your healing process at his place so he could take care of you. You agreed, mostly because you were so exhausted and the thought of sleeping in his large bed and soft sheets was appealing. He helped you to take off your clothes and clean up before helping you into bed for a nap.

Ethan spoiled you during your recovery. He helped you in and out of bed, waiting on you hand and foot. You loved the attention. Even when being intimate, Ethan was incredibly careful of your tattoo. When your tattoo was a lot more healed, you almost wished you had a bit more time with Nurse Ethan.

“It looks amazing, babe.” Ethan said, when he walked in on you getting dressed. You were in your bra and shorts, about to put on a t-shirt. “Come here.” He said, pulling you to the bed. He sat down and motioned for you to lay across his lap as he traced your tattoo with his fingers. This was exactly how you imagined it, no it was better. Your eyes began to feel heavy and you closed them, while Ethan continued to admire your tattoo.

“I love you, baby.” Ethan said, kissing your side.

“I love you too, E.”

#ethan dolan #ethan dolan x reader #ethan dolan scenario #ethan dolan blurb #ethan dolan imagine #dolan twins #dolan twins scenario #dolan twins fluff #dolan twins imagine #dolan twins blurb #r-writes-fic #fic-tattoo

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romioneficfest · 4 years

Text

Put a sickle in the swear jar

Title: Put a Sickle in the Swear Jar Prompt/Day: Day 11- St Mungo’s Tumblr name: Rating: PG Brief summary: Ron is having one of those days… (bit of a post-Hogwarts domestic day in the life) Any possible triggering/warning tags: one bad swear, blood, allusions to Ron and Hermione doing it.

Ron let their dog Chudley into the back garden, then collapsed onto the sofa with a heavy sigh. The shop had been unaccountably busy for a Thursday, and almost half their staff were out sick with Fwooper Flu, including George. He had a few investor meetings, a Ministry contractor for their Defense products, and had to simultaneously man the floor of their flagship shop so it wouldn’t be a complete disaster when his meetings convened.

As it always was when a shop was lean staffed, his work shift produced the worst customers in the world. Each was ‘talk to the manager’ types: high maintenance and generally unpleasant.

The very worst was a dad who had let his terror of a four-year-old go wild through the shop. He started his visit by setting off five decoy detonators in the potions aisle, then poured love potion into the pygmy puff enclosure, and ended it by licking the outside of the glass case full of sweets.

The kid’s dad had a ‘never tell your child the word no’ policy in place. He made quite a stink when Ron dared to use the dreaded word to his child when the blighter sprinted around the shop and nearly toppled a full display case of fart sprays. Ron was only lucky they had left the shop by the time his meetings started.

He had to do his meetings on the sales floor, but it gave him a chance to show off a new prototype. He set the Secrecy Spellorator down and it created a field about two meters wide where no one could hear them ‘plan mischief.’ It even turned the volume down to noises outside the field ‘so as not to distract you from your pranking plans.’ Ron explained its alternative uses for Defensive magic and overcrowded offices, and given the way their eyes lit up, Ron could tell the pitch had gone well.

Now all he wanted was some beer or a long nap, neither of which he had proper time for. He needed to pick Hugo up from school and figure out something for dinner. He languidly pulled his arm up to catch the time. Ugh, five minutes more and he might be late.

He slumped up the steps, changed from business robes into his much preferred Muggle clothes, and let the dog back in, before Apparating a few streets away from Hugo’s school. When he arrived, a few of the mothers were gathered and chatting about an upcoming event.

Maybe if he looked busy they wouldn’t try to rope him in… He fished in his pocket for his sporadically used mobile, but realized he’d forgotten it at home.

In moments he was surrounded.

“Ron! We were just talking about you! Weren’t we, Claire?”

“Yes!” she answered with an enthusiastic clap of her hands. Whenever they were talking about him it usually meant manual labour was needed. “We’re doing a school fundraiser the fifteenth and could use your help setting things up. Also, could you bring your bakewell buns? We’ve all been simply craving them since last year!”

His brain went horribly blank of excuses, but he was saved from having to answer by his son.

“Dad!” Hugo cried from across the schoolyard, a giant grin splitting his freckled face. Ron waved at him but blanched when Hugo started running. His overly large backpack wildly swang from one hand, while his puffy jacket flailed like a flag caught in the wind from his other. Ron could see disaster looming.

“Don’t run, Hugh!” Ron hollered. As if time had slowed he watched in horror as the strap of Hugo’s backpack caught his foot, sending the seven-year-old flailing. Normally Ron could have prevented a painful crash with his wand, but with all the mums about him he couldn’t pull his wand out in time.

Hugo face-planted straight into the ground, his giant thud pulling a chorus of high-pitched gasps from the mothers.

Ron sprinted to his son who was whimpering and not moving.

“Shhh now, you’re okay, little man,” Ron said, trying his best to sound calm as he removed the backpack from around Hugo’s ankle and turned him over.

“Oh shit!” Ron let out. His son’s large brown eyes filled with tears, and his mouth overflowed with blood. His chin looked to be split open as well. “Merlin! Er, okay, Hugh, we’re gonna get you to a healer, but I need to carry you ‘round the corner so the Muggle mums don’t see us Apparate, okay?”

“You- you g-gotsta put a sssickle in the sssswear jar,” Hugo managed to lisp, before breaking into a wail as he saw the blood hit the ground.

Ron scooped up his son, somehow managing to hold the backpack and jacket as well.

The mums all had a variety of questions as he tore down the street, but he simply yelled over his shoulder that his car was round the corner. Checking about him, he Apparated them to St Mungo’s waiting room.

He vaguely recognized the lady behind the check-in desk. Her glare jogged his memory. He might’ve yelled at her a year or two prior…

“My- my son. He fell, and —”

Her glare softened after noticing Hugo’s cries and the blood soaking through Ron’s jacket. Cleared of blood by the healers Ron was infinitely grateful to not be Muggle. Chipped teeth, split lip and lacerated chin… The kid was a mess! Hugo was healed in just a few minutes, leaving him with only a small plaster for his chin he’d need with a topical ‘scar-begone’ potion for a few days.

“Do you have any plasters with brooms on them?” Hugo asked, feet kicking against the exam table.

The healer shook their head.

“Trains?”

“Just beige, I’m afraid,” the healer said with an apologetic smile.

“Dragons?”

“Hugo, we have some at home,” Ron said, knowing Hugo would continue to name things if he wasn’t stopped. “Plus we have some ice cream with your name on it!”

Hugo let out a cheer. They took the Floo home, as Ron was far too tired and rattled to be Apparating with his son.

Ron and Hugo were working on their second helpings of ice cream when Hermione arrived home via Floo.

“Hello boys,” she said, before stopping in her tracks. “Ice cream? Ron, it’s not even five-thirty!”

“We deserve it, believe me.”

“We deserve it, Mum!” Hugo repeated, with a chocolate smeared grin. “Believe me!”

Ron told her about the day they’d each had, and Hugo was happy to inform her how ‘Dad hadn’t put his sickle in the swear jar yet.’ He also was in dire need of a better plaster for his chin.

By the end of the tale she had a cautiously amused look on her face, and went to get their boxes of plasters.

“Okay, Hugo, looks like we have trains or dragons.”

“Both!”

“Choose one.”

“But Mum, I deseeeerve it, believe me!” Hugo said, a pleading look on his face.

She and Ron traded smiles over his curly head.

“Just today, because you were so brave at the hospital.”

“Gryffindor!” Hugo declared, before running after the dog, two plasters on his chin.

“How are you after all those adventures?” she asked, cuddling into Ron’s side.

“Better now that you’re home,” he said, leaning down to kiss her. “You okay with ice cream for dinner?”

“Not my first choice, but I’ll manage.” She smiled at him. “Ginny should have Rose back from Quidditch practice soon.”

“Can I feed her ice cream too?” he moaned, closing his eyes.

“You don’t have to. She’s eating with Ginny and the kids.”

“Thank Merlin, because I feel like I’ve been pulled through a keyhole backwards.”

“Oh, I guess that means we can’t…” Hugo ran by and Hermione stopped herself. “Can’t ‘you know,’ tonight.”

“Can’t… Oh right! That!”

He felt a bit chagrined that they had to schedule it ahead, but the past few weeks hadn’t allowed for much spontaneity.

“Honestly…” he sighed, before looking sideways at his beautiful wife and slowly smiling. “I’ll manage.”

“We deserve it,” she grinned.

“It’ll be boring and passionless,” he teased, leaning in to plant a kiss on her neck, lingering a bit too long.

She shivered in pleasure. “Of course.”

“You won’t even have to put a silencing spell up,” he said before kissing her more deeply. “Over in five minutes.”

“I’ll prepare myself for the disappointment,” she purred. “Twice.”

“Twice?” he asked with a disbelieving look. She stared at him quite seriously before she broke and began laughing.

“Can you imagine?” she giggled.

“After the day I had?”

“On a school night?”

“Twice?!” they repeated, laughing and snorting,

There came a great crash from the other room. Hugo shouted ‘I’m ok!’ while Chudley barked. Ron began to get up, but Hermione pulled him back down to the couch.

“Don’t forget to put a sickle in the swear jar,” she said as she rose, going to check on their chaotic son.

#Romione FicFest 2020 #Fic Post #Romione #Ron Weasley #Hermione Granger #Submission #Queue Up for the Dragon #Rated PG #cw:#cw: blood

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jemej3m · 4 years

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HAVE U EVER THOUGHT OF A BAND!AU?? i love band au's and ur work!!! (not to mention but i think u would write an excellent drummer!andrew)

are you kidding me??? have i ever thought of a band au? bruh i breathe band au’s

also, i wanted this to be soft, so have some childhood friends starting a band out of their mum’s garage :DD

“Can I now?”

Neil ducked his head, trying not to show Andrew his grin. “No, ‘Drew.”

Andrew cocked his head. “How about now?”

Neil turned around and arched a singular eyebrow at the man. “You cannot shove your drum stick through Kevin’s brain, Andrew. Not now: not ever.”

“I hate you,” he muttered. Neil just grinned.

“You say the sweetest things to me, ‘Drew.” With that, he turned and continued to tune his acoustic. Behind him, Andrew was going bright red.

What started as a friendly, neighbourhood band had turned into something else entirely: Neil and Andrew were cramped backstage, tuning and warming up. Kevin was probably talking to his mom on the phone, whilst Nicky was most certainly trying to escape their security detail and go flirt with fans in the event centre’s foyer. He could charm a crowd.

They’d started the band up when they were just kids: Neil remembered Kevin grabbing him by the sleeve and dragging him across the street, where he’d noticed the three Dobson boys setting up instruments in their garage: Nicky on bass, Aaron on keyboard and Andrew on his drumkit.

Neil, having been only 11 whilst the others were 12 or 13, wasn’t as outspoken or enthusiastic about joining them as Kevin was.

“Come on, Neil,” Kevin insisted, dragging him by the elbow. “I’ll sing and you play the guitar. Okay?”

“It might be fun, Neil,” his sister, Dan, insisted, giving him a gentle push out the door. “It’s just messing around in a garage band. Nothing serious.”

If little Neil knew where he’d be, nine years later, he probably would’ve spontaneously combusted out of paranoia and fear.

Adult Neil still got anxious - he always wanted to perform his best - but it’d taken years of gigs and scouts and labels to work them up to where they were now. It was a gradual process, which definitely helped the whole stage-fright thing.

“What are you thinking about?” Andrew inquired, sitting down behind Neil and hooking his chin over Neil’s shoulder. He smiled, leaning back against his best friend.

“Just stuff,” he responded. “How we got here. Where we’ll go.”

“Next stop on the tour is D.C.”

“Funny.”

“Yes,” Andrew agreed, deadpan. “That’s what I’m known for.”

Neil just laughed, getting to his feet. “We’d better get ready before Kevin comes back.”

“Your brother is the worst,” Andrew grunted, following suit.

“At least we’re not related,” Neil grinned, jostling Andrew’s shoulder. “You can’t talk: you’re Aaron’s twin.”

Andrew just pointed a stick at Neil in warning.

The lights were flashing. Audience screaming. Neil opened his eyes out of his reverie and looked to his counterparts: Nicky was rushing up and down the front lines, giving out as many hugs as he could. Kevin was waving and blowing kisses. And Andrew -

He stood behind his drumkit, shirtless and dripping with sweat. He still bore his armbands, brimming with blades and secrets, and in his hands he loosely held his favourite pair of drumsticks, a pair Betsy had bought him, one’s he’d been careful to not break.

Neil’s mouth was dry as he walked over to where Andrew stood. A spotlight blazed from above, shrouding Andrew’s head and illuminating his hair like a golden halo. He looked angelic. He was angelic.

“You were amazing,” Neil said, voice lost under the cacophony of the crowd. His hand was reached out, gently brushing the bare skin of Andrew’s bicep. He didn’t know what he was doing anymore: the post-show euphoria was driving him.

Andrew didn’t need to hear him. He could read lips. Read intentions.

They were ushered off the stage soon after, Neil’s ears still ringing, his fingertips still burning. Andrew tugged on a fresh shirt, a towel around his neck. He had the most laborious job out of all of them, save maybe Kevin. Neil looked away from the way his hair curled at the nape of his neck.

“Good show,” Kevin panted, sweat sticking his hair to his forehead. Neil nodded, the exhaustion of playing for four hours settling in. His shoulders ached, fingertips raw with playing both his guitar and the keyboard (Neil filled Aaron’s vacancy when he’d fucked off to college) whilst his throat ached from countless harmonies and backups he sung for Kevin.

Genuine praise from Kevin was rare and prized for their band, and was usually reserved to the few moments after a performance finished. Then he’d go back to his regularly scheduled criticisms and evaluations.

“Wasn’t it?” Nicky grinned. “We are such hot shit sometimes! Anyway,” he slung his guitar off to the side, careless. Neil winced a little. “I’ve got a cutie waiting in my car, apparently.” He winked. “His name’s Erik and he’s built like a wall. I’ll see y’all tomorrow!”

“Jesus Christ,” Kevin said, not unkindly. They were all used to Nicky’s antics by now. He looked back to Neil. “You gonna stay with Andrew or me?”

Neil narrowed his eyes. Was he going to stay with his brother or his best friend? The choice wasn’t exactly hard to make.

Kevin put up his hands. “What? I thought you two’d had a lover’s spat or something, before the show.”

“Kevin,” Andrew warned, voice low.

“You guys weren’t as synthesised as you usually are,” Kevin continued. “Did Neil say something, again? Neil, what did you do?”

“Kevin,” Andrew snapped.

The man took his final warning with a grain of salt and rolled his eyes, peeling off to cool down and head back to the hotel. He left Neil standing in the middle of the corridor, baffled. What the fuck was he talking about? A lover’s spat?

“Don’t think too hard, junkie,” Andrew muttered, fingers hooked into the collar of Neil’s shirt. “He’s just sprouting his usual bullshit.” But Andrew couldn’t look him in the eyes.

“Right,” Neil agreed, smiling weakly. “You’re right. Sorry.”

“Shut up,” Andrew tugged him down the corridor with a finger hooked through Neil’s belt loop.

Neil went willingly. He always went willingly with Andrew. There was no one else in the world that he trusted more.

“What do you mean, you’re not a thing?”

Neil paused with his fingertips up to the door, ready to push it open. It seemed as though he had stumbled upon a conversation - perhaps not for Neil’s ears.

“He’s not interested,” Andrew said, sounding exhausted. “And I’m not about to pressure him into something he doesn’t want.”

Huh. Maybe they were talking about a new guy. Andrew didn’t date that often - or very successfully - and he was usually not willing to talk to Neil about it whenever it did happen. Neil wasn’t quite sure why but respected his boundaries nevertheless. He just didn’t know that Andrew went to Kevin about it.

Neil wondered who it was, this time. Roland? He’d been the most long-term thing Andrew had ever attempted. No, Andrew said he wasn’t interested in Roland. Unless he was lying.

Andrew doesn’t lie to me, Neil reminded himself.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Kevin insisted. “He’s been in love with you ever since he first saw you. Don’t give me that look, Andrew. Put away your knives.”

“Do you think so?” Andrew asked, voice low. Gravelly. Tainted by disbelief.

Something in Neil’s chest tightened. He sounded…hopeful. Neil was arbitrarily jealous. Who was this guy?

Wait, why was Neil jealous?

He pushed against the door, ignoring the way that the two of them shifted so that it didn’t look like they were engaged in conversation.

“We’re loading up the bus,” he supplied. “Time to get moving.”

And if Neil noticed the way that Andrew walked around him, careful not to brush their knuckles, well.

He didn’t say anything.

By the end of the third week, Neil couldn’t handle it anymore. He wasn’t sure what he’d done, or why Andrew was so adamant in avoiding him, but he hated it. He hadn’t felt this isolated since his early years when his father would shut him in a wardrobe and his mother would scold him for eliciting his father’s ire, before both of his parents died and Wymack adopted him into his strange little family, brought him into the tiny cul de sac where Betsy Dobson and Abby Winfield lived with their own collections of abandoned kids.

“Andrew,” he mumbled as he watched Andrew tuck himself into his own bed. They were sleeping in the same hotel room but they were millions of miles away from each other. Neil felt stiff and confused.

Resigned, he shut the light off.

“Fix it,” Kevin demanded.

“Fix what?”

“Just tell him already. It’s getting nauseating.”

Neil narrowed his eyes. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Kevin threw Neil’s lyric notepad back at him. “‘Living limbless, lost, lonely, ever since you went and left me’? What do you mean, what am I talking about? I thought you two were already together - now he’s saying you were never interested? What the fuck, Neil. You’ve been practically married for years.”

Neil blinked. “Me and -”

“Andrew, yes, who else?” Kevin continued, irritable as he scrawled down new ideas. “You’re so fucking dense sometimes - ow!”

Neil stuck out his tongue, satisfied with the large black line his thrown pen had left behind. He fished out another pen from his bag and kept writing, letting Kevin’s banter distract him from how painful his chest felt.

The tour was ending. They were looping back to South Carolina. Andrew hardly looked at him anymore, let alone spoke to him. Kevin looked at Neil with pity. Nicky tried to cheer everyone up with icecream.

Neil couldn’t understand why they were falling apart. What had he done? What had he said?

The screams irked him. They sounded less ecstatic and more afraid. Neil was falling apart onstage, overthinking. They’d just played for Charleston, one of their last stops on the tour.

The curtains came down. Neil couldn’t move. The others were already off the stage. Neil couldn’t breathe.

“Neil,” Andrew said. He couldn’t look Andrew in the eye. How was he to explain that Andrew’s estrangement had left him in such a miserable state that he could hardly perform without breaking down?

“Neil, look at me.”

Neil closed his eyes. “Whatever I did - I’m sorr -”

“Abram,” Andrew whispered, before pressing a bruising kiss to Neil’s lips. His eyes flew open, though he didn’t move. It didn’t matter: Not a moment later, Andrew ricocheted back, hand over his own mouth. In his other hand, his favourite drumsticks snapped, falling to the floor in uneven halves.

By the time Neil had opened his mouth, Andrew was gone.

Neil spent the drive to the pub they’d chosen to ride out their performance high in silence. Andrew was stoic and unmoving, silent despite Nicky’s attempts at conversation. When they arrived, Neil felt like he wanted to throw up.

It was bustling at the late hour, but dark enough to slip in unnoticed. Neil followed Andrew up to the bar: at one point, someone shoved into Andrew and Neil felt him press Neil against the marble top, warm from shoulder to shin. Neil wanted to lean back into him. He wanted Andrew to look at him, to talk to him. He wanted Andrew back. He wanted Andrew.

Quickly, he turned around, ignoring the bar tender when he asked if he was sure he wanted a virgin martini. Andrew was right there, pupils blown, cheeks red. Angry.

He was furious.

“Andrew,” Neil insisted. “Why -”

He grabbed the tray of drinks and disappeared before Neil could form a sentence.

And - well. Neil wasn’t known for subordination.

He waited patiently for the others to get drunk and disappear into the crowd, like they always did. Sometimes Nicky dragged Neil with him, if the night was right. Andrew usually just sat, patiently waiting for his family to return to him. His whiskey sips were cautious and slow.

Tonight was different. As soon as they were alone, Andrew stood, knocked back the entire glass and strode towards the exit. Neil let his breath hitch and followed, almost jogging in order to keep up with Andrew’s stride.

“Andrew, this is insane,” he said as they walked down the street, leaving the bar behind. “I’m losing my mind here. Why won’t you talk to me? Why won’t you even look at me? What did I do?”

“Exist,” Andrew snarled, hands curled into fists and shoved into the pockets of his denim jacket.

Neil ran ahead of him, almost tripping over the uneven sidewalk. They’d walked far enough that they seemed to have removed themselves from any remnants of the club, and instead were stood in front of a circular, patheon-esque church and its haphazard graveyard.

Andrew stopped walking and stared. In the moonlight his skin was pale enough to be translucent.

“Tell me,” Neil whispered. “Truth for truth. We promised, Andrew. To never lie, to never leave. Why did you kiss me?”

“You promised,” Andrew corrected him. “I swore I would have your back. Does that have to constitute being attached at the hip?”

Neil crossed his arms, petulant.

Andrew’s sigh was aggravated. “It was never meant to be a problem.”

“What was?”

“You.”

“Andrew -”

Fingers curled in the collar of his shirt, then slipped across the warm skin at the nape of his neck, then tangled themselves into Neil’s hair. Andrew pulled their foreheads together, squeezing his eyes closed too tight. Neil wanted to iron out the crease between his brows.

“‘Drew?”

“Shut up,” the man croaked. “Shut up. Shut up.”

“Andrew,” Neil said, weakly. “I wanted to kiss you.”

Andrew’s nails dug into Neil’s scalp. “No you didn’t.”

“Yes,” his fingers carefully found their way onto Andrew’s jaw, forcing the man to look up at him. “I did.”

Andrew just swallowed, red-cheeked.

Neil pulled Andrew closer, head dropping to Andrew’s shoulder. His heart throbbed like a drumbeat, heavy and insistent and never, ever out of time. “Is that what this is about?”

“No,” Andrew lied.

“I think I like you, ‘Drew,” Neil whispered into the skin of Andrew’s neck. “I think I really do.”

“I hate you,” Andrew managed, sliding his hands around Neil’s waist and holding him close under the Charleston moonlight. “I hate you.”

“I know,” Neil managed, closing his eyes. It made a lot more sense, now.

Between their erratic breathing and racing pulses, a drumbeat formed.

#andreil #pining #band au #drummer andrew #guitarist neil #they're soft and in love #childhood friends #betsy dobson is a good mother #and wymack is a good father #musician au #all for the game #andrew minyard #neil josten #aftg #oblivious neil josten #jem writes

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rickyriddle · 4 years

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AnR: a study of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder

Hey there! So here’s another analysis, not about a specific character, but AnR characters that would fit the psychopath/sociopath/antisocial personality disorder/conduct disorder. Those who are familiar with my other analysis would probably guess that I’ll be talking about Otoya. But I also referred to Nio and Hitsugi as sociopaths in previous analysis. I want to correct certain things I may have said that was incorrect as well as used more recent discovery I made about those disorders. I also want to include another character I didn’t really talk about regarding psychopathy/ASPD: Yuri Meichi. Without further ado, let’s take a look at those four characters and if weather or not they fit the diagnosis.

First I’ll explain the different distinction between the different conditions based on my understanding of those:

Primary Psychopathy: Most commonly referred as psychopathy. When specialists talk about psychopaths, most of the time they mean those who have primary psychopathy. Primary psychopathy is innate, meaning that primary psychopaths are born that way. Primary psychopathy is characterized by callousness, shallow affect, manipulation, and superficial charm. Not all primary psychopaths have antisocial personality disorder. They all have certain narcissistic traits (such as grandiose) but again, not all primary psychopaths could be diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder either. Primary psychopaths have a defecting empathy, meaning that they can’t and will never feel empathy. They are usually viewed as high-functioning.

Secondary psychopathy: Usually referred to as sociopathy, even tho the term sociopath is outdated. Secondary psychopaths are made, they have been mold that way by their environment and possible trauma. Secondary psychopathy is associated with impulsivity and lack of long-term goals, and is related to hostile behaviors. Unlike primary psychopaths, secondary psychopaths are often emotionally unstable and can experience guilt and empathy. Their empathy isn’t defective but instead dysfunctional. All secondary psychopaths meet the criteria for antisocial personality disorder and they are more likely to also have borderline personality disorder. They are also more likely to be low-functioning.

Antisocial Personality Disorder: Also often used as a synonyme of sociopathy. The criteria are failure to obey laws and norms, lying, deception, and manipulation for profit or self-amusement, impulsive behavior, irritability and aggression, blatantly disregards the safety of self and others, a pattern of irresponsibility and lack of remorse. The person needs to be at least 18, have conduct behavior before 15 and the antisocial behaviors aren’t related to schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. People with ASPD can feel empathy and love towards those they bond with and their level of functioning depends of their IQ, education and environment.

Conduct Disorder: Considered the precursor of ASPD. Conduct disorder is characterized by antisocial behaviors in children and teenagers. The causes can be diverse, such as genetic, environment or even a low IQ. The signs of conduct disorder are bullying, aggressiveness, use of weapons, cruelty (towards humans or animals), stealing, forced sexual activities, vandalism, deceptiveness and serious rule violation. Whether those issues are treated or not can determine if those antisocial behaviors will continue in adulthood (and become ASPD) or not.

In this analysis, I’ll refer to primary psychopathy as PP, secondary psychopathy as SP, antisocial personality disorder as ASPD, conduct disorder as CD and narcissistic personality disorder as NPD.

In two of my recent posts I mentioned something Minakata said in KnR Room 4: “Recognizing that Otoya is an intrinsic psychopath and that Hitsugi is an acquired psychopath due to the environment and breeding.”

To me, there was no doubt that Otoya is a psychopath (PP). Minakata confirmed that Otoya is born that way therefore, she’s a primary psychopath. Then for Hitsugi, in her analysis I interpret the acquired psychopath as secondary psychopathy. And when I made the analysis, I thought that SP = ASPD and refer to Hitsugi as a sociopath, but given what I learned recently it might have been incorrect.

So, Minakata wrote psychopath “サイコパス” (saikopasu), which is based on the English word, therefore an anglicism. It sounds more like the pop-culture term instead of the medical term, which is 精神病質 (seishinbyō-shitsu). Therefore, I can be 100% that Minakata used the term psychopath in the medical sense and instead may just be a catch-all term for PP/PS/ASPD/CD. So, “acquired psychopath” doesn’t necessarily mean “secondary psychopath” but rather that Hitsugi acquire traits that are often associated with the whole psychopathy/ASPD spectrum. But, I firmly believe that “intrinsic psychopath” means “primary psychopath” since it’s the only condition among the spectrum who is innate.

So now that I correct that, let’s analyse the said characters and see if they fit any of those diagnosis.

Otoya, Hitsugi and Nio would all technically fit the CD diagnosis. They tend to be bullies, aggressive, use weapons (granted they are assassins but still), cruel, forced sexual activities (for Otoya, may or may not be applicable to Hitsugi), they are extremely deceptive and do violate rules. All of those behaviors are way more serious than a regular teenager rebellion and does harm others. But, even if they could all be diagnosed with CD (given that they are all underage) those three are all different and will probably have different diagnosis as they grow older. So let’s analyse them separately.

I’ll start with the easiest, Otoya. As I said, we know Otoya is born that way, therefore a PP. But just to be sure, let check if she does fit the criteria:

Callousness: I think it’s pretty obvious that Otoya has no sympathy or empathy for anyone and a total disregard for others. She’s insensitive and has no issues with abusing, torturing and killing people.

Shallow affect: This one mean shallow emotions. It doesn’t mean a lack of emotions, just that the emotional responses are low. I’m gonna base it on the manga version and say that despite Otoya’s cheerful attitude, she’s pretty emotionally shallow. Her cheerfulness is just an act. We can see after she failed and during KnR 5 that she’s actually quite cold.

Manipulation: Manipulation is basically Otoya’s middle name. All she does in the series is deceive, lie and manipulate to achieve her goals and simply for her personal pleasure. It’s as natural as breathing to her.

Superficial charm: I’d say Otoya is rather charismatic, she can easily charm people and gain their trust, but we know it’s not sincere. She’s smooth, engaging, charming, slick and voluble.

Otoya also have a defective empathy. You can’t possibly have empathy and commit all the atrocities she did, and she also show no remorse for her actions. She’s incapable of feeling those emotions. PP are born with a thinner amygdala, which is responsible for empathy, stress and fear. Her brain is incapable to feel empathy and remorse and never will.

But, Otoya’s actions show that she might not only be a PP. Otoya is a sadist who feel sexual pleasure from torturing and killing women. I don’t think we will argue if I say that she probably have sadistic personality disorder and sexual sadism disorder, as well as erotophonophilia (paraphilia of sexual arousal and gratification from the death of a human being, also known as lust murder). Those are not always linked to PP. In fact, unlike what people think, PP are rarely killers or even sadist, most of them are high-functioning and have normal jobs and aren’t committing any crimes. But, it’s true that most serial killers were either psychopaths or have ASPD, or both.

As I said earlier, Otoya would probably be diagnosed with CD. CD isn’t necessary to be a PP but it is for the ASPD diagnosis, meaning that in addition of being a PP, Otoya also have ASPD (well, technically she’s 16 so she couldn’t be officially diagnosis, but it’s safe to assume her behaviors won’t change at this point). At the very least, we can say that Otoya is antisocial, and PP and ASPD are often comorbid. Let’s see if she fits the criteria of ASPD:

Failure to obey laws and norms: I mean… she’s a goddamn serial killer who kills for sexual pleasure.

Lying, deception, and manipulation for profit or self-amusement: This is a trait that overlap with PP. I already explained her manipulative nature.

Impulsive behavior: This one may seems to contradict the shallow emotions. Impulsive means making reckless decision or spontaneous decision. It means that if she has a sudden desire, she may not resist it. Impulsive isn’t a synonym of hot-headed (being easily or constantly mad). You can have low emotions and still be impulsive. So yes, Otoya is rather impulsive, she tends to make decision on a whim without thinking of consequences.

Irritability and aggression: Again, even if someone is emotionally shallow doesn’t mean they have zero emotions. With the right trigger, even someone cold can get irritated and aggressive. In Otoya’s case, she can be quite aggressive if someone interrupt her when she’s having “fun” (aka torturing and killing) as we saw when Tokaku saved Haru from her.

Blatantly disregards the safety of self and others: In the manga Otoya was getting her ass kicked by Tokaku yet she continued to laugh and enjoy herself despite her injuries. The girl doesn’t care about her own safety and given her occupation, she doesn’t care about others’ safety either.

A pattern of irresponsibility: Otoya went overboard with killing and ended up attractive the attention of a detective, reason why she joined Class Black. Instead of recognizing that what she’s doing is wrong, she blames the detective for ruining her fun and literally want a serial killer insurance so she’ll never have to get into trouble for killing. I think it’s a form of irresponsibility, instead of fixing her behaviors or at least be more careful, she prefers to just have someone to clean up her mess forever.

Lack of remorse: Another trait that overlap with PP. I don’t think I need to explain this one again.

So in conclusion, Otoya is born a psychopath, but acquired antisocial behaviours due to her environment as well as sadism. Her natural lack of empathy probably make those easier to acquire. Otoya will never genuinely change as a person, she may change her behaviour to get what she wants but she will always the same. Right now, she would be diagnosed with PP and CD, but it makes no doubt that when she’ll be 18 she would be diagnosed with ASPD. So my final diagnosis: Antisocial Primary Psychopath.

Then, we have Hitsugi. So let’s throw the PP out of the possibility since we know she isn’t born that way and was mold by her environment. I would also discard SP given that Hitsugi seems pretty high-functioning as a person. SP tend to be anxious, fearful, hostile and emotionally unstable and it doesn’t seem to be the case with Hitsugi. On the contrary, Hitsugi said that she doesn’t feel much, showing that she does have shallow emotions (not a lack of emotions, mind you). As I said earlier, Hitsugi would most likely be diagnosed with CD. Hitsugi has no problem with hurting and killing people if it suits her or even just for curiosity and she didn’t feel any remorse for that. She’s deceptive, manipulative and a pathological liar. Regarding the forced sexual activities I mentioned earlier, I’m not saying that Hitsugi is a rapist or a sexual predator like Otoya seems to be. I meant it in a way that Hitsugi seems somewhat forceful and assertive when it comes to intimacy, kissing Chitaru even if the latter may not fully consent or be comfortable with it (I’m mainly referencing their second kiss after Chitaru learned the truth and was distressed, it was, in my opinion, inappropriate for Hitsugi to kiss her and seemed like she was taking advantage of Chitaru’s vulnerability).

It’s true, however, that Hitsugi loves and feel regrets for hurting Chitaru, but that’s because she bond with her. Hitsugi doesn’t feel remorse for any other people than Chitaru. Also, it’s true that Hitsugi shows signs of low-self esteem, which is not mutually exclusive with CD. In fact, from what I read, it’s common. I suppose that those with CD who grow up to have ASPD eventually lose their low self-esteem, but Hitsugi is still young.

We don’t know exactly Hitsugi’s past but we can assume that she was brought into the assassination business at a young age and that she eventually lost her capacity to have empathy and started to feel empty. But, thanks to Chitaru, in a way, Hitsugi was able to reconnect with her lost feelings and there may be some hope for her to outgrow her CD and not develop ASPD. But, if Hitsugi never met Chitaru or met her as an adult, there’s no doubt in my mind that she would have ASPD (but not be a SP).

So in conclusion, Hitsugi isn’t born like that, she was mold by her environment, and she does exhibit a lot of antisocial behaviours. So my final diagnosis: Conduct Disorder with chances of antisocial tendencies in adulthood.

Now let’s analyse Nio. In my analysis of her I did say she may have ASPD, but I clarified that given her age she would rather be diagnosed with CD. Nio is unlikely to have PP given that she’s capable of bonding and feeling genuine love. So, when she’ll be 18, would she still be more likely to have regular ASPD or SP?

First, let’s see if she does fit the ASPD criteria:

Failure to obey laws and norms: Even if Nio is following Yuri’s orders, she doesn’t seem to be someone who follow rules in general or the law. She doesn’t listen to her teacher and did broke the Clack Rules (she tried to kill Haru without sending a notice). I don’t have much example for this one.

Lying, deception, and manipulation for profit or self-amusement: Nio’s whole character is about deception. She acts all cheerful, enthusiastic and friendly while truly she doesn’t care about others, she even said she hate them, and enjoy seeing them fail and suffer. She did lied several time and manipulated Haru, all of this mainly for profit or just for fun.

Impulsive behavior: I wouldn’t say Nio is particularly impulsive nor do I really have example, except maybe her decision to kill Haru.

Irritability and aggression: Even if Nio acts friendly, she clearly stated hating all her classmates and got pretty angry with Haru at the end, probably because she was tired of pretending.

Blatantly disregards the safety of self and others: Nio did choose to fight Tokaku one on one even tho Tokaku is a much better fighter. Nio is ready to take risks. She doesn’t care about others’ safety as she gladly accepted to let Haruki try to commit suicide to win (with a huge grin on her face).

A pattern of irresponsibility: Not much instance in the series except in her flashbacks where we see she was a really undisciplined child. We can assume that even if she used to be irresponsible, with Yuri’s strict education it wouldn’t weird if Nio lost this trait over time.

Lack of remorse: Nio never showed genuine sympathy or empathy towards anyone (except Yuri) and doesn’t seem to have any remorse for any of her actions.

She fits most of them but not perfectly. But as I said, ASPD can only be diagnosed as an adult and Nio is only 15. So it’s possible that she might not have developed fully all the ASPD traits. To me, given that she’ll remain with Yuri, who basically abused her as a kid and groomed her, it’s unlikely that she will change. She’ll most likely have ASPD in adulthood. And, given that her relationship with Yuri is unhealthy, there’s a chance that she might end up more emotionally unstable. Abusive relationship on long-term have terrible effect on one psyche. So to me, Nio eventually turning to a secondary psychopath would be a high possibility.

The differences between Nio and Hitsugi regarding their respective relationship is that even if ChitaHitsu is also toxic, the abusive one is Hitsugi, not her partner. So there’s a chance that thanks to Chitaru’s influence she might change and outgrow her CD. Nio on the other end is the victim, Yuri being the abusive one. If Nio grows while still being affected by Yuri’s abuse she’s unlikely to get better.

In conclusion, Nio currently has CD and will most likely have ASPD as an adult as well as SP. She’s not born that way and was mold by her environment and Yuri’s abuse. My final diagnosis: Conduct Disorder with future Antisocial Personality Disorder and possible Secondary Psychopathy.

And now, last but not least, Yuri Meichi. Now you might remember that in my last psychopaths/sociopaths anime characters list I said that Yuri was either a psychopath or a high-functioning sociopath. Well, let’s break it down.

Yuri being an adult I won’t mention CD for her. So let see if she’s born that way or mold by comparing PP and SP criterial. Callousness? Yuri doesn’t seem to care about anyone and is pretty insensitive to others pain. Shallow affect? Well, Yuri is pretty emotionally shallow. She barely show any emotion except what appears to be mild-interest. Throughout the entire series she almost only smile calmly, even while beating up a kid. She’s a calm and cold person. Manipulation? There isn’t much instances that show if Yuri is manipulative, but we did see that she manipulate Nio as a kid and basically groomed her. Superficial charm? Yuri is quite charismatic. She can be smooth, engaging, charming, slick and voluble and we know it isn’t sincere.

What about the SP traits? Impulsivity and lack of long-term goals? Yuri pretty much succeeded in life and is one of the most powerful person in the world who is always calm and rational. Hostile behaviors? Yuri can be intimidating as a person, but she isn’t acting in a hostile and aggressive way.

So it doesn’t seem that Yuri have SP and is more likely to have PP, therefore be born that way. But could she also have ASPD? Let’s see.

Failure to obey laws and norms: Yuri makes me think she’s lawful evil. She makes the law.

Lying, deception, and manipulation for profit or self-amusement: She does that, but it’s also a trait that overlap with PP.

Impulsive behavior: Nope.

Irritability and aggression: Nope.

Blatantly disregards the safety of self and others: Disregards for others perhaps, even thought she didn’t let the injured assassins dies (yet let countless people die for the clan).

A pattern of irresponsibility: Not really

Lack of remorse: Yes, but again, it overlap with PP.

So it seems that all the ASPD traits Yuri has are also PP traits. So therefore, I don’t think she would qualify as having ASPD. And given that she’s 30 now, she’s unlikely to change.

So in conclusion, Yuri is most likely born that way. My final diagnosis: Primary Psychopathy

Phew, that was long. So, among the four characters I analysed, they are all at different places on the spectrum. Here’s a good diagram to illustrate it. I’ll show on it where the characters are or will be in a couple of years:

Thanks for reading, if you have any comments or questions feel free to ask me and see you next time!

#akuma no riddle #riddle story of devil #anr #Otoya Takechi #Hitsugi Kirigaya #Nio Hashiri #Yuri Meichi #psychopathy #primary psychopathy #secondary psychopathy #psychopath #sociopath #antisocial personality disorder #ASPD #conduct disorder #analysis

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