#where some random sentence or sound or smell
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and so Vegeta spent the rest of the afternoon desperately trying to remember if that was actually true or if it was just something Nappa made up in order to force Vegeta to share a bunk with Raditz and give himself some extra space.
Headcanon: Vegeta and Raditz were brothers and I cannot be convinced otherwise. Not nicey-nicey brothers like Gohan and Goten but like awful, antagonistic, constantly squabbling brothers who made Nappa lose what was left of his hair from stress. Nor is it a sentiment that either Raditz or Vegeta would ever admit to, not even to themselves, not under pain of death.
But like at some point when Goten is really little he'll refer to Vegeta as his uncle, which Vegeta will vehemently reject. He is adamant that Kakarot was not his brother, therefore he cannot be Goten's uncle. Unfortunately when the word 'brother' passes his lips Raditz's stupid face flashes in his mind's eye and this cannot be undone.
#arty nemie#dbz#vegeta#nappa#raditz#kid trunks#goten#also catch me with the headcanon that vegeta doesn't actually remember all that much about his childhood#because the first 30 years of his life were spent compartmentalising the shit out of everything#so like if someone asks him#what were you doing when you were the age your son is now#he draws a blank#but shit like this will happen#where some random sentence or sound or smell#will just make him re-remember#like cut scene unlocked!
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hiiii okay so I had an idea for like Coryo x little sister where she’s about 12 years old and she looks just like her mom and Coryo, Tigris, and Grandma’am just love her so much BUT she somehow ends up in the hunger games s a tribute and she becomes like besties with Wovey, Reaper, and Lucy- plus she’s giving Coryo a heart attack every five minutes especially during the bombing- finally during his peacekeeper era when he finds out they were evicted she was taken from their custody and so when he comes back with the plinth fortune and all that she just runs up and is all cuddly with him and he’s like “u know what fuck custody paperwork” and just snatches her back home- thank u sooo much💗
SAFE AND SOUND
pairings: coriolanus snow x younger!sister!reader, lucy gray x younger!sister!reader
summary: somehow you’d ended up in the games, snow and lucy would do anything to keep you safe.
warnings: murderrr, possessive/selfish thoughts, child endangerment, cheating, rude ass corio, fluff in the end nd a little happy fam, deter from og storyline, protective lucy and snow, family dynamics, theyd do anything to make sure you’re okay
a/n: i did change the story line a little!!
the drones were whirring about you.
people were being knocked down as lucy grabbed you and ran to safety. “keep with me baby girl!” she shouted as you ran, your legs ached but you knew what would happen if you stopped.
coriolanus couldn’t breathe until you were safe. which is why he exhaled a long and heavy breath when you and lucy settled into the vent again. everyone around him was quiet for once, they laughed at all the tributes except you. they all loved you, every time coriolanus brought you around their horrible personalities and stuck up selves melted away with your adoring smile and sweet voice.
reprieve, or so you thought, came in the form of the large tube in front of you. but based off of lucy’s face you knew something was up, and as wovey walked towards it you couldn’t help but shout and cry for her.
“down goes wovey!” thank god. coriolanus thought. that idiotic girl was impulsive and silly, she shouldn’t have lasted as long as she did. she almost killed you with her stupidity, brung you along to her execution as you cried for her to stop.
you’d survived. somehow.
in the history of the games there had only been two victors. so far.
but at what cost? your brother had been sentenced away to district 12 and the only other person who shared any understanding for what you went through was no where to be found. in the wind, gone.
so you did what you thought best.
you ran.
all the way to twelve and the comfort of your dear older brother.
he was going insane. he’d lost you and lucy. sejanus was god knows where and probably planning something illegal. he was stressed the fuck out and all he wanted was a hug from you. for you to put secret braids in his hair when you thought he was sleeping, for you to kiss his cheek every morning before rambling on about school.
the place was alive as she sang. everyone danced but coriolanus stared. he’d found one half of the puzzle. lucy looked amazing and he found himself relaxing at the sound of her voice.
you’d peeked through the window. the noise had drawn you to it. it was your first day alone, ever, and in the worst district. you were scared beyond measure but soon to be saved as you caught a glimpse of lucy twirling on stage, her eye-line drawing you to corio.
the hug from behind caught him off guard but had his mind spinning as he recognised the small hands gripping oh so tightly at his waist. the bracelet he’d made so long ago and the smell of roses, which for once wasn’t himself, and hadn’t been for a while.
“y/n.” he breathed out as you laced your arms around his neck, “i came from the capitol. i hate it corio. they took me away from our family and put me with some random family. i don’t like it, i miss you. please, don’t take me back.” you cried as he lifted you up, resting on his hip as he made his way outside, lucy following in tow as she wiped away tears after seeing your sweet face.
the lake was quiet and tame, slow waves lapping at the jetty and land as you lay curled up in corio’s lap, lulled to sleep by lucy’s melodies. and whilst the trio of you all had no idea what the future held it all didn’t matter in this moment. you felt happy, and you hadn’t felt it in so long. corio and lucy were your family, and you loved them.
corio had done horrible things in his life, the second you were drawn into the games nothing else mattered besides keeping you safe. those horrible things were known to few, one of them being the songbird to your left.
and no would ever tell you these things.
all that mattered?
you were safe and sound with them, they’d made sure of it.
#coriolanus snow x fem!reader#coriolanus snow x reader#coriolanus x reader#lucy gray baird#lucy gray x reader#hunger games x reader
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Swear
hotch doesn’t swear. or at least he didn't, until he met you.
Female bau!reader x hotch. Cw: mentions of alcohol and reader being drunk, creepy man saying slightly creepy words to reader, swearing. Slight talks of anxiety, self blaming, guilt. Random man tries to get w drunk reader at a bar, hotch comes to her defense.
“To catching another dumb son-of-a-bitch!”
Raised glasses filled your mildly limited vision as your toast echoed bounced around the table. The night didn’t always end like this, but when it did, the team made sure to celebrate enough to last the whole year.
Today’s case was particularly satisfying. There was nothing like putting handcuffs on a seriously cruel offender that put a smile on your face and fuelled tequila shot after tequila shot. although, you wouldn't deny that perhaps it fuelled a little too much drinking.
“I’m pretty sure the ladies is on the left, Derek. Are you forgetting that my name is literally on the regular’s list?” Your own words sounded unusually slurred, but you didn't bother questioning anything that was happening in the moment.
The man in front of you chuckled, letting go of his grasp on your forearm as he lifted his own defensively, raising his suspicious brows with a smile. “Alright, alright. Didn’t know we were still on duty. Go wherever you want, agent. Just don’t get lost, and don’t blame us when you see something you do not wanna see.”
You rolled your eyes as you stumbled away, using the light of your phone to shine at the approaching door of the washroom. Once you reached the hard door, you stuffed your phone into your pant pocket and pushed on the flat surface.
“Woah-“
You felt the gulf of cold air hitting your face before you could register what had happened. A middle aged man stood dazed in front of you, his expression sweetening by the second, and it was right then that you realized Derek was totally right.
“Uh, I’m so sorry. I thought this was the women’s washrooms. Clearly I need to revisit my directions,” you tried to chuckle.
The stranger flashed you a toothy grin, and while you probably didn’t smell any better, you swore the man would catch on fire if you dropped a match.
“That’s all right, sweetheart. Here, where are you headed? I can give you a ride.”
You only now registered how close he was, and how close you were to the wooden wall behind you. You tried to look over his shoulder, but he mirrored your movements, smile so intact yours started to falter.
“Excuse me- get out of the way." Even though the music was being blasted at an unreasonable volume, your clear voice still rung throughout the room.
He laughed. “Come on, sweetie. You were the one to bump into me. Shouldn’t you…” he stepped closer again, “…make up for it?”
Your smile had fallen completely by this point, and you crossed your arms as you spoke, “I’ll say it one more time, sir. Get out of my face.”
“Just give me a little-“
the flash of a familiar red tie swung past you.
“You heard what she said.”
Looming behind the sweaty man was hotch, suit still impressively pristine as it was at the beginning of the day, but furrowed brows seemingly worse.
The man’s face flushed red at the interruption, and had you not felt so cold and had your hands not been shaking, you would’ve laughed at this stranger’s ridiculous appearance.
“And who the hell are you?”
“You shouldn’t be the one asking questions."
You uncrossed your arms, attempting to step in his direction. “hotch, let’s just go-“
Out of the corner of your eye, you saw an arm reach towards your waist.
“Hey, baby, don’t go away so soo-“
The sound of skin colliding hit your ears much aggressively than the blaring music. You looked down to see hotch’s hand firming gripping onto the man’s wrist, his arm just about to make contact with your body, no doubt.
“She told you to go away,” hotch whispered.
the guy sighed. “hey, relax man. come on, you get it. I’m just- you know, tryna get some action from this pretty little-” his sentence was interrupted by a nasty groan.
He toppled over, nearly in half, as hotch crouched down to his level, hand still squeezing his wrist.
“Maybe you didn’t hear her. She said to fuck off.”
The bar went silent. You swore someone had lowered the sound of the music, and it seemed everyone had stopped drinking and laughing to catch a glimpse of the situation.
The man managed to twist his arm to escape hotch's grasp, quickly scurrying to the front. You sighed a breath of relief as the door opened and the man practically ran away.
“Thank you-“
“Come on,” he murmured as he extended his arm, and you instinctively grabbed his forearm as you both began to walk.
You chuckled. “I’ve never heard you swear before.”
“I only use it when I need to,” he smiled.
“Wow. So I ruined somewhat of a clean streak, huh?”
He stopped. He turned around, eyes reflecting onto yours with the slight smile still wavering on his face. “You didn’t ruin anything.”
The seemingly immeasurable adrenaline finally stopped pumping in your blood, and the repressed tears finally made their space in your eyes. You returned his smile, giving his arm a firm squeeze as you whispered,
“Thank you.”
-
A/n: oh to have hotch comfort me and tell me I didn’t mess anything up 😔
#wyniepooh#aaron hotchner x you#aaron hotch fanfiction#aaron hotch fluff#aaron hotchner x reader#aaron hotch x reader#aaron hotchner imagine#aaron hotch imagine#ssa aaron hotchner#aaron hotchner#aaron hotch hotchner#aaron hotch x you#aaron hotch fic#hotchner x reader#hotch imagine#hotch#hotch x reader#hotch x you#aaron hotchner x y/n#ssa hotchner#agent hotchner#hotch x y/n#hotch x female reader#hotch x fem!reader#aaron hotchner x female reader#criminal minds imagine#criminal minds#criminal minds fanfiction#criminal minds x reader#criminal minds x you
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Little Secrets
bbf!Ellie Williams x Reader
Summary: Your older brother swore to her that if she layed a finger on you, she’d be in some deep shit. Let’s just say neither of you listened to him.
2.3k words (i’m sorry)
warnings: Smut (😮) oral, fingering, tit play (r! receiving) swearing.
a/n: havent wrote smut in so long sorry i’m rusty oh my.
It was a warm sunny august morning. August of course being the hottest month where you live, you were relaxed on your bed in a tank with some random pair of shorts you picked out of your laundry.
Your older brother barges through the door with sweat dripping down the crown of his head.
“Hello? Do you not hear me screaming your name downstairs dumbass?” he huffs out raising one of his eyebrows with attitude.
“I have my air conditioning blasting, and my door closed. So no I don’t hear you, dumbass.” You say emphasizing ‘dumbass’ at the end of your sentence, mocking him.
“Well, Ellie’s coming over in 10. So don’t start none of your bullshit when she gets here.”
Ellie Williams. Your brothers best friend since the 3rd grade, she was attractive to say the least. Her auburn hair always perfectly framing her face, those green eyes that get your cheeks dusted with pink when she looks at you.
“Hey. Did you hear anything I just said?” Your brother annoyingly snaps you out of a trance.
“Yeah yeah, Don’t start with my bullshit.”
——
About 15 maybe 20 minutes passed after you had your conversation about Ellie with your brother when you heard the doorbell ring.
“Ellie’s here!” Your brother yelled from downstairs, which u heard him this time as you kept your door open and air conditioning low this time because you wanted to hear when Ellie came in.
“Hey, what’s up.”
Ellie. Her low voice could send shivers down your spine (it has before). You make your way down the stairs and greet her. As you reach the bottom of the steps you see the girl herself. She’s wearing a pair of black sweats and a black shirt with rings adorning her hands. She takes notice of you, eying you up in down taking you in. Her eyes rest on your chest for a second too long as you feel your face heat up.
“Hey Els.” You bat your lashes a few times at her, feeling a boost of confidence.
“Hey.” Is all she says back to you. An awkward silence fills the space between you, your brother, and Ellie.
“Okay well, me and Ellie are gonna play video games down here so you can go upstairs now, bye.” He says motioning his hand in a ‘go away’ action.
“Actually i’m going to heat up the left over pizza from yesterday, do any of you want some?”
“I‘ll have a slice, left over pizza sounds good right now.” Ellie practically whispers, scratching the back of her neck. She does this when she gets around you. You don’t know why, but she just does. It’s cute.
To Ellie’s defense, she has always had a thing for you. Ever since she met you she had always found you attractive, even before she knew she liked women. And as you both grew older, and you developed more. Her little crush on you had only gotten worse, your brother though, had basically made Ellie swear to not do anything with you. That was the one thing holding her back from telling you how she truly felt.
“Okay, i’ll go heat it up now.” You turn on your heels towards your kitchen behind your living room where Ellie and brother had been seated, setting up his playstation.
A while had passed and the pizza was done heating up, as you were about to call Ellie to come get her pizza you hear her and your brother scream as they both died in whatever game they were way to into.
“Hey Ellie the pizzas ready!”
She quickly gets up from her seat on the couch half whispering an “I’ll be back” to your brother as she makes her way to the kitchen.
“Smells good, do you have any ranch?” She says as she grabs your hip with one of her hands and grazes her hips against your ass as she gently moved you aside so she can open the fridge.
You stand there frozen in the spot she moved you to for a second before speaking up, stuttering over your words for a moment.
“Uhm… you use ranch?”
“Yeah, it um. It just taste better than plain cheese pizza..” She says, seeing you both visibly flustered from the encounter just moment ago.
“El! You said you’d be right back but take 20 years to grab a fucking slice of pizza, i’m already on the next level!” you hear from the living room as your brother raises his voice to grab Ellies attention.
“Bro. I’m coming!” She raises her voice louder in reply. “Thanks for the pizza, and the ranch” She thanks you, holding up the bottle of ranch she found.
“Yeah, no problem.” You say as you take your slice and rush upstairs to your room.
Putting on something to watch but not even paying attention, as the only thing running through your mind was how Ellie pulled that stunt today.
You just had to get her back.
——
A few hours passed as it was dark out and you could still hear your brother and Ellie talking, they’ve moved on from video games to colleges.
You take your pizza plate and bring it downstairs to throw away. When you pass the couch in the living room, you and Ellie make eye contact. You both wanted each other, it was so obvious.
“Hey, Ellie’s sleeping here tonight, so don’t do anything. I mean it.” Your brother try to use a stern voice to you.
You make your way over to the couch, on Ellie’s side, leaning your hands on the arm rest of the couch purposely pushing your tits towards Ellie’s face. Her breath hitched as she took notice in how close you were to her.
“And what would we do?” You wait for either one of them to answer. “Exactly. Don’t get your dick all twisted.” You end the conversation by going upstairs for the night. Or at least until your brother was asleep.
Ellie had slept over many times before, she sleeps on the couch for some reason. Your parents were out tonight and we’re going to be gone till morning, all you had to do was get Ellie in your room. More specifically, your bed.
It was quiet in the house meaning your brother had gone to bed and Ellie was downstairs, she doesn’t sleep that fast so she had to have been up. You make your way down to your kitchen to grab a glass of water.
Looking towards the couch, Ellie wasn’t there, blankets were messed up so she had to have gotten up to use the bathroom. Proceeding to the kitchen is where you find Ellie, she’s turned around in her white wife beater which make her muscles pop and her sweats from today. She finally turns around and notices you, jumping back startled.
“Jesus. Fuckin’ scared me, why are you creeping around?”
“I’m just grabbing a glass of water calm down.” You grin finding it funny.
“It’s not funny, what if you could’ve been a murder?” She says in a low voice, the one that sends shivers down your spine, she moves towards you slowly, as if she’s testing you.
You hum “Maybe a little funny, you wanna know what’s not funny though?” she nods her head for you to continue “You pulling shit like what happened earlier.” You step forward meeting her green eyes slightly looking up as she was the taller one.
“What do you mean, babe?”
Babe. She knew what she was doing. And she was doing it well. “When you just had to move me by yourself and couldn’t just ask me to move? Yeah, shit like that.” You move your face up to Ellie’s, still holding eye contact as your lips brush against each other.
Soft breaths are shared between you too, both wanting to give in and just go for it. “I can’t.” Ellie pulls away fast and leans on the counter crossing her arms looking down. If it wasn’t for the little night light your parents set up in the kitchen, you wouldn’t have been able to see Ellies red cheeks.
You move closer to her, still not wanting to give up, eventually being almost chest to chest again. “Why can’t you give in El.” She breathes a long sigh before speaking “Your brother. He always told me to never do anything with you. And to show respect to him, and you, I always listened. It feels like hell trying to not give into you. But you’re his little sister.”
Your brain is moving a lightning speed trying to take in what Ellie had just said, so she has had feelings for you, just never voiced them. “Ellie, you’re 19. You can decided if you want to give in or not. You’re not my brothers puppy. And I am not that little girl anymore.” You move your face closer to hers again, chest to chest, her hands snake towards your waist. Resting them there lightly, as if you were delicate as porcelain; going to break at any moment.
“Give in.” You breathe against her lips. And that’s all it took for her to finally give in. Pressing her lips hard against yours, eventually slowly moving each others lips in a rhythm. The kiss was sloppy, tongues intertwining with each other, spit starting to drip down chins. It was like it would be your last time kissing. She grips your hips harder against her own hips, practically grinding you down on her, giving you small friction.
“Ellie. Please.” You whine out as you move from her lips to her neck leaving a trail of kisses, softly sucking on a spot, not hard enough to leave a mark. “What do you want baby. Say it.” She breathes out, tugging at your hair with one hand. “I need you. Ellie please I need you.” You pull back from her neck looking deeply in her eyes. “Fuck. Let’s go to your room.”
You take her hand and lead her to your room immediately shutting and locking the door. When you turn around Ellie pushes you against the door attacking your neck with kisses and bites. “You have no idea how long i’ve wanted to do this.” She says in between kisses. She waste no time and starts lowering herself, landing on her knees in front of you. Her calloused yet gentle hands run up your thighs, reaching your red lacy panties as your breath hitches. “Can I take these off?” looking up at you doe eyed and pupils blown out with lust. You nod fast as she almost rips them off.
She hooks one of your legs on her shoulders holding you up as she moves her middle finger to rub tight circles on your clit, making you moan from the sudden action. “Fuck, you sound so pretty.” She says as she removes her finger and replaces it with her tongue, circling your clit and going side to side, she starts to suck on your bud leaving you moaning from pleasure. “Ellie- oh my god. fuck, more.”
“Yeah?, what do you want baby, gotta hear you say it.” at this point her mouth on your sensitive clit was enough for you to barley form a sentence, yet you still yearned for more. “I want your fingers El. want em really bad.” You trail one hand down your body to her head, grabbing her hair pushing her deeper into your pussy. “Since you asked so nicely.” She barley gets out as you’re holding her close, she takes 2 fingers and gently pushes them in. Waiting to see if it’s too much for you. Of course it was not and you moan louder from the stretch of her fingers filling you up, she starts to move in and out of you. Hitting the spot with her long fingers every thrust.
Her other unoccupied hand moved up and underneath your sleep shirt squeezing at your tit and pinching your nipple which is enough to get you to the edge. “Oh fuck. Ellie i’m so close.” she hums into your pussy. “I want you to come on my fingers baby, give it to me.” she says looking up at your fucked out face. A few more thrust and you cum all over her fingers, making a mess on her hands, which she wasn’t complaining. If it wasn’t for your leg on her shoulder holding you up, you would’ve collapsed as you come down from your high.
“Oh my god, you did so good for me.” She says kissing your thigh and standing from her knees, she couldn’t help but suck your juices off of her fingers, holding eye contact with you. You pull her in for a kiss, lips molding with each other as you taste yourself off of her tongue. You both pull away and stare at each other with smiles.
“I should get downstairs.” Shes reaching for the door handle as you grab her wrist. “Just sleep up here tonight, please.” you give her a pleading look but it doesn’t seem to work on her. “Your brother wakes up really early for no reason, and if he sees i’m not there and i’m up here, he’ll kill us both and you know that”
You sigh, moving out the way so she can get through and open the door, as she’s about to close the door and go downstairs she turns around to you and gives you a passionate kiss. “Goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning when we have to act like nothing happened.” She earns a giggle from you “Yeah, goodnight El.” she closes the door and heads downstairs to finally go off to bed.
In the morning, you and Ellie would not stop looking at each other and slightly giggling. “Guys. What the fuck is up with you two today.” your brother questions looking between you too as you turn to look at Ellie and she turns to look at you.
“Just. Long night I guess.”
#ellie williams#ellie x fem reader#ellie x reader#ellie x y/n#tlou2#ellie williams smut#ellie williams x reader#ellie williams fanfic
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So you're a celebrity who moved to Tumblr. Do you have what it takes to survive?
Twitter is a fine planet. But now, trampled by Musk and with citizens panicking, you've decided to take a vacation to the little wilderness of Tumblr. That sounds lovely. I bet it's cottagecore.
Wrong.
Tumblr is a jungle planet. The eco system is finely tuned, full of poison and predators and bugs with HUGE asses. Anyone who walks in unprepared will be eaten alive. You smell like another planet. You don't know the rules of this place. So how do you survive?
Run your own blog.
Tumblr can sense marketing teams like a shark can sense blood. You are a person, not the @montereybayaquarium. Someone else writing your content is a death sentence.
Be cringe.
Tumblr is comprised of cringe based life forms. Being on Tumblr is in itself an act of cringe. Cringe may be considered a biohazard on Twitter but here it is the basis of all content.
Irony is enjoyed in moderation.
This should be a rule everywhere, but it applies more on Tumblr. Irony is like alcohol: fun to use but poisonous in excess.
There is no algorithm to help you.
You don't have a little GPS to feed you the location of good content. Strike out and find it on your own. Luckily, if you're famous, @staff will probably help you out. They have a hut in the jungle filled with sample specimens.
The lack of algorithm also means that you won't get much free attention without being interesting. Tags broadcast everyone's posts the same amount. Random wacky memes are as dense as foliage, they won't make you stand out. Neil Gaiman lives on a mountain and spends his mornings discussing his work seriously, feeding the birds. What can you offer the ecosystem?
This is a place where you die.
Do NOT censor your language. The algorithm isn't going to punish you for saying "dead." Talk like a human being.
Keep your head down
Focus on your own stuff, reblog some stuff. Hubris is punished swiftly. You are not the most important beast in the jungle.
(The most important beast in the jungle is @straycatj. Follow him but do not interact with him. Every organism on this planet will burn you to the ground if you touch a hair on his head.)
Listen to the ecologists.
@strange-aeons has been documenting the ecology of this place on YouTube for years. Since the "search" function is nonfunctional, posts come and go. Geography shifts when you look away. Documentation is difficult. If you don't understand a meme, research content from the experts.
The novelty of a celebrity asking the public about a Tumblr meme may work to your advantage. However, most other celebrities on this platform prefer to avoid all memes. It is easy to get lost when exploring the shifting landscape.
We don't want you here.
Are you sure you're up to this? You're going to have to prove yourself. You're probably not ready.
#ryan reynolds#tumblr#brought to you on the unholy day of#November 5#sorry#this was in my head and I had to get it out
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And When I Felt Like I Was An Old Cardigan
pairing [s] : spencer reid x reader
warning [s] : baby spencer | angst with comfort \ fluff | crying | mentions of spencers addiction |
a/n [s] : requests are open!! short imagine I guess
Spencer was young.
Spencer was young and had gone through more than any twenty-three year olds had. He was bullied and ridiculed throughout his school years, and was constantly working. His mind was on everything, how to be better and how to show people he wasn't some scrawny kid with some luck and brains.
It followed him into his adult life. In his work, if you didn't pull through you were pushed out. Spencer knew he had to continue to work on his information which led to him reading many books each week and never letting him do what he wanted. Whether that was binging Star Trek every night or eating cake and cookies while making fun of scientific facts in random television shows.
Eventually, after the Tobias Hankel case, he was at his all time low in his adult life. Spencer felt as if he had nothing to live for and he was shoved further down in his experiences. He felt like he was pushed on a shelf, and put away, for nobody to care or think about him. That was until he met you, an agent from a different branch of the F.B.I. You let him talk about his thoughts on the case and other facts that could travel along his sentences. It made him feel seen and that's all he needed.
After the case ended, you had called him, and asked if he wanted to get a cup of coffee and see a movie. He accepted it gratefully, meeting you on a frosty November morning. He's clad in a thick cardigan above a button up shirt and a bundle of feelings of worry. Spencer sees you in a small booth near the window, sipping on hot (what he learned to be) chamomile tea. There's a relaxing, acoustic song that's playing on the speakers.
He's gripping onto his leather satchel as he walks over to you. You look at him with eyes that he can get lost in through the dangerous labyrinth of the color. Spencer's hands go to his glasses and he readjusts them on his nose and stumbles to the table. His clothes seem to feel as if they're sticking against his skin as he sits down in the plush brown seat in front of you.
“Hi Spencer.” You say giving him a small smile and take another sip out of your steaming tea. Hes staring at you like you're a new book, the smell of a new book, and everything he loves about the sound of the first page turn. “...Hi.” Spencer responds letting out a breath he had been holding in, letting his shoulders drop and relax.
Spencer's eyes fall on the book that sits on the table that was aged and the spine wasn't in the best condition. He recognizes the name that's etched on the front. “Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë?” He asks you pointing at the book. You set down your tea and nod. “Yes! It's one of my favorites. Whatever our souls are made of...”
“...his and mine are the same.” Spencer finishes and you smile at him, the waitress walks over and Spencer tells her his order of a coffee with four sugars and two creamers. Whatever Spencer was doing, it was working. The soft charm he had to him whenever his dimples would show whenever he would smile, was working.
The same smile showed up the day he asked you to be his. He handed you a book with a note written inside with his messy hand writing. He can still remember the flash of happiness in your eyes as you ran up to him and kissed him. It didn't make sense to him for the first time in forever. It didn't make sense why he was terrified to look at you the next day as you wake up in his bed next to him.
He turns to the other side of the bed where you're laying, covered with his brown comforter. Spencer's hands suddenly feel sweaty and he's anxious, because that's his fiancee, laying in bed and the ring shines against the sun. If you would have asked twenty-three year old Spencer where he would be at 30, he wouldn't be able to answer you. Now, he knows. He knows that he's in complete and utter awe of his fiancee and that he's finally happy. This is what he's dreamed of for years, whenever he was a kid reading fairytale books over and over again.
Spencer finally had been seen and he was never losing it.
#spencer reid x you#spencer reid x y/n#spencer reid#spencer reid x reader#spencer reid x wife!reader#spencer reid criminal minds#criminal minds fluff#criminal minds#spencer reid fluff
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hello! ☺️ may i request dhawan!master being cute whilst drunk off of ginger and the reader gets to tease him about it (if you’re comfortable with the topic of course!) thanks! 💜
This has been sitting in my inbox for a long while.... opps. Sometimes my brain just goes "thats such a good prompt, lets just horde it instead of actually writing it".... This is one of those cases.
Oof.
The book in your hands slid from your fingertips. Air knocked out of your lungs in surprise when firm arms warped around your waste and yanked you backwards into someone’s chest.
The Master rested his head on your shoulder, curling possessively around your body as he hummed and rocked side to side with you.
“Master?”
“Hmmm?” He made the cutest little confused sound.
“What are you doing?”
Silence was your answer for several minutes. Almost as if you had managed to puzzle him and he didn’t know why he was holding you.
“Is this not cuddling?” He slowly asked in a confused tone. “I thought we both knew what cuddling was...”
His speech was slightly slurred, you could smell the hint of ginger on his breath. Was he drunk?
Suddenly without warning he lightly bit down on your shoulder. Yelping at the sensation.
“Shhhhhh.”
“You bit me!”
“Your fault,” he grumpily responded.
“Oh yeah?” You were starting to realize the humor in the moment. He was like a drunk white girl. “It’s my fault you bit me.”
He took your teasing as a serious question.
“You’re too cute, what’s it called? Yeah, cuteness aggression. You’re cute, so I had to bite you. It’s the law.”
“The law, yeah? Does the law also mean we have to cuddle standing up too? Eep!”
In mere moments you were awkwardly lifted into the air. Vision spinning as your head was upside down. His drunk mind not bothering to think to support your head. Almost a princess carry- yet so far off from one that you didn’t know what to even call it.
The moment a flat surface was present- a comfortable cot that for some inexplicable reason was in the random hallway (Maybe it was the TARDIS taking pity on you)- he flopped down on top of you. Nuzzling contentedly into your chest where his head landed.
“Mhmm cuddly human,” he cooed. “Should have gotten you regenerations ago.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah... love you too much to let the others take you first now.”
“Not going to share even with yourself,” you teased while playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.
“They don’t deserve you. I don’t either but finders takers.”
“Do you mean finders keepers?”
“Stupid human phrases,” he grumbled. “Don’t make any sense.”
“Awww don’t worry Master, I’m sure your big brains will eventually learn them.”
His chin dug in between your collar bones as he threw his head up to glare at you.
“Shut up.”
Trying to stifle your giggles as he looked like a cute angry kitten.
“I’m going to kill you once I feel I can move again.”
You didn’t think his thread held much weight when he was almost falling asleep mid sentence.
(459 words)
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knight nikolai and his princess again ladies and gents
oh god im sorry for this one in advance
tw// mc death; unaliving references but not explicit
You were so angry it physically hurt to breathe. You'd sat alone with your knees pulled to your chest, hugging yourself, outside for hours, glaring darkly out at the lake on palace grounds while trying to think of nothing. Trying not to think of—no. No, don't think. Don't.
You squeezed your eyes shut until pinpricks formed in the darkness. After what had happened you’d ran almost a mile into the woods before dropping to your hands and knees and screaming so loud you were afraid your vocal chords would break. You'd had another scream burning inside your stomach ever since–ever since—
"Your Highness?" The familiar sound of the knight's voice instantly broke chills out on your skin, your muscles tense as a wire. You didn't look at him as he sat beside you awkwardly on the grass, but the tension was high enough to make you grit your teeth. The fact that he even had the nerve to speak to you was insane. Sir Ronan. That bastard. "I um, I brought you some of his things."
Your eyes slid so slowly to his that his body was as tense as your own when you looked at him. The dark-haired knight swallowed and passed over a small box of random items. You held his gaze for one more lethal moment before peering inside. You could've wretched.
It was all there—the majority of his meager possessions. A ring he always wore on a necklace during crusades; the handkerchief you'd given him as a token to carry during the annual joust and sword-fighting competitions; his favorite book. You sucked in a sharp breath and looked up, your hand pausing on a white-linen shirt in the box. Your fingertips lingered on the fabric; even from there you could still smell the trace scents of his cologne.
"I'm sorry for your loss, princess—" Ronan began but, before he could finish the horrible sentence, your hand flashed out and struck him so hard across the face your palm stung.
He lurched to the side from the blow, eyes wide when he met your own.
"You're a liar." You seethed and he flinched. "You're a liar and a gods-damned traitor and I hate you. It should be you that's dead!"
His face flushed and he nodded, expression pained.
"I tried to stop it, but—I mean, this morning I—”
"You think if I couldn't have stopped it then you could have? I'm the fucking princess of Ravka."
"Your highness please, he–he was covering for me, he—Saints, I'd fucked up and I couldn't stop him from—”
"Get away from me."
"Princess—”
"Get away. Nikolai is dead. He's dead and it's your fucking fault get away from me!"
You could've stabbed him and Ronan would've felt better. Like the coward that he was his own eyes filled with tears in the face of your fury. He stood and left, leaving you alone to press Sir Nikolai's shirt to your face, the fabric muffling the loud, horrible sobs that left your broken body.
-
That morning was when it had happened. You'd been woken in a rush by a flurry of distraught handmaidens, their expressions weak and agonized. One was even crying and, when they helped you get dressed, you were too afraid to ask why.
You’d found out exactly why when you were escorted outside by two strange knights that were familiar but not on a name-to-name basis. You leaned towards one of your ladies to ask, "Where's Sir Nikolai?", but she only shook her head, a strangled noise leaving her mouth before she excused herself.
After that you were mute, only able to walk in petrified silence as your mind dredged up every possible reason why he was absent. You hadn't seen him for a week since he'd left on a mission but he'd greeted you briefly last night, saying he had a meeting. But not before covering your face in kisses, offering you the chocolates he'd brought back, and then worshipping every inch of your body until you felt light-headed.
wait author's note I need a break I'm hurting myself rn
"I love you." He'd whispered before he left, pressing a soft, heavenly kiss to your mouth. His brow was furrowed as if in concentration, his hands framing your face."I'll always love you, my princess. Always."
Now as you stepped outside every possible scenario left your brain in an instant. You sucked in a breath that sounded like a yelp before you raced forward.
The knights weren't fast enough to grab you in time before you were hurtling towards the raised wooden platform in the square. The platform only used for public executions. The platform where Sir Nikolai stood, hands tied, his expression stoic as he stared ahead. But when he caught sight of you streaking through the forming crowd his expression turned stricken.
'No.' He mouthed at you, shaking his head. His eyes were pleading; he wanted to be strong in these last moments if he could. He couldn't bear to see your face. 'No, princess.'
"No!" You practically shrieked back, then gasped when a strong arm looped around your middle and held you back from running up the platform. If you could just get to him, if you could just get to him then—
"Your Highness, stop." A rough male voice intoned and you sagged; Sir Dominik. Nikolai's right-hand man and closest friend. "Let him have his dignity."
"Damn his dignity—Nikolai!" But now people in the crowd were murmuring in confusion and shock; why was the princess screaming for this knight to be spared? "Dominik, please, what's—?"
"I'll explain later. Right now," his voice was near silent as he held you, back against his chest, more of a straitjacket than a comfort. "now, you need to just—just compose yourself. Nothing can be done." When you started to babble in protest again he squeezed you tighter. “Nothing.”
You were crying so fast and hard it was difficult to see, but you could see the executioner as he approached the platform. Nikolai visibly tensed, his throat bobbing on a deep swallow as the noose was brought. You barely suppressed a wail of grief when the executioner read off the charges: treason, murder, and insubordination. You couldn't believe it. This wasn't real.
But when the drumroll began you felt wild; you stared at Nikolai, chest heaving, as he blinked three times at you in rapid succession. 'I love you.' It was code for when you couldn't say it in public. Always three: three taps on the shoulder, out of sight. Three squeezes of the hand if he could sneak it. The gesture was so agonizing to witness that you barely managed to blink back before Dominik suddenly twisted you hard, the both of you whirling to face the opposite direction.
He wasn’t going to let you watch.
Your cry of shock and terror could not be heard over the drop of the trapdoor.
-
That was what had led to now. Allegedly, during combat, a few innocents had been killed in the confusion. They hadn't been told to take the route they had, but the knights complained of being hungry and tired so Sir Nikolai had relented. And when Sir Ronan, the newest recruit, had fucked up by misfiring, he knew that his life was forfeit. Killing Ravkans wasn't excusable. He'd babbled and panicked and finally, finally, Nikolai had grabbed him by the shoulders and told him to shut up. Just shut up. The boy was only eighteen, for Saint's sakes. He had to calm him down.
"During the meeting last night,” Dominik told you in a very hushed voice. "there was confusion on who had misfired. Every knight was asked but the general consensus was that it was either Nikolai or, most likely, Ronan. Everyone knows Nikolai's aim is flawless. But Ronan couldn't speak up, the bloody coward." Dominik shook his head angrily. "I could kill him. He didn't speak up so Nik stepped forward, damn him."
Dominik stood and began to pace around your room while you watched from the floor, back against the foot of your bed. It felt like the ground was opening up beneath you. He paused and, taking a deep, shaky breath, clenched his hands into fists before continuing.
"Nik said it was—” Dominik's voice cracked and your heart broke further. "he said it was him. That he'd take full responsibility and understood the punishment he—” Dominik ran a hand over his eyes. "I'm supposed to be Captain, now. I don't even bloody want the position. Not like this."
You licked your lips and opened your mouth but nothing came out. There were no words left. No air left in the world. When you let out a whimper, then a gasping sob, Dominik raced over and crouched beside you, tugging you into his arms.
"He loved you." Dominik whispered quietly, rocking you back and forth. "I promise he did. He's waiting for you up there, you know?"
You pulled away and looked at him slowly, then forced a small, blank smile.
im sorry but for next bit. all I can think of is that painting of Ophelia.
The next morning at dawn, Dominik found you. He found you laying on the shore of the lake, soaking wet, your skin pale and lips blue. He let out a cry and tugged you up against his chest, his tremendous grief on losing Nikolai now doubled by the loss of you, too.
oops
#shadow and bone#nikolai lantsov#nikolai lantsov x reader#wattpad#nikolai x reader#shadow and bone imagine#fluff#six of crows#sir nikolai lantsov#knight nikolai#knight nikolai lantsov#nikolai lantsov angst
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🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Fe, my love, here’s some Jas and Jake for you on this fine early Sunday morning 😘
from talking body (jake seresin x oc) 18+/mdni
“Don’t call me that.”
Hangman froze for a millisecond but regained his composure so quickly that Jas couldn’t tell if she had imagined it.
“Why not? Everyone calls you that.”
Had his voice dropped an octave? Jas couldn’t tell anymore from the feeling of his hands on her.
“It’s Dr. Lane,” she informed him. Or Jas or Jasmine or baby. Even better if he moaned it. Everything but Doc.
Hangman smirked, his eyes darkening. Jas reveled in the fact that he was as affected by her as she was by him. Only he hadn’t touched himself to the thought of her less than ten minutes ago.
“What’s got you so wound up, Dr. Lane?”
His hands traveled lower, landing just above her ass, and she all but bucked her hips into his.
Hangman drew in a ragged breath that sounded suspiciously like a hiss. He stared at her. His eyes were wide, but darker. Greedier. The corners of his mouth lifted in an easy, well-practiced smirk. He had her right where he wanted her, and he knew it. Her body responded to his the same way his did to her.
He dared slipping his hands lower, so they were actually on her ass. When he squeezed and Jas felt him starting to grow hard, she threw caution to the wind.
She crashed her lips against his and pretended not to notice him wince at the jolt to his sore nose. He didn’t stop, though.
Her arms snaked around his neck as she pulled him closer, and his strong arms engulfed all of her back. She could smell him. His cologne mixed with sweat, leather, and the faint metallic scent of blood. It was all teeth and tongues and hands roaming in places they’d never been.
All Jas could feel was him, and it was intoxicating.
Hangman spun them around, and Jas let out a small yelp as he walked them back toward her office door. He pushed her against it, his leg coming up between her legs, so she practically sat on his thigh. He reached behind her and locked the door without ever breaking apart for air. Jas thanked the heavens that she hadn’t opened the curtains when he came in.
“You gonna let me have you, Doc?”
Jas rolled her eyes. “I thought I told you not to call me that.”
His lips grazed her neck, his tongue working against her pulse point making her fight back a moan at the feeling. Desire, intense and molten, pooled in the bottom of her stomach.
for every "🌹" received in my inbox i'll post one random sentence of a random WIP i'm currently writing
#mail#blue-aconite#answered#jake seresin#jake hangman seresin#jake seresin smut#jake seresin x oc#hangman x oc#hangman smut#jake hangman seresin x oc#oc: jas lane#otp: jasman#fic: turning tables#wip ask game
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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul
[Chapter 42] (37 Pages)
<< First | < Previous | Next >
AO3 Link
-
The investigation into the earthquakes begins.
-
It’s fully dark by time their cart pulls into Fort Asra. Their path is lit by the full moon overhead, helped by the soft golden glow of lantern light spilling from the town’s windows.
The town is…rustic. Long dirt roads crisscross through squat buildings made of wood, clay and stone. Wagons and carts much like their own are parked on the sides of the road. The sky overhead is vast and glittering with stars. From up ahead, the muted babble of voices and music filter outside from a larger building with the shutters on its windows cracked open.
It’s like a town out of one of the old western shows Nia used to watch with her mom and brother. Her chest pangs as she thinks of how much they would have loved to be here with her. It’s like stepping into the television, but even better because of how real it all is. The breeze nips cool and playful at her fur, and with it comes a surprisingly fresh, earthy scent.
When the two ponyta slow to a stop, it’s in front of a larger building. A sign over the front door labels it as both an inn and a saloon, and voices float out from the rowdy crowd inside. As Nia climbs out of the cart and stretches her legs, she’s surprised to feel the dirt underfoot isn’t as dry as she expects.
“This’ll be where we part ways,” The rapidash says, not unkindly. “You have enough poké to book a room at the inn?“
Tobias nods. “We’ll be fine. Thanks for the ride.”
“Thank you for saving our hides,” the rapidash returns with a dip of his head. “And good luck with your mission. Be careful. Come on, kids.”
The two ponyta give a parting flick of their fiery tails and trot after the rapidash, off to their next stop.
Nia crosses her arms with a shiver. “Yeah, we’d better book a room. Deserts can get below freezing at night and I do not want to sleep outside again.”
Tobias, mouth open to respond, stops to blink at her. “Wait. What?”
Nia stares back. “What?”
“The—the thing about deserts. Deserts are hot. I figured it was so cold thanks to the natural disaster uh…” he waves his hand vaguely around. “Stuff.”
“Oh!” Nia shakes her head, excited to share a tidbit of knowledge from her human life. “No, we learned this in biology class! Deserts naturally get really cold at night. Something about them not being able to absorb heat from the sun and hold it after dark.”
Tobias looks mildly impressed. “Huh. Random thing to know.”
Nia barks a laugh. “American school system at work. God forbid I have to figure out taxes or make a resume, but I’ve got a whole treasure trove of random science facts ready to go.”
Tobias snorts, turning to enter the inn. “I understood maybe half of that sentence.”
Nia laughs, eagerly following him into the ruckus and light of the inn. “Doesn’t matter. Just know that deserts are wild.”
Speaking of wild, the large open room that awaits them inside is full of Pokemon. There’s a small, makeshift band playing something like old country music in a far-off corner, but everyone else is socializing. Chatting and eating and drinking. One or two tables are playing some kind of betting game, if the stacks of poké on the table are anything to gauge by. It’s like walking into a warm wall of sound and hearty scents.
Nia’s stomach growls, and she lifts her nose to take a deep breath. She doesn’t know what that is, but it smells delicious.
“Food, then sleep?” Nia asks Tobias.
After surviving off packed lunches for the past couple of days, Tobias agrees a little too quickly. They nudge their way into the room and up to the bartender, a tall, fluffy rabbit Pokemon who’s busy cleaning a glass. She’s brown and cream, with striking pink eyes, but she seems almost distracted as she gazes out at the small crowd of patrons.
Nia clears her throat, and the rabbit startles. Then she smiles. “Pardon me, strangers. Passin’ through?”
Tobias is looking a bit irritable and overwhelmed by the crowd right behind them, so Nia picks up the conversation.
“Actually, we’ll probably be here for a few days for a mission. Granite called us in. Do you know who we could talk to about ordering some food and booking a room for the night?”
“You’re talkin’ to her,” the rabbit says with a wink. “I’ll get you taken care of, kiddos.”
The rabbit—a lopunny named Deidra, apparently—quickly takes their orders and sends word off with a passing Pokemon. Then, she pulls a key out from under the bar and presses it into Nia’s palm with instructions to head upstairs to the left, to the first door on the right. They’ll send their food up for them.
If Nia weren’t exhausted from the trip over, she might be tempted to stay downstairs and socialize with the townsfolk. Maybe learn how to play that game, even. As it is, though, she follows Tobias upstairs and to their room, flopping facedown into the first nest she sees.
“We’re waiting until tomorrow to go find Granite, right?” She asks into the bedding.
Tobias slumps into the nest beside her, groaning. “Definitely.”
Their food is delicious when a little round shrew Pokemon, gold and almost armored, brings it up to them. Smaller portions than she expects, but Nia barely makes it through the whole thing anyways before letting sleep take her.
——————————————————————————————————
She grumbles when Tobias shakes her awake the next morning, even if she feels leagues more rested than she did the night before.
“C’mon, I even let you sleep in,” Tobias says, nudging her in the ribs with his foot.
She whines and bats him away, trying to bury her face and return to sleep. “Your version of sleeping in doesn’t count.”
Tobias snorts. “Too bad, it’s the only one you’re getting. We’ve got a Pokemon to find and suspicious earthquakes to investigate.”
By time Tobias drags her outside, it’s still early morning but admittedly not as early as it could’ve been. The sun is just starting to rise above the horizon line. Long, cool shadows stretch across the dirt roads, and the air is still chilly, snapping Nia awake like a slap to the face.
She shivers, feeling the ruff of fur around her neck fluff with the cold. “O-Okay. Do we have any idea where to find this Granite guy?”
To her surprise, Tobias confidently points to their left. “I asked Deidra this morning. Apparently Granite’s a donphan who runs the general store closer to the edge of town.”
“Oh. Well, that makes it easier than I was expecting.”
The two of them stay to the side of the main dirt road and walk through town to their destination. Nia curiously eyes the townsfolk they pass. Most of them seem to be heading out for the day, a whole group—some of them holding what look like pickaxes—hopping into the back of a cart that’s setting off. A couple of kids run past a few moments later, giggling and chasing a ball—one of them looks like a tiny version of Deidra, and another is a little green plant Pokemon with a trio of leaves atop its head.
“Pretty lively place,” Nia comments, impressed.
“Pokemon gotta live, threat of earthquakes or not.”
Nia nods, frowning as they skirt around a bulky group of Pokemon arranging a palette of lumber and building materials. Behind them, a half-destroyed building is sunk into the earth, its foundations pulled out from under it.
Nia and Tobias carefully hop over a large crack still dissecting the dirt.
Nia sees less of the joviality of the townsfolk as they continue on, too distracted by evidence of injury and caution left by the earthquakes. Two Pokemon cross in front of them to enter a bank, chatting. Bandages wrap around one Pokemon’s head. Her companion walks with a slight limp.
Nia and Tobias finally reach their destination. The door opens with a jingle, and they steps into a quaint, quiet little shop. The wood creaks under her feet, and the air smells like stale air and old books.
Despite that, the store itself looks well-stocked with cooking supplies and odds and ends one might need around the house. There are familiar goods like maps and water flasks, as well as more foreign objects she’s unsure of the purpose of. Most everything is a warm shade of desert sand, tan or brown or a dusty gold.
Nia drifts towards the small section of books set up in the corner, thumbing through the frayed tomes. One of them looks particularly promising, and Nia spends a few moments flipping through it, considering the price tag.
It’s when the silence of the shop registers in Nia’s ears that she reluctantly puts it back, padding through the few shelves until she spots Tobias’ bright orange coloring.
He’s in front of a shelf of random knick-knacks, hand lying on the sleek wooden surface of…a small guitar? A ukelele, maybe? Something stringed.
Tobias’ face is soft and distant, lost in thought.
Faintly, Nia remembers Tobias doing something similar in Ghatha, among the instruments at a merchant’s stall. She’d almost forgotten.
She moves closer, murmuring, “Going to get one?”
Tobias shakes his head. “On our pay? Nah.”
Nia hums. Could she swing getting him something like this for Christmas? Do they even celebrate Christmas? Probably not. Birthday, maybe? When is Tobias’ birthday?
Heavy, slow footsteps come from the back room before Nia can ask, and the curtain is pulled aside by an elephant-like trunk. A sturdy, squat creature—a familiar-looking Pokemon, with a dark gray hide on his back like tire treads—steps out. What did Tobias say those were called in Ghatha? Donphan?
The Pokemon nods to Nia in greeting. Then he looks to her partner.
“Caught your eye, eh?”
Tobias jolts, pulling his hand away like the wood had burned him.
The donphan rumbles a quiet laugh, stepping closer. “S’all right to touch, boy. C’n tell you’ve got an appreciation for music.”
Tobias looks away, shrugging. His eyes flick back to the instrument, as if drawn to it.
Nia turns to the older Pokemon with a polite smile. “Hello! Are you Granite?”
“That I am,” the donphan gruffs, straightening a compass sitting on a shelf. “You two passing through? Can’t imagine what business you’d have here, let alone with me.”
Tobias tears himself away from the instrument to pull out and unfurl the letter from Rosalind. Granite immediately straightens to attention when he sees the looping scrawl, brow lowering.
“Rosa sent you two?”
“We’re stronger than we look,” Tobias grumbles.
Granite snorts. “Wasn’t worried ‘bout strength. Don’t know if strength is what we need. You’re just…younger than I expected. Sure hope you lot don’t owe Rosa much.”
“No debts. Just working for some information.”
Granite nods. “Good, good. Means you still have your head on your shoulders. Well, if Rosa sent you then that means she thinks you can help, one way or another.”
Nia blinks, surprised by the supposed show of…faith? “Really?”
Granite laughs like cracking stone, gravelly and sharp. “Don’t show that lack of confidence to her. She’ll eat you alive.”
“Pretty sure we can’t hide anything from her anyways,” Tobias mumbles.
Granite gestures at Tobias with his tusks. “See? Smart. Well, I reckon smart might be what we need anyways. If you’re here to help, let me fill you in.”
The donphan gestures for them to follow him to the back room. After a moment of hesitation and a shared look, they do.
The room is a small kitchen area, with a low, square table just big enough to fit all three of them around it. Granite clears off a few dishes that look like they were leftover from breakfast, two sets of glasses and plates.
“So you’re here to figure out our little earthquake problem.”
Tobias nods. “What can you tell us? Rosalind’s letter just said that there was unusual earthquake activity and you wanted help looking into it.”
“‘S about the gist of it,” Granite sighs. “Earthquakes have been more common the past few years, just like natural disasters everywhere else. But the past few months have been…something’ else entirely. Earthquakes at least twice a week.”
“Whoa,” Nia breathes. “That sounds awful.”
“Just had one yesterday morning. We should be good for a day or two, but it’s still happening more often than we can keep up with.”
“We saw some construction ‘mon working on a building on the way over,” Tobias says.
“One of many,” Granite grumbles. “Ed’s crew has been busy day in and day out trying to keep up with all o’ the damages.”
“Pokemon are getting hurt too, aren’t they?” Nia asks softly.
“We’ve had a few deaths.”
Nia and Tobias exchange a grave look.
“One nearly killed my partner,” Granite gruffs, something dark in his gaze despite his casual words. “That was the last straw ‘fore I contacted Rosa.”
“Is there anything strange about them aside from the frequency?” Nia asks.
“The quakes…” Granite pauses, gesturing in a circle with his trunk. “They’re too localized to the town. I’ve talked to other travelers and merchants. Got a cousin a bit to the west o’ here. There’s the occasional quake outside of this radius, but nothing like the quakes we get every other night in Asra.”
“Could be the location,” Tobias murmurs.
“Since we’re down in a canyon?” Nia asks. “Would that make a difference?”
Granite makes a doubtful noise. “Possible, but something in my gut’s saying things just ain’t right. And my gut’s rarely wrong.”
“Do you think someone’s behind this?” Nia asks, surprised. “Like…intentionally causing the earthquakes?”
“I’m sure of it.”
“Wouldn’t some of the ground or rock types around here be able to tell if the earthquakes were unnatural?” Tobias asks. “I thought you were usually pretty in tune with stuff like that.”
Granite shakes his head. “If it’s being caused by a Pokemon, we can’t sense any move energy from it. And we’ve all been blamed for this enough—the remaining grounders and rock types are too scared to go digging for fear of being ran out of town or triggering something worse.”
Tobias slowly nods, taking that information in. “All right. Do you have any leads? Suspects?”
“If you ask the townsfolk, me ‘n all the other grounders,” the donphan scoffs, flicking his ears irritably. “I get it—the Pokemon causing this likely has to know some heavy ground moves. They need someone to blame, so it’s either us or the humans.”
Nia’s head snaps up to blink at Granite. Tobias clears his throat, but keeps his poker face much better as he speaks.
“The humans?”
Granite nods. “Had a few livin’ here before the quakes got real bad. They were gettin’ accused even before the grounders were. All that nonsense about the humans causing natural disasters or something. Couple o’ fights broke out and most of ‘em have left at this point.”
With each word, Nia’s stomach sinks further. There were humans here getting blamed for the earthquakes? With so much aggression thrown towards them that they felt forced to leave?
“That doesn’t sound very fair,” Nia whispers, voice breaking. Tobias sends her a warning look out of the corner of his eye.
Granite just snorts. “‘S not. None of this is.”
“What do you think?” Tobias asks him, cautiously.
If Granite notices their change in demeanor, he doesn’t comment on it. “I don’t want to go pointing tusks at anyone on a hunch.”
“But?” Tobias presses.
Granite sighs. “I…have a few suspects myself, but I can’t be sure those aren’t my own grudges talkin’. If you want somewhere to start, talk to Calder first. Only inteleon in all of Faren—tall, blue, wears a brown cloak. Can’t miss him. He’s the sheriff here and will want to know why you’re pokin’ around anyways. He might have somewhere for you to start.“
“So you want us to see what we can find first as an unbiased party.”
Granite nods. “Go poke around a bit and see what you come up with. You can stay here with me ‘n Keo while you’re investigatin’.”
“Thank you,” Nia says, grateful for the hospitality despite her sudden caution towards the town. She’d rather not have to pay for a hotel room the whole time they’re here.
“Thanks,” Tobias echoes, frowning down at the map. “Have no other Seekers looked into this? I thought there was a guild kind of close to here.”
“The closest one is the Pyrite Guild to the southwest,” Granite says, gesturing vaguely to his left. He sounds bitter as he adds, “‘Parently they’re spread too thin trying to cover such a wide area, so they’ve only sent one or two Seekers out to help with repairs and injuries.”
“So there’s already a Seeker team here?” Nia asks. “We could trade notes with them.”
Granite hesitates, then gestures vaguely at the wall in the direction of town. “We’ve only got one right now, been here a while. Kid named Samir. A skiddo. They’re tryin’ to help where they can, but they’re only one ‘mon. Plus, they’re having some difficulties communicating with the locals.”
At that, Nia frowns, tilting her head. “What do you mean?”
“Doesn’t speak,” Granite clarifies, lifting his head and using his trunk to touch at his throat. “Don’t know if it’s a physical thing or what, but haven’t heard a word from ‘em since they got here a few weeks ago. Seems frustrated when the locals don’t get what they’re trying to say, though, so I’d say it’s more than just them being quiet.”
Nia blinks. That…would be hard to navigate. “You said they’re a Seeker though, right? What about their partner?”
“Doesn’t seem to have one,” Granite says with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “Showed up one day with a note from the guild master and their badge and has been staying in town bunking with Leila and her kid ever since.”
Nia’s frown deepens, and she glances at Tobias, seeing the same thought on his face. He’d tried to become a Seeker on his own, and was promptly shut down. Why would this someone be sent out here all on their own for weeks on end? Yeah, the guild is spread thin, but even then it seems a bit dangerous to not have at least one more Pokemon with them.
“Anyway,” Granite sighs. “‘m hoping you two can give this whole situation a look with fresh eyes. Maybe figure out the cause of all this rather than just patching up the damage.”
Nia nods, straightening up. “We’ll do our best.”
“Grant?”
Nia startles as a new voice speaks from the next room over. A thin, bug-like arm pushes back the tapestry acting as a doorway, and something like a green and brown spider limps in from the back room. His limbs are strangely rounded, and reminds Nia of a creature from a video game.
“A spidops?” Tobias murmurs under his breath.
“Keo, I’m gonna tie you to that bed with your own silk if you don’t stop getting up with those injuries,” Granite scolds, moving to the bug type’s side.
“Like you could,” Takeo snorts, urging Granite to help him to the table. Reluctantly, the donphan does.
The spidops gives Nia and Tobias a cursory glance, his moustache-like mandibles twitching. “You the Seekers Rosa sent? Better bundle up, Charmander. Another bout of rain is rolling in.”
Nia glances at the window, surprised. “I didn’t think you’d get much rain out here.”
“We don’t, usually. Been a wet season for us,” Granite grunts. He’s still looking at Keo, something in his rough countenance wrinkled with worry. “If you two head out now you can get some talkin’ in before it hits.”
Nia recognizes a dismissal when she hears one, and her and Tobias rise to head out.
“Guess I’ll be using my cloak after all,” Tobias grumbles.
Granite gets Keo settled at the table before following Nia and Tobias to the front door of the shop. On the way, Nia’s eyes skim over the goods lining the shop shelves once more. Everything is intriguing, but expected.
Until a bright flash of blue and black catches her eye, and then red joins the mix—
A mirror.
Nia stops in her tracks, blinking back at her reflection with surprised ruby eyes. A small part of her mind whispers, Hope Giratina can’t fit through that.
Mostly, though, she’s just…caught off-guard. Aside from seeing her faint reflection in pools of water, she hasn’t really looked at herself much. And never this clearly. She’s somewhat used to being in the body of a riolu by now, but when she pictures herself she still thinks of herself as a human. Seeing her head tilt along with the crystal-clear creature in the reflection is…strange.
Granite chuckles, making her jump. “Ah, probably haven’t seen your reflection so clearly before, eh?”
Tobias has trailed back to her side, and scowls before turning the mirror away from them just slightly.
Nia looks to Granite, curious. “I’ve…never actually seen a mirror before.” Not since coming to the Pokemon world, at least.
“Doesn’t surprise me,” Granite says. “Mirrorstone is a bit harder to find nowadays. Asra used to be one of the largest sources for it, a few decades ago.”
“Mirrorstone?” Nia echoes. She doesn’t know exactly how mirrors are made in the human world, but she knows it’s not with something like that.
Granite taps the mirror’s surface with his trunk. “It’s a reflective mineral that used to be found in the mines around this town. Cleaned ‘em out decades ago, though. Miners have to head farther out to get anything good now.”
Nia files that info away as her and Tobias step outside, stopping on the edge of the dirt street. Granite waves them off and shuts the door behind them.
“So…where do we even start with something like this?” Nia asks, squinting up at the sky. It’s still bright and blue for now, but the horizon is darkening with clouds. The air is warming up as the sun rises, but it’s heavy with moisture, too.
“I guess where Granite suggested,” Tobias says, following her gaze to the sky. “We find the sheriff.”
“What does an inteleon look like?” Nia asks as they set off in a random direction.
“Beats me,” Tobias says, glancing into the open doors of the shops they pass.
Nia looks to him, surprised. It’s happened once or twice before, but she’s still caught off guard every time he doesn’t know what a specific Pokemon species is.
“I’m only 18 and I’ve spent my whole life in two places,” Tobias growls, giving her a sour look. “I can’t have seen every Pokemon that’s out there.”
“N-No, I know. Not blaming you. Just…How do we find him, then? Ask around?”
“Guess we have to,” Tobias grumbles. Nia, on the other hand, perks up at the chance to meet some new faces.
Luckily for Tobias, the first Pokemon they bump into—a sweet, quiet flower lady with a bandage around one leafy arm—says that Calder is likely checking in with the town doctor right now. Advantages of a small town where everyone knows each other and their routines, Nia supposes.
Sure enough, when they follow the lady’s directions to the local town doctor, they find someone who is just leaving, gently shutting the door behind them.
“That must be him,” Tobias whispers.
The sheriff is a tall, lanky blue lizard Pokemon with weirdly human proportions. A brown cloak sits on his shoulders, with a golden emblem similar to their Seeker badges clasping it closed. He does have an air of authority to him, in the way he walks. All solid, confident steps and straightened shoulders.
He notices the two of them immediately, long tail swishing. “Morning. Seekers passing through?”
“We’re here to look into the earthquakes, actually,” Tobias says, craning his head to look up at the much taller lizard. “Granite called us in.”
“Hm.” The sheriff’s eyes narrow, and Nia wonders if they maybe weren’t supposed to say that. But then the lizard nods, gesturing them off to the side of the building’s wooden porch. “Name’s Calder.”
“Nice to meet you! I’m Nia.”
Calder settles against the wooden railing, eyeing them silently for a few moments. Nia shifts uncomfortably, suddenly feeling small. Tobias stares back at the sheriff, as if daring him to do something.
“I respect Granite,” Calder starts. “He’s normally a very sensible ‘mon.”
“But?” Tobias prompts.
Calder looks off to the side, into town. “I think the close call with Takeo might have made him…a bit more paranoid than usual.”
“So you don’t believe him,” Tobias says flatly.
Calder looks down at his cloak. Or his badge, maybe. Brow furrowed.
“The earthquakes are…unusual. At their current rate,” Calder finally says. “But I have no evidence pointing to Pokemon interference.”
“Have you even looked into it?” Tobias asks.
Calder shakes his head. “It’s a poor excuse, but I haven’t had time to spare on something that…might just be a misled hunch. It’s been hard enough keeping up with the town and damages as is. Our doctor and construction crew are already working overtime.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Nia says with a smile. ”Granite wanted us to investigate.”
“Not a problem as long as you don’t cause trouble,” Calder retorts. “In fact, we could use some helping hands. Samir’s the only Seeker that Pyrite’s sent us, and I lost my deputy in a quake about a month back.”
“Oh,” Nia says softly, ears pinning back. “I…I’m so sorry.”
Calder takes a bracing breath, eyes closed, but when he responds his voice is steady. “Thank you. I’m trying to keep up with everything on my own, but there’s only so much I can do. Granite’s suspicions are unfortunately low on the list.”
“So you don’t have anywhere for us to start,” Tobias guesses.
“I don’t. You can ask around town if anyone’s noticed anything odd about the quakes. But—“ Calder’s gaze hardens. “Be careful what you say. Don’t accuse anyone. We’ve had enough issues with that as is.”
“The humans, you mean,” Tobias guesses, voice hard and almost accusing towards the inteleon.
“Tobias,” Nia mumbles, elbowing him. She looks back to Calder. “Got it. We’ll be careful. We don’t want anyone to get blamed.”
Calder nods. “See that you are. And let me know if you find anything you think is important.”
And with that, Calder pushes off the railing and walks past them, cloak billowing out behind him.
Tobias and Nia watch him go.
“Well he was no help,” Tobias says.
“Looks like we’re playing detective on our own,” Nia agrees. “I guess we just…look around town? Ask the locals if they’ve noticed anything strange about the quakes?”
Tobias shrugs, clearly reluctant to spend the day talking to a bunch of strangers. “I don’t have any better ideas.”
Nia takes the lead, and they try casually chatting up whoever they see milling about the town. Unfortunately, most Pokemon don’t seem to have any new information regarding the quakes, or anything odd they’ve noticed about them.
“Well, they’ve been destroying my crops more than I would’ve hoped,” The plant lady they’d spoken with before—a lilligant, according to Tobias—says when they ask, lifting her uninjured arm to her mouth in thought.
Nia blinks at her, surprised more by the fact that the delicate Pokemon is apparently a farmer. Huh. “Really?”
The lilligant nods. “Earthquakes don’t play well with all this rain. Makes everything a muddy mess. Not to mention most of our seeds are meant for the usual desert weather. Really putting a dent in the town’s food stores this month.”
The second Pokemon they talk to, a few buildings down, is a long fire centipede with a flame moustache. He clicks his mandibles in thought before speaking.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to ‘em, I’m afraid. And the grounders can’t seem to sense ‘em coming, either. One minute things are fine, the next the whole canyon’s a shakin.’ Scary stuff.”
By their sixth chat, Nia is starting to lose hope for an easy break in the case.
“They’re ussssually fairly short, thankfully,” The sand cobra in front of them says. Her friend, a round little cactus with arms, nods his whole body in agreement. “But they’re sssstrong, too. Enough to make the buildingssss and rockssss unstable.”
Tobias gives Nia an exasperated look that she pointedly ignores when she approaches their next potential informant.
“Oh! One of them happened right after I sneezed,” the little bunny child tells them, giggling. “So I thought maybe I did it, but It only happened that one time so prob’ly not.”
“Plus you’re not a ground type,” their friend, a little grass Pokemon, points out. Looking at them up close, they bear a resemblance to the lilligant they talked to earlier.
“Oh. Right.”
The twelfth Pokemon they interview is an elderly golem-like creature that looks to be made of blocks of…salt? His low, gravelly voice claims that the town’s misfortune is thanks to the anger of the gods.
“They have slept, and the world has forgotten them,” the Pokemon says, throwing out an angry hand. “And they do not take kindly to such irreverence.”
Thunder booms in the distance.
“Okay!” Nia says, voice just a notch too high as she claps her hands together. “On that note, we’ve uh—gotta go. Thankyoubye!”
“Ready for a different approach yet?” Tobias drawls as soon as they’re away from the salt block Pokemon.
“No, I’ve seen so many crime shows. I think. Interrogating people is a big step! Do you even have any other ideas?”
“Aside from not interrogating literal children? No.”
“Well, you never know—“
Nia stops as she spots her next victim. He’s a large orange creature that looks like a mix between a camel and a cow, with two rocky humps like small volcanoes atop his back. He’s unpacking large sacks of rice and beans from the back of a wooden cart much like the one Nia and Tobias rode in on. A harness is still attached to him from the journey.
“Pyre! That my grain?” A Pokemon calls from the upper floor of a building, leaning out the window. “We really need that this month.”
The camel-cow, Pyre apparently, calls an an affirmative, asking about the other Pokemon’s wife. The exchange is short but amiable.
“He looks pretty well-connected with the town,” Nia murmurs. “Let’s try him next.”
Tobias gives her a bored go ahead gesture, so Nia takes the lead in approaching the large Pokemon.
“‘Scuse me, sir, could we ask you about the—“
“No.”
Nia stops short, blinking. The camel-cow continues to unload sacks from the cart in silence. She…wasn’t expecting that brush-off after the considerably more friendly conversation she’d just witnessed.
“We were hoping to—“
“Don’t care.” Pyre shoots them both a glare. “Now leave me be and get out of here.” His short tail flicks, as if they’re flies to be shooed away.
Tobias steps up beside her, hands balled into fists. Uh-oh. “We’re trying to help, if you would—“
“Look,” the Pokemon says. He finally turns to them, nostrils flaring. “I don’t know why you’re poking your noses around, but you need to shut your mouths and move on.”
Okay, well that’s a bit aggressive. Nia puts a hand on Tobias’ arm to hopefully keep him from jumping this guy. Eyeing the muscles in Pyre’s thick legs and neck, she’s not convinced they could win.
“S-Sorry, I know we’re interrupting your work,” Nia says, trying to keep her voice light. Her heart is hammering in her throat, but she has a feeling starting a brawl wouldn’t be in their best interest, for a number of reasons. “But we’re trying to help—“
“We don’t want your help,” Pyre grunts, taking a threatening step forward that almost feels like it shakes the ground beneath them. The volcanoes on his back smoke and simmer loudly with heat. “We have enough to deal with without two know-nothing kids stirring up trouble!”
Okay, this is not a good situation. The townspeople who were chatting happily nearby just a minute before are deathly silent.
Pyre snorts, turning back to the sacks of grain. “If you’ve got any brains in those skulls you’ll leave before the next quake hits.”
“Is that a threat?” Tobias asks, burning hot enough beside Nia for her to feel it radiating off his skin.
Pyre’s ear flicks. “It’s an inevitability, boy. Keep talkin’ and you’ll wish all you two had to worry about was a quake.”
A low growl builds in Tobias’ chest, and Nia hurries to grab his arm, dragging him back with her a few steps.
“G-Got it. Sorry, sir!”
Nia takes off, dragging Tobias protesting and stumbling behind her until they’re hidden in the shade of a nearby building, next to some barrels.
Tobias yanks his arm free, his tail flame bright. “Why’d you do that?! I was going to give that stupid lump of coal a piece of my mind!”
“And that’s why I got us out of there,” Nia says dryly, stepping back to escape the heat pouring off Tobias in waves. “It’d be bad for us to get caught up in a fight, Tobias! We’re supposed to be on good terms with these people so we can gather info! Plus, he looked like he could literally crush us.”
Tobias scowls and jerks his head to the side, a trail of smoke following the movement. But he doesn’t argue.
“Let’s just…take a moment to cool off before moving on,” Nia suggests. She slides to the damp, cool dirt, sighing.
Tobias follows her lead, glaring ahead into nothingness. “I hope he’s our culprit so I get to kick his butt.”
Nia gives Tobias an amused look before sobering again. “He…was acting pretty aggressive. But do you think if he was causing the quakes he’d be so open about his animosity towards us trying to investigate?”
“Why else would he get so ticked off?”
Nia hums a wordless reply. She isn’t really sure. “I guess we might as well call him our first real suspect. See what Granite thinks.”
“Whatever,” Tobias says, clearly still stewing.
Tobias’ mood hasn’t improved much by time Nia drags them to the next Pokemon, a pair of large, olive green lizards—or dragons?—with weirdly tire-like dewlaps at their throats.
Or to the next, a chatty cream panther with a red jewel on her head who takes full advantage of a willing audience.
“—and I told Martha, because she is always withdrawing funds for her grandkids out near Pyrite, and I told her, next time you go into the bank take a good look at Aurum’s face and tell me she isn’t enjoying all the cash flowing through her business from these quakes, and she said—“
Nia is nodding along and trying to figure out how to politely extract herself from the conversation when that last part registers in her head.
“W-Wait, go back.”
“Hm? To what, dear?”
“That part about the, uh, the bank. Aurum?”
At Nia’s interest, Tobias visibly checks back into the conversation.
The panther’s eyes gleam as she leans forward, the rubies looped around her neck clicking together. “Oh, yes, that part is very interesting, isn’t it? I always thought that Aurum was an odd character, but she is clearly just delighted by all of the poké being withdrawn and invested into her bank to fund the damages the quakes cause. Doesn’t even try to hide it!”
Tobias, thank God, cuts in before the panther can get onto another tangent. “Thanks for the help.”
He pulls Nia away, the riolu giving the pouty panther an apologetic wave over her shoulder.
“I thought she’d never stop talking,” Nia breathes. Then she brightens. “But she gave us a lead!”
“The bank, right?”
Nia nods, letting Tobias take the lead. Chances are his sense of direction will actually get them where they want to go.
“You actually think that persian said anything useful among all the blabbering?” Tobias asks as they wait for a mudsdale-drawn cart to pass them.
“A banker who’s just a little too happy about all of the funds moving through her establishment due to the quakes? Definitely a red flag. Might as well check it out, right?”
Tobias doesn’t answer, but he leads them to the bank all the same. It’s a notably more secure building than the rest of the town, metal bars over the windows and more stone than wood making up its walls and floor. When they step inside, the small lobby area is quiet and surprisingly cozy, with a few potted cacti in the corners and a cushion or two offering seating for waiting customers.
A dragon is sitting behind the counter, accepting a pouch of what sounds like coins from a tall, white crane-like Pokemon. Sure enough, the dragon’s face lights up as she gets the coins in hand, quickly writing something down on the sheet of paper in front of her.
“I’ll get this to Eddy’s crew right away, Ranzi!” The dragon says, all cheer.
The crane Pokemon gives her a strained smile and a quiet word of thanks before walking to the door, passing Nia and Tobias along the way.
The dragon chirps, “One moment please!” before darting to the back of the building with the bag of coins. When she returns, she gives Nia and Tobias a toothy smile. She’s gray, with sharp fangs and a large golden crest atop her head. More golden plates guard her shoulders and wrists like armor.
“H’llo there! Can I help you two? Need to set up an account?”
Nia and Tobias exchange a look.
“Um, we were actually hoping to ask you about the recent earthquakes?” Nia says. “I’m Nia.”
“Aurum,” the dragon says in return, tilting her head. “What about the earthquakes?”
“Just if you’ve noticed anything weird about them?”
“Any patterns, anything you wouldn’t expect to see when they happen,” Tobias adds.
Aurum hums, tapping her long claws on the counter. “No, I don’t believe so! It’s strange how often they’re occurring, but otherwise they seem like regular old earthquakes to me.”
Tobias glances over his shoulder, towards the door. “Lots of customers due to them?”
“Oh, yes, lots!” Aurum says, brightening and puffing out her chest. ���I’m making sure the transactions all go off without a hitch.”
“Uh…huh,” Nia says slowly, a little thrown off by the dragon Pokemon. She seems incredibly chipper about Pokemon losing money to terrible circumstances, but at the same time she seems almost…proud to be helping, rather than exalting in all of her riches.
Tobias squints at Aurum. “You seem…pretty happy about that.”
Well all right then, just come out and say it, Tobias.
Aurum nods happily. “Mhm! I’ve always loved my job because I get to see everyone’s beautiful, shiny money. But now I feel like I’m actually helping, too! Keeping everything running smoothly while the quakes are causing so much trouble, you know?”
It’s nothing more than a gut feeling, but Nia suddenly believes this dragon is nothing but genuine. She almost feels bad for coming in here determined to make her a suspect.
“That’s…a nice way to look at it,” Nia says, deflating and giving Aurum a weak smile. “Thanks for talking to us, Aurum.”
“Of course! Let me know if you do want to open an account. I’d be glad to help!”
Tobias gives Nia a perplexed look, but follows her back outside without a word. The wind blows hard, and Nia finally thinks she feels a cool raindrop hit her fur. Tobias must feel the same, because he reaches into their satchel to pull out the green rain poncho he’d stuffed in there earlier, tugging it on over his head.
“So. Thoughts,” Tobias says.
“Aurum is…interesting.”
Tobias snorts. “One way to phrase it. Do you think she has a hand in the quakes? You wanted to leave pretty quickly.”
Nia sighs. “The opposite. I don’t think she has anything to do with it. She seems too…genuine.”
Tobias gives her a look. “You? Trust someone based off of nothing at all? No.”
Nia’s mouth twists. “I mean…we can keep her on the suspects list, just in case. But…”
“It’s gotta be that stupid camerupt,” Tobias grumbles.
Nia laughs. “Pyre? Maybe. Are you still mad about him?”
Tobias gives her an incredulous look. “Are you not?”
Nia shrugs. “I mean, I definitely don’t want to talk to him again, but there’s not really any point in me staying mad about it.”
Tobias rolls his eyes. “You’re too nice.”
Nia gives him a playful nudge. “I think you’re just getting hangry. It’s way past lunch time.”
Tobias opens his mouth to retort, then shuts it again. “…Hangry?”
“Yeah, angry because you’re hungry.”
“Okay, that’s—“
There’s a distinct tap tap on the porch behind them, catching their attention.
It’s a goat. A little taller than Nia and Tobias, with a mane of leaves wreathing their neck. Small, curving horns sit atop their head, framing a serious brown and white face.
“…Yeah?” Tobias says, clearly wary.
The goat tilts their head, flicking their gaze from Nia to Tobias and back. Questioning.
Nia catches sight of the darker green scarf tied around their neck, half-buried in leaves. A familiar badge gleams out at them, nearly identical to her and Tobias’ own.
“Oh! You must be Samir. Granite mentioned you,” Nia says, smiling warmly. “I’m Nia. This is Tobias. We’re Seekers too, brought in to help with the earthquakes.”
The skiddo nods back. Curt and professional.
There’s an awkward beat of silence. One of the Pokemon down the road—part of the construction crew working on the damaged building they’d passed this morning—yells something about finishing up what they’re working on before the rain comes in.
“Do you have any info?” Tobias finally asks, jumping straight to the point. He hesitates. “I mean—not sure how you would share it, but…I know finger-sign. I don’t know how well that translates when you don’t, y’know…have fingers, but. Yeah. Info?”
Samir tilts their head again, brow furrowing in clear confusion.
“Info about what might be causing the earthquakes,” Nia clarifies. “We were brought here to investigate.”
The skiddo blinks, clearly bewildered. They shake their head.
Tobias squints. “You…don’t have any info?”
Samir huffs at him, then shakes their head again with an insistent click of their hoof. Nia stares at them, hopelessly lost.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know—“
Nia cuts off as the skiddo nimbly hops off the porch and makes quick, sharp strokes in the dirt with the tip of their orange hoof. Nia exchanges a look with Tobias and follows them down to read the words they’ve spelled out.
NO CAUSE
DISASTERS EVERYWHERE
WHY THINK CAUSE?
Nia falters. Right. Most of the town seems to believe that the quakes are natural. “W-Well…Granite thinks there’s something strange going on. He’s the one who called us in.”
“He pointed out how localized they are. Nowhere else in the Faren Desert are there this many earthquakes happening in such a short period of time,” Tobias adds.
Nia nods, pointing at her partner as if to say, Yeah, that too.
Samir makes a doubtful noise in their throat, looking at the two of them as if trying to figure them out. Finally, they shake their head and write again.
HERE TO HELP
NEED HELP
“We’ll do that too, of course!” Nia says.
“But if something IS causing the quakes, the most helpful thing to do would be to stop it at the source,” Tobias finishes.
Samir is clearly frustrated with that answer. They scuff a hoof through their previous words, then write again.
NO CAUSE
EVIDENCE?
“We’re working on it,” Tobias grumbles. “We just got here last night.”
“We were hoping you might have some idea of where to start?” Nia asks. “We’ve been asking around about anything weird, but—“
Samir shakes their head immediately.
BUSY
REPAIRS
INJURIES
“Right,” Nia murmurs, reading the goat’s words. “You’ve been the only one here trying to help out for weeks, huh?”
For just a moment, the skiddo’s shoulders seem to slump. They scrape away the words with a swipe of their hoof, gazing down at the little ruts left in the dirt with tired, unhappy eyes.
“If you help us look into this, we might be able to fix all of that,” Nia says.
Samir takes a moment to look at Nia, dark eyes intense. She gives them a smile, hoping they can tell how sincere she is.
Finally, they sigh and write something new with quick, messy jabs of their hoof.
FIND EVIDENCE
Nia brightens. “Sure! That’s what we’re working on right now anyways. We’ll let you know when we find it.”
The skiddo looks much less optimistic than Nia, but simply shakes their head and wipes away the words.
Then, they stand and give both Nia and Tobias a firm nod, before trotting past them further into town. Nia blinks after them, a bit surprised by the sudden departure. It didn’t feel angry, necessarily, but just…exasperated. As if they were children wasting valuable time.
“Again. So helpful,” Tobias drawls.
“They…seemed stressed,” Nia defends weakly. “It makes sense they don’t want to waste time on what might be a dead end when the town is barely holding itself together.”
“I guess,” Tobias grumbles. “Back to it?”
“I wanted to talk to that construction crew working down the road,” Nia says, pointing. “Let’s try them next.”
Tobias nods, leading the way. “Think they might have noticed something about the quakes that everyone else missed? Since they work on repairs every day.”
“That’s what I’m hoping for!”
They approach the building that was shaken right off its foundations, half of it sunk into the dirt. The construction crew looks to be packing it in for the day, collecting their tools and casting glances at the heavy gray clouds covering the sky like a thick blanket.
Nia hesitates as she tries to decide who to get the attention of. There’s a blue otter Pokemon nearby, but he’s barking orders to the other Pokemon, so he’s probably the one in charge.
“The dewott looks too busy. Let’s try the aggron,” Tobias murmurs, pointing out a large Pokemon who looks to be loading all of the crew’s tools back into a cart.
He’s all thick black plating and silver armor, with a sturdy tail and two sharp horns jutting from his helmet-like head. His icy blue eyes are focused on his work.
Nia gulps, intimidated by the sheer strength in the Pokemon’s movements. Tobias gives her an unimpressed look and pads forward first.
“Hey. Got time for a quick question?”
“Hm?” The aggron glances down at the two of them. His voice is deep, but casual. “Sure, little Seekers. What’s up?”
“Has your crew noticed anything weird about the earthquakes that have been happening?” Tobias asks.
The aggron pauses to frown at them. “Weird?”
“Like, um…strange patterns for when they happen?” Nia asks. “Anything that just feels…not natural?”
The aggron’s heavy tail sweeps across the dirt, scattering pebbles and dirt with it. His eyes narrow at Nia. “If you’re tryin’ to imply something just because I can use ground type moves—“
“N-No!” Nia hurries to say, waving her hands in front of her. “We just thought since you guys do construction, you might’ve noticed something?”
“You were the only ‘mon not moving around or giving directions,” Tobias adds. “So we thought we’d ask you.”
The aggron sighs, his breath nearly a gust of wind. “Sorry. Been a rough couple o’ months. I mean, good pay. Bad…everything else.”
“I’m sure,” Nia murmurs.
“Anyways,” the aggron says, tossing a toolbox into the cart before reaching for a palette of wood. He lifts the giant stack of lumber with a single arm. “No, haven’t noticed anything too weird. Nothing that no one else hasn’t, at least.”
He grunts as he throws the palette into the cart as well. “Lots of quakes. Lots of rain. The whole world is dealing with this kind of stuff more and more, so I guess this is just our lot. S’ a pain to deal with, though.”
“Least we aren’t stuck in the mines when all these quakes are happening,” a primeape adds as he drops a bundle of rope into the cart in passing. “I’d be terrified of a cave-in.”
The aggron huffs. “True.”
“Granite mentioned that this used to be a mining town,” Nia says, watching the primeape move back to the building to help secure the temporary supports.
“Sure was,” the aggron says, taking a moment to lean against the cart and look down at them. “My dad was a miner before we wiped the minerals out of this canyon. A lot of the town still mines, but they have to head out into the desert to do so.”
Ah. That would explain the group of Pokemon with pickaxes that she’d seen head out earlier in the day.
“What—“
“Cody. Need you on the west side of the building.”
The aggron—his name is Cody?—jolts, looking behind Nia and Tobias. “Right. Sorry, Eddy. On it.”
Cody hurries off to help the other construction ‘mon, heavy steps shaking the earth beneath him.
Nia turns to the newcomer—Eddy. It’s the dewott she’d seen shouting orders before. He has two seashells hooked into the fur on each hip, his black-tipped paws planted right over them.
“Can I help you?” He asks. “We’re trying to wrap up here.”
As if to accentuate his point, a raindrop falls between them, making a dark circle in the dirt. Then another. Tobias crinkles his nose and flips his hood up over his head.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Nia says apologetically. “We’re Seekers looking into the earthquakes. Have you noticed anything strange about them? Anything off?”
“Not this again,” Eddy grumbles, pinching at the area between his eyes. “Is this about Cody? Look, you can’t just go around blaming every Pokemon who can use earthquake. I’ve got a lot of good ‘mon on my crew who are just trying to live their lives and help the town.”
“We’re not trying to blame anyone!” Nia insists. “J-Just wondering if you’ve noticed anything weird that might help us figure more out about the quakes.”
The otter shakes his head, whiskers whipping. “They’re quakes. Nature. Nothing predictable about it. Look, we’ve gotta wrap this up. Talk to Calder if you want the scoop on the town.”
With that, Eddy turns and heads back to his crew. Nia sags. She’d really been hoping they’d get a lead here. As if to match her mood, the rain starts sprinkling in earnest, dotting the dirt with quiet little plips.
Tobias shuffles closer to the half-destroyed building, glaring up at the sky. Nia sighs. It’d probably be best if they went inside, at least for now. Maybe they need to take a break anyways.
“Want to head to the saloon?” Nia asks.
“I can handle a little rain,” Tobias scoffs, despite the fact that he is quite literally hiding from it.
“You’re hungry too, right?” Nia asks, waiting for Tobias’ agreement. “We could try waiting out the rain while we get some food. Maybe talk to Deidra and see if she has anything to share since we haven’t been there yet.”
Thunder rolls in the distance, and Tobias reluctantly steps away from the shelter of the building. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Nia follows his brisk pace across town, trying to keep the optimism she’d started with. There has to be a lead somewhere, right? Even if everyone in town seems convinced that it’s just nature breaking down, Granite’s conviction sticks in her mind.
Something has to be going on. And Nia’s going to find out what.
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In a highschool au, which characters would be strange enough to do something that people would mistakenly consider as supernatural? The school's seven mysteries are not ghost but are actually just random stuff done by some weirdo students lol
This is another one of those asks about Munakata being a cryptid isn’t it XD of course the students of Gakuen K are aware of the rumors of one of the school’s great mysteries, a creature often referred to as The Shining Glasses or the Oya Monster. Legend has it if you’re late to class consistently you may see a pair of glasses shining down at you, asking if you would like to help put together a puzzle if you don’t need to be in class. Once you’re caught by the Oya Monster you have no choice but to bond with him until the bell rings, only then will he release you to go to your next class. The story says even teachers can be cornered, if a teacher haphazardly writes out a test or homework printout that has incorrect questions or typos once again a pair of shining glasses will appear and politely berate that teacher into tears. (Some people wonder isn’t this just the Student Council President Munakata but no, that is just a form the monster can take, has anyone ever seen him leave the school grounds.)
There’s also the Mysterious Snoring Bleachers. The story goes that sometimes if you go into the gym when class is over and sit on the bleachers you can hear the sound of someone snoring, even if the room is empty. Sometimes this will be accompanied by the smell of cigarette smoke but there won’t be any sign of a person there, and students can get reprimanded for sneaking off to smoke when they were only picking up their shoes in the gym. Sometimes people suggest that maybe there’s some presence sleeping beneath the bleachers but the few brave souls who have checked can only say they felt a terrifying presence, like a sleeping lion, and they had to escape for their own safety before he awoke.
Then there’s the Haunted Knives, which appear out of nowhere and come flying, embedding themselves in the wall at random. Legend has it that red-haired students have the most to fear from this, that if someone with red hair bumps into the wrong person knives may appear out of nowhere to attack them. The person they run into is said to be the ghost of an angry student who was betrayed by a red-haired lover and seeks revenge even now from beyond the grave. Due to this some of the students with red hair briefly tried to wear caps to discourage the ghost but this only made more knives appear and the legend expanded to include that this ghost only becomes more malevolent when he can’t tell the color of a person’s hair. There are other rumors that this ghost may be related to another of the school’s mysteries, the skateboard tracks that appear in the hall after hours, but no one can confirm the truth.
Finally there’s the Echoing Haiku, where a student wandering the halls may hear the voice of Principal Ichigen Miwa speaking haiku out of nowhere even though the principal is nowhere to be seen. The stories go that one of Ichigen’s closest pupils became despondent after being unable to compose haiku as great as his master’s and died in despair, his ghost sentenced to roaming the halls of the school repeating his master’s words over and over. Kuroh finds such words nonsense, as Master Ichigen would never allow one of his disciples to become so despondent, and has become determined to allay these rumors by playing his recordings of Ichigen whenever possible so that everyone can hear what Ichigen’s words truly sound like. The recorder’s words echo down the halls and Kuroh feels the warm glow of a job well done.
#k project#Talking K#Munakata is a cryptid we know this#imagine the poor poor normal students just trying to go to class#while the K cast cause messes everywhere around them XD#the oya monster will force you to do puzzles until you die
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i’ve done my fair share of scrolling through the hannibal tag on this app, but the one thing that i want to talk to literally anybody about when it comes to the hannibal book is this:
the perspective it’s written in.
thomas harris books are very obvious written from the 3rd person. BUT! hannibal specifically, at least i think so because it’s been a hot minute since i’ve read red dragon and sotl, have these very important moments to me where the perspective switches from like.. the “all knowing eye” or whatever the fuck, to some sort of unknown narrator. am i using the right terms? probably not, so stick with me here.
instead of the perspective reading like this, (this is just a random example) chap 59: “the dna lab was new, smelled new, and the personnel were younger then starling. it was something she’d have to get used to, she thought with a twinge- she’d be a year older very soon.”
SOME OF IT SOUNDS LIKE THIS (and here is a excerpt from one of my favorite chapters ;)) “here beside you is the palazzo of the capponi, a family distinguished for a thousand years, who tore up a french kings ultimatum in his face and produced a pope”….”in that pane of crazed old glass is a bullet hole from the 1940s. go closer. rest your head against the cold iron as the policeman did and listen. faintly you can hear a clavier.”….”the alarms cannot see us. the wet policeman lurking in the door way cannot see us. come…”….”a long stone staircase, the stair rail cold beneath our sliding hand”… LIKE OH MY GOD??????
AND LASTLY LITERALLY ONE OF THE BEST THINGS IVE EVER READ THAT JUST HAPPENS TO BE THE LAST SENTENCES OF HANNIBAL:
“follow this handsome couple from the opera? all right, but very carefully…”….”we’ll withdraw now, while they are dancing on the terrace—the wise barney has already left town and we must follow his example. for either of them to discover us would be fatal. we can only learn so much and live.” LIKE EXCUUUSEEE MEEEE???????
i don’t even know how to explain how this kind of writing makes me feel. i could read books in only this kind of format for the rest of my life and i would die a happy human.
i need to know if there’s a specific name for this style of writing because oH MY GOD i love it SO GODDAMN MUCH !!!
i didn’t realize that i would be able to fall in love with a writing style but alas- here we are 😭
literally if anyone feels the same way or even feels different about this way of writing, please share your thoughts!!!!
#hannibal lecter#hannibal#thomas harris#the silence of the lambs#silence of the lambs#will graham#clarice starling#hannibal x clarice#mason verger (derogatory)#margot verger (loml)#margot verger#jack crawford#no one is going to see this but the way my heart dropped when ever crawford felt chest pains#and then he just rolled over to bella’s side of the bed and died. sigh. thanks thomas >:[
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this is a robbery i don’t got anything specific gimme any random gojo headcanons u got rn 🔫🔫 /lh
from here | @10shadowd
headcanon | gojo satoru + childhood home
property one: childhood home
i. overall
rather than a home, the central gojo-clan grounds are a courthouse. the grounds are well-maintained. the decoration & furnishings & design are made to emphasize power over & over again.
it smells like antiques & cedar.
they believe in power & regulation & knowledge. to see everything, to know everything is the necessary tool for maintaining order &
as a clan, the gojos like to imagine themselves as divinely-appointed mediators of jujutsu disputes.
it’s funny. they are not religious people. they are strictly secular. their religious habits come in record keeping & transcribing infinity to paper.
the grounds feel silent & feel like the anticipation before a sentencing.
ii. wear & tear.
however, the grounds are also lived in. some of the ideals of the gojo clan have deteriorated as the family branches out, moves elsewhere.
there are doors that won’t close properly, cabinets that (when opened) show clutter from a family member who is now unknown.
from his childhood bedroom, satoru could hear family gossip when he left his window open.
he has one cousin that he swore sounded like a duck when he laughed, & it kept satoru awake at night.
sometimes he was the point of gossip.
mostly he was held distant from the gossip. he was something isolated.
this was nothing to like or dislike. mostly it was just a way of being.
iii. hidden treasures.
still . . . as a child, satoru had favorite parts of the garden where ( if no one was looking ), he liked to dig. dirt sometiems caught beneath his nails. he buried bits of papers, formerly favored possessions. he buried bits of himself that he was ready to let die.
sometimes his buried treasures resurfaced after a heavy rain.
they usually just went to the trash after that.
beyond that, he liked that there was a swimming hole — that it was in shade. swimming was fine & all that, but mostly he liked floating. the water always felt cool enough that it soothed his skin & any budding headaches that he always seemed to have.
sunshine made him nauseous sometimes.
& his home always had hidden corners where it wasn’t too bright, where he could still watch particles of dust dance on stray breams of sunlight.
he liked the smell of the cooking, liked that his clothes always were clean.
he liked that there were cats sometimes that sometimes settled along the courtyard, that always rubbed against his legs when he stepped outside.
they didn’t all have names, & satoru didn’t name them. he did have a liking to one of the older cats, though. a blind thing white mitten paws.
there was quite a bit that he liked about his home. that doesn’t mean it ever felt warm.
iv. shortcomings
the cold of the home came from its age. there were things everywhere that were centuries old, things that were for children to look at but not touch.
he didn’t like that the water sometimes took three minutes to warm up when he wanted a bath.
he didn’t like that there was so much cursed energy, & he had to see it all. all the time.
he didn’t like that sometimes it was loud. sometimes it was dead.
he didn’t like that there was no air conditioning.
there were other things too — things that (once he outgrew his childhood ). things that made him think of the family grounds as something a bit dusty & pretentious.
it’s dreary & suffocating.
he obtains other properties in his adulthood.
he finds them much easier to call home.
#5. headcanon#100. c. gojo#okay i'm actively so sfg excited by this omg#10shadowd#1. question#other gojos sdfg u know what if u disagree or agree sdfg let's collaborate sfg !
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Year in Writing: 2023
I have a tradition to pick out a little snippet I like of my writing from each month, so here's this year's! Links on each month's name.
January
Nothing. Nothing. Nothingnothingnothing, gnawing at the air until blood oozed from the eternity that was the self, nothing to do, nothing to see or be or-
Something.
Something, a small creature. Sneaking around, but it would come to the Room eventually, all things did. Larger than the usual small creatures, squeaking out sounds that could only barely be recognized as speech bubbling at the back of a locked-away mind, voice high-pitched and grating and flesh smelling sweaty and sweet and perhaps chewing on it would make it go away, but it was too bony to be anything but a toy as wingsfingershandsclaws curled around it, squeezing it to see if it popped.
_
February
It only took a few moments for consciousness to slip away, leaving only the pillowy comfort of nothingness. Distantly, he could feel shifting around, gentle vibrations and little bits of laughter, but it was as if he was settled on the bottom of a pool made out of jam, senses muffled. The easy, fuzzy contentment that sloshed through his body made it all too easy to just settle, feeling only faint twitches here and there as well as a pleasing pressure on his middle.
All he had to do was… let go.
_
March
Red fingertips faded to light pink as he gripped the edge of the toilet bowl hard enough that it stung, pulling in a breath and letting it out slowly with lungs deflating like balloons. He shoved himself up, splashing his hands with sanitizer before reaching for the eyeliner. Below his too-tight top, his stomach churned, but he’d already taken more time than he could afford without expecting consequences later.
The familiar unfamiliar face in the mirror had bags under the eyes, but a bit of concealer would be able to hide that- nobody in the crowd would see his face close enough to care.
_
April
“Don’t you dare.”
Hazel looked up from her rearrangement of the skeletons in the main lobby as Clove held up a finger, eyes narrowed. She tilted her head as if to ask ‘dare what?’, but his left ear just twitched as he fussed with his neckerchief. “Mm?”
“You know full well what I mean, Hazy. Whatever you’re planning, zip it. No stunts. This is a date and I want him to like me, alright? That means you keep whatever little plan you have got brewing today for the next schmuck passing the doors, not my new boyfriend.”
She used one of the skeletal hands to draw an 'X’ over her chest just as the main door echoed with a pair of booming knocks.
_
May
“You don’t give a shit about what other people think, right?”
Twix raised an eyebrow. “Not really. People are dumb. Why?”
“Just…” Her nails drummed on the bench. “How… never mind.” The sentence choked itself and died before it reached the night air. “It’s nothing.” The music and lights pulsed from the palace as Stella shifted, dress fabric swishing as it was dragged across itself. Twix could see where a piece of it had hooked on something at the waist and the thread had started to unravel.
“Fuck ‘em,” Twix said. “I don’t know what this is about, but fuck 'em. I think you’re cool.”
Stella’s beak twitched up at that. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.” Twix paused, ruffling the top of their currently-feathery head before holding up the blaster. “I’m not any good at touchy-feely stuff. Do you want to use this to blow something up of theirs?”
“Oh, satan yes.” Stella held out a hand and Twix dropped it into delicate fingers that curled around the sleek irken tech. “It wasn’t anything bad, just need to blow off some steam, y'know? Royal bitches being royal bitches.”
“Says the proud royal bitch,” Twix said. It was followed by a nudge to the side, but it came with a little laugh.
The light of the ruby Pride sky didn’t quite reach all the way through Stella’s eyes, but the laugh was enough for now.
_
June
That was how he found himself with a cup of the punch for designated drivers, giving some random fucko a lap dance. He had a big cock through his party pants, and Blitzo wanted it. He couldn’t drink, couldn’t wash away his feelings (that he shouldn’t have, that he never should have allowed to fester, but that had burrowed down just deep enough that he hadn’t ripped the parasite out as soon as he found out about it and had let Stolas convince him this might work for just long enough to nearly believe it), but he could drop his ass down on some guy that would appreciate it for a few minutes, and right now, that was enough.
Two gulps downed the punch, and the thumping bass combined with the fact that his body was, upon realizing that he was grinding on a thick cock, getting horny. Horny was good. He liked horny right now, horny meant drowning his feelings in hormones if not booze, and maybe he could swallow down some cum that always tasted sweeter here and wring something out of this piss-soaked fucker of a day.
(Even though the weight around his middle made it very, very hard to forget the person who had caused it.)
_
July
This was the part he hated.
It was the part where the party was over and the high started to spiral, where his body wasn’t just a vessel for a limitless chugging champion or a sex god willing to lock all kinds of lips with anyone who drew into his line of sight anymore, but a body that could be sore and tired and full. Of cum sometimes, of drugs sometimes, but of booze tonight especially, hot and sticky in his throat and in his belly. Beelzebub’s parties have an infectious energy that are liquid gold when you’re in the thick of them, a part of the hive in a way that connects everyone like a thousand invisible strings, but when you’re out, you’re mortal again, and he’s never felt more mortal than right now.
_
August
“So, that’s over with. Do you want to… I dunno, go get coffee or something? I don’t know if human coffee sucks. Hell coffee is a half and half chance.”
“Mmm, you know, I’m not sure?” Stolas tapped his chin. “I don’t have any human money on me, though.”
“Ah, rummaging around in the dumpster behind some place that has coffee it is, then.”
“...Blitz. No.”
“What? They throw out the fancy bread and shit all the time, and some people don’t finish their-”
Stolas groaned, and it made Blitz snicker.
“You’re a real priss for someone who loves eating my sweaty ass as much as you do.”
“Those things are very different!” Stolas protested, but he couldn’t help a little laugh of his own as Blitz nudged him. The Sin-created crystal sparkled in the sunlight, and he could see a hint of gold underneath the white teeth with canines edged sharper than any normal human’s.
_
September (nsfw)
Blitz told himself that he wasn’t going to do it anymore. He was done. He was done! He was sick of dragging his bruised-up body off the property at ass o’clock while he could hear the ghostly echo of cackling, doubled-over laughter echoing around the rotting foundations around him.
He lasted a week.
Frankly, even that much was an accomplishment, because it was far, far too easy to let his dumbass brain make dumbass decisions and end up flat on his ass as the robot that smelled like booze and popcorn and baby spit stuffed its tongue in his mouth while fingers edged with rust teased up a fluttery red-and-white chest that nearly had the ribs poking out. It tasted like the time he made out with a radiator. (If it was on a dare or because he was plastered or both, he didn’t remember anymore.)
_
October
“…Son of a bitch.” He squinted at her, and she watched him back. It was almost wild, how he looked like Dad but thrown through three layers of funhouse mirror, with everything she cared about suctioned away and twisted into broken glass. Shrunken, compared to her. Small. “Sold himself, did he?”
“Nope. Papa just liked him.” She blinked. “He lives in the palace now. I’ve got two sisters and a little brother.” Pause. “He never told me much about you.”
_
November
They’d tried to shoot her.
That was mean, and made her shaky as she curled closer to him, to his smell of gunpowder and spice and leather.
Daddy seemed scared.
It didn’t really make sense- he was big and strong and could kill people real easily- but the little tremors and the way his voice wiggled a little… it sure seemed like it.
He was scared because they’d tried to get her. Because of her.
She pressed her cheek against him and murmured that she was okay, she wasn’t worried. Everything was okay, right?
(Her heart was still beating twice as fast as usual when her eyes darted down to the hole in the puffy sleeve of her dress, but she sucked in breaths like he did, and it started to go away.)
_
December
Stolas reached for him, fingers splayed, but the moment his fingertips met the cool rock, dust bloomed on impact and Blitz froze as his glow brightened, cracks emerging on both his belly and the surface where they touched.
“No, no, no no no-” Stolas’s eyes widened as Blitz plummeted, diving after the moon as the surface dissolved with a splash into the endless ocean, leaving him… leaving him…
There was no face upon the living constellation, but Stolas swore that it stared at him as the glow became a supernova and his darling collapsed upon himself milliseconds before Stolas was able to make contact, the child within too much for both Blitz and itself. The stars that made them darkened and went black, crumbling into ash as Stolas desperately tried to pull them back together, pulling already-cold shaky handfuls of wet mush against his chest before the sobs even had a chance to escape him.
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playing a Pokemon game for the first time in 2023
TL;DR: mixed bag, some strong aspects but also one big fat fatal flaw.
Even though I'm a 90s kid, the whole Pokemon phenomenon somehow passed my childhood by. Now, that isn't to say I'd never heard of the franchise and thought a Pikachu was the sound of 3.14159 sneezing; I have picked up some basic things through cultural osmosis. Like that you get one of three little lads to start with and then you go out and with your lad catch more lads, use them to fight other, evil lad catchers and then, presumably, save the world.
Anyway, I decided to see what all the fuss has been about these past 25 odd years and picked more or less at random one of the games I already had on emulator, Pokemon not being famed as a franchise that evolves (hah) drastically from game to game. I ended up with Pokemon FireRed, which turned out to be a stroke of luck because it's a remake of the original Pokemon Red and since I do sort of kind of know the names of some of the Gen 1 lad roster, there was bit of familiarity there.
I picked Charmander (named him Chomp) and off we went. First off, catching new Pokemon never stopped being exciting. I suspect it's a similar effect as Gatcha machines, where you'll probably just encounter another goddamn Pidgey but there's also a small chance it could be something cool. Like, I was super hyped when I caught a Pikachu very early on because I assumed, being the mascot and all, it must be super strong, so I named him Thor. I was only whelmed by his performance in the end but fine.
I will say, up until maybe the second gym, the fights are quite well balanced and I felt challenged but not overpowered. This being a JRPG I had braced myself for a lot of grinding but I ended up needing to do very little, which is nice. Also nice is the manner by which I, as a new player, got eased into systems like type matching, items, etc. Sure, literal sign posts with "trainer tips" are a bit on the nose but overall I appreciated not having an encyclopedia chucked at my head first thing. There is in fact an encyclopedia in game but I rarely used it and had a lot of fun drawing my own little diagram with the types and their interactions as I figured them out.
Progressing onward, I would describe the game as monotonous yet absorbing, at least for a while.
Whoops, that loaded sentence needs unpacking. Right, so, while your lads are still levelling up frequently and you're still constantly encountering new species on the road, the travel and various battles are a way to pace out the excitement without ever allowing it to die away entierly. Cool, works for me. However, this stops being the case in later dungeons, when, in a spectacular display of misplaced confidence not seen since the Virtual Boy, the lvl12 Rattatas of the world still think it's a good idea to spit at my lvl32 Machoke's feet (named Chad obvs). Simple fix I can suggest there, weak ass baby pokemon should just automatically stop coming at you and not require a consumable item to avoid.
On a vaguely related note, in that even random encounters are unnecessarily drawn out, this game has too many text boxes. You can't scratch your ass in this game without 5 text boxes describing the smell of your butt sweat. It really needs turbo text rather than just fast text because every time I get into a fight or go into a pokecenter to heal my nigh expired Meowth (Marx, bc she redistributes capital by throwing it at ppl), after I once again forgot you're not supposed to use bite on Nidoran, I have to read through the nurse's unedited life story first. It's almost as thumbnumbingly tedious as navigating the PC and every other menu.
As a final criticism on the topic of monotony, I'd like to mention that the overworld trainer battles could have been handled better, fancied up a little, arranged with more care than the spoons in my cutlery drawer. How it usually works, is that they're copypasted in groups of 5-10 along a path and you just fight one after another. I feel like the same effect could have been achieved by just having, like, 3 unique trainers and they all just give you 3x as much XP.
XP distribution is of course an eternal sticking point in party-based RPGs but since you usually fight all of these trainers in a row you'll have the same team anyway. In general, the limited XP distribution means that to avoid grinding you pretty much have to limit yourself to one team (+ a couple of situational swap outs) that counters more or less every type, irrespective of whether they are your personal faves. On the other hand, this does help you get emotionally invested in those particular pokemon and their growth in an organic way, but then on the other other hand... well, we'll come back to that.
To be clear, none of these criticisms are dealbreakers, just quality of life issues and maybe signs of age, which I should hope have been adressed in the meantime. Do let me know.
Overall, I made my way through the game without too much trouble. The only gym I temporarily got stuck on was poison mcninjaman, which might have been because it was the one thing I did slightly out of order. I was generally surprised with how linear the game is but I really didn't mind that so much. It allows for more control in levelling and exploration. Speaking of which, one of my favorite features is how your lads can learn certain moves to make new areas accessible. It massages my metroidvania brain and is a neat way of letting the overworld and the "battling dimension" blend together a bit.
Finishing the elite four and absolutely trouncing my rival one last time was perfectly serviceable as finales go. Honestly though, it was the battles before that, on victory road, that were the most engaging because it contained some of the only trainers in the whole game that have diverse teams, not just four ambulatory flowers that fare against my pet flamethrower the way a white couch fares against a toddler with permanent marker.
Regardless, I got my title as lord high champion master trainer of all the strongest lads in the land and was actually excited to dive back in and fill out my Pokedex, fully explore Kanto and continue evolving my team (and maybe some of my benchwarmers). It was then, when I finally took to the internet to look up how to most efficiently turn Nosferatu, Haunter extraordinaire, into Nosferatu, Gengar spectacular, that I was delivered a gut punch which instantly obliterated any desire to keep playing or any recommendation for this game I might have made. See, you can't evolve some Pokemon (i.e. about half my team) into their final form without trading them with other players. Combined with the fact that you apparently can't get the other starters at all, you have no chance to even get remotely close to completing your Pokedex if, say, you're playing the game 20 years after it came out and it's on an emulator and thus not multiplayer compatible. This is a problem, to put it mildly.
I understand that nintendo wanted to encourage players to use the multiplayer features, but in a game that is still designed 99% around a singleplayer experience, it is just not ok to lock players who don't happen to have anyone to trade with out of crucial content like this. It clashes directly with the idea that you grow attached to your Pokemon through your adventures and that they will grow with you when eventually, no amount of rare candies, items or love you can bestow upon them will help. It's the much, much worse flipside of the limited XP problem, first forcing you to focus on a core team to the detriment of all the others and then putting a hard stop on that team's development. It would be possible grind XP if you really wanted that Alakazam but you can't magically conjure a friend (trust me on that). I could bear, like, one super special rare pokemon being exclusive to multiplayer but this is just bullying lonely kids and any astronauts who might be playing.
To summarize my overall opinion with a metaphor: Pokemon FireRed just about manages to squeeze into the crowded bus to Good Video Game town choking in Earthbound's musky armpit, only to be shoved out again on the second to last stop and faceplant into a concrete bench.
I would give Pokemon another chance if it didn't have that irredeemable anti-loner feature. Having said this, I've come to realize that, although I don't dislike the trainer battling, it was but the complementary bread rolls of this meal. I much preferred finding new Pokemon, figuring out how to best fight them without accidentally killing them/having them escape and exploring new areas. So I guess my ideal Pokemon game would be one where trainer duels are kept to a select few and instead the mechanics of finding and catching new lads as well as taking care of them are made more intricate (and less reliant on RNGesus).
Like Monster Hunter meets Nintendogs. Does that exist? Someone let me know if that exists.
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How do you deal with writer's block?
Hello, your ask is much appreciated!
Typically and personally, when my other options are exhausted and my eyes wander over an empty page or Google Doc, my voice to crack in lamentation and sheer disappointment in oneself, and, oh dear, the aggressive pen clicks—and here I am being well ahead of the question. When one finally recovers from the self-criticisms and the ideals of what your hands could've made for your priceless children in your stories and yet you wasted it...
Be made aware, my dear Sir/Madame/etc., there is still hope! Attempt to recollect yourself (only needed if you have a crisis as I do, but this can also be for fun), brew coffee or tea, consume your favorite beverage without a single care. Go online, read or listen to songs that remind you of your WIP, stories, characters, concepts and everything else; this also can be applied to other works such as poetry, books, social media posts, even art, memes and advertisements and more. Pick up on their language, see what they tell you, and you might be inspired to write about it. Copy some key words you'd like to use in your writing, or sentences or phrases that resonate with you or characters or a general story and save it for when you finish your trek. You now have your drink and you have a new word bank to begin with.
If the above is ineffective, try limiting all distractions and stare into the void as you would on the bus from school. Then, literally just mentally start scripting what you want, or let it all come to you. This may or may not help depending on your level of imagination, level of attention span or otherwise, still worth a shot however! During this, ask yourself what words can be used to describe those actions your characters are doing, what the scene smells, looks, feels and sounds like, think of all the cool words, write them as soon as they come to you. It can be as simple, deep or poetic as you'd like, don't hold back what you'd say about it. Write everything as it comes to you, do not worry about quality nor plot relevance—like how you'd record your dreams on paper when you wake, they never require themselves to make much sense. Making sense is for later in the process when you take what you wrote in order to make it fit a plot. Brain go brr now, edit later.
You can also have plenty of fun with friends asking questions about your characters or your WIPs, this can occur during questionnaires or while you rant about things, and sometimes this is found in strange formats. For example, me and a friend played DnD to describe a character's day with dice.(@imbadatnicknames if you're curious, they make neat as heck characters). One could be mad libs, just becasue. One I do more than I'd like to admit is "secret cosplay", where I "play" as a character for a while to really get a sense or who they are and how they'd genuinely behave, and you can also see them and yourself develop from this over time. I'll be in my room (my poor, poor parents), exclaiming, pretending to be a tiny arsonist who's husband can barely manage her, or a heavily clumsy lawyer-knight in a secret relationship with a beautiful unisex-dressing prince with their own issues. Really get into it, I mean REALLY into it, like a theatre kid gone crack feral. Kinda reinforces the previous point a bit: let the brain go brr without judgement or hinderance.
If all that still cannot suffice, it seems counterproductive, everyone tells you, but, just write. ANYTHING. Like "haha yeet" on a google doc, just write something, literally anything. Something is better than nothing. And slowly you could possibly fool your brain into working around a scrunkly disaster of random crap into forming something like dialogue, maybe a funky 'lil monologue to use in that feral theatre kid method.
🤍 And, out of ideas... For now. I'm aware this is unorganized, I haven't had an ask in so long and I got way to up to it. I tried, and again, your ask is seriously, unconditionally taken into account and loved. Thank you. I love the writeblr community as well, you're all deserving of being published. 🤍
TL/DR: There are many different ways to deal with writer's block, including but not limited to: reading other works, staring into the void and letting your imagination yeet into oblivion and writing what you see in your head, literally pretending to be a character, DnD, typing gibberish to reboot your brain.
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