Tumgik
#Zero Gunner
posthumanwanderings · 2 years
Video
youtube
Sega Model 2 Mega Stream Pt.2
0:00 Desert Tank (soundtest 11:20) 26:00 Sega Ski Super G (soundtest 54:30) 1:17:40 Rail Chase 2 (soundtest 1:50:35) 2:25:00 Sega Water Ski (soundtest 3:03:20) 3:25:10 WaveRunner (soundtest 3:54:10) 4:14:10 Pilot Kids (soundtest 4:32:10) 4:52:20 Behind Enemy Lines (NoPlay) 5:14:35 Zero Gunner (soundtest 5:53:00) 5:59:25 Dynamite Cop (soundtest 6:36:40) 7:09:40 Top Skater w/Sonic the Fighters BGM 7:41:40 End Stream
13 notes · View notes
jtgunner · 1 month
Text
New let's play video is up on my YouTube channel! I'm back with more F-Zero 99 for the Nintendo Switch! I'm doing another Mini Prix, and I'm hoping to actually survive this one! But there's something interesting about my placements here…
WATCH IT HERE: https://youtu.be/a8Z4AD-aZJA
6 notes · View notes
scrap-brainzone · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
*makes everyone strange and frightful* lol
128 notes · View notes
rastronomicals · 2 months
Photo
Tumblr media
10:02 PM EDT March 14, 2024:
Pilot to Gunner - "Zero Return" From the album Games at High Speeds (April 17, 2001)
Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm
--
Tumblr media
0 notes
alpha-mag-media · 6 months
Text
Brentford 0 Arsenal 1: Kai Havertz goes from zero to hero with late winner to send Gunners top of Premier League | In Trend Today
Brentford 0 Arsenal 1: Kai Havertz goes from zero to hero with late winner to send Gunners top of Premier League Read Full Text or Full Article on MAG NEWS
Tumblr media
View On WordPress
0 notes
velvetures · 10 months
Text
Vulnerable pt.1?
A/N: A not-so-little thing I've had for a few weeks, and wanted to see if a part two was something anyone would be interested in reading. If so, please let me know. Summary: You try and get Ghost to relax after a harsh mission and find a bit of a quiet moment. T/W: not proofread :)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Bad intel led to you and your Lieutenant being nearly hunted down and killed by a not-so-small group of arms dealers who caught on quickly to the pair of foreigners lingering just a little bit too close to their sheltered storage garage right in the middle of a market district in the South East. The task force assumed sending in an entire squad would be overkill just for some simple recon information and decided that you and Ghost would be the perfect pair for the job. ‘In and Out…’ Price had said quite offhandedly, sliding the prepared information in two files across the table to you. Only Price’s sources hadn’t double-checked if the area was secure enough for them to enter without full backup on standby. Not necessarily a lethal kind of mistake when bringing you and the Lieutenant into the equation, but there were too many close calls and stray bullets that were clearly heard for either of you to feel super confident in getting away unscathed.
Your only savior was a small farmhouse that had been recently abandoned due to the illegal and dangerous activity that had been surrounding the small city. Modest in size with two bedrooms and running water. Perfect for a makeshift safe house to keep the trackers off your asses until an extraction could be arranged and put into motion. Contrary to belief, the 141 didn’t have the bottomless pit of resources everyone believed they had at their disposal. Which included access to evac and trained air-support teams. This wasn’t a big mission that had a lot of working parts and multiple organizations involved that had enough liquidated funds to through out for a helo and heavy gunners to rescue two operators from the middle of who-the-fuck-knows-where.
That means with busted equipment, inoperable comms, hardly enough ammunition to fight out of a wet paper bag, and zero way of knowing when and if you’d be rescued, there was nothing left to do but try and relax in one of the most difficult predicaments. It left you searching through cabinets for maybe some kind of food to keep the both of you while Ghost did one of his favorite things. Pacing the house from window to window looking for the slightest bit of movement. The trouble being, there wasn’t anything for at least two miles in any direction. The people who owned this place were farmers of some sort, and had placed their home right in the middle of crop fields that gave a very advantageous sightline. While that information gave you quite a bit of comfort, it was not effecting Ghost positively in the slightest.
Your relationship with the Lieutenant was complex, to say the least. When you were first introduced it was for a succession of short co-op missions that were nothing if not brief and very impersonal leaving you with more questions than answers about the man who stayed hidden under the mask. Through some talks that you hadn’t been privy to being in the room for, John Price decided that your skills would be more useful to Task Force 141 than for the U.S. Division of Clandestine Service and offered you a position that you couldn’t possibly decline.
By day-in and day-out contact with Ghost, you got a lot more comfortable with him and learned much of his little idiosyncratic behaviors. Maybe a little too well…. He didn’t particularly act much differently towards you in the grand scheme of things, but something in you felt like trust had been developed to where he could depend on you when the situation called for it.
“Go hit the rack, I’ll take first watch.” He called gruffly from the living room where he had moved a chair from the kitchen to sit facing the front door head on with his MP5 resting lazily on his chest.
You couldn’t help but notice just how damn tired he looked under all that gear and through the black smeared around his eyes. He couldn’t be carrying less than one hundred pounds on him right now; even sitting in that chair with it wasn’t a good enough solution. Let you take a moment or two for yourself, stripping out of your tac vest and heavily weighted gear to drop it on top of the kitchen counter with a little grunt. Two days ago you both got the luxury of sleeping, and since then it’s been nothing but being on the run.
This would be the safest place for you that wasn’t in the belly of an evac bird, and the thought of Ghost not taking the time to sleep sat in your mind like a lead sinker. Leaning against the doorway and watching him for a long moment, you start having thoughts. Dangerous thoughts. Ones that normally wouldn’t surface if you’d been able to separate working with Ghost from the more personal aspect of literally sharing almost every part of your life with him. Thoughts about how you could make him feel better… even if just for the night. That no one was around for miles and whatever happened could safely stay between the pair of you.
By utter carelessness of your position with the team or lack of fear about how the Lieutenant might respond, you walk into the living room and kneel down right in front of him with your fingers reaching out to unlace his dusty boots. Off instinct alone, you expected and watched as his foot flinched away from you. His whole body jumps and stiffens at the contact and sight of you kneeling on the floor. He quickly pauses and collects himself, taking several moments before his gravelly voice breaks the silence.
“What’re you doin’ Sergeant?” His eyes grew heavy and showed more expression than the rest of his massive body as they flashed with confusion and a little swell of anger. That aloofness didn’t hide that slight guardedness of something that made him uncomfortable in one way or another.
“I’m perfectly capable of takin’ care of my fuckin’ self.” He adds with zero discernible sign of either offense or gratitude. You can’t help but smile tiredly, feeling like you’re attempting to soothe a feral wolf into letting you pull it’s paw out of trap.
“I never said you couldn’t L.T.,” You reply gently, reaching back to start unhooking the laces from their claws on his left foot. “Just thought you couldn’t use some affection.” Smirking to yourself, you can’t help but think something this small being considered ‘affection’ didn’t fit anyone save for Ghost. He was just too hard to approach. Walls so thick and tall that it would take someone with patience beyond that of a human to break through and see what rested behind all of that brash posturing and icy disposition.
“You know affection is something I’m averse to,” he utters, watching yet making no effort to stop you. “What you’re doin’ is unnecessary.” A small sound close to a growl escapes from behind the mask when my hand reaches to the back of his leg to help aid my effort of pulling his boot off.
Chuckling softly and sitting the boot down at your side you respond, “I know you don’t like affection,” You’re already working on the other one, purposefully moving slowly as not to overwhelm or spook him. “That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it, L.T..” You can’t help but look up at him almost exhaustedly yet still trying to be reassuring.
“M’fine without it.” He spits out quickly, looking away from your face back down to your progress on the laces, his masked face otherwise unreadable. “Didn’t ask you for this shit, Sergeant.” Tinged with an undercurrent of irritation his deep voice sounds near the bridge of turning to anger.
“Mothering me isn’t in your best interest.” He growls low and threateningly in your face as he bends down to grab the boot sitting next to you and giving it a quick look of observation before sitting it back down closer to him. You just finish taking off his other boot and sit it down next to the other without much more of a verbal fight and put a hand on his thigh to steady your sore legs as you get back up to your feet.
“I’m younger than you Ghost, I can’t mother you.” You reply, holding out your hand for him.
He doesn’t make note or stop you from using him to help yourself up, however, Ghost follows your movements carefully… closely. He’s doing everything in his power to hide his emotions, but there’s still a faint twitch of his lips when he looks down at his boots sitting at his side. You’d done something very unusual, and he knew berating you was what he should’ve done. Yet a flinch of a smile was what really moved Ghost’s mouth. It’s gone before it even surfaces, pushed down by the sight. of you holding out your little hand in front of him. The sounds of his deep breathing fill the quiet house as you both sit there unflinching of each other. The Lieutenant shifts in his chair, readjusting his rifle on his chest.
“Go to bed. It’s late.” His repeated command felt softer now. Wavering a bit with you hand still held out and your fingers wiggling a little.
“Come on,” You hold steady and patient.
Reward comes in the form of feeling Ghost’s heavy and large hand falling into yours and gripping just hard enough to allow you the phantom sensation that you’re actually helping him up from the chair, hearing a short grunt as his back straightens up. Without explanation, you lead the Lieutenant through the small house back towards the only bedroom in the house with an actual bed left behind by the owners, pulling him to the center of the room and turning around to face him.
“Put your arms up for me.”
“Excuse me?” Ghost’s frown can be heard from behind the mask. Despite his apparent bewilderment, he hesitantly obeys, extending his arms above his head with an exhale of a tense breath, looking down at you with dark and questioning eyes. “What are you doing now?”
You just smile and hum to yourself softly, reaching out to begin unclipping and unzipping the sections of his tac vest holding it on his upper body and the multiple ammo belts. Carefully draping them over you shoulder as you release his body from them one by one. Seeing the way Ghost’s body sinks into itself with the weight being pulled off after days without rest. You feel his eyes scan over you, over your hands finding ways to take off his gear for the first time in your life, feeling your way through sunch an unusual yet careful act.
“Bein’ fuckin’ ridiculous…” He growls, covering up the feelings of not being so concealed by barking at you a little.
“Shhh.” Your hush does enough to stop his quiet and brooding complaints.
Long enough for you to kneel back down at his feet and work at the thigh straps over his pants and even remove the ankle holster you’d left alone while taking off his boots. He doesn’t resist this part, just watching you undress him bit by bit with half a mind questioning just what had happened for you to start acting so strangely. You’d always been sweet. Much nicer than your job allowed for. Yet even this was quite off the edge of the character Ghost had built for you over the years. This felt downright intimate for just two operators to be doing.
Then again your shared situation wasn’t exactly one of professionalism at this point. You’d been improvising for nearly a full day just trying to stay alive. Once back on your feet, you take hold of his hand again, this time with a little less caution since you’d already touched him there, and begin pulling at the fingertips to slide his sand and dirt-cakes gloves off. Even seeing his bare skin under his gloves be seen in the dim lamplight of the house, Ghost doesn’t do more than flex his fingers once you’ve rid him of the stiff material.
Purposefully avoiding his mask, you get Ghost down to nothing more than boxers and a t-shirt, even with his help at certain parts without him growling more or acting like you were irritating him. While he still gave off a feeling of all-around grumpiness and more than a little confused as hell, you paid it no mind as you led him towards the edge of the bed and pointed to it with a short yet polite command for him to ’sit’. Right away you noticed his hesitation and the way that his shoulders and arms tensed, his attention solely on you, flashing between your eyes and mouth like he was trying to reassure himself that he’d heard you correctly. But with one small tug on his hand, he turns around and sits on the bed with his feet resting on the floor and his arms braced on both sides of him a little stiffly.
“Now what?” His voice held a bit of rasp to it as he tracked your movement from his side, seeing you climb up into the bed and position yourself on your knees behind him. The close proximity didn’t go unnoticed by the Lieutenant as he cleared his throat, once again interrupting the calm silence in the house. His tension filled the small space between you, heating the gap of air, almost electrifying it.
“Just relax Ghost.” Easily touching his shoulders, you begin working your palms flat against the slopes of his muscled neck.
Purposefully but gently rubbing at the stiff cords of muscle and introducing the sensation to him as easily as possible in the case that it was a bit too overwhelming for him all at once. You knew you’d pushed the boundaries with him much further past anything you’d expected to achieve in one night. But now that he was sitting here in front of you, it was hard not to smile brightly that he was trusting you so much. Allowing your hands to be on him. Accepting that you had positioned the both of you in a very vulnerable position that could lead to a lot more violent options than affectionate ones. Torture and nightmares had given more than a fair share to Ghost, yet he was patiently staving off his own clear hesitation so that you could play out whatever this was turning out to be.
Your command went unacknowledged just like all of Ghost’s from earlier had; His breathing steadily slowing down into a deep and rich, relaxed sort of rhythm. Power of your hands and calming attitude worked faster than you anticipated, leaving the massive man sitting between your thighs begin to release. Tension falling out of his body not only under your hands but by sight of his jaw loosening. You’re even lucky enough to spot him trying to take glances at you from the corner of his eye, only to look back ahead since you were in quite the blindspot. Taking your thumbs in a sweeping motion from the edges of his shoulders inward, you apply pressure on the back of his neck and experimentally reach higher up under the hem of his mask. A dangerous game to play. Rumbling sounds of appreciation filling your ears are better than any sort of medal you could earn or bet you’d ever cash in. His head rolls back slightly with each small circle of your thumbs and fingers, pushing against you. Silently asking for more pressure.
“Feel good?” You ask at just a whisper, not wanting to disturb the warm sort of feeling the room has right now by speaking too loud.
Under the safety of his mask, Ghost’s mouth curves into a smile hearing you. He rolls his head back again, arching slightly to accommodate your small hands struggling to find good purchase to keep working at the intensity he’d been hinting at. A much less controllable sound escapes his mouth when you begin working at a very sore spot he didn’t even know was present right at the base of his skull.
“Keep going,” His sleepy-sounding mutter makes your chest ache.
Grinning at the feeling of his harsh accent and sudden domestication you work away diligently down his back carefully and methodically so as to not miss a single thing. And while it’s not necessarily going to help him much, you go ahead and use your fingernails to gently scratch up and down. It’s then a groan interrupts your focus and you see Ghost shift on the edge of the bed. Believing you’d found the end of your time, you leaned back on your heels and expected him to get up and leave you in the bedroom alone. Watching him tug at his t-shirt and pull it over his head to toss it somewhere across the room was how you were told that Ghost did indeed want more. Only his shirt was getting in the way of something he wasn’t getting.
Hearing him give a deep sigh when your fingertips returned to his now bared skin gave you a rush of adrenaline and nearly caused you to wiggle happily that you’d been able to share this with Ghost. He leans back into you a little more, letting your hands and arms take more of the weight as he groans out;
“You’ve done this before.”
“Yeah, but not for a long time.” You answer, eyes smoothing over the muscles rippling as your hands work at them.
“You’re good,” He grunts, closing his eyes and zeroing in on how to focus his attention between your small hands working so efficiently and the conversation he’d begun. “How’d you get so good at it?” His head turns a little, trying to get at least one good look at you. He keeps shifting now, allowing him to keep you just in the edge of his periphery.
“Had a good teacher for a few years,” You answer, working in tight circles over a large ball of muscle fibers all collected just at the edge of his shoulder blade, earning another growling sound from the Lieutenant.
“Teacher? When?” He asks, giving a slow release of a deep breath giving a short indication that the muscle you’d been working to release was getting a bit uncomfortable. Pulling back for a moment just to give him and your hands a break, you hear him make a noise then lean back a little further, pressing his back against you almost like a dog wanting to be pet more.
“Don’t stop.” He requests in a husky tone. You chuckle aloud, returning your hands and taking a less aggressive approach by smoothing your palms over him in less-than-planned patterns, just enjoying feeling his tattooed and scarred skin under your hands as you think about how to answer him.
“A woman in London taught me,” you start, using your nails again on his skin softly. “In the year or so between my U.S. military discharge and acceptance into the task force with you.” You see the effect of your touch on Ghost as it takes him longer to respond and the way he keeps leaning more and more weight back into you, unable to keep himself from subconsciously trying to get closer. Wanting more whether he’d ever admit it or not. There’s no mistaking it between either of you, he’s enjoying this.
“I assume she was special to you.”
It was your neighbor just across the hallway from you. An older woman named Sarah. Eccentric in modern times, you’d always believed she must’ve been a force to be reckoned with when she wasn’t hindered by an aging body and an even more ailing mind. A massage therapist by trade, and a pianist by heart there wasn’t much that Sarah could accomplish without someone helping her once she became limited in movement living on the eighth floor of the apartment building you shared. Back then you didn’t have much in the way of contacts after leaving the country, and it led to a friendship with the old woman living across from you. Sharing stories, eating dinner together, grocery shopping together when she felt like going out, and trading some skills between each other. After telling Ghost this much with your fingers tracing out letters and shapes over his back, you can sense he’s listening carefully. And Ghost is feeling a slight fuzzy sensation building in the back of his brain, spreading out in a warm wave down to his fingertips and toes.
“She taught me massage since at the time I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my life.” Your head falls to the side, examining how the lamplight shines on ghost and deepens the already significant definition in his physique.
Ghost falls against you even more, and this time he lets his head fall back against you. Trying to counterbalance his weight and keep both of you from falling backwards with just him limp he’s becoming, you wrap on arm around his neck and hold his head in the bend of your arm. He gives another sigh, and settles against you heavily. He. looks at you in silence out of the corner of his eye listening to your explanation.
“Why was she your only friend?” You can’t help but chuckle at his question, resting your chin on his opposite shoulder and bringing your other arm under his to begin scratching and rubbing at his chest, feeling deep and puckered scars littering nearly every inch of him.
“I didn’t know anyone else. And you know me well enough to know that I’m not exactly extroverted.” You smile, tracing lightly up and down his well-defined arm. Ghost couldn’t be more comfortable laid against you.
“Sorry to hear that.” His voice low and husky with his mouth so close to your ear. “She must call or ask about you…”
You shake your head. “No. She died just before I joined you all. Her mind was… failing her. And there was some kind of accident in the middle of the night The police told me she was likely trying to get to the bathroom and fell. She apparently died on impact… they didn’t say what, but I think her head hit something.” You explain quietly. “And you and I both know that means lights out. So she didn’t suffer.”
“Sorry to hear that,” he answers as softly as he can manage after hearing the darker part of your happy memories. “How did it become… intimate, like this?” He asks, nodding to the way you were leaned up against his back with your hand tracing over every inch of him that you could reach. The longer you’ve both let this go, the more boundaries get pushed further out of reach, making it hard for either of you to really know where it could end.
You smile with a blush creeping up your neck onto your cheeks, thankful you’re somewhat hidden out of sight. “This isn’t really what she taught me,” You mutter a bit quiet. “When i was massaging you… yes. That I got taught. But this, it’s… just me.”
Out of your sight Ghost’s face flushes slightly as well, his cheeks a warm rose-color. You’re touching him in a way that he’d never expected. But hearing that you’re not just doing it for… relaxation, it’s a heavy but welcome thought. And Ghost can’t help that his body reacts to it with chills raising all over his skin despite the house being perfectly warm. He lets out a deep breath focusing on your words, repeating him over just to ensure that you’re not saying it one way and him interpreting it differently due to your hands being all over him, making him feel so good. Mind racing, heart pounding, he truly realizes just how vulnerable he is under you at this moment.
“I can stop if you’d like?” You offer, preparing to move away from him.
“No,” His hoarse voice gives away his sudden dry mouth. No matter how much your touch is affecting his body, he’s not willing to stop you right now. You’ve crossed into a level of trust that he can’t think to make you abide by anymore. It’s a foreign feeling for him, but he wants to push through it. Hoping he can feel more of you if he just holds on a little longer to this.
“Don’t stop."
Tumblr media
Comments & Reblogs are Appreciated <3
1K notes · View notes
updownlately · 9 months
Text
2 - why the hell she love me
series masterlist
~~~
“You guys are sickeningly sweet.”
Mary’s voice cut through Tooney’s latest retelling of some prank she played on Georgia at the last camp, quickly catching your and Alessia’s attention. 
“Huh? Us?” You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion, unaware of what sparked the goalkeeper’s exasperated comment, Alessia’s expression not dissimilar to yours.
The four of you were currently sitting out on the patio of your and Alessia’s favourite pizzeria, enjoying the summer sunshine and down time before the season started up again. 
With Alessia beside you, her chair impossibly close to your own, Mary across from you as Tooney sat diagonal from you, the conversation had been flowing well throughout the night, not a single dull moment to be found.
In fact, if your memory served you right, you and Alessia hadn’t even interacted much, mostly paying attention to the two sat in front of you, soaking up as much of the night as you could before you both soon headed off to London. 
“No, I’m talking about the other couple here at the table…” 
You could feel Alessia’s eye roll at Mary’s sarcastic comment, not needing to face your favourite blonde in order to clearly picture it. 
“We’re not even doing anything?” The offended tone in the striker’s voice had you holding back a proud smile as you nodded in agreement.
If you both were honest, the two of you had been mindful of your interactions all evening, not looking forward to the myriad of teasing often directed at you two.
Keeping any form of PDA to a near zero had been a struggle, but handling the teasing of both Tooney and Mearps without another teammate there to defend you? Yeah, no, the two of you could survive one night without any hand holding.
“She’s right…we’ve barely even held hands, much less done anything else…Earps what are you on about?” 
Across from Alessia, Tooney stifled a laugh, head whipping back and forth between the confused expression on your face, the exasperated one on her best friend’s, and Mary’s shaking head. 
“That,” Mary’s explanation came in the form of one word, pointed eyes directed at your plate. 
Face scrunching in even more confusion, you couldn’t help the annoyance in your voice from spilling out.
“Mary, what? You can’t just look at my plate and say one word!” 
At this point, you were nearly out of your seat, Alessia having settled back in her’s, head tilted, silently curious as to where this conversation was going to go. 
“Your crusts…” 
“Yeah? What about them? They’re regular pizza crusts? What’s that got to do with-” You cut yourself off as the realisation hit you, falling back in your seat defeatedly, a wry smile on your face. 
Covering your face with your hands, trying to hide your reddening cheeks, you barely managed to hide your exasperation. “Really Mary?…Really?”
Seeing the keeper’s teasing shrug from the space between your fingers, you shook your head, peeking over to see Alessia’s bashful smile and an amused grin on Tooney’s face.
Throughout the night you had been offloading all your pizza crusts to Alessia, well aware of the blonde’s affinity to them. 
As you had grown accustomed to from many, many nights before, you had absentmindedly left all your uneaten crusts in your plate, not paying them much attention, subconsciously aware that the newly signed Gunner would finish them off for you.
Case in point, at the indirect mention of the crusts, Alessia reached over to grab another, beginning to eat quietly beside you, a smile hidden slyly. 
“See! It’s like the damn pickle thing!”
As Mary’s voice got louder with each word, you couldn’t help but sink into your seat more and more, a mortified look on your face, your better half still happily eating your crust, unbothered at attention being attracted. 
“What’s the pickle thing?” Apparently this was the perfect time for Ella to join the conversation. Just great. 
“Isn’t it the thing…the…what’s the word?” 
A pregnant pause took over the table, only the crunching of the crust in Alessia’s hand to be heard. 
“AH! I remember. Erm, it’s a theory. The pickle theory is where one person in the relationship hates pickles but the other loves them and so they’re perfect for each other! Like you both right now- ‘cause you-”, Mary shot a look in your direction, “hate crusts, and Lessi here clearly loves them.”
“Oi! Wait hold on. Less I swear you’ve hated crusts growing up! All the times we got pizza when we were younger, you’d leave yours on the plate!”
You whipped your head around to Alessia, eyes widening at what you were hearing. 
“Sorry- WHAT?”
“I- I hated them as a kid but now I, I think they’re alright?” The feeble explanation combined with the slight waver in her voice didn’t have you as convinced as she would like however. Raising an eyebrow in a silent question, you stayed quiet, waiting for Alessia to continue speaking. 
“Okay, so I might just hate crusts? Just a little bit?” 
“Are you telling me or asking me?”
Letting out a sigh at your sharp words, Alessia fully turned to you, the last two bites of the pizza crust in her hand long forgotten. 
“I don’t like crusts,” the near whisper barely audible through the noises of the street. 
You blinked your eyes and soaked in what the blonde had just said, staying silent, processing.
“See! Told you!” 
“Tooney! Not the time!” The following smack on the shoulder that came flying from Mary working to break you out of your trance.
“Less…over a year, nearly almost a year and a half…you’ve been eating my crusts…and you didn’t like them this whole time?”
Shaking her head in response, Alessia quickly shot out an explanation.
“Listen, one of our first few dates- we had pizza and you left the crusts, and I wanted to tease you so I made fun of you for not liking them, and then- okay this is silly but I didn’t want you to get back at me if you knew I didn’t like crusts, so I’ve tolerated them ever since…” Trailing off, Alessia rubbed the back of her neck nervously, rosy blush coating her cheeks, an abashed grimace on her face.
You couldn’t believe what you were hearing.  “Alessia…we’ve had pizza nearly a hundred times since…”
“Well you didn’t like them, and I didn’t want to waste food either.” 
At her last statement, you facepalmed. Right in front of Tooney, Earps, and whoever else had the pleasure (or displeasure) of walking by.
“Alessia…I love crusts. I’ve always loved crusts. Have since I was a kid…” Taking a deep sigh in, dumbfounded at both yourself and Alessia’s ability to put the other first, you continued.
“The only reason I didn’t eat the crusts that day was because I found it to be too doughy for my liking. But then you started messing with me about it and I figured you loved crusts, so, well, I’ve told you since then that I don’t like them…”
A shocked silence hung in the air as you finished your explanation, you meeting the eyes of your girlfriend as you both threw your heads back, wincing at your lack of communication.
As the two of you sat there, staring at each other, the table silent, you waited for the other to say something. Anything really. Just a little something to break the tension, the incredulity of the situation.
Thankfully, your reprieve came in the form of one of your best mates.
“You two really are not the brightest of the bunch, yeah?” Interrupting your moment, Mary’s shrill voice cut in, roasting the two of you as she picked up another slice of her own pizza. “And to think all of this came about just because I called you both cute…”
Reaching for the half-eaten crust from Alessia’s plate, you quickly grabbed the small chunk of bread, quickly throwing it at Mary before scooting your chair closer to Alessia, the no PDA rule be damned.
Lovesick smile on your face, you couldn’t believe that this was the dork you called yours, wondering why she loved you through all these shenanigans and more. Taking one silent look at the crusts on your plate, then craning your neck to meet the eyes of your blonde, you dropped your shoulders in an appreciative manner, placing a quick kiss on her lips before grabbing a crust of your own and taking a bite.
Maybe the two of you were a little silly, trying too hard to please the other, choosing them over yourself. But at least you knew you loved each other, the silent love and care present without ever needing to be announced. 
Wrapping an arm around Alessia’s waist, head resting on her shoulder as Tooney started making fun of the two of you as usual, you brought the pizza crust to your mouth, taking a bite and silently munching away, glad that you could finally enjoy a full slice of pizza properly, with the girl of your dreams in your arms.
422 notes · View notes
posthumanwanderings · 2 years
Video
[ DJ Mute City - Mix for ElFamosoDemon (Obscure VGM 38) clip ]
21 notes · View notes
jtgunner · 2 months
Text
New let's play video is up on my YouTube channel! It's Grand Prix time in F-Zero 99 for the Nintendo Switch! This time it's the Knight League! The tracks are fairly easy, but the GP itself won't be! Can we make it until the end?
WATCH IT HERE: https://youtu.be/XcbBJO8QknY
4 notes · View notes
eclec-tech · 3 months
Text
"The Turn"
Tumblr media
I had a thought about this handsome fellow, and it manifested itself in the form of a little ficlet...
Tumblr media
Crosshair's eyes narrowed at the screen as five bright blips suddenly appeared exactly where he was hoping they wouldn't. "There's a squad on our tail, closing fast."
Omega turned with the authority of a commander. "Get to the tail gun. I'll get us out of here."
"You're sure?" One of them had to fly and one of them had to shoot. He wasn't at all happy with their chances knowing that she would have to be responsible for one of those.
"Tech taught me! GO!"
That was unexpectedly comforting news. Crosshair nodded and bolted for the rear of the ship, leaving Omega to hopefully do Tech proud as pilot. She did. She climbed and dove, weaving through the terrain as if Tech himself were guiding her hands.
An angry beeping broke her concentration. "The lead ship's targeting our engines! Crosshair, what do I do?"
Crosshair raced back to the cockpit. "Omega, turn sharp, zero thrusters NOW!"
Omega instantly realized her brother's plan. She turned the ship and cut the engines, then immediately reengaged the thrusters--the "Tech Turn". Crosshair almost instantly removed four of their pursuers from the equation. The pilot of the lead ship however, performed the exact same maneuver the moment Omega had begun her own turn, and was now careening skyward in an attempt to once again get behind the shuttle that now had no gunner in position.
Crosshair's blood ran cold. He knew of only one person who could fly like that, and according to a recent conversation with a very tearful Omega, he couldn't possibly be here. Yet here he was.
"Omega, we have a very big problem."
Tumblr media
141 notes · View notes
foxune · 2 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
1 note · View note
that-cryptic-kay · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media
Smash Bros Banner Redraw Featuring 80+ Artists! Created by SwensonaDesigns
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Credits and Links to the Artists Below;
Mario - Xeno
Donkey Kong - ChibiBrugarou
Link - Bumblebees
Samus - Mewy
Dark Samus - Mewy
Yoshi - lo-pi
Kirby - betsysharonx
Fox - Ritzcreation
Pikachu - Paintdust
Luigi - Rosie
Ness - Otakuma
Captain Falcon - PachiJayk
Jigglypuff - BlueRoseTail
Peach - Quasar
Daisy - BunBun
Bowser - Rosiri
Ice Climbers - emilyleart
Sheik - MonsterProductions49
Zelda - Cy
Dr. Mario - cheesecake_bich
Pichu - razz
Falco - AdamRB (No Social Media Put)
Marth - PandaGoyza
Lucina - mayordoi
Young Link - Clioni
Ganondorf - ThePeachyArtist
Mewtwo - MattysAnimeSketchs
Roy - mango-peach-strawberry
Chrom - gingerja
Mr. Game and Watch - Starrydoods
Pokemon Trainer - CF (No Social Media Put)
Meta Knight - VickriArts
Pit - Kay (Kawaii Kaychu)
Dark Pit - gingerja
Zero Suit Samus - Hasenprinzessin
Wario - SwensonsaDesigns (Creator of the Collab)
Snake - Luuzine
Ike - solideryx
Squirtle - doughnutdoodles
Ivysaur - Bumblenbees
Charizard - Fungo
Diddy Kong - Bozobone
Lucas - TravelerCJ
Sonic - HATORI
King Dedede - TheChaoticElian
Olimar + Pikmin - AnthonyRB (No Social Media Put)
Lucario - animedonkey
ROB - PairOfShoes1
Toon Link - betsysharon
Wolf - FoxyStumbles
Villager - Hatty
Mega Man - Sunnie (No Social Media Put)
Wii Fit Trainer - Gungject
Rosalina and Luma - Ishtar
Little Mac - fruitycircus
Greninja - Rosiri
Palutena - Mickeyn
Pac-Man - Concerned Bear (No Social Media Put)
Robin - kayfly
Shulk - Mah
Bowser Jr. - doughnutdoodles
Duck Hunt - cheesecake_bich
Ryu - Lena
Ken - mayordoi
Cloud - Dogwood
Corrin - Kay (Kawaiikaychu)
Bayonetta - Marii
Inkling - Aud.Is.Here
Ridley - Goji (No Social Media Put)
Simon Belmont - Kay (Kawaiikaychu)
Isabelle - Umami (No Social Media Put)
Richter - BunBun
King K. Rool - lapislabel
Incineroar - EmmyLittle
Piranha Plant - Killustrator (No Social Media Put)
Joker - thearkhives_
Hero - GeluTheBabosa
Banjo & Kazooie - Ecalienni
Terry - Skizze
Byleth - KSamuel
Min Min - Aud.is.here
Steve - Vivacious Vixen
Sephiroth - Vahlance
Pyra - tsuneo0
Mythra - Emme Ciela
Mythra 2 - Amara (No Social Media Put)
Kazuya - cringecatnep (No Social Media Put)
Sora - FrenzyFeline
Mii Brawler - Zorrpu
Mii Swordfighter - brittney.florimond
Mii Gunner - Zorrpu
132 notes · View notes
vyingeyes · 4 months
Text
Project Crown - 1 - Ground Zero
Tumblr media
Geonosis was the kind of nightmare that nobody could ever really prepare you for. The Kaminoans had tried, but the divide between training and a real battlefield stretched unfathomably wide, and the only way to bridge that gap is to experience the latter firsthand.
Course was one of many clones deployed to Geonosis. He also seemed to be the only one with a functioning brain.
“48! Get back in formation!” Kyr snapped beside him.
Course didn’t bother turning to see what trouble their idiot brother was getting up to this time, far too preoccupied trying to patch up the unnamed clone that a Geonosian had flung down to their squad from one of the ledges a few meters above them in the canyon. The poor guy was thoroughly dazed from his short flight, but his wounds weren’t serious.
Kyr’s steady presence hovered by Course’s left side. “Status?”
“Stable. He’ll be able to keep fighting as soon as he’s able to think straight.”
The newcomer groaned out something vaguely interrogative, and Course turned to address Kyr head-on.
“Give me two minutes.”
Kyr’s visor tilted toward the ledges, and Course knew he was on the lookout for more bugs. “Hurry.”
There’s not really much I can do to speed the process up, Course thought dryly as their unit moved to block the wounded clone from any new avenue of attack. Nonetheless, he leaned over the clone.
“Break’s over,” he said bluntly. “As soon as you’re up we can get you back to your unit.”
“What… Where…?”
A flash of annoyance flickered through Course, and he tried his best to smother it. It was reasonable that a trooper would be confused after such an atypical experience. It wasn’t his fault he’d hit his head. Probably.
“A Geo dropped you down onto my squad. We’re gonna get you back up to yours.”
“Oh.” The other clone pushed himself into a sitting position, crest waving like a flag as he looked around to try and get his bearings back about him.
“Is he up?” Kyr called from where he spoke with 48.
“It hasn’t been two minutes,” Course reminded.
“I’m up,” the clone announced, pushing himself the rest of the way up.
Course sighed, but offered the clone a hand, pulling him to his feet.
“Myth contacted his unit,” Kyr told Course. “They’re sending down their gunner to help bring him back up. We just have to stick around to make sure no Geonosians interrupt their climb.”
The gunner in question just barely peeked over the edge of the east-side ledge, fiddling with something, presumably in preparation to drop down. The ledge wasn’t too tall, maybe six meters, but the wall was sheer, and the Crown-Green unit didn’t have the gear to scale it even if they wanted to. Fortunately, the unit above them seemed to be prepared for this exact situation, and in moments, the heavy gunner was descending.
Course knew that Green Squad alone could probably handle bug-watching, so he didn’t hesitate to use the lapse of downtime to head directly over to Myth and drag him under an overhang to check him over.
“Wh- Course!” Myth yelped, staggering as Course pulled him along. “I’m fine!”
Course ignored him, opting instead to remove Myth’s upper bicep armor with a quick click and pull of the release mechanism. Immediately, the magnets deactivated and the rerebrace fell away from his brother’s arm in two pieces. Course twisted Myth’s arm to better assess the area where a stray bolt had skimmed him earlier that morning during their first big firefight.
Course removed the hastily applied bacta patch from the sliver of blister-bright skin revealed by the incision in the body glove, and Myth’s hiss through clenched teeth told Course that he wasn’t enjoying it. But the bacta did its job, and as Course applied a new one (more careful now that he had the time to dedicate to it, carefully centered so that the bacta-infused center sat flush with the worst of the burn), he grew confident that it would be fully closed by the time all this mess was over.
“Seriously, it was fine,” Myth muttered, his words just barely making it through the vocoder.
“Don’t be a brat,” Course said. “Infection is one of the stupidest ways you could die. I’ve been wanting to fix that patch for hours.”
“We’re supposed to be watching for Geonosians!”
The sound of blasters firing followed immediately by a bright, “Got it!” from their unit made Course raise an unimpressed eyebrow under his helmet even knowing his brother wouldn’t be able to see it.
“I think they’ve got it handled.”
Myth’s visor dropped toward the ground, and for a moment Course considered poking fun at him for being so petulant, but then Kyr ducked into the cover with them.
“Dral’s back with Orbit-Nexu,” he informed. “We need to keep moving.”
Course latched Myth’s rerebrace back on. “Of course.”
“Of course,” Myth echoed absently, already moving back toward the unit the moment his armor was secured.
“Any problems?” Kyr asked, a hint of his Leader Voice peeking in past the otherwise innocuous question.
Course shook his head. “Just took a second to redress Myth’s graze,” he dismissed. “Didn’t have time to do it properly the first time.”
“Good. Let’s get going, then.”
Together, they headed back toward the unit, where 48 was giving Myth a dramatic retelling of what Course guessed would be the Geo kill that he had just performed.
“—hit it right in the wing, it went spiraling, and I—”
“Alright soldiers,” Kyr interrupted, “break’s over. We’ve still got a rendezvous to make.”
48 threw his head back, clearly personally targeted, but he moved with the rest of them to get back into formation. Kyr and Punch side-by-side in the lead, followed by Myth and Push, then Course and Pinch, Pull and Punt, and 48 on his own at the rear of the group. Comfortable. Familiar. Protocol.
Technically speaking, it was protocol to have infantry at the rear to prevent any specialists from getting attacked from behind. Course knew that 48 specifically got put in that slot to prevent him from getting sidetracked trying to talk to the person beside him, but it felt like a bigger risk that he would get a bright idea and leave the formation, and then none of them would notice until he was already gone. Kyr clearly had more faith in him than Course did.
“8ball is heading back our way,” Kyr announced over local comms as they continued the trek through the dusty canyon. “He says it should be a clear shot to the landing field.”
Kyr did his best to conceal his apprehension, but unfortunately, Course was also familiar with their brother. Just because 8ball thought the path was clear, that didn’t mean that it was by anyone else’s standards.
And, as the Crown-Green unit caught sight of their scout dashing back toward them, a small horde of B1s trailing behind him, Course’s skepticism was rewarded.
Their helmet comms crackled as 8ball connected to the local frequency. “Hey guys! Help!”
Blaster bolts filled the air between the two parties, and in a frankly impressively short moment 8ball found himself barreling into their formation at top speed. He did not slow down once he got past the leads, and Myth and Push jerked to either side to avoid getting run over. Beside Course, Pinch moved to the right. So did Course.
8ball scrambled to slow down in the two meters he had to realize Course was stepping into his path, sending up a spray of dust and grit as he tried to hit the brakes. Course braced. 8ball hit him with a loud CLACK, armor colliding with armor, and Course stumbled backwards to keep them both from falling to the ground.
Course gripped his brother by his shoulders and bodily turned him back toward the droids, pushing him a bit to give himself the room needed to raise his own rifle.
48 shoved his way up to be with the two of them, shooting all the while. “Y’know, 8ball, typically you want to shoot the droids that are shooting at you.”
8ball snarled something distinctly offensive as he fumbled to equip his rifle with its sniper extension.
“Focus,” Course snapped at the both of them. “This isn’t a sim.”
48 straightened up theatrically. “Yes sir, medic sir!”
Course scowled, but 8ball laughed and began lining up his shots.
“What happened to ‘clear’?” Kyr demanded over their comm.
8ball fired off a shot, and Course watched a clanker fall bodily into its neighbor. “I said ‘pretty clear’! And it is! Once we get past these guys.”
There was a laugh from someone in Green Squad at that, and in front of Course, Punch shook his head in the resigned sort of way that most sane individuals did after more than ten minutes alone with Crown Squad. Course would know it. He did it daily.
“Charge primed!” Punt announced behind them, and the unit scattered like clockwork while the ordnance specialist readied his shot. In an instant, the path cleared, and the explosive was flying through the air toward the unit of droids.
Even from the moderate distance between the groups, Course could hear the cartoonish, “uh oh” that came from at least three separate droids when the explosive rolled neatly into the center of the group. The explosion itself was quick and controlled, enough to fill the comm channel with brief feedback from the sheer number of open lines, but not enough to shake the walls of the cliffs on either side of them.
“Nice shot,” Kyr complimented, lowering his gun now that the threat was neutralized. “8ball?”
8ball flitted to the front of the unit. “Yes?”
“What the hell was that?”
“Well, I snuck by them really easily on the first trip,” the scout started, “but then on the way back they’d decided to get in the way and I couldn’t get back without getting their attention, and it’d take too long to deal with them alone, and I knew the SBDs would be too slow to follow all the way back to the group so I thought—”
“Supers?” Punch interrupted, head jolting back the way that 8ball had come and half-lifting his Z-6 like he expected a Super to appear dramatically out of the dust, summoned by the very mention.
“It’s just the Supers now,” 8ball said, a bit defensive now at the tone of the other squad leader. “That’s why I said it was ‘pretty’ clear. It was just two squads of B1s and the SBDs. That’s nothing.”
Kyr went quiet, head tilting, and Course knew he was trying to be patient.
“How many SBDs?” Course asked, shooting a glance towards Kyr that hopefully conveyed it happened, cope.
“Just two,” 8ball said, and the tension drained out of Kyr’s shoulders.
“Alright, that’s workable.” Kyr glanced toward Punch, then Punt. “Do you have enough ordnance to deal with both of them?”
Technically they all had some ordnance, but Kyr would be trying to keep them all as armed as possible for as long as possible, so taking care of these Supers would fall primarily on Punt.
“Easily,” Punt said, waving him off. “Leave the clankers to me.”
“8ball, I want you to be with him,” Kyr said. “You know the drill with B2s. See if you can’t get their plating to crumble before Punt takes his shot.”
Punch examined the group. “It might be useful to have 48 with them, too. I know he knows his way around a grenade, if it comes down to it.”
48 lit up even through the thick layers of armor, practically glowing under the plastoid. “Happily, sir.”
Kyr shot Punch a look, then 48. “It’s not a bad idea,” he permitted. “You three will head in. Course, I want you with them. The rest of us will be behind you to prevent a flank.”
Course wanted to argue against that. It made more sense to keep the medic with the bigger chunk of the group, especially when the men taking point would be ideally staying out of range of the B2s. But it wasn’t his job to question the order, and if Kyr was the one giving it, he’d follow it. Hopefully the rest of the unit would be staying close enough to them that it wouldn’t matter in the end anyway.
“Alright,” he said. At least if he went, he’d be able to stop 8ball and 48 from doing something inadvisable. He didn’t trust Punt to do as much.
Kyr grasped Course by the vambrace and tapped their helmets together for a few short seconds. “Good luck.”
Bastard. “You’re better off telling that to 8ball.”
An amused huff crackled through Kyr’s vocoder, and he gave Course one last pat to the back before moving to give 8ball and 48 the same treatment. The second Kyr stepped away from him, Myth fluttered up to Course.
“SBDs are slow but they hit hard,” Myth blurted. Then, all in the same breath, “Their plating is blast proof but there are weak points at the edges of each plate that if targeted can cause the internal components to be exposed and leave them more susceptible—”
Course shook his head. “Myth. We’ve got it. You focus on keeping the Geos away from us, we’ll worry about the Supers.”
Myth hovered a second longer, arms moving in little aborted jerks like he had more to say, before his head snapped into a nod and he hurried back toward Push and Pull.
An arm slung itself around Course’s shoulders and he tensed, turning his helmet and nearly clacking his helmet against 48’s.
“So… Babysitting duty,” 48 dragged out.
Course blinked slowly. “Yes. Babysitting you.”
“Kyr’s mad at 8ball right now, not me,” 48 dismissed. “You’re babysitting him.”
“You broke formation. He’s mad at both of you.”
“Yeah, but I only broke formation. 8ball’s doing 8ball-level stupid shit. He takes the lead.”
“Alright Crowns,” Punt sighed, pushing himself into their little bubble and grabbing 48 by the strap of his armor. “Let’s go blow up some B2s.”
They steered toward 8ball and, having collected their last stray teammate, set out into the valley that 8ball had scouted.
8ball darted to take point. “They should still be pretty far in, the big ones don’t do well with uphill slopes, if they even bothered chasing.”
“What are we looking for, exactly?” Punt asked, glancing around the steepening cliffs with a wariness that you couldn’t help but gain after having one too many Geonosians appear out of nowhere.
“There’s a gap between the cliffs that we need to go through to get to the landing zone,” 8ball said. “But a little bit before that there’s this place where a bunch of these mountain passes meet at a sort of crossroads. The droids were down the left one when I passed the first time. It’s only a few minutes out. I was thinking we could scale one of the ledges that overlook it and take pot shots from there.”
Course breathed an impatient sigh. “Coordinates, 8ball.”
“Oh. Yeah. Sending them now.”
A ping on the corner of his HUD appeared, and Course accepted it to update his local map with a location marker.
“We should probably start climbing now,” 8ball considered. “It’ll just get steeper the further in we go.”
Nobody was going to argue with a scout about local topography, so they began to painstakingly increase the distance between themselves and the ground, following 8ball as he made occasionally precarious hops between the cliffside’s sporadic footholds. Course’s only regret was that he wouldn’t get to watch the rest of their unit attempt the journey.
Course trailed behind the three of them, focusing his attention on the cliffs around them more than the conversation going on over their comms. Any sudden shadow made by the clouds drifting above them could be a Geonosian gunning for them, if not for the undisturbed quiet of the canyon. Geos typically didn’t run at them, though. All of the ones that Course had encountered thus far flew, and their wings made a distinct droning buzz that had reminded him of the insects they studied in their flash training modules—they hadn’t included audio, but the description couldn’t be like anything else. The Geos were presumably louder than a traditionally sized insect, but so far, he hadn’t run across one to compare them with.
“What do you think, Course?” 48 prompted suddenly over their comm. They were on relatively flat ground, now, and his brother peered over his shoulder back at him.
Course did not know what the topic was, but given the clones present, he didn’t think it mattered very much. He fixed his visor on 48 and stared wordlessly.
“See? I told you Course would agree with me,” 8ball bragged. “Your idea is stupid anyway. There’s no way that you’d be able to—”
Course rolled his eyes. “Stay on task.”
8ball sighed, but if he kept talking, it happened on a comm frequency that didn’t include Course, which was really all he could ask for.
They made it to the overlook in good time. Kyr would be glad, given that their rendezvous was supposed to be in twenty-two minutes and they were already pushing it. 8ball made quick work of dropping to his stomach and propping his sniper while 48 stooped to help Punt arm the grenades.
“Told you. I think they might be stuck,” 8ball crackled through the comm.
Course glanced over the ledge to get an idea of the scene and saw that, as 8ball had suggested earlier, the so-called “super” battle droids did indeed seem to be stuck at the bottom of a fifty-degree slope. Course struggled to think of too many other reasons the droids wouldn’t have gone to reinforce the B1s’ attack.
“Either that or they’re guarding the pass,” 8ball continued idly. “That’s the way we need to go. You need to make sure that you don’t blow up the entrance or I’m gonna have to find a new route and then we’re really gonna be late.”
Course looked past the SBDs and saw what 8ball must be referring to. Half blocked by the hulking frames of the supers was a crack in the cliff face. A clone could probably fit, if they took their time and entered sideways, but an SBD had no hope. Course just hoped that the rest of the pass widened out, if that’s the way they’d be having to go soon.
“Alright,” Course said. “Get to work.”
“Yeah? And what’re you gonna do, watch us?” 48 demanded. 
Course knew intrinsically that 48 just wanted to get a rise out of him, but he couldn’t help the slight air of annoyance as he said, “I’m going to watch your six so you don’t get ambushed. Hurry up.”
48 laughed as Course turned and stepped away to watch their flank. Course never did understand the carelessness of his brothers, but he wouldn’t be wasting the time trying to figure it out now of all times.
He was aware, vaguely, of Punt and 8ball coordinating their attack a solid few meters away, but Course examined the rocky ledges above and below them. This planet had an eerie atmosphere— eerie in the way that it seemed to house enemies that could appear or disappear in a moment. On the gunship down, Myth had rattled off a hundred different facts about the planet’s geography, but the one that Course remembered most clearly was that the Geonosians lived primarily under the surface, in dingy caves and tunnels. It made sense, if you wanted to avoid the glaring heat of the Geonosian sun, but it also meant that Course could never be sure that a shadow was just a shadow. The natural texture of the cliffs meant that there could be a tunnel mouth hiding just out of view at any point, and none of them would know any better.
“Ready?” 8ball asked.
Punt’s comm crackled as he spoke. “Go.”
A deafening crack shattered the quiet as 8ball took his first shot, followed quickly by a second. Course looked over just long enough to see Punt lobbing his first explosive down at the droids, a muffled blast following just seconds after.
“One damaged, one staggered,” 48 reported through their local helmet comm. “Eighty, target the one by the wall. Punt, the other one should be easy to finish off, its hull’s warping—”
Another crack as 8ball fired his sniper rifle, but Course didn’t look to see if it hit. Punt said something about the SBDs below, loud in Course’s ears as he fumbled to mute the incoming audio. A high pitched droning echoed in the walls of the canyon, quickly growing louder as its source approached. Where was it coming from?
“Course!”
That wasn’t over the comms, and Course didn’t have time to identify which brother had called out to him before unyielding hands grabbed him and hoisted him into the air.
Course had been trained for a lot of things. Impromptu, uncontrolled flight was one of them, actually, but it had always been in the context of jetkits, not flying enemies. He couldn’t cut the fuel line or unlatch this carrier from his armor. He couldn’t even complete a fraction of a twist, due to the hold the bug had him in, so wriggling his way out didn’t look likely. The droning from before now rattled his skull as the ground shrank underneath him, and he couldn’t hope to hear his brothers even if they somehow knew what to do in this situation—Myth would, but he wasn’t here either way. Course was alone.
Plasma bolts flew into the orange rock around him as the others tried to shoot at the bug, occasionally accompanied by the resounding crack of 8ball’s sniper, but either Course had been picked up by a master of evasion, or they were too afraid of shooting him instead of it. He’d love to tell them to just commit, because he’d much rather die getting shot than by whatever this thing had planned for him. The sound of rushing air muffled the shouts coming from below him, and as Course craned his neck to peer down, he realized that his window for surviving getting away from this bug was closing rapidly. Damned if you do…
Course would take death by falling over a secondary location any day. With that thought in mind, he ducked his chin as close to his chest as he could manage and slammed his head back into his captor with all his strength. He doubted he’d hit it anywhere important—the bugs that were big enough to carry a clone trooper had eerily long torsos—but between the barrage of blaster bolts and the headbutt, the bug loosened its grip enough for Course to jerk halfway out of its hold. The two of them dipped in the air for a moment as the Geonosian fought to maintain its grip on him, but with one arm free, Course was free to wretch the medical scissors out of his belt and stab at the bug until it gave up and dropped him completely.
Hurtling toward the ground was louder than heading up; the rushing air was familiar, and the absence of insectoid wings was more than made up for by the blood that roared in his ears. Somehow, both of those constants disappeared to highlight the sound his armor made as he skimmed the rock wall of the canyon. Course wasn’t sure if it would have been enough to slow his speed, but he had no time to run calculations. If he’d been thinking, he would have counted how long it took him to fall. It would give him an idea of how he should go about treating himself, should he survive the landing.
Unlike the first collision, Course did not hear himself hitting the ground. He could tell you how he landed—feet first, and then crumpling forward onto frantically-outstretched arms—but nothing else. He must have blacked out for a moment, perhaps upon impact? One minute he was falling, the next, he was flat on the ground. He knew how it happened but would be hard-pressed to describe it in any detail.
Sound filtered slowly back in through his helmet. Fuzzy voices of panicked brothers, indistinguishable without focus that he did not have. No more blaster-fire, no explosions, nothing to suggest they were still in danger. He found himself still on his front. The others must have caught up, because Myth or Pull would be the only ones with enough sense through the chaos to tell the others not to turn Course over in case of injury to the spine.
Course ignored the voices for a moment to focus deeply on the feel of his legs. They were in sharp, searing agony, which was nice. It meant that at the very least, he probably wasn’t paralyzed. His arms, too, ached, though not nearly as badly. But he survived, somehow, and although the realization slowly dawned that he hurt all over—no doubt from the events of the entire day, not just his impromptu flight—there was little more he could ask for.
Someone’s arm jostling his shoulder drew him out of himself, and a small sound of discomfort left him at the disruption.
“Course?” Kyr’s Leader Voice, unmistakably, which could only mean that he’d terrified his brother. “Can you hear me, vod?”
Course closed his eyes for a second. Can’t even fall out of the sky without having to do everything on his terms, he thought bitterly. He knew that was uncharitable. He also figured he was more than entitled to a little bit of a bad attitude, at that moment. He took a moment to brace himself. “… Yes.”
A chorus of identical voices broke out, quickly hushed, before Kyr spoke again. “What’s your status?”
Status? Course thought, astonished. That was… an unbelievable ask. He knew, logically, that Kyr falling back on protocol helped him to hold onto some sense of normalcy. His brother was definitely, certainly, very deeply concerned about Course. It still pissed him off. “… Blunt force trauma to the legs. Extensive. Probable minor damage to arms and skull,” he droned. “Recommended course of action is to administer one stim cannister to each leg and continue to the rendezvous.”
The chatter picked up again, and nobody shushed it this time.
“What?” Kyr demanded, pitch increasing in fractions. “You just broke both of your legs. You are not getting a stim and a pat on the back.”
“Protocol says I do.”
“This is an exception,” the Leader-Voice intoned, back in full-force and leaving no room for debate. “We’ve got seventeen minutes to get to the rendezvous. We can’t have you hobbling along behind us slowing us down. I’ll carry you.”
Course’s eyes shot open. “No, you won’t,” he argued, his normally flat tone lilting up with frustration and incredulity. “If you’d just administer the stim, I will be up faster than it will take you to figure out how to get me through that opening.”
“We’ll give you the stim and you can get through the narrowest part of the path,” Kyr agreed, “but once we can, I’m carrying you.”
“That is not protocol,” Course snarled, anger simmering up from his stomach.
“It’ll be faster.” Kyr’s voice held no concern for any potential breach in protocol. “The most important thing is that we make it to our rendezvous. How we get there isn’t so important.”
Course took a moment to process. If Kyr truly refused to relent on this… “Then I’ll be noting your disregard for protocol in my report.”
The quiet murmur of their other brothers cut out suddenly. Nobody said anything for a few long moments. A hesitant voice—who had to be either Myth or Pinch—was the next to speak.
“It’s really not worth it, Kyr. As long as we move now, we can still make it—”
“Write me up, then,” Kyr interrupted, ignoring the input entirely. His words grew sharper, edged in frustration. “I don’t care. I’m not having you walk on broken legs the entire way.”
He did not wait for a response, immediately injecting stim into the gaps between Course’s leg plates. Course supposed Kyr had spent the duration of the argument rummaging through Course’s med kit. A third, unexpected jab at the top of the neck startled Course, and he flinched away from it.
“I don’t trust that you didn’t hurt your back.” Kyr’s voice wasn’t so sharp now, perhaps in apology for the unwarranted extra shot.
Course did not grace him with any further reaction, instead rolling to his side and pushing himself upright. He ignored the influx of brothers at his every side, jerking to his feet with gritted teeth. Every pound of weight he put onto his legs sent screaming agony directly through his lower half, but he would not be encouraging Kyr’s disregard for regulation by doing anything other than breathe through it.
Kyr finally seemed to understand that he wouldn’t be getting acceptance out of Course today. “48, take point with 8ball.” Kyr continued to instruct the unit how they would proceed, fully ignoring the Green Squad Lead two meters away from him.
To Punch’s merit, he said nothing. He looked Course over and gave him a small nod as Kyr did his job for him. Course wondered how he just decided to let it go. Course wasn’t a squad lead. Wasn’t even kind of an officer, in any sense, other than being a medic, and even that being dismissed for what Kyr wanted to do was rage inducing. He couldn’t imagine spending his entire life being trained to lead others and then having some hard-headed ass swoop in and take that away from him.
They progressed to the ground level in a very nontraditional huddle of plastoid, half of them pointing their guns at every shadow on the rocks and the other half hovering around Course like he could turn to dust at any moment. If Course could focus on anything other than the amount of pain he was in, he was sure he’d tell them off so badly they wouldn’t ever look at him twice again.
The charred heaps of scrap that were once Super Battle Droids lay just in front of the narrow crevice that their unit would have to squeeze through. If Course was lucky, it would stay that narrow long enough for Kyr to drop the subject of carrying him.
Course glanced to 8ball. The scout inspected his sniper, uncharacteristically quiet, while 48 spoke lowly by the audio receptor of his helmet. What they were talking about, Course couldn’t say, but after a moment, 8ball nodded and pushed toward the front of the group to take point as previously instructed. He turned to the side and squeezed into the gap between the cliffs. A few steps in, he turned to face the unit again, waving cheerily.
48 went next, followed by half of Green Squad. There was a brief moment of concern where Punch nearly got his Z-6 stuck going through, but with a little pulling by 48, both clone and gun were in.
Kyr gestured Course to go first. Course assumed it was so that he could breathe down his neck the entire time, but bitterly followed the given instruction. Kyr followed close after. Blessedly, he did not attempt to hoist Course over his shoulder the moment they could walk straight.
Once the entire unit was confirmed to be in the passage, they began to make their trek. According to Course’s comm, they had approximately ten minutes before they were late for the rendezvous. Despite himself, anxiety began to bloom in the pit of Course’s stomach. The hard part of this deployment had already concluded—a brief firefight with Geonosian ground forces while the command class troopers and commandos knocked out the big stuff—and the only thing left was to show up on time.  What would happen to them if they failed to do something as simple as that?
He knew the others had to be feeling the same stress. Some of his brothers knew how to hide it better than others—he was pretty sure if Myth looked over his shoulder one more time, his neck would break—but every one of their lives hinged on a good combat report. Failure to do the one part of the mission that required them to think on their own feet wouldn’t look good. If they were lucky, they might end up somewhere nice and boring. If they weren’t—well, you don’t send your best troopers to fight on the front lines of losing battles. Maybe the Kaminoans would find the bleakest battle possible and deploy them there as cannon fodder.
About a minute later, the passage widened further, allowing them to pull up into a traditional two-lined formation lead by 8ball and 48 side-by-side. It was then that Kyr walked around Course and blocked his path.
Course fixed his T-visor on his brother. Kyr’s emotionless helmet peered back. He was sure both of them had their jaws set, could almost see the annoyed scowl Kyr must be wearing.  He knew all of their faces well, but he knew Kyr’s micro expressions better than anyone else.
Kyr didn’t seem eager to prolong their standoff any more than Course was. “You can let me carry you, or I will wrangle you into a hold.”
Unspoken: we don’t have time for this. Course knew that. At least Kyr didn’t feel the need to spell that one out for him.
Course said nothing for a moment. Reflected on the situation as a whole. Remembered the unspoken message he gave Kyr not an hour before—it happened, cope. He took a breath.
“It will be going in the medical report.”
“Fine by me.”
The air cleared suddenly. Course hadn’t realized it had ever thickened, but he felt it then.
Everyone else had expected him to cause a scene about it. They were waiting for him to dig his heels in and start an argument. Maybe because that’s what most of his batchmates would’ve done. Hell, if Kyr and Course were to trade positions, it was likely what Kyr himself would do. Maybe if they had any more time, Course wouldn’t let it fly so soon, but he knew that they didn’t have time to argue about it any more than they already had. So he let Kyr heft him over one shoulder.
Every step Kyr took, Course seethed. Not only was this a humiliating position to be in, but it was entirely unnecessary. Course had personally told Kyr of how every metric said they should proceed, and Kyr ignored him at every turn. The fact that he had gotten into this situation at all in the first place was ridiculous. There was no reason to send him on the team against the SBDs, except for that Kyr wanted supervision for the squadmates that he felt unable to trust with such a task. Which was stupid, given that all three had stayed on task just fine. Apparently, they even managed to take out the SBDs while trying to recover Course from the grips of the Geonosian. Punch should have been the one to go with 8ball, 48, and Punt. A heavy gunner would not only be helpful against the SBDs, but he would have stood a much better chance at deterring an oversized bug from trying to make off with a clone.
Anger rolled steadily through Course’s chest by the time they got to the rendezvous—with three minutes to spare, maybe Course had had some room to argue. Kyr set Course down just before they were swamped by other troopers. How kind of him. A company’s worth of clones milled about, a sea of shiny white plastoid ever-shifting as everyone tried to keep organized and stay with their squad while boarding the dropships meant to take them back to transport.
Kyr continued instructing their unit like he was the only one who knew what to do. Course listened as a formality, then turned to head toward the transport with their assigned number. They’d all read the brief—not just Kyr.
The troopers managing the transports gave him a nod as he limped up to the open door. Course couldn’t identify them, assuming he’d ever met them, but he did pity them a bit. Administrative tasks like they were doing weren’t the most impressive on a combat report. Might land them a title, but it’d be a title on some low-level base, given they weren’t command-class. It wasn’t the worst thing Course could imagine happening to a clone, but to many, it was world-ending.
Maybe clones were dramatic by nature, and it skipped a generation with him?
The rest of the unit piled into the transport, Greens brushing elbows with Crowns, and in minutes the ship was humming to life. Back to Kamino.
Course looked forward to his report.
-- -- -- --
Tumblr formatting is agonizing but I will learn it. Anything for my boys.
Chapter 2 can be found here
52 notes · View notes
dgrailwar · 11 days
Text
Round 8, Day 1 - Team Pretender (THE ABYSSAL WYRM)
Read of Pretender's True Name Dissolution HERE!
Tumblr media
The massive form of the Abyssal Wyrm dragged itself forward. It bellowed, shaking the ground as dark, wretched flakes and bits of flesh sloughed off its form, hitting the ground and forming into vile creatures that skittered and spread like a virus.
Turns Remaining Until 'Lie Like Vortigern' is unleashed: [3]
THE ABYSSAL WYRM INFORMATION (ALL TEAMS SHOULD READ):
Rather than deciding who to fight, the Abyssal Wyrm can create hordes of 'Mors' to send after enemy Servants, engaging them in combat and intercepting them. Those attacked by the Mors are locked into a one-on-one battle, regardless of who the Servant targeted. The Mors deal 1 damage if victorious, and gain a flat 2% boost.
However, Servants can choose to target the Abyssal Wyrm in an attempt to reduce the damage it is causing.
If multiple Servants attack the Abyssal Wyrm, they will form into a 'coalition', and their bonuses against the Abyssal Wyrm will be combined. There is no limit to the size of the 'coalition'.
However, this may be a chance for other to sabotage their enemies as well. You're still able to attack your foes as usual, complicating combat situations and potentially using the chaos to get an upper hand and sneak in some damage.
For those on Team Pretender-- This is Pretender's Noble Phantasm made manifest. This means while Pretender himself lacks a Noble Phantasm, a new mechanic has been introduced. The 'countdown'.
When the countdown the Noble Phantasm 'Lie Like Vortigern' reaches zero, all enemy Servants instantly take two points of damage and the counter resets. However, the counter can be pushed back by one if a Servant (or Servant coalition) attempts to attack the Abyssal Wyrm and defeats it (or more accurately, survives against it) with a victory larger than 30%.
Additionally, if the Abyssal Wyrm is struck with a Noble Phantasm, the 'Lie Like Vortigern' counter will be reset regardless of the results.
The Abyssal Wyrm, as a massive conceptual being, cannot be killed. However, if the 'Servant Body' (Pretender) is pierced, then the Abyssal Wyrm will disappear and lose the fragile connection it has on this world.
-
The Abyssal Wyrm has one skill:
Anti-Human Order (D Rank) - A skill representing an incompatibility with mankind. When fighting against a Servant, they inflict a 5% demerit on their enemies. For the Abyssal Wyrm, this demerit increases by 2% the more Servants are in a 'coalition' facing it.
23 notes · View notes
toskarin · 10 days
Note
finally took another crack at playing elona and i'm actually getting somewhere this time by managing to be amused by very mundane things. i made a gunner, cleared a couple of requests, got my hands on a spellbook, cue me screaming and keeling over in the middle of the street for no visible reason as i attempt to cast concentration with zero training and 10 max MP. life is good
that's the elona spirit
also you might have learned this by now, but be sure to read books in the wilderness and near the edge of the map, so you can run for your life if you accidentally summon a pack of monsters
the worst possible place you can read a book is in the comfort of your own home, because monsters never despawn there, but towns can be hit or miss (npcs might die, but you might get help fighting the monsters)
22 notes · View notes
updownlately · 9 months
Text
‘cause all that you are (is all that i’ll ever need)
| alessia russo x reader | some angst and some fluff | 3.3k | inspo: kiss me by ed sheeran & tenerife sea by ed sheeran | a/n: so this req was a long time coming, thanks for your patience amigo! hope you like it! idk how to feel about this one but ima get this out for now and if i need to re-do it later then ill be more than happy to!
~~~
Late training sessions were definitely not on Alessia’s list of favourite things in the world, especially not when all she wanted to do was escape the rainy Manchester weather and cold. It was safe to say really, that if she could change any one thing about her football career, past, present, and future, she’d limit the number of evening practices, especially those on rainy days to near zero. 
Being soaking wet after a practice, the number of times she had fallen no doubt a contributing factor, the chill in the air seemed to send a continuous shiver in her bones, one that not even a shower post-practice could abolish. 
So albeit showered and freshened up, all the blonde really wanted to do at seven in the evening on a Tuesday was take a hot shower at home and curl up beside you; dinner, a movie, and unlimited cuddles the only things things on the cards for the night. 
But that plan required many things, one of which included you being free, something you likely weren’t. 
Caught up in all your coursework for your degree, you had recently been swamped with a never-ending to-do list, something which pained Alessia almost, if not more, as much as it pained you.
Entering your shared apartment, Alessia gently dropped her kit bag and paused for a brief second to try and decipher where you might be. Hearing nothing that would give any indication of your location, she kicked off her shoes before haphazardly placing them on the rack and heading in to find you.
With finals season upon you, you had been hiding away from Alessia to finish your work a lot more, conscious of how her mere presence distracted you, had you contemplating why you wanted to finish your degree this year when you could instead cuddle up with her on the couch and put on a show to watch. 
However, the tiredness of the day was finally catching up to her and the Gunner wanted nothing more than to find you and drape herself over you, cuddles galore, her heaven on earth. 
Quickly peering into the kitchen and then the dining area before checking the living room, Alessia wandered through the living space, not wanting to shout for you lest you be on a call of some sort. 
Walking towards your office/makeshift study space, she started to take her wet hair out of its bun, hoping that she could get you to agree to plait it for her as you normally would. 
Between rainy English weather and the nearly two years of you two dating, it had become a sort of ritual between the pair of you- countless nights of a dimly lit living room, a brush in your hands as you sat on the couch with the footballer on the floor between your legs, you working ever so carefully and gently to untangle and braid her wet hair into a somewhat manageable braid.
It had started when you had realized that Alessia would leave her soaked, post-shower hair in a messy bun until it would eventually dry eons later, making everything her head came in contact with during the meantime a damp mess.
After the fourth time you had to change out of a wet t-shirt post cuddling session, you had finally given up on trusting the striker to do her own hair, instead taking matters into your own hands. 
Since then, it had become normal for the Englishwoman to find you after most practices or games, silently taking seat between your legs or in front of you with a towel, brush, and blow-dryer in hand. 
So Alessia made a quick stop to your shared ensuite, grabbing the aforementioned items in a breeze before continuing on the remainder of her short walk to you office next door. 
Well aware that you may be on one of your numerous zoom calls with a course mate or advisor of some sort, the blonde knocked gently before slowly turning the handle and peeking her head inside. 
Eyes just barely adjusting to the dimly lit room, Alessia sighed, already being able to tell you had barely left your study space for a while, the countless dishes piled up on the table beside you a worrying sign.
Stepping in and choosing to make her presence known, the blonde walked over to where you were sat at your desk in the back corner of the room, eyes focused intently on the screen in front of you. 
“Hi…”
Coming to stop right beside you, your girlfriend teetered from one foot to the other nervously, waiting for a reaction.
You barely looked up from your monitor as you hummed in response, a disastrous number of tabs open on the screen and the laptop beside you, mind nearly as scattered. 
Wringing her hands, her voice came out soft, nearly a whisper, heart already tired from the long day she had. 
“Could you please plait my hair when you get the chance?”
Had you been paying attention to the blonde one your left, you would’ve taken in the tiredness in her eyes, the defeated weight on her shoulders, and the nervousness thrumming in her body as she fiddled with the hairbrush in her hand. 
But you weren’t.
Eyes not leaving the screen for a second as you took notes on your iPad without looking down, you inhaled sharply. 
If you had known better, you wouldn’t have reacted as you did. Would’ve separated your frustration with your paper from your love for the striker. 
You didn’t however. 
Instead, you let your frustration seep through, a gruff exhale escaping you. 
“Less I’m busy. Just do it yourself yeah?”
Not waiting for an answer, you continued with the task at hand, flipping between another website and copying and pasting text into your notes document. 
Beside you, Alessia quickly shut her eyes, straightening her back in an effort not to become upset at your sharp answer. 
She knew you were stressed, this degree something you had been working on tirelessly to achieve. She knew this frustration wasn’t aimed at you, more so at the tight deadline coming up, the need for perfection that you craved. So why did she feel like shit now?
Taking a deep breath, she figured it would be worth a shot to ask you about dinner, aware that you likely hadn’t eaten- your habit of hyper focusing a common obstacle when it came to taking care of yourself. 
“Before I go, do you want anything in particular for supper? I was thinki-”
“Anything’s fine. I’ll eat later. I really need to finish this up.” Your voice cut in, not bothering to wait for her to finish. 
Eyebrows furrowing at your interjection, Alessia’s shoulders deflated, well aware that any time spend together was likely off the table for the night. As if this night couldn’t possibly get worse. 
Sighing near silently, the Arsenal forward turned on her heels, making her way out of the room quickly as to not disturb you any further. 
It was only when she had fully made it out of the room, door shut firmly behind her, that Alessia let the weight of the day crash on her.
As a handful of silent tears of frustration came barrelling down her face, the striker made her way back into your shared bedroom, haphazardly throwing the items from her hands onto the bathroom counter before wiping away the tears and throwing her hair into a bun once more. 
Deciding that tonight was not a night where the blonde wanted to be cooking, at least not anymore, not since you very likely wouldn’t be joining her, she reached for her phone, eyes scanning the numerous apps through her blurred vision before finding the desired delivery app. 
Quickly ordering comfort food for herself and your usual order from the restaurant she had chosen (she wasn’t heartless, could never be towards you), the striker threw herself onto the bed, arms coming to wrap around her own midsection in a vain attempt to provide herself with some comfort. 
And when the ordered food finally arrived, bag somehow soaked from the pouring weather, the Englishwoman knew that the universe was playing a cruel joke on her, maybe even getting her back for jumping on Leah when she had been soaked after practice earlier. 
Clenching her jaw, Alessia quietly plated her food before taking a seat at the island, dim lights and the soft murmur of the world outside the only company for her on the lonesome night, the empty stool beside her mocking her as she ate, a pounding headache growing due to the bun she wore, food lukewarm, and heart alone.
What a lovely night…
~~~
You were proud of yourself. 
It had taken nearly a week but here you were, essay nearly done, on the brink of submission a handful of days early, qualification for graduation just a few clicks away. 
All that was left was to proofread it for the fourth time, you well aware that you were being nit-picky, the perfectionist in you making itself known. 
But that could wait. That could most definitely wait. Because all you wanted to do right now, aching neck, tired eyes, and growling stomach in tow, was to relax with your girl for a bit, a well deserved reward should you say yourself.
Pushing yourself away from your desk, your eyes flickered over to top corner of your monitor, a place you tended not to look often in an attempt to not intimidate yourself with the passing minutes. 
Now though? Now you wish you had looked at the clock earlier.
Cursing yourself for being so caught up in your own mind that you had tuned out the world most important to you, you hastily got up from your seat. 
The bright digits glared at you as quickly started cleaning up your desk- 9:47 pm- much much later than you had anticipated. 
Exiting out of now useless tabs and turning off what needed to be shut down, your quickly grabbed your mountain of dishes, precariously balancing them as you tucked your nearly dead phone into your pocket and scrambled towards the door.
Less couldn’t be asleep right? Not yet at least…surely?
You silently prayed that the blonde was still awake, the pattering of the rain outside and darkness filling the empty corners of the apartment as you made your way to the kitchen. 
The silence in the apartment was eerily haunting, a reminder- no- an indication of just how selfish you had been. 
Entering the threshold, your eyes fell on the sticky note left on the counter, space barely illuminated by the streetlights.
Gently placing your dishes in the sink, letting warm water run over them, you backtracked, picking up the yellow post-it and reading the message- once and then again, heart sinking at the unsaid words. 
‘Supper’s in the fridge. Went to bed early.’
The lack of words told you everything you needed to know. You had fucked up.
No 'I love you', no 'I'll be waiting for you', none of that. Just eight direct words, saying everything that Alessia didn't voice.
Swallowing hard, you contemplated your options, wondering whether it would be worth the risk to potentially upset Alessia more than you already had.
It wasn’t a secret to you that the blonde hated late practices, especially on days like today, where there were double practices, afternoon and evening. Add the pouring rain that had brought you comfort the past few hours, hours that Less had likely passed around waiting for you, hair no doubt a mess, a headache likely from the cold, stuff you usually helped her prevent post-practices, you knew you had messed up. 
In your blindside to free yourself up early, you had ignored the one you loved. Just fucking great.
Deciding then and there to make amends, you made your way to your shared bedroom, taking the gamble to see whether Alessia had fallen asleep or not, hoping you could rectify your earlier actions. 
This time, it was your turn to nervously enter the room, turning the knob nervously and slowly stepping in. 
In front of you lay the taller girl, frame looking small on the bed, her back facing you, the dark room doing nothing to help your uneasiness.
Stepping forward, you reached out, pulling up the covers on your side of the bed, you sliding in after.
Holding your breath, you strained to listen to Alessia’s breathing, trained in being able to identify whether the blonde was on the brink of sleep or not, years of being together aiding you immensely.
Finally exhaling when you realized the blonde was still awake, you took your chances.
Keeping your voice soft, you let it carry, the weight of your words hanging in the air. 
“I know you’re still awake…”
You could feel the mattress move before she did, the blonde shuffling further to her own side of the bed, nearly falling off the edge with how much space she left in the middle. 
“Less…”
Silence being your only response, you tried again. 
“I’m sorry for being an ass.” 
This time you heard a slight huff. Not the best response but a response in the least- a positive in your eye. You chose to continue, hoping you could dig yourself out of this hole.
“I’m sorry for being huge dickwad. You didn’t deserve me snapping at you like that.”
And as Alessia’s hoarse voice responded, your gut sank with guilt, jaw tensing.
“Just the snapping? I asked you about supper and whether you could take just a few- a few- minutes to plait my hair like always, and you got upset with me.”
“I know. I’m sorry, I really am. You were only trying to help and you were tired yourself and I was dumb.” Surging forward, you reached out tentatively, slowly placing your hand on Alessia’s shoulder, pulling her into you.
“You really were.”
Placing a kiss on the back of her head once she was close enough, you murmured against her scalp. “Can I make it up to you? Let me braid your hair?”
“That doesn’t excuse your behaviour…”
Nodding in agreeance, you let your arms wrap around the taller girl’s waist. “It doesn’t, but I’ll get there, I promise.”
Alessia sinking backwards into your grasp at your words gave you the answer you needed, you holding her for a few more minutes before quickly rising up and getting the items you needed.
Turning on a lamp as you returned, you settled behind the footballer, plugging in the hair drier and undoing the bird’s nest on your lover’s head. 
Silently working, you meticulously dried the blonde’s hair enough that her pillow wouldn’t get any more soaked, teasing out the kinks and knots gently before braiding her hair loosely.
Finally pleased with your work, you set the comb and hair drier aside, pulling Alessia back against your front and wrapping her up in your hold, placing a gentle kiss on her shoulder and lingering for a second.
“I can’t promise I won’t be stupid again, but I can promise you that I’ll try my best to never do that again.”
“No more ignoring me no matter how busy you are alright? Just let me in your head…tell me your plans so that I’m not left here waiting for god knows how long, as you snap at me when I try to care…please?”
“I promise. Solemnly swear in fact.”
Feeling the blonde smile at your words, you let a grin take over your own face. 
“Now, I know you already ate, but would you fancy joining me for dinner? It could be our own little date? You, me, a little Love Island, and ton of cuddles?”
And as Alessia turned in your hold, burying her face into the crook of your neck, you kissed the her crown, holding her just a tad bit tighter. 
Only making a move to get up when your stomach grumbled loudly, you shot a sheepish smile to the angel in your arms before loosening your hold.
And as the pair of you exited the room, hand in hand, you made sure to grab the softest blanket you could, her comfort blanket, settling the striker on the couch before rushing into the kitchen to make yourself a plate of food, getting an extra helping, well aware that your girlfriend would munch with you.
Nearly sprinting back to the living room, food in hand, the pair of you got comfortable, the blonde resting her head on your shoulder, blanket wrapped around you both as the tv illuminated the living room, the rain now setting a comforting tone to the night.
Feeding the Gunner small bites as you ate your food, the two of you managed to finish off the plate quite quickly, setting it on the table before sinking together, a few more episodes, a handful of minute more spend cuddling.
Mindlessly tracing your fingers up her arm, you pulled the tired woman into you, body shuffling to lay across the couch, Alessia's head resting on your chest as the other girl whispered out little comments at every turn in the show.
It was only when you could finally feel the taller girl’s body growing heavier a bit more with each passing minute that you decided that it was a good time to head to bed.
Skimming your fingers up and down her spine, tracing the ridges of her back, you slowly, just barely, pulled Alessia out of her lethargic state, silently pulling her into a sitting position.
Moving to get up, you wrapped the blanket around her, ignoring her groans of protest at her own personal space heater walking away.
Convincing her you would only be a minute, you ran and put ur dishes away before coming back to usher a somewhat sleepy Less to your bedroom, the blonde slightly waking up a bit more at the movement.
Walking both yourself and your sleepy counterpart through brushing your teeth, you pulling silly faces randomly before splashing the taller girl with some water to tease her, you eventually managed to get the two of you back into bed, you on your back and the taller girl resting her head on your chest, sleepy yawns escaping her as she got comfortable once more.
Taking her now dry hair out of its braid, you loosely combed your fingers through it, nails scratching her scalp in a successful effort to soothe.
“Tell me about your day?” Your voice was quiet, just barely audible, not wanting to rouse the girl in your arms any further.
“Well my girlfriend was kind of an arse to me…”
Shaking your head as your chest rumbled with silent laughter, you gently hit Alessia’s shoulder. 
“I mean it...I wanna listen dork.”
And as the blonde recited her day to you, you could feel her breathing get heavier, the tiredness finally catching up to her.
Placing a gentle kiss on top of her head, you murmured another quiet apology as Alessia’s voice died down, you tightening your hold, mentally vowing never to let yourself get consumed by school or work so immensely ever again.
Unbeknown to you, the striker was just barely awake, her whispers of ’never again’ making her conscious state known. 
Agreeing, you repeated the words, whispering an I love you, the sentiment returned before Alessia’s breathing finally evened out, body completely relaxed in your hold. Finally letting yourself unwind, the tension from studying earlier totally seeping out of your body, you let a smile spread across your face.
Well aware this was all you really needed, you let the warmth spread through your body.
Here, your lover in your hold, silent breaths puffed against your neck, the weight of your love hanging comfortably in the air, you followed Alessia’s lead, letting sleep overcome you, everything that really mattered to you in this world, here, in your arms. 
530 notes · View notes